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I built a new computer with a Mach Speed motherboard (the P4MSD-800D2) and an Intel Pentium D chip. I can NOT load Windows XP or Windows Media Edition on this computer. I switched the CD-ROM drive and the HARD Drive for ONES that I know work and I still can't load Windows.

When I start the computer it BOOTS from the Windows XP CD and starts to load Windows, it install gets all the way to asking if I want to "Install XP press enter - Recovery press R or Exit." When I press either Enter or R the system just freezes up completely.

I have tried 2 different retail Windows XP Pro, 1 retail Windows XP Home and an OEM Windows Media Edition. What on earth could be the PROBLEM with this thing.

I posted this here and in the software section just in case it's one or the other. Hope that's OK.

Thanks in advance,
Frank
your memory may be bad, id test itHave you verified all your hard drive and optical drive jumper SETTINGS and cable connections ?

Have you verified / adjusted all your BIOS settings ?

Is this hard drive recognized in BIOS ?

Is this hard drive clean (formatted), and a primary partition (for the OS) set ?

Is this drive SATA or PATA . If SATA are you F6-ing at the prompt and supplying SATA drivers ?

I have a customers Hard Drive a 30 gig laptop drive and i know its broken.

I hooked it up to my laptop sled and it would not even read, it makes a scraping noise so i think something is wrong with the platters themselves

Is there ANYTHING i could have done i already called and said there was a extremely low chance of me doing anything to retrieve data, but he could ship it to a special center for data recovery and they could do it.

What i really mean is there some sort of hook up device i don't know about that can retrieve data or does ANYONE know how the data companies actually would get the data off? would they need a special machine that you put the platters on or something? any input would be great thanks.There's the old zip LOCK bag and freezer trick USED
sometimes.

Leave it in the freezer overnight.You must avoid
moisture and condensation so,think what your doing.

I have know idea if it works but, it's mentioned a lot in
google searches.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=freeze+hard+driveProfessional data recovery is VERY expensive.

THe freezer trick does work sometimes, but a scraping sound does not sound encouraging.A friend of mine works in forensic data recovery. There are a number of specialised machines that they use. One technique is indeed to extract the platters and then strip the data from them, then advanced software is used to try and piece together the data (it can be spread over a number of platters) to recover complete files.

The platters have to be removed in a clean room as any dust particles can destroy the surface.

It's less likely to be the platters that are the problem and more likely to be the read/write arm, it could be stuck, it could have become dislodged (it could have knackered the platters totally)ok i will try the freezer trick on other HDD (he took his machine back)

i am interested as to what these advanced programs are and what these machines are, if you could give me any more info on that, that would be awesome

thanks again for all these tips ans please tell me any more you know of i am new to data recovery i mean i know the hook ups and what not but i would have never tried a freezerI wonder why my reply to this thread disappeared...Did it get placed in the freezer?Quote

Did it get placed in the freezer?

I increased my parents Dell(Windows XP home sp2, dimension 4550, intel R, pentium R 2.00 GHz) from 256 mb to 1 gb(Crucial 512mb x 2) hoping to give them an increase in speed. virus =mcaffe, firewall = none, 14.9gb free of 30gb used on harddrive. AOL.

With the memory increase: 0% average cpu usage; Physical memory-total 1047556, available 764540, ssystem cache 304468.

All they do is open a few documents/pictures, email, and browse the web. The computer was not necessarly slow, I just wanted to give them a good boost.

I timed several different items like boot up, starting several different programs, copying a large amount of files, etc. All of the times were the same or slightly slower! Example: Copying a large amount of files-old 3 minutes 15 seconds, new(1 gb)-3 minutes 45 seconds.

What gives? Everywhere I read is that memory will give you the best bang for the buck.Memory will increase speed only if you are in need of more memory, say if you are using 128MB in Windows XP and you upgrade to 1GB, you will see a difference. RAM is "Random Access Memory", which means that it will help you run multiple applications simultaneously. It is more CPU speed and the type of GPU, that will increase the performance. I REALLY don't think they needed 1GB of RAM, you shouldn't of went for just a 512MB stick, It would have been better for their usage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_access_memory

8-)fffreakAnd if 1 gig of RAM doesn't help,you probably have other issues. What are you using for spyware protection? Removed clutter on the drive and defragged lately?They're using McCaffee. The drive is defragged. AOL is a killer, but my Mom won't give it up.

I could understand not speeding up, as for what they use it for the system was pretty MUCH MAXED out and 1 gig was overkill, but why would it slow down? The memory is the same speed.

I'll have to run some more official tests on it next time I'm out there and compare.running AOL can be a drain but try A Squared from here:- http://www.emsisoft.com/en/

there is a trial as well as a Free to use privately version.
MCaffee anti virus is not really good at removing this sort of pest there are hundreds of thousands that can INFECT a computer, often hundreds of the same one if you keep going back to the same site, this is there current list today
Trojans 374400
Dialer 42601
Worms 72008
Spyware 23162
Traces 116202
the more you have in the slower it will get as each one tries to connect to the internet
Quote

running AOL can be a drain but try A Squared from here:- http://www.emsisoft.com/en/

there is a trial as well as a Free to use privately version.
MCaffee anti virus is not really good at removing this sort of pest there are hundreds of thousands that can infect a computer, often hundreds of the same one if you keep going back to the same site, this is there current list today
Trojans 374400
Dialer 42601
Worms 72008
Spyware 23162
Traces 116202
the more you have in the slower it will get as each one tries to connect to the internet

I know AOL, viruses, malware, etc can be a drain, but that's not the point. Increasing memory slowed things downed. The only thing I can think of is that the orginal Dell memory is a better brand than Crucial and somehow faster, even thought the memory speeds were the same.

I have an OLD computer with a hard drive labeled 'Quantum ProDrive ELS'. That's it -- no model no. or any other INFORMATION on the label that would indicate which size it is. The computer it's installed in, a Leading Edge model DC-2510 doesn't recognize the hard drive. It allows you to select the type of drive from 48 choices, such as 'Type 1 (10 MB), ... Type 9 (112MB)', etc. But I don't remember the size so I don't know which option to select. The computer will start with a MS-Dos floppy boot disk but will not recognize the hard drive.
BTW, would this old antique computer be of value to anyone or should I just trash it?Re: your last question:

How old is it? Tell us about it's specs: processor, memory, hard drive size, etc.Additional information:
The computer is a Leading Edge D2 Plus, purchased 3/17/1992, Phoenix 80286, ROM BIOS Plus vers. 3.10 02, 640K memory. The hard drive is 170MB, purchased 3/15/1995 (for $183 ). The BIOS setting options do not include 170MB hard drive -- 160MB, 199MB, 202MB, etc. but not 170MB.
There is no jumper plug at the back of the HD -- should there be? When I run FDISK info. it lists HD 1 as non-DOS. Could I use FDISK to set up a DOS partition? What would it do if I had the wrong size option in the BIOS setting?Well, you do have an OLD one there. lol I had a 286 back in the days ... but I can't recall much of the details of BIOS settings for the hard drive. The only advice I can give you is to do some Internet searching (Google, MSN, etc.) for info on installing a hard drive in a 286. Also, I just discovered a forum called The Vintage Computer Forums. Might be worth your time to register and post your question. If you don't know the CORRECT head and cylinder info this will never work correctly. That is where to start your search.Quote

The BIOS setting options do not include 170MB hard drive -- 160MB, 199MB, 202MB, etc. but not 170MB.

There is no jumper plug at the back of the HD -- should there be?

I am in the midst of transferring image files from my floppy disks via an external floppy drive to my new computer ... on one of the floopies (I am transferring about 20) I got a message 'disk not formatted, do you wish to format now?' first of all, I'm curious how was I able to file images on this disk if it had not been formatted already? (I know for a fact that I had to deleted whatever was on it to make space for these images). But, more importantly, how do I get access to these images? ... as I know to format it will erase everything? There must be a way ... otherwise I would not get an 'alert message' telling me that 'formatting will risk erasing all files'. The floppy is filled ... I double-checked Properties and there is no free space remaining on it. Thank you so much to anyone who has the answer or who can point me in the right direction. What machine was used to put the images on floppies ? ?
Was it by chance NTFS or perhaps FAT 32 ? ?
What type of images are these and what format are they in ? ?

