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Hello,
My packard bell PC (2.6Ghz pentium4, 512MB RAM DDR, bought during 2004 from New Zealand) is not powering up since last night when I tried to upgrade the memory from 512MB to 1.5GB.
New 1GB memory could fit in the spare slot but as soon as I powered it up, I smelled something burning so I removed new memory leaving the OLD one as is.
After that I got the message that "primary/secondary slaves not FOUND", "S.M.A.R.T. disabled"
since then the machine doesn't start at all. When I push the power button, it checks for DVD drive and after that nothing happens (fan keep on running though).
Have I managed to burn the memory and slots as well!!! Is there anything I can do to fix this or the machine is now garbage!!!!!
Please help.
Thx.Motherboard is shot.... I'd look for new system given that Packard Bells are usually not a universal case and trying to install a new motherboard may lead to further problems..sorry!

First time I heard of SMOKING Ram with attempted upgrade since the good old days of pinned memory 20+ years ago in which the 4k or 16K memory chip could be inserted backwards 180 degrees out putting pin 1 in the opposite corner of the socket.

Was an expensive mistake then too ... first system I smoked was a TRS-80 Model 1 trying to mod it from an article in TRS 80 Magazine to make it faster... didnt work out so well for a 10 year old, radio shack parts, and a soldering iron... we all learn the hard way at one time or another. Boy I dont miss Cassette Loading with Tape Recorder... Maybe some others here have had the fun of punch cards before magnetic media (off subject so I will end that )..again sorry for your loss!

Im nearly done ****ing with external drives. they're not working right and corrupting my data. So I thinking bout goin with a large capacity internal to replace my 2nd HD (didnt want to, but I'll have too). I have a 5yr old dell (4600, 2.8ghz P4). Im thinking of getting a 500++gb SATA drive with a sata pci card (since the pc DOESNT have sata ports). I know the pci card will limit the transfer rate to 1.5 gb, but that should still be muuuch faster than what I have now (typ. ultra IDE drives).

my questions are
- what brand? (my seagate HD been working great so far, however the ext. WD is CAUSING too many problems)
- will I have any issues with a larger than 500gb drive?
- am I goin the right route with a sata drive and sata pci card or should I just stick to IDE? I want speed, but more so stability, longevity and future upgrades (like a new pc).
- any opinions is welcomed.

what i have planned to do with the drive is storage (photos, music, home movies, etc.) vid capturing and editing, and your typ other HD usage.As far as speed goes, IDE drives are almost matched with SATA drives, the speed is the theoretical maximum and no drives are pushing that yet.
If you're going to be using that drive again however, in a newer COMPUTER some day, SATA may be better. Most boards nowadays have at least one IDE in addition to the SATA ports, but that won't last forever, so if the PCI SATA card is inexpensive it may be worth investing in it.
As for the brand, you'll get people here putting in a good word for every brand I imagine. I have a WD drive in my main rig and one in another machine, a Maxtor in my family's, and a Fujitsu in another of mine. Also used some Seagate drives. I'm fairly neutral as far as the brand goes, but look at the capacity, features, price, and warranty, as well as some reviews, to see what matches your needs.
You shouldn't have issues with large HDD sizes either.
Hope this helps.I agree with everything Calum stated above...
As to the brand my last 3 drives have been Seagates as they have a 5 year warranty as opposed to the other brands which are usually 2 or 3 year...

So my laptop has an ATI mobilty radeon x700 graphics card which has DVI and S VIDEO output. I hooked up my computer to my tv using a dvi-vga converter and a vga cable. I cloned the display on to my tv and it has been working perfectly for the past few days. However, TODAY when I started my computer it no longer worked, my tv would say "no signal" or "invalid format". saying that though, when i started up a video game it showed up on the tv, but my desktop or any other programs will not show up. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.Some games play in a lower RESOLUTION environments like 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768.. is the desktop resolution set too high to where the TV is not syncing...TRY to lower the resolution to 1024 x 768 or another lower res setting and see if the desktop now comes back on the TV.So i brought the resolution down to 800 x 600 and its working now. Thanks Dave

Hi,
I have a number of PCs which I am investigating for upgrading or replacing. I need to know what RAM TYPES they use. I have run www.crucial.com against them all and found some of the information I need for some of the PCs. But Crucial does not always come up with the desired information.

Is there any software / Operating system way in which I can find out what RAM type these PCs use; I don't wish to undo the cases if I don't have to.

One PC uses xp the rest use Windows 2000 Professional.

Thanksi always found crucial tell you the right info...
what do you need to know?I really need to know : -

1) The Current Memory Type.

2) The motherboard's maximum memory capacity per slot and total.

3) The number of memory slots on the motherboard.

4) The current usage of those slots.

Crucial works on some PCs but not all. It even comes up with weird figures on some PCs. For instance, on one ancient PC it told me that the maximum memory capacity was 786432MB. On another PC it told me that the maximum memory capacity was 0.3125MB, when I know that it already has a figure of 448MB displayed on the System Properties menu.

Thanks DLoad and INSTALL Everest Home...
If the info provided on the older machines RAM is insufficient there will still be a link in the report to the MBoard manuf. website which should HELP find the data you need.
Good Luck.All these system scanners have their LIMITATIONS and will come up with weird results for certain PC's. Your best bet is to use the scanner to identify your motherboard and then look it up. The scanner should tell you the Front Side bus and any ram installed also and you will be able to use that to narrow it down. Check with some other companies scanners such as www.memorystock.com or www.diahmemory.comThanks,
Those extra sites allowed me to finish the Job

I RECENTLY purchased a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini external hard drive. I have not used it yet. When I plugged it in, it did not automatically run the launch sequence, and upon further inspection it was not showing up in My Computer.

I went to the SEAGATE/Maxtor site and worked through their troubleshooting section. In Disk Manager the drive shows up as UNALLOCATED (black line). I was INSTRUCTED by the site to reformat the drive and assign it a drive letter. I cannot do this because you must first initialize the drive, and the problem I am having is that I cannot initialize the drive because it gives me the error "This disk is write-protected."

I have spent all day searching the Seagate/Maxtor site and dozens of online help forums but can NOT find a solution that works (or anyone with the exact same problem). Can someone please help? I am prepared to send the product back, but Seagate is awesome and makes you pay for your postage and packaging and I would rather avoid unnecessary costs if at all possible.

I am using Windows Vista on an HP computer. I am also logged in as the administrator.

Thanks! Have you tried using the SeaTools software that SHIPS with the drive to prepare it for use ? ?
If you didn't get a CD it's available FREE on their site...I downloaded the SeaTools software...

SMART test and Advanced tests are unavailable for the drive.

Short Drive Self Test passed.

Short Generic test failed. Not sure why the advanced test was unavailable...
Did you create a bootable CD and run it from there or the easy way running the Windows version ? ?

