Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

Because it was installed for totally different hardware from what you are trying to use it on now?I see your point.

I guess that leaves me with two final questions about this... a) is their anything I can do to STILL use this HARD drive? or b) I have a second hard drve that needs an adapter to ATA, does ANYONE know where I might find one? Nowhere local has them.Do you not have a legal Windows CD to install with? That seems the best solution for a lot of reasons.

Cyberguys have most every type of adapter. www.cyberguys.comI got a legal Windows cd and went through the installation (SEVERAL tries) and it still freezes up everytime. I'm just going to look on there for an adapter and try my other hard drive. It's gotta be something with the compatibility of this current hard drive, right? I mean i've tried EVERYTHING else.
Again, thanks for all your help, i'll look into that site for sure.OK. Let us know.

Hi,
new to forum, thanx in advance for any help!
My hard drive is split with; C drive being fat 32 and 15.5 gb, and I now have a D drive which is NTSF with 40.2 gb of space. I have run out of space on my c drive, and I don't know how this happened or, how to correct it. I am running on WINDOWS XP ver. 2002 sp2
Can anyone help???

thanx again,
ducatidoc1First run Disk Cleanup (in Accessories/System Tools), empty the Recycle Bin and see if that buys you some breathing room.

Most programs default install on the C drive. You could uninstall and reinstall some of them carefully choosing another location for them. Data files, downloads, etc. can be safely stored elsewhere as well. You can use Windows Explorer or some other FILE manager to locate where the files are that are taking all of the room. 15% free drive space is recommended on the C drive for the Windows swap file, which usually resides there. (This can be moved, but if you are not experience with that, leave that idea alone about moving it.!)I've already done a disc cleanup and ridded all unecessary files.
I guess the real question is... How can I reclaim the "D" drive back into the "C" drive and/ or make use of it?If the drive is formatted in can be used right now as I STATED earlier. To merge it back into an actual part of the C drive you have to use a program like Partition Magic. There are some risks in that, but MANY PEOPLE use it without incident. It is not free however.

Hi guys,
Not really sure if this went here or not, or if anyone would be able to help me.
Ok well basicaly my power ADAPTER is really playing up. My laptop will just swith itself to battery power even though the plug is in the back of the laptop. It takes a WHOLE lot of fiddling to get it to recognize it is in there. Once it is being recognized it gets VERY hot. Both the plug istelf and the jack were the plug fits into get very hot (so hot that ive burnt my self twice) Also when it is being recognized the little plug ICON will show in the toolbar, but often the little LIGHTNING symbol will disapear which to me suggests that it has stopped CHARGING, but when i put my mouse back over it the little symbol comes back.
Does anyone have an awnser on a fix to this because its driving me mad and tbh Acers email support sucks and there is now way im calling them up with them prices per minuite!
Any replies would be grately apprecaited. Thanks

[ch268][ch293]rî[ch347]I think it needs to go for repair as this is not a usual occurrence and unless you have a LOT of experience and aren't afraid of turning it into a doorstop....

It may be something simple like a bad battery or a bad power adapter, but you never know.I was afraid you were going to say that. Its not really an option though, because the acer repair palce is over 500 miles away
Do you think somewere like PC world could fix it?

Chris
If they have some experience with LAPTOPS in general and that model in particular it would probably be OK. Give them a call.Ok thanks buddy, will do!

ChrisLet us know how it turns out. lappies dont generally make good computers for daily use, they wear out too quickly for my liking, and i cant fix them, hence the fact i dont own one, although soon i will need one for use here at my grandmothers house, the computer im gonna build is alittle bulky for transporting back and forth...

My computer will shut itself off when im using it. what it does is the monitor and sound from speakers cut off and its unresponsive to anything but turning it off manually it doesnt EVEN make that ugly beep when youre holding down the buttons on the keyboard and the computer is frozen. the monitor light and cpu light and fan are all still on and going. i dont know what causes it. any ideas?That would be a complete System lockup

It could be caused by allot of things, i suggest you post a "hijack this" log right here and then we might be able to see what the problem is

http://download.hijackthis.eu/hijackthis_199.zip

Just run that program and post the log up herePerhaps posting details of your system, operating system, what happened prior to this, spyware/virus protection would help us determine the problem.Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (build 2600) Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
1.65 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: KM266-8235
Bus Clock: 150 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/08/2002
Drives Memory Modules c,d
20.48 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
5.68 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W2410A [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Maxtor 2B020H1 [Hard drive] (20.49 GB) -- drive 0, s/n B1H9W0KE, rev WAH21PB0, SMART Status: Healthy 256 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 256 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 20.48 GB 5.68 GB free

Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
starrs crap 6/20/2006 11:48:18 PM (admin)
User 1/24/2006 1:01:00 AM
local system accounts
Administrator never (admin)
Guest 1/8/2004 7:31:13 PM
HelpAssistant never
SUPPORT_388945a0 never


Marks a disabled account; Marks a locked account None detected
Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
VIA Bus Master IDE Controller RADEON 9000 SERIES [Display ADAPTER]
RADEON 9000 SERIES - Secondary [Display adapter]
Default Monitor
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (3x) MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device
Standard Game Port
VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM)
Communications Other Devices
Communications cable between two computers [Modem]
SupraMAX 56i [Modem]


i was afraid to post my virus protection but at the Belarc website it said it was up to date. i think it may have something to do with this virus i got it was the msblast.exe i dunno if i removed it right.Check for overheating: Does the case feel warm to the touch? Is there a lot of dust buildup on the cooling vents? Has the power supply fan, or other fans, stopped spinning?

it hasnt done it in a long time so i dont know if its hot to the touch but the fans sound like theyre on the same way they are when the computer is on normally. just seems like something is cutting out video and sound feed or something.do you think that it might be invoked by anything, because my computer will randomly halt like that when I do anything graphical, like play a game or somthing. I think it might be a windows issue, bu I'm not sure yet.i dunno, i havent really noticed a pattern, it used to seem like it was something connected to how many characters i typed. for instance i could be online chatting for like 2 hours and it would do it. another time my cousins and i were writing a play for fun on word pad and it did it 15 MINUTES after we started typing. but then one time it did it when i was playing the sims and had hardly typed anything. i dont think it could have anything to do with my sound card because that would mean the sound would go out and not the visuals on the screen. when it turns off like that my screen still looks like its on but nothing is displayed its just all black but whatever light source is still there because i can turn off my light and the screen will glow unless i adjust the contrast all the way down.

i have a compaq presario, model 5400US, w/ winXP Home, SP2. Sound device is OEM, on the motherboard. SOFTWARE is Soundmax by Analog Devices. When i turn on the machine, i have no sound. control panel-sound devices says i have no audio device. in device manager-sound, soundmax is there, and is set up to use this device. When i uninstall the driver there and REBOOT, i get the found new hardware window. i let it search for the software, and it finds soundmax. i then have normal sound. when i reboot, i am back to no sound. Things i have done: in BIOS, onboard sound is enabled. in device manager, when trying to roll back the driver, it says none are in backup. I have downloaded the up to DATE software, with the same results. I have purchased and tried two different SOUNDCARDS, (Creative & Dynex) with exactly the same results as the onboard device. It is apparently not loading the correct drivers when booting. Any ideas?What happened prior to this? In Control Panel everything looks normal? And the soundcards, when added, had the onboard sound TURNED off? Did they show in Device Manager the same way? Did you uninstall the SoundMax drivers when the soundcards were added?GX_1MAN, to answer your questions in order: yes, yes, yes, yes. thx for your reply.Do you have a LOT of add-on PCI cards in that machine?GX1_MAN---- No. The machine only has three slots. One is a modem card, one is a LAN high speed card, and the last is empty. They were both there long before this problem started.

My Dell Dimension 4450 is almost 4 years old. We only use the system for internet, email, iTunes, Word, Money, and low level Excel applications. Yesterday the hard drive BEGAN making strange clicking sounds and it will not LOAD WIN XP Home in any mode. I booted from the XP CD that came with the computer and ran CHKDSK several times. After getting anywhere from 14% to 27% of the way through the scan it says that the disk is not fixable and/or that most of the segments are unreadable. I am fairly certain that my hard drive is a gonner.

IIRC Vista is coming out in about 6-8 months. Should I buy a new hard drive and re-load Windows and my other programs (assuming I can do it legally--not sure WHETHER the software licenses allow me to load them on new hard drive even when the old one is toast), or buy a new computer now and then upgrade to Vista later? Assuming I can reload my software on a new hard drive I'm inclined to buy a new hard drive and go until I need to upgrade to Vista in a couple of years. The rest of the system seemed to working perfectly prior to this and the system runs my applications very well. I would otherwise have no reason to upgrade to a new system.

I probably have lost data but that's another issue.

Any advice is appreciated.It sounds like all that is bad is the hard drive. There is no sense in trashing a system for that when a replacement is well under $100, eweasy to install and can legally loaded with your legal XP CD. no doubt you will need more if you plan on running Vista, but what is the point of that if your system works just fine for your uses?

if you need hard drive replacement help, that is available. I am certain that yours is iDE, so get one with 120 gigs or less and you will have absolutely no problems at all.

Here's one for <$60 delivered to your door with a 5 year warranty. You may find some even cheaper locally, but with a REBATE hassle.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148095

You can also get a bigger drive for not much more.thx for the advice.

When I shut down my computer, a few seconds later, the computer boots itself back up from the dead; i have to switch off the power supply to prevent it from booting up.

Sometimes when i boot up manually, i get a loud SOUND coming from the power supply and the motherboard is beeping. It sounds like a wire stuck in a fan or a bad relay. Sometimes I get GPU error beeps from the motherboard when i boot up. I suspect the 550 watt power supply might be malfunctioning. I might be overloading the power supply.

6 7200rpm SATA hard DRIVES
2 optical IDE drives
1 floppy
RADEON x800 PCI express x16
TV tuner
Pentium D 830
Random raid controller from hard drives (not in use andy more)
foxconn 955X7AA server board

do you think 550 is ENOUGH?

