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I have a Dell Inspiron 530s slim form factor PC that I would like to upgrade the video card on. I play the Sims 2 and would like a better graphics card. (Right now I'm using the onboard.) Can any one suggest one? I bought an e-Geforce 6200 graphics card on AMAZON and it ended up that I didn't have a powerful enough power supply to support this card. (It is a 250W max, +12v 17 amp.) This card needed 18 amps. Every time I tried to power the system on, the fan would spin and the power light would stay a STEADY orange and wouldn't power on. If you need any other details, I'm at work and will get back to you later on. Thanks for any suggestions you can give!With a 250W PSU, you won't be upgrading video cards, if a 6200 won't work there's nothing out there for you.
Also, with a small form factor PC, better PSUs and indeed video cards will be hard to find.
Sorry to be the bearer of BAD news, but you'd need a new case and PSU, and very likely motherboard before you could consider an upgrade.Wow, that'll teach me to go for the cheaper pc. From now on I'm going with the full towers instead of the slim form factors. Thanks for the advice. Here's another question, do all Dells come with a 250w power supply? I have three of them and two have a 250w and one has a 200w.Not all Dells come with a 250W, but most come with PSUs that are just adequate for the system they're in, and not much more, to prevent upgrades.
It's all to do with profit - you want to upgrade your Dell? heresy! But . . . we'll sell you a proprietary PSU for an extortionate amount of money, and you'll buy it because nothing else will fit in your case or work with the also proprietary mobo!
ATX standard cases are always best in terms of upgradeability, micro-ATX aren't too bad, but proprietary slimline boxes as sold by Dell, HP, etc are just no good. I've been STUNG by the same thing myself with a Compaq, although that was a decent machine apart from the fact that nothing else fit in it.
Sorry for rambling by the way.Keep in mind also NEVER use a Dell PSU in another machine as they are propietary and can damage another machine as they are most times wired differently...

Seagate 160G drive in an Acer Aspire T650 with XP Home fresh install. When I run the Seagate tool to test the drive it will run the LONG scan OK. When I run the short scan it locks up @ 60%. I exit the program reboot and neither the BIOS nor the program sees the drive. I disconnect power to the system / reconnect & power up and bingo...drive is back but still fails the short test. I've swapped controller ports and data cable / don't have any PSU to try as they are on order as well as hard drives.

Ok, I've just tried running the long test again and it "passes" running only 1 or 2 seconds.

What do you think? HDD, controller, PSU?

Alan <>< My money's on the hdd.

Is there any way to tell if my graphics card has been replaced? I let a friend "fix" my computer PROBLEM I was having and now my computer is running much slower.This won't help much but - I'd have THOUGHT if a card had been replaced your buddy would want some cash! Or did you pay him anyways?

Numerous things could potentially slow things down - and so I'd ask him exactly what he did - then tell us here.He fixed the problem that I was unable to find out here. My laptop deskktop icons were all gone and I was only able to access anything thru the task manager. I think he simply reinstalled windows explorer.

What I meant was that he might have replaced my graphics card with one that is not as good as. No money was paid. I'm creating a logo for him and he fixed my problem.

My computer was never this slow. I did install a new McAfee Internet protector but I would assume that that wouldn't slow it down while I'm in Photoshop or a program.

Any ideas?I remember your original problem.

Downgrading your graphics card would not be a welcome ''fix''! I don't think McAfee should slow you down the way you describe.

Not at all sure what could be at the bottom of your troubles but - sounds like something is ''bottle-necking''. I assume you still have all your RAM in place?!

You have no puter specs listed so - might be useful to know something about your machine - just in case - and whether the Explorer install was all that was done. Explorer is PART of Win anyways so not quite sure how he did a reinstall!.

No ideas right now - let's see if others can think of something.A laptop video card can't usually be changed. And even when it can, the card that came out would only work in exactly the same model laptop.

I doubt he took your video card.

As Chris pointed out, its more likely he swapped RAM. Right click "My Computer" (its in the start menu if its not on your desktop) and choose properties. Select the general tab, see how much memory you have, and then look at your original receipt and see if it matches.

Anti Virus programs can make your system slower because they typically sniff every byte of data that is moving around the system. They sniff all network TRANSACTIONS, every file you or the system touches. I suggest you remove it and see if the speed returns. If it does you have your culprit.

I run AVG on my Windows PCs, as an individual you can GET it for free: http://free.avg.com

In my experience, AVG does not steal as many resources as Norton or McAfee.

You can also see how much memory McAfee is taking by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL (once) and choosing the Task Manager. Then look on the processes tab and see how much memory its taking. On my Virtual Machine here at work McAfee is only taking a few megs.

You should also consider that McAfee might be running an automated scan, that will severely slow down even the fastest of computers. You should be able to check that status by hovering the cursor over the McAfee icon on the right side of the task bar.What did he say he did to "fix" this machine ? ?

Ok so i have a passport sized picture which i have to scan at the following SPECIFICATIONS but i have no idea on how to:

Scanner RESOLUTION : 150 dpi
Image file FORMAT : JPEG
Image file size : less than 62kb
Image resolution : 300 by 300 pixels
Image color depth : 24 bit color

Please help me someoneHello! Welcome to CH!

Do you have your own scanner? What model?brand?

SameerK,What is the software you have available to do work on photos?truenorthi do not own a scanner.

i am gonna scan it from a public library.

i am guessing the scanner there is an epson? hp?SameerK, This is a forum designed to help people with computer problems. it is expected that you need help with some piece of "hardware" that you either own or are thinking of owning. I would suggest that you TAKE your specs to the library or another commercial store in the business of making photo copies and present your criteria and see if they can meet them.truenorth

I just got a GIGABYTE motherboard with an AMD dual core 4800 and a BFG Nvidia 9600 card with 512 memory. The cards minimum requirements are 400 watts and thats what I got but for some reason I will be playing a game for about 15MIN and the computer will just turn off. Anyone have any Ideasno expert in this bit I once had a similar problem, I left the cover off the PC to keep it cooler and it worked. I later added more COOLING fans, put the cover back on and never had the problem since !!

You spend hours checking configs etc but it could be as simple as that !!

good luck.hm, Im going to try that right now. I thought that i might not have enough power. thanks I will get back to yeahOverheating is pretty good possibility.
Did you check your computer temps while playing? fixed it!! turns out it was overheating and I was thinking it might because my box is really too small. thanks for all the help guys.Clean INSIDE of your computer with compressed air, and INSTALL extra fans, if necessary.

Hi all,

I formatted and reinstalled Win2kPro (dual boot w/Ubuntu 8.040) and used the opportunity to install a USB 2.0/Firewire PC Card that has always been balky with a WDC 250GB ext USB drive.. I've just been using my laptop's native USB 1.0 port instead.

I figured that since the registry was now pristine, I would have the best shot at getting the PC Card to work.

So I installed the card. My firewire connection worked, the WDC drive showed up in My Computer. Then, as I started dragging backed up folders onto my laptop, it blue-screened (which didn't stay "on" so I don't have any idea of what the messages were) and then I think it started an auto-reboot or it WENT black.

I didn't want any problems with the registry, as I want a great Ghost image once it's all put together, so I formatted the C: and reinstalled Windows, again.

I plugged my WDC into my laptop's native USB 1.0 port, Windows recognized it and installed the USB drivers for it and there were no "warnings" splashed upon my screen. But there is no icon for the external drive in My Computer.

I'm pretty sure that there is a software issue with the WDC drive caused by the original firewire debacle. I'm also pretty sure that I need to replace the corrupted data on the WDC drive that is now keeping it from showing up in the My Computer window.

OR - is there another way to access this drive sans My Computer?

I don't want to boot to DOS and manually copy the folders and huge Ghost image files back onto my laptop and then format the WDC drive and rebuild IT..........unless I have to.

I'd try using this ext drive under Ubuntu, but I don't know the first thing about it...and this is not a Linux forum..


Thanks in advance for the help.


Dell Inspiron 4100
Win2kPro/Ubuntu 8.04
512MB RAM
PIII 866mhzWhat make is this USB/Firewire card ? ?
You mention drivers for the WD drive...do you mean you used WD software initially to SET up that external drive ?
I've heard nothing but bad things about the MyBook software or whatever it's called...
Please clarify...and in the meantime travel to Control Panel/Sustem/Advanced/Startup and Recovery...uncheck auto restart on errors and re-boot.

