Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

I put in a new ATI Radeon 4550 card today, everything works fine except my sound stopped working. In the sound options it says its working but it isnt. Someone on a different BOARD told me MAYBE to try setting my sound card as primary/default audio device. How would i go about doing this? Or is there another solution?
thanksAny errors in Device Manager?none that i can see. under Sound, Video, Game CONTROLLERS it says High definition Audio DeviceTry to reinstall sound driver.ive tried everything. reinstalling different drivers and such. In sound options is says everythings working fine but still no sound. Is it possible my speakers/computer wont work with HDMI sound device?under the Playback tab in Sound options it used to say Realtek Audio something before i installed this new card. Now it says DIGITAL Output Device (HDMI) and it ways its "working"well CHANGE it back to your realtek one and all will be better.

Just make sure you change it in both tabs

In the early days of small hard drives, and Windows 98, I would save everything to a CD using Adaptec Easy CD Creator to save Hard DRIVE space. I could keep a CD open and simply add files to it till it was full, then close it and start another.

Now with monster hard drives, windows XP, digital cameras, and my COMPUTER crashing sometimes, I still want to be able to add to my old CD's as well as access the previously SAVED files.

Putting the old CD's in the new XP equipped computers, (2) shows nothing on the CD, and no free space. I tried to install my old COPY of Adaptec Easy CD Creator (3.5) , but there is a compatibility issue, and it won't work.

I want to first, have access to my old files to be able to use them, and add new files as I create them. Any ideas? These were created using a method CALLED packet writing...do a search for Freeware that can still do it.
I don't and haven't used it for years...
As far as retrieveing the data and re-organising ISOBuster is a Free nifty app that can read those and extract the data for you.

Hi, I'm trying to install a x1300 Radeon graphics card by Sapphire/Ati into my computer. I have no disk for it so I downloaded the drivers from Sapphire 2x and from AMD once and keep geting this message when installing "Setup was unable to find components that can be installed on your current hardware or software configuration. Please make sure you have the required hardware or software" I FOUND the omega drivers site and downloaded them and they installed but card still dosent work.
When I plug in the card (both with and without installing drivers) all I get is a screeen with colored vertical lines before BIOS. It will blink from this to black and back again but nothing beeps or anything.
I emailed AMD for help but they just told me to try manual instal of the drivers but that didnt work either.

I am at a loss for what else to do or try?

My system info under display adapters is SIS 650
I dont have an other sections
Sound, video and game controllers is:
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
MPU-410 Compatible MIDI Device
Realtek AC'97 Audio
Standard Game Port
Unimodem Half-Duples Audio Device
Video Codecs

Its a MSI 6533G motherboard, Intel Pentium 4, SIS 650 chipset and 1 GB of memory

I'm going to try and update BIOS now but I welcome ANY suggestions!
Thanks!!Are you sure the card is good? Have you hooked up the power to it if it is required? Tried it on another computer? Enabled it in bios?Also check to see if you might have disturbed your Ram cards while you were installing the video card. Make sure they are seated properly.Hi, The rams fine and there are no power cords. I tried in in another completely differant computer with a working video card (took it out to try this one) and got the exact same thing. As soon as the monitor powers up it is a blue/greenish screen with vertical lines running thru it. I don't get a bios screen or anything. I've tried updating all the drivers I can find for my motherboard and tried Bios and resetting defult but nothing changes. The fan on the card comes on so it's getting power at least.

Is there anything else I can change or try? I bought this card off eBay on a whim and there no returns. Sounds like you got a bum card. Was the card described as working by the seller? If so you can file a significantly not as described (SNAD) claim with paypal or if purchased with CC you can do a charge back. Try to contact the seller & see if you can resolve the issue first.Quote from: starfillybaby on January 25, 2009, 02:17:27 PM

Hi, The rams fine and there are no power cords. I tried in in another completely differant computer with a working video card (took it out to try this one) and got the exact same thing. As soon as the monitor powers up it is a blue/greenish screen with vertical lines running thru it. I don't get a bios screen or anything. I've tried updating all the drivers I can find for my motherboard and tried Bios and resetting defult but nothing changes. The fan on the card comes on so it's getting power at least.

Is there anything else I can change or try? I bought this card off eBay on a whim and there no returns.

Sounds like you got a bum card. Was the card described as working by the seller? If so you can file a significantly not as described (SNAD) claim with paypal or if purchased with CC you can do a charge back. Try to contact the seller & see if you can resolve the issue first.

joevh09.....I think you need to reread his post again.

Quote from: Accessless on JANUARY 25, 2009, 02:42:57 PM

I drilled holes in the top of my COMPUTER case so that the power supply could be mounted upside down and suck in cool air from outside the case (rather than hot air from within the case). So now the power supply sucks in cool air and blows hot air into my system, over heating it, instead of sucking in hot air from within the case and overheating itself and everything else...

My PSU was designed by a retard I swear

Oh and my graphics card was bought under the label of a 3800 and is recognised as a 3800 in the devise manager.

Hi everyone. I'm a bit of a computer noob so please bear with me.

I am looking for a video card to replace one that broke. My motherboard is a

Asus A8V-X VIA K8T800 Pro Socket 939 ATX

and i would like to buy a video card from

www.umart.com.au

I don't PLAY any computer GAMES or do anything graphics intensive, just internet browsing and word processing. The CHEAPEST and most functional video card would be great.

Thank you so much for your help

BruxismYou NEED an AGP card.
From Umart the best DEAL is this one
http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2
It's not the fastest or best card out there, but it looks like it's right up your alley.

DVD CD Bunner/Reader
Dual Fans 3.5 DRIVE
Floppy drive
2.8 ghz 478 pentium 4
biostar 478
rj11
maxtor 300 gb sata
maxtor 80 gb ide
1 gb ultra ddr
350 watt psu
on board nic,video,sound
maxtor additonal ide drive card
four back usb ports + usb hub an two front
windows xp professional


I had made this sortly after my gaming machine died an got tiered of waiting to fix it, so borrowing some parts I was able to slap this together. The front panel is sucure but I fixed it the best I could. The thing is I have xp on sata an formated it correctly an everything. but sometimes when it restarts it get NTLDR is missing press alt-crtl.... to restart but when I run the xp DISK to reapir it ATTEMPTS to fix the d drive. So I unplug the d drive. restart an it goes into xp, restart fix that drive recoonect the d drive an everything is fine for a while.
Double Post.
Topic Closed.As I've SAID many times before, Squall, you know better. There goes a point on your license.

I use my PC a lot and am considering buying a laptop to reduce energy consumption and save me some money.

I appreciate that buying the kit will cost but would I be correct in assuming (as a generality) that a laptop will consume less energy than my desktop PC?

It all depends on the actual components in use and how you OPTIMISE to save power.
If you want to save some cash on your ELECTRICITY BILL, buying a new computer is unlikely to help - because of the INITIAL expenditure, it's improbable you'll make that back over the lifetime of a computer through energy savings.
Try ADJUSTING your computer's power saving options, turn things off instead of using standby, etc. There are plenty of better ways to save on your power bill.

