This That and The Other

Daughters E-machine refused to boot

2009-02-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

Last week my daughters E-machine refused to boot, and I couldn't use the recovery partion or CD.
Thinking it might be the PSU, I took one out of another computer I have but isn't working because of the Ram, unfortunately this didn't make any difference to the e-machine.

I tried some linux live CD's. which it ran for about 20minutes, so thinking I could let my daughter use Ubuntu for the night, I moved it back into her room, where it refused to work again.

Before I had changed the PSU, I had also reseated the fan and heatsink with new thermal paste, but likewise with the PSU, it didn't make any difference.

The funny thing was that I was able to run The Ultimate Boot CD and Hirens Boot CD with no problem, but was unable to run a O/S.

The next day I had to order a new Motherboard as that was the only thing left that could be causing the problem, so I ordered a Gigabyte M61PME-S2 from ebuyers, which I got the next day.

I took it slowly installing the motherboard, as it was the 1st new one I had installed so didn't want to mess it up.
Fitting the motherboard wasn't a problem, though I still have two wires not in right place and so have no activity or power on lights, which I don't see as too much of a problem.
The computer started fine, it was the re-install of windows Vista that took the time.

So I installed Vista which took an age, then the mobo drivers, unfortunately then Vista wouldn't restart, and I finally had to give up and re-install vista again and after it did a disk check,and cleaned off some of the old Vista program, things started to work until Unfortunately I suffered a few BSOD's, so in safe mode I removed the last program I had loaded, and from then on it seemed to work.

I wasnt' sure about the re-activation of vista as I had changed the motherboard, and it wouldn't work with the key on it, but when I used the product key from the back of the computer, it activated no problem.
Finally my daughter had a working computer again.

Pearly white update

2008-12-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well its like all things, as in it just takes time to get used to it.
Is it working ? well I would have to say yes it does work, not that I thought it wouldn't !
Have nearly finished my course now, and I must of used a bit too much as didn't get the amount of treatments that it said I would.
I carried on with my tea coffee and red wine drinking and still have whiter teeth.

eeek Teeth whitening kit

2008-12-12T06:33:00.001-08:00

I got a free tooth whitening kit off the internet, and 1st they sent the moulds which I had to make an impression of my upper and lower teeth, which was sent away for the teeth moulds to be made.

Today the moulds came back along with the syringes of tooth whitening agent, which I apply to the moulds and then put on my teeth for 2 - 4 hours, and fun it is not.

I am sitting here with the moulds over my teeth and it is just annoying, and will struggle to do 2 hours, let alone 4 hours.
I have enough whitening agent for 10 - 16 applications and I have to do it everyday until I reach the whiteness I want (how about now !), after that if I make it that far I expect I shall let them go back to their natural colour.
I haven't even done an hour yet , and I'm just glad I didn't get the overnight whitener.

And to top it all I can't have any red wine tonight !

.................................................................................................................................................................

Have taken them off after 2 hours, and at least I can talk now.
It says on the paperwork, not to drink tea coffee , red wine and other stuff upto 48 hrs after application, considering I am supposed to put it on again tomorrow that means I can't have tea or coffee until I have finished the treatment, which is at least 10 days eeek.
I see extra syringes cost from £6 up, and each syringe should do 3 -4 applications.

Well as I like to drink coffee in the morning, I can't see my treatment going very well.

New Desk

2008-12-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here is the new desk that I got today through freecycle, and I am very pleased with it.
As you can see I now have dual screen which was quite easy to set up once I had 2nd Monitor from my Brother-in-law, who has moved onto a Laptop.

I now have the new CPU in my computer, though of course I now want something faster, maybe more Ram would help, about 2 GB's should do, and when that happens I will be able to transfer the old Ram into the Tower which was also from my brother-in-law. Oh and a smarter case as the tower is now sitting on the desk.

Of course then I will need a switch thing so that I can use the monitor on either tower.
I got rid of the old pentium 2 computer and the monitors on freecycle of course, which is where I will get rid of my old desk.

