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my computer has 512MB of pc3200 RAM. i CAME across 256MB of pc2700, and was WONDERING...

If i added the 256MB to my current 512MB:

well it would slow my 3200 down to 2700.. but..
would this speed loss outweigh my increase in RAM?
or would the RAM increase outweigh the loss in speed?

basically, i need more RAM, but can't afford an extra gig of pc3200, and was wondering if this will offer a significant performance increase, loss, etc?The additional RAM will speed things up. However your 3200 will revert to the lower speed 2700 by default.

I'm not a rocket scientist and can't do the math off the TOP of my head however i believe you will see a slight performance gain...It depends on the game. The only way is to add the RAM and find out.

I just started using a new PC when I realized I have a very important file on the old computer. For some reason, out of the blue, it won't turn on. Any suggestions on what could be wrong?there can be so much reason
is the psu fine?try another psu with the same wattage.
have you done anything inside the mobo?change the jumper mobo jumper maybe?
could be the power button broke?
if you in a rush,take out the HDD and make it as slave in different pc.
Take you important files. Remove the HDD from the old machine.
Set the jumper on the old HDD to slave.
Set the jumper on the new HDD to master w/slave.
Hook up the old HDD to the middle connector of the IDE ribbon.
Re-boot the machine and the old HDD should show up in Windows Explorer.

You can then copy/move the files you need...I have a problem of the same nature.

I recently purchased a LinkSys ethernet card for my Dell Dimension 8200. I READ the instructions and then installed the card into one of the availible PCI slots. I then tried turning my PC on and guess what? It would not do anything. However there was power going to the mobo cause the litle green light went on. PRESSING the power button did nothing. I removed the card and the computer powered on with no proble. I tried it in the other three PCI slots and it did the same thing. I then got mad and pressed the power button and PLUGGED the dam card in and it kept booting and windows detected the card and intalled it. However, when ever i turn the PC off, I cant power it back on unless iremove the card. In my BIOS IRQ assignments, it SHOWS the card as "unknown manf ethernet card". I have updated the BIOS to the most recent version and the problem still exists.Welcome to CH Gearbulk, please start a new thread for your question. Remove the HDD from the old machine.
Set the jumper on the old HDD to slave.
Set the jumper on the new HDD to master w/slave.
Hook up the old HDD to the middle connector of the IDE ribbon.
Re-boot the machine and the old HDD should show up in Windows Explorer.

You can then copy/move the files you need...

Sorry, but I'm not that good with computers. English please .
Thanks.Quote from: slafa23 on September 18, 2007, 08:00:27 PM

Remove the HDD from the old machine.
Set the jumper on the old HDD to slave.
Set the jumper on the new HDD to master w/slave.
Hook up the old HDD to the middle connector of the IDE ribbon.
Re-boot the machine and the old HDD should show up in Windows Explorer.

You can then copy/move the files you need...

Sorry, but I'm not that good with computers. English please .
Thanks.

Remove the HDD from the old machine.
Set the jumper on the old HDD to slave.
Set the jumper on the new HDD to master w/slave.
Hook up the old HDD to the middle connector of the IDE ribbon.
Re-boot the machine and the old HDD should show up in Windows Explorer.

You can then copy/move the files you need...

This is my first post asking for help, so please be patient with this newbie!

This is my 14 year old son's computer - emachines T2885, 2.8 mhz, 80 gb hard drive, Windows XP, 512 ram - this is just a cheapy computer that we bought him to keep him off of Mom and Dad's. It's nothing special; just pulled out of the box and plugged it in. The case has never been opened and it's at least 2 years old.

He told me that he woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that it had shut itself down and now he couldn't start it back up. I went to look at it and it's sitting there with the hard drive light on, the floppy drive light on and CD drive light on. The fans for the power supply and processor are running. Monitor shows no signal, and confirms that it's OK with the "exit" button.

I tried holding in the power button and it does nothing. Nothing on the keyboard has any effect. Neither the CD or the DVD drives will open when the buttons are pushed. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it immediately goes to the same CONDITION; hard drive light full-on, fans going, lights on floppy and CD drive.

I checked all connections, and opened the case (first time since new), aside from a little dust in side, everything looks fine (albeit to my untrianed eyes).

I tried putting in a boot disc and plugging it back in, but no change.

Thanks in advance for reading this far and offering any thoughts!eMachines have a penchant for having the inexpensive cheap power supplies failing and sometimes taking other components (like the motherboard) out with it. You may be fortunate that only a new power supply is needed, and that would be a reasonable place to start in any case. There certainly is no need to rush out and spend hundreds on a new machine.

Look at the power supply from the inside of the case. I think you will find it is a Bestec and 300-350 w max. It should be a standard size, and can be easily replaced - just four screws holding it in and then replugging in all the cables EXACTLY as they were. Be sure and CHECK to see how many pins are on the MAIN connector - it will be either 20 or 24, so get a replacement power supply with the same number.

If needed you can post a picture of what you have (the main connector to the motherboard).

Here is some pictures and details of the process. The whole thing takes 10 minutes or less and you do not have to be an electrician to do it:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_power.htm

Here are some more links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+replace+power+supply


It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max. It has a 20 pin connector.

I'll PICK up a new power supply and see if that takes care of the problem.

Thanks for the feedback!Quote

It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max.

Quote

It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max.

150W? That has to be a record low!

Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Quote

Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

Quote

Quote

Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

No, I'll try that next.
Replacing the power supply made no difference.

Quote

Quote

Quote

Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

No, I'll try that next.
Replacing the power supply made no difference.

And what did you replace it with ? ?

I have recently bought pentium d core processor and intel 945gcnl motherboard.

I had repartitioned and reformatted my ATA hard disk.

But when now I boot my computer, a blank screen comes and shows "disk error, no bootable device,click here to restart.Ok, we are going to need more info. What did you reformat it to? Did you format it to NTFS? When you reformatted it did you reinstall an OS (Operating System)? Can you list the SPECS of your computer? Thanks.There is no OS installed.
Boot to the Windows CD of your chioce and follow the setup instructions...
When you partition/format a HDD everything is gone.hi, after you repartitioned and reformatted your ATA hard disk... "did you install windows"? and what OS was it if you did?

need more info
spider Yes if you have not installed an operating system, the computer will post, then stop because it is looking for an operating system to load. naturally it checks in what ever order you have chosen in your BIOS. Ex. Floppy Drive,HDD, CD Drive.to SOLVE it,go into bios,set the 1st boot into disc drive then INSERT windows disc (if your pc spec can support windows XP,go for it)then follow the installation guide.

My CD-rom drive is powered up and windows does not detect any errors in it. It will not read the discs for some reason tried cd rom and audio discs. I tried uninstalling the DRIVER and then reinstalling it but that didnt work. When i have a cd in the drive and i click on the d drive in my computer it says incert a cd. If any ONE can give me some ideas what i should try and do next it would be greatly appreciated.

Thx
TreeHow old is the drive / Have you tried more than 1 cd / tried another data cable? If so on both accounts, then you probably have a bad drive & need to replace it.

Alan &LT;&GT;< Quote

My cd-rom drive is powered up and windows does not detect any errors in it. It will not read the discs for some reason tried cd rom and audio discs. I tried uninstalling the driver and then reinstalling it but that didnt work. When i have a cd in the drive and i click on the d drive in my computer it says incert a cd. If any one can give me some ideas what i should try and do next it would be greatly appreciated.

