Posts by goldeagle2005

Did you try disk management? Right click "My Computer" and choose manage. On the left side of Computer Management, click Disk Management and see if your USB drive is listed without a drive letter. If it is, right click there, choose Add and add a drive letter. See if this helps.

Agreed with Comodore. I had a very bad opinion of Vista. I was running it on an Athlon 64 2800+ with !Gig RAM and a 7300GT card w/ 256MB. The system crawled while XP flew. However, I just got a new system with a Core2Duo E6550, 4Gigs RAM and the onboard G33 Express GFX chipset (will buy a card later). Vista flies. If you run Vista on an outdated machine or if you skimp on RAM, it's gonna suck. Get some good hardware and you're fine.

Me? Spam? Perish the thought. heh.

because they are actually trying to be customer friendly there, unlike most companies who would at best give you the phone number for sales

trust me, I know exactly how it works. and you have to understand that the techs are being helpful even on issues that do not concern them not because you are entitled to that, but because it is company policy towards customers - to help as much as they can

Agreed. But it really doesn't matter if the dude there is doing so because he is helpful or because it's policy, as long as he can get you what you want

Trust me, in Dell, they can. I should know, I've done it numerous times.

Just spoke to a Dell rep and I was informed that XP is available (after a lot of time convincing him I do NOT want Vista on my laptop - got my desktop with Vista). This ofcourse, is Dell India. I checked the US site and they do have XP available. Try calling up Dell Tech Support and ask the tech agent to tell the sales guy that you WANT XP.

...also use a utility like TweakXP and the like and see if the location of the favorites folder has inadvertently been changed to the desktop or not.

Agreed with the form factor part. Also agree with the fact that this looks like an ACPI/APM issue. Tha manufacturer's site is a good option. Also, depending on the chipset (GeForce, G33 etc) you can get chipset drivers from nVidia or Intel too.

I have to agree with TheNNS. Considering the fact that the discs work in the other XP machines, the CD is OK. Try running the CD on a different Vista machine. Also, try reading the CD in Safe Mode. If that doesn't work, you're probably looking at a bad drive. You could try cleaning the CD lens using a lens cleaning CD.

The fact that the mouse pointer shows up means the boot config data is OK. You mentioned System Restore did not work from WinRE or Safe Mode. Try this. When you're at the black screen with the mouse pointer, open Task Manager, go to File > New Task and punch in "explorer" over there. That should bring up the main Windows shell in the normal mode. Once that happens, try running System Restore.

Easy way to see if that indeed is the problem. Try copying all files from the Office CD to the hard drive. If it fails, it's a bad disk. If it passes, you have a different problems, probably a corrupt Windows Installer or faulty memory.

Hi Guys

I have raised this question in one of the other threads as well and thought that it is a bit relevant here as well. As this thread is about installing Vista, is there anyone who could provide some hints or tips on how to get Vista on Dual boot (say with XP, 2000 etc)?

What is it that we have to be careful about? like if theres already Vista loaded on do we have to format the drive and install both the os again obviously after making required partitions for both OSs.

But as long as Vista requiring 120 gig is concerned I dont think thats correct. I got it on a 60 gig partition with at least about 45+gig left fot documents etc. It does need other resources as memory and graphics ability but HDD requirement of 120 is juss ridiculous.

Regards
Raj

Well, the thing you need to keep in mind is the older OS is always installed first. You'll need multiple partitions for the same. I suggest 15 Gigs for XP, 40 Gigs for Vista. Once you've partitioned, install XP first and follow this up with Vista. That way, the Boot Configuuration Editor will add XP to the boot list and you'll be given an option of booting either OS on power up. If you've already installed Vista and want to load XP now, doing so will overwrite Vista's boot files, rendering it inaccessible. Once XP is installed, you can use the Vista DVD …

Holy thread hijack, batman! This topic is really going WAY off the mark. Would people please read the topic title before you start posting? Not only do you ruin the continuity of the thread but also end up sounding stupid and retarded.

Never cheated on an exam. I've had ppl come to me and ask me answers during the exam. I just give them with a dirty look and turn away. No way others are gonna reap the fruits of my labor.

Good suggesion by caperjack about the memory. You might want to try starting the system in diagnostic mode. Hold down the 'Fn' button and then power the system up. If the system board is alive, it should begin the 32 Bit Diagnostics. Follow the onscreen instructions. If it does not work, get back to us.

...to be precise, you need to short the green and any one black wire in the PSU to test it

I used the older FX5200 along with the generic Vista driver (no updates available for that card on the website). That ran fine (assuming there is a 'fine' in Windows Vista)

Try running a diagnostic on the memory in your system. Use the Windows Built in Memory Diagnostic which can be obtained from the F8 menu or click Start > Run and type in ‘mdsched’ and restart the comp. Post back what happens

Yup yup yup. That is an option, since the COA is still on the tower.

Fun

Yup. Since its doing this even in the BIOS, this has got to be a heating issue. Also, run a few diagnostics on y our memory, or try installing known working memory cards in the system

Could you list the processes which use up the CPU time?

Use your XP CD to boot to the Recovery Console. Once there, run chkdsk /r. This will check the entire disk for Bad Sectors as well and try to fix it.