I really don't think that is it because the other HD and DVD were Sata and they wouldn't boot from a CD. The Sata HD is the one with Vista on it. I would rather change back to Sata and work from there. I always put the HD in Sata O and the DVD in 1. I bought ATA DVD and ATA HD to replace bad ones on old computers that the family have. They were only put in to check if I could make it work with different drives. So I am going to put the Sata DVD back in and the Sata 160 GB HD back in.There was no mention up til now there were also SATA drives involved...
So i'm thoroughly confused again.
Go back to the original setup and give it a go.
SATA0 for HDD and SATA1 for DVD should be fine.I will make the change and let you know what happens. As I said before it didn't work before and that is why I used the IDE. Sorry I didn't EXPLAIN every thing. Thanks for all the help.Well I got it all hooked back up and it did the same thing. I did FIND a fix. If you hit the F10 key on boot it gives you a choice of booting from each drive. I did that and it worked. In fact I have SPENT the past 24 hours up dating vista and the virus PROTECTION. Every thing is working well. The problem seemed that on start up the DVD wasn't on long enough for the CD to load. By hitting the F10 key the prompt only allowed the DVD to boot. It was like the HD wasn't hooked up. Any way all is well now. Thank you very MUCH for your time and patience.I think I know why the HD came on so quick. I found in Bios Hard Disk Pre- Delay set to 0. I would say that is for a quick boot. I have no idea what it should be set at for it to boot to a CD.

But generally if check disk found issues usually there are problems with the drive itself. You can format it and check disk after and see if it is clean and error free, however I wouldnt use this drive ever again for critical irreplacable data as for its past corruption.

I have windows xp. My d drive is not working. It doesnt recognize any disc i put in it. is there a way to hook my D drive up or something. Plus I bought a mp3 player. I hook it up to my computer, but it doesnt recognize it. I hook it in someones elses and it recognizes the mp3 player. Hopefully someone can help me with this problemTry a CD cleaner on this D: drive... as far as not seeing the MP3 player, how old of a computer is this and specs. Are other computers newer that are working FINE with this mp3 player. USB speed might be an issue. Maybe your USB port is only 1.1 and you need 2.0!donjuanrem,1st off welcome to the Ch forums.Now i have two comments.one it does appear that you have 2 separate problems here. A non functioning USB connectible devise (the mp3 player) 2. A "D" drive of some type that is "not working". It is the best thing to do for CH assistance to post the 2 TOPICS separately in different posts. When requesting assistance it is ALWAYS to your benefit (not to MENTION the would be assistance providers) to supply as much information at the outset as possible that pertains to the problem.In that regard what is this "D" drive you are referring to?So LETS hear a bit more details and hopefully help will soon follow.truenorth

My computer is about 5 years old and what has what i am assuming is a usb 1.1 port. The port will not recognize my ipod and will not sync or download itunes. The ipod works on other computers, so i am afraid my usb is a 1.1 instead of the required usb 2. Could this be the problem?

Can you BUY an adapter to adapt from 1.1 to 2 or am i just totally out of luck?



If a desktop computer you can buy a PCI USB 2.0 adapter ( usually 2 or 4 ports ), if a laptop you can buy a PCMCIA to USB 2.0 adapter ( usually 1 or 2 ports ).
One WAY to tell whether you have any USB 2.0 ports: go to Device Manager and expand the section for Universal SERIAL Bus controllers. If your system has USB 2.0, you should see one or two items there with the words "Enhanced Host Controller". If none of them show that, then you only have USB 1.1.

If this is the case, don't worry, there's still a solution. Get a PCI USB card and install it in a PCI slot in your computer to add some USB 2.0 ports at the back of your computer. Here are usb 2 cards sold be newegg.com. I bought the Rosewill model RC-100 shown there for a computer that has an older motherboard. That card only adds two ports on back so you may want one of the ones that provides 4 ports on back, such as the SYBA PCI USB 2.0 4+1 shared port controller card Model SD-VIA-5U - Retail shown on the same page.

The Rosewill card, on the other HAND, has pins that can be used to connect the wiring of front ports to. By doing that, I converted two front ports from USB 1.1 to USB 2.0, by disconnecting wires from the motherboard and connecting them to the card.

If you go with a card that provides 4 ports on back, you might want to get one or two extension cables; just run them AROUND to the front (lay them on the floor or whatever). Here's a 6 ft. cable: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119004 Other lengths (3 ft, 10 ft., etc.) are available.

Hi
my psu SEEMS to be reaching very hot temperatures (43c when I'm playing computer games and 32c when I'm just surfing the web).
The PSU came with a monitor that tells you the temperature of certain PARTS (Hard drive, graphics card, PSU). Everything the monitor is cool, but the PSU is always hot.

So I'm wondering if there is a WAY of keeping a PSU cool.

Also it cools down if I open the window, but that freezes me too, so I don't really do itIf the CPU is the one in your sig those temps are within RANGE...
DLoad SPEEDFAN for a 2nd set of readings.speed fan says the same as Ptuner (the software that came with my power supply)

So those temperatures for my PSU are ok

Thanks

Set the BIOS alarm for 50c...if you have that option on that MBoard...
Although 50c is still OK i like to know ahead of time.thanks I'll do that

Keep hearing whispers that over the next year or so the HDD will be finished and we'll be going to solid state storage. It seems a logical progression and it'll be good to get aware from something mechanical.

But, I have not as yet found any definitive ARTICLES on this - in fact I'll be honest I have not really dug deep but - wondering what the surfers here may have found out, as to what we might be able to look forward to.Solid State Drives have been among us for some time but at a price. Currently a 120Gb drive is about $500, depending on which brand/market you go for.

They're available in 2.5 and 3.5 form factors, the only reported problem I have come across was one of partitioning on a Toshiba machine.

Some info here and a manufacturers blurb at this site..

Other issue with Solid State drives is that they shrink in storage capacity over time as memory cells die, and very unlikely to ever get data back from a crashed solid state.Quote from: DaveLembke on January 05, 2009, 01:02:53 AM

Other issue with Solid State drives is that they shrink in storage capacity over time as memory cells die, and very unlikely to ever get data back from a crashed solid state.

Issues with SSD devices that I'm aware of are currently high cost, sequential write speeds are slow, and writing to the same place over and over causes the drive to fail quickly (think paging file = death).
However, the random read speeds are phenomenal, they use less power than HDDs and are silent.
As flash memory becomes more popular I think we'll eventually see SSD devices replacing HDDs, but not for a few years yet.

I just installed a new 1TB external hard drive to be used to back up my FILES (currently have 35% of my 250 Gig main drive avail). Can this hard drive be used in other ways, also? Can I switch some seldom used programs on my C drive there, freeing up more space on my main drive, and will this allow my system to operate more efficiently?

If not, are there any other uses for this new drive?

All suggestions welcome - but my experience level is not very high...You could partition it into two or three parts for ultimate useablility.

1 300GB partition for a complete backup of your 250GB HDD
1 500GB partition for general storage
1 200GB partition for new programs/games

Quote from: toemass on January 05, 2009, 12:44:08 PM

Can I switch some seldom used programs on my C drive there, freeing up more space on my main drive, and will this allow my system to operate more efficiently?

If not, are there any other uses for this new drive?

My brother had a Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook. Windows XP home, SP1, prolly 2004-05.
One day we were listening to music on I-Tunes while driving home from Florida. The machine just shut down. Message said, "Beginning Dump of Physical Memory." I could not HANDLE or attempt to fix cuz I was driving. I tried to talk him through it. We tried to reboot in safe mode. Eventually got it working again. Worked for 1 hr and did the same thing. I could never get back up after that. I checked the BIOS and ran Diagnostics. Both sources said there was no Hard drive recognized. So, I went to ebay and bought a replacement HD with 120g. The first one only had 80g. When I received drive, I put it in the laptop. The BIOS still says there is no Hard Drive. The error message from the Diagnostics test was "Error Code: 0000-0141" Searching for this error says I need a new Hard Drive. But I already did that. It doesn't sound like the drive is spinning. Maybe there is not a good connection at the pins, or maybe the power supply is loose or faulty. When I get home from work today, I will take whole laptop apart and check plugs. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Additional Info: I have a Windows Server 2003 cd that I am TRYING to load onto new Hard Drive. This runs and then says unsuccessful because no Hard Drive detected.
Link to Toshiba Hard Drive purchased: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270309303954

I'm sure this has prolly been asked/answered before. I could not find it. I would be more than happy with links POSTED as responses to my issue.

