zhopudey
Skilled
In the previous episode,( http://www.techenclave.com/forums/another-adventure-begins-me-15049.html ), you saw how our ebullient hero managed to gather 4 of the amazing treasures – The revo, gto2, epox and 3200+.
Now, freed from the shackles of the evil Loan Monster, our hero gathers up his manna, and heads out to the wilderness of Lamington Road. Read on –
What To Buy?
So, everything was set. I was going to Lamington on Saturday. Asked a couple of my friends, but they were busy. So I went alone, which meant I couldn’t buy the MX5021 or the VIP zb01. So, I decided to just buy the PSU, RAM, HDD and DVDRW. That’ll get my system up and running. Will buy cabby, speakers, and monitor later.
About the PSU, it was tough competition between the zebby 540W and vantec 460W. In the end, the zebby won, due to the simple fact that vantec was not in stock. So, I contacted the guy thru whom Funky had bought his zebby 640. He said the 540W was for 4500/- plus shipping. And, if I order 2 units, shipping would be free! Great!
hyeah:
Meanwhile, blade was also thinking of upgrading, so I asked him if we both will go for the zebby. He agreed, so I sent a PM thru TE to the zebby guy. Then, three things happened
1. Blade said he was getting a good deal on antec.
2. The vantec was in stock
3. TE went down.
So, I was wondering how to tell the zebby guy that I wouldn’t be buying 2 PSUs. Luckily, TE struggled to its feet by afternoon, and I managed to dash off a quick PM. Whew.
Blade said (that rhymeshyeah: ) that only antec sp2 500w was available, for around 4.7k. And we would get it after 4-5 days at least. So I decided to go ahead with the Vantec. My gto2 was waiting for her knight in brushed aluminum armor!!!!:cool2:
Rest of the things were decided. Twinmos 2 x 1 GB, Hitachi 250GB SATA2, and BenQ 1640. Then on Saturday morning, Darky said that the LG 4167B was also a good option. Ok fine, I’ll buy whatever’s available for cheap. Now, I was a bit confused about Lamington road, so turned to Google Earth. And it did not disappoint! The community has added lots of info, and I found Dreamland cinema (apex), Minerva cinema (Zebby), police station (general landmark), and Narendra uncle’s house (lucky guy :bleh: ). So I set off.
Getting the stuff
First stop was Apex, for the Vantec. Nilesh was there, nice guy. Got the Vantec. Ahh, ION2. Checked the sticker – 30 amps on 12V. Excellent. Sleeved cables – looking gorgeous. Then I came back to lamington. Now for the fun part. Lamington road survey! I went to some 10-12 shops. At some places, I didn’t get any of the items. Finally, I had a list of 8 shops. I started with the hdd. I’d gotten prices ranging from 5500/- to 6850/- !!! :huh: So I went to Mediaman / Here and Now, for the HDD. He asked me why I didn’t want remaining stuff. So I told him I’d got better prices at other places. Then he said, tell me the lowest price, and I’ll match it. Wow! So, I asked him to give me the final prices. Then he dropped a bomb. 5500 was the price for sata1!!! :S Sata2 was for 6700. And he didn’t have the Twinmos ram.
So I decided to get the ram first. Computer selection had given the lowest price, 4500 per gig. Nirmal (the guy I spoke with), also asked me about the other three items. Same reply “Got better price from other placeâ€. These seem to be the magic words – Immediately he said, “tell me the lowest price, and I’ll match it†Nice…. So, he called up his guy to ask for final prices, and then dropped the second bomb. 4500/- was the price for transcend!:S What’s wrong with these people? Are they illiterate? Or deaf? Anyways, he said Twinmos was for 5100/- I quickly flipped thru my dairy. The lowest in there was 5150. Good. So I got all my stuff from computer selection. He didn’t have the BenQ, so I got the LG. Darky, it better be good.
Checking my loot
I came home, tired but happy. Fired up messenger. Good, funky was online. (I’ve troubled him the most. He should get a special award for bearing with me :hap2: ). Told him about the ram. It had M.tec chips. He checked the part no., but didn’t find anything. Yippee!!! I had virgin ram! Maybe it’ll o/c like crazy!:clap:
Then I took out the vantec. Ahh yes, 24 pin power connector. Great. Let’s see now, 12345678910….10 x 2 = 24. :S Huh? That’s not right……
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Count again! 12345678910…10 twos are…..20! WTF is happening? Where is my 24pin connector? Check remaining cables; Molex – check, sata – check, pci-e…….pci-e…….PCI-E!!!!!!!!!!
*&^(*%^$%&#%^#*()&*^^*&@#$$%(*()$
What is this nonsense! I called up Nilesh, told him I’d got a wrong PSU. But it was already 7pm, and he said he’d left the shop. He could check only on Monday. Ahh, well, I suppose I could use this PSU for now. It did have 30 amps on 12V.
