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Hello Everyone,
I'm thinking of setting up a wirless network which, of COURSE would include wireless internet. So, if my computer has a Wirless Network setup Wizard program can I assume it has a wireless card ready for a wireless router set up? If not, how can tell if my computer has a wireless internet card setup?
Thanks in advance for your help Is it a laptop? A desktop? If the former, maybe. If the latter, not if you didn't put one in. What computer make/model? We nneed something to work witth. O.k., o.k., I thought details weren't needed for general questions. Anyway, it's a Dell 4700 desktop bought last year. The other computer is a Dell 4100 desktop bought ~ 5years ago.Details are ALWAYS needed!

If it is a desktop and there is nothing sticking out of the back like an antenna, then the answer is no. The Wizard is part of XP itself.

I recall you having one computer with ME and one with XP (correct me if I'm wrong). All you need is a wireless router and a wireless PCI card for each machine, or if one is near the cable/DSL input one could be wired to it with no additional HARDWARE other than a cable.Good MEMORY GX1_Man. I did have a ME but, now that same machine (4100) is now Windows XP. My computers don't have the antenna but, fortunately, I have expansion slots available on both. I thought I needed a wireless PCI card on both? From what you write, I only need one card for the older one since the newer one is connected to the cable. I might just go with the Geek Squad (Best Buy) to set up my network. Thanks for the info. If one can be hooked using a cable then you only need a PCI ADAPTER for the remote one.

Hi. Its ben a week and ive had my new computer parts sent back, and are soon to be returned. Apparently they're fine, and they've connected them all up and booted xp. So its my fault I guess. The motherboard is an INTEL D955XBK running a 3ghz p4 with 2x512 DDR 533 ram. Unfortunately I dont have the bits in front of me, so some of what I say may not be accurate. But im sure enough it is! : How do I get the board to power up? I've built 10's of computers for freinds, neighbours etc... but ive always USED AMD. This is my first intel based pc for 7 years or something! With the AMD you plugged in the 20 pin PLUG from the psu and away you GO.
With this gear ive BOUGHT now I have the following; on the motherboard there is a 24 pin power connector and an 8 pin power connector. The PSU (i think) had a 24 pin CONNECTER (which split into a 20 pin and a 4 pin(they slotted together)) and a 6 pin connector. Ive been told by the company I bought it from I have to use a '4 to 8 pin converter' (you buy a motherboard and PSU specifically designed for a p4 and you need an adapter, aint that great!). This would make sense i guess due to the 8 pin socket on the board, but where does this converter go? Does it connect to 4 of the 6 pin plug from the psu, or the four that are part of the 24 pin plug from the psu. There wasnt a manual with the board, just a vague cd manual, so i just dont know. Any help from you fine people would be incredibly helpfull.

cheershttp://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d955xbk/sb/cs-020760.htm

hi i have a presario 5062. just upgraded from windows 98 to 98se. after that the cd rom went out. we replaced it and now there is no d drive and we cant find any sign of cd rom in the DEVICE manager. when windows starts it says

device driver not found: mscd001
No valid cd rom device driver selected.

C:\> rem LH \cdrom mscdex \ D:msc0000

we found the correct driver for the cd rom but still NOTHING. any help at all would be apprishiated. thank you Perhaps when it was installed it was not jumpered correctly. Does is show up in the BIOS? If not then pull it out and check the jumpers (on the back by the DATA cable).So you have one hard drive (on IDE1) and 1 CD drive (on IDE 2). Each is on it's own cable? Check the old drive to see how it was jumpered, if you haven't DISPOSED of it.i took the cd rom out and saw that it was jumpered on slave. the old cd rom was jumpered on master so i changed the new one to master as well. now when the new cd rom is connected the computer will power but only stay at the Compaq logo with a blinking line in the top left corner. also the power light on the cd rom dosent light up.I'm guessing that the BIOS sees it as SE was probably installed from CD.
The likelihood is that you need secondary IDE device drivers or perhaps a ROMPaq for your machine:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?lc=en&lang=en&cc=us&product=92986&dlc=en&os=20

I was just wondering, for a 4 meg connection are these speeds right. Or is it somthing you would see on a 2 meg.

Download speed 1923 kbps

UPLOAD speed 180k kbps

Download Speed: 1923 kbps (240.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 180 kbps (22.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Is this DSL or cable? If DSL, how far are you from the nearest telephone company hub (often called "central office"). DSL technology is "distance sensitive" because its performance decreases significantly as you get further away from this hub.

The actual speeds you mentioned would be very good for a DSL service rated at 2 Megs but POSSIBLE, I believe. On the hand, those speeds would be rather low for a DSL service rated at 4 Megs, but could result from the distance between you and the nearest telephone company hub. This is for 4 meg cable that i have just upgraded to. So are these speeds for poor for 4 meg cable.Yes they are poor for 4 meg cable, it looks LIKE 2 meg to me.

id get on to the cable companyYou might visit DSLReports.com and run a speed test and a tweaks test. If you register on the site (not required to run the tests) and are logged on when you run tests, you can save the results of your tests and then see the results of others' tests. May give you an idea whether your service is on par with others or not.

In some cases, tweaks to your system can help. That's why I mentioned the tweaks test.Who is your ISP? Have you contacted them with your findings?LOL NTL who now tell me they sold me 4 meg but really my line is a 2 meg. They say i should have 4 meg by the end of the MONTH. Crazy to sell somthing that isnt up and running. Can you Guys tell me what my download and upload should be once i have 4 meg, just so i can keep an eye on it. Also do you KNOW of any goos websites that let you do a free speed test.

ThanksDid you not read my previous post? www.dslreports.com

I recently purchased a CPU upgrade and now it shuts down or reboots when it fells like it. It will run great for a while and then I walk away and come back and it has shut down or I'll be typing something and it reboots right there, like its got a mind of its own.
Here's a little back ground.
MB- Soltek SL-67B
CPU- Upgradeware 1.3G
Bios- Award 2002
Ram- 1G
HD- (2) 40G
Is it overheating? Check the temperature in the BIOS just after a crash.What topic would that be under in the bios?Did you install the CPU yourself? Have you done that before this time? Are you CONFIDENT about your application of the heat compound/grease?Yes, I installed the CPU myself. It was already put together with the heatsrink and fan. Yes, have installed a CPU before.And what CPU is in there now? Is it compatible with your motherboard? Did it EVER work right after the upgrade? What caused the need for the upgrade? Was the previous CPU faulty in some way?I am currently running the 1.3G Slot1 Pentium III on this machine. It is my only system. I just don't know when it will fail again. Yes, the COMPATABILITY charts say it is compatible. The reason for the upgrade was to get rid of the OS I was running, which was Windows 2000 Pro. It had become missed up some how and I did not have the disk to reinstall it. So I wanted to go to XP Pro. but in order to that I needed more processing speed. The old CPU still works with a make shift fan setup. Its a Pentium II 400. It is on its last leg.It would be a unique motherboard that could take either a PII-400 or a PIII > 1 Ghz.

And back to my other question. Did it ever work correctly with this new CPU?As I stated before, that is the ONE I am currently using. On this system I am write this on. I just don't know how long it will run with out shutting down.Well, I am not going to ask a third time, so I will assume that it has never worked correctly since the upgrade. That could tell you something right there.I'm sorry, I must not be understanding what you are reffering to "work correctly". I only just bought this CPU a couple of months ago. I am using this machine to do my online school work so, when it acts up like that I have to put in the old CPU until I get my work done and then have time to work on this system. I then put the new CPU in and see how long it will work.
When I first bought the CPU it worked for about a MONTH and then started acting up. I sent it back in and they tested it and said it was OK.I would imagine the CPU works OK, it's the compatibility with the motherboard that is the issue. That is a BX motherboard that originally was paired with a PII-400 frequently. It only has a 33 Mhz BUS and I cannot find anywhere that anything over a PIII-500 was used successfully. Where did you get the info that this could be done with a processor like you have?

I had DELL XPS 166s that I moved from the original case to a new case,
hoping to get USB's to work. Now I get a message saying that my display
adapter is not configured. I've tried everything I know how, which honestly
is not a lot. Any suggestions???Dell's often have propprietary power adapters. Did you USE the OLD one? Did you add any new components?I kept the original power adapter, but tried to add an ethernet adapter and a USB port.
I removed the USB and Ethernet, but I'm still having the problem.Hmmm, display adapter vs. power adapter. Which is it?It's likely that you need a driver for the card if this error is generated from within Windows. Is Safe Mode OK?Safe mode works. Tried to FIND the drivers but they can't be found. If I TRY to
load the drivers via CD, it keeps asking for the Windows 98SE cd, which I don't
have.Download & run Everest to find out what display adaptor you have then you can get the correct driver from the internet.Is it an onboard or original Dell supplied graphics card? If so, Dell support will have the drivers.
You will need a Win98 CD at some point unless the cab files are on the system. Try eBay or similar.

how come my monitor suddenly turns in the shade of green, INSTEAD of white. the white background has a shade of green.A monitor works bye Shinning 3 colours out at you RED Blue And Green,
So for Some Reason your monitor has decided it likes Green BEST

I would FIRST Check the Cable , sometimes the pins stop connecting right and you lose one of the Colours.
Try a new Cable

If it not the cable at either end it could be the ports it connects into if THATS the case it will be harder to fix, you may need to get some one to fix it with a soldering iron
Quote

how come my monitor suddenly turns in the shade of green, instead of white. the white background has a shade of green.

