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I just installed 2 more sticks of RAM giving me 4 x 1024 mb sticks, but when I click my computer and go to PROPERTIES it shows as 3.25 mb of ram.
Is there something wrong with my ram or motherboard?
Thanks for any helpQuote

it shows as 3.25 mb of ram.

Is there something wrong with my ram or motherboard?

I am looking to get an external hard drive i want to know are they the same TYPE
of drive which are in desktop which you can SWAP different GIGS or are they totaly
different.Physically, yes, they are more or LESS the same as an internal drive.

What do you mean "swap different gigs"?I think he is asking if you can READ and write to it like a internal drive. If this is what you are ask than yes you can. They work just like a "normal" drive.

If I leave my computer on for 12 or more hours(even if it is not being USED) and then I try to play the mmorpg game Dungeon Runners I will get a internal video card error. I f I shut down or hibernate for 2+ hours in that time period EVERYTHING is fine no matter how long I play. This fried my first card and I don't want it to happen again. I have an E-machines AMD Sempron 3000+, Geforce 6200A video card, 1 GB RAM, Windows XP.There's a very old joke that says the guy goes to see the doctor, and says, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." ::: you move your arm or something to illustrate ::: The doctor replies, "Don't do that anymore."

Forgive my poor humor. You'll most likely get a better answer than what I'm going to provide, but I've known people who have peculiarities with their systems when they just leave them run. The problems go AWAY when they reboot, and the operating system has a chance to put things back in order.

You don't need to justify your computing HABITS to me. Perhaps there are reasons you leave your system run all the time. (I know people who run applications in the background, and there are many projects to which one can donate computing time.)

Should the system do what it's doing? No, so I understand your frustration.

Do you periodically run any sort of software to "clean" or optimize the system in any way?

It might also be suggested that you check your video drivers, and update to the LATEST if you can.
Quote

I will get a internal video card error

Since this MORNING my Pioneer 215DBK will no longer run dvds or games, it's no longer in device manager either. I CHECKED inside the machine and everything appears to be connected properly. When I PUT a dvd into the drive I can hear it loading but then it just suddenly stops, it doesnt appear in my computer either. I'm running vista PREMIUM 64

Any help would be appreciated

ThanksSince you checked the cables i'll ask another QUESTION ...
How old is the drive ? ?
They aren't made like they used to be.
The best way to test a CD/DVD drive is to swap it in to another working machine to see if it has failed. Takes about 10 - 15 minutes...

Looking for advise. Newcomer to the Forum club. Had a power outage. Computer won't TURN on now. Was plugged into a surge protector. Everything else is working. Printer, monitor, wireless hub etc..... Plugged into other outlets but still won't turn on. There is no green light on the power supply. What are my options. Would appreciate any help Try the small reset button (if you have one ) on the back of the PSU...
If that doesn't work borrow a known good one of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there...
Hopefully the PSU took the hit and protected the expensive stuff.Thank you Patio. I appreciate any and all help. If the PSU is bad, where do you recommend that I buy one?Unfortunately, some of the cheap surge protectors aren't any better than a common plug strip. Before you buy a PSU, see if you can borrow one from a friend. It could still something else that has gone bad.Quote from: gmoyer on October 15, 2010, 09:51:25 PM

Thank you Patio. I appreciate any and all help. If the PSU is bad, where do you recommend that I buy one?

If you get a close lightning strike there is no surge protector in the world that will protect you.

I once saw the aftermath of a close strike on a power line. It blew a 200 amp breaker panel out of the wall and across the room.

Thank you Patio. I appreciate any and all help. If the PSU is bad, where do you recommend that I buy one?

Actually at this point i would borrow a known good one of the same wattage and swap it in there....til we know if it's indeed the issue.

Thank you Patio. I appreciate any and all help. If the PSU is bad, where do you recommend that I buy one?

That means buying (or borrowing) a 3.5 digit multimeter from K-mart or from most any store that also sells hammers (which says how complicated and dangerous a meter is). Or spend $18 to buy the same thing from Wal-mart. Meter is a tool about as dangerous and complicated as a hammer.

HI all,

I am having problems BOOTING my laptop.

It is a Packard Bell Easynote. When i try to turn it on the message "LINE 7401 of the INF file \cmdcons\txtsetip.sif is invalid Setup cannot continue. Press any key to abort."

I have tried to press F8 and boot in safe mode but the only thing that comes up is a black screen with a blue box with the title Boot Devices and options of Hard DISK, CD-ROM/DVD, Floppy Disk and LAN Boot.

I am not very GOOD with computers so if you can help please keep it in laymens terms...sorry.

Thanks in advance.

Dazook.What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (IE, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?nothing noticible. I only every used it for web surfing and thats about it.

I remeber it was constantly wanting to update its microsoft software.


Just to clarify this first happened a few months ago but only just got round to trying to sort it.

I agree with patio. But also the 5500 does not come with a temp diode that MEASURES the temp on it. I have that same card myself and it does not have a temp SENSOR on it.I would dload pc wizard 2008 for free or also everest which is also free and those apps will tell you everything especially everest. Quote from: brett74 on May 04, 2008, 07:55:17 AM

But also the 5500 does not come with a temp diode that measures the temp on it.

I have a HP Officejet 7310 All-in-One Printer. I am getting an error that says: Remove and check cartridge on right. I have removed the CARTRIDGES, TURNED off the printer and also unplugged the printer. HELP, MitziHow long have you had your printer for?

If you owned the printer for a while:
Did you RECENTLY buy a new ink cartridge for your printer?
Was it working prior to the error message?INSTALL new cartridges now.

The button 1 (throttle) work intermittently. The drivers are ok (I think) and the wire is connected.
Is it broken or that just a BUG?Yes.I swear - you beat me to the same ANSWER by 10 SECONDS!!!Quote from: patio on October 06, 2010, 04:11:35 PM

Yes.

Yes... What?

HELP! RUNNING XP Pro on two WD 36GB Raptors in Stripe mode from the Serial connectors on an MSI-6702 motherboard. After 3 years of trouble-free operation would like to transfer XP Pro and all my programs and data to a single drive. Bought a single WD Caviar SE16 SATA 7200RPM 250GB drive for that purpose and thought I could drive it from a SATA connector on the motherboard but the drive is not seen in CMOS or My Computer and SCSI & RAID Controllers in Device Manager lists the two controllers but with a yellow error indicator in front of the SATA controller. My intention was to move everything from the RAID DRIVES to the single drive, then disable the RAID setup, but didn't WANT to do that until I was sure the single drive was working well.
QUESTION: Am I trying to do the impossible having the RAID drives from the Serial connectors and the single drive from a SATA connector enabled at the same time? Thought I would be able to make a selection from within CMOS. Must I disable the RAID setup before being able to see the single drive? The drive shipped without jumpers and see nothing that says one must be installed. Are they a factor?My better half's system has an Intel motherboard with only one IDE port, so she has an optical device and hard drive on that ribbon cable.

She runs a SATA drive, and there is no problem.

The only problem I had installing the SATA was that I kept confusing the two sets of physical SATA plugs on the system board. One SET of four was for individual drives. The other set of four was for a SATA RAID ARRAY.

I understand all of this does not directly answer your question, but I hope it's a start. I think it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm sure there are others here who will soon augment / correct my poor advice.

p.s. Welcome to the forums!

I have an HP monitor pavilion f50.
It has the following spec. for power supply:
INPUT Rating:
100–240 V~, 2 A max
OUTPUT Rating:
12 V === , 4.16 A (4,16 A)
Frequency: 50/60 Hz

Power Consumption: less than
36 W in operating mode .
I like to know:
1- what the equal SIGN after the V mean, the upper part of that sign is solid LINE.
2- there is no indication of polarity. Why?

The power input on the monitor is round and has 4 little pin.
it remind me of the connector at the end of the mouse.
Quote from: Ed38 on October 17, 2010, 12:02:12 PM

I like to know:
1- what the equal sign after the V mean, the upper part of that sign is solid line.

2- there is no indication of polarity. Why?

The power input on the monitor is round and has 4 little pin.

This has got me scratching my head.

I have 3 HDD's (2 IDE and one SATA).

Win XP was on the SATA but it stopped working. When I booted it WOULD just come up with Win/system32 missing. (or something close to that).

I did some poking around and it seems that the PC is not seeing the drive.

I put the windows DVD in to try a repair but the PC cant see the DVD.

I have been messing around with this for a couple of days and this is where I am.

I can boot to the DVD only if all the HDD's are disconnected. If any of the HDD's are connected then the PC wont see the DVD drive.

I put an old HDD in but the result was the same.

I have re-installed the SATA drivers and I can see all the HDD's in the BIOS.

I have cleared the CMOS but that didn't help.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Try here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545Along with trying Broni's link you should UNHOOK all drives except the SATA until the repairs are done...a confused BIOS is only going to slow down the process.
It doesn't make sense that the DVD drive isn't being recognised...check all the cables to it.
BTW is that also a SATA drive ? ?
I had all the other drives disconnected. The DVD was not a sata.

I've manged to get it working. The sata drives on the Gigabyte site were wrong and I had to find the right ones.

