Posts by Chaky

Yip
There you go Chacky. I guess we learn everyday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grease

it has many names, like most computer stuff!so confusing some time .

I shall never.. never.. NEVER call it "grease" for it is not greasy.:D

I didn't know that it is also called "grease". Strange.. doesn't look like a grease at all.

Grease? Do you mean thermal paste?

Press f8 while booting and select last known good configuration. If that fails, try safe mode.

Great..

BTW, I still have one hard drive that has been dying in a similar manner for last 10 or so years... and it is still kickin'...

You will need either FDISK (on bootable floppy, found in Windows 9x in the Windows/command folder) or Windows XP setup CD to make the HD bootable. The drive must be set as ACTIVE in its boot sector. You can use FDISK (FAT16/FAT32 only) to set it manually or simply format the drive with windows XP setup program (FAT32/NTFS), in which case it will be automatically set as active, but with no OS installed whatsoever, unless you proceed with XP installation.

If you are planning to use Windows 9x, I suggest that you make a bootable floppy on existing Windows 9x platform and manually copy FORMAT.EXE and FDISK.EXE to that floppy (Windows XP bootable floppy does not include CD drivers bundle). That way you can boot via floppy and have needed drivers for CD. Once you boot via floppy, you will need to to this:

- Start FDISK by typing "FDISK".
- Once prompted for large partition support choose yes (actually, "Yes" means FAT32, and "No" means FAT16 with 2GB per partition limit)
- create a logical drive/primary partition and set it as active (if not automatically.. check the status)
- you must reboot for the changes to be registered with BIOS
- once rebooted (again, via floppy) type this:
FORMAT C: /s
- once it finishes, you will have bootable HD with minimal OS. I suggest that you copy contents of the Windows 98 contents directly to HD. Type:

C:
…

Any ideas?????

It broke.

*laughter*

Cheer up.. there are limited number of things that you can do right now.

For the faint VAIO logo.. that probably means that the background light is busted.. and for the lack of boot.. That can be anything: loose connection with a hard drive, keyboard, memory...

- Check every cable on both ends.

- Check the motherboard's solderings for cracks, especially around battery connectors. You might want a magnifying glass. If you find some, you won't need some soldering skills to repair a cracked soldering. All you need is a soldetron and some confidence. Just heat up and melt the cracked soldering, and voilá!

Anything beyond that, I suggest you take it to professionals. Price to fix this can be anything.

Try installing some hardware-monitoring tool to monitor the CPU core temperatures, if the time limit allows it.

That way you will know if it is overheating and, thus, shutting itself down.
Clean heatsink and spinning fan don't guarantee cooling. Thermal paste might be old or the heatsink might be not tight enough.

If you don't manage to install it in that short period of time, you can always monitor the temperatures from within BIOS setup screen, but it will be only at idle load.

PSU getting hot? That is not a good omen. There might be a hardware failure or an extensive power drain. Maybe you left some power-hungry USB device plugged in, like USB hard drive? I doubt that it is a hardware failure, because it would happen every time.

And no.. it is most likely not a virus.

Glad to help.. I suggest that you replace the dying HD.. It will get more and more of bad sectors. The disk's surface is deteriorating, so you will need to do regular surface scans. Once a week, I'll say.

From now on, it is a lottery with that drive. If the bad sector appears in boot area, it will become unusable at all and the data on it will become unsalvageable without professional help. (read: $$ + time)

You can still use the drive though, but it is unreliable, especially as primary drive. My advice is get a new one and use this one only for non-important data.

*snif-snif*.. smells like a spam..

Here is an illustration of what you need to short.

Seems like your HD and optical drive are in master/slave conflict. Apparently, most of the slim CD/DVD drives are pre-determined as master or slave drives, with no jumper or dip-switch to change that setting.

Inspect the drive's back side for dip-switches or jumpers. If there are none, then the logical solution is to flash the drive's firmware with correct settings.

Shorting pin 45-47 supposedly fixes this conflict. Some would recommend soldering, but that would be permanent change and it is possible that you would permanently damage the drive.

Since those pins are next to each other, you can simply wrap some alu-foil around them making them connect and plug the cable over that.

If you have Nero installed, then you can use Drive Info tool to see it's capabilities.. T20L means that it is LightScribe-capable... Nice!

Try running the chkdsk at command prompt (start menu/run):

chkdsk C: /r

It will prompt you to run the chkdsk on next restart. Type Y.

