Question about PC tuner system

[Dee_Ann]

Before you send it back, try to reset the system bios. That is usually necessary after a memmory failure. Somewhere on that motherboard ther is a jumper for that purpose. It should be explained in your manual along with basic bios setings.

I have been in your shoes before, only I didnt have the option to send it back because I bought at a swap meet and the vender headed back to Russia (or Vegas...Who knows). My only salvation was that damn manual.

I tried that. No luck.

I contacted the people I bought the board from and they told me that this board is extremely picky and will only work with two kinds of memory sticks, period. No substitutions under any conditions.
It has to be those exact sticks and no others.

I was buying memory sticks that are EXTREMELY SIMILAR. All the specifications matched. BUT, they weren't the same thing and will not work, period.

I expressed my frustration and they told me to send it back.

I'm done with it.

I'm also very upset that Newegg is trying to rip me off for $19 to return memory they guaranteed would work. They can KMA.
I'm going to call them later and if they won't play nice with me then I may keep the stupid things and try to sell them in the Pub section.

Another thing I thought about trying is to find a motherboard that will work with those memory sticks. But I can't figure out how.
I have the model number of the memory sticks but working backwards to find a budget motherboard that will accept them, is a night mare.

I don't need some stupid crossfire game board, I don't even know what that is but as soon as I see "game" attached to it I know I am not interested, that it's overloaded with BS I don't need, don't want and will never use.
I need a basic board with lots of SATA connectors. Period. That's the feature I'm looking for. The more, the better.
8 connectors? Cool! 10 connectors? Way cool !! Bring it on !!

4 connectors? Booooooooo!!!!!!!! Not enough!! 1 slot? NOT ENOUGH!! I would like it to have several of the pci and pcie slots so I can add SATA cards.

It's going to be a file server with lots of disks and that's all it will ever do. I don't need some wicked video card or joysticks or other nonsense. Just lots of disks.

Maybe finding a board to fit this memory is hopeless, I think. Maybe I should just sell them on the Pub and buy a new board, CPU and memory sticks and be done with this.
I'm too frustrated right now, I'm ready to snap as it is...

Intel CPUs are expensive. I see these AMD CPUs though. Are they any good? I had one years and years ago, it was terrible slow and I found out later that they lie about how fast they run. The one I had said it was a 2ghz but it really on ran at like 1.2ghz and they were using some screwball math to come up with bogus speeds. After that I never trusted them. Do they still do that? Lie about the speeds? Are they even any good at all ?
What I'm worried about is that I may end up going through a few dozen operating systems before I find the one I like. I may try Linux, BDS and whatever that one with ZFS is. And I understand there are hundreds of versions. I would hate to buy an AMD board and find out it can't run everything. I'm thinking the intel types would be more compatible, right?

I'm figuring that no matter what, I'm going to end up paying at least

$100 - motherboard
$125 - CPU
$50 - memory

And tax and shipping of course. So I'll be out of at least $300. Which I really can't afford...

As it is now, I've wasted
$50 - motherboard (doesn't work)
$23 - memory (doesn't work)
$53 - memory (doesn't work)
$12 - debit card fees.
$5 - gas driving around like an idiot putting money on my debit card

I'm burned out.. I'm calling it quits for awhile.

Goodnight and thanks guys..

 

[Tron]

If that motherboard is that picky about memory, I wouldn't want the @#%@ thing. I've never had that kind of trouble populating a motherboard with ANY brand of memory, as long as the specs were correct for the board. Kingston is good memory, there's nothing wrong with that brand. Crucial is another good brand. Sounds to me like that board is the source of evil.

 

[Dee_Ann]

If that motherboard is that picky about memory, I wouldn't want the @#%@ thing. I've never had that kind of trouble populating a motherboard with ANY brand of memory, as long as the specs were correct for the board. Kingston is good memory, there's nothing wrong with that brand. Crucial is another good brand. Sounds to me like that board is the source of evil.

