steve61

Hi. Have you thought about a Virtual Machine running Windows XP? It would save a lot of messing around disconnecting cables.

Is this any good to you? http://www.ehow.com/how_6911481_remove-fake-flash-viruses.html

Remember when my first machine gave up the ghost. The modem went pop, and for some strange reason the only thing it took out was a 16mb memory stick. I can tell you that Windows 98 would boot on 2mb of memory with a 486 cpu, until the desktop came up that is.... Its unfortunate really that, what is in age terms probably not that old a machine can be more expensive to repair than buying a new one. Unless you want to walk around endless car boot sales in order to get a replacement board, and then take the risk that nothing else has died.

Hi. You do know a replacement screen is fairly cheap, don't you? Especially if you get a used one off e-bay. And they are easy to replace, usually all you need as a cross head screwdriver, and maybe a kitchen knife to pry things apart. Here`s a video of the procedure:

Hi. Not sure if you still have the problem. Here's something to try. If you can get the motherboard manual, it may make this a bit easier, but its not impossible without one. Simply, remove the plug with the wires in that run from the board to the power, it is one of the small connectors that you push on when you put a new board in, the others are usually power LED, HDD LED, And reset switch. When you have pulled it off, short the two pins on the board that it was pushed on to together with something small and metal, I usually use a small screwdriver. If the PC starts, its a simple power switch fault. If not then try pulling the reset switch plug, and short the power pins again. don't worry about doing any damage, as long as you just short the two pins, it will be OK.

No, this is what was confusing. The slot nearest the CPU is number 1, and then 2,3,and 4. Whenever I have built a system before, the manual has always stated to populate slot 1 first, then if two sticks used and four slots available, slot 1 and 3. But, with this Asrock 970 Extreme 4, it says to use 2 and 4 first, of course I didn't read the manual first 8-) Anyhow, now I have got it working properly, I have invested in two more sticks of Kingston`s finest, so now all the slots are populated, and it works great!

Well the problem turned out to be a strange one, but easily fixed. I played around with settings in the bios, it would be ok for a day, then play up again. I tried taking a card out and trying it with just one graphics card, same again, ok far a day, then problems. Then I started getting blue screens quite a lot, so in desperation, I tried removing a memory stick (this model of board is known to be fussy with memory), same again. I then checked in the motherboard manual to see if I was supposed to have the memory in adjacent slots, instead of slot 1 & 3. At this point I noticed that the manual said that if you use 2 sticks of memory, they should go in slots 2 & 4, not 1 & 3. Swapped the memory around, and Bingo, no more problems. No more crashes (No more than usual anyway), no more blue screens, no more graphics problems in IE, or Firefox. You learn something new everyday.

Yes, sorry correct, it should be: sfc /scannow And, if you are not logged in as an administrator, then use Right click and select run as administrator when starting up the DOS prompt. My fault, in a rush.

Can I just clear a few things up. Firstly, the reason Windows 8 reinstalled itself when you did a reset is because of a system image placed on the laptop when it was made. Basically Acer split the hard drive into two parts, the part that you see and use everyday, and a hidden part, which contains all the information needed to return the laptop to the state it was in when it left the factory. Which is why you got Windows 8 back on but not the programs you had installed. Second, OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer, all that means is what was on or in the computer when it left the factory, this covers software and hardware, so you can have OEM Windows 8, or OEM memory sticks. Bit like the tyres on your car when it left the factory could be called OEM, whereas if you fit a different make of tyre, it is not OEM, but it still does the job. Next, are you happy with the laptop? (apart form the network problem) Does it do what you want it to do? if yes, then why spend money on another one? If your eyes are not working so good, then I think Windows 7 would be better for you, because you can change the font size easier than with Windows 8 (actually I would recommend Windows 7 over Windows 8 to someone with perfect vision, but that's just my opinion). Does the netbook connect to the network? If so then the Laptop is where the problem lies. When Dell sell a computer, it isn't always one that they have made, they very often grab a computer from another manufacturer, nail a Dell badge on it, and sell it as a Dell, especially to businesses, and when it builds a computer for you, then you can decide which CPU, GPU, Motherboard etc you wish fitted.. So, if you get a Dell Windows install disk, it has to support a lot of hardware. When windows XP came out, pirate versions were usually Dell disks, because they came with loads of drivers on, so supported many different forms of hardware, and (more importantly) came ready activated, because when you are producing computers by the shed load, like Dell do, you don't want to be messing around getting each one of them registered with Microsoft. So, Uncle Mike did a deal with Uncle Bill, and Dell got a pre-activated copy of Windows XP, these disks got copied by the thousand, and got uploaded to bit torrent sites. What I am saying is, that OEM Dell disk may well work on any computer you throw it at (But I cant 100% guarantee it). Your download speed is pretty good for standard broadband, but have you looked into if fibre is available to you? I am with TalkTalk, and I was on a phone/internet package with standard broadband, which worked out at £34 a months with unlimited calls and unlimited broadband. I then found that BT had installed fibre for my street (without informing anyone) and I did a deal with unlimited calls and unlimited fibre broadband for £35 per month! Hope this is some help to you. Cheers Steve.

