DirtyPolo

I have taken a look at the Sapphiretech website and I presume that this is the download you mean? The one labelled "Catalyst 9.2 HOTFIX for HD2K/HD3k AGP cards and WinXP 32-bit (if problems occur by using AGP cards)" If so then yes I would download and install that. Let us know how you get on.

I'm afraid that it wasn't obvious as your spec shows you have both PCI and AGP slots on your mobo. When you says "windows tells me it will make things unstable" is that on a popup that appears on your screen? Also what is this "patch"? Where is it from? As for your idea about a new system, you will have to buy a new copy of Windows as you will not be able to just plug in your HDD and load it up. ALSO: You havent answered this, Do you have more than one folder/file in there with numbers such as the example? 8.10? If so, what are those numbers?

I fail to believe this Brenda, as if you had tried the Safe Mode option, it would not need to show this "flag" that you say it hangs at. Can you please try once more and select the Safe Mode option, and let us know what happens, as BeeCeeBee said, your screen may appear funny, but it's meant to be that way.

This problem could be linked with having Malware on your system When is the last time you did a scan? What program did you/do you use? Please follow these steps as shown below in order, and let us know how you get on. Feel free to ask any questions about the steps, but try to do them all in one go. Your computer appears to be infected with Malware. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a combination of the words malicious and software. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. It is in your best interest to note the following: Please disable your resident security applications (such as AVG, Spybot, WinPatrol, etc.) before performing the below procedure so that they do not interfere with the process. Perform all the steps in the order listed to avoid any conflicts. If unsure, please stop and voice your doubts. You might be required to go offline during the disinfection process. Therefore, it is recommended to print off the instructions below for ease of reference. If you stick to the above guidelines, all should go smoothly. ================================================ STEP 1 Download ATF-Cleaner by Atribune. Save the file to your Desktop. Double-click on the file to run the program. On the Main tab, check the Select All button. Next, click on the Firefox tab (if applicable) and check the Select All button. Note: If you would like to preserve your saved passwords in Firefox, then click No at the corresponding prompt. Now, click on the Opera tab (if applicable) and check the Select All button. Note: If you would like to preserve your saved passwords in Opera, then click No at the corresponding prompt. Press the Empty Selected button and click OK to acknowledge the corresponding prompt. Click on the Exit button to quit the program. ================================================ STEP 2 Please click here to download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. Save the file to your Desktop. Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program. At the end, make sure a check mark is placed next to: Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware [*] Click Finish. [*] The program will download and update itself if it finds the necessity to do so. Please allow this. [*] Once the program has loaded, select Perform full scan, then click Scan. Note: Depending on your computer specifications, the scan may take some time to complete. Please wait patiently and do not interrupt the process. [*] When the scan is complete, click OK, and then Show Results to view the results. [*] Make sure that every entry is selected, and click Remove Selected. [*] Restart your computer. ================================================ STEP 3 Please click here to download SUPERAntiSpyware (Free Version). Save the file to your Desktop. Double-click SUPERAntiSpyware.exe and follow the prompts to install the program. Open SUPERAntiSpyware. Under Configuration and Preferences, click the Preferences button. Click the Scanning Control tab. Under Scanner Options make sure the following fields checked: [*] Click the Close button to leave the control center screen. [*] On the main screen, under Scan for Harmful Software click Scan your computer. [*] On the left, make sure you check mark C:\Fixed Drive. [*] On the right, under Complete Scan, choose Perform Complete Scan. [*] Click Next to start the scan. Please be patient while it scans your computer. [*] After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click OK. [*] Make sure every entry has a check mark next to it and click Next. [*] A notification will appear that Quarantine and Removal is Complete. Click OK and then Finish to return to the main menu. [*] Restart your computer. ================================================ STEP 4 Please visit the ESET Online Scanner, using Internet Explorer to initiate the scan. Note: If you are running Windows Vista, then you will need Administrative privileges to complete the latter part of the procedure. To do so, right-click on the Internet Explorer icon in the Start Menu and select the Run As Administrator option in the shell context menu. Check mark the YES, I accept the Terms of Use box. Click the Start button. Click the Install button on the following screen. Click Start. This will will initialize and update the scanner engine. Check mark the box beside Remove found threats. Click the Scan button. This will start the scan. Please be patient while it is in progress. Restart your computer. ================================================ STEP 5 Click on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and select System Restore. Choose the radio button marked Create a Restore Point on the first screen and click Next. Give the restore point a name then click Create. The new point will be stamped with the current date and time. Keep a note of this so you can find it easily should you need to use System Restore. Next, click on Start > Run, type Cleanmgr and click on OK. Click on the More Options tab. Click the Clean Up button in the System Restore section to remove all previous restore points except the most recent one. This will remove any infected files that have been backed up by Windows. The files in "System Restore" are protected to prevent any programs changing those files. This is the only foolproof way to ensure the deletion of those files. Note: Please don't use it on a regular basis as this will clear all previous restore points. The feature might be very useful to revert your computer to working condition if something goes wrong. Re-enable all your security applications and please return here and tell us how the computer seems to be operating. Happy Safe Computing! http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/../../images/additional-smilies/thumb.gif Close browsers before scanning Scan for tracking cookies Terminate memory threats before quarantining

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Lallybags :) We will always try our best to make any advice given, readable and understandable :) Hopefully soon you can feel much more confident when dealing with your household PCs :)

Hey again aaron, I have looked around and tried my hardest to find and build a PC that you require, but as Dalo said beforehand, it is an almost impossible task for that low price. I am afraid to say that I have been unable to do so and therefore must say that if you require a PC with such needs and capabilities, your budget will have to increase by quite a bit :( What Dalo basically said in his above post, is that the type of PC you are asking for, is generally classed as a "Media PC", but these types are normally only used to store files for other workstations to access. Also that do to "artwork" on your pc, would require quite a powerful Graphics card, which have a base price of about £100,knocking out 1/3rd of your total budget already on one componant :(

Okay can I just ask to clarify this. Is it JUST your mouse that freezes or everything? You stated at the beginning that your mouse froze but then earlier on that none of the keys worked, thus indicating that your keyboard froze too.

