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Frackin' PC's sending me nuts again.....
03-30-2013, 05:35 PM
Well it is. After receiving recommendations that I should be using a 64-bit version of my current OS, amongst other things like have more ram and getting increasingly tired of an intermittent boot issue and a dead SATA port. I went the overkill approach, acquired an OEM Win 7 pro SP1 64-bit key + disk and after browsing an at hand PC mag their recommendation for a CPU & motherboard from The Beastie selection (aka you really want to spend enough dosh for a car on a computer?) and finally installed the larger WD 'Raptor I'd had handy.
Problem 1: things are broken. Blizzard's games work, Steam stuff works, Origin....works. My SSD like boot+data drive setup is partally functional, IE was back, then it broke. My email app isn't working, in fact any local application that uses Windows Live is dead to me. Uncompressing files come out empty. Windows Media Center's dead too, but that's probably down to the fact the TV tuner I've got has some dodgy drivers which won't work with 64-bit, plus it's got some suspiciously bulging capacitors.
Problem 2: I can't re-do the windows install as my keyboard doesn't get detected for some reason
Problem 3: I've still not tracked down all my install disks - not an issue for anything cloud-esc (re: Origin, Stream) just means I'm without office on this system till I find them.
Problem 4: I need a IDE channel, so I can use the RPC-1 DVD-Rom drive, I think I've got an IDE controller in my parts pile, see end of previous sentence.
I'm beginning to think step one should've been do a complete backup & restore to a fresh 64-bit install, which I sort of did with creating a backup on my WHS device and a interim WFST. I just can't get the Windows Home Server to talk to this system and the Windows File & Settings Transfer tool did a half hearted job.
At least I've improved my "Windows Experience Index" or I would have if I'd installed a true SSD or a readyboost device. I'll 3dmark it at some point, should stomp over what'd got previously.
--Rod.H
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Quote:Rod H wrote:
Problem 1: things are broken. Blizzard's games work, Steam stuff works, Origin....works. My SSD like boot+data drive setup is partally functional, IE was back, then it broke. My email app isn't working, in fact any local application that uses Windows Live is dead to me. Uncompressing files come out empty. Windows Media Center's dead too, but that's probably down to the fact the TV tuner I've got has some dodgy drivers which won't work with 64-bit, plus it's got some suspiciously bulging capacitors.
I'd replace the capacitors, but if there's the dodgy driver issue under 64-bit, it might just be better to replace... although I don't watch enough television here to justify a TV-tuner card anyway. Quote:Problem 2: I can't re-do the windows install as my keyboard doesn't get detected for some reason
That's odd. How third-party cheap-brand is your keyboard? Quote:Problem 3: I've still not tracked down all my install disks - not an issue for anything cloud-esc (re: Origin, Stream) just means I'm without office on this system till I find them.
One name: Libre Office. That should get you through until you find those install discs. Quote:Problem 4: I need a IDE channel, so I can use the RPC-1 DVD-Rom drive, I think I've got an IDE controller in my parts pile, see end of previous sentence.
Odd that your motherboard doesn't have an IDE channel on it. Granted, it might be down to ONE connector, but that should support two devices (master and slave). But I can certainly understand if you want additional devices past those. Quote:I'm beginning to think step one should've been do a complete backup & restore to a fresh 64-bit install, which I sort of did with creating a backup on my WHS device and a interim WFST. I just can't get the Windows Home Server to talk to this system and the Windows File & Settings Transfer tool did a half hearted job.
At least I've improved my "Windows Experience Index" or I would have if I'd installed a true SSD or a readyboost device. I'll 3dmark it at some point, should stomp over what'd got previously.
Complete backup and restore of a few files with an absolutely clean install from the OS disc would have been the recommended, especially given that it sounds like you basically replaced everything but your data at this stage. The only reason I didn't with my desktop system when I replaced that much was that I didn't want to have to redo all the patches (a good 7-8 years worth I think) to the OS in the process, although I'm still running XP on it.