Hi i have a qustion about the laptop on the subject. I have been working on this laptop for about 2 weeks now. and i have ran out of ideas that might be wrong with it.

So far i have replaced the systemboard memeory , ac adapter, CPU, and i still cant get it to say on.

These are the symptoms....

As soon as i start it up it turns off, does not give any post screen or anything. Also one of my friend techs that i have told me that i should be able to disconnect everything off the motherboard, and just have the cpu fan connected and it should stay on. I did this and it also shuts off after like 10 SECS of it being on. Anyone have any ideas tehy can throw my way??Do you have virus protection? When did this start? Have you made any changes to this system recently?

Flameyes i do have viruns protection on it. Also i dont think that would make a difference, cause i dont EVEN get to the post screen before it shuts off. It STARTED doingthis about 3 months ago then i just put it aside and recently i stated up on it agian. at first it would stay ona while then less and less, until now i dont even get to the post screen.It still could be a virus. You never know. I'm going to ask if you've made any changes to the system recently?

Flamerevently yes i replaced the motherboard pcu memory and the ac adapter.

Before this started happenning no i didnt.Why did you replace these parts?

FlameIt could be virtually anything that's left in the case if an external keyboard and monitor etc has been tried. The chief suspect is the GRAPHICS adapter followed by the motherboard itself.
Before condemning it, check for any shorts etc and ensure that you have reset the BIOS to it's failsafe defaults.

The computer ive been useing for some time Builtit my self, as started to just Power of and Reboot after a wile , never gives me enuph time to do any thing , and if i try to run a program/Game it crashes even quicker

Let see the Specs are
Amd64 3200/754
768 meges of ram /DDR-3200 1x 512 + 1x256
MSI Geforce 5600
MSI NEO7 Mother Borard
80Gig Maxtor HDD, 20Gig Maxtor HDD and a 250Gig Maxtor USB HDD
it has an old PSU that i Got with my P4 Computer , i think its only 300Watt But it had been Running this config for a bout a Year

And a buch of CD rom Drives , there all prety Crappy

Now ive had a few Problems. sometimes when i turn it on it just Frezzes at post just before it does the Mem Test , and then i Reset and it boots fine...

But now my Real Prob is it Reboots when i turn it on after windows loads , for maby 5 mins, now i reformated and tryed 3 Differnt Os's (WinXP,Win2003Srv,Vista) and striping the system down to just The
80Gig HDD
The Mo bo
The GFX
and 512 Ram
And CD-rom

but its the Same Problem on All the OSes i try, and i have No idea, and it doesnt Record an Error into Event Veiwer,or give a BSOD
Edit : ive also Run MemTest on bout my Ram sticks , over night... and my Computer dident Crash, I thought this was odd

Ive Bought a New Comp to solve this , but i wouldent mind keeping my old one , for doing less intensive stuff
A replacement power supply is the best place to start for a lot of reasons. 300w is not sufficient for that hardware, even if it is fuctioning properly.

This is not the time to save pennies. A $12.95 600w is not the same as a quality 450w from a reputable maker - Antec, etc. If you don't spend at least $50, you risk failure of your system and possible damage to the valuable components.

People get consumed with watts, but the current on the 12v rail is much more important. Price, name brand and weight are a good tipoff to what is inside.So you Recon its The PSU as Well, Some one else sugested that as well, but i call'ed him a n00b and decided it Must Be all the Expencive parts i have that R dated , and must need new ones ^.^

I think ill go pick up a new PSU, My Room MATE works in a computer shop now so i can get a good deal

My new system is going to be awesome ^.^(And also a horrible waste of Cash /Glee)For your information I failed English and Dropped out of school

Do you know feel satisfied that I am stupid?

But I’m not sure what that has to do whit weather I can fix a computer or not
Sometimes the perception of a person is more important than the actual characteristics which may not be readily known.

It may be akin to all of the shop teachers in my high school were missing some fingers. Made me doubt their ability to teach the safe use of power tools, you know?Ah but GX1-Man The Contrary is true , The fact they are missing fingers shows they know Very well by Experience what not to do.

For EXAMPLE i learnt not to import an "Entire" Old registry to a new computer because i wanted a game to work that id lost the CD key for.

Never Ever Do that, It Breaks Your computer i know

Hello,

I have ASUS Intel Pentium 4 with P4P800-X motherboard. I curently have 2 Spectek DDR DIMMS 256mb each. What I want to do is to buy/add one 1GB DRR DIMM from Hynix. I'm wondering if 3 of them work corectly togather?

Thankschizzle..... Here's the link to your motherboard........

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4P800-X/e1718_p4p800-x.pdf

Pay attention to the sections devoted to memory modules ........ everything you want an answer to is there .


HOPE this helps you.

dl65 Thank you dl65. I do have that guide it came with the BOOK . In the guide says that Hynix is qualified but it also says that I should install identical DIMMS or with same size. What i want to do is install not identical and probably I should put it in single mode.

Just to make it more clear... I have 4 DIMM slots. Two blue slots and two black slots. Two blue slots are filled with 256mb each (Spectek). What I want to do is to put 1GB Hynix in the third slot. Will it function corectly?chizzle..... Yes ...... leave the 256 sticks in the Blue sockets (A1and B1) and put the new single stick in Black Dimm socket (A2) ...that should do it .


dl65

I recently bought 256mb of memory for my HP Pavilion 510w. I put it in the computer but it doesnt show that it was installed. I know I put it in right. Any one have any ideas what the problem could be?If installed correctly, the most likely cause is that you got the wrong memory, or the new RAM is damaged. Most of the time, it turns out to be the wrong memory. What did you get and from where. SPEED alone is not enough in choosing! Chip density and other characteristics are critical.

On the web page for your model at www.crucial.com it clearly states:

Important information about your computer
Your system only supports modules made with a SPECIFIC type of chips. While you might find what appears to be the exact same memory for a lower price elsewhere, the CHEAPER memory might not work in your system. The Crucial Memory SELECTOR only selects memory that is 100% guaranteed compatible with your system or we'll give you your money back! Learn more about chip density, memory prices, and compatibility here.

If you can, I would return it immediately. Crucial always has REASONABLE prices, lifetime warranty and GUARANTEED compatibility. What else would you be looking for?

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=HP+-+Compaq%2BPavilion+500+Series&mfr=HP+-+Compaq&tabid=AM&model=Pavilion+510w&submit=Go
Alright, I'll see if I can return it and I'll check out that site, thanks.Out of curiosity, what exactly were the specifications for what you got?

Hello,

I have an NEC LCD1830 monitor panel that is about 4.5 years old. Lately I have had a problem where it will intermitently go blank(black). This is very strange as the power LED is still green and not amber. Sometimes turning the monitor off and turning it back on again solves the problem and the picture once again appears on the screen. Unfortunately, once this happens once, it will usually happen again within a few MINUTES. It SEEMS that the computer usually has to be on and being used for 30 to 60 minutes before this starts to happen.

Is this a sign of a failing backlight, or is it more likely a bad component on the circuit board? Any insight WOULD be much appreciated. Also, should I bother trying to get it fixed or am I better off trashing it? I don't think the VIDEO card is the problem as the picture does come up properly after turning the monitor off and on. Am I wrong in making this assumption? Any insight is really appreciated!! THXHey, I have a LCD 15 Flat panel display too and for quite some time now and I had similar problems. What solved my problem was turning off the power saving feature that some new monitors have (if this applies) and see if that solves the issue. You might want the OS to control the power saving features. In addition make sure that the video card is properly seated and that the CONNECTION pins are firmly in place. Followed by a quick check to make sure that the latest video drivers are downloaded.

Hope is fixes the problem

had an HP 420, took the hard drive out and wanted to place it in a HP xt919. I tried just unplugging the old drive and replacing it with my other drive, but when I turned on the computer, it loaded the HP screen then just went to the BLACK bios screen and did nothing? How can I get the 919 to recognize and utilize the other hard drive?First, did you set the jumpers for the new drive to be the master and not the slave? Also, you may need to insert a bootdisk in order to start the computer and install your operating system.

FlameI don't know what the configuration to set the jumpers is. The hard drive was the master on my old computer, so I shouldn't have to change it. The hard drive is complete already with operating system. It was my hard drive out of an existing computer. Basically I moved from AZ to VA and couldn't bring my CPU so I just brought my hard drive instead since there was already a working computer here.Well, I'm no expert with HD's, but if connect the HD from one computer to another as the master, it's bound to cause issues, becuase the hardware is different... For example, the HD wants to use drivers for a NVIDIA video card, but you have an ATI installed... It won't work... This is an interesting one... Anyone care to help?

FlameJust for the record, Both the cpus are using nvidia CARDS and driversThe chipsets are different, as are the other components no doubt. Do you have a REAL Windows CD to install with the new set up?YAY I was right about drivers and such being different THUS the reason this is not working!

