Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

For a old PC, I was planning to replace the 3C905TX with a Gigabit NIC. I have a trouble knowing what I should use. I need ONE with a driver which is on the Windows 7 DVD disc.

Intel Pro 1000 GT or Intel Pro 1000 MT?Your talking about 3COM and Gigabyte, why is the poll for Intel?

They are all different manufacturers right?Quote from: Quantos on AUGUST 08, 2009, 12:19:38 AM

Your talking about 3COM and Gigabyte, why is the poll for Intel?

They are all different manufacturers right?

MY BOARD FOR THE UPGRADING PC IS FROM INTEL, NOT GIGABYTE. THIS IS NOTHING ABOUT GIGABYTE.

Occasionally my monitor will go to a screen saver, where the screen GOES black you know? except that when I return, it does not reshow windows, instead giving a "no input signal error". When I restart the computer, it is usually fine, although sometimes when I restart, and when I just START my computer up from shutting it down, I get this error. Like I said, with a restart everything is back to normal, but it sure is annoying. My computer just started this problem after I installed a new sound card and upgraded my MEMORY. I uninstalled the sound card and opted for on-board sound, but this still happens. I have moved and unfortunately don't have my old memory anymore to test it with....could this be the issue or might it be a motherboard going bad or an issue with the power supply? I would remove all power and re-seat the video card...Sounds like the video card not 'refreshing' out of standby State 1.

As patio stated, reseat the video card after shutting down and turn the power off at the wall, but keep the cord in to keep the grounded connection.

Unless this is a onboard card, then it is more than likely a driver issueThanks.....that seemed to work for as it not coming up during the restart part....but i was still having trouble with the screen saver thing... i turned off SLEEP mode for now and has it hasn't frozen up like again. However, I was just playing a flash game today and the whole computer shut off randomly....FIRST time that's ever happened.... I gave it a sec and it booted back up.... but i dunno.... could it be an overheating problem?? I am working in a room w/o ac...:/
If this is a desktop system then disable all of your powersaving features.

I read a post here from "Tracker" with almost the EXACT same issue I am having. But I did not see his final resolution the the issue. SOME PLEASE HELP ME ! I orderd a Biostar G31-M7-TE MOTHERBOARD for my new media system. I also bought a new case with a 500 watt powersupply. The board came as a combo with an Intel duel core processor. When I turn it on the first time, the CPU fan and power fan came on, but nothing on the monitor or keyboard. Since I had all my cards and drive connected, I disconnected them and went barebones to see if it would come up. This time, the fans came on for just a second and then went dead. After that, they would not come on at all until I set the jumper to 'clear CMOS'. I was getting nowhere. I called Biostar support, no help, they gave me an RMA to return and GET a new one. The new one arrived. I hooded it up with only the memory, processor. It came on and I was able to turn it off. Then when I tried again.. nothing. it seemed dead. Now I can't imagine two boards being bad. Something else has to be going on. Any ideas? HELP!Replace the board again, and this time try with a new PSU(Power Supply Unit).

You aren't reaching into the computer and touching stuff while it's running are you?This board take the 24 pin power connector. All my other supplies are 20 pin. So I will have to buy a new one to try out another PSU. I have the board out of the case on a static-free mat, so nothing is touch where it shouldn't be. The PSU with the 20 pins did power up the fans, but I still could not turn it off without pulling the cord. Nothing on the monitor. Any other suggestions?If you take your current PSU to a local shop they may be able to test it for you.

I prefer to go to a small local retailer for this, they will usually bend over backwards to get your BUSINESS. Or if the place you bought the motherboard is local you could try there.

I have an HP pavillion laptop which has a switch near the monitor for volume. This switch is obviously for increasing and decreasing volume and there is also another switch to mute the system volume and this is smack dab in the center of the up/down switch for volume. I first noticed a problem when I tried to use a USB mouse with the scroll wheel. When you push the scroll wheel down you should get an icon and you can pan across the page really fast. Well the icon shows up and dissappears ALMOST immediately. Tried to watch a you-tube video, and the sound was down low. Try to TURN the sound up, and the system mutes and unmutes (when trying to increase the volume). I tried opening the volume properties on the task bar and dragging the volume control up. When you do so, the volume turns itself back down (slowly, as if you are pushing the volume down button repeatedly). Ive gone into a couple of other volume menus and don't have such luck. When you push the volume down button on the keyboard, it doesn't have any effect on the muting or un-muting. The system only mutes and unmutes when you actually HIT the mute button or when you use the volume "up" button. I restarted the computer, and I always get a window for my quick-launch buttons (file corrupted or missing) been like that for years. Anyway, I did the usual to clear that out (hit the space-bar) nothing happened, I actually had to click the "ok" box with the cursor. Keep in mind, this USB mouse I have also used for about two years with no problems. One other thing, whenever I am on a website (like craigslist) where you scroll down, click on something and view whatever you are viewing. Then click the back arrow to go back to searching, I have to START at the top of the page instead of coming back where I left off (it never used to be like this).Quote from: Diesel-crazy on August 18, 2009, 09:39:46 PM

I have an HP pavillion laptop which has a switch near the monitor for volume. This switch is obviously for increasing and decreasing volume and there is also another switch to mute the system volume and this is smack dab in the center of the up/down switch for volume. I first noticed a problem when I tried to use a USB mouse with the scroll wheel. When you push the scroll wheel down you should get an icon and you can pan across the page really fast. Well the icon shows up and dissappears almost immediately. Tried to watch a you-tube video, and the sound was down low. Try to turn the sound up, and the system mutes and unmutes (when trying to increase the volume). I tried opening the volume properties on the task bar and dragging the volume control up. When you do so, the volume turns itself back down (slowly, as if you are pushing the volume down button repeatedly). Ive gone into a couple of other volume menus and don't have such luck. When you push the volume down button on the keyboard, it doesn't have any effect on the muting or un-muting. The system only mutes and unmutes when you actually hit the mute button or when you use the volume "up" button. I restarted the computer, and I always get a window for my quick-launch buttons (file corrupted or missing) been like that for years. Anyway, I did the usual to clear that out (hit the space-bar) nothing happened, I actually had to click the "ok" box with the cursor.

HI,

I'm trying to upgrade my graphics card because my computer intergrated graphics is really bad. I have an packard bell Imedia B2217 UK, however the psu installed is only 115W, however I have a spare PSU that has an output of 450W, my question is will the NEW PSU fry/break with the motherboard or can I just plug it all in?
Yes you can change the PSU,s over, provided that the Packard one is a standard size, as sometimes the FIT CUSTOM size ones in there computers. Nope. The PSU (if its worth anything) sends the right amount of power out for your mobo and peripherals. It shouldn't fry it. A computer with the right power SUPPLY will only use the power [wattage] that is needed. If you have [lets say] a 450 WATT power supply and replace it with a 750 watt you will not have a pblm. More is better

I am getting video card artifacts when I play COD 4, It only happends once in a while but is getting worst. refer to this link...http://www.playtool.com/pages/artifacts/artifacts.html. The guys I play on line with say its my video card and It will have to be replaced. I have a nividia geforce 9800 card, can anyone recommend a card as good or BETTER than this model for online gaming?. Also I have a Hp 22 inch monitor, could this cause problems with my video card?Sounds like overheating to me. TRY downloading and running speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan439.exe

Try looking for a GPU temperature after running your game for a while and post it back HEREI already tried speedfan with another advisor, He said temps were ok. If you have a stock or generic PSU I would say it is prob that. Heat will cause as well. I have a consair 620 watt power supply.I recommend the Nvidia Geforce GTX 295. I dont have it but you will get more FPS in games.Check your cables.

I once had some stray pixels hanging AROUND, and it turned out to be a bad cable causing it. Make sure everything is tight, and if you have an extra cable, GIVE that a try.

