Craig needs a new computer

Those of us who are regulars have been following the ongoing saga of Craig's computer troubles. What I propose with Craig's permission is lets take up a collection to buy him a new computer. We are all willing to chip in a few bucks to help pay for bandwith why shouldn't we help Craig. In the other thread members were throwing around $5-$10 donations. Think about this we have 2000 members and lets say we get 50 to donate $10 we can get Craig a new machine. We all benefit from all the work he does for this board and he asks nothing in return. We pride ourselves on being a community and Craig is a cornerstone of this community. The way I see it after The Boss Craig is number 2 around here. How many of us put as many hours into this board as Craig? Not including Darell .

I was looking atTiger Direct and they have really good prices on computers. For $500 Craig can have a killer machine. I was thinking we can send our donations to another CPF member who will collect the funds and then use their CC to buy the computer from Tiger Direct.

Please feel free to give any suggestions or feedback if you are interested.

Sounds like the right thing to do. Count me in for a donation when someone steps up to handle the transaction.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lonewolf:
How many of us put as many hours into this board as Craig? Not including Darell. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Let's just call it "valuable" or "useful" or "relevant" hours and be done with it. I'm in too, but I'd hate to have him migrate a SECOND time after he gets this thing working...

As soon as I get my next SSI check count me in for something.

Hold the telephone!!

Let's figure out exactly where I'm at here.
It's clear the Toshiba cannot function as my primary system, mainly because it only has 512K video memory so it's useless for my digital cameras and Photoshop. At 800x600 I'm limited to 256 colors, and anything higher, 16 colors. But it *can* function as a server if I can figure out this networking thing. It's already got Windows NT on it, which makes it a good candidate for the job.

The Gateway is dedicated to serving the ProMetric hardware & software, and it's so full of security dongles and other security hardware that migrating the ProMetric to some other system would be problematic. So it's going to stay where it's at, though eventually with a network cable sticking out of its butt.

That leaves the main computer, the one that's always blowing up on me. Every time I install Windows 98 on it, I see something different. Last time around, it retained the Windows 95 "look and feel" with regards to the title bars on open applications. But everything else appeared to be alright, except it kept blue-screening on me. This time around, it has the Win 98 color graduated title bars, and seems to run a hair slower than it did before. And it's still crashing. I just had an Explorer window shut down in error for no apparent reason, so I'd better save this as a draft and then come back and finish it.

Craig,

Don't give up on the Toshiba yet. According to the specs of as I understood it, it should have 2MB of video memory, or perhaps 4MB.

I think perhaps you are confusing it with cache memory? The Toshiba comes with an ATI Rage Pro display controller, which has 2MB video memory minimum - this should be capable of at least giving you 1024x768..

Graham

Tiger Direct is the LAST place anyone should consider if a new computer is going to be purchased for Craig. Check them out on Reseller Ratings Tiger Direct Rating. They're about as bad as it gets.

IMO, a new computer should be purchased from someone that offers local warranty and repair service in Craigs area, like Gateway or CompUSA. Something like a Gateway 500SE is a very capable system, and although its ~$1k initial cost may seem high, it should provide the reliability and stability that Craig needs, for a reasonable period of time.

There may be a bit of frustration in transitioning to WinXP at first, but he can handle it, and it's going to have to happen eventually anyhow.

If someone with the ability to collect money through something like PayPal want's to set this up, count me in for $200 toward the purchase of a decent system (sorry, I won't contribute 10¢ toward a piece of junk).

John

jmm,
that's a magnificent gesture

I'll happily come in on this, but it won't be quite as much as jmm's contribution.

lightlover

Craig,

Say the word, we're all waiting with our wallets out......

I just had a quick poke around Dell's website, and was able to come up with a pretty decent system for about $690 - 1.2Ghz Celeron, 256MB ram, 20GB hard disk. And one year *on site* warranty. Currently it includes a free upgrade to a CDRW drive, too.

Graham

jmm thanks for the tip on Tiger Direct I was just using them as an example.

I will also donate $200 and match jmm's offer I don't expect others to feel compelled to do the same just give what you can. I was lucky enough to have Fate smile upon me recently and am in a position to help out.

Graham, excellent alternative! Dells' support and overall user satisfaction are second to none (but I didn't feel comfortable hyping them because they happen to be my personal first choice). An onsite service warranty (at least from Dell) is probably as "safe" as buying from a local source.