Can I suggest starting up a DOS window (its in the start menu "Command Prompt"). Then type in: sfc scannow It may take a while to run, and will want a restart after it has finished, but it will find and repair any system files that may not be right.

Hi. I have just replaced my old Nvidia cards with a pair of Zotac 470 GTX cards in SLR. I keep getting lock ups, especially if I am using Internet Explorer or Firefox, usually when there is an embedded clip on Facebook, but not all the time. It also happens if I have my CCTV viewer running (CMS3) and I try and start another program. I have tried several things including creating a TDR entry into the registry, disabling hardware acceleration in IE and Firefox, using modded drivers, and installing newer Motherboard drivers. All these things have improved the matter, but I am still getting at least one lock up per day. When I first installed the cards, I had problems with games, but all games now seem to work fine, unless I am trying to start one with CMS3 running. I have searched the internet, and I have found that lock ups with the 470GTX are not unusual, the drivers don't seem to work with the cards very well. But most of these complaints stem from around 2010, using 2 series drivers. But this is still happening on these modded 335 drivers I am using. It is not a heat problem, as the GPU`s are Liquid cooled, and the card memory still use the original card fan (I cut the shroud to fit the cooling blocks, so that I could still air cool the memory, and keep the look of the card), the cards at most run at 50 degrees after gaming for an hour, they idle at 36 degrees even at the moment when it is summer heat. The problem isn't that bad that I could not live with it, but its just one of those things that is more annoying because you cant find the cure. Thanks Steve.

Fate intervened on this one, when one of the 9800`s died. I searched for a replacement, and because finances were low (Parts for the car come first) it had to be used. I found a 470GTX for sale for £40, and realised, using man maths, that I could afford two, if the other one was the same price. Found one a little more expensive, but got the two (both Zotac 470GTX) and this is what I am running now. I had to re-commission the liquid cooling that I had on the old cards, because they were getting toasty (90c+ after playing for half an hour), but now they rarely get over 50c. BTW Wolfenstein plays well now.

The original question was about which new card would be an upgrade for my two 9800GTX+ cards. The fact that the game wont play on my system is a side subject, and seems to have taken over the thread. I still want to know from which model of card upwards would be an upgrade for the SLI setup, and if the choice was between a GTX card of one type and a GT of the next type up which would be the best one to go for.

Yes, other games play fine. Probably my newest game is Rage, that plays ok. Bioshock Infinite is ok, as does the Burial at Sea DLC`s 1&2.

So I took everything on board. I tried running at the lowest graphics settings in the game. I tried disabling SLI. I tried enabling SLI. I tried setting the PhysX processor to the CPU. And the frame rate is still at a guess 3fps. :-( So I did the "Can You Run It" scan, and it passed on all except the pixel shader version and vertex shader version, which to run the game should be version 5, but the 9800gtx+ only supports version 4. The strange thing is that the GTS250 only supports version 4 as well. Maybe the fact is the cards will run the game, so are the lowest spec, but they wont run the game in any way that is playable. So, that throws another requirement into the mix, whatever card I choose must also support DX11. I`m not crawling up the walls to play this game, its just that I want to get the machine back up to the spec that it will play any new games that I want to try. I`m also not particularly bothered about running a game at the highest setting possible, as long as it looks pretty good then I am happy.