Calling All TT Computer Geeks

“Yep, the F8 method should work for XP.”

“Thanks, I'll try it this evening.

Cross your fingers I'll be "connected"”

“Safe mode will not load the drivers for your network device, likely. You should choose Safe mode with Networking, instead.

Safe mode alone, loads a basic video driver and the driver for the hard disk drive.”

“precision - Is this why staying up til midnight defragging and running Spysweep didn't work?

Still no dsl connection.

Is it time to take the computer to the doctor. I'm contemplating a new one but this one's only 2.”

“YIPPEEE!

I did it. Fixed it myself. Several runs through Spysweep in Safe Mode with Networking and a call to SBC got me running.

Thank you all for the assistance!”

“Great! Now, never let your children touch it again!”

“OMG - No kids in the house bit. Swear.

I went home last night and Windows won't load. It just restarts and restarts and restarts and .......

Can't even get in to safe mode with or without networking!

HEEEEEELLLLLLLP!”

“Yer computer is broke. You needs a new one.

Seriously though, you may have a hard drive problem. Is the hard drive making a lot of clicking sounds when it's trying to load Windows?”

“Exactly how far does it get each time?”

“Is this the new one you just got?

I agree with Bit, sounds like the hard drive is kaput”

“Theres a key combo that will stop it but I forgot what it is...”

“I didn't get the new one. I fixed the old one..... New problem.

Yes bit, lots of clicking sounds. It gets to my logon screen name and flips out. A message seems to pop up in the background but I can't read fast enough.”

“If it gets to the logon screen it may not be the hard drive. Sounds more like a corrupt Windows file. I would first try a repair from the Windows installation CD and if that doesn't work, then a new Windows installation (WITHOUT wiping the hard drive, when the option comes up).”

“Yah, trying a repair can't hurt. If you do manage to get it repaired I'd boot into safe mode, run Scandisk on it and make sure any new bad blocks get mapped, just in case.”

“At the very least you may be able to install the drive as a 2nd drive (slave) in another computer, and be able to make a backup of your data before it completely goes up. Assuming it is a hard drive issue.”

“Techntrek - you may be on to something. When I did get a safe mode message it said something like "Windows failed to load properly". I tried "Open using last good configuration" (or something like that). It still just went in to reboot.

I'm not sure I have a windows installation cd. The computer came with programs already loaded, didn't it? I'll look when I get home.

I'd just rather have the dining room walls replastered than buy a new computer right now.

Could this have anything to do with the 1902 electrical system running my house?”

“Hmmm, are you running your computer from a properly grounded outlet? I doubt if that really has anything to do with your problem, but it's best if you have a good ground. Most older houses just have hot and neutral, with no ground.

FWIW, don't wire neutral to ground, neutral is not a ground. Baaaaaaaaad idea. I actually heard of someone doing this.”

“It certainly did already come loaded, and it should have come with a big pile of CDs for all of the programs and drivers that it came pre-loaded with, including the operating system.

You did save all that stuff, right? Didn't you?”

“Yes, I think I saved everything.

OMG - I need a house husband! A handy man AND a computer guy!”

“OK there is probably a "recovery disk" of some sort in there. It has been popular for the last few years for the manufacturer to include a CD with the computer that will completely reload the computer to the state it was in when you received it. I've read that Dell has started placing all this data on a partition on your harddrive, but I doubt if this is the case for you.

Worse comes to worst, you can buy a new hard drive, install it, use the CD to return your computer to its original delivery state, and see if you can recover your data from the old hard drive. It may still work well enough to retrieve data, but not well enough to boot off of. I had this happen on a PC of mine.”

“...how far to Illinois?.....(Reallity check..YER MARRIED YA GOOF....!)...dambbit!”

“The reboot half-way through booting thing happened to me due to a corrupted Windows file. Sounds exactly like what your problem is. A repair and it was fine.

Note that many manufacturers do not send ANY disks. You must call them and ask them to send you the installation disks. A cost-saving thing since so few people ask for it.”

“You computer geeks rock! Yer sexy too ;-)

I'll go home and look around. I saved everything from when I got this computer. I just hope it didn't get lost in the move. I'll report back from home if I can get this thing working!

Thanks again!”

“You could always find some with a Windows XP CD and have them make a "backup copy" for you to try and run a repair.”

“Yep, no disk. I'll have to get a number for HP. Dagnabbit!”

“If you visit their site, you may be able to order the disk online.”

“I believe HP uses a partition to store the install files....kinda like having the install disk on a secret file on your hard disk.

There may be a key combination that will get you there, unfortunately I don't know what it is. Perhaps you can do it from BIOS?”

