Desperation has set in! HELP!

[porshiepoo]

Some of you will probably be aware of the puter problems I've been having of late, well it gets worse! I'm now putting on this thread in desperation.I had the puter left onto the net yesterday without my anti virus running in the background - oops! Everything just went blank and I stupidly shut the puter down.When I switched it back on it stated invalid system disk and gave me the A: (For a computer thicko such as me it may as well have been giving me the finger).Anyway I shoved a startup floppy disk in and all started looking good as it read it, then it said CDR101?????Great!!!!So anyways I've managed to fight the old(er) relic computer off the daughters and have set it up so I can get on the net to look for solutions (well actually I just hated being off the net. lol) Only probs is that this puter is so rubbish I'm having to use dial up - god, it's sooooooo slow.Anyway can anyone help?My os is windows ME (unfortunately).A problem I now have is that my broken computer can't read the cdrom drive cos the startup disk I used was from my daughters puter which only has the one drive. My broken one on the other hand has a cdrom as well as a dvd (The dvd is broken - I already knew this). I think whats happened is that the puter is only reading the broken disk as this was the original one and the cdrom was put in at a later date. Confusing I know!Well it gets worse! I've been on the net all day on expensive blinkin dial up and have tried various methods that I'm now thinking weren't so clever to be trying and I've now managed to format the entire drive -Oops! and have managed to get my computer to recognise a drive that isn't even there.I just keep getting the a: prompt (or the finger!)Is there any way out of this or do I need to send it somewhere? Is there even anywhere in the caithness area that can do it? Or anyone on here? I can deliver it if necessary.It's not a particularly brilliant system but I need it going until I can convince hubby that I need a new one. I'll just convince him we can set if off on business expenses lol.Anyway please help, anyone!!!!

[pultneytooner]

CDR 101 Cause: Driver issue / Hardware issue. Recommendations: Boot to a: - Attempt to boot from a boot disk that has CD-ROM support. Test the CD-ROM drive. If the drivers are properly loaded on the diskette, however, you still receive a problem, it's a good possibility it is a hardware issue; attempt to reset the cables. Check cables - If you have moved or installed anything recently into your computer, or booting from A does not detect the CD-ROM, it's a good possibility the cables may not be connected or are loose within your computer. It is recommended that you open your computer and reseat the cables connected on the back of your CD-ROM drive and connected to your Motherboard. Check drivers - Verify you have the latest CD-ROM Drives Booting A works however without disk it does not work - It's a good possibility that the drivers are not being loaded properly within your autoexec.bat / config.sys. See our CD-ROM drivers page for additional driver installation help.
http://www.xmission.com/~comphope/cdromer.htm (http://www.xmission.com/%7Ecomphope/cdromer.htm)

You should have tried the technical help forum.

[candyfloss]

This is what my hubby says.... Windows ME does not boot directly from the CD and requires you to get to the a: type "mscdex /d:mscd000" where D: is the D: drive (can be E: drive if D: is being used)
then get to the drive you have selected i.e D: or E: and type setup which should boot up the Windows Disk
Hope this helps :)

[j4bberw0ck]

Porshiepoo, do you have a "proper" operating system CD (complete with all the Microsoft holograms in it) or do you have a "recovery disc" provided by some pc manufacturers?

[scorrie]

Some of you will probably be aware of the puter problems I've been having of late, well it gets worse! I'm now putting on this thread in desperation.I had the puter left onto the net yesterday without my anti virus running in the background - oops! Everything just went blank and I stupidly shut the puter down.When I switched it back on it stated invalid system disk and gave me the A: (For a computer thicko such as me it may as well have been giving me the finger).Anyway I shoved a startup floppy disk in and all started looking good as it read it, then it said CDR101?????Great!!!!So anyways I've managed to fight the old(er) relic computer off the daughters and have set it up so I can get on the net to look for solutions (well actually I just hated being off the net. lol) Only probs is that this puter is so rubbish I'm having to use dial up - god, it's sooooooo slow.Anyway can anyone help?My os is windows ME (unfortunately).A problem I now have is that my broken computer can't read the cdrom drive cos the startup disk I used was from my daughters puter which only has the one drive. My broken one on the other hand has a cdrom as well as a dvd (The dvd is broken - I already knew this). I think whats happened is that the puter is only reading the broken disk as this was the original one and the cdrom was put in at a later date. Confusing I know!Well it gets worse! I've been on the net all day on expensive blinkin dial up and have tried various methods that I'm now thinking weren't so clever to be trying and I've now managed to format the entire drive -Oops! and have managed to get my computer to recognise a drive that isn't even there.I just keep getting the a: prompt (or the finger!)Is there any way out of this or do I need to send it somewhere? Is there even anywhere in the caithness area that can do it? Or anyone on here? I can deliver it if necessary.It's not a particularly brilliant system but I need it going until I can convince hubby that I need a new one. I'll just convince him we can set if off on business expenses lol.Anyway please help, anyone!!!!

