I checked the Boot Order and it was: Floppy Diskette Drive ATAPI CD-ROM Drive Hard Drive Network Adapter so I'm guessing that should be right. I don't know how to remove "other devices". I'll welcome any guidance you can offer.
My daughter just received a refurbished laptop from the grandparents as a birthday gift. It worked fine for a few days but now it won't go very far during startup. It's a Compac Presario V2000 and I can't even tell what the OS is or any other details. The startup screen shows 5 lines and just repeats over and over. There is also an unnerving rather prominent clicking noise that persists as it rolls through the attempted startup. Below are the five lines.
System Idle Process seems to be using 99 most of the time. Is this something I should be checking all the time to see where the draw is coming from?
Also as I look at the "Processes" the file "fssm32.exe" seems to be the only one registering under the CPU column. It goes from 0 to sometimes as high as 50. I searched the files and it is part of my F-Prot Anti-Virus (which I've had for years).
In Windows XP, the computer works OK when first started but after about 10 or 15 minutes, it partially freezes. This may (or may not) be Limewire related as I was attempting unsuccessfully to connect to Limewire right around the time when things stopped working right.
The partially freeze goes like this: Mouse still works normally. Internet programs freeze. Attempts to open new programs will show hourglass for 20 seconds or so and then nothing. Attempts to shutdown normally go> Start >Turn off computer> hourglass indefinitely.
What I've tried already (with no effect): Uninstalled Limewire. Used System Restore to go back a few days before problem arose. Disk Cleanup. Delete Temp Internet files. Ran AdAware, Spybot, F-Prot, Windows Defender. Swore (more than once). Nothing is having any effect.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
That was it!!! I had inadvertently deleted a TV Tuner driver which was part of a PowerCinema program that I hadn't used in years. I just reinstalled the driver and everything works great. Thanks a million. You're the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I while back, I went to "Add or Remove Programs" and got rid of some things that I wasn't using and I suspected were slowing things down on my computer. Since that time, whenever I shutdown, it goes right to the end of the shutdown process and then a blue screen comes up, saying:
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Technical Info ***Stop:0x000000D1 (0x0000001C, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0F6426A14, 0xF62A6A14) Cap 713x.sys Address F62A6A14 base at Date Stamp 40c73741 F6377000 If this is the first ime you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If the screen appears again, follow these steps ........ ...and the message goes on from there....
Any ideas on what I can do to allow my computer to shut down properly?
I don't have the Windows XP CD. This was a computer that my sister--in-law gave me that she got from her work. The video comes up all fuzzy and unrecognizable when XP goes to its regular screen. In safe mode, the video is fine. The screen saver works fine. In Device Manager, it tells me that the"S3 Graphics Inc. Trio 3D" driver is working fine. At the S3 Graphics web site I am told that Trio 3D drivers are obsolete and no longer serviced, etc. so I can't reload one to see if that's it.. What's next???
I recently acquired a computer from my sister-in-law. It worked great when I first started it up. However, she had alot of software, etc. that seemed to be slowing it down some so I decided to get rid of some of the excess. Using "Add or Remove Programs" in Control Panel, I got rid of things I didn't want (she had a lot of things from her job on there). Here's where I screwed it up, though. After uninstalling a bunch of stuff, I also got rid of the related icons on the desktop. Then I restarted the computer. When the computer came back on, everything seemed to follow the usual procedure (all the normal noises and things on the screen) but when XP got to the actual desktop, the image was just a few thin horizontal lines of assorted coloured fuzz (like when your TV is on a non-channel). I've likely inadvertently deleted some type of Video file. What's my next move?
I just completed a clean reinstall of Windows 98se on my P3 650 which went surprisingly well. Everything is up and running well with the exception of the USB port. I've installed the driver from the original purchase (the one that worked great for the past 7 years). I've reinstalled the all drivers for the things that connect to the USB (Wingman, Sandisk reader). The HP printer software wouldn't load as it said the USB wasn't connected.
I have one of those 4-way hub USB things that I've used for the past while. The lights on it confuse me but may offer a clue as to why it's not working properly. When the cable is plugged into the computer and the power to the outlet, the light on the USB hub is orange. When I unplug the power and leave the cable to the computer attached, the light on the hub goes green. When I unplug the cable and leave the power attached, the light goes red.
The four lights on the hub that indicate the connecting devices do not come on no matter what combination I try, or drivers I load, then reboot.
There must be some way to get this USB show on the road. I can't print anything and I need to get this thing working. Any thoughts???