So now I have re-installed XP and after a couple of updates I dl'd SP2.

Now my computer takes about 30 minutes to boot up!

I don't know if I need to re-install SP2 or if a further update will make it boot quicker.

I'm getting REALLY fed up with this *censored* thing. Did you re-install the Gigabyte MBoard drivers ? ?

You should also DLoad and run the diagnostics from the SATA drive manuf. site and use them to create a bootable CD and run the extended drive TEST...your drive may be going South.

how to find the processor fault ,when motherboard is not workingHuh?Only way to test if a processor is WORKING is by putting it into a working board. PROCESSORS don't randomly get FAULTS though, they have to be overheated/burned out to stop working.Quote from: Linux711 on October 18, 2010, 11:21:21 AM

Processors don't randomly get faults

Hi guys,

Been fiddling with this for the past few days and have been having no luck so I am hoping someone here can enlighten me

I have a hard drive/motherboard/ram/processor/video card that I took from one case and put it in another. I cant seem to be able to GET it going now though.

When I go into BIOS the only thing it sees under boot options is the CD-Rom and floppy drive... Thing is though, i don't have the floppy drive actually connected to the mother board. Which makes me think that its the Hard drive... unless the Bios always lists floppy.

When I put in a XP recovery disc It boots up into the recovery console and I can actually get onto C:\Windows\, I also re-installed windows on there but when I restarted I still get the same message which is:

"reboot and select proper boot device
or insert boot media in selected boot device"

I have downloaded the manual for the motherboard which is a Intel D865PERL and as far as I can tell it is plugged in correctly. Which I'm sure can be doubtfull since I have this problem.

I removed the jump pin on the hard drive which is a 80 GB Seagate barracuda 7200. 7 since I tried all the jump spots and been getting the same thing.

Thanks for your time, I'm open to all suggestions.


EDIT: Just plugged in the floppy drive since it just hit me that maybe it needs a floppy to have all the required DEVICES... wishful thinking as I am still getting the same message on STARTUP. 1. Depends on the BIOS, but a lot do always list the floppy.

2. Check on the page of the BIOS that lists PATA (IDE) and SATA devices, not boot devices, and see if the drive is listed there and identified correction. It will usually list the manufacturer (or an abbreviation of their name) and the model number of the device.

3. DOUBLE check that the hard drive is plugged into the correct position on the cable (for IDE) or the first SATA plug (SATA0 or SATA1, depending on the motherboard).

4. It's a task, I know, but you might want to unplug all the cables and plug them all in again, just to make sure you got them all securely in place.In the drive section there is an option to ID the HDD...
Havve you ran this yet ? ?
Where is this HDD from and what is on it ? ?


IDE cabling :

MB==========================================Slave============Master

The HDD should be jumpered master and at the end of the cable.
You may also want to try a brand new cable....do a few cold boots with it disconnected 1st.http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15200/eng/D865PERL_ProductGuide03_English.pdf
Check also pages 58, 65 to 68.

For some strange reason my keyboard works on bios, and there's no problem when booting. but as soon is time to enter the password on windows it will not type or let me put caplock or anything...That's the opposite of what we usually get!

What kind of keyboard? USB or PS/2 or wireless?

What operating system are you using?Is a PS/2 regular keyboard, and i'm using windows xp sp2
okay, so you have never used a USB keyboard with your MACHINE?

I sense corrupted keyboard drivers It's a long shot, but boot to "Safe Mode" and see if keyboard works there.If you've never successfully booted Windows in normal mode (and logged in) since the problem appeared, try starting using the "LAST known good configuration".

Tap the F8 key (about once per second or quicker) during system startup to ACCESS the Windows Advanced Options Menu. Using the arrow keys of the keyboard, select ITEM "Last known good configuration", followed by the Enter key. Windows should start with the configuration (registry?) of the last successful login.

Using Safe Mode to successfully login does not overwrite the "Last known good configuration". So you can attempt/use Safe Mode without losing the ABILITY to fall back to the "Last known good configuration" of a normal boot.

Thanks jason2074 & murphy1 for your replies. Sorry for missing in action for a couple of days due to my travel plans.

TODAY when I switched on the machine, it kept rebooting 3-4 times until finally there was no power supply. I removed & reinserted the power cable to EXPERIENCE the same thing. Guess this gives us reasons to suspect a failing PSU. GOING to get one, will replace & update tomorrow.I'd borrow 1 1st to make sure it's in fact the culprit...Quote

rebooting 3-4 times until finally there was no power supply

Keep the HDD....thats what i do.

laptop I have an hp PAVILION dv6000. It has the same problem, that there is no display. And even THOUGH I tried new ram STICKS pc2 5300 in the ram SLOTS, the display never came on, just the same power on and then shutoff after 2 seconds.

Can I deduce from this that these ram slots are bad, or could it be something else? I have already DONE a hard reset, but its still the same resultTake the OLD ram sticks. Place one stick in one slot and attempt boot. If it works you know that stick is good and that slot is good. Mix and match until you find a working combination.

Then you know if the old ram or a slot is dead.

Then try a stick of the new ram in the slot you have tested to be working (or if both are working go for slot A)
Then if that works add the other stick of ram - if it now fails swap the ram, if it fails again try the first stick of NEW ram in the B slot and attempt to boot. This will determine whether the new ram is at fault or if it is the slots.immental,

I tried the trial and error method like you said, and it turns out that the ram slots are bad since I tried new ram sticks one at a time. If the ram slots are bad, then is there any way of reviving the laptop, meaning can the ram slots be replaced easily?

is the 8mb cache size better than the 2mb for burning faster , LIKE making a dvd MOVIE

wondering, if so , then i'll get

In my opinion, it doesn't matter. An 8MB buffer on an OPTICAL drive that's moving 22MB of data per second while burning - data that's not reused at all - doesn't mean much when the buffer is only capable of holding .33 seconds worth of data. On a (SLOWER) CD-only burner, the 8MB buffer might have made a difference in the absence of BURN-Proof technology, but buffer size these days is largely irrelevant. IMHO the 8MB buffer is just a SELLING point.

I do IT at an environmental laboratory. We have DELL optiplex 330s, and similar towers, operating 4 or so feet from an acid bath 24/7 in (a highly corrosive environment), and as such, they last maybe a year before they're reduced to beep codes due to corrosion on the mobo, ram, etc.

Does anyone else have this problem? Any advice on extending these machines' short lives? I've started with sticking boxes of baking soda in the case, but what about possibly applying an anti-corrosive coating?

Thanks!Computers aren't really designed to work in that kind of an environment. The only thing you could really do is completely seal off the case from the environment in that room, but then you run into ventilation problems for the computer, leading to heat build-up. Years ago I built a system used outdoors at a dock on the sea, constant EXPOSURE to moist salty sea air. I managed to find a heavy-duty steel case electroplated with zinc designed for such an environment (don't remember who made it). I don't know how resistant zinc is to whatever you've GOT going there, but something similar MIGHT HELP protect the insides better. There's still the issue of ventilation. If you seal it off, you're going to get heat problems. Might be able to dissipate that with liquid cooling, but it might not be enough.

One of the newer plexiglass cases might also even be more resistant to corrosion. If sealed off and with a closed cooling system, like liquid cooling, it might make the computer last longer.

You could also move the computers to an environmentally controlled room, but you probably would have done that already if the computers didn't need to be where they are.Allen Bradley (Rockwell Automation) industrial computers are used worldwide for these type of applications. Contact your local representative.What about moving the computers into the room next door. Using extension cables so you can still have screen, keyboard and mouse etc next to the acid. You can also have input output boxes on the walls for a more professional job. If you need USB ports use a USB hub, and if you need instant access to DVD Drive etc, use a USB powered one.

pc/ 98'dell dimension L400c DESKTOP 512mb {max memory} 2- mem.slots - present slots/ 1-256mb+ 1-64mb memory. i was wanting purchase another micron 256mb memory from a seller on ebay & the seller memory spec. listings matched my micron ,but the CL2 part!?? what does" CL2" term or meaning in relation to a memroy upgrade?? could these 2 closely matched microns memory's upgrade be compaditible other than one having CL2?? thanks! Welcome to the CH forums.

Quote from: Toms Hardware

CL = CAS Latency.

CAS = Column Access Strobe

LATENCY = In a computer system, latency is often used to mean any delay or waiting that INCREASES real or perceived response time beyond the response time desired. Specific contributors to computer latency include mismatches in data speed between the microprocessor and input/output devices and inadequate data buffers.

Memory is basically a MATRIX of CAPACITORS set up in a set of columns and rows. (Think of it as a big spreadsheet.)

The memory is accessed first by the column and then the row. When dealing with CL2 and CL3, the column is accessed and then the row. When the memory is looking for additional information that is not contained in that row it has to start the process all over again. This is where the CL part comes in. With a CL2 there is a delay for the strobe to complete. So under regular operation it would be 1 regular access CYCLE + the CL penalty. That would be 3 cycles for CL2 and 4 cycles for CL3 in order to prepare data for output. (For DDR it is a little different but basically the same. DDR SDRAM uses clock forwarding and thus is faster than SDR SDRAM)

Keep in mind that this is only one latency timing. There are a bunch of others.

