Old geezer building a pc

[Thorsson]

TBH I nevr had any problems booting my IP35 Pro with 4 sticks of Crucial (I wanted to see if there were problems and it only takes seconds to fit/unfit RAM). I did go straight to the BIOS and up the voltage to 2.1V though - I didn't want Vista to crash half way through installation!

Don't have a P182 either, let's hope MSIC pops back in. Can't say I've ever had a problem fitting an OD.

[MSIC]

Thanks MSIC
Call me a fool by all means, but after an hour of struggle I can find no way of mounting the guide rails on the Samsung optical drive so as to make it fit. Even with the rails fitted in the most forward position - toward the drive front, The spring levers hit the lugs on the case with about 2cm of drive poking out of the front. I wouldn't have expected this to be a problem! How hard can it be? Puzzled...

OK, am back from Sainsburys.
Hmm - are you still having the same problem? (I realise that you posted about 2 hours ago).
The front-most tips of the metal part of the rails have to line up with the front of the optical drive.

Have you got it upside down?

[OldRoy]

A more sensible question. (I had to bodge the bl00dy DVD writer fit-up - nb; no, right way up... it seems that the lugs on the case are too big - very odd, I spent about 2 hours on this!)
For the little 2 and 3 pin Molex (?) connectors supplying the front panel etc (pwr switch, reset etc) am I right in recalling that the small triangle/arrow is on the +ve pin?
And
For my Antek case there are 2 HDD led connectors in this group but only one on the Abit m/b. Ignore second I assume?
I more or less have the box assembled apart from these small connectors. I won't tidy the loom until I have something that works.
Nb I've put two simms in one channel - do you suggest I remove one for initial setup?

[MSIC]

Hi - am confused about the optical drive issue - i wasn't asking if the optical drive was upside down by the way, i meant try changing something about the orientation of the rails.
I think yes, the triangle is for +ve, and i'd suggest that yes, ignore the second HDD connector.
Do you have it booting yet? Installing your OS ok? Have you set the fan speeds on the case to the slowest speed?

[OldRoy]

HI MSIC
lots of interruptions at the moment so discontinuous progress.
The DVD fitting problem is a minor irritation - I'll get back to it - at present I have a couple of cable ties on it! NOT a permanent arrangement.
I am dithering about the boot-up as I have heard that oem xp needs re-authorising if you change the graphics card (letter to PCPro magazine: I thought it was only the mb that related to the license.) THe ATI card I was going to use may have a fault so I'm thinking I may as well buy an inexpensive 512 Geforce 8500 anyway.
So I'm way behind. If you can be bothered take the occasional look here as I can't be sure when I can spend time on this due to other pressures (aka life).
But thanks for your valued oversight!
BTW how does one issue formal "thanks"? - can't see any links.

[OldRoy]

OK - power-up fine.
In aBit "Guru" setup bios menu I see the following:
CPU - 2399
Ext Clock - 272 Mhz
Multiplier - x9
Est. new cpu clo. - 2488
Dram speed - Default DDR2-816 (I have 2X 1GB simms in ch1)
Voltages
CPU core - 1.3250
DDR2 - 1.8
cpu vttt 1.2v - 1.2
mch 1.2v - 1.25
1ch 1.5 v - 1.5
DDR2 ref volt - 0%
CPU gtl ref 0&2 - 67%
cpu gtl ref 1&3 - 67%
I'm tempted to go ahead and see what I can do on the assumption that everything can be reset easily enough? Anyone at all like to comment?
Looking at the mb manual I am stunned to see that setting up the RAID requires a FLOPPY!!! Surely this isn't the only way - who the hell build pc's with FD's these days?? I have floppy drive in another box but I don't really want to dismantle it. Hmm

[Thorsson]

You should change the DDR2 Voltage from 1.8 to 2.1, especially if you want to OC. Also note that this board seems to default to a RAM multiplier of 2:3. If you want to OC I suggest taking it down to 1:1 before you start. You already have a 6Mhz OC, and that has resulted in the RAM running at 816. I'm sure there won't be any problems with it at that speed, but if you step up the OC, it's likely that the RAM would be the first to cry nuncle.

[OldRoy]

Thanks Thorsson
I'm afraid in my ignorance I can't equate your observation about the multiplier with what I see. I don't actually understand the implications, but the options available simply say "min 6 max 9". I don't know how this relates to the 2:3 ratio you mention. Remember I am completely new to this. For the moment I'd just like to achieve a working system at default/optimum settings. The oc can wait until I understand what I'm doing.

[Thorsson]

The option you want is DRAM Speed (CPU: DRAM) on the main uGuru page. This must be on Default at the moment and Default is running it at 2:3. You can tell that because DDR2 running at 816 means a clock of 408 (that's what the 2 in DDR2 means) which is 1.5 times your FSB of 272 (a slight default OC on the board, compared to stock 266). You need to change the default to 1:1.

[OldRoy]

Thanks again.
I'll take a look at this tomorrow as I have to attend to other things now. Your advice is appreciated.
Roy

[Webby]

The 2 in DDR2 means the second generation DDR stands for Double Data Rate that is where the 2x comes into it. not that it really matters why it should be so just that we know that it is

[OldRoy]

Hi again
I'm currently beached as I can't manage to get the XP mirroring to work (put a thread on the o/s board about this). As soon as I can get the RAID up and running I'll start looking at the system setup. I'd like to optimise the RAM, bus and clock settings so that I have a stable system whilst I set up my applications etc.

Right now, living on the bank of a river, I spent most of the day filling sandbags and worrying about something COMPLETELY different.

[dangel]

Right now, living on the bank of a river, I spent most of the day filling sandbags and worrying about something COMPLETELY different.

In which case - good luck mate and I hope your system (and you) stays dry!

[OldRoy]

Anybody, I'm going nuts here and wish I'd never started this. The people who write the aBit "manuals" should be taken somewhere quiet and shot like sick dogs.
I have tried and failed to get any mirroring using XP. The aBit manual is a ****ing joke.
I have finally found CTRL I (the opportunity goes by in about a millisecond) and configured drives as RAID 1. Attempting to install (about the tenth time in two days) XP on this gives a blue screen and asks me to check my drives.

Now what is the goddamned driver floppy disc about? Is it possible to create a RAID array AFTER installing XP - damned if I know. There are two options for the driver set, one Intel and one for someJMicron. There is a JMicron utility on the aBit CD. Do I install on a single disc using the JMicron drivers and then set up the RAID afterward. There is not A SINGLE WORD about this in the manuals - absolutely f*cking incredible.

Someone put me out of my misery please. HOW can achieve this simple objective? RAID has been round for more than a decade! I refuse to just give up and instal on a single disc after spending a small fortune on this hardware (& how I wish I hadn't).

And now I have to spend half the night sitting up hoping I don't get flooded...

[Thorsson]

I'd suggest a new thread on this, and it's probably best in the Abit forum (or post in both places). There's no hint in the title that you want to know about RAID, so the right people won't look at it.

AFAIR with XP you normally load the RAID drivers at installation time. Not sure what happens if you try to do it afterwards.

[OldRoy]

OK Thorsson - I'll repost.
Thanks.