Thanks in advance.
Your main board may be shot.. memory dumps are usually caused by memory issues like RAM, however at POST it should still detect the 2.5" IDE hard drive and spin up.

The last few times I have seen this issue come in through service they were caused by bad hard drive ( you already eliminated that ), weak power supply causing the system to become semifunctional and not spin up drive due to low voltage condition, and after an overheat of a laptop that someone fell asleep in bed with that burned up the main board when the COOLING vents were smothered in the blanket.Thanks for your quick response. I'm sorry but those aren't the answers I wanted to hear.

I wanted a quick and easy fix. I'm lazy.

So, what would be the solution to the other problems you mentioned? New power supply? or New Main board? Is a main board the same as a motherboard?

1--I've replaced power supplies in a Desktop before, are laptops similar?
2--Replacing a main board, Is that practical? Would it be better just to get a new machine?

Again thanks for your help.

I have recently bought a new computer (tower).
I Installed Windows XP with service pack 3, I Initially had problems with my wireless keyboard and mouse. Once I had changed the Bios and fixed problems with the USB ports I found they worked.
This lasted for 3 weeks, and then I booted up one morning & found they would not work.
My mouse and keyboard I have had for 3 years plus. (Worked well on previous computer with recently installed new version of XP as above)
My new mother board is a Gigabyte S-Series GA-MA69VM-S2
With a AMD Athlon X2 CPU
Microsoft Wireless OPTICAL Mouse 2.0A
Microsoft Wireless Comfort Keyboard 1.0A
I tried as system restore to a date when they worked X.
I looked in device manager, no problems, all working well X.
Re checked the Bios all ok, USB key board enabled X
Reinstalled drivers for Intelipoint Mouse and Key board X.
Checked my mouse, keyboard, and receiver are working well on my laptop. Yes the laptop detected them and installed drivers within 2 min, they all worked well.
I tried using different USB ports front and back.X
When I unplug and replug the USB receiver on my new computer I some times gets a speech box (from bottom right of screen) saying “A problem occurred installing new hardware. This device may not work correctly”
At 46 I see myself lucky to have a full head of hair, this may not last long as this problem is making me PULL it out. If anyone has some advice that would help, I would be eternally grateful.
Thanks Gary.
Sorry guys Am I posting in the wrong fourum?
Should I post else where?
GaryDo other USB devices work with your computer?

Have you checked the batteries?

There is usually a small button on the bottom of the mouse that you need to press to set it to communicate with the receiver. It will be very small and probably recessed . You have to depress it with the tip of a pencil or a straightened paperclip. Have you tried resetting that?Sorry JJ I did not state these facts.
They are the more obviouse ones.
I have been using the Key board and Mouse for over 3 years (with my old comp) and have always checked the BASICS out when I have problems.
This problem seems a bit deeper than your basic problems and is more confusing for me in that I had them working with my new computer for a couple of weeks.
Also as I said they work well when I attach them to my Laptop.
Thanks for your input GaryAre you sure the drivers were for XP ? ?
One thing you can try:
Travel to Device Manager.
Right click ALL instances of USB roots and hubs and select remove/uninstall.
You will recieve a warning...ignore it.
Upon re-boot they will automatically be re-installed.
See if they work now...

If not you may want to try re-installing the MBoard drivers from the Gigabyte driver CD.Thanks Patio I will try TONIGHT when I get home from work.
I will be sure to let you Know.
Thanks Gary

i have a laptop from HP... and my hard disk(60GB) is samsung.....wen i tried to self TEST my hard disk, i got a read failure...

how to attempt for it's solution.....the technician told me that my HDD had probably got bad sectors....

any reply....PLZZ do help...Bad Sector is an indication your hard disk is in its last leg. My advice, backup IMPORTANT data before it suddenly crashes beyond remedy. You can format from DOS with the "fdisk" command, then you type Format C:/sthanx...buddy thanx a lot......All drives get/have bad sectors...this does not neccessarily mean the drive is failing...
I would DLoad and run the FREE diagnostics from the drive manuf. site.Quote from: patio on January 04, 2009, 12:12:31 PM

All drives get/have bad sectors...this does not neccessarily mean the drive is failing...
I would DLoad and run the FREE diagnostics from the drive manuf. site.

Have you tried running CKDSK? (checkdisk)

Right you are egghead! Sorry about the typo.

"4fingerlid,trizle, and countless others... is this a yearly thing?"

What's that supposed to mean?

At any one time, I have 3 PCs, all running WinXP. PCs 1 & 2 are always in the same location and PC3 is normally elsewhere. I move data to/from PC3 via a "mobile" drive (a normal IDE HDD) with a rack in each of those PCs.

I have recently had to replace PC3. I have sometimes replaced PC2 and PC3 over the years but have never hit the following problem before!

On PC3: BIOS recognises the mobile drive. Windows Explorer does not show it. In Disk Management, I see Disk 1. It does not have a drive letter allocated and is shown as "unallocated".

I have created a new partition and allocated drive letter D. The drive then appears in the Explorer and I can successfully copy data to it.

I then shut down PC3, transfer the mobile drive to PC2 and start that one up. The drive appears in the Explorer and I can see the data on it. I can open any of the files. I can delete all the files and copy new ones onto the mobile. So far so good!

Then I shut down PC2, put the mobile back into PC3 and start it up again. Now I'm back to square one with the drive showing in Disk Management as "unallocated".

All that means that I can now transfer data in only one direction.

I don't believe there's anything WRONG with the drive itself as I have two drives in mobile cases and the above HAPPENS with both of them. As this has never happened when I have previously had to renew PC2 or PC3, I'm lost!

I looked on CH before posting this. I found the suggestion to initialise the drive via right-clicking in Disk Management but when I right-click, I don't see the initialise option (only New Partition, PROPERTIES and Help). Maybe that means that the drive is already initialised.

By the way: The mobile drive is configured as a slave and that's the same in both PCs, of course.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions!

PeteIs your mobile drive larger than 137GB? If so is your IDE controller on PC3 the system having issues a 48 bit IDE HD controller which supports drives larger than 137GB or is it a 28-bit which caps at 137GB?

Your Bios will be happy with a 250GB drive on an 28-bit controller, but it will say unallocated because it can not address the 48-bit partition structure, and so it will address it as 137GB and that is why its not reading the PARTITON as being there, and should show max size of 137 GB

If this system is an older system it is likely a 28-bit controller and this is the problem. Way to fix this is to install a new 48-bit IDE HD controller in that system to be able to address a 48-bit IDE drive.

Quote from: DaveLembke on January 05, 2009, 08:32:08 AM

Is your mobile drive larger than 137GB? If so is your IDE controller on PC3 the system having issues a 48 bit IDE HD controller which supports drives larger than 137GB or is it a 28-bit which caps at 137GB?

Your Bios will be happy with a 250GB drive on an 28-bit controller, but it will say unallocated because it can not address the 48-bit partition structure, and so it will address it as 137GB and that is why its not reading the partiton as being there, and should show max size of 137 GB

If this system is an older system it is likely a 28-bit controller and this is the problem. Way to fix this is to install a new 48-bit IDE HD controller in that system to be able to address a 48-bit IDE drive.

