Posts by willcomp

They should be fine as they are provided tape job is adequate to prevent shorting. I've done essentially the same thing to remove excess wires when assembling systems in windowed cases. I use 1/8" heat shrink tubing to cover ends of wires.

Overheating CPU or a faulty power supply are primary suspects. A bad hard disk will not cause a shutdown -- will either lock up or reboot.

If it will boot up immediately and run for several minutes or more, then CPU overheating is not likely. It takes several minutes for an overheated CPU to cool sufficiently for a successful boot.

Do check temperatures though. I prefer SIW but there are several other alternatives including Speedfan which many experts prefer.
http://www.gtopala.com/

The components which must be operable for a PC to power on are the PSU, motherboard, and CPU. It will usually power on with a faulty CPU unless electrical continuity through the CPU is lost. Barring a catastropic CPU failure, motherboard and PSU are left.

I recommend removing motherboard (with CPU and memory left installed) and testing on benchtop. Place mobo on cardboard or shipping foam, connect PSU and start using a jumper to short power switch pins.

Try using jumper to start PC before removing mobo from case to test for a faulty power switch.

667MHz is correct. Memory speed is not additive. Dual channel doubles the memory bus bandwith from 64 bits to 128 bits but speed stays the same. The FSB is 133 MHz with an effective memory bus speed of 667MHz since DDR2 RAM is quad pumped (read 4 times per cycle).

You can image 6GB drive to it or install a clean copy of XP. Either way, you will need to backup any data on drive. If you are not familar with those processes, I recommend you do not try unless you are willing to lose everything on both drives.

Swap power supplies. Borrow one from another PC or a friend if you can.

If you can't swap power supplies, try another power connector.

The odds of 2 hard disks failing in the same unusual way are very small. I'd look at other causes.

That's done during program installation in a dialog box. Some programs won't give you an option, they just install to the boot drive (usually Drive C). The great majority will allow you to choose installation location.

Power supply?

Check to ensure size limit jumper is not installed.

Assuming you are using XP since you didn't specify the OS.

Moving the My Documents folder is easy. Instructions:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/how_to_move_my_documents.htm

You can also move the swap file:
http://www.wugnet.com/tips/display.asp?ID=1760

Moving program files is not really feasible due to registry settings. You can uninstall and then reinstall on second drive.

You probably need to take ownership of the folders. Here's how:
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1257

Each core has a maximum clock speed of 2GHz. Mobile CPUs will reduce speed to save power until additional CPU resources are needed. So unless loaded, CPU will operate at a reduced clock speed.

You don't have to worry about overclocking since it's not possible.

Probably too late to help now, but worth saying.

The motherboard in a Pavilion 700 is a standard uATX motherboard. Any uATX board that will accept installed CPU will work. Only tricky part is front panel connectors and front cable length. Get a motherboard that has essentially the same physical layout.

Give it several days. Weak caps can cause voltage drops after hours, minutes, or seconds.

If it's OK after a couple of days, then consider it cured.

The only reason XP won't recognize more than 2GB of ram is because of the dual channeling. when you dual channel it is just like using half the ram but at twice the bus speed. for example. If you put 2 1GB sticks of RAM in as dual channel you are only using 1 GB of ram but instead of a 64 bit data path you are now using a 128 bit data path so your information is now traveling twice as fast. XP just doesn't recognize this verry well and will report it wrong. it will still use all the ram but your system won't moniter it.

That is incorrect. Dual channel does not reduce the amount of memory nor does it increase the bus speed. It does provide increased bandwidth (double from 64 bits to 128 bits). In theory doubling the memory controller bandwidth would double throughput but the actual real world performance increase is fairly small -- generally less than 5% in gaming and apps. More memory in single channel provides greater performance than a lesser amount in dual channel.

All the green LED shows is the presence of 5VDC standby power. Most decay in about 5 seconds after power is disconnected.

From your symptoms, I'd suspect a faulty capacitor in the VRM (voltage regulating module). Those caps are located near the CPU socket. Check caps for any signs of swelling or leakage - a sure sign of problems. Caps can fail though with no external signs of damage.

I agree that 2x2GB is the way to go for performance. 2x1GB + 2x512MB for a total of 3GB is more cost effective but you get a small performance increase with memory controller only addressing 2 modules instead of 4.

Actually from Office 4.3 through Office 2007 and Various versions of Word and Excel prior to Office 4.3. Several were obtained through MS programs for resellers/system builders on a subscription basis. I'm still using XP and Office 2003 for business purposes. I "play" with Vista and Office 2007 on my shop PC.

