SC, in network properties/TCPIP do you have Obtain an IP address dynamically ticked. Is the reply Web page unavailable from your computer (standard web error page) or from the router (will look different). Also check Tools/Internet Options/Connections, should have Never Dial a Connection ticked and proxy server unticked under LAN options. Also reset the router (unplug or there may be a reset button).

very true doc, and the reason i`m paranoid is that i have just had a new mother board fitted , then a new hard disc, the second one, and many other problems fixed under warranty,on this bloody m/c, not wanting to get into a libel scene, but this crowd i bgt, from live in Asparagus country, if you get my drift, utter crap,

YESSS!
cheers kayak, never dial a connection`wasn`t ticked, `tis now, thanks a lot, I know its feeble , but it was getting on my nerves- cured

thanks again

S

Gereat rant. :-) But nevertheless, only worth an 8/10

hehehehe

Sequestor, that's a brilliant result since I didn't even know you had a problem :-) On the disk activity in monitor, I don't get it at all and would be surprised if you do. On the other hand there is a certain amount of residual disk activity in the background with Windows 2000 and XP even with nothing happening which you may be mistaking for it.

Kayak, that is very odd, I misread your post to SC as being to me, and ticked the " never dial a connection" as you suggested to him, it worked, the lord noves in a mysterious way, the residual noise from the hard disc i have got used to, however i have little hearing in my left ear,(tinnitus) my right ear has compensated and is very ` tuned in` ( the noise was quite a loud tick), the m/c is to my right,sorted.
trust me, I will say no more

DocProc, fully signed up with Pipex, line has been enabled. If I unplug the thingy (can't remember what it's called - my age I suppose) I can hear the extra hiss on the line.

Will check my answers to Kayak's suggestion when I get home. Thanks for the help thus far folks - will keep you posted :-)

Just a quick word to let you know that my computer is up and running with the RAID harddrives working.

A lot quicker than one single IDE disc running at 7200, the pair of SATA discs run at 10k and the seek time is 4.9ms compared to 8ms.

Just goes to show that the weak link in the performance of the system is the data transfer rate from the Mobo to the hard drive rather than simply just the processor etc.

Doesn't sart up any quicker as some people seem to believe on other sites, as it still has to go thru the POST routine, but with an extra screen

I hadn't got the "never dial a connection box checked". Can now access the router but still having difficulties. Will read the manual further and report back!

If I ask my husband to install an already registered copy of Windows XP Pro onto each of my children's PC's (they currently run NT 4.0), what will happen please?

Windows XP retail products contain software-based product activation technology.

More on 'piracy' here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/overviews/activation.asp

In other words Hilary, you can't!

Hohumm. Thanks guys. That's what I suspected, although I wasn't sure of how the actual mechanics of it would work.

It's a bit of a pain because some of their games need a late version of DirectX which doesn't seem to be supported on NT4.0 and so their operating system needs to be changed in order for them to play their games.

hilary, upgrade them to Windows 2000 Professional instead. Cheap on ebay (even the kosher versions), and no copy protection not that I would encourage that :-) XP is only Windows 2000 in a slightly different shell.

Thanks for the idea, K.

Having browsed E-Bay, many of the copies on sale seem to be OEM Dell versions (presumably the seller has upgraded his machine and is selling off his old bits of kit?) and they state that they might not work with different makes of machine (my children have Compaq P3's). Do you know if this happens to be the case?

Found this information, Hilary and I would think this is what they are talking about:

Minimum System Requirements for Windows 2000

New Computer

500MHz Pentium III processor
256MB RAM
10GB hard drive

Upgrading an Old Computer

300MHz Pentium processor
128MB RAM
at least 2GB free hard disk space
Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 already installed

Here's a page with some good Windows 2000 tips:

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windows2000_tips.htm

Hi I am not aware of any reason why a dell oem version would not work. Its probably just a standards oem version with Dell printed on the front.

You will need to do a fairly major Windows Update after installing it as the disk will probably be a older version. I agree with K this is a sensible cost effective way to go and w2k is in my opinion very much better than xp home.

Agree with Spaceman, I don't see why it wouldn't work but don't pay too much just in case it doesn't!

As he says you will have to spend a few hours on Windows Update downloading Service Pack 4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, and other bits and bobs. Do this as soon as possible since many viruses rely on bugs that have been fixed.

Many thanks for the help guys. I'm hoping that a relative will be able to let me have a copy of Windows 2000.

Well folks, the latest chapter in my router problems:

Can now get connected to the router but can't get past the country selection, then says "apply" and having clicked that nothing else happens :-(

Should I be doing something related to PPPoE, PPPoA, RFC 1483 bridging mode - haven't a clue what this all means but it mentions it in the instructions.

To cap it all I can't get in to 3com's website now.