Posts by Catweazle

Well, then, you either didn't go through it thoroughly enough, or the board or power supply unit is dead.

The checklist I provided is the rock-bottom basics, and if a motherboard won't POST, with only the basic components fitted, and it being confirmed that all the basic components are in working order, you should return the motherboard to the supplier.

Add/Remove programs, then 'Set program Access and defaults'

<ake sure that you have the browser of choice configured as your 'Default' browser, and reboot to ensure the change has taken effect.

Read the motherboard manual again. Sounds like you have the front panel connectors attached wrongly.

Disconnect everything except Display card, RAM, front panel connectors, processor fan and front panel connectors from the motherboard and the power supply unit. See if the system completed POST to the point of the "You don't have an operating system" message.

If it doesn't post, check the motherboard manual diagrams and ensure you have the front panel connectors configured correctly. Turn them around to face the other way if you have. (Sometimes something as simple as a Power LED connector which is reversed can stop a machine from booting)

If it completes POST, add all the other stuff one by one, checking that the system completes POST after each. Add the hard drive last, and if you have more than one, add the system drive last.

Get back to us with results please.

Start Windows Explorer, and choose Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types

Scroll down and select the extension for the File type you've been trying to save. (.zip .exe or whatever)

Click on 'Advanced' and check the entry "Confirm Open after Download"

The prompt should return after that. Let us know if it doesn't please.

Perhaps the CMOS battery is dead or dying? sounds likely to me. I'd replace it to see if that fixes things. They don't cost much ;)

OK, I'm curious. How DO you solve the problem?

Do you press F1 and everthing works OK? Do you press F2 and have to make changes in BIOS Setup to continue? Do you get stuck at this point and can't proceed?

If you're getting stuck, check that you've configured the drives correctly. Primary drive - Jumper set to 'Master', drive attached to end connector of primary IDE cable. Secondary drive - jumper set to 'Slave', drive attached to middle connector of primary IDE cable

And don't forget to change everything back over if you swap them.

My comments relate to you also, Guest! Visus and Spyware problems should be raised in the 'Security' forum section, though!

Hi plainoldsteve, and Welcome. If it's help with Spyware and Adware you need you'll find our 'Security' forum section helpful I hope! You could start with the advice given in the 'Helping Yourself' topic there.

If you need further assistance, create a new topic there with details of your problems and I'm sure someone will be quickly turning up to help!

So what is your question, CarbonTery? Do you want to know what to buy, or do you want to know how to build it?

I'm really unclear about that from your post ;)

Antec 1000 AMG
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=90510

You'll need a Power Supply Unit to accompany it, and Antec make high quality ones as well. Choose one from the list:
http://www.antec.com/us/pro_powerSupply.html
to suit your purposes, as they have models designed for high power consumption needs, quietness of operation, and vatios other factors.

You've got a mess, and you need to start over. I'd suggest you forget any suggestion of 'repair', because you're just adding more to the mess the more you do.

I've written a couple of articles describing in detail the procedure to do a fresh clean install of Windows XP, getting rid of any old Windows installation in the process. You'll find them linked in this topic:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread6632.html

TKS is correct. the GeForce2 MX display card is a DirectX 7 card - it doesn't have Hardware Transorm & Lighting!

But you should still be able to install DirectX8 or DirectX9, and run games. You will not be able to use all the features is all. Many games are 'scalable', which means that although they are DirectX 8 or DirectX 9 games, they can be run with the relevent features disabled. The fact that you cannot run DXDiag is rather strange, and you may have some system corruption, possibly as a result of attempts to install/uninstall drivers (or perhaps DirectX itself) that have not been fully successful.

By far the best way to clean up and repair any system corruption that may have occurred i to format and install fresh.

Looks pretty good to me!

As long as the plug for the soundcard end is a stereo one, then that's the cable I was referring to!

You need to work out just what the soundcard in your PC is. But if it's an old crappy one, then a SoundBlaster Live! DE 5.1 soundcard would be perfectly fine for your purposes, and is quite inexpensive, at only about double the price of the cheapest 'cheap 'n' nasty' soundcards available. It's got quite good sound quality. For a few dollars more, you could get an OEM Soundblaster Audigy internal soundcard which is of a higher quality again.

Agreed!

You'll get a performance increase from using high quality, low latency RAM, but it won't be anywhere near as big as the price increase which accompanies it. The most important consideration when choosing RAM is that you purchase modules produced by a reputable manufacturer, rather than cheap 'generic' modules which don't even carry a Brandname sticker.