As you can see we need a little more info to proceed here...okay, i'm sorry, this is my first time here ... first of all i do not know what an NTFS or a FAT 32 is ... i will give you all the information that i have ... these images are family photos that I cropped and enhanced using PAINT and INFANVIEW software ... i ultimately saved these images as jpeg files, and when my Gateway laptop SOLO 5300, operating system Windows ME, which i purchased in May of 2001 was about to die on me (it has since bit the dust), i transferred all my files to floppies because that computer did not write CDs. my new computer, Compaq Presario desktop, operating system Windows XP does not have a floppy drive, so i have attached an external floppy drive in order to transfer these jpeg images to MY PHOTOs or to a Flash Drive (i haven't decided). when i inserted this one particular floppy ... one which i had previously deleted something from it (there was old ... i mean really old, maybe 10YEARS or longer of memos or letters on it ... i really wasn't paying much attention to what i was deleting) once i freed up space i transferred my photo images to the floppy ... a week later ... when i inserted this floppy into the external floppy drive, i got a message on my screen something to the effect that "this disk has not been formatted" ... "do you wish to format this disk?" this surprised me because I checked 'properties' and i could see that the disk was filled up and there was no free space available ... and i didn't understand that if it had not been a formatted disk, then how was i able to move the jpeg files there??? like i said, i went through this same routine with about 20 floppies and this one was the only one that said it 'had not been formatted.' so what did i have to lose ... i clicked 'yes' to the formatting ... the next message was "if you format this disk you RISK losing everything on it" ... so, of course i cancelled that request. my question is this: if the alert is informing me that i risk losing the files if i format it ... then there MUST be a way i can access the files on it ... right? so, how do i ACHIEVE that end? i no longer have the laptop so it's not like i can redo anything with that floppy or copy the images again, because the only place they exist is on the disk that i'm being told has NOT been formatted ... i hope this enough info, because that is everything i know about this situation ... i do not believe i have left ANYTHING out of my story ... so Patio ... do you have the answer to my prayers?When you say that you no longer have the laptop...is that simply because it died or do you no longer have physical access to it?Is your BIOS set properly for a 3.5 floppy disk?

Recover FloppyPro is a program you can buy.
I haven't seen a freeware one.

http://www.bestdiskrecovery.com/index.html#rfp12There are several freeware utilities here http://www.smartpctools.com/products/ that can be used to recover your files.i no longer have the computer ... it's gone ... i no longer have access to it. i do not know what a BIOS is and how to set it ... can you explain? i will check out smartpctools ... what type of software am i actually looking for? it's only ONE floppy ... i really don't want to go out and BUY software to recover the images on a single floppy --- i'd like to have access to them ... but it's not the end of the world if i cannot ... thanks you guys for all your assistance. Is your external floppy drive bootable? If so, boot from a DOS floppy and try copying the files under DOS.I wish i can help, the only answer I do know is what BIOS is. Its just means basic input output system. It has to do with the way the computer reads what you put into it and how it reads out to you your requests. since I joined this SITE I am trying to find out what yaBBC tags are?!! There will always be questions , it just never ends with this stuff. good luck to you. I hope you will be able to get your pictures back. these guys are pretty good at helping people like you and me.

from headacheone!

My computer has been logged by sb.....
and I can't even go into WINDOWS...
Everytime I need to use the computer...
I should ask him for permission...

How can I know the password?
By using other software?


Who's computer is this? sb?There is no way to find the original password, But you can change it with software like CIA Commander. To RESET the BIOS password, just reset the CMOS. HOPE that helps.

8-)fffreakAre we talking about a laptop or a desktop?We are talking about sb's machine...Just CURIOUS. Does sb....mean somebody ? :-?The original poster seems to have abandoned this thread so I will too. The light is growing dim. I can hardly see. My friend told me that using some BIOS Cracker program would get the pw...
And he gave me http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd#CmosPwd_Download

Is this useful?
Or just a trick?Quote

Are we talking about a laptop or a desktop?

Who's computer is this? sb?

hello everyone,
i had jst read tanith's post about his video card troubles and it sounds like what i have.I just bought an 19" acer lcd flat panel monitor for my dell otiplex gx150 with xp pro,996mhz,512mb of ram and a 200gig hd.I also bought a pny nvidia geforce fx 5200 graghics card to upgrade my graghics.This is a pci card that i'm putting in to replace the s3 trio 32/64 that i have in there. I followed the instuctions that was in the booklet that came with it.Did everything that it said and pluged back up everything and it went throught the startup screen.When it got to the logon screen nothing same as TANITH (hope i spelled his name right).Blue screen was all i got.Could hear everything going but no display.The instuction said to put the card in the same slot as the old one and boot up the system.I would see an installed new hard ware screen.It didn't appear.MY power supply is 250 watts and the specs requirements says that thats whats needed.Any ideas you could give me would be grateful.

bmacgurkYou should go to the control panel and uninstall old video
drivers.good morning street1,
its good to here from you.Thats a problem when the display won't come up.So do i uninstall the drivers before i install the other card and that will do the trick.I'll try that and LET you know what happens.Thanks hope you've been well.

bmacgurkWith the old card in the machine uninstall its drivers through Device Manager.
This puts the machine down on Generic Drivers.
Shut the machine off.
Physically remove the old card and install the new.

Start the machine.

Windows will go into the "Found New Hardware" mode on start up.
Have your new card's driver ready (CD) when asked.

Sometimes parts of old drivers HANG around and cause problems.
For that you can use a utility CALLED Driver Cleaner.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

Play it safe and set a Restore Point before doing any of the above and if you use Driver Cleaner triple-check what you are about to remove.

A common error with DC is to mistakenly remove mobo chipset drivers along with graphics drivers.hi jflan,
i tried that and it didn't work.all i get is a blank screen.what it looks like is that i have to upgrade my power supply.have been to the pny site and everything points to that so.It's beening a pain in the *censored* to improve my graghics on a 19"acer lcd flat panel monitor.If you can help me it would be great.A link to more info or something that i can understand.Pny is confussing at the most .so i've been at this for 3 days any help is grateful.
bmacgurkCould you temporarily install that card in other computer to test it?

If, indeed, you need a new power supply, I suggest you visit newegg.com if you live in the U.S. I bought this one two months ago and like it: FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX400-PN, RoHS, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, 20+ 4 pin, PCI Express, 400W Power Supply - Retail. Or, you might get a 350W unit.From the info given, here's what I've deducted.
I Googled your rig and if I have the model # correct it has integrated video.
It also has an AGP slot for upgrades.
You are trying to use the PCI slot for a video upgrade.

With the above on the table, here's what I would do:
1. Disable the on-board GPU if the Dell BIOS allows for this.
2. Remove the old PCI video card drivers
3. See if I can return the new PCI video card for an AGP version that is compatible with AGP 4x
If you can dig into the Dell archives, see if you can find the options list and see what AGP cards they were offering for your rig.
You know going in that those cards have been tested in your rig.
That would have been my Step One

The only reason to turn to PCI for video is if you don't have an AGP slot or you have a problem with your AGP slot.
AGP was designed for video.

The 5200 PCI may be wanting more power than your PCI bus can deliver. You will have a better chance using the AGP slot.




Good research there, jflan. Yes, AGP is the way to go. Now, if he can't return that PCI card, he may want to go ahead with trying to use it.

I see you're assuming he was using onboard video. If so, I agree he needs to disable it in the BIOS. His original post gave the impression he had removed an older PCI card to install the new one. I'd like to see him clarify that. Or, did you find info indicating that s3 trio 32/64 that he mentioned is the onboard graphic chip on that motherboard?

Your post implies that an AGP card may be less likely to have a power issue. Are you sure about that or are you somewhat speculating on that point?



Quote

Good research there, jflan. Yes, AGP is the way to go. Now, if he can't return that PCI card, he may want to go ahead with trying to use it.

