At least for tonight... have to do some swappage with my PC and doing a format and reload due to the nature off the parts change

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/mobo.JPG

Instead of using WindowsXP MCE I'm going back to Pro, MCE is fine but it's off of my MSDN subscription and I'm through "evaluating" it with a resounding "meh". For my tuner I will either stick with the powercinema or buy either BeyondTV or SageTV depending on how much the oem software irritates me. If Grunt could walk me through it, I'd even do a MythTV install and try to get WoW running under linux.

I do have an 80GB USB HDD for the data backup, so I "may" be on a little later (ooh look! I'm an optimist!) Usually, loading XP takes an hour - clean low level format, load OS, and patch could take two, then loading all the critical software (WoW, TS.) will take a bit longer.

Good luck with that Sam!

If you want the easy way out with something that works pretty well, I actually own a copy of beyondtv and it works fairly good. Especially with the auto-transcoding into a small format WMV file for streaming over the net or putting on your pocketpc.

Here's the breakdown of the swap activity. It all started with my machine resetting at least once a day for no reason (and usually either when I'm whacking on a MOB, or watching TV.)

Here's my PC, I really like the Xqpack case. Small form factor is the way to go now that all the ATX features are on the mATX board and for toting it around, it's made of aluminum so is very light.

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps1.JPG

After removing the cover (three thumb-screws in the back of the case then lift off) there are two screws that hold the motherboard try inplace

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps2.jpg

The mobo try slides out ( another good point for the case)

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps3.JPG

All the cards come out and I pop the heatsink off the processor

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps4.JPG

Clean up is accomplished with nailpolish remover then rubbing alchohol the old TIM (thermal interface material) was the "pad" type that ships with most stock retail CPUs the swap gave me a chance to rectify that mistake by using my old standard Arcticsilver 3

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps5.JPG

After this I pull all the cards off the mobo - I like to keep all stuff plugged in until I have to move it, but when I pull them I have a stash of anti-static bags i pop them into to protect them as I swap mobos.

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps6.JPG

Placing the mobos side by side you can see the similarities, but there are also differences besides the color, the Tforce has better quality filter capacitors and more OC features in the bios.

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps7.JPG

Attaching mobos is complicated by the faceplate that mates to the mobo tray, the springy steel require you to provide pressure to align the board over the mounts and install the screws, I tend to get one corner in (the corner closest to the faceplate) and then on the opposite side, after that the rest of the screws should go much easier.

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps9.JPG

Heres the patch of AS3 created by placing a small drop in the center of the processor - as per the instructions (http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm)

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps10.JPG

Note the thermal prob - scotch tape FTW!

All the cards are back in there homes - with the exception of the soundblaster value - I'm going to see if the onboard audio is up to snuff on this board

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps12.JPG

The last thing to do is slide the tray in then attach the control wiring

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps13.JPG

Put the case back on, connect up all the cables and push the big black button!

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps14.JPG

I thought I was going to have to reload the OS as they are different models, but the system detected a different memory bus and that was it so I was able to turn out the lights, start up WoW, and go questing with Stang, Gryph, Stoke and Darkfact.

http://home.comcast.net/~ragingsamster/ps15.JPG

System specs
Proc: athlon 64 4000
mobo: Biostar Tforce6100 M9
mem: 2GB generic PC3200
GFX: eVGA Gforce 7800GT CO
HDD: 160gb SATA

and no lockups so far!

The hand looked like the Emperors hand from Star wars.

Rofl

http://empfails.ytmnd.com/