Curse

Tamuril elansar · Jun 02, 2008, 01:15 PM // 13:15

he means that the pcie slots are connected with 8 lanes.

Snograt · Jun 02, 2008, 01:21 PM // 13:21

That's bloody odd - you're right, of course. I googled it and checked a report by firingsquad.com - they should be shot. No, Tam - that review I read clearly stated that the PCIe slots were 8x rather than 16x. Maybe it was a very early review board or something?

Good news - Armor+ arriving tomorrow - 3 days earlier than expected. Any Brits who want one, hurry hurry - Novatech have them in stock. 25 of them. Well, 24 now

(Actually, when I asked on a UK forum, nearly every Brit seeing that case said "Ewwwww". Philistines.)

[update]The consignment of 120mm case fans and Céramique that I ordered over a week ago for next-day delivery has passed me by again. City Link have attempted to deliver 5 times now - to the wrong address. I've phoned and emailed several times. I did get ONE consignment - the Tuniq Tower, which was ordered AFTER this lot. There appears to be only one driver in the entire company who knows how to find his way around my estate. This is a professional delivery service?

[update2]I hope it's not too late. The new case and all the gubbins is due this morning, but last night I had a nasty system crash with a subsequent corruption in the BIOS. It now POSTs, but gets as far as a (I think) floppy disk error - unsurprising, as I don't have one. Due to the crash, it has loaded default settings and it's halting on this error - I think maybe I need to dig out a PS/2 keyboard because my G15 USB isn't responding. I'm getting "Press F1 to continue or Del to set up" - no response.

[update3 (dratted women telling me off for double posting - I wanna bump

) Wife phoned to tell me my fans and Céramique have arrived. I have three weeks leave starting on Friday, so I have plenty of time to get this rig ship-shape and chilleh. Oh, and that case is big enough to host an AC/DC concert (might post a pic to prove it, if you're lucky

[update3, edit1]Hmm, wonder if I can get away with using Ventari rules for bumping? Nearly 24 hours now

Snograt · Jun 03, 2008, 06:27 PM // 18:27

Boomph.

I think that last crash might have borked my mobo

Floppy disk(s) fail (40)
CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded
F1 to continue Delete to run setup

Doesn't respond to keyboard input. Haven't got a PS/2 keyboard (thought that maybe USB wasn't being detected) so used G15 keyboard via USB-PS/2 converter. Nothing.

Sound buggered to you? Or is there a miracle "oh I know that one - do this!" fix?

Gret big blue glowy case, top notch cooler and nothing to cool.

Waaaah!

Brianna · Jun 03, 2008, 06:32 PM // 18:32

If you want to bump, copy your old post, then delete it. Then paste it back into a new message - and add the new elements that you wanted to put in to create a bump, it should work. Technically double posting isn't ''allowed'', but this isn't ventaris, so I don't believe the 24 hour rule should apply. You are an Elite guru subscriber anyway, should get some slack.

And that really sucks about your board, what happened? How did it crash?

Snograt · Jun 03, 2008, 07:14 PM // 19:14

It was probably the heat what done it.

Wouldn't that be ironic if my mobo/proc/memory all gave up the ghost the day my new case and cooling gear arrived?

Brianna · Jun 03, 2008, 07:16 PM // 19:16

That would be.. but knowing the luck I've had with computers, such irony never fails lol. ;(

You know what this means? New computer! Yay?

Snograt · Jun 03, 2008, 07:22 PM // 19:22

It would be a yay if I wasn't flat broke.

Spent the last of my over-large overdraft on that Armor+.

Hmm, maybe I could live in it...

Brianna · Jun 03, 2008, 07:29 PM // 19:29

Lol, it's your new cage.

Just kidding. Yeah It's insane how much bigger things are when you actually get them in real life, I was amazed by my wide screen monitor.. and it's only a 22, imagine 24+.

Literally; No it's not yay to have computer parts break, but I guess in my case I'd be um.. somewhat grateful to even get a full atx motherboard. I'd have 4 gigs of RAM right now if it wasn't for this pesky board's limited slots.

Lord Sojar · Jun 03, 2008, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Just sounds like you lost USB keyboard support in the BIOS. Have you tried resetting the BIOS via your motherboard? (also known as a hard reset)

See if that works. Converters wouldn't do that trick btw. Go grab a cheapo PS/2 old keyboard and plug it in, after resetting the BIOS.

Snograt · Jun 03, 2008, 07:48 PM // 19:48

Ah, I did wonder about that converter.

