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I have a Sony Vaio NV100 laptop, running XP 2.0 that recently had the parallel port stop functioning. The printer port/parallel is setup for LPT 1 port.

The only thing it was hooked to was a HP deskjet printer and had previously worked for well over a year. The error code was that windows could not find the printer to print to and timed out. I hooked up a spare, good-working printer and the same thing happend. I then tried ANOTHER computer to verify the printer and/or CABLE was faulty and they worked fine so back to the parallel port being the root cause.

I looked through device drivers to see if there was a CONFLICT, hardware device not working properly, etc, and everything said it was ok. I also downloaded a parallel port DOS-based program that checks the integrity of the port and after running it, it said there some missing things (I can't remember what exactly, partitions or something). I also tried reloading the printer software and that didn't matter either.

Lastly, I recently purchased a USB to parallel port cable so I can still use my laptop and use the EXISTING printer. The USB cable loads on windows fine, i.e., recognizes it, but it still won't print. I attempted to manually change the printer port from LPT 1 to a USB but it won't let me via hardware devices and I'm stumped.

I hope I was detailed enough, I know a bit about computers (so please don't play down your instructions too much) but by no means am I a professional.

So...how do you manually change windows so it uses the USB cable for printing?Turbo III..... Have you tried going into control panel/printers and faxes/ and see if your printer shows up there ...... if it does right click on the printer and select properties then click the port tab ....... and then remove the tick from LPT1 and put the tick at USB ...and see if it will print for you .

dl65
I actually tried that the first time around and it wouldn't let me change check boxes...this time however, it did. Unfortunately, even though it did and it sent the file off to the printer to print, it timed out and said it was out of paper, which it wasn't.

When I CLICKED on "configure port", it said that operation wasn't supported either.

Any thing else to suggest?Turbo III........... Quote

I also downloaded a parallel port DOS-based program that checks the integrity of the port and after running it, it said there some missing things (I can't remember what exactly,

My current set up is like this:

DSL line comes into a USB/Ethernet/Wireless Modem.

Ethernet output from the modem goes into an ethernet 8 port hub.

One port goes to my PC
One port goes to wifes PC

I also use my laptop via the wireless connection.

My PC has a USB printer connected.

Everything works OK and there is no problem logging onto the net.


The problem is....every time my wife wants to print something she has to disconnect the printer from my PC and run a USB cable from the printer to her PC.

This is a little inconvenient so I have tried to set up the printer for print sharing. But I cant get it to work. I'm not allowed to touch her PC but I can use my laptop to test the connection.

I have set the printer up for print sharing but my laptop cant find it.

What should I do to enable my wife and my laptop to be able to print?

Thanks in advance.

DavvaQuote

I'm not allowed to touch her PC

Hi guys, I installed old hard drive in to my computer as a slave, the BIOS recognize the drive and the computer management does also-but there is no letter assigned to the drive so I can not ACCESS the think. Tried everything that is published to assign letter. PC is Windows XP, hwen instaling the Maxtor drive I remeber that during the Caldera boot there was reference of not enough letters for drives.
The hard disk is not formated because I have info on it.
any thoughts. :'Is the drive a different format from the one you have going now? (Find out how to find out below) If there is, you'd need to TEMPORARILY set it to MASTER, burn the data to a CD, make the first drive a MASTER again, put the data on the disk, and format the other disk.

There is another method, but I don't know that it will work and I need to do a little research on it before I post it. Actually, I'd do the thing I mentioned above anyway; it's good practice.

To find out what format your disk is:

Right-click on your CURRENT drive and click Properties.
Under file system, it will say either NTFS, FAT32, or some other designation. Write down the file type and remember it.
If you can, right-click on the letter-less drive and click Properties (This can be done in the My Computer menu if you can see it there, otherwise try to do it in Computer Management)
Check the file system. If you cannot, shut down, set the master to that drive and boot, then go to that drive and click Properties.
Check the file system of this drive. It may or may not be the same. If it is, that explains the problem neatly.
While you're there, outline the procedures I mentioned at the top of my post.

If you cannot boot from the older drive, it may be impossible to get the data.Joe...... When yopu go into control panel/Administrative tools/Computer Management /Storage/disk Management ....... does it show your master drive a Disk 0 and the Slave as Disk 1 ?
How many partitions do you have on your Disk 0 ?

dl65 Quote

Joe...... When yopu go into control panel/Administrative tools/Computer Management /Storage/disk Management ....... does it show your master drive a Disk 0 and the Slave as Disk 1 ?
How many partitions do you have on your Disk 0 ?

dl65

... I remeber that during the Caldera boot there was reference of not enough letters for drives.
The hard disk is not formated because I have info on it.
any thoughts. :'

Thank you!! That's what I needed to hear!! [smiley=dankk2.gif]This deserves repeating: Make sure to save the hard disk. I'm 90% sure you can still extract the data.if you want to find cheap parts for old computers, you should try the local thrift stores. good will has tons of old computer hardware and i go there when a friends old system needs parts. sometimes you can buy a whole tower for 20 bucks.You know, in my town among the "computer geek" clique we have a saying: "It will always go bad where you try to save money". Words to live by.

Example: My machine is top-of-the-line compared to most computers in my state, thanks to a ton of investing. Upwards of a thousand dollars were spent. But I tried to save money in two PLACES:

1. My box was a $30 box. (This included the Power Supply)
2. I borrowed an old floppy drive from a machine that never saw better than WinME.

The powersupply fried - I MEAN there were ARC FLASHES in my box. My $200 motherboard was ruined. Thank GOD for my warranties! Later on, the floppy drive stopped responding to DISKETTES - I could boot with a non-system disk in the drive. The two places I didn't shell out the big bucks, I got kicked in the head. Hard. I was lucky not to LOSE unwarrantied hardware - like my $170 video card. Or worse, my $300 CPU. (Or is it warrantied? Hmm...)

(And yes, I am ostrasized into this clique. Which I really don't mind. )

so my good computer broke and i took out the dvd-r to put in my bros COMP, i plugged it all in as usuall. turn on the comp and it auto installed it, but the dvd drive logo dont show up in my computer, the drive lights are on and it OPENS alright but i carnt see it on my computer or in itunes or anything, any ideas whats wrong with it?? TIAIs it just the "DVD" part that isn't showing up? Or is the drive all together not showing up? Have you checked Device manager and Disk MANAGEMENT? Did you install the DVD software on your pc? Are the drivers good? What have you tried?the drive all togethers not showing up, i dont have any cds for floppys for it because i took the drive out of a ready made compif the drive isn't showing up at all.. then you should check the jumper to make sure it's set to cable select.the jumpers set to MASTER.. what should it be set toanyone?If it is the only drive on the secondary IDE (look how it's cable) it should be set to master 99% of the time. (Some Dells and others are different). If it is sharing the cable with another drive, and the other drive is set to master, this one should be set to slave.

Even though the lights come on and the drawer opens, this does not mean the drive is good. What kind of trauma hapened to the other computer it came from?

After re-installing XP on a friends computer, the box no longer sees the 3.5 floppy drive. There is no icon for it in "My computer" or anything.
Anyone GOT a clue as to what to do??
Thanks
Bobby :-? :exclamationHeh. I had the opposite problem: Removed a floppy drive and couldn't get it to STOP seeing the drive. Because of this, I think I know the answer.

Go into BIOS and make sure that the 3.5 floppy is enabled. Let us know how that works. How to do this varies from machine to machine, but it's usually the DEL/Delete key when it SHOWS what all drives you have. Quote

Heh. I had the opposite problem: Removed a floppy drive and couldn't get it to stop seeing the drive. Because of this, I think I know the answer.

Go into BIOS and make sure that the 3.5 floppy is enabled. Let us know how that works. How to do this varies from machine to machine, but it's usually the DEL/Delete key when it shows what all drives you have.