That will check your HD for bad sectors and it can take a long time to complete. If everything is OK, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, depending on the drive capacity.

I suspect that it will find (and mark) few bad sectors.

I find it strange that ntldr is missing all of the sudden. Unless you deleted it yourself last time it was on, that should indicate a problem with HD, HD cable, BIOS settings or motherboard.

... and even a technician said that it's a heat issue but never discovered the heat dope not being there.

tsk-tsk-tsk @ technician

You're not giving me much to go from. I don't know wether you are running XP or Vista, or what makes/models your motherboard and VGA are..

You mentined "all other applications".. Can you be more specific? Anyone of them can cause this very general error message.

Yo can try uninstalling one by one to see which (or if) one of them causes the error.

Looks like it, I'm afraid.. Looks like your hard disk is dead. Your only hope is to send that hard disk to professionals to retrieve the data... if the data is worth the expenses..

However, there might be a chance that you could do something (a last shot), but you'll have to get very technical and fast.

1. Listen to the laptop when you start it up.. You probably heard it's noises millions of times before and you should notice if HD noise is missing.. that would suggest that the HD is not spinning at all..

2. Hit the "del" key on startup to enter BIOS setup (before it crashes.. might be some other key like F10 or F2) and browse trough the menus and find one that deals with IDE/SATA devices. There you will see if the hard drive is being detected at all. You'll see it's technical designation like WD250ST, capacity in Gigabytes and transfer mode.. It will probably be displayed beside the CD/DVD drive's name and 2 more empty slots. My guess is that it will not be detected, otherwise you would get different kind of error during windows setup.

3. If I was you, I would open the laptop myself and reconnect the hard drive cable (plug it out and back in). It might be a simple case of bad contact on one of the pins. Hard drive should be accessible on the bottom of the drive.. probably with it's own lid.

Good luck.

By all means, try getting a copy of XP.. (and forget about ERD business)
If you install a copy of XP on it, make sure you DON'T format the hard drive. That's all.. If all goes well, all you need to configure during setup is your keyboard layout and regional settings.

Even if the hard drive is completely busted and beyond usage, there is a way of retrieving the data from it. There are companies that specialize in data retrieval and they charge money for it.

(This article describes such case)

And me going geek on you.. well, your current situation suggests that you should go geek too :-)
Edit: oops.. you said Greek..

The password protection you describe is BIOS password (before any kind of booting) and usual log-on password. Those are not needed if you take the drive out of the laptop and put it in other machine. Only potential problem you could have with file access (in case you put the hard drive into another machine) is if they were encrypted on the disk, but disk encryption is not on by default (read: you would have to pick the file(s) manually and change it's attributes), so I'm pretty certain that it is not the case.

For the ERD.. Since you are working on Windows 2k, I suppose that it is normal for ERD to report no installed OS, since it is XP based and it looks for installed XP. Simply select "None - Do not attach to a Windows installation" and go from there. I'm not sure if USB port would work in ERD (for storing those files on the USB stick).. if not, you would need local network (anther machine that is connected to your laptop via ethernet) in order to retrieve the files.

.. or you can use floppies, if that is an option.

Your display is capable of 75Hz refresh rate. If it is not shown as an option, then it looks like you have corrupt EDID (it is sort of firmware for displays). If it is a new one I suggest that you use the warranty, since it is in need of servicing.

If the warranty expired, you can flash the EDID yourself, but it is a tricky thing, especially finding EDID that matches yours.

ERD is supposed to boot from CD independent of operating system on HD...

Anyway, you can take the disk out and put it in another laptop (as a 2nd HD, since that one isn't bootable any more) or you can install a copy of windows over the existing one (without formatting first!). I had similar situation with my PC and setup program would crash the moment it would scan the hard drive for installed OSes. I bypassed it by disabling the hard drive in BIOS. It did install a new copy of windows over the existing one, but it didn't try to detect it first.

You mentioned that someone from work would format it? If there are tech guys at work that deal with broken laptops, I'm sure that they would be capable of retrieving the files you desperately need without any trouble at all.

Try switching the refresh rate to 75 Hz.

What is your mobo brand/model? Is the sound card on-board? If not, what is the sound card brand/model?

OK. It is a bigger thing than I imagined..

I don't know how would you manage exactly powering up the machines remotely (I suppose the "wake-up" call is the only way), but shutting down shouldn't be that complicated. There are allot of remote access tools that can shut down machines via network, but right now I can't think of any that is cross-platform.

