[Danial Zachery]

there is a setting for fan control on my card which is a 285. so it should be on there by default. you can also check your tempareture with rivatuner. in fact i have a bunch of gadgets on my desktop that monitor cpu and gpu usage and temperature. you might also want to make sure that your case has been dusted so that there isnt any large amounts of crap slowing your gpu fan down. another thing is that your gpu fan might simply be broken. that would explain why it slows down when you play games for a period of time and why your floor fan cools it down enough to be playable.

[Michelle Serenity Boss]

For some reason I cannot install alot of programs (VLC and 7zip as examples) lately as it tells me "Error accessing the file for writing" and gives the path of where I am trying to install things. I am on Windows 7 professional and this has only started recently. I even tried running as admin but it wouldn't work, if I use safe mode they install fine. I need to find an easier way to deal with this until I can reinstall Windows next week. I need to do it anyways to be sure I get all the required school software off my system since I will no longer be on their network. Any suggestions what I can do until then that doesn't involve constantly going into safe mode? I am the only account on the PC and it is an administrator account, UAC is off, and I have full ownership of the installation path.

[R.I.P]

Okay, well I tested out Fallout 3. It slows down after about 10 minutes or less of playing as well. I turned on the floor fan and tested it again, and it still slowed down after less than 10 minutes of playing. So, I'm thinking maybe I need to reset the bios or something.

[Eileen Collinson]

I'm having some computer problems as well. Essentially when I try to start, Windows gets to just before the log in screen and shuts down. No blue screen of death, no reboot. It started happening after a power outage, which I suspect is related. Originally this was with Windows XP. Tried various repairs and loading the last known good config etc and sometimes it would start up. Once it started, I could reboot with out any problems. If I left the computer on over night, it would have shut down by morning. No problems the several hours it was on while I was awake. I ended up formatting and installing Windows 7. All seemed to work 100% until the next morning, when it would shut down in the same place when I tried to start it up. Using last known good config didn't work. Safe mode didn't work either (It seemed to work OK in XP). If I ran the repair option, it would shut down while trying to run that process.

I ran a MS memory test tool that succeeded on all tests, so the RAM appears to be OK. (Still possible it's an issue)

Possible causes, from what I can see:
- Hard drive: Possible bad sectors, however, once I boot Windows, it seems to run fine, even on reboots.
- The video card: Possible, but doubtful.
- Motherboard: Perhaps it's fried. Perhaps some of the onboard batteries are fried. Could be a BIOS issue.
- Power Supply: Doubtful since I can have it running for hours without problems.

Anyone come across this type of issue before? I'll open the case and have a look tonight to see if anything is obviously fried. I also think I have a power supply I can substitue in as well.

[Janette Segura]

Well, resetting the bios did nothing. You know, come to think of it, my mom installed all the updates that I kept forgetting to install from Windows Update, and I believe that's when games started to slow down.

[Katie Pollard]

So a while ago, I experienced problems getting a computer to boot up. Some of the time it would start and then others the screen wouldn't get a signal and it didn't seem to get past POST. Eventually it wouldn't get past POST at all. I took out the GPU and everything worked fine, so I assumed it was an issue with the GPU.

I have recently put the GPU in another computer and much to my surprise that worked fine.

Any ideas? Are there issues with the interface between the mobo and the card or should I try putting the card back in the other computer?

[Matthew Barrows]

So a while ago, I experienced problems getting a computer to boot up. Some of the time it would start and then others the screen wouldn't get a signal and it didn't seem to get past POST. Eventually it wouldn't get past POST at all. I took out the GPU and everything worked fine, so I assumed it was an issue with the GPU.

I have recently put the GPU in another computer and much to my surprise that worked fine.

Any ideas? Are there issues with the interface between the mobo and the card or should I try putting the card back in the other computer?

I would try the card again in both machines and see what happens. Did you also try to disable any onboard video on the computer with the POST issue? If you are able try a different card as well and see if that still causes the machine not to POST. If it doesn't then I would bet it is the motherboard.

[adame]

I would try the card again in both machines and see what happens.

Yeah, I just need to wait until my Sisters backup their stuff that is on it. I don't trust me and computers

Did you also try to disable any onboard video on the computer with the POST issue?

I didn't, but I couldn't find anywhere to do it in the BIOS and it wasn't even getting to the point when the OS was booting.

[Trent Theriot]

Yeah, I just need to wait until my Sisters backup their stuff that is on it. I don't trust me and computers

I didn't, but I couldn't find anywhere to do it in the BIOS and it wasn't even getting to the point when the OS was booting.

Alot of times the option is under the Integrated Devices option, the actual wording might vary depending on BIOS manufacturer. Also keep in mind if your motherboard doesn't have onboard video (I know mine at home doesn't) then you probably shouldn't see the option and if it is there it should be disabled.