I have the standard Dell Dimension 5000 system with 1GB of RAM

what i want to know is if the PNY 9800GTX+ 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card [http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158532] will fit into my system.

My system specification is:

its a bit long and I'm not sure if most of it is relevant but here it is

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.20.405
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Quick Report
Computer TOM (Big Momma)
Generator Thomas
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2009-01-27
Time 14:12


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 3
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name TOM (Big Momma)
User Name Thomas

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4 530J, 3000 MHZ (15 x 200)
Motherboard Name Dell Dimension 5000
Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G
System Memory 1024 MB (DDR2-400 DDR2 SDRAM)
BIOS Type Phoenix (04/19/05)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM4)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter RADEON X300 Series Secondary (128 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON X300 Series (128 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon X300 (RV370)
Monitor Dell E173FP [17" LCD] (U494154N49RL)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Intel 82801FB ICH6 - AC'97 Audio Controller [B-1]

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801FB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2651
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F
Disk Drive WDC WD1600JD-75HBC0 (149 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8631 (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD+RW:16x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:40x/24x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 149699 MB (37153 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
MOUSE Microsoft USB Wireless Mouse (IntelliPoint)

Network:
Network Adapter Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Network Adapter GlobeSpan USB ADSL LAN Modem (192.168.0.1)
Network Adapter WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface (92.3.106.0)
Modem Communications cable between two computers
Modem Intel(R) 537EP V9x DF PCI Modem

Peripherals:
Printer Dell Photo AIO Printer 922
Printer EPSON STYLUS SX200 Series
Printer Fax
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB2 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [B-1]
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device GlobeSpan USB ADSL LAN Modem
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface DeviceYou can DLoad install and run Everest Home and save the log to a text FILE...
Then post the Computer Summary portion here...I believe it will.

My COMPUTER was working fine for years. I installed 3 GB ram(crucial)about 2 months ago. Its an asus a7n8x-x motherboard. I shut it,and all power to everything down. When I restarted nothing HAPPENED, the fans didn't even start. I installed a new power supply and STILL nothing. I put in a MSI motherboard and everything's OK. I bought another ASUS a7n8x-e from eBay that he said was working when removed. I put it in and the fans would come on for a SECOND then stop. I have to disconnect power before the fans start for another second. I disconnected everything but never got more than a second of run time. Is there anything I can do or am I just having bad luck with asus mobos.#1 you bought a used board from someone,[bad move] Are you saying that now when you turn on the system shuts down in 2nds?When I push the start button the fans start to spin for only a second, then I have to disconnect power before the start button makes the fans go again, but they only run for one second.Could be that the board in shorting to the case, re check the stand offs from the case to the board.#2 thermal paste on the cpu? have you applied? #3 check the heat sink & make sure it is installed correctly.Yes all stand-offs are right with no extras. The heat sink and paste are right(several TIMES).Are you shure the motherboard supports the ram you installed.Poss: power supply or the boardIt did the same with the old 256 MB ram. I tried a new Antec 650W p/s. Am I right to assume the fans will run without anything plugged in? Also I tried to buy another M/B locally but I would need new cpu,ram,video card etc. Is there new boards available that will support my old stuff, until I can build a new system?Look for another board on NEWEGG site & see if you can find a board that will work with your cpu,memory, ect. Im assuming you feel that these items you want to use are good?Thanks, I'll give that a try.

hi ive got a acer aspire notebook {1690}..it has a faulty dvd/cd writer,the thing is the faulty writer is slot loading and all that seems to be for sale on ebay are tray loading writers..the question is would it be ok to INSTALL a tray loading writer into the notebook..when i ask on ebay if the writer will fit ok they say that most are standard,one person said i might have a problem with the bezal{dont know what that is}..any help would be appreciated..thanks theted...i can send some pics of the faulty writer ... Well, one thing I can tell you is that the Acer site SUCKS! Absolutely worthless.

Googling didn't help much either. Sorry...

Alan <><

The bezel is the plastic, usually the front part of a computer where your cdrom drives, floppy drives are available from the front.

Alan <><

thanks anyway..i'll take a chance and buy the tray loading one..THERES one going for £20..its the same model ...hope it works ok ...hi,i managed to get a internal dvd/cd writer for for my acer espire notebook [1690]..it FITS the slot ok and its recognised when i OPEN "my computer",,the trouble now is when i click to open the disc nothing show's up just a blank PAGE...ive tried dvd movies and music cd,s...hope someone can help me with this problem....kind regard,s john...

Thats what I sort of wonder but he said that things we mention did help a good deal.Too bad he ignored the cheapest alternative of adding more RAM...At this point it would work better since it would hog his resources.Quote from: squall_01 on JANUARY 19, 2009, 11:09:57 AM

At this point it would work better since it would hog his resources.

Quote from: squall_01 on January 19, 2009, 11:09:57 AM

At this point it would work better since it would hog his resources.

Not sure what this means so i'd have to say i agree...

Quote from: patio on January 19, 2009, 04:46:29 PM

Quote from: squall_01 on January 19, 2009, 11:09:57 AM

At this point it would work better since it would hog his resources.

Not sure what this means so i'd have to say i agree...

Yes follow me an fall to my wim. I ment that he could add new ram an that it would use all of it only allowing a small amount to be used for his intentions.

Quote from: squall_01 on January 21, 2009, 11:03:03 AM

Quote from: patio on January 19, 2009, 04:46:29 PM

Quote from: squall_01 on January 19, 2009, 11:09:57 AM

At this point it would work better since it would hog his resources.

Not sure what this means so i'd have to say i agree...

Yes follow me an fall to my wim. I ment that he could add new ram an that it would use all of it only allowing a small amount to be used for his intentions.

How am i supposed to know what you mean ? ?

I currenty have a 250Gb hard drive. When I look at the overall usage in the C drive it SAYS i've used 130Gb. However, if I search each folder shown as being in the C drive the amount COMES to 80 Gb, thus i'm 50 Gb missing....where is it?!!! You should edit your post to change the title to Where is all my drive space? Memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory) is temporary storage that loses all data when the power is turned off. Space on your hard drive is what you are asking about.

Is your Recycle Bin empty? How much space is your system USING for virtual memory, i.e. paging file? How many Windows restore points are being stored by your system? Do you use hibernation in lieu of shutdown?

I believe all these are things that can consume some drive space, yet be somewhat invisible to you. I can't say that they would account for 50GB, so I'm not sure what else might be a FACTOR here. Let's see what other replies say.

Hi, first POST. Hoping I can draw on your wisdom.

I have a laptop that I'm trying to fix for a friend (I'm using it to type this post). I originally bought it knew about 2.5 years ago and sold it to him 3 months after I bought it.

It's an Acer 4021Wlci
Pentium M 1.6ghz
1024GB Ram
30GB (not original) 4200RPm IDE HDD
Windows XP Pro SP2

When I got this laptop, it would not recognize the factory 60GB HD in the bios at all and had the following error on boot up.

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcomm PXE ROM.