Thx
Tree

A phone call "The screen stopped working this morning. I need your help!" - with screen he ment a rather new 15" LCD monitor. A peculiar sight actually, the LCD in conjunction with a "fine-tuned" 486DX based, DOS 6.22 operated system.

When I arrived he explained "Everything worked as it should last night but this morning I couldnt get it to start." There had been no electricity shortage, that he knew of.

I opened the cabinet (miditower), dont know why this is the first thing I always do, but then again, I usually end up with my head amongst the cables before long. Restarted the PC a couple of times. No mischievious sounds or beeps that could help me out. It actually sounded as it should, except there was nothing on the monitor (well, nothing is wrong since I got no "No signal" message either - so that might be something ;)). After checking that all the cables, adapters and controllers was firmly attached to the motherboard I concluded the first meeting with a "see ya" and the tower under my arm - heading for my workshop.

At the workshop everything worked as it should. I RETURNED to my customer and tried it once more with his LCD but to no avail. My diagnosis, naturally enough, concluded with a defect LCD monitor. He found an old CRT (14" and more in sync with the rest of the equipment ;)) and was happy everything worked again.

The next day he called me again "It has happened again. The screen didn't work this morning!". After some head scratching we agreed that I should get him a new PC that he could use. There was no way I could make a new diagnostic without it COSTING more than a new PC would. After some searching I found a PC (this one ALSO a 486DX), though without a NIC so I settled on using the networking card from the "old" PC. Since this was a project mostly based on cost efficiency I also used the "pre-configured" HD (also from the "old" PC). At this time he called me again "I sent my LCD monitor to [company] and they found nothing wrong with it?!".

To make a pretty long story short; after using the "new" PC for about a week the same problem occoured again, with his LCD.

I tested a new video adapter (PCI) and it didnt work, though I got it to work with the old ISA adapter (From the "original" PC).

Except the LCD, NIC and HD everything have been REPLACED. What now?This is a puzzler.

It sounds like the only constant in all of this is the wall outlet he is using. A cheap way to test would be to try another power outlet in the house. It's free and stranger THINGS have happened.

Hy
I have a wireless pci network card ( MSI PC5463 ) and I want to know if is possible to rise up hes AMPLIFY POWER for enlarge network area.
Is there any soft, like Rivatuner for videocard, to do this?

Thank's

on some Wireless cards you can...but not without opening the card ADN resodering a big antenea or moding the inside with a jumper (on some cards) but in general a program is NOT going to enlarge range...at allAn offensive avatar...how gauche'.



I am offended by that as well. Perhaps he thinks it's cute, but beyond not being politically CORRECT, it makes me not want to help.

Could we get that changed, please?I didn't even notice.

Did he have that before as well?Quote

I didn't even notice.

Did he have that before as well?

Bought new Compaq Presario SR2034NX, AMD ATHLON 64 Processor 3800+, 1024MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB serial ATA hard drive, NVIDIAGeForce 6150 LE Graphics, Windows XP Media Center EDITION 2002 SP2.

I wanted to slave my old 80GB Western Digital IDE hard drive with a 40-pin data connector to the new 250GB SATA hard drive, but the data cable is different. The SATA hard drive uses a smaller red cable about 1/2" wide with black 1" wide connector.

I would like to, at the very least, copy my 1500 songs and numerous pictures to a DVD. Preferrably, slave the old hard drive. 8-)

Do I need to find an adapter, or can I hook in to the 40-pin data cable GOING to the DVD burner? GUIDANCE please!? :-/The IDE header on the motherboard will support two devices, so if you have the appropriate cable and jumper the hard drive Master and the optical drive as swlave you could have both functional at once. Make sure it is shown correctly in the BIOS.


If you only have a cable for one drive, you could substitute the hard drive for the optical drive temporarilit. Just make sure it is jumpered correctly and seen correctly in the BIOS.Thank you. I'll try those options. Thanks for the INFO!You're welcome and let us know how it goes.

this is my proublem i had two PHYSICAL hard drives a 12gig with two partishions in fat 32 and a 80gig with 8 partions in fat32 and one in ntfs the WINDOWS xp one any ways i migrated these two hard drives to a new computer the new computer had no hard drives of it own the 12gig hard drive on partion c: had the operating system the migrtion was a success windows could see the hard drives with no proublem win98 i started to put all the drivers in it asked for the mass storage driver so not thinking i put the cd in that came with my western digtial 80gig hard drive for some ODD reason it started to do some sort of auto run i quit it at the first chance i had. then the proublem arose aparently it took the first partion off of each had drive and put them on the small 12gig hard drive and lost the d: partion that was on the small hard drive it didnt actully move the partion it created a new file aloction table but that is not all it did it also marked the remaing partions on the larger as one giant fat 12 and marked it as free space. the qustion is, is it possible to reverse the damaged that was done to my file aloction table and if so how. i have tryed a few demos of data recovery programs but they are all tricked by the new file allcton table becouse they do not regester the change how could i retrieve the 80gigs of info or fix the file allction table where the data is acceseble agian. please help thank you feel free to send me email related to this topic thank you.This would be a lot easier to read if you used paragraphs, better punctuation and an occasional capital letter.

This is probably not salvageable, but you can try this. There is a trial version:

http://www.ptdd.com/


If that data is not irreplaceable, it sounds like the best SOLUTION would be to delete ALL of the partitions and start over.

Symptoms: the computer will not work, when i turn it on the fans and lights come on and the HDD and cd , floppy drives come on. but there is no power to the keyboard or mouse. also the monitor acts like nothing is happening and a MESSAGE comes on saying that the monitor is working and to check the cables. also there is no beebs or sounds coming out of the inside speaker.

How it happend: The computer just crashed or so im told. when person tried to reboot the above happend (Symptoms)

What has been do to it to fix the problem:
-took it to compusa told us mobo was bad.
-brought new Mobo
-new Mobo did work in the compaq case.
-brought new case and power supply and upgraded ram.
-installed new PARTS, still go the symptoms
-brought new Hdd (one with a sata cable conection only)[idk if that may play a factor]
-installed new hdd with old one as slave, still got the symptoms
-brought new cpu
-installed new part and disconected slave hdd.
-still same symptoms
-installed an old working graphics card
-still no luck and no change on symptoms.
-----------------------------------------------------
I have...
-tried different power supplys
-different cables
-removing the coms battary
-different keyboard, mouse and monitor
-tried with out ram
---------------------------------------------------
My guess-
my guess is that its some kinda of a virus. Because there is no power to the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
also my fathers friends computer did the same thing.



please help me any info or suggestions would be very helpful.

thank you

hahha ya i know. its not my computer it was my DADS and then he gave it to my brother.
thanks thouIf the power supply was bad, it might have fried the new motherboard, too.Since you have built a new computer............Is the motherboard(New One)
shorting out because of standoffs, or putting hold down screws in the wrong holes ETC.....



Excuse me.....SNAP! Okay I'm back! :-? umm there was a power short a while back...... so it might have shorted the motherboard....

(power short was when new motherboard was in...

thanks DUDE ill check that and see if that works.

I think i have deleted my adobe flash player 8, because when i go to watch a clip say on ign it says you need macromedia flash 8.

Here is the link it gives me to download

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFl ash

When i click the download now button nothing happens. Not even teh active x control thing pops up on the top. Is there any way to get the flash player or active x back to my computer?

