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k, heres a update.. on the problem.. i called Best buy (geek squad) if u dont kno what that is.. they fix computers etc..  told them about the Light coming on around the power button.. and they said that indicates nothing is wrong with the power supply or cpu.. which totally negates what all of YALL are saying.. i Dont think there right.. i trust people that have had experience with this problem over the foriegn outsourcing guy they hired to run customer SUPPORT.. i LOOKED inside the comp when it was plugged in... the light ring around the power button is on.. but no lights on the cpu are on...(which im not sure if it even has lights on the cpu, my old comp does.) also i tried hooking up power supplys from old comps on to it.. i dont think i hooked them up right.... Can anyone direct me to a diagram or chart on how to hook up the power supply and stuff correctly.. i think i messed with the LED cables on accident and i need to place them in the right spotHello rippla420,

I don't know if you read all of the posts, but Geek Squad basically just told you what we told you. It's either the Power Supply or it's the CPU. Chances are, however, that it's the Power Supply.

Before you replace it, however, check the back of the computer. Where the plug goes in, is there a switch? If there is, what is it set on?

This switch is used to tell the power supply what kind of electricity is going into the machine. In Europe, they use a different voltage (somewhere around 220 volts) than we do in the United States (the setting is usually 115, 120, or 125 for USA power).

You may need a small screwdriver to flip the switch, as often they are receded into the supply to prevent accidentally flipping it. BE CAREFUL NOT TO PUT THE SCREWDRIVER- OR ANYTHING- INTO THE POWER SUPPLY ITSELF! They hold very high voltage capacitors WHICH CAN KILL YOU with the electricity they store.

If you do need to switch it, unplug the machine, flip the switch and wait a 5-30 minutes for some of the electricity in the PSU to dissipate. Then plug the machine back in and start it up.

If this doesn't work, please POST again and I will try to help you with making sure the Power Supply is hooked up correctly. oh no they are right there is nothing wrong with the psu there is a way to test it using a paperclip (google test psu papeclip or something along that LINES) which is relatively safe if you don't touch the paper clip or start jamming metal things in there. Geek-9pm said it best it's an emachines and if the swith lights up the psu hasn't failed.

A psu lasting over 6 years is definately not unheard of the switch failing on the other hand sounds like the more likely culprit to me. Take a loot at the type of power switch you have go down to you're local electronics store and get a new one that supports the same volt and amps and give that a shot.

My computer refuses to start up when TURNED on...I have to turn of the mains power...wait a while...switch the power back on a turn the base on and even then it takes about five minutes to start running.

I thought it might be the CMOS Battery but I just recently replaced it with a new on and the problem continues.

Is there anyone who can SHINE some light on this dilemma...ANY information is greatly appreciated.Sounds to me like it could be the power supply....how old is the PC?....for that MATTER post you PCs specs as well.I've attached a text document of my computers specs, I apologize for the length of the document. I hope this is useful in deciphering my problem.

[ATTACHMENT deleted by admin]

Good evening, hoping someone can help.

I have recently upgraded my Printer from the Epson CX3200 to the Epson SX200.

With the old printer I was able to print things onto a sheet of card. But with this printer when ever I tell it to print, it takes the sheet of card and feeds it straight through the printer without printing on it. An error message then pops up on my screen telling me my paper is out.

It will only print on normal paper.

Any one please advise?

Regards,
Jamesthis isnt a hardware question, epsons are not good printers.  Did you tell it what kind of paper it is? Quote from: squall_01 on May 11, 2009, 12:53:51 PM

this isnt a hardware question, epsons are not good printers.  Did you tell it what kind of paper it is?

this isnt a hardware question, epsons are not good printers.  Did you tell it what kind of paper it is?

More nonsense from Dias.

I didnt think of that but rather have him answer what I had asked.

It is a cheap printer, but i would have through that since it is easily taking it though and inserting it into the out tray that it could print on it also?

I am unsure what weight the card i am trying to print on is. I checked the website where i purchase this said card and it does not state a gsm weight.

James

sorry about the absent of manners things have been going down hill.  Personally I want to quit!  At any rate, I'm not sure to tell you.  Usually ink will clog the head if you dont use it alot but that dont seem to be so.  Try an find the wieght or run the nozzle cleaner.  I have had regular paper do this before so the print head may be blocked a little.  The main flaw with epsons.

I have a Compaq 5330US desktop with 1.5MB RAM and a Compaq GD-8000 read only DVD and an LG GH22NP20 read/write DVD drives.  I am running XP Home, SP3.  The LG drive was added a few months ago because of issues similar with those I will outline with the original read/write CD drive.  I have infrequently used the CD/DVD drives.  My problem apparently BEGAN many months ago as I remember attempting to read a CD that my daughter brought over and was never able to see the CD contents.  At the time, I attributed the problem to a bad CD although later she said that she could read the CD on her computer.  Problem is that I can write to either drive using burner software, I can rip music CD's with either drive using application software.  I use Norton Ghost and have been able to boot off either drive using the Ghost recovery disk.  However, I can put a CD or DVD in the read only drive and using explorer, the drive shows the disk symbol, but every attempt to open the drive yields only a message to insert a disk in the drive.  With the read/write DVD drive, I insert a CD or DVD, get the disk symbol for the drive but with zero MB content indicated in explorer.  I can open the drive but no contents show on the explorer screen. 

I have searched this website and others for similar problems and have found nothing that has helped.  Based on what I have found, I have checked status of both drives numerous times only to always find that the system says they are working.  In this process, I have un-installed and reinstalled several times.  I have gone into the registry and deleted the upper and lower limits as one site suggested.  I have checked the ribbon cable to insure that it is 80 and not 40 wire as suggested.  I have downloaded and installed the Microsoft driver indicated for the read/write drive.  I have downloaded and installed a firmware upgrade for the read/write drive.

In summary, it appears that both drives are working when using application software to read or write to the drives.  Neither recognize inserted disks of any type using explorer.  This has not always been the case with the NEW read/write drive installed a few months ago.  It appeared to work OK for a time after installation and only recently developed a major issue.  About 2 weeksago, I used explorer to archive some files to disk.  After doing so, I attempting to read the disk in the new read/write drive and was only able to do so about once in 10-12 attempts.  Since then, its been totally gone as described above.  I am frustrated and do not know where to turn short of, maybe, professional shop help.  Any IDEAS or input will be GREATLY appreciated.

Larrywell about a year back i had a problem close to urs i would put in CDs and it would read it....it was easily fixed by just buying a new one

here is the one that i use it burns quickly and cheap
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171It does sound like you have burnt out your lasers. Cd drive lasers usually have two one for dvd and one for cd. The more use the quicker they burn out. Usually the DVD one burns first because people make DVD's etc. You may need a new drive... But I'm no expert and I'm going through the same problem as we type.Perhaps I'm wrong, but wouldn't the drives be totally unuseable if the lasers were shot, i.e., wouldn't be able to use them with application software like I can now?

Larry when we say drive we mean the CD/DVD Drive thing the CD ROM Drive not a driverOne of these may help:
1. Uninstall the drive through Device MANAGER.
Restart computer. The drive will be automatically reinstalled.
or...
2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
Restart computer.
or...
3. Download, and run Restore Missing CD Drive patch
Double CLICK on cdgone.zip to unzip it.
Right click on cdgone.reg, click Merge.
Accept registry merge.
Restart computer.
or...
4. Go to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.

Well, I've never had any problems with random crashing on my vostro 1000, but I decided one day for some reason to download core temp... imagine my surprise when I saw both cores on my 1.9 ghz AMD athlon 64 x2 were running at 50 degrees Celsius on idle! I downloaded speedfan to make sure, and it confirms this. Today to test how hot it gets under 100% LOAD on both cores, I used the orthos stress prime 2004 program. I could hardly believe it, but after 12 minutes coretemp displayed the temps of both cores at 87 degrees celcius! I stopped the test right there in fear that the cpu would get even hotter and fry... I'm just surprised it didn't crash before then.

Now, I've heard a rumor that the athlon x2 sometimes displays temperatures up to 20 degrees too HIGH, but I really have no idea. Has anyone else heard of this, or is my computer just hot as *censored*? The computer is still under warranty, so should I send it in to get a new thermal seal or whatnot?Here's some info to look into.....

