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Andara and I were highly anticipating the Diablo 3 launch - so much so, that she decided she needed a new video card for her system (She actually did - there was something wrong with the way her card's family processed D3's graphics, well-documented on the Blizzard forums, and the cards are old enough that it wasn't worth Blizzard's time to fix it). So while she was getting her video card, I decided to do a minor upgrade of my own. Tropico 4 had a nasty habit of overheating my CPU and freezing my system. So I picked up a CPU that was in the same family as my old one, but a bit faster (somewhere on the order of twice as fast).
On Monday, I went to the Diablo 3 launch party, had some fun, had some dinner, didn't win the custom PCs, but did go home with some swag and a shiny-new massively-autographed Collector's Edition.
On Tuesday, our hardware order arrived. We got home, and quickly got busy on tearing apart our systems. I got done first, but the system wouldn't boot. The drive lights came on, fans came on, but nothing else happened. It didn't even make it to POST. After puzzling over this for a bit while Andara replaced her video card, I figured out the problem - the BIOS on the motherboard was 3 years old, while this particular CPU is only about 2 years old. I needed to update the BIOS. Which is incredibly difficult to do when the system won't even POST. And while I'm trying to puzzle out this dilemma, Andara is happily chugging away on installing Diablo 3.
The next morning, I spent an hour or so trying to find some sort of workaround that I could do with the parts on hand. The old CPU wasn't going back in - it had bent pins, and I have no confidence in my ability to straighten them. Finally, I gave up, and ordered a new motherboard/CPU combo from Newegg, and set it for Will Call at their local office. After work, I headed over, picked up the parts, and went home. I pulled out all of the cards, demounted the motherboard, and put in the new one. Plugging in all the connections that a system needs takes a while! =0_o=
So finally, I get to the point of plugging in memory. I size up the memory slot, taking note of where the notch is, and go to put my old memory in. The notch doesn't line up, so I turn the memory stick around... and the notch still doesn't line up! And then it hits me - I forgot to check for memory compatibility. The old system used 182-pin DDR2 memory, the new one uses 240-pin DDR3 memory.
So we order some new memory from Newegg, and set it for Will Call again. I fall asleep absurdly early, and sleep straight through to the next morning.
Thursday comes, and I'm ready to go get my parts. The parts show as being in Packaging, and I figure that I should be able to go get them on my lunch break (taking an extra-long lunch break with management approval). The mobo/cpu and other parts that I ordered at the same time were ready by 12:30, so a pair of memory sticks should be faster, right?
Well... yes and no. I arrive at the Newegg will call center at 1 PM, and my memory isn't there. In fact, I get there just in time to witness the site manager flipping his lid over the fact that the delivery truck that brings parts from the warehouse to the Will Call office is broken down... in Downtown.
So I have a seat, preparing to cool my heels for an hour or so. But it turns out that the dispatcher was on the ball, and had a replacement truck rolling immediately. At the point that the Will Call manager was flipping out, they were already transferring the racks of product from one truck to another, and getting it back on the road. It arrived only 10 minutes later, and I headed back to my office.
We get home, I plug in the new memory, get everything all connected and triple-check all of the connections (take it from me, there's nothing more frustrating than forgetting to hook up the Power switch!), and declare it to be ready for the Smoke test. The system powers on... and nothing happens for long enough for Andara to start thinking that something else is wrong. And then the BIOS screen finally pops up, and my system is running. But Windows isn't launching properly - it gets partway through the boot, and then freezes. So I use my phone to surf for a potential solution, and quickly hit on what turns out to be the right answer: There's a setting in BIOS called Legacy USB Support that is on by default. Turning it off got my system all the way through boot, and my system came up and ready to go. Windows 7 being what it is, it started quietly installing drivers for the new hardware while I'm fumbling with the driver disc. I install a few drivers from the disc, but can't find the driver for the mobo itself and its peripherals - there should be drivers for those, right? RIGHT?
Well, no, it seems that those are integral drivers in Win7 now. No need to have the manufacturer's disc for those. My system prompts a reboot out of the blue, and since I'm done with the few minor drivers that were on the disc, I agree. And it reboots... into my glorious system, exactly how I had it on Monday night. I dink around for about 20 minutes, making sure that everything works ("There's no sound!" "Turn up the volume, doofus."), and finally get into Diablo 3. Three days after launch, when I had a copy in my hands only three hours after the midnight launch.
