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4501.

Solve : Is optical mouse bad for the eyes??

Answer»

I just purchased a Labtec optical mouse. However, my kids sometime turn it over and stare at the light for a few seconds, before I catch them!

Is this a true laser light that can destroy eyes, or just an L.E.D.? I am hoping someone here WOULD have the answer.When in doubt protect your kids. Strong bright BEAMS of light might be harmful too.

If in doubt, throw it out!   Quote

I just purchased a Labtec optical mouse. However, my kids sometime turn it over and stare at the light for a few seconds, before I catch them!

Is this a true laser light that can destroy eyes, or just an L.E.D.? I am hoping someone here would have the answer.


Any laser light MUST be marked as such with the appropriate warnings.  In this case it's only an LED.
Still not good for the eyes however... I mean, the sun isn't a laser, but you can't look at that lol  Just be careful  

[glb]Flame[/glb]Thanks for all your enlightening and most helpful replies. I really appreciate them all.

Glad to know it is not a true laser. Nevertheless, I will make sure they don't play with it.
Good plan. I liked Flame's sun reference very well.Thanks! lol  

[glb]Flame[/glb]No.

HOW AN OPTICAL MOUSE WORKS Quote
No.

HOW AN OPTICAL MOUSE WORKS


hehehe...one of the FIRST places I went to, but there is nothing there about possible a threat to the eyes.I was wearing welders goggles at the time.

Now that IS bad for the eyes and if you ever get arc-eye you'll know why.Ouch! It doesn't take much of a crack in the goggles, does it?
4502.

Solve : My Computer is again not working!?

Answer»  Hello,
There has been a lot of problems occurring in my pc.
1) I was checking MS-DOS, and i typed- E:\>debug e:
After rebooting, i saw my CD-ROM d drive icon in windows has vanished. Through MS-DOS, CD-ROM is accessible, but in windows and in my existing OS windowsME there is no option in 'control panel' about how to restore CD-ROM again.
2) Somehow or the other, my pc system has become BONKERS. In the device manager its showing 'exclamation marks' at the the generic ide disk drives chip, showing that the pc and disk drives(c and d both ) are running under MS-DOS mode.
3) I am thinking of BUYING a new hard-drive in the future as the d-partition is showing a lot of bad sectors while scandisk surface is being used and ALSO even scandisk is not working.
My question is- do all the harddisk rectagular case of compaq laptop come with same/similar shape and size,i.e. length,breadth and width wise. For eg. if i bought a harddisk of presario, will that be a universal harddisk so as to fit into any compaq laptop.

4) I can't access wordpad, i have even installed and UNINSTALLED "Accessories" through windowssetup. But no sign of wordpad. Can the above mentioned problems...1,2 and 4 can be corrected if i uninstall windowsME and again install windowsME. Will the setup correct and gather all the hardware configuration as before and restore my pc to normal use?.

Any solutions.

-------------
phantom              
I can't imagine what problems would come along that would require that kind of a response:

<< I was checking MS-DOS, and i typed- E:\>debug e:


Start by formatting and reinstalling Windows. Then reload your drivers. You may not have to throw the machine away. Perhaps that will FIX it there. But you really shouldn't type that again EVER!
4503.

Solve : Compaq Presario Help...?

Answer»

I have an older Compaq Presario 7478 that was GIVEN to me by my mother.It's been through *censored*.I'd LIKE to do a complete system restore on it but she no LONGER has the original discs and tracking down alternates been a dead end so far.

My question is,COULD I wipe the ENTIRE harddrive and just install Windows 98,the original operating system or do I need the original Compaq discs?

I just want this computer for internet access,pics,and vids.Thanks for any help.
Download these drivers first and have them handy, then install Win98.

4504.

Solve : overheating issues?

Answer»

ok so where do i start im runnin a..

P4 2.6Ghz
1Gig PC2700
120 Seagate HD
SoundBlaster Audigy 2
ASRock Mobo (p4s61)

anyway..i've been lookin to upgrade my heatsink and fan..so i go and buy a fan (p4)socket 478 supports up to a 2.8 Ghz or w/e..hook it up and it totally jacked up the temp..it went from runnin 130 to runnin 194 and shuttin down..so i go and buy another fan ..same deal but supports up to 3.2 Ghz..i FIGURE ..this is the one ..w00t no more overheaing..*slap* i was wrong..did the same thing ..heat started climbing drastically..yes i did use THERMAL gel on both fans..here is a pic of em...the one of the left is the 3.2Ghz
                       
                                                     ThnxDon't want to insult your intelligence but have you checked in the BIOS - Hardware Monitor that the fan is actually running?

There are 2 pins on the motherboard to plug fans into - the cpu and the system fan. Maybe try the other one.
Also how powerful is you PSU?lol np..stupid..yea a lil..that stupid ..no   i made sure the fans were runnin in the BIOS and SEEN them with my own eyes..but you see the problem...was a faulty fan..w00t thanks intel..all fixed now...runnin a cool 91 Degress Farenheit...which i hear is not bad for a P4  

P.S not to mention overclocked from 2.6 to 3.07  Lost:

A few suggestions:

Keep all furniture, books, etc. away from the vents so air may move freely into and out of the computer case.

Do not put your monitor and other objects on top of the case.

Use a couple of cans of compressed air to blow all the dust out of the inside and clear the cooling vents and power supply of dust.

Consider purchasing a larger case that has more ROOM for air to move and cool the system.

Add fans to the case itself (make sure they blow air out, so the air flows in from the power supply in the back and out through the fans you add to the front of the inside of the case).

Look in to purchasing and installing a power supply that can handle higher wattage than your current one.  All that high-tech hardware may be taxing the power supply beyond it's limits, causing it to overheat and raise the temperature inside the computer.  

Keep cool!  
Doc

  Quote

lol np..stupid..yea a lil..that stupid ..no   i made sure the fans were runnin in the BIOS and seen them with my own eyes..but you see the problem...was a faulty fan..w00t thanks intel..all fixed now...runnin a cool 91 Degress Farenheit...which i hear is not bad for a P4  

P.S not to mention overclocked from 2.6 to 3.07  



Overclocking is a heat generator and a component killer potentially. Be careful unless you have enough pocket CHANGE to buy more parts!
4505.

Solve : Spy?

Answer»

I am using a computer that was built for me. I loaded my own operating system. Several messages have come up on my computer about other users being logged in. Is it possible that there is SPY hardware or software on my computer an I am being  spyed on?....how can I find out?Who built it for you - 007? Do you have a lot of sensitive information? What operating system? You loaded it all by yourself?

The only way this could be done is a keylogger - hardware or software. Google for it.Thank you for responding. A friend of mine built it and he could be a 007.  He knows a lot about computers. The operating system is Windows XP and it was easy to load...I just followed the instructions.

The last unusal mesage I got was when I was logging off....  something to the effect that"logging off could effect the other users logged on to the computer"...is this unusal?   or is it something to do with XP?Tell you what... Let's do this... Follow this link, and download HiJackThis. http://www.hijackthis.de/index.php?langselect=english ... Download and INSTALL. Once you open it, save your logfile, and paste it onto a message on this forum (you might need to use more than one reply)  and we will analyze it for you, and possibly have a solution. Let us KNOW when you have this information available for us    And yes, that message IS unusual if you do not have any other usernames.  

[glb]Flame[/glb]Does he run Windows XP Pro by chance and did he set it up for remote access on yours? (You said you did ALL of the INSTALLING yourself?) Do you have file sharing turned on and some of your folders (or entire hard drive?) set on to share?After you delete the drive & re-install XP   you would be advised to install some protection before getting onto the internet. 
This seemed like it would be interesting!?
What happened?



.......*CENSORED*.*censored*
*censored* it
*censored*..........
Wow, a censorbot. How......um........neat, but yet........
Ricardo could be a candidate for the SinBin hit & run cell.Toss him in!

4506.

Solve : slave drives?

Answer»

Can someone please list the steps to make a slave drive work. Do not forget the simplest detail, I`m new at this.  Thanks from dhale001http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2579-001037.pdf

Here is a simple picture If you look in the back of the device yoiu should see the word Slave just put that white thingy in there. All you have to do is take it out and put it into the right slot.dhale001.......We would be PLEASED to provide details if you tell us ....whay you mean by make the slave drive work? Is it a second hard drive or a second cd-rom/dvd
Which operating system are you using ?

DL65  
If you have an IDE cable which will take a slave drive (grey connector) then set your original drive to Master and set your new drive to slave and plug it in.

However some systems SUPPORT Cable Select and you set both drives to cable select.

Click the LINK below for more info.

FITTING A SECOND DRIVEHere you are    http://support.gateway.com/s/tutorials/Tu_842259.shtml ...

[glb]Flame[/glb]What computer make and model? This can sometimes be extremely IMPORTANT!

4507.

Solve : Binary?

Answer»

how do you convert a mac ADDRESS to binary and decimal.Is this a test question?

  Not that I am aware of, at LEAST not when I TOOK it. Just need to know for a friend in school.Does your firned have a textbook that he/she should be using? I would be happy to help (or try to) if the person cannot find the answer, but lazyness can be an ISSUE around here...

[glb]Flame[/glb]PAGE 372, paragraph 4.

4508.

Solve : Dell Latitude CPi, type A366XT?

Answer»

Dell Latitude CPi, type A366XT

What is the AC ADAPTER like for this particular dell latitude( Dell Latitude CPi, type A366XT)  Notebook PC. Does anyone KNOW the out put voltage and the out put Ampere or milliampere rating. If you could also show  me a pic of the tip that connects to the LAPTOP that would also be great.

I may be getting a laptop but the person has no AC adaptor for it and i cant buy ONE right now but i have some other AC adaptors so i was wondering if they could work.http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Dell-Latitude-CP-CPi-CPx-AC-Power-Adapter-Charger_W0QQitemZ6811228318QQcategoryZ64467QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

4509.

Solve : Computer Post?

Answer»

can SOMONE plz tell me how a computer posts. I have tried looking but cant find it. what happens when the computer is FIRST SWITCHED on, in what order deos it post.I WENT to www.google.com and typed in "sequence computer post" and pressed enter

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/bootSequence-c.html


It really isn't hard. Next TIME you do it since you now know how





Homeworkhope.com

4510.

Solve : HELP!! Please?

Answer»

Right well im not sure what PIECE of hardware is wrong here so please help. The other nite my computer was fine no problems but the next morning for some reason the monitor wot do anything. i mean nothing comes up it stays on like "stand by" mode instead of displaying anything. So i think maybe the graphics card has gone get a graphics card that i know is working and put it in there......nothing. ok i thought maybe its something to do with the motherboard ike the AGP slot is not detecting the graphics card or something. So i try i different compatible motherboard still nothing. Its not the monitor because ive tried a different one.

what else could it be??

