KenB

Thanks for the link. I have just read a little and it says ....makes an exact copy of your old system drive The implication here is that C: drive will be restored but not any partitions. Then it says .... Drive Cloning - Copies the source drive You will soon find out :)

I did a quick search ..... this may help. click here If you click on the link to the company there are reviews there too Don't use PC-Callout or other big companies.

Hi Alex I have no experience with Acronis but it's reputation is good and this should create a full image - including hidden partition - of your drive. Starbuck, Nev and I use Macrium Reflect - it is free. click here Take a look. Just one thing .... if you update the software at any point then you will need to update the recovery disk. Nev had a problem once and discovered this fact.

No - I don't think so. Installed hardware doesn't show in the BIOS.

Nice one Helcaraxe http://www.clker.com/cliparts/M/o/9/J/W/e/hot-pink-thumbs-up-md.png

If you uninstall the drivers for this card then boot up again. What will happen is that Windows would detect new hardware and attempt to install drivers. If this is not happening then it is not being recognised.

We never recommend PC World or any other large concern. Usually you get better service from the small one or two man business. ( but not in your case ) Where are you located ? Somebody here may be close and can recommend somebody. You could have a look in yellow pages / internet - and knowing what you do now - describe the condition over the phone ( leave out the mouse-pad as it is not related ) If the guy comes back with "inverter or backlight" you know he is not pulling the wool over your eyes. You could ask for a quote there and then. They should be able to give you some idea. Does it boot up normally sometimes ? or is the screen still in the dark ?

If you have the drivers installed and the power to the card and it is still not showing - it looks like a defective card.

Not a good advert for him ! I am sure that the USB mouse will work. I have an old Aspire 5735 - using it now :) Can you get graphics on screen to want to use the mouse ?

Hi Athena and welcome to ExTS :) I agree with Vr5fx's diagnosis. If you can see the icons in the background then you do not need a new screen - or video card. [ chances are it is on-board video anyway ...so this would be a replacement motherboard ..........expensive ] The buzzing was probably the inverter or back-light circuitry failing. The flickering is typical of a failing inverter too. It would seem that the two guys you took the laptop to didn't diagnose the problem very well - especially as this is a fairly common problem with laptops. The guy who suggested "video card" was way off. Take a look here - it explains what we are talking about re "Inverter" and replacement. The job of the inverter is to convert DC current to AC that the backlight uses.

From the card specs that I found ...that card requires: 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors Do you have this and have you connected the 2 6-pin PCIe connectors to the card ?

Don't use this CD - I just copied the text. Use the appropriate drivers from the manufacturers site.

Now I'm confused. This seems to contradict. Can you boot up normally using the onboard connection ? Yes - this is a possibility.

You are welcome - let us know how you get on :)

Hi and welcome to ExTS Can you boot up in Safe Mode ? - with graphics of course :) Switch on and constantly tap F8 about once per second. You should see the Advanced Startup Options. Select Safe Mode from there. Once you have booted up ( graphics will be odd ) you should be able to go back to Device Manager and enable the onboard video again. ( if this is where you disabled it )

I can't see anything else that would stop you. Sometimes cards specify the Amps required on the 12v rail ( often 25A ) but on many PSUs this information is difficult / impossible to find. I am not a gamer - but gaming requires a decent CPU and RAM in addition to the Video Card. You have 4GB RAM. If your O/S is 32bit then you cannot add any more. If you have a 64 bit O/S then I would consider saving up for another 4 GB Try the games first - you may not need it :) One other thing .... PSUs are notoriously inefficient. It may say 500 Watts - the max that you will get will be less than this by some way. ( Makes vary ) When we advise on PSUs - if the card asks for 500 Watt we always up it and suggest 600 Watts for this reason. However - the thing to do is try it. If there are problems then you know where to look.

Hi, I found this that solved a similar problem for the poster: 1. Uninstall all-in-one printer drivers and disconnect the printer from computer 2. In your windows search bar (Windows Explorer) type in "%Temp%". This should bring up a temporay folder. "Select All" and "delete". This basically clears out junk. You may not be able to clear everything. There is a message about using some of the files. Whatever you can delete just delete. 3. Uninstall and reinstall Adobe Flash Player (that was the key to my success). One of the tech guys determined that I had a Flash player issue. 4. Restart the computer. 5. Reinstall the printer drivers (reconnect printer) using the original CD/DVD and hopefully that will resolve your issue.

In that case try the max and min settings to see if there is any difference. The reason I asked how much RAM you have is that VRAM utilises this and if the setting for VRAM was too high it may have a detrimental effect on the rest of the system.

Hi again Try disabling it - run the game. Set it to the highest value - compare the running of the game now. You can always go back and change the settings :) How much physical RAM do you have ?

Hi I assume that you did this through the BIOS > Advanced Chipset Features ( or similar ) ? If you enabled it there you should be able to disable it there too.

ASRock N68C-S UCC This is your motherboard click here The 7950 will fit in the single PCIe x 16 slot that you have available ( where the present card is now ) Don't forget to check if you have 2 6 pin power connectors available :)

Hi The PSU will have a label on it that will give you specific information re. Watts. If you look inside the case there will be some cables from the PSU that are not used ( this is normal ) I somehow doubt that you will have 2 spare PCIe 6 pin power connectors. They look like this: http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/pcie6index.jpg You can create this using an adapter - but you need 2 spare Molex power connectors. http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/peripheralindex.jpg

Hi and welcome to ExTS Your present card only requires 400 Watts PSU and you proposed new one will need at least 500Watts. Does your present PSU comply with this ? Also - the proposed card needs 2 x 75 Watt 6 pin power connectors. Does your present PSU have these ? The 7950 is a PCIe 3.0 card. The chances are your m/board PCIe x 16 slot will be 2.0. The new card will be backwards compatible with 2.0 but there may be a slight difference in performance ( probably hardly noticeable ) There is no VGA port on the 7950 If your present monitor is VGA then you will need an adapter.

Not necessarily. Thinking about it again ....depending on your motherboard it may not like the mixed modules. If the voltages are different ( 1.5 v / 1.65 v for instance ) it certainly will not.) Also the timings need to be the same ( see Starbuck's table ) There seems to be some debate as to your original RAM - 1600 or 1333. If your BIOS is set for 1333 MHz then it will not run any faster than that. When you order - if you do it by phone - you could ask if it was acceptable to return it if the BIOS doesn't like the mixed speeds. (if they are in fact different)

That was me on post #8 yes - it is possible that the front ports are not supplying enough power to run some external equipment. You said earlier that they work ok for a printer ( sending data only ) but not for flash drives / iPod ( which need to take power from the USB ports ) You could try this FixIt troubleshooter click here If this doesn't do it - and I am not hopeful - then an extension from the rear ports would seem to be the solution.