Re: [H] Blitzing files

[zaske]

Try here.

http://www.freebyte.net

Veech wrote:
We know that deleted files can be recovered.  Anyone here know of a 
utility that completely erases specific files from the HD, rendering 
them unrecoverable?


thanks

Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?

[zaske]

HardOCP has something recent to say on the issue of Core 2 Duo vs AMD 
X2. I think you'll be interested to note that either one is a good choice.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI2MiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

However, if you're looking for the best bang for the buck and can wait a 
few weeks the Core 2 Duo E4300 is very cheap and overclocks like a banshee.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903


KHumrich wrote:
 
I just finished reading a LOT about that motherboard, it is a nice 
one, thank you!
 
Should I get Intel Core 2 instead of an AMD X2  CPU?
 
And if yes, how come?
 
 
Thank you very much Jin-Wei Tioh, I really appreciate your replying 
and helping me like you have.  I am however, surprised that this list 
has so little activity lately.  Maybe we should ADVERTISE and get a 
few more techies in here? )
 
 
Ken
 
 
/---Original Message---/
 
/*From:*/ Jin-Wei Tioh 

/*Date:*/ 1/23/2007 8:02:56 AM
/*To:*/ The Hardware List 
/*Subject:*/ Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?
 
> So, then ignoring prices, whats the best motherboard for AMD X2's 
and for

> Intel Core 2's?
>
> I would love to have 3 or 4 people mention what they think,a d then 
maybe

> even a WHY.. and have people  then talk about
>  them all, saying why their choice was better, perhaps or why 
another was
> not.  That way I know at least people are HERE, hehe.. and have 
ideas, and

> experience in choosing the best.
>
>
> Ken
 
Hello Ken,
 
Ignoring price? eVGA 680i - one damned sweet mobo.
 
 
 
 
 

Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?

[zaske]

Shit you're right and NewEgg is giving away a free copy of Ghost Recon 
Advanced Warfighter with it for $179 free shipping!!! Damn and I just 
bought a new mobo! :-(



[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Funnily, the 4300 is in the market right now and current demand and supply have 
it running through channel partners a whole $6 less then an e6300.


Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless  


-Original Message-
From: zaske <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:01:23 
To:The Hardware List 

Subject: Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ??  What's the BEST?

HardOCP has something recent to say on the issue of Core 2 Duo vs AMD 
X2. I think you'll be interested to note that either one is a good choice.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI2MiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

However, if you're looking for the best bang for the buck and can wait a 
few weeks the Core 2 Duo E4300 is very cheap and overclocks like a banshee.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903


KHumrich wrote:
  
 
I just finished reading a LOT about that motherboard, it is a nice 
one, thank you!
 
Should I get Intel Core 2 instead of an AMD X2  CPU?
 
And if yes, how come?
 
 
Thank you very much Jin-Wei Tioh, I really appreciate your replying 
and helping me like you have.  I am however, surprised that this list 
has so little activity lately.  Maybe we should ADVERTISE and get a 
few more techies in here? )
 
 
Ken
 
 
/---Original Message---/
 
/*From:*/ Jin-Wei Tioh <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

/*Date:*/ 1/23/2007 8:02:56 AM
/*To:*/ The Hardware List <mailto:hardware@hardwaregroup.com>
/*Subject:*/ Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?
 

So, then ignoring prices, whats the best motherboard for AMD X2's 
  

and for


Intel Core 2's?

I would love to have 3 or 4 people mention what they think,a d then 
  

maybe


even a WHY.. and have people  then talk about
 them all, saying why their choice was better, perhaps or why 
  

another was

not.  That way I know at least people are HERE, hehe.. and have 
  

ideas, and


experience in choosing the best.


Ken
  
 
Hello Ken,
 
Ignoring price? eVGA 680i - one damned sweet mobo.
 
 
 
 
 









  

Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?

[zaske]

Biostar T-Force939 for my FX55. Maybe I should build another box.  :-)


Jin-Wei Tioh wrote:

At 01:31 PM 1/25/2007, you wrote:
Shit you're right and NewEgg is giving away a free copy of Ghost 
Recon Advanced Warfighter with it for $179 free shipping!!! Damn and 
I just bought a new mobo! :-(


Ouch :(
Which mobo did you get?

--
JW

Re: [H] Need CPU + Motherboard + RAM + ?? What's the BEST?

[zaske]

It's been running quite well for several weeks now. Unfortunately, (I 
really want to support AMD-ATI) I have had the unfortunate experience of 
not one but two Radeon X1900XT's going bad over recent weeks. The first 
was from Sapphire and the second from Connect3D. My third card is on the 
way and I hope it's not going to give me problems. In all fairness to 
Ati it's possible I may have done something wrong although I don't see 
what. I'm not going to give up because I want the best gaming box I can 
get for the least money. What rare CPU are you talking about JW? :-)



Jin-Wei Tioh wrote:

At 01:33 AM 1/26/2007, you wrote:

Biostar T-Force939 for my FX55. Maybe I should build another box.  :-)


That's a nice mobo. Got the wimpy 754 cousin coming in (GeForce 6100 M7)
in trade for an ASUS K8N-4.

Maybe. I find that rare CPUs hold their value well on eBay ;)

--
JW

Re: [H] bottom of the line

[zaske]

None of them, I'd build it myself.


Winterlight wrote:
If you had to buy a bottom of the line PC, your basic word processing, 
email, web browsing box, in the 300 dollar range who would you pick as 
the manufacturer. Dell, Levono, Gateway, HP... all these have a 300 
dollar box, usually a Semperon, 512 GB of RAM, CDROM, floppy 60 to 
80GB drive modem. no monitor.

Re: [H] OT: Good posture seating while computing

[zaske]

Not true Thane, people in third world countries seldom have back 
problems because they are fit. We slobs in the developed countries are 
too sedentary and therefor have weak muscles which destabilize skeletal 
joints and that's where back aches etc. come from. Get some exercise you 
girlie man! :-)



Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 01:04 PM 22/02/2007, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

That's a good question.  Unfortunately, I don't remember. I'll see if 
i can find it and report back if I do.


But, I still have to ask -- where is the proof that sitting upright 
is good? People talk about
"good posture" as though it's completely understandable that it's 
good.  Why is that so?


I read somewhere (no idea where or who wrote it) that the human back 
isn't designed for standing upright but for moving like an ape, and 
that's were a lot of our back problems come from.


T

Re: [H] OT: Good posture seating while computing

[zaske]

Oh that's just not right dude, that's just not right!  ;-)



Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

Thane Sherrington wrote:
:: At 01:04 PM 22/02/2007, Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
::
::: That's a good question.  Unfortunately, I don't remember. I'll see
::: if i can find it and report back if I do.
:::
::: But, I still have to ask -- where is the proof that sitting upright
::: is good? People talk about
::: "good posture" as though it's completely understandable that it's
::: good.  Why is that so?
::
:: I read somewhere (no idea where or who wrote it) that the human back
:: isn't designed for standing upright but for moving like an ape, and
:: that's were a lot of our back problems come from.

It definitely seem more natural to me to move around like an ape.  To 
scatch like one too, for that matter.   In fact, if I could spend me 
days doing what I envision most apes do, I'd probably be happier.


::
:: T

Re: [H] Aero glass and video cards

[zaske]

Doom III? Better get a 7600GT.


Mark Dodge wrote:

Does anyone know of the cheapest glass card??
I have been looking at getting one to just be the minimum needed to go glass
but not break me, it seems on reviews which I have looked at for days, aero
glass is not something that is mentioned too much, just gaming perf. My
6600GT apparently is not enough. I am not really a gamer but I'll go a level
or two of DoomIII every once in a while.

Mark


  

Re: [H] another dead MB/psu ?

[zaske]

Yup...!

Greg Sevart wrote:

At 14:13 03-18-2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] typed:


Asus, just like Timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking!
  

I have an Asus A7V333 rev 1 that you can have because it's a POS that
has never worked as advertised & this is the 2nd board that Asus has
sent me.




Wayne, you kind of speak to my main point...I would argue that brand/make in
this industry is fairly irrelevant. Time and time again, Brand X will make
Product A that sucks while Brand Y will make Product B that rocks...only to
find that on the next iteration, Brand X's AA will rock while Brand Y's BB
will suck.

When I buy, I pay little attention to brand, and am far more interested in
how a specific model will run. There are a lot of Asus boards that I
wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

Blind allegiance to any brand in this industry is beyond foolish. The only
make that I've found has remained fairly consistent from product to product
is Corsair... :)

Greg



  

Re: [H] A-B switch for ext. modem

[zaske]

A broadband router is your best friend in this situation regardless how 
many machines you have (I use a D-Link DI-604). And they're dirt cheap 
too! One broadband connection and up to 4 PC's connected. In addition, 
if you did want to have 4 PC's running all the time doing different jobs 
you can get a 4-port KVM (keyboard, video, monitor) switch and just use 
one keyboard, video and monitor for all 4 boxes (the more expensive ones 
switch audio too if thats important to you). I love it, one machine for 
email and browsing, another for Linux experience, one for high-end 
gaming and one for my PVR via Hauppage PVR-150. Yeah, I know its pretty 
cool! :-)



DHSinclair wrote:

Am trying to finish an XP-pro install on an old machine.
I've grown tired of swapping the modem cable between
the machine it lives with and the new XP machine.

Can I use an A-B selector that has the small d-shell
connectors to share the modem between the 2 PC's?

Do I need and active selector or can I use a passive
selector?  I do not wish to reboot the machines when I
change machines.
Thanks,
Duncan


This email scanned for Viruses and Spam by ZCloud.net

Re: [H] A-B switch for ext. modem

[zaske]

I remember my first 2400 baud modem and the local BBS's. That was a year 
or two before the World Wide Web came along. I hope you get DSL soon my 
friend because the Internet is "the killer app" for computers. Cheers!



DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
Thanks for the suggestions, however, I do not have broadband.  I use 
dial-up.

If I had broadband, I would not have asked the questions.
Been there before, and still waiting to do broadband again just as 
soon as I

know how bad AT&T will cost :(
Best,
Duncan

At 23:45 03/19/2007 -0500, you wrote:

A broadband router is your best friend in this situation regardless 
how many machines you have (I use a D-Link DI-604). And they're dirt 
cheap too! One broadband connection and up to 4 PC's connected. In 
addition, if you did want to have 4 PC's running all the time doing 
different jobs you can get a 4-port KVM (keyboard, video, monitor) 
switch and just use one keyboard, video and monitor for all 4 boxes 
(the more expensive ones switch audio too if thats important to you). 
I love it, one machine for email and browsing, another for Linux 
experience, one for high-end gaming and one for my PVR via Hauppage 
PVR-150. Yeah, I know its pretty cool! :-)

snip


This email scanned for Viruses and Spam by ZCloud.net

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

SLI is pointless to consider unless you have money to burn (better to 
get a Roth IRA IMHO). A 550 watt PSU with greater than 80% efficiency 
would do just fine for what you want. Apparently my fellow listers 
haven't been reading too much about P35 and DDR2/DDR3 support. P35 is an 
excellent chipset but only slightly superior in performance to 965 with 
current DDR3 sticks. Second, the pin count between DDR2 and DDR3 while 
being exactly the same have a different notch. Therefore, you either buy 
a mobo that takes DDR2 memory knowing that you can never upgrade it in 
the future to DDR3 or you buy a DDR3 mobo knowing that you can't use 
DDR2 and will pay a serious price penalty for it. Finally, it seems that 
Kingston and not Crucial makes the fastest DDR3 memory @ the present 
time. Dude, P35 will not give you any future proofing unless you bite 
the bullet and get a mobo with DDR3 memory slots. So, how much money you 
can afford to spend is the most relevant question @ this point. Oh yeah, 
most reviews have Gigabyte mobo's rated best for Intel CPU's.



Joe User wrote:

Hello Hayes,

Monday, July 16, 2007, 3:20:58 PM, you wrote:

  

P35 is the only way to go. It has ICH9 which is the fastest southbridge to
date. In addition to DDR3 support, it's memory controller has been tweaked
to surpass the performance of older chipsets even when using DDR2.



  

SLI is still immeasurably stupid. 8800 GTX's and Ultras are cheaper now and
the prices keep falling.



Yeah I'd rather run one video card. Esp, where one card can ruin two
in SLI.



So looks like so far we have:

P35 Express chipset board
E6850 (3.0GHz) dual-core
DDR3 Memory
8800 GTX or Ultra nVidia card

Anyone make a call on what brand I would pursue for P35 chipset?

I would probably take crucial memory since I am setup as a reseller.

Who makes decent nVidia cards nowadays? I am using a MSI @ the
moment.

Antec PSU? Wattage?

  

Re: [H] GFX cards under $200

[zaske]

Radeon X1950XT 256 gets my vote for the best bang for the buck award. 
Just under $170 and it will kick serious ass in any game @ 1600x1200 or 
less (XP drivers are very mature, don't diddle me with DX10 and fuck 
Vista until SP1). AnandTech, HardOCP, PCStats etc. are some of the best 
review sites. Oh yeah, unless you're rich, save your $ for your 
retirement fund or get an 8800GTX and enter the elite zone.



j maccraw wrote:

ATI X1950 Pro & XT's from Sapphire, VisionTek,
PowerColor, etc... get my vote on 
either bus. I am sure the similar spec Nvidia's are

the same ~$200.

Tom's has a nice comparison database for GPU's:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html



Bobby Heid wrote:
  

AGP?  PCI-X (I think)?  Etc.

 


Bobby

 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On


Behalf Of Hunter, Gary
  

Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 3:20 PM
To: The Hardware List
Subject: [H] GFX cards under $200

 


Hi,

 


I need to get a couple of GFX cards so don't want to


spend more than $200
  

each what's the best gaming card in this price? I


would prefer Nvidia but
  
I'm open to all suggestions. 

 


What's the best WWW site for reviews now a days? I


have been out of the loop
  

far too long.