For all intents and purposes, CL2 is CAS2 RAM. The proper terminology is CL. (CAS Latency)

CL2 is one half clock cycle faster than CL2.5 and one full clock cycle faster than CL3. It is faster because the delay is shorter.

A little bit of background:
For the last week, my computer has been giving me warnings that my hard drive was going to fail soon. So yesterday, I FINALLY got around to working on it. I started, copy the image of the hard drive to another hard drive I had. That way I could send the hard drive back to the manufacturer, and not experience any downtime. When I WENT to do it (using acronis, by the way) it told me it had some bad sectors (or something of the sort), and that I need to do a chkdsk. So I went into the recovery console, and ran chkdsk E: /r. It was taking forever, so I decided to go to sleep for the night. When I woke up, there were a bunch of errors telling me that I had run out of space on the hard drive for repairs (I had 200gb remaining...), and it exited with error code 50 and said that it couldn't save the log.

I tried to boot back up, and now, it won't even detect the disk half the time (the only reason I know it's detecting it is because it's giving me the "imminent failure on drive 0" message), and when it does, it won't detect it in the installation of windows I installed after the fact. I've decided on giving up on the hard drive image. I just want my files! Is there any way I can get to them?The drive is OBVIOUSLY shot. You can try slaving it to another drive.Wow... That was a fast REPLY, thanks.

*censored*... That's exactly what I didn't want to hear. Anyways, how do I slave it? You're not talking about a raid configuration, are you?

Edit: Nope. I'm an idiot, I know what slaving is. Can you do that with a laptop though? No. You attach it to a workable system and extract the data you need. Full instructions:

http://www.dtidata.com/resourcecenter/2007/04/23/how-to-slave-hard-drive/Slave Drive Info...Heee
Any particular recovery program you'd recommend?Are you not able to access the drive when slaving it?I'm at a loss for what to do now. The drive is now showing up on my computer, I can see all the files (for the most part), but any time I try to do anything with them, I get an error telling me the semaphore period has expired. Windows ALSO tells me it has problems interfacing with teh device.

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my computer with a new graphics card, a GeForce 8800GT, and I will need a new power supply to power it. I understand wattage (I currently have a 450w PSU and I'm probably looking to get a 750w PSU), but I'm really baffled by all the talk of pins and rails... and it's making it HARD to determine which power supplies would be compatible with the card and/or with my motherboard. Maybe pins and rails are nothing to worry about, but I have no idea. If anyone can suggest a power supply to me (I'm hoping to spend under $120 on it, if possible), and tell me if this card will be okay with my computer's specs, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is a link to the specific card I want to get: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150252

And here are my computer's specs (let me know if you need something more specific):

Motherboard: ASUS P5GD1-VM
Processor: Intel Pentium 4, 3.6 GHz
RAM: 2GB, DDR
OS: Microsoft XP, SP2

Here is a link to my motherboard's specs: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=25&l4=0&model=165&modelmenu=1

THANKS in advance for any help you guys can offer. I really appreciate it.
first off, your motherboard has a PCI-E X16 slot, meaning ANY PCI-E X16 card is compatible with it.

secondly,not trying to sell you anything, the 8800GTS 512mb performs much better then the 8800GT for only $60 extra.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130337

regarding the PSU, Corsair and OCZ are my choices. i personally like corsair more, but if you are low on funds OCZ tends to be a little cheaper.

750w is total overkill for your system, i would recommend 500w- 650w. but, quiet honestly, i dont believe you need a new power supply, 450w should be pretty satisfactory.
Agree with Homer on this one...

Good Source of Info

They are pricey but i visit here for reference only.Ahh... well, if I don't have to buy a new power supply then I could put the money I would have spent on that toward the 8800GTS. Are you sure 450 will handle it? I've heard horror stories of power supplies frying processors and stuff.

Also, I read that the the 8800GTS is a "dual slot" card? I'm not sure what that means... is it compatible with my motherboard? Does that mean it takes up both of my PCI-e slots (I do have 2, right? The white ones?).

Haha... sorry I know so little about this stuff. But I'm poor and I don't trust the idiots on campus who claim they know what they're doing. At least I know for sure that I will do my research and not let something blow up. Thanks SO much for your help, homer and patio. Honestly, you guys are saving me a lot of money and making my life a whole lot better. Quote

Are you sure 450 will handle it?

Also, I read that the the 8800GTS is a "dual slot" card?

is it compatible with my motherboard?

Thanks SO much for your help, homer and patio.

If you are ever wanting to upgrade graphics... you have no slots left. and you will have to sell your 8800GTS.

which you wont get much for when its time to upgrade.

If you go the 8800GT and then upgrade and buy another 1.

I think the mobo I have right now only has one PCI-e slot, but if I eventually upgrade the mobo and get one with two slots I might want to be able to add a second graphics card.

I am installing an ULTRA ATA RAID PCI card to try to utilize my hard drives that were configured RAID 0 in a PC that the old Intel 3.06Ghz processor crapped out in. The hard drives have some very important data on them so I am trying not to have to reformat them. My question is; is there a way to tell the CMOS to look to a PCI slot as boot DEVICE?

Some INFO, I just installed a Foxconn 661FX7MJ Motherboard with an Intel P4 3.4Ghz processor. The BIOS is Phoenix AwardBIOS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My computer has been crashing randomly while playing video games. Specifically only Starcraft 2 (just because that's all I play). The crashes have been becoming more frequent. Sometimes I get an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, but other times, my computer simply restarts on its own.

Even before I overclocked my processor (no voltage increases, just the processor is OC'd), the game would crash. After I overclocked, I felt like the crashes were less frequent, but lately, I feel that crashes are becoming much more frequent. Today I experienced four hard crashes. A couple times I GOT the BSOD with said "IRQL" error, but the other two I had the computer simply spaz out on me and then restart on its own. When my computer crashes, the audio loops for a couple seconds while the video becomes a little altered. The video seems CROPPED with a black frame.

I don't believe my overclock is what's causing the problem. I'm afraid this is a GPU problem, or maybe a RAM issue, despite having ran the memory tester on the motherboard and the RAM had no errors. What's especially strange to me is that when I tried to get rid of my OC settings by selecting the 'Optimal Default Settings' in the bios, my computer wouldn't even finish booting. I mean I would get to the desktop but the computer would never finish loading programs. It would simply hard freeze and force me to shut it off.

So I don't know what is the problem. How can I get started on getting rid of the hard crashes? Are there any diagnostic tests I can run on my system?

Some specs:
WINDOWS 7 64bit
Norton Security Suite
Biostar TA890FXE
AMD 1055t OC'd to 3.6 with stock voltage
Two Radeon 4850's in Crossfire
4GB 1333MHz (stock speed)
750W PSUI would suggest you to follow a few things in order to avoid the computer crashes
The most common reason for a computer crash is known as hardware conflict. Hardware conflict occurs when two pieces of hardware-a keyboard and mouse, for example-share the same interrupt request channel (IRQ). The simplest way to avoid this is by checking the IRQ's being utilized at a given moment, and then re-installing any device that is using a repeated IRQ.
Random Access Memory or RAM problems could be causing your computer to crash. By mixing RAM chips of different speeds, your computer will be forced to run them all at a lower speed and can hence cause a crash. You can avoid this problem by making sure all the RAM chips installed within your computer are the same speed, or by increasing the wait state of the RAM within the BIOS settings on your computer.
After a few weeks of use, the information on your hard drive begins to become fragmented. It is an excellent idea to defragment your hard drive every week or so to keep your computer running smooth and FAST.
Fatal VXD Errors and OE Exceptions are typically caused by video card problems. These can usually be fixed quite easily by reducing the resolution of the video display.
Another cause of computer crashes is software that has been installed improperly. The easiest way to fix this problem when you suspect software malfunction is by completely removing the suspect software, then re-installing it.
All central processing units or CPU's generate a lot of heat and are fitted with factory installed cooling apparatus. When the CPU overheats, it causes a crash, which is known as a kernel error. A great investment to remedy this problem is an after market cooling system, or larger fan.
The final problem, which could be causing your computer to crash, is the power supply. An interrupted power supply or surge can wreak havoc on your system. A good idea is investing in an uninterrupted power supply.
I hope you get what you need.
Regards
JhonThat error message has nothing to do with IRQ assignments. It is generally caused by driver issues. Update all major drivers (video, audio, nic) and check for a bios flash.

