Don’t Panic!
Rarely does a machine work on the
first try, even for Maximum PC edi-
tors. Don’t freak out, and don’t call
tech support yet. Here are a few
common problems, and easy solu-
tions if your machine won’t boot.
Problem: My new notebook
won’t boot.
Solution: Assuming you didn’t
bend or break anything while you
were building your notebook, the
fi rst thing you need to do is check
the power switch. You should pop
the middle panel loose and check
to make sure you reattached the
power leads or didn’t accidentally
disconnect the power lead from the
motherboard during the build. If
those are intact, you might have to
reseat the processor or GPU (if you
removed it.)
Problem: My notebook will start
to beep but immediately shuts down
a few seconds after boot.
Solution: It’s likely the processor
is overheating as the result of an
incorrectly installed heat pipe. You’ll
need to break the machine down
and reseat the CPU and cooler.
First, remove the middle panel and
keyboard to access the processor
and heat pipe. Make sure you tight-
ened down the heat pipe properly,
but don’t overdo it. Remember,
the Pentium M doesn’t have a heat
spreader to protect its delicate little
core. Get too physical with it and
you could crack the core. Also make
sure the thermal pad—the little tab
that looks like gum—is in place.
Problem: My wireless is not work-
ing or has poor reception when I’m
standing next to my access point.
Solution: First make sure the wire-
less is turned on. Press the fi rst
button to the left of the keyboard
to turn on the wireless. You can
also set the machine to boot with
the wireless enabled from within
the BIOS. If wireless is enabled, the
antenna lead or leads might have
popped off during assembly, or
might not have been securely fas-
tened during the build. Follow the
steps to remove the middle panel
and keyboard to access the Mini
PCI slot and antenna leads, and
check the leads. If Windows isn’t
even detecting the Wi-Fi (and you
loaded the drivers from the CD), you
should reseat the Mini PCI card.Problem: My notebook will not
go into an S3 sleep mode.
Solution: First, make sure you’re
using an OS that fully sup-
ports ACPI modes. Windows 98,
Millennium, and 95 have problems
with S3, or “suspend to RAM” sleep
modes, while Windows XP and
Windows 2000 offer full support.
If you’re running a 9x-based OS,
it’s time to upgrade, baby. If you’re
running XP or 2000, your problem
may lie with drivers, or something
as odd as a Direct3D screen saver,
such as the 3D Text that’s included
with XP. Microsoft has a hotfi x for
this problem, under Knowledge
Base item Q306676. Or you can just
switch screen savers. Otherwise,
most sleep problems are directly
related to bad device drivers. The
drivers AOpen includes fully support
standby and hibernate modes under
XP, so if you’re running a USB, PC
Card, or ExpressCard device, you
may want to remove it and its driv-
ers to see if the issue corrects itself.Problem: Even though the BIOS
sees the SATA drive, Windows XP
can’t install to it during installation.
Solution: If you have the BIOS set
to confi gure the SATA and PATA
ports as “enhanced.” You can get
around the problem by setting the
BIOS to “compatible.” Alternately,
you can dredge up a USB fl oppy
drive to install the F6 drivers for the
onboard SATA controller.DIY vs. Prebuilt
Is there really anything our DIY rig
offers over the OEMs? The answer is
a definite yes!We’ll admit that the idea of building
our own notebook seemed pretty
impractical at fi rst, but our DIY rig
sports two features we’ve never
seen from a prebuilt notebook, one
of which we’ve wanted for years.
The fi rst is a six-pin FireWire port.
The overwhelming majority of
notebooks sport the nonpowered
four-port variety. While the heyday
of FireWire is long past, a powered-
port lets you run more bus-powered
devices, and if you ever need to
fl ash the fi rmware on you iPod, you
can do it from your six-pin port. Our
notebook also includes support for
both the new ExpressCard interface
and the older PC Card standard.
Most ExpressCard notebooks (even
the Dell reviewed this month) simply
jettison the PC Card from the chas-
sis. That’s just a little too legacy-free
a little too soon for us.
We’re also quite satisfi ed with
our confi guration. For $1,500, we
get a notebook that performs at
the top of its class in single-core
processor speed (for benchmarks
see this month’s In The Lab on page
66) and we get a Shader Model 3.0-
capable GeForce graphics part, too.
That’s pretty hard to do in a $1,500
retail notebook. More importantly,
when Microsoft Windows Vista
ships later this year, we’ll have full
accelerated support for the Aero
interface that most integrated
graphics can’t support.
Combine the confi guration, fea-
tures, and price with the fact that
we built it ourselves, and we’re just
tickled pink over our DIY notebook.APRIL 2006 MA XIMUMPC