What's going wrong here?

[Ben Clarke]

Hey guys,

Some of you might remember my "Disk Read Error" problem, well, it's happening again, except this time I can't fix it. Also, I can no longer read from a CD/DVD, so I can't try to repair my installation. I think the motherboard may have problems, but can't be sure. Any suggestions on ways to fix this? Thanks.

[Fuse-Wire]

hmmm try to aquire a spare CD or DVD drive and a net set of cables to see if they function, if not then there could be a serious problem

[Darren]

Hey guys,

Some of you might remember my "Disk Read Error" problem, well, it's happening again, except this time I can't fix it. Also, I can no longer read from a CD/DVD, so I can't try to repair my installation. I think the motherboard may have problems, but can't be sure. Any suggestions on ways to fix this? Thanks.

Perhaps your DVD drive is dodgy. You can get a replacement DVDRW drive for less than 20 pounds!

[Ben Clarke]

Tried with a spare DVD-RW from an old system, same problem. Neither of the harddrives work either.

[Fuse-Wire]

hmmm not sounding to promising im afraid ben. tried a bios flash yet?

[panchoman]

check your cables, an improper cable connection could cause the corruption of data and read/write errors. is your cd/dvd drive sata or pata? idk how the cd/dvd drive not reading come into the picture.

[Darren]

Dodgy IDE or Sata connectivity on your motherboard. Have you tried the lastest motherboard bios and latest chipset drivers? if it's physically broken, and your sure that your IDE/SATA devices are not to blame, you may have to buy a new motherboard. AM2 motherboards can be had from 25-30 pounds easily.

[Ben Clarke]

Latest BIOS, all connections secure, they work in the old system. Motherboard then? Great. No games until Christmas :(

[JC316]

It could be that your cable is broken, try getting another cable and hooking it up.

[Darren]

Latest BIOS, all connections secure, they work in the old system. Motherboard then? Great. No games until Christmas :(

No games till Christmas, are you crazy!! The games you do have installed at present use a No CD crack for them, so you can play without disc. Secondly, I'm sure you can afford 25 pound for a new motherboard!

[Fuse-Wire]

Latest BIOS, all connections secure, they work in the old system. Motherboard then? Great. No games until Christmas :(

sorry to hear ben :shadedshu

[Ben Clarke]

No games till Christmas, are you crazy!! The games you do have installed at present use a No CD crack for them, so you can play without disc. Secondly, I'm sure you can afford 25 pound for a new motherboard!

Nope.... have disks for them, but this system I'm using no wcan't handle them. And I can't buy anything until Christmas...

@JC316: Yeah, tried, fail.

[{JNT}Raptor]

Ben have you tested your memory yet?....Bad memory can corrupt your Hard Drives as well....worth a shot.

Hope It helps. :)

[Ben Clarke]

Memtest reported no errors... and as I said, teh drives work fine on an old system.

[{JNT}Raptor]

Whats your system log say.....giving any driver errors?

[Ben Clarke]

I can't actually get into the OS... the errors occur right after POST.

[Fuse-Wire]

mobo gone how unlucky, least its close to christmans, could have happened in March!!

[Ben Clarke]

Did then too,that's how I ended up with this one.

[Fuse-Wire]

lol not your luck then is it?

[Darren]

I can't actually get into the OS... the errors occur right after POST.

I actually have a similar problem with my ASUS M2V motherboard. But it only happens if I over clock it too far...System would attempt to boot, but I will get corrupt windows files upon bootup.

[hat]

That suxxors.

[Ben Clarke]

I actually have a similar problem with my ASUS M2V motherboard. But it only happens if I over clock it too far...System would attempt to boot, but I will get corrupt windows files upon bootup.

Doesn't give any corrupt files here, just

"Disk read error
Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

[Fuse-Wire]

hmmm have you tried booting from an alternate source ie. backup OS on memory stick?

[Ben Clarke]

Don't have any working memory sticks, so that's out. And I don't think my BIOS actually supports USB booting.

[Fuse-Wire]

well then im outa ideas sorry, thats the only thing i could think of was to use alternate OS boot to access windows to see if you could get to the problem from there but awell.

[Darren]

Don't have any working memory sticks, so that's out. And I don't think my BIOS actually supports USB booting.

