KenB

Thanks Ray :)

It shouldn't be necessary - let's see how you get on with cleaning the fans etc. Many thanks for the donation - much appreciated :)

A proper welcome Hi and welcome to ExTS :)

Hi James and welcome to ExTS Good to hear that somebody else found the thread useful :)

Hi Bazman Just adding a bit to what Nev and Armageddon have advised .... If your Video Card was covered in fluffy dust then the case vents and fans would be too. Also take a close look at the CPU fan on the motherboard. Use the compressed air on these too. Using compressed air: If you hold the button down for too long you will get the expellant gas liquefying ( as you found ) Us it in short bursts for best effect. Thank you for your kind offer. :) We don't insist that our members contribute but if they do we are happy to accept as it helps to keep the forums running. To give you some idea - recently members have donated £5 / £10 and the more generous have been able to afford more. Really it is up to you. If you do decide to donate we would be very grateful.

Hi and welcome to ExTS This is probably a RAM problem as this is all that you have altered. Was the machine switched off when you swapped the RAM over ? ============= Take the coin-shaped CMOS battery out for about 1 minute and replace. This will re-set the BIOS to defaults. Use the old RAM - take a pencil eraser and give the contacts a good clean. Check the slots for dust. If there is any use a very soft brush or compressed air tin to blow it away. Try again.

Let it run with the on-board for a while to confirm that the problem was actually the video card. It is a simple job to replace if you want to go down that route. If you are not too bothered - you can leave it as it is with the on-board :)

Hi Steve That is good to hear. You are very welcome :)

Hi Benji I said you would get a few options :)

This is an outside chance ...... Start > type is .....system restore ....ENTER Follow the prompts and select a date just prior to the start of your problem. Files / photos etc will be OK. Installed software and critical updates will need to be installed again.

Hi If you are going to give that a try the manual for it is here: click here It should have come with a CD. If you have this then the set-up should be no problem - there is a "wizard" that will guide you through.

Hi, It shouldn't be any worse - and if anything a bit better. Looks like the router is at fault as you so rightly suggest. What is the make and model number of this please? I am off out in about 30 mins - will need to pick this up tomorrow.

Hi Benji I use SRWare Iron click here Others will, I am sure, give you a few other alternatives.

Hi, and welcome to ExTS I don't know of one - somebody else may :) What did come to mind ..... if you are offering to volunteer your services for free ....?? Your local secondary school would have a network of possibly 300 stations - and a couple of ICT technicians. If you wrote to the school they may let you volunteer your services in exchange for some experience. You would have to be very specific about payment - I know for a fact that they would run a mile if that was mentioned :)

The link below is easier than typing it out : click here

Some video card software disables the on-board when you install it. The reason for this is that the two software packages can possibly conflict. You should be able to check in the BIOS to see. Also - when connected to the card .... start > Run > type in .......devmgmt.msc ....ENTER You should be able to check here to see if your on-board drivers are still there. Check in Device Manager anyway and see if there are any yellow exclamation marks against the actual card itself.

Do me a favour please - try one of them with a wired connection and let me know what the connection speed is like. They should just work. Let me know what the speed is like on a different computer ( wired ).

Hi Armageddon - worth a try. I was concentrating on the backing up problem as VLC seemed to solve the DVD playing for the time being.

Hi and welcome to ExTS You have done all that I would have suggested. Not only do you have Video problems but you have Sound problems too ? Did this system have XP as the original OS and you have now gone back to that ? Did you install the XP drivers ? The XP drivers for your card are here: click here Give these a try.

You could check in Services to see if the Windows Defender Service is running. Start > type in ....services.msc ....ENTER scroll down to check. Seedy has suggested MS Essentials. If you decide on this you will need to remove any other Anti Virus software that you have on your PC. MS Essentials will disable Defender as it is no longer needed.

Hi and welcome to ExTS Does the email and web browser work OK apart from the error message ? I assume that "Batworth" is known to you ? One of the registered users ? Download MBAM from here: ( you want the FREE version ) click here You may get re-directed to a mirror site - this is OK. Install > Update > Run it on the quick scan It will produce a log in Notepad - copy this and post it here please. Let's just check that you have no infections.

I would still get an adapter ( about £10-15 ) and connect it up ......it is worth a try. When connected you access it just like a memory stick.

Sorry for building your hopes up - my error :( Is the problem now backing up ? Are you using the inbuilt option to back-up ? Start > type in .....services.msc Scroll down to Volume Shadow Copy. If this is set to Manual or Auto this is OK - if Disabled you need to enable it by right clicking on it > Properties Set it to "Manual" in the Startup Type window.

Just to add to what has already been said: You don't say what "died". If it was anything other than the hard drive then you should be able to access your stored data yourself. Nev has linked to one example of an adapter which will connect the drive to a USB port on a working PC. There are adapters that come with their own Power Supply - and you would probably need this for a 3.5 inch drive ( from a desktop machine ) I would start with this before I sent the drive away to a recovery company. You could have your pics etc. back for a small outlay :)

Hi That is an automated response from the board software - sorry. I have "approved" the post now :) Two problems occur throughout the log: 1 WMP ............Windows Media PLayer. This explains why you could not play DVDs if this is what you were using by default. 2. NlsLexicons ..... in various forms. I have spent some time trying to find exactly what these are ...... nothing conclusive. Lots of mentions - but nothing to say exactly what they should do. Do you have a full install XP disk ( not recovery disks ) ? If so - we could try a Repair Install ............ this would keep all of your files and data whilst repairing the OS.