Assembling New PC - Advice Sought

BluesMeister

BluesMeister

Occasional Poster
Greetings,

I’m curently assembling my new Asus P4PE Pentium 4 PC. It’s the first time I’ve attempted this sort of thing and so far it’s going together without any hitches. :)

I will be installing a new 120GB Western Digital HDD and I’ve salvaged from my old PC my GeForce2 MX400 video card, Terratec EWX24/96 audio card, LG CD-ROM drive and Mitsubishi 3-1’2” floppy drive.

I want to temporarily connect the 6.4GB HDD from the old PC and transfer data files to the new PC. Could you kindly answer the following elementary questions for me?

1) Can I connect the 6.4GB HDD to the Secondary IDE connector to transfer data?

2) Do I have to set the jumpers on the 120GB to Master With Slave or can I leave it set to Master?

3) Must I set the 6.4GB jumper to Slave or can that be left set to Master?

With respect to the P4 chip, the cooling fan and associated apparatus has a small black rectangle of protective paper on the underside. I assume the paper is covering the Thermal Transfer paste. My understanding of the feeble installation instructions is that I install the P4 then seat the cooling fan on top. Do I just peel off the protective paper and plonk the whole lot on top of the P4 chip? How will I know if it’s making firm contact with the chip?

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post.

--
BluesMeister
 
BluesMeister said:
I want to temporarily connect the 6.4GB HDD from the old PC and transfer data files to the new PC. Could you kindly answer the following elementary questions for me?
Click to expand...

I'll do my best

1) Can I connect the 6.4GB HDD to the Secondary IDE connector to transfer data?
Click to expand...

Yup

2) Do I have to set the jumpers on the 120GB to Master With Slave or can I leave it set to Master?
Click to expand...

Yup

3) Must I set the 6.4GB jumper to Slave or can that be left set to Master?
Click to expand...

If it is plugged into the same IDE cable, yes

Option, you can run it as Master if you plug it into the Secondary IDE channel.. assuming that nothing else is plugged into it.

With respect to the P4 chip, the cooling fan and associated apparatus has a small black rectangle of protective paper on the underside. I assume the paper is covering the Thermal Transfer paste. My understanding of the feeble installation instructions is that I install the P4 then seat the cooling fan on top. Do I just peel off the protective paper and plonk the whole lot on top of the P4 chip? How will I know if it’s making firm contact with the chip?
Click to expand...

That 'paper' would most likely be covering teh Thermal Transfer plate. As you described it.. all you do is 'plonk' the whole lot onto top of the P4 Chip ..the instruction you should show you how it sit's and it should show you some sort of leaver or connector that will lock the chip into place.

Hope this help's,

Porter
 
Just an idea... but you might want to keep that 6.4g drive in there and use it as your C: System and apps drive. Unless you have so much software that it exceeds the 6.4 gigs. This way you can have your 120g drive entirely for your Audio drive (Wav. and samples).

Better yet would be... get a larger drive and you then can make back ups on the fly. It's much easier than burning backups all the time... and it's highly unlikely to have 2 drives go down at the same time. I think it's a necessity to have 2 drives especially since they're so cheap. The system/ Backup drive doesn't need to be 7200rpm, but it doesn't hurt either ;)

Good Luck,
B.
 
Just make sure there is plenty of thermal goop (heatsink compound) on the chip before installing the heatsink or you'll fry that puppy. It should be included with the heatsink. unless they are doing something different recently.

Ide connectors for the drives can only have 1 master and 1 slave on each. so if you use different ide connectors for the drives ie. one on 1 and one on 2 it doesnt matter how they are set. But remember that the cdrom is also a drive and must be set differently than the hardrive on the same cable connector. I set my cd to slave if another drive is on that cable.


so this is what each cable needs attached to it

IDE1------master --------slave

Ide 2-----master-----------slave

As far as the heatsink and fan making a good connection, if you have it in and locked as porter described, you will NOT be able to pull it off with reasonable tug,,,, reasonable about as much force as unscrewing the top off a new jar of jelly. But dont twist pull up!!