For the detection of UPS kicking in.. I believe that the winbatch can do that (using some 3rd party software, maybe) and initiate the shut-down cascade.

Off course there is a way to retrieve your files.. simply put the hard drive into another laptop, or a desktop, if you have appropriate connector (like this one).

There also is an ISO file on the net called ERD50.ISO (google it) which, when burned on a CD, can be used to boot the machine from the CD/DVD device so you can access files on a hard drive that won't boot.

I think that this is a networking forum material.

Maybe you should consider Winbatch for writing batch files, but I'm not sure if it is possible to use it cross-platform.

A thought:
Devices attached to every machine (USB hubs, network cards, HD-s...) can be shut down independently if the machine enters a power-saving mode.. at least on Windows platforms.

Is your battery OK?

To reset the laptop, plug out the mains and take out the battery.

P.S. Mobo or CPU is most likely fried.

Hi Jenny.

Please, post exact BSOD (with numbers) and some hardware info (Mobo, OS, GPU, RAM...)

Most likely it is a Mobo and/or video driver issue or a faulty RAM.

For the quick fix, you can increase RAM voltage in BIOS and try to recreate the problem then. More voltage should give you more stability. Don't be afraid to increase it to the max. If it has alu-casing (actually, a heatsink), don't forget to rev it back to defaults later on.

If you have Norton Anti-virus, it might be in conflict with Windows Verifier and is known to cause same BSOD.

I can think of couple of causes for this, beside the faulty drive.

- Incorrect BIOS settings
- Faulty BIOS (unlikely, but possible)
- Faulty on-board IDE controller (most likely)
- Faulty power supply for the drive (a.k.a. Molex)
- Faulty IDE cable (I hope so)

For the settings, default BIOS settings should generally work. You can try manually downgrading the transfer mode to PIO 0. It is the most compatible one.

Faulty BIOS can be resolved by flashing.

Regarding the on-board IDE controller, it can be bypassed by installing IDE controller PCI card. In that case you should disable the on-board controller. Otherwise it will be in conflict.

P.S. Try with different IDE cable and with different molex plug

Glad to help.

First, load default settings in BIOS. It will set your CPU speeds to the factory settings. If your BIOS is latest one for your mobo, it should positively identify your CPU and it's settings. There might be, however, incompatibilities with system RAM and in such case you would need to manually set the DDR timings yourself. Otherwise you would get memory-related random errors/crashes during windows boot-up or during normal runtime.

Regarding the overheating, if the CPU fan is working, then the problem might be one of 3 causes:

1- Extremely dusty heatsink
2- Heatsink isn't tight enough on the CPU
3- Thermal paste between CPU and heatsink is old and dry

Heatsink needs to be TIGHT in order to efficiently transfer heat from CPU to heatsink. Also, the thermal paste layer needs to be really thin.

My general advice is to ditch the AMD heatsink and fan and get some serious cooling solution. Zalman or Thermaltake for example.

Regarding that darkened pin.. Darker color usually means that there were some speakings. Sparks are usually caused by bad connection. Also, dark color might be caused by oxidation. Either way, you would need to clean it up a little. Little bit of sandpaper would do.

Try disabling "quick POST" in your BIOS. It will force your machine to do extra testings when powering on. It might give you an error message of whatever is wrong with it. Also, a beeper would be very helpful in your situation. Do you have one installed? If so, please post any beep-codes you receive.

WTF?

i hope chaky still reads this thread.

Chaky does..

Are you talking about that Toshiba laptop?
Does it boot at all?

Maybe you should take it apart and clean out any sugar that is left in it.

John, please start a new thread in Appropriate forum. Here in this thread you won't get much help.

(quick tip: if you know which piece of software is slowing your machine down, you can always uninstall it)

If I was you, I would try another IDE drive (with 80-pin cable). Prices are much better.

There are number of PCI/ISA post card analyzers. Prices ranging from $5 to $70.
Like this one.

You might try different PSU. It is not impossible that your PSU is causing this, but my first two suspects are CPU and motherboard.

That trojan is still there. Did you run the file I attached?

I think that you should (giving that the above solutions haven't worked) consider either replacing the obviously faulty optical drive, or replacing it with some other vendor/model that is compatible with your mobo, in case this one isn't. The warranty should cover the faulty equipment. You should use it.

