Plastic Nev

OK Bob, I think we are pretty certain now that you have a full backup on the external and that it can be accessed and used if needed. So I will hand you back to Ken now, and best of luck, lets hope that somehow we can get this elusive SP1 on. Nev.

Hi Ray, download the AVG file, then disconnect from the internet to be safe and uninstall Avira before installing AVG. Once installed reconnect to the internet as AVG will no doubt want to update itself. I don't know for sure, but best to check with the Avira website if they have an uninstaller available, also you may possibly have to disable Avira before it will allow it to be removed. Nev.

The image ID number is correct, so Linux has found it, though it calls the drive "G (New Volume) which is odd. Where did the CMD.exe window come from though, I don't understand that one! The computer is running Linux at this point and Windows shouldn't show up at all. Nev.

Hi Ray, to add my two pennyworth, I agree entirely with Kens thoughts and conclusions about the technical guy you saw. We do have to bear in mind that in some cases he might be on a commission from any one of the paid for antivirus companies, so obviously he is going to give bad opinions on free AV's. in order to try and sell you whichever he is being paid to sell. However, if you bunch the lot together, virus, trojan, worm, spyware, and any other name you can think of, they all come under the now recognised term of "Malware" A lot of them can be eliminated or avoided by your own sensible approach to what you do on the internet, and to add to your browser one of the add ons that can warn you of dangerous websites such as WOT. Also of course being very wary of links within E Mails, even from folk you know personally as they might just have had their E Mail account hacked, or maybe even unaware of the malware they have sent. No doubt our malware guys can add some more, however a lot is down to being aware and vigilant. If you are happy with AVG free, then go for it as you are used to how it works. Nev.

Hi Bob, I have just checked it again and remembered that I had to click on the Rescan button bottom left, it found the drive then. Try that button and see if it shows up! Also the first thing it finds is the model number of the drive, It may not show a name, check the label of the external and see if you find a match to that. Nev.

Smart > Tramp

Hi Lois, can you please explain exactly what you want to do, and what is wrong. From you first post I think you mean it will not boot into an operating system, can you confirm that please? You explained that a tutor at college has confirmed that the hard drive itself is OK, however there may not be a working operating system on it, we don't know this as yet. I know there may be a language problem for you with English, so please take your time and tell us as much as you can, so we can then understand what you need. Nev.

Just to confirm, I did say Linux as it is the quickest to burn as the Windows PE disk means downloading the Windows PE environment which is a massive file and takes ages to download before it can even burn it. The linux disk has been improved since I last looked into it and it can now find my external hard drive. Firstly, yes do plug in the external hard drive as the object of the next exercise is to ensure that the Linux disk can actually find it. Then go through booting from the Linux disk. Hopefully once booted into the Linux disk it goes through a few pages and black screens till eventually you should see a window like this. Just click "Next" http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/linux_12.jpg This menu window should open next, so click on the small + sign to expand "Computer" http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/linux_13.jpg Providing the Linux system can actually find your external hard drive, it should then show up as my Buffalo has done here http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/linux_14.jpg Providing that your external drive does show up as mine has done, that is as far as we need to go, do not do anything else with it as it might start a recovery which we do not want at this stage.. If Linux cannot see the external drive, unfortunately it will mean the messing about with the Windows PE disk, hopefully not though. At this point if the Linux disk has found the external drive, you can now close and escape, so click the red and white cross top right corner to exit. You should then see a warning box "Do you wish to terminate the rescue wizard? Your machine will reboot" Just click the OK and take the disk out of the CD/DVD drive as it closes, the computer will then boot normally to Windows. You will have to be quick at getting the disk out as otherwise it will close down, then attempt to boot from the disk again, or ask which you want to boot from. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Free PC help from me too, my music is either brass or English folk music. Nev.

OK, Bob on making the Image, in order to make sure I was collecting and creating the right screenshots I actually did an image of my own as a normal backup . LOL. It took nearly five hours, so be aware it will be some time. Though I have possibly a lot more stuff in music, video, photo's etc than you may have. Let us know when it completes, and also that you have burned the rescue disk to go with it. I think Ken is waiting for that now. Nev.

