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I have bought 500GB of hard drive but only 149GB is RECOGNIZED by my PC. I am using Win xp and Win 7. in both OS the same VALUE is recognized.
Have you tried reformatting the hard drive?

What brand and model number is it?What does disk management show?It MAY also be helpful if you LET us know how you partitioned your drive;

For example, did you partition it using the Windows XP installation disk?

If I recall correctly, 150 GB was SOMEWHERE around the max space Windows XP would recognize before SP2 during install.

Im having a problem with my nvidia geforce4 mx 440 with agp8x graphic card. When i turn pc on the monitor goes into power saving mode, so i turn pc on and off few times then it will work. If i restart pc the monitor goes in to power saving mode. Besides that problem the display is fine.

The on BOARD graphic port works everytime.

The monitor works, its from ANOTHER computer that USED it.

PC Info
Gateway 500X
Windows Xp Pro Sp2
Pentium 4 2.40Ghz
512Mb DDR 2100

Graphic card
nvidia geforce4 mx 440 with agp8x
Has VGA and S-Video

Thanks 4 AnyHelpNew card ? ?
If so return it for a replacement... Quote from: IcyBurn on July 18, 2010, 11:43:12 AM

...When i turn pc on the monitor goes into power saving mode, so i turn pc on and off few times then it will work. If i restart pc the monitor goes in to power saving mode. Besides that problem the display is fine.
The on board graphic port works everytime.
...
Graphic card:  nvidia geforce4 mx 440 with agp8x ...

Could there be a chance that maybe that graphic card and monitor are not working right together.

1.  I tested the Nvidia Geforce4 MX 440 in two other computers and worked every time I started pc up the display came on.
2.  I tried two others AGP graphic cards in the gateway and one worked, display came on every time.
3.  Then the second AGP graphic card came on everytime but the words were twinkling. Both cards I tried were Nvidia.
4.  So on the gateway pc its seems to be randomly picking whatever vga port it wants to use even through I have AGP selected, I say this cause when the AGP graphic card has no display the on board vga does. Then when the AGP graphic card has display the on board vga doesnt.
5.  I changed the video setting in the bio to PCI and AGP will still come on when it wants to.

Hey there everyone,

I would really appreciate your help right now.

I very recently bought and installed a new XFX Geforce 9800gt, which uses an onboard fan with a small 4-pin CONNECTION. The 4 pin connection should surely mean it has some sort of fan CONTROL, as opposed to a 2 pin connection.

Here is my cards official page http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/products/graphiccards/9series/9800GT.aspx

And here is an image of my exact MODEL

And here is a screenshot of GPU-Z  (you can see the RPM does not match the fan %)
Ever since install the fan has been stuck at 100%, and any program I try (including NVIDIA software, Rivatuner and EVGA precision) does not work. The program reports that the fan has changed speed, when in fact it hasn't.

I have used driver sweeper to remove all my old ATI drivers from my previous card (which was fan-less), but is there a chance there is still a conflict?

Any help would be appreciated,

AndySee if you get the same readings with HWMonitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
It may not read the speed at all, it only reads temp on mine.
Not all monitoring programs read the sensor chips properly.
BTW, 4-pins are +12V, Gnd, Speed output, Speed input

GPU-Z is about the same as yours for my 8600GT, fan speed says 30%, no readout for rpm.  My temp is 60C; I wouldn't worry about it.I THINK 4 pins are speed in/out.
Im thinking it could be a driver issue, or the fan reading software installed with it. if its not an official Geforce piece of software, uninstall it and use one.

...but if you press F1 the computer run directly and good !!...

Hey guys, older computer, wasnt booting, so i replaced power supply, now it starts to boot up, but it says nothing detected on master 0, so i replaced ide cable to hard drive, still same thing boots, says no devices, and shuts down.
Any ideas???can you check the bios an see's if it sees's it?  Also, a name an model would help.in the bios, it sees the hard drive,  as for model, there isnt one, its an older, generic computer.There is an Operating System installed?  How do you mean?  yep, has windows xp
Boot XP CD.
Use recovery console.
fixmbr
fixboot
exit

hmm ok, ive tried a couple times, but computer still just shuts down, about 30 seconds in
see if you cant boot from the xp disk an see if it dont see the harddrive.  If it does attempt to repair it.  If that done work try changeing the cd an harddrive ide cables, this wont hurt anything just changes which will boot first an if it doesnt its something else. Quote from: mdoggy39 on July 30, 2010, 02:17:45 PM

hmm ok, ive tried a couple times, but computer still just shuts down, about 30 seconds in

see if you cant boot from the xp disk an see if it dont see the harddrive.  If it does attempt to repair it.  If that done work try changeing the cd an harddrive ide cables, this wont hurt anything just changes which will boot first an if it doesnt its something else.

about the only thing left i can think of is to remove heatsink and reapply thermal paste

The cylinder indicator light is for the hard drive...if it does not light at all then the drive may have gone South...
You could try removing and reseating it but it sounds like it's a goner.

The cylinder indicator light is for the hard drive...if it does not light at all then the drive may have gone South...
You could try removing and reseating it but it sounds like it's a goner.

Is there a way to figure out if the issue really is the hard drive without opening up the laptop case?

Also, if it turns out that the hard drive is dead, what are my options/chances of recovering data?  (I should mention that I confirmed with Gateway that this laptop is well out of warranty).

Thanks!

Outside of swapping hard drives, I don't know of a way to know for *certain* whether or not the hard drive is the problem.
In another situation, I would recommend using a linux live cd to boot the laptop and then check for the hard drive, which could at least indicate that there was a problem if the hard drive cannot be accessed.
HOWEVER, as I said in my previous post, it sounds as though there is something else wrong with your computer AS WELL as some sort of hard drive issue.  Because your screen does not come on at all, I am tempted to think there is:
   A) Something wrong with the motherboard,
   B) Something wrong with the BIOS specifically,
   C) Or something wrong with the screen/video controller.

If you're lucky (data-wise), there is something wrong with the BIOS or motherboard that is preventing the screen from showing anything and either preventing the hard drive from starting or preventing the hard drive indicator light from turning on.  (You would be lucky because that would mean hard drive data was recoverable)

However, those are just my thoughts on the subject.  I'm not so good at remotely diagnosing problems, so I leave this thread in more capable hands.

I just felt as though I should put my 2 bits in.
--southpaw

I'm not sure what is wrong but when i turn on my computer it stays on for about 15 seconds it shows the compaq screen then it just shuts off. it keeps doing that. anybody know whtas wrong

i have a
compaq presario sr1220nx
intel celeron d
512 ram
2.93 ghz
80g HDA friend of mine recently had the same problem. Check to see if the CPU heat sink didn't SEPARATE from the CPU, If you make it past POST how many beeps do you hear? if im looking and doing this right. one seat sink is under one of the fans i took it off cleans in and just put it back, and the other one is only half put in (one side of it wont latch in anywhere) but i put pressure on it to keep it touching the chip underneath it and its still turning off. hopefully that made since hahaok so i have find a little more to the problem which i think this might be the big ISSUE someone can help.

i plug in the long power outlet in the motherboard and there is also a 4 square shaped outlet i plug in as well to the mb, but i just have the long one plugged in the fans start up and everything and DOESNT shut down and everything. but when i plug in the 4 square one is when it does shut down

Quote from: 2x3i5x on July 30, 2010, 02:04:39 PM

what about those money back guarantees with no questions asked?

I've had a look at the Nero web site and I can't find any mention of this, can you post a link?

I never said anything about that being with nero. I was asking that in general.

Hello everyone, my name is Chai
I've encounter a problem after i CHANGED the performance setting in the BIOS. From what i remember i've changed the graphics and speed varying from Hz to Hz....... well trying to get the best out of it!
When i restarted the computer again the screen didnt display anything!

Another additional information you should know:
This computer have a history for not starting properly, it start but never making it to the desktop state, instead it restart it self.

-------------------------------------------

The only solution i have tried is resetting the bios but i only tried one method and that is removing the batteries but that didn't work.
I want to try the other method using the jumper pins but i cannot find the RIGHT jumper which state "clear cmos" or "reset bios" and i don't want to mess with it.

These are the only jumper pins which i found that has 3 pins:

1 - J3      on the video card
2 - JBAT1     close to the 3v batteries
3 - J10     Closes to the CPU

__________________________________
Windows Xp Sp3
PC model is Evesham
500mb ram
2.8Ghz

Motherboard = MFI FSB 400 i think
Bios - Phoenixbios
ATI radeon video card

Am sorry but these is the only information i can gather stating what situation am in!
__________________________________

Please help
Thank you
ChaiRoughly how long did you have the CMOS battery out of the system?