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/content.php?content=maxtemp.shtmlOK, I found out I have the codename tyler cpu (tk-57 turion), which has a max temp of 95 degrees celcius ACCORDING to this page:

http://www.chiplist.com/AMD_Turion_64_X2_TL_TK_series_Dual_Core_processor_Tyler_Rev_G/tree3f-subsection--2290-/

Does this mean I'm fine assuming I usually only do tasks that bring me up to the 60-67 range?That still sounds really hot.  I would get a new heatsinktemp sounds about average to me high average but they're good all the same you could put an extra fan in the case or try some thermalpaste between the cpu and heatsink if there isn't any but I wouldn't worry too MUCH, multi core cpu's just put out a little more heat. Quote from: computeruler on May 13, 2009, 05:59:09 PM

That still sounds really hot.  I would get a new heatsink

I have the Turtle Beach EAR Force X1 headset and Windows XP Professional.  I installed it properly, but only the earphones work.  I check all of the audio settings and NOTHING is muted.  This device is not in my current collection of tech toys--but it sure sounds like a very fine audio device. I have found a site that has tons of videos (how to's and reviews) on the whole series of the Turtle beach line. The ONE i have linked (it is very amateurish) seems to deal with setup issues so hopefully it will assist you. If not there are many others also listed on the site and perhaps the info you need will be contained there.If it is a new purchase you always have access to Turtle Beach and they do seem very commited to customer satisfaction so calling them may get your solution the quickest. goodluck,truenorthwhere is the link?inventech, OOPS! Sometimes the best of intentions can go awry. Here it is. If the one that is directly linked doesn't help scroll down on the right side of the alternative LINKS on the subject as there are many offered. goodluck,truenorth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB1XotTyYJk&feature=relatedyou have alternate microphone picked or not picked, go into your mixer or sound options go to recording devices and there should be an advanced tab click there and you should see
1. Alterntate Microphone (or something like it)
2. Sound boost
and check/uncheck and try that out

I KNOW this is very hard to diagnose online but I will do my best explaining, and if you cannot answer, give your best guess and, on a scale 1-10 (1=least 10=most) on how correct you think it is.

I have a Gateway... old gateway, sorta irrelevant, sorta due to the fact I do not know what type of gateway it is.

I have this red-light on my motherboard that says "usb front panel". I am assuming red means bad.

The monitor will not turn on, but the power light and processor light on the front of the case turn on. There are three connectors that look like this:

oooo
xooo

xooo
oooo

oxoo
oooo

each o represents a pin, each x represents a "blank" spot.

the first and last wires CONNECT to identical ports on the little 2x1 in. "usb front panel"

the middle connects to the on/off buttons, which, obviously cannot be removed.

due to the unique-ness of each cable, they cannot be swapped.

if I completely remove both first and third cables (that connect to the usb panel) the light remains on. I have tried all combinations of first, third, etc)

I have removed all the cards in the system (that would be RAM, wireless card, old modem/phone card, CD drive, and hard drive) and LEFT the slots blank, hoping to get something on the monitor.

when I power on the system, the FAN on the processor starts spinning and generates heat after a few minutes.

I have tried the monitor in other machines, so I am sure it works.

I am --NOT-- sure if the cables work or not, since I do not own a machine like this. I would really hate to go into a building like Best-Buy (circuit city was better!) and replace cables 1 and 3 and still have the problem.

please mention all possible problems, sorted from most likely to least.

this is not my only pc, and not my most powerful pc, but it is my only desktop, and having a desktop was enjoyable.

~Liam

P.S. I will TRY to provide photos later if I find my camera or install some web cam drivers.Try pull a model number off that motherboard and Google it....with any luck you'll get a manual for the board with an explanation of the lights.....Red light on the motherboard was a power indicator I believe.No, my power indicator is green. I am sure. --

and I will try.sorry for double post --

Hah! first three seconds of searching I find the patent ID -- http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845epi/


EDIT: http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/D845EPI/PI_English.pdf  -- that PDF file -- search in it for "usb front"

the only result there mentions the front panel... nothing else found.

EDIT TWO!:  The red light started BLINKING

EDIT THREE!:  The red light stopped blinking when I put the power-wattage(?) on the power supply up to 230.

when I connected an auxillary cable to the "headphone" section of the front of the non-working pc to the "mic in" slot on my working PC, the working pc detected sound, going to try and record it

EDIT FOUR!: it was just a popping noise that the machine makes when starting

I'm having an odd problem with my keyboard if I press u it will type rui, y TYPES ty], m types m, and a few others. I've CHECKED the language, control panel, uninstalled / reinstalled, osk, regedit and probably a few more things I'm forgetting now.

I had this problem a few months ago with a different keyboard and figured the traces inside GOT crossed or something so I picked up a new one and put it into the ps/2 port only for it to not work so I assumed the port was just shot and picked up a ps/2 to usb adapter and it worked fine for a few months. I turned the computer back on after having it shut off for the night only to find out I had this problem again and it behaved exactly the same way as before with the exact same keys. First thing I did was plug it into my laptop with the same problem happening there but the laptop keyboard working fine.

I'm a little puzzed now as it seems like a hardware problem however I find it strange that it affected the same keys in the same way this one being hooked up using the usb port and the previous using the ps/2 port so the only thing the same is the actual computer.

The desktop uses xp sp3, and the laptop VISTA home pro.

Does ANYONE have any thoughts about this?

I have recently added 512 mb Ram to my Acer Laptop, since when my computer crashes fairly often after blue screen error. Appears ok if I decrease the hardware accelarator for graphics to none which disables accelarator. Can anyone help? Thanks.   Andcluandclu,Adding new ram sticks can occasionally cause this PROBLEM to OCCUR. To verify that this is being caused by the newly added ram i suggest removing it and reverting to the original ram that was there before this one was installed.See if this returns the computer to a state where this crashing does not occur. Then you know if/or not the added ram is CAUSING the problem. It may be a compatibility issue RELATED to the ram that was there and the newly added one. You can also remove the original ram and try to run the computer on only the new 512 MB stick and see what happens.If the computer runs without problems when only the new ram is in it this pretty well confirms a compatibility issue. If however the computer does not run properly with the new 512 stick it could be a defective ram module. How did you DETERMINE the type of ram and the amount that could be added to your computer?truenorth Thanks for the advice. I used Offtek scanner to tell me which Ram stick was compatible and bought it from them.   AndcluTry the Crucial.com online scanner.
It may be more accurate.

OffTek is a re-seller....Crucial is a manufacturer.

After recently installing a new colour cartridge in my printer (Lexmark) the indicated level shown in the system status display was only up to the third "rung" of eight in the display, so I presume the cartridge was under HALF full.  The suppiers have agreed to replace this, presumably faulty, cartridge.
My query is - how does the computer measure the INK capacity in the cartridge?  I know it's something to do with keeping track of usage, but would that not mean that it would presume a new cartridge was full?silkie, Ink level in a cartridge is determined by a "time of use factor'. Obviously prone to great deal of variables thus rarely accurate.If this is a new printer that came with it's original cartridges the cartridges that came with it are not of the same volume capacity as "new" replacements will be. Originals contain much less ink--after all they almost give you the printer so you will buy their ink cartridges--which is where they really make their money.I have never owned a Lexmark however if they are typical of most printers there are alternatives to buying the mfgr's cartridges even beyond other generic brands which are stated to work as well as OEM. It depends on your printing habits and willingness to go beyond just installing a "replacement" ink cartridge. Hope this helps.truenorth Ink cartridges are can of (ink) worms.
I have this HP 7200's printer, and FOREVER the message comes across "Low Level" or something, eventhough it is full after having it refilled. Thus my printer knows the cartridge was refilled. If the printer really runs out of ink, it will keep on printing.

The gossip goes that some Printer Software counts number of lines/characters printed, thus knows (assumes) how much ink is left.
Another gossip goes that some Software knows how many times a refill was done.
Some Software (HP I think)  will NOT allow a refill at all, therefor check that out before getting a refill done.
My favorite "Re filler" told me my luck will run out after 12X.

Thanks for replies -

The cartridge in question was not a new original Lexmark - it was a "compatible" refill, which the suppliers are replacing.  I made a similar enquiry about the ink measure of them and they have said that ink levels are not always shown correctly because the printer is reading the chip on the cartridge that shows (on original new ones) that it is full.  On refills this chip MAY be damaged or need resetting (?).  Anyhow, previous cartridges from them have been all ok so I have no real complaints.I never trust generic replacements or refills. Seen too many leak and ruin printers. Cartridge leaks, printer ruined, warranty void. It may not happen to everyone, but why take the risk?

I have a 30GB slave i want to format, how do i do that?
I'm running Windows 2000.Right clik My COMPUTER and SELECT Manage....then Disk Management.
Right clik the drive and select format...
Make sure to select the CORRECT one.Okay, i'm doing a clean install.
So also how can i format my OS drive?Boot to the Win2K CD and delete/re-create the partition...then format and you're good to go.

Part I:

I have a computer with 4 hard drives built in a RAID 5 array.

