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So, the other day I was burning a cd, and my computer completely froze.  At first I was like ok cool whatever restart, but it kept HAPPENING and I didn[ch8217]t have this problem Saturday and it has been almost a week with no avail, at first I could turn it on and off a few times, and it would load, get through the boot and freeze, but now I cant even get on, and I cant boot from my XP cd to do a OS repair.  Its not a great computer it has 512 ram, 2.6 Ghz, and a Nvidia (sorry if I spelled it wrong) G-force graphics card, a Seagate HD with 160 gb, and an Audigy 2 ZS SOUND card.  I recently added the sound card and cathode lighting and a 320 gb hard drive, and everything was working fine when I put it in.  Any ideas on how to fix it or even what the problem is would be greatly appreciated. Mr.Paul.....  The addition of the extra hard drive, sound card as well as the lighting , may be too much additional load for the power supply ........ I would  consider replacing it with one of a higher wattage rating .
Lets SEE if some of our other knowledgeable members agree .

dl65  Let's find out the make, wattage and age of the PSU.250 watt max, newton power ltdYou need a new, quality make power supply greater than 350 w. (more would be better). Think Antec and newegg.com  

This supposes you have a standard size ATX mount and connector. What is the computer/motherboard make and model. I fear you are going to say HP or eMachine.  its a gateway THANK you, i salvaged it out of the trash, however i think i found the problem, while i was looking for the brand on the motherboard it came to my attention that a cord connecting my heatsink to my motherboard was unattached, so i guess i owe you thanks, and i will look into an upgrade.  ill look into it a little more and if it wasnt the problem i will post back.
Thank You.Forget that, the problem is still there...I went to Frys and purchased a 400wt raidMAX and yet the problem is still occuring. I think it might be something wiht the hard drive. Any new opinions?Mr.Paul....       Quote

I think it might be something wiht the hard drive.

Ok, I'm building a computer for a guy.  He wants a good VIDEO CARD, 256 or 512, whatever.  He plays Flight Simluator X, and call of duty.  Now I think these games only want like 512 ram and 256 video, but am not sure.  I need to go with Nvidia, and PCI Express 16.  I put a budget on this card at around 130-150.  What card would you reccomend?Has anyone seen Track lately?I'm not a gamer but I believe the        
      
BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card

would be a good choice.  You can get a $30 rebate if you buy by 1/15/07, making the cost $119.99 plus the SHIPPING fee.  I believe this seller only ships in the U.S.  I second the suggestion for the 7600gt, great card.
Weirdest thing, in Canada at retail stores you can get the 7600gs pci-E for 100$ but the 7600GT pci-E GOES for over 300$ unless you shop online.

My uncle left this HP Stream 7 tablets at our house, saying we could have it if we could fix it. Whenever it's turned on, it goes to this BLUE screen that reads:

Recovery
Your PC\Device needs to be repaired
The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors
File : \$Windows.BT\NewOS\WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
Error Code: 0xc000000f
You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB deivce), contact your administrator or PC manufacturer.



Press the Windows key to use a different operating system

but, nothing happens when you PUSH the windows BUTTON on the bottom. I've tried Googling the problem already, but I can't seem to find anyone who's having a similar problem. I don't know anything about it aside from what kind of tablet it is. This might be what you have.
http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Stream-Tablets/7439994/model/7482041/drivers
This document MAY help some:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04495010.pdf
And go to the HP forum.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Windows/HP-Stream-7-Windows-10-doesn-t-boot-I-can-t-recovery-8-1/td-p/4968314

That is the best I can do for you.

I have looked around a bit for a gps that could be fixed permanetly into a LAPTOP.  I found the Leadtek chip that is the actual processor however I am attempting to find someone or SOMEWHERE to have something installed into the laptop.

Anyone heard of things like this and can give SUGGESTION where to LOOK, Or instructions how to do it?

Google's runnin good TODAY

My acer aspire e1-571 is already having 2GB, 665MHz, DDR3, single channel, 1.5V RAM as found by Speccy, CPU-Z and my own info. Can i add 4GB, 1600MHz, DDR3, BIDIRECTIONAL, 1.5V RAM into another free slot? Answer ASAP. ThanksYour DDR3 RAM that you see as 665 mhz is likely 1333Mhz DDR3. You can mix with 1600 Mhz RAM in most situations the RAM will down clock to 1333Mhz. Some RAM doesnt like to play well with others. So there is the slight chance it wont work. Its always best to match RAM speeds and brands and sizes when possible, however for years I have mixed RAM sizes and speeds and you just need to know that the RAM will downclock to the slowest stick added. If your buying RAM, I would go with 1333Mhz to match, but if you acquired some 1600Mhz DDR3 cheap or free then give it a try and see what happens. After MIXING memory I would run memtest86 to make sure that the system is TRULY happy with the mixed RAM.

I want to try to use the FILE and Folder transfer Wizard using the direct cable method but I can't figure out what kind it cable it wants.  I LIKE the USB option but do they make a USB cable with a USB connection on both ends?

Can I take the crossover cable that runs from the modem to the router off duty and use that as a serve as a direct cable?

 Sandy in FLIt is supposed to be Sandy in FL.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812203017&ATT=12-203-017&CMP=OTC-Froogle

You can probably find one at Bestbuy,or where ever maybe
Radio Shack.

Hope this helps............Robert In PeckerWood,Georgia. :-? Had I read you message earlier it would have saved me a lot of money.   I went to Office DEPOT (40 miles away) and  they could not help me.  They sent me to Radio Shack.  

Radio Shack sold me a Belkin Transfer Cable for windows Vista for $42.

When I got it home I found it contained no CD or instruction guide.

So I called Radio Shack and they said to come up and they would give me the CD and instruction paper form another package, so we drove back up there and got it.

When I got home again I tried to load the CD onto my broken  XP Pro computer, but the firt page that comes up says  the software can only be installed on computers running  Windows XP service pack 2 or 64 bit edition.

I do not have Service pack 2 and I have the corporate edition.

I put the software on my other "new" computer  since it has service pack 2, and it is running, and the cable is connected to both computers, and I'm working now to see if I can use it to import stuff.  

The Newegg thing you suggested did not come highly recommended .


 Pros: This is the first dual USB cable that is aimed to solve power problem of USB devices.

Cons: It has three type "A" male ends. Since the upstream PORT for most devices are type "B" or mini-"B" ports, this cable requires another adapter to be useful.

I guess I'll keep looking and see if I can resell this thing I have that is not what I need.  Radio Shack will not take it back.

SandyI did answer 8 minutes after you posted.

Radio Shack will take it back.You just have to tell
them why.

Sorry,folks it don't work.Where's my money?Radio Shack made it very clear at the end of my second trip that because it contained software, they would not take it back.   I appreciate you quick reply but I had to rush out shortly after I posted so we could get to town and back before the roof fixer man arrived.

How about this one?

http://www.cwol.com/usb/92701.htm Quote

Radio Shack made it very clear at the end of my second trip that because it contained software, they would not take it back.   I appreciate you quick reply but I had to rush out shortly after I posted so we could get to town and back before the roof fixer man arrived.

How about this one?

http://www.cwol.com/usb/92701.htm

Can anyone help me interpret this data and advise me in what to do to cool my computer down.  I have had it for one year and the fan makes a lot of noise, it was in a cabinet before but we have moved it to sit on the desk, but that has not helped much.

Is the fan in the power supply working properly?  Is the CPU fan working properly?  Does your computer have a lot of dust inside?  How many case fans do you have installed?  Which direction are they moving air?  When you say "the fan" is making a lot of noise, which fan are you TALKING about?  The CPU fan is making a lot of noise because it sucks; just like all stock fans.

Buying a 20$ aftermarket fan will take more heat off ur CPU and be a *censored* of a lot less noisy. Quote

The CPU fan is making a lot of noise because it sucks; just like [highlight]all[/highlight] stock fans.

Quote

The CPU fan is making a lot of noise because it sucks; just like [highlight]all[/highlight] stock fans.

Another all inclusive statement that is not true.  

Stock fans seem to work fine for many people, especially those that use less than "state of the art" hardware without overclocking. Your CPU fan may have problems, and that temp indicates it, but we know little about the hardware involved otherwise.

Do i have to be 100% accurate with everything i say?

Do i have to be 100% accurate with everything i say? I think not.

Almost all stock fans perform badly and are noisy, that a fact.

Dear USERS
 I am looking to BUY this motherboard what is the maximum OPERATING temperature of this motherboard
Thankxhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=MSI+K9N-SLi+Platinum+max+operating+temp

or check the MSI site.thankx

I bought a logitech headphones with mic and when I plug it into the usb port
it says that it can not find the software???  It did not come with software....

Then when i plugged another usb device into a usb port (griffin imic) my
computer told me the same thing.  Which tells me it's not the hardware but
instead some problem with my computer not recogizing and installing the
headphones and imic properly ONTO my computer???

I'm not a tech head so if anyone could help me out i would really appreciate
it.  I can't record anything until i get this sorted out.

Thanks,

Peter
ps. I am using windows xp and have all the updates and
service pak 2 as well!GO to Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device Manager...right click ALL instances of USB ports/hubs and select remove.
Reboot with all USB DEVICES removed
Then power down and introduce one USB device at a time and restart.

Hey, a few weeks ago there was a huge power surge outside my place and it took out the power in the building.  My roommate saw smoke coming from my room so she unplugged my pc.  It wouldnt turn on anymore so i got a new tower w/ a p/s.  Now it will start but every program/game will either start for a little while or wont start at all.  I don't get error messages just that the program is not responding and needs to close.  It also shuts itself down every once in awhile.  I can't install/download any large programs as I will get an error before it is complete.  I have 2 hard drives so I TRIED switching them but i still have the same problems so it cant be the hard drive.  I've also tried wiping the HD and re-installing windows.  What do I need to replace to get this POS going again?
Specs:
Kudoz 7e/333a
AMD Athlon XP 2400 (i think thats what it is, it runs at 2ghz)
768MB DDR
Radeon 9600XT 128mb
160GB WD
420W P/S
winXP homeI don't know that you can conclude that the power supply was the only thing DAMAGED by the event. You need to start by stripping it to the basics - 1 STICK RAM, processor/fan, basic onboard video (if available) or the card if not and see if it runs with only one hard drive attached. What make of power supply did you get? What is the MOTHERBOARD make and model?

