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Click to see full-sized front and back cover How to Avoid Buying a New Computer

Myles White, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1997, 296 pages. ISBN: 0-7710-8830-2

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Table of Contents

  1. Under the Hood
    1. Open Wide!
      1. Before we start
      2. Precautions
      3. Static
      4. Identifying external connectors
      5. At last, Igor, we get to perform surgery
      6. Identifying internal connectors, cables, and components
      7. Drives
      8. Ports
      9. Power
    2. Regular Maintenance
      1. Grime time
      2. Loose components
      3. Removing circuit boards for maintenance
      4. Replacing circuit boards
      5. Closing up
      6. Several things that can go wrong — and what to do
    3. Replacing a CMOS Battery
      1. General Instructions
      2. To replace a watch-type battery in a clip
      3. To replace a cylinder-type battery soldered into the motherboard
      4. To replace a "black-box" battery
    4. BIOS/CMOS Settings, Beep Codes, and Other Trivia
      1. Basics
      2. AMI beep codes
      3. Award beep codes and error messages
      4. Phoenix beep codes and error messages
  2. Circuit Boards
    1. General Instructions
      1. Adding a circuit board
      2. Identifying the expansion slots
      3. What to do before you go shopping for a new board
      4. Things you can fix at this point
    2. Replacing Video Graphics Controllers
      1. Shopping hints
      2. Video memory types
      3. Installing the video controller
      4. Video troubleshooting
    3. Drive Controllers (486 and below)
      1. Preparing for installation
      2. Installation
      3. IDE/ATA drive controller troubleshooting
    4. SCSI Adapters
      1. Planning ahead and going shopping
      2. Installation
      3. Troubleshooting SCSI devices
      4. Troubleshooting conflicts between SCSI adapters or devices
    5. Sound Controllers
      1. Before you shop
      2. Shopping
      3. Installation
      4. Troubleshooting
    6. Modems
      1. Before you shop
      2. Shopping
      3. Installation
      4. Troubleshooting an external modem
      5. Troubleshooting an internal modem
  3. Replacing or Adding Drives
    1. General Notes
      1. Before you shop
      2. General instructions
    2. Floppy Drives
      1. Before you shop
      2. Floppy-specific installation instructions
      3. Floppy-specific installation issues
      4. Dual-diameter floppy drives
      5. Troubleshooting floppy drives
    3. Hard Drives
      1. Before you shop
      2. IDE/EIDE/ATA drive hobgoblins, installation and shopping issues
      3. Time out
      4. Back to Installing
      5. Shopping
      6. Pre-installation tasks
      7. After-installation tasks: to partition or not to partition
      8. Troubleshooting hard drive installations
    4. CD-ROM and DVD Drives
      1. CD-ROM shopping and installation issues
      2. Preparation for shopping
      3. Shopping
      4. Installation specifics
      5. Troubleshooting
        1. External CD-ROM drives with parallel-port connection
        2. CD-ROM drives with SCSI adapters
        3. Internal CD-ROM drives
    5. Tape Drives and Other Alternatives
      1. Preparation and shopping
      2. Tape-specific installation concerns
  4. Adding Oomph (and Recovering From Tiny Disasters)
    1. Adding More Memory
      1. General memory notes
      2. Cache memory
      3. Before you shop for memory
      4. Examining your memory
      5. To replace 30-pin SIMMs
      6. To replace 72-pin SIMMs
      7. To replace a DIMM
      8. Adding more cache memory
      9. Installing new memory
      10. Troubleshooting
      11. Installing cache memory chips
    2. Replacing a CPU
      1. If you have a 486-based system
        1. 486 replacement candidates
        2. Pentium Overdrive (P-24) socket
      2. If you have an early Pentium-based system with the first 60 or 66 MHz versions of the CPU
      3. Replacing a processor - general instructions
      4. Upgrading a classic Pentium to a Pentium MMX or AMD dual voltage processor
      5. CPU troubleshooting
    3. Replacing a Motherboard
      1. General shopping tips
      2. Bad designs
      3. How can you tell whether to replace the motherboard or to get a whole new computer?
      4. Conversations to have with the vendor while you're shopping
      5. Installation
      6. Troubleshooting
    4. Chipsets
      1. Intel Pentium/Pentium MMX PCIsets
      2. Pentium Pro chipsets
  5. The Shape of Things to Come and Other Rants
    1. Lies, damned lies, and marketing 1
    2. Lies, damned lies, and marketing 2
    3. And finally

Appendix:

Technical support phone numbers and Web sites

Specialty Indexes:

Illustrations

Adobe, Corel, Epson, Hewlett Packard, Kodak and Microsoft have, during the production of the graphics in this book, supplied software and hardware to be reviewed for my readers. In several instances, particularly with hardware, the companies didn't get their products back quickly because I was using them and I'm grateful for their forbearance. All digital photographs, scans, illustrations and tables were created by the author with the exceptions noted below.