I dont know if thats any clearer than whats already been said:)

Peace
Bill
 
Porter,

Thanks for the reply.

The 120GB drive is on the Primary IDE ribbon - it's an 80 pin cable. I can attach the 6.4GB HDD to the same cable, but it means having to do the jumper thing. :)

I thought that if I lobbed the 6.4GB HDD onto the Secondary IDE 40 pin cable I might get away without the need to change the jumpers on either drive. I can see that the 120GB HDD will have to be temporarily re-jumpered to Master With Slave then returned to Master when the 6.4GB HDD is pulled out again.

Booda
It's my intention to return the 6.4GB HDD to the original case and sell it. I have already replaced the video card with an old one I had lying around, and I put a SoundBlaster AWE64Gold audiocard in to replace the Terratec. A chum of mine has lots of bits and pieces laying around, so it will be easy to make up a little system.

Wfaraoni
Message received loud and thankfully very clear. Thanks to you all.

--
BluesMeister
 
If your going to be using both drives(one for system and one for data) put one on ide1 and the other on ide2, otherwise there's a chance to get bottlenecked bandwidth. And I would also go get some "silver thermal compound" for the fan/cpu it's more expensive but it's worth it, and follow the directions for it, using too much "goop" can actually decrease the cooling.
 
yep too much is not good. Also the thermal pad (or heat pad as I like to call it) that comes with the stock intel heatsink is not very effecient. Get a razor blade and scrape it off. Then get some silver based thermal compound (I use artic silver). Apply a little bit of the silver compound to the heatsink and then spread it thinly with the razor blade. paper thin. You are just trying to make a "smooth contact" between the core of the cpu and the heatsink. To much goop actually increases heat due to "super happy insulating action" I see about a 5c drop in temerature after properly applying silver compound. Makes for a more stable rig.
 
Paul881
Trust me, I've done a lot of research on the Asus P4PE Cold Boot Issue :) From what I can gather it seems to be more associated with memory latency timings than ambient temperature or size of PS. I checked the web site of the manufacturer of my RAM (Hynix) and will be using the timings they recommend.

I'd be happy with a 400W PS in the case - currently it's got a 250W PS in there. If I do suffer from the dreaded Asus Cold Boot, I'll replace the PS with a 300W model. I can get one for a modest AUD$55. The 400W PS is horribly expensive. The price seems to rise exponentially with the power output. :(

DS21
The two HDD scenario will only be for as long as it takes to tranfer data from the 6.4GB to the 120GB

Believe me, I have considered putting the two HDDs in the one box, but it was pointed out to me that the 120GB is 7200rpm whereas the 6.4GB is, er, not 7200rpm. :) The loading of programs will therefore be much faster from the 120GB HDD.

I can probably lob another 120GB HDD in some time in the future if necessary. Currently here in Australia, the 120GB drives give the best bang for buck.

Sweetnubs
I followed the Intel installation instructions for the P4 from their web page. I downloaded a PDF file that included pictures that clearly showed the thin plastic-like paper stuck to the back of the heatsink just as mine has.

My mate Kim, the PC specialist, is coming round tonight to check out my assembly before I pluck up the courage to switch it on. If he recommends the thermal gunk, then I'll certainly be slapping some onto the back of the heatsink. Kim also has a P4PE mobo and has not suffered from the Cold Boot Issue. I bought the ATX case from him.

Gentlemen one and all, I sincerely thank you for your advice. I should be up and running by the weekend. I'll let you know what transpires.

--
BluesMeister
 
Bluesmeister, tell me more about the memory latency issue and how I can fix it on my DAW. I have the 2700 memory chips that were recommended.:(
 
Paul,

I've just tried to get onto Asusboards BB but there seems to be some sort of technical hitch.

A week or so back I did a search on Asusboards for topics with P4PE in the subject field, one of which seemed to be the front page poll about the Cold Boot Issue. However, clicking on that particular link it was not only the poll, but also a huge number of posts. I read through every post and it seemed that the memory timings were possibly a factor in the CBI (at least that's how I interpreted it).

