Thanks for the suggestions Spaceman and Croc, I've now solved my sound card problem.
I think the problem was that after re-installing Windows I applied the latest updates to it before installing the correct sound drivers.

I got into a position where I couldn't completely remove all existing sound drivers because on each restart Windows detected the hardware and insisted on attempting to re-install them which it couldn't do correctly.

Eventually I found a repair utility from the Creative site that let me overwrite the mess that Windows Plug and Pray had left.

Altogether I had to remove and replace the hardware and do a total of about 20 restarts. I'd like to go and see "Kill Bill" now, (you know who).

Kajman, now that WOULD be a film worth seeing!


I have a brand new Aldi PC bought two weeks ago which is still in its box. The first job I want to do is make a backup of the system before I install any programs, so that I can, if neccessary, reinstall XP and have the machine run in its virgin state again.

It has a copy of nero burning rom preinstalled, I also have a copy of Norton Systemworks 2003 which is unused. What would those in the know do to make this copy of the initial setup?

Thanks for any help.

SC, I would use something like Norton Ghost to make an image of the hard disk.

However these sort of backups soon beome less usefull as you install and change things on your machine. Image backups overwrite the whole hard drive when they are restored.

You might find that there is a application on the PC to make copies of the main programs (eg xp), some OEM vendores do this as when they dont provide original disks, check with the documentation.

Is it one of those aldi Medion 800 pound PC's? they look very good to me and excellent value especially if you can pick them up for 400ish, I saw one on ebay that went for something like that.

2Abbey

A couple of things that are worth checking just in case:-

Are you logged in as an Administrator?
Have you checked the Event Logs (accessible through the Computer Management Applet) for any indication of the problem?

Also you could try firing up the perfomance monitor (in Administrative Tools). This has a very comprehensive list of things to monitor. Your problem will then be deciding what to look at and how to interpret it.

For some unknown reason the thing is behaving itself today. No flickering, opening windows etc. Done nothing!

Thanks to everyone, keep you posted.

Spaceman, thanks. Yes, I'm aware of the changes that occur when you install new software. Norton Ghost is on Systemworks I think so will have a go with that first.

Yep, it's a brand new Medion - 750 with every bell & whistle I think I'll ever need and a few more besides - and they provide all the software backup discs so very good package. Monitor not included but I have a lovely Dell 17" TFT dvi so looking forward to bootup in the next day or so. Only had it since 1st April & it's still in its box!

I've got a few PC problems normally I can sort them out myself but just going around in circels ;-(

1) A few weeks ago I had windows 98se not running brillantly but had basic sound and ok graphics with my matrox g200 quad card. Then I lost sound after having found viruses, tried to reinstall win98se didnt help went back to win98 still nothing tried updating all direct x9 you guessed it nothing again ;-(

2) I have a dodgy second matrox 13gb harddrive and tried to install Windows XP-HE the drive works as if a mouse was running at full pelt, so cant use that either over the weekend I moved and deleted files from my matrox HD to my 3rd 40gb hard drive, so that I can format the 13gb drive and try again, but still got windows xp which will not load and therefore wont uninstall. Can I delete winxp directory as normally or will this destroy my bootup options as I get to chose at the moment when I swich on????

3) I might have to get another HD so I want to move all programs/files and systems to the new one without install all the software again what is the best software to do this ?????

thanks

Jason

Richgit

I can't help you on Win98 but if you are upgrading to Win XP then the best way to do this is with a clean installation on a new hard disk. I also suggest that you get XP Pro.

Some time ago I fitted a quad mattrox card without too many problems. However after a motherboard failiure I started with a new hard disk, bog standard graphics card and no other accesories. Once I installed XP there was the Marathon task of installing SP1 and the numerous security updates.

Only then did I change over to the Matrox card and install other hardware. This was the easiest Win XP installation that I have done.

After that I had to reinstall all of my software. So far as I know there is no way round this in a clean installation but Doc Proc gives an excellent link above to some audit software which will tell you what you have installed.