A Reach...but try it on machine C

OK here we go....... i have a dell studio 1735, windows vista ultimate 32bit edition, it has a biometric fingerprint reader and the moment i got the laptop, it doesn't work, i have installed the latest updates from the dell website using my SERVICE tag number: FXKWV3J I've checked internally to see if the driver is connected into the motherboard, and yes it was connected, so no problem there, I've checked device manager, EVEN through driver AGENT to see if there were any unknown drivers, none at all, plus the driver is clearly installed "Authentec" and shows it is working correctly, one other thing is that i need to know is if there is like something in services that is stopping the biometric fingerprint reader from working.

Please if you can provide me with all the right drivers and software needed to actually make the biometric fingerprint reader work!
Thanks!

Sharpe89I'm not so familiar with fingerprint readers, but how did you determine it's not working?well once i first got the laptop, it wz refurbished (bad idea). no drivers were installed so i went to the dell website, typed in my service tag number and installed all updates in their correct order according to dell. at this time time i didnt determine any devices wouldn't work so i installed all that was needed. However after installing the latest driver for the fingerprint reader, and restarting the computer, i saw in device manager that it was installed correctly and working properly, so no problems there. Then i installed the digitalpersona Personal software that it is used by default for the fingerprint reader. Once installed i restarted the computer, and then an extra user icon appeared on the logon screen for the fingerprint reader. The message said "Fingerprint reader not detected". Again i checked if it was installed in device manager, no problesm there. Onced i saw that message thats were all this searching for a solution started. I've been on forums for ages looking for a solution. I really couldnt be bothered goin to the bother of paying to get it fixed cz i want to see if i can do it myself, or well ya with the help of someone. lol.

sharpe89!Seems Vista has issues with these devices....

http://www.google.com/search?q=vista+fingerprint+reader+issues&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-ahey patio i tried out that link. The second site in google offered me to install the MS fingerprint reader software. Installed it and then restarted computer. Once the computer restarted the installation came up again saying that to finish the installation, connect the fingerprint reader. Nothing happened and then a window came up saying "Please connect the fingerprint reader in order to complete the installation". This is such a weird problem. I've never came across this problem with any other device.

Anyone any ideas?Any leads at the Dell site ? ?
Dell's like their own drivers.wat ya MEAN by leads???Ideas...information...drivers...similia r issues with others on the Dell Forums ? ?nah seems that everyone has had there's working before and then an issue has arose. most people on the forums solve the problems by updating their driver. i jus seem to have a fingerprint reader that wont work no matter wat driver or software is installed. I'm hoping to get someone to help me through windows remote assistances. its definitely not an internal problem as i have checked the connector for the fingerprint reader under th palmrest. i'm thinkin it could be like a hidden service or sumfin in the registry that is makin vista not accept that the driver is available, i dont know! could it be a bug? or wat bout the version of vista i have. see i've reinstalled my os to get a clean start of installing everything and that didnt help! very confusing and frustrating.Call an authorised Dell service center in your area and ask if it can be disabled completely...

They sure sound like COOL devices but i wouldn't have one at all.patio i've tried ringin dell 3 TIMES and i've been put on hold for nearly 30mins. I'm not goina ring them again i tell ya. Wasters they are!Not Dell corporate...look for Authorised LOCAL service centers in your area.

Hello,
my name is conor and i have a question about partitions. I already have four partitions on my hd, 2 primary partitions, and 2 EISA partitions. These partitions are 10gb and 3gb. I need to create a new partition to install the windows 7 beta but i can only have 4 partitions at a TIME and disk management wont even let me touch the two EISA partitions. My LAPTOP doesn't support dynamic disks so THATS out. partition magic was no use. i need to find out how to remove these EISA partitions. can anyone help me? thanking you in advance, conor.it may be best to just get another disk(external) for your W7...your EISA partitions
are usually system recovery partitions...do you really want to trash them??

Good LuckI was thinkin that myself. Ok. Thanks for your help!EISA partition? does ANYBODY else detect the duplicate definition of the term "EISA" here? Quote from: BC_Programmer on January 16, 2009, 10:59:57 PM

EISA partition? does anybody else detect the duplicate definition of the term "EISA" here?

I recently got mis-lead in an internet purchase, which has given me the opportunity to choose between 2 different cards as a refund.
Now what IM not sure is, which one of these cards is better.
One has more memory??? i'm not sure so can someone please just check them out for me.

Card 1:http://expresspcparts.com.au/Items/vid-235-alt-gv-nx96t512h?&caSKU=vid-235-alt-gv-nx96t512h&caTitle=Gigabyte%20GF%209600GT%20PCI-E%20512MB%20256-bit%20DDR3%209600%20GT

Card 2: http://expresspcparts.com.au/Items/Item.aspx?SKU=vid-319-bro-bv/pa/ne2960softd02&caSKU=vid-319-bro-bv/pa/ne2960softd02&caTitle=Palit%20GF%209600GSO%20PCI-E%20%20SMART%201GB%20DDR2%209600%20new

Help?If I didn't know any better I would say that you are being over charged at that website but another American member will have to answer that.

I'm not too sure about that DDR2 on the 1Gb model though. I can't find better specifications on the exact models but looking at very similar (different BRAND, same card) they look about the same excluding memory CAPACITY. On a side note though the 1Gb card I was comparing had the DDR3 memory so my conclusion probably isn't that accurate.

Estimating that your budget is from $120 to $160 and you're going for Nvidia. You are looking at the Geforce 9600-9800 series. Shop around for them, try to find sites with good DETAILED specifications listings. www.Newegg.com for EXAMPLE, and thats were my help comes to an end cos I can't look around American shops unless I know the name.

I have a Satellite L35 that stops at the first screen on boot. The bottom left of the screen says "Press F2 for Setup, Press F12 for Multiboot". If I press either one of these the message on the bottom left of the screen says that it is going to Setup/Multiboot, but never does. I did the NORMAL checks: check RAM, HARD drive, CONNECTIONS, try with battery, with AC POWER .... nothing worked. I CALLED Toshiba Tech Support and they said to put in the recovery CD and tap "C" as the computer booted and the system recovery would begin ... no such luck. Does anyone know of any other key combinations to get around this issue?

i encountered problems in my desktop. i want to change my bios setup but my keyboard DOESNT work during bootup the but after bootup and enter windows... the keyboard was ALREADY working. what the problem with it? please help me. thnx

specs:

ECS Motherboard
windows XP SP3
Celeron D processor
1.4GB RAM
80GB HDD


thanks in advanceuh oh spaghettioIf it's a USB keyboard this is common as it's waiting for the drivers to load...
Borrow or buy a PS2 keyboard.
Everyone should have one...im using ps2 keyboard. patio
MINUS 100 points!
The title says:
ps/2 keyboard doesn't work in boot up
...in bold letters

jhay_e03
Did you try another keyboard?Quote from: ihazcheezburger on January 13, 2009, 05:21:02 AM

uh oh spaghettio

patio
MINUS 100 points!
The title says:
ps/2 keyboard doesn't work in boot up
...in bold letters

jhay_e03
Did you try another keyboard?

i got the solution regarding this. i remove the CMOS battery and return it after a few seconds then the bios was appered. thanks for all your help guys. it really appreciated.

Dear All,

I currently have 2 pcs, 1 MONITOR and KEYBOARD..... is there any way i can buy something that links them all together ? is there something on the market that does this? if so where can i get them from and how much are they?