The 1.2 Celeron is a respectable performer (now that they have a decent L2 cache). As Craigs work probably gets more more graphics application intensive all the time, I think the next step up (as in P4A) deserves at least some consideration. Opinions from any true "graphic artist" professionals who have run Photoshop on both platforms might provide additional insight.

We also need to know if Craig needs a new monitor, or whether he already has a DECENT 17 or 19" P&P that would work with a new system.

John

Lonewolf, missed your most recent post while I was replying to Grahm. BTW, thanks for starting this thread. Many of us who had heard about the problems probably just assumed everything was going to get fixed by divine intervention. The best solutions are usually out there, it just takes a (heroic) initiator to get things rolling. YOU DA MAN!

Like you, I am also fortunate enough to be able to dig a little deeper right now (I think it's "payback" time for all those trips to Craigs site), and I'm not implying that anyone should match anything. Everyone who wants to help should do what they can right now, it just might help to put this thing together more quickly (and easily for whoever is going to consolidate the donations) if it can be done without needing a large number contributions.

Craig, the ball's in your court. Deep down, you know you really need a DECENT new computer (and we do too). Lonewolf has proposed a solution, but we need your input and blessing to proceed.

After this is all done, we also need to discuss having the Toshiba sent to one of the CPF geeks who can work out its quirks, and return it to Craig as a backup machine (IMO, Craigs operation has grown to the point that backup is an absolute necessity, not a luxury).

John

Well, what I priced was pretty much the bargain basement config that would do the job - no monitor included or anything.

If we want to do the job properly, we're probably going to hit that magic $1,000 mark..

'Course, if I wasn't just a bit too far away, I'd build him one which I guarantee would outperform the Dell, be 100% reliable, and about 2/3 the price..

Graham

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jmm:
Craig, the ball's in your court. Deep down, you know you really need a DECENT new computer (and we do too). Lonewolf has proposed a solution, but we need your input and blessing to proceed.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, let's see if I can post this before the thing goes ****-up again. Took two tries to finish my post in the "Darell's Baby Pictures" thread. Going back will kill the browser, so I'll have to try to do this on memory.

Regarding the Toshiba's video RAM. The OS thinks it has 512K, while the person who knows this machine thinks it has 4 or even 8 megs. Not sure what's going on with that, but I'll trust the previous owner on this one. Windows NT apparently does not "auto detect" new devices installed onto it, so maybe it figured it had a crappy 10" VGA monitor on it and refused to change the screen size or color depth based on what it did not know. :-/

Regardless, the machine would still make a decent server and may have enough space left on its 4GB partition to save important files as backups from the work computer once I re-learn the fine art of connecting multiple PCs via network. The last time I ran such a setup was in the early 1990s when I ran a BBS, and I used Lantastic and lots of coax cable with BNC connectors & terminators. Much of what I learned back then has long since been forgotten, so I'll have to go back to school for that, so to speak.

With regards to using another HD to back up my current work environment, I don't have a HD large enough to store everyhing on, other than the HD I'm using at this very moment. So a total system backup is not possible with my current setup. Several smaller HDs could do it, but I'm not sure how I'd pull that off with the Toshiba, as it is apparently not expandable in that regard. It does not have the space to install a second HD inside; and it uses a custom HD cable with a single connector on the end, not two connectors like most machines have. I had the machine apart the other night, and when you yank the HD, you find a custom switching PSU directly underneath with no room to spare.

Regarding the monitor. The one I'm using is a CTX 1765, which is a not-that-bad 17 incher. It's good up to 1024x768 before text becomes fuzzy and hard to read.
The other monitor is a Viewsonic-7, which has a noticeably larger dot pitch so it's not as good for graphics as the CTX. So the Viewsonic lives on my ProMetric machine. It's good up to 800x600 before text becomes fuzzy and hard to read.

Regarding the OSs. The Toshiba currently has Windows NT on a partition, and according to Artie, there's a 4GB partition free with nothing on it at all that could host another OS or serve as remote storage.

The ProMetric machine runs Windows 98 and DOES NOT CRASH, and I'm not looking to change that in the foreseeable future. If it isn't broken, why fix it?

