MaximumPC 2006 03

ALL SHOOK UP

My PC was shaken up during a

recent move, and my videocard came

loose as a result. I reseated all the

cards and memory and rebooted the

PC. All appeared to be fine until the

Windows logo appeared: My monitor

suddenly went black and displayed

an “out of scan range” message. Do

I have a hardware issue, or will a

Windows reinstall solve my problem?

—Lucy Manning

By displaying an “out of scan

range” message, your monitor is

telling you that the videocard is

using an incompatible refresh rate.

That normally wouldn’t happen

unless you changed the monitor

setting in the software driver, but

it’s also possible that the device

driver has become corrupted. Try

uninstalling the videocard driver

software, restarting your PC, and

then reinstalling the latest version

(consult the GPU manufacturer’s

website). If that doesn’t work, try

removing the videocard and blow-

ing out the slot with compressed

air; perhaps a bit of dust or debris

got in there and is interfering with

the edge connection. Reinstalling

Windows is unlikely to solve your

problem.

A NOT-SO-JOYFUL NOISE

I own a Dell 8250 with a P4 3.06GHz

processor, 512 MB RDRAM, and

Windows XP Professional Edition

(SP2). About 18 months ago, the PC’s

fans began to get very loud whenever

the PC is powered on for more than

15 minutes—I can hear them revving

up and down until I either turn off the

PC or open the case and blow air into

it using an 8-inch fan. I’m willing to

install a liquid cooling system to get

rid of the noise, but what would be the

best product for a Dell system such

as mine?

—Karlos Moreno

There are plenty of ways to quiet

a PC, Karlos, but you should think

twice before jumping into the

exotic world of water-cooling. It’s

expensive, time consuming, and

we’re not even sure if you can jam

an off-the-shelf kit into a proprie-

tary Dell enclosure. Besides, there

are plenty of other alternatives,

most of which we covered in the

How To section of our September

2005 issue (point your browser to

http://www.maximumpc.com/how-to).

But before you do anything,

find out what’s making all that

noise in the first place—especially

if this is a relatively new phenom-

enon. Open your case to reveal the

motherboard, and systematically

stop each of the fans you can see,

by carefully pressing your finger

down on the hub (don’t touch the

blades!) for a second or two until

you’ve isolated the fans making

the most racket. If your case fans

are the culprits, replace them (if

you can) with same-size models

from Silent-X, Panaflo, or Antec.

If you still want to go with water-

cooling, you’ll most likely have

to get an external unit (as we

have no idea what the inside of

your Dell can hold). Top-rated

external units include the Corsair

Cool, Zalman Reserator, and the

Swiftech kits.

SOUND BLASTER DEAD?

I bought a CyberPower PC with a

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live in

March 2005. The system runs great

except for one thing: If the system has

been powered-down for a long time,

I get no sound when I power it up. If

I warm-boot the system, the sound

works fine. CyberPower isn’t

sure how to solve the problem, and

the suggestion from Creative Labs’

tech support —that I uninstall and

then reinstall all the soundcard drivers

and software—hasn’t fixed it either.

—Greg Manchester

That’s an unusual problem, but the

Doc will take a stab at solving it:

This could be a conflict between

the soundcard and your PC’s

onboard audio, which should be

disabled by default; it could be a

damaged cable or jack connecting

your speakers to your soundcard;

or it could simply be a bum card.

The first and easiest trouble-

shooting step is to make sure your

PC’s onboard audio is disabled.

Next, eliminate the cable as a

problem by leaving it plugged in

and wiggling it and applying pres-

sure at each end. If you hear static

or if the sound is intermittent (play

a CD, so you have a sound source),

you probably have a bad cable. If

that doesn’t solve the problem, try

moving the soundcard to a differ-

ent expansion slot. If you’re run-

ning Windows XP, you don’t even

need Creative’s drivers because

the Sound Blaster Live is sup-

ported natively.

Ask the Doctor

52 MA XIMUMPC MARCH 2006

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

Sing it with me! “Doctor, doctor, gimme the news! I got a bad case of

the PC blues.” No pill’s gonna cure your ill, so send a description of your

problem to [email protected]. He’ll shake his fist, knock on

wood, and enlist the spirit of Robert Palmer to help make things right.

Water-cooling some of your components is an effective

method of reducing or altogether eliminating fan noise, but

one shouldn’t venture into this territory lightly.

Always try the simplest

solutions first: If you think

your soundcard has failed,

for example, check your

audio cables as a first

troubleshooting step.

Diagnosing and curing your PC problems