PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: Simon on September 02, 2003, 12:05
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Looks like I may be getting another commission, folks! :D :D
Before I get started on the shopping list, I have a question. This is going to be a part upgrade, but with mostly new components. The only old parts I will be using is the CD-Rom, and the Floppy Disc Drive from the old machine. My question is this:
I will be putting a CD-RW in the new machine, so I can boot from that to install Windows, but can I get it all up and running, without installing the Floppy Disc Drive, and fit that bit in later? This would save one trip up to London, so would be worthwhile. I don't see any reason why I can't do this, but thought I'd check with the experts! ;D ;D
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Expert here, "cough" ;D
The floppy is just another bit of PC hardware, if it's not there...no problem...when you do pop it in the case...it will be recognised as such ....anything else ? :D
Simon, I've reformated and reinstalled my PC as I noticed after that last PC build, mine had got abit sluggish. And this time I have save an Image of it all nice and 'mint' So next time it gets sluggish it is about 15 mins to have it back zippy again
PS: When the guy picked up his new PC last Friday, he said he had a pal wanted a new PC building as well. I'll give him a ring this weekend after he has settled in with his new machine. :)
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Well, I should have a definite answer in the next day or two. Could be the start of another interesting thread! I had intended to choose Ebuyer as my primary supplier, but I'm not convinced about their delivery times. I ordered a Digital Camera from them last Friday, under the Three Day Delivery option, which should mean it arrives tomorrow. Just checked site, and it's still 'Awaiting Shipment'.
But I'm not going to ring them! I'm not! I'm not!! ;) ;D ;D
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But I'm not going to ring them! I'm not! I'm not!! ;) ;D ;D
Ring them all you like Simon. They will only tell you by answering machine message to use their "e-note" system to contact them.
Do that and 2 days later you may get a reply ::)
Actually in all fairness, I had to e-note them on Wednesday as I notice my 3-day delivery order still hadn't been despatched 2 days before the deadline. I received an e-note on Friday to say that the item had been shipped the previous evening. And it actually arrived on the Friday!
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Gawd! Why can't there be a retailer with good prices, who can also give reliable information as to where your goods are? If I get this upgrade job, I'll be torn between taking a chance with Ebuyer or going back to CCL!
I just hate waiting for stuff - it's well stressful! :o ::) ;D
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why not try Overclockers (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/), some of their stuff is expensive (well, most of it is), but they have a good reputation...
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Because of that word "expensive", WD. ;) brings me out in a rash! ;D
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Simon.. Have you tried Tekheads..Tekheads (http://www.tekheads.co.uk/site/index.do).
I have found them most reliable and quick..and most of all Cheap
Hookstar
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Thanks Hook, I'll have a look. What I'm finding is that wherever I go, there's something that's not available, for whatever reason, so that then means buying from more than one retailer, which in turn bumps up the shipping charges.
At the moment it's still a toss up between ebuyer and CCL. ;)
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I've just put together a new PC for my cousin, and everything is OK, except that the text on screen seems ever so slightly not as sharp as it should be. It seems that there is a very slight 'ghost' on the right hand edges of all text. Barely noticable, but noticable all the same.
Any ideas, anyone?
Windows XP
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Asus A7V8X-X Motherboard
512Mb DDR Memory
Radeon 9200 SE Gphx card
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Check your refresh rate Simon for the agp card but its more likely to be a monitor problem/adjustment I should think ???
Unless its a TFT screen then its probably just a crappy TFT screen :)
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Unless its a TFT screen then its probably just a crappy TFT screen :)
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.apax34.dsl.pipex.com%2Fsmileys%2Fhuh3.gif&hash=4abd759e0210383f541e6a160775b4f6f4532ae6)
It's not the screen, as my PC is perfectly OK plugged into the same screen. I wondered if it was something to do with the graphics card, but I couldn't find any logical adjustments.
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Play around with the refresh rates then Simon it may help :)
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May I also recommend www.komplett.co.uk for good prices (close to Ebuyer) but excellent service - last order I made was on a Monday at 8pm, got email giving me the DHL tracking number next day at 4pm, items got delivered Wednesday at 15:30. It was interesting to track the items from Oslo too :). From reports on other forms I'm a member of they are very good at handling problems too.