PLEASE HELP!

thanks
akDoes the system still pass the post? - get the usual 'beep'?
Do you see any lights from the drives as it boots up?
im not sure about the beep but everthing seems to come on all the fans start up. its ust the monitor doesn't come onDo you have to log in when the system starts normally or does it just load to the desktop?
If it just goes through to the desktop you should still hear the windows jingle if all is loading properly, if not then its not posting.

If you tried a new motheboard and vga crad then it may be the PSU is failing or possibly the cpu.
Not mush else it can be? Have you tried the monitor on another machine?yeah tried the monitor.
tried a new cpu

psu how would i fix that?

havent connected speakers so im not sure if the jingle goes on. its got me baffled!
I think power supply. I have seen this a lot lately. Try one from a know good machine to see what happens, unless this is a proprietary Dell,  Compaq, etc.it is a new power supply but i thought it couldnt be that as everything else was working! like i said all the fans are going around! what Wattage would you recommend? think this one is a 480w as i UPGRADED from  300w

thanks for all the helpThat should be enough. Whqat processor and motherboard are we talking/ Graphics ADAPTER?

What could have happened to this computer? Power surge?P4 3.2 ghz also tried p4 3ghz
it must be a case of both motherboards are down.
i have agp graphics cards which are known to be working.
i have a surge protector so it shouldnt of been UPSET by any surgesHow was it shutdown....

4511.

Solve : wytech lcd monitor turned pink, help!?

Answer»

I have a wytech 17" lcd monitor, the screen has started turning pink as if someone poured pink paint down the front of it, I took it apart and thought I had it fixed by cleaning the contacts that go the the lcd board.  Is the lcd bad or is it the "MOTHERBOARD" of the monitor, and how can I fix it??I don't believe an LCD is meant to be serviced by an end user. I would take that to the shop.I know enough about electronics to know what not to do, I was just checking to make sure it wasn't a connector problem, I just want to know if this a common problem with lcd monitors.  After I CLEANED the terminals it worked for about 5 minutes.Dunno. Sounds like you are on to something. Maybe "LCD Dude" will drop by with an opinion on this. GOOD LuckMy BROTHERS screen turns pink the whole screen. It is because of the cable that connects to the monitor. It was loose and breaking off. The cable to the computer is fine. Try jiggling around the computer screen in the back.Return lcd to BASE........is may have a leaking screen?

4512.

Solve : C Drive hesitating....?

Answer»

Hi all, I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my problem. I have a Dell 8400 P4 3.40GHz. 80GB Drive. Well, the drive went out and Dell came by and dropped one off for me, I had to go back to work, so I didnt have the time for him to install it. From what I understand he was going to LEAVE it anyways. =)

Well, now I am having a problem with hesitation. In movies, EQ2, EQ1...Excell, Word everything. It is brief and random.

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance!

Paymapman Quote

Well, now I am having a problem with hesitation. In movies, EQ2, EQ1...Excell, Word everything. It is brief and random.


I do not quite understand your problem.. You wish to transfer files from one HDD to another, is that what you are trying to say...?

No, whatever function that I dothe system HESITATES a moment and continues on, until the next time.

PaymapmanPerhaps this Hard Disk Drive is slower than the one previously installed.

What are the specifications?I know its 80 GB, how do I get the rest?




PaymapmanObtain the name of the HDD and type it in Google.

1. Right click on any drive
2. Properties
3. Hardware tab
4. Names should be displayed hereSays: Maxtor 6Y080M0

Can anyone else help me out on this?  
I see Raptor logged off already. Thanks in advance!  


Paymapman Quote
Maxtor 6Y080M0
DiamondMax Plus 9
80.0 GB
9.3ms
S-ATA/150
8.0 MB Cache


Is this a new installation of Windows XP or have you copied from one HDD to the other?
Reinstalled windows from the existing disks that came with the computer.1. You reformatted the HDD before installing Windows XP
2. You installed Windows XP from CD-ROM

Correct?

Have you installed the latest security updates?
Have you scanned for Viruses, Trojan Horses and Spyware?

How have you installed the Hard Disk Drive? Have you used the exact same configuration as the previously installed HDD?Not sure how it was previously done, was factory. The guy thatr put the drive in TOLD me which CD's to use and follow the directions.

You think I may have done it incorrectly? It is possible. I know a little about computers, but that was my first "install".  

PaymapmanDoes the computer simply refuse to work, do you hear the HDD working or does the HDD activity led (Underneath or next to the power LED) shine?

If the computer is still under warranty, you should have the technician look at the Hard Disk Drive. I find it strange that he would simply drop it off and not come back at a later time to install it.

You should install, configure and apply the following programs as well:

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner


Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Using only one firewall is advised. Dual firewalls may cause problems.
Using a hardware firewall and a software firewall is even more adviced.

ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ones described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind


HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully functional virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.Ok, thanks! I will do all of that, then LET you know.

The HD works fine, just sometimes hesitates, which gets annoying.


PaymapmanCan you describe hesitates more clearly?
4513.

Solve : pci video card (low profile)?

Answer»

I have a Dell Desktop PC and it has onboard graphics. I want to put a Video card in it, but it has to be low profile and not a big power hog.
Will a small card, like a 64mb, do me any good? Anything higher seems to require a 240watt power supply, and according to SPECS on my machine, the power outage is 120 watts! What can I do besides buying a new system, or building one? What model is this? Let's check that power supply, but I think 64 meg. is definitely as high as I would GO with a 200 watt or less.It is a Dimension 4500S.According to the Owners Manual, the wattage is 180W. But, will I see a difference in game play with a 32MB or 64MB video card vs the onboard INTEL 845G?Probably so. The difference is between AGP and PCI bus (AGP is faster) vs. shared memory or a discrete card with it's own memory. The 32 could be close, but 64 on a card will beat it. The shared memory of the onboard graphics has a max. amount of RAM available to it, depending on system RAM.Thanx for the info...do you know a good site to buy a card? I've been through Tigerdirect, Newegg, Geek Shop, etc.. and the one I want I can't find out what the power requirements are.
I'm trying to soup-up this ole machine untill I can BUILD my own.EBAY is a agood place to look. I just sold a 64 meg. card such as this on there a few weeks ago.eBay is a a good place to look. I just sold a 64 meg. card such as this on there a few weeks ago.I haven't found one on ebay, however, I have found  a GeForce4 MX440SE 64mb, but I can't find out the power requirements. I'd hate to buy it and it not work. From the PICTURE it looks like a low profile too, but I don't know for sure. I went to a web site on this card but it was in Czech Whatda-ya-think???The Geforce MX440 would be fine. (As a matter of fact that's what I had!) The SE is usually a crippled version that certainly won't have all of the performance, but if it is a VERY reasonable price, I wouldn't be scared of it. It should work well in that machine. Don't be in a hurry. Just wait for a GeForce 32 or 64 meg (without the LE or SE suffix) and you will be more pleased, but they are a little harder to find.

Thank you for the heads-up Low profile bracket is to fit low profile slots (the cards are shorter than the normal one's) On most Dells, if you insert a PCI card in the slot and connect a monitor to it, it will use that. Nothing to disable in BIOS. You will still see the onboard in Control Panel/System, but there's nothing special you need to do about that.

4514.

Solve : PC hardware controller?

Answer»

Who does CONTROLE COMPUTER Hardware, and who is doing the same with Computer Software?  Is it the Operating SYSTEM? DOS ! Quote

1.  Who does controle Computer Hardware, and
2.  who is doing the same with Computer Software?

1.  Intel
2.  Microsoft
In reality, Microsoft does both !!!!!!!


I did not mean about the MANUFACTURER like it is Microsoft, but anyway Thanks.
4515.

Solve : My screen keeps jumping?

Answer»

My computer screen is jumping at the edges. almost like a television when the tube is going. Could this be the problem??? thanksFirst check there are no ELECTRICAL devices NEARBY CAUSING interference. Such as mobile phones or fan heaters. Switch them off to see if the problem stops.Or it could be going out. How old is it?Which OPERATING System are you using? Have you scanned for viruses and Spyware? Have you made any changes to your system recently?

[glb]Flame[/glb]Check your monitor LEADS.

4516.

Solve : pc cards?

Answer»

i have INSTALLED a PC /tv tuner CARD .
i have the VIDEO clear but no sound is heard.why?http://Did it COME with directions? Did you check with the manufacturer? And what manufacturer and card did you say that was?

4517.

Solve : RAM Slots?

Answer»

Hey guys,

Well i only have 2 RAM slots on my pc. WOULD it be possible to install some more Slots for RAM?

If so how would i go about doing this?

R0SS

No way, no how. Period.Which mainboard do you have? You might be able to have 2 x 1024 MB modules with the right mobo.

Find out more about your mainboard with the EVEREST Home EDITION free computer diagnostic program.

Click the link below for more info and a link to Everest.The Max i can take is 2 512 sticks.

Pitty i cant upgrade. OH well

Thanks for the info..


R0SS1GB of memory is not enough?no it seems to be struggling a lot when playing games.

i don't know why because i have a 2.6ghz processor and 1gig of RAM.

maby spyware I'll look into it

R0SSHave you checked to see if it will accept faster RAM?

Which MoBo is fitted?

Is the Video RAM inclusive or exclusive?

You might be able to get a gain by fitting a Video CARD with more memory.

4518.

Solve : Need more SPACE, what shall I do??

Answer»

[glb][/glb]So... here is the deal...I just bought an old computer that basically has EVERYTHING I need to use it, but I have run out of space and no I cannot DELETE or get rid of anything. I did do all the maintanance on it.   I was wondering if there is a way I can purchase a new hard drive and transfer all the files from the old computer hard drive to a new hard drive? CAN I? You can do it. Quote

[glb][/glb]I just bought an old computer that basically has everything I need to use it, but I have run out of space and no, I cannot delete or get rid of anything.

I did do all the maintanance on it. I was wondering if there is a way I can purchase a new hard drive and transfer all the files from the old computer hard drive to a new hard drive?


Tell us more about your computer, hard drive SIZE, operating system, processor and the amount of physical memory fitted.

If you buy a bigger drive, as I did, get ONE which runs at 7,200 rev/min with an 8MB, or bigger, drive buffer.

Is your old drive worth keeping? It usually depends on age.

If you backup ALL of your data to removable MEDIA, CDR or data DVD, how much space do you have left?

This is important when considering the C: drive partition size for your new drive.

You can then make a drive image of your current drive and 'restore' it to the primary drive on the new unit.

BUT the partition sizes have to be carefully choosen as you cannot restore a large drive image to a smaller partition.

On My 80 GB drive I use 10240 MB for the Primary drive C: with XP Professional US English with MUI, and Office XP, NERO 6 and so on.
4519.

Solve : Did you guys miss me? New problem. (Hard drive)?

