Saturday, December 1, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
2008 Presidential Election
Just in case there is any question: No, I am not a Republican. Usually I think they are the worst of the bad choice we normally get, the Democrats not being much better. (I'm a registered Libertarian.) However, Ron Paul is one of those guys you vote for because of what he stands for, not because of who his party is. (I'd vote for Schwarzenegger, too.)
Basically I agree with Ron Paul's stance on everything. There are some small nit-picky things I do not agree with, but by and large he stands for everything I could want in a presidential candidate: Less taxes, less government interference in our lives, more freedom, and an end to war.
Family Weddings
Funny how nobody in my family gets married for like thirty-some odd years, and now everyone is getting married.
Of course, it now sounds like my brother and my cousin are both getting married next Labor Day weekend. Guess whose wedding I will be attending if they are? I'll give you a hint: Not my brother's.
Of course, it now sounds like my brother and my cousin are both getting married next Labor Day weekend. Guess whose wedding I will be attending if they are? I'll give you a hint: Not my brother's.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The downstairs bathroom
Still working on this, albeit pretty slowly now. I've painted the threshold, some molding that was attached to the old, crap threshold, the wood frame around the mirror, and a good deal of my workbench downstairs. Hey, what are workbenches for if not saving your floor from the same mistreatment?
The sink is all hooked up, bolted to the wall, and working nicely. It leaked at first, but then I figured out that you can't be stingy with the plumbers tape.
The floor is mostly done, thanks to my wife. She did the difficult pieces that had to be cut in weird shapes. She's pretty much waiting for me to clear the plaster from the entryway and put down the threshold so she can finish.
Also, the paint doesn't smell too bad, so I might just paint all the woodwork this winter, so by summer all I will have to do is replace the walls. (And I say all because I am - as usual - clueless about how much work it will actually entail...)
The sink is all hooked up, bolted to the wall, and working nicely. It leaked at first, but then I figured out that you can't be stingy with the plumbers tape.
The floor is mostly done, thanks to my wife. She did the difficult pieces that had to be cut in weird shapes. She's pretty much waiting for me to clear the plaster from the entryway and put down the threshold so she can finish.
Also, the paint doesn't smell too bad, so I might just paint all the woodwork this winter, so by summer all I will have to do is replace the walls. (And I say all because I am - as usual - clueless about how much work it will actually entail...)
Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM - Part Two
My new motherboard - Asus's excellent Crosshair - came in today. I hooked it up, wiped my hard drive, and installed Vista 64. Then I plopped in my new sticks of RAM, and it booted flawlessly. I'm now gaming in 64-bit with 4GB of RAM. Yay!
Seems like it was entirely the MSI motherboard that was keeping my from using the extra 2 sticks of RAM. That's OK, though. MSI wiped themselves off my hardware approval list, and Asus is back on. (Had some issues almost a decade ago with their motherboards and cards.)
Seems like it was entirely the MSI motherboard that was keeping my from using the extra 2 sticks of RAM. That's OK, though. MSI wiped themselves off my hardware approval list, and Asus is back on. (Had some issues almost a decade ago with their motherboards and cards.)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM
So, here's my latest quandary in dealing with PCs: I bought another 2GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM to install in my PC. When it arrived, I installed it and tried to boot up the PC. No dice. The BIOS sees it just fine, but Vista 32 Home Premium was not booting. In fact, as soon as the post completes, the screen goes black, and that's all she wrote. Tried to boot Vista in safe mode, it hangs at crccheck loading. Every time.
No problem, I thought. I want Vista 64 anyway. So, I ordered the 64-bit version of Home Premium from MS. It arrived yesterday.
After a gruelling install (Thanks so much for that, Microshaft...) I ran in to the exact. Same. F**king. Issue.
Now, I have done my research, and it seems quite a few people have this issue as well, and people with other motherboards are having similar issues.
I have tried installing the MS patch KB9297777 with no luck. I tried backing down the RAM timings from 4-4-4-12.
I scoured the web today, and tonight I am going to try a few remaining options before I go ballistic. In the BIOS, I am going to attempt to change the RAM voltage to 2.2. (It's already upped to 2.1 per manufacturers specs.) Then I'm going to make sure it's running at 667Mhz as opposed to its 800 rating. (A memory limitation of current chipsets, apparently, is that they can't run 4 sticks at the rated speed.)
I will, of course, post the results here, in the hopes that if I can fix this, I can help others who are having this very irritating issue.
System Specs:
MSI K9N SLI Platinum motherboard (NVidia 570 SLI)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM (4 x 1GB)
EVGA 8800GTS 640 MB
X-FI ExtremeMusic
BFG PhysX card
Killer NIC M1
Hiper 580W PSU
UPDATE:
Nothing has worked. I even tried removing everything from the system but the CPU, RAM, and HDD, but nothing will cause Vista 64 to boot while there are 4 sticks of RAM on this motherboard. I'm sorry folks, I have no fix for this.
Instead, I gave up and ordered an ASUS Crosshair 590 SLI motherboard. Lots of people have great luck with 4GB of RAM and this board, so I am hoping I do too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131593
No problem, I thought. I want Vista 64 anyway. So, I ordered the 64-bit version of Home Premium from MS. It arrived yesterday.
After a gruelling install (Thanks so much for that, Microshaft...) I ran in to the exact. Same. F**king. Issue.
Now, I have done my research, and it seems quite a few people have this issue as well, and people with other motherboards are having similar issues.
I have tried installing the MS patch KB9297777 with no luck. I tried backing down the RAM timings from 4-4-4-12.
I scoured the web today, and tonight I am going to try a few remaining options before I go ballistic. In the BIOS, I am going to attempt to change the RAM voltage to 2.2. (It's already upped to 2.1 per manufacturers specs.) Then I'm going to make sure it's running at 667Mhz as opposed to its 800 rating. (A memory limitation of current chipsets, apparently, is that they can't run 4 sticks at the rated speed.)
I will, of course, post the results here, in the hopes that if I can fix this, I can help others who are having this very irritating issue.
System Specs:
MSI K9N SLI Platinum motherboard (NVidia 570 SLI)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM (4 x 1GB)
EVGA 8800GTS 640 MB
X-FI ExtremeMusic
BFG PhysX card
Killer NIC M1
Hiper 580W PSU
UPDATE:
Nothing has worked. I even tried removing everything from the system but the CPU, RAM, and HDD, but nothing will cause Vista 64 to boot while there are 4 sticks of RAM on this motherboard. I'm sorry folks, I have no fix for this.
Instead, I gave up and ordered an ASUS Crosshair 590 SLI motherboard. Lots of people have great luck with 4GB of RAM and this board, so I am hoping I do too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131593
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