I wanted to get an Antec because of it's iron clad reputation but I cant find anything over 550.

Right now im using a no name GearMax brand 550 power supply.

Is the problem related to the power supply?Have you tested the current with a meter? I sure wouldn't even consider a no name unit for that much equipment.What does someone do with 6 hard drives?i havent tested the current yet

but i have traced teh failure back to the power supply

everything else works fine

once i get the power supply to work functioning after rebooting several times, i can reboot using the reboot button and there is never a failure, this is because the powersupply is not turning off when i reboot using the button RATHER than shutting down through windows

(i use the 4 of the 6 hard drives in a RAID 5 configuration to give me 1.2 TB on one logical drive )
one of the other two is the system drive and the other is just by itselfJust a simple case of you get what you pay for. I am constantly amazed how people skimp a little on this very important component, sometimes jeopardizing the integrity of all the others.1.2 TB and more. So ..., let me guess. You do the entire federal government's payroll on your computer?i just got same problem before
and i found out the switch is the problem
check if it needs to changeno im still convinced its my power supply :-/

if it was the switch, i would get random shutdowns in windows because i have that button shutdown the machine
and also that would not explain the half bootupswhat power supplys would you guys recommend for this much hardware? :-?
it's standard ATXThis Antec right here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

$75 INCLUDING shipping. What's not to love about that? i burnt my old 480 that came with the case. you think 550 is enough for my hardware components?Here is a rough estimator:

http://journeysystems.com/power_supply_calculator.php

Just bought a asus p4v8x-mx so replace my faulty p4s800. I unhooked the p4s800 and connected the videocard, ram, cpu, cpu fan, and everything correctly. But I cant find a plugin for the CHA_FAN and i am lost on the system PANEL connector PART (many small plugs at the bottom right of board). The motherboard came with the board, a wire to hook up floppy to mobo, a wire to hook hd to mobo and serial ATA connectors. The many small wires I had that were connected to the old mobo was the only option for me to connect to this mobo. i tried to follow the instruction that shows where to PLUG in the PLED (pled+ and pled-), ide_led (+5v and ideled) and the other stuff. I tried my best and started the comp up and it seemed fine. I got a blue screen saying i have hardware problems so i figured that i need to format my hd since its a new motherboard. Im currently formatting it right now, hopefully after it formats it loads xp PROPERLY and doest give me more hardware issue blue screens.

Heres a summary of my problem
no CHA_FAN connector
confused about the 20 pin system panel connector (so far it seems LIKE i connected it properly but ill know for sure if my format works and the comp runs normally)

ill update when it finishes format, pray for me May the force be with you. Okay it is fixed. Now the only problem is I am not sure I connected the motherboard properly, i have no connection to the CHA_FAN, is that okay?

i have two monitors for my dell optiplex gx240
is there any way to connect it with a sony multiscan 200ES
or a SEC MultiSync FG monitor lensIf those monitors have a 15 pin VGA cord attached you are good to go.im not sure what a 15point vga connection is but i dont think it has that because it wont connect
it has like a trapezoid with 15 metal pins coming outThat should work unless the "trapezoid" has been bent. What kind of connector is on the monitor and on the computer.Count the pins.one monitor has 13 the other has 14 the computer has pins sticking out instead of holes for the pins
then it hasd a longer trapezoid with 34 openingsThe longer one is a parallel port for PRINTERS that attach that way instead of the newer USB port.

Post your service tag on that computer and I'll SEE what I can find out about the video adapter. It should have a BLUE plug with 15 holes. I am surprised to HEAR there are pins sticking out of it. Are you sure that is not a serial port? Is it blue? Any way to take a picture?

This is what a DVI cable looks like:

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

That is the only possibility other than a standard 15 pin VGA port on an Optiplex, and that would be a real rarity!whats is the service tag and i have the pic but how can i send it
the comp looks like it would accept that dvi cable

I've been trying to play a DVD on my laptop recently and I always get an error no matter what software I use. I tried Real Player 10 today and I got this error: "Key exchange for DVD copy protection failed" On their website it says that the error means my decoder software is corrupt. I was able to play DVD's about a week ago and then this happend. Not sure how they got corrupt but all help is appreciated.

Here are my laptop specs:

Thinkpad T30
Win XP Pro
1.80 GHZ
1 GB RAM
DVD-ROM Manufacturer: MatshitaWhat were you using before? I use Powerdvd and I can reload it if I need to. Here is what Microsoft has on their site http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/getmore/plugins.aspx
they have decoder plugins, I don't know if this is going to help, but it's a place to start.Can you do a system restore to a point before all of this happened?My dates don't go back far enough.Interested in uninstalling that and loading another player? You USUALLY get a copy of one with a RETAIL packed DVD-ROM, COMBO DRIVE, OR DVD RW.

What did that ThikPad come bundled with - WinDVD 4? I don't think you can download that for free from IBM or elsewhere. Do you have the installation disc? You may be able to contact WinDVD as a PAID user, EVEN if it was OEM.

Let me look. I may have an old one around here.

under control panel, i see that windows firewall is on but is set to allow two exc eptions: 1) file & printer sharing, & 2) remote assistance---is it normal & advisable to allow these 2 exceptions?

is windows firewall a software or hardware firewall?

i have norton antivus, windows defender, windows firewall & hijackthis on my system which operating on MS windows XP. are these sufficient to protect pc? thanks so much, dedeYour firewall should not allow anything you're not actually using. File and print sharing should only be allowed if you actually use it on the network - and then only to allow CONNECTIONS from/to your LAN. Are you using remote assistance? If not, switch it off at the firewall.

XP's firewall is a software firewall - i.e. not a dedicated bit of hardware, and it only can protect the PC on which it is installed. Hardware firewalls typically make a greater LEVEL of security possible, although not against attacks within your LAN (i.e. trojans).

Any firewall, badly configured, is as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

No security is "sufficient", in the sense that any system can be hacked, given enough time and skill. Your main aim is to present as difficult a target as possible to crackers, so that they will simply move on to an easier target. You also need to ensure that your computer is unattractive to them in other ways - no big signs on the internet saying "lots of yummy financial data thisaway!" You may chuckle, but corporate cracking is fairly big (underground) business.thanks rob. you mentioned:
File and print sharing should only be allowed if you actually use it on the network - and then only to allow connections from/to your LAN. Are you using remote assistance? If not, switch it off at the firewall.


I have dial up internet connection & assume I do not use file & print sharing & don't need remote assistance---sound right to you?

can you recommend a hardware firewall that would provide additional protection & function well W/ my norton antivus, windows defender & windows firewall? thank you, dedeIf you don't share any files between computers on your home network then you don't need file and print sharing. If yuo've just got the one computer, then you don't this. You can switch off remote assistance too. Sounds like you don't use it.

Since you're on dialup, UNLESS you're connected to the internet for long periods at a time, you can probably do without a hardware firewall. It is pretty essential (in my view) with broadband and other "always on" internet connections.
I can't recommend any particular hardware firewall - I haven't used enough different ones. And some that I have used have been the large corporate ISP firewalls - overkill for a home USER.

Hello
i'm new to these forums, but i really NEED some help with my computer!
I recently put a computer together with all the spares i had lying around in my room, it all starts up fine and works correctly but when ever i need to restart it, everything goes smothly until its about to start up again when it suddenly powers off. and then if i try and swich it back on it briefly powers up for about 1 second then switched off again and then if i unplug it and plug it back in at the main, it switchs on and sounds like everything is working but then there is no signal to the screen, i switch it off and leave it for about 15mins then come back and switch it on and everything works again. until i need to restart it again when the same thing happens! I have tryed changing the power supply but the same thing still happens. please if anyone has any ideas it would be very useful.
Thanks
BenWhat are the particulars on the components? Did it ever work correctly when patched together?spec as FOLLOWS
Asus P4S800 mobo
Intel celeron D 2.94ghz
1Gb ram
200Gb hard drive
nvidia pny 6600
aquagate mini liquid cooler
had a 400w psu then i changed it to a 300w psu to see if that was the problem but the same thing happened

ever since i built it it has down the powering down during restarts
Thanks
BenIs the MB shorting out on the case? Are you positive it is assembled correctly? Have you done this before?im pretty sure its all assembeled correctly i have built quite a few computers yes like the one im using now which works great, where would it be shorting out if it was? and why would it only do it when you restart it?
Thanks
BenSome screw touching tthe case, contact at a standoff, etc. It would be unusual to ONLY happen then, but you never know. What is the heritage on those power supplies?What does heritage mean, if you mean where did they come from the our both out of other computers but where working fine in thier!
BenManufacturer?The 400w that was in there before was made by Win Power i think not sure about the 300w one that is in there at the moment!Did you do a clean install of the OPERATING system or just stick in a HD with an existing OS?i put the hdd and dvd and cd drives onto an existing MOTHERBOARD and prossesor without reinstalling the os yes! why does that MATTER?Yes, it absolutely does matter. Would you/could you do a reinstall if it solved the problem?Quote

The 400w that was in there before was made by Win Power i think not sure about the 300w one that is in there at the moment!

Quote

[highlight]Dropping your wattage by 100 amps is probably starving that machine[/highlight]

Maybe LOL

whenever i get to the "log on" screen my computer ACESS's the floppy drive, even though there is NOTHING in it, this lags my computer like crazy, it also does this after i log in... i have no clue why, but i unplugged it because it would try to ACCESS the drive at random times after i log in, there is no spyware, adware, or viruses on my system, i am really confused as to what is causing it. its almost like its possesed :-/ ... i unplugged its power, and IDE CABLE to shut it up and stop the laggingthe one ur using might be malfunctioning so it THINKS u just inserted a disc. id suggest getting a new one.(their like $10)ah... well crap... i wont be using the computer for much longer, i guess ill just leave it unplugged until i give it back to my dad and let him decide what to do with it

I am working ona computer that ACTS like it SURGES when the computer is turned on. I changed the power supply and put another switch on it and it still will not POST. ANYONE have any suggestions about what could be causing this problem??


