Posts by TallCool1

I am considering moving my hardware to another case. I have a Compaq and a HP desktop. Are the instructions provided with new cases sufficient for an inexperienced person too safely relocate the motherboard to another case? I plan to make the change for either, or both, depending how the first works out. I have one Athlon 1800+ and one P3 650.

It may depend on which machine is which. Compaq formerly used custom motherboards, as did HP, but Compaq persisted later. Compare the two motherboards. One giveaway is power supply connectors, another is mounting-hole placement. Yet another is back-panel layout -- on an ATX motherboard (the current standard), most of the connectors fit a standard layout, and if they come close to matching, that's a clue.

As far as case assembly instructions go, it's not really hard. There are books available, as well as a variety of Internet sites that provide some basics; Google is your friend. If you can find the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and their model numbers for the motherboards, all the better--you can download the user manuals, usually in PDF format.

I've spilled water on my only two keyboards and i don't know how to fix them... One is a microsoft natural and the other is an microsoft intellitype.

No recourse. Unless you are an experienced technician, you are unlikely to be able to repair either board.

Heck, I'm an experienced technician--and I probably would only have about a 50/50 chance of fixing either KB. Sorry for the bad news.

I am having problem with my Internet explorer, sometimes it opens and sometimes not and when it does a box pops up: Internet Explorer error: ToolBar.dll error Do you know what can be wrong and how to fix it.

At some point, your browser has been hijacked. It's probably Xupiter, possibly a partially-failed browser hijacking.

I recommend Spybot - Search & Destroy. To get information and download links for Spybot S&D, go to http://Security.Kolla.de -- which also has support forums.

Make sure to update the data files before you run your first scan.

iam running a pentium 4.1400. with windows xp home edition with sp1.and all updates.i removed all traces of the program from the registry beforei uninstalled the program.i tryed to use jv16 power tools to remove the program but.i cant get it out of the add &remove window. I tried to reinstall the program but a box pops up that says can't install there is a version of the program already installed.

You did it backwards. You are supposed to do the uninstall first then check the Registry for leftovers. You can use TweakUI to remove the reference to the program. It's part of the XP PowerToys suite, but can be downloaded separately.

Hello, I have a major problem with my Win Xp Professional.
Every time I enter the Internet, windows shuts my computer automatically within a minute. The message presented is as the following:

"This system is shutting down. Please save all work in progress and log off. Any ansaved changes will be lost. This shutdown was initiated by NT Authority/System.
Windows must now restart because the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminated unexpectedly.

That's the MS Blaster worm in action. It used the useless open service RPC on XP to install itself and do its dirty deeds. You will have to take several steps to fix it.

1. Go to Symantec and download-and-run the latest version of FixBlast, a free stand-alone tool to remove this worm.

2. Go to the Gibson Research website. Download-and-run the program Shoot the Messenger. There are other tools there, also.

Note: both these tools will fit on one floppy, so you can download them at a friend's house or computer store.

3. Make sure that all your XP patches are up-to-date.

4. Come back here and do a search on "Blaster" for more details.

5. You will likely also have to delete your System Restore files, as those have probably also been infected.

I am considering buying a new computer from Dell. I have customized two computers which are almost exactly the same but the price difference is $310.

Whichever one you do buy, get an add-in sound card--the ADI audio in both machines is a "host-based codec" which is weasel-speak for AC '97 audio. The drawback to this kind of sound system is that the CPU (the "host") does all the work of dealing with sound; no matter how fast the processor is, this sucks up CPU cycles like crazy, especially in anything beyond stereo, like 6.1 surround sound.

A SoundBlaster Live! or Audigy card has an on-board processor (lower CPU overhead) and better power filtering (cleaner sound).

Since I woke up this morning my monitor started turning itself on and off and it seems it's doing a degauss when it comes back on. Sometimes the picture will blur and fade to black, other times it's a hard off. It makes a nice crack sound when it goes.

It sounds like one or more bad solder connections, which is actually a rare problem in that series of ViewSonics. They are custom-made for VS by Matsushita (a/k/a Panasonic).

