I was thinking this week I'd try installing Mandrake Linux alongside Win98

wOOt! It's up and running, as I'm typing this under Mandrake Linux.

PZ
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Reading: J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King"
Listening To: Sam Roberts - "We Were Born In A Flame"

With the exception, ofcourse, of really old programs that do not modify the registry in any way

Yeah, I suppose that'd be true. I was actually thinking more along the lines of most games though as even many Win32 games don't really do anything with the registry (for example if you reinstall windows and create a shortcut to your previously installed copy of Q3, it'll work fine as all settings are stored in cfg files).

Hope that clears some of the questions you have

Yes it did thank you. Now I get to experiment, as I was thinking this week I'd try installing Mandrake Linux alongside Win98. Wish me luck, I just might need it.

PZ
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Reading: J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King"
Listening To: Sam Roberts - "We Were Born In A Flame"

In win2k, I believe the work around for that was to copy over msconfig from a different version of windows and it worked... i believe this is what i did when i used 2k for a short time

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Love,
Mayor Danm{

... msconfig: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml if you want to control the startup items.

Ant @ The Ant Farm: http://antfarm.ma.cx

It doesn't come up in Win2k though, and I know in Win2k there's an alternative... I always keep forgetting what it's called though

Yes, I had Win2K and was dumb founded by it being gone.

But I did find it, it was something like sysconfig for the command I believe. But it has been awhile! I believe though if I remember correctly, you can find it by going to start/programs/accessories/system tools/ system info
And then when that program comes up, hit the tools menu, it is one of those?

I think? Am I remembering this correctly? And also, was I right about "sysconfig" command line in run?! I am curious now, as I have not had Win2K since XP came out!

_____
Enahs s{

RKone - - Thanks for the SATA advice!

If I'm not mistaken, he's running WinXP, msconfig doesn't exist under the 32bits kernels anymore.

NEIN!
He is running XP, so am I.
It is , it works, trust me.
It is technically called "System Configuration Utility", but msconfig command line runs it.

I stand corrected, thanks Enahs
It doesn't come up in Win2k though, and I know in Win2k there's an alternative... I always keep forgetting what it's called though

Creston

Just out of curiosity, do you have any programs that you use under both OS's? Wouldn't that get a bit tricky as the drive lettering would be different under each OS (ie under 2K it'd be on say drive E, but D under 98)?

Not really tricky, but you DO have to install it under both Operating Systems, otherwise it just won't work. With the exception, ofcourse, of really old programs that do not modify the registry in any way.

I did try to install a program under both OS's on the same partition, same folder etc, once, just to see if that would work. It does actually work, but for safety's sake, if ever I needed the same program installed under both OS's (Never have had any need for it), I'd just install it in different partitions (ie, my backup partition for the Win98 install, and my Data partition for the Win2k install).

Hope that clears some of the questions you have.

Creston

Enahs is right, updating the bios is well worth a try - simple with the Asus Update program.

As for the SATA drive performance, there's no noticeable difference with most drives out there currently. If you go with the expensive WD Raptor (10000 rpm) series, performance is measureably better, but IMHO not noticeably (at least with the 36GB drive, the just-released 73GB version adds TAG support I believe, which should make a difference). I recommend waiting at least another 6 months on SATA, hard drive manufacturers seem to be dragging their heels to maximize profit.

and if going dual-channel will only give a minimal increase, then I'm not sure it's worth it

Well, if it is free, it is worth it! Which if just updating the bios fixes it, very much worth it! The Deluxe version has the same problems as the non-deluxe I quoted (but diff BIOS, so get the right one!).

But did you count the chip modules on the memory? This should be as simple as taking the case cover off, you should not have to remove the actual memory. It is important to know if it has too many chip modules, other wise continuing to play around with it is pointless.

I would first count them, if equal to or less then 8 modules on each side, update the bois. People fear updating the bios, but it is not that bad, and with modern bios very often does it go wrong (if you follow instructions!).

If that does not fix it, I would try one last thing. Slot 1&3 and Slot 2&3 are the ones that run it at the faster speed. If you tried slots 1&3 with no luck, try slots 2&3 instead.

