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I don't know much about computer hardware, please help me
Jinn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I went to turn on my desktop this morning and all it gives me is long, repeating POST beeps and nothing else. Google says this means bad power supply. That seems to make sense to me, which means I need to buy a new 350W power supply. Any flaws or oversights here?
Two of the case fans are on their last legs as well, so while I'm ordering computer parts I figured I'd make a couple other upgrades too. First, my hard drive is pretty much full, so I'm wondering how difficult it is to set up a second drive. I have absolutely zero experience with setting something like that up, but I'm not paranoid about it, I feel like I could do it if I had some instructions to follow or something... where might I find a cogent guide for this? And generally speaking, what are the key specs I should be keeping an eye out for on new hard drives? I know the one in there now (which I see no reason not to keep) is SATA, but honestly I don't have the slightest clue what that means, I just remember it was a big deal at the time my friend built this machine for me.
Also, I want a TV tuner card.
The problem is I have extremely limited knowledge regarding either of these products, so I'm turning to you guys to point me in the direction of some good choices.
Two of the case fans are on their last legs as well, so while I'm ordering computer parts I figured I'd make a couple other upgrades too. First, my hard drive is pretty much full, so I'm wondering how difficult it is to set up a second drive. I have absolutely zero experience with setting something like that up, but I'm not paranoid about it, I feel like I could do it if I had some instructions to follow or something... where might I find a cogent guide for this? And generally speaking, what are the key specs I should be keeping an eye out for on new hard drives? I know the one in there now (which I see no reason not to keep) is SATA, but honestly I don't have the slightest clue what that means, I just remember it was a big deal at the time my friend built this machine for me.
Also, I want a TV tuner card.
The problem is I have extremely limited knowledge regarding either of these products, so I'm turning to you guys to point me in the direction of some good choices.
Jinn on
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B.net: Kusanku
Setting up a second hard disk means you need to read your motherboard's manual, and reconfigure the BIOS, sounds easy, but if you have never done it before you could sweat a little
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TV2000-EXP&cpc=SCH
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SAA713XHL&cpc=SCH
Keep in mind this equipment only receives NTSc, that means no HD TV
Adding a SATA drive is pretty much plug and play. When you crack open your case, you should see a SATA cable running from the drive to the L-shaped SATA lead on your mobo. The leads should be grouped into clusters of at least two, so just plug your new drive into #2 and go from there. In a lot of cases, SATA channels are enabled/disabled in pairs, so if #1 has been enabled, #2 will already be enabled as well. If not, you will have to enable it in your BIOS as Fantasma says, but it's really not that hard. A lot of software BIOS setups have pretty good built-in documentation nowadays, and the motherboard manual (yes, that thing again) should be able to explain things in greater detail.
As for the tuner cards, do HDTV ones exist? edit: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TV-BOX-HD&cat=VID
This looks mighty attractive... but manufactured by 'Generic' doesn't sound promising
When your machine is POSTing, keep an eye out for text that tells you "<F2> to enter Setup" or something like that. If you don't see any cue, just mash some F keys a few times while you're POSTing. F2, F8, and F12 are the most common keys for this. If you do it right, instead of booting your OS after POST, your machine will go into the BIOS settings. This part is different for every mobo, but in general, you get a fairly straightforward menu that you navigate through with the arrow keys. Usually there's a "devices" or "hardware" or "SATA" section that contains the settings to enable/disable various hardware connections (PCI, USB hubs, VGA slots, etc.). Just make sure that SATA channel 2 (or whatever you're plugged into) is enabled. As I mentioned, a lot of times, the channels are paired, so you might see "SATA 1/2: Enabled" or something like that.
You can try this now if you want to get familiar with how it works. Check everything out and do whatever the hell you want; just make sure you don't save your changes on exit. A lot of the individual settings in BIOS can be confusing and/or intimidating, but the BIOS screen itself really shouldn't be.
One of the first things POST tests is your memory, so I don't think you'd get very far if that were the problem. On the other hand, a mobo with no memory can at least output a signal to the monitor, even if it's just a message saying "no RAM installed, OS will not be loaded".
It can be a lot of things, and PSU is certainly likely, but IMO it's worth at least trying to identify your mobo and find a manual online before you start ordering parts. It could just be an improperly seated cable or something. My old machine would bitch periodically and refuse to boot... sometimes it would be because I plugged the CPU fan into a different lead so that even though it was spinning, the mobo detected 0 RPMs and wouldn't POST. I know you didn't say you made any hardware changes recently; this is just an example of how many random things can cause your system to refuse to POST. Each sequence of beeps means something; a manual would go a long way toward identifying exactly what your problem is.