I've read several things about this error. Did multiple recommended steps. Clearing CMOS, disabling boot options. Confirming boot order, disabling all boot options but HDD that the bios would allow. Could not get machine to recognize the drive. Popped it in a Dell laptop, no problem. Reinstalled OS while in Dell machine, worked like a charm. Ran DIAGNOSTICS on the drive, TIP top shape despite being nearly 4 years old. After it was formatted and OS installed, I tried to put it back in the Acer and it would not recognize. Reset Bios again, still wouldn't recognize. Connected factory 60G drive via USB and it recognized the drive, but would not boot from it.

Then I got the novel idea of trying to put the 30GB drive from the Dell laptop in this Acer, and Bingo. Recognized, formatted and installed windows. Strangest thing I've encountered with a laptop. Okay, that's all the background, now to the problem.

For the most part, when on AC power, the laptop runs fine. Both HD and CPU run within safe temp specs. When on battery power (that now only lasts 1 to 1.5 hours) things heat up, but still in safe range for HDD (going from 33c to 38C), however cpu gets up to 57-58C (up from 48)when on my lap. This is when things get weird. The HDD light will stay illuminated and the machine will lock up. Sometimes the mouse is free, sometimes not. But eventually I get blue screen of death, system reboots, and it works fine for another 20 minutes. This hard drive had no issues in the Dell where it came from. It will occasionally do the same thing when on AC power, but usually recovers after 20-30 seconds, but the HDD light will not necessarily go out.

First question, I know batteries lose capacity over life, but I've never heard of them not providing the required current (at least in notebook batteries) to spin fans fast enough so units are cooled properly.

Secondly, does this sound like a controller issue, or a HDD issue?

LAST bit of background info. I setup this machine completely manually. No driver disk, no back up CD. Hunting and pecking on Acer's website. Could this be a chipset driver issue, no alternative listed on the Acer sight, not sure if you can get intel 915 chipset drivers from Intel direct or not. Does it sound like the IDE controller? There's also a bios flash that's simply supposed to make it "support" Vista.
I don't want to spend money on a new HDD if it won't make a difference. Then I'll be stuck with an IDE laptop drive I have no use for.

Any ideas? Thanks.Laptops are by nature very finicky about drivers...
You should use the Driver CD that shipped with the machine.
And yes the above symptoms could be driver issues...The driver CD is non existant if it EVER came with one. This was one of those machines that first started coming out where you "create your own back up" with the DVD. Friend may have that, not sure if it will help or not.


An aditional update, I ran the intel chipset identifier utility. It can identify the chipset corrrectly but not the I/O controller (ICH). Installed the intel drivers, but still can't find I/O controller type.

Very frustrating.
As i stated above you should only be using Acer drivers...period.I am using all Acer Drivers. They all came from Acer website.

Sounds like the HDD Bus(es) are being flooded by one drive and not letting any more info through...I get the same when using my DVD Drive when trying to access my C: drive

I have a Gateway, not sure what exact model, it's from 2003.

Anyways, late last night while I was away from the computer, it suddenly started making a really loud whirring NOISE. I immediately ran in an cut the power, fearing it was on fire or something. After removing the cover and seeing nothing really out of the ordinary, I turned it BACK on, but it made the loud noise again.

Then, when I turned it on today, the noise was gone.

From what I have concluded, the noise appears to be coming from this box.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/funkydunkleman/000_0252-1.jpg

Now I have almost no knowledge of Computer HARDWARE whatsoever. Most of my knowledge is of software.

So can anyone give me any help here?

What is that box? What does it do? Can it be fixed?
Replaced? Manually? Cost?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.Welcome to the forums.
That box looks to be your processor cooler.
The noise would be the fan either spinning very FAST, or failing.
I advise you follow the steps here to clean out your computer, and SEE if that helps.
If not, you will need to replace the fan on your heatsink, or replace the assembly (either way, shouldn't be too expensive or difficult).
Hope this helps.I actually just cleaned out my computer, Thursday I believe.

The fan is currently working just fine now though. It's been on for about 70 minutes.

Hopefully it was an anomaly.Good to know it's now working, it may have been a temporary glitch.
If it continues, best to replace the fan I think.

I have a desktop running Vista Ultimate. It's almost a year old. The past month I installed a 500 gig hard drive in addition to the original 80 gig. I transferred Vista to the new drive and installed Ubuntu on the 80. Last week the 500 drive failed and I removed it from the machine. I reinstalled Vista to another partition on the 80. So far so good.

When I booted up I noticed the sound was absent and the pci modem card wasn't working. (I have dial up.) I removed the pci modem card and ordered a replacement.
I noticed a telephone jack on the rear of the case that I never noticed before and doesn't appear on the device list. I have always used a pci card modem.

I had orig ionally used a powered speaker plugged into the sound port on the back. I CHECKED the software and it is what I thought it should be. Checking further I found a sound port on the front (labelled headset) was working. However when I unplugged the powered speaker from the back it had a high volume 60 cycle hum) It won't WORK on any of the ports. I looked at the device list and don't see any faults.

Except for the sound and modem all else seems to be working normally I am a little puzzled by all this and about to conclude I have a hardware problem.

What's the commonality in all this?
Any advice appreciated.Try re-installing all your drivers starting with the MBoard/chipset drivers FIRST...Thanks for your kind response.
I think you may be right about the system drivers.

I turned the machine on full of confidence. It gave me a message first thing: A hardware change has occurred, and to fix it; put in the Windows DISC and restart. When one sees the 'Repair Windows option' select it. However the Windows disc never loads and even after I changed the bios to boot from CD it goes ahead and tries to boot from Windows and hangs almost immediately. I am now resting from my labors and the machine is resting too.

I have some ideas;

I think I need a more powerful boot disc. If I can obtain one I'll reformat the drive. Temporarily discarding Ubuntu and my latest install of Vista.

Then with a clean disc I will try to obtain system drivers. This machine I'm using now doesn't have a CD drive but I do have a flash drive. It's an Intel board I need drivers for so they should be available. Using the flash drive I should be able to transport the drivers upstairs to the other puter.

If you see a fatal flaw in all this, or can suggest a more EXPEDITIOUS scheme I will forever be in your debt.

Meanwhile the ice is melting a bit so I can mail out my 500 gig drive to either be repaired or returned as is...

Thanks so much for your response.
Ivan Copas
Does the sound output work when you use the Ubuntu Live disk?Thanks for your response.

No the sound doesn't work with Ubuntu.

I was wondering; would reinstalling Windows REPLACE all the drivers?

It seems my powered speaker has gone bad. Haven't tested it separately yet.

I can't get Ubuntu to recognize the modem either. I have been thinking it was the wrong kind of modem (A 56K V.92) Maybe not.)Quote from: copas on February 02, 2009, 09:30:36 AM

Thanks for your response.

No the sound doesn't work with Ubuntu.

I was wondering; would reinstalling Windows replace all the drivers?

It seems my powered speaker has gone bad. Haven't tested it separately yet.

I can't get Ubuntu to recognize the modem either. I have been thinking it was the wrong kind of modem (A 56K V.92) Maybe not.)