If you have formatted the hard drive your operating system will now be gone and you will need to re-install windows and then all other software. Support for ME is now withdrawn and you will find that it is pretty hard to get a decent firewall that will work with ME and programs such as Ewido won't run on ME either these days. When looking at upgrading these days you usually find that you need a better hard drive, to run that you need a better power supply, to run that you need a better motherboard etc, etc

Bottom line, particularly if you are looking at paying someone to help you out, is that a dodgy Windows ME system is best binned and you can pick up a new PC for a little over £300

I note this beastie in Lidl if you have £499 to spare

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20060925.p.TARGA_Ultra_3700_PC.ar11

[paris]

Oh Poo, i bet this is killing you ! ha ha
Wondered why you hadent been in touch. hope you can get it sorted. jan x[lol]

[porshiepoo]

Porshiepoo, do you have a "proper" operating system CD (complete with all the Microsoft holograms in it) or do you have a "recovery disc" provided by some pc manufacturers?

Just a recovery disc. Bet thats bad huh?

[teritoots]

In all fairness I'd say your stuffed in recoverying your data if you've formatted the drive, that was a really bad idea. You should of contacted a support technician before trying to fix itself. Anyway we all learn from our mistakes.
My advice would be get a IT Technician to look at for you (reccomend ian farqhaur thurso)
If not Put the faulty hard drive into your working pc. Make working hard drive the master, the faulty one should be set to slave.
Once booted up check to see if any data on the drive (probably listed as E depending on the setup) copy any docs & pics onto C (not worth copying everything ie system extra it'll never work)
Then you need to rebuild the drive by putting it back into other pc and setting it back to master. When the recovery disk is in on boot up you should get a boot option which might fly past usually f9 key would give you boot menu but it all depends on the brand & model. Select the cd drive as boot device. Note - The recovery cd should be bootable.
Good Luck

[j4bberw0ck]

Sorry, porshiepoo, got sidetracked. The point about a recovery disc is it should be bootable. The bad news is it'll restore your hard disk to the state it was when the pc left the factory so if you've changed any hardware in the pc it might have a problem, unless the drivers are available in Windows somewhere.

Good idea No. 1: Never buy a pc with only a recovery disk!

If you have data you need to recover, it may be too late if the disc's been formatted. The chances of getting anything back are slim.

Good idea no. 2: Talk to Paul Broadwith
Blue Ivy Ltd (www.blueivy.co.uk (http://www.smallbusiness-it.com/))
Tel.: 0800 612 0601

Blue Ivy is a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Microsoft Certified Professional and a Member Of The British Computer Society.

Blue Ivy provides managed services to small businesses within Central and Highland Scotland by removing the burden of their IT and allowing them to get on with working or running their business.

I snipped the info from his signature on another post. He's done a terrific job of providing information to folk on here, and he's in Wick.

Good luck

[blueivy]

Hi j4bberwock,

Thanks for the testimonial and the advice to porshiepoo! Nice to know my name is getting around!

Porshiepoo you should have called me before do anything. There was a high chance we could have sorted things out quickly (depending on what was wrong of course). The boot problem (ie. invalid system disk) could have been nothing more than a corrupt or removed boot signature, easily restored with a Windows disk.

If you've now formatted the drive (are you sure you have actually formatted the drive) then your information may still be recoverable, but it isn't an easy or quick job. Give me a call or drop me a PM and I can have a look at it for you and let you know if the data is recoverable. I have recovered data in a sitaution like this before, but not all of it.