I have a Gateway E4300 running Windows XP Professional that will no longer startup.

This all began when about a week ago, when I came home from a weekend vacation. Before I left the computer ran fine, but when I tried starting it up after returning from my vacation it would not start. I kept receiving a MESSAGE that said "A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart." Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del would loop the startup and return me back to the same message.

It was late at the time of this occurrence, so I decided to take the computer into the repair shop the next morning. When I woke up the next morning for some ODD reason I felt compelled to try to turn it on again. So I did and it started up normally. I took it into the repair shop despite this. They ran scans on it, CHECKED the hard drive, etc. , but could find nothing wrong with it. So they gave it back to me.

The next day I was using the computer when it froze. Nothing was responding so I had to turn it off via the button on the front of my tower. When I turned it back on I received the disk error message and once again by the next morning it worked fine.

This continued about 4 more times. Each evening the computer would stop working, and by the next morning it was fine. Now the "next morning magic" is no longer working. All I get now is the disk read error.

I tried contacting Gateway about it, but they redirected me to the company that they sold all of their professional models to, MPC. MPC went bankrupt recently, so now all that exists of them is a volunteer run forum that hasn't been of any help to me.

So if anyone has any idea of what may be going wrong, please help.

System Specs
Model: Gateway E4300 6-Bay Desktop
OS: Windows XP Professional SP3
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.00GHz (2CPUs)
Memory: 3GB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
Drives: C:/,D:/(backup),E:/(external)

Can you start up in safe mode? Tap F8 repeatedly on start up.Nope.
When I tap F8 repeatedly during startup it freezes on the Gateway logo screen rather than going on to the error screen.1. Windows XP CD. What kind of Windows XP CDs do you have, if any?

2. CMOS Setup. Enter CMOS setup during startup to see if there's a System BIOS option to set an access delay (in seconds) for the hard drive. This exists to give a tired old drive extra time to spin up before being accessed for the first time. If the drive isn't ready, I presume you'll get an error.

3. Hard Disk Drive Diagnostics. Most hard drive manufacturers provide "free" diagnostic downloads to make bootable floppy or CD to check the operation of the drive and surface of the disk. Perhaps "reseat" or replace the hard drive data cable. See how the diagnostics go in its current configuration.

4. Memory Diagnostics. MemTest86 provides "free" memory diagnostic downloads to make bootable diagnostic floppy or CD.1. Start with the bootable memory diagnostic. If it boots into the memory diagnostic, let it run for several hours. This will accomplish several things:
a. Test your system RAM
b. Exercise basic CPU, video card, monitor, and motherboard functions
c. Probably rule out overheating as cause of freeze
d. Suggest issue is with Windows software or the rest of the hardware

2. So... test the hard drive functionality and/or disk surfaces.
a. Ensure hard drive is seen and correctly identified within System BIOS.
b. Boot to hard drive diagnostic CD and run non-destructive tests.
c. Boot to Recovery Console from Windows XP Install CD and use "chkdsk" command:
(1) "chkdsk /?" for command help and syntax
(2) "chkdsk [drive:] /p /r" to verify integrity of file system, disk surface and make whatever corrections it can. Once started, do NOT abort it. Let it finish.

3. Disconnect any external peripherals you don't need for the test at hand to eliminate them as the source of the problem.

4. Try booting to "Safe Mode" again after file system is checked and repaired.there is a small chance of bad ram
also is there a boot sector virus?
try booting from cd or floppy or usbI'm not saying it's a "RAM" problem. When you're having trouble identifying a problem source, sometimes it's better to concentrate on what works rather than what doesn't work. This frequently leads to a better understanding of the problem and its symptoms as the "potential" problem domain gets smaller.RAM problem can easily cause these symtomss
i had a ram problem and similer symtoms happened
ii doubt it but its not impossableI doubt it's a RAM problem when you get a message that sayz that "a disk read error occurred", Verify the cable is not worn or loose & that no over heating is occurring (the smaller SATA drives) produce more heat than older EIDE's. It's not uncommon for a platter, read/write heads or the head actuator to malfunction these days on faster performing drives.

Try this HDD testing tool at this link: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Well, long story short, I partitioned my external 500 GB hard drive into two parts, one normal, and one partition 70 GB big formatted to the WBFS system (Wii format). It's used to connect the hard drive to the Wii and load games off the hard drive. I got it all to work, but SUDDENLY, my comptuer doesn't recognize either partition of the hard drive, and neither does my Wii. It shows up in Device manager as Mass Storage, but I can't assign a drive letter to it. It also says that the hard drive can't start, and I can't update DRIVERS for it either. I already got most of the hard drive backed up, so I don't mind formatting it, but currently, I can't really do anything at all with it. Any suggestions?Right clik My COMPUTER and select Manage...then Disk Management...
Right clik the partition and select Properties...

Post back with your findings.Don't see the partition there. Then it and whatever data you had is gone...Meh, I'm not too concerned for the data, I backed up the majority of it before I screwed around it. I just want a way to get it to work again, LOL. Easus Partition Manager

Did i mention it's FREE ? ?

I have been trying without success to CREATE a bootable Cruzer Micro. Each of the suggested methods I have found require some action using cmd. When I ENTER a command, e. g. syslinux.exe or grub4dos which has been DOWNLOADED and extracted, I get a message; "not recognized as internal or external command, OPERABLE program or batch file'. Do I have a hardware or software or cockpit problem? Any help is appreciated.I apparently have made my problem too obscure, when I read it even I don't understand it. Let me try again. After I have successfully extracted and put syslinux.exe in a folder, I next executed in the folder start>run>cmd and got C:\\Documents and Settings\Murgatroyd>. Instructions to create a bootable USB memory stick were to then append syslinux.exe G and click ENTER. Following this command, I then got the "not recognized----" message. The Cruzer Micro can be accessed as G in My Computer and all files can be read. Somehow the command doesn't work. I've had the same problem with other approaches to make G bootable. The BIOS (Dell 4700 BIOS A10) shows the USB device as being bootable.Have you actually placed any bootable files onto this device?you have to be in the same directory as the syslinux.exe file
you cd to change directoryQuote from: Quantos on August 20, 2009, 08:50:51 PM

Have you actually placed any bootable files onto this device?

you have to be in the same directory as the syslinux.exe file
you cd to change directory

I am using OS Windows XP on IBM Laptop T42. Until recently had no issues recognition by my system of the external hard drive or accessing the information stored on my hard drive. At this point the system recognizes the hard drive however FREEZES at that point the stem freezes and I am not able to access the hard drive.
I have done the following:
Using different laptop same results.
Start and run, to ope the hard drive same results.
My computer, double clicking on the hard drive.
Thank you in advance for advice,
LauraSorry to say, but the external seems to be dead. The laptop is trying to acces the failed drive and locking up.

Does the external drive still spin and or make any noises?Right clik My Computer and select Manage...then Disk Management...how does it show up in there ? ?
Late yesterday plugged the HD in and Windows tried to open & search for files then nothing.
Shows up in my computer "F" drive right click highlights and hour glass shows attempts to open nothing.
I left this plugged in all night (yes a little desperate) causes my system to slow.
Noise, yes unfortunately, spinning and clicking regular intervals.
Do you believe there is a way to recover the data without spending a fortune? Honestly, a hard lesson learned I was using this HD as an "extension to my laptop". Store my work in this hard drive about ten years worth of documents and pictures. No I did not back this up anywhere else ugh.
Thank you,
LauraThere are companies that will recover (or attempt to recover) the data for you and a Google search will help you out there. But unfortunately I doubt there is a "cheap" solution.Thanks for your help apologies could not respond to Managment question. I am using another laptop to accomplish that task slow. I will post here if that is successful. Recovery yes had a feeling time to decide value of the work not looking forward to this.
LauraComputer Management, from there to Disk Managment (because I was not sure how to view the drive) good news system recognized the drive. The bad news Status: healthy, Capacity 37.25GB, FREE Space: 37.25GB, %Free: 100%. End of story? BTW you PROBABLY realized that I have been calling this drive "F" when it is actually Drive "E" I would like to aknowledge your help & noticed you have thanks posted next to profile please let this "rookie" know how to do that.It looks like your data is gone...
The most common cause of this with external drives is them being un-plugged prematurely without using the "Safely Remove Hardware tray tool...