To reset the BIOS via jumper settings you should move the jumper from JBAT1 pins 1 & 2 to pins 2 & 3 for AT LEAST 15 seconds.  Then you need to put the jumper back on pins 1 & 2.

If the problem persists, you may have fried your video card.Here is a MSI web address that may help:
http://us.msi.com/support/sup_tshoot.aspI just read some tutorial on how to reset the bios and every methods is attempted.... and i have a FEELING that southpaw63119 is right.It's extremely rare you can get a performance kick from a BIOS setting...best left alone completely and re-set to it's system defaults.If your computer was working properly before start-up/booting error happens, then there's a chance of FINDING a more specific solution. But now after messing with BIOS configuration only complicates the scenario. A monitor blackout is another.

I have two graphic cards

1] 8400 Nvidia

2] 9400 Nvidia

so i wanna BUY NEW 1 again , was thinking of 9800gt- is it nice

means 8400 vs 9400 vs 9800

my budget is 3000 (Indian rupees) Between those three cards, the 9800GT is much, much, much faster.  There's no comparison.So you recommend to buy it  I have no idea of pricing in India, so I can't COMMENT.  In most markets the 9800GT isn't a good buy at its price point, unless you find ONE on special offer.Thank You 4 Ur Help Dude I Appreciate It

I'm working on a second-hand computer for a family member. There is one physical drive, but it shows as two logical drives C and E. Drive C has roughly 70 GB while E has 5 GB. Windows XP is located in the smaller E drive so E is behaving as if it's the primary drive. Examples: My Documents on the Start menu is located on E as are most programs, and Command Prompt automatically BEGINS at E. (Oddly, IE and Messenger are on C.)

INITIALLY I had assumed the previous uses had installed a second, smaller hard drive for the kids until I downloaded Windows updates. The smaller E drive is now full. Recovery turned itself off because lack of disc space has reached critical levels. Can I still undo the updates?

The larger, C drive is PRACTICALLY empty.

First I would try reinstalling Windows, but the computer didn't come with any discs. Is there anything else to do? What would have caused this in the first place?

Dell Dimension 3000
physical memory 512 MB, virtual memory 2 GB
2.4 GHz
XP Home SP2
virus programs: Came with a trial program. I scanned it with no viruses found, and then I deleted it to make way for Avast which I haven't had a chance to get. I ALSO ran AdAware.

Thanks for any help.The anomaly you describe generally occurs when an external drive or usb device is connected during the OS installation. And you will need an OS cd to change anything now (you need to format and reinstall). Quote from: Allan on July 15, 2010, 05:35:53 AM

The anomaly you describe generally occurs when an external drive or usb device is connected during the OS installation. And you will need an OS cd to change anything now (you need to format and reinstall).

Formatting and reinstalling may not be the only solution.
You could try backing up any important files from both partitions and then running GParted from a liveCD in order to resize the partitions.

Your suggestion will not help make C: drive the system partition. In order to do that he needs to format and reinstall.

I wish I had tried GParted--even if just for fun. I think it would have worked. But reinstalling was probably the best solution since the computer is now running like new.

Components:

CASE TT| VL18501W2Z BK RT
VGA SAPPHIRE|100283-3L HD5770 1G RT
MB ASUS M4A79XTD EVO 790X AM3 RT
DVD BURNER LG | GH22NS40
HD 1T|WD 7K 32M SATA2 WD1001FALS
MEM 2Gx2|GSKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL   
WIN HOME PREM 7 64-BIT ENG 1PK DSP
CPU AMD|PH II X4 965 3.4G 6M RT

I double checked all my connections and power cables and it seemed to be tip top shape.  When I turn on the power supply the motherboard LED light comes on, so that is a plus.  However when I press the power button it does not turn the computer on, I.E. fans, CPU etc.

I even took out the video card and a stick of ram to SEE if that would show any different result and it did not.  Not sure where to go from here.

Any HELP would be great.you sure you don't have any computer parts that may be DOA?Some might be DOA but not sure which part it would be. 

EDIT: I know the power supply and the MB aren't because the LED light comes on.  Not sure about the processor, RAM or the MB. Quote from: Karroog on August 03, 2010, 05:35:37 PM

Some might be DOA but not sure which part it would be. 

EDIT: I know the power supply and the MB aren't because the LED light comes on.  Not sure about the processor, RAM or the MB.

EDIT: I know the power supply and the MB aren't because the LED light comes on.  Not sure about the processor, RAM or the MB.

how can i find out what GPU I haveThere are quite a few ways. Device manager USUALLY shows it; DXDIAG will show it as well.

I recommend GIVING GPU-Z a whirl, it will show you EVERYTHING you ever want to know about your GPU.

I can't get my COMPUTER to activate my HP all-in-one printer (4100 series).  When I check Task Manager, I find that a related program (spools-something-exe) is occupying a huge percentage of my CPU capacity, but the printer remains inert.  The "copy" feature works and the "ready" light is on, so I know the printer is functioning.  I've tried Windows-XP troubleshooting procedures without success.  I know the printer is online and is designated as the default.  The problem first appeared a couple days ago when I tried to print an email.  I've tried to print a test page (from the printer and from WordPad) but without success.  Ideas? Need...more...info...gasp 

Operating system / antivirus & antispyware protection / service packs installed / when did it start happening / did it ever work right / installed any new SOFTWARE?

Alan <><  Windows XP home; started two days ago but worked before that with no problems; no new software; AVG antivirus & firewall; computer is a Dell C600 with Pentium III 512MB and 80GB hard drive.  Anything else?Try uninstalling and reinstalling.  Sorry for getting back so late.  I broke a finger and have had to deal with that 

Alan <><

Ok I have a gateway laptop, the T series not exactly sure at this time the full model number. I kept getting the ERROR of server exacution failed, but BOTH my wired and wireless internet works, it has the BUILT in wireless card. I have system restore disks for it and I ran those through thinking it would fix the problem. It didn't. Now just the wireless works, and under device manager the ethernet port isn't showed as it's not installed. I contacted gateway, they don't have a fix for it and they even sent me a link to download the driver, the link they sent has 3 DIFFERENT ones, I tried each one and NOTHING worked. my friend from school looked at it which he's going for computer repair, nothing he could do. How can I fix the problem? I know you guys and gals need the model number I'll find that out as soon as I can as it's at home and I'm at work. Thank you.

squall is a troll and you just gave him a huge dinner, BC_P
Quote from: Salmon Trout on July 14, 2010, 01:14:39 PM

squall is a troll and you just gave him a huge dinner, BC_P

Im getting to the point to really report you to patio here.

Im going to be going into intro networking an this may help.  I dont have an IP,netsub mask or anything like this but, I want it too run before tring to change those.

I've been digging AROUND the internet for hours trying to figure out what (if any) wireless cards (preferably USB) are currently supported by Linux (i.e. works out of box, no new driver installation necessary), but I haven't been able to come up with much other than the WUSB54G, which no longer seems to be produced.

Are there any still manufactured wireless cards (like I said before, preferably USB) that would work on recent linux distros without installing new drivers? 
(I say most because I intend to install several different distros before this is all through)

Thanks in advance.none of the distro's I've tried have had any problems with any of my wireless cards. Seems nearly universal. Although none of them are USB, so I don't know how that would factor in.Ubuntu, Debian, Slax, and openSUSE have all had trouble with my LinkSys WMP54G wireless card, as well as the 2Wire USB device AT&T gave me when they HOOKED up U-Verse.

I've been hesitant to buy anything until I have some general idea that it will work relatively easily.

However, most of the USB cards I have looked up appear to have some issues, or require the use of ndiswrapper (which I would like to avoid, if at all possible).

What wireless cards have you used? Quote from: southpaw63119 on August 02, 2010, 10:51:01 AM

What wireless cards have you used?

D-Link Wireless G RangeBooster, D-Link Xtreme-N Desktop adapter, and the Atheros 9281 adapter built into my laptop., they all worked fine in Mint and Fedora.

I guess I made it sound like I'd tried a lot more then 2 distros with 3 wireless cards

Driver available from manufacturer: http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2 , in kernel since 2.6.30; different driver! Firmware required

Ok, so my printer has stopped working - sort of. It's a Canon MP620 multifunctional, used with Windows 7. I can still copy, the test page looks fine, but I can't print from my network like I used to.