Thanks,


AnthonyWhat are the specifics on the computer or MOTHERBOARD make/model and the PSU?what do u mean by "surges"?

ok, so i plan to build a data "server" out of ordinary PC parts, it will be running just about 24\7, i was wondering what OS i should USE for it, the computer i will be connecting to it will be running XP pro, so i doubt a linux server will work, although im not sure... if you need to, or want to know the hardware im gonna use ill post links to the hardware im going to buy this coming school yearA linux server would be perfectly fine using Samba. I thought you hated Microsoft and now you're talking XP Pro?

You don't need exotic, state of the art hardware for a server, by the way.The firm that I'm about to leave RAN an AMD K2-450 with 192MB RAM for about 6 YEARS. This had Linux + Samba and for a small (7 workstation) network, it ran file server, web server, instant messaging server and database server, no problems. Typical uptime: 18 months.

It finally died when its (underloaded!) PSU failed a couple of weeks ago. Time to upgrade. im using a 939 socket system, 6 sata devices and IDE devices, gonna build it for about 500 bucks, my computer tah i am building will run at about 1500, or more, i will have 2800 to blow this coming school year, but i need to set aside some of it, so i can get my DADS air horn kit for his chirstmas\b day present, my moped, and a few other things that may come up.

i do hate XP home edtion, pro is ok, right now im running xp pro corporate edition 2002, and ubuntu linux as a dual boot, a friend of mine is going to teach me some stuff with linux, but, right now, i know very little of linux. i do know quite a bit about XP, and WINDOWS in general, so, ill stick with it for my computer, and use linux for the server, if thats compatible... the only thing the server will be used for is for my personal data (music, movies, ISO's, VCD'd, ect...) and my dads personal data on the stuff he buys and sells on ebay, and some other odd and ends stuff, im just gonna have a folder for my self thats shared, and a folder for my dad thats shared, my brother doesnt really need any space on it, he already has a 250 gig. my dad is really paranoid about his computer crashing and loss of data, so, he wont have to worry as much since his data will be backed up on the server. the only problem i have with building the server is that im gonna use a cheap aluminum steel case that my dad has layin around, but i have to cut a top fan vent, and a side fan vent, then it will be runnin 6 80mm fans, they wont glow or anything, i see no need in a glowing server. my computer will glow enough to make a christmas tree green with envy.. the server will be running an AMD 2.0ghz 64 bit, HT 939 socket proccessor, ECS MB, 1 gig of ram (i already have the gig of ram in the computer i am running now) dvd burner, 250 gig 3.0 gigs a second WD caviar hard drive, havnt found the PSU yet, and im going to find a 5.25 bay hard drive cooler for it. if you want to see any of the parts for either the server or the computer, just ask.That sounds definitely like overkill for a server, but it's your ca$h. A good used PIII would do just fine and be about $50-100. See picture


<-------------------------lol, i need it to be able to handle lots of hard drives, hence the fact of the 6 sata devices... and the 64bit chip was a few dollars more than the non 64 ht chip, so i cant complain

Alright, so, just to begin, here are my specs:

HP pavillion a305w
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, version 2002, service pack 1
hmmmm... ok, this BRINGS my attention suddenly to another question, but for now, I got 248MB RAM.
Intel Celeron 2.70 GHz

Ok, so first problem. I finally got the internet setup up in my apartment (about 6-7 hours of work total) and then got the wireless router to work (another 2-3 hours). But, after all of that, I still can't quite use the internet! So basically, I got a Wireless USB Adapter for my desktop. Normally, it works fine. That is, until I decide to plug in my External Hard Drive. If I do that, I lose internet. If my hard drive is already plugged in and then I plug the USB Wireless Adapter in, the computer doesn't even recognize the USB device and says there's a malfunction. Its not the USB ports. I've tried them all, in all combinations, not to mention my keyboard, mouse, and technically the external hard drive all work, just not the wireless adapter when the hard drive is plugged in. Also, I don't think its the adapter. That's what I thought at first, and just returned the one I had for a different one. The first one was a LINKSYS, and now the one I got is a netgear. Two different adapters, two different companies, same problem. This leads me to believe it may be a configuration problem or a software problem with the computer itself, but I have no idea how to fix it. If ANYONE has any ideas, I would appreciate the help.

Second question: I know this computer came with 512 MB of RAM. Why does it only report 248 MB?i have no clue about the wireless problem... mabey a hardware confilct... but as for the ram... you only have one 256 stick apparently, either that or somthing is robbing over 256mb's of your ram

EDIT: i forgot to mention, just buy a internal wirless card, one that runs off of PCI or somthingYea, I think I'm just gonna get a PCI adapter. But it TURNS out someone musta stole a stick of ram outta my computer. I got one of those easy to open computers, and I usually left my dorm room open. It just seems so weird... why would someone steal something like that?It may be a problem with not enough power in the basic USB port to run all of that, or the ports may have problems. In any case, a PCI card sounds like a good choice. I never have been a fan of USB adapters.

Sorry about your missing RAM. your lucky your ENTIRE computer hasnt gone missing

Hey Everyone, Im having problems burning cd's...I've tried several different programs and they all do the same thing (WMP, Record Now, Real Player, Music Match JB). When I Insert the CD and click on the program that I WANT to use..It doesnt recognize that there's a blank cd in the drive. But, if I dont put the cd in until it asks for it..It freezes up once I put it in. Any help is appreciated..Thanks!Have you tried updating your drivers for the drive? When did this start? Has it ever worked properly? Have you made any changes to the system recently?

FlameI did try to update the drives...but, Im not even sure if I was doing it right..Yes, it worked properly at one point but i hardly ever used it so Im not exactly sure when it started. Awhile back I was having problems with Internet Explorer so I did a system restore. I guess it's possible that that's when it all started. But, that was several months ago. Last night was the first time I've tried to burn a cd in awhile. Actually, I did try a few weeks ago...and it would start burning then it would freeze during the last part of the process...But, I didnt really try to investigate the problem at that point. Now, it's not even getting started.How old is the drive and what manufacturer? You said it wasn't used much but it did use to work? Any problems showing in DEVICE manager? Writing a CDR is certainly more drive intensive than reading them and SOMETIME the optics just go, even though the emechanics are working (drive opens and closes). Do you have another drive to test with?It's 3 years old..Also, i wanted to mention...I can play cd's and I can rip cd's...Burning is the only problem...When I start the program to burn the cd...everything works fine until I insert the blank cd...After I put the cd in..the program freezes..When I take it out..It unfreezes. I guess the manufacturer is Sony..It says "Sony CD-RW CRX215E5 Device Type: DVD/CD-ROM DRIVES" Then at the bottom it says "This device is working properly" I dont have another drive.You could try to uninstall and reinstall the software, but it sounds like time for a new drive. Luckily they are fairly inexpensive.Okay...well thanks for your help..Just one more question...I have my moms computer here and it has a cd burner on it also...Is there anyway I can get my music from my computer to hers? I can't email...cause im on dialup..and that would literally take years.A simple crossover cable should work just fine. Are they both running XP? If so, have a read. This refers rto a lapttop, but any ttwo computers with NETWORK cards will do the same. Make sure you have a crossover cable or this doesn't work. They are readily available at computer STORES, Radio Shack, etc.

http://www.jsu.edu/depart/dss/cprint/networking-crossover.html

But a CDRW just costs a few dolllars more.

Hey guys,

I've recently upgraded to a PCI-E AMD RIG, but have been having huge troubles with enormous CPU usage, in excess of 90% most of the time. I've concluded the problem isn't so much to do with spyware/software, as it arises straight away on a fresh installation of windows XP before I even attempt to install DRIVERS. Possibly a BIOS SETTING or a hardware compatibility error? Otherwise everythings been working fine, heres a screenshot of my problem.
Picture of my cpu usage stats
Picture of my cpu usage history showing a huge use while idling. Remember this problem was here before Anti Virus, Drivers etc were even installed.

My SYSTEM Specs

I've tried all sorts of drivers from nVidia, have finally settled on nvidia forceware 91.29 for graphics, and 6.70 for nforce chipsets.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm burnt out of ideas...
ThanksTurns out it was my firewire ports for some wierd reason, disabling them made it RUN perfect.

So yeah, if anyone has the same problem try disabling them..

I recently purchased an A3 asus laptop. I was the connected to the net 2 days ago and it was working fine. TODAY I turned it on and i could not connect. I got this message from my intel PROSet/Wireless program - Wireless is turned off. Select "Wireless on" below to enable wireless networking. In the system tray I get an icon of the program with an x which says when I hover over it "Wireless is turned off. The wireless device will not transmit or receive while it is off." Anyone know how to resolve this issue ecause i see no BUTTON If you right click on that icon, what options do you have? If you left click or double click on it, does a panel OPEN with options for settings?What's the model number on your laptop?

A lot of laptops have a button on the case that you can use to enable or disable the wireless. You may have bumped the button on accident. If I knew the model number of the laptop you're working with, I could check and see if that's a possibility.

Quote

No nothing has to be cloned. The signals would all be split after they leave the box. The reason for 3 instead of 2 is just to be able to have things ready to use.

Seems to me the answer to my question is that multiple monitors are processor/ram intensive so the main thing is selecting what kind of video cards to use.
Am I priortizing this right you think?

Quote

buy cheap PCI cards, they work fine for multipul monitors, i have a crappy celery D 2.6ghz, 256k cache, 1 gig of ram, onboard 16mb video for secondary monitor, and an ole nvidia MX 4000 pci video card for my primary, with a gig of ram, and i can do enough with the two monitors, but i will be building a better set up, old 17 monitors are inexpensive, so i will have a 3 or 4 monitor set up, mabey 3 to 5 counting my TV... and thats if i dont find more TV's to hook up to the S-video out... i feel sorry for my neighbors when i have all of this crap going, lol.