I see you're assuming he was using onboard video. If so, I agree he needs to disable it in the BIOS. His original post gave the impression he had removed an older PCI card to install the new one. I'd like to see him clarify that. Or, did you find info indicating that s3 trio 32/64 that he mentioned is the onboard graphic chip on that motherboard?

Your post implies that an AGP card may be less likely to have a power issue. Are you sure about that or are you somewhat speculating on that point?

I have a problem and i think its involving my sound CARD. I used to be able to plug my microphone into the back of the computer and it would work fine and the sound would come out of the speakers.
Now HOWEVER, when i plug it in, nothing happens. And i mean nothing. No sounds from the speakers. I use a program called Audacity (link below) and i could record anything from the mic using that but now i cant.
Audacity also can record any sound from the computer like recording online conversations (lol) or music from youtube or something.
Now Audacity isn't picking up any sound/music.
But when i play music (from either Audacity or Windows Media Player) I can hear the music.

Anyone know the problem???

Here is the link for the program, try it out. Its good for editing music
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Thanks in advance.More info on the computer, the motherboard, the sound card if any, all information would help us find out what could help you faster?
go into control PANEL/ sound devices / What do you see there ?, click on the advanced tab the one in the middle, INTHE next window are all the small boxes unticked and the volume settings at the top on all the sliders that are showing.
At the back of the computer there should be a group of coloured sockets
the green is normally sound out, speakers, earphones
the blue is the microphone
there could be anything from three to six or even eight sockets depending on the sound system installedOh hey I found the problem. I went to Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices and on the audio and voice tab, the devices weren't 'Intel(r) Integrated Audio, they were set as 'Screaming Bee Audio DRIVER'
This explains a lot because I downloaded a voice morpher so i guess it changed those settings.

Using XP btw, thanks for help.

Hi,
When ever I start my computer I get the text "MEMORY write/reade failure at 1ffeob84, read 0000FE11 expecting FE11Fe11 Memory address line failure at 1ffE0000, read Fe11FE11 expecting 01010101 decrising available memory the amount of system memory has changed. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the SETUP utility." After striking F1 the screen just goes black. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a Dell Inspiron 8600, and windows XP.

ThanksWhat happened prior to this? Is it still under warranty? It sounds like you have a defective RAM chip, or it is not correctly seated.

I have include the transcript for this problem maybe anyone knows or have simliar issues plz post

Quote

Hollywoodstech : the thing is when it goes to desktop it goes to 640*480 and i got it SET to back to 1280*1024
Hollywoodstech: I have RECENTLY REINSTALLED Windows XP if it does this again i will post here!!!

I wasn't exactly sure whether I should post this under Software, Games, or Hardware, but I did a few searches and glanced through the FAQs on various sites and forums, but couldn't find other information.

I recently reformatted my Dell Inspiron 1000 notebook due to slowdowns and just the fact that it was loaded with malware and such. After the fresh install, I backed up only necessary files on my external which I moved back onto the computer, and made sure everything was running smoothly. It truly was running much better, however, I just got back into trying to play some games. While previously my games ran fine,with lowered graphics, unless they were simpler games (Starcraft, Ultima Online, Diablo II) which ran flawlessly even when my computer was at its worst, they run terribly now. I can't even run the simpler ones that I just listed WITHOUT it taking up every ounce of my system resources (the CPU peaks at 99%, lowers down slowly to the 70% range, and then continues to fluctuate back and forth between the two.) I've done virus scans, but they come out fine, and I've done spyware checks with various programs, and they've been clear. When I'm not running these games, everything works perfectly fine, but once I load it up (or even streaming videos, I've found), it just hogs all my system resources. I also have problems with Firefox and Gaim (AOL/MSN/etc client) that over time, they eventually hog all my resources, too.

What could possibly be the case, here? I've allocated more RAM off my limited hard drive space already, and I've installed all up-to-date drivers, constantly checked my computer for viruses and spyware, and have kept it clear and relatively spacious in terms of hard drive space available. I simply can't understand why it would run perfectly fine before, yet now I can't even watch streaming videos or play simple games.



Computer Specs:
Windows XP Home; 2.2GHz Mobile Celeron; 512MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; SiS M650 64MB (shared); Hitachi Travelstar 40GNX 40GB 5,400rpm (These specs were copied and pasted off a review site, and all of it seems proper, except I only have 30GB on my hard drive.)



I realize the computer is, for lack of a better term, "trash", but it STILL used to run these games and software with no problems. How could a reformat actually worsen my computers performance? This is the reason I refuse to work with them. They seem downright moody.

Any help would be appreciated... I've given up hope, and finally decided it was about time to seek more promising help than myself and my more computer savvy friends.

Thanks in advance!Update Windows, see if that helps.
Think - were there any changes before you reformatted, like changes that would have increased performance?
Defrag your HDD too.
What antivirus and antispyware do you have?I currently have to update just the most recent one that came out today. I just got the little box in the corner a few minutes ago.

I can't remember any changes before I reformatted that may have increased performance. I even have more hard drive space allocated to helping the memory out, since it's minimal at best.

I currently have McAfee *and* AVG for antivirus software, and Ad-Aware and SpyBot for spyware/malware, and CleanUp to get rid of all the extra nonsense my computer doesn't need.

I've also used some online virus scan my friend suggested, but it also came out with nothing. I really can't imagine that anything is wrong with my computer, but it's just running terribly, and I can't buy a new one quite yet.

Also, my friend proposed that it may be my network card that could be causing the problems, since most of the problems I have include the internet (streaming videos, starcraft play online, diablo II lag online, and Ultima Online, which obviously only plays online), though I've also found that when playing single player in most of them, they still lag and hog my resources.

I'll update my windows now, and I'll defrag as soon as possible. May it have something to do with video drivers or no? That'd be my personal guess, but I'm not too computer savvy.Pretty sure you problem is the two AV programs.
If I were you I'd uninstall McAfee, AVG is better by far.
Could be video drivers - uninstall McAfee, then try updating the video drivers.
Try updating all the drivers you can in fact, the network card driver can cause this sort of thing.
Does it still lag badly in safe mode?I've uninstalled McAfee and updated all the drivers I could. Not one improvement. I don't even have anything running outside of the System stuff and mandatory windows things than I cannot close in the processes section of the task manager.

I simply don't know what to do anymore. How could a reformat worsen a computers performance?

The last thing I can do that you listed is to defrag my hard drive, which I will begin now... if that doesn't work is there any hope for me?You mentioned limited space...this will affect a machine's performance as well. How much free space is on that HDD ? ?Quote

I've allocated more RAM off my limited hard drive space already

Virtual memory... you can allocate hard drive space to serve as memory, I guess. I was informed to do this from a friend.

I have a little more than 4gb of space, which I could improve if I chose to, but previously I had 2-3 and my system worked perfectly fine (prior to the reformat). The hard drive only allows 27.9gb of useable space, which is quickly filled up with programs and games.

I had lost my Dell CDs when I chose to reformat, and since my computer was no longer under warrenty, they only sent me the Windows XP CD, so my drivers I installed I found on the internet off of the manufacurers sites and such.

I just inherited a used hp pavillion s7530 slimline. Running XP SP2, pentium M, 1.7ghz, 1028 RAM. I did a system restore to reset everything to factory (seemed like a good idea... maybe not.) But I've got two problems:

1) I'm getting an error on startup:

- First I get a warning that the software installation for ACPI multiprocessor PC is not logo verified. I click the DO NOT INSTALL button, since I MADE the fatal error of clicking the other button on another PC years ago.

- Then I get a Hardware Wizard message that the ACPI multiprocessor PC cannot be installed. "No Signature was present in the SUBJECT." After which, the system continues to BOOT normally.

2) Light-Scribe dvd-labeler software won't open.

- When I try to open the program I get an error: QtGui4.dll was not found, try re-installing the application.


Other than that, the PC SEEMS to be working just fine. I've tested much of the software and hardware... everything I'd normally use anyway, and have found no other problems. I don't know if the problems are related. Feel free to address EITHER or both in your responses. Thank you.

