briankallen3

thanks everyone for the replies. I tried thoses and I hoped they would work, but they didn't so, I packaged the **** PS up and am getting an exchange. On a more pleasent note, I just got the Sims 2 in the mail today, a day ahead of the opening day. OHHHH YEAAHH!! Too bad I can't play it until I get the new PS Oh Well, such is life. Thanks again

well, I thought I figured out the problem with my video card I bought (see my first post 'old MB and new video card - need help/advice'). Stupid me didn't look at all the sys requirement and didn't have enough watts flowing to kick the card into gear. So I bought a new Power Supply, a PowerUp 400W Duel 80mm fan. I bought it from globalcomputer.com, and the description said it was compatable with AMD and P4 systems, ATX compliant, and it's over the 300W minimum I need for my video card. So when the PS gets here, I put it in, hook everything backup correctly and push the button to fire up the system. Nothing!! And this is w/o the new video card in, just with all the old stuff. I recheck the **** wires, everything is hooked right. Double check the selector switch is set for 115V, everything looks good. Push the button again and NOTHING!. So I swap out the new PS and put in the old one, everything works fine again, boots up fine, no problem. So I'm wondering if there is some compatability issue with the PS and my system. My system: 1.2Ghz Athlon T-Bird CPU Microstar VIA KT133 AMD Socket A MS-6389 MB supports up to 1.4Ghz CPU 384MB 133SDRAM ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB Vid card (old, I know:)) on-board MB sound Lite-On LTR-24102B CDRW Std Floppy 20GB Maxtor HD 5400RPM no extra case fans, a modem and a LAN card all being powered by 200W PS Is there some reason a new PS compatable with AMD and ATX shouldn't work? Thanks, Brian

thank you both. I'll play with the BIOS some more. I found the AGP Aptature Size setting but it didn't do anything. I'm just so frustrated, I'm just going to send the card back and hope they send me one that works if these things don't work. Thanks again Brian

hey Bud, While, this is just a suggestion, but with the price of printers coming down so much these days, you might just be better to buy a new printer. Printers go bong after a few years on use anyways. I had an Epson photo-quality printer, used it for a year and a half, then let it sit for a year cause I went to college, when I made enough money to build my own computer, I got the printer and hooked it up, and it never printed correctly and I always had problems with the USB cable connection. So take $100, even less today, and you can find some pretty decent printers with good quality printing for under $100. I know that probably wasn't the answer you're looking for, cause oh wants to spend money with this sucky economy, computer parts are reaching really low prices recently. It's a good time to replace broken/outdated parts. Brian

great question! For two months, I was planning on building my own PC case, and there are very few websites out there that cover this. First off, what material do you want to build the case out of? I suggest Acrylic cause it's an awesome look for a case, but also aluminum to a good bet too. But here is the key to the measurements. Find the exact measurements for your Motherboard (MB) and then start drawing a model on paper of this. If you have those huge sheets that drafters use, that is preferable, but you can use a reduced scale for the drawing if that works better. Some key elements to remember when designing around your MB: 1) Power Supply Orientation and Clearance above the MB and CPU 2) Leave enough space between the MB and the location of youe drives. 3) Cooling is a major issue, and you can find technical documents byAMD off their website, under the "Processors" section, look for the BUilder and Installion Guides. This link is for the AMD Athlon XP CPU, but the guides are at teh bottom of the page http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Techni...39_3748,00.html 4) Visit the FormFactors website to look up deminsions of different components, especailly the Power Supply, and you're going to want to build a case that is ATX compatable, so browse those documents http://www.formfactors.org/formfactor.asp Post a reply if you need help on anything specific. Hope that steers you in the right direction. Brian

hey bud, I just saw your post had no replies, and niether does mine, so I'm going to give you my best advice. I'm assuming everything went peachy on the install of the card, and you aren't having any troubles with the sound quality outside of your gaming apps. And since the card worked great for the first 1.5 months or so, it "sounds" like you have a problem with either your speakers or there is an audio issue with mainly your gaming apps that use some specific type of software to "improve" the quality of the game. Does your card have pre-setting for specific games? And are you turning up the volume up your speakers really load when you play? Also, it could be the wiring in your speakers can't handle the power output coming from the soundcard when you're gaming and over the time that everything worked fine, the wires were breaking down. I'd lean more on the speaker issue than a software issue unless you have your system hooked up to some nice speakers made for surround, not those crappy desktop speakers or pretend 5.1 speaker systems for computer that are really crap. I bought one before and I hated it. Other than the speaker, I'd have to say it's an issue with the programs you're running and not the actual soundcard. Try updating the games with the lastest patches and surf the game sites to lok for Sound issues anyone else had. Hope that helps. Brian

hello all, Here's the skinny: I got an older computer (a Gateway, I know, know:) The MB is an older one but not outdated by any means. It's a Microstar VIA KT133 AMD Socket A MS-6389 board. And I recently bought a new vid card for it (a GeForce FX 5700LE 256DDR 8x/4x AGP VGA,DVI,TV-Out). I've check with Gateway several times about the compatability between the two, and they're telling me it should be good to go. And I found the specs for both on the internet, and saw for myself they are compatable. The MB has a 4x AGP slot, and it has on-board video but I disabled that and haven't been using it for awhile. Also, I swaped in a larger Power Supply just to make sure I had enough juice, but still... everytime I put the card in the slot on the MB and fire up the computer, no graphics! The computer boots-up fine, but nothing comes up on the screen. I can't even use the on-board graphics when the card is in the slot, even though I should be able to. I'm at the end of my rope as far as ideas go and could use some advice. My system meets all the requirements for the card (AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz, 384 SDRAM, Windows ME, CD-RW). Here are some references: MB Specs: http://www.support.gateway.com/support/man...07869/07869.htm Vid Card: http://www.xfxforce.com/product_view.php?sku=PVT36LUA Any Help would be much appriciated. Brian