Putting it all together
So, took out the mobo and CPU, spread it on the floor, and started assembling. Put in the CPU, thermal paste, heatsink, ram, and gto2. Damn, I got the heatsink wrong. The fan wire wouldn’t reach the connector. Ahh well, removed the fan and turned it around. Next, connected 20 (^%@()*^&*$%) pin connector and 4 pin connector. Smack in the middle of the board. The epox guys obviously haven’t heard of cable management. :no: To add to this, the sleeving on the power cables made them very unwieldy. Well, that’s for later. Plugged in my monitor. Now, it was suffering from jaundice. The VGA cable needed to be changed, but I’d postponed it. So, depending on how I twisted the cable, I got blue, green, red or yellow tint. :ashamed:
Well, I’ll deal with the monitor later. Ok, everything’s plugged in. Now, this board being a sample piece, it didn’t have the Power and Reset buttons that the retail versions do. So, I pulled my cabby over, and connected its buttons to the epox.
And then, I pressed the ON button…..
…
…
…
ITS ALIVE!!!! :cool2:
The fans started spinning, I heard the beeps and boops, and the 2-digit display on the mobo was going thru different numbers. And then, it stuck at “26â€, and the GPU fan slowed down, and I got just a cursor on the screen. Bummer!
Now what does code 26 mean? Again, being a sample piece, I didn’t have the printed manual. I only had the soft copy. But opening that would mean connecting the power button to my old mobo, and connecting the monitor as well. And I was too lazy for that. However, being endowed with superior intellect, I’d written down the most common error messages. Lets see now, ahh yes, 26 meant an overclocking error.
So what do I do with that? My intellect being far too superior for my own good, I’d not written down the solutions. Well, back to trail and error I guess.
So, for the next 15 minutes, I switched around RAM slots, ram modules, bios jumpers, bios battery, and various other things I could think of. But to no avail. Time to call in the big Guns!!
So I called up darky, and then he told me to switch around RAM slots, ram modules, bios jumpers, bios battery, and various other things, that I’d already done! Now I could feel him starting to sweat. So, in desperation, he went back to the basics:-
1. 20pin connector proper? Check
2. 4pin connector proper? Check
3. CPU fan plugged in? Check
4. RAM fitted properly? Check
5. Gfx card plugged in properly? Check
6. PCI-E power connector fitted? Oops… :ashamed:
Ahhh, I knew I’d forgotten something. So I plugged in the 6 pin connector, prayed to god, and pressed the switch. And it worked!!! I got to the bios screen!!!
To be continued...:bleh:
Now, freed from the shackles of the evil Loan Monster, our hero gathers up his manna, and heads out to the wilderness of Lamington Road. Read on –
What To Buy?
So, everything was set. I was going to Lamington on Saturday. Asked a couple of my friends, but they were busy. So I went alone, which meant I couldn’t buy the MX5021 or the VIP zb01. So, I decided to just buy the PSU, RAM, HDD and DVDRW. That’ll get my system up and running. Will buy cabby, speakers, and monitor later.
About the PSU, it was tough competition between the zebby 540W and vantec 460W. In the end, the zebby won, due to the simple fact that vantec was not in stock. So, I contacted the guy thru whom Funky had bought his zebby 640. He said the 540W was for 4500/- plus shipping. And, if I order 2 units, shipping would be free! Great!
hyeah: Meanwhile, blade was also thinking of upgrading, so I asked him if we both will go for the zebby. He agreed, so I sent a PM thru TE to the zebby guy. Then, three things happened
1. Blade said he was getting a good deal on antec.
2. The vantec was in stock
3. TE went down.
So, I was wondering how to tell the zebby guy that I wouldn’t be buying 2 PSUs. Luckily, TE struggled to its feet by afternoon, and I managed to dash off a quick PM. Whew.
Blade said (that rhymes
hyeah: ) that only antec sp2 500w was available, for around 4.7k. And we would get it after 4-5 days at least. So I decided to go ahead with the Vantec. My gto2 was waiting for her knight in brushed aluminum armor!!!!:cool2: Rest of the things were decided. Twinmos 2 x 1 GB, Hitachi 250GB SATA2, and BenQ 1640. Then on Saturday morning, Darky said that the LG 4167B was also a good option. Ok fine, I’ll buy whatever’s available for cheap. Now, I was a bit confused about Lamington road, so turned to Google Earth. And it did not disappoint! The community has added lots of info, and I found Dreamland cinema (apex), Minerva cinema (Zebby), police station (general landmark), and Narendra uncle’s house (lucky guy :bleh: ). So I set off.