You should've let the ACPI one install.
And have you tried reinstalling the Lightscribe software?I would travel to HP's site and dload and install the appropiate MBoard drivers for that machine.
These are needed for that machine to run properly...

How many bays can u get in a full tower because hopefully im looking for an 18 bay tower (a bit ambitious i know) but if no one knows of an 18 anyone know where i can get one with the most bays posibleWhat kind of bays?Have you visited the websites of some of the online sellers and looked at tower cases?NO WAY*
Better start thinking about welding and finding some old cases.
i have seen full towers with 10 drive bays but im building this for another person and they want as many bays as posible now i have selected everything else and motherboard has 9 SATA slots so with master and slave thats 18 drives 1 for c:\ and a dvd writer for d:\ and then x16 1 terabyte HDD im just looking for a full tower that can handle as many bays as posibleSee this one: HTTP://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112109. You would need mounting brackets to mount 3.5 inch hard drives in 5.25 inch bays, but I suspect that's the only way you're GOING to be able to do this with an ATX full tower.I'm still curious why 18 bays?Quote

18 drives 1 for c:\ and a dvd writer for d:\ and then x16 1 terabyte HDD

I Have a Toshiba 1415- s173 Laptop which came with windows XP orignally. I changed it to Windows 2000, but now the dvd rom does'nt work. The DVD Rom is a Toshiba DVD-Rom SD-R2212. It reads the dvd but it wont play: It says : "There is no Windows 2000 compatible DVD decoder installed on this system." someone TOLD me that I might need some kind of a driver for it. Can someone help me out on this???You need a software DVD decoder, not a driver. You might try VLC player, or a commercial PROGRAM like WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc.

http://www.videolan.org/

I deleted your other 2 identical posts. Only one is needed. Thanks.

about 6 months ago my dig. media reader, my usb ports on the front of my computer, and the firewire port on the front of my computer stopped working. the ports on the back of my computer work, just the ones on the front of the computer stopped working. what's up? anything i can do? i've done 2 or 3 SYSTEM recoveries after this problem PRESENTED itself and they still do not work.Any idea what happened before they stopped working?
What operating system?
Make/model of PC, or components?windows xp, emachine, they were all working 1 day and the next day the media reader stopped working. the usb ports on the bottom were still working. then a week or so later they all stopped working.What model emachine?
Are there any problems in device manager?model T6212. no problems in device manager, but i'm not sure if the media reader is listed. what would it be listed as? i've done the add hardware wizard many times before.Good question.
LOOK under them all, I'm not sure where it'll be.
Mine's under PCMCIA adapters, but that's because it's a laptop.
I'll try and find the drivers for you.Has this machine been moved at all ? ?
There's a chance your front panel connections have come loose.
My next suspect would be a weak or failing PSU.i'll tell you what, i don't see it listed anywhere.i've moved the machine before. i've checked all the connections, they look good. i pulled them APART and cleaned them not too long ago. what is a PSU?does the psu have anything to do with the power? if this psu is weak or failing, would my computer detect the media reader or the other ports?psu is the "power supply unit", correct? can this be weakened enough to power everything but the media reader and the front ports? is this why they stopped working at different times? as the psu has got weaker devices stopped working one at a time. is there a way i can test the unit? just go ahead and replace it? take one out of an old computer or just go ahead and get a new one? are they different for each model computer?

Ok i have just PURCHASED an lcd 32" teleivision. Its an Lg and has a 8ms response time. My computer itself is good for gaming, but i'm just WONDERING if a Lcd with a screen SIZE like this will cause problems. Any help would be appreciated.Guys where do i find an answer to this problem? I have POSTED it on 4 FORUMS without a response. Does this mean a 32" Lcd teleivision running at 8ms is all ok, or does it mean nobody has the answer?I'd say it'll be fine.
What's the resolution?

Heya sports fans!

I got this really REALLY annoying problem with my graphics card (I think). I recently UPGRADED my computer (With new cpu, graphic card, Motherboard and ram) and at first everything seemed fine, but recently I can't seem to play games... Whenever i've been playing for a while (somewhere between 5 mins and 10 mins, it varies) the screen suddenly freezes and becomes a colorfull chaos of pixels, i mean, they're all over the place! stripes and *censored*... and i can't do nothing but restart the comp.
When i then restart, the screen is still messed up, still chaos and it continues like that until i completely shut down the comp and way for a few mins (or 15) then everthing is okay again.

-This ONLY happends in games (seen nothing wrong in windows, yet) and only after a while of gaming.

-As i said, it's a recent problem, in the start EVERYTHING was all happy days.

-I was thinking it could be overheating or something like that (i know very little about computers ) but then again, i DONNO why it would be overheated, it's got 2 massive coolers + a cooler inside the ... erhm... box?

-I wish i could show you a screenie but i can't do anything but restart when it freezes up.

we're talking bout a
2,13ghz INTEL core 2 CPU
1 Gig (DDR2 ?!) ram
Geforce 7600 GT

What els ya NEED to know ? i'm new at this

Thanks for HELPING Oh yea

I'm using Windows Xp with SP2
and all the newest drivers for my graphics card and for anything els really.

donno if that helps Open up the case of the computer and clean out any dust inside.
Don't use a vacuum cleaner, use a cloth.
It definitely sounds like heat to me.If he just replaced all of that there shouldn't be a dust problem.

How about some specifics on the temps?

Sounds like heat, bad graphics card or bad drivers.

i pluged my harddrive in my girlfriends computer put sum stuff on. then pluged it back into mine and all the FILES have gone. i put my harddrive into the college computers and all the files are there again. plug it into mine and there not there. but when i go to propertys on the hard drive its saying 50gb are being used. so the files are on the harddrive but i CANT see them. also i am on pcWhen you put the hard drive back into your computer, are you switching the jumper from slave back to MASTER? Maybe it's a SILLY question, but I know it can be pretty easy to forget to do this. TRY This

In the meantime you can also check to see if your system is FAT 32 or NTFS by right clicking your C: drive and selecting Properties...

Hi,

My CD-rom drive stopped working after a year of no problems, it is recognized - no conflicts or WHATSOEVER, but it does not do anything - does not recognize CD's blank or recorded, MUSIC or data. I tried reinstalling the system software to its original STATE - STILL did not work. I connected a cd/dvd external drive that worked for a couple of days and then it too did the same thing. I am running XP Home

Makes me think it is not really the drives.

pls help
Easiest WAY to test that drive would be to connect it in another machine...if it does the same thing it is dead.

I just conected my computer with a Gforce 6800 ultra OC, to a tv scree named Neo View is one of those flat panels and it conects just fine just that anything a see little like these letters im writing i see REALLY blury and could harly read any idea how to make it look like my regular computer lcd the tv is one of those ONES that u put on the wall it looks great normally but on my computer its like blury would really apreciate any infosorry to MENTIONED it conects via S-cableChange the resolution in the Display options to the native resolution, you will FIND that in the manual.

Hi, I just built up my new computer and transfered my SATA hard drive over and tried to boot up my computer. However, even though the computer boots up and all the fans on the motherboard and videocard TURN on the monitor does not turn on. Also the cpu "busy" light turns on but is a SOLID light, no blinking. I know its not the video card because I tried it in my brothers comp in it worked perfectly and everything in my computer is brand new from Newegg. Any suggestions? :-?

My system specs are as follows:
2x AMD FX-70 2.6 ghz processors
Asus L1N64-SLI WS motherboard
2 gigs of ram DDR2 800 240 pin
Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB
320 Gig Seagate SATA 3.0/Gbps 7200 RPM
550 watt power supply (I ordered a 750 watt under suspicion that it may be the problem)Did you test the motherboard before you installed it?

It is not uncommon to have the motherboard short out
in the case using the wrong size screws,or not using
motherboard standoffs properly.

http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYMB_5.htm

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.asp?articleId=132

http://www.cables4computer.com/newproduct/Prod_Individual3.aspx?groupcode=I0487

The motherboard seem operational, Im fairly sure I installed it correctly too because I've done this multiple times in the past. Also theres an LED light on the board that turns on when it has power going through it.Does the system POST?