Hi Bob, just a small thing I forgot to add to the tutorial, if you look at the first screen shot, there are small square boxes with a tick in each, they are normally there by default any way. The same goes for the second image where it shows the hard drive you wish to make an image of. Just make sure the ticks are in those boxes as you would only remove them if for instance you did not want to copy or make an image of one of the partitions. Nev.

Bob, here is a Tutorial and I hope you can follow it easily, it isn't too complicated if done one stage at a time. Making a backup image using Macrium Reflect free version. Firstly, if you don't already have Macrium Reflect installed you need to download and install it. You will also need an externally connected hard drive. Either via USB, or SATA port or leads. Also for later you will need a DVD write only blank disk to burn a rescue disk. (Instructions for that are at the end.) If you go to the Macrium site, they offer a download of the free version through C.Net.com. Unfortunately there is a possibility of getting caught with unwanted tool bars, and other junkware from C.Net. So I think perhaps it may be safer to download from Major Geeks here :- http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html I will still urge that during the install process that you read each box that opens, if offered unwanted extras such as toolbars, so called free antivirus scans etc., remove ticks from the boxes for them, if you are offered either custom or advanced install, please choose that, as it is then that you will see those unwanted additions and be able to remove the ticks to prevent them. Once you have downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect, makes sure your external hard drive is plugged in and powered up and then open the Macrium Reflect program, a small box opens first telling you it is analysing things, once that has gone the main page opens as here. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma10.jpg On the top will be your original internal hard drive, with your external hard drive shown in red below as the arrows show. You now need to click on "Image this disk". as shown in red another window then opens as shown here. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma11.jpg Make sure there is a dot in the circle for "Folder". Then click on the square with three dots in it to find your external hard drive, in this case it is drive K and with the model number Buffalo, which in this instance is my own external drive. Yours will be different, however if the computer recognised it when plugged in it will have been given a drive letter which you should have seen at the time, it could be E, F, J, or even as mine K. In the box, click on Computer, to expand it and then find your external drive, click on it then click OK. as below. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma12.jpg That box will go away and it should show K:\ in the folder bar. Click next on the bottom row and you should then see this page opens. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma13.jpg You can scroll down to check that each stage and partition required is there in the list. If happy, click finish on bottom right. This next box opens asking what to do, make surer there is a tick in the box for Run this backup now. If you wish to keep an XML file, also make sure of the tick and as can be seen you can give it a name as I did with Nev 3 http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma14.jpg Then click OK, and Macrium will then start to create the image on to the external hard drive. It may take several hours depending on how much data is on the drive. Once you have created the image it is at this point that I recommend you make a rescue disk. This is a bootable disk that is used to boot the computer, and then transfer the image back to your internal hard drive. It is definitely required should anything go wrong with the internal drive, so I do urge you to make that disk. To do so, you will need a write only DVD disk, and of course a CD/DVD disk drive to burn it. We then go back to the first page to open and click on the disk Icon as shown in blue. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/new_ma15.jpg You will then see this opens. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/rescue10.jpg If wanting a quick and easy one put the dot in the circle for the Linux disk and click "Next". This opens , at this point make sure you have a write only CD or DVD disk in the drive ready, and then click the "finish" button. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/linux_10.jpg The disk should then be burned as an ISO image disk. You should then see this open, please take note of it and check the disk is OK as it instructs. http://i38.servimg.com/u/f38/14/68/69/96/linux_11.jpg To do a full check, shut down the computer, and press the main power button then enter the BIOS to select the CD/DVD drive or if your computer has one, enter the boot priority page and select the CD/DVD disk drive as the first boot device. Insert the disk you have just burned, the computer should then boot up from the disk. Once it has done you should see the restore wizard screen open up, click next, then from that page try to navigate round to find your external hard drive. If you can find it, then all is well and you can click the close button, remove the disk and the computer will then boot normally. If on the other hand, the linux system cannot find the external hard drive, you may have to burn the Windows PE disk from the burning wizard. Be warned that does take some time as it involves a very large download from Microsoft Windows. Nev.

Hi, if all installed OK by doing them one at a time, all you can do now is see what happens at the next reboot. For what its worth, I always have windows updates set to "check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them". However that is only so I can check them out first. I wouldn't normally recommend that setting for folks who aren't at least slightly clued up! Nev.

