PseFrank

Thanks Nev...I'll keep my fingers crossed for Bob.

Try this... Go to cnet and download Ac3Filter (Link below). http://download.cnet.com/AC3Filter/3000-2170_4-190264.html Follow any directions given and install AC3Filter on your computer. Windows Media Player should now be able to both recognise and play .dts files.

Hello Katie, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Could you tell us the make and model of you computer please. With this information we'll know if your laptop has a recovery partition or not. As far as your personal data and files are concerned, subject to there not being a serious problem with the HDD it's self, you will probably be able to retrieve your data by using an external enclosure (Sometimes called a Caddy). Whatever the problem turns out to be you should back up your data anyway. To do this you need to either borrow or buy an external enclosure that suits the HDD that you have. (No more than £10 to buy in the UK)...You will also need access to a healthy working computer. You will also have to remove the HDD from your laptop.

How much ram do you have installed, and how many modules/sticks. Remove all of the ram except one stick, and try and boot. Try this with each stick you have. What is the make and model of your computer?

Hi Samster17, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help First of all check that your monitor cables are all plugged in firmly. Do you hear a single or multiple beeps when you boot up? If so which is it? Can you boot into Safe mode? (Tap F8 when booting)...If so, does this make a difference?

Please try and answer Kens questions and post your answers. In addition to that, does your computer make a beep noise when you first power up...and if it does, is it a single beep or two or three beeps in succession? Can you boot into Safe mode (Tap F8 on boot)

I wouldn't think that 60 degrees was too hot, although I'm not an expert in these matters. Your video card has it's own audio chip, which is why you see two audio devices listed in device manager. I have to take care of other business right now...but will look further into your problem later today..

I see no reason why you couldn't do that.

Hi Bing111, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help I'm not sure at all what may be causing this behavior, but someone else here will I'm sure be able to throw some light on the subject. However...one thing you can try is to go into the Bios and disable any Auto Power settings. To enter the bios hit F2 when the computer first starts. Navigate to the Power Management section, hit Enter on your keyboard and then look for a heading that says Auto Power or something similar. Using the arrow keys on the keyboard select Disable and hit Enter. Save the changes you have made and exit the Bios...F10 is often the keystroke to save and exit...It will tell you somewhere on the screen. As far as saving and backing up your pictures is concerned. The easiest way to do that if unable to start your computer is to remove the HDD from the case and place it in an external enclosure (Sometimes called a Caddy). You would then plug the enclosure into a healthy computer via USB port and transfer your personal data to the healthy machine. An Enclosure can be purchased at your local computer store for probably no more than £15 to £20 pounds.

Please read all of posts pertaining to your problem. I would also be interested in the answer to Nevs inquiry in post #4. Ilovemovies (Post #3) has come up with what may be the answer to your problem in suggesting the K-Lite codec pack. Link below for download. http://download.cnet.com/K-Lite-Mega-Codec-Pack/3000-13632_4-10794603.html Only use the Download Now (19.22MB) link.

Does this mean that your problem is solved? Perhaps you could enlighten us all..

Does anyone else have access to your computer? If they do, or you think someone else may have used your computer before you had this problem, you may be the victim of a prank. Right click on any image (.jpg is good) from your files/My Pictures) and choose Set as Desktop background from the menu. Post back and tell us what happens.

Hi Shnos... Try this: Go...Start > Control Panel (Classic view) > Display Click on the Desktop tab. Click Customize Desktop. Click Clean Desktop Now. When the wizard opens click Next. Check/Tick any icon that you Don't want. Click Next. Click Finish. You will now have an Unused Icon folder on the desktop. It is also possible that you may have Malware. Please let us know how you get on.

I'm guessing that the reason you enquired about which Motherboard you have is so as you can be sure that you purchase the correct memory for you computer. Starbuck has already pointed you in the right direction for your memory (Ram). If you still need to know your model of Motherboard then I would suggest you download Belarc Advisor. (Link below) http://download.cnet.com/Belarc-Advisor/3000-2094_4-10007277.html Note: Only click on the Download Now (2.26MB) link on the download page. Belarc will scan your computer and give you a full report on your system...including the model of your Motherboard.

Hi Will M, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. It sounds like you're happy to work inside the tower, so I'd suggest swapping the Power switch cable with the Reset switch cable. You don't need to plug the power switch cable back in. Just make sure that the Reset switch cable is connected to the power switch pin. If it is a switch problem your computer will now start when you press the Reset Button. Let us know how you get on.

