Plastic Nev

Time indeed to leave well alone, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.:D

can you remember the old school photo? everyone stood in a group line by line, maybe in the playground. Have a look here and see if you can find one from your school. Just for fun mind. World School Photographs

Hi Pinknfluffy, To just back up and add to Beeceebee, there are two readwrite heads in combination DVD/CD Drives, one for the CD and the other for the DVD, I am sorry but it is not uncommon for one head to fail and leave the other ok. In most cases the failure will also not show up in device manager or elsewhere as there is usually nothing monitoring the status of the laser in the head. I am afraid it may need a new drive.

Hi Citrus, I get the impression that this DABS where you bought it, have somehow installed an administration account over ruling anything you may do. This looks to me like an unscrupulous type of way to force you to take it back to them for repair every time there is a fault. There is a possibility that a new system recovery disk direct from Sony may kill that off, but only worth a try if they send one at no cost to you. Give that a try and let us know how you get on.

OK, sorry to give you a headache with removing the RAM, :D The post beeps suggest that the BIOS is in part, working, but the total lack of any graphics output suggests that part of the MB may be where the fault is, as some types of beep can be indicate a graphics fault. If you can find the motherboard type for us, and also describe the exact type of beeps, IE one short two long or two long one short etc it may help, but do be aware if the graphics are dead, being part of the motherboard, the cure may be a new board.

Thanks for the update, and glad you have found it. Not often that radio interference is a problem, but when it is, it can sometimes be difficult to resolve.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help dtmcris. In my experience quite often when a power supply fails it damages other components on the motherboard, not always mind, just some of the times. So bear that in mind while we try to go further, you say you get three beeps, depending on the BIOS manufacturer, this could indicate a RAM problem, however you should still see at least the initial boot screen showing from the BIOS, so to eliminate the RAM, remove all sticks, if more than one, and try again. let us know what if anything comes up on the monitor.

Apart from the humour, as far as I know, Rainlendar will only work while the computer is on.

Hi Roger, from my much earlier post I have been watching this thread with interest to at least improve my knowledge, so I am probably as surprised as yourself that overheating was the simple problem, and cure. However you do say it is over four years old and constantly in use, so it is no surprise that it was full of dust. Laptops are difficult to open up any way as you found out, but I hesitate at the use of a vacuum cleaner, the suction is quite strong and could pull something loose being the worse case, but also they can create high levels of static which could do even worse damage. In future I would recommend just a low volume of compressed air from one of those air cans and a soft non nylon brush.

Hi Dougie, just be thankful you don't need this sort of script-

Ah, now I understand what you mean! Sorry for the confusion, I take it the sound system is the on board one, and not a separate sound card? I am afraid that the software side that should switch in a digital output is one of those common to all things. But in your case it would seem that there is no physical output socket provided. Also quite common, for an example, the next computer up, both in spec and price probably does have a socket. If you do definitely need that digital output, you may have to buy a separate sound card with that provision. That is provided you have a spare PCI slot to fit it in. An edit to add, my old clunker of an E Machines has a slide up panel at the front of the machine that reveals a USB socket and also a headphone jack, just as a query have you had a look at the front for a similar panel?

Hi simsarmy, I am pretty well up on sound issues normally, but this is a new one for me too. However, your guess that it may have something to do with a program or other software may be the way forward. But before we go down that road, do you have a reasonable idea as to when this sound first started? and can you go to system restore and restore back to a time before it started? This will of course remove any software you installed after that date, but if you have access to reinstall them, do so one at a time till the sound comes back. Then we will know the culprit. Oh, and an edit to add, you say you have installed three programs recently, if one of them is shareware or similar, especially sound or music related, the noise may only go away after you pay up for it. Nev.

Digital output is just that, it is a low level digital data output to be used with any equipment specifically made to handle a digital signal. For ordinary analogue sound output you need to plug your speakers into the socket marked with either the word speaker or a speaker icon. You may also have to look into your sound control panel and make sure that the speaker output is selected.

Hi again, because they are installed to Firefox as a plugin, they probably don't always show in the main list of "Add or Remove Programs". Who knows now why it wouldn't work before but does now, maybe going to look reminded Firefox that they were there eh!!:D

Any better captions for this? http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/horsingaround.jpg

Someone should have read this before putting it on the packaging. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/image001.jpg

Hi tis, in Firefox, click tools, then Add Ons, then click on plugins, that should show the versions of Java and Flashplayer, or if not there, they need to be uploaded.

Hi Kingpin, Beeceebee's idea of pictures would be good if you can get some and post them, so we can then see what you mean. Either from a digital camera, or even a mobile phone camera would do. Show us the case, the mother board, the hard drive etc, as much as you can please.

Hi, we may need some more information now about the graphics. What we need is to know if there is a separate graphics card, or is it on board, in other words part of the mother board. Then we need to know any manufacturers details, if a separate card, the card type, model and make. If on board, then whatever you can find out about the mother board and the graphics controller, again model, type, and make. Also, have you tried letting Windows search the net for drivers?

Hi, E Briggs, It is more than likely that most data can be recovered, there are as Tootech states, ways of doing so. Stick with his advice as he does do that sort of thing reasonably regularly. I hope for the best for you. Nev.

There are also data transfer cables available, I have one and used it to shift stuff in quite large amounts over to my laptop. There is one here at Maplin- Vista USB Data Transfer Cable > Maplin Plus this is the one I first used- Trust USB2 Data Transfer Cable NB-7500p USB cable : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk However I found the Trust one a bit unstable with my machines, and would sometimes crash, meaning I had to close its program and re-open it. It fortunately didn't do any damage to any file in transit, it just didn't transfer it. However it may well be OK with yours.

Hi Miller, Just on the off chance it is something nasty, please follow all the instructions below. It is our standard procedure and does work well. 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

Hi Simon, I have seen issues like this through firewall settings, which firewall are you using?

Hi Mark and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, Can you please tell us a bit more about your PC. Make, model number, a self build or built by someone else, etc. Also when did your problem start, and how long was it before the problem happened. We would also like to know if the windows XP home was pre-installed or not. there are many reasons why that your PC will not go beyond the initial start up, so as much information you can give us will be a great help to us to help you through it.

Hi Kaje, music and computers is a little bit of where I came from but a lot more recently. Welcome and do enjoy our company. A PM to me, and I will fill you in on the more boring details of being a cornet player and computer nut.