Info and forum posts by 'dbs71'

RE: Motherboard questions

Quote:
Local PC repair place is going to fit me the ASRock for £10 so happy to pay that
Not surprised!
I`m self employed in the PC repair business, I usually charge around £40 to fit a motherboard. That includes a repair install of XP (usually always needed), update the drivers etc.
Out of curiosity what brand is the board with the burst caps?

This item was edited on Wednesday, 6th December 2006, 08:58

RE: Think I`ve got a codec problem?

This little gizmo will sniff out broken codecs.

http://www.updatexp.com/sherlock-codec-detective.html

Assuming you`re on XP have you tried a system restore to a point before the Nero demo?

Darren

This item was edited on Tuesday, 5th December 2006, 10:08

RE: Motherboard questions

xfg,

You can get it brand new from eBuyer, £32.75 with super saver delivery. Dabs.com stock it also, £36.79 inc delivery.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/102909

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=359Z

Darren

RE: Motherboard questions

As bytemaster says AM2 boards aren`t backwards compatible.

If it`s an Athlon XP you`ve got and are looking for a cost effective upgrade you could get a Socket 745 board and a compatible Athlon 64. Quite a few S745 boards take DDR RAM and AGP graphics cards but it`s technology that`s been superseded by Socket 939 and now Socket AM2, which only takes DDR2 RAM and PCIe graphics cards.

ASRock boards are fine for general use, they are actually part of ASUS. The ASRock company was formed to compete with the likes of PC Chips, ECS, Jetway.
Our local discount PC build / repair store used to stock Jetway boards and I`ve had a couple of problems with the few I bought from him. Now he only stocks ASRock as his budget boards.
So again as bytemaster says 1. ASUS, 2. ASRock, Jetway - don`t bother.

RE: What free antivirus, firewall, pop up blocker , etc programs would people recommend?

AVG Anti Virus Free Edition - used it for years!
Spyware Terminator - has resident protection, realtime scan and auto updates. The company that produces it did have a chequered past but they seem to have cleaned their act up.
XP built in firewall.
*edit*
Firefox for browsing plus various extensions

DBS

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st August 2006, 16:05

RE: Wireless connection dropping

For problems as experienced above Netstumbler is a handy tool to have!

http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/netstumbler_v0.4.0_release_notes.pdf

http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/netstumblerinstaller_0_4_0.exe

DBS

RE: Time fur ma scratcher folks

Choagy,

In yer scratcher afore midnight on a saturday!
Ye must be either sad, old, or p***ed :o

Cheers,

DBS71
(A fellow scotsman)

RE: dose any one live near inverness

Quote:
Fit likey min?

Nae bad, yersel?

Where in the world are you DazMack1979?

Me, I`ve moved around but at the moment I`m back living in Buckie.

This item was edited on Saturday, 19th August 2006, 01:04

RE: dose any one live near inverness

DazMack1979,

Home town of Buckie....

That`ll make two of us then!!

Doesn`t matter where you go in the world you always meet somone from Buckie!

RE: help with wireless setup

Chuck,

The Belkin wireless card should work fine as it handles both 802.11b/g. Even if the Livebox is either b or g the Belkin card will still connect.
Once the card is installed, to set it up to work with the Livebox check this article here.

Cheers,

DBS

RE: EMERGENCY!! I can`t log on to my username in XP*

Glad to help Westy,

If it is Outlook you use, search your system for *.pst files.

This article should help, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287070/

In particular, "How to import .pst file data into Outlook"

Cheers,

Darren

This item was edited on Tuesday, 25th July 2006, 21:14

RE: EMERGENCY!! I can`t log on to my username in XP*

Westy,

Log in as an administrator.
Create a new user eg. Westy2 with same rights as your old account.
Unhide hidden / system files & folders.
Browse the drive to your old user profile folder, usually \Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\.
Open a new explorer window and repeat process above to your new user profile folder.
Copy all files and folders from old profile to new.

PLEASE READ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151/ BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH ABOVE!

Cheers,

DBS

This item was edited on Sunday, 23rd July 2006, 00:18

RE: How Do You Get MSN Hotmail Plus?

Can`t you sign in to MSN with a non Hotmail address?
I thought they had changed things a bit with Microsoft Passport and you no longer had to sign up for a Hotmail account to log in.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th June 2006, 00:56

RE: How Do You Get MSN Hotmail Plus?

Quote:
I know it sounds dumb but how do you sign up?

You don`t! Just get a Google Mail account instead, you`ll get the same storage space and POP3 access but the attachment size limit is lower, and it`s free.

RE: Hard Drive just won`t be a slave!

BassmanUK,

Quote:
I just had a Maxtor Diamondmax 9 120gb just die on me, and I went to the website(www.maxtor.com) and typed in some stuff off the front of the drive (they tell you what) and found it was under warranty. I clicked on getting an RMA, took the option to send the drive out straight away with my credit card details and a week later i had a brand new 300gb hard drive as replacement.
I sent the broken hard drive back (its an address in Ireland) cost me just under £10 - not bad for a new and bigger capacity drive.
You must send the drive back EXACTLY how Maxtor say or you might not get the replacement for free (remember, they have pour credit card details!) or, you could just send the drive back and wait for a replacement, I needed mine quick so took the credit card option. If you go to the site you`ll see how easy it is and you`ll see what `m going on about!

The drive I have is nearly 2 years old and out of warranty, I checked out Maxtor`s site but no joy they would only RMA it within the warranty period.
Seems strange that 3 of us have dodgy 120gb Maxtor drives though.

DBS

RE: Hard Drive just won`t be a slave!

Flyingmonkey,

Hope you don`t mind me asking.
Would you mind posting some details of the failing drive?
I have a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9, 120gb, ATA 133, Mfg Date 05 Oct 2004. It has recently died on me and I feel less than 2 years service is not good!
A few years back I had a Fujitsu 8.4gb drive fail on me and I found out, only too late, they had a recall on them due to a manufacturing f-up.
Hopefully you can see where I`m coming from.

Cheers,

DBS

RE: Cooking prawns advice

As marksparks says, and I was a chef for 15 years, you should never reheat prawns or any other type of shellfish.
Rvshah, The supermarket cooked prawns have been prepared, cooked and blast frozen in a very controlled environment. You should defrost them overnight in the fridge and reheat them quickly when you need them and only once.
The other issue is the prawns would be like rubber bullets once reheated in the soup in the microwave, totally overcooked and a waste of an expensive ingredient.

RE: The Food Name Game - for you bored people out there.

Arsenal Henry 14,

Resuming from Sprouts.....

Salsify :B

Batavia,

In reply to sarnie you must mean sandwich!
to resume from your reply....

Hummus!

Pass the pitta bread :D

RE: The Food Name Game - for you bored people out there.

Quote:
Quote:
Labia


I could think of something also rude to be eaten, but beginning with an "a", but I desist and put
artichoke

Erm....... :/

Me thinks Adam & Eve,

Apple!! :D

but back to the quiz, Quote:
artichoke

Enchilada :p

RE: The Food Name Game - for you bored people out there.

Endive!!!!! :)

Escalope

Entrecote (French for Sirloin Steak) :B

Missed it again!!!!!!!!!!!


Asparagus :/

This item was edited on Saturday, 14th January 2006, 00:11

RE: The Food Name Game - for you bored people out there.

Endive!

Oops missed last reply :/

Maracuya (Passion Fruit) :B

This item was edited on Friday, 13th January 2006, 23:53

RE: Epson printer - end of service life...

Have you tried the SSC Service Utility for Epson Stylus Printers?

Cheers,

DBS

RE: No XP Login after Ghosting Drive

Andy,

Glad to hear it went well. :D
Not so scary stuff after all! Easy for a newbie! If you`re prepared to remove your hard drive with a screwdriver then a little software "tinkering" is a breeze.
Keep the little utility filed you never know when you may need to call on it again! :B

All the best,

Cheers,

Darren

RE: No XP Login after Ghosting Drive

Andy,

Quote:
Does this Drive Signature also contain the Drive Description and serial number etc which appears in Device Manager, or System Information fields?

No it`s stored in the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the disk as far as I`m aware and the Drive Description, Serial No. etc. is retreived from the Firmware in the chipset so new drive will show up in Device Manager no probs.

Cheers,

DBS

RE: No XP Login after Ghosting Drive

Andy,

Billyflash said it all! You need to be able to download BootitNG and create a disk to boot your laptop from.

Quote:
What does this (BootitNG) do exactly?

To quote the Terrabyte Unlimited website

Quote:
BootIt™ NG is a partition and multiboot manager with a powerful and simple-to-use set of tools for partitioning, imaging, and multi-booting your computer.

Basically when you (or the OEM who built your laptop) installed XP it takes a "hardware snapshot" of the system, should the hard drive be "transplanted" from one system to another, either physically or by ghosting to another drive to prevent piracy Windows should ask you to re-activate. But as you only upgraded your hard drive the hardware snapshot of your system is basically the same except for the hard drive signature, also known as SID therefore XP appears to hang or freeze at startup, sometimes you get an error message. So you need to startup with the BootitNG disk, follow the procedure in my original reply, also here http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=9660&st=0
clear the drive sig and hey presto XP will boot again. Seems that no drive sig is better than the wrong drive sig!
I`ve done this numerous times through the years I`ve had XP, both on my own PCs and upgrades I`ve done for others and it works every time.

Cheers,

DBS

RE: No XP Login after Ghosting Drive

Andy,

You need a second PC to perform this process on and BootitNG
Download and extract the Zip file, run the BOOTITNG applicaton (or shortcut), it`ll open in an MS-DOS window, accept license agreement, create floppy boot disk or ISO and burn to CD. Boot laptop from floppy/CD, you will be greeted with "Welcome to Setup. Click OK button to install Bootit NG to the hard drive", click the Cancel button, "Notice - You are now entering maintenance mode.....", click OK, click the Partition Work button, click the View MBR button, click the Clear Sig button, followed by OK on the notice box & Apply, click Close.
Click the Reboot button, remove floppy/CD whilst PC reboots.
Windows should now restart normally.

Cheers,

DBS