Well, he can find cheap AGP cards, too, such as Asus V9520-X GeForce FX 5200 / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / VGA / DVI / TV Out / Video Card, $40 plus shipping. This card will support two monitors. Yes, he could conceivably have 3 PCI video cards, each supporting one monitor. But, his mention PowerPoint slides suggests to me he may want the capability to clone one monitor to another. To do this, he needs two monitors connected to a single card.

With my video card (see previous post), and with nVidia's nView Desktop Manager software installed, I can elect to use my two monitors in clone mode, meaning they both DISPLAY the same thing, or I can have separate desktops on the two monitors, which is what I normally do.

The cost of cards to support three monitors won't be much different whether he goes with all PCI or a combination of AGP/PCI Express and PCI. It might actually be slightly higher with only PCI cards.

im gonna be running two 620 watt PSU's, one for drives, mobo and stuff, the other for lights and fans... i know somone who can have me a cable made so i can have two PSU's to one mobo safely...

Quote

im gonna be running two 620 watt PSU's, one for drives, mobo and stuff, the other for lights and fans... i know somone who can have me a cable made so i can have two PSU's to one mobo safely...

Stop the madness!

I have a couple of questions. I was reading on the GeekSquad.com website and it stated that dust can be a MAJOR problem for a pc, restricting airflow and causing the processor and harddrive to overheat. I think that I have this problem. When I'm using my pc I hear what I thought was the fan working on warp speed and then at times my pc just resets on its own. This happens everyday no matter if it's really COLD in my room or what no. So my questions are as follow:

1) Is my problem repairable?
2) What would be an approximate cost to replace the faulty parts in my pc
3) Is it worth it to replace the parts and buy a new pc. Considering that my pc is about 2 or 3 years old.

Thank You 1. YES, you just need to clean out your computer, and maybe add another fan/cooling unit
2. an approx. cost, would depend on if anything is damged or not
3. what kind of computer do you have, and how fat is your CPU, how much ram do you have, and how big is your hard drive?A good cleaning just costs a a little time and a can of compressed air. Don't blow air into a fan witthout preventing the blades from turning. I wouldn't consider a new PC a necessity at this time.also, beware when using cans of air! if you tilt it to far it will spray out the liquid inside the can, that, would not be goodYou could download & run Everest to see what your temps are, you may (probably) have other problems causing this.Thanx for all the INFO everyone. I downloaded everest and saw the temperature but I don't know if it's good or bad or what. Motherboard temp 104f, CPU 133f, Aux 102f. Is that normal or what? Thanx againthose tempatures are normal for your computer, so you should be set, just be sure that tehre isn't dust build up in the computers fans/heatsink/ect. and you should be fine


Viper
Quote

When I'm using my pc I hear what I thought was the fan working on warp speed and then at times my pc just resets on its own.

hi can anyone help?
when i boot up the computer (its a laptop) the screen is DARK and you can just about see it but it is very dark. I left it off for the last few DAYS but before this it was fine so I don't know whats happened to it?a bit vauge, but we can work around that,
what kind of laptop is it?
how OLD is the laptop?
is there any brightnes/contrast control on the laptop?
does EVERYTHING else work correctly, other than this?

when you answer those, we might be able to help you a bit more ^^

[size=14]Viper[/size]errm im really thick with these things..
it says IPC on it is that the make?
Its about 3 yrs old I think, cant find any brightness controls on it, I've never used them before.
Everything else is ok. If I really concentrate I can find the mouse and open programs on it.
Is it the backlight do you think? can this be replaced?My guess is the screen died on you I'm guessing the whole screen would have to be replaced, that might be spendy, I don't really know, you might have to wait for someone elses opinion on this. sorry I wasn't much help



ViperWait! question
are you very moblie with your laptop? if you arn't, there might be a VGA port on the back of your moniter, so you can hook up a regular moniter to the back of your laptop and still use , with out replcing the screen on it. I'll post a pic of a VGA port shorly if you don't know what one looks like.



Viperhttp://support.axiolearning.org/images/kyc/desktop/vga.jpg

there is a picture that might asist you on your search of the back of your laptop

Hope this helps,


Viperthe light in the back of the screen is burnt out. they give the students at the school i goto laptops for school assignments, we get to take them home, all that crap, and i see it happening all the time to the school lappies

EDIT: forgot to mention, its not cheap to replace, you have to take apart the whole lappy to fix ITCORRECT. It is not cheap and you need to know what you're doing or you will be out the cash and still have a non-working machine. With a no-name system it may be impossible to find the correct parts anyway.

my optical mouse is making a funny noise for some reason. I took it a part, but there is nothing moving in there that could be making the noise, which sptoped when I took it apart, but when I but it back together, with the screw in place tightly, the rattling came back. (run -on sentence) Anyways, someone have an idea what could be causing this? because I'm clueless here :-? :-? :-? lol

the mouse is a mitsumi, ps/2 optical scroll mouse

Thanks,




Viper

p.s. I hope it doesn't explode lolYou found the rattling mouse. Congratulations! You have won our swipstakes and are not eligable to be eligable for us to THINK abt maybe considering giving u a 5$ grand prize!

Listen to me very carefully, SON! The mouse u have in ur hand is.. a BOMB. Dont panic! It was created during the Cold War but Soviet head hunters in order to annihilate small children and teen-agers thus ending subsidasion for meat-by producs, causing the market to fluctuate so that they would be able to send their shiploads of bell-bottom trunks to the U.S. causing all men to become metrosexual wich would have given them the ability to take over the world! Now what u need to do.. is continue playing ur games, because as comunists they suck at making bombs. Have a nice day.

Yeh, looky here like u have a mighty big problem. Your combabulator is all fried up and the graveton generator alone cannot power the fusion core needed to keep all the tiny plastic pieces together. Now i might be able to fix it, but itll gonna cost u UPWARDS of 500 dollars. Just like me poppy used to say - u gotta mind ur equipment.

Oh no, this death machine will kill us all! Your mouse has tainted our good name. The prophecy has come true, if u dont pray each day, the chicken god will make every PC accessory rattle. It is the rattle of evil! I implore u all, do not listen to th evil sound for it will doom us all!Knew is was the comunists! lol I feel special now, I hvae a retarded mouse w00t w00t I know! maybe it needs a new muffler... anyways I'm going to go do something else now, because my mouse is maikg fun of me, cause I'm a geek that is online too much


ViperSupper Glue is the best answer!!

just pour it in all the holes and you will never worry about your mouse again, and it will make a great paper weightmitsumi eh...? i had an old quad speed mitsumi drive in my dell when my dad got it from a church sale... thing blew up, literally shot sparks, after that, i will not touch anything under the name mitsumiQuote

You found the rattling mouse. Congratulations! You have won our swipstakes and are not eligable to be eligable for us to think abt maybe considering giving u a 5$ grand prize!

Listen to me very carefully, son! The mouse u have in ur hand is.. a bomb. Dont panic! It was created during the Cold War but Soviet head hunters in order to annihilate small children and teen-agers thus ending subsidasion for meat-by producs, causing the market to fluctuate so that they would be able to send their shiploads of bell-bottom trunks to the U.S. causing all men to become metrosexual wich would have given them the ability to take over the world! Now what u need to do.. is continue playing ur games, because as comunists they suck at making bombs. Have a nice day.

Yeh, looky here like u have a mighty big problem. Your combabulator is all fried up and the graveton generator alone cannot power the fusion core needed to keep all the tiny plastic pieces together. Now i might be able to fix it, but itll gonna cost u upwards of 500 dollars. Just like me poppy used to say - u gotta mind ur equipment.

Oh no, this death machine will kill us all! Your mouse has tainted our good name. The prophecy has come true, if u dont pray each day, the chicken god will make every PC accessory rattle. It is the rattle of evil! I implore u all, do not listen to th evil sound for it will doom us all!

^ lol

)
(
)
==*

my optical mouse is making a funny noise for some reason. I took it a part, but there is nothing moving in there that could be making the noise, which sptoped when I took it apart, but when I but it back together, with the screw in place tightly, the rattling came back. (run -on sentence) Anyways, someone have an idea what could be causing this? because I'm clueless here :-? :-? :-? lol

the mouse is a mitsumi, ps/2 optical scroll mouse

Thanks,




Viper

p.s. I hope it doesn't explode lol

Viper .......... Why don't you do us all a favour and go buy a new mouse ........
Problem solved ...... LOL .....

Wasn't that simple .

dl65

my dad has a wireless optical ps2 mouse...

Wireless mice all have little transceivers that plug in either to the USB or PS2 port, and do have some Wires.. the lieing bastards

Unless you have a bluethoot one with bluethoot in your laptop

I have a cute litle 12 inch moniter, but there is a problem, well 2 problems, it is a serial (male) and is mising 3 pins from the adpter. I was wondering if you could splice the moniter end and put a VGA(female) on it(though I doubt this because of the # of wire difference) IR if there is something I can buy he will convert M serial to F VGA? and if I can do that, would it be easy to replace the missing pins in he serial end of the cord?

input is nice,

ViperGet yourself down to Maplin and find a guy with a beard. The bigger the beard the better. Then prepare to bask in his glow of electronics enlightenment.

You should be able to buy the various bits you need for your project there, too.Maplin? *is confuesd* where is this? lol


Viper

P.s.

whoa, when did I become a beginner? w00t Maplin is a shop in UK and Ireland,

Its Pretty Good at all sorts of Electric Hard ware
It it one of them Old Green and Black EGA moniters? you might need some old Drivers then

Also If you Find The Fat Guy With the Beard thats even Better!

and how Dare you have more Posts than I , I am the The only Supper N00b Here and Ive been here longer too Meany you could just take a really tiny screw driver and bend the pins BACK into place... i did that with my primary monitor, which my dad found in a box in the back of a van that was rusting away in a junk yard near our HOUSE, works fine, but the monitor flicks off and on from just alittle vibration... i think its just the age of the monitor, its a 1996 NEC MultiSync XV17+... that and the fact that it was sitting in a van in the middle of a junk yard for god knows how long...Dead , that not quite the problem, See his monitor Is a 9PIN D connector, where as VGA is 15pin D, and the NEW ones DVI well there... eh Number++ D connectorsah... well in out of ideas for now then...

