24217 + Interview Questions in Hardware in Hardware Page 281 InterviewSolution

14001.	Solve : can laptop ram fit into desktop??
Answer» hi, why not just get an internal or external HDD, then u can move all your files to the new HDD and then your computer will hopefull get faster! cheersIf the machine is 6-7 years old then I asume that the OS (operating system (WINDOWS)) has been operating for the same length of time. You may also consider some free maintenance programs to increase the machines performance. I personaly prefer IO BIT but there are many others out there. Here's a good Disk defragmentor (if the one built into windows no longer funtions or is too slow): http://www.download.com/Smart-Defrag/3000-2094-10759533.html?part=dl-SmartDefr&subj=uo&tag=button And This is a registry cleaning program (saving you a £50 trip to the computer shop): http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086-10407614.html?part=dl-AdvancedW&subj=uo&tag=buttonAlso consider possibilities of bloatware (useless programs that come with downloaded or installed programs that) or malware (viruses, spyware, adware, etc.). They can slow your PC down, too. Not a whole lot will run like a champ on a 900 MHz Athlon processor these days. The most amount of RAM your computer will run is 1024 MB (1 GB). You would have to remove the two existing 256 MB RAM sticks and put two 512 MB sticks in its place. You would need two of these doohickeys: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT64M64S4D7E Total cost: $108.99 + shipping. You're probably better off getting a new computer. 4 GB of RAM for most computers these days is $108.99... Not to mention, the maximum processor for that computer is 1 GHz (1000 MHz). The processor in it is 900 MHz. Modern PCS have processors with 2 cores (like 2 processors in one) or even 4 cores at 2.4 GHz a piece!!! Given that information, I can honestly say upgrading your existing computer is just throwing money away...Thanks so much for all the advice here. Ok, I finally am going to admit that it is time to throw out the old computer rather than try and upgrade it. : ( I do not have the money to buy another new one. I just got a cheapie dell from Walmart this past summer. I am a stay at home mom who homeschools my son and I work 4 p/t jobs. I was trying to find a way to keep that old pc running so he could play some games on it. But, it sounds like I would be throwing money away that I could save towards another cheap computer...which would actually be better than the old PC. My older son keeps telling me he can rebuild it and make it a much better PC and that I'm nuts to save to buy another but, it sounds like it's time to just tell him I'm laying it to rest. I'd say the same as your son, but I'm one of those that never junks things unless it's absolutely beyond repair, sometimes not even then. Too many people just throw away perfectly good computers, I have several that are older than yours working perfectly fine.Per the Disney website, the system requirements for Toontown: System Requirements Windows System RAM 256 MB Disc Space 200 MB CPU 800 MHz OS Win2K Video Card 32 MB I'd bet that computer would run that game well enough if some maintenance were done. Do you have any spyware removal tools installed, and regularly used, on that computer? Any virus protection installed? Ever defragment the hard drive? Ever run Disk Cleanup, or clear browser HISTORY? You have a firewall enabled, right? Quote from: Calum on December 07, 2008, 09:09:19 AM I'd say the same as your son, but I'm one of those that never junks things unless it's absolutely beyond repair, sometimes not even then. Too many people just throw away perfectly good computers, I have several that are older than yours working perfectly fine. I had to throw away some of my oldies a little while back. I almost cried at the loss of my Pentium II and ancient motherboard with the most BEAUTIFUL copper work that I've ever seen on a PCB. But alas I only have a certain amount of storage space.So far, I've scrapped 5 computers: my 12Mhz 286, 40Mhz 386DX, 120Mhz 486DX2, a pentium whose on-board graphics failed, and a crappy cyrix (do I really need a reason to scrap a cyrix?) keeping: AMD K6-2, Toshiba 440CDX laptop, IBM thinkpad 755CDV, and my newer machines (laptop and desktop)Quote from: soybean on December 07, 2008, 10:14:21 AM Per the Disney website, the system requirements for Toontown: System Requirements Windows System RAM 256 MB Disc Space 200 MB CPU 800 MHz This is the problem... Her machine is an Athlon 900 MHz. Yes, it'll run, but if there's anything else running in the background, forget it... Quote from: sjeanine on December 07, 2008, 07:59:10 AM Thanks so much for all the advice here. Ok, I finally am going to admit that it is time to throw out the old computer rather than try and upgrade it. : ( I do not have the money to buy another new one. I just got a cheapie dell from Walmart this past summer. I am a stay at home mom who homeschools my son and I work 4 p/t jobs. Wow! :bows while saying "We're not worthy!": Quote I was trying to find a way to keep that old pc running so he could play some games on it. But, it sounds like I would be throwing money away that I could save towards another cheap computer...which would actually be better than the old PC. My older son keeps telling me he can rebuild it and make it a much better PC and that I'm nuts to save to buy another but, it sounds like it's time to just tell him I'm laying it to rest. I used to think like your older son. In fact, that's how I got in the computer industry! That would have been okay back in the late 90s, early 00s. However, new PCs have become so cheap (yes, even decent ones, not bottom-of-the-barrel eMachines) and a lot of things have changed since the Athlon 900 MHz days (different RAM, different CPU socket, different power supply requirements, case needs better airflow, PCI-e graphics cards instead of AGP, etc.) that by time your son is done with it, he would have bought enough parts to built a new computer and have used nothing from the existing one! I learned that lesson the hard way in 2004 when a client's hard drive in their Windows 98 machine died. I thought "hey, buy a new hard drive, reinstall Windows 98 and her programs, and all is well." Oh nooooooo... The motherboard had a hard time recognizing an 80 GB hard drive, so I had to go back to get a 40 GB. For some reason, it complained about that, too. All in all, I spent roughly 12 hours trying to get that thing back to the way it was, and since the company charged by the hour, the amount of labor added up to a new computer! They weren't happy with me then...we had to eat a lot of the cost of that...sjeanine, Given your extremely limited use requirements for the computer your son uses for his games you can try to achieve this by doing some very inexpensive things. While it has been mentioned that you could install another hardrive to transfer the data you wish to save there is a much cheaper way to do that.Purchase a USB flash drive (assuming the computer has USB ports) and remove all the data that you want to save and either retain it on the flash drive or transfer it to another computer. The already suggested notion of getting everything off the computer other than what is necessary for your son to be able to play his games is absolutely the way to go. Increasing the ram will additionally improve performance but that is more costly and might not be cost effective on that old of a computer. Now another option up until now not mentioned is to purchase a used computer for your son's gaming use. They can be extremely cheap depending on where you purchase them. Retail stores selling used computers will be the most expensive. Friends and garage sales can be very cheap. Classified adds in print media or on line can also find cheap used PC's. You should try to find a source for a used one where it can be shown to work--so on line purchases can be more risky in that case. I have purchased many used computers (working and not working) and after a little work and normally very little money have fine working computers. That route is not for everyone but it is an option worth considering given your stated limited funds. goodluck,truenorth

