Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

So we own a GPS, but my wife didnt want to use my GPS, she wanted to go on a 160 mile round trip to know how to get to a place that a concert is happening at next month, and I had to RIDE shotgun and tell her which roads to take. Took my netbook with me with only 50% battery life left in it, but 50% left = about 4 or 5 hrs left of LIGHT use.

So I DECIDED to sniff out the wifi in a harmless wardrive to see what was out there on the backroads of this trip to go from West to East through a state that only has highways that go North to South heading towards Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.

I took a screenshot of this funny find. It looks like 2 neighbors have had some issues based on the SSIDs ... One is HackedU2 and the other is GetYourOwnInternet

Just a guess that HackedU2 upset GetYourOwnInternet, but I got a laugh at this. Through the long drive I was surprised that there were so many wifi connections out there as well as many unsecured with default SSIDs.

Here is a screenshot of the funny SSIDs

But other SSIDs that were clean to share that were also a quick laugh was FBI Surveillance Van #12, LoonyBin, and one that is probably too dirty to put here in plain text but can be easily ASSEMBLED out of Wireless-G and the word Spot without the wireless- part of it I found creative.

The wifi utility that came with this Toshiba NB205-N210 is pretty cool in how it shows all in range, as well as strengths, and details with a very easy to use interface. Not sure though if the ANTENNA is directional or not though as far as if the blip to the left of you means the wifi is originating from the left etc.



[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

A freelance Java developer CLAIMS it took him only 30 days to build and launch a basic open source office suite that runs on multiple OSes. Called Joeffice, it works on WINDOWS, Mac OS X and Linux as well as in browsers, according to the developer.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/052313-java-developer-says-he-built-270087.html

(I have downloaded it and am using it to compose thiss pozt. It eeven has a spall chckR.)

Seriously, as people POINTED out on Slashdot, he didn't "write" an office suite in 30 days, he assembled one, out of Netbeans.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/26/0418229/java-developer-says-he-built-launched-basic-open-source-office-suite-in-30-days?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Quote

It would not be very hard to set a rather low goal for what constitutes an "office suite," bash the basis of that out, and then call it an alpha. I can't try it, since I do not care to install Java on my system, but looking at the screen shots, it looks like he did precisely that.

Don't know anyones' views on the subject about customs duty, but it would be nice if someone could answer if not by the board then by pm.
The last time l bought ram from Crucial in America, l got clobbered for a somewhat enormous Customs and Excise duty from the French government. It still, just, pays me to do it this way rather than order from the UK.
Can l order and pay for the ram using a UK credit card and have it sent to my cousins' address in Florida? They can then send it on to me by letter post. It would save me a lot of money. What are the comebacks, if any?
Thanks
As far as Crucial accepting a UK credit card, unfortunately only Crucial would know the answer to that unless someone here has actually done this. However, I don't believe they would have any issues sending it to your cousins' house in Florida. However, if you're going to have your cousin ship it to you across the border, it's still going to have to go through customs. All packages going across the border, regardless of who is sending them has to go through customs.Thanks very much CHA (and for not blocking the post as l suppose it's basically fraud).
An interesting answer, and l don't really want to GET anyone in trouble.
Thanks again.
Regards
WTC

Quote from: willythecat on November 17, 2010, 10:05:31 AM

it's basically fraud

lessen your fee impact

Found it kind of funny that the evil wimpy beast of a system ( HP Pavilion 742C) http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bph07569&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=71006 would show its head once again, 11 years later!

This computer was handed down within a family in which a grandparent passed on and they were cleaning out the home and one of the family members decided to grab the computer as their own. They brought it home and hooked it up and all I was told originally was that they got a computer that is running Windows XP Home and their kids want to play games on it and they ran a bunch of microsoft updates and it is at SP3. They even went as far as buying $150 in games that the kids want to play at Gamestop that are XP OS compatible according to the Gamestop sales clerk of the limited PC Game selection, and two of the games were, World of Warcraft and Crysis 2 that the older child wanted to play.

For the fact that so many computers can run Windows XP Home SP3 from Pentium II 233Mhz all the way up to modern CPU systems, I told them to drop by with the computer so I could take a look at it.

They dropped by today and to my surprise it was the EXACT SAME MODEL BEAST THAT BIT ME back in 2002. I popped the side cover off to confirm the biggest problem with this build. Sure enough.... NO AGP SLOT!!!

I had to tell them that this system would be lucky to play World of Warcraft at best at minimum video settings which are set to POOR and that that is with throwing money into a videocard that would stuff into the available PCI slot. I pointed out that this model I also got bit by in 2002, where I bought it misreading the specs which stated "AGP - Integrated" ... when I didnt realize at the time that "AGP - Integrated" = NO AGP SLOT. I then explained to them that the better motherboards/systems of this period had AGP slots which allowed for better video cards to be installed and turn a normal computer into a gaming rig for the cost of a video card and power supply upgrade.

I told them that I would not invest any money into this computer as for it is about 11 years old and the single-core Pentium 4 2Ghz CPU is not compatible with so many modern games. World of Warcraft would run on that CPU at low settings if you were able to install a higher end AGP type videocard, but Crysis 2 is definately out of the picture for the fact that it needs a Core 2 Duo CPU minimum.

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I said I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I got bit by this same model computer in 2002 spending $519 on an open box purchase at Staples for a normally $699 computer thinking that I got a good deal until getting home and going to install my AGP videocard and there was no AGP Slot to install the videocard into. I told her that I ended up having to take a $220 loss to get rid of it by selling it to a co-worker for $299 and stating that it is lacking an AGP SLOT!

