New PC Build: mATX?

[Shawn]

So you were just showing off then. Fair enough.

 

[Shawn]

I'm continuing having issues with this machine unfortunately.

I finally got around to installing the Asus stuff, which includes the USB 3.0 drivers. So after I install that, I plug in my WD Passport into one of the blue USB ports but Windows gives me the popup saying this device can perform faster, and file transfers are as slow as they were before I installed the drivers or on my old computer which I had not bothered with the USB 3.0 expansion card.

I figured maybe I needed to install the WD drivers and software for it to register as USB 3.0 but installing them still doesn't help.

 

[mooglebunny]

I did a little searching on the internet and I found this post:

"I mean I had some trouble with my USB 3 drive on the Asus p8 p67 pro (B2) USB 3 ports. At first, I had to reformat the drive 2 or 3 times before Windows could read/write it via USB 3. Every so often when I switched the drive on, Win told me again that it had to format first. I could safely click this away and use the drive nonetheless. However, after updating to NEC drivers 2.0, it insisted on the format, and I had to revert to the old version. (Or save the data over USB 2, then reformat and transfer them back.) Stupid message still kept popping up, of course.

I took this for a Windows bitchiness until I found it was gone with the ASRock board (B3), for which I swapped the Asus. Sure, the USB chip on the ASRock is not from NEC but Etron (never heard of the brand before). I have no idea if it is an Asus or NEC problem. I also searched the web for it, but found nothing.

Whatever it is, it's curious, at the least, that Asus comes up with a new revision right after the SB revision, now fixing the USB 3. Rumor has it that rev 3.0 consists mostly of refurbished B2 boards, and returned, that is, used boards are sold as new ones. But if this true, it's certainly not only Asus."
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1578865&page=112

So it sounds to me like Asus was having issues with the B2, which is the revision you have, right? It looks like other people were having issues as well. Sorry if this isn't super helpful, but I have a feeling most people (like me) don't use USB 3.0 (yet). Actually from this thread it looks like a lot of people are having many issues with different things in general. o-O

 

[Shawn]

I actually have a B3 motherboard at this point, and it's an H67 chipset.

I really hope it's not another defective motherboard, this place I bought it at isn't your average Best Buy and they give you a heck of a time before making even a legitimate exchange... I'll probably end up having to RMA it since it's been a whopping week already.

 

[mooglebunny]

Wherps. Sorry everyone kept mentioning P67 so I guess that stuck in my mind for whatever reason. >.>

It could be that it was a refurb board without you knowing it (sometimes whoever does it can do a good job covering tracks... Sometimes).

That is really strange that the 3.0 board isn't working, is it the ASMedia controller or NEC? (You could try finding newer drivers than the ones supplied by Asus?)

Kind of related: <I can tell you for sure that on my mobo the Marvell 6Gb/s SATA controller is poop for the setup and doesn't work properly or BSoDs and you have to BUY the cable YOURSELF for most HDDs.>

 

[Shawn]

No worries, it's not that hard to confuse H67 and P67.

It could be a refurbished board I suppose, but what would that mean? I would assume they fully test refurbished units before putting them back on sale.

Does anyone think reformatting my external drive would help? I don't see how since a format is a format but I have no other options at this point. The drive is FAT32 as opposed to NTFS though (because I had a Mac when I bought it), maybe formatting it to NTFS will help.

Does doing a full format over a quick format decrease the life of my drive in any way? I'd prefer to just let it do a full format, even though it will take ages.

 

[GaryC]

Full format checks for errors. It may reduce the life span by, say, 1 or 2%? You'd probably still get 5 years from it, anyway

 

[Shawn]

I know the difference between a quick and full format, I don't believe anything to be wrong with my external drive though.

I suppose losing one or two percent of the disk's life is okay, it's a backup disk anyway so it's not getting that much consistent use.

Does anyone think there would be a chance a reformat would get it working as USB 3.0? Because being a backup drive it's going to be a huge hassle reformatting it since I need to move everything off it first.

 

[GaryC]

I highly doubt it as the USB3 is handled by the motherboard and firmware drivers. But compared to a long drive down to the shop again, this is probably a less risky troubleshooting method.