I cleaned and reformatted a drive (F:) with wipedrive (white canyon) and now I can not find it, it is in device manager and says it is working but can not find it in My Computer....OS is on a raid (C:) this was a data disk I tried the INSTALL new HARDWARE wizard ........It does show it in the devices with removable storage how do I move it? ..... can you help.....thanks

It NEEDS formatting after wiping...It is shown as a removable disk drive and if i try to FORMAT it says INSERT disk?Where is it shown this way ? ?
Your description is vague...Right click on my computer> manage>discmanagment>what do you see?What did the hard drive do to deserve a fine?It ran a Stop sign...Quote from: xavier on February 01, 2009, 07:57:45 AM

Right click on my computer> manage>discmanagment>what do you see?

Hello everybody,

I'm looking for a new nVidia card for my ASUS z71V LAPTOP. The current one is my GEFORCE Go 6600, which is currently giving me the nvlddmkm malfuction. My brother and I are HOPING that changing the card to a different one will FIX this up permanently.

My specs from dxdiag:





THANKS,
Leon

Hi everyone,i will have another MOTHERBOARD soon, which is using SOCKET 775.Right now, i have a pentium 4 2.4Ghz socket 478, the question is can i use that processor in the new motherboard?

Thank youNo, you'll need a socket 775 processor.Thanks for the info CALUM

Hi
I've been thinking of upgrading to a new computer.
I've been thinking of the HP LINE of computers.
I found that they are using the SATA type drives. I have EIDE drive and backup EIDE HDs as backup.
My QUESTION is, if I buy an HP with SATA hard drive, can I use a EIDE hard drive(s) as backup drives? Is there a problem with that, like recognition and opperation? I also have a USB EIDE backup drive.
I am HOPING that I can do this with the SATA boot drive and EIDE as backup.
All help with this is highly appreciated
with much thanks
ron
Well, a new computer may not have any connectors for EIDE drives. If not, and you still would like to install an EIDE drive interally, you could install a PCI IDE (ATA) controller card, such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132005

Another OPTION would be to buy an external enclosure and install your IDE hard drive in it, creating an external USB drive. Hi
Thanks for this reply.
You gave me all the answers I was looking for.
I'm kind of late in response...I forgot about the email.
with appreciation
R.

They are all ESTIMATES but DECENT at what they do...

I have been out of contact with the LATEST developments in computer HARDWARE technology and I am getting ready to build myself a new system. Can anyone give me some suggestions as to what EQUIPMENT that is the most popular? This is going to be a ground up build. I will be replacing everything. As soon a I get it built I will be CONVERTING to a satellite link for high speed internet. I am not much of a gamer but I would like to set it up with some great video/graphics capabilities. Most of what I do is work ORIENTED so will not want to have a full blown game system.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated


Thanks
Toms harhware. comWired.com

I know what type of ram i need and i nkwo what size my motherboard can SUPPORT apart from those two factors is there any other considerantion when buying ram?
e.g. speed does it matter? non-ecc??? brand?Speed, ECC/non-ECC, buffered/unbuffered are also considerations.
Brand isn't generally important, but it's best to match all the RAM modules.
Your motherboard manufacturer will have info on what will work in your board.Follow the below link and run the scan. It will tell you what kind of ram you can use.

http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/Quote

Quote

Brand isn't generally important,

my cpu suddenly turn off..when i turn on the PC after a few MINUTES,its suddenly turn off like a STANDBY MODE..the lamp at the front pc keep blinking and not as usual.
i'm getting weird when the cpu like a standby mode but all the function cant detect (e.g keyboard,mouse). if i want to turn off and turn on again, i cant push the button power and restart also, the only way is plug off the power cable and plug in back..

WHY??

plz somebody help me?Can you boot into Safe Mode?if can.. how?
Restart computer, and keep tapping F8 key until the menu appears.ooo..i thought is about the setting.. let me try the safe mode first.. is that can solve my prob bro?No, but it'll give us more info.bro..is that prob with power SUPPLY or MOTHERBOARD? sorry la.. i really confused coz never seen this prob..Unfortunately, I don't have a crystal ball.
We have to try to diagnose the problem one step at a time.hahaha..u got me.. ok let me try first..thanks! Actually Broni does have one but it acts up when Solar flares are at a high activity level as it's been for the last 9 Days or so...*censored*! My secret got revealed!

Hi all,

Instead of building a server, I just bought one on April 4, 2006. Have had several hard drive failures, and some suspected failures, that mysteriously cured themselves on my Raid 5 array. Raid card issues also. Long list of issues - long story. Server has not been dependable over the almost 3 years I have owned it. I suspect it was built wrong - see *** below.

Recently the server had been operating fine for several months, until it beeped incessantly a few days ago. Desktop screen showed normal - indicators showed no overheating. I shut it down.

Server info:
Dual (2) Intel® Xeon Irwindale 3.2GHz CPUS
800Mhz FSB / 2MB CPU Cache / Hyperthreading
Intel E7320 (Lindenhurst VS) Server Chipset
Supermicro X6DVL-EG2 Mainboard
Expansion Slots:
PCI-Express 2 (x4) PCI-e slots

PCI 1x 64-bit 66MHz PCI (3.3V) slot - ***(PCI-X cards are not supported in this slot) - Expansion slot info from Supermicro site on the X6DVL-EG2 Mainboard page

PCI 3x 32-bit 33MHz PCI (5V) slots
4GB ECC Registered DDR2-400
Three (3) 250GB SATA-II Hard Drives running Raid 5
7200 RPM & 8MB Cache Buffer
Tower Chassis with 450 Watt PS
16.8"H x 7"W x 20.9"D
Four (4) SATA150 Hot Swap Bays
16X DVD-ROM
RocketRAID-5 Controller (1810A) - PCI-X Series
Intel 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet NIC
8MB Onboard ATI Rage XL Video
1.44MB Floppy Drive (Black)
Logitech PS/2 Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Windows XP Pro 64 OS

Turned server back on later that day, and Raid 5 array broken - only drive #1 showing out of three.
Swapped in two new drives - still only #1 showing.
Put the three original drives, one at a time in slot #1, and all three show up, with the raid array broken - all three drives seen individually and ok.
Checked connectivity.
Put all three drives back in and a fourth new drive. Raid card has four slots.
Removed hotswap backplane and wired all four direct to raid card - still only #1 slot showing. Hotswap backplane is ok but left out while diagnosing.
Changed sata cables to new - still only #1 showing.
Unplugged sata cable #1 from raid card.
#2 slot shows up, displays raid array broken with #3 & #4 not showing.
Unplugged sata cable #2 from raid card.
#3 slot shows up, displays raid array broken with #4 not showing.
Unplugged sata cable #3 from raid card.
#4 slot shows up, with bare drive.
Suspect raid card defective.
Changed Raid card - still the same.

Could be second raid card is defective. It was new, and used only once for a failure diagnosis before on this same server.

Was considering buying an upgrade card - RocketRAID 2210 PCI-X Series as a replacement.