Most new motherboards will happily support USB booting, it will just detect it as another hard disk drive. In the bios select the USB stick as first boot option as opposed to the SATA or IDE hard disk drive you using.

[Ben Clarke]

I don't have any USB sticks anyway, and I can't find an option. Stupid ECS.

[panchoman]

seems like your mobos gone back, try flashing the bios i guess. seems like if the drives and cables are okay, then it'd be the onboard sata controller on the mobo screwing up.

[Ben Clarke]

Can't flash back, needs to be done in Windows :/

[panchoman]

sorry buddy, seems like you'll need to RMA that mobo

[Ben Clarke]

I don't have a reciept, which I think you need. The repair shop put it in, parents wouldn't let me put my own in :( If they did, I'd have a way better mobo.

[panchoman]

lol, just call em up and see what happens. sometimes they dont need an invoice, etc.

[Ben Clarke]

Nah, I'll just wait till I save up a bit. I wanna go Intel anyway. I'd like to get this sorted though, so I have something to play on until then.

[technicks]

Everyone is talking about the mobo. Would it maybe be wise to look for the problem with the hard disc?
It happened to me over and over again on my old 250 gb Maxtor. Replaced the thing and never did it again.:rolleyes:

[Ben Clarke]

technics, read above... the drives work fine in another system.

[panchoman]

Everyone is talking about the mobo. Would it maybe be wise to look for the problem with the hard disc?
It happened to me over and over again on my old 250 gb Maxtor. Replaced the thing and never did it again.:rolleyes:

he said that it works on other mobos

[technicks]

Sorry did not read all,:o

[Ben Clarke]

lol, OK.

So, any ideas? Would like to get this fixed...

[technicks]

There are not many options left i am afraid.

I remember when i accidentally pushed one of the pins from the dvd drive so far in the drive that it did not make contact any more with the connector. I really thought my pc was broken.
I took me 2 days to figure that out.:banghead:

I hope it is something to fix my friend.:)

[Ben Clarke]

So, any other ideas? I'd hate not to have a rig to use for games until Christmas.

[Ben Clarke]

So you all think it's the motherboard? OK... parents said I can get my Christmas present early, so will these be OK:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=336551

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4QNM&CategorySelectedId=11143&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405070000,356410000,43670000,4 294959071

Does that mobo support Crossfire?

[DaMulta]

230W power supply is giving out is my guess.

[Ben Clarke]

230W power supply is giving out is my guess.

Got a 650W for when my new mobos come. If it was the PSU, why would it work fine for 8 months, then stop?

[DaMulta]

PSUs can die out of the blue.

[panchoman]

So you all think it's the motherboard? OK... parents said I can get my Christmas present early, so will these be OK:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=336551

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4QNM&CategorySelectedId=11143&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405070000,356410000,43670000,4 294959071

Does that mobo support Crossfire?

looks good, but maybe a 4300 instead for the cpu? you can fsb mod it :)

[Ben Clarke]

looks good, but maybe a 4300 instead for the cpu? you can fsb mod it :)

Don't have that much cash, only have £115.

[Darren]

So you all think it's the motherboard? OK... parents said I can get my Christmas present early, so will these be OK:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=336551

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4QNM&CategorySelectedId=11143&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405070000,356410000,43670000,4 294959071

Does that mobo support Crossfire?


From what I can see that motherboard doesn't support crossfire.




That motherboard is far overpriced. You can obtain a socket 775 motherboard from £25-50 easily. Ebuyer.com is your best bet for cheap hardware. Dabs is overpriced generally and highly overrated!



I wouldn't recommend any Intel processor less than the E6600. Ideally the @Q6600 as its only £20 more and quadcore.

[Darren]

Don't have that much cash, only have £115.

£115 for motherboard and cpu or just the cpu?

[black light burns]

Nah, I'll just wait till I save up a bit. I wanna go Intel anyway. I'd like to get this sorted though, so I have something to play on until then.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
:eek: don't go over to the dark side.

[Darren]

If your budget is £115 for everything I recommend sticking with AMD. The Athlon 6000+ X2 is only £90 in the UK and is equivalent to intel's E6600 core 2 duo for £135. I spent about £30 pounds for my ASUS m2v motherboard and which as proven to be very reliable. There are cheaper motherboards which I've seen for £25.

