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Random disappearances
0I was reminded recently about an issue I had many months ago. Back when I was building the HTPC, I had many problems to contend with.
Little did I know that these problems were all most probably caused by one (or possibly 2) pieces of hardware which I had dismissed as a cause because they were previously working fine, and so therefore had little reason to check them.
So here was definitely a lesson to learn from this: Always follow standard troubleshooting practise i.e. start with nothing and add devices one by one regardless of their flawless history.
Anyway the problem child ended up being the Leadtek PxDTV2300H PCI-E TV tuner, or rather TV tuners; 2 of them to be precise.
It really should have been a dead give away when it was the 2 tuners that disappeared from device manager. From what I remember, I didn’t think of it because of the LAN adapter (onboard) also disappearing/not working at random, thus throwing me off the scent.
At the time I was sure it was a motherboard failure or a PSU failure or even a problem with the RAM.
It wasn’t until long after I replaced the TV Tuners, the motherboard and consequently, the RAM, that I realised it was the TV tuners causing bluescreens, crashes, random device disappearances and general instability. I confirmed it when I put them both into my own computer and I started to get random BSODs and they also started removing themselves from device manager at random.
Whether this is a driver problem (very possible considering Leadtek’s history) or some kind of chipset compatibility issue (both machines I tried were AMD 800 series – 890GX and 890FX), I have no idea, or way of testing it. All I know is that both cards do the same when put together, as they do apart and no amount of driver changing or windows reinstalls helps.
So from all this I suppose my main point is this:
Always check any addon cards, AGP, PCI, PCI-E;
Check em all!
Derryn.
New Router
0As good as the old machine I got from TAFE, the router is in need of an upgrade.
Now normally I need no reason to do this, but for the sake of convincing myself my reasons are as follows:
1) The current computer isn’t optimised for power efficiency (newer motherboards are surely more efficient)
2) The power supply seems to be making funny noises (could just need a dusting but meh)
3) It currently doesn’t natively support 1Gbps LAN (needs PCI addon card)
and finally:
4) It doesn’t have SATA, requiring the use of another PCI card to include the media backup drive in my setup (which is currently only working in one direction).
So here’s what I have in mind:
CPU:
| AMD | Intel |
| Cheapest:Sempron 140 2.8GhzSingle Core 45w x64 | Cheapest:Celeron Socket 775 E3400 Dual-core 2.6Ghz 65w |
| $31 | $47 |
| Ideal:Athlon II X2 255 Dual-Core 3.10Ghz 65w | Ideal: Core 2 Duo E6600 3.06Ghz Dual-Core 65w |
| $61 | $67 |
Motherboard:
| AMD | Intel | AMD Old Motherboard |
| ASUS M4A78LT-M-LE
Socket AM3+ Integrated GFX + DDR3 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN |
ASUS P5G41T-M-LX Socket 775+Integrated GFX + DDR3 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN | Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 Socket AM2 (supports AM3 @ 2000MT/s)+ DDR2 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN |
| $55 | $59 | $0 |
Memory:
Kingston 2GB DDR3-1333
$17
Power Supply:
Vantec ION2 CAN-460C 460Watt
$45
Extra requirements:
Low power consumption
Integrated Graphics
Integrated Dual-Gigabit networking
Or a Free PCI port
Using Old motherboard:
Requirements:
- · CPU (Supports AM3 at lowered bus speeds)
- · RAM (DDR2 only)
- · Power Supply
- · Graphics card? (temporarily use 8800GTS I guess)
CPU:
Sempron 140 $31
RAM:
Kingston 2GB Value $29
Power Supply:
Vantec (As above) $45
TOTAL Cost:
| AMD Budget | AMD Ideal | Intel Budget | Intel Ideal | Using Old Mobo |
| $31 + $55 + $17 + $45 | $61 + $55 + $17 + $45 | $47+ $59 + $17 + $45 | $67 + $59 + $17 + $45 | $31 + $29 + $45 |
| $148 | $178 | $164 | $184 | $105 |
All prices are taken from MSY and were all in stock at the time of writing.
I would personally like to make a new machine (less the case), my experience with ad-hoc new/old part swapping is not exactly stellar.
That said, I have just been reminded of another motherboard I have left over: the M2N-SLI Deluxe; But that might be overkill in retrospect… it was designed for high performance more than anything (though it would mean I only need a power supply and a CPU to get it going.
*sigh.*.. i’m gonna need to think about this..