During the process of diagnosing a problem, I switched cpu's (with a slower athlon). Now that the problem is fixed (it was a motherboard problem so I replaced the motherboard), I switched back to my faster sempron. However, I noticed that the computer still sees an athlon xp 1.3 GHz, when I know that the cpu installed is a sempron 1.67 GHz. Is there a way to reset something so my computer will see the real cpu and operate accordingly?

Kris

amd sempron 2400+
msi km4m-v (via km400 chipset)
512mb ddr2100
Yes there's away. B*gg*RED if I can remember what it is!

ECSD-something...? Ring any bells, anyone?Ecumenical Council of San Diego? does this help? http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ECSDThat motherboard may have been made before Semprons existed. A BIOS flash may fix that BUT check the manufacturer's site first.

ECSD was a method that motherboards USED to auto IDENTIFY SETTING, interrupts, etc. during boot up.This is the motherboard=> http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=610
It says it supports sempron, and I believe my bios is up to date. I will double check.Download the manual if you don't already have it and look for info on BIOS or jumper settings for CPU Speed. I've experienced this problem - Windows reporting wrong CPU clock speed - with my ECS motherboard. The cause was a BIOS setting that went wrong. Accessing the BIOS and re-setting CPU Frequency on the screen for CPU PnP Setup PAGE restored the system back to the correct clock speed. Just for the record, it is not ECSD, It is ESCD.
Extended System Configuration Data you Thank.

too Me.confused am I

looking for help on the power supply of a emachine 2.6 ghz intel celron w/8og harddrive. After shuting down computer i notice the power supply fan still running , is this NORMAL. the reason iam asking is, we lost power in the house and had a hard time restarting the computer. thanks for any help.Does your power supply have ECASO technology? ECASO technology keep fans running for cooling down your internal case and power supply temperature for 3 minutes after SHUTDOWN. It's a long shot, but something to consider. Not likely, though, since you're just noticing this now.

I've always taken the approach that troubleshooting power supplies isn't really worth it. The risk/reward just doesn't justify messing with it. Plus, a replacement can be acquired for a fairly inexpensive price assuming you're not someone who has to have name brand/latest and greatest hardware.

Of course, that's assuming that the problem is in your power supply. If you don't have a warrenty, I WOULD suggest acquiring a different power supply (either from retail or from someone who has an extra) and seeing if that fixes your problem. If not, move on from there.thanks for the thoughts. will try now to find a power supply, i have no problems with a generic brand.
they help in todays world. No problem. Good luck and let me know if the problem persists. I'd be happy to help you troubleshoot further if that proves to be necessary.try looking on www.newegg.com

they have alot of computer parts and related stuff for cheapPower supplies are ANOTHER area where you truly get what you pay for. Here's one for $10.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AP400W&cat=PWR

Would I put it in a machine that I cared about the components? Absolutely no way!Quote

Power supplies are another area where you truly get what you pay for. Here's one for $10.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AP400W&cat=PWR

Would I put it in a machine that I cared about the components? Absolutely no way!

I have a toshiba satellite a105/s2071 laptop. On the left side under the power button are media buttons. A play/pause, stop, and next/previous buttons. When I hit play, it opens up windows media player. And then I can USE the other buttons to control the songs I want played. But I don't use windows media player. I use iTunes. I've gone into the settings and tried to change it, but it only shows windows media player as a player. Is there a way to change it to use iTunes? ThanksCheck your file associations.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307859&product=winxpok so I went to that website but it didn't help. I already have it set so when I open up a music file it opens with iTunes, but when I try to use the buttons play/next/previous/stop buttons they don't work in iTunes only for windows media player. The only place I have found to be able to change this setting is in a program named Toshiba Assist then I have to go to Toshiba Button Control. In there I see a setting for cd audio control, but it only lets me choose Windows Media player. There is no place to let me choose a different program to do it. Here's a picture of that. Hope that helps a LITTLE bit more. I really would LIKE to use those buttons instead of having to move my mouse everytime to click next. THANKS again.i guess its just not compatable with itunes, just set windows media to play itunes, simple... you might need a PLUG in for that though

I replaced my MOBO with a EMachines OEM MOBO for my t2885 PC. D845gvsr seabreeze. When I go through the boot from cd procedure, it says no fixed DISK detected. BIOS doesn't show a hd? It's set on both. I checked all CABLES and made the hd the master but it isn't detected. Any help is welcome.

I didn't get any paper or cd with the MOBO. Was I supposed to get a installation disk with the MOBO?Usually all the installation disk has is the motherboard drivers and maybe chipset drivers. These can be downloaded from the manufacturer's site. (I guess EMACHINE if it is THAT OEM.)How would I add drivers to a nonfuntioning computer? Could this be causing the MOBO not to auto detect the HD?Are the data AND power cables plugged in properly? Did you jumper the drives correctly? Just try one drive until you get this resolved. Are these SATA drives? I only have one HD and it is jumpered as the master. I checked/reseated the cables. Not sure what you mean by SATA drives. This is a standard IDE drive. Seagate. The HD is good since I just backed up all the data using a USB HD Box on my other computer.cojack... Several questions ........
1st ....is the mobo an exact replacement or something differant ?
1a .... did the new mobo come with a installation cd ?

2nd ... the HARD drive your using , does it have an operating system on it ?

dl65 dl, I THINK he got that mobo thinking it was exactly the same as his previous one.Its a EMachines OEM D845GVSR Intel Seabreeze MOBO. The same that I replaced. No Installation disk. My hard drive has a OS on it, Windows XP Home. I've been working with EMachine support also and they said the installation disk was not needed. This is how they told me to add the MOBO:

Put the disk 1 of 3 restore disk into the cd drive, Boot computer, At startup menu select "Boot to Command Prompt", at command prompt (A:\)?? type FDISK, Enable Large Disk Support (Y), Delete partition or Local DOS Drive (Y).

That's when all *censored* broke loose! Whenever I go farther it tells me Unable to access disk drive 1 and BIOS shows no HD detected.That motherboard doesn't have SATA, so it's an IDE hard drive.

The scenario, I'm guessing. You have the one IDE ribbon connected to the motherboard. Now there's two spaces left. The HD is connected on the last one. There is no other drives connected to that cable. The HD is set to master. I think it is the first two pins next to the place where you plug in the IDE ribbon. The jumper is plugged in vertically. If there is no jumper in, the drive should be slave. You could also maybe try cable select. The molex power connector is also in the drive. Does the drive go on with the pc, does it spin up? Is you're bios set to auto detect?why is it that i keep seeing a ton of posts with problems with emachines...? there like the plauge...

i have an OLD nvidia geforce4 MX 4000 PCI video card, its a 64MB 64 bit card, really sucks, it was GIVIN to my dad when he still owned this computer, and i was wondering how far i can over clock it, or if over clocking will help... i have installed, or atleast "rigged" a fan off of a Pentium one 166mhz heat sink on the vid cards stock heat sink for added cooling. also, i had it overclocked alittle before, but my over clock utility is missing, and i dont have the disk with me to re install it, would anyone know where i could get it?You're not likely to have success or joy with that exercise. That is a very limited video chip. Use it for what it was meant to be and don't burn down the house. meaning? like 30 mhz? thats how far i had it over clocked before, but the utility is missing as i said, so i have no CLUE if it is still OCed or what

Printer will not print black from computer (TRIED on 2 computers) Will print black when testing printer without computer....Will print all colors, (including grey ??)
As noted tried it on 2 SEPARATE computers, and 3 or 4 cartridges ? Help ??
It's only about 9 months old and just used at home as a personal computer...
*censored* CarrHave you tried uninstalling the printer software, rebooting and reinstalling it?

You might TRY one of your applications like WORD and PRESS print from the toolbar and look at the properties button near the top of the screen that opens.

Hello, everybody.... I don't know whether a topic similar to this has ALREADY been created, please forgive me if it has. I recently purchaed a fully functional LOGITECH computer microphone, and I've been trying to record my voice. However, when I GO to Accessories, in the start menu, and then to entertainment... The folder is empty. How can I FIND a way to record my voice?http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+record+with+microphone+xp

Here is a good one to start with:

http://t3.k12.hi.us/t302-03/tutorials/audio/miccheck-xp.htm

<--------------------

Alright, so im going to buy a new motherboard for 2 purposes - PCI-E graphics card, and more expansion slots for memory since i only have 2 right now.

Im not going to buy a new CPU. From what ive learned that means i have to buy some OLD socket 478 motherboard, cause every motherboard type houses a different CPU. What i wanted to do, is buy a motherboard that can house my P4 3.0ghz CPU and in the future if i decide to expand, a dual core Intel CPU, now i know i cant (right?).

Note: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=42&model=199&modelmenu=1

Now, i want a motherboard that will maintain all my current stuff:
- DDR 400, 512m ram x 2
- IDE, 80 GB HD
- Socket 478, P4 CPU (w/HT)
- 2 optical disk drives (CD+RW, DVD-ROM)
- TV card (PCI)
And, let me:
- Install ANOTHER 200-250 GB HD (IDE/SATA)
- Add a 7800 GTX graphics card (PCI-E)
- Add another 512m ram (DDR/DDR2)
- Add another optical DVD+RW drive

So, is it possible for a motherboard to support DDR and DDR2 and dual-channel and NON dual-channel memory? Could there be a (double socket?) motherboard wich will let me add a 478/775 (or whatever) CPU?
So basicly i want to add and not remove. THNX for any help!There's a lot of motherboards that can house DDR1 and DDR2 memory.

I digged a little deeper and found the following:

http://www.asrock.com/product/P4%20Combo.htm

This is all nice and beautiful, but...

Problems. This board only supports DDR1 and AGP.

So, you can use all your old stuff, uncluding your graphics card.

You will not be able to use DDR2 memory or a PCI express graphics card.

