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Siber Express
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| Check out the latest parts and accessories from Truck Hownd |
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Jason
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 Posted
- March 2 : 12:53p
| | The desktop I have now is a custom dell xps 410 (which is now the 420 model) which I spent $2,700 on and purchased in jan 07. I have a intel core 2 duo processor (now quad core is standard) 500 gb hard drive, 4gb ram,had a 256 mb nvidia 7550 graphics card, and some other upgrades. I'm overall happy with it but spent a premium configuring it through dell. For that price I could have got an awesome mac which would be more powerful for the same price pretty much. I'd recommend gettting a dell though if u want to customized pc. Another reason why I went through dell was the 0% financing I got till this august, which helped whereas apple only offers 3 months (90 days) of no interest |
Edited by - Jason on March 2 1:12p |
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Tom in Tacoma
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Posted
- March 2 : 4:51p
| The XPS is a great machine.
Right now I'm running an HP Pavilion m9077c. It's set up as an entertainment center with a TV tuner card, 4gb of memory, core duo processors running 2.4GHz and a 400gb hard drive. It came with Vista Ultimate, MS Works and a whole bunch of other software, a DVD lightscribe (burns its own labels) and two media drive bays for backup expansion.
It's a pretty beefy machine - I haven't been able to bog it down yet.
Cost? $1599 at Costco and that included a 24" flat panel monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse.
Me likey! | |
Sawblade
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Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 2 : 5:29p
| If you are going to buy and install 4gb of ram, you will have to get the 64 bit version of Windows, XP or Vista. The standard 32 bit versions do have the address space to access past 3gb of ram.
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Edited by - Mark05KR on March 2 5:31p |
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Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 2 : 5:43p
| I would also recommend a quality power supply.
I put a Corsair 620 watt PS in my PC. They no longer have the 620w and 720w instead moving up to a 650w and 750w. These are the modular type PS. You only plug in those cables that are needed to power up your peripherals. It makes for a nice clean look inside the case with no unneeded wires to bundle up and to screw up proper airflow. Here is a (bad) picture of my case. You can see that there are no extra wires hanging around to screw up internal airflow.
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Siber Express
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Posted
- March 2 : 7:40p
| I already have XP Pro and I can get a copy of Vista that is 64 bit also.
My Current Machine is a HP, 3 days after its birthday it started screwing up. Took it to a repair shop and they are talking like $600 for repair.
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Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 8:19a
| What are they saying needs to be repaired? What was screwing up?
You can replace and an awful lot of parts for $600.00. Get a list of what the repair shop says needs to be fixed. If they can fix it, so can you. It ain't that hard.
One more thing about Windows 64 bit. Make sure the programs you want to use will run with the 64 bit OS. Not everything will. | |
Siber Express
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Posted via Email
- March 3 : 8:41a
| Actually he said he would not fix it, but said it would need at least $600
to make it right, maybe more.
But he did try and sell me 1 that they build at their shop for $2000. | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 8:49a
| | So, what needs to be fixed? | |
Siber Express
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Posted
- March 3 : 11:25a
| Motherboard and processor.
They said the HP Motherboard was around $475.
Still trying to figure that one out, I can get a real nice Motherboard and processor for a lot less than $600.
That is why I said I would just build the next one. | |
Tom in Tacoma
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Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 12:36p
| Well, MB and CPU are the 2 most expensive parts that could go bad. It just seems kind of strange that they would both get fried at the same time. Was the power supply dead as well?
To take out the MB and CPU there was probably some kind of power issue. If you had a power surge from the wall outlet, you would think it would take out the PS.
If the PS itself was bad, it could have sent a surge to the motherboard.
Maybe there was a static discharge to the system? Was anyone inside the case for any reason?
It's just unusual to see both a MB and CPU go out at the same time on a system that isn't very old. Something must have caused them to die.
Don't the HP machines come with a one year parts and labor warranty? How old was your system? | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 12:38p
| Quote: Originally posted by Tom in Tacoma
Quote: Originally posted by Mark05KR
If you are going to buy and install 4gb of ram, you will have to get the 64 bit version of Windows, XP or Vista. The standard 32 bit versions do have the address space to access past 3gb of ram.
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You're right on. I went back an verified what I thought I had for memory. My machine only has 3gb of RAM, not 4. Thanks for clearing that up. Blame it on senility (I do!).
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We found it out the hard way. When my son was building his PC, he bought 4gb and Windows only showed 3gb in the system applet. Wasted money. | |
Siber Express
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Posted
- March 3 : 12:54p
| 3 Days out of Warranty when it started acting up.
