Please Some Computer Help - Page 2

leon · #21 04-01-2010, 03:06 PM

Well you guys are all champions, and now I have many choices to go for, many thanks indeed.

Hey Barry mate,

you had better come down here real quick,

na mate just kidding

Leon

Jen · #22 04-01-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

Hi Jen

You must have eaten well for Xmas. You have lost the green look.
By the way how did you get on with your computer problem.

Baz

Thanks Baz

I have just ordered a new graphics card so fingers crossed that will fix it

leon · #23 04-01-2010, 04:12 PM

Well here we go guys,

I'm the helm of the Lappy and looking for what i should do, and the main machine is up ready to be destroyed.

I mean what can happen,

the HD is stuffed anyway, this will give me good practice of how to stuff a computer.

Let you all know how it goes.

Leon

torana68 (Roger) · #24 04-01-2010, 04:25 PM

Leon,
I have heard that Nortons and Xp isnt a good match but thats not helping , do you have the option of starting in safe mode? if so try that and uninstall the nortons.
or if you have set a restore point do that
or hit it with a big hammer
Roger
if all else has failed you can get stuff off the old HD

leon · #25 04-01-2010, 04:33 PM

Yea Roger I have heard that as well, no mate no restore points it wont even start, so as we speak it is formatting some partition, what ever that means.

You see, I am talking to you guys will i look at the main machine doing its business.

I cant wreck it any more, than it is already so i will see what happens, many thanks for you advice.

Leon

Jen · #26 04-01-2010, 04:57 PM

jen closes her eyes and covers her ears

torana68 (Roger) · #27 04-01-2010, 06:07 PM

... hate the things, surrounded by them, couldnt do much at work without them..... wouldnt find people with similar interests without them, would find learning difficult..... but what do you do (and dont anyone say buy an apple)
Roger

Glenhuon (Bill) · #28 04-01-2010, 10:58 PM

Leon, if you have your data backed up and the HD is on its way out, get a new one and bin the oldie.
Install the operating system and programs, (takes a while) and copy the data back to the new one. As it says someplace in the bible, no good putting a patch of new cloth on an old garment

If it has an IDE drive, make sure the jumper is set too whatever the old one was, for a single drive it will be Master, if SATA, no setting required.
Reasonable sized drives are way cheaper than they used to be, check out Ebay, can pick up a 160Gb or larger for around $100 or less.

Best of luck

floyd_2 (Dean) · #29 05-01-2010, 12:05 AM

In Sydney, 500GB drives with decent cache go for $79. 1TB is about $125 (both SATA). Unfortunately, it looks like those pesky IDE drives are getting comparatively more expensive these days

Remember to check your drive out before you plonk any dollars into replacing it Leon.

Dean

mithrandir (Andrew) · #30 05-01-2010, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by floyd_2

In Sydney, 500GB drives with decent cache go for $79. 1TB is about $125 (both SATA). Unfortunately, it looks like those pesky IDE drives are getting comparatively more expensive these days

Remember to check your drive out before you plonk any dollars into replacing it Leon.

Dean

The way prices are going if your box only has IDE controllers, it might almost be cheaper to buy a SATA card and SATA disk than get an IDE disk. You then might have to tell the BIOS the system is allowed to boot from the add-in card.

floyd_2 (Dean) · #31 05-01-2010, 07:50 AM

The craziest part of all is that you can get a new machine with 1TB HDD, 4GB RAM, 2.9Ghz dual core Intel CPU etc for only $549 new with warranty these days. Might have to throw a separate graphics card at it rather than the onboard graphics - however that depends on the requirements of the astro software that you use.

A SATA II card with 1TB hard drive would cost you about half of that - and that's really just for a hard drive!

Dean

leon · #32 05-01-2010, 01:49 PM

Well guys, to cut a long story short, the job is done, the bloody thing actually fired up.

I went with Dougs theory,

format and rebuild,

and it has worked well.

Although I lost all my stuff, programs that is, there was probably heaps of crap that I don't use any way, so I'm not to fussed about that.

All my external files are back on, and the programs I really only use are back on.

The only thing I seem to have difficulty with is getting back on the net.

So what do I do here fellas, and gals, do I need to see my provider or do i need to do something else.

Anyway I can still talk to you guys with the Lappy until I work it out.

Leon

Octane (Humayun) · #33 05-01-2010, 02:09 PM

Leon,

Do you use a wireless modem/router?

You shouldn't really need to do anything.

In Windows XP, if you click Start -> Control Panel (in the top left click Change to Classic View), you should see Network Connections in there.

In there should be your network card called Local Area Connection. If it is greyed out, just double-click it to enable it. Once that's done, right-click it and go to Properties. Scroll down in the Properties until you see TCP/IP (Internet Protocol). Double-click that and ensure that auto assign IP address and auto assign DNS is set. These values only need to be changed if your modem/router is not set to do DHCP (that is, to assign values automatically to any machines connected to the network).