I seriously doubt that you'll find that specific board you're looking for.

Maybe someone with more knowledge knows of such a board?
Ok, after over 3 hours of searching google, i fianlly found a motherboard - http://www.asrock.com/product/P4Dual-880Pro.htm
and http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/mb/specification.asp?pro_id=160

Man! Getting a new graphics card is insane. Anyway, so i cant buy the 7800 GS because im not a sucker (Nvidia took a 7800 GTX made it slower, priced it the same and called it the 7800 GS, yes they suck). So i want the 7800 GTX, meaning i need PCI-E. Making me think i need it all the more, is that i think that i have no more IDE slots to put a new HD in, so i want have place to put any games making any card i buy worthless. To add to that is that i think that i would want to add another 500mb or ram at some point so i need 4 slots other then 2.

But then i start thinking, if im not changing my CPU, why change my RAM? It would be so much more simple if i could just get a 775 CPU right now. So look at what ive gotten to from wanting to buy a simple card. So.. Can i borrow 1000$?1000$, that would be R7330 from me. With that much money I can buy a beast of a machine.

I told you upgrading is not easy.

All the best I had the Same Dilemma as you are having now, it wasn't as old a CPU mind you, (well OK actually my Second computer is using an old P4,) but my Current System is an AMD64 754 , and well it kinda sucks , but i could buy a PCI-EX Mobo to take that CPU but then i cant Get DDR2 ram (Funny story In a show of spite my Roomie went and got upgrade for his computer also but it blew up in his face when he put in the wrong ram Ouch) so since i cant get new ram , i decide to go stupid and buy a whole new system for 1700 UNITS of moneys. Ive not got it yet , but its like this

AM264 4600 X2
MSI NEO Platinum Mobo
Gefroce 7950GX2
Segate Baracuda7200rpm 320Gig
Big Expensive Case
550watt Power

And that my solution to your problem , Happy = Moneys!Are u *censored* kidding? 7950 GX2 ??
Ok, thats it. Im going to insist that one of u "lend" me 1000$. By "lend" i OF COURSE mean that i wont pay u back.That computer was a treat to my self , for Saving on The SSIA in Ireland, it was a 5 year savings Scheme where you got 25% bonus on your moneys , and also i got a proper Full time job where i get moneys every month and because I'm so Frugal with my money i can afford to every now and again just drop a load of ityour going to have to go with atleast a socket 775 board to get that kinda hardware man... i have never seen socket 478 with pci-eQuote

your going to have to go with atleast a socket 775 board to get that kinda hardware man... i have never seen socket 478 with pci-e

I've been trying to install this video card in my computer (733MHz P3, 128MB ram, XP) but in the status window for the card it shows "This device cannot start (CODE 10)". I've tried several different drivers for it, none of which work. The card is a Trident Blade T16 PCI model 82117PCI card. I tried the the trident website, both the drivers page is down, and of course, TECHNICAL support. So, what can I do here? I've tried several different driver SITES, but none have the drivers I need.


JonHave you tried driverguide.com, they usually have a huge selection of drivers.Why are u using that ANCIENT fossil?
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/TRIDENT/TRIDENT-Graphics-BLADE-T16-T64-XP-6077-020.shtml
http://display-and-video.free-driver-download.com/Trident/674/Trident-Blade-T16-T64-XP-Driver-64022-021-Windows-XP.html

Hello there. I've had this ol' laptop of mine for roughly two years, and its hard drive decided that it wanted to die, so I went ahead and bought myself a new one.

Alas, when I try to install Windows, the setup utility can't detect my HDD. I didn't have any trouble manually installing the thing, and it didn't come with any CDS or manuals, so I'm a bit lost now.

Here's what I've got:

HP Pavilion zv5230us
512 MB RAM

With a new:

Toshiba MK6034GAX Hard Disk Drive
60 GB capacity
ATA-6 interface
5400 RPM

Trying to install Windows XP Home Edition SP1.

Everything goes smoothly when the computer is first booting; the CD happily unloads its files and then asks me if I would like to install, repair, or exit setup. Many times now I have asked for it to install Windows, but it then told me that it could not detect my HDD, and that I should check to make sure everything is installed and connected and whatnot.

Now clearly, the problem could very well just be that the thing has been installed improperly, but I'm rather certain that I've put it in right, so I was wondering what input you fellows might have as to why the bloody thing isn't working.

(Also, as far as I'm aware, the hard drive is spinning up; I can't be sure because my laptop makes lots of noise and the HDD bay is right next to the CD drive, but I'm pretty sure I'm hearing something other than the CD's spinning.)the bay is next to the cd drive? doesnt vibration kill hard drives? i mean, when my CPU fan blades somehow came off a while back the vibration caused my system to become extremly unstable, the fan has been replaced though...Yeah, the location of the CD drive and HDD bay may be a design flaw. Not really sure--I know very little about these kinds of things.

But now, check this out. While checking to make sure my old (and actually not-quite-dead-yet) HDD would still work, I noticed that the electrical things (for lack of a better term) that stick out of my old HDD and connect to the electrical things in my HDD bay fit very nicely and seem to enjoy each other's company. However, my new Toshiba HDD's electrical things are more exposed-looking, and there are more of them, including a set of four that can't connect to anything at all.

Now, logic would indicate that something is wrong here and I'd PROBABLY need to get another HDD. But what? I did the best checking I could to make sure that my new one would be compatible with my laptop. Why are these electrical things like this? What else could I do?I would check with HP that this drive is compatible before proceeding. Is the drive seen correctly in the BIOS? If not, then it is either not connected properly or it is incompatible.I went ahead and went into my BIOS and checked, but the HDD is not recognized there either, suggesting the conclusions you mentioned.

However, I already talked to HP, before I even bought this HDD, and they told me that as long as it was 2.5" HDD with 4200 or 5400 RPM, I wouldn't have any problems. I specifically asked about fitting, but they said that all laptop drives would work. They even gave me a link to a third-party site listing a bunch of HDDs. I ultimately ended up buying my HDD from Newegg, which listed my new one in the same page as the Travelstar model that was originally in my computer. I'd checked the specifications of this Toshiba model and everything was fine.

But as I mentioned in my last POST, it doesn't look like the electrical things that connect the HDD to the bay are compatible; so how am I supposed to find out what these things look like for the next HDD that I get? Is there some statistic somewhere that says "this drive has 70 electrical connecting things" so that I can make sure it fits? Did Newegg possibly mis-label the drive that I bought?

And is there possibly any way to make it fit so that I don't have to bother with all of this?Here is the little bit Toshiba has to say about the drive:

http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/storage/english/spec/hdd/mk6034gax.htm

Maybe this will help:

http://www.alanmacek.com/ref/harddrive.shtml

Is there a connector that is reusable somehow that interfaces the drive to the cable? Don't break anything or just pull, but look carefully. Are you able to post some photos?Bah. All right, it turns out that there's a little adapter-thing for the pins that was on my old HDD that I needed to take off and put on my new one. Such a simple mistake could probably have been corrected by putting the user manual with the HDD, but sometimes we just aren't so lucky.

Thanks for helping out though, Dead Reckon and GX1. Through talking it out I was able to figure out exactly what was going on. And now to format! Squee!I'm glad you got it figured out and thanks for posting back. Let us know about your final success as well, OK? Quote

Bah. All right, it turns out that there's a little adapter-thing for the pins that was on my old HDD that I needed to take off and put on my new one. Such a simple mistake could probably have been corrected by putting the user manual with the HDD, but sometimes we just aren't so lucky.

Thanks for helping out though, Dead Reckon and GX1. Through talking it out I was able to figure out exactly what was going on. And now to format! Squee!

My old PC crashed I suspect due to a virus. It's O/S is Win ME. The problem I'm having is I'm trying to make a rescue CD from my laptop which runs XP. The rescue disk PROGRAM I got from McAfee won't open on XP to create the files on the CD! I also can't use my Norton Disk on my PC because it came with the laptop and will only boot on an Acer!! I really need to get my pix off the old computer if I can't fix it is there a possibility of copying my pix from ms-dos onto a CD? Any help will be appreciated. Prior to system crash I'd suspected something was amiss and tried running AVG but it kept freezing up on me. I had run: defrag, chckdsk, highjackit, disk clean-up, McAfee (my paid VERSION) & a few other programs nothing found but AVG would not run. I also would see an file pop-up during windows booting that file kept popping up I seeked advice and had installed over a few months several tools (which I can't remember all the names because they were on the system I can't boot) to try and chase this unknown down but nothing picked it up! I also had a firewall in place (not Windows) There's heaps of info. I want to save on there but I don't want to transfer files until I know the system is clean IF I can ever get it back on! oh and we recently moved I have absolutly no idea where my back-ups are!! I get as far as Safe Mode but once there I can't do anything. Shoudl I try through MS-DOS? Sorry I either need more coffee or less... All I want for now is to make a rescue OR boot disk from my laptop XP to use on my PC winME... then I'll address the other problems. I would start with a boot disk http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

BTW, ewwwwww, Windows ME is about as stable as a crack addicted monkey, which probably isn't very stable LOL,


ViperThx LMAO yeah, but I can't complain the system is nearly 6yo and never played up before except in the last couple of months. I tried one of the boots from that site and got a message on my computer that it wasn't a valid win32 file & to insert a system disk instead? :-? I did notice another download further down I'll try that one... meanwhile any other suggestions... & yeah the old PC is going to be for the kids (2yo & 4yo) should do them a couple of years. If those don't work try http://www.allbootdisks.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=42&func=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=39
or
http://www.mybootdisks.com/getnow.asp?file=winme.exe

I would just see if you can get back to windows, but 2 questions:

1 what is your anti virus?
2 when was it last updated?


