Tootsdog9

Last E-machine I worked on not only had the Bestec psu fail but it also took out the motherboard, dvd and cd player along with the keyboard all from just turning it on in the morning. Bestec has the wrong name for sure!

The odd thing was yesterday when I went to the site I thought I was logged in as usual and then got a message to do some update with Flash and then it seemed I was then not logged in. Anybody else get this or was it just random unrelated chance? At first I thought I had gotten something bad in the download as Spybot asked me if I had approved a registry change.

I got the most currant Partition Logic iso burned but when it boots up I can't seem to figure out how to get the partition larger. I'm trying to take from my G partition and add to my C but when going through the steps it keeps trying to make it smaller and I can't find the setting to make it larger. I'm sure I'm missing something simple as I have done this before with paid products. Anybody used this product before with success and did you have to install it to work. I'm leary of installing it as I don't know how safe it is to install on a drive with XP already on it. I'm also sure the iso bu

Well in answer to both of those, I have 3 other computers on this network for one, for two it's not a problem of others accessing my computer without the WEP it's a matter of my father wishing to prevent others from hopping on our network and getting free internet (yet he won't do a thing about our ISP limiting our connection to 1/3 of what he pays for). So yeah... I don't see how running a software firewall or any sort of anti-virus programs are going to let me browse on a WEP encrypted network. I never meant to say that the advice given would get you on the protected network. Only that sinc

That laptop makes mine look like a spring chicken. Mine is also running XP Pro. The only thing I can think of is more ram, bigger swap file but your drive is pretty small so I don't know how much you can do. Probably not worth the cost either unless you found ram at a flea market or fair. Unless someone has a better answer which I would be interested in, I would also say just go with an anti-virus, some malware programs that are manually used to scan instead of running in the back ground and a firewall that is not reliant on allot of resourses. To help improve performance some basic maintenanc

How old is this laptop more importantly some specs. I have an old Gateway with only 288 MB's of ram and a 400 MHz Celeron and I found that it at the time wouldn't work either at 128 but it does work fine at 64. Now there may be better solutions but I haven't tried anything else since it works that way. I would give that a try and see if it helps. Some encryption is better than none and you can always look for better solutions after that. My laptop gets only a little use and usually just some web browsing or some online poker (play money chips). So I never bothered with doing more as nothing im

I haven't checked but assuming it is a chipped cartridge there are some stores which take in your cartridge and give you a new refill with a new chip. Then they take yours and do the same thing with it and sell it to someone else. The cost savings isn't over whelming but it is less than buying new. Never thought I'd see a chip I didn't like!

So I'm a little unclear on whether you got rid of the virus and if you reformatted? Also if the advice already given helps then great but if you still have problems, did you try uninstalling the network adapter in device manager and rebooting so Windows can find it again and reinstall? When you say corruption I believe the problem was software not the hardware. Please keep us updated on how it goes when it is fixed. We always like to know what the fix round up being. It helps many people in the long run.

By any chance are you using a usb keyboard? I can't access the bios on my pc unless I use a ps2 keyboard. Power doesn't get to it in time to get into bios. Just a posibility.

It might just of needed reseating but I would run a memtest on it in both slots and see if you get any errors. I would also check voltages as long as the case is open just to be sure things look ok there too.

Do you have another monitor to try? This system looks a little old if it is the one in your specs. You can try updating as mentioned, it could help but I suspect your monitor is going out. If another monitor is also dim then I would be looking at the video card.

