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Hey there,

I got a new hard drive. (I think my old one is dead.)
The new drive is:
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500MB SATA/300 16MB HDD. (Firmware: 3.AAE)


I tried to install Windows on it. I got up to where you choose which drive to install, and it says:
Unknown Disk
(There is no disk in this drive.)

If I hit C (to create a PARTITION in the unpartitioned space), nothing happens.
If I hit enter, I get the blue screen of death.

Error messages:
_______________________________________ _____________________________
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: setupdd.sys

Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xE5336038, 0x00000000, 0xF7417E4C, 0x00000002)

*** setupdd.sys – Address F7417E4C base at F73F3000, Datestamp 3b7d8507
_______________________________________ _____________________________


Also, the drive itself has this on the label:
_______________________________
Installation Summary
...
3) Serial ATA controllers or systems may have CUSTOM drivers. SEE your controller or
system documentation for specific installation instructions.
4) Prepare the drive for use with your Operating System. See your OS instructions
for details. Be careful to select the correct drive. ... Windows XP or 2000 prepares
the drive during installation. ...
_______________________________

So I guess I don't know where to start.

I've seen in other threads where they say: Check in BIOS if the drive is recognized.
But my BIOS doesn't SEEM to have that sort of option. ** I'll try to post a "screenshot" of my BIOS.

Also, I don't quite know how to check to see about custom drivers, or how to install them if I needed them.

Thanks!
Troy Okay, here are two "screenshots" of my BIOS

First



And this one shows the lower selections, after SCROLLING down.


Thanks again for all the help!

Cheers,
TroyWhat flavor of Windows are you attempting to install ? ?
More info.Hey patio,
Sorry about that.

Windows XP is the version. (Pro, if it matters)

Computer Info:
Acer Aspire E650 (Was originally configured/stock with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005)

Don't know much more about it...This should solve your problem...

http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/000867.html

Please read it carefully...

Make sure you have the drivers for your new hard drive available from the manufacturer. If you don't have them...go to the Seagate site and download them for your particular SATA drive.

Then follow the directions from the link I just posted.

My computer com port says this ( Cannot open COM 1 ) what can I do thanks lazeressQuote

My computer com port says this ( Cannot open COM 1 ) [highlight]what can I do [/highlight]thanks lazeress

DLoad and install SP2...

Who makes this card reader that uses a serial cable ? ?

my OS is win XP home.my unit is a COMPAQ presario NOTEBOOK. i recently experienced having a thin green line vertically through the SCREEN? is this a video CARD DEFECT?can any one help me fix this?tnx

I've had my computer for about 6 months now and upto now its been perfect. Its a self BUILT thing with the following specs: -

• Intel Duo Core CPU
• 1024 MB RAM
• 512mb Graphics card
• Windows Vista Ultimate

i wanna get date caonverter software. plz share meMore details on what you are TRYING to accomplish and we'll share you...Yes, we all WANT to share you.Quote

More details on what you are trying to accomplish and we'll share you...

Quote

More details on what you are trying to accomplish and we'll share you...

date converter to change AD into BS and vice versa.

so i have an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ ClawHammer 2.4GHz Socket 939 and a Radeon X850PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16( i have the *censored* version the overheats but thats ANOTHER story involving 19 fans and 5 mem coolers)

my main goal is to keep my system up to DATE for up coming games...i was thinking my card was becoming dated, but then someone said i might want to consider a CPU upgrade (socket 939) JMedieval 2 total war is coming out which is hard on both CPU and graphics...which should i upgrade???

or would you reccomend both... or do you think im good for another year...im just trying to get other opinionsyou are in the clear for graphics, though what is your ram? the processor will survive for now, but you might want to upgrade if you are a hardcore gamer. with the info you have given, lou look FINE for a year or so.two gigs of ramBlinking heck bags, you're computer is better than mine, and thinking of upgrading? But yes, your RAM might be a bottleneck... upgrade it if it's only a gig Quote

so i have an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ ClawHammer 2.4GHz Socket 939 and a Radeon X850PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16( i have the *censored* version the overheats but thats another story involving 19 fans and 5 mem coolers)

my main goal is to keep my system up to date for up coming games...i was thinking my card was becoming dated, but then someone said i might want to consider a CPU upgrade (socket 939) JMedieval 2 total war is coming out which is hard on both CPU and graphics...which should i upgrade???

or would you reccomend both... or do you think im good for another year...im just trying to get other opinions

HI EVERYONE this is my first time posting here. and i have asked help on many different forums regarding this problem. below is a copy and paste of what my problem is.

I am running windows xp sp2 and it is a seagate 250 gb sata drive.

-----


Now i am back to square 1.
i used a program called Copywipe to delete my partition to fix the problem but it just made it worse.

now it says i only have a 127gb hard drive when it is suppose to be 250gb(really 233gb)

i installed partition magic on the pc but i cant SEEM to fix the problem.

I PUT two pictures in here
one from disk management in partition magic and the other is the the properties for the drive

---here is the chkdsk report --
The type of the file system is NTFS.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying INDEXES (stage 2 of 3)...
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
Security descriptor verification completed.

134206978 KB total disk space.
2608544 KB in 9205 files.
2268 KB in 574 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
79882 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
131516284 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
33551744 total allocation units on disk.
32879071 allocation units available on disk.
Press any key to continue . . .


-- Pictures --


this could be a condition limitation in your motherboard bios and its age, as hard drives expanded motherboard bios's had to be updated to suit, but some motherboard's and bios's cannot be updated or understand the size geometrics or be updated.
the question is what motherboard, operating system and cpu are you using ?

have you tried the seagate tools for formating this drive ?
there is a version which can run in windows as well as a DOS version which as it has its own operating system, it can be booted from and it then works out with any windows GUI being required
they can be downloaded from here:- http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

you can then use the tools to diagnose any PROBLEMS and with the "powermax tool" you can format and or partition the drive.thanks ill give it a shot. ill never use partition magic again. this i just beeen one BIG headache i used the seagate tools thing and did the LONG DST test and everything passed.

i also tried teh seagate for dos program but it does not boot up. after i chagned the boot up order. i am going to try and wipe the whole drive with copywipe.


any other tips on how to fix the problem ? i went into the BIOS and it sees the full 250 gb. However when i go into windows xp setup it sees 1 unparition space of 131061MB

the system specs are

Pention 4(r) 3.20 ghz
1 gb ram
seagate/maxtor 250gb sata drive
with NO OS

what to do if the administrator password is forgotten. plz shareYou'll love Google with the GOO Goo Googley eyes.Shabap-WOW! :-?



This will only work if the person that owns the machine has no intelligence.


This is how it works: When you or anyone installs WINDOWS XP for the first time your asked to put in your USERNAME and up to five others.

Now, UNKNOWN to a lot of other people this is the only place in Windows XP that you can password the default Administrator Diagnostic ACCOUNT. This means that to by pass most administrators accounts on Windows XP all you have to do is boot to safe mode by pressing F8 during boot up and choosing it.

Log into the Administrator Account and create your own or change the password on the current Account. This only works if the user on setup specified a password for the Administrator Account.


I had to bypass the lower 25% of the left corner of my monitor to find this
information.

SNAP!=The sound of my mousetrap when I catch supper.
Xenium, are you related to wangming? Quote

Xenium, are you related to wangming?

Hi!

About a week ago the graphics card of my wife's computer stopped working (Nvidia 6600 AGP) - the pre-bios start-screen was distorted and windows didn't start. We still had spare parts and re-INSTALLED the older card, that was used before we bought the Nvidia.
The system worked just fine until the replacement for the Nvidia card arrived today (same card). The start-screen does not distort ANYMORE but windows won't boot. Reinstalling the DRIVERS for the graphics card in safe mode didn't solve the problem.
So again, we installed the older card, but windows still won't start! I can access the safe mode, but everything seems to work just fine.

I could not find anything about this by searching myself and I hope, this problem belongs in the hardware forum.

Thanks for help and ideas!Sounds if you'll have to do a systam restore - I had this problem with Nvida, whta I done (after exsperiansing your problem) is systam restore, started windows (should start fine), DON'T start the INSTALL CD insteadad LET windows detect, and install the drivers from the internet. Then things should be fine.

Gud luckThanks for the answer.

