Posts by Catweazle

Agreed. The Prescott processors just about need a refrigeration unit to keep them cool, and a small power plant to run them!

If the system is going to be used for extensive gaming, then perhaps an aftermarket heatsink/fan unit is a wise choice. For other ideas about improving system cooling, have a read of "Dad, can I mod the case?"

The setup would be extremely capable at video and multimedia production. But if video and multimedia production are your primary intentions for the system, then perhaps a high powered Pentium solution with its hyperthreading capabilities would be better. Not MUCH better, but better nevertheless.

As a Desktop applications and gaming system, the Athlon64 currently has the 'edge'. But as a Workstation, the Pentium has the edge over the equivalent Athlon64, as far as I'm aware.

Are you absolutely sure that the device has not been detected? Plug a device into the port, wait a bit for Windows to have time for detection, then try to use it. It may be only the pop-up messages that have somehow been disabled.

For example, plug in a digital camera which has images stored on it. Wait a bit, then start the "Camera and Scanner wizard" from the Start -> Programs -> Accessories menu. Plug a different device in, wait a bit, then try to run a program which uses it.

Those pop-up messages can be disabled, and you need to determine if the port is really unavailable or not.

Unless you've configured Windows Update correctly, they're not saved at all. They get downloaded to a Temp folder and then installed. You might find them still there if you haven't cleaned your drive recently, but if you've used Disk Cleanup they'll be gone.

To avoid this happening in future, Get your updates from the Microsoft download center:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en

after identifying which ones you need using the Windows Update site, of course. that way you can save them and install the things manually.

Crikey Shirl! Why even load it?

Windows XP's 'System Restore' function does the job of rolling your system back to a previous state, and does it well. I've even restored a system from a DirectX9 install to a DirectX8 install using just System Restore, and it handled the job perfectly.

But in regard to your specific question, no, there is definitely no email support contact available. Issues which are not resolved via the online support are a 'pay per incident' matter.

(I've just found one more reason to NEVER want a Norton product anywhere NEAR one of my systems!)

Are you sure you are pressing the key at the correct time? It needs to be at the END of the POST routine, and BEFORE the Windows splash screen appears.

The link in my sig "Need to install Windows again?" will lead you to a couple of articles which contain all the information you need - including how to create partitions with Windows XP installation routine.

Windows XP installation will NOT let you adjust the size of existing partitions. All it can do is:

- Delete existing partitions
- Create new partitions in unallocated drive space.

If you need to reallocate space from one partition to another, merge partitions, shrink partitions etc etc, leaving data intact, then you need to use a 3rd party partitioning program

A PCIE card would make a nice little expensive desk ornament for someone with an AGP motherboard now, wouldn't it?

I would try using 'Stinger'. You'll find a link to it in the 'Helping yourself' sticky in the Security section of the forum.

I've moved this topic to that section.

Of the two products you've mentioned I'd choose System Mechanic. I'd endorse dumping Norton, and I can't for the life of me understand why people choose to continue using Norton products!

Using a Utility Suite will incur quite a bit of system overhead, and should be avoided where high demands are made on system performance.

z3phrn, you should be asking your questions in a separate topic of their own, rather than 'piggy-backing' them onto someone else's question.

And your RAM SHOULD be set to run at 333MHz. It'll be doing so because BIOS setup is configured to synchronise your RAM speed and your processor's front side bus speed. If you run your RAM at the higher speed, performance on your system will DROP, because your processor will be 'out of sync'.

No, you can't do that with programs. Even if the program files are still on the drive, any new installation of Windows won't recognise them, because the Registry entries wouldn't exist. The program would need to be reinstalled anyway.

Your program discs are not things to be careless with.

I don't think you properly understand what that 200MHz actaually means. It's not the same as 200MHz increase on a Pentium. The performance rating on those processors is a better guide, and the jump from a 3000+ to a 3400+ is more akin to the change from a P4 3GHz to a P4 3.4GHz.

The Athlon64 3000+ will outperform a 3 GHz Pentium 4, and that's plenty enough processing power to drive a decent display card, and thus perfectly adequate for gaming. The display card is the major factor for games - a jump of a few levels of performance rating in the processor doesn't have all that much of an impact. Couple the processor with an NVidia 6800GT or its equivalent, and you'll have a system which will keep you gaming for a long time to come!

Dude, that's a proprietary Photoshop file format, and not everyone has Photoshop. Save it as a jpeg, eh? Then everybody gets the chance to have a look ;)

Couldn't have got assistance here anyway. Providing serial codes for software, just like any other form of warez or piracy, is not allowed on this forum.