Powering on the computer gets a disk boot error message.

The raid controller is only recognizing 3 of the 4 hard drives.

I loaded an optimized bios default and enabled raid options. Still getting Disk boot failure, insert disk, enter.

Checked cables and all are connected to HD's and motherboard appropriately.

Motherboard has a 6 SATA device capacity; so I moved the cables around in the 6 slots; then used the BIOS SATA enabled/disabled function to adjust for all 4. Disk boot failure message still persists.

Went through BIOS in ONBOARD device configuration and disabled one of the 4 SATA drives, then rebooted. Used this process on each HD separately; 3 of 4 HD's reported a "degraded array" warning when I did this. Disabling the BIOS for the #1 HD, produced no warning -- Array reads as healthy. Same Disk boot failure message occurs.

Part 2:

As a temporary fix, I decided to run the computer from one HD.

I bought a new Seagate Barracuda 500GB HD-- adjusted bios, installed windows just fine, re-installed necessary programs and updates.

3 days later computer takes 10-15 attempts to boot into windows normally. On a normal boot it shows a dim Windows loading screen and stops; or a regular screen with the green windows loading bar which never stops moving or moves jerkily and stops.

The dos loading screen: where it shows drivers and PCI devices loading, has dissapeared.

Safe-mode not booting at all; hangs up on drivers loading screen.

Except for new HD, all parts are only 2 years old.

Rethinking whether this is a RAID array problem given the complications with operating on a single drive… 
         
Part 3:

After trying a few workarounds; I have some new information that will hopefully focus on the exact part I am most likely in need of replacing.

I replaced the SATA cable connected the HD to MB.

I ran Astra32, Everest Ultimate, and Hot CPU Tester 4.4 today. None of the programs gleaned any help in identifying a defective component.

(The report from Everest is rather lengthy; however nothing strikes me as being abnormal.)

Just to be sure of my software integrity on the new HD, I ran a Windows repair console (chkdsk /r) from CD; the computer then booted Windows.

I went into msconfig and loaded a diagnostic startup. Restarted Windows and the computer booted perfectly* (*except that the devices/pci loading screen still does not appear).

Loaded msconfig again and did a selective startup; CHOOSING only essential Microsoft processes and enabling all the programs I wanted at start up. Rebooted and computer entered Windows perfectly*.

Enabled the rest of Microsoft services (except remote desktop) and rebooted. The Windows loading screen started freezing again.

The Windows loading screen would always flicker briefly and the Windows loading bar would stop 1-2 seconds afterwards.

Turned off the computer and attached a Molex to SATA converter so I could run a DIFFERENT power cable to my HD.

Powered on and the Windows loading bar behavior changed. It would start, stop, start, stop. In about 30 seconds Windows did load.

Thought a bad AVG anti-virus install might be affecting Windows. Un-installed and rebooted. Same start, stop occurred but Windows booted without hassle. Installed avast home and rebooted-- same behavior.

Rebooted once more for good measure and the screen froze.

Left the computer off for 10 minutes and powered on; got back into Windows.

Almost everything in Windows worked normally; however in dragging the mouse cursor over the screen, it would jump. I moved the mouse from right to left, instead of the usual motion; the cursor stayed on the right part of the screen and then suddenly appeared at the appropriate place on the left screen.

The mouse did follow all Windows commands and I checked the physical connection.

Wondering whether my issue is multi-component?

Perhaps it is an issue with the PSU or graphics card or Mobo?


Custom Computer
Motherboard   ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AM
Processor   AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Mode
Memory   4 Sticks of CORSAIR XMS2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400)
Video Card   EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HD
Hard Drive #1   Seagate Barracuda ES ST3750640NS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive #2   Seagate Barracuda ES ST3750640NS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive #3   Seagate Barracuda ES ST3750640NS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Hard Drive #4   Seagate Barracuda ES ST3750640NS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Optical Drive #1   Pioneer SATA
Power Supply   COOLMAX CTG-750 750W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power
Floppy Drive?   Yes
Internet Connection   DSL/Cable
Modem/Router?   Via a Router
Operating System   Win XP Pro OS   32-bit

cd dvd drive is not seen in BIOS or device managerIf it is not showing in BIOS/CMOS then there is no way it will show up in Device Manager.

What type of CD/DVD drive is it?  Is it a  PATA or SATA?      The difference is that PATA uses the wide ribbon cables and SATA uses the narrow smaller cables, in a nut shell.

First open the computer (unplug it first and touch the metal chassis with your hand to discharge any present STATIC electricity) and be SURE the drive cable is secured to the drive and motherboard.  And be sure power cables are connected. If all is good there, keep this in mind...

If the CD/DVD drive  is PATA, and it has more than ONE drive attached to the ribbon cable, be sure the CD/DVD drive has the CORRECT jumper setting.  Usually the CD/DVD drive receives the "slave" setting and the HARDDRIVE receives the "master" setting. 

If the CD/DVD drive is the only drive attached to the cable then the drive should be set to MASTER or "Cable Select".

Once you get the drive to show up in CMOS then it will likely show up in device manager....let me know what the outcome is






Dead drive...

I have been through a lot with my hard drive and as of now i have reformatted it and run countless check disks on it, now it is showing up on my COMPUTER but when i try to open it it says the drive is not ACCESSIBLE abd that there is an "error performing inpage operation" PLEASE HELPHow is it being reported in Disk Management ?
What did you use to format it and what OS are you running ? ?IM not exactly sure hopw to check the disk management, im on windows xp and i formatted it with the windows cmd promptRight click My Computer...SELECT Manage then Disk Management.this is my screen when i do that, it is disk F    if that doesnt work the url for the pic is http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p252/avaricewillkillu/diskmng.jpg

my goddaughter was given a dell computer from her job. when she plugs it up at home it comes on for a second then shuts off sometimes other times it goes thru the modes of starting when in safe MODE it runs a list that it maybe checking (multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe and others then it stops. what could be wrong?1. Run memtest: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic62524.html

2. Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If DOWNLOADED FILE is of .iso TYPE, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD, and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, which is not listed, try using Hitachi TOOLS.

My computer has started telling me it can't detect my modem, which is a BT Home Hub.  I called the company helpline and we tried altering a few settings but no joy. They said it would either be my ETHERNET card or network drivers or the hub itself was broken. How do I tell where the PROBLEM lies? There are 5 lights on the front of the hub which should be lit, but the last -labelled Data- no longer lights up.
Please help!I'm not network savy, but did you try PINING the other machines?Not sure how to do that. Please advise. Thanks!what operating system are you running if it's xp or vista go to start RUN and cmd then ipconfig/all then type ping and it will start automatically for you.I'm running windows 98 se.depending what your attempting to connect too with these you'll PROBABLY have to do it differntly, aka xp,me.....

I am going to be buying a new computer for mostly University type stuff and a few games here and there and was hoping someone could tell me about which video card to choose.

The one that comes standard is 256MB PCle x16 ATI Radeon HD 3650.
But for another $60 I can get a ATI Radeon HD 4670 512MB.

Would it be worth upgrading to the latter one, or is it much of a muchness?What games do you INTEND to be PLAYING? I'd get Hd4670 any day over the 3650 because you get twice as much MEMORY on video card which is good ....

Hi there!

I'm trying to help my friend figure out how to stop this from happening.

She went to plug in a male-to-male 3.5mm audio cable into the microphone JACK on her Toshiba Satellite laptop (RUNNING Vista).  She was using AUDACITY to convert some old tapes into MP3s, and has been successfully doing so for a couple months now.

When she inserted the cable (same one she's been using all this time), the computer went into stand by.  She (not knowing much of what to do) pressed and held the power button to try to get the computer to start again--THUS forcing it to shut down (she didn't realize what she was doing.)

She brought the computer out to me, pressed the power button, and nothing happened.  I took the battery out (thinking it was a battery issue) and plugged the ADAPTER in.  It started right up and booted normally.  I plugged the battery back in and it seems to be fine now.

I Googled the problem and saw that several people have had a very similar problem with their headphone jacks, but no one has posted a solution.  Any ideas?