14001.

Solve : can laptop ram fit into desktop??

Answer»

hi, why not just get an internal or external HDD, then u can move all your files to the new HDD and then your computer will hopefull get faster!
cheersIf the machine is 6-7 years old then I asume that the OS (operating system (WINDOWS)) has been operating for the same length of time. You may also consider some free maintenance programs to increase the machines performance. I personaly prefer IO BIT but there are many others out there.

Here's a good Disk defragmentor (if the one built into windows no longer funtions or is too slow):

http://www.download.com/Smart-Defrag/3000-2094-10759533.html?part=dl-SmartDefr&subj=uo&tag=button

And This is a registry cleaning program (saving you a £50 trip to the computer shop):

http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086-10407614.html?part=dl-AdvancedW&subj=uo&tag=buttonAlso consider possibilities of bloatware (useless programs that come with downloaded or installed programs that) or malware (viruses, spyware, adware, etc.). They can slow your PC down, too.

Not a whole lot will run like a champ on a 900 MHz Athlon processor these days.

The most amount of RAM your computer will run is 1024 MB (1 GB). You would have to remove the two existing 256 MB RAM sticks and put two 512 MB sticks in its place.

You would need two of these doohickeys:
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT64M64S4D7E

Total cost: $108.99 + shipping.

You're probably better off getting a new computer. 4 GB of RAM for most computers these days is $108.99...

Not to mention, the maximum processor for that computer is 1 GHz (1000 MHz). The processor in it is 900 MHz. Modern PCS have processors with 2 cores (like 2 processors in one) or even 4 cores at 2.4 GHz a piece!!!

Given that information, I can honestly say upgrading your existing computer is just throwing money away...Thanks so much for all the advice here. Ok, I finally am going to admit that it is time to throw out the old computer rather than try and upgrade it. : ( I do not have the money to buy another new one. I just got a cheapie dell from Walmart this past summer. I am a stay at home mom who homeschools my son and I work 4 p/t jobs. I was trying to find a way to keep that old pc running so he could play some games on it. But, it sounds like I would be throwing money away that I could save towards another cheap computer...which would actually be better than the old PC. My older son keeps telling me he can rebuild it and make it a much better PC and that I'm nuts to save to buy another but, it sounds like it's time to just tell him I'm laying it to rest. I'd say the same as your son, but I'm one of those that never junks things unless it's absolutely beyond repair, sometimes not even then.
Too many people just throw away perfectly good computers, I have several that are older than yours working perfectly fine.Per the Disney website, the system requirements for Toontown:

System Requirements
Windows
System RAM 256 MB
Disc Space 200 MB
CPU 800 MHz
OS Win2K
Video Card 32 MB

I'd bet that computer would run that game well enough if some maintenance were done. Do you have any spyware removal tools installed, and regularly used, on that computer? Any virus protection installed? Ever defragment the hard drive? Ever run Disk Cleanup, or clear browser HISTORY? You have a firewall enabled, right?

Quote from: Calum on December 07, 2008, 09:09:19 AM

I'd say the same as your son, but I'm one of those that never junks things unless it's absolutely beyond repair, sometimes not even then.
Too many people just throw away perfectly good computers, I have several that are older than yours working perfectly fine.

I had to throw away some of my oldies a little while back. I almost cried at the loss of my Pentium II and ancient motherboard with the most BEAUTIFUL copper work that I've ever seen on a PCB. But alas I only have a certain amount of storage space.So far, I've scrapped 5 computers:

my 12Mhz 286, 40Mhz 386DX, 120Mhz 486DX2, a pentium whose on-board graphics failed, and a crappy cyrix (do I really need a reason to scrap a cyrix?)

keeping: AMD K6-2, Toshiba 440CDX laptop, IBM thinkpad 755CDV, and my newer machines (laptop and desktop)Quote from: soybean on December 07, 2008, 10:14:21 AM

Per the Disney website, the system requirements for Toontown:

System Requirements
Windows
System RAM 256 MB
Disc Space 200 MB
CPU 800 MHz

This is the problem...

Her machine is an Athlon 900 MHz. Yes, it'll run, but if there's anything else running in the background, forget it...

Quote from: sjeanine on December 07, 2008, 07:59:10 AM

Thanks so much for all the advice here. Ok, I finally am going to admit that it is time to throw out the old computer rather than try and upgrade it. : ( I do not have the money to buy another new one. I just got a cheapie dell from Walmart this past summer. I am a stay at home mom who homeschools my son and I work 4 p/t jobs.

Wow! :bows while saying "We're not worthy!":

Quote

I was trying to find a way to keep that old pc running so he could play some games on it. But, it sounds like I would be throwing money away that I could save towards another cheap computer...which would actually be better than the old PC. My older son keeps telling me he can rebuild it and make it a much better PC and that I'm nuts to save to buy another but, it sounds like it's time to just tell him I'm laying it to rest.