It all started a few days ago when the ink went dry. I replaced the ink (yellow and the big black one) and tried to print whatever it was that needed to be printed - but only a blank page came out. The computer and the printer is clearly communicating (via my wireless router), as it's actually printing SOMETHING when I TELL it to, it's just that it prints a blank page. It can't be that the ink is the fault - it's the same ink type that all the rest is (while not being Canon's own ink, it's a compatible brand, and it's worked fine so far.)

I started to troubleshoot, to see what was WRONG. I can still copy just fine, as I said, and the test page looks fine (the one to check if the writerhead is working, etc). I MANUALLY reset the networking properties to fabric standard, removed my current drivers and installed the latest ones. Still only blank pages. The test page can still be printed from the computer and still look fine, though. I did this a couple of times with different drivers, but I always got the same result.

A few of the times though, the first line or symbol of a document would be printed, but not the rest of the document (I used different documents all the time). I figured it might be something with the wireless part of it all, so I tried to use the USB-functionality instead - I got the exact same results. Now I'm getting kind of desperate. I don't know much about computers or printers, but I do know some. And now I know that I'm out of ideas. Can somebody please help me?

Thanks in advance!
I made some more "progress" today, here's what I did:

I made a document in Word with only blue text, and that worked fine! So I BOUGHT Canon's own cartridge for the black ink - still the same problem. While I bought the cartridge (a local electronics store) I asked what the problem could be. They thought it might be the compatible ink, and if it weren't it might be some dust or something clogging the printerhead.

I went home, removed all the cartridges, took out the printerhead and looked at it. I have NO idea how one should look, but there was ink on it. I very carefully cleaned it a dry washcloth, as the guy in the store told me to. When I was done I tried the test page again and it still looks the same. I even brought pictures this time, it might help...

This is after first changing the ink (to Canon's own):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00001.jpg (test)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00002.jpg (print)

This is after a normal cleaning with the same ink:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00003.jpg (test)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00004.jpg (print)

As you can see, there's a pronounced gradient in the black colour. And even though you can't really see it in these pictures, all the other test colours are perfect, as far as I can tell (that is, unless they're supposed to have black mixed in with them as well.) After cleaning I can get it to look better for the first few lines, but then it's as if it gets dirty again. I tried adjusting the writerhead:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00005.jpg (page 1)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/Sajber/Printer/SCN_0001-00006.jpg (page 2)

The same gradient with the black colour is still there, and after a while there isn't even a bad quality in the black, just no black AT ALL.

What the **** is wrong with my printer?

=(

Just replaced the cooling fan in my T40 with a used, but serviceable fan, due to "fan error" message. The T40 is a type 2374, model BU7.   PRIOR to the fan problem, the computer ran fine.  The new fan runs fine, but now the computer won't boot. When I turn the machine on, it starts to boot (the fan spins and all of the green indicator lights at the BOTTOM of the LCD come on), but after it goes through the first three boot-up screens (the” IBM Thinkpad” screen...in color, the "Microsoft Windows XP Professional/Microsoft Windows Recovery Console” screen" and the "Start Windows Normally/Safe Mode/Start Windows With Networking/Safe Mode With Command Prompt" screen, I hear a click and the machine shuts down instantly. The total time from turning the machine on until it self shuts down is 19 seconds. The "click" sound is singular and seems to be coming from the HD. Further, I'm not hearing the normal boot-up beeps. The machine runs perfectly (sans the boot-up beeps) until about 3 seconds after it displays the last start-up screen (the previously mentioned "Start Windows Normally/Safe Mode/Start Windows With Networking/Safe Mode With Command Prompt" screen), then it shuts down instantly with the single click.

The battery is in the machine, it's charged and the A/C power adapter is plugged into both the machine and an good outlet. The battery indicator light (at the bottom of the LCD) is green (with the "+" sign) and remains on continuously both with the machine turned off and during the short, failed boot-up process.

I've also noticed that the green HD indicator light (between the "A" and "Z" indicator lights) flickers during the shortened/failed boot process, leaving me to believe that everything is OK with the HD (just guessing here).

The "1," "A," "Z," and "Cresent Moon" indicator lights at the bottom of the LCD all illuminate instantly when I initially turn the power on, then after no more than 1 second, the "1," "A," and "Cresent Moon" lights go out, leaving the "Z" light on (the "Z" light remains on solid until the computer shuts down...again, total time, 19 seconds).

The HD was previously removed to copy files onto a new computer I got when the fan went out on the T40 (I didn't realize then that all I had to do was replace the fan...real novice here... , but it's back in the HD slot solidly and I've been assured by the professionals who "transferred" the data that it was ONLY copied over to the new machine, not actually transferred. They assured me that everything that was on the HD when I brought it to them is still on it. They further assured me that they NEVER even began to mess with and/or copy any of the software or OS.
I still have the computer "apart" (from installing the fan), but everything's plugged in properly and double checked, including the keyboard and palm rest. The fan seems fine and runs the whole time that the machine is running.

I've removed the HD and tried booting.   The "IBM Thinkpad" page displays for 25 seconds, then I get a page that displays the message, "Media Test Failure, Check Cable," then (as before), the machine shuts down....BUT, this time without the "click"  noise.     Note that the machine runs longer (for about 45 seconds) without the HD before shutting down (in the exact same way as described above).

Have also tried checking the BIOS settings to be sure the machine is reading the HD.   I'm not able to access the BIOS pages while the "IBM Thinkpad" screen is displayed, however the machine does "beep" when I hit the blue "Access IBM" key.  Previously there were no beeps whatsoever.   Anyway, once the second page comes up (the one with the "Media Test Failure" message) I am abble to access the BIOS pages.  However, before I can do anything, the machine shuts down.    Have tried this both with the HD in and out.   Doesn't matter.   

I'm having a hard time BELIEVING that the HD is bad as it was working just fine prior to the fan problem with the machine.   But, then again, I'm a novice at all this.

HELP!!!!!
Did your fan you replaced have a 3rd wire for fan speed tach? If you replace a 3 wire fan with a 2 wire fan (or) a fan that is not the same RPM speed you can run into these problems. Laptops usually have 3 wire fans and when the Tach (fan speed) is not detected they shut down to protect themselves from thermal melt down.

For the past few weeks, a red vertical line STARTED APPEARING in my computer exactly in centre of the screen.Is it a hardware problem or what?POOR connection.
Broken cable.
Defective graphics CARD.
If LCD, damaged display.

A bunch of WINDOWS files had been removed from my Compaq Presario R3000 and it made my system malfunction a bit. So I removed the PREVIOUS OPERATING System and installed a new Windows XP. I got EVERYTHING up and running, except the sound. It says there is no Sound card, AUDIO device, and so on. I no for sure I've got a sound card because it worked on the previous OS. Please help!Refer to your Device manager under hardware menu. Check first the status of your Audio Controllers if there are any red/yellow marks.You need to install the driver for your sound card. Also, did you install the chipset driver after installing the new OS?Compaq Presario R3000 Notebook PC series. Download drivers and software Quote from: Geek-9pm on August 05, 2010, 10:11:22 AM

Compaq Presario R3000 Notebook PC series. Download drivers and software

I recently took over my son's old computer (he got the new one) and he has a 200 gig Maxtor in it.  I took my 60 gig Seagate out of my old computer and installed it in my son's old computer.  I made the Seagate the Master and the Maxtor the Slave.  I'm not that computer savvy and I found out later that this is probably not a good move but the damage was minimal.  I just needed to get some drivers for everything to work.  Anyway my question is, can I select or change which drive to boot up from?  I WENT into bios and there was a section that allowed you to set the boot up order and then I found a section that allowed you to set the priority of the hard drives.  If I put the Maxtor at the top of the list, will this allow me to boot up from the slave drive?What happens when you try to boot after setting it? Quote

If I put the Maxtor at the top of the list, will this allow me to boot up from the slave drive?

