Posts by Catweazle

Hi jeane, and welcome to DaniWeb.

The first thing you could do in your efforts to get that eMac going again would be to visit the Mac forum section for your particular version of MacOS, and ask for help from some of the experienced people who hang out there.

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum11.html

Some Compaq systems were set to boot from CD first and did not include the option to change boot order. Are you sure the Windows CDs you are using are actually bootable ones, in good working order, and not dirty or scratched?

Sounds to me like you need to examine the software being used to burn such CDs, and assess if it is doing an adequate job. What software is being used? Are they being burnt in your PC or in another PC? Are the disks readable in a different PC?

Some clarification about precisely what is occurring would help us to help you.

Dismantle it again. Reassemble it correctly. You will most likely have some internal component out of place, and it is stopping the keyboard from functioning.

It is not a good idea to disassemble keyboards for cleaning!

NuGG, you should really be a little more careful with what you recommend. Windows XP 64-bit version is available for download in beta version. Reports indicate that it is reasonably stable and full-featured, but it MUST be mentioned that it is not yet a final release product! It has been made available for final testing in preparation to a full product release.

It should not be used as your main OS, and it will expire after it has been installed for 360 days. After that, you would probbaly need to format the system to adequately remove it.

omw, please don't add new questions to an existing topic. Start a new topic for new questions.

That said, I'd suggest that if you need to ask that question you shouldn't be trying to overclock. It is a complex activity, which involves risk to your equipment. You need to do a LOT of research and reading before considering undertaking an overclock.

Techniques differ for different processors and motherboard types/formats, and the field cannot be covered by someone posting a 'step by step' in a forum post, trying to cover every scenario.

The product title may or may not mention if it it a reduced feature card. Do a bit of homework by Googling 9600XT specifications or 9600XT review and then make sure you find out the details of any card you plan to purchase before you hand your money over.

Display cards use sneaky tactics, and believe me it's the graphics chip manufacturers (ATi and NVidia) who allow the 'cut-down' cards to be produced! You NEVER get adequate details from an advertisement, and the worst place to look is often the manufacturer's website product page. Information provided there can be everything except the details you most want to see ;)

I'd be reluctant to pay full retail because friends who use 9600 Pro or XT cards are already finding them quite disappointing in the latest games. Although they will run those games adequately, the full details of graphics available cannot be used.

I'd advise you to be cautious when assessing prices, and verify the specifications of the cards offered. I just checked prices here in Australia. The cheapest I could fin a 9600XT in retail was $AU170, but it was an 'EZ' version, which is underclocked and not fully featured. The cheapest price I could find for a 'genuine' fully featured 9600XT was about $AU230. And last time I looked the exchange rate wasn't too shabby! ;)

Don't, for goodness sake, pay good money for a card which isn't what it appears to be. Avoid the 9600XT EZ for sure.

It might surprise people to know that Sapphire manufacture the greatest bulk of ATi radeon cards sold. Many other manufacturers have Sapphire manufacture the cards for them, and then badge the things with their own brand name ;)

I'd think that if you can get hold of a secondhand 9600 pro or 9600XT in good order, it'd be a worthwhile purchase. Although you'd not extract the full capability from it, you'd improve performance out of sight, and you could reuse it in an upgraded system (if you stick with AGP) for long enough to save for a better card. I'd be reluctant to pay new retail price for one though!

Agreed, Alex. I wouldn't allow such rubbish to stay on one of my systems for any longer than a moment after I noticed it was there!

Amen to that! Blitzdolch, you were not asked to get HijackThis as a tool for YOU to use to correct your problems with. You were asked to get it so that it can be used first to generate a suitable log file which would enable others here to determine what is causing the problems on your system. It is very difficult for people to give assistance if you do not allow them to first determine precisely what is wrong!

What may seem like somple problems to you can actually have many potential causes, and they need to be identified.

Welcome Ramiro. You'll have no trouble, I'm sure, finding the sections you are most interested in after exploring the forum index, and I hope you enjoy visiting other sections here as well.

May your journey here end up being a residence :D

That HP PC should have come accompanied with either a Recovery CD or instructions to restore the system to original state from files stored on a 'hidden partition.

Your included software will be part of that process.

There is no way you can legitimately install that software without using the product keys, and DaniWeb will not allow assistance with illegitimate methods.

If you have lost the original mechanisms for restoring the system, you can possibly obtain replacements from HP. Contact their support section.

Edit: for those reading who are wondering how the original problem was resolved, the drivers mentioned are all part of the motherboard chipset drivers, which can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

Well-behaved stuff will use Cookies. If you delete them you need to log in again next time you visit.