I already did a system restore and installed drivers from the web - but I still couldn't start windows in normal mode.
Any other ideas, maybe?
Thanks in advance.Ok try this one: -

Start up in safe mode, Go to device manager, then find you graphics card driver. Uninstall it and reset windows. See if windows starts up normaly. Then try letting windows install the driver, OR go to Nvidias web site and install the latests driver for your graphics card

Let me know how you get on with that

My Bad
You have a motherboard with Intel 865G chipset.
Every motherboard with this chipset has an AGP x8 EXPANSION slot.

Since ur CPU is a good one and will not be a serious bottleneck towards even high-end graphics cards today, and because u do not actually have a graphics card i would suggest that u buy an AGP graphics card. (You can also upgrade to 1024MB of RAM, but u will be fine with 512MB for now. in any case the graphics card comes way FIRST)

This will not only give u a serious boost in games, but since the graphics "chip" that u have right now is actually TAKING ur system RAM, ur performance in just abt EVERYTHING will increase.


Reply to this post with the budget u have for buying a graphics card and i will TELL u what to buy.@soybean:

yes, I've opened my case before to look for slots, and I made a picture of it (though it's not a very good one):
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/2360/compmt0.jpg

On the left by the arrows you can see 2 white slots, so that must be PCI slots? I think the bottom one has my wireless card in it. You can't see it on the picture, but both of them are connected to some 'thing' on the left which extends to below where it is inserted in a 3th white slot (sorry if this sounds confusing). I actually don't understand this, because according to my Everest report, I have 3 PCI slots of which one is occupied, but as I see it 2 of them are occupied?

In the middle by the other arrow you see a black slot, I don't know what that could be?

You can't see this on the picture, but left below there are 2 very long white slots which are occupied. I don't know, but I'm guessing these are my memory cards?

I don't think I can see any other slots, is there any particular place where it should be?

By the way, I just got a message from some other guy saying he was 100% sure I have an APG slot. I only told him about the 'Expansion Capabilities PCI, AGP, USB'-line in Everest, and my computer specs. I'm waiting for a reply as to why he's so sure.@track, thanks for your reply! I didn't see it yet when I posted my previous message..

So I'll ask you too: if you look at the picture in my previous post, do you know where I can find that AGP slot?

About my budget: I'm not really sure yet. I'm just a student so not too rich
I also have no idea what these video cards cost. The PCI cards soybean pointed out were very good in price, but I'm guessing AGP cards are more expensive? From what price on can I expect a decent performance?Quote

You have a motherboard with Intel 865G chipset.
Every motherboard with this chipset has an AGP x8 expansion slot.

Well I'm have a right sh*t week - first of my CPU overheats (which I sorted by coming to this website) and now my MOUSE has packed up. Well since this web site helped me so good I like see what people would reccomend.
I need the following: -

• The mouse has to be cordless
• It needs to be ABLE to work 15 METERS from the sender (my tower is upstairs, and I have my monitor downstairs so I have my Mouse and keybourd is about 10 -15 meters away from the sender)
• I don't mind if I have to by a keyboard as well
• My budget is anything below £25, but I may go higher if people insist

I am brand new to this and know nothing. I NEED a MICROPHONE for voice over on video. Do I need a stereo microphone? The microphone on my video camera is stereo and I have stereo speakers on my computer so, I thought MAYBE I need a stereo microphone. I don't even know if there are stereo microphones for desk top computers. So, that's it. Help please.



AlWell, apparently there are stereo headphones. Here's ONE source that appeared in a Google search: http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Stereo-Microphones--2845; the ones on this site are quite expensive. I did not look at other sources.

I really don't see why you would need a stereo mic. Unless you have some compelling reason, I think I'd SAVE the money; a basic mic can be quite inexpensive.

Jess07, I forgot to ask... do I need to disable my old graphics card first? Or can I just plug in the new card and my computer should recognize it?

ATI Xpress200's an integrated graphics card (built into motherboard).Quote from: elxr06 on September 19, 2007, 03:09:34 PM

Jess07, I forgot to ask... do I need to disable my old graphics card first? Or can I just plug in the new card and my computer should recognize it?

ATI Xpress200's an integrated graphics card (built into motherboard).

I say more RAM. Track would say GPU if he was here.

Quote from: elxr06 on September 19, 2007, 03:09:34 PM

Jess07, I forgot to ask... do I need to disable my old graphics card first? Or can I just plug in the new card and my computer should recognize it?

ATI Xpress200's an integrated graphics card (built into motherboard).

Not only that, but you also have to relocate the Monitor cable from being attached to the Onboard GPU, to being attached to the new card.
Disabling it in the BIOS couldn't be easier.

Quote from: Jess607 on September 19, 2007, 03:17:38 PM

Quote from: elxr06 on September 19, 2007, 03:09:34 PM

Jess07, I forgot to ask... do I need to disable my old graphics card first? Or can I just plug in the new card and my computer should recognize it?

ATI Xpress200's an integrated graphics card (built into motherboard).

Not only that, but you also have to relocate the Monitor cable from being attached to the Onboard GPU, to being attached to the new card.
Disabling it in the BIOS couldn't be easier.

Or can I just log onto windows normally and then go to device manager and disable it that way? Then shutdown computer and nstall new GPU before rebooting and installing any necessary drivers if any?

Quote from: linuxlover on September 19, 2007, 02:45:57 PM

I say more RAM. Track would say GPU if he was here.

Then "Track" is smarter than you

My computer was crashing frequently WHENEVER running video games and I figured it was from the video card overheating so I opened the case took the card out blasted the whole thing with compressed air and the video card as well and then put the card back in, nothing else was dissconected. When I turned the power back on I got the error "Hard disk boot failure, please enter the boot disk and then press enter" so I put in the boot disk and it SAID "Windows cannot detect the hard disk, it may be dissconected" and then I looked inside my case again and there is a thin red cord I didnt NOTICE before that was hooked up to the hard drive but not to the motherboard, it is the SATA/RAID cord but I don't use that configuration, does anyone have any clue what might have gone wrong?
Have you checked the other connections for that hard drive.Possibly when removing the video card you jarred loose the SATA cable.
"...it is the SATA/RAID cord but I don't use that configuration..." So you're USING an IDE hard drive and not a SATA, right?

If that IDE cable is in place the BIOS should see it, does it? If the cable is in place, the BIOS doesn't see it and you can't see if from a boot disk, then the hdd tanked on you.

Alan &LT;><

PROBLEM SOLVED! On August 26, 2007, I requested help on my grandon's failed hard drive. After SEVERAL days of various ATTEMPTS to recover his data, I visited 3 computer technicians in my home town and was advised that it was hopeless. Unwilling to give up, I searched the Internet and found a recommendation that worked. It might not work for all failed hard drives but I wanted to pass along the recommendation in the event others have a similar problem.
In a PC WORLD help file, I found a video titled ""How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive". The URL is http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-. The video suggested that the hard drive be sealed in a plastic bag and put in the freezer. I left mine in the freezer for 24 hours, allowed it to return to room temperature and when installed as a slave in my computer, I was able to access the hard drive and recover all of my grandson's data and pictures of his young son. We are all very grateful for all of the help offered her and my father's teaching that I should never give up on attempting to solve a problem until I had tried every possible option.
I am very grateful to God for leading me to the right source. I hope this helps someone else.
Ahhh...the old "bag it in the freezer trick". An oldie but a goodie

Alan <>< That works? I'd WRITE that off as folk-lore, if you hadn't brought that up. I'd heard of that, but didn't want to try it. Wow. You have my respect.

Just recently (actually today) my COMPUTER started shutting itself down. The first time it happened it ran for about 20 min then shut down and after that the most i could GET it to run for was a few min., sometimes it wouldn't even finish booting. When I opened it up i noticed that the fan on my cpu heat SINK wasn't working so i replaced the fan with another but I am still having th problem. I was just wondering if you have any advice on the matter. Personally i think it is either that I need a new heat sink or a new cpu.Could be the CPU is fried , but possibly not. Did you put heat-sink compound on when you replace the CPU fan / is that new fan running / did you check it / is it properly seated on the CPU?

Alan <>< ya i figured out that the cpu was fried. I had to get a new oneWell, at LEAST it's working now, correct? If so, best wishes with the new CPU.

Hi,
heres the PROBLEM:
optical usb mouse with serial adapter.
when pc turned on, mouse pointer is visable, but cant move it despite being able to RIGHT and left click (with response) and use the scroll wheel. doesnt matter if i move the mouse to a new usb port, same problem. pc thinks everything is working fine

any ideas?