I recently came into a "little" EXTRA cash and decided to blow it all in one spot like all college students do. Before i go to tiger direct, I want to know what yall think I should buy (PC component wise) to build the BEST gaming rig around, a couple of little rules though:
1.) Need MICROSOFT OFFICE, after all, i need somewhere to do homework
2.) NO OVERCLOCKING. oh god the horrors
3.) Every component MUST be included (Monitor, and mouse included) except speakers

Chicago Culinary Arts Institute

I am running a 9850BE in an Asus M2N32-SLi mobo.
I have UPDATED the BIOS to 1802 version and it runs OK, however because it does not support HT3 or split plane, I am not getting the full benefit from it.
After MUCH Googling about AM2+ boards it seems to recognise the 9850 they need a BIOS flash, (although I have flashed BIOS's a few times I am wary about doing it on a £150 plus motherboard).
Is anyone running one of these processors, if so which motherboard are you USING and what RAM are you running it with.

hi guyz, my friend lately ask me to reformat his computer using windows xp sp2, first i do is cheking the BIos then everything is fine, the hardisk is seen inthe bios and also the dvdrom, then i start to reformat it, but after the windows is STARTING up after i accept the agreement it displays an error like this (152625Mb of Hardisk, 0 at Id, 0 at bus, 0 at Atapi)set up cannot CONTINUE, anyone help me what this error MEANS?

is my hardisk gone wrong?but it has seen in the bios

tnxhey i have a dell 1545 laptop an getting err. 2000-0146 can this be fix or just put a new hard drive in it
i'm running vistaaccording to the Dell Support site, error code 2000-0146 indicates: DST Log contains previous error(s). This means that the drive is failing and needs to be replaced. Quote from: shuijin on October 18, 2010, 05:31:12 AM

(152625Mb of Hardisk, 0 at Id, 0 at bus, 0 at Atapi)set up cannot continue, anyone help me what this error means?

Hey Homer, I am ready to buy my parts for my Gaming computer build. On the components list I did not see a sound CARD, can I use the one on my old computer? I do not need the DVD burner But want a lg HDD 500gb to 750gb Heres the list you gave me-- heres a components list with a budget of $1500

***ALL PRICES RETRIEVED FROM WWW.NCIX.COM***

Motherboard: EVGA 780i SLI link
CPU: Intel E8400 link
Graphics card: 9800GTX link
RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready DDR2 1066 2Gb (2*1GB sticks) link
HDD: Seagate 250gb 7200 RPM link
Optical DRIVE: LG DVD Burner link
Case: Antec 900 gamer case link
Power Supply: Corsair 620HX link

the evga 780i has integrated sound that can support up to 7.1 surround sound. you can use your sound card from your old comp and disable the integrated sound if you wish, but it depends on what your sound card is. if you know what make/model it is please post it here.

if you would like to purchase a new sound card, i suggest the Xtreme gamer from creative.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23249&vpn=70SB073A00003&manufacture=Creative%20Labs

Quote

But want a lg HDD 500gb to 750gb

Can I use my old version Of windows XP operating system on my new build computer?

Also , can you give me some other sound cards that will work with this new build.

if you would like to purchase a new sound card, i suggest the Xtreme gamer from creative.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23249&vpn=70SB073A00003&manufacture=Creative%20Labs

I recently formatted PC & re-installed windows xp on my Dell Dimension 5100…..all thought to be fine til I’ve just discovered DVD’s wont play using the CD/DVD drive….(I’ve ruled out the disk as tried several I know that used to work on it)

I used windows media player v11 & that was telling me I needed a decoder, I dloaded XP codec pack & MANAGED to get WMP to play with the sound now, but still no picture & no error messages this time. I ALSO have installed the xvid codec

I searched the net & found it could be video card probs….so under device manager I found no tab for “display” but under other devices I have yellow “!” against:
Ethernet controller
PCI modem
SM bus controller
Video controller
Video controller (vga compatible)

If I double click any of them they say “driver not installed” but there manufacturer is listed as “unknown” so I’m lost!

I have no other disks left over that I’ve not installed after formatting.

I’ve tried the DirectX diagnostic tool & under display it has under device section:
Name: (blank)
Manufacturer: n/a
Chip type: n/a
…everything under this is ‘n/a’ apart from display mode,
monitor: (blank)
under the drivers section in display it says
Main driver: vga.dll
Version: 5.01.2600.0000 (English)
WHQL Logo’d:yes
Mini VDD: vga.sys
VDD: n/a
DDI version : unknown

Help!!!! Please!!!



What did you use to re-install XP? Discs provided by Dell or just a regular XP CD?

You have the "!" next to those items because the drivers have not been installed for them. You either need to find the CD they're on or visit Dell's website and download those drivers.

As for the DVD codec, I don't know what Dell included in their software package with the system, but it probably contains the codec you need. As far as I know, XP Codec Pack does not include a DVD codec.Sounds like you still need a real dvd decoder, but all the "real" ones cost money, like Power DVD's decoder or Nero's decoder...Dell normally supplies its own "media centre" which contains DVD codecs.

There is an application CALLED VLC Media Player that plays almost anything, straight out of the box

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Try that and reply back

Please note that even after installing VLC, it will still be the only player that will be able to play DVD's

KurtisAhh quaxo BEAT me to it...soz mate!

Also, about your unknown hardware, download and install this > http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html

Its called Unknown Device Identifier and it will tell you whats in your computer, and you just have to note down what ur missing in ur device manager and theres the drivers you need to get

KurtisDownload, and install Everest: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
Open it, click Computer, then Summary.
In upper menu, go Report>Quick Report-Summary
Save it in text file, and paste it in your next post.
Don't include anything under line Debug - PCI

So FIRST of all the plug for the HEADPHONES are on the front. And my speakers are LIKE INSTALLED into my MONITOR. So is like my PC screwed?

I'm so confused here and sorry for the long lead up to story....
Last NIGHT LIGHTNING hit a tree in our YARD that had a running line for the dog hooked in the tree that also led to the garage which was plugged into the house, so the lightning hit the outlet that the garage was plugged into (not the outlet that the computer was plugged into)
The computer was off at the time of this incident and I was on it earlier that morning and everything was fine then. My monitor, modem, cpu, printer, and speakers were all plugged into the same surge protector. After the lightening hit everything else was working except for the cpu. It will turn on but nothing is coming up on the monitor ( I have tried two other monitors to make SURE it was not the monitor). The surge protector did not trip when hit and everything else was fine...sooooo what is going on..where do I even start to find out what is wrong??


If it matters I am on a HP Slimline s3300Z series, os windows xp. ask anything else and you can email me directly if needed. [emailprotected]

E-mail addy removed to prevent SPAMIt is not a good idea to post your email address on here; it may even be against policy.

Unfortunately the surge protector may not have saved the computer. You probably need to take it to a repair shop.
Borrow a known good PSU (power supply unit ) of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there to see if the PSU took the hit.

Also physically remove the modem before trying this. You may need a NEW modem as well.Folks... always unplug computers from the AC mains and also from phone or cable during stormy weather.
I've thankfully been saved by a few sacrificial modems in the past when i was not at home as the storms rolled thru....
Much cheaper than a new MBoard and CPU so i gave them a proper burial !

My laptop dell inspiron 1520 was connected to the amplifier speaker and the same cable (DUAL connector ) was connected to the cd player , when I want to use the laptop , I use
OTHERWISE I use the CD player , suddenly there was a electrical SURGE due to loose electric connection and my audio cable was burn out , and the laptop was
laptop was connected to the cable , after this surge my laptop is not giving the SOUND output , I used another USB sound card and still the sound it not coming ,
I have tried to UPDATE the driver in the device manager , scan for hardware changes , uninstall and then reinstall . no luck

Please help me to figure out the problem , I appreciate your help , Have you tried playing the sound just through the laptops speakers?

Dell Inspiron 6000. Its currently has 512MB PC2 4200 ram, and windows xp. It was working fine yesterday. I wanted to increase the ram, so I first went to the site crucial.com to find out how much memory it could take, and it reported it could take upto 2GB of either PC2 5300 or PC2 6400. So I figured the fact that it had PC2 4200 meant that the laptop was running with slower speed ram. Anyway I got 2 1GB sticks of PC5300 RAM, and replaced the PC2 4200 with these sticks. Now the laptop would power on, the fan would come on, and then in two seconds the laptop powered off. I RESEATED the memory, and tried again. But same thing, the laptop powered on, the fan came on, and then the laptop shut off in two seconds. I then replaced the ram with the original ram, seated it properly, but still same thing. And now Im at a loss to figure out why? Any help? It appears that there is a difference of opinion as to what RAM that computer is designed to work with. Here is a link to the CNET review of your computer. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-6000/4507-3121_7-31257675.html
I have found that Crucial as good as it is is not always correct on it's recommendations. teunorth
P.S. Have you tried the "old" RAM module in more than one of the available slots?The are two ram slots and two 256 mb sticks of 4200. So one goes in each slot. When I replaced with the 5300, I had two 1G sticks 5300. So I used both the slots in either case. But for some reason the laptop doesnt boot up now. Is there any chance I could have messed up something by using the PC2 5300 memory in case they were the wrong sticks of memory.Unlikely--however reinstalling your original ram should have had you up and running again. However i am not sure that you have understood what i was asking you to try. Given you have 2 original 256mb modules and 2 ram slots. One at a time try each ram module in each of the ram slots and see if one stick will get you running again. Then if putting the 2nd in causes the computer to malfunction then that ram module is likely defective.truenorth
P.S. I assume that via my link you have noted that even the 4200 ram is NOT the stated type in the CNET review.trueNorth,

I know I saw in the review link that you posted that the correct memory was PC2 3200.

