GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

1. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG May 13, 2004

2. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Agenda – May 13, 2004 • 7:00 – 7:05 Administration • 7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Your New System (2003 Update): 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 - a resource for computer users and potential computer users • Is NOT – a cheap way to get your computer built or repaired (contact the GSBUG Daytime Hardware SIG) • Logs – Random Access/Q&A (First Come…)

4. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Administration (continued): • Presentation materials (through May 2004) will be posted at: http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm • Prior presentation materials also posted. • Materials from presentations to the Orange Coast IBM PC Users Group (OCIPUG) from June 2004 and beyond will be posted at http://www.edscustomcomputers.com/ welcome_to_the_ocipug_hardware_s1.htm

5. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Drivers,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 (2003): OS, Driver, Test (cont.) • The Process • Assemble and review your software and associated docs • Decide whether to FDISK your drive; as applicable, run FDISK and/or set the BIOS to boot from CD • Install the operating system (OS) – we’ll install XP/Pro • 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 BEFORE the OS installation – ignore the resulting numbers.

9. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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, set your BIOS to boot from Floppy, and run FDISK now.

10. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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” prompt 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 when prompted.

11. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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, or delete the current partition and create a new one. Proceed accordingly. NOTE: Even if “C” is not the selected partition, some XP base files will still be loaded into it.

12. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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 a Win 95/98/Me boot floppy – i.e., you may lose the opportunity to recover files from a damaged XP installation.] 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, Test (cont.) • Installing the Operating System (OS) (continued) • Enter your computer’s “name” (max 15 characters, no specials, no spaces); if desired, enter & confirm an Administrator’s password; “Next”. • At “Date and Time Settings” select “Next” • XP will continue to load files and set up the system. • At “Network Settings” select “Next” • At “Workgroup or Computer Domain” select “Next” • XP will continue to load files and set up the system, then auto-reboot again – no need to hit a key.

15. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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. Note the BIOS version (write it down). • You have now completed OS installation.

17. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Your New System (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, 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 (2003): OS, Driver, Test (cont.) • That concludes this series. During the series we have: • Evaluated options and developed a plan (configuration), • Considered how to source and sourced 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 • Intel released additional Itanium 2 processors – 1.4GHz w/ 3MB L3 ($1172) and 1.6GHz w/ 3MB L3 ($3408). Simple line extensions. • Core Logic (chipsets) • ATI released the RADEON 9000 PRO & RADEON 9100 PRO Northbridges and IXP320 Southbridge (for Intel Pentium 4 processors) – appears minor changes for the NB (still DX 8.1, core speed unchanged; 9000 PRO is only single channel DDR); SB supports 5 PCI slots and adds 2 USB and 2 SATA.

23. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Core Logic (chipsets) (continued) • NVIDIA released the nForce3 250 and 250Gb (for AMD 64 processors) – single chip; 1600MT HyperTransport; AGP/PCI lock (allows locking of the AGP/PCI buses when overclocking the processor); 4 SATA RAID; GbE LAN MAC w/ the 250Gb • NVIDIA also released the nForce2 Ultra 400Gb and 400R (for AMD Athlon XP) – 400Gb adds GbE LAN MAC and SATA RAID support, 400R adds SATA RAID support to nForce2 Ultra 400. Simple feature update.

24. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Core Logic (chipsets) (continued) • VIA released the K8T800 Pro (for AMD 64 processors) – adds AGP/PCI lock capability to the K8T800. • System RAM – nothing new • Motherboards • Gigabyte announced the GA-K8NSNXP motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 processors (based on NVIDIA nForce3 250 core logic).

25. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Graphics processors & cards • 3Dlabs announced “Wildcat Realizm” technology (150 million transistor VPU plus Vertex/Scalability Unit (VSU)) and the coming release of Wildcat Realizm-based graphics cards. Cards will be available in AGP and PCI Express configurations (Q3 ’04). • ATI released the RADEON X800 VPU and RADEON X800 XT and X800 Pro cards (AGP 8X) – 520/475MHz core, GDDR3 memory. Card level detail not posted. No partner cards announced.

26. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Graphics processors & cards (continued) • Matrox announced the “Quad Information Display (QID) Pro” card – PCI, 256MB RAM, supports four displays. • NVIDIA released the GeForce6 series of GPUs – GeForce 6800 Ultra and GeForce 6800. Cards announced by AOpen, Leadtek, and PNY (all are AGP 8X). • NVIDIA released the Quadro FX 4000 high-end workstation GPU. Cards announced by regional partners (PNY in the US) – 256MB GDDR3 RAM.

27. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Hard Drives • Maxtor released the Atlas 15K II Ultra320 SCSI series – 36-147GB, 15K rpm, 8MB cache, 98MB/sec max sustained transfer rate (world’s highest), 1.4 million hour MTTF; avail Q3. • Maxtor released the Atlas 10K V Ultra320 SCSI series – 73-300GB, 10K rpm, 8MB cache, 89MB/sec max sustained transfer rate, 1.4 million hour MTTF; avail Q3. • Hard Drive Controllers – nothing new.

28. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Other Drives • HP released (when?) the 420ve (external – USB/1394) and 420i internal (ATAPI) dual-mode DVD burners – 8(4)/4/12/24/10/40. • Iomega released the REV drive – internal (ATAPI) and external (USB) interface, uses 35GB removable “disks” (90GB compressed); $380 and $400, respectively, w/ one “disk”, $60/disk. Autoloaders and other interfaces to be available later in ’04. Target – SMB tape drive replacement.

29. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Other Drives (continued) • Iomega released an external combo FDD w/ 7-in-1 card reader, USB 2.0 (“full speed”, i.e., 12Mbsec), $60 list. • Lite-On released the SOHW-812S (internal) and SOHW-812SX (external, USB), dual mode DVD burners - 8/4/12/40/24/40. • Pioneer announced the DVR-S706 DVD burner – 8X, dual mode, external (USB &1394). Spec not available.

30. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Hardware News (continued) • Sound processors & cards • Intel released “High Definition Audio” (HD Audio) spec v.1.0. Intended to replace AC97 for integrated audio; supports 192kHz/32-bit, multi-channel audio. • Modems & NICs – nothing new. • Chassis & power supplies – nothing new.

31. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Random Access (Q&A)

32. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG • Recap, Preview, and Close • Recap • Preview • N/A – the May 2004 meeting is the last meeting of this GSBUG SIG. • Close (please police up the area)