MANY thanks
rob1/ what mouse type and manufacturer are you trying to use?

2/ corrupt drivers can often cause this behavior,

3/ go into the control panel, then system, then hardware/then device manager,select the "mice and other pointing devices" delete any mouse device SHOWING. then restart WINDOWS should then find the device and install the drivers stored in your computer.

4/ if it is a microsoft intellipoint mouse you can download he latest drivers from here :-

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ea22bd62-4873-406a-bbbe-c587d35a53bf&DisplayLang=en

then go into the control panel, then system, then hardware/then device manager,select the "mice and other pointing devices" delete any mouse device showing.
then install the new driver and restart.

Quote

optical usb mouse with serial adapter

Just got a core2duo E4400 retail. The retail box came with the processor and the HSF. The part of the HSF that makes contact with the CPU looks like it has some preapplied paste in groove form(first time BUILDING a comp with an intel cpu). Should I still use the thermal paste I have on the cpu in addition to what's on the intel HSF or should I just put the hsf on the cpu in the motherboard and lock it without APPLYING my own paste? Thanks in advance.Heres me ADVICE?

Do what you feel comfortable with ..... i personlly would use the thermal compound


gluck Quote from: Richenstony on September 24, 2007, 07:00:31 AM

i personlly would use the thermal compound

My kids computer is one I built, everything worked fine for a long time, but recently it started rebooting itself, then would GIVE the safe mode screen and just keep restarting finally giving me the blue screen stop error. I tried to reinstall windows, but after it installs I get the blue screen "a fatal error to protect your computer windows is shutting down, blah blah blah STOP ERROR and the number is always different. I tried a new hard drive, same thing, I changed out power supplys, same error. I tried removing different PCI Cards, took out memory sticks, tried a stick I knew was good, same errors. I am thinking it must be a bad mother board, oh and I even changed the MOTHERBOARD battery thinking that MAY be it. I dont know whatelse it could be?? I dont want to buy another motherboard and I have never seen a bad motherboard do this, they usually just stop working when they go bad. Any ideas fellas???Oh come one guys, dont tell me I am the smartest one in the room??? All of you have answers for piddly problems but not for me?? Come on, this is serious, I need something else to try before I bother buying a new board and proccesor & RAM. deep, would you please tell us more about this computer and what is in it as well as what O/S your using. More info might go a long way to garnering assistance.truenorthIt is AMD 1600+ on a Asus motherboard with 1.5 gigs of ram, HD is 80gigs (western digital) has a nvidia gforce 6200 256meg vid card. It is running XP. However I find all that irrelevant at this point in time. I have tried all the fixes, is there a way to see if the motherboard is bad or not? If after you re-install fresh xp,and try to go to the safe mode with the same RESULT again and again i would vote for the mobo.Deep,Indeed you seem to have been very thorough in your approach to your problem. The one item (other than your refference to the "power supply") that has not been addressed is the possibility of a heat problem caused by a faulty cooling fan somewhere.Have you looked into that?How are your TEMPS?Is there a swollen capacitor or any other scorched or damaged looking part on your MOBO?I gather that you cannot get the computer to stay in safe mode very long thus your diagnostics are severely hindered.Maybe Patio could give you some more suggestions he/she has a better than average understanding of these arcane problems.goodluck,truenorthThere does not appear to heat damage. The problem I am having is I dont want to buy another board, processor and RAM. I am finding this one being 3 years old is already dated and cant find so I would have to up the ante, I hate buying cheap so I may just say screw it and buy myself another sick set up and let my kids have my AMD 3200+ with 4 gigs of ram and they can game on that and I will buy the latest for myself, kids dont deserve the best, and we motocross and race AMA races so most of my money is tied up in their bikes and mine as well. Anyone know of a place to get a discount board and processor? Not sure if I really want a new computer, mine is pretty *censored* powerful and I have no need for yet another one. BUMP

I have three PC's and have different processors in all of them I suspect. I have one with a Celeron chip, one with a Pentium II chip, and the other has what I believe is a standard Pentium processor. Now, are any of these INTERCHANGEABLE or do I require different motherboards? I am an inquisitive self-taught kind of person and like to figure out how things work and if I can change things for the better. Any help would be greatly appreciated. No, those CPUs are not interchangable. They will only fit inside their own computers, respectively.Jess is Right, but just for your own info, have a look at some websites, and you will see there are a lot of different sockets with varying numbers of pins. If you need to change a CPU, you will have to get one that has the same socket, and number of pins as the one you are replacing - and make sure the motherboard will support it.
DavyMany Celerons and Pentium chips will run on the same MBoard...you will need to do some research to determine this however...I have yet to see a motherboard that support a Celeron and a Pentium 2 chipQuote from: davyburns on September 23, 2007, 02:01:28 PM

I have yet to see a motherboard that support a Celeron and a Pentium 2 chip

I have a ATI Radeon 9000 64M that I need to REPLACE. Does anybody know what other cards are compatible or where I can find out what other card will work with my computer? :-?Track will be along shortly.More info would be helpful. You have an AGP slot, right? What make and model is your computer?yes i have a 4x agp port. my computer is a S1854 Trinity 400. intel pentium III processor.Any 4x/8x AGP card should work. I believe all 8x cards are backwards compatible with 4x motherboards. You just won't get the full performance that an 8x card could give you an in 8x motherboard.Quote

I have a ATI Radeon 9000 64M that I need to replace. Does anybody know what other cards are compatible or where I can find out what other card will work with my computer? :-?

thanks track for all of that information. I am actually just trying to replace the video card for general use; so I will probably go with soybean's recommendation. Again thank you both for all of your help.

Quick question: Can I install a faster processor than my motherboard can take but only run it at the maxium the motherboard permits. E.g. fit a AMD CPU K6-2 / 500 but run it at 450 (100 x 4.5)?

Actually, the MOBO (TMC Socket 7 AI5VG+) does have a 5.5 setting but normally for use with 66 MHz but I recon I can work out the switch settings to have 100 x 5.5 to match a 550 processor. Would this work? (I PRESUMING the manual was written when the max processor available was 450)

Thanks.Quote

Quick question: Can I install a faster processor than my motherboard can take but only run it at the maxium the motherboard permits. E.g. fit a AMD CPU K6-2 / 500 but run it at 450 (100 x 4.5)?

Actually, the mobo (TMC Socket 7 AI5VG+) does have a 5.5 setting but normally for use with 66 MHz but I recon I can work out the switch settings to have 100 x 5.5 to match a 550 processor. Would this work? (I presuming the manual was written when the max processor available was 450)

Thanks.

My mother has an HP desktop computer.. it's not terribly OLD. Maybe 3.5 years or so. It's completely stock, no mods, no tweaks, no third party components, etc.

Here's the important part: Over the past month or two, she's been having occasional, intermittent problems with what originally seemed like the monitor pooping out. What was happening is that she'd be in the middle of doing something (email, graphics, whatever.. but nothing graphic intensive), and all the sudden her screen would seem to shut off for a split second, then come back on. Then yesterday, her system completely locked up... mouse just stopped moving and she had to do a hard reboot. Another thing that has been happening, is that occasionally one of the fans inside the computer (I'm guessing the CPU fan) would start going faster, as if the CPU was getting too hot. These 2 problems seemed to happen separately though, no direct connection between the two.

Here's what's happening: She turned her computer on today and it wouldn't boot up. No video, no beeps. The system just turns on, fans start spinning, and that's it. I opened the case and felt the heatsink and it IS warm.

Any guesses on what sounds most likely to be the problem? I'm guessing either the CPU, motherboard, or video card, but if it was the video card, you could at least expect a beep I'd think.

ThanksMy guess is faulty ram.I just got done replacing the video card and the ram.. I tried 2 sticks of GOOD ram and a video card that I know works.

So, it could be:
Ram
Video Card
Motherboard
CPU
PSU

I'm leaning toward CPU, but I don't have extra parts to test with. :\How did you eliminate the possibility of the vid card and the RAM ? ?
Was the RAM tested ? ?
What vid card did you throw in there ? ?I had spare parts from my computer before I upgraded. Her computer has an AGP GeForce 6200, I also had the same card. Only difference was that hers was like an LE edition and mine was not.

