lefty1953

Looks like XP is my choice since it wont cost me anything. Already have it. Runs as well and in some cases better than Vista.

Nice little You tube. The person I am trying to help is 65 plus and doesn't know anything about PCs and now has a Laptop to figure out. He even calls me up to help him fix his Screen that is minimized. I drive over there and this has happened 4 times at least, and show him to double click on the blue bar. He then says oh yeah I remember now. And I don't know how this got started as a new Thread when I posted a reply to my already running thread.

Most likely the Motherboard can't handle that high of a CPU. Check the site for your motherboard and see what the highest CPU it will accept.

Thanks for the replies. I will not offer the idea of stealing service to my friend. Nor would I offer that to anyone else. He has the money (already mentioned) to connect legitimately. And so I will let him know the services offered.

Good questions, I will have to ask him. I know he has an RV and I also know he owns land(not sure of home) in Alaska. He also owns a commercial Fishing boat out there that he leases out. He has a license for 20,000 lbs of fish a year in Alaska and he doesn't even run the boat. Thanks for the fast reply.

OK, I have no experience with this matter and an Older gentleman wants me to tell him what to do. He went out and bought a Laptop so when he travels he can still check his mail and get on the Internet. What is the best service he could use? I would think Satellite service but, is there other services that are good as well? He will be traveling to Alaska a lot of the time and then back to Colorado and sometimes to Arizona. He has a lot of money and wouldn't care about expense. So what's out there. I have just switched to Satellite service since it is the only broadband service I can get in my

Just type in File uploads in your search engine. You'll find a bunch of them.

So I would use the Acronis right after the reinstall? I didn't know Service Pack 3 was in the works. I can wait for that. As it is now, I have over 60 updates I would need to redo. Vista has been released from what I read. Or maybe it was this next week it is going to be.

I thought that might be the case and since I don't use OutLook I just didn't care much anyway. As for those Reg Cleaners, I will now stay away from them and just do reinstalls once every 6 moths. Is there a way to copy all the Updates and store them on a CD or another HD for later installs?

OK I went and did a Restore to 2 days ago. Now that file and another one that Windows Update said failed are now installed. The strangest thing is, they say they were installed 2/15/2005. Not 2006 or 2007 but 2005. I still have one that didn't install and can't find it on Microsoft to do a install from. It doesn't matter as it is for OutLook Express which I never use anyway. The one thing I did yesterday was use (from a recommendation from one of the other users here) Regseeker. I guess it messed something up in the registry. I learned my lesson on Registry cleaners.

This file downloaded today and I have tried 4 times to install it. It always fails. Any ideas or is this happening to others?

Are you using programs that handle that resolution? Might just want a 20"screen without the HDTV capabilities.

Did he put in any new memory? Check the memory for tightness, same with the CPU and all cables. Sometimes unplugging the Power to the motherboard and then plugging it in again will start it up. Might be a bad ground. Might have to check how he has the motherboard attached to the case. A slight move to another room can cause it to short out. Check these and post back.

And how close to the Wireless connection is the Cell phone or Wireless phone? Interference can be caused by many things. Make sure there isn't anything to close to the Router.

Loose connection inside the box. Or it is something in the BIOS setup that is causeing this. try setting the Bios to Fail safe, or Default settings.

20 minutes near Christmas is really a short time. I have WildBlue Satellite service and spent over 1 hour waiting for help 2 times in the last month. Dish network is about 30 minutes every time I called them. Hp on the other hand is simple. I just do an on-line chat with a tech person. Almost instantaneous.

I have used HP's for my last 2 systems. Neither of them had any problems. I upgraded this one I am using now with a better graphics card and more memory. Runs fine for me. I don't game though, just use it for Internet, and picture editing. It was $500 a couple of years ago. AMD Athlon 64 3200+. The same or close to the same now is about $400.

For a backup Hd I use a External 160 GB WD My Book. Easy to use, and Windows has the backup software on it. If you want to backup files only, just drag and drop them.

It used to be cheaper to build your own. Now it is just as good to order one from Dell,HP or where ever and have them put in the parts you want. The biggest cost of building your own will be Windows. And if you try and use a copy you will not be able to update the Windows with Windows Updates. That will put your system at risk of Viruses and other problems. So my 2Cents worth is buy one that your can pick the parts you want in it. $1000 will go a long way.

So did you check the cables?

Did you try setting the CD-Rom to be first to boot from? Like the Terrorist said, try cleaning the PC with a can of Air.

While using Stumble Upon I found this site. Really cool if you like Lego's. http://home.hawaii.rr.com/chowfamily/lego/

Only if he has PCI Express capabilities.

Bad or loose Ribbon cable. Might run Scandisk/Check disk on it. Most likely the cable came loose. Have you moved the PC lately?

ummm i'm sorry, maybe i read it wrong. are you saying that running a game in background and surfing the net at the same time will cause problems on any computer system? and that i should never use the windows key to switch to the OS? but if i had a dual processor then it might be ok? That's my opinion. PCs are powerful, but they are limited to resources. Conflicting programs can lock up the PC or give you the BSOD. Different programs can use the same memory.