Hdd Question

[JDGreen92086]

Okay, I built my pc and my video card will arrive tomorrow so I can plug in my monitor. In the meantime, I need to know, since I bought an OEM Hdd, what will I need to partition it(or whatever)? Any software or anything? I don't know how this will work so I'm hoping to find answers.

EDIT: Don't mean to be a noob, but I am

 

[Dark_Sniper*]

dude OEM jsut mean that it didnt come with software thats all you dont need to partition it unless you need to when your installing windows.

 

[Tboltness]

Yeah, OEM is an acronym for Original Equipment Manufacturer.

 

[diesel2005]

thanks i will never buy a oem

 

[sheky]

yes you will need to partition, but dont let that word scare you if youre a newb, try installing your OS (windows?) it will ask you if what hd you want to partition, blah blah and do it for you.

 

[JDGreen92086]

Yeah I'm going to be running XP Home, so all I do is put in the xp cd, restart, and then do what I need to do, then it will partition for me me, correct?

The reason I asked if I would need software that came with the hdd(if there is any...) is because I saw on a site that said it needed 2 files(cant remember name) to partition or something like that. I know I don't make a damn bit of sense, but thanks for the help.

 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

Nothing wrong with oem. Just means you don't get a fancy box, manual, or extra content cds. You get just the product. It's cheaper, and if you don't care for another cardboard box you need to recycle then OEM's for you.

Yeah, All you really need to do is hit enter a few times, windows xp install should do it all for ya. If you wanted to get a little more technical, what I like to do is partition my comp HD space into 2 sections: OS and everything else. I make like a 5GB partition as the C: and that's where you'll install windows xp, maybe a few programs like m$ office. Then I make other partitions so I have a D hd myself that holds all my internet downloads n' games. That way if my C: partition is messed up I don't need to traffic all my stuff, especially for me since my D: is on a separate HD.

 

[JDGreen92086]

I'm having a bit of trouble. I got my video card finally, put it in, and got everything inside the pc organized and out of the way of the airflow, and then i turned on the pc. I went into the bios, and set my combo drive(Cd-Rom in bios) as 1st in the boot order(or whatever). Then the Hdd(Hard Disk), then the cd rom again(i have 1 combo, 1 dvd-rom. Is that configuration right?
The other trouble. I put in my xp home cd, it did boot, but then when I selected #1, which was Install new, or something to that effect, it came up with an error that I didnt write down(and wish i would have). I'll do it again so I can see the error. From what I remember, it said It shut down windows in order to prevent my hardware from being damaged, and that if this is the first time I've seen this messege try and restart and try again. I don't know what to do now, im stuck. I don't think I skipped any steps.

One again I did the follow:
1. pc started up, it checked hardware etcc...
2. went to bios
3. set boot order: cd-rom, hard disk, cd-rom.
4. restart the computer
5. put in xp home disk
6. it auto-installed preliminary files, selected new install
7. got error

EDIT: Error is: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Technical information: STOP: 0x0000000A(0x00000005, 0x00000002
0x00000001, 0x807cb449)

I recognize that damn code from somewhere.... it looks SO DAMN FIMILIAR..... I know I've seen it before, but I can't remember where. Imma search for it though. Any help btw?

EDIT AGAIN: Someone else had a problem with this error while using a p2p client. I read it, but I didnt see anything that would help.

JESUS... ANOTHER EDIT: Found this when I searched google: 'irql not less or equal error usually indicates a hardware problem, normally the memory or video. As I can vouch for the ATA Rage 128 video card and Windows XP its pointing to-wards a memory problem. Windows XP is known to be more fussy about memory than previous versions"

I pull from that paragraph that I should try 1 stick of 512 ram at a time?...................

 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

Memory he says, but he mentioned a vidcard.. the ati rage. Hmm, maybe you should check into trying another vidcard for now. After installing everything you could change the vidcard out into your new one.. unless it would be defective which would be bad. You could also try the 1 stick of ram at a time too. Those are high quality ram sticks so they should be fine.. but yes, turn off dual channel, try 1 at a time.

 

[JDGreen92086]

Okay, the dual channel slots for the dfi are 2 and 4, the orange slots. I took out the ram from slot 4 and windows xp got farther, but not I have to enter windows 98, nt, 95, or one of the others? What the hell? Now do I have to go buy 98 or one of the others?? Dammit.

Btw, what should I do with this ram stick, you think it may be good to install xp, then my ram stick and run a memory test on it? Or should I just RMA it to newegg? Would I have to return BOTH 512 sticks or just the one defective one?