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Ask the Doctor: Need More Power. Cap'n!

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0500

I have a Soyo A7V Dragon Plus motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 1800+, VisionTek ATI Radeon 1600 X1600XT Extreme Gamer Edition, Creative Extreme Gamer Fatality Pro, Adaptec Duo Connect, and Linksys Standard Ethernet Card.

A week ago, my 425W RaidMax power supply started shooting sparks and fried a capacitor. I swapped it out with a 300W Skyhawk PSU. Now my computer keeps locking up with a high-pitched squeal, and the only thing I can do is push the reset button or unplug my computer. Often it will lock up within five or 10 minutes after rebooting. It happens when I’m listening to music, playing games, or watching movies, both online and off. Sometimes it locks up after Windows starts. It doesn’t lock up with that squeal all the time, only most of the time. I believe it probably has something to do with my audio card, but then it just might be as simple as my power supply lacking sufficient power.

I’ve looked online and could only come up with answers for the audio card and nVidia-related hardware; my problem is conveniently named the “Squeal of Death.” Is there any way

I can fix this with my current hardware configuration? Or will I have to get new hardware?
—Kavan Scott

Kavan, there are a few possible fixes for your issue. The first is that the 300W PSU you’re using is simply not powerful enough to run your system, which you used to run on a 450W PSU. That’s a big decrease in wattage. Try a new PSU at or above 450W—that should solve the problem. The other possibility is that your old PSU’s explosive death fried one or several of your computer parts. Try removing the audio card and running your computer with onboard sound instead. Same goes for the videocard—try swapping in an old card to see if that solves the problem. Before you swap out all your hardware though, start with the PSU.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Ask the Doctor: RAM Timing

The Maximum PC Staff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:40:48 -0500

My roommate, with my help, built a brand-new PC worthy of mention in your magazine; it has a Q6600, 4GB of DDR2/1066, an ATI Radeon 4850 GPU, and a DFI P45-T2RS motherboard. After installing his student copy of Windows Vista x64 and some of his favorite programs, I advised him to run CPU-Z to ensure that the motherboard had set everything correctly, as I didn’t really want him to have to dive into the BIOS unnecessarily. CPU-Z reported that his RAM was cruising along at DDR2/800.

He has a 1,066MHz front-side bus, so the RAM timing was unusual, especially since the board is certified for DDR2/1066. We checked the BIOS and found that we cannot set that frequency without overclocking, which causes the machine to become unstable. We decided that the problem is the BIOS and discovered that DDR2/1066 is supported only in the latest BIOS—but DFI’s BIOS update utility doesn’t work with Vista x64! Neither of us owns a floppy drive anymore, so we thought we might try booting from a USB drive, but we can’t find any Vista 64 capable tools for creating that, either.
What should we do to update the BIOS?

—Lyle Goodwin

You have several options. The first is just to let it be. Your friend will see minimal gains (and possibly even losses in some applications) by running the RAM at DDR2/1066 versus DDR2/800, so he can avoid the headache and just not fiddle with it. Remember, motherboard vendors always recommend that if the board’s working fine, don’t mess with it.

For most enthusiasts, though, this situation is an invitation to immediately update to the latest beta BIOS. An alternative option is to look at the BIOS screen during boot. You should see a prompt or option for some kind of built-in updating tool. Many current motherboards let you update the BIOS using a built-in flash utility. Just store the updated BIOS file on a USB key (the key must be in before booting the machine), boot the PC, start the utility, and point it toward the USB key. A third option is to use Hewlett-Packard’s free utility that lets you create a bootable USB key. The Doctor would provide a link, but HP’s website seems to shuffle the URL around on a regular basis. Instead, go to www.hp.com and search for “cp006049.exe.” A final option is to keep an $8 floppy drive in your tool kit.

Ask the Doctor: The Dirty Shift

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:08:24 -0500

When my computer is on, the Shift key seems like it’s being pressed repeatedly, even though I’m not pressing it. The StickyKeys feature keeps coming up and I can type only caps and symbols, not numbers. When I click an app on the desktop, it highlights almost all of them. When I click in my web browser, all of the screen’s text gets highlighted. I’m really not sure if this is a virus or a malfunction in the hard drive or what. The computer is a 3-year-old HP ZV6000 laptop.

