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What error does it give you when it can't connect? Do you use any wireless encryption, like WEP or WPA? If so, have you selected the correct type, and entered the password? Also, what signal strength is the computer reporting when you veiw the network?

A card reader would be a sensable and practical thing to put into a 3.5" bay. They are all pretty similar these days, and since they're not exactly complicated a cheap model will do fine, such as: All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black) - Ebuyer Others have extra ports on them such as more USB, Firewire, and audio ports.

Hi Carla, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Connect the laptop to your network so that is shows it is connected, and then do the following: Open the command prompt by holding down the windows key, and pressing 'R'. Into the run box that appears, type cmd and press enter. Type ipconfig /all into the black command prompt window, and then press enter. The details for your computer's network adapters will come up. Copy all of this output by right-clicking on the window, and choosing 'Select all', and then paste it into your reply.

No problem; great to hear that did the trick :) Unfortunately, it can take a long time to Upload data from a home broadband connection. This is because the speed you are quoted (10Mb etc) in your connection package from your ISP is the download speed. The upload speed, which you use to send data from your computer, is usually far lower at 0.5Mb or less. The only thing you can really do is look for a connection with a faster upload speed.

Thank you, and no problem :) If you need help installing or picking a network card, or getting things set up, be sure to come back and create a new topic.

I think the reason you have to dial a connection is that the modem you have can't do this for you. Moden ADSL modems can negotiate a connection, provide you with a hardware firewall to protect your computer, and allow you to connect more than one computer at a time to the internet. I think your stability problems are related to the old Speedtouch. These modems were given out by ISP companies as the cheapest they could get their hands on; not great quality at all. Here is Netgears most popular ADSL Modem router that will give you all of the features I described above, plus it has wireless: NETGEAR DG834G Wireless-G ADSL2+ Modem Router - Ebuyer You will need to install a network card, if your computer doesn't have an ethernet socket like the one in the picture above. These are cheap and easy to fit. You could also insall a wireless network card if you don't want cables trailing around.

That is definately an old modem. It will connect to your computer using USB. 1.8Mbps is slow for broadband these days. You could try contacting Virgin and explaining that you have an old modem and connection package; I'm sure they will tell you if you can get a better speed and connection deal.

Hi Amanda, This is an ethernet socket: http://www.licel.com/images/netN.png Do you have a socket like this on the back of the speedtouch? Can you see a model number anywhere on it, like 'Speedtouch 330'?

Hi Darren, The fan is probably old, and while a good make, will be worn out. Replacing it with another 80mm fan would be a good option, if the current heatsink keeps the temperatures low enough. For this to work though the fan has to be an ordinary 80mm secured with screws; NOT one molded into a plastic harness. I'd recommend Xilence redwing fans, as they are relatively cheap high-performace fans that are very quiet. Here is the 80mm Version: Xilence Red Wing 80mm Quiet Fan - 3&4pin connection - Ebuyer (£2.96inc vat) If you are looking to replace the whole heatsink then this would be a good option: Akasa AK 965 (Socket 775) Aluminium with Copper Base Processor Cooler - Ebuyer

What equipment do you use to connect to Virgin? Do you have both a cable modem and a router? Do you use a USB connection to your computer, or do you use an ethernet cable and a network card?

Ok Bob, it looks like the service we tried to fix earlier can't start, because it depends on another one that isn't running. It's very strange that these should be turned off. These services come enabled by default in XP. I'm thinking that Tune-up utilities has perhaps run rampage through them, and turned off those that it deems unncessary. Open up the services window like before, the one where you looked for the Universal Plug and play service. This time look for 'SSDP Discovery Service' and right-click it, and select properties. Make sure it is set to 'Automatic' and that it is started. I got your Belarc report, and I won't post it here due to the size/contents. The problem could be a wide range of things, hardware or software, so the best thing to do is keep fixing things until it hopefully stops.

Most we-based email services only allow attachments of 10MB or 20MB in size. The easiest solution to this problem is to create a multi-part archive, basically split your big archive into 10MB chunks, then serperately attach them. To do this in winrar, right-click on the folder (not an already made archive) with the files you want to send, and choose 'Add to Archive...' There is a blank box at the bottom 'Split to volume, bytes' where you can enter the maximum size each archive can be. Simply put 10MB in that box, and click OK. Attach each archive seperately, and e-mail. At the other end, place all the seperate archives on the desktop, and extract one of them. This will automatically extact all of the others as well.