Just a quick word of warning to everybody, if you get the Invalid System Disk prompt, don't panic! I've had it numerous times myself (I used to have a machine that did it on EVERY bootup) and it is easily fixed. It may be a more serious problem, but you can tell that after trying the fix.

[blueivy]

If you have formatted the hard drive your operating system will now be gone and you will need to re-install windows and then all other software. Support for ME is now withdrawn and you will find that it is pretty hard to get a decent firewall that will work with ME and programs such as Ewido won't run on ME either these days. When looking at upgrading these days you usually find that you need a better hard drive, to run that you need a better power supply, to run that you need a better motherboard etc, etc

Bottom line, particularly if you are looking at paying someone to help you out, is that a dodgy Windows ME system is best binned and you can pick up a new PC for a little over £300

I note this beastie in Lidl if you have £499 to spare

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20060925.p.TARGA_Ultra_3700_PC.ar11

Hi scorrie,

I'd say it was a little extreme to bin a perfectly good PC because you've lost your data! Windows ME may not have any support provided by Microsoft (stopped in July this year) however it's still a perfectly usable operating system. You'll find plenty of firewalls, anti-virus and anti-spyware software available for Windows 98, 98 SE, ME and NT still around (I sell some!).

Also if you need a newer hard drive you won't need a newer power supply or motherboard. Sure, depending on the age of your PC it may not understand a hard drive bigger than a certain size (32Gb for example) however a lot of them allow BIOS upgrades, the hard drive can be jumpered to support reporting a smaller size to the BIOS etc. etc. There are plenty of options.

I am all for somebody using a computer and operating system that works for them. Why keep up with the Jone's when you don't need to? I don't always want to the biggest and best software. I've had a Beta copy of Windows Vista for about three months and haven't looked at it. I have MS Office 2007 Beta here and again haven't yet looked at it. My Office 2003, Windows XP Professional system works for me and it's as stable as it could be, which is suprising if you'd seen the amount of stuff I throw at it!

[porshiepoo]

Porshiepoo you should have called me before do anything. I have! Via email from your website but I kinda warned you that I wouldn't be able to pick up any emails. I can't log into wanadoo for my emails for some reason and the same goes for outlook express - but then again this computer is even older than my broken one.LOL. There was a high chance we could have sorted things out quickly Noooooooooo, Don't say that. lol. I always do this, I can't just leave well alone, I have to attempt a repair. I did exactly the same last year. Paris will remember well what happens when I try to fix these things - I blew hers up. The boot problem (ie. invalid system disk) could have been nothing more than a corrupt or removed boot signature, easily restored with a Windows disk.The other thing it said was CDR101 can't read some kind of drive.Anyways, I've taken the back off (Hmmmm most interesting) and fought the urge to undo all the wires for a good old spring clean and oil and I don't think theres any loose wires.Isn't there some magical command? It keeps giving me the finger but I ain't got a clue as to what I can put in.Incidentally, I'm pretty certain the hard drive was formatted. The boot disk said it was formatting anyways. I did try to stop it but it wouldn't stop and I didn't want to just switch the thing off in case it made it worse.I'm not particularly worried about the data on it, I do have most stuff on cd so it's at least safe.Anymore ideas? I'm probably going to get a new one anyway but I'd still like to get this one back up and running for the kids. Anyone know of anywhere that sells them round here or is it the net I'm gonna have to search?

[porshiepoo]

Sorry for the above post. For some reason this computer won't let me use quotes and it's shoving the whole sentence into one great big paragraph. Great all I need!!!!! Well good luck at attempting to work it all out anyway. lol.

[blueivy]

Hi porshiepoo,

Managed to sus out your message.

No email received from the website I'm afraid. Had a long check to see if there was anything but can't find it! Did you receive a confirmation message and did you go tot he Contacts page and fill out the form?

The CDR101 error could be a few things but sicne you were booting from DOS is some sort of hardware error (could be a loose cable). Could also be the drive is dead. This will obviously cause problems when trying to boot from it! Worst case, you'll need a new CDRom drive (anything from a few pounds second hand to maybe £20.00 new - 5 minutes to install or 2 since you have the back off your PC!).