I repair and custom build PCs so have to keep up with new OSes. Small business (me only) in a small town.

If you have a black screen with a flashing cursor in upper left hand corner, then BIOS is having problems detecting a device; most often a drive, but not always. I'm referring to detection as related to ESCD, not the drive table listing in BIOS. ESCD passes hardware information to Windows.

If BIOS will allow you to reset ESCD (redetect devices on boot), try that first.

Disconnect signal and power cables from all drives (could be optical drive), remove PCI cards, and try a boot.

Reset CMOS using jumper or remove CMOS battery.

Some observations that may help.

Random reboots can be difficult to diagnose. The same basic fault can produce different sysmptoms.

Video card overheating usually results in a frozen display, not a reboot. An overtemperature CPU should cause a full power off, not a reboot. Your temps appear normal.

Random reboots not accompanied by a BSOD are usually caused by hardware rather than software (drivers).

Since you have already tested memory (assume you ran memtest 86+ for at least 5 passes), the next most probable cause based on my experience is a faulty capacitor either on motherboard or in power supply. A faulty cap may not have any external signs of damage so don't rely on swelling or leakage to determine whether that's the problem. If any are swollen or leaking -- that's a sure sign of faulty caps.

A 500 watt power supply is sufficient for your system provided it is a quality one. Doesn't mean that it is not the cause, just that wattage is sufficient. Connecting to your friend's PC for a short period of time does not rule out a faulty PSU.

If it is a bad cap, reboot frequency should increase over time until they occur within a few minutes or less after bootup.

First thing I'd recommend is swapping power supplies.

I based my comments on versions that are being sold at present. It would have been nice to know you already had Office XP.

Office XP, Office 2000 and even Office 97 run on Vista. I installed them during Vista beta testing before installing the Office 2007 beta. Compatibility Packs (to use new file formats) are available for Office XP and 2000.

Quit worrying about Office 2007 memory usage. It is not a concern.

Selected components are fine. My concern is the PSU. What are specs on PSU you plan to use?

Also try replacing CMOS battery -- just in case.

Contact Dell. With proof of ownership, they should have a master password you can use.

You can also try removing the CMOS battery (can be difficult in a notebook). That may or may not work depending on where password is stored. Many, if not most, newer notebooks store passwords in flash memory rather than CMOS.

Do you mean that the power LED is amber? If so, problem is either power supply or motherboard.

Inspect capacitors on motherboard for signs of swelling (tops should be flat) or leakage. Pay special attention to those around CPU socket.

Swap power supply.

I thought you couldn't boot from XP CD.

Since you can't boot from CD, it's not a driver issue.

Create a UBCD and run memtest 86+ to test memory. If you cannot boot from the UBCD, it is a hardware problem.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Ensure that boot sequence has CD drive as first boot device.

Office 2007 Home and Student includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note. Office 2007 Basic includes Word, Excel, and Outlook. It was not illegal to purchase Office 2003 Student and Teacher. Microsoft dropped the active student or teacher with ID requirement and essentially opened it up to everyone.

I'm running an XP/Vista dual boot with Office 2003 Pro on XP and Office 2007 Enterprise on Vista. I haven't noticed any real difference in Office apps performance. Vista itself is a resource hog though.

As I mentioned previously, the user interface is greatly changed in Word and Excel. Outlook was chaged, but not radically and for the better with added features. For anyone not already proficient in Word or Excel, the new interface is actually better. For those used to the old interface and menus, it takes some getting used to.

Didn't see where you have changed out or tested memory. Recommend memtest 86+ which is on UBCD along with other useful utilities.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

You should also use DBAN to completely wipe hard disk before trying another OS install.

Both Office 2007 and Office 2003 are Vista compatible. It depends on your preference. The user interface in Word 2007 and Excel 2007 has been drastically changed. I'd recommend downloading a trial version or using on another PC to ensure it's what you want. Office 2003 is still available in OEM version from several online retailers.

The version of Office 2007 depends of which applications you use. The more apps -- the greater the cost. Best buy is the Student and Teacher edition.

Post your specific needs if you want more information.

Has the drive been partitioned and formatted? It won't show in My Computer until it is formatted.

Sorry about duplicated answer. Didn't notice second page.

"Windows 2000:
*DOES NOT SUPPORT MY RAGE PRO 128 VIDEO CARD"

News to me. I've installed W2K on systems with Rage Pro cards.

If you have 2 sticks of RAM, try booting with one at a time. For a single stick, try to borrow one and swap memory.