As it happens, I was just looking in the mobo manual to identify the CMOS reset jumper - old keyboard will have to wait 'til tomorrow :/

[edit]Phew - panic over. Just found the one thing about the eVGA 680i that I don't like. The CMOS reset jumper is completely inaccessible unless you remove the lower graphics card. I didn't even get the bugger out. While I was at it, I had a blast around with a can of air (ye gods, the dust). Thought I'd boot it to see if there'd been any change, and lo and behold, the keyboard worked! Maybe I shorted the CMOS reset while folornly fishing around with the long-nose tweezers - probably lucky I didn't short anything else.

Going to take it easy on the poor old thing until I get a chance to re-house it in the blue, glowy monolith (cue Also Sprach Zarathustra).

Thanks for the words of support and wisdom, Rajah and Brianna - I almost felt like crying for a while there

Admael · Jun 04, 2008, 01:44 AM // 01:44

You can't house two huge graphics cards and expect there still be room to move around

But yeah, boards are getting friendlier and friendlier. Newer boards have a clear CMOS button, instead of a jumper. And even more interesting, they have profiles, whenever your board doesn't POST, it will automatically load SAFE values temporarily and allow you to make changes to the BIOS.

But I'm glad your panic is over!

Brianna · Jun 04, 2008, 02:03 AM // 02:03

So this means everything is working again? Cheers!

No problem by the way. Sadly I wish my mobo would fry itself.. but then again, no I really don't. I want a new board, and I'd get one for free if this one shorted out.. but then I'd lose my Vista for good, thus no 64 bit, thus no 4 gigs of ram.. thus defeating the purpose of getting a new board. *Sigh* OEM Woes.

Cyb3r · Jun 04, 2008, 03:36 AM // 03:36

happy everything is allright snograt

and yeah been kinda away the last few days off guru (real life taking over = -_-)

Lord Sojar · Jun 04, 2008, 03:49 AM // 03:49

Victory is mine! *flaunts mindlessly for no apparent reason whilst I download 90k more files for the gw.dat file.*

Glad to hear that issue is solved. Now, get that stuff put into the new Armor+ case, redo your CPU cooler thermal interface material, and focus on cooling above all else. Then we can see what your baby can really do.

Admael · Jun 04, 2008, 05:29 AM // 05:29

The next hurricane I hear about better be localized within your new case.

Dark Kal · Jun 04, 2008, 10:06 AM // 10:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Converters wouldn't do that trick btw. Go grab a cheapo PS/2 old keyboard and plug it in, after resetting the BIOS.

Converters do work. I have an old Pentium II 300 MHz where the BIOS doesn't recognize an USB keyboard/mouse. Using the converter PS/2 correctly, which came with the keyboard/mouse, you can use the keyboard/mouse. What would be the point in creating/supplying converters if they didn't work? Oh we're sorry we thought you fall for that, create something that doesn't work, ask you money for it and then assume the majority of our customisers lacks the confidence or motivation to return them to use. Actually that's a pretty decent strategy that is actually used. Regardlessly USB-PS/2 converters DO work.

Blackhearted · Jun 04, 2008, 10:19 AM // 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Kal

Converters do work. I have an old Pentium II 300 MHz where the BIOS doesn't recognize an USB keyboard/mouse. Using the converter PS/2 correctly, which came with the keyboard/mouse, you can use the keyboard/mouse. What would be the point in creating/supplying converters if they didn't work? Oh we're sorry we thought you fall for that, create something that doesn't work, ask you money for it and then assume the majority of our customisers lacks the confidence or motivation to return them to use. Actually that's a pretty decent strategy that is actually used. Regardlessly USB-PS/2 converters DO work.

Wrong. They work in some cases, but not all. One case where they DO NOT work is with the logitech g15. As already stated earlier.

Dark Kal · Jun 04, 2008, 10:49 AM // 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackhearted

Wrong. They work in some cases, but not all. One case where they DO NOT work is with the logitech g15. As already stated earlier.

My bad didn't see it was for a G15. Older USB keyboard/mouse will work with converters, obviously gimmicky keyboards like the G15 won't.

Cyb3r · Jun 04, 2008, 10:58 AM // 10:58

dark kall that's for how the G15 is set up internally same counts for the zboards i have my gw factions keyset slotted in pretty much 24/7 but if i need to be in my bios i have to slot in my regular one since the delete key on the factions board is in another place and without driver isn't even recognized

Snograt · Jun 04, 2008, 11:21 AM // 11:21

Ah, that's good to know if it happens again - borrow my son's z-board!

Incidentally, do you reckon this would fit in my case?

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=13612

Hehehe