This means the next time you get a bluescreen you will be able to write down the error message for us. Include all the numbers and letters.

I still suspect a faulty card though...Patio, SORRY for the incomplete info in my original post...

The PC card is a cheap piece of junk. I know, I know. It's a Syba. I've had it set up before using USB 2.0. This time I wanted to see if the firewire would work with my ext drive. What is it they say about curiosity and the cat??

The ext drive is a WDC Combo 250GB. I didn't use any WDC or any other software with it. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that there was SOME type of software on it. Don't ask me why.

It has worked flawlessly for a long time. I love it. Now it is not "seen" by Windows ever since that BSOD moment..

Once again, thatns for your help!Patio,

Please disregard all of the above... after posting a few moments ago, I thought I'd fire up the hardware that we've been talking about, and voila!, Windows displays "New Hardware Found" and "USB Mass Storage Device" windows and it reinstalls the ext drive...I transferred some files off of it to make sure, and it works just fine.

Don't know why it suddenly decided to do the right thing, but I'm not going to quibble.

I've had nothing but problems/issues with this machine ever since setting up the Ubuntu partition... mainly that Windows used to utilize 250MB of RAM during NORMAL operation, now it only uses 75MB or so (runs slower)... and it boots to Linux as a default at startup, which I certainly didn't want.. ah-- the joys of computing!

Sorry for the false alarm, but it's always good to "hear" from you nonetheless.
Enjoy the holiday tomorrow.Thanx and you do the same...
That memory issue is not normal so something is amiss with your Ubuntu install.
They recently had a Security Advisory and suggested all users update to the latest Distro so it may be a good time to re-do this beast...I downloaded the .iso image about 12 days ago. It's Ubuntu 8.04. But I had intended to download the security patches..eventually.

I'll just keep reading that 900 page Linux Bible, and experimenting....and posting over at the Linux FORUMS of course!Linux can be a wonderful experiment and Ubuntu is an excellent choice...
Best of Luck to ya...

I see!!!!!!!!!!! I sure am glad my monitor hasn't taken up smoking like that other GUYS.... Don't you worry. We have COUPLE of firefighters AROUND here, as well Thanks will post TOMORROW. Have a great EVENING...

I recently replaced my cooked Asus socket A motherboard with a ASRock K7S41GX socket A 426 and My system will not boot.
I followed all the steps setforth in the user Manual including CHECKING the boards cpu fsb which is set at 333mhz as was my old board and Ram pc 2700 ddr333 which is correct also.
I've replaced serval motherboards in the past without and real issues yet for some reason when I power this one it refuses to boot-up.
When I power up the cpu fan comes on, as well as the power led and HD led. You can hear the harddrive start but thats it.
I've tried disconnecting the harddrive and I still can even get the system bios. Could my cpu have been cooked when my Old board shorted at the lower two atx connectors?
This really has me stummped because I'm fairly certain its something I can fix easily.DOUBLE and triple check all connections.
Are you sure the RAM wasn't damaged when the old MOBO died?
Do you have another mobo you could use to test them?Quote from: Deerpark on July 12, 2008, 09:20:53 AM

Double and triple check all connections.

I recently replaced my cooked Asus socket A motherboard ...Could my cpu have been cooked when my Old board shorted at the lower two atx connectors?

Double and triple check all connections.
Are you sure the RAM wasn't damaged when the old mobo died?
Do you have another mobo you could use to test them?

Quote from: Deerpark on July 12, 2008, 09:20:53 AM

Double and triple check all connections.

And then do it again!

Is new board "new" or used? If used, are you sure that it worked before?

Quote from: yort on July 12, 2008, 08:26:48 AM

I recently replaced my cooked Asus socket A motherboard ...Could my cpu have been cooked when my Old board shorted at the lower two atx connectors?

What happened to the old board? Have you tested the: PSU, RAM, CPU, harddrive, video card in another known good system? Hard to tell what may have gotten "cooked," but, I would advise verifying your components before spending a lot of time troubleshooting; although, I think that I might remove and re-seat the RAM and do the same with the CPU.

Quote from: drmsucks on July 12, 2008, 10:32:41 AM

Quote from: Deerpark on July 12, 2008, 09:20:53 AM

Double and triple check all connections.

And then do it again!

Is new board "new" or used? If used, are you sure that it worked before?

Quote from: yort on July 12, 2008, 08:26:48 AM

I recently replaced my cooked Asus socket A motherboard ...Could my cpu have been cooked when my Old board shorted at the lower two atx connectors?

What happened to the old board? Have you tested the: PSU, RAM, CPU, harddrive, video card in another known good system? Hard to tell what may have gotten "cooked," but, I would advise verifying your components before spending a lot of time troubleshooting; although, I think that I might remove and re-seat the RAM and do the same with the CPU.

i have toshiba tecra m1 and when i want to start it it can not start windows it shows a mesage HDD paswordAnd ? ? ?well i cant start the windows it is the first mesage to recive i cant start the bios tooHow long have you had this machine ? ?
Is it a laptop ?
Laptop security measures are not easily bypassed or defeated...
More info.it is a laptop toshiba tecra m1 and i have it a couple of years. It is a toshiba hdd it is not the original HD i replaced it a MONTH AGO i bought it from i friend of MINE and it was working good i dont know why this hapendA password protect especially a HDD one won't simply appear out of nowhere...does anyone else have access to this machine ? ?before this mesage apears the hdd started to make a noise and when i restarted it the os ASKED me how do i want to start the windows (normal, last good configuration etc...) i CHOOSED normal and it take a long time to start it so i restarted and the mesega came out ( built in HDD pasword) help please i need my documents

I have spent hours trying to get the black to print. I have purchase and installed several new black cartridges. I have installed a new print head that cost like $60 bucks to no avail. I have tried to download from canon new drivers or to get tech HELP but their SITE doesn't SEEM to be working now for several weeks. The color works FINE. Very strange, any ideas?

ok my computer runs windows xp
my dvd drive use to burn dvd movies but now it does not dont know y
i burn on nero 7
it STILL BURNS music but dvd it will not it acts like it doing it takes like 1hour to burn
but when done it says burn ERRO COULD not burn and the dvd looks like it has data on it
but nothing
i have to dvd drives if that helps
need help if its out thereso you have 2 dvd drives and none of them will burn dvds but they burn cds just fine right?yes
but my top drive does not pick up any cd and that because because
i need to change it to slave could that affect the burning for the second one
that works just fine

Hi

I uninstalled my secondary ide because I was having PROBLEMS with my DVD drive. I didn't think it would be a problem since I have seen the same advice given out by Patio to someone else. Problem now is i have a yellow question mark for the secondary ide device. How do i CORRECT this? Thanks!Go into Device Manage / right-click the secondary drive / CHOOSE uninstall / reboot / check DM after reboot.

Alan <>< I uninstalled it again, but it keeps comming back with a yellow mark.Not sure why Windows didn't fix this as it usually does 95% of the time but you could do no harm by re-installing your MBoard drivers...

Are you sure the cable is snug both at the MBoard and drive connector ? ?
Try another cable for a coupla bucks if all else fails.

If everything listed here does not produce JOY joy then there may be a problem with the MBoard...

Hello. I am starting back up in school, and do not need anything advanced in terms of the laptop I use. As of now, I own a laptop that is 4 years old. It is in great shape minus one problem. The battery if not plugged into the CHARGER wears down after only about a half hour. My question is whether I should buy a whole new laptop for school, or if buying a new battery for my computer will be good enough. Thank you for your time.Only you can REALLY make that decision - find out the COST of a new battery (probably +/- $100) and compare to the cost of a new laptop. NOTE that the new laptop will (most likely) have Vista so don't skimp on specs: at LEAST 2 GB mem; at least 2.0 GHZ, dual core processor.

Good luck - enjoy school!

