Posts by Catweazle

Reset CMOS and try to boot it up again.

Check for game update patches and install any which may be available. If a particular game gives problems where others don't, it's most likely a problem in the game itself, where 'issues' arise with your particulat combination of hardware components.

It's a period in the Earth's history long ago, Coconut Monkey, when humankind first appeared.

Welcome to the forum here, Chris. I enjoyed that :D

Add/Remove Programs (In Control Panel)

Find the entry for the keyboard software, select it and choose remove.

You might need to install the motherboard chipset drivers first.

'Cause it just is! :D

Which Windows version please? This is a Windows problem, not a 'dead machine' problem, and I'd like to move the topic.

You have to help us first. Is the audio in your PC onboard audio or is it an add-in expansion card? The exclamation mark shows that the device is not installed correctly. You haven't got the device drivers loaded. You should have got an installation CD for it.

It certainly sounds to me like Internet Explorer is actualy present and able to run, but that web pages won't load because your internet connection isn't configured properly. I'd agree that contacting the support sectionof your ISP is a good idea.

The 'stickied' or 'pinned' topics in the Forum Feedback and Community Introductions sections will help explain the forums :)

Moved to Windows XP section.

And sorry, but you CANNOT backup installed programs. You can use drive image software to take a 'snapshot' of your system drive and installed program directories, and restore it later if you need to 'wipe' the drive, but individual programs aren't stand-alone things which you can 'back up'.

You need to back up the downloaded installation files instead!

err... uummm......

Dani most certainly has a 'life'. She's currently completing some studies, looking after her Mum, and all sorts of other wonderful everyday life activities. And like most people who operate sites like this I'm sure she has at least one computer running 24/7 and logged into here. Heck, my own work PC has been logged in here 24/7 for the past 3 months!

Just because you see someone's member account showing as 'logged in' it doesn't necessarily mean that they're constantly sitting there staring at the monitor screen :)

Should be able to get a 6600GT for somewhere in the vicinity of $US200 I'd imagine.

That would depend on where you live. I'm in Australia, and my own favourite shopping places might not suit you :D

You should be looking at an NVidia based 6600GT card at minimum if 3D games are the object of the exercise. Although you can purchase cheaper, they provide really good performance at an affordable price. Anything less will disappoint you in the longer term ;)

OK, that was enough. It has an AGP 8X slot, so any recent AGP card will be fine.

Now could you tell us what purposes you want to use the PC for, so an appropriately capable card can be advised.

Tell us the HP model name then please. A quick check of specifications should do the trick. It will be something like 'HP Pavilion somenumber' or somesuch,

There's no way to be certain if your PC has an AGP slot for AGP display cards other than to open the case and look. Motherboards can have an AGP bus without having an aAGP slot, if the onboard video uses AGP. The AGP slot is set back further than PCI slots, as shown here.

[img]http://www.cheapcomputersandparts.com/Images/Parts/Motherboard-AGP-Slot.jpg[/img]

If your motherboard actually has one, download and use Everest Home Edition and/or CPU-Z and let us know what make and model your motherboard is reported as. We'll be able to tell you what sort of AGP card would be suitable to use. Some older motherboards are not suited to modern AGP cards, and require older ones.

You ARE looking for the Delete Files button in Internet Explorer, aren't you?

It won't change images you've already saved, but it will enable you to save images in their correct format in future.

Inside the PC case and read what's printed on the label of the power supply unit. I don't know of ANY utility program which reports that information from within Windows.

Unfortunately, for some units you'd need to remove the power unit from the case in order to read the label.

Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. Locate Device Manager (on the Hardware Tab) and then select the entry for your display card. Right-click it and choose Uninstall.

Do not reboot if prompted.

In Control Panel, locate any entries for Display drivers and Remove them.

Shut down and remove power cord or switch off powr at the wall outlet.

Open up the PC case, remove old display card and insert new one. Close up the case and powwer up.

Cancel out of any 'Found new hardware' dialogue.

Install display card drivers from installation CD or from downloaded driver installation.

If the card is NVidia based the best device driver to use is the latest version downloaded from www.nvidia.com

If using an ATi based card the best device driver to use is the latest version downloaded from www.ati.com

Ideally, those drivers should be downloaded and stored on your hard drive BEFORE making the change. They will be executable files, which simply need to be double clicked to install the card.

Have you got Service packs installed? Did you partition the 160Gb drive as one or more NTFS partition(s)?

If you suspect problems with a new XP installation it's certainly a wise move to start over and get it right before activating :D

I think this topic is heading down the path of character assassination to an alarming extent. Let's keep it to productive comment please.

This is a useless topic. More people use Intel processors because Intel sells more processors. That doesn't mean that Intel is better or worse than AMD. It simply means that Intel sells more processors.

Currently, AMD processors outperform their Intel performance counterparts in just about every market segment, and for almost all computing tasks.

But you need to identify the appropriate processor type for the purpose it is aimed at performing. Just identifying if it is Intel or AMD is not enough.

Okay, and sorry I neglected to answer your original question.

You can install a new replacement drive, partition it and install Windows XP from the XP CD. You can also swap your original drive back in later and it'd work, as long as you don't change much hardware.

You can't use your original drive in a newly assembled PC, because Windows won't boot in the new machine - but you can add the original drive as a slave drive in the new PC and copy your data across.

No, driver issues can be resolved in 'Safe mode' ;)

Studying a religion as an academic subjust area is not something I'd have issue with, I'd agree. 'Learning' religious doctrine as part of the curriculum is what I'd object to. That area of learning belongs outside the schoolroom in my view.

Dvs, it's not a good idea to dredge up long dead topics, especially when the information you're adding is wrong.