Flame

I have not actually installed them, At the moment I only have a DVD writer, I WANTED to add a CD writer as well will it cause any conflicts? ThanksI have both in my COMPUTER and have no problems.DVD Writers can WRITE CD's as well. What's the problem?

My pc is 6 years old, RUNS great on windows 98. Recently, while using, it shuts down hard. I press the power button and nothing happens. I remove the ac cord, leave it out for a minute and plug BACK in and everything works fine again. It shuts down hard about 6 times a day. Bad PSU? What do you THINK?What make and model is it? (The computer and the power supply.) A PSU is a quick and easy upgrade, but it depends on what you have to know if proprietary parts are involved.

The symptoms you describe sound like PSU, heat or RAM, in that order. Are you doing anything in particular when it shuts down (gaming or light duty, or kjust sitting there?) The fact that replugging it makes it work again is another indication of PSU, but we need more details about the machine.It's an IBM Aptiva. I swapped out the PSU with the PSU of my EMachines. Voltages are the same as indicated on the PSUs. Didn't check them. Seems like the PSU was not compatible. When I installed it. WITHOUT PRESSING the power button, the HD would spin constantly but would not boot. Cabling seemed the same except of a power connector (P8) that went to the MOBO. The IBM didn't have a P8 JK. This happens when it is just sitting idle, but mostly when I'm downloading. I don't do games so light duty is all i need it for.Obviously all PSU's are not the same and wattage is not everything. Check eBay for an old machine that you can harvest from.

Hey guys,


Ok I am TRYING to transfer my motherborad from its case into a Server case with its own dual power supply, but on my motherboard it has a AUX 12V input but i dont have this cable on my Power Pack, it tried to BOOT up without it but its not working how can i SOLVE this?

SodaYou'll need to change the PSU as well.MMM dam cos then i wont be able tp power the RAID drives :-/

It should be blank. I was thinking that there may have been some files cued from elsewhere but it being rules that out.
Have you tried rebooting?
Do you know how to use the Task Manager?should I install (record now) and try using that burner?Sonic! Recordnow? You have it? Try it. If not try System Restore.

Flamei use memorex and i tried some other cheap CD's, im familiar with task manager. what do you want me to dook i'll try sonic and let you GUYS knowNero would be a much better option but of course, it costs. Some companies are/were giving OEM versions of it away as long as you buy something from them. Misco was one such company if memory serves me well.

Anyway, reboot first and see what happens.this has been going for WEEKS now, I reboot quite frequentlyBring up the Task Manager and see if there's anything RUNNING that may be using the CD.
If not, set a restore POINT, install RecordNow and try with that. The problem is that if there is something using the CD, then no application will work properly.

Hello to all

I have:
XP Pro
AMD 3000+
ASROCK K8S8X mobo
1024MB DDR RAM
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 128MB (Non-GT)

The motherboard has onboard SIS 7012 sound.

I get random BSODs while playing certain games, FEAR, Oblivion, Splinter Cell, are examples. Now and again I get an BSOD in Windows.

I have reinstalled Windows and downloaded different drivers for my graphics card. (I had an Radeon 9600XT at that time) Memory tested fine. So, I sent my Radeon back to my supplier and they found nothing wrong. Yesterday I got an GeForce 6600 and still get BSODs. So its not the graphics card.

Another strange thing also just in certain game (like the above) is choppy, SCRATCHY, slow sound. The sound works fine in the beginning and then gradually deteriorates. In Windows it works fine. I have tried installing different versions of the driver from the SIS website, no luck.

Can my onboard sound card possible be causing the BSODs? I read somewhere that I can also use REALTEK drivers with the SIS (apparently the SIS 7012 is actually an realtek). I can't remember the model, I got a link and downloaded it, gonna try it after work.

Has anyone had a similar experience with onboard sound and found a solution?

All the bestIf i was you i would disable the sound and then test the games out. Sound issues can cause this aswell as lagg, but whatever the outcome i would buy an Audigy Sound card. Onboard Sound isn't very good for games as far as im concerned.Interesting. Don't really fancy buying a new snd card. Maybe I can beg one from a buddy.

Didn't know a crappy sound card could cause games to lag.

Thx for the adviceI would favor the ACTUAL drivers for the chip, but try to disable the onboard sound and see if the games play any better and less crashing.

If no difference, REMOVE any add in cards that are not critical. If no joy, take the side off the case and blow a fan directly in there. Also check your RAM with memtest (free at www.memtest86.com) Run each stick for an hour or so, then all together.

Post back what you find.Oh, the memtest was the first thing I thought of. Everything is fine. No viruses or spyware, nada.

I disabled my onboard and put in an older Yamaha something. Everything was cool, except now and then some sounds just dissappear. Like when I'm playing FEAR I can hear ambient noises, but no shooting sounds. Stuff like that. Thats probably just the old crappy Yamaha.

Now I wonder. My onboard sound uses an Cmedia 8738 chipset. If I were to leave it disabled and put in an new sound card with the same chipset, would it still be ok. Or do you think it might be that specific chipset causing the problems? I don't think so though. What are your thoughts?

RegardsA new card bought at random probably would have a different chip. If the new and the old is different doesn't really matter.What I mean is, I went to a pc shop and asked for an card. They only had one left and that one has an CMI8738 chipset. So I would be putting in an sound card with the same chipset as my onboard. Thats why I asked if you think it would be that specific CMI8738 chipset causing the problem.

Sorry I have poor communication SKILLS. and ofcourse I'm not English.

RegardsAh, all is well. Installed the new card with the same chipset and everything is fine.

Thanks for all the help

I'm GETTING a motherboard with PCI-E SLOT for a graphics card. I see CARDS with TV-out CONNECTIONS, but I suspect that's not what I'm looking for.

So is it possible to get a graphics card that ALSO has a TV tuner? Sort of like an all-in-one solution?

anybody know anything about the "ZIP drive?" send me anything on it if U have!Would you LIKE us to use Google for you?If it doesn't work, poke it with a stick. OBSOLETE. @ FedDon't waste your TIME with ZIP Dirves. They're just big floppy DISKS. For a decent price you can get an external HARD drive that is MUCH better.

Flamewww.howstuffworks.com

I have 3 PCs. One is old with many viruses. One is old and only 4 GB. One is new'ish and has about 100 GB but a fried Motherboard. I know nothing about computers but managed to take the CD drive out of the fried one and put it into the one with 4 GB. I need to take the 100 GB hard disk and put it into the one with 4 and make it work. I need to know what goes where and what else I'd need to take out of the newer computer in order for things to run smoothly. I'd love some help. If someone could email me @ that would be greatly appreciated. The only thing I ask is that its kept in laymen's terms so I can understand. LOL. Please somebody help!! :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-?

THANKS!! Posting your e-mail is a great way to get tons of spam, so I deleted it. Feel free to post again if that is what you want, though.

Posting as much of the specifications on the parts you have would be HELPFUL What operating system are you planning to run? Obviously you're not scare to pick up a screwdriver, so that's a good thing.

first lets make it simple, im assigning ur comps numbers...

1-old one with viruses
2- old 4GB one
3-newer one




id take the motherboard from comp2 (assuming that its newer that comp1) and place it into comp3. if u have some extra RAM slots in comp3, id take the biggest sticks of RAM from comps 1+2 and place them into comp3.

from what ur saying, it sounds like comp3's only problem is the motherboard, then y not just leave all the other hardware alone (assuming its newer than comps 1+2), and just exchange the motherboard?We need more info before we go swapping motherboards about. They may use different type of RAM, different processors and potential.Haha, well, I'm gong to be running windows 2000, except that I'm not sure what the new comp has, I think it has XP which would be nice. So if I could get comp 3 to work then I'd be HAPPY. I'm not sure what a RAM stick looks like or where I'd put it. I am so technically challenged but I'm a great learner and not afraid to try things. Also, I have really good common sense...if I take something out of one comp I'm going to put it in the same place in the other comp. lol


So in otherwords, I'm not sure what my computers have other than the GBs on the hard disk. I don't need it to be anything special I just want it to work for a simple accounting program, pictures and some stupid games, lol.
If it runs, you can load Belarc Advisor (www.belarc.com) and see what the components are.