Thank you, that was what I needed to hear.. It was what I was feeling but I wasn't sure if it was just me. I learned some of the basics because of the way Best Buy and Ciruit City did me in the past.
I learned how to change a power supply, install a disk, change a video card, and even install the operating systems. And I've upgraded memory before on mother boards and never once had a problem doing it.
All I did was look at the sticks that were in it then found similar sticks that were 2x or 4x the capacity and bingo, worked first time, every time. I thought it was a simple thing to do.
Then this thing. I was like : ???

I thought maybe it was me. Then the people that sold me the board tell me that it will ONLY work with just two specific memory sticks and no others, at all, period.

Well, BS ON THAT!!!! :


I'm done with this and I'm sending it all back. :

I'm bleeding to death financially now and this is cutting into my spring gardening funds so this is just going to have to KMA for another month....

I just want my money back. After I get my gardening out of the way then I'll start putting some $$ aside each month and just buy NEW stuff.

This is what I get for trying to be a cheap, penny pinching b**ch...


I've run out of patience and now I just want to get out in the garden and get busy with my planting and taking care of my little flowery friends.
The hummingbirds will be here soon and I have a lot to do get ready for them. The computer will just have to wait.

I'm figuring that I'm going to need at least $300 to get basic, up to date stuff.

Thanks guys..

 

[rv1pop]

The company has been buying boards from this company and has been EXTREMELY happy with the help here. I can not guarantee what they do, and everything we buy is bare bones... but pre-sale telephone support has been very good.

http://www.logicsupply.com

 

[Tron]

Just out of curiousity, Dee, who is the motherboard manufacturer? I usually only buy Asus or Supermicro boards when I'm doing a system build. I've inherited a board from A-Bit also, which seems to be trouble free.

By the way, building PCs requires as much or more patience as FTA. Just as with FTA, if something is being ornery and causing blood pressure to rise, get away from it for awhile before you throw it all off the roof (or table in the case of the PC) ...

 

[northgeorgia]

I've thought about a building a nice Media PC one day -- but Dee_Ann's experience frightens me, and I think I'd end up in a similar if not worse predicament! I wonder if those who were successful would upload their pictures and specifications, and share their experiences. Perhaps a new sub-form for Media / Satellite PC systems? Especially for a complete newbie like me (although I did install a new DVD drive when my other one ate a CD last year -- I was so happy) Just a thought...

 

[SatelliteAV]

I wouldn't be afraid of building your own. My last HTPC build parts were picked up in one trip to Fry's and assembled in about two hours. It took days to load software, but one would do that with any computer.

The specific parts list from 1 1/2 years ago is now outdated, so won't bother. But here is a general build list for my HTPC:

Case with multi-card reader and multiple front panel I/O ports.
Motherboard with on-board video for status monitor
Processor
Video Card for main monitor(s)
Power Supply
Memory 8gig
Hard Drive(s) two 2TB
CD/DVR drive re writeable
Operating System
Keyboard/Mouse RF
HandHeld controller (integrated keyboard/mouse)

Added:
AverMedia Capture Card
Prof 7301 DVBS2 Card

 

[Dee_Ann]

Just out of curiousity, Dee, who is the motherboard manufacturer? I usually only buy Asus or Supermicro boards when I'm doing a system build. I've inherited a board from A-Bit also, which seems to be trouble free.

The board is made by intel, I assume the same people that make the CPU chips. Because of that assumption I also assumed it would be quality stuff.
It is a DG43RK model. http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dg43rk/sb/CS-031256.htm

By the way, building PCs requires as much or more patience as FTA. Just as with FTA, if something is being ornery and causing blood pressure to rise, get away from it for awhile before you throw it all off the roof (or table in the case of the PC) ...

Gardening is my escape. I get my Zen on in the garden.. I spent most of my day today planting roses and rearranging 500lbs of egg sized rocks and flower pots.