Thanks in advance for your help

GraemeThis is gonna be super unhelpful but yes there is... but i've forgoten what they are called KVM switch.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=143&name=KVM-Switches
you dont even need a kvm switch there is a Program Just come out
its called Synergy

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/Greggaz, Doesn't this say a need STILL exists with this program for each computer to still have it's own dedicated monitor?
"Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s). "
lloydgraeme,KVM switches will do this for you.They are available to connect 2 or more computers to a common mouse,keyboard and monitor.They are also available for PS2 and USB mice and keyboards. I have been using them for years and find them to be extremely RELIABLE--never had a problem. A 2 computer KVM switch should be able to be easily FOUND for under $25.00 U.S. Do a google search to aquaint yourself with the various types available.truenorth

First post so please go easy on me. I have one of the above and on first use showed no problems on my windows XP LAPTOP. Then i CAME to use it and got a block from Mcafee virus detected and prevented the WD from operating. I got onto WD help desk who informed me this was a problem they had notified Mcafee about and they were doing a fix. I should leave it a few days and then update my Mcafee. This i have done numerous times, still the same problem. The only way I can run the WD is by disabling Mcafee and installing the wdsync file again. The virus it shows is WDSYNC_ 7.0.328.exe.
Another issue is that when I DISCONNECT the WD from my Laptop I loose my wireless CONNECTION and have to re boot the computer and have windows connect the wireless connection. Probably have not made my self clear but any help appreciated. Get rid of McAfee. It's pretty worthless, anyway.Yes thought of doing that is it much of a problem as is with some virus progs.If you want to do it, use this: http://majorgeeks.com/McAfee_Consumer_Product_Removal_Tool_d5420.html

Free alternatives:

- Avast! free antivirus: http://filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
- Avira free antivirus: http://www.free-av.com/en/download/index.html

- free PC Tools Firewall Plus: http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

- free Comodo Internet Security (firewall + AV): http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

If you decide to install Avast, or Avira, make sure, Windows firewall is turned on, or use PC Tools Firewall Plus.
If you decide to install Comodo, make sure, Windows firewall is turned off.

IMPORTANT! Make sure, you use only ONE antivirus, and ONE firewall.
Worth repeating:
Quote

IMPORTANT! Make sure, you use
only ONE antivirus, and ONE firewall.

If you want to do it, use this: http://majorgeeks.com/McAfee_Consumer_Product_Removal_Tool_d5420.html

majorgeeks i VISITED free download which i did the programe then carried out a partial delete then before it allows me to go further states i need to register the product and pay for this. Surely I am doing something wrong but it asks for the paid for serial N0 before i can complete the removal,what am I doing wrong.

I need to capture screen image. What software(s) do I
need to do this? Can you give me general information
about doing this?

Thanks, Pennie77u mean record or just take photos?Just use printscreen in your keyboard and paste it in paintthats what in was thinking but i THINK penie means record. loluse camstudio >> http://camstudio.org/Jing is a very nice Screen Capture program.
http://www.jingproject.com/

I have it. You can record streaming online videos or just take screenshots of a selected area.Quote from: johndal on January 20, 2009, 09:57:30 AM

thats what in was thinking but i think penie means record. lol

I need to capture screen image.

Hi


OK so i have this PC that will only SHOW an image on the Screen If i put the CMOS jumper Into Reset But if i put it on normal it wont show a image. IVE been told to change SETTING in CMOS Reset but the keyboard wont work

Also I Have A PCI Graphics Card And Even With That Plugged in It STILL Wont Work

Hoping Some One Could Help Me I'm LOST

Thanks
So when you plug your video card in and plug your monitor into the card, you don't get any image on the screen?
What happens when you take the video card out and plug the monitor into the onboard GPU?check your bios an make sure that you didnt get it disabled. Also, inserting any video cards will cause the pnp so it probably be turned off then.Hi JJ

When I Plug it into the Onbord Same Thing No image


Hi squall

I Whould On In To Bios If I Could See The Screen

Thanks

TRY takeing out the cmos battery that should default everything. Dam No Help
took it out for over ten minsIs there a viedo card that you can try an see if it works. Mite be that your on board has failed.replace the battery; if that doesn't help, it could be the PSU.

About 3-4 days ago the computer was working fine, then all of a sudden the computer would boot up (WINDOWS XP) and after 4-5 minutes the screen would get all garbled...and it would appear that the computer was locked up. I was able to get the computer to reboot about 5-6 times with the same problem but now it won't boot up at all...nothing showing on the screen at all and instead of the "green" hard drive" light I get an "orange" one too. I just bought a NEW IMAC at several friends prompting but would like to retrieve as many picture and document files from the old DELL as possible. Any advice. The only real upgrades were a replaced Power Supply about 3 years ago...other than that the computer has been great.

Try reading Dells Advanced TROUBLESHOOTING. See below link.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/adtshoot.htm#1105380Get hard drive enclosure, or slave the drive.

I have a SANSA fuza. I cant get my computer to RECOGNIZE it THOUGH. I emailed sansa, but for some reason they dont respond to you. Does ANYONE know what program to download to get it to work on my computer. Thank you for your timeWhat the heck is a sanza fuza ? ?
If you mean a USB music player contact SanDisk for info...

Hey pc person need help with graphics card i just bought radeon HD 3870 i installed it all and i think i installed it properly though when i turned the computer on the computer ran fine though the screen power button flashed on and off, the screen remained black. I am currently using Windows XP home edition INTEL core 2 duo CPU e6750 @ 2.66gnz 2.67GHz 1.99 GB of ram. ALL HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRICATE!!! Thanks and i HOPE you can help I am WRITING this on my bros laptop so my comp is still not working all help is much appricatedDid you remember to hook up the 4 pin power plug to the card if it has one ? ?Quote

URGENT!!

I have a Dell INSPIRON 1720 RUNS on Windows vista. I recently had an unrecoverable error. Dell sent me a new drive. I've seen in the other blogs where you can hook the bad drive up to a SLAVE on another computer to retrieve the DATA. What I wanted to know, is it okay to install the bad drive as the slave drive in my LAPTOP along with the new drive in order to retrieve the data?Yes

To be safe i would run all tour malware scans before retrieving/using any data from it.

Just YESTERDAY in our office epson fx-1170 printer can't PRINT what we have to expect to print.....

and the READY green light keeps on blinking so it means need more paper to print but I print only 1 page not many pages... But the printer reads it many pages....

Any one can help?? PLZ

I have emachines t5048. RUNNING windows xp 32 bit. Mother board emachines D102GGC2. Right now 512 ram. I RAN a crucial memory test my computer can use PC2 5300 2048 max non ecc ddr2. I was able to purchase corsair xms2 ddr2 pc2 6400 800mhz 2x1024 for $5 after rebate. I put it in and nothing. I took your advice patio thank you. I reset my bios and was able to get the computer to run on one 1GB memory stick. When I put in both and turn on my cpu My fan kicks on to very high rpms and my monitor detects and immediately GOES into powersave mode. I only have 2 slots. The funny thing is that in BIOS it says only 1 slot is being used. I have tested both slots and they both work. I have also tested both memory sticks and they both work. I even put in the old 512 in the first slot and the new 1GB in the second slot to see if I could get 1.5G but bios tells me slot 1 is inactive. It also seems that my BIOS does not allow me to change values in regards to memory. Originally when I installed 1GB stick BIOS said I only had 896mb memory. This morning I went into Bios and it said I had 1024. I would really like to get that second stick working Any suggestions? Thanks for the helpThis guy must be a masochist as he has assembled a ton of info on eMachines ; their MBoards and once in awhile actual Owner's MANUALS...something i would not do even if i was retired and they were paying me a half Mil a year...
Hopefully This Will Yeild Results...Use your memory & get a real PC

Hi there,

My XP desktop is about 5 years old and have not had much of a problem until today. I was trying to play a dvd in one of my drives and it was not recognizing any dvd's at all. I tried to see if it was dusty or if anything came unplugged. When I rebooted the cpu it came up with an error similar to "PLEASE choose boot device or enter bootable disc in drive" I WENT into the bios and SAW that my only choices for booting was my floopy and cd-rom. The hard disc drive has disapeared from the bios.
I have tried to unplug the power source and the (lack of the right term) ribbon cable from the drive and plugged it back in. Same problem. It sounds like the hd drive starts up but still is not recognized. Is there a WAY to test if the hdd has crashed or another way to try to get the bios to recognize it?

cheersDid you make SURE the HDD's cable was plugged into your mainboard?