No magical command I'm afraid, just good old leg work! Even if your drive is formatted (and depending how you did the format) the data may be recoverable. As you said the data isn't that important I'd dispense with the cost of recovering it (as you have backed up anyway) and just use the Windows Disk, Recovery Disk, etc. to reinstall Windows (assuming you get the CD drive working or replaced as in above).

Even though they are not on my website (I don't operate a shop type website) I do sell computers - in fact any hardware type. I tend to recommend a particular type of manufacturer depending on hardware (ie. HP/Compaq for desktops, laptops and servers, 3Com for networking and DrayTel for ADSL modems for example) but can supply anything. As I've worked with both HP/Compaq's and Dell's in the past I feel comfortable in staking my reputation on them and confident with their performance and reliability. I also install the computer for you, support the computers locally with email and telephone support (you always speak to me not somebody on the other side of the world) and at home or office support if required. When you purchase a computer from me, you are getting a package not just a box and a telly (as somebody once put it)! If you want to feel confident that there is an expert on the end of the phone and you've got a local specialist to help, get in touch and I can ask you the pertinent questions and make a recommendation on model and price without any obligation.

[Bobinovich]

...and don't forget to look around the other local IT companies to see what kind of deal you can get there. You'll find them listed here (http://www.caithness-business.co.uk/category.php?cat=67) and most, if not all, should be able to offer the same services you require. If in doubt ask your fellow Orgers for recommendations :D

[blueivy]

Hi scorrie,


I don't think it is at all extreme. It doesn't really sound like it is a perfectly good PC right now!!

I think spending £499.00 on a new PC (as you recommended) because you've lost your data is an extreme measure. Would you buy a new car because it refused to start? The PC sounds like it needs a new CDRom (at maybe £20.00 max) and Windows ME installed on it again.



There is a difference between keeping up with the Jones' and simply wanting something that is probably going to be a lot more reliable and will be supported. Into the bargain you are probably going to also obtain more memory, much larger hard drive etc

Who said the PC was unreliable? Up until the point where it was put back onto the internet without protection I'm assuming the PC was running. Why get something brand new that you don't know anything about when the PC you have is perfectly adequate for the job. More memory and a larger hard drive are good for running more programs, bigger programs, storing your photos, storing videos etc. etc. If you use your PC for surfing the internet and collecting emails, having more memory is nothing more than an expense that you might not need. A larger hard drive is useful for storing more information. As porshiepoo keep all of her important data on CD's then a larger hard drive is going to be of little additional benefit given what we know.

Windows ME is JUST out of support. Microsoft will not be supporting it by email or via security updates. I've never yet had to contact Microsoft for any support on an operating system, relying solely on my own experience so that's really a no-loss situation. Considering Microsoft charge for support then most people get theirs from forums such as this where knowledgeable people provide them with help and advice. The only thing that worries me about lack of support is the termination of any future security updates. That is the only thing that would make me suggest to somebody who is perfectly happy with their PC it is time to perhaps update. However the only thing that security updates will protect against is exploits and you need to look at this in two ways:
How many malware writers and going to be exploting security holes in an operating system that few people now use? Their time would be better spent attacking the most popular operating system as it gives them more targets, more victims and potentially more money.
If your system is well protected with anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall then it's unlikely that an attack on you will succeed.
I don't know which firewalls you are selling for Windows 98 but I know that Zone Alarm (which is free!!) is no longer supporting older operating systems.

There are many many more firewalls than ZoneAlarm. I sell and support Outpost Firewall Pro which supports ME.


People obviously have to decide whether they want the hassle and potential expense of persevering with an older PC and operating system or whether they want to embrace something more up to date and reliable.

You keep mentioning that more up to date operating systems are more reliable. Where does it say this? What's your evidence?

My experience over the last 15 years has shown me that businesses, where reliability is paramount, continue to use older operating systems right up until they are retired. I know of some major businesses that are still using Windows NT as it's been out there for quite a few years and is tried and tested. This is despite of the fact that Microsoft 'retired it' on 31/12/05. There are numerous polls wherever you care to look asking business users / IT departments when they plan to deploy Windows Vista and the majority of them are saying after the first service pack. This is common practice as that's considered the benchmark of when things start to settle down. Windows XP is on it's second service pack at the moment, but who is there to say that it's more reliable than ME or 98? Even if it is more reliable, porshiepoo may well be able to run XP on her own PC at a cost of about £80.00 for an XP licence. Why the £499.00 expense?