The fact that it degausses when it comes back on is useful information. It means that the AC input/main power circuit is the likely culprit. Look at where the power comes into the unit, especially around the AC power jack. Examine wires, connectors, and solder connections in the power path. Lots of light and a magnifying glass may help there.

The symptoms' varying may indicate more than one problem, or a possible crack in a circuit board; for example, sudden-off often indicates a power-supply output problem, whereas fade-out indicates a power-supply input problem (capacitors discharging over time).

(To all) I am considering writing up some tech pointers for my web site, like how to solder, electronic component identification, and dealing with assembly hardware (like case screws). I was a repair tech for a long time, so some tips and tricks may be useful to others. Any interest?

How do I do that? In my instruction manual it gives "preset modes timing charts" but doesnt tell how to set them up properly.

Again, I stress: check your KDS documentation for the exact physical resolution, then change your display settings to match. Timing charts are way less important than the actual pixel count, which is 1024x768 @ 75 Hz (actually, refresh rate doesn't matter, as long as you don't exceed 75 Hz).

An excellent utility for this purpose is MultiRes: http://www.EntechTaiwan.com. It allows you to switch resolutions and refresh rates on-the-fly, and it's free.

One last question. Does the monitor have a DVI input? Does the video card have a DVI output? If so, you should be using that interface, rather than VGA.

so its the dot pitch making it blurry?

In a sense, yes. The likely problem is that the screen resolution that the computer is set to does not match that of the LCD. One of the major drawbacks of an LC display (and a deal breaker for me) is its fixed resolution. At any setting other than its built-in resolution, the signal pixels map poorly to the physical display. This will make text (especially) look 'jaggy" and wierd.

Check your KDS documentation for the correct physical resolution, then change your display to match.

...all works fine except when they try to play a game. The system runs fine for hours until they play any games. When a game is started it loads and runs fine for about a minute or 2 then the whole system locks up and the only way out is to cold boot. Ctrl-alt-del does nothing.

You can also try MemTest86 http://www.MemTest86.com. The executable file makes a bootable floppy disk. Just boot from it and run it overnight to exercise the system. Keep an eye on it for the first half hour or so -- any gross errors will likely have shown up by then.

I'm trying to setup a network between 2 computers so i can play lan games between them... I'm using 2 ethernet cards in both the computers and im connecting them with a cord (ethernet cord, I think that's what its called).

The easy/cheap solution here is to use an ethernet crossover cable. About the same price as a regular cable, it's the network equivalent of a null modem cable--it allows direct connection between identical ports. It's a good idea to have one of these in your cable inventory even if you do have and use a hub, router, or switch. Just be sure to mark it clearly...

As far as detailed instructions, that varies. Read the instructions that pertain to the particular game(s) that you are playing.

I have Windows 98, for some reason I cant explain all of a sudden the setting in the Settings/Display box went to 640 x 480 pixels, thats annoying, but the bigger problem is my color went to 16 colors where as before I had full color...

What you are seeing is the most-basic VGA driver settings. You blew out your video-card driver somehow. Try downloading and installing the latest version of the drivers for your card or chipset.

I was installing kazaa 2.6 into my computer when this message appears: Error opening file for writing:C:/ProgramFiles/CommonFiles/Keenware/wupdater.exe I hit retry several times,with no luck,just the same message.So I ignore the file and it completes the installation.Then when I log off windows, I have to re-install kazaa whenever I log back on, like it was never installed to begin with. Any ideas as to what can help me out?

Kazaa is chock-full of adware, of which wupdater.exe is part-and-parcel. Uninstall it, then use an adware stomper like Spybot - Search & Destroy or Ad-aware to remove all traces.

Then try Kazaa Lite, which is adware-free, instead.

Hi. I read all the threads and couldn't find a cure. Please help me to fix my laptop.

I must stress that you should update the data files before running Spybot - Search & Destroy and/or Ad-aware. In an effort to avoid detection/deletion, Trojan writers often modify their scumware, and older removal tools can actually make the problem worse.