Hello.

My laptop is 2-3 years old now and I can no longer use it for what I WANT to use so I want to get a gaming laptop.

I've looked around for gaming laptops, and they are either too expensive or I can find nowhere that sells them to the UK.

My budget is around £500 and all I want to do is be able to run games at a good frame rate with no lag, but also a laptop which would suffice for other things I use for a laptop (web browsing, IM, music/videos).

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, I haven't visited here in a while, and please tell me if this is in the wrong forum.For £500, you won't get a laptop that can run any demanding games.
What kind of games do you want to PLAY?
Does it absolutely have to be a laptop?
What's your current laptop?

Welcome to the forums, by the way, and I'm going to move this to the hardware forum.My current laptop is a PRESARIO C300, and I would prefer it to be a laptop because soon I will be going to COLLEGE where I will need to be using a laptop.

One of the main reasons for getting a new laptop is being able to play RuneScape HD which doesn't work with my current built in graphics card, and also games like GTA 4, Call of Duty and other fps.

To run RuneScape HD, you need a graphics card of the same standard as a Nvidia GeForce 3 atleast.

It's not going to be for extreme gaming if that's the impression I'm giving.GTA4 won't be playable on any laptop for £500, and I don't think any Call of Duty game, other than the original, would be playable either.
Almost any laptop you can buy will be able to handle Runescape HD though, as long as it's not based on an older chipset like your C300.Ok, thanks.

Well as you're here.. any reccomendations for a good laptop which I could play RuneScape HD on well (as in, with a graphics card with better specs than the minimum) and also have MSN, mIRC and iTunes running with no/very little lag at all.

Still for under £500 Is there any specific reason for it having to be a laptop? Building a desktop for the same price would give you much better performace.

Runescape can be run on almost anything, the nvidia three series was introduced around March of 2001 (I think) so almost any inbuilt chip should be able to run it.

GTA4 for the pc won't be playable on any laptop with a decent framerate, at least not one that's out yet. (The new asus model may be able to when it's released but that's hardly relevent)

Call of Duty, although not very demanding, won't play well on laptops. The graphics chips in laptops carry similar names as their full sized counterparts but are not as powerful. I wouldn't expect to be playing this with acceptable framerates, especially not in that price range.

I'm not trying to steer you away from using a laptop for gaming, but they are often more expensive and less powerful than a desktop.

If you search newegg.com or an equivalent im sure any laptop in your price range with be sufficient to run Runescape, assuming these laptops aren't more than a couple years old.I need the laptop because I need to take it places..

Thanks though, I don't think i'll be using a laptop for gaming then. Gaming and laptop aren't usually 2 words i would use in the same sentence.
Although there are some that are better than others for true gaming performance a desktop machine is the way to go.I was considering the Dell XPS 1710 as I am also interested in a Gaming Laptop you can pick one of these up although second hand for around £500. What is the view of these.

Hi all,

I come again there.I want to append another memory .My pc have Kingston 256 MB DDR RAM (KVR400X64C3A/256).I want to upgrade 512 MB.My CPU is intel celeron 2.20 GHz.
But I don't know what means (KVR400X64C3A/256) and which memory stick should I install .How many kinds of memory?Pls guide me some instructions.

Thanks and Regards!

Greensounds like you have an older MoBo. Do you have another EXPANSION slot?? You could probably find another 256 in the dumpster and test it out but if your looking to PUT 1Gb in than you could get the Samsung or the hynix cheaper than the Kingston 512'sTravel to Crucial.com and enter the machine info and/or run the ONLINE scanner and it will tell you exactly what type and how much RAM can be ADDED...
You can then shop around your area for the best deal.

Hi all

I would be greatfull for any help or advice.

This laptop is running windows XP Home Edition

I press the power button the fans start as expected. Power light lit. BIOS screen comes up most of the time! I can access BIOS. SOMETIMES the Loading windows screen comes up and it tries to load windows. Then there is a small clunk? and the windows load stops and screen goes blank or freezes. Mostly freezes.

I am unable to load LKGC. Safe mode starts loads a few basic drivers then, clunk and the screen goes blank. Safe mode with networking and cmd prompt unavailable

I am unable to use the recovery program on the laptop. I did press F11 to invoke Recovery but now screen tells me that NTDetect is checking hardware......... Clunk and screen goes blank!

Any ideas?
Many Thanks

Technowarrior (The handle is because I have to fight my way through all this technology!) Not sure about your description of "clunk"...is this a sound or just a description of the issue ? ?Hi patio

Thanks for your interest.

The clunk is a sound that the laptop makes when it either goes blank or freezes.

TechnowarriorPull the removable CD-Rom drive out...that's probably the CULPRIT and it has bitten the dust...
Unfortunately they are expensive to replace.Hi

I removed the CD ROM. Same problem. However, I moved on a bit and removed the case. Reseated the HDD and switched on. The recovery screen and mouse pointer appeared. I elected not to do a recovery at that point just in case reseating the HDD did the trick. Unfortunately during the windows loading the clunk occurred again and the screen froze.

I have established that the clunk is the HDD.

THINKING about the whole issue. I seem to get more response when the system is cold. My thoughts turn to the processor. Could it be overheating? What do you think Patio?

Thanks

TechnowarriorThat HDD is going South...
best option at this point would be to recover whatever you need off of it...




One of these will allow you to hook up that laptop drive to a desktop machine to do this...
About 8 Bucks at any PC store.

Then replace the HDD...

BTW they are called 2.5" HDD to IDE connectors.Thanks Patio

I will give that a try

TechnowarriorBest of Luck and keep us posted...Update

Hello all.

Sorry for the delay in my update. It appears that the prcessor was frie. Obtained a second hand replacement and all was well.

Thanks for your help

Cheers

TechnowarriorGood News and thanx for the update...

I have an OLD AMS Sound Pro laptop and I'm trying to open case to LOCATE and CHANGE cmos/rtc battery. Any help would be appreciated.What is the laptop's model NUMBER?

FYI see here:
http://images.google.com.hk/images?hl=en&q=cmos+battery+in+laptop&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=cmos+battery+in+laptoThe only thing I see on the back is AMS S/N:ECP 1 2674. I finally figured it out but thanks.

I just got an INTERNAL DVD ROM Drive and it is a SATA Conection not an IDE Conection.
Now the Specs say
DVD+R WRITE SPEED 20 X
DVD+RW RE WRITE SPEED 8 X
DVD READ SPEED 16 X

And it has a 2. MB Buffer

But what I want to know is this?
My Internal SATA Ports on the Motherboard are SATA 2. so realy they run at 300 MBps
Now my Internal IDE Port on the Motherboard runs at 133 MBps

Now SATA is faster then IDE but when you put a DVD in the Drive having a SATA Speed will not make my DVD Play Batter then if I had it Connected to the IDE YES or NO??



