Hardware troubleshoot guides, and Tips and Tricks

[xMattx]

Thankyou very much for "Codys Guide".
It's so obvious but I've never thought to set up that way, that'll make everything heaps easier in future.

[Murf]

sho-dan gave me the idea to start a STICKY on Hardware Tips & Tricks. So we will start with his GREAT TIP:

A simple 0.5mm mechanical pencil is all you need to fix a bent CPU pin, the tip is a perfect fit for the pin, just slip it over the bent pin and push ever so lighty into place. full read in 7/05 issue maxmumpc. or BTW: remove lead from pencil first.

---------
edit, Jtdoom.
later on, we merged treads.

[hypnotizeminds]

Mechanical pencil... brilliant.

A tip for custom builders: please avoid purchasing the all-too-common $30 case/PSU packages. Spend the extra $40-60 (maybe even more) for a solid power supply, you will be glad you did. If you buy that case you just had to have and a power supply comes with it, at least have it tested at your local shop before using it in your system. I've seen too many motherboards and/or other hardware wiped out by shotty power supplies (including several of my own parts, I'm ashamed to admit). Search our Hardware Forum and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Think about it this way, nearly everything on your computer is inside/attached to your case. Every electron that travels down every trace of every circuit board in your whole setup came from and is regulated by your power supply. Each and every one of the parts in your case can easily be destroyed if the power supply is not doing its job correctly. So, what sense does it make not to spend the extra cash to ensure your power is coming from a source you can trust.

[Murf]

When first assembling a motherboard, place the motherboard in the case to line up the hold down screws and or standoffs. Then remove board, screw in the stand offs (brass ones), they come in both course and fine thread. Can also use plastic standoffs.






Install the I/O bracket.

Now with the motherboard out of the case, place it on a solid surface make sure you have non-static material under the board. You can use the wrapper that came with the board or the packing cushion. If not available, use a piece of cardboard. With the motherboard on a solid surface now install the memory, the processor, heat sink and fan.

Installing these items while the bare motherboard is attached to case, could result in cracking the board, as the pressure of installing the memory, and in particular the heat sink, processor bends the board.

Oversize heat sinks, fans (HSF) can be heavy and can take some pressure to install.

Once these are installed you can put the motherboard into the case. Do not lift the motherboard by the HSF, as you could break the processor retainer.

When installing the motherboard against the I/O back plate you will need to exert some pressure as the I/O back plate will have some extruding pieces, make sure they do not extrude into one of the connector openings.



Once in place, screw down the two screws closest to the I/O plate first.

[jtdoom]

Hi

when you are about to put that motherboard with the CPU, its heatsink, and the memory nicely installed on it into the case, why don't you first put that DVD burner in that 5 inch bay. Then try wether the motherboard will still go in.

???

There are many variations in sizes of cases, and one danger with them is that one sees a full length burner or CDROM drive come in contact with components on the motherboard when you GENTLY shove them in.
If you do that unawares of the dangers, and PUSH, you could seriously damage that mobo.
--------
While we talk about CDRW
even when not everything in there is solved...
I really think this topic has a thread of thoughts with great tips.

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/...d.php?p=428193

[Cornholio_666]

a few times the pins that connect my monitor to my graphics cards have been bent, so i used some needle nosed plyers to straighten them out. a monitor not displaying colours may just be a simple case of bent pins, which saved me from buying a new monitor.

Also a noisy fan may just be a case of wrong voltages, so clearing the CMOS will do the trick.

[jtdoom]

Hi
some motherboards have the connector for floppy on the far edge of the mobo.
While building the system, one can put the ribbon UNDER the mobo so it does not hang over the other cards.

The floppy ribbon has to be bent over itself to take a turn toward the floppy bay, and you just don't make that bend too sharp. Don't crack it, it will still go under... First look how it will go on, and then use some ducktape to keep it in place after you tried fit the mobo over it.
do not let it make fixing holes unused.

I do NOT recommend you do this for hard drive ribbons. Even when the mobo has a akward layout and the connectors are at the far rim...
The signal frequencies are so much higher that one should not create these sharp bends in them..

added an afterthought in..2010)
heh.. I reckon we do not have to explain standing wave ratio. It plays its role. A crack bent SATA can literally crack a wire, but, wires carrying a modulated signal can do a strong wave foldback causing a signal supression.
Come to think of it, SATA wires could go under if need be, just NEVER sharply bend these. NEVER.

[jtdoom]

Hi folks
I just cleaned up here, and must tell you MICHAEL1171 found the solution to the freezing/boot problem. I just saw that in another thread he replied in later on.

There was a installation CD in a drive, what hung the boot process.

Now, this reminds me of a similar problem, but this time it was a non bootable floppy what hung up boot process.

