joddle

I set setup to use the CD as the first disk and ensured it was loading form the CDrom when trying a new install. Its realy odd because even at that stage, all the files appeared to be loading (I assume into memory) and after that I get the normal "starting windows" message at the foot of the screen. Then it seems to pause a second or two then blue screens with the very unhelpfull message that it had stopped to avoid damaging the PC and to check for Viruses etc - on a newly re formatted HDD!!!!! I tried using the Avira rescue disk to check for viruses on the old HDD - it runs under Linux and everything worked fine and two hours of checking found no virus - but of course its not trying to load anything onto the HDD only reading from it. What I find strange is that it did not cause any blue screen which seems to suggest most of the PC is fine! - but something happens when it tries to start windows - for either a new install, or from an attempt at a safe load, or even from the old OS disk. What it it trying to do at that stage? - is that a clue? I have tried using the Dell onboard diagnostics and it reports a fault (as expected) with the old HDD - I suppose I should try the same thing using a new H disk before attempting to load an OS!

Thanks for all the above - It is a desktop - Dell 755 It gets really odd now. Having assumed there was an error on the main HDD I tried loading a new OS onto a new HDD. The problem reoccures at the exact same place as when attempting to run in safe mode from the old HDD - ie when the "Starting Windows" message appears. It does not get as far as the splash screen but fails soon afer the "starting windows" message appears. This is the same situation on two new HDDs I have tried and also when attempting to reload the OS from the correct dell reinstallation dish onto a different tested HDD. It even fails at the same place with no HDD connected! If the old disk is reinserted, on F8 the safe mode menu appears in spanish (not surprising as the instalation of this machine is in Spanish) but if I try and run the "last good profile" or "run normally" the system attempts to load windoes, stops at the splash screen with the blue bars going across then files with a message saying the HDD is unmountable. I cant get as far as the "repair system" menu. From that I assume the old HDD is corrupt - but why then cannot I reinstall a system on a new HDD? Just as a check, I swapped out all the memorey sims from an identical known working PC but the faults are exactly the same the same so that rules out a memory fault I think. AS the problem always seems to happen when its trying to "open windows", could that be a clue? - My local repair shop have suggested it could be a MOBO fault ( but they have not examined the machine yet) in which case I would not mind swapping to another MOBO (they are cheap enough on Ebay) but I want to be sure all the effort and time is going to be worth it!!! If not the machine seems to be scrap and I shoud perhaps just get another SH one or a later 380 or 780 complete with a newer OS installed! A bit sad as I have 4 of these machines running for several years and never had a serious issue with any of them before!

Having returned from a long holiday, one of my PCs failed to boot up. It got as far as the windows screen then crashed saying fault with boot sector on hard disk. however replaced the hard disk with disk from another identical machine and it crashed with notice saying there was a fault. Tried booting from recovery disk but blue screen crashed again after attempting to load many files. Tried safety mode and got half way through load when crashed again with same message. Ran diagnostics and get this message error code 0146 MSG .. error code 2000-0146 msg hard drive 0- self test log contains previous errors Tried using the main HD on another identical PC but seems full of errors and crashed the PC When it fails using the origional disk the blues screen message comes up in Spanish (it has a spanish OS system on the HD) When it fails with the other HD the message comes up in English (that disk is from a UK OS) All Pcs here using XP pro SP3 Dont know what to try next - any ideas please????

Thanks - thats sorted now Joddle

Add to above - I can see all my opther PCs from the W7 machine and can access them - its just the other way round does not work. I have created a shared folder on the W7 machine and granted access to "everyone" but still no joy.

I have several PCs dotted about the house - most run XP but one runs vista. So far I have been able to use a single workgroup for all the machines. Recently I got a W7 machine and although it seems to have joined the workgroup OK - i.e. I can see it in the list of workgroup machines from the other PCs, if I try and access it or the shared folder on it, I get asked to supply a username and password whcih does not happen on any of the other machines. How do I get it to work like the other pcs ie simply connect when required??

Thanks - sorted

I am new to W7 having got XP on all my other machines at the moment. I now have a W7 machine and virtually everything works on it as it should. However, when I came to use my Philips USB phone with Skype the machine did not like it and as far as I can tell Phiiips have not produced a W7 driver for that phone. I ordered a more modern phone but when I tried to install it the installation failed with loads of error messages- it turns out this phone also was not compatible with W7 and I received a refund BUT ever since I keep getting an "incompatible drivers" error message associated with Skype when I boot up. I have uninstalled all the old software including Skype (which I have now reinstalled) and deleted all the folders for the phones but I still get the message. Also I have run a reg cleaner but to no avail. Every time I boot I get the message- any ideas on how to fix this please!!!

Thanks Nev - I think you are right, its just an old device not supported for W7. I already have a Plantronics headset which I use from my office but when travelling I use the phone as its light and easy to pack. Looks like I need a more modern one though!!!

I have a Philips voip080 usb phone which works perfectly on my pcs running under XP. Now I have a w7 machine which I use more but the phone driver seems to be very confused. Instead of showing simply the voip phone in the device options I get several options but only one will ever work. I have downloaded the latest drivers for the phone from Philips but they only have a Vista version and although it installed OK - I still get several options when selecting the phone from any voip software, Skype voip discount etc. In itself this would not be a problem but now every time I turn on the PC, and every time I use another sound device it seems to forget which voip phone option I have chosen so when I get a voip call I can't use the phone unless I reset the devices. I tried the phone again under XP and its fine. Any ideas?? or is it time to get a new phone? and if so which one willwork OK under W7?

I have just aquired for a very very modest sum a Dell Latitude D505. As a spare machine it seems almost perfect and as I had a few dead D400s around with 1GB memory sims I decided to use them in the 505. However when I scanned the pc with the Crucial Memory scanner it showed one slot with 2100 and one slot with 2700 memory - each 1gb giving me a total of 2GB - which I think is the top limit for the machne. I also noticed the scanner said that the memory should be 2700 so is the additional 1gb at 2100 slowing my machine down? - and if so is it of real consequence or do I need to upgrade to pc-27000 memory for both sticks.

I have Dell D400 which has started to behave a little oddly. When I first turn it on in the mornings, it displays the Dell splash screen with the blue line filling from left to right - but often once the blue line gets to the right end of the bar it stalls and won't continue. Forcing a reboot often cures the problem which will normally then complete the splash screen and continue normally to load XP. Sometimes however I have to try two or three times before it will fully boot but once up and running it remains fine all day. What could be causing this? I am running the laptop using a Dell docking station but with other Dell laptops there is no problem.

You ae right - its pretty brilliant - never heard of it before but tried it last night between two of my own PCs - does exactly what I want. Now to get it installed on my parents PC so they can become viable to me - is having it installed better than simply accessing the link? I dont want to confuse them and so wish to keep it as simple as possible.

Today I got a message saying Messenger is to be dropped - but I use Messenger to help my elderly parents keep their PC updated etc using the remote accesss option. Now I have been told to use Skype instead but it does not have that facility. Is there another way I can access my parents PC and control it for them remotely - its a bit too far to travel to see them every time they have an issue and the remote access factility has been a real boon. Help!!!

Many thanks - it only took about 3 hours to reinstall everything and get the machine up and running again - no virus now!!! Thanks anyway for all you help - Joddle

Thanks for that but that link is for Vista not XP - I have now looked at this link http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?&docid=DSN_179256&isLegacy=true#Issue4 which seems to cover the same topiic for XP but again is it just the instructions in Spanish or the whole operating system changes by the language option ? - on the Spanish part of the Dell site all the instrucitons on the screen shots are in Spanish - even those at the start of the installation which makes me think the OS part may differ as well. Its all a bit ambiguous so I may not know for sure until I try it with my current disk !!!

Thats the bit I'm not so sure about - I though the option only gave you the keyboard to use etc - not the whole operating system. What I need is everything to be in Spanish but I have only the Dell reinstallations disk which I know will install in English, THese I dont think are exactly the same as the full Microsoft ones - and I know you can get Spanish XP Pro disks so had assumed the reinstallation diska would also be language specific. Woudl be very happy to be proved wrong on this!!! Re virus clean up - one of your people has tried very hard to help me re another PC and it ended up being easier and safer to rebuild!

Hi - I think I may well do that - I have done reinstalls using Acer machines before so pretty happy with that. Sorry to have used so much of your time but many thanks indeed for trying - it was worth the shot. Joddle.

HI everyone - my daughter has just managed to get a nasty virus on one of my Dell PCs which is proving very difficult to remove - and as the machine itself holds no important data I wanted to simply reinstall the OS and rebuld the machine. I already have several of the same machines (Dell 755s) but they have English operating systems but this one has Spanish which my wife and kids like to use - but I only have the English versions of the reinstallation disks - Does anyone know where I can get a Spanish version of a Dell XP SP3 reinstallation disk?

Hi - no luck - left it "running " for over 30 minutes no change to blank screen at all no disk activity either. Redirects as bad as ever now - not just to the one site but to several others now as well. As the machine is an Acer I am thinking the easiest solution maybe to save the data and the let it rebuild itself from to factory setting from the recovery partition. May be easier all round for everybody!!!

Ok - will try leaving it a bit longer and let you know - I had left it at least 10 minutes then assumed it would not go further. The last thing I can read is something about loading the optical disk - then a load of writing very fast and dots - then the blank screen. nothing at all on it.

Ok - op system copied to USB OK but when it tries to boot it came up with language options screen, then after selecting English continued to try and load some lines - comands folowed by rows of dots but then stalled ie blank screen - nothing more. Tried downloading files again and used another USB stick formated to FAT32 instead of FAT and same thing - starts to load then nothing - blank screen with nothing! Any hints? Joddle

Hi thanks for response - I did not mean it redirects to this site (ExtremeTech.support - Free PC Help) - but just to to the VAICEO one named - sorry to confuse - Have downloaded files and created usb stick but not had time to run it as have been away all day - will post results tomorrow or over the weekend. THANKS

Adding to previous post - more links are getting redirected but seemginly almost always to this site - and sometimes to a games site. Seems the redirect has reactivated!!

Yes I have a USB 512 flash drive available I may have confused earlier because now most links from google go to where they should but a few still got to this other VAICEO .COM site - is this still redirection or something else?