At work we are all USING HP dc7800p desktops (INTEGRATED GRAPHICS) with 17 inch monitors.  I am trying to angle for 22 inch widescreen monitors for everyone, but had a question regarding resolution.  On my PC at home, I have my display set at 1680x1050, but the highest resolution available on our work PC is 1280x1024.  If we were to connect a widescreen monitor, would the PC automatically adjust and detect the native resolution of the new monitor?  I'm just trying to find the most cost effective solution before presenting the request.  The other option is to get an external graphics adaptor and run 2 17 inch monitors, but then we'd need to purchase the adaptor, the second monitor, and a dual monitor stand.Anyone reading this topic may find this helpful: http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/review/2008/01/30/HP-Compaq-dc7800p-Ultra-Slim-Desktop/p3.  That computer has no expansion slots.  So, it's rather limited as far as upgrading goes.Yeah, I knew there was no expansion slot, which is why I was looking into the external adaptor.  Also, we are running XP PRO, rather than Vista, so I imagine we wouldn't have the problems the reviewer mentioned.  Also, unless I'm really slow today (which is possible), that review doesn't answer my question regarding whether or not the PC would auto detect the native resolution if we were to upgrade to a 22 inch widescreen monitor.I really can't answer the question regarding the 22 inch monitor.  You might try this: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/Thanks, I'm GOING to post the same question there and see what they say.No response so far from the HP forum.  Anyone else here have any ideas or opinions on my original question?I'm wondering, could you just set your pc to the native resolution?That's what I'm wondering as well, which is why I asked here.  I THINK the computer would auto detect the monitor's native resolution, but I don't want to order 5 new 22 inch monitors only to find out after the fact that it doesn't, and then have to explain that to my boss.  The HP forums were absolutely no help, no one on there ever responded to my question (which was pretty much word for word what I posted here).

Hi, I have an emachines T5026 and unfortunately it was on and running when there was an electrical outage in my home. When my sons (gotta love em) tried to reset my breaker (numerous times without any regard for my computer being on,) something happened and my computer will no longer turn on. When I push the start button on the FRONT of the tower the light blinks and the power repeatedly surges. On off on off on off. She seems to want to start but can't get going. I am computer stupid and am hoping someone can tell me if she was fried or maybe the just a switch is out. HELPhave you tried a different wall outlets in the house? perhaps one of your kids toggled the power settings from one of your walls when playing with the fuse box.....I don't KNOW anything about residential wiring and fuse boxes, but I would try a different plug first


Was the computer plugged into a surge protector when the blackout occured?


Thanx for answering. I have tried other outlets and it was plugged into a surge protector. I can try again.What is the rating of the surge protector?  Is there a "UL" number on the bottom?  Or, what is the maximum Joules of power it can handle?

Was there a lighting storm at the time, or was it simply a blackout?Sorry getting ahead of you. The ul #e187679  with 6g48 under that. It is a cyberpower 625avr and is supposed to be uninterruptible. The outage was caused by a short in my dryer.Are any other appliances in your house having PROBLEMS or is it just the computer?

Try unplugging, one of the appliances in your house, that you know is working, and plugging the computer into that plug......If you don't have a multimeter to test the outlets you are working with, its probably best to just borrow an outlet from a known working appliance or other electrical device.

The next thing I would try after that, is to unplug the computer, open it up and remove the CMOS battery (shiny round thing that looks like a nickel) for a minute or two, reinstall it and try powering on your computer again...........

I'm out of Ideas now, anyone else? Swap in a known good power supply to eliminate that as a cause. Quote from: Karnac on May 21, 2009, 06:59:44 PM

Swap in a known good power supply to eliminate that as a cause.

I have an older Compaq desktop - model #6016US. It has five bays that are currently filled as follows

DVD/RW
CD/RW
3.5" floppy DRIVE
60GB HDD
20GB HDD

My question is can I take the floppy drive out and put another HDD in it? Would I use the same cable that the floppy is currently connected to?

Thanks!A floppy cable only works on a floppy drive.
Although you may have an open bay you are out of IDE CONNECTIONS on that machine with 4 devices.
You can EITHER add a PCI controller card that will add 2 more IDE slots and/or check to see if your MBoard has any SATA connections...if it does you can add a SATA HDD.You can do as Patio said and it will work fine....just a SIDE note...I would backup the 20 gig drive than REPLACE it with a bigger drive and do a restore from the backup.

hi every day at around 9am central time my computer starts lag really bad when I'm playing BATTLEFIELD 2. it's weird cause it won't do it at any other time except that. I have win xp sp3Hello Brett,

Well first off tell us your system specs... ALSO, maybe Automatic Updates is turned to install updates at 9. That will slow gaming down.

Hope This HELPS,

Miles M.I have a compaq presario with a 1.8 gig cpu 1 gig of RAM and nvidia 6600 graphics card What startup items are scheduled to run in that time frame ? ?

Hi,

I recently upgraded my motherboard and processor from a P4 setup to an Asus P5Q Premium motherboard with Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz, 1333MT/s(?) FSB), and am having severe overheating issues.

The ORIGINAL stock cooler KEPT reporting temperatures of over 100 degrees C, and the PC kept freezing whenever I tried to log into Ubuntu and intermittently cutting power. I went to PC World and got an Akasa Evo cooler, one of those types with the fan on the side, and replaced it with that. The SYSTEM seemed stable until today, but the temperature readings in BIOS have been steadily climbing even when the system is turned off (now up to about 64 degrees C), even though I've rotated the cooler (for some reason I thought sticking the fan in front of an exhaust fan would be a good idea) and scraped off lots of thermal paste (I'd never used it before, so I went quite overboard with it).

And now it's doing the same Ubuntu freeze, with the hard drive LED stuck at on. The correlations seem to suggest that the processor is beginning to overheat again, but frankly I have no idea. And if it is, is it because of the cooler again, or is my processor or fan setup to blame? (I have a ~12cm exhaust fan at the back and a small intake fan on the side, and the cooler is currently pointing down towards the expansion bays)

Can anybody help?

Thanks in advance, Matt

EDIT: The processor doesn't seem to be hot at all to the touch
EDIT2: I didn't see any dust or anything in the fansink when I removed it today, but then again it has only been in PLACE for a couple of days. Also, lm-sensors in Linux reports far lower temperatures (constant 41C and 31-37C, I'm not sure which fans it's referring to though)You should re-seat the cooler and apply new thermal paste properly after cleaning off the old paste.
If neither the CPU or heatsink are hot, the temperature sensor may well be faulty.
There's no way temperatures should CLIMB that high, whether the fans are installed properly or not - the only ways I can imagine that could happen would be a faulty sensor, very bad thermal paste application, or the cooler making bad or no contact with the chip.

Hello.

I just modded my PC, with a new motherboard and new harddrive. I chose til partition the 250 into one part 50gb and one 200gb. In windows i just SEE the 50gb. I have a xp cd, and tried to boot with it, but i cant get the screen up where u choose to partition.

Im new to the forum, and Norwegian so execuse my English:)

THANKS for replying!Go to start - RUN - type diskmgmt.msc and hit enter.
From there you'll be able to see the other 200GB partition, format it, and assign a dirve letter so it's accessible in Windows.
Hope this helps, and welcome to the forums.It worked, thank u:) have a NICE day!You're welcome, glad to help.

I have 3 computers. One is a Compaq Presario; one is a Gateway; and one is an AOpen. Two of them are running WIN2000, the 3rd WIN98SE. There is at least one CDROM drive in each, and the drives are by different manufacturers.

When I check the system through the Control Panel, there is no indication of any problem with the CDROM drives, There is also no indication of resource conflicts. In general they alll function, and do the things one would expect when they have a CD in them. Nevertheless, I find that I have CDs which will not register as being present with one or two of the computers (not necessarily the same one or two). The CDs range from ones I made using CD_R disks, CD-RW disks, and ones I purchased containing software.

I realize that there are an ENORMOUS number of variables involved in this, and I really don't expect a definitive answer, given the sparse amount of information I' ve provided. I would like to know, though, if anyone has experienced the same kind of problem, and if so if they have found a reason for/solution to the problemIf these are CD's you have burned and they are not showing up the most common cause of this is the burn session was not finalised.
The data can be EXTRACTED and re-burned using IsoBuster ( 30 Day Trial ) Quote from: patio on May 20, 2009, 09:52:47 AM

If these are CD's you have burned and they are not showing up the most common cause of this is the burn session was not finalised.
The data can be extracted and re-burned using IsoBuster ( 30 Day Trial )

4. Unfortunately, when the drive starts having problems with reading SOME disks, it's one of the signs, the drive may be dying.

I wasnt too sure if this is really a hardware or not.  If I put in a celeron rated at 1 GHZ and then wanted to change it to 2.6 ghz would that mean I have to reinstall xp then?Maybe...maybe not.
I've changed CPU's on some systems and had XP fire right back up ...recognise the new hardware and continue on with no hiccups.
But it can go the other way as well and REFUSE to boot properly.
If this happens the solution is a Repair Install of XP...
I suggest reading it thru to get familiar with the steps outlined and printing out a copy for reference.
If done properly you should be good to go...

You may have to re-register XP ...i use the 800# myself for this.