Hi, is this a common problem?

I have so far changed 3 USB hubs. All have the same problem. The latest one is quite a good brand: Acrox. It has 4 USB2 ports and an external power supply.

The 4 ports are connected to:
1) an external DVD writer
2) External hardisk with enclosure
3) Printer
4) External USB Number pad

All except the number pad has own power supply.

Some of the problems I have encountered:

1) After STARTUP, NONE of the devices are detected by my computer (SOMETIMES only the 4 ports of the USB hub are detected as appear on Device Manager).

Sometimes, unplugging the USB hub then re-plug it to my computer will settle the problem. Sometimes, only re-plugging individual device to the USB hub will do.

2) When re-plugging the USB hub to the computer USB port doesn't work, re-plugging it to other USB port of the computer may work. I have 3 USB ports on my computer. However, using it on the new USB port will have the same problem as well.

3) On starting up my computer, just before the POST, I need to enter a password to access my computer. Usually I'll use my external number pad to enter my password bcoz my password are numbers only. Only sometimes, the number pad is usable. Sometimes re-plugging the number pad works.

Is it a power supply problem or it's the USB hub failure or the USB port of my computer?

What can I do. Thank you very much.aureusy...... After reading about all your other issues , I would say that you have some serious issues .......... and once identified ....it wouldnt surprise me if they all cleared up . .......... But you should really try to resolve one at a time ........ or consider a full format and reinstall.

dl65 Thanks dl65, I have thought of reformatting, but I find this troublesome. I need to bring my computer to my service centre to get an original installation becuase I have no Installation CD provided. Otherwise I will have to buy a new Windows software, which I can't afford to. In addition, I have a lot of important INFORMATION stored in my drive C. I need some time to to track my data.

Dilbert has suggested something. I hope he could help me to solve this problem. If after all, I can't, then I'll reformat my computer.

Thank you very much..

hi,problem with my cdrom ,when i play a cd it goes LIKE its on FSAT forward,dosent matter iif its mp3 or not.can someone help.thanksWhich operating system are you using? When did this start? Has it ever worked properly? Have you made any changes to your system recently? Have you been keeping-up with Windows Updates (only if you have Windows XP)?

Flamei am running WIN 98,it worked fine before ,had it in to get ethenet card installed ,he said he did SOMETHING to the modem,not SURE what.Who's "he"?

Flame

First of all I have searched for this problem and haven't found it. I hope I am not reposting it. If I am please forgive me. But I couldn't find it.

I have a harddrive from the computer I have been using up to now. The computer is a homebuilt one with a Pentium 4 and 512 mb ram. The hard drive is a Samsung Spin POINT 60 G. I am trying to put it into another computer. I don't want to format it because it contains all my data. The computer I am trying to put it into is a Compaq Presario 6000. It has an AMD Athlon and 512 mg ram. It currently does not have a hard drive. When I put my hard drive into this computer it does not detect it. I have tried moving the jumpers and everything but it still does not work. When I put the hard drive back into my original computer it works fine. I even put a different hard drive into the compaq. It worked fine. It just won't work with my hard drive. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? Or how I can fix this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.... Pat:

A few questions may help us help you:


When you say "it will not detect it" do you mean the BIOS does not detect it, or do you mean the computer will not start Windows?

Are you getting any error messages or beeps? If so, what do the messages say or how many beeps do you hear?

Do you know how to enter the BIOS setup and configure it to automatically detect the hard drive?

Did you jumper the hard drive as master or as single or as cable select?

DocHi Doc. Thank You for replying to my message.

To answer your first question...The computer will not start Windows.

I get no error messages and no beeps. It just says no hard drive detected when I try to boot it up.

I know how to get into the BIOS. I've already been there and configured it to automatically detect the hard drive and to boot from the hard drive first.

I jumpered the hard drive as master.

I have taken this hard drive out of a Pentium 4 computer and I'm trying to put it into an AMD Athlon computer. I took a different hard drive out of another Pentium 4 computer and tried it in the computer with the AMD Athlon. It would not boot up either. It did the same thing as the first hard drive. So then I tried my wife's hard drive, which came out of a computer with an AMD Athlon PROCESSOR, it worked perfectly. No problems at all. It seems like it is having a problem switching from the Pentium 4 processor to the AMD Athlon processor. What do you think? If this is the problem how could I fix it?

Thank You...I appreciate your help. GPat:

Sorry about the delay.

Try setting the jumper on the hard drive as single instead of master. If that doesn't work, try setting the jumper as cable select and MAKING sure it is on the IDE cable CONNECTOR furthest from the motherboard.

Make sure the IDE cable and the Molex connector from the power supply are firmly connected to both the motherboard and the hard drive. Make sure the red stripe is connected to pin 1 on the motherboard and pin 1 on the hard drive. Check to see that the BIOS indicates it SEES the hard drive before you try to boot to Windows.

Doc

[size=14]The speakers on my daughters computer have NEVER wanted to play properly from the time we got her computer, but now (a year or two later) she tells me that the speaker plug has never gone all the way into the back of the computer. It would only go about two thirds of the way in and the sound would break up really badly.

We've tried different ones and none of them will work anymore. It won't plug into the back of the computer at all. Does anyone know what could be causing this, and if so, what to do to fix it? The other holes beside that one work fine for their devices, it's just the speaker one that won't work.

BTW, this is my first post here, so HI everyone!
[/size]Have you looked inside the holes for foreign objects?
How old were the kids 2 years ago?
I found countless lolly wrappers & staples in my printer once and guess what... nobody would admit to putting them there. LOLMy daughter has looked in the holes and she says she doesn't see anything in there. She'll be 15 this year, so I hope she has better sense than to stick something in there that doesn't belong. Tomorrow, when it's light out, I'll get down there and look myself because I'm sick of hearing her whine about wanting it fixed. If there's nothing in there, what do you suggest I do about it? I really have no clue about these things. Last time I cracked a computer open to do something that someone suggested, I fried the motherboard. I heard a sizzle, smelled a smell and that was it. I don't mess with them anymore. I guess we can make sure that the plug you're TRYING to put in & the socket are the right ones.
Let's see what you find tomorrow.You know...I've never thought about that. It's the speakers that came with the computer, so I just assumed they fit. Like I said, she failed to tell me for a year or so that the speakers NEVER worked right and never plugged all the way in. If she had told me at the time we got it, I'd have taken it in and had it checked. I'll be back in the afternoon tomorrow. Thanks!!!You could always buy a sound card and disable what is on there. I imagine it is onboard sound. Does it plub into the computer itself or in one of the expansion slots?Quote

You could always buy a sound card and disable what is on there. I imagine it is onboard sound. Does it plub into the computer itself or in one of the expansion slots?

Hello,
Someone just hired me to fix their computer, but I don't know anything about the physical computer. I got it plugged in and everything, but the computer won't even turn on! No power, nothing.
It has a sticker that says, "powered by asus" and another sticker that says, "Krex".
Is there a rusty wire inside somewhere? The thing was in somebody's garage or basement for a few years I think.
I push the power button as hard as I can but, nothing.
I checked everything else, too, such as the outlet working and the plug in firmly.
Well, thanks for your help...
Lisa
Quote

I push the power button as hard as I can but, nothing.

Someone just hired me to fix their computer, but I don't know anything

Well, one day I log on and whenever I use my mouse on several occaisions it just freezes. I do however wear a HEADSET and it sounds asif the mouse is being un-plugged via the USB - but it's not.

I've switched the USB around in to the other USB slot and it still occurs so I'm guessing it's the mouse.

I've updated my drivers for the mouse and it still doesn't work, I've tried lookin' for a Manufacturor website but I didn't succeed. The mouse is made by Tsunami. Well, anyways, does anyone have any suggestions on why this occurs and how to prevent it?What version of Windows are you using?Good thing mice are cheap.

