Posted by Freewheeling on 08/28/06 16:14

Freewheeling wrote:
> Wes Newell wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:34:45 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:
>>
>>> Wes Newell wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:08:25 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Well, Knoppix didn't work. It gets to the end of the installation,
>>>>> and just starts intermittently "flashing" some stuff on the
>>>>> screen. I let it go for close to an hour, and it just kept
>>>>> flashing. Tried both version 4 and version 5, with the same result.
>>>>>
>>>> That's strange.
>>>>
>>>>> Again, if I wanted to set up a system to play HDTV off of
>>>>> cable/internet/phone what would I need to get? A new hard drive
>>>>> probably, right? (I currently have 2 40 GB drives, but they'd
>>>>> obviously be unsufficient for TIVO.) A new CPU probably, also?
>>>>> And a new video card?
>>>>>
>>>> For cable, you'll need a QAM capable tuner. Phone? (Fios maybe, don't
>>>> know). Internet, you can forget for HDTV. 1080i broadcast take about
>>>> 7GB
>>>> per hour. 720p about 4GB per hour. SD only takes about 1GB per hour.
>>>>
>>>>> I wonder why Knoppix behaves this way? Perhaps it's the same problem
>>>>> that I have with video? Some sort of intermittent problem? Some
>>>>> hardware conflict?
>>>> Maybe that IRQ sharing you have.
>>>>
>>> I got this creature:
>>>
>>> http://tinyurl.com/rvoaf
>>>
>>> (Used http://www.tinyurl.com to resolve wrap problem for long URLs)
>>>
>>> It will at least solve my DVD playback, although it didn't actually
>>> say it was QAM tuner capable. If not, I suppose I can bring it back
>>> for an exchange. But they only had three TV/Video AGP cards
>>> available, and this was the cheapest.
>>>
>> IMO, you're wasting your money on crap like that. And no, it won't do
>> QAM.
>> And when NTSC is disconbtinued in Feb. 2009, it won't do much of anything
>> except be a video card.
>>
>>> Now, I suppose I'll need to upgrade the HD (if I intend to use TIVO) and
>>> the processor, in that order.
>>
>>
>> What Tivo? I don't understand what you're saying. I dumped my Tivo and
>> all
>> my DVR's over 6 months ago. They won't record digital broadcast.
>>
>>> I'd still like a more substancial hint on
>>> what to use as a processor. I just can't figure out what all the
>>> nomenclature is about. Can you just suggest something in the $60-$70
>>> range?
>>>
>> AMD 754 Sempron 3100+.
>>
>>> Thanks for all your help, BTW. Usenet is fantastic, as are you!
>>
>> I think you're jumping into this too fast. Their are many many things to
>> consider before buying anything. If you've definately settled on regular
>> or HD cable, then that All in wonder probably won't even work for you to
>> record. And there aren't any Tivos that will record cable HDTV. The S3
>> should work if you can afford it whenever it's released. See last line in
>> sig.
>>
> I have a bit of a problem, I think. The video went all haywire as soon
> as I logged on to XP, so I went into safe mode and disabled the video
> adapter, thinking XP would substitute something generic. But it didn't,
> it just blanked the display, so now I can't boot into safe mode.
>
> And to make matters worse, I got in to boot into regular mode for awhile
> before the screen when haywire, so I used the time to uninstall the ATI
> drivers, so now nothing works. Not sure what I can do. I'm pretty sure
> the device is booting to the logon screen, but I can't see anything. I
> figured that when I get the home network set up in a week or so I can
> Remote Desktop to the XP box, where the display will be governed by the
> second computer's video parameters. I've also installed XP on the other
> hard drive, so I have access to the files... if I knew what to do to
> change things so that the video works.
>
> That video card is a turkey.
>
> As for the cable connection, that hasn't started yet so strictly
> speaking I could cancel. But it's actually not a bad deal in comparison
> to the alternatives. Verizon's internet charges are way cheaper, but
> its phone rates are more expensive... so ends up costing the same for
> those two services. And, of course, if I did that I'd have no TV.
> Speakeasy is about the same as Verizon (more expensive internet, but
> cheaper phone).
>
> But the first order of business is to get my main XP box bootable, and
> then take back that video card. Maybe get a regular video card and
> worry about the tuner later.
>
> Anyway, it could be a lot worse. I didn't lose any data, and I
> installed that 2nd XP box on the partition that had the useless Lycos
> distribution, so didn't lose anything in terms of space. I may not be
> able to register it, though, with Gates' restrictions. Will they also
> balk at a new CPU?
>
> Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.
I'm not actually as stupid as this scenario makes me look. I just got a
little P-Oed that the stupid card was screwing up the display, and chose
the wrong thing to uninstall. I should have just uninstalled the
software itself, instead of the drivers. I'm fairly sure it was the
software that was screwing things up, mandating some really nifty fade
effects no doubt.

I talked to the ATI folks who told me that the board is probably bad,
and I should take it back. Fine with me.

BTW, if I get a new hard drive will Gates allow me to register my
operating system on it? Also, what if I change the CPU? With the way
hard drives crash I can't imagine that it'd be a problem, but you never
know with those guys.

Oh yes, there a fan on the motherboard that seems to be going south. It
just barely turns. I wonder if that might be causing problems. It's
not the processor fan, so I'm not sure what it does, but I'd better
replace it (a second time). I usually hear them squeaking, but this one
is just silently dying.

Learning a lot, the hard way. Problem is, the technology will probably
have changed by the time I figure this out. I used to program EProms in
Assembly Language, believe it or not.

[Back to original message]