Title: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 13:39:56 basically my laptop has gone all gay, i have XP when my desktop comes up the toolbar is only half loaded, the toolbar is grey and old looking like u get on summat like windows 95! i have no sound and no wireless options, can only click on certain things, any ideas?
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Nemo on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 13:43:59 Is it in some sort of Safe Mode?
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 13:45:41 Is it in some sort of Safe Mode? no, its starting windows as normal Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Fred Elliot on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 13:54:23 system restore !
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 13:55:13 system restore ! how do i do that on a Vaio? Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Crozzer on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 14:07:38 Go to the Start Menu, Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, .....System Restore Basically, it sets up the computer as it was in a previous point in time. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Bogus Dave on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 14:55:10 Might have something thats fucked with your setup. I'm fairly sure most of what you said can be changed manually. I know for a fact the toolbar can be made to look old, as that is how mine is at the moment
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:18:53 when i try system restore it wont open, says to restart and try again but again that doesnt work
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:35:52 ive googled the problem and tried using system restore through safe mode command promt but still get the same error messages when trying a system restore
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Crozzer on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:43:41 Check System Properties in Control Panel. Look at System Restore tab., confirm System Restore is switched on. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:47:35 Check System Properties in Control Panel. Look at System Restore tab., confirm System Restore is switched on. the box that says turn off system restore on all drive is not ticked, also my laptop keeps making a weird loud buzzing noise when its moved into certain areas of my house! Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:51:09 now im downloading the latest xp service pack on my pc then will whack it on usb and install on the fucked laptop, will that do any good?
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Samdy Gray on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 16:26:32 It'll probably brick it :)
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Rustle on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 16:59:06 Im not using XP so im not sure this will work,but give it a go anyway,right click on you're task bar then properties/start menu then untick classic start menu and make sure you're start menu has a tick in it,if still no good then have a look at the customize button.
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 17:44:46 Have you tried pressing the F8 key repeatedly right after switching the laptop on and then selecting 'startup using last known good configuration settings' (or something like that)?
If not try that. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 21:16:29 Have you tried pressing the F8 key repeatedly right after switching the laptop on and then selecting 'startup using last known good configuration settings' (or something like that)? If not try that. tried that, no joy Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Sunday, September 13, 2009, 21:40:54 If you suspect the hard drive you could try using the error check facility:
In my computer right click on your hard drive and select properties Select 'error checking' from the tools tab Tick both boxes and click start It could take ages, so do it when you don't need the computer. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: jonny72 on Monday, September 14, 2009, 00:14:58 the box that says turn off system restore on all drive is not ticked, also my laptop keeps making a weird loud buzzing noise when its moved into certain areas of my house! I'll bite, which areas of your house is the buzzing noise happening in? Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Monday, September 14, 2009, 07:18:36 If you suspect the hard drive you could try using the error check facility: In my computer right click on your hard drive and select properties Select 'error checking' from the tools tab Tick both boxes and click start It could take ages, so do it when you don't need the computer. Tried that already with no joy Title: Re: computer help! Post by: tans on Monday, September 14, 2009, 07:22:45 mmm, my pc running xp is experiencing something like this.
it says it cant find the user profile whilst loading windows. how bizarre Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Monday, September 14, 2009, 12:39:34 Repair install of windows JPC? Tans - common problem I will post possible solutions later
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: jayohaitchenn on Monday, September 14, 2009, 12:43:25 It's clearly a driver problem.
Click on Start -> Run, type in compmgmt.msc and hit enter. When Computer management loads have a look at device manager. I reckon you are going to have yellow !'s against your wireless, video and sound drivers. If so get replacement drivers from the manufacturers website and install. It's relatively easy - good luck. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: JPC82 on Monday, September 14, 2009, 14:09:05 how do i know what drivers to install? i cant do it on the laptop cos its fucked, can i download a all in 1 driver pack on my pc and usb it over?
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Sippo on Monday, September 14, 2009, 14:16:19 whats the make and model of your laptop?
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Samdy Gray on Monday, September 14, 2009, 14:23:47 If you don't know how to update/install a driver then you probably shouldn't be trying to fix it yourself.
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: magicroundabout on Monday, September 14, 2009, 14:56:10 If you don't know how to update/install a driver then you probably shouldn't be trying to fix it yourself. have to agree here but if it does go tits up remember Orange are offering a free laptop if you take out Orange Mobile Broadband Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Chubbs on Monday, September 14, 2009, 15:06:29 its fucked mate,
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: jayohaitchenn on Monday, September 14, 2009, 15:18:17 how do i know what drivers to install? i cant do it on the laptop cos its fucked, can i download a all in 1 driver pack on my pc and usb it over? Google the model name and number, or go to the manufacturers website, ie Dell, HP etc and search for the drivers on there. Or give me £50 and I'll do it for you. x Title: Re: computer help! Post by: BANGKOK RED on Monday, September 14, 2009, 15:23:36 Get somebody else to fix it.