I also had several sticks of DDR400 that I was able to test too.. both were pulled from a working system, and tested in hers (also using DDR400). Still no beeps.. no change whatsoever.Disconnect the computer from the wall socket, wait 30 seconds reconnect and give it a try.You didn't answer the questions...
How did you test the RAM..."it worked in another machine" doesn't qualify...
How do you know the vid card is good ? ? again see above.@Fed
I have tried that numerous TIMES with no success. Thanks.

@patio
I don't know what else you want me to say.. the ram and video card were pulled from a machine in perfectly good working order (minus a hard drive) and tested in the problem PC. The symptoms did not change, still no beeps, still no video. To me, when RAM works in one machine, and doesn't work in the problem machine, the problem is not with the RAM. The same thing for the video card. I can't test either of the parts any other way, as my only other fully-functional machine uses PCI-e video and DDR2 RAM. Did I use memtest? No, and I can't. The spare machine is missing a hard drive.. I don't have any spare IDE drives. If that's what you were asking, you could have just said it. Otherwise I don't know what it is you're asking me.

I'm not a computer idiot, but I don't have sufficient spare parts to individually diagnose each piece of hardware to figure out what the problem is. Hence why I came here and asked if anyone might know, based on the symptoms, what the problem sounds most likely to be.I assume you can't test the RAM because nothing shows on the screen?
My money is on a faulty PSU at this stage, have you got one to swap it with?The spare computer doesn't have to hve an HDD to run memtest - You just need to make a bootable diskette or CD and boot from it.Are you able to get to the bios? It could be the monitor or its the board. IF the fan is spinning there is power so its not the power supply. Quote

This is the cause of numerous PC problems where lights and fans are operating but it won't boot. This occurs because the power good signal is not received.

When the power supply first starts up, it takes some time for the components to get "up to speed" and start generating the PROPER DC voltages that the computer needs to operate. Before this time, if the computer were allowed to try to boot up, strange results could occur since the power might not be at the right voltage. It can take a half-second or longer for the power to stabilize, and this is an eternity to a processor that can run half a billion instructions per second! To prevent the computer from starting up prematurely, the power supply puts out a signal to the motherboard called "Power Good" (or "PowerGood", or "Power OK", or "PWR OK" and so on) after it completes its internal tests and determines that the power is ready for use. Until this signal is sent, the motherboard will refuse to start up the computer.

In addition, the power supply will turn off the Power Good signal if a power surge or glitch causes it to malfunction. It will then turn the signal back on when the power is OK again, which will reset the computer. If you've ever had a brownout where the lights flicker off for a split-second and the computer seems to keep running but resets itself, that's probably what happened. Sometimes a power supply may shut down and seem "blown" after a power problem but will reset itself if the power is turned off for 15 seconds and then turned back on.

I have an IBM T41 notepad. Recently crashed completely and I ended up doing a clean reinstall of XP (SP2). Everything works fine now but no audio. (Note: sound worked fine before crash so I know there's a sound card in there somewhere). I went to the IBM site and downloaded the drivers for the standard onboard sound card but when I followed the install directions I discovered that the sound card is not even listed in device manager. No yellow question mark....just not there.
Since I know there is a sound card in there, how do I get the computer to know about it too?
thanks
:-?Download, unzip, install and run Everest Home Edition
Everest

Select Computer>Summary from the left hand screen.
Right click in the right hand screen & select Copy All
Paste the details in here.Field Value
Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name MEDLINE-3C65CE7
User Name donstove

Motherboard
CPU Type Mobile Intel Pentium M, 1600 MHz (16 X 100)
Motherboard Name IBM ThinkPad T41
Motherboard Chipset Intel Odem i855PM
System Memory 512 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Phoenix (06/02/06)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA EV-DO Status Port (COM4)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (M9)
3D Accelerator ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (M9)

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Intel 82801DBM ICH4-M - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-1]

Storage
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801DBM ULTRA ATA Storage Controller - 24CA
Disk Drive IC25N040ATCS04-0 (40 GB, 4200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive MATSHITA UJDA745 DVD/CDRW (DVD:8x, CD:16x/10x/24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status FAIL

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 38154 MB (35362 MB free)

Input
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse HID-compliant mouse
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network
Network Adapter WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface (68.31.214.185)
Modem Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA EV-DO Modem

Peripherals
USB1 Controller Intel 82801DBM ICH4-M - USB Controller [A-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801DBM ICH4-M - USB Controller [A-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801DBM ICH4-M - USB Controller [A-1]
USB1 Controller NEC uPD720101 USB OpenHCI Controller
USB1 Controller NEC uPD720101 USB OpenHCI Controller
USB2 Controller Intel 82801DBM ICH4-M - Enhanced USB2 Controller [A-1]
USB Device Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA EV-DO Modem
USB Device Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA EV-DO Status Port (COM4)
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
Battery Microsoft AC Adapter
Battery Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Only the drivers from the IBM site should be used. Make sure they are the correct ones. You will have other motherboard drivers that will have to ENABLED first.

Make sure the sound is enabled in the BIOS (F1 at boot).

This is the more important issue I see.

SMART Hard Disks Status FAIL
SORRY I am an idiot. Please be patient. Don't know what to do now. Have no idea how to enable "motherboard drivers" either.
The drivers I downloaded from the IBM site but can't install because it wants me to go to the sound thing in device manager and it is not there.
I did the F1 BIOS thing and can't find anything in there about sound. I did "restore defaults". Still no sound device to be seen. I know it's in there somewhere.
Have no idea what the SMART hard disk thing means or what to do about it.
What shall I do now? The sound worked fine before I had to reinstall XP.
You do not have a sound card. You have a sound controller on the motherboard. In the Windows Device Manager you do not see a heading called Sound, Video and Game Controllers, or something similar?

The below program may be what you need for USB.

Desktop System Software (DSS) is a utility that provides critical updates and patches for your operating system. Install the DSS program to gain SUPPORT for Dell 3.5-inch USB floppy drives, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD drives, and USB devices. DSS is necessary for correct operation of your Dell computer. DSS automatically detects your computer and operating system and installs the updates appropriate for your configuration.


http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R104418&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_8400&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=6317&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=4&formatcnt=1&libid=7&fileid=134821GX1_MAN, yes, that's the .exe file I downloaded, unzipped, and tried to install. It's for the dimension 8400 series.

I did have to reinstall Windows XP yesterday, because one of the hard drives in my RAID 1 array failed and the system crashed.

i lost many software APPLICATIONS and drivers. i'm not sure if service pack 2 is INSTALLED, although the Win XP installation CD includes SP2. I've been trying to reinstall drivers and software I lost.street1, thank you. i'll try installing that after repair install is complete. hopefully, all will be fine.You can also contact Dell support. In the USA: 888-560-8324.

Had a friend who had a dell desktop that WOULD not work(year old). It would not power up so I looked at it and decided it was a power supply or M/B. After trying a P/S that worked determined it was a M/B PROBLEM. Dell sent a new M/B and I installed it. Everything worked, he was happy, TOOK it home and then he turned it on and it did not boot. Next morning I got it back, spent a few moments troubleshooting and then REMEMBERED someone here talking about removing CMOS battery to reset the M/B. And there it was, working again.

Thanks for all your help.
You're welcome Sneakers - thanks for the thanks...

HP Pav. Celeron D, 768MB, Radeon X1300 vid. card. Antec 350W P.S.
After installing the Radeon to run DUAL monitors everything slowed down, failed, ETC. The monitors work fine. I'm using this SYSTEM for audio recording only. I've reloaded everything, even windows. I've exchanged the vid.card, twice. The only Bios update available from HP deals strictly with a printer/USB ISSUE.
When I put the system back on single monitor w/ onboad vid.card, it's O.K. All problems get worse with running time. The more demanding the program, the worse it is.

My recording program is Stenberg Cubase SX3. It asks for 512MB RAM. The Radeon has 256 built in, is it using some of my 768 as well? how much?

HP tech sup. SAID add more mem.

ATI Radeon said update Bios and chipset. (What does this mean)? :-?

Thanks

Hello all,

This problem is really bizarre, and has afflicted me for a long time because I just can't figure it out and nobody seems to know what exactly it is...

