xbox360-pc questions

D

Deadman_ny

Spaceman
Ok, got a cheap oras my aunt would say "resonable" Xbox360 off ebay. Runs great and stuff, or i guess it would if i had an idea of what I was doing. :) Got to get a memory card. there are 3 USB ports. Now can I hook up an extra 500gig external HDD to the system and save stuff to there or do I have to get an xbox drive for that purpose? Hooked a flash drive reader to the sysem and could look at the pics on the SD card. Going to set up a Live account later.
Just got a new quad core comuter too so I want to play with that a little. Thought that I'd just rip my HD out of this system and put in the new computer...works at first but when windows vista loads and the "Microsoft Corperation" logo with the green scroll bar goes away a blue screen comes up for 1/2 a second then the comuter restarts. :( tried loading under safe mode too but same thing happens.:mad: I don't want to reistall windows again then get everything the way I like it. Any idea whats happening there guys? Only thing I can think of is the different chipsets in the motherboard is screwing something up. But why wouldn't it at least run Safe Mode at least???
 
You can stream video and music to the 360 from your PC, but I'm pretty sure (at least without hacking into it) that you need some kind of local storage for the 360. THe memmory card will be good enough for saving games and stuff. A 50MB one is all you need for Arena even. But for most downloads it's pretty much worth getting the harddrive. Usually it's not worth getting the core systems because once you buy the Harddrive and some of the other features you might as well have paid for the premium version. THough that might not be an issue if you got a good enough deal on ebay.
 
Unfortunately you can't plug in an ordinary external hard drive and use it to store games/saves/etc. -- that stuff is all proprietary (they don't want to make it easy for people to copy.) USB hard drives can be used to play movies, music and pictures on the Xbox, but that's it. If at all possible, pick up a 20 gigabyte Xbox drive -- you can make do with a memory card, but you'll lose a lof of the system's capabilities.
 
Deadman_ny said:
Thought that I'd just rip my HD out of this system and put in the new computer...works at first but when windows vista loads and the "Microsoft Corperation" logo with the green scroll bar goes away a blue screen comes up for 1/2 a second then the comuter restarts. :( tried loading under safe mode too but same thing happens.:mad: I don't want to reistall windows again then get everything the way I like it. Any idea whats happening there guys? Only thing I can think of is the different chipsets in the motherboard is screwing something up. But why wouldn't it at least run Safe Mode at least???
Click to expand...

Perhaps the problem is in one of your memory (RAM) chips? I ran into a similar problem recently.
 
You might get really lucky, but Windows doesn't usually survive a complete hardware swap. You'll need to reinstall.
 
eh, had 4gig of ram installed on the system. Did the long boot (let cmos check memory) and did windows memory checker. Tried Windows boot fixer a few times with no luck. Motherboards are completly different so I doubt that I'll be able to just swap HD's. Got windows Vista Home Premium (legal ;)) going to just go to the local computer store and ask if there is a way to get Vista to work on the system and hopefully save my installed programs and crap.. Pain in the arse reinstalling EVERYTHING!!! Going to be sweet system though with duel Nvidia 8800's, 8 gig ram, 1 tb HDD, 8 usb 2.0, 2 DVD burners, and quad core 2.4 gig Intel cpu. :D Be ready when they launch the new Wing commander game at least...I hope.;)
Right now I've got a duel 3 gig intel and single 8800 nvidia vid card and can play pretty much anything maxed. Kinda screwed myself a couple of weeks ago though. Thought what the hell is wrong with my system...running funny. Went to install a LAN card and saw my cpu heatsink was full of dust.... runs alot better. After over a year...never thought to look, getting old you know and this new fangle tech... checklist of monthy stuff to check, and I get to use my air compressor for something else now. :D
Gunna go to store for hd for Xbox tomarrow probly. Only about $100 for 120gig or so hd. been playing around with the system. Wireless reciever I got with it is cool so I don't have to run 50' a LAN wire.
Ran a couple of vids and slideshows off an external hdd; neat. :)
 
Do a repair installation, that may fix it. The problem is that windows is trying to boot using chipset drivers for another chipset. This is, in general, not going to work.
 
