Harry I havnt read you r earlier posts on this problem, here are a few thoughts:

1) The 10 beeps probably mean something, do a search for beep codes for your BIOS. It could be something like memory failure.

2) BIOS backup batteries fail and cause the BIOS contents to be lost, an easy way of picking this up is to look at the time and date in your BIOS, if that keeps getting reset to something like 0000 on 1/1/1990 its likelt the battery has failed.

3) To get to the bottom of the problem (if the beep codes don't help), I would unplug all attached to USB etc protsdevices and reboot, if it works reattach one at a time and see when it stops booting. If it still does not boot will all attached devices also remove the memory and hard disks and have another go using a single stick of memory and adding memory and disks to find out whats causing the problem.

Thanks Spaceman. Beep codes are all very well, but apparently the codes differ with each manufacturer & even AMI BIOS varied it's codes as the years went by!!!
Your suggestion of unplug everything & start re-attaching is spot on! For some reason I have grilled one of the RAM sticks. Once that is out, the system reboots. I have no idea why it happened, but set all the BIOS settings back to the default & am trusting in luck. Phew, scary moment! Thought I was looking at a new motherboard. Thanks again as was slightly out of my depth with the beep codes.

SC:

The Belkin cooler is 10.5" (26cm) wide by 11" (28cm) deep. It's made of plastic, has a single fan, but is shaped to provide effective convection cooling even without the fan running. My ThinkPad overhangs it on either side by about an inch, but that doesn't constitute a problem as the cooling air wafts out on each side under the overhang.

It has wide non-slip strips to accomadate a variety of laptop footprints. It cost 19.95 (inc VAT).

However, TP's choice looks jolly good too!

MM

Thanks TP and MM. I like the look of them both, the fact that the Belkin gives clear air underneath as well attracts me more probably, but I've only got one functioning USB port so other than getting a usb hub as well I might have to look at the Zalman.

SC
i use this one for my 17" laptop and cools well,it also has 2 usb's,
there are others on the site too,some good reviews on them,

Thanks Scussy, will take a look.

In FireFox and IE my favourite or Bookmark lists have 100s of sites saved in them for bits and pieces for my websites etc is there a easy way to back these up just in case the pc crashes say like cut n paste the list and save it on a cd or something.

Any suggestions please.

MB

In IE7 they are in C:\Documents and Settungs\UserName\Favourites. For Firfox look below C:\Documents and Settungs\UserName\Application Data\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles.

If you use Vista replace Documents and Settungs with User and Application Data with AppData.

Application Data is normally a hidden folder.

MB or you can use one of the online methods of storing them, I use Google Bookmarks, which means I can my bookmarks from any machine anywhere anytime.

S/M, how easy it to transfer them to Google, does one have to do it manually? as you probably know I'm on a Mac.

stan, its pretty easy if I remeber correctly, I also use a iMac some of the time. I think they have a tool to import them in via Firefox but I dont remember what they have for safari, certainly once they are loaded you can access them from safari but google didnt have a plugin for safari last time I used it however safari allows a link on the toolbar to the bookmarks and that worked well.

I dont have time to look into the details more at the moment.

OK S/M, Many thanks, I might have a dig around later.

MegaBucks - on IE, File > import/export takes you to a wizard that will export your bookmarks to a file. You can then import from that file in the event you lose the bookmarks in IE.

Gentlemen and you Spaceman :-) many thanks for your replies to my question,it was just what i was looking for.

Exec,

Having had those two Computer Doctor PC's for about a month now I can report total satisfaction. Thanks for the suggestion.

My current wonder is whether I ought to have spent a bit more cash and had them fit the hard drives into those front loading trays.

I am backing up daily with Acronis in the hope that it can get me going again quickly after the (so called) inevitable disk crash. Snag is that although it is validating everything it does the gurus all say that the only way to prove it is working is to try a full recovery. To do that means taking out the working disk and swopping it with a fresh one (I bought a spare from CD's). But what if I screw that operation up? So much safer to take a disk out of a tray and pop another one in.

I'm tempted to see if CD's will put a couple of trays into the two machines if I drive them up to Northampton.

What do you think?

TP

TP
How very nice to hear this TP. :-)

These guys are definitely not your actual 'whiz kid, geeky types', just a solid small business, selling good stuff at reasonable prices and giving an excellent service to boot (pardon the pun).

I'm sure they would oblige with your requirements if it is possible, but best to chat with them first and set it up, eh? The connectors and making the connections being the main problems to overcome, I would think.

TP

if you want some hard drive trays, check these out from Amazon.

Thanks Opt,

But I could never fit one myself.

However, you did suggest some form of external drive holder a while ago and that might be a way of testing my recovery potential.

Yes?

TP

TP

If you transfered your drives into those adaptors then it would enable you to easily swap drives (and therefore safely test your backup strategy), but it does make it a bit easier for a burglar to steal your data.

I have used those trays and they work fine. They are the cheapest that I have found by a long way, and also have 2 fans in each which should improve disk reliability. If you want to play around, buy some and get your machine supplier to fit them.

My Viper PC has a sticker on the back, which acts as a case seal. If it is broken, and it has to be to in order to gain access to the innards of the machine, then it advises that this will invalidate the Warranty. I guess yours is the same?

I think the reality is, that to go inside the case, you have to know what you are doing. If something were to go wrong, then it would be the customer's articulate skills, when describing what he did and how he did it to the dealer (ie. showng the level of his techical knowledge, practical skills and ability), which would be the actual determining factor concerning any potential claim under a warranty.

At some time in his PC using life, a user has to make a decision as to whether it is best to start learning 'the hard way' - and perhaps risking extra expense, in order to gain 'inside the PC case knowledge'.

Go on TP! Stuff the risk and the dangers! Risk losing some money and "open the box!"

:-)

There are plenty of helpful web sites out there, one being You Tube with its videos, which will advise on everything from what tools to get (eg, 'a grounding strap'), to how to go about doing the job in hand.

Go on! Go for it!

:-)