I opened my case and took the cable off one of my cd-roms and put it on a FRIENDS HARD drive. The computer started up fine and it detected the new HD fine. Then it didn't detected the any of my cd-rom drives. and know it won't detect the New HD either. Then what a did was take the new HD out and put EVERTHING back the way it was, and it still will not detect any of the disk drives. It will only detect my priginal HD which is a Serial ATA HDD. When I go into BIOS, in the boot sequence, it says that my cd-rom is not present, and there is nothing I can do to make it say that it is present. I am sure that it is there the exact way that it was before I put the other HDD in.
    I don't know what this could be. I thought that it might be a Virus or a problem with the IDE cable. The drives open and close fine, they just don't read any cd I put in them, and in BIOS it says that they are no present!
  Thanks for ur help.
you might want to put this in the hardware section... this is the virus section and even though the ppl here in the section know hardware youll most likely get a faster and better reply if you move it to the hardware section.


unlovedwarriorSo you tried to Swap the cables with the HD that is working? and maked shure its not the cables?
Might it be that you WIRED it up wrong and fried somthing?Try that drive in another MACHINE to see where the problem really is.

I have a 2002 Gateway 2.4GHz Pentium 4 256 Ram running XP OS. Heres my issue I cant set my Windows Clock (down in the right hand bottom corner). Yes I know how to set it and yes I've changed the CMOS battery 3 times. I,ve reset the THING countless times in windows and CMOS settings. Somestimes it wont reset until later in the day sometimes immediatly. And for some reason it likes to reset it to various days, months, years but it has a liking to anything before the 1930's. I' ve done a virus and a spyware check. I've also checked for bad sectors from frustration. I've also done a Last Known good Config Restore but I get the same problem. System restore is no good cause all my restore points are non-existant before the year 1930.The only thing that I havn't done is a complete restore of the OS which I'd rather not do unless I have to.I realize that the battery may not be connecting but I'm looking for other possable isuues.OH Yeah by the way I don't get any error messages. Figure this puzzel out cause I'm tired of beatting my head against the WALL. Bad clock? I've seen it happen.  There are even expansion cards you can install to correct the problem.

Or maybe someone else that uses your computer is messing with your head  Wish it was someone messing with my head but the computer man inside the little box gets inside his time machine while I'm attempting to reset the time so that when I hit the APPLY button I can LITERALLY see time jump a couple of times before it decides on a date. Reminds me of that SCI-FI show Quantium Leap.I know you said you scanned but do these anyway, you just never know.
Ewido/AVG ONLINE Scan
Panda Activescan Quote

I realize that the battery may not be connecting but I'm looking for other possable isuues.

Backups...anything deemed important including but not limited to bookmarks, text files, photos, e-mail contacts and Aunt Bessie's fruitcake recipe...

Okay, so, I got all new parts, which CONSIST of:

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
512 MB DDR2 RAM
GeForce 6600xt 256 MB Graphics Card
(Not sure of my Processor, had it forever. =/ I just know it's a 3.0ghz speed)

Anyway, the GeForce is a DVI only COMPATIBLE graphics card, and my current MONITOR is a VGA. I used the adapter they gave me, but I get a grey screen when I TURN on my computer. The power light turns green, indicating the computer starting up and not in idle mode, but it doesn't stay that way, it'll turn back to yellow, indicating idleness.

Anyone?Did the GeForce come with a user manual ? ?

I am in process of fixing a PC for a family member.  Its a small shop homebrew, ASUS MB, Athalon processor, 512MB RAM, VIA Chipset, etc, running WinXP.  It was delivered to me non-booting and caked with dust. First step was to clean it, then start checking.

After running through the boot sequence, final message was "No Boot Drive detected...."  Watching the POST, it was not seeing the 40GB Maxtor HD. Bios settings were correct, was able to boot off Win 98 diskette. Running utilities like MaxBlast, no HD seen.

Swapped in a 20GB WD Drive off an old tower, and it booted up just fine, running WinMe that was installed on the WD. Powered down, plugged in the Maxtor as a Slave (Grey connector, jumper in proper place), rebooted, and back to the original problem. No boot disk detected)  

Thought maybe it had something to do with Windows versions, and File Systems, so I disconnected the Maxtor, rebooted just fine on the WD, reformatted it to NTSF, installed WinXP, did all the updates to SP2, and continued on with all current updates. It runs fine.

NOW, all I want to do is recover some important files from the Maxtor. (Geneology stuff). As soon as I plug in the IDE cable (grey connector + power) and reboot, I'm back to the same initial "No Boot DIsk" error. Reading other posts here, I've tried different configurations for the JUMPERS on both the WD and the Maxtor, as well as the BIOS set-up. No luck.

When the Maxtor is on the IDE cable, I can hear it making a short buzzing sound (like head is trying to move?) three times, spaced out during the POST.  POST SHOWS the WD Drive and the CD ROM as being present, but not the Maxtor, and still eventually goes to the "No Boot Disk" message. (TAKES about 5 minutes)

Don't have the cash for a professional data recovery service, so I'm looking for any suggestions on how to get the data off this drive, short of opening it up and scrapping it off with a putty knife.

thanks in ADVANCE,
JohnYou've got a bad drive.  Unless you want to spend the bucks that data is history  

Alan <><

This is probably a stupid question and I know there is at least one "old fashion" desktop available from HP (smallform) but would it harm a COMPUTER to lay it on its side, ASSUMING the fan area was still open?

Are there any other "short" computers available?

Thankskayat......  I would think that a conventional TOWER might have issues with the optical drives if operated on their SIDES......... Those drives are designed to operate HORIZONTALY as opposed to verticaly.

dl65  

But the optical drives are the only issue there.

I want to add a bigger SECOND HD but im a little unsure about compatibility.
example-
Ultra ATA 133 / ATA 100
EIDE/IDE
2MB/8MB/16MB
 5400/7200/7200.10

What do I need?
I currently have an OEM 40gig and an old 13gig for a slave.Any EIDE/IDE should work, but you should be aware of Hard Disk Size Barriers.  You may encounter this: The ATA Interface Limit (128 GiB / 137 GB) BarrierMy motherboard is not very old and my bios is the latest release so size is not a FACTOR, I just want to spend under 100bucks.
Im looking at these two pages
Serial ATA
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=139

Internal IDE PATA
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=134

Internal SCSI- this stuff is just too expensive
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=135&


My motherboard model is in my sig - http://www.asrock.com/product/P4VM800.htm
Heres the highlights-
Socket 478 for Intel P4 processor
VIA P4M800 chipset
Supports FSB800MHz processor, Prescott
Ready and H-T Technology
2 DDR DIMM slots, Supports DDR400/333/266
Hybrid Booster - ASRock safe overclocking Technology
SerialATA 1.5Gb/s, SATA HDD_Hotplug, RAID 0,1,JBOD
AGP8X, 5.1channel Audio, 10/100 Ethernet LAN
ASRock I/O Plus: 6 ready-to-use USB2.0 portsSATA has faster transfer speeds than IDE...but can be a chore to SETUP sometimes.

All IDE manufacturers make decent drives so don't get caught up in the WD vs. Maxtor vs. Seagate arguments ...they are a waste of time.

Seagate just acquired Maxtor but are also the only manufacturer offering 5 year warranties if that's important...

Basically when i buy HDD's i just try to get the most bang for my buck.

patio.   8-)

p.s. and always remember GX1_Man's maxim....all HDD's fail eventually. DEVISE a regular backup strategy.OK then, thank you

hi my dvd drive wont read any type of burned disc. iv tried reinstalling the drive, fallowing steps by help and support and none of it worked.  :-?



WINDOWS xp pro pentium 4
pioneer dvd-r\cd r
512 mb ram
120 gb hard drive
2.66 mhzWhat are you using to burn the disk?
What format is the disk?
Eg DVD+R, +RW, -R, -RW, RAM? Quote

What are you using to burn the disk?
What format is the disk?
Eg DVD+R, +RW, -R, -RW, RAM?

Quote

What are you using to burn the disk?
What format is the disk?
Eg DVD+R, +RW, -R, -RW, RAM?

dvd-r/cd-r and my drive is compatible with that kind.

On both my new and old computers, I have software to place data on CDs.  I expect that I could write this data onto CD-RW so I can subsequently erase/modify/delete that data as if it were a floppy, however, the data file attributes of the written files are changed to Read only.  When the data is then access on the new computer, it cannot process it.   Is there any software that will act as I expect?Most rewriteable drive today ship with nero express and a program on that disk called In-CD.

In-CD lets you just use explorer to just write, modify and delete files.  If you have In-CD and have not installed it you should likely try that.I am not following you.  That cd with your files is that a R or RW  If it says that it is read only then it is a R (recordable) which once your files are burnt on that is the way theywill stay but you can copy them to your hard drive, work with them and then save them with a different name.  If you want to write, and erase then you need a cdrw (rewritable)  Does that make any sense.  As for acting like a floppy well....you can copy, erase, modify and delete on a floppy but with a cdr or cdrw you still have to burn the files onto them.You can only modify them a limited number of times too, I expect.To summarize, we need to know what it says on the CD you are using. Is it CDR or CDRW? What burning software are you using? The name of it and version number? If you don't know or if there is none we can stop there.Thanks for the replys...

