Here's one for the stupidity awards. A while back I was setting up a workstation. While configuring it on my workbench, everything was fine. When I took it over to it's new home and set everything up - no video. I could see it was booting (I could hear the post beep and turn the Num Lock on and off), but no screen. So I figured bad monitor, and switched the monitors out. Still no screen. I verified the monitor worked with a laptop, then tried again - no luck. Annoyed, I disconneted everything (should of realized my issue here), swapped hard drives with another working machine of the same model, and tried the new PC. No luck. And then it dawned on me. The monitor was connected to the on board video, not the video card.
I spent over $80 on cables, shielding, a new sound card and a few other accesories trying to get rid of noise coming from my brand new Z5500's. Even at volume at 10% there was annoying static coming from my speakers. It only appeared when the computer was on, so I thought my xfi sound card had gone bad, or the audio cable wasn't shielded enough.
8 hours later after buying a used xfi, three different audio cables, extra shielding, a new surge protector, a noise suppressor, and a few calls to Logitech tech support, I was fiddling around with settings of the xfi. Sound Volume Management was turned ON. As soon as I turned that off, my brand new z5500's came a live again with NO noise until the volume hit ~75%.
I always laugh when I see "My CPU is overclocked by xxx, my graphics card is clocked by xxx, etc etc. and for some reason windoze keeps bluescreening!!!!111!!!"
Fixed up my friend's aging dell laptop with a new hard drive, ram upgrade and clean install of windows... Installed all the drivers, got it working and in pristine shape I walked it over to her place. Got there, plugged it in, powered on, loaded to desktop and BAM crash to BOSD. Uuhhhhh this is ok I explained, restart and it hangs on windows loading screen and BOSD, over and over again. Finally it won't even boot, hit the power and the light goes on but nothing. After about 2 hours of looking at it, making sure there is nothing loose, I explain my frustration and tell her I'll be back to look at it when I have had time to think about it. One week later she forgets it's broken and turns it on... Nothing wrong with it since, and laughs saying I didn't hold down the button right probably, adding insult to injury. I still have no idea what was wrong with it. Not to mention she never felt the need to pay me with the dinner she promised for fixing it. Booo I say.
Last night I was trying to restore Vista bootloader. After wasting five hours reinstaling Xp and Vista, and messing around with VistaBootPro and EasyBCD, to get dual boot screen, I realized I'd already backed up BCD long ago with VistaBootPro. In just a few seconds I was able to get my proper boot screen back after restoring the BCD. It was a sigh of relief but those five hours?? Hmmm....
My friend uses a extension cable for his monitor and one day it came loose and got disconnected so he spend like the whole day trying to figure out why his machine won't post. XD
Nice read, I'm sure anyone who has spent significant time with a PC has experienced similar at least once. Similarly, I think the same applies going the other way, when putting a system together or changing a component. I used to be absolutely meticulous in terms of planning and laying everything out....like a check list of to-do as I'm putting everything together.
Took a really long-time to build or rebuild a rig, and sometimes there were still problems. Now I just throw everything together and then worry about troubleshooting afterwards. More often than not, I don't have any problems that wouldn't have manifested themselves anyways.
Also, kinda interesting about the X-Fi problems on a 32-bit Vista install with 2GB RAM. I had a lot of problems with the X-Fi with 64-bit and 4GB+ but that was resolved with the latest drivers. I didn't have any problems with the X-Fi on the same board under 32-bit XP or Vista x64 with 2GB though.
Would be nice to see you guys tackle or post up a list of issues you've run into in your testing suites and possible solutions. I think too often Reviewers don't do a good job conveying potential hardware/software conflicts and make it seem as if everything is going to be rosy when more often than not that's not the case.
I'm sure the issue is the motherboard and/or BIOS, as this is not a standard 975X board. The PCIe slots run at x16 and x4, which is more like P965 than 975X. Maybe I should see if I can change that - there might be a setting hiding somewhere that I missed. Anyway, I'm trying to get a new board so that I can have everything function properly. Still not sure about X-Fi, though....