Good Luck.Just remembered another ALTERNATIVE for this...
Dug it out of my Old Bookmarks archives...

Here Ya Go...I suppose then I should wait if the event that it does happen, I kind of figured that an all considering I hate to get a replacement for my dell that I'm not supposed to mess with. Quote from: patio on May 20, 2009, 11:01:24 AM

Just remembered another alternative for this...
Dug it out of my Old Bookmarks archives...

Here Ya Go...

I have a 2 GB ADATA USB flash drive classic series PD9.  I use windows Vista and I have tried going to my computer right clicking the flash drive and clicking format but it does not show any other capacity than the 1.86GB. I specifically want to go to 32 MB.  THANK you for any help.Why ? QUOTE from: patio on May 20, 2009, 10:01:38 AM

Why ?

In order for sata drives to work on my machine I had to GET a copy of Maxblast 5 but when I RUN the older verison like 4 it see's the whole drive and is discolored.  But I am able to see all of the 320 gb, in 5 i'm missing like 40 gb or so.  I WANT as much space as I can for games and add on's ECT..... Great. So, again, what's the problem? Why not just MAKE one topic and put all your problems there?

Basically it's mostly in the title.
But details:
Dell5100

I tried to add RAM today, and it was incredibly dusty, I somewhat cleaned it with a swiffer duster gently. Then I went out bought it and came back. Plugged the card in, and bam, COMPUTER doesnt work. I ASSUMED it was the card, so I took it out, still having 1gb in it, and it still doesn't power on. I've been on the chat and it sort of helped but not really so here I am. Just ask for any details or info on what happened.
Does anyone think it might have been the act of opening it, releasing dust somewhere and clogging some stuff?Take out all the RAM in the system then put one back in. Make sure you put it in correctly and that it locks in place.
Turn the computer on.
If the computer still has troubles, remove that one card and put it in the other slot and try again.
If the problem continues, do the same with the other card.Using a Swiffer Duster inside a comp isn't a good idea. Those things build up static electricity really fast. The best THING to use for cleaning dust out of a comp is a can of compressed air.I removed all the cards and put in one of the ones I knew worked, tested each slot, and it never once gave any signs of power.You may have accidentally dislodged one of the motherboard's power connectors. Make sure all of the power connections to the board are tight. Make sure that the power switch lead is on the pins. Make sure you ground yourself before touching any internal components. Make contact with the metal CASE the whole time you are working inside. Static electricity can FRY your motherboard!

My external HD is not turning on. I tried multiple outlets and unplugged and re-plugged it.
Any suggestions? The HD has a lot, and I mean a lot, of important information on it and I need it to work!!!Edit- It's an internal HD with an enclosure.
What other info should I post to help SOLVE this problem?Well, there are only two options:
- dead HD
- malfunctioning enclosure
Can you hear/feel HD SPINNING?No, the light on the enclosure is not turning on.
Do you think the enclosure is broken, but the HD is ok?
If that's the case, would a new enclosure solve the issue?
Thanks.Could be a short in the power cord.

Have you tried plugging it into a different outlet?

Quote

Can you hear/feel HD spinning?

On the back of your old HD where the power and such are plugged into.. Look for a small plastic piece. It fits over two small wires to make a connection. Just above that area you will find something like SL/MA and I can't remember right off the top of my head the third is.. What are the letters above the litte black plastic piece? If anyone can explain this any better feel free.. QUOTE from: CincyFan on March 26, 2009, 05:32:17 PM

Is the old HD setup as the master or the slave.. Look at the jumpers in the end of the HD to verify. If the old HD is set up as Master set the jumpers on the new HD the same. BIOS doesn't normally have an issue with a new HD. Set your boot sequence to your CD ROM, do the windows install and go back and set the boot sequence back to your new IDE?

Does anybody here know how to make a BIOS image using DEBUG?
Does it fit on a Floppy?
Or is there a RELIABLE program to put the image of the flash AREA  on to a CD-R?
No need for debug.....
Clicky

my AMPLIFIER has a USB SLOT and an SD-card slot.

Hello, I Hope I am posting this in the right section. 

I have an older (6 years) Gateway PC that is running Windows XP with service pack 3.  About a year ago I started experiencing problems connecting my digital camera, my iPod, a SD card programmer, and a flash drive.  My MOUSE, printer, and a GPS card programmer all work fine.  I tried a few ideas based on some very weak support from Gateway before I finally formated my hard drive and reinstalled windows last weekend.  Unfortunately, this didn't fix my problems.  I still cannot connect "mass storage devices."  Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.  Common problem. Shut down, Discount all USB things.
Power up, wait about two minutes or so. Plug in just the one thing you need, the USB storage. Wait a bit. Windows will think about it and find it and pretend there is nothing wrong.  Geek-9pm,

THANK you for your quick reply.  I tried your advice and it worked, I was able to connect my camera, and then my iPod.  I disconnected them and tried them both again a while later and they would not connect again.  Any idea how I can make this a long term fix.  It is kind of annoying to have to power down my computer, unplug EVERY usb cable, power it up, and then plug devices back in in every time I want to put a song on my iPod.  Thanks again for your help!  If you're using a USB port...make sure you click the Safely Remove Hardware icon located in the System Tray, before you just unplug your device.  Select your device...and wait for Windows to tell you it's safe to remove the hardware.Glitch-

Thanks for the reply.  I'll try that next time I connect my camera.  I always "eject" my iPod before I disconnect it, and that didn't prevent the problem from occurring.  Does anyone think it is possible that all 6 of my USB ports could be bad?  Is there a way to, or should I replace them?  Thanks again for the help!Tis Not the USB Ports that er Bad,
But Just a Glitch in yer Software me laddyThank you for your reply Laska.  Does anyone know how I can fix the glitch in my software?rexy...

Do these USB ports, at least, provide power to your USB devices?Glitch-

I would say that they do, my mouse is powered by the USB with no problem.  I was just chatting with onlinecomputerhelp.org to see if it was something they could fix for a fee, and they suggested taking it into a shop to see if it is a power issue with my USB ports.  Now I'm not sure what I should do.  I've heard that Best Buy's Geeks squad isn't very good, but I wouldn't know where to take it.  Does anyone know how to check if I have enough power coming out of my usb?  I'm no expert with computers by any means, but I do have a multimeter, or do you need some specialized meter?  Thanks.How many USB ports do you have...and how many are being used?

What wattage does your PSU have?  Is it a stock power supply unit...meaning it came with your PC?  What's the serial number on your PC...so I can check its specs at Gateway's support site?Glitch-

I think you may be onto something with the power.  I just tried to connect my iPod, which apparently has a dead battery, and it kept TELLING me the iPod was very low on battery and it wouldn't connect or charge the iPod.  The iPod should charge through the USB.  I have 6 USB ports, 2 in front and 4 in the back of the machine.  I currently have 3 things plugged in, a mouse, a printer, and a GPS card programmer.  I'm sorry I don't know a PSU is.  I didn't change my power cord or anything if that is what you are asking.  My serial number is 0029805459.  Thanks!I had a similar problem but i fixed with this method:
If you have two USB devices for the same purpose like imaging, just plug them in the crossing direction (not in serial way) and you wont have that problem again.
Cheers.Dr-

Thank you for your input.  What do you mean plug them in the crossing direction?  Don't USBs only plug in one way?  rexy...

Checking your specs...located here...

This is your power supply:  160-Watt Power Supply R1 [Part #6500704]

If I were you...I'd have that replaced with one compatible with your desktop...and see if it remedies the problem.  Even if it doesn't remedy the problem...that's a very low-end power supply  and depending on what you use this computer for...the more devices you add to it, the more strain on the PSU.

What do you use this computer for, anyway?

I don't think it has anything to do with what dr_iton has mentioned...btw.  However, I've been known to be wrong...occasionally...lol.

Anyway...I definitely think it's the PSU...and you can get a replacement...relatively inexpensive.

I wouldn't let Geek Squad do it, though.Glitch-

Thanks for the hard work!  Should I replace my Power Supply with something from Gateway, or is ok to get an "after market" supply?  Any suggestion on where I can find one?  How hard is it to replace?  I am fairly mechanically inclined, so I can follow directions if it is not major.  I have replaced a hard drive, and added a wireless card to a different computer at one time.  I use the computer for basic stuff.  Surfing, pictures, music, etc.  Nothing too crazy.  Thanks again.

I'm using a USB 2.0 Hard Drive enclosure.  I successfully managed to use it on my first attempt (stored a bit of music on it) but now it is not listed on "My Computer."

When I go to "Device Manager" it is listed under Disk Drives - Visual Disk USB Device.  Its properties state that it is working properly.

