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Technology Thread: Building a Desktop Computer

DCDeac said:
My Powerline adapters are fast enough to directly stream HD content from my DirecTV receiver to my upstairs HTPC.

That's about as throughput-heavy a need as anyone would have in a home theater configuration I'd guess. I did get the HD version or whatever they are called and not the slow version. Overall they've been completely hassle free and I've been very happy with them.
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I haven't used them personally, but I've heard good things about them as well. DCDeac has always given them glowing reviews as well.

I'd definitely look into this if I were you, Deacon.
 
So nothing came up when I looked for the "Is my computer fucked" thread, so I am coming here since it involves a desktop. I am pretty sure my computer is fucked, though.

The other night I'm on my computer (no pron, I swear) and it just goes black. Monitor has a No Signal message pop up, so it's not the monitor, and the computer was still on at this point but not responding to anything. I waited a few then hard shut it down.

Now nothing is happening at all. Won't start, won't even try to start. I press the power button and it just goes 'click.' Checked my power source and there is still a light on the interior of the machine, so it is getting power. It has been pretty cold in my place the last few days since I don't have the gas hooked up yet, but computers run better in the cold, right?

Am I just totally fucked? Argh. I will have to pay attention to Drew's computer deal threads now.

Sorry that is totally vague and broad and I don't have a good grasp of parts and vocabulary, but I figured I'd ask if there is anything I can test or look at, or a good place to have look at it, before I junk it.

Thanks.
 
Sounds like a bad motherboard. Especially if your video output is from the motherboard and not a separate card.
 
Yeah, that's what I figured (despite not really knowing all that much). I guess the next question is whether it is worth it to replace that or should I just start over.
 
Are there no beeps, or fans starting to spin up when you press the power button?

First guess would be the motherboard, but that depends on where the light is inside your case. Most motherboards do have a light on the pcb that indicates power.

Take the side of the case off and let us know where the light is. Also, take a few pictures if you can.

As long as you didn't change anything with your computers hardware, I'd say this is a component failure. We just need to lock down what component it might be.
 
El Chupacabra said:
Yeah, that's what I figured (despite not really knowing all that much). I guess the next question is whether it is worth it to replace that or should I just start over.
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This depends on the model and age of the machine. If it's a manufacturer that uses proprietary mobos, you are screwed. If its rather old, it may not be worth the hassle of replacing.

Figure out what make/model it is and let us know.
 
Deacon923 said:
Thanks. What brand/model do you have? Looks like there are a lot of choices.
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I wouldn't get mine at this point because they sadly were right between technology releases. They don't work with the slow ones or the new super fast ones.

How about these?

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-XAVB1...M2VI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320328122&sr=8-3

200Mbps should be plenty fast for your needs, and they're only $60. You could spend $100 on the 500Mbps ones but most circuits won't be perfect enough to realize that kind of speed anyway so I think it'd be a waste.
 
El Chupacabra said:
Yeah, that's what I figured (despite not really knowing all that much). I guess the next question is whether it is worth it to replace that or should I just start over.
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Be sure to go to the manufacturer's website and search for recall information based on your model number. Those types of failures are often due to bad components - even if you're out of warranty you might still be eligible for a recall replacement.

My parents have had 2 HP laptops die via exactly the situation you describe, both had recalls on them and we got free replacements (however it did require lots of angry phone calls).
 
Thanks guys, I will try to get a few more details this afternoon.

I think the machine is only a couple of years old. I got it from my mom who went and got it built, much like this thread is discussing, and have had it less than a year, so I'd like to not scrap it.

How am I going to watch my six hours of soccer a day on the weekends???? Better brush up on those reading skillz.
 
Any of you nerds have a sound card lying around? Can be PCI Express or PCI.
 
dot com said:
I haven't bought a sound card since the 90's.
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I thought my motherboard's onboard sound was broken for the past three months. Decided to give it another shot today and got it to work.

I'm on LGA775 with a core 2 duo, so I'd like to hold off on upgrading as long as possible (hence the need for a sound card)
 
So in resurrecting my desktop PC, I have come across a frustrating error.

It restarts without warning quite frequently. It seems to happen several times a day. My Garmin GPS watch beeps when it restarts and its being accessed so its a pretty good indicator. It happens once every night and at least once during the day (when I've been around.)

There are no error logs generated and not much else to go off of. I suspect that it could be a house power issue, but I do have it hooked up to a UPS. I think the UPS battery is dead, though.

I'm going to try just hooking it into a regular power strip and into a different socket. We'll see if that fixes the issue.
 
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Event ID: 41
Level: Critical
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.


The Details tab shows the following information:

EventData
BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress true
PowerButtonTimestamp 129165039139928187
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Scenario 3

The Stop error code and the PowerButtonTimestamp are listed as zero. For example, consider the following scenarios:
  • The Stop error BugcheckCode value is listed as zero. Circumstances can prevent writing the Stop error BugcheckCode information before the computer restarts or shuts down. In this case, a BugcheckCode value of zero is logged. Also, perhaps no Stop error occurred, and the shutdown resulted from a power loss. For example, on a portable computer, this could mean that the battery is removed or completely drained. Or, on a desktop computer, this could mean that the computer was unplugged, or a power outage occurred.
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I believe this is my issue.

I hate living in old houses :mad:
 
Actually just saw that deal this morning and told my wife "if I hadn't already built my computer, I might have jumped on this deal"

The only thing is you'll have to add more RAM, and possibly upgrade to a bigger PSU depending on what GPU you're going to put in it.
 
what part of Newegg shows these deals? I went to the "combo deals" page but found it impossibly hard to navigate.
 
dot com said:
Actually just saw that deal this morning and told my wife "if I hadn't already built my computer, I might have jumped on this deal"

The only thing is you'll have to add more RAM, and possibly upgrade to a bigger PSU depending on what GPU you're going to put in it.
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Yea, I have to look to see where the money is "saved" because I would want more memory and already have a 2TB HDD
 
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