 


Many thanks,

Gary Hunter 
Consulting Engineer - Core Services 
Travelport - Galileo International 
(+1) 303 - 397 - 5035 (Office) 
(+1) 720 - 231 - 0965 (Cell) 







 

Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate 
in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.

http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367


  

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

Oh I've gotten gray alright.


Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
Seems like someone mentioned saving money for retirement here just 
recently. :)


Seems as if the collective age of the hardwaregroup is 
increasingmany of us have been hanging out here for years now.


FORC5 wrote:

since when did NEED have anything to do with it >:-}
fp

At 10:46 AM 7/17/2007, Anthony Q. Martin Poked the stick with:
 

How many people really need a 150W quad-core CPU and 2 220 W GPUs?



  

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

Superior case but why couldn't they make it out of aluminum.


Wayne Johnson wrote:

At 20:35 07-17-2007, Joe User typed:
I am torn between which Antec case to get, but I just have to study
them a bit harder...

If it were me it would be the Antec Sonata III 



FWIW I love my Sonata especially the drive mounts.


WaViJo Forever

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

No reg hack unfortunately unless you want to hose your box. WinXP Home, 
Pro or Media Center only see ~ 3 1/2 of your 4 gigs and XP Pro64 became 
an orphan so fast good luck with that. Nope, I don't plan on upgrading 
to Vista64 until next year because there just isn't any compelling 
reason. 2 gigs will be plenty for gaming @ this point.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3034


Joe User wrote:

Hello Greg,

Thursday, July 19, 2007, 7:58:25 AM, you wrote:

  

I must have missed that you were intending on running 4G of memory...this
should work fine, just be aware that you may end up having to loosen your
timings or decrease frequency from the rating to run 4 sticks simultaneously
(stable). Four memory sticks places a lot more load on the memory controller
and frequently will reduce the maximum speed you can run. It really depends
on how nicely all 4 sticks play together. Either way, make sure you spend
some quality time with Memtest86+ when getting it all set up and tuned. :)



  

Greg



No, I just never did the quantity - you didn't miss it.

Yeah I understand XP cant do 4GB? I thought there was a reg hack for
that or something? I suppose I'll just run the 2GB and save the rest.

  

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

I was just quoting Anand:
Of course this is not all roses. As we covered in our Vista performance 
guide, there are still some issues with Windows Vista 64bit, and Windows 
XP 64bit is even worse as a result of having been orphaned quickly after 
its release. For prospective 64bit Vista users, they will still find 
that driver support is not as good as with the 32bit version of Vista, 
and 64bit drivers may not be as stable as the 32bit versions. There are 
also still lingering concerns over application compatibility and 
performance.


Wayne Johnson wrote:

At 00:51 07-20-2007, zaske typed:
No reg hack unfortunately unless you want to hose your box. WinXP 
Home, Pro or Media Center only see ~ 3 1/2 of your 4 gigs and XP Pro64 
became an orphan so fast good luck with that.



It's not a reg hack but rather editing of the boot.ini that is needed 
see the /3g switch listing at the bottom of 
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721> .


I don't understand why you state that Xp Pro x64 is an orphan when 
they just released Sp2 for Server 2k3 x64 & Xp Pro x64.



WaViJo Forever

Re: [H] Looking for advice on new system.

[zaske]

I knew it! I've been around way longer than 1996. Jez, I almost forgot I 
had a Cyrix 686 and the fan from it is still in my junk drawer. Wish my 
brains were like a camcorder...



Scott Sipe wrote:

On Jul 23, 2007, at 9:12 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:


At 10:02 AM 23/07/2007, Hayes Elkins wrote:
tomshardware was registered in 97, however sysdoc.pair.com (the 
original page) was in 96.


IIRC, there was the overclocking list at first, which then migrated 
to this list.


T


there was a cyrix users group too!

Scott

Re: [H] SLI ?

[zaske]

The way I understand it is that SLI doesn't mean higher resolutions over 
a single card but higher frame rates at those extreme resolutions. 
Apparently, SLI is mostly wasted until you get well above 1600x1200 (and 
the widescreen equivalent) enabling more eye candy as well. SLI with a 
24" monitor running @ 1920x1080 should be the current "sweet spot" but 
only the uber enthusiast with deep pockets need apply.



FP wrote:

This is probably a stupid question but it was aked me by a customer.

Does SLI allow for higher resolution like for a GIANT monitor? what I 
mean is, support higher resolution then just one by itself.


Have not had the pleasure or desire to play there :{(
fp

Re: [H] DVD burner recommendations?

[zaske]

Lite-On SATA 20x is an excellent value for the price. Really you can't 
go wrong with any of the major manufacturers nowadays and there's just 
no compelling reason to spend more than $40.



Bobby Heid wrote:


Hey,

My Plextor just died. What’s the consensus on the better DVD writers 
now? I’d prefer PATA for this system, but will consider SATA.


Thanks,

Bobby



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.17/951 - Release Date: 8/13/2007 10:15 AM
  

[H] WinXP SP2 Repair Installation woes

[zaske]

Can anybody tell me why Windows always complains about my Administrators 
password when I type it in trying to do a repair install so as not to 
have to reinstall everything after my botched overclocking attempts? I 
ought to know what my Administrators password is as I type it in several 
times daily.

Re: [H] WinXP SP2 Repair Installation woes

[zaske]

There's only an administrator account on my PC. No guest or user either. 
I never use anything other than my administrator account and I've never 
succeeded in getting the Repair function to work on any box at any time 
since I've been using XP. I just don't want to re-install everything yet 
again and hoped some list guru knew the solution to this "bug".



Rick Glazier wrote:

Are you typing your "user" admin password,
the the true "~root~" admin password?

If you orginally put the password in with a personalized username
during some of the later Windows setup Welcome screens,
that is the "wrong admin"...

  Rick Glazier

From: "zaske"
Can anybody tell me why Windows always complains about my 
Administrators password when I type it in trying to do a repair 
install so as not to have to reinstall everything after my botched 
overclocking attempts? I ought to know what my Administrators 
password is as I type it in several times daily.

Re: [H] WinXP SP2 Repair Installation woes

[zaske]

That was the second thing I tried. After I tell it which Windows 
installation I want to log onto and hit enter with the password blank it 
kicks me back to the command prompt. If I use my admin password it 
complains once then kicks me back to the command prompt. I've never been 
able to get this function to work but others have and I'd like to know 
what I'm doing wrong.



Wayne Johnson wrote:

At 06:06 08-21-2007, zaske typed:
I ought to know what my Administrators password is as I type it in 
several times daily.


They don't want the Windows Admin pwd but rather the System's Admin 
pwd which is the one you may or may not have created when the machine 
was 1st setup prior to see any windows at all. Most people leave it 
blank which is a mistake but try not entering a pwd & see what happens.



WaViJo Forever

Re: [H] WinXP SP2 Repair Installation woes

[zaske]

Only 1 Windows install coincidently on Drive D I guess because the 80gig 
is PATA and my Windows install is on SATA.



Wayne Johnson wrote:

At 13:07 08-21-2007, zaske typed:
That was the second thing I tried. After I tell it which Windows 
installation I want to log onto and hit enter with the password blank 
it kicks me back to the command prompt.


What happens when you try pointing it to the other Windows 
installation? If you feel it's the wrong one you have plenty of 
chances to hit F3 to abort. Could it be that a password was used 
during the setup process & that you forgot it ?



WaViJo Forever

Re: [H] The Disaster that is BioShock

[zaske]

Speak of the devil and he will appear. Steam is another DRM disaster!


j maccraw wrote:

Funny how most non-game software vendors do just fine
with license keys & 
internet validation.


At least HalfLife 2 switched to only needing a valid
serial number & steam 
account to install & play without the media checks.


CW wrote:
  

Thank goodness someone else had these thoughts and


put them to pen:
  

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41921

Let me add what is not in the above:

Running Vista 64 bit?  Prepare for wild,


uncontrollable crashes at random.
  

Have K-Lite or other CODEC packs installed?  Good


luck avoiding blue screens.
  

Run AVG Antispyware or Ad-Aware 2007?  Prepare for


the software to not run.
  

What garbage






   


Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for 
today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow  



  

Re: [H] The Disaster that is BioShock

[zaske]

I bought HalfLife2 from Walmart for $40 and my 4 month old WD hardrive 
died. I tried to reinstall HL2 and Steam cried like an ass raped beotch 
telling me that my cd key was already in use. No Duh! In the end they 
wanted me to cut my barcode from the box and send it with $10 to get my 
game reactivated. Screw Valve, I bought the game and I will never buy 
another of their DRM crap product! Long live Warez!




j maccraw wrote:

Something specific Stan?

I know I was not happy with it at HL2 release and
there have been troubles with 
availability


All I can say is after a year of my game box being
dead, I simply signed on to 
my steam account & had a full patched version of HL2
downloaded & installed 
without the need for my discs. This is DRM done right
in my book though I don't 
care for it's regular calls home to validate.


In fact the call home method is one aspect of Alcohol
120% I really hate when I 
launch it from the wrong machine and have to go online
to swap the active copy 
back to the right machine.



zaske wrote:
  

Speak of the devil and he will appear. Steam is


another DRM disaster!
  

j maccraw wrote:


Funny how most non-game software vendors do just
  

fine
  

with license keys & internet validation.

At least HalfLife 2 switched to only needing a
  

valid
  

serial number & steam account to install & play
  

without the media checks.
  

CW wrote:
 
  

Thank goodness someone else had these thoughts and



put them to pen:
 
  

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41921

Let me add what is not in the above:

Running Vista 64 bit?  Prepare for wild,



uncontrollable crashes at random.
 
  

Have K-Lite or other CODEC packs installed?  Good



luck avoiding blue screens.
 
  

Run AVG Antispyware or Ad-Aware 2007?  Prepare for



the software to not run.
 
  

What garbage




   

  



  

Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here
  
and Now (it's 
  

updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.

  

http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow

  
  
  




   


Need a vacation? Get great deals
to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/


  

Re: [H] The Disaster that is BioShock

[zaske]

If I recall correctly you can't play the game without a Steam account to 
validate and activate it. When my hardrive died and I replaced it when I 
reinstalled the game with my legitimate CD key Steam complained saying 
my key was already in use. This is with the same Steam account. My best 
guess is that Steam had something on my former hardrive that was missing 
@ that point and that I was trying to rip them off. Oh course, all of 
this may have changed in the last couple years. I ended up giving it 
away to a young man @ work who wanted to play Counterstrike with some 
friends.



j maccraw wrote:

You didn't create a stream account when you 1st
installed? You shouldn't need 
anything more than that to install w/o the CD over the

internet.


zaske wrote:
  

I bought HalfLife2 from Walmart for $40 and my 4

month old WD hardrive 
  

died. I tried to reinstall HL2 and Steam cried like

an ass raped beotch 
  

telling me that my cd key was already in use. No

Duh! In the end they 
  

wanted me to cut my barcode from the box and send it

with $10 to get my 
  

game reactivated. Screw Valve, I bought the game and

I will never buy 
  

another of their DRM crap product! Long live Warez!



j maccraw wrote:


Something specific Stan?

I know I was not happy with it at HL2 release and
there have been troubles with availability

All I can say is after a year of my game box being
dead, I simply signed on to my steam account & had
  
a full patched 
  

version of HL2
downloaded & installed without the need for my
  
discs. This is DRM done 
  

right
in my book though I don't care for it's regular
  

calls home to validate.
  

In fact the call home method is one aspect of
  

Alcohol
  

120% I really hate when I launch it from the wrong
  
machine and have to 
  

go online
to swap the active copy back to the right machine.


zaske wrote:
 
  

Speak of the devil and he will appear. Steam is



another DRM disaster!
 
  




   


Need a vacation? Get great deals
to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/


  

Re: [H] WinXP SP2 Repair Installation woes

[zaske]

The Overclocking trashed box that was giving me trouble I reinstalled 
Windows and all my software on since the repair installation failed. I 
downloaded the iso from the link, burned it and followed instructions on 
a known working WinXP Home box (different from the one above). There was 
no password to reset so I inserted the XP Home disk belonging to this PC 
and booted up into Repair mode. Again after I chose the only Windows 
installation on it it refused to accept my Administration password or 
just no password @ all and kicked me back to the C:\Windows DOS prompt. 
What could I possibly be doing wrong? Computers have been my hobby since 
1992 and I'm very open to the possibility that I'm making a mistake 
somewhere. I have 5 PC's four of which are connected by a 4-port KVM 
switch (3 XP and 1 PCLinuxOS networked together) and I feel like an idiot.


> I use this:
>
> http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
>
> ...in either the bootable CD or floppy version to blank the administrator
> password when I have to. The latest driver pack recognizes SATA drives
> and most SCSI drivers. Very handy.


j maccraw wrote:

I don't know about there being a separate "admin" just
used for installing 
windows, I suspect that is not the case given my

experience with Recovery Console.

If you are not using EFS to protect files, you may be
able to use one of the 
boot CD's made to overwrite passwords & reset the
admin password so you can get 
in. NTPasswd comes to mind but I have not looked for

it in a few years.

zaske wrote:
  

Only 1 Windows install coincidently on Drive D I

guess because the 80gig 
  

is PATA and my Windows install is on SATA.


Wayne Johnson wrote:


At 13:07 08-21-2007, zaske typed:
That was the second thing I tried. After I tell it
  
which Windows 
  

installation I want to log onto and hit enter with
  
the password blank 
  

it kicks me back to the command prompt.

What happens when you try pointing it to the other
  
Windows 
  

installation? If you feel it's the wrong one you
  
have plenty of 
  

chances to hit F3 to abort. Could it be that a
  
password was used 
  

during the setup process & that you forgot it ?


WaViJo Forever


  




   
Ready for the edge of your seat? 
Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. 
http://tv.yahoo.com/



  

Re: [H] Please comment on possible system

[zaske]

Not too sure of the wisdom in getting a $300 C2D for a low end Foxconn 
mobo and HD2600Pro GPU. The AMD X1950XT is far superior except for the 
less advanced AVIVO or spend more and get a Geforce 8800 GTS 640. I 
believe nVidia's 650/680 chipsets also support that CPU's FSB. XP Pro is 
definitely the way to go for compatibility and gaming.



Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6559926&WishListTitle=My+New+PC 
 



I'm probably going to get XP or Vista ultimate (probably XP).

Is this case good enough?  What about that vidcard?  I don't play 
games that much, but would like to be able to.


Is the stock fan / heat sink good enough?  I generally don't overclock.

Did I forget anything?

Don't depend on Rebates! Was: [H] Please comment on possible system

[zaske]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_6814729

Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6559926&WishListTitle=My+New+PC 
 



I'm probably going to get XP or Vista ultimate (probably XP).

Is this case good enough?  What about that vidcard?  I don't play 
games that much, but would like to be able to.


Is the stock fan / heat sink good enough?  I generally don't overclock.

Did I forget anything?

Re: [H] Please comment on possible system

[zaske]

Sorry to take so long but here is your link.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106790809+1067925339&name=Radeon+X1950XT


Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
I read about the Foxconn mobo on Tom's Hardware in a comparsion 
against a bunch of other mobos..it seemed to hold it's own and was 
even at the front of the pack...


As for the vidcard...I just don't need a super fast or expensive 
card...it will go to waste while driving up the power requirements of 
the system.  However, if there is something better for now much more, 
I'd like to get that.  I think teh 8800 is out of the question at 4 
bills.


I can't seem to find a x1950xt on newegg for some reason...

zaske wrote:
Not too sure of the wisdom in getting a $300 C2D for a low end 
Foxconn mobo and HD2600Pro GPU. The AMD X1950XT is far superior 
except for the less advanced AVIVO or spend more and get a Geforce 
8800 GTS 640. I believe nVidia's 650/680 chipsets also support that 
CPU's FSB. XP Pro is definitely the way to go for compatibility and 
gaming.



Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6559926&WishListTitle=My+New+PC 
<https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6559926&WishListTitle=My+New+PC> 



I'm probably going to get XP or Vista ultimate (probably XP).

Is this case good enough?  What about that vidcard?  I don't play 
games that much, but would like to be able to.


Is the stock fan / heat sink good enough?  I generally don't overclock.

Did I forget anything?

Re: [H] Quad vs Dual Core Processors?

[zaske]

Too bad the vast majority of software today hasn't even been optimized 
for dual core CPU's yet.



Greg Sevart wrote:

I went from a C2D to a C2Q, both clocked at 3.2GHz. The only two differences
I notice (as expected) are that my video encodes are significantly faster
(H.264 HD capture encodes, specifically), and running multiple VMs takes a
little less toll on the host. As I said, this is pretty much what I
expected.

In most scenarios, though, the argument is between a faster-clocked DC and a
lower-clocked QC. Unless you're specifically doing things that benefit from
massive parallelism, the higher-clocked DC will be almost universally
faster. However, with multi-core processors having become ubiquitous, it's
likely only a matter of time before more mainstream software is optimized to
benefit from the boosted parallelism modern processors offer.

Greg


  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anthony Q. Martin
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 6:00 AM
To: The Hardware List
Subject: [H] Quad vs Dual Core Processors?

Ok...if you're going to drop a bit of coin (notice I said a bit) for a
new box, is it better to go quad or dual core?  Anyone have any
real-world experience?  Thx.




  

Re: [H] good am2 MB

[zaske]

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM4MCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==


FORC5 wrote:

Open for suggestions on a AMD AM2 MB

fp

  

Re: [H] A note to Microsoft...

[zaske]

 Windows XP SP3 goes Vista-ish

Contains Vista material

By Nick Farrell 
: 
Monday, 08 October 2007, 8:40 AM


*THE* next service pack for Windows XP contains bits and pieces from Vista.

According to NeoSmart Technologies , which is 
among those who have received the first version of Windows XP SP3 build 
3205 as part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program, 
SP3 has more than 1,073 patches/hotfixes including security updates.


Among these are a few things that have been backported from Vista 
including the new Windows Product Activation model, Network Access 
Protection modules and policies.


There is also the new Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module so that the 
kernel now includes an entire module has access to multiple 
cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers 
and services. It also has the " Black Hole Router" detection so that 
Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are 
discarding data.


Looks like XP is becoming a much better alternative to Vista, again. µ



Bryan Seitz wrote:

I downgraded to XP w/ SP3 today and when I try to drag a file from
my network mount ( samba , always worked fine even in vista ) I get:

http://bsd-unix.net/seitz/xp_problem.jpg

Any ideas on a fix? I'd love to be able to use my fileserver again :)

On Mon, Oct 08, 2007 at 11:24:29AM -0400, Christopher Fisk wrote:
  

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007, Thane Sherrington wrote:



At 04:23 PM 05/10/2007, Joe User wrote:

  

None of my vendors are offering it, laptops with XP are unheard of...
maybe I need to look around some more... Thanx T

And if you buy a laptop with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can 
downgrade to Pro legally.
  

s/downgrade/upgrade

There, fixed!


Christopher Fisk
--
This is the greatest thrill of my life!  I'm king of the world!  Wooo,
wooo!  Wooo, wooo!

-- Homer Simpson
   Bart the Daredevil



  

Re: [H] A note to Microsoft...

[zaske]

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3060&p=1


Greg Sevart wrote:

At 11:07 PM 07/10/2007, Bobby Heid wrote:


Vista always caches almost all of the RAM.  I have 2GB RAM and Task
  

manager


says that there is 0 MB free RAM. But the physical RAM usage history
  

says


that I am currently using 1.08GB.  Could it be that this is what you
  

are


seeing?

Also, on another note, is that not what the RAM is for?  I mean as
  

long as


nothing else is needing that RAM, isn't that ok?
  

Here are the Crysis minimum requirements:  Note that Vista requires a
CPU that is almost 15% faster and 50% more RAM.  I guess that puts
the "Vista is just as fast as XP" theory to rest.




No, it really doesn't address it at all. Vista (assuming the card is DX10)
will be running the game under the DX10 codepath, while XP will be running
the DX9 codepath. It could very well be the case that the DX10 codepath is
doing more or different things that simply require more host resources.
While the Crysis requirements could have been segmented in Vista for DX10
and DX9 if that is in fact the case, it's generally best not to complicate
them more than absolutely necessary.

Greg


  

Re: [H] Video Card Question

[zaske]

Degraded performance IMHO is very rare because when any of the 
electronics fail it stops working. Sounds like you have a centimeter of 
dust covering the thing. Time to clean out the dust bunnies my friend! 
Happy turkey day!



James Maki wrote:

First, so glad to be back on the list! I was really missing the posts.

Now, I have a PCI-e x16, Gigabyte Radeon X600 video card that is giving me
some problems. I have had to underclock to prevent artifacts and Civ 4 from
crashing my system. So, I am looking for a new card (for Christmas?) and am
befuddled by all the choices and varieties. Most of the hardware review
sites focus on the gaming community. Other than Civ 4, I do little gaming.
Perhaps a new game a Christmas will peak my interest. 


I am currently running a dual monitor setup with a 19" LCD (dvi)in landscape
mode and a 15" (VGA) in portrait mode. Tom's Hardware list had a chart with
models from ATI and nVidia groups according to performance and suggested
getting a new model ONLY if you could jump at least 3 groups. My question
is, with my seemingly modest needs and with the X600 meeting thoses needs at
the present, what would be a good "upgrade" for this card? I am running XP
pro with NO intention of a Vista upgrade in the near future. Important
issues would be a card that is not prone to overheating or with a loud fan. 


Suggestions?

Thanks,

Jim Maki
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


  

Re: [H] Video Card Question

[zaske]

James Maki wrote:

-Original Message-
From: Thane Sherrington

 
  

At 01:58 PM 22/11/2007, James Maki wrote:
From what I could find, that was my diagnosis as well. 
Hence the reason I

was looking for suggestions for a new card :)
  
Oh.  Duh.  I'd look at the X1650 or HD2600 Pro.  They are fairly 
inexpensive and will give you a speed boost.  On the NVidia side, I'd 
look at the 8600 line.


T 




Any comments on these two cards? Price seems about right. 
Not personally familiar with these brands. 


Sapphire ATI card- (~$85 with shipping)


XFX nVidia card- (~$97 with rebate and shipping)


Thanks for the input.

Jim Maki
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I've owned several Sapphire cards and even had a Radeon 9600XT go out on 
me. Sapphire gave me an RMA no questions of warranty and sent out a 
replacement within a couple weeks. Highly recommended! I hope you'll 
support AMD because as we all know without their competition we'd still 
be barely past the era of the PIII and prices would be astronomical as 
well. You should read some reviews on the new AMD 3850's as they are 
currently the best bang for the buck @ an inexpensive $180. It's really 
not that much more expensive than the others you're looking @ and would 
future proof you for a couple more years.

Re: [H] Vista or XP?

[zaske]

XP is faster that Vista, has lower memory requirements, SP3 is due to 
come out in the near future and has already been reported as being much 
faster than SP2, HardOCP has only found one DX10 game that is FPS and 
visually superior to DX9 and XP can easily be made as secure while 
online. All in all, the only 2 reasons I can find for upgrading is if 
you buy rather than build or you want 64 bit computing (of course MS 
makes both 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista so beware). IMHO Vista isn't 
ready for prime time until late next year or early '09 and I personally 
think it's the ME version of 98SE. You didn't buy ME did you?  Good 
hunting!



Steve Tomporowski wrote:

I'm about to install software on a new system:  Abit IP35 MB, 2 gig,
6850 Processor, 8800GTS video card.

I have the option to install XP or Vista.

Is there any reason to do Vista rather than XP?  Is Vista really slower?

ThanksSteve


  

Re: [H] HDTV as PC monitor

[zaske]

Look for the spec's on resolution. For 1080p you want @ least 1920x1080. 
My 24" monitor is 1920x1200 so it will show my HD-DVD movies in all 
their high-def glory. But beware of 1080i because of its 1366x768 
resolution which of course is much cheaper. A 32" 1080p HDTV will set 
you back $1000. Happy Holidays!



James Maki wrote:

I have not yet made the leap to HDTV, but Christmas ads have me thinking. I
am trying to get a quick primer on HDTV technology, but seem to get
sometimes conflicting information. 


First observation is there seem to be few true 1080p HDTVs in the 32" range.
My current setup has the tv placement about 6-8 feet from the observers. 32"
seems about the correct size for this viewing distance.

I am currently looking at replacing a 27" CRT television in the family room
that is attached to my computer via S-Video for watching TV (SageTV based
HTPC). My work computer has a 19" 4x3 LCD monitor and I have noticed that
television often looks better with the 27" television than on the 19" LCD.
Reading some of the forums, many people complain about the quality of
regular SD broadcasts on their HDTV sets. So my first question is whether I
would be disappointed purchasing an HDTV to use for SD output from SageTV
and Xvid file?

Next question is the relative merits of 1080p vs. 720p. It would seem that
to have any hope of readable screens, 1080p would be necessary. Why is that
most HDTVs do not have DVI inputs? DRM issues? Many people in the forums
also complain about problems driving an HDTV thru the HDMI ports using a
computer. Valid problem? My video cards seem to the correct aspect ratios
for 16x9 screens, 1920 x 1080 and 1360x768 (for 720p). Most of the HDTVs I
have investigated have a VGA (analog) input, but no DVI.

Lastly, would I be disappointed in the quality of the display of an HDTV for
computer output? It would not be my primary viewing platform, but would be
nice if it could be used by my wife or daughter when I am busy on my main
system.

Lastly, budgetary constraints would keep the total outlay in the $1000
range. Am I hoping for the impossible?

Thanks for the input. Other suggestions most welcome. 


Jim Maki
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


  

[H] Any WinXP SP3 users out there?

[zaske]

Are there any MSDN or Technet subscribers on the list that have tried 
the new beta of WinXP SP3? Its supposed to be much faster.

Re: [H] gigabyte MB's ?

[zaske]

Don't know why nVidia chipsets would be a problem but I'm typing this on 
a Gigabyte AMD 690G/SB600 board and I must say its been super so far.



Anthony Q. Martin wrote:
I've had very good experience with Gigabyte boards...don't use an 
n-force, though.


FORC5 wrote:

Never used one of their mb's b4

Newegg back ordered a mb I ordered and on some suggestions I have 
heard here ordered and GA-M57SLI-S4 NF570 SLI
way overkill but customer needs a LPT port and a lot of others are 
loosing this port. fp



  

Re: [H] gigabyte MB's ?

[zaske]

Awful expensive chipset!


Greg Sevart wrote:

I think the advice is to stay away from Nvidia's 680i chipset completely,
regardless of the board maker. I could not agree more. Awful chipset.

Greg

  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wayne Johnson
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:22 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] gigabyte MB's ?

At 09:31 12-17-2007, Anthony Q. Martin typed:


I've had very good experience with Gigabyte boards...don't use an
n-force, though.
  

Why as I've had great experience with nforce based Gigabyte boards?
I'm typing this on one now.


  ---+--
I'm a geek that loves to tweak.





  

Re: [H] StarMicro - Bad Guys?

[zaske]

Bought an Athlon XP 2800+ from them about a month back. Fast delivery no 
problems.



Al wrote:

Hey People,

Anyone have experience with StarMicro:
http://www.starmicro.net/default.aspx

I ordered a 
Intel Pentium 4 521 2.80GHz 800MHz 1MB 775 Pin PLGA CPU OEM SL8HX 


and haven't heard from them since. Can't get through on the phone. No
replies to emails.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Star_Micro_Inc
I ordered from them only because I couldn't find the CPU anywhere else.
(anybody have one to sell?)

Beware...

regards,
al


  

Re: [H] Upgrading the Video Card

[zaske]

Merry Christmas to you too! I've not played UT3 yet, but all the reviews 
I read say that games nowadays are GPU bound and that even a moderate 
CPU coupled with a fast video card will yield good frame rates. I'm at a 
loss to explain why your FPS were less at the lower resolution. Did you 
have the same in-game settings at both resolutions?



Steve Tomporowski wrote:

First of all I want to wish everyone on the list a joyous and
wonderful Christmas!