Assuming that you buy a new hard disk then you should install the original disk as a secondary drive so that you can copy over all of your data.

When installing XP always use NTFS file system.

Machine is still behaving, see above, however I still have the hard disk sometimes operating for minutes at a time. When I open the Task Manager it gives the Page File usage as 308Mb and cpu usage at rates up to 15%. The PF Usage history is at flat line.

My query is, is this normal? With 1024 Mb RAM I would have assumed that there would be sufficient for the purposes without using the virtual ram. Or is this just a quirk of Windows (Xp Pro)

2Abbey, I dont think the usage in task manager is unusual, the usage history is always a flat line until you start it as it doesnt store a history.

Do you have a virus scanner that does some additional work at system start?

You dont seem to wanty to believe me but 1GB of Ram should be fine and windows will still use VM!

Have you done the thing that DocProc mentioned above as that would go some way to seeing what is running.

Thanks Spaceman. I have just downloaded and ran the advisor. It has brought up some issues that I will look at.

Thanks for reassuring me about the PF issue.

Virus scanner is not up to date, keeps updating, but remains out of date. (Norton 2003) Might just buy the 2004 version and be done with it.

2Abbey

The PF Usage figure in task manager is not the same as the virtual memory that is currently written to disk. In simple terms it can be regarded as the computers current memory usage. As this figure approaches the installed RAM limit then more memory is swapped out to disk. With the figures that you quoted above hardly any will be on disk (Windows always uses around 20MB just to keep it happy).

I have now ran the advisor and reinstalled some updates, however, one update for Widows Media Player refuses to install as it could not copy a file. Looked to uninstall WMP but it does not form part of the programs, presumably as it is part of the O/S?

Any thoughts? Ignore? Issue is Q828026

I will have to upgrade/replace my PC soon due to one or two things like speed and out of date technology etc etc.
I SHALL BE BUYING 2OFF 17" screens to view things on a daily basis (probably 3 applications at once). The problem is not such much the PC itself but trying to identify a suitable alternative in the event of travelling abroad and having a limited machine from which to conduct on -line trading.
Clearly I could look at buying a laptop in addition to the PC but someone has suggested buying a Tablet and using it with the 2 screens whilst at home and taking it away abroad to use on-line.
Can anyone offer any advice please?

Red Army

Tablet PC's do not yet offer good value for money and they take a performance hit in running hand writing recognition etc.

Why don't you buy a powerful laptop with a 17" screen and plug a second screen in at home?

Same issues as before. I have ran the Belarc advisor and ensured that all software is properly installed. All updates that are available from Microsoft are installed.

Definately seesm to be a performance issue. Seems OK at first but later on when I try to open an additional window, eg Yahoo for emails, it either refuses to open or grabs an existing open window and uses that for its purposes. Other times additional windows refuse to open. Task Manager refuses to operate as well when it has problems.

I can solve the problem by closing some programs.

Would my flicking screen issue be down to the version of Java that I am using? I have Microsoft VM and the Sun version.

2Abbey

In the Internet Explorer advanced options there is an option "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts" which may have something to do with your opening additional windows problem but I suspect it is more likely something else.

When you launch multiple IE windows they normally use the same instance of the program which means that only one line shows on the Procceses tab of Task Manager.

If you launch IE using the shortcut in Start Button / All Programmes then it creates a separate instance of IE each time enabling you to see which windows are hogging the resources and close them individually from Task Manager if required. This method will use an initial 20MB extra memory per window but that should not be a problem with your system.

If Task Manager will not open when there is a problem then run it all the time and select the always on top option and/or use performance monitor.

Thanks Optimist, the Reuse Window option was ticked, have unticked this option.

I have problems running Windows 95/98 games, with or without compatibility mode setting, on my XP machine. The games would run OK but the cooling fans just gets
faster and faster - IMHO, due to a rapidly heating processor.

Any ideas?

axdpc, why do you think that is a problem? the colling fan may just be running faster because the processor is working hard, which is probably OK. Does it slow down again later? I am not saying it isnt a problem but it may not be.