If not, you can take out each component and read what is on it. This could be our summer PROJECT! Two of them run, the newest doesn't. I also dont have internet at home, only at work.
Thanks though, lol
...just remember not to touch the pin array on the motherboard or processor I talked to someone I know and they told me to unplug the cd writer and plug in my second hard drive. Which I did and it worked. I can look through and use the bigger disk drive...My problem now is, how do I get the cd writer working??? What do I plug it into. I've tried everything and can't get it to work... You probably have 2 IDE channels with two positions possible - Master (MA) and Slave (SL) for each device. Make sure each device is jumpered correctly for what you are trying to do, like

IDE Channel 1
Primary hard drive - Master
Primary optical drive - Slave

Secondary IDE Channel
Second hard drive - Master
Second optical drive (if present) - Slave

The jumpers are on the back of the drives where the data cable plugs in. Ask if you don't understand this. Okay, so the IDE channel is the bunch of cables coming out of the box...(lol, I am so sorry, haha)...and it has a white plug followed by a white plug followed by a smaller white plug. Right now I've got my primary hard drive (the one originally in the comp) plugged into its own IDE channel, plugged to the first white plug. I was told that in order to make my secondary hard drive work I should unplug everything from the disk drive and plug it into the new hard drive. That worked. I have the new hard drive plugged into the first white plug of the secondary IDE channel...Now that I've come this far I've realized that the IDE channel might not be the white plug but the black plug with the big flat cable...hmmm...if it is you still know kinda where i'm going with this...the primary hard drive is plugged into its own flat cable and i've taken everything out of the disk drive to put it into the new hard drive. When I plug the disk drive into the last plugs of the secondary hard drive it doesnt recognize either one of them, my drive "D" disappears as well as the disk drive not showing up. Haha...I shouldn't have started this, but I find it fun to play with things like this and make them work...I just don't know if it's going to happen.I R ConnFuzzeled

IDE Cable are th Wide Flat ones There Ment to be made up of 40 skinny Wires,

There Are 2 Types Of IDE cable , 1: It has Two Plugs One to the mother Board, and one to the HDD.
2: It Has 3 Plugs one to the mother board and two that can each go in to a HDD

on the back of the Hdd you should se something like this
[::::::::::::::::::::][:][:][:] [ooo] IDE is in Green, Jumpers in Red ,power in blue

now you can set weather you HDD is master or Slave whit the pins called Jumpers (in red)
most HDDs are set a little Differnt, but on a maxtor you set master by haveing a jumper NEXT to the IDE
[::::::::::::::::::::][{:}][:][:] [ooo]

and slave wit no jumper
Haha...I R VURRYYYYY CONNFUZZELED!!!

HAHAHA

That makes complete sense now...soooo how do I get the disk drive to work with the secondary hard drive? I have 2 IDE cables. One goes from the motherboard to the hard drive and the other used to go from the motherboard to the disk drive, I took it out of the disk drive and plugged it into the secondary hard drive. When I plug the open plug (which is actually the 2nd/middle plug on the IDE cable) into the disk drive I can't find the disk drive or the secondary hard drive. If I keep the disk drive unplugged, I can use the hard drive... :-? :-? :-?Let's start over. What is the make/model of the computer and/or motherboard you are wanting to connect to the hard drives?If you post What model and Brand name your Hdd's are , we can look up the correct settings.

Brand name :
Model Num :
Please

what is the optimum amount of memory to install on a pentium ll running window 98
and a pentium lll running XPId say 512 is the Best youll fit in a machine like that , Never try to Run XP under 256 megs of ram, also XP will only just run on a PII you may find its quite slow,

Win 98 cant READ A Gig of ram, but i douth you would fit it on a PII mother board any way
I would put 2x256 in either machine, and try to make sure the ram chips are the same speed Ie: PC133 or PC100. Mixing ram can make your computer extra slowthanks panboyYou are Welcome, 512 is a good number for XP, on an OLD System and maby a bit high for 98 but more ram never hurtsFor the record Win98 can use more RAM, it is just inefficent. But there is a tweak you can use to counteract this somewhat.The optimum in either case is going to depend on what you use the computer for. For Win 98, 128MB will probably work quite well for the majority of users. If you think you need more, any combination totaling 192, 256, 384, or 512MB is an option unless the type of memory you have requires two modules of the same size; then, 128, 256, ....Agreed. 512 is overkill for Win98 unless you are using some demanding apps and especially for a PII.

Anything running XP works better with at least 512, especially with onboard video, but the need again depends on what you are running. For internet, e-mail and word processing only 512 is more than enough.

More is not necessarily better, it just depends what you want to spend your money on. In the end, the motherboard determines the maximum amount of memory that can be used.I BELIEVE you’ll find what I posted here is my opinion, there are not MANY programs that need more than 512 that will run on 98 there for I think 512 ID Good, also SD Ram is Cheep now , and there’s not point in getting less.

I am nowI have no idea what a restore point isGo to> START> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore, or copy and paste this line into the RUN window and click OK.

Code: [Select]%SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
Elect to Create a restore point and type User Checkpoint in the window so you know which one it is.

When WMP 10 has been re-installed it should SHOW up as the next entry.Quote

I am now

I have a 128MB PCI video card in my AOPEN MX3W Pro motherboard. The BOARD itself has onboard video. The card works well, except when I boot up, the screen won't COME on until windows (running 2k) starts to boot. That's fine, except when I might want to go in a play with the BIOS settings. How do I fix this? I was thinking about uninstalling the onboard video driver, but didn't know if that was the route to go.

Thank you to all those who answer our dumb questions! I post on a flash board a lot, and I know how it can be


Do you have a motherboard manual for it? If not, you can DOWNLOAD one from http://download.aopen.com.tw/Default.aspx

And, I see that AOPEN has their own user forum: http://usa.aopen.com/tech/newsgrp/. I haven't registered for it and haven't accessed it. So, I don't know how active it is, but it might be a good place to an answer for your specific motherboard.

I'm wondering whether you might need to connect your monitor back to the onboard VGA connector so that you can access your BIOS and see it on screen, and then maybe change a setting that's causing this problem.If memory SERVES me well, this board has no AGP slot and the onboard GRAPHICS cannot be disabled. Set the system to initialise from PCI rather than AGP.Thanks to both. I'll switch the monitor back and check the BIOS settings to see if I can swtich from agp to pci.

:-? Ok I am rather perplexed by this whole situation. First a little about my system.
I have 2 hard drives, one is 80 gb and the other is 20gb, the 20 is my main one with WINDOWS XP on it. 2 hard drives, both DVD/CD readers and writers. 512 of memory (2 256 cards) The motherboard is a Pent. 4, not sure of all the other details since I am at work and don't have any information here, the motherboard is about 2-3 years old. I did have a 600 watt power supply in the system before all these issues came about and it was running fine and dandy before all this happened. Ok here is the scoop:
Last Saturday I was working on my sisters computer at my house and I have spare parts that I use for "testing" purposes I guess you could say, always keep em just in case you need to verify when your having issues. Anyways, she was having CD rom issues, I had a backup one, well I troubleshooted her computer, and forgot that there was a cd still in my extra cd rom and since hers was already all put back together and my case was off I just decided to plug it into mine, I shut off the computer and just plugged in a power cord from the power supply, booted the system up and ejected the disk, so far so good right, yeah well I decided to just unplug the power cord while the system was up, yes I know don't start the lectures i know I should of shut it down, so this all is my fault, I have already beat myself up enough! So as I was unplugging the power cord my wire that connects to my fan hit my hard drive (main drive) and the system shut off. Ok I didn't panic at first cuz I have had this happen before where i have had things touch and it shuts off and just waited a few minutes, but not in this case the few minutes turned into an hour and it still didnt work, so I have a backup power supply that is only 70 watts, from my OLD system, I kept it just as a tester to have just in case these situations ever come up, so i plugged it in and sure enough the system booted up. So i knew it was the power supply, not a big deal, we went and got a 600 watt power supply from CompUSA for 100 bucks, well i knew i could get a better deal online so we were just going to use this one for the weekend and verify it was the issue. Got it home booted up fine, ran good, and I found a 600 watt power supply at geeks.com here is the link:http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ESTAR-600-N
I have ordered from geeks for the last few years and always been very satisfied with their products and prices are incredible. Never had power supply issues, anyways I got it on Saturday, hooked it up and the computer was on 30 mintues and just shut off, now right before it shut off i was trying to shrink 2 DVD movies on my system, before this whole incident I could do that without anything overheating or going wrong. Once it shut off I let it sit awhile and tried again, nothing would turn on, my cpu would turn a tiny bit and thats it, so I knew it was the power supply, hooked my lil 70 watt tester power supply up and sure enough it booted up, so we went to Computer Renassiance and we found a 500 watt power supply for 50 bucks, just because returning the one from geeks was gonna take 3 weeks min we need the computer up, got it home, hooked it up and it ran fine, was up and running for almost 24 hours or more, then my boyfriend was shrinking DVD movies again and he did 2 at the same time and I have a program on my system I can watch my CPU TEMP and Case Temp, he said he noticed the temp got to 79 and it must of shut off shortly after that, and I know when it gets that high thats not a good thing its overheating. Tried the 70 watt and it worked fine, so again another power supply is done but why is the question. The other thing I noticed when I hooked both of these new power supplies up when I booted up it said my CMOS settings weren't updated or werent correct, sorry cant remember the exact message, and I believe you could hit f1 or f2 and I believe I tried F1. Not that familar with CMOS, but I did notice it was my date and time weren't set correctly, went into my BIOS and set it correctly. I have replaced my power supply before and never had that message come up before. After all this we brought my case over to my sisters and I blew it out, getting all the dust out, there wasn't a whole bunch but I did notice a lil build up, and honestly I have seen my system have more dust than this. So its fully cleaned out so the next time we try a power supply to see if that might help. Ok so here I sit confused, could I have gotten 2 faulty power supplies from 2 differnent places, possible but *censored* lol Or when that wire hit my hard drive did it screw something else up? I need to figure out why its doing this and what I need to do to fix it, we are going to exchange the one power supply tomm and try again and no more doing 2 movies at once but its weird cuz we use to be able to, If anyone has any advice I would so appreciate it, or if anyone knows anyone in MN that can help out? If you need more info I can try and get it for you, im not computer stupid I do know some stuff and have always been able to fix my computer but this one has me stumped. Thanks!
QueenB2oo6...... After having read your lenghty disertation , I am concerned about the comment re the power wire hitting the hard drive. Was there a electrical connection ...ie a spark ? or did it simply contact the hd ? I should also ask you why , you were working inside the case with the machine running...... that's courting disaster .