Alan <>< Sorry, but I have to ask....
Is the monitor itself turned on ?Yes the monitor is turned on -.- Also I dont know if it POSTs. I just replaced my 550 watt with a 750 watt and no dice. :-/ I also tried a Geforce 7950 and still no luck. Im completely out of ideas.James ..... I just have to ask, the hard drive which you installed is from another machine , is that correct ?
Does it contain an o/s and all the system info for the machine it came out of ?

Let us know.

dl65 NEVERMIND I figured it out, turns out the4 pin connector on the motherboard can be turned into an 8 pin connector which fixed the problem. Computer boots up fine now

Hello my fellow computer geeks. I have an old IBM aptiva. It is only a 386, but i want to build a better faster machine. Can i put a faster better capable motherboard in it? If I can which one is recommended. Or if it is unknown where would i go to find the specs of the old one to match up with a new one. thanx for everyone helpUnless your a sucker for pain & suffering <<"just KIDDING there", you might want to stay away from any mods on this model.... f..y..i... here's something I found*

I have recently come across this old aptiva at work and I instantly was inspired to obtain it and do a nice case mod. But, I am rather inexperienced at case modding and suggestions would be helpful. I will be posting a worklog as soon as the parts come in from newegg. Here is the plan, to take this old aptiva which is a rather unique design utilizing an external SCSI enclosure to house its optical and floppy drives as well as be a really nice looking case because of its lack of clutter. I wish to maintain all of this when I modify this machine. The objective is to EITHER formulate an HTPC or at least a more powerful machine within this case. The PROBLEM: I wish to KEEP the external drive device, but there is no scsi card that is pci that has a similar connector (that I know of) and the machine has a strange board design so cutting will be neccessary to fit an ATX board in the machine and due to the position of the power supply I will probably need to use a micro ATX board. Any suggestions / experiences would be helpful. Again I will post a work log as soon as i begin.

Hi! i have a PROBLEM connecting a memory card reader, i have a p4 board, win xp pro sp2 running. My memory card reader is a Multi-Card Reader/Writer. MODEL MRW620.
My question is where do i connect the memory card reader hardware in my motherboard? I tried putting it on the USB ports but no results. please help? This Link to the product you MENTIONED had little or no info on it at all...since it's dis-continued it's probably a bit on the older side.
It looks like it has a standard USB hookup though....did you TRY that ? ?
Did this thing come with a user's manual ? ?

I formatted and reinstalled winxp pro (I`ve done this before without problems) and now both dvd drives will work with cds, but not play dvds. I have uninstalled and reinstalled powerdvd and UPDATED the firmware for the lite on drive (which is the dvd-rw). The dvd files aren`t recognized in the dvd-rw drive at all,nor will it play in wmp. I have tried a few dvds that have worked in the past,but the drives say "no disk in drive". It SEEMS strange that both drives work fine except for playing dvds,and I haven`t messed with the region code,either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! :-?So did everything work fine before updating the firmware, and never worked correctly afterward? Is that the only variable?The message "no disk in drive" came up on both drives after the install of windows- before the firmware UPDATE.
Just before the reinstall-the psu went out and I installed a new one. Is it POSSIBLE that the dust this disturbed in the whole case caused both drives to start failing? even though cds work fine? Yes, I did try to clean the dust out before working on it , but there was a bunch I couldn`t see inside both fans. turning the pc around and upside down made this dust go everywhere;I did blow and paint brush it out,but not inside the optical drives. They both show up as dvd devices in the device manager and the dma for IDE is fine (ultra dma mode 2 and 4). The only thing I can think of to do is try another drive,but I don`t have one and can`t afford it now!

I have a NEW Microsoft Wireless Multimedia Keyboard 1.1. When I boot up the computer It stops dead and TELLS me that the keyboard is locked and I should use the Unlock key. There is no unlock key! To get into Windows XP I have to press the F1 key repeatedly. I had the same PROBLEM with another keyboard which I RETURNED as faulty. The keyboard is attached via USB.

(Sorry if this was repeated somewhere else)

I have recently recived a Uber Pc for Xmas, but it has a problem with over-heating, i have recently (1st of march) purchased and installed an extra fan and increased the current fan speed up to maximum. but i continue to have over heating with my graphics card

(Readeon X1950... other LETTERS i cant thing off the top of my head)

It May be, as far as i can see, one of these problems

I keep it in a, for want of a better term, box... with a door, and a rear opening for heat removal, its also open topped, but escaping Heat would 'hit' my keyboard sliding desk thing, lol.

Unfortunately the sides are not open, and are solid wood, i have thought about drilling a few holes in to it, or removing the piece altogether... but i thought id better check with you guys first to see if its just a commen problem or glitch etc...

It warn of overheating with an annoying bleep

It only seems to over heat when im playing games... another strange thing is that... at Xmas it never beeped, i was playing FEAR: Extraction Point... and nothing went wrong... along with other games

but from about the middle of February, it started... first with BATTLEFIELD 2142, now with every game i play generally, though some games are worse then others
Check inside the case for dust.
Keeping a PC in an enclosed space isn't a good idea, drilling holes should be your second step.
Also consider an aftermarket GPU cooling fan, they're not expensive and can really cool your graphics card down compared to the stock fan.
Hope this helps.The case is made of solid wood ? ?No, it's actually in a cupboard.
Although I can see why you would think that.Im currently playing SUPREME Commander, with it outside its cupboard ATM [timestamp=1173114458] ill post back to see if that helps... probably shouldShould help.
It's likely to just be the enclosed space, it needs more ventilation.
Extra fans may help a little but more space is the main thing it needs.
Let us know.These computer desks that have a cubicle for a computer which puts the computer in an enclosed space with front door that can be closed to hide the computer are just a bad idea. They're a disservice to unknowing consumers. The basic problem is simply that air flow is restricted and, thus, heating problems can occur.

If you must keep your computer in that cubicle, I'd make sure that front door is always open and the back is also permanently open. If anyone else uses the computer and there's a chance they would close the door while USING the computer, I'd just remove the door.They really are a bad idea, I have at least 2 friends (including BladeWolf) who use them.
This is the result.
They may look good, but I find that they cause more problems than they are supposed to solve.
The idea that they hide your PC is silly, it's obvious you have a PC in there because many of them don't hide the peripherals such as the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
I'll agree with what you say, soybean, and say keep it open if you can, that's less drastic than drilling the sides.whuppy no more beeping... i was thinking about taking the whole cubicle apart BTH, it dosent give any structural support... i may keep the base bit of wood to keep my PC of the floor tho

I always keep it open anyway... thats why i was worried to begin withSounds like a plan to me.
You want a solid surface for the PC to stand on, but nothing around it.Its working ok... i have now gutted the box to just a peice of wood for my PC to stand on...

thanks for adviseOK, good.
Glad to help and to SAVE your PC from melting.A melted PC is a mildly overcooked PC^^

Last NIGHT I was trying to get my ipod to work with my new PC (just switched from Apple), and was having no luck. I tried restoring the ipod and it after a couple of hours of the computer 'trying to restore" I decided to plug the ipod into another USB. That didn't work, but after I did that my mouse no LONGER worked. I shut off the PC and restarted and now my keyboard doesn't work either! I've tried restarting, checking connections and nothing works. All I get is a black screen with BIOS F10 etc. the LIGHTS on the keyboard flash once and then nothing.
Does anybody have any idea what I can do?Are the mouse and keyboard both USB devices also?Try unplugging the power to the computer for a minute or two.

Alan <>< And i'm really HOPING you didn't happen to unplug any of these devices while the machine was still running...otherwise we might be traveling to the "repair install of insert OS here "portion of our archives...

I am working on my first build and I have a few questions:

1. How sturdy are today's processors? I was taking the CPU (Socket 775 Celeron D) out of the package and it dropped onto the table, from a height of about 8 inches or so. The protective cover was still on, and it did land on the static protection plastic sheet I had laying on the table. Is there anything to be concerned about? If it works on the first boot, then am I in the clear or is there a chance that it may fail later if damage was done? It sure seems PRETTY solid to me, but I have no idea what's going on on the inside.