The drive letter should make no difference.
For the Thanx feature just select who and clik that link within one of their Posts.Quote from: patio on August 20, 2009, 09:01:07 AM

It looks like your data is gone...
The most common cause of this with external drives is them being un-plugged prematurely without using the "Safely Remove Hardware tray tool...

The drive letter should make no difference.
For the Thanx feature just select who and clik that link within one of their Posts.

I recently updated the BIOS.

Ok GUYS I tried to ctrl tab but It just brought up who was playing online.

[attachment deleted by admin]Quote

Alt+Tab....

And whats the deal with the fan speed on speed fan ,two are just reading 13, and the others 100?

I recently ran low on hard drive space with my primary HD. I was informed that I would be able to purchase a second HD and copy some LARGER, less used files to it to free up some space. I PURCHASED a Hitachi 1TB SATA Internal HD. Plugged in the appropriate power supply cable and data cord and connected it to the motherboard. When I started my computer it recognized "new hardware". I am able to locate the new HD in my BIOS but unable to locate it in "my computer". I have 4 data cord plugs on my motherboard with different colors, does that make a difference which one I plug in to? Does it matter if my primary HD is IDE? How can I find the new HD and also what is the easiest WAY to copy music, picture and video files to the new HD? Better yet, is there a way I could copy ALL of the information to the new HD and not use the smaller one so I do not need to go back and forth between drives?

Thank you for any help in advance,
Evanvigor
Does it show in disc MANAGEMENT?If so you from there format the new driveTo expand on Xaviers comment right-click My Computer / MANAGE / Disk Management. Now follow his advice.

Alan <><

Okay, I have an HP Pavilion desktop that runs Windows XP. A couple days ago, everything was working fine, but I had to unplug and move everything so I COULD build my new computer desk. When I plugged it back in, I thought everything was okay, but I mostly use my laptop so I didn't use it much.

Today, I went on my desktop to get some pictures for a friend. I wanted to make a .zip file for her, so I did the 'right-click, new, compressed folder', etc. etc.. When I went to go type in the NAME of the folder, nothing happened, and I realized my mouse wasn't working. I had to press and hold the power button on my computer to turn it off and restart. I did it a couple more times, and I realized that any time I pressed a button on the keyboard, even something like num lock, the mouse stopped working. The cursor would still be there, but I couldn't move it or click or anything. I don't think the keyboard worked at all, but I can't understand why it's freezing my mouse too. The rest of the computer seems to work (I started the internet, pressed a key on the keyboard, and the mouse stopped working, but the internet PAGE still loaded). I also switched out the keyboard for a different one, but when I started up the computer on that one, it couldn't get past the start-up screen.

Can somebody help me? It's a pretty old computer (I got it about seven or eight years ago) but it got a new hard drive about two years ago, and everything was working fine a couple of days ago. I know my grandma blew a fuse yesterday with a lamp, but it wasn't plugged in, so that shouldn't have affected it. Help! I'll provide whatever other information I can, but I can't really search for anything on my computer.

FIXED THROUGH SYSTEM RESTORE. Thank you, mom. Are the mouse and keyboard USB and if so are they connected to a MOBO USB port (LEGACY) or to an accessory USB card?

I had this issue with an E machine. If there was a hard shutdown the USB accessory card was not recognized on BOOT up but the PS-2 keyboard and mouse ports worked.

If I used the PS2 ports and rebooted, checked driver issues through device manager and repaired or updated them, then the USB ports would activate again.Are you sure the mouse and keyboard are in the proper ports......you may have mixed them when moving the machine....what does device manager give you?Quote from: Gizmologist on July 04, 2009, 04:09:22 PM

Are the mouse and keyboard USB and if so are they connected to a MOBO USB port (legacy) or to an accessory USB card?

I had this issue with an E machine. If there was a hard shutdown the USB accessory card was not recognized on boot up but the PS-2 keyboard and mouse ports worked.

If I used the PS2 ports and rebooted, checked driver issues through device manager and repaired or updated them, then the USB ports would activate again.

Are you sure the mouse and keyboard are in the proper ports......you may have mixed them when moving the machine....what does device manager give you?

Mouse = Green
Keyboard = Purple

Check to see if you have any conflicts.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310126

Hey yall... I was looking at a bargain in a surplus store and I happened to stumble upon a Compaq Presario desktop, the price ranges from 150 - 200 US dollars... It comes with a 17"CRT MONITOR and WINDOWSXP home...
Here is the link to the pc spex: http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/hp-compaq-presario-sr1610nx/1707-3118_7-31589100.html




Please tell/correct me if I am posting in the wrong forum section... :\DEPENDS on what you want to use it for. WOULD probably be fine for internet, e-mail, typing, etc., but wouldn't be much good for any newer games.

I doubt they'll give you any kind of warranty on it as well, so keep that in mind. If the thing croaks in a week, you're out $150. If you know anyone who knows a bit about computers, I'd get them to go along with you to at least give it a look at. Good luck!

(And if you do get it and have any problems, you know where to find us )Donkerz, Too much for too little from my own experience IMHO,truenorthOffer them 50 Bucks...cash.

All they can say is yes...or no.

The monitor and XP liscense are worth that.
But make sure the machine has the validation sticker for XP on it and inquire whether it comes with the XP CD...Absolutely agree with Patio's price ASSESSMENT. Anymore would be too much.truenorth

Quote from: Track on July 04, 2009, 07:17:50 AM

It is solely for powering an extra monitor that one does not use for anything but desktop space. Thus, the cheaper option is ultimately, absolutely and infinitely PREVALENT.

9400GT or 9500GT would both serve you fine, if you're a non-gamer at heart. But a 9500GT (which I have currently in my machine) SERVES a age of empires 3 fan just fine. So neelchaun, we need to KNOW what you primarily want to do on your pc with the multi monitors (which is what I assume you wanted when you said extend your desktop and is this a computer you use for work?)

I wanted to extend my desktop like 2x3i5x said, not play games.

PS/2That's weird.
You restarted computer.
You SAW "Press any key to boot from CD".
You pressed some key, and Seagate KICKED in, correct?
Nope. PUT bootable CD in drive. Turned off computer. Turned computer on. It started up, had some new quick fleeting messages across the top, then a screen for Seagate asking that I "Accept" and couldn't go from there. KTry again.Same thing HAPPENED. It's the LICENSE agreement for Seatools. I'll try again later. Sorry to be so troublesome. KathyDon't worry about it.

Has to be the oddest error I have ever seen. I have a WD2500 that I somehow repartitioned from a 250 GB drive down to a 32 GB drive and I cannot get this back to it's correct partition size. I think I have tried just about every hard disk utility known to man.

The drive is in perfert working order as a 32 GB drive and nothing detects any errors. The Western Digital Hard Disk utility even detects it correctly as a 250 GB drive will not restore the correct partion size even though that option is AVAILABLE and it says it will. It appears to run normally but still ends up as a 32 GB drive.

Any opinions out there?

Thanks!
Lee




remove the cylinder reduction jumper from the drive; set it to the appropriate setting shown on the Drive case.