I really don't think that benchmarks right now mean a whole lot. I believe the software manufacturers in time will catch up and Vista will eventually be faster than XP. From what I have read so far, Vista is almost as different from XP as XP was to 98. The main thing I see is gamers crying about this slowing down there gaming experience. This could be a problem only because not all but probably most gamers are young and can't afford the new requirements that Vista needs to perform at the speed they want. So what might of been a super gaming machine for XP is now only average if that for Vist

I don't know anything about your pc so I would say to be on the safe side and keep any important data backed up just in case. I would also say run a chkdsk and then a defrag in that order. It could help if files are badly fragmented on your drive. That clicking could just be the actuator arm going back and forth looking for the files that may be scattered. If you can run a SMART test on the drive, I would do so. If the drive didn't come with the SMART software then check out the manufacturers site for the diagnostic tool. If the chkdsk shows bad clusters you may want to replace the drive soon

The others are all making valid points. The only thing I would add is that the old heatsink and fan shouldn't keep it from at least booting. Assuming you put the cpu in properly and didn't bend any pins, did you remember to clear the cmos so the board can find its new cpu? It might not boot if it is going by the old cpu settings.

I would go with a psu swap or check the voltages and if that is ok then try a memtest. If a memtest shows all the ram is bad then it is likely a bad motherboard if you know the ram is good. That happened to be. It showed several sticks all bad when I knew they were not.

You can try reinstalling the drivers but it likely is just worn out from heavy use. The cheap route would be just getting another mouse to attach. The more expensive would be to replace the palm rest with the pad. That is how Dell would do it. I work on laptops all the time but replacing the palm rest for some people may be to involved and expensive. It usually requires taking the keyboard bezel, keyboard, LCD, off along with many screws on the bottom of the laptop. Then being careful when prying it off not to damage any connections to the motherboard.

Maybe it's just me but I'm having a little trouble understanding some of your post. Do you have a spare monitor to try? How old is this pc? What do you mean by the monitor and hard drive are together? Do you mean a monitor sitting on top of a desktop pc?

Can you try the monitor on another pc or laptop? If it is then fine, it turns more to the video card. If it still has the problem then it is the monitor. I tend to think it is the monitor since it clears up when you turn it on and off.

A failing psu as mentioned will cause an unstable buggy system. I've seen newly replaced motherboards on Dells not have network access because the onboard nics didn't get enough power to work and after replacing the psu all was fine. Booted quicker, was stable, and all functioned properly. Many people don't realize how important the psu is till it is too late. The psu's were failing because they were overworked by the bad capacitors on the old boards.

Anyone else getting this. I tried both browsers. I've seen this only once before going to a different site and only today. If it were a message about being busy or not found that would be one thing but I never saw a connection refused before.

..not quite free anymore...they now charge about $4.00 for shipping and tax...they're fast though...ordered a new disk last week and it arrived in 4 days... good luck... wayne I didn't know that but it is still worth it compared to the time and aggravation of a bad SP2 download.

I would also add that some of the custom stuff is good to get but not all. Like if you chose to download all then it was also downloading dozens of languages you don't need. So after you get it reinstalled and with SP2 along with the rest of the critical updates and all looks fine, then check the customs options to see if there is anything else you might want. Like say WMP 11. It would also be nice if you could slipstream the SP2 with your original XP. You can also get an SP2 cd from Microsoft. The reason you would do this is that some times SP2 gets corrupted in that big long download. If you

Thanks for the reply, I will call him today and have his wife check out the driver. He wont touch the PC. And Bozodog, they don't install any games they just use what came with the PC. Defrag isn't necessary, but I will have them dump the cookies and temp files while I have them on the phone. They live in Denver and I live on the Western Slope of Colorado or I wouldn't have had to post a message. I can usually fix a PC if it is in front of me, but it's not as easy when I can't tinker with it. even if they don't download games on the system, it's still a good idea to run defrag. Games aren't

Well I tried something and it worked good enough for now. I upgraded my onboard sound to Vinyl AC 97 Audio driver. The crazy thing is when I turn on the pc I still have the problem till I disable the driver and re-enable it. Then all is back to normal plus I have sound. I can live with that and if it is a problem on the chipset of the board, there isn't much I can do anyway other than replace the board. I never would of thought onboard audio could some how be linked to such a problem as hardware interupts.