New/second hand CPU coming soon

2008-10-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've finally had enough of my stock cpu which came with compaq presario sr1819uk, which is a sempron 3000+ and am waiting the delivery of a san diago 4000+.
Because I left it about a month or two to late, I was unable to get a new one as most of the stores have stopped doing them, and the ones that still do want nearly double the price.
So I ended up having to use ebay, which is the 1st time I have used it.
The 1st auction I had the winning bid until it got close to the closing time, when the price went higher than I had wanted to pay for a 2nd hand CPU.
Which left me having to reassess how much I could spend the following night when two more were going.
But me being impatient decided to go for the one in the morning that had a starting price of £20, so leaving it till the last minute I bid £20 and won (well I was the only bidder).
Though this one didn't come with the stock cooler, I can use the one I have at the moment, and in the end it was a good decision ( I hope) as the other two went for just over £30.
So it should be posted today and hopefully receive it tomorrow or next day and then I can give a run down of the CPU upgrade.

My Computer Now

2008-07-11T01:30:00.001-07:00

well the labels didn't come out quite right, but that is what my Computer looks like now inside.
I added the Graphics card as I now have Pinnacle Studio Plus to edit my home video's, and of course with all these video's, I needed a bigger hard drive.
As you can see, I now have pushed the wires out of the way, so that should help with cooling, which isn't a problem now.

Just checked and the picture looks better if you click on it.

This is a Heavy weight Television

2008-07-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Edmund brought home one massive TV, that he got given for free as who wants a CRT now when LCD and PLASMA are the rage.

We need some heavy duty stand for it, as the one it is on isn't that safe, and I wouldn't want that TV to drop on Geoff our 6 year old.
I don't have a problem with Plasma and LCD, but if something like this is going free I don't mind using it.

Upgrade Update !

2008-06-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

Had to make a few changes, due to the fact my 2nd Hard drive was running at 60° and my 1st hard drive was running at 48°.
Speedfan gave me this good news, so then I had to do something about it, which was to look through my box of computer spare parts as I knew I had some small fans from a aluminium tray from a server.
The fans were to wide to go in the Plexus Tray, so I took that out and installed the aluminium tray and fans, which cooled down no.2 hard drive to about 30°.
Unfortunately the fan was connected directly to the power, so they were on constantly, so a bit loud.
This also wasn't doing anything for no.1 hard drive, and looking inside I noticed that I had a space for a Case fan, so thinking I had measured it correctly, I went and brought one from PC world.
I had bought a 80mm fan when I should of got a 92mm fan, so that will have to be returned.
Looking through my spares again, I once again found a 80mm fan, which I have used until I get one that fits ( only one screw holding it on).
Once I had turned it around so that it was blowing air out, it seems to do the trick without the need for the fans running on the hard drive tray.
So what are my plans next ?
Not really sure yet, I do need to try and sort out the wiring, which will improve cooling.
Then it depends if I go for a processor upgrade or a new build, and the trouble with the proccessor upgrade is that it is socket 939, which limits my choice.

Computer Upgrade Time again

2008-06-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

With my photo and home video collection growing all the time, I finally got around to adding another Hard drive and some other bits to my Computer ( well I had to as I only had 10GB's left on C drive).
Also as I now have Pinnacle Studio video editing software, I also got a basic PCI express Graphics card, to make the most of the program. Though my CPU is still minimum requirement, but as long as I don't have anything else running it should get by.
But there are always extra's when it comes to anything, I mean I couldn't just get the hard drive could I ! I also needed a sata cable which came in its own box quite secure from damage >

Then there was the mobile rack to put the hard drive in as not much room in my computer so I had to use the 2nd DVD slot and fit the Rack/tray there.
This was not hard to fit, but unfortunately the screw holes don't quite match up with my case, so I really need a bit of meccano to clamp it in.
Even though the Sata drive is classed as 300MB/sec and the tray is only 150MB/sec, I don't believe I will suffer from loss of the speed as I don't believe computers can run at 300MB/sec yet.

After having put the hard drive in the tray, I took it out again so that I could connect it directly to the motherboard to format it, and that is where I had to do some googling.
The hard drive was showing up in the Bios, but not in My Computer, and as I hadn't fitted a brand new hard drive before I had to search for help.
It was quite easy to do, and I think I have actually read a while ago but forgot.
What I had to do was Right Click on My Computer > select Manage > then select Disc Management from the tree. Then it was just initialing the new hard drive and a quick format, then it was use-able.
It then went back into the tray and I transferred My Documents to the new drive.

The Graphic card ( which I meant to photo in situ but didn't ) is a inno3D 7200GS,and fitting that was easy as I just slotted it in, switched computer on and installed the drivers. All I had to do then was set it to the correct screen resolution.

I now have no excuse not to do any home video editing.

