Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

Dear forum,

Let me ask the question first and then write something about my hardware history.

How can I make a CD-rom with Fdisk with which I can make partitions on a HDD? Should only the application be on it, or also other files (a CD with only the application didn't work.)

I'd been having trouble with my HDD (bad sectors, conflicting software) on my desktop pc (specs: ) for a while when I finally decided to back up my documents and run a recovery of the system. I'd done it before with succes. I do have an installation CD for windows XP professional, but the current system was put on the computer in the factory with XP home edition and internet explorer and some other stuff. I'd loose this if I'd use the installation disc.
This time, recovering the system with the recovery CD's didn't work, probably because of the damaged HD. During the recovery process I got a few messages telling me something couldn't be extracted. The recovery continued, but after a restart a message tells me that 'The system isn't fully installed. Please run setup again'.
I bought a second HD with 160 GB (the old one has 80 GB). I wanted to use this as a slave, having heard that a recovery can not be done on another disc than the one the CD's are derived from.
I contacted HP (the computer's manufacturer), where they told me I actually can use the recovery CD's on the new disc. I tried this and it seemed to work (no error messages), but after the restart a noise was produced by the HD, as if it was stuck. Also here the message: 'The system isn't fully installed. Please run setup again' appeared.
I contacted HP again and they told me the new HD might have to be divided in two partitions, because it's twice as big as the old one. You can make a floppy disc with Fdisk that does this for you. The thing is, I don't have a floppy disc drive on the laptop I'm currently working on. An alternative would be to use a CD-ROM, but I noticed just putting the file FDISK on the CD doesn't work. The desktop computer ignores the CD. I set the drive containing the CD as the first boot device in BIOS.
What should I put on the CD to make it work, and: is it true the recovery should work if the HD has the a partition the same size as the old HD?
Thank you in ADVANCE for your answer.

Kind regards,
Jilt Dijk
Jiltdijk........ When you set the new hd as a slave , and installed it , is it not SEEN in the Computer Management section of XP as a raw disk ? Because you should be able to format it right from there ....... or has that failed as well ?

dl65 This far, I only tried to set it as a master (I wanted to set it as slave to the old HD until that one went bad). I'm not sure I know what the Computer Management section of XP is. How can I get there if no Windows is installed on the HD?

Kind regards,
Jilt Dijk
XP does not require FDISK. You can create and delete partitions from the screen right after you have to press F8 to agree to the EULA. Then you format the first one and install Windows.The thing is I'm not installing Windows from an installation disc. All I have is 8 recovery discs that contain the system as it was before it went bad. Therefore I need a way to make a partition without Windows or any other OS.Are these disks from the manufacturer or how were they created? If you just copied files from Windows onto them this likely will not work.No, they were made with a special feature in XP: System recovery. They're specifically meant for reinstalling the system without an installation disc and seem to be a way to avoid giving buyers a normal install CD which they can copy illegally. It seems to be relatively unknown, I've had several help desk attendants and other people raise their eyebrows on it.
In the mean time, I found a way to make a floppy disc with Fdisk. I haven't figured out yet how to make the partitions with it, but I'll keep you postedI'm still struggling. I deleted the partitions on the 160 GB HD:

1 PRI DOS 5426 MB 25% usage (C)
2 NTFS 16119 MB 75% usage

I did this because I want to format the drive and make two equal sized partitions. But now, I can't reach the HD with the command format, because I deleted C:. Did I make a mistake?
Come to think of it, I should probably look what partitions the old HD has and make exactly those on the new one. My initial hunch was: New HD is twice as big as old HD, so cut it in half.
I wonder how this will end..

JiltQuote

No, [highlight]they were made with a special feature in XP: System recovery[/highlight]. They're specifically meant for reinstalling the system without an installation disc and seem to be a way to avoid giving buyers a normal install CD which they can copy illegally. It seems to be relatively unknown, I've had several help desk attendants and other people raise their eyebrows on it.
In the mean time, I found a way to make a floppy disc with Fdisk. I haven't figured out yet how to make the partitions with it, but I'll keep you posted

First of all, sorry that my first post is for help but the problem is how I found the forum.

Basically, one morning I turned on the computer and was just doing my daily things when all of a sudden the computer turned itself off, it was very sudden, no signs of any problems or ANYTHING. Now if I try to turn it on, the power button gets pressed like any other useless button and does nothing. Makes a little click sound like always, and the computer does not turn on.

My belief is that this is HARDDRIVE related; however I am not entire certain if that is what the problem was. My harddrive is 40GB Western DIGITAL harddrive, and I'm currently looking for the box to give you all more information but can't seem to find it, I will continue looking however.

I tried turning off the powerbar, cooling the area around my mid-tower case, and cooling the case itself down, letting the computer rest for 24 hours, and then turning it on, but same problem, pressed the button, it didn't turn on.

If this isn't a harddrive problem, anyone know what it could be? If you need information on any other parts of my computer and whatnot, please ask I'll be more than happy to provide you with the information.

Also, if the harddrive did die out on me, is there anyway of fixing it,

I will respond ASAP if there are any other questions.

THANK YOU! ... in advance.It could be a power supply, possibly the hard drive, maybe even something else.

It seems that to solve this mystery there needs to be a little "operation". If you've got the know-how to open up the case (which I am NOT advocating) UNLESS you have experience, I"d recommend taking the SYSTEM to a knowledgeable computer repair person.

Alan <><

Quote

It could be a power supply, possibly the hard drive, maybe even something else.

It seems that to solve this mystery there needs to be a little "operation". If you've got the know-how to open up the case (which I am NOT advocating) UNLESS you have experience, I"d recommend taking the system to a knowledgeable computer repair person.

Alan <><

Quote

is this with all the games u play? if not, SEARCH for SUPPORT for that GAME, maybe its a well-known bug. if so, connect a other monitor to ur pc. if the problem appears on that one too, then we know that its ur video CARD. just search for any video card options (not the windows crap) and look if u can change something in color/contrast or just send a email to ur video card support.

i HOPE this helped,
Quatroking

ok am gonna redo everything.. but do i have the right pieces for the computer?We STILL don't know because you have not listed the motherboard make and model. You put:

AMD SOCKET A motherboard VIA KT266A ATX

There are a LOT of socket A motherboards and a LOT of motherboards that nse the VIA KT266A chipset.

Until we know that we cannot begin to help. If you don't know and you don't have it ona receipt you will just have to LOOK at the thing. It will be printed on the motherboard.
Quote

If you don't know [highlight]you will just have to LOOK at the thing. It will be printed on the motherboard.[/highlight]

Hey. UH... I left my comp alone for about 30 minutes. When I came back these weird lines kept on flashing on the computer screen. I restarted it and did a system restore. And the lines were still there... :-/
Each time a line appears I hear a tiny jingling noise. The lines are occasional but worrying. If someone could tell me what's going on I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks. Some actual details about the machine could be helpful. I guess we can assume Windows ME but we know NOTHING about the hardware, what preceeded this, other issues, etc.

Your turn.TragicKingdom92..... Quote

TragicKingdom92

Some actual details about the machine could be helpful. I guess we can assume Windows ME but we know nothing about the hardware, what preceeded this, other issues, etc.

Your turn.

Quote

[highlight]GO,yea[/highlight],i am having sound problem's,not working,so

i RIGHT-CLICK,on my computer,then properties,then hardware,then device manager,and this is what i got
under PORTS(COM & LPT) i get
a ! mark
in
Multiport Communications Port (COM4)
help,i want my music,

I installed Dragon Naturally Speaking. The mike did not work on either set of motherboard apertures. I installed new sound card, no luck; BOUGHT new headset w/mike no luck, re-installed software. Still cannot get response when using mike. Checked and re-checked settings and tests in control panel. Is it possible there is a BIOS setting that prevents the mike from operating? BIOS is American MegaTrends 080012 11/15/05. Realtek is factory installed and Soundblaster is new sound card.

system is XP w/1 G RAMWhat version Dragon? Some earlier ones were not compatible beyond 98. Do you get install errors? Is it a legal CD?

Did you DISABLE any ONBOARD sound in the BIOS?I installed Dragon9 -purchased it from Nuance software. Have not touched BIOS--am looking for directions to explore BIOS as a possible answer to why the mike won't activate either in the test within 'Sounds and Audio DEVICES' or in the test within the Dragon program. OS is XP.Does the microphone work by iteself in Windows regardless of Dragon?How to get into your computer's BIOS

You've double checked to make sure you have the mic connected to the right jack, right? On my card, it's a pink colored jack.

The first time I connected a mic, I thought something was not WORKING. I heard no sound. I learned that I needed to open the software I installed with my sound card and check a box for "Enable Microphone Booster". Once I did that, I could hear the mic.

help

as you can see some of my letters have been taken over by numbers!!!!!!

can anyone help me? Huh

im on a laptop and the numbers which are normally on the left hand side of a normal keyboard are slap bang in the middle of mine!!!!

i also have realised that the numbers corresponding to the letters an on the TOP right of each key!!!! please help

Fairly new computer, intel Motherboard, Pentium D 3.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX 540 video card, Dell 2005 FPW monitor. Computer working fine until now. Now, monitor will not light up, even upon startup. Monitor has a status button. When pressed, says monitor is in POWER Saving Mode, press key or move mouse to wake (which does nothing) Monitor works fine when connected with my Apple PowerBook G4. Removing video cable puts monitor in Self-Check mode, so monitor at least recognizes that it is connected to video card. DVI-D or VGA cable, same problem. Dont think it is a windows problem, can't even see the BIOS screen on startup. I don't have another videocard to try to isolate the problem.

