Re: [H] Compaq hidden partition
- Original Message - From: Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 6:32 PM Subject: Re: [H] Compaq hidden partition That is assuming, of course, that Ghost won't freak out with the crazy partition. I do not want to sound like a know it all here but it would be a disservice to not inform y'all that I have 10 years of experience in this area. What area? Specifically in cleaning off hard drives on name brand computers and doing clean installs. Don't follow this procedure unless you are confident in your ability to acquire the correct drivers for everything. This includes, but it not limited to the motherboard resource drivers, that long list in Device Manager. Usually the only ones Windows does not furnish are the bus controller drivers or the onboard video and/or audio controller drivers. You are in rough territory unless you can boot the beast into Windows (I use safe mode so the crapware will not slow me down too much as I poke around) in order to write down the identification of the hardware in Device Manager that you will have to furnish drivers for. I use the hard drive manufacturer's software to wipe off the drive and partition it my way. You must know the brand of hard drive and acquire this software. This may require that you remove the hard drive, if its brand is not available to you in Setup. First I attempt to work from the customer's computer that the hard drive is attached to. If that does not work, I remove the hard drive and install it into my shop computer. This is one of many reasons that serious technical work has to be done on the bench, in the shop, not in the customer's home. When the going gets rough in the customer's home, the Dell technician get going, straight to the shop with the computer. This happens before or after he wastes 2 hours in the home convincing himself that computers should be repaired in the shop, not in the home. Sure, you can do minor things in the home, but often what you think is minor turns into something major. All that time in the home is wasted. Back to square one. Either in the customer's computer or in my shop computer, the hard drive gets cleaned, even any small manufacturer's partition. You end up with no data, not even basic drivers. You furnish all of the data, including the media from which to install the operating system. The best reason to have the hard drive manufacturer's software on a bootable CD instead of a bootable floppy disk is that you must boot to the Windows CD in order to install Windows. The booting to a CD to wipe the hard drive is a test and verification that you can boot to the CD Drive. You are lost if you have wiped a hard drive and then can not boot to the Windows CD. The shop computer can not help you here. If you can not boot to a CD you have a messed up BIOS (or BIOS setting), or a defective IDE controller. Make sure you have set the boot order in the BIOS correctly. I could write a book on the benefits of completely wiping off a hard drive and doing a clean install of Windows. The main affect is you make the computer forget it is a name brand computer. It runs like a clone, much better! Delete this whole letter if you like name brand computers and the way they run right out of the box. Follow the computer manufacturer's restore process if you like the way it ran when new. I have for over 10 years done this procedure on Dell's, Compaqs, HP's, eMachines, Gateways, and others. How often? 100% of the time. If I can not do a wipe and clean install, I send it home not repaired. I do it the best way or no way. I know the results of clean installs. Either you agree with me or you stand with the 90% of customers who do not. Their taking their business elsewhere has forced me to go and take a real job that pays me by the hour, not in the computer industry. There are literally hundreds of name brand computers out there running much faster than others in their class due to having clean installs of Windows. Some have to see it only once to be convinced. I have seen it hundreds of times because I did the wipe and clean install. Chuck
Re: [H] Compaq hidden partition
- Original Message - From: j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 8:09 AM Subject: Re: [H] Compaq hidden partition partition on some models (maybe only circa 2000, haven't worked on a new one) and loose access to the BIOS setup. May not keep you from I did run across some computers in that year range that refused to boot to the hard drive at the first boot point during the installation of Windows XP. Those had to be the ones built late in 2001 as Windows XP was released to us in manufacturing early in October and to the public (Full and Upgrade versions) later in October, 2001. When I say, First boot point I am referring to the point where the files have been copied and the computer is automatically rebooted to that first GUI which proceeds with approximately 39 minutes remaining to the completion of the installation. Knowing that the manufacturer's small partition was a FAT 32 partition, my guess was the comptuer was set to boot only to a FAT 32 partition and then follow a script to proceed to load Windows on its NTFS partition. My work around was I partitioned my C Drive as FAT 32. Right or wrong, it worked. This applied to only a few models. I was glad to see that short lived. What you said means that those models were so proprietary that independent technicians like me had a very hard time trying to do clean installs on them. The point that the general public just does not comprehend is that the name brand computer manufacturers do not want their computers repaired. They have authorized service centers mainly to cover their warranty obligations. They prefer every computer be replaced every 2 years. They do not care if their customers get mad at them. For every million customers they lose each year, they gain another million customers who are mad at other computer manufacturers. With this rotation, it takes 10 years for the typical customer to go through a Dell, a Gateway, a HP, a eMachine and a Compaq. It takes even longer if a customer buys the same brand a 2nd or 3rd time before they get mad and move on. An independent computer technician wants to simply buy and install a Seagate or WD generic hard drive, designed to work in most any computer. According to what you just said, an independent computer technician is going to have a hard time changing out a hard drive, unless they order one pre loaded from the computer manufacturer. This is a CD, CD's contain DATA. DATA is You do realize Chuck that most of us here have been doing this as long or longer than you, right? I tried to explain the basics for those who are less experienced. I realize it is boring for the rest of you. Perhaps very few who have little experience are on this list. I read many posts on this thread and it seemed that nobody was explaining the basics that I covered. I tried then and in this post to explain why the whole process of proprietary built computers should be unacceptable to the general public. Actually those of you who have more experience than me know it is far easier to build clones or generic computers than to build in proprietary crap. It is selfish commercial greed to build those things that only a few technicians can easily repair. Yet many feel a computer should not last from 5 to 10 years. Before you tell me that many do, can you truthfully say that their performance is good, right from the beginning up until around 5 years when more resource intensive software etc. makes them obsolete? Example: USB 1.1 moving up to USB 2.0. You are not lost of the CD does not boot. There are other ways of getting initial XP install on a HDD w/o being able to boot a CD in the target system. Thank you! I will remember this if I need assistance in doing so. I guess there could be valid reasons to install Windows on a computer that is not capable of booting to a CD, but right now I can not think of any. What you just said is the whole idea here, sharing our varied experience. You just assurred me to not worry if I really want to install Windows onto a computer that refused to boot to the Windows CD. All of my installs of Windows 9x were from the cabinet files on a separate partiton of the hard drive. I ran into problems when I tried this with Windows XP and gave up too soon by going to CD installs. In fact I would prefer to free the computer from being dependent on having a Windows media CD to install Windows XP. As for the Dell guy, all they would do is use the Dell restore CD to revert it back to shipping state or they would ship Absolutely! They must fulfill their obligations to AOL and the other software they agree to keep in the customer's face. Chuck
Re: [H] Copying Hard drive
- Original Message - From: FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 8:56 PM Subject: RE: [H] Copying Hard drive only have ghost 8. Have 10 but saw no way to make a boot floppy, glad to see it is back in 11 fp I put the ghost.exe file on a bootable utility CD, one that is so old it has Windows 98 utilities. Once I get to the prompt, I change drives to get to the drive that represents the CD. Then I type ghost and it opens. I have a bootable floppy on hand in case the comptuer refuses to boot to a CD for some reason. I seldom use ghost now. I use Acronis. The latest version supports Windows Vista. You can use the Acronis bootable CD on most any computer that will boot to a CD and load Acronis into RAM. This eliminates the need to load Windows or to even have a loadable version of Windows on any attached hard drive. Chuck
Re: [H] Dell Help
- Original Message - From: DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Hardware Group hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:00 PM Subject: [H] Dell Help I know how we all really like Dell, but I have a Dell POS that I need to view BIOS. I've tried the DEL key, the F2 key, and the F10 key. How does one get to Dell bios? Maybe the HOME key? Also can not get Win-ME to give me SAFE Mode either. Is it possible? I have formatted and clean installed on many of those 4100's. As with most any computer, holding the proper key (F8 or F10 for lots of Compaqs and often F1 for HP's, but Delete for Dell) does not work but repeatedly tapping it works. As others mentioned, start tapping as soon as you hit the Power Switch. Nobody knows when the correct time to hit the proper key is, thus the reason for the tapping. Often the P.O.S.T. screen will tell you which key to hit. This is the perfect time if you see this. As for Safe Mode, yes it will go there. I have not seen a computer that would not allow Safe Mode. Again, we do not know the timing on hitting the F8 key. We do know it is sometime past P.O.S.T. but before the GUI shows up (the black background screen that has the version of Windows in bright color graphics). Here is a tip for the rookie technicians. When diagnosing a computer I first gather and write down lots of information about it. I write down the Make, Model and type of CPU as shown on the front. I record the version of Windows and Product Key as shown on the COA. I open the case and write down the wattage of its power supply and the MB and speed of its RAM. I go into the BIOS and glean valuable information there, such as the hard drive make and model etc. While there I correct any settings that the computer manufacturer did not set correctly. Example: I enable S.M.A.R.T. so it can tell the customer if the hard drive starts going bad. I boot into Safe Mode so I can get around in Windows without the speed being slowed down to a crawl by the loading of devices and crapware. While in Safe Mode I back up the customer's important data to an external hard drive. I go into Device Manager and write down the type of video, modem, NIC and audio so I will know what I need drivers for when I do a clean install. What if this is not a format and reinstall job? I write it down anyway. The next time the computer comes in, Windows may not be bootable. Yes, I keep good records. If you get a computer in that will not load Windows and you do not know what drivers you need for a clean install, email me the Make and Model Number of the computer. Most likely I have worked on the same model and can tell you what video. modem, NIC and audio is has. Usually the internal modem is as simple as pulling the modem card to look. It is the onboard video, NIC and audio that you may not know about. It seems that 99% of audio nowadays is AC '97 or SoundMax (Seems like they are both the same.) Dell POS Is that one word or two? Back in the days of southern pride kids were grown before they found out that damn yankee was two words. Now Dell and POS are one word for people who really know computers. Chuck
Re: [H] Help troubleshooting - PC won't turn on
- Original Message - From: Jerry Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:53 AM Subject: [H] Help troubleshooting - PC won't turn on My kid's PC stopped working this past weekend. When the power button is pushed there is a momentary flash of the power light on the case, then To isolate the problem to either the CPU or motherboard (so far I have never seen a bad CPU) I prefer to bench test the motherboard. Removed from the case and on my bench I hook a known working power supply, video card (even if there is onboard video as this may be the problem) working RAM, keyboard, mouse and monitor to the motherboard. I have an on/off power switch (use a jumper for the 2 power switch pins if you do not have an external power switch). You can run this same test in the case (using a different power supply, of course) but it is too easy to forget to unhook something this way. The bench test isolates the motherboard from any problem it could encounter while in the case such as a short or ground. Again, after isolating the problem to the motherboard or CPU, moving to a working motherboard always solved the problem. Just remember the bare bones rules (how far you have to go with a new build to get video): Power supply (represented by the case, but board can be powered from bench in or out of its case.) Motherboard CPU Memory Video Keyboard (optional?) Mouse (optional) Monitor Anything not on this bare bones components list could be the cause of failure to perform P.O.S.T. thus no video. Chuck
Re: [H] Seagate drive died