Deadman_ny said:
Going to be sweet system though with duel Nvidia 8800's, 8 gig ram, 1 tb HDD, 8 usb 2.0, 2 DVD burners, and quad core 2.4 gig Intel cpu. :D Be ready when they launch the new Wing commander game at least...I hope.;)
Click to expand...

If you haven't already made the purchases, I would recommend a couple slightly different things. There's a 3.0 dual core Core 2 now that I would take over the quad 2.4. I would also just stay with 4 gigs of ram and leave yourself the option to add more later. When you reach the point when 8 gigs of ram is actually useful, it'll be much cheaper. I might also hold off on the 2nd DVD burner and get a Blu-ray burner. Those are coming down in price quickly.
 
You also need a 64 bit Windows to use 8 gigs of ram. That alone is reason enough to stick with 4 gigs.
 
Sh*t, didn't know that you can only have 4 gig of ram with a 32bit version of Vista. Thought that if the motherboard would suppoert it...That might be another reason why it wouldn't load windows. 8 gig is overkill since this system only really seems wo use about 2-3gig of the 4 installed at any given time.

I already had the dvd drives from other systems around the house. Just popped them into the computer to make it pretty. :) Was thinking about Blue Ray, and like you said wait until the tech comes down. The system I have now is a 3.0 gig dual core 2. So basically I just bought a slower motherboard and cpu...just with more PCI-E, USB and a bigger case, and power supply.:( the only thing I bought was the case, CPU, cpu fan ($340 total). Everything else was stuff I have laying around the house. The second Nvidia 8800 video card came off a guy on ebay for $120 with shipping. I'm running that on this comp now so I know it works.

I tried doing a repair installation but it says I have to do it from INSIDE Windows but that isn't going to happen. Took it to the local store, and they're booked until mid next week so I'll screw around and see if I can do a clean install of windows and then try to hunt down all the installed programs.
 
Removed the additional memory (4 gig now) and then tried to do a clean install of windows XP (service pack 2). Everything was installing ok until the computer restarted. XP gets past the hardware detection and then around the "16 minutes remaining" the computer restarts and it does the same LOOP that vista did with the crash on the blue sceeen with the error telling me to remove any new hardware. Besides the video card and the RAM, and the HDD nothing else is installed. Tried disableing all the onlboard stuff (sound, LAN, USB) nothing different.
I was reading the book that came with the motherboard it says "if you install fur 1 gig memory moduals, the system may only recognise less then 3 gig because the address space appears on windows XP 32 bit operating system which does not suport Physical Address Extention (pae). So the max memory for winXP is 3 gig? the memory i'm using at the time is DDR2-667/533/400 1 gig sticks and the motherboard supports DDR2-800/667/533 will this cause the problem?
Now...with the risk of asking a dumb question (i have lots of those) What is the difference between Vista 32 and 64 bit? More pretty lights?
 
OMFG, went to ASUS website and found that you can't have more then 2gig installed when installing and there is a patch for windows. Gunna try that.
Any suggestions? You guys are smart.
Asus P5N-E SLI motherboard. havn't installed second video card yet...why bother if system won't run. For that matter i'm using an older nvidia 6500 rigt now.
 
I believe that if you've got 4GB of RAM installed on Windows XP 32-bit or Vista 32-bit, your maximum addressable memory will be 3.5GB. The install problem you described could be motherboard related as your search suggested: some chipsets and motherboards often require the latest BIOS updates if you're populating all of your RAM slots, particularly with large density modules such as the 4 x 2GB config you're using, so checking the Asus site for your motherboard is a good idea.

