Posts by Catweazle

I got the FDISK.exe program from a Win ME Rescue Disk...haven't figured out how to make the same type of disk in Win XP. Any ideas? OK, so, I'm going to take your advice and clear the new drive completely with DriveScrubber and start over again..........

You don't need a disk like that for Windows XP. Just use the CD. Boot from it, and the install routine has an inbuilt partitioning capability.

eerrr.... uummmmm..

Have you got restore enabled on your drives? Right click 'My Computer', and choose 'Properties'. Check on the 'System Restore' tab to make sure you have it enabled.

Have you connected all cables correctly?
Have you ensured that the 'jumpers' on your drives are configured correctly, as 'Master' or 'Slave' accordingly?
Is the 'Master' drive on each cable attached to the end connector, and the 'Slave' drive connected to the middle connector?

It doesn't sound like a driver issue, it sounds like your system's BIOS POST routine is struggling to identify the drives physically installed in your machine, and is reaching a 'Stop:' error when it cannot find a bootable drive.

Hip -> Beatnick

(You're right AND wrong - Neil Young and K.D. Laing both sit high in my list)

rainbow -> hippies

(Sorry, I'm perverse. And I had lots of fun in those long-gone days!)

You're really getting into "Could be anything" territory there!

I guess nothing can hurt if it doesn't matter that you blow the thing up. I'd be seeking tech advice from Acer before I proceeded though ;)

Dunno mate.

You're really getting into "Could be anything" territory there! If you changed any more of those switches, change 'em back and see what happens.

If the HDD password is a BIOS one, you should be able to get back into BIOS setup and change it. Edit: oops, maybe not. You'd probably need the password to change it. Perhaps it's a different switch?)

If its a Windows thing, you could easy just format and Install Windows again to clean everything up.

Not without me having access to technical documentation, it doesn't, and I'd suggest you not change those settings until AFTER you've confirmed what they are. Otherwise you might end up disabling or damaging the unit.

If you don't have success with your Technical request to them, PM me. (Sometimes the IT media can get answers where customers don't) No guarantees, but I'm happy to try.

Weird? That should have been enough, try leaving it out overnight and see what happens. I just checked the documentation on Acer's website and it's not helpful. You might need to submit a technical support request to them if no-one here comes up with a working solution.

If you know how to remove the CMOS battery for a while, that should do the trick. Otherwise, see if the manual is still available for download from Acer and that should have instructions for resetting CMOS in it.

The GeFX5200 PCI is a tad better than the GeF4MX PCI, which is in turn a tad better than a 9200SE PCI. All of them are crappy really, and you won't do much better unless you lay out heaps of money for a workstation graphics card (which would do 3D better than those cheap 3D cards)

If you want to play games you should really leave that Dell for accessing your eMail and get a real 'pooter!

Could be a million and one reasons for this, but in summary it usually means that either your Windows installation is corrupted or that you have a hardware problem, particularly with your hard drive.

Eliminate the drive problem first.

Start -> Programs -> Acessories -> System Tools -> ScanDisk

Choose to scan your hard drive, make sure the 'Thorough' option is selected, and click on the 'Advanced' button and make sure you have it set to 'Display Summary'.

If the check reports lots of 'Bad Sectors', replace your hard drive.

Won't it delete? Was it sent to you via Messenger?

Try booting into 'Safe Mode' and deleting it.

pussy -> wimp

Catweazle originated as a pisstake.

I originally got online primarily to keep in contact with relatives who live some distance away, and when I got involved in messaging for contact I found they and their friends were heavily involved in a Tolkeinian 'Fantasy' thing with nicks. Being the perverse bloke that I am, I decided if it was fantasy characters they liked, a fantasy character they'd get and I chucked ole Catweazle in amongst their 'high culture' game!

It drew quite a few laughs, stuck, and I now use it all over the place.

Turns out there are very few Tech sites where the name has been picked up previously. :D

If you're trying to install Windows 98 or Windows Me, set BIOS to bott from Floppy as 1st boot device. Then use a Windows 98 Startup diskette to boot from.

If you don't have one, find a friend who has a Windows 98 PC, and make a Startup diskette on that, using the Add/Remove programs applet in Control Panel.

Hi t0x,

I can recall something like this happening to me when I first installed .Net Framework, although I can't recall the specifics (and haven't the time just now to research them)

But this should help. I think the User accounts settings have been changed, so go into Control Panel -> User Accounts.

Disable the 'Guest Account'
Remove any new User Accounts apart from the one you normally use. ( I have a suspicion that installing .Net Passport can create a new account, under certain circumstances. You don't need it.)

Your PC should boot straight to the Desktop again after that.

In that case, any further instructions I give will only relate to installing Windows Me.

(I'm off to bed, by the way. G'night!)

No, the XP one. I think you should go back, have a good read of the article I linked you to before, print it out and read it again.

Then sit back and start over, following the instructions in the article.

You gotta press a key when that happens. And you gotta have the Windows XP CD in the drive.

by throwing lots

heh heh.... I'm curious about that too. You ready to take over on this mate. It's way past bed-time where I am!

Here's the download page, where you can obtain up to date drivers and instruction manuals.
http://www.sagem.com/web-modems/download/support-fast-en.htm

You'll need to contact your ISP to find out the settings which you need to use for their service. You should also check that the service has actually been processed and is 'live' via you telephone line.