- Original Message - From: Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 11:42 PM Subject: Re: [H] Seagate drive died I think it has more to do with how drives are shipped from the vendor. Vendors use to send these out in boxes with big foam inserts, but now you are lucky if they secure it in bubble wrap. I have bought What does it take to convince people that there are many reasons to avoid name brand computers? In just the hard drive arena, name brand computer manufacturers buy 1 year hard drives. That is all the warranty most offer and they are not going to pay for 5 year hard drives. You can bet the quality of a Seagate or WD 1 year drive is nowhere near the quality of a 5 year drive. This thread is about other than name brand computers I assume. It is about who you purchase your hard drives from. My supplier, ASI http://www.asipartner.com/ packages their merchandise very well. Not only in packaging does the choice of supplier count, but also in who you buy your hard drive from. Having already been said, the 1 year drives going to the name brand manufacturers are the worst. Do you think Dell buys 3 year drives so they will be covered when a customer purchases the Dell 3 year extended warranty? I doubt it. My bets are Dell takes its chances on a 1 year drive for all Dells and hopes they last long enough to satisfy the Dell 3 year service agreements purchased on some of their computers. Still, I have not gotten to your situation. Don't you think Seagate and WD ship their best 5 year drives to large wholesalers like ASI who have to continually defend their own reputation to OEM's they sell merchandise to? My bets are any 2nds do not go to ASI. So where do the 2nds go? What about the stores such as Circuit City, Office Depot, New Egg etc.? Why not consider New Egg as 2nd rate in quality? You, (not I) have already slammed the hell out of people like New Egg for crappy shipping. If the shoe fits, wear it. If you are an OEM who orders multiple units such as hard drives, the solution is easy. Change to a supplier like ASI and get top notch service and packaging etc. If you are not licensed etc. to purchase at wholesale from suppliers like ASI, still avoid folks that do not package properly. Either find an OEM who will supply you or let that OEM build your computers to your specifications. This is if and only if you know that OEM does quality business from the choice of supplier to overall price and quality of components. The bottom line is no matter who you are, you do not have to settle for 2nd rate packaging or merchandise. You can have quality, if you are an OEM or can find one who is honest and deals only in quality. You will pay a higher price for overall quality in service and product. Cheapskates (those who are bragging about that 500 watt power supply they found on the net for $29.95) should have deleted this post long before getting this far! Chuck
Re: [H] Seagate drive died
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 12:47 PM Subject: RE: [H] Seagate drive died While your argument seems sound, it doesn't appear to agree with real world testing. I have seen EB and BB drives fail by a factor of at least a factor of 5 over JB drives. The EB/BB line are WD's one year warranty drives (with 2MB cache) while the JBs are the 3 year warranty drives (with 8MB cache.) So there is clearly a difference in quality, as my experience is based over several years with hundreds of drives. I am not trying to be a smart ass or anything, but anyone who believes that WD EB's and BB's last as long as JB's are probably telling people that Dell uses quality parts, also. Once you nail down Dell in your mind to what they really are, the rest fall into their respective places, inferior to Dell. To qualify my statement about Dell, true, you can get premium parts if you order a unit that costs 1.5 or more times what a custom build with the same parts cost. Line for line Dell could not come close. But who besides me will even give a line item quote, custom builders included? And to boot I let customers bring their own parts and omit some of those lines if they want. Chuck
Re: [H] Seagate drive died
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 2:41 PM Subject: RE: [H] Seagate drive died Thane, you also mentioned that most of the failures you see are in big-vendor boxes...is it possible that those machines outfitted with WD's JB series drives are also mounted better, or ventilated better, or are fitted with a better PSU? I don't know one way or another, just suggesting the possibility that there could be additional variables at play here. Naturally most all components function better in a large, well ventilated case with an adequate power supply. Who but Dell is famous for omitting the CPU fan in many models. They rely on shrouding the airflow through a rear exhaust vent fan. That, along with the power supply fan makes a whopping total of 2 fans in those Dells. Mine have 2 power supply fans, 2 case fans and the CPU manufacturer's CPU fan, making a total of 5 fans. True, name brand manufacturers used the cheaper 5400 RPM hard drives for years. I do not care what component we are talking about, if you find a way to build it cheaper and most of them last a year, Dell will be knocking on your door to buy it. Chuck
Re: [H] Seagate drive died
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 4:20 PM Subject: RE: [H] Seagate drive died Speaking only regarding the CPU, the thermal solutions I see on many Dell machines (esp. Dimension 9100, Precision 380's, 390's, 670's, etc) are far superior to the retail box cooler AMD or Intel ship with their processors--all while being less noisy. These models, at least, use a temperature-controlled large diameter fan, and draw in cool outside air to blow through a large heatpipe-enhanced heatsink. Nice to hear that Dell treats the corporate world lots better. I am going to take a real job and one of my fears has been to use computers that are too slow or are out of service half the time. Chuck
Re: [H] Opteron 185 vs AM2/core2duo new build
- Original Message - From: James Maki [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 12:31 AM Subject: [H] Opteron 185 vs AM2/core2duo new build I have been contemplating a system upgrade of my AMD64 3700+ system. I know the socket 939 is really at the end of its life, but I hate throwing out the mb, cpu and memory to upgrade to the AM2 or core2 duo. The high end socket 939 chips have been disappearing. I ran across the Opteron 185, a socket 939 Why hold onto other components that may be obsolete, also, especially if you feel you will have to buy Windows all over again? I do many rebuilds using the existing CPU and carry Windows XP OEM forward and Microsoft approves. Why not simply sell the working computer and build a new one from scratch? My experience has it figured both ways (rebuild vs. sell) and the difference in money outlay is hardly any. The difference if you get all new parts when you build from scratch. The life of my computers is 5 years, not 2. I certainly would not want to use a 2 or 3 year old power supply for a rebuild when I could sell off and build new. To do so would be expecting that power supply to last a total of 7 to 9 years. My new power supply would be of a higher wattage, of course! Chuck
Re: [H] Opteron 185 vs AM2/core2duo new build
- Original Message - From: James Maki [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 1:43 PM Subject: RE: [H] Opteron 185 vs AM2/core2duo new build I have no need to purchase Windows again. I have 2 retail copies of Windows XP Pro and one Windows XP Home I don't even use since I also have a MAPS subscription giving me 10 licenses for Windows XP Pro, and now Windows Vista My comments were to help the typical upgrader to explore the possibilities of simply selling off their old unit and building a new one. As mentioned my main reason for this suggestion is to help people get the most mileage out of three expensive items, the case, the motherboard and Windows XP. Obviously none of my reasoning or suggestions apply to or are useable by you. All I seemed to hear in your post was, throwing out the mb, cpu and memory Typically there is lots more older technology in a box than those three components, evidently not applicable in your situation. In the typical sell off in preference to upgrade, the older motherboard, cpu and memory get to live on in the box they most likely were installed in originally. Again, this does not apply in your situation, but I examined a upgrade request for a customer. True, I could have installed a new motherboard and cpu, but he could have benefited even more with a more powerful power supply. The new motherboard would call for a PCI Express video card and PC 5300 RAM. A SATA hard drive would be in order. On and on it goes (not for you, but the typical customer) finding more and more things that just go better together. That upgrade turns into a new computer very fast. You who are far more experienced than I please do not take my comments personal. I am sorry I failed to mention they may not apply to you but can be used by others. I have a habit of using scenarios or posts as a springboard to toss ideas to others who may be considering doing something similar to what you indicate you are doing. Right off the top of a line item quote, I have saved many customers big bucks in rebuilds by letting their cpu and Windows XP live on (with several other salvageable components, also) in a rebuilt computer. Chuck
Re: [H] Power Supply
- Original Message - From: Jason Carson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 8:06 PM Subject: [H] Power Supply My brother just upgraded his computer to a core2 duo but the power supply connector isn't large enough. It leaves 4 spots unplugged. The bare minimum wattage that some say is ok (I highly disagree) of 200, 250, 300, 350 or 400 watts that most name brand computer manufacturers and others use just is not enough. You need at least a 450 watt power supply to comfortably handle any of the newer technology CPU's and the power consuming memory and video cards etc. With this in mind, my bets are your brother's power supply is not 450 watts. If not, shop for a good 450 watt or higher power supply. Then check to see if the one you are considering buying has the 24 pin power connector. My bets are it does. When you shop, pay good money. Do not be like some who brag, I can buy a 500 watt power supply any day of the week for $29.95. True, and you can buy a poor excuse for a real computer by purchasing some name brand junk, also. If you want a good computer, have one custom built. If you want a quality power supply, pay good money, $50.00 and up for it. It is your money and your motherboard your power supply is hooked to. If you hook to a cheap power supply (or continue with one lower than 450 watts) you often get bonus when it fails and burns up your motherboard. Often several other expensive components get toasted along with the deal. In the long run, quality performs and quality lasts. Quality costs less to own and operate in the long run. Or you can cheap out and hook up the 20 pin connector and hope for the best. In case you go the cheap or shortcut route, If, acting on information passed on or given in the course of reading this e-mail, or otherwise contained in any other form of communication from me, something catastrophic happens to either you, any one else, or to your / anyone else's property, I deny any and all liability for anything that occurs. Chuck
Re: [H] Great freeware update checker
- Original Message - From: Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hwg hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 8:11 PM Subject: [H] Great freeware update checker Have you guys tried this? http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/04/04/file-hippo-releases-update-checker/ This brings up the question, If you are having no problems, is it wise to blindly install any update you hunt and find or it just comes your way? Take the long running Microsoft video drivers update fiasco, for example. More often than not, if you download the video update offered by Microsoft and install it, when you reboot your video colors are washed out and you have to uninstall the update. I realize the standard first answer from technical support on most any problem, Download and install the latest updates. But again, is this safe when you are having no problems? Chuck
Re: [H] Can you configure an Airport Extreme over a wired connection?
- Original Message - From: j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 5:22 AM Subject: Re: [H] Can you configure an Airport Extreme over a wired connection? LOL, most of the WAP makers talk with emphasis on not doing firmware updates wirelessly. Does that same wireless only software also do the firmware upgrades? ;-) Recently a customer who furnished all components except the case (she furnished the 750 watt modular power supply) and 2 hard drives, personally did a firmware update on one of her optical devices. She was doing this to comply with Windows Vista. She knew I had her new computer plugged into a UPS. She furnished the firmware on a CD she had copied it to. Why would anyone try to do a live update of firmware or a BIOS flash? Copying from a file with the computer hooked to a UPS greatly reduces the chances of an interruption. Chuck
Re: [H] -LO- 60 mile WIFI?
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 1:47 PM Subject: Re: [H] -LO- 60 mile WIFI? Gee, I wonder what that will do for security ??? I guess I won't be buying that 7db antenna for my Linksys after all. ;-) Is anything being developed that will be affordable to the many who live in rural areas of the US? Around Southwest Georgia (which Albany is the hub of) there are only two games in town, ATT DSL and Mediacom Cable. Satellite is far too expensive and it seems that Verizon etc. have not set up wireless Internet service as of yet. My question may sound elementary if I was referring to what is available right now, but I am not. I concede that nothing economical is available right now. I live close to the Southeast city limits line of Albany, GA and DSL is still not available in my area. People a mile South of me who live South of the city limits have DSL. They sure pick and choose! That area is far more sparsely populated and economically not as good a market as my area, yet they have DSL. If my memory serves me correctly, this is my 5th year with cable Internet. With gaps that wide in our area, there is no hope for either DSL or cable Internet for decades. In the 50's and beyond, television and radio stations went to great lengths to penetrate the rural areas. They did not simply stay with low signals and thrive off of the metro areas, as the phone company is doing with its DSL service. They did not pick and choose and deny people living within city limits service for 5+ years a valuable service, such as the phone company is doing with DSL. Are we relegated for decades to dial-up (those of us who can not afford $100.00 per month for Satellite Internet) or is the Calvary coming soon in some form of wireless and at a rate we can afford? Chuck
[H] Is There A Hardware Solution To The Problem Of Windows Piracy?
This is for conversation, only. We know that Microsoft is far too greedy for their own good. I believe my ideas would pour more money into Microsoft than hackable Windows being sold pours in. Can there be a hardware solution? Not with firmware that can be flashed such as the BIOS on motherboards. What about a team effort with the CPU manufacturers and Microsoft to build the authority to run Windows into the CPU? Naturally this would have to start with a newer version of Windows in the future. Vista has already been hacked. Microsoft would have to give a lot on this. First of all Microsoft would not be able to offer different versions of the operating system. Upgrades would be impossible if Windows was linked to the CPU. There could be only one version, the best! Microsoft would have to trash their OEM policy. If Windows was linked to the CPU then Windows could be carried forward as far as the CPU could be carried forward. This would slow down rapid advances in technology that require new computers built around new CPU's. This would stimulate an industry that specialized in rebuilding computers around older CPU's that authorized that version of Windows to run. The trade off would be that in order to move up to a newer operating system, one would have to buy a new computer with a new CPU. Does anyone care to comment on these ideas? If any agree with me that my ideas are workable, they wouild be practically admitting that the largest problem with operating system piracy is allowed by Microsoft. Microsoft refuses to use a hardware solution that can not be flashed. Have you ever heard of altering or flashing a CPU? Chuck
Re: [H] another dead MB/psu ?
