Plastic Nev

Next best bet Randy is trawl the second hand shops, see if you can pick up a working DVD machine that way. Also is there not a chance of buying a new DVD RW drive to fit the original machine? Surely the drive itself may be just the same as a computer drive. I would be taking it apart if it were me, just to see if that were possible. Nev.

Ah, thanks Jim for that error number, I found this help page in Microsoft answers, try first the sfc /scannow as per the instructions in the first answer, then scroll down the page to the answer regarding the .NET Framework fix. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-windows_programs/what-is-this-error-code-oxc0000135/7b9bf100-4ae0-40c6-87b6-f3bacc0a82ac?auth=1 If the .NET fix is needed, the link provided goes to the site of the fix creator, read what it does if you wish, then just download the zip file, open it and follow instructions. Let us know if that helps. Nev.

If it has recently been in for service, then yes do take it back to them. Whatever has gone wrong may be due to something they did. Nev.

Hi Jim, please don't bother with Hijack this, it is now outdated and not a lot of use, go to our malware section and follow the instructions for all the logs which will include OTL. Nev.

Hi again Jim, that thread wasn't resolved, so how did you get things to work correctly that time? If you look at the end of that thread etavares replied he could see nothing wrong, but there was no further answer from you?? I assume you must have done something that resolved it and forgot to reply and tell us. Anyway what you describe is basically a freeze up of the system, which can have many reasons, driver conflicts, other software conflicts and of course the chance of malware. How well does it run in safe mode this time round Jim? If it is OK in safe mode it may well be a driver or other software that isn't started when in safe mode, and there can be quite a lot. Nev.

Hi Jim, to save us the time searching the forum, can you link please to any threads where previous problems were dealt with on this machine. Oh and yes, after a sort out, especially if malware related, a good thing to do is to delete all previous restore points and create a new one from that point. However, if you have any idea of the time or date when it was last sorted, if that is still in system restore, that might be the best to go back to. You can also undo the latest system restore as well and hopefully get it back to where it was before she did it. Nev.

Hi again, it is beginning to look like a hardware fault on the motherboard for the connections to the front USB ports if the back ones are still working. The flash drive that no longer flashes its indicator, may just be the indicator or it could be worse. Does the drive still actually work? try in another computer if you need to, does it flash on then? If problems with that drive, it just may be faulty enough to have done whatever damage has been done to the motherboard for front ports perhaps. If it is a motherboard fault, the only cure is a new board I am afraid. Otherwise just use the rear ports and if needed obtain a USB hub to expand the ports from the rear. Nev.

This could just be a glitch in the operating system so we will try a repair first. Turn off the computer completely, then press the usual start button, straight away start tapping the F8 key, you should get the advanced options screen with usually "Repair My Computer" highlighted, if it isn't use the up and down keys to highlight "Repair My Computer" then click the enter key, it will then go into the repair mode and try to correct any faults in Windows 7. Let us know if that helps. Nev.

The Cow, an Ant and an Old Fart A cow, an ant and an old fart are debating on who is the greatest of the three of them. The cow said, "I give 20 quarts of milk every day and that's why I am the greatest!" The ant said, "I work day and night, summer and winter, I can carry 52 times my own weight and that's why I am the greatest!" Why are you scrolling down? It's your turn to say something...

Thanks for the feedback David and glad that eventually you got the power supply that works, third time lucky eh? As you say though an unencrypted drive is the real answer for storing images. To answer the question about the power out from USB when computer is turned off, I have a camera that can be charged via the USB port at the same time as transferring photo's, (Handy eh?) however that stops charging when the computer is turned off. Strangely though, there is still power on the keyboard until I turn off the mains power. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Go back into device manager, usually at the bottom of the list is Universal Serial Bus controllers. Click the small arrow on the left of that item to expand the list, are there any red or yellow marks? If not, double click each item and look in the window under the general tab, does it say "This device is working properly" ? Click the tab at the top for drivers, are they there and not greyed out? let us know what you find. Nev.

Can you tell us a bit more about both the computer and the monitor please, are they both the same thing as the latest touch screen computers are, or is it a laptop or what? Make and model number is all we need if the complete unit, or if separate, the monitor make and model as well as the computer, thanks. Nev.

Ther are plenty of ways to make some cash, even while still going to school, and without being lazy and trying to do it on the internet, which isn't all that safe anyway. As an idea and long before personal computers, in fact before transistors even, (Yes I am that old) I did a newspaper delivery round both morning and evenings before and after going to school. Well worth it to me at the time as it allowed me to save up for a bike. Newspapers still need delivering, have you thought about earning a bit away from the computer? Nev.

Just to add, RAM in mixed speeds will result with the total running only at the speed of the slowest, so if needing speed, get rid of the slow RAM and fit all new at the highest speed the motherboard and processor will run at. Nev.