Help would greatly be appreciated!Try the below link.

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&P2_Platform=Win32no that link DIDNT work EITHER! i think i deleted flash off on my entire cpu. i need help getting it backWhen did you delete it?

Have you tried system restore to an earlier time?


Running System Restore:

If you can boot Windows:

Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore.
Click the Restore My Computer to an earlier time, next pick
a date and let Windows do it's thing. :-? SNAP! LOL



It wont let me resotre to an earlier time! It says cannot restore to this time!

any other suggestions?Have you tried system restore in safe mode?

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/app_system_restore_hss_safemode.mspx?mfr=trueIt said the same thingDid this come with your computer and original software install?

Do you have the restore CD?

Does your restore CD allow you to do a repair, or restore to
original factory setup?

Gosh! I got so involved in this I FORGOT to say...............SNAP!I dont know if i have a restore DISC. And i was able to watch videos when i first brought the computer. So i think i had it installed!.if somebody had the same exact computer could i maybe get it off of theirs?Does your hard drive have a partition you use for restore or
software tools to create the restore disks?

List the manufacturers NAME and model number of your computer.

Example:I have a Gateway E-4200.



SNAP! QUOTH THE RAVEN NEVERMORE! LOL :-?

Sorrow for the lost Lenore.

I once knew a cat named Lenore. :-?I have a Compaq but where is the model number?If i send u a link to what computer i have will that work? If not tell me where the serial numberYes ,Just post the link here.

I'll be about 30 minutes someone else may help you until then.

The little lady just fixed my "Nine Lives" supper.

SNAP!http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=333699

And when i start my computer it says system recovery (f10) if i press it will that work?

basically, my X800XL like I GUESS overheated too many times (my monitor would turn off sometimes when playing games n I would have to restart n recently it was doing it a lot) yesterday my card STARTED to show lines n stuff when I turn the computer on, on the bios SCREEN n the windows screen so it was really bad (lines all over the place, so horrible) I would turn my computer on n my monitor would just turn off now not even in a game so I just turned it off n haven't touched it anymore (don't want to mess up anything else) what I want to know is if I should buy a new graphics card or does this kind of damage mess up my pci-e slot; like if I buy a new pci-e card will it be showing all them bad lines n stuff everywhere again with the new card? I even get two of those white little dots on my desktop background that arn't supposed to be there (forgot what they are called). so yeah should I buy a new graphics card ? ; it scares me because I don't want to buy a new one and then that one starts to over heat too. I have 1 tiny fan on my mother board that doesn't work and one fan that was on the side of my case that I took off cuz it broke too. I was going to buy a little fan or 2 and put it on the back and the side of my computer to keep it cool, but it was too late and my card finally ran out of strength and got permanantly damaged..

I was looking at graphics cards on new egg.com and they arn't all that expensive I could easily get one better than the X800xl that I have but I don't wanna do it without knowing that it is going to work well. I got a 400 watt power supply n I know all these new cards are really powerful. If I do get a new card though i'll get the fans running around my computer to help keep it cool this time that's for sure.. what do you guys think?
oh and my specs are :
amd 3200+ 2.0ghz 2gb ram windows xp pro SP2 soundblaster live 24bit and the done for pci-e x800xl 256mb
400 watt power supply my mother board is A8N-SLI Deluxe NVIDIA Nforce 4
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Sources/Asus_A8N-SLI_Deluxe/Images/photos/3mobo.jpg theres a pic of it the little fan next to the ram slots that says asus on it is the broken fan
thanks for advice
This does seem like a graphics card problem.
You shouldn't have a hard time FINDING a graphics card that your CPU is powerful enough to push for a low price.
As for the South-Bridge.. if a fan is broken, there's a good chance that what it was cooling is damaged or worse.I was thinking of getting this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150228 or maybe the 512mb version since it's like 40$ more but probably the 256.

So if I did buy this and replaced that damaged card it should run fine again you think?

it would suck if I buy it n all goes well again but the card I buy is slower than my x800xl No, that's a bad choice.

Either the 8600 GT for 110$, the X1950 Pro for 130$, the X1950XT for 200$ or the 8800 GTS 320 for 270$.the most I can go is like 200 so yeah the 8800 is out of the limit.. but thanks for help now I gotta see which one I should pick from your recommendationsThat's an easy one, the X1950 Pro. It's about twice as powerful as your old card.ok well heres the search results for x1950's http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048+4017+1069609641&Description=X1950PRO&name=PCI+Express+x16

theres so many of the same thing just different core clocks from what I can see does it make a big differance?

i'm thinking this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161061
it's a pretty good price for 512mb, and doesn't look huge like some other ones there what do you think or should I get the 256 version of thathttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102061alright cool man thanks a lot for your help it's CHEAP too so if anything i'll be able to buy a case fan or a better power supply if I need it =) but i'm goin to get a fan to put in the back of my computer for sureAlright, enjoy.

Come back if you need anything.

Simple problem but I can't figure it out.

I have a 300GB external hard drive connected via USB. There are 54GB used, 225GB free, and I'm trying to copy a 5GB file to it from my PC. It gives me the message that there is not enough free disk space, and to delete one or more files and then try again.

Thanks.Depending on what version of Windows you are running which we don't know yet there are file size limitations on transfers...
You could try splitting the file if you are running anything older than XP.

If this doesn't work you need to check the properties of that external drive by right-cliking My Computer and selecting Manage...
From there go to disk management and right clik the external drive and report the results here.Thank you.

I found the problem. The external hard drive is formatted FAT32, and needs to be NTFS.Before you format it remember to back up what INFORMATION you already have on there. Also be sure to check the partition size and make sure it is the size you want.Quote from: Kinibo on September 16, 2007, 08:09:00 PM

Thank you.

I found the problem. The external hard drive is formatted FAT32, and needs to be NTFS.

Hello,

My daughter is killing me, she is on the Barbie site or something or other all the time. Not long ago I setup my computer to send audio down through the basement so I could play music off the computer. Now I can't use this if she needs to listen to her website because I can only have one output going at a time. Would an extra soundcard solve this problem? I can have the new soundcard to receive from my music player while everything else, her website, goes through the old card and her headphones. Is this a viable alternative?

Thank you,

Missing My MusicYou MEAN you want to BUY a new sound card and then make it so that it deals ONLY with a single program?

Sure, it's possible to add another soundcard, and thus another sound output device.

But I'm not sure if they would work in the same computer, or if they will be able to work on DIFFERENT tasks.

Seems like you would benefit from a sound card with multiple outputs.

I reccomend you find yourself a new sound source, such as an MP3 player and you won't have to worry about any of this.

I had a previous laptop in for repair that did not materialise and therefore got my original hard drive back complete with the XP operating SYSTEM on with files etc intact. I have purchased a 'caddy' and have connected the old H/D to my current laptop via a USB 2 CABLE and it shows as a G drive and the files can be seen. In 'my documents' are photo's of my holiday this year that I want to get off of it. As the old h/d contains the XP system on (PASSWORD PROTECTED) I cannot get access to the my documents file.

My question is how do I do this as I cannot boot up from this external drive can I??You don't need to be that extreme. You just need to take ownership of the appropriate folders.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

You'll be smiling soon. Thanks problem SOLVED. Great forumYou're welcome and thanks for posting back.