BTW this is the Same computer I am on now, and I thought the crashing was Vista but it is the MB and processor not playing nice with others  | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 1:11p
| A couple of thoughts. If it was only a few days out of warranty, I would definitely give HP customer service a call and see if there is anything they can do. It is worth a phone call.
But, you say you are now using the computer. So the MB and CPU aren't dead? Why did the repair guys think they were both bad if they are still working? Is it an intermittent type of problem?
I am getting more confused, and I didn't think that was possible. Although TinT probably did. | |
Siber Express
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Posted
- March 3 : 1:42p
| I talked to HP when it started doing it, they are the ones that sent me to the shop I took it to.
The shop I took it to thought it was in Vista just like me when I talked to them.
It is not the OS and the best they can tell is the MB and the CPU are loosing it occasionally, hence the reason I am on right now but also why it will continue to crash until I throw it out the window.
HP would not warranty it because I updated both the Memory (went from 2GB to 3GB) and the Video Card (BFG GeForce 7800 GTOC instead of the on board 6150LE). | |
Tom in Tacoma
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Posted
- March 3 : 2:10p
| | Have you tried reflashing the BIOS? You should be able to find the right one and how to on the HP Service website. | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 3:14p
| I'm actually surprised that HP would deny warranty coverage due to user replaceable parts. Now, if they said the warranty had expired, that's one thing. But, if you decide to add memory or replace the graphics controller, that voids the warranty?
What model # is the computer?
Anyway, what exactly does 'loosing it occasionally' mean? The descriptions you are giving as to what happens are a little vague. Is it something that happens after the system has been running for a while? Does it just stop responding? Does it shut down randomly? After it 'looses it', can you just reset and it starts back up?
Have you tried removing the graphics card and running on the built in graphics controller? Have you tried removing or disconnecting any other internal and external parts?
I would try a few things before just giving up and tossing it out. Flashing the bios like Tom said might be one thing to try. Another thing would be to wipe the hard drive and re-load the OS.
There are a number of troubleshooting steps you can try before just replacing a relatively new computer. But, if you have your heart set on building yourself a new computer, so be it. If the other one is going in the trash anyway, I would be more than happy to take it off your hands. |
Edited by - Mark05KR on March 3 3:15p |
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Siber Express
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Posted
- March 3 : 3:37p
| The Shop is the one that said they could not fix it on HP's Nickel, out of warranty by 1 month and up graded to boot.
The looses it is it goes to the Blue Crash dump screen when it feels like it, it can happen when you start it up or it can happen 2 hours later or not at all.
I went over this with a fine tooth comb on the phone with HP, about 2 hours with them anyways. It is up to date.
Now I did remove the Video card this afternoon and so far it has not crashed, and I was wrong, it is a 7600 GTOC not 7800. | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 4:06p
| Now see, I was having some problems with a blue screen crash with my system for a while a few months back. There was a message that said what the error was. It had to do with something happening when the computer was in sleep mode and a signal was received to wake it up. (or something like that)
Anyway, I wrote down everything that was on that blue screen message and, after rebooting, I went to the Microsoft website and searched the knowledgebase and found some information there about the problem. What had happened in my case was one of the MS updates had failed to install properly, but it showed that it was installed, so it would not allow it to be installed again. I found the update, removed it, and re-installed it form the knowledgebase article I found and the problem has gone away.
The fact that your system hasn't crashed since you removed the video card could point to a video driver issue. When you installed the new video card did you disable the on-board video?
I get the feeling that the shop you took it in to didn't really want to take the time to figure out the real problem. | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 4:08p
| | After the blue screen, does the system start right back up after you reset? | |
devnull
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Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 4:34p
| Quote: Originally posted by devnull
Quote: Originally posted by Mark05KR
I get the feeling that the shop you took it in to didn't really want to take the time to figure out the real problem.
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Agreed. Also, even proprietary systems like HP and Dell use standard form factor system boards in their cases these days. There is a good chance you could pop an aftermarket replacement board in that case with little or no effort.
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That's true.
One thing that those systems often times skimp on is the power supply. Combine an underpowered PS with a high performance video card and you could be starving the system of power, which would probably react like a CPU, MB or OS failure. Drop the 12v or 5v for a couple of milliseconds and everything gets lost. | |
Siber Express
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Posted
- March 3 : 5:14p
| It does start right back up, and it does go all the way to the start normal or in safe mode page.
As for the error message now, there are 4 8 digit #'s at the bottom of the error message that I have found no reference to. When it first did it it was McAfee, then the video driver, then the sound card driver (don't have 1 either). It went through every system and now it is down to 4 #'s. | |
Mark05KR
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Posted
- March 3 : 5:26p
| Write down the numbers and post them or PM them to me.
At this point I don't think there is anything wrong with your hardware. Just a guess. | |
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