Have you tried another one? Does it work correctly?IVE FOUND that takeing your mouse by the end of the cord and swinging it against the WALL may fix such a problem. But just dont swing it to hard.I'm using Windows XP, I have also used another mouse meanwhile, but the connection is PS2.

I can't be bothered to buy a NEW mouse, this one just isn't working for some bizzarre reason.So, do you have some problem with using a PS/2 mouse?Well, the PS2 mouse is rollerball :-/Quote

I've switched the USB around in to the other USB slot and it still occurs so I'm guessing it's the mouse.

I can't be bothered to buy a new mouse, this one just isn't working for some bizzarre reason.

I'm not sure whether this is the right subforum, but I have the following problem:
I got a new computer and I want to share my internet connection with my old one, that and the files. I have a CAT 5e cable, a CAT 5 one, and another one that looks similar but I can't really identify. I have a small hub that I never used and seems rather old but that should work, it reads "EH-501 5-Port Workgroup HUB".

I tried following tutorials on the web and even common sense but I can't get this to work, so I assume I'm doing something wrong. One of the computers network card is already in use (for the internet connection) which leaves me rather clueless at to how to get the connection to work in both computers.

I tried using the cable to connect the two computers directly (that way I wouldn't get internet, but I would at least be able to back up my old files), but that didn't work either. Someone told me I may need to get a Router.

Is there any simple way to get this to work? Can anybody guide me in this, please? I have Windows XP Home Edition in the PC with internet, and Professional Edition in the new one. Please forgive my grammar, I'm not a native speaker. Thanks in advance.if you only have two computer you dont need a hub anymore, just get some RJ45 and plug it to your LAN....

then configure the computer name and the workgroup... on "my computer" properties

make server computer and client computer and you are set..........first on computer1 you should manually configure your IPaddress...... and about the gateway that is provide by your ISP ok DNS are also provided by your ISP..... now on computer2 just GO to the INTERNET protocol and properties......(LOCAL AREA NETWORKING) and click obtain an IPaddress automatically and you are finished....

restart.......
Quote

if you only have two computer you dont need a hub anymore, just get some rj45 and plug it to your LAN....

My computer just hit one year OLD...

I know that laptop batteries lose rechargability as time goes on, but in the LAST two weeks mine has been draining really fast - like about one hour vs. over two.

I've checked my power settings, as far as standby and stuff goes - is there another Power Management utility I'm missing that could lessen the load WHILE I'm using my machine?

Thanks,This PDF report may help.

If your laptop has a SMART BATTERY, the battery may require recalibration. The laptop may have come with a special CD to boot from to achieve this, or one may be available for download from the manufacturer's web site. What make is it?Yikes! A Smart Battery? It's a Dell Inspiron 6000.

The brand alone should indicate there's nuthin' smart about this one.Looks like the Dell doesn't have a smart battery. Download my report though - you may find it USEFUL. A full discharge-recharge cycle may help a little. Unfortunately you may have fatally aged your battery already - particularly if you had a tendency to leave it pluged into the mains all the time.Yeah, that's pretty much the deal... Since it's used probably 60% of the time one place, but moved a lot during the other 40... It's plugged in most of the time. Ah, well, that's life.

I used to have a staff that was all on Motorola 2-way radios, and to train them in proper battery use was futile.... They were convinced the best way to check a battery was to put it back on the charger for a minute. Arrggghhh....

I started getting this problem where the bottom of my screen about 1/4th of a 14" LAPTOP screen. The portion freezes, while the top works just fine. The bottom portion is incredibly slow and is trying to catch up with the top. It's REALLY slow and has tons of lines, and changes by a wave like movement.

I've only had this for a couple of days but it won't go away. I don't know what it is and how to make it go away.

Thanks.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1600 for less than a year.the only thing i could think of would be a fried video card or monitor.

and since im no expert with laptops, i dont know if u can pull out ur video card and test it in another computer to see if its the problem. i dont even know if laptops have video cards, or just the motherboard monitor JACK. Quote

I have a Dell Inspiron 1600 for less than a year.

ATA-6 is 100 MBps, Maxtor claimed 133 MBps with their controller & drive. Something I don't understand about hard drive interfaces, particularly external ones; what is this with the claims by USB 2.0 & Firewire of transfer rates of 400 MBps or above? SINCE these two interfaces attach to the drive through an ADAPTER to the drive's "IDE" connector, how can they possibly exceed 100 MBps. Now "maybe" if the info was in the cache it most likely would be processed at a higher speed, but how often is that going to happen? Serial ATA on the other hand appears to be a different situation and may indeed be OPERATING at 150 MBps unless your particular external also attaches to an IDE controller/drive. Now were being told of superfast ATA-II; I'm SORRY; I don't believe! I think things are pretty much the same old 100/133/150 MBps and the manufacturers out there are trying to SELL us a pig-in-a-poke. I remember a similar discussion many years ago with reference to an external case that had a 33 MBps controller. At the present I don't buy this stuff, and until I know more, just forget it.

Please shed some light on this subject.

I recently bought a diamond video card so i could use my tv as my monitor. I have been told it is easy to install but when i GOT it home it BECAME a little confusing as i SEE no place for the card to go. The card seems to be to long to fit into any spot and i admit i am not even sure what card i am no suppose to take out if any. Does any ONE by any chance want to talk me through it i would be very gratefull. I have an HP computer that is a little older. The card is a stealth s85 128 mb.Is the card for an AGP slot or a PCI slot? Did you verify, before you bought it, that you had the right type of card, based on what types of expansion slots your computer has?

What's the current video configuration for your computer? Onboard video or separate video card? If a card, what type (AGP, PCI, PCI Express) is it?

What the model number of your computer? How old is it? What OS are you using? If you download EVEREST V2.20 it will give you all the info on whats installed in your old ........ then you will know .http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Everest-Home-Edition.shtml
Sound like the card you purchased is a AGP card and your HP probably only has PCI slots ( which are a differant size.) .... But Everest should tell you what you have.

dl65

Im getting a new comp and Im wondering which comp to get that is at least 1gb of ram and 256 mb video card to get.
And anybody recommand a video card that can support CALL of duty2 that is at least $200 or below???
And recommand some comp that is good for gaming ($1000 or below)
TY~^^Have you done any looking at all? BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256bit DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out SLI ready video card----$249.98 CDN

...i had my receipt right in FRONT of me , makes me look real smart typing all of that. i dont even know what DVI or SLI means... . all i know, u can plug in two monitors into it.

anyway, this video card is sweet, it runs call of duty 2, battlefield 2, and age of empires 3 without a HITCH. its $50 DOLLARS over ur budget, but i would recommend it. it even comes with GameDrive Manager. (a thing that makes and uses virtual cds)and some other crap.

i bought all my computer components from here http://www.ncix.com...just incase u were wondering.

P.S. if ur going for high performance gaming comps, u might wanna increase ur budget by about $500-$1000.

I have a Toshiba Satellite P25-S487 and it gave me the smart error for emminent HDD failure, so i bought a hard drive from ebay and it specifically says compatible with the P25-S487. I received it but it does not fit. My old HDD is under the laptop and after i take it out, it looks LIKE it's wrapped in foil and the pins protrude from the unit. I called Toshiba and they tell me that its a 60gig ENHANCED IDE interface, 9.5mm.

The one I bought from ebay tells me this:
General Features : 40GB formatted capacity. - UDMA/100. - 5400 RPM spindle speed. - 8 MB buffer. - 12 msaverage seek time. - 5.6 ms average latency. - 2.5-inch form factor. - 9.5 MM drive height.



PLEASE help me! Any information would be valuable to me, thank you very much!!Is there an adapter fitted to the ORIGINAL hard drive that you need to swap over to the new one? Post pictures.

