Building around a Q6600

[idata]

I have a 3 year old Acer computer. My currant motherboard is an Fg965M. I want to replace it with a new one, something compatible with the 2 Quad processor (Q6600). I also want to replace the 500GB HD (Western Digital) and (ATI) graphics card. I have a 500watt power supply. I want to stay with the 500Gb, I have a 1TB external HD to store most of my stuff on.

Please, can somebody put together a list of compatible parts. I tried checking at Intel but didn't know one motherboard from another.

I've been on a couple of parts forum and have read the horror stories of new builders putting together stuff that doesn't work because of compatibility issues.

[idata]

Hello;

For a list of compatible processors of your desktop board I recommend to contact the directly the system manufacturer, on your case Acer*. The reason why you are not able to find the list of supported processors for your on the Intel website is because you have a non- intel desktop board.

Usually you can find this information on the technical product specification for your system

[idata]

Unlike Intel I realize the Packard Bell Family (Acer, Emachine, Gateway) likes to leave you high and dry, without support after the 90 day return to your place of purchase period (Yes I know they claim a 1 or 3 year warranty, but they need to honor it for it to exist.)

If you wish to keep the Packard Bell Family OEM System Locked Pre-activated OS you should look up the Motherboard Part # with Acer (example "FG965M ACER") in Froogle to see if you can find a replacement, if you're lucky you'll get one around $50.

If you looking for new one with a new OS go to a site like Newegg browse the socket 775 area. Double check the manufactures site to verify the board supports your CPU. Just what you may be looking for: http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DG41TY/DG41TY-overview.htm http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DG41TY/DG41TY-overview.htm (full 7 64 support).

REMEMBER: If you switch motherboards to a non-Acer licensed board the recover media will be unusable. The COA will probably be unusable as BPF switched to OA COA's, which has non-activate-able keys, with the release of Vista.

[idata]

Boy you are so right about that 90 day return thing. Before my 90 was even up the place where I bought it just up and closed. When I first started having a problem I contacted Acer and they told me my machine was out of warranty. Evidently their warranty starts the day the machine rolls off the assembly line, not from date of purchase. That being said, I don't quite understand the switching motherboards.

REMEMBER: If you switch motherboards to a non-Acer licensed board the recover media will be unusable. The COA will probably be unusable as BPF switched to OA COA's, which has non-activate-able keys, with the release of Vista.

Where do they store the license information? You mean that even if I wrote it down, reinstalled Vista, I wouldn't be able to activate it with my currant license key??

According to the information I got from PC Wizard 2010 the processor (which is a 2 quad Q6600) is made by Intel. I really didn't want to have to give up this processor. I paid $1,400 for this computer just 3 years ago. I should still be able to get replacement parts, this really burns my backside.

I can't afford to buy a different mobo and then have to buy a new OS to use it. I might just as well buy a new really cheap computer.

[idata]

Large OEMs use what is called OEM Activation. This is a 3 to 4 part activation that has a specific license identifier flashed in to the BIOS called a SLIC, a OEM Activation product key, a OEM BIOS Certificate, and a Certificate CAT (in XP to make sure the Cert is unadulterated).

The product key in your OS will be the OA product key code. These are locked from all types of activation other then OA.

To reduce "Casual Piracy" Platinum OEMs usually have OEM Activated Certificates Of Authenticity. These OA COA has a license key that will not activate via the internet as the OA license is hardware activated. Almost all OA COA have the letter OA in the title of the product, for example "Windows Vista Home Prem OA". You maybe able to get a new key over the phone (phone activation) to activate, as the product is older, but be prepared to provide all the info on the COA and possibly fax in photos and the invoice.

Recovery Media usually looks for specific identifiers in the DMI to unlock. So even if you get another Acer board, it will probably not work with the recover media you have, but the system should keep the SLP of the OS on your hard drive as most manufacturers use only one SLIC.

A non Acer board, will not have the required SLIC flashed in to the BIOS to maintain SLP(OA).

[idata]

I found a replacement board (same model) refurbished. It's a hundred bucks.

I also through my computer "properties" and I didn't see OA behind the Vista my product ID is xxxxx-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx. Other than the OEM there aren't any other letters in that either.

I remember from the last time I had to do a recovery I had to reactivate my license. It required a call to customer service. They read off a bunch of number I had to type in a form that comes up when you try to activate on-line. If you type them right it activates.

Dumb question: So If I have an ISO image backed up to an external drive, or I don't even change my internal drive, just changing the mobo is going to cause me more headache than it's worth???

The problems I'm having aren't so significant that I can't live with them, they are just an inconvenience. Something is preventing me from using Macrium Reflect to burn an ISO of the C drive. I can burn one of the data and verify it, but the C drive refuses to verify. When I ran a sfc it came back with "corrupt files that could not be fixed". Do you think I can solve all of this by wiping the HD and just doing a "clean" install? or is that going to screw me with the OEM license thing too?

I really do appreciate your knowledge. You are the first person I've talked to that has given me a straight forward answer.

George

[idata]

George

I hope you did not buy that board over the weekend.

After reading your last post I'm thinking that you are suffering dieing hard drive syndrome, not a bad main board. A bad main board will very rarely give you random crashes, blue screens, and hard drive corruption. When a system board fails you usually have a fixed BOSD or a no power on situation. For example the DG33TL I have (with a Q6600J) has no functioning fan headers, and BSODs when the embedded video driver is initialized, so you know the BMC/TMC and video chip is bad, I've been trying to get Intel to RMA it under warranty before it expires to no avail L.

I would recommend downloading a live state diagnostic CD (like what is available here http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/). And run all diagnostics (other than hard drive).

PBF is notorious for using 13 month drives in there 1 year PC's. And the reason I recommend skipping the HDD tests is if your drive is on the verge, the diagnostic may push it over the edge resulting in catastrophic data loss. If the Mainboard passes the tests I would recommend getting another 500G drive, and ghosting the old drive to the new one using the raw copy function ( -IR) skipping bad sectors when found. After the data is moved run chkdks /r in an elevated commend prompt (on the good drive!) then run the SFC. This should bring the system back to life.