I told her to check out a local computer refurb company called Wincycle http://www.wincycle.org/ which gets computers donated to it as well as companys pay per lb of electronic waste for proper disposal of old computer hardware. The local colleges and hospitals regularly update their 2 or 3 year old systems and donate them to wincycle to pick through them and sell the good ones and properly recycle the rest.

If anyone is looking for obsolete hardware btw, sometimes they are able to come through for you on your needs. They get everything through there from regular home computers to high end servers that either died or as good complete working hardware from upgrades. I have gone there for a few specific needs and they have an ebay identity as well.

She then left with the computer not very impressed, but she knows that I am a specialist and so she finally got over the $150 rant about the games that the sales clerk at gamestop assisted her with and came back to the reality of the situation that the computer isnt powerful enough and was never REALLY designed to be a gaming computer even when it was sold new in 2002.

I am sure there are lots of techs like us out there who have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes you feel like the doctor who comes out to the WAITING room to tell the computer owner that their computer has passed on unless it gets a brain transplant that costs more than TEH computer is worth. Just figured I'd share this since I found it kind of funny that that HP Computer would show up 11 years later and I havent seen another of this same model in the last 11 years.

Quote from: DaveLembke on May 18, 2013, 04:47:14 PM

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I said I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I got bit by this same model computer in 2002 spending $519 on an open box purchase at Staples for a normally $699 computer thinking that I got a good deal until getting home and going to install my AGP videocard and there was no AGP Slot to install the videocard into. I told her that I ended up having to take a $220 loss to get rid of it by selling it to a co-worker and stating that it is lacking an AGP SLOT!

She then left with the computer not very impressed, but she knows that I am a specialist and so she finally got over the $150 rant about the games that the sales clerk at gamestop assisted her with and came back to the reality of the situation that the computer isnt powerful enough and was never really designed to be a gaming computer even when it was sold new in 2002.

I am sure there are lots of techs like us out there who have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes you feel like the doctor who comes out to the waiting room to tell the computer owner that their computer has passed on unless it gets a brain transplant that costs more than teh computer is worth. Just figured I'd share this since I found it kind of funny that that HP Computer would show up 11 years later and I havent seen another of this same model in the last 11 years.

It was funny because I'm not much of a gamer and I assume that everybody that tries to work there is all up in the games with Call of Duty. If I had started there and somebody asked about "Call of Duty" I would have probably directed them to the bathroom...[/quote]

OMG BC ...LOL Just had a loud laugh at that statement!

And laughed even harder at this statement:

Quote

Maybe if you did a little more research before spending money on these things you might have discovered how stupid your beliefs about it are, and that believing salespeople that often work on commission is sort of like believing a person that uses child labour about how they actually run a daycare and the kids making shoes for 12 hours a day is arts and crafts.

Personally I deal with PEOPLE like this a lot outside of CH. This one struck me as forum post worthy. But I have to keep professional and cant state to them such great statements as you shared even if I really wanted to

The mother was a little upset to hear the news. She was like I just spent $150 on games and your telling me this computer cant run them when the Gamestop clerk told me that these games would run on this computer. In addition to this her son already opened 2 of the titles which makes them non refundable.

I even remember passing by a PC in a store, some sort of HP Pavilion Machine with an AMD APU, HP had fitted an NVIDIA video card that was actually worse performing than the APU! I bet the only reason they did that was so they could put a little sticker on the front saying that it had "NVIDIA Graphics".

It drives me mad with what is often sold as a "gaming" PC nowadays. I see them all the time "Gaming PC, 16gb RAM, 6 core CPU" and they throw in a low end graphics card like a GeForce 610. Like do they expect people to buy them, find their games run really badly and just put up with it?

I even remember passing by a PC in a store, some sort of HP Pavilion Machine with an AMD APU, HP had fitted an NVIDIA video card that was actually worse performing than the APU! I bet the only reason they did that was so they could put a little sticker on the front saying that it had "NVIDIA Graphics".

Not all of the items are far-fetched. Really, there is some basis for some.
A top Apple man has gone ton Intel.
http://www.zdnet.com/reports-intel-planning-new-devices-unit-led-by-former-apple-exec-7000015686/

There are hot RUMORS about something the two may do.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/29/apple-buy-intel
What do you think?



I think it's much ADO about nothing.One of the items was reported rumored by Tom's Hardware

Quote

A new rumor has surfaced reporting that Apple has TEAMED up with Intel to create the iWatch for a 2013 release. While the idea of an iOS-based watch makes total sense for the fruity company, teaming up with Intel does not given that Apple has yet to rely on the x86 chip giant in its mobile product lineup. The team-up seems even more less likely given that the watch will reportedly CONNECT to an ARM-based iPhone and iPad via a Bluetooth connection.

There's also a rumor N.Korea is set to invade Taiwan...

Eric Lippert, who worked at Microsoft, now works at Coverity.
Therefore can we conclude that Microsoft is going to buy Coverity? No.

It broke when I was using my XP, currently I'm using my Windows 7 (64 bit).


I have a PNY Attache 8GB Flash Drive that NAGS me to format when I insert it to (any) computer. I have tried formatting it with DISKPART and Disk Management. I've tried CHKDSK but it reports that the Disk is RAW type.

It broke when I was ATTEMPTING to make it bootable. I succeeded but I guess I attempted too much, and now it doesn't work. I tried many software and one reported that it has an error in the 1st boot sector.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool won't work on it.