I also don't understand your desire to constantly upgrade. Some people always want the latest and greatest things, some people simply 'embrace' their existing technology as it works for them. What exactly does somebody whose current PC does everything for them get when they update to a newer operating system (other than in this case access to MS Security Updates)?


It is clear that it is better for your business if people come to you for help with older PC's rather than go to Dell or whoever for a new one. I bought my PC from Dell and have never had one iota of problem with it. It is all very well offering a package affording the client "complete peace of mind" but when the goods are doing the business without problem and you have picked them up at a lower price, then there is surely an arguement there for having faith in the product.

Of course it's better for my business if people come to me with their PC's than go to Dell. It's also better for Dell for people to go to them rather than come to me. That's how I pay my mortgage by people coming to me with their PC problems. I don't however try and con people into buying a machine they don't need. I advocate using what works for you no matter how old it is. You are suggesting everybody embrace new technology and buy a new machine - how am I making money from that?

Not everything is about price though.

Dell provide a level of support over the telephone using foreign call centres. If you need help and support from them in your home, your not going to get it. If you need to speak to the same person you spoke to yesterday, it's not going to be easy. The people they have in their call centres are reading out standard fixes from the screen in front of them. If you have a problem they can't fix, you'll be told to put in the System Recovery CD and start again. I offer a package to customers that gives them complete peace of mind from a local company. If you have a problem, I know you. I know your PC. I know your environment (I generally installed the PC). I know what you use it for. I know what you will and will not tolerate when fixing it. I also know where you live and could be there quickly if you need me to be. Some people want that kind of support. Dell don't supply it. I do. Some people want to spend less on their PC and get less service. It's horse for courses. You get what you pay for. Companies can't afford to offer you cheap prices and champagne service. I strike a balance. You're attacking / criticising me for that? I don't understand.


I would be interested to hear of all that could be potentially wrong with porshiepoo's PC and how much it would take to put that right.

Without knowing anything about the machine or without seeing it it is incredibly difficult to give any diagnosis. From the little we know about the machine, here's what I think:
The boot sector was corrupt to begin with and porshiepoo used a Windows CD to resolve it. Cost £0.
The CDRom needed replaced and the above also needed to be done. Cost bwteeen £5.00 and £20.00 for a new CDRom.
Windows needed to be reinstalled. Cost £0 - porshiepoo sounds like she's competent to do that herself.I'd be interested to know if you have any suggestions to add to that.



From the way I read it, it seems like the original Windows disk is not there, how much does a legal version cost these days?

Check out eBay. I'd hardly advocate spending £499.00 on a new PC - I'll bet a new version of ME (or even XP) is less.


Anyway, that is my personal advice, be it extreme or otherwise. I am not trying to sell anyone anything and I think you have got a bit of a Gregory, going on to offer to sell Porshie a PC yourself!!

Scorrie I think you'll find porshiepoo said this:

Anyone know of anywhere that sells them round here or is it the net I'm gonna have to search?asked if anybody sold PC's.

I am not trying to sell anyone anything they don't need. I am trying to ensure that porshiepoo get's her PC up and running again with the minimum of expense. You are advocating she spend £499.00 on a new PC - I don't agree with that and I said so.

The personal advice you gave earlier was incorrect:

When looking at upgrading these days you usually find that you need a better hard drive, to run that you need a better power supply, to run that you need a better motherboard etc, etc

I tried to correct you. I'm sorry you took the hump at this. That wasn't my intention. If you go on over to the Technical Support forum you will see that I try to offer accurate advice from my 15 years experience for free. I don't make any money from this and I have a 1001 things I could be doing instead (accounts for starters) but I am trying to help people in the forums here get the best from their existing technology. If you pop over to my website (http://www.smallbusiness-it.com) you will see a few testimonials from people on these very forums who have thanked me for the advice I'd given them.

I'm sorry you feel the need to attack me for offering the advice I did but I'm not going to lie down while you make some of the accusation you did (the thinly velied one of me trying to con porshiepoo into buying a PC from me). This is the first post I've really added to outside of the Technical Support forum and if this is the response I get I think I'll stick to staying in there in future.

[blueivy]

...and don't forget to look around the other local IT companies to see what kind of deal you can get there. