DaveSimonH

Had a bit of a fun this morning troubleshooting my almost 5yr old PC. It's a media centre/gaming PC, ie. it's hooked up to the same TV I watch blu-rays on etc. Apart from the occasional crash, its basically ran flawlessly since I built it in Summer '14.
 
(TL;DR - I think I've fixed it, skip down to the bottom if you don't want to read my ramblings.)
 
So I turned it on this morning, and the TV had no signal, TV would immediately go into standby mode. Makes testing difficult, so I dug out an old monitor & hooked that up. No signal. Think to myself, must be the graphics card, so I swap to onboard video. Same issue, no signal. Starting to worry now, so open up for quick visual inspection. CPU cooler fan, case fans, GPU fans all spinning, so they are getting power at least. So unplug GPU entirely, no change. At this point I unplug every USB etc. so its just the mouse & kb and then remove a stick of RAM (have 2x 4GB).
Success, it boots to desktop. Before patting myself on the back too hard though, I do a restart and I'm quickly back to desktop. But then I do a full shutdown. Then on power up, back to no signal. Confusion takes hold, and after swapping the 2 sticks between all 4 slots, it keeps failing on a full shutdown/power off. At some point I realise that while I'm mashing the delete key trying to get into the bios, the spare keyboard I'm testing with (Microsoft 600) is missing the Numlock LED indicator, very odd. 
 
So I start googling, and after a few false trails find an old reddit thread. Same issue, same motherboard. So at this point I feel like it's narrowed down to the motherboard. Thread mentions updating bios, but I can't get into bios, even on a restart after RAM shuffling. But my last hope is the Gigabyte App Center. I tried to use it when I first built the PC, but on the original BIOS it never loaded. But I was on F7 now, and it installed and ran this time. So I load it up, install the @ BIOS software and attempt 'Update from Server', it seems to install but keeps it at BIOS F7...
Slightly crushed, at this point I start looking for used z87 & z97 boards, hoping to transfer my old 4670k over. Slim pickings, mostly 'un-tested' listings. So no in my head I'm pricing out a new MB & CPU, and not looking forward to buying another w10 license. Last ditch effort, I move the RAM and then boot up, open Gigabyte's site to see if there are any BIOS after F7. They had F8, F9 & F10c (beta bios), so I downloaded F8 and reopened App Center. This time I selected 'Update from file', and crossed my fingers (I renamed file from a .F8 extension to .bin, not sure if that was necessary). It installed and on a restart, it seemed to now be version F8.
Did a shutdown, and to my surprise this time it managed to get to desktop again. I restarted and pressing delete was immediately taken to the bios.
 
So (knock on wood) it seems to have been fixed for now. But whatever caused the BIOS issue (which it now appears to have been), if it happens again I'll have version F9, then F10c and after that I guess I'll be SOL? The only recent change I can think of was an AMD update to 19.4.1 the other day, but that may just be coincidental timing. 
Hopefully it will last long enough for me to save for a new build. I had been looking at getting a RX 580 to replace my old R9 280, but I guess it would be prudent to save some more cash and just get a new MB, CPU & PSU to got with it. 
 
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TL;DR - PC wouldn't boot, after pulling out hair, I worked out that swapping RAM modules around would enable boot (temporary though, on shutdown it would return to no boot). I eventually fixed it (hopefully it will stick) by upgrading the BIOS version from F7 to F8 via Gigabyte App Center (I couldn't get into the UEFI/BIOS on startup). Fingers crossed it will last long enough for me to save for a new build, and at almost 5yrs old, probably time anyway. 
 
EDIT: I suppose clearing the CMOS could have helped, but isn't the Gigabyte DualBios supposed to be automated? Odd that it didn't swap to the backup BIOS. Was thinking about how my graphics card has a physical BIOS switch, that would have been handy on the MB...

True, except that I could inject malware into it (as if there isn't enough of that natively) and upload it as a torrent.  At least with the checksums you can verify that your download is indeed the legit ISO file.
 
From my own ISO collection :
 
EDIT : removed everything.  After noticing my checksums of the x86+x64 didn't match that of @DaveSimonH, I downloaded new versions to check if my English ones were UK or US English, but none of the checksums match.  It seems like the tool always downloads the latest version.  So checksums are worthless when it comes to Win10 downloads.
 
GG Microsoft !

Might just be an issue with my key, being a w10 preview that they upgraded to Pro, but when I ran that it came up with a 32 digit key. Here's a simple script to show standard 25 digit key, from howtogeek forum;
 
Copy and paste the following into a Notepad window:  
You’ll need to use File -> Save As, change the “Save as type” to “All Files” and then name it productkey.vbs or something similar ending with the vbs extension. We’d recommend saving to the desktop for easy access.   When ran it looks like this;

Yes, you'll have the option to upgrade. And you don't need big usb- the .iso file of Win 10 Pro is somewhere around 3-3.5GB and in fact every 4GB usb flash should be enough. 

Windows 10 Multiple Editions (x64) En-US DVD MSDN
Size 3.80 GB
CRC32: B1A4699E
MD5: 23E397A21A9E01F141C64B7E1260314A
SHA-1: 60CCE9E9C6557335B4F7B18D02CFE2B438A8B3E2
 
 
Windows 10 Multiple Editions (x86) En-US DVD MSDN
Size 2.84 GB
CRC32: 57F04DBD
MD5: 99FEB0F9E7262B7EEFA460840A31B59D
SHA-1: D927A91E1DD7D9C6023D0DA1DBCB16DEFEC5B6C1

nVidia only set the 980ti at 650 dollars because of the FuryX release, not out of the goodness of their hearts and their love of their customers.