If only I'd been getting paid per hour I've spent checking connections and cables and power-charging my cable modem... when all the issues were always resolved by pressing the blue button on the front of the modem to change the LEDs, which were on and glowing, to be blinking instead.
It comes up at least twice a year, and I always go through the whole routine before a lightbulb flashes, I scream "Oh yeah!" and finally get the internet up and running again.
If only I'd been getting paid per hour I've spent checking connections and cables and power-charging my cable modem... when all the issues were always resolved by pressing the blue button on the front of the modem to change the LEDs, which were on and glowing, to be blinking instead.
It comes up at least twice a year, and I always go through the whole routine before a lightbulb flashes, I scream "Oh yeah!" and finally get the internet up and running again.
ok so experts on pc hardware have the same problems everyone does -
to me this is a real problem. if anandtech experts can't get their graphics cards to work and spend hours trying to get their speakers to work etc. - imagine how much trouble regular consumers have trying to get anything to work properly.
One time i looked at some mobo benchmarks on anandtech and although the article tried to show that some were faster than others, in reality i could tell that "in game" there was not enough of an fps difference to be able to tell one mobo from another. So i just bought one of the cheapest ones to try to be smart - wrong! spent weeks trying to figure out why it was running so hot - because it was an unpopular brand + model, there were few forums discussing it, and it took me weeks to find out finally from a forum post where someone else had the same problem that a bios setting could fix the problem.
Now i just buy the most popular models of all hardware - yes there will still be tons of stupid problems, tweaks, incompatabilities, etc. but at least i'll be able to find 50 page threads with people discussing fixes.
If there were less companies and less hardware but everything just worked, i would be willing to pay a little more
but I do own the Z-560s. The Matrix3D button has a glowing green collar around it that is lit when pressed and kinda hard to miss. OTOH, there is a knob for fade. I don't have the rear speakers connected since there is nowhere to put them, and the rear input is not connected to the soundcard either. After switching the location of my desk I was wondering for a while why the system seemed down on bass. After playing with connections and everything, turns out the fade knob also changes the bass level, regardless of whether there are rear speakers
Of course the fade changes the bass -- your subwoofer module is filling in the low end for your speakers. When you fade the rears higher or lower, the bass for the rears from the subwoofer adjusts accordingly. Even though you don't have the actual rear speakers hooked up, you've got the low frequency part of them hooked up in your woofer module!
For some reason, the work server tape drive was not cooperating. I called tech since I don't have access to login and diagnose. After the tech telling me multiple times to hold the eject button down for 30 seconds, and it failing all times, I opened the front cover to see if there was a hidden 'paperclip' button. no go, but there was a big button in the corner that reminded me of a chassis intrusion switch. So I pushed it. Amazingly, the server started shutting down.
Watch as later this week we'll be publishing an article where I top Jarred. Without spoiling anything, let's just say I managed to break something in a most stupid way. ;)
My girlfriend calld me that her computer wouldn't start. Of course I went to the rescue. I pushed the button and indeed it didn't boot, it spinned the drives up and died soon after that. It had a littlebit older 22" CRT so I didn't see if it posted. Came to a conclusion that PSU must be the guilty one. Got a new one and still no go. Well this was a bit embarassing, took the bucket home and after thorough testing (3h) realized there was something missing from cpu cooler... the fan! unfortunately athlon XP aint so good at throttling.
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deadtree9 - Monday, December 31, 2007 - link
Here's one for the stupidity awards. A while back I was setting up a workstation. While configuring it on my workbench, everything was fine. When I took it over to it's new home and set everything up - no video. I could see it was booting (I could hear the post beep and turn the Num Lock on and off), but no screen. So I figured bad monitor, and switched the monitors out. Still no screen. I verified the monitor worked with a laptop, then tried again - no luck. Annoyed, I disconneted everything (should of realized my issue here), swapped hard drives with another working machine of the same model, and tried the new PC. No luck. And then it dawned on me. The monitor was connected to the on board video, not the video card.dogchainx - Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - link
I spent over $80 on cables, shielding, a new sound card and a few other accesories trying to get rid of noise coming from my brand new Z5500's. Even at volume at 10% there was annoying static coming from my speakers. It only appeared when the computer was on, so I thought my xfi sound card had gone bad, or the audio cable wasn't shielded enough.8 hours later after buying a used xfi, three different audio cables, extra shielding, a new surge protector, a noise suppressor, and a few calls to Logitech tech support, I was fiddling around with settings of the xfi. Sound Volume Management was turned ON. As soon as I turned that off, my brand new z5500's came a live again with NO noise until the volume hit ~75%.