Thanks in advance for the help,

Danieldoes another monitor do the same thing on this PC?Don't have another monitor to check with. I have apple laptops and an I-mac (ball model)Can you borrow one from somebody?Not easily. What are you thinking?

The monitor worked fine before, and also still works when connected to my laptop, so I think that rules out the monitor being the problem. Do you suspect the monitor is not working just with this computer?I'm thinking maybe that particular monitor may not be compatible with that particular computer. i just want to make sure that a known compatible monitor will work.The monitor has worked fine with this computer until now.Drivers were working fine 3 days ago. I shut down the computer. Now, 3 days later, when I try to start-up, nothing. The info on the computer is in the first post. Additionally, the mother board is an Intel D945Pvs, the computer sports one hard dreive (seagate, I think) and one DVD/CD burner/player.you'll just have to get a videocard from somewhere to try in your machine, then. let US know. 8-)Any other ideas? I'm thinking of going to buy a cheap video card, but it'll still cost me.Ok. I just installed a brand new video card, and I'm getting the same problem. I also just re-tested my monitor by plugging it into my MacBook and it works just fine.

I'm really stumped now. Should I now be replacing the motherboard, or can anyone think of anything else that would be causing this behavior? I really appreciate the help.

By the way, the fan on the videocard turns, so it is getting (at least some kind of) power.I think it's a motherboard problem. I'm using an intel desktop D945PVS with a 945P express chipset. If I try to boot without any video card in place, I should get a beep code. I get silence. Monitor OK.
Video card OK.
No POST.
No 'Power GOOD" signal.
Swap the PSU.
BTW, I've read that hitting the reset can achieve a power good signal but I've NEVER seen it 1st hand so you might want to try what Quatroking suggested.
Let us know what happens?It may be the slot that your video card is in (AGP or PCIe) that is not working properly. It could also be your chipset (BIOS) that gave up the ghost. No telling if you can't get any output. New mobo should fix it tho.If by reset, you mean the button next to the start button, did that to no avail.

Is there any chance the BIOS code could simply have gone bad (is it in flash memory?) and that I could fix the problem by reloading this (moving a jumper on the motherboard and booting with a CD containing the BIOS code) This procedure is described in the Intel documentation for the motherboard. However, I'm not clear on the symptoms of such a failure and whether this could be my problem. Any ideas on that?

I also like the idea that I might just have a power supply that has gone bad. I will get my voltmeter and check all the output voltages.

Thanks again for your help,

Daniel

hi i was wondering if anyone could HELP because this problem is driving me up the wall!

Iv'e got a roughly 5 month old Compaq PRESARIO v4305EA note book and recently the dvd drive has decided to stop WORKING. It won't even show up on "my computer" or in the hardware lists. The weird thing is every now and then it does show up and works fine... for about 10 minutes of steady use. For example, it decided to work yesterday so i thought "great heres my chance to chill out and play some games".

I put a disk in to install and roughly half way through the install it froze. I left it alone for around half an hour to see if it would retart the install. after a while a message popped up saying it COULDNT find the correct files. I checked to see if my dvd drive still existed and lo and behold it had decided to vanish into thin air again!

Ive tryed the Compaq website troubleshooters but there is no mention of a problem like this. I thought maybe it was a driver issue but i cant find drivers on their site. they have a diagnosis PROGRAM on the site but it seems to think there is nothing wrong with my laptop so was decidedly unhelpful!

If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate any assistance.
Thanks guys!Seeing how it is 5 months old i would contact Compaq and demand a warranty replacement...

patio. 8-)I agree with Patio. That's why manufacturers give a warranty. You are ENTITLED to that service. You paid for it.

Alan <><

I have a problem getting my computer to recognize a new drive. I have a main drive attached to the PRIMARY IDE port as a master that I partitioned into lots of virtual drives. I want to get rid of all those drive assignments and copy all the STUFF off the drive and reformat it. So I attached a new unused drive to the secondary IDE port as a master. The BIOS autodetects it and knows it's there what type and how big etc (Type 80). The drive doesn't show up under My Computer or Explorer. I checked System Info under components and storage and it sees the drives. The first one (Type 47)has letters assigned the second one has no letters assigned. The field is not able to be edited. There are drivers loaded for both. What didn't I do or what's wrong and how do I get it to assign a drive letter? The final drive command is U or something higher than what I stopped at which was P.A drive has to be jumpered correctly, seen in the BIOS correctly and partitioned to be seen by Windows. Which of these requirements do you not meet?The drive is jumpered correctly. It's in the master position and like I said the Bios recognizes it in setup and when the computer starts the DISK drive status briefly flashes on the screen I went through setup and it autodetected it and filled in the information under secondary master where it was supposed to be and the main drive also. Both primary and secondary slave positions were listed as not detected as they should be.

So I GUESS it's #3. I don't know how to partition or do anything else with a drive that windows doesn't recognize. That's the problem. IF it would show up I could do something with it.Which operating system?Win 98SEBoot with the Win98 boot disk.
Type in fdisk and press enter.
Choose create Partition, Extended DOS Partition.
Then it will make it a locical drive.
Reboot and there you go - one more drive letter.Thank you so much for the information. Now maybe I'll be able to create some space on my computer.
Glad you are all fixed up and thanks for posting back.

I removed the two Plexor drives and installed a new Sony DRU-820A drive today. It recorded great, both data files and music using my NTI SOFTWARE and the resident Windows program. I then installed one of the Plexor drives as the second drive and tried recording data files to it. The NTI software said that it had been successful.

I tried looking at the files on the CD, and there were none, but there was also 702 Meg of space AVAILABLE. I then took the CD from the Plextor drive and put it into the Sony drive, and it read all of the files perfectly. So, it appears that both Plexor drives can write files, but cannot read them after. But it can read files from CDs I created prior to the problems I had.

I had been CONVERTING cassette tape music to CDs when the problem started. I would put a BLANK CD in each drive. On one I would save the .wav files as data files. Once that was finished, I would create a music CD on the other drive. What made me suspect the drives were OK is that they both stopped working correctly at the same time. Neither of the CDs worked when I tried to read the data (or play the audio CD). Go figure......

I'm going to get a second Sony drive and replace the second Plextor drive, and I think that will solve this problem. Anyhow, that is the way the story ends.

is your hard drive supposed to be connected to the master or slave port?lukeluke..... Quote

is your hard drive supposed to be connected to the master or slave port?

Hello!

I have a problem with my secondary hard drive. I have had ANOTHER hard drive (X) plugged in (it was from another computer) which is now removed and the original hard drive (Y) is plugged back in (with the same cable). Unfortunately, when I load Windows, it shows me the information of the X hard drive, not the one I have now. It shows the capacity and free space and somewhat corrupted version of the file list that for the X disc which is not connected anymore. Still the model and size is shown correctly at the booting time and also device manager shows the real model/driver (of Y) and tells me that there are no problems with the particular device.

So, in short, instead of what really is inside a hard drive Y Windows shows me corrupted contents of now disconnected disc X. What should I do about this?

I have tried enable/disable the device. I have tried to uninstall it, but after a reboot it was back on again (with the correct name but wrong disc content information).

Thanks!When you had X drive installed in your computer, did you have both drives connected to the same data cable? Yes, it was the same long (and wide belt-like) cable at a different plug in point. IIRC, I didn't plug off the data (or power) cable from the disc Y at any time at all. I unplug the power cable (IOW, unplugged the disc) of my primary disc (disc W) though at those times when I wanted the X disc to boot as the primary (although it never boot sucesfully as it was corrupt).Quote

(with the correct name but wrong disc content information)

Yes, it was the same long (and wide belt-like) cable at a different plug in point. IIRC, I didn't plug off the data (or power) cable from the disc Y at any time at all. I unplug the power cable (IOW, unplugged the disc) of my primary disc (disc W) though at those times when I wanted the X disc to boot as the primary (although it never boot sucesfully as it was corrupt).

Okay guys, I've tried EVERYTHING to resolve this issue and still no luck so I'm really hoping that someone could help.

I purchased a Compaq SR1834NX MCE PC several months AGO, and everything was working great. I decided to add a TV Tuner card (not included in the original package), so I ordered a HAUPPAUGE WinTV-PVR 150 Media Center Kit. I installed the card, and it worked great.

Since I was using onboard video, I upgraded my video card to a MSI RX800 PCI-E Video card. Again, things were working great.

Pressing my luck, I decided to update all of my video drivers, as well as update the BIOS to a newer version listed on the Compaq website (for my specific COMPUTER). If I remember correctly, when I updated the BIOS, I received a checksum error but the computer continued to reboot before I could go into the BIOS SETUP and RESTORE the defaults. Since then, I have not received any BIOS error messages.