I'd also endorse the choice of an nForce3-250 chipset based motherboard over the VIA chipset motherboard. There's a slight performance improvement, and better overclocking capabilities for sure, but the most pertinent factor is that the onboard sound should be good enough to mean an add-in soundcard wouldn't be necessary!

A TV tuner card should also function as an FM receiver, I'm not sure if specialised radio tuner cards are available.

You need a decent set of 2.1 speakers for your PC, which will have a sub-woofer with the ampflifier built in. If you can't afford a set (they're fairly inexpensive) then run a lead from the audio-out socket to the 'Auxilliary input' sockets on your existing stereo amplifier. A hifi store will help you work out the necessary cable for the job.

Oh yes - the better your soundcard, the better it'll sound coming out from the speakers. Nothing can overcome the low quality of a shitty PC soundcard!

Perhaps I should clarify a little what I was saying. I wasn't really suggesting that the Socket 754/Athlon64 based system is a bad choice. I was simply trying to indicate that the higher rated Athlon XP processors are still quite capable, and that budget needs to be taken into consideration for purchasing choices.

If the Socket 754 motherboard/Athlon64 combination fits within budget, then yes - that's the best performing combination currently on offer. The future upgrade path for replacement processors for the Socket format doesn't look too rosy, but by the time the system has outlived it's usefullness, then motherboard/processor combinations for the newer Socket 939 format should be an affordable alternative anyway.

If the higher initial cost of the Socket 754/Athlon64 path is a factor which impacts too heavily on the budget, then the Athlon XP or Pentium 4 processors, coupled with a good quality motherboard, still provide the 'heart' of a quite capable computer system, which should address your needs for some time to come yet. The lower initial outlay for a motherboard/processor combination for one of these platforms would free up more of a limited budget to allow for other system needs to be more adequately met. Let's face it - hard drive storage space and plenty of RAM are vitally important factors in a Video editing system. Have those needs been addressed in the purchasing plan? I'd consider a video editing system to require a Gigabyte of RAM and a couple of large capacity …

All of that is fine, as far as I can see. Both motherboards use the same chipset, so neither is 'better' than the other. Choose the one which has onboard features which suits your needs best.

Oh, one thing! By mid-August I'd be expecting to fit a Radeon X800 series vid card in there, as it creams the 9800 Pro by heaps! The 9800 Pro is old news nowadays!

Check the "Helping yourself" topic in the Security forum section for advice and suggested procedures to follow. You have Spyware installed on your system!

Right-click on the Start Button and choose 'Properties'

On the 'Start Menu' tab, ensure that 'Start Menu is checked, and click on the 'Customise' button. On the 'Advanced' tab, scroll down the list and tick "Scroll Programs".

Use 'Apply" and "OK" as appropriate to get out of there, and BINGO!!!!!!!!!

(Should work, anyway ;))

Wrennika, quite simply put I think your best move would be to wipe the lot and start over! Not because of those "two little Whatevers", but because of the amount of fiddling you've done to try and fix it. I suspect that you've right royally screwed over the Windows installation with dodgy software and excessive manual alterations.

The fact that other programs aren't working as they should indicates a fair bit of work removing and reinstalling them anyway, especially if the changes you've made have resulted in a situation where they won't properly uninstall (which is quite likely)

A fresh start, and this time around avoid the 'gimmicky' little freebies like the ones which have caused you problems, is the best course of action. Sure, you might be able to 'fix' your current bout of problems, but who knows what else is lurking in there, ready to crop up as an annoying issue, after all that 'hand-pruning'!

Weatherbug IS your problem! It's where the bad bug came from!

http://www.pchell.com/support/weatherbug.shtml

Despite their protestations, MySearch is an invasive piece of Spyware.

Given the amount of fiddling you've done, and the possible damage that's been apparently caused by the "hand pruning" of the Registry, I'd suggest a refresh install of Windows at the least as a suitable course of action (Install Windows over the top of itself) followed by a thorough clean-out using the tools described in the "Helping Yourself" topic in the Security Forum section.

Uninstalling then reinstalling programs that do not function correctly is also a possibly useful procedure, but for goodbess sake don't reinstall any invasive 'freebies' such as the one you've mentioned.

Failing all that, I'd agree that a format and fresh install is possibly needed.

