I had a problem with my work portable PC today when the hard drive failed. I have backups of most of my files but there were a few I wanted to get if possible.

I read some time ago about using linux in these situations so I downloaded knoppix and made a bootable CD with it (Knoppix is designed to use the CD-ROM and a RAM disk to run and it does not install anything on the hard drive). Using knoppix I was able to mount (unix talk) the hard drive and copy the files I needed off the machine and onto a usb hard drive.

A cheap and faily easy way of doing some basic data recovery.

Sorry K, I hadnt read all his posts, intermittant bad link could still be part of the problem ?

Could be, but the BT wholesale speed test is pretty abysmal so I think it is probably just exchange congestion. It's all very well upgrading everyone from 2Mb/s to 8Mb/s but the network will need upgrading too...

Morning lads. Finally got on line.
Spaceman. No crackling on line. Very clear. Although I may have to use this type of bargaining chip later !! Thx for the idea.

Kayak. Strange thing is that this morning Ive had intermittent failure of the Internet link for most of this morning. I suspect theres a problem and hopefully someone at BT is aware and is dealing (forever the optimist yknow).

I am testing, and listing the tests, as you suggest. I was loath to report it to BT at the moment because were off on a 2 week jaunt to the States tomorrow. They tend to email you with the standard If we dont hear from you within 48 hours we will assume that the problem no longer exists type of thing. So I think Ill need to be by the PC while they sort it out.

Thanks for info about the 2 meg minimum. I wasnt aware of that. One of the most irritating things was when I ran the speed test from BT desktop help, it gave the speed of less than a meg followed by the statement we think this is an acceptable speed for your line Roflol.

Megabits? Megabits? By the 'eck, tha' were lucky. Out here in the backwoods of Berkshire I get 512 kilobits and grateful for 'em. :)

Hiya,

Has anyone any suggestions? One of my computers scrambles a few times a day.

It is brand new ...a Dell 670 Precision dual processor with Quadro FX3450 and two wide screens. It is only running am terminal and CMC platform. It has scrambled several times a day since I had it. We know there is nothing wrong with the card as we tried another Dell in it's place and the same scambled screens happened.

I have another Dell 650 Precision dual processor beside it with ordinary dual screen graphics card and two ordinary flat screen monitors running tons of stuff and never had a problem. This computer runs a lower version of Java but it didn't help when we tried changing to the same Java version on the newer computer. The problem is worse if we run XP 64bit.

Any suggestions?
Thanks
Di

Bolshi, yes I think they say the minimum speed is 800kbps if you connect at more than 2Mb/s. If you're at the lower end of that though you should be able to get someone to listen.

Dynamite, what exactly do you mean by scrambled? Is it garbled like a badly tuned TV, are you seeing lines transposed in a regular fashion or text jumbled up or irregular patterns of pixels? Does the processor stop or is it just that the screen becomes garbled but still updates?

Not sure what you mean by "we tried another Dell in it's place". Do you mean that you put the screens on another Dell with another card, or that you put the card and screens on another Dell?

First port of call would probably be to update the display driver from the manufacturer's website and also check that both the card and the monitors are correctly identified by name in System Devices.

Anyway always look at the positive side. It could have fried rather than scrambled :-)

Very Good Kayak, no not fried, everything carries on updating but with missing lumps that are white and bits of terminal for instance stuck in the middle of CMC. As they update things come back but other bits of the screen go walkabout. So I am left with for example AAL prices on CMC with no trade buttons or trade buttons and no prices.

We tried another Dell computer with the screens and with another card and the same thing happened...hmmm could it be the wide screens then as we haven't tried other screens?
'First port of call would probably be to update the display driver from the manufacturer's website and also check that both the card and the monitors are correctly identified by name in System Devices.' Done all this.
It's all very annoying.

Thank you for your help Kayak.
Di :-)

Also ensure that the display resolution in Control Panel/Display is set to the 'native' resolution of the screens, i.e. the one they are made for. Setting the number of colours to High colour (16-bit) might help. That's all you need anyway unless you do precise work with photos. Can't really think of anything else to suggest Di apart from checking that you have enough physical memory in the system (Task Manager).

Kayak...done all that too plus it has 2GB ram with only amTerminal and CMC running and nothing else loaded on the whole computer so that can't be the problem.
puzzled Essex Girl :-(

Di... Looks like your memory may be faulty! I would replace your memory stick\sticks with just 1 stick from another machine (if you have any) and test if you have the same issue!

I have just had a new satellite internet service installed (Satlynx) which is working OK but a bit slow.

During the setup process, the installer created a new wi-fi connection for me (cos my LAN port is duff) and set the parameters up for my router.

Since then, I find the PC (Toshiba Satellite - appropriately) powers itself off periodically with no warning.

I have checked that the thing is virus free and all the physical connections are OK.

Can someone point me at a place to start looking for the root of the problem?

A bit of a dunce with this sort of stuff, so "simple-speak" would be appreciated.. ;-)

Thanks in advance..

Greystone,

Have you tried putting 50p in the meter :)

IanT,50p in the meter in spain,they dont use sterling remember :-))

This is serious you two.... ;-)

I used to get that an awful lot with my Dell laptop, G.

I think it was Kayak who suggested that it might be overheating. I cleared a bit of space on the desk around the machine and put a vacuum cleaner around the vents and it's been OK since.

hilary - Thanks a lot. You just reminded me I haven't cleaned out the bottom filter for a while. I have the laptop raised to increase the airflow but, of course, it gets a bit hotter here than it did in England. ;-)

Do you know hilary, I read through Greystone's problem and thought I had no idea. Since apparently I did suggest that to you in the past, then yes, it might be a good idea worth trying :-)

G, just wonder how old the laptop is? Older ones tend to be (heavily) modified bits of desktop kit whereas modern laptops are much more specifically designed to cope with the heat, and the older ones take quite a bit of hammer over the years. If the LAN port is duff it suggests to me that there may be other bits of the laptop that are becoming duff.

Or maybe it's something to do with those funny keyboards they have over there - I couldn't make sense of the Spanish keyboard I used last weekend ;-)