Possibly upgrading my PC - Dual core useful for GPL?

[NickyIckx]

 
Hi Asbjeurn ,

Call me an idiot , but the black plug does have only 3 cables in a row ( cant clearly  see the other row on that Photo ) .
USB connector should come with 9 pin  , in  2 rows ( one 4 pin , one 5 pin )

Looking at the drawing in the ASUS M2N-E manual  ( page 24 ) I can not imagine how the NC pin could be supported  , neiter the Ground pin…..


Could you make a photo of the sockets the cable leads to ?

Regards
( confused ) Nicky

[FullMetalGasket]

Hm, I'm beginning to think. I had a friend of mine put the computer together. His knowledge on the field he's got from a fourteen days or so course, so he's not a rocket scientist to put it that way. Maybe he used a 1394 cable to connect the USB contacts without knowing what trouble it could (or would) cause? I don't believe that I used those contacts before I plugged in the camera, so maybe that triggered all the mayhem?

I don't know what that cable looks like. I took pictures of all the connections before I disconnected them, just to know where to reconnect them. The picture below shows the cables that connected the USB ports to the motherboard. The one connected on the left (marked HD AUDIO on the plug that's not connected) did nothing wrong to the function of the computer, I believe. The other one, though, the gray one, which is not connected on the picture, is the one that caused trouble. It was plugged into the blue contact behind it. Is that a 1394 cable?

The easiest way to find out is to try it in the identical port next to it in blue, probably marked USB_2. However, just trace the cable back to the ports and work out whether they are actually USB ports - square with a tongue. Firewire is an odd shaped port.

If that doesn't work, leave them disconnected, since it's obvious they're causing the problem.

Asbjuern Doesn't have an IE1394/Firewire port in that section of the Motherboard.
Having just upgraded the gaming rig I have the old MoBo infront of me now which just happens to be a M2N-SLi Deluxe. Same board but I have all the connections and chips where nicky has blank solder connections - The Firewire would be a bright red port to the left of the USB2 port which is otherwise identical. You can see the label by the solder pattern

The other angle is to check that your camera actually is USB and your mate hasn't plugged a Firewire port into the USB hub thinking it'll work or just not realising. The cables to the motherboard are the same so it can be done.
Did the front panel USB's work before you used the camera?
Can you give us a pic of the front ports so we deffinatly know what they are 

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

The other angle is to check that your camera actually is USB and your mate hasn't plugged a Firewire port into the USB hub thinking it'll work or just not realising. The cables to the motherboard are the same so it can be done.
Did the front panel USB's work before you used the camera?

I checked that when I disconnected stuff, just to keep track of what I was disconnecting (I didn't want to disconnect something that stopped the computer from working at all), and it was/is connected to the USB port at the front. The firewire port isn't connected at all, so my friend knew what he was doing, then. And the camera is USB.

I said earlier that I wasn't sure if I ever did use the front USB's before I connected the camera, but after some rethinking, it comes to my mind that I have connected an external hard drive for backup, and I used a USB memory stick to transfer data from my old computer to this computer, so it has been in use earlier, and obviously it worked fine then.

[NickyIckx]

 

and obviously it worked fine then.

so we can forgot all about 1394 stuff.

well ,
1.did you delete all USB driver proper , reboot and install them new via motherboard CD ?

2. did you tried the second blue USB slot ?

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

Now, I was going to connect the other cable, the one laying around in the cabinet, to see if it could make the computer work with the USB port connected. Fortunately I spotted that the leads didn't have the same colour as the ones in the USB cable, and after some more thorough study, I found out that it was actually a 1394 cable, so I shouldn't connect it anyway, so I might as well keep the USB port disconnected for now.

I will try your two suggestions later though, Nicky, but now all I want is to reassemble the computer with it's externals and get going with the practice for next season.

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

This is hopeless. I tried to uninstall the USB drivers, restarted the computer and the USB's seemingly reinstalled themselves. (Of course I had unplugged all USB equipment in the process) The computer seemed to work fine as long as no USB equipment was connected to it, but as soon as I connected anything to one of the USB's, it didn't take long before the computer blacked out again. The gear was connected to the USB's in the rear, so it seems like it's not only the front USB that's fucked up.

I'm starting wondering if I should just trash the motherboard and buy a new one, Intel based this time.

[NickyIckx]

 
Hi Asbjeurn ,
Have you unplugged the internal USB cable from the motherboard ( the one  leading to the front slot ) ? as well change the BIOS settings to `don’t use usb expansion `?

Try to install the USB drivers from the Asus CD ( or equal USB specified driver for this motherboard ) via device manager  by using the `make the driver become an actual one `
Sorry don’t know the English expression for it .lol.

If it turns out that the usb stuff to your motherboard is dead , your right , its time to buy a new motherboard . But this kinda trouble has nothing to do with AMD or Intel ,, and as Asus is a good company in PC stuff , I think you simply got bad luck .