Vic! But I really, really like Alistair Lynch!

I come from a small country town in Australia in the southern part of the Queensland State.

gg Brisbane lions!

[IMG]http://www.eastbourne.vic.edu.au/connections/2001term2/websites/james/Yay.jpg[/IMG]

Are you running and using Spyware/Malware detection and removal tools on that system? AntiVirus is not enough.

Check out the suggestions in the "Helping Yourself" topic in the security forum section for advice regarding suitable software tools.

I think Intel have quite a few problems on their hands!

The Prescott processors brought in all sorts of heat-related problems, and motherboard manufacturers are less than enthusiastic about the design changes Intel requires for them. Intel's talking about adopting mobile technology for future desktop processors but that's nothing more than talk yet, at least in terms of what you can actually purchase.

For now, AMD has the edge in terms of performance and also in terms of thermal issues. The processor you've linked is also the newer Socket 939 variety, which should also have about the best future-proofing capabilities of anything currently available. It'd be my choice for sure, was I to be upgrading at present.

Not possible that it's heat related is it? Has the system ever been opened up and cleaned of dust?

http://www.xoxidewholesale.com
Modded Cases are real cheap here and no cuts and brusies either, Ha! :cheesy:

Call a store-bought job a modded case? :p

heh heh heh......

If you don't do the job yourself it's cheating!

Using only one adware/malware removal tool is only a partial approach. You will find the same advice everywhere you go looking for answers - use two or three such tools in combination!

No, there's very little difference between the versions.

256Mb display cards aren't really necessary for today's games, and by the time that amount of video RAM becomes necessary, today's display cards won't be powerful enough to run them anyway. The 256Mb versions are a marketting 'hook' more than anything else, and in some cases you'd find that they might even use slower RAM chips, which generate a drop in performance instead of an improvement.

I wouldn't bother with a 256Mb display card unless it's one of the 'new generation' Radeon X800 or NVidia 6800 cards!

First let me say that I neither endorse nor reject any sentiments that might be found in the Flash animation.

Next let me say that I never bothered waiting for the animation to load, as the site linked to generated pop-ups even through Mozilla's checking and blocking routines! Any site which uses deliberate techniques to bypass a popup blocker merits suspicion and rejection.

Thirdly, let me say that I can't for the life of me understand why an objection is being made to the animation anyway, given that the first news item visible on the site when I looked was this:

Note to Religious Zealots: You won’t enjoy this trailer. Don’t put yourself through the torment of watching this sacrilegious filth. I’m not even sure why you’re surfing Newgrounds, everything here is offensive.

Surely that's warning enough?

Well that's a fine offer Wallace Tait, and if it can help me organise some order out of my usual state of chaos, then I'd be happy to tell my readers so even without you askin' me too! :D

It does sound like a Spyware/Malware infestation I'd agree. If you've followed all the suggestions in the "Helping Yourself" topic mentioned earlier in the discussion, however, and feel that there's nothing left to do than post a 'HijackThis log and ask for advice, then please do so in a new topic in the 'Security' forum section.

HijackThis logs are discouraged in the other Forum Sections.

Most of those search results will tell you simply how to manually synchronise the clock. If you wish to have the system automatically synchronise at regular intervals, and don't wish to delve into Registry editing, download and use a utility program such as:

EMSA Time Synchroniser

which will allow you to set the intervals at which you wish the clock to be updated.

It's not a 'flame war' Tekmaven, but it is pertinent to point out that testing indicates that the Opterons outperform their equivalent Xeon competitors quite dramatically! The choice should be quite a simple one on both fronts!

Yep, the MHZ clockspeeds of different brand processors shouldn't be compared, because those processors work in different ways internally. If you compare, for example, an Athlon XP3200+ with a Pentium 4 3.2GHz processor, most reviews and benchmark tests indicate that the Pentium is a slightly better performer. Many users, however, would suggest that the Athlon is marginally better for games, while the Pentium is marginally better for applications processing. I'd personally tend to go with the opinion that the Pentium is the slightly better chip!

But as Tekmaven has indicated, newer motherboards and Athlon64 processors are the best of the lot, outperforming the Pentium 4s quite markedly, despite the fact that they also use a lower clockspeed!

An Athlo64 3200+ would be my personal processor of choice at present.

You'll find full instructions linked in this topic:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread6632.html

(That's shameless self promotion - I wrote 'em :D)

Are you using Windows XP with broadband Internet, marceta? If so it is possible to alter settings so that Windows synchronises with an online atomic clock at frequent intervals.