Also I can't create/delete the partition on it.Unfortunately sounds like you've tried everything I could THINK of to suggested, based off everything you've done I'd imagine the Flash Drive is BAD. Suggest purchasing a new one.

I'm GETTING this message after the BIOS finishes and the PC will not open winXP until I strike F1. How do I bypass this? I have same problem on two PC's after REFORMAT and new install of OS.Look up in your BIOS set-up menu for an option "Halt on", save and exit. There might be some hardware failing. Post for any result.Do you have your hard drives plugged into a RAID card?On one pc I am connected to a raid card but not the other.On BIOS set-up: If options/features are available.
1. Reset Config DATA --> Reset once. Reboot and check.
2. PCI Delay Transaction --> Enable. Reboot and check. If default is enabled then disable.
3. Halt on error --> If any failing hardware.
4. Quick boot --> Enable.

Hello all !

Is there any way of editing the files created using the Hp MediaSmart webcam ?

The files are huge and taking up to MUCH space on my hard drive. I want to edit them and make a disk of just the
scenes we want to keep for my daughter. Her kitten has some very funny moments but 99% of it is useless lol.

Thanks in advance,
MP.Are these video files, or still images? What format are they? What exactly do you want to do, just make the files smaller and retain them, or if they're video files do you want to cut them down to SAVE, say, 10 minutes from an hour video, something like that?
It's certainly possible, the answer will just depend on what exactly you have and what you want to do.Exactly I want to cut lets say an hours worth of VIDEO (WMV File type) down to a few minutes.Have a look at this thread - some useful LINKS there.
I've used Windows Movie Maker in the past for this, although it's quite basic it does get the job done. However, in this situation it might not be ideal because, if I remember right, it will re-encode the file, which will not only take a while but may leave you with a file no smaller than the original, just shorter. asfbin, mentioned on that thread along with Cut Assistant which is an interface for asfbin, should do the job though.
Free Video Dub is another HANDY program which should also get the job done, in fact that would probably be my first choice - I haven't used it myself but it looks nice and simple, and doesn't re-encode edited files once trimmed, so pretty much ideal!Cannot thank you enough.

Getting on it now.No problem at all, hope it helps let us know how you get on, I'll add them to my list of useful software if they do work as intended.Should work like a champ and a no brainer to use !!!

Again TYVM....

Hi,

If I log onto a website, my bank website for example, they already know that it is me if I use my computer. So how do they know that it is me? Do they place a cookie on my hard DRIVE?

THANKS!There are a few different ways that they can do this but it is usually done by a cookie as you said. Saved PASSWORDS on the other hand are stored WITHIN your browser.Quote from: camerongray on May 24, 2013, 01:00:36 PM

There are a few different ways that they can do this but it is usually done by a cookie as you said. Saved passwords on the other hand are stored within your browser.

Hi, How to configure NAS storage in DETAILS (Beginners). Please provide with website links to follow.

Thank you,What BRAND and model NAS DEVICE do you have? Have you visited the manufacturer's website to search for information about CONFIGURING it?

While I know that Windows 7 64-bit is the way to go for future computing and 32-bit will be a thing of the past, I am wondering if its at all worth it to get an extra 1GB of memory out of this current build? ( I am thinking it will be a wash on the gain going from 32 to 64-bit )

Also I read something about 16-bit applications not supported under Windows 7 64-bit and I have some old games and software that I occasionally run on my Windows 7 32-bit build, would I need to now run these 16-bit applications within a dosbox type environment etc or would they still run in Windows 7 64-bit with xp compatability selected etc?

I also read that while I would get the full 4GB of RAM, since the data is 64-bits wide, it would consume more memory with each clock cycle, so would Windows 7 64-bit on 4GB of RAM run worse than Windows 7 32-bit on 3GB RAM? ( To me it seems that if the data width in memory is 2x the 32-bits for 64-bits that the consumption may be double, and so while right now my system runs idle at 2GB free with 1GB at idle in use with Windows 7 32-bit, it should mean that 2GB is in use at idle and I would still remain at 2GB free at 4GB addressable, so there is no extra memory gain with Windows 7 64-bit? )

Thinking that maybe I should save this Windows 7 64-bit license for a system that runs on more than 4GB of RAM which would benefit far greater than current build, but I also dont have any intentions on upgrading hardware yet since what I have currently is plenty of processing power hardware wise for games etc, although the thought remains that I am not using my system to its full abilities running hardware that is capable of 64-bit at 32-bit and running at the 3GB memory limitation.

Personally I don't see what reason you would ever have to run a dual-boot with a 32-bit system- or reasons to run a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit system at all.

Personally, I don' see any reason not to have a dual-boot system.

Just to add to patio and BC's advice there, Windows 7 licenses are not 32 or 64 bit specific, it's only the media which is architecture-specific.

Are you saying that the same key I used for my 32-bit Win7 activation can be used to activate it against a Windows 7 64-bit install to run at 64-bit?

*I have both Win 7 32 3-license package and a single Win 7 64-bit license and 2 seperate DVD cases with the 32 bit in its case and 64 bit in its case. If it was as simple as using my 32-bit license key on the 64-bit disc to have 64-bit that would be really cool, but I cant see Microsoft making it this easy to go from 32 to 64.

When do you suppose the time will come when bots are able to reliably answer more than 50% of tech questions posted on a tech forum such as here?