Some online activities will install software which communicates in a similar way to a trojan. In fact, they ARE trojans, albeit ones you've invited in.

IP address is not really a 'biggie' as those on dialup or with dynamic ip broadband internet will have their ip address changed every time they go online.

The question addresses games performance nanosani. I think the answer needs to address that also.

A display card upgrade will bring FAR more benefit for games than a RAM increase, but as said earlier, that entire system is considerably less than adequate in terms of modern PC games such as Half Life 2, Doom 3 and future titles. Whatever is purchased as an upgrade for the system is not going to be fully utilised, as the central 'engine' in the system (processor and slow SD-RAM) is simply not up to the task.

Playing 3D games is about the most demanding task you can put a home PC to work at!

Sounds like you must be lucky enough to have a motherboard which, despite having a lack of overclocking features in bios, actaully locks the other system buses to a particular value, and does not proportionally alter the other settings along with FSB.

On some boards, altering a setting like FSB will also alter the speed of the device interface, (AGP and PCI buses) and create instability.

Depends on your budget really, and whether or not you can upgrade an entire system. If mobo and processor change also necessitates a video card change, then the whole deal can get out of reach for some.

All I'm really saying is that if the funds are there, go for the best you can get. But if they're not, don't be too disappointed because the older formats aren't dead yet.

(Well, maybe Socket A is :lol: )

It also has to be considered what system somebody already has. If an upgrade is perhaps a jump from XP2200+ to A64 2800+ then perhaps it'd be better to wait and accumulate more funds first, cause that's still not a markedly dramatic improvement.

There are no 'cut and dried' rules to follow. The value of an upgrade depends on too many factors.

My sister-in-law is an ex-patriate Pakistani, but unfortunatelt I've been corrupting her for many years now, to the extent that I wonder if she'd be welcomed back! :lol:

Depends on how much 'future proofing' you really think you need. I'm still sitting here on an overclocked XP2500+, FX5900XT, still loading new games and not yet frantic to upgrade. That's a generation behind on both fronts!

You can grab a Socket 754 entry level Sempron, overclock it and get Athlon64 3500 performance levels, the next-gen R520 display cards from ATi are going to be obtainable in AGP form, and there's a good chance the next-gen NVidia cards will be as well.

Those people staying a step behind the 'cutting edge' need have no fears at all, in my view!

Sorry nizzy, but with only fsb adjustment on offer I consider that utility to be useless!. To get a decent overclock you need to also be able to adjust RAM settings and voltage levels, if need be. That fsb tool might squeeze a tiny bit extra out with stability, but it wouldn't be worth the effort.

Disagree nanosani. You get more performance improvement from a better video card than from a RAM increase for gaming.

That said, the combination of a 1GHz processor, a Gf4MX, and 256Mb of SD-RAM is beyond redemption when you are talking in terms of today's latest games. Whatever you upgrade is really only throwing good money after bad. That system is inadequate overall as a modern games system.

REboot into Safe mode. If the system is successful in doing so you'll know that software loading with Windows is the cause of the problem.

Performing a virus scan and also scanning for adware, spyware and trojans is most effective when done in Safe mode.

The Dell dimension 4500, according to the specs I've seen, uses an i845E chipset and a Prntium 4 processor. That chipset allows for temperature monitoring via sensors, and shutdown control in BIOS setup. Those features may or may not be present in your system. "Name brand' manufacturers often omit such features, as they do not cater to the overclockers and enthusiasts among us!

You can check detailed information about your system by downloading and installing Everest Home Edition

http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=1

MBM5 needs to be configured for the precise temperature sensors included in your system, and Everest will help you determine what they are, if such are actually fitted.

I make a LOT of use of the navigation box under the search box at top of page. I use the main index much less, and the DaniWeb homepage hardly at all.

By the way, publications tend to review the products they can get their hands on. It is simply not the case that all such publications can obtain each and every component or peripheral that gets made available for sale.

You should NEVER rely on a single product review. Read a range of reviews about a product you consider purchasing, and also use Google to search for 'productname review'

I'd recommend 512Mb of RAM for Windows XP and modern apps, but other than that I'd agree.

I'm not familiar with that specific laptop (I use a Fujitsu Lifebook) but most recent laptops will have the capacity to meet your need.

Visit www.toshiba.com

Click on Product support, scroll down to the section about Computers, and click on "Toshiba Computer Service and Support Website".

Then choose 'Search with AskIris", enter the product family (Satellite) and model number of your laptop, and search for 'repair Windows' or similar terms. You will quite likely uncover instructions for performing the job on your laptop.

