Frustratingly, I got nowhere with my attempts to fix the problem myself. I'm going to get a local technician to take a look at the problem to see if he can fix it. Failing that, I'll remove the hard disk and try a data recovery service - apparently there are some outfits that will do it at a reasonable fixed cost. But thanks to all who here who helped generously.

Be very careful with your local technician. Make sure that he tells you exactly what he is going to do before he does it.

If you are prepared to go to a specialist they will not appreciate someone else messing with it first.

Yes, I see what you mean. I know this guy as he's done some work for me in the past. Will make sure he's competent to handle this or he won't get the job.

Apparently, the hard disk is held in place by those two metal rails. Saw a Youtube video that describes how to remove such a hard disk. Nearly tempted to have another go myself today.

Re: Removing that hard drive....

If brute force doesn't solve your problem then you aren't using enough of it and....

1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d

Rule 1. To go forward, you must first backup.

I have an HP Officejet 7130 multi function Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax machine.

The HP software that comes with it is not really adequate for my needs and I find it extremely un-userfriendly and also difficult to use. Forums tell me that this problem is not unique to HP users, who seem to like their machines for Copying and Printing, despite getting lots of hassle with the HP Scanning software. Neither can one scan and create/save to PDF with it.

I need some software that will allow me to scan mixed documents (text and picture containing) and then save them as PDF Files. I don't mind paying a smallish amount of say, 20 to 30 or so, for something that is deemed to be really worth that bit more than just 'Free'.

Does anyone know of any suitable software or can anyone recommend anything from personal experience?

Thanks

Exec,

I got frustrated with the software that came with my HP 2575.

An upload has produced a version that is better. The version that came with the machine would not scan under Vista - the new one does.

In the meantime I installed this. I needed to create some PDF's and this seemed to do the trick from what I remember.

It did what I wanted at the time and I don't think I paid for it.

TP

I have an HP OfficeJet 7600. I am delighted with it.

It scans direct to PDF over Ethernet to my various computers. It came with drivers for XP and Vista -- not that I needed the Vista ones, of course ;-)

Scanning, including photo to JPEG scanning, is very good.

Claims to be cheaper by far than a laser for colour printing.

Recommended.

Cost was about 195 from Staples.

TP

Thanks for the suggestion. PDF Creator is an excellent program for converting other files, such as Word files into PDF files. I had forgotten I had it. Anyhow, in the meantime I had upgraded to IE8 and my version of PDF Creator was apparently incompatible with IE8 so I had to upgrade it to the latest version.

Unfortunately, it does not appear to be much use for scanning. I would have to scan a document with other software to immediately save it as a PDF file. I could scan a Word document with what I have already and then convert it to a PDF file with PDF Creator but I need to be able to scan Mixed Documents - documents with mixed text and pictures (even a logo headed letter) and to do that it is definitely best to scan and immediately save as a PDF File.

Anyhow, Thank You TP, for your suggestion.

MM

Fancy a straight swap? Your OfficeJet 7600 for my superior 7130? You could always throw in a pair of your better shotguns to make up the difference, I suppose. Say, Purdeys or whatever. Oh, and a box of cartridges too. ;-)

Well, I was looking at a very nice Holloway and Naughton shotgun (Birmingham gunmakers) on Saturday. I gave it back when I noticed it was a mere 67,000. Nice gun -- as you might expect.

Doc,

I've no idea about PDF Creator, but Adobe Acrobat works in the same way as a printer does and installs a print driver. In your case you would need to print from the scanner to a PDF file rather than to a conventional printer.

I guess there are other PDF creation programs that work in the same way. Have you searched Google?

Otherwise, I might have something of interest in my little green shed.

Update: Managed to get the hard disk out of the faulty PC. Fitted this drive temporarily on a spare machine and am running Spinrite on it. As of now, Spinrite has found no errors on it! So, it looks the problem probably is with the IDE cable or the motherboard or perhaps the powersupply itself as suggested by MM. Next, I'm going to try a new IDE cable on the old PC. If that sorts the problem out, good. If not, it's time for a new desktop. Thanks to all that helped.

Klal

I'm glad that you have it sorted, but whatever you do make sure that you copy all of the disk to backup before you go any further with it.

Thanks Optimist. I will absolutely take a complete backup before proceeding any further.

Hi
a couple of weeks ago I posted some stuf about installing a TV card with which I could receive terrestrial stations but not freeview. I challenged Virgin about the feed through their cable and received a load of drivel in return. Needless to say I told them this and strangley have not had a reply.

Now to my latest adventure. I'm trying to use same card on my linux system but have come up against a brick wall. If there is someone who can explain how to configure stuff in linux in the SIMPLEST language I will post some details. I've had some stuff from the card manufacture and searched the web extensively but can't find anything I can make sense of.

The words Linux and Simplest are a contradiction in terms.

Assuming that you can get a Linux driver for the card, you will then have to carry on searching the web for clues as to how to install it.

If you have the Linux driver for the card, try searching by the name of the driver or if you can identify it, by the name of the main chi on the card. It may also be worth searching the software manager for your distro to see if there are any utilities that asist with the identification of additional hardware.

Best of luck, please post your progress.

opti
thanks for your reply. Glad you feel the same about linux.

The system appears to have recognised the card correctly but there isn't a tuner attached so it can't find any channels.

Kworld (card manufacturers) sent me a "howto" which starts with:
if your kernel version is 2.6.23 or at last, you can load the module :
# rmmod saa7134
# modprobe saa7134 card=114 oss=1
# modprobe saa7134-alsa

I don't really understand how to load a module (even if I could find one and I have tried) but the middle one seems to be installed anyway. Unfortunately the system won't let me look into it as "you are not the owner". Don't know why this is as I installed the system and thought I was giving myself full admin rights. Can't find anywhere (in Yast for example) to change this.

There are then a load of card/system settings in the Howto but I can't find anything in my system which resembles them. On various forums people seem to find this info in file ispci but that doesn't exist in my file system.

edit: just went back to it and now there is a fatal error and the card isn't accepted by the system. I think my relationship with linux is fast coming to an end:)

Have you tried this?

http://linuxtv.org/

http://linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/

http://hftom.free.fr/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=329&sid=70fdd6fefee89e7b86b1caca55f006f4

You need to be logged in as root to make the changes, which is not recommended. The alternative is to use Super User mode which has the same effect - type SU at a comand prompt, you will be asked for the root password, and type exit to finish the SU mode. Single commands can normally be excecuted in SU by preceeding the command with 'sudo '