I used to think like your older son. In fact, that's how I got in the computer industry!

That would have been okay back in the late 90s, early 00s. However, new PCs have become so cheap (yes, even decent ones, not bottom-of-the-barrel eMachines) and a lot of things have changed since the Athlon 900 MHz days (different RAM, different CPU socket, different power supply requirements, case needs better airflow, PCI-e graphics cards instead of AGP, etc.) that by time your son is done with it, he would have bought enough parts to built a new computer and have used nothing from the existing one!

I learned that lesson the hard way in 2004 when a client's hard drive in their Windows 98 machine died. I thought "hey, buy a new hard drive, reinstall Windows 98 and her programs, and all is well." Oh nooooooo...

The motherboard had a hard time recognizing an 80 GB hard drive, so I had to go back to get a 40 GB. For some reason, it complained about that, too. All in all, I spent roughly 12 hours trying to get that thing back to the way it was, and since the company charged by the hour, the amount of labor added up to a new computer! They weren't happy with me then...we had to eat a lot of the cost of that...sjeanine, Given your extremely limited use requirements for the computer your son uses for his games you can try to achieve this by doing some very inexpensive things. While it has been mentioned that you could install another hardrive to transfer the data you wish to save there is a much cheaper way to do that.Purchase a USB flash drive (assuming the computer has USB ports) and remove all the data that you want to save and either retain it on the flash drive or transfer it to another computer. The already suggested notion of getting everything off the computer other than what is necessary for your son to be able to play his games is absolutely the way to go. Increasing the ram will additionally improve performance but that is more costly and might not be cost effective on that old of a computer. Now another option up until now not mentioned is to purchase a used computer for your son's gaming use. They can be extremely cheap depending on where you purchase them. Retail stores selling used computers will be the most expensive. Friends and garage sales can be very cheap. Classified adds in print media or on line can also find cheap used PC's. You should try to find a source for a used one where it can be shown to work--so on line purchases can be more risky in that case. I have purchased many used computers (working and not working) and after a little work and normally very little money have fine working computers. That route is not for everyone but it is an option worth considering given your stated limited funds. goodluck,truenorth

14002.	Solve : Low level format?
Answer» Hi, all. I'm new here but not new to fora. I searched for the answer to my question but i didnt find it here so here goes. I have a sata drive that i believe has errors. Its an hitachi 320 gig. Can you give me the name of a low level format prog that works the fastest. I know they all take a certain amount of time, so i am just asking for your opinions of which is the fastest free prog out there. thanksWhat kind of errors are you talking about here? If your operating system is reporting bad sectors no amount of low level FORMATTING will FIX them. Bad sectors is a physical problem with the disk. But use the Drive Fitness Test TOOL from Hitachi. This can tell you if the drive is defective and can zero (low level format) the drive as well. As its turns out i was using that hitachi drive fitness. It was going very slow so i stopped it and thats why i posted here, to see if there was a faster one. Seems to me the hitachi prog was at sector 189 w all 189 sectors bad but repaired when i stopped the program. But, again, it was going so very slow. Maybe there isnt a faster prog, just have to wait it out, but thought i would ask here. thanks Were you doing a wipe or testing the drive? You should do a drive test if you haven't yet. If you WANT to try another wiping tool you can try DBAN it might be faster. But if you're experiencing problems with the drive I recommend you stick with Hitachi's own tool.I pretty much do this (low level format or zero write) for every new install, make sure the drive has no errors on it, no bad sectors.. But until now they have all been ide drives and i have been used to doing all this in dos and then letting win xp pro installation reformat the drive once again. As this is my first sata drive i thought i would make this post, see whats out there that MAY be different for sata as opposed to ide, other than the fact that one has to do the F6 trick when installing win xp pro, and, in my case, with an intel 965 chipset, the win xp pro must be a full win xp pro w sp2, cant add sp2 on after installing xp pro. I see i am going at least in the right direction, using the hitachi utility. Dban was the next i was going to try, again, only because the Hitachi prog seemed to be going so slow. Yes, i was having problems with installing win xp pro and i had the impression it could be because the drive had bad sectors, thats why i was running the Hitachi prog, but i often, as stated above, run a similar such prog, depending on which make of drive. So, i do believe i have the info i needed. It seems i am on the right track with the Hitachi program and the other one that was mentioned, dban, i have a copy of that as well, so i guess i am good to go. thanks to all those for your thoughts.

14004.	Solve : Installing a secondary hard drive.?
Answer» I INSTALLED a secondary hard drive, but I can't see it in My Computer. I can FIND it in the device manager. I have had a different one in there before and it worked just fine, but now with this one I can't find it. click START > RUN > type in "compmgmt.msc" without the quotes > on the left HAND side, hit the + sign to the left of "Storage" (if you dont see a sub-menu UNDERNEATH it already.)> select "disk management" > on the bottom right hand side your new harddrive should be displayed. > right click it, select "format." you will be able to use the drive once windows is DONE formatting it.

14006.	Solve : Two HD problems.?
Answer» I'm currently building a computer but I have two problems with both my hard drives. My first is that for some reason Windows XP won't install on my brand new 320gb SATA hard DRIVE. The hard drive is a Western Digital Caviar. When I try to partion it USING the Windows XP disk it says "This disk does not contain a Windows XP compatible partion". My second problem is that my 164gb Hitachi hard drive, IDE, only shows up as 30gb. If anyone can HELP me I'd be grateful, thanks alot, Liam. Processor: AMD ATHLON 5200 Dual Core Motherboard: Abit AN-M2 Power Supply: 400w Memory: 3gb DDR2 Video Card: Nvidia 8600 512mb Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 320gb SATA Hard Drive: Hitachi 164gb IDEDis CONNECT the power on the smaller drive & re boot the system, check to see if your hard drive is recognised .In bios set it at default or best known config. If this works plug your other drive in and format that drive. Sorry :load windows bf doing anything to the other drive Please start with the basic. Make sure that the power supply connectors are plugged in to your drives correctly Check if drive connectors are plugged in correctly to your drives... Make sure if your drive is properly detected in the BIOS...Your drive's exact model and exact capacity should be detected..........