And people call me for tech support. Shesh.
npoe1 - Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - link
Wow and I was about to take measures against my static problem.Francisbacon - Monday, December 24, 2007 - link
I always laugh when I see "My CPU is overclocked by xxx, my graphics card is clocked by xxx, etc etc. and for some reason windoze keeps bluescreening!!!!111!!!"Stock voltages and speeds for the win.
swizeus - Friday, December 21, 2007 - link
At the middle of the article, i thought the source of the problem would be Windows Vista after all.littlebitstrouds - Thursday, December 20, 2007 - link
Fixed up my friend's aging dell laptop with a new hard drive, ram upgrade and clean install of windows... Installed all the drivers, got it working and in pristine shape I walked it over to her place. Got there, plugged it in, powered on, loaded to desktop and BAM crash to BOSD. Uuhhhhh this is ok I explained, restart and it hangs on windows loading screen and BOSD, over and over again. Finally it won't even boot, hit the power and the light goes on but nothing. After about 2 hours of looking at it, making sure there is nothing loose, I explain my frustration and tell her I'll be back to look at it when I have had time to think about it. One week later she forgets it's broken and turns it on... Nothing wrong with it since, and laughs saying I didn't hold down the button right probably, adding insult to injury. I still have no idea what was wrong with it. Not to mention she never felt the need to pay me with the dinner she promised for fixing it. Booo I say.OndrejSc - Thursday, December 20, 2007 - link
The dinner... so unfair, reminds me of a girl who has done the same to me. Seems to be a common bug.dvijaydev46 - Thursday, December 20, 2007 - link
Last night I was trying to restore Vista bootloader. After wasting five hours reinstaling Xp and Vista, and messing around with VistaBootPro and EasyBCD, to get dual boot screen, I realized I'd already backed up BCD long ago with VistaBootPro. In just a few seconds I was able to get my proper boot screen back after restoring the BCD. It was a sigh of relief but those five hours?? Hmmm....Etern205 - Thursday, December 20, 2007 - link
My friend uses a extension cable for his monitor and one day it came loose and got disconnected so he spend like the whole day trying to figure out why his machine won't post. XDchizow - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
Nice read, I'm sure anyone who has spent significant time with a PC has experienced similar at least once. Similarly, I think the same applies going the other way, when putting a system together or changing a component. I used to be absolutely meticulous in terms of planning and laying everything out....like a check list of to-do as I'm putting everything together.Took a really long-time to build or rebuild a rig, and sometimes there were still problems. Now I just throw everything together and then worry about troubleshooting afterwards. More often than not, I don't have any problems that wouldn't have manifested themselves anyways.
Also, kinda interesting about the X-Fi problems on a 32-bit Vista install with 2GB RAM. I had a lot of problems with the X-Fi with 64-bit and 4GB+ but that was resolved with the latest drivers. I didn't have any problems with the X-Fi on the same board under 32-bit XP or Vista x64 with 2GB though.
Would be nice to see you guys tackle or post up a list of issues you've run into in your testing suites and possible solutions. I think too often Reviewers don't do a good job conveying potential hardware/software conflicts and make it seem as if everything is going to be rosy when more often than not that's not the case.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
I'm sure the issue is the motherboard and/or BIOS, as this is not a standard 975X board. The PCIe slots run at x16 and x4, which is more like P965 than 975X. Maybe I should see if I can change that - there might be a setting hiding somewhere that I missed. Anyway, I'm trying to get a new board so that I can have everything function properly. Still not sure about X-Fi, though....HVAC - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
My personal contribution to this chain of "*thwack forehead* D'OH!" stories was a sticking reset button.New power supply and several hours later ... I dun figgered it owt.
