My computer has died

[XPViking]

Hi folks. Just wondering if you can help me out. My old comp died by giving me these fun errors:

Primary Master Hard Drive Failure
Primary Slave Hard Drive Failure

I formatted the C drive but a buddy of mine thinks it could be a virus. Anyhow, the hard drive has been chugging away for quite some time so perhaps it's time for a new model.

So should I try to salvage what I can from the old comp? That is, things like the sound card, LAN card, etc... and just get a new motherboard, CPU, etc...? Can old celeron parts work with a new P4 CPU, RAM, and motherboard?

Or should I say "screw it" and get some completely new stuff? The old one is a celeron and new would be a Pentium 4. So far, the cheapest one I've seen is a P4 1.6 GHz CPU with 256 SDRAM without the monitor for 836000 won (around $1000 CAD). I have my old monitor but I'm not sure if it will work on a new computer like this.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

XPViking

[TrailerParkJawa]

Hard drive failures can be for several reasons:

1) The drive can be physically damaged. Usually you can tell this cause its gonna make noises like...kur-chunk...whirr...kur-chunk

2) You could have a virus which wiped out the partition tables. This can sometimes be fixed with emergency floppies.

3) If you were recently working on your computers insides make sure you didnt accidently change the jumpers on the back of your hard drives.


As for upgrading it all depends on your skills. It also depends on what parts your current machine has. I recently upgraded my computer with a new motherboard and CPU. I had to leave behind my sound card and modem because newer motherboards dont have ISA slots.

Here is my systems stats, you can see what I kept and what is new.


250W ATX Mid Tower ( 3 years old )
Soyo Dragon Ultra motherboard ( $142 ) - replaced 3 yr old Abit BH-6
AMD DURON 850 ( $32 ) - replaced 3 yr old Celeron 333
256MB DDR RAm ( $56) - replaces PC100 ram
New CPU Fan ( $6 ) - old fan wont fit new chip
Viper 770 TNT2 card ( 3 years old ) - latest Nvidia drivers
2 x 30 GB Maxtor Drives ( Striped ) - 1 and 2 years old

The Soyo Dragon Ultra is a great board. It came with onboard sound, IDE-Raid, and a Realtek 10/100 NIC. I bought just about the slowest CPU for this mobo, it can handle an Athlon XP 2100+. I was on a budget and for me a Duron 850 is so much faster Im happy.

Soyo sells a Dragon Lite version of my mobo, which is a lot cheaper.
It was $79 the day I bought mine.

As you can see I got away with a lot of upgrades for pretty cheap.
If anyone this doesnt make sense please ask, Im sure me or many others will help.

More than likely you should look into getting a new CPU and motherboard. But if you dont need the speed, just try to find out if your hard drive is dead. I needed to upgrade cause my previous CPU was too slow to play new games like Warcraft 3 and Dungeon Siege.

Mind you these prices are in US dollars and they are cash prices. I went to a computer show where mom and pop places set up booths. They will cut you a discount if you pay in cash.

[Mr Bean]

Three things
1.Lan Cards don't get old keep it
2. Sound, if its blaster at least Live! your good to go if not thats $50

Third never everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr buy a p4 with SDRAM you might as well shoot yourself in the foot now and be done with it

Fourth where do you live as that greatly affects things..

*It Should be noted Mr Bean above all other things Considers himself a Expert on all this Computer Repair and Assemble
And yes I still have my re-sellers license

[David]

My solution~ screw it and get a new computer.

[XPViking]

Third never everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr buy a p4 with SDRAM you might as well shoot yourself in the foot now and be done with it - Mr. Bean

Okay. Forgive me for being a newbie in this area but why, exactly? What is a better alternative?

As well, I currently live in South Korea. Does that help in regards to advice you can pass along? That is, there are quite a few custom assembly shops here but it's a matter of finding a good, honest place.

XPViking

[MagicHateBall]

DDR is a good choice, if they're making P4 motherboards that support it now. It's almost as cheap as SDRAM but it's about double the speed.
Other than that, your only choice is RDRAM -- expensive but very fast.

[Darth Wong]

If both your hard drives are actually fried and not just nuked by some software or cabling issue, I would replace your power supply immediately. The only thing (in my experience) that kills multiple components simultaneously is a bad power supply.

Having said that, your computer is too old to upgrade piecemeal. In order to upgrade CPU, you must also upgrade motherboard. In order to upgrade MB, you need to upgrade RAM and (possibly) power supply and maybe case. In order to take advantage of new MB/CPU/RAM, you really need a new video card. In order to keep up with this new hardware, you need a fast, new hard drive. In short, there's not much to salvage if you want to upgrade.

I say: new computer. Find a good clone-builder in your area and have one built to specifications. My suggestion: Hercules Game Threater XP for sound, a P4 board which supports DDR (to save money), 512MB of DDR RAM, a Seagate Barracuda 60GB hard drive (they're quiet), and an ATI Radeon 9000 (when it comes out shortly; it's a good budget card).

[MagicHateBall]

My suggestion: Hercules Game Threater XP for sound...

I know this is somewhat off-topic, but...
Hercules should stop making video cards and start making just sound cards. This card is just that good.

[Mr Bean]

Wong knows his computers pretty well and the power supply is somthing I left out(Well kinda if you go P4 you'll need it)


XPViking FIRST You shall Choose a Brand of Procceser and then we shall speak. Return not untill yea have made up your mind....

Let it be done

[TrailerParkJawa]

Id like to add the Mr Bean seems to know computers too. Although I beg to differ just slighty on wether or not to do IDE Striping.

I get the impression that you dont have experience with building your own PC's. If thats the case you should think about getting a clone like Wong says.

If you want to start learning about building your own pc, then check out some websites that teach you how to do this. Here is one article I found.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/01q1 ... index.html

There are many other sites out there, this is just the first I had a link for.
The prices are outdated, but that isnt a big deal. Build your first PC can be pretty scary, but its not rocket science. Once you have built a few, you will be very comfortable with the whole process.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Kick it



Get a new computer.

[C.S.Strowbridge]

I agree, get I new computer. And definitely go with an ATI Video card.

[MKSheppard]

No Fog Table Support, which means, no COMBAT MISSION!

[XPViking]

Thanks all. I'll get back to you after this weekend. We'll see what the local computer shop has. Seoul has a vast electronic market but I'll see what the locals here can do. I'll let you know as well what brand of processor as well.

XPViking

[Mr Bean]

Seoul?

Damn lucky SOB sure you don't have some good choices

Seoul is the place where you can get parts from the Guy who took it from the guy when it fell of the back of the truck

Had a friend travel there a few weeks back he came back with the normal stuff and a far as I can tell/check so far a Never-winter Nights CD and Code he picked up from a street vender for $9.99 American

[XPViking]

Mr. Bean. Seoul is too far from where I am. Like I say, I'll see what the locals can do first. As well, I'm not that familiar of where the best deals are to be found in Seoul.

XPViking

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

XPV, change your sig, I beg of you.

[David]

Gosh, that's even worse than the pic of Mr.Bean.

[Mr Bean]

Its worse because it was acutal said by a supposedly Sentient Being

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

My eyes, my brain, my stomach, my genitals!
I beg of you, change your sig!

[XPViking]

Emperor Chrostas the Crue, when someone can top that or if I feel bored then I'll change it. My sig just proves that what comes out of some people's mouths defy understanding.

Why do you mention your genitals Emperor? I am disturbed by your post.

XPViking

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

Follow the path of injury;
In, through the eyes, My vision is dimming!
Bouncing around in my skull, My brain hurts!
Triggering autonomic reactions in my:
Stomach, queesy with revulsion, flipping around like a demented gymnast on crack!
My genitals, attempting to invert, a reaction to the horror!
Note:
My legs and arms tremble with an overdose of adrenaline, caused by the fight of flight responce to an image so repegnant, the brain sees some of it's own memories as a threat to it's sanity. A classic insoluable dilemma, trying to escape what one knows. My face twitches with conflicting emotions. But this was so trivial compaired to the firsts four pains that I didn't include them in the post!
I have come to grips with it enough that I only need to avert my eyes!
If you have a spark of human compassion, you will spare humanity a mental picture we could all live without! Some things "Man Was Not Meant To Know". "The harrah, the harrah!" M. Brando.
There is no way a mention if pain in the genitals can compare with the mental picture of the person who said this's mindset. If you study madness to closely, you begin to understand it too well!
HA HA HA!
Your quote ranks up there with "It's cannon that a single Starfleet officer equipped with a phaser can defeat a whole regiment..."

[Shadowhawk]

Mike: Why tell him to get a P4, then recommend DDR to save money? An equivalent-speed Athlon is a third as much as a P4, and the motherboards are cheaper.
Hell, with him living in Korea, he should have ready access to all the best motherboards out there.

[XPViking]

Update:

So far, I've been to most of the electronic stores here. They only sell pre-made computers and run away in horror when I ask them if they can assemble one to my specs. I found one place that can custom-build a computer but...they are undergoing renovations. Will try to get a hold of them and see what happens. I just may have to go up to Seoul.

It always an adventure when living overseas.

XPViking

[AdmiralKanos]

Mike: Why tell him to get a P4, then recommend DDR to save money? An equivalent-speed Athlon is a third as much as a P4, and the motherboards are cheaper.

True. It's one of those tough-nut decisions, since the P4 board has a longer upgrade path. The Athlon is better value for money, but it's also harder to keep cool (the P4 makes as much heat, but its physical heat-spreader design is much better) and its mounting arrangement is not as good. The P4 will bump up against DDR bandwidth limitations at the extreme speeds, but the Athlon can't reach those speeds anyway, even after you account for the difference in efficiency per clock cycle.