I BELIEVE that it was around this time that I started having the problem with watching TV through the Media Center. Now, when I try viewing TV, it takes about 5 minutes of the spinning MC (arrow) wheel before anything appears, and then the audio and video is VERY choppy and unwatchable. The computer also becomes EXTREMELY slow and unstable, requiring me to end the MC in order to perform any tasks (browsing, opening programs).

As I mentiond, I've been working on this problem for weeks now. I've upgraded codecs, restored my drivers, removed the ATI video card and used the onboard video with no resolution to the problem.

I even formatted the hard drive and re-installed the OS with no luck - the problem persists.

The only ideas I have left is that either the BIOS upgrade has caused an issue, or the tuner card has gone bad in some way.

When I view system resources when the TV tuner is running, I see that my computer's 'interrupts' are using the majority of the system resources.

My BIOS version is showing as 3.13. Another thing I noticed that seemed odd to me (could be normal?) is that when I go into the BIOS, I see the following:

First Channel Device 0 - None
First Channel Device 1 - None
Second Channel Device 0 - HL-DT-STDVDRRW
Second Channel Device 1 - None
Third Channel Device 0 - Samsung SP2504
Fourth Channel Device 0 - None.

Should the HD be showing on the First channel? Would this matter?

The CPU is a AMD Athlon 3500+. There is 1 gig of installed RAM.

I believe that my PS is 200W. I know that the Video card recommends a 250W min. PS, but I have seen posts where a 200W PS works fine with the video card. I would also think that if it was a problem with too small a PS, the computer would be experiencing other problems, correct? Also, I was using both the tuner card and video card with no problems previously.

I also noticed that the support documentation for the Compaq suggested that if a TV tuner card was added, a USB tuner card was suggested. Again, the tuner card was previously working fine, so I assume this wouldn't be the issue.

Ugh. This is driving me CRAZY! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!!

I'm not sure where to put this, as it involves non-computer hardware, the internet, drivers and linux!

My current setup for wireless internet is as follows:

I replaced my BT Broadband USB modem with a Netgear modem and wireless router, so I could get wireless internet in my room, and use the modem for my parents computer downstairs. This was about 8 months ago.

That was all fine and well, until my XP machine broke and I reverted to using an old windows 98 machine, as I will for the medium term until I can get my other repaired.

I want to swap the modem and adapter, as in, move the adapter on my computer downstairs, and the modem upstairs.

One REASON for this is that netgear have never made a driver for Windows 98 first edition for their adapter, and never will.

Second reason, and more importantly (for me) Is that I really want to use linux and access the interent. All Linux's I have tried DIDNT detect my old USB BT broadband modem, nor do they detect my current USB adapter. However, they seem to have no trouble with a modem plugged into the ethernet port, like the current one on my parets PC. That is how I am typing this whilst using a live CD of KILL Bill Slax.

However, there are no phone outlets in my room for my modem. My parents certainly wont let me trail a mile of cable through the house, even if it is all tacked down nice and neatly with pins.

So, you can see the pickle I am in.

I hear of wireless telephone extentions that use power outlets, but I do not know if they are suitable for ADSL, or how expensive they are. I don't want to spend much more than 20 GBP.

Any Ideas?Quote

...I hear of wireless telephone extentions that use power outlets, but I do not know if they are suitable for ADSL, or how expensive they are. I don't want to spend much more than 20 GBP...

Oh for want of a copy of Windows 2000.

Quote

Oh for want of a copy of Windows 2000.

Have you considered finding a copy on Bear Share or some other P2P program?
try www.bearshare.com . Search Apps for either windows 2000 or 98 SE
Good luck in your quest!

Something to note: if Everest was incorrect about your motherboard details, then it may also be incorrect about your maximum clock setting.Well Maybe, but i dougbt it, becuase i used PC Wizrd 2005 and it SAID the same thing for the model it was incorrect name but the Max Clock is 2000 or 2.0 ghzHave you TRIED looking in the BIOS? Write down for us any settings relating to frequency setting, CPU multiplier...Overclocking is probably the FASTEST route to a purchase of a new machine which if done properly would solve all your speed woes.Agreed.

Hello people,

Was wondering if I could get some help on a problem I'm having without having to wait till Monday to call Creative.

I originaly assembled my computer in March of 2002. The motherboard I bought for it was a EPoX 6P3D 8KHA+ and for a sound card I went with a Hercules Gaming Theratre XP. Of course, during the years since, I've replaced parts and upgraded others, but those have stayed with it.

At some point this week, my sound card stopped working. Not sure what happened, it's plugged into a surge protector and what not. I just know it was fine one day and the next all my speakers (a Logitech 5.1 surrond system) was getting was static. Since the speakers are only a couple years old and neither speakers or headphones were working, I right away assumed it was the sound card.

Of course, the first thing I thought off was that my motherboard might be SO old that a modern sound card might not work on it. So I checked the stats carefully of my old Hercules. The major points I came away with was that it needed to be used on a Intel or AMD compatiable motherboard (check), have 256k of RAM (check) and a PCI 2.1 slot (also check).

So I went out today and picked up a nice, expensive, top quality sound card -- the Creative Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic. Before taking it home, I checked the box carefully for the needed specs and it had the same specs as my old sound card, so I was sure it would work.

Came home, grounded myself, removed the old audio card, slid the new one in, plugged everything.....computer refused to start. I'm getting a error number on my motherboard display but I've long since misplaced the manual. In any event, I checked the settings and made sure the card was firmly in. No go. Once I removed the card, the system started right up again.

I'm at a loss as to what's going on here. Is there something else that's not mentioned in the docs or on the box that is preverting the card from working on my system? Am I correct that my motherboard might just be too old for a modern sound card? I've checked Creative's online site and found no help, and I really don't want to buy a new motherboard yet, since I would have to reinstall Windows XP and everything.

Could it be the PCI slot and not the sound card that was the problem? I never got a error MESSAGE on the motherboard, but I know of another problem due to the age of the motherboard....the current going into the USB ports was'nt stable anymore until I hooked up a power supply to it.

I've checked around online and can't find anything talking about the relationship between motherboards and sound cards that might give me a HINT to FIXING this problem. Please help.No one?

Updating what I said in my note yesterday, I tried the sound card in another PCI slot, same thing. I'm getting the motherboard POST code 26, but I can't find my motherboard manual and the one from EPox's website is down.

Help!Quote

...I'm getting a error number on my motherboard display but I've long since misplaced the manual. In any event, I checked the settings and made sure the card was firmly in. No go. Once I removed the card, the system started right up again...

In general my experience has been that the vid card should be the closest to the CPU and a modem if installed should be as far away from the vid card as possible...give this a try anfd report back.

patio. 8-)

I have a built in wireless adapter in my laptop. I am looking for some kind of usb antenna so when i am out and about i can connect to networks. I have searched high and low and cant find the proper thing.
Lots of antennas but they hook to the ROUTER. If ANYONE knows where i can find something like this let me know. thanks.A PROPERLY functioning and onfigured card does not need this.it is properly functioning, but if there is a network a little out of reach i want to be able to reach it.I doubt the built in wireless has the option of connecting an antenna. You would need to get a PCMCIA card that has this option and possibly a high gain antenna.yes, exactly, but i cant find any. i have checked many WEBSITES and cant find any. Do you know any manufacturers that make them?www.dlink.com
www.netgear.com
www.linksys.com

That's just for starters.Google: pcmcia wireless adapter with external antenna

You should find plenty.

the case is okay, but 5.3 GHZ?

I have built a computer a few years back, and at the time didn't have a lot of money so I went with a nice, big, yet cheap case. An AsiaPro (now ASYS) with two blue lighted tubes on the front, blue side fan and 450W Power Supply included (which recently went spazoid and died on me).

The case is very flimsy and the power supply is extremely light - hardly weighs anything. The MATX motherboard (A-Bit IS-10 with P4 2GHz Intel CPU) sits on the side and the power supply almost sits on the CPU heatsink/fan assembly (just like maybe 1/8" to 1/4" of room if that between the two). I can't use a heavier power supply as it'll bend the back of the case, and sit on the CPU fan/heatsink assembly.

So, I'm in the market for a good case. I would like to keep my existing hardware (2 hard drives, 1 3.5" Floppy drive, 1 DVD burner) 2 PCI cards - modem and TV Card, and an AGP VIDEO Card, motherboard, CPU, etc.) All I'm looking for at this point is the case and power supply.

I've been reading reviews on newegg.com for cases under $150 US and found many people saying some are "flimsy". The case should be sturdy enough to hold up even the most heaviest (in weight) power supplies these days.

I'd like some room to grow, maybe for eventually a couple SATA drives added on and maybe another DVD reader/burner. Maybe some more lights if the case doesn't have enough already.

I like the COOL looking gamer stuff. Also would want a side-window as it is helpful for seeing how the fans are doing and when it's getting dusty in there and time for cleaning. I liked the "X" look cases and also the Gaurdian though I don't think I'd buy a Gaurdian as I heard they are not all that great (anyone know for sure?)