Check out http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html.

Also, see my computer club website, which has a lot of this type of links...

In pic are all these needed

Virus alert! Ctfmon. see http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_c.php
for details. This is the best startup list I have found.

Hi,

I have a laptop with a dead lcd screen. When I put a bright light on the screen everything was there and seemed to be working fine. Is the problem my ccfl or possibly the inverter board? If the the problem is in my interter board would I be able to see anything on my screen?

The inverter provides the high-frequency AC voltage needed by the fluorescent backlight, so when it croaks the light goes out but the display itself is unaffected. Some inverter boards are more easily available (and cheaper) than others...

Here is the problem, i downloaded a .avi file which is around 700mb in size, it was downloaded through a p2p service (i know!) but i can't delete it, when i do try to delete it it says another program is using the file but it is not. My computer now also seems to be going very slowly.

Not only do you probably have some malware/scumware still lurking out there, but some process is keeping you from accessing that file. There are utilities that allow you to view and kill rogue processes.

Download and extract the free utility PrcView from http://www.teamcti.com/pview/prcview.htm

This utility is excellent for looking at what processes are running on your system. It will show you not only processes but threads that the Task Manager often hides from you, including spyware. It also can give you details on each task and kill them, if you so wish.

Installation doesn't modify the Windows Registry, so you simply extract it to wherever you want. This is the main reason that I still prefer it to CodeStuff Starter. I find it so useful that I put a shortcut to it in my Startup folder; I run it with Windows.

You can post here the list it generates, and we'll let you know what can safely be killed.

I come home from school, turn on my computer and sit down. About any given time it wants to my computer suddenly freezes on me for no reason.

Start by separating hardware problems from software problems. Download MemTest86 from http://www.MemTest86.com. It's available in two formats: an EXE that makes a bootable floppy, or an ISO that makes a bootable CD. Run the test for a while, and see what happens. Even if the problem is not RAM, if the program crashes or freezes up it's likely to be hardware.

Some of those are suspicious. I Googled each one using "port xxx" (in quotes), where xxx was the port number. I'll leave this as an exercise for you, but do it soon (hint).

I would also run something like PrcView or CodeStuff Starter to see what threads and processes are running.

--> I went to boot my computer up yesterday and it went through POST and while processing the RAM count I noticed it said Pentium III 433Mhz, so I immediately went into the BIOS and check the settings. Nope, BIOS states 933.

Is it possible that your CMOS settings have become corrupted? If, somehow, your RAM clock settings were dropped to 60 or 66 MHz, something like that could happen--or if the CPU frequency multiplier was set to 3.5 instead of 7 or some combination of the two settings?

Which 1 is the best--Miranda OR Trillain, and WHY?

Miranda is free, and source code is available, as well. Trillian is a commercial product, with the free version being less-capable than the full version. Some feel that Trillian is a bit bloated and that Miranda's modular approach (loading only those interface modules that you need) leads to a smaller resource footprint. I don't use either one.

That's because there is yet a third choice: GAIM, from http://gaim.sourceforge.net. Like Miranda, it's free and source code is available. Personally, I like GAIM--but that's partly because it's available in both Windows and Linux versions, so moving between environments is easier.

Of course, there's nothing keeping you from downloading and installing all three and checking them out yourself...

I have this old laptop that i have scrapped. I am wondering if there is any way i can rip the screen out and use it for something else? Extra monitor? Mini TV?
Or is this totaly impossible. Or cheaper to get a mini plasma :P

LCD laptop screens have custom interfaces on top of using digital signals. This makes reuse effectively impossible, unfortunately.

Ok, I just got this peculiar problem about this "Maxtor 40Gig Hard drive". I have 2 pc's. Let's just call this PC1 and PC2. My Maxtor hard drive can not detect by BIOS in the PC1 but can detect in the PC2.