 

[Shawn]

I wouldn't think a format would help just by itself, but the thing is as I said the drive is formatted as FAT32... although I haven't heard issues about that I thought maybe converting to NTFS would help. But yeah, I guess how the drive is formatted is as irrelevant as reformatting in terms of getting USB 3.0 going.

I dunno, I guess I'll try reinstalling the drivers again and whatnot. I really don't feel like returning the motherboard again, the guy seriously made me feel like I was out to scam someone out of something when I went for an exchange last time around.

 

[Shawn]

I just took some time to write LianLi an email, inquiring both about the weird ass 3-pin power LED connector and also a replacement front panel unit since the power button wire broke and I can't fix it.

30 seconds later and I get an email saying their inbox is full, and searching on the internet it looks like it's been full since at least October. So much for good sales support!

I'll have to try their number, hopefully they pick up and can speak English. I'm already picturing it exactly like the time Homer called the Mr. Sparkle factory. :lol:

 

[GaryC]

I'm pretty sure they'll be fine. The number might transfer to a guy called Theodore that lives in Calcutta, but you'll get what you want. Eventually.

 

[Shawn]

I just had another hellish couple of hours troubelshooting this PC. This might turn out to be a longish post but please read, I'm not just venting.

After making the post above I decided mulling over the tightness of the case I bought wasn't going to do me any good, so I shut off the PC and proceeded to complete the build.

If you recall I was worried I was getting slightly hotter than normal readings, and I had read somewhere previously that with quad core CPUs it is recommended to draw a line of thermal paste down the middle rather than putting a grain-sized dot in the center. That made sense in theory, so before shoving the PSU in there I decided to clean the CPU and apply a line of paste to see if it would help my readings.

I apply the Arctic Silver, I put everything back the way it was but also put the PSU inside the case and did the little (i.e. almost non-existent) cable management that was possible.

After the fuckups of two weeks ago I really wasn't expecting there to be any startup issues, but much to my dismay the machine was overheating and shutting off basically as soon as I turned it on. My first reaction is that the PSU is probably reducing airflow in the case to deterimental levels, so I pull it out and set it on the desk the way it's been the last two weeks but the computer still doesn't start.

So I assume I messed up with applying the thermal paste in a line. Removing the HSF I discover this is the case, the paste had no spread very far from the center. So I decide I need to apply a thicker line, which I try to do... but at this point it's been a couple of hours and I'm frustrated and my hands are shaking all over the place. Long story short, I literally applied and removed and applied and removed the thermal paste six times before I was satisfied.

Finally, I set about doing something about the front buttons. Previously I had accidentally severed the power button wire, so I had hooked the small restart button to the power button header. In a stroke of sheer genius I decide to just pop out and reverse the buttons, because getting around the lack of restart button isn't that hard. I switched the buttons just fine, but I managed to severe the rest of the wires thus making the front buttons entirely useless.

I wasn't even being forceful, this case being so tiny I've been careful not to force things. But this front panel is so shoddily built, and there is no way to rewire it as it's sealed up from behind. Since shorting out the motherboard header isn't really feasible when the case is assembled, I had no choice but to rip apart my poor old computer case and take out its power and restart buttons. This was a horrible process that involved me using all my might to bend thick pieces of metal out of the way, and also rendered the old case and any plans I had for the old PC totally worthless.

And I have no clue how to fix the front panel on the LianLi. I tried to email LianLi but their email has been full for six months, and even though they offer replacement buttons none are for my case. This company is simply undeserving of the high esteem in which it is held.

 

[Shawn]

So that was more the rant part that most probably skipped. Here's my actual remaining concerns:

The different method of applying thermal paste did lower my temperatures, and with the PSU now acting as an exhaust I have lowered CPU readings by 5 degrees and motherboard readings by twice that. But now I'm getting paranoid that I damaged my i7 the two weeks that it idled rather hot and then today when I messed up the paste and it went up to 88 degrees twice and shut off.

Not that I can do anything now, but have I significantly lowered the life of my CPU by allowing it run hot for two weeks? If that didn't do it, my frantically applying thermal paste a dozen times probably did the trick. Damnit, I just don't have the patience for this shit... should have just picked up a pre-made machine.