As for a Power supply, whatever gives me room to grow and has some power protection built in. My motherboard needs a 20-pin ATX12V (it also has a 4-pin ATX12V as well). I have an A-Bit IS-10 motherboard and it's a good board so far. I might upgrade the nVidia video card I have (AGP) at some point so having power for all that stuff would be needed. I do some 3D stuff sometimes, plus video creation, editing, flash, etc. I like to watch a lot of streaming video and listen to internet radio stations.

I don't have a lot of money but I probably would go over $150 for a good case, but not too much over. Power Supply can or doesn't have to be included (if no P/S, suggestions would be appreciated).

Links to where to buy and/or manufacturer and model #s are also greatly appreciated.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I should look into?
Antec makes nice cases and power supplies. Hard to go wrong there.

Sometimes the "bling" factor gets you some other nice extras - poor airflow and noise. You do, indeed, get what you pay for. I just purchased and recieved this case

http://cgi.ebay.com/Logisys-Clear-Acrylic-Gaming-Computer-Case-w-LED-Fan_W0QQitemZ230019779826QQihZ013QQcategoryZ80168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Was delivered fast and is very strong.

Building my new amd fx62 system with this. Has some good looks to it if you can keep the dust out of it.Thanks for the suggestions.

Sneakers - How did the acrylic case hold up to scraches, etc? I was always wondering if also it can hold heavier components ok without cracking/chipping, etc. I've never seen an acrylic up-close before.

I've narrowed my choices down a little (but am still open to SUGGESIONS). At NewEgg.com I found these:

• Cooler Master Centurion (No P/S)
  
• Xion Solaris XON-401 (w/ 450W P/S which I wouldn't use)
  
• Xion II XON-101 (w/ 450W P/S which I wouldn't use)
  

I just purchased and recieved this case

http://cgi.ebay.com/Logisys-Clear-Acrylic-Gaming-Computer-Case-w-LED-Fan_W0QQitemZ230019779826QQihZ013QQcategoryZ80168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Was delivered fast and is very strong.

Building my new amd fx62 system with this. Has some good looks to it if you can keep the dust out of it.

Just wondering, what does that mean honventops?

Hello group, I need your help & WISDOM. I built my own computer - Antec case, Gigabyte GA7N400 motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 2400 processor, 1gig ram, ATI All-in-wonder AGP card, Sony DVD player, Sony DVD burner, 3 hard drives, Windows XP Home SP2. It was working great, then I decided to install a rear cooling fan in the case. I had an 80mm fan with a heat sensor lead on it for variable speed, connected to a power lead from the power supply. Somehow I pinched the sensor lead and when I tried to restart the computer, it would not start. So I opened the case, found the problem, repaired the sensor lead, and restarted the computer. Worked ok. Then my monitor started to go black intermittently. So I tried another monitor, worked ok, then it started going black. Opened up the case and found the cooling fan for the CPU was not working. So I changed the CPU Cooling fan. Still didn't work. Re-installed the original cooling fan, and hooked up the fan to a power lead rather than hooking it back onto the motherboard. Fan worked ok. but system still UNSTABLE. Now the QUESTION - do you believe I fried the CPU (?), the motherboard (?), both (?) or do you have any other ideas? Any help would be appreciated.find another compatible processor and switch it with your own.

then come back and report the results.Since you "Opened up the case and found the cooling fan for the CPU was not working", I believe you may have fried the CPU. Based on numerous comments I've seen in forums on AMD CPUs and their vulnerability to rapid damage in case of CPU fan failure, I understand they can be ruined within seconds of operating without a fan.

Do you have any idea why the CPU stopped working? It had prviously been working, right?No, I don't know why the CPU fan quit working, but the CPU was still working, the machine would just go blank, sometimes reset itself. So I don't know if the Power Supply was damaged when I shorted the case fan sensor leads, or if that took out something on the motherboard. I also have READ of AMD processors being "fried" if you don't have a heatsink on them, but my heatsink was still on the CPU, with the CPU cooling fan not working.AMD processors will fry within a second or two if the cooling fails. Intels have thermal protection so the machine will turn off to protect it.OK, but does the CPU control the CPU cooling fan operation? Did I also fry the motherboard? And/or did I damage the power supply? Thanks for the help.You'll have to replace it a piece at a time until you see what it takes to get it going.Quote

OK, but does the CPU control the CPU cooling fan operation? Did I also fry the motherboard? And/or did I damage the power supply? Thanks for the help.

hello,
ok my moms boyfriend tried to BURN a cd in WINDOWS media PLAYER and it said to turn down the speed at which it WRITES the information. how do i tun it down?? i have a cd burner win XP home

TIA

unlovedwarrior

I have an 800 MHz Gateway computer, 2 EIDE hard drives, 1 CD-ROM, 1 CD-RW drive, 512 MB RAM. I recently installed a SCSI controller ( Adeptec AHA-2940U/AHA-2940UW PCI SCSI controller) and a SCSI drive (IBM-PSG DNES-309170)(9.1 GB). This drive and card have been lying around for some time and this is the first time I have installed them. The controller and drive both show up in the device manager, and the manager says they are both working properly. My problem is that the drive has not been assigned a drive letter, and does not show up in the explorer. I have run the disk UTILITIES, verified the media and also formatted the drive. The card's ID is 7 and the drive's ID is 1, after I changed the jumpers, it was 8 prior to that. Neither setting netted me the desired results. I am at a loss. Please, any suggestions would be appreciated.Have you checked in the BIOS to see if SCSI devices are enabled ? ?
Did you install the drivers for the device ? ?

patio. 8-)I have not installed device drivers and I don't see anything in the bios setup to enable scsi. I am new to SCSI(as you can probably already tell) and was not aware that drivers had to be installed. My OS is W2K with SP4. When I check the drive and the card in the device manager, it says the drivers are installed, and that the devices are working properly. If you need more info on the system, please ask, I will provide. Thank you for your reply, and for any other assistance you may provide.


After rebooting my system and checking the BIOS, I find there is NO option for enabling/disabling SCSI. However, the SCSI card IS LISTED in my boot options. I have no real interest in making this a bootable drive, I would just like to access it for additional storage.I got my issue resolved. I have been messing with computers for several years, and made a ROOKIE mistake with this drive. I failed to check the DOS partition on the drive. There was no DOS partition at all. After running Fdisk on the drive, creating a primary DOS partition and formatting the drive, I now have a functioning drive. Thank you for the one post I recieved, as it caused me to rethink my issues, and download the drivers from ADAPTEC for the card.
I'm glad to hear you got it resolved although i was no help...thanx for posting back and letting us know.

patio. 8-)Patio,
You actually were some help. By searching for and installing the drivers for the card, it made me do a little more research, and realize that I needed to run fdisk and SET the dos partitions. Even though I had formatted the drive using CTRL+A (option available at POST), the drive still wouldnt show up in explorer, because, to windows, it didn't exist without a dos partition.
Thanks again,

photowrench You're more than Welcome...the donuts are in the Other section.

patio. 8-)

8/18/2006 - Lost HD Master function / CMOS checksum error

Win XP Pro SP2; Celeron 2.66 GHz; 256 mB RAM;
40 GB HD (WD); PARTITIONS: C: = FAT 32 / D: = NTFS; (50/50)
Western Digital HD (2004)
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00 PG, (2005)

No boot to Win XP in morning. OK last nite. Nothing new installed
nor major changes made. No known recent virus infection. Kept
re-booting endlessly:

(1) 1st screen = logo, w/ following message at bottom:

"Press TAB for POST, DEL to enter SETUP"

(2) Then:

"CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP"

(3) Then displays mid-screen "POWER SAVING" message (in normal
OPERATION, this same msg screens for 5 seconds just before pc shuts
down).

Then it recycles to (1) again and so on...

If I press F1 (at end of (2), above), get the regular device detect
screen on top and "verifying DMI pool data ...." message at
bottom and then "starting..."

Then the looping repeats...

Pulled BIOS battery & pwr plug to let things bleed off and reset
BIOS. Ran w/o the battery. Not much dif. Battery OK (> 3 Vdc).

Changing a few things temporarily in the BIOS didn't help.
If DISABLED "quick boot" though, the screen would hang at
"Press TAB for POST screen, Delete for Setup". Had to pull the
BIOS battery to reset BIOS to get operational again.

Settings in BIOS all look OK. Most are automatic anyway. Health
good. All voltages within +/- 5%. Both fans going. Also tried
"optimal settings". "Fail SAFE defaults" only works for 1st
menu and it's difficult to repeat this choice (think the BIOS has
to be reset before this choice can be REPEATED. It is not offered
as a Main menu option).

-----

I've 'detailed' the above for ref only, in event there's a clue in it. Don't
OFFHAND see how the BIOS or battery could be the problem, because any
changes I make are retained.

Additional info:

(a) On each boot, the HD was recognized OK but boot
would recycle before it ever got to Windows.

(b) Can get into drive C: (FAT 32) OK, via DOS diskette boot,
to access all files on C: - but not into D:, the NTFS partition
(one reason I prefer FAT 32).

(c) The HD works OK in the spare comp - but only as "Slave";
so full data recovery is (as yet!) no problem. Next...