Answer»

Hey, to update you guys I actually bought a 256MB PC100 Ram from bestbuy. Originally the Ram was 120 but for some reason, best buy only charged me 60 w00t w00t. And for those wondering I did get 3 Ram cards working at once. I have a 64,128,and the new 256 all in there at once. But now...I want to upgrade my hard drive. I know it sounds like I'm doing all this work for nothing but my computer has a total of 9 GBs. kinda small no? But now I have the same problem I did for the Ram.....What am i looking for?

Computer Make: VIA Technologies, Inc.
Computer Model: VT82C693A
Computer Version:  
Motherboard Make:  
Motherboard Model: 693-596-8693
Motherboard Version:  
Processor: Intel Celeron 700Mhz
Memory: 2 SLOTS: 128 MB, empty


Don't know if this helps at all. But any help with what I should be looking for in a HD would be really helpful.Any IDE hard drive should work, assuming there are no BIOS limitations, and there shouldn't be.Would something like this work?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1487964&sku=tsd-300m16&CMP=ILC-FOT03

I also don't know about my sound card/video card. My mom has offered for christmas that she will buy some of this stuff for me so I'm looking at low cost things or good deals. The reason I picked this is because with the rebate it makes it a steal for me. But I wanted to spend around 250-300 bucks in total I don't want my mom going broke on me . But thanks for any insight and thanks GX1 for posting Quote

Would something like this work?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1487964&sku=tsd-300m16&CMP=ILC-FOT03
...

No, absolutely not.  That's a SATA drive, not an ATA drive.  Also, don't expect any drive larger than 127GB to be fully recognized by the BIOS.  LOOK for an 120GB (or less), 7200rpm drive, like this.
Oh I was just looking, your dealing with someone who knows very little, thats why I come here to you guys. But alright, Why couldn't my BIOs detect a bigger Harddrive thing? Is there anything i could do to improve my BIOs? Or would that be like buying a whole new computer?. I'm trying to kinda figure out what would be the best financial thing for me to do. I want a good computer but if it is going to run me an arm and a leg for parts I'd rather buy a new computer ya kno? I mean by looking at that its going to run me over 100 dollars for 120 when a 300 is going to be 80. But I'm sure you all can help with anything...*censored*...when talking to my mother about the RAM and such she asked what the "Smart computer friends of yours?" thought about it and such so I trust you all, i just dont want to spend a lot of money for when I can buy a whole new computer for the same or even less.Pay the mobo makers site a visit>VIA Technologies, Inc.     And what am I lookin for? Quote
  And what am I lookin for?


There is no advantage, and maybe some disadvantages to having one large primary drive, The biggest is not necessarily better. A 60-80 GIG drive would last a long time and you would not have to worry about these problems.

Some things to think about.   So now I'm looking for an ATA Hard drive with 120GB or less. Now what about video cards? Also, is an upgraded sound card needed? i was looking at them and they seemed pretty CHEAP in price so i'm wondering if a new one is needed mine works fine but since everything else on this computer is outdated i guessed my sound card is also.
Quote
So now I'm looking for an ATA Hard drive with 120GB or less. Now what about video cards? Also, is an upgraded sound card needed? i was looking at them and they seemed pretty cheap in price so i'm wondering if a new one is needed mine works fine but since everything else on this computer is outdated i guessed my sound card is also.

Best Buy has WD 80GB on sale every other Sunday, watch the ad.
If it sounds good to you, it's not outdated.
If video works for you, it's not outdated.

And if the onboard sound is fine there is no need or advantage to "upgrade".Hey guys a little update, I didn't purchase a HD yet as I really don't know what a good one is. So I was hoping maybe one of you could make a suggestion on a good HD with an okay price? Also, a small question, I was playing a game and the graphics were horrid and I'm wondering if thats due to the limited HD space somehow or the video card itself? Civilization 3 works and the graphics are fine but a game like Knight Online is horrid for me. Any help and/or suggestions?As was STATED Best Buy has them on sale all the time...
I'd recommend WD80 g. 39.99 after rebate.

patio.
4520.

Solve : HELP - I need a computer Buddy?

Answer»

Hi everyone. I need people who I can ask lots of questions to and who will be very patiient with a non-computer person. The reason is I finally bought my kids the CP they had been waiting for after saving for 3(yes 3 years) back in Feb. this year. I t cost over $2,000 but we have a printer/scanner & speakers, 80Gig Hard drive, P4 3.0G and so on. HOPE this makes sense
So far so good or so I thought. It has XP Home, SP2, Vet antivirus & Microsoft antispyware Beta 1. I have as I mentioned many questions & far too many to ask here & now but my main concern at the moment is the rotton thing keeps crashing. It just literally stops, no warning. It used to be only when playing games I've installed for the kids, AOM, Freelancer, NFS but now it has started doing it EVEN when surfing on the net.  I know the power is still on as the modem (broadband) is still going. I rang the guy where I bought the cp & he said it was probably my power supply, meaning the box inside where the power plug connects at the back right I need a 2nd opinion!! How soon should I get this fixed if this is the case & will it do any harm while in this condition. This is not the 1st problem we've had & the other day I paid him $132.00 to rid the cp of infections that got through my Vet. Now I'm up for more money and it's not even 6 months old and he said it was not under warranty (great) Anyway I could go on for ever but could someone tell me what I should do as my husband will throw the cp out the window if he finds out. (He hates computers/internet in general) Also I would be willing to chat to anyone on messenger  as my cp buddy as I would love to learn more about this piece of equipment my kids & I can't seem to live without.  
Thanks in anticipation ( I've learnt heaps already just reading these posts)   Hey,

Well i doubt if its your power supply. because that wouldent make the thing Freeze it would just shut down.

What im guessing is a virus or Trojan somthing like that.


Download and run this if you can http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger

then get yourself a better Antivirus and Firewall
some of the guys know then best ones to get.

hope that stinger helps.

Ross


                                Hello
                             To bad you didn't get it at staples or
somewhere like that  and under warentee. Try cleaning out your hard drive. Just go on your start menue go
to programs and system tools. if you can. than go to cleanup. It may take a few minutes to do. Also go  to
control panel and add remove programs. get rid of anything you don't need. You might want to try this. doing a ststem restore. that might take out a lot of the  kinks. Be very careful in  doing that. Turn off your computer, restart it again, when you see the black screen you will see the f10 number. press that quickly. you will not have much time. read the rest of it very carefully. if you don't feel comfortable doing that maybe
don't do it or have someone show you. this might make your computer run faster.and not crash. Do you have broadband? or aol. broadband is better. because it will not interfer with the phone line.
                                     Good Luck

                                         ElyseCan you tell us what you have done so far and when the PROBLEMS have started?

I advise you to stop paying the man to solve your computer problems, as he is clearly overcharging. You can easily do/learn to resolve the problems yourself.

You may wish to go to http://www.howstuffworks.com to learn more about the hardware in your computer.

I have never heard of Vet anti-virus. I suggest that you use AVG-Free.

Try the following programs as well :

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner


Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Using only one firewall is advised. Dual firewalls may cause problems.
Using a hardware firewall and a software firewall is even more adviced.

ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ones described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind


HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully functional virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.

Easy Cleaners
-- Freeware registry scanner
Registrar Lite
-- Excellent replacement for Windows Regedit
Crap Cleaner
-- Freeware registry scanner/history cleaner

Caution is advised when using these programs!
Create backups of all important files before proceeding.
me nether,

I just googled that virus name and got some information in it.

But it looks like he knows what he is talking aboutDon't be daunted by all the answers here.
Take it very slowly.

1)Update Microsoft Antispyware.

2)From the above links, download, install, update & run AVG.

3)Download & install Sygate Firewall.

Then come back here.                                    
                                       Hi
                                    I would take out all the games
                                in the add remove  programs.
                                 Anything you don't need.
                                Just leave one or two games in
                                your add remove programs.
                                Games take up a lot of room
                               in your hard drive. Go to control
                                control add remove. I would try
                                giving that computer to someone
                                else. And get another one at a
                                store you know  is good.


                                                Good Luck                  .
                                       try considering looking at your cpu fan,your processor might be overheating so your comp tends to hangs....shaffycat......  Vet .....is a anti virus program produced by computer associates ......  
Win XP sp2 is a very stable platform ........ I have never had any of my Xp machines crash .  It's possible that the PSU ( power supply is defective ) however if it failed that soon ....... It should have been replaced by the seller .
Did you buy the puter from a reputable dealer or just some guy that builds pcs ?

My best guess as to the problems would be a trojan or some other malicious bug ......

What is the make of your pc ?

Let us know .

dl65  No point trying to fix anything until the computer is clean & protected. Quote

No point trying to fix anything until the computer is clean & protected.


Don't you just love the amount of information a person gets when they do not RESPOND?

                                        Hi
                            Yeh, i know what you mean.
                            i have given up.[                             download a firewall sygate from majorgeeks.com....or take it to another pc shop.....and ask their opinon on it .......Hmm Batman1071 Looks like i need to change my PIC now!
4521.

Solve : acer Cd/rw?

Answer»

I am having trouble with my cdr/rw. It is an acer brand burner, not sure of the model. it will not read any cd's I put in. I had been making cd's of my old vinyl records. But now it has quit. I have not changed anything in my hard drive. I thought the burner was bad so I went and purchased a NEW one(sony DRU810A) my computer will not recognize it at all and freezes when I try to run anything. So I put BACK the original burner. It worked one time and has quit again...Any suggestions?Hang ONTO that Sony. You will need it some day.

What happened prior to this? How old is the burner? Has it had a LOT of use? Are all of the cables seated correctly?thanks for the reply...I found the problem with the sony. I had not changed the master/slave pin in the back. Live and learn...The acer is six or seven years old. normal use a FRIEND said his burner did the same thing and he ran a cleaner thru it..that worked for a short while and then is stopped again..I am now up and running with the Sony..thanks again.Sometimes the most obvious THINGS.....  

Glad you're fixed.

4522.

Solve : RAM - DDR400?

Answer»

I HAVE AN ASROCK K7S8X MOTHERBOARD.

3 X DIMM SLOTS

HOWEVER IT SAYS IN THE MANUAL,

PC2700 (DDR333) for 2 DDR DIMM SLOTS, MAX 2GB

PC3200 (DDR400) FOR 1 DDR DIMM SLOT, MAX 1GB

IF I WANT TO USE DDR400 DOES THIS MEAN 1GB PER SLOT, OR 1 GB IN TOTAL???

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME...HI Joey

from what you write there it says 1GB max. I assume that's maximum of 1GB for the DDR400.

Just check that you don't have DESIGNATED DIMM slots for the different speeds of memory. Sometimes they have to be adjacent, sometimes consecutive slots.

HTH
JimDuplicate post.Double Posting?  Here??

4523.

Solve : pocket pc?

Answer»

we have a hp ipaq pocket pc.  Can anyone give me information on how l GET it up and working with the net and msn messanger which are already on it. Do you have the instruction manual that came with it? Those are helpful. If not, you should be able to download a copy at the HP web site.Which model are you using?
I'm using h2210, and it needs an optional CF adapter (dial-up/broadband/Wi-Fi) to connect to the INTERNET.Jodie:

I agree with GX1 and Michael.  Also, you may want to synchronize your iPAQ with your DESKTOP or laptop COMPUTER using the Microsoft ActiveSync program (you should be able to install it from the CD that came with your iPAQ).  