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2007 11:29 AM Subject: Re: [H] another dead MB/psu ? They apparently draw more power than the motherboard can handle. I'm willing to believe just about anything that has to do with poor engineering and the P4. :) Motherboards are tough, at least the Asus ones I use are. How do I know? I will not embarrass myself or bore you with listing all of the stupid moves I have made and the motherboard survived. Sometimes it survived outright. Other times it played possum for awhile after my goof to scare me. I assume thermal sensors had tripped and they reset themselves several minutes later, after I had came close to calling it dead. What caliber of goofs with motherboards am I unwilling to mention? Well at http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=jA2tsrQIqwQ%3D you will find these words, Coy! What? Well, how'd you get that big motorcycle up there on the high dive, Coy? My goofs are in this category, yet those Asus boards survive! There are two kinds of computer technicians. 1. The pure goofballs who do not have enough sense to admit they make mistakes. They think they are too good to make a mistake that would fry a board. 2. Those of us who make crazy mistakes and admit them, even if we are too embarrassed to give details. Examples: What is worse than the case you intend to mount a motherboard into falling off the bench? The motherboard falling off the bench also. What is even worse than that? The motherboard is already hooked to the case via all of the power supply wires. Asus, just like Timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking! Never have I had an Intel CPU die. Chuck
Re: [H] OT Time to rant about finance programs
- Original Message - From: Rick Glazier [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 10:11 PM Subject: Re: [H] OT Time to rant about finance programs QuickBooks I would change from Peachtree to QuickBooks if QuickBooks wanted to take enough Peachtree customers to write a program to import Peachtree Data. I will not start all over again to change. Chuck
Re: [H] Re: Apple OS X vs. Vista (Apple side)
- Original Message - From: Gary VanderMolen [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 2:04 PM Subject: Re: [H] Re: Apple OS X vs. Vista (Apple side) I suppose at some point the OS source code would get so convoluted from all the patches that you're better off starting from scratch. Not if Microsoft simply slipstreamed a comprehensive XP Service Pack 3 into a DVD that allowed you to install any version of Windows XP that you had a legal Product Key for. They could sell those DVD's for around twenty bucks (including shipping). At the outset, a selection screen would appear that listed all versions of Windows XP on the DVD. It would have a place to enter your Product Key. If you had selected the wrong version, it would tell you. Better yet, it could select the correct version from the Product Key you entered. Far too simple, right! Not near as much profit to be made as will be with Vista. A yearly auxillary DVD containing all popular drives up to that date would be handy, also. It could be shipped along with the SP 3 DVD. Chuck
Re: [H] -ot- Asus RMA ?
510-739-3777 #3 RMA - Original Message - From: FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 12:38 PM Subject: [H] -ot- Asus RMA ? anyone have a new link for Asus RMA ? old link is broke and of course they never respond to emails and phones calls with the accent is hard. because of this I will probably never buy another Asus MB. old link was: http://rma.asus.com/enduser/
Re: [H] Connecting a DVD changer to HTPC?
- Original Message - From: Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hwg hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 6:40 PM Subject: [H] Connecting a DVD changer to HTPC? Anyone experimented with this? A possible alternative to several TB of HD space would be to get something like this: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=9723273/ When we talk about high quantity data storage on optical disks, aren't DVD's already obsolete as far as serious consideration goes? When my planning for the future advances to hard drive space vs. optical disk data storage, I think in terms of Blue Ray, not DVD's. This brings up two questions: 1. Who is your vote for, Blue Ray or HD-DVD? 2. Which one will win? I hope we do not end up with a hung jury on this one! I hope Blue Ray does to HD-DVD what VHS did to Beta tapes and what IBM clones did to Macs. I hope Blue Ray will offer 3 inch diameter disks, like CD's and DVD's did. Can you imagine how many MP3's will fit on a Blue Ray 3 inch diameter disk? Those will work well in multi media players that play most all formats in CD, DVD and Blue Ray, audio and movies. Chuck
Re: [H] Kite Flying
- Original Message - From: Zulfiqar, Naushad [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 7:10 AM Subject: [H] Kite Flying Hey guys any of you here into stunt kite flying? Every time I tried to fly one, the observers thought it was doing stunts. Chuck
Re: [H] Connecting a DVD changer to HTPC?
- Original Message -
From: Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List
hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 8:11 AM
Subject: Re: [H] Connecting a DVD changer to HTPC?
For the time being I am completely ignoring both Blu-ray and HD-DVD.
I hate being taken advantage of by Sony et al and will not put up for
it.
I forgot to give my current solution to the need for storage space.
I just ordered this from beachcamera.com
Western Digital 500GB My Book Essential { High Speed USB 2.0 }
External Hard Drive
SKU: WDMBE500U
$177.00 included shipping and no sales tax was added. I did not mean
that a bunch of us should run out and buy either Blue Ray or HD DVD anytime
soon. I will wait a year or two for the shakedown, in confidence in one of
the formats and great prices. When I speak of price drops I mean the type of
drops you get by dropping a zero on the dollar side as in $1000.00 to
$100.00. I realize that price drops of this magnitude do not occur in days
or weeks nor do they occur in one or two increments.
Rigid high prices or lack of the most effective endorsements could be
the death blow to Sony or anyone. I hope the masses take the wait and see
attitude. If and when either Blue Ray or HD DVD have a solid win and I can
buy their reader for $100.00 and their writer for $300.00 I will gladly take
the plunge. This is if the media is affordable, unlike Hewlett Packard
printer toner and ink. I realize about 10% of the buying public are well
heeled and will buy new products at most any price. Then there are the ones
who are addicted to staying ahead of the Joneses and they will give the same
priority to a new gadget that a gambling addict gives to their habit.
Back to my latest purchase. I will have 500 GB of storage for only
$177.00. Blue Ray offers only 50 GB and you have to use dual layer to get
this, right? I read that HD DVD offers only 30 GB.
Do you see where I am going with this? I want a Cable box or some go
between that will allow me to hook up my 500 GB USB external hard drive and
feed high definition movies to my Receiver (for audio) and to my high
definition television. Better yet, how about a 500 GB high definition hard
drive recorder that will record movies. It needs to have a Blue Ray or HD
DVD writer built in so high definition movies on its huge hard drive can be
copied to disks.
The recorder can wait. Right now I need a way to play movies that I
copy to my new 500 GB external hard drive. I feel that USB will feed fast
enough to view movies. It certainly feeds fast enough to burn movies
directly from it to my DVD Writer, but that is not in high definition.
Chuck - the high tech redneck (or country boy) however you describe
somebody raised in the rurals.
Re: [H] February AutoPatcher Updates
- Original Message - From: Al [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 2:02 PM Subject: [H] February AutoPatcher Updates http://www.autopatcher.com/downloads/
Re: [H] February AutoPatcher Updates
- Original Message - From: Al [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 2:02 PM Subject: [H] February AutoPatcher Updates http://www.autopatcher.com/downloads/ The latest Full version I have is November, 2006. I have that installed and have ran it. Do I have to run the December update, then the January update and then the current February update? Or can I just run the February update and it covers everything since November? Chuck
Re: [H] bottom of the line
- Original Message - From: Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 4:41 PM Subject: Re: [H] bottom of the line that is why it is bottom of the line. What do you expect for 280 bucks. I pay 200 bucks for my power supply! He is not joking! One of my customers brought me a $200.00 600 watt power supply along with a $600.00 512 MB video card to install into a computer I was building for her. The main differences in expensive components vs. standard components for the builder are you are lots more careful with assembly, Electrostatic Discharge prevention etc. Chuck
Re: [H] Motherboard replacement
- Original Message - From: j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 4:16 AM Subject: Re: [H] Motherboard replacement Why bother trying, switch the case out for new when you replace the mobo/cpu/etc. Reuse everything that is viable and standard. That is my fix for all name brand junkers. Do y'all realize that there are only 2 proprietary major components that are used to make a name brand computer a dog instead of a real computer? They are its junky case and its motherboard. I can take an Enlight case with a 350 watt power supply and use a MSI PM8M-V motherboard (with video, audio, LAN etc. onboard) and rebuild a name brand computer that has a Socket 478 Intel CPU? I use the customer's CPU and add a twenty dollar CPU fan if theirs is non existient (Dell is famous for omitting CPU fans in many models). I use the customer's memory, hard drive and optical device(s). Where I really save the customer money is by using their Windows XP Home OEM version which Microsoft always authenticates and validates. I have rebuilt many name brand computers, many of which were operational when I started. Yes, by simply changing out the case and motherboard and doing a clean install of Windows, the computer runs much faster. Actually half of that performance increase can be achieved by simply formatting the hard drive and doing a clean install of Windows. For 10 years I have greatly improved the performance of any name brand computer that I worked on, even if I have been prevented from replacing any of its cheap and inferior hardware. My customers constantly ask the question, Why didn't my computer manufacturer use the same hardware that you had to work with and give me the performance you gave to me? Yes, I would love to furnish a new case and motherboard and increase the RAM to 512 and format the hard drive and do a clean install for every name brand computer in Albany, GA which has a Socket 478 CPU. I know the performance would be greatly increased and another 5 years of life could be breathed into a name brand clunker, for as little as $250.00. Yes, swich the case out, also. Transform any name brand comptuer into a real computer! Chuck
Re: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player
- Original Message - From: Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 2:05 AM Subject: Re: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player I can't speak for every playerbut I have a dvd player that plays mp3s recording on a dvd-r, but I can't reemmber if it's dvd-r or dvd+r. Isn't the -R or +R identification on the DVD that you copied the files to? Correct me if I am wrong but my choice has been -R from the beginning on CD's and DVD's because I concluded that media on -R disks will play on more players than other formats. I love to share so I have to be concerned with the wide variety of players my family, friends and customers own. Chuck
Re: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player
- Original Message - From: rls [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 4:00 PM Subject: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player I was looking at the Sony Portable DVD Player, and I am thinking about getting it to play my mp3 from a recorded DVD. Only 5.5 hours to battery time, but most of the time I would have access to a power outlet anyway. We think we can get over 1500 songs on a disk by recording MP3's to a DVD -R instead of a CD -R that will hold only about 200 songs in the MP3 format. Most, (if not all) DVD or CD players that play MP3's will not play them if they are recorded or copied onto a DVD -R. Am I correct on this? You are limited to copying your MP3's to a CD -R ( -R is my preference all the way around as I do not use +R or Rewritables). Again, somebody please clear this up for me. I wish any player that is capable of playing MP3's would play them from a DVD -R disk they are on. Chuck
Re: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 5:22 PM Subject: Re: [H] Portable DVD Player.. as mp3 player My Philips DVP 642 plays MP3 DVD-R disks just fine I have over a 1000 tunes on some. While this is not a portable player I would imagine that there would be one out there. I would check at videohelp.com as they list all that stuff. You knew what my next question would be. Who will win the next round, Blue Ray or HD - DVD and how many MP3's can be copied to one of those disks? Why have a CD changer? With a Blue Ray or HD - DVD player one disk can hold several thousand songs. The late Dave Gardner, Comedian said at the beginning of the flip side of one of his LP's, If you had bought two records you would not have had to get up and turn this record over. Many of those recording artists did not live long enough to see their songs and videos on Blue Ray or HD - DVD. Chuck
Re: [H] Pentium-M desktop motherboard
- Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 10:42 PM Subject: Re: [H] Pentium-M desktop motherboard Aopen makes one but its rather spendy Are you thinking you can save by using an older CPU which requires an older motherboard with an AGP video slot and DDR or PC 133 RAM? You could have a couple of years ago when I sold Celeron CPU's for around $120.00 and P4 CPU's for $220.00 and up. Now the Celerons have been discontinued and the P4' (if there are any left at my supplier) and the Pentium D's (Dual Core) have been reduced to only around $120.00. This means it is to your advantage to bypass that Pentium M and get a Pentium D and a motherboard with a PCIe video slot and slots for DDR2 RAM. Why bend over backwards and go with all old technology to save $120.00 on a CPU that gives you a lots slower older CPU?? For a few years after Windows XP came out, people wanted older and out of date computers to run their older software. Many had their new computers built with older technology to accommodate their older software. Your progression should be led by advances in hardware and the CPU takes the lead. Motherboards and everything else is built around the CPU. Chuck
Re: [H] Pig slow disc-to-disc file copies...
