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View Full Version : *Help me return to folding*


orionlion82
12-28-05, 07:44 PM
as noted in the santa-doublecheck thread, im at 0ppd for my username. dreamstalker is floating me untill i get rich and build, borg and recruit some more.
cant have that now, can we?

heres where the plot thickens.

my 30cap northwood exploded (SNDS thread for pics)
my p4p800deluxe has a fried bios, and a chipped northbridge core. (because i was smart and dropped pliers on it)
my FX5500 is most likely toast, because it ran for an indefinite period of time with the cooler unclipped partially, and i diddnt know it)

theres a silver lining however:
all the data, on all of my disks is still good. XP might be a bit corrupted from the crash and burn, but thats easy to fix with the CD. plenty of disks.

ive got an AX-500A, in perfect working order, AND 2 gigs of DDR (slow, but solid BT-6)

even better? why yes!
the end of december has found me with a $200 gift certificate for the Egg!!!

but the plot gets even thicker. still with me?

3 different philosophies on what to do, cant decide which...

1. sit on the money and use it to help build my conroe rig. hope that the egg dosnt charge interest on it, or skim off an Inactivity fee or the like.

2. build another rig as close as possible to the old northwood rig (but with a celeron this time) and hope that the chipsets, and hardware lines up close enough so that XP only thinks i changed the northie for a celeron (which, is essentially what i would be doing anyway, grey area, i know, but whos mostly broke? me!) and that way my total spend on XP over the years does not this time become a 4 digit figure. ***in that case, what to do about the graphics card? spring for some paste and a new cooler and hope it works? get a new one and go over budget and guarentee XP questions my motives? the QMD's are tempting....

3. resign to fate that i cant get out of it without another copy of XP, and just build something, anything non 478 celeron. maybe a 754? integrated graphics and the like? just any old 6-pack rig to get me by, using the ram and PSU ive got, and cough up what would now be a 4 digit figure spend on another (ANOTHER!!!) copy of xp.

4. (really risky option , what might be out ghettocomping-ghettocomp :p )
try to repair the hardware i have. (really risky, possibly just a big waste of lots of money)
pop in a new bios chip. hope the northbridge holds.
get a celly or an Ebay northwood
stick a cooler on the fx-5500
and prey to the overclocking gods that rained down the hate on that very machine. yep, lots of prayer...i dunno about this one...

regardless, i dont have any delusions that i would be building a moster folding /gaming rig. were talking a rig for 200$ not counting a PSU and RAM or Disks.
if i DONT sit on the money-its just gonna be a daily use rig, -a 6 pack rig- that i just know i wont be able to help folding on.

which philosophy should i use? dont be too eager to put a rig together for me, becuse, remember, this COULD be a $200 discount on a conroe rig as well...
were looking for the most sensible philosophy, because on any of the three, i know i wont be able to help folding. thats guarenteed, sooner, or later.

dwschoon
12-28-05, 10:24 PM
Why cant you just reinstall xp? You can get a 506 (lga 775)prescott on newegg for $120. No HT, but you get 1mb cache and emt64. Ive heard that most will do 200fsb for 4ghz. I dont know what the best MB to get would be though. Have you tried to repair the bios? Are you sure the NB is damaged, or have you tried to run it since the plier incident?

Another cheaper option on newegg is to get a celly d 310 or 315 (socket 478) for $62 or $67 respectively and crank the fsb. If you go celeron, make sure to get a low multied one, cause they are severly lacking in memory bandwith unless you really crank the fsb(200 or more).
Either way, make sure you report at least 504mb to the AS to get qmd's for optimal ppd.

pscout
12-29-05, 01:23 AM
if its a valid xp license you have but have not re-installed it in a long time (can't remeber but i think 6-12 months) then you should be able to reinstall. If it won't activate due to the big config changes, you can get a new key by phone from M$ ... i have had to do it ... takes some time but then you are back in business.

Sometimes you can get away with a windows repair which will not force you to re-install all your programs ... although you may have to do some of them. I have sucessfully repaired a few times, although depending on what software is installed there could be left over glitches. As you are aware, compatible chipsets is probably required ... ie. intel to intel, via to via etc. I have moved a running hard drive with xp between 2 different intel based boards - xp will discover a bunch of new hardware, install it, reboot and i am running again.

I usually try to keep all my data on a second partition (D: and E: ) so that if the reinstall fails, i can format the c partition to get a clean install.

AlabamaCajun
12-29-05, 01:35 AM
Sorry to hear of all the crashing and burning. The chip in your 875NB may not be fatal depending on if it has a facture or is not to uneven to mate with the cooler. I have'nt seen the morbid P4 yet but I just recently clocked my P4 down a notch to save it for folding and use as a server to monitor a web site. I've brused and abused my P4C so much, I'm amazed the thing still books!

WedgeWhacko
12-29-05, 02:20 AM
if you re-install it and it won't activate just call the MS number and talk to an operator...I have made excuses so many times to why I went over my license it's not funny...

just tell them you replaced the cpu....as long as you have the same MOBO you should be fine...either way just tell them lightning strike or whatever.

orionlion82
12-29-05, 06:33 AM
okay then, were talking about a P4P800SE (because its the deluxe, just without the VIA Raid secondary, Right? right???) i dont need raid that badly.

and of course, a Celly!!!
low multi... 310 or 315... thats wierd, the cheaper, the better then?
533FSB and a low multi means high OC?...wait, i knew that!!!
high multi means no headroom... GAH, i havnt had my coffee yet...


and im about to go 90NM...and get a celly!!! oh, it feels so wrong!!!

EDIT: http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4076368&postcount=1
lots of love for silver. i think im gonna do it.