(d) ran 'chkdsk' on both partitions. Windows reports no
problems - but shows the old 1 MB in bad sectors on C:. Next...

(e) ran a full 'Scandisk' on both partitions. All I got after
about 15 minutes of Phase 1 and 2 was "Scan complete".
No report. Next...

(f) checked Device Manager - OK. Troubleshooter wasn't
much use (there was no branch option for a Master or Slave
configuration problem and all else was irrelevant or OK).

(g) When I first used this comp 6 months ago, did a chkdsk
and found around 1MB of bad sectors. There's no change in
the nr of bad sectors.

Haven't tried replacing it w/ another HD yet. Understand the
HD install was only about 18 months old. Mfr date = 2004.

Wondering now if some more (critical) sectors went bad and
which are preventing the boot to the OS. Yet neither ChkDsk
nor Scandisk found any problem. If the MBR was affected,
there should have been some indication.

Like to test the spare comp HD in the bad HD comp, just
to 100% rule out other system problems. I hesitate for now
because:

(a) Bad HD works OK as "Slave" in spare comp - but not as
Master. If jumper it for Master or CS, exact same problem
recurs at the spare comp as at my comp. Seems to imply
an HD only problem. Otherwise, it should run OK as a
Master at spare comp.

(b) Oddly enough, spare comp had same problem some weeks ago!
at which time I went thru tons of diagnostics, virus checks, boards
reseating, disassembly/re-assembly - and found nothing; yet the
problem's disappeared after all that.

So, am reluctant to put the now good spare-comp HD into my own
system as yet (to prove that there's nothing amiss w/ my
system) lest the transfer operation might cause the same
problem to re-emerge at the *spare* HD or comp. That would
leave me with NO system at all; and I don't have any other
HD to spare for the test.

So I'll leave that for a potentially last-resort check.

BTW, would there be a utility available via which one
could get either a screenshot or a text copy of the
BIOS settings for one's future ref?

What can I do to get my HD to work as Master again?
Would re-formating it help?

Note: Since I've just read thru your BIOS/CMOS info here
and checked out Western Digital via your link, I'm now
inclined to believe there's been a possible virus infection
at either the BIOS/CMOS memory or at HD MBR.

Thanx in advance for any assist on this issue. :-?

Jed...
Quote

..."CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded
Warning! CPU has changed. or CPU ratio changed fail
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save
before exit!...

... or under 80 Euros for our friends in the opposite hemisphere.

Ideas anyone?Search through this google of Amazon.com:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-28,GGLG:en&q=pci%2De+video+card+site%3Aamazon%2Ecom

Hope ya' find it, Hopester!

7300 GT.
But u should spend another 30$ and get the 7600 GT.Thanks, Track and Doc. Anybody else care to weigh in?

Google is good, but people here are the real users and I would like to gauge real opinion. My personal interest aside, with the prices of video CARDS these DAYS I think it would be good information for a lot of others as well.I've been a Nvidia user all my life but recently I bought an ATI x1600XT 256mb and I must say I am satisfied with it. The model lower, x1600 Pro 256mb should be round about in your price range. I live in England, where prices can be very different, so I don't know

http://www.pricegrabber.co.uk/search.php?form_keyword=x1600&mode=g_uk_b_s&skd=1

What I do suggest is you avoid 512mb graphics cards. At the speeds you'll be getting in this price range, the extra memory will not make any difference. If you see two SEEMINGLY identical cards at similar price, but one with 512mb memory, the usual case is it is lower quality memory in order to compensate... be aware of this little trick Quote

7300 GT.
But u should spend another 30$ and get the 7600 GT.

i am not sure why, but when i moved the primary hard drive to a 5.25 inch bay mounted in what use to be a coverter for a zip drive to sit in a 5.25 bay, witth the CD burner hooked to its IDE bus as a slave, i moved my 2nd hard drive directly below the floppy bay, it is on the same IDE bus as my DVD burner. i did this so i could have a dvd and cd burner, but i did not want both hard drives on hte same IDE bus. i heard having two drives on one bus can cause lagg if there is reading and or writing of data on both drives at the same time. i did get lagg when they where on the same bus, but they where also right next to each other. so, after moving them and installing the new front USB\audio ports, i boot, and theres no lagg on my music if i try to do alot at once (being downloading and and listening to music).

now my question is this: is the lagg gone because they are on a differant bus? or is it gone because there was interference caused by the drives being too close to each other? i just want to know for future referance. oh, a few other minor questions about my board... my manual says there are pins for a firewire port to be installed, but, the pins arnt there, just holes with solder in them, and it in no way says this was optional, from what the book said, those pins where stock, is this just a manufacturing fluke?. also, there is a second power LIGHT connection that is next to the speaker connection pins (the speaker for the beeps and boops made by the computer). i have no idea WHY you would want two power lights... but it is there, none the less, if you know why, please enlighten me on this, the power light on this, and pretty much all cases should be enough to get the point across. and my final question is if my power supply fan is ready to die, or the whole power supply at once... the fan on my powersupply is barly spinning, i cant feel any air being sucked in or out of either side of the PSU... should i replace this fan? i mean, it does get REALLY warm at times... or is my Xpower PSU ready to just kick it? god i HOPE not... my only other PSU is that okia 420w PSU, that i wouldnt use to run a blender... if needed, i can gut the fan outta the okia, it is a good lil fan, i tested it.

for referance, this is my mobo: [link]http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=661FM2-LSR&class=mb[/link]

Provide as much info about your system as you can and someone will be along shortly to assist...

patio. 8-)primary master: Seagate Barricuda 7200 RPM 8mb buffer 80 gig IDE

primary slave: Khypermedia 52X cd RW drive

secondary master: lite on DVD RW

secondary slave: Quantum fireball 40 gig 7200 rpm, 2mb bufffer, IDE

ram bank 0: Kinsgston 512mb PC3200 DDR 400

ram bank 1: i dont know what the secondary is, sandra doesnt say, it says it was manufactured in 99 though...

primary vpu: NVIDIA gforce4 MX 4000 64mb 64 bit PCI

secondary vpu: onboard SIS graphics, 16mb (shared) supposedly full 256 bit, but i HIGHLY doubt it...

Proccessor: celeron D 2.60ghz 128 cache, 478 socket

need to know anything else, just askGet that CD drive off IDE 1...both hard drives should be on the same channel. A CD and or DVD device will slow down the transfer rates of any HDD if on the same channel...
If you need the second HDD as a master the solution would be to use a PCI IDE card added on.

patio. 8-)Quote

Get that CD drive off IDE 1...both hard drives should be on the same channel. A CD and or DVD device will slow down the transfer rates of any HDD if on the same channel...
If you need the second HDD as a master the solution would be to use a PCI IDE card added on.

patio. 8-)

[highlight]if i put two hard drives on the same bus it will lagg[/highlight], i rarly get lagg because i dont use my CD or DVD burners much, btw, [highlight]the power supply is an Xpower 380w, cheap off brand that gets way too hot[/highlight] for my liking

Quote

[highlight]if i put two hard drives on the same bus it will lagg[/highlight], i rarly get lagg because i dont use my CD or DVD burners much, btw, [highlight]the power supply is an Xpower 380w, cheap off brand that gets way too hot[/highlight] for my liking

Yes, I think that is diagnostic right there.

You have answered your question...i'd still reconsider running optical and HDD's on the same IDE channel but that's just me.

patio. 8-)

hello. =D

my p.o.s. eMachines POWER supply died so i replaced it with a new Antec super awesome one.
now when i turn the comp on, EVERYTHING powers up and i think its working.
only problem is no display. (*censored*? :-?)
power is going to the monitor. it turns on.
all of the comp boots. but no visual.

any suggestions??Quote

hello. =D

my p.o.s. eMachines power supply died so i replaced it with a new Antec super awesome one.
now when i turn the comp on, everything powers up and i think its working.
only problem is no display. (*censored*? :-?)
power is going to the monitor. it turns on.
all of the comp boots. but no visual.

any suggestions??

hello. =D

my p.o.s. eMachines power supply died so i replaced it with a new Antec super awesome one.
now when i turn the comp on, everything powers up and i think its working.
only problem is no display. (*censored*? :-?)
[highlight]power is going to the monitor. it turns on.[/highlight]all of the comp boots. but no visual.

any suggestions??

I desided to build my own computer beacause it cost lest better computer right will I'm havinf problems performing my first POWER test and could use some suggestions on whats wrong.

Ok so here we go, all I have plugged in is the CPU, heatsink, memory, and power suppley. Everthing is brand new and good and when I go to perform power test nothing my power supply buzzes and does not TURN on or turn blue.

But heres the part I can't explain. When I take a paper clip right and PUT one end into the green wire on the power cord and one into the black and then into there corrosponding spots on the motherboard the fan starts up blue and spinning i get beeps and the heatsink turns blue everthing works fine. But when I go to plug the cord back in to the motherboard nothing, and the connections is FIRM I know.

All i can think is its a bad cable loose wire or something. If anyone has any ideas would be of great help Thanks alot!!!

What brand of PSU is this ? ?

Are all MBoard connections double-checked and secure ? ?