    • Basic tools ... HP ScanJet III5
    • CMOS menu ... screen shot recreated with Adobe Illustrator 78
    • CMOS setup invocations ... Excel 97 table9
    • Anti-static wrist strap ... HP ScanJet III11
    • Touching the power supply ... Courtesy Apple Computer Corp.11
    • PC connectors (1 of 3) CorelDRAW 713
    • PC connectors (2 of 3) CorelDRAW 714
    • PC connectors (3 of 3) CorelDRAW 715
    • Inside an old 486 ... Kodak DC-4017
    • Data cables ... Kodak DC-12018
    • Floppy drive, front view ... Kodak DC-4019
    • The pin-1 side ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 719
    • Rear view of floppy drives ... Kodak DC-12019
    • IDE cable and floppy cable ... Epson 636 scanner.20
    • Pin-1, IDE hard drive ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 721
    • CD-ROM, rear ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 722
    • Tape drive "y" cable ... Epson 636 scanner22
    • External ports connected to motherboard or ... Kodak DC-12023
    • The black wires go together ... HP ScanJet III25
    • Molex plugs ... CorelDRAW 726
    • This nasty mess of wires ... Kodak DC-12028
    • Small vacuums are handy ... Kodak DC-12029
    • A gentle push on the top of the chip...Kodak DC-12030
    • Expansion cards ... HP ScanJet III and Corel PhotoPaint 732
    • Removing cables, part of the job ... Kodak DC-12033
    • Removing a board ... Kodak DC-120 and Adobe Illustrator 7.34
    • Replacing a board ... Kodak DC-12035
    • The ubiquitous jumper ... Kodak DC-12036
    • Battery terminal ... HP ScanJet III and Adobe Illustrator 744
    • Battery replacements ... HP ScanJet III45
    • Basic CMOS setup invocations - Excel 97 table48
    • AMI Beep Codes - Excel 97 table49
    • Award ?beep? codes - Excel 97 table50
    • Phoenix beep codes - Excel 97 table55
    • ISA slot ... HP ScanJet III60
    • EISA slot ... HP ScanJet III61
    • VESA slot - HP ScanJet III62
    • PCI slot - HP ScanJet III63
    • Slot speeds - Excel 97 table63
    • CPU in the wrong place ...HP ScanJet III65
    • Removing internal port connectors ... Kodak DC-12080
    • Setting the SCSI ID ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 788
    • Drive cradles ... Kodak DC-120121
    • Power cable splitters ... Epson 636 scanner122
    • Take care removing the case front ... Kodak DC-120125
    • Getting access to the drive bays ... Kodak DC-120127
    • Detaching the drive ... Kodak DC-120128
    • Floppy edge-to-pin converter ... Kodak DC-120134
    • Rear view of EIDE CD-ROM drive ... Kodak DC-120160
    • 30- and 72-pin slots ... HP ScanJet III and Corel PhotoPaint 7175
    • Identifying SIMM types ... HP ScanJet III176
    • COAST slot ... HP ScanJet III182
    • Removing a SIMM ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 7186
    • Installing a SIMM ... CorelDRAW 7 and Adobe Illustrator 7188
    • Processor replacement speeds ... Intel data, Adobe Illustrator 7.196
    • Intel Pentium processors ... Intel data; Adobe Illustrator199
    • Intel OverDrive CPUs ... Adobe Illustrator table199
    • Intel OverDrive CPUs with MMX - Adobe Illustrator table200
    • Motherboard tables ... Scott Wainer, System Optimization (www.sysopt.com)202
    • Pentium processor/motherboard base speeds - Source, Intel. Excel 97 table238
    • Pentium PCI board. HP ScanJet III and Adobe Illustrator 7240
    • Parts you need to install a motherboard...HP ScanJet III249
    • Pentium board showing attachment points - HP ScanJet III250