After I built the IP35/6850/8800GTS system (which is running well &
fast), I've loaded Unreal Tournament III on both it and my 'old'
computer (Athlon64 X2 3400+, 7800GT, MSI Nvidia 4 MB).  I've always
been a fan of the Unreal Tournament series, except that they eliminate
Assault every other version.  People must complain because the next
version has it back again.

Anyways, the new system is running UT3 at 1280x1024, high detail at
around 60 fps whereas the Old system was chugging along at 29 fps at
1024x768.  It shows the big difference in the video cards.  I upgraded
the old system to a BFG 8800GT, based on the idea that most games are
now video choked, rather than CPU choked.  I was a little less than
thrilled to see the old system only getting 50 fps in 1024x768.  Just
for laughs, I boosted the resolution to 1280x1024 and suddenly it's
getting over 60fps.  Unusual behavior?  I've noticed that some review
sites see the same thing where the video card needs to have the right
resolution.  Or am I just kidding myself?

ThanksSteve


  

Re: [H] CPU FAN Suggestions

[zaske]

Cooler Master HyperTX2, Arctic Silver, unscrew the PSU and just lay it 
aside if you don't have enough clearance (but I suspect that there is 
enough room between the CPU and PSU to move the lever). Mobo removal 
isn't necessary and the price is very good for the level of cooling 
provided. I have 2 of them and they cool a pair of FX55's running 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (one is undervolted and only hits 35C and the other is OC'd 
@ 1.4v and runs about 42C).



FORC5 wrote:

Updated cpu from a 6000 to a 6400x2

With dnetc running cpu temps are to high, (59c) Took off the factory paste and put my goop on, worse. (63c) 
Gives problems in games. Have never had trouble with dnetc b4 ever and have been constantly running it for years. grins I guess.


Suggestion for a better cooler then the stock amd cooler. FWIW with dnetc off 
cpu is 39c. Have been running with the side panel off for now. This is not a 
good time of year for temp problems.

Does the 6400 run that much hotter normally ? 6000 never gave me any grief.

Do not want to remove the mb to mount a cooler

Thanks in advance.
fp

  

[H] 19 PSU ToDo @ TrusedReviews..

[zaske]

Looks to be a good one judging by the expense of the test equipment used. 
I'm the proud owner of a Seasonic Super Tornado 400 which is also covered by 
the review. @:)>


http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1014 




--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.6 - Release Date: 2/7/2005

Re: [H] [Bulk] New video card - GTX 260 or HD 4870?

[Stan Zaske]

Complex questions. First off, I game on a 24" monitor @ 1920x1200. My 
old box with WinXP, DX9 and 2 gig of RAM DID run Crysis with everything 
set an Medium with good results. My recently upgraded box still with 2 
gigs (soon to be 4 as soon as NewEgg ships my Mushkin), Vista64, DX10.1 
and Catylyst 8.9 I have to set everything on low or it starts to drive 
me nuts. I used the same Radeon HD4850 in both and even though DX10 is 
visibly better looking I'm disappointed in the performance drop. Anyway, 
they're both good cards and even though I try to support AMD every 
chance I get the GTX260 is apparently superior in every respect.



Brian Weeden wrote:

I'm upgrading the video card in my gaming rig and have the choice narrowed
down to two in my price range, the Nvidia GTX 260 or ATI HD 4870.  Both seem
to score fairly identical in most benchmarks so I guess the decision might
come down to extras.  For me, noise and cooling are a big issue.  My PC case
is right next to my desk in my office and I can't stand loud fans.  What's
the experience from the group with either of these cards and fan noise vs
temp?

I am leaning towards the 260 because I have heard better things about their
drivers as opposed to ATI's.  My last 3 cards have all been ATIs and while
they have served me very well in terms of hardware I've always had some sort
of issue with the driver.  For example, x1950 I currently am using doesn't
seem to be able to control the fan speed properly using the ATI Tool so I
have to manually set it high for gaming and low otherwise.

I don't plan on going dual cards if that makes a difference between the two.


Brian

  

[H] Gaming Box Survey Was Re: [Bulk] New video card - GTX 260 or HD 4870?

[Stan Zaske]

My old setup was an Epox NF4 Ultra mobo with an Athlon 64 FX55 running 
about 2.8 GHz and the upgrade has the Biostar 790GX/SB750 chipset and an 
Athlon 64 X2 5400+ BE running again about 2.8 GHz. Both had the same 
4850 video card and the same 2 gigs of RAM. The only difference is 
between DX9 XP Home and DX10.1 Vista64 Home Premium. Now I have yet to 
use the benchmarking utility for Crysis (all patched up of course) but 
it ran smoothly enough at that resolution and medium settings before 
that I had no problem getting my crosshairs on the Koreans and fragging 
them. Now however it visibly stutters and I attribute that to Vista and 
of course the 64 bit version has been widely reported to also be slower 
for gaming. Hopefully more RAM will help. What kind of boxes do the rest 
of the list members use for gaming?Gam



maccrawj wrote:
If you're playing @ 1920 with a single 4850 I am not surprised you 
don't like the results! What's the specs on the rest of the system?


I think you should read some more because consistently ATI has beat NV 
$ for $ performance wise, the 3870X2 has matched 280's and beaten 
260's never mind the new 4870 & X2 versions.


Stan Zaske wrote:
Complex questions. First off, I game on a 24" monitor @ 1920x1200. My 
old box with WinXP, DX9 and 2 gig of RAM DID run Crysis with 
everything set an Medium with good results. My recently upgraded box 
still with 2 gigs (soon to be 4 as soon as NewEgg ships my Mushkin), 
Vista64, DX10.1 and Catylyst 8.9 I have to set everything on low or 
it starts to drive me nuts. I used the same Radeon HD4850 in both and 
even though DX10 is visibly better looking I'm disappointed in the 
performance drop. Anyway, they're both good cards and even though I 
try to support AMD every chance I get the GTX260 is apparently 
superior in every respect.

Re: [H] Comcast

[Stan Zaske]

I'll second that "evil" warning! I long for the good-old days when I was 
an Insight customer before Comcast got their "evil" hands on it!



Ben Ruset wrote:
With the exception of Comcast being evil, no. It should be plug and 
play like that.


Winterlight wrote:
My sister is signing up with Comcast broadband, and she is renting 
the modem from them.


 I have COX. Is there anything about Comcast that is different or  
propriety? Or is this as easy as COX is ...plug the router I set up 
and sent her in DHCP, and go?


thanks

Re: [H] Upgrade Time

[Stan Zaske]

I agree that we are in the era of "good enough" computing and it doesn't 
matter how superior Core i7 is because the bottle necks are in other 
parts of the system and that means primarily the hard drive. I'm  
worried about a market with only one CPU manufacturer and what it would 
mean about mainstream afford ability. I have not given in to the 
temptation of Intel and my Athlon 5400+ BE is fast enough even without 
over clocking. Deneb isn't here until February or March but I too look 
forward to it.



Greg Sevart wrote:

Oh, I completely agree--I wouldn't buy an AMD right now either. But my
loyalty is thin. AMD's 45nm Deneb generation chips look to be capable of
clocking fairly high. I at least allow for the possibility that tomorrow may
be different--though I expect Core i7 to eat its lunch. I'm taking a
wait-and-see approach before deciding on the replacement for my superb
3.6GHz Q6600.

I think that some could make the argument that we are now largely in an era
of "good enough" computing, too.


  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of maccrawj
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 1:58 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Upgrade Time

Whatever, it's too little to late from AMD, I looked to build an AMD in
March &
quickly decided Intel was a better bet, still is.

It's an Intel market right now both for CPU & chipsets.

Greg Sevart wrote:


Not to mention that the TLB issue was stupidly overblown by the so-
  

called


enthusiast community. "omg I can't o/c to 47GHz!! MUST BE TLB!!!"

  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Boswell
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 8:19 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Upgrade Time


On 13 Oct 2008, at 13:09, Steve Tomporowski wrote:



I started reading some of the reviews and when there's some problem
that comes and goes randomly, I think not;-)
  

the L3 cache errata isn't an issue now, the 9x50 badged parts no
longer have that problem.


-JB




  




  

Re: [H] Upgrade Time

[Stan Zaske]

Of course this is all very preliminary and we won't get the real goods 
until the NDA expires next month but check this out.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://diy.pconline.com.cn/cpu/reviews/0810/1438115.html


Greg Sevart wrote:

I agree that we are in the era of "good enough" computing and it
doesn't
matter how superior Core i7 is because the bottle necks are in other
parts of the system and that means primarily the hard drive. I'm



Eh, that's a pretty tired argument. While it's true that disk performance
has not kept pace, it isn't true to say that increases in processor
performance are pointless. There are a lot of workloads that do benefit from
pure CPU performance and place little emphasis on i/o--like H.264 encoding,
which is the main reason I run a quad, and the main reason I'm interested in
i7.

  

worried about a market with only one CPU manufacturer and what it would
mean about mainstream afford ability. I have not given in to the
temptation of Intel and my Athlon 5400+ BE is fast enough even without
over clocking. Deneb isn't here until February or March but I too look
forward to it.



And that's what it is all about. Find a product that fits your needs. The BE
5400+ may fit your needs perfectly; it doesn't fit mine. AMD doesn't offer
anything right now that is a good fit for me. 


Insofar as the "one-vendor" concern, I think that with the spinoff of AMD's
fabrication plants, AMD's solvency has increased such that the risk of them
failing has largely evaporated. There is a tremendous debt load associated
with building, running, and maintaining fabs that they've been able to shed.
I do wonder, however, if moving chip manufacturing out of house will
ultimately diminish AMD's ability to execute effectively. That's assuming
that they're able to retain their x86 license, of course. :)

Greg
 





  

Re: [H] Upgrade Time

[Stan Zaske]

You lost me at it not being an issue of a one vendor market. If AMD goes 
bankrupt it will be a one vendor market.



maccrawj wrote:
It's not an issue of a one vendor market. When AMD comes up with 
something good enough you can be sure the market will swing yet again 
to AMD's camp.


What makes me laugh are all the complete "power gamer" PC's in EGM 
that only come in AMD flavors during a Intel market. Well, that and 
the price of said PC's being < $1000 loaded with features which is 
flat out impossible to do & still have a "power gamer" PC.


Stan Zaske wrote:
I agree that we are in the era of "good enough" computing and it 
doesn't matter how superior Core i7 is because the bottle necks are 
in other parts of the system and that means primarily the hard drive. 
I'm  worried about a market with only one CPU manufacturer and what 
it would mean about mainstream afford ability. I have not given in to 
the temptation of Intel and my Athlon 5400+ BE is fast enough even 
without over clocking. Deneb isn't here until February or March but I 
too look forward to it.



Greg Sevart wrote:

Oh, I completely agree--I wouldn't buy an AMD right now either. But my
loyalty is thin. AMD's 45nm Deneb generation chips look to be 
capable of
clocking fairly high. I at least allow for the possibility that 
tomorrow may

be different--though I expect Core i7 to eat its lunch. I'm taking a
wait-and-see approach before deciding on the replacement for my superb
3.6GHz Q6600.

I think that some could make the argument that we are now largely in 
an era

of "good enough" computing, too.

Re: [H] PS3 or Xbox360

[Stan Zaske]

A PS3 is the cheapest way to rent and watch Blue Ray. All the video 
stores around here are stocking more and more as time goes by. I have an 
Xbox 360 and an HD-DVD player and I almost never turn it on preferring 
to game on my PC and movies on DVD.



Gary wrote:

Time to do some Xmas shopping. Going to get either PS3 or XBOX360 for my
dayghter.

Does it really matter?  

  

Re: [H] eide/pata

[Stan Zaske]

I bought one of those Maxtor drives with the included Promise card at 
Circuit City several years ago. The card worked well in XP and even 
though its sitting in my "junk drawer" probably still works fine. Don't 
know about Vista though haven't gone to their website since I originally 
downloaded the last BIOS and drivers.



Rick Glazier wrote:

During the BIOS size support  transition period, in reference to HDs,
Maxtor packaged a re-badged Promise UATA card with their
HDs for free (or Free AMIR) to help keep people buying HDs.
(Later they sold them.)
How would you like to get a nice new HD and find out you could
not use it unless you were forced into the less desirable DDO
software translation smoke and mirrors crap.
(Which BTW, you could try and see it you like it and the limitations
and service problems it adds to a system.)

Hope this helps. Rick Glazier

--
From: "DHSinclair"
Am I missing something here. Can you explain the "Maxtor branded 
Promise..." business? 

Re: [H] WinXP Partition size?

[Stan Zaske]

When I first started partitioning my drives with separate WinXP and data 
sections I started with 15 gigs and then 20 when that didn't seem large 
enough. I did however run into a program that wouldn't work because it 
complained that there wasn't enough space on drive C. My latest build is 
a game machine with Vista upgrade and I just made it all one partition 
to save time.



DHSinclair wrote:

What is a reasonable partition size for WinXP?
I ask this because I have watched both W2K and WinXP getting close to 
outgrowing the 4GB partitions they live on (here) ATM.


Yes, there may be much junk that I have not yet found/killed on either 
that might mitigate this question.
I do keep all %temp%, temp, and tmp directories at 'empty' as best I 
can.  I do use eraser to clear unused space also.  Still, I find the 
OS (and my stupidity) is expanding.  I did expect this; just not this 
fast.

Thank you,
Duncan

Re: [H] WinXP Partition size?

[Stan Zaske]

My main work machine is still at 20 gigs but I've never experienced any 
benefit from that advice. When my data gets lost its always been because 
of the drive going bad so I make multiple copies of my irreplaceable 
info across different drives and PC's and its worked very well over the 
years. My last drive back in 06 that went bad was only 4 months old and 
it hasn't happened since. One of my boxes actually has an ancient 8 gig 
drive D that I use for the XP swap file if it makes any difference . 
In the near future when Solid State drives get faster and cheaper I 
could see having a super fast read/write 32 or 64 gig boot drive and a 
very large mechanical for media storage. Like I said partitioning hasn't 
made any difference I can tell.



DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
OK, what was your last choice for an XP partition?
Is it 20GB or greater?
Best,
Duncan

At 18:11 10/30/2008 -0500, you wrote:
When I first started partitioning my drives with separate WinXP and 
data sections I started with 15 gigs and then 20 when that didn't 
seem large enough. I did however run into a program that wouldn't 
work because it complained that there wasn't enough space on drive C. 
My latest build is a game machine with Vista upgrade and I just made 
it all one partition to save time.



DHSinclair wrote:

What is a reasonable partition size for WinXP?
I ask this because I have watched both W2K and WinXP getting close 
to outgrowing the 4GB partitions they live on (here) ATM.


Yes, there may be much junk that I have not yet found/killed on 
either that might mitigate this question.
I do keep all %temp%, temp, and tmp directories at 'empty' as best I 
can.  I do use eraser to clear unused space also.  Still, I find the 
OS (and my stupidity) is expanding.  I did expect this; just not 
this fast.

Thank you,
Duncan

Re: [H] Another reason to use NoScript - Click Jacking

[Stan Zaske]

I like NoScript so much I sent them a $5 donation last year.


Brian Weeden wrote:

"Click Jacking" (more formerly known as "UI Redressing" is the process where
you hide a page with links in an HTML layer behind another page.  So when
the user loads the page and thinks they are clicking on Punch the Monkey,
they are really clicking links to give someone access to their eBay account
or something similarly nefarious.

Check out this demo:

http://snipurl.com/clickjack

Fortunately, the NoScript add-on for Firefox comes with protection against
this sort of attack.  And it works whether or not you have scripting enabled
on a page.

More info for those that want to know:

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm#168

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US

  

Re: [H] new m/b mounted

[Stan Zaske]

You could pop in an old Promise card to increase the number of PATA 
ports. Do you have one laying around?



DHSinclair wrote:
The new Asus P5Q3 m/b is mounted to its' tray. Big sucker!  It does 
appear to be very SATA and USB centric.

Can anyone speak to "JMicron" SATA? I thought SATA was SATA

Most of my CDROMS, DVDROM/Burner devices appear to be just PATA.  Do 
SATA devices even exist?


I think I may now search for PATA-2-SATA converters.  This m/b only 
has one PATA-eide port, but I think that the case geometry will not 
support the normal cable length of the standard eide cable (included) 
for both the hard drive and DVDrom/Burner mounting points.  I can do a 
temp mount of the HD to the FD carrier for initial startup and test, 
but this would not be my long-term decision.


I recall some discussion about several versions of these converters 
months back, but I can not find those msgs ATM.  Recs and suggestions 
appreciated.  I'll need to buy a bunch!

Thanks,
Duncan

Re: [H] Asus m/b and CPU

[Stan Zaske]

I agree, AMD's best is plenty fast enough.


W. D. wrote:

At 00:31 11/10/2008, maccrawj wrote:
  

What he said ---v

;)

For that matter I state again that building AMD based systems right 
now is doing a 
dis-service to your customer, same as building Intel in 2004 would have been.



I only buy AMD to support them financially.  What if they
were to go under?  Since AMD has been on the scene
Intel has been forced to compete fiercly.  Would Intel be as 
aggressive in pursuing performance and value without a serious

competitor?  I think not.

Start Here to Find It Fast!™ -> http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/
$8.77 Domain Names -> http://domains.us-webmasters.com/


  

Re: [H] Firefox 3

[Stan Zaske]

Not having any problems here and I use the 64 bit version called 
"Minefield" on my Vista game box as well.



Sam Franc wrote:
For those of you that have been having problems with Firefox 
shutdowns, I suggest you try Seamonkey.

It solved my problem and my daughters too.

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

Excellent card with great value for those that game seldom yet it will 
also accelerate HD video if you watch Blue Ray movies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127391


DHSinclair wrote:
Let's say I have an old PCI video card.  Let's say that I 'think' that 
it might be bad.

(it seems to be weak lighting up the display at post!)
But, I have this brandy, spanking, new set of toys that need a video 
card just to see if it even works.. :)


What are the chances that a suspicious, old, video card might do any 
damage to the

new collection of toys?

Yes, I am trying hard, not to drop coin on a really "new" PCIx model 
video card; yet!


Or, can you suggest a mid-grade current video card?  The new toy is 
NOT an EXTREME GAMER, but I would like to view some simple web-based 
video; like UToob and/or dot-wmv like files.

Best,
Duncan

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

Duncan just wanted to have a video card that was competent for web based 
video and this card is obviously overkill for that but the price is very 
reasonable. It should even be powerful enough for some casual gaming at 
low resolutions.



maccrawj wrote:
Gotta love how Newegg's specs are always flat out wrong or have the 
wrong definition.


The GPU is HD4350 but that's the card model, not the actual GPU's 
model, LOL!


For accelerated video, you're probably write but I'd be suspect just 
based on how low the price is.




Stan Zaske wrote:
Excellent card with great value for those that game seldom yet it 
will also accelerate HD video if you watch Blue Ray movies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127391


DHSinclair wrote:
Let's say I have an old PCI video card.  Let's say that I 'think' 
that it might be bad.

(it seems to be weak lighting up the display at post!)
But, I have this brandy, spanking, new set of toys that need a video 
card just to see if it even works.. :)


What are the chances that a suspicious, old, video card might do any 
damage to the

new collection of toys?

Yes, I am trying hard, not to drop coin on a really "new" PCIx model 
video card; yet!


Or, can you suggest a mid-grade current video card?  The new toy is 
NOT an EXTREME GAMER, but I would like to view some simple web-based 
video; like UToob and/or dot-wmv like files.

Best,
Duncan

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

quote: But, I have this brandy, spanking, new set of toys that need a 
video card just to see if it even works.. :)


Did I misunderstand something?

DHSinclair wrote:

J/Stan,
Hey! Hey!  It is a Guinea Pig; not a hamster. Yes, I may be 1 or 2 
generations behind. I use AMD Barton 2500+'s, an AMD TBird 1400M, and 
some Intel P3's. Most of my video cards are nVidia GeForce 4's or 
nVidia FX5500's. Yes, not top drawer, but it all seems to do OK for my 
needs. I am not into PC-based HD video. I do not even own a 
wide-screen flat panel monitor yet.  Sheesh!  Perhaps it is time to 
banish myself from this collective! LOL!


I did read the Anandtech review of the card Stan suggested. While it 
does seem to work OK, it does seem to have several power and resource 
negatives. They also mentioned driver problems with this card also. I 
have not been an ATI user either. The only ATI video anything I have 
is the on-board 3D Rage IIC PCI chip in the server-works Intel m/b.  
And, it is beginning to show signs of serious age and some video 
degradation. (This is why I still hoard old PCI Matrox cards)! But, 
the server is not the issue at hand.  I am looking for mid-level PCI-X 
cards now.

When I rebuild my gaming machine, we will talk top drawer cards!

Thank you for the suggestion. I will re-read the review. Perhaps I am 
just too new to this new video revolution.

Best,
Duncan



At 01:44 11/18/2008 -0800, you wrote:
Given what he's been running on, I'm sure a hamster on a wheel is 
faster! ;)


A review on Anandtech for it:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3444

Stan Zaske wrote:
Duncan just wanted to have a video card that was competent for web 
based video and this card is obviously overkill for that but the 
price is very reasonable. It should even be powerful enough for some 
casual gaming at low resolutions.


maccrawj wrote:
Gotta love how Newegg's specs are always flat out wrong or have the 
wrong definition.


The GPU is HD4350 but that's the card model, not the actual GPU's 
model, LOL!


For accelerated video, you're probably write but I'd be suspect 
just based on how low the price is.

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

I agree that either companies products would be fine. Personally 
speaking, I've upgraded my gaming box from an AMD 3850 to their current 
4850 using Catalyst drivers going way back with zero issues. In December 
AMD is introducing a fascinating new mainstream feature called, "Stream 
computing" in version 8.12 which more or less turns your video card 
somewhat into a parallel processing super computer. That MSI card only 
has 80 streaming processors but is still (at least for some apps) 
considerably more powerful than your core 2 duo. nVidia also does this 
with CUDA and it should be interesting to see where this leads in the 
months and years ahead. [EMAIL PROTECTED] is one stream computing app I've 
been using for many months now and its way more powerful than the CPU 
version. Good Luck!



DHSinclair wrote:

j.,
Yes, thank you. I do understand. I do know that I will be doing your 
'It's simple' kind of test. I do have to test the waters and form my 
own opinion.  Yes, most is truly better than my very old Matrox cards. 
I do accept this. I do know their limitations. But, in a pinch, they 
still light up and allow most basic setup functions (which is what I 
use them for).  I do not have any new technology spares lying around 
anymore. I am now brand new to the new PCI interfaces.

Ouch! New lump on head!! LOL!
Best,
Duncan

At 11:48 11/19/2008 -0800, you wrote:
Mis-quotes of how bad ATI's driver issues are starting to wear thin. 
Both companies have issues that arise, generally with AGP video 
support or specific games, then maybe something else like general 
stability.


The driver package is the same for the entire product line, true also 
with Nvidia.


It's simple: You buy, try, scrutinize, & return within 30 days if 
there's trouble. Anything has to be better than old Matrox cards, as 
good as they were in their day and at $30 it could cost a lot more to 
try.




DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
Well, yes and no. Yes, I have a new/replacement PC built; a 
C2D/P45/DDR3 that is just missing a video card.  I do have 3 PCI 
cards that I can try, but I have to take another PC down to try. 
ATM, my spare G200-PCI may be bad. I will confirm this tonight.
And, no, you missed nothing. I did appreciate the suggestion and the 
link to the Anandtech review. I may have to re-read the review. 
Perhaps I missed something. I just was not impressed with the video 
card's power usage, resources, and the driver (ATI) issues.  
However, as a first time try with a PCI-e card, the price and 
features are appealing.
I have listened to the collective banter ATI vs. nVidia through the 
last 3 series of video cards. Sorry, I remain hopelessly confused 
still. And, now I have to learn/deal with a brand new card interface 
also.

My apologies.
Best,
Duncan

At 16:55 11/18/2008 -0600, you wrote:
quote: But, I have this brandy, spanking, new set of toys that need 
a video card just to see if it even works.. :)


Did I misunderstand something?

DHSinclair wrote:

J/Stan,
Hey! Hey!  It is a Guinea Pig; not a hamster. Yes, I may be 1 or 2 
generations behind. I use AMD Barton 2500+'s, an AMD TBird 1400M, 
and some Intel P3's. Most of my video cards are nVidia GeForce 4's 
or nVidia FX5500's. Yes, not top drawer, but it all seems to do OK 
for my needs. I am not into PC-based HD video. I do not even own a 
wide-screen flat panel monitor yet.  Sheesh!  Perhaps it is time 
to banish myself from this collective! LOL!


I did read the Anandtech review of the card Stan suggested. While 
it does seem to work OK, it does seem to have several power and 
resource negatives. They also mentioned driver problems with this 
card also. I have not been an ATI user either. The only ATI video 
anything I have is the on-board 3D Rage IIC PCI chip in the 
server-works Intel m/b.
And, it is beginning to show signs of serious age and some video 
degradation. (This is why I still hoard old PCI Matrox cards)! 
But, the server is not the issue at hand.  I am looking for 
mid-level PCI-X cards now.

When I rebuild my gaming machine, we will talk top drawer cards!

Thank you for the suggestion. I will re-read the review. Perhaps I 
am just too new to this new video revolution.

Best,
Duncan



At 01:44 11/18/2008 -0800, you wrote:
Given what he's been running on, I'm sure a hamster on a wheel is 
faster! ;)


A review on Anandtech for it:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3444

Stan Zaske wrote:
Duncan just wanted to have a video card that was competent for 
web based video and this card is obviously overkill for that but 
the price is very reasonable. It should even be powerful enough 
for some casual gaming at low resolutions.


maccrawj wrote:
Gotta love how Newegg's specs are always flat out wrong or have 
the wrong definition.


The GPU is HD4350 but that's the card model, not the actual 
GPU's model, LOL!


For accelerated video, you're probably write but I'd be suspect 
just based on how low the price is.

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

I will re-read the review. Perhaps 
I am just too new to this new video revolution.

Best,
Duncan



At 01:44 11/18/2008 -0800, you wrote:
Given what he's been running on, I'm sure a hamster on a wheel 
is faster! ;)


A review on Anandtech for it:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3444

Stan Zaske wrote:
Duncan just wanted to have a video card that was competent for 
web based video and this card is obviously overkill for that 
but the price is very reasonable. It should even be powerful 
enough for some casual gaming at low resolutions.


maccrawj wrote:
Gotta love how Newegg's specs are always flat out wrong or 
have the wrong definition.


The GPU is HD4350 but that's the card model, not the actual 
GPU's model, LOL!


For accelerated video, you're probably write but I'd be 
suspect just based on how low the price is.

Re: [H] Video card question

[Stan Zaske]

t all seems to do OK for my needs. I am not into PC-based 
HD video. I do not even own a wide-screen flat panel monitor 
yet.  Sheesh!

Perhaps it is time to banish myself from this collective! LOL!

I did read the Anandtech review of the card Stan suggested. 
While it does seem to work OK, it does seem to have several 
power and resource negatives. They also mentioned driver 
problems with this card also. I have not been an ATI user 
either. The only ATI video anything I have is the on-board 3D 
Rage IIC PCI chip in the server-works Intel m/b.
And, it is beginning to show signs of serious age and some 
video degradation. (This is why I still hoard old PCI Matrox 
cards)! But, the server is not the issue at hand.  I am 
looking for mid-level PCI-X cards now.

When I rebuild my gaming machine, we will talk top drawer cards!

Thank you for the suggestion. I will re-read the review. 
Perhaps I am just too new to this new video revolution.

