24217 + Interview Questions in Hardware in Hardware Page 445 InterviewSolution

22201.	Solve : External drive format problem?
Answer» Suddenly my external drive is telling me that it needs formatted and that formatting will erase all the data. Obviously I have that data saved on the external drive because I want to keep it. Is there a way to retrieve the data - get into the drive with out reformatting it? I have a toshiba with a pentium (r) dual core cpu T4200 with a windows vista home PREMIUM operating system and the drive is a acomdata tm model PDHD1000USE-72 s/n D1318070 from radio shack. I can be emailed at [emailprotected] Hi I have researched that drive and can't find what the make and model of the drive is . But that aside it would be better to work on the problem with the hard drive directly connected to a SATA port on the computer. This would allow you to run data recovery software on the drive and recover the data as well as run diagnostics to check that the drive is ok. For data recovery i would recommend. http://www.easeus.com/ And to check the drive the manufactures diagnostics or HDD tune http://www.hdtune.com/Your portable drive has 2 ports according to its specs., for USB 2.0 and eSATA. Have you tried both connections and on a different PC? Was there any chance that it could be dropped or unplugged while reading/transferring files?Awhile back drives like that model had some serious problems. But it is hard to SAY if you can get the data off. The failures on those devices is most ofte destroy the data. There are hundreds of bad reports specific to that particular drive model. Granted, some may be due to operator error. But many of the reports simply state the drive failed for not apparent reason.I had one die on me a few months ago. Lost all my backed up stuff. Good thing I had the original......Quote from: Lumpy44 on September 12, 2011, 11:24:16 AM I had one die on me a few months ago. Lost all my backed up stuff. Good thing I had the original...... Sad to hear that. This problem with external 1TB drives stated about for or five years ago. By now you would think it should be all over with at last. But apparently there is some overstock that is still out there. Or maybe they did not really fix the problem. So if anybody is thinking about investing in a 1TB drive that is not from a new production, be very careful. If you buy one and see that a model is an older version, the vendor might replace it with a new version if you ask. The vendor may not even be aware that nit is old stock. With hard drives, it ALWAYS a matter of WHEN will the drive fail, not if. The size of the hard drive has no bearing on this eventuality.Quote from: BC_Programmer on September 12, 2011, 01:33:56 PM With hard drives, it ALWAYS a matter of WHEN will the drive fail, not if. The size of the hard drive has no bearing on this eventuality. Not True. Are you day dreaming again BC? My reference is to the drives taht were first introduced about four years ago, not to all current production. The 1TB and 2TB platter was/is a new technology. The infoant morality of the new 1TB drives was very high. It is now stable. But, as I said in the post, there is the issue of old stock on the shelf. This industry has a bad habit of putting junk back into the mainstream. It has been documented and hyou nknow it. The poster blames the hard drives, not the mobos... http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/161591-motherboard-diagnostic.html Quote www.rad-direct.com/datasheet/justadisk.pdf File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View disk, will experience a higher initial rate of failure. (infant mortality) then settle down for a few years into .... system built with 1TB drives requires just 11 disks. ... my 1TB drive is about 3 and a half years old. Why hasn't it failed? luck? Of course luck, because all drives fail and regardless of brand some will fail within a short period of time. But if it did fail- how would I know if the cause was a manufacturing defect or if it just happened to be one of the drives that don't last long? And if so, why have none of the other 1TB+ drives I've purchased failed either? They are equally as old, and I didn't double-check any model numbers. I tend to avoid getting involved in wild goose chases when said wild goose is both invisible and covered with butter. I just get used to the smell. More to the point though, since both of those could easily be availability error,- the Original Poster says nothing about the size of their drive. That particular model comes in 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and 1.5TB versions. They say nothing about the size of their drive. You assume both that it is 1TB or larger, that it is a given age, and that it is a certain model (WDC) based on your decision that this is the cause,despite the lack of any information aside from "the drive failed" that bears any similarity to any of the confabulated evidence that both ignores statistical anomalies and then says certain drives fail more often than others based entirely on values well within a margin of error that would point to it. Code: [Select]the lack of any information aside from "the drive failed" that bears any similarity to any of the confabulated evidence that both ignores statistical anomalies and then says certain drives fail more often than others based entirely on values well within a margin of error that would point to it. False statement. The statistical study shows that about four years ago there was a LOT of **** 1TB drives being pushed into the consumer market taht filued within a few weeks. The abnormality was the mentaligy of the vendors that tried to fool the consumers with junk. (Remember, I have already qualified this as to a problem thata is already old and does not represetn current production.)How do you know the drive is 1TB and how do you know it is a brand affected by this? They didn't state the size. And even if they did, that particularly external drive uses Samsung for the Internal drive anyway. Also, that PDF you CITED? That particular quote comes out of a passage regarding RAID storage and SATA drives and makes the point that for a RAID of 10TB in size you would need 43 or 44 250GB disks, but 11 1-TB disks, and goes on to say that the failure rate was about a quarter of the failure rate of the smaller drives- which is to be expected since the latter had four times as many disks. Absolutely nothing else is stated and the entire white-paper seems to focus on the use of enterprise-grade drives in a RAID setting, not on consumer drives in a desktop computing environment. And it says directly that the larger 1TB drives are more reliable even on a per-drive basis then their smaller brethren. This study says NOTHING about the consumer market, aside from saying that the paper is not about them.