So I have some questions. My knowledge of computers are limited. I just recently purchased a Dell computer. I have an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX video card and I was wondering if it would be over kill to add a second video card just like it and if so is it possible to add a Ageia PhysX physics accelerator chip? If its not over kill, then I would like to add another graphics card just like it. I'm not sure that would be possible with the mother board I have. I also enclosed a couple of pictures showing what I am working with.

OS: Vista Ultimate
Intel Core 2 Duo PROCESSOR E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB)
2GB Dual CHANNEL DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMs
500GB Performance RAID 0 (2 X 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs)
768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
SOUND Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer (D) Sound Card


Quote from: ijrule on September 17, 2007, 05:55:48 PM

So I have some questions. My knowledge of computers are limited.

I just recently purchased a Dell computer.

I have an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX video card and I was wondering if it would be over kill to add a second video card

just like it and if so is it possible to add a Ageia PhysX physics accelerator chip?

If its not over kill, then I would like to add another graphics card just like it. I'm not sure that would be possible with the mother board I have.

Soybean, I GUESS I'm going to have to figure out tradeoffs here..lol. I AGREE, a fresh install would be better but if I can get it working as is, with minimal FUSS, I might try that first. I still might end up doing a fresh install but I'll check it out.

Also, I think I'll go with the smaller Zalman CNPS 9500 due to size. The BOARD has a huge northbridge heatsink on it and I want to make sure it fits.

i have recently put a good working hdd in to my computer that i knew worked last time i USE it. but now only half of the hdd is working. Is there any way in witch i could make the other half work again?? thxCan you tell me which half is working and which half isn't working?the small section of the hdd is working witch is only 7.15GB (D:) the section that isn't workin is the section witch CONTAINED installed programs as a BACK up section witch was 12.5GB (H:) What OS are you running ? ?
How is the disk showing up in Disk Management ? ?
To get there right clik My Computer and select Manage...then Disk Management.
Right clik the offending partition and select PROPERTIES and REPORT back with the results...

Hey there everyone, new to the forums, and couldn't find a similar question to this.

Anyway, in a lot of games I PLAY, I get these big black lines and "pillars" across my screen that flicker wildly and go all over the place. Needless to say, they're very annoying. I've tried CONTACTING Albatron (the maker of my card) with no response. I have the latest drivers for the card. Nearly all 3D games I play shows these things. I thought it was an overheat problem but the temp was at about 55 degrees C (which as far as I know is an good temp) and it was still happening. Any idea what the cause is, or better yet how to fix it?

My PC is as follows:
Gigabyte Pro-SLI mobo
athlon 64 3500+
albatron geforce 7800 gt 256 mb (pci-e)
1 gig ram
Do you get these flickers in the BIOS? On the basic Windows desktop? Or just when gaming?Just gaming.Bad card or heat. As it just happens when gaming, that is when things really heat up, and point the finger at it.

Has it always been this way? How's your ventilation?I don't really know if it's always been like this...I've had this pc for about a year now and I don't quite remember when I first got it. As for ventilation, there's room underneath it for air to go in...plus i have fan blowing in near where the CPU is, if that does anything.what type of monitor and how old ?
Quote

I don't really know if it's always been like this...I've had this pc for about a year now and I don't quite remember when I first got it. As for ventilation, there's room underneath it for air to go in...plus i have fan blowing in near where the CPU is, if that does anything.

I have never heard of Albatron, but it sounds like your card is overheating. What kind of cooling is installed on it?

Hi,
I am running windowXP - I have a burner (set as my primary) and a Aopen cd drive - everything was working wonderful til one day my cd drive decided not to work. I have been able to do everything off my burner, but WOULD like to get the cd drive up and running. Windows recognizes my drive (cd-950E/TKU) and tells me that it is working properly. Occassionally I can play audio cd's - but there is no rhyme or reason on when and why. Lately it been more not playing them then playing them. :-? Can someone please help me with this. Have you tried going to the control panel in device manager,expanding DVD/CDROM Drives,right click on the Aopen, click update driver<> or,uninstall
then REBOOT and let Windows reinstall it?

ALSO,you may need to clean the Cd-Rom Drive.Test it on another PC. Same results? Replace the unit.How old is the drive? Has it had a hard life? Sometimes they just fail. Luckily they are quite inexpensive.Ditto Raptor

Alan <>< Yes I have uninstalled it and window did find it. I did try a different cd rom and it does the same thing. :-/Quote

Yes I have uninstalled it and window did find it. I did try a different cd rom and it does the same thing. :-/

i did some major uogrades today on my computer: ASUS M2N32 motherboard, x1650 pro, 6000+ x2 and a pair of corsair "dominators" this is COMING from a x700 pro and a 3700+ single core. also had ddr400 RAM, not ddr800. windows takes twice as long to boot up, games are laggy on the same SETTINGS as before, i need to lower them.

i'm thinking a new PSU, as i only have a 400 watt. does that seem like it would be my problem? thanks for any helpHave you reinstalled Windows after this upgrade? Windows doesn't like major hardware changes.
But yes, 400 watts is probably in the low end although I don't think it would account for the problems you're DESCRIBING. I could be wrong of course, but either way I would upgrade the PSU since an insufficient power supply can shorten the life of your hardware.
If you're going to upgrade don't buy the cheapest PSU available. Cheap PSUs are notorious for not delivering the power they PROMISE. Buy a brand name like Antec, Thermaltake, etc.hm, i'll try reinstalling windows. i'll let you know how it works out.After you do that, get a new PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182030

When i try to PICK up sound with my mic it picks up all the sound that is being put through my speakers as well even if i use a headset. I have even tried different mics and headphones, and always the same PROBLEM. My computer is about 2 months old and has been like this since i bought it. SOFTWARE problem MAYBE? and if so how would i go about fixing it? Thanks in ADVANCE for the helpTry turning off or disconnecting the speakers. Plug the mic into the jack in the back of the PC.

I recently tried to swap a 40GB hard drive w/ XP on it with ONE that's 16GB w/ 2000 pro (which is corrupt). However, windows won't start up w/ the "new" hard drive in place. Any answers??

thnx for ur help )A Windows installation has to be made on the machine you are trying to RUN it on otherwise it will cause problems...
Do you have a shiny MS CD to do a REPAIR INSTALL ? ?

i just bought a dell inspiron b130 to REPLACE my dell desktop. now i want to replace the hard drive in the desk top and let my kids use it for learning software/gaming. was going to get the 80G hard drive at w-mart. if i can not locate my ORIGINAL copy of windows xp, can i use the copy that came with my new laptop? will this cause me problems down the road.? any comments appreciated.
thanks, tommy :-?Bill Gates requires one copy of Windows per MACHINE. If you use it on one machine while it has beeen ACTIVATED on another, you may find both are inoperable and you have to call Microsoft personally to explain.

Just go buy another copy so you are legal. It will cause you much less grief. (That's why they designed it that way.)

I have read a few threads on this SUBJECT and they all seem to point to the PSU. However it seems unlikely, although not impossible in my case. Here's the scenario.

I started off by upgrading some components and ended up replacing everything but the case, HDD and DVD drives.

I have used the following components:
PSU - Blue Storm 500w
Motherboard - Elitegroup 755-A2
CPU - AMD Sempron 3000
RAM - Kingston DDR SDRAM 512Mb
Graphics Card - nVIDIA GeForce 6

I connected all the power leads and case leads as instructed to the motherboard, as well as power leads to the components. There is no real indication of which way round some of the small plugs go (i.e. Power, Reset, Sleep) so I don't know if it is important.