PC1:
Tyan Trinity 510 S2266 motherboard VIA chipset
128 DDR RAM
Maxtor 40Gig Hard disk
Intel P4 1.7 Gig

Did you properly reset your BIOS after flashing--that is, move the CMOS-reset jumper to ensure that the CMOS chip was completely discharged and the settings reset? I can't think of anything else that would cause that problem except for the hard drive interface being in the wrong mode. A drive-geometry-setting error could cause this type of problem.

Is it possible to run 2 different OS's on the same computer?

Absolutely! There are several ways to do this. The easiest, and where I tell everyone to start, is to try Knoppix; it's free to download. Since it's CD-bootable (it runs from RAM and CD), no installation is necessary, yet it's a full Linux environment. See my signature for the link. The newest version has just been released. It can also be used as a slick Debian installer and a Windows backup/rescue disc. In my opinion, Debian is a good choice. My current Linux install is from a Knoppix CD.

As far as multiple installed OSes, there are a number of boot managers, the standard ones being LiLo and GRUB. You can find out more about these (and Linux in general) at The Linux Documentation Project http://www.TLDP.org. There are also a number of other boot managers. For example, because of the exigencies of my particular setup, I use the GAGBoot graphical boot manager from a floppy: http://GAG.SourceForge.net. There are several others, as well.

i have been having trouble windows me whenever i try to install a usb storage device like a jump driver pro or other such mass storage device, have zip drives and peerless iomega drivers working perfectly, but if i try installing a jump drive (key ring drive by lexar) the installation plug and play hangs forever after updating hardward database and then i have a devil of a time ever getting windows me to boot up again.

Some USB chipset drivers are incompatible with some hardware. This is especially true with certain SiS chipsets. What do you have?

In the case of the SiS chipset, going to the generic USB device drivers (Standard PCI to USB Host Controller) may solve the problem. A similar solution fixed a problem with a USB hub being intermittently recognized by my VIA southbridge on my current system.

What is the difference between MSN Explorer and Internet Explorer? ...when I install msn messenger I get message saying that MSN explorer could cause them to conflict...

MSN Explorer (MSNE), like Internet Explorer (IE) is a front end for the functionality built into Windows. One of the things the MSNE interface adds is an integrated Messenger function; therefore, if you try to run MSN/.NET Messenger while running MSNE, it will conflict. No such conflicts exist for Mozilla or just plain IE.

I have tried 3 different types of AV programs. Norton. Mcafee. Panda. Everytime i install them my IE stops working. I can still connect to like irc and msn. But IE doesnt work. When i uninstal the programs and restart computers.... IE works fine...

Try one more. Grisoft AVG. http://www.Grisoft.com has a free-for-personal-use version that's better than Norton or Mcafee (to be honest, I'm not sure about Panda).

Beyond that, I'm not sure what is causing your problem.

when ever there is no player open or any app that is made to produce sound, other then windows, a faint static can be heard at all times.

Chipless on-board sound, also known as AC '97 (audio codec 1997) will cause this problem for two reasons:

1. Being on the motherboard, it's more subject to digital noise due to its proximity to digital circuitry (and the fact that part of the audio circuitry is on the same chipset that's doing the digital work); and

2. Since the CPU is doing the actual work of the digital-to-analog conversion, the sucked-up cycles cause little "hiccups" that are audible.

A PCI sound card will both sound better and improve performance. A SoundBlaster Live! (the minimum that I recommend) will cost as little as $30 in the OEM version.

I am not able to run JSP pages/scripts in Internet Explorer. Whenever I try to run one by pressing a hyperlink, I get a This Page Cannot Be Displayed error message. I have tried changing the setting of Internet Explorer, but it does not work. I have JVM installed. However I do not have JDK. What could be wrong?

Which JVM? Try installing Sun's instad of the broken MS one:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html
JAVA Runtime Environment. Windows installation is mid-page (scroll down).

JDK is not usually required for end users.