I had also improperly connected the GPU, it only had one of the two power connectors hooked up. It's weird that the card ran at full capacity, but it was running also pretty hot and the fan was annoyingly loud. Hooking it up properly has strangely fixed the fan speed/noise issue which is awesome because previously it was blowing hot air right onto my SSD pretty consistently. I guess this is more or less the same as the point above, I'm now paranoid that I've severely shortened the life of my hardware.

So now everything is in the case... the CPU is stable, the video card is quiet and the SSD is remaining relatively cool. But it was such a hassle, and I still have no proper front buttons... and I destroyed my old computer case just so I could salvage a stupid plastic power button.

Edit: Oh and just for posterity, USB 3.0 issues were entirely my fault. I was plugging my drive into USB 2.0 ports, the motherboard's color coding is wonky.

 

[GerFix]

^ I'm glad to read you are overcoming your problems .... but I think they are largely due to your choice of case (although I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that). I don't recall where I read it, but I have seen something about the PC-Q07 not being suitable for quad core processors, owing to its lack of a case fan. If your computer is running now, I doubt you will have damaged the processor in any meaningful way. The idling temps really were not high enough to cook it and even if it is damaged, it is likely only to the point where it can't be overclocked as high as it could've in its virgin state (which is no real loss on a H67 MB).

 

[thevictor390]

I agree that running with high temps for a bit really shouldn't do any damage. I've never heard of something like that causing lasting problems, even in cases where the overheating becomes critical (computer will shut down before damage occurs).

 

[Komeuppance]

You could fix your old case with this perhaps:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Replacement-Power-Reset-BEZELWRKIT/dp/B00213KDQK/ref=pd_cp_e_1

-Robert

 

[Shawn]

I'm glad to read you are overcoming your problems .... but I think they are largely due to your choice of case (although I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that). I don't recall where I read it, but I have seen something about the PC-Q07 not being suitable for quad core processors, owing to its lack of a case fan.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the case. With thermal paste applied properly and the PSU in place acting as exhaust it seems to be a perfectly acceptable case in terms of air flow, overclocking situations aside obviously.

On the one hand I'm not so sure my insistence on a small and discrete case was a wise choice, but I might change my tune when I have the case fully done and my desk tidied up - this thing appears seriously effing small thanks to the fact that it stands up on its narrow side unlike most other ITX cases.

But finishing the case and tidying up won't be able to happen until I figure out the power button situation.

I agree that running with high temps for a bit really shouldn't do any damage. I've never heard of something like that causing lasting problems, even in cases where the overheating becomes critical (computer will shut down before damage occurs).

Yeah, I haven't really heard of that causing issues either... I mean, these things have a fail safe so if it was running fine it couldn't have been terribly detrimental. I was just a bit paranoid since my last computer always had slight issues since day one that I for some reason assumed I had caused by being my usual impatient self during the build.

You could fix your old case with this perhaps:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Replacement-Power-Reset-BEZELWRKIT/dp/B00213KDQK/ref=pd_cp_e_1

It's too late for the old case, I had to bend the poor thing all sorts of ways to pry the buttons out of the front bezel.

That might work for my new case though, so thanks.

 

[Shawn]

Since I didn't get any responses in the original thread, and since this has basically become the Help Shawn Fix Today's Computer Issue, I thought I'd post this here too:

God damnit, my computer issues just won't stop.

This new eSATA enclosure I bought is being stupid, it will only work and show me the drives if it's plugged in and turned on before I turn the computer on.

The enclosure is supposedly hot-swappable, so what could it be? It doesn't seem like there were any eSATA drivers I needed to install.

 

[mooglebunny]

I think partially it's because it's not exactly an easy thing to go about fixing? I found a thread on a Win7 forum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/147047-why-esata-such-problem.html

Apparently it seems to be somewhat common of a problem, mainly in 64-bit Win7. The thread had some interesting solutions which maybe could help you? (I see they are somewhat of a pain too though.)

Other than that, I have failed to find anything good from the Googles. It's hard to tell if your H67 motherboard has the JMicron controller or not, there doesn't seem to be any specific information about it (including from the Asus site).