Then I was examining Supermicro X6DVL-EG2 mainboard specs and found the note about the PCI slot on the mainboard not supporting PCI-X. http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon800/E7320/X6DVL-EG2.cfm

I think that this server was built wrong from the start and the raid card is not the problem. See the *** above. The PCI slot on the mainboard in this server does not support PCI-X according to Supermicro. The RocketRAID-5 Controller (1810A) - PCI-X Series raid card is in the PCI slot, put there by the BUILDERS. Out of all the troubles with this server, this time the PCI slot may have partially FAILED. Is that possible? Haven't checked it yet.

Considering a Supermicro X6DAL-TB2 mainboard as a possible replacement mainboard. It has the features I need, is still available, and has:
Expansion Slots
PCI-Express 1 PCI-Express (x16) slot

PCI-X 2x 64-bit 66MHz PCI-X (3.3V) slot ( the correct slot to support PCI-X )

PCI 2x 32-bit 33MHz PCI (5V) slot

I researched all this today, and just figured out this suspected misbuild today. Am just a little miffed. Lots of money and time dwindled away.
I am considering confronting the builder, if I am correct.

Any suggestions or comments on my diagnosis?
Thanks for hearing me out.

kenny9dorf






Sounds like the card to me.

I have a Win2K professional OS on my PC. It has an 80GB hard drive with a SINGLE partition. It has been running fine for past 5 years. I wanted to install XP as well on my computer.

As first step, I took a backup of all my data. I then ran a defrag on the remaining 10GB of data. After the Defrag was done, I did notice that the system files were spread across the drive in small chunks [non-contiguous].

I then downloaded two freeware partition managers :

CutePM and EASEUS.

The user interface of EASEUS was incredible. I tried resizing the C drive to three, two NTFS and one FAT32 data partition. When I clicked apply, it stated that the system should be restarted. When I clicked yes, it gave a failed error STATING that the system couldn't be restarted.

Then I used CutePM, which asked me to create a BOOT CD. I did that. However, I had to write the CPM.ISO file manually using XPCD Burner Pro.

I then restarted the PC from the start menu. And then the unexpected happened.

What I can see after restart are as follows :

During boot, it correctly detects all drives, viz : DVD, CD Writer, HDD.
I can see a text stating F2 for setup, F12 for... and so on.
The keyboard doesn't work. So, I can't have any of these options selected.
There is no beep, which I would have expected from POST.

I have AMI bios.

Can anyone please help me understand the problem or can anyone suggest a solution.

Thanking all in anticipation.Don't know why the keyboard wouldn't work. Sounds unrelated to the issue. Try another PS2 keyboard (Not USB) and start over with the XP CD and see if you can reformat the drive. That's where I would start.

If i'm currently using a system a with standard drive setup and I want to INSTALL a RAID, is there a way i can introduce RAID and copy the CONTENTS over to resume Windows EXACTLY before switch over or do i have to start over with a NEW Windows installation? I personally would start over with a fresh install.
Save all your DATA and transfer it over afterwards. Dang, okay. Thanks.

but if there are 6 USB ports on the computer, then doesnt that mean that the computer should be able to SUPPORT at least 6 USB devices? Uf , like what you said, there isnt enough power supplied to all the USB ports, then short of getting a powered USB PORT, even a new printer with its own disk wont work. And that doesnt sound right.

Could a chipset made for HP printers somehow make the mobo suplly enough power to a USB port
Quote from: shashgo on February 03, 2009, 05:14:18 AM

but if there are 6 USB ports on the computer, then doesnt that mean that the computer should be able to support at least 6 USB devices?

Quote from: shashgo on January 31, 2009, 05:04:20 PM

When a computer cannot see a printer that is plugged into a USB port, does that mean that the printer is bad

see here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=45674&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=45674&objectID=bpl11671

Good Luck

hello guys, i have just recovered my laptop due to a lot of virus.but unfortunately, some KEYS in my laptop is have changes.like for instance, my 'Y' key displays 'Z' not 'Y' and other keys as well.only some.can you HELP me how to FIX this?badly needed help.pleeeeeeeeaaaaassssssssseeeeee Do not write letters with the letter Y.
Learn the ALT code for the letters Y and y.
Y =089 y = 121
Program a key you never use to be Y.
Use the on screen keyboard.
Get another keyboard and plug it into the laptop.
-- OR --
Clean the keyboard. Of couse, if you are not very careful
you will damage it further.

Hi All,

My computer operates fine in Windows XP. Once I shut-down, the POWER light stays "on".

When I start the computer up again, it displays the initial bios and HARDWARE information, but then the screen remains blank for a long period and gives me several OPERATING Systems messages like "Operating System Not Found", or "Press CTRL+ALT+DEL etc...

I removed the hard drive, placed it into another computer, ran both scandisk and defrag and placed it back into my computer. This fixed the problem!!! The computer started up normally again...

My dilemma, I cannot remove and scan the hard drive each and every time!?! Something is CAUSING this problem, and I hope you'd be able to assist.

ShaneHave you tried chkdsk /r from runIndeed, chkdsk /r did not resolve the problem. I initially thought the hard drive was damaged, so I replaced it with a new hard drive, which does EXACTLY the same...

Title says it all; I have an Acer Aspire One AOA150 that shuts down after about thirty-five seconds. windows xp gets about half-way through booting, then it just shuts off. I have also tried booting a UBUNTU LIVE cd and going into bios setup, and either way it still shuts off, in my opinion ruling out windows as the culprit.Overheating would be my 1st GUESS...I was wondering about that, but it's cool to the touch. Could it still be overheating?Yes if the CPU heat sink isn't properly making contact with the CPU. The rest of the laptop would probably be cool to the touch.I OPENED it up, but it looks like it doesn't even have a spot to put a heatsink. There is a hole in the panel that seperates the keyboard and motherboard that the CPU pokes through, touching the keyboard. Also, if i try booting it without the keyboard/motherboard panel, it still shuts down, although it could be lasting a litte longer.Check air on the side panel ventilation if fan is running during the time its on going off . Try removing Network card and One RAM module while booting. If successfull, download HWMonitor and check the temperature. It's fixed. Thanks a bunch everyone. Whilst I'm not even sure exactly what fixed it, it did appear to be a ventilation issue. I removed the entire motherboard, finding more dust than in the whole rest of my house. I cleaned everything out and it seems to be staying on. Again, I thank everybody. Although nobody was spot on, you all came close.HWMonitor should also be USED to check machine temperature just in case...OK. As many times as it's tried to die on me, I suppose it can't hurt

Well recently i dropped my laptop and it started to make clicking sounds when it loads something big if you UNDERSTAND what i mean.
So through research i found out that it was a hard drive problem and that soon my hard drive may die.
So what i tried was replacing my laptop hard drive with my older one from another laptop.
What happened when i replaced it was that on the boot up screen ( windows loading) immediately the blue screen Of death appeared and the laptop restarts again.
After the restart, the boot up screen offers me a start up repair option , i chose that and waited for it to repair but after it finished it said it could not repair it or something.
Can anyone tell me whats the problem?