Athlon 6000+ = £90
Motherboard = £25
Total = 115 (within budget)

[Darren]

AMD Route:

motherboards

Foxconn MCP61SM2MA-ERS2H Socket AM2 NF430 onboard VGA DDR2 mATX £28.49
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126698/show_product_specifications

ECS GeForce6100SM-M (1.0A) Socket AM2 PCI-E Onboard VGA 6 channel audio mATX Motherboard £27.99 (only has two ram slots)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133722

processor

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3GHz) Socket AM2 L2 2MB (2 x 1MB) Cache OEM Processor £92.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128510

[Darren]

Intel Route:

Processor

Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 / 2.4 GHz processor £86.13
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135668/show_product_specifications


Motherboards

ECS P4M900T-M V1.0 P4M900 Socket 775 Onboard VGA 6 channel audio mATX Motherboard £27.79
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133068

Foxconn 945G7MD-8EKRS2H Socket 775 I945G onboard VGA DDR2 mATX £28.44
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126697

Foxconn P4M9007MB-8RS2H Socket 775 P4M900 onboard VGA DDR2 mATX (supports quadcore and dualcore but only has 2 ram slots) £28.79

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126717

[Ben Clarke]

Th board does support Crossfire:

Hardware Features

ASUS AI Nap
ASUS AI NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System)
ASUS Q-Connector
ASUS Q-Fan 2
ATI CrossFire technology support
C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)
Chassis intrusion detection
CrashFree BIOS 3
Heat pipe chipset cooling

And I also hear that CPU can OC to 3GHz on air. This board also supports 45nm CPU's, apparantly.

So it'll be fine when I have enough for my next upgrade.

[panchoman]

GRAB IT, 3.0 should be easy with that chip

[black light burns]

please try to keep away from ECS... I know it isn't me that is going to be using it it would be ben.Foxxcon Gigabyte,Asus would be a MUCH better choice. If you are going Intel look into EVGA and XFX mobo.

[Darren]

Th board does support Crossfire:

Hardware Features

ASUS AI Nap
ASUS AI NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System)
ASUS Q-Connector
ASUS Q-Fan 2
ATI CrossFire technology support
C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)
Chassis intrusion detection
CrashFree BIOS 3
Heat pipe chipset cooling

And I also hear that CPU can OC to 3GHz on air. This board also supports 45nm CPU's, apparantly.

So it'll be fine when I have enough for my next upgrade.

indeed it does support crossfire. Stupid spec, they put it half way down the page so i missed it!

[Darren]

please try to keep away from ECS... I know it isn't me that is going to be using it it would be ben.Foxxcon Gigabyte,Asus would be a MUCH better choice. If you are going Intel look into EVGA and XFX mobo.

I've had no problem with ECS, cheap motherboards that do as intended, and between you and me my sempron 2800+ 754 was a hell of a overclocker on my old ECS board:rockout:

[black light burns]

GRAB IT, 3.0 should be easy with that chip

what chip?

[panchoman]

e2160

[black light burns]

e2160

ok thanks pancho... I think he could get 3-3.2ghz on it easy if he can keep it cool.

[panchoman]

jc can get 3.6 on his e4300 w/ no mods, i would imagine similair results with an e2160

[black light burns]

jc can get 3.6 on his e4300 w/ no mods, i would imagine similair results with an e2160

the 3.2ghz would be the highest i would go for 24/7 .If you were to go higher i am sure you would have to give it some voltage.I would go to 3.6 for benches if you could get it to that...

BTW this info is to ben and just telling my reasoning for 3-3.2ghz

[panchoman]

well of course cooling is required, jc uses an ac7 i think

[black light burns]

well of course cooling is required, jc uses an ac7 i think

Intel is starting to look better. I think my next build isn't going to be AMD but not sure yet.
I have read that the AC7 is a good cooler. Ben you may want to get one if you are going to OC.

[Darren]

Ben Clarke,

I've had second thoughts:

If your capable of over clocking the E2160 to 3GHZ, it is quiet a bargain, I actually saw one review where they clocked it to 3.4GHZ on air. The E2160 OC'd is probably on par with the E6600 judging from some reviews I was looking at. But if your planning on running it stock then forget it as it's slower than your current AMD 3800+.