Basically, my display will become scrambled seemingly at random, vertical lines...
At first I thought it was my video card, so I tried dusting out the connections, reseating it, etc., and it seemed to help at first. However, the problem continued...sometimes the computer even suddenly restarts or shuts down, followed by the bizarre scrambling.
After having messed around with it a lot, it seems that adjusting the connections between the power supply and motherboard has a direct effect on this. If it gets all scrambly, I can simply fiddle with that part and it will either get better or worse when I try to start the cpu again...but eventually, even if it seems NORMAL for a long time, several days even, the scrambling will return and I will have to fiddle with it all over. Sometimes, it even has TROUBLE detecting IDE drives at startup. Can anyone tell me what the problem is? Is it just that the connection is loose? Should I get a new motherboard? Power supply? Am I totally off and it's SOMETHING completely different?

Thanks for hearing me out,
BartSeveral possibilities:

1) Screws holding motherboard might be too tight, causing the board to bend and create a short. (Try loosening a few of the screws.)

2) Power supply is going bad and surging power, which could fry the motherboard, etc. (Try replacing it with a known good ONE with adequate wattage.)

3) Video card DRIVERS are wrong type. (Try downloading and installing the latest drivers from the manufacturer's Web site.)

4) Video card is going bad. (Try using a know good one that you borrow or buy.)

5) Monitor is bad. (Try using a known good one that you borrow or own.)

6) Connector on the motherboard for the monitor has a short. (Try replacing the motherboard.)

Would it be possible for a bad router to kick a person from 3d gaming to the desktop?Im jsut wondering:

Who is your ISP?

Are 3d games the only thing you get kicked from?

Do you get kick from any other intensive bandwidth use?

Is there a certain TIME it kicks you..

What GAME are you playing?


I have a router and its somewhat bad, I cant use the internal firewall on the router I have to use other firewalls on the desktop instead.Yes. A bad router can cause a multitude of issues. What make you think it's the router?

Alan <>< Does the router have a built-in firewall? If so, then yes, the firewall, in trying to protect your computer, might be preventing the connections required to play the game online. You would have to reconfigure the firewall to allow the ports required to play the game.

Are you connected using ADSL or cable. If cable, your bandwidth is determined by the number of users in your area (the more people on line, the slower your connection "speed"). Try playing the game during times when fewer people in your area are likely to be online (like very late in the evening or early in the morning) or consider switching to an ISP that uses ADSL.

Are you using Windows XP SP2? If so, you might have to reconfigure or turn off the Windows firewall while playing games (it is in the Control Panel).Insight Roadrunner
I only play 3d games online, not 2d, when I play anything offline its fine
I have not noticed any bandwidth issues
All 3d games from tribes 1 to BF2
Im using windows xp service pack 2

Ok, last year I bought a new router and at the same time kind of lost the time to play my games. When I started playing them again I was getting kicked from BF1942, BF Vietnam, Tribes, ect. I went to my other computer and the same thing. It occured after no specific amout of time. After trouble shooting forever, and I mean for months ( ATI had me send in both video cards for warranty service ) I could not figure it out. Then i thought what if its SOMETHING outside the computers and the first thing I thought of was my router.Quote

...Im using windows xp service pack 2...

I got a compaq presario 7470 and its overheeating and can't find the problem. It has a amd k6-2 533mhz socket 7 97 bus 5.5 multiplier 2.1volt. I can overclock it to 550mhz if i jumper it to 100 bus. I got the panel off and everything out of the way. I blowed it out this morning. I've had it for a month now and its been doin it ever since. The fans WORKING. THERES not much I can do in bios and theres nothing there for cpu temp. If I don't turn it on for a couple of days it will run for 3 or 4 hours straight no problems then it will turn off for a few minutes and then COME back on and do that continually unless I turn it off for a while and then it will run for about 30 minutes or so depending on how long I leave it off. I don't know what else to do. I got this to sell and I need the money bad and got someone wanting to buy it. Please Help!! Thanks.

• Install as many case fans as possible
• Apply Arctic Silver thermal paste to the CPU heatsink
• Add RAM heatsinks

I haven't applied thermal pasted because the heatsink is stuck to the cpu and I can't get it off.

Firstly thanks for looking and potentially helping.

I have a laptop and i am looking to upgrade the RAM. I have searched loads of sites and i can only find 1 site that has the exact model number in its search facilities. Hence my question is, Is all RAM specific???"

My laptop is a Toshiba Satelite A40-702, model number PSA40E-0E4N1-EN

So far only Orca lists this exact model for RAM UPGRADES ( and according to them the memory is 200-Pin PC2100 (266MHz) DDR SODIMM), can anyone tell me if i should just buy from them (seems expensive to me!) or is there just a specific type of RAM i can buy which might not be LISTED under my laptop model, i think you all know what i mean!!!

After reading this back the thought occours, is the memory i need just 200-Pin PC2100 (266MHz) DDR SODIMM??

Also can you tell me the difference between ECC and non-ECC

Anyway if you need anymore details let me know.

SonnyUnless you want a ton of *censored* ads clogging up your e-mail box it's PROBABLY not a good idea to post your e-mail addy here...

As to the RAM question have you visited the crucial.com website to make sure that is what the machine takes ? ?

You don't have to neccessarily buy it from crucial but they will tell you exactly what type that laptop will be able to use.

If it is an older style of RAM the price goes up exponentially due to the LAWS of supply and demand.

Good Luck.

patio. 8-)thanks dude, email removed!!!!!

i have sice tried the crucial tool and it says to use 200-pin SODIMM DDR PC2700, instead of the 2100 is this a more reliable source than the other one??The 2100 may not be readily available anymore.

Keep in mind that Crucial has a LIFETIME warranty is guaranteed to work. No surprises there. Getting some brand X thing may not have such a warranty. You may save a few bucks, but get something unusable.

Notebooks don't use ECC RAM.

i recently bought a new system, it is now about 1.5 months old. specs will be at the bottom here, but my issue came up about 2 weeks ago. the computer would start to lag when doing multiple processes, like if i was burning a CD and listening to music, two easy tasks, it would say it was using 60% of processor power 19% of useable RAM, and my music would skip like a old warped record... the interesting part, is that when in Task Manager which is saying it is useing 60% or more of the processor, there are NO programs that are registering that they are asking anything near that for the processor... here's a scree shot of what is going on right now... it's KINDA ANNOYING cause i don't know how to fix it, i don't know what the problem could even be anymore... hence why i am posting in hardware, as i assume it will have to be hardware based now...

Ran Virus scan with Norton *removed norton after clear scan, i hate it*
Ran Spyware scan with Ad-Aware Personal SE *clean*




Everything about my computer that i can find/think of... if you need something else please ask... as i am eager to get this $1800 machine running like it should... right now it runs worse than the machine i use as a paper holder... Thanks...

Computer System
Model: System Product Name (Desktop)
Manufacturer: System manufacturer
Version: System Version
Serial Number: System Serial Number
User Name: Nathan H

Advanced Power Management
AC Power Status: Online
Battery Charge Status: No Battery

Processor
Model: 2x AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Socket/Slot: Socket AM2 (Socket 940)
Frequency: 2200 MHz
FSB Speed: 200 MHz
Signature: AuthenticAMD
Vendor: Advanced MICRO Devices
L1 Cache: 128 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
L3 Cache: 0 KB

Mainboard
Model: M2N-SLI DELUXE
4 x Other: Other
3 x PCI: 32 bit
PRI_IDE: Other (None)
FLOPPY: 8251 FIFO Compatible (None)
COM1: Serial Port 16450 Compatible (DB-9 pin male)
LPT1: Parallel Port ECP/EPP (DB-25 pin female)
PS/2 Keyboard: Keyboard Port (PS/2)
PS/2 Mouse: Mouse Port (PS/2)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
: USB (Other)
LINE_IN: Audio Port (None)
LINE_OUT: Audio Port (Mini-jack (headphones))
MIC_IN: Audio Port (Mini-jack (headphones))
Back Surround L/R: Audio Port (Mini-jack (headphones))
Side Surround L/R: Audio Port (Mini-jack (headphones))
Center/LFE: Audio Port (Mini-jack (headphones))
CD_IN: Audio Port (None)
SPDIF_OUT: Audio Port (None)
FP_AUDIO: Audio Port (None)
: Network Port (RJ-45)
: Network Port (RJ-45)
: FireWire (IEEE P1394) (1394)
SATA1: Other (None)
SATA2: Other (None)
SATA3: Other (None)
SATA4: Other (None)
SATA5: Other (None)
SATA6: Other (None)
EX_SATA1: Other (None)
EX_SATA2: Other (None)
CHASSIS: Other (None)
CPU_FAN1: None (None)
SB_FAN1: None (None)
PWR_FAN1: None (None)
CHA_FAN1: None (None)
CHA_FAN2: None (None)
CHA_FAN3: None (None)
CHA_FAN4: None (None)