Hi Bunni, I'm wondering if your problem could be heat related. Is your computer a laptop or a desktop? Do you hear alot of fan noise before it shuts down, or even worse, no fan noise! If you're happy to go inside the case, then check for dust and cobwebs, etc. I'd also suggest downloading Speccy. This will tell you more about your temperatures. See link below. http://download.cnet.com/Speccy/3000-2094_4-75181811.html Note: Only click the Download Now (3.45MB) link. Please get back to us as to how you get on.

Sorry for interfering in your domain Starbuck...I posted and then had to rush out, and didn't realise you had posted while I was typing...I've only just noticed..Feel free to delete if you wish....

Which Antivirus and Antimalware programs to run on your computer is subjective. Other members here will almost certainly have their own ideas about what is the best protection to install on our computers. One of the resident malware experts may be able to give more detailed advice. I am not one of those experts, but you are obviously having some problems at the moment, so here's my opinion... You do not need to spend any cash at all to protect yourself. There are many free programs that can be downloaded that do a good job. Antivirus: My personal choice is Avast (Free version) You can download it from here... http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html Note: Only use the Avast Free Antivirus (59.72MB) link. This is a resident antivirus program that runs in the background whenever your computer is turned on. Note: You must never have more than one resident antivirus program running at the same time. And the experts may advise you to only have one installed at any one time. (They interfere with each other) Malware Protection: My personal choice is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Free version) This is whats known as an on demand program...this means it only runs each time you start it. You can download it from here... http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html Note: Only use the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (7.38MB) link. My suggestion would be to uninstall Mcaffee and any other antivirus programs and give the programs I mention a try. Others here may suggest something else..

Thankyou for the pointers in your post Marcelus, but I'm afraid that unless the operating system disk that Woodbug has is licenced to that particular computer (Or is brand new...never been installed) then a clean install will probably not be possible. Others here may wish to comment further on the above point. Woodbug....There are other things that you can try to get your computer running properly again.. 1) Clean out temporary files: Click Start > Run and type %temp% in the box provided. Select all of the files and delete them. Note: If any of the files are in use, you will not be able to delete those particular ones. Don't worry about those...just leave them. 2) Run a full scan with your resident Antivirus program (I'm assuming you do have AV installed) 3) Run the Windows disk defragmenter tool: Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter Note: This can take a long time...Maybe several hours! 4) Clean out the temporary files from your browser: You'll find an option to do this via the Tools menu. Let us know if the above suggestions improve things for you. If not you may well have malware on your computer. If this is the case then we can hand you over to our resident malware expert.

Hi Woodbug, Your details say your operating system is Windows Vista...is this an error, or is this another computer? What is the make and model of the computer in question? Is the operating system disk you are trying to use the same disk that was used to load the current operating system? Sorry about the questions, but please supply the details asked for.

Ok...it would seem that you do not have onboard graphics. So I'm thinking that the problem is with your existing graphics/video card. I am however a little confused as to whether or not you can see anything on your screen at all? If you have no graphics card working, and there is no onboard graphics...Then how where you able to play a Youtube video? How are you able to see anything at all on your screen? Do you have access to another monitor (Borrow from a friend or neighbour maybe). Confused??

The VGA port on your motherboard will probably be coloured blue. Look for a blue port...

You should see a second VGA port on the back of your tower...Use that one.

Hi Ploiz, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help Could you tell us the make and model of you sisters Laptop please..

Hi Moll... The guys have already just about covered what you need to do, but to clarify things a little... If you are editing in Word 2003 I'm assuming that your manuscript is a .doc file, or at least it must be a file type that is recognised by MS Word. When you say that the text is within the picture frame...I am also assuming that the text in question is actually on the image it's self? That being the case, one option is to do this... 1) Make a duplicate of the file and rename it. 2) Open the duplicate of the file in Word 2003. 3) Highlight the picture by clicking and dragging your cursor across the image. 4) Then copy the image by hitting CTRL + C on your keyboard. 5) Open up a photo editing program and have a new blank canvas on the screen. Hit CTRL + V on the keyboard to paste the image onto the blank canvas. 6) Edit the text on the image in a similar way to what Plastic Nev has stated above. 7) Save the image as a JPEG. 8) Go back to the file you have open in MS Word 2003 and delete the image in question. 9) Insert your new edited image into the document. 10) Save the file. Hope this helps out. If you're not sure about anything...please ask..:-)