I'm using a Japanese FMV-BIBLO NX70J/T laptop with English windows xp.
This MODEL is DVD RAM compatible, yet it has a lot of trouble recognising that type of disc.
It's only about 2-3 years old, and I can RECALL I could drag and drop files to and from the RAMs.
But now it barely recognises them.

When I use DVD burning programs (Record Now!) I have to enter the disc many times before it will recognise it. Also, when I check the contents in the E drive, the window is empty, showing no contents in the disc. If I keep reinserting the discs and trying over and over, eventually the files I have on there show up.

So I know the files can be saved onto these discs, and they are there, and my burning software is successful in burning to the RAMs. Why does my RAM compatible laptop have trouble recognising them 90% of the time?

Also, I can't drag and drop files. I have to erase the dvd and burn again.
So my RAMs are just like R/Ws.



reisender... First of all has the DVD drive ever works correctly with DVD-rw disks..... Many people report that they have nothing but trouble when using rw disks ....... Have you tried using DVD-R or DVD+R disks ....you may find that they will work much better.
It's also POSSIBLE that the DVD drive itself is failing .
Which burning software are you using.......?
Have you tried the problematic disks in another machine to be sure they arent the problem ?

dl65 Thanks for your reply.
I've used CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, all with no problems.
When I thought about buying DVD-RW, I figured buying DVD-RAMs were the better option because you didn't need to erase and rewrite the disc. But, that's obviously not working for me.

I guess I can just admit defeat and use DVD-Rs or try DVD-RW. But I figured if I bought a machine with certain specs, I should be able to use them.

The burning software I'm using is RECORD NOW! by SONIC.
I haven't CHECKED the discs in other computers. I'll look to see if anyone I know has DVD-RAM compatible computers.

Thanks for the advice.
reisender.... I just have to ask ..... you keep refering to ....... Quote

DVD-RAMs

What a HOOT!

how to trouble shoot BEEP code? the table in beep codes i read SOMEWHERE here INDICATES ERROR codes but how to repair or trouble shoot them?That depends on what the beeping SYMBOLIZES... According to the table of codes, what does yours mean?

Flame

I have a HP Pavilon 516x with Windows XP. I forget the exact mHz and memory, but its around 800 or so and the memory is standard for that model and generation. It a little old, but it does what I need it to do.... that is until it makes a strange, hi-pitch squeeling noise inside of the tower and everything on the screen freezes in place. It's been doing this for quiet some time, as my brother as told me. He also suggested that it MIGHT be an inside cord problem (well, he said a way to 'temporary fix' it was to wiggle the inside cords around).

Is it a cord problem? Is it the CPU? And can it be fix on the cheap? I want to be ABLE to write stories WITHOUT it freezing in place!Well, we can't quite see it from HEAR, but it sounds like the power supply, eh?Unpossible! We installed a new power supply last December/January months ago.What brand is it? How many watts? THe important thing is amps on the 12v rail and the maker as there are a LOT of cheap bad PSU's.Things that can generate audible noise inside a PC:

• moving parts (fan, hard drive)
• speakers (note that modem cards may have a built in speaker)
• anything producing high frequency electromagnetic signals (e.g. GRAPHICS cards and power supplies)

Good morning.

I am trying to install a Western Digital 20 GB Hard Drive as a slave in my Compaq Presario. The HD was used in a Gateway system as a master HD.

I set the jumpers for slave configuration and connected the power and serial connector.

The problem is the BIOS recognizes the HD and a WINDOWS program from Western Digital named Data Lifeguard Tools recognizes the drive, but wants to set it as a secondary store device and want to erase all the data and/or partision. I need the files on the hard drive unfortunately.

Also the problem is, Windows doesn't RECOGNIZE the Slave and the "DOS" command prompt doesn't have a drive letter for this drive.

Within the Data Lifeguard Tools program it lists the Slave HD under My COMPUTER Primary ATA controller C:/Quantum Bigfoot 3.2 GB (my master HD) and the WDC WD200GB-11Bhf0 20 GB (which is the slave. It also lists Seconday ATA controller and there is nothing under that field.

Am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thank you.If it' s jumpered correctly, then the next step is to see if it is recognized in the BIOS. If so, then the drive should be seen in Windows and the data should be accessible. Whatever that WD program is should not be necessary.

Is the original drive jumpered as Master or Cable Select?I have often found that Compaqs use the Cabel select by default. Now whatever your problem is you could probebly fix it by deleteing this WD crud. It isent nesseary (Unless you have a really old computer that recognizes it as a 10-15 instaid). Also Just remember, DONT think about it so much you go crazy.

Will you RATE my computer?

Mother borad: Intel D810EDO FlexATX
Proscser: Intel Pentuim III 933MHz
HDD: 10.6GB Western Digital Cvair 10200(I think thats the model)
Video: Intel 810EDO with 4MB Dedicated Vram
CD: 24x NEC CDRom unit
Ram: x1 100MHZ 128MB SDRAM card
Monitor: 22-24Inch Micron
PowerSupply: Gateway 2000 E-1000 computer

Well LET me know what you think.jackpkmn....... You mean should you shoot it or keep it ....LOL

First of all , what do you use it for ?
Does it work ok ?
What operating system is installed ?

dl65 Sorry man, it's not MUCH of a workhorse :-/ BTW, I like this idea... I'm going to start a poll like this for me in the others board... Nice idea!

FlameLets see here... Its running Windows 2000 Pro SP4(wah my XP SP2 disk was in Aribic) and I use it for basic games... N64, StarWars Glactic battlegrounds, Diablo, Dablo II:Lord of Destruction, Starcraft+Broodwar, Anime movies, I think thats all I use it for. Sometimes I use PowerPoint or Word.

Remember Jackpkmn says: "Dont BUY system software from goodwill"Heres a picture of it:



Oh yes and one more thing: It was $0.00 for the entire thing.

:-?

I have a BENQ FP7IE LCD monitor for my PC. The screen is elongated vertically such that if you made a perfect circle in illustrator or MSpaint, it'll appear stretched and elongated or ellipsical.

Even if you changed the screen settings into 800x600 resolution, everything still appears stretched out.

Is there a way to rectify this? Please help! Have you tried updating your video card drivers? When did this start? Has it always been like this? Have you made any changes to your system recently? Which operating system are you using? Do you have virus and Spyware protection?

FlameI haven't updated my video card drivers.

It's always been like this. All of my co-workers here at the office have the same problem (all are using flat screen LCD monitors). The thing is, the physical LCD monitor itself is square in shape, not rectangular (landscape orientation) like the usual computer monitors. And when I go to the monitor settings (you know those little buttons at the bottom part), there's no vertical and horizontal resizing.

No systems changes recently.

Window XP OS.

It has McAfee.

Thanks!
Go to your video card manufacturer's website and download and install the latest drivers for your card. Also, do you have IT people at work?

Flameunfortunately we don't have IT people
my video card is an "NVIDIA Geforce 6200 turbo CACHE (TM)" so I checked the site for drivers and found : "84.21 forceware_winxp2k_english_whql.exe" for some reason it won't install when I run it, it's saying something about freeing up 22mb space on my C drive but when I checked I still had 29mb free. I could really delete anything else on the C drive coz all of them are program files...I haven't seen a hard drive that crowded in years!

The reason it won't install is that Windows needs a "buffer" of hard drive space. Denying it this would cause severe INSTABILITY, so the designers made it impossible to wreck your system that way. My advice: Get a second hard drive, perhaps an external one, to keep programs in. If you do this, keep the bare minimum on the C: drive as it's obviouly not large enough to handle all you've got on it.

It need not be external, but you're going to need more hard drive space... soon. As for the display, can you set it even higher? What happens when it's set to something like 1024 X 768?