Surely this ain't right, right? Yeah, we're talking a nearly 60 GB load, but damn! At my worst I have typically copied withing Windows using Windows Commander at the rate of 7 minutes per GB. This figures out to 420 minutes or 7 hours to copy 60 GB. For me this is tolerable considering that I get to choose which folders I want copied. When I really need to rock and roll, I Ghost in Real DOS Mode and copy at the rate of 1 GB per minute. This job would have taken me only an hour with Ghost. Note that when copying with Ghost in Real DOS mode I have to overwrite a whole partition with the source partition. Chuck
Re: [H] Free or Cheap AV Software
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 1:07 PM Subject: RE: [H] Free or Cheap AV Software their machines and then they buy NOD32. If someone is shopping at Walmart for a security product, they deserve to get owned. Or for a computer! I had to take advantage of that statement of yours! Chuck
Re: [H] W98se questions
- Original Message - From: Rick Glazier(Gmail) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 11:31 PM Subject: Re: [H] W98se questions Chuck, Just a quick question... When you install XP clean, do you start with SP2 on the CD (integrated or embedded) or are you using olders CDs and (or) talking about re-installs... Absolutely! I would use nothing less than a Microsoft Windows XP CD with SP2 slipstreamed. In fact the ones I use now claim to be with SP2b, whatever that means. That is the very problem when the end user does their own reinstallations, especially when they use the computer manufacturer's restore CD. They miss any service packs that came out later. I am convinced that you get a cleaner job with both or all of your service packs slipstreamed. You simply do not get this when you do it yourself using the computer manufacturer's reinstall process, if it is older than the latest service pack. Note that I have about 2 GB used after installation of the Windows XP CD with SP2b slipstreamed. It is after I apply the Auto Patcher application and the rest of the Microsoft updates that I see around 7 GB used. But with 320 GB hard drives being commonplace now (you name branders, don't even think about it, as you get far less) on custom built quality computers, surely you can spare a measly 80 GB partition to host your operating system and 3 other 80's for your data. Chuck
Re: [H] W98se questions
- Original Message - From: dhs [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 5:24 PM Subject: [H] W98se questions Is there anyone on the list that can still discuss W98se? I'd like to trade questions offline/backchannel. The best booster I have found for clean installs of Windows 98 SE and Millennium is the Security Update CD from Microsoft dated February, 2004. I run this comprehensive automatic update (comparable to Auto Patcher for Windows XP) and then I proceed to download the rest of the updates from Microsoft. It would take a very long time to download all of the updates for 98SE, Me or XP from Microsoft. I am very thankful for boosters such as these I have mentioned. Just to give you an idea of how extensive the updates are for XP, I have about 2 GB of space used on Drive C after I install XP. After I update it I have around 7 GB of space used on Drive C. This is relative, of course. I would guess that 98SE uses about 500 MB freshly installed and around 700 MB after being updated and Millennium around 700 MB when freshly installed and around 1.2 GB after being updated. It seems the space required for all of the updates is far more space than is required for the initial install. Chuck
Re: [H] dell PSU ?
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 3:19 PM Subject: Re: [H] dell PSU ? I suppose you could get a larger PS bolt it to the top of that nice Dell case but your best bet is to get a standard case PS then rebuild the whole thing praying that the Dell mombo lines up with the mountings in the new case. It has been my standard procedure since I have been in business to move name brand computers to a new case to provide a new power supply. If the customer loves their crappy case so much they have a problem with a decent case, I send them to another shop. My price? The same as others charge to put the same low wattage power supply in the original case. You may say I throw in the case for free, but charge for a power supply and labor. My standard is 450 watts for a P4. The customer gets 5 fans in the case compared to 1 or none in their original case. Seldom do we see follow up advice for situations like these. True, the customer needs an innovative work around for proprietary junk they currently own (in this situation a move to a decent case.) What they really need is very strong advice to buy a real (generic all the way!) computer next time. Chuck
Re: [H] need video editing software.
- Original Message - From: RLS [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 12:52 PM Subject: [H] need video editing software. The only thing I would really like to change is the removal of about the lowest 1/16 of an inch at the bottom of screen. That's were there are vestiges of tracking squiggles or irregularities. If I could just chop off the lowest horizontal lines I would be very happy I am doing the same thing, not with my computer but with a DVD recorder that has a VCR built in. The newer VCR's are supposed to have automatic tracking adjustment. Big laugh! I feel it is a nice way of telling the customer that they left off the tracking adjustment mechanism to save money in building the thing. Needless to say the automatic tracking adjustment (if there is one) does not adjust the tracking properly. I end up with those irregularities at the bottom, also. I am new to this procedure of recording my VHS tape material to DVD's. I will slowly record all I want to keep and live with the lack of clarity etc. that goes along with the process. At least I am stopping the video from getting worse with age. Chuck
Re: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher
- Original Message - From: Neil Davidson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 5:32 AM Subject: RE: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/AutoPatcher-XP.shtml - works http://ftp.teol.net/dload/updates/ap/AutoPatcher_XP_Nov06_ENU_Full.exe - works Both of those are mirrors on the download page Thank you very much! I looked around and was unable to find the links you just listed. The first one works very well. I should have my download complete in about 30 minutes. Chuck
Re: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher
- Original Message - From: Neil Davidson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 3:24 PM Subject: RE: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher Here is a direct download. Much faster than the Torrent I was using ftp://autopatcher.fbdn.net/ I tried this and another link and still can not download the file. Is there some simple link that Outlook Express can be used to access and download it? I do not care if it is slow. I can let it download all night if need be. Thanks in advance, Chuck
Re: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher
- Original Message - From: Steve [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 12:28 AM Subject: Re: [hardware] [H] Anybody know what happed to Autopatcher http://www.autopatcher.com/downloads Usually I get the runaround when trying to download Autopatcher. If you have the actual link for Autopatcher for XP, English FULL for November, please post it for us. When I click on the link within the above link I get a bunch of hypertext and no link to do the download. Chuck
Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents
- Original Message - From: Christopher Fisk [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 3:00 PM Subject: Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents Another nice thing if you find a user account screwed up and are using fast user switching withthe welcome screen: If no one is logged in you can press CTRL-ALT-DEL Twice on the Select your user screen and the normal windows login prompt will come up. Way too often using username Administrator with no password gives you full access to their system, even if they have a user account they forgot to give you the password for. I used the example of a customer bringing me a hard drive merely as an illustration. I prefer they not do this. My point is if all you have is their hard drive because their motherboard has died or for another reason, how to you remove data protection? In many situations their computer will not be up and running until I have formatted their hard drive and installed Windows again. When I said I can copy this protected data I was referring to a Ghost clone of the whole Drive C. Naturally I can not copy just one folder (My Documents) of protected data. I am not talking about corrupted hard drives, damaged hard drives or any problem other than the data being protected. I am referring to the situation where I can not open the My Documents folder or copy it, once I have attached the hard drive that hosts it to my shop computer. Thanks, Chuck
Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents
- Original Message - From: Rick Glazier [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2006 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents I'm going to take this to the next level for Chuck. Running with NO hard drive only proves that can be done, and that nothing from the original system hard drive is needed to get access to what ever other hardware will be found... (Remember, this is all done IN the original system --- never even opening the case...) I downloaded the PC Beginner CD ISO file and burned the bootable CD. I hope this is the simple way to unlock data in the My Documents file. Again, I am really not interested in using the customer's computer for any of this. For conversation sake, let's assume the customer's computer has a dead motherboard but all data on the hard drive is intact. I have a shop computer specifically for working with other hard drives etc. I can easily work with up to 6 hard drives attached, 4 IDE and 2 SATA. I want to be confident I can unlock data using my shop computer and copy it to a folder on another hard drive. I should not have to worry about anything in a customer's computer but its hard drive. I should feel confident to copy all of a customer's My Documents data to a new computer I am building for them, even if all they bring to me is their hard drive. Again, copying the data has never been a probelm. Unlocking it has. Thanks, Chuck
Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 11:18 PM Subject: Re: [H] Network copy Vs USB copy Sharing My Documents It can be done but you must be running Pro on all machines turn off Simple File Sharing. Some people cheat by having the same admin user name pwd on all the machines the respective shares but really each machine should have it's own unique admin user name pwd those users should be listed on the other machines users snap in. Most computers I repair are running XP Home OEM and the user most often has no clue as to what the Administrator account is. My goal and objective is to recover all data in the Favorites folder and the My Documents folder. Many have the user account password protected. Many can not boot Windows due to a crashed hard drive, messed up Windows or bad motherboard. I did get a customer's Windows XP to boot up on my shop computer by hooking their hard drive to my computer and booting into Safe Mode. I got rid of their password, but still I could not access their data on the next boot into Safe Mode. What is the most simple way to access their data with their hard drive hooked to my shop computer as a slave drive? Remember, I most often do not get to work on their computer until after their data has become protected and after it will no longer boot into Windows. I do not have any opportunity to prepare in advance for non accessbile data. Thanks in advance, Chuck
Re: [H] Cell phone records
- Original Message - From: Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 5:03 PM Subject: Re: [H] Cell phone records Me too. However, her function was computer-related, though I'm not sure in what capacity. She claimed to be very computer savvy and said that people underestimated her. How foolish of them. is how she ended that statement. A very quiet exit from her life without yielding to the temptation to fire any parting shots is your best move. Years of law enforcement experience taught me that the blue code protects officers from much of their evildoing (lawbreaking). This sounds like Congress, doesn't it? Professional courtesy when a law enforcement officer gets a traffic stop is another one that often goes way too far. The bottom line is never underestimate what a person can do once they get to the point they do not care, law enforcement officer or not. The recent Amish school shootings are an expample of that. When the same is applied to a nomal citizen who has somewhat more protection (such as gun toters who think they are bulletproof) the deadly assault is called an ambush. This means a tad more effort was required. So make your very quiet exit and hope some sort of an ambush is not used on you. Chuck
Re: [H] Cell phone records
- Original Message - From: Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 6:30 PM Subject: Re: [H] Cell phone records Oh no. This woman didn't claim any knowledge until afterwards. Dial-up connection at home, old Win98 computer. At work is a different story, If it is any consolation, she has not been smart or mean enough to hook a rich married man and blackmail him into buying her a dream machine. A dream machine is a three thousand dollar Dell. Chuck
Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation
- Original Message - From: Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 9:44 PM Subject: Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation Out of curiosity, what did the customer need from XP Pro? This was a know it all customer who does not wish to discuss their reasons for their decisions. My orders were to simply do it when he handed me the Windows XP Professional Upgrade version that he had paid $180.00 for 30 days after he has paid me $90.00 for the line item (my new computers are sold piece by piece on a line item quote) Windows XP Home OEM. Backtracking, that same know it all attitude was displayed when he ordered his new computer with Windows XP Home OEM. Have you noticed that people who know it all have used that knowlege to acquire more money in a year that most of us will earn in a decade? They can not stand a poor man telling them how to invest. This same customer prides himself in owing the first computer I ever built as a business in May, 1998 and is out to prove that what I build runs forever, or at least for as long as he lives. Chuck
Re: [H] Is Vista going to be that much better than XP Pro?