ActiveSync will allow you to copy certain favorites from Internet Explorer so you may view web pages OFFLINE on your iPAQ even if you are not connected through a Wi-Fi hotspot.  To create a favorite that you may view on your iPAQ even if you are not connected to the Internet, do this:

1. In Internet Explorer on your PC or notebook computer, click (or tap) Tools | Create Mobile Favorite.
2. Connect your iPAQ to the computer and verify that Microsoft ActiveSync says it is connected and synchronized.
3. Open ActiveSync and select the Sync Options tab
4. Make sure Favorites is checked, and click or tap OK.
5. In Microsoft ActiveSync, click or tap the Sync button.
6. When it shows Favorites are synchronized, the mobile favorite you created will now be on your iPAQ to view whenever you want to.

Blessings to you,
Doc

4524.

Solve : A RAM QESTION?

Answer»

I HAVE A ASROCK K7S8X MOTHERBOARD.

3 X DIMM SLOTS

HOWEVER IT SAYS IN THE MANUAL,

PC3200 (DDR400) FOR 1 DDR DIMM SLOT, MAX 1GB

DOES THIS MEAN 1GB PER SLOT?

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME...Yes

see this link http://www.memoryx.net/ask7mome.html1 DDR400 Max. 1GB
2 DDR333 Max. 2GB
3 DDR266 Max. 3GB

4525.

Solve : Hard Case huh??

Answer»

I have been upgrading and maintaining computers for friends and family for a few years now and never had any problems. Until now.

I was given an old HP Vectra VE 5/XX Series 4 computer which i was going to strip for spares. I can't get the case open.    I have looked on the internet and cannot find any MANUALS. The only manual i FOUND was for the desktop version, but i have the minitower.
  I've tried using that manual as a guide line but to no AVAIL, i don't want to force the case open without knowing the correct method.

PS I've got the key for it

Thanks for any helpDon't know about your HP minitower but I have a Packard Bell minitower with no visible screws to gain entry to it.

I have to pull the front cover off by hand to reveal the four screws holding the side panels in place.

With these screws out the TWO side panels just slide FORWARDS and off.Maybe this manual will give you a clue HP VECTRA

Try this one. It's a .pdf file.

Can you see two clips on either side of the front cover? If so raise them to take the front cover off.

4526.

Solve : No Sound After Installing New CD W/R Drive?

Answer»

Have a Creative Sound Blaster Card.  Sound was working fine until new CD Drive installed.  Running Windows XP.

I did the following:

1. No conflicts in Device Manager.
2. Ran DxDiag and only ERROR message I received is :
Failure at step 19 (User verification of software): HRESULT = 0x00000000 (error code)
3. Creative Diagnostics check out OK.
4. I downloaded the latest drivers for the Sound Card
from the DELL website.
5. Checked Volume Control via Accessories->Entertainment and No Mute boxes are checked.
6. Checked contacts with speakers and computer.
7. Opened computer and made sure Sound Card is seated correctly.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.


Is the CD plugged into the sound card? Is it ISA or PCI?yes, the CD is connected to the sound card.  I'm sorry, I don't know ISA, PCI info regarding motherboard.  I have a Dell Dimension 4550.  If you tell where to find that info, I will be happy to provide it for you.connect the little two- wire cable> to the motherboard........cd>to mobo>>>>you have over looked it.What he said.  


There are only two cables.  The ribbon cable (IDE) connects to the motherboard, the power cable connects to the power supply.  
   There may be a third, grasshopper. Did it fall off the old one during the transplant? Check your soundblaster to see if it is hanging to it still.

Some newer devices that are all PCI don't require the cable, but I THINK you are better to have one......

Was this a replacement CD drive or did you add a second drive. If so, is there a cable between the sound card and your other drive, whatever it is?Nope, only two.  This is a replacement CD.Update sound drivers for the card you have. Quote

Nope, only two.  This is a replacement CD.



Did it come in a retail box? Or just a bare drive, with not even any screws?Drivers have been downloaded as per item 4 of my original post.Update sound drivers for the motherboard you have?  download sisoft sandra/oe everest to find make of mobo or/type msinfo32 in the runbox.and there is no way that sound is enabled in the setup screen? (F2 at boot)
4527.

Solve : Printer works but no "printing"?

Answer»

I have a Lexmark Z22 that I have had for awhile and had been working fine on my old system with WIN. 98.  Bought a new tower and now the printer just goes through the motions and doesn't print.  I have tried all troubleshooting that I can FIND.  PLEASE HELP.Did you have to load different drivers for XP? Does it still work with the old computer. Trying to figure out if it's the printer mechanics or the configuration.I went to Lexmark's website and downloaded driver for xp.  I don't have the old computer ANYMORE---blew out the motherboard and was too old to WASTE time and money, decided to upgrade and have one BUILT.

4528.

Solve : cd rom hardware not found?

Answer»

I have a cd driver but my COMPUTER can't find the hardwareWhen did this start? What preceeded this? Can the computer find it correctly in the BIOS/Setup SCREEN? THis info is needed to solve the problem.Additional information PLEASE. Operating  System? What are you trying to install? What hadware is it looking for?

[glb]Flame[/glb]

4529.

Solve : Cd rw drive not burning?

Answer»

This is a fairly new unit, I don't believe that it has ever burned anything.

I went to the drive's properties and went to the Recording tab and the "enable CD recording" was checked. I tried to install new drivers, but was told I had the LATEST drivers.

DEVICE PROPERTIES

Manufacturer: (Standard CD-ROM drives)
It is a 52x32x52x LG Compact Disc Rewritable

Location: 0(0)

Device Status: This device is working properly.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.


Blank CD's read as Used space 0 bytes,  Free space 702Mb
What CD Burning software are you using? If none, that could be the PROBLEM.I have Nero from LG installed and have tried to "write these files to CD" Both unsuccessful.

I am familiar with burning as I have 2 other computers, but have not had this happen before to them.

Running Xp Home on all.Check your configuration from within Nero to make sure that your drive is being seen correctly and DMA is active.When I click a music file and click add (in Nero) it says: out of memory


And to reopen after it freezes after I (ctrl + alt + del)
I open and it says "another application is currently using the WINDOWS buring engine (IMAPI) Please quit... blah, blah, blah.

Uninstall Nero, reboot and REINSTALL it. That can help without delving into the intricacies of "making it work".Uninstalled...reinstalled Same messages

I think the problem may lie here:

Open My computer...reads: CD drive (D): with an icon that reads CD-R, SHould the part that reads CD drive (D):  Read: CD-R Drive?I'm having a similar problem with my computer. I too have Nero and I have been able to copy CD's ok but all of a sudden it has STOPPED working, it prepares the CD for burning but when I put a blank one it, it will not do anything. I'm really stuck and don't know what to do.conficts issue......between roxio embbeded in wmp9/10 and nero.........pay neros website for a patch.....If I uninstall Nero...could I just copy the desired files to the file then click "write these files to CD"? By doing this now WMP pops up.

4530.

Solve : nothing responding at system startup?

Answer»

So let me explain the situation.

This Powerspec computer was working perfectly FINE three months ago before I went on my vacation. I unplugged it and let it SIT in my basement til today, since I wanted to start using it again.

So I plugged everything in almost as it was before except I switched from using my Sony flat panel, to a Sony CRT monitor.

When I booted up, nothing displayed on the screen and the monitor went into power save mode. I have a BFG GRAPHICS card so I connected my monitor into that 1st with no luck, and even plugged it into the stock intel graphics card and still no luck.

So then I grabbed the Sony Flat Panel that my parents were using and it started up for a bit. It went to the opening Powerspec screen but that was it. And then it went back to the same old problem. I resetted but this time it didnt even go to the Powerspec screen.

Also this time I realized there was no beep at the startup. Another thing I noticed were that the lights on my keyboard didn't light up at startup and the mouse laser didn't turn on either.

Everything in the computer seems to be working fine, the fans blowing, the drives open and close, and the LEDs on the graphics card are on.

So... can anyone help me out? I would really appreciate it.

By the way, my parents have the same exact computer (with out the GPU) and all of the same peripherals work fine.Bad CMOS battery or bad power supply. Do you have another you could check with (power supply, that is)?

4531.

Solve : how opticalmouse works??

Answer»

i NEED an ILLUSTRATION of itwww.howstuffworks.com

4532.

Solve : TV Out?

Answer»

Hi!

Can ANYONE help??? For some reason PowerDVD has stopped playing DVDs on my pc. It comes up with an error MESSAGE saying that my TV out is enabled and therefore the copyrighted DVD can not be played. The legal bit I understand, what I can't figure out is how to DISABLE my TV Out. I have just upgraded to an AG Neovo F-419 monitor which is the only possible difference I can think of. I have an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 graphics card. I have been through all the SETTINGS I can find and turned everything to single display etc... but nothing has fixed the problem.

Any ideas would be greatly received.
Cheers

4533.

Solve : Linksys problem?

Answer»

I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or not.  We have a home computer and a laptop networked through a Linksys wireless router.  All was working fine up until yesterday, when suddenly I couldn't get a network connection on my laptop - the home network (called linksys, original, huh?) was no longer SHOWING up, INSTEAD we have 'linksys_SES_1559' (or various other numbers - it changes when we disconnect the system).

I can connect to the network via this, but it takes a while (before this, it was virtually instant) - and after a few minutes, it disconnects.  When there is a connection, it is only to the network - not to the internet.  The home computer is still connected (through Linksys) to the internet, and if I plug in the laptop with a cable, I get an internet connection.

As if it wasn't obvious, I'm not really computer-savvy.  I read instructions and follow them, and if something goes wrong I'm lost.  It sounds as if your laptop is connecting to someone elses router. You should change the default settings. Rename your network in both the router and wireless card setup.  Change the default channel (both ends).  Get the laptops MAC address and enter it into the MAC address FILTERING on the router. This will allow your laptop to connect but others will be rejected. With the default settings, anyone with a wireless card that is within range of your router can connect to the internet and your computer. (Someone PROBABLY already is) You should never operate a wireless router with the factory default settings. If your laptop has the option, you can also have it to rescan for available connections.

4534.

Solve : External Hard drive from a desktop?

Answer»

I have come across a IDE kit with a power supply USB cable to add a additional Drive to my P.C.

It is a WIN 98 SE and a driver CD is with it but it is not very specific as to which driver I should use for a external drive , one is for a USB storage drive but although loaded it does not appear as a EXTRA drive on "My Computer"

The Ext drive I am using is from a old Desktop and it powers up so appears to be ok but the Manufacturer does not provide drivers for it.


Any help welcome as I am a COMPLETE newbie to PCs.