Should I aim for higher than 50% before I invest in the research necessary to create a commercial entity that utilizes such bots?The bots you refer to are called "chat bots".
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-ai-chatbot
https://support.google.com/chat/answer/9649420?hl=en
The do not work on wide -cope questions. They have bots for specific needs.

IMHO, investing in bot technology is a bad idea.
Thank you for those links, Geek-9pm.

And you triggered my memory a bit, because I now remember some site I visited that was using AI to respond to questions and I think I ended up quitting the Q&A after writing I needed to communicate with a human and I may very well have done some screen grabs of that, which I tend to do a lot.

I suppose I may have run into that system in other situations that I've forgotten about.

But a quick read on one of those pages yesterday was very clear about the limitations still evident in such a bot system. But with the pace of tech advancement we see these days it shouldn't take more than about a DECADE further to get a lot of those limitations taken care of. Obviously, just thoughts put forth without proper research behind the thinking.

I wonder if bots will ever develop to the point that SOMEDAY the courts will have to make decisions on bots rights? You know, like humans aren't allowed to refer to them as bots. This AI stuff is taking us into really weird territory, so such thoughts might not be total science fiction in about one hundred years, if we don't nuke ourselves into oblivion.

I remember in maybe 1999, George Carlin at the Washington Press Club stated something like his view was it was time for humans to go bye-bye and let something (someone) else have their chance or something like that. Maybe bots are that something else. I mean, they have bots driving cars now. Heck, bots are building the cars that other bots are driving. What do they need us for?90% of "AI" is

"did what they typed include These words? then give this canned reply."

They seldom involve any actual "machine learning". Instead they boil down to algorithms. Some "impressive" displays of AI are literally markov chain generators that are able to interpret sentences and re-USE those words in new sentences.

Obviously the key is being creative. I'll bet there are some papers out there on the Net by academics that have written about whether bots can get to that stage of being creative.

What system is used to measure the length of a programming code for a bot? I guess I'm cheating by asking here, because that info is likely to be found on the Net, yes?

Still, the code for a particularly high class bot must be huge --- you know, like a million pages. OKAY, maybe 100,000 pages?

Wait, it would never get to hard copy, would it? Would remain digital and be put on special storage disks, right? Or is that with a 'c' --- disc. My brain really has started playing games with me after the relapse and the chemo they did. HARDCORE chemicals, that stuff. But it kept me alive. Just an observation about the brain not working. Please don't kick out any sorry messages. Really isn't necessary. Really. Having gone through it and being alive is plenty cool and no need for sorry stuff related to it. Please.

Heh, do any of you know about a good forum where posting about medical issues is the key point of the forum. I asked on another site and didn't get any good result. I also have done some serious checking and also not finding any good Online Community for that topic. Somebody wrote I should use Reddit, but I am not a big fan of that sort of platform.

My gosh, sorry for going way off topic there. Like an old man, eh? But then I am an old man. Anybody want some TRS80 stuff? Two computers, bunches of the old true floppies, and even that huge manual that came with the TRS80. Sure was a long time ago. Only bots then were military style early ones, I think.

Hello, all ... Not sure where to post this as there is no page related to email clients so, here goes ...
My main email address is @hotmail.com, has been for several years so, Outlook.com is my primary email client. I posted this concern / question on the Micro$oft Community boards on MAY 4th and GOT no response after several views so, I am trying a different approach.

I have been noticing more and more, when I go into my junk folder to delete the contents, the subject line of some of these is tinted yellow. Is this "hilighting" meant to be some sort of warning?Yellow tinting means it is flagged. From what I can find, spammers can apparently mark their mail as flagged when they SEND it, so it gets highlighted by Outlook. They can also GET highlighted by the spam filter RULES that are part of web outlook.

I have created a multi-tab Google Sheets document. I would like to maintain a certain FONT and font size each and every TIME I edit the document or those who have access edit it. For some reason I am having great difficulty as it seems to revert back to Arial 10 often. How can I create a DEFAULT that will stay put? I am sure that by highlighting all existing data, I can switch it to the default of my choice. it is the new entry material that doesn't seem to want to stick to a default I have chosen. Any support would be great, thanks!Google says:
Quote

Every cell in a new SPREADSHEET uses the same default formatting. As you begin to build a spreadsheet, you can customize the formatting to make your information easier to view and understand. In our example, we will be using a spreadsheet to plan and organize a GARDEN plot.

I just wanted to make sure everyone knows this.

Hopefully you would have NOTICED that every post posted anywhere on our forums has a clickable link called Report to moderator NEXT to the IP Address.

If you find that the post has any of the following:

• Wrongly posted messages
• Spam/Advertisements
• Obscene or inappropriate language
• Posts that go against our FORUM Rules
• Posts flaming other members and/or rude posts
• Multiple posts about the same problem from the same user
• Topics in the WRONG section and/or Topics to be moved
• Users hijacking other topics
• Topic trailing off into off-topic discussion on a board other than the Off-Topic board
• A user posting just for the heck of it trying to raise his post-count

• Abuse the reporting system
• Report your own topic looking for help
• Ask/answer questions through reporting

