Plastic Nev

All done Bob, it is only staff who can edit a title I am afraid. Nev.

Good news Bob and glad that was the answer. Can we mark this as solved? Nev.

Hi and welcome to free PC Help. Can you let us know the full make and model of computer, or if a home built the motherboard make and model. Does the computer have PS2 ports the round green and purple/violet ports, can you try a keyboard in the purple/violet one if it does? Also is the mouse working or is that also USB and not working? Please answer all those questions so we know where we are going with this. Nev.

Just a thought, some older web cams came with a disk to install driver software, did that camera come with such a disk, can you remember? If so do you have the disk to try it? Nev.

Try uninstalling the present driver, reboot the computer and it should search for and install a fresh driver. Any problem with the new driver, let us know and we may be able to find a replacement. You can also try a full uninstall and of the sound drivers too. Some people are even saying that Microsoft haven't paid enough attention to the sound system and its drivers when they created Windows 8. I am sorry but it is a tough one to solve with little known to be of help. In one case I have seen elsewhere, even a full complete reinstall of Windows 8 was only a partial answer.

It actually was Wednesday the 17th, however thanks Randy, apart from being in the chemotherapy unit having the poison pumped into me it wasn't too bad a day. Nev.

As I said, there are a lot of complaints regarding so called static noise while connected to the internet and so far no definite cure, however for some a reinstall of ethernet drivers have worked rather than the sound system drivers which I assume you mean you have updated. Go to your device manager and expand "Network Adapters" that should show you the ethernet driver, a double click will open the driver window. Try first looking for an update. Nev.

Hi Roy, I am afraid you are not the only one. I have in the past recommended installing the VLC player which has helped some people. However you already have it. Can you please list the make and model of your computer and if a laptop or desktop. Also list what you have tried already to save me asking you to try them again. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, you didn't say which cloning software you are using, have you tried a different software? Some time since I wrote a tutorial on using the free version of Macrium Reflect here :- http://magazine.freepchelp.uk/making-a-cloned-hard-drive-using-macrium-reflect/ If that is not the software you are using, give it a try, I have had no problems with it, though being a freeware it may be a little slower than some others. Worth a try. Since writing the tutorial, later updates have changed some aspects, however most of it is still relevant. Nev.

If you don't want the upgrade notification you need to hide that KB3035583 update. You system is probably set to automatically download and install updates, you need to change it to manual and not automatic to hide the update. First follow the instructions for uninstalling it Next is to go to the control panel, and Windows updates. In the left hand panel, select "Change settings" In the next page, click the drop down menu and select "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them" Then click OK. Shortly afterwards, or when the system checks for updates, you will get the notification that there are updates to download and install. Click on the updates and the page changes to show you what they are. If more than one, find that KB3035583 and RIGHT click on it, then select "Hide this update" You can also go back and unhide the update KB3035583 at any time if you wish. Once done you can then change the system back to automatically download and install updates if you wish. Nev.

Hi, looking like there may be a problem with that graphics card, changing it for the new one you want to try is the only way to be sure of that. However, it is very important that your present power supply can handle it, as Ken said it needs to be at least 400Watts and is always best to be a bit higher of 500 or 600 watts. Do you know the power rating of the present power supply? Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. I was hoping I could find a free service manual for that model, unfortunately they seem to be like hens teeth. The only reason I was looking was to see if there was a possibility of some form of power circuit fuse on the motherboard. Even if there is, which is rare on laptops any way, it would mean a disassembly of the laptop to get to it. However, from you description it sounds like some sort of blow out on the main power circuit, either a fuse or a more expensive component has gone pop. Some laptops the power management is a separate card, others it is a part of the main motherboard, and if not confident in dismantling, which without the service manual I wouldn't attempt myself, I can only recommend taking it to a competent repair technician. Laptops are notorious for being very fidley and too easy to break something, and especially so without the dismantling instructions that most service manuals contain. So sorry for not being able to help much further with this. Nev.

Thanks for finding that Starbuck, it puts my mind at rest for my system, and I can see no reason why you can't roll back via either a Windows 7 mirror image or clone, created before doing the upgrade. Nev.

Thanks from me about the desktop Starbuck, I detest tiles and much rather have an alphabetical list. Tiles just confuse me, just like when I go to the bathroom, I then wonder why I went there :D Nev.

Hi Norman, good to see you managed to clear some space. A screen shot will be of help for Ken as it should be reasonably easy to expand into the free space, however it may need a third party patition manager such as EasUS Partition master, however Ken will put you right with that. As for this wonderful Windows 10 for free, yes indeed and does seem to be no catch as such, I recommend looking at the new Windows 10 forum we have started to learn all about it. Nev.

Hi, till Ken can get back to you, although it says driver fault, it may also be an overheating problem, so I have to ask is the heat sink and fan on the graphics card clean of dust. It may be of help to Ken if you could post a Speccy report. Download and install Speccy from Piriform using this automatic download link :- http://www.piriform.com/speccy/download/standard Once downloaded, install it from wherever the download went to, watch for unwanted extra's such as toolbars and remove ticks in associated boxes, if asked to choose between standard or custom install, use the custom install as that is where you will find the unwanted junk to remove the ticks. Though in this instance I think speccy is fairly clean of junkwares. Once it is installed, open the program and run the system for a few hours. After that or at any sign of instability, click on "File" top left of Speccy, then select "Publish snapshot" That will then give you a URL address which is a full record of temperatures, voltages, and other useful data, and post that URL address here please. There is nothing personal disclosed in that URL report, just specific machine data. Nev.