Tnx
GuyzDoes this "kit" work and you know this? What USB does it use? Does the manufacturer have a website? Could we have some more info on the mystery kit and hard drive?   Quote

Does this "kit" work and you know this? What USB does it use? Does the manufacturer have a website? Could we have some more info on the mystery kit and hard drive?  


Does not appear to have a website it came from Hong Kong thru' Ebuy description is as follows:
USB2.0 to IDE cable can be used to connect Harddisk,CD-ROM,DVD-ROM,to P.C. with USB2.0 interface

Items supplied were USB to IDE cable,AC power supply with 4 way connecter for device,Driver cd 8cm,manual.
No driver needed for Win2000/XP.

That's it!!What are your CHOICES in Win98 drivers? Do you have USB 2 support on that machine?Yes it says it does 1.1 and 2.00 the driver supplied is M5621Win98 SE E driver .exe if that makes any sense. Install the drivers without hooking up the external HDD.
Shut down and HOOK up the drive.
Re-boot.

patio.
4535.

Solve : Laptop Screen Question?

Answer»

I have a 2 year old Compaq laptop and something happen to the screen between one bootup and the next.  It has been determined to be a hardware problem (a 2 inch white line down the middle of the screen).  Replacement cost, more than a new laptop..

I purchased a new laptop, and hooked the one with the bad screen to a monitor.  It works great and the 'Kids' like having their own PC.

With the physical setup used for  the laptop connected to the monitor, the laptop's flip-up screen(which doesn't work ) GET's in the way.  Without pushing it down to a flat position, it can BLOCK the view of the EXTERNAL monitor.

My question - Is it possible to REMOVE the Flip-up screen from the computer and not cause a problem with the PC functions?

Appreciate any advice, Thanks...Hi

The screen is MUCH like a clam shell mobile phone. It is held in place by screws and has a data/display cable running from the base of the laptop to the screen.

In short it would be possible to remove the screen but you will have all of the inners exposed. Question to ask is, how old are your kids and would they be likely to poke around a makeshift repair?

HTH.
Jim

4536.

Solve : error finding server when booting in novell 4.11?

Answer»

when booting novell netware 4.11 it GIVES the ERROR message as "Error Finding Server" .Are you technaically on a server / network? If so all you have to do is 1. Contact the Admin and have him set it up. If not then you shouldn't WORRY about it unless you can't get internet.sivakumar:

ONE of these links might help:

HTTP://www.google.com/search?q=error+%22cannot+find+server%22+site:novell.com&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-29,GGLG:en&start=0&sa=N

Blessings to you,
Doc

4537.

Solve : NERDS Will Find This Easy?

Answer»

Hi I Got a new computer with out a hard drive
I Put my Old Hard Drive In my new computer and it didn't work.  Some one ELSE told me that my windows on my hard drive is different to what my motherboard is Used too all ready.  The help i need if it works is:-

My hard drive as Windows 2000 on it - (which is not what my new computer (motherboard is used too)
so..........
how do i get RID of my windows on hard drive?....
and then use the        driver & utilities CD to get the computer to work?      
I have a cd which is called Drivers & Utilities version 8.01

After Reading this can you tell me if this would work? and the easy way to tell me how i can get it to work ?
Fraggle... I have NEVER heard of such a thing... You can have any OS installed on a second hard drive from my knowledge. I'm going to give you a link... I want you to make sure that ALL STEPS are taken (Ex. Jumpers set, etc.). http://support.gateway.com/s/tutorials/Tu_842259.shtml ... Give me a shout once you try it...  

[glb]Flame[/glb]If the Windows was installed with the old hardware then that is what it expects to find. If you have taken that hard drive out and put it in another machine, I would not expect it to work at all.

You'll either need to format the the drive and reinstall a legal copy of Windows that YOU already own, or buy a new copy and install that.Ah Windows UP hardware issues. I've heard of that... But on most of today's machines... It should have no problem... I didn't... My old computer was 5 years old when XP was installed...

[glb]Flame[/glb]Flame, I think he put the old hard drive in the newer machine and EXPECTED the previously loaded Windows to work just fine with the change in hardware. In my experience that is just NOT going to happen (well).my hard drive already had windows on it
my new computer had a different windows on it I do not know what it had - Together they did not work

will it work if i take away my windows on hard drive and put it with my new computer and use a cd which i got with it called.......Drivers & Utilities version 8.01
Would that get it to work --- if it does  can you tell me how to get rid off my old windows
my new computer didn't have a hard drive with it  OK, let's go through some basics....


Do you have a legal copy of Windows on a CD? If so, what version?

Do you have a functioning hard drive installed on the machine you want to run it on? If not, why not? What is the problem there?

Can that machine boot from the CDROM first? If not find out why or set it to boot that way in the BIOS setup.

Restart the machine with the legal Windows copy in the CDROM drive. What happens?OK Here will go. :- NO...... i've a old one called windows xp some one else did no back-up disk

got computer on ebay didn't have hard drive or cd-rom
I've tryed HD & CD-rom from old computer and it didn't work i try the F2 button (the menu) mess around with that and that didn't help neither
Quote

OK Here will go. :- NO...... i've a old one called windows xp some one else did no back-up disk
got computer on ebay didn't have hard drive or cd-rom


You should have gotten that old computer from me!

You will at least need a legal Windows CD to proceed further.if i make a back-up cd of windows xp that is already mine would that work if so how do i make a back-up cd of windows until i get a new oneFraggle, your problem is that your old hard drive (w2k) is expecting to see & load your old hardware when it BOOTS but of course it can only see all your new hardware & that confuses windows.
Try starting in safe mode then removing the hardware entries from your device manager (if you get that far), then re-boot & let windows detect & install the new hardware.One copy and license of Windows per machine. That's what Bill Gates says. You have to buy a copy for every machine you own to be legal. Even if you "make a copy" of your Windows XP CD, it will not work after 30 days. That's how he enforces Rule #1. (Well, that and lawsuits!)

W2k Rules!  I fear he will take the XP route. The force is not strong in that one........Strange why someone would put themselves through the XP pain when W2k is so 'freely' available.
4538.

Solve : Please guide me - confused with SATA PATA Primary?

Answer»

Please guide me - confused with SATA PATA Primary Secondary master Slave...!!!

Respected members and gurus,

I am a non technical person and am only good at using computers for my finance jobs and NOT configuring it.

From last three days I have been reading and reading and reading about SATA PATA Primary Secondary master slave and so on...but now i think i really need help as my HEAD is spinning...

WHAT I HAVE:

# Intel Motherboard 865GBF
# Two Hard disks

Disk One is PATA of 80 GB having windows 2000 advanced server loaded by my company (beyond my abiility to load it) for me with me being as administrator. However there is no other computer connected to it.

Disk two is SATA of 80 GB having two partitions C and D both partitions having windows xp professional
operating system and 40 Gb each.

Now on Disk Two i Used to work in Partition C with data saved on D. But one fine day without my knowledge the C OS crashed and so i started working on D. It has all the data.

Lots of valuable data is there in SATA hard disk two above in partition D.

WHAT I AM PLANNING:

# I have purchased one PATA Hard Disk of 80 GB to back up my valuable data on Partition D of disk one as I am feeling  scared what shall happen if the partition D also crashes like partition C on second SATA hard disk.

In addition I am planning to PURCHASE one either PATA or SATA (please say which one should i purchase...)
for BACKING up data which is there on PATA DISK One.

WHY I AM SO CONFUSED:

I am lost between PATA SATA primary secondary master slave as its truly beyond my technical capability to
understand. I have been surfing net and reading online materials for hours from last three days without any
conclusion.

WHAT HELP I NEED:

Please guide me as to how should the hard disks(all from seagte):

Hard Disk One PATA windows advanced server 2000 80 Gb
Hard Disk Two SATA windows XP professional edition
Hard Disk Three PATA (blank brand new)
Hard Disk Four SATA or PATA (decided by you people to be purchased soon)

be installed on my Intel 865 GBF motherboard so that all primary secondary master slave (i am lost in these
terms) configurations are properly done.

What should be my ideal back up strategy and how should i go about it.

I know that there are many many knowledgeable and experienced members in this forum who have great ideas and knowledge to effectively deal with the above issue. Please be kind enough to elaborate on what u think should be my approach for

a. installation on motherboard
b. backing up
c. disk management strategy

which is optimised for BEST performance under my situation.

ALSO can i have all the three Hard Disks connected simultaneously to my system....?

Also can i access data of one disk while being booted into another hard disk.....?

Thank u for ur anticipated help and valuable advices.

regards

sunando

sunandoghosh (at) rediffmail (dot) com

p.s. Please elaborate ur suggestion so that i can understand it with reasons if u deem fit for better
understanding...

ALSO suggest please the best simple back up strategy.

You need to please speciafy a detailed simple step by step installation, partitioning, formatting and back up
strategy for me. thank u so so much.

also if u want to add anything please add...Sunando:

Wow, i have to admire someone who is so far out on the cutting edge of technology that he is starting to bleed!  Hats off to you for being a pioneer.  

Serial ATA is so new, there is not any official documentation for the ATAPI-8 standard (it is DUE to be published in 2006).  However, the official website for the group that is developing the standards for the technology is www.serialata.org so i suggest looking there for the most trustworthy information.

Since you likely purchased your SATA hard drive in 2004 or 2005, it may still be under warranty, and you may be able to have it replace by the manufacturer at no cost to you.  

As far as purchasing another hard drive, i'd go with an SATA hard drive made by a reliable manufacturer (such as Maxtor, which is developing the technology and a member of the group that is creating the serial ATA standard).  The reason for this is two-fold: (1) SATA hard drives are much faster (at least twice as fast as the ATAPI-7 hard drives) and (2) your SATA hard drive will work with any new computer you purchase down the road, as SATA is likely going to become the de facto standard in all new computers manufactured in the future.

Best regards,
Doc




4539.

Solve : Medion note book?

Answer»

Does anyone know how to get inside a medion note book . i have removed all available SCREWS but still can't open it.    computor wont boot up it hangs when it gets to the windows xp logo tried to boot from the dvd drive but it just ignores it so i SUSPECT the dvd drive may be broken and causing the problem. i think i need to disconnect the drivealready tried that , a list of files appeared and then it froze. thought maybe i had a virus so tried to REFORMAT the hard drive reinstall windows. but when the system reboots for the final stages it locks up again at the windows logo ( used an external drive for the windows cd)tried tapping the laptop but still the samefinaly managed to boot up in safe mode.
dvd/cd drive is present but cant access it. carried out virus checks with stinger + norton but found nothing.
run adaware found files Alexa? removed them. but still cannot access the dvd drive or boot up normally.  Just to kick the grey matter into touch......the system specs are? did this have an o/s on it........?intel pentium 4 3.2Ghz.
512 DDR RAM.
60 GB hard drive.
64 MB Nvidia FX5300 graphics.
DVD+RW.