This is even stranger than I thought. The drive is partitioned for 32 MB, not GB. I removed the jumper ran the WD Hard Disk utility and it still comes back to a 32 MB drive when completed.

I wonder if this WD Utility may be the problem? I have several of those CD's and I tried a couple of them. Same result.

LeeQuote from: leeburge on July 04, 2009, 09:36:37 AM

This is even stranger than I thought. The drive is partitioned for 32 MB, not GB. I removed the jumper ran the WD Hard Disk utility and it still comes back to a 32 MB drive when completed.

I wonder if this WD Utility may be the problem? I have several of those CD's and I tried a couple of them. Same result.

Lee

I HAVE A GATEWAY GT5475E AND I AM LOOKING FOR THE PORTABLE HARD DRIVE THAT GOES TO IT-160 G.B. OR LESSLooking at the specs for that model I dont understand. Are you talking about a portable hard drive that plugs into UBS or a hard drive that is removeable out the front?QUOTE from: WESTCOASTPOPS on July 03, 2009, 11:51:35 PM

I HAVE A GATEWAY GT5475E AND I AM LOOKING FOR THE PORTABLE HARD DRIVE THAT GOES TO IT-160 G.B. OR LESS

Looking at the specs for that model I dont understand. Are you talking about a portable hard drive that plugs into UBS or a hard drive that is removeable out the front?

P.S I used "PAYPAL" as my CHOSEN method of dealing with them (doesn't add to the COST) and does give excellent tracking and i assume some security PROTECTION. Hope the ASSOCIATION between your wallet and them has a long and happy outcome. Glad to have been of service.truenorthBC_Programmer, you could say they were cheap as chips.

Hello.
I am currently USING a Radeon HD 3870
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=&card2=547


and i am comparing it to a GTX 250

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=606&card2=547



I have herd alot from people saying which card is better or i should buy this instead of that, but my question is why? It seems like a simple question but no1 is ever ABLE to answer it.


Ultimately my question is.. What makes a GFX card better to another. What is important. Bandwidth or core clock? what are these things. BASICALLY im looking for a site or guide to tell me what is more important when it comes to all GFX cards and how I should weigh each aspect of a card.one thing I see is Radeon HD 3870 has a 256-BIT GDDR3/GDDR4 memory interface, while GTX 260 (You listed GTX 250 but nvidia.com lists only GTX 260) has a 448 bit memory interface.

Also you know that the nvidia's can do the physX if you want those ...
The GTS250 is a lot better than the HD3870.
Between different MANUFACTURERS (e.g. ATI and Nvidia) or major lines (e.g. Geforce 7 series and below vs 8 series and above) there's no easy way to compare.
Comparing clock speeds and shader counts will not give you anything meaningful. In pure shader count the ATI cards dominate, but their performance doesn't live up to what you'd expect from just counting shaders because of the design and the difference to Nvidia cards.
The only way to see what card is better is to look at benchmarks from a reputable site, or ask someone that knows.

Hi

I have a HP Pavillion dv2000
Windows XP

Yesterday when turning it on screen was blank, COULD hear it loading though?
Left it til this morning, took out battery left mains in and it TURNED on fine.
I shutdown and turned it back on about hour or two later, back to same problem screen blank.
If I turn on with screen halfway it gives 2 short BEEPS, if I open fully I get the one long two short.
These beeps happened yesterday too but I hadn't time to search for solutions online.
Is there hope for this as it worked this morning?

Thanks for any help or ideas Try taking out and reinstalling the memory /ram. It does become loose
because laptops are portable and moved around a lot.oh yeah thanks I'll try that
you don't know of any guide that would show me how to do that?
The bottom of your laptop should look like this:


Just unscrew the memory compartment (should look like this:
)
remove, then insert the memory then screw the panel back on.

With thanks to www.insidemylaptop.comthanks!
yeah I did that the ram was actually loose :/
but still same problem when I try to turn back on Is there a BUTTON that will allow you to switch between Screen, Screen/Projector, Projector?

On my EI SYSTEMS laptop, I must press Fn+F4 to switch between these modes.

For some reason also at logon, when I start typing the screen goes blank and I must then press the above key combination before the screen will display anything. Maybe this is what has happened?hey
thanks I tried that just to check
but still blank and the one long beep and two short
I can't remember what I did diff this morning to get it working :/I Googled your problem and found this forum:

http://forums.hardwarelogic.com/f36/hp-dv2000-laptop-woes-blank-screen-11008.html

where this guy seems to have the same problem as you.

By the sounds of it, you may have a major graphics problem.

Is there such a thing as a SATA II PCI Card? (not PCI Express). I have not been able to FIND one. Off the top of my HEAD I'd think there would be at least a few around.
However if there aren't, the reason would be BANDWIDTH. PCI's standard bandwidth is 133Mb/sec, SATA is 150Mb/sec, and SATA II is 300Mb/sec.
In other words, the original SATA standard saturates the PCI bus, so there's no point in having a SATA II card.
SATA and SATA II are compatible with each other however, so if that's your concern then it's not a problem.
Hope this helps.That is exactly the answer I was looking for, I just bought 2 SATA CARDS & thought I would have to get rid of them them & get SATA II. It's a good thing I couldn't find any SATA II PCI cos I would've wasted my money. Actually, they do make them, but like Calum said...

There are also PCI express versions as well. NewEgg has both. PCI Express, if you have the slot for it, should be able to take that much bandwidth.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=sata+II+pci&x=0&y=0

-=EDIT=-
The rates Calum gave should be megabytes (MB) not megabits (Mb). But otherwise correct, PCI is slower than SATA, but PCI Express isn't (250MB/s-16,000MB/s depending on the PCI express type).

Here's a PCI one for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815102102My Motherboard is an ABIT AN7, it has 2 SATA sockets & 5 PCI slots so I need to upgrade, eventually. Quote from: quaxo on July 06, 2009, 03:14:10 AM

The rates Calum gave should be megabytes (MB) not megabits (Mb).

Thinking now when I'm more awake, I do know that they're MB rather than Mb. Thank you for the correction, no idea what I was thinking when I wrote that.

I bought an MP3 player from a charity shop today.

Thing is, when I plug it in to my computer, and TRY to view the files, explorer.exe stops working. I have opened up device manager when it is PLUGGED in and I SAW the devices

"Multi-Card" and

"MICROSOFT WPD FileSystem Volume Driver"

suddenly stop working, and when I unplug the MP3 player, these devices then SHOW normal.

Any idea what is happening here?

This may sound strange but TRY it. This will TELL you if the crackle is generated by the computer- PSU operation.

Open the bookmarks page of a any browser you use. Scroll RAPIDLY up and down the lists while listening to the earphones with no audio SOURCE playing. Doe the crackle shift rapidly on and off while you are scrolling? Mine does on the Compac I have on the office desk. The crackling noise is quite intermittent during this action. When stopped or slowed, the crackling is more constant.

The only solution for a laptop that I can THINK of since putting ferrite beads on the fan DC supply wiring is not possible, is to use a USB audio interface if the noise is too annoying.

my COMPUTER was on saturday night....sunday when i WENT to get on it i couldn't TURN it on....like there was no POWER to the tower...i CHECKED all power suppy to the computer and i had power it is like the tower just died...no fan...no noise...no nothing..it is acting like it does when the power is off...like a blown fuse.
what should i be looking for to get this to come back on...it's a dell
thanks!Hi! gpf! First of all what is your system spec's.... It sounds like your power supply went bad or check the plug for a short.... is the socket your system is plugged into working? go for the simple stuff first.... also the power button on your case could have shorted out.... Hope it go's well....good luck!!

have good resistance and conductivity where needed.

sigh...