I agree they do look like some sort of backup file, but of what is not known. The little icon on the left of each file, is it PDF written in red and white in the icon? or something else? I did have a look for the .INP file type here. (Worth copying to favourites Ken) http://dotwhat.net/ Even they don't have much info either, however as they suggest, try a double click on one of the files, if it was created by a program you already have, that program should open it, if not try opening the file in Notepad, amongst the code there may be some plain English that might give us a clue. Nev.

Hi, so when it is plugged into the mains via the power supply/charger it is OK, however once removed from the power supply/charger it soon fails, is that correct? It could well be as Ken mentioned that it is the power saving mode. However being a second hand laptop it could also be a near dead battery. Laptop batteries don't last for ever, they will only take so many charge and discharge cycles. Add to that if the previous owner kept the power on it all the time, that tends to shorten the life of the battery even quicker. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, which toolbar do you mean, has it suddenly disappeared from your browser? which browser are you using? Nev.

Hi Kev, sorry no one seems to have replied, possibly like me and have no clue. However for a process to be doing that it is alarming, have you thought about the fact it might be malware causing it? Even if your own antivirus or anti malware scans show nothing untoward, it might be an idea to follow instructions and post some logs for our malware guys to check out in the malware removal section. Nev.

Hi Dave, lets have a bit more info about the machine please, Is it a custom made computer, either for you ar someone else, and if so did it have any motherboard disks with it? did it come with or without a hard drive already in it? If it did come with a hard drive what sort of operational speed did it have with that drive? Also can you tell us the make and model of the hard drive that you put into it too. Knowing answers to those questions will help us a lot. Thanks, Nev.

Hi, thanks, we all started from the beginning and learned as we went on, so are you happy with that? If needing any more help please ask, otherwise I will mark this as solved. Nev.

Just to add, that last screen shot, the actual speed fan window is too small so we can't actually tell what it is but there is something getting a bit too hot, if you still have that one saved, can you please crop out the speedfan window so we can see just what it is? Nev.

I know it sounds silly, but sometimes for the uninstaller to work correctly, the printer needs to be plugged in, you then disconnect it after it has uninstalled. However, if that still will not uninstall it via the Windows add/remove system you can try either Revo uninstaller or Wise Program uninstaller, they both have a forced remove facility. This is an automatic download for Revo uninstaller (The download starts straight away) :- http://www.revouninstaller.com/download-freeware-version.php This is the link to the site for the Wise uninstaller :- http://www.wisecleaner.com/wiseuninstallerfree.html In both cases, while installing, please check carefully and remove any ticks in boxes for unwanted softwares such as tool bars, so called free virus scans, or other unwanted junk. If offered a choice of custom install use it as that is where you will find the junk to untick boxes. Unfortunately, junkware inclusion is becoming all too common with free software as the junkware vendors pay for the privilege, therefore financing the free software. Nev.

Hi, Unfortunately Speedfan isn't showing us the voltages we need to see. Add to that sometimes software analysers can sometimes show the wrong information, so before we say definitely change the power supply as we don't want you spending money for nothing, the BIOS just might show us what is the correct readings. From first pressing the start button keep tapping the Del key, or it might be the F2 key, (Systems vary) When you get to the BIOS pages, use the left and right keys to find the "System health" Page, the voltages should be shown on there, if the twelve volts definitely shows as the low 9.5-- volts there, the last and final check you can do requires a multimeter if you have one, or taking it to a shop who can test it for you. If you have a multimeter here is a tutorial for how to test the power supply :- http://magazine.freepchelp.uk/test-a-power-supply-unit/ Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. If you aren't actually doing anything at the time or for a period of time before it does this, it sounds like the screen saver is cutting in. Close any programs or browser and then right click on a free area of the desktop screen, then click on "Personalise" At the bottom right you will see "Screen saver" click on that. in the next window, click the drop down menu, which is probably showing Photo's, you should be able to select None, click on apply and then OK and close all windows out of there and see if the same thing happens again. Alternatively, while in that window, adjust the time up to a longer period before the screen saver comes on. Nev.

Just in the hope you are still watching Bob, shut the computer down, then restart it, the check disk will then run so you can leave it running overnight. Nev.

Hi Dave, which operating system do you have on that hard drive? If only of 32 bit, it won't work with any more than 4GB. Till you get back to us with that info, remove all the RAM then put just one of the 4GB sticks back in and see what happens then. Nev.