The case is an Antec NSK 1380. It has a 350 watt PSU that is made just for that case. The case is a cube case or SFF if you like. It is made for MATX motherboards. I used this case to build my wife's computer. It is a nice case. It is the smallest case I could find that would fit where I have to place it. The only problem is that I can't find a 600 watt PSU to fit in the case with out cutting the case up. They say that the PSU is ATX, *censored* I can't find a 600watt unit to replace it. So the question was do you know of a short, 13" deep case that I could use that will TAKE a 600 watt PSU?You're not listening.....Clik Here and SCROLL down to where it explains the differences in size in the 3 types of PSU's....then you only need to decide on a manufacturer as most good ones make all 3 sizes.Patio, I did listen. Infact I picked up a Micro ATX and it didn't work. If I turned it up to where the fan and electrical adaptor came out the top I cold have used it. I will try and explain. The power supply in the case is 6"X6" and 3"deep. The 6X6 AREA holds the fan and it comes out the back. The power adaptor comes out the 3" side from a cord and attaches to the back of the case over the expansion slots. From the back of the power supply to the drive cage is only 1.5" so the PSU can't be any more than 3"deep or I couldn't hook up the drives or if it was more than 4.5" deep it will hit the drive bay. The only way the 400watt unit wold fit was if I turned it till the fan and electrical adaptor were turned till they came out the top of the case. There are a lot of PSU that are 6X6 and the fan is in that area but they don't have the electrical adaptor come out be side the fan in the 6X6 area. I hope I got that across this time. Any way I have taken the quad back and picked up a CORE 2 duo. That saved me 40 watts. The video CARD that I am using only uses 36 watts. I will only be using 2gigs of memory that saves me 30 more. I have been told that by changing out the motherboard and not using RAID I can get well under the 350watt limit of the power supply. Thank you for your time. You're Welcome and Welcome Aboard !

I have a system that displayed the following message at boot:

\windows\system32\config\system FILE MISSING

I reloaded windows and the system seemed to be working for about a couple of weeks then one day when I was working on a webcam software program, all of a sudden the device DRIVERS to one of the video cards was missing. I re-installed the drivers. System working again for a week or so.

Now once again I get the "\windows\system32\config\system file missing" at boot.

Any suggestions on if this a hardware vrs software issue? I am leaning towards hardware but do not know if its the motherboard, memory or hard drive. Is there anyway to find out?

Thanks for any help
Don

Try here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545Corruption in the registry.

The above link should SOLVE everything Quote from: donbrown01 on July 06, 2008, 11:32:19 PM

Any suggestions on if this a hardware vrs software issue? I am leaning towards hardware but do not know if its the motherboard, memory or hard drive. Is there anyway to find out?

Hey EVERYONE, I'm having an "interesting" problem with my PC. It says that I have 80 gigs left on a 120 gig HD. The problem is, I've only had my computer for a month now, and there is no way I've used up 40 gigs worth of space. I used a HD scan - treesize - which shows I've only used about 10 gigs of HD space.

Does anyone know why there is this discrepancy between what the HD says I have left and what the HD scanner says I have. This problem is really annoying, since the computer seems to be telling me I'm losing about a gig of HD space a DAY. Yesterday it was 85, today it's 83.Where are you seeing the reported sizes ? ?
EASIEST way would be to open Windows Explorer and see where th largest files are...where I'm getting the sizes is from clicking "properties" on the C drive, where it gives the quick BREAKDOWN of used/unused space.OK...
Did you try what was suggested YET ? ?

One other thing clear the cmos if you dont know how then remove battery for appx. 20 min. re set time in bios after CLEARING cmosXavier, Thank you. Im going to give that a try today and tommorrow it should be fixed (hopefully).
Start up hit Ctl Alt d (for diagnose).
I'll take it slowly and go through it all step by step.
I'll format a 13 gig drive IDE and install that tonight to test out the system.
Id like to thank everyone that offered help on my problem.
Hopefully these last few steps will cure it all. Thanks.Let us know If after you install the ide drive and it is recognised, why nor put your os on that and then try the sata drive Xavier, thanks Ive tried to replace the cd drive with another, (just now actually), but the computer doesnt see it.
I put the 13 GIG drive in, it has win98se on it and so far (touch wood) it operates. plays SOLITARE completely. there isnt anything else on the drive except Win 98 and the cd doesnt work so I cant load any other programs on it.

When I use add new HARDWARE, the cd player isnt found. When I pick out cd player from the menu list it tells me I dont have a cd player installed. Also the bios doesnt have the cd player installed either.
Im just going through the bios settings and changing them one by one and rebooting the computer. Do you have a fast way of getting the cdplayer installed?Very early on in the XP install process there is a prompt "Press F6 to install SATA/RAID drivers".....
At that point press F6 and have your Dell Driver disc handy.Quote from: ImnoGuru on August 30, 2008, 11:30:02 AM

I put the 13 GIG drive in, it has win98se on it

HI ALL!


The home business I am now doing requires A LOT of faxing and printing.

So, I need a super douper FAX, Scanner, Printer. Plus I need it under $200.

I saw a nice HP at Walmart and since my computer is HP I thought that one is good. It accepted flashdrives, and has everything I need. It is $136 and we have a NON tax day coming up in 2 weeks.

BUT, I want some feedback in this. ONCE I buy it, this machine will be my life BLOOD for my business. I don't need one good enough for photos. I need to to scan, print, and fax A LOT of stuff clearly. The ink needs ot be easy to find.

So, what is the opinion of the group on this TYPE of equipment?

(This place is my savior - I never do anything related to technology without coming here for advice! )


These are some of the examples of what I am LOOKING at... BUT not final decisions yet.

I am worried about the small things that you never find out until you have used a product for some time. IF YOU have a favorite FAX, Scanner, Printer, please tell me about it.


http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5715444

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9886615


This one is not HP – Which worries me –
MY HP does not seem to like to play well with others....

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7757641

I'd stick with HP ... Most all-in-ones are $99 to $200 with the inkjet printing type. Although it really depends on your printing volume as to which one to go with. To try to find one that will last you with a large volume going through it and be under $200 is pretty tight. Most of the all-in-ones that are inkjet like the Officejet series are throw aways, they work for 1 or 2 years depending on how much volume they print and then the plastic gears, springs, and other mechanicals wear making it tempermental or break and become DOA.

You might be able to find a refurb HP Laserjet type all in one with a warranty which will be able to handle more volume. Also the Laser type all-in-ones are supported for repairs by Authorized HP Dealing Computer repair shops, while the Officejet inkjet types are throw aways.

I am still thinking that a refurb laser printing type all-in-one HP is still going to run you above $300 though. If you can see yourself replacing this piece of hardware once every year or 2 years if you are lucky and dont mind all the $$$ INK $$$ that it will consume, then the Officejet Inkjet type is the way to go... But if you want a model to have for say the next 5-6 years and cheaper Toner printing vs $20 - $30 a piece small ink cartridges since you should be able to print about 2500 SHEETS on a single toner unit... some units have a X series toner with double print volume for a little more, and savings overall at about $100 for 2500 sheets printer vs the Ink Cartridge ( maybe 100 - 250 sheets printed for $30 - $60 before dry ) depending on if its just text printed or if you have pictures and bordering features that eat it up quickly.

Other important detail is if you want the ability to print in color or if Gray Scale works for you. If color printing then, Inkjet type is the way to go.. if you can get by with gray scale printing Black and White, then Laserjet type is the way to go.

The other option that HP has that might work out well since you are running a business with large volume printed is that you can Lease equipment at like $10 to $30 a month for an all-in-one solution. They even have plans that you state what you predict your printing volume to be and they send you the toner needed. No additional COST but electricity to run it, and you can have the top of the line office model for around $30 a month. If it breaks, HP has to replace ( that is as long as it malfunctioned and coffee wasnt spilled into it ). You can write this expense off in your taxes. If buying equipment less than $600, I think the IRS will allow for it to be written off as a one time expense and not a depreciative asset. See www.hp.com for more info...