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JFerio Wrote:Quote:Rod H wrote:
Problem 2: I can't re-do the windows install as my keyboard doesn't get detected for some reason
That's odd. How third-party cheap-brand is your keyboard? It's a Logitech G110 and it worked during the initial install
Quote:Quote:Problem 4: I need a IDE channel, so I can use the RPC-1 DVD-Rom drive, I think I've got an IDE controller in my parts pile, see end of previous sentence.
Odd that your motherboard doesn't have an IDE channel on it. Granted, it might be down to ONE connector, but that should support two devices (master and slave). But I can certainly understand if you want additional devices past those.
Many high end performance motherboards no longer have support for IDE, instead it's many flavours of SATA, I've got 11, six at 6Gb/s, 4 at 3Gb/s and one mSATA which kills a 3Gb/s if I plug something in there
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Quote:Rod H wrote:
It's a Logitech G110 and it worked during the initial install
Yeah, OK, that does sound odd that it won't recognize it for the bootup. Probably something in the BIOS got changed or set that it only looks for a legacy keyboard or something. Quote:Many high end performance motherboards no longer have support for IDE, instead it's many flavours of SATA, I've got 11, six at 6Gb/s, 4 at 3Gb/s and one mSATA which kills a 3Gb/s if I plug something in there
In other words, "we think you should replace hardware that you've been recycling from other computers" with regards to optical drives, while simultaneously saving a buck in manufacturing because they don't have to include additional connectors and controller logic. Fun. Yeah, I know new DVD burners are cheap now (MicroCenter has several for under $20), but it still galls me somewhat that a perfectly usable piece of hardware is now relegated to the scrapheap because the protocol is "deprecated".
I've got a handful of computers here in various states of "needs an OS", and most of them only have one IDE port. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised that motherboards now come without them.
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As I mentioned in other threads, I want to keep using this particular DVD drive due to what it is - a drive that gives zero f's about region codes. I'd prefer to use a dedicated IDE controller card just for it over someones recommended work around of one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812206002 I've probably got one or two of those in a parts box, the reason why they're in the parts box and not in use is that I found them to be horrible and the native connections produced better results. The problem now is to find what I need as while I know I've got an IDE controller - I've got the driver floppy sitting in a bookcase - I believe it's in use somewhere.
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Quote:Rod H wrote:
As I mentioned in other threads, I want to keep using this particular DVD drive due to what it is - a drive that gives zero f's about region codes.
Yeah, that can be very handy to have. Of course, I'm sure the Copyright Cartel and their ilk would prefer that you were forced to give that drive up for good in favor of something that was firmly region locked. Screw them. 
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I now have another thing broken: iTunes. First it installed without the iDevice drivers & services, then it wouldn't reinstall and now it thinks all my media is in the cloud when I know it's on a local network drive.
Fixed the tv tuner by replacing the dodgy korean/chinese tuner for a brand I should have bought in the first place years ago.
Found an MS Office disk it's 2003, somehow I was using Office 2007 instead, can't remember HTF I did it. Which means I've got install disks for that somewhere.
I'm slowly thinking that I should yank all my HDs bar the boot 'raptor, get a new HD and take my PC into one of the local shops and get them to a SSD-like OS install, but the issues I'm running into are possibly a known thing with a 64-bit Win7. Something to do with a user restriction of some type that I got around when I first installed win 7 32bit....ack. Still, I'm puzzling on how to add an IDE to this 'upgrade' as none of the local 'puter shops stock anything related to IDE anymore.
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Quote:Rod H wrote:
Still, I'm puzzling on how to add an IDE to this 'upgrade' as none of the local 'puter shops stock anything related to IDE anymore.
Sounds like your local "ecosystem" has any experts mail-ordering their parts anymore to get what they want, and the computer shops are down to tending the masses who just bring the computer in and say "fix it"... possibly with anything IDE already no longer being seen.
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