Sorry. Yes, that's the topic I meant.

jia_huichen I'm having just a bit of trouble reading that!

Be awfully difficult, I'd say, given that the official website lists Windows support as "In development"

http://www.cpanel.net/

Try a different RAM module.

Check for BIOS setup settings that might be conflicting with your ATi card. (They are notoriously unstable, and have a dislike for AGP 8x and AGP fast writes ;))

Try a different display card.

Pull out all add-in components which use a 'slot' one by one, clean both the edge connectors and the slot itself (dust and lint can give you hell) and then ensure that they are all firmly seated when refitted.

Disconnect drives to leave only your hard drive and see if it becomes stable. Reconnect them one by one to locate which one causes problems if that proves to be the case.

Don't discount the unwanted intrusion either, despite your careful efforts. The vast majority of 'unwanted restart' problems are caused by infections. You can't eliminate the possibility unless you've formatted and installed fresh and clean.

Check the link in my sig regarding installing Windows XP. It leads to step by step guides for wiping the drive clean and installing fresh.

You must have BIOS setup set to 'Boot from CD-ROM' as 1st boot device, and other boot devices disabled. Set '2nd boot device' to HDD-0 and see if it completes the installation successfully.

If you have Windows XP, boot from the CD-ROM, as described, and use the partition section of Windows setup to delete all existing partitions and then create new ones in their place. Windows installation will automatically format the system partition for you.

All that partition management software and fdisk is totally unecesssary for wiping the drive and installing Windows fresh.

You obviously have too little storage space. The best thing you could do would be to install a second hard drive in your system. Move your Documents storage to a new drive, uninstall most of your programs and them reinstall them using your second drive as the program install location, and free up space on that system drive.

If things are extremely cramped at present, even defrag could be 'falling over' with not enough elbow room to work in. You don't say the size of your existing hard drive, but hey! 3% free space is 'aggravated cruelty to a Windows Installation'! You could damn near get JAILED for that ;)

Sorry for the double post, but I just got a chance to respond to this.

Check your system for spyware. See the "Helping Yourself" topic in the Security forum section for advice, and post back if you have remaining problems after working through the syggestions there. It's quite likely that you have some system corruption from unwanted intruders as well, and a refresh install might be needed to address that:

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

Zymz, if you can't even boot from CD and install Windows again, then it's DEFINITELY a hardware problem, and if it's arisen recently you should look at your system cooling first. Ensure that all fans are working and the dust is kept clear of cooling vanes on heatsinks etc.

After those safety-minded things have been attended to, check that power supply. Pull it out, borrow another from a mate and see if your system runs OK with a different power unit in it.

It'd either run at PC2100 speeds or the system would fail to recognise it and beep at you instead of booting up :D

See this topic:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread10488

Moved to Windows XP section.

The only tools I believe you need are these:

A decent antivirus program
At least two spyware detection and removal programs
A decent 'Uninstaller' which will monitor your installations and ensure that all traces of a program are removed when you uninstall.

Beyond that, regular use of the 'Defragmenter' and 'Disk Cleanup' system accessories will keep your system in good order.

I don't believe that any one 'Utility Suite' provides all of that. You are best to use stand-alone programs, in my view.

Have you used up to date antivirus tools and syware/malware detection tools to ensure your system is clean? Have you tried a refesh install of Windows to fix up any system file corruption, or even better a format and fresh install of windows so you can be sure it's not your Operating System and software which is causing the problem?

Most problems are sotware related, and are usually the result of system use. Most people blame hardware first up, but hardware is seldom the cause of problems.

Some viruses cause this behaviour, and device driver problems can cause it as well.

Either read through your product documentation or contact the product support people at HP. Your PC will definitely have a way of restoring the system to it's original factory supplied software state, and the instructions for doing so should be included in the documentation.

The recovery files will most likely be on a 'hidden partition on your hard drive. I wouldn't assume straight off that your drive is kaput - it could be simply your Windows installation which is screwed. What exact model of HP Pavilion is it? You'll need that information to obtain assistance from HP's support services.

Then you have a helluva mess, and if a Registry cleaner (like the relevent part of System Mechanic) doesn't fix it all for you, then your best option is to format and start over.

Deleting all those programs was a bad move!

Paragon Partition Manager is another good one.

'Dual channel' RAM is simply a matched pair of modules. There's nothing whatsoever that's 'different' to other RAM. Dual channel is enabled in the motherboard chipset, not in the RAM modules themselves.

Calling RAM 'dual-channel' is simply marketting speak' for a pair of modules which are matched and thus have no possibility of conflicts when dual-channel memory configuration is enabled on the motherboard. Grab a pair of identical modules from any manufacturer whatsoever, and you've got the same thing.