I've thought about a building a nice Media PC one day -- but Dee_Ann's experience frightens me, and I think I'd end up in a similar if not worse predicament! I wonder if those who were successful would upload their pictures and specifications, and share their experiences. Perhaps a new sub-form for Media / Satellite PC systems? Especially for a complete newbie like me (although I did install a new DVD drive when my other one ate a CD last year -- I was so happy) Just a thought...

Well, just remember, I'm not exactly what you would call a computer guru.. My experience and skills are rather limited. As the old saying goes, your milage may vary..
I have a tendency to let my eyes overload my plate. I get to reading stuff online and start thinking to myself, "Hey, I can do that!" but when it comes down to it, I always, always fall short.
It took me almost a year to figure out how to put up a simple ku dish by myself. And about that long, if not longer trying to put up a C-band dish.

In other words, I'm a bit of a slow learner about tech stuff. I'm sure you can do much better than I have..

 

[Tron]

Intel boards are usually well designed. Perhaps this was a server motherboard. Server boards often require the use of error correcting (ECC) memory and only ECC memory. Perhaps this is the problem, not sure...

EDIT: Followed your link to the product support page, and no, it does not require ECC memory. It does suggest SPD memory, but may work without it. Perhaps there is a problem with the board itself. Motherboards do go bad, and sometimes don't work at all out of the box.

 

[northgeorgia]

Once I had put in the new DVD drive in my desktop computer, I felt so empowered that I thought -- hey, I'm going to try to install Linux on one of my slower laptops! So, I put in Puppy Linux, since it seemed easy to do. I wasn't impressed, though, and tried to uninstall it. Well, darn it, if I can't figure out how to do it Anyway, maybe I'm a slow learner, too. I know you're going to get that PC running at some point, DeeAnn, and can't wait to hear your impressions!

 

[concord]

I need a basic board with lots of SATA connectors. Period. That's the feature I'm looking for. The more, the better.
8 connectors? Cool! 10 connectors? Way cool !! Bring it on !!

I've purchased alot from newegg and they are usually pretty good at return/replacement. Haven't returned anything in several years and I don't remember a restock fee back then, but they've grown over the years. They state their return policies (http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/ReturnPolicy.aspx).

I doubt you are going to find more than 6 SATA connection on a motherboard, but you can always add a SATA card to it. If your system is going only act as a file server, then check out this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZT1FAI/?tag=satell01-20 Note that it's a ITX form size, smaller than the mATX, it has 6 - 6GB SATA ports, with only one (1) expansion slot, and as always, check the manual before purchasing for the types of memory it likes.

 

[concord]

I've thought about a building a nice Media PC one day -- but Dee_Ann's experience frightens me, and I think I'd end up in a similar if not worse predicament!...

Depending on what you want actions you want the media PC to perform, you can go from a small/quiet using a i3 low-watt processor, all the way to a more hefty system that will transcode (i.e. Plex server software) on the fly, read in DVD/Blu-rays and write them to your hard drive/NAS, etc. There is another place that has guides that list suggested components for a media center PC, based on what you want to do: http://www.avsforum.com/f/26/home-theater-computers

Once I had put in the new DVD drive in my desktop computer, I felt so empowered that I thought -- hey, I'm going to try to install Linux on one of my slower laptops! So, I put in Puppy Linux, since it seemed easy to do. I wasn't impressed, though, and tried to uninstall it. Well, darn it, if I can't figure out how to do it Anyway, maybe I'm a slow learner, too. I know you're going to get that PC running at some point, DeeAnn, and can't wait to hear your impressions!

If you installed Linux over top of your Win OS (completely re-formatted your hard drive), then all you do is get your Windows install discs and install it over the linux OS...you will need to delete/free up the Linux partitions during the install. If you a decent desktop and want to experiment with Linux versions or other OS and be able test other software, I would recommend getting VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) and use a virtual machine.