With the mains power lead connected I switched on the PCU power switch which illuminates showing power. When I press the case power, nothing happens at all.

As the case is old, the case fan is powered from a standard power connector rather than the dedicated socket on the motherboard. It occurs to me that there may be a SAFTEY feature to stop the PC FIRING up without a case fan, I cannot find any help on this in the motherboard MANUAL or website.

Any comments will be appreciated.
Disconnect everything power & data cabling (hard drive, floppy drive, cdrom drive) excepyt the video card & RAM (even the connectors to the mb for the hdd, reset, etc. EXCEPT your power connector). Try to start now. Post back

Alan <>< Thanks Ale52,

I did just that, firstly with the main and auxillary mainboard connecters in place.
The result was, as before, no activity.
Then I removed the auxilary plug, this time the CPU fan started.
I tried it again with the case fan connected to a standard line.
Both fans ran.
I tried reconnecting the aux plug, just in case it had not been seated correctly but there was still no activity.
I didn't try reconnecting the drives but I assume that all the power is there now.
I am curious about the aux power supply to the mainboard.
What is it for? Do I need it? My old mainboard does not have one.

RobKeep in mind that because you have some power, it does not mean that you are getting correct power. Assuming the build is correct (and I'm not) that would point to the PSU.

"There is no real indication of which way round some of the small plugs go (i.e. Power, Reset, Sleep) so I don't know if it is important. "
Hey, I'm not really as stupid as this quote makes me sound. :-/

So, what is the deal with the 4-pin mainboard plug? My old mainboard only had a 20-pin connector and my old PSU does not have a 4-pin plug. I have been told that the 4-way plug powers the CPU. Is this correct?
I checked a new Dell PC at work today (with the PERMISSION of the systems guy) and there is only a 20-way supply and mainboard socket.OK folks, it has been sorted. I received postings on another forum indicating that I may have used the wrong 4-way connector to the motherboard. This turned out to be the case. The Blue Storm manual which is in black and white only shows the 4-pin motherboard connector on the same loom as the 20-way connector. The correct one is in fact the separate 4-pin plug with 2 yellow , 2 black wires.
Thanks for all the positve comments.
Rob

Hi,
I have just bought a second hand taxan ergovision 2150 tco95, but it had no MANUAL with it. My problem is this:
All of the other monitors i have OWNED have a lead which is fixed into the back , hence no need for any extra leads, but this one has a few different sockets on the back as you can see here.

I have tried to find out what i need and beleive that its a 15-Pin VGA to 5 BNC Connector Cable LIKE this one

If anyone knows for certain that i am right or wrong, please let me know. Thanks in advance, Dan.Indeed. You need either VGA to VGA (D-SUB) or RGB to VGA (D-SUB).

The latter is supposed to allow HIGHER resolutions from what I have been told but the cables are more pricey.. If you can still find them, that is.
Thank you RAPTOR, i have been searching all day to find out for certain, but that clears it up for me. I have found a site that sells them online for about £6 so thats no problem. Thanks again.No problem, come back anytime.

In the past month or so I've developed a very strange problem with my touchpads on 3 different laptops.

1st laptop = Dell inspiron 600m, pentium M 1.4, 512 mb, Alps touchpad, driver v.5.4.104.4, on irq 12
2nd laptop = Toshiba ??
3rd laptop = Sony Vaio, pentium 4, 2.0 Ghz, 512 mb ram

sorry I don't know the exact specifications of the toshiba. The Toshiba and the Sony belong to other members of the household.

All 3 have the same problem...the dell and the toshiba are the worst, the sony is a little more sporatic.

When I move my finger on the touchpad, the mouse will either move a bit and then stop and then become unresponsive, or not move at all. If I continue moving my finger around on the touchpad, the cursor will eventually move for another split second, and then stop again. It's the same on all 3 laptops, and the same thing happens for everyone who uses them (so it's not my finger that's the problem!!!)

I thought it might be a driver issue, so I uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers on the dell but it did not help.

I ran the system diagnostics and they find no problems with the device (though i have the same problem moving the mouse). The system diagnostics is loaded at the startup screen (press a button at the beep), before windows loads, so the problem is not with anything loaded in windows. The thing I did notice was when I was testing the touchpad, it seemed to be most unresponsive at the top of the touchpad (i.e. the testing area would light up on the corresponding area of the touchpad that I touched...and I had the most problems getting the top to light up, though it would eventually though only for a split second).

In the device manager there are no problems noted.


Now...what makes the issue more strange is...today I took the laptop with me to starbucks...and the touchpad worked perfectly.

When I BROUGHT it back home...the problems started again. It's done this before too...it's always worked at starbucks, and the problems are only when I'm at home (only 2 places I've used the laptop in the past 2 months...before that I was out of town and had no problems either)



What could the problem be? Is there some radiation in the atmosphere that affects the touchpad? Is that even possible? Nothing electrical been changed in my house over the last few months.
:-?Are they connected to a network at home?

Do you have any Internet security...?they are connected to a wireless network at home, though it's been the same router/computers for the past 3 years.
Also, I usually use the Dell near the router, so I just connect it via the ethernet card and the wireless card is disabled.
The Toshiba has an internal wireless card and the Sony has an external linksys wireless card. But again, same CARDS for the past few years.

I have norton antivirus 2005 on all 3 laptops, and they're running the windows xp firewall. I run Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-aware on all 3. I've ran the Windows LIVE online virus/spyware scanner (safety.live.com). No viruses, no spyware.


Again, today I was at Starbucks and the touchpad worked like a charm....just got home and again it doesn't work.


I thought about the only thing that's changed in the house since I moved back here, and that was that we got 2 new wireless telephones. I unplugged them and took out their batteries to see if that helped, but it didn't.Is the problem related to having an external mouse plugged in at the same time?No...the problem occurs whether or not the external mouse is plugged in.Is Norton 2005 licensed and up to date?

yes.


I'm almost positive it's not a virus or spyware issue. I've tried to keep my system clean. Everything is up to date. Also, I don't know of any viruses/spyware that only kick in when I'm at home.



on a side note, it was raining today...but once it stops, I'll be going out with my laptop to see if there's "radius" where it doesn't work. The starbucks I go to is 3 blocks away.From Wikipedia...

Quote

Touchpads commonly operate by sensing the capacitance of a finger, or the capacitance between sensors. Capacitive sensors are laid out along the horizontal and vertical axis of the touchpad. The location of the finger is determined from the pattern of capacitance from these sensors. This is why they will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar implement. Gloved fingers may be problematic (such as in a cleanroom environment) but can sometimes work. Moist or sweaty fingers can be problematic for those touchpads that rely on measuring the capacitance between the sensors.

Having copied a short film from a friends DVD to 'My Documents' I then burnt this onto a DVD-R disc using 'Cyberlink Power2 to Go', and also Nero software. The problem I am having is trying to play the DVD-R disc on my DVD Player although it plays well on my PC. I have EVEN tried playing it on a friends DVD Player which is multi region with no success. Any help would be appreciated if not to TECHNICAL. Thanks.If it is an .AVI file you can have this problem. A standalone DVD player looks for certain file structures. Computers do not require this because it is a program Windows understands.