report re the contact and we can progress .

dl65 Ok when the wire hit my hard drive there was no spark, didnt even make a sound, the system just shut off. You would think that hard drive would be screwed up if anything but its not, it works fine. Yes I know I shouldn't of left the system on while I was unplugging the power cord to the CD rom, don't need to lecture me again, I have kicked myself over it. Trust me I have learned a very powerful lesson from it. Anyways, the part the does concern me know that I have thought more about it is that CMOS setting message I got when I installed both power supplies, I have installed power supplies before on my system and never got that message, could my battery be dying? Or could that be causing some of the issue? Plus I think the system is overheating but why, I had a 600 watt power supply before and it never over heated, like I said i just blew the case out, there wasn't that much dust so I don't think its that. Right now im stuck till I get a replacement power supply to troubleshoot more.QueenB2oo6...... Quote

Ok when the wire hit my hard drive there was no spark, didnt even make a sound, the system just shut off.

have thought more about it is that CMOS setting message I got when I installed both power supplies

could my battery be dying?

I set my date and time from there

I didn't get a chance to reboot my system to see if that error went away or not since the system didn't stay up running that long.

then you had a dead short through the hard drive case to ground and probably finished off the power supply .

I had to set my date and time because it was off, it wasn't reading the right time nor date.

Anyways, could the battery if it is bad be causing the system not to stay up and running?

my floppy drive is having problems. the green light thats usually on only when theres a disk in is now on all the time. ALSO when i put a disk in and try to access it VIA my computer is SAYS "A:\ is not accessible. The device is not ready." i also bought a new drive and tried that but that ones doing the same thing.If the light remains on it's usually because the data cable is the wrong way around.Do you have virus and Spyware protection? Which operating system are you using? When did this start? Have you made any changes to your system recently?

Flamethanks backdated. that was it.It would have been even more helpful to let us know that you had been monkeying around in the case RATHER than presenting it as something that just spontaneously HAPPENED. Best to give ALL the facts. Agreed. Even if you don't think it will help, sometimes the smallest bits of information can help. Come back and see us sometime.

Flame

Hi! I have an Emachines W2785 desktop computer, AMD Athlon XP 2700+ processor, 80gb HD, 512 DDR RAM, XP Home Edition SP2. I was having trouble with my system booting. It eventually did boot. Later when I tried to boot it I couldn't get it to boot. I unplugged the system overnight and when I went to try it again I had nothing more than a dead computer. I pulled out the power supply and had an electronics engineer look at it. He said it was fried and pointed out burn MARKS. I went to REPLACE the 250 watt power supply and was directed to a 300 watt supply as a replacement. They sent me a 400 watt supply and I was TOLD this wasn't a problem. It has all the correct plugs to attach to my motherboard, et al. I have installed it and turned on the system. The system seems to have power but there is no output to my monitor nor does it sound like the system is fully booting. It sounds like the peripherals are powering up and I have checked to verify that all my drives have power. I took my hard drive to a friends house and we hooked it into his system and it works fine. I checked the internal battery and it has the appropriate output. I know there is power going to the motherboard because the fan for the processor is functioning and it is powered via the motherboard. I am not AWARE of any spikes although there had been a couple of brown-outs recently. I do use a UPS.
Where do I look next? Thanks... There may be a chance that your mother Board Blew as you said your PSU has "Burn marks" , it takes a large flow to Burn the inside of your psu,

If you disconect Every thing from your mobo , GFX card and ram included leave only the CPU and heat sink and the conncetions to the PC speker and power button

then if you power up you shuld hear you computer Beep every second , if you dont it it will mean either you plaged out the PC spker or either you Mobo is blown or your CPU is blownI think what he said, translated into English, is mostly correct. If the PSU died like that, a ruined motherboard is not out of the question.

I have an old HP Pavilion celeron 533meg pc on which I'm running Windows XP with an 80gig hdd and 192meg ram. I also have an Optima celeron 1.2gig pc running Windows 2000 with a 20gig hdd and 256meg ram. I want to swap the larger hdd with all my programs and files to the 1.2gig machine and run XP. In my ignorance I tried just swapping the 80gig hdd for the 20 but the pc just hung before Windows started. What is the best and easiest (for the dumbies) way of doing it?Put the drives in the machine as you want and THEN install Windows. Just swapping a drive is never a good idea. If I reload Windows will I have to reload all the programs? Will I loose my internet settings etc? Is there ANYTHING else that I may have to do? ThanksQuote

If I reload Windows will I have to reload all the programs?

Will I loose my internet settings etc?

Is there anything else that I may have to do? Thanks

There is a pink or sometimes white line going down the screen of my lap top. It's not a scratch or anything. Any ideas what it is and how to fix it? My computers only a month old. ThanksIs it still under warranty? What make/model? is your warranty on site or return to sender? I would think very seriously about warranty service. It's got a 90 day warranty, it's a Toshiba Satellite. I CALLED and they said I had to send it in, this is my only computer for doing my online classes, so now i'm stuck.You'll be more stuck if there is a hardware malfunction and you don't get it fixed while it is a FREE repair! i alway get this message during server operating time

Dr watson for windows NT

an application error has occured and application error log is being generated '' BDC.exe ''
EXCEPTION access violation (oxe0000005 address ox23678d79)

COULD u please help me what cause this and how to solved the problem.. Thank youYou need to start your own thread rather than hijacking this one. Thanks.

Ok, so here is the problem. My computer recently started to shut down suddenly. Well, I downloaded one of those programs that see how hot things are and it was obvious the cpu was too hot because when I had a GIANT fan BLASTING into the side of the case I didn't have the problem any longer. So I ordered a few more fans and some Arctic Silver 5, which all came in today. So I PUT in the new fans and I took the heatsink off and cleaned it and cleaned off the top of the cpu heat spreader and I spread on the Arctic Silver 5 just like the directions said to do. I put a grain of rice sized glob on and used a credit card to spread it evenly around the top of the heat spreader. I then put the processor back and put the heatsink fan thing back on top. Plugged everything in and turned it on. It got as far as the screen that says what it detects and it said that the CMOS is wrong and then shut down before I could do anything. I have reseated the processor, and cleaned and redone the thermal paste thing again. I have checked the connections and I have reset the bios like it said in the manual by movinig a jumper. I have tried unplugging all my fans in case it was the power supply but still I every time it gets to that one point it shuts down. I just don't know what it could be. Any help would be appreciated. :-?Did you use static discharge precautions?
Are you sure that the processor was clean?
Is everything firmly seated?

All you can do is strip everything out (Disconnect both power and datas cables to all drives) except:
One known good memory module
One known good graphics card (Preferably PCI)
One PS/x keyboard
One monitor

If it BOOTS now, replace things one at a time until it falls over. When it does, you've found your culprit.How about some details on the system. If this is an AMD processor it could have toasted. Well, I thought I did the static thing but I suppose it is possible that I messed up. The processor should have been clean, I didn't touch it where it would dirty it up. Everything is firmly seated. I tried stripping down to the bear stuff, but it still dies at the same point. Is there any way to know if the processor or mother board or something else is bad without testing them out with other stuff? This is so frustrating. It's an ASUS P5P800 motherboard with an Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz processor with the hyperthreading thing. I had an AMD in the past that fried, it seems like it is fine. It looks fine and doesn't smell burnt or anything. Without some pretty expensive kit, substitution is the only method that I can think of.Intel chips are made to shut down if they get too hot to prevent damage. A built in safety net. I've seen a P4 run without a heatsink for quite some time and survive (It shuts down of course) while an AMD blew virtually at switch on.
I still like AMDs though.

The penny drops..... Time for a rest I think! Is it possible for a chip to get so hot it shuts down within 10 seconds of being turned on? I had it running before even though it was hot, you would think with the new thermal goo that it would work even better now. It is hard to imagine that it could overheat in just 10 seconds unless there is a major problem.
Do you have a voltage selector on the back of your power supply unit?
Is it set correctly for your mains supply?
Can you get into bios and set it to fail safe?Seeing how I didn't touch the power supply I am sure it must still be set PROPERLY. As far as getting into the bios, I can't because it turns off before I can do anything.Remove the heatsink assembly, very carefully clean off all the heatsink compound using a proprietary cleaning fluid and start from scratch.