I went to PLAY a game and get the message that my Hardware acceleration is either turned off, or my graphics card cannot handle.  How should I handle this.  I've been told that since my card runs 800 instead of 400 it may be too MUCH for the system. 
THANKS all....You have been here for awhile..
You KNOW the rules.
We need details.  INSTALLED a new MB, ASRock 775 i65G Socket 775, Core 2 Duo w/PCI,
 Intel Pentium D 820  2.8 Gh 2M/800 Dual Core processor
Have installed Windows 7 Ultimate
Sound, video shows  C-Media AC97 Audio Device

Ok, I have 2 emachine computers that run on Windows XP. The model numbers are: W3080 and W3400.
The differences between the TWO are:
W3080 has a floppy drive, a DVD drive (player not burner) and a CD-RW burner, one hard drive (C) 2.5GB total DDR memory (upgraded) HD: Unknown
W3400 has no floppy but the memory card read, expandable memory drive on the front, dual layer DVD-R/CD-R combo drive, 2 hard drives (C and D). total of 3.0GB ddr memory. (upgraded) HD 80GB

What I wanted to know if the parts from both computers are interchangeable. The 3080 pc the power button is broke, the cd-rw drive gears are broke and it won't open. The 3400, just the hard drive space is filled up, and I don't want to go spend $100 on an external hard drive if the parts are interchangeable. I was going to use the 3400 as a base and build off of that. I was going to place the floppy drive in, and take the hard drive from the 3080 and put it in the 3400 so I have a third hard drive, but the second (D) I don't have access to, just for back up files. i was also thinking taking the NIC from the 3080 and place it in the 3400 to use that as a network server as we have 3 laptops and we can store our files on that to save space, and for back-up, and install the printer(s) for printer sharing. Can anyone help me out here? I've looked all over the internet and can't find anything. I also have a windows vista install disk for my laptop, so I was thinking about upgrading it to Vista if all possible, but I'm ok with XP. Thank you.All of what you are thinking about doing will work...
A few suggestions though :

DLoad the appropiate drivers for any components you intend to swap ahead of time...
Pitch that optical drive in the garbage and don't look back...
Wipe the 3rd HDD after backing up your data from it so it no longer has an OS on it as theis can confuse the heck out of a PC...especially an eMachine...when you say dload, you mean erase the drivers? Like uninstall them or what? Also what optical drive are you talking about and how would I wipe out the 3rd HD? and when I place it in with the other, how would I install the new OS on it? I don't have a disk for XP, just vista but before I install vista, I want to make sure everything works ahead of time. I'm completely new at this, such as interchanging parts, I can install programs that's about it lol. QUOTE from: pensfan29 on July 20, 2010, 09:11:45 PM

when you say dload, you mean erase the drivers? Like uninstall them or what? Also what optical drive are you talking about and how would I wipe out the 3rd HD? and when I place it in with the other, how would I install the new OS on it? I don't have a disk for XP, just vista but before I install vista, I want to make sure everything works ahead of time. I'm completely new at this, such as interchanging parts, I can install programs that's about it lol.

1.37GB

It had 512MB when I bought it then later I had bought a 1GB stick and placed in it.

I went and right clicked on my computer and looked under properties. It showed: RAM 1.37GB

Can I have just an external hard drive - internal hard drive broke and run my COMPUTER?
Question's not too clear. Are you asking if you can use your computer without an internal hard drive, only an external?Simple answer...No.
Since XP Windows is not fashioned to  run from an external drive...this is by design.
It can be done but i'm not about to type out 5 + paragraphs on how to do it...

Why not just replace the drive ? ?
HDD's are extremely cheap now...Sorry but hes lying to you, as we speak im running Windows 7 off of a 80gb EXTERNAL USB harddrive, as long as bios can boot from USB Storage, install your OS and your done. Quote from: Thomas_Horscroft on July 31, 2010, 04:16:35 PM

Sorry but hes lying to you, as we speak im running Windows 7 off of a 80gb EXTERNAL USB harddrive, as long as bios can boot from USB Storage, install your OS and your done.

Maybe its down to the mobo and the bios itself??? not sure. i know i was running on it yeserday. Due to the slow speeds of usb 1.1, 12.2mb/s. i gave up and am back on my laptop, as far as i know it should be able to be done, Salman Trout, could you explain to me why?

No. You describe how you installed it.

If it helps im running the 'Tiny' version of 7, modified and edited to *censored*.

Hello,

First of all, terribly sorry if this is the wrong TOPIC to post it in, I've look over the options and figured this would suit to my question.

I've been a regular user of my PC (and consoles) for over the last decade. However, I have never looked into the hardware of it, reasoning that i don't need to know it to play computer games.

While this is true, the time has come for me to buy a new computer, instead of letting someone else do it for me.

I watched a couple videos on you-tube, looked things up on the internet, but in the end I'm still not satisfied with my knowledge, and the people i know that have knowledge of it, simply give me options but are reluctant to give information why and how i would make the given decisions.

To sum it up (TL;DR):

I want to buy a new PC, yet I'm unfamiliar with the hardware.

Here is a description of the products i wish to buy:

Monitor,
Case,
Everything inside the case,
Windows + Office (can buy it apart from the rest of the product)

For this, i have <1000 euros to spend. It doesn't need to push as close to 1000 as possible, around 800-900 will be fine for me. however, if you feel that the last upgrade will definitely be worth it, go for it. <1000 definitely

People have advised me that Windows 7 is the way to go, if that's not true, please correct me.

The game that i play, and will continue to play for (at least) the next year will be:

Heroes of Newerth
whenever it comes out: Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3... and i have some interest in Starcraft II

Most importantly Heroes of Newerth, here is a link to the recommended system requirements

Heroes of Newerth
Recommended:
Processor - 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo / AMD 3500+ or faster
RAM - 1.5GB or higher
Video Card - 256MB Geforce 7800+ or Radeon X1900+
Network Connection Required (Broadband)

Starcraft II
minimum System Requirements
Processor: 1.4 Ghz Processor
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Graphics card: 128 MB RAM video card capable of Hardware TNL. DX10 is not required, but will be supported by SC2 and Blizzard are considering adding DX10 specific effects.
Pixel Shader 2.0 (Officially Confirmed)

Harddisk:
Soundcard: A DirectX-compatible 16-bit sound card.
OS: Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS. (Officially Confirmed)

Guild Wars 2

What are the system requirements for Guild Wars 2?

The system requirements haven't been finalized, but just as with the original Guild Wars series, we're committed to creating a beautiful game that will play great on mid-range gaming PCs.

Summary:

Without knowledge I'm asking people to provide information on which products i should buy, and some confirmation to know if it's general opinion. I've got about a 1000 euros to spend on an entire PC, inclusive the monitor and the OS.

Note: I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes that might have slipped trough (not a native speaker)You are bound to get a great deal of suggestions based on the preferences of each person. That may ultimately not advance the LESSENING of your confusion. If i may suggest you 1st need to sit down and try to define what your "total" computer needs are. Both present and future to the extent that you can look ahead. You have done a good job of defining the "gaming" requirements and they on their own do eliminate what might have been recommendations. Now if you can provide us,after you contemplate on it, the same kind of criteria for the rest of your needs the suggestion will become much more defined to those needs. I think your attitude of taking more control of the ultimate decision and choice is an excellent one. Come back with more of your need definitions and we shall offer our suggestions.truenorthFirst of all, thanks for responding and taking my question into consideration.

For your remark on my needs, i do have a notebook (which I'm currently using) for any tasks other then gaming.

So my needs should not extend beyond gaming, perhaps watching movies in hd quality, but that's it as far as the PC.

As for gaming, from the mentioned games, only HoN (heroes of newerth) is released, Starcraft II hitting the stores in EU this week, Diablo not coming out for at least half a year, and Guild Wards about a year. And i think i still will be playing HoN even though these games came out.

I hope i understood your response to my question, if not, please do not be afraid to COMMENT me on it.

Just to be sure, this is the right topic to answer this question?If you have basic knowledge on screwing things in, putting things into slots, and various other assembly techniques, you could build one yourself. There is a nice guide found at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm. Another website for buying the parts is http://newegg.com/. This is the BEST way to get EXACTLY what you want for less of a price.

From what I see in the descriptions you posted about your games, you most likely want 2-2.5 Gigabytes of RAM, a Graphics Card with 512 or more megabytes of on board memory (RAM), a monitor that works with it, a decent Motherboard, capable of supporting a CPU that clocks at 2 GHz or higher. It can be either Intel or AMD, it does not matter. Personally, I like AMD better, due to larger clocks for a lower price. A DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive should suffice for most games. If the Motherboard does not come with a built in Ethernet port, you need to buy an Ethernet adapter. Also, if it does not come with a sound card, you need a sound card. Lastly, a 1 terabyte hard disk drive should do quite nicely for large game files.

Next, I would recommend Windows 7, because it is the latest piece of software. XP should work as well, but I would not recommend it, as it may become unsupported soon. Newegg has it for about $100 (not euros).

If you do not want to build your own, Newegg has premade ones that you can buy as well.