Rap20 is in essence correct though, as the initial POST beep is a small speaker fitted to the motherboard, whether it is a touch screen like yours, a laptop, or even the big box of an ordinary desktop, and is not a part of the computers normal sound system, so therefore cannot be just turned off. The normal single beep is the BIOS telling you that the self test has been carried out and that everything is OK. To actually stop the beep does mean disconnecting that speaker, wherever it is fitted in one of those things. One of these days I will get chance to find where it is when I have to take one to bits to fix it, for whatever reason it has gone wrong. Sorry about that, but if the beep is driving you up the wall, turn the computer on, and straight away go to the kitchen and put the kettle on to make some tea or coffee, hopefully you will be too far away to hear it. :D Nev.

Hi, sorry but it looks like the drive may have failed rather than any software problems. New drives aren't that expensive these days, but is the computer worth it? How old is it? Nev.

Drat, I was hoping that you could enter the password for the drive with the PE environment running. I take it there is no way of removing that password protection, so lets hope the external power supply will work. Otherwise it is going to be a new external drive that doesn't need a password. There may well be a problem with that password business any way, say for example the hard drive in the computer dies on you. So fit a new replacement to then install the Macrium image onto it. (Can be done, I have) How do you power up the external drive and enter the password with a computer that may have a brand new hard drive fitted, but nothing on it? Same would apply if the operating system got corrupted, or most other reasons for installing the image to rescue the computer. Just a thought and may well be a good idea to obtain an external drive just to keep all Macrium images on. Just use the Seagate drive as storage only then. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, have a look at this Microsoft help page, please let us know if that helps. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314060 Nev.

Hi, I have done quite a lot of work exploring what can and cannot be done with Macrium reflect. I know it is a pain to download because of the size of the file, but I seriously recommend downloading the file and burning the Windows PE disk. The reason being the disk once burned contains its own mini operating system complete with the full version of Macrium reflect. That disk is a lot more versatile than the Linux disc. That means that once you boot the computer from the disk, (BIOS requires setting to boot from disk) you are then fully able to both search for and open the external hard drive, which I hope would be including entering a password. My external doesn't need one so not sure about the password side of it, but worth a look as I feel sure it should be possible. I will also warn about not allowing updates to the Macrium Reflect software without burning a new PE disk with the updated version. I found that accepting the update to the software changes things in the next image created, a disk created with the previous version of Macrium Reflect, sees those update changes as corruption and refuses to install the image, unfortunately only after first reformatting the computer drive so there is nothing on it. Good job I had a spare computer to download and burn an up to date disk. For whatever reason, and is actually warned this could happen, the Linux disk will sometimes not see or can be incompatible with, the external hard drive any way, as I found with my Buffalo external drive. Hence why I know so much about the Windows PE disk and how much better it is at reinstalling the image. As a way to check if you can access and enter the password to start up your Seagate external drive, first do download and then burn the Windows PE disk. Shut down the computer and reboot into BIOS in order to make the BIOS boot from the disk, plug in the external if not already connected, then allow the computer to boot from the disk. Macrium will then open, you then search the computer for the hard drive, if you can find it you should then be able to input the password to access the external drives contents. If you can get this far, no need to go further unless of course you wish to install the previously created image. Otherwise just cancel everything and shut the computer down, at that point nothing should have changed and once the disk has been removed the computer should re-boot as normal. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Beehive, if you haven't yet looked you will find Starbuck has replied to your question in the Vista forum. I hope we can sort your problem for you. Nev.

Hi, and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help, did you also find the time and date (Bottom right hand corner) had to be reset? If so it just might be the so called CMos battery on the motherboard requires replacing, if that laptop has one, some don't. Nev.

Hi, you installed that many different things that it could be hard to pin down which one is the fault. I suggest doing a system restore back to a time before losing the colour, then re-install each program one at a time and check the colours are OK between each install. If that is not possible, the only other suggestion is to look up the drivers for the graphics card and see if they can be updated or reinstalled. let us know if further help needed with the graphics drivers. Nev.

Hi, with you having tried different disks in both drives, it must be coincidental that both drives seem to have a fault, have you tried a head cleaning disk is the first question? something like this perhaps? http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/8986156/AM-15511-Wet-Dry-CD-Laser-Lens-Cleaner/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:8986156|prd:8986156 Also try this Microsoft fixit on both drives. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314060 Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. I found a source for the drivers file here= http://www.siliconguide.com/drivers/device/86/ I assume it is for the Windows XP operating system, so choose that one and follow the instructions. If that proves to work let us know or not please. If not you may have to ask Lexmark to send a new disk. There may be a small charge for that though. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help It could be a duff card, the only way to find out is to try the card in another computer. If it works then we will have to go further of course, but if it doesn't work in another computer, you have a doorstop I am afraid. Nev.