Everytime someone calls the house, my computer CONNECTION is interrupted. I have wireless internet access and if the phone rings I don't get a signal. If I answer the phone and stay on the phone it works, it only goes offline for like a second and then connects back. The problem is that everytime this happens my MSN, AIM, and Google Talk all get disconnected and it's a pain to get back online and to have all the convos closed.

I have a Dell Dimension 8100 Windows XP. The router/modem is from LinkSys {If that's what you call it. )

PS: It doesn't happen to the other two computers in the house (laptops) only to mine (Desktop)Are you on dialup? Otherwise it should not matter.Wireless.. cable.. no dial-up whatsoever.If it's a DECT phone, it could well be responsible. Try changing wireless channels.
Are you sure that you're on cable and not DSL?1. What's a DECT phone?
2. I sure hope I know enough about my computer to tell if I'm on dsl or wireless. It's wireless, trust me. I can use it anywhere in the house from a laptop or a desktop. No router, just a little antenna connected to the CPU. It's definitely wireless.
3. How do I change the wireless channel?Quote

I sure hope I know enough about my computer to tell if I'm on dsl or wireless.

?

1) if i install a new hard drive, does it replace my old one or work ALONGSIDE it? 2)is this something that i can install myself? 3) will i need to re-install my software? i'm USING windows xp, amd sempron, 256 mb ram. while i'm at it, can i self-install more ram?heffus2.......
1) if i install a new hard drive, does it replace my old one or work alongside it?

That is entirely up to you . You can leave the existing HD as it is and install the new drive as a slave . ( the existing drive would be the master) Both HDS should be on the same IDE ribbon.

2)is this something that i can install myself?

Yes it is.


3) will i need to re-install my software? i'm using windows xp, amd sempron, 256 mb ram. while i'm at it, can i self-install more ram?

If you choose to leave the existing drive as the master and the new drive as the slave ....then you will not have to REINSTALL your software ......
Yes.... you can install the additional ram at the same time ....... just be sure that the new ram matchs the old rams specifications and use care when handling the ram ........

If you are unsure about any of the above PLEASE ask before proceeding.


dl65
thanks.

HELP! I just entered into the realm of those who build their own machines. Always wanted too, never did, changed that, and here I am. Its been running great since the build date (5/25/06) until yesterday (6/15/06). I turned it on, it powered up, but that is all. H.D. light stayed solid for approx. 20 sec. and went off. No video at all, and would not turn off without holding in the power button. I did notice if I hit reset, the monitor would flash from "no input" to solid BLACKAND back to "no input". I tried resetting a couple times, disconnecting power, and reconnecting with no effect. I then moved the computer to another room to open it up, powered it up one more time to make sure and it booted FINE. Played HL2 for a couple hours, turned off, slept, powered up and same problem was back again, with no change since. I checked all internal connections and found no problems. Would appreciate any helpful advice. Thanks!
:-?
System specs

Windows XP SP2
Panda Platinum AV and IS
ASUS A8N32 DELUXE with Athlon X2 4200+
2GB Corsair XMS 3200
EVGA Nvidia 7900 GT
WD 250 GB SATA II 3GB/s
HP DVD +RW DL
ASUS DVD X16
are u sure u put the power and reset button jacks in the right place?yes... it has been running fine for a couple weeks
What brand power supply and what size? Was it new? Any power surges lately?power supply came with case (xg dragon) and is 500 watt. Already checked power supply ok. I believe it is either the MB or CPU, how do I determine which is bad, without being able to hotswap?
Are the parts new enough to have some sort of warranty? Where did you get the components?
everything but the MB came from Newegg. The MB came from Zipzoomfly. They were purchased on 5/13/06. warranty would be from manufacturer. Should I just send both parts in? I did not use the stock cooler with the cpu, so I'm worried about sending it back. WHATS the best way to get the thermal grease off the cpu?

An alcohol swab or moistened Q Tip will remove the grease. Use SPARINGLY! Newegg should be fine with an RMA. Not sure about Zipzoomfly.

I'm also not sure about the power supply. How did you test that? How did you decide on that? It looks like several reviewers had problems with premature death:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Brand=10456&N=2010320058+50010456&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=10456&SubCategory=58Swapped for a known good power supply and problem remained, and to make sure, checked voltages with a multimeter.Sounds like you have done all the reasonable and PROPER things. Assuming it was a correct build I would next look to the motherboard, and then the CPU as culprits.

Hi all,

Here's as much technical information as I can remember regarding the computer in question.

AMD Athlon Barton 2500 1.83ghz CPU
ATI 9700 Pro GPU
Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2 Sound Card
1.5 GIGS od DDR ram (off-brand)
Asus An78x DELUXE Mobo, Revision 2.0 (running latest BIOS)
XP Pro with Service Pack 2 installed
Hitachi Deskstar 82.3gb hardrives (x2 in a RAID 0 configuration) (Windows is mounted on thsi volume)(connected to the mobo through SATA)
Additional hardrives include a single Maxtor and Seagate drives for backup stroage. Both drives are 100gb in size, IDE and 7,200 RPM.
There are two generic DVD burners connected via IDE.
The PSU for the computer is an Antec Truepower 430w.

I was recently playing Americas Army, a FPS game when the computer restarting without any PROMPTING. Upon going through the power cycle the hardrive light remains constantly lit about 30 seconds and then stays off. During this time there appears to be no video signal to the monitor as it is power save mode when it realizes that there is zero feed. There are no POST error beeps, the BIOS isn't visable and the computer seems less than ready to boot windows. I've double checked all of the power connections and PCI/AGP/IDE/SATA cables to make sure everything is snug.

My inital guess is that there is some type of hardware failure of the mobo or perhaps part of the PSU has bit the dust. The hardrives, optical drives and CASE fails are still operational. I forgot wether or not the mobo power cable is on the same rail from the power supply, perhaps that's the one that's gone bad? Perhaps it isn't related to the power? With no diagnostics or even so much as BSOD I'm at a lost for what to do next.

I've searched the rest of the forum for similar problems and the hunch seems to be power supply related? Would anyone care to confirm or deny this?

As for the more immeadate future, I have a backup computer that supports SATA/RAID. I'd really like to take my RAID 0 Hitachi drives and place them in the new machine so I can get back up and running as soon as possible while the old machine is being troubleshot. I've never tried taking a RAID setup from one computer to another, does anyone have experience doing that while maintaining the integrity of the data and not reformatting or damaging the disk contents? Any pointers would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. Ironically, I'm a moderator for troubleshooting game errors, but I normally deal with DirectX diagnostics and game drivers. This area is a little bit deeper than what I normally cover. Once again, thanks for volunteering if you have any feedback.

Kind Regards

I have an Audigy 2 sound card



...and my computer CASE has Audio out / Mic in ports...and I cant figure out where on my sound card to plug them into? If you want to know what type of mother board I have...for what reason I dont know but it might help narrow down the problem its

ECS 755-A2 v1.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

I wish I had a picture of my case but I dont...but it has Audio out ( green ) and Mic in ( red ) on the left side of 2 USB ports ( which I have hooked up just FINE ). They are inside of a push-release compartment on the bottom of the case.I believe you need to connect your mic directly to the sound card. Can't you see a marking or small letters such as "mic" etched into the sound card next to one of the connectors. Surely, there are letters or a symbol next to each connector on the card to indicate what they are for. If necessary, shine a light directly on the connectors and/or get a magnifying glass to look for the symbols or letters.

Also, if you have a user's manual for your card, check it; it should have a diagram showing what the connectors are for. If you don't a user's manual, visit the manufacturer's website; they may have one you can download.

I have a mic connected to my card. When I first connected it, I thought something was wrong because I was not getting sound from it. I discovered a software setting for "Enable MICROPHONE BOOSTER" and checked that box. Then, I got sound from the mic.

does ANYONE KNOW were i could DOWNLOAD specs on ram v's operating systems Start at the Wikipedia. In this kind of AREA, the accumulated knowledge tends to be fairly sound, in my experience.

[size=12][size=20][size=16]i have a wd sata hd. i used it in another pc and had no problem installing it and putting the xp upgrade os on. it was a lan party mobo.
now i want to put it in my soyo mobo. i cleaned it out w/fdisk, installed it in the soyo and it will not recgognize it at all. i did a lot of reading from soyo and w digital and they all say a lot of different things on how to get the drivers on. i didn't have to do that with the L party. they say it needs formatted first. how can you format a drive that isn't there? i formatted it with the win 2000 in the old pc and stopped it before set up of 2000, but that didn't work, it still won't see it in there. can someone start me from scratch? isn't there floppy disk program to format winn 2000 and xp? or are they just on the setup disk?
thanks in advacne if anyone can help.[/size] :-/You boot with the XP CD and then F6 and insert the SATA driver diskette when prompted.That is of course the SATA controller driver which should be available on the motherboard companion CD.
If a floppy drive isn't available, then you've got some work to do!

As a slight aside to this, virtually every "floppyless" system that I've SEEN does in fact have a floppy controller on board. For the sake of a bit of peace and quiet, I usually fit a floppy drive where the case has provision.

To use an upgrade CD, you'll need a Win98 CD or similar to verify previous ownership.You say you downloaded RAID array drivers but it's a SATA array that you have?
What motherboard is this EXACTLY?You are BOOTING from the SATA array RATHER than IDE aren't you?