Anyway I did what you suggested and I found out that both the ram sticks are good, but that when installed together, one of the slots is bad so that causes the computer to shut down. I found out which slot is bad. I want to put in more ram so I guess if I put in the maximum 2G RAM in the good slot and leave the other slot empty, it should be okay right?

Why would the other slot suddenly have gone bad though?
Yes if you can find out for certain what the correct ram type is then you could put a 2gb ram module in the "good " slot. However i would NOT purchase ANY ram modules until i verified the type required. Dell ought to be able to verify that for you. Even their web site should list your computer and indicate the correct RAM. I would also want to ensure that in fact it is expandable to 2gb. I believe i did see that on my link. But do NOT rely on the Crucial site for that (i found them to have been in error on that score before). It may "take" 2gb but not recognize it all. Take your time and research it before buying anything. As to why the slot is defective --probably improper removal or insertion of a ram module causing damage to the slot. Are you sure it is seating properly and the end locks are engaging when fully inserted? truenorthYes, it seems like it seats properly, all the way in with the locking mechanisms holding it in. But I guess maybe the strips that are in the slot are damaged and probably got so when I might have put something in the wrong way.
Ill check up about the max RAM POSSIBLE and get that one stick of whatever the max ram is.

By the way, can you find out any computer review on cnet?


Try it and see. truenorthIf it hasn't been suggested yet i would suggest travaeling to Crucial.com and run the online scanner...
From all the symptoms it sounds like bad/incompatible RAM...
You may have PURCHASED to wrong type/timing..etc...
It can be returned however if it was a reputable Vendor.Hi patio,

I already went to crucial.com and found out the max memory it could take and also what memory. PC2 3200. But tell me one thing, is it possible that some other connection somewhere like the lcd or the hard drive could be loose and therefore cause the computer to shut down like it does? Or is this power on, shut down behavior just indicative of bad ram or defective ram slots?Shashgo, You seem to be confirming via your last post that YOU have determined that you used the WRONG type ram in your computer and are NOW aware of the correct type. My suggestion would be to now determine for certain how much ram the computer will recognize (LOOKS like 2gb) and go with that in the one slot that you know works. I hate to say that NOTHING else could cause your current issue but as your own experimentation has SHOWN you where the fault lies why would you be pursuing other possibilities at this stage?
Patio, Quote from OP's original post = "I wanted to increase the ram, so I first went to the site crucial.com to find out how much memory it could take, and it reported it could take upto 2GB of either PC2 5300 or PC2 6400." Which resulted in my cautionary advice to the OP. truenorthtrueNorth,

I went and bought a stick of ram of the right type pc2 3200 and inserted it into the good ram slot. And guess what it worked. There is another laptop I have which is an hp pavilion dv6000. It has the same problem, that there is no display. And even though I tried new ram sticks pc2 5300 in the ram slots, the display never came on, just the same power on and then shutoff after 2 seconds

Can I deduce from this that these ram slots are bad, or could it be something else? I have already done a hard reset, but its stil the same result
I am very pleased that you have now the correct ram in your computer and that it works properly (minus one damaged ram slot). You do not mention whether the "new " single module is a 2 gb and what it is allowing as usable.
I note your further request for assistance re you other computer. I would urge you to create a new post for that issue and please give as much info on it as possible--better too much than too little. I am going to note this post as solved so as other members will be aware of that. It does NOT close it and members including yourself if needed can still view it and add to it.truenorth
Thanks for your help with this laptop, truenorth
You are most welcome.truenorth

When I play a movie on my Acer laptop after a while (5-20 minutes) thin colored lines will start to appear on the left side of the screen. Approximately 12 lines within an inch of space. If I move the screen back and forth the lines will disappear and then reappear, but will never completely disappear when I release the edge of the screen. This computer has never been dropped since I have owned it. Any thoughts out there as to what may be CAUSING this problem? ThanksPlug the laptop into an EXTERNAL tv (or external monitor) via whatever cable options the computer and the tv/monitor have AVAILABLE and view the RESULTANT display. See if it alters the situation. If it does then it is pointing to possibly the display monitor of the laptop. Does this happen with all streaming video--IE You tube presentations? If it does not then it may be pointing to your video card/chip. Is this a new phenomenon?truenorthThank you. I will try your suggestions when I can get some adapters that will allow me to hook up my laptop to another monitor. It has not always done this.

Sony pcv 7732 has an alarm SIREN that keeps going on.
What kind of alarm and is it coming out through the internal speaker or the desktop speakers?The sound COMES from the internal speaker like a police siren.If you want to disable internal speaker or know more about what kind of alarm you might have : http://www.ehow.com/how_5730515_stop-computer-alarms-bios.htmlBefore I disabled an alarm, I would try to find out why the alarm is sounding.

Programs like Speed Fan can monitor your temperatures and tell you if it's a temperature problem.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.phpQuote from: brennerw on October 19, 2010, 08:02:17 AM

Sony pcv 7732 has an alarm siren that keeps going on.

This is not problem question but a search for some information, I think this is the right place to put it.

I've had my current computer for going on 7 years, and in that time I have replaced the Video CARD, Sound card, Memory, Power Supply, and even the Hard Drive. Though I have gone back to using the original Hard Drive and slaving the new one to it, as well as using an External Hard Drive.

Now I have considered getting a new computer, but I thought all I would need is a new tower, which lead me to think that all I really need is a new Motherboard and CPU's. So here is my request for information:

What all would be involved in finding a new Motherboard for my computer?

I assume I would have to make sure it would fit the tower, how do I go about doing that?

So any and all information would be much appreciated. This page details the sizes of different motherboards - You will most likely have ATX or micro-ATX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factorYour question is really quite general as there will undoubtedly be many factors to consider if you go the route you are proposing. If i might be permitted (without knowing exactly the types and quality/performance levels of the components that you have already replaced). It occurs to me that you may wish to consider an alternative and that is to purchase (or build if that is your desire) a new state of the art computer. Using a car as an analogy you have replaced the transmission/radio/suspension and other parts but it is still a 2004 Buick. First i would ask why are you seeking to do this "upgrade" of fundamental components (what is it you seek that your current computer is NOT providing?) Define your computer needs then research what would fill those "needs" In changing the stated components you may have omitted to realize that "they" will demand other changes to accommodate them . So i urge you to go through the process of determination i have suggested as an alternative to what you are proposing i believe you will have a BETTER result and probably less costly. truenorth Some details to consider;
1) Surely, you'd need new memory since a new motherboard would not use the older type memory you now have.

2) I doubt that your video card is a PCI Express card. It's probably AGP, or even PCI. So, it wouldn't work with a new motherboard. Of course, a new motherboard with onboard video may provide sufficient video performance, depending on what you do with your computer.

3) Will your current supply work with a new motherboard? Does it support SATA devices? Does its power cord connector for the motherboard have the 24-pin configuration you'd probably need for a new motherboard?

4) Is the "new" hard drive you bought IDE or SATA? If IDE, it probably won't work with a new motherboard, which may only support SATA drives. So, to use your "new", you'd need to get a USB external enclosure and make an external hard drive with it in order to use it.

5) Your sound probably won't be needed with a new motherboard. But, if you did want to use it, you need to verify it will work with a new motherboard; this is similar situation to the video card. Actually while my computer is 7 years old, it does have PIC Express slots. I found this out last YEAR when I replaced my video card and the Memory is DDR2, both of which surprised me when I replaced said parts. And both Hard Drives are SATA. I also had to up the power supply to 750w for the Video Card.

So in effect, the only part of my computer that is in fact 7 years old is the motherboard and the tower. And of course my CD/DVD drives.

Now the reason I want to upgrade my computer, either by buying a new Motherboard or just by buying a new computer, is because I play STO. Now while my current computer can technically play STO it only has 1 Pentium 4 CPU, and the minimum for the game is Dual Cores I believe.

And my question was general simply because I do not know what all I need to know. But let me try and lay out my intentions.

My main concerns are:

How much money buying a new motherboard vs a new computer.
How much work is involved in putting in a new motherboard.
What all do I need to consider when LOOKING for a new motherboard.
So, nothing?Well really those of us that have tried to assist you have tried to point you in a direction that will assist you--however we cannot do the decision making for you. Once again your questions are too general and have multiple possible answers.
As an example let us look at your 1st question: "How much money buying a new motherboard vs a new computer."
1.What is the cost of your chosen motherboard?
2. What is the cost of your chosen computer?
I doubt at this point that in fact you have chosen either. So how can we possibly advise you and anyway at the point when you have made your choices it becomes a basic arithmetic equation (notwithstanding my and soybeans cautions re additional possible requirements that may arise).
The answer to your 2nd question is also variable depending on your choice--but generally not an insurmountable task. (again depending on what else you decide to change along with the motherboard for instance a CPU). How knowledgeable are you in doing this?
The answer to your final question is based on comments i made earlier"define your goals"--current and future - as to what you want to achieve from your computer "needs".
We really go out of our way here on the CH forums to assist members --but we cannot do it for you and that includes you doing some research and decision making. truenorth
If i might suggest --do some research --identify what you think is a suitable motherboard to achieve your desires and then ask the forum for their comments on THAT motherboard and/or any other components you want to add/change.Hmm...I don't think I can get much more general than that. I currently don't have a motherboard in mind, since I am not sure what all I need to consider when looking for one. At the moment this is all preparation for the future, as I currently don't have the means to buy either a new motherboard or a new tower.

I can answer a couple of your comments; I do intend on getting a new CPU. In fact the whole point of this is to get a multi-core system. Also I don't have any real expertise, at least not with installing a motherboard. Though I know someone who buildings computers, so I will most likely pay them to do it.

Now this next question is general, I seem to do that a lot. As I have understand the past comments, it is possible for a new motherboard and CPU could cost just as much as a new tower. Am I correct in that assessment?

Dose any of that help clear things up?


Quick addendum: I am currently on NewEgg looking at Motherboard/CPU/VGA combos, with a price range of $100 - $200. I see where it shows the memory standard, which is DDR2 which I have. And I am assuming that they have PCI Express card slots. So anything else I should be looking at?Personally I would make up my mind what I want to use the computer for: serious gaming, lots of video encoding, or general use. Depending on whether I wanted a really powerful high end PC or a mid range machine, that would point me towards a choice of processor (AMD or Intel?) and possibly RAM amount (4, 8 or 16 GB?). Of course you need a hard drive and optical drive. I might pick a notional system just for the sake of argument and then, doing some Web research, proceed to evaluate it against my needs. Of course, if you are used to a 2004 computer (you have not said much about its specification) you will find even a low end modern computer to be much faster. Something like a mid range AMD 3,4 or 6-core processor and 4 or 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive is going to be a pretty capable machine.
Quote from: SupremeLegate on June 07, 2011, 12:49:39 PM

Now this next question is general, I seem to do that a lot. As I have understand the past comments, it is possible for a new motherboard and CPU could cost just as much as a new tower. Am I correct in that assessment?

You can spend the same amount of money on a higher end motherboard and CPU as you would on a lower end complete system box with everything in it, but so what?

Personally I would make up my mind what I want to use the computer for: serious gaming, lots of video encoding, or general use. Depending on whether I wanted a really powerful high end PC or a mid range machine, that would point me towards a choice of processor (AMD or Intel?) and possibly RAM amount (4, 8 or 16 GB?). Of course you need a hard drive and optical drive. I might pick a notional system just for the sake of argument and then, doing some Web research, proceed to evaluate it against my needs. Of course, if you are used to a 2004 computer (you have not said much about its specification) you will find even a low end modern computer to be much faster. Something like a mid range AMD 3,4 or 6-core processor and 4 or 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive is going to be a pretty capable machine.

Quote from: reddevilggg on October 20, 2010, 05:56:28 PM

Didn't think there were that many native americans left!

As in, free to shoot each other in their homes and brave enough to blow themselves up as well.

Actually I don't think you can just get a large amount of explosives. You could of course just shoot the HDD with a few dozen shotgun blasts.

Really, most of the time it's an exercise in self-import. In order to justify using an expensive and rather arduous type of destructive method like that, the cost of that data getting into the wrong hands has to be HIGHER then the cost of destroying it. the FBI isn't going to reconstruct your hard drive to recover your vacation pictures, OK? No non-industrial persons data needs anything more then a DBAN wipe to "protect" anything else is simply stroking the ego of your own importance. First, in order for ANYBODY to ever consider reconstructing said data, they need to have an idea what is on it and deem it worth recovery. Your fallout 3 game saves simply aren't as valuable as you MIGHT think. Neither is your doctoral thesis. Besides, if they know what's on the hard drive or even have an idea about it, clearly it's not "top secret" which would essentially be a pre-requisite to any sort of large scale reconstruction. Almost all the methods are far to ineconomical to even consider in this case; simply DBAN wipe it and use it for something else, or if your a paranoid delusional freak you can hit it WIT ha sledgehammer. Starting to mess about with explosives to protect your precious vacation pictures from falling into the hands of evil seems a bit over the top, and I don't think it would make a particularly honourable death if you happened to blow yourself up in the process.

The Only true way to conclusively prevent any being in the universe from getting access to your apparently universally coveted vacation pictures would be to remove said data from the universe to begin with. A 'la a black hole. Sure, blowing up or melting a hard drive can prevent humans from reconstructing the data, but if your crazy enough to think that any person would give a flying dung beetle about your data then clearly you've entered the land of the crazy and it's assumed you also might SUSPECT that aliens would be after it. Aliens, with their clearly superior technology, may have ways of recovering data even from melted piles of metal.

Even sending it into the sun doesn't destroy the matter, it just get's vaporized. a sufficiently motivated race of aliens working for hundreds of years may be able to accumulate the stellar dust that once comprised your hard drive and using advanced technology reconstruct it, and then to your horror they would be able to see your visit to Fuji. THE BASTARDS! therefore, the only surefire way is to remove it from the universe and drop it in a black hole.

This causes quite a conundrum, since even if humans could travel through space to a black hole- how could you trust anybody? the Pilot might make a copy of your data before you remove it from the universe- the steward might as well. Therefore you would have to go alone- also, you'd need to go naked, otherwise they or the aforementioned alien race might hide some sort of communications device in your clothing... but they might put a tiny transmitter in your food also, which means you would have to refrain from eating from the point you announce your intentions to the time you leave. In fact it might be better if you were to simply not tell anybody.

With your covert launch known only by the flight coordinator, you only need to kill him to destroy the last known witness. At this point, killing seems easy- after all, if you don't kill him, the aliens might get a hold of your fiji vacation pictures. That would be devastating for some reason that I cannot even fictitiously rationalize. Now, you've managed to escape and are now in orbit of Cygnus X-1, prepared to drop the hard drive into the black hole and therefore remove it from the universe.

Then you realize, that one of the theories is that a black hole is in fact a "portal "to an entirely separate universe... so it's feasible that your hard drive, while removed from this universe, might materialize in yet another where sentient beings might have the ability to recover and view your fiji vacation photos. Therefore, your only choice is to go into the black hole with it. So, naked and starving as well as cold (to help prevent stowaways) you enter the black hole and are squeezed into spaghetti and die.

However, you die knowing that your Fuji photos are probably safe.

Probably.

The end.

I said brave, not braves. Although, they do say it that way in Atlanta.

I have an Abit KT7A MOBO with no RAID.

I have an AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz Thunderbird Processor, the 100 MHz FSB (200 MHz double data rate) version.

At the moment I can only SET up the BIOS for 100/33 MHz at 12x "above" that says I have 1300. I expected to see 1400.

Like this, however, the system does boot up and function OK.

(In the BIOS configuration there is a 10.5x setting for the 133 MHz FSB version of this 1.4 GHz processor but this is not the one I have)

I am hoping that there is a BIOS upgrade that will make 14x available so that I can get this processor running at full speed.


I have downloaded what looks to be the latest KT7A BIOS update file, kt7a9.exe from here:

http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/download/bios/kt7.htm

I have downloaded AWDFLASH from here:

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/downl...CREEN=AWDFLASH


I have printed out the instructions from here:

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/download/guide.php

I have made a bootable DOS 6.2 floppy and put the BIOS flashing files on it but when I extracted the contents of kt7a9.exe there was an awardflash.exe in the ARCHIVE. Should I use this one or the later, bigger on I downloaded separately?

Finally if I go ahead and flash my BIOS will I be able to run my 100 MHz FSB 1.4 GHz Athlon Processor at the full 1400 MHz CPU speed?

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. This is for the record:

The BIOS string is the POST is: 11/07/2001-8363-686B-6A6LMA19C-64 and I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that the 64 on the end signifies the latest one available.

To make matters better I think the CPU speed is OK too.

Being a Ubuntu Linux rookie (but having used the Grand Daddy UNIX for a good part of my working life) I went searching for something to tell me, what would be simple in XP, the CPU speed and it turned out to be this at the Command Prompt in a Terminal Window:

grep cpu /proc/cpuinfo

with the result:

cpu family : 6
cpu MHz : 1400.157
cpuid level : 1

So I don't have to risk a BIOS flash but I have to say that having done a number I have never had one fail from a bootable floppy disk. My only disaster was one from within Windows!

Also it would appear that despite the odd way the BIOS depicts its 100 MHz for the higher speeds MULTIPLIERS that my 1.4GHz processor is running at its rated speed! Quote from: LesD on April 30, 2008, 10:18:23 AM

This is for the record:

The BIOS string is the POST is: 11/07/2001-8363-686B-6A6LMA19C-64 and I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that the 64 on the end signifies the latest one available.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/acpi

http://open.iliad.fr/~clecourt/wmacpi/

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...cpi-1430.shtml

I saw there was a 1Tb hard drive for sale because "It was too big to fit in the laptop purchased it for",

Early drives were 12mm thick, later ones 9.5mm.

But 1 TB drives are pretty late historically aren't they?

1TB laptop drives are 12.5mm thick.

Hi

I have a Inspiron 2200 laptop running WINDOWS xp service pack 2. It has 256 Ram and I purchased from crucial a 1 GB 200-PIN SODIMM 128mX64 DDR pc2700.