ViperThe word "crashed" has a lot of different meanings. What exactly does your computer do? What error messages? What make/model and hardware? What do you have that you can back up to if it gets running - a CDRW? Pen Drive? Network?Hi GX1, it's a P111 Celeron, 1ghz, HDD is a 30 GB Seagate Series 5, 256MB RAM. I have a CDW & a plain CD slaved. I also have a pen drive. I have an empty 80GB HDD somewhere which hasn't been formatted, I also have a SCSI somewhere but don't have a SCSI cable so rule that one out. Yep the major problem is my stuff is scattered everywhere in boxes.

I believe that I have a virus, as my system was running smoothly for nearly 6 years & I did regular maintenance routines on it.

OK the problem started a few months ago, I was hospitalised for a few days, upon my return home I found the computer was on, but monitor was off! When I turned the monitor on I could see 3 windows open: Outlook,Thomas the tank engine and explorer the SCREEN was frozen so I believe my 4yo was on there got on-line without Firewall on, then when it froze turned the monitor off and walked away (I'm hoping it was my 4yo & not hubby!)

By crashed I mean: When it was booting up and got to Windows it would then freeze up within a minute so a re-start was needed. When I re-started I would do Ctrl+Alt+Del and see what was loading and I found an: file that's the Name it showed on the screen including those brackets which I stopped, It popped back 3 times I stopped it 3 times and then the system would run. At which point I tried running an on-line scan from MAfee & Norton (NOT at same time) but neither would complete the scan & system would freeze up. I tried creating a Emergency boot disk from my laptop but for the life of me I can't find how to find it with XP!! The option is no longer under Control Panel-Add/remove Programs which used to have a tab there. I also couldn't make the rescue disks work as they were made for floppies and I couldn't de-compress the files for burning on the CD (on laptop I have a DVD burner but no floppy drive)

I have: AVG, Sygate Personal firewall, Ad-aware, AVERT Stinger + more which I can't remember right now.

All programs up to date except the last few days AVG would NOT run or update (which is why I suspect a virus.)

I found a site yesterday & made an Emergengy Boot CD from there. However it's been ages since I've worked in MS-DOS can't remember all my switches or the order they LOL. http://www.simtel.net/category.php[id]42[SiteID]simtel.net I chose the first one.

The CD includes many features including scandisk surface scan,Fdisk, msdos prompt, another which I can see the tree ect... boot disk files i.e. IO, config.sys
I checked the HDD for errors & it came up clean (again comfirming that problem is likely a virus)

So I can see the files I want I just can't remember the switches commands to do it. I tried (please don't laughat me) c:\mdocuments\mypictures\(file name) /c d: Which i thought was: from source, specified file, copy to destination but I'm obviously forgetting something??

OK as for getting into Windows, with the CD I get a message saying Registry files cannot be found and then it loads and freezes in safe mode which requires a cold reboot. *SIGH* OK last thing is that I'm in New Zealand on SLOW dial-up (even broadband is slow here like 40x times slowly than in the States!) So it's really hard to get some of the downloads unless they are small files! It's also morning here and I need more coffee Hahaha Sorry for the book but I'm really stuck and with the kids I can only work at this part-time and can't do all nighters on here anymore to get it sorted. I appreciate any help
Well personally I would use a Linux Live CD and copy the files to a pen drive, across a network, burn them to CDRW, etc.
Here is a small one, which should do nicely. Just burn the ISO with Nero, etc.

http://www.slax.org/

Boot with the Slax CD and burn with your CDRW. After you save your files, you can format the drive and reinstall Windows. will give it a. go, when I get back, will let you know if it worked Oh it will work just fine and you will be very impressed. Just burn the ISO, don't try to copy the files and make sure the BIOS is set to boot from CD first.

We'll await your post back. Quote

I would start with a boot disk http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

BTW, ewwwwww, Windows ME is about as stable as a crack addicted monkey, which probably isn't very stable LOL,


Viper

Ok, I just unplugged all my computer hardware and moved it from my old case to my new one, aswell as putting in a new 80 gig Hard drive and a new 1 gig stick of ram. At first when I attempted to start the computer it said it had a bios error and I should insert a system boot floppy disk, but when I put in my boot disk it would just read and not do anything. So then I decided to try and jump my CMOS Jumper, that seemed to work, and the computer started up like normal, except it said the Cmos data was cleared and default was loading, and I should recustomize it. I decided to leave it at default, and loaded windows, did the normal Email check, then shut down the COMP. I then discovered LATER, that the Comp would power up, but not load anything, not even go to the load up screen. I then decided to try jumpin the CMOS, then the comp started fine, and it now seams, to get the comp to start and run, I need to rejump the CMOS before starting up the comp.

Any Help Is greatly appreciated.
If you need exact Comp specs just let me know.
Please post exact computer specs, don't exactly know what the problem is yet, maybe the specs will help.

Except for the case, the only things that changed is the memory and another HD. So, take out the HD and memory and see what happens."jumpin the CMOS" is really too vague for comprehension. What exactly have you done?

A project like this should be done gradually. When you change this many variables and something doesn't work you are left to wonder where to start. How about one stick RAM, 1 hard drive, no optical drives, no add in cards except VIDEO if needed. What happens now?Well i know what he means by jump the CMOS

On most Mother Boards there is A Jumper(Two Metal Pins and a Jacket(Jumper)) For Resting the Bios to factory Settings ,

How ever why you would need this to be in the "Jumped" position to start your computer is very odd. in most cases the computer wont Boot White it is jumped , and you then need to remove the jumper to get it to start

Maby you have the operation of your bios backward, it could be that when a jumper is present that operations are normal, and when no jumper is present that it resets to factory?Quote

Well i know what he means by jump the CMOS

On most Mother Boards there is A Jumper(Two Metal Pins and a Jacket(Jumper)) For Resting the Bios to factory Settings ,

How ever why you would need this to be in the "Jumped" position to start your computer is very odd. in most cases the computer wont Boot White it is jumped , and you then need to remove the jumper to get it to start

Maby you have the operation of your bios backward, it could be that when a jumper is present that operations are normal, and when no jumper is present that it resets to factory?

I have a KDS xtreme FLAT MONITER........The brightness is turned all the way up, but it's STILL to dark to do anything. It was working fine yesterday.

I just tried on another moniter and it works,can someone help because IM too lazy to switch the moniters.Are you too lazy to take it to the shop or get another one? That may be the solution.is the CONTRAST turned up?yes, contrast was up........I got up the energy to switch moniters, so I'ts all goodlol... then just return the monitor if its still under warrentyif its not you can always do this:
http://www.duke.edu/~jwc13/video/tennismonitor.mpg

i hae dual monitors in win xp, but i have no clue how to set it up in LINUX. if anyone KNOWS anything about this, PLEASE tell me, one monitor sucksHave you tried just PLUGGING two in during the install? You might be surprised.yes... i have tryed that... the second one never gets unplugged from my system, i turn it on, and it goes into stand byYou just thave to edit the appropriate x fille:

HTTP://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=dual+monitors+ubuntu&spell=1thanks, i'll look into that tommorow

i currently have two monitors, and i was wondering if it is possible to have 4 or 5 when i get my new computer built this coming school year. i THINK it may be possible, because i can set the second monitor to be on the left, right, top, bottom, and corners of the primary monitor, from that, it would seem that you could stack an infinite number of monitors, but i have no clue if i can, and no way to test it at the moment...i believe u can have 8 monitors max (as far as i know) .it requires you to have 2-4 port video cards.

such as seen in this pic a found on google. http://www.naplestech.com/images/quadgroup_xentera2.jpgthanks... atleast now i wont buy enough to have like 10 or somthing and be wondering why they wont work, lolhomer's facts are not quite correct. Win 98SE could support up to 8 monitors. Numerous sources say Win XP Pro can support up to 9 monitors. But, in fact, as many as 16 monitors have been run with Win XP and with 4 PCI Matrox Millennium G200 quad-monitor video cards.

Also, running 8 monitors can done other ways than with 2-4 port video cards. In other words, more than 2 video cards could be used to accomplish it. But, let's talk about a more realistic scenario, the 4 or 5 monitors you mentioned. 5 monitors could be supported with 3 video cards, with at least of them supporting two monitors. You would not need a quad-monitor video card; cards supporting two monitors would suffice.

I've had 3 CRT monitors connected to my computer, using 3 video cards, 1-AGP and 2-PCI. I currently have two CRT monitors, both attached to my AGP card, with a nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 GPU, and with VGA, TV-out, and DVI connectors. The primary monitor is connected to the VGA port; the seondary, to the DVI port via a DVI-to-VGA adapter, SINCE that monitor also requires a VGA CONNECTION.

I could install the two PCI cards again and support 4 monitors. Or, I could get a single PCI card that supports two monitors. So, you can see there are a variety of possible configurations. If you'd like to see a database of actual configurations, see it here.


i plan to have a 512 mb 256bit PCI X16 card as my primary, this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102548

and im gonna have two of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143058

and this tv TUNER so i dont have to use my picky tv's built in one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129051

strangly enough, my video cards, and tv tuner all turned out being blue, i just noticed that... it'll look sweet with my black mobo, too bad i dont have a side window, i could, but i dont want to sacrifice the huge side vent in my caseAnd what is your budget for this lunacy?lmao, lunacy, i have about 2000 to blow, alittle over, im considering not doing the server, my dad changed his mind about backing up his data, and i could use the extra cash...


edit: you mabey happy with your GX1 dell, or is it gx100? i cant remember the model of that particular dell... but i need s powerfull gaming machine, and when im not gameing i multi task... like crazy... oh i forgot to menntion, my computer i am building doesnt support onboard video, yet there is a compsite out on the board, with an optical out, weird huh?Quote

And what is your budget for this lunacy?

Quote

And what is your budget for this lunacy?

Now, now, GX1_Man. Every student should have 5 monitors and a tv tuner. They all multi-task like crazy, man. Don't you know that! LOL.

