Dalo Harkin

If you are planning on using a gigabit switch, then you need to make sure that every device connected is Gigabit, make sure that the router has a Gigabit swithc and then you may be able to save on buying an additional switch. 99% of routers dont use Gigabit they use 100 or 'fast ethernet' ports If even one of the devices is not Gigabit then all the devices whether they can run Gigabit or not will all revert to 100 Gigabit is only for 'internal' transfer of data IE PC to PC, WHS would not stream media at Gigabit speeds anyway (it just cant do it) for 2 internet lines using 2 cable modems it would be 2 seperate IP addresses meaning you need 2 switches (I would get managed as opposed to unmanaged) I like the way the family are kept in the basement :D

I meant 754 not 775 :) If possible use a dual core CPU and fairly modern MOBO, while the recommended requirements are very low for WHS, it seems to favour dual core chips. I cant stress enough though how much you need drivers on hand with the install, Server 2003 if possible, but due to its age not always possible, but as I keep mentioning XP at the very minimum. 99% of WHS installs do not go to plan, any issues then come and post here :)

depends on the lappy really - did it always have Vista or is it an older lappy and have you put that on? Have a look in device manager and you will probably find some yellow exclamation marks against the USBs, you will have to visit the lappy manufacturer and install any newer ones that you are using (I would have thought you are using the Windows inbuilt ones which are not ideal for older PCs/Lappys)

What size drive you looking at? If I were you I would consider looking at dual layer media or even blue ray backup rather than an internal/external HDD. HDDs fail where as media has a much longer 'shelf life' :D You must have zillions of pics to need an extra HDD

If you have the recovery disks and a disk called tools and utilities or similar then on one of those disks it should give you an option when booting to recover the BIOS, it will be an old factory version but its better than none at all. Alternatively you could buy a new BIOS chip from an old battered machine (Of the exact same model and replace the actual BIOS on the board, but this is for advanced users really as you need some specific kit to do it, it can be bought and its not expensive if the alternative is £200 :eek: FRAUDSTERS) You should only update a BIOS is there is a feature on the update that you require for the PC to work, as you have found out it can be more hassle than its worth

But its not the CPU and MOBO that will be limiting the playing of HD media, to be able to play HD media yes anything from socket 775 upwards is fine (yes the higher the core clock the better, as its often doing more than one thing in a WHS) If you are streaming the media onto another PC/Console then you seriously need to consider a minumum of Wireless N (if you are using wireless) as anything else is not capable of sustaining speeds to support HD media :)

Depending on the spec of the PC dont assume that 250Watt is not enough. As the others have already mentioned it could be the MOBO, have a check around the MOBO and look for any bulging or leaking capacitors near the CPU socket (these are normally the cause for MOBO failure) http://news.com.com/i/ne/p/photo/capacitors_apple_500x375.jpg

Thats a lot of ports - start off by getting a managed switch or two first. Im not too sure of the speed of broadband in the US, but if they are all getting used often then you are going to have some huge bottlenecks. Are you planning on setting this up as a server based environment, as by the looks of it, thats whats needed you also have to think about where you are running the cables (anything over 100M) and the Cat5e cable signal/throughput starts to 'degrade'

Hi and welcome to FPCH :)

A mod will move this to a new thread so it gets more attention. Are you using the same disks as last time (are they DVD-R or DVD+R) the difference is that DVD+R are more 'compatible' with older DVD players. you could use Nero or Roxio to name a few, I prefer Nero, but there are plenty out there that you can use

Have a look here as you may want to consider this on your budget http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/graphics-cards/9731-cards-can-upgrade.html#post65989 and read the comments as its pretty much the same requirements as you

See attached

As long as you have a PCI-E slot on the MOBO yes, some of these cards now get pretty big so you need to make sure that your case can take the card. Also in terms of power, they run off a 6pin PCIE cable and if you dont have one on your PSU, you need to make sure that you have 2x molex cables that are free coming from the PSU (not pass through cables, or splitters) and you get a 2x molex > 6pin PCIE adapter in the box as for which one, just get the cheapest 1GB version (they are all the same reference chipset) its the companies like Sapphire and MSI etc that add their own heatsinks and overclock them a little then bump up the price (but they are all made with the exact same components from AMD/ATI)

Hi and welcome to FPCH :)

Hi and welcome to FPCH :)

Right - are you overclocking anything at all? First point of call would be to pop the CMOS battery out (while the PC is off, so you dont get any shocks :eek:) for 30 seconds and then reinsert it and power the PC up - does it still do the same? next would be have you changed anything from the time before it used to boot normally?

BD ROM as in BlueRay Disk Rom, is not a writer, it's just a reader

Hi and welcome to FPCH :)

If system restore does not work :- Does it not work as in you do system restore and it's the same result. Or does system restore not work itself? If system restore does not work then I personally would remove WMP and then see if the problem goes away, regardless whether it sorts itself out after removing WMP you would then need to reinstall WMP, if its solved then good :) if not then the post be moved to Malware forum

If you have the budget I would go for either:- NVIDIA - GTS 250 or ATI - 4850 Both cost in the region of £80 and will do you extremely well for a few years And of the two I would opt for the 4850 if it were me buying one ;)

It sounds like a file association problem, did you recently modify anything to do with WMP?

Did the PC originally come with another OS installed?

Are you using WMP (Windows Media Player) or another piece of software?

Symantec home based products are known for being absolutely rubbish compared to even their free competitors versions of AV. Its really up to you as the corporate stuff is actually very good and I use it myself on servers. Uninstall it and then reinstall it and see if the problem persists (I would recommend that you disconnect from the net while you do this just incase :eek:) If the same thing happens then I would look at an alternative, for home use I dont think you can get better than Nod32 suite. for free use you are looking at either Avast or Avira :) Sygate is owned by Symantec, but again their Firewall stuff is extremely good Hope this helps

If its only shutting down when playing games, then I would look at the GPU more than anything (while playing games stresses the PC more than most things, if something was overheating like the CPU/RAM it would be apparent before playing games) When you uninstall drivers - do you remove the old driver through add/remove then restart then install the new one? If it's the GPU overheating its normally the RAM sinks as opposed to the GPU chip itself With you saying its only started happening in the last few weeks are these games that it crashes on recently installed?