I purchased a Hewlett-Packard 600 All-in-one through Ebay. I connected the appropriate parallel cable. I downloaded the necessary installation software from the HP website. Prior to installing, I followed installation instructions regarding ECP port settings in the Device Manager and the Bios. During the process of installing when the computer has been connected to the computer and powered on, the computer is supposed to recognize new hardware, but it doesn't. Restarting does not help. Installation does not proceed to the point of installing drivers so that I get an error message concerning no communication between the computer and printer. I have tried to install it manually, but the process does not allow me to select the drivers in the driver cache folder. I have uninstalled and REINSTALLED the software a number of times. HP's TECH support said that they have done everything they can to help me and that it must be a system problem. Is there anyone out there who can suggest something? I have tried so many things at this point that I am about to pull my hair out!!! Marylpf,

As you mentioned you have tired several possible solutions and from the LOOKS of it all the suggestions we could think of. In addition to what you have tried make sure your BIOS has the parallel port enabled or LPT1 enabled, we have had several issues where the port mode was properly set but the parallel port was DISABLED. Additionally we would like to know is your computer running Windows XP? We have read several posts about this printer working fine until the user upgraded to Windows XP and are concerned that maybe your issue is incompatibility with the printer and Windows XP (even though you are using Windows XP drivers).

Although it is possible that your computer or the printer may be defective, without trying the printer on another computer and/or trying another parallel device on the computer we cannot say for certainty. If you have another parallel device that you could connect to the computer to make sure the computer is working or if you could try the printer on another computer PREFERABLY a non Windows XP computer this would help determine if you are unable to resolve the issue because of a hardware defect.

interfFrancesco Ammannati,

ASSUMING this is a MS-DOS program that you are ATTEMPTING to extend the available MEMORY to you can right CLICK the shortcut to the MS-DOS program and click properties. In the Properties window there should be a Memory tab. Within the Memory tab you can INCREASE the Intial memory environment and the Extended Memory or (EMS).

Note: If this is not a MS-DOS program you will not have the option to adjust the memory.

Tammy,

Unfortunately we may NEED additional information before we can fully troubleshoot your issue.

• What TYPE of CD-R or CD-RW DRIVE do you have?
  
• What operating system is installed on the COMPUTER?
  
• It's POSSIBLE that the software may have become corrupt have you attempted to reinstall the software for your drive?
  

I have a 3 year old comp that recently has started to freeze up on startin g the comp. The comp usually starts to buzz near the powersupply as the system FREEZES. I tried swapping the power connections from the power supply and also tried swapping out the hard drive with no success. I pulled the CMOS BAT and memory to TRY and clear any possible faults but alas it still freezes on start up. After about a HALF hour of starting and turning it off i can get to the desk top but then it will freeze yet again. Am I looking at a bad mother board or bad processor? Any cheep hints I dont want to dump a lot of cash into it, I already have a new comp, just wanted to make it a kids comp. Thanks, Shawn.It sounds like the fan in the psu may be bad ( the buzz you're hearing). PSU's are pretty cheap but you get what you pay for.. check www.pricewatch.com for prices. You'll find that you can get a power supply for under 20 bucks.
I'd also check that the cpu fan is turning as well.
If the fans look ok, strip the machine to a bare bones configuration (boot DISK, ps, video card, mem, keyboard/mouse) and try to isolate which device may be causing the problem. If you can't change the symptoms, psu is the likely culprit. (Don't over look the mem sticks as a possibility. If you have more than one, try one at a time or try swapping them around).
If you're not comfortable working inside the case, I suggest you find someone who is to do these things.
Good luck.
Maultier,

Thanks for taking the time to help Shawn out, Maultier makes great suggestions and we recommend you follow his sugestions Shawn.
Try replacing or adding ram. If not then slow down the clockrate of the cpu.

Good luck,
Sometimes......... Sometimes, you can have a hairline crack in one of the traces on the circuits in the computers. I found this to be the case on one of my systems, when I physically bent the board one way it would work, if I left it alone it would lock up the system after it was on for a few minutes. This can definately be one of the reasons you're having this problem (albeit not the most common). Try what the others here have suggested first and consider this a last resort solution, if it's really a crack I can garantee you'll never find it. It's usually a board replacement at that point.

Oh Yeah.... I'm Cool

Ok. I'm at my wits end.
I'm RUNNING my Dell 20" LCD at 1600x1200 and vertical lines (as if I'm looking through an aperture grill) have appeared on my monitor. They're only visible at this (the native) resolution. I've been ABLE to tone them down a bit but can not eliminate them. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers (ATI Radeon VE/7000) to no avail. Thanks in advance to anyone WILLING to steer me in the right direction for a fix.

-JRThey are PRESSURE lines, the only way to get rid of them is to repair the LCD, which is something you will unfortunately need to go to a repair shop to fix. Sorry. but correct me if im wrong.

I just got on my computer, I am running Windows Xp Pro, I had a picture of my grandmother for the background, but now its just a blue screen, i went into properties, went to desktop, looked at the background, and it said it was on, but on the preview it was just blue ALSO, i WANT this fixed fast, but i dont know what happened, or how to FIX it, so if SOMEONE could help me out, thanks.The Darkness,

Can you make sure active desktop is disabled? Please open the Control Panel, open display, click the desktop tab, click the "CUSTOMIZE desktop" button, click the web tab, and make sure that nothing is checked in this window.

If active desktop was ok we recommend you got back to the desktop tab under the display properties window and try switching to an alternate desktop to see if it has the same issue. If it doesn’t, then try switching back to your grandmother background.

that message 'CD-ROM 50xATAPI found, PRIMARY SLAVE fail' appear when starting computer. What's the problem??Jasey,

Is this CD-ROM drive a new drive or have you added a new drive by any chance? If so have you verified that the JUMPERS on the CD-ROM drive as well as the jumpers on the other drive on the same cable as your CD-ROM? Jumpers can be found on the back of the drive and must be set APPROPRIATE master and/or slave option.