Everytime I turned on my laptop this thing appears on the screen... Updater Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

It's the automated Windows Update, launched every time you start Windows. I prefer to do it manually; you can see why. Here's what you do:

1. Boot into Safe Mode.
2. Type MSConfig into the Run box in the Start menu and press the [Enter] key.
3. A tabbed dialog box pops up with the Startup tab on the right side. Click that tab.
4. Check Selective startup and continue.
5. You will be presented with a list of startup programs with checked boxes, which indicates that they are active.
6. Uncheck the one that is called wupdate or something similar (it's been so long since I deleted it, I'm not sure of the exact name).
7. Click [OK] and reboot into normal Windows.

The use of MSConfig is considered a temporary fix. To make the change permanent, download CodeStuff Starter with a link you can get from http://codestuff.mirrorz.com. This will allow you to permanently prevent the launch at startup.

I'm having a really difficult time believing a 200% increase in speed because of some registry tweaks.

Mine runs at 3Mbs right after a clean installation. If you get 1.7Mbs after a fresh install, that's not XP, that's your bandwidth getting choked.

As I said before, "Maximum transfer units (MTU) settings can have a strong (and variable) effect on transfer speeds." Yes, that much. With a wrong MTU setting (which can vary per provider), the system can be forced to send each packet twice, hence the up-to-50% bandwidth chop. I've seen it. Each install is different -- but quality-of-service conditions do vary quite a bit, as well.

I use tcpOptimizer to tweek my cable connection.
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

Another alternative is http://www.broadbandreports.com/tweaks and the DrTCP tool to tweak the maximum transfer units (MTU) settings. MTU settings can have a strong (and variable) effect on transfer speeds.

But I think such an error would show up BEFORE the printer would bother to pick up the paper, also it should have found that problem upon powerup when cleaning the jets

True, I guess I was confused. Maybe the ink gummed up something in the paper path. Thanks for pointing that out.

Then again, anything is possible...

I have a Dell E770s CRT monitor purchased in 2000 with my Dell Dimension XPS T500 system, all of which have run well until recently. A few weeks ago one of my kids said the display went unstable, and after she shut everything down and restarted the computer system, the display shrunk with about 1.25" black bands on each side, although the actual display still show everything it should, it's just narrower than it should be. None of the monitor adjustments on the front are capable of making the display wider.

Bad monitor, not worth repair. Either the microcontroller's width function has failed or the width control circuitry has gone bad.

You can buy a decent, new 17" monitor for as little as $120, or used for about $50.

This computer had a bad sound card (So I thought) and so I decided to replace it with one that was laying around the office (BRAND: Avance). I downloaded all the drivers that I would need and then installed the card. Everything went smoothly and now I can not get any sound out of it at all (like before I replaced the card). I already checked the volume and it is all the way up and it is plugged into the correct socket. I also have checked the speakers to see if they were any good. They are. Any thoughts?

Does the motherboard have built-in sound? If so, is it diabled in the BIOS? If not, this can lead to conflicts.

I have a HP Deskjet 648C that has problems...

I have fixed the noise that it was making (it was the color ink... it was leaking all over the connectors), but now I can't get the thing to print.

The basic problem with HP printers is exactly what you are experiencing. The print head intermittently draws a lot of current (it actually boils the ink to print, like the Canon printers do) and any kind of dirt on the contact will cause it to error out. Further, if you bent a contact while cleaning, that nozzle element reads as an open circuit and will lead to the same error.

I just bought a new motherboard and processor, an intel P4 2.4 (500 FSB) and ECS LV4XA2. Problem is after I installed all my hardware and software, my computer starts freezing up.

Try downloading and running Knoppix (see my sig). It's a CD-bootable Linux distribution that's handy in cases like these. It will help separate out hardware problems from software troubles.

You may want to use the following at the boot prompt: Knoppix dma. You can also add noapic, as well.

By the way, that's a crappy sound card for such an otherwise decent system. Spend another $30-40 for a SoundBlaster Live! Not only is the sound quality better, but the processor overhead is reduced; the Emu chip is better than the Ensoniq chip for multiple sound streams (sound effects while playing MP3s, for example).

...if you install something, it usually creates a folder, and unpacks files to the needed folders.