Note: The laptop that i dropped is a HP laptop and the hard drive i used to replace it with is from a Acer laptop. Also when i put in Acers hard drive , i only made sure the connector was connected to the hard drive and did not make the hard drive fit INSIDE the laptop(dono if it matters since its connected already).
I think both the HDD are diffrent brands , if that AFFECTS anything.You can't just take a drive from one computer, put it in another, and expect the system to boot. You need to format it and reinstall the OS and all programs.To elaborate a little more on Allan's statement. Your Acer hardrive was at "home" in that computer. It knew all it's associations (hardware/software). Now it has been put into a new location where it knows none of those things. Allan's suggestion will remove it's knowledge of it's previous "home" and set up the conditions to become familiar with it's new surroundings. truenorthoh ok thanks guys.
also a quick question if you guys are familiar with the program Macrium reflect.
if i were to insert the rescue CD in , is it possible to override my Acers drive with the image of my cloned drive.
If your not familiar with the program, thats fine thank you again. In regards to Macrium Reflect if you boot to the CD it will take precedence over any Acer existing apps...
It will then ask for the location of the image file...POINT it there and follow the prompts and your system will be RESTORED to the date you created the Macrium image...

....120gb ata 133 hard drive by maxtor is identified in device manager with a different (garbeled but similar) name so when I try to use maxblast to repair the drive so I can scan for viruses etc... maxblast errs out not recognizing the drive. Is this information provided to the system by firmware or by a service sector on the hard drive media? If by firmware I guess the drive is nogood. The drive currently reads as raw unformatted but there is a partition on it.Whee did you get it?
If the firmware was bad, the drive would not work at all.
Assume the drive is junk.
Drives are cheap, especially if you wood settle for an IDE (PATA)type.
Quote

Seagate ST3160215ACE 160GB Internal Hard Drive
Desktop - Internal, External - 160 GB - EIDE, IDE, DMA/ATA-100 - 100 Mbps - 7,200 RPM ... $46

Is this information provided to the system by firmware or by a service sector on the hard drive media?

BTW, have you a log for how long the drive was in use? If it has 5000 hours or more, you got fair service from it.

Turned on computer and thus drive. Used it for 3 hours; this brings the grand total up to 127 hours of operation.
Plugged in my external enclosure for 40 minutes while backing up documents. This brings it's total use up to 50 hours and 37 minutes 10 seconds; however, I also forgot to power it off after disconnection and didn't notice it for a few days, so that brings it up to at least 124 and a half hours of operation.

If the firmware was bad, the drive would not work at all.

I reseated the hd in my docking bay and replaced the ribbon cable. It seems to have solved the problem. What started the cascade of crap was a loose power connection on the hd. It would cause the tell-tale smashing head sound (clicking). Since I have had trouble with the related hd in the past I didn`t recognize the problem was from the power connector instead. Thanx again for the input.

I am using a creative sound Blaster LIVE sound card and the creative driver would not LOAD for me so I didn't have any sound, I downloaded the KX Project
Drivers I GET sound but no Volume and its SET so low you can hardly hear it. I
tryed adjusting the controls with the master mixer and the in & outs and just been adjusting everything I know but I end up with no sound or very low volume Hope someone will be able to help, My OS is windows 98se
Thanks ande59

Here are my system specs:
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2030MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Card name: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT

I heard that Overclocking would get me a better performance in games like Crysis. I was wondering if it would be safe to do so...

I was also told it could cause things to overheat.
It's almost December, and I'm in San Jose, California(KINDA cold right now), I have a fan on my CPU, POWER Supply, and one I added inside the case. What can I overclock, how would I do it, and most importantly, is it safe?

thank you for any answers To get a good idea of what overclocking does [google] pcstats & type in overclocking.Thank you, I'm checking it out now If you aren't carefull and overclock to much then you can start overheating components and can cause their life span to be shorter. Just be carefull with how much you overclock and you won't have any worries.reading articles on it right now. I don't want to do it until I fully understand what it is I'm doing.I've over clocked my Processor using 'nTune' but that came with my motherboard

Over-clocking is pretty safe as long as you have enough Power and a couple of Fans

But looking at your Spec's it doesn't really look like you need to over-clock, you've got a pretty good computer there.

Crysis is all about the graphics card, so to get better performance then just buy another one. They're easy to install and should make a difference. Just make sure you buy the same Card, because you can't mix and match on topic of overclocking, how much overclocking could my system handle you think, with stability still good enough? (I'm just wondering .... not intending to overclock anytime soon)styx3, ignore saint_hades please. Your system should handle Crysis fine.
If you want to attempt overclocking, read up a lot before you start. Do not use software utilities or auto settings, it's likely you'll damage soemthing that way. As long as you take it slow and don't change anything unless you know exactly what you're changing and what it will affect, you should be fine.

mcxeb52, it's impossible to say how far you can overclock. Even the same motherboard/CPU/RAM etc will have minor differences that could mean one set will not overclock at all, and the other will do handstands. The only way to tell is to try it.If i were going to OverClock that, i would stop at 3.2, unless you tend to love your cooling. Get watercooling, couple of fans, place it in a freezer, and you would be good at 4.0 o.0, but i doubt you want to do thatyuki953, do you have experience with overclocking?
Why would you stop at a certain speed? The limitations are temperature and voltage, nothing else.i know, thats why im saying, to not go past 3.2 otherwise you might over HEATAND you know for a fact that past 3.2GHz the CPU will overheat?well, i dont, but it never hurts to be safe.

Hi,

I am having a p4 pc. And my mother board model No. is i845GV .
The problem is that yesterday when i was assembling my pc.
I was unable to connect the pc front panel connection.
That is (Power SW, Reset SW, Power Led, Hdd Led, Speaker and USB).
i Have taken this machine from another person. So i dont have a manual of this
mother board. And on mother board it is not written where to put which pin.
So please suggest me how should i connect it.
One of my friend told me to switch on the pc . And CHECK it by shorting 2 pins.
so i didn't understand what he meant to say. how to do sorting on motherboard.

Please reply me so that i assemble it. Because i have done every thing . Only front panel connection is remaining.

Regards,

Anjeep
You need to get the exact manufacturer and model of the motherboard.
This is usually printed on it in quite LARGE letters - a few common manufacturers would be Asus, Gigabyte, Abit.
Go to this manufacturer's support website and type in the model number, then find the manual for it.
There, you will be ABLE to see the front panel connections.
What your friend is referring to is shorting the power button pins, which does the same as pressing the power button. Useless in this case as you don't know which pins you would need to short, but a handy tip.So please suggest me some idea of how to do shorting. Or tell me if i could learn little bit about shorting from any website. It's just literally using a screwdriver, or other METAL object, to connect the TWO pins very briefly.
Just touch them, and it closes the circuit.

do you THINK BFG power supplies GOOD for the money? I expect BFG's power supplies are good quality just like their graphics cards are. but is performance/price ratio on them good?The NEWER BFG UNITS are very good quality.

