Ad
News

Memory upgrade enhances performance of Fujitsu's FinePix S3 Pro digital SLR camera

Published on January 16, 2006

Fujifilm has begun offering a buffer upgrade for its 12.3-megapixel digital SLR camera FinePix S3 Pro. Read more

Intel forecast to cut P4 price by up to 34%

Published on July 08, 2004

Intel will trim its Pentium 4 and Celeron D prices on 22 August, Taiwanese mobo maker sources have claimed, ahead of the anticipated launch of the 3.8 GHz Pentium 4 570. Read more

Matrox unveils DualHead2Go Digital Edition external multi-display upgrade for PCs

Published on January 09, 2007

Matrox Graphics has announced its DualHead2Go Digital Edition external multi-display upgrade device featuring digital outputs. Read more

Mobo makers facing component shortages

Published on July 29, 2005

Motherboard makers are facing component shortages that may threaten their business during the high season in the second half of the year, industry sources said. Read more

Latest Reviews & Articles

System Builder Marathon: Performance & Value

Published on October 31, 2008

Three dramatically different builds face off in a show of performance, defining the real value of each. Our mainstream system is designed to meet the needs of most users. Who should spend more and who can live with less? Read more

System Builder Marathon: $500 Gaming PC

Published on October 30, 2008

For the second to last day of our System Builder Marathon series, we add a $500 gaming PC to the mix. It's not going to be as quick as our other two builds, but we think Paul was able to get some serious value from this thing. Read more

Tom's SBM: The $1,500 Mainstream PC

Published on October 29, 2008

We're following up yesterday's $4,500 behemoth with a more affordable $1,500 mid-range build. Let's see what sort of performance (and overclocking headroom) you can get when you spend one third of the money. Read more

System Builder Marathon: The $4,500 Super PC

Published on October 28, 2008

This month's System Builder Marathon spreads the system prices out even further to $4,500, $1,500, and $500. Is today’s $4,500 system really worth three times as much as an upper-mainstream performance machine? Read more

  Tom's Hardware Forums » Homebuilt Systems » General Homebuilt » Upgrade/Troubleshooting mobo
 

Upgrade/Troubleshooting mobo




Word :   Username :  
 
Bottom
Author
 Thread : Upgrade/Troubleshooting mobo
 
JQP
Profile: newbie
More Information

I've been having some gremlins lately, and they're getting worse. I get hard reboots, generally of the kind where my monitors go blank, but the box keeps running for a few seconds - then the audio goes all screwy (sounds like a cd player locking up or something) for a moment, then CRASH! and hard reboot. At first I thought it was the CMOS battery because in the last week or so on post I've been getting intermittent CMOS errors of the "time to change battery" kind (clock resetting).

I'm so glad I just ordered a new CMOS battery (that's sarcasm :)).

I would suspect virus/malware or some other software problem but I just did a clean install of XP SP3 about two weeks ago and I've had Kaspersky since then and I don't think that's it. But I'm open to argument there. Anyhoo, I've built my last 5 or so systems and this one feels like a hardware failure of the Mobo or RAM kind. From what I can gather there's no real way for a non-tech to test a mobo so now I guess I'm shopping for a new one. That's pretty much what I need advice on, an upgrade path.

My current system:

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
(VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra/PT894 (Pro) + VT8237A
4xPCI, 1xAGP v3.5 , 1xPCI Express x16)

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1800.0 MHz (socket 775)

2x Corsair VS1GB533D2 1024 MBytes DDR2-SDRAM UDIMM 266.7 MHz (PC4200)

RADEON X1650

4 HDD (3 IDE, 1 SATA)
1 DVD-RAM RW


I'd like to be able to use my current CPU and RAM in the new mobo, obviously, but I'd also like to upgrade to a more modern gaming setup somewhere between 2 and 6 months from now when I'm hopefully more flush. I'm broke at the moment so I want to spend the absolute minimum, but if I can find a happy medium between fixing my rig for minimum cash, and setting up for a decent upgrade later, that'd be great.

So I don't know jack about current hardware; can I get a mobo with two CPU slots, maybe? And then stick another in the second slot when I upgrade? Would that even be the thing to do (would it help me run modern games, or would some other way be more cost-efficient)? Or maybe a newer socket type that can run 775, plus something better coming down the pipe?

My philosophy is to stay at least one price point, generally more, away from cutting edge so don't take this gaming rig goal too literally. I'd just like to see some improvement, don't need to get crazy. It's not like my rig is bad now - plus I always play games about a year or more old, since I only have dialup and broadband is the only reason (for me at least) to worry about what's hot at the moment. Plus older games have been patched :).

Thanks in advance for any help. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification, I rambled on and might've forgotten something obvious.


Message edited by JQP on 09-30-2008 at 02:12:27 AM
Related Product

Register or log in to remove.

JQP
Profile: newbie
More Information

Hey, don't everybody reply at once! I can't think with too many people talking.

JQP
Profile: newbie
More Information

Okay, more info on my mobo troubles. Lately it's been refusing to post after I shut it down. I go in and wiggle things and then it will start. This morning I narrowed it down to the mobo power connector; when I wiggled that it started. Any advice on fixing that without replacing the board? I'm flat broke here and no money to replace mobo.

Profile: enthusiast
More Information

If wiggling the power connector to the mobo fixed it temporarily, just maybe there is a dirty contact in there. The simple process to try cleaning it is just to disconnect it completely, then plug it in again. Do this several times, but be careful not to strain things. This process can scrape metal against metal contacts and clean them. You might even try this on almost all the connectors in your system as a preventive cleaning.

If you are really handy, you could look closely at the little metal springy strips inside the connector. Sometimes you can use a small screwdriver so bend them slightly to make a tighter connection to the pins on the mobo connector. Again, be careful and don't force anytning that might break.

JQP
Profile: newbie
More Information

Well I'm broke so that's a pretty good clue I'm handy. :P

I'll give that a shot, thanks for the tip.


  Tom's Hardware Forums » Homebuilt Systems » General Homebuilt » Upgrade/Troubleshooting mobo

Go to:
 

Google Ads