mjdodd

if it has been off for a year it could well be the cmos battery flat! If you can get into the bios at startup (pressing F2 or DEl) or whatever you can see igf the cmos battery is flat by looking at he date. It should charge if left …

it rather sounds as though the MBR (master boot record) on the hard disk is corrupte. sually this can be reparied with the rescue console on the opriginal installation disk. if there is no installation disk it may be ther eis an option onthe first screen to boot from bios …

You should not need to do so! If you look in program files you will find that there are two versions: One is program files, and the other program files(x86). The first deals with 64 bit and the (x86) set of files deals with 32 bit and all quality 64 …

You may also need to check that the identity and password that firefox is using to access your ISP are correct. M

dear Brian , I have just trod this road big time! The humax unit uses USB to record EXT3 files that are put together to make up thye rorgram that you are recording. It is no uise tryhing to use that on windows , it just does not work as …

oh dear, sound may not work for various reasons: 1/ The sound board has died or not properly seated or connected; 2/ The software driver for the board may be incorrect (or failed update) 3/ The windows controls for sound may not be set to allow the sound board to …

clean means no ads, no viruses, no po pups, in fact nothing other than what the machine should run. If the version of McAfee is a 'complete' cleaner anti virus ,and protection then the senior posters are correct. I would also recommend a registry cleaner, malaware cleaner (if McFee doesn't …

google or msoft will give the minimum requirements. The obvious question is where and how many applications are you going to put on the hard disk. If on C: then you need to work out totals for all programs. If you are going to put applications and data on D: …

I posted this in another place but you may find it helpful. Check the audio driver and if necessary either update or go back to the ,previous driver. See item 2 or 5 as possible ways to solve it. Do you get any sound using a beep or si miliar. …

was it running when dropped, although this is not a certainty it rather sounds as though you have had what is known as a head crash, that is the read>/write head of the hard disk has actually been force (by the drop) to touch the actual surface of the hard …

to all the above: If there is really no response to the pressing thefunction buttons to get to the start up then there is either an electronic problem or there is no files (or corrupted ones ) that start the machine; To test for electronic problems listen as it rtries …

so what is the problem,?? you do not state clearly what you are asking. however just as a help when you install win 7 64 bit on a 64 bit machine it also installs a 32 bit version to deal with 32 bit software. hence if the software is only …

trying think through I assume you are saying that since it works with cable the problem lies in the fact that when you try to use wireelss it doesn't work. If as you say the other machines work wirelessy and the one that is at fault can see the router …

if none of the above works try using a linux boot cd to check what files are available. M

I bow the the superior knowledge of caperjack but have you tried a complete reboot after turning everything off including the router and then turning everything on except the computer and then turning it on last. i have had routers that have got stuck and they can be a pain …

A quicker way than cracking the case is to do as Grim jack or cracker jack say but an easier way is to then squeeze a small amount of superglue into the switch! M

you could try one of the free partition managers that enable you to look directly at the hard disk / usb / external hard disks. These programs also give facilities for formatting. There are a number partition manager being one. Be careful with them as entering the wrong data, or …

with a ,lot of high quality programs (autocad being one) when they are installed they make entries into the registry of the computer that the program is installed onto. If you instal to a hard disk external then those registry entries MUST correspond to that hard disk drive letter (eg …

It is true that both the hardware and the software leap frog ahead at a fairly giddy pace. Itis also true that repairs to both are increasingly vbeing taken over by the machnes themselves! (see win7 diagnostics for example). I also agree with Jerrys view on software but the real …

aggreed and in the security settings make sure that password usage is shared as well. I have also found it helps to (if possible) use the same user ID on both machines! I know it should n't make a difference but it does! Also worth checking that the firewalls are …

If windows says it cant configute wireless it usuallymeans that the computer you have uses its own proprietrial driver (lots of the mini comps use either own eg the asus etc) If there is (or was) installed a non windows / microsoft driver then you can only configure the wireless …

I have one of the latest Iomega drive. It plugs via etrhernet or usb into the router. It has its own software which is a pain. By removing that (a simple erase) I now have a very efficient file server / backup hard disk drive on the network and it …

there is also a freebie from that big company with no Gate keeper! called synctoy and is easily configured and works through almost any drive. M

I know this sounds corny but have you actually got anything on the hard drive apart from NTFS format. if the machine cant see a boot sector its going nowhere fast. Have you tied using a bootable CD like linux to see if the drive is OK? Another possibility I …

does it bleep a&t all? If so look up bleep codes and see if the screen is dead! If it seems to bot normally then it would seem stuck in hibernation! Have you tried booting from a differnet OS like a live Linux disk. If that works then the screen …

