It's alive! Alive, I tell you!

How's that for drama?

At last, this past Sunday, Mr. T and I finally had the time and all of the components to assemble Jennifer's new PC. In the previous blog I put down all of the hardware that went into the box, so I won't bore any with the details [*again!!]). We had enough time to get it up and running, and get Win7 Pro installed on the SSD. We have one more component to install, a third 120mm cooling fan that will exhaust directly over the CPU. At that time, we'll also hook up the HDD (which was not playing nicely with the SSD during the build), and take care of cable management, as well as installing Microsoft Office and the usual suite of security applications.  

The fan.

Mr. T  secures the mobo.

A funny anecdote from the office: one of my coworkers- Frank- is also a dyed-in-the-wool geek gearhead and gamer. When I showed him these pics and told him the speeds and feeds, his reaction was quite precious- "Dude- don't even try to tell me you built a gaming rig... for your wife!"

Well, yes we actually did. On the day I announced that she was getting a new box, she was quite concerned- the last couple of refurbs we purchased have been real duds. When I told her that we were going to build it, she seemed somewhat relieved, especially since it would be up to date. And, she wouldn't have to hack any more cases to install a power supply to support a video card that is needed to play Civilization V!

We all were very pleased with the lack of noise output from the ThermalTake NiC F4. According to the manufacturer's website, the dual 120mm fans will move up to 79.283 cfm (cubic feet per minute- sorry, I don't have a metric equivalent for cfm); fan speeds can be firmware controlled, and noise is 18.0/30.2 dBa. According to Industrialnoisecontrol.com, 30dBa is really quiet. From my very limited experience, this box is stealthy quiet. I'm guessing that even after we install the final 120mm exhaust fan that this is going to be one quiet machine. Apart from the previously mentioned software installs, HDD hookup and burn-in, this box is locked, cocked and ready to rock! Pi Day update- I had hoped to deploy this box on Sunday, March 16, but I just checked the tracking and it most likely the fan won't arrive until Monday at the very earliest. We've discovered that when we order things, we usually get them very late in the day, so if it does arrive on Monday, it won't get installed until Tuesday (I work nights, as you may recall). And- I still have software to install!

In other news, I've taken a break from Facebook games and am using the time saved to work on the database. I think March 11 was the "official" start of my break, so that makes this Day 5. I'm not off of Facebook completely, just skipping the games (which probably accounted for 90+% of the time I spent there). I'm a bit excited about the upcoming 100th post- when I started this I didn't really think I had the discipline or tenacity to carry it this far. I guess when that happens I'll finally be able to publish a Top 10 list of posts.

That's all for now- speeds and feeds will probably be updated on or about blog entry #100.

Until then, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

Who does that, anyway? (Part 2)

The saga of Jennifer's PC continues.

When we had last visited this beastie, HDD issues were the order of the day. I honestly don't remember what happened, but that the issue is gone. For the moment. This week's disaster du jour was something along the lines of The A+ Team Nightmare From Elm Street. Two weeks ago I had installed Nero, and on the slate for this past week was the installation of a graphics card. As we had some running around to do, we accepted the offer of assistance from our younger son. Upon returning from our errand, he informed us that a PSU (power supply unit) with more power than the stock HP unit would be necessary. Not a problem, I thought, as we have more than a few spares. I selected one, then prepped the machine. I laid down some old newspaper on the table, brought the box in and laid it on its side. I pulled the cover off and proceeded to disconnect the 24-pin main power from the mobo, followed by the 4-pin power and the SATA connectors. Then, I unscrewed the mounting screws from the rear of the old PSU, and grabbed the cables and removed it from the case. I replaced the HP unit with an Antec Earthwatts 380W unit.

Looking down @ OEM PSU

Um, that would be a no-go... the graphics card needs a minimum of 400W. So, Mr. T and I made a trip to our local Tiger Direct store and picked up a very reasonably priced 500W ThermalTake unit and returned home. I unboxed it, and placed it in the case.

It did not fit properly; when the mounting holes were lined up with the holes on the rear of the case, the fan faced up. As this PSU is mounted in the topmost part of the case, this was not an acceptable solution. I pulled it out, and grabbed another- a 600W Rosewill. Same story. Then, it hit me: the problem was not the PSUs, it was the mobo. I took a quick inventory of PCs in our house (living and dead), and discovered

Jennifer and her Mototool

that- other than a gaming Dell that belongs to Mr. T- every other PC in the house had the I/O mounted on the opposite side of the case. So, if you ever find yourself in possession of an HP DC7800, expect a fairly painful video upgrade. Jennifer looked at me, and she had that odd twinkle in her eyes when she said, "Can't we just mod the case"? Ack! I think Bill the Cat was in accord with me. Ack!

I did what any self-respecting spouse would do at that point: "Sweetheart, if you want to mod the case, go for it." For anyone who
does not know us, we have a fairly eclectic collective skillset. Generally, I am in charge of all things I.T. I do purchases, upgrades, and installations.

The finished product

However, Jennifer is in charge of craft and construction. And where installation and construction intersect, we brainstorm. She thought about this for some time, and tried a few solutions out on me; I had to tell her that I just couldn't see what she was describing. We tried several different approaches: the only thing we knew for sure was that the PSU was going in upside down, and that at least one piece of sheet metal was coming off the rear of the box, a blank that was blocking a good part of the power plug.

The only thing I had to offer was something she actually incorporated in her solution- Erector. Remember Erector sets? They're bloody difficult to search for these days, as the French firm Meccano owns Erector. I think. In any event, many years ago, I had purchased one or two small pre-Meccano Erector sets. The really, really old Erector was a shiny stamped steel- not an I-beam, but stiffened by having the edges rolled 180 degrees, sort of like this: n__n. Very strong on one axis, but weak on the other, and when they were bent, they were useless. The sets I had purchased as an adult (pre-Meccano, I think) were simpler flat stampings. They are visible in "The Finished Product" picture above. She used three 2-hole "beams" from the Erector parts, and a pair of 6-32 screws (PC standard), with lock washers and hex nuts from Menard's (a U.S. hardware chain of stores). It looks like the PC has Frankenstein terminals from above!

With the PSU installed, the ball was now back in my court. I checked the sparse XFX instructions, and installed the graphics card in the PCI slot. I made sure the card did not require power from other than the bus, and after double-checking  that everything was seated and connected properly, I closed up the case.

I picked it up and put it back in it's home. I connected the DVI cable to the new video card, as well as all of the other cables. I pushed the power button.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichts. It was dead.

After that bit of panic, I remembered that the new PSU has a power switch.  Okay- we're back in business. I flipped that, and the box booted right up. I go to login...

...and the keyboard does not work.

Now, this is an HP box, and the reseller sold it with a Dell keyboard, mouse and recovery disk. Whatever- I ask Mr. T to grab another keyboard, and he comes up with ANOTHER Dell. No go. Bring me something other than Dell. He does.

Apple compatible.

No go.

At this point, I tell him, "Bring me a PS2 keyboard- round purple connector." He chafes at this, wanting to try something else. I am at my wits end, and inform him that I want a PS2 keyboard, which he finally produces. Progress- I reboot, and the keyboard works. I go to install the video card software, and finally get all of that working, and am left with... no sound. After several restarts, I am mucking around in the startup menu where I discover that internal sound (*somehow*) has been disabled. I *enable* internal sound, and the PC starts normally, complete with Windows XP welcome sound.

The PC works just fine now. Now, I need to do some cable housekeeping.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.