22201.

Solve : External drive format problem?

Answer»

Suddenly my external drive is telling me that it needs formatted and that formatting will erase all the data. Obviously I have that data saved on the external drive because I want to keep it. Is there a way to retrieve the data - get into the drive with out reformatting it?

I have a toshiba with a pentium (r) dual core cpu T4200 with a windows vista home PREMIUM operating system and the drive is a acomdata tm model PDHD1000USE-72 s/n D1318070 from radio shack.

I can be emailed at [emailprotected]
Hi

I have researched that drive and can't find what the make and model of the drive is . But that aside it would be better to work on the problem with the hard drive directly connected to a SATA port on the computer. This would allow you to run data recovery software on the drive and recover the data as well as run diagnostics to check that the drive is ok.

For data recovery i would recommend. http://www.easeus.com/

And to check the drive the manufactures diagnostics or HDD tune http://www.hdtune.com/Your portable drive has 2 ports according to its specs., for USB 2.0 and eSATA. Have you tried both connections and on a different PC? Was there any chance that it could be dropped or unplugged while reading/transferring files?Awhile back drives like that model had some serious problems. But it is hard to SAY if you can get the data off. The failures on those devices is most ofte destroy the data.

There are hundreds of bad reports specific to that particular drive model. Granted, some may be due to operator error. But many of the reports simply state the drive failed for not apparent reason.I had one die on me a few months ago. Lost all my backed up stuff. Good thing I had the original......Quote from: Lumpy44 on September 12, 2011, 11:24:16 AM

I had one die on me a few months ago. Lost all my backed up stuff. Good thing I had the original......

Sad to hear that. This problem with external 1TB drives stated about for or five years ago. By now you would think it should be all over with at last. But apparently there is some overstock that is still out there. Or maybe they did not really fix the problem.

So if anybody is thinking about investing in a 1TB drive that is not from a new production, be very careful. If you buy one and see that a model is an older version, the vendor might replace it with a new version if you ask. The vendor may not even be aware that nit is old stock.
With hard drives, it ALWAYS a matter of WHEN will the drive fail, not if. The size of the hard drive has no bearing on this eventuality.Quote from: BC_Programmer on September 12, 2011, 01:33:56 PM

With hard drives, it ALWAYS a matter of WHEN will the drive fail, not if. The size of the hard drive has no bearing on this eventuality.

Not True.
Are you day dreaming again BC?
My reference is to the drives taht were first introduced about four years ago, not to all current production.
The 1TB and 2TB platter was/is a new technology. The infoant morality of the new 1TB drives was very high. It is now stable. But, as I said in the post, there is the issue of old stock on the shelf. This industry has a bad habit of putting junk back into the mainstream. It has been documented and hyou nknow it.

The poster blames the hard drives, not the mobos...
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/161591-motherboard-diagnostic.html

Quote

www.rad-direct.com/datasheet/justadisk.pdf
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
disk, will experience a higher initial rate of failure. (infant mortality) then settle down for a few years into .... system built with 1TB drives requires just 11 disks. ...

my 1TB drive is about 3 and a half years old.

Why hasn't it failed? luck? Of course luck, because all drives fail and regardless of brand some will fail within a short period of time. But if it did fail- how would I know if the cause was a manufacturing defect or if it just happened to be one of the drives that don't last long?

And if so, why have none of the other 1TB+ drives I've purchased failed either? They are equally as old, and I didn't double-check any model numbers. I tend to avoid getting involved in wild goose chases when said wild goose is both invisible and covered with butter. I just get used to the smell.

More to the point though, since both of those could easily be availability error,- the Original Poster says nothing about the size of their drive. That particular model comes in 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and 1.5TB versions. They say nothing about the size of their drive. You assume both that it is 1TB or larger, that it is a given age, and that it is a certain model (WDC) based on your decision that this is the cause,despite the lack of any information aside from "the drive failed" that bears any similarity to any of the confabulated evidence that both ignores statistical anomalies and then says certain drives fail more often than others based entirely on values well within a margin of error that would point to it.

Code: [Select]the lack of any information aside from "the drive failed" that bears any similarity to any of the confabulated evidence that both ignores statistical anomalies and then says certain drives fail more often than others based entirely on values well within a margin of error that would point to it.
False statement. The statistical study shows that about four years ago there was a LOT of **** 1TB drives being pushed into the consumer market taht filued within a few weeks. The abnormality was the mentaligy of the vendors that tried to fool the consumers with junk.

(Remember, I have already qualified this as to a problem thata is already old and does not represetn current production.)How do you know the drive is 1TB and how do you know it is a brand affected by this?

They didn't state the size. And even if they did, that particularly external drive uses Samsung for the Internal drive anyway.

Also, that PDF you CITED? That particular quote comes out of a passage regarding RAID storage and SATA drives and makes the point that for a RAID of 10TB in size you would need 43 or 44 250GB disks, but 11 1-TB disks, and goes on to say that the failure rate was about a quarter of the failure rate of the smaller drives- which is to be expected since the latter had four times as many disks. Absolutely nothing else is stated and the entire white-paper seems to focus on the use of enterprise-grade drives in a RAID setting, not on consumer drives in a desktop computing environment. And it says directly that the larger 1TB drives are more reliable even on a per-drive basis then their smaller brethren. This study says NOTHING about the consumer market, aside from saying that the paper is not about them.