If you have not added a new drive to the computer and this error started OCCURRING, is the CD-ROM drive working or is it not able to get past this error?

Unable to WRITE to fileShort message

Going to need to know more.. What FILE? Are you getting an error? Where are you TRYING to write the file? Etc..

Our first RECOMMENDATION WOULD be to attempt to clean the keyboard. Unfortunately laptop KEYBOARDS can be difficult to clean. What you could try is buying a can of compressed air and blow air under the keyboard key to see if it dislodges any dirt or HAIR that may be causing your issue.

Unfortunately if this doesn’t work apart from having the keyboard replaced or connecting an external keyboard we are unable to think of any alternate solution. We are unaware of any method of re-mapping the enter key.

When EVER I try to sign in to hotmail or to the my msn page it says it cannot be found. ALSO when i try to use messenger it says it cannot sign in due to some problem with the internet. My addresses work on other COMPUTERS so I THINK i may have a virus, could someone tell me which one it maybe and how i can get rid of it.I run Windows XP. I don't believe i have spyware protection but i have norton firewall. when the MESSANGER errors it says " we are unable to sign in, possibly because of an error in your internet 0x81000370. and when the hotmail and msn home sites error they say that the page cannot be found.

Can you DOWNLOAD a program and run it, that will require use of an internet connection, such as LimeWire?
Also can your download NERO 6 on the external hard DRIVE and run it? I am unsure what this device is capable of letting me do. An external hard disk drive will act just like any other hard disk drive. You will see the hard drive listed in my computer and explorer, you will be able to copy FILES to the hard drive, and you will be able to run programs from it.

I origionally had a Microsoft optical mouse but my son needed a mouse for his new computer so I bought myself a cordless and gave him the optical. Well the cordless worked fine for a few days and then kept freezing. I had to keep clicking the connect button on the bottom and then it would only work for a few seconds before freezing again. I figured it was a hardware conflict so I went back to my optical mouse.

I'm still having problems!!! It will freeze and the light will go out and I'll totally have to restart my computer. It will work again for a little while and then freeze again. Sometimes if I shake it the light will go back on and sometimes I can get it working again.

I've defragged, done a virus scan and checked for spyware. Nothing unusual came up. Other than the mouse freezing everything seems to be working fine. My brother is a computer tech and SAID that he can only tell me something if he "feels" what it does when it happens. But he's too busy to look at it *sigh*

Any suggestions or advice? I'm at a loss to what it COULD be! My cordless was a Logitech so I'm not seeing where there would be conflicts between the 2 since they are different brands? I didn't install the cordless so I'm not even sure how to uninstall it? I can't find it listed anywhere.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!
~LisaSounds like it's not a software problem if you can shake it and it works for a bit. Have you tried making sure that the connection at the back where the mouse is plugged in is secure, something there may have been damaged when the mouse was replaced with the new one. If it's doing this with both mice I would say that it's not the mouse itself, nor wouls I say it's a virus or driver problem if you can shake it and then it works. That LEAVES the connection at the back of the SYSTEM - It could be damaged/defective. I can't think of anything else off HAND so if anyone knows something I don't please add it.

That's right ...... I'm cool!

Any help would be most appreciated. I have just recently upgraded to Windows XP. having done so i had difficulties with my modem. It is an aztech mdp... the COMPANY does not have a windows XP version of the driver INSTEAD they recommended using a generic modem driver. I got the driver but i can't seem to install it i tried putting it on a floppy and it didn't WORK.

Another problem was that the modem KEEPS controlling the phone line after i disconnect, i think the new drivers should fix this but i don't know yet.

Thanks for your timeBrett,

If the modem is not supported in MICROSOFT Windows XP, although generic modem drivers may allow the modem to work it is likely that you are still going to run into issues. With the prices of modem's today ($10.00 - $20.00 US) we would highly recommend you purchase a new modem as it will be compatible with Windows XP and most likely in the long run save you time.

How can I change a CD that can be READ in windows 95, so that I can read it in windows xpall CD's should be able to be read by both 95 and XP, the program on that CD MAY not be compatible with XP. if it is pictures or MUSIC then I would try it on ANTHER computer to verfiy the disk is good and its not the cd drive on your XP machine. HOPE this helps

Dave

How to restore FILES from previous BACK up?dd,

This really all depends on what you USED to backup the files. Commonly the PROGRAM you used to backup the files is also used to restore the files.

If you simply copied the files to a backup medium, to restore these files simply copy the files back to the computer.

when i start my pc it says ndishlp.sys device FAILED... i have REINSTALLED (it says SUCCESSFULLY ) but it's not loading. it also says network transport driver failed and invalid binding any suggestions? tksndishlp.sys is related to your network DRIVERS unfortuantely before we can assist you further we are going to need to know your operating system.sorry , win 98 se ty

Hi, i recently bought a laptop base (no lcd) from ebay, and it doesnt seem to power up with any power SOURCE. I was wondering if you could tell me common laptop power problems and how to fix them that way i can buy the part or try and fix it or something. The computer is a compaq presario 1505us. I will greatly appreciate your advice. Please email me @ [emailprotected] with your replies.Xynther,

We will be honest when we tell you attempting to fix a laptop is going to be extremely difficult for an end-user. However to answer your question, commonly when troubleshooting power issues you first of course look at the power plug. Make sure if the power AC power plug has a LED that it is on indicating power and feel the power plug to make sure it is warm, this is another method of making sure power is getting to the computer. If the laptop is powering on but getting a beep code it could be something DIFFERENT and not a power related issue.