Hope you find a model that works for you.... just be sure to install the software first before connecting any USB printer to avoid any issues. Most drivers want to be installed first and then detect the device during the software installation to avoid Windows from tagging it as an alternate generic device.Quote from: DaveLembke on July 16, 2008, 10:03:09 AM

I'd stick with HP ... Most all-in-ones are $99 to $200 with the inkjet printing type. Although it really depends on your printing volume as to which one to go with. To try to find one that will last you with a large volume going through it and be under $200 is pretty tight. Most of the all-in-ones that are inkjet like the Officejet series are throw aways, they work for 1 or 2 years depending on how much volume they print and then the plastic gears, springs, and other mechanicals wear making it tempermental or break and become DOA.

You might be able to find a refurb HP Laserjet type all in one with a warranty which will be able to handle more volume. Also the Laser type all-in-ones are supported for repairs by Authorized HP Dealing Computer repair shops, while the Officejet inkjet types are throw aways.

I am still thinking that a refurb laser printing type all-in-one HP is still going to run you above $300 though. If you can see yourself replacing this piece of hardware once every year or 2 years if you are lucky and dont mind all the $$$ INK $$$ that it will consume, then the Officejet Inkjet type is the way to go... But if you want a model to have for say the next 5-6 years and cheaper Toner printing vs $20 - $30 a piece small ink cartridges since you should be able to print about 2500 sheets on a single toner unit... some units have a X series toner with double print volume for a little more, and savings overall at about $100 for 2500 sheets printer vs the Ink Cartridge ( maybe 100 - 250 sheets printed for $30 - $60 before dry ) depending on if its just text printed or if you have pictures and bordering features that eat it up quickly.

Other important detail is if you want the ability to print in color or if Gray Scale works for you. If color printing then, Inkjet type is the way to go.. if you can get by with gray scale printing Black and White, then Laserjet type is the way to go.

The other option that HP has that might work out well since you are running a business with large volume printed is that you can Lease equipment at like $10 to $30 a month for an all-in-one solution. They even have plans that you state what you predict your printing volume to be and they send you the toner needed. No additional cost but electricity to run it, and you can have the top of the line office model for around $30 a month. If it breaks, HP has to replace ( that is as long as it malfunctioned and coffee wasnt spilled into it ). You can write this expense off in your taxes. If buying equipment less than $600, I think the IRS will allow for it to be written off as a one time expense and not a depreciative asset. See www.hp.com for more info...

Hope you find a model that works for you.... just be sure to install the software first before connecting any USB printer to avoid any issues. Most drivers want to be installed first and then detect the device during the software installation to avoid Windows from tagging it as an alternate generic device.

You can sign up the animals as WELL...just don't make their user NAMES so obvious such as SPIKE or Fluffy...I prefer WIFE...

I had SOMEONE GIVE me a pc that when hooked up..I get nothing on my monitor..harddrive lt flashes once, no beeps...where do I start? Video card? or Hammer? it looks to be an EMACHINE with AMD athlonxp..have not EVEN cracked the case yet..powersupply works fine..there is a whine when first PLUGGED in..not sure what that is..

i have rebooted my puter before and haven't had any problems, but this time, it keeps freezing up so i have had to shut it down by holding in the button. now when i turn it on to try and boot up, i eother get a blank screen or if it does turn on, it does not stay on for long and i get a blue, black, white or a stripped blue and white screen. what is going on and how do i fix it.....Do you have your windows CD?

A good guide to performing a repair install:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htmYES I HAVE ALL 5OF THE CD'S TO REBOOT If it's 5 CD's it's not a Windows CD....that will be needed to perform a Repair Install.
The VERSION and service packs have to match.

NOTE: If you use those OEM CD's to fix it all your data will be gone. The MACHINE will be back to Day One status...THESE ARE RESTORE CD'S (BOOTABLE CD) THESE ARE SPECIFICALLY FOR MY COMPUTER.You could try BOOTING in safe mode then seeing if you can perform a system restore.

To boot in safe mode

Using system restoreTHESE CD'S HAVE WINDOWS ON THEM. I HAVE HADE TO REPAIR BEFORE. BUT THESE TIME I HAD 2 VIRUSES,SO I HAD TO DELETE ALL DATA.THEN REBOOT FROM MY CD'S.BUT NOW IT KEEPS SHUTTING DOWN WITH EITHER A BLUE OR A BLACK SCREEN OR LIKE THIS TIME A BLUE SCREEN W, BLACK LINES AND THE FANS ARE STILL RUNNINGIt has caused your capslock key to stick as well ? ?YESI'm done assisting you as it seems you are having fun at the expense of others.
Good Luck with your issues.please don't go. i meed help with this, my button for the on/off does stick in the on porition, when i hold it down to yurn it off, it clicks back on but i don't get a window,i have to unplug it from my surger,leave it off for a LITTLE while then try again or all i get is a blank screen, when i can get it on it won;t stay on long before it goes black or i get a stripped screen.

>:(Win 2000 Pro; IBM computer; HP deskjet F335 All in One; has been working fine. Today when I try to print a file the printer box says it is printing but it isn't, and the Task Mgr shows the CPU at 100%; does this until I cut the power and reboot. I scanned and printed a paper - no problem. But it won't print a file. Can anyone help me please? I am not computer litereate so please keep it simple. Thanks. DixieflashTry un-installing printer software and re-install. This will re-install the printer drivers. BTW be sure to check all your cables from the computer to the printer to be sure they are all plugged in. I assumed they were because you said you were able to scan and print. Also you might want to go into Control Panel - Printers and make sure your printer shows up there and that it is the Default printer.Check there is nothing in the printer spool.

1. Click "start" and go to "Run"

2. Type "services.msc" at the prompt which will open the Services
window.

3. SCROLL down the alphabetical list in the right window pane until you come
to the entry with the name "Print Spooler"

4. Right-click this entry, then select "stop". This will stop the computer
running the process that holds your print queues.

5. Leaving that window open for now, click again on "Start", and then click
"My Computer" to open a Windows EXPLORER window.

6. We've stopped the queue service, now we just have to clear the jam that is
already there. To do this we navigate to the print spool folder which is HIDING
within the Windows folders. Usually Windows is installed on C: drive, but you
should be easily able to tell when the Explorer window opens which drive it is
on.

The usual path to the spool folder is
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS, but yours may be slightly
different. Your windows drive may have another name for instance, but this would
be uncommon. So click on your Windows drive (usually C), then double-click on
the Windows folder, and then find the System32 folder and double-click on
that. Windows may warn you that you are about to view system files, but click
"View files anyway" message and search out the "spool folder". Within the
Spool folder is your Printers folder, and you should open
that.

7. Delete every file within this folder to empty the jammed print queue
(pressing the "ctrl" and "a" keys will select all files and then you can just
hit "delete").

8. Close the explorer window now that we have emptied the cleared spool files,
and return to your Services window. we must re-start the Print spool
service, and do so by right-clicking the Print Spool entry and selecting
"Start" from the list. Close the services window and try printing again


If your print spool folder contained no files to delete, then this article will
obviously not be the appropriate solution to your issue.
Won't print a file or won't print any file?My apologies to Broni re posting twice. Not familiar with the USE of this site. First posting was on second thought not in the correct sub-forum; after looking the site over I decided my question should have been placed under Hardware, so I did it over. Sorry. Won't happen again.

Now, the good news - when I booted up htis morning the printer works fine. Go figure! Thanks for the helpful RESPONSE - it is filed in my Computer How To file. Dixieflash

Well the computer started being a bit slow, its a Gateway MX6448, and it's about 1 1/2 years old, it has a LARGE amount of useless programs I've downloaded, so I decided, i'm just going to reformat it, nothing on there that I really would be unable to regain, I did that with the OS disc that came with the computer, I had it reformat the hardrive, and reinstall the OS, after a couple of days the computer started blue screen crashing a lot, and I decided, well, reformatting is the solution to all problems, so I tried to reformat again, only this time after reformatting the HARDDRIVE, the computer blue screened while reinstalling the OS, giving me the error " IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL " , and it does this everytime I try to reinstall the OS...At what point in the installation do you get this error?

Do you know if the disks that came with the computer include drivers for the motherboard and / or chipset?After the hard drive is formatted and reinstallation of the OS is taking place at various times,. sometimes 1%,5&,EVEN 60% COMPLETION, the error will come about, but it always does.