- Original Message - From: Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 8:40 AM Subject: Re: [H] Is Vista going to be that much better than XP Pro? Are they still selling those Linspire PC's? Is that the one that came with Linux for $100.00? I can put cheap name brand computers into a decent case and on a decent motherboard for as little as $200.00 so certain deals can be worth buying for the Windows, CPU, memory, hard drive and optical devices that come with them. This is especially true if the motherboard is inoperative on an existing computer. Many who slam name brand computers do not realize that there are only 2 components that brand them, their cheap case and their cheap motherboard, and, of course the way Windows is installed on them. A clean install of Windows on a new motherboard in a decent case, and presto! You have a clone generic computer! I do not have connections upstairs to clean install and authenticate Windows. My connections are in India! Chuck
Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation
- Original Message - From: FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 3:33 PM Subject: Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation love that, wait for Vista @ $400 That will finish me as an OEM. Microsoft and Intel are widening the gap of the expense to Dell to build a computer and the rest of us. Asus is already building lots cheaper motherboards to try to help us compete, all to no avail. Seldom seen are the Asus true flagship large footprint motherboards. Most have been replaced by the baby boards. Replacing $100.00 motherboards with $50.00 motherboards is not going to get the job done when our price on Windows goes up to double what it is now and Dell still gets Windows at a token. I have no plans to purchase Vista and continue building computers. Chuck
Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation
- Original Message - From: Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 5:43 PM Subject: Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation How are you the OEM? What equipment are you a manufacturer of? Assembling a computer now and then does not make you an OEM. If I am not an OEM, why did Microsoft accept my compnay as a Microsoft OEM System Builder Program Member? Chuck
Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation
- Original Message - From: Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 5:46 PM Subject: Re: [H] MS gets serious about activation All of my OEM windows provide a license to use that copy one one computer. If the legal BS says it can only be used on that one PC, then that ought to be illegal. It's likely unenforceable anyhow. The fact that I get it cheaper because I bought a full system is simply an aid to move systems and to move MSs OS. Hence, from an economical POV, it's to MSs advantage to do so. You can discuss and debate it all you want. You can install your Windows XP OEM software on any computer you want using the Product Key on your COA. It is when activation fails and you have to call Microsoft you get your answer. Microsoft either gives you the 42 digit Authentication code after you give them the 54 digit Installaton code or they do not. If you lose, no appeals. So far I have won during all of my calls, even when I used as little as one component (the CPU) from the original computer that Windows XP OEM bearing that Product Key was activated on. Chuck
Re: [H] Weird Thumb Drive Problem
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 12:29 AM Subject: Re: [H] Weird Thumb Drive Problem I've never seen this before you would think I would with C, D being local HDs, E, F, G being optical drives, H, I are mapped drives Starting back in the Windows 95 days where the only drive other than the hard drive was a CD ROM and possibly a Zip Drive, I assigned the Drive Letter R to all CD ROMS and when there were two optical drives I assigned Q to the writer. I did this for all computers I worked on and for all new computers I built. I explaned to my customers that the future would bring additional drives and there should be plenty of space between the group, A,B,C,D etc. and R for those additional drives. This would ensure that the optical drives never got reassigned due to adding other drives in the future. That decision was badly needed and the timing on it was perfect. Now we have jump drives, external hard drives and card readers, just to name a few. So far I have not seen any computer I assigned optical drive letters of Q and/or R run out of lower letters and the optical drive have to be bumped up in the alphabet. Most of the Windows 95 computers I assigned the CD ROM drive to R did not remain in use so long that they needed that space between D and Q. The customers got use to the arrangement and the transition to a new computer was easy, if they had me build their next new computer. This is just one of the many things I have done over the years to keep things simple and require less changes to adapt to new drives and technologies. Now to the subject at hand. Is it easier for a thumb drive to simply take an open Letter Assignment if it does not have to bump an optical drive up a letter? Chuck
Re: [H] Weird Mouse Problem
- Original Message - From: Harvey Best [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Alt Cpu hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 9:39 PM Subject: [H] Weird Mouse Problem On my home desktop. Windows Xp Pro everything updated just suddenly started acting asif the mouse had gone bad. When you open a window, any Very seldom is the problem hardware related, such as a bad PS/2 keyboard or mouse port. When it is, you can circumvent it (patch job) by using a USB keyboard or mouse. As a technician I have found a very valuable diagnostic tool to be Windows 98 installed on a small IDE hard drive. Windows 98 will load in Safe Mode on most any IBM compatible computer. Just unhook your hard drive and hook up the hard drive containing Windows 98. If you are using a SATA hard drive, there is no need to unhook it. Most computers try first to boot to an IDE hard drive if one is hooked up. Hit F8 and select Safe Mode. Once Windows 98 is loaded in Safe Mode you will have use of your mouse and keyboard. If your mouse and keyboard work here (but did not work in Windows XP) there is nothing wrong that a format and reinstall job will not fix. I just fixed a keyboard problem yesterday by formatting and reinstalling. I tried the built in Windows XP Restore thingy but that did not solve the problem. So here we go again, the patch 'em up team who loves to fix Windows screaming, Do not format! Fix it! And we on the format and reinstall team, Don't tune it up, just replace the engine! (Windows XP). This sounds like the Democrats and Republicans, doesn't it? The only thing I kick myself for is fooling around trying to fix it for a few minutes before going ahead with the format and reinstall job. When the internal Restore thingy works, it goes home and comes back a week later with the same problem. The results of most patch jobs are the same. Chuck
Re: [H] Recovery of Hd w/o partition?
- Original Message - From: Julian Zottl [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 1:30 AM Subject: [H] Recovery of Hd w/o partition? Hey all, I have a client that just brought me a PC with a HD that appears to have no partitions on it (It shows up unallocated in XP). This was definitely a bootable volume previously. I have sucessfully used a feature of Acronis True Image that is designed to find and let you tell it to recover deleted partitons. As you already know any procedure is risky. I have often seen Partition Magic display partitions that were working as BAD. I ignored this and backed up any valuable data and continued to use the computer. If a partition is readable, back up the data. Do not try to fix partitions that are shown as BAD by any software. As always, this advice is for the less experienced. The rest of us learned by trashing workable partitions trying to improve, correct or fix them. Chuck
Re: [H] Oh, how I miss the KeyLock
- Original Message - From: Chris Reeves [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 7:13 AM Subject: [H] Oh, how I miss the KeyLock I have a few clients who are looking for something that years ago would have been simple. They want to lock their PC so that their kids, etc. cannot use My comments do not apply to you since you are seeking a hardware solution. The first level of Windows XP password protection is very weak but the second level is better. This means the first level is easier to work around and the second level more difficult. Don't forget the higher level of security that password protecting the BIOS offers. Doesn't working around that require entering the computer and doing the proper physical manipulation? It has for the ones that I worked around to repair computers. What about drilling a hole in the case and installing a small DC current key on/off switch and cut and hook the (most likely blue and white) power switch wire to it? The key switch would have to be in the On position before the power switch would work. I sent those new AT computers out the door with the keys on their ring hanging from the case rear vent fan hole. For the most part, it did not matter how many years it was before the computer came back for repairs, those keys were still hanging there. For the most part I showed the customer the keys and explained what they were for, when they picked up their new computer. At least my method prevented the customer from losing the keys. I also have always put the manuals and driver software and OS CD kit in the same box I removed the motherboard from. This often prevented loss of these things and provided a neat filing box or folder for these items. Instead of trying to tell the customer which software to bring in with the computer (when repairs were needed) I just asked them to bring that motherboard box. Chuck
Re: [H] One giant blunder for mankind: how NASA lost moon pictures
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 4:02 PM Subject: Re: [H] One giant blunder for mankind: how NASA lost moon pictures That's the whole point. It was never backed up to anything and the originals are lost. I realize you are discussing data most likely saved on analog tape. Until recording started being done digitally from the beginning, the original, it was very important to have the original to make copies from. Copies made from copies had less quality. Once analog material is recorded digitally the loss of quality stops there. Take the films of the assasination of President Kennedy, for example. The loss of quality was frozen in time once those images were digitally recorded. Now copies can be made from copies and if the quality is down to a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 it will remain at a 3. My point is what value or extra quality can any digital original recording have? Copies do not lose quality. If it looks so good that it rates a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, it will hold its 9 no matter how many copies are made from copies. True, this is elementary for most of you, but interesting to think about. Does it justify my buying a DVD camcorder when I have a 8 mm tape camcorder? Just a reherotical question. That looks wrong but Spell Check did not correct it. Chuck
Re: [H] Problem after partition merge
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 12:13 AM Subject: RE: [H] Problem after partition merge I would've used XP's convert from the FAT32 to NTFS then instead of merging slowly resize partitions as need with PM has always worked for me copying the files over from 1 partition to the other manually. My success has been the same and I work the same as Wayne. I do not associate converting with resizing partitions. I consider converting as one function that I have Windows do one partition at a time. If I use Partition Magic I do not stack functions by ordering a series of more than one and then executing them. I select one function at a time and get it done first, then select another etc. Others have agreed that Partition Magic is more likely to ruin your data when it is attempting to run a sequence of commands. Evidently your computer is running since you are reading this. If you have valuable data on your hard drive, back it up before you shut your computer down. I often add comments for all (including those with less experience in losing data) with many of my posts. So this is not to insult the intelligence of the few who practice good backup procedures. If you believe that your next shutdown is risky, surely you will believe that a conversion, a split, resize or merge is a very risky procedure. You will back up your data before you do this (unless you are impatient as I am at times and feel that I can do this thing, just this once.) I guess the big question is how did you go for weeks and accumulate all of that data on just one hard drive and not back it up along the way? We still insist on thinking that a hard drive is for permanent storage and not just a temporary holding area for data. Some ask why we need 300 to 750 GB hard drives if we are not to consider them permanent storage areas. That space is to keep your data in a location that allows easy access while you are using your computer, not to permanently store it. Now that 4.5 GB per DVD disk is obsolete the same as a 1.44 MB floppy is obsolete, bring on Blue Ray! I have 100 GB on a partition I would like to back up on one permanent disk. In the past we did not want a pile of floppies. Later we did not want a pile of zip disks. Then we did not want a pile of 700 MB CD's. Now it would take a pile of DVD's to back up a partition that contains 100 GB of data. Chuck
Re: [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: [H] USB devices not being released...
- Original Message - From: Bobby Heid [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 7:17 AM Subject: RE: [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: [H] USB devices not being released... You can't close them as far as I know. They have services that run all of the time. I usually click on Stop a 2nd time and that works for me over 90% of the time. Do not simply unplug a USB external hard drive or switch it off. This may mess up the file and/or partition structure thus making the data unreadable. Been there, done that. Shut the computer down before you switch off or unplug the external hard drive, unless your clicking on Stop worked. Chuck
Re: [H] NIS Security center ?
- Original Message - From: FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 3:18 PM Subject: [H] NIS Security center ? I really hate the new Norton and McAfee stuff for consumers. Hell McAfee will not even let dnetc ( rc5) run, deletes it immediately. err fp Is there any simple way to access data that Norton or McAfee encrypted (such as documents in the My Documents Folder) when the hard drive containing the data is hooked to a different computer? There are many reasons why the computer that hosts the hard drive will not boot into Windows. Two I can think of real fast are 1. Windows is not bootable OR 2. The motherboard is dead in the computer that hosted the hard drive. I have been unable to recover customer's data several times recently due to one or both of these problems. I guess there is no substitute for properly backing up important data to writable media. Most customers have no idea their data is being encrypted when they install one of these products. Chuck
Re: [H] BTX?
- Original Message - From: JRS [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 9:00 PM Subject: Re: [H] BTX? Gonna be expensive, need new CPU, new mobo, new memory, new PCI-X video card. The most often not thought of factor is the loss of a working computer, one that can be sold and the proceeds used towards the cost of building a totally new computer. I have many times came up with figures similar to what I am showing here. These are round figures being used for example and do not reflect actual costs, but are close. To rebuild a computer you throw away a working motherboard, CPU memory etc. and you most likely will have to pay $90.00 to purchase Windows again since you were most likely using OEM. Microsoft looks closer at the CPU than any other component when they think in terms of a new computer, not an upgrade. You spend from $500.00 to $700.00 upgrading your old Windows XP computer and you often have used parts in your upgrade job, such as a used case etc. Total net outlay - $500.00 to $700.00 resulting in only one workable computer. To simply sell the old Windows XP computer for around $300.00 you have these proceeds to apply towards the new computer you build which costs you around $1000.00 (Including $90.00 for Windows XP Home OEM, more for Pro). After you sell the old one and apply the proceeds towards the cost to build a new computer, your expense is still only around $700.00 net. You do not have used parts in your new computer such as a used case etc. The results are 2 working computers. Somebody else benefits, also. If you truly meant what you said, Gonna be expensive then look hard at my suggestions and see if you can have a 100% new computer for close to the same expense. Chuck
Re: [SPAM SUSPECT] [H] Temp files and viruses
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 8:47 AM Subject: Re: [SPAM SUSPECT] [H] Temp files and viruses I just had a client's wife call me wanting to know if I'd buy back a 3yr old machine. It seems that hubby can't stay away from prOn sites will not pay the subscription fee for AV updates so the machine is At least they do not feel they bought a POS and threaten to contact the Better Business Bureau if you do not buy it back with it being only 3 years old. In my 2nd of 8+ years I had my first complaint with the BBB. When I walked in to present my documentation I was informed that the complaining customer had a bad attitude and nothing could satisfy her. Since then I have had about 3 to 5 more threaten to complain to the BBB but none actually went through with a formal complaint. Perhaps the BBB reviewed the evidence much closer and talk them out of filing. Chuck
Re: [H] Autopatch XP July
- Original Message - From: Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 11:03 PM Subject: [H] Autopatch XP July Anybody install July XP Autopatch. I keep getting this error... www.winterlight.org/error.jpg anybody else? I have tried downloading it again from another mirror but same thing. Any ideas? July?? I got the same error several times trying to install the June, 2006 update. I hope somebody figures this out soon. I am still using the May, 2006 update which leaves lots to download from Microsoft afterwards. Chuck
Re: [H] Bad Colors over the internet
- Original Message - From: Gary VanderMolen [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 8:57 PM Subject: Re: [H] Bad Colors over the internet Are you viewing those colors on a CRT or LCD screen? I agree that the Tennis Court White looks nothing like white on my laptop's screen, but I expected that. Anyone with a CRT getting better results? My Viewsonic LCD monitor showed that as perhaps a light gray, but certainly not reddish or a rose color. Chuck
Re: [H] LCD burn in ?