So I'm all set to reinstall Win98se on my P3 650. According to the tutorial, the first thing I must do is to get into the BIOS thing as the computer boots up. So I press 'del' as it starts up. It takes me to a blue DOS screen that is titled: ROM PCI/ISA BIOS CMOS SETUP UTILITY One of the options on this screen is BIOS FEATURE SETUP. I'm thinking this is the right place. Here's the problem. On top of this blue screen is a small red window asking me to ENTER PASSWORD:. I don't have a password. I tried everything I could possibly think of. I don't recall ever putting in a password. I have a list of all the passwords, usernames, etc. I've ever used for anything. There's nothing there for this. Is there another way to get the computer to 'boot from the CD-ROM drive'?? I'm stalled out before I've even gotten started. Help please Thanks
I'm about ready to reinstall Win98se. I've saved most everything I can think of but I'm not sure how to preserve my e-mail stuff. I use Outlook Express 6. I've copied the wab.exe file from the Outlook Express folder in Program Files. Will that work for the Address Book? I have no idea how to save all the old mail though (inbox, sent, etc.). Any ideas? Thanks
OK, so I'm just about ready to tackle the dreaded reinstall of the O/S on my chronically disfunctional P3 650 that currently has Win98se installed. I've been reassured by good folks like you that this is the way to go. I have a Microsoft version of Win98se and I also have a copy of the WinXP installation CD.
Question 1: Which should I use? 98se or XP?
Question 2: How do I do it? It has been loosely explained to me but not to the point where I am anywhere near confident. I need a tutorial, or someone to explain to me exactly what to do. Words like "fdisk" and "partition", etc.. are new to me and might as well be in another language. I need to know specifically what to do and when to do it. Once I get into this, it may be difficult to access your support.
Question 3: If all goes well, should I add more RAM? I have 128mb now. If so, how much?, and which one? There seem to be a bunch of different types of RAM when I see it advertised at the local stores.
Thanks so much for your time. This is scary stuff for me. I definitely couldn't do it without you.
I've got a P3 650 with Win98se. There's so much crap on it, we've battled viruses over the years, and god knows what else is wrong with it. It's running so slow that it's either time to trash everything and reinstall Win98se or throw the freakin' thing away and buy a new one. It freezes up solid constantly, Cntrl-Alt-Del usually does nothing and I have to kill the power and start fresh at least 5 times a day (often more). Being the cheapass I am, I feel as though I have to attempt to purge what's there and try to reinstall. I have the disk, the product key, and the time. But not the knowledge. I've tried it once before, assuming I would lose all the old programs and start with a nice efficient clean slate. However, when I was done, most of my programs were still there. I've seen the tutorial at the top of the page. It looks easy enough even though I have no idea what all this fdisk, partition, etc. stuff is. Here's the deal. I need to clean out what's there and start fresh. I also need to preserve some of what is still there and be able to put it back where I need it when I'm through. Which is the tutorial for me and how much of it do I follow (there were Skip to Step 7 instructions but I'm unsure if they apply to me and proceeding when unsure usually leads …
When I put a CD into the drive, it does not begin automatically (AUTORUN) as it once did. It seems to me that I've seen something somewhere that gives you the option but I can't find it. Other than that everything else works fine with the CD. I just have to start it manually. Thanks.
On my other computer (Windows ME; not connected to the internet), I get the "Restore Active Desktop" wallpaper almost every time I start up. This has been going on for a long time and goes back to normal when I click "Restore Active Desktop". Recently, my CD-ROM drive does not recognize any disks that I put in it. This had been an "off and on" problem for months but now it won't recognize anything. This computer is mostly used for the kids and their games but I can't do a thing with it now. Any ideas? I've run scandisk and defrag already. Thanks
Other things that I've recently put on are LAVA player, SoundBlaster Audio PCI, and MediaRing Talk because they were on the original Nero CD. Also Java Runtime 5.0 and some Yamaha XGstudio or something like that as a desperation move. Could any of these be the problem??
Problem solved. I just kept doing Control-Alt-Delete and End Task to all but the essentials. McAffee had about 6 or 7 things running at all times. With them deactivated, ScanDisk ran perfectly and so did Defrag. Thanks everyone!!!
Yeah, I'm the same guy whose burner still won't burn (see related thread) but my other problem, which may be related, is that I have the same problem as the other person who could not ScanDisk. I get the error message saying "ScanDisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable ScanDisk to finish sooner. Do you want to continue receiving this warning?" Now, I have successfully run both ScanDisk and Defrag in Safe Mode. However, when I try to run it in Regular Mode, I get the same old message. Even if I shut down all Start Up programs besides System Tray, Scan Registry, and Country Selection and then reboot. So yesterday I ran it, when the message came up I said "keep trying, don't show warning" and I went to work. I came home 9 hours later and it was still trying unsuccessfully to finish running. It does the "checking folders" thing about a third of the way across the bar, then back to "checking file allocation tables" for a second, and on and on. When I try Defrag, it starts like normal, showing 0% complete, and continues to run but accomplishes nothing, showing 0% complete many hours later. What do you think? Keep in mind at this point, I'm ready to try just about anything. Thanks
The CD's that came with the burner, way back when, have two burning programs on them. One is Nero 5.0 and the other is Prassi abCD. I had installed them both, figuring, as I was reinstalling all the other driver stuff, that if they gave them to my, I must need them. Later, I decided to remove the Prassi and guess what! I could burn again. No freeze up! After countless attempts and freeze ups, things were finally working......Once...... The next time I went to burn, it froze up again. I couldn't believe it. Since then, I've been successful one more time and unsuccessful about 20 times. What could it be?????