And im not sure if the CD contains the drivers.I would do a memory test - Link > HTTP://www.techspot.com/vb/topic62524.html

I would also test your harddrive using diagnostic tools - These tools are normally found at the hard drive manufacturer's web site.

You could also try reseating your ram.

Got a ct 4830 sound BASTER live 5.1 sound card i am havig trouble trying to find a DRIVER for WINDOWS 98se.The sites i go to only run win 2000 and upwards.
Dose anybody KNOW where i can get to a site that only do 98se driverI uploaded the file for you to download it. See below.The download link is
at the BOTTOM of the page. '8210_snd.exe'

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uiykrcQuote from: street1 on March 07, 2008, 04:13:23 AM

I uploaded the file for you to download it. See below.

It was nzkiwi, who neeed it, silly.....LOL
Neljan just likes to talk...hehehe

call me Sally!!!Oh!Bwahahaha!!

Quote

call me Sally!!!Oh!Bwahahaha!!

...you said?

Hi, I'm just wondering if there is a WAY to prevent people from CLEARING the CMOS.No,IM curious why you ask this questiom?Quote from: someguy12345 on July 14, 2008, 12:49:21 AM

Hi, I'm just wondering if there is a way to prevent people from clearing the CMOS.

IM under the impression of opening the case and shorting or removing the battery or switching the jumper.[clearing CMOS]

if there was any way to prevent people from opening computer

im asking the question cause my friend keeps opening my computer resetting the CMOS and messing with the files

My Gateway laptop sustained a bit of damage to the corner of the display. For awhile it worked fine. Now, the display is very dim, and I cannot get it BRIGHTEN. Does anyone have any suggestions? Probably need to take it to a good repair shop. Replacement/repair of laptop screens is seldom a do-it-yourself activity.

Quote from: drmsucks on JULY 14, 2008, 11:21:49 PM

Probably need to take it to a good repair shop. Replacement/repair of lap......

or the module that controls such.

After installing this monitor and updating the drivers, a message comes up from time to time stating "video mode not supported" and it asks to change to 1280x1024 @60hz over a black background (power is on but there is no display other than the error message) ... Any ideas how to fix this other than changing the resolution because that resolution is too hard to read ??Boot into safe mode and choose safe mode with VGA support, that WAY when it boots into WINDOWS using safemode vga support, you will be able to SEE the resolution and set it to 1280x1024.@CRAFTY: I think that the OP is saying that 1280x1024 results in text too small.

@justintime: If I'm correct, I think that 1024x768 @ 60 hz is supported by your monitor (check your manual) so try that for a screen resolution.

Good luck!

hey, quick question. So I GOT 3 hard drives, 500 GB, SATA and I did that hack on Tom's hardware to get Raid 5 in Win XP. So I did that and installed the drives and got into Disk Management and everything was fine.

I started formatting them as a Raid 5 array and it was like... 3 % when I went to sleep, and when I woke up it was 29%. Unfortunately I've been up for like 4 hours and its still at 29%. It feels like the second I turned the MONITOR back on the formatting somehow stopped.

any help would be great. thanks.

Hello,
Not sure if its the right section but anyway

I am CURRENTLY trying to sort out my computers problem.(check other thread if you can help)

It's very OLD. I WANT to play some games on it (the BIG online ones) i have a pretty good internet connection, are there any parts which would help the quality and speed of games? if so what would you reommend. Is it a good idea to upgrade a computer as I'm doing?
thanksHello muddywaters! Welcome to CH!

Both of your posts doesn't specify your specs..
Please read this
Please post back!

Quote from: xavier on September 02, 2008, 05:01:12 PM

Before you go any further can you get into windows control panel?

I have been USEING 2 RAm sticks , cpu, video card, keyboard

I guess I will try removing a stick of ram.


Can I hvae an IDE Harddrive as the Master, and make my SATA drive the slave?

I am trying to connect two external speakers to my computer along with the INTERNAL ones. I WANT to put one in the garage and one in another room so that I can hear an alarm connected to my stock trading account. I bought two Altec Lansing speakers and am having trouble connecting them. Can I USE a splitter? What is the easiest way to make all four speakers work? Thanks.Well i Imagen your internal speakers are on your monitor (green tipped wire), so without an audio head unit; i am quite sure your only option is to use a splitter. Works well enough with a splitter but you may have to turn the sound up a notch. Also, if in you garage, just shut off the ones at the PC. A better alternative is run the wire to a receiver or a inexpensive radio and then the outlet from it to the speakers for better sound and power. The best of course is to GO wireless. I took the wire to a receiver route, just fine. Good luck. Thanks for your instant help. The splitter worked fine...just need to hear an alarm, so the quality of the sound is not that important.

I have a HP Pavilion computer and I use Windows XP. It has been hooked up to Sony Vaio speakers for about three years now, and everything worked fine until a few days ago when the speakers stopped working. I bought a new set of speakers and hooked them up and they don't work either. When I first insert the plug into the speaker port on the sound card, I do hear a crackle noise in the speakers, but then nothing. Once the cord is fully plugged in, I cannot get it to make that crackle noise again; it only happens when it's plugged in about 2/3 of the way into the port. The green light is lit indicating that the speakers are on and I have them turned up all the way and have experimented with different volumes - nothing. I cannot get sound on youtube, itunes, computer GAMES, and other online & offline content. I just tried cleaning everything thoroughly with a can on compressed gas/air and it still doesn't work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.drucie,Welcome to CH forums.There can be many reasons for this difficulty.The (is the plug in the outlet--just a metaphor) --is the volume set to "MUTE"? I DOUBT very much if it is the speakers. However it could be the sound card. Is the sound card integrated to the mobo?What did you do--if you can remember-as the last thing just before you lost the sound?Have you gone to the device manager to check for yellow question or yellow asterisks?If not do so and post the results.have you tried a set of headsets into the headphone jack? If not try it and post the results. Back to the "plug" metaphor--are you sure that you have the mini plug in the correct output position from the sound card?When your speakers are on do you hear any of the windows sounds--such as the start up music when the computer is turned on? This ought to keep you busy for a bit. Get back to us with your results. Good luck,truenorthBless you! For some odd reason "mute all" was selected. I don't think it's anything *I* purposely did and I'm guessing the last thing that happened before losing sound was my two year old randomly pressing a bunch of keys. THANK you so much. Funny when I deselected "mute all" then tested it out it was SO loud. It's great to have sound again -- my other child (6 yr old) thanks you as she plays in Webkinz World:-)Quote

my two year old randomly pressing a bunch of keys

I guess this is hardware related. Bear with me. I don't have a lot of "scientific" data here, but please read and tell me if you have any clue as to what may have happened. This is a long story.

I reinstalled Windows XP on a friend's Dell Dimension 3000 last weekend. I started out by wiping the HD using DBAN and then running SEATOOLS to check the HD for errors. I also ran Windows Memory Diagnostic to check the RAM. Both checked out just fine.

The Windows installation went just fine. I acutally installed three times, as I used the Dell CD (XP SP 2) first and when it did not install drivers for the Intel Extreme 2 graphics, network, or SOUND, I thought that maybe it was watered down for Dell, so I tried an OEM CD instead. I had installed another 3000 using this OEM CD and for some reason thought I remembered at least basic drivers installing for at least one of these devices (I was wrong). So i installed once again with the Dell CD.

Anyway, I followed my usual routine by installing Windows, installing drivers in the Dell recommended order, installing antivirus (Avast Home), and then going online and using Windows Update to install the 91 + updates (where the heck is Service Pack 3?)

After XP was installed and fully patched, I installed Office 2003 (Dell OEM) and ran Microsoft Update to update Office. I believe I was done with all of this by Sunday evening.

I then spent the next couple of evenings installing some of my favorite freeware apps that I thought she might be able to use along with some "essentials": CCleaner, Faststone Image Viewer, FileRenamer Basic, Recuva, Foxit Reader, Quicktime, Java, SyncToy, TweakUI Powertoy, 7 Zip, Firefox, Gadwin PrintScreen, PC Wizard 2008, Trillian, and LogMeIn (installed but disabled).

Everything installed perfectly and I continued to use the system Monday and Tuesday evening. I left the machine on pretty much all the time. On Wednesday, I ran Prime95 for about 8 hours just to stress it out a bit.