- Original Message - From: Bill Cohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:02 PM Subject: Re: [H] LCD burn in ? Sorry to have no advice for you. Just wanted to mention that I can see burn in on my 8 year old Viewsonic 21 P815 CRT monitor. Yes, it's from my desktop too. Not obvious, but you can see it when you have a white background. What I am about to describe involves a security procedure, also, but security has nothing to do with this thread. When I am going to be away from my computer, I hit the Windows key followed by the L key (lower case l is fine). This is a quick log off. Then I hit the power switch on my LCD monitor. It is my understanding that computer monitors do not power down completely when you do this. They do like televisions and go into some kind of standby mode. The point is there is no image on the screen in this mode. Because it does not completely power down, I do not feel it is doing harm by switching it off and on several times per day. I do the same thing at night, just hit the power switch and let it standby all night with no image on the screen. I do power down my computer once every 24 hours (at night when I am sleeping.) During the day my computer continues to run during these times I am logged out of Windows. True, there may be times during the day my computer monitor displays my wallpaper for an hour or two, but this has not burned an image into it. In fact the background for this email has lots of white space and I see no images burned in. This monitor is about 5 years old. Chuck
Re: [H] pita activation
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 8:31 PM Subject: Re: [H] pita activation At 04:29 PM 6/25/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] typed: When I say, clean install I meant I format Drive C first. Don't you blow away any hidden partitions as well ? Absolutely! This makes it completely forget it is a name brand computer and makes it reliant upon reinstalls being from the Windows XP Home OEM CD. This makes it no longer a proprietary computer. Any computer shop can easily do reinstalls on it. Even the name brand authorized service centers can do clean installs on clone computers or name brand computers that have been made to run like a clone. This expands the number of computer shops that can work on it to all of them. Chuck
[H] Best P.O.S.T. Diagnostic Card?
I was trying to build a Celeron Socket 775 computer using an Asus P5P800 Motherboard that I had left over. It would not perform P.O.S.T. It powered up and all of the fans spun, but no beeps or video. As you know, the Socket 775 fans are a dog to remove. I hope I do not have to attempt this. What is the best P.O.S.T. PCI diagnostic card around that has video display? I tried all the usual, different memory, different power supply and different video card. Still, no video. Any advice will be deeply appreciated, Chuck
[H] Intel P4 Compared to Pentium D
I am going from Intel CPU Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz FSB800MHz L2-2MB LGA775 CPU to Intel CPU Pentium D 930 3.0GHz FSB800MHz 2MBx2 LGA775 Dual Core Retail. Which is overall the fastest CPU if you take the .2 GHz difference out of the factoring? Any advice will be deeply appreciated, Chuck
Re: [H] Intel P4 Compared to Pentium D
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 4:38 PM Subject: Re: [H] Intel P4 Compared to Pentium D The Pentium D is nothing more than two P4's glued together. There is no IPC improvement. Given equal or near- equal speed, the P-D will feel more responsive and generally perform tasks quicker...especially those that are multithreaded. Thank you. I need any suggestions I can get as to whether to let this Intel CPU Pentium D 930 3.0GHz FSB800MHz 2MBx2 LGA775 Dual Core be my replacement for the Intel CPU Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz FSB800MHz L2-2MB LGA775 or just sell the one I ordered and move on to something else. My goal and objective is to use a P4 or Intel equivelant that is middle of the road in price and speed for a computer that is to be above average in performance. I build Celerons for economy and P4's for more performance. Thanks, Chuck
Re: AMD X2 price cuts - WAS: Re: [H] -N- AMD Prices Slashed
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 4:41 AM Subject: Re: AMD X2 price cuts - WAS: Re: [H] -N- AMD Prices Slashed right back in the premium price for premium performance game. If you don't want to pay premium prices, just live with lower performance - I've been doing that ever since I foolishly paid $1200 for a 486DX2-66 motherboard and CPU the week it came out. I play it middle of the road as I want performance but not bad enough to buy the latest and fastest technology for myself and my customers. I waited for the right timing on many changes. Some were the change to SATA, the change to DDR2 RAM and the change to PCI-e Video cards. Now my representative at ASI is telling me I need to move on up to Dual Core processors. In the Intel line and sticking with Asus motherboards I am forced to go to some or all of what I do not want, onboard video and SATA optical drives. At this point there is not a huge selection in SATA DVD writers etc. My timing is not always perfect. I wonder if I was too slow years ago in moving from AT to the ATX format in cases and motherboards. I feel I moved up to 7200 RPM hard drives early in the game. I did not catch on when Western Digital started the 7200's with the 13.6 GB, but I jumped on the wagon whey they started offering 20 GB hard drives in the 7200 RPM models. A good sales representative will assist in letting you know when the stock levels are adequate and stable, when the selection is adequate and when the price is right to move up to a better technology. Also you will be made aware when the price is right, not too high or so low that you have waited too long and are selling obsolete units, but when the price is middle of the road and you get the most bang for your bucks, overall. I rarely have a customer complain about having been sold obsolete technology. If one did I would inform them that if they had wanted to pay premium dollar for the latest and the greatest at that time, they would have told me to take it up a few notches before they agreed to their purchase. I use Windows XP Professional Edition as an example. If they need it, they know they need it. Note that over 90% of my customers are buying for home use and most businesses who purchase from me do not even have their computers networked, other than their high speed Internet network. Currently in CPU technology, today I am not going to dual core CPU's or SATA optical drives in that area. All of that may change tomorrow as different items become available etc. I foolishly paid $1200 for a 486DX2-66 motherboard and CPU the week it came out. Now that you have learned, I would imagine some of your reasons for moving up to the newer technology have to do with the same reasons I just outlined as my reasons, also, for a slow, but progressive move that does not bust your budget. One more example from my past: I did not jump up to the PIII 933 for $600.00 when I was buying PIII 600's for around $300.00. Chuck
Re: [H] Windows Validation tool
- Original Message - From: Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 10:49 PM Subject: Re: [H] Windows Validation tool Me too. I hate phoning home. If you hate phoning home, do not try to format the hard drive of a name brand computer and do a clean install of Windows XP using an OEM CD. You will be denied activation and have to personally call Microsoft. You will have to enter that 54 digit code and answer some questions. You will be asked if this is the first time Windows is being installed on the computer, the Product Key and on how many other computers this issue of Windows has been installed on. You will be asked the make and model number of the computer and where it was purchased. Microsoft sometimes hangs up on you during all of this and you have to start over. You know what starting over means regarding the 54 digit number. You have to give that to them each time you call. I guess their communications from Taiwan are not the best in the world, as that is where you are calling. Perhaps you would not have to personally phone home if you simply ran the restore disk and ended up without the increase in performance etc. you get via a clean install. I do not have to phone home when I do a clean install on a clone computer. Remember what you said, I hate phoning home when you purchase your next computer. With a clone that has not been loaded with bloatware etc. you most likely will not have to phone home using voice communications to answer to a person in Taiwan that Microsoft has given such authority to. Chuck
Re: [H] I'm convinced, Vista is garbage.
- Original Message - From: Chris Reeves [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 7:51 PM Subject: Re: [H] I'm convinced, Vista is garbage. One of the other problems vista will face is market confusion. There will be EIGHTEEN different versions of Vista This reminds me of the horrible rip-off of customers who make the mistake of buying XP Home OEM when they really need XP Pro OEM. If Microsoft uses an upgrade path with Vista that is similar to XP look for huge rip-offs. Here is the scenario I have seen customers face and some took the bait: Customer orders a new computer with XP Home which is $90.00 on his invoice from me (I line item quote new computers) Customer changes his mind a week later and wants XP Pro which sells for $180.00 in the local stores, the Upgrade version. Customer asks me for advice. My Windows XP Pro OEM kits are $150.00. Can't do that as the computer is not new anymore, so it legally does not qualify for my OEM kit, but requires the Upgrade version. Customer now pays $180.00 to upgrade from XP Home OEM to XP Pro Upgrade version. Total outlay for Windows hits $270.00 in a week! Rip-off or what? If the upgrade path for Vista is anything like the upgrade path for XP, either make the right choice the first time, sell the computer and buy another new one, or get screwed royally in the pricing to upgrade. Of course I called Microsoft and raised hell and was told, Your only option to install XP Pro on that existing computer is the Upgrade version. Case closed and Microsoft wins again, $270.00 for one computer because the customer made the wrong choice in the beginning. Chuck
Re: [H] I'm convinced, Vista is garbage.
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 8:57 AM Subject: RE: [H] I'm convinced, Vista is garbage. And how many laptops have 128MB of video RAM or more? Not many. So Vista isn't for laptops, clearly. Of course, they're looking to the future, when we all buy new ones. :) In my opinion, operating system upgrades are a huge gamble, pure and simple. The customer bets at least $90.00 (the street price in the stores for Win 95 Upgrade, Win 98 Upgrade, Win Me Upgrade and Win XP Home Upgrade) against the odds of getting $90.00 in value. If it does not work out, Microsoft keeps the $90.00 if the package has been opened. True, Microsoft will allow it to be migrated to another computer if it was never authenticated. Only the high end computers that were purchased close to the tail end of the change by Microsoft from one OS to a new OS, run well with OS upgrades. For example, high end computers purchased in 2005 or 2006 are most likely to take an upgrade to Vista decently. Around Albany, GA over 90% of computers are very low end. The low end ones barely handle the OS that came on them. The problem is the customer does not know this and often buys and upgrade to their OS. Microsoft gets paid twice for the OS on the same computer when it is upgraded. Again, my opinion. I would love to see all those low end computers denied an upgrade by their owners. They can be passed on to the kids or sold, thus providing the poor who can not afford a new computer a used computer. Even if this advice is followed, if the customer does not learn how to spec. a computer and buy well above the low end one, they will get poor performance from whatever OS that comes on it. So what can be worse than a sluggish low end desktop that has received and OS upgrade? A low end laptop that has received and OS upgrade, as they are more sluggish than desktops with the same specs. anyway. Chuck
Re: [H] %program files% variable all hosed
- Original Message - From: CW [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 3:25 PM Subject: [H] %program files% variable all hosed Had to do a repair install of WindowsXP 64 on a machine in the house. Now, the %program files% variable is wonky.. itbasically doesn't find it. (ie, go to a prompt, cd %program files% gets nothing) and programs, as a result, also are unable to You support my argument for formatting and reinstalling from the start. Rarely has a repair install went the way I wanted it to go. Most times it just fails to complete. Could it be that repair installs bog down in the tons of updates that have been applied to be completely up to date? I wanted to migrate from a 250 GB hard drive to a 400 GB hard drive. I partitioned and cloned all of my data to my new hard drive. Windows XP would not boot. I tried a repair install and it would not go all the way through. So I reverted back to my 250 GB hard drive and I will live with it until I either change computers or for other reasons do a format and clean install. I clone the results of clean installs on customer's computers. I successfully restore these clones when their Windows crashes. In most situations Windows XP boots ok. My guess is cloning a load that has lots of junk on it does not work. My C Drive has over 17 GB of data on it, mostly applications etc. I have my data files on other partitions. I have went over 3 years without formatting and reinstalling. It is my guess this is a main reason I am not being allowed to clone to a larger hard drive and boot up or to complete a repair install. Chuck
Re: [H] Geeksquad/Bestbuy rip off?
- Original Message - From: warpmedia [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:37 PM Subject: Re: [H] Geeksquad/Bestbuy rip off? No surprises there! Funny they don't just cut to the chase and flat-out offer to re-install the OS from a no-bloatware image for $180. =) The world has accepted the explanation, The computer is down when over 90% of these instances could be avoided if computers were built of quality and without bloatware. All the Windows XP OEM Preinstallation Kit does is turn your computer into a billboard. So does the bloatware it makes easy to install. As long as the general public accepts this, the computer manufacturers will keep dishing it out. I strongly feel the public allows itself to be abused more with the whole process involving computers than with any other product. Over 8 years of experience tells me that you have less hardware problems (and no overheating problems) and a more stable Windows with quality hardware and no bloatware. Chuck
Re: [H] Geeksquad/Bestbuy rip off?