A couple of days ago, my speakers started messing up. Sometimes the sound isn't there, and when it is, it sounds all choppy. I thought my speakers blew, so today I went out to buy some new ones. Well, I PLUGGED them in, and its doing the same exact thing. Can someone point me in the direction to go? ThanksAre you using onboard sound or a sound card? Did you install or uninstall any software around the same time this started happening? Does this happen when listening to a CD or DVD in a CD/DVD drive? What about streaming audio from the Internet? Same problem or not?Quote

Are you using onboard sound or a sound card? Did you install or uninstall any software around the same time this started happening? Does this happen when listening to a CD or DVD in a CD/DVD drive? What about streaming audio from the Internet? Same problem or not?

Ummm...lets see...I have a Gateway CPU that I purchased in 2002.

Oher than that...I know nothing about it...

Heya,
I got a NEW power supply today and I plugged it in to see if it would power up. No, It;s not hooked up or in the case I just wanted to see if it worked. It does nothing. Is it bad or is it a safety feature?, and will work when I hook it to th mobo ?

TY in advance )KIND of hard to help when i know nothing abt the PSU.
I would have to guess that there is something wrong with it, so until someone with more experience in this field comes along why dont u call them up and ask whoever u bought it from.Kingwin abt-520cw. This is the first power supply I have bought. I figured it would just fire right up out of the box. There are no instructions. no nobs, swithches, its modgular I thought mabye it just had to be hooked to mobo in order to work, wich I cant do because my case is not here yet.yes, it does have to be plugged into the mobo for it to worklmao was just gonna post and say that ! Tested it on my other PC. A-OK It's my first build and all IM missin is the case. Better work after 1600 bones. See ya soon with more nOOb questions )I think the 3 of us got a little wiser today.

Dead_Reckon..... So is the temperature issue now resolved ?

Did the repair include NEW parts or refurbished parts ?


dl65 could the system simply be regonizing it incorrectly? if THATS the case, i would like to fix that, and i know for a fact that sandra registered it as a 256k CACHE chip b4 this happendQuote

Dead_Reckon..... So is the temperature issue now resolved ?

Did the repair include new parts or refurbished parts ?


dl65

guys any ADVISE for upgrading my laptop? ii dont have the motherboard manual here> need help?

ECS G320 model
C3 Nehemiah 1.20 ghz
256 ram
60 gG hard drive
i dont know the video card maybe 64 or 32?

the problem is iwanna make sure what hardware could be upgraded......

how about the video card can i upgrade it to 128 or 256

tnx......
The best upgrade I think you could do would be to get more RAM. 512MB is becoming the minimum amount these days.You could also replace the hard drive with a larger one if NECESSARY. But, forget the video card idea; can't do that with laptops. You can probably specifiy different amounts of RAM to be allocated to the video function by accessing the BIOS, but you can not install a video card. With old laptop I have, I believe 32MB is the max for video memory.That is a Via processor roughly equivalent to a PIII-500 so don't expect any more than that. That is about as maxed out as it will get, especially in a laptop, except POSSIBLY more RAM, depending on the current configuration.technollogy is outdatting its self too quicklyUpgrading a laptop isnt usually a good idea. Upgrading a PC is far less expensive and gets u far more perforamace.
There is pretty much no way to play new GAMES on a laptop unless u wish to spend over 2000$.Quote

Upgrading a laptop isnt usually a good idea. Upgrading a PC is far less expensive and gets u far more perforamace.
There is pretty much no way to play new games on a laptop unless u wish to spend over 2000$.

Im running a Celeron D 2.97 on an Intel D101GGC motherboard. I have an 80 Gb Diamond Max Plus 9, A CD-RW/DVD-ROM Lite -On, ! Gig of Ram running in single channel, A 400 watt PSU and an extremely cheap Micro Atx case.

Last Night I left it on to defrag and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, It was off and would not start up. The main thing bugging me is that THE MOTHERBOARD LIGHT IS ON, BUT IT STILL WONT START!!!
Its conected to a legit power STRIP so i don't think it was SURGED, but this is the first rig i built from complete scratch and this is driving me nuts. Does anyone have any Ideas?

Thx to any1 who responds.How long did it run correctly before this? THe motherboard light tells you precious little about the motherboard or the power supply unit. What make and model of PSU and the wattage? Was it new when you put it in? Do you have another known good PSU to test with?Thx for replying.

Its worked for a good 6 months, with no real intermittent hardware problems. As far as I can tell, the PSU make was tottally generic and came with the inexpensive case, which I recognize as potentially an old RESOLD PSU. However it was running at 450w, the reason I got it for my hungry PCI-E card! The only PSU'd I have avilable are from two old worksattions, and neither have a 9v connector or a four extension to the main power connector to the motherboard.

Ive heard that you should never do it under any circumstances, but I really want to take the PSU apart and experiment rather than wait for my next paycheck. What are your thoughts on that?

Again, this is driving me crazy. Thanks for the reply.A cheap, old PSU at whatever wattage is a bad idea for expensive components. Using one after you have monkeyed with and no experience of doing so it ABSOLUTELY a blueprint for a disaster.

You may need a few paychecks to undo what you are proposing.

Help!

My laptop, a Balance brand, has an internal wireless card. From time to time, when I turn it on, the orange wireless light does not light up and I cannot connect to the internet. When I manually open the wireless options, I GET a message that says something like "Wireless net card not detected, is it inserted?" I figured out, after time, that it seems to do this mainly when a USB device is plugged in, like a printer, external DVD drive, or other. It also does it from time to time with no apparent cause.

I took it to Fry's to have them look at it, and since the wireless card was working fine at the moment, they looked at me as though I was crazy and said it was not possible for the card to only work sometimes.

I figured it could be loose or something, but it's weird that the USB thing would have anything to do with it. I wanted to open it up and make sure it's securely in place, but I don't know where it is located and the manual does not show where it is located (sorry, I'm not very literate when it comes to computer hardware -- which is why I'm here). I don't want to randomly open stuff up if I don't know what I'm doing.

Any ideas as to what is causing this? I can't connect to the internet as long as I am using anything else, making printing anything impossible.

I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. THANKS! An internal wireless card is likely built directly on the motherboad. I suggest using an externally powered USB hub to connect your USB devices.i never would have considered that to be an issue of lack of electrical power in the lappy... but, off brands arnt predictable, or relyable

EDIT: the fact that the computer specialist didnt think of it either makes me question whether or not they should be repairing lappies...The draw on a USB port normally tops out at 500ma. If more current is required, something is not going to work. whoa, i didnt know it was that much... 5v at 500ma is more than enough to run a portable CD player... no wonder the light wasnt even workinAnd opening up a laptop is NOT a good idea if you don't know what you're doing. Ever. Quote

And opening up a laptop is NOT a good idea if you don't know what you're doing. Ever.

If I attach a USB adapter to my PS2 mouse, does the PS2 then become a USB device and can then be hot swapped? Or is it once a PS2, always a PS2?Try it and see. heh, thats how i learned most of what i know... trial and eroor, ive never used a ps2 to usb port, but, windows seems to regonize everything else thats plugged into one, which is quite annoying bc my mouse has to be re installed if i plug it into another port, and there is one port where it seems to have been DISABLED, although i cannot look, seeing as it will not regonize it... meh, i cant complain, the mouse was free, my school was THROWING it away, saying that it DIDNT work... somone probably just disabled the driver, lmao... but i get home, plug it in, windows regonizes it and i have a "dell" optical mouse, for free... got the keyboard from the school aswell, some kid switched around the keys, and i saw it sittin in a PILE of boxes, with two other OLD dell "quiet key" keyboards, the librarian says i can have them, so i walk out of the building with a readers digest box with three keyboards in it, and no one, not even the reasource officer says a thing to me...

I have two sets of headphones that need to work at the same time . One set is a USB port set of headphones and the other is regular headphones that plug into the audio jack in the front of my computer. How can I get them to both emit sound at the same time?
Who said that was POSSIBLE? Has it ever worked like you imagine? How about some DETAILS? Do they each work independently? What operating system? etc.?have you tryed pluggin them both in? i have never EVEN heard of a usb headset.. but i never really looked into it, but i dont like the idea of 5v at 500ma that could end up in my headphones if THERES a surge...

I recently purchased some 4.7GB recordable DVD's to do some major back up burning, however when I insert the DVD into my drive it wont recognize them. Usually an autoplay notice comes up informing me that there is a empty CD in the drive but in this case the drive fails to recognize anything. PLUS when I go to My Computer and DOUBLE click on the drive it tells me that there is either no medium in the drive or that windows cannot recognize the format.
What does this mean and what can I do about it?If that is truly a CD Drive as you state it will NEVER recognize a DVD disc. You would need a DVD Burner and appropriate software to do this PLANNED work.Yeh, how can a simple CD drive recognize the wonder that is a DVD?dvd's are truly a wonder... bow to its shinyness...:-? How can DVDs only have 120 minutes on them while CDs have 70 ??that, my friend, is somthing i will never understand myselfQuote

that, my friend, is somthing i will never understand myself

im guessing that an 8 gig dvd would have 240 minutes, not sure... havnt used one b4, my dvd burner is capable of burning them... i think... and for the record, a dvd burner reads and writes almost every form of cd and dvd, i dont think they can burn dvd ram though, not sure about dvd rom either

My cdr drive and dvdrw drive disappeared from My Computer. I cant use my drives. I checked the systems device and it shows a yellow exclamation point. It said that my drivers are missing or corrupted. I deleted them and rebooted XP. It is still the same. I even uplugged my drives from the computer and than rebooted. Than I plugged them back in, than rebooted. They still are gone from My Computer and they still show a yellow !. I think i need some new drivers but cant load the disk because they don't work. I cant find any from the internet. I have windows XP home, my computer is a emachine T3414. The DRIVER are lite-on COMBO SOHC-4836V and lite-on DVDRW SHW-160P6S. What WOULD cause them to disappear from MY Computer First off I deleted your two other identical posts. One is enough. Thanks.

What HAPPENED prior to all of this? Any kind of changes to hardware/software/settings are suspect.

Basic drivers for these devices are built in to Windows. What version, and what service pack? How long was this running fine before this?

What kind of malware protection is being used? Any unusal activity there?