Desktop died

[CaptJackG]

Howdy m8s

I need some advice from the comp gurus here. My desktop died the other day. I came in and the screen was blank with the monitor light flashing like it was powered but no output from the comp. i rebooted and got the same results.

I took it to the tech I always use and after a couple of days he could not get it back up. He did find the 5V plug from the power supply was fluctuating and all other componets check out except he could not check the MB. We talked about it and have decided that maybe the power supply fried the MB (but not absolutely sure).

I'm now thinking about replacing the MB, power supply, and upgrading the processor. I like asus MB which is what I currently have and the tech says that maybe staying with the same brand he may be able to keep my hd in tack and just do a repair install of windows on the new MB. Is it possible to swap out the MB without having to start from ground zero on the hd? Any thoughts on a new MB, power supply, & processor would be greatly appreciated. Also thinking about upgrading to Win 7, anyone using that with any problem with IL2. My other concern with 7 is getting my TM Cougar working properly but from what I've read so far people are not having too much trouble with it.

Thanks for the help

[gec]

mb should have the same chipset as the old one to be sure that the old install will work. sometimes is even enough to have same chipset manufacturer. mb brand is not so importnant. but asus is good.

[Jabo]

the tech says that maybe staying with the same brand he may be able to keep my hd in tack and just do a repair install of windows on the new MB. Is it possible to swap out the MB without having to start from ground zero on the hd?

Possible, but not ideal IMO. A better bet is to stick your HDD into a different system, copy the data off onto an external drive and start from a fresh install, that way it doesn't matter what board/processor combo you go for, and you've got a backup for the future.

Win 7 and IL2 is fine, there's no problems I've been able to find, and I'm getting the same fps with 7 (64 bit) as I was with XP (32 bit). Don't know about your h/w, but if it's supported by vista then 7 should have no problems.

Jabo

[DD_Brando]

It's an either-or situation regarding re-use of the HD. When I botched a BIOS flash and killed my Abit AX-78 (AMD 770 chipset), I was able to retrieve the situation when I installed the same HD to my new Asus MB (AMD 790FX chipset). I added a newer Radeon as well and a newer processor and made sure to install the HD to the same SATA outlet as it was on the original MB. That is to avoid any issues with the master boot tables although I'm not sure it's an issue with SATA. It certainly is with standard IDE ports - you must connect per the original setup or it will not boot.

Anyway, it all booted successfully and left me on my original desktop which was a relief. Once in I was able to update everything using add/ remove programs and the driver discs for the new rig. Everything went fine and all my data was preserved.

I also started with Win7 just recently. It's a great OS.

B

[CaptJackG]

follow up

I think I'll go with an ASUS P5Q Deluxe mb and an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3gh processor. What do you guys think about that? Also any recommendation for a power supply and memory?

Thanks

[Perfesser]

Good choice.

I have a P5B and 2.66. I'm thinking of upgrading to the 3.0 quad core.

4g ram minimum, Corsair makes matched pairs

At least 700w

[CaptJackG]

Thanks Perf

[gec]

i have P5Q deluxe and intel core 2 Duo 2x3GHz. i also have 4GB Corsair memory. in the beginning i had some problems with the memory and had to RMA them. twice! but now everything looks fine.

more than 4 GB of RAM is useful only on 64bit sistems. 32bit sistems can use 3.25GB maximum.