More info.

patio. 8-)The motherboard is a gigabyte K8N Ultra 9 with an AMd proccessor and the power supply is a Thermaltake pure power 500w.

I have double and tripled checked all connections and they are secureAs a temporary check i would swap out the PSU and try another one...if the symptoms persist then maybe a bench test outside of the case on a rubber mat with just the bare neccessities to boot from;
CPU
RAM
Vid card
Primary HDD.

patio. 8-)This is the second PSU I swited it under warrenty and I did the test on the mat that the motherboard come on on top of the box so nothings in the case. Its just weird. The onlt thing I can think is bad cable maybe???It's either another bad PSU or something is not connected properly...

Start from scratch.

It's not impossible to get 2 bad components in a row...unlikely yes but not impossible.

patio. 8-)Quote

This is the second PSU I swited it under warrenty and I did the test on the mat that the motherboard come on on top of the box so nothings in the case. Its just weird. The onlt thing I can think is bad cable maybe???

It's either another bad PSU or something is not connected properly...

Start from scratch.

It's not impossible to get 2 bad components in a row...unlikely yes but not impossible.

patio. 8-)

Or missing standoffs on the MBoard...those are kinda important too...

patio. 8-)

Hi guys!!
My problem is, i have a full pc, which when i turn it on it turn, but it does not display at all, i have tried several cpu,memories,screens, psu and hdd but still it does not display. So pls can anyone help me or tell me what to do?

It`s an intel motherboard desktop D845 SeriesAny info on the video card? That will most likely be the problem. Are there any system beeps on startup?Thanks: It`s an on board VGA,i also tried pci and agp vga cards but still nothing is displaying.
On beep sounds, when everything is pluged, there is no beep sound at all(nothing except the lights of power on and hdd, and furthermore i hear a turnning hdd.And when i took out memory, there is a long beep. So i think the m/board is faulty but how?Quote

And when i took out memory, there is a long beep. So i think the m/board is faulty but how?

. . .i kinda just said that.

. . . . . .ur weird mate, really weird....

Hi guys!!

My problem is, i have a full pc, which when i turn it on it turn, but it does not display at all, i have tried several cpu,memories,screens, psu and hdd but still it does not display. So pls can anyone help me or tell me what to do?

It`s an intel motherboard desktop D845 Series

It`s an on board vga,i also tried pci and agp vga cards but still nothing is displaying.
On beep sounds, when everything is pluged, there is no beep sound at all(nothing except the lights of power on and hdd, and furthermore i hear a turnning hdd.

[highlight]And when i took out memory, there is a long beep. So i think the m/board is faulty but how? [/highlight]
Honestly, i have tried ALMOST what i think is best, removed m/board from the chaise, tested it separately, swapped components and still the m/board turns on but no displays at all,the k/board lights flashes, the Hdd turns on, power led turns on, hdd led turns on,light on the m/board turns on,even the cd-rom and stiffy drives leds turns on.So please do help.

i have integrated AC'97 6 channel audio on my MSI 7060 mobo, it keeps messing up, time after time. i dont know if it is because i have used it too much (i listen to music WHENEVER i am on the COMPUTER, unless im playing a game) or what... sometimes it wont work at all, and i have to uninstall it via the device manager, then tell it to scan for changes, where it re installs the AC'97 audio. sometimes it will start crackling, some times it will only come out of one speaker and just make a horrible scratching noise out of the other. now, i am somewhat reluctant to replace this for one reason: it has an EQ software with it, and, once it works, it sounds great through my amp\stereo, but, if i buy a new sound card, i atleast want basic treble and bass CONTROLS. i have no idea what this feature is called, or if it is even a listed feature. anyone help on finding a card to these specs would be nice:

the card has to be PCI

the card has to be 5.1 surround sound or above

the card must support basic tone controls (bass, treble, ect)

the card must have pins to plug the front audio ports of my case into

the card must have a mic in and line in

the card must be no more than about 40 bucks

my budget for this card will probably be nothing over 20 bucks... mabey 40 if i get my grandmother to buy it instead of my dad for my B-day. i would pay for it myself once i sell this 1991 SNES and 1985 NES, but i need that money for a new vid card (yes, my computer needs QUITE a bit of upgrading)...

EDIT: forgot to mention, the card MUST also have a midi\game port, no way around that, here is a list of cards that i was looking over

[link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&OEMMark=-1&Manufactory=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=1011%3A8503&PropertyCodeValue=1011%3A8501&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=1022%3A8528&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&Submit=Property&SubCategory=57[/link]

this is a card that i had my eye on because of the price and the 10 band eq:

[link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829111003[/link]

i have no idea if this card is worth buying, seems like a good deal, but it has no reviews, no one seems to have found it worth posting or somthing.That last one you listed may simply be a fairly new offering from newegg.com and they just accumulated any reviews on it yet. I do think you can get a satisfactory card for not more than $20. I bought a 5.1-capable card from newegg back in April 2005 that I only paid about $13 plus shipping for. It's worked fine for me, using the 2.1 speakers I had prior to buying the card. I've never bought a set of 5.1 speakers. I bought the sound card because, like you, I was having some problems with onboard sound.Quote

That last one you listed may simply be a fairly new offering from newegg.com and they just accumulated any reviews on it yet. I do think you can get a satisfactory card for not more than $20. I bought a 5.1-capable card from newegg back in April 2005 that I only paid about $13 plus shipping for. It's worked fine for me, using the 2.1 speakers I had prior to buying the card. I've never bought a set of 5.1 speakers. I bought the sound card because, like you, I was having some problems with onboard sound.

Most computers don't require any "modding", ever.

Quote

Problem solved. It would seem that my Windows Volume Control wanted "DIGITAL Output Only" unchecked.

I've tried searching the forums to see if this problem has been addressed before, but nothing I could find. So I hope someone has a glimmer of an idea for me.

I have a custom built computer my hubby helped me build about 2 YEARS ago. Only problem was a bad power supply which we replaced last winter. For a while things were fine, but for the past two months I've been experiencing random shutdowns. These are so bad that I have to physically unplug the computer, flip the power switch, plug it back in, flip the switch back to "on" before I can hit the power button to restart it.

Hoping it was a software or registry problem, and it having been awhile since I'd reloaded, I did a fresh reload of Win2K. It shut down during the reload, and it's been shutting down more frequently now.

So, I'm thinking hardware problem, but not SURE where to start. I do not have the money to just keep buying parts until the problem goes away. Hubby is guessing MOBO. If it is I'll have to replace the CPU as well, he says. Either that or he thinks we might as well if we're replacing the MOBO anyway. I'd like an opinion first before we start shopping.

Anyone run into this before? Opinions? Anything is muchl apprecated.

>^..^To determine if it is a heat issue the way i test this is to remove the cover or side panel of the machine and direct a small room fan's airflow directly into the case...if your shutdowns go away then you know it is a heat issue which there are remedies for...
As far as it being the MBoard or CPU these would be the last culprits i would suspect although i wouldn't rule them out.
I suspect that it's the PSU. What brand did you buy and do you have any info on it as to wattage etc. ?
If it was relatively cheap when new it's probably the bad guy...
If you can post a minidump error log it might provide more clues to the problem.

patio. 8-)If you have access to ANOTHER known GOOD power supply to swap inthere, at least for a test, I would do that. It sounds very suspicious. Again what brand is it, as that can be diagnostic right there.We replaced the old power supply because when it went bad it was generating a lot of heat and causing shutdowns. We bought a Rosewill 450 from Newegg - somewheat cheap, but it had good ratings. Don't have a spare good one at the moment but we might know someone who does. That would be the cheapest thing to try after the RAM test. I'll let you know how it goes.

>^..^<Unfortunately Rosewill is just another cheap one. It is a rebranded low end Chinese PSU, despite the ratings. Keep us posted.

:-?
PROBLEM: I want to install a new Delta44 Soundcard.

I install the drivers, which I downloaded from their web site.

Then I fix the card to a PCI slot and restart.

Start up and then it senses the card and LOAD the driver, rebuilds the database, halts then goes to restart. This can go on and on forever if I do not halt the thing and remove the card.

Thankfully I have Roxio GoBack, so take a step back and everything settles back to how it was.
I suspect a big conflict. So I remove my TV card. Which leaves me with:

Modem and Graphics card.

When I checked the IRQ’s I see that there are loads under 05 ??

THINKS: This could be my problem.

SOLUTION: Perhaps I should manually alter where this sound card locates itself. BUT where? 09 seems unused. What are the protocols ? I need help before my mind goes blank.

Meanwhile: I have listed below an extract from my System Summary, in the hope that some-one can hold my hand through this minefield.

What do you think??