I have InCD ver 3.3 on my 98 machine (this version comes with Nero Ver 5),  After formatting my Memorex CD-RW CD with InCD, I am able to see it in Windows Explorer and move/delete files to it without problem; I have no indications of problems of any kind.  Then, I move it to my new Media Center XP SP2 machine's 'LightScribe
DVD SuperMulti Drive/CD Writer  where it recognizes the CD in its Windows Exporer(Folders) as a UDF CD and shows all my files.  I added no software to this new PC (although the InCD manual on my 98 machine explains that I should need a driver to enable viewing on PC's that don't have InCD proper installed).   As long as my operations are of the Read Only, I have no trouble with the data viewed there; Using properties, The originating 98 machine shows the files as archive; On the XP machine, I see that all files are flagged Read Only.  Obviously, I cannot write/update it.  Coincidentally, on another(third) machine running 98 as well and where I did install that InCD driver, these files are flagged as both Read Only and Archive.  Certainly not the same!

I would have installed the InCD drive on the new machine, but that driver is old and there is no new one that I can find...and the XP machine is able to see it anyway...  just not the correct file attributes.INCD would have to be installed on any and all machines you want to do this on as it uses it's own file format.

Prepare for other burning conflicts with the use of INCD...frankly it's not that good a piece of software.

patio.  8-)I've sensed the quality of InCD, so that's why the driver hasn't been added to the new PC and am very
cautious about what I do with the new one.  I've been paralleling this whole process on another, but older PC where I did install the driver and my reasons for this whole thing and the problems don't go away.

A clearer/cleaner approach is what I'm asking for in this forum:  Is there not a piece of software that I can
install that does as the subject states and doesn't give rise to file attribute changes or quality issues?  Somebody somewhere must have had this same problem; InCD ver 3.3 is over 5 years old!  What about the Mount Rainier projects??Veritas and other co's that were involved in packet writing software have pretty much walked away and or sold the process...

This is why i basically don't trust it.

What are your backup NEEDS/priorities and perhaps we could SUGGEST another approach ? ?

patio.  8-)Writing to CD's causes the file attribute changes you describe. In the end a CD is NOT a big floppy.Through the process of MIGRATING to a new PC, I was hoping to precipitate  a way to do archiving on these CDs so if my new PC goes South, I would be able to reapply that data to yet another PC.
At best, it seems this is somewhat good for archiving data which no LONGER would be updated.
For migration, I've turned my attention to USB Flash drives although I've already found out that Curcial's Gizmo doesn't work with Windows 98 (stated on their site) so its no good for my purposes.  Is there a company who builds one that is known to work 98 thru XP Ver2 Operating systems?...and hopefully, they don't change attributes?Exactly what data needs to be migrated / backed up ? ?

I use a combination of programs to insure i have what i need including synching programs and IMAGING software.

More details.

patio.  8-) Quote

Through the process of migrating to a new PC, I was hoping to precipitate  a way to do archiving on these CDs so if my new PC goes South, I would be able to reapply that data to yet another PC.
- - -

I have had this P4 for over 2 years now and on the net (broadband)and I have learnt to be a fairly good problem solver. I started having a few problems over XMAS and new years which I was puting down to overrun slow internet. I have also changed my security and thought I may have a virus or something.
Its fair to think my PC was fairly clogged up, or I had suspicions of the harddrive. I backed everything up on a 300G external harddrive. I then removed the internal harddrive and replaced it with a clean 160G harddrive.
Reloaded everything I use. Everything is working and  faster as expected BUT. I have some kind of problem for example:
When scrolling down a file page eg. (documents) there seem to be this kind of delay were it takes the visual items a second to settle. Scrolling down on any internet page is worse. Its has a visual effect like seeing the screen under water when you scroll down and its FRUSTRATING, inconvenient and dissorientating.
My worst problem is: I play guitar, write music and have been recording and succesfully using a program called Cubase. This program is reloaded and working but not properly. In playback I have an allmost 1 second delay from when I push play. You should be able to click anywere on the playing track and it used to be instant! as it should be. With recording you can only tollerate MINUTE delays (latency). As it is now it is useless.
I dont know what the problem is???, maybe hardware?? I've checked everything I can think of and spent much time searching for the problem.
Really hoping someones going to know the ANSWER to this one.
Cheers. Dan.
CuBase is a high maintenence high demand program...have you tried to re-install it with all the latest updates ? ? Quote

CuBase is a high maintenence high demand program...have you tried to re-install it with all the latest updates ? ?

My Sun servers have auto-boot? = on set in their NVRAM, so after a power failure they AUTOMATICALLY reboot.

How do I do the same on the PC?

It makes no difference if the PC runs Windows or Linux, as GRUB can be CONFIGURED to auto boot WHICHEVER one I want, and on a SYSTEM with just Windows it would boot that without GRUB anyway.

The big headache is the PSU. It doesn't turn on the CPU when the mains is connected  

Is there a BIOS setting for auto boot? Or a jumper on the PSU (I haven't seen one)? Or do I have to get out my soldering IRON and re-wire my PSU or on/off switch to make it work  :-?

Hi,

This is a bit complicated, so bear with me.  

We are running XP on an old Dell Dimension 8200.  We have two hard drives.  The first is the original drive the computer came with and this is where we've had XP installed.  Last year we added a secondary HDD (250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM) for data storage and such.  


Recently we bought a new computer, so we decided to put Linux on the old Dell.  I disconnected the secondary drive and we installed Linux on the primary drive.  A couple days LATER I decided to start backing up the data off the secondary drive (mostly photos, movies and music).  I reconnected it but found it wasn't accessible with Linux.  No real surprise there.  This might be where things went wrong.

I decided to put XP back on the Dell so I could backup the secondary drive data and then we'd go back to Linux later.  Disconnected the secondary drive again, installed XP clean, etc.  Hooked drive up again and went to start backing up data.  The files are all there, they are accessible, everything LOOKS fine, but when I try to open files, especially photos, nothing shows up.  Some seem fine--for instance I'll look at a directory full of JPGS and switch the view to thumbnails, and there will be maybe 5 or 6 in a row that are fine, but the rest aren't.  The movies are for the most part completely wrecked, they either won't open, or if they do the data is all scrambled or pieces of other files SHOW instead of what they're supposed to be.  In some cases, entire folders are fine with all the pictures in tact.  The weirdest thing is that it seems all of the music files are fine.  Luckily, I backed up the music libraries just a couple weeks ago, and I've also been fairly regular with backing up my photos.  The movies are no loss really.  The real loss here is several folders of photos which are, obviously, IRREPLACEABLE.  The thing is, the files are THERE and even show file sizes, but as I said, the images won't show up as thumbs or in XP's image VIEWER window.

If I attempt to open the "broken" files with an iMac over the network, it says it can't open the file because it "may be corrupt."  I get no errors when attempting to open the files with XP, it will simply say, "No preview available."   We also have a laptop running XP, but it's not networked at the moment to the Dell, and networking it has been a bit of a headache so far.

I ran a disk check a couple times now.  No errors upon completion, but it did lots of work it seems.  

Anyone have ANY suggestions at all?  If I can't save these apparently RUINED photos I'll be extremely sad, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.  I would like to give it my best shot, however.

By the way, it goes without saying that I never connected/disconnected the secondary drive while the computer was on and/or even plugged in.  Also, I followed all the standard precautions for mucking around inside a computer, so I am as certain as one can ever be that I didn't fry it with static or anything.  

Thank you so much if you can help me!

ok, I just SET up my portable BRIEFCASE computer (well, the main components to make SURE everything works), but when I tried to power it on, it the fans and lights come on for a split second then go off abruptly  ....any help :-?


almost forgot...specs
Mini-ITX WITH embedded processor by Via Technologies
230W Mini-ATX PSU
custom case (its in a tool "breif" case)nevermind...found out that the motherboard was apparently mounted to tight (no IDEA how that affected it, but it did)...farewellGlad we could be of assistance...

patio.  8-)

My computer is a dell dimension 2400. It had a dvd drive with cd burn capability and cd read opion

A few months back my cd drive showed up in my computer as two seperate drives. It was fine for a while. One of the drives never played a thing while the other could play all formats. Now neither work. I invested MONEY in a program that claimed it fixed cd drive issues (THINKING it was drivers or something) and my cd Drive still doesn't work. Can You tell me how I can find out for free whats wrong with my drive or even better how i can FIX it. IS there a way how to know if the laser is broken?

Please any feedback would help.A new DVD BURNER which can do ALL of that and more is about $30-35 delivered from www.newegg.com
I don't know what you paid for that program that didn't work, but....

The best test for a laser is does the drive work or not. Whether the tray opens or not is irrelevant. THe optics usually go long before the mechanical functions.

I would delete the drive in  Device Manager, then reboot the machine. If it doesn't work properly go STRAIGHT for a new drive.

Last night I tried to put in TWO sticks of ram that my buddy gave me. After doing so, I tried to boot up and my monitor light turned green like it should....then turned amber (the color of it when there is no input) I tried taking out the ram and I got the same results. I also tried the monitor on another PC and the monitor is fine. Any HELP would be greatly appreciated. I need this computer for work. My entire life is on it.

Specs:
Power Supply – Antec, SL350, 350 (watts) and, Max 16A Min 0.8A
Motherboard – ASUS, P4P800 not sure the socket type.
CPU – Intel, Pentium 4, 2.8Ghz (I believe)
RAM – 2 Corsair, DDR, 512 Mb.
Video CARD(s) – ATI, Radeon 9800 Pro, AGP, 128 Mb
Hard Drive(s) – Western Digital, IDE, 80 Gb.
Operating System - Windows XPHopefully you just learned the value of frequent backups of vital data.

It would be nice to know the exact motherboard and what you tried to add in. Just because it physically fits is not ENOUGH. Does it not boot with your original RAM? If not remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes, then reinsert it and then restart the machine. What happens now?

Once you get running, you should install Evereest Home, make a report and print it out for the next time something like this happens. You may want to post it here as well.