System BIOS
Vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Version: ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 0202
Date: 05/15/2006
Size: 512 KB

Video System
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2
Screen Resolution: 1024x768 32 bit

Physical Storage Device
CD-ROM/DVD: DG5705L PGG141Q SCSI CdRom Device
CD-ROM/DVD: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N
CD-ROM/DVD: DG5705L PGG141Q SCSI CdRom Device
CD-ROM/DVD: DG5705L PGG141Q SCSI CdRom Device
CD-ROM/DVD: DG5705L PGG141Q SCSI CdRom Device
Hard Disk: Maxtor 6L200R0
Hard Disk: ST3320620AS

Logical Storage Device
Local Disk (C:): 149997 MB (9778 MB Free) NTFS
Extra (D:): 194478 MB (48179 MB Free) NTFS
Local Disk (E:): 155237 MB (121423 MB Free) NTFS

Peripherals
Mouse: PS/2 Compatible Mouse
Keyboard: Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

Communication Device(s)
Network Card 1: NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Network Card 2: NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Network Card 3: Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter
Network Card 4: Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter
Network Card 5: Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter
Network Card 6: 1394 Net Adapter

Operating System(s)
Windows Family: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Service Pack: Service Pack 2
Version Number: 5.1 (Build 2600)

Direct X 9.0Coh i just thought of something.... when my old Computer went boom, i took the secondary HD from it, and put it in here... i don't know the exact order of things, but this issue started around that time, maybe before maybe after i don't really remember... but the primary HD is a SATA 300GB and the secondary is a 250GB IDE set as master with my CD/DVD burner optical drive as slave... could this be a cause to it also?I urgently advise you to make use of your warranty and not violate it in anyway by attempting to resolve anything hardware related yourself.

Even if it is only software related, you should still make use of your warranty.

I see that you have allready MOUNTED a second hard drive; is it still in good health? Have you scanned for viruses/spyware? concidering that i have no clue as to what the main issue is, if it is even with the CPU i cannot just take the entire machine into the shop i bought it at... it is not a prebuilt machine, it is built by me, they mounted the CPU and the RAM chips, i have no clue as to what may be causing the issues... but it seems that it is only a major issue part of the time as right now, i have turned off deamon tools, azurus, msn messenger, and a few other small items around burning and it is running fine with only music... but what is the point of having a machine like this if i can only do one thing at a time...

and the second HD is in perfect health... i scanned it also. spyware scanned it, checked for digital imperfections in data storage and possible loss of space due to formatting, defragging issues....Remove the IDE drive and jumper the optical drive as Master on the IDE channel and see if that improves things.GX1_Man - Thanks... i dd as you suggested, and the problem disappeared... soi set the optical to master and the HD to slave, and now it is working fine...

so what could have caused such an issue? i personally think that it is my own stupidity and that useing the IDE cable improperly was the cause, as the HD was set to master but was hooked to the middle connector on the cable... or having a primary SATA set to master and a IDE set to master was probally wrong... thanks alot.... this thing might just work good now... Shouldn't matter, Master and Slave on IDE cable are only meant for CS. Unless your cables are damaged/antique?That's what i thought when i hooked them up like that... that's why i did hook them like that and never really thought to reverse the boot proceedure... the cable i am using is about 2 years old... as the one i got with the Motherboard i bought was just a little too short... and my older one was a full inch and half longer... so that means that the only thing that would have been able to cause such a screwy thing would be the boot sequence and the second HD being set to master... the two HD's fighting over superiority with the new SATA winning most of the time but accessing anything on the IDE drive causing the machine to run like crap *all my music is on the IDE drive*2 years old? You should only use 80 pins PATA (IDE) cables; the rubber-like ones.

I want to format c: and reinstall windows xp

I change boot order in bios to boot cdrom with win xp in
windows boots up from CD but says it can't find any hard drives

I open up the tower and whoever set this COMPUTER up put the main ide cable to cdrom and the hard drive is connected to pri RAID on motherboard. Because this seems a bit wierd I switched the cables so that the hard drive is now connected to PRI_IDE1 and cdrom is connected to PRI_RAID. I try to load windows through cdrom. Just after it loads I get an error page that says it shuts windows down because of a 0XC00000034 fault. Googled it and I believe the fault is that the hard drive is not set up properly. BTW I can access windows through hard drive and use my CD-ROM as near normal except for a windows messege saying that there was a major change in hard ware and I have to re-activate windows.

I would IMAGINE the problem is in the physical setup and through bios but the original set up I can't get windows cd to see hard drive and through the way the cables should be set up caused the critical error... any ideas, or should I just bite the BULLET and take it to a computer tech?oh yeah, lets get specs:

mobo ASUS P5GD1
Hard drive: Barracuda 7200 model number ST3200822A
CD-ROM ATAPI DVD DDSet it back to RAID on the controller card and re-boot to the XP CD...early on there will be a prompt for the RAID drivers...have that floppy handy.

patio. 8-)If it worked before; set it back. If it didn't; configure your BIOS.

I was wondering if someone could provide some guidance on the following issue:

I have a hard drive that currently has only one primary partition (FAT32) on it. Is there a WAY that I can resize this partition so as to add two additional primary partitions without having to LOSE anything currently on the drive? I WOULD like to be able to set up this system for a DOS 6.22 & WinXP dual boot.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. :-? :-? :-?SOMEHOW I've managed to mess up the subject line. That should have read DOS & XP dual boot.You also managed to post in more than one section. That is not a good thing.So we'll ignore this one. LOOK for responses in the other thread.

(I have little jumpers on the mb for normal and configure, i have it set on normal settings here)

Ok i hooked up everything powered on machine fans come out makes 1 normal beep. (My hd and Dvd Burner dual layer memorex is the only thing connected on the ide cables. ) i see a logo screen and im holding del then it says invalid disk error PRESS key. Why isnt it going into bios? After that it just hangs there. It doesnt seem like the dvd drive and the hd are getting recongnized? I've TRIED to switch the jumper pins to config and boot and it goes into bios. I see the chip being recongnized but nothing else .

What should i start doing? I built IDENTICAL machines the only thing diffrnt is the power supply and the ram brand. What am i missing

All brand new stuff btw :-?Normal and configure? What kind of motherboard is this?well mabye its not normal and config but it does SAY bios config by the jumpers soo ?Quote

well mabye its not normal and config but it does say bios config by the jumpers soo ?

I could just try this but what they hey I'll ask,

is it possible to use a modem that you know works perfectly well, from an additional hd?

ie - use one hd to boot the OS etc, set the other hd to 'slave'

(I'm having problems getting the main hd to recognise the modem, and I need to be online as well as accessing my files and apps etc on the other drive)

I was told that slave hd's cannot run applications, is that true? Even if the master hd has the same OS?

A modem is a piece of HARDWARE....it doesn't care about hard drives...
Hardware needs drivers to function...
Drivers need an OS ( Windows, Linux etc. ) in order to function...

A hard drive will not refuse any piece of info so you're not looking at this little dilemna properly.

Post ALOT more info and the usual braniacs will be along shortly.

patio. 8-)?!

I kept this separate from the drivers forum, since this is the hardware forum.

I posted about drivers in the driver forum.

This is just about what it says here,

can I use a modem that I know works perfectly well, but from an hd set to be a 'slave' to another hd.

This is just about using 'slave' hd's to do things other than open files.

You pay attention!Re-read my post and take your own advice...Inappropriate post removed and warning sent.

Rudeness will seldom get you what you WANT and abusive language will get accounts suspended.

GX1Sorry to say but you're not making a lot of sense. What does your HDD set to slave have to do with your modem?Inappropriate post removed and other posts removed.

Rudeness will seldom get you what you want and abusive language will not be tolerated.

GX1Quote

Read what I wrote nedscum. It's all very clear. F--- off while you're at it, montauk-boy.

the spare hd bay is slightly too small to use one of them as a slave (awful way of describing that, but it seems to be the term that people use)........

now come on you lot play nice.
clara has asked a perfectly simple and consise question.
We should have a little respect for other needing help.

ooo-oooo get the handbags out! My mk-ultra COMMENT has mr. hormones all out balance here out of whack.

