GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

1. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG February 13, 2003

2. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Agenda – February 13, 2003 • 7:00 – 7:05 Administration • 7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Your New System: Installing Your OS and Device Drivers; Functional Testing • 8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News • 8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A) • 8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

3. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Administration • Welcome! Please Sign In. • What the SIG is…and is not. • Is – an information resource for computer users and potential computer users • Is NOT – a way to get your computer built or repaired (contact the GSBUG Daytime Hardware SIG) • Log – Random Access/Q&A (First Come…)

4. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Administration (continued): • Presentation materials will be posted at: http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm • Prior presentation materials are also posted.

5. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS & Driver Install; Testing • Givens (from the last meeting) – you have: • Completed the assembly of your system. • Successfully performed a system-level test. • Set up your BIOS (baseline).

6. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS & Driver Install; Testing • The Process • Assemble and review your software and associated docs • Decide whether to FDISK your drive; as applicable, run FDISK and set the BIOS to boot from CD • Install the operating system (OS) – we’ll install XP/Home • Set up Internet access; check for later BIOS and drivers • Install motherboard-based drivers • Install other drivers and utilities • Perform a comprehensive functional test.

7. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Assemble/review your software and associated docs • Operating system – CD and “Product Key” • If you’re new to installing XP, read the section in the manual on the installation process • Motherboard CD and user docs; note driver loading sequence • Adapter card CDs and docs (video, sound, modem, NIC) • “CD” utility CDs and docs (CD-R/-RW, DVD…) • Peripheral CDs and docs (keyboard, mouse, printer…)

8. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • FDISK? • FDISK allows you to ‘clear” the master boot record and, if you want, set up partitions and/or set the drive “active” • With a large hard drive the “numbers” may not “match” • Requires a boot floppy – preferably a Win 98 boot floppy • Since XP (all versions) won’t support setting up an install partition larger than roughly 30GB, if you want to use FAT 32 on a large drive, you’ll also need to format the drive from the Win 98 boot disk – ignore the resulting numbers.

9. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • FDISK? (continued) • If you want to use a drive larger than 30GB under FAT 32, and you don’t have a Win 98 boot disk, borrow one from someone else. Seriously! • I do NOT recommend using free boot disk images available on the web. • If you can’t find a Win 98 boot disk, you’re options are: • Set up XP under NTFS (rather than FAT 32) • Partition the drive during XP installation. • If you’re going to, run FDISK now.

10. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) • If not already set, set the BIOS to boot from CD. • Put the OS CD in your “CD drive” (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD…) and reboot the system. • Watch for the “Press any key to boot from CD” message and hit any key. • If your boot drive is connected to a RAID or SCSI controller, hit F6 when prompted (bottom of the screen) and load the driver from floppy.

11. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • At the “Welcome to Setup” screen, hit Enter. • Wait for the EULA to appear; hold down the “Page Down” key and scroll to the bottom of the page; hit F8 (acknowledges agreement to the EULA). • At the next pause (setup partition screen) you need to accept the identified partition, create a partition in unpartitioned space (even if “C” is not selected, it will still have XP base files loaded), or delete the current partition and create a new one. Proceed accordingly.

12. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • Select your desired file system, NTFS or FAT (FAT 32) – scroll and hit Enter. [I recommend FAT since NTFS partitions cannot be accessed from DOS or a Win 95/98/Me boot floppy.] Hit Enter again to confirm OK to format. • When formatting completes, the operating system files will start to be installed from the CD. • Remove the boot floppy before the system does the first reboot. No need to hit a key during reboot.

13. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • XP will continue to load files. • At one point the screen will go blank as the OS tests for VGA driver. It will only be blank for a moment. • At the “Regional and Language Options” screen select “Next”. • On the next screen enter your “name” and “organization” and click “Next”. • Enter the “Product Key” from your doc package; “Next”.

14. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • Enter your computer’s “name” (15 characters, no specials, no spaces); “Next”. • At “Date and Time Settings” select “Next” • XP will continue to load files and set up the system. • At “Network Settings” select “Next” • XP will continue to load files and set up the system, then auto-reboot again – no need to hit a key. • When asked to, let XP check your video card; OK.

15. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • Select “Next” at “Welcome to Microsoft Windows’. • At the “Internet Connection” screen select “Next” to acknowledge connection through a LAN – or select “direct” if you’ll connect through an ISP and then “Next”. • XP will now attempt to reach Microsoft’s Internet Product Activation server. For our “demo” purposes, we’ll select “No” when prompted, then “Next”. • At the “Who will use?” screen enter the names of users you want to set up – the primary login at the top; “Next”

16. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • At the “Thank You” screen hit “Finish” and XP will proceed to boot to the desktop. • Click anywhere in the open desktop area and restart the system. • During restart enter the BIOS and reset to boot from your boot hard drive. Eject the CD. Save the BIOS settings and Reboot. • You have now complete OS installation.

17. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Set Up Internet Access; Check for… • If XP has identified and installed your NIC, and you have DSL or cable access to your local connection, you should have immediate access to the Internet. • If XP has identified and installed your modem, you should now proceed to log on using your ISP; setup will be required. • Once you’re on the Internet check for the latest BIOS and driver revisions – note the revision “number” for each and exit the Internet.

18. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing Motherboard-Based Drivers • Place the motherboard CD in a drive and let it auto-start. • Depending on the installation program “menu” that’s provided, you may be able to select all the drivers to be installed, or you may need to step through two or more selection “levels”. Start with the top item on the first menu and proceed accordingly. When you are given the option to restart, take the conservative approach and restart each time. If necessary, eject and put the CD back in as many times as are required to get all the drivers loaded. • NOTE: The INF MUST be installed FIRST!!!

19. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Installing Other Drivers and Utilities • Place the associated CD in a drive and let it auto-start. • If the CD does not auto-start or auto-starts with a Readme screen displayed, you may need to install a driver through Device Manager. Read the provided setup or readme doc and proceed accordingly.

20. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • Perform a Functional Test • Check Device Manager to make sure all devices are identified as functional. • Make sure “CD” drives are set to use digital audio (Device Manager/Properties/Properties); test each drive. Make sure “CD” drives read/write their respective media (CD-ROM, CD-R/-RW, DVD…). • Write to and read from your floppy and hard drive(s). • If not already done, and as applicable, test your modem using the “diagnostic” program (access through Device Manager/Modem Properties); connect to the Internet.

21. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System: OS/Driver Install; Test (cont.) • That concludes this series. During the series we have: • Evaluated options and developed a plan (configuration), • Considered how to source our components, • Gone through a two-phase assembly process, and • Installed our operating system and did a functional test. • Now its your turn. Good luck!

22. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News • Processors • AMD released the AMD Athlon MP 2600+ workstation processor – simple line extension. • AMD released 3 Barton processors (Athlon XPs with 512K L2) – the 2500+ (1.86GHz), 2800+ (2.08GHz), and the 3000+ (2.167GHz). Higher “ratings” at lower GHz. 3000+ faster than P4/3.06? Depends. • AMD announced that the first Opterons will be released on April 22 and that Athlon 64 has been pushed out to September (supposedly Barton processor roadmap considered sufficient to hold off Intel until then).

23. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Processors (continued) • VIA released a C3 processor at 1GHz – Nehemiah core, integrated “Padlock” encryption engine. • Core Logic (chipsets) – nothing new • System RAM • Samsung announced 4GB PC2100/PC2700 DDR SDRAM DIMMs, mass production in 2H ’03; 36 chips, .10 micron, 1Gb technology. No spec on site.

24. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Motherboards • Abit released the SI7 – P4/533, SiS R658 Northbridge/SiS 963 Southbridge, support for PC1066 and PC1200 RDRAM, GbE, AGP 8X, SATA, 1394 – first board to support PC1200 RDRAM. No spec on site. • Graphics Processors & Cards • NVIDIA released the Quadro FX 1000 and 2000 GPUs – workstation versions of the recently introduced GeForce FX GPU. 2000-based card/system fastest in all subsets of latest posted SPEC Viewperf 7.0 test results. PNY to distribute cards in the US – both cards have 128MB DDR2 SDRAM and dual DVD-I connectors. Diffs = ?

25. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Hard Drives • Western Digital released new Caviar drives – 80-83GB/platter; capacities of 80, 120, 160, 200, and 250GB. “Special Edition” (8MB cache) versions to start shipping in February. No specs on site. • Western Digital announced the Raptor series of Enterprise-class SATA drives - the world’s first 10,000 rpm IDE hard drive. Only 36GB with an 8MB cache and FIVE (5) year warranty. Targeted as a SCSI replacement at 30% lower price.

26. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Other Drives • Plextor released the PX-504A DVD+R/+RW drive – internal, ATAPI, 4X DVD+R, 2.4X DVD+RW, 16x10x40 CD/RW, 12X DVD-ROM. First DVD product from Plextor. • Yamaha announced it is leaving the CD/CD-RW market. • Sound processors & cards • Creative Labs released the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX – card with external connectivity box and music creation software bundle, $249 ESP.

27. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Modems & NICs – nothing new • Chassis & power supplies – nothing new

28. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Random Access

29. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Recap, Preview, and Close • Recap • Preview • Featured Topic for March 13, 2003 – CPUs: 2003 Update + Overview of System Architecture • Close (please police up the area)