There. That was a load off my chest. Hope this helps... Quote from: meta1203 on July 27, 2010, 06:02:14 PM

If you have basic knowledge on screwing things in, putting things into slots, and various other assembly techniques, you could build one yourself. There is a nice guide found at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm. Another website for buying the parts is http://newegg.com/. This is the best way to get EXACTLY what you want for less of a price.

From what I see in the descriptions you posted about your games, you most likely want 2-2.5 Gigabytes of RAM, a Graphics Card with 512 or more megabytes of on board memory (RAM), a monitor that works with it, a decent Motherboard, capable of supporting a CPU that clocks at 2 GHz or higher. It can be either Intel or AMD, it does not matter. Personally, I like AMD better, due to larger clocks for a lower price. A DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive should suffice for most games. If the Motherboard does not come with a built in Ethernet port, you need to buy an Ethernet adapter. Also, if it does not come with a sound card, you need a sound card. Lastly, a 1 terabyte hard disk drive should do quite nicely for large game files.

Next, I would recommend Windows 7, because it is the latest piece of software. XP should work as well, but I would not recommend it, as it may become unsupported soon. Newegg has it for about $100 (not euros).

If you do not want to build your own, Newegg has premade ones that you can buy as well.

There. That was a load off my chest. Hope this helps...

NewEggd does NOT ship to o Europe. Not yet.

When I lived abroad, I had a US mail box forwarding service. I knew them personally and the would do favors for me.

This kind of service is called 'parcel forwarding' and you can Google that term.

Here is just one of many you might find:
http://www.usa2me.com/site/pgeMailManager.aspx
Another:
http://www.bongous.com/mail_forwarding_individuals.php

Whoops... Heh heh... I took Geek-9pm's newegg link... how could i have overlooked that? 

alright i am having a problem with my netbook my screen depending on where the hinge is rotating will black out and i cant see anything but if i hold it against it like a wall i works fine. i am suspecting a connection problem i have a msi wind L1300 that i got 4 months ago

do they all come with a warranty? i have a tech support sticker with phone number  on the back of it.

I want to install a new operating system (windows 7) on the hard drive.
the led on the cd rom drive flashes like its working, then I get a prompt telling me to press f1 to retry boot or press f2 to enter setup.  The computer will not boot from cd rom.

I have tried The disk on other computers. its bootable and works on other computers. The disk is not the problem.

I changed the boot order in the bios and also selected the cd rom drive from a list after pressing f12. and even disabled other devices. The devices are detected in the bios with no problems. I get no other error.

I have tried 2 different IED cables, that both work on other computers.
There is only one drive connected, and it is connected to the end of the cable.

I have tried 2 different cd roms that both work on other computers.

I have tried using both cable select, and master for the jumpers on each of the drives I have tried.

I do not notice any setting in the bios that is restricting me from booting to the cdrom.

What else can I do?
I would like to say that while helping others in CHAT and waiting for a solution to my own problem, the user lostcoast was very rude and kicked me out of chat for offending the size of his e-peen.

first this guy starts claiming that i am someone else...

he claimed my advice needed serious work, but did not say why.
then after respectfully telling him that saying something like that made him look like a .. and I quote "insert explitive here" he abused his chat moderation power.

I did not call him any name, and he was rude and abrasive and kicked me WHILE i was in the middle of helping someone and then did not help them himself... all because he had to insult me and i told him it made him look bad without actually swearing or directing any language at him.

so he kicks me, and put a ban on my host. that makes him look so much better right?
good LUCK to the person with the sound issue.

Aside from the lostcoast issues... I know you must be but checking.. you are booting with the CD in the drive yes?I moved your Post/Rant to the Chat section...
In future if you have issues with anything in the Live Chat contact either myself or Nathan the CH Admin and please refrain from posting a full page of Chat banter...

Thanx
patio.

Moderator.kk

tyThanks patio, I'm getting out whilst the going is good! wish I could do that too but some corn holer is interrupting my experience on the site.
hard to move on when you are stuck in place

Quote from: Mulreay on July 22, 2010, 09:34:11 PM

Aside from the lostcoast issues... I know you must be but checking.. you are booting with the CD in the drive yes?

i cant get this freaking raid to work.

its win 7 ult and i have tryed every way i know of and it wont instals on win 7 64 bit.

it will install on 32bit raid thou.

2 50 gb ssds

it gets all the way to the end of the install and says it cant find the drivers. i mean the last step

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644
You may need to download the drivers and have them AVAILABLE on a USB drive or similar.
Your motherboard manual should be of assistance.i have done this i tryed the cat drivers from amd like i was told and and from the asus and nothing.You need the AMD Chipset driver, and you will need to find the right files and extract them, not just place the driver installer onto the drive.http://www.computerforums.org/showthread.php?p=1051560#post1051560still nothing now its wont show the drives if i try to use the 64 bit drivers.thank you i finaley got it to work with the chipset drivers
Quote from: justinupsm on August 04, 2010, 01:23:31 PM

thank you i finaley got it to work with the chipset drivers

Scanning at 300dpi, the image is very pixelated, and this is PARTICULARLY obvious on colorful graphic compare to text.

See example below.
http://rapidshare.com/files/409523249/Flyer_Front.jpg


May I know what's the reason and is there any setting that is responsible for this?

Thank you.Like I'm gonna wait for rapidshare.  Quote from: Salmon Trout on July 28, 2010, 12:24:20 PM

Like I'm gonna wait for rapidshare. 

The original sheet is a offset printed flyer. Looking at 100% (about A5 size) on screen, you can see the plain color areas (blue, red, green, etc) are pixelated (zigzag lines of color and white) instead of smooth plain color.

Was gonna help a buddy fix his laptop, but I'm all out of ideas.
It's a Dell Inspiron 1545. When it starts up, it shows the Dell Splash page with Boot Options and Setup.
Afterwards, it loads up the WINDOWS Error Recovery page, with the Launch Startup Repair and Launch Windows Normally options.
When I TRY to Launch Windows Normally, it brings up the Windows loading screen with the progress bar, than eventually cuts out to a black screen.
When I try to launch the repair, it cuts out to a black screen right after.
I tried hitting F8 during startup, to get to the advanced boot options. Repair your computer cuts me out to a black screen after the windows loading page. When I try to start it in SAFE mode, after crcdisk.sys loads it freezes for like 30 seconds than restarts. (Idk if it's supposed to restart, but everything was still messed up after it restarted)
Last known good config freezes after windows loads like most of the other stuff..
I tried loading the Vista disk that came with the computer. Went into Boot Options and LOADED the CD. The CD loading fine at first, but it ended in a command prompt, that I either didn't know what to do with or was useless. But. That's not what I'm used to reinstalling windows looking like. ><.
At this point I'm just trying to ERASE everything and go back to factory settings, which I was gonna do with reinstalling Windows but I can't seem to get that to work.
While trying all these options, the keys are extremely unresponsive (Or the laptop just keeps freezing). Pretty sure the battery is fully charged, so I don't think its that. I tried a memory diagnostic check and no problems were found.
Any insight or help is greatly appreciated.
(Sorry for the wall of text if most of that was useless >_<)

Hey

My PC lately is GETTING really hot. I have opened it up and cleaned the dust I could find. What I am worried about though are the temperature readings. Should I remove the fan from the graphic card and clean it? I am kind of scared to do that one, is it HARD? How can I make sure the fan is working good enough? It does spin, no wierd noises either. Or is 60 DEGREES celcius okay for my NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT?



[recovering disk space - old attachment deleted by admin]don't know the specs for a 8800GT compared to my 9800GT but mine idles at 74(c) usually. Usually get's to about 90 degrees under load.

your CPU TEMPS are lower then mine as well. (mine idles around 60 or so, usually only getting to maybe 70 degrees under load)

I have an earlier 8800GT that they pushed out just in time for the holiday season '07. It came with a wonderfully LOUD, undersized fan.
Don't worry about yours, that p.o.s. runs incredibly hot. Don't be surprised if you hit 100C under heavy load.

The 8800GT and 9800GT are/were the same thing, the later just generally came with better cooling and power usage.Just to add to the above two posts - 60C for an 8800GT at idle isn't bad, depending of coruse on your general airflow and ambient temperatures.
My 8800GT used to idle mid-40s, load at mid-60s - with an aftermarket cooler, it idled in the low 30s and load was high 50s.Oh, I see, thanks guysMy 8800GT temps are identical to BC's listed above...

I clean-installed Windows XP SP1 (from an OEM disk) onto a new hard disk yesterday, and immediately upgraded directly to SP3.

