[Samm]

So you have got the hard drive connected?
Thats good, if you can hear some activity from the system, then it would suggest that the hard drives being accessed.

Have you checked the pins in the monitor cable to make sure that none of them are bent or pushed in? Also, does your monitor have one of those lights on it that turns green when the display is on & orange when it's in standby? If so, what colour it is when the system appears to be loading?

[aznblade1]

ok, well I've already checked the monitor cable and nothing is bent or missing any pins, and the light on the monitor is green, the light on the mobo is green, and the light near the on and off button of the computer is green and flashing red which i think is loading something.

[Samm]

Thats good. I don't mean to sound patronizing but have you checked the brightness & contrast controls etc on the monitor. It's really easy to knock them inadvertently & turn the screen black.

[aznblade1]

well i cant change the brightnes or anything cuz its all still black

[aznblade1]

ok well i need to go, i'll come back tomorrow thank you

[Samm]

OK, I have to get some sleep anyway.
When I said monitor controls though, I meant there should be some on the actual monitor in the form of buttons or dials. You don't need to see the screen in order to change these.

[aznblade1]

there really nothing wrong with my monitor.... i tried it with my friends monitor the same happen to my monitor too.

i called a computer expert and he said it wasnt the video card, it was the mother board. so im plaining to buy another mobo, im asking how u remove the processor and insert it to the other motherboard.

sorry to make another topic, i didnt kno where is it. so delete the new topic that i made.

[Samm]

Actually, it would have been better to start a new topic but not to worry!


Heres a few pointers for installing the CPU in the new board.

1. When you go to choose a mobo, make sure that it fully supports your CPU. This doesn't just mean the speed of the CPU, you must make sure that the CPU kernel is also supported. (For example, with Athlons, the kernel might be Barton, Thoroughbred, Palomino etc). Check with the manufacturers website first.

2. Make sure obviously that your RAM is also supported.

3. When you come to make the switch, wear a static strap & strip out the components & motherboard from the case

4. Remove the CPU & heatsink/fan assembly. Place in cpu in static bag. Clean the old thermal compound off of the heatsink & CPU. Be very careful not to scratch the surface of the cpu. Use a special anti-static cloth or cleanser to clean it, don't use anything abrasive.

5. Place the new mobo on a non-conductive surface (eg Place it on the static bag it came in, on top of a table). Follow the instructions in the mobo manual for inserting the cpu. Place a pea sized amount of a good quality thermal paste (such as artic silver) to the centre of the cpu & spread it so it covers the die of the cpu with a thin film of paste. Replace the heatsink/fan. Check the manual for the correct orientation of the heatsink & instructions for fitting it.

6. Check the mobo manual for any jumper configuration thats need to be set on the board.

7. Install the RAM modules.

8. Place mobo in case & make sure the spacers in the back of the case line up with the holes on the mobo. If there are any holes that don't have a spacer behind them, then add a new spacer to the case. If there are spacers that don't line up with holes on the mobo, then remove them from the case.

9. screw the mobo in place & insert the graphics card & connect the PSU & the front panel connectors (ie soft power switch, speaker, reset etc) to the mobo.

10. Connect the monitor & keyboard & make sure the system boots to the POST screen.

11. If all is OK, connect up the hard drives/CDROM/floppy etc.

Be aware that you may need to do a fresh install of windows. Either way, I wouldn't add all the PCI cards back in at once. Its better to replace them one by one, making sure each one is installed OK in windows before moving on the next one.

[aznblade1]

would buying a new pc better than buying a new mobo and a processor?

[Samm]

Not really, theres no reason why you should need to replace all the other components, unless they are old or slow and want upgrading anyway.

[aznblade1]

but dosent the mobo have to be the same thing as the old one? i dunno now... maybe ill get a new cpu or comp.... thanks for helping anyway.

[Samm]

If you replace the mobo & cpu, you must make sure it's compatible with your existing memory, drives, graphics etc. If you replace only the mobo, then also check it suports your CPU. It doesn't have to be identical to the old one though.

The only advantage of buying an identical mobo (apart from ensuring compatibility) is it means windows won't need reinstalling. If you buy a board that very different, the motherboard drivers will all need replacing & this can result in windows becoming twichy afterwards. It's normally better therefore to backup your hard drive, wipe it & perform a fresh install of windows.

[aznblade1]

um... so ya i acually got a new comp, but it doesnt have windows, do i just insert the windows disc and it will boot automatic?

[Samm]

That depends. If the hard drive is NOT serial ata & it is under 137GB in size, then yes you should be able to just insert the XP CD & boot from it. (Make sure the boot order in the bios is set to boot from CD first). XP should then allow you to partition the hard drive & install windows.

If the drive is serial ata, you will need a driver disk for it to install XP.

[aznblade1]

so below 137gb hd can install xp on the comp with the disc but what happen if its 160gb? im confused with the driver disk, what is it?