14008.	Solve : Hardware doesn't work with USB ports?
Answer» By brother installed some camera thing a couple weeks ago that didn't work on our XP, and now whenever we plug anything into USB it gives a "USB Device not recognized" ballon. It does this with our printer and my PSP anyway, but we have 2 USB mice and they both work.my mom keeps complaining to me about her printer not working. lol. so, like, any type of HINTS are appreciated.Travel to Device Manager and SELECT all USB roots and hubs one at a time with a right click...select remove or uninstall...you will get an error message...ignore it. Continue until all are removed and re-boot. Windows will automatically re-install them Unplug any unneccessary USB devices other than those you need to boot to do this.thanks but that totally did not work. It reinstalled the mice but the printer still comes up as unrecognized. Anything else I can try?Add/Remove Hardware...un-install the printer. Then Add/Remove Programs and uninstall any printer software that was installed. Re-boot...leave the printer unhooked and try re-installing the software for it...it will prompt you for when to plug in the printer...ok, since the problem the printer was taken to the downstairs computer, and my HDD was formatted. I still want the USB ports to work, which still don't. I would like to use my PSP and Flash Drives with them. And of course any future hardware I will ACQUIRE that requires them. Is it hopeless and I just need new USB ports or what?Can you take a screenshot of your Device Manager and post it here?If you have followed all the steps outlined above and it still does not work at this point i would re-install the MBoard chipset drivers...Well I assume that formatting the hard drive counts as uninstalling the software but I don't know how to reinstall those driver things... lol.Find your MBoard driver CD... They usually autorun when inserted...if not OPEN it in Windows Explorer and double-click the SETUP icon.

14009.	Solve : Sony Laptop wont recognize sony plugin cd rom drive?
Answer» I am currently trying to install an os on my laptop. I was having some viral problems before so i deleted the partition with a win 98 se boot disk, then formatted C: with the same boot disk that i got from bootdisk.com when i try to boot the computer with the boot disk in it says driver not found and TAKES me to a: where i can access the boot disk and also i can go to C:, but this is not my problem. I have a win98se installation cd but when i put it in my external cd rom drive that plugs into my sony laptop via a cd rom interface pc card it doesnt recognize the cd drive ( i have tried all drive letter ) i plug in the cd rom drive and reboot the computer and the external drive has power and LOOKS to be reading the cd but nothing comes up. I can access a: and b: when the external floppy drive is plugged in but a: and b: are both accessing the boot disk in the floppy. I am currently downloading a win xp cd and going to try that but i dont think the computer will recognize it, any suggestions?It will not recognise a USB external CD drive without DRIVERS being loaded. Does the internal CD drive work ? If so that should run properly.

14011.	Solve : P.O.S.T. cards?
Answer» I notice there are alot of CARDS AVAILABLE for testing motherboards, power SUPPLIES, memory ETC. Does anyone know what P.O.S.T. cards are the better ones. I am considering buying one make the diagnosis and fixing of problems quicker and easier.They are not really worth buying unless you are running a PC repair business. I plan to start a business or do PC repair professionally. On that basis do any of you guys have any advice on which one i should buy and why.

14012.	Solve : Dell inspiron 6400, vista, with a hp 2355 all in one printer?
Answer» I cannot get my scanner to work. It will not SCAN at all the printer keeps giving me a DOWNLOAD DISK error. I cannot find the download anywere. dos anyone use the same setup?How did you install it? Did you install the software FIRST? http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=422000 Here the DRIVE if you need it.

14014.	Solve : rescue hard disk?
Answer» hello, my hard disk (working under XP) crashed and it says boot unmountable. i had created 2 PARTITIONS one with system and the other with data. i wanted to rescue my data via ms-dos but it was impossible to do anything. i had to buy an external HDD and i was able to save the data located on the 2d partition. now, i would like to rescue a few things on the other one, more precisely in the My Documents directory, but when i click on the partition through explorer, it doesn't work. how to do it (without being FORCED to buy an expensive recovery data software)? thanksI kinda had the same problem at 1 time, couldn't find any answers, so I went here: www.spotmau.com and bought the software. It let me clone the files I wanted from the partioned HD to a new HD. All worked out pretty well. There is alot of other helpful stuff on that software also.Right clik My Computer and select Manage...then Disk MANAGEMENT...find the partition and right clik it and select Properties and POST back with the details here...

14015.	Solve : help rebuildin an computer?
Answer» i recently FOUND one of my uncles old gaming computer that i took a couple parts from to put on my dell but now i want to swap back to the old system because the dell b110 doesnt have ports for videocards and such. the things i KNOW about this computer are, gigabyte GA-7IXE motherboard AMD atholon processor 1 GIG ram 120 gig hdd geforce4 MX-420 64mb agp creative labs sound card im also USING the original hd but i put it into another computer as a secondary drive. right now my problem is that when i power itup the screen doesnt come on(can this be from the card not being intalled?) also the hdd light stays on constantly but i dont kno if thats a problem. i just need help to get he os running. (wen i USED the hd in my other computer i never deleted anything from it) if you need pictures for you to help me just let m know Check if everything is properly connected...Is your video card is plugged in properly? Your RAM module inserted tightly into its slot? Is your CPU is installed properly into its socket, together with the CPU cooler(heat sink and fan assembly)? Is there any beeps you heard when powering on the system?