Giving better conductivity, therefore better performance,

Hi there,
Today I turned on my computer and it went straight to a blue screen with white writing, highlighted RED. The error message says "Fatal Error Occurred , RAID relationship and Content of all hdds will be DESTROIED - - - - Continue©?" (Yes destroied is spelt wrong). I have no idea what this means, is it a virus? Or is it actually an error? I'm scared to press continue, I just shut off the computer. If anyone knows how to help me, PLEASEEEEE reply. Thanks.

Side note: running windows xp sp2
running raidtry Recovery console- run Fixboot/fixmbr. and reboot.hey thanks for your response

The problem is the error screen pops up right when I turn on my computer recovery console is accessed by booting from CD.

If that appears before anything, including RAM checks or the BIOS screens, it might be a BIOS message.

they're getting better, but I've seen a LOT of BIOS spelling errors. Namely my 286 that insisted it had EXTENTED RAM.

IF you can access the BIOS setup screens (DEL, F2, etc) during boot-up, change the Boot sequence to access the CD-ROM, then boot from your windows CD.Hi again,

I can't seem to be able to EVEN access the BIOS setup screen. I click f2 and it says at the bottom "Entering Setup" and then it goes to the next screen that checks raid and ram and whatever else, and when it gets to that screen, the error message pops up. So it doesn't seem like I can do anything In theory what do you think WOULD happen if i clicked continue?

Hi.
I can't install my Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi.

Asembeled Xp Professional
service Pack 3
Amd Athlon (tm) XP + 2400
1.99 GHz, 496Mb Ram

After a MASSIVE virus attack I somehow succeded in formating and reinstaling my PC.
Added Antivir free anti virus + Online Armor free firewall.

Have coppied old Drivers found in an old folder dedicated to this particular PC that for many years worked on a SoundBlaster Audio Card since its own one burned.

This time I cannot reinstall the SoundBlaster Card.
When I boot the computer the following sign comes up:
"GetDriveLayOut:CreatFile failed!"

Than the PC recognizes the new hardware but in some POINTS it REBOOTS itself without installing the right drivers. I've found the following instructions of SoundBlaster assistent site thanks to your site:
Disinstalling and reinstalling the drivers connected to SoundBlaster in:


1. Click Start, Control Panel, and then double-click Administrative Tools, double-click Computer Management, and then click Device MANAGER.
2. Double-click the type of device, for example, Sound, Video and Gamer Controllers, that you want to uninstall.
3. Right-click the specific device (for example, Sound Blaster X-Fi) you want to uninstall, and then click Uninstall.
4. In the Confirm Device Removal dialog box, select the Delete the driver software for this device option and then click OK.
5. Restart the computer
6. When you are done uninstalling the device, remove it from the computer if desired.

If you have a Sound Blaster installation CD-ROM disk (Windows Vista edition), you can manually uninstall the Sound Blaster drivers by running its SETUP.EXE.

To do so, insert the installation CD-ROM disk. Close the Installation/SETUP wizard if the CD-ROM autoruns. Browse the CD-ROM disk, open \Vista\Audio\Drivers, and double click on the SETUP.EXE file.

still reboots it self.
Any suggestions???

Thankyou!!!

You might try removing the physical hardware, and then uninstalling the driver. Have you downloaded the correct driver for the card?I followed the option of uninstalling and than reinstalling all drivers with a special function in the original CD. but with the hardware inside.

I feel there are some other drivers that gets in conflict with it. could it be?

In "controller audio, video, games" the multimedial audio control" (translation from Italian XP) has the yellow sign...Yes, that does seem like a conflict.
any way to descover and clean potential drivers in conflict?
the drivers I've installed are:

2K&XP&2003&Vista_32bit_WHQL
VIAPro
motherboard_driver_chipset_via_hypro( M:\drivers\Driver Biostar M7VBA)
motherboard_driver_audio_realtek_whql
motherboard_driver_lan_realtek8201
motherboard_driver_raid_via_8237_win200 3
motherboard_driver_vga_via_8vm800m775_2 kxp
Windows_V-RAID_V570A
KM400_16942416_XP_wIShld_logod

I guess I asagerated...that's the drivers i've found on the folder prepared years ago by a PC expert...

What should I do?
Quote

motherboard_driver_audio_realtek_whql

Okay as a preamble to this I'm going to try to spell out in as much detail as I can all the info I can, so I apologize
for what may be a lengthy intro and I am not all that computer literate as most of what i know about this issue i learned in the last 2 days.......:

So I have a Maxtor OneTouch III 320GB external HDD, I USE it to back up DOCUMENTS and aslo to hold my music and digital photos. I have had this drive for about three years with no problems what so EVER, until last night. I Originally used this device on an HP Pavilion 7955 desktop running Windows XP with all the OEM it came with including an additional stick of 512MB of RAM i installed several years back. I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525 notebook that runs Vista about 1 year ago and had been using the Maxtor with no problems until recently.
I Had password protected the Maxtor for about the past month and have noticed that what was supposed to be a "plug and play" device was not behaving as such, at times I would turn it on and the drive would request the password right away, other times I would have to turn it off and back on, maybe 3 or 4 times to get it to register. I researched the problem and found that there was an issue with Vista and having the password protection on, so I decided to hook up the drive to my XP powered desktop.

Now I believe there was an "accident" involving a dog where the Maxtor my have been bounced around some, so I was concerned that this could have something to do with it, and yesterday, before attempting to hook it back up to the desktop I had noticed the drive did not spin up like it seemed to do most every time i turned it on.
So I plugged USB into the desktop, turned it on, and like usual I saw the Info bubble in XP that said my device could run faster on a USB 2.0 port but would still work as is. However, the "auto-play" never started and when I looked in My Computer i could not see the drive. I then proceeded to access the Maxtor via the supplied software, the software told me there was no Maxtor drive detected. So I went into Disk Management and looked at the USB port I had plugged it into (and forgive me here, this is where my expertise lacks) The USB showed that it had a "USB Mass Storage Device" connected but it had a Yellow Exclamation mark, I looked into this and it said "(Code 10) This Device does not work" (not sure on the exact WORDING). I Disconnected the Maxtor, tried it in another "spare" desktop we have, with the same results.
Needless to say I was getting very frustrated and angry at this point in time, worrying that I had lost all of my music and pictures. So now I began to think that maybe the HDD itself was physically damaged or incapable of spinning up properly, so I had the idea of trying to dismantle the Maxtor, remove the HDD and see if I could somehow plug it directly into the XP desktop and see if it would at least spin up. \

Now I am fairly mechanically inclined and am able to take apart somewhat complex things and piece them back together, so I figured I was up to the challenge. I found a YouTube video showing how to dismantle my particular drive and proceeded to do so, now I did not notice any overt damage to either the HDD itself or the pc card that controls it and supplies power via the plug and USB ports on the back.
I then researched how to connect a 2nd HDD to my desktop, now granted before last night i did not know what a jumper, IDE, Master/Slave, or any of these things were, but i was/am determined to figure this out if possible. So I found in my desktop the IDE cable that connects to it's HDD (it's an 80GB) and saw that the plug says "Master" printed below it, now the same cable also has a 2nd inline plug that has "Slave" printed by it, there is also an unused power supply connector in there as well
So I moved the Jumper on the Maxtor's HDD to "Slave" according to the diagram printed on it, plugged in the IDE cable, plugged in the power, prayed, then plugged the desktop back in and started it up. So the desktop started up as normal, and much to my delight I could feel and hear the maxtor's HDD spinning up. Windows stared normally and I thought maybe the drive would just show up, it was not in My computer, so I decided to call it a night as it was 10:30 and I get up at 4 for work.....



So here I sit asking for help in this forum before I try anything else. So my real questions are: Have I gone about this right now far and what can I do to make this work?
Is it EVEN possible for me to use the HDD as almost "plug and play" and still be able to get all my music etc off of this thing? Obviously I cannot reformat the disk as that will erase all my info.