—Nick Olson

It sounds like the problem is with your keyboard—something caught under one of your Shift keys might be keeping the contact closed. First, try to dislodge whatever’s under there with a can of compressed air. If that doesn’t work, pry the Shift keys off with a butter knife (carefully!) and clean underneath them with a damp lint-free cloth—but make sure your computer is off. Then reseat the keys. Still no dice? The next step is replacing your keyboard. You can find one on the web for between $15 and $50.

Ask the Doctor: Alien? Where?

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:15:58 -0500

I have an Alienware Area-51 m7700 laptop computer with 2GB of memory and an Nvidia GeForce 6800 Go with 256MB GDDR memory. It’s three years old and runs fine, but I would like to upgrade the graphics to get better video response. I play World of Warcraft and occasionally have problems with the video becoming a bit choppy. Plus, with the economy in its current poor state, I don’t really want to buy a new computer anytime soon, so upgrading my current computer seems like a good, relatively inexpensive way to go. The problem is, when I talked to a tech support person at Alienware, I was told a video upgrade isn’t available for my computer because the current videocards work with only the current bus configurations, not with my computer’s bus. Is there truly no way to upgrade my laptop’s video?

—Thomas Oglesby

The tech support guy is right, Thomas. Each new mobile GPU typically runs hotter and requires more power than the previous iterations, and there’s no universal laptop graphics hardware spec. You’ve already got the best videocard you can put in your rig. You can increase performance relatively inexpensively by upping your RAM to 4GB—you can get 1GB and 2GB SO-DIMMs for your machine for nearly nothing, and that’ll help with your game performance—but since the m7700 runs on a 32-bit Pentium 4 processor, you won’t be able to utilize the full 4GB. Other than that, you’re out of luck.

Ask the Doctor: 0x00000 OMG

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:20:52 -0500

I am becoming increasingly frustrated trying to fix a problem I’m having with a videocard driver (I think). My computer is crashing in the middle of games. The error message I get when I reboot is: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER. I have searched forums and tried different things, but nothing seems to work except when I install an old videocard (Nvidia 6800 GS).

I’m running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, Asus P5K motherboard, EVGA 8800 GT GPU, and 4GB of RAM. I also have an Nvidia 9800 GTX+, and when I installed it, the problem became worse.

—Gman

If it were just one videocard that was causing the problem, the Doctor would suspect something was wrong with the card itself. But since you’ve tried three cards and the problem affects only the newer two, the Doctor believes you’re suffering from either old drivers or a faulty power supply. We can’t tell from your email whether you’ve already tried updating to the latest Nvidia drivers, but you should reinstall the latest drivers whenever you change cards. You can find Nvidia drivers at (surprise!) www.nvidia.com.

If that doesn’t help, the problem could be your power supply—either it’s failing or it doesn’t have the juice to run high-powered videocards like the 8800 GT and 9800 GTX. 700W should be enough. Just make sure to buy a name-brand PSU; we recommend PC Power & Cooling.

Migrating RAID

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:15 -0500

A few months ago, my 5-year-old Alienware Area 51 died. I narrowed my problem down to the motherboard. Since this computer is so old, I decided to replace it with a new, updated computer. The busted rig had two 200GB hard drives on a 3ware RAID controller (RAID 0 configuration). Is it possible to install the RAID controller and drives (as is) on my new computer as a secondary drive and retrieve the existing data, or will I have to rebuild my RAID during installation?

—David Truan

The Doctor strongly advises keeping regular backups of RAID 0 configs, especially if you plan on migrating your data. In fact, when possible, back up your data and re-create the array from scratch on the new machine, then move your data back to it.

That said, we know it’s not always possible to back up before a move, especially in cases like this, which are essentially rescue missions. Moving a RAID array can be a tricky proposition, but it’s much easier if you use the same RAID controller. The Doctor spoke to a 3ware tech-support rep who said that as long as your new motherboard plays nice with the RAID controller, you shouldn’t have any problems. Wait until your new computer’s fully set up and functional before moving your RAID over. Install your RAID controller’s drivers and then (with the machine powered down) install the RAID controller with the drives attached. When you power on the computer, your array should show up.

How To: Create the Ultimate Boot Disk

Josh Kampschmidt — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:00:00 -0600

Looks like your system is on the fritz again -- it refuses to boot your operating system. What do you do now? You can take it a tech shop and have "experts" investigate the problem, but that a costly option. Even if your computer can’t load Windows, there is still a way to fix boot problems without reformatting. With the right boot CD, you can perform your own troubleshooting dianosis the cure whatever ails your PC. Our guide will show you how to make a powerful boot disk that'll let you do more than just access a DOS prompt. You'll be able to run processor stress tests, memory scans, edit partitions, and even extract hard drive data.