14016.	Solve : Video / gaming problem, monitor or card???
Answer» Hi guy's, my FIRST post here, unfortunately its not a good one!!! Basically, I have formatted the pc that i am currently reduced to using after my BETTER pc being stolen!!! Okay, I've formatted and installed all the newest drivers etc. Now, when I play the most lowest of specification NEEDED games, the games freeze on screen, then move for literally a second, then freeze again. Resulting in me having to reboot. Now, this has happened on some really basic games. I downloaded a little crappy low-graphic game called GUNNER 2, and it did the above. I then downloaded America's Army (Yes i know, not the lowest of specification games) And the game started, I could see the weapon and scenery, I could hear the dude talking in-game on the rifle range, but the video was freezing and moving for a second, then freezing. The system could obviously take this, as I have previously played HL2 and Doom 3 on it. Any idea's?? If needed, I'll post up a spec of the machine, but basically, its a dell DIMENSION 4600. Yes I know, Dell, but its all previously worked so... Cheer's guy's, Stevespecs are needed.P4 2.8 ghz GForce FX5200 768mb ram 120gig HDD windows xp SP2. it might be overheating, i would clean out the heatsink and fan on the GPU and also on the CPU.Have done that already, side of the case is off now with a desktop fan running next to it also... still does the same thing. Could it be anything else? you could also try and get your hands on another card. try your card in another computer.Dell's like only Dell drivers for some reason...if you have any aftermarket drivers installed this could be the issue... Travel to Dell's site and enter your service tag # and it will list all the correct drivers for that machine.

14017.	Solve : Upgrading my existing graphics card?
Answer» with only a PCI video CARD you are aiming at a target a MILLION mjiles away... you need to get a NEW mobo that will support a pci-e x16.

14023.	Solve : Fixed?
Answer» DISREGARD, GOT it goingSee how QUICK we are ? ?

14027.	Solve : Others not able to view my webcam in Y msgr?
Answer» HI, I've a webcam on my laptop (Acer Crystal Eye Webcam). Its installed properly and I'm able to view it myself. But the problem is when I use my Yahoo messenger, it does not show either "View my webcam" or others able to view it (the persons webcam is not AVAILABLE). Any idea whats the problem with my webcam or I NEED to change any SETTINGS either in my webcam or in Yahoo msgr. Attached snap show of my webcam n the status of my webcam. OS: Windows Vista. [Saving space - attachment DELETED by admin]

14035.	Solve : beeping sounds?
Answer» my COMPUTER does not boot up and MAKES beep sounds and has a BLANK screen. please help meHave you did ANYTHING with the ram?Is it a notebook or a Desktop?Welcome to the CH forums. Please read this and this.. Good luck

14020.	Solve : Video software?
Answer» I have a few dell computers, Optiplex GX 270's that were donated from a local college for our non-profit. Everything was deleted prior to receiving them. When trying to load an operating system, I have nothing showing on my monitor. Computer is booting up but nothing on screen. The video is ATTACHED to the motherboard. I tried using a video card I have but still get no screen to START loading an operating system. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Steve297 Is there any beeps you heard upon turning on the computer? Is there any error messages displayed on screen? Can you post your full computer specs? Also, can you confirm the monitor is WORKING?Thanks for the response. Monitor is working. No problem there. I don't know if there are any error messages because the screen is blank. Power light blinks yellow. When I HOOK up monitor to other computers the power light goes to green and you can hear monitor engage. I have several computers with the same problem after the hard drives were wiped. They are all the same type of computers. Should I buy a new video card and try that? Maybe if that works I COULD download the drivers for the onboard video card and follow the same line for the other computers. Steve297Here is what I'm thinking. If you have a bunch of new old computers and none of them work with that monitor, then I would assume there is a problem with the monitor, like it's not plugged in properly or something. Exactly how old are these computers?If they have floppy drives DLoad and create a WinMe bootdisk from bootdisk.com. Power up each machine with the monitor hooked up and the floppy in... This will at least give you a POST screen and some graphics so you will know if it's the monitor or not.

14021.	Solve : Board Replacement?
Answer» okay since my old board died I need to find Intel SE7210TP1-E Sever board but the place were I got it doesnt CARRY it anymore any other places I could TRY? Geeks an tiger dont have it.Ebay has always been a good place to find items like this....just be SURE it has a warranty and the seller has 99% or better feedback rating, and that the shipping rates are realistic....Sometimes a board is only $70 and then the shipping is $50.00 etc... Anyone urgent to purchase might click BUY and then say great I just paid $120 for a $90 motherboard elsewhere and get ripped off by $30. I never made that mistake, but I am sure others have...especially items for a penny or dollar that are way under priced until you see the shipping brings its cost into check with what it should cost or even more than you would pay elsewhere. I'll try amazon but i dont like to trust ebaygoogle came up with 4,126 hits in .028 seconds... Including Amazon and others.seriously thanks patio ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I owe you ONE. need a beaver or something.

14022.	Solve : Sony Cybershot-U?
Answer» I have a sony Cybershot-U 30 and my OS is windows 2000 Pro SP4.and when i plug in the camera windows 2000 says New Hardware Found.then it prompts me for a driver. I went to the sony website and it says that windows 2000 and windows Xp dont need a driver.they only have a driver for windows 98SE. I tried the camera on my sisters windows Xp computer and a friends Xp Computer And it Worked FINE. It will show up as a Mass Storage DEVICE. so ANYWAY i dont understand why windows 2000 is asking for a driver. It should see it as a mass storage device.But for some reason windows 2000 isn't identifying it Properely. I hope someone can help me. Windows 2000Pro SP4 466Mhz Celeron 128 Ram Have you tried different USB ports? Is your SYSTEM a laptop/notebook? You could have a dodgy USB port at FAULT here. Cool avatar btw. 486 lolIt's a Desktop.and yes i have tried both usb ports.and i'm sorry i dident add this in my first post but i also tried it on my other computer that also has windows 2000. Have you tried Un-installing the camera in device manager and reinserting the camera?Yes,i pulg it back in and it's the same thing. it asks for a driver.Can anyone please help me

14026.	Solve : Drive smart failed?
Answer» Hi. I tried installing windows xp pro on my computer today and ran through some problems along the way. I was right about done formatting the drive when the power went out. I restarted the whole process again but this time I GOT a S.M.A.R.T. failure right on boot. Drive in no longer recognized and it SEEMS inoperable. Its about 1 year old and make is Western Digital 160gb. Any help appreciated.you can probably disable S.M.A.R.T (Self Monitoring And REPORTING Tool) within your CMOS, but it sounds LIKE the drive COULD be kaput.

