Kurtz

thanks, i'll report back here when its installed.

I'm about to go with a 8800GT on new egg. should I trust wiki and go for it?

Thanks for the help. I didn't know the 510-3 could run dual core. I had read somewhere else that it needed to be 6/23/05.

I will, thanks. I assume you update the Mobo drivers afteryou install the x2? Does anyone know if there are any problems with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2.2 ghz and the DFI 939 boards? I didnt see anything on the search.

Besides updating my bios, what else will I have to do in order to prepare my board for a X2 4200+ 939 upgrade? Didn't see any updates in Angry's original initial - build post. Thanks for any help in advance.

thanks. I bought both. I bought a new set of ram, as one stick seemed to be bad. I bought the 700 watt OCZ PSU that angry was raving about a while back. If the old ram is still good, i'll just send the new ram back to new egg....and if its bad I'll send it to OCZ and use their "lifetime"guarantee for a backup pair.

Thanks, I'm testing this now. I am getting errors in the #5 test. the question is, did the PSU ruin the ram? My Thermaltake W0057 PurePower 500W is the only Thermaltake not on the official "dont use" list. In fact its written as the exception. I will buy the OCZ 700w in a heartbeat if it makes the difference. Should I try my old (but still good OCZ dual el rev) RAM with this PSU to confirm the memory or am I jeapordizing ruining my old RAM as well? Thanks~!, I'm tempted to do that right now...I want to get the order into newegg so I can get the psu tomorrow asap. regarding the specs: I didn't think the 500w would be a prob if I wasn't OC'ing or running 2 video cards with this rig...guess i should get the 600w

It was advised on another thread that I may have a failing PSU. I know my PSU isn't on the "official list", but this machine has been stable as stable can be since June 2005. About 1 month ago, i started getting some BSODs and windows problems. So I reinstalled using one stick in the proper orange slot etc... windows wasn't the most stable so I repaired it using the startup disk. I get IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and other Page related memory BSODs from time to time, then the machine will be fine for a day or two. I'll do memorytest and itll error out. I'll swap the ram around, memtest and it will be fine...then 1 day later, same thing. Swap out memory, tests fine...then next day memtest shows errors galore. My Watt display never shows above 124 on the PSU. Before running out and buying a OCZ, how can I test my PSU to make sure that this is the problem. Also is the ram fried now? should I buy ram too or just the PSU first. thanks in advance!

Yes I did and I never had any problems until today. Now my memory is failing during memtest. So, do you think its PSU related after 1.5 years of absolute stability? the thing never goes over 120 watts according to the display. Should I try my OCZ 512's, or will the PSU destroy those as well...if so, how quickly. PS. im not even running a second SLI vid card...why is this PSU failing. interesting development: my ram is now passing 1/2 hour memory tests (approximately 3 full passes) with no errors after letting the system sit for over an hour. perhaps something is overheating as there is some dust on the cpu fan.

I'm getting the same IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors only very recently after 1.5 years of steady service. I actually reinstalled windows about a month ago and was fine, but am now getting it again. I can attribute it to one of two things... 1. BF2142 hardware acceleration on my Sound Card that is somehow corrupting my drivers. 2. A windows update that isn't liking my old BIOS. It isn't any of the suggestions listed above (obviously my cables are hooked up correctly, timings set and my PSU isn't a factor.) sorry to jump on your thread but I was wondering if perhaps we have the same problem.

My bios settings should be exactly as they were when I installed the raid last time, which worked for over a year. same drives. same bios settings. I remember getting advice from someone here and following it to the letter. The black screen shows a healthy raid right now. Windows is just unstable. So, its memcheck Ok healthy raid. unstable windows after having trouble with the files copying off the disk upon installation. actually if there is a way to test the raid from bios, please let me know. ps thanks for that, im doing it now.

I've updated my signature. I am using 2 raptors. sorry that was like my first build. A quick history: This comp has been running beautifully since it's build in june '05. Only once about 8mos ago, did i get some HD related crashes, but I uninstalled Fraps, did some defrags and all was wonderful again. Never ever crashed. Last night I was DLin'g BF2142 (lucky enough to get into beta) and of course 1.3gb into the 1.4gb dl, I get a BSoD. Too fast to see what it was. While trouble shooting, I got two more BSoD's (sorry i didn't get to jot down the codes) but one was RAM related and one was Disk Related. A few times it did a DiskCheck by itself. Windows also told me I had a virus, low and behold wwwcoolsearch and a few others where indeed found and removed. After 3 hours of rolling back etc, I decided it was time to wipe her, since I felt the virus may have infected too much at that point (even tho most adware generally isn't harmful in a malicous way...well sometimes) While installing windows, it said certain files couldn't be read off disk and often prompted my to try again or skip. The disk had a few tiny scratches, so I think it MAY be the disk. I skipped some files (about 9) and windows was up and running. Drivers were installed, but windows got a BSoD again (again couldnt read it fast enough). I had some other errors, most likely due to an improperly installed windows. Yes, i installed windows with both sticks in, even though I should have tried just one. However, I've just ran 1:40 hours of Memtest v1.55 off the bios and I didn't get one single error on 2 full passes. I did this with both sticks installed in the orange slots. So, correct me if I'm wrong, I either have a bad windows installation disk, or I've got a bad raid. Anyway to narrow it down further? If its the disk, what is Microsoft's policy on replacing bad OEM XP SP2 disks from New Egg that are over a year old? PS, the only other thing I see wrong (and I think this temperature is ok, from what I remember) is my Chipset is running at about 54 degrees C. On this Mobo it sits right under the 6800GT. Anyone know if that temp is too high?

Thanks for the tips. there is no fkey lock on any of my keyboards. I have tried the ps2 w/out the usb plugged in and with them both plugged in (I remember using both in my initial installation due to certain keys not working on either one or the other.). Just a quick question, the F6 prompt can be skipped because windows asks me for the drivers later when it doesn't see a IDE device, correct? It did give me the opportunity to load the Nvidia raid floppy at the end. I did get the raid installed I think...But windows is still giving me the multiple BSoDs that started this whole fiasco last night. Looks like I've got bigger probs. Hopefully I won't have to start another thread. thanks again.

first off, hello angry and rgone long time no see. now my prob. I'm wiping my raids and reinstalling windows. I get to the F6 prompt for raid drivers and I'm mashing away....nothing. I've tried USB and PS2 keyboards to no avail. Has anyone had a problem with windows not acknowleging F6 key on the Raid Drivers prompt? I distinctly remember this happening the last time I installed windows on my DFI. I remember finally getting it to work i think with my ps2 keyboard, but now im not really sure. Now, neither will move windows install into the sata drivers window. Without getting into the raid drivers window, I have to let windows setup go into it naturally. Anyone have this happen to them, or have a workaround for the glitchy keyboards in bios? thanks in advance.

wierd, they both should auto run at 2-3-2-5. Both of mine passed memtest @ 2-2-2-5 but wouldn't be stable in windows. It ended up being my Bios versions and my settings. Did you clear your jumper for 10 minutes and load optimized defaults after? then try the OCZ settings I linked. Did you try all of Andy's settings or just the Dimm options?