O/S windows xp home edition sp1a.
take the dvd/cdrom drive out......does it boot.can't work out how to get into or remove anything from the casehttp://www.eserviceinfo.com/index.php?what=search2ok managed to open the case and removed the dvd drive but still getting the same problem when booting upDo you have any experience servicing laptops? Is it still under a warranty you are trying to void? Have you visited the manufacturer's web site/forum?

Why are you trying to get in there so badly? What has happened to this poor machine?

no it is no longer under warrenty. tried to contact medion but got no reply. dont know what happened to the machine other than it hangs up on the windows xp logo when it boots up. it would not read or acknowledge the dvd drive suspected the dvd to be the problem but now it doesn't look that way    "Safe mode helps you diagnose problems. If a symptom does not reappear when you start in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings and minimum device DRIVERS as possible causes. If a NEWLY added device or a changed driver is causing problems, you can use safe mode to remove the device or reverse the change."

Go back into safe mode & look around for the problem, check your device manager and event viewer.Opening a laptop by a novice is ALWAYS the wrong thing to do.  

Leave that alone and reinstall Windows after backing up your critical data. Load SP2 before connecting to net. Practice safe computing.

Let us know if this fixes it.

4540.

Solve : Random Internal Alarm?

Answer»

Whenever the computer attempts something fairly complex, like loading a large program (such as a game or intense process) it begins to make an alarm sound (internal speakers from the computer). I don't KNOW what this means or why but its very annoying. Everything seems to work fine but that alarm is a major pain in the *censored*. Anyone have any clue?

2nd problem is on another computer the power turns on but theres no beeps on start up (around the bios loadup). Nothing shows up on the monitor either (i've checked the monitors and cables its not anything to do with visual). The system itself doesn't even seem to reach bios but it has power. (my guess for now is the power supply is not good enough or got damaged and provides too little power).

I'm more interested in the first problem, please help.Sounds like a heat issue and the MBoard is warning you to prevent melting your CPU. Remove a side panel, power up and check to see if all FANS are turning. If not shut down RIGHT away and you will need to replace any fans that are not working.

patio.

fans on :
Mboard
PSU
video card.What are the system temperatures?

You should not use your computer until the problem is resolved.Beware of damaging things further and then complete this sentence:

It worked fine until __________.

This gives us a starting point.

Have you noticed any glowing from inside the case when power is on? This is serious.i'm guessing the heating computer is already damaged from lack of fan or maybe a bad power supply, all appears normal inside the machine.

the other computer, does anyone know what would cause an internal speaker to sound an alarm type beat whenever large processes are OPENED in windows?Look alive!Nick:

If the "alarm sound" is a series of beeps, let us know how many (the number of beeps is a kind of code that tells techies like us what the problem is).

Doc Quote

i'm guessing the heating computer is already damaged from lack of fan or maybe a bad power supply, all appears normal inside the machine.

the other computer, does anyone know what would cause an internal speaker to sound an alarm type beat whenever large processes are opened in windows?


Overloaded processor/heat are the things that come to mind. Are the fans turning when the machine is on?
Looks like Nick is AWOP.
I hope he didn't burn up with his CPU

Ahhh, i LOVE the smell of burning processors in the morning.  It smells like . . .


[size=24][glb]opportunity  [/glb][/size]
Quote
It smells like . . .


[size=24][glb]opportunity  [/glb][/size]




Microsoftsorry about the delay, we had to deal with some major bell sympatico bs (first time in 6 years). Spent a few hours on the phone, they would rather you not combine rogers into bell, the solution was cancelling rogers phone service and bell IMMEDIATELY began working 'somehow'.

As for the computer that doesn't seem to do much of anything, the fan moves. This computer (with the alarm) makes a repetitive sound based on 2 types of beeps. Its a lot like the police siren, but with reasonable annoyance of sound level.

Occassionally this computer just powers itself down when its been in use too long (with medium intense applications). Example playing warcraft 3, after about 10  minutes the alarm would sound. After about 1 hour of diablo 2 it just powers off instantly. Its definitely wierd..NickDi:

So, is it a continuous series of beeps that never ends, or do the beeps stop after a some time?  

Is it high toned beeps followed by low toned beeps, or is it short beeps followed by longer beeps?

Do you know the name of the BIOS manufacturer for your computer (e.g., Award, Phoenix, or some other)?

Answers to these questions will help us come to a solution faster.

Doc
4541.

Solve : hp cd writer problems?

Answer»

I have a hp pavilion a305w and my hp cd-writer does not read discs, the light flashes and never stops. I have been trying to install dsl for about a week w/ no LUCK. whenever I put the installation cd into the cd-writer drive the software will pop up for about 10 seconds then disappear, even if I press next. when I put in a blank cd-r I do get a solid green light. (I have checked the cd from command mode and reinstalled the drivers) any suggestions?  What model CDRW, and how old is it? It used to work fine and it just quit? The only thing new is DSL or is there more? What software are you using? Is doesn't read any discs? Are you comfortable removing and reinserting the flat silver data cable to it?

More info please.its a sony cd-rw crx215e5. it was originally installed 7/1/2001. it used to work fine and now when I put in a software cd the light just flashes. sometimes when I go to run, the software program will popup for 10 seconds then dissappear. its the bellsouth installation software and the only thing new is dsl. I don't know how to reinsert a flat silver data cable to it?It's doubtful that is the problem, but if youcan get inside the case you will see where the flat data cable plugs in. Just remove and reinsert it snugly.

It may be that that CDROM has just died, either from overuse, old age or just bad luck. The symptom is that they cannot read CD's, despite the lights. This is INDEPENDENT of the drive opening and closing, which is MECHANICAL. This is an optical problem.

There are COMMERCIAL CD cleaners for the drive available (even at WalMart!) I don't know if this would help frankly, but.....Always pay the maker, a vist first>

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?dlc=en&lc=en&product=362754&lang=en&cc=us&rule=8586

4542.

Solve : cant reboot my system?

Answer»

my inspiron 1150 ha  been giving me alot of trouble, im not sure if i had a VIRUS. so i decided to reboot my system again! well this time it says i am MISSING a file from windows and to reinstall.....but how can i do that if i cant get the computer to stay on? this computer has gave me problems since day 1Is it still under warranty? What other problems have you had?If you have a warranty use it but if you dont......What do you mean by you can't get your computer to stay on?  Does it shut off automatically right after you boot up or does it just shut off at some random time after it  has been running?it restarts after i take out the reboot cd asking for i file to be installed. i believe my warranty is up. i had problems when downloadin service pack 2 and when i dont anything on it i still get 50 million pop ups even if the internet is offDo you have spyware/adware/virus protection running and up to date/ If not, that sounds like a real problem. Do you have the original CD's to restore your operating system?

I don't know that we can blame Dell for this one.

thats wht im tryin to use.  my operaating cd and it tells me there is a file missing.  When i was hving probs wit the service pak dell told to reboot cuz i was unable to access any of my files.  Then my sound went out and they gave me a whole new mother boaard.  ive heard that the inspiron 1150 has given ppl problems.  i think im going to sell it and get a better model!  whoever CAAN fix it can have it.  im not even done payin for it and it iss giving me so many problems
Quote

 whoever caan fix it can have it.  


Send it this way, please.
im still paying it off.  im not going to give it away for free.  it has wireless internet and everything...im so sad Quote
my inspiron 1150 ha  been giving me alot of trouble, im not sure if i had a virus. so i decided to reboot my system again! well this time it says i am missing a file from windows and to reinstall.....but how can i do that if i cant get the computer to stay on? this computer has gave me problems since day 1



By reboot, did you mean reload the operating system? Because this is surely the first thing I would do.yes but it wont let me.  it says there is  a file missing and to reinstall that fileIs this a Windows CD, or some kind of a restore CD?

If a Windows CD, just press F2 as the computer starts and make sure the CD is the first bootable drive. Hit escape to exit and the WIndows load should start. There are no extra files that should be needed.

Please advise as to the first question.its the operating system cd.What happens when you follow the directions in part 2 of that post? Be sure and delete the present partitions and format it as FAT32. You are trying to make a new installation. Do not try to repair, or install over the TOP!i cnt get to THT prt no moreYou cannot get to the F2 screen? If that is the case you have serious problems.
4543.

Solve : fixing a new hard drive?

Answer»

I have an old COMPUTER with me i want to start and get going. This computer had some problem.. what i was given to understand that the hard drive CRASHED. People tried to restore the hard drive, but finally gave up. And the computer was LYING idle for some time. Now there is no hard drive in it. Do you think if i procure a new hard drive and get some one to fix it will i need a recovery disk to start it up.The details of the PC is included here under.

NetVista personal computer 6792-11A


Operating system: Windows 2000

Original description: Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz (256KB), 128MB, 40GB 7200RPM IDE HDD, PCI Desktop (4x4), nVidia Vanta 16MB 4X AGP, 48x CD-ROM, Intel 10/100 Ethernet, Windows 2000


Well you absolutley sure that the hard drive is broken? have you tr to format it do you hear it powerup. Do you see the Hard Drive at Bios Startup? Quote

Now there is no hard drive in it.


Install the new HD yourself. Make sure is fdisk'd and formatted. You will need OS installation disk to install .THERE IS NO HARD DRIVE IN THE COMPUTER ANY MORE SO CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT TILL I GET ANOTHER HARD DRIVE.
+THE SAINT+2k_dummy,
do i need to have the old operating system which was windows 2000 or can i install another OS like Windows XP?
+THE SAINT+Install WHATEVER OS you have, as long as the system specs will support it.
4544.

Solve : Can't open computer case..need help?

Answer»

I am trying to take the case off or open it on a Compaq Presario 5004 to check the cable on the CD_Rom.  I followed the directions to open the side by taking the screws out but there is no way I can GET it off.  I have opened many computers but this one just is IMPOSSIBLE.  Try using a screwdriver as leverage.

Some cases are just stuck. I once broke a screwdriver on a computer case. (Hewlett Packard Club 2460..)Some panels are on rails...try sliding it towards the rear of the unit.

patio.   Well, I appreciate both of the above answers but I had already tried both of those beforehand.
The part about the broken screwdriver gave me an idea.   I thought that I might destroy the case earlier but then I went and got a few more screwdrivers, a rubber mallet and a small crowbar.  I finally got 3 sides up (bent it quite a bit)  and realized that something was making the other side stick.  Since I could then use a flashlight, I could see that there was another thingy that you could push across and that released a little bar that was holding it.
Now why couldn't Compaq put that in their directions or on their website??  I really feel stupid now...I spent hours trying to open it.  Thanks for the help and I will be back!!puffnstuff....LOL .....There is probably a release latch on the rear of the case .....push it to the side and it should release ....the cover . Some cases are made that way .

dl65   Quote

...Now why couldn't Compaq put that in their directions or on their website??  I really feel stupid now...I spent hours trying to open it....

