Computer Help Thread

[prince1142003]

Either a CPU that is about to quit, or a dying motherboard, or a faulty sensor on the motherboard. Either way, I would take the warnings seriously as the alternative could be a dead computer with damaged parts.

[donaldgladden]

okay im pretty positive your right about my mobo and cpu dying. i checked my cpu fan and it was clogged by a ball of dust. Thank you!

[baumaxx1]

Lol... my motherboard went without warning signs >_<.

Damaged parts? likely? Or will stuff like GFX be ok if it's just the mobo?

[PSZeTa]

okay im pretty positive your right about my mobo and cpu dying. i checked my cpu fan and it was clogged by a ball of dust. Thank you!

Failed means that your fan isn't running or not running fast enough. If it drops below a certain speed, which usually can be set in the BIOS (lets say 1000 rpm), it will warn you for that. These warnings are usually easily solved, but at least clean the inside of your PC, which prevents it from overheating.

I'm not sure in what condition your PC is, but as said, there's a chance that your mobo(sensor) is failing. This should be very unusual though, neither do I think that it'll give off fan speed failures.

Lol... my motherboard went without warning signs >_<.

Damaged parts? likely? Or will stuff like GFX be ok if it's just the mobo?

Are you certain that it's your mobo?

[baumaxx1]

YEp, shop confirmed it and rebuilding most of it. It wouldn't even get to BIOS

[PSZeTa]

Well, if it just ''died'', I'd say your other components are fine.

[baumaxx1]

What would a memory referencing error be? I get it sometimes, right before the computer shuts off.... I doubt it's hardware, as the PC was re-built and it still happens. It's like "the memory at... cannot be read", but it still shuts off normally.

[Tunerfreak]

I have a problem with my pc.

It has a new mobo (Cant remember brand), a 2.0ghz P4 CPU (Confirmed Ok), an Nvidia FX5200 graphics card (Confirmed Ok), a 300w PSU (Confirmed Ok), a 20gb HDD with Windows XP (Confirmed Ok) and 512mb of RAM (Confirmed Ok)

I get no post beeps, no display at all or recognition from the monitor although the lights and fans (GPU, CPU and PSU) all run. I am lead to believe there is a compatibility/ setup/ shorting problem as I can not see the mobo as being faulty although it is possible.

If anyone knows anything to try etc please let me know.
If you need more info/ pics Ill try get them.

Thanks.

[baumaxx1]

wait, are you saying you switch on, it powers up, and nothing happens? Then it's the mobo... I had that problem.

[YaelDjiel]

unless the mobo is totally b0rked, you might want to check if the cpu is northwood/prescott and check to see if you got the right mobo

[prince1142003]

I had a much more interesting experience with my last build. Everything was confirmed to be working separately, but the combination never worked; it wouldn't even POST. Turned out that the CPU I was trying to install wasn't compatible with the motherboard's BIOS. A simple BIOS upgrade fixed the problem, but diagnosing it was a giant headache. You might want to check the CPU's codename (mine was a Brisbane) and check the motherboard manufacturer's website (or google) for any information.

Although it is much more likely that you have a bad motherboard.

[Tunerfreak]

Thanks guys, its either a firetrucked mobo or im quite open to the idea that the cpu isnt right for the boards bios I might get that checked out.

[t3ice]

Oky guys, i have a silly problem here.
I uninstalled my windows media player using the add/remove Windows components, but somehow the accessories( paint, calculator, etc. ) also got uninstalled. Now is there any way to get them back without using the windows CD.

Oh..btw i use XP 64bit.

[prince1142003]

Not unless you copied the i386 folder from your CD to your hard drive. Once you remove a component from Windows, the only way to get it back is by using the CD.

[race_invader]

I've got a problem, im not getting sound from youtube or flash players etc. I can play 'Windows media player' and games etc with sound but nothing happens for internet videos or anything like that.

[t3ice]

I had a similar problem too and i use Firefox 3.0.3 , but restarting the browser seems to solve it. You could also try using a different browser to check whether the problem still persists.

@prince : Thanx, now ill have to get around to borrowing an XP CD from someone.

[race_invader]

Yep that did solve the problem.. Strange though.. but it worked. Thanks.

[Stereo]

Uh-oh... I'm trying to remove my 9600GSO, but it seems to be stuck. The left side with the short part of the PCI-E is out, but the right side is still in. It feels stuck and whenever I try to pull it my case even rocks back and forth. I don't want to break anything... I can't put it back in anymore, either...

