The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[Captain Highwind]

You need to use a CD and not a DVD. Iso are disc specific.
Is your old computer DVD compatible? Use a CD for the iso. Then you have to go into BIOS and switch your boot order so that the optical drive appears first, followed by your system hard drive.

Hurray, this gave me hope again. I was about to just take it to the woods and shoot it (it's having problems going into Safe Mode, yet it boots up in Normal Mode somewhat okay...serious facepalming here). Just gotta get that disc in it.

And I believe it burns both CD and DVDs.

 

[wonderfly]

Any windows XP computer can handle SP3, its just a service pack.

Just bringing this back up because...my computer apparently still can't handle SP3. After taking my computer to the shop last weekend and having them yank out the virus, the guy at the store mentioned that installing SP3 would help in preventing viruses from attacking my computer.

And then I remembered you saying that I should be able to download SP3 with no problems. So I figure I'd try again (now that all virus problems are resolved).

I installed it, but upon rebooting, the computer keeps not being able to load windows. It just keeps rebooting over and over. I'm in safe mode right now, trying to see if I can resolve this, and I did some searching online...apparently this is a pretty routine problem (see the following link for people describing similar problems):

http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/4ff23733-446e-4f82-a4cc-0a01ef95fc63/

If you've got some advice on how to fix this, that'd be great, but right now I'm undecided whether to try and remove SP3 or to try and fix it...

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Just bringing this back up because...my computer apparently still can't handle SP3. After taking my computer to the shop last weekend and having them yank out the virus, the guy at the store mentioned that installing SP3 would help in preventing viruses from attacking my computer.

And then I remembered you saying that I should be able to download SP3 with no problems. So I figure I'd try again (now that all virus problems are resolved).

I installed it, but upon rebooting, the computer keeps not being able to load windows. It just keeps rebooting over and over. I'm in safe mode right now, trying to see if I can resolve this, and I did some searching online...apparently this is a pretty routine problem (see the following link for people describing similar problems):

http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/4ff23733-446e-4f82-a4cc-0a01ef95fc63/

If you've got some advice on how to fix this, that'd be great, but right now I'm undecided whether to try and remove SP3 or to try and fix it...

when you start your computer, press F8 key and hit disable automatic restart on boot failure. That will give you the BSOD error message, and post it here. Write it down or take a picture with phone/camera so i can see what it gives ya. Its either driver crash issue or one particular hardware is too old for the SP3.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

When I was in the local computer repair store today I heard this guy talking about a client of his that had actually put his credit card number into the Internet Security 2010 blackmail prompt. He said it had wiped out their entire account. I wonder why there isn't more law enforcement effort to stop people that make things like that?

 

[cohenmarioman]

When I was in the local computer repair store today I heard this guy talking about a client of his that had actually put his credit card number into the Internet Security 2010 blackmail prompt. He said it had wiped out their entire account. I wonder why there isn't more law enforcement effort to stop people that make things like that?

I always wondered what happened if you gave out your info. They just steal your money. Makes sense really.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

I always wondered what happened if you gave out your info. They just steal your money. Makes sense really.

Yeah, I guess for someone willing to install blackmail software on your computer, taking more than they say they will isn't that big of a step.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

When I was in the local computer repair store today I heard this guy talking about a client of his that had actually put his credit card number into the Internet Security 2010 blackmail prompt. He said it had wiped out their entire account. I wonder why there isn't more law enforcement effort to stop people that make things like that?

that is called SmitFraud. They are notoriously hard to trace. There is a tool that will remove almost all of them but its for professional technicians only. it can mess up your system if used incorrectly.

 

[wonderfly]

when you start your computer, press F8 key and hit disable automatic restart on boot failure. That will give you the BSOD error message, and post it here. Write it down or take a picture with phone/camera so i can see what it gives ya. Its either driver crash issue or one particular hardware is too old for the SP3.

After doing more research, I was able to solve the problem using the "Method #1" described on this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953356/en-us

So: problem solved...or so I hope.

 

[cohenmarioman]

that is called SmitFraud. They are notoriously hard to trace. There is a tool that will remove almost all of them but its for professional technicians only. it can mess up your system if used incorrectly.

That is some pretty scary stuff, they can scare the users with scareware. That counts as Smitfraud in some way.

It seems Mac users are not safe from this Smitfraud either. MacSweeper

 

[Marvin Tikvah]

Alright I'm running out of patience so I'm going to ask here.

My HP Pavilion laptop was working fine since I got it in December 2007, and wasn't giving me any huge problems until last month. It seems that my computer will occasionally have problems booting up, and its become more frequent recently. Sometimes I have to restart a few times before it can get pass the BIOS screen, and usually I'll have to use System Restore to get it running.

I tried researching it online and came across a thread where various owners where reporting a similar problem, except their's wouldn't start at all. I thought mines had that problem too and was going to ship it off for repairs, but canceled the order when it booted up fine a week after it wouldn't load and it worked fine for a little while. Then the same problem occurred over and over again but I'd just use SysRes to fix it.

Anyone have any solution for this? I don't wanna keep doing this every time I need to use my laptop, and I'm afraid of this laptop receiving any major damage. I don't feel like buying a new laptop either since this one was working perfectly fine for the last few years aside from the battery life getting drastically reduced over time.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Alright I'm running out of patience so I'm going to ask here.

