Calling All TT Computer Geeks

“Been there, done that, with the programs running in the background, blah, blah, blah.... Screensaver is disabled, virus protection, firewall, all that stuff is closed. My task manager shows that the onnly thing running is the scan disk program itself. How do I run it in "safe mode"?”

“What tose guys said, plus, a related issue... you might want to seriously consider upgrading your OS whenever you get a couple $$ and a couple minutes. WIN 98 is pretty old, whenever you call someone about a tech-support issue, most vendors will tell you that's not a supported OS any longer so you'll potentially be out-of-luck installing newer utilities / applications. Lot's of improvements in newer OS's as well!”

“There is all kind of crap running in the background that doest show up on task manager, thats usually what happens.

I plagiarized this awhile back, cant remember where I got it, I found it in an old file.

1.Restart the computer.

2.As the computer restarts, press and hold down the F8 key until the Windows 98/Me Startup menu appears.

3.When the Windows 98 (or Me) Startup Menu appears, select Safe Mode and press Enter


This will put your PC into "Safe Mode:" whereby it bypasses a number of different "Start" options, such as printer and scanner drivers, which may be running in the background and interfering with running ScandDisk or Defrag.

2 - After running ScanDisk and Defrag in Safe Mode, go to Start, Shut Down and turn
your PC off. Turn it back on again and it should reboot into the regular Windows mode.
Occasionally it may take two or two shutdowns to get back to Windows.
*On some computers the F8 key is used instead of the Esc key.

DANGER, WARNING, DANGER, WARNING

Remember, doing any of the above can cause impotence, headaches and sudden loss of body fluids....it may also cause your computer to explode, catch fire, dump all your files, crash, melt into a pile of goo, or not start, it's all your fault.

Proceed at your own risk.”

“Sounds like the way to go!!”

“I use Win 98 at an office where I volunteer. We installed a short freeware program called KillWin. It shuts down all other windows operations almost immediately and makes it easy to check disk and scan disk and defrag.
which with 98 we need to do almost daily.

It disables easily and we are back at work.”

“I did the "safe mode" thing last night - it seemed to work! I think I'll do a defrag on it tonight in safe mode, too.

Thanks mtnsteve and others!!!”

“anybody use a Dell Inspiron 1100?”

“Ah... crap. Forgot all about that. What's your e-mail 'ette?”

“I did too..so now that you've reminded me I can BIATCH you out! Its ok..I bought one on ebay. Now i"m wondering if I should flip it.”

“There is a pretty cool Compaq Presario on the EPP plan for $485... :D”

“what are the specs?”

“That was the bare bones. 256megs ram. 40 gig drive. Celeron 1.4ghz. Modem/Lan card (No Wireless), etc. Of course the more you add the higher the price.

Compaq V2000 series.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2214”

“They had this one for 575 in the refurb center.


• AMD Mobile Sempron processor 2800+ with PowerNow! technology (1.6GHz)
• Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2
• 256MB DDR SDRAM
• 40GB hard drive
• DVD/CD-RW combo drive (24x)
• 15" XGA TFT display (BrightView)
• ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP graphics
• 54g integrated 802.11b/g wireless LAN
• 90-day limited warranty”

“well I didn't do too bad...the one I bought is like the one from the refurb but I got it for 545. Still may flip it though..gonna test it over the weekend. I can tell right now it gets mighty hot on my lap which is something I may not like.”

“Every laptop I've owned gets at least warm on the bottom of the unit. Check to see that the fan or fans are running. If the fans do not run properly, they get downright hot.”

“Offer up on slickdeals.net today, two free e-books from Microsoft on .NET. I know we have a few programmers here and wanted to pass this on.

http://www.slickdeals.net/#p6615”

“They're Visual Basic .NET books...not books on .NET in general. Might be of some use to a VB programmer.”

“Any impressions of...

eMachines W3052 AMD Sempron 3000+ / 512MB DDR / 120GB HDD / DVD±RW Dual-Layer / Flash Media Reader / NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX Video / 10/100Mbps LAN / Windows XP Home

Thanks all!”

“You get what you pay for.”

“As I said on the other thread, eMachines have a bad rep. I have a friend (other than SS) who has had one, and will never buy another. I think the motherboard crapped out on him.

The specs on that machine seem fine, although I don't know enough about AMD processors to know if that's a good one.”

“Thanks.”

“http://www.epinions.com/content_190029139588



Pros
Large hard drive, adequate RAM, DVD burner, AMD processor, very fast!

Cons
Nvidia on-board video chip (I'm an ATI fan); XP Home instead of Pro.


