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Thread: New to the Computer World

  1. #51
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    wow sorry to reopen a really old thread. but i have to. its in my nature.

    seeing how ive lost ownership to my computer (long story) ive havent had any problems with it. because it got reformatted. but now i have a major problem on my hands. symptoms similar to the virus incident were happening more frequently but only when i installed new hardware while running my d link network adapter. i had to uninstall everything and reinstall it in a certain order, that i cannot remember off hand. take out the network adapter and everything works fine and dandy. ive talked to one of the local computer shops, finally, and he said that it might be a bad mother board seeing how the monitor port is messed up. any suggestions. thanks

    and sorry for not being on ive had school and again i no longer have a computer, at least for right now.

  2. #52
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi,

    I am now confused................ what computer is this? what are its specifications? what operating system?

    and again i no longer have a computer, at least for right now.
    So what is the problem? ...................... no computer, no problem

    while running my d link network adapter
    Hey, do you believe in cause and effect or in coincidence?. Unless I am getting this all wrong, you are having problems with anything that the d-link is connected to?....................

    and he said that it might be a bad mother board seeing how the monitor port is messed up. any suggestions. thanks
    Errrr,................... were you not having the exactly the same issues with a completely different computer?...............

    I can understand the guy in the shop though, he sees damage and wonders about the extent and the knock-on effects?

    If you don't even have a computer, what do you need a network adapter for? If you only have one computer, what do you need a network adapter for?

    Start from basics? install only what you need

  3. #53
    Senior Member isildur's Avatar
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    I only use Slackware Linux on my home machine but would probably agree with Moira. There are several Linux Distros that you could probably simply put the install disk in, follow along and have a fully working system in just a few minutes. But if your network card isn't recognized or X isn't properly set up then you probably won't know what to do. But on old hardware it is going to be worthwhile trying out at some point as it will run much quicker (assuming you use a lightweight window manager, which you probably don't even know what that means at this point) than Windows will.
    Only trust Pipe-smoking Penguins.

  4. #54
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hmmmm,

    My personal approach in troubleshooting these sort of situations is to go back to bare bones.

    Start with the minimum hardware and work up.

    The first priority is to get the system working as a straight stand alone box. That is the "level playing field" that I like to work from

    Maybe that is just my psychology, but I can only handle loose ends at one end

    Kinda reminds me of solving the "unknowns" in those math equations when I was a student.

  5. #55
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    sorry bout that. allow me to elaborate

    here are my system specs.

    HP Pavilion 551w

    256 ddr sdram
    40 gig harddrive
    1.6 ghz intel p4 processor
    cdrw. just put in a dvd rom drive
    nvidia vanta lt agp
    3 pci slots and 1 agp

    i didnt really lose the computer its just moved to a different location other than my room where i would otherwise have free access to it. now form the get got the monitor port on the mother board was bad so i need some sort of graphics card to see. the computers has been recently reformatted. im pretty sure i can rule out d link because i took the card out and same problem. however i dont think i uninstalled the drivers for it. i also ruled out a previous hunch, the nvidia graphics card, and later the whole agp slot. due to the fact that i had a pci graphics card in place. im pretty sure they 're are no viruses. and this actual stemmed from a while ago. but like i said i reformatted it since then.

    the system is basically bare bones accept for the s3 pci graphics card and some installed programs.

    this is putting a strain on the power supply and the fan comes and goes. i was going to get a new one but i wanted to fix this problem first.
    thanks

  6. #56
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    I presume that you disabled onboard graphics in the BIOS?

    If you have a questionable power supply, you need to sort that first. There is a real danger that it will take a lot of systems components with it when it blows. Also, you will never be able to troubleshoot whilst you have such a fundamental problem.


  7. #57
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    sorry for not gettin back sooner. but the problem seems to have been fixed. by a simple cleaning of every part in the pc. i dont kno how my brother did it but there hasnt been any problems lately. that and i havent touched it

    so i got yet another computer. my brothers. he moved out so i got most of his stuff. here are the system specs

    E Machines T2824

    Intel Celeron D Processor 325 running at 2.53 ghz 256k l2 cache and 533mhz fsb
    40 gig hd
    upgrade to 1 gig of ram
    Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 PCI with 256 mb DDR
    dvd cdrw combo drive
    8 in 1 memory card reader 5 usb ports

    i am currently running windows xp pro

    no problems as of yet. i shalt continue to do my research. thanks

  8. #58
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Heh, heh,

    It is amazing what strange problems get solved by a good clean out, and reseating/reconnecting.

    A further comment on your HP P551w:

    Only 256Mb of RAM is very marginal for a Windows XP installation. Sure, it will work, but you need to be hellishly disciplined to use it without instability.

    By that, I mean you only run one application at a time, only have one browser window open at a time ............... but you do that anyway, don't you?

    If it were mine I would boot Windows 2000, as that is far more relenting, otherwise add another 256Mb.

    Check the virtual memory. By default, XP will give you 1.5x physical RAM. That would be 384Mb. Try setting it to a fixed virtual memory of 1024Mb

    Then defrag.


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