Best,
Duncan



At 01:44 11/18/2008 -0800, you wrote:
Given what he's been running on, I'm sure a hamster on a 
wheel is faster! ;)


A review on Anandtech for it:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3444

Stan Zaske wrote:
Duncan just wanted to have a video card that was competent 
for web based video and this card is obviously overkill for 
that but the price is very reasonable. It should even be 
powerful enough for some casual gaming at low resolutions.


maccrawj wrote:
Gotta love how Newegg's specs are always flat out wrong or 
have the wrong definition.


The GPU is HD4350 but that's the card model, not the actual 
GPU's model, LOL!


For accelerated video, you're probably write but I'd be 
suspect just based on how low the price is.

Re: [H] Seeking links to SATA/EIDE converters?

[Stan Zaske]

Optical drives are becoming obsolete with hard drive storage and thumb 
drives so inexpensive. Optical drives are also much slower and with the 
coming of a National broadband agenda and net neutrality soon to be 
pushed heavily by our new administration... Also, you can convert your 
DVD collection to iso format and use Demon Tools Lite to mount it in a 
virtual optical drive and use your favorite media app to watch them. 
AnyDVDHD can also rip BlueRay to disk for the same purpose.


I bought into HDDVD last year because of the heavier use of DRM with 
BlueRay and got burned last February when Hollywood and Tochiba threw in 
the towel. There are an increasing number of BlueRay rentals in my area 
now but I've been waiting for the price and compatibility issues to get 
better. But even BlueRay's days are numbered if you believe the 
articles. They say that if BlueRay wants to succeed it needs to be as 
cheap as DVD and I don't think that will happen for quite some time. I 
really like to go to the video store and check out the latest rentals 
but those places are probably on the way out.


DHSinclair wrote:

Scott,
If you do not use optical drives, what do you use? A wee bit confused 
here!


Yes, I have played with JMicron's driver(s). It appears that they do 
not work well in w2ksp4. Mybad; completely.  I do use my optical drives.

I have not converted to USB or whatever for basic I/O yet. :)
Thanks,
Duncan

At 17:11 11/21/2008 -0500, you wrote:

Sounds like you're pretty much on the right road.

I don't know about you, but I virtually never use my optical drives
anymore. That's why I don't mind my dvd drive running with the PATA<- 
>SATA convertor.


Sheesh seems like just yesterday that 1x/2x CD-ROMs were all the rage
and what a big difference that 2x made! And those annoying little
caddies? I figure somewhere after 20x it stopped mattering quite as
much :)

Have you tried installing JMicron's drivers?

Scott

On Nov 21, 2008, at 4:09 PM, DHSinclair wrote:


JB,
To your 1st, I'd tend to agree, my check today looks like ~$25-$40
for opticals like Samsung/Lite-On?  I now have 5 current
pata opticals (4 AOpen, 1 some generic), they all work, so I'd like
to continue with them, if at all possible. Unless, any of the newer
SATA specific opticals offer better performance that my current crop.

As for pata hard drives, I have 2. Both Seagate 160GB.  So far, one
is running well w/converter.  One still has to be converted.

Agreed, I am pinching pennies here.  Any/all new hard drives will be
sata.  Any/all new opticals will be sata.
Thank you,
Duncan

At 20:56 11/21/2008 +, you wrote:

for $19 or so each for convertors surely you're better off just...
buying new optical drives that are native SATA?


For that matter, how large are the PATA disks you're planning to keep
in service?

On 21 Nov 2008, at 20:51, DHSinclair wrote:


OK, I now own 6 Sabrent SBT-SCIDE sata/eide converters.  2 are in
use. 1 is now suspect. 3 remain untested.
I spoke with Sabrent today. They have no technical knowledge of
their own product. Freely admitted that this product is a cheap
knock-off of other "more expensive" products in the pipeline ATM.
Bummer.

So, what are these other "more expensive" converters?  I have a link
to HyperMicrosystems for $19 each, but it clearly states that it
only works with hard drives.  I am looking for reliable converters
for both hard drives and cdrom/dvdrom/burner that are pata-based.

I will test the rest of my stack tonight. Newegg and I will settle
up next week if necessary.
Thank you,
Duncan

Re: [H] Seeking links to SATA/EIDE converters?

[Stan Zaske]

I didn't mean to imply that optical drives are obsolete, just rapidly 
headed that way. There are many folks out there that have archived their 
collections and watch them from their disk arrays. The next time someone 
tells you about their many Terabyte drive array you can bet they have a 
lot of DVD movies on there as well as other media. Those $60 with free 
shipping drives that Mr. Boswell mentioned earlier would make a good bit 
of media storage with an 8 disk RAID controller card. For those of us 
that can afford such a thing which I certainly can't.  :-)



DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
I do get your position. But, I am so not where you are ATM.
In any case, how do you rebuild an OS?  I have to use an optical drive.
Best,
Duncan

At 18:09 11/21/2008 -0600, you wrote:
Optical drives are becoming obsolete with hard drive storage and 
thumb drives so inexpensive. Optical drives are also much slower and 
with the coming of a National broadband agenda and net neutrality 
soon to be pushed heavily by our new administration... Also, you can 
convert your DVD collection to iso format and use Demon Tools Lite to 
mount it in a virtual optical drive and use your favorite media app 
to watch them. AnyDVDHD can also rip BlueRay to disk for the same 
purpose.


I bought into HDDVD last year because of the heavier use of DRM with 
BlueRay and got burned last February when Hollywood and Tochiba threw 
in the towel. There are an increasing number of BlueRay rentals in my 
area now but I've been waiting for the price and compatibility issues 
to get better. But even BlueRay's days are numbered if you believe 
the articles. They say that if BlueRay wants to succeed it needs to 
be as cheap as DVD and I don't think that will happen for quite some 
time. I really like to go to the video store and check out the latest 
rentals but those places are probably on the way out.


DHSinclair wrote:

Scott,
If you do not use optical drives, what do you use? A wee bit 
confused here!


Yes, I have played with JMicron's driver(s). It appears that they do 
not work well in w2ksp4. Mybad; completely.  I do use my optical 
drives.

I have not converted to USB or whatever for basic I/O yet. :)
Thanks,
Duncan

At 17:11 11/21/2008 -0500, you wrote:

Sounds like you're pretty much on the right road.

I don't know about you, but I virtually never use my optical drives
anymore. That's why I don't mind my dvd drive running with the 
PATA<- >SATA convertor.


Sheesh seems like just yesterday that 1x/2x CD-ROMs were all the rage
and what a big difference that 2x made! And those annoying little
caddies? I figure somewhere after 20x it stopped mattering quite as
much :)

Have you tried installing JMicron's drivers?

Scott

On Nov 21, 2008, at 4:09 PM, DHSinclair wrote:


JB,
To your 1st, I'd tend to agree, my check today looks like ~$25-$40
for opticals like Samsung/Lite-On?  I now have 5 current
pata opticals (4 AOpen, 1 some generic), they all work, so I'd like
to continue with them, if at all possible. Unless, any of the newer
SATA specific opticals offer better performance that my current crop.

As for pata hard drives, I have 2. Both Seagate 160GB.  So far, one
is running well w/converter.  One still has to be converted.

Agreed, I am pinching pennies here.  Any/all new hard drives will be
sata.  Any/all new opticals will be sata.
Thank you,
Duncan

At 20:56 11/21/2008 +, you wrote:

for $19 or so each for convertors surely you're better off just...
buying new optical drives that are native SATA?


For that matter, how large are the PATA disks you're planning to 
keep

in service?

On 21 Nov 2008, at 20:51, DHSinclair wrote:


OK, I now own 6 Sabrent SBT-SCIDE sata/eide converters.  2 are in
use. 1 is now suspect. 3 remain untested.
I spoke with Sabrent today. They have no technical knowledge of
their own product. Freely admitted that this product is a cheap
knock-off of other "more expensive" products in the pipeline ATM.
Bummer.

So, what are these other "more expensive" converters?  I have a 
link

to HyperMicrosystems for $19 each, but it clearly states that it
only works with hard drives.  I am looking for reliable converters
for both hard drives and cdrom/dvdrom/burner that are pata-based.

I will test the rest of my stack tonight. Newegg and I will settle
up next week if necessary.
Thank you,
Duncan

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

As I've stated previously, I'm pro-AMD. Having said that you might be 
interested in this article.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3462


Joe User wrote:

Hello,

Sometime ago, I ask and received advice on a gaming system. It's now
time to upgrade the video card I am thinking. I am a WoW player and
have WotLK. I raid 25 mans. I run XP Pro. All the system does is game.

Running 4GB @ 1066 with the Gigabyte P35 DS3P and a Core 2 Duo 3GHz
e6850 in an Antec 900 case all this is being powered by a Seasonic
s12 80 550w. My current video being an MSI 8800GTX single card.

This board supports SLI but the second slot does not run at 16X, it runs
at 4X. The card I am considering is the ATI (gasp!) 4870X2 which is
like SLI on one card (basically). So I would just replace the card I
currently have. The 4870 is nearly 11 inches long but I understand I
have the room and I will double check before I make the purchase.

ATI v. Nvidia
aside, I want to give ATI a shot here since I have always used Nvidia
and now with AMD at the wheel... plus the 4870 is the hottest thing
right now.

What I seek advice on is this: Is this a wise move? Would Dual SLI
8800 GTX's be better even with the 16x / 4x thing going on? Something
else that I may not even be aware of? The card is 550 bucks so i
wanted to get some opinions before i shelled out the money.


  

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

Using two 4870's in crossfire would be a waste unless you upgrade to an 
X48 chipset mobo. Running one of them in a PCIe X16 slot with only 4 
PCIe lanes would kill its performance IMHO. Also, the single card X2 
would use slightly less electricity which also concerns a lot of people 
nowadays. Glad you want to support AMD.


Joe User wrote:

Hello Stan,

Friday, November 21, 2008, 11:19:44 PM, you wrote:

  
As I've stated previously, I'm pro-AMD. Having said that you might be 
interested in this article.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3462




Excellent read, thanks for the link. Seems to me they give the nod to
the 4870 in the end. I could probably infer the 4870X2 would rock
also. I now have to consider would it be better (it would be cheaper)
to do two 4870's or just do the 4870X2? Hmmm

I have to say I am excited to give ATI a spin...


  

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

Joe there are two versions of the GTX 260. The older one with 192 
shaders and the new one with 216. Check this out.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU4Nyw5LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==


Joe User wrote:

Hello Raul,

Saturday, November 22, 2008, 3:58:06 PM, you wrote:

  

I have to say I am excited to give ATI a spin...
  


  

Check out also the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260/216 Black Edition:
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1836_1.html



Well this read threw a major wrench in the process...  ;)

Thanks though, I have to weigh things again.

  

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

Speaking of good games, check this gameplay video out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsxXgw-6xbE&feature=related


Brian Weeden wrote:

Sorry I'm late to the discussion.  I just replaced my old card with a HD4850
and couldn't be happier.  Was able to play Dead Space and Fallout 3 at
1900x1200 and max settings and it only cost me around $200.  That's my kind
of video card.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 4:28 PM, John R Steinbruner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:

  

Thanx for all the nice reading pointers, hell, I still have an nVidia 8800
GT 512meg card that plays Crysis just find,
and it was a good bang for the buck card at the time...

I don't even know the 9xxx series, let alone the new 260 and 280's...  :(

Is nVidia gonna still sell 9xxx's as well as the new 260/280's, or are the
9xxx series being discontinued?




Snip

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

I don't play sports games but thats one possibility.


Al wrote:

Stan Zaske <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
  
Speaking of good games, check this gameplay video out.> 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsxXgw-6xbE&feature=related



And speaking of games, would someone please suggest something I can have
running in my shop for customers to see. Something that would show off
the power of the latest in hardware but have little or no violence, as
not to offend anyone.

TIA,
al

  

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

Unfortunately for al, most games are violent but the suggestion to use a 
benchmark app is good.


http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/mirrors-edge-review.ars


Brian Weeden wrote:

Mirror's Edge:

http://www.mirrorsedge.com/

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 7:09 PM, Al <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

  

Stan Zaske <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Speaking of good games, check this gameplay video out.>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsxXgw-6xbE&feature=related
  

And speaking of games, would someone please suggest something I can have
running in my shop for customers to see. Something that would show off
the power of the latest in hardware but have little or no violence, as
not to offend anyone.

TIA,
al




  

Re: [H] Video card upgrade time

[Stan Zaske]

I feel the same way. I just want a single card powerful enough to play 
modern games on my 24" monitor and leave it at that. Have you got "Wrath 
of the Lich King" yet?



Joe User wrote:

Hello Stan,

Saturday, November 22, 2008, 4:00:11 PM, you wrote:

  

Using two 4870's in crossfire would be a waste unless you upgrade to an
X48 chipset mobo. Running one of them in a PCIe X16 slot with only 4 
PCIe lanes would kill its performance IMHO. Also, the single card X2 
would use slightly less electricity which also concerns a lot of people

nowadays. Glad you want to support AMD.



IIRC, when i asked for advice on this system I wanted to avoid a
second card and therefore it justified this board.

  

Re: [H] Raptor performance

[Stan Zaske]

This might interest you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260

Winterlight wrote:

Here are the specs for my old SATA 1 RAPTOR = 74GB
Data Transfer Rate (maximum)
- Buffer to Host 1.5 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek 4.5 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek3 0.6 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek3 10.2 ms (average)
Average Latency 2.99 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed 10,000 RPM
Buffer 8 MB

And here are the specs for the new 300GB Raptor I am thinking about 
getting to install OS and programs on.


- Buffer to Host3.0 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek4.2 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek30.7 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek38.5 ms (average)
Average Latency5.5 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed10,000 RPM
Buffer16 MB

OK the new one is faster, but a lot faster? the latency number shows a 
big improvement but the others maybe 10 or 15 percent improvement. I 
wonder if it is worth spending 200 bucks to upgrade. Or am I not 
getting something?