The only Image type thing installed recently was included (I'm assuming) with the Nero 6.6.0.8. My "F" and "G" Drives, formerly listed as where my digital camera stuff went into, now reads "Nero Imagedrive 2". I onl7y installed this new Nero as an attempt to repair the existing freeze-up problem, so the problem existed before the Nero install.
Yeah, I also installed some anti-virus and spyware stuff. McAfee VirusScan 2005, McAfee personal Firewall, SpyBot, AVG Antivirus, WebRoot SptSweeper, a few others, all the driver stuff to get things back up and running (Wingman, SanDisk, Acrobat, etc.)
Windows was reinstalled because the computer was infected with the "about:blank" virus/homepage hijack thing. I tried to get rid of it many different ways (one forum had a thread that was 45 pages long with different ways to get rid of it - I tried quite a few but none worked). By the end, Windows would almost always freeze on startup, causing me to have to kill the power and try again. It was looking rather bleak so I opted for the reinstall.
Oh, yea. One other thing.... When in Device Manager, I noticed that "Properties" for the Creative CDRW rw8348E had a box that said "Disconnect" which was checked off. I unchecked the box and it still made no difference. Nero still froze at the "burn" command. Bad idea? Good idea? Change it back? Leave it?
OK. Here's the latest. (the deeper I go, the stranger it gets) 1) Outlook Express is working fine since the Internet Explorer download. 2) I did the SFC thing and 4 or 5 files were replaced / fixed. It never prompted for the Windows 98 disk. Nero still freezes at the "burn" or "simulate" command. 3) I checked in Device Manager and nothing was marked with any yellow or red !'s or x's. 4) I went into Hardware Profile with the intention of copying some computer specs for you and, where there is usually a long list of specs, there is now a prompt talking about creating different hardware configuration profiles, etc. It has a highlighted "Original Configuration" with options to "Copy" or "Rename". Would this be referring to our setting up the Creative CDRW RW8438E in the Device Manager (see previous posts)? I'm afraid to do anything here without some guidance. 5) Computer specs: Processor - Pentium III 650MHz (L1 cache: 32.0 Kb, L2 cache: 256.0 Kb) Ext.clock: 100 MHz Memory - 128 Mb (130 424 Kb) BANK_1: 128 Mb(DIMM,SDRAM,70 ns) Hard Disk - 20 Gb (9.66 Gb Free) OS - Microsoft Windows 98 SE U.S. English 4.10 (build 2222 A) {07505-OEM-0089164-98807} installed: 16-Mar-2005 (reinstalled actually) Burner software - Nero 6.6.0.8 (previously used Nero 6.1.3.25 - this was in use when the problem started, also tried my original Nero 5.0 before getting the new
Sorry again. The other part of your reply referred to reloading my motherboard driver from the disk that came with the computer. I'm not sure I know what that means. I used the Microsoft Windows 98 second edition disk. Is that it? There was also a Nero 5.0 / Prassi abCD / Creative disk that came with the burner way back when I bought it but although I've searched all over it, I can't find anything that has helped me.
Sorry, yes, I meant Outlook Express. What happened was I got a "Outlook Express could not be started because MSOE.DLL could not be loaded" message (or something close to that). Downloading Internet Explorer 6 remedied that problem. Back to the problem at hand: I just went into Device Manager and removed the [CD ROM Drive] as it was listed. After the reboot, Windows said it was loading the new driver. Sure enough, Device Manager listed Creative CDRW RW8438E in the proper spot. Oh boy! This could be it! I thought to myself. BUT.... No go. Nero still freezes as soon as the burn commences. I am baffled and so very frustrated here. Is there any other possible thing I could try???? Is there any information that I have left out that might be relevant???? Everything has worked great for years, right up until the Windows reinstall.
It's a long line of frustration and just when I've about got it licked, this. First, the "about blank" hijack thing forces me to opt for a Windows 98 reinstall. (Understand that, for the most part, I have no idea what I'm doing and am relying on forums like this to guide me, usually rather successfully). The reinstall goes nicely but Outlook Explorer crashes, causing a new Internet Explorer download, etc.. Finally, when all seems to be going strangely well, Nero won't burn. It acts just the same, has all the same songs and stuff, and says it recognizes my Creative CDRW RW8438E burner, but when I start a burn, it says "burn started" and freezes. The mouse still moves around but everything else is rock solid. So much so that Cntrl-Alt-Del does nothing the first time and goes to a black screen the second time, resulting in me having to kill the power just to restart the computer. I've tried everything I could possibly think of. I downloaded the new Nero 6.6.0.8, searched for the appropriate driver from some other site, gone to places in my computer I never knew existed. I'm desperate. I'll try anything. Give me a direction, please. Would it be worthwhile to physically remove the burner and then reinstall it? Something has to happen and I'd be grateful for any advice, however remote it might be. Thanks.