If the power plug for the laptop appears to be good then it’s likely that the Laptop power board aka power inverter board and/or system board is bad in the laptop. Now replacing these parts is not easy but it’s not impossible (assuming you have hardware skills). The difficult part is going to be OBTAINING the parts from Compaq and/or additional details about repair.
Wow, so u say its the power inverter board? Thanx, thats exactly what i was looking for, a solid exact part to buy and replace. ok i'll look for one on ebay. What about the system board? is that like the motherboard? or another COMPONENT of the laptop?

Well, i'll let you know if it works. Thanx a whole lot!

What in the WORLD is that? I have WIN XP & IE 6.0

Check the time in the Bios if it is corrent then your battery is fine. I think you need to aquire a new CD (preferbly XP) and do a format/fresh install.How do I check the time? I know it's basic but!when it posts (black screen with writing ect) press 'del' REPEATEDLY then you will go into the blue bios screen. once there go into the first OPTION called bios settings/features/options it should be in there. I dont think it is a flat battery tho.THANKS, I'll have a look. I don't think its "seeing" the new drive even though its set to master and the CD to slave (same ribbon).in the bios you can set your HDD to manual or auto (not sure what section). set it to auto.OK. See you later, thanks for your help. Need to DISMANTLE this one again!Sorted. Put a new ribbon straight from the board to the drive, with a separate one for the CD. Thanks again.

I did an upgrade for WINDOWS ME , now I can't boot my pc. I ran setup at least 3 times, same prob. it says: won't upgrade %1 to %2. I need t uninstall Windows ME , start over.What DOS commands do I use?I use my Windows (XP) cd to format drives. i DONT know if that is the same way it is done in ME.

I am having difficulty opening a .exd file. Could someone
point me in the RIGHT direction for GETTING this opened?
Thanks!here

"When you run any of the Microsoft Office 2000 programs, the following NEW folders are created in the Windows\Temp folder, or in some other folder on your COMPUTER. These folders contain files with the .exd extension:
Excel9.0
Ppt9.0
Word8.0
Vbe"

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;199830this is supposed to be a catia file. I just need to open
and view its contents.MetalMilitia is correct that this file is usually a Microsoft temporary file. If you believe this to be a "catia" file we suggest you use this program to open the file. If the file still cannot be opened or appears to be corrupt it is likely not the type of file you think it is or is actually corrupt.

Hi, my CD-RW DRIVE will not READ any cd's that i put in it. After i put a cd in the drive, it FLASHES like it reads it but then nothing happens. My computer says its working properly but obviously it doesnt. Its a Mitsumi
CR-48X5TE. OS, Windows Me. if you could HELP me that would be great. thanks

I REPLACED my atx POWER supply with a new one. Now when i go to SHUTDOWN my COMPUTER, windows shuts down, but the computer remains on. The power supply is on, and the fan on the cpu stays on.

how can i fix this?

when I TRY to install it, I get an error msg that SAYS SOMETHING like the OBJECT is not a valid windows OPERATION, or something similar. any ideas what it is, why it happaens, and what i can do?We are going to need to know the exact error message to help you properly.

I have TWO problems, one very minor, that my monitor, it is about 6 years old and never has shown problems before, but lately the display is 'shaky' as if I look closely it shakes and it is a bit blury, at least until I enter a game or something.
The rest of my computer is fairly new, but I have a problem, every so often, like if the computer is on for a while, I find that it freezes and nothing, but maybe the mouse will move, until I execute a command, that requires the hard drive or CD-RW Drive. It makes a strange noise before hand, and sometimes it does this on the boot-up screen (I run win XP) the noise sounds like it is turning itself off but then it RESTARTS immediately and nothing happens EXCEPT that it freezes, I suspect my powersupply may be overloaded or some other similar problem, there is no problem as long as I save every 10 minutes I never lose much, I can live with it, but I would rather not.
Thank you for your help Another small problem with the monitor, (sorry for the double post but it would not let me MODIFY ) occasionally ( and this hasn't happened for a while) the screen will kind of 'blink' as in three or four black lines appear and start flickering then go AWAY, last about 1-3 secs, and the speaker kind of blips at the same time.Get a new monitor. That thing doesnt sound good for your eyes.My best guess (and those guesses tend to be pretty good)

Is maybe.. just maybe..
your hard drive is turning off..
I get this weird *click* noise in my newbie days (back in the day) and i always thought it was something wrong w/ the power supply... but anyways, getting back to the topic..

Yea, maybe its just your HD shutting off
You can control this through Windows 9x and XP by going to Start> Control Panel> Power Options> And change Turn Off Hard Disks: to whatever time seems reasonable (for me, its NEVER, because i never leave my computer idle, i suspend it or shut it down... need every penny saved on my energy bill ;-) )

But thats just my take on it.
I may be wrong.
And if i am, feel free to critisize me, it'll better prepare me for the harsh reality of... well.. reality.

Anyways, good luck,
EdYeah I need a new monitor, I will get one soon.
But also the HD was shutting off. But the problem was with the connections, something was not ocnnected right so that had a power surge or something to that effect. So now I changed the connections around a bit and the problem is solved thank you

Okay; I'll be leaving home soon, and leaving my old computer behind (it's not much USE anymore, but my parents will be ABLE to use it for what they need). I would, however, like to keep the CDRW I put in there for my LAPTOP.
My question is: is there any way I can convert or otherwise make operable my internal CDRW for a pc, so I can use it with my laptop? If I can get away with using this INSTEAD of just buying an EXTERNAL CDRW, I will.