I have a cable internet connection through a Netgear router. Modem connects to the router input, the computers connect to the router outputs. Other computers are connected to the router and they're working fine so I know the problem isn't with the router or connection.

I can SWITCH back to my old hard drive with the original installation of Windows XP SP2  (by swapping the Molex and IDE cables back to it), and the internet works fine, exactly as before, so I know the cables are functioning and the PCI card is seated correctly. It has to be something inside the new Windows installation that's causing this problem, I just don't know what or where to look.

Once the XP installation and update to SP3 finished on the new drive, I installed drivers for my sound card and then installed Zonealarm firewall (although I hadn't connected the ethernet cable yet).

I didn't install any of the drivers for the motherboard or chipset. So it would be using the default ones that Windows XP already has, right?

There are two ethernet ports on my system - one on the motherboard, the other a PCI card.

In Device Manager, the ethernet PORT on the motherboard is VIA PCI 10/100mb Fast Ethernet Adapter.

The addon is D-Link DGE-530T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter.

I have always used the D-Link port. I can't remember why the people who built my computer added the D-Link card, but someone told me the VIA ethernet/audio driver has been known not to work well and that's probably why they did it.

Both ethernet ports show up as Local Area Connections under "LAN or High Speed Internet" in "Network Connections".

I'd rather use the D-Link adapter versus the integrated VIA one since I've used up til now and know it works.

However, when I connect the ethernet cable to the D-Link port when booted onto the new HD with XP SP3, it lights up but Windows says "A network cable is unplugged". I updated the D-Link driver to the LATEST version, but that didn't fix it. (Also, the driver on the old HDD with the original XP installation, which I'm actually using to post this message, has the same older driver (v. 6.23) that the new installation had before I updated it, so it should have worked fine without NEEDING an update.)

When Windows prompted for the disk to install the original D-Link drivers, it said the adapter had "failed Windows logo testing". Does that matter? I know it works with Windows XP - I've been using it for years (under SP1 and SP2, not SP3). (The same thing happened when I installed my Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum drivers, but again, I've been using the SB for years, and it seems to work fine on the new installation as well.)

There are diagnostic tests in the Properties of the D-Link; it can successfully test the cable it's connected to, but Windows still says a cable is unplugged. (The cable test also says there's a short in two of the "cable pairs" - what does that mean? I know the cable works though.) I can also run the tool that tests the linkup and it makes the light on the port flash, so I know the computer can access the port.

The same thing happens when I plug the cable from the modem (which normally goes into the router) directly into the D-Link port--it says a cable is unplugged, but the diagnostic tool is still able to test the cable. (However, in this case it says there's an "impedance mismatch" in one of the cable pairs along with the two shorts. Again, I know the cable is functioning - I'm using it to post this message.)

I'd rather not attempt to install any drivers from the CDs that came with my motherboard because it's an 8-year-old board and I don't want to mess it up? I'm pretty sure they're not installed on the old HDD I'm using now either (under Device Manager "System board" says "No drivers are installed for this device" ). However, the front panel USB hub that attaches to the mobo is functioning correctly, and all the other parts of it seem to be working as well, so whatever drivers Windows came with are working for the things I've tested.

Does anyone have any advice on why the D-Link would be reporting a cable is unplugged when no cables are unplugged? Are there any specific devices in Device Manager I should be looking at? I don't see any yellow exclamation points. Should I try uninstalling SP3 and go back to SP1 and see if it makes a difference??

When I set up the new XP installation I gave the computer a different name from what it's called on the old HD. Should that make a difference? Should I have used the same name?

As for the VIA Ethernet port on the motherboard, it does something different. When I plug the cable into it, it takes a long time but eventually says it's successful at acquiring a Network Address. At that point, in Network Connections it says it's connected (at 100mb/s), but I can't get on the internet. Do I have to do something else to make to work? Set up an Internet Connection? Would I need to restart for it to even work? (I didn't) Or should it just work?

Also, the VIA port is set to aquire network address automatically (just liek the D-Link is on the old installation). On the old installation, the IP address the D-Link acquires is a local one (192.168.1.5). On the new one, the VIA port it gets an address I've never seen before, which is also different from the static IP address of my modem.

My primary concern is getting the D-Link working, but if I can get the VIA one working at least I might be able to use the internet on the new HDD and not have to switch back and forth between the drives (I'm afraid of damaging the IDE cable by repeated plugging and unplugging it).

Please let me know if there's any other information I need to post. I may be able to take screen shots as well. And sorry this is so long, once again I just wanted to include as much info as possible.Check first your PCI 10/100mb Fast Ethernet Adapter if its working on cable plugged to the modem/router. However i'm not sure about D-Link DGE-530T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter capabalities on the internet compared to your  PCI 10/100mb Fast Ethernet Adapter. They still both need to be plugged anyway. As for your OS from SP1 to SP3, it may not be an issue depending on restoring correct drivers. SP2 is much preferred. Quote from: jason2074 on August 03, 2010, 10:49:26 PM

Check first your PCI 10/100mb Fast Ethernet Adapter if its working on cable plugged to the modem/router.

SP2 is much preferred.

I didn't install any of the drivers for the motherboard or chipset.

I'd rather not attempt to install any drivers from the CDs that came with my motherboard because it's an 8-year-old board and I don't want to mess it up

...Once the XP installation and update to SP3 finished on the new drive, I installed drivers for my sound card and then installed Zonealarm firewall (although I hadn't connected the ethernet cable yet)...

It's a driver issue most likely. Why are you not afraid to install sound drivers but afraid to install chipset/ mobo drivers. They are not firmware and won't change the board itself. This explains why your other operating system on a different hard drive works and this doesn't. Install the drivers that came on the CD or d/l updated ones from the manufacturer. Also dump Zonealarm. Try using Microsoft Security Essentials combined with Comodo firewall. None of my clients have a *ware/ virus issue using those.

Why don't you want to install your chipset driver? What do you think it's gonna do?

Why don't you want to install your chipset driver? What do you think it's gonna do?

Furthermore, if they aren't installed on my old HD and it works fine, why should I need to install them on the new one?

Is there any other chipset that works with the 1366 i7 920 other than the x58. For the LIFE of me I cant get the Asus p6t v2 delux to see my whole 6 gig of 1600 mhz memory. Its on the preferred vendor list and EVERYTHING. im about to go bald over this.Are you looking at the total memory installed in CMOS or Windows ?

Are you using 32bit Windows or 64bit Windows ?




 Not according to this ClickyWhy do you want a different chipset?  X58 is the only chipset for socket 1366.
Your issue is most likely related to the memory controller on the CPU, the board and chipset have very LITTLE to do with memory on modern systems.
If you can provide more details, such as the exact issue you are experiencing and the hardware involved, someone may be able to help.As grandpa_simpson has asked, it is likely to be a 32bit OS. The pertinent question for me is this, what amount of is being addressed?? Then I would also be interested to know if this Chip has recently being dropped in and how?As Calum stated that is the only chipset available for the Socket 1366 MBoard setups...
Where are these Memory #'s being reported ? ?
Do you have the BIOS set at default ? ?
Have you checked out your ASUS documentation ? ?

I will choose 212 plus too Quote from: BC_Programmer on July 15, 2010, 10:52:48 PM

overkill essentially MEANS- more then necessary.

For example, you can use a nuclear warhead to get rid of the rabbits in your garden, but that's overkill. you see, you still kill the rabbits (just as your "overkill" cooler will still cool your CPU) but you paid more for the nuclear warhead then you would have paid for more conventional ways of getting rid of the rabbits, not to mention all the media attention that you were a crazed madman. Basically, there is no reason whatsoever to get something more then you need. It's not going to cool it down more effectively, the only thing it will be effective at is making your wallet lighter.

I mean what if i decide to upgrade to a Core2 Quad Extreme  and i don't have the Overkill fan I'm going  have to turn around and buy a new fan again..

Again, I can't recommend the 212 Plus enough.  It will cool any Core 2 system barring very high voltages, and will cool even an i7 with a moderate overclock - it's hands down the best value for money cooler.
If you want to step up from that, the Prolimatech Megahalems is the best air cooler that isn't obscenely large (like the Noctua NH-D14, Cogage Arrow, or Thermalright IFX014).  The Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 is on par with the Megehalams but can be hard to find.  These coolers will cool an average i7 clocked at 4GHz with headroom to spare - they're very good.
As far as liquid cooling goes, I'm no expert on that, but it's not something to step into lightly.