BTW the register story about them and the misprice on the graphics card seems to miss the irony in the email they sent out (hey! they are the people who after a memory misprice 14 months ago sent an email saying they had given the person responsibles parking slot to the cleaner after hang, drawing and quartering them. They had then used his pension as a Xmas bonus for the remaining staff).
BTW2 you definately do not need a floppy drive to install XP - I did it from a CD only system about a month ago.
BTW3 for the ghosting problem - try refresh rate as suggested but also ensure the cable to the monitor is not being interfered with (power cable running next to it?) and also check the windows settings to ensure they don't have the high contrast option set on.
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BTW2 you definately do not need a floppy drive to install XP - I did it from a CD only system about a month ago.
Didnt know you could install from the floppy Dack, I havent done that many XP ones but I have always set the BIOS to boot from cd rom first and installed from CD :)
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You can just use a 98 system floppy to boot and then do the install off the CD if "boot from CD" is not supported in the bios e.g. the AMD K62-450 system I put it on.
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Thanks for those guys, I'll let you know how I get on. :)
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Thanks for those guys, I'll let you know how I get on. :)
WELL ? were's the update then ::)
jeez you know I said "upgrades never again" well a mate of mine [from up the Lakes] brought his IPatriot with its 32MB Memory [- 4MB for the onboard graphics] and 3GB HDD, and 200Mhz CPU for a bit of a "tart up"
See he has this new Digital Camera, very nice, and not a cheapie. It had 40 piccies of his first grandchild on it. But when he tried to load his camera software onto his PC, it just laughed at him.
So I said, New PC mate or I have a stick of 64 MB memory, and a 8GB HDD I can pop in as well if you going to be storing loads of piccies, Being a true Yorkshire man, he sez he'll have the free Sunday dinner and the titivation please.
What a bag of sh*te the IPatriot turned out to be, only one HDD bay , and hence only one IDE cable. So I had to get the drill out and I popped the extra HDD in to the spare CD-Rom bay. I mean it ain't as if he is going to shell out on a CD-RW/DVD combo now is it ;D
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Well as soon as this thread is finished I'm going to pick the bones out of it and the 1st thread and build myself a new puter out of all the good points ;D.. hope it will be built before xmas ;D
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Well, I did try fiddling with the refresh rate, but it didn't seem to make any difference, however, the monitor I am using now, isn't the monitor that will be used for the machine when it goes to it's new home, so I won't really be able to assess things until then.
(Dack) ...also check the windows settings to ensure they don't have the high contrast option set on.
Couldn't actually find that, but probably me being thick!
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I used the wrong phrase :) - what I meant to say was about the 'clear type' option. (right click on screen, properties, appearance, text, clear text in the drop down). It adds an anti alias to text which can make it blurry for somepeople.
You may want to try out:
http://www.passmark.com/products/monitortest.htm (http://www.passmark.com/products/monitortest.htm) to make sure the monitor is all OK too.
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Well Hooky,
You know me and Simon will be here to guide you, but I still reckon you'll still be successful mate,so go for it. As you can see from Simons ?last? diagnostics comment, he is coming on leaps and bounds.
;D
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Yes, obviously "Chuckle Bros. inc." will help you all we can, Hook. Just make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy! ;D ;D
Dack, thanks for that. I love those 'test' things! I'll have lots of fun with those later. :D
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Hehehe i love these threads... ;D
Keep up the good work guys.... ;)
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Simon, is the monitor fuzzy on the BIOS screen and the Windows boot-up stuff as well?
If it is always fuzzy and it works OK on another PC, you may have a problem with the graphics card.
Have you tried a lower resolution desktop?
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It's fine with my own machine. It's only when I put the new machine on my monitor. I haven't noticed it on the BIOS screens - it just seems to be web pages, particularly Pals, with the red text on the blue background. ???
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That will be the windows setting then - you can probably change the colour balances from display->setting->advanced etc. Just knock the red down a bit and see how it looks then. The Bios screen would be before the windows driver has got it's grubby little mits on the display :)
(Can't give the exact sequence to activate it as I'm currently typing this on a machine running NT and it doesn't allow me to play with such settings )
Now time to go home from work :)
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Well, now I have an idea what to do, it would probably be better to make any necessary adjustments on the monitor the new machine will be using, when I take it to it's new home next week.
Bloody funny you know, I almost don't want it to go! It's like giving it up for adoption! ;D ;D