Time = 1 hour

What you need:

Windows XP Install CD
Ultimate Boot CD
Free, http://www.ultimatebootcd.com
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
Free, http://www.ubcd4win.com
2 blank CD’s

Downloading and Booting the Ultimate Boot CD

The Ultimate Boot CD features software that can do everything from run a CPU stress test to scanning your hard drive for bad sectors. All of the included utilities are easy to use and should be in every computer technician’s toolkit. You can individually download all the software that is on the UBCD, but this package saves time by including all the software on one convenient CD.

Go here to download the Ultimate Boot CD image. You can download from any of the mirrors listed, but if possible, we recommend you grab the compressed zip image so the download is smaller. They all produce the same ISO file, so it doesn’t matter what type you download.

After the download is complete, extract the archive and then burn the ISO to a blank CD. You need to burn it as an ISO so your computer can boot from it. Both CDBurnerXP and IMGBurn can do this and are free.

Once the disk is burned, start up the faulty computer and boot from this disk. You may have to change the boot order in order to boot from your optical drive. Press F8 (sometimes F10, depending on the motherboard) to get to your system’s boot menu.

When you are prompted, press Enter to boot off of the disk.

You will be given a main menu that serves as an interface to all the tools. You will only use the first six options. Here is a quick run-down of all the sections on the Ultimate Boot CD.

Mainboard Tools: In this section, you will see tests for almost everything that physically connects to a motherboard. If you wanted to test your RAM for example, you would launch one of the Memory test programs and then press Enter.

Hard Disk Tools: In this section, you will find all the tools that have to do with hard drives. You will see formatting tools, disk cloning tools, installation tools, diagnostic tools and many others.

Filesystem Tools: The utilities here are primarily useful if you want to edit partitions or do something with boot managers.

Other Tools: This section is a catchall for the various tools that did not fit into any other section. You will find malware removal programs and network tools. We recommend you avoid this section since the malware removal tools tend to be dated.
User-defined Tools: These are apps you create yourself and will not be covered in this guide.
DOS/Linux Boot Disks: This section has a collection of various boot disks that run in DOS or Linux. These can be very useful if you are trying to retrieve data off your hard drive.

Why Use the Ultimate Boot CD

The Ultimate Boot CD is primarily designed for people that are having serious non-OS-related problems with their computer, including faulty hardware. Excluding the operating system makes it easier on you to troubleshoot an error.

Memtest86+ for example, found under Mainboard tools and then Memory Tests, is useful if you are having problems that you don’t think is software related. The program gives you a general idea of whether your RAM is operating as it should.

The hard drive diagnostic utilities found under Hard Disk Tools, are useful when you are having disk corruption issues or if you are just having strange problems and already got the all-clear from Memtest86+. Every major hard drive manufacturer has diagnostic software included on the Ultimate Boot CD. These programs will scan for errors and let you know if it is time to RMA or throw away that hard drive.

The Ultimate Boot CD contains many other utilities to diagnose computer problems, including stress testing applications, partition editors, boot managers and many other software diagnostic programs.

Downloading and Booting the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

As the name implies, the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is specifically designed to work with Windows. This means most of the utilities on this CD are native to Windows and can only be used on a Windows-based system.

The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows uses Windows XP files and Bart PE to boot. Since it uses Windows XP files, this boot CD is not distributed as an ISO since it would break Microsoft’s EULA. Instead, you must manually build the project files.

Click here to download the project file. It is a large file so make sure you download this file with a broadband Internet connection.

Put your Windows XP CD into your optical drive. Create a new folder on the desktop and name it XPCD. Explore the CD, but do not run the disk, and drag all the files on the CD into this new folder. This will create a copy of all the XP files that are on the CD. If you do not do this, your CD will not be able to boot and the build process will fail.

Double-click on the UBCD4Win file. An installation wizard will display that lets you change the extraction location. Keep all the default settings to minimize the chance of problems. The program will extract the files to the C:\UBCD4Win directory.

After the program is done extracting, it will want you to do a MD5 Hash verification to make sure the file is not corrupt, click Yes to verify the file.

If you receive any errors on the hash check, re-download the file because a corrupted file may cause serious problems when trying to build the CD.