Hi, wonder if ANYONE can help. I bough an HP w19" LCD monitor for my PC (running XP), which has been working fine for a number of weeks but yesterday a line has appeared about THREE quarters of the way down the screen, its only about a mm thick & is a mixture of BLACK & different coloured blues but its really annoying. I have tried reconnecting the monitor etc but no luck. If you can help I would appreciate it, thanks.Is it present ALL the time? If not what triggers it? How about going into BIOS setup and see if it appears there, as this would be before Windows loads.Try swapping videocards and see if it STILL happens.Hi, thanks for the interest - the line is there all the time & as a bit of a PC novice I wouldn't know how to swap video cards ? - is this something fairly easy to do ?If the anomaly is there even in the BIOS screen it is a bad video adapter. YOu can try removing and reseating it (while the machine is off) and see if this makes any difference. What is the make and model of the computer or motherboard and if known, the video adapter?

Hello,

I am LOOKING to add RAM to my computer for editing of large VIDEO and music files, however I think that REGULAR ram memory is kind of expensive so I was wondering if there are any way to convert a flash DRIVE into ram in windows xp, I think that this feature exists in windows Vista but I don't WANT to upgrade yet.

Thanks

AlmnIf you are talking about a RAM drive, I guess that is possible, but it would be slower than motherboard RAM and tedious to set up. Personally I wouldn't consider it.

How much RAM do you have?

taking the battery out and plugging it in still results in a blinking power light. if a dead battery is = no battery then would that seem likely to be the problem? ill pick up the battery tomorrow so ill post what happens.Quote

taking the battery out and plugging it in still results in a blinking power light. if a dead battery is = no battery then would that seem likely to be the problem? ill pick up the battery tomorrow so ill post what happens.

btw my motherboard cant use PCI (i learned this when i upgraded my vid card), so is the antec Sp-400 gona work?

Quote

btw my motherboard cant use PCI (i learned this when i upgraded my vid card), so is the antec Sp-400 gona work?

I am not sure what the connection between your PCI slot and the PSU would be, can you please explain?

It would be a strange computer that could not use a PCI video card. PCI-E yes, but that does not appear to be the case. PCI is the slowest of the 3 (PCI, AGP and PCI-E) but it will work.

Are you talking about a PCI-e power connector from the PU?

We need to clarify our terms here.

What is the model of this Compaq?

i just disconnected all the wires attached to the PSU and then plugged the power cord in. the power light didnt flash, rather it stayed solid green and acted normally, so i plugged them all back in and connected the power cord again and it flashed again... is this what a busted PSU would do? or does this indicate that it isnt the power supply.

my vid card is "AGP 8x" if that matters

yes i suppose im talking about the PCI- E power connecter then

Hey all,

My desktop just decided to commit suicide (it hates me, I KNOW it does.) It doesn’t turn on (no fans will run or anything), so I’m thinking power supply. I don’t remember how to test a PS though, and couldn’t find anything on Google that didn’t require an understanding of electrical diagrams (I’d really rather not go to a computer store and get charged up the *#$ for them to look at it either.) I wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas on what could be the problem, and if anyone knows how to test the PS.


Here’s what’s been going on:

A couple months ago when I started the computer up it would sometimes make two long beeps and then either shut down or just STAY running, but never go to the boot screen. Restarting always made it work.

About a week or so ago my graphics cards stopped working properly in dual-SLI mode. It worked fine with one graphics card running however.

A few days ago the computer would just suddenly reboot while gaming.

A couple days ago a Windows error popped up while gaming that said the graphics drivers were either bad or that the graphics settings needed to be reduced. The drivers had been reinstalled a week prior when the problem with dual-SLI started up (reinstalling didn’t fix the SLI problem.)

And today the computer won’t turn on.


So, I’m thinking either power supply has been slowly dying causing other hardware issues, or a crap-load of stuff just went wrong all at once (I wouldn’t doubt that either. This has been the most finicky computer I’ve ever owned... Never buy an off brand gaming computer.) LIKE I said, I’m by no means a hardware expert, so I was hoping to see if anyone else had any other ideas and could explain how to test the power supply.

Thanks.

-------------
FX-55
Asus Motherboard
Enermax 600W Power Supply
Two GeForce 6800s
2GB Ram (two 1GBs)My bet is the PSU.
They do sell PSU testers for about 30 bucks but i don't put much faith in them...You can get a good power supply for just a few dollars more than a tester. It sounds like the source of the problem. Think Antec.Okay, I'll try out a new power supply. Now... What size supply should I be getting for my computer? It's got a 600W, but is that what it needs, or is that just overkill?

FX-55
Asus Motherboard
Two GeForce 6800s (will be upgrading when DirectX 10 cards come out)
2GB Ram (two 1GBs)
Four 250GB hard drives

ThanksHere's a way to get a rough estimate.

http://www.journeysystems.com/power_supply_calculator.php

Again, a cheap power supply is no bargain. A 600w "el cheapo" can be dangerous to your other components, which you seem to have a lot invested in.Thanks! Looks like around 460W or so. Might as well just go with another 600W so I have some room for more upgrades.

Yeah, I'm definitely not going with a cheep supply. Strongly considering Antec, especially with two Enermax supplies dying in the last year... Is is possible for a supply to go bad if it's installed wrong? After the first supply died (about 6 months after the computer was purchased) I received a second one, which I installed by just unplugging each connector one by one and PLUGGING them into the new supply at the same time, so unless I screwed up it's hooked up exactly as it was when I first got the computer. It's just odd having two top PSUs going bad in less than 12 months, and like I said, the computer has never acted quite right (crashes way more often than any other computer I've had, sometimes will just stall and reset itself, and would sometimes not boot up and just make two loud beeps at me... Always done it to some degree, but it got MUCH worse in the last few weeks/months). Or am I just being paranoid here?Quote

Thanks! Looks like around 460W or so. Might as well just go with another 600W so I have some room for more upgrades.

Yeah, I'm definitely not going with a cheep supply. Strongly considering Antec, especially with two Enermax supplies dying in the last year... Is [highlight]is possible for a supply to go bad if it's installed wrong[/highlight]? After the first supply died (about 6 months after the computer was purchased) I received a second one, which I installed by just unplugging each connector one by one and plugging them into the new supply at the same time, so unless I screwed up it's hooked up exactly as it was when I first got the computer. It's just odd having two top PSUs going bad in less than 12 months, and like I said, the computer has never acted quite right (crashes way more often than any other computer I've had, sometimes will just stall and reset itself, and would sometimes not boot up and just make two loud beeps at me... Always done it to some degree, but it got MUCH worse in the last few weeks/months). Or am I just being paranoid here?

Hi all,
Here is the proplem. I have a new computer and an old parallel printer. I have purchased a USB to Parallel CABLE and hooked it up. I run thru all of the things that I think should to get my printer to do its thing and can't get a peep out of it. I have rebooted and deleated the printer and REDID it several times. I have UNINSTALLED the HP printer software several time and reinstalled it. This is old software that doesn't have USB as a choice so I have STUCK with having it look for the parallel port. I am at a loss!!!! Any help would be appreciated. BTW my website is www.alderhouse.com if you are inerested in why I use hotglass.

ttfn hotglassAssuming XP. Control panel/printers and faxs icon. Right click, select properties. Click ports tab. Choose port to send printing to. Make sure printer is selected as default printer.

Try running it with the case open/removed, see if you can figure our where the click & whir come from.