My HP Pavilion laptop was working fine since I got it in December 2007, and wasn't giving me any huge problems until last month. It seems that my computer will occasionally have problems booting up, and its become more frequent recently. Sometimes I have to restart a few times before it can get pass the BIOS screen, and usually I'll have to use System Restore to get it running.

I tried researching it online and came across a thread where various owners where reporting a similar problem, except their's wouldn't start at all. I thought mines had that problem too and was going to ship it off for repairs, but canceled the order when it booted up fine a week after it wouldn't load and it worked fine for a little while. Then the same problem occurred over and over again but I'd just use SysRes to fix it.

Anyone have any solution for this? I don't wanna keep doing this every time I need to use my laptop, and I'm afraid of this laptop receiving any major damage. I don't feel like buying a new laptop either since this one was working perfectly fine for the last few years aside from the battery life getting drastically reduced over time.

since its not getting past the BIOS logo, it might not be POSTing correctly. Therefore more likely then not hardware issues are to blame. The most common would be the power supply not giving enough juice to POST. Once you determined its not a power supply next think would be to test your RAM to see if its functional, and then check your Hard Drive S.M.A.R.T. status, make sure its in the green. This would be a good start for a desktop PC but for a laptop, you might need to give it to repair technicians who handle laptop hardware repairs..

 

[Beefy]

A BIOS update or hard drive firmware update might be needed.
It could also be that the fan needs cleaning, as laptops will shutdown or reboot if they overheat.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

A BIOS update or hard drive firmware update might be needed.
It could also be that the fan needs cleaning, as laptops will shutdown or reboot if they overheat.

Harddrive firmware would be the last thing since its the last thing that would power on in POST. You almost never update HDD Firmware. BIOS update is plausible but thats usually done when new piace of hardware is installed and wont operate normally. Since it worked before and stopped now, updating firmware might not be such a good idea. Laptop can overheat if fans are clogged but not fast enough that it would happen during POST, and since it eventually turns on, it cant be a heat issue, or BIOS/Firmware issue. Most likely culprit is power failure/RAM.

 

[Wounded_Dragon]

I feel like the answer should be simple, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

I've been using a Seagate 7200.8 Barracuda in an external USB 2.0 enclosure on my old computer. The old computer's motherboard suffered a meltdown and I'm in the process of moving over to another. The old was Windows XPS3, the new Windows 7 Home Premium(x64). The new computer won't recognize the Seagate. Putting the internal HDs of my old computer in the enclosure, they work and connect.

When plugging in the Seagate, Windows 7 tries to install and it fails. The HD does show up in Devices and Printers as an "Unspecified." I have tried getting Seagate's DiscWizard but it doesn't detect the drive.


EDIT: *sigh*...I was right, the answer was simple. I had tried setting the drive to master and slave, but I hadn't tried master with non-ata compatible slave, mostly cause I don't have extra jumpers and that requires two. Scavenged one from another drive and lo and behold, drive is working.

 

[wonderfly]

I'm trying to download Microsoft.NET Framework 3.0, but it keeps shutting down saying there's an error, and it's unable to download the program. The reason I wanted it was so that I could run this screen capture program I found.

If there is a better free screen capture program, let me know, otherwise can someone help me figure out with this Framework 3.0 isn't downloading?

Thanks

 

[En Sabah Nur]

I'm trying to download Microsoft.NET Framework 3.0, but it keeps shutting down saying there's an error, and it's unable to download the program. The reason I wanted it was so that I could run this screen capture program I found.

If there is a better free screen capture program, let me know, otherwise can someone help me figure out with this Framework 3.0 isn't downloading?

Thanks

try restarting your computer and running the update again. if that does not work, restart with f8 go to safe mode with networking and try it there.

 

[cohenmarioman]

I'm trying to download Microsoft.NET Framework 3.0, but it keeps shutting down saying there's an error, and it's unable to download the program. The reason I wanted it was so that I could run this screen capture program I found.

If there is a better free screen capture program, let me know, otherwise can someone help me figure out with this Framework 3.0 isn't downloading?

Thanks

Thank you for linking to that program, it is a nice way to record video on the screen.

 

[Beefy]

I'm trying to download Microsoft.NET Framework 3.0, but it keeps shutting down saying there's an error, and it's unable to download the program. The reason I wanted it was so that I could run this screen capture program I found.

If there is a better free screen capture program, let me know, otherwise can someone help me figure out with this Framework 3.0 isn't downloading?

Thanks

If you have a broadband connection and the disk space, I would recommend downloading the full .net Framework installer instead of the mini installer that has to connect to the Internet to download the files it needs.

The full installer is located here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/0/e/20e90413-712f-438c-988e-fdaa79a8ac3d/dotnetfx35.exe

After installing that, don't forget to download and install the Application Compatibility Update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959209

 

[ShadowGUN]

Question: is there away to get rid of Malware without the aid of Anti Virus program? I ask because I believe my computer is showing signs of having one but the anti virus isn' detecting it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Question: is there away to get rid of Malware without the aid of Anti Virus program? I ask because I believe my computer is showing signs of having one but the anti virus isn' detecting it. Any help would be appreciated.

No you cant get rid of malware without the help of malware removers. What antivirals do you have?