{"id":250,"date":"2008-03-07T00:15:32","date_gmt":"2008-03-07T05:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/its-a-boy"},"modified":"2008-03-24T14:37:50","modified_gmt":"2008-03-24T19:37:50","slug":"its-a-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/its-a-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a Boy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please welcome our newest family member, Blake<\/strong>, into the world.
\n<\/p>\n

Blake at 1 hour oldBlake was born in our home at 3:12 AM on March 3rd, 2008, weighing 35 pounds, 2 ounces.<\/p>\n

The labor was long–almost 45 hours–but father and baby are now doing just fine.<\/p>\n

I’d like to thank Blake’s godparents, Blaise T. and Jake H., without whom Blake could not have been, um, conceived.<\/p>\n

Additional Stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
case<\/td>\nAntec Solo<\/a> Black\/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
power supply<\/td>\nNexus NX-8040<\/a> 80 Plus Efficiency 400 Watt Silent PSU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
motherboard<\/td>\nGigabyte GA-P35-DS4<\/a> Rev. 2.1 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable II<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU<\/td>\nIntel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield<\/a> 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/td>\n4GB G.Skill 2x2GB PC2-6400 DDR2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
graphics<\/td>\nAsus EN8500GT<\/a> GeForce 8500GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
storage<\/td>\n2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS<\/a> 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CD\/DVD<\/td>\nSony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
case fan (rear)<\/td>\nNexus 120mm Nexus Quiet Case Fan w\/Fan Mounts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
case fan (front)<\/td>\n2x Nexus 92mm Nexus Real Silent Case Fan w\/Fan Mounts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU fan<\/td>\nZalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler CNPS7700<\/a>-AlCu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

The Birth Story<\/h3>\n

For the most part, things went smoothly. Notable exceptions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    The first time I powered up, the mobo lights came on, fans started spinning, and… nothing else. No beeps. No POST. [Feeling of dread setting in.]<\/p>\n

    After several hours and much head scratching, it turned out that the CPU wasn’t seated properly in its socket. Discovered this incidentally, after, out of desperation, I dis- and re-assembled the CPU\/fan assembly.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. BSOD\n

    Got BSOD during Windows XP install, even after loading the RAID driver (jraid.sys) from floppy.<\/p>\n

    Turns out that the BSOD was caused by my premature BIOS tweaking. I had set the SATA mode (Intel ICH9R Southbridge) to AHCI. Restoring the default (Disabled) solved the problem.<\/p>\n

    [NOTE: A floppy drive is required<\/em> to install Windows XP on a RAID volume. Stupid Windows installer assumes that a floppy drive will be present; the installer has no other way of loading the RAID driver. Shortsighted design.]<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Installed Windows XP, then got BSOD during subsequent reboots. The crash happened a few seconds after Windows log-on. Turned out to be ASUS SmartDoctor<\/a>. Booted Windows in safe mode, uninstalled the offending software, and things went smoothly from there.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Internet Sources<\/h3>\n
    \n

    Research:<\/p>\n