could you check my final list of parts?

[roaming_builder]

i had another thread on this topic a few months ago, http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=141667

i am gonna buy my parts tomorrow on newegg

so far i have

Case: Antec Lanboy

CPU: P4 3.0G HT

Mobo: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

PSU: Antec Smartblue 350 (Should i upgrade? It came with the case)

Videocard: BFG: Geforce 6800 OC

i have monitor and speakers also

those above are all bought already

I still need

Ram:
HDD:
Optical:
OS: Want Win XP


I have this in my shopping cart

ASUS Black IDE DVD Burner 5X DVD-RAM Read Model DRW-1608P2 BK - OEM
ASUS Black ATAPI DVD-ROM Drive Model E616A - OEM

2--Maxtor MaXLine Plus III 7L250S0 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480 BLUE ATX12V 480W Power Supply - Retail

2--CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail 2 gigs total

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM

does anyone know if there are better parts i should be ordering? I know some would advise against the HDD's but i really wanted the 16 Mb cache, heard it was supposed to be fast....?

thanks for any input,

Roaming_builder

[blue60007]

Yeah, I'd definitely upgrade the power supply. Although it's a good brand, it's a bit light for this build.

Yeah, those 16MB cache drives are pretty fast. Everything else looks pretty good.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Yeah, I'd definitely upgrade the power supply. Although it's a good brand, it's a bit light for this build.

Yeah, go with the 480 watt PSU you have in your shopping cart.

Cricket

[roaming_builder]

I am sorry that i didnt reply to your messages guys. I lost my net connection for a few days. Thanks for your help....

[roaming_builder]

i finally got all my parts in order and delivered, installed and working, kind of.

i was at first having a problem getting the computer to see both of my 250 gig HD's in the RAID array. i just switched the cords around and for some reason that fixed the problem.... anyway i formatted the drives with the maxtor maxblast software and it looks like the RAID0 is working now, i put the raid drivers in during the win XP install and recieved no errors



now my problem is when i turn on the computer, it looks like everything is starting fine, it goes to the first windows screen (the one with the little blue bar near the bottom that moves from left to right) and it moves for about a second, and then it just freezes. I have tried to start it multiple times(left it running 1.5 hours too) and the hard drives are brand new. I dont know what else to do, should i just reinstall winXP???

OH i am trying to install XP home.....

thanks,

Roaming_builder

[Cricket]

So the system hangs while trying to install WinXP?

Have you tested your RAM yet?

Have you tested the hard drives with the manufacturer's diagnostic utility yet?

Why did you format the drives with MaxBlast? WinXP will partition and format during the installation process.

Are you getting any beeps at startup?

Have you tried installing WinXP to just one hard drive?

Cricket

[jayb1234]

That blue bar shows while the system is checking the RAM.

Try it with just 1 stick at a time

And run memtest.

[roaming_builder]

ok i am at school now....

XP installed successfully cricket the problem is while trying to load the OS

i tried to re-install it last night but still having the same problem


i will try to install it on one hard drive and if that doesnt work, i will test the memory. I got 4 sticks so i really hope there isnt a problem

there are 2 beeps during the bootup that were always there. For some reason i cant seem to find the p4c800-e deluxe mobo on the Asus site anymore....

i apreciate any help in advance,

Roaming Builder


also sorry about the double post, was an accident....

[roaming_builder]

stilll at school, but curious

are the hard drives and the memory the only things probable to cause that problem? Which should i test first? I bought 2 gigs of ram (512 X4) should i put the pairs in or just test one stick in at a time? If there was a problem with the ram wouldnt it come up during the boot? It says it reads 2048 Mb of ram...

I dunno, everythign seemed to be goin well, Murphy's Law is still valid, eh?

later,

Roaming_builder

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by roaming_builder stilll at school, but curious are the hard drives and the memory the only things probable to cause that problem?

No, there a number of other possibilities.

Originally Posted by roaming_builder Which should i test first?

Test the RAM first.

Originally Posted by roaming_builder I bought 2 gigs of ram (512 X4) should i put the pairs in or just test one stick in at a time?

Test 1 stick at a time.

Originally Posted by roaming_builder If there was a problem with the ram wouldnt it come up during the boot?

No, all it does at boot up is count the amount of RAM in the system...it doesn't test it.

Did you try to boot into Safe Mode?

Cricket

[roaming_builder]

thank ya,

no i havent even successfully started XP yet, dunno if i can even get into safe mode....

[Cricket]

If you can get into Safe Mode you may have a driver issue.

Cricket

[roaming_builder]

i am running memtest now...... i looked up i am getting 2 beeps and it says on the pdf manual that 2 beeps is a parity error

[roaming_builder]

memtest froze on the 8th test: modulo 20, ones and zeros...

what is a parity error???

i am about to start trying single sticks of memory

[roaming_builder]

actually i dont think that was really a 2 beep error code that i am hearing, i took all the memory out to see what it sounds like for real and i got a 3 beep definantly different sounding repeating mess =)

memtest keeps freezing up tho, i dun know what to make of that.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by roaming_builder actually i dont think that was really a 2 beep error code that i am hearing, i took all the memory out to see what it sounds like for real and i got a 3 beep definantly different sounding repeating mess =) memtest keeps freezing up tho, i dun know what to make of that.

Is that happening with both sticks of RAM installed or are you testing them one by one?

Cricket

[roaming_builder]

i was installing them one at a time

i even tried putting them into different slots

Since there is no change i am now trying to run a single hard drive 250gigs thru a maxtor Powermax HD diagnostic test, it passed the quick test with flying colors. now doing a full test. IF it passes fine, then i will try to install xp on the single drive, non-RAID.....

I am beginning to get a little discouraged =(

[roaming_builder]

ok HD passed the full test, running memtest now again on the ram...


memtest keeps freezing on test 7 or 8

timer stops

[roaming_builder]

making a new thread...