EDIT: Nevermind, I realized I could push down on the white latch and viola!

I have another problem. I screwed up my computer badly... I'm trying to reinstall XP on my hard drive but I've tried like 3 different hard drives. The setup says that it was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged. My dad had a BRAND NEW HDD and it said the same error message. It talks about being properly connected and the SCSI blah blah blah. I will try F6 but I doubt it will help. I even removed my extra gig of ram because it talked about that first. Now it talks about the HDD, so I even tried removing my 9600GSO and inserting my old 7900GS, just in case. It's like the PC never changed, but the same thing happens. Will try setting BIOS to default now.

Edit2: 7900GS can't run without a fan (I removed it) hmm...

Edit3: OMG!!! YES! It works. It seems my dad was screwing with the BIOS when he installed the new RAM, or maybe I did something before... Meh... But it works.

[weedman173]

Hey guys, I haven't been on here for a while but I remember you guys know a great deal about computers. I have a question for you.

My buddy is having a problem with Microsoft Outlook 2003. He gets emails from most people, but not everyone, and sometimes the people he does get emails from, don't make it to him and the sender doesn't know. Today I tried sending him and email from yahoo mail and it did not get received. I then signed into my hotmail account and got the same result. Then I signed into my yahoo account but through my cellphone, i composed a message, and it sent to him with no problem. Does anybody know what is causing this?

[Carcrazy]

Try one of these three:

1) Google the problem
2) Post on an MS Support forum / contact MS
3) Reinstall Office 2003

I'd Google for you, but it's 12:35 and I have homework still... =/

[Carcrazy]

*bump*

Well, as some may know,one of the sticks in my 2GB (2x1GB) OCZ Platinum DDR2-800 set died recently, and knowing the aches of the RMA process I decided to look for some different sets, since the RAM doesn't like to play nicely with my mobo anyway.

So, I found some G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1000 (basically DDR2-800 capable of running at 1000) on newegg for about $69 with free Egg Saver Shipping, so I pretty much jumped on it after not finding much else. I'm glad to say it got here today, and that DHL actually didn't loose it like they're notorious to... Anyway, before I swapped it out went into the BIOS and set up the settings before shutting it down again.

Popped them in, and it seemed to be booting fine. Then there was some strange lime-green screen with blue exclamation marks on it (restarted before I could take a pic...)

Anyway, to make a long story short, yes they work, but I can't get them to run Dual-Channel (DIMM's 1+3/2+4) without giving me a '0d' error code on the MoBo debugger. I can, however, run them with DIMM's 1+4 filled, and although those aren't meant to be dual-channel ports, CPUZ still reads them as running in dual channel.

If no one can think of anything, it's still running much faster than it did, even though I am running Vista 32... =/

Old RAM: 2GB DDR2-800 @ 5-5-5-15
New RAM: 4GB DDR2-800 @ 4-4-4-12 (could probably take them lower, people online just said they were stable here @ 800, so I guess I'll leave them here and go ahead and run MemTest overnight...)

Thx for the help!

[t3ice]

Umm after how long of use did your OCZ Platinum DDR2-800 die? Because ..i bought a pair of 2x2BG OCZ Platinum DDR 2-1066 and they seem to be running fine ..

[Carcrazy]

Only a few months actually... but an RMA should take care of it, I just don't have time and wanted something a bit faster...

Can anyone think of why I couldn't get it to run in Dual Channel (or at all) from slots 1+3, and yet CPUZ reads it as dual-channel even though they're in slots 1+4 (and it boots fine?)

[baumaxx1]

Hey, I'm sort of getting ghosting... mainly with still images, and it's not noticeable with motion, but there's like a reapeat of the image. Now, mine is nowehere near as bad as this:

But it's a similar effect, with a ghost outline slightly visible to the right of a still object.
This has been there for a while, I switch the monitor off when not using it, and I'm just wondering what's going ojn? Could it be a problem with VGA cables? Or not running it at the max res. It's only like a 17" monitor. Yeah, it's just a bit odd and was wondering what it was.

[prince1142003]

Ghosting like that indicates a faulty cable in most cases. Does moving the cable, scrunching it, or twisting it have any effect?

If you can get a hold of a good quality cable, see if that makes a difference. Also, if you have another computer you can plug the monitor into, try that as well.

Is your monitor a CRT by any chance? You should try degaussing it and see if that has any effect.