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

No, it does not boot up with my original ram. How do I go about removing the CMOS battery?http://www.smartcomputing.com/Editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2004/w1510/32w10/32w10.asp

http://www.liverepair.com/encyclopedia/articles/cmosreplace.asp

http://www.pctechbytes.com/cmos.htm

It still would not boot up after I removed the CMOS battery.Try it with only 1 STICK of the old RAM...

First off I wanted to know why my pc was so slow and I wanted to go into safe mode and run AVG but it just froze after trying to start it. Second, I come home and my windows xp would not start up it kept giving me that error message about " We are sorry for the inconvienence........" So... I called Dell and paid for them to "fix it". We WENT into BIOS and Setup alot and the tech finally decided to tell me to Repair my windows . So I followed the tech's instructions by turning off the pc, with the windows cd inside and then hitting f12 then the cd prompt then getting the chkdsk /r which fixed my windows.
Now... it takes forever to load and it SEEMS worse than before and the tech called back to do more "fixing". OK... she took control of my pc and removed all but the vital programs for start up. Then we went into  the Dell diagnostics to check things there.  We restarted my pc and first my desktop wallpaper was gone but that is not a problem but... my CD/DVD RW drive is not recognized.
I have been researching this here and I will check the Control Panel-System-Hardware-Device Manager-(check to reinstall it)
I will also go into BIOS and check to see if it was disabled there.
(I'm at work right now and cannot do this til tonight)
The Tech will not be able to help me again til Sunday due to the holiday.  She wants to Wipe out my HD and restore to factory default..which I do NOT want to do cause I have over 5,000 mp3s that I paid for and I don't know how to burn them once I fix my burner.
She said I could burn them on a DVD. do I need to zip them first or what?
I also dl Adaware and it got rid of 158 entries but AVG found nothing. ewido removed 50 entries.
AND... I cannot get Norton to uninstall!
Any Help appreciated...

OK, a lot of things to take in there.
Quote

AND... I cannot get Norton to uninstall!

I also dl Adaware and it got rid of 158 entries but AVG found nothing. ewido removed 50 entries.

She said I could burn them on a DVD. do I need to zip them first or what?

This may sound crazy but do you think if I uploaded them ( my Mp3s) to a file sharing site temporarily until I could d/l them back onto my pc that would work?

I wish I could just take the whole music folder and make it smaller somehow....

Plus... What's up with my Safe Mode???

MediaFire was DESIGNED to host files to share with others. We do not recommend that you use it to backup unique copies of files that cannot be replaced if they should become inaccessible on MediaFire for any reason.

Actually I said I WANTED to run Avg in safe mode but it (Safe Mode would never load-it froze up) and I had to restart my pc.
 
After all the  "troubleshooting" by Dell my Safe mode is still freezing  

I have window ME and connot seem to GET the MODEM to talk with my comp... I can ping it but nothing else will work ...cant even get the internet light to come on ... my isp is telling me its probably my comp ... MAYBE a driver is corrupt ... I need some help besides just  telling me to OPEN up ie and typing in 192.168.0.1 can anyone help me here   I need internet at HOMEFROM my esteemed mentor

patio.  8-)

I'm looking to purchase a new graphics card, unfortunately I'm not up on the graphics cards scene for gaming. So I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips or buying advice on what I could get for £150 - £200 that would be able to run the latest games, or for another comparison Oblivion on medium.

Thanks in advance.AGP or PCI-E?To clarify CALUM's question, there are two types of graphics card: AGP and PCI-E. Your computer is compatable with only ONE of those types, and buying the wrong type can result in a waste of money. Do you know your current motherboard model? You can use this program: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html to find out. I suggest you create a report and attach it on a message. We are looking for if you have AGP or PCI-E slots. Also, don't confuse PCI-E with PCI.Thank you for clarifying that Neil.
I wasn't in a very talkative mood, so my post was a little . . . brief, lacking in detail, not very clear, and so on.
Anyway, that's pretty much what I would've said if I'd been a little more talkative lol.
Thanks for clearing it up for the OP.Nuts I knew there was something I forgot. It's PCI-E I'm after.That makes it easy then.
Hold on and I'll go and have a look, I'll post some links when I find something.
What card do you have at the minute?
Any preference for ATi or nVidia?
Edit: See what you think of thisNvdia 7600gt and up
or
ATI    X800 and up

Those will play pretty much anything, one thing to note is that you need to make sure you computers power supply is powerful enough to handle a high performance graphics card.Whilst the 7600 and X800 are powerful, they are not the top performing cards, and the X8X0 series don't support newer technologies such as SM3.0, required for Oblivion.Well for less then 200 euro I am sure you could get a Nvidia 7900GS which is a good chunk better then the 7600GT for only a few bucks more.

But my advice is to wait 3 months if you possibly can, ATI is gonna release their new DX10 cards soon, Nvidia is rumored to be working on new ones, and competition may drive down the prices on all the current video cards as well. Quote

Well for less then 200 euro I am sure you could get a Nvidia 7900GS which is a good chunk better then the 7600GT for only a few bucks more.

But my advice is to wait 3 months if you possibly can, ATI is gonna release their new DX10 cards soon, Nvidia is rumored to be working on new ones, and competition may drive down the prices on all the current video cards as well.

Hello I am about to start upgrading my computer and I was wanting some help on what might be the best upgrade for me first?   Please note I use my computer for gaming

Current PC Config

Processor:  Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.60GHz
        RAM:  2.5 GB RAM
    Display:  Radeon X1600 PRO AGP 512 MB VideocardIf you post an Everest report we can see what upgrade paths are available to you.
Also, what sort of budget do you have?
And what games do you play?
One thing I will say is that with an AGP slot your upgrades are limited, a new motherboard may E a good idea.Well you in a bad situation, since your on AGP you'll want to Upgrade your mother board to PCI Express, and this will mean you have to upgrade you GFX card as well

you would be able to keep the CPU but you might find it hard to Get a PCI express Mother board that it fits in.

you should be able to Keep the Ram as long as its DDR

Id say your most likely looking at a new system.

if i were you id try to get a few mor months out of the one you have, i cant imagine that your having any trouble playing games with it at the moment

Oh ok well what is a good type of gaming motherboard..... I am trying to play Flight Sim X but its very low framerate.... So what do you suggestI would have to recommend a nividia Based mother board built on the Nforce 590 SLI chip set (This is because I'm an Nvidia Fanboy)

and then you could pair that with one or if your Crazy 2 Geforce 8***'s

Azus make some very good mother boards , but they come at a price , if you don't have that much Cash MSI make some Very good Cheap Mother boards

Also you might want to consider one of the New Dual Core Chips , they do have an Extra bit of a kick.

Always buy the Best you can afford , but never regret , it will all be worthless in 8 monthsWhat's your budget? Quote

FlightsimX
System Requirements
 
Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 / Vista
PC with 1 GHz equivalent or higher processor
256 MB of system RAM for Windows XP SP2 / 512 MB Vista
14 GB available hard disk space
DVD-ROM drive
32 MB DirectX 9 compatible video card required
Sound card, speakers or headphones required for audio
Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
56.6 Kbps or better modem for online play

My CD-R/DVD drive plays all audio and video, but shows each DISC as empty... "0 items, 0 free space". It will not SHOW any pictures or display anything on a data disc. It won't even read software INSTALLATION discs. I have a new Compaq Presario with WINDOWS XP Professional. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Alright, my right click button on my mouse will work for some things, and not for others. The weird thing is for example im playing a game, I right click on something it works, but I try to right click on something else on that same game and the action doesnt pull through. Same goes with trying to right click on my desktop to pull down my options window. Even trying to right click on an desktop Icon doesnt work.

So you see, right click works some PLACES and not others.

Edit: Sorry its worded so badly

-Eredell
Sometimes the mouse acts up if it is dirty or sticky.  Try cleaning it.  Have you gone into control panel and clicked on mouse.  Make sure it isnt set for left handers.  Make sure it is set properly for right handers and check to see options for left click and right clicks.It did this with my old and new mouse... and I dont think its the dirty part, its clea anyway
As for the options.. I did.. there is nothing in there that really looks like it would FIX it.So just to clarify, you have tried a different mouse and still get this problem?Yeah, same thing with my old mouse.Is it a USB mouse? If so try a different USB port.Didn't work...see, It will work for some things in an application... but not for others in the same application.Try a PS2 mouse or get a USB-->PS2 adaptor.It worked for a while ... then it started having the problem. Shoulda said that earlier, sorry. So would and adapter be necessary?Using a PS2 mouse seems to fix all mouse PROBLEMS.
[edit]Or using a USB mouse plugged into a PS2 port via an adaptor.[/edit]ahh.Would there be an option somewhere to toggle something like this on and off? Because I can't right click on an Icon for more options or anywhere on the desktop for the drop down window. Sorry, but I really dont believe the right mouse button is "broken". It works for about anything else.
All the mouse options are in the control panel under "mouse"

You could explore that but I don't see anything on my computer that could cause what you are getting.On the righthand side of your keyboard next to control, and next to the second Windows key if you have two, is a not very well known button possibly with a MENU list picture on it, which will right click for you. You could USE that as a temp fix.Eh, I dont have a standard Issue Keyboard (Razer Gaming Keyboard) and in replace of that it has the razer menu button. My right click button works ... just not for weird, different, random things. Oh well... Thanks for the replys and support   No biggie I can deal with it.

I've got a self built PC that's been RUNNING smoothly for 6 months,  Early december, after a move, sometimes on power up, and sometimes at random, the computer will emit a low, continuous buzz until it's rebooted.  sometimes this fixes the buzz, sometimes it doesn't.  The buzz seems to correspond to the HEATSINK fan (plugged into the motherboard) not getting power.  Is this something I can fix without an electronics engineering degree?  Is it the start of a bigger problem? And is there a way to disable the buzz?