And what brand of monitor is this? It may have a "auto adjust" button you don't know about. apparently the hard disk is 80GB but it was partitioned 30(program files)/50, plus it has another 80gb hard disk.

it's the same with all settings, even for 1024x768. What I do to check is if it's still distorted is I make a circle in Illustrator, then I hold up a CD over it on the monitor.

Generally, the distortion is no big deal I mean it's negligible when you're checking emails etc., It's just that I'm a 2d and 3d DESIGNER and it just bugs me when whatever I'm designing doesn't come out exactly as what I'm seeing on the monitor. :-/ you know, things tend to be shorter or wider in actual than what I've made.

the model is BENQ FP7IE, there is an auto adjust button, doesn't help though. it just centers and stretches the display area to the monitor, which is square and not rectangular (landscape, like most monitors)


THanks for your patience

My two-layer answer:

*Try to find a way to install those drivers.
*If that doesn't work or cannot be done, my best advice is to play with the monitor settings until that circle matches up with the curves of the CD. But to do that, you would have to know the radius/diameter of the CD, right? If it's anything like AutoCAD...I would email BENQ.Thanks!

I did manage to increase the display area width until the circle was a circle, but the display area exceeded the monitor so I couldn't get to the scroll bars.

anyhow, I'll keep at the driver installation.

Thanks again! This monitor may provide a more proportionally correct image when running at a different resolution - i.e. not 800x600 - a resolution which clearly isn't square!!! Did the monitors come with "driver" disks? Technically these aren't drivers - just information files that tells Windows the resolutions that the monitor can handle. I don't think it should be necessary to update your graphics card drivers - just make sure that Winodws knows what the monitor can do (which it won't if it just knows it as "standard monitor" or "plug and play monitor").HELO check your mail :p problem solved!!!! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I'm feeling very silly right now... I just set the screen resolution to... 1280x1024 and it was fine... I got my perfect circle =P hihihi

Like robpomeroy said, the monitor was recognized as just plug and play so I updated the monitor driver, which could have only been a good thing. =)

Thank you all for putting up with my PC ignorance

Thanks for all the help!!!Glad it's sorted. Come back if you have any other PC problems!

i have a gateway PC that i would like to format and load win 2000pro it now has win xp and is only a 10 gig hd.
it has only USB ports for the keyboard and mouse. when i boot to the boot disk i can not GET a working keyboard. but when i boot to win xp everything works fine. thanks
ConnieYou don't need to boot with a boot disk for Win2000. Just use the CD - same as in XP.

Just make SURE the CD is the first boot device, and that USB is enabled in the BIOS.

problem #1 i can boot to the Bios, but can't do anyting because keyboard does not work.

if i boot from cd then i get message that win 2000pro can not be in STALLED. because it is older then the os that is in use.
thanksQuote

problem #1 i can boot to the Bios, but can't do anyting because keyboard does not work.

if i boot from cd then i get message that win 2000pro can not be in stalled. because it is older then the os that is in use.
thanks

What model # Gateway? Have you checked on their support site?

I am not sure if i am POSTING in the right section although this is hardware related but correct me if i am wrong. I would like to know is Newegg.com USA based only ? Or do they ship process orders from CANADA as well ? I have searched and searched on their website but have not found the answer to this question. I guess alot of people here use it regularly so need your opinion. Thx in advanceFound this on their checkout page. Note in particular the bit in bold (sorry):

Quote

IMPORTANT SHIPPING INFORMATION

* All orders require 1-2 business days of processing TIME prior to shipping.
* FedEx Express Saver - Delivery within 3 business days.
* FedEx 2nd Day - Delivery within 2 business days.
* FedEx Standard Overnight - Delivery in 1 business day.
* UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service - Delivery within 3 business days.
* UPS 2nd Day - Delivery within 2 business days.
* UPS Next Day Saver - Delivery in 1 business day.
* Orders shipping via UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service may ship via UPS Ground if UPS can guarantee a ground delivery to your shipping address in 3 or fewer days.
* AIT Front Door Delivery, In Home Delivery and White Glove Service - Delivery within 3 to 5 business days. AIT delivery is not available for Hawaii, Alaska or Puerto RICO.
* USPS, Media Mail - Delivery within 2 to 9 business days. (DVD purchases only)
* APO/FPO orders welcome! Delivery will take approximately 2 to 6 weeks. Due to military APO/FPO BOX size, 19" and larger monitors cannot be shipped via this method. DVD's also can't be shipped via this method. Please remove these items from your shopping cart before proceeding.
* FedEx ships to Hawaii and Alaska via FedEx 2Day only and cannot provide an exact delivery time. If you've selected any other FedEx shipping method prior to choosing a shipping address in Hawaii or Alaska, your shipping method will default to FedEx 2Day and you will be charged accordingly.
* FedEx ships to Puerto Rico via FedEx International Economy only. If you've selected any other FedEx shipping method prior to choosing a shipping address in Puerto Rico, your shipping method will default to FedEx International Economy and you will be charged accordingly.
* UPS ships to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico via UPS Ground, UPS 2nd Day and UPS Next Day Saver only. If you've selected any other UPS shipping method prior to choosing a shipping address in Hawaii, Alaska or Puerto Rico, your shipping method will default to the cheapest available UPS shipping method and you will be charged accordingly.
* Orders shipping to Puerto Rico will incur a 6.6% duty tax. Orders shipping to Puerto Rico via FedEx will incur an additional $5.00 handling surcharge.
* Newegg.com does not process orders during the weekend.
* No deliveries will be made on Saturday or Sunday.
* Newegg.com does not guarantee same day shipping.
* Newegg.com does not offer International/Canadian shipping options at this time.
* All orders shipped to addresses in CA, TN or NJ will be charged the appropriate state sales tax.

I have a vaio laptop (model# pcg-9p6l) with a corrupted version of windows xp home
installed. I would like to reinstall the os if possible but i don't have the original
installation disk that came with the laptop. What I would like to know is, is it possible to
reinstall with a generic off the shelf windows xp home or do I need the disc that came with
the vaio laptop computer. Thanks in advance.There's a big PROBLEM with Sonys. They use bespoke Windows installations, and the drivers that you can download from their web site only work with those bespoke installations. In most cases, you need the Sony recovery CDs in order to reinstall and be assured that everything will still work. You'll often see recovery CDs going on eBay, but because they are so necessary and sometimes rare, they're not cheap. Neither are they cheap to BUY from Sony.

I speak from bitter experience. Interestingly, I was able to install Linux on the Sony laptop in QUESTION, and everything worked perfectly, INCLUDING the jog dial!

You may find that you are able to use the repair facility of any Win XP CD, and this for you would be the best solution. Boot up to the recovery console, using such a CD, and then as your FIRST command, run chkdsk /r.

When i try to copy a DVD or CD i get this error

Versions: Operating System: Windows XP 5.01 (Build 2600: Service Pack 1)

InstantCopy: 8.0.0.255 (25/08/2003 14:11:50)
InstantDisc: 8.0.0.112 (15/10/2003 15:22:34)
CD-R Drivers: 6.4.3.113 (26/05/2003 11:32:54)
ISO/UDF Creator: 1.0.2.035 (19/02/2003 14:09:54)
ASAPI Interface: 5.0.0.002 (27/04/2000 12:31:18)

Write speed: High
Write METHOD: Automatic(0)
Closing method: Automatic
Simulation: No Simulation
[ ] Write to hard disk first
[ ] Verify destination media after write

Destination Device: Sony DVD RW DW-U14A (D:) 1.0d MMC-Driver

Disc Contents:
Nr Length Pre Post Sectormode
1 602,493 150 0 Mode 1 ISO

Project contents:
Datatrack
File systems: ISO9660 Level 1; Joliet

Reading destination disc information ...
Creating table of contents...
Writing track 1 of 1 track(s)
Starting track 1...
Resetting destination device...


---------------------------------------------------------

An error occured while writing track 1 at position 2248.