- Original Message - From: Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 12:10 PM Subject: Re: [H] Geeksquad/Bestbuy rip off? Click here to install AOL Click here to install Earthlink Free Trial of Quicken Technically the Windows XP OEM Preinstallaton Kit does not in itself turn computers into billboards or load them with bloatware. It is the computer manufacturers following the instructions included with the kit that does the evil deed. You can read all about it in the instructions. Microsoft highly encourages OEM's to install their logos, their ISP software and any other software they choose to install, using the kit. It is like handing a criminal an unloaded gun and instructing him how to use the bullets he furnishes to kill people. Microsoft knows the OEM's are chomping at the bits for assistance in gooking up OEM installations of Windows as it seems well over 90% do just that. For those who still doubt, answer this question. Why do many (if not the majority) of power users who buy name brand computers format them and do clean installs, immediately after they receive the computers? I bet most any performance benchmark would show lots higher performance after this has been done than before. Chuck
Re: [H] Registry Mechanic
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2006 10:03 AM Subject: Re: [H] Registry Mechanic And why not? My wife is going on 8 yrs on her 98 machine without a format reinstall. Heck not even a dirty install either. ;-) Why not? She has a programmer on board. Y'all fellows can earn $50.00 per hour and up and not ever touch a screwdriver. No wonder programmers do house calls. They do not have to physically work inside of the box. Hardly anyone has desk space to work on a computer, so you end up using their floor for your bench. Often you have to unhook the computer to pull it out enough to get inside of it. Then you have to slide it back to hook it back up etc. My guess is anyone who knows their way around a Windows Registry and fix practically any Windows problem and avoid reinstalling. If I knew all of that I would quit the lowly, low paying hardware work and just do keyboard and mouse work. Chuck
Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :(
- Original Message - From: joeuser [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 5:50 PM Subject: Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :( No I mean he will still get the same model. Warranty issues are why I do not sell the high end components, but the middle of the road stuff. If a computer manufacturer/shop buys and sells a $300.00 video card and it is either DOA or goes out in warranty, the computer shop has to replace it. You can not ask your customer to wait 3 weeks, so you have to buy (if you do not stock) a new ones to service your warranty. When you get the return item, often it is so used you can see the turned colors. What would be bright brass color of new is dingy. If you have your customer buy their high end parts at Office Depot, they can be took back with a few days (if bad) and you get a new one. I know of no computer supplier that promptly returns new items for new items. I would gladly let my supplier hold five hundred dollars of my money in an escrow account, if they would promise to ship out new replacements for any RAM item, the same day I call it in. How do y'all handle warranty replacements without them being a heavy business expense? Chuck
Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :(
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 9:10 PM Subject: Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :( To each their own as I've never had a problem with an Abit mombo my wife is still using a KT7a without any problems but I listened to the My comments about warranty issues were in general, not aimed at any particular manufacturer. Abit may give lots better warranty service than Asus. Asus is very slow to ship the replacement board. While on the subject, finally, I had a Seagate hard drive to die. I got an RMA and shipped it to Texas via UPS Ground. Seagate promptly shipped my replacement. It was a recertified drive (the same as Western Digital) but at least Seagate shipped promptly and Seagate did not ship the same way I shipped to them. They shipped it 2 day air. Any other comments on Seagate RMA turnarounds compared to Western Digital? I am convinced that less Seagates die, also. Seagate earned my business by being the first to offer me a 5 year warranty. Chuck
Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :(
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 9:16 PM Subject: Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :( I do advance replacements whenever I can. If I can't, I always leave a barely visible marker so I can see if I got the same exact item back. Or, at least keep a copy of the serial number of the item you send to them. It makes you feel better to get somebody else's dead and repaired component than to get your dead and repaired component back. The sad part is your DOA's are technically new and what you get back could be a year or more old and repaired. Chuck
Re: [H] Well, it sort of is hardware...
- Original Message - From: Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 10:59 AM Subject: [H] Well, it sort of is hardware... The water pressure at my house isn't the greatest and the 'new' shower head that the contractor put in, frankly, sucks. We've had a 'soaking' shower You have a good benchmarking question. What is your water pressure? We have consistently ran very close to 60 pounds (+ or - a few) for the 19 years we have been in our home in Albany, GA. We are approximately 1.25 miles from the closest water tank in the city water network. Albany, GA claims to have the most abundant underground supplied water network in the country. Chuck
Re: [H] XP Pro Upgrade
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:27 PM Subject: [H] XP Pro Upgrade Here's a problem. I have a customer with an XP Pro COA, but no CD. I don't have a CD in the shop for the upgrade, and the COA won't work with a full version of XP Pro. Does anyone know if I can get a CD from MS? Microsoft would either give problems or a big bill. Get it from a friend. Waiting for one of us to snail mail you a copy would be longer than you may wish to wait. Chuck
Re: [H] XP Pro Upgrade
- Original Message - From: Analyst [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 3:27 PM Subject: Re: [H] XP Pro Upgrade You should be able to purchase a Re-install disk from the original manufacturer, but if you have any OEM CD handy, you might be able to utilize that and substitute the COA registration upon installation. YMMV In the past several months I have had to call Microsoft and give them the 42 digit installation code and the Product Key and then they give me the 42 digit code to authenticate Windows on 90% of all name brand computers, even when there were no hardware changes. Microsoft hates to see clean installs, I guess. This is no problem, just humiliating and time consuming. Actually it is a hoop they make people who prefer clean installs to jump through. Just make sure you install with the same version of Windows, (Upgrade, Full or OEM.) If you do not, the Product Key on the COA will not work. Chuck
Re: [H] Well, it sort of is hardware...
- Original Message - From: Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 2:30 PM Subject: RE: [H] Well, it sort of is hardware... of accounts, each at a different flow rate / pressure. I picked the cheapest one, and I still have 160 PSI coming in, which is a tremendous pressure for residential. Wow! I have 60, so 160 may bust my copper pipes! Or it may break the valves in my washing machine, dishwasher etc. (Yes, down here in the rurals we do have dishwashers that do not stand on two feet.) Chuck
Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :(
- Original Message - From: joeuser [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 3:54 PM Subject: Re: [H] dead A8N-Sli Deluxe... :( Not sure how lucky he is, he's getting the same board back again. They do not always send the same component back. Sometimes you get a pull instead. Either way, I hate to have to return anything. Chuck
Re: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues
- Original Message - From: Rick Quilhot [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 9:07 AM Subject: RE: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues I had something similar to this happen to me, I ended up rolling back a bois update and the on board sound worked great After all attempts to install a SB PCI 128 failed, I bought a SB Audigy SE Model SB0570 and it worked. My 8+ years of experience tells me that name brand motherboards are not always impossible, but seldom easy. This is not like the first time I have dealt with the name brand dog and pony show. Y'all may slam me for damning them, perhaps even take up for them, but 8+ years causes me to react according to my experiences. I know I would not have had to go out and buy a different sound card if it had been one of my custom builds. That SB PCI 128 would have took to the motherboard like a duck taking to water. To repeat, I had tried the PCI 128 in each of the 3 PCI slots, as the only card in a PCI slot, so it being in the wrong slot could not have been an issue. With a name brand all the slots are the wrong slot because they are on the wrong motherboard. But as many of y'all say, That is just me when disagreeing with my opinion of name brand computers. If I follow my conscience and stick with real computer, real parts work. My stance saves me money. Although you may not speak up here, I strongly feel many of y'all have had the same problems getting things to work with the motherboards in name brand computers. Chuck
Re: [H] MS Makes VirtualServer 2005 R2 Free
- Original Message - From: Stan Zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 1:03 AM Subject: Re: [H] MS Makes VirtualServer 2005 R2 Free Glad to hear you're content but Microsoft will destroy open source/free any way it possibly can! The Walmart of the software industry without the low prices! Long live Linux! Sometimes my predictions and/or wishes come true. For years some felt I was doing wrong by copying and using Microsoft Windows CD's of various Windows versions to do clean installs. True, I was breaking their rules. I was not pirating Windows, as I was using the Product Key shown on the COA affixed to the computer. Now, according to the latest issue of Maximum PC, Microsoft will include all versions of Vista on one generic DVD. Evidently Microsoft feels they have enough control with the combination of Product Activation and Product Validation etc. to stop most of the piracy. No more of this having to buy a Windows CD just for the media, as I had to do in order to get myself a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition to do clean installs with. I sold that kit along with its legal COA etc. to a customer along with a new computer for the same price that I would have charged for Windows XP Home, ninety dollars. My point here is I for a long time have predicted that Microsoft will rent Windows by the month or by the year. Could they start this with Vista? Would it surprise anyone if they did? They have already built into the all versions DVD idea, the ability to upgrade your version of Vista. Can you see where this is going? It is a sneaky way to get your credit card number. With all versions on one DVD now I am wondering how I, the OEM, will pay for the version of Vista I choose to install on new computers I build. Perhaps each kit will have an unlock code installed by the distributor? Or who knows? Somehow I get the feeling that Microsoft will want my credit card number. It would not surprise me if Microsoft eliminates any OEM who does not sell at least 100 computers per month. I am looking around for a job, the same as any employee who feels a firing coming on would do. I do not trust Daddy Bill Gates or his clan! The scary part is at any moment, Microsoft could press a few control buttons and destroy Microsoft Windows on any computer in the world that is online, or all of them, unless you have a third party firewall that keeps Microsoft out. Chuck
Re: [H] MS Makes VirtualServer 2005 R2 Free
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:42 AM Subject: Re: [H] MS Makes VirtualServer 2005 R2 Free Yeah. Because Bill is planning on becoming the Evil Emperor of the Universe, and the first part of his plan is to destroy all copies of Windows. :) That would be the extreme and highly unlikely, but it is good mind exercise to keep aware of the possibilities. At least, let's acknowledge that Microsoft will have more control with Windows Vista. Most likely Microsoft will not rent Vista but I bet the EULA will not be open ended. Somewhere in the fine print I anticipate some clause that allows Microsoft to start receiving supplemental funds at any point in the future they feel the need to. Hopefully they never will and Vista will be as easy as XP is to authenticate and validate etc. and will run without additional costs as long as you own the computer it is authenticated on. I hate having to call Microsoft to authenticate practically every clean install I do on a name brand computer. According to Jellybean, some installs have the correct product key and some do not, but on most I have to call Microsoft. I will gladly live with this calling Microsoft (most often there are no hardware changes, just a clean install) in exchange for having a measure of protection from butcher builders pricing me out of the local market using Windows piracy as a price reducing tool. Occasionally I am put on Ignore (Hold) but most times I get prompt service when I call Microsoft for assistance in authentication. Once I have called Microsoft, I know I have had the same product key shown on the COA authenticated as that is the one I use when I do the clean install. There is great satisfaction in making this correction. I am in no way trying to predict any massive catastrophe, but it does not hurt to make oneself aware of the control that Microsoft builds in to keep things going their way. It would make no sense to cause massive destruction but that does not stop people from doing it. It does not have to be Microsoft. We all know that from time to time somebody will toss a monkey wrench into some very important and valuable machinery. Chuck
Re: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues
- Original Message - From: Rick Quilhot [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 9:07 AM Subject: RE: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues I had something similar to this happen to me, I ended up rolling back a bois update and the on board sound worked great How was it now working? Did the drivers not install properly, thus not letting sound devices such as Windows Media Player play audio OR did the audio play but no line audio signal sent to the amplified speakers? In my situation everything appears to be working but there is no audio being sent to the speakers or to headphones if I plug those in. Being a Compaq (one owner etc.) I have no reason to think the BIOS has been flashed, but perhaps I could flash the BIOS if you feel this may help. Belarc Advisor did tell me it is an AsusTeK A7N8X-LA motherboard. With help from the Microsoft site I found that my auto play problem was a bad setting in the Registry. I wonder why out of hundreds of clean installs of XP just this one set the auto play to 0 instead of 1 (0 for no auto play and 1 for auto play). Now auto play works along with the other sound features, and yes, the proper sound device is showing as default and nothing is muted. Thanks, Chuck
Re: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues
- Original Message - From: FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 9:18 AM Subject: Re: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues is it possible the onboard audio is proprietary to compaq speakers ? compaq'a and hp's usually make me regret working on them :'( As you can see, I have not given up, yet. If there was some onboard proprietary audio issue, they why would the SoundBlaster PCI 128 card not install in any of the 3 PCI slots, and I did disable the onboard audio in the BIOS before trying to install the sound card. This computer is a prime example of why I do not use any CPU but Intel. I can not afford to stock different motherboards etc. for two brands of CPU's. Technology moves far too fast and they would get outdated even worse than my minimum Intel stock now gets outdated. If it had been a Compaq using an Intel CPU I would have changed the motherboard and not had all of these issues. I realize that some of you may have had smooth sailing with name brand computers, but they have been nothing but horror for me in my 8 years. And to think the only hardware components that make a name brand computer a name brand are its inferior motherboard and case. Once I replace these, it is downhill from there. Thanks, Chuck
Re: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues
- Original Message - From: Chris Reeves [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 9:21 AM Subject: RE: [H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues Is digital audio output enabled? If it is, you'll get no analog output really common on HPs/Compaq/Gateway that shipped originally with Boston Accoustic digital speakers. Thanks, but it is set for analog. Chuck
[H] SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 Auto Play Issues
I have formatted Drive C and done a clean install of Windows XP on a Compaq Presario S4100CL Athlon 2600+ computer. I have done all of the Windows updates etc. The onboard Realtek AC '97 Audio allows Windows Media Player 10 to play audio in different formats, but the final output (the green one) sends on audio to speakers or headphones that I know work. I have check the standard settings for volume levels and nothing is muted. I disabled the onboard audio in the BIOS and re-enabled it, still to no avail. I disabled it again and tried to install a SoundBlaster PCI 128 CT4730 sound card, but the install of the software hangs up windows, even in Safe Mode. I tried each of the available 3 PCI slots with only the sound card, leaving the other two PCI slots open, to no avail. I am sound card poor here in my shop since most computers have been using onboard audio for years. Only recently did I finally sell of my last SoundBlaster Live! and Soundblaster PCI 128 cards and have just bought these two new PCI 128 cards to install in computers with inoperative onboard audio. I have no other models to try. I did install one of these SB PCI 128's into my shop computer and it works fine. This mess is just another piece of convince evidence I have gathered in over 8 years to prove to me that custom built computers are far more easier to work with than name brand computers. Not only does the onboard audio fail to send audio to speakers or headphones and the sound card will not install, Auto Play will not work either. I tried two new CD/DVD devices, to no avail. I checked the Auto Play settings and they are all ok. This is a rebuild into a new case of a Compaq computer. If I can not resolve the audio issue, I will end up having to trash this motherboard and CPU. Surely I am missing some simple something. Perhaps it is as simple as trying different brand sound cards until I find one that is acceptable to the Compaq motherboard. Have any of you went through a stack of different brand sound cards trying to get one to work in a computer? I have in the past. I do not have a stack of them to go through this time. Is Auto Play tied into this problem somehow? Any ideas in solving the audio and Auto Play problems will be deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance, Chuck
Re: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible
- Original Message - From: Christopher Klein [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'The Hardware List' hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10:18 PM Subject: RE: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible That takes way too much time. Boot from CD and clean it from there. Oh, I forgot that few cases are similar to the misnamed Enlight case. Pitstop should have been their name, not Enlight. Put a fully assembled (right from being in use by the customer) Enlight case computer on my bench and I have the completely disconnected 3.5 bay frame in my hands within 25 seconds. It takes another 5 seconds to hook it to my shop computer which is kept on a shelf at eye level with its side open, ready to work. Then booting to a Windows XP operating system is far quicker than booting to a CD. I love working out of my home as I can have the equipment that I need. How many bench techs who work for a business have flat panel shop monitors (the space savings are worth the cost)? How many have a computer sitting at eye level with side open with 4 IDE and 2 SATA channels available to do testing, virus scanning and hardware testing? How many have an office computer to do their paperwork, Internet access and other computer related tasks on? Both my shop computer and my office computer are for me, only. My wife has her own computer in another room. How many have a second workstation wired to share one monitor, keyboard and mouse with 2 computers? By having dedicated equipment I was able to run Spinrite for 10 hours on a drive and then run Scandisk for another 4 hours on the same drive and patch it up just enough to recover the customer's important data. I did this without interfering with my normal operations in my shop. I recover their data for free if they buy a new computer from me or for a reasonable fee if they are simply getting a new hard drive. If they choose to do no business with me, I charge them $50.00 for a DVD with their data on it. In my area many choose to do no business with me. They just want to drop back by and pick up their hard drive that I put 10+ hours of repair and recovery time in and copied its data to a DVD before it totally crashed. Hard drives seem to know when their owner is a cheap bastard and crash after I get the data onto a DVD but before the customer picks it up. Albany, Georgia is an area where people do not haggle over the price of a new forty grand vehicle but want to haggle for 3 days over a thousand dollar computer and then either go buy a five hundred dollar Wal*Mart special or a three grand dell, no haggle, of course! Chuck
Re: [H] Is activating XP necessary?