Motherboard - Gigabyte K8NE
Processor - AMD 3400+
1. Check to see if there is a insect in the fan.
2. Remove the fan, clean it using a mild solvent like rubbing alchohol. Let it dry well, put it back and see. :-?
3. get a new fan.  
I've replaced the fan with an Antech 80mm fan, and disabled the fan failure alarm.  The fan works fine when it's plugged into the power supply, but the 3 pin connector on the motherboard doesn't seem to work, or works intermittently.Sounds like there's a dodgy connection on the motherboard.any reason something like that would work fine for half a year before crapping out?Could have been a power SURGE from your outlet or a failing power supply, could have been static electricity discharge, could have been normal everyday hardware failure, could have been leeking or bad motherboard capicitors.  (Here is a link with lots of pictures showing how capicitors can sometimes go bad and what to look for. http://www.burtonsys.com/bad_BP6/).

Sometimes hardware just fails, and it usually happens without warning.  Which is why many of us try to instill in our clients the need for regular data backups.  Now 6 months is definately a premature failure and you should maybe check your warranty for coverage.You should likely ALSO check all your computer cables, especially the CPU fan one, for frayed wires or scorch marks, and check your motherboard for scorching.If the MBoard is 6 mos. old i would be taking advantage of the warranty just to be on the safe side...

patio.  8-)

O.K wise guys ! Here's the score:
My HDD has gone on strike the 4th time now ! I've reinstalled Windows XP about the sixth time now (actually lost count ). Why ? I don't have the slightest idea ! I just work with Windows and BAMMMM ! Blue screen-->restart-->all fine...hmm... :-?...Next morning I turn on the PC: "beep beep beep" or "boop" or NOTHING !

 Well I check the BIOS: the previous 3 times it was a Seagate ST3200021A (200GB), HDD that magically gained [highlight]2-10 TB of HDD space[/highlight][/b], then losing all data systems leaving me no other option 2 format the HDD (ONCE MORE) and reinstall Windows
This time it's my Maxtor 6L300R0 (300GB). Not magically gaining 2-10 TB..no ! This time it wasn't sumthing magical ! It was mysterious and annoying ! About 3 days ago all of a sudden Windows starts hanging up VERY often, making me restart the computer over and over again (I think the reset button really is abit smoother now).So I let Windows CHKDSK for 12:00 full hours only ending up with another blue screen : "HDD error". I could only get till the Windows selection screen. Nothing worked then, no safe mode, no nothing.

I reinstalled Windows on my "magical" 200GB HDD REFORMATTING ca. 200GB of Stargate videos [smiley=cry.gif] Well now I've got a clean, "bug-free" Windows...yeah right ! [smiley=angry.gif]

Well I started scanning it with Runtime GetDataBack and it didin't find ANY NTFS partitions (I had 4 NTFS partitions). I started scanning with HDDscan. Didn't scan till the end because about 2 min after the start I only had BAD SECTORS and that 4 about 50 min --> I quit.

Does anybody know how regain data on these kind of mysterious HDDs ? If u want more info, tell me what u want ! I'll gratefully send it ! I've heard of MUCH MUCH worse cases, FLOODS,fires, 10 m drops... and nearly all data was regained Now my case would be peanuts compared 2 that.
1.I never dropped my HDD or dropped sumthing on it..well...I dropped a pencil :-/
2.I never kicked my HDD in fustration
3.My last Virus scan (b4 the incedent) was about 2-3 weeks ago
4.I scanned my HDD with CHKDSK.
5.I defraged my HDD also about 3 weeks ago

Summary:
HDD: Maxtor Maxtor 6L300R0 (300GB)
New OS: Windows XP SP1
Old OS: Windows XP SP2

Problem:
after HDDscan (no complete) only BAD SECTORS after 2min or 1024 LBAs
300GB of data lost within 2 hours !
 [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif]

[size=48]!!!!!!!HELP!!!!!!![/size]BIOS problem mabey? and btw, you dont need all of the insane formatting man, plain text is fine... if this has done it with two hard drives then it cant be the hard drives, its probably just your BIOS, try updating itBios update ? again ? WHY THAT [email protected] thing !... O.K I'll try that again. But how do I get all the data back ?that i am not SURE of... i havnt done much with data recovery tools, i think somone on these forums should know... they seem to have answers for almost every thing else...You might try a look around here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+data+recovery

Are these IDE drives you're haing problems with? Is this a legitimate version of Windows? If so, why no SP2 loaded? What are the specifics on the motherboard and any BIOS activities prior to this? Have you deleted ALL partitions before  adjusting them and formatting?Alright I'll try out the tools GX1_Man !
I scanned my Pc with Everest Home Edition, the results r in a txt file in the zip file.that is alot of reading... i think i'll just leave the reading to you GX1u wanted details u got em I didn't get answers to the questions I asked though.   Quote

I didn't get answers to the questions I asked though.  

Are these IDE drives you're haing problems with? Is this a legitimate version of Windows? If so, why no SP2 loaded? What are the specifics on the motherboard and any BIOS activities prior to this? Have you deleted ALL partitions before  adjusting them and formatting?

Here are the specs of my SYSTEM
Also noticed that gpu gets hot,checked the fan its working.
Power suppy Cooler Master 360 watts
Is the power supply to weak for my system?
Processor
3.45 gigahertz AMD Athlon II X2 250
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
Main Circuit Board b
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. Crosshair III FORMULA Rev 1.xx
Serial Number: 104675860000435
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 2003 10/21/2011
Drives
159.46 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
120.91 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203N ATA Device [Optical drive]

IOMEGA ZIP 250 ATA Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
WDC WD1600AABS-61PRA0 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAP9F362882, rev 05.06H05, SMART Status: Healthy
Memory Modules c,d
4096 Megabytes Usable INSTALLED Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' has 2048 MBGPU is not mentioned but off the top of my head i would say the PSU needs upgrading...Use software like HWMonitor http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html to get the temperature of your CPU and GPU at the point that the machine shuts down - this will show if it's shutting down due to overheating.The GPU is Nividia Gforce 9800
Thanks for the replies I`ll report my findings here in a little while
Computer shuts down before stress test is finished.I felt the heat sink its not hot just slightly warm.The GPU how ever is very warm.
I tryed adding a ATI Radeon card 512mb of ram.and I got Port error not accepted or something.
So the fan is working on the GPU what would cause it to get hot
BTW I built this machine last year and havent been using it because of the problems its having.CPU is running at 29* c
Gpu is running 50* c
Mother board is running 50* cThose temps aren't outta range...wrong RAM...both waht you had...and what you added.
What would be wrong with the ram?I mean if it was the wrong ram the machine would`nt boot up and run for as long as it does correct?Not true.Well I have tryed to different speeds of ram in it and the machine still shuts off.So IM inclined to think either hard ware failure or a larger power supply is needed.Just buy a new Power Supply.
You will always find a use for it later.I already have that in my plans along with buying a new mother board,also I changed the ram from Trident to CORSAIR knock on wood computer seems to be staying on.Im not happy that this mother board only supports 8gbs of ram so I would like one that I can use up to 32gbs of ramWell spoke too soon after 45 minutes to an hour it shut down after changing the ram. Computer still has the same problem going to get another power supply when I can.So we`ll put this one on the back burner for now.

Hello, everyone!

I've got a problem with Microsoft Wired Keyboard 200. When I press and hold a key for more than few SECONDS and I release it (like playing computer games), the key physically isn't pressed anymore but system doesn't follow my will. I'm FORCED to press that key once or twice, then I can hear a sound coming from Windows and the key is truly released until next time.

It happens under Windows 8.1 but this keyboard used to work perfectly. I've been using it for two or three years. I don't remember if I SPILLED something on my keyboard lately. I can find neither a driver dedicated to this keyboard nor does Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center detect this device. My keyboard may appear old, I don't mind replacing it if this can solve my issue.

Yours faithfully,
SlawekPLCheck repeat rate settings in Control Panel/Keyboard...Have you checked the Access Center settings?  (Sticky Keys)

One of the keys you are using may be the activation key for something.  You may need to go in and turn off or disable it.Dear patio and Rustys,

I've got repeat rate set at max like I had it in Windows XP before. I didn't see Access Centre in detail but any key on the keyboard I press and hold like that, happens to malfunction. I've also observed I can't write instantly after clicking the box, for example a Facebook chat. System seems to eat up few first letters, then I can see the rest of text there. Always the same quiet and short sound is played by Windows after that happens. Rest of my PC doesn't look laggy, only the keyboard has problems.

Yours sincerely,
SlawekPLDumb stupid question have tryed another key board?Dear xfiles63,

I SEEK software-based nature of the issue, therefore I haven't tried another keyboard. Your opinion motivated me to connect a different keyboard but I have no more time today to see if it helps. Please be patient and look for the results in this topic next 12 hours.

Yours sincerely,
SlawekPLI've tried using another keyboard. The issue with freezing keys and missing letters is gone now. It was true that my Microsoft keyboard was aged, so it couldn't work properly. That Windows sound which I could hear back then was a device disconnect notification, as it turned out. Thanks everybody for help.

Yours sincerely,
SlawekPLGlad I could help,I know that I have had periodic issues with keyboards and mice not working.

After installing Acronis True Image and increasing the size of the secure zone on a 74 GB Raptor I bought new 15 MONTHS ago, I have been unable to load Windows, EVEN in another machine in which ATI was not installed nor will the hard drive format. The progress bar when Windows XP Pro would normally load continues indefinitely.The disk activity light eventually stops flickering. All of the foregoing  occurs with both only one hard drive and the second hard drive connected to the motherboard.

Some specs are A64 3700+, 1GB Ram, ASUS A8N-E MOBO, 500 watt power supply.

I would be happy just to be able to enter Windows Setup and create one new (RAW) partition on this Raptor hard drive that I cannot RMA to Western Digital because I no longer have the purchase invoice.

Please, any help is much appreciated.














You can download the geniune WD Data Lifeguard tools here (so you can thoroughly test your hard drive):

http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2

Select the one for your drive, you can make a boot floppy or a bootable CD.