2. The stock cooler has thermal compound on it, but it is in strips. I assume that this will melt from the heat and eventually cover the entire surface? Should I stick with the stock compound or should I remove it and apply something better? I am also a LITTLE concerened as I may have inadvertently touched the compound briefly with my palm.

3. I am having a hard time figuring out the little connectors on the mobo (front panel, etc) They are not "keyed" like other connectors so i don't know which direction to plug them in. I do notice a little arrow on one corner of the plug, but do not know what that means? Does direction matter on these plugs?

4. Since I am installing an SATA HD, do I still plug the CDROM DRIVE into the secondary IDE channel and LEAVE the primary channel open? The CDROM was OEM and did not come with any cables. Will any IDE cable work or does it have to be specifically for a CDROM drive?

5. The rear case fan has a large power connector that appears to plug straight into the power supply rather than the mobo. Is this correct?

That is all for now, but I am sure I will have more questions.

Thanks

PKMorning, I'll start this with "some" of my answers but others (more knowledgeable will be around soon, I'm sure).....

1. I have a Celeron too, You should be ok with the drop, don't worry.
2. Leave the stock strips on, that cpu will be fine with that unless you go overboard with over-clocking stuff...

3 "not real sure"
4. "same"

5. YES, plug to the psu directly (good-luck, it's so much better building your own and really builds up your ego!!! Congrats on you're first build ! !

3 things to remember:

1) Be careful, read all the instructions and take your time.
2) Be careful, read all the instructions and take your time.
3) See Above.

As to your questions...

1) There is no way to tell if a drop did any harm to the CPU other than hooking it up and getting it running. As to whether it will fail in 6 mos. or 5 years from now there is no answer to that either...
2) Regarding thermal strips vs. compound. There are PROBABLY thousands of discussions on the web about this vs. that out there that you could waste your time on ad naseum and arrive at no conclusion...my Rule of Thumb ? assemble it the way the manuf. shipped it there's usually a good reason.
3) See Above.
4) I would use IDE2 simply for the fact you might want to add HDD's down the road. 80 conducter IDE cables are fine for CD/DVD drives.
5) Yes.

Have Fun

p.s. It's really enjoyable when it all fires up and comes together...problem is 3 months later you start thinking about your 2nd build.

Quote

Maybe you shouldn't ALLOW people with the I.Q. of a rock to post freely in desired help forums.

Recently I opened up my laptop (above) to install a new CD/DVD player unit. When I put the top and bottom cases back together I discovered a 4 WIRE ribbon cable that I could not find a receptacle for. This ribbon cable is for the mouse buttons on the palm pad (see attached photo). I NEED to know where this should terminate. I need to hook up a standard mouse to control my CURSOR! Any HELP will be appreciated.

TIA
If you want to use a standard mouse, why can't you just plug one in?Calum,

Thanks for the prompt reply, however it dosen't help. Read my original post. I was asking where does the 4 wire ribbon cable suspossed to be attached/terminated. Without that cable being attached I have NO left or right click control. Right now I do have a standard mouse hooked up in order to have left and right click. That is not what I want. I am asking where should the ribbon cable terminate inside my computer.Oh, I see.
I thought you meant you needed to hook up the cable in order to connect a mouse, I didn't see why this would be.
In that case I'm not sure where it should terminate, unless you can see an empty slot.
Sorry.
Hopefully someone else can help you out, I'll keep watching this thread.Check the manuf. website...Thanks guys.

I found the connector. It was burried under the MODEM. Pulled the modem and there was the connector for the ribbon cable. It's re-installed and I have fully capability now!

That's good then, glad you got it sorted.

Question 1) When I switch on PC, Monitor BECOMES on ( light on monitor glows to yellow,) but after 6-8 seconds monitor stops (light changes to golden). and nothing happens and Nothing comes on screen. If I amke some 5-6 ITERATIONS of making ON-OFF the PC, the monitor MAY starts and normal OPERATION starts. I am facing this problem from last @ 1 year. Pl. Suggest.
Some times it happens that the computer does not start after 20-25 iterations also. Pl. Suggest.

I don't think we know whether this is a monitor problem or a computer problem. Can you connect the monitor to another computer to see whether it does the same thing, or works OK?

And, tell US about your computer: hardware specs, age, etc.

Hi, the headphone jack on the front of my PC case has become worn and now no longer accepts headphone jacks properly, resulting in very poor output. Any movement on my end and the connection is lost. It doesn't grip the jack properly either so it just sort of falls out.
The mic jack NEXT to it though works fine. I NEVER use it, is there a way to swap them round by software? I am the only one who listens to music on this PC and I am not allowed to OPEN the case, so I cant swap anywires around.wooden spoon...... I do not think you can do that with software ...... however , you should be able to plug your headset into the jack on the rear of the case ...that probably has the external speakers plugged in. (you would have to unplug the external speakers)

dl65 Do you have any USB ports in the front? (Most computers lately do, so you should.) If so, I would suggest buying a USB audio adapter.



This one's only 8 bucks.If neither of the above suggestions are viable OPTIONS for you, a new sound card could be the solution. Here's an inexpensive one I've been using for almost two years: CHAINTECH AV-512 5.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - RETAIL. And, yes, I use a mic with it. However, to use a headset for listening, I believe you'd need to disconnect external speakers and use that same port for your headset.

My Toshiba 2435 laptop finally DIED. It's been crashing for about a month after using it for an hour or so, then the time before crash became less and less until finally it wouldn't load WinXP without dying. (By this time WinXP had become corrupted from the crashes, asked me to boot normally, safe more, or COMMAND prompt....using either method would cause the computer to DIE after a couple of minutes).

Tried reformatting HD using recover disc, crashed within a very few minutes during the formatting process.

Bought new HD which crashed during formatting just as the old one did.

I switched ram around before reformatting to eliminate that as the problem. Removed battery to eliminate that as a remotely possible source.

Bottom line is this laptop TRIES to do everything normally for +/- 10 minutes then just dies. Actually the last time I attempted reformatting the recover disc did complete the formatting process and started its next step before the crash. Next I removed the recover disc, rebooted and got a command prompt A:\. I typed "dir" and can see where basic system files were installed.

For the past 6 hours the computer has been on, no crash but of COURSE no HD activity because I'm not calling for any. So this thing crashes only when the HD is active and the HD itself is not the problem.

Any thoughts on fixing this thing. It's only about 3 years old, P4, 2.4 and loaded. I don't want to throw it in the trash if I can help it.

Thanks !





It appears to be overheating.Is the cooling fan dirty?

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/usingyourlaptop/a/cleanlaptop.htm

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post as it seems to be more of an HP software issue than with the printer itself. The software is HP PhotoSmart Premier.

Anyway when you try and print a 4X6 photo, the software crops the photo. This results in people having the tops of their heads cut off etc. The initial image that is selected to print is fine, but on the print preview, the software changes the size of the image. I have done the ONLINE rep thing from HP who had me change all sorts of things. I ended up downloading HP PhotoSmart ESSENTIAL, but it does the same thing. I think he finally gave up.

Anyone got any ideas or should I return it to the store and get something ELSE? :-?I could be wrong here but maybe WORTH a try>>> ?

Uninstall the printer....correctly.....
download from the website.... the latest drivers....
unplug & re-plug the printer back into the case

maybe*
And if it is a USB printer remember to install the software first...it will prompt you for when to connect the printer.

Hi there, I recently purchased a DVD-RW drive for my laptop...

However, when I have it installed, the MACHINE refuses to boot. At all. It won't EVEN POST.

The machine is an Alienware Area51-m 7700 series, and I have heard rumours online that Alienware MAKE it so you can only install DVD drives that you purchase from them...

A call to Alienware resulted in them "almost" confirming it to me. And they tried to charge me £79-00 for the delivery of a new DVD drive from them...

Well, its been three WEEKS and I still haven't heard or seen anything from them, so they can go bollocks...

My question is this.

Is there a way to bypass that setting? Is that setting contained in the CMOS?

Any HELP will be greatly appreciated...

Kind regards.Proprietary machines (like laptops) sometimes only have proprietary solutions. I would stay after Alienware as they are the only ones that know for sure. Thanks alot.