Hey guys and GALS... okay heres the situation... Earlier this morning my COMPUTER would not start. I then Unplugged it etc... messed with it. The somehow it started. After I sent it to Hibernate it NEVER came back again. I've taken off the battery etc.. nothing. The blue light where the power cord connects turn on when i plug it in. Which makes me think its not totally dead! What else can I try?? is there any form of reset??

I should also add it is an HP Pavilion dv2000 with a Vista O/SDoes it work without the battery, only running on AC? (I'm guessing this is a laptop)OOPS YES my Laptop. Battery is dead Im assuming.ahh- but if the battery was dead- would it not turn on via the adapter? (without battery).

try turning it on with only the battery, only AC, as well as both.yes just that my battery was not CHARGING due to the fact that I took off the battery for awhile with the intent of maybe resetting it. But even then b4 all of this Itried it both batery or just plugIm guessing you either left it on all night, or overclocked it, without cooling properly

hi
how can i convert some video connector to each other?

COMPOSITE video<<==>>dvi
dvi<<==>>s_video
vga<<==>>dvi
and other port.
you can see the LIST of them in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_connectors

thanksYou can buy an adapter. Your local computer SHOP should have them.

like these:
http://www.nextag.com/dvi-to-vga-adapter/search-htmlthanks JJ


and what the other?
composite video<<==>>dvi
dvi<<==>>s_video

there is many video connector.

I have a popup when powering up my computer... It reads:

"Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Program: C:\programfiles\DISC\DISCover.exe"

This application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information."

I also find my DVD burner will not read the DVD at all. For background, this happened right after I attempted to install a second CD burner, and plugged it in to the existing slave cable connection. Couldn't get it to work, and thats when the popup BEGAN. Removed the second unit, but the popup continues.
ANY SUGGESTIONS how to alleviate the popup, AND get my DVD burner functional once again? It's the ORIGINAL burner that came with my HP tower, if that helps... And it worked fine prior to my messing with things.
Quote from: Rumrumm on November 22, 2008, 09:52:38 PM

this happened right after I attempted to install a second CD burner, and plugged it in to the existing slave cable connection. Couldn't get it to work, and thats when the popup began.

Yes, I have 2 types of anti-virus running

If you can find someone, great, but it's really simple to make that CD/DVD.
If you go to my link, all you have to is to download, and install Image Burn, for instance. From there, there are only 3 steps to make a disk:

1. Browse to the ISO-file you want to burn
2. SELECT the ISO file and right-mouse-click now
3. CHOOSE "Burn using ImgBurn"

You're done.Ok,All I have to do is go to the neosmart link you gave and download the WINDOWS Vista RECOVERY disc,then go to your instructions and burn the Cd.When I download the Windows Vista Recovery from the neosmart site will it ask to "save" or "run" the download,if so do I save it to desktop so I can find it to burn the Cd? then next follow your directions to burn it.Told you I was a beginner.As you can PROBABLY tell I have never burned anything. Yeah, save iso to your desktop, and then proceed with the 3 steps listed above.Thankyou very much ,I will try this and get back to you if successful.Thanks you've been very helpful.
Thanks, Bring us good news

I have a HP vectra vl420mt I picked up because it was password locked, and the previous OWNER didn't want to hassle with its repair. I removed the hard drive to CHECK the size and found that it was an 80GB. I partitioned the drive with the fdisk command on the MS-DOS OS and it would only let me partition 10,400 some odd MB. It allotted 3% for the active partition and 6% for the extended and logic partitions. where did the other 71,000 MB go. Is this a sign of a defective hard drive.No. Why did you have to format the drive? Have you read the manual? You can not format the whole drive because it is locked.
BEST thing to do is contact HP and/or go to the web site. If you have the serial number, they will give you help with the machine. I should have said that I was able to unlock the machine by RESETTING a SWITCH inside and shutting down. I was locked out of the BIOS setup.


Do you have pets?[/b] 4 cats

Just wondering... I TRIED installing a ten gigabyte hard drive, and for some reason it detected it as about 8.x gigabytes in the bios. The computer is a M55Hi-Plus from about 1996, and had a 1GB HDD when I got it. What do you PREDICT the hard drive limit is? From research, I've determined it's about 8GB. Is this about right do you think? It's by Micronics, which went out of business or something a wile ago so I cannot contact them.

P.S., the BIOS is by phoenix, version 4.05.
P.P.S., I'm not a caveman, it's for a science project.
P.P.P.S., Windows XP Pro SP2 is OS to be installed, so not an OS limitation.

EDIT:: Source: http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/sizeGB8.htmlTry updating the BIOS. Back then few BIOS could read past 8 GIgs. Let us know the out come. Code: [Select]P.P.S., I'm not a caveman, it's for a science project. WinkBut you need a caveman to RUN it!
Maybe you should find a copy of Windows 3.11 to be authentic.
If you upgrade the BIOS, it will lose its historical value.

Quote from: just wana play gears on November 21, 2008, 07:19:40 AM

wargame-g4wlive .exe has encountered a problem and NEEDS to shut down.

I have a 250g Western Digital internal HARD drive (L:/) which is only used for a GENEALOGY program. After having a "could not open" problem with the genealogy program, I decided to reformat this same internal hard drive. A few minutes into the disk reformatting our electrical power failed and there was no back up power supply.

The hard drive still appears under "My Computer" and asks me if I want to reformat the drive. I click "yes" and it starts FORMATTING but never finishes.

I'm running Vista Premium and a Western Digital Internal SATA Hard Drive.

Any help fixing the problem will be GREATLY appreciated.

[Saving space - attachment deleted by admin]Try running the Data Lifeguard Tools ( Free ) from WD's website and SEE if they will complete....
Choose remove all partitions and then re-create them.
NOTE: It needs to be formatted after you create the new partition/sThanks Patio. I forgot that I had a CD from Western Digital that came with the drive. I put that little guy in and it cleaned up the mess in less than 2 minutes. It did rename the L:/ Drive to DRV3_VOL 1 (L:) but it works. Thanks again for your help! Good News !

Hi, I have been given a Sony 8gb Microvault memory stick which the computer "sees" when I plug it in as a Removable Disk but when I try to access it, it says Please Insert a Disk into the Drive.

Do I NEED special drivers or program to be able to use it.

Regards,

DaveDoes it LOOK like this?



What is the model number?Hi Diasverano,
Thanks for the reply, it doesn't look like that. It is sort of elongated oval shape and only has Sony and MICRO VAULT USB 2 on the case, when you take the protective end piece off, under the plastic it says 8gb.

Regards,

DaveHi Again Dias,

Since sending the above reply I've Googled the Sony and it looks as if it's an old model as all the pictures of Sony USB drives have square ends, mine as I say has rounded ends and is not flat it is oval in shape and about 60mm long and 25mm acroos

Regards,

DaveDoes it work on other machines ? ?
Do you already have data on there ?

Some USB sticks have a tiny micro switch on them for security purposes...look closely they are easy to miss.hi Patio,
I've not GOT another machine to try it on and I've no idea if there is anything on it as the computer just ask's to insert a disk, I've looked closely at the thing and there doesn't appear to be any sort on switch etc.