All the instructions will appear when you select the version you want to use.I have also always found WD to be one of the best at returns on problem HDD's with or without documentation...
Start a dialog with them you might be pleasantly surprised.

patio.  8-)Official Acronis Forum

Hello hopefully this is posted in the proper place. I have an asus g73j running windows 10 64. Was using windows 7 upgraded to 10 shortly after the machine wont boot.  Startup reapir cant fix the problem. Ive tried running the rebuildbcd command it comes back and finds no windows installations.  I tried renaming the bcd but to no avail.  Any other SUGGESTIONS?  Your help would be very very appreciated!You should have posted in the Windows forum.

It seems that the on-line Windows 10 update sometimes fails.
The recovery procedure WORKS well if the install was mostly good. Otherwise, it fails.

In the documentation you were told to have a backup METHOD in place.
Also, you had to option of making an image of Windows 7 before you did the install.
Do you have the original Windows 7 install media? If so, you can start over again. You install Windows 7 again and then upgrade to Windfows10.

OR

Here is an alternative procedure I have used.
Install Windows 10 from the ISO file from Microsoft. To activate Windows 10 it will ask for the Windows 7 install media.

Here is reference that may help:
http://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/
The site has links to the Windows 10 ISO. But they are not working now. So try:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
That should be what you need.

Hey thanks so much for the reply!  I did decide to reinstall windows 7. During the reinstall the machine restarted and began to run chkdsk and it looks like its finding hundreds of disk errors.  Deleting corrupt attribute record so on and so on.  Is this machine done for? HahaYou need to check:
A. Power supply voltages
B. All connections
C. Fans, are the running?
D. RAM chips
E. Graphics card overheating.

Of course, the most likely things a hard drive at the end of its life.
EVEN having said that, there is even the chance your have a capacitor or two that has blown. It still does happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvlNKZ8GzEg
You LOOK at the capacitor. The one that looks bad is bad. 
Is the machine done for because there are hd errors? No - but you may need to replace the hd.Awesome ill give those things a try thanks!

Yesterday I attempted to build a £600 PC at home with parts I bought from Amazon. Here are the specs:
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SSC 4GB
CPU - Intel Core i5 processor (previous model)
PSU - EVGA 600W
Cooler - CoolerMaster Hyper 212X
Mobo - ASRock micro ATX, LGA1150 Socket, Intel B85 Express
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2*4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz

Now, when I plug everything in and POWER it up, everything seems to work perfectly except my monitor gets no signal. The mouse and keyboard do though.
I've spent hours reseating RAM sticks, resetting the CMOS battery, pretty much any solution I could find on the web. Out of the many times that I tried powering it up to test if it was working, it worked 3 times. Each of the times that the monitor received a signal was when my GPU was SEATED in the motherboard but not plugged into the power supply. With the exact same configuration that made it work, I shutdown and turn it on again to see no signal.
The conclusion I found was it only seemed to work on the first time after reseating and replugging everything in and while the GPU was unplugged from the PSU.
On the third time the monitor received signal, I took the opportunity to install windows, which in the process, made the system restart many multiple times with no problem at all. When I arrive at my desktop, I restart the PC manually, and it's fine. However, when I manually shutdown the PC, the monitor receives no signal once again when turning it back on.

I can't rule out that the problem is with the PSU being plugged into the GPU, because it doesn't work even when it isn't, only after reseating everything.
One thing I can kinda rule out is that it NEVER worked while the PSU was plugged into the GPU. It seems that all the other components are fine, just something between the graphics card and the power supply causes the problem.

Sorry for the long post but I had to COVER everything.Your motherboard has a VGA built-in.
Have you fully tested the system with the VGA only and not the GPU?
Some GPU cards require c a very specific install procedure. Did you use the method recommended for the EVGA GeForce GTX 960 ?

Is your card in this list?
http://www.evga.com/support/manuals/
If so, please indicate which manual applies. I want to see what special instructions the maker has given.

Hello,
I have an old HP 4100n PRINTER with no usb port how can i connect and use this printer with my laptop using newtork cable directly please step by step PROCEDURE Looking at the manual it SHOWS that you have a jet direct card in the printer.
http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-bpl10335-1.pdf

This is a network card. It should be able to be setup with an IP and connected to a switch. You can than connect your laptop to the switch and set it to print to the IP of the printer.

I have figured out to INSTALL printer thanks for help whatni did i have router laptop and printer and corss cable i set ip GATEWAY and dns address and then from laptop i added printer using tcp/ip procedure and then i was able to print thanks i took three prints and it was working fine Glad it worked out for you.

No Joke! 
This issue is more about hardware, but it is related also to software. In a few words, my HP printer prevents my computer from booting from a USB drive. The practical solution is just to unplug the printer until the boot process is finished. In my BIOS there is no provision to SELECT which USB port is to be the boot device. For some reason that I don't understand, it wants to select my HP printer, even when I do not have a USB card plugged into the printer.
So what I do is just remember to unplug the printer whenever I want to boot from the USB drive. This post just to let other people know that this could be a potential problem if they have a setup similar to mine. I am using an HP 6810 all-in-one printer. A workaround would be to set it up as a wireless printer, but I prefer to be set up as a USB printer.
Perhaps this could be some help to others. Oh, I forgot to mention. I have had this problem for some time but I just forgot all about it. Now that I am starting to have total recall, I remember that one time I booted up my computer within the USB drive plugged into the printer. That seems to be so off-the-wall.   
I ran into this problem with a USB Video Capture device. My solution that worked was that the USB hub that I placed in between the device and computer added a non-boot detect barrier. You would think that the hub would be completely passive, but the computer detects the hub vs the device that is plugged into the hub,  and the hub chipset doesnt have an instruction that initializes giving a false positive as a bootable device.

So I was then able to keep the video capture device plugged in all the time so that I didnt have to remember to unplug it when done before shutdown so that the next time I booted the computer it wouldnt get hung up past the Biostar splash screen of the computer and sit at a blinking cursor FOREVER.

If you want to keep it plugged in all the time without having to unplug it and still have BIOS always set up to support of a bootable USB stick, a USB HUB might be your solution the same way that mine is. I am using a Belkin USB HUB USB 2.0 but any USB HUB "should" act as a boot barrier for devices connected to the USB HUB. * My USB HUB is an older 7 year old hub and I am not sure if newer ones would initialize at boot and pass devices that are bootable on it to the computer. To me it wouldnt make sense to allow for this pass through because say you have 2 USB sticks connected to it and both are bootable, it would come down to WHICHEVER port interrupt is the first for the USB HUB or USB stick first handshaked with the HUB chipset. So newer hubs if you get a newer one should still work as a barrier, but there is that slight chance that some manufacturers HUB would pass through saying that a bootable device is connected to it. Im not familiar with the low level protocol that is used at boot to find more info on this to search for a hub that doesnt support the USB low level communication protocol. If you happen to have a USB hub on hand though its worth a free TRY at a solution, OTHERWISE USB 2.0 hubs are cheap and it might be worth the $10 or $15 etc at a gamble to fix this with the HUB method.Unplug the printer...

Hello, I am new to the site and I am looking for assistance on upgrading my PC.

I know little on the actual mechanics involved when making decisions on what to or not to upgrade.

I wanted to COME here and see if someone could help me decide what is needed for me to get my computer up to where I want it to be.

Of course with least amount of money needing to be spent!

I want to buy the new GTX 1070 but, I am not sure if I can get away with just buying that and not upgrading the rest of my rig.

My VIDEO card went out that I originally had so now I have a REPLACEMENT in there for the time being.

Parts go as listed:

*CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 3.30 GHz
         Max TDP: 65.0 W
         Technology: 32 nm
         Core Voltage: 0.960 V

*Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd.
                       Model: B75M-D3H

*Memory: DDR3 (4 GBytes [I will be upgrading to 8 if not 16])

Please let me know any information you may need or anything I could do to help out!

Thank you,
                  MulshineYour Video Card upgrade depends on if it will fit the internal dimensions of your case, if you have a power supply that supports the power demands of the video card and has the proper 12V molex connections.

What games will you be running? so we get the whole picture of what you need for processing CPU/GPU power and RAM. The Core i3 might be plenty or a bottleneck depending on what your planning on running. A Core i5 would be a better start for a gaming rig with a powerful GPU, however the i3 might be enough depending on what game you plan to run.

If this is a off the shelf computer such as a DELL, HP, etc please supply the Make/Model# ... if this is a CUSTOM built computer please provide all specs including internal case dimensions or case make/model used to look up dimensions as well as power supply make/model which will show if its a good QUALITY trusted power supply or one that should be swapped out as well as if its heavy enough to carry the load.

You mention you have a replacement video card in there now... what are you running as your replacement temporary solution?

You also want to get by as cheap as possible... what is your budget?

I cleaned my CPU YESTERDAY and I REMOVED the harddrive to clean it properly and then I MADE the connection again , but from that TIME as I start my computer , I got a window about "CPU fan detect fail
" "F1 for set up "
"F2 for boot "
plz help me to solve this problem.Did you open and disconnect any components inside your laptop? If so, I suggest you reopen your laptop, carefully, and make sure that your fan is connected properly ALONG with everything els .

As the subject line (plea for help) says, my brand new Corsair RM550x power supply will not boot when there are any peripherals CONNECTED to it. Not even just one! I've tried connecting the peripherals one at a time, but even one, no matter which one, cause the power up to fail. No blue light, no fans, nothing. However, when it is connected only to the ATX and CPU on the motherboard, I get a blue power light and the fans all start spinning.

This is for an HTPC, so I can't imagine 550W is not enough for three hard drives, a blu-ray player, and a sata controller.