22202.	Solve : Graphical error/artifact in Windows?
Answer» Just 2 minutes before now, I was only watching a video file in Windows (XP), and the ENTIRE screen suddenly changed to a strange field of multi-coloured pixels. The sound from the video still played, however the display looked corrupted. I held the power button to shut the computer down, then rebooted, going into the BIOS. The display seemed fine after checking the BIOS, booting into Windows. I thought that the problem may be from my graphics card. (near 4 years old) [Nvidia Geforce 7800 GTX 512] The card runs at 32-35 degrees Celcius at idle, and around 55-65 degrees at load. I had been running a stable slight overclock with Core frequency @ 560Mhz and Memory frequency (slight underclock than stock) @ 1680 mhz. Would this mean I have to replace the card soon? (I am already in planning to buy its replacement - HD 4850 512). Any help given is appreciated.Cards don't always warn when they're getting ready to head South... Some will show symptoms that GET progressively worse while others will just give up the ghost all at once... I'd say keep using it while saving up for a new one... Make sure to check the power REQUIREMENTS on the new one and that your PSU will handle it. Good Luck.

22203.	Solve : Formatting usb memory stick(flash drive) in dos?
Answer» This device.i.e MEMORY stick popularly called flash drive got problem,virus, and i tried to format it in d windows it refused to and i tried it in ms dos but i didnt get the COMMAND tone .i.e somthing LIKE e:bla bla bla so,som1 help with the DIRECTORY codeYou need to be more specific. DOS does not read and writenUSB drivews.

22205.	Solve : Laptop - Battery wouldn't charge, now won't work when plugged in?
Answer» Alright, So I have a Dell Inspiron 1520. Its been very well taken care of, it doesn't get moved a lot, its not very old, etc. About a week ago I noticed the battery would no longer charge. I thought, no big deal, batteries die, it happens. I was meaning to replace it but haven't gotten around to it yet. For the time being I had to KEEP the laptop plugged into AC power. The battery went down to 0% charge, meaning if I accidentally unplugged the laptop it instantly shut off. But as long as I had it plugged in, no problems. Today I turned it off at 2:00pm. I attempted to turn it BACK on at 3:00pm, and got this short little whirring noise, lights blinked on for a fraction of a second... then gone. Now when I hit the power button NOTHING happens. Its completely nonresponsive. I double checked that it wasn't a bad wall OUTLET or something, but the outlet is fine. I really need a quick solution to get this thing back online. Ive got college work on there that I desperately need. A partially written 20-page paper, notes from class, everything. Also - something I just noticed. This past week, even when my laptop was shut off, when the AC power was plugged into it the "LOW battery" warning would blink. Now there is no blinking what-so-ever. Its as if its not plugged in.External Power supply? Try another power supply. If the battery does not change to 60%, stop leaving it in the machine.I don't quite understand what you're saying. Nothing is external. Its a laptop and I have an AC adapter cord that I plug into the wall. I dont understand what you mean by 'try another power supply'.Sorry, your power supply is shot. You should be able to remove the battery, plu it in and turn it on. In not, the internal power supply is out. It just might be the power cord, but that is about one in a hundred. Many Laptop PCs have an external power supply. But yours does not.Check your laptops power supply wire.Just to cover every base, some simple THINGS to try. Remove your battery and examine it. If the thing has several "blade contacts" where it connects electrically to the laptop, try removing/installing the battery several times... about a dozen or so. What this does is wipe the corrosion off the contacts. Your laptop SHOULD power up without the battery, using only external power! Find someone with a DVM (an electronics guy in the college lab) and measure the DC output of your power adapter without the laptop plugged in. It should conform to the voltage specification on the power adapter body. With a toothpick (something non-metalic) probe around GENTLY in the DC-IN receptacle on the laptop. Is the DC-IN pin loose or wobbly? Missing? If you have all the system drivers from Dell, try removing and reinstalling the Power Management Driver. Finally, any good college student with a laptop also owns a 2.5" external USB disk enclosure. If all else fails, pop your drive out and use the enclosure to attach the disk to another PC's USB inlet. Your classwork is now available. (I've learned all this from owning laptops. They're nice, but... like a Boy Scout, always "be prepared".)

