Plastic Nev

Hi, have you tried removing the graphics card and then looked at what temp3 says then? In my machine, because there is no card, temp3 registers as being some silly figure below freezing because there is no card to measure. However different computers may use temp3 for a different purpose, hence why I am not sure. Hopefully someone will be more knowledgeable along to help us out on this. The one area I am pretty clueless is graphics, as I am mainly sound rather than picture. Nev.

Temp 3 is a lot too high at 87C but not sure what that is, though it could be the graphics processor on the card. It indicates there is a problem with cooling. Is there a fan on the graphics card and does it run OK? If it does, are the fins on the heatsink it is mounted on clear of dust? If it is clean, it may be a poor contact between the heatsink and graphics processor, it may be curable if the finned heat sink can be removed and fresh thermal paste applied. All that though is if that temp3 is the graphics, as I say I am not sure. A way to find out would be remove the card and run on the motherboard graphics, then check what temp3 shows with no graphics card in. Or hang on till someone else comes on who may know for sure what temp3 is. Nev.

Hi Mokles, you must have been unlucky enough to catch us on the day the forum was updated and moved servers, we weren't off for long but glad we are appreciated. Nev.

They keep on trying, and obviously with some success or they would give up. I got one today supposedly from the UK taxman. I include a screen shot of the mail so you can see what to expect. There are usually clues, as in this one of poor grammar, showing it possibly originated from someone with a poor grasp of English. Also, without actually clicking the link, hovering the mouse pointer over the link will show you the real address on the bottom task bar of your E Mail page with most E Mail accounts and browsers. In this case it certainly wasn't Her Majesties Revenue and Customs. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/Taxrefundmy.jpg If you get one similar to this, do not click the link, it sends you to a spoofed form to fill in your bank details, for that is what they want, not to give you money, but to steal it from you. If you do receive any suspicious E Mail that asks you for banking details such as account number, credit or debit card number with any sort of promise of a refund, or the more threateningly worded "We will close your account if you don't acknowledge" or similar threats all with the intent to make you give them your details. First do not give any details or reply. Next is that you can now submit for investigation, all types of attempted fraud E Mails, to this address= email@actionfraud.org.uk Just click on the "Forward" tab in your E Mail account and paste that address into the address box. For some more information about this fairly new service have a look here= http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/help-disrupt-fraudsters-by-reporting-scam-emails-feb11 Finally, once forwarded, delete the mail. Nev.

or try clicking on this link, the other may be broken. http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/how-to-add-comments-in-my-computer-

Hi JayCee, it could well be a heat problem, do you have Speedfan? if not download and install it, let us know what it shows. You can download it from here,= http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php Click on the blue "Speedfan 4.43" to start the download. Once installed it will analyse your system and produce the readings, if you can show a screen shot all the better, if not, note them and post here. Nev.

I think also you will need a processor that can handle 64bit, though I would wait till one of our other more hardware knowledgeable members answers that one. Nev.

Hi Tismehi, do you know at the moment which version you have installed, is it 3.5 or 4? I would go for a full uninstall of Firefox, but using Revo rather than the Windows own, set to the full removal so all traces are gone, then try to reinstall it. Sorry but a full removal will probably remove your bookmarks as well, but I feel there may be something corrupted causing the issue. Nev.

Hi, without a bit more information about what exactly is happening, for example are you getting a blue screen shut down and restart, a freeze up where even the mouse pointer won't move, or some other unwanted event? Without that, I am going to guess that it may be a heat issue, and probably due to fans and cooling fins clogged with dust and perhaps carpet fluff. I assume this is a desktop from the number, have you had the cover off and checked inside? While there, make sure you have turned off the power and to minimise static, touch the case, then check as above for dust and fluff, also check there are no loose plugs or connections. Nev.

Best of luck Dave, and please let us know how you get on. With your mate having fiddled in there in the past, who knows what may be wrong now. Nev.

Hi again, I have looked at the two testers, the PSU tester may be OK on a standard PSU, but may give a wrong result for that HP one. Also the motherboard tester may or may not give you the right results as it may again be a none standard mother board. I would be asking in a local PC shop that does repairs, if they would test the PSU and motherboard for you, at worst it shouldn't cost too much just for testing them, and could save you the money of buying those bits of kit.

If there is no speaker connected to the motherboard, and some boards were made like that, then you won't hear any beeps. A bit unfortunate really as a BIOS beep would be helpful. However, although fans run and some lights flash, it doesn't necessarily mean the PSU is fully OK, nor even that the motherboard is either for that matter. I assume also that as yet the new hard drive still has no operating system installed, and from what you have said so far I would think the old drive is now duff too. I am afraid it is back to fully checking the PSU first. Being HP a normal off the shelf PSU may need some pin swapping for it to work. HP, like DELL, fit a none standard PSU with different pin connections, hence why the problem obtaining a replacement. There may be adapter plugs available so a standard PSU could be used, but where you get one is again a bit difficult unless someone knows of a retailer selling such an item. I have looked in the past and not got very far, though there may be some now. Nev.

Looking at the list in the link I gave, there are two types in use, one is the two pin similar to Europe, which is type C, or there is also a three pin type D. That one is similar to the old round pin three pin plugs we used to use in the UK till the now well known flat pin thirteen amp plug became the norm. I would be obtaining an adapter set which will have most of the plugs in use. Not too expensive. Nev.

Thanks for the update and now four days on it hopefully will continue to be OK. Nev.

I hope you come back after all this time, however it all points to dust build up inside and clogging the fans, therefore not enough cool air circulating. It really should be opened up and cleaned properly to be sure, but being a laptop and the difficulty of getting into them, unless you are fairly good at dismantling equipment and then putting it back together, I would be recommending taking it to a professional for attention. A decent guy shouldn't charge too much for cleaning. Nev.

Hello and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, I hope we can give you the help and advice you may need. Nev.

Also be aware that some data erasing software does the same thing, they wipe the hard drive entirely and then write random junk over the whole disk in order to make sure nothing can be retrieved. These are really meant to be used if for example, you are selling the computer and don't wish a stranger to see what may be on the hard drive. Nev.

A slightly reworked old but funny animation, just to show that bungy jumping and trampolines should be kept well apart. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/anigif2.gif

Without actually doing so on my own laptop or at least trying, I doubt there is any way to disable the keyboard in favour of an external USB keyboard, either via device manager or other software rout. I feel it may mean opening it up and physically disconnecting it from the rest of the machine, normally a ribbon cable. I think you may find instructions for replacement of a laptop keyboard on 101, all you need to do is go as far as disconnecting the old one, have a look here= http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2009/12/05/how-to-disassemble-laptop-keyboard/ Hope that is of help. Nev.

The proof will be in the pudding to quote an old saying, just see what happens with the next program update. I also saw that when updating manually. That involved going to their website and downloading the latest version. It then tells you the old version needs to be uninstalled, when clicking OK it does that for you. Nev.

Hi Randy is most likely correct the text will be a part of the picture and the whole is likely to be either a JPG file or Bitmap. There are several free photo editing programs around, with one of these I find using the clone tool to infill over the text can be a useful way round. A program I use which has a clone tool is PhotoFiltre, the free version can be downloaded from here= http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm Nev.

Superantispyware has recently issued a new update, for those using it on older operating systems the update goes ahead, however on Windows 7 and maybe Vista, when clicking the update, a box appears stating the update can only be done with administrator privileges. This happens even if you are the administrator. A possible solution has been posted on their website here= http://forums.superantispyware.com/index.php?/topic/4598-sap-startup-update-needs-admin-rights/ I had already updated manually before I found this, so not tried by me. Nev.

As Randy said, dump files aren't much use, we would rather see the error code that comes up with the blue screen. OK in most cases it flashes up and gone again as the system restarts. To view those error code numbers and write them down= on start up repeatedly tap F8, this should get you into the safe mode menu, use the arrow keys to navigate down to the line which should read something like this= "Disable automatic restart on system failure" click enter then start system or Windows normally. Next time you get a blue screen the error code should stay there, please note it down and post it for us. Nev.

Which firewall are you using? I have seen some strange things suddenly being blocked by the firewall after some of the windows updates as well. Nev.

Maybe the best is to enquire at Microsoft themselves. Considering you haven't yet used or installed the 32 bit version, a swap may be possible, and at least that way would be fully legal and within the Microsoft licence terms. Going through any third party could be risky unless dealing with a reputable dealer perhaps. Nev.