I have GONE on line and watched the videos and checked the manuals. It all looked so simple, however, I can not get the clips to release the DDR1 ONL Y. It does not pop up as seen in manual or video.

Am I looking in the right place? Do I have to remove the keyboard?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

the ram stick that is in the mother BOARD has a plastic clip on each end. Press down on the plastic clips. remove old ram. insert new Ram (be sure that the notch is in the right place) press down (on ram) until clips pop back into place. Make sure you follow anti static procedures.
Good Luck I feel so stupid. I thought I had to remove the old ram but did not.. it just went into the slots above the existing DDR on top. I just had to move the clips to set it in. dah!

Got it DONE!

Thanks for your reply.No reason to feel stupid at all....it's just something you hadn't done before.
We all started somewhere.
BTW Welcome Aboard ! !

i have a SEAGATE external HDD with 2TB capacity
i had partitioned it in 2 drives. it was working well. a few days ago, i wanted to add 1GB unallocated space to the partition by PARAGON partition managing software. all things were going well but the program hanged suddenly. i had to restart the system. when i checked, i noticed my external HDD has become unallocated and and my whole data has gone .
PLEASE help me how to restore the previous partitions and recover my data. i had above 1.5 TB data!!!!
i can create new partitions and use recovery software for get some data i have lost but i want to find a way to restore all setting to before using Paragon software.
it is important for me
guide me!The simple answer is: Don't do that!

This is not meant to be rude or unkind. External USB storage drives are very useful. However, there have been some (even many) cases whee the external USB drive does not behave the way you would expect. Look over the documentation and see if thee are any warnings given about this.

In general, most utilities like Paragon usually give a warning for a backup plan independent of the performance of the program.
If the external drive is your backup plan, never alter its structure after you begin using it. This rule is not limited to USB drives, it just makes common sense.

Look at it this way. Drive partitioning software makes huge changes to drive structure. You can estimate that the partition software will do no harm 99.9 % of the TIME. Sometimes new users think that means never. No, 0.1 % is not never.Thank you for your information.
as you said i must have created backups before using partitoning tools. and i didn't it. i know i have made mistake.
past is past. my question is that what i can do now ?
can i restore previous setting (2 partitions) or i have to create new partitions and use recovery softwares?
i want to recover all data as it is possible.
please introduce all possible ways that i can use especially if i get back all settings.
Don't make any changes.
Spend some time learning more about the problem.
If you like I can do a lecture here about why it is so easy to lose data non a PC.
OR
Google Hard Drive data recovery
and find things like this:
http://www.nucleusdatarecovery.org/

They want your money! That will give you a clue as to what is involved. They know that got you in a hard place.
Or you can ship the drive to a company that will charge your $200 plus shipping to recover your data.

Really, I cam not being sarcastic. Nobody ever tells you how fragile the file system is in Personal Computers. To get the highest performance, the file system works down at the bare metal level and it is so easy to damage the structure and LOOSE stuff.

No, don't spend money on anything.
First look over this:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collection/collid,1295-order,1-c,downloads/files.html
There you can find what you need
Try using a data recovery program. But don't give them money, just see if it might work.
Don't give up. In a few hoers either myself or someone else will give you a link to a free program.Some addition links found on Google
http://www.datarecoveryreview.net/
http://www.cleverfiles.com/
http://www.dataretrieval.com/data-recovery-california.html?track=google_ca&gclid=CMa0yYT2nKkCFcUZQgoda3P3vA
http://www.easeus.com/resource/hard-disk-data-recovery.htmthank you again
as i got from it i have to repartition my Hard nad use a recovery tool for getting back my data?
i have a question here
my HDD had 2 partitions and now it is unallocated. Can i restore the partitions with their data WITHOUT creating new partition and formatting it and using some softwares for recovering datas???

if you do the lecture, it will be so great Here comes the lecture...
Hello again,
This brief lecture is just off the top of my head and may have many errors and strange and expressions. Today I have some rational errands I need to take care of and I could only spend a limited amount of time on your problem. These understand, your question is important to me and I really do want to give as much help as I can. The links I gave you earlier I believe contained important information you need to review. I have not personally used the products mentioned in those links, however I believe those links are legitimate and useful. If you do a Google search on the terms 'data recovery' you'll find hundreds if not thousands of pages on the Internet that claim to offer some help with data recovery. Unfortunately, the first two or three are paid advertisements and sometimes they are actual fraud. Google does almost nothing to stop this scam artists. The links I provided you are, I believe, legitimate companies that offer real help.
So the point of this is that you need to spend some time studying over information that is available to you. These understand this is not intended to make you feel bad or stupid. Like you did is perfectly understandable and he used a piece of software that is widely respected. But something unexpected happened and your drive now appears to be allocated. Actually, your data is still out there.
At least one of the links I gave you is a California firm that offers free service. You send your drive to them and, at their leisure, they recover as much data as possible and will send it back to you. Or, if you want a one-week turnaround, they'll do it for just $99. That is a real bargain. He chose the company is located in California I think it might be a legitimate operation.. Of course I could be very wrong about that. If you can't find that link let me know, I thought I included it in the links I gave you.
The reason for this rather long lecture is that this is a public forum and I gave you a short quick answer it could be taken out of context and cause a lot of confusion. The shared this is not some kind of rant to make you feel bad. I have done exactly the same sort of thing that you have done and I just had to accept my LOSS and go on. In your case, you have some data on that external hard drive that you want recovered.
Here's a company that few people hear about because theuy don't really do a lot of advertising the name of the company is EASUS. They also offer arcade shooting tools, backup tools and recovery tools. Resolutely they offer a free data recovery tool. This tool will recover up to 1 Gbyte of data for free. It works with all current versions of Windows and the most common file system formats. This company has a good reputation for offering free software that is really useful. Of course, their objective is to get you interested in their products and hopefully you will by the professional version of their products. The price of their boxes about average or even loathe the average price of such kind of software. Here is the link:
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm
At this point, this is the best recommendation I can think of. Of course, the decision must be yours. If the data is very important to you, you might be willing to spend money and have somebody else do it for you. Anything above $200 is, in my opinion, too much to pay for. And again, the choice must be yours.
Just a brief note here to put this in context. There is no industry regulation or rule, to my knowledge, which requires manufacturers to standardize the internal structure of a hard drive that is intended to be used as primarily a storage device. Very large drives, such as the one you have, may have PROPRIETARY methods of storing data on the drive and the geometry of the drive is not exposed to the operating system. Yes, that sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook. What it means is that third-party software written by other companies may not understand how the hard drive is organized. Hopefully, the industry is going to remedy this situation in the near future.

This is now the end of my rant. I have to go mop the floors.

My computer information is:

OS NameMicrosoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
System TypeX86-based PC
Processorx86 Family 15 Model 6 Stepping 5 GenuineIntel ~3000 MHz
Total Physical Memory2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory1.04 GB

I have no idea, but I hope that is sufficient.

I have two hard drives, the first (a Hitachi) is divided into 3 logical drives of 10 gig, 25 gig and 42 gig, more or less, and the other is one 120 gig drive (no particular manufacturer, but the model # is ST3250310AS). (This division wasn't due to any kind of sensible plan, just formatting on the fly.) The 10 gig drive is my C: drive, and I'm waaaaayy out of space on it. Only 50 or so MB of space left, not enough to take any of the advice that I saw in the forums for similarly positioned petitioners. I run Cleanup every day (without compressing the drive) and when I"m asked if I want to delete programs, I really want to, but on the Add/Remove list that's in the Control Panel, I can't find where the programs are located. No point deleting programs that are on the E:, F:, or G: drives.

At first, I thought I might try a clean install of the OS, but MOUSING around in the forums here, I only found references to doing that in response to error messages or problems that are happening, but I have no problems, the system runs just fine. Just I have that "you're out of space" reminder popping up all the time. I guess my question is this: is there a way to find out exactly where each program is located? and also, does anyone have a suggestion, besides the obvious "don't use the SMALLEST drive as your C:"?

Really appreciate your time and thought.

Uninstalling programs isn't going to help that much. 10Gb for the system partition simply isn't large enough. First, try disabling system restore. That should IMMEDIATELY free up a great deal of space (of course, all restore points will be deleted - I suggest you start using DISK imaging software to BACKUP your drive on a regular basis). You can also use an app such as Easeus Partition Manager to reallocate the space in your partitions and increase the size of c: drive (be sure to backup any key data before using any software that performs tasks at drive level).Hey, there, thanks for the extremely quick response!

Can't find system restore. I tried to use it earlier, but it said it didn't have enough room to work, and now it's gone from the list.

As for the Easeus, I've downloaded it. Doesn't moving a partition destroy the data on that partition? Thanks for the pointer in that direction.