Full Review
As an OEM PC system builder since 1997, I've seen many store-bought computers. About 99 percent of them are overpriced junk. This is one machine that rocks! Priced very fair, quality is good, performance is great! Don't walk to buy this one, run!

Note: I wiped and reloaded all 7 machines (bought by friends and business associates) with XP Pro, Office 2003, Nero 6 Ultra, etc.”

“Go to newegg.com and put together a system on your own. It may even be less expensive (meaning you can get better/faster components for the same total cost).”

“Saw that review TD. I am an epinions fan too! I also read that eMachines were bought by Gateway (I think) maybe that will help the past problems.

Time to fess up I just bought it for my Mom. I did get the extended warranty though.”

“Question. What is the difference between XP Home and Pro besides price? I've only used the Pro version.”

“I use Pro at work and Home at home. Pro still has more NT-like features than Home does. I imagine there's more security stuff on Pro too.”

“I bought one as a stopgap, dirt cheap at bestbuy, and it's been fine.”

“Time to fess up I just bought it for my Mom. I did get the extended warranty though.”
The Killing Dance
3:36:38 PM

LOL
Isn't that just like a dang woman?
Buy it and then ask opinions! ;-)”

“My wife's grandmother did exactly the same thing a few years ago when she bought my son a bike for Christmas. Called me up and me what size she should get, and when I told her, she said, "Don't you think that'd be too big? What about (next size down)?" I gave a non-commital answer, and sure enough, when I pulled the bike out of the box, it was too small.

She had already bought the darn thing and just didn't want to take it back.”

“Guilty as charged.

If y'all said it sucked and everyone you have ever heard of bit the dust, I'd just tell my Mom to return it unopened.

My Mom is electronically challenged so...she has no expectations of any particular features. As long as she can email, surf a little, and play solitaire. Ha ha
last edited: 10/25/05 3:51:05 PM”

“XP Pro vs. XP Home

XP Home is a subset of XP Pro, meaning that everything you can do in XP Home, you can do in XP Pro, but not vice-versa.

Features not found in XP Home:

- Remote Desktop
- Multi-processor support. XP Pro supports up to 2 microprocessors.
- Automated System Recovery (ASR)
Backup utility removed, although it's available as an optional installation from the CD in /valueadd folder.
- Dynamic Disk Support, and no Logical Disk Manager
- Fax, no integrated fax functionality out of the box, but you can install from the CD.
- Information Information Services (IIS)/Personal Web Server
- Encrypting File System, allows you to encrypt individual files or folders
- File-level access control
- C2 security designation, Microsoft will attempt C2 security designation on XP Pro, but not the Home Edition
- Domain membership, cannot be used to logon to Active Directory domain. Obviously Domain wizard is missing.
- Group Policy not supported because user cannot logon to domain
- Intellimirror, dtat management; centrally-managed software installation, repair, updating, and removal; user settings management; and Remote Installation Services (RIS), which allows administrators to remotely install the OS on client systems
- Roaming Profiles, feature allows users to logon to any computer in an Active Directory network and get their customized settings.
- Multi-language support
- Sysprep support
- RIS support, Home does not support RIS deployments (see Intellimirror)
- 64 bit edition
- user interface for IPSec
- Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
SAP Agent
- Client Service for NetWare
- Network Mirror
- Multiple Roaming Feature
- Guest logon on by default
- Explorer Address bar off by default in Home
- Client-side caching
- Administrative Tools option on the Start menu (a subset of the Admin tools is still present, though)
- Home Edition will not support upgrades from Windows 95, NT 4.0 workstation or Windows 2000 Pro.
last edited: 10/25/05 5:14:55 PM”

“Man, talk about killing a thread... ;-)”

“Yup, too much info, lol...”

“Thanks skiracer

Actually I went home, and forgot about this thread the next morning.”

“I HATE, I HATE, I HATE THIS COMPUTER....it's my old biz computer, and cameron is using it.

i just realized that this damn computer don't have but 256 mb of ram. ECC RDRAM to be exact.

that's not the problem...because I bought some more...I bought 2x 256 ECC RRRAM...but this #&%!$ing computer won't recognize it.

after I installed it it reads only 4 x 128mb
instead of 2x 128 and 2 x256

why is that?? It shoudl read it. I thought as long as they are in same mb pairs it doesn't matter what if I have 2 256 mb and 2 126 as long as i don't pair a 128 with a 256mb.

HELPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEAZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!”

“Oh, I may should add that i then tried a different approach cus i wanted to see what the problem was...

i removed the old 2 x128mb ECC RDRAM and put the 2 x 268Mm ECC RDRAM in it's place...adn guess what? It doesn't find but 256mb of it!!!

so basicaly what it doesn...it won't read memory over 128mb in each slot!

yes, the place holders in the open slots are in place. HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE!!
last edited: 10/28/05 7:22:38 PM”

“Wrong kinda RAM, Gem?”

“Well at least it recognized the new chips in part. You might need to trade them for 4 128s. Hard to tell without knowing make and model. Vendor's web site might have info-- or they might just try to sell you their own high-priced stuff. The store's tech department might be able to recommend, or check their own cross-reference listings.”

“Gem-

Check out Crucial.com. It's a great resource for what type of memory your specific computer will support.”

“crap! Thanks!!
on to the hard drive now...it don't recognize that one either.

one more try...
I think it's time to get teh kids my computer and I get a new one.”

“Na liz, it's ECC RDRAM. I made sure of that. Don't ask me why I bought this computer with ECC Ram back then...”

“well the hard drive seams to be installed properly. that was fast. all from within windows now huh? I remember when I installed them from DOS manual. not with a CD.”

“You need to check with the motherboard's manufacturer and make sure it will recognize that size stick. It may not be able to. A BIOS (do they still call it that?) might fix it, if the vendor has one.”

“they have a bios upgrade [they don't call it bios anymore???]. I'll do that tomorrow. all my floppies don't seam to work.

It should work, should be capable of recognizing uhmmm. I can't remember either 1GB or 2GB, but it was a lot. [well a lot not a lot, but more then I have now]

I hope it's only a BIOS thing...I could update this sucker here and my kid would be happy. he isn't using it but to be on the net and maybe once in a while write a report.

I sometimes work down here, but photoshop sucks on this computer so I rather not.”

“Gem,
Sounds pretty weird, but RDRAM is a little weird. Just checking here, be sure that one of each matching memory stick is in each bank (2 banks, 2 slots each) and in the same position. That would go like this:
Bank 1,
slot 1 - 128mb
slot 2 - 256mb
Bank 2,
slot 1 - 128mb
slot 2 - 256mb

The same goes for using the place holders (Continuity RIMMs)

This is probably not the problem since the system recognizes the presence of the memory but not the correct size. What is the computer (or motherboard) make and model? It's possible that it won't recognize anything larger than a 128.”

“oh!! no! I have it like this:

bank 1:
slot 1 128 mb
slot 2 128 mb

bank 2:
slot 1: 256 mb
slot 2: 256 mb

[so i have them next to each other]...but that's how they were originally too.
opening the dell the 2 128mb were next to each other, and the place holders where next to each other]

Trailbum is should recognize the Ram because it's cabable of 2Gigs.

It's a dell dimension 8100. it's pretty old. 1.5 ghz. I didn't check the motherboard.

BTW: THIS IS MY MEMORY I HAD ON THERE:
TWO RAMBUS INLINE MEMORY MODULES, 128, 400M, 64X18, ERROR CORRECTION CODE, 8C

I've added those:
# RAMBUS RDRAM ECC 512mb PC800-45 2 x 256mb )
# Part #: KTD-WS752/256 ECC

Motherboard:
25REH PRINTED WIRING ASSY, PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), 8100, NETWORK INTERFACE CARD/CONTROLLERS, 4 RIMM, DIMENSION

Prolly won't tell you much thou. lol

OH!! Here this systems memory info from the documention:
Memory
Architecture RDRAM
RIMM sockets four
RIMM capacities 64-, 128-, 256-, and 512-MB RDRAM
Standard RAM 128 MB (minimum)
Maximum RAM 2 GB
BIOS address F8000h


btw: I need to install a new video card. right now it's an apg 4x card.
how can i find out if my motherboard is capable of 8x apg?

also: big difference in apg or pci?

lol, I just realized how old that computer is. back when I bought it was like one of THE computers....completely customized and soooooo damn fast!!!
last edited: 10/29/05 12:43:36 PM”

“crap...i rearanged the memory and oh no...that wasn't it. It was okay like I had it at first. I don't get why this damn computer don't read more then 128mb each thou. it's cabable of 2gigs of RAM. I wonder if a BIOS update would do the job. doubt it thou.

i got to get floppies.”

“Although the discussion is way over my head I need help.

Reading through the "Safe Mode" procedure - does that work for Windows XP?

Since plugging my computer in at the new house I cannot load my high speed dsl. It just jams up somewhere in the process. I know there's a bunch of crap on my system so I got Spysweeper. That won't run either, once again due to the crap.

You gotta love kids.
In the meantime help me so that I won't just go buy a new computer.”