Plastic Nev

Just as an update, we are getting there but yet more does require to be done, some things are proving interesting though and ways round are being looked into. Some have mentioned the donations bar at the top of the page being a lot too large and even off putting, especially for folk who can't possibly afford to donate. We are looking into a way to reduce it especially in the length, just to let you know we are trying our best to sort that one out as well. Please be patient while we continue to improve the forum for our members, any additional comments, advice, and good idea's are welcome of course. Nev.

At my age, they are like the little donkey, a little wonky. Nev.

Sounds like a right old "Ding dong merrily on high" does this. :D

As Ken mentioned, using the XP SP2 disk you have, you probably will get the message that a newer version is installed and it can't go further. The way round that is to create what is known as a slipstreamed disk which is a new disk you burn yourself but has service pack 3 integrated, therefore that disk then should be able to carry out a repair of your system. It may look complicated, but full instructions for creating a slipstreamed disk of your own is here, all you need though is another computer available to create and burn the slipstreamed disk. Along with a blank disk of course. http://www.howtohaven.com/system/slipstream-xp-service-pack-3.shtml Nev.

Hi Malcolm, Firstly to say thanks to Ken for stepping in and helping out here, however I wish I had thought of looking in the BIOS, doing that has helped us all have a better understanding of what is at least going on. Although Ken may have more idea's first and by all means look into those before going too far. However my thoughts now would be to actually remove the hard drive, and via an adapter connect it to another computer. Using that other computer, various checks can be carried out which would help in further diagnosis. Though the idea of doing so may be a little fearful for you, it is certainly not a difficult or even dangerous task if instructions are followed, and also at least for the checks, no data will be lost. The only cost may be in buying the required adapter if one can't be borrowed. Nev.

From a farmer friend. I recently spent £6,500 on a young registered Black Angus bull. I put him out with the herd but he just ate grass and wouldn't even look at a cow. I was beginning to think I had paid more for that bull than he was worth. Anyhow, I had the Vet come and have a look at him. He said the bull was very healthy, but possibly just a little young, so he gave me some pills to feed him once per day. The bull started to service the cows within two days, all my cows! He even broke through the fence and bred with all of my neighbour's cows! He's like a machine! I don't know what was in the pills the Vet gave him................ .......but they kind of taste like peppermint.

Hi Joddle, a bit since I last looked into this, but if memory serves me correctly, without delving into my own BIOS, have a look round in the BIOS of those affected, wherever you see "Wake on LAN" make sure it is not ticked or enabled, that should cure it. Nev.

Hi, obviously not knowing the area where you live, or importantly the number of decent dealers in the area who deal in second hand, I can only speculate on that. However I picked up a real bargain fairly large screened Acer running Windows 7 from one of those cash converter style shops, well worth throwing the second hand idea into the mixing pot. You never know what you may find out there. You could get lucky with a good bit of kit quite cheaply, therefore saving cash that can then be used for decent software. Nev.

The latest version is 1.23.569 it works OK for me too. However if any real problem with it I still have the original download files for 1.22, and 1.11 previous versions which I can upload to Dropbox for anyone requiring those. File size for version 1.22 is a tad over 5MB. Nev.

Hi providing the power is definitely on at the time you connected the USB connection, please do check that, and still not recognising the printer, it does indeed look like it is a printer fault. I mentioned that possibility in post 2 as it had been working OK for a long time then stopped doing so for no apparent reason. At this stage, it would be likely to be expensive to repair, though no harm in asking a local technician for advice, though I think it may be cheaper to buy a new printer scanner. I did have a much earlier version of a HP printer scanner that after much use had broken the cable connecting the print head, it was cheaper to buy a new printer than to repair that. Nev.

Hi, glad it is all sorted then, and thanks for the update. Indeed there were a few updates caused problems around that time for a lot of people. Hopefully Microsoft have made sure it doesn't happen again, perhaps till the next time, Nev.

Hi, it now depends on two things, first is what service pack is included on the disk itself or is it the basic Windows XP only? Secondly, what service packs are already installed, as in Sp1, or SP2 or SP3. If the disk is the basic or SP1 as I suspect it may be, a system repair may not be possible. The disk can be slipstreamed up to SP3 level but will require another computer to do that in order to burn the new slipstreamed disk. Otherwise it may mean a complete re-install, which will lose all your data. The technician who did the previous repair will already have that disk no doubt,hence why he could. As yet I don't want to recommend doing that again as it will cost you money, we are trying to do this for you for free. I am also hoping one of our admins may be home soon and on line as he may know a little more, or even be able to come up with something that can save a lot of messing perhaps. Nev.

Hi, the only other thoughts then are a possible firewall conflict blocking certain files, which firewall are you using? try installing with that and AVG turned off and disconnected from the internet for safety. Nev.