The error message mentioned is indicative of device driver problems, not of poor RAM or of a faulty drive.

What graphics card is installed, please? Are the latest drivers for it installed?

I'm moving this to the 'Troubleshooting Dead Machines' section, where it rightfully belongs.

I suspect that your biggest problem is that you've hooked up everything in the PC before testing to see that it works, which makes tracking down the source of problems a horrendous task.

Remove everything except the display card and one RAM module. Connect up a monitor and a keyboard and check to see that is displays POST information onscreen. Make sure you've disconnected all wires other than power coming in via the ATX connector, your processor fan, and the front panel connectors for power switch and power LED. Do not leave data or power cables connected to any drives etc. If your display card requires a power connector it MUST be fitted.

Let us know if it doesn't POST in that barebones configuration.

I would recommend a 6600GT or better, and you should be able to get one quite easily for $US200

Definitely no advantage having dual channel enabled on an Athlon XP system. For Pentium 4 and Athlon64 systems, simply ensure that the RAM modules used are identical and dual channel should give no problems whatsoever.

More because I'm scrupulously honest!

Daniweb is wonderful. Daniweb is growing and improving constantly. Daniweb is a place I'm proud to be involved with. Daniweb is certainly moving towards 'greatness'.

But I don't hand out superlatives very easily, and 'greatness' is not one I'd yet accord to any computer help forum I've ever come across, this one included. By my own standards, the '5' is a big compliment, and about as far toward 'great' as any computer help site would be currently given by me :D

Dani, throw a brick at me or hit me with your pillow. I know ya loves me anyway :D

* hugs Dani...........

Perform a refresh install of Windows XP (In place upgrade)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341&Product=winxp

That will rebuild your boot section files and get XP up and running correctly again.

Sorry I have no explanation or solution for you, but I must note that I've seen lots of problems with USB devices not being detected at startup.

A simple workaround would be to unplug the device when you have to shut down, and let Windows go through startup before plugging it in. If your shutdowns are a rare occurrence, this shouldn't be much of a nuisance at all.

Hiya Flatline. It sounds like all images are being saved as bitmap files on your PC. Click on Tools - Options, and on the General tab use the 'Delete Files' button to clean out temporary internet files. Images should save in their correct format after that.

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread24692.html

You'll find your answer in that topic.

Sometimes those errors can be caused by faulty hardware - a processor which is failing, RAM modules which are faulty or mismatched, etc, etc.

But most of the time they will be the result of software issues. In this case, it is most likely a program which is causing the problem, and if it results from a conflict with SP2 then the first place I'd start looking is any Symantec/Norton products in use!

Evolution is supressing religion, christians only ask to be allowed to have a bible in school. they do not ask toban evolution. They only ask for an equal amount of teaching. What ever happened to freedom of religion? Evolution is forced on every child from kindergarten through college. I will not force a religion on anyone though

No one should have any problem if Bible is taught in the schools. The problem is whether it should be taught as a religion or as a science. If it is being taught as a science then it would be disappointing.

Here is where I begin to have a few 'problems' to tell the truth. I don't agree that religion should be a core component of our education system. I don't see how religious education can be included in a State run education system and the system still remian true to the principle of "Freedom of Religion'. I have no problem with the fact that some people will wish their children to be educated in schools which DO have their religion as a core component, but they should be obliged to send their children to an alternative, privately run school. No particular religion should be 'forced' onto people by the mainstream, State run education system.

Similarly, I don't believe that any scientific theory about the nature of our existence should be 'forced' onto students as absolute fact. That's not done in my country, and if it is in yours then your country's education …

Here's your drivers, mate:
http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/sr/sr_drive.htm

Download and install all the ones which relate to your Windows version. That should correct any problems you have.

What wattage is your power unit? It won't be the reason for the slowdowns. A genral buildup of rubbish on your Windows drive will be doing that ;)

Unless the original hard drive is malfunctioning, you can add the new drive as a secondary one as others have said. There is no need to replace the original if it still works.

dcc, if you spent 2 1/2 hours dowloading something, surely the sensible thing to do is to copy it to CD before deleting ANYTHING?

Here are the directions for performing an in-place upgrade install, which should leave your programs and data in place:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341&Product=winxp

errrrmmmmmmmmm............

No. Just no!

Most people know f@ck-all about security..........

Others, however, now f@ck-all about contributing to hep forums. So far the sum total of your contributions has been entertainment value only, without a single piece if practical advice offered.

If all you have to say is "Security software is not needed, only I know how to set up a system and I'm not going to tell you how" then I'm afraid you're simply wasting space making comment!

Did you scroll down? The answer to that is visible on my PC, and I'm most certainly NOT logged in there!

Two things you need to do in preparation. The first is to use Add/Remove programs to create a startup diskette.

The second is to ensure you have the CD install keycode for Window 98, as you won't be able to install it, even off the hard drive, if you don't have it. If you've lost the keycode, download and install Belarc Advisor www.belearc.com/download and its report will give you the keycode for your current installation.

When you've got that ready, you need only boot from the Startup disk, navigate to the directory where the Windows install files are located, and run setup.

You should keep in mind that the Athlon X2 4400+ will only match the performance of a much lower rated Athlon64 in standard applications use and in games. Unless the program you are running is designed to use multi-threading a dual core processor can't add benefit of the second core, and for the lower rated dual core processors the single core performance is quite low. The X2 4800+, for example, will only match the Athlon64 4000+ in single core performance.

A similar situation exists for Intel dual core processors.

Unless that AutoCAD work is rather heavy duty, I'd be picking an A64 4000+ single core processor for that rig.