Posts by Eric Alvarez

analogtiger19 said:Because if a person says they don't need it...

Oops

Why not just toss in a standard 1TB HDD? I'm not entirely sure why that wasn't factored into the initial count, but it's worth considering.

It seems to me like you don't even have that wireless card installed. xD Why not open it up and check if anything besides a GPU is actually plugged into a PCIe slot?

Kevin Kim7 said:I figured out the voltage was the culprit once I actually looked at the specs on the PCB.
Since I swapped it in and out a few times, I'm hoping I didn't fry the thing by hitting it with too much juice.

I find it hard to believe you're being serious. Just tell me the truth—did it fail to work when you tried putting it back in? xD

Bryan Rivera83 said:Look, if you want the standard DDR3 or PC3 setup, you're looking at the 1.50V modules that stick strictly to JEDEC specs
But if you're running DDR3L or PC3L, that’s the low-voltage version designed to run at 1.35V per JEDEC standards

So, there's your answer. Your issue likely stems from needing 1.50V memory modules.

If the stock value is set to 1333, go into the BIOS and manually adjust it back to 1333 if it’s currently sitting at 1600, from what I can tell.
What motherboard are you using? It also looks to me like those memory sticks aren't an identical match.

That Hexa setup pulls an extra 80 Watts, which brings the effective draw up to 450W. If the issue were actually the power supply, you would likely just see the fans spin for a second before everything cuts out, or the power button might not even trigger a response at all. Why not head over to a friend's place and test it there? It’s the best way to figure out if the graphics card itself is faulty or if something else is causing the trouble.

Larry Ortiz5 said:If you happen to have another PC lying around, maybe try popping that Radeon RX 470 in there? If it works fine in a different machine, then we know the issue is definitely with the graphics card itself rather than the rest of your setup...

That is likely the cause. I dealt with an identical situation with a brand-new build; they actually replaced the motherboard before the GPU was even identified as faulty. Just my luck, I suppose.

Windows 7 64-bit can be quite temperamental on older hardware. Why bother switching if the 32-bit version was running smoothly? If I were in your shoes, I would have just reverted to 32-bit. I've run into similar issues on my old machine—a Q8300 with 4GB of RAM and an HD 6770. It really should be performing fine, yet it struggles; I suspect it might be a hardware limitation, perhaps because the CPU isn't fully compatible with a 64-bit OS. It's just a guess, though.

I have several old components just sitting around collecting dust. Some are from my previous builds, while others were picked up from a friend. I am wondering what a fair price would be for everything
if I want to sell them without overcharging anyone. If you are interested in taking them off my hands, please feel free to send me a PM.

ASRock 775v88+, FSB 800, DDR 400, AGP 8x (Potential issues here; it's quite old and doesn't look like it's in great shape)
ASRock G31M-VS2 FSB 1333 Dual Channel DDR2

TakeMS 2x2GB DDR3 1333 CL9
1x 1GB DDR-400 RAM and 2x 512MB DDR-400 RAM
512 MB DDR pc-3200
Transcend Low Profile 2GB DDR2 800 DIMM

Radeon HD 4550 VGA, HDMI, DVI
Sapphire ATI HD 3650 512 MB Dual DVI
HD 6770 VTX 1GB graphics card

Pentium G620 2.6 ghz dual core LGA 1155
Intel Pentium 4 630 SL79 3.0 GHz Socket PLGA775
Includes Intel stock cooler
Generic 420W power supply

Don't fall for "new" listings on Craigslist; you're just asking to get scammed.

Don't mess around with old sockets unless you are absolutely certain about the condition of the components and how long they'll actually last. The best CPU on the 775 platform is the Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme, though finding one cheap might be a challenge—if you can even find one at all. Aside from that, you could look at a Q8300 or something from the Q9xxx series. I once ran a similar setup, and it died on me within a year; I suspect both the processor and the motherboard just hit their limit. It’s better to scrape something together that's modern. Even if you just pick up an Intel Pentium G4560 and an AMD Radeon RX 460, the performance jump will be night and day compared to those older systems.
My suggestion? Wait for the R3 and R5 releases. As far as processors go, I'd personally wait until June or July. I believe waiting will ultimately pay off.

Try setting one fan at the front to pull air in while the others exhaust it out. Honestly, that won't really help with the noise levels; it'll just drop your temperatures a bit. You might want to swap out that stock cooler for something else—anything from $47 up to $320. Don't bother overspending on the
.

The stock cooler is garbage.

If you're dealing with something like a Socket 775 or an A2/A1 chip, I’d suggest borrowing one from someone who has extras lying around first. Wouldn't it be better to verify the hardware works before you go spending money unnecessarily?

Robert Rodriguez2 said:🤦
So you're talking about fried USB ports and maybe even the PCI, and then your big solution is to buy a USB Wi-Fi adapter? 🤦🤦

Learn how to read a quote. And even if he does buy one, is it really a problem to have a spare if the motherboard is already dead? I never actually told him to buy anything.

It’s entirely possible that your motherboard has fried several ports, perhaps including a PCI slot and a few USB connections. A friend of mine dealt with the exact same thing—a lightning strike hit his place and completely toasted his hardware. You might want to try testing it with a different motherboard or just pick up a USB wireless adapter to get back online.

It’s honestly better to just stick with the cloud. As far as I know, an external drive can fail just as easily as a standard USB stick, but at least they're built to be a bit more durable.

There is one massive headache when trying to run Windows 7 on modern laptops. Most newer hardware simply doesn't support it, and even if you manage to get it installed, almost nothing works—your mouse and USB ports often end up completely dead. If you are truly willing to deal with the hassle of setting up Windows 7, I suggest following the steps Larry Ortiz5 provided.

Lisa Perez50 said:Reading this makes me seriously nervous about my USB😬

What can I actually do to prevent this from happening? How should I handle backups? Are there specific programs worth downloading? Any advice would be huge! (Please quote!)

Just buy an external hard drive and move all your critical files onto it.