I've tried uninstalling the DRIVER, but this has made no difference.  As a bit of a novice, I'm sure there is an obvious answer to this problem - please tell me what it is.
Right click My Computer and select Manage...then Disk Management...
Find the drive and right click it and select Properties...
Report back with the results...

Hopefully it's not listed as RAW...The good news is it's not listed as RAW.  Unfortunately, it's not listed at all, just the (C:) & (D:) drives. 

It's as if it isn't there!Whose enclosure is this and do you know what type of drive is in it ? ?

Try hooking it up to a rear USB port...
Check the on/off switch if applicable...
Re-install the driver without hooking up the drive...It's a Nlink "Pax" 120GB Hard Drive Enclosure.

I've already tried what you have suggested - no luck.I just joined the forum because I had the same problem as you. My laptop hard drive had died (I thought) a while back. I bought a USB 2.0 external enclosure (X Media), but could never see a drive letter on my XP laptop, and I would get  a "drive can't mount" type error on my Ubuntu desktop.

The USB cable I'm using has TWO USB connections on one end, one USB connection on the other. Anyway, to make a long story short, I tried what the other poster said - another USB port on my laptop - and it works!!!!

I always use the same port, but trying the other one (and maybe the other USB connection on the cable, I'm not sure) actually worked!

I hope that this simple SOLUTION may work for you too.ndanger,

I also realized that I MIGHT have now successfully been able to see the hard drive because I pushed it further onto the IDE connection. It had been a little loose before.

After getting a firm connection, I still couldn't see it on my Ubuntu desktop, but either having a more firm IDE connection or using a different USB port worked for me.Not exactly a brand that inspires confidence...is it a 2.5" laptop drive in there ? ?
If so dis-assemble the enclosure and recheck all connectors...

How old is this unit ? ?

I just got a new processor, and some of the stock thermal pad got smeared onto the plastic covering (I would wager 20-30%).
However, I still installed the processor. Do you think the lack of coverage by the greyish grease will make the processor too dangerous to handle (either right away or over time)? Should I get some aftermarket grease and reapply everything again, or is it okay to run without it?

I'm worried about the processor degrading.I would clean things up and reapply. Have a look  here.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htmI currently don't have any, and I'd rather avoid buying aftermarket grease if I could.

Do you guys think it's safe to start up the computer and see what happens? Or is there a possibility it will damage the CPU?Without the thermal paste/grease, the chances of overheating for the CPU will be higher, but if you have a heatsink with a FAN on top, it should be able to keep it cool.

 But make sure you apply the thermal paste/grease as soon as possible. To my knowledge none of the current CPU's that require a fan can run with a dry heats ink. There has to be something to fill in the voids.

If nothing else, prick your finger and put  five drops of thick blood on the top of the CPU. SPARED it out and place the heat sink on it. Even after it drys it better that a dry heatsink. QUOTE from: Geek-9pm on April 03, 2009, 09:52:27 PM

If nothing else, prick your finger and put  five drops of thick blood on the top of the CPU. Spared it out and place the heat sink on it. Even after it drys it better that a dry heatsink.

To my knowledge none of the current CPU's that require a fan can run with a dry heats ink. There has to be something to fill in the voids.

If nothing else, prick your finger and put  five drops of thick blood on the top of the CPU. Spared it out and place the heat sink on it. Even after it drys it better that a dry heatsink.

BTW...
This advice can be safely ignored......this is worse than toothpaste if i remember correctly.

this is worse than toothpaste

If nothing else, prick your finger and put  five drops of thick blood on the top of the CPU. Spared it out and place the heat sink on it. Even after it drys it better that a dry heatsink.

Hello everyone. Thank you for LOOKING at my NEW problem.

I went to boot up the AMD Athalon 1500+, it has WIN XP PRO with 2 gig ram. There are four hard drives installed, and this is what it shows me (see photo below).

The boot sequence comes up slowly and the drives are;
Primary Master ST3250620A 3.AAD ,
Primary Slave however displays as some cryptic lettering cdc cdcocbc- and so on (obviously this is the problem),
Secondary Master Pioneer,
Secondary Slave ST320014A 3.07.

So my question is, If the secondary drive is corrupted how come it wont boot up to windows?
The O/S is on the ST3250620A.

[attachment deleted by admin]Well I took the obvious step and removed the drive I thought was creating the problem, with good results.

NOT GREAT but gooder !!!

So now booting up I get to recognizing the drives, and starts to go to the windows logging on screen but it just goes black with a blinking curser in the top left corner.

Maybe I should take out another drive.you can try typing in blackscreen in search box above for some tips ! good luck..Thanks mr tee, for haveing a look.
One of the items in there actually sounds exactly like my situation.
Unfortunately it is from a guest and doesnt have any reply.
I'll keep doing some research. If you can get into safe mode and get to the command prompt and run Chkdsk you should be able to fix any file system errors. 

chkdsk (drive) /F......with a space between the drive letter and the slash.....and no brackets.You're always getting yourself in trouble 


The first prob which you fixed seemed to be something worse then a drive failure- a Drive Logic board failure. I assume you removed the Primary Slave>

As the screen states you could get a 80-conductor cable for your secondary IDE drives. Sometimes that can cause issues.


But- likely it is just the Primary Slave Jumpering. Some drives have a separate setting for Master With Slave and a Master Without slave, so you'd need to switch to without slave (obviously).Thanks Karnac, if I can just get it to the safe mode area you might be right. Sometimes it gets as far as the windows boot screen but then it locks up.

BC_Programmer, yes I removed that drive and it seemed to settle down a bit.
(still no joy yet though).

I used that drive to fix another computer but the jumpers havent changed (at least I cant remember CHANGING them) and then I put it back in. ( but thats when the fan died).

I thought it was all overheating issues. Apparently not.
Its aWestern Digital so no jumpers is slave.
I'll dig around inside and see what happens.
Thanks for the help. ImnoGuruI'm just wondering if we're looking too hard at the harddrive problem when it might be bad memory, or maybe it just needs reseating a couple of times to remove any oxidation on the contacts. Try running one stick and see if it will boot.Thanks Karnac, actually that is exactly what I am going to do tommorrow.
Tha case has been open for some time now, it might just be a simple thing.
(Hopefully)  Check that ribbon cables integrity while you're in there.......maybe swap it out for known good one.....with 4 HDs in there things must be pretty tight and that can cause them to crack after time from movement and heat.  SUCCESS

Well, all things bright and beautiful.

I took it all apart and cleaned and scrubbed and vacuumed, removed this bit and then that one and put it all back together again.

First action on reboot.... SMOOTH as silk to the log onscreen... password OK and in as normal.  
Minus one drive and C:Drive with everything in tact. 

Thank you one and all for your input ImnoGuru. Well done......Surprising how a stripdown/rebuild can put things back on track......as long as you don't end up with extra parts..... There was this one item left over.... Hahaha

trouble is of course I changed so many things in there and refitted them, that I dont know what the cause was.

Anyway at this point it doesnt really matter.
Thanks for the help Karnac 

I am using a Mac Mini (Power PC), OS X, Version 10.5.6 with a Seagate 500 GB Free AGENT External Hard Drive.

Here is my problem...

I ALWAYS use my external hard drive for my iTunes library, PICTURES, home movies, etc.  It is always connected and always on.  However, STUPID, stupid me disconnected it today and connected it to my daughter's PC (running Windows XP).  I was trying to remove a large 17 GB AVI file that my husband put on her computer.  I hooked up my drive and of course, Windows XP didn't see it.  So, I went in (with the help of the 'if you don't already know this - you shouldn't be doing this' Windows Wizard) and gave it a drive NAME, etc.  Basically, I THINK I "partitioned" it and reformatted it for a PC.

Now, my Mac will not recognize it.  It does say "S.M.A.R.T. Status: Not Supported." 

Okay, I think I get what dummy me did - I reformatted my external hard drive to a PC.  My question is, how do I reformat it back to my Mac - WITHOUT ERASING what is on it?  My stuff is still on there, as it says there is only about 232 GB available, which means it's still there.

Would someone HELP me??  I'm not the best with computers (and apparently not the sharpest crayon in the box today) and I am really scared that I have just lost my entire iTunes library, all of my home movies, pictures, etc.!

Thank you for reading this and for any help/advise you can offer!Formatting or "reformatting" destroys all data...sorry.Thanks for your response.  However, my data was not lost...I downloaded a program called Data Rescue II and it got back everything I had on the external hard drive. Whew!!

Thanks again!Proof, once again, that sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good!   

(I oughta know...   )

Hi.