Re: [H] Raptor performance

[Stan Zaske]

A couple of links for you.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=548&type=expert&pid=13
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/699/7/
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ5MCwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

Winterlight wrote:


well that is exactly what I saw and started thinking about it, I am 
buying another 4870 video card for Crossfire and I noticed this in a 
mailer. But as I wrote, unless new controllers are now providing real 
Sata II transfer speeds in vista64 ... are they?...
then it appears there is no good reason for me to upgrade from my 
older SATA Raptor



At 01:49 PM 11/27/2008, you wrote:

This might interest you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260

Winterlight wrote:

Here are the specs for my old SATA 1 RAPTOR = 74GB
Data Transfer Rate (maximum)
- Buffer to Host 1.5 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek 4.5 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek3 0.6 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek3 10.2 ms (average)
Average Latency 2.99 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed 10,000 RPM
Buffer 8 MB

And here are the specs for the new 300GB Raptor I am thinking about 
getting to install OS and programs on.


- Buffer to Host3.0 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek4.2 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek30.7 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek38.5 ms (average)
Average Latency5.5 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed10,000 RPM
Buffer16 MB

OK the new one is faster, but a lot faster? the latency number shows 
a big improvement but the others maybe 10 or 15 percent improvement. 
I wonder if it is worth spending 200 bucks to upgrade. Or am I not 
getting something?

Re: [H] Raptor performance

[Stan Zaske]

We're getting closer now folks. Probably only show up as 25 gigs in 
Windows but might make for an interesting boot drive.  :-)


http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009697

John R Steinbruner wrote:
I went from a 74 gig Raptor boot drive to the new VelociRaptor 150 gig 
for my boot drive.


The rest of the box is the same as it was..

In informal tests, XP boots 12 seconds faster now, and Vista boots 15 
seconds faster than before





On Nov 27, 2008, at 1:49 PM, Stan Zaske wrote:


This might interest you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260

Winterlight wrote:

Here are the specs for my old SATA 1 RAPTOR = 74GB
Data Transfer Rate (maximum)
- Buffer to Host 1.5 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek 4.5 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek3 0.6 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek3 10.2 ms (average)
Average Latency 2.99 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed 10,000 RPM
Buffer 8 MB

And here are the specs for the new 300GB Raptor I am thinking about 
getting to install OS and programs on.


- Buffer to Host3.0 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek4.2 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek30.7 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek38.5 ms (average)
Average Latency5.5 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed10,000 RPM
Buffer16 MB

OK the new one is faster, but a lot faster? the latency number shows 
a big improvement but the others maybe 10 or 15 percent improvement. 
I wonder if it is worth spending 200 bucks to upgrade. Or am I not 
getting something?

[H] AMD vs Intel

[Stan Zaske]

Just some more news on the upcoming AMD "Deneb" Phenom.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Hardware/6151.html

[H] Blue-Ray drives under $150.

[Stan Zaske]

How many of us have been waiting for Blue-Ray players to fall below 
$150? I present to you a Blue-Ray/HD-DVD ROM combo drive that also burns 
DVD's and CD's. Drumroll please!


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136154

Re: [H] Raptor performance

[Stan Zaske]

SOAB, do I feel like an idiot. They snuck one in under the radar as I 
didn't know they made a 150 gig version of the new velociraptor.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136154


Jason Carson wrote:

Here are the specs for my old SATA 1 RAPTOR = 74GB
Data Transfer Rate (maximum)
- Buffer to Host 1.5 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek 4.5 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek3 0.6 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek3 10.2 ms (average)
Average Latency 2.99 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed 10,000 RPM
Buffer 8 MB

And here are the specs for the new 300GB Raptor I am thinking about
getting to install OS and programs on.

- Buffer to Host3.0 Gb/s max2
Average Read Seek   4.2 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek30.7 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek3   8.5 ms (average)
Average Latency 5.5 ms (nominal)
Rotational Speed10,000 RPM
Buffer  16 MB

OK the new one is faster, but a lot faster? the latency number shows
a big improvement but the others maybe 10 or 15 percent improvement.
I wonder if it is worth spending 200 bucks to upgrade. Or am I not
getting something?




Anyone know if there is a difference between the HLFS and GLFS besides
storage capacity?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=VelociRaptor&x=0&y=0




  

Re: [H] Raptor performance

[Stan Zaske]

Whoops, my bad!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%2050001306%201035507821&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16822136296%2CN82E16822136260


Winterlight wrote:



they made a 150 gig version of the new velociraptor.


The 150 GB Raptor is not the same as the 300GB. The 300GB is the 
newest version, the 150GB is the previous version. WD has, up to now, 
doubled the capacity when they come out with a new Raptor. 37  then 74 
150 and now 300.

Re: [H] Blue-ray on pc?

[Stan Zaske]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
What is the point of blue-ray on a pc? Is it really better than dvd? Thx. 
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


  

Re: [H] Blue-ray on pc?

[Stan Zaske]

Google HDPC or HTPC.


[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
What is the point of blue-ray on a pc? Is it really better than dvd? Thx. 
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry


  

[H] G.Skill 64GB SSD

[Stan Zaske]

Stocking stuffer for the more well-heeled among us? Can't wait for the 
price to come down further now that Intel and Micron have gone to full 
production of their 34nm Nand Flash at their new Fab in Utah. I think 
that 2009 will be the year many of us upgrade to SSD boot drives. Happy 
Holidays to you all! :-)


http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1418

Re: [H] Vista Ultimate ?

[Stan Zaske]

Farcry 2 is the only one so far that runs better in DX10 than DX9.
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU5Myw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==


Joe User wrote:

Hello Jason,

Thursday, December 18, 2008, 11:47:56 AM, you wrote:

  

Well the only reason I can think of to recommend Vista is if your a gamer
and want DirectX 10. All the games I currently play are DirectX 9.0c so I
have no reason to switch from XP.



Are games faster on Vista with DX10?

  

[H] NVIDIA's Ion Platform

[Stan Zaske]

All I can say is WOW! This is the HTPC platform to beat them all.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3478&p=2

Re: [H] IE7 problem

[Stan Zaske]

Thought you IE6/7 users might be interested in this:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090123/tc_pcworld/microsofttodeliverfirstie8releasecandidatemonday


Bino Gopal wrote:

Eh, I've gotten pretty used to IE7; enough now that I don't miss it over
IE6.  But I will say DO NOT install IE8; the beta of that was horrible and I
had to get rid of it (I was very glad they at least made rolling back fairly
painless!).

FF3 just has too many memory leak issues (these are from die-hard Apple
fans/MS haters who are heavy web browsing-types); not to say IE doesn't, but
if it's not really better...

Does anyone else know about the supposed memory and/or CPU issues with Flash
in IE and other browsers tho?  I thought I remembered reading something
about that somewhere...

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of DHSinclair
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 8:53 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] IE7 problem

I am interested in this IE7 business also.  I have been testing/using IE7 
on my XP test machine.  After a year of living with IE7, I have to say that 
I do not care for its' new format. I get lost quickly trying to drive IE7; 
so, I do not do much testing any longer. :)

My remaining non-FF machines still use IE6sp1(?).

But,  during my last 3 XP upgrades I see that MS is leaning harder on 
trying to force IE7 installation during the initial WinUpdate 
cycle.  Scary.  Kudos that MS still allows me to NOT install IE7, but I 
suspect the time will come that it will be either IE7 or the highway..

:(

My out will be FF3 which I am growing more happy with each day of use; even 
with its' own set of small glitches.

Duncan

At 19:40 01/23/2009 +0300, you wrote:
  

This is a very interesting problem. I had something similar, but I ended up
reformatting because of other problems. Anyway, I would be interested in


how
  

this is solved for future reference.

On Jan 23, 2009 7:07 PM, "Thane Sherrington" <
tsh...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:

I've got a machine which has IE7 installed (Help/About says IE7) but when I
go to Windows Update it tells me that the browser I have isn't compatible,
and that I should upgrade from IE5 to either IE6 or IE7.  There is no IE7
uninstall in Add/Remove programs, and there is no %windir%\IE7 folder


(there
  

is a %windir%\IE7updates folder.)  Anyone ever see this?  I've tried
reinstalling IE7, and it appears to install, but still doesn't work.

T





  

Re: [H] IE7 problem

[Stan Zaske]

I would hope you're not wearing one. LOL I'm personally convinced that 
Firefox is the numero uno for the hundreds of plugins (many of which add 
a lot of functionality) if no other reason.



DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
Interesting, but does not really blow my dress up!
Duncan

At 20:06 01/23/2009 -0600, you wrote:

Thought you IE6/7 users might be interested in this:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090123/tc_pcworld/microsofttodeliverfirstie8releasecandidatemonday 




Bino Gopal wrote:
Eh, I've gotten pretty used to IE7; enough now that I don't miss it 
over
IE6.  But I will say DO NOT install IE8; the beta of that was 
horrible and I
had to get rid of it (I was very glad they at least made rolling 
back fairly

painless!).

FF3 just has too many memory leak issues (these are from die-hard Apple
fans/MS haters who are heavy web browsing-types); not to say IE 
doesn't, but

if it's not really better...

Does anyone else know about the supposed memory and/or CPU issues 
with Flash

in IE and other browsers tho?  I thought I remembered reading something
about that somewhere...

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of DHSinclair
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 8:53 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] IE7 problem

I am interested in this IE7 business also.  I have been 
testing/using IE7 on my XP test machine.  After a year of living 
with IE7, I have to say that I do not care for its' new format. I 
get lost quickly trying to drive IE7; so, I do not do much testing 
any longer. :)

My remaining non-FF machines still use IE6sp1(?).

But,  during my last 3 XP upgrades I see that MS is leaning harder 
on trying to force IE7 installation during the initial WinUpdate 
cycle.  Scary.  Kudos that MS still allows me to NOT install IE7, 
but I suspect the time will come that it will be either IE7 or the 
highway..

:(

My out will be FF3 which I am growing more happy with each day of 
use; even with its' own set of small glitches.

Duncan

At 19:40 01/23/2009 +0300, you wrote:

This is a very interesting problem. I had something similar, but I 
ended up
reformatting because of other problems. Anyway, I would be 
interested in



how


this is solved for future reference.

On Jan 23, 2009 7:07 PM, "Thane Sherrington" <
tsh...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:

I've got a machine which has IE7 installed (Help/About says IE7) 
but when I
go to Windows Update it tells me that the browser I have isn't 
compatible,
and that I should upgrade from IE5 to either IE6 or IE7.  There is 
no IE7

uninstall in Add/Remove programs, and there is no %windir%\IE7 folder


(there


is a %windir%\IE7updates folder.)  Anyone ever see this?  I've tried
reinstalling IE7, and it appears to install, but still doesn't work.

T

[H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this or 
can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

When I take the cable from the modem and connect it to each of my PC's 
one after another only one (my main browser/email box) will connect to 
the web. I have a D-Link router and I'm a novice at networking but I'll 
get into the firmware and see if there's anything I can do to change the 
MAC address. I've rebooted everything and looked into everything I can 
think but I just don't understand why the other 3 boxes simply will not 
connect. First time that's ever happened. And thanks for the reply.



Bino Gopal wrote:

Probably already done, but have you tried rebooting everything?

If you have, then if you have a router, this seems like a transient error
rather than a change or anything; i.e. if you had a router in b/w the cable
modem and the PCs, the cable modem (and thus Comcast) would only see the mac
address of the router, so there's no obvious reason it should be requiring
the mac address of one of the PCs (did you ever have that PC connected to
the cable modem w/o the router in the past?)...

So when you say the "cable modem will only connect one PC to the web and
none of the others?" is that through the router or directly from the cable
modem to the PC, i.e. putting the PC on a public IP?  Could NAT have somehow
been disabled on your router?  It's also possible that your router has just
died/broken; I had a Netgear do that to me a few years back...

Oh ok, I see from your last sentence you've taken the cable modem and
connected it directly to all your PCs (bypassing the router right?), but
only one PC will connect when you do that; hmm, so I ask again, have you
tried rebooting the cable modem (and everything else)?

If so, and only that one PC can connect, assuming it's b/c it wants that mac
address, then you should be able to do mac masquerading on your router; i.e.
change the mac address on the WAN port to that of the PC that works, and
then see if everything starts working again...that's the only other thing I
can think of at this point!

Did any of that make sense? :P

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 6:51 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H] Comcast blues

Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this or 
can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?





  

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

I'll try your suggestion Bino, Thanks.


Bino Gopal wrote:

Interesting, when you take the cable from the modem and connect, are you
trying the main PC first?

Note that they do usually keep track  of the mac at the other end, so you'd
have to reboot the cable modem each time after you move the cable from one
PC to another for the others to work...so the first box should connect, but
the others won't b/c they don't have the mac address that the other end is
expecting

So what happens if you do reboot the cable modem in b/w each time you
connect them to the modem?  Can the other computers connect then?  If not,
then it's definitely somehow cached the mac address of that PC (not sure how
myself) and you'd need mac masquerading to make it work.  GL!

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:36 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Comcast blues

When I take the cable from the modem and connect it to each of my PC's 
one after another only one (my main browser/email box) will connect to 
the web. I have a D-Link router and I'm a novice at networking but I'll 
get into the firmware and see if there's anything I can do to change the 
MAC address. I've rebooted everything and looked into everything I can 
think but I just don't understand why the other 3 boxes simply will not 
connect. First time that's ever happened. And thanks for the reply.



Bino Gopal wrote:
  

Probably already done, but have you tried rebooting everything?

If you have, then if you have a router, this seems like a transient error
rather than a change or anything; i.e. if you had a router in b/w the


cable
  

modem and the PCs, the cable modem (and thus Comcast) would only see the


mac
  

address of the router, so there's no obvious reason it should be requiring
the mac address of one of the PCs (did you ever have that PC connected to
the cable modem w/o the router in the past?)...

So when you say the "cable modem will only connect one PC to the web and
none of the others?" is that through the router or directly from the cable
modem to the PC, i.e. putting the PC on a public IP?  Could NAT have


somehow
  

been disabled on your router?  It's also possible that your router has


just
  

died/broken; I had a Netgear do that to me a few years back...

Oh ok, I see from your last sentence you've taken the cable modem and
connected it directly to all your PCs (bypassing the router right?), but
only one PC will connect when you do that; hmm, so I ask again, have you
tried rebooting the cable modem (and everything else)?