That's borderline naive but let's entertain that thought for the sake of discussion: It would take more than a decade before hypothetical benefits of a pure CUDA market could kick in. Consoles are the primary gaming platforms and this gen is barely in it's 2nd year.  
 
Enthusiast part prices would skyrocket and Nvidia would slash it's R&D budget instantly. Or do you believe they would innovate out of goodness of their monopolistic heart?
980ti-1080ti-1180ti incremental 5-10% performance annual increases.
 
I can't believe people are seriously considering this to be beneficial? Since you live in Germany, here is a good example of what happens in a monopoly: NSDAP.

That isn't what happened. What they did was invite the social media people to a pre-launch event. Nowhere does it say they will not be providing samples to reviewers.
zMeul Do you write for the Sun or the Daily Mail? Because your thread title is about as far from the truth as anything that is in those gutter press rags.
 
A thread title that actually has any resemblance to the topic would be "AMD invites select users to pre-release event". Hardly news-worthy.

Posted this in the not-so-active PC section of blu-ray forum, thought I may as well post it here too after making all the links. Some decent deals I've spotted, will probably pick up some of these (GBP & USD prices btw);
 
  -66% Dead Rising 2 Complete Pack - £8.49/$11.21 (includes DR2, DR2: Off The Record & var OTR skill packs)   ______   -50% Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY - £7.49/$9.99 Batman: Arkham City GOTY - £7.49/$9.99 Batman: Arkham Origins (standard) - £7.49/$9.99 Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin - £14.99/$24.99 Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered - £3.49/$4.99 Steamworld Dig - £3.49/$4.99 (soundtrack £0.26/$0.32)   ______   -40% Grow Home - £3.59/$4.79   ______   -25% DIRT Rally (Early Access) - £18.74/$26.24       ************************************************************************************************     Daily/Big Deals - apparently expiring in next 12hrs or so   -75% GTA Collection (GTA3, GTA4 +Eps from Libery City, Vice City & San Andreas) - £8.74/$12.49 Portal 2 - £3.74/$4.99 Wolfenstein: The New Order - £8.74/$14.99       ************************************************************************************************     Speaking of Grand Theft Auto, GTA 5 is on sale too, but the steam discount is pretty poor. However, if you are OK with "Rockstar Games Social Club redemption code" rather than Steam key, GreenmanGaming have a 25% of code that can be used on GTA5, so price would be about £29.99/$44.99   GRAB25-PERCNT-OFFNOW (expires 19th June, 17:00 UTC)     .

Facepalm to everyone saying it is not worth it. Dark Souls is one of the top RPG games in my opinion and yes it may not be the best port, but there is a mod that fixes the resolution and frame rate that takes like 20 seconds to install. I have gotten more than 100 hours of this game, and I payed the full price for the game, and would again. So at 5 dollars I would highly recommend picking it up to try because the game is not for everyone. It has a steep learning curve but once you get past that, it is an amazing game.

This is about the AMD bundle and the NVIDIA bundle, isn't it?
 
I'd take the AMD one, Witcher 3 doesn't interest me in the slightest.

i need v-sync/g-sync/free-sync i need absolutely no tearing.

WAIT HOLD UP. WE DONT WANT LINUS'S PERSONAL PC. The case has a lot of meaning to him guys. It was a gift from his wife. I believe it was the first gift from her too.
EDIT: Thanks for all the likes guys! Hopefully Linus or someone from LMG will read this and this will make Linus keep his build. Even if the goal of 100k is made we should convince Linus to do another build maybe, with signatures from the whole LMG family and maybe even his wife. This would let Linus keep the build he has with the special case his wife gave him. Besides, his personal PC would be more special to him than us.

So, we heard you was trying to cut us out of the deal?
 

So, we heard you was trying to cut us out of the deal?
 

Finally getting back to you, hope you didn't think I was ungrateful for your help. I went to order the router the next day or so, after my reply to your first post, and it was out of stock...
Didn't want to give up on it though, so kept checking and finally today was able to place an order. Back-ordered I think, as it states "Order now for delivery within 30 days", but hopefully I should get it in soon. Thanks again.

Thanks for your suggestion 
Not sure I'd want to stretch budget to current £69.75 Amazon price. However I noticed ARGOS  have it for £58, I'm sure I could justify that. 
 
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I mentioned "cable" router as main two providers in UK are VirginMedia with cable/fibre and BT with ADSL (although they are starting to roll our fibre). And they tend to use different routers, although I suppose they are modem/routers.  :blush:
I guess "gigabit router to use with VirginMedia router/modem" would have made more sense.

Hi there!
 
Just a side note: using the term "Gigabit Cable Router" is meaningless. No such product exists
 
You have Cable Internet, and a Cable Modem, but the router itself (assuming a separate router, not a combo box), is just a router. The same router can be equally used on Cable, VDSL, Fibre, etc.
 
Anyway, it's 10GBP over your budget, but if you can squeeze in the extra money to afford this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-RT-N56U-Wireless-Hardware-streaming/dp/B004TPWRSK/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1417622224&sr=1-4&keywords=asus+router
I highly recommend it. It's the ASUS RT-N56U router. These things have a fantastic reputation. I've used numerous higher-end models of theirs, and the GUI is great.
 
Out of the ones you've listed, I'd choose the Linksys EA6300 model though.
 
Keep in mind that despite being Wireless AC on half of the ones you've chosen, overall signal and performance of the ASUS model will likely be equal or greater.