My friend was going to pick up the machine on Wednesday evening. When she came by, we sat down and I showed her the apps that I had installed. I was demonstrating Faststone, which as an interface where the picture takes up most of the screen and you move your mouse to the edges to open up windows with options and tools. However, in my demonstation, when I moved my mouse to the edge, nothing happened. After looking around for a setting that may have been messed up, I decided that I would probably need to uninstall and reinstall the program.

When I returned to the desktop I realized that I was unable to move anything from the desktop into the RECYCLE bin. Nor could I relocate any desktop icons.
I thought that a restart would "shake out the cobwebs." On restarting, at the login screen, I could place the mouse pointer over the icon, and it would change colors like it recognized that the pointer was there, but the pointer did not change into the finger and when I clicked, nothing happened.

I told her that I would need a few more days and would just reinstall Windows again.

This is where I got frustrated and then just started trying a bunch of stuff.
I thought maybe her user profile was messed up somehow, so I created a new one. I could switch between the two and sometimes the problem persisted and sometimes it did not. There did not seem to be a pattern. When i could not click the icon on the Welcome screen, I could hit crtl alt del and go to the old style screen and either log in from there or click Cancel and then things would work OK.

At one point, I booted once into Safe Mode, and things worked fine.

I removed some items from Startup using msconfig, but the problem remained.

Next, I tried rolling back the system through System Restore. I tried every point back to the first one and each time, the problem persisted.

Finally, on a whim, I removed my mouse from the KVM switch (USB connected to PS/2 port) and plugged directly into the machine. I only tried once, but the problem was not present on this boot.

I gave up trying to figure it out and completed the reinstall, again wiping completely, scanning the HD, and following the same procedure as above. I installed most of the same apps on this go round. However, I did NOT use the KVM.

So far, so good. I am a bit afraid that SINCE I never did figure out the exact cause, I am a little nervous. I do not think it was a SOFTWARE issue, as I use these same apps on many other systems. Also, the System Restore did not resolve the issue either.

Could the KVM be the culprit?

Anybody who made it all the way through this post, thank you.

PKI have seen this with KVMs. Personally, I don't like them.
I live by mine. I have never had any problems before.

I will proceed with caution however.

PKi have heard bad things about it....Since it worked in safemode this means the mouse drivers it uses in full mode are incorrect/corrupted or the mouse itself has issues...
Try a brand new mouse.re KVM switches.for what it's worth i have been using a 2 way electronic KVM switch for over 3 years (moving it arround between 4 computers--until i can get a decent deal on a 4 way) and never ever had even the slightest of problems.truenorth

Had a power supply die and was wondering if you guys could offer some advice.
How MUCH amps on each rail?
And is multiple +12v rails GOOD?
I have been looking at a Apevia ATX-WA750W Warlock with a 135mm fan and has the following specs:

Form Factor: ATX

Wattage: 750-Watt

SPECIAL Features: CrossFire Ready, SLI Ready

Fan: 135 mm

+3.3V: 25 A

+5V: 30 A

+12V 1: 25 A

+12V 2: 25 A

+12V 3: 25 A

+12V 4: 25 A

-12V: 0.6 A

+5VSB: 3 A

20+4-Pin Connector: 1

4-Pin/8-Pin EPS Connector: 1

6-Pin PCI-Express Connector: 2

6-Pin/8-Pin PCI-Express Connector: 2

4-Pin Floppy Connector: 2

4-Pin Peripheral Connector: 8

SATA Power Connector: 6

Is this a decent power supply for my pc?
here is the pcs specs:

Cpu - AMD Athlon 64x2 6000+ Windsor 3.0ghz Socket AM2 125w Dual Core
MOBO - DFI Infinity NF UltraII-M2
ram - 4 1gig dual channel ddr2 533mhz
HDD - SEAGATE 500gb Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
video card - XFX GeForce 8600 GT 512MB PCI-e
running windows xp sp2

Thanks for your time.personally i would go with a corsair PSU. the corsair 750w has only one +12v rail which can dish out 60A so you dont need to worry about balancing your loads. also corsair PSU's are covered by a 5 year warranty.You can also travel to PC Power and Cooling where they have a ton of info on how PSU's are built and why spending a LITTLE extra can make a difference in the long run...

Can an external modem be used as a replacement for a fried internal modem? Is it a simple as disabling the internal modem, then plugging in the new usb 56k modem then installing the SOFTWARE if necassary? This all stems from a bad electrical storm, after which I cannot connect to the internet. The dell inspiron 1100 with windows xp pro tells me there is no dial tone when I try to connect. I have hooked a telephone to the jack and it works fine, I also have tried a new phone cord from the wall jack the computer (which is a laptop by the way) but that does not work either. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,

joeQuote

Can an external modem be used as a replacement for a fried internal modem? Is it a simple as disabling the internal modem, then plugging in the new usb 56k modem then installing the software if necassary?

Hello,

I have a Dell 720 printer that i'm having problems with. When i go to print something, my SPOOL file says it's deleting but never does delete. I tried reinstalling the printer software and checked the USB cables, but same thing. The one thing i do get is that when i REINSTALL, it says that the printer is not CERTIFIED by Microsoft and may cause problems. I only got this when i updated my microsoft downloads.
So in the mean time, i go to system resources and mainly delete my spool files which i know i should have to do.
Can someone help me?

Start
Settings
Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Services

Right click on print spooler and click stop.
Let Windows stop the spooler.
Right click again and HIT start.

This will usually clear the job in most cases.

Or:

Delete the printer and reinstall.That printer is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

I would delete the printer, download the latest driver from Dell and re-install. Check the software INSTALLATION instructions - usually you install the driver (software) before plugging in the printer if it connects via USB.Thank you, it worked Glad that you got it fixed I do have a question. I'm looking for a new printer for home. I'd like a Laser printer with Fax, Scanning, and Copying capabilities in addition to network readiness. I'd prefer a color, somewhere in the $200 to $400 range. Is there a brand that is better than another? I've been told to look at Brother but wanted to ask some people that new more. Katman_09
It'd be better, if you start new topic about it in hardware section.will do, thankyou

Hello, thanks for your help. I see there are tons of "computer wont start" posts but do not see one like my issue.

This is an Emachine. It has been working great. The computer was shut down normally one day but the next time we turned it on there was no power at all. Thinking it was the power supply I bought a new one of the same watts. I installed it and now the power supply fan and cpu fan seem to work but nothing else happens.

In fact, the power turns on as soon as I turn on the switch on the PSU (where as it normally wouldnt be running unless I hit the main button on the front of the machine. I noticed the hard drive light doesnt come on so I moved the drive to my other computer and made it a slave. I could see the directories for that drive on my computer so that appears to be OK. I also removed one of the two sticks of ram and there was no difference...I didnt think this would be the problem since there has been no hardware change in the computer in the last 2 years we've owned it.

I plugged the power supply in from my other computer and got the same results so Ive ELIMINATED the power supply and hard drive. Now I am down to the motherboard perhaps?? Any suggestions.

This has integrated video and sound.Yup, I'd say if your not even getting a boot screen, and no signal/power is getting to your hard drive (you can't hear anything moving in ur comp when u try to boot it), then something is fried in your mother board. Aslong as your CPU isnt the thing that's fried, its fairly cheap to find a bare motherboard to install - just make sure your CPU is compatable... ezier said than done tho im afraid...

GL

MushiCan you hear hard drive spinning?
Is monitor OK?Possible that the case 'Power' switch is 'stuck' or defective (shorted). Check switch for proper 'feel' and 'sound.' If switch seems suspect, try the following:

Shutdown and unplug computer.

Follow the leads from the case Power switch to the header on the motherboard. Carefully note the lead's position on the header - you'll want to put it back correctly. REMOVE the lead at the header and place out of the way - especially watch for interference with fans.

Plug in the computer, turn on the PSU switch and see if the computer 'starts' - if not, very carefully, with an insulated screwdriver, MOMENTARILY short across the two pins that the Power Switch connector was on. This is the same as depressing the case Power switch.

Post back with results.

The hard drive is not spinning. I believe the monitor is ok. I will check out the power switch tonight and let you know how that goes. Thanks for the tips.Quote from: shorti on July 14, 2008, 03:13:19 PM

The hard drive is not spinning.