---------------------------------------------------------




---------------------------------------------------------

Extended information:#1Device: Sony DVD RW DW-U14A (D:)
MEDIUM ERROR: POWER CALIBRATION AREA ERROR
F1 00 03 FF FD 00 00 12 00 00 00 00 73 03
2A 00 00 00 08 C8 00 00 1A 00


---------------------------------------------------------


:-? :-/

I dont know how to fix this but it has been like this for 5 month now because i havent spend my time trying to have a go at it.

If you want more info just ask
Here is my DVD-RW drive spec

Sony DVD WR DW-U14A
DVD RW + CD WR

writing speed
DVD R times 4
DVD RW times 4
CD R times 24
CD RW times 16

And anothing ive have try updating the firmware
And i have try burning it with different software
Have you tried burning ONTO a quality branded disk? If not, try that. If you get the same error, then you probably have a faulty burner.Yeah man i try that

You maby wright the drive must be broke and has a faulty some where, but it can still read dics perfectly
Well reading and writing are quite different operations, as you would imagine. I bet if you try another CD writer in this PC, you'll find that it works.

my freinds pc froze on him so he turned it off by the mains since then when turned back on it does nothing. it powers up o.k. but the screen is blank cant seem to get on to the bios screen or anything. although there may be a lot of reasons why its busted...... suggestions would be appreciatedHow does it "power up OK" yet not work? Please be more specific.the power light comes on but there is a blank screenoneton..... Hummmm , some information as to the make and model of your friends computer would help . The operating system its using , how old is it , has your friend been mssing around inside the case , when the start button is pushed is the any hard drive activity or is there any activity from the optical drives .

dl65 o.k. folks, sorry for the lack of info, GOT back to m8 ..the make is ..tiny but has a new case..he dosnt know tne model but it has a pentium3 cpu. it was running windows 2000. although it has a new case he wasnt messin with its insides before it went off....he's gonna check 4 hdd activity & the optical drive does have lights.... the screen has a flashing CURSOR at the top but wont do anything..he's tried to get the bios screen to no avail.... thanks for getting back to meI would say it does NOT "power up OK". o.k. sorry about the power up thing... there's power going in and it lights up what i MENT was its not totaly dead

Ok i recently got the urge to buy a laptop(my FIRST laptop that is) so i am being very picky and a little bit scared at the same time. Scared because i don't want to spend alot on something which isn't worth it. So i am asking out you guys to help me decide which laptop is best for me. I want a powerful laptop to play latest games, burn cds/dvds, connect my laptop to my tele to watch movies which are on my, run photoshop, msn, wmp and so on. I recently read a description by another user here and my requirements are almost the same. Heres what vxdesigns posted

"In a nutshell i will be using my laptop to watch movies,listen to music,planning on playing high graphics/quality previous,current and future games, run appz like photoshop,frontpage, burn dvds and cds at high FAST/speed without leeching all of my system ram and cpu usage, want to connect my laptop to my tv to watch movies (with good quality/speed) from my notebook

1.5 ghz + processor
4-6 usb ports
1-2 firmwire ports
512/1 gb ddr/ddr2 fast ram
80-100 gb fast harddrive
cd/dvd burner for all types of files/formats preferrable DVD±RW
good quality for audio and video
a good graphic card/accelerator for latest games
need wi-fi or latest wireless technology to use internet easily
15-17" good quality monitor/screen preferrable widescreen
s-video
vga
dvi(preferred not necessity as long as theres s-video)

Budget = $500-$1500 Canadian Dollars "

I have done alot of research myself in past few WEEKS and i have come up with a list of laptops i like. My list is as follows


DELL

Inspiron 6400's ( $1,299 )
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=CABSDT1&l=en&OC=OCINSP6402_FEAT_E2

Inspiron 9400 ( $1,699 )
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=CADHS1&l=en&OC=OCINSP9402_FEAT_E1





HP

Pavilion dv5117ca ( $1,199.99 )
http://www.hp.ca/products/static/pavilion-notebooks/dv5117cl/index.php

HP DV5130 AMD Turion 64 ( $1,299.99 )
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10073290&langid=EN&CMP=ILC-Clicks_From_Flyer_Pages





ACER

AS5672WLMi ( $1489.99 )

ttp://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2180325 =2&NoMapp=0

AS5672WLMi ( $1,069.99 )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115223

AS5672WLMi

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115223

TravelMate Intel Centrino Duo T2300 1.66GHz Laptop (4202WLMi) ( $1,099.99 )
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10074148&catid=22495&logon=&langid=EN





GATEWAY

MX7515 ($1,296.99* )

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1741024&CatId=1904


8510GZ ( $1142.99 )

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1697070


MX6625 ( $979.99* )

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1873384


MX6641 Intel Pentium M 735A ( $899.99 )
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10073785&langid=EN&CMP=ILC-Clicks_From_Flyer_Pages


Intel Centrino Duo T2300 1.67GHz Laptop (MX6708) ( $1,399.95 )
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070925&catid=





COMPAQ

PRESARIO V5015CA ( $1,199.99 )
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Notebooks_English&product=2515808

Presario V5115CA ( $999.99 )
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10073927&langid=EN&CMP=ILC-Clicks_From_Flyer_Pages

Presario AMD Turion 64 ML-32 1.8GHz Laptop (V5015) ( $1,049.99 )
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10070929&catid=22495&logon=&langid=EN





TOSHIBA

Satellite M100-JG2 Intel Centrino Duo T2300 ( $1,299.99 )
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10070850&langid=EN&CMP=ILC-Clicks_From_Flyer_Pages


Satellite Intel Centrino 750 1.86GHz Laptop (M70-DL4) ( $999.98 )
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10070605&catid=22495&logon=&langid=EN


Satellite Intel Centrino Duo T2300 1.66GHz Laptop (M100-JG2) ( $1,299.99 )
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10070850&catid=11520&logon=&langid=EN

Now lets put yourself in my situation and keeping my requirements and needs in mind which laptop would you CHOOSE ? You can also narrow it down to 2 or 3 laptops instead of just one. Also provide the REASON for your selection. Thanks alot

SOS My old computer ( Aptiva 2170-72 ) has developed a beep code that I do not understand and will not start up!!...have searched on web but no results, I fear it might be FATAL !!!!....2 long 2 short.......but when I swap memory into 2nd slot 2 long 3 short !!!!!.......have lost the details of m board but do know it is a 550 mhz 128 ram...am I in dead city ?What bios :-? Phoenix, Award etc...

sorry Mate, U just reminded me about that....I flashed the dios to ACER V3.2 6m2en5r...and it worked well while computeter was working ..thnks for reminding me..hope its a help...regards..Info is a bit hard to find but if you have a video card try re-seating it. That's about all I've come across for the bios you mention.

Good luckYou mentioned it was an Aptiva, then later claimed an Acer BIOS flash. This seems incompatible to me. This is an IBM machine?
Yes mate its an IBM Pent 111 aptiva.....I flashed the bios with Ver 6m2en5r, I think..... Ive looked it up and = acer....STARTING to get lost in tech sorry......Wish Id printed out specs now !!!!!! sorry.

A BIOS flash gone awry can cause many problems. I hope this is recoverable. But you will need to go to the IBM site, input the seven DIGIT number on your machine xxxx-xxx and search for the correct one. Possibly you will be able to recover this thing, but often not.

