Best Core 2 Series Desktops-Results and Specs

[mykhal c]

It gets a little weirder... ok, so I dl'ed memtest at my friend's house, came back to my house and my computer wouldn't turn on. It would start the cd, then off, then on, and so on... this actually happened once before, and when it started working again I got a CMOS Checksum error, and my BIOS system time and date were reset to 2001...

So I thought maybe it's bad ram, so I traipsed down to my local Tiger Direct and bought 2 gigs of corsair dominator memory, figuring that when I returned my XMS, I'd have 4 gig. Installed it, same problem. I did notice that maybe the case seemed slightly "electric-y?" Grounding or power issue?

I took out my SIIG firewire card, and the system booted up. Dunno if that's a coinkidink. Got the CMOS error again and once again my BIOS settings were set to default and 2002. I'd love to hear any thoughts on this, and remember I am a newbie when it comes to building. Sigh, my buddy's Quad that I built is so solid... maybe I should get a Mac... NO!!! AT least the system is working again, I have a ton of work to do!

you guys are great,
rocketeer

i'm thinkin' bad mobo first then bad PSW!!!

[Norm Mix]

Will this work for portools LE ?
It has a P65 Mother B ....

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...257&lid=678048

Q6600 G0 stepping is the way to go right now ...
What is G0 stepping ? Thanks!

Do anyone of you have an opinion about this?

[Norm Mix]

Will this work for portools LE ?
It has a P65 Mother B ....

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...257&lid=678048

Q6600 G0 stepping is the way to go right now ...
What is G0 stepping ? Thanks!

Do any of you have an opinion about this?

[sunburst79]

It sounds like you have a grounding or power issue. You definately need to get that sorted out pronto. Your case should not be electrified in any way shape or form. I would recomend puchasing one of those plug in circuit testers you find at the hardware store or Big Box home improvement store. What I'm talking about looks like a 3 Prong adapter with LEDs on the end to indicate circuit faults. If you don't have the computer on a decent UPS nows the time to fix that. You may need to purchase a small voltmeter before its all over.

[mano111]

It gets a little weirder... ok, so I dl'ed memtest at my friend's house, came back to my house and my computer wouldn't turn on. It would start the cd, then off, then on, and so on... this actually happened once before, and when it started working again I got a CMOS Checksum error, and my BIOS system time and date were reset to 2001...

So I thought maybe it's bad ram, so I traipsed down to my local Tiger Direct and bought 2 gigs of corsair dominator memory, figuring that when I returned my XMS, I'd have 4 gig. Installed it, same problem. I did notice that maybe the case seemed slightly "electric-y?" Grounding or power issue?

I took out my SIIG firewire card, and the system booted up. Dunno if that's a coinkidink. Got the CMOS error again and once again my BIOS settings were set to default and 2002. I'd love to hear any thoughts on this, and remember I am a newbie when it comes to building. Sigh, my buddy's Quad that I built is so solid... maybe I should get a Mac... NO!!! AT least the system is working again, I have a ton of work to do!

you guys are great,
rocketeer

Im assuming the case is still electicy after you removed the SIIG.
If so I would definatly look into this as it might FRY other components over time and could be a hazard to you.
What it means is that the ground has electricity in it. I would start by checking the wall jack ground using an electricians tester, then check the Ground on the cable leading up from the wall to the PSU or any slitters you have along the way. Then check the case. If the wall+cables are both clean and the case isnt then the PSU likely has a short and needs to be replaces ASAP. Could also be other components in the system but I doubt it.

[rocketeer]

You guys are right-on. Grounding issue in the room. I've moved to a different room (after the testing you suggested) and all is well! One issue remains- after I installed the new RAM, Pro Tools hangs up at "Creating DAE Objects." No amount of re-installing fixes it, I wonder if I've damaged my 002. Or my firewire. I've already replaced the power harness on the 002 and it fires up and shows up on the computer no problem, though...

I think maybe I'll try reinstalling Windows (the engineer's solution!!), after I re-install the SIIG card and try the 002 on that. Sheesh!

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, if you're ever in Miami the beer/coffee is on me...

Rocketeer

[mykhal c]

You guys are right-on. Grounding issue in the room. I've moved to a different room (after the testing you suggested) and all is well! One issue remains- after I installed the new RAM, Pro Tools hangs up at "Creating DAE Objects." No amount of re-installing fixes it, I wonder if I've damaged my 002. Or my firewire. I've already replaced the power harness on the 002 and it fires up and shows up on the computer no problem, though...

I think maybe I'll try reinstalling Windows (the engineer's solution!!), after I re-install the SIIG card and try the 002 on that. Sheesh!

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, if you're ever in Miami the beer/coffee is on me...

Rocketeer

if you haven't done the XP clean install yet then try a PTLE uninstall/reinstall one more time and make sure you select remove ALL PTLE components. in my experience, i've found that the 'hanging up' at the CREATING DAE OBJECTS was always atttributed to corrupt DAE PREFS or DIGI DBs. not sure of which one it is since i always delete both when i run into that problem. glad you got the ground thing sorted out!!!

[sunburst79]

Did you delete all of the Digidesign Databases and trash your prefs? That usually clears up the creating DAE objects message (well at least for me it did) you may need to run the Nuke PT utility and reinstall PT.

Or you could reformat Gotta love those marching blue bars

[sunburst79]

Beat by MykhalC

[rocketeer]

Finally!!

I'd already trashed the prefs and the databases, nothing worked, til I reinstalled Windows. Finally, it works!!

I definitely also had bad ram, which only added to my confusion. This has been crazy, both the original MoBo and the ram having to be rma'd... anyway, I bought those two gigs of Dominator RAM (all they had that was 1066), and the PC saw it as 800 so I had to go into the BIOS and set it to 1064.

New DVerb results- 234. I got two more reverbs! lol I think I could've gotten a few more, since this install had the Music Production Toolkit and I didn't bother to take out TL Space or some of the others from the plug-ins folder. Now I'll get my XMS2 back and have 4 gig, I'm a happy camper and no more whining!

I hope!


Thanks for the millionth time.

Rocketeer's installation, in a nutshell:

NUMBER OF RETURNED ITEMS: 2
NUMBER OF ELECTRIC SHOCKS: At least 17
NUMBER OF TIMES I YELLED AT THE CAT: 46
NUMBER OF TIMES THE CAT JUST STARED AT ME: 45
NUMBER OF TIMES THE CAT SCRATCHED THE $%#%@! OUT OF ME: The last time.
NUMBER OF EXPLETIVES, FOREIGN OR OTHERWISE, SCREAMED BY ME: 446.3
NUMBER OF REBOOTS: Gotta be 50-some-odd.


Rocketeer

PS Memory seems cooler, the whole computer's down to 36c for the CPU, 26 for the mobo. Arctic Freezer 7 is great..!