I am wondering, could this be a motherboard issue? Would the computer power up at all if the motherboard were damaged? The reason I ask is because I am replacing a PSU that died a few days ago. I heard a loud POP, and the whole unit shut down. I did the paper clip test on the PSU and yep, it was dead, I then tried a EVGA SuperNOVA 750 B1 80+ BRONZE PSU, but it died as soon as I powered it up (all peripherals connected), with a wisp of smoke drifting out of the PSU itself. Thining and hoping I just got a faulty PSU, I purchased the Corsair. So, this is my third PSU. It has not blown up, but it will only power up when there are no peripherals connected.

I have looked at both sides of the motherboard and it looks fine. No black marks or melted solder anywhere that could be causing a short, as FAR as I can tell anyway.

I'm at my wit's end and could sure use some expert advice.

Thank you!
Quick answer.
This is not a full answer to your question. Judging by your post, you seem to be a novice when it comes to computer building and repair techniques.
Some of the techniques often used in testing are not really comprehensive. It is not always a series of logical steps that leads to only one conclusion.
To put it another way, there are number of things that can cause a power supply to sail or not first bonds correctly. You say that you have tried three power supplies. This would strongly suggest that the problem never was the power supply to begin with. But that is not certain, it is possible to buy a brand-new power supply that fails. But it is rather unlikely.
As a general rule, for a do-it-yourself builder extra parts and suitable testing techniques are required.
In your case you need to seriously consider the failure of the motherboard. In many tutorials people will teach about how to spot physical problems on the motherboard, and that sometimes works.
This is not to brag about myself, that is not the object here. For a long time I have been a super technician and it worked on a variety of different electronic devices including personal computers. In other words, I really am a Geek.
Lacking extensive laboratory equipment, the most practical thing to do is have on hand an extra motherboard that is known to be reliable. That is the EEC way to test the functionality of the power supply. A basic motherboard seldom draws much more than 100 W of power. That is why some systems have very small power supplies. The extra power is needed to supply power to hard drives, USB devices and a large memory array. In fact, in some cases, the memory array may take as much power as the CPU does.
Faders in motherboards are not always visible. And some types of said years are not really catastrophic failures. The CPU itself is designed to protect itself from unusual conditions, especially thermal runaway. Also, if some components draw more current than they should, the power supply also has a built-in system of protecting itself from that either thermal runaway or current overrun. This is actually a feature of the power supply, not a defect.
Also, power supplies are not supposed to work with just peripherals attached. From your post it seems like you are trying to hook up the print feels directly to the power supply without the motherboard. It doesn't work that way. The power supply has to get a signal from the motherboard that it's okay to turn the power on. The paper clip trick is used by some technicians to see if the power supply will respond to the signal from the motherboard. Even so, the BEST tested to use a motherboard that has proven to be reliable. If a reliable motherboard cannot bring up the power supply, it strongly indicates the power supply is not working correctly. In any case, trying to test a power supply was only print feels such as hard drives, DVD drives and things like that is not the appropriate test method.
In my OPINION, you need to get another motherboard just to make sure that it is a motherboard issue. Home repairs of motherboards has limited success. From my own experience I would say the possibility of repairing a motherboard at home is less than 15% of all possible cases. And even that might be a rather optimistic statement.
Unless there is more details that you have not provided, that is the best that I can do for you right now. but before you go out and buy a new motherboard, wait and see if another member say after you provide some more details about what you are doing.

Hey guys, what's up? So whether it's Windows 7 or Windows 10, my PC will just lock up for about 5-7 minutes, then be PERFECTLY normal again. The apps hang, but I can move my mouse. I've formatted and reinstalled a couple times, but sooner or later it starts happening again. Also, this happens whether Windows is installed on SSD or SATA......sounds like hardware or drivers.

Event viewer is showing a Service Control MANAGER:
The Microsoft Passport Container service terminated with the following error:
General access denied error
-------------
and

storahci
Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort1, was issued.

I've been dealing with this for about a year now.

I've attached my DxDiag

Any advice would be appreciated.

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space] Quote

Hey guys, what's up? So whether it's Windows 7 or Windows 10, my PC will just lock up for about 5-7 minutes,

Thanks for the reply. I don't have another PSU, but it could be  from lack of power. I'll check it out.

Windows 10
Processor:AMD Athlon II X2 270 Processor 3.40 GHz
Installed memory(RAM) 4.00 GB DDR3
System type: 64-bit Operating system, x64-based processor
GPU: GeForce 9800 GTX+
HARD drive space: 500 GB

I am currently having issues running GAMES and i am not sure what the cause is. When i load the games it will start to stutter and lag, making it literally unplayable. I thought the issue may be graphics related, so i went and bought the GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card, but to no avail. I no longer believe it is graphics related at this point, because even lowering all setting on the game to the lowest does not improve how it handles.

Hopefully someone will know more about fixing this issue than me.What sort of games are you trying to play?  The 9800 GTX+ is an 8 year old card, not really up to the job of running modern games.Games similar to Space Engineers, or Fallout. I do not really want to play that many, nor do they have to be played on the best settings. Given the way it acts, it doesnt SEEM like a graphics issue though. it seems to be more of a processing issue. but im not 100% sure. Everything in the computer slows down and begins to lag. The game itself is literally unplayable (Space Engineers) BASICALLY not even moving once it gets passed the loading screen.If you bring up task manager and it shows the core activity graph. Start the game and run it and then hit the windows key and exit the game and look at the graph when the game lags out bad. Look at the graph track record of core activity. If its 90% or greater average for both cores, then the CPU is pretty busy for the game.

I have retired my dual-core systems for gaming. And the slowest older gaming system I run anymore is a Athlon II x4 620 2.6Ghz. I had a Athlon II x2 215 2.7Ghz and its of the same Regor core design and its weak and games are lagged. The Regor core CPU FELT crippled. I got the CPU for free from a guy at work who bought a Phenom II x3 720 2.8Ghz CPU off ebay to replace it in his HP Desktop because he was feeling lagged. The Phenom II x3 is far better, but I told him why didnt he just go with a Phenom II x4 quadcore instead, but he was looking to save some money and get a low cost upgrade so the triple core is better and Phenom has the extra cache and he is happy with it.

The 9800GTX is an older video card as you already heard. But with Windows 10 I would make sure your running nvidia drivers and not the generic microsoft video drivers with it or else you will have a crippled 9800GTX.

If your interested in stretching life of this computer and want some more performance from it, I'd suggest as Athlon II or a Phenom II Quadcore for it. Ebay is a good source for used processors. Athlon is the cheaper CPU and Phenom you pay a premium for the extra L3 cache etc.

Other factors to consider with a lagging computer is hard drive health. I'd scan the drive with crystaldiskinfo and make sure its healthy. Additionally if your hard drive is filled up and very little free space it will cause degraded performance.

Also check the temp of the CPU and GPU by use of speedfan to make sure the CPU or GPU are not cooking to death.It would appear it is not the processor that is the issue, while one is running around 90% the other core isnt excessively high. And this computer was given to me, im more or less just trying to get it working better than how it was given to me and be able to play games, and by far it is running better. I myself would like to have a quad core, and i agree that would probably improve performance.

I have also checked and manually installed all drivers for the GPU, each one is running the correct version. I appreciate your input and i have found it pretty helpful. You have given me a couple idea, and im going to try and tinker with it.

I have checked the hard drive and it is almost completely empty, save for a few game files and system files. otherwise no other personal affects are on  it and nothing is corrupt. I will be putting in another 4 GB of RAM, and also putting in another 500 GB hard drive as slave. I am thinking of changing the processor out as well. Thank you.

Hi everyone.

I have a problem with my USB DEVICES. When they're pluged in when my PC is swiched on the PC freezes during the XP loadup screen.

I only have a wireless adaptor, IPOD & joypad which I use for my USB ports for. I always remove my gamepad & iPod before swiching my machine off but the wireless adaptor stays in.

However just recently my PC has STARTED freezing on loadup. I remove the USB device & restart then the PC runs fine. When I plug in the adaptor then all's well again (altough when this FIRST started happening the PC would freeze when any USB device was attached, this has since stopped happening). This problem occurs in all of the ports.

I have RAN the standard anti-virus checks.

Any suggestions?

Dear users
Can any one tell me the walkthrough of the keys how should i attach images in this fourm in my topic
ThankxThere are TWO ways of inserting an image into a FORUM post.  When you are COMPOSING a message, you will see a box below the message composition panel; that box is LABELED Attach and, to the right of the box is a button labeled Browse.  If you click on that button, you can browse to a image on your hard drive and attach it.  

The other way is to upload your image to a website such as Photobucket.com or http://www.imageshack.us/.  I use Photobucket.com.  It requires creating an account but it costs nothing to use their basic service and it's also a nice photo SHARING site.  Images can be uploaded to ImageShack without even creating an account.  These sites generate the code you need to make your image appear in the forum.

My router with my cloud drive crashed and died. Now I can't access the files on the hard drive. I put the drive into a HD holder. My PC sees it but only when I look in the computer manager. Only options I have is to delete and I don't want to do that😑  The drive and its contents are fine I just can't get it to read due to the file system it's on. Boot your computer up with a Linux distro like ubunto or mint and see if you can see the files then. Lots of NAS and other network attached storage devices use a Linux based file system. Windows wont see it. You can burn a DVD for the installation disc for the latest distro. Boot the system off of that DVD and instead of installing Linux, just use the LIVE linux environment that it provides. It should show you all drives connected mounted to the system including the drive that your trying to get data from. If you see the data then. Then you will want to insert a USB thumb drive that is equal to or greater than in size to the data to be copied off the drive that is formatted FAT32 or NTFS. And copy the data from the cloud drive to the USB Thumb drive. When copy is complete. shutdown computer. Remove the DVD. Boot the computer normal and your USB stick has all your data in EITHER FAT32 or NTFS file system which Windows can read.

I had a Buffalo NAS that died and this is the method I used to get the data off of it, and migrate the data back to the land of Windows.