Just so you know that is part of troubleshooting as well...
Look at what is in the drives!

[jtdoom]

hi
your machine emits sounds you never heard it make before, or it just makes sounds you think are abnormal.
You would like to locate the source, right?

Case vibration... Sometimes devices are not fixed to the bays very well. CDROM drives can sometimes really make a racket when they speed up with a CD in the drive. An unbalanced print on the CD (or a sticker) can worsen that vibration a great deal.
Extra screws will usually help, and sometimes fixing another device in another part of the bay reduces case vibration a lot more.
I have on occasion wedged foamrubber where I had no means of using screws (in systems with rails )
I have even had to replace the device with a less loud one...


okay, vibration can be felt, and a bay is quite safe to touch.
Just watch out ....
Do not touch spinning fans, they can CUT you.

Do look at fans, a wire or ribbon can touch it, what makes a bad sound, and is bad to wire and fan.

Fans with a ton of dust in it, well, you can clean them out, but quite often you should replace them soon afterward.

Fans can be LOUD when NEW. Silent fans with same air displacement per minute CFm (Cubic Feet /m) will cost that little extra, what is part of the reason a silent case costs more than the el cheapo case you get for 35 Euro.
In general, he faster fans turn (rpm), the more noise. A fan with bigger diameter, like 12 cm, has to run slower for same air displacement, and should be more quiet. It still can make too much noise, though... and it can cause vibration too.
(unevenly distributed cat hair, for instance...)
all in all, 12 centimeter fans make less rackett.

Anyway, some sounds are hard to pinpoint.

With two hard drives, almost sandwiched (they may not even have case sheeting betwix them)
they are so close tohether putting oyur ear close just tells you it is generally located there...

And, you want to know which one is whining, which is kinda screeching?
Well, you could take a long straw or reed, put one end to the drive (or any other part as long it cannot get caught in something you see spinning) and then put the other end to that little piece of skin you can shut your ear with.
That reed, it is like a stethoscope... without soft ends... don't put it IN your ear... but you will hear the difference between two drives no sweat.

(Oh, Avoid sandwiching drives... Hard drives on top of one another will start thermal recalibration because they have to.
When they run cool, you seldom hear recalibration.

listen to fan housings with a reed, you will hear wether the bearing is gone or not.

[Branden]

I turnd off my computer and it wont turn back on. I thought it was the power supply so I replaced it, then I put the new power supply in and the computer came on but did nothing. I talked to tech support at frys, they said that it was the motherbored so I returned it and got a new one but Im still having the same problem. Can some one help?

[jtdoom]

Hi Branden

welcome to CTH.
It took a while for someone to respond here, but that is because you chose to post your question in a topic started by someone else.
(And, this particular one was started/stickied to stay up for the general tips it can provide.)

You should start a new topic with same question if this is not solved yet.
I think of a few possibilities.
CPU fan not plugged in.
CPU not seated well.
The +12V plug not plugged in to motherboard.

And now for the bad news
When you get your replacement mobo going, and connect your "old" hard drive, its "windows operating system" you had running will most likely go cuckoo on you.
(A crash with an "irq is not equal" error.)

Even with exact same model motherboard... it still has various different internal markers, so that means that it is HIGHLY likely it makes your old windows go slightly nuts...
In any case, I am sure reactivation is in the future...

So LISTEN
If your old data is important, I suggest you start with a new drive, one that is empty.
Later on, add the old drive, and get to your old data...
You'll have plenty time to find ways to get your own data off. (/ways to import data in a way that it is again usable.)

[kuzzz]

do you handle SCSI disk drives differently? I've never dealt with SCSI's. Do you format them the same way? Are the jumpers dealt with the same as other disk drives.

thanks
kuzzz

[jtdoom]

hi

I had a box with SCSI gear in it long time ago (so have not used one in a long time), and recall SCSI uses ID jumpers (rather than master/slave) and the last device on the ribbon or last in chain ought to have its terminator jumper set or has to have "autoterm" capabilities for the termination of a chain..

SCSI sometimes even used a terminator dongle. (like one can find on SCSI scanners)

ID is set in a binary way of setting jumpers
124
::: is zero (all ID jumpers open)

124
|:: is 1

124
:|| is 6
so there are seven combinations with three jumpers, and another jumper for termination...

for hard drives, format procedures are basically same.
Boot options (what ID of drive you want to use as boot device) are to be set in the SCSI card bios and mobo BIOS must be set to use/boot from SCSI.

[Trinity5_14]

Originally Posted by dohray

5 Unplug power cord (very important an ATX power supply always has power to it when the cord is pluged in).

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is ATX?

[dohray]

Hi there,
It's the most common form factor for 'puters at the moment (originally introduced by Intel in 1995). It make better use of space and resources than the old AT form factor.