I need some help with making a Dypole ANT.

I don't know if anyone can help but I need help with the math.

The left and right side of the ANT Leads will have to be sertan length.

I think it goes like this??
468 Divided by FREQ in MHz = length of wire in feet.
Then I take that one length of wire and cut it in half and that is WARE I get the left and right Leads of my ANT.

Am I right?GOOGLE has it again CLICK -----> here..

Or BROWSE thru these -----> here.. Of the 538k hits there must be something for you..

power up today and it went to the user screen click on and it goes to the welcome screen searches and the screen goes BLACK . I can plug in a mp3 player and it will show what is on that but cannot go to the desktop.
system manufacturer :gateway
processor genuine Intel (R) CPU [emailprotected],1600 MHz 2 core 2 logical
system type x86-based PC
Do you have the recovery disks? Also, see if you can get into safe mode (tap F8 at startup) and see if you see your desktop then.tried that even went to the recovery 2 days previous .doesn't recognize the c d ROM so I am not able to put the recovery disc in.Quote

I can plug in a mp3 player and it will show what is on

tried that even went to the recovery 2 days previous

doesn't recognize the c d ROM so I am not able to put the recovery disc in

Hi,

Windows seems to recognize only 2.5 GB of ram, and I have 2 1GB sticks, and 2 512 MB sticks. My Motherboard has 2 pairs of ram slots for dual channel ram.

Orignally I put all 3 GB of ram in there, but KEPT getting random freezes while gaming - so I took out 1 stick of ram so the ram is exactly 2.5GB of ram, and it's been BETTER with lesser freezes.

Now my question is is 2.5GB of ram in single channel better than 2 GB in Dual? When playing the game of choice, Call of Duty 4, the RAM consumption is about 1.6-1.7 GB checked using Task Manager. So would it matter real time performance wise if I simply had 2 GB of dual channel ram? I think it will be better as Dual Channel is faster than single channel.

Thanks &AMP; God BlessSounds like you may have some faulty RAM or RAM slots.
Download and run Memtest overnight on each stick of RAM individually, if you find any errors that stick is bad. If they all test bad, suspect the slot.
As for your original question, more RAM is better than less in dual channel.Quote from: Calum on September 02, 2008, 03:23:27 AM

Sounds like you may have some faulty RAM or RAM slots.
Download and run Memtest overnight on each stick of RAM individually, if you find any errors that stick is bad. If they all test bad, suspect the slot.
As for your original question, more RAM is better than less in dual channel.

Dual channel is not really much faster than single channel.
See this article for some benchmarks.
Sure, there is a slight improvement, but you're talking about having more RAM in single channel than dual. In memory intensive applications, such as decompressing files, they'll be about equal, but in most other apps, including games and general Windows usage, more RAM will be superior.
And yes, your RAM usage will be less than your total RAM, because if all the RAM was used you'd have serious problems. More RAM means that more files can be moved into the RAM rather than the paging file, increasing performance.
To be honest, you won't notice that much of a difference wither way, but I would favour more RAM myself.
Why not have the 1GB sticks running in dual channel anyway, with the 512MB on another channel? Then you can still get the best of both.

Quote from: DaveLembke on July 15, 2008, 02:53:47 PM

I use a software called GetDataback FAT and NTFS to get data off clunking drives. The CREATOR if the software found a way to sweep the platters when the arm clunks to reassemble the data onto a healthy HARD drive... This software saved a laptop users *censored* at my company where I am the IT guy... He was suppose to be storing all data onto a mapped network drive that has RAID, and instead all his data was in MY DOCUMENTS .... Lets just say that he was having a melt down when he realized the SEVERITY of his laptop HD crash.

I bought this software and installed it to a Pentium II 300 Mhz computer I had running Windows 2000 Pro to have NTFS support and installed this software, and left the 2.5" laptop HD resting in a safe location in the open case with a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE com board and plugged in the P connector on this board to power the hard drive as a slave.

After a week of clunking I recovered all but a few excel documents that were destroyed and thankfully low priority. I saved the day with this software, but it took a week of clunking to reassemble all the data to the healthy drive in which it will create a new directory tree with all the recovered data. This can then be exported to a CD or DVD etc and moved to the proper location.

Link for software: http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

Good luck....this software is not free, and worked for our clunking drive.

My daughter was installing software for her new Blackberry a few days ago and something is now terribly wrong. I accidentally hit the power button and the computer did not turn off however; the monitor went blank. I held the power button down until it switched off then waited 3 minutes and tried to turn it back on. The computer appears to be on, the fan is running and the monitor seems normal except I am receiving a box on the monitor that says this:
SELF TEST G
CHECK YOUR PC AND SIGNAL CABLE R
MONITOR IS WORKING B

My daughter says she has been back on the computer and actually completed the installation of her Blackberry software however; it is definitely not working now.
Last night was the first time I received a message other than the one above but it was only for a minute or so. The message said something like, the last time I was in Windows, it shut down incorrectly and it would start again in BLANK (it was counting down the seconds) seconds. As soon as the counter reached zero, I received the message above again then the monitor went black. (the light was still on though so it was as if it was sleeping). I also noticed a few minutes ago that the keyboard light is not on and the mouse light is not on so they are not working either. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting everything but that didn't work.
The computer is about 4 1/2 years old. It is an Emachine T3085. I am sorry to say but that is all I know about it. I am not computer illiterate once I'm in but when it comes to having knowledge about what makes it all work, I have no clue. We have two other laptops that we use however; my husband and one daughter will not give up this old desktop. If there is any other information you need that could possibly be on the outside of the computer, let me know and I will try to find it. The only thing we use it for is to surf the internet, and for storing pictures.

Any help at all will be VERY much appreciated ;0)

Thanks!!
CindiSee if this helps
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060922033803AAKKiljI found this too
"I had the same error message. Turned out to be a dodgy memory card"I looked everywhere for that message and couldn't find ANYTHING about it, I can't believe you found it!
I messed around with the computer last night and put a few of the pieces of the puzzle together. Since my keyboard and mouse weren't working, I realized that there was no power going to them. The monitor was plugged in so it had power but wasn't working with the computer. I was going to see if my daughter had left the software CD in but when I tried to open it, it would not open. I have a docking station for my work LAPTOP so I tried to connect it to that monitor and it still didn't work. The computer was powering up but it wasn't booting. As I said before, I can get around just fine once I am in, but when it comes to what is inside the big box, I have NO CLUE. So....I opened it and decided to go into unknown territory! It was really dusty in there! I LEARNED by reading posts on this website not to touch the Mother Board because of something that has to do with static, so I only checked the wires to make sure they were connected.
I have no probelm with getting rid of the big ole thing, I just have alot of pictures on it that I want. I have been in the process of going through them and saving them on a flash drive but wasn't finished yet.
I went out last night and bought something called a "Hard Drive Enclosure Kit". I think it will work. Have you ever heard of it? It seems that I just have to put my hard drive in it and the guy at the store said I will be able to plug it in to any computer and everything from my old PC will be on it. Do you know anything about it?
I am afraid that I will install it into my laptop and screw my laptop up. Plus I don't want EVERYTHING on my laptop that was on the old one. Are you familiar with the Kit?

Thanks!!!!
CindiYes actually I have heard of them. I DONT have one, but they sound so easy to use.... even I could do it.
You dont need to actually take everything off your old drive onto your lappy. You connect it to your laptop and go through the drive getting out what you want.Well that is certainly a relief! I have the Hard Drive out now so I will let you know how it goes............

Thanks again!!
CINDI

Hi there,

So I recently got a new and pretty strong PC.(with a crappy SLI mainboard...) :

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GH
8 GB DDR2 Ram
Geforce 8800 GTS with 6xx MB Ram
Asus P5N-E SLI
2 HDD

The PROBLEM is that the system keeps crashing while GAMING.
It HAPPEND once or twice while video playblack too. Points to GFX maybe?

The screen just freezes and a "drrrdrrrdrrrdrrr" sound keeps looping.

