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World Community Grid Forums
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Forum: Chat Room
Thread: Need some computer advice, please |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 6
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday afternnon a tree-trimmer knocked a power line down next door, and the transformer popped. When the power was restored, everything worked except my computer. I replaced the surge suppressor hoping that that was all that happened, but the computer still was not working right -- the power light would come on but the computer would not start up, and I was getting clicking sounds on my speaker. I bought a new computer yesterday to replace it; the bonus will be much greater crunching power for the WCG. It isn't a dual core, but it does have an AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+ and 1024MB ram, and the front side bus runs at something like 2000 -- whatever that means.
----------------------------------------Anyway, I bought a new surge suppressor, too, and when I hooked it up I decided to plug my old computer in just to double-check -- and it started up all the way to it's usual configuration. I thought "Great", but I'd keep the new one, too, but when I tried to shut down the old one to move them around, the same problem cropped up -- the power light would not go out and the speakers were clicking, and then it wouldn't start up again -- so I guess something was damaged. The bottom line is that I'm hoping I can get it to start up one more time so that I can transfer files to my new computer rather than having to switch drives around, etc. I can use a flash-drive, but that still seems like it will be tedious and time consuming. Can I just connect a network cable straight from one computer to the other? ... or do I need a null modem? I do have my wireless router which has spare outlets on the back; can I use it as a hub? Don't know much about this stuff, and don't want to mess anything up. Thanks for any advice. Cheers. Bill Velek EDIT: P.S. Are there any software setting that I need to make? [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Dec 23, 2006 4:48:22 PM] |
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David Autumns
Ace Cruncher UK Joined: Nov 16, 2004 Post Count: 11062 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Oh dear Bill this is not going to be easy...
----------------------------------------So that you don't need cross over cables (null modem cable) then connecting from PC to PC via the router is probably the best idea. You will also have the advantage (hopefully - fingers crossed) that the Wireless router will hand out IP addresses to each PC automatically through the wonders of DHCP (If not config will be the order of the day) Connect both PC's to the router and at the command prompt which you can find under accessories (or go to run and type cmd) you should get a page with an old fashion pc screen which has something like c:\documents and settings\bill> on there if you type ipconfig in that screen and post back what pops up from each pc then I'll know what to suggest next We'll get there Bill Dave  [Edit 2 times, last edit by David Autumns at Dec 23, 2006 5:12:22 PM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thanks, David. I'm leaving in just a few minutes to go to my son's house for our Christmas celebration with them, and will try this tonight. By the way, I installed the UD agent and was surprised and a bit disappointed to see that this new computer has a performance rating of only 142 -- which is what my old computer sometimes reached or closely approached. Maybe I need to set some configurations for this new computer's profile, such as amount of hard drive space, and hopefully that will improve performance.
Thanks again, and Merry Christmas. Cheers. Bill Velek |
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DanNorthDE
Cruncher Joined: Dec 7, 2005 Post Count: 4 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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For your old computer:
The fact that you get any power to turn on the pilot light is encouraging. However, when it does not start up, and you get clicking sounds in your speakers, says that the power is not consistant. When it came up the one time, it says that the power was consistant for a short period, but it may not last. The good news is that, having come up once, you have nothing wrong on your mother board, and thus it is salvagable. Try having the power supply replaced. I may cost a bit, but having a second PC connected through your router will mean that you can double your crunching and keep all your data around. Better yet, you can back up important stuff from one computer to the other for better protection of your important files. If you do not have security set up on your router, I would recommend restricting usage by assigning TCP/IP addrsses only to your PC's so that no one from the outside can get through your firewall. Look at the instructions that came with your router and get some expert advice if you can. Once you tweak your new PC, you should see a much improved crunching capacity. And keep the old one going full time! Keep on crunching! Merry Christmas! DanNorthDE |
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Sgt.Joe
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Jul 4, 2006 Post Count: 7854 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Bill,
----------------------------------------Having had some recent experience with a power supply going bad, I would put my vote in for that being the problem. Before they go out completely they can get real flaky. You probably got enough of a power spike that leaked through your surge suppressor to compromise some component of the power supply, but not enough to fry any component on the MB ( the power supply probably buffered it). A good power supply will probably run you in the neighborhood of 30-40 bucks, but you may be able to one for nothing if you know someone who salvages old boxes. If you have extra ports on the wireless router, you should have no problem hooking up the second box. It may dynamically assign an address and auto recognize the box without any need for fiddling, but you won't know until you plug it in. I have a Linksys 4 port wireless and that is the way it worked. Good luck Sgt.Joe Minnesota Crunchers
Sgt. Joe
*Minnesota Crunchers* |
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olympic
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Post Count: 156 Status: Offline |
Power supplies are cheap, less than $40 for a 400w Fortron last time I bought one. But if your not interested in salvaging the old computer, you can install it's hard dirve in the new computer(even temporarily) to transfer files. Most new computers have extra IDE/SATA and molex power connecters. The other option would be to instrall the drive in an external USB enclosure and transfer the files that way.
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