Troubleshooting

  • After maintenance
    • CMOS error - system boots up, but you get a CMOS error and it can?t find your C:\ drive.....37
    • Floppy drive light stays on and the drive doesn't work40
    • HDD (hard disk drive) controller failure or HDD failure38
    • Keyboard doesn't respond40
    • POST error messages and beep codes47
    • Screen stays blank and all you?ve heard are some beeps41
    • Screen's blank but the system appears to be working40
  • Audio controllers
    • Data Cable to CD-ROM won't fit during installation (You try to follow the instructions in the manual, but the data cable just won't fit).102
    • Monitor image waves and dances, and there?s loud buzzing from the speakers.104
    • Sounds coming from the speakers are too low to be heard or not present104
    • System starts, but you can?t hear any sound.103
    • You can hear sounds generated from your hard drive (from your programs), but not from the CD-ROM drive.103
    • You?ve tried everything, but still something is wrong105
  • CPUs
    • Boot-up sequence still says my system is running at 25 or 33 MHz235
    • No improvement in the speed of your applications or improve-ment isn?t as much as you expected235
    • Old heat sink or chip fan won?t fit the new processor.235
    • Speed indicator on my case still gives the speed of my old CPU236
    • System doesn?t start, or it does but you can?t see a command prompt, or the system starts, runs for a while, then crashes233
    • System starts normally, but new CPU fails diagnostic tests234
    • What do I do with the old processor?236
  • Drive Controllers, IDE/ATA
    • HDD controller failure or HDD failure or Drive not ready82
    • Nothing matches these descrip-tions; it still doesn?t work83
    • Screen is blank, system does not start, all you hear are some beeps.82
    • Drive controllers, SCSI
    • Nothing listed here seems to be the problem, but things still don?t work.96
    • Something still isn't right, Win95 or better93
    • System does not start; it hangs while reading the CONFIG.SYS or the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.90
    • System starts but cannot find your SCSI hard drive89
    • Windows 95 can?t find it.90
    • You?re sure the software drivers are installed properly, DOS or Windows prior to Win95.92
  • Drives, CD-ROM
    • Can?t find162, 164, 166, 167
    • CD-ROM sales scams158, 264
    • Data cable attached to sound card with SCSI controller165
    • Data cable attached to sound card IDE (or EIDE) controller165
    • Drive doesn?t work while you are printing163
    • Drive is supposed to be a higher speed than it seems to be163
    • EIDE drive and hard drive has slowed right down or stopped altogether?168
    • No sound from CD-ROM drive to the sound card (all types of controllers)168
    • Printer doesn?t work or behaves strangely163
    • Something burning165
    • System halts at bootup163, 165
  • Drives, Floppy
    • Can?t get data cable to reach connectors on both drives135
    • Directory doesn?t update when you change diskettes137
    • New 3.5-inch drive can't read high-density, 1.44 MB disks.138
    • One or both floppy drive lights come on and won?t go out.136
    • Something burning136
    • System complains disk is the wrong format.137
  • Drives, Hard
    • Can't boot from old drive C:\151
    • Can?t get data cable to reach new drive; not enough space between connectors to reach both.149
    • Drive letter for CD-ROM drive has changed152
    • Drive letters changed152
    • Drive not ready, press F1 (or some other key) for setup150
    • HDD controller failure150
    • New last drive letter in my system isn't registering.152
    • No data on old drive C:\151
    • Which connector goes to the master and which goes to the slave.149
    • Memory
    • Beep codes from the BIOS or on-screen message reports parity error191
    • HIMEM.SYS reports intermittent parity error191
    • Memory mismatch (CMOS error)191
    • System halts or does not boot up.191
  • Modems, External
    • Can get an outside line but con-nection fails immediately, you get gibberish on the screen, or something else occurs.114
    • Can?t get an outside line114
    • Communications software can?t find it113
    • Doesn?t appear to work113
    • Modem answers (or doesn't answer) the phone115
    • Mouse isn?t working114
  • Modems, Internal
    • Can get an outside line but con-nection fails immediately, you get gibberish on the screen or something else occurs.117
    • Can?t get an outside line117
    • Communications software can?t find it and/or your mouse isn?t working any more116
    • Doesn?t (or does) answer.118
    • Doesn?t appear to work,115
    • Windows 95 found the Plug 'n' Play modem, but installed it on COM5.116
  • Video controllers
    • Screen is blank; system doesn?t start; all you hear are some beeps71
    • Screen is blank, but system appears to be running (i.e., you can hear the drives working, but nothing appears on screen).71
    • Information on screen is unreadable.72
    • Windows 95 won't recognize the new drivers72

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Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001  Myles White. All rights reserved.
Revised: June 22, 2001 .