Download, unzip, install and run Everest Home Edition
http://www.comcen.com.au/~fed/everest.zip

Select Computer>Sensor from the left hand screen and check your temperatures.Indeed I have 2 Western Digital HDDs, a WD800JB-SE & a WD1800JB-SE. I have spent the day running CHKDSK on all my partitions. As I write this I am running Data Lifeguard Diagnostics (from WD WEBSITE) on both hdds, Extended test mode. All SMART tests were marked with PASS so I'm not sure the diagnostic will find anything.

As for the click SOUND, to me it sounds like a HDD 'parking' if you understand what I mean. The clicking sound still happens to me however the PC merely stalls for a few seconds before resuming function. This is small progress.

I took my PC case to a repair guy who agreed to take it home with him and try to fix it. He rang me later that night to tell me he could find nothing wrong with it, and had been happily playing games on it for a couple hours - he didn't charge me but when I took it home and plugged it in nothing had changed. First it loads xp fine, then I test it by starting up a game, then it crashes. The next few times I try to boot it up it freezes on the xp LOGIN screen.

I still can't explain why it worked fine for the repairman, and he is stumped too. I'll try it with the open case Fed. I assume its coming form the HDD bc the click and whir sound similar if not exactly the same as the sounds your computer makes when it starts up. I had recently found,though, that the screws holding the motherboard into the copper risers had a little washer thing in b/w the screw and MB but after removing it i thought i fixed it bc the computer ran well for many hours but eventually when it made the click, there was no whir, the computer automatically restarted and the click was even louder. (it sounded more like one of those metal toggle switches being flipped). and thanks for the software.

autechre: read the last parageraph i just wrote and see if that applies to you. CHKDSK is useless, and i got the same results from the data lifeguard software. what version of windows are you running and do u have any problems with USB devices?The temperatures seem fine. Here are the following things I found interesting/suspicious:

CPU Clock 2400.49 MHz (original: 2400 MHz)
CPU FSB 133.36 MHz (original: 133 MHz)

My Temps:

Motherboard 19 °C (66 °F)
CPU 18 °C (64 °F)
WDC WD2500JB-00GVA0 22 °C (72 °F)
Quote

I took my PC case to a repair guy who agreed to take it home with him and try to fix it. He rang me later that night to tell me he could find nothing wrong with it, and had been happily playing games on it for a couple hours - he didn't charge me but when I took it home and plugged it in nothing had changed.

I had recently found,though, that the screws holding the motherboard into the copper risers had a little washer thing in b/w the screw and MB but after removing it i thought i fixed it bc the computer ran well for many hours but eventually when it made the click, there was no whir, the computer automatically restarted and the click was even louder.

There seems to be a clue here, what was different at the repair guy's place?
Different electricity outlet?
Using a different power strip or none at all?
Different keyboard, mouse, monitor or any other extras?
Can you try and eliminate these things as possibilities, I'd start with the electricty outlet & power strip.

I just installed Soundblaster Audihy SE to my computer. My desktop speakers sound great. I sometimes like to hear music outside on my patio. I ran speaker wire under the house (some distance beween computer and patio). Three wires. Anyway, I went to Radio Shack and bout two 1/8# stereo jacks (three connector). I soldered one wire to the TOP rim and another wire to the other top rim. I then soldered the third wire to the LONG stem and replaced the plastic cover. I then did this to the other end of the wire. Needless to say, when I plug into the back of the computer and then to the amp outside, no sound. My question is, do certain wires have to be soldered onto certain parts of the jack plug? Should I use a mono plug rather tan a stereo plug? I am at a loss. It used to work great. Any advise is appreciated.I don't quite understand the details of what you did, so maybe some questions to clarify will help me or anyone reading your question.

Why the need to solder wires to plugs? Why not just buy the extension cords with the proper plugs on the end? If necessary, buy multiple extension cords and connect them together.

To use speakers outdoors, would you disconnect your regular/indoor computer speakers and then connect the cables leading to the patio?I soldered the speaker wire to the jacks so they have a good connection and stay put. I'm not using any extension cords. I am referring to Jack plugs. And yes, I would disconnect the regular desktop computer speakers and insert the jack plug to the speakers outside (which are hooked up to an amp).

Thanks for replying. I really want to get them going.Well, I have cords I've used to run a line about 30 feet from a stereo to my computer in order to convert some old music TAPES to digital format. These are factory-made cords with the proper plugs on the ends. Again, I don't follow the soldering thing here. Simply, its like removing one jack and replacing with another. The only difference is I'm using speaker wire and need to attach the wires to a jack plug in order to insert into the back of a computer and the other end into an amp.Purchase a stereo splitter at Radio Shack and then plug in a stereo extension into the splitter. I have a triple splitter with another splitter plugged into that and six sets of speakers each set has its own amp. Each set of speakers is controllable for volume. My outside speakers including a subwoofer are volume controlled outside. I have spiced on extensions like you are trying and they do have to be to the correct wire.

Ron Walker
Pepin, WIRon, I dont get it. Where to i put the splitter?The wires do have to connect properly. A 3-wire is left channel, right channel, and ground. Some systems, like simple desktop stereo, use a common ground. Some more complicated systems use individual grounds. It all depends on the systems involved. The color order should not MAKE any difference if both connectors are set up precisely the same. Use a VOM to check that you haven't shorted any CONNECTIONS and have end-to-end continuity on all connections. If your speaker wire is multi stranded wire, you should twist the ends tightly and tin them before making a solder connection. One hair thin strand that is astray can screw up the whole thing. If continuity testing reveals a problem, it is highly unlikely that the wire itself is faulty. It is probably a cold solder joint.

Hi,

I've got two Sony DW-D22A DVD/CD ROM drives that are missing the circular rubber pad that sits atop the turn motor beneath the disc and presses the disc up against the hub in the top cover.

All that is there is the gummy glue that would have held the pad.

Does anyone know where I can get replacement pads?

Thanks.From a broken drive, I GUESS. I think I would just get a used working drive or maybe spring for a NEW one to PREVENT damage to my CD's. If that part is missing who knows what ELSE is wrong?

Can you use a vga m/f cable on a monitor that has the cord HANGING from it, to then, plug a m vga plug into the f end of the vga m/f cable (such as a xbox 360 vga cable)?

so it would look like this:



I can't see anything there...although they haven't shipped my 21" monitor yet...52cards - are you sure you've got the full deck :-? Is this what we're LOOKING for :-?

But YES, the idea will work. It's not very difficult to get no, or BLANK, output on a monitor.Why not just purchase a gender changer made specifically for the purpose.never MIND, now i understand it will work to just purchase a gender changer.

I am not a technically minded computer user, so I don't know it there is anything that I will be able to do. As my user name impies I am a CONTRACTOR. At this very moment I am pulling out my 18v cordless dewalt to get into my laptop. lol Quite the picture.

Anyway my problem is that when I turn my computer on I hear noise as it starts (the cpu unit? fan?). It turns on to my first screen that says compaq in the middle of the screen. The bottom says f10= ROM Based Setup and F12=Boot From Lan. Then nothing. The screen stays there with the same display and no noise.

I really hate to buy a new computer, but that is looking like my only option, so any help would be greatly appreciated, but remember I don't know anything technical here.

My computer is a COMPAQ Presario 3000, about 5 years OLD. It has been handled pretty rough including being dropped a few times, which I am SURE has not helped.