[Anna S]

So, my GPU will get over 80C, and that's on idle.

Well, after cleaning out the computer, the GPU stays around 78-79C idle.



I'm trying to adjust my GPU fan speed through Rivatuner, but when I apply the changes, I don't think anything really changed. I can't hear the GPU fan get louder, and my temperature does not drop.

[Jessica Lloyd]

Following a series of problems with older games and the fact that I'm getting really pissed off with all the clutter, I've decided to install XP on my laptop. I've messed about with this sort of thing frequently on my various desktop machines but as I understand it, Laptops have a few differences in the process. I've been meaning to do it for a long time

I planned on doing something like this:

Wiping the HDD with Dban (Since I've heard that Windows won't actually let me downgrade from Vista without wiping the drive first).

Putting some important drivers on a disc from http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads_gd.html I have an Aspire 6530g so I'm pretty sure they're the right drivers. I was thinking I'd just take the Wireless card drivers and the Video card drivers, I can get the rest when I'm up and running.

Then just doing the usual install with my Windows XP SP2 disc.



Anything missing? I've never really dabbled with many Laptops before.

[Emerald Dreams]

Don't like to double post but I'm having an issue.

I can't get Dban to boot from disc, despite having burned the .iso using CDburnerXP. It just opens in Explorer every time. Is there a better way for me to format the disc? For some reason LaptopsUK didn't deem it necessary to provide me with a Vista disc.

[Amy Smith]

Don't like to double post but I'm having an issue.

I can't get Dban to boot from disc, despite having burned the .iso using CDburnerXP. It just opens in Explorer every time. Is there a better way for me to format the disc? For some reason LaptopsUK didn't deem it necessary to provide me with a Vista disc.

Is your computer set up to boot from CD first?

Go into BIOS, find the boot order, and make sure the CD/DVD drive is first.

[Rachie Stout]

Is your computer set up to boot from CD first?

Go into BIOS, find the boot order, and make sure the CD/DVD drive is first.

Yeh, I'm familiar with the editing of the load order to install an OS, that is if it's the same as a desktop. (I'll assume it is).

My problem at the moment is that I can't get Dban to boot now that I've burned it. I haven't done any drive formatting or anything yet, I'm just trying to get it to boot so that I can format my drive. I'm misunderstanding something somewhere though, I've burnt the .iso image to a disc but when I insert it into the drive all I get is the disc opening in the file explorer mode.

If I can get it to boot I plan on formatting with Dban and then installing with my XP disc.

Or are you saying I should go and edit the Bios, even with my installation of Vista still on the drive?

[Erika Ellsworth]

Yeh, I'm familiar with the editing of the load order to install an OS, that is if it's the same as a desktop. (I'll assume it is).

My problem at the moment is that I can't get Dban to boot now that I've burned it. I haven't done any drive formatting or anything yet, I'm just trying to get it to boot so that I can format my drive. I'm misunderstanding something somewhere though, I've burnt the .iso image to a disc but when I insert it into the drive all I get is the disc opening in the file explorer mode.

If I can get it to boot I plan on formatting with Dban and then installing with my XP disc.

Or are you saying I should go and edit the Bios, even with my installation of Vista still on the drive?

Yes, you need to boot off that DBAN CD. DBAN does not run in the Windows environment (see: snake eating it's own tail), it has to do it from the live CD environment.

So:

1. Stick the DBAN CD in the tray
2. Reboot computer
3. set BIOS to boot from CD first
4. Run one pass (don't really need to do more than that)
5. Reboot when finished, start installing XP

Obviously, make sure you backed up all your data before doing this.

Arguably, you don't really need to do this, When installing XP you should have an option to format the PC, which should be "good enough", unless you want to make sure you remove all traces of Windows Vista from your system, that is.

[Honey Suckle]

Yeh, I'm familiar with the editing of the load order to install an OS, that is if it's the same as a desktop. (I'll assume it is).

My problem at the moment is that I can't get Dban to boot now that I've burned it. I haven't done any drive formatting or anything yet, I'm just trying to get it to boot so that I can format my drive. I'm misunderstanding something somewhere though, I've burnt the .iso image to a disc but when I insert it into the drive all I get is the disc opening in the file explorer mode.

If I can get it to boot I plan on formatting with Dban and then installing with my XP disc.

Or are you saying I should go and edit the Bios, even with my installation of Vista still on the drive?

You did burn the DBAN .iso as an image, not just as a data file, right?

It should boot if you are set up to boot from CD/DVD before hard disk, unless you burned a coaster.

If you try to open the CD while Windows is running, yes, all it will do is open an explorer window. You don't want that; you want it to boot from the CD after POST. If it won't do that, and you were set up to boot from CD/DVD, I suspect a defective burn.

