Plastic Nev

Or it could be the hard drive read/write head crashing into the stop, or even the disk, it can be a loud mechanical noise.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. I can only say that a smell of smoke does not sound good, whatever it was is now likely to be dead. The beeps from the on board speaker, are they in a pattern, as in some long some short, and in what order. Also are they continuous, or does the beeping stop?

What better way to introduce Christmas than with a brilliant Christmas lights display. YouTube - Christmas Lights Gone Wild A look round youtube will find many many more of these displays. The first is I believe the first time these displays were made public, the idea just grew and now Youtube is full of them.

Nice one Dalo, I did say it was only a quick search!! I would agree that the NEC site is best. However do read all instructions fully. NEC also state that this drive is nearing the end of it's projected service life, so please be aware the fault could be the drive itself, as in the read/write head gone phut. Nev.

to update, I have done a quick search and can confirm that your drive should handle both + and - types of disk, also I have found a source for the firmware Dalo suggests, have a look here- NEC ND-2500A DVD+RW Firmware 1.06

Hi, I can only ask if you kept in contact with the case while doing the renewal of the heat paste, and also that the machine was definitely not switched on as I suspect static damage, hopefully only to the graphics card, but you never know. The only way to be sure will be trying another GPU card in it. Nev.

Hi, one more thing if you can please, you say the game runs for maybe ten minutes, then makes a loud noise! is this noise coming from your loudspeakers, or is it coming from inside the case? This will help us decide if there is a hardware problem or not. Nev.

Hi,You have several other threads on the forum all on this subject, would you like the others deleted? So, OK it refuses to recognise a DVD-RW, have you tried other types of disk, try a DVD/R, then try CD/RW and CD/R, If it refuses DVD disks only but can recognise CD disks, it could be the DVD read/Write head as these drives have separate heads for each type of disk. Next question is the type of DVD disk and the type of DVD drive, some earlier drives would only work with DVD - or negative, if the disk you are trying is + positive it will refuse to recognise it. Let us know what you find, Nev.

You could always move up to Lancashire, then there would be less distance to travel, at the moment perhaps a little too far to travel for regular dates. :D Besides as Tootech said, not only would I be stuck on line most of the time I am home, but when not, making lots of horrible noises practising my parts in the brass band I play in. Ever had a cornet or trumpet at full blast in one ear? :eek: Nev.

Now that is a question that is hard to answer, it depends really on what level of distribution, a few hundred, or millions. The nature of what you have illegally distributed, whether a first time offence or one of many, so many variables, and the court usually take into account everything known about the case individually, so there is little hard and fast rule. By the way, are you interested in a 61 year old tech? or am I too old:D

Hi, thanks for the update, and I am glad that it is fixed to some extent and with no charge.

How are you connected to the internet, is it a DSL modem, router, or other means? If a DSL modem, some will give you an indicator of traffic flow and connection speed by a double click on its icon on the bottom tray. Nev.

I agree about the laptop business, with everything centralised on the motherboard, graphics, sound etc. (though sound cards are available if the machine has the port) in most cases it would need a new motherboard to sort out the graphics problem, and is the machine worth it? Probably not.

Like Randy, graphics is still in the learning curve ha ha, however I see your system is 64 bit, yet the graphics card shows in the DX report as-- Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (59Hz) Is this card supposed to be supported on 64 bit? Have you looked at the drivers, are 64 bit drivers available for it? I was a little worried about the ability of the processor till I saw it was 2X dual core so it should be OK, just this 64 bit against the cards 32 bit is perhaps the problem. However I will leave it till one of our graphics guys, or gals, can have a look in. Nev.

Hi, and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, This problem may be down to a file or part file that is corrupt and not being removed with a normal uninstall. (Windows own uninstaller doesn't do a thorough enough job at times) If you don't already have it, try installing Revo uninstaller, then use that to uninstall the sound card software, also remove the card physically, then reboot. Once rebooted, (this allows windows to see the change) shut down again, then re install the card and software, usually best to install software or drivers first, then put the card back in. Revo uninstaller is free to download and use from here- Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Uninstall Software, Remove Programs, Solve uninstall problems Hope that helps, let us know. Nev.

In your case Rebecca, you have little to worry about, free programs are just that, meaning that for your own use or as back up for existing software everything is in order. If you look closely at the end user licence conditions, quite often the owner or maker of the free program, actually asks all users to actively distribute his or her software, providing you or others do not sell or make money from it, or in some way alter it. However, even in the guise of free ware, there are stumbling blocks as there are several types of freeware with differing conditions applicable. It is a pain trying to read or understand the licence I know, but it is not a bad idea to read them, and to at least try to understand what is meant about what you are allowed to do with the software. Nev.

As HJT is being updated frequently, it is best perhaps to download direct onto the machine. Considering the firewall is likely to be off at start up, check it is turned back on before connecting to the net. If however there is a problem in making it connect, then by all means download to a disk, pen, or flash drive to install from Nev.

Hi Rebecca, It seems like there is a possibilty there is still some malware in there that Malwarebyte and the others can't deal with, that is turning the firewalls off, If you post that in our malware section and a link to this thread so Chiaz can follow it through. Then follow this and post it in the security forum. Please download the latest version of HijackThis from Trend Micro and save it to your desktop. Download HJTInstall.exe to your desktop. Doubleclick HJTInstall.exe to install HijackThis. By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis . Click on Install. It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop. Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis. Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in Notepad. Include this log in your next reply. Notes: Do not use the AnalyseThis button, its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted. Do not have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless, or required for your computer to run like it should. Nev.

Well as an update, I am not that impressed, I prefer Firefox and all that it offers. I will keep it on for now in case there should ever be a need for it, but somehow I feel Revo will have a job to do at some point. Nev.

Hi again is there a possibility you can try a different screen on it, can you borrow one? I suspect there may be a problem with the monitor screen itself, so trying a different one, or trying your monitor on a different computer, will either prove me correct, or wrong :D Nev.

Hi Clarissa, Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. This sounds a lot like some form of virus or malware activity for the zoom to be continuously messing you about. What sort of, and how much anti malware software have you got, and also which firewall are you using. We may move this to the malware forum if you can tell us if anything else untoward is also happening, unwanted pop up adds for example. Nev.

Hi, Rebecca has a part answer and it may be down to one of the nastier virus. However it could also be the hard drive showing signs of beginning to fail. If you have an external hard drive make sure everything important has been backed up onto it, or if no external drive then onto disks, CD or DVD. Once you are happy everything is safe, we will then try further to help. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. I also make a little beer money, but funnily enough not from computers, but from fixing Brass musical instruments. It seems all my friends get my help for nothing, or can fix it themselves then tell me how. I don't yet know if I have got something wrong somewhere by not making any cash, but at least I sometimes learn something new. :D Nev.

Hi Rebecca and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, we are all still learning, just some of us are a bit further along the road than others and can hand back some of the knowledge gained. Nev.

Hi hopefully you will no longer get that urge to throw it out of the window while being a member here. However, if you ever do throw the computer out the window, please let me know before you do, then I can rush round and catch it, I could do with some more spare parts:D welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help and enjoy our humour as well as the advice. Nev.