CD-ROM, C, A should be fine.

Are you getting the 'Press a key to boot from CD' message? If you don't press a key when the message shows, the routine is interrupted.

No.

If the hard drive is empty you won't have a problem. When you get to the screen where you are asked if you wish to install Windows XP to the partition, follow instructions to remove the partition, and then follow the instructions to create a new partition in the unpartitioned space, using the NTFS file system.

(NTFS is much more efficient than the FAT32 file system used by Windows Me)

If you have Windows XP on CD, you don't need a boot disk.

Enter BIOS setup when you start the machine. Find the enties for Boot sequence and set 1st Boot device to CD-ROM, and all other boot devices to 'Disabled'. Pop your Windows CD in the drive, Save and exit from bios setup, and watch for the 'Press any key to boot from CD' message that will be briefly shown.

Then follow this guide: http://gtadatabase.web1000.com/windows/windows.html

You will be asked at some point to insert your Windows Me CD if the version you have is an upgrade disk for Windows XP. You only need the Windows Me disk for verification.

You will also get the opportunity to remove the existing partition on the hard drive. At this point, it is a goood idea to do so, create a new partition in its place, and then continue with the installation electing to use the NTFS file system for the installation.

Formatting will be done for you.

Good luck

clasher, for starters could you please click on the 'Edit' button at bottom of your post to add further comments, instead of making multiple posts one after another. Or better still, wait until you've typed out your entire comment before clicking on 'Submit'. This is a forum, not irc, mate.

Next, which version of Windows are you trying to install at the moment? If it's Windows 98, what are you trying to install it from. You should be trying to boot the system from a Windows 98 Startup diskette, which would have mscdex.exe included on it.

If you are trying to install Windows XP from a Windows CD, then you should be making changes in BIOS to allow the system to boot directly from the CD.

BIOS is the 'Setup' routine of the machine itself. You usually access it by pressing <Delete> when the machine is powering up.

What makes you believe that it doesn't work? Have you tried to Boot from the CD and had no success?

Was the system a new one in 97/98, or a secondhand unit? Is the BIOS configured to use CD-ROM as '1st boot device'? Does the BIOS POST information indicate that the drive is detected?

(******aside: heh heh.... Clever! :D )

Your Operating System please? If it's windows, which version are you using?

Is your computer a recent one or a quite old one?

It would help to know the make and model of your modem. Is it a USB or an Ethernet modem?

but a small

Mate, contact your ISP for assistance. They should have an FAQ on their website which describes the process and settings. You don't 'dial up' for the service, it's permanently connected. Your modem connects to it, your PC connects to the modem, and broadband internet is there all the time after that.

Perhaps it isn't enabled on your phone line yet. sometimes there's a bit of a delay getting it enabled and live!

Just be mindful, however, that 'Perfect Keylogger' isn't 'Spyware' in the usual sense. It's a commercially distributed program, designed for monitoring the PC usage of, for example, people on a workplace network, or children in the home.

If it's been remotely installed on your system via the internet, then for starters your system security is lax, and for seconds, it's a particularly nasty, specific and deliberate act that should be reported to authorities.

Wait for it to load, then. Works fine for me!

By the way that PC User mag was awesome! It is the first time I've ever bought it and it was only 7.95, same price as the atomic mag and it is so resourceful! I'm going to subscribe to them.

Cheers,

Slade

heh heh...

I'd agree with that!

Here's the product's home page. http://www.blazingtools.com/bpk.html

Scroll down to the bottom of the version comparison table and click on the link to the product documentation and FAQ. The FAQ includes instructions for removal. If you mucked about with Registry entries, you might need to download and reinstall the program before it will uninstall successfully.

Post your 'Hijackthis' logs and concerns in the new "Security' Forum area please.

naughty -> child

(Just like those who consider profanity amusing. A little more 'cleverness' in the wit, please?)

Like I asked, Jimmy, what updates are you referring to?

I have all updates installed here on a range of Windows OS systems, and none of them exhibit the problem you report.

Which Windows? Which Update?

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/manual.php?categories=1&model=96

Would you mind posting details of how you fixed it, then, for the benefit of others reading the topic?

A notice about this problem has been posted in the 'Security' forum.

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread5481.html

You'll find the answers you need there!

Have a good read through the FAQ, mate.

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/faq.php?

Try AVG free edition. It's a little slow in operation, but it's rather good quality

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

(Moved to the new 'Security' section)

1. Do you have a 5.1 surround soundcard? I have several systems here, and those which do not have a 5.1 surround soundcard installed can not have the speakers set to 5.1. All my systems are completely up to date with Windows Security updates.

2. Have you got your sound drivers installed correctly?

3. If you are using 'Windows Update' to obtain drivers for an OEM Creative soundcard, why? The drivers available from Microsoft for Creative cards have always been problemmatic, and have never provided full functionality for Creative cards. Use the reference drivers available from Creative instead. I would imagine the same principle holds for other manufacturers' products.

Another handy utility, which identifies most motherboards as well as quite abit of other system info, is Belarc Advisor.

http://www.belarc.com/download

It also gives a very comprehensive report of installed software, Hotfixes and so on, as well as one-click links to your Program install directories.

(Best tool I've found yet for locating 'Savegames' for backup)

Bender --> Perverse

Perverse -> Certainly

[img]http://jovan.ru/pics/bender.gif[/img]

of such inconsiderate