Hey there Matteo, Does this problem occur everytime you click restart? or just some of the time. Can you start up into Safemode please. By tapping F8 as it starts up. Once loaded into startup, try to restart you Pc as you normally would when you got the problem. If it works fine, then there is a driver/hardware issue causing it. Please let us know the result :)

These were along the same line as my thoughts Dalo, In your earlier post, you said that one monitor is connected to your onboard graphics output, and another monitor is connected to the graphics card. You should not have both of these running at the same time as they can causde conflicts within drivers and software. If you have a seperate Graphics Card, you should disable/unstall your onboard graphics.

Hello Davo and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Hope we can give you the help you need :D

Hey Spools and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help :)

I am afraid to say that you will really struggle to find an "up to date" HD unit for that budget, but none-the-less I shall see what I can find for you :)

Is your copy of Windows installed on the C: drive or the D: drive? Was this secondary HDD added after windows was installed? Also, even if Windows was installed on that HDD, it would not work in a completly new system, it would require you to purchase another copy of Windows.

Are you looking to play the sound through your TV too? or do you have a seperate Audio system?

Are you connecting it from a soundcard in your PC, or onboard audio on the motherboard?

to clear up the issue of if you can get into the BIOS or not, As it is booting up, keep tapping the Del key constantly.

Have you tried Last Known Good Configuration? By tapping F8 as it boots

it sounds like you haven't burned the ISO file as an image to the CD correctly. What did you use to do this?

No as your MBR doesn't contain any of your information or files. It is just a list, telling the PC how to bootup, basically.

If you did that, it would most probably install Linux to your PC, which would leave you without Windows. Your best bet is to get hold of an XP installation CD and perform a MBR (Master Boot Record) fix. If you cant get hold of an XP disc, you can download the file you need here. Just download it, and burn it to a blank CD as an image, then follow these steps. 1. Boot with the XP installation CD. 2. When prompted, press R to repair a Windows XP installation. 3. If repairing a host with multiple operating systems, select the appropriate one (XP) from the menu. If you have only one operating system, enter 1 to select it. 4. Enter the administrator password if prompted. 5. To fix the MBR, use the following command: fixmbr (This assumes that your installation is on the C:\ drive). You will be presented with several scary warning lines the reading of which will make you want to say no. Microsoft is exceptionally vague regarding the conditions under which fixmbr can cause problems although they are clear about the consequences (losing all data on the hard drive), so use this at your own risk. 6. Type y and ENTER to fix the MBR. 7. When it's finished, type exit to leave the recovery console and reboot.

Okay, I think you misread my last post, I asked for a screenshot of the Device Manager window with the Network Adapters heading expanded. But thanks for the info on the second problem :)

Do you have your XP disk avaliable?

Okay so a quick recap. So far nothing we tried worked, until you unplugged your Printer? which allowed your PC to sleep just fine. But after that, you put the PC to sleep one night, (with the printer unplugged?), and woke up to find it already awake. We have checked to see what devices are allowed to wake up your PC, and have isolated each one to no avail. the next step I would like you to try is the following. For each of the items listeed under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers, on the screenshot you posted last, - Right click the name, and select Properties. - In the box that opens up, click on the Power Management tab, - Make sure the box that states "Allow this device to wake up the computer" is unticked, some may be greyed out but check they are still unticked. Next can I please have a screenshot of the whole Device Manager window with Network Adapters expanded.. From the little review I wrote at the top, it seems that you found the cause of the problem, and solved it but then another one appeared, as we have disabled the audio controller and no change, the only other option is that another USB device is waking up your PC. By disabling this on each USB port should solve this problem.

Nice idea Barry, but indeed it has been addressed by putting the PC to sleep whilst the batteries were removed from the keyboard and mouse. And thankyou for the screenshot mtav, I will reply in according to this later on when I have more time on my hands as I am currently busy :)

When you put the PC to sleep, did you turn off the keyboard and mouse? try taking the batteries out of them next time and see if it still wakes up before morning. If so then we may have to investiagte further into what may wake up your PC. Wolfey's's questions is valid also, is there any reason you need it to sleep or is it just to give you shorter time to wait when you resume form sleep in the morning instead of booting up again? :D. I am grateful to hear about your planned contribution and as for our persistance and speed, that is what we are here for :) Hope we can get this problem sorted for you soon :) Also in response to your other question about the printer, can you please open up Device Manager, by following these steps. 1. Click on Start button. 2. Type in "Device Manager" and press enter 3. When the window appears, look for the heading "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" and expand it by clicking on the "+" sign. 4. Take a screen shot of what is displayed and post it in a reply :) Thanks.