My ultimate goal here is to be able to once again access the drive then eventually move the info back onto a new and more reliable external drive, but not BEFORE also backing up all of this on DVD's as my lesson there is learned, but hopefully not at the cost of all my music and pictures.

Thanks for the Help and reading through the long post, I just thought the more info I provided the more helpful the answers may be!Your post is well done, and we appreciate you taking the time to provide details. My intiial thought is whether the jumper settings are correct -- not anything you did or didn't do -- but whether the instructions are correct.

Let's see if we can work through that part a bit more.Try a hard deive case with the hard drive from the maxtor onetouch.Quote

Try a hard deive case with the hard drive from the maxtor onetouch.

Now my question is: I DID password protect this drive while it was still installed in the Maxtor OneTouch, so is the password saved on the drive itself? and if the case is now that i need to enter a password to use it, where would I do such a thing?

Hi, i recently re installed xp after windows 7 expired, i reformated the entire computer and installed xp.

Now i cant use anything that needs sound or a graphics card.


i go to run and type in dxdiag and it doesnt say i have a sound card or graphics card which i definately do.

this is the first bit of the dxdiag saved as a text.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this REPORT: 7/4/2009, 16:36:53
Machine name: FACE-2DE15B2A28
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.090206-1233)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: GBT___
System Model: GBTUACPI
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 522MB used, 1937MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: The system is using the generic video driver. Please INSTALL video driver provided by the hardware manufacturer. Direct3D functionality not available. You should verify that the driver is a final version from the hardware manufacturer.
Sound Tab 1: No sound card was found. If one is expected, you should install a sound driver provided by the hardware manufacturer.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name:
Manufacturer:
Chip type:
DAC type:
Device Key: Enum\
Display Memory: n/a
Current Mode: 1152 x 864 (32 bit) (1Hz)
Monitor:
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: vga.dll
Driver Version: 5.01.2600.0000 (English)
DDI Version: unknown
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/28/2006 22:00:00, 9344 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: vga.sys
Mini VDD Date: 2/28/2006 22:00:00, 20992 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B70EE0-4340-11CF-B063-282AAEC2C835}
VENDOR ID: 0x0000
Device ID: 0x0000
SubSys ID: 0x00000000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel:
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Not Available
D3D Status: Not Available
AGP Status: Not Available
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description:
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID:
Manufacturer ID:
Product ID:
Type:
Driver Name:
Driver Version:
Driver Attributes:
WHQL Logo'd:
Date and Size:
Other Files:
Driver Provider:
HW Accel Level: Emulation Only
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
-----------
DirectMusic
-----------
DLS Path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\drivers\GM.DLS
DLS Version: 1.00.0016.0002
Acceleration: n/a
Ports: Microsoft Synthesizer, Software (Not Kernel Mode), Output, DLS, Internal, Default Port
Registry: OK
Test Result: Not run


can anyone help?Did you reinstall the drivers for your motherboard?

I have to apologize for the obvious, buy you wouldn't believe how common that is.Quantos < do what he says...exactlyYou action MUST be vitualise first poperly and well understood before solution can come technically. Alternatively you can contact us at

Link Removed

2nd warning !Quote from: globaltel on July 04, 2009, 08:38:02 AM

You action must be vitualise first poperly and well understood before solution can come technically. Alternatively you can contact us at

So I've been slowly building this computer and today I went out and bought the memory and the cpu cooler. I got home, put the baby to bed and put it all together. When I went out, I figured that you could buy a power switch. Little did I know that they don't sell them separately. I'm not using a case. I couldn't wait any longer so I took the one out of this computer and tried it on the new one. Nothing happened, no juice, no smoke, I read the mobo manual about 4 times, after two hours I just gave up. I'm on a shoestring budget, and I've gone real cheap. The motherboard is a Gigabyte ga-m61pme-s2p, processor is a AMD 4400 It's a dual channel, but I only bought a single gig of ram. When I started trouble shooting I took two gigs out of this machine and tried it on the new one. The manual recommended a 500w PSU, but I'm not going to use any cards and it didn't say I couldn't use less. For some reason the first component I bought for this thing was the PSU it's a Diablotec 400w thing that was $20. So I guess I'll start there. One thing I'm wondering is if the ATX switch from the HP may not match up with the PANEL header on the motherboard. They were both 9 pin but I think the HP only used 6. All this time I've been thinking I should have just saved the cash and ordered it all from NEWEGG or somewhere at the same time but i didn't. I still wouldn't have the switch though. I'm sure I've thought of everything, but I really new to building and are there any other reasons it wouldn't power up besides a wrong switch, or mobo, or PSU?Motherboard headers have no universal configuration (God only knows why). You have to make sure that the power switch lead is in the correct spot. Check your manual for the correct location. It's also possible that the PSU has a switch near the plug (I'm not familiar with Diablotec).Everything was in the right spot. Something is defective.
funny, you say,

Quote

but I really new to building

Everything was in the right spot. Something is defective.

PSU it's a Diablotec 400w thing that was $20

How would you go about bypassing the header?

I imagine that you are using a metallic screwdriver of some sort, connect the two power pins with the screwdriver, effectively shorting them (which is what you do when you push the switch)

Have the mobo manual in front of you to make sure you are shorting the right pins. However; If You short the others on the front headers (apart form USB) while it is off, it wont do any damage.


I thought about that, I didn't know if the if the circuit has to remain open or closed. It's pretty cut and dry on which ones are the power, four for the leds and two for power.



If that does not work, then it is the PSU.

Do the keyboard lights flash when you plug it in?

Do the fans spin momentarily when you plug the power in?


No juice at all, it's like it's not even plugged in.


Is the PSU 24 pin + 4, 20 + 4 pin or 20 pin?


The PSU is a 24 and then the 4 as is the motherboard.

I've been buying these parts over the last few months, I FINALLY got everything I needed and I knew something like this was going to happen. The biggest bummer was not being able to buy the switch. I AM NOT buying a case just for that one part. I'll go to every mom and pop shop in town before I do that. Thank you very much.



To test the PSU actually starts, use this website http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm

That is above and beyond the skill and competency of the OP.

Thanks Man.

I also went and got a 450w power supply from Best Buy with the intention of just using it to test and taking it back

And you think this is ethical?

Hi. Ok, I'm desperate. My Acer Extensa 4420 laptop, running Windows Vista, is less than a year old. A month ago I brought it into Best Buy Geek Squad because suddenly Windows would not load. It was sent away for "repair" and when I got it back, they said that my HARD drive was replaced. I got it back with no operating system because they said that I needed to recover the system with the recovery cds. I sent away for the recovery cds.

I received them today, 2 System Install cds, and 2 Recovery cds. I tried to install as per the directions. After I install the first system install cd, it says Windows installing files. Once that is done, I GET an error message that says "Insufficient Partition found." I called Acer. They walked me through the process several TIMES, still got the same error message. They said that I need to get a new hard drive...even THOUGH my hard drive was SUPPOSEDLY just replaced through Best Buy.

What could be going on here? I am frustrated beyond words. I'd be too.
Your computer is under 1 year old, so I assume, it's still under warranty, correct?
This:
Quote

I got it back with no operating system because they said that I needed to recover the system with the recovery cds

I want to know if this is a good processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103257
AMD Athlon X2 4050e Brisbane 2.1GHZ Socket AM2 Processor

I am considering purchasing this computer which includes the processor above:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TS-0005RS-AMDX247-R&cat=SYS

It seems like it is a nice computer for 200 bucks. It has a dual core processor and supports PCI Express X16 graphics cards which is really CONVINCING for such a cheap price. I just have one question.