Getting Paid for my Computer knowledge

2008-06-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I carried out my first job on someone else's computer Yesterday, and I am glad to say it was a success.
The said computer a e-machine wasn't booting into windows and kept freezing, so I was thinking of putting my OEM windows disc on to it as they had there own key, I don't know if it would of worked as I have a HP machine.
As my son needed some more driving experiance before his test on Monday, he drove us over to pick up the computer Tower,and once home I immediately connected it up.
I initially got the same as it wouldn't boot into windows, saying some dll file was missing.
I went into the Bios just for a look, tried booting into safe mode and F10 to do a restore, but it wouldn't.
When I re-started it again it wouldn't do anything and I thought My God I've messed it up worse than it was.
This is the insides which I cleaned all the dust out of 1st before I connected it up ( which I forgot to mention ).
As the fans were running but I wasn't getting anything on the screen, I thought it might be the Graphics and considered putting in one of the old AGP cards I have.
But before that, I re-seated the Ram into the second slot and re-started and everything worked, well apart from windows still wouldn't boot.
Pressing F10 got me into a restore from the partition and then everything worked and XP was restored.
My reward for this was a lot more than I expected as I received 12 bottles of Hobgoblin.
Which I will try not to drink all at once.

XP service pack 3 wrecked my Computer

2008-05-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well as it came up on the updates I decided to update to service pack 3, and wished that I had done a backup prior to doing it but unfortunately I'm a bit impatient sometimes.
I let windows do the update and install, then restarted the Computer and that is as far as it got as it wouldn't boot into windows and when I tried safe mode it didn't do anything ( or perhaps I didn't wait long enough ).
I started to do a restore fix but cancelled as I didn't want to loose all my Data or should I say the new stuff, as I do have a backup on my external hard drive but not all the work that I had done on my photo's.
Anyway I decided to take a hard drive out of my Ubuntu machine and use that as a temporary install as it is only 20GB's.
I managed to fit the hard drive in though it wasn't a solid fit, it was in and I procceded to install Windows.
Because I had taken 1 of the hard drives out of the ubuntu machine that wouldn't boot, so I had a install going on, on the Xp machine and another on the ubuntu at the same time ( stupid or what ).
It took about 90 minutes to install windows, whereas Ubuntu 7.04 was finished a lot quicker but that didn't have all the HP junk, which I really need to strim off with Nlite.
With Windows up and running I connected the the 2nd hard drive hoping to recover some data, but it wasn't to be and needed to be formatted.
I then discovered that it was only being recognised as a 32GB drive, not the 80GB that it is, and after a lot of twiddling I discovered that it would only be recognised for its full size when both drives were set to cable select, no matter what I tried to do in the Bios.
I then discovered that I couldn't clone the disk back to the larger drive with either Seagate Disc Wizard or Acronis True Image.
Which gave me no option but to re-install Windows back onto the 80GB drive and quick as possible as my o/h wanted to use the Computer.

So windows was re-installed and updated with out the service pack 3, which I will leave for a while.
I have now been forbidden to play around with the computer by my o/h .

Ubuntu 8.04 aka the Hardy Heron

2008-04-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to see if my old computer could handle a Ubuntu upgade, and 1st I tried to run it off the Live CD, which it did but wouldn't let me login, so I thought I might as well install and see how it goes and it does go.
I did the online upgrade from version 7.10 which went smoothlly, not like my XP install, and I still need to upgrade my graphics card, but I needed to do that anyway, will also put a bit more Ram in and when I upgrade the hard drive on my XP machine, I shall move the old hard drive over to this machine.

I picked up a WinTv PCI card yesterday, which I got free from freecycle (again).
But I don't know how long it will take me to get working on Linux, though I know it works as it is in my XP machine at moment and if we had a decent TV reception in this area it would probably work alright.

Window XP clean install

2008-04-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Well I did it! a clean install of Windows Xp on my Computer and it didn't go easy at all to start with.
I thought I had lost XP as one stage and would have to use Linux on this Computer as well, which I could of got by with but my o/h wouldn't of been to keen on.

HOW IT WENT
1. All data (well nearly all) was backed up to my external hard drive, which was then disconnected from the computer.
2. I first tried to use the Recovery Partition by pressing F10 on Restart, to take it back to factory condition, but it didn't quite work out, as it cleaned out all my Data but left all the Programs on the computer, which is the main thing I wanted to clean off.