22207.	Solve : From low profile to regular.?
Answer» I recently bought a Low Profile GeForce 9800gt 512MB GDDR3 and I realized that in order to use it, I need a much better power supply. The one that I have in there is a 250watt and the video card requires at LEAST 400watts. Normaly this wouldn't be a problem, but my computer is a Low Profile (slim). It's a DELL Inspiron 531s. Now I can't find a power supply to fit in there. I've looked everywhere. So my only hope now is to change my entire computer case from a low profile to regular. I've already verified that my motherboard would fit in another case because it's a micro ATX. I'm just wondering if this sort of thing has been done before and if there is something that I'm not thinking about that could stop me from pulling this off? Also if there are any guides to doing this sort of thing a link would be MUCH MUCH appreciated. Thank you. Here are my computers specs pulled from the dell website Processors Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6420 (1.86GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB) Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6320 (1.86GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB) Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor 4400 (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor 4300 (1.80GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2160 (1.80GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1.60GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) Intel Celeron Processor 420 (1.60GHz, 512 L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) Intel® G33 Express Chipset Operating Systems Genuine Windows® XP Professional Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Windows Vista® capable For more details on Dell systems that run Windows Vista, see www.dell.com/vista. Memory DDR23 is a memory architecture that enables systems to improve performance and reduce power consumption. The amount of RAM you have determines how many programs can be executed at one time and how much DATA can be readily available to a program. It also determines how quickly your applications perform and how many applications you can easily toggle between at one time. Simply put, the more RAM you have, the more programs you can run smoothly and simultaneously. Up to 4GB4 Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz) Hard Drives The Inspiron 531s supports up to two hard drives, each with up to 500GB space - a potential CAPACITY of 1TB5 . And with Dell DataSafeTM and RAID 0 options, you can configure your storage to meet your needs, whether it's for storing large quantities of files, backing up system information and files, or improving performance with data striping. Up to 1TB5 Multiple Serial ATA Hard Drives with both hard drives utilized. Up to 500GB with Dell DataSafe, exclusively offered by Dell - a safe and simple way to help protect your memories from damage due to accidents, system crashes and other disasters. Up to 500GB Single Serial ATA Hard Drive Optical Drives Multiple DVDRW 6, Combo, DVD-ROM configurations available 3.5" Floppy Drive and 13-in-1 Media Reader Available Graphics 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 128MB ATI Radeon X1300 Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 (Intel® GMA X3000) Sound Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio Ports, Slots, Chassis Externally Accessible Video: 1 DVI, VGA and 1 S-Video (with add-in PCI-Express video card) USB: 6 Ports (2 Front, 4 Back) + 2 internal Audio: Six back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, rear surround, side surround, two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone, integrated 7.1 channel sound Network: Integrated 10/100 network interface Expansion Slots PCI: 2 Slots PCIe x1: 1 Slot PCIe x16 (Graphics): 1 Slots Chassis 250 Watt DC Power Supply Backup battery: 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell 3.5" Bays: 3 bays (two internal, one external) 5.25" Bays: 1 bays Memory DIMM slots: 4 available Dimensions & Weight H: 14.2 inches (36.2 cm) W: 3.9 inches (10.0 cm) D: 17.1 inches (43.5 cm) Regulatory and Environmental Compliance Regulatory Model: DCSLF Product Safety, EMC and Environmental Datasheets Dell Regulatory Compliance Home Page You want a mini ATX PSU...

22211.	Solve : Can't play mkv files?
Answer» im trying to play a 720p mkv file, and I don't know what im doing wrong. Her is what iv have tried cccp codec pack (STILL wasnt recognized by windows) wmc or whatever its called (didnt work) vlc (didnt work) various converters (dont work) what do i do? if it MEANS much , im RUNNING on windows xpWhere did the file come from?vlc should have run it. Maybe the file is damaged.Did you open it IN vlc? or just install it and use Windows Media Player? The other possibility is your graphics CARD wont support the rendering mode...depending on how advanced or not it is.

22212.	Solve : How to read data from a laptop HDD. The hard way.?
Answer» Thais is a set of photos How to read data from a laptop HDD. the hard way. Sometimes using a USB adapter does not do what you need to do. Here are a set of jpg images that show how to hook a laptop IDE DRIVE up to a SMALL Form Factor desktop. The only IDE PORT on the mother board is fro the CD-ROM, so we "borrow" that port with a 40 oin cable we sneak out the back of the case. Th small laptop drive needs an adapter and a small poser supply for five and twelve bolts. Once connected, we poser up everything and Windows shows this to be another drive. We now can read stuff off the drive. NOTE. we do not try to run programs off the secondy drive, if may be infected with a virus. Nor do we open image files. Filrs scan the SUSPECT drive and then backup neede files. Or make an image of the drive. http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter01.jpg http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter02.jpg http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter03.jpg http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter04.jpg http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter05.jpg http://geek9pm.com/drive-adapters/adapter06.jpg If this is of any help, say so. I may take it down or revise it later. Wow...Uhm....That seems like an awful lot of work for something you can do much easier by just hooking it up to the laptop Have a good laff. Might you be You must be a person who makes backups weekly? Good for you. And you seldom and problems with Virus, and when you do you know how to fix it? Good for you. Many people come to this forum and have horror stories about how the laptop stopped working. So some helpful soul SAYS "Ttry the recovery CD ." They do it. And it just got worse. How do they get the data off the laptop Hard Disk Drive? Curious minds need to know!Hey Geek, is English your first language? What country are you from? After seeing the "small form factor" PC was a Dell Optiplex, I just had to go and vomit. There should have been a warning!