To see if you need to fill these values in manually, have a look on your laptop. Go to the Local Area Connection and check if all the values are set automatically on your laptop.

Hope this helps.

H

mithrandir (Andrew) · #34 05-01-2010, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

The only thing I seem to have difficulty with is getting back on the net.

So what do I do here fellas, and gals, do I need to see my provider or do i need to do something else.

How does the laptop connect to the net?

How does the "borged" PC connect to the net? ADSL? Cable? Satellite? Dial-up?

If one of the first three, do you have a router or just a modem?

A router would do all the work for you and since you would not have to have touched that "it should just work".

A modem probably needs some software installed and configured. The software should have come with it. If you've lost it you could download it to the laptop. The config info would come from the ISP.

supernova1965 (Warren) · #35 05-01-2010, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Well guys, to cut a long story short, the job is done, the bloody thing actually fired up.

I went with Dougs theory,

format and rebuild,

and it has worked well.

Although I lost all my stuff, programs that is, there was probably heaps of crap that I don't use any way, so I'm not to fussed about that.

All my external files are back on, and the programs I really only use are back on.

The only thing I seem to have difficulty with is getting back on the net.

So what do I do here fellas, and gals, do I need to see my provider or do i need to do something else.

Anyway I can still talk to you guys with the Lappy until I work it out.

Leon

You can also check in the device manager to see if your Network card installed

leon · #36 06-01-2010, 03:21 PM

Still nothing happening.

We have four computers in this room, and each are connected through a router which is attached to the ADSL Modem supplied by our provider.

All other machines are fine it is the one that I formatted that dose not want to play.

Not sure of what to do here and any help would be appreciated.

H, your suggestion did not work either, I assume it probably something silly that I'm doing, don't know.

Leon

mithrandir (Andrew) · #37 06-01-2010, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Still nothing happening.

We have four computers in this room, and each are connected through a router which is attached to the ADSL Modem supplied by our provider.

All other machines are fine it is the one that I formatted that dose not want to play.

Not sure of what to do here and any help would be appreciated.

H, your suggestion did not work either, I assume it probably something silly that I'm doing, don't know.

Leon

Windows is an exercise in frustration. You haven't necessarily done anything wrong, just maybe not quite enough things right yet.

More process of elimination stuff.

Someone hasn't unplugged the cable on you? Have you tried another cable in case this one is faulty?

Is your LAN connection on a card or part of the motherboard? If it is a card, you can check it to see what brand it is. If it's on the motherboard the BIOS might tell you. You'll then know what drivers you need, if any. You can download these to another PC and write them to floppy or CD.

There is probably a light on the router/switch that comes on when you power up the PC. Does it? There might be one on the LAN card too. Unplug and replug the cable from the PC and watch the lights.

If you open "Control Panel"->"Network Connections" does it show a "Local Area Connection"? This should say "Connected" if it is working, or "Not connected" if it can't see the router/switch, or "Acquiring network address" if it is waiting for DHCP to reply.

If there is no "Local Area Connection" then either you don't have the drivers installed and Windows plug-and-pray can't find them by itself, or the card is not plugged in tight, or it is dead.

You could try "Control Panel"->"Add Hardware" and have windows scan for it again.

Like H says, compare "Network Connections" with another box that is working.

Andrew

supernova1965 (Warren) · #38 06-01-2010, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Still nothing happening.

We have four computers in this room, and each are connected through a router which is attached to the ADSL Modem supplied by our provider.

All other machines are fine it is the one that I formatted that dose not want to play.

Not sure of what to do here and any help would be appreciated.

H, your suggestion did not work either, I assume it probably something silly that I'm doing, don't know.

Leon

HI Leon you need to check in control panel and system / device manager to see if there is anything that did not install if there is probably the Network Card you can go to the computer main board maker's website to download the driver on one of the other comp's to get it going

leon · #39 06-01-2010, 08:54 PM

Well guys, all cables are well and are responding the routher shows up with 4 lights when all four computers are on.

The internet works perfectly on all three computers, except the one that I formatted the other night.

I have loaded all my software and programs and they are all working fine as well.

All my external drive files loaded back perfectly.

There just seems to be something with the settings for the internet, and buggered if i know where to go from here.

I might just have to take it into some place and get it looked at, because I just can't fix it.

Thanks for your help.

Leon

lookus · #40 06-01-2010, 09:08 PM

if you formatted the hdd then you will need to install all the motherboard drivers. windows will sometimes find suitable drivers for various things like video drivers and sound card drivers but it sounds like you need the ethernet driver.

as mentioned go itno device manager and see if there are any yellow exclamation points. right click and update driver. install the motherboard driver disk or you might have to download the appropriate driver for your motherboard before you update though. you will find device drivers on the appropriate website support page relating to your brand and model of computer if it is not home or store built. eg dell, hp , etc.

doing this should fix it.