BIOS flashes should not be taken lightly and you must be sure of the source and the procedure. Where did you get this one?rat...... What operating system do you have installed ?
Is it possible to get the number off the bios chip and we may be able to find a compatible bios update .
Do you get any error message or error code on the screen when you turn it on ?

dl65 Sorry for the sporadic replys guys......Access to I net is limited...to answer both questions......When I FLASHED bios (about a year ago ) computer worked ok...The story is Ive got a new computer. I had 2 Hard disks in old one 10gig (original) and a 40gig.....Had Windows 98se installed on 40gig music on 10gig....Have taken out all added CARDS eg 32mb video, sound card, TV card, and stripped all back to origional....still get beeps!!!!.....Question......If I take out ALL ram......should I get a Bios responce on screen ?...only has 1 stick of 128mb 100mhz f buss...AM I getting ahead of myself IE stoopid !!...cheers all and thanks.Again sorry about lag...guys...have found a sticker on bios reads " V66M BIOS U26 V3.2R05-MO (or D !!!!) eyesight not good !!!!...think it says albatron at the bottom....( The writing is SO small I cannot READ it with my really bad eyesight !!!)....
Have also found a serial no .1159138A\B71BAAD2ZZ6. system......if thats any help??.......Guys I hope this sheds some light on the situation and Use may be able to help me out as Ive already per sold this computer after upgrading...
Cheers guys and thanks for all uour help so far !!!!!!OK Sorry about this guys....still having probs with this....I have found info.....Model 2172-71B S/N: AA_D2ZZ6.......
I CANNOT find ANYTHING about this model computer on the net (Including IBM) !!!!!! ANY help would be appreciated....cheers !!!I don't believe IBM units ever had motherboards made by Albatron.

I got a 1GB flash drive on the CHEAP TODAY (Staples has always got the best deals... $25), and it's formatted FAT. Do I need to keep it this way, is there any benefit to changing the format?

EDIT: YEAH, I know the difference between the formats, etc., but I'm wondering if the rules are different for flash drives.I would keep it that way. OK. If you wanted to know how to do it just for future reference, I'll be making a Q&A article on it SOON

FlameWell, it shouldn't be hard to format it, but I was asking because I haven't heard of such large storage space actually being used in a large storage space - like 1 GB. I must be old. Unless you have a specific reason to use the FAT format, I think I would use FAT32, if not NTFS. I believe FAT32 will give you more efficient cluster size, thereby allowing more efficient use of the flash drive capacity. I've got my 256MB flash drive formatted FAT32. Here's an interesting article from Microsoft: NTFS vs. FAT: Which Is Right for You?.

And, here's something to be aware of: How do I format a USB Flash Drive to NTFS file system?. Windows behaves a little different when disconnecting a flash drive, depending on whether the "Optimize for performance" option is enabled or not. If the "Optimize for performance" option is enabled, Windows will display a "safely remove hardware" icon when you connect your flash drive. OTHERWISE, it will not display the "safely remove hardware" icon.

I have an eMachine, 1.5 yrs old, 256 ram, win xp home, AMD processor. When powered on it will not boot. Thought the power sup. went bad and changed same with no results. Tried reinstalling the ram with no results. When I power up, the CPU fan runs and the DRIVE light comes on. Other than that, nothing happens. No beeps, no monitor activity, no hard drive or floppy drive activity.u said u changed the power supply, so the only other thing could be the motherboard. (if u cant EVEN enter the BIOS then its the motherboard.)Thanks for the reply. I kinda had a feeling it was the motherboard but was keeping my hopes up that it could be saved. Looks like it may be time for another machine. Is there any WAY to install another BIOS? I have some OLDER machines that have a chip I can remove and replace but I do not see any on this newer one.Not replaceable. Sorry. :-/

I can play in a BF2 server on medium quality graphics, but it is choppy. Would purchasing a NVIDIA 6600GT make BF2 run SMOOTH on medium quality graphics?What are the other specifics of the machine?I've tried posting all specs in my profile signature. but it WONT work. anyways, here they are:
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1.7GHz
1.25GB of RAM
40GB 7200RPM HARD Drive
ATI RADEON 9550 256MB Video Card

Hi! I can't explain my problem well, so here are two screenshots:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f166/raze29/csikos.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f166/raze29/shot0357.jpg

Even BIOS is like this. Lots of strange, chinese-like things instead of characters...
The Windows load screen, games, everything looks strange!! What happened to my video card? Yesterday I used the computer a lot, then it just got well!!! I could play, watch videos, everything went back to normal. But when I turned the computer back on, it was BAD again.... PLZ help, what is the problem?? My VGA is radeon 9800 pro 128MB, I bought it in february.

Sorry for my english. I'm hungarian.Try swapping monitors.Quote

Try swapping monitors.

It can't be a monitor problem, I could take screenshots...

I'm not sure what taking screen shots has to do with not being a monitor problem but Oh well.

hey ,

could any one shed some light on the hard disk 40 pin interface working. i use a Fujitsu hard disk and in the 40 pin interface one pin (the one closer to jumper) is slightly bent and the pin immdtly below the bent pin is only half visible from outside(half plunged inside).Does this affect the mother board from recognising the hard disk ?
Thanx in advanceHere's one source with a technique for straightening a bent pin: It states, "If a pin is bent, straighten it with the end of a retracted mechanical pencil, reconnect the cables, turn on the computer, and try again." I was going to suggest small needle-nose pliers for this, but apparently the mechanical pencil idea means retracting the lead so that the end of the pencil can be fitted on the pin and then tilted in whatever direction is necessary to straighten the pin.

Regarding the pin that only "half visible from outside", I don't know what to tell you; I don't know whether it's safe to pull on it with small needle-nose pliers to see whether you can pull it back out to the normal position. Are you absolutely sure part of it is not broken off?

You might be able to find a shop that could repair it. Of COURSE, that might cost nearly as much as a new drive, depending on the size of the drive. But, if you have valuable data that's at risk of being lost, the cost of repair may be worthwhile.Thanx very muj for ur time. I got the bent pin straightened but unable to pull the other half of the pin that is only half visible. I m sure it is not broken from its looks. But what i wonder is , the IDE cable fits perfectly into the 40 pin slot but BIOS doesnot detect the hard drive. Do u think the pins should be the reason for this?I don't know whether the absence of electrical contact on one pin would render the drive inoperative or not. However, I would not be surprised in the least if it did. While you're waiting for other replies, you might try some searching via Google; this has surely happened many times and been discussed in other forums.I'm surprised this hasn't been asked: What problems are you having?Hi Dilbert ,

My hard disk is not getting detected in the BIOS. I have tried putting the same hard disk as slave in other systems but still in vain , it is not getting detected. I figured that in the 40 pin interface ,the last pin was slightly bent and the one below has half gone inside (but surely not broken), these two pins are very next to the jumper section. Could you please tell me whether this is the reason my hard disk is not being detected by BIOS ?And if so any possible solutions to do it myself?The answer depends on which pin is shorted. Here's a pinout chart for the IDE physical interface. I imagine that you can do without one of the earth ("ground") pins, but losing any of the data pins will prevent the drive from working correctly.Thanks robpomeroy ,

i found the LINK to be useful . it is PIN # 2 that is shortened but again not broken , and it perfectly fits into the BUS cable . I have important files inside the hard disk which i am unable to access when the disk is not being detetced. could you please tell me any possible idea to make the hard disk to be detected and retrieve the file ?Okay - you can try this, but it may wreck your IDE cable for all other purposes: put a tiny piece of conductive wire into the corresponding hole on the IDE cable. Just long enough to REACH the pin when everything is connected up.Sounds like a good idea to me. I will give a try with the conductive wire and will get back to you. Thanks very muj for ur help.Hi Rob,

tried your idea of inserting a small conductive wire inside the BUS cable , in the correct slot, but still [size=14]it did not work[/size]. Could any one help me with retrieving the files inside the hard disk but the disk is not being detected neither as a Master nor as a slave by the BIOS. And all the power connections are still good and BUS cable is positioned correctly. Please do shed some light as those files are very important to me at this stage It could be that the pins on the hard drive are not connecting well to the drive - quite likely if they've been mangled. Rectifying this problem would involve some fairly delicate soldering - not something I'd attempt, personally. Unless the data on the hard drive is precious, I would throw the hard drive away at this stage.HI white..
Have you got the right solution to your hard disk? bcos I also have the same PROBELM in my disk. my HDD also Fujitsu ... But the pin which bent is diffrent from urs..
I tried to solve this probelm in many way.. but i cudnt solve it... One of my friend said it could be solved By disk managemet software bt he doesnt know how to use it??