This occurs with different games after a random amount of time.
The problem even shows up in both Windows XP (sp2 and sp3) and Vista (SP1).
All drivers are up to date, OS obviously as WELL. Even the bios is the newest version.

I have looked at the temperatures, and while not all that pretty, they are not that bad.
MB: 50 ° C under heavy load
GFX: MAX 65 ° under heavy load

I really can't figure out what this is all about.
It ocurring in both Vista (x64) and XP(x84), with new drivers makes me think this is a hardware problem.


REALLY REALLY annoying.

Any advise would be appreciated.
The sound may be the hard drive.
DLoad the FREE diagnostics from the drive manuf. site and use them to create a bootable CD to see.
Run the long test....preferably right before bed as it may take some time.

The next suspect would be a fan...either the CPU fan but more likely the fan on the vid card.Quote from: theduke on July 15, 2008, 11:34:01 AM

The screen just freezes and a "drrrdrrrdrrrdrrr" sound keeps looping.

upon doing some research, we are both correct. the example you provided...
Quote

Here you go:
Suppose you have a 12V supply that can provide 30 amps.
If you load it with .8 ohms, what it be supplying? 15 amps, right?
If you load it with .4 ohms, now it is supplying 30 amps.

What happens if you load it with .2 ohms?
I=E/R , so would current be 60 amps? Of course not - the ps can't do it.
So, we now we have R and I (fixed at 30 max). E=I*R , thus voltage is
6V.

Pick a voltage. 12v.
0 ohms - that's your theorectical short circuit ohm value
I=ER
I= 12 * 0
I= 0

Theory being, most MB's die due to the PSU sending unstable voltage so it is fairly likely to happen again, so for the price of an extra £20 you and the customer will have piece of mind.

By the way, when you short a battery, the current that flows is determined by the (non-zero) resistance of the short and the internal resistance of the battery.

Quote from: Dias de verano on March 08, 2008, 07:52:26 AM

By the way, when you short a battery, the current that flows is determined by the (non-zero) resistance of the short and the internal resistance of the battery.

...we know.

...
your formula is incorrect. I=E/R, not E x R

anyways i believe, if you wish to continue this discussion,

Quote from: homer on March 08, 2008, 11:20:41 AM

Quote from: Dias de verano on March 08, 2008, 07:52:26 AM

By the way, when you short a battery, the current that flows is determined by the (non-zero) resistance of the short and the internal resistance of the battery.

...we know.

Homer, I know that you know.

I already told you that you appear to want to simply argue with me

simply checking for proper voltage in a no-load condition is certainly better than nothing, it is not conclusive.

Do you have a point, or anything worthwhile to add?

Hey guys, I know it's been bloody AGES since I've posted here. But I've had more problems in my life than I care to count, and I am kept more than busy this year. I'm sorry.

Anyway, I need some help with my laptop, which has developed a terrible problem without any sort of warning, and as of right now I cannot get on my PC at all.

My Laptop is a TOSHIBA Satellite X205-S9810 (specs available at the link). I put my machine on Hibernate yesterday, when I went to the theatre. After returning, I resumed Windows Vista Home Premium, and logged on as normal. However, after the login, I noticed my PC behaving slowly, and the mouse cursor would not respond (this is the touchpad that came with the thing). Vista is not KNOWN for its reliability, so I logged out and back in. The symptoms persisted, so I opted to reboot the machine.

After getting the TOSHIBA screen, normally I'd see the Vista loading bar. However, After a flashing underscore for about a minute, I got this error message:

Disk Read Error Detected
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

As you may know, I've worked with computers almost my entire life. And I know, from experience, that this is #3 on my list of Five Things I Never Want To See when working with computers. I rebooted, and got the same RESULT. After a while, I resigned myself to troubleshoot and repair, even at the cost of my data. Like most pre-fab computers, this one came with a Recovery Disk (I've used it once before, right after I got the machine, thanks to a timely virus), and the Recovery Disk has worked well to correct software issues. I was hoping that the issue was a boot-sector problem and that I could easily, if destructively, fix my PC.

However, I've had no such luck. The Recovery CD's stages took ages to load, showing behaviour much like it was when this whole thing started. Instead of a Recovery Window popup immediately after the Vista load bar, it took about 5 minutes. Immediately after starting the Recovery process, however, I was greeted with this:

ERROR: 01-0134-0000
The tool could not get HDD physical information.
Please Press [OK] to turn off the computer.

That is where my computer sits now. Now, as for tracking down the actual problem, which I am convinced is a HARDWARE issue, I have this to offer: Although it would be obvious to say that the HDD is fubar'd and needs replacing, I am unconvinced that these hdd problems are not a symptom of something more sinister, and what I hear is actually more common than should be for a computer:

This particular model's CPU has a history of overheating. Easily, even.

I'm thinking it possible that somehow, the CPU has been damaged by excessive heating. Not enough that nothing works at all, just that it can't access the hdd anymore. This theory, though pure conjecture, is based on two central facts:

1) On the Boot selection screen of my computer, the hdd is still listed. If the hdd were toast, I don't think it would not only appear on the list, but even have the Serial Number.

2) When booting the computer via the CD, the computer still behaves very slowly, which was the main reason I rebooted the computer in the first place.

One last note before I leave the floor open to all suggestions: I have NOT attacked my PC in frustration; physical damage is not the cause of failure. (The same cannot be said for several other items in my room ) Also, at some point, I'm taking the thing back where I got it for a troubleshoot. However, I thought I'd get some expert opinions on possible causes. Just like telling a doctor what you think the disease you have *could* be, it helps the tech to know what to look for.

Cheers all,

Timothywelcome back dilbert, its nice to see you again.

Quote

I'm thinking it possible that somehow, the CPU has been damaged by excessive heating. Not enough that nothing works at all, just that it can't access the hdd anymore.

This website might help you: http://www.nliteos.com/

1) On the Boot selection screen of my computer, the hdd is still listed. If the hdd were toast, I don't think it would not only appear on the list, but even have the Serial Number.

alalikum salam

What brand, and model of computer is it? Have you ever opened it to install anything inside, or it's in a factory state?it is 2005-6 emachine t6211,3200+amd athlon 64 processor,160gb hd,ati radeon express 200/ dvd+/-rw, 512mb ddr sdram. i had put a sim card slot into it when we got it cause we were on the road alot and needed the internet. i took it out last night but it didn't change anything. since it turned white i can't get it to COME back up.Unfortunately, your computer has on-board video chipset, so there is no way to test it, but I believe, this is your problem.
You have two options: borrow a real video card from a friend, or buy real video card. There are not expensive. You may get one for ~$50.ok if video, wha kind do i get, would that also effect my on/off button, cause i can't hear my hd kick in. if it is
persay my hd,what kind and how much Quote

cause i can't hear my hd kick in

I've Googled, called, inquired, guessed, begged, pleaded, cajoled - you name it - I can't find a SOURCE for hard drive MOUNTING screws, especially the 6-32 UNC safety screws for attaching rails for mounting 3.5 inch drives in 5.25 inch bays. These are the ones which prevent the screw from damaging the hard drive itself. My local mom and pop computer repair shop owner will appreciate it very MUCH if someone can point me to a seller of these elusive items.Google [newegg] type in screwsXavier: You're a lifesaver. I can't believe it was that SIMPLE. I must have tried every way except that to find them. Thanks so much.Site called cyberguys that my FATHER found, bulk like portions of differnt mounting hardware.Squall_01: The cyberguys.com site had an even better deal. I ordered an assortment of PC hardware for less than $15, delivered. The Newegg.com deal (I buy a lot of stuff from Newegg, and I really respect their professionalism) was good, but it was a little more expensive. Thanks again to both of you for your help. I had totally given up on finding these very hard to locate pieces.Thats good to hear, never shopped there myself thought.

I just finished up my new computer and seem to have one problem. Only 137 gigs of my 500 gig hard drive is showing up. The mother board is an ASUS P5-E X38, I have four gigs of Corsair ram that SHOW up, my cpu shows up. EVERYTHING else seems fine. When I check my computer/hard drive'properties only 137 gig shows up. Windows version is xp pro. Am I missing something simple? You need to install Service Pack 2 in ORDER to recognize more, than 137GB.Thank you, will do as soon as I pick up a network cable.