Getting the stuff
First stop was Apex, for the Vantec. Nilesh was there, nice guy. Got the Vantec. Ahh, ION2. Checked the sticker – 30 amps on 12V. Excellent. Sleeved cables – looking gorgeous. Then I came back to lamington. Now for the fun part. Lamington road survey! I went to some 10-12 shops. At some places, I didn’t get any of the items. Finally, I had a list of 8 shops. I started with the hdd. I’d gotten prices ranging from 5500/- to 6850/- !!! :huh: So I went to Mediaman / Here and Now, for the HDD. He asked me why I didn’t want remaining stuff. So I told him I’d got better prices at other places. Then he said, tell me the lowest price, and I’ll match it. Wow! So, I asked him to give me the final prices. Then he dropped a bomb. 5500 was the price for sata1!!! :S Sata2 was for 6700. And he didn’t have the Twinmos ram.
So I decided to get the ram first. Computer selection had given the lowest price, 4500 per gig. Nirmal (the guy I spoke with), also asked me about the other three items. Same reply “Got better price from other placeâ€. These seem to be the magic words – Immediately he said, “tell me the lowest price, and I’ll match it†Nice…. So, he called up his guy to ask for final prices, and then dropped the second bomb. 4500/- was the price for transcend!:S What’s wrong with these people? Are they illiterate? Or deaf?
Anyways, he said Twinmos was for 5100/- I quickly flipped thru my dairy. The lowest in there was 5150. Good. So I got all my stuff from computer selection. He didn’t have the BenQ, so I got the LG. Darky, it better be good. Checking my loot
I came home, tired but happy. Fired up messenger. Good, funky was online. (I’ve troubled him the most. He should get a special award for bearing with me :hap2: ). Told him about the ram. It had M.tec chips. He checked the part no., but didn’t find anything. Yippee!!! I had virgin ram! Maybe it’ll o/c like crazy!:clap:
Then I took out the vantec. Ahh yes, 24 pin power connector. Great. Let’s see now, 12345678910….10 x 2 = 24. :S Huh? That’s not right……
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Count again! 12345678910…10 twos are…..20! WTF is happening? Where is my 24pin connector? Check remaining cables; Molex – check, sata – check, pci-e…….pci-e…….PCI-E!!!!!!!!!!
*&^(*%^$%&#%^#*()&*^^*&@#$$%(*()$
What is this nonsense! I called up Nilesh, told him I’d got a wrong PSU. But it was already 7pm, and he said he’d left the shop. He could check only on Monday. Ahh, well, I suppose I could use this PSU for now. It did have 30 amps on 12V.
Putting it all together
So, took out the mobo and CPU, spread it on the floor, and started assembling. Put in the CPU, thermal paste, heatsink, ram, and gto2. Damn, I got the heatsink wrong. The fan wire wouldn’t reach the connector. Ahh well, removed the fan and turned it around. Next, connected 20 (^%@()*^&*$%) pin connector and 4 pin connector. Smack in the middle of the board. The epox guys obviously haven’t heard of cable management. :no: To add to this, the sleeving on the power cables made them very unwieldy. Well, that’s for later. Plugged in my monitor. Now, it was suffering from jaundice. The VGA cable needed to be changed, but I’d postponed it. So, depending on how I twisted the cable, I got blue, green, red or yellow tint. :ashamed:
Well, I’ll deal with the monitor later. Ok, everything’s plugged in. Now, this board being a sample piece, it didn’t have the Power and Reset buttons that the retail versions do. So, I pulled my cabby over, and connected its buttons to the epox.
And then, I pressed the ON button…..
…
…
…
ITS ALIVE!!!! :cool2:
The fans started spinning, I heard the beeps and boops, and the 2-digit display on the mobo was going thru different numbers. And then, it stuck at “26â€, and the GPU fan slowed down, and I got just a cursor on the screen. Bummer!
Now what does code 26 mean? Again, being a sample piece, I didn’t have the printed manual. I only had the soft copy. But opening that would mean connecting the power button to my old mobo, and connecting the monitor as well. And I was too lazy for that. However, being endowed with superior intellect, I’d written down the most common error messages. Lets see now, ahh yes, 26 meant an overclocking error.
So what do I do with that? My intellect being far too superior for my own good, I’d not written down the solutions. Well, back to trail and error I guess.
So, for the next 15 minutes, I switched around RAM slots, ram modules, bios jumpers, bios battery, and various other things I could think of. But to no avail. Time to call in the big Guns!!
So I called up darky, and then he told me to switch around RAM slots, ram modules, bios jumpers, bios battery, and various other things, that I’d already done! Now I could feel him starting to sweat. So, in desperation, he went back to the basics:-
1. 20pin connector proper? Check
2. 4pin connector proper? Check
3. CPU fan plugged in? Check
4. RAM fitted properly? Check
5. Gfx card plugged in properly? Check
6. PCI-E power connector fitted? Oops… :ashamed:
Ahhh, I knew I’d forgotten something. So I plugged in the 6 pin connector, prayed to god, and pressed the switch. And it worked!!! I got to the bios screen!!!
To be continued...:bleh: