Help! My PC died! (Edit: Now my modem!!)

[Animal]

Bite the bullet and go for it. You'll be much happier in the long run.

Yes, I'd do what Animal says - if you can get it repaired and upgraded pretty much at the same time, you'll save yourself hassle in the long run, and you'll be all set for the next while as far as computer-upgrades go. In a way you're lucky, you can kill two birds with one stone.

[Hayashi]

Hi guys
Thanks for your replies. I guess I wasn't clear - I wanted to know if what the repair guy told me was the truth, & not som BS so that I could spend more than necessary.

[andrewas]

What the repair guy told you is true enough as far as it goes. M/bs that slow are hard to find first hand, but it just might be worth looking through some stores that might have an old one around.

Personaly I woudnt touch a P4, cost too much and the AthlonXP is a better chip anyway.

The RAM you have might run in a P4 system but youd need more of it and it would become a major slowdown, so its better to upgrade it to DDR ram. Do *not* touch RDRAM, its crap.

For a P4 you need an enhanced ATX PSU which I cant remember the exact name of, but it cant be run off a standard ATX PSU. ALso the P4s heatsink requires extra support in the case, so a new case is in order. Its unlikly youll find a P4 PSU to fit in your old case anyway.

My advice - and this is based on whats available in scotland, not singapore - is to get a Athon XP 2000 with 512 MB RAM and perhaps a new graphics card. If your existing one is pre-Geforce 2 is say definatly upgrade, past that its not really neccesary. HDD - 12 GB is too small for serious CRPG play, I myself regularly have to switch around games depending on who want to play. Id keep it and add a second larger drive as secondary master. The rest of your system should be okay.

[Hayashi]

OK thanks all for your help. The repair guy managed to locate a m/b that would support the existing chip. As far as he can determine, only the m/b is fried; all other components seem ok. He'll be testing today though, and he'll contact me if he spots any other problems.
I've decided to get this existing set repaired, and once it's working I'll need to back up a lot of important files (email contacts, documents, game saves, etc ).
Then I'll go hunting for a new case & relegate the existing system to my son & daughter - *their* system (also a hand-me-down) is positively ancient (a P200 MMX about 5 years old, 32 MB RAM, lol)

[Oblivion437]

Recipe For success:

1X Bugle Horn

1x Busted Computer

1X Hole in the Ground

1X M1919 Browning Machine Gun chambered in .30_06

30000X Rounds of .30_06 Ammunition

Step 1. Confirm Computer is hozed

Step 2. Dig hole

Step 3. Build Alter for computer (soil from hole works best)

Step 4. Load BMG with the 30000 rounds.

Step 5. Shoot the Shizzitz out of that computer.

Step 6. Bury remains, cover with remaining soil from alter.

[Sir Kenyth]

A MB shorting usually takes something else with it, if not all of it. Frankly, I'm amazed the CPU isn't toasted too. Count yourself lucky. Make sure and find out what shorted and why. You don't want it happening again. A serious burning smell would almost have to come from a problem with the main board power supply/voltage reulator. Chip-fry situations usually don't produce a noticable smell. They burn-out long before they start to burn.

[Hayashi]

Update:
Brought the PC home last night, connected all the cables. After a bit of fiddling got the system to recognise the mouse. All systems ok - except now my modem doesn't work!

I've checked the power supply to the modem (it's an external 56k) & the phone line itself. Both check out ok.

Initially when I try to dial up to my ISP it disconnects straight away and get an error message 666 - something about the modem not plugged in or unavailable.

Riiiggghhhttt. Go to control panel and add a new connection. Now when I try dialling the ISP I can hear the "beep boop whiiiirrr" sound that all modems make. Then I get error message 645 - Micorsoft Dial-Up Adaptor not responding.

Any help? Pretty please? *grovels shamelessly*

[ 07-15-2002, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: Hayashi ]

[Animal]

Dump the modem and grab broadband. If that's no an option, uninstall and then reinstall the MS Dial-Up adapter. It's accesible through the network control panel (depends on your OS)

[Hayashi]

I don't use the internet from home that much to justify a broadband connection.

I use Win 98 SE. I will try your suggestion tonight.

Thanks. *keeps finger crossed*