14029.	Solve : Computer will not boot or even startup just starts beeping?
Answer» I have a 10 year old desktop with 586mhz and about 128 Ram and I have been getting runtime error messages also low virtual memory and now sometimes computer will only beep continusly not even screen will show anything and after unpluging everything it will not help after a few tries it will start up and work fine. I seen somwhere that if you have award bios and it beeps steady it is most likely to be ram does this SOUND right? It does mention on the screen when it will start something about cmos is not right but I have not entered setup in YEARS to change anything. JohnProbably a bad CMOS battery=10 years old. Part # CR 2032 available most anywhere.Yes I noticed my date is two days BEHIND will have charge battery first. What do you think about soldiering in one of those old batteries you know the ones that are 2 inches TALL with wires? JohnNot a GOOD idea... The CMOS battery costs 4 or 5 Bucks. A new board would be alot more.

14031.	Solve : Upgrade Ram?
Answer» Hi I Have a Axis 64 Dominator from Evesham. I has 1 stick of 512 ram in a green slot and, 1 stick of 512 in a purple slot as supplied. I would like to add a kit of 2x1gig making a total of 3gig. Please could you advise if this is possible and if so witch modules I should buy. I enclose my Everest scan. Many thanks Kevin. [Saving space - attachment deleted by admin]mopy, GO to crucial.com and run their memory test scan it should confirm what you have,what you can upgrade to,and what type of ram you should buy.You are not obliged to purchase from them or even use their brand.truenorthI have allready done this it can not detect my mother board on the scan. doing it manually it do not list my mother board preciously. The near one to mine has information on upgrade that I do not understand. My mother board is MS7025 V1 K8N NEO 2. Many thanks Mopy. Is this your main board? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia,873-4.html Hang on now I'm confused. The picture shows 4 RAM slots, where as the manual says 3. 184 pin DDR SDRAM DIMM Maximum capacity: 3Gb for DDR 266/333 Or 2Gb for DDR400 There are 3 slight variations on this mother board I would recommend you use System Information for Windows to find out which of the three variations. (it will be under Hardware/motherboard the name should be at the top of the list) It should say either MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, F or FX http://www.gtopala.com/download/siw-setup.exeYes this looks like my board. I attach info from SIW. Mopy [Saving space - attachment deleted by admin]Did SIW not give you the model of your motherboard? It should have been under the Hardware/motherboard. Well never mind about it for now, The report was useful in a different way. We now know what memory you currently have installed. You may be able to install some newer, faster memory but your system will default the speed to the slowest installed chip. I.e you currently have RAM at 200Mhz, If you were to install 400Mhz capable RAM then the motherboard would only run it at 200Mhz. Your current intalled memory should be 2x STICKS of DDR 400 (PC3200) 512Mb RAM Now you can still buy DDR 400 (PC3200) RAM and fairly cheaply as well so don't go wasting money on faster RAM if you don't intend on removing the old sticks already installed. I don't think that you would receive much benefit from using faster RAM and I have lost those specifications so I'll need a minute to work out what memory can be taken by the motherboard. If you provide what county are you currently residing in then we may be able to give you some recommendations.Hang on the manual for the platinum model says that the board will only take a maximum of 2Gb of DDR 400 (PC3200) RAM This is unless you have the FX version of the the motherboard (as you have already said that the picture I provided earlier looked right then its a good possibility as the FX version is the only one with 4 RAM expansion slots). So we'll need you to check SIW again to see if it will give you a model number for that board of yours.Hi I am living in the UK, The SIW will reveal no more then already stated. You may like to take a look at the Everest report in my first post?. This is what is printed on the mother board its self MS 7025 Ver 1 K8N Neo 2 Thanks Mopy.Now I'm pretty sure that the FX version of that motherboard is the one that you are using but I think a second opinion would be prudent. On the plus side if it is the FX version then it opens up a much larger selection of compatible RAM for you. In the mean time here are some providers with the RAM to match your current components. I would recommend waiting for a second opinion before going out and buying anything. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/592034 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/63128 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?RAM-40/1G PC World are good for inexperienced buyers and have many local outlets but are the most expensive and have a limited selection. Novatech (my personal favourite) are not bad price wise and have a very good selection but are for more experienced buyers and only have 2 outlet centres in the country (don't worry tho they deliver all over the UK) Ebuyer are undoubtedly the CHEAPEST and also have a large selection but have no outlet centres and I always question stuff that’s too cheap (never buy power supplies for £5, it’s not worth it). BRONI, Carbon Dudeoxide, Patio, someone to cast an opinion?

