Dalo Harkin

Ok there may be a point with the RAM as the RAM that you have bought is meant to be used with an ATI card and not an NVIDIA one - it should still work. Also as you have 4GB of ram you WILL need to manually set the timings for the RAM in the BIOS and 2.1V seems very high especially for PC6400 PC8500 normally runs at that Voltage.

Have you checked none of the connections in the PC have come loose, have you checked the manufacturers website for a firmware update - if there is a problem after these steps then the drive may be dying.

This is common on normal mice too - but its normally just dirt causing it :)

after you unticked anything google related in MSCONFIG did you save the changes and then reboot - once something is disabled in MSCONFIG it will NOT return unless you tell it to do so, or you have not saved and restarted.

Agreed mate - (good shout) that is a very high possibility - I will await Dave to get back to us and if he can let us know if he can run some HDD tests.

If the memory controller is knackered then the Northbridge would be damaged and the GPU would not work well either. I dont mind - he has the choice he can try 1 or 2 sticks.

But single channel will run slower - to really notice if the RAM is the problem I would use 2 (if they are dual channel)

^^ Agreed - they should be DDR2 RAM and if they are Dual Channel then leave one in slot 1 and 3. If they are not dual channel leave one in slot 1 as Seth said. Windows 32bit versions will only utilise 3.25GB of RAM anyway so effectively one stick is wasted.

Have a read of this http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms797159.aspx

Ok if you plug the optical in the top of the IDE cable thats the MASTER you need to set whatever device is going on that to MASTER also. does that make sense?

Depends how long the IDE cable is - if you are installing them in the PC to stay then its easier for the optical to be MASTER and the HDD SLAVE - if you are just running the HDD and the optical outside the PC then it doesnt matter which you have it on as long as the jumper on the back of the optical and the HDD match where they are connected on the IDE cable.

Right - install the HDD and the optical drive - set the optical to the first boot device. run the disk and then when it asks where to install XP to there are some options below one is format with a purple rubber from memory click that and then install XP to the new partition

You can format the HDD when its in the new pc when you install windows.

You cannot install XP on one computer and then it run in another, it doesn't work - you need to install XP on the HDD in the new PC

Ok and on the HDD cable there are 3 IDE ports there is a blue one that should be attached to the Motherboard and then the HDD should be furthest away (not the one in the middle) and on the back of the HDD it should be set to MASTER. Or if you are looking at installing an optical drive later on the HDD should be on the middle of the lead and the HDD set to SLAVE. I apolagise if this sounds like you dont know what you are doing, but we need to ascertain what you have or haven't done yet

Have you set the HDD to the first boot device?

Mara and Doug, Glad it's all sorted :) This thread appears to be solved and is now closed If you are the original poster of this thread and need it re-opened, then please PM (Private Message) an Administrator or Moderator

Spartan you mentioned that there are 2 DVD's have you tried them both at boot up? obviously one at a time lol

Ok I would say that its more a problem with the RAM not running right than your CPU then:- can you tell me the model number of the RAM sticks and I will get the timings and talk you through setting them in the BIOS.

Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition features two fans, a DisplayPort connector and a SmartSwitch Turbo button After being banished to the retro dungeon since the 486 days, the Turbo button appears to be appealing for re-release now. Not only has Intel announced that its forthcoming Nehalem CPUs will feature a Turbo Mode, but Palit has now also announced a dual-BIOS Radeon HD 4870 graphics card with a switch to go into overclocked mode. As standard, the Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition has a standard core clock speed of 750MHz and 512MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 3.8GHz. However, a flick of the switch on the backplate will push the memory speed up to 4GHz, and the core clock speed up to 775MHz. So, you can run it in overclocked mode if you want to run games, or switch it to standard mode if you want to work in peace. As well as the new take on the turbo button, which Palit calls the Smart Switch, the card will also come equipped with a pair of fans mounted on a heatsink with a copper base. The speed of the larger fan on the left will change according to the GPU temperature, while the smaller fan on the right will continuously run at the same (low) speed to cool the VRMs. Interestingly, the card also comes with a DisplayPort connector in addition to the two DVI ports. Sourced from Palit puts Turbo button on Radeon 4870 card | News | Custom PC

As Seth has said USB keyboards are reknowned for this borrow/get a PS2 one and then it will work - A USB to PS2 adapter will not work.

Have you disabled anything in the BIOS for the CPU? also have you manually set the timings for the RAM from the manufacturers site?

It’s that time of the month again when AMD releases a new set of drivers for Radeon graphics card owners. The new Catalyst 8.8 release brings the usual round of bug fixes along with new Avivo video features and Hybrid Graphics support for Windows XP. To make use of AMD’s Hybrid Graphics technology, users will need an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard paired with either a Radeon HD 3400 or HD 2400 series GPU, for extra performance and quad-display support. While no particular performance improvements are mentioned, there’s a quite extensive list of bug fixes for games on both XP and Vista operating systems. Sourced from TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

I think that 4 or 5 is too many 2 or maybe 3 of each is more than enough, you would be struggling to find 5 good Malware/spyware solutions 2 will be good and the rest would be to stay away from.

The only time I have done most of those in one night was when I was about 16 and I drunk so much cider on holiday in Wales my mates carried me to the tent we were staying in and literally just dropped me in the door - I woke up the next morning by the rain - raining on my face as I put my head outside the tent for air lol