The memory timings I will be using are the ones suggested by Hynix - however, it may possibly help to lower the timings if the CBI is encountered. I've got a single double-sided stick of 512MB DDR333 PC2700 RAM.

Drat, blast and pongy poo! If only the Asusboards BB would work :( I'll have another try, just hold on...

Mmm. No, the server seems to be down. I'll try again sometime later and post the link when I can get through.

In the mean time, my mate Kim round a short time ago and viewed my assemblage and gave it the thumbs up. He dismantled the PCU and had a look at the thermal paper on the underside and semed to think everything was in order. Under his guidance I powered up - but didn't have the monitor, mouse or keyboard connected and it powered up just fine. No beeps just whirring of fans. Whether or not I had the CBI I couldn't tell. :)

Stay tuned Paul, I'll hunt down that link...

--
BluesMeister
 
Thats great thanks Bluesmeister. I have the same single double-sided stick of 512MB DDR333 PC2700 RAM as you have.

I also get very occasionally, shutdown problems where the PC doesnt properly close down correctly. Did you see any similar references in your travels? It might be part of the same problem.
 
booda has it right

Just an idea... but you might want to keep that 6.4g drive in there and use it as your C: System and apps drive. Unless you have so much software that it exceeds the 6.4 gigs. This way you can have your 120g drive entirely for your Audio drive (Wav. and samples).
Click to expand...

You would be best to have your OS on the smaller drive [C]. The speed on that is not as important. What is, is you aren't spinning up the mass and extra drives for all the basic tasks. Reserve the big fast drive for your music and backups.
 
Paul
Try this link Asus P4PE Cold Boot Issue Poll. I don't recall any shut-down problems being mentioned in anything I've read so far. Do you suffer this after using any particular application?

My current system always fails to shut down after I've used HS2002. I have to hit the reset button then switch off when the BIOS screen shows up. Tedious I know.

One method that does seem to work ironically is if I Ctrl+Alt+Del then click on Shut Down from the Close Program dialogue box. That usually does the trick for me.

T_Chance
I appreciate your input there, but I will need to sell the old system and it will work a whole lot better with a hard disk in there :) I need the cash for an upgrade to HS2004 :)

One advantage of the method you describe is that all of my software is currently installed on the 6.4GB HDD.

I may give this some serious thought.

--
BluesMeister
 
ds21 said:
If your going to be using both drives(one for system and one for data) put one on ide1 and the other on ide2, otherwise there's a chance to get bottlenecked bandwidth. And I would also go get some "silver thermal compound" for the fan/cpu it's more expensive but it's worth it, and follow the directions for it, using too much "goop" can actually decrease the cooling.
Click to expand...


How can you tell if the output is being bottlenecked by the slower drive? (Im interested to know because i recently hooked up two Ultra IDE hard drives (7200-master and 5400-slave) to the same ide/cable).
Is this something that happens often, or is it dependent on the drive/cable type ?

Thanks,
T
 
If each drive is capable of 100/133 and each ide is capable of 100/133 than puting two drives on one ide is exceading the 100/133 thoughput.
 
ok, i think i see.
So the bottle neck would occur if im using both drives at the same time to a capacity that would match the maximum throughput of the cable, but it would'nt occur if both drives where be used at a sub maximum...

Thanks,
T
 
Update

OK guys,

I installed my CD-ROM drive & 3-1/2" floppy drive last night and switched on.

Perfect!

Went into the BIOS and changed it so that it boots from the CD-ROM first, and shoved my Win98SE CD in the CD drive and rebooted.

Perfect!

Formatted the 120GB drive and installed Windows.

Perfect!

Next task is to load my data from the old 6.4GB drive and reinstall all of my software. I'll be lobbing the 6.4GB drive onto the primary IDE cable in the new 'puter. This should be where the fun begins! :)

--
BluesMeister
 
I took a look at the poll you pointed me at Bluesmeister, but there were folk there that had the same memory config as me with no cold boot problems:(

I don't really understand the memory numbers and what would happen if I changed them. They seem to have auto-configured. If I increased the numbers, would the problem of cold boot be less likely?

So many questions, so little time....:rolleyes: :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top