What does HP Debranded mean? I need to know what that means before purchasing the computer. I am also aware that the computer has no operating SYSTEM installed. Would I be able to load Windows XP on this system WITHOUT RAID drivers since the MOTHERBOARD already supports SATA?

I have two hard disks installed in a computer. I have one partitioned, formatted and OS installed.
2 primary partitions and two logical.

My question is, I know that you can have up to 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and unlimited number of logical partitions(26 total). Is this per disk? Can I have two disks with 4 primary partitions? Can I have two disks wth 3 primary partitions on each and 20 logical partitions between the two? The following table is extracted from MS KB896528

Quote

Possible partitions
The hard disk can be partitioned as follows:

1. One primary partition
2. One primary partition and one extended partition with logical drives
3. Two primary partitions and one extended partition with logical drives
4. Three primary partitions and one extended partition with logical drives
5. Four primary partitions
6. One extended partition with logical drives for a hard disk that cannot be used for the BOOT procedure.

I know that you can have up to 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and unlimited number of logical partitions(26 total). Is this per disk?

Can I have two disks with 4 primary partitions?

Can I have two disks wth 3 primary partitions on each and 20 logical partitions between the two?

I had 2 SATA Hard DRIVES in this configuration:

WD Caviar 500GB (WinXP) => Onboard SATA socket
WD Caviar 160GB (Storage) => Onboard SATA socket

I bought a new SATA HD & connected it to a PCI SATA card:

WD Caviar 500GB (WinXP) => Onboard SATA socket
WD Caviar 160GB (Storage) => Onboard SATA socket
WD Velociraptor 160GB (WinXP) => Adaptec1210SA SATA card

I couldn't get the Velociraptor to boot off the SATA card, so I swapped SATA CABLES with the Caviar:

WD Caviar 500GB (WinXP) => Onboard SATA socket
WD Caviar 160GB (Storage) => Adaptec1210SA SATA card (swapped)
WD Velociraptor 160GB (WinXP) => Onboard SATA socket (swapped)

The (WD Caviar) shows up in the ADAPTEC SATA PCI card BIOS but not in Windows Explorer or Device Manager (Adaptec card is in Device Manager), even after un-installing & re-installing the driver. I swapped the cables back & Windows sees all the drives. Why is the Caviar HD not appearing in Windows Explorer?

SPECS:
Motherboard - Abit AN7
CPU - AMD Athlon XP, 1666 MHz (12.5 x 133) 2000+
BIOS - Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
HD #1 - WDC WD300BB-00AUA1 (27 GB)
HD #2 - Maxtor 6E040L0 (38 GB)
HD #3 - WDC Raptor (160 GB)
RAM - Crucial 767 MB
BIOS - Phoenix Award v6.00PG 06/13/2005I phoned Western Digital tech support & asked them why Windows could see the Velociraptor HD & not the Caviar. They said that the Velociraptor is setup for Raid & suggested I try a non Raid card. I chose the Promise SATA-300TX2-Plus.

http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?product_id=138

Hi. Today I was on my pc and my COMPUTER started to act funny. I was just sitting LISTENING to music in itunes and then pixels started to appear all over my screen. Some were of different shapes and SIZES depending on what visuals should have appeared on the screen. My computer completley froze and I had to hard reboot. After restarting my computer, I keep having the same issues right from the Windows login screen. When I try to login to windows, my computer freezes up before I get to the desktop with a bunch of pixels. I also have ubuntu installed on the computer and I tried to RUN it but it did the same thing. I don't have an extra monitor sitting around so I can't test to SEE if it is the monitor, or maybe the video card? I have nvidia 8800gt card so its not onboard. Can someone help me out? Thanxsreplace your video card.Before replacing the card have a look at the fan/heatsink to see if it is blocked with dust because your card may be overheating. Also check that the fan is spinning at a reasonable speed.

If the fan us blocked try to blow the dust out or use compressed air. If the fan is not spinning check that it is connected and if it is you may be able to buy a new better fan.

Cameron GrayQuote from: dukedurl on July 08, 2009, 08:44:10 PM

I was just sitting listening to music in itunes and then pixels started to appear all over my screen. Some were of different shapes and sizes depending on what visuals should have appeared on the screen. My computer completley froze and I had to hard reboot.

hi there,

i just put some hardware on to my dell dimension 5100 pc to update it a bit, the following hardware was connected:

thermaltake tr2-550watt power supply

extreme sound blaster 7.1 sound card

2GB of new ram from CRUCIAL.com

i have alot of wires that dont need used left over in the case from the new power supply...

but when i start up the only thing that comes on the screen is an error message "rv370 p/n 113-a62801-106 bios"

absoloute first timer at connecting things inside the pc, so might have got it wrong

i really need help in fixing this thanks
computers now working fine, but unfortunatly i had to TAKE the memory out, i bought off of crucial to make sure it was compatiable with my pc, but dont think it is...is their any other site that show your compatiablity to RAM?

my LOGITECH 5.1 surround sound wont play out of one of the speakers no idea why any help WOULD be appreciated (IVE been in to the control panal set it up for 5.1 etc...What MBoard ? ?I got the same with my Dell E510: RV370 P/N 113-A62801-106 Bios.

I removed my Crucial memory (512 MB in slots 3 & 4) and it then booted up fine. I bought the memory in early 2007. Crucial has a limited lifetime warranty and they gave me free UPS shipping to return the product.

FYI and thanks.Dell Dimension 5100

Dell Dimension 5100C

I used to have no issues with removeing these. It seems that I dont know how to get it out of the slot. Its part of a machine that needs cleaned that was given to me. I LOOKED on youtube an such but no luckthere are two SETS of tabs an I tried both of them but not sure if I'm doing it right.Sorry it was wierd I was ABLE to get it the other week. It turned out that there was a top CLIP that had to be removed first before realseing the CARD its self.

I have a Packard Bell UTOW-SUN imedia 1801 tower PC which runs Windows XP Home Edition.

A year ago, I left it scanning itself for viruses. When I came back to it, it was off.

I TRIED to turn it back on, but when I pressed the button, the blue light on the switch came on and then immediately extinguished which only a small "click" coming from the computer.

I opened up the computer and tried again, this time I saw the CPU fan move very slightly when I pressed the power button.

I spoke to a friend who is very good with computers and he said to remove every wire from the motherboard except the power, which I did, and the CPU fan turned on. I then plugged every wire in individually until it wouldn't turn on.

I have now found the problematic wire as shown in this picture:



What does this wire do and how can I resolve this?

I have plugged a screen in, and nothing is displayed. The CPU and power supply fans are both on full blast and there is no HDD ACTIVITY. Please help.manadude2 Welcome to the CH forums. Are you able to determine where the OTHER end of that wire is attached to? Is it a plug in on the other end or is it hardwired to the PSU? Does an option exist that another exactly the same wire combination (even if it is used CURRENTLY for something else ) exists that can be temporarily used to resupply the affected terminal on the motherboard that you show in the picture? truenorthThe other end of the wire goes into the power supply and the plug is on the motherboard next to the PSU.

No, there is no other connection either in use or not that will fit that connection.

Also just found out, I can only open one of two of my DVD drives.manadude2, Ah Ha! Your detective work has certainly narrowed down the parameters of the problem. There is always the possibility (worst case scenario) that it is something associated with whatever MOBO circuitry connected at that end has caused the failure. However remaining the eternal optimist it could simply be the female connector at the wires end that is at fault. If that is so you could remove the current connector ( ensuring the power to the computer is disconnected 1st ) by cutting it as close to the connector as possible and go to your local computer supply/repair store and purchase and install a replacement. Another thing you can try is to take the connector that goes to your other optical device (at the MOBO end) and temporarily remove it and try to see if it will run when attached to the connection point that is currently not being used (and is possibly defective ) and see if it works. That would indicate if the MOBO connection point is working. That would really narrow it down to the female end of the removed wires. Whatever you decide to do i would most STRONGLY urge that unless you have the knowledge and experience you do NOT open and attempt to do anything inside the PSU where the other end is. You are new to the forums and we would like to keep you around and get to know you better. Goodluck,truenorthIs it a 4 pin plug ? ?
If so MBoard ATX plug is what it is known as.
The board won't run right without it.
If no luck swap in a known working PSU to test...truenorth:

I think you MIGHT have the wrong idea of what this is. The wire shown in the picture comes out of the power supply (am I right in thinking that this is the PSU?) and is meant to go into the socket shown next to the CPU heat-sink. As far as I can see, it does not go into any optical drive.