It sounds like you might have conflicting versions of .NET on your system. Try this .NET clean up tool: http://d9p7ma.blu.livefilestore.com/y1primuHw3nhBarwZA4BBnsAh1l5IBj5s7dz4K9mVDaWO0oXPF-vGUO9KlAFYtICUBnbhvAoSp-LUxeIQgw-7Ll-g/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip?download Download it, extact it, and run it. Re-boot the system after it has finished. After you PC has restarted, try installing version 3.5 again. Let us know how it goes.

It should install fine: what is the exact error it gave you?

Hi Gill, How long ago was it that you lost your photographs? If it has been more than a few days and you have been using the computer during that time then the chance of recoving deleted files will be pretty slim. Giving a PC World 'Tech' £80 is like tossing said money out of the nearest window in my opinon. All they will do in this case is run a file recovery program, something you can do yourself, and with just as much chance of success.

I thought that might be the case, as I actually had this same problem a month or so ago. Somehow Microsoft update is convinced that you have the .NET framework version 3.5 installed, when you don't. Then it tries to install an update to this, but since you don't have it, it fails. I corrected the problem by installing .NET framework 3.5, re-booting, and then running windows update again. Here is a link to the Microsoft page where you can download it: Download details: .NET Framework 3.5

Hi Steve, Some wireless chipsets come with their own software to manage the connection, others use the windows wireless configuration service. Does this laptop have a third-party wireless connection manager installed?

Hi, Is this (Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update for .NET versions 2.0 through 3.5 (KB951847) x86) the only update you've had trouble installing?

This problem seems to jusk keep on going, but hopefully we'll get there and at least find out the cause. What does it say under those new events? 7000 and 7001 are caused by a service failing to start due to dependancies, which means that a service can't find another service it needs to work. I'd need to know what the description of the event is to advise you further. If you can post a Belarc report then go ahead, it might just turn up something we've overlooked until now.

Yes, I just noticed that they state Windows Vista is required for the Audio driver and Video driver. I'm afraid you may be out of luck. Window XP is now an old operating system (nearly 9 years old) and brand new hardware is no longer being supported on it. If you run windows update with the 'Custom' option it may pick up Microsoft drivers for some of the missing hardware, but I think it's unlikely. Others may have different thoughts on this, but I'd re-install Vista. It's best to use the OS your computer was designed for.

Hi, this is the driver page on Packardbell's website for your computer: Downloads - IXTREME X2712 - PB81X08301 - iXtreme - platform_amadeus_ixtreme - Desktop If you don't have the sound and video drivers in perticular, then download and install them both. Don't worry about the BIOS update; that's something you should only do if problems arise.

That's great, glad you got it in good working order. Did they give you the Windows install disk with the computer? The PCI slot bays may be low-profile ones. This means that they are designed to take PCI cards that are half the height of conventional PCI cards. If your wireless card is small enough to fit in, then it may have come with a smaller low-profile metal end plate that you can fit to it.

Does the new tower start up and run OK? Does it have a hard disk with windows installed on it, or do you need to install windows? Are you planning on fitting a new hard disk, or keeping the original one?

Hi Kyanther, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help It sounds like your resolution is set too high for either the TV or the monitor to display. Connect the PC to the monitor, then start it up, but repetedly press F8 duing startup and you should get to a menu that will have the option 'Enable VGA Mode' Select it, and then windows will start, but in a default low resolution. Go into display options and set your resolution back to one that the TV and monitor can safely handle.

Bob, I've found a thread on another forum from someone with similar freezing problems, apparently caused by Tune Up Utilities. I notice form your services that you have Tune Up Utilities installed. I'd consider uninstalling it to see if the problem goes away. Using such programs has dubious benefit in my opinion, and their registry cleaner fuctions can sometimes cause harm to your install of windows. Uninstall it using Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel, then re-start your PC, and make sure the Universal plug and play service is started and running.