MaximumPC 2006 06

Ask the Doctor

56 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2005

how 2 IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME

Zero Assumption Recovery is a surprisingly effective data-

recovery tool. The free trial version lets you recover up to four

directories; you can unlock the full version for $100.

I GOT THE POWER

I am finally building my dream PC and am about to

order all of the parts. I’ve chosen Gigabyte’s GA-K8N

Pro SLI mobo, but I will only be using a single PCI

Express videocard to start. I have selected an Antec

NeoHE 430 power supply, which has just one PCI

Express power connector. Is it OK to use this power

supply with my SLI motherboard, or am I forced to use

an SLI-ready power supply?

—Brian Narby

Because you’re going with an SLI motherboard,

it’s safe to assume that you eventually plan to

buy a second GeForce videocard to run in SLI

mode alongside it. If you go with Antec’s NeoHE

430 power supply, you’ll have to replace it with

something more powerful when that time comes.

Why not save yourself some money in the long

run by choosing an SLI-capable power supply

in the first place? nVidia tests various compo-

nents—including power supplies—for suitability

in SLI environments. You’ll find a complete list

of SLI-certified products at http://www.slizone.com/

object/slizone2_build.html.

GHOST DRIVE

I recently purchased and installed a Maxtor Model

6L250S0 hard drive, but my BIOS refuses to acknowl-

edge that the drive is plugged in. I exchanged the

drive once, because I thought it was defective, but I’m

having the same problem with the replacement unit. I

tried running the Power Max utility that Maxtor offers,

and that won’t detect it either. I’m running an Abit

VT7 motherboard with the latest BIOS, a 3.2GHZ Intel

Pentium 4, and 512MB of Corsair DDR 3200 memory.

What’s going on?

—Carlos Conrique

As a general rule, any hard drive that has both

its data and power cables correctly plugged into

your PC should show up in the BIOS. It’s highly

unlikely that you happened to purchase two dead

drives in a row, so this just might be a case of

installer error. Don’t worry, it happens to the best

of us; in fact, the Doc is glad malpractice suits

don’t apply to him. In any event, here are the

things you should look for:

Is the SATA cable securely attached to the port

on the motherboard and to the back of the drive?

SATA cables have a propensity to slip free if you

so much as give them a sideways glance. Second,

make sure the power cable is firmly seated. Third,

check your BIOS to see if there’s an option for

enabling the SATA ports (they might be disabled

by default). Fourth, determine if your motherboard

needs SATA drivers. The south bridge in some

older motherboards requires software support to

enable SATA. (Note: if you’re installing Windows

onto the drive, press F6 during boot and install the

drivers from a floppy disk.) If after all that, your

BIOS still refuses to recognize the drive, the drive

probably really is dead.

DON’T GO THERE

I’ve seen people make computer cases out of just

about everything, so I was thinking about building

a custom case for my own PC. My primary concern

has to do with proper grounding. When you connect

a mobo to the standoffs in a factory-made case,

they’re attached to metal. Is it really necessary to

ground those little screw holes? I once mounted a

motherboard in a cheap case and left one hole vacant

because it didn’t line up properly. When I started my

PC, only two of my four USB ports were operational.

What are your views on the subject?

—Kyle Sdasiznit

Thinking of fabricating your own case? If you

don’t have enough frustration in your life, con-

sider marriage or switching to Linux. Seriously

though, while it’s certainly possible to build your

own case, it would be extremely difficult to pull

it off without spending

an exorbitant amount

of time and money;

and quite frankly, it’s

not worth it. Cases

are painstakingly

designed to insure the

motherboard is prop-

erly grounded and that

everything fits together

perfectly. Try it on your

own and chances are

you’ll experience insta-

bility; or worse, you’ll

fry your components.

And that’s assuming

you can acquire, cut, mold, and assemble the

steel and aluminum you’ll need; drill holes for

the standoffs; cut openings for the optical drives;

drill fan mounts; and so on.

The Doc’s all for case mods and wild “Rig of

the Month” experimentation, but you might be

better off buying a bare-bones case for $50 and

customizing it to look like a DIY case. That would

be much easier on the pocketbook, safer for your

PC, and it’ll probably look a heck of a lot better.

GIVING SPYWARE THE BIRD

I’ve done everything I can to remove a program called

SpyFalcon from my PC, and nothing has worked; in

fact, trying to fix the problem trashed my system so

badly that I ended up buying a new computer. I then

installed the ruined hard drive in the new machine

to salvage what I could. The drive shows up under

disk manager, during POST, in the BIOS, and even

in Windows’ device manager, but I can’t access it.

Windows won’t assign it a drive letter, and the only

selectable option in Windows’ disk management is

Delete. I even tried plugging the drive into a system

I built that I knew should be able to read the drive (it

had many other times), but I encountered the same

problem. Is there anyway I can retrieve my files, or

am I SOL?

—David Ratliff III

The Doc did a little research on SpyFalcon and he

learned that the application has garnered a nasty

reputation for being adware. He also encountered

a version for PDAs, dubbed SpyPigeon (just kid-

Don’t suffer in silence. The Doctor’s medicine chest is brimming with cura-

tives and he’s accepting all new patients—with or without insurance. Just

send an email to [email protected] describing what ails you.