So, I have to give massive props to the Microsoft Windows team. Under XP or older versions of Windows, the surgery that I did on my system would have required a clean install of the OS. And Win7 just chugs along, makes the necessary changes, and nags me to authenticate once more.
So how was your week?
On Monday, I went to the Diablo 3 launch party, had some fun, had some dinner, didn't win the custom PCs, but did go home with some swag and a shiny-new massively-autographed Collector's Edition.
On Tuesday, our hardware order arrived. We got home, and quickly got busy on tearing apart our systems. I got done first, but the system wouldn't boot. The drive lights came on, fans came on, but nothing else happened. It didn't even make it to POST. After puzzling over this for a bit while Andara replaced her video card, I figured out the problem - the BIOS on the motherboard was 3 years old, while this particular CPU is only about 2 years old. I needed to update the BIOS. Which is incredibly difficult to do when the system won't even POST. And while I'm trying to puzzle out this dilemma, Andara is happily chugging away on installing Diablo 3.
The next morning, I spent an hour or so trying to find some sort of workaround that I could do with the parts on hand. The old CPU wasn't going back in - it had bent pins, and I have no confidence in my ability to straighten them. Finally, I gave up, and ordered a new motherboard/CPU combo from Newegg, and set it for Will Call at their local office. After work, I headed over, picked up the parts, and went home. I pulled out all of the cards, demounted the motherboard, and put in the new one. Plugging in all the connections that a system needs takes a while! =0_o=
So finally, I get to the point of plugging in memory. I size up the memory slot, taking note of where the notch is, and go to put my old memory in. The notch doesn't line up, so I turn the memory stick around... and the notch still doesn't line up! And then it hits me - I forgot to check for memory compatibility. The old system used 182-pin DDR2 memory, the new one uses 240-pin DDR3 memory.
So we order some new memory from Newegg, and set it for Will Call again. I fall asleep absurdly early, and sleep straight through to the next morning.
Thursday comes, and I'm ready to go get my parts. The parts show as being in Packaging, and I figure that I should be able to go get them on my lunch break (taking an extra-long lunch break with management approval). The mobo/cpu and other parts that I ordered at the same time were ready by 12:30, so a pair of memory sticks should be faster, right?
Well... yes and no. I arrive at the Newegg will call center at 1 PM, and my memory isn't there. In fact, I get there just in time to witness the site manager flipping his lid over the fact that the delivery truck that brings parts from the warehouse to the Will Call office is broken down... in Downtown.
So I have a seat, preparing to cool my heels for an hour or so. But it turns out that the dispatcher was on the ball, and had a replacement truck rolling immediately. At the point that the Will Call manager was flipping out, they were already transferring the racks of product from one truck to another, and getting it back on the road. It arrived only 10 minutes later, and I headed back to my office.
We get home, I plug in the new memory, get everything all connected and triple-check all of the connections (take it from me, there's nothing more frustrating than forgetting to hook up the Power switch!), and declare it to be ready for the Smoke test. The system powers on... and nothing happens for long enough for Andara to start thinking that something else is wrong. And then the BIOS screen finally pops up, and my system is running. But Windows isn't launching properly - it gets partway through the boot, and then freezes. So I use my phone to surf for a potential solution, and quickly hit on what turns out to be the right answer: There's a setting in BIOS called Legacy USB Support that is on by default. Turning it off got my system all the way through boot, and my system came up and ready to go. Windows 7 being what it is, it started quietly installing drivers for the new hardware while I'm fumbling with the driver disc. I install a few drivers from the disc, but can't find the driver for the mobo itself and its peripherals - there should be drivers for those, right? RIGHT?
Well, no, it seems that those are integral drivers in Win7 now. No need to have the manufacturer's disc for those. My system prompts a reboot out of the blue, and since I'm done with the few minor drivers that were on the disc, I agree. And it reboots... into my glorious system, exactly how I had it on Monday night. I dink around for about 20 minutes, making sure that everything works ("There's no sound!" "Turn up the volume, doofus."), and finally get into Diablo 3. Three days after launch, when I had a copy in my hands only three hours after the midnight launch.
So, I have to give massive props to the Microsoft Windows team. Under XP or older versions of Windows, the surgery that I did on my system would have required a clean install of the OS. And Win7 just chugs along, makes the necessary changes, and nags me to authenticate once more.
So how was your week?
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