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

OK, forget about that Intel/AMD discussion. I just misrecalled what I'd read earlier in the thread:

By the sounds of things Asbjeurn, the front USB ports are faulty and you'd be wise to disconnect them to solve the problems. It could be a faulty lead which is drawing more power than can handle and is causing issues, but actually, knowing ASUS and the problems those motherboards have, it's more likely a crap drivers issue.

What I recalled, was that it was AMD that had problems, not Asus. If I can't make this motherboard work again, I'll look for one from someone els but Asus.

But first I'll give it another go. I will try disconnecting the front USB before anything else. If that doesn't work, I'll try your other suggestions. Although it will be difficult to reinstall from the Asus CD:

Ain't that just my luck! Looked through the stuff that corresponds with my PC. I've got all the CD's to the other hardware, and not for the motherboard! Can't understand were I've put it. Probably in the bin.

[NickyIckx]

 

Although it will be difficult to reinstall from the Asus CD

Hi Asbjeurn ,

All motherboard drivers for your Asus M2N-E ( for windows XP ) could be found here :
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

on right hand choose:
Motherboard
Socket.Am2/AM2+/AM3
M2N-E


including  an USB2.0 driver as a single download.
But off course all other motherboard drivers had to be installed as well .

Good luck
Nicky

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

Huh! What a smartass I am. I sat on my laptop reading your post above. Downloaded the driver and was going to put it on a USB memory stick, and install it on the race computer from the memory stick. Cunning plan, eh?  

By the way, I opened the computer and looked inside. It turned out that I'd already disconnected the front USB, so it's not that one that's causing the trouble. It seems like the motherboard has got a problem with USB's in general, and not specifically with the front USB.

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

That does it! I haven't had time for the last couple of months to even look at the computer, but this weekend the mother of my son is away, and the TV evening was messed up by that European song contest that everyone makes such hassle about, so I decided to make an effort on the computer.

I downloaded the latest BIOS update a couple of months ago, and installed it this evening, hoping that it would fix my problem. The 'puter rebooted and I had it running a couple of minutes before it blacked out again. Now I'm giving up on it, and will start the search for a new non-ASUS motherboard. If I'm right, I can save some money moving the RAM over from my this motherboard to the new one, or is that a smart move? The RAM might not fit the new one, when I think about it. After all, the computer's 4 or 5 years old, so the RAM may be outdated compared to new motherboards.

[NickyIckx]

hi asbjeurn ,
sorry to hear your PC still dont work .

  well wasnt you up to run for a faster CPU ...mean thats what the thread title is all about ..

if so , to me it wont make sence to buy a new motherboard and CPU , which both are sort of outdated , just to stick to your DDR2 RAM .


well , there are AM2+ boards out ( supporting your DDR2 RAM )  promissing to be able to support AM3 CPUs .
  but I dont know if that really do work .

btw. whats the specification of the RAM you have atm ? DDR2-800 ?

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

You're right, Nicky. All this cockup made me forget what the thread started out with.

The RAM is DDR2-667, but that doesn't matter, 'cause you're right again. There's no point in sticking to outdated technology just to save a bit of money. RAM isn't that expensive, and if I need to upgrade in the future, going for the latest in motherboards will save me a bit of money in the long term.

So, what do I go for, then? I don't know much about computers and stuff, so I need some tips on what to go for.

[Rick Nauman]

GO TO reply #1  

[NickyIckx]

 
I havnt any experiences with Intel CPUs since ages , as well I don’t know any on video editing.
So I cant say which CPU is more useful for video editing .

But I just did have a look at the prices for Intel i5 and i7 CPUs , woooooooooooooow  :

Cheapest i7 is 236,51 €    ,4 x 2,8 GHz
Cheapest i5 is 159,41 €    , 2 x 3,2GHz

Compared to

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE , 4 x 3,4 GHz  149,90 €
AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE , 2 x 3,2 GHz     87,80 €

Wonder what above Intel CPUs are able to manage  over that AMD Phenom ones …..


However  I do run AMD Phenom X2 550 BE , 2 x 3,1 GHz  ,  79,95 €
And old  motherboard  Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 , 67,64 € ( AM3 socket )
( this motherboard still today tested fine compared price/performance as long you wont run 2 gfx cards in combination , coz southbridge chip is old SB700

other downsides are :
only 1 LAN port
no gfx fan control via BIOS ,
no USB 3.0  ( afaik there aren’t any hardware out need that )

note :  I tried to set free the 2 `closed `cores of that Phenom CPU to make it quad core ,
           ( these motherboard BIOS is able to do ) but I wasn’t lucky , even at 3cores the system was unstable.
I would recommend to buy an quadcore CPU , if you really want it , for video editing e.c.
GPL don’t benefit anyway on the exist of more then 1 core afaik ..


searching  the internet best AM3 motherboards should be :
http://www.chip.de/bestenlisten/Bestenliste-Mainboards-AMD-Sockel-AM3--index/extended/id/828/

maybe useful if you have look for an english or Norwegian side , lol