OS= Windows ME

Resource Summary Report - Page: 1

******************** SYSTEM SUMMARY ******

Windows version: 4.90.3000
Computer Name: Unknown
System BUS Type: ISA
BIOS Name: American Megatrends
BIOS Date: 09/15/05
BIOS Version: BBS V3.21 0203
Machine Type: IBM PC/AT
Processor Vendor: Genuinelntel
Processor Type: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.OOGHz
Math Co-processor: Present

******************** IRQ SUMMARY ******

IRQ Usage Summary:
00 - System timer
01 - Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
02 - Programmable interrupt controller
*03 - Serial Infrared Port
04 - Communications Port (COMl)
05 - MOBILITY/RADEON 9200/9250
05 - IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
05 - IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
05 - VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
05 - C-Media AC97 Audio Device
05 - VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
05 - VIA PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller
05 - VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
06 - Standard Floppy Disk Controller
07 - ECP Printer Port (LPTl)
08 - System CMOS/real time clock
*10 - IRQ Holder for PCI Steering 11 - Intel(R) 536EP Modem
11 - VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
11 - IRQ Holder for PCI Steering 11 - VIA SATA RAID Controller
11 - VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
12 - A4Tech PS/2 Port Mouse
13 - Numeric data processor
14 - Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14 - VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15 - Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 - VIA Bus Master PCI IDE ControllerThat was the advantage of PCI over older ISA cards - that they could share IRQ's.

What physical cards are in the system? Not onboard things, just the add on cards.My PCI add on cards are: Modem & Radeon 9200. I took the TV card out.

BUT

My day has gone from bad to WORSE.

I reinstalled the Delta 44 driver (as the chap from M-Audio asked for the list with the card on it). Turned off, installed the card and now the PC wont work. (I'm using my mac to type this) ((Hurray for MACs))

When it started up I got 9 beeps, so I turned off, removed the card and tried again. (I have an ASRock 775VM800 and it must be a well kept secret about the beep codes, because I had a lot of trouble trying to find out what 9 mean)
It started up without any video, either from the Radeon or the on-board graphics. I know it starts up because if I wait long enough for it to settle down, then press option, up arrow and then enter, it shuts down.

I am r e a l l y at the end of my patience, trying to install this beeping sound card.

Load Embarresed MODE.

I take back all I said about ASRock (Sorry)

as I have my PC up and running again.
I must admit it looked a little terminal back there. So I had something to eat, watched a program with animals in and then CAME back.
I used my MAC to look through other postings here and found SOMEONE with the same problem. SPOOKY ~ Anyway, reading the posts gave me hope, so I checked the connections and found my PCI cards were a little unseated. So I pressed them back in and it works again. I hope the others find an easy solution like I did.

All I need to do now is sort out DELTA 44 problem ~ if I can summon up enought courage to insert the card again..

[smiley=cheesy.gif]
What a lovely day.

All is working fine.

When I got the PC working last night, I couldn't bring myself to start messing about again with the Sound Card so had a good nights rest.
This morning I inserted the Delta 44 Sound card, then restarted and it began going round in circles again.
1/ Sensing new hardware,
2/ loading driver,
3/ rebuilding database,
3/restarting,
then doing it all again after a check of the harddrive (because someone shut down improperly).

SO ~ I pulled the card, booted up. All fine. Shut down.

Put card into a different slot, and it worked. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I have set the Delta 44 card up and been playing through my Audio Apps.

LESSON to learn. Choose a slot carefully.

I didn't know there was a protocol for this. Perhaps I will remember this next time.....Sometimes that does make a difference for reasons not always CLEAR. What slot were you using and which was the magic one?

Still got SOUND from last night, so that's ok, but now it's not coming out in surround. I get signal only from what the SYSTEM thinks is Front Left and Front Right, but is actually Centre and Subwoofer. Switching the cables in the back of the subwoofer only relays the sound to the two new speakers.

I've made sure that my system knows it's supposed to be channelling 5:1 sound, I've TOYED with every FEATURE my sound card's (Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit) software has to offer, and all to no avail.Nevermind. I just realised that I do in fact need two more cables to lead from sound card to speaker SETUP.

I BOUGHT some speakers (2 front, 2 rear, and a subwoofer) and found out that they required a front output and a rear output from my computer. Obviously, seeing as i'm posting this, i only have one output, so i can only control either the front two speakers or the back two. I was wondering what i should do for this? To make these speakers work would i have to add another output to my computer?

I tried a splitter and it didn't seem to work. When i tried it I could control one front and one back speaker, but it's also just a cheap splitter. If i bought a better one would that maybe work?

That's really the height of my problem...Any ideas on it?What sound card do you have? Or, are you USING onboard sound? Do you know for a fact that your sound card or onboard sound will support a 5.1 (I believe this the correct terminology) speaker configuration? Do you have a user's manual that tells you your onboard sound or sound card will support 5.1 and how to set it up?I only know so much about my computer, so i'll just post all the info to make sure i GET everything that's needed.

Name: NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio
Device ID: NFORCE_VAD
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Default Device: Yes

This is from DirectX Diagnostic Tool > Sound. I think it's compatible with 5.1 configuration. On NVMixer it has 5.1 as one of the options and it tests for it. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean it's compatible. I'm trying to find out for sure...I have it set up for 5.1, but since I don't have rear and front outputs i only have sound from 2You need to get a better understanding of your hardware. You should understand the difference between onboard sound vs. having an add-in sound card installed in a PCI slot.

I believe your thinking about needing to connect two speakers to back of your computer and two speakers to the front is incorrect. They should connect in one place, most likely the back of your computer. If your current hardware won't support the speakers you have, then you need to buy a sound card that will support them.it's not that i'm saying i need an input on the front of my computer and and output on the back of my computer, just that i need two, one output to control the front speakers and one to contorl the rear, and yes i bought these speakers together so i'm not trying to creat my own version of a 4.1 speaker configuration. (found out from instructions it's actually 4.1 not 5.1)

here's exactlly what it says.

"Connect the GREEN plug front from Front right speaker into front out of sound card connect the BLUE plug from Front right speaker into Rear out of sound card."
and of course it shows a little picture of the green and blue plugs plugging into two different plugs on the picture of the computer.

Soybean, you MIGHT have already understood that i'm not sure, just thought id clarify, so you think that i will need to buy a different soundcard?

I read your original post again and I see I did mis-interpret what you were saying. And, yes, I think you'll need a different soundcard.thought i might, just wondered if there might be another way
well ty, i guess this topic is closed.Here's an inexpensive card: AOpen Cobra AW850 5.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

Please help. Have above machine and it does not boot anymore. I start it up and it finds everything but freezes up before i can get into the SETUP. I tried to boot from floppy and cd but to no help. Was working fine and may have been caused when i tried a different hard drive. It also says the bios is shadowed. Any help would be great. :-?HAVE YOU GONE TO ANY WAREZ WEB SITES OR PORN THE PROBLEM HAVE SOME WINDOW THAT POPS UP THAT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WINDOWS FORMAT TYPE INFORMING YOU THAT MEMORY LOSSQuote

:-?HAVE YOU GONE TO ANY WAREZ WEB SITES OR PORN THE PROBLEM HAVE SOME WINDOW THAT POPS UP THAT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WINDOWS FORMAT TYPE INFORMING YOU THAT MEMORY LOSS

First off, I know these are retarded questions but I dont know much about computers so sorry if I sould dumb. I have a laptop that was crushed and the screen and keyboard were ruined. I got a new one that was the same model and switched out the hdd so that my OLD one was in the new laptop. So I have a new hdd but no casing for it. My question is, can I just buy a laptop that needs a hdd like on ebay and put mine in? Does it have to be the same model that my hdd CAME from or are they all the same? If they arent the same, how will I know if it FITS? Thanks so much in advance for any help!! Laptops aren't at all standard like desktops. You WOULD NEED to verify that the new laptop could use the hard drive you have. A hard drive is still just a hard drive, but the laptop hard drives come in all shapes and sizes...

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on my subject.

I GOT this Fugitsu 80 GB LAPTOP harddrive that I bought a removable drive casing for. It is USB 2 and I do have USB 2 on my pc but there is SOMETHING not right about the speed. Windows detects the drive 100% and if you copy files on it it WORKS just like any USB 2 (quite FAST) but as soon as I copy from the removable drive to my pc it takes +-5min to copy a Folder of 30Mb. I know something is wrong so I formated, defraged and scanned the disk for errors but none was found. How is this possible? Is the drive broken or what?

Please someone help. :-?How much space was on the internal HDD you were transferring the 30G to ? ?
Ran disk clean and defrag lately on the internal drive ? ?

Also check the internal's transfer mode under Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager...then clik IDE/ATA channels; right click Primary Channel and select Advanced.
In the Advanced section it should say DMA and or Ultra DMA.

If not that internal HDD has issues.

patio.

You'll have 768 left for programs, don't worry. OSes are generally big hulking things, and will take up a lot of memory, though 256 seems a bit excessive, perhaps you could disable a few "background" programs.