Another possibility if you've still got that XP install problem, would be to make sure that you load your SATA HDD drivers (if using a SATA drive) at the correct point in the install (you'll be prompted to press F6 at some point IIRC), especially if your HDD is set to ACHI mode in the BIOS. The same applies for a Vista Install.

Anyway, sounds like a sweet rig. Unless you absolutely have to use XP, I'd really recommended picking up one of the 64-bit versions of Vista so you can take advantage of the full 8GB RAM.
 
It worked!!!
Funny thing too. The FAQ also stated that the older vid card i had plugged in could also cause problems...nvidia 7600. Put the 8800 in and well. :)
I'm posting from the new system. Ripped out the extra memory and started the computer back up. XP continued installing (10x faster then before aswell!!) Just had to install the drivers for the rest of the onboard stuff (crap that came with motherboard cd). Going to try to update to windows Vista now then try to use the file xfer program that comes with windows to move stuff from other computer to this one if Vista installs ok.
The drive is a SATA (250gig) was going to use the 2 500gig drives out of that external WD network drive in RAID for a 1 TB (they're both SATA and already set up as RAID). Thought better of it though and decieded to run that 1 tb as a D drive (secound) to put crap on.
If Vista installs ok.
I checked the specs for the 3gig duel against the 2.4 quad and the specs for the quad wre almost double...then again numbers don't always count. Or maybe I just read what Chris said wrong. Old system cpu was one of those intel VIIV
Wish me luck and thanks guys. :D
 
Got Vista to install along with the two vid cards and all that fun stuff. Go to restart Windows after setting up vid cards...Windows wants to activate. Ok np I'm thinking since the old PC is sitting on the floor gutted.
Now it's still leagal if i'm only using Vista on one computer right??? Thought since the other PC is a HP system with XP preinstalled I'd just restore the PC back to factory installed XP and install Vista on the new PC.
Mind you the version of Vista Home Premium is an UPGRADE. When I got the HP computer I upgraded it to Vista. I have a full version of XP...which I installed first then upgraded right to Vista after reducing mem to 2 gig (earlier post). Why won't it let me validate? Is there a way to prove that previose upgrade from my old PC to Vista is no longer on a working PC???
I can surf the web right now, thats it.:( Aside from the validation which I never even dreamed of being a problem comp is up and running. arg...going to power down and see if I can at least install 4 gig of ram without everything screwing up again.

I've got another copy of Vista Home Basic...Bought that first when I tried to upgrade the HP (with preinstalled XP) but it said i couldn't upgrade that version of XP with Vista Home Basic...so I went and got the Home Premium. Before I just upgraded to Vista so I could play Halo 2. They already f*cked me on that and I just want the OS to work!!!:(
 
YAY!!! After an hour on the phone with a guy in India it works!:D
Besides being able to put 8 gig in the system, what is the difference between Vista 32bit and 64 bit? Does the 64bit version use up 3 gig of memory at idle instead of the 600meg the 32bit version does?
 
Wow, it's amazing. Loaded some random pics for encoding into dvd and it took a quarter of the time it did before!
The memory is pissing me off a little still. Have 4 gig installed but 1 gig is eaten up just from the onboard stuff but still the performance is sweet. Added 3 chassis fans I stripped from older systems to help suck the heat out. Think I really screwed up on the power supply big time. There simply arn't enough 'plugs' since the video cards need 2 each, and they're suposed to be dedicated lines from the supply. Best I can do 1 dedicated line per video card right now with the rig I got.:( Nvidia manual said that's bad. Will this 'hurt' the cards/power supply? Power supply seems to heat up pretty fast and with my luck it'll burn out. Hopefully AFTER I finish WC2.;)
Sorry for bugging you guys but any imput will help. Last time I built a system was, god..1998.
Until bout a month ago I didn't know what RAID, SATA...I'm getting old. And if you havn't noticed I don't seen to learn anything unless I screw it up, start over, screw it up again...:)
 
The primary difference between Vista x86 (32-bit) and Vista 64-bit is the addressable memory space: Vista 64 allows up to 128GB RAM (with Vista Ultimate) and 16GB currently with Home Premium 64. The other benefit is that your 64-bit Core 2 or Athlon 64 gets to run in a 64-bit operating environment, and as more users transition to a 64-bit CPU & OS and the programming emphasis shifts there, we should see general performance improvements over 32-bit processing.