DaveSounds like it could be faulty. Perhaps that is why you were given it.Thats a possibility Dias!,
So really I don't need drivers for USB Memory sticks and if they don't work then they are PROBABLY faulty.

Anyway thanks for your help,

Regards

DaveNo it shouldn't need drivers unless it's an older OS like Win98 or ME...
Try it on another machine before you bin it...OK Patio,

Thanks

DaveQuote from: davecabezo on November 23, 2008, 01:01:07 PM

Thats a possibility Dias!,
So really I don't need drivers for USB Memory sticks and if they don't work then they are probably faulty.

Anyway thanks for your help,

Regards

Dave

Hey CH,

I have a question about the dell dimmension 3000 bios upgrade.

Currently, I'm running "PHOENIX rom bios plus version 1.10 a2" and it supports up to 3.0ghz processors. I wanted to upgrade to BIOS A3, and wanted to know what that will support.

Dell tries to help...

Code: [Select]The following changes have been made to BIOS rev A02 to create A03:

1. Add support for newer processors
... but as usual, they FAIL at customer service. (taken from dell's "support" website).

Google didn't help MUCH, but I could hve been phrasing my keywords incorrectly.

I know that on bios a2, the dimmension can handle up to a 3.2GHz P4, socket 478, but what exactly the newer processor speeds are, remains a mystery. (*hopes for dual core*)

Any information REGARDING what the new BIOS version can support would be greatly appreciated.

Hopeful Regards,
ImageThe highest speed CPU a Socket478 board will support is a 3.4ghz...
So for +.2 gain in CPU speed is a BIOS flash really worth it ? ?
Flashing the BIOS incorrectly can result in an unbootable machine.

Have an older computer with a Biostar M7MKA motherboard,the ISA BUS SLOTS are 16 bit but no mention of pci slots bits.Want to install an Dynex DX-E102 NETWORK card that requires a pci 32bit slot and not sure if it will work.Also the Dynex card comes with software that doesnt cover the Windows 98SE OS.There are ADAPTERS for this purpose...
http://www.costronic.com/Ev71p.htm

However if the network card does not have native Win98 drivers it will probably not work.
You will need to find a card that has Win98 Drivers.

Hi guys, I need some help and suggestions with a computer upgrade I will be doing for the first time in my life.....
I've been studying computer builds on Google, and i thought experience is better than simple knowledge that i got from studying on Google, so here it goes.

I'm trying to upgrade my computer in graphics.
My current Specs:
Computer: Acer AM5100-U5201A (Micro ATX i believe?)
CPU: AMD 64 X2 4400+ at 2.2 Ghz
MOBO: AMD 690G with Socket AM2 with 3ghz max CPU speed WITH a PCIE X 16 (Not a 2.0 PCIe THOUGH could be bottleneck?)
GPU: (built-in the MOBO) RADEON X1250
PSU: a mere 250 watt. Stock.
RAM: 3 gigs

I want to get a 9800GT from MSI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127381

but i need at least 400w for that card so im getting it with a 500 Watt Apevia (good company?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148038
it has dual 12V rails [emailprotected], [emailprotected], which I think meets the requirements for the MSI 9800GT

First Question is that could my current spec be bottlenecking this upgrade? My MOBO is old and small and my CPU aint bad but I just want to ask.

2nd Question: MOBO, CPU, GPU, and PSU compatibility. Basically if you have a 4 pin for CPU and 24 pin for MOBO connector, it is compatible for the MOBO and PSU right?
And I will need a 6 pin PCIe connector for my GPU which I already get with my PSU.

3rd Question: Size??? I get about 8 inches for my SATA ports to stay open. But if it is a single slot, i dont think it will block my SATAs as long as its not thick. Problem is that this card is a dual slot. I dont know the exact dimensions of this card, but it looks like a standard, long card... which usually are about 9" long?
Pictures:

http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00173.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00176.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00177.jpg

PSU size: My current PSU size is 5 3/8" x 5 7/8" x 3 3/8" LxWxH with possible human ERROR...
The one i am going to buy is 5.5" x 5.9" x 3.3" (L x W x H) Which is REALLY close to what my current is...... should .2 inches matter in fitting a PSU?

Pictures:
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00171.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00172.jpg

I know this is a very selfish and long post guys really sorry..but i really need help on my upgrade1. That spec shouldn't cause a major bottleneck.
2. If the PSU provides enough power and has the right connectors, it's compatible.
3. The 9800GT is about 8-9 inches long. You could buy a single slot card, but in small cases it might still cause problems. From your pictures I think the card would fit, but only just.

A powerful video card throws out a lot of heat, and in a small case like that there's not gong to be much ventilation. I'd recommend you buy a new case, or look into improving the cooling on that one. Any fans in the ase currently? Any space to add more fans?

I'd also recommend you choose a different PSU - after rebate, this better quality OCZ unit is $5 more.I do currently have an exhaust fan right by the CPU Fan, 120mm really slow but quiet, but i think can attach another one if i have to right on my case door because there are grills with holes there.

As for the PSU, as long as it is an ATX PSU, is it guaranteed to fit in any ATX case? because my Acer is i think a mATX?

http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/Acer-Aspire-M5100-A180-5100.jpg

But my stock PSU is very close in dimensions to the OCZ PSU you recommended me
OCZ: 150 x 140 x 86mm (W x L x H)
Stock: 5 3/8" x 5 7/8" x 3 3/8" LxWxH ATX PSUs will fit in any ATX case. Your PSU sounds very close to ATX standards, not sure if another will fit or not.
You might want to ask Acer about that.
As for ventilation, two 120mm fans, one front and one back, should give enough airflow for a decent card.Thanks for the advice
Although i cant add a fan to the front theres really no space for it...
As for the PSU i mailed Acer

and i found another similar card but it has better cooling on it

Better cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127379

A little bit overclocked version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127381

Which do you recommend? they are pretty much the same except in cooling vs Overclock

I made a paper model of the width and the LENGTH only cause the height dont really matter:
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00179.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00180.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00181.jpg
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/Speairs/DSC00182.jpg

Length was 220mm and width was 33mm (because its dual slot)
Blocks only 1 SATA port out of 4, and i only plan to use 1 HD so i think im safe for the fitting
Well, it's up to you.
I would not have a 9800GT in a case without any air intake myself.

Hey, my Windows Movie Maker is acting really UGH lately. It freezes up and lags so I have to pull up Task Manager and close it from there. It's gotten to the point where I can't even put a picture on the timeline without it freezing up again.
Since I like to make videos to put on YOUTUBE, this is a REALLY big inconvenience. Can someone help me?

Here's the information about my computer.
(I copied this from the control panel. Not sure which info to put...)

Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 3

Hewlett-Packard
Pavilion
Intel (R)
Celeron (R)
CPU 1.80GHz
1.79GHz, 256 MB of RAMJust CURIOSITY - do you GET asked to submit an error report to MS.? if so - can you glean any info from that as to details.Quote from: ChrisXPPro on November 22, 2008, 06:47:44 PM

Just curiosity - do you get asked to submit an error report to MS.? if so - can you glean any info from that as to details.