I've currently got dual-channel running fine in one of my Athlon XP systems, with el-cheapo crappy RAM installed, and it works just fine. The Corsair XMS kit in my gaming rig doesn't do it any better ;)

I think the best way to deal with this problem is to format and install fresh, install a good up to date antivirus program and both AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy, with Spybot set to 'immunise', and then load Mozilla or Firefox and use that as a Web browser whenever possible. (Which is most of the time).

The sort of problems you describe are from unwanted intrusions, and those almost always occur through careless browsing and the use of Internet Explorer. The way to solve a problem is not to run away from it, but to confront and overcome it.

Split that drive in half! Install Windows XP and ensure that you choose to install it to the second partition, and format the partition as NTFS. The Setup routine will do that for you, and all you really need to do is use a partition management tool to 'shrink' your Windows 98 partition. (The Windows XP setup routine allows you to create a new partition in unpartitioned space.)

Windows XP setup will also automatically create your dual-boot for you!

Unless those games of yours are DOS games, you can install them again under Windows XP, and I'd suggest you do so. Running them from an NTFS partition is more efficient, and will speed up load times for you.

Once you've given Windows XP a good run, I'm sure you'll not want to go back, and you'll in fact choose to shrink your Windows 98 partition down even more, and simply leave a small amount of room to cope with your older DOS-based games ;)

Windows XP is the best gaming OS you can find - kiss goodbye to BSODs!

You might be able to get help elsewhere, but I'm afraid Forum Rules prohibit it here, as has been stated already. But of course the best help you could get would be to purchase a legitimate copy of Windows XP, format and install it fresh and clean, ensure that your Windows Updates are all installed, and use adequate AntiVirus and Malware detection tools.

If that 'twit' charged you for installing Windows, by the way, you should beat up on him/her! But if it was installed free of charge, then it's rather obvious from the outset that it's not legitimate.

The difficult part is FINDING all the registry references ;) Removing programs the way you describe is a silly procedure. Using Add/Remove programs is far more sensible, and the use of a decent Uninstaller program to monitor your istallations and ensure that every trace is removed wieh uninstalling is the best procedure of all.

Outlook Express can be configured to read webmail. You only need to identify the url of the webmail server, and configure the new mail account as http mail.

Outlook Express handles all your Hotmail just fine, and as long as you identify the server address, it'll handle any other webmail just as well.

felgall, Windows 2003 isn't precisely part of the 'same series'. It's a server OS, not a desktop one.

You must have the system set to "Boot from CD-ROM" in BIOS Setup, as first boot device, and have other boot devices disabled. Simply change the setting to enable the system to boot from hard drive.

Not quite correct there C#Coder. Sticks DON'T have to be installed in matched pairs!

The problem reported here is simply one of incompatibility. The modules will be made by diffferent manufacturers, at least one of them will inevitably be a cheapish 'generic' or unbranded module, and they simply have problems when installed together. Used individually, I'm sure they'd work just fine. That's a very common problem.

rcrevolution, if you can obtain another 512Mb module the same as the one you've recently purchased, it will almost certainly work. I don't believe there's any way that the two modules you have will ever work toghether, I'm sorry to say. And if you buy a different manufacturer's module as a replacement, it MAY work.

My magazine always advises readers to purchase BRANDED modules made by reputable manufacturers, because there is far less chance of compatibility problems when using them.

Sounds like the print head is clogged. That's a common problem where third-party refills have been used.

Try this article for ideas. It's written by one of my colleagues.

Dude, you tell me how to play Halo and Doom3 under Suse or Mandrake and I'll give you a bloody gold star!

If people care to read the article I linked earlier in this topic, you'll find that it includes all the keypresses for just about any machine you could encounter, and they are organised in accordance with the systems they relate to.

People who adopt the "if it ain't broke, tweak it" are usually the ones who HAVE to format and install when things go wrong ;)

Don't see why all that is necessary, Laser, when a straightforward disk cloning program will do the trick!

You'll also need an up to date Antivirus program, preferably another Adware/Malware tool such as Spybot Search and Destroy, and if you have a broadband Internet connection you'll need a Firewall as well.

If both PCs have Ethernet (LAN) available, or if you simply add a cheap Ethernet card to them, you can connect them with a crossover network cable and run the Networking Wizard to set them up for File and printer sharing, and to share an Internet connection between the two.

No, it will not solve "Not enough memory" errors. You'll need to resolve the issues which are generating those messages on the PC that's throwing them up.