I have a Quanta PL-5C laptop which is marketed in India by the brand name Zenith. It has 2 GB RAM and earlier this laptop used to run on preinstalled Windows Vista Starter Edition and has a Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7530B drive but now it runs on Windows XP Professional Edition. My problem with the DVD-RW Drive started as follows:

One day I wanted to write some data on a brand new & BLANK CD-RW disk. When I inserted the disk in the drive the OS sought to format it but I changed my mind about it and aborted the process and neither the disk's format process could initiate or could complete itself ( to tell you all, the truth, I don't really remember which was the case ) nor any data was written to the disk and I removed it from the drive. At that time I did not know that there was something wrong with the drive.

After sometime I again decided to write some data on the same CD-RW disk but when I inserted it in to the drive, the computer did not recognize it as a blank disk but instead the drive became busy for a very long time i.e. the small LED light on the outside of the drive came on and stayed that way throughout this experience, also I could hear the sound of the disk spinning inside the drive and in explorer window ( named "computer" in Vista ) I could see a small icon in the shape of a round disk that kept on appearing and disappearing intermittently above the tip of the arrow shaped mouse pointer and one last thing that a green bar kept on crawling but could never manage to finish or reach its final destination in the address bar ( where the 'x' shaped button to stop an operation in Vista windows is located ) of the explorer window.

All this happened continuously for quite a long time and my computer also froze during this operation i.e. when I tried to stop the drive from trying to read / recognize the blank disk by clicking on the 'x' shaped stop button in the explorer window or close the window altogether, nothing happened. I could regain back the control of my PC only by hitting the physical eject button located on the outside of the drive tray multiple times. Then the tray ejected and I removed the disk from the drive and closed the tray. As soon as I removed the disk my PC unfroze and I could resume its normal operation.

After this incident I thought that the problem had been caused by the disk I had used so I tried to write data on another brand new disk but the result was the same i.e. all the things that I have previously described repeated themselves and I was very much perplexed by this. Now whenever I try to write data on a blank disk ( be it CD-R or CD-RW or a brand new or an old one ), my PC's drive does not recognize it and behaves in the same way as previously described although it STILL is able to read from disks that I had burned before this incident about the aborted formatting operation as well as other commercially available disks which contain prewritten data upon them such as games, songs, software etc.

A friend suggested that replacing my OS from Vista to XP might solve the problem so I did this and installed XP in the place of Vista ( and yes! the drive did read from the XP installation disk ) but even after doing this my previous problem with the drive remained as it was when I had Vista running on my PC and in addition to this problem a new one presented itself to me. This problem is that XP recognizes my DVD_RW Drive as a DVD-RAM Drive.

I wish to inform all of you that before this incident I had successfully burned data many times and on many and different types of disks such as CD-R's / CD-RW's etc. & that too in this particular drive itself but since these PROBLEMS arose I can't do it any more and because of these problems I have become very desperate and don't know what to do? Can somebody help me? Please, I request to all of you good people out there to help me and I thank from my heart to every one who at least goes through the description of my problem. I admit that it is not brief but I had to describe my problem in detail in the hope that it would be easy to understand for the kind soul/s who decide/s to at least read the description of my problems and if I fail in my aim to make it easier for the reader / helper then I apologise from the bottom of my heart for the inconvenience it caused to them.

Now I conclude but not without, once again, with a note of deeply felt gratitude. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks many times for it.

Thank You All for bearing with me.First you should have a look for red Xs or black on yellow exclamation marks in Device Manager.

 Click Start>Run> devmgmt.msc

Check your DVD for these errors. Double click on your DVD and a window will open and a message will tell you whether there is a problem with the device. Follow the troubleshhooting instructions, and see if it helps.

Thanks a lot for your advice Karnac and yes I have checked my DVD drive in Device Manager and there it is listed as a DVD-RW drive but again when I look at it in the ' My Computer ' system folder, it is still listed there as a DVD-RAM drive and also the problem regarding the nonrecognition / unreadability of blank disks is still persisting. I really need all the help I can get with this thing. Thanks a lot once again Karnac.Go into Device Manager and uninstall the Dvd and reboot......the drivers will reinstall.DVD-RW drives are listed as DVD-RAM because they can read/write DVD-RAM discs...

the built-in XP burning facility doesn't support burning DVDs, only CDs. you'll need to find an alternate program for that. I use IMGBurn for most of my burning needs. Quote from: Karnac on April 04, 2009, 09:36:42 PM

Go into Device Manager and uninstall the Dvd and reboot......the drivers will reinstall.

DVD-RW drives are listed as DVD-RAM because they can read/write DVD-RAM discs...

the built-in XP burning facility doesn't support burning DVDs, only CDs. you'll need to find an alternate program for that. I use IMGBurn for most of my burning needs.

Have you been able to fix the problem, Mr.CH? I too would suggest to use an actual burning application like Nero. Also, you might be using not the best kind of blank Roms...do you encounter this problem even when you switch between different blank CDs/DVDs? I used to have a problem burning DVD-Rs from Phillips, even to the point where my drive wouldn't recognize them at all, as a blank. Whenever I use Sony however I'm able to use them just fine. So sometimes it's a compatibility issue.   

Either way, it sounds like a small amount is always burned or it's just not recognized. It's no wonder that your drive plays havoc then. The only thing you can do then is eject the Rom, it might even be necessary to do that manually with a pin into the ejector hole. So like I said it's best to try out different Roms and applications.

DVD-RW drives are listed as DVD-RAM because they can read/write DVD-RAM discs...

the built-in XP burning facility doesn't support burning DVDs, only CDs. you'll need to find an alternate program for that. I use IMGBurn for most of my burning needs.

If the drive is a DVD-RAM drive, it only means it can read and write DVD-RAM Discs.
Mind you, these discs are not like the RAM you have in your computer. They are completely different things.

Oh You Mean That They Are Random Access Memory Devices How Coool !!

Try going to Device Manager, click a "+" sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
You'll see two items:
- ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
- ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
Right click on each of them, and click Uninstall. Confirm.
Restart Windows. They'll be automatically reinstalled.

Then try it and see if there are any problems.

Just recently (as in this morning) my computers startup button has seemed to have GAINED a delay. Whenever I press the button to turn on my computer it doesn't power up my computer, instead it has a delay of anywhere between a couple of seconds to even minutes before it ACTUALLY starts to power up my pc. What SEEMS to be the problem here? and how can i fix it?

Any help will be greatly appreciatedBorrow a known working power supply of the same or GREATER wattage and swap it in there overnight and test things out...
If it does the same thing it may be the power SWITCH itself or you might have blown/failing capacitors on the MBoard...

My sister is USING an old IBM PC with 192MB of RAM.

recently she bought an webcam, and whenever she tries to use/launch the webcam, the computer freezes.

She then calls up a computer technician from a shop and the guy suggested that the RAM is not enough.

Is that true? I thought it could be the video card rather than the RAM.

Thanks.How fast is the computer's Processor?
What Operating System is this?
How much free space on the hard drive?
What is it's capacity?Hi CD, attached is the hardware report by EVEREST.
It was suppose to be a .htm document but since the file type is not allowed as attachment, I rename it into .txt.

I've got further info from my sister.
When she launched the webcam, the video windows is split into 4 columns instead of one single windows. And the video windows doesn't refresh.

[attachment deleted by admin]Re-scan and save it as a text file in Everest...
Then paste the Computer Summary only info here...The previous attachment doesn't work?

Anyway, here the Summary part I copy from the html version.

[attachment deleted by admin]Anyone?The processor speed; amount of RAM; WinXP and a dial-up connection are all contributing to the machine's overall poor performance...

XP should have a minimum of 512Mg of RAM...
Your processor is a Celeron 733Mhz...also not very robust.

Cannot tell what type of internet connection you have from here but in short the machine is not equipped for streaming video from the web. Quote from: patio on March 18, 2009, 08:26:10 AM

512Mg of RAM...

Hey there, since Saturday night I've had some really bad luck W/ my computer. This has never happened to me before and I don't even know where to start. I was hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

My stats: Vista 64 bit
VIDEO Card: NVIDIA GEforce 9400
Dell ispiron 530S
This is a brand new computer bought for a xmas present in Dec..

Sat. night after watching some hulu, I went to youtube and was typing stuff in. Right in the middle of typing words in the search field, it froze, then immediately, my monitor went black and said it went into "power saving mode" (sometimes it said, check pc or cord, and that the monitor is working - something along those lines).
I figured that since I had the monitor/computer on for a while maybe my monitor over heated or something, but it wouldn't explain the words and mouse freezing.