Don't feel bad, I had the same one (5006) and it took me hours to figure it out, too.  One of the reasons Compaq went out of business.  BTW, did you find the CD storage door on the front?
Compaq never intended for their customers to be inside the machine for fear of what they might find.

patio.  Why did you have to check the cable?

Someone gave this computer to my sister and it was all screwed up.  It had a dvd drive that didn't WORK and after I opened the case  up, I re-connected it.  But it has more problems than that.We're up for a challenge. Let's get it fixed. Post details of the system and problems.Gee if you are that good you can help me with my laptop...I really miss it!
This computer though, I think that I erased everything by putting in the Recovery CD.  I took the option to restore it to the factory settings.  Now I can't even get it to boot up with an emergency disk.
I am using my moniter from my older computer when working on this one so I have it disconected RIGHT now so my Grandson can use mine.  (I keep switching it back and forth)
In the morning, I will reconnect it and go to the bios and tell you exactly what it says.  Right now I can only tell you that it is a Compaq Presario 5004US that came with Windows ME installed on it.  
The former owner upgraded it to the XP.  I don't have any disks with it other than the drivers and the recovery CD.I do have a copy of the XP upgrade that she did.  I tried it first and it wouldn't do anything.  I did do a check disk on it and defrag and also ran a Virus scanner on it to make sure there wasn't a virus.
I can get into the BIOS and change the boot order, etc but when it boots back up, I get  
Error: Non-systemDisk or Disk Error  Says to remove it and press any key.  I didn't have any other disks in so I keep hitting any key over and over and the same error keeps coming up.  When I go back to the BIOS, non of my choices were saven and I did press the f10 key and followed all  the instructions that I got from the Compaq site.  
Yesterday when I used the Recovery CD,  it went through all the mumbo jumbo about removing all the info, etc and I said yes to go ahead with it.  It stops and I get a blue screen with the words at the top that says Quick Restore Error #102.9  at the top and  in the center of the screen "Please contac Compaq Service or your dealer."    I click OK and then those words go away and this comes up  Working...   with the three dots but it never goes any further.
After a couple of hours, I just shut it off.
I do have the OEM disks to install Xp.  Would I be able to use these.  I'm pretty sure that the windows ME is stored on the hard drive.  My other computers are either HP or Compaq and that is how they are.   I also have the Windows 98SE OEM disks but unfortunately I don't have the ME disks.  
Let me know what all infor you will need. If you can help with this you must be a genius!If ME is on the hard drive but XP has been installed, I don't think you will get it back that way. If they formatted the drive when they upgraded, it is gone anyway. Sometimes Compaq puts in a "hidden" partition to store stuff for their automatic reinstall. You would have to be able to boot the machine to fdisk with a boot floppy (or the WinXP CD) to see what partitions are present.

"Error: Non-systemDisk or Disk Error" means the HD may not be able to be recognized for some reason, assuming there was not a generic floppy left in the drive.

So when you get in the bios, you need to see if a hard drive is found, and the size. If you have a Win98SE boot disk (free at www.bootdisk.com) you can try booting from that and then type in fdisk and display drive information (option 4) and post back all of the gory details.

Is there any data on that machine you need to get off?

I do have the  a Win98SE boot disk  and it did work before but now it won't.  I also had an option from the Recovery CD to make an emergecy disk but it won't boot it up either.  
The hard drive is recognized in the Bios but the DVD wasn't until I connected it.  I did write down that the hard drive is Maxtor 96147H6.
There isn't anything that I need to get off of the computer as it wasn't mine and my sister doesn't care either.  I do have the COA for the windows that came installed on it.  Will that help?In the BIOS set it to boot from the CD first, floppy second and hard drive third, if possible. If virus checking is an option in the BIOS, disable it. Download a NEW bootdisk as instructed and run fdisk and delete the primary partition. Then create a new partition and set it active. Then format the drive by booting from the floppy and type in

format c:/u

Try the recovery CD again. If that doesn't work, then we will have to install Windows from scratch. How much RAM on that machine? It should say when it boots or in the BIOS screen.I had the following all printed up before I saw your previous post so I will FOLLOW those instructions after this post.
This is what it has in the BIOS for system information:
PRODUCT NAME          COMPAQ PC
PROCESSOR TYPE          AMD Athlon
PROCESSOR SPEED        1100/100MHz
MEMORY SIZE                 128 MB
SYSTEM ROM DATE        11/21/00
SYSTEM ROM FAMILY     786K1
CHASSIS SERIAL  #          3DOCJCC2V046
PRIMARY DRIVE 0             58625MB                 Maxtor  96147H6

secondary drive  0                 *CD-ROM        COMPAQ DVD-ROM         DV-5700B

SECONDARY DRIVE 1      *CD-ROM       CDD4801  CDD4801       CD-ROM R/RW


I now have it doing the IDE DB SELF TEST whick takes about 45 minutes.
As you can see, it doesn't have that much memory.  If it takes the same kind as my one computer, I have another 128 mb here.

Let me know if you need any other info from the BIOS before I shut it dowm.  I did see that there is a BIOS update and I already have it on a floppy.
4545.

Solve : USB failure!?

Answer»

Ive had my PC for a YEAR and have always had my mouse and keyboard in the usb PORTS and nothing else,

Since yesterday my mouse would start CUTTING out while playing a game and needs to be taken out and plugged back in to get it working again, after this about 5 mins later both my keyboard and mouse cut out and i get a pop up saying my usb devices have malfunctioned and i need to restart to FIX it.

I thaught this maybe a usb overload but im not sure?

I tried to put my keyboard into the ps2 socket using an adapter and got the bootup error "Ntoskrnl.exe file is missing or corrupt" as soon as i put it back into usb i dont get this error and it boots up but cuts out during games.

Thanks alot for any helpYou didn't mention what OS you are running. Go to CONTROL Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and scroll all the way down to the USB devices . Right clik them and select Remove.
You will be greeted with a warning message...ignore it.
Do this for all the USB hubs listed and re-boot the machine.
Windows will now reinstall the USB hubs automatically and you should be good to go.

patio  Robulus:

If Patio's good advice doesn't do the trick, it may be that the actual USB port of your computer is going bad.  Do you have a different port into which you may plug the mouse?

Let us know how it goes,
Doc

4546.

Solve : About DDR400...?

Answer»

Hi, I have an ASROCK K7S8X motherboard and have recently installed 1 x 1GB PC 3200 DDR 400 Mhz 184PIN

It all works fine. My QUESTION is will my motherboard accept another SLOT of the same RAM?

I'm trying to increase the MEMORY because i'm using larger FILES now in my 3d work. Is DDR400 a BETTER RAM than DDR266?

What would be the fastest and best RAM setup for my motherboard?

Thanks for your help.
Check the motherboard for RAM requirements and limitations. Check at crucial.com too for upgrade possibilities.  You can then buy wherever you want.

4547.

Solve : (New hard drive (good news and bad news)?

Answer»

I got a new hard drive. A Western Digital Caviar 136AA (13GB) but I have a problem... my BIOS only recognizes under 8GB of it. I need support for LBA but my BIOS doesn't have that. I would format the drive for 8GB but I have data I need to get off of it first.  
   -John Quote

I got a new hard drive. A Western Digital Caviar 136AA (13GB) but I have a problem... my BIOS only recognizes under 8GB of it. I need support for LBA but my BIOS doesn't have that. I would format the drive for 8GB but I have data I need to get off of it first.  
    -John

What is your question?
Some older Dells were like that. I am unsure of what you have HOWEVER. EVEN though it showed as an 8 gig max, WINDOWS could format the drive and get the full drive space available for use.

Have you done a format to see what the drive can hold, even though only 8 gig shows in BIOS?My question was how to bypass this evil limitation. But, I solved the problem QUITE efficiently. I gave that hard drive to my little brother, and took his 7GB hard drive (which is more than enough space for me).
                                                                   -John
4548.

Solve : IRQ usage of Belkin NIC?

Answer»

How can I find out if a NIC requires its own unique IRQ or if it is able to share its IRQ with other devices?
I know that some devices can share their IRQ's while others can not.   The answer to this question will help me troubleshoot a problem I am having with my NIC.  The vendor's web site could not help me and their tech support is pathetic.  
I am using a Belkin F5D5000 NIC.
Thanks.  The advantage of PCI cards is that the IRQ issue is resolved automatically.  Are you TALKING about an ISA card?No, it's PCI.
I did not know that all IRQ conflict issues were resolved automatically.   Are you sure?   Is that true EVEN on and old Pentium 200MHZ PC running Win98se?

Can you provide a hyperlink to any resource that gives me the full details about this?   Thank You.  Patrick Rohan....Perhaps you would like to share the issue your having with your network adapter.

dl65  Certainly.  After I installed this Belkin NIC and rebooted a few times, I would automatically boot into Safe Mode.  When I removed the NIC, I was back to a normal boot.
On another occasion, when I reinstalled the NIC again and rebooted, AS SOON AS I connected the UTP cable from the NIC to my DSL modem, it went into Safe Mode again.  Once again, I removed the NIC to get back into a Normal boot.  

So this made me wonder if there was an IRQ conflict.  I looked at Device Manger when I first noticed the problem, but didn't see any exclamation points, which are supposed to be indicative of resource conflicts.  But, OTOH, i've also heard that D.M. does not always flag IRQ conflicts (My understanding is that if the device does not give correct resource requirements to PnP, PnP has no way of knowing that there is an IRQ conflict, and thus will not flag it as one.  Please expand on this if you can!)
The NIC was sharing an IRQ, since I have no free IRQs left.  

On the assumption that it could have been an IRQ conflict, I removed my modem, thus freeing IRQ3, which the NIC then used for itself.  After that, the Safe Mode boot up problem was resolved.   I don't need the modem anymore, so I can leave it out.  

But I'm still not quite sure if the cause of the problem was, in fact, an IRQ conflict.  I'd like to know for sure in order to improve my knowledge of how PC's work.  Is there any way to determine this?  One Belkin tech support person said that the NIC needs its own IRQ, but I can't really rely on that because their techs aren't very knowledgeable.

Somebody even suggested to me that the problem might simply have been that adding the NIC overloaded my power supply, which puts out only 200 watts.  This seems reasonable, since I have lots of devices connected to my PC.

If you could give me any advice on how one is supposed to troubleshoot problems like this, I'd appreciate it.  Thank You.  Certainly.  After I installed this Belkin NIC and rebooted a few times, I would automatically boot into Safe Mode.  When I removed the NIC, I was back to a normal boot.
On another occasion, when I reinstalled the NIC again and rebooted, AS SOON AS I connected the UTP cable from the NIC to my DSL modem, it went into Safe Mode again.  Once again, I removed the NIC to get back into a Normal boot.  