Hyuck hyuck!
gmofftarki - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
If only I'd been getting paid per hour I've spent checking connections and cables and power-charging my cable modem... when all the issues were always resolved by pressing the blue button on the front of the modem to change the LEDs, which were on and glowing, to be blinking instead.It comes up at least twice a year, and I always go through the whole routine before a lightbulb flashes, I scream "Oh yeah!" and finally get the internet up and running again.
Yay for buttons?
gmofftarki - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
If only I'd been getting paid per hour I've spent checking connections and cables and power-charging my cable modem... when all the issues were always resolved by pressing the blue button on the front of the modem to change the LEDs, which were on and glowing, to be blinking instead.It comes up at least twice a year, and I always go through the whole routine before a lightbulb flashes, I scream "Oh yeah!" and finally get the internet up and running again.
Yay for buttons?
strafejumper - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
ok so experts on pc hardware have the same problems everyone does -to me this is a real problem. if anandtech experts can't get their graphics cards to work and spend hours trying to get their speakers to work etc. - imagine how much trouble regular consumers have trying to get anything to work properly.
One time i looked at some mobo benchmarks on anandtech and although the article tried to show that some were faster than others, in reality i could tell that "in game" there was not enough of an fps difference to be able to tell one mobo from another. So i just bought one of the cheapest ones to try to be smart - wrong! spent weeks trying to figure out why it was running so hot - because it was an unpopular brand + model, there were few forums discussing it, and it took me weeks to find out finally from a forum post where someone else had the same problem that a bios setting could fix the problem.
Now i just buy the most popular models of all hardware - yes there will still be tons of stupid problems, tweaks, incompatabilities, etc. but at least i'll be able to find 50 page threads with people discussing fixes.
If there were less companies and less hardware but everything just worked, i would be willing to pay a little more
strafejumper - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
seems like a lot of speakers, soundcards, 5.1 audio for a "work" computer lolstrafejumper - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
and dual graphics cards :)strikeback03 - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
but I do own the Z-560s. The Matrix3D button has a glowing green collar around it that is lit when pressed and kinda hard to miss. OTOH, there is a knob for fade. I don't have the rear speakers connected since there is nowhere to put them, and the rear input is not connected to the soundcard either. After switching the location of my desk I was wondering for a while why the system seemed down on bass. After playing with connections and everything, turns out the fade knob also changes the bass level, regardless of whether there are rear speakersJellodyne - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
Of course the fade changes the bass -- your subwoofer module is filling in the low end for your speakers. When you fade the rears higher or lower, the bass for the rears from the subwoofer adjusts accordingly. Even though you don't have the actual rear speakers hooked up, you've got the low frequency part of them hooked up in your woofer module!almightybmw - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - link
For some reason, the work server tape drive was not cooperating. I called tech since I don't have access to login and diagnose. After the tech telling me multiple times to hold the eject button down for 30 seconds, and it failing all times, I opened the front cover to see if there was a hidden 'paperclip' button. no go, but there was a big button in the corner that reminded me of a chassis intrusion switch. So I pushed it. Amazingly, the server started shutting down.I guess it wasn't a chassis intrusion switch.
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
Watch as later this week we'll be publishing an article where I top Jarred. Without spoiling anything, let's just say I managed to break something in a most stupid way. ;)karvainenjorma - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
My girlfriend calld me that her computer wouldn't start. Of course I went to the rescue. I pushed the button and indeed it didn't boot, it spinned the drives up and died soon after that. It had a littlebit older 22" CRT so I didn't see if it posted. Came to a conclusion that PSU must be the guilty one. Got a new one and still no go. Well this was a bit embarassing, took the bucket home and after thorough testing (3h) realized there was something missing from cpu cooler... the fan! unfortunately athlon XP aint so good at throttling.blodhi74 - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
After assembling a new machine ..... I forgot to flip the on button on the PSU.2 hours ... sigh.
zorrt - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
most common issues with computers occur between the monitor and the seat.blckgrffn - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
My most memorable one included not seating a processor heatsink properly (many hours of my life...)=)
Nat
ColoradoDavid - Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - link
"Bolth systems are running Windows Vista 32-bit..."Unless you're a cute girl I used to chat with in Oklahoma, the correct spelling is "both".