No.So because my DVD Rive is SATA Connected with this help in the speed of the Burning or Reading of DVDs and CDs?

Or should I have spent less and got an IDE if it will not make any kind of a diferance??? The greatest difference for data access between SATA and IDE is with Hard Drives and not DVD Roms...DVD drives communicate slower than Hard Drives due to their design of a single eye in the DVD Rom to READ the Disk ( single platter ), while a Hard Drive has many heads and platters to acquire data exponentially faster. You wont notice any difference with both IDE and SATA for DVD drives unless you are saturating the channels in which you are multitasking to the max. The MAXIMUM bandwidth of 300mbps would only be fully utilized by a hard drive and not a DVD drive.

Many other factors can degrade DVD PERFORMANCE other than whether its IDE or SATA. I'd look elsewhere like RAM, Video Card, CPU, ETC if you have lag issues and you know that the DVD Drive is healthy.Quote

HUH Huh Huh Huh

So I just got and built my new PC today and noticed a problem RIGHT off the bat. When I do a cold boot, the machine turns on for a split second, off for a couple, flicker again, wait, and then finally turn on. When I restart it only does it once. To be fair, sometimes it doesn't do this and boots up normally. This is what I got:

Intel i7 920 2.6 GHz
Nvidia GTX 260 Maxcore
Mushkin HP triple channel 3GB
Western Digital 1TB HDD
Samsung DVD burner
ECS X58B-A Mobo
OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24pin
XION2 case

Any idea on what COULD be the cause of this? I'm thinking PSU, but I'm REALLY hoping not. Any help would be much appreciated.Did you remember to use all MBoard standoffs in assembling this ? ?
Was Thermal paste applied corrsctly ? ?
How old is the OCZ ? ?

To be perfectly honest the ECS would be my first suspect...I'm pretty sure I plugged in all possible connectors when setting it up. The obvious 24-pin ATX yes, there was a ATX8-pin connector which the PSU had 2 4-pin connectors for, and there was a 4-pin peripheral connection on the board as well. There is a couple of spots left on the mobo for 3-4 pin fan connectors, but that's about it. The OCZ is brand new, just came in last week. Also, I just used the stock paste that came at the bottom of the fan for the Intel. Other than that, I don't know what else to tell you, if you want any more information, just let me know.

Thanks again Quote

Did you remember to use all MBoard standoffs in assembling this ? ?

Hi, i use a home made pc and running win XP pro with sp2. I recently upgraded my hard drive with a 200gb one as the previous one i had was to small. After INSTALLATION the BIOS see the drive as 200gb but windows sees it as only 127gb. The drive has only one partition and was formatted using the ntfs. Is there any way i could get windows to see the drive at its correct size so i could utilize the unused space?Visit the hard drive manufacturer's website. Most, if not all, of them have info on their sites about hard drive size limitation issues and how to overcome that.Hello, try to right click on My Computer click manage, then to disk MANAGER, you should see your drive and part of it named "unallocated" You will now be able to have 2 separate drives that equal the amount of your HDD. You can combine the two with a partition manager as well, but what I just said is the easiest thing to do. Hope this helps!

JimAre you certain you have SP2 installed ? ?

Hello 2 All,

I WANT to know abt what is the difference between Intel Processor and AMD PROCESSORS

RgdsWelcome to the CH forums.

Please go here, take your pick and read a lot. There are many DIFFERENCES, which manufacturer is the better ONE? You decide.Quote from: heavyladen on January 23, 2009, 11:20:01 PM

Hello 2 All,

I want to know abt what is the difference between Intel Processor and AMD Processors

Rgds

Quote from: heavyladen on January 23, 2009, 11:20:01 PM

Hello 2 All,

I want to know abt what is the difference between Intel Processor and AMD Processors

Rgds

Intel processors are made by Intel, and AMD processors are made by AMD.

I'm thinking about upgrading my Athlon 1900+ cpu. My mobo is a Gigabyte GA-7ZXE. When I scanned the system it stated that the mobo was version 1.x. When I eyeballed the unit for model number, v2.1 was printed on the unit. I would believe that what is written on the part is the correct version, but sometimes..
If version 1.x, I could only UPGRADE to a 2100 xp. If v2.1, I could go to a 2600 xp (266 fsb), that's 1.6 to 2.1 in speed.
Is that increase worth it, do you think? If so, can I reuse the EXISTING heatsink and fan? you are ok sirDoes that mean I can get the xp 2600 and reuse the existing heatsink and fan? Thanx for the reply. You'll be fine upgrading the CPU, the number on the board will be correct. the version number you saw using whatever software you used may be related to something else.
I'm assuming you're talking about Athlon XP processors. Checking the rated heat outputs, depending on the models there can be quite a difference. What heatsink/fan combo do you have now, the stock one? I'd recommend changing it anyway, to be on the safe side, unless you're using an aftermarket cooler that can definitely handle the new processor's heat.Yes, I'm talking Athlon cpus. I was probably going to get the new hsf anyway to be cautious. The existing is probably stock. Thanks for the quik reply. I can get an order in right away. You're welcome, HOPE all GOES well.

Belated welcome to the forums, too.If I REMEMBER correctly, the Athlon 2500 barton core was a very good cpu for overclocking. If you are at all interested in overclocking, you may want to go with the 2500 instead of the 2600.

First off, the computer involved:
Intel STL2 server motherboard
2 x Intel PIII 1GHz CPUs, matched pair
4x512MB Compaq PC133 ECC SDRAM
Hiper 425W PSU (model HPU-4S425)

First issue is, that any drive ATTACHED to the IDE channel, except for the main drive which is a Seagate U6 20GB, fails Seatools diagnostics. I tried a separate controller originally (an ST Labs RAID controller) and the drives failed tests, on the main IDE channel they fail too. The drives are all used so they could just be faulty, but I'm not sure.

Secondly, this machine ran fine for a good while, occasional (INTENTIONAL) reboots but I'm pretty sure it ran uninterrupted for at least a few days, maybe a week. Then one day, it just hung - no display, not responsive to anything. Had to flick the power switch, after which it booted just fine.

I ran Memtest today to see if some bad RAM was at fault. It ran for just over 6 and a half hours, then hung, not going any further. RAM and CPU heatsinks were cool to the touch, so I decided it wasn't just taking a LONG time. Memtest passed once, and was a third of the way through a second TEST at this point.

My current dilemma is, what's causing these problems? It's not overheating.
I'm going to test all the drives in my main machine using the bootable version of Seatools on Friday, as well as running Memtest on each RAM module in the AFFECTED machine individually.

Any ideas for me here?Update: the drives that tested bad on the server machine also tested bad on mine. Guess it was just bad luck, and they are all failing.
Memtest tested out just fine too - had to run the RAM in pairs of 512MB modules, but reach pair tested perfectly for 3 passes.