PATIO:

Yes, it is a four pin plug (sorry, the picture is not very clear on this, here's a better one:

And the connector:
)

I shall have to see where I can get a PSU from then as my only other computer is a laptop.Yes that is a 4 pin ATX power plug...
Borrow one from a friend...
Make sure it is the same or greater wattage and it has the 4 pin plug...Thanks a lot guys for your help.

I shall post back soon with the status of my findings.That's what we're here for...
Best of Luck.
Bring us good news !I have been successful in removing the faulty power supply, now just gotta find a power supply that will fit.Somehow i came to the conclusion (obviously misguided) that the only item NOT functioning (as a result of your excellent detective work) was one of your optical drives. Therefore i believed that it was the MOBO connection for that drive. Had i stopped and thought about it i should have realized that the power from an optical drive certainly does NOT come from a source on the MOBO. Also if the optical is an IDE drive it would not have that kind of cable to the MOBO and if it were a SATA drive the cable wouldn't look like that either. I guess the only positive comment i can make at this juncture is that it flushed Patio out of the woodwork and you couldn't be in better hands.goodluck,truenorthI think the optical drive failed to operate because of the faulty power supply as it is not connected to the MBoard except through a data ribbon.Quote from: manadude2 on July 05, 2009, 04:58:28 PM

I think the optical drive failed to operate because of the faulty power supply as it is not connected to the MBoard except through a data ribbon.

I have set up a home network with two computers, the first is "hard wired" to the WIRELESS router and the second computer via wireless card. I have set up the shared printer on the first computer, USB port, and can see the shared printer on the second computer.
When I send a Word document from the second computer to the shared printer I get a error MESSAGE that the document failed to print. Checking the printer icon the status is "Error-Printing".
I've gone through all the help topics and trouble shooting but could not resolve.
The first computer is running XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 and the second computer is running XP Home Edition Service Pack 2. Could this be a problem other than just the printing problem?
ThanksIs the driver for for the printer installed on the second computer? Did you add the networked printer to the second computer?Thanks for the help.
I don't have the printer driver on the second computer but do have the printer shared.
I'll load the driver and see if that will work.
Thanks againYou're WELCOME...keep us posted.Just happen to think (reacted too fast on my first reply). The second computer use to be 'hooked' up to the printer so the driver is installed. I moved the second computer to a new location and installed a new computer, computer #1, at the printer location.
Check to make sure there are no documents stuck in the print QUEUE. If there are...clear the print queue and try to print again. Just right click the printer icon in the system tray of the main computer...or open Printers in Control Panel...right click the printer and select Open. Are there any documents there waiting to be printed? Make sure you cancel all print jobs. Sometimes a document that failed to print will cause this error. ALSO make sure you've added the printer on the second computer. You need to Open Printers through the Control Panel and select Add Printer. You want to add a Network Printer. If the printer has already been added make sure it is set as the default printer.

Did you do the above when troubleshooting?

Can someone please tell me why is my floppy drive being accessed sometimes when I'm on the internet, but also when I am offline, but copying files from a cd to my hard drive?Have a look at the this link: http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/windows-xp-randomly-access-floppy-drive/13177.html (3rd post down)

This HAPPENED to me too but it EVENTUALLY went away.

If this doesn't HELP - try running a FULL virus scan.

Cameron Gray

We installed a brand new Deskjet F4280, but it won't PRINT. In fact, the icon doesn't even show up in the control panel. We've installed, unstalled, then installed again. Still nothing.

Suggestions? USING XP on a Gateway computer.
Check the USB cable, make sure its fully seated into the back of the PRINTER and back of the computer.

Check to see if you have the proper drivers installed:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3390949
(For now just install the Basic drivers)

pah, it's overheated plenty. 80(c) is no problem for it... at least that was what the temp was upon rebooting. Thank goodness the motherboard has the fancy heat sensors of the DAY


HAHA, just got the reference...

yes, it can help me diagnose issues. Why, just last week, my neighbor enlisted my assistance to find a draft. so I set his house on fire. We FOUND the draft (smoke was coming out). but it TURNS out that THINGS get a lot draftier when the house has been partially converted to ashes. Oh well.

I have a gateway M-1629. The 3-prong power cord that came with the laptop was working when I FIRST got it. After a couple months it would not CHARGE the laptop. I brought another charger with multiple adapters with one for a gateway laptop and that worked until just recently. >:(vThere was an extra adapter that fits into my laptop and keeps it on but it doesn't charge. The battery's life has also shortened from 2.5hrs of power to a small 39mins on a full charge. Is the problem with the battery, the cords, or the power connector in the laptop?POSSIBLY bad charger has damaged the battery.

Check to SEE if there is a Batteries Plus store nearby. They have the equipment to check the battery for various loads and they can do the charger as well. Ok thanks. But sadly, a Batteries plus is nowhere me. How old is the laptop? In my experience laptop batteries have a lifespan of about 5 years under average use. As they get older they will loose CAPACITY.

You can get a new battery from Gateway but they are expensive so try to get the old one tested first as said. Some normal electronic component stores may test it too.

If you do get a new battery I would recommend getting a genuine gateway charger too - You could break your brand new battery by using a slightly incompatable charger!

Cameron Graythanks for the advice and the laptop isn't even a year old yet.Quote

the laptop was working when I first got it. After a couple months it would not charge the laptop.

Here are the facts:

Seagate hard drive is approximately a 1.5 months old.
The laptop is 1 year and 1 month old.
Using Windows Vista.

Fujitsu Lifebook A series.
Model number: A6120
Product number: FPC03270AP

Fujitsu hard drive, 250 GB, Model: MHY2250BHY
Part Number: CP170897-01

When running diagnostic test on the 250 GB Fujitsu hard drive, at 20% an error message that reads: Hard disk error 2107 is received and the diagnostic test does not continue.

hard drive number 2:
Brand: Seagate Size: 500 GB Serial Number: 5VE0ZE8 Model Number: ST900325AS

When i ran the diagnostics on the second hard drive, I received ZERO error messages. I SIMPLY got an error message stating: the problem is not the hard disk.

connected BOTH hard drives externally to another computer and ran both a virus scan and check disk on the hard drives. the RESULTS on both hard drives for both tests were clean - no errors.

Here are the problems I am having:

First hard drive problem:

Computer will start up, I can log onto my Windows account, everything seems to be running SMOOTHLY. After approximately two minutes, the computer will freeze. Freeze meaning that I cannot open any windows, close any windows but I can move the mouse AROUND.

Second hard drive problem:

Computer will start up, on the Welcome screen, when trying to open the Shut Down/Restart menu, the computer will freeze in that I cannot select or deselect anything but I can move the mouse around. As well, I can log onto my Windows account (sometimes), but shortly afterwards (about thirty seconds later) everything will freeze - cannot select/deselect anything, but the mouse will move.

Attempted to start up the fujitsu laptop by having the hard drives externally attached. Computer would not start up with either hard drive externally attached.

When trying to start Windows in SAFE Mode, the same problems happen for both hard drives.

So could anyone tell me what is wrong with the computer and/or hard drives?