Hello all,

I've got mostly all new hardware that I bought and put together myself. I initially installed Windows XP x64. The system ran fine for about a day, but then it started to freeze. Unfortunately, I can't tie it to any particular activity. I've had it freeze while copying files from an external USB drive and I've had it freeze while playing a video in Windows Media Player. The image on the screen freezes and I GET a sort of pixelated shadow image (It kind of looks like really poor quality cable TV where the colors are too bright and kind of blurry), then the computer becomes completely nonresponsive (mouse/keyboard don't work) - though I am able to turn it off via the power button. Sometimes it happens right away and sometimes it'll run fine for an hour or so before it freezes. I could be wrong, but I don't think I've seen it freeze when I just leave it idle.

I have since formatted and installed Windows XP SP3 x86, but I'm still getting the same problem. I've disconnected all unnecessary hardware, though I'm stuck with a usb mouse/keyboard (as opposed to PS2). I currently have only the default drivers installed. I've tried using the drivers from the NVIDIA disc that came with the mobo but had the same problems. I'm currently running the system with the side panel removed in hopes that it's not a HEAT issue. I ALSO ran Memtest-86 v3.5 at the default settings from a boot disc. It ran for an hour and completed 2.5 passes with no ERRORS before I stopped it. I've also tried using an old CRT monitor thinking that maybe my flatpanel was the problem, still the same problem.

I'm pretty much out of ideas and I'd REALLY appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance!

Hardware specs:
Motherboard: MSI GF615M-P33 [Integrated video, sound, ethernet]
CPU: AMD Phenom II x2 550
Memory: Super Talent 2GB DDR3-1333 (Single) [Model W1333UB2GM]
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM SATA [Model ST3500410AS]
DVD Burner: LG super multi SATA [can't find the model]
Logitech USB keyboard
Dell USB mouse
ProView flat panel monitor connected via VGA
If you can (without spending any additional money) obtain a standalone video card --as opposed to your onboard--i would try that 1st and see if it changes the outcome. Actually as I'm sure you know there are a number of items that can cause this type of issue but i suggest starting at the video card.truenorthIs the problem still occurring with the side panel removed? If I think heat may be an issue (and there is no obvious cause for it such as stuck fans or dust) I usually take the side panel off and face a desk fan into the case. If it still locks up you can be fairly sure it is not a heat issue. As Truenorth said, it sounds like the gpu is the problem. I notice you say it does this when you try to install the nvidia drivers - so it works fine without these drivers installed? If so maybe try downloading updated video drivers as that could cause problems too.just an update...I just installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 and I'm still having the same exact problem.  I've disconnected all unneccessaries, so I'm down to the mobo, cpu, mem, hdd, monitor, and PS2 keyboard.

I haven't installed any drivers, so it's using whatever Windows decided to use (judging by device manager, it looks like all the hardware was accurately identified).  While I can't completely rule it out, I don't think it's a graphics driver issue as I've seen it freeze in safe mode.  I do have a PCIE video card, but I still get the same freezing problem using that card.

I let memtest-86 run overnight and I didn't get any errors after 9+ hours.  However, as soon as I opened the memtest configuration options and then closed the options, it popped an error and FROZE.  I'm not sure if that's indicative of a hardware issue, or if that was an error from the memtest software.

The system locks up just copying files on the HDD - just creating a copy of a folder in the same directory.

Could it be something as mundane as an IRQ conflict?  I'm completely out of ideas...

Okay here is my problem,

I just bought a brand new computer , now i am trying to install the operating system, ive tried to set cd - rom to 1st boot device and my SATA HD as 2nd boot, but it still isnt reading anything.

I can see the harddrive and cd rom is getting detected in my BIOS, but i dont think its reading my CD... i know that the cd is not the problem

any help would be great, thanks all in advanceDid you save the change in bios (confirm that the cd is the first device in the boot order)? If so, is your OS cd an original, retail version? Try a different BOOTABLE cd and see what happens.yes, ive tried my original XP cd and my windows 7 cd, both nothing HAPPENSTHERE are only three reasons the system will not boot to a bootable cd or dvd:

1) The optical drive is not the first device in the bios boot order
2) The optical drive is bad (or the cable is bad or not properly connected)
3) The cd or dvd is badi heard from somewhere that its possible my sata hard drive ports are not enabled, so could that be a possibilty as well? when i got my computer it, the power cable was not hooked into the cd-rom drive, so i plugged it in and it was detected from there. but not booting my cdsThe hard drive has nothing to do with the cd drive.  Check the cd drive connections again.well i am no expert when it comes to this, but i OPENED the case and ill tellyou what i see, i see the datacable running on a ribbon to the PSU , and the power cable( the bigger one) is plugged in as well , but on the other end the plug is another one thats just loose, should this be plugged in somewhere? The power cable can (and usaually does) have multiple plugs. The cd drive needs to be connected to both the power cable and the mobo. If it is, and if the system sees it at boot, it's properly connected.yes in bios settings hd and cd drives are being detectedAre you sure that you're saving changes when you exit BIOS?

When you power down and reboot, is the CD drive still at the top of the boot order?

Does the computer have two CD drives?If both are detected and it still won't boot from the drive i would lean towards the drive being bad. Having tried 2 different boots disks(XP/7) i would check connections at both ends of each cable and make sure they aren't loose. If that doesn't work try to get another drive to test with.yes i am sure i am saving, when i restart cd rom is at THET op of the list, and no i only have one cd drive and one hard driveYou say that this is a brand new computer. Did you BUILD it yourself?

Is the CD drive SATA or PATA?

Hello,
Starting this morning, while playing Final Fantasy XI, my monitor went black and said 'POWER saving mode' while the game music continued to play. A moment later, the computer SHUT off completely. I rebooted and started the game again, ~10 minutes later, it shut down again and I started to suspect this was a more serious issue.
I turned the computer back on and did NOT turn on the game, however the computer continued with this behavior.
 I assumed this was an overheating issue so I searched around with the laptop and found a program called everest, turned the computer back on, downloaded it and ran it quickly before my computer turned off again. I looked around for a temperate gauge for my computer but it doesn't appear to be running high. However I could be wrong.

I opened the case and blew all the DUST out of it, it's mostly clean. After multiple attempts, the computer now doesn't even BOOT up before it turns off again, so I suspect it's a power issue.

This is my computer.

http://www.newegg.co...ntent-_-text-_-

The only difference being I replaced the video card with Nvidia 9800 GT several weeks ago. Could this have killed it somehow? It was running great until just this morning.



Thanks please fix your newegg link. It does not work as is because you linked it to www.newegg.co which isn't the right site.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227131&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

For an update, my computer now only runs for several seconds and won't boot up fully before powering off, leading me to believe it is  power supply issue...but I am still very unsureTry opening your CPU casing(side or both) while booting. If you suspect the PSU, then remove optical(cd) drive/s(if CPU came with it) power connector and leave hard drive alone while booting to unload power shortage distribution. Make sure also that PSU fan is not dusted for efficient performance. Try posting exact temperature. If you dont have Hardware Temperature Monitor, please download one.Do you still have the old video card? If so, try swapping it in there to see if the problem persists.

Did you get a disk with it?

Quote from: SpyChaos on AUGUST 03, 2010, 01:20:36 PM

...ALSO, 2 of the gold pins on the card that go into the slot to transfer info are gone. Is that a big deal?

Click on the link for the XP DRIVER, download it, INSTALL it: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst-driver-for-Radeon-HD5670.aspx

Quote from: truenorth on August 03, 2010, 09:36:42 AM

To address your concern (very valid in my opinion) of the difficulties that may arise from reformatting or installing a "replacement" HDD in that computer may i suggest the following.

I read in several places (including Microsoft's site) that if you use a HDD larger than 137gb on a system that doesn't support 48-bit addressing you would lose data and Windows would eventually become corrupted. But I think that's referring to both the BIOS _and_ Windows XP. If that's the case, since I have SP1 (with 48-bit addressing) it isn't an issue.

Logically I assume if Windows can't access anything past 137gb on the drive (by installing it on a smaller partition) it can't put any important information in a space where the BIOS can't get to it, which means BIOS will never have a problem loading Windows. And if, while using Windows, the partition gets full, it would just say "Hey this disk is full", it won't automatically wrap around to the beginning and start overwriting files there like people say it will if you don't have 48-bit addressing and don't partition the hard drive to smaller size, or start writing to another partition on the drive and overwrite files there.