The worst thing anyone could do is when windows detects the drive is format or create a new partition. If you accidentally did this then your issue has gotten far worse.Hi

I would try the recovery software , reclaim me from here http://www.reclaime.com/

That will recover data from from most drive formats it is free to try but you will need to buy a copy to recover your files.Thanks for sharing that Lisa. I was only aware of GetDataBack which only supports FAT32 and NTFS. Like reclaim you also need to spend the money to get the data off the drive is you use the software. Havent tested out reclaim yet, but assuming they will give you a teaser in the trial of it to show you we found your data with actual files you can pinpoint as being your files, but no ability to copy them to a safe LOCATION until you buy and register.  Or rather than paying for something there's TestDisk for recovering partition tables http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk and PhotoRec for recovering files http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec.  They are free, open source, CROSS platform and work extremely well WHENEVER I've needed them.  All you don't get is a pretty graphical interface although the text interface is certainly useable.

As of Tuesday, December 5th, 2007 at 17:18 my ASUS Motherboard was pronounced dead. She was survived by a graphics card.. and a case.

Basically, I'm buying a new motherboard / processor. I was informed that a good route to go would be a Duo 2 Core Processor by Intel. I'm going to try and remain with Intel, as I have always done.

However, I'm very, unknowledgeable, when coming to hardware. I'm not sure exactly what I need to get. It seems I have a "P4 3.4GHZ (800FSB) 1MB" Processor and a Asus P4P800-E Deluxe I865PE MB Motherboard. Looking at www.newegg.com I found two items I was considering purchasing, however I'm not sure if its necessary, or if it is even a upgrade. The sole purpose of my computer is gaming, and I LOVE graphics/performance. My gaming consists of MMORPGS (World of Warcraft) so I need good performance to compete.

Here are the two hardware pieces:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115003

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128012

Thanks!!Your budget is an important thing to know. Some things can be salvaged off the old carcass, but some things will need to be bought anew if you go with state of the art equipment. If you have a P4 processor and plan to use it, then your are pobably looking at an AGP slot based motherboard,which are a lot less common these days as PCIe is the new standard.

So let us know what all you are planning to re-use and we can advise further.

Track has also been summoned to assist with gaming suggestions, as that seems to be your main focus.Thanks for you reply!

I had gone to Circuit City at the Firedog desk and they had informed me that my motherboard was shot, and my processor could not be reused.  They said that my Videocard was still good, however.

My budget is about $600, but lower would be good, as always :-).  I really want to have the best performance I can, I'm an avid video gamer and on top of that I really enjoy making machinema (movies using video-games) so good video quality AND recording that quality is a preference of mine.  However this movie making obviously is not bringing me any money so I'm not going to invest in it too much.  

Here's the jist of my post:

My processor and motherboard seem to be shot
My video card is OKAY
My budget is about $600 for a motherboard and CPU
(Will pay more obviously for more pieces)
Are my options an upgrade? I tried researching on PCWorld.com
I took some software classes through highschool, and I took apart and put together a computer, but thats all I know.  Thats why I'm in this forum to try and learn from my problems, and other people's problems as well :-)

EDIT:  Who is Track?  I don't know a whole lot about the new Intel Duo2 processor, but from looking at the spec's on the MB that you are considering it does say that it takes DDR2 Memory(240 pin). From what I found out about your old mb, it used a P4 processor(478 pin) and DDR Memory(184 pin). You would have to buy new memory also. Also check to SEE what form your old MB is.ATX or minATX?
Will the new MB fit in your case?
If you're interested in selling your old processor and memory,I would be interested in it.
Hope the information helps.  Alright, seems pretty simple..

Your motherboard died, and allegedly took ur Pentium 4 with it. Now u must buy a new motherboard.

This means that u have 2 choices - Buy the same exact motherboad u lost (if ur P4 is alright) or buy a new 775 motherboard.

Comparison beetween ur old P4P800-E Deluxe and a 775 motherboard:

P4P800-E Deluxe
- CPU socket 478
- DDR RAM
- AGP x8

775 motherboard
- CPU socket 775
- DDR2 RAM
- PCI-Express x16

So this means that u will have to buy a new CPU, a new graphics card and new RAM, along with the new 775 motherboard. There is an option to buy a 775 motherboard with AGP, but thats a bad idea - only stick with AGP as long as u stick with a P4.

What to buy:
- DFI Infinity motherboard - [highlight]160$[/highlight]. This motherboard is an amazing thing. Why? Ill tell u why! It has the exact same features as the X975XBX2 (the most expensive motherboard on earth) and costs only half of it's price. It has 2 PCIe slots (for extreme gaming now and for the future), 1066Mhz Core 2 Duo support, DDR2-800 support, etc. It is what i will buy very soon aswell. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136168

EDIT: After researching high-end motherboards all day, i find that the DFI INFINITY has an issue where it can only overclock the FSB to 333Mhz, unless u try their new Beta Driver. Only thing that is LEFT is the Asus P5W DH Deluxe, or the Intel X975XBX..

-E6600/E6400 CPU - [highlight]225/300$[/highlight]. It would be difficult to truly express how amazing the brand new Core 2 Duo line of Dual-Core CPUs from Intel is. They are far superior (mostly in gaming) to AMD's competitors, the Athlon 64 X2 series of Dual-Core CPUs, and they cost MUCH less.
For instence, in order to get the same performance as an Intel E6400 (2.1Ghz) wich costs 225$, from an AMD CPU, u would have to buy the FX-62 (2.8Ghz), wich costs 900$.
Not to mention that the Core 2 Duos can overclock like *censored*. What does this mean? Well, imagine u have an E6400 wich u bought for 225$. Now u can take that same CPU and overclock it to 2.9Ghz or above, and have the most powerfull CPU on earth - the X6800.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Category=34&N=2000340343+1051707842+1050722265&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=343
- 1GB Corsair DDR2-677 RAM - [highlight]100$[/highlight]. You will need at least DDR2-667 for overclocking, u can get DDR2-800 for abt 15$ more, but that could be too high for the E6400. You could also buy 2GB, wich u would need for gaming, but u can do that later.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146580
-X1950XT/8800GTS - [highlight]250$/450$[/highlight]. The X1950XT is the most powerfull card on earth, and it costs only 250$. The 8800GTS is a DX10 card, and u may want it for Windows Vista. You could buy an X1950XT now and another X1950XT in a few months and put them both to work together in Corssfire, or u could buy an 8800GTS from eVGA for 450$, trade it in when the 8900GTX comes out, and another 8900GTX a while after that.

The above is the bare minimum for a budget high-end gaming machine, with the performance of the highest machine possible today. Price/Performance wise, its perfect.
Without the graphics card, the system is under 550$, but you're going to need a graphics card.

You could choose to wait, and not buy a WHOLE new PC right now, but u might aswell buy it now.
Surely u can sell some of ur current hardware. Make SURE that the P4 dosent work.

Enjoy!Thanks a ton, Track :exclamation I will definately look into what you've told me.  I really appreciate you taking the time to write this out.

Is there a way to test my P4 without putting it into another computer?  

Also, you really impressed me by saying you researched high-end motherboards, thanks again.  Since the beta driver is the only thing I can use, wouldn't it be worth getting the motherboard and waiting for the beta to go, official or however its termed?  

Another question, I'm trying to learn as much as I can... what is the difference between DDR ram and DDR2 Ram?  Is it just performance? Comparing a v6 engine to a v8?  

Thanks again for your time and effort.

EDIT: While looking for a  X1950XT  I found several results searching for it.  I believe this is what you are speaking of?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067
 [smiley=dankk2.gif]There are some smaller PC repair shops that will bench test a CPU for a small fee...check in your area and don't waste time on the big houses they couldn't be bothered.

I usually make a very small nick on the face of it to make sure i get the tested one back.

These small shops can be a great place to do business as after getting a relationship going and making a few purchases that they will bargain for; you become a regular and they will usually get real close in price to the mass retailers.

It's worth the extra few bucks the first few times.

As a matter of fact if more people shopped this way more of them would be in business...I'm going to need one of them nifty anti-static bags for when I take my CPU, correct?  I'm not gunna toss it into my pocket.

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Also, you really impressed me by saying you researched high-end motherboards, thanks again.  Since the beta driver is the only thing I can use, wouldn't it be worth getting the motherboard and waiting for the beta to go, official or however its termed?  

Another question, I'm trying to learn as much as I can... what is the difference between DDR ram and DDR2 Ram?  Is it just performance? Comparing a v6 engine to a v8?  

EDIT: While looking for a  X1950XT  I found several results searching for it.  I believe this is what you are speaking of?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067
 [smiley=dankk2.gif]

I'm going to need one of them nifty anti-static bags for when I take my CPU, correct?  I'm not gunna toss it into my pocket.

Track, and GXI_Man, janmcl, patio thanks a ton for your help!!

I will work on this for awhile and give you an update on how things are going!

Thanks Again

Help!!!  My VGN-FZ21Z doesn't start up after thermal event (guessing).. When I press the power button nothing happens (even the power led isn't activating)..  I hope and think that it is not a broken mobo (I had an Acer laptop that had a broken motherboard but the backlogjt and the fan did work on that one).. Please respond soon!! If you have a multimeter, Id check to make sure the laptop power SUPPLY is putting out power. If the power supply has power at the jack then REMOVE the laptop battery and try to power it with wall power and no battery installed. If it still DOESNT work then its either a damaged power jack or main board is dead. *Voltage output measured at power supply should be CLOSE to that of which its rated for such as a 19VDC power supply at 18.5VDC etc. If its only 6 volts output then its too low to charge and power it for example.

This laptop is a core 2 duo and isnt worth investing MUCH money into it beyond a power supply replacement if the power supply is bad or battery of battery is bricking the laptops ability to boot. A main boards cost would likely be upwards of $50 if you do it yourself. A computer shop + parts if a main board you would be paying the cost of a cheap low end laptop new to fix this old one.Why are you assuming it was a thermal event ? ?