“dhutch, go here and enter your computer's info, and you may find out if there's some sort of key combo to reload the computer.”

“Remember, if you do reformat, you will lose everything!

If you can do a repair, you shouldn't.




Lose everything that is :-)”

“Thanks for the link bit.
Noted mtnsteve, I'll try that first but I don't really mind losing stuff if that's the way it has to be. Honestly I don't have that much on the pc.”

“Most of the new computers are coming with a hidden partition that stores the system restore files. You can usually access it from the system menu, and look for an option to boot to a restore partition or something similar to that.”

“That idea works really well.........





until you hard drive takes a dump.
last edited: 12/05/05 5:25:36 PM”

“Posting from HOME!!!!!

I reloaded Windows from the partition site. (I think) It's F10 that got me there.

Once reloaded I had to re-install a couple of pieces of hardware, my dsl disk and spysweeper. And voila!

Watch out, I'm faster than ever too.

Now I have to go make my TT ornament swap gift to SPAM.

Thanks geeks, I couldn't have done it without you!!!”

“ha ha ha... When your computer crashed you had a once in a lifetime opportunity to escape TT, and you didn't take it, now you're stuck here forever :)”

“Congrats, dhutch!”

“My Canon printer at home came with "Canon Easy-WebPrint" software that automatically resizes web pages when printing so the right side doesn't get chopped off. It only works with supported Canon printers.

I want something similar for my HP LaserJet at work because I access a lot of databases on the web. Is there a (preferably freeware) software available for this?”

“google it.”

“Check out the printer settings for something like "scale to fit". Its been on the printer driver for every HP printer I've owned.”

“You could try printing in landscape mode instead of portrait.

Try some of these suggestions
last edited: 12/14/05 2:24:30 PM”

“Those are pretty much the suggestions I got from HP bit. They'd be fine in 1990 but not now.

There is a scale-to-fit setting, tech, but it doesn't seem to do anything for web printing. Here is a screenshot of the toolbox: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1103/rjenkie/screenshot.jpg

The help explanation seems backwards.”

“My computer is still running like a dream at home. (knock on my little wooden head)

Thanks again computer geeks!”

“PrintPunk seems to work:

http://www.printpunk.com/downloads.htm


Thanks anyway geeks.”

“crap! I have the same problem upstairs, I can't send any email or receive email via outlook, or any other email program.

now it starts down here. well...almost I am able to receive, but I can't send it out.
My outlook settings are correct [mail servers, etc..]

anyone know what it could be? I am going nuts. I need this to work”

“Does you incoming and out going mail go through the same server? Our mail at work goes out through a different server, as a way to prevent our computer from sending out SPAM if they become hijacked. On occasion the out going mail server will go down preventing from being able to send mail, but still receive it. Could you have the same problem?”

“How can I save a list of my 'favorites' in a file on my computer? I'd like to do this so when I change computers I can just copy the file to the new crt.”

“lz...it's the same server

I don't think it's the same problem because if I use webmail [via the browser] I have no problems. attachements take forver this way thou...and I rather use outlook anyway.
last edited: 12/29/05 12:05:11 PM”

“Gemini: Hmmmm, then I don't know.


Tango: I think all you have to do is copy your favorites folder. Right click on the start button and select "Explore". You should see a folder called "Favorites" (it looks like a star in Windows XP). Copy all of the files in the folder and place them in the Favorites folder on the new computer. This should work, but please note I haven't tried it.”

“HELP”

“lumberzac is right. Your favorites are just shortcuts saved in one directory. Different browsers put them in different areas, but the method he mentioned will work for Windows XP.

Gemini - call your ISP and see if they are having problems with their email servers. Doesn't mean much if webmail is working, since their web servers may be fine while their pop/smtp servers may be down.”

“Getting e-mail via the web browser still accesses their smtp server. Gem, call your ISP. Can you ping the smtp server?

I had the same problem with Adelphia a few weeks ago. After contacting their tech support to tell them of the problem, they told me the problem was with my Outlook. This wasn't the case, as I made no changes and within several hours, I was able to send mail. I told them I could not ping their smtp server and they told me I should not try to ping their server. I asked them why not and they replied because they did not like people doing that. I told them that I was pinging their smtp server to try and resolve a problem they were having.

Tango, in Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) you can drag the entire Favorites folder to a USB thumb drive. It's under Documents and Settings\username. Just plug the USB drive into your new computer and drag the entire favorites folder into Documents and Settings\username.

By the same tolen, you could write the entire Favorites folder to a CD and transfer it to your new computer that way.

If the computers are networked, you could copy your favorites folder to somewhere accessible on the network to both computers and transfer it to the new computer over the network.

The easiest way, by far, is to use the USB thumb drive.”