I have a 17 INCH Gateway monitor which is about ten years old. I have been using WINDOWS XP for the past couple of years on a Dell, Pentium III computer which is about 3 or 4 years old. Lately, the monitor has "flickered" to a blue tint and stayed blue tinted for a minute or two, then turns back to normal. Anyone have any IDEAS?10 years of use is CERTAINLY fair. It may just be PREPARING to die and showing it's old age. No user servicable parts, and the cost of a repair would outweigh the value of it. Use it till it drops. Braddr:

GX1 is likely right. Just in case, check that the data cable from the monitor to the computer is securely connected, as a loose connection may also cause the symptoms you describe.

Doc

Hello All. first post. i have a H-P pavillion 6730. its operating system is windows 98 second edition.
i checked my e-mail. (no surfing or down loading.) turned off putor. an hour LATER pressed the on button. it goes to the h-p logo and blue back ground. that is where it stops. tried it many times. same problem.
any ideas would be appreciated. thanks in advance. garyCould be a bad PSU, or motherboard, or the CPU has died. How old is the machine and what processor? Can you open it and look to SEE if the fans are spinning? What if you press the F2 button when you see the HP logo?machine is 5 years old. no problems to date. i can hear the fan running. should not be a heat issue in that it was off an hour when i restarted. (and only on then a few mins) tried f-2 and some one SAID to try f-8 for safe mode. so for all those initials you mentioned does that mean all my saved pictures would be gone?We don't know that your hard drive in involved at all. If not, then all the data is safe.

You will need to physically open the case to see if the fans are all TURNING . There will be one on the CPU, one (or more) in the power supply and maybe some case fans.

F2 gets to the BIOS/setup screen. F8 will boot into safe mode IF WIndows is functional and there are not electromechanical problems with the computer itself.

A replacement machine is only $36.50 delivered!

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Pavilion-6730-computer_W0QQitemZ8828927593QQihZ005QQcategoryZ51109QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemthanks .. will open it up right now.
i put in the H-P recovery disc with no results. tried my windows 98 back up cd. and it would not start. no joy on f-2 or f-8.Magic?? opened it up. just one fan on the power unit. looked around. no bad smells. did not put cover back on.
turned it on and every thing is fine...
oh well. thanks much for the suggestions. dont know how opening it up fixed it. but.....Be looking out for other problems. Sometimes you can get a loose connection and things require handling (or at least in this case, looking). Thanks for posting back and congratulations on a job well done. great. and quick responses. will keep an eye on the power supply. some one mentioned they are not that great on h-p's and can be problematic. They can also be proprietary, meaning one off the shelf at the local computer store won't even work. That one is old enough you may be OK, but have a look at it while the case is open and see what is in there - manufacturer and wattage. If it is not a small form factor case you may be OK.

Here are some handy web sites for you:

http://www.linktionary.com/pavilion/

http://www.censuspc.com/home.php?cat=216

NOTE: I just checked the web and you apparently have a 230w micro ATX power supply. Here is another vendor:

http://apactonline.stores.yahoo.net/230.html


wow. and at $25 its not a pockett killer. thanks for the sites and the info.... i may get a power supply just for "stock"

I have an ASUS P4C800-E motherboard with a 1 GHz memory chip that has been running with very little problems on Win 2000 Pro for 3 years. When it was new I ran Microsoft's boot up memory test and the memory passed. SUDDENLY I have a loss of desktop icons and programs are failing with memory errors. I ran Microsoft's boot up memory test and the memory failed.

I put the memory in another computer and it passes the test. As a test I ran the memory in this other computer for a week doing the tasks of DVR and key entry for a condo with no errors.

Could I have a bad BIOS chip or motherboard? Power Supply voltages are correct when I measure them.It might cause by a conflic
Does you computer have system restoreDownload and run Memtest86 on that PC for a couple of hours. You'll know soon enough if it is the RAM.

www.memtest86.com

What am I doing wrong??? I downloaded and extracted Memtest86 like you said and there is a folder named boot with 2 files named BOOT.CAT & MEMTEST.IMG. I tried making a bootable cd-rom with these files and my ccomputer attempts to READ them and just locks up.You can boot from a floppy (if you have a floppy DRIVE) or create a CD. You can'tt just copy the files you have, though, you have to burn the files as an ISO with Nero, etc. If you have never made a CD from an ISO, have a read:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+burn+isoI finally got it right and ran Memtest86 for 10 hours. It ran 17 series of test with zero errors. The Microsoft test originally took about 5 minutes but said my memory was bad.

My computer is water cooled and the CPU temperature went from 92 degrees to 112 degrees and stayed there during the test. The test must really WORK the computer.

My Icons are still disappearing and programs are failing to run even if I reload them.

I'm getting errors like this now:

The instruction at "0X027dd5lb" referred memory at "0X0000000c" The memory could not be "read"
Click on OK to terminate the program
Click cancel to debug the program.

What could be causing this?

Hello,

I am starting to get really frustrated with this problem I have. My goal is to format a 40GB harddrive to a FAT32 system; it has 2 Windows XP OS installed on it (dont ask me why) I have installed the recovery CONSOLE as a boot option (I dont have the XP CD). I type in format C: /fs:fat32, then Y, however it just goes back to the dos prompt and does nothing else.

I also have Partition Magic 7, howeve with it I can not do anything either. If I want to create a new partition I get a message :

The selected disk contains one or more partitions which cannot be moved.
To complete this task use the Operations menu rather than a wizard.

The harddrive shows up as Dynamic Disk in Partition Magic.

Also I am can not really use alot of the utilities that are on the net for because the computer does not have CD/floppy drive. So I cant really make a boot disk.

Any HELP would be great. Thanks
If the computer has not CD drive, then how did you get Win XP installed TWICE?you need a win98 boot disk to format fat32 on a 40 gig HDD , XP wont let you because its a bad idea, fat32 dosent support more than some thing like 16GIGs , its by use Vfat that they achive shuch big disks to day, it basicly means you use more than 1 file table, and whit a 40 gig disk you be useing 4 that would be bad , and dont ask me for a reason , but i know all to well what the problem whit that is , i used to Sell and matain DVR's for security systems. and data can decide that it dosent exist for no apparnt reason Firstly i don't think you can format a 40GB HD into one FAT32 partition. My opinion to you is that create TWO partitions of 20GB each. The first one C: should be used for installing your OS and the second one D: should be for your files and usefull data. So in future when you need to format and re-install xp, just format C: without having to touch your data or loose your data in D:

Secondaly you have mentioned you are trying to use DOS to format your HD. i would like to know which DOS version/mode are you using ? Are you using it from within windows xp or you have a bootable floppy ? I just re-read your post you don't have a bootable floppy as you don't have a floppy drive or a cd drive. In that case your using windows xp cmd/dos and offcource you cant format the drive because your running your windows xp from it and using a program (cmd/dos is on that drive) to format itself, which is not possible. My question to you is same as soybean "If the computer has not CD drive, then how did you get Win XP installed twice?"Hes Trying to use the XP recovery console , it not realy dos , and dosent work as well

and i can think of two ways one would have xp twice

1 he had a CD-rom and it broke
2 he copyed the I386 folder and install'ed of that

or he my have installed over a network, there are many ways to install windows, even off another HDD or a flash card a usb merory stick

or even Aleins! wat no that was startreck....
I don't he knows all what your implying as he does not seem to have the knowledge.your right im sorry i have a habit of skiping to step 4 when trying to help people , and it can case confusion

You wont Be Able to format in the recovery console at all ever.

you will Need a Boot Device

and i do have to wonder haow you got XP on there in the frist place.check to make sure all of your pins are in the driveHow many drives are on this machine total and how are they PARTITIONED?

So you have no XP CD, but you have a CD drive? What make and model of machine is this that you got no XP CD?

No Power to Mouse or Keyboard, Monitor stuck in Power Save Mode (Amber Light)

Hello all,

My G/F's computer recently quit working all of a sudden. It's an old Gateway computer that she bought years ago, the CPU is a 1.2Ghz Celeron (I know). I'm not sure of the exact model of the mobo but I think it's an Intel Desktop Board. Anyway, it was working fine the night before and then the next morning when she turned it on there was no power to the mouse or keyboard and the monitor was stuck in power save mode (amber light). The monitor itself is a Dell flat screen that I GAVE her. The machine is pretty much the way it came from Gateway except for a few things I've installed. Those things being a CD/DVD burner, a Linksys PCI card and a GeForce FX 5500 128MB PCI vid card (No AGP on this thing) so that she could play a few less demanding games.

Searching for information about the problem always leads me to a forum where someone had the same symptoms and the common answer was, "Sounds like the PSU." Her PSU however is working properly, it even has a little green light on it and a test switch. All the fans are running (CPU, PSU, Vid Card) and the machine boots up fine (green lights) but there is no POST beep. In fact, this thing never had a post beep since I've known her that I or she can remember. The hard drive doesn't sound like it's spinning either. I have pulled out the PCI cards and got the same result, I've also re-seated the RAM. Other than attempting to figure out what's wrong now, we have not made any changes to this computer since installing the vid card months ago. I was going to try clearing the CMOS but I wanted to post here first. I personally think that the mobo is fried but I hope that I'm wrong. Any help WOULD be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Windows XP Home, SP2
Gateway PC Model # MFATXSTL KTH 300SE
Intel Desktop Mobo (?)
1.2Ghz Celeron
256MB RAM
40GB Seagate Barracuda
eVGA e-GeForce FX 5500 128MB Graphics Card
Linksys Wireless-B WMP11 PCI Card

Whether the power supply works at all or works correctly are two different things. How old and what wattage does it claimn to have? Can you put another PSU in there to test? Did this all happen after the new video card? That may have been ENOUGH extra drain to speed up it's demise.Hi GX1_Man,

Thanks for responding. The power supply came with the PC so it's from 2002. It claims to be only 200W, not enough. I put in the video card more than 3 months ago but as you said it probably has been draining it this whole time. I'm going to pull a PSU from another computer and I'll post the results. Thanks again!Keep us posted! Ok, I tried four different PSU's all with the same results. Two 250W and two more 200W units. (That's all I had to work with unfortunately) As you probably guessed I have lots of old PCs with spare parts laying around. I'm writing this from my notebook, if this were a desktop I would have taken the PSU out of this too. So any ideas where I should go from here? Thanks in advance.Have you substituted the gfx card, memory etc as a test? Have you disconnected all peripherals such as drives etc (Remove power and data cables)?Yes I have substituted the gfx card, I have also removed both PCI cards altogether. I've also removed the HDD, the memory and the CD/DVD burner & CD-Rom drive.If everything has been disconnected or substituted then it looks like a motherboard/processor failure.
ATX PSUS can be tested "out of the box" by connecting the green wire to any of the black wires.That's what I was afraid of, is there any way that I can test if it is one or the other? I don't have an extra mobo that this CPU will fit and I don't have an extra CPU that fits this mobo.Not that I know of without utilising some pretty expensive equipment. Maybe a local computer shop will help out?OK, thank you both very much for you help.Just a thought and sorry if you've mentioned it but have you substituted the monitor or even simply UNPLUGGED it from the gfx card?Yes, I tried a different monitor which went into power save mode also (amber light) and out of desperation in the beginning I tried unplugging the monitor from the gfx card to see if the keyboard and mouse would get power.
No luck of course.

When press F2, saw "S.M.A.R.T for hard disk" with the options for
enable or disable.

Currently the pc is using one IDE ATA hard drive and does the above
mean that the pc can have a IDE ATA hard drive + a SATA hard drive?

Is so, it is possible to have xp home on the current ATA hard drive
and Linux on the SATA drive?

With both ATA and SATA hard drives would the pc work smoothly?

Thanks.



Quote

When press F2, saw "S.M.A.R.T for hard disk" with the options for
enable or disable.

Currently the pc is using one IDE ATA hard drive and does the above
mean that the pc can have a IDE ATA hard drive + a SATA hard drive?

Is so, it is possible to have xp home on the current ATA hard drive
and Linux on the SATA drive?

Don't laff . . . I'm going to try and "ASSEMBLE" my first computer. I have a Motherboard ( MSI RS480M2-IL AMD 939 Processor ) and have a chance to buy 'New in-box' an 80G Hard Drive for $30. I'm not so concerned about the price as I am . . . are Hard Drives so Generic that I should not be concerned about it being Compatible ? . . . What should I be aware of about putting these two parts together. I don't have a Case yet, this is all very new. This is a First Try project and will NOT be a Gaming computer, . . just a decent quality surfer & e-mailer. I envision a CPU of about 1.3 - 1.5 GHz and 512mb of PC3200 Memory. Will a Power Supply of 350 W be sufficient. ?? Will be running Wind XP Pro SP2. I hope this falls into the realm of what you will respond to. THANKS. B. :-/

If so, there will be many more questions to come. BEWARE !!!Buzzyonthelake... Quote

and have a chance to buy 'New in-box' an 80G Hard Drive for $30. I'm not so concerned about the price as I am . . . are Hard Drives so Generic that I should not be concerned about it being Compatible ? . . . What should I be aware of about putting these two parts together.

If all else fails, read the directions.

how can i run 2 HARD drives on 1 comp so at boot up i can CHOOSE which drive i wantFirst you have to use your google button:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+install+second+hard+drive



<------------

Then when you install a second operating system (What are you PLANNING for both?) you can use the boot loader it provides, or manually install one if not. Again it depends what you are trying to do. Please be VERY specific with your question and provide info on your system as you sound brand new to this.

Hi,

I have a Gigabyte 8ST800 motherboard with a PENTIUM 4 1.8GHz processor that I bought. When I boot it, it freezes just after counting the memory during POST. I've tried different settings for processor and bus speeds but none of them work. The BIOS is the latest version and I'm using DDR 400 memory. What could be wrong?So it is new and has never worked CORRECTLY is that right?

Is this a new power supply and sufficient to run it?

Start by STRIPPING down to processor/fan, dieo, and 1 stick of RAM after reassembling and rechecking all connections. Does this boot? If so add one thing at a time until the culprit is found. Are there motherboard jumpers? Is the processor seen correctly at boot? Do you have any experience with doing this?Quote

So it is new and has never worked correctly is that right?

Is this a new power supply and sufficient to run it?

Start by stripping down to processor/fan, dieo, and 1 stick of RAM after reassembling and rechecking all connections. Does this boot? If so add one thing at a time until the culprit is found. Are there motherboard jumpers? Is the processor seen correctly at boot? Do you have any experience with doing this?

I am interested in buying a new desktop computer, but I am LOST among the many different choices. Here are my requirements:

- must be capable of dual monitor setup, each running at 1600x1200 resolution (specifically 2 Dell 2001FP's, which I already have)
- 512 MB of RAM
- Windows XP
- 10/100 ethernet card

Other than that, I just want to spend as little money as possible. What are my best manufacturor/model options here?

thanks very muchAre you planning on gaming or what with that? It MAKES a lot of difference. the computer will be exclusively used for personal work which is not terribly computationally intenstive but requires a lot of screen realestateHave you considered a SELF build, perhaps utilising a "barebones" kit?Only do that if you're patient. Make sure you have some knowledge of computers too, because there will be NO WARRANTY!

FlameCitardauq:

If you don't want to build your own, go with a manufacturer you trust. Possible choices:

* Dell
* HP
* Compaq
* Gateway
* eMachines
* Sony

Windows XP Home Edition will provide all you need, but take a look at the computers with Windows XP Media Center, especially if you might want to start working with much video, photos and music for PowerPoint or other presentation software.

Dells are inexpensive but as good as the others. You will have to order a Dell online. The others may be purchased online or at Best Buy, Circuit City, or some other computer retailer.

DocYou can also order dells over the phone, just fyi

Flamei would suggest you to think of self building, that is if you are technical! I have build my own PC and it costed me 30% less than if i was to shop it! With the same specs i required

I have just installed a new Maxtor 80GB SATA hard DISK which i have partitioned into two using windows xp, my motherboard is ASUS AV8 939socket, In windows 'MY COMPUTER' there is only one partition (C) hard disk detected. Any IDEAS??? :-?How big is the C partition showing to be? Did you actually create a partition for the second half of the drive or just left it BLANK? It has to be partitioned to be seen. LOOK under Disk Management.

I have a sony dvd burner. It recognizes cds but it will not recognize any DVD.
It will not play them, record to them or anything.
A CD is fine in it, but it is like a DVD is totally invisible.
Any program I use tells me to insert a recordable DVD into the drive when there is one in the drive.
Anybody got any ideers as to what the problem might be?
Thanks
BobbyHave you tried going to Sony's website and downloading the latest drivers for your drive?

FlameI have, but can't find any place that would have drivers. Every link is to sell something. I will check again though.
Thanks for the response Drivers are not the ISSUE, as Windows has built in drivers. You can try deleting all the drivers for CD/DVD in Device Manager and reboot to see if that helps.

How old is the drive? DVD's are intrinsically more difficult to read thtan CD's so this may just be a sign of a failing drive. you might see about any firmware updates on the Sony site, but unless this specific issue is addressed, I wouldn't bank on that being a solution.

DVD function in a properly functioning drive is related to the reading and burning software. You might also try uninstalling and reinstalling that.

I suspect you need a new drive.Quote

I suspect you need a new drive.

Drivers are not the issue, as Windows has built in drivers.

Quote

Quote

Quote

No I want to know what you did differently to get it to work that you were not doing before you initially posted your question. There is no need to be so defensive.

Okay. ^^ It just came out bad in text, sorry. XD The jumper setting is what fixed it. However, I had to reformat and reinstall the harddrive before it recognized the difference (using MaxBlast), and now WinXP will install on a 137 GB partition. I have to say that I THINK the diagnostics helped it a lot, though, because previously, it would only allow the 60GB partition to run anything (and even then it would die when the OS was updated).

I think the jumper being set to Master and the drive diagnostics were suggested here, so I guess COMING here did RESOLVE the problem then, huh?