22214.	Solve : Changing partition Hard drives sizes?
Answer» For some reason my hardrive is partitioned into 5 separate drives (person who made computer for me did it).The DRIVE I store my music (G Drive) in is nearing full and I have another drive (F drive) that I have next to nothing in. Is there a way I can take the space (40gb) from F drive and use it in G drive?Years ago when drives were much smaller there was a program/app that could do that and other useful things. I'm sorry I can't recall the name of it. It was free to try and cheap to buy, but how OFTEN would you use SOMETHING like that? Usually there is something around to perform what we want so I think if you search you'll find something. Good luck.Welcome to CH. I see you are using XP. You can move you stuff from one drive to another. You can tie two drives together as a "folder". (More on that below) You can use a free program to change the size of one of more partitions. Warning. Be very careful about the partition that has your system on it. Here is a good program you can try free: http://www.partition-tool.com/ Read fine print carefully. Don't let them suck you into buying it. You can use it free. Making a drive a folder: The "My documents" folder can be moved to an empty folder on any drive. Video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/559885/how_to_move_my_documents/ Something like this can be done with other folders.^^^ Geek, thanks. I followed your LINK and the app I was trying to think of is Partition Magic which SYMANTEC has now. I'm going to try a couple apps from your link.Thanks for that..it worked a treat

22215.	Solve : What to upgrade??
Answer» <-Current specs What do you think I should UPGRADE? My budget is $200-300 CAD. I use my COMPUTER for moderate gaming, SURFING the web and other day to day tasks.What are you wanting to improve? Might sound like a stupid question, but there's no point SOMEONE recommending a new graphics card if what you want is a faster boot time, for example. Good to see you around by the way Another question you may find stupid... What country is that?Canada, computeruler! Sheesh! just kidding Ohh canada lol. So you will probably buy your stuff from http://www.newegg.ca/

22216.	Solve : Mac book harddrive?
Answer» Haha hey guys whats up! Anyway my problem is this: I would LIKE to take the hard drive out of a computer (Macbook pro 15in) and PLACE it INSIDE a standard computer now I realize it is sata however i dont know if it will fit the standard sata thats found in most desktop comps. Oh and mind you the Macbook pro no longer works however the harddrive STILL works. I cant even plug in a DVI cable and use my monitor.You have to need USB cable for your hard disk.The SATA connections are the same...however you will need to use some type of file conversion software to view/ use that data on a Windows machine...

22217.	Solve : CD Drive Problem?
Answer» I've had my laptop for about 2 years and I just got a new HARD drive (not by choice, it was TOTALLY screwed.) Everything's been working great apart from my CD drive. I put a CD in and nothing happens. I tried going into My Computer but the CD drive wasn't there. This is really frustrating as I need to put my CDs on iTunes ASAP. Does anyone have any clue how I can FIX this? I'm reluctant to go get it fixed as it's just been fixed already and my PARENTS will not be happy with me! Thanks! (I have an E-systems 3113 laptop. It has Windows XP)Insert a BOOTABLE cd in the drive and reboot (make sure the CD drive is at the top of the boot order in your bios). Does the system see the cd at boot?If it's just been fixed take it back because it isn't fixed good enough.

22218.	Solve : Custom Resolution?
Answer» I am trying to connect my laptop to my 60" DLP TV, but have run into a problem. I am connecting my laptop to the TV via VGA cable (That's the only output on my laptop). When I tried to set the resolution to my TV's native 1920x1080, I noticed that it wasn't an available option. So, I WENT into my Nvidia control panel and created a custom resolution for 1920x1080. I was then ABLE to force a 1920x1080 output, which LOOKS great except for one problem: It doesn't fill up the entire TV. There seem to be 4 BLACK bands running along the picture, basically cropping it. So, my question is: how do I get my laptop to fill up my TV entirely? Here is a picture of the control panel and the settings I can adjust: Here is a demonstration of the problem: (The black is the part of the screen not being used) My graphics card is an Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS. Thanks for your help.Looks good to me! Can you change? Horizontal Total = ACTIVE Horizontal Pixels Vertical Total = Active Vertical Lines If not, it looks very good the way it is.there should be an option to change that in the control panel. I know with my ati card on win 7 theres a black border but thats easily fixed in ccc

22219.	Solve : keyboard to computer to monitor internal actions?
Answer» Is there any site on the web or anywhere that will describe in GENERAL terms what happens inside a keyboard, computer and monitor when a certain key is pressed ("C" for instance)? I don't have a particular problem. I am just curious about the process.Welcome to the forum. Yes, there are many paces on the web that answer the QUESTION "How does the keyboard work" with an explanation the talks about the common computer keyboard. To find a ist of such do this: go to the site http://google.com and in tghe box enter how does the keyboard work Tell you what, LET me Google that for you. Click Here Woah! GEEK! Show me how to do that! http://lmgtfy.com/ Wow.....I'm IMPRESSED!

22237.	Solve : compaq presario f500 dark monitor?
Answer» PLEASE help!! i've GOT a compaq presario f500 laptop,its got a really dark display.i've changing the old back light (was broken),the new one is working fine but i've still got a dark display.i turned the brightness right up on the keyboard and also connected the laptop to ANOTHER monitor VIA a lead,the laptop display works 100% through another monitor but not with its own screen.Check the module if is still working and replace it with one of thesame rating.i.e one of thesame voltage.The inverter could also be faulty. Or if you replaced the backlight yourself, forgot to plug the inverter back in

22238.	Solve : Reseting a Belkin WIFI router?
Answer» I was GIVEN a router that had been password protected. I see the reset hole and I was told that the router could be reset to the factory setting (no pass word). Do I use a ball point pen or a paper clip? Do I press the reset with power on or off? This the first guestion I have asked of the group. Thanks for any HELP you can give.http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=f5d5231-4&aid=1564&scid=220 truenorthThanks, SEVEN seconds is what I needed.Welcome,truenorth

22224.	Solve : Mouse And Keyboard Are Sort Of. . Opposite??
Answer» for example if i were to type the number 5 it would show % and all LETTERS are capitals and if i left click a folder with the MOUSE it highlights alot of them, im really stuck and have no IDEA what to do. also i cannot use the arrow --&GT; this is on my other PC and i really need it working, so any help would be much appreciated nevermind, thanks anyway, i managed to fix itTurn it off by pressing the capslock key once.