Pentium 4
512 ram
2.8 ghz
80 gb

Not sure if I worded everything right. anyway thanks for taking the time.I am thinking maybe my hdd is fried?Quote

I am thinking maybe my hdd is fried?

OK, OK, you got me.
UPDATE: It is in fact a 250 GB drive. Sorry for the bad info.

I am currently using the Dell Dimension E520 and have bought the Seagate Serial Ata/300 160GB INTERNAL Hard Drive. I have been able to hook up the damned thing physically but my computer will not even read it. My computer is barely 3 months old and I have had no problems... I just needed more space.

PLEASE If anyone can give me any help on this subject I want to try and do this myself before sinking even more money into my machine just to be able to get my computer to read the drive. What is the existing hard drive? Is it seen in the BIOS? What version of Windows? Has it been partitioned yet? Etc.?When I installed my latest hard drive (and the one before it) i had to go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management then click in the tree where it says Disk Management. The hard drive showed up there, and all I had to do was right click the drive and FORMAT it.Quote from: dhaltom on May 23, 2007, 05:10:13 PM

When I installed my latest hard drive (and the one before it) i had to go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management then click in the tree where it says Disk Management. The hard drive showed up there, and all I had to do was right click the drive and format it.

I keep hearing people asking me about the BIOS

suddenly a new DVD drive (G)..none was added..AND now it will not read my external drive!! (after disconnecting and then reconnect)

I have two 200gb external hardrives ...Once in a while I need to work on other PCs and need some files off of one of the drives ...I remove (using safe remove).

After working on the other PC...(had too many issues to repair...snarrrrl), I then returned the external drive to its original pc, and it would not read it as an external drive but instead found it to be a DVD drive..I then SWITCHED its usb to another port and it would not read at all...then I did some more switching, ...then it would readi t but not both ex. drives, then it would not read either one of the external drives....and even when all externals are disconnected I still show a new DVD drive!!!
I do have a DVDrw in my pc but not a plain dvd player (and yes, the DVDrw shows as connected ...drive D...) This new DVD drive is drive G...shows it sitting there along with my other DVDrw.

PC info: WinXP ....1.80 gigahertz AMD
64 kilobyte primary memory ...128 kilobyte secondary
80g hardrive ....

Not sure what other info someone may need to help me with this.

I am just a Grandma, who once in a while can work a bit on an older PC and get it to run again for my grandkiddies to play on the net and their games.
So, I am not a computer expert....so I need one!...giggle

Please suggest what may of happened here???

HUGE THANKS in advance!!!
Granny

...also anyone interested in helping me with the other PC I was working on would be awesome!! ...It may have hardware issues...(so I was told)....Monitor will not turn on at start-up....then it does...then it doesn't again....also sometimes will load to windows...sometimes not ...and then it will again...(motherboard???)...dog-gone-it, such a nice pc....would love to get it running.Let's do one at a time.

Go to CONTROL Panel/System. Is the extra drive listed there? If so delete it and reboot what happens now.

The other one sounds like a power supply issue, but start by checking that monitor on another computer and another computer with the monitor on this one to see where the problem really is.WOW!...Thanks for the quick reply.

I have checked the disc drives in manager and it only shows my internal 80g and one of my external 200g hardrives. Oh Oops, the other 200g is not connected...hang on a minute (maybe it will read it in the device driver!!!!)
...well guess what shows up??? ...the now connected 200g shows but has a red x on it!!!....oh no...what now???


thanks for helping!!!You can click on it to find out what the error message is.

I would suggest safely removing ALL external drives, then deleting all DVD drives showing and then rebooting. What happens now?

Now add one drive and see if it is recognized? If so, reboot and check again. If it is all correct add the other drive. Check again for poper display. If all is good reboot again and check.

What happens now?

(You have to use a very methodical approach to these issues to find the problem. )Hey great idea ...you are so helpful and explain it so well THANKS

I have added this for you to take a peek at:
(I wrote this while I was waiting to see if
you would reply again...now I am off to try
what you had suggested.)

...a bit more info...

I do have more usb ports in the rear of this PC...perhaps if I connect in to there for now I will have it (the 200g) up and running...but that would be a bit inconvienent for me...(bad back, bending over goofy to get the cord in)...and this still does not help find out why I now have a DVD drive (g).

The other PC I was working on, does have a working monitor...it works with all my PCs (5 computers), only this PC has a problem. Oh and the PC has a brand new power supply with pretty blue lights in it...(grin) the setting on that, by the little "hard to switch over" red thingy is at: 115.

Perhaps I need more power?...switch it to high if it has it???....I wait for your reply.I checked to see what the problem was, and another "oops" I had disabled it, thinking it was that new DVD G drive....so sorry ...it all is running ok now....thank you so much for your quick and "easy to follow" help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


.........now if you can just hang in there with me for just a few more minutes, please see what I wrote earlier of the OTHER PC I was having problems with ...Monitor ok...Newer power supply...etc.

If you have to go I will understand....thanks
GrannyQuote

Let's do one at a time.

Go to Control Panel/System. Is the extra drive listed there? If so delete it and reboot what happens now.

The other one sounds like a power supply issue, but [highlight]start by checking that monitor on another computer and another computer with the monitor on this one to see where the problem really is[/highlight].

Thanks for that, I knew there'd be at least a few THINGS I missedWell that is why it is really important not to miss things when you are advising SOMEONE ELSE to spend money.Good thing I havnt bought it yet

So, That means if I bought 400mhz 512mb ram to add on to my 2x 256mb 200mhz ram the 512mhz ram will only run at 200mhz?That is correctDarn...

Will 200mhz still be good?Hold on, aren't the other modules 333MHz?
Besides, i would think that the extra RAM would outweigh a slightly slower speed, especially as your current RAM is 33MHz - you're just adding more, not slowing down what's already thereSorry, my mistake, it is 200MHz
Previous post still applies thoughWhat I mean is, would having 1gb RAM @ 200mhz still be a worthwhile upgrade from 512mb RAM @ 200mhz for £30?
You two will just have to work this out for yourselves. Good luck. So will upgrading from 200mhz 512mb to 200mhz 1gb ram be worth it for £33 (About $60) I would say so, yesThanks, Im guessing it would be cheaper to buy a 200mhz 512mb stick but I cant find any, Any ideas or aint it worth looking?It may be cheaper but they're kind of hard to find, any saving you made vs 400MHz would probably be minimal
You might as well buy that RAM, and then you can perhaps use it in your next system with more modules of 400MHz RAM or SOMETHING?

I have a fairly "old" PC a Freeway 500. I have been wanting to increase the MEMORY on this from the 512 on it, to see if that helps speed it up a bit, as it would appear to be cheaper than upgrading to a new system.

However I have no clue from the thousands out there what type I require or once the side is open where it needs to be fitted.

If anyone can help me this would be great.
Many thanks in advance.www.crucial.com to see exactly what you need once you have the correct information, like the exact motherboard. If unsure, download and RUN Everest home, make a REPORT and enclose it here for PERUSAL. It will tell everything about ALL components in the system.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Here's a few general guides. It is VERY simple IF you have the correct RAM.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=how+to+install+RAM

Actually that's over 17,000,000, but just look at the top 5-6.
Without posting the rest of your system specs, we cannot tell if upgrading the RAM would be the best move for this system. Unless you are gaming or doing special work, more than 512MB RAM doesn't offer quite so much benefit.