Oh, and I'm backing up using a Maxtor external hard drive, but I'm very inexperienced with it. Will that be sufficient, or do I need to get disk imaging?Control Panel - System Properties - System Restore

OR

Open Windows Explorer, Right-click on c: drive and choose Properties. Then click on Disk Cleanup and then the More Options Tab and the System Restore item at the bottom.I note that according to your specs you have SP 2 on your computer. You should update that to SP 3 in order to continue getting MS XP updates. Versions prior to SP 3 are no longer supported. truenorth
P.S. Would recommend you follow Allan's reallocation of your hdd BEFORE the SP 3 update as it is a very large file. Wow, y'all are quick!

Easeus downloaded. Thanks very much for the advice, will be back with results shortly.You want to delete programs on your C: drive because youre running out of space on it right?


Click on starts->Programs and see whether the program also has an associated uninstall utility. If it does then click on that uninstall utility.

If there is no uninstall utility for that program , then to find the location, right click on each program name, as if you were going to start the program. Click properties, and you'll see the location of the program. Then with that knowledge, go find the program under add/remove and uninstall it from thereQuote from: shashgo on June 06, 2011, 07:59:49 AM

You want to delete programs on your C: drive because youre running out of space on it right?


Click on starts->Programs and see whether the program also has an associated uninstall utility. If it does then click on that uninstall utility.

If there is no uninstall utility for that program , then to find the location, right click on each program name, as if you were going to start the program. Click properties, and you'll see the location of the program. Then with that knowledge, go find the program under add/remove and uninstall it from there

Here is another screenshot.
In the botton , you can see "Devise usage" in blank.
In should be : Use this device (enable)
or
Do not use ths device (disable)
Why it is blank?
regards, Darts44

[recovering space - attachment deleted by admin]there is 2 PRIMARY IDE Channel in my PC.
Which one should i click?
see screenshot 4

[recovering space - attachment deleted by admin]Select both Primary, and Secondary.My PC showed like this:
PRIMARY IDE Channel
PRIMARY IDE Channel
SECONDARY IDE Channel
So i guessed to do what you re commanded by Uninstal the closet one to
the secondary.
There was on the tray a few messages and one saying my new Hardware
was successfully installed.
I try after re-boot to use the DVD , but still don't work.
Homer may be right it could be a goner!
regards, Darts 44why you keep bringing up your HARDDRIVE?

Quote

After i uninstall (to uninstall the driver (Advanced) in WDC WD2000JD-19HBBO Properties, and i restart my PC

if you feel confident taking apart your computer

a couple questions...

1. has it ever WORKED?
2. is it plugged in? (power and data)
3. does the tray open?

just needed a cable to make it work? such as an IDE/SATA cable and a power cable?

Quote from: homer

a couple questions...

1. has it ever worked?
2. is it plugged in? (power and data)
3. does the tray open?

Quote from: Starforce2 on October 19, 2010, 06:43:52 PM

...Could there be something in setup that I changed, for instance, when It asked me to start up with default settings and I chose yes? It was working before that update and reboot...that must be the connection.

Hi. First post here. I looked around for the answer to my QUESTION, but didn't find ANYTHING that seemed to answer this for me. I apologize in advance for the length of this, but I want to be as clear as possible...

I HAD X2 XFX 7950 GX2 card (SLI), I sent them back to the company because they were screwing up. Once everything was said and done, they sent me back 1 8800GTS 640mb DDR3 card. (Sent 2, claim 1 made it to them (Long story for another time if curious).

Well, I get the 1 card. No driver CD or card manual included (OEM card maybe? Punks), just a paper explaining where to get the drivers off of their website. I insert the card. Power up, and I instantly get a constant, annoying beep. Shut it down and ask around. Was told by several people to look for a 4-pin connector because the card had an on-board fan, and needed extra juice to run it. I found that their was only a 6-pin connection coming off of the card itself, INFORM the people helping me (Sent them a pic of it on my phone as well). They said that was probably it. connect it to a connection coming from my PS (680W PS btw). Did so, powered back up. This time their was no beep, BUT...

When it started booting, I could see a picture, but it was pixelated and flashing. Made it difficult to see. Once it got to my homescreen, it flashed out until all I could see was a blue screen. Couldn't do anything at this point. Now I figure it is a driver issue (Who knows what else as well). I can't see it long enough to uninstall the old drivers and card info, and get to XFX's site to get the new drivers. People keep telling me to use the MB's on-board video to be able to do that, but I can't find a connector to hook my monitor up to in order to do so. MB is ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe. Their looks like what appears to be an old-school monitor connector there, but as I said, my monitor won't connect to it. I suppose their is an adapter I can get at radioshack or something?

HELP a computer idiot PLEASE! Anticipating AoC's release in 19 days and can't get the computer to work lol. /sigh... Thanks a TON in advance, and again, I apologize for the long windedness.1 other question. Does it matter the new video card says DDR3, yet I have DDR2 Corsair memory? Was wondering if that could be a factor on top of the other issue? Anyone have any advise on this matter for me? Please? first off, it seems recently that many people seem to believe this is a live chat room. this is clearly NOT a live chat room; it is a forum and it is accustomed in a forum to expect to wait at least 24 hrs before a response. you do not need to reply an hour later like we are ignoring you. i happen to have a life outside of this forum and i am not here 24hrs a day and neither are the others. now onto your problem...


follow these steps to get your computer WORKING...

1. boot in safe mode. do this by repeatedly hitting the F8 key while the comp is booting. you will see a menu, select "Safe Mode."

2. go into control panel and uninstall your drivers for your old card.

3. reboot your PC and load windows normally. the video will look ugly at this point because you still dont have drivers for your new card.

4. download and install the drivers for your new card.

5. reboot your PC.

your done.

Quote

1 other question. Does it matter the new video card says DDR3, yet I have DDR2 Corsair memory?

People keep telling me

Was told by several people

Anyhow, I have been trying to do the f8 thing. I have had it to the menu a couple of times, but with all the flashing blocks, it's tough to navigate

Quote from: wyumez on May 02, 2008, 07:43:39 PM

it doesn't say INTEL centrino duo specifically, it says, "Computers that are running Windows XP SERVICE PACK 2 and that are equipped with multiple processors that support processor power management features may experience DECREASED performance." I was running sp2, and I had the processor power management.....

I'm sorry but I'm not quite sure what list you're looking at. Can you please clarify?

Hi. I'm running a Fujitsu tablet (specs here). Earlier today, I was doing some routine things (working in Excel and surfing the web) when everything suddenly went black. The PC shut down completely without WARNING. I TRIED to reboot, and the power light came on. What worries me though, is that the hard drive doesn't appear to be spinning at all. Unsurprisingly, nothing appears on screen. It was running fairly hot today, so OVERHEATING was my first thought. My two questions are:

1) Does this diagnosis sound correct? Would you suspect overheating, or something else?
2) If I did overheat my hard drive, do I have any chance of RECOVERING the data?

THANK you all.

Pete

Packard Bell easynote LJ171. OS Windows 7. Think I've pressed a KEY thats changed the keyboard and I can't get the normal ONE back again. Tried switching off and on again and tried restoring to earlier date but still no joy - bCan anyone help me please??!!What do you mean "normal one"? Could you be more specific about what your keyboard is/is not doing? It changes so only the vowel keys work and they all have an accent mark above them. All other keys on the keyboard are inactive. When I say normal - I mean qwerty keyboardNavigate your way to Control Panel, and find the "Regional and Language Options", find EITHER Input Languages, or Keyboard and Languages (I forget what it is on Windows 7), make sure all languages settings in this Window are set to English (check every tab in the Language options if you are unsure)

Alternatively, look on your start bar on desktop, to the left of your system tray you might see a couple of letters (e.g FR or EN), right click or double click that and do the same as above (don't worry if it isn't there, it is the same menu as in control panel)

If this doesn't work, find the drivers for your keyboard and download a fresh copy. Remove your password from your account (if you have one), uninstall the keyboard driver in Hardware Manager, reboot your PC and install the new drivers. Reboot, and it should work.

Hope this HELPS

I came back from class and my computer showed an error on a completely black screen. One of the things it said was to run the startup repair. So, I turned on my computer, booted from my Windows 7 DVD, tried the automated repair and it said that it could not automatically repair it. Funny thing was, when I selected which Windows installation to repair, it showed my Windows 7 installation on a 0 GB Hard drive... but mine is 160 GB (it's about 6 years old). I booted up my Windows XP (on a different hard drive). Normally, my 160 GB HD appears as the D: drive on XP, but now it's gone. I ran TestDisk, selected "no log", and it didn't even list my 160 GB hard drive. What should I do?Quote

What should I do?

it showed my Windows 7 installation on a 0 GB Hard drive... but mine is 160 GB

What should I do?

I came back from class and my computer showed an error on a completely black screen. One of the things it said was to run the startup repair. So, I turned on my computer, booted from my Windows 7 DVD, tried the automated repair and it said that it could not automatically repair it. Funny thing was, when I selected which Windows installation to repair, it showed my Windows 7 installation on a 0 GB Hard drive... but mine is 160 GB (it's about 6 years old). I booted up my Windows XP (on a different hard drive). Normally, my 160 GB HD appears as the D: drive on XP, but now it's gone. I ran TestDisk, selected "no log", and it didn't even list my 160 GB hard drive. What should I do?

keep the disk for 7day before performing a fresh installation