Considering you were doing a reinstall, I'd suggest you try booting off of the CD, delete all partitions and start setup again.

A lot of Dell Systems have an Image Restore option built into them. When you see the Dell Logo on screen, hold down CTRL and then start tapping F11. This should initiate a PC Restore and will return the system to factory settings.

And it's not just F-Secure. Any AV software will clash with another AV software installed on your system. Rule of thumb: Only have one AV software installed and keep updating it.

I think this is the answer to your problems, buddy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16839333002

Unfortunately, there IS no way of reverting to the XP style of the start menu. It's either the Vista style or Windows Classic style.

As for the upgrade question, it IS a one way trip. Once you upgrade XP to Vista, there's no coming back to XP short of reformatting.

Edit: I just read up some more on this. Apparently it IS possible to revert back, but there are major problems in XP then. Suggestion is to do a clean reinstall of XP.

That is true. You can't go from XP Pro to Premium as an upgrade. The upgrade options are

XP Home --> Vista Home Basic (who'd want it anyway?)
XP MCE --> Vista Home Premium
XP Pro --> Vista Business

You can upgrade from any flavor of XP to Ultimate Edition though.

Got Ultimate when I got my Dell

Im running Ultimate edition on an aold Athlon 64 2800+ with 1 gig and an FX 5200 card. Runs quite good there.

How many partitions do you have in your comuter? When you did reload the OS, did you delete the previous partition? Try runing chkdsk /r in the Recovery Console to eliminate any possibility of a problem with the file system.

Ofcourse, you could also try running tools like Disk Cleanup and deleting ols System Restore points. Try these steps and let us know what happens.

Are you sure that the processor is getting cooled adequately? The older AMD processors were notorious for their overheating issues.

Strip the system down to the Mobo+CPU+PSU and try powering the system. Check the LED status and also see if the mobo makes any beeps (it should since you don't have any RAM plugged in). If it does, add components one at a time to see which part is bad.

Otherwise, test the PSU somewhere else to confirm.

To see if it's OE or your ISP at fault, do the telnet test. Open a command prompt window and type the following

telnet pop-server.hvc.rr.com 110
+OK
user <your user name>>
+OK
pass <your password>
+OK
stat
+OK <some numbers here>
list
+OK
<some more numbers here>

Note that the +OK are server responses and may have some more info, but the +OK part will ALWAYS be there. If you're able to do this, your ISP is fine and it's prolly OE acting up. If not, it's a server side issue. Post a screenshot of your command prompt window here with your results and we'll go from there.

oh, once you're done clearing the startup tab, click on the services tab and check the box "Hide all Microsoft services" and click disable all there too. Then try restarting the computer.

But yes, I'd always recommend a format/reinstall.

Download a utility called TweakUI from microsoft. Within that, click on the "Repair" tab and choose the option to repair/rebuild icons. This should take care of the problem.

Marking thread as solved!

And also make sure that the LAN connection on your computer is set to automatically receive IP via DHCP.

Yup. If you've got IE7, it's not surprising you're facing such issues. I've seen so many incidents where IE7 freezes, causes the system to crash or does not connect. If you're having problems, try switching back to IE6

Isn't the automatically restart option incase of a BSOD related error changed in the Advanced Startup Options? I doubt the BIOS option will make a difference. I'd recommend a repair reinstall

Unfortunately, in such a case, if this method does not work, the only option you have is to reinstall your Operatin System. However, before you do, try the Last Known Good configuration and Safe mode options. If these don't work, an OS reinstall is the way to go.

The system may have some viruses. Try this: go to start>run and type msconfig and press enter. Click on the tab which says startup and clear all checkboxes except the ones oertaining to your Antivirus.. Then, click on the services tab and check the box that says "Hide all Microsoft services" and then clear all check boxes except for those pertaining to your antivirus. Restart the system and run a scan. See if this helps. If not, get back and we'll go further.

To be sure, you need to connect a 20/24 Pin power connector to the corresponding port on the mobo. Also, you have a separate 4 pin connector with 2 Yellow and 2 black wires. This goes into a 4 pin connector near the CPU. The rest of the connectors are for the HDD, ODD and FDDs, and as mentioned before are keyed in so you can plug them in one way only

Holeeeee.....what next? USB powered mixers?

I've heard of USB Coffee Makers, but a USB back massager?:cheesy:

Ahh, but crying occasionally is good for health...

Agreed. Basic isn't worth the money you spend. Either go for Premium or Ultimate.

Seeing all the problems you've faced, I'd say you back up your data, delete all partitions and reload XP. If you're not able to format, you could use the debug command to delete all partitions and start fresh. Boot off of a Windows 98 Startup disk and type the following commands

debug
-F 200 L1000 0
-A CS:100
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80

NOTE: Type 80 for the Main hard drive - HD 0, or type 81 for the Second hard drive - HD 1.

xxxx:010C INT 13
xxxx:010E INT 20
xxxx:0110 (Leave this line blank and press the <Enter> key)
-G

Note: Bold text represents commands you type in. After this restart the computer, repartition and reformat the computer.