So anyone pls give me a solution to solve it ....

hey Akil ,


i took the hard disk to the repair shop and the y starightened the bent pin and pulled the remainig half ,and all the pin are fine ,they even did some soldering work , buyt the disk is not being detected. i think my HAARD disk is gone. So the mechanic asked me to find a similar hard drive and get it bak to him sio tht he ll try chenging the disk and see whether the data could be transferred. hope u get this message.Oh yes white.. I think my HDD also has gone but my goodness is there no any important files on dat disk.. anyway white pls tell me if ur technician copy ur files into anothe disk...
Thanks 4 ur time white

From what I've read, the 802.11N is suppost to be faster than wired networking? Also 4x RANGE of 802.11G and 12X faster than G. I find it hard to believe wireless has BECOME faster than wired. What do you guys think about this?im no expert on wireless, but id have to say in my own opinion, thats a hot steamy pile of cow dung. i agree

Hey, I Just got an error after configuring my msconfig. Windows isnt detecting my CREATIVE soundblaster audio card, it worked fine yesterday. I wonder if I accidently unchecked the wrong thing out of my startup. I had my processes up to about 34 yesterday now they are down to about 25 and I cannot access my add hardware in CONTROL panel. I have alot of programs that are not running as WELL in my "services"(kinda like msconfig) (most are manual or disabled) in administrative tools. That were running yesterday. Just WANT to know if any of you know what could be the service that isnt running that is preventing my audio device from working. Please respond. :-?It depends what you stopped. We can't see that from here.

Hey guys, hopefully someone can help me out here... My Maxtor Personal Storage 3100 External HD is having an issue... I was backing it up with Norton Ghost, and I noticed that the system was a bit buggy, so I told Ghost to Cancel the Operation when the backup was 3% COMPLETE... Well... Now, I can plug in the HD, and it makes the two tone sounds, and then I can't access it... It won't show-up in my computer or anything... I can see it in the Device Manager, which of course, says that it's WORKING fine. I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it (plug and play) and it still won't pick it up... Can someone please tell me how to access this drive again?

FlameJust because I always ask, was this drive formatted NTFS?Well, I think it comes stardard in FAT32, but it says that when you put XP on it, it HAS to go to NTFS... I BACKED up an exact image of my HD, so I don't know...

FlameWell, Maxtor support just said to right-click on My Computer and select MANAGE. After that, just reformat the HD. Only problem is, I have a few options here, and I'm not sure which I'm supposed to format... Attached to this message is a screenshot of what the Manage menu shows... Please tell me which I need to format if you know! :-/

FlameOk, they told me it was the one that is 93.37 GB, so I'm formatting it right now... It's [timestamp=1147209361] so I'll write back when formatting completes... Slow process

FlameSorry for the very delayed response, but problem was SOLVED! I guess when I cancelled the copying operation, it had erased some files and lost its configuration. Reformatting the drive seemed to fix it. Thanks to all that helped

Flame

I have a Dell inspiron 4000. The cooling fan on the right corner under the display died...the computer would over heat and crash. Had the fan replaced in October 2005....the computer worked great..COULD hear the cooling fan come on and had no problems with crashes.

Now the computer has crashed SEVERAL times...and I have noted that the cooling fan is not working..

Is it possible that the crashes are heat related.....since this is the same M. O. as before the fan was changed out.If the fan is not working, and nothing else has been changed to the system, etc., then I would find it logical to blame the fans... Is the LAPTOP still under warranty?

FlameNo fan=heat=crash. its either the fan itself. or the power terminals. before u go out and buy a new fan, i would first recommend getting a volt meter and checking to see if u have voltage at the terminals where the fan is HOOKED up. if u do have voltage, then its a bad fan, if u dont, then its a bad connection between the motherboard and the power jack u plugged into. i had the same problem with my OLD computer, except the fan was in the power supply. turns out the fan was still good, it was just a bad electrical connection between the fan and the circuit board.

When a motherboard's DDR standard is DDR 400, for example, will lower DDR (i.e. DDR333) STANDARDS also function? Are any backwards compatable?Usually that is not a problem. YOu might want to check at www.crucial.com to see exactly what MEMORY will work with your specific motherboard.

THe RAM will run at the slowest speed PRESENT. I have an AMD processor running 2 RAM one 400 and one 333 without incident, but they run at 333.

I am using a totally awesome Dell Inspiron notebook that is a little more than a year old. About a week ago, the right side of the monitor began displaying a vertical GRAY LINE about half an inch wide. It did not go away despite my best efforts. I decided this was not a big deal to me and I would learn to live with it. Today, however, a much smaller but equally noticable greenish-blue line appeared next to it. I have no idea what is going on. Am I in danger of complete monitor disfunction? Can someone help me or tell me whether this will continue (and in what pattern of color)?Have you tried to uninstall/reinstall? Also CHECK the Dell site for upgrades. Good luck!
ASlaterThe same thing happened to my Inspiron LCD after 2+ years of USE. I ended up having to buy a new LCD, because it was at the point where I couldn't make out the display. I tried to find other solutions, but everyone I talked to told me the same thing. The screen was a gonner.

Tolerate it as long as you can, but you may ultimately have to replace it. I replaced mine for $230 (from ebay). Dell will likey charge you 3 times that price if it isn't under warranty anymore.

Good luck!

What are the differences between USB 1.0 and 1.1? Is it the OHCI and UHCI STANDARD respectively?

Google loves to help people with questions like this; it would give such good REFERENCES as this info from Wikepedia: UNIVERSAL Serial Bus.

i have installed my old 40G harddisk to my PC. (being my new 80G harddisk as primary master). I also upgraded the memory to 512.

the problem is .. i suppose my PC cannot RECOGNISE the primary slave giving prompt Slave: None.

I think i installed the Harddisk properly by fixing the grey-colored jumper to the slave.

i believe the HARD disk is in good condition as when i set it as master it works well.

i have not formatted the slave coz i think i can do it later (after i have installed it). i have all the operating softwares, Windows programme, thousands of files installed in the slave (which is yet to be a slave).

i'm so not good with hard disk installation and am requeting for information/assistance from anybody to help me with this problem. :'(Well I recomend SIMPLY setting your ORIGINAL HDD as the PriMaster and the new HDD as the PriSlave. Besides it might mess with your ability to boot your computer if you set your HDD with the windows installation to your slave if it was the master when you installed.

Hi,

I have a problem with my laptop. I let it be on for a while say approx 2 hrs or so. Everything was allright. I COULD get into windows and manage to surf the internet. But after a certain number of hours passed, i re-started the COMPUTER, the whole screen was blank. I mean it didn't even get to load up the windows.
It was blank the whole time RIGHT from the time i pushed the power on button.
There was no warning though.

My guess is the hard disk.

Can anyone suggest me to do? what could be the cause?

Thank you in advanceWhen you press the power button to turn the laptop on when it is off, do you hear any noises? NAMELY the fans spinning. Do you have virus and Spyware portection? Any changes made to the system recently?

FlameCan you get to the BIOS and see if the hard drive is recognized? What make and model?Hi,

Thanks guys for your reply.

When i press the power on, i could hear the noise of the fan but then after a shortwhile, I couldn't hear any more noise (very quiet). I suspect that the fan might stop.

GX1 Man, i could get to the bios but get frozen after a short time(3 or 4 secs after power turned on).

Any ideas?

Thank you in advanceIt needs to go to a good repair location. You will not be able to FIX this by yourself.