NationStates Jolt Archive

I recently bought a computer over eBay.

When it arrived though I had some small problems and I had it reformatted.

Now the computer is hardly working at all and it is having other major problems.

The people at the computer place (where I had it reformatted), say that is the motherboard.
While the person I bought the computer from, said it is because they changed the RAID configuration of the HDs to IDE configuration.

I am interested to know if changing RAID to IDE would create problems with the computer, and also any other advice you have.

I recently bought a computer over eBay.

When it arrived though I had some small problems and I had it reformatted.

Now the computer is hardly working at all and it is having other major problems.

The people at the computer place (where I had it reformatted), say that is the motherboard.
While the person I bought the computer from, said it is because they changed the RAID configuration of the HDs to IDE configuration.

I am interested to know if changing RAID to IDE would create problems with the computer, and also any other advice you have.
It could have a whole host of issues with raid configuration

What I want to know is why the setup an IDE raid

...eBay...

I think I found the problem. :p

I recently bought a computer over eBay.

When it arrived though I had some small problems and I had it reformatted.

Now the computer is hardly working at all and it is having other major problems.

The people at the computer place (where I had it reformatted), say that is the motherboard.
While the person I bought the computer from, said it is because they changed the RAID configuration of the HDs to IDE configuration.

I am interested to know if changing RAID to IDE would create problems with the computer, and also any other advice you have.
if you look at the motherboard (I'm going to assume you don't know much about hardware, don't be offended) and you see the things that look like cylinders sticking up, is the top end flat and clean on all of them? This would be an easy way to prove if it is the motherboard, although it could be the motherboard even though those are all fine.

I think I found the problem. :p

lol, yes you bought it from e-bay? Why!?!? :confused:

I know this doesn't help with the actual computer problem itself, but you might wanna check the person you bought this from's feedback.

dude there are so many possible issues, but the most likely i can see here would be a driver issue, or well lots of driver issues. when formatting you would of wiped the specific drivers of certain hardware parts it could of been doing that.
the jumpers on the drives inside may be set up wrong, get the computer shop "geeks" to sort that out. the power supply could be about to give way and create havoc with teh rest of the computer, the power supply could be set to teh wrong voltage. the mainboard may have a faulty bios version.
why the hell ebay mate??!?!?!

if you look at the motherboard (I'm going to assume you don't know much about hardware, don't be offended) and you see the things that look like cylinders sticking up, is the top end flat and clean on all of them? This would be an easy way to prove if it is the motherboard, although it could be the motherboard even though those are all fine.

I checked the ends of the cylinder like things and they are clean.

change back to RAID and if it works, that answers that, if not, well there is another answer.

I used eBay because I wanted to buy a computer and it LOOKED as if this one was great.

change back to RAID and if it works, that answers that, if not, well there is another answer.

Would this wipe the computer?

What I want to know is why the setup an IDE raid

I do not know, but I will try to find out.

I think I found the problem. :p

No Shit. Never Buy Anything From Ebay That You Cannot Make Sure Everything Is Right With It Just By Looking At It.

Would this wipe the computer?

Probably. I cannot say for sure though.

Probably. I cannot say for sure though.

Would I do this in BIOS?

Would I do this in BIOS?

Someone else will have to help you with that. I know a whole lot ABOUT computers, but I tend to not have DONE a lot of it. Sorry :(

This is the computer.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AMD-64-Bit-full-system-excelent-buy-No-problems-ever_W0QQitemZ8736129997QQcategoryZ111432QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Someone else will have to help you with that. I know a whole lot ABOUT computers, but I tend to not have DONE a lot of it. Sorry :(

That's fine, Thank you for your help.

You should never, ever, ever buy a computer from eBay, just becasue it 'sounds great' doesn't mean anything except the guy selling it has a way with words, if you do buy a computer from eBay, look for vital stats and make sure you understand what they mean before deciding they look great. Most eBay products that 'look great' have few solid facts and a lot of things like 'its fast!' or 'an xMB video card' which, though it sounds good and facty, doesn't tell you how old it is, what brand the Video card is, what its clock speed is or anything...

That's fine, Thank you for your help.
changing to a raid setup involves cable changing. so no it is not just possible in the bios.

You should never, ever, ever buy a computer from eBay, just becasue it 'sounds great' doesn't mean anything except the guy selling it has a way with words, if you do buy a computer from eBay, look for vital stats and make sure you understand what they mean before deciding they look great. Most eBay products that 'look great' have few solid facts and a lot of things like 'its fast!' or 'an xMB video card' which, though it sounds good and facty, doesn't tell you how old it is, what brand the Video card is, what its clock speed is or anything...

I was smart enough to check the specs and they where very good.

changing to a raid setup involves cable changing. so no it is not just possible in the bios.

Thanks.

Thank you everyone for your help. The computer is working now :). I payed the computer shop $260 AU just for their service, at the end of which the computer was not even turning on :mad: Then a friend of the family had a look at it and it was running well again very soon :) I went back to the computer shop :headbang: with no success and around 2 days later they have signs up saying "under new management" Thank you all for your help.

Buy a Macintosh.