So, somethings come with "uninstall". Whats the differentce between unistalling it, or removing the program from the control panal, and just deleting allt he files the program made when it was installed...

The Windows Registry is the difference. When you install a program, it adds entries to the Registry. Such entries include (but are not limited to) the path to the needed files, the serial number (if any), which file extensions are assigned to the program, the most-recently-used (MRU) list, and much more. If you were to simply delete the files, the Registry entries would still be there. Even when you do a "proper" uninstall, many programs don't clean up after themselves properly. It's this leftover flotsam and jetsam that contributes to registry bloat and eventual corruption. In my experience, about 90% of the problems I have had with Windows can be traced to the Registry--that's why there are so many Registry repair tools, from ScanReg /fix and /opt, through RegClean and onwards to RegHance and other fancy tools.

I have two hard drives running XP becuase of some crazy shit that forced me to install to my 2nd hard drive. However now my computer automatically boots up onto this new install and Wont let me get onto my old hard drive. I need some kind of way so that i can choose which hard drive to boot into.

You can start with the graphical boot manager GAGboot: http://gag.sourceforge.net
If you install it to a floppy, you can select which hard drive boots. From there, you should be able to edit the boot.ini as you see fit.

I just bought a 21" used monitor for my IBM, running ME. It has RGB plugs at the monitor end...

You need a new cable, basically. The cylindrical connectors on the monitor itself are known as BNC or bayonet connectors (because of how the plugs are secured). How many are there? Usually 5, as most of these are made by Sony, though this does vary. Also, the model number sticker may be on the front--look at the front-bottom edge (the lowest front-facing surface at the bottom of the front bezel).

Once we figure out what you have, I can tell you what you need and where you can get it. I used to specialize in the repair of this class of monitor...

The way I solved a similar problem in my system was to use GAGBoot.

QUOTE Valmian: I tried it but it only recognizes EXT2 file system. I have 3 ext3 (swap, etc..).

Hmmm... There must be something else going on, because the filesystem does not matter; it only "sees" the boot record. I have used this with ext2, ext3, and ReiserFS without problems.

I need to remove the Win2k3 server edition from the system, and the XP installation is too important to wipe out and start the whole box over. Normally, I'm a person to just backup my data, format the drive, and start over, but in this case I REALLY, REALLY don't want to do that...

How are the partitions arranged? There are a couple of ways to go about that, partially dependent on the pysical layout of the OSes in question.

I'm supporting a user who is having a weird issue. When he opens Windows explorer, the left hand side, which usually displays the folder view, is gone.

One suggestion, though not a direct fix, is to use a free replacement for Windows Explorer which is better anyway: AB Commander Lite http://www.winability.com/abcommander/lite.htm

This utility is high on my recommended list, and automatic for any Windows machine I work on or with. I have not used Windows Explorer for years...

Each time I opened my Internet Explorer 6.0, the window doesn't not have the address bar, pull-down menu and short-cut icons in it.

You may simply be in "full screen" mode, which hides a bunch of stuff to maximize the window. Try pressing the [F11] function key (full-screen toggle) with the IE window active and see what happens. It's a useful feature, but confusing if you don't know what's going on. This works for Mozilla/Netscape as well.

If that doesn't do it for you, go to the View menu and see if your Toolbars are disabled. Also, they can sometimes be minimized by mistake. This will turn them into small buttons residing in the left-hand side of the top bar area.

I have a HUGE upgrade that I'm working on (50,000 PC's) and it would be really nice for some of the batch files to reboot the PC's automatically after they are done installing the components.

EDIT: Shutdown.exe is part of an upgrade pack for 2000 (not included), but included in XP and Server 2003.

can anyone tell me why my dial up box comes up when i boot up .

There have been a lot of nasty porn dialers going around lately. Download the adware/spyware tool Spybot - Search & Destroy. The links are available from http://Security.Kolla.de, as well as discussion forums. As with all malware-tool software of this type, make sure that you run the updates before scanning the system for the first time.

You should be running a full-time virus scanner as well, and a firewall if you have broadband.

