Help a noob plan their first HTPC!
#31
1.
all AMD stock coolers are loud, at least its my opinion,,,
what u can do is try to tweak the CPU FAN's RPM in the BIOS.
of course, tone it down,,,
if it doesnt work, install an application named SpeedFAN http://www.almico.com/speedfan446.exe .
this will let you tone down your CPU FAN's RPM...
and if that doesnt help you, well, u can buy a Fan Speed Reducer Cable.
like this here --> http://goo.gl/hPt6b
and if u dont like the fact that u cant really play with the RPM since it has no knobs,
you can get a ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 http://goo.gl/QDY2W , it has a knob...
but its meant for 3pin cpu fans..
if u have a 4pin cpu fan, u need to get this one http://goo.gl/nSu450
and after all of this, if you still are annoyed by your CPU FAN's noise,
you'll have to get a new CPU cooler,,,
check in my HTPC guide for suggestions...


2.
weird, im reading it may be mouse specific,
any other mouse u can try?
also, some resolved this issue by using the latest BIOS version
available for their boards...


3.
whats the exact error message when u try to boot?
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#32
Thanks for the reply, eskro. Great information on the fans. I can live with the noise for now, but i may get a new fan in the future.

I'll definitely try a different mouse in the house next. In the end, I'm not too hung up on it as I feel it's probably just something funky with the way the BIOS works with mice..

It's a bit too late now for me to go back and get the error message. Something like 'Boot device missing, insert boot device and press any key to continue.' I'm starting over from scratch on my external hard drive.

I created the boot image on my USB drive via my MacBook Pro and I did it through this Terminal method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO9d0pY4GmE

It seemed to work fine but I have a feeling it didn't make it bootable for some reason. It's formatted in FAT.

I'm start over using my friend's Windows laptop and follow these directions below:

http://johnpapa.net/BootFromUSB

I'm hoping it was just an issue with the way the boot image was mounted via my Mac and that doing it from Windows will go a lot smoother for me.

Any last minute advice or should I follow a different guide for mounting the ISO on my external USB device?
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#33
magpieswarble, are you trying to 'burn a bootable iso image of windows7 on a usb drive'
so that u can boot on it and actually install windows7 on your desired O/S drive??

If so, use this tooL --> http://www.wintobootic.com/release/WiNToBootic_v1.2.zip
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#34
Yes. you are correct.

I want to be able to "burn" this windows 7 ISO image on to my external usb drive so that I can boot into it on my HTPC and start installing windows 7 on my SSD which is plugged into my HTPC.

Right now I'm trying to do that on my friend's Windows XP machine but following that guide, i can't do it. i get stuck using bootsect in CMD prompt. I get this error message:

"bootsect.exe is not a valid win32 application"

Ugh. Can I not mount/burn the windows 7 64 bit ISO on this USB from Windows XP because it's a 32 bit?
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#35
If so, use this tooL --> http://www.wintobootic.com/release/WiNToBootic_v1.2.zip

Image
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#36
Hmm.. WinToBootic is not detecting my external hard drive even when it's plugged in. I can see the external in 'My Computer', access it, drag and drop files in to it. I've reformatted it into NTFS and it's just not seeing anything in that drop down box.

Any ideas?
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#37
weird,,, check if this tool does http://rufus.akeo.ie/

and if its the same,

go in windows, my computer, rightClick on the USB drive,

and format it to FAT32

then check if wintobootic see'S it
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#38
(2012-04-04, 03:53)magpieswarble Wrote: 1. Heatsink fan is really loud. Did you notice that with your build, blu-ray? Should I buy a new CPU fan that isn't so loud? Suggestions?

Any advice would be appreciated!
Since eSkro already covered the last two questions, I'm not going to repeat it. It's a little tricky to setup bootable USB, but eSkro have a very good guides in the later posts.

As far as CPU cooler and case fans, it might be loud at first. After you installed all the drivers and software, you can go into bios to configure it. Since it is AsRock mobo, you can set CPU to "Cool ‘n’ Quiet" in Bios Advance tab and set the CPU operating temperature to 50 degrees F in Bios Hardware/Health Monitor tab....and you can set both CPU and case fans to level 5......you can monitor the operating temperature. It should be quieter.....

I'm recommending update your Bios to 1.7 version from here- download

As for SSD installation, you can check out my post #31

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#39
ughh.. thanks for hanging in there with me guys.

Tried rufus, doesn't detect anything either.

Tried to format in FAT32, but only NFTS is an option. I'm reading this is because Windows XP by default doesn't format in FAT32 above 32 gigs.

Man.. this is just so overly complicated. Either something's wrong with my friend's XP comp (it's a pretty old crappy Dell) or my external is just bugging out.
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#40
why dont u just burn the iso file to a usb flash drive?
i used a 4GB flash drive to install my win7 x64 on my SSD.
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#41
The only flash drives I have are 2gigs.. ugh.

What if I partition off a small part of my external hard drive (less than 32 gigs) in FAT32 and create the boot off that partition instead of the entire 1 gig external?
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#42
worth a shot.
if not, go get a flash drive tomorrow...
their cheap
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#43
Found a 4 gig USB stick (thank you roommate)

Immediately detected by WinToBootic, formatting and extracting ISO now. Sheeshh.

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#44
FTW!!!

keep us up2date
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#45
Thanks guys. You two are heros.
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