What's your problem moron? This is a forum for asking computer related questions is it not. It's not like I haven't precisely clearly explained what I wanted to know.

You're just the same idiot as the fake IT-professional I got to look at this, he thought he could treat me like I am some bit of nuts on his shoe same way you are trying to do here.

So get yourself to f--k you lowlife kunt. Clear yet? Don't f---ing try to be that way with me, even if I had no clue at all about this, don't f---ing think you can even attempt to treat me that way. Got that f*g**t?

Re-read my post and take your own advice...

I could just try this but what they hey I'll ask,

is it possible to use a modem that you know works perfectly well, from an additional hd?

ie - use one hd to boot the OS etc, set the other hd to 'slave'

(I'm having problems getting the main hd to recognise the modem, and I need to be online as well as accessing my files and apps etc on the other drive)

I was told that slave hd's cannot run applications, is that true? Even if the master hd has the same OS?

Quote

Sorry, you must be blind or live in a different kind of reality

nope just my perspective of this reality might be slightly skewed

ps re-read my solution and all will be as skewed to you as it is to me

hello i would please like some information on my sound card. the onboard sound quit on my computer so i purchased a creative sb live 5.1 sound card, installed it with updated drivers and disabled onboard sound in the bios. i received a sound card error when trying useing it. some one said that the card was BROKE so i purchased a cmedia card, and then the same thing a sound card error. the motherboard is a biostar the bios is AWARD. the computer is a amd athlon 1.25ghz. 352 mb ram. there is no option to SET the playback device in the sound options in the control panel and the computer did install the card and it is available in the device manager.
thank you
l.c.
Try booting into Safe MODE / GO to Device Manager / remove any sound devices / reboot

Alan <>< You should have removed the previous sound drivers before installing the new card. I suggest the following:

• Remove new soundcard drivers
• Remove new soundcard
• Re-active onboard soundcard
• Delete its drivers from the device manager and/or add/remove software menu
• Disable onboard soundcard
• Delete any remaining soundcard drivers still installed
• Insert new soundcard
• Install the latest drivers for your soundcard

am i to be eternally plagued by errors no matter what PC i use?! or, does the PC god just hate me? reguardless of which it is, i keep getting the error below, when i try to load runescape, i look where it says, nothing there. i have no idea what speed the CPU is on this thing is, the only thing i do know is that it is a biostar motherboard (socket 370) running 192mb's of ram, with a seagate 10gb hard drive as the primary, and a Western digital 10 gig as the SECONDARY. if anyone knows a tool (freeware) to identify hardware, tell me so i can give more details. oh, SORRY for the low quality image, windows 98 doesnt give much when it comes to paintQuote

am i to be eternally plagued by errors no matter what PC i use?! or, does the PC god just hate me? reguardless of which it is, i keep getting the error below, when i try to load runescape, i look where it says, nothing there. i have no idea what speed the CPU is on this thing is, the only thing i do know is that it is a biostar motherboard (socket 370) running 192mb's of ram, with a seagate 10gb hard drive as the primary, and a Western digital 10 gig as the secondary. if anyone knows a tool (freeware) to identify hardware, tell me so i can give more details. oh, sorry for the low quality image, windows 98 doesnt give much when it comes to paint

There are the drivers you need. Use no others, and uninstall anyuthing you can before loading these.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/support/driver/model.php3?name=M6VLQ&os=

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I'd definitely buy PCI-E, not AGP. AGP is outdated and it becomes increasingly more difficult to find either AGP mainboards or AGP videocards.

not really MAN, we have a whole BOX full of old 2x 4x and 8x cards at my work, highest is a 128, but, STILL, there are a TON of them, and there might be a 256 or two in there, never looked, too MANY too look through.

Hey, I am setting up my new computer and want to stick my old IDE hard drive in for storage. My current drive that has Windows that I boot from is on a SATA drive. My motherboard only has 1 IDE slot, so I want to have my DVD drive and IDE storage HD on the same IDE cable. How do I go about doing this?IF the DVD drive is writable AND the HD is for storage only, make the DVD the master and the HD the SLAVE. Otherwise, it doesn't MATTER which is master or slave. They are set with JUMPERS at the back of the drives.I just got it to work and thats what I ended up doing. Thanks anyways.

I'm trying to add more memory to a Toshiba Satellite 2655XDVD. It has 64mb non-removable RAM ALREADY, max is 192mb. I looked on crucial, they told me that I needed PC66 SDRAM. My question is would I be able to use PC100 or PC 133? I'm THINKING not, but wanted to make sure.

Thanks!Some machines are VERY particular, so to be safe I would get EXACTLY what is listed. Backward compatibility exists in RAM, but not 100%. In laptops, nothing is for certain. PC100 would likely be a better match. Thank you, that's what I thought, however I can't REMEMBER if PC100 was around in 1999. That's how old the computer is.

I think I found her a KINGSTON Stick of PC66 for $14.99 which is better than $46.00. I will have to see what she wants to do.

Thanks for the reply

This is a complicated question and I will try to get it right. Background: My old hard drive was acting up-rebooting over and over again. My COMPUTER was a few years old so I decided to buy a new computer and then take my old hard drive out of the old computer, put it in the new computer as a slave, and then retrieve all of my important data from the old one simply by copying to the new computer's hard drive. I would then reformat the old drive and use it for storage, etc. I got the new computer, an HP with XP pro, a dvd burner, media slots, usb 2, IEEE 1394, and a 150 gb hard drive. It works fine. I tried to put the old hard drive in the computer jumpered as a slave and in the slave position on the cable with the DVD as master. when I try to boot the computer it goes to my old drive first to look for an operating system and starts rebooting over and over again as it did before when I had the drive in my old computer. I tried putting the drive on a seperate flat cable as slave but it was looked at first for a system there too. I have verified that the jumper is in the right place on the drive but it won't ACT as a slave. the computer keeps going to it for a system before going to the good hard drive in the new computer. What am I doing wrong? How can I make my old drive into a second drive without erasing it and losing all my data?Is the hard drive in the new computer a SATA drive?

Run EVEREST Home and post the report you can run so we will know detrails about all of the hardware. That is the best way to get an intelligent response.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.htmlSet the boot order right, I think you're trying to boot off your old HDD now even THOUGH it's set to slave.

Setting the boot order can be done in the BIOS. The drive is acting a slave that merely means that it is waiting for the master to send it's signals first. But if the Master isn't allowed to boot from, then the slave will be allowed to boot from first. No oddities there.Have you checked the jumper settings on the master HDD ? ?

patio. 8-)Thanks for the quick responses. The hard drive on the new computer is an SATA (the KIND with the small wires right?) I had read somewhere else about changing the boot order in the BIOS, and I can get to the bios by pressing F1 --"to enter setup press F1". And I do see the old and new hard drives listed in the bios. But I don't know how to set them to a new boot order. How do I do that?
Thanks



































Depends on the BIOS you're using. I suggest you refer to the mainboard manual because each BIOS is different.

What's with the smiley on the bottom?It's at the end of the wasted space....

patio. 8-)

My current ram is 64mb PC133 SDRAM & am looking to upgrade to 3 sticks of 128mb which is the max allowed on the mobo (A-Trend ATC-7100M) but am confused by some specs for the new sticks.

Can I mix SINGLE sided with double sided and is PC133 the same as 133mhz :-? Can I mix a four chip stick with a sixteen or eight chip stick :-?

ThanksIt all depends on the motherboard. Check the motherboard maker's site or www.crucial.com and see EXACTLY what you need. Variations to this MAY work, but it could also be an expensive gamble if not.

How old is that board and what kind of processor is on it?

THANKS Gx.

I have downloaded the manufacturers specs for the mobo, this is an extract from the .pdf file:

DRAM type, Size, parity supported:
Unbuffered SDRAM with spd.
Both parity and non-parity available.
3.3v, single/double side 8/16/32/64/128/256mb
(max memory size 128mb SDRAM, 256mb EDO Dram)

That doesn't quite answer my queries. The 64mb stick in use has four chips.

Crucial is very good but didn't find the answers there either. Was hoping not to have to buy three brand new sticks at vast expense.

