Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Flyboy on August 07, 2004, 05:55:39 PM

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 07, 2004, 05:55:39 PM

well, my new machine is up and running :)

AMD 2500 (barton)
ABIT NF7-S2
A-data 512ddr
maxtor 80GB S-ATA
MSI Radeon 9800P


i just finished installing windows, (i have bloom's guide printed and it helps alot! thanks bloom )
and i have a problem, when i try to install the chipset drivers i get a massege that says that i have to install directx 9 to proceed in the setup. and in bloom's guide it says i should install directx only after installing all the graphic drivers.

allso, at what point should i install the anti virus, currently im browsing unprotected

- first time i ever put up a computer and i dont really know alot about those things.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 07, 2004, 06:08:28 PM

sorry, i forgot to mention something.

in blooms post he says that after installing the chipset drivers i should enable "DMA mode"

what is DMA mode and what does it do?

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: jetb123 on August 07, 2004, 06:21:12 PM

Hey plz post some screenshots. I know you will have killer fps.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: jay1988 on August 07, 2004, 11:43:03 PM

We have the same system:) I am buying that computer this Wed.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: FOGOLD on August 08, 2004, 02:13:39 AM

Win XP usually installs DX8 automatically?:confused:  Gaet your AV/firewall running ASAP! DMA speds up disk drive performance, but I think it's automatic in Windows XP too:confused:

You are using windows XP? If not, Bloom's guide will be wrong and you WILL have to install DX 9 first.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 08, 2004, 03:33:20 AM

yes, i am using winXP.

i had to install DX9 before installing the chipset drivers, is there a way to reinstall it? i looked at the comp but did not found any way to remove it.

allso for some reason my internet connection is un barrable Slow. any ideas why?

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: FOGOLD on August 08, 2004, 06:46:59 AM

I don't think it matters all that much when you install Direct X. You can't uninstall it BUT if you download and reinstall DX9b over the top that usually fixes any problems.

No idea why your connection is slow. Get that AV and Firewall up and do a virus scan.  Is it a 56k dialup or broadband?

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 08, 2004, 07:18:09 AM

fixed the connection problem, the onboard network card was FUBARed (had a speed of about 200bytes:eek: )

fixed it now.

any good free firewalls out there?

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: beet1e on August 08, 2004, 07:26:36 AM

Flyboy - are you sure you're not confusing chipset drivers with graphics drivers? When I built my system, the first thing I did was to install the motherboard drivers - the ones that are on the CD which came with the mobo. The graphics drivers came later, and DX was last.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 08, 2004, 07:51:17 AM

lol, yes i am sure beet. i may not be the brightest but i am not that dumb :D

ABIT drivers CD came with DX9 on it, and requierd that i will install it before everything else.

i just reinstalled the DX9 after installing the R9800p drivers.
AV is allso installed.

and on the to do list:
update IE
get a email progrem (any suggestion other then outlook express?)
get a anti spam program (again need suggestions)
set up a firewall (once again, need suggestions)

and finally get my fix of AH!

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Zanth on August 08, 2004, 08:48:15 AM

Free firewall, even though free as good (probably even better) than ones you pay for.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp


Antivirus, also free and very good:

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl7.php


DMA = Direct Memory Access   here is link with more info:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DMA.html


Do Windows Updates etc soon as possible. Until you do all this stuff, wIth live internet connection,  you are a nice target.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Zanth on August 08, 2004, 08:51:42 AM

also get these two anti-spyware programs (free again)

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/


http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html


Run both periodically.  Do this stuff and what I posted previous and you will be pretty darn secure.

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Zanth on August 08, 2004, 08:55:52 AM

one more thing, consider replacing Internet Explorer.  You can keep it on your drive and use it also - but try Mozilla Firefox ( nicer features like tabbed browsing)

http://www.mozilla.org/

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Flyboy on August 08, 2004, 09:23:14 AM

CRAP!

i dont have a gameport exit on the mother board. :(  
is there any way to add a game port ?
Or els No AH for me untill i get a USB stick

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Edbert on August 08, 2004, 09:30:37 AM

DMA mode is referring to your HDD. I'm not sure it is the best option for a SATA drive though. Check before you leap.

I'll second the mozilla firefox recommendation though. Only a few AH related pages don't always work right. The rest of the net works great

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: Zanth on August 08, 2004, 10:27:23 AM

Quote

Originally posted by Flyboy
CRAP!

i dont have a gameport exit on the mother board. :(  
is there any way to add a game port ?
Or els No AH for me untill i get a USB stick

Yes, you need a Usb/Gameport adaptor from Radio Shack  (part number....coming)

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=26-164

USB Game Port Adapter
$16.99   Brand: RadioShack
Catalog #: 26-164   Model: 26-164

(http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/26/26-164.jpg)

Title: finished building my computer, need your help
Post by: bloom25 on August 10, 2004, 12:51:43 AM

Generally you will have to install Direct X first with newer chipset drivers that include Direct X 9.0 compliant audio drivers in the package.  It's not a big deal.

As for DMA mode, generally installing chipset drivers will enable it for you.  To be sure, go to the device manager and select the properties for the primary and secondary IDE channels under win2k/XP (for 98/me this will be under properties for the drive itself).  Be sure your drives are using a DMA mode, rather than PIO only.

On serial ATA drives, depending on your motherboard, these will either show up as another IDE channel or a seperate serial ata controller.  You can check the current transfer mode to be sure it isn't PIO mode.