Hi, and thanks for extra information. On a different forum I recently saw someone having the same problem and using a different player as well. I advised trying VLC player instead which solved the problem for them, so worth a try as it is a full open source and free media player capable of handling all type of video or sound files. Download from here :- http://www.videolan.org/index.html Give that a try and see if any improvement. You can also uninstall Clementine and then download and install the latest version, the interference and crackling noises may be something Clementine's makers may know about and hopefully have cured. Nev.

Hi Roy, can you explain please how you are listening to the sound? Are you using windows media player, or similar to listen to music from your own computer, or is it music being streamed from a website and therefore using the browsers player, usually Flashplayer. Nev.

Hi, it might and it might not work, no harm trying I suppose, though Windows XP was very fussy about running on different computers. I still think that it might be best if a genuine Windows XP disk could be found, then the system could be repaired correctly. Nev.

Hi Norman, open the disk management page that you showed earlier on your screen shot. You should now have a large chunk on the right hand side that is "Unallocated" Can you show us a screen shot of that please as it is now? If you can explain what you wish to do with that space, I think Ken might be better at explaining how to it for you, not something I am too familiar with and don't want to give wrong advice. Nev.

OK Norman, the only reason things could be slower is maybe the new 700GB drive itself has a lower speed, somewhere on the label there should be a figure in RPM, as a for instance my spare says 7200RPM. Check the new drive and also the label on the original and let us know. Also, to go back to the original drive that was very close to full, we could give help for getting some more space on that drive if you wish, being so full there just may have been problems with it making the clone correctly as well. I can't see any other reason for why at least one of your programs is having problems in loading now. Nev.

OK Norman thanks for the update. Once the clone has finished, close Macrium, then have a look at the files and folders on it to check they look OK before you go for the safe removal. Next thing is to try it in the laptop, don't forget to disconnect power and remove the battery first. If it does refuse to accept the new hard drive let us know before going further as we will need to look at changing a setting in the laptops BIOS system if that is the case. Nev.

Hi Norman and Ken, I started writing this then saw your reply Norman. So there is also an alternative to that where you allow Macrium to remove all the partitions and start again from scratch. That will get rid of the now unwanted partitions H and G as I think that at least that Partition H is the left over from the first and corrupted clone attempt. When you open Macrium with the 700GB drive connected it will show you the same layout as you show in your screenshots You should then see Delete existing partition as per these screen shots. First is the main Macrium window take note of the red instructions. http://i19.servimg.com/u/f19/14/68/69/96/a_macr10.jpg Once you click on Clone this disk this window should open. Click on "Select a disk to clone to" http://i19.servimg.com/u/f19/14/68/69/96/a_macr11.jpg Once the external 700GB drive is found it should look like this http://i19.servimg.com/u/f19/14/68/69/96/a_macr12.jpg As in red just click on the area and it should then show this, if you then click anywhere in the partition "H" you should see a blue line appear under it if not there already., then click the delete this partition. Next is again click anywhere in the "G" partition and again click delete this partition and so on till all the 700GB drive is showing empty. http://i19.servimg.com/u/f19/14/68/69/96/a_macr13.jpg All you need do after that is click the "Next" button on bottom right and it should then start the clone from your original drive to the 700GB drive as normal. Once you have the 700GB drive Installed into the laptop, we will worry about extending the partitions into the unused space then, as I see the recovery partition and the tools partition is the last and will have to be moved firstly before extending the "C" partition. Nev.

OK, Bringe, let us know if you need more help, though removing the message is OK, there may be a time when you want something and it won't work because of that missing file.. Just have to see how things go. Nev.

Hi and a case of whoops on my part here as I didn't look up the Dell number so didn't realise you had a laptop, however no problem for the moment. However, it doesn't tell you it is safe to remove, you have to tell the computer to safely remove it. To do this in Windows 7 look at the bottom right of the task bar, you may see a USB plug Icon, or the small up pointing arrow which is for hidden icons if you don't see the USB icon, wherever the USB icon is click on it and select Eject USB ATA device or some other similar wording. You will then get a notification that it is safe to now remove it, or if it is still in use and cannot be removed. If that message stays there that it cannot be removed, shut down the laptop completely, that will safely terminate any process and it can then be removed. The safe to remove process should be used for any recording devices, thumb drives, SD cards as well as external hard drives. You do risk damaging data or worse the operating system if you don't follow that process. So, considering the external case is dismantle-able and that drive can be used as it is bigger than the original I believe make Macrium create another clone onto it and also make sure that Macrium is set to verify the finished clone. Once Macrium has fully finished, then use the above process to make it safe to disconnect it all. Remove the drive from the case and slot it into the laptop. If the laptop then boots up OK then all is well However it still might refuse to boot. If so let me know as that may be due to the BIOS system being of the UEFI type and we will then need to alter something in the BIOS for it to accept the new drive. Nev.