Blarg.

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Crysta
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Blarg.

Post by Crysta »

Hi, all. It's Ambyrele. My computer finally melted down for the last time, motherboard is shot to hell(which would explain why I've been having so much trouble with it over the last six months). I've gone out and bought a new computer, but I'm still having some setup issues with it. After I get all the initial bugs worked out with my warranty, I'll be back playing again. See you soon! =D
"I'm going to become rich and famous by designing a machine that lets you stab people in the face over the internet." - Me
Kerriel
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Post by Kerriel »

Good Luck and Come back soon! :wink:
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Kopopo
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Post by Kopopo »

Don't buy prebuilt, get a custom. For the love of Altana get a custom!
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Crysta
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Post by Crysta »

Well, I sorta did get a custom. =P Told them what I wanted in it, brought in some of my old parts(slave hard drive, sound card, and CD-RW drive), and let them have at it.

Unfortunately, my DVD-Rom is a bloody generic model and is giving me crap, and every few days, my new ATI Radeon 9600XT drivers seem to corrupt or something and glitch all the graphics. All of them. With nasty artifact lines all over the screen. Only way to fix this is to COMPLETELY remove the ATI drivers from the registry and reinstall them. This is getting annoying quickly. >_<

Still trying to get these problems fixed before I go redownloading the 3 1/2 hour bloody FFXI patch just to have to format the computer again.
"I'm going to become rich and famous by designing a machine that lets you stab people in the face over the internet." - Me
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Kopopo
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Post by Kopopo »

With the ATI drivers... I don't think it's driver related. Sounds like either bad RAM chips on the board or your render pipelines are bad. Consider getting an RMA on that card. Also, what company made the card itself? Sometimes a bios update will fix that. I know the cards from Sapphire Tech suffered from what you're describing.
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Crysta
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Post by Crysta »

Hrm. What's a RMA? Oh, and it's an actual ATI card, made by ATI technologies Inc. ^^;
"I'm going to become rich and famous by designing a machine that lets you stab people in the face over the internet." - Me
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Swipe
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Post by Swipe »

RMA = Return Merchandise Authorization

... He's suggesting you send the card back for a replacement; as from the problems you described, you could have a bad random-access memory chip on the video card.

I'd suggest checking for bios update on both your motherboard, and video card... that alone can sometimes work wonders for performance. Then if that doesn't work... get an RMA.

—Swipe
[size=92]~ Swipe ~ World of Midgardsormr ~ Rank 5 in the legions of Windurst ~[/size]
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Meeyutu
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Post by Meeyutu »

RMA, RAM, BIOS.. whew hopefully noone's head collapses because of all the jargon.
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Swipe
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Post by Swipe »

RAM = Random access memory
This would be your computer's (or other hardware in question) memory.

RMA = Return Merchandise Authorization
Most companies require you to obtain this first, before returning a product. Usually this is obtained through a customer service or tech support phone line.

BIOS = Basic Input/Output System

"BIOS" is pronounced "bye-ohse". The BIOS is a built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. On Personal Computers, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen (computer monitor), disk drives (Yes, Hard drives), serial communications (COM & LPT [printer] ports), and a number of additional miscellaneous functions.

The BIOS is typically placed in a ROM chip that comes with the computer (it is often called a ROM BIOS). This ensures that the BIOS will always be available and will not be damaged by disk failures. It also makes it possible for a computer to boot itself.

Because RAM is faster than ROM, though, many computer manufacturers design systems so that the BIOS is copied from ROM to RAM each time the computer is booted. This is known as "shadowing" the bios.

Modern PCs have a flash BIOS, which means that the BIOS has been recorded on a flash memory chip, which can be updated if necessary.

The PC BIOS is fairly standardized, so all PCs are similar at this level (although there are different BIOS versions). Two main providers of BIOS chip are AWARD and PHOENIX.

It is allowed to make some settings rather then default value in BIOS. These settings are storaged in a 256Byte register. The registers used to be a seperate chip called CMOS, now these registers are integrated in the southchip. We need a backup power supply to help these registers "remember" the settings. This is why we have a large lithium button battery on the motherboard. Every few years these batteries will need replaced.

Oh yea.. and ROM = Read-Only Memory.
The data on a ROM chip can be read by the computer, but cannot be changed. Flash-capable ROM chips are a bit of an exception, but still use the same basic theory

*Swipe examines Meetutu to see if her head has collapsed yet

Anyway... we're suggesting you update your videocard and motherboard BIOS by "flashing" them. Details on flashing can be obtained from your hardware manufacturer usually... and there's also usually a blurb about it in the users manual on most motherboards.

Hope this excessivley detailed information is helpful :D

—Swipe
[size=92]~ Swipe ~ World of Midgardsormr ~ Rank 5 in the legions of Windurst ~[/size]
[img]http://www.crystalrecipies.com/qd/Badgercub/New_swipe_sig.jpg[/img]
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Meeyutu
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Post by Meeyutu »

*blinks at Swipe

Nothing new to me :) I still have my old TRaSh-80, 8088, 286, and 386. I was just pointing out that perhaps a more verbose explaination would be more helpful :)
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Swipe
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Post by Swipe »

I actually have a fully functional dual 386 (33 mhz each) server board...
:o But I finally decided to discard my old pre-386 equipment, so I no longer have that stuff :P

It's like kicking a dead horse :shock:

Speaking of dead.. its about that time again.. probably ought to discard any pre-586 equipment I've got stored away...

—Swipe
[size=92]~ Swipe ~ World of Midgardsormr ~ Rank 5 in the legions of Windurst ~[/size]
[img]http://www.crystalrecipies.com/qd/Badgercub/New_swipe_sig.jpg[/img]
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Kopopo
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Post by Kopopo »

Useless post... You can delete it.
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Kismet
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Post by Kismet »

Hey that's what happens when you use my word and besides it done like this

BLARG!!!
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Re: Blarg.

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