I turned the computer off, then on.
Right after I logged into windows, I seen the desktop, things loading, my gadgets, then the screen went black (sometimes white, sometimes lime green), then in "power saving mode". This keeps happening. Sometimes, this happends right after I see the "windows" logo, sometimes, 30-60 seconds after being on my desktop.

I tried my husband's flat screen, and the same THING happens, so I know it cannot be the monitor.

I can't go into safe mode. When I do (either with command prompt, OR with networking, or either without), after all the files load on the screen, it doesn't go any further - the screen goes black.

I've noticed now, any of the times I can manage to rush through control panel to see any hardware CHANGES or something, I can't spend enough time figuring things out because it goes BLANK.

Before, when the screen went blank even before I can put in my password to log in, I had the speakers on, could blindly type in my passoword, press enter, and hear the welcome chime through the speakers.

I don't know what I should do. I'm just so lost at why it would happen at such a random time! The computer has been great, fast, with awesome results working in Photoshop, and everything.

Where should I start? I can't go into safe mode, most of the time, I don't have enough time to quickly disable anything (I might, if I get lucky).
Do I uninstall the graphics card through the hardware driver thing? Do I disable it? What do I do?
I am thinking it is the graphics card, but I am NOT an expert.

Thanks,Hard to say. Sounds like the video card is either overheating or dying. According to Dell's website, that model can come with either an Intel 3100 graphics chipset or an ATI Radeon 3450. Is the GeForce 9400 something you added in yourself or did Dell put that in for you?

Since the computer is still fairly new, it should still be under warranty. I'd contact Dell and see what steps you need to take to get the computer repaired/replaced under warranty.

Regards
What are the FORMATTING types for Floppy, HDDs, CD & DVDS; Removable Media
Help please.
Thanks
GooooooooooooogleIs this HOMEWORK or what?

Ok, so my printer WONT print in COLOR. I have an hp photosmart 7350. There is color and photo ink in the HOLDERS. The printer settings are set to print in color however when i go to print a document, i click on document preferances and its in grayscale. I unclick the grayscale, set the color, click apply and then ok, then ir revertis right back to grayscale! this is VERY FRUSTRATING!!!! I have restarted my computer 6 times, thinking that was the issue with no LUCK!

Please if you know what else i can do that would be greatly appriciated.

did you remove the tab on the bottom of the cartiage?im not A MORON!- YES I DID.OK, SO IVE RUN A FEW TESTS, IT PRINTS IN COLOR. BUT WITH THE DOCUMENTS I AM TRYING TO PRINT IT REVERTS BACK TO GRAYSCALE. tHE PRINTER SETTINGS ARE SET FOR COLOR, HOWEVER THE INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENT SETTINGS ARE THE ONES THAT KEEP REVERTING BACK AFTER I CHANGE THEM TO COLORLets do this the easy way.  Reinstall your print driver.

I've got a new hard disk and i'm selling my computer. I'm wondering if there is any contents of other memory like ram transferred to the new hard disk from the computer when its installedPlease explain what you WANT to know a bit more please. Are you putting the new hard disk in the computer and then selling it?
I've put the new hard disk in my old computer but i'm wondering if any passwords or any bank details got tranferred from any ram or anything. I changed the hard disk as i was paranoid that i hadn't erased my personal details.You had to shut the PC down and turn the power off before you installed the hard disk. (I HOPE!) When you shut down, let alone turn the power off, everything in the RAM is lost. For ever.

 I THOUGHT it might like when data is recovered after a sudden shutdown.

after it suddenly shuts down without you asking it to. then turn  back on and it recovers the data Quote from: davedat on April 06, 2009, 11:49:54 AM

I thought it might like when data is recovered after a sudden shutdown.

And the cmos battery wouldn't of saved ram?

Hi Guys!

It has started happening since 2 days. WHENEVER, I put my Machine on some sort of Scanning or say Defragmentation, after few minutes(7-10 mins.), CPU starts sounding "Ambulance Siren"; a long continous, unbreakable siren that totally resembles to  an Ambulance Siren.

Worth to note, this do not happens in the normal course of action(while work as usual on the system) & only while I leave my system Idle ( turning OFF the Monitor) for Defrag or Scanning with say Stinger..!

Is it indicative of some forthcoming Hardware failure, overheating or probably abrupt halt of say CPU Fan?!..Please help!

sounds like an overheat siren. My old COMPUTER would do that only with particular games.

likely means the heatsink is clogged with dust.Ya most likely overheating.  You want to open it up and put something in the fans, including the POWER supply fans so it doesn't move (like a twistie-tie or weedwacker line).  Get a can of compressed air or set your vacuum on the blow setting and blow out all the dust.  Make shure you take the twistie-tie or weedwacker wire out first!Never place a vacuum whithin 2 feet of a PC.....blow setting or not.It creates STATIC right? I thought it was ok to just use the blow.  Guess not...Only compressed air in the case, and not close enough to freeze any components.
You get to vacuum the mess outside the case afterwards.

Maybe download Speedfan and see how hot that puppy's running.
Its overheating. TRY getting software that can warn you if it get to a certain temp, or buy a new fan.

I know it's been debated adnauseum for years, but I've got debate going on with a FELLOW GEEK about just what are the true risks if you fail to defrag regularly (I usually do it once a week, AT LEAST once every 3 wks). I've read before that if left unattended for long enough you can actually damage the system files.  As a pro-audio user that uses 250 - 450 Meg wav files over 8 tracks, with realtime FX, it's always been recommended to at least have a separate hard drive, and to defrag VERY often. But our real debate was if it truly damaged sys files if left unattended.  I maintain they do.

Tanx,
KCWhen files are heavily defragmented, the only outcome is the slower computer, because it takes the system longer time to find the info. I see no connection between DEFRAGMENTATION, and damaging system files.
On a top of it, todays processors are so fast, that even with highly defragmented files, it's gonna be hard for "naked eye" to see the speed difference.Oh, My Dear Mr. Broni:

You Are A True And Wonderful Mastermind

MMmmm: I Just Feel So Much More Secure Knowing That There Are Men, True And Godly Men, Like You In The WorldRemember the LESSON of "The Incredibles," Broni:  no capes!   Yes No capes and no escapes
This time i'm for Real Quote

When files are heavily defragmented, the only outcome is the slower computer,

(I usually do it once a week, AT LEAST once every 3 wks).

You mean faster, right?

That There Are Men, True And Godly Men,
Like You In The World[quote

Shouldnt cause any damage eh? Im thinking not but I figured a double check would never hurt.

Here's the deal. I wasn't home when it happened, I just came back from camping and it was very much not alive. I pressed power button and it sounded as if it was turning on but nothing. nothing on the screen and when i tried PLUGGING another monitor into it nothing as well.
we had an electrical storm the night before and I can only assume that's what did it, since it was working the day before according to my folks.

And so My Hp Pavillion zv 5000 's hard DRIVE is sitting in front of me since I have narrowed it down to that or the mother board. And so to test this I figured I would
test this by popping the *possibly* dead hard drive in my just fine new (HP Pavillion dv9000) laptop. Should be no biggie... right?Under most circumstances, a bad hard drive would cause a Computer to start, but fail to boot up. (IE, it would display the POST messages and so forth).

However- that being said I have seen Hard drive problems CONFUSE the bejesus out of a PC to the point of simply presenting the black screen.


I personally cannot see any harm in your idea; worst case scenario is the laptop fails to boot when the "dead" hard drive is in it. However, this brings up the question of wether the drive will fit, since desktop hard drives are too big to fit in laptops.Yep I ran into that issue so i figured I would just throw it into my laptops computer.. thanks bunches!Make sure you don't have to reset your surge protector........If you're using one......Personally, I think your power supply is cooked as a result of the storm...... the brief power up may have been a residual charge in the power supply.In an electrical storm the things most hit are things one phone lines and network CABLES. The surge protector protects the power supply, but not the phone line of long network cable. Expect your router, modem, and Ethernet network adapters to be toast. It will be the Modem or Network card that keeps the computer from starting. Hope it did not take out the Motherboard. And the surge protector may be wiped out. Buy a new surge protector. No easy way to test it.

Ok, there is a way to test it if you are very careful.I Had a man try to throw a dead hard drive into my system 1ce
No good came of it but then again as BC_P has stated
No Irrepairable damage' was done either
A few stitches and I was fineLaska,
Next time somebody throws a hard drive, get out of the way, Then are very solid and can hurt you. AWWE Schuckes Mr. GEEK DINT Hurt much a tall reelly
Jess made me a lttle Runny for a dayor 2

Don't forget to feed it.

Do you follow those?......LOL

MMMmmm Glider pads & smoother movement
Where have You been All My Life ?

Sorry, I'll try to be around more often.

I'm calling your girlfriend