After the verification, UBCD4Win will start enumerating the files and folders to make sure there are no missing files. If it detects that there are files missing, you will have to re-download the file, otherwise certain tools will be missing.

Once UBCD4Win completes the individual file integrity check, you can start building the CD, but first UBCD4Win will ask if you want to check for patch releases and minor updates. You aren’t required to do this, but we recommend that you click Yes.

The updater is mostly useful if you plan to download the patch releases after a new version comes out.

The UBCD4Win builder is now ready to start, click Finish.

When the UBCD4Win PE Builder starts, you will have to accept the EULA -- make sure you read it.

Do not search for Windows installation files, since it will take forever. The reason for creating a folder with all the XP installation files earlier was so we could skip this step.

You should now get the main PE Builder window. You will see a Source, Custom, Output, and Media Output section. We will be using the Source, Output and Media Output section.

Click the “…” button to the right of the Source text box. Direct it to the XPCD folder you created earlier and click Ok. In the Output section, leave the word Bart PE alone.

We recommend that you create an ISO image first, but you can also burn directly to a CD. We are going to assume that you are creating an ISO image.

PE Builder will store the ISO in C:\UBCD4Win and name it UBCD4WinBuilder.iso. Don’t change the name or location.

Click on the Build button and PE Builder will start building the ISO .

It may take a while to build the ISO. When it is done building, click the Close button and then click Exit on the PE Builder window.

Navigate to the UBCD4Win directory, C:\UBCD4Win. Inside of that folder, you will find UBCD4WinBuilder.iso. Burn this file, as an ISO, to a blank CD. If you do not have burning software, CDBurnerXP and IMGBurn can burn it and both are free.

Burning the image is the last step in the build process. To use this CD, just restart your computer and boot from the disk. You may have to change your boot order in the BIOS to do this.

Why use the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows?

Unlike the Ultimate Boot CD, this boot disk features applications that specifically run on Windows. The interface uses the traditional XP-style start menu. The reason it resembles Windows XP is that we used the Windows XP setup files.

The malware removal tools, for example, can be used to remove malware outside of Windows. These tools can update as long as you are connected to the Internet. This means the malware will not be able to “call home” but you will still be able to get your updates.

The CD features other programs besides anti-malware programs; it also features many other programs. Here is a short list of things you can do with the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.

•   Stress Test your computer
•   Browse the Internet with Firefox or Internet Explorer
•   Create PDF’s
•   Edit User account passwords and other passwords
•   Edit the registry
•   Backup your hard drive, clone partitions, and diagnose your hard drive
•   Burn CD’s

Ask the Doctor: Whither the RAM?

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:45:51 -0600

I have two 256MB RAM modules. I recently bought an additional 1GB DIMM. A friend of mine asked me to try his RAM, as it was the same as mine. I tried it and my computer flashed an error. I stopped immediately, removed my friend’s RAM, and shut off my computer. The 1GB DIMM was installed and so were the other two 256MB sticks. But now the computer only recognizes the 1GB and says the other slots are empty, despite the presence of the 256MB DIMMS. How can I get the system to recognize the rest of the RAM?

—Tom Hensley

So, to sum up, you had two 256MB DIMMs. You added a single 1GB DIMM and it worked fine. You then added your friend’s DIMM, POSTed the machine, and received an error. Now it no longer shows anything but the 1GB of RAM?

Lesson number one when swapping RAM, or anything inside your machine, is to power down the machine by either unplugging it or flipping the power switch on the PSU itself, and then pressing the power button to discharge the remaining power in the PSU’s capacitors or waiting five minutes before mucking around.

What you are describing is not good. It sounds like you may not have fully seated the DIMMs or seated them so that you actually shorted something when you powered up the box. If you’re lucky, there’s just something in the slot like a huge dust bunny. With the power completely off, try reseating the RAM and make sure you have the orientation correct. Yeah, the Doctor knows the RAM is keyed, but you can actually jam a DIMM in there far enough that you think it’s installed even though it’s backwards.

If the memory still does not show up, completely shut down the box, remove the 1GB DIMM, and install each of the 256MB DIMMs in the slot the 1GB was in. If the PC now recognizes the 256MB DIMMs in that slot, you likely have two bad slots—highly unlikely. If it does not, you likely have bad DIMMs—also improbable. We think your troubles will be fixed before then with a careful reseating.