3. I then decided to use the Recovery DVD's that I had made off the computer, and after selecting option F it for mated the hard drive before it started to install. There were 2 Recovery DVD's and the first one loaded no problem, Unfortunately it would not recognise the 2nd DVD .

4. looking for help in online forums didn't get me any, so in the interim I ran linux mint off the Live CD on the Computer and I was able to see that the Recovery Partition had been recreated, I decided to Re-Boot and use F10 to see if I could get it to install.
Well it started and asked for the 2nd DVD to be inserted and this time luck was with me and it accepted the Disc and loaded Windows XP.

5. I believe it took about 4 hours to do, would of taken less if I hadn't had problems with 2nd DVD.

6.Then before I would do the Windows updates I installed AVG and Zonealarm as I didn't want a virus before I even got started.

7.Windows update took a while as it would load several updates then have to restart before it would load any more, so it took 2 hours to complete the updates.

8. I then installed my preferred programs which included firefox and Ccleaner, but then came the configuring of all our email accounts and having to remember or reset the passwords.

I still haven't got everything back on, as I am trying to sort out what I really need, also my photo's are taking a while as I seem to have several copies of each and need to sort that out and have decided to use Adobe Photoshop Albumn starter edition as I like the way it sorts and tags photo's.

Do I think the re-install has helped my computer ?
I would have to say yes partly because I was in the habit of trying out a lot of programs, and when they were deleted not all of the program went.
Yes the computer is acting a little bit faster, especially when it came to writing a CD, which wrote at a speed I didn't know it was capable of.

Would I do it again ?
Yes, but not for at least 6 months to a year, and even at this moment I am looking into strimming some of the unnecessary for the Recovery Discs.

p.s this is what happens when you post without stopping the spell checker, I think I will leave it in as to much hassle to go into Edit Html and remove.

Ubuntu up and running

2008-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well after a long haul I finally have a operating system on the Computer.
I settled for Ubuntu 7.04 as it was the only decent on that I could get working on it, DSL would of worked but I wasn't keen on it.
I had tried quite a few Linux versions, in fact I have a small CD case full of them. along with the ultimate boot Cd and Hirens boot cd. but it wasn't till I rebuilt it again using the other Computer case and motherboard that I actually got it working.
Now I have the task of learning how to use Linux, which if you just want to surf the net isn't a problem. It is when you want to add Programs and what I was trying to do tonight, add adobe flash player, which in windows is just click and install, but a bit more complex and I haven't managed it yet.
Its always handy to have another internet connected computer at hand, so that you can google what to do next !

Still one Computer but no O/S

2008-03-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Must of got a bit ahead of myself, thinking I would have a working Operating System on it as I still can't get one to load, and I have been on 2 linux forums looking for help.
So far I have several vesions of linux on disc which I downloaded including: DSL (damn small linux), Xuntu 7.10, Xubuntu 7.210 Alternate, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu 7.10 Alternate, Fedora 8, Linux Slax 6.03 and have just downloaded FreeBSD but probably won't be able to get that to load either.
The only things I can get to work on it are The Ultimate Boot cd and Hirens boot cd and though they can do a lot of things, I haven't worked out how to use them to get an O/S on my computer.

Semi Success with one Computer

2008-03-28T00:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry no photo's yet as have only a vga phone camera at moment, and yes I have one computer working most of the time.
I don't yet have a working O/S on it yet as the windows 98 on it won't work, as I have had to swap motherboards CPU's and hard drives around.
But that isn't a problem as I am hoping to install either Ubuntu or other Linux distribution on to it, as they are freeware and I fancied having a play around with one of them.
I have learn't some valuable lessons while playing around with these computers, and that is Organisation, because I didn't and with 3 of most parts, I didn't know which I had tried and which I hadn't, and I should really treat Ram with more respect. Oh and having your 5 year old son trying to help isn't a good idea either.
Hopefully later today I will have a working O/S on the computer and may even get it online, or am I running ahead of myself there, as the other night when I couldn't get any of it to work, I was ready to dump it all.
Space is a problem now, as with 2 17inch CRT monitors 2 towers and other bits and bobs, I don't have much space in this room.