Ithink you need to go to a repair shop (or return to manufacturer and then get an estimate for the repairs. they will vary from shop to shop. M

It is worth trying 1. log on as an administrator and see if it can work like that. 2; Goto windows help and look for 'take ownership of this file' and apply that and see it it works. 3: check to see if your cmd files (dos etc) are on …

I would go a bit further.... Has this just started happenng or has it happened for a while. My UPS has a five second or so stabilising time on switch on during which it does make a noise rather like a squeal. It also does the same if the power …

many laptops have a fa

I also managed to spill not water but wine onto the keyboard of a toshiba satellite machine some time ago and it died! Just to give you encouragement but if water gets into the keyboard membranes it can cause havoc and prevent restart as the power on test cant find …

have you done a cold reboot of the router... I had similiar problems withone and it was the router that has hung up and reboot of the router did the trick M

This may be teaching grandmother to suck eggs... Are the cartridges fully seated down? Have you tried with new cartridges (that would confirm if it was a cartridge problem) as sometimes the very very small jets can get blocked and if a solution dries on them it can be very …

Finito asks if it is hjeating up... the symptoms could well be a failing power supply (or mobo chips) (perhaps caused by overheating. worth checking voltages immedaitly on shutdown or swap the power supply. M

Ubuntu on win 7 network.( 32 /64) Dell A810 all in one printer on win 7 machine. Ubuntu 10 can see network printer but no driver found (not surprising!) tried generic postscript PCL but wont print....it says its printing job 5 etc but no result! Any suggestions? Ta M

Normally when a walkie talkie is next to a computer there should not be any interference on receiving. If one transmits then you put out a certain amount of radiation (usually less than one watt) but being close to a machine can affect it adversely. the other possibility is that …

A bit of a long shot but I bought some cheap CDs and cheap DVD +RW and had the same problem. In fact the disks themselves were faulty and a new batch cured the problem. Best of luck M

I had similiar problems and had to manually install the dell software on each machine in the version 32 / 64 bit varieties and then it worked! (only three machines!) but I now cant get the linux one to print via the win 7 64 bit but perhaps that is …

If the PC runs in safe mode, have you tried using the restore facility to go back to before you did the insallations. Also you may be able to uninstall those installations, then run a clean up program and then shut down normally (dont just turn off) and try a …

I am sure you have tried this but I recently ha

You give very little info but here goes, there can be a number of reasons: 1. The driver software is missing, damaged or affected by a virus; 2: The drive itself has become damaged (ie the motor does not run). 3: The power cable to the drive has become detached …

Whilst not solving your problem I have used for quite a long time a USB external hard drive carrier box. It is a unit that you can put any IDE type drive into it and it then works just like a USB hard drive. In this way you can put …

You do not say which version of Xp you are using. You will have to make sure that you have service pack 3 on both the older XP machines as the network sharing etc is diffent in SP3 Are you sure that all the computers have shares and permissions set …

you might also try working from the other way round! I have often had to crack passwords and one very good way is to try to get the confidence of the person who put the password on and then get them to produce a list of the passwords they often …

I like ancient dragons way of simplifying things! There are a number of hard disk formatting / repartitioning programs and the better ones will allow the required partition to be made the primary partition and hence boot from that one. M

does your bios detect the hard disk? If it is set to autodetect it should detect. If not then set the bios to autodetect the hard disk. Is the hard disk formatted in NTFS ? If it has had linux on it it may be necessary to reformat using a …

it would seem that you may have to run the programs under the xp or vista compatibility mode to enable the drivers for the video card to work. M

most error messages go a long way back to DOS and are not always what they seem. check cable is just about the only thing that in the past could be an error... however not being able to see the OS nowadays is quite another matter! This error can be …

agree with caperjack, but it might be possible to borrow a USB external DVD/CD drive just to do the installation. I use such a drive regularly and have also installed the OS onto the SD memory card... M

diagnostic: Does the switch actually do anything? If no fans, no lights etc then the problem is most likely a the power supply / fuse fault! If you get fans etc then you should get some sort of error or bleep as it tries to start. if this is,the case …

Have you tired booting the computer from a linux boot and then trying to see the hard USB drive? Sometimes the boot sector on the drive can go awol! Other idea to try a partition manager and see if you can see the drive. If not then it may be …