...because of my stupid mistakes.
Ok, so a few weeks ago I decided to help out my fiance's family and install Win2k on all their computers.
Mistake 1: didn't back up future mother-in-law's email. She got kinda upset, and I felt *really* bad about it, but I think she still loves me.
Also, one of their computers died during the whole round, so I decided to give them my christmas present early and build them a new computer.
So I order the parts... motherboard, cpu, power supply, memory, cpu cooling...
Mistake 2: Trying to fit new parts in a Dell case
I get everything in and realize 2 things: 1) cable for the front switch panel doesn't fit into the motherboard, and 2) the motherboard back panel (peice of aluminum that goes around the ports in the back) doesn't fit.
Mistake 3: modifying the switch (with a drill) to fit the motherboard properly. Don't get me wrong, this actually turned out ok and the switch worked... and if all else failed I had a few extra (Dell) switch panels, but I wouldn't recommend doing this.
It's at this point that I realize the motherboard doesn't have a built-in speaker, though it does have a place to plug in a speaker... the Dell motherboard had a cute little button speaker actually mounted onto the motherboard.
Make that Mistake 4: no internal speaker. I figured... why would I need a speaker? it's all going to work out because I'm a *genious* and it'll all come together. In the back of my mind I thought to myself "hey, if Dell can do that, maybe a fine mb company like... uh... PCChips can make one so small I can't even see it. HA!
So I put everything together and plug it in and hit the button. Fans whir, leds flash, but there is no screen output, and no beep. So much for my "super small internal speaker" theory.
I worry with it for a week, with the same thing every time. Eventually I break down and buy a case, which arrives shortly before I'm off to visit my fiance in atlanta. So I get home monday and move everything to the new case (minus the aluminum peice for the motherboard, which I have "modified" out of shape...
Mistake 5: "Modifying" the aluminum plate that came with the motherboard to try and make it fit on a dell case. Actually, this should go before #3, but whatever.
The new parts fit in just fine... the switch fits perfectly, and it even came with a speaker to plug in.
So I move the stuff over, plug it all in, and hit the switch. Fans whirr, leds work (except the HD and activity leds were switched... an easy fix), no output to the screen, but this time I get beeps! beeeeeep (pause) beeeeeeep (pause) beeeeeeep (pause)... So I look on the 'net about "Award Bios POST codes". I notice that all the other bios's have several codes, nice and descriptive, but Award has only 2 codes, one of which is: "Any other beeps: RAM problem".
Nice. Brand new RAM and it's bad. So, on a hunch, I go to newegg.com and check the info on the parts I ordered. The motherboard supports up to DDR266, which I knew... then I look at the ram and one thing hits me right away: "DDR333".
Crap. I'm an idiot.
So that's why I'm bashing my skull into the computer screen right now... but hey! Live and learn (and then get Luvs... wait, what???). Next time I'm sure I'll do much better.
Game Addiction: Any game I can play on this new system when I get it up and running. I deserve that at least before I pass it off to my fiance's family.