Server Help

Reznok

Alright, you guys have Always been pretty helpful. I know most of my questions have nothing to do with Subspace, but the general computer knowledge on this site is very great indeed. So here I am, once again, with another question for you all.

I purchased a Sony PC about 3 years ago. It was a VGC-RB60g model, not bad for those days. Unfortunately, in an act of pure stupidity, I ended up spilling a soda right onto my motherboard (right onto the built in Graphics Card). After some analysis I concluded that my motherboard, and only my motherboard, was fried. Yaaaay -_-

Now here's the problem,
I called Sony and they told me that they can't replace my Motherboard, and I have no idea where to begin looking for a new one or what specs to look for. The backwards part of it is that I want it to be compatible with the RAM, Hard Drives, and Power Supply that I already have, instead of buying those After the motherboard.

The fried motherboard, from what I could find, has this written on it:
Intel Desktop Board
D945PPR, D945GPR

The RAM (from what it says on the card, and there's two of em) is:
512MB 1Rx8 DDR2 PC2-4200U-444-11-A1

So yeah... any guidance in where to start looking for a combatible motherboard would be great.

Thanks in advance!
^_^
-Reznok

Cheese · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:02 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

how the hell was a soda even remotely close to your motherboard...?

did you think your hard drive was thirsty? O_o
_________________
SSC Distension Owner
SSCU Trench Wars Developer

Dr Brain · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:08 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Assuming it's not some weird shape and has a removable CPU, any motherboard that supports your CPU (site says Intel Pentium D 920) and RAM (DDR2 in your case) should be fine. They'll all support your hard drives and power supply. And three years ago, you probably will only see DDR2 motherboards anyway. So look for a motherboard that supports your CPU, and has a built in graphics card (assuming you want that).

Go to newegg, look at their Intel motherboards, and use power search to see motherboards that support Pentium Ds. There were three check boxes that contained Pentium D at the time of my search. I found 50 results. You can narrow it down by choosing other features you want, like built in graphics, etc.
_________________
Hyperspace Owner

Smong> so long as 99% deaths feel lame it will always be hyperspace to me

Reznok · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:59 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Cheese:

I keep my computer on its side on my desk, so naturally, it's a great place to put drinks. Unfortunately, when a soda got knocked over, it went straight into a venting hole right onto the motherboard.

Dr. Brain:

Not entirely sure where to even find my CPU, or how to remove it. I'm somewhat tech savvy, but this is pretty deep into a computer. Mind sharing how to locate/remove/put it in the new Motherboard?

Thanks!

-Reznok

Samapico · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:46 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

the CPU would be the big chip thing that has a big fan thing right on it

_________________
(Insert a bunch of dead links here)

Cheese · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:42 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

stop using your computer tower as a coaster -__-"

Reznok · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:02 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

I think I found the CPU, a small square shaped chip... right under the big fan.

And Dr. Brain:
There are 5 boxes for DDR2 memory standard, does it matter what type it is as long as it's DDR2?

I'm currently looking at This Motherboard
But I want to make sure it'll work

Samapico · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:39 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the format of the motherboard has to fit as well... Like that one is a Micro ATX, so just make sure it's the same as yours.

Also, notice that this motherboard only has 2 RAM slots, if your current setup has more than that or if you plan to use more, should check before. (Just read you have 2 ram bars, so you should be fine)

I don't know much about the issue other than that

Reznok · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:47 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

How can I check the format on my current board? Is it written anywhere on it? And two slots should be fine, I might upgrade to 4GB with 2GB sticks eventually, but for now I'm content with 1GB.

Samapico · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 7:20 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

JoWie · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:31 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Measure the dimensions of the motherboard and look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard_form_factor

It is probably an ATX, the other form factors are a lot rarer

Reznok · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:25 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

JoWie · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:59 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

The RAM you can use depends on both the CPU and the motherboard. Optimally, you would buy memory with the highest speed supported by both.

Basically, that number in "DDR2 1333" is the speed of the memory. When you look at the specifications of the motherboard on some hardware website, you will usually see a list of supported DDR standards.
When looking at the specs of your CPU it is usually listed as "Bus-speed"

Your "512MB 1Rx8 DDR2 PC2-4200U-444-11-A1" is DDR2-533 (wikipedia)

Reznok · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:51 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Well this has certainly become a project. Based off of what JoWie said, I need a motherboard that will support my processor's bus speed, which is 800 MHz. The only motherboard that newegg has is Intel BOXD945GCPE LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

It says, from what I can tell, that that motherboard supports CPU FSB speeds of 1066 and 800 MHz. Only problem is, my RAM is 533 MHz. Newegg doesn't sell any motherboards that support Pentium D CPUs and 533MHz/800MHz FSB. Am I out of luck, or will the 533 MHz RAM still work?

Dr Brain · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:33 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

The slow ram should slow the FSB down, but the CPU should still run at its rated speed.

Mine GO BOOM · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:09 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

You can get any FSB that is equal to or greater than your processor and ram. The system will just run as slow as the slowest part.

Cheese · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:33 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link...

Samapico · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:34 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Unless you have some Mighty Putty

Reznok · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:43 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Reznok · Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:53 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

Alright guys, I'm back. Unfortunately, I have bad news.

I ordered my motherboard and it finally came in. All excited, I brought it to my tower, popped out the old motherboard, and put this one in. I attached all the necessary cables, power supple, hard drives, etc. as well as put my RAM in. With a big drum roll, I pressed the power button. The fans started spinning, the drives were making noise, it sounded like it was booting up. About two minutes later, my monitor was still black and the fans were still going heavy.

So, I'm unable to get display. I did some googling and found that this might be because my memory is not being detected. However, according to you guys, it should have been detected just fine.

Oh, and I tried using a different power supply too just in case (was getting desperate). The same thing still happens.

After a bit more research, I found that Newegg says my new motherboard can support Pentium D processors, but it doesn't say that anywhere on the box or on the Intel site.

=/

Dr Brain · Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:28 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

If you have two sticks of ram, try taking one out. Motherboards can be very particular about which slots you use. If using just one works, read the motherboard manual on where to put ram.

If that doesn't work, try to return it to newegg and get a different one.

EDIT: oh, do you have a speaker installed (not the one attached to the sound card; the one that makes beeps in old dos games) so it can make post codes? It should be attached in a similar spot to the power button cable.

Chambahs · Power attack Joined: Jun 19 2005 Posts: 820 Offline

Are you plugging your monitor into the onboard video or a video card?

Samapico · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:54 pm *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

It happens to my computer sometimes after a crash... Nothing shows up on screen when I try to boot it. Usually, shutting it down, unplugging and replugging the power cord from behind, and booting it again fixes the problem.

I doubt it's the problem in your case, though

But yeah, you should plug the monitor on the onboard video card first, if you have another one.

Chambahs · Power attack Joined: Jun 19 2005 Posts: 820 Offline

Most likely thats what the problem is, if you are plugging into a video card port, the mobo is initially set up so that it reads from the onboard gfx by default. So all you've gotta do is go into the BIOS and set that up simply.

Reznok · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:06 am *Post maybe stupid* Post subject:

I'm using the onboard video card, I haven't even tried plugging my other video card in yet. I tried talking to a few other people and they think that my RAM might have been fried when the motherboard went out. As for the onboard speakers I'm not sure if I have them, but I Vaguely remember reading somewhere that I don't... I'm considering going down to my local Office Max and buying the cheapest stick of DDR2 with 800mhz RAM that I can find, just to try it out.