I should mention that my laptop is a Toshiba 1800 series Satellite; it's running Windows ME, and it has a DVD Drive inside already. Thanks for any help.

Okay, here's my problem. I can get on the internet using Internet Explorer and AOL Instand Messenger, but Netscape, Mozilla, FTP Clients, and any other programs that require internet access can't connect. I know a lot about COMPUTERS and stuff, and I tried everything I know including restarting my DSL MODEM and my Netgear ROUTER, but nothing happened. Please someone help me. You will be my hero forever and ever.Make sure your network setup doesn't require any type of special network settings / proxy settings to get connected onto the Internet. The easiest way to check this would be to open Internet Explorer, click Tools and Internet OPTIONS, open the Connections tab, and click the "LAN settings" button. If any additional settings are listed in this section it is likely that these settings will also need to be in your other browsers for them to successfully connect to the Internet.

every time i try to open a program, windows has started asking me which user name to RUN the program under, like when your right click a program and hit "run as..".it just started doing that after i did an automatic registry clean with TuneUp Utilities, but i dont KNOW if that has anything to do with it. i want to make it stop asking, and just open programs like normal, i.e. double click icon, program opens, etc. any HELP would be excellent, thank you.What VERSION of Windows are you running?

Im trying to fix a computer that belongs to my brother, He complains that his computer has restarted at many occasions, one has been right before logging in to winXp, ANOTHER while trying to start the game "americas army", and at many times just opening a cd to play music from it.
Here are the computer specs

Microsoft WINDOWS XP
Home Edition
version 2002
Service Pack 1
AMD Athlon(tm)XP 2000+
1.67 GHz
512 MB of RAM
GeForce 2 graphics card

FYI
there is also a wireless adapter connected to it , in part with 2 other computers connected with wirless adapters for cable internet.
Thank you, RuderalisWhat may be happening is the PC is 'BSODing' (blue screen of death) but automatically restarting becasue its set to restart in 'startup and recovery'. This is found in Right click my computer > PROPERTIES > Advanced tab > startup and recovery. uncheck the box that says 'auto restart' (or somthing to that effect). Now that is disabled you may be able to see a blue screen of death at the next crash, on this you need to take a note of what FILES are associated with the crash (e.g. nv4disp.sys) then post it here and someone should be able to tell you whats wrong.

note.. im not on an XP machine at the moment so the way to startup and recovery may not be exact. just look around in the my computer properties and you should find it.

I can't get into Windows, and I have to run a check on my hard drive from DOS. The instructions for the .exe file SAY to double-click, but of COURSE that won't work in DOS.

A basic but important QUESTION for someone who doesn't know DOS that well. GO to the directory that your exe is in...

e.g. if you want to run notepad.exe, in the 'windows' directory,

type cd windows
then type notepad.exe

m

or (ASSUMING you're trying to run notepad) just type the following:

c:\windows\notepad.exeThanks! It's so simple I completely forgot it from 15 years ago.

My McAffe Deleted some IMPORTANT system files that were "infected" and now none of my PROGRAMS will run. They all SAY the file or PATH is incorrect. im sorry i meant McAfeeWhat version of Windows and Mcafee are you RUNNING?

Can I use my HP 4L with my MAC 1400c laptop? How?

alThe HP 4L only uses IEEE 1284 (ENHANCED PARALLEL Port). Unfortunately no Apple computer has a Parallel Port. Although you may be able to use a Parallel Port to USB cable to connect to your computer it is not likely that the printer will work because it still needs COMPATIBLE software / drivers for the Apple Macintosh Operating System which are not available.

Therefore to answer your question, we are unaware of any way to get this printer to work with your computer.

Can anyone help !

When trying to install windows 2000 pro my computer freezes at the point where "setup is starting windows" is displayed in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, on a blue backdrop.
This has occurs when installing form Win98 SE and from a formatted drive.

I am using a ASrock K2VT2 board, Authentic AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+ , NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X, 80 Gb Maxtor hard drive, 512 RAM and a Conexant SoftK56 Data,Fax,Speakerphone PCI Modem.

Many Thanks Matt
Matt,

Unfortunately we were not able to find to much about this type of issue, so we will make a few suggestions.

• Open CMOS setup and make sure the computer hardware does not have a virus protection enabled.
  
• Is the 2000 CD you are installing from a burned CD if so it could be a bad burn.
  
• Make sure the CD is clean.
  
• TRY removing any unnecessary hardware such as printer, scanner, USB devices, etc and try the install.
  
• During the format of the hard disk drive do you GET any errors, if so it's possible the hard drive may be failing causing the installation to fail?
  

Hello

I've have remove all other hardware, no luck
i have aslo had no errors on the hard drive, and have used the disk to install on another pc

Please could you explain how to use CMOS setup to make sure the computer hardware does not have a virus protection enabled.

Thanks Again

Matt

hi

I have an app that i've written in vfp8...i've written a batch file so that the app is idiot proof to the users...how can i FORCE the ERROR logs to open in windows notepad? edit command shows the logfiles in a dos window...which isn't bad, but it's not perfect.

mHow about using the start command? For example lets assume the log you are attempting to open is CALLED error.log you could type the below line into your batch file.

start notepad error.log