"spaghetti explosion"

[IMG]http://www.jebensfamily.com/Daphne/Pages/Pictures/Month11/Images/mini-SpaghettiInHairWagonWheelLooking.JPG[/IMG]

"old and forgetful"

came down to

What is your motherboard make and model please?

It sounds like there is a possibility the motherboard is incorrectly configured in BIOS Setup, and if the motherboard has RAID capability, then that might be where the problem lies.

I'm a bit wary of what I'm seeing reported about this 'Custom manufacturer' you mention. There's a continual saga of problems not being corrected there, and now this latest motherboard/ drive combination is failing to work as it should.

Hardware details of your system, including make/model numbers of your motherboard, drives and RAM might help us to work out how to sort things out.

I'd say the problem could lie somewhere in this list:

- The Windows CD is scratched, or the optical drive faulty
- The processor may be overheating due to incorrect removal and replacement procedures when the motherboard was changed.
- The motherboard BIOS may be incorrectly configured
- the drives may be incorrectly installed
- the RAM may have stability/compatibility isses, particularly if two 'generic' modules from different manufacturers are installed
- The Power supply unit may be faulty or inadequate
- There may be a damaged cable or connector in the system

But my initial guess would be that it's a motherboard configuration issue, a scratched CD or cheap 'n' nasty RAM. Those would be the most common culprits.

HijackThis logs are only allowed to be posted in the Security forum.

Topic moved there.

Keep trying until you are successful at downloading the file without errors. If you have any Download manager software installed, disable it and allow the file to be downloaded cleanly.

Alternatively, find a recent PC magazine which includes Shockwave Player on its cover CD and install it from there ;)

Yes, unregistered guest!

Sign up as a member, log in, and start a topic in the 'Internet Explorer' Forum section outlining your problems. There are many helpful people here who will try to assist you!

Cheers.

Hi Ron,

You will need to obtain Commercial Software to hadle the partitioning for you, unless you wish to Wipe that Windows 98 installation clean and start over. Your Windows 98 Startup diskette will contain a utility called FDISK which will perform drive partitioning for you, but it cannot resize an existing partition. It can only delete partitions and create new ones.

Method 1

Boot from your Windows 98 Startup diskette, and at the A:> prompt, type 'FDISK' (without the quotes). Use the tool to delete the partition, and then to create a new one of the size you require.

How to use FDISK

When finished, proceed with the installation and setup of Windows 98.

The reboot from your Windows Server 2003 CD, and use the install routine to create a second partition and install Windows 2003 Server on it. the installation will create the dual boot for you.

Method 2

Use a Commercial utility profram such as Partition Manager to resize your existing Windows 98 partition, and create a new partition in the remaining space.

Reboot from your Windows Server 2003 CD and install to the new partition. The dual-boot will be created for you as above.

People having this problem simply need to edit the WIN.INI file in such a way that the relevent entry is disabled from being processed.

There is a wonderful Guide to editing the WIN.INI file and disabling entries on Adobe's website:

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/26ae.htm

If you don't see the WIN.INI file when you use 'My Computer' to look at the Root Directory of your system drive, then find 'Folder Options' in the menu and on the 'Advanced' tab ensure that you have it set to display file extensions, and to display 'Protected Operating System files'. See this site for more detailed instructions:

http://www.windows-help.net/windows98/start-17.shtml

Following the Guide provided by Adobe, simply 'Remark' the relevent line(s) in the WIN.INI file, and disable the commands which are generating the message!

heh heh heh......

Well if ElvisTCB wasn't aware of that already, I guess he is now! :D

You also need to have your system set to have CDROM set as '1st boot device' in BIOS setup.

Consult your motherboard manual for details, or report back here if you need help with making the change.

Hi jobeream,

That's not an error message you've posted there - it's a filename and location! When submitting a question, you should include the full message you receive, and other relevent details such as the Windows version you are using.

But as the file mentioned is most likely a 'browser help object' and not a normal part of the Windows directory contents, I suspect it is part of some 'Spyware' which has attached itself to Internet Explorer. I'm moving this to the 'Security' forum section, and you should follow the advice contained in the article there:

Helping yourself: What to do before starting a new thread or posting a HiJackThis log

Please report back after using the Spyware/Malware removal tools mentioned there.

Cheers