I will definatly use SLAX to get some of my data back.


Cheers again. I'll let you know how it goes.

Dark Lenne

Hello, my friend recently took my old HARDDRIVE a 200gb from a HP Pavilion to his HP Pavilion ALONG with my slave drive. Now I can't unlock my files from my old harddrive. WOULD file sharing enable these files to be visible? or am I just screwedHow are you USING the term "locked"? Were these password protected files?You might want to make SURE your drive is jumpered properly.Try This

I'd keep him away from your system...

I have an aol optimized systemax and a friend added a dvd drive to it. The puter would lock up and my son would turn it off and back on. It comes up with the aol optimized screen and then GOES to a black and white screen that has a bunch of information on it. In the middle of the screen it says Pri. Master Disk HDD S.M.A.R.T. capability....Disabled and at the very bottom the last line is Verifying DMI Pool Data..... At this point it just sits now.

I was told by customer support that I had either something loose or my hard drive was going bad. I replaced the hard drive and it is still the same. I have checked every connection I could find and it all appears tight.

I was told by a second person my video card was not big enough to support the dvd drive and I do have a new one but have not installed it.

The second person also had me boot the system from the systemax disk and reload windows and it acts LIKE it does and takes me through the steps but then ends up at the black and white screen.

Does anyone know what could cause it to do this other than the loose connection or hard drive? Or if it is a loose connection, which one could it be?

One last thing, if I hit delete on the aol screen it will let me go into set up but once I am there my keyboard is dead. I have tried two different KEYBOARDS, one of which is a usb connection.

Thank you all for your help.How about some actual details on the system and how the hard drive and DVD drives are connected and jumpered. Are they on the same cable, etc.?sorry, I don't know a whole lot about it so here is what I know:

Support Kit
(1) Overbox Carton
(1) Mini-Tower MATX Chassis w/250W PS SIS651 Motherboard
(1) Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
(1) Intel Celeron Processor 2.4 GHz
(1) 256MB DDR333 PC2700 Non-ECC Memory (256MB x 1)
(1) 40GB IDE Ultra ATA 7200rpm Hard Drive
(1) 52x (max) CD-ROM Drive
(1) 17" .27 Black CRT Monitor
(1) Cyber Acoustics 2016 2-Piece Speakers
(1) 56K PCI Modem
(1) Lexmark Printer
(1) Systemax 104 Keyboard Black PS/2
(1) PS/2 Scroll Mouse Black

the dvd drive that was added was a liteon dvd rom drive with ATAPI/E-IDE interface 16x

the new hard drive is a western digital 160 gb ide drive

it made no difference with the new hard drive. I also tried unplugging the dvd drive and that made no difference.

are the cables those strips that plug into the them? If they are then the dvd drive and the cd drive are plugged into one strip and the hard drive is on a different one.

It is windows xp and I don't have a seperate windows cd, I have the one that systemax sent with it and they said that windows was in there. It is a genuine copy and there was only genuine kids stuff on it, nothing pirated and most of hte time it was not hooked up to the internet. He is 9 and did school work on it and watched dvds.

the new video card I bought for it is a geforce fx 6200 256 m agp. I also have ordered a new memory stick for it a 1 gb.
I found the page on verifying dmi pool data

1. I reloaded windows and it didn't matter
2. I checked all connections and it didn't matter
3. I made sure there were no disks in the drives and it didn't matter.
4. I disconnected all cd/dvd/floppy drive and it didn't matter.
5. I put in a new hard drive and it didn't matter
6. If I go to the cmos set up page my keyboard don't work and I can't check anything.

I am now going to go look and see what I can find on hte bios corrupt or misc. setting not properly set and see if I can figure out how to reset the bios/cmos settings.

This puter was purchased last may as a demo and has no warranty.Instead of multiple posts about the same computer and it's issues, it is better to keep it all in one thread to prevent confusion to you AND us and get you some relevant help.

when i type on my keyboard it seems like the ctrl button is stuck cause when i PRESS "s" in note pad the "save as" screen comes up and if i hit "f" the "find" screen comes up. i BOUGHT 3 different NEW keyboards and it still happen on every one of them anyone got any idea of what my problem is? is so please LET me knowHave you tried a PS/2 keyboard,or a different USB OUTLET?yesBoth of those suggestions?

hi, my toshiba a100 laptop has a black round plastic bit in the middle of the optical drive. My previous use of anything that looks like that is that the hole in the cd's center goes over that. however no cd i ut in fits over it, their center hoels are too SMALL. how are the cd's supposed to SIT? are they supposed to click over the black thing or just si TON top. im SCARED to stick a cd in if its gunna wreck my drive. regards chewyFind your owner's manual here:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/[emailprotected]@[emailprotected]@&BV_EngineID=ccceaddkflekeefcgfkceghdgngdgmm.0

Panasonic laptop with a Toshiba HD. Did some research and tried several suggestions from other threads. Tried the freezer TRICK, did not work. BOUGHT a external HD kit and plugged in the drive. The window popped up and recognized the new hardware, installed files, but I was unable to see the new drive. Tried this a few times, when plugging in the old drive, the light on the case starts red, the unit starts up, but sounds scratchy, it stops and the light turns green. At one point a window did POP up and found new hardware, a Toshiba drive, but soon disappeared. I do have the external unit plugged in with both USB cords.

I do realize I may not be able to recover data from this drive, but I figured someone may have a good suggestion before I GIVE up.I think you have exhausted the bag of tricks. If it is not seen correctly in the BIOS, everything else is irrelevant.

Hey guys a friend of MINE has a semi old pc. Just recently he CAME to the large problem of it not booting at all. He told me that he check the power supply and said it did the same thing with a different power supply. What do you guys think this could be a dead motherboard? I checked to see if the ram sticks were loose they were SNUG however. Now you would still get a boot even if the hard drive was fried right...well at least to the BIOS screen but he isn't even getting to the BIOS screen. Any ideas guys?could be a dead motherboard? << "[highlight]probably[/highlight]" but;

is the inside of the case - caked in dust and soot ? Was the system bogging down and or running real slow before this all happened ?

Some details would be required to prevent a lot of random guessing. Maybe your buddy could post them?I haven't had a CHANCE to get the detailed specs on this problem it just happened recently but I will check into the dust issue as well as ask him about how it ran prior thanks for the tips guys. Quote

Some [highlight]details[/highlight] would be required to prevent a lot of random guessing. Maybe your buddy could post them?

Quote

Some [highlight]details[/highlight] would be required to prevent a lot of random guessing. Maybe your buddy could post them?

Everything is plugged in on my computer. The power light comes on, but the light beside it does not blink. I suspect my HARD drive has failed. Is there any way to know for SURE? I cannot hear any noises coming from the hard drive. WOULD this be my problem ? ADRIAN 952 Some details on the machine and age would be helpful, as well as what happened prior to this.

My old harddrive is only 20 GB and my NEW harddrive is 235GB.

My old HDD is maxed out and i want to transfer EVERYTHING to my 235GB HDD. Basically making it the primary drive. The old HDD is my C drive and the new one is my E drive.

How would I do this safely?If you mean you want to transfer everything (Windows, programs, data files, etc.) to the new hard drive, take a look at the software tools and instructions from the hard drive manufacturer for doing that.i checked through the manual that came with it but it just has a bunch of stuff about how to install it. nothing about transfering the information over. it just tells me to use the Data Lifeguard Tool. I had a FRIEND install it for me so i dont know if he did the things it says to do.Finding the correct info and tools and using them is the place to start. If your friend doesn't know, then you need to call another geeky friend. Quote

... Data Lifeguard Tool. I had a friend install it for me so i dont know if he did the things it says to do.

He installed it but just used the install disk it came with. Someone made my computer for me so i think my windows is pirated .

Just upgraded from a P4 2.4ghz
2gig RAM DDR
Sparkle Geforce 6800GT 256mb

Did it because I wanted to play the last few missions in Oblivion with smooth gfx, play the wonderful Armed ASsault with all detail and Supreme Commander which I know needs beefy hardware.