This machine (the one I'm typing on right now) is the pisser. Every time I install Windows 98 on it, it looks different. And it crashes all the time, usually blowing out the kernal core with Exception 14 after all the open applications have crashed and/or been unloaded. More often than not, it freezes up so I have to punch the reset button and then repair the HDs when it comes up again. This machine hosts all of my web material, HTML and photo editors, and the like.

As for applications I depend on, they would include Gomer (an HTML editor), Photosh+_¢å

This is really annoying. I know that if I was there I could have Craigs' system installed and running in a couple of hours.
Unfortunately its very hard to work out the best solution a little at a time like this.

Graham

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:


Regarding the Toshiba's video RAM. The OS thinks it has 512K, while the person who knows this machine thinks it has 4 or even 8 megs. Not sure what's going on with that, but I'll trust the previous owner on this one. Windows NT apparently does not "auto detect" new devices installed onto it, so maybe it figured it had a crappy 10" VGA monitor on it and refused to change the screen size or color depth based on what it did not know. :-/
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


you have to install service pack 3 for NT to make the card working.

Expanding on what Artar said, if you want to try to get the NT4 machine working to buy some time to do this right, most "newer" video card drivers for for NT4 REQUIRE that at least SP3 be installed before you try to load them (but it would be best to go all the way to SP6A). Since the native drivers in NT4 are ~1996 vintage, they probably aren't going to recognize a newer card (such as AGP), and the OS is going to run in VGA mode until you install the Service Pack and then the NT4 specific drivers provided by the video card manufacturer.

I'm feeling the same frustration as Grahm, I know we could help if we were there, but we're not, and we don't even know what drivers and Service Packs you have available.

As for the machine you are trying to load Win98 on, we also don't know much about that either. For instance, if the motherboard chipset is a later type than existed when Win98 was launched, you may need a "configuration utility" (installs a bunch of .inf files) from the motherboard manufacturer to correctly identify the newer hardware (such as VIA or Intel 815 chipsets) to the OS. This has to be done before installing other things such as video drivers).

I think that what you are going through here with "put together" machines highlights one of the benefits of going to something like a new Dell for the future. If something croaks in the future, you fix the basic problem (which you appear to be entirely capable of doing), and then run a Dell provided Restore CD-ROM to reimage the hard drive (no screwing around with Service Packs, special drivers and hard to keep track of custom configurations). Similar functionality for the other machines could be provided by using something like Norton Ghost to create restore images but that's for another time...

It's a little early to see how much monmentum has been generated here toward getting you a new computer, but if you would like to keep trying to "stabalize" the existing ones until we can get something worked out, I would be willing to try to help on the phone after 6:00 PM EDST tonight, if you PM me with your phone number.

John

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Artie Choke:
Regarding the Toshiba - I suspect the display situation is a setup issue. I used that machine in 1024 x 768 mode w/ 256 colors - it had to support an ERP package we use.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But will it go up to at least 65K colors at that display setting? 256 colors is a bit rough for working with photographs if this ends up being my primary computer. I may end up putting the ViewSonic-7 on it - this morning, my good CTX started acting up, picture tearing intermittently... ouch. So the Toshiba and this box would end up sharing the Viewsonic. I have a spare VGA (640x400 max) that I can throw on the ProMetric system in its stead, so I won't lose the use of that.

The ViewSonic will go to 800x600 before it starts to lose definition, and can be taken even higher (1024x768) if need be. It's not a BAD monitor, it just has its limits, and I can live with them. Both monitors can handle the SVGA 16.7M color mode at no less than 1024x768; the only real difference is that the CTX has a finer dot pitch and looks substantially better.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Artie Choke:
Craig, when you go to setup, what driver does it show? It might be using a generic driver. There should be a video driver on the Toshiba recovery disk you could reinstall if necessary. It also depends on the monitor you configure.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I never got as far as checking that. The Toshiba has a little black thingie on the mainboard that does the video, rather than having an expansion card. So I'd guess it was either using the proprietary Toshiba boardset VGA driver to use the onboard video hardware(like the SiS 530 driver on this box) or a generic VGA driver. I'll check that the next time I have the system fired up. I have *NOT* made any changes whatsoever to the NT installation you made, so everything will be exactly as you left it.

Craig, I never did get the exact model name/number of the Toshiba PC. Could you let me know what it is? I've made an educated guess based on what has been mentioned about it, but knowing exactly would be better.

Graham