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 12:44 AM Subject: Re: [H] Is activating XP necessary? volume licensing but volume licensing is suppose to be used as upgrades to existing licenses only. I had previously submitted that link but I don't believe it's valid any longer I've not gotten the If anyone finds a legal deal on Windows Home OEM that is for less than the $254.00 I pay for a 3 pack, please let me know. I have been paying $90.00 for Windows since I bought my first upgrade CD to upgrade from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 back in that era. I know I will never come close to the twenty or less dollars dell pays for Windows. I do take pride in handing the customer the sealed Windows kit after I remove the COA and affix it to their computer. I use my media for installation. Chuck
Re: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 12:50 AM Subject: RE: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible Still I would much rather boot a BartPe or XpPe disk CD that remove the HD put it into another machine. I tried booting the new Knoppix 5 DVD on a 2700+ machine I thought that would never boot up but it did eventually. I know my shop computer is a P4 2.53 GHz with a gig of RAM (If I had felt memory starved I would have doubled that as I did in my office computer) and it has no major issues. I trust it lots more than I trust a customer's computer. I tried one of those homemade boot Windows XP operating systems. That thing took a long time to boot up. It had to copy all of that stuff from the CD into RAM which I guess is the reason it was slow to boot. In a normal boot, my shop computer simply copies the needed data from the hard drive into the 1024 MB of RAM. I simply tell people what is more comfortable for me. I realize they are going to continue to do what they feel best with. My purpose is not to get them to change as what y'all do has no affect on the success of my business. I believe that the more opinions and the more information a person has to work with, the more informed decisions they can make. My guess is very few computer shops work with workhorse shop computers. The computer shop I got trained in was so cheap they refused to replace the one old 13 CRT monitor that was defective, cutting off while in use etc. It was difficult to get a dedicated 3 to 4 feet of bench space! A second workstation would have been totally out of the question. Now I have 8 feet on one bench and 6 feet on another plus my office space. Chuck Chuck
Re: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible
- Original Message - From: Mesdaq, Ali [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 2:04 PM Subject: RE: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible Exactly what we were debating a few weeks ago. Where are those I can clean any infection guys at now? Format Drive C and do a clean install is looking lots better to many of you now. I was never a networker nor did I ever deal with Windows NT. I did hear that businesses ran Windows NT clean and simple on a small partition, keeping their important data on another partition, better yet, that other partition being on both the workstation computer and the server, making 2 data storage partitions. They had only a few applications to reinstall. When Windows went bad, they simply formatted Drive C, reinstalled Windows and the few applications and were back in business. My point is the format and clean install is more effective, even if it takes 5 seconds longer than trying to clean up a C Drive. Most realize that formatting and reinstalling is best once 5 hours of hard works is to no avail. Chuck
Re: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 4:32 PM Subject: RE: [H] Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible We're still here. Isn't it funny how MSFT does NOT address booting another OS even XP cleaning these affected HDs? I've already successfully cleaned bugs with my XpPe disk that I could NOT have If I were going to try to clean up a hard drive, my preference would be to remove it and attach it to another computer and run it passively. Chuck
Re: [H] Motherboard upgrade gotcha
- Original Message - From: Robert Turnbull [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 8:53 AM Subject: [H] Motherboard upgrade gotcha transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required. I predict that Vista will end repairable computers. Microsoft may very well choose to simply end it for us small OEM's. After all, we produce a product that outlasts a name brand anyway. OR Microsoft may simply choose to rent Windows. Either way, Microsoft wins and the customer loses and I have to go get a real job. Chuck
Re: [H] Motherboard upgrade gotcha
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 9:10 AM Subject: Re: [H] Motherboard upgrade gotcha Good thing all of my motherboard replacements are for defects. Defects in speed, defects in feature list, defects in compatibility...:) FO MSFT. You did not run that through spell check or you would have been corrected to spell it, Dell. Chuck
Re: [H] Hardrive failure..
- Original Message - From: Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:33 AM Subject: Re: [H] Hardrive failure.. I replaced ten 40 and 80 GB Maxtors in one week. They are that bad, unfortunately. Of the drives I replace, at least 90% are Maxtors. Dell is/was a big Maxtor user and it shows here. Maxtor did not buy Quantum for the materials. The bought Quantum for the massive customer base, namely many name brand computer manufacturers. Now the bottom of the barrel for hard drives has risen one inch, from Quantum to Maxtor. Yet the masses still love those name brand computers filled with Maxtors (unless they find a cheaper hard drive). The same principle applies to the other components. They buy the cheapest ones offered with one stipulation, of course. 90% or better of any component installed in a name brand computer is expected to live through the 1 year warranty. If you believe this and somebody asks you if you are saying name brand manufacturers have no principles you can disagree. They have one strong principle. Most computers they build and sell are expected to clear warranty before they fall apart. Chuck
Re: [H] Hardrive failure..
- Original Message - From: Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 7:55 AM Subject: Re: [H] Hardrive failure.. You do realize that Seagate absolutely dwarfs Maxtor, WD, Samsung, Fujitsu, and all other HD players, right? I have not had to RMA a Seagate, yet. No DOA's with Seagate like I had occasionally with Western Digital. I have been with Seagate for only a year, and so far, no RMA's. Most of my hard drive failures were either DOA or within 6 months, so things are looking great for Seagate. Will some of you others who build and repair post your results? Here are mine: Enlight cases have a low power supply failure rate. Asus motherboards have a very low failure rate. Intel CPU's ZERO failure rate, even for many I pulled from lightning destroyed motherboards and used again. Crucial Memory - Only one stick RMA in over 5 years. ASI house brand I used before that was terrible! ATI Video Cards - Very low failure rate. U.S. Robotics 2976 OEM hardware modem - Very low failure rate. Mitsumi floppy drive - Very low failure rate. Sony CD/DVD ROMS and Writers - Zero Failure Rate Life is very good when the primary goal and objective is durability with the second goal and objective being performance. Price is third. My findings is the cost per year of ownership and use is always lower, overall, when you purchase low maintenance, low failure, long lasting products, no matter what the product. That statement, The $500.00 disposable computer costs less in the long run just does not fly with me! After 8 years I have yet for one of the computers I built to come in here dead in a way it was not feasible or it was cost prohibitive to repair it. So I have no idea how long they will last with none having been retired or junked that I know of. Chuck
Fw: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup
- Original Message - From: "Wayne Johnson" [EMAIL PROTECTED]To: "The Hardware List" hardware@hardwaregroup.comSent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 6:40 PMSubject: Re: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup One can always install the HP drivers without installing the apps but it has to be done manually as there is no install for this. I did it with my HP720 years ago again with the G55 that I have now so there is no bloat.Do you remember awhile back I was asking on one list for the media for Windows XP Media Center Edition? Some of yall frowned because I was technically violating the Microsoft rules.I do clean installs on name brand computers, not the loaded install the name brand manufacturer does. Since nobody offered me the media (I did not want any Product Key as that would be illegal) I purchased a Windows XP Media Center Edition kit from my supplier, ASI.A dead HP Media Center Edition m480n computer came in last night. I rebuilt that rascal. I used a new Enlight case with a 450 watt power supply (replacing the HP 200 watt power supply), a new Asus P4P800 SE motherboard, the customer's P4 3.2 GHz CPU, the customer's RAM plus one stick to upgrade to 1024 MB, the customer's video card, the customer's modem, a new Seagate 250 GB hard drive, the customer's CD/DVD ROM and Writing devices and the customer's Asus TV tuner card with Conexant chips on it.Look at the massive hardware changes I did on that HP. Note that all customer furnished parts were original HP in that m480n except the DVD ROM and the DVD Writer. The customer had already changed these out after realizing that Hewlett Packard installs cheap components that do not meet the needs of most power users.My point here is that when I went to authenticate the clean install of Windows XP Media Center Edition it went right through! I did not even have to call Microsoft! I have to call Microsoft to authenticate clean installs on most name brand computers, even when there is absolutely no hardware changes. Rarely do I have to call Microsoft when I authenticate the installation of Windows on a rebuild job, no matter how many components I replace. At a minimum, I replace the case and the motherboard, as these are the ONLY hardware components that tag any computer as a proprietary name brand computer. I always use the Product Key that appears on the COA affixed to the name brand computer.My question here is does anyone have the drivers for the Asus TV card that is installed in these HP Media Center computers? This is the only hardware that I can not find drivers for. The HP site offers only the restore software. Driverguide.com did no better for me. Belarc Advisor, Driver Detective and others simply do not list devices that have no drivers, yet they are listed in Device Manager. I can not even identify the TV card properly. I attached the Belarc Advisor results. I do not know if this list allows attachments such as this. If the attachment is allowed it will come in another message (if approved by the moderators).Is there any software that will identify all hardware, even the hardware that is not properly installed due to lack of drivers?Any advice on this will be appreciated.Chuck