Interesting review for stock performance: http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:NaMmhbwTrlYJ:www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-e2160_13.html+e2160+3800%2B&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=uk

[black light burns]

at stock it sucks...Overclocked it will kick AMD's ass (it is a CPU so it doesn't have one lol)

[Ben Clarke]

Of course I'm OCing :laugh:

What do you think I am, a noob? :)

And yeah, I'm getting the ASUS P35 board and e2160, sticking with everything else I have, then getting better GPU(s) and RAM.

[black light burns]

i know u would OC.if u didn't OC i would have to find you and :nutkick: you. lol J/K

what GPU(s) are you going to get?

[Ben Clarke]

Whatever I can get. Most probably Crossfire 3870's if I have the money. If not, then maybe 2900s.

[black light burns]

well i think i am going to SLI on my next rig.
good luck on getting the video cards.

[panchoman]

http://hwbot.org/quickSearch.do?hardwareId=CPU_1386

it gets around 3-3.3 on air. get a good cooler and you'll be good

[black light burns]

http://hwbot.org/quickSearch.do?hardwareId=CPU_1386

it gets around 3-3.3 on air. get a good cooler and you'll be good

must be a lower bin chip than the C2D

[Ben Clarke]

http://hwbot.org/quickSearch.do?hardwareId=CPU_1386

it gets around 3-3.3 on air. get a good cooler and you'll be good

Yay :)

If I get more more money saved up, might get an AC7 for it as well. And hopefully I'll be getting these next week, but nothing at Christmas. Well, not from my parents anyway.

[black light burns]

Yay :)

If I get more more money saved up, might get an AC7 for it as well. And hopefully I'll be getting these next week, but nothing at Christmas. Well, not from my parents anyway.

if i can get the upgrades for X-mas that i want or to build my new rig i want to try to get higher scores than you.:p If i can't get anything than i hope POS does so one of us can try...
Are you going to OC on stock cooling?Also what is your RAM speed?

[Ben Clarke]

I think the RAM is 533MHZ? I'm not sure.

[black light burns]

I think the RAM is 533MHZ? I'm not sure.

that may cause a slight loss of performance unless it can get a high OC. do you know what the timings are?

[Ben Clarke]

No, but I think it was 5-5-5-5-12.

[black light burns]

No, but I think it was 5-5-5-5-12.

ouch.... You did say you were going to get new RAM when you go the money? I still think it will be faster if you can get a good OC on the CPU. Try for about 667mhz when you start OCing.:toast:

[panchoman]

memory is okay, though it could be better, its nothing that absolutely needs to be replaced. people still run 400 ram

[Ben Clarke]

Yeah, that's why I'll replace it, eventually.

[black light burns]

memory is okay, though it could be better, its nothing that absolutely needs to be replaced. people still run 400 ram

That is what i was trying to say without saying it.I just think it is kind of slow because i am using POS's rig and he can get it to run 1000 @4-4-4-12.If set timings to 5-5-5-15 can get about 1200mhz without overvolting.

[Ben Clarke]

Is there any FSB mods for that CPU? The P5K can support 1600MHz FSB, so want to know whether there's any mods...

[panchoman]

we can try it, but if you get an e4300, we can really fsb mod the mofo to 1333 fsb

[Ben Clarke]

Lol, I don't have that much cash. I have enough for that board, e2160, and an AC7, that's all :)

That PSU is shiny... I'm calling it Project Ressurrection.

[panchoman]

yeah, maybe you wanna shovel some snow or something and get the extra cash for the e4300, how much more is that anyway? like 10 pounds or something?

[Ben Clarke]

No, £30 I htink. And I can't, we have no snow ATM.

[Ben Clarke]

Buying the stuff tomorrow, so any last minute siggestions? Budget is £120... needs to be CPU and Mobo.

[Darren]

Buying the stuff tomorrow, so any last minute siggestions? Budget is £120... needs to be CPU and Mobo.

Buy the components all from one website. Ebuyer has free delivery when you order more than £49 of goods.

DFI Infinity 975X/G SKT SKT775 - £63.57 inc VAT (it's slightly cheaper than the Dab's motherboard you quoted earlier, and it also supports quadcore and crossfire)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123034

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB - £52.59 (a few models above the E2140 that you were going to get!)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132064

total: £116.16 with VAT (remember to select free saver delivery)

[Ben Clarke]

That board doesn't support 1333MHz and above, which kinda puts my future upgrade plans out of the picture. I think I'll stick with what I'm getting ATM, unless there's any pther suggestions.