Dalo Harkin

I agree - I have always been a 'bystander' of American politics and I feel that this is going to be a very big step for them and in turn the world.

We/I am here :D

I had to quote this to remember it all - :D I do agree that prebuilt pc's are fine for the 'general' user - they do not have the experience to order parts that are compatible or know a CPU from a PSU, for those people it is fine - BUT, people are getting more knowledgeable and are willing to have a go at building a PC - as for it taking more than a few hours, I DO NOT AGREE the one in my PC Build took 2 hours and that includes installing the OS - they are easy to put together. People like DELL do offer good systems, and yes you can get them 'customised' but the parts are still limited - If you build a PC you get SPECIFIC parts from major manufacturers:- LIAN LI CASE INTEL CPU ASUS MOBO OCZ RAM NVIDIA GPU's SAMSUNG HDD you add a decent CREATIVE sound card, you get an OCZ or CORSAIR PSU - an OEM version of an OS and away you go - put it all together, any problems along the way then WE are here as a PC HELP SITE, and we have helped many people along the way - you compare a system like that compared to DELLs offerings. As for Dells and HP etc not breaking - have you never worked in an office - I see about 2 a day being carted out on a trolley (and these are 1 year old Vista jobbies) - they DO NOT last any longer than a pre built PC - as for warranty you get a year with most manufacturers and some even have lifetime warranties on components - My BFG GPU is covered for 10 years!

lol did you just say that - Ok as I repair cars too - When was the last time you ever stripped a GPU to its components - as in desoldered every transistor and laid it out to find the problem - YOU DONT you know its dead and you get another - A car is FAR MORE complex. But if you want to talk Camshafts and rockers then I will do that too :D YOU CANNOT COMPARE THE TWO

Knowledge is gained by research and practical implementation! as for time - you can build a pc in 2 hours (I do not know of a company that can deliver that fast, and everyone can find 2 spare hours :D) Keep em coming!

Hi, Welcome to FPCH :)

Happy Birthday :)

For the 'competent' builder BUILD I have more reasons for than against so bring it ON :mad:

SO you say that you are using a RAID CARD - are they running in any form of RAID or are they just running as JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks)

Not again lol - Scott - NO ONE who knows enough about a PC to build one would EVER buy one 'off the shelf' simple as - and this is a BASE MODEL machine - look at how much a top spec one costs and then we will compare the prices :D

I like big dogs as opposed to little yappy ones that do your head in! :)

Ok - now that sounds more like it - if it was on offer though there could be a chance that there are 2 500GB drives in there - Dont want to sound sarcastic - but do you know what size a HDD is etc - from that you should be able to tell if there is 1 or 2 drives in the caddy.

And here was me thinking you had just lost the plot :D

Ok - please let us know when you have an update :)

You would still be pushing to get a 1TB one at that price! what does it say on the actual HDD caddy?

I dont think it would help at this point but you could try a BIOS reset by popping the CMOS battery out for a few minutes - The prognosis doesnt seem good though and I would recommend that you buy another HDD and install yous OS on it and then 'slave' the drive that has the info on so that you do not lose it.

These are quick - off Google shopping E4600 £73 Foxconn Mobo - £23 250 GB HDD - £31 2GB RAM PC5300 - £20 DVD-RW - £13 Nvidia 8400 - £22 Vista Home Premium OEM - £50 (this is probably the only piece that we cannot compete on against a company like ACER as they but literally thousands and thousands of licences and they will get them VERY cheap) £232 I personally wouldnt use most of those parts but hey just as a like for like and if you want to argue the quality of the PSU and CASE that they use on that ACER then :D

I wont go into it on here, but keys are specific for online games and they get tied with the account you set up - Have you ever bought a game with a CD KEY on it and it never ask for it during installation, I have many that fall in that category - some games need the CD key to install the game - but once you enter this incorrectly it will say right away.

Have you re-enabled the USB and AUDIO etc and then saved and exit - these alone could cause the hang at the windows bar page - also if you have more than one stick of RAM try taking one out.

The keys are for online gaming - As for it not working - are you logged on as an admin? - right click the exe file or the shortcut on the desktop and under properties it will say run as administrator - I have seen a few games do this recently and also make sure that you leave the disk in. If all that does not work - you need to uninstall the game and make sure that all the remnants of it are gone and then reinstall

Clicked on the second link to have a look, and you could knock up better with £250 and they want £350 for that - better off to build custom IMHO

Hi, Right - forget those sights that you put down:- PC World is expensive and do not stock good manufacturers of components. Have a look at:- Scan.co.uk Microdirect.co.uk If you have an idea of how much money you have to spend then thats good - also have a look on the PC Build forum as there have been 2 or 3 occasions recently where I have recommended systems :D

Don't stray to the dark side - use windows! :D

Hi George, Do you get an option saying 'last known good configuration' try that and see what happens - failing that do you know how to get into the BIOS?

I must admit I would rather see Obama as president over McCain, but with the recent attempt on his life - you must also ask yourself if he is made president it would be awful having to step into the limelight thinking that people are out to kill you - I know that all presidents and people in power must have the same fears and are equal targets, but we know that more attempts will be made on Obama. What a sad world we live in where peoples skin colour is a factor of how people react to you!