22225.	Solve : Dvd +- rw does not recognise blank dvd's?
Answer» I had an NEC ND 3500A DVD BURNER that was working fine and all of the sudden I could no longer burn DVD's. It would play factory DVDs, burnt DVDs and Cd's. It would also burn Cd's but when I tried putting in a blank DVD the icon in "My Computer" went from being a DVD +- drive to CD drive with a DVD icon and it SAID that there was 0 bytes on the disk and 0 bytes free. I read some posts on other forums that said the burner may be fried. So after un-installing and re-installing the burner I decided to spend the $40 and get another burner. I got a Memorex 525G Reinstalled Windows(XP Home) installed the burner and drivers and to my DESPAIR the same prob. occured. No THIRD party software will allow me to write to a DVD either. I am using blank DVDs from the same package that I had already been using earlier with no issues. I am at my wits end and am ready to lose my marbles here. Can somebody PLEASE HELP ME !!!

22226.	Solve : USB Device not recognized?
Answer» This is a larger issue than just my computer but for the sake of detail my recently built computer is where the problem occurred. I borrowed a friends external Western Digital hard drive to MOVE DATA from my old laptop to my newly built desktop. I was copying files from my laptop fine and as soon as I plug the hard drive into my new computer it says USB device not recognized. I've already plugged many devices in the same spot. The real issue is that now when I plug the hard drive back in my laptop it comes up as unrecognized even though it was working fine before. I plug it into my parents laptop and even my friends mac and it is still not recognized. Sadly this stigma has now moved to my printer after plugging it into my new computer and it will come up as unrecognized on any other computer. I went through the whole process of checking if my drivers were updated, turned my computer off, but even with the help of my friend, who essentially built my computer for me, we couldn't figure out the problem. Any ideas at all would be great, this has a been an issue for quite some time. Do you have a backup? No joke. You MAY have a virus that got into your USB drivers.Are you using the cord that came with your WD Hard drive? Try using another USB cord or a Dual USB Data Cable. Works for me. Some threads I have read on WD sites were about certain protection softwares interfering with the Hard drive. Worth a shot to see if it would make a difference.Thanx for the ideas, i will check into the whole virus issue and call my guy on that even though I do have an anti-virus, but to be safe I will give that a looking into Its a friend's hardrive so yes I'm assuming the cord came with the WD hardrive, i will look into other usb cables, that would help a bunch if the problem was that simple. But just to REITERATE, this happened to not only my friend's hardrive but my printer which uses a usb connection as well. Again thanx for the replies. This seems to happen to a lot of people. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/usb-device-not-recognized-error-keeps-popping-up/6be4581d-8fbd-407f-815e-b475c35ca586 Read the whole thing, you might get lucky & the simple solution works for you.

22228.	Solve : C Drive space Low?
Answer» Hello, I have a Sony vaio PCV-RS530G, running windows xp. I keep running out of space on my C drive, even though i'm not adding any new files. I keep clearing out my temporary internet files and DELETE files i no longer need, but i don't seem to be able to keep above around 90MB of FREE space no matter what i do. My C drive says its total size is 14GB, I'm unable to account for where all of the space has gone, I don't have that many rograms or files. I tried running scandisk, nothing seemed to happen after it ran, nothing I could tell anyway. Thank you to anyone who has any info.With 14GB HARD drive I think, you need a new, BIGGER drive.Try using glary utilitys it is a program that has a bunch of functions and one is called disk analysis and it shows you where all the memory is gone. Just don't use the regestry cleaner it causes more problems than it is worth. It is free and here is the link. http://www.glaryutilities.com/ Hope this helps.and by means, do you have system restore on? I have win vista, system restore is on and I clean it out now and then and it frees up disk space. Probably that is what's eating up your hd space if you got nothing new and no malware creating duplicate files.

22230.	Solve : Computer Don't turns on When Power given Hard drive is connected?
Answer» I have a problem with my another computer. When Power cable from Power supply to hard DRIVE is connected, There is no sound and computer don't turns on except the green led LIGHTS on. and check SIGNAL cable appears on monitor but when the power cable is DISCONNECTED, computer Power on, EVERY seems fine but It says couldn't boot What can be possible reason of it? Suggest meBad hard drive. Power supply detects overload and won't turn on.

22232.	Solve : can you make non genuine xp into geuine??
Answer» OK, I'm saying that on the internet is one student Windows XP key that allows you to licence your OS. Google it! Cheers.I GOOGLED it. The fact that all the results from the first few pages were torrent sites speaks volumes about the legitimacy of your proposal.just GO buy windows license or use one of the free linuxes out there. there is one ILLEGAL student windows XP key.... http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx --> $64.95 Windows ultimate AVAILABLE for PURCHASE for PEOPLE with edu email addresses, though I do not know when this offer will expire.