You might find that the necessary files are on a 'hidden' partition on your hard drive already, or that there is a menu you can access via keypress during the power-up process.

Yes, if you 'End task' the running apps on your system, they will start as normal following a reboot.

Hobbits live in MiddleEarth, Dani.

Sure you are assessing the processor performance there and not simply seeing the effect of other factors in the systems you've used, such as amount of RAM installed, display card fitted and others?

The processor requirements for adequate performance on the tasks you've listed aren't very high, and the performance difference introduced purely by better processors should really be barely perceptible.

I'm not trying to discredit your choice, bty the way. The Athlon64 is a fine choice. I'm merely seeking clarification for the benefit of others who may be reading this.

Silly Dani! It's goods and clothing for Hobbits, of course!

Methylated spirits is my own product of choice for cleaning, and I use rags torn from old cotton bedsheets to do the cleaning with ;)

That's as good a combination as anything else you can get your hands on. Read the guide linked by Coconut Monkey for cleaning techniques and tips.

There is absolutely no need for an Athlon64 for such tasks. An AMD Sempron would be perfectly adequate and considerably cheaper. The cheapest of motherboards for the particular socket format would also be perfectly adequate.

Hell! A secondhand motherboard fitted with a Pentium 3 would be perfectly adequate!

Borrow someone else's Windows CD and use that.

I'd have to agree. Sensible troubleshooting procedures are the first and best option.

You should ensure that AdAware first quarantines, then deletes the nasties that it finds. If you need to search for them and delete them later, then you haven't got it configured correctly.

AVG is also able to delete stuff itself, but you should first try having the program 'fix' the things it finds.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;281679

Microsoft has! I'm sure you'll find the solution there ;)

Welcome, by the way. Please don't hesitate to read through the various sections here, and to continue posting!

Hiya Steve. :)

Hi and welcome :)

If you read the 'Sticky' topic at top of page , it'll help you work out how the forum operates. Meanwhile, i'll point you in the direction of the 'Mac Software' section where you can post your problem and get assistance with it.

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum102.html

Your database exportable in the program you have? That'd eliminate the problem. If you can export it as a comma delimited file or somesuch, and then import the file into the new program there's no problem.

That troublesome software have a license code that you've lost track of? If that's the hiccup, try downloading and using Belarc Advisor www.belarc.com/download

It's a little utility that gives a report of your system, and part of that report includes license codes for a fair bit of software. Might be helpful, might not, but it's worth a try.

Try uninstalling Acrobat reader and reinstalling with the most recent version available.

Hi to all our newcomers, and to those not-so-newcomers who may still be struggling with just what a forum is and how it works.

We are a community here. Our purpose is to assist you with your problems, if we can, but beyond that we want you to become one of us! Whether it's to get more problems resolved in the future, to chat in our 'Lounge' section about life in general, or to pass on the knowledge you have yourself and assist others with it. Makes no difference to us. We're simply friendly people! Yes, you heard right. I DID say that you can help others here too! Don't sell yourself short, please. There's one constant factor involved in the computing world. The 'expert' is only the person who has read one more page of the manual than you have. Everybody has something to contribute :)

Those people new to online forums need not be overwhelmed by how complex it all looks. The basic principles of participating in a forum are quite simple. You start threads (topics), or you make comments in reply to them. To start a new thread, you need only locate the appropriate forum section, display its index page, and click on the 'New thread' button at the top of the list. Give it a title, type out what you want to say, then click on the 'Submit' button.
To reply to a thread, you simply need to display it, click …

what would you do in this setup...one 90mm back fan, a pci fan, and no top or side fans... i have the back as an intake and the psu as exhaust and the pci as exhaust, should i reverse something?

In that circumstance I'd set the rear fan as exhaust. Then I'd start looking at ways to increase the intake at front/bottom, even if it meant modding the case. But I'd only do it if the system is suffering from heat problems ;)

Oh dear! I suppose all you could really do is try to operate it with a power supply fitted that is known to be in working order. That way you can determine for sure if it's the power unit at fault or not.

'Swap and check' is really the best way to test.

On the back of the power supply unit you should find a small red switch which converts from 220v to 110v. If you've tried running it with only half the voltage necessary coming from the power outlet then I'm not surprised that it doesn't work.

Reset CMOS. If the system fails to POST correctly after an overclock, then physically resetting CMOS is the standard procedure for correcting the situation. You should find instructions in the motherboard manual.

It sounds to me like the problem is simply that the print head itself is clogged. Cleaning it with a solvent might clear it, or the print head may need to be replaced. If that's the case, it is probably a better option to replace the printer with a new one.