Yes I have more Computers

2008-03-26T00:42:00.000-07:00

Though whether I get any of them working again will depend on my skill, but probably more luck as I delve into the intricacies of computer building and repair.
After a Successful ( give me your junk ) free-cycle reclaim by me, which I'm sure no one else wanted, I am now the proud owner of two windows 98 computers with CRT screens and a Server which is in pieces.
I did get one of the computers working yesterday and even had it on the Internet, but it stopped working last night and I hadn't even opened the case on that one.
It is probably due to the amount of dirt on the motherboard, as they were stored in someones garage, for I don't know how long. So I may have to purchase some compressed air ( out of my Lottery winnings, yes 4 numbers) and with luck may get one computer working out of all the bits.
Geoff won't be too happy as he claimed the working computer for himself yesterday, by writing his name on it.
So now my computer room, which would be Geoff's room if he didn't share with us, is bursting at the seams with what my o/h would term as junk.

Preparations for Factory reset

2008-02-25T00:29:00.000-08:00

Well I'm still not ready to reset my computer back to factory settings yet, but am making moves by backing up all my Documents. I now have a copy on my external hard drive and also on my daughters computer, well she doesn't need all space does she !
I am also searching for all the programs that I want to keep, as when I reset I shall loose everything on the computer, though should anything go wrong I have created a disc image using Seagate Disc Wizard , which is a freebie that I can use as I have a Maxtor external hard drive ( who are owned by seagate ).
Q. Why am I doing this ?
A. I believe that it will speed up my computer by getting rid of a lot of background junk, that builds up on windows machines, especially if you have loaded then unloaded a lot of programs like I have, as although CCleaner gets rid of a lot of junk it can't do everything.

Improving my system

2008-02-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Maxtor OneTouch 4
Well I eventually brought an external Hard drive to back-up all my stuff. so hopefully I won't loose it. It works, well apart from the software that came with it which is pants, yes that bad, but luckily I don't need it as I have Sonic that came with computer and am using Seagate disc wizard to image the Hard drive.
With 500GB's and my Computer only having 80GB's I have ample storage space. Might even back up my daughters stuff, which doesn't amount to much as she only networks on messenger and bebo.

We needed a printer as I was fed up putting a small email on to a CD or DVD to take down to the local Mail Box shop and have it printed out, and yes I could of emailed it to them but hey that is to easy, and I wouldn't of got a fancy printer, copier and scanner then would I ?
Don't know how long the ink will last yet, but I went for the EPSON DX7450 as I hope it isn't too bad.
The Scanner is good but takes an age to make a copy, and the photo copier bit works well enough.

Unfortunately I was in such a rush to put the extra Ram in my Computer that I didn't take any photo's of the process.
It was PNY 512mb, which has made my XP usable.
It was not so easy to get the RAM in and had to retry a few times with my 5 year old son wanting to help, All it took was a little bit of gentle persuasion. I used the radiator method to earth myself so not to kill the ram with static, as have also not got a static wrist band yet.

When I am eventually brave enough to re-install windows, I shall report on it.

My Daughters Computers insides

2008-01-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

Yep this is her E-machine E-4252 which has a AMD x2 4000+ processor with 1 GB Ram.

< Hard drive enclosure, room for 2 Hard drives.

< Motherboard

< Closer view of Hard drive, which is a SATA

My Computer Insides

2008-01-06T13:20:00.001-08:00

Not very Interesting I know but just thought that I would put this in, It is my Compaq SR1819UK ,which has frozen about 3 times as have been trying to write this blog.
needs a Ram upgrade or a good kick to sort it out, or perhaps I should swap it for my daughters new e-machine.

Remember Duffy Moon

2007-11-16T03:10:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to google the phrase " you can do it Duffy Moon" as I remember it from a kids TV film nearly 30 years ago. 'The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon' "You Can Do it Duffy Moon" comes into my head at odd times.
It relates to the memory from a family holiday to Perranporth, Cornwall and of the trip across Bodmin moor in a hired Transit minibus, which was a replacement for the first minibus we had hired that broke down not even 5 miles from home. Well this was not a very new transit and it struggled going up every hill going across the moor. with me sitting in the back sort of holding my breath and mumbling 'you can do it Duffy Moon', can't remember if my sister Claire did it as well ?. I know you wouldn't understand it if you hadn't seen the film, and in my defense I was about 12, and surprisingly we did make it up every hill !

Update ;

The first van was a bedford, which my dad didn't like as it had no engine in front for you to look at. I remember seeing something drop off the van as we were driving along, part of the gearbox we believe.
It wasn't just the struggle up hill that was the problem, it was all the vehicles we were holding up that were trying to pass us, with some offering to give us a tow.
The van wasn't any trouble for the rest of the holiday, it just didn't like Bodmin.