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General discussion

Built my own PC for the first time, and am having problems.

by qnine Nov 21, 2004 10:29AM PST

Hey all,

Alright, I decided to take the plunge and join the ranks of the computer elite by building my own rig. I did and have been having a few issues with it since then. None are that major, but they can be very annoying and I was wondering if any of you knew what the problem might be. Before I elaborate, however, let me give you my system specs -

Case - ANTEC|MINI TOWER SX635BII
Video Card - VGA ATI|RADEON 9800PRO 128M 8X
CPU - P4/3.0EGHz 800M 478P/1MB HT
RAM - DDR 1GB KIT PC3200 HYPERX A -k
Hard drive - 160GB|WD 7200 WD1600JB 8MB%
Keyboard - LOGITECH|ELITE BLACK KEYBOARD
Monitor - VWSNC|19" CRT G90FB
Mouse - LOGITECH|MX 510 RED
DVD Drive 1 - CDRW/DVD COMBO52X32X52X16|LITEON
DVD Drive 2 - DVD+/-RW LITEON SOHW-832S
Sound Card - SOUND BLASTER|AUDIGY 2 ZS PLTM
Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-8KNXP

Alright, the issues I am having are these -

1) The most annoying is an issue that happens every now and again. I can't seem to figure out what triggers it, as it can happen when I'm playing a graphically intensive game like Half-Life 2, or simply listening to iTunes. The computer will make a beeping sound, which doesn't come out of the speakers but from the computer itself. When it happens when I'm gaming, the keyboard stops working for a second, until I rehit the buttons I was using. For example, if I am holding down a key to run forward, the noise will happen, at times accompanied by a pop from my speakers, and I'll stop running forward. I have to hit the key again to keep running. This can happen in quick sucession, with two or three beeps happening in a ten second period. Obviously, it gets REALLY annoying. Restarting the computer seems to fix it, but it comes back. Any idea what the heck is going on and how I can fix it?

2) My computer doesn't have clean sound. When I turn the speakers up all the way, I get a hiss coming from them, even though I have a REALLY nice soundcard. I am assuming this shouldn't be happening. It is more than a hiss really, it is a mixture of a lot of sounds that come together to create distorted white noise. Do I need to change the way I organized the inside of my computer to fix this?

3) The front mounted USB and Firewire ports on my case don't work. I have the wires running to the correct areas in the motherboard, but it doesn't seem to work. Do I need to change something around with the wires to get the front USB and Firewire ports working?

4) My sound card shipped with a front mounted part that slips into the front of the computer much like a CD or DVD drive. This does not work. The sound card works, but I cannot get the front panel to work, even though it is connected as it says it needs to be. The front panel has a volume control, has the infrared pickup for the remote that came with it, MIDI ports, etc. and I need to be able to use it to make music. Any ideas why this isn't working?

I know that is a lot to ask you guys to help me with, but seeing as I don't have tech support since I built it myself, I don't know who else to ask. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Some thoughts
by Steven Haninger Nov 21, 2004 10:52AM PST

The beep is from the motherboard. My guess is you are being issued a warning about a hardware problem. My first thought is you have reached a heat threshold. This might be user adjustable but you should investigate. Your hissing is from the powered speakers amplifier. Something is not in proper balance. You may be under or over driving the speaker's amplification circuits. This affects the response of the gain control. See what you can do with the volume in software. About your USB problem...do you have rear connections and do they work? If so, are you sure your Antec case has the proper wiring for USB 2. I heard that some existed that had wiring and interface that only worked at 1.1 but cannot verify that. I also heard that Antec could provide the upgraded hardware. I believe a clue is whether or not the front connections to the MB are individual connectors or an integrated one. If these are individual (one per wire) they are easy to mess up and you may have one connector that must be left off. I don't have a clue about the front panel controls for the soundcard but would not be surprized if this was part of your hissing problem. Hope this offers some things to check. Good luck.

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Re: Some thoughts
by qnine Nov 21, 2004 11:45AM PST

Hey, thanks for the quick response. I managed to fix the soundcard part, it just was missing a connection that I managed to find and reconnect. As for my CPU temperature, it is running between 54 - 61 Celsius. I just downloaded MBM today though, and haven't really been pushing the system, so I'm going to run some Half-Life 2 for a while and see if the temp. shoots up significantly. I'll report back here after. If it IS the temperature, what is a good way to cool it down? I am BROKE right now, so I can't spend a lot of cash. I have my rig up off the ground, with lots of space to breath. It has 2 fans in it, and the room isn't hot, so I don't really know what the deal is.

Also, I've been messing around with the sound as well, to try and fix the hissing, and I found the source of the problem. I opened up Creative Play Control (where it has the levels of everything) and when I muted the CD Audio, the hissing stopped. As soon as I unmuted it, it came back. Now that I know what is causing it, how do I fix it? Thanks!

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Re: Some thoughts
by qnine Nov 21, 2004 11:56AM PST

Alright, after running Half-Life 2 for about 10 minutes, I got a warning message telling me my CPU had reached 70 degrees celsius. That is obviously too hot, and is probably the reason for a lot of my problems, so how can I cool my rig down?

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Re: Some thoughts
by Steven Haninger Nov 21, 2004 8:18PM PST

As for the hissing with CD audio, do you have the analog cable connected from the CDROM/DVD player? If so, you probably don't need it. Cooling is another science. You need to both cool the processor and move the heat from the case. You need a large enough cavity in the box so air can move. Case fans and CPU fans can have speed controls. They cannot go beyond normal full voltage speeds. These fans also need to be in a certain orientation so front fans direct inward and rear fans blow out the back. You can try running with the cover off to see if your PC runs a bit cooler. You can dress wiring away from air flow. You can also ask for advice (I can't offer it myself) on better CPU cooling fans. But, keep in mind, it's no good just to blow air to cool the CPU. The heated air needs to get out of the box. Good luck.

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Re: Some thoughts
by Kayle216 Nov 22, 2004 3:00AM PST

70 C? Wow. That's getting pretty toasty. I would recommend buying some 80 mm case fans. If your case has places in the front, I would position the fans in the front to blow towards the back of the case and then place another 80 mm case fan in the rear to exhaust the heat, at least. Also, what size of power supply? Does it have 2 fans? If not, you might want to get a power supply with two so it can suck air out the back as well. You might even want to get creative and start modding the case to add in more fans if spots arent provided. Let us know how it goes for you.

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