Help with Sandra 07 diag

[deficit]

Hello, I'm new to the board - I usually do not use forum communities to get answers to my questions, but this seems like a knowledgeable community with a lot to offer, and I may have a lot to offer as well. Anyway, on with the question, right?

I ran Si Software Sandra Lite (v.2007.2.11.17), and I was somewhat surprised by the results of the analysis. It appears to have lots of suggestions as to what I can do to improve the health and performance of my PC (hardware), and aside from the obvious ("Your motherboard can support faster processors, a processor upgrade is recommended", and "You have 2 memory slots open, a system memory upgrade is recommended"), there were some things which seemed like they could and should be changed, but I have no knowledge as to how. These things are as follows (direct from report):

Warning 2533: Disabled host controllers are present. Check BIOS settings.

Notice 224: SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.

Tip 2536: System has no SMBus/i2c/BMB bus support.

Tip 207: System BIOS : A SMBIOS/DMI 2.3 or later compliant BIOS is recommended. Check for a BIOS update.

Tip 212: System BIOS : BIOS can be shadowed so check whether it is.

Warning 235: CPU 1 [Processor 0, Core 0, Thread 0] : Vcore less than rated minimum. Check Vcore setting!

Tip 1202: PCI Bus 0 (1/1x PCIClk) : Nvidia Corp C51 Memory Controller 0 : Device does not support bus mastering.

Warning: Motorola SM56 Speakerphone Modem : Port in use. (I don't use dial-up, I use cable)

Error: DirectSound Devices : Modem #0 Line Playback (emulated) (WaveOut 1) : DX-DS E8878000A

Details about my system:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, 2.21GHz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD R02-B1
System: Acer AST160
Motherboard: Acer FC51GM
Memory: 447MB DDR-SDRAM 2x 200MHz (400MHz data rate)
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6100 (onboard, 256MB shared)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3200827AS (186GB) (NTFS)
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2)
Northbridge: nVidia nForce 410/430


I have updated all of my drivers (video card, northbridge, processor, audio, flashed BIOS) on 12/17, and still getting these errors. Anyone know how to fix any or all of this??

Before you say it, I know - I would have much rather built my own PC with an Athlon 64 FX-62 or Core 2 Extreme, Asus mobo with SLi or Crossfire, and a pair of GeForce 7950's or Radeon X1900's along with a fancy gaming case and 2 500GB HDD's, but this acer was $400.00 LOL (fixed budgets suck, I need a better job). Anyhow, I do plan to upgrade to at least a GeForce 7900 and 2-4GB PC3200 (hopefully Corsair TwinX). Until then, how can I fix these issues with little to no cash investment?

Thanks very much in advance for any help!

-Deficit

 

[deficit]

I almost forgot to mention that I have also been into the BIOS settings to look into some of the issues which indicated that they could be changed in the BIOS (disabled host controllers issue, no SMBus/i2c/BMB bus support, BIOS can be shadowed, Vcore less than rated minimum), and saw no way of changing any of the settings listed (some I could not even find, others such as vcore settings appeared to be uneditable).

As for: "SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate", "A SMBIOS/DMI 2.3 or later compliant BIOS is recommended. Check for a BIOS update.", "Nvidia Corp C51 Memory Controller 0 : Device does not support bus mastering.", a BIOS upgrade did not seem to correct these issues.

Finally, for the modem errors, since I don't even use dial-up, I disabled the dial-up modem in hardware manager and still continue to get these errors.

-Deficit

 

[sPlAtOiD]

I have ran Sisoft and some of the things it reports are just generic. Like DMI may be inaccurate I seen that on about 8 builds that I've done .
I would suggest if your system is running good don't even worry about what this program tells you.
Parts of the program is handy for system info but that part of that program is misleading.

 

[deficit]

I kinda figured that might be the case. Thanks for the reply, makes me feel alot better!

-Deficit