Worst case scenario (for the manufacturer, that is) is if the Mobo is the faulty one here. In such case RMA the mobo, and you're set.

Long story short: it is either mobo, optical drive or the connection in between.

Explain the freezing ups, please.. Are we talking about performance glitches, or total system freezes with reboots?

I'm familiar with Bioshock, and there is an ATI Patch available.

Also, latest patch for Bioshock is v1.1.. make sure you get the worldwide patch.. unless you have the German version.

That would take care of any software-based problems.

Lets talk hardware..

Did you overclock the CPU or VGA? If so, try with factory speeds for both CPU and VGA (and RAM).

You can try increasing the voltage for CPU and for RAM, but be sure to monitor the temperatures.. higher voltage means higher temperatures... and higher system stability.

Call me crazy, but it looks to me like your keyboard has some keys stuck.. try booting with no keyboard.

Also, remove the CD(s).. scratched CD can halt the booting while the CD drive pointlessly tries to read the basic info off the CD.

You will need a beeper.. it can tell you allot. You can use any beeper from any PC. Every motherboard has beeper (or PC speaker) connectors.

For the troubleshooting, it means the world.

Also, try this combination:

PSU + MOBO + VGA
(no RAM)
.. and see if you get any video feedback on the monitor. (like, error codes)

Is it single drive or is there another optical or hard drive on the same cable?

If it is single drive, then it must be set as "slave". Also check polarity of the cable on both ends.. (in case you flipped it upside-down)

If there is a hard drive on the same cable, then the hard drive MUST be set as "master" and CD drive as "slave". Otherwise CD drive won't work.

If there is an optical drive, then one of them must be "master" and other must be "slave".. Which is which, that is of little or no importance.

Also, if you still can't get it to work, then try different 40-pin (or 80-pin) cable. It might be defective.

Anyway, if you still have troubles with the drive, let me know. There are other solutions, but you should try the above first.

Quick BIOS tutorial:

Press (usually) DEL while booting to enter BIOS setup.

Set all IDE channels on "auto-detect"
If you don't see the IDE channels settings on the first screen, browse trough the setup program a little.

Save the settings.

It seems like there is a Trojan there.. MIFENG-K TROJAN to be precise... and ad-spamming CoolWebSearch also.

For the CoolWebSearch, I suggest you uninstall it via Add/Remove programs in Control Panel (if I'm not mistaken, there is an uninstall string there).

For the Trojan.. that is another story.. I suggest you boot in safe mode and manually remove following registry entries:

Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

Name: Internet
Type: REG_SZ
Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\smss.exe

and

Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices]

Name: Internet
Type: REG_SZ
Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\smss.exe

To manually edit registry click on RUN in start menu and enter REGEDIT

Or, if you don't feel like poking around, simply take this attachment and doubleclick the .reg file. It will remove that for you, but be sure to do it in a safe mode (press f8 while booting and choose safe mode).

After you done all that, boot in usual mode and post fresh HijackThis log.

Cheers.

I'm not gonna ramble on about stuff that I use, but the only Disk utility that can defragment meta-files on NTFS partition is PerfectDisk. I use it for off-line (or boot-time) defragmenting. For the usual defragmenting I use Diskeeper. It defragments 120 gig partition in no-time, unlike most of them, and believe me, I've tried most of them.

Q for all of you here:

Does anyone know of a utility that can edit/erase folders on NTFS partitions? I'm starting to get allot of bloated empty (or almost empty) folders. I'm not talking about files in those folders. I'm talking about folders themselves taking up the space.. NOT the files inside them.

Googleing for those kinds of utilities is like looking for a needle in a world of haystacks..

I've googled for the battery in question, and the closest I got is the CMOS battery for Acer TravelMate 600. Regular coin-shaped lithium 3v battery that is easy to recognize. I understand that opening up the case of laptop is bit tricky, but it should be covered by user's manual.

That could be the case if you are trying to install custom slipstreamed version of XP.

Shutting down after first reboot sounds like a memory-related problem. If you look at the list of approved memory vendors/models, you'll see that your particular model isn't on the list. I suggest that you exchange that RAM for one that is on the list as the permanent solution. For the time being you can down-clock your memory in BIOS and/or increase timings and voltage to gain stability.

You might need to use f6 drivers, especially if you're trying to install XP. You will need floppy drive too. CD that came with mobo should be bootable, and there should be utility for creating such floppy.

Oh, yes I did. You can ask jwenting.