So this made me wonder if there was an IRQ conflict.  I looked at Device Manger when I first noticed the problem, but didn't see any exclamation points, which are supposed to be indicative of resource conflicts.  But, OTOH, i've also heard that D.M. does not always flag IRQ conflicts (My understanding is that if the device does not give correct resource requirements to PnP, PnP has no way of knowing that there is an IRQ conflict, and thus will not flag it as one.  Please expand on this if you can!)
The NIC was sharing an IRQ, since I have no free IRQs left.  

On the assumption that it could have been an IRQ conflict, I removed my modem, thus freeing IRQ3, which the NIC then used for itself.  After that, the Safe Mode boot up problem was resolved.   I don't need the modem anymore, so I can leave it out.  

But I'm still not quite sure if the cause of the problem was, in fact, an IRQ conflict.  I'd like to know for sure in order to improve my knowledge of how PC's work.  Is there any way to determine this?  One Belkin tech support person said that the NIC needs its own IRQ, but I can't really rely on that because their techs aren't very knowledgeable.

Somebody even suggested to me that the problem might simply have been that adding the NIC overloaded my power supply, which puts out only 200 watts.  This seems reasonable, since I have lots of devices connected to my PC.

If you could give me any advice on how one is supposed to troubleshoot problems like this, I'd appreciate it.  Thank You.  Have you tried installing it in another slot ? ?
Some devices do not like next-door neighbors...

patio.  What kind of machine are we talking about by the way?I did try another slot and that did not solve it.  
I have quite an old machine, actually.  It is only a 200MHZ Pentium, running Win98se.  It is a Micron and has 256MB of RAM.  Most irq are shared...........what was sharing the nic card....you have used the the msinfo command in the run box ?........your pc may under powered to handle new tech.....(200MHZ Pentium> i bet it worked ok on the dun with the 56k modem?merlin_2 wrote:
Most irq are shared...........what was sharing the nic card....you have used the the msinfo command in the run box ?........your pc may under powered to handle new tech.....(200MHZ Pentium> i bet it worked ok on the dun with the 56k modem?[/quote]

Frankly, I neglected to check what device was sharing the IRQ that the NIC was using.  All I know is that after one installation of the NIC, the modem failed to work, so presumably it was a conflict with IRQ3, which the modem was set to at the time.

I used msinfo only after I removed the modem.  Here are its results:
0   System Timer
1   Keyboard
2   Cascade
3   NIC
4   COM1
5   Sound
6   Floppy disk controller
7   LPT1
8   Real Time Clock
9   Video
10  Promise Card
11  WinTV and USB Host controller
12  Mouse port
13  Math Co-Processor
14  Primary IDE Controller and Bus Master IDE Controller
15  Secondary IDE Controller and Bus Master IDE Controller

merlin_2 wrote:
i bet it worked ok on the dun with the 56k modem?

I don't understand what you mean there.  

At the moment, I'm only trying to verify the following hypothesis:
Is it possible it could have been an IRQ conflict due to the NIC not properly communicating its requirements to the BIOS (despite the fact that Device Manger did not flag it as a conflict)?   Is that a logical hypothesis or not?Possible, but not definite. On those older model machines, IRQ'a were tight, and it wasn't that uncommon to be forced to choose between a sound card/modem/SOMETHING else all vying for the one open IRQ. Modems and onboard serial ports can share the same IRQ if both aren't trying to use it at once.Your THINKING is spot on.>>........but consider this>11irq?  WinTV and USB Host controller ............you may have excceded the irq usage.....for the system you have......

just like overloading a fuse box.......something has to give.....or have to be updated to make additions work./?GX1_Man wrote:  
On those older model machines, IRQ's were tight, and it wasn't that uncommon to be forced to choose between a sound card/modem/something else all vying for the one open IRQ.

OK.  So then the question becomes:   What is different about modern PC's that alllows IRQ's to be shared, while my older PC MAY not be permitting them to be shared?  Is it the BIOS?   Or is it something else?  

A google search quickly turned up these links that may be helpful. But briefly:

Unlike ISA and EISA cards, PCI cards do not select their own IRQ line. Instead they can only select one of four "interrupt pins", which are mapped by the motherboard chipset to IRQ lines. I'll stress this again -- only the motherboard BIOS knows how the INT to IRQ mapping is wired, and thus only the BIOS can change the IRQ mapping for the card. The IRQ mapping is usually configured at boot time by the PCI BIOS setup, with the the exact assignment ALGORITHM being BIOS-specific.


This link addresses in particular NIC issues:

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/irq-sharing.asp


This is general Microsoft speak:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=252420



4549.

Solve : System?

Answer»

I have a computer if anybody is intrested in for sale or trade?It has m599lmr MOTHERBOARD with a super socket 7 cpu,12 gig hd,U.s. Robotics modem and 2 MEMORY sticks.Post in on eBay and we'll be RIGHT there.

4550.

Solve : Bad Processor or what??

Answer»

I hope I haven't offended anyone by restarting my thread. I'm still trying to get my machine to start up. It always locks on the blue screen. I think it's not completing the POST but I'm not sure.

I can't get it to boot from either cd-rom. I tried unplugging each drive and restarting, I disconnected each cable to the board, I even reseatred the chip. Nothing seems to WORK.

I have tried several disks to reboot including winternals and the factory recovery disks.

It seems that it freezes at the end of the POST I see the HD and Floppy and CD drives listed, then it freezes. If I disconnect the A drive (3 1/2) then boot it gives me an A drive error.

I can't access safe mode or recovery.

I can get into setup (BIOS) but no changes seem to help.

I really need some Ideas to SOLVE this.

Thanks
RustyGet into bios and set it to the default or failsafe settings.
Then set your HARD drive as 1st boot priority.
Then try to boot it.

If that fails go back to bios & set your cdrom as 1st boot priority and try to boot with your OS disk in the slot.

If that fails go back to bios & set your floppy as 1st boot priority and try to boot with a boot disk in the floppy drive.

Let's see what happens then.Tried all with no change.
Also disconnected and reconnected all components, also no change. I'm beginning to think bad processor or motherboard.
Does this sound reasonable?

I'm probably going to buy a new machine this weekend, but I still won't give up until I figure this out. I'm like that.
I was also going to try and swap in a processor from an older HP pavillion I have, but they're not even close.Disconnect cdrom & hard drive.
Disable both in bios.
Set floppy as 1st boot device & try again with boot disk.
What boot disk are you using?If processor was "bad" you would not be able to enter setup (BIOS).  Some motherboards just refuse to boot from the CD, even though the BIOS has a setting for this.  I had one like this and thought the CDROM was bad but it worked perfectly in another computer.  Most likely a "bug" in the BIOS.If you reseated the chip you might want to remove it and check for bent pins.

patio. Tell us exactly what type of error you see or what type of screen it halts at. Tell us after what occurance it has happened as well.I'll start from the beginning.
I had the problem on & off for 1-2 months, but seldom.
When the computer was turned on, it would go to the blue HP screen (press F1 for setup, F10 for recovery) and freeze on that screen. After turning it off and on a couple/few times it would come up ok. No problems once it was running.
Problem became more frequent, and did a restore back to before I remember the problem starting.
It got so I just wouldn't shut it off.
Then the other day my son turned it off and it won't come back up since.

What I've tried:
Tried to get it to boot with disk I got from the microsft site.
Also tried a boot disk made from winternals (ERD Commander)
I also tried to reboot from the HP's recovery disks.

I enabled the boot diagnostic screen to get rid of the blue screen. The post seems to go ok up to a point.
It recognizes my floppy, the HD and my CD RW and DVD Rom. After the CD RW the post sceen goes black & nothing happens.
If I start with a disk in the CD RW drive, it does the same thing, but the light for the drive stays on (permanently) I can here the drive spinning for about 15 seconds, and the light for the HD is on, but then the light goes out, the drive stays quiet, and the screen goes black. The fan stays running inside.

I can get into BIOS via F1 and I've tried all possible combinations in the boot priority menu.
I have disconnected all cables from the motherboard one at a time and together and tried to restart. I have pulled the CPU, checked and reseated it.

Nothing seems to work, or even change the results except:
When the memory card was out it wouldn't even come on and when the 3.5 floppy was disconnected it gives me a disk error.
Also I get no beeps during the startup.
My BIOS is Phoenix version 3.04

I listed my BIOS settings in a different thread. I will move 'em here in another post.


So, am I to understand that if I can access BIOS then my CPU is ok? Could it be a problem with the bios chip itself?

And does it sound like the POST is successful, or is it freezing towards the end?

And, if the BIOS is detecting the drives, why can't I get them to boot? It would seem to me that since I can hear the drives kick into action, then it's making it to the boot step, but something is going wrong at that point.

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm tring to brainstorn this. Any input would be a big help. And please ask any questions you need for clarification.

Oh one other thing, how should the jumpers be set on my drive(s) to make sure they are set up properly to boot from.

Thank you
RustyBIOS lists as follows:
System Time
System DATE
(both correct)
Language
Legacy Diskette A [1.44/1.25 MB 3 1/2]
Primary Master [ST380012A-(PM)]
Primary Slave   [None]
Secondary Master [Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616E-(SM)]
Secondary Slave   [SONY  CD-RW CRX215E5-(SS)]
Installed Memory  256 MB [PC2100]
Memory Bank 0 256MB DDR SDRAM
Memory Bank 1 Not Installed
Core Version 4.06
BIOS Revision  3.24    10/14/03



Boot Priority
Removable Devices
CD Rom Drive
Hard Drive
Network Boot
I forgot to add this:
When I first opened the case, I found the fins on the heat sink clogged with dust. I blew it out and checked the fan, which seems to work fine. I assumed that the CPU would not allow itself to overheat, but from what I've read recently, it seems overheating is actually a common problem.

That was what was making me think it may be a bad CPU. Sorry I failed to add this info before. It was probably important. :-/ Quote

...
1.  So, am I to understand that if I can access BIOS then my CPU is ok?
2.  Could it be a problem with the bios chip itself?
3.  And does it sound like the POST is successful, or is it freezing towards the end?
4.  And, if the BIOS is detecting the drives, why can't I get them to boot? It would seem to me that since I can hear the drives kick into action, then it's making it to the boot step, but something is going wrong at that point.
...

1.  Yes.
2.  No.
3.  Yes.
4.  That's what you will test now.  Try this:  disconnect FLAT "ribbon" cable at the motherboard from DVD and CD.  See if it boots from the HDD.  If yes, one of the drives is bad.   To isolate, disconnect one at a time.  If not, reconnect and disconnect the hard drive.  See if it boots a CD.  If yes, the hard drive is bad.
Rusty:
I'm late to the party, but there's one possibility that I haven't seen in your thread ( unless I just missed it) that you might try. Check your motherboard manual for a reference to a "Clear CMOS" jumper, and if present, follow those instructions. This technique can be attempted if the BIOS CMOS component has become corrupted, and may be a solution to your problem. I used this technique some time ago on a very early unit, and as I recall, it didn't do anything severe, just ran the BIOS code back to default. I feel your pain.

gus_boyOr the Power Supply Unit is going bad.