Here is the deal. I have two harddrives. One has RedHat Linux9.0, and one has Windows 2k. I used to have a functional grub install. But then I had to reinstall win2k and it deleted my grub at mbs. Now I can't access Linux. I also lost my boot floppy. Is there anyway to install any sort of fork that will allow me to chose between win2k and Linux from the windows side? I don't want to reinstall Linux because some of the drivers I used were very hard to find and it required a whole lot of tweaking afterwards.

How are your partitions organized?

The way I solved a similar problem in my system was to use GAGBoot http://GAG.SourceForge.net
It can be installed to a floppy or to the HD. I use it on a floppy because my Windows 120 GB HD has a special MBR so Win98 can recognize it. With the floppy in, it goes to the second 80 GB Linux drive. Without the floppy, Windows. It's not actually booting from the floppy; GAG simply points to the Linux boot record--it's almost instantaneous. This might be a good stopgap until you figure out a more permanent fix.

GAG lets you boot up to nine OSes from a graphical interface...

I'm trying to build a simple system that gives the user (sitting infront of the PC) an exercise workout, so basically I need a group of sensors surrounding the user then a few simple exercise routines will be displayed on the monitor for the user 2 carry out..like stretch ur left arm sideways, punch forwards, etc. the sensors detect the movement has been carried out then sends a signal through the parallel port of the PC as either a 1 or 0 indicating whther the movement has been carried out or not and then the next exercise step is displayed and so on. I'm not sure whthere infrared sensors would be suitable 4 a project like this? The sensors dont have to detect things light distance, height etc...just that movement has occured and also the time..like how fast the movement was carried out in. I don't want to have to do too much programming either! and would anybody know if I would have to actually write a program for the sensors? can that be done in c++ or does it have 2 be low-level language like assembly?

You are going about this sorta backwards. A better approach would be low-res wide-angle USB webcam since you know that the user is going to be in front of the monitor within limited parameters. It's passive, cheap, easy to implement, and has multiple uses. Motion capture is easy. There is free, open-source software available that might be adaptable to your needs (from a …

... upon reconnecting everything, I realised that one of the small cylinders on the monitor connector on the back of the tower was missing, therefore I was unable to screw in one of the screws on the monitor adapter.

The loss of this item is not usually a functional problem. The hardware that you are describing is known as a standoff, and is generally used to hold the video card's backplate to the VGA connector and as a means of securing the monitor cable/plug to the system; the integrity of the connector is rarely compromised this way, but missing hardware should always be replaced. Any decent computer shop would have a spare one in their hell box, or they come in pairs (take the one that's left along with you for a match). Also, I would use a 3mm star lockwasher under each standoff for proper retention in the future--and don't over-tighten them (the Voice of Experience speaking).

What is most likely is that in the manipulation of the cables and moving the system you managed to partially dislodge the video card from the socket. I would try reseating the card before going any further. I doubt that it's damaged--a monitor cable has a lot of leverage, and can easily pry a board partially out of its socket, even if properly secured. Make sure that the screw-tab sticks out from the bracket at a right angle. If it's bent, that's one indication of the problem.

I have a DSL connection with BellSouth...

Until Thursday everything worked perfectly. Yesterday I could not connect at all to the internet. I thought it was related to some kind of network upgrade BellSouth was doing. I called today and they of course gave me the cold shoulder over the router. They did help get everything to connect perfectly connecting directly to my modem with my computer with XP on it.

I ... deleted all of my cookies and also cleared my cache just to be certain. It did not work. Strangely enough I can get into my BellSouth e-mail on the web. Go figure!

The fact that you can get your mail is crucial. My guess is that your problem is that one or more of your ISP's DNS servers is not being accessed properly. I'm not an expert in this area, but if DHCP is not renewing the DNS server addresses correctly, or if it is required by BellSouth and not turned on, Web access problems could ensue. They may have changed the address of the DNS server on Thursday; this is common, and one of the reasons for DHCP in the first place. POP mail is obtained directly from the server, so DNS is not an issue there.