14033.	Solve : BIOS/CMOS changes configuration of its own free will!?
Answer» Hi all Currently running XP pro SP3 Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5 Motherboard AMD Phenom quad cor processor XFX GeForce8600GT Graphics Card I have had a few Stop errors lately Unknown Hard Error C000021A KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR STOP: 0x0000007A Started investigating and I have found that the BIOS/CMOS changes its configuration without my knowledge. Last time it changed all my HDD configuration and the PC would'nt boot. I changed the configuration back and it booted up no problem. My first thought is to change the CMOS BATTERY! Does anyone concur or have any other ideas. Many thanks Technowarrior Normally if your battery is going the time will not be correct on your windows screen.Changing the battery is a start ....and...what exact settings have changed?Have you already tried the support site? That mobo is a very special item and you should already have asked them about any updates or recalls on that model. http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/ServiceCenter.aspx Not your average mother. Thanks for your comments. I will look into them later today. The wife is taking me Christmas shopping!!!! Oh great joy! I will let you know how I get on. With the PC not the Christmas shopping! regards and thanks TechnowarriorHi all Survived Christmas shopping!!! No more about that! Xavier - I agree that the time generally suffers first when the CMOS battery starts going but I have heard that CMOS settings sometimes revert to default settings when the battery is low! My time STATUS is normal but it seems the majority of my settings have DEFAULTED. Geek - Good thought I'm going to check with Gigabyte next. Broni - Most if not all setting have defaulted. A couple of times my 4 SATA disks have not been recognised. Will let you know what happens next. Regards Technowarrior Update I have e-mailed Gigabyte and there response was to update the BIOS to the LATEST version -F6. I have now updated the BIOS and will see if it cures the problem. If it hasn't I should get a BSOD in the next few days. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help so far. Regards Technowarrior

14034.	Solve : New Canon MP 520?
Answer» I have just purchased a new CANON MP 520 Printer/Scanner/Copier and although in the Retailers CATALOGUE it states that it will run on Windows 98 (and others) the box only mentions XP and above. Will this new printer run on my old PC with W.98 BEFORE I open the box?I went to cannons web site and found a driver for Windows 98. Go here http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndex1Act&fcategoryid=103 and navigate to your printer. You may want to call their support just to be sure, but that may not be necessary. Thanks very much for the link. Interesting and informative site. Thanks again. PETE.

14036.	Solve : system is not starting?
Answer» I am using pc, having "mercury motherboard pvm 7" (may not be exacat). Recently i have reassembled the system. As i know very little about hardware, i assembled it improperly. I think i have commited mistake only at FIXING "power SW", on "panel 1". But power is passing in motherboard and fans are roatating for 1 second. But nothing is going on there after ...and pc not responding at all. So please help me in fixing this problemIf you don't know much about your pc's inner workings, it probably wasn't a good IDEA to resemble it in the first place. Why did you do it anyway?To kizza its not time to discuss , who is at worng side. But still i want to tell why i reassembled my pc. My pc's cpu fan contact are very loose and system frequently freez because of cpu heat. so i usually make it tight whenever it become loose. and this time it too not worked. This is the reason BEHIND my work. so , now can u help me in this regardwell give me 100$ plus a plain ticket and ill come and fix it cause i think this will be hard to fix over a forum espcaly if you dont no much about hardware is this a self built computer? or a brand name one? if its self built can you find the motherboard manual? that motherboard kind doesnt sound FAMILIAR to me though

14037.	Solve : Building first computer, I get fast, high beeping/whining when I try to turn on?
Answer» I'm building my first computer and when I try to turn it on I get no signal to my monitor and a high whining noise, possibly a very fast beeping. At first I thought that maybe I had a bad PSU, but now I'm wondering if it is an error noise of some sort. Any ideas? Specs: EVGA GeForce 9800 GT Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33GHz G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)Are you sure your MOTHERBOARD and your CPU are match? or maybe your BIOS setting is wrong or not match to your hardware, your explain isn't COMPLETE!Hi I know that these are simple checks and you might have already done them but there is no harm in starting at the beginning with the simple things! Check that your graphics card is seated properly in the right slot and that your connections between the monitor and graphics card are good. Any bent pins in the cable or graphics card? Is your monitor configured correctly. For instance, I get a no signal report when HDMI is selected and I am running from VGA! Good luck Technowarrior Lol, I finally figured it out. I forgot to plug a power chord from my PSU straight into my video card. I know, dumb mistake. THANKS for your ideas though guysya you always need to plug that in lol if you dont it always causes probs princeofdarkness those are compatible mabye before you post something like that you should check on newegg if they are

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14038.	Solve : CD-RW/DVD combo drive reads CD-ROMs but not CD-R's?
Answer» My CD-RW/DVD combo drive reads CD-ROMs and DVDs, but stopped reading CD-Rs. I replaced the driver and cleaned the lens. No luck. The CD disc is good. Suggestions? This is in a Dell Inspiron 5100 with windows XP home Your drive could be going kaput. Or it could be the CD. You said that the CD-R is good...have you actually verified this by testing it on another computer? Have you tried a different brand of CD? Some drives (especially Phillips) can be very PICKY about which CD-R's they read. Have you tried burning at a slower speed? You should test all of these things out. If you still don't have any luck, you may need to replace the drive, which shouldn't cost much more than $20 or so.Thanks, I've tried to read different brands of CD-Rs without any luck. All can be read on different computers. I can't read any CD-Rs, EVEN ones I created and could read in the past. I think you might be right about needing a new combo drive. Any advice on what and where to buy?If you're in the US, Newegg has some of the best deals you can find and they're quite reliable. Most of us here have dealt with them plenty of times. I've also been able to find some good deals on Meritline; it's where I recently purchased my wife's new DVD drive, and I'm probably going to get my Digital TV converter box there as well. And I'm fairly certain they ship internationally. Of course, if you live outside the US, it would probably be best to use a SITE based in your country.Hey, thanks CBMatt. I think you've given me the "kick in the censored" I need to finally resolve this problem.Heh, I'm GLAD I can point you in the right direction. And THANKFULLY, new optical drives are fairly cheap these days.

14039.	Solve : Finding right drivers?
Answer» Hi I just reformatted my computer and it's now missing a lot of things... So I was WONDERING how do I find the RIGHT DRIVERS? I have a HP Pavilion a6000n.When you bought the PC you should have been GIVEN DISCS with the PC. DRIVER DISC If you do have discs read the lables...or go to HP site.