I was moving my computer and, after moving it to the new location and reconnecting every thing I have lost the sound, how would I go about resolving this issue. it did have sound before the move.Double check to make sure that everything is plugged in. Check the speakers to make sure they are plugged into a power outage (if needed) and to the computer, and turned on.
Also make sure the volume isn't on mute.
Those are the basics.Lisa010262, I believe "moving" is the clue here. Undoubtedly you would have unplugged all the peripheral hardware to enable the move.A slight modification on rikibb88's suggestion=make certain that your speakers are plugged into the proper output jack on the rear of your computer's sound card (it will normally be the light green one).goodluck,truenorthI'm sure its probally somethimg silly, but none of the above resolved the problem?I booted my PC back to it's start point last month, & i've been without sound since. I'm considering a new sound card. Did you try installing a new audio DRIVER?Remove a side panel and all power.
Remove any add on cards such as sound; video etc. and RESEAT them firmly in their slots.
Replace the power and hook up all your cables and test with the side panel off.Still nothing?Is there an onboard sound card or a stand alone sound card in this computer? Do you have any yellow asterisks or question marks in your hardware device manager?When you say sound does that mean all sound such as the windows sounds VERSUS sound from cd or dvd drives?Have you gone in to look around at the values and settings in your "control panel" "sounds" display? Anything unusual or incorrectly set in there?truenorthI dont know how to tell if it is stand alone or onboard?
No astericks or ? in devise manager
i do not see anything unusual in contol panel sound display
thank you for the additional info Lisa. The sole purpose of my asking if it was onboard or stand alone was if it is standalone then it would be installed separately via a PCI slot to your motherboard. If that were so it is a "card' that could have BECOME loose during the "move'. Just for your knowledge an onboard card is normally located near the top of the rear of your tower beside other onboard devices IE; USB ports ethernet ports etc. However if it is installed as a standalone it will occupy one of the bays on the lower back portion of the tower and a protective metal cover (long and narrow) would have had to have been removed to install it. I am wondering if it would serve us any value for you to RUN an "Everest" scan to see what it finds in terms of a sound device. Everest is a free program available from here http://www.lavalys.com/ This information should also be available from your "sounds and audio devices" (where you were) via control panel. Once the window is open click on the "hardware" tab. Either route should get the information. Everest presents absolutely no danger to your computer and is a very good resource to tell you everthing possible about your computer. We will keep at this we aren't giving up yet.please reply with what it says re the sound devices it finds on your computer. truenorth
P.S. I do not that often go into the "BIOS" but it occurs to me that there may well be a "sound" enable/disable option in there that is disabled. This really is a long shot as i don't think you would have been in the BIOS to change it nor should the move have affected that value either.
P.P.S. I would like you to go back into "sounds and audio devices" and open the window and select "volume then advanced" this will bring up a "master volume" window. Are any of the variables muted (particularly "master volume"? What is written just below the word "advanced' in the lower left corner of the window?Quote from: patio on January 18, 2009, 06:26:36 AM

Remove a side panel and all power.
Remove any add on cards such as sound; video etc. and reseat them firmly in their slots.
Replace the power and hook up all your cables and test with the side panel off.

Wow! I thought I had seen it all! This 286 computer case has no obvious screws or LEVERS that I can find. It does have a circular key locking MECHANISM that appears to be in the "unlock" position. I need to get inside because the CMOS settings disappeared and so did the HD setting! This PC is about 20 years old and is the brain of a Telrad IVM system we have. Unfortunately it no LONGER has the instructions to open it up! Any help is appreciated! Thanks.Some systems use to have plastic faces that snapped off and then screws behind that to slide the case open. Most common was 3 screws for the 286 one in center and one at either corner of metal desktop case. Look at the face of this unit and look for plastic latches that hold it on. Should be able to pop the face off with flat headed screw driver... ( Only do this if you see an entry point for a screw driver and the plastic locking latches. I wouldnt start prying on any gap you find unless you dont MIND breaking the face off.)

Also some generic boxes I came across had 4 screws under the unit, one at each corner, that had to be removed and then the metal lid would slide back.

HP and Packard Bell also had some with levers, but yours is not that make.No such luck on the face snapping off. No plastic latches to be found or screws underneath. I checked under some of the adhesive boots just in case they're sneaky but no joy. But you GAVE me an idea about looking for possible worn screw heads... Hot tomallies in MN! There was a lone screw in the back that did just the trick! I'm back in business! Thanks for the clues dude! Pictures....we want pictures ! !Quote from: patio on January 30, 2009, 08:29:11 AM

Pictures....we want pictures ! !

Long story short : someone gave me a Gateway computer and I have a old Dell Computer.. I want to use the Gateway because it has ROOM for 3 memory sticks and more drivers, but it has little hard drive space, and I can't hook it up to internet.

Dell uses the little harddisk thingys and 1 cd drive one free usb port, little hard drive space. Oh and the Dell has XP (which I want) and ALOT of over cool programs I would like to keep. The Gateway has 98 which I can't use for anything!

So here are my questions I hope someone can answer:

I want more space, adding the memory card didn't seam to free up or add more space (like I said pc dummy), so can I take the hard drive from the dell (XP) and put in the Gatway (98) and in the end have more space and windows xp on the Gateway?
And if it is possiable to transfer the harddrive with the info, what other parts can I take from the Dell to make my Gateway a better PC?
Someone PLEASE help me!! One more thing, if you respond in computerze please TELL me what that means too..lolWelcome to the CH forums.

When XP was installed on your Dell pc the system was set up for the hardware configuration of the Dell, also Dell may have TAILORED the operating system to suit a Dell pc. If you now swap the hard drive to your Gateway the system is still set up for the Dell and you will get lots of conflicts in trying to run the OS. You could show this for your own satisfaction by swapping the Dell hdd to the Gateway and attempting to boot.

Do you have a genuine XP install disk which you could use to re-install XP if you decide to swap the hard drive to the Gateway?Thank you for your reply.

No I don't have the xp disk. Is there any way to transfer Xp to the Gatway with out having the disk? I guess they sell extra harddrives for both the dell and the Gateway? Not really. If you were to plug the dells hard drive into the other machine then it would just void Windows XP on the dells hard drive.

The memory stick you installed was this a RAM stick by any chance?

Oh and if you could tell us the model of the Dell it may help as well.

my FLOPPY drive was working and all i did was install word 2003 and now the floppy drive does not detect my disks nor does it format them the operating system is windows xp pro. when i look in my computer it shows that it is there and when i look at device manager it says it is working. why does it not detect i have a floppy disk in it and why does it SAY it is working when it does not work i can not save anything on a floppy now that it does not work can some one tell me what to do to check to make sure that it truly is working i have tried several floppy disks and still nothing even brand new floppy disks

I had a floppy drive a few years ago, and it stopped working too. I assumed the drive broke.

Maybe that's the problem? tmm5899,From long ago and far away (AKA when i used to use floppies a lot). I had this problem. It turned out to be a change in the BIOS that stated something to the effect"this device is permanently disabled".Scary huh! However turns out it wasn't and could be unpermentantly disabled. Wish i could tell you how i did it. Can only say it can be done.Others MAY come along to tell you how to do it. I feel quite confident that is what has happened to you. GOODLUCK,truenorth

Quote from: Accessless on January 24, 2009, 10:44:47 AM

A normal data connection. No power connection found.

However?

I promised myself i had quit this never ending merry go roundabout i am going to try one more kick at this can.I have already told you that MY DELL XPS does NOT have a SATA power connection ability (even though it has 2 SATA data connections on the MOBO) So the removal of my SATA DVD/RW drive would not need to have the SATA power connector "vaporized".It never had one. Doesn't mean it didn't need power (as seems to be the poster's suggestion). In my case (remember the question was about DELL) it is necessary to use a 4 pin ide to SATA adapter to obtain power. Are we all speaking the same language here?truenorth