22233.	Solve : graphics card suggestion??
Answer» Quote from: macdad- on April 16, 2009, 11:32:28 AM I checked, my machine is a Dell Optiplex GX270 and its regular, orginal PCI but it does have an open AGP slot. And also my monitor is VGA so the graphics card has to have a VGA connector. My machine has a AGP slot open, and It was a custom refurbished rig that came with a 40GB HD. I added a second 20GB HD from my old Dell Dimension. And yes its "new to me" but heck, much better than my old rig, and I'm not complaining. Got it for a good deal(just the tower), used the monitor and KEYBOARD from my old Dell Dimension too. And bought a new mouse with the tower. your CPU is over twice as fast as mine. Well, unless you count my laptop. Mine is a similar story, went from 350Mhz AMD K6-2 to 1.6Ghz P4. The difference is AMAZING! It wears off after a while as you GET used to the new speed, I think.I was amazed when i first boot mine up, 5 second boot up right to the login screen But back on topic. Thanks everyone for the input and all the suggestions were great as for VGA monitor, just get the DVI to VGA adapter dongle and it'll take care of the ISSUE of card not having VGA input.

22234.	Solve : My computer wont boot if i plug the VGA?
Answer» just bought this inno3d FX 5500 256mb VGA my COMPUTER wont boot if i plug it. even if i put it on VGA MODE or disable my motherboard built in. my mother board is a ECS P4M800 PRO M2. Help pls.Your power supply may be too weak to support it. Try a better PSU with more watts.How far does the SYSTEM boot? What exactly happens?

22239.	Solve : Display disappeared, boot problem, and fan control?
Answer» Hi, YESTERDAY I started experiencing my laptop display blanking, then received a display driver error in notification menu. Unfortunately, the only bit of the error I got was "display driver nvl.." or something. I rebooted, Windows didn't start properly, then ran "Startup Repair" (a Vista autmated scan? not sure) which concluded "unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem" and recommended restoring to a System Restore point, which I click OK to. Got to desktop ok, but the same error happened again re display driver (sorry, I didn't think to write it down). I also at this point got another diagnosis application from Vista giving me errors with the Display driver, the specifics for the info on this are: ----------------------------------- Product Windows Problem Video hardware error Date 14/10/2009 20:13 Status Not Reported Description A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly. Problem signature Problem Event Name:LiveKernelEvent OS Version:6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1 Locale ID:2057 Files that help describe the problem WD-20091014-2012.dmp sysdata.xml Version.txt Extra information about the problem BCCode:117 BCP1:84D1A3E8 BCP2:8BA07350 BCP3:00000000 BCP4:00000000 OS Version:6_0_6001 Service Pack:1_0 Product:256_1 ---------------------------------------------- I have copies of the other "files wthat help describe the problem", although I can't open the .dmp file. Other things I then tried: In Device Manager, I checked the Display adaptor, it was showing as working correctly. The driver files were showing from 2007. I clicked "update Driver" (Display Adaptor: NVIDIA GeForce 8400N GS), Windows searched for a driver for a while and began install. But the SCREEN then crashed: grey colour with vertical lines. Also the fan started going on for 4 seconds, off for 4 seconds, on and off like that. I FORCED a reboot but really from then on I could'nt see anything on the screen. Thinking it might be just the display affected, and the normal boot up might be visible 'underneath' it, I pressed F8, then Enter, hoping to start a Safe Boot. The screen did change slightly, I think maybe it did something. But I still couldn't see anything so I just shut down. I left it overnight to today, and switching on I could reboot, it ran the Startup Repair, again suggesting a System Restore. This time I didn't accept. It kept scanning with "attempting repair" I think, then rebooted itself and I could log on to Windows. However, now the fan is on continuously, although I can log on and apparently use everything ok. Note on checking the Display Adaptor driver now, it is:Date: 03/09/2008. Current System information on Monitor is attached in Word Doc "System Information - Monitor.doc" I am not sure what to do next. I am not aware of a "scan" I can do to check for problems. I am fairly computer literate, working in IT support, although not the strongest on hardware faults. ----------------------- System information: OS Name: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Version: 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001 System Manufacturer: Dell Inc. System Model: XPS M1330 System Type: X86-based PC Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T8100 @ 2.10GHz BIOS Version/Date: Dell Inc A09, 03/02/2008 Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 2.00 GB ----------------------- Any suggestions greatly appreciated, Heywogr [Saving space, attachment deleted by admin]Hi, does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to solve this? I've done an MBAM (MALWAREBYTES' AntiMalware) and it picked up a Win32/Cryptor and a Trojan.TDSS, and seemed to clear ok. When I start in Safe Mode with Networking, it starts ok, everything seems fine. When I start normally, the fan just goes continuously or on/off. Does that mean it's a driver/service issue, or a virus? I'd say you still have a malware problem. Go here ...... Follow the directions and post the required logs for Evilfantasy to analyse.

