Seriously Ripped Off

[Grim Reaper]

I asked sort of the same question on the Emulation Section, but I figured that maybe Computer Tech was better for it. Anyway, after my computer won't start I finally gave up and decided to take it to a technician forgetting that these bastards are always trying to ripp you off. After getting jacked $210 for a fucking motherboard made by Abit VA-10/VA-11 worth like $50-$60 my computer now runs (my video card got changed from a geforce2 to some s3 crap) However, now games or rather VBA run at only 60%, I have Elder's Scroll III too but I"m not sure if its running slow or has always been that way. Is there a way to fix this problem? My processor is still a Athlon XP 2000+ 1.68GHz. I've been told to update drivers, but they're pretty much updated.

[Xaenn]

MY guess (I'm not great with this) is that your processer might not be compatible with the motherboard? I can't really say for sure, but I know I've heard people talking about it making it impossible for your processer to run at full speed.

I don't really know though and hopefully I'm wrong. Good Luck.

[Sprung]

The S3 is probably on board video. Find the jumper to turn it off, and install the GeForce.

[Josh]

If your processor isn't compatible with your motherboard then it can't run at full speed. You may only be getting half speed out of your processor. Your video does sound like onboard which uses more processor power and makes your computer run even slower.

[Del_Boy]

Go to the shop that did it for you, and give the technicians a good slap for me... thanks

As the others have said, check the BIOS and turn the onboard off. There should be an available AGP slot, if not then I'd go ballistic.

[Dark Neighbour]

1: if the processor should be compatible, cause the processor is still running at the same speed it was, don't quote me on that though
2: S3 video? what's it called? if its onboard, disable it and put in an nVidia card
3: slap the store manager stupid

[Grim Reaper]

The card comes from this site www.s3graphics.com hardly professionally designed. Let's see, the chip name UniChrome Graphics...sticking with nVidia next time. Oh, how exactly would I disable it to change it back to my old one?

[Winged 2.0]

Whenever your computer starts up, you type the shortcut to the BIOS and could disable/enable there. Or in windows you can go into the hardware manager and select it there.

[master]

my advice, Never EVER go to a tech, unless he's in your family, or your best friend. I could make my own, with high graphics for less than $300. I just buy a barebone from tiger direct and stock it up with high tech stuff, worth alot more than that $200 you paid the tech ppl..

(and slap him in the rear for me)

[Xaenn]

I'd actually like to learn about building a computer on my own. Can you give me any suggestions on where to start?

[master]

well, if you want to make it cheap, go to digerdirect.com

they have the best prices for everything. I built my own pentium 4, 1.3 GHTZ computer for less than $300

I bought a mb for $40, a case for $30, memory for $20, proccessor for $120, and a gforce 32mb video card for $30, and a cheap 40 gig hdd for $25, and i bought a quiet fan for $25

Cheaper than $500! totally!!

[Xaenn]

yeah, that's very impressive. Not to destroy this topic or anything. But i was hoping for some resources that explain how to do it.

[grantu2]

Yes that abit can run the xp2000 the boards chipset is a KM400 not the best but not the worst either.
Whats really holding you back is that s3 graphics card or onboard card, disable it in bios or set the right jumper (the instructions should be in your manual) and put that geforce3 back in that computer. Ouch $210 I hope they gave you a warrenty on their work for that much, hell at the shop we only charge a flat $50 dollars for any hardware related problem, with warrenty. Man 210, I could have built you a nice little system for that much.

If you need specific help you can catch me on yahoo id is analogkey.

[Grim Reaper]

The guy started off saying that he can fix it no problem for $55. Then the dumbshit found out that it was a hardware failure and then he tricked me into getting a new processor (celeron) and I just didn't like listening to him so I took it. Then I realized that I could've just used my old Athlon so I switched it back and he only refunded me $50. BTW grantu, you should probably know this: If a tech buys a motherboard for example, opens it, and wants to return it, no including the shipping fees, is the full price refunded to him, or is there a certain percentage taken off.