VolcomPimp

I'll try that but my laptop has issues w/ linux... pixelation and screen corruption. Maybe it's fixed in a newer kernel or version of the ati drivers (not sure if they are packaged w/ livecd's due to legal issues).

Well actually we're all wrong (at least at first glance)... Looks like I'm retarded sort of. I bought some good ram today at fry's and switched out the sodimm, but same thing. Then when messing with it I realized I wasn't actually locked out of the bios. It just goes black because I guess I don't have the Asus logo set to show or something (it used to do that, then I flashed the bios and it started showing then I guess I must of flashed it a while ago and it stopped and I never noticed or something). So I tried reinstalling Windows and everything seems fine. The WinXP install was pretty fresh, so I'm wondering if it was just a software issue, or a hardware issue that will eventually screw me over again. Anyone know of any ram testing software? I formatted the entire 80gb drive to have to partition for windows because I was lazy, could that have maybe caused it to some how fragment everything all over the drive and I dono, borked itself after downloading big files from the web?

Recently I replaced my hard drive on my laptop because my old one died and wasn't covered by hitachi because it was oem. It was working fine for a while afterwards and then all of a sudden one day the Windows XP loading screen (w/ the moving bars) was taking about 10 minutes or so to complete. A day later, it would do the same thing but would never load windows. After trying to boot a few times, the system started to not even post. Now when I turn the system on, the screen just stays black and I can't enter the bios or anything. My laptop is an Asus z80k (whitebox) so I can't just take it down and have them figure the problem out (they're located about a mile from my house luckily) unless I know it's a motherboard problem. I'm wondering if this sounds like it's more of a ram, motherboard/bios or some other problem? I'm probably gonna just buy some new ram and see if the issue is fixed. If that's the case, I'm NEVER buying a pre-built whitebox again after having the ram and hard drive go out on me in the same month and then find out they aren't covered.

LOL it's all good... It's probably gonna be a bit before I build this rig. I added an 80gb 5400rpm 16mb cache 2.5" drive to my laptop just now so I'm gonna be using it for a little bit until it sells. Nobody on craigslist wants a high end notebook if they can't test it out. $1500 or so is slightly out of my budget at the moment if I sell my laptop for somewhere around $1000-$1200 so I'm gonna wait a bit and save up.

I think we need to step back and think about the kids for a second. Give them a break, it pisses them off enough that they have to learn evolution as if they care in the first place but at least it makes sense. Now we have religious right wingers playing the name game again trying to force their beliefs down kids throats as if they need anything else to study. If I was a kid and had to learn this crap in school, I'd burn a bible every day after school just to keep myself from slippen.

I've been up all night lookin at cases and parts and I agree... Lian Li has some sweet cases. The V1200 catches my eye but it's expensive and doesn't come with a window. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811129144 That antec looks pretty sweet too but I already know someone with it.

Here's what I'm considering so far: DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Model #:LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR $189.00 LITE-ON Black IDE Combo Drive Model SOHC-5236V BK RTL - Retail Model #:SOHC-5236V BK RTL $28.99 Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive Model #:ST380817AS 2x @ $65.00 = $130.00 OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 600 (PC 4800) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ6001024ELDCPE-K - Retail Model #:OCZ6001024ELDCPE-K $221.94 AOpen F90GS Black 19" 12ms LCD Monitor - Retail Model #:F90GS $299.99 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 E6 Processor Model ADA3000BWBOX - Retail Model #:ADA3000BWBOX $146.00 BFG Tech BFGR68256GTOCX Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Model #:BFGR68256GTOCX $309.00 Total = $1,324.92 Critisism would be much appreciated. I just added the video card and LCD in to get a rough estimate so if you have any better suggestions in that price range or better cards that will save me money etc let me know. I was confused about SATA2 for a bit and thought SATA150 meant they were SATA1 drives but I read up a little on SATA2. I don't need a whole lot of space but if there's a better solution for a raid system than what I have I'd appreciate the suggestions. Not sure which case I want yet. Thanx Update: Now that I look into it a little more, I think I may be better off with Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200S0 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM Model #: 6L200S0 $90.50 instead of the 2x Seagates... Cheaper, 16mb cache, less heat in the case (I'd assume)... Agreed?

I don't even use a virus scanner... Waste of resources. Just run firefox and a hardware firewall and you're good to go.

Don't get a gaming laptop... It's a very bad investment. I'm trying to get rid of mine now and it's not that old. The money is much better spent on quality parts for a desktop system. If you have a few hundred extra bucks I'd get a used IBM or something or get a new laptop that's not too expensive. But spending 2000+ on a gaming laptop is a very bad idea.

I doubt that's real... I don't ever remember seeing that. Tom is like the stupid microsoft paper clip. He acts like he runs everything there and gives people the impression he's just one cool guy who made myspace for everyone, when really they're a company who used to own one of those online storage sites called xdrive, who use a clause in their TOS that forces you to give up any intellectual rights to stuff you upload. Myspace is the same thing. They recently were sold to the dbag of all dbag's, Rupert Murdoch. The same NAZI who owns the Fox empire (fox news etc)...

I'm open to either... I've always wanted an alluminum full tower though w/ a window. I've seen a few cool ones on newegg and xoxide but most of the good looking ones don't have windows or look like crap because the windows installed have bolts holding the window on. Also should mention the black alluminum ones usually catch my eye a little better.

Wow what a dumb thread...

I've been checking out Xoxide for a while now... They've got some nice cases. I'm just saying in general if anyone knows any w/ out rivets because the more I look around, the less and less I'm seeing that don't have any.

Yeah my computer repair teacher was a crack head... I'm glad she didn't make me do stuff w/ the rest of the class. The key is to establish dominance over the teacher early on and then they let you do whatever you want all semester since the less responsibility a crack head computer teacher has the better.

My moms power port on her laptop motherboard broke (Dell 1150) and she called and tried to explain to them what was wrong but they weren't too bright when it came to dealing w/ dumb people like my mom and said it was just the power supply cord and that she needed a new one. So I called back and explained what was wrong and the guy then realized what the problem was, but insisted I just try the new power supply first, even though I told him it's a common problem for this model's power port to break and I trouble shooted it and know exactly what the problem is... This guy was a moron and I called back when the new power supply didn't work, and I think it was the same guy but it took me a few minutes to realize it, and I was talkin a bunch of . about how the first guy I talked to was a moron and I told him what the problem was from the start. So it took this guy a while to get the whole thing typed up and had me re-troubleshoot everything, and then they finally told me they were just gonna have someone come to my house and fix it... I was confused for a minute because I had no idea anyone actually sent people the replace motherboards to your house. So I guess the warranty coverage is awesome and all, but their CSR's are morons. I'd rather deal w/ Albert at Asus which luckily is located really close to my house. When I broke my power port on my laptop (spider attacked me and I dropped it) he didn't beat around the bush, and even replaced my motherboard (I told him I'd install it myself) for free. Picked it up myself and me the guy everyone was talking about in forums... heh