We have a Mac, it has never had problems and it is so much better! :p

I've had many issues with macs... I know that this kind of experience is one that is quite rare, but I have had several Macs (with important data on them, luckily I pathologically back-up everything in triplicate) catastrophically fail on me for no discernable reason. The trouble with a Mac when it fails (however rare that might be) is that it is always catastrophic, and it always requires a specialist to fix. I can get into the guts of a PC running windows or Linux and fix just about anything, but I just can't figure out what to do with a mac thats broken, and you can't just go back and re-install the OS to make it work again. (that's one thing you can say for windows, when it breaks, most of the time you can fix it by reinstalling, no other operating system has that kind of ummmm... reliability...)

I've had many issues with macs... I know that this kind of experience is one that is quite rare, but I have had several Macs (with important data on them, luckily I pathologically back-up everything in triplicate) catastrophically fail on me for no discernable reason. The trouble with a Mac when it fails (however rare that might be) is that it is always catastrophic, and it always requires a specialist to fix. I can get into the guts of a PC running windows or Linux and fix just about anything, but I just can't figure out what to do with a mac thats broken, and you can't just go back and re-install the OS to make it work again. (that's one thing you can say for windows, when it breaks, most of the time you can fix it by reinstalling, no other operating system has that kind of ummmm... reliability...)
Um, with Linux you can reinstall your OS and keep all your personal files and settings without having to back them up first.

I once bought a computer from eBay. A Commodore 64. And some of the keys don't make proper contact. :(
Which is not bad for a 24 year old computer. :)

Glad your problem was solved. Without knowing the symptoms in detail and not having access to the computer it would have very hard through a forum.

Um, with Linux you can reinstall your OS and keep all your personal files and settings without having to back them up first.
To be fair windows repair does a good chunk of os replacement without having to backup either

Not quite a full install but usefull

To be fair windows repair does a good chunk of os replacement without having to backup either

Not quite a full install but usefull
Meh, windows repair has never recovered a system for me. Although when i reach for the install disk, it is usually fubar.

Meh, windows repair has never recovered a system for me. Although when i reach for the install disk, it is usually fubar.
Its recovered a few hundred for me :)

But the schools network (well pre this simester) ... everone in essentialy one big lan (if in the dorms)

It was a breading ground for viruses that when removed usualy fucked up a system file or two

Its recovered a few hundred for me :)

But the schools network (well pre this simester) ... everone in essentialy one big lan (if in the dorms)

It was a breading ground for viruses that when removed usualy fucked up a system file or two
I have put off fixing until Windows took a weekend to boot, or was perma-stuck in safe-mode. Although, I haven't had either problem since I ditched ME.

I have put off fixing until Windows took a weekend to boot, or was perma-stuck in safe-mode. Although, I haven't had either problem since I ditched ME.
Yeah we just deal with students computers

I am just rebuilding mine ... I started from scratch when I put in the new raid ... it needed it

The best 'recovery' system I've found for Windows is Acronis True-image and a back-up drive/partition, has never failed me yet. Besides that though, I definately prefer Linux's ability to recover data over any recovery system for Windows, both of which have more options than I've ever found for a Mac thats gone tits up/

its microsofts fault. Blame windows. They are evil. Bill Gates is the spawn of satan, come to destroty us by giving us bad computers.

The Evenhanded was deleated...
Now the computer's motherboard has died compleatly!!!
So the Computer Place and the Ebay Seller were in the wrong!

I think I found the problem. :p
its amazing how the word Ebay immediately means distrust of quality.

I recently bought a computer over eBay.

When it arrived though I had some small problems and I had it reformatted.

Now the computer is hardly working at all and it is having other major problems.

The people at the computer place (where I had it reformatted), say that is the motherboard.
While the person I bought the computer from, said it is because they changed the RAID configuration of the HDs to IDE configuration.

I am interested to know if changing RAID to IDE would create problems with the computer, and also any other advice you have.

http://www.p0stwh0res.com/images/owned-BSOD.png

http://www.p0stwh0res.com/images/owned-BSOD.png
Those are the ugliest computers ever.

Those are the ugliest computers ever.
No way

http://www.cupertino.de/data/models/imac.gif

http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/tang_ibook.jpg
Thoes are way worse

No way

http://www.cupertino.de/data/models/imac.gif

http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/tang_ibook.jpg
Thoes are way worse
No way.

Sure they may be the closiest systems ever, but nowhere on their bodies is the color beige.

No way.

Sure they may be the closiest systems ever, but nowhere on their bodies is the color beige.
No just crappy and bubbly and neon ... like the tellitubies puked on a computer

No just crappy and bubbly and neon ... like the tellitubies puked on a computer
The tellitubbies pwn beige. Hell, Mac OS 9 pwns beige.

The tellitubbies pwn beige. Hell, Mac OS 9 pwns beige.
8 rules all

http://www.yaromat.com/macos8/

8 rules all

http://www.yaromat.com/macos8/
The image does notwork. Prolly the best part of the joke too.

I love the old "System Error 23: Please contact your computer administrator."
WFT? I am the admin!

The image does notwork. Prolly the best part of the joke too.

I love the old "System Error 23: Please contact your computer administrator."
WFT? I am the admin!
Something is up with the new browsers
in the old days it loaded full page mac OS8 was not just an image

Oh well

On a related note, I b0rked my system upgrading to Edgy. The system was already screwy as Dapper--XGL was broke, coundn't hold onto my keyboard config. Cannot wait for the Alpha 1 disk (should already be out) or Freespire.