Hi Malcolm. OK about reluctance to go inside the case, we will try further as at the moment it may well be software, but the full operating system. When it was first built for you did they give you the full Microsoft XP disk? If so we can try what is known as an XP repair, however we do need that disk, and not any form of rescue or recovery disk. If you don't have one, is there anywhere you can borrow one, a friend perhaps? Nev.

If everything else is working correctly, I doubt there is a virus or malware problem, though what antivirus do you have? A scan would perhaps put your mind at rest. When you first put the disk in for the printer, do you have the option to right click, and then choose "Run as administrator"? Otherwise, I am getting convinced that there is some form of hardware fault with the printer, not a lot can be done with it if that is correct I am afraid, a technician would of course confirm it or not, but that may cost more to fix than buying a new printer. Nev.

Hi Malcolm, absolutely spot on, no problem with your reply. Now to try and get a bit further with the problem, As yet I don't know if this is a desktop computer or laptop, and make and model would be good to know as well please. For now though do you know how much RAM is installed and also where it is and how to remove it? It just may be a RAM problem so we need to try that first, so if you do know how to remove the RAM modules or as commonly known "Sticks", take it or them out, check and clean the contacts and then replace them, then try again, let us know how you get on please. Nev.

You could well be right about the one stick that says CL3. Leave that one out altogether and it should still show the 1.5GB which will prove the point. Alternatively, remove all, and just put in the two CL3 ones you have, it shouldn't matter for this experiment that it is a different make. There will be three different possibilities with just those two CL3 sticks, first is nothing and it won't boot at all, second is, it boots but shows only 512MB, thirdly it could boot and show 1GB. From that, we can then know if the system will run on CL3 or not, or if it only shows 512MB one of the CL3 sticks is dud. Nev.

Hi Malcolm and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Have you tried safe mode? From power on, tap the F8 key untill the advanced options screen comes on, use the up down keys to select Safe Mode, or Safe Mode with networking, and the press the enter key. It should run but with oversized graphics, this is normal. you can then get back into system restore and try another date prior to the July one. Let us know how you get on please. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Indeed it is possible. Once your video is edited and you click 'save' or 'save as' in the editing software, just navigate to the external hard drive via any type of drop down menu or similar, and it will send the video file straight to the external drive. I just hope you have enough room on the small XP drive to allow the editing to take place. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Most printer installations require that the disk is installed first with the printer not connected, during the process it will prompt you to then connect the printer. Did you do the install that way? If you did and still a problem, have you totally removed all of the installation of the old Brother printer, that just may be creating a conflict. If the Brother printer is still on the system and not yet removed, to make absolutely sure that all of it has been uninstalled, I would recommend installing the free version of Revo Uninstaller and use that to uninstall the brother printer as the Revo software searches out all relevant files for removal to make sure it is all gone. Revo Uninstaller free can be downloaded from here :- http://www.revouninstaller.com/start_freeware_download.html Nev.

Hi, do you still have the original disk that came with the printer/scanner? If you do, there is a specific way to install HP all in one's, you must first disconnect the printer from the computer, then put the disk in the drive and let it install, it will prompt you to connect the printer again, and that is the time to do so and not before. It may also need to be disconnected for the downloaded drivers to install correctly, try that if you cannot find the original install disk. If still no good after that, it may be the printer/scanner has a fault. If so, it is cheaper to replace than to have it repaired. Nev.

Hi, device manager can't show if a virus is present, it can only show if a device isn't working correctly. If there are no red or yellow marks, usually a question mark or exclamation mark, we can only assume for the moment they are working. If this problem only started recently, have you looked at trying a system restore back to a time when it was working OK? Try that first and let us know. Nev.

Hi, thanks for that information, from what information I can find, it may not be possible as the model of Dell you have and the graphics chips are possibly too old for there to be relevant drivers. However, no harm in trying, as now I know it is definitely Intel you can try their website and try a driver update check, here :- http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/graphics That site will definitely tell you if Windows 7 drivers are available or not. The other option may be to install a graphics card that will work both with the motherboard and Windows 7. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Free Pc Help. I am sorry to say that we cannot help with password protected equipment. There are legal reasons for this and I ask you to read rule 5 in our forum rules here :- http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/11463-New-to-Free-PC-Help-Forum-Rules Sorry about that and I suggest continuing to try and get help from the previous owner on this issue. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Ken. As it may be of help later, can you tell us first what the make and model of your computer is please? Till we know that, click on "Start", then in the search box type, "Device Manager", it should appear at the top of the list, click to open it. Once the window opens, look down the list for "Sound, video, and games controllers", click the arrow next to it on the left to expand it, and can you let us know if there are any red or yellow marks next to anything please. Nev.