At the moment, the only drawback to going with a 64-bit OS, is that you won't be able to run 16-bit software (it should be unlikely that most people run any now anyway) and general 64-bit driver support, but that has improved significantly since Vista's release. All the main PC components have pretty regular 32-bit and 64-bit driver releases, the only problem you might have is getting a 64-bit driver for an old or obscure peripheral. Regarding your picture/video editing, well your new system should shine there! Your original Core 2 Quad would have crunched through those tasks in particular even faster, but if left at its stock clocks (2.4GHz) would be a slower gaming proposition than your current 3GHz Core 2 Duo.

Which Power Supply do you have? The PSU is a pretty critical component in a high-end PC these days, especially if you're using beefy GPUs in SLI or CrossFire along with a couple of HDDs and a 100W+ CPU. The power requirements that nVIDIA and ATI give for their Multi-GPU solutions are usually conservative, but it's one of those areas where you really should invest in a decent PSU lest it overload and a bunch of expensive items (GPUs, mobo, CPU, etc) become unusuable. Better to have a more capable PSU that runs your system comfortably at <80% utilization at load rather than one that really struggles at its threshold all the time.

The Tech Report have done some good PSU roundups recently, submitting them to their custom "The Beast" PSU meter. I reckon something from this roundup should do you well, such as the Corsair HX 620. Alternatively, they've also done a more recent high-end enthusiast roundup, but I don't think your system really needs one of those bad boys yet! Anyway, good luck. :)
 
My PSU is a Delta 550ATX 500watt. The heat coming from the fan exaust was rather hot compared to other computers. Little while ago I tried to play Bioshock maxing out the graphics. About 30 minutes into it the comuter just shut down... After it just gave long beeps (like if you memory isn't there). I was freaking out as you can imagine. Took another power supply out of another system and gave the cumputer a minute to cool off. Hooked the 'loose' power supply to the 2 vid cards and the chassis fans and pushed both power buttons at same time at power up. System started right up and the fan exaust from the PSU was barely luke warm like it should be and after a little 'testing' with Halo2...Bioshock everything seems ok. I'm guessing the PSU was just over taxed and just shut down because it overheated. Minumum recomended requirments for the Nvidia 8800 is 400w power supply, though the documentation doesn't say how much the card it'aself needs. No way it uses 400w and used the resoning that f the min requirment was 400w...go a little higher for additional crap. I didn't even add the other HDD's or the second DVD. Hate having the computer open and cobbed, more crap can go wronge with a 2-year-old running around. :s
How much power do I need all togeather if I'm planning on 2 HDD's, 2 DVD, 2 vid cards, motherboard, 4 chassis/cpu fans? I'll try to get to Circut City/Best Buy tomorrow. aparently it's more then 500w/26amp.
I look at the PSU's from the systems here 200w,250, 250, 300w. the 300w one is in my 'old' HP system that I had the Nvidia card in before, but that system ran fine even with the recommended voltage of 400w and I had 2dvd, 2hdd and 3 cpu/chassis fans... So you see why I figured that the 500w PSU would have been fine...? But the motherboard it'self may be using more power then the HP. To be safe i'm guessing a 700w would be plenty.
Found a 750w PSU online at Circut city for $95.
Or this PSU from ebayhttp://cgi.ebay.com/Epsilon-700W-power-supply-ATX-RoHS-SLI-NEW-NR_W0QQitemZ270214257607QQihZ017QQcategoryZ44949QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?
___________
I just had the strangest feeling that somewhere a pirate and a parrot are arguing about me.
And the parrot is winning!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top