14043.	Solve : Adding another hard drive?
Answer» I have a desktop running vista ULTIMATE. I have some remaining SPACE on my present drive. I want to install UBUNTBU and have heard it needs to be kept separate from Windows. Question. What issues can I EXPECT with an additional drive? Is it a good idea? I enjoy the forum and thank you in advance for any advice.You can add a new hard drive and format the drive from disc managment . Do you have a UBUNTBU cd?or are you going to download it? Takes appx 8 gb spaceIf you only have "some" remaining space on that drive it WOULD be better off on another drive anyways... Or if the new drive is bigger than the existing one then "clone" the OLD drive to the new one and put Ubuntu on the smaller drive... Windows needs lot's more room to breath compared to any Linux flavor...

14044.	Solve : Both of my DVD Roms are not reading discs?
Answer» So just put in a new power supply and i have everything hooked up. Both of my DVD-Roms are hooked up and when i press the button they will open. It is only LISTING ONE in the MY COMPUTER page and when i put a disc in it it says there is no disc. I dont get it PLEASE help I have Windows XpHow are they hooked up ? ? IDE or SATA ? ? Did you check the jumper settings ? ? One needs to be master the other slave if they are on the same cable...iam sorry dont KNOW what ide or sata is. also one of them is hooked up to the first part of the cord and the other one is hooked up to the second partIf it's a wide gray ribbon cable then it's IDE..... SET jumpers as seen below: MBoard=================================slave=======master.

14046.	Solve : accessing webcam?
Answer» is there a WAY to VIEW webcam from my internet shop when IM in home.i want to my check my shop using only webcam without knowing somebody else anytime anywhere i am?tnx Yes you can: its going to TAKE some hardware to do it though. To get a idea [google] web cam SET up

14047.	Solve : Power erratic?
Answer» My computer opens and after a short while the screen flashes (SIGNIFYING that the BATTERY is no longer charging) for a second then the screen blanks out and STAYS off, but with the lights on all the buttons staying on. To test whether the CHARGER was the PROBLEM i disconnected the charger and this time while starting up the lap top closed within seconds (closed with no light on my buttons sometimes, but sometimes with the light). I tried taking out the battery and keeping the charger on, but that caused the same problem as keeping the charger off. The problem's obviously somewhere in the power process, but I have no idea what the problem is. Please help.

14048.	Solve : What can the problem be??
Answer» Hello. I have a computer with an integrated video CARD called NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405. I think thats both the motherboard and video cards name or something. Anyway I just got a new video card named MSI RX800XL-VT2D256E that i would like to put in. I found a guide on google and followed it, deleted old drivers and inactivated the integrated card in BIOS. Then I try to start, the lamp on the screen flashes but my screen is black. The computer is activated and the video card fan starts up and everything BUT my MOUSE or keyboard dont start and i dont GET that old Beep sound from the computer when it start. I would be very happy if anyone COULD solve this problem. THANK you.

14049.	Solve : getting sata drive working.?
Answer» Hi Every one! My name is Neil and i am struggling to get my sata drive set up properly. my original set up had a 250gb HDD as master and an 80GB HDD as slave on the primary IDE channel, but my 250 died. so i pulled it out and stuck in an old 30GB drive to use in the mean time until i COULD buy a new drive. I did a little research and discovered that my mother board (VIA KT600DAP) has sata connectors and supports 150mb/s speed and RAID0, 1. So my replacement drive is a 300GB sata drive, but my computer doesn't recognise it. I have had a good look about in my BIOS, and also tried plugging it into the other port, i also tried starting up with all the IDE HDD's and dvd drives disconnected. I have also ensured that the jumper on the new sata drive is in the 150 position rather than the 300 position.(board doesnt support the faster speed). My bios is Phoenix award V6.00PG. And here is a link to a downloadable manual for my motherboard with BIOS info too. I have printed it. http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/download_address.asp?downid=757&proname=V600DAP&downtype=Manual-English im using a free OS CALLED Ubuntu/linux when i get drive running, i intend a fresh installation of xp.If the drive is being seen in the BIOS go ahead and start the XP install by booting to the XP CD... Very early on in the setup process you will see a message at the bottom screen "Press F6 to install drivers"... At this point insert your MBoard driver CD which will have the SATA drivers and XP should auto detect and install them... The XP install will now continue and may ask you to replace the XP CD... You should be good to go.Thanks for replying. The BIOS is not detecting the drive. at least i dont think so. i can post a couple of screen shots. then perhaps you can point me in thew right direction. Oh ! i don't SEEM to have a drivers disk for the mother board, i assume i can download these? In these pics i had all the drives unplugged other than the new sata.i have been reading instructions and searching forums and TINKERING. and i am no closer. to a solution. Do i need to update my BIOS ? i did find udates available but i am a little unsure about going ahead with it after noticing the big disclaimers and the system requirements and feeling bewildered. I will go ahead and have a go with the xp disk tomorrow and see what happens. i really wish i had just bought an IDE drive On my benchtest machine they are simply listed SATA 1 SATA 2 SATA 3 and SATA 4...I'm in the same boat w/ BigNeal. I have one SATA drive as my primary. I'm trying to replace a secondary EIDE w/ a new SATA. Merely adding drive and power interrupts the boot process. I've cross checked both power and data cables, and both sets will start the primary alone. What adjustments are needed for Phoenix Award BIOS to accept the change? Help! Too many hours under the desk. BAcumen

14050.	Solve : Power adapter leads to blank screen?
Answer» I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 laptop. If I use the power ADAPTER the screen goes BLACK after a couple of minutes although I can see shadows and KNOW that the computer is still running. If I use battery power I do not get this problem, so I know that the screen itself works and that the power adapter is still charging the battery. I would be very GRATEFUL for any help/suggestions as I am stumped. Thanks for all the help.