The speed increase is worth it, if it is for free! Just takes you some trouble shooting.

Is it much better? Yes and no, odds are you will not see anymore then 2% at most game performance increase, maybe even none. But in some cases depending on exactly what is going on, you can theatrically get “a hell of a lot more” (scientific term) performance (but not likely).

So count the modules!, update the bios!, and then switch the sockets (if you have not tried that already)!

Get a benchmarking utility (I prefer)
http://download.com.com/3000-2086-10229189.html?tag=lst-0-1
And compare its memory results to what it says memory like yours can/does get, and decide from that point if it is worth it. But like I said, if it cost you nothing but a little bit of troubleshooting to get it running at full spec, it is worth it!



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Enahs s{
This comment was edited on Dec 14, 13:56.

Look at this message board... look at the header... look at the side menus...

this is new, right?

-----------------------------------------
Please move along people. Nothing to see here.

This is just more political-correctness run amok...

I mean, I could understand if it was like in the general symbols section... but come on, it's a real symbol in Chinese (or whatever language it's from, think that's what it was), it has a meaning, and it's in the section of symbols that're of the same language...

What'll be funny is, in 5 years when auto-correct will start changing words that it doesn't like (sorry, you can't type "negro", we'll have to change that for you)

Funny how people bash those who claim the holocaust never happened, then continue acting like it never did. Microsoft is just helping to further that cause.

Thanks Enahs and RKone for the advice. It's the A7N8X *deluxe* version. Before I go to the hassle of upgrading bios or mail-exchanging the memory, I gotta know: will the dual-channel sweetness really be all that sweet? Right now all games are running perfect and fast (also due to a nice FX5900 video card) and if going dual-channel will only give a minimal increase, then I'm not sure it's worth it.

Also, since this mobo can do SATA hard drives, is there a big performance increase utilizing those?

Thanks again for your advice, you guys are great!

Earlier this year I upgraded my components to an A7N8X mobo, an AMD 2700+ CPU (FSB 333) and some Corsair XMS 333 memory - - specifically, two sticks of 256 MB.

Ya got me right before I went to bed.

Ok, Step one

Count the memory modules on the memory. Your memory might have a cool heat sink on the side, but you should be able to look at the edge/side and see. Make sure each side has NO more then 8 memory modules, as your Motherboard does not support memory (in the scweet ass mode) that has more then 16 memory module chips.

Step two if that was not it, check which version of your bios you are running. As every release since the original release all has had memory "fixes" and such.

http://usa.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X

Click Bios tab, and Click BIOS HISTORY at the very top right, see all them wonderful BIOS memory related fixens? Also note that they have not added the latest 2 bios revision fixes in that, which one of them involves around memory! Download the latest one for you appropriate MB version.

Note: You do have plain ole Vanilla A7N8X, not the A7N8X/E/Deulxe/DeluxeE ?

If none of those are it/fix please respond back!


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Enahs s{
This comment was edited on Dec 14, 12:31.

Did anyone else notice that the desk/chair/computer setup in that game is VERY similar (minus a few details) as in the Q3A map "RustFest"?

We sitll play that map at least once a week at work.

Or the first thing you do once you install is hit windows update, and update. If you do not load up any mail software, or visit any naughty sites with a non patched IE, it would be no trouble. Not like once you start windows it sends a signal to the hacker’s database, and they start at you!

Doesn't Blaster just spread itself to random IP addresses? If you don't have the patch, you'll get infected as soon as some infected computer happens to pick your IP address. At least that's my understanding of it.

In case anyone didn't know...

Saddam Hussein has been captured in Iraq...

http://www.cnn.com/

We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.

Anyone know a Kazaa 2.5 link? Im unable to find one

Actually, dietk has just been updated to support kazaa 2.6 (the newest version from kazaa's website).

Sounds Like IP spamming. Try tis...

go to CONTROL PANEL,
then go to ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS,
then go to SERVICES,
then a new windows will appear and show you a list of things then go down and find MESSENGER then right click on it,
then click on STOP
or Use The Drop Down and choose DISABLE. Select OK. all the way out.

ReBoot for Good Measure.

Hope that helps. Works for me.