I cannot tie down the actual year of manufacture of the mobo except that it was not before 1999. The processor is given by Everest as an Intel Celeron-A, 400mhz (6 x 67)

You can get usable RAM off eBay, but get low density, as your processor and MB are so elderly to prevent problems. If you can get all chips from the same person with some sort of return option that is even better. 3 x 128 meg chips seem to be the max.

If you GO to the local store, they will likely only have high density as that is the latest thing made. Again, if there is a chance to return it if it doesn't work.....

Where are you planning on shopping, and what exactly are you looking at?Thanks again GX.

I'm probably gonna look at on-line auctions for the 3x128mb sticks but first must get my head around this double/single sided question and whether sticks with different chip numbers can be mixed. Also the :-? about whether pc133 and 133mhz mean the same. Have seen many ram sticks for sale but the posted details differ and are confusing, to me anyway.

I guess I'll have to just try to find three identical sticks and hope for the best.

Just bought 2 128 pc133 sticks off ebay for 7 bucks a piece. Worked fine.I have never Had a Problem Mixing PC133 Ram Sticks , ive Mixed a lot of differnt TYPES, and Sizes.

But problems can happen , so dont spened too much money.

Newer Ram is much more touchyPanboy - thank you.

Just for the heck of it I will mix double/single sided and different numbers of chips. Got some el-cheapo sticks coming my way, will report back when I've tried them out.

Frequently that WORKS out OK. Again, it depends on the motherboard AND the RAM.

Well dunno what to tell ya lolPerhaps it was a ... spin off!It was NEVER free legally. Sorry. It was when I DOWNLOADED it Upload it for us, then!Quote

Upload it for us, then!

Upload it for us, then!

Im done arguing this noob topic i know what I downloaded from download.com case closed

Yeah so I try to help this guy out with his hard drive and in the end all that happens is people try to slam me for ludicrous non sense...how nice

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Yeah so I try to help this guy out with his hard drive and in the end all that happens is people try to slam me for ludicrous non sense...how nice

I was just pulling your leg, but I'm still very much interested in a free version of spinrite.

So how is the boot order set in your BIOS.

You ain't busted friend.I was just following your post.

I have 3 forums I frequent. :-? PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting so upset and depressed AND PI**ED too!!!!!!!!! LOL I have went back and forth with the stupid bios. With the cd I have tried the cdrom#1, ide0 #2, then floppy. Then, if I try to do a backup disk or bootdisk or whatever, I put floppy first then ide2 (hdd) and cd/dvd as 3. I have tried a million different combination. The MAIN thing that the other forum says is wrong is that when I go to the bios setup and go to reg. setup and put auto in all of the, if I either press f3 or if I press enter after each auto, the hdd comes up user, and I was told its supposed to show auto, NOT user. it does show the hd and the cdrom and floppy, so wha is the deal?



Not that it matters or not, but I went to my mom's today and found TONS of cd's, disks, etc. my dad had for the computer for the mb, hd, etc. Think I need ANYTHING like that reset?? Like I tried to explain in #1, I did manage to put 2000 on there, so I know he memory is ok, the hd is ok, and also the cdrom, so when I erased everything, what happened?Quote

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting so upset and depressed AND PI**ED too!!!!!!!!! LOL I have went back and forth with the stupid bios. With the cd I have tried the cdrom#1, ide0 #2, then floppy. Then, if I try to do a backup disk or bootdisk or whatever, I put floppy first then ide2 (hdd) and cd/dvd as 3. I have tried a million different combination. The MAIN thing that the other forum says is wrong is that when I go to the bios setup and go to reg. setup and put auto in all of the, if I either press f3 or if I press enter after each auto, the hdd comes up user, and I was told its supposed to show auto, NOT user. it does show the hd and the cdrom and floppy, so wha is the deal?



Not that it matters or not, but I went to my mom's today and found TONS of cd's, disks, etc. my dad had for the computer for the mb, hd, etc. Think I need anything like that reset?? Like I tried to explain in #1, [highlight]I did manage to put 2000 on there, so I know he memory is ok, the hd is ok, and also the cdrom[/highlight], so when I erased everything, what happened?

Start by replacing the CMOS battery, just because. Head on down to Radio Shack or wherever and just give them $5. Besides cheap insurance that this is not an issue, you will set EVERYTHING to defaults, which seems your best chance to have a usable system.

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Start by replacing the CMOS battery, just because. Head on down to Radio Shack or wherever and just give them $5. Besides cheap insurance that this is not an issue, you will set EVERYTHING to defaults, which seems your best chance to have a usable system.

You have already obtained a new battery and inserted it in the last 3 hours? It's after midnight here. Where do you live? What number battery was it?

Sorry, but you have to do your part. We are rapidly approaching the point where I say "Take it to a shop".

hhhmmm, don't even know where that is. Didn't I warn this group I'm a total beginner on this stuff??is there a pic somewhere on where this is located at and what it looks like/? As for the ram I do only have one of them in there.

put in the floppy, and turned back on, and NOTHING. Told you I have everybody stumped

I am not very computer literate, so I apologize ahead of time. I have an older laptop computer ( Compaq Armanda - Windows 98) that I would like to connect to my cable broadband service when I am traveling, so the family can have access to the internet. My cabel modem can be accessed by ethernet cable or USB. The Compaq has a USB port in the back. However, when I follow the instructions to connect to the cable broaband sercvice, I cannot get connected inorder to download the software. According to the cable directions, once connected you click on Internet Explorer and the Cabel web site should appear. The message I get is that I am not on line. Perhaps somehting is wrong with the USB. Any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks

JayUnfortunately Win98 did not have very good SUPPORT for USB as it was RELATIVELY new. It probably needs drivers to recognise that device and unfortunately it's possible they don't exist...you're best bet would be Compaq's site followed by the modem manuf. site.

patio. 8-)Thanks, how do I find the modem MFG. Also, is it possible to purcahse a new modem for the lap top and install myself? Is this a resonable options?Do you have a wireless card and a router available? That may be the best choice, rather than hooking up wires and making a laptop not mobile.

You may have everything you need already if you have an ethernet cable and and ethernet port on that computer, if you are willing to settle for a wired connection.

More information would be helpful. Look in the FAW section or do a google search to get networking information. Seems like you need to learn a few key concepts. You'll need to INSERT the driver diskette that you got with the USB modem/network card.

Which is it?

Recently my Motherboard died so i bought a new one and replaced it, now my computer won't start up. The motherboards are both L7VMM model, though they are slightly different, also at the time of upgrading the motherboard I upgraded the processor from an AMD 1600+ to a AMD 2200+
Please help.With the lack of information, the only conclusion COULD be a) bad board, or b) bad build.

Any more details would probably help get some ideas."Slightly" different?

That may not mean a lot to you, but it means a lot to Windows.It's an Emachines build C1641, all ORIGINAL except for the new motherboard and ram
New MoBo is a L7VMM

found the motherboard auto-install cd lol, that might be enough to fix it. if it doesn't work i'll be back with more specs thanks allKK, looked at stuffs, PC still won't start up, it powers up and everything seems torun NORMALLY, but doesn't show POST and doesn't beep. The new motherboard is a L7VMM3 v.3 is what it said on the motherboard, the OLD one just said L7VMM v1.0. any other questions about the specs i'll find as you ask because i really don't know what to look for lolTry resetting the BIOS.

Boot with minimal HARDWARE attached.I'm willing to give it a try, do you know where i could find the right jumper on the L7VMM3 motherboard?Google your heart out.....

New mobo & no manual - go download the .pdf version here.

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I'm willing to give it a try, do you know where i could find the right jumper on the L7VMM3 motherboard?

I'm trying to burn a music cd but my computer is no longer recognizing my cd/r DRIVE. What can I do?? I have a compaq and I'm RUNNING WINDOWS XP.

ThanksYou need to post a lot more info about the machine, age, etc. especially what happened prior to this.

Is the drive seen in the BIOS?

See below.It's a Compaq and it's 3 years old. It has Windows XP, an 80 GB harddrive and 256 MB Ram. It's not recognizing my CD/R drive or my DVD drive.

Prior to this the only thing that happened was someone managed to steal my passwords for my Ebay account and my Yahoo account. I have no clue if it's related but that's the only weird thing that has happened. These drives were both working prior to this.

AmandaQuote

Is the drive seen in the BIOS?