Has anyone ever built their own system

[jclaydon]

I gave it a shot over the past year, the actual build wasn't that bad, but the only thing i miss is having someone else diagnose stuff for me. :sqerr:


right now I had my new desktop system running perfectly, then I added a second video card so that I could have three separate outputs. Now everythings gone haywire and when I went back to my original ATI HD3850 the sound drivers won't work *sigh*

I guess I'll just have to pay a techie when i get more money..

don't mind me, I'm just venting


-James

 

[JoeChartreuse]

I have, from scratch, and I'm not talking PC. My original system was home brew except for the player. The amp ( only 125w rms per side, analogue, descrete components on per board), the 3 - way speakers, the mixer, all of it.

With PC, do you mean choosing sound and video cards, plus software, or do you mean building the PC from scratch?

 

[ahoustondj]

I have, from scratch, and I'm not talking PC. My original system was home brew except for the player. The amp ( only 125w rms per side, analogue, descrete components on per board), the 3 - way speakers, the mixer, all of it.

With PC, do you mean choosing sound and video cards, plus software, or do you mean building the PC from scratch?

I think he might be referring to PC.

 

[jclaydon]

I have, from scratch, and I'm not talking PC. My original system was home brew except for the player. The amp ( only 125w rms per side, analogue, descrete components on per board), the 3 - way speakers, the mixer, all of it.

With PC, do you mean choosing sound and video cards, plus software, or do you mean building the PC from scratch?

Well a little of both, I bought ALL of the components including the motherboard, cpu, heat sink, memory etc and then I assembled it all myself so i guess you could say from scratch.

I was quite proud of myself until stuff started going wrong!

ah well, at least I tried something new

-James

 

[Jeff Romard]

Every system I ever had, except the laptops, I built myself.

It is hard to diagnose froma distance but in your case I think I would go to all the manufactures websites and see if I could get updated drivers. I don't see a reason why the sound would go because the second video card was installed.

Failing that I would reinstall Windows with the second card installed in the machine. When you install hardware XP can get funny on you sometimes and I hear Vista is like that also

 

[JoeChartreuse]

Well a little of both, I bought ALL of the components including the motherboard, cpu, heat sink, memory etc and then I assembled it all myself so i guess you could say from scratch.

I was quite proud of myself until stuff started going wrong!

ah well, at least I tried something new

-James

Still a terrific thing to do. You'll solve the problem I'm sure...

 

[DJ Gforce]

If your using XP the easiest thing to try is go into control panel/system/hardware/device manager
select the sound card and uninstall the driver. then go back to control panel and open add hardware. let windows find the sound card and reinstall the driver.

eazy peazy!

 

[DJ Gforce]

Also re-read the install instructions of the video card. Sometimes the proprietary software that comes with the cards needs to be installed before the card or things go wonky. I know most people don't read the instructions, but in the case of pc assembly it is absolutely essential.
I just finished my own build after a power surge took out my home pc and surge protector. I went a little crazy with a AMD Phenom quad core. I must say this thing is insane! The build went great but the ram proved defective after a couple days and it wouldn't boot after getting the blue screen of death. New ram and all was good.

 

[jclaydon]

Well just to update everyone, I re-installed XP from scratch. That worked. So it either has something to do with service pack 3 and my drivers or something I completely overlooked but either way i'm really happy.

Hey jeff do you know anything about the windows registry? For some reason I can't seem to get rid of one folder in my documents. The error message I keep getting is " source file not found"

-James

 

[Jeff Romard]

select the sound card and uninstall the driver. then go back to control panel and open add hardware. let windows find the sound card and reinstall the driver.

Depends on the sound card Windows doesn't have the drivers for most pro cards

Hey jeff do you know anything about the windows registry? For some reason I can't seem to get rid of one folder in my documents. The error message I keep getting is " source file not found"

Hey James

Before I give you any advice on this you should know I am no expert just a hack that may know a little more than average...

I also should ask you what folder you are trying to throw out? Was it installed by Windows or by you? If it was installed by Windows personally I would do a full format and another install because there is some bug there.

I have worked in the registry before and the usual advice I give to anyone who plans a trip in there is don't. Looking for a registry entry is like looking for a needle in a haystack and then by throwing it out you don't know what goes with it. You could wind up installing again. If you do choose to do it back everything important up before you do on an external or another machine

 

[DJ Gforce]

Depends on the sound card Windows doesn't have the drivers for most pro cards

I haven't had any issues of this on any of the 30 systems I have built over the last year, but I do see your point.

Hey James

Before I give you any advice on this you should know I am no expert just a hack that may know a little more than average...

I also should ask you what folder you are trying to throw out? Was it installed by Windows or by you? If it was installed by Windows personally I would do a full format and another install because there is some bug there.

I have worked in the registry before and the usual advice I give to anyone who plans a trip in there is don't. Looking for a registry entry is like looking for a needle in a haystack and then by throwing it out you don't know what goes with it. You could wind up installing again. If you do choose to do it back everything important up before you do on an external or another machine

Very good advice here. If you do not know what you are doing with the registry, stay the hell away from it. You will do more harm than good.

 

[jclaydon]

Well it's not that big a deal, I was ripping one of my cd's to the documents folder and it crashed.



Now there is a folder with no data but it won't let me delete it. Not really worth the re-install which sounds like my only option since I wouldn't touch the registry with a ten foot pole.. heheh

The re-install i mentioned was actually from norton ghost, so it wasn't from scratch.

Thanks anyway

-James

 

[Jeff Romard]

The re-install i mentioned was actually from norton ghost, so it wasn't from scratch.

Ghost and programs like it are great to save your azz in a pinch but you won't have a properly working machine until you format and reinstall. My guess is the folder that won't go away was changed between the time you took the image and the time you reinstalled and its picking up something that isn't really there anymore thats why you can't delete it.

If it was me I would save what I needed and do a full format