[Jonathan Braz]

You did burn the DBAN .iso as an image, not just as a data file, right?

It should boot if you are set up to boot from CD/DVD before hard disk, unless you burned a coaster.

If you try to open the CD while Windows is running, yes, all it will do is open an explorer window. You don't want that; you want it to boot from the CD after POST. If it won't do that, and you were set up to boot from CD/DVD, I suspect a defective burn.

Ah, so Dban doesn't actually run after booting into windows?

So, I have to change the boot order to boot from disc drive while the disc is in? I'm not really familiar with the software and the documentation on the site was down when I looked earlier.

Thanks for the help so far though.


EDIT: Got it to boot, after around a second it returned a message saying something about "Non-fatal errors" and that it was complete. Hasn't erased anything though :sadvaultboy:

[Czar Kahchi]

Alright so Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor or AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto for a gaming desktop processor? Basically which brand will give me a stronger system also

for Motherboards which brand is preferred at their high end models?

[hannah sillery]

asus.........gigabyte is also good. asus has the most options and they finally made resetting their cmos easy which was the only thing i was critical of them prior to the new boards.

[Hayley Bristow]

So, my GPU will get over 80C, and that's on idle.

Well, after cleaning out the computer, the GPU stays around 78-79C idle.



I'm trying to adjust my GPU fan speed through Rivatuner, but when I apply the changes, I don't think anything really changed. I can't hear the GPU fan get louder, and my temperature does not drop.

its the fan. unless your using that crappy 196 driver that cause problems for lots of nvida users cause id disabled the fan. if you set it to 100% you should definitely hear a difference.

[Dustin Brown]

Alright so Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor or AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto for a gaming desktop processor? Basically which brand will give me a stronger system also

for Motherboards which brand is preferred at their high end models?

Phenom II over Clarkdale. Both are dual core, but the Clarkdale architecture has a slow off-chip L3 cache.

If you could afford a Lynnfield Core i5-750, that would be a very different decision.

For motherboards, it's hard to go wrong with ASUS or Gigabyte. Just look for one that has compatibility with the CPU you choose and has the features you need. You can also consider EVGA and MSI.

[Prohibited]

Ah, so Dban doesn't actually run after booting into windows?

So, I have to change the boot order to boot from disc drive while the disc is in? I'm not really familiar with the software and the documentation on the site was down when I looked earlier.

Thanks for the help so far though.


EDIT: Got it to boot, after around a second it returned a message saying something about "Non-fatal errors" and that it was complete. Hasn't erased anything though :sadvaultboy:

Did you tell it to autonuke?

As I said earlier, you really don't need to use DBAN, When installing Windows XP you will have the option to do a full format on the partition you are installing Windows to, just doing that is good enough.

[Lauren Denman]

Did you tell it to autonuke?

As I said earlier, you really don't need to use DBAN, When installing Windows XP you will have the option to do a full format on the partition you are installing Windows to, just doing that is good enough.

Yeh, I got it right the 2nd time I tried it, formatted the drive and have successfully installed XP on the laptop now, thanks.

I'm having another major problem now, involving connecting wirelessly to my home network. I installed some drivers for the wireless adapter card that I burned to a disc, it finds the wireless network but I can't connect. At first it hung on "Renewing IP address" and could only work with Limited Connectivity. I read this might be related to a problem with SP2 so I burned an .iso of SP3 on my other computer and installed it. I've successfully updated but now I can't connect at all. When I try and repair the connection it also hangs on "renewing IP address" before eventually failing. It suggests I contact the person who manages the network, unfortunately that's me.

I've got the network set up to automatically configure an IP address but this is all a bit of a learning experience for me. I can't connect with an ethernet cable directly from the router, I suspect because I haven't installed the drivers for it? I've disabled the firewall as well. The network has the most up to date WPA security, could this be the problem? I've entered the WPA key correctly when prompted, I'm really stumped here.

Also, when I run the IPCONFIG command, the box appears and then closes immediately, it doesn't display any information. An IPCONFIG /ALL command shows "Media State" to be disconnected, my host name. and that the mode is broadcast.


Any help guys?

Thanks.

EDIT: Fixed, thanks anyway guys.

[Tracey Duncan]

Ok, one more question.

Is there any way to install the drivers for the ACHI SATA mode after I've installed XP? You know, rather than slipstreaming them or something similar... I'm experiencing random crashes as well, just locks up every so often. I had to change the HDD to IDE to get the win xp installer to recognize the hard drive. It's been a real pain in the ass... I don't think I'll ever piss about with the OS'es on laptops again. <_< Especially with an OS not designed for said laptop (XP).

[Harry-James Payne]

wow your just having a bad week. :laugh: