The Machine Breathes

So, i picked up the power supply today. Installed it, but when i plugged it in...nothing. I hate when things don't go right. After some quick troubleshooting, i discovered the issue. When i was installing some of the hard drives, i accidently knocked some connections loose. This prevented the "on" button from working properly.

So, now i plugged it back in and it starts right up. Excellent! So, i close up the box and move it into the office/studio to hook it up to the monitor...it powers up nicely and i am able to make changes to the BIOS. A few seconds into it the machine just shuts down. Just my luck. This one threw me for a loop. I couldn't figure this one out. So, off to the laptop to do some research on the internet. I love the internet! A quick search and i found a solution. It turns out that the fan over the CPU wasn't seated properly...so, i opened up the box again, and yup...the CPU fan was not secured properly. Well, after securing it, i turned the computer back on...and it worked. Another hurdle cleared.

As I progressed in the boot sequence i came to the next hurdle...software issues. I have been having issues getting Windows to boot. I'm trying to boot Windows from my old hard drive. If this persists, then i'll just do a clean install of Windows on my new hard drive. I may do that anyway and have two operating systems on the machine...one dedicated to the studio and the other dedicated to other computer tasks.

Luckily i still have the laptop to do my everyday computing needs. Once i get the computer up and running, it'll probably take me a little while to get everything configured like i want it. But that's okay...i don't need that computer just yet. I still have much work to do on the studio before it'll be ready for daily use.

I wanted to see how much i saved on building a computer piece-wise, so i built several computers with a similar setup as my new studio machine. Assuming i don't have to put any more money into my new studio system, I saved just over $250 out-right. Factor in the rebates and I saved over $350 on a comparable machine. I don't think that's too bad. In fact, that extra savings paid for my studio monitors.

I think i may have my software issues resolved. I just need to get into windows now...I think i'll fight that battle tomorrow.