gofar99 Messages: 1949 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Horrors of horrors, my main PC MB died. Laptops are fine but IMHO don't cut it for serious PC design use. The worst part is getting the new MB to marry up with the existing software. A true challenge for sure. The new CPU is different (comes with the new board), the board is different, LAN card is different, video is different. I fully expect a day of hair pulling. Then there is the likelihood that mother micro soft will jump in make me ask for a may I change things. Bah Humbug.
Been there, done that, and it's a real bummer. The PC I'm using to post this is one whose motherboard I replaced in 2003 or 2004 when the original died. I needed to replace it ASAP because it was my business computer back then, so I had no choice except to get a replacement board locally or else buy a new machine altogether.
As luck would have it, the original's CPU socket was obsolete, so I had to buy a new CPU along with the new board. All I could get locally was a low-end Gigabyte with DDR RAM, and the only CPU they had was a single-core Sempron. AAMOF, I think DDR2 had then only just hit the market. So, this thing's not only a dinosaur, but a bottom-end dinosaur at that. But hey, it works great for what little I use it for.
I'm now on my 2nd power supply, and I think 4th HDD and 4th optical drive. The next time something dies, I'm gonna have to build a brand new one because compatible parts are pretty near unobtanium these days. I just built some really spicy new computers with SSDs (15 second bootup!) for my wife's workplace, which has given me the itch to upgrade anyway!
gofar99 Messages: 1949 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, It only gets worse... the new board was defective and had to go back. After trying everything (power supplies, drives, etc) the PC kept dying between 3 and 5 hours after being turned on. It was not any sort of obvious heating issue. It would start to slow down then just stop. Diagnostic software that would about half the time load on a DVD indicated that it had "lost" communication with the drive...I used two known good ones so it wasn't a drive issue. So for a while I will have to use the laptop. OK device ,just not as convenient and doesn't have all my files on it.
EDIT: Windows gagged on the install and didn't want to take the registration code. A call to them got a person in the registration section that spoke better English that I do in what ever was his native tongue, but only 1 out of 3 words made sense to me. When he couldn't solve the problem he transferred me to a tech with the same language issue. No success he tried to send me back to the first one...I hung up. Fortunately there is a telephone registration system that has clear voices (automated) and it did get WIN 7 registered, just prior to the PC quitting.
A call to them got a person in the registration section that spoke better English that I do in what ever was his native tongue, but only 1 out of 3 words made sense to me. When he couldn't solve the problem he transferred me to a tech with the same language issue. No success he tried to send me back to the first one...I hung up. Fortunately there is a telephone registration system that has clear voices (automated) and it did get WIN 7 registered, just prior to the PC quitting.
There are so many ironies in that, I don't know where to begin. This is why I always like to try to have 2 running computers with one serving as a back-up just in case the first one dies. No phone chatter for me, I'll get the information I need to fix the first computer, on the second one.
gofar99 Messages: 1949 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
It has been a month and a day and the PC is finally back up and running. Gads what a trial. It didn't stop with the second new mother board either. Some of the software said I had used up my number of installs and should buy more copies. BS. I finally got through to them and said I would send the drive the old copy was on with detailed instructions on how to use it . They all ultimately relented and allowed another install. Greedy buggers. Anyhow the new configuration has been running fine for 14 hours straight. I actually like the new board. Its an Asrock with a 6 core AMD cpu. I have yet to try the over clocking functions as it permits everything to be OC. The cpu is unlocked as well. I wonder if the warranty covers it should I fry something.
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the new board was defective and had to go back. After trying everything (power supplies, drives, etc) the PC kept dying between 3 and 5 hours after being turned on. It was not any sort of obvious heating issue. It would start to slow down then just stop. Diagnostic software that would about half the time load on a DVD indicated that it had "lost" communication with the drive...I used two known good ones so it wasn't a drive issue. So for a while I will have to use the laptop. OK device ,just not as convenient and doesn't have all my files on it.
. They all ultimately relented and allowed another install. Greedy buggers. Anyhow the new configuration has been running fine for 14 hours straight. I actually like the new board. Its an Asrock with a 6 core AMD cpu. I have yet to try the over clocking functions as it permits everything to be OC. The cpu is unlocked as well. I wonder if the warranty covers it should I fry something.