But no, not all programs will take up 256; DEPENDING on the application they could use as little as a few kilobytes, right up to a few hundred megabytes.good question, I learned somethingAny OS will use a certain amount of RAM...
In addition when you run a program that will also use a certain amount of RAM...
If you run more than one program anything running will also use a certain amount of RAM...
That shiny Blue Screen will let you know rudely when you have managed to use all your RAM at once.

patio. 8-)You have nothing to worry about.I'd already answered you, anyway.That's like saying I got a REAL NICE car that doesn't drive.yea, i think tis cuz i installed it on my desktop when i first got the game and i think i registered the account key then so im going to unstall it from the desktop and then try and play it.Installing programs to the desktop is a good way to learn how to format and re-install all your stuff...
It's brand new, KEEP it SIMPLE and organised and you should have a long life with it.
Have you installed all your protection programs yet ? ?
This would have been the first thing i played around with.
Tedious i know but well worth it.

patio. 8-)Quote

those were the first things i installed

Hello everyone I was just wondering if anyone had an idea of what is wrong with my mic?Ihave a mic and sound card installed my speakers work to the computer and EVERYTHING i just can't get my mic to work any idea as to what the problem might be?is your voice input set to mic??


control panel>sounds and audioand THATS all i have to do i dont have to buy anything no other parts to get the mic to work?thank you for repling i am not a big computer person so i am kinda new at this thing!!
thanksMake SURE mic is not MUTED in your Windows settings.just play around in there and test the hardware (its an option somewhere in there) if you still CANT figure it out then come back to this topicYou do have a separate jack on your sound card for a mic, right? And, that's where you have the mic plugged in?

[size=8]Hello,

Yesterday, I finally got MADDEN NFL 07. In previous installments of the franchise, I have successfully used my PlayStation 2 controller. After I setup my buttons, I COULD play flawlessly. But this year's is different.

After assigning the buttons in the GAME, the pre-snap controls are still wrong. Unfortunately, there's no way to correct his - at least within the game.

However, I'm curious to know if there's anyway I can tell my computer that instead of having Gamepad XY, I have Gamepad XX?

Currently, I am using a Xinga USB v2003 PS2 to USB adapter. I would like to tell the game I have a Logitech Rumblepad 2 USB.

I have successfully gone into my registry and changed the name of my controller. That does allow for Madden to recognize my controller, (as well as Windows), as a Logitech Rumblepad 2 USB. But, I'm still unable to change my button mapping.

In other words, instead of having the "X" button on my PS2 be button "3", I'd like to have it as button "2" - like the Logitech.

Is there anyway I can do this?

Thanks for any advice anyone can shed!


Additional Details:
O/S: Windows XP Professional
Actual Controller: Xinga USB v2003, (PS2 to USB Adapter)

* I have no problems whatsoever editing Registry keys - if that makes any difference... :-?

[/size]I would read the documentation that came with the game...and or travel to the game author's site to see if this is feasible.

patio. 8-)Hello Patio,

Unfortunately, the game's liste of supported gamepads doesn't include mine. Actually, it approximately includes only 4-5 DEVICES.

As for EA, in previous installments, when I changed my layout within the game, everything would be modified. In short, while the specific buttons, (numbers) weren't consistant with the intended layout, the actual layout and feel were the same. As an example, instead of button "2" being used within the game to select a formation, I would use button "3" because my button 3 was were the button 2 was located on the intended controller, (Logitech Rumplepad 2 USB).

Does that make sense? I think I'm doing a poor job of explaining it.

But I was curious to see if I could work within Windows to have my device be recognized as a Logitech Rumplepad 2 USB device and be able to emulate the Logitech's button mapping.

I went into the following registry key and changed the OEM Name of my device to "Logitech Rumblepad 2 USB".

HKEY_Local_Machine
System
Control Set001
Control
Media Properties
Private Properties
Joystick
OEM
{DeviceID for my device}

Now, in the game, my controller is recognized as a logitech. But, unfortunately, the button mapping is the same. :-?

Any idea on how I can change the button mapping in the registry - if at all?

Thanks!

Erm, HEY. I've just bought a microphone for the COMPUTER. I've plugged it in but not REALLY sure how to record messages. Do I need to download a certain program to record a message onto without using an IM?
Thanks.Try Windows Sound RECORDER. It's under Start, All Programs, Accessories, ENTERTAINMENT.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me here. I have a laptop toshiba, model: Satellite 2430, system type: x86-based PC.

What's been happening is that it has been shutting itself down lately when in the middle of running something (COULD be games or other applications). Then, i thought i might want to reformat the entire hard drive and start all over again.

Then, i put in the XP CD to the CD drive and run it. It turns off in the middle of formatting the hard drive.

Does anyone have any ideas about this?

Thank you in advance.Hi Quatroking,

Thank you for your reply.

I have removed the battery and let it be connected to the power cord only. So FAR, it's working without shutting down. So what's wrong with the battery? What's the cause of this? and what should i do?

Thank you in advanceHi again,

a few minutes after having posted my reply to you, it dies down.

So the answer is No. It doesn't help eventhough removing the battery and use just the power from the power point.

I have also tried out running on the battery itself without the power coming from the power point, that doesn't help either.

What else are there i should try?

My suspicion is the fan or something.

Thank you in advanceDoes it shut down or rebot? If shutting down it is probably overheating due to dirt, or a bad fan.


In any case it would probably be good to give it a trip to the doctor.Agreed...also they are not exactly designed to be user servicable but if you choose to go down that road you will see.Funny you should mention a Toshiba laptop. I just got an email from a friend with a Toshiba laptop (don't know model) shes had for less than 2 years and has nothing but problems with...you guessed it...the battery and power supply. She'd done some research on it (she writes technical stuff so I know she's thorough) and found hundreds of complaints about the problem. Her solution: she's going to replace the laptop.

Alan <>< My brother has a TOshiba laptop with a K2450 processor that came with Windows 98 SE when that first came out. Daily use for several hours and he has never had any problem with it. I reformatted it for him once and it has continued to be a great machine.

Maybe this falls in the "They don't make them like they used to" category. Hi Guys,

Thank you for your feedback.

GX1_Man, it shuts down itself and it's not a reboot but a complete shutdown. I agree with you that it'd be due to the overheating problem. I have DOWNLOADED the speedfan program to monitor it but haven't installed it yet.

I'll let you know what's happening here.

Is there any way of finding out what the standard temperatures for CPU or other important hardwares on the MOTHERBOARD are (you know like a guidelines)?

Thank you in advanceThese are dependant on the processor and the cooling apparatus. The Toshiba site may yield some insight. Hi GX1_Man,

Thank you for your reply.

I left the machine cool down overnight and this MORNING, i test it by running the windows installation CD. It went OK until the stage where it started copying the files from the drive to the hard drive. It shut down completely without rebooting.

I have also tried to take the battery off the laptop and just use the power AC coming from the power adaptor. It run for a while and shut down ( i don't know if the battery is low). This doesn't help either.

One thing i like to ask here is on the back of the laptop, it says output 19V -- 4.74A. I use the general power adaptor, not the one come with the laptop. It has output 19V -- 4.5A. Do you think that this might be the cause?

Thank you in advanceYou should always use the correct power adapter for a laptop, as supplied by the manufacturer.It's not some kind of stop error is it?

I have an Abit AN7 Motherboard (AMD), there are 2 PSU sockets on the board, ATXPWR1 (20 pin) & ATX12V1 (4pin). Do they both have to be connected to the PSU? :-/Yes, the 4-pin supplies 12v to the processor. If your psu does not have the necessary connection then an adaptor CABLE is required to make use of one of the standard 4-pin Molex sockets.


Here is an article from radified.com. You might like to check your psu power rating.

The article from radified.com mentions a P4 board & mine is AMD, my PSU is 400 Watt & has the 4pin ATX12V cable. I used to know whether or not to connect it but I just couldn't remember.Look it up in the MOBO documentation.Here is the word from ABIT UK Tech. Support:

"You do not have to connect the ATX12V one, however, if your PSU has one of these connectors, you can connect it. In theory, that should provide a better power SOURCE to the CPU". 8-)Ajak....... Well there you GO , you have it right from the horse's mouth .....
Your motherboard manual should have contained that information ..... I'm surprised it didn't .

dl65 Instruction manuals, should be called destruction manuals.

ok my mom got a new power supply online since the old one went bad...but when i went to install it i NOTICED that the pin count for the PLUG that connects to the motherboard is different than the powersupplies. on the MOBO the pin count is 10 and the power supply my mom got is 14...it plugs in but i DONT wanna turn it on because how the supply has more slots than the mobo.
this is the mobo she has its from her HP http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph06062 and the powersupply i have is a powork atx power supply 600W model #pw-600Return it for the correct one...that is a 20 pin connection on that board.

patio. 8-)

I've had my computer for about a year now (was not new when i got it), and it's been fine until now. Suddenly it will just shut down for no apparent reason and it won't turn back on. I leave it for maybe half an hour and i can use it again for maybe an hour or maybe a few days, but then it will shut down again for no reason.
It actually HAPPENED right after i downloaded a file, the obvious THING would be that the file had a virus with it, but i did a virus SCAN, spyware, ad-aware, and nothing. (note i used AVG free edition for virus scan, maybe it didn't pick up the virus?)
ALSO, when I try to start it back up right after it's shut down sometimes it will jsut come on for a few seconds and then shut back down, but sometimes it will keep making the sound of it just starting up and do nothing until i shut it down.
Anyone have any ideas on it?Overheating
Power Supply failing
Bad RAM.

DLoad motherboard monitor and check your temps.
DLoad and run Memtest to test the RAM...let it run for awhile...any errors and the RAM has GONE bad.
PSU ...replace. Don't buy a cheap one...they are headaches.

patio. 8-)