It's Chaintech Apogee 7VJL. if you can find any info that would be great,

Supports two IDE ports up to 4 ATAPI devices
Supports PIO Mode 4 up to 16.6MBps, Multi Mode 4 up to
66MBps, Multi Word Mode 5 up to 100MBps and Multi Word Mode
6 up to 133MBps with Bus Mastering

BTW I do understand what you're saying about overthinking the process, but I'm not some computer tech guy
who's familiar with these things. I've never even installed Windows myself before, let alone installing a new hard drive--I didn't know anything about formatting and partitioning--and before I could do it I needed to find out as much information as possible so make sure I didn't do something wrong. I didn't know anything about any of this it until a few days ago. It's a lot of information to absorb in a short time and I needed second opinions.

1) After installing the OS did you install the chipset drivers? If not, they should be the first drivers installed.

2) Go ahead and create other partitions on the drive so you can utilize the entire 500 Gb.

I went back and found the actual "giveawayoftheday" that moderator "Allan" had provided a few days ago.

If the BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA, you aren't going to be able to access >137GB of data, and the drive itself will be recognized, if at all, as 137GB. the issue you've researched and the data you've found appears to be a mishmash of possible behaviour resulting from XP  before SP1a as well as implementation dependent BIOS issues. as you note you have SP1 so the OS issue (the one that the KB article cites as causing data loss) isn't a problem.

If the BIOS is limited to 28-bit addressing, then it is fully possible for software that is unaware that the BIOS is limited in this fashion to add to a near maximum value; the OS value is still correct, but when the OS sends this to the BIOS, the BIOS only uses the first 28 bits of the 48-bit value. (or maybe it was the last bits, not sure, it's probably implementation specific). therefore, the address that the BIOS actually writes data and where the OS told the BIOS to write data don't match.

Corruption is the result. That of course only results if you are able to partition a drive larger then 137GB (not sure how one would do that, again, depends on the BIOS and specific implementation details)

It [Chaintech Apogee 7VJL] supports ATA-6(100mbps), and ATA-7(133mbps) With Bus mastering. since ATA-6 is the 48-bit LBA "fix" introduced by Maxtor, you should be fine.

- Supports 2 IDE ports up to 4 ATAPI devices
- Supports up to PIO Mode 4 up to 16.6MBps, Multi Mode 4 up to 66MBps, Multi Word Mode 5 up to 100MBps and Multi Word Mode up to 133MBps with bus mastering
-Bus Mastering software drivers for common multi-task operating systems

Very true, and I do apologize for any offense or frustration I may have caused. I was under the impression that your data was wasting away while you sat and decided what to do, but if you indeed had your data backed up (perhaps I missed it mentioned before in my rush to express my self-import, heh) then it would be fine to take ones time.

So I bought a SLIGHTLY used computer. And when I got it it had no sound, I downloaded some drivers and stuff, still... Doesn't work.

It says that the sound thing is integrated...
This is the processor it is integrated into: Intel CORE 2 Duo E8400

What do I need to do?

I'm USING Windows XPClick Start then  Run and type in devmgmgt.msc and press enter. This will OPEN device manager. In device manager do you see any yellow question marks or a red X? If so, what are they next to?No question marks or red X's Quote from: TurboFlower on July 29, 2010, 02:08:39 PM

I downloaded some drivers and stuff,

Is it possible to run a game that requires Hardware T&L with a graphics card that does NOT have T&L.

EDIT: The game that im gona try to GET to work will be Age of Empires III. Will this game have an option to disable Hardware T&L or something similiar?I googled your question, and came up with two things:

1) Go to this website: http://systemrequirementslab.com/cyri and run it's doodilybob. MAKE sure it is set to "Age of Empires III". It will tell you if you can run it or not.

2) Download a free trial. This is often the best WAY to determine wether or not you can run a game. That is why free trials were created. The link is http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=F627E37B-A8E8-4537-9A88-3C19B670C92A&amp;displaylang=en&displaylang=enTHANKS, i tried systemrequirementslab before i came here and i got pass in all EXCEPT Hardware T&L and that a good suggestion to try the trial first if the trial works ill get the full version for sure thanks for the links.

I have just built a new system and I'm having problems with booting from cold.

When I press the power switch, the system appears to start, fans run and it sounds like it tries to access the hard drive.
The system then "hangs", with the disk access light flashing four times at short intervals and a BLANK monitor display.

It never reaches the POST screen.

If I press and HOLD the power button, the power shuts down. I then press the power button again and the system will boot up normally and run happily for the rest of the day.
My immediate suspicion was the power supply, a Corsair VX450. I've BORROWED an Enermax 1050 watt PSU and this behaves exactly the same, so I can rule that out.

The hardware is as follows:
Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 motherboard with AMD Phenom II x4 945 processor. Updated to latest (F3) BIOS.
4GB Corsair DDR3 RAM.
ATI Radeon HD4550 PCIE Graphics card.
WD Caviar Blue 250GB SATA drive + WD Caviar Green 1TB SATA drive.
Corsair VX450 Power Supply.
Silverstone PS02 Tower Case.
With the exception of the WD 1TB drive, everything is new.

On the Gigabyte website it says the F3 BIOS corrects a power up problem, so I'm wondering if this is an ongoing problem with this motherboard.
Emailing Gigabyte tech support has not received any reply.

(I should also mention that I'm not overclocking, everything is at it's default setting.)

Try clearing CMOS and check the settings for you BIOS. Also, updating the BIOS is not a good idea unless you already have a problem. See if you can REVERT to the original BIOS.I've tried clearing CMOS.
What settings in BIOS should I be looking for? I've tried power off push button settings at "immediate" and "after 4 sec" with no change.
My motherboard supplier said update to latest BIOS.
When I look at the Gigabyte site it says the latest BIOS "Support GIGABYTE On/Off Charge" whatever that means. Since it seemed to be related to power up, I downloaded it and installed. Since the original BIOS did the same thing I couldn't see much point in reverting to it.
You said "updating the BIOS is not a good idea unless you already have a problem" which is precisely what I have, and why I updated it.
Once the machine boots at the second attempt it runs normally for the rest of the day without problems. It's just the initial cold start that is the problem.

Digital Visual Interface [DVI]
The DVI interface is found on a number of devices INCLUDING TVs, Computers, Monitors, and Video cards.
Digital Visual Interface [DVI] was developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG).
Note that the Digital Display Working Group disbanded around 2006, so don't expect an up-grade for DVI.
http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_Connector_Digital_Visual_Interface_DVI_Bus.html

I have windows xp and I am getting an error message that's says I need to download drivers but this is not working. Error message says....0x000d11ba cannot play. I am running media player 9. Any ideas?First thing I would do is to upgrade to media player 11.  Unless there is a problem with your SOUND card, you shouldn't need to download drivers for any version of media player.have you tried to go into device manager and check for ! by any drivers I forgot to tell you all I just re-formated my computer, and Yes I went to my device manager and found some problems, Its drivers. The problem is this is a old dell DIMENSION 8400 and I cannot figure out what(and there are several discs that gives me the drivers).you should be able to get the drivers from the dell WEB site

i was looking on newegg at motherboards, some of the cheapest i saw were from foxconn. im rebuilding my mothers system. she doesn't need a screamer. just a net surfer, and a flash game player. i have READ some of the reviews, and they where a mixture of good and bad reviews. but i have not heard of Foxconn before. Anyone able to give me some advice about there quality. Foxconn does not GET my recommendation.
ASUS is very good at a fair price. Quote

Foxconn does not get my recommendation.

Hi

I have a IBM T30 (really good laptop) until I dropped it on the floor from my chair about 1m of the ground and the lid closed and it fell on it's LCD screen.  I then tried to turn it on only to see a whole lot of colours flask across it BRIEFLY and then it was blank.  You COULD see the back light was on as I could still adjust the brightness.  The external laptop plug also works fine and displays the picture.  Is this SOMETHING I can fix for free?  I belive it is an inverter problem but please tell me it is just something to do wither the cables and that it will not cost a cent.  Thanks.  Hopefully this is enough info.Sorry flask is meant to be flash.  And the system it self runs fine when displayed externally.  Sorry for the mistake.  It seems to be when you turn the LCD screen on that the colours flash across the screen.If you know how to check the cables, do so, otherwise take it to a repair shop.

Okay, I have a Hard Drive from a Windows XP that I used to have & I got a Mobile USB HD Case so I could HOOK it up to my new Vista & transfer my photos etc. but when I try to view them it says something about security & that I'm not authorized to view the file/folder, so my question is how do I transfer OWNERSHIP? Will that fix my problem? THANKS.. How to TAKE Ownership...Thank you very much!You're more than Welcome...
Stop by anytime !