But:

My new Core 2 duo 2.4ghz
1024 RAM PC6400 DDR2
Palit Geforce 7300GT 256mb 128bit version.

This is the PROBLEM:
It plays Oblivion (with the same detail levels with the previous rig) just the same, with no increase in performance. Armed assault has'nt improved whatsoever. I have up to date nvidia drivers as well.

I was just wondering, have I bottlenecked the machine with the 7300GT? I don't see how, as all the factors point to a faster machine! Help?

PS: I have read that the only games out there at the moment that use multithreading are Oblivion!?!? Supreme Commander and Call of Duty 2.
Please help because I've used all my holiday money!
Any advice!!?!
Ta.Check the GPU FAQ.
The 6800 is far better than the 7300, that will not play modern games at good settings well.
Your new rig is WORSE for gaming, far better in CPU intensive activities but worse in almost every other way than your old PC.
Sorry.How is my AGP 4x Geforce 6800GT better than my PCI-E 16x 7300GT?

What do you mean by CPU intensive activities? Games are CPU instensive activities!!!!!!!

It just does'nt make sense.

I've noticed that Company of Heroes runs at MAXIMUM detail with 8 players (Skirmish) really well. But the other games have not taken any other performance spike.

So really, it has improved one game but with the others....disapointment.... :-/You didn't say it was 4X, I assumed it was AGP 8X or PCI-E.
And games do not usually depend on the CPU much, it's the graphics card and RAM that usually cause a bottleneck.
I really mean video editing/encoding, number crunching, etc.You've made the mistake of thinking higher numbers equals higher performance. The first number, 6 or 7 in this case, indicates the family. For example, GeForce 7 cards are the new family of cards, to replace the old set. However, not everyone will be able to buy the top end expensive cards, so they need to release some slower, cheaper cards too, right?

Well after they have designed and set up factories for GeForce 7 cards, there is little point in spending money on seperate factories for GeForce 6 cards which use a different architecture and therefore need a different way of production. So they simply designed fast and slow verions of the GeForce 7 cards and mass produce them.

The 7300 is designed as the low end spectrum of the series for budget gamers. It is NOT faster than a 6800. The 7600GT is about equivilent to the 6800GT. So sorry, but I'm afraid you've downgraded. A lot.

(Sorry to rub it in but you really have made a mess of it)What would you say to do then?
The GFX card is not a problem, I can afford a high end 7 series.
What else should I do to make things a bit quicker.

Thing is I know that I have future proofed myself with th mobo and CPU so I'm not bothered about that, but I'd like insta-performance at the moment so what would you suggest?

thanks for your help so far.Check the GPU FAQ I linked to, it details all current cards in order of performance.
See what you can afford.
More RAM may help if you have the money, new games like more RAM.I would suggest at least a 7600GS which will probably be about the same speed as your old 6800GT (noting it was 4x AGP). If you can afford it 7600GT or any 7800 will be better.

I have a Toshiba Satellite 1005-S157 that i accidentally DROPPED... When I plug it in and turn it on, the cooling fan in the back runs, but NOTHING appears on the screen. it appears the hard drive is working but the screen stays black. it doesn't boot up to BIOS. and it keeps GIVING 1 short beep about every 5 seconds. I've taken it apart and checked all the connections and they are good. If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE post.

Did you check the Toshiba site for what the beep code means YET?yes i did, i even went so far as to bring it to a toshiba servicer but it would cost a fortune just to have them look at it. i made sure the ram was housed and im at a standstill right now. :-?And what did the beep code mean?i looked and didnt find anything about it... :-/Quote

i looked and didnt find anything about it... :-/

When I boot my computer, my CD/RW drive (LG brand) seems to work just fine. My OS seems to recognize it because it is listed as a working drive in "My Computer." Then, after a few minutes (it doesn't matter what I am currently doing on the machine), I look in "My Computer" and the drive is no longer listed. In command prompt, I type "e:" (which is what the drive was listed as before) and it says "The system cannot FIND the drive specified." The drive itself APPEARS to still be working because I can still open and close it, but when I put a CD in, it doesn't fire up and turn it.

This problem has been present for a couple of months now and I still haven't found a solution. Keep in mind that this change appears to be completely spontaneous. It worked perfectly before and I haven't been playing around inside the computer nor have I dropped it or done anything to loosen a wire or physically cause it to malfunction. I suppose it could have something to do with my OS, but I have tried system restore and that still doesn't help.

My machine:
P4 2.4GHz
Soyo P41 FireDragon motherboard
768 MB RAM
Windows XP Pro
LG CD/RW 52X32X52XTry to document how long it is until the CD drive does not appear in device manager (open it EVERY five minutes or so and CHECK). If it is the same amount every time, the drive might be overheating and failing when it reaches a certain temperature. You can use a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of the PC case and CLEAR the cooling vents.

Make sure you check device manager after you open each program. It might be that a certain program is using some odd device driver that is incompatible with the drive. If the drive disappears from Device Manager every time you open a certain program, it is likely the cause.

Try updating the drivers for the CD writer (download and install the latest drivers for your operating system from the manufacturer's Web site).

If you have added a lot of hardware to the computer, the wattage requirements might be overtaxing its power supply. Consider upgrading to one with a higher wattage output, such as 400.

Try replacing the CD writer with a new one.

I'd replace that IDE cable...
And check your operating temperatures.

I was told that all computers have a hidden internal microphone that records all sounds in the ROOM that it is in. Is this true? If so, where would it be located? :-?I was told &LT;<

don't believe them, I hope they weren't a friend ?No, it wan't a friend, in fact it was someone who thinks they know more about computers then I do. I have taken mine apart and rebuilt it on two occaisions and have a GREAT deal of self taught knowledge about them. I was just verifying that he was full of it.
I really didn't think there was one and would have been shocked to HEAR it was true. I thank you for a quick reply.
I just found this site yesterday and I will be a regular here now.
Thanks again, and have a HAPPY day! Actually, there are Mac laptops that have internal microphones. I imagine some Windows PCs must have them as well. A person would have to turn on recording software to record what you are saying, though.

Here is a laptop with a built-in internal mic:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=WN2NABZ0WPDWRKC4D3GVAGI?skuId=7837184&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat103700050043&id=1142299957200Just because someone is paranoid doesn't MEAN they are not out to get you...

Any one heard of them? Im sure that you guys have. Im getting the laptop Aurora m9700. Anything i should KNOW about it besides that it rocks?It's excessively overpriced?Now owned by Dell.SUPPORT is not all that hot

Alan <>< I'll agree with the above three statements.
And say don't get it unless you really have to have the Alienware looks, bloatware and brand.Hmm.....only 2k for like 200GH of HD space and 64BIT processor. So its not really worth it then? Im not going to use it for like anything really heavy dudy.LOL. Why do Alienware then?For word processing and internet only you could easily get by with a $500 Compaq. What do you plan on using it for?And I'll agree with the above two statements.
You don't need to spend a lot if you're not going for heavy duty.
What's the main use of this laptop going to be?I run an Alienware Area51-m 7700 series...

I'll agree with a lot said...

Especially the support being very poor...

However, the machine itself is a dream to use. Its STURDY, and hardworking and it doesn't feel "cheap".

The keyboards stays STILL when you use it for instance...

Otherworldy specifications and performance mean INCREDIBLE abilities, including video editing, and the very latest games...

But as said before, if your not going to push an Alienware to its limits, don't bother... You'll only be wasting your money.
Alienware is not the only high-end laptop manufacturer however.
So if you decide you need that power and quality, shop around.
You'll get exactly the same with a different brand minus Alienware bloatware and with better support for cheaper.Im going to use it to make video games. I do it now on my desktop but my desktop sucks. So with the company im making i need a better computer that can hold more programs and such right. And i figured that the 200GM HD would be albe to do that for me.How about upgrading your desktop instead?
Might be an easier and cheaper option, and you'll get much more for your money than any laptop.
If it's not an option then fair enough.You can always get more horsepower into a desktop than a laptop anyday...

You might want to rethink your strategy here.Quote

You can always get more horsepower into a desktop than a laptop anyday...