If so, and only that one PC can connect, assuming it's b/c it wants that


mac
  

address, then you should be able to do mac masquerading on your router;


i.e.
  

change the mac address on the WAN port to that of the PC that works, and
then see if everything starts working again...that's the only other thing


I
  

can think of at this point!

Did any of that make sense? :P

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 6:51 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H] Comcast blues

Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this or 
can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?





  





  

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

Under my router's Device Info, the status tab has a LAN section on top 
and a WAN section underneath. The WAN section lists mack address, 
connection, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and lastly DNS. To 
the right of connection it says: "DHCP Client Disconnected"  and to the 
right of that are two buttons for DHCP release and DHCP renew. I've 
tried the release and renew buttons but the renew action goes to a 
screen that says "renew IP timeout". I'm pretty sure that this is the 
reason none of my boxes will connect through the router to the Internet. 
Am I missing something or can anybody add anything? Thanks!



Bryan Seitz wrote:

Usually you can wait ~15 minutes and it will time out as well with the cable
modem powered off/unplugged.

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 09:19:14AM -0800, John R Steinbruner wrote:
  
Not sure about there, but here, they keep track of the mac address.   
When I changed from an old 10 base T router to a brand new G Wireless  
router at a rental place once, I had to change the Mac address of the  
new router to match that of the old one before anything would work..



On Jan 24, 2009, at 6:50 PM, Stan Zaske wrote:


Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this 
or can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?



  

--
JRS steinie**...@pacbell.net
Please remove  **X**  to reply...

Facts do not cease to exist just
because they are ignored.



  

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

I may just replace my current router if it turns out to be broken. 
Reading the manual on my Motorola Surfboard 5100 it shows a connection 
example of connecting to multiple PC's with a hub or switch. So 
apparently the modem is a DHCP server (if that's the right way to say 
it). Does anybody on the list use a 4 or 5 port switch instead of a 
router? Personally, I'd rather save a few bucks and just get a 
10/100/1000 switch instead of a 10/100 router.



John R Steinbruner wrote:
Not sure about there, but here, they keep track of the mac address.  
When I changed from an old 10 base T router to a brand new G Wireless 
router at a rental place once, I had to change the Mac address of the 
new router to match that of the old one before anything would work..



On Jan 24, 2009, at 6:50 PM, Stan Zaske wrote:

Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN 
port seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's 
are fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable 
modem will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The 
only thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has 
locked (possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and 
will only connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking 
straight on this or can any of you come up with an alternate 
scenario? It seems might strange to me that I can take the ethernet 
cable from my Mororola cable modem and switch it from one box to 
another and only the one will connect. What the heck is going on?

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

Doing it now, Thanks!

Bino Gopal wrote:

Hmm, interesting.  So remember there are two sides, like you said WAN and
LAN.

WAN refers to the side b/w Comcast and you; to you that's the "WAN" side.
You cable modem is the device getting an IP from the headend/CO and then
giving it to whatever device you plug it into, in this case your router.  So
on your router's WAN port, it's configured for DHCP so it should just be
able to do DHCP to the cable modem and get it's IP if everything is working
properly.

But it sounds like there's some issue b/c when you try to renew the IP on
the router, it's not getting the proper DHCP response...but if that other PC
is working...hmmm...

So current theory (w/o seeing it/more info): yeah, somehow the cable modem
has the mac of the PC cached and that's why your router is not getting an IP
and only that PC is.  As Bryan suggested, unplug everything and leave it
unplugged for 15-30 mins and then plug the cable modem back in and the
router to the cable modem and check the WAN status on the router and see if
it can get a public IP or not...that should be the first troubleshooting
step...

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:35 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Comcast blues

Under my router's Device Info, the status tab has a LAN section on top 
and a WAN section underneath. The WAN section lists mack address, 
connection, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and lastly DNS. To 
the right of connection it says: "DHCP Client Disconnected"  and to the 
right of that are two buttons for DHCP release and DHCP renew. I've 
tried the release and renew buttons but the renew action goes to a 
screen that says "renew IP timeout". I'm pretty sure that this is the 
reason none of my boxes will connect through the router to the Internet. 
Am I missing something or can anybody add anything? Thanks!



Bryan Seitz wrote:
  

Usually you can wait ~15 minutes and it will time out as well with the


cable
  

modem powered off/unplugged.

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 09:19:14AM -0800, John R Steinbruner wrote:
  

Not sure about there, but here, they keep track of the mac address.   
When I changed from an old 10 base T router to a brand new G Wireless  
router at a rental place once, I had to change the Mac address of the  
new router to match that of the old one before anything would work..



On Jan 24, 2009, at 6:50 PM, Stan Zaske wrote:


  
Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this 
or can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?



  


--
JRS steinie**...@pacbell.net
Please remove  **X**  to reply...

Facts do not cease to exist just
because they are ignored.

  
  





  

Re: [H] Vid card UPGRADE best practices?

[Stan Zaske]

I'll answer this real quick before I disconnect. First, download the 
latest Catalyst 8.12 (if your current version is different) from AMD 
(you'll still have to reinstall in either case). Go to Control Panel and 
uninstall your current Catalyst driver, power off your PC, pull the old 
card, install the new card and power it back up. Install drivers and 
you're good to go. Game on!



Bino Gopal wrote:

Hey guys, so just wondering if the collective can give me some tips here
before I go and get myself in a pickle! :P


Going to upgrade the vid card on my system from the X800XT to an HD4830
(both ATI of course).  I was wondering what the best practice for doing this
was to prevent problems; I mean, since w/o the vid card you can't *see*
anything on the system, it's kind of important to get it right the first
time, right?  I haven't done a vid card upgrade in over 10 yrs (and only
ever done one once myself) so I'm pretty rusty at this.and I seem to recall
issues that last time.

 


So I've got the Sapphire HD4830; do I just use the drivers on the CD, or
would it be better to go dl new ones, or maybe use some other "reference" or
generic drivers first to be safe, and then go to the Sapphire ones?  The
drivers are on a CD too; I assume copying them to the HD to a dir there
would be better right?

 


And in case things get fubar'ed and I can't get the new card to work for
whatever reason, is there some trick to backing out/undo'ing the
driver/software installs so I can get my old card working again?  Things are
in a working state and I'd like to have a rollback plan if the upgrade
fails, but not sure how viable that is with vid card upgrade attempts;
people that have gone through that, any thoughts?  TIA guys!

 

 
BINO


 



  

Re: [H] Crossfire

[Stan Zaske]

It only helps with game profiles that are built into the monthly driver 
releases and crossfire doesn't accelerate 2D.



Winterlight wrote:
I have two Asus 4970s installed, mostly because I am running three  
large monitors, including a 30 inch as the primary monitor. In 
Catalyst control center I can see the check box for Crossfire and I 
have enabled it.


I did not buy the two cards for gaming, but I have them. Does 
Crossfire only work in supported games, or does it work in all games, 
and does it help in 2D use, like video editing. Or  does it 
exclusively output to one display when playing a game? Can somebody 
explain this to me please. Thanks.

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

I unplugged my modem for 1/2 hour or so and plugged it back into my game 
box and it connected but then would not connect to the others. This 
leads me to believe that my router has gone bad. Thanks for the help folks.



Bino Gopal wrote:

Hmm, interesting.  So remember there are two sides, like you said WAN and
LAN.

WAN refers to the side b/w Comcast and you; to you that's the "WAN" side.
You cable modem is the device getting an IP from the headend/CO and then
giving it to whatever device you plug it into, in this case your router.  So
on your router's WAN port, it's configured for DHCP so it should just be
able to do DHCP to the cable modem and get it's IP if everything is working
properly.

But it sounds like there's some issue b/c when you try to renew the IP on
the router, it's not getting the proper DHCP response...but if that other PC
is working...hmmm...

So current theory (w/o seeing it/more info): yeah, somehow the cable modem
has the mac of the PC cached and that's why your router is not getting an IP
and only that PC is.  As Bryan suggested, unplug everything and leave it
unplugged for 15-30 mins and then plug the cable modem back in and the
router to the cable modem and check the WAN status on the router and see if
it can get a public IP or not...that should be the first troubleshooting
step...

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:35 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Comcast blues

Under my router's Device Info, the status tab has a LAN section on top 
and a WAN section underneath. The WAN section lists mack address, 
connection, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and lastly DNS. To 
the right of connection it says: "DHCP Client Disconnected"  and to the 
right of that are two buttons for DHCP release and DHCP renew. I've 
tried the release and renew buttons but the renew action goes to a 
screen that says "renew IP timeout". I'm pretty sure that this is the 
reason none of my boxes will connect through the router to the Internet. 
Am I missing something or can anybody add anything? Thanks!



Bryan Seitz wrote:
  

Usually you can wait ~15 minutes and it will time out as well with the


cable
  

modem powered off/unplugged.

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 09:19:14AM -0800, John R Steinbruner wrote:
  

Not sure about there, but here, they keep track of the mac address.   
When I changed from an old 10 base T router to a brand new G Wireless  
router at a rental place once, I had to change the Mac address of the  
new router to match that of the old one before anything would work..



On Jan 24, 2009, at 6:50 PM, Stan Zaske wrote:


  
Have any of you ever run into a situation where your router's WAN port 
seems to stop working but your ethernet connections among 4 PC's are 
fine? Then after some more investigation it seems that your cable modem 
will only connect one PC to the web and none of the others? The only 
thing I can figure is that my router is fine but Comcast has locked 
(possibly) my service to the MAC address of this one box and will only 
connect to it but none of the others. Is my thinking straight on this 
or can any of you come up with an alternate scenario? It seems might 
strange to me that I can take the ethernet cable from my Mororola cable 
modem and switch it from one box to another and only the one will 
connect. What the heck is going on?



  


--
JRS steinie**...@pacbell.net
Please remove  **X**  to reply...

Facts do not cease to exist just
because they are ignored.

  
  





  

Re: [H] Comcast blues

[Stan Zaske]

DHSinclair wrote:

Stan,
I have been following your thread since the beginning. Sorry not to 
jump in until now.

Not a problem man. :-)

It sound to me that you may have a simple DHCP problem on your LAN. 
Since you chose to plug your game box in post 30 minutes AND it 
connected, I believe that your router is working.
Now, You need to go to each other machine and reset their OLD 
(previous) DHCP lease.  I suspect they are hammering your router w/old 
leases.

On the machines that you can use a cmd prompt, open the cmd window.
type:
ipconfig /release
This should release (remove) the old lease..
Then type:
ipconfig /renew
Your router's DHCP server should issue NEW lease for this machine AND 
it should now connect.


Seemed to work because I didn't get any error messages but with my 
router between the cable modem and my 4 boxes none of them will connect. 
I have to unplug my modem ethernet cable from the router and hook it 
direct to my main machine to send this email.


On machines you can not use the cmd prompt with (a console?), I think 
you just need to power them off for another 30 minutes and then plug 
them back in to force a cold reboot.  This should force a fresh issue 
of NEW lease with your DHCP server (router). :)


{this is one of the big reasons I do not allow DHCP servers on my LAN; 
I assign IP addys to my LAN clients manually.  I am still very 
old-school about this.}
I love computer hardware but when it comes to networking I choke. Thats 
the beauty of a router for me. It's plug-n-play simplicity with DHCP 
handling all the esoteric stuff. Back when I used ZoneAlarm I often had 
to go into settings and give it specific IP's and Subnet Mask's to get 
connections with my other boxes. Needless to say, I don't use ZoneAlarm 
anymore.





Lastly, Bino brought up the term "Masquerade."  I call is 
"spoofing."   I do spoof my primary machine's MAC Address at my router 
(DLink DL-4300).  As far as I have been educated by the collective, my 
ISP should be seeing the MAC Addy of my primary machine FROM my 
router.  I can not test this because I do not have any hardware that 
is NOT behind my router.  I believer the term for this is putting a PC 
in the "DMZ" (for Outside NAT control of the router).
I use a D-Link DI-604 and the last firmware is dated 2004 and I have 
probably been using it since 2006. I've heard of DMZ and NAT but so much 
of networking seems confusing to me. I've read and read but this is one 
of those areas where the theory and reality clash. I need to go back to 
school. 




Additionally, I do have a MAC Address Filter in my router. To this, I 
have entered the MAC Addresses of all of my LAN clients.  Without 
this, a client can never get to the WWW thru the router.  A wonderful 
way to control who can and can not get out to the web!  Werkz4Me.. :)

HTH,
Duncan

Thanks for the help Duncan!



At 10:23 01/26/2009 -0600, you wrote:
I unplugged my modem for 1/2 hour or so and plugged it back into my 
game box and it connected but then would not connect to the others. 
This leads me to believe that my router has gone bad. Thanks for the 
help folks.



Bino Gopal wrote:
Hmm, interesting.  So remember there are two sides, like you said 
WAN and

LAN.

WAN refers to the side b/w Comcast and you; to you that's the "WAN" 
side.
You cable modem is the device getting an IP from the headend/CO and 
then
giving it to whatever device you plug it into, in this case your 
router.  So
on your router's WAN port, it's configured for DHCP so it should 
just be
able to do DHCP to the cable modem and get it's IP if everything is 
working

properly.

But it sounds like there's some issue b/c when you try to renew the 
IP on
the router, it's not getting the proper DHCP response...but if that 
other PC

is working...hmmm...

So current theory (w/o seeing it/more info): yeah, somehow the cable 
modem
has the mac of the PC cached and that's why your router is not 
getting an IP
and only that PC is.  As Bryan suggested, unplug everything and 
leave it

unplugged for 15-30 mins and then plug the cable modem back in and the
router to the cable modem and check the WAN status on the router and 
see if
it can get a public IP or not...that should be the first 
troubleshooting

step...

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Stan Zaske
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:35 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Comcast blues

Under my router's Device Info, the status tab has a LAN section on 
top and a WAN section underneath. The WAN section lists mack 
address, connection, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and 
lastly DNS. To the right of connection it says: "DHCP Client 
Disconnec