22241.	Solve : screen locks up?
Answer» Hi All, My computer screen locks up after some Hr. of usage (~3), after each consecutive reboot sequence the time of play SHORTENS up, I have done the following; 1) virus, malware scan, clene. 2) Run WN XP file repair 3) Removed the cover and checked for hot component, applied large external fan, no change. Any ideas? Gershon My guess would be that it's a "heat" issue. Blow out dust within the computer case with "canned" air (not a regular vacuum cleaner). Pay special attention to the CPU heat sink, memory MODULES, and video card. Don't let the fan blades spin at supersonic speed from the canned air (as much fun as that might be). Don't remove the CPU "heat sink" UNLESS you're prepared to clean off and reapply the "thermal paste" to the interface plate between the two. The thermal paste fills in the microscopic air pockets to facilitate the flow of heat from CPU to heat sink. Look for and start monitoring any heat sensors your computer system may have (read their VALUES under different processing loads). I think you may access values through CMOS setup of system BIOS (not very convenient) or look for "free" software that PROVIDES access to them. Ask if you need software recommendation. Everyone has their favorites. Hint: Don't touch the computer chips. Aside from being very "hot", you could damage them via an electro-static discharge.

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22243.	Solve : Unable to reinstall after reformatting because laptop keeps switching itself off?
Answer» I have a Windows XP laptop, model number 1551/MS2145. A few days AGO I GOT some kind of virus and was advised to reformat the computer. I am now trying to reinstall it but the laptop keeps switching itself off before I can COMPLETE the process. As FAR as I can tell there is no problem with the power supply. The computer has been switching itself off at random for a while so that is not a new problem, but it is now making the laptop completely unusable. I can't afford to spend money unless absolutely necessary, so advice WOULD be appreciated.

22245.	Solve : Blu-ray drive refuses to play BDs?
Answer» Have a custom build pc I bought APPROX 18months ago, running Windows 7 service PACK 1. As of recent my optical disc drive (LG BH08LS20) is refusing to play blu-ray discs but still plays games and ordinary DVD's. Updated the drivers for most, TRIED with CyberLink and VLC player. VLC says "Your input can't be opened:VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvd://D:\'. Check the log for details.". Still have MANUAL and disc for the drive, don't know where to start. CyberLink BD Advisor says pc is good to play BDs aside from graphics card driver and current service pack installed. Thanks in advanced if anyone can help out. JVLC Media Player isn't able to play Blu-Ray's by default, is it? Which version of Cyberlink are you currently using?Try this link http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249998-32-bh08ls20-drive-burner-problemsCouldn't sworn I've blurays on VLC by default, maybe not and I'm just being a tool. Pretty sure I updated cyberlink lastnight, as I threw my LG disc in the drive to see if that did any good, just installed more cyberlink junk than was required as I'm not a big fan of cyberlink, it's a real ugly software. Plan is; i) unistall everything cyberlink related. ii.) unistall optical disc drive. iii.) unistall graphics/video card. and then re install them all. Thats with the help of you guys, I've never uninstalled any hardware. I presume I'd go about it - right click My Computer, properties> Device Manager > double click DVD/CD rom drive> right click drive and unistall. I'm sure I've got the discs for both drive and graphics disc (Super Multi Blue Install Disc for Windows, BH08N/LS20 and MSI afterburner graphics card performancer booster driver and utility)

22247.	Solve : installed Windows vista and lost sound?
Answer» I just installed windows vista into my old sony vaio desktop. Every thing is working as it sould but I lost all sound through speakers. It says (no audio device is installed) Can any 1 help? THX!You need to re-install all the Drivers from the Driver CD that shipped with the PC.That cd is long gone....I tried GOING on the sony web site to down load the sis driver but its only for win xp =/ Any other ideas???Could you post the MAKE and model of your Sony PC and more importantly, the sound card? the sound card manufacturer's site might have Vista drivers.OS Name MICROSOFT Windows XP Professional Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600 OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Manufacturer Sony Corporation System Model PCV-RX741(UC) System Type X86-based PC Processor x86 Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1526 Mhz BIOS Version/Date Award Software, Inc. ACPI BIOS Revision 1003VX, 5/16/2002 SMBIOS Version 2.3 Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1 Locale United States Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)" User Name PETIE-B4EYZEF64\Petie i Time Zone Pacific Standard Time Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB Available Physical Memory 560.56 MB Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB Page File Space 2.33 GB I cant seem to find the sound card..I do know its an SiS soundcard if that helps?? Here you go mate: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=PCVRX741 It should be SIS 7012. The link contains everything you need for your model.For some reason I couldn't edit my post, so I will make a new reply to add something: Did your computer originally come with Windows Vista installed? There's no official SiS 7012 Driver for Windows Vista. And your list MENTIONS that you're running XP. However, you can try a scan with Drivermax in an attempt to find a driver for vista.

22249.	Solve : WHAT ARE THE EFFECT OF RAM,HEAT SINK AND COOLANT ON COMPUTER?
Answer» HI my GUYS,WELL done What are the negative effect of ram,heat sink and coolant(GEL) on computer.i.e what are the likely signs to see if these materials go faulty or bad or damageIf your RAM goes wrong, you might have extremely slow boot times, computer randomly crashing, etc. www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1565 How to diagnose bad RAM. If you have not applied CPU thermal paste, please do so as it maximizes heat conduction between the CPU surface and heatsink. The heatsink is a piece of metal-it cannot go "faulty." The fan can go faulty, though, and if your computer temperatures are abnormally high (you can check your CPU temps in your BIOS or with SpeedFan/Piriform Speccy.), the fan may be suspect.