Have a look in the yellow pages, look for "Laptop repair", call a number and BOOM. It's sorted. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Monday, September 14, 2009, 20:50:55 It's all them dodgy bluray downloads :D
Sounds a bit more than drivers though, if you can't click certain things, system restore is fucked and you can't change to XP style menus. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 20:22:32 Oh yeah just remembered this Tans.
Try following this guide I have piked courtesy of a link from google, a good source of IT related info: http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2004/12/15/get-it-done-recover-a-damaged-windows-xp-user-profile/ Title: Re: computer help! Post by: tans on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 08:53:49 Cheers Si
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: STFC_Chris on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 18:23:30 Rather than start another computer help thread I thought I'd try and usurp this one.
A while back my PC started turning itself off instead of 'waking up' when coming out of standby mode. Rather than get to the bottom of the problem I went to power options and told it not to go into standby mode and set the monitor to turn off after 20 minutes or something, problem sorted, or so I thought. A month or so ago my monitor developed a flicker when woken up and it is getting worse. Quite often I have to turn the monitor off and on three or four times to stop it. It affects the whole screen, my normal desktop photo appears but in several vertical panels of colour, not as a recognisable image. Once the flicker stops the monitor works fine until it gets woken up again. The mysterious flicker also appears when playing music, particularly if there is a strong bass line and it will flick in time with the music if the volume is low-ish or goes crazy if played loud. Video might help.... http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v422/chrischadwick/?action=view¤t=BrokenMonitor.flv (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v422/chrischadwick/?action=view¤t=BrokenMonitor.flv) So... are the two problems likely to be connected, suggesting there is a problem with the actual computer or is my monitor screwed? I've had a bit of a google and other people seem to have had the same problem with this monitor, but there was also a suggestion it could be something to do with a graphics card. The monitor is a Compaq FP5315 (built in speakers) and the computer itself is a Compaq Presario S6800, perhaps 5-6 years old, on Windows XP. Any ideas TEFers? Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Samdy Gray on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 18:35:04 Probably the graphics card or PSU on it's way out.
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: STFC_Chris on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 20:24:12 Probably the graphics card or PSU on it's way out. Hmm sounds expensive...I don't know why I didn't think of it before really, but I just tried a different monitor and it seemed to work ok. The second monitor doesn't have speakers though, so I couldn't do the music test. Will try the dodgy one on another machine tomorrow, hopefully that will give me a definitive answer. Hopefully it is just a duff monitor, plugging in a new screen sounds a lot easier than fitting new graphics cards or PSUs. Cheers. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 20:42:06 I reckon it's the monitor, but if it's the graphics card that is just as easy to replace as plugging in a new monitor and I'm not exaggerating there.
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Talk Talk on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 20:44:01 Monitor.
TFTs are as bad as CRTs in most respects except that it is usually dry solder joints as opposed to flaky high voltage transformers. If you give them a good whack they sometimes come back for a while. It's all this bloody lead free solder doncha know. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Barry Scott on Monday, October 19, 2009, 09:17:48 Monitor. TFTs are as bad as CRTs in most respects except that it is usually dry solder joints as opposed to flaky high voltage transformers. If you give them a good whack they sometimes come back for a while. It's all this bloody lead free solder doncha know. Don't start me on this modern problem of dry solder crap. I had an ABS Controller Unit go in my car due to dry solder joints. It would been £300+ to replace and was making my electrics go crazy, my traction control kicking in around most corners (making the steering wheel shake), my speedo periodically turning off, my car only using 3d and 4th... I could go on. Spent a day taking the fucker apart and the solder was all cracked to buggery. I had to resolder 34 points in a circuit board i think. Was quite fun though and solved the problem at almost zero cost. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: STFC_Chris on Monday, October 19, 2009, 18:54:11 Cheers chaps.
Quote from: TalkTalk TFTs are as bad as CRTs in most respects except that it is usually dry solder joints as opposed to flaky high voltage transformers. If you give them a good whack they sometimes come back for a while. If that's all the is, that sounds fixable. Will have to dig out the soldering iron.It's all this bloody lead free solder doncha know. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Talk Talk on Monday, October 19, 2009, 19:01:36 I'm chuffed to bits that some of you peeps have soldering irons and know how to use them :bookread:
English engineering is not dead after all. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Simon Pieman on Monday, October 19, 2009, 19:09:06 I need to buy a soldering iron, I want to upgrade the electronics and pickups in one of my guitars. Already changed the neck, I felt proud it didn't turn into a DIY SOS horror story type thing.
Title: Re: computer help! Post by: Talk Talk on Monday, October 19, 2009, 19:15:33 On the training course for my first job at Harwell when I was 16 we were tasked with soldering up a 2" sided skeleton cube of 16 swg tinned copper wire. Just straight pieces, no twisting or lap joints. Corner to corner point contact.
What a fucking nightmare. It taught me the value of a 'light touch' and all of my women since have benefited. Title: Re: computer help! Post by: blinkpip on Monday, October 19, 2009, 19:42:44 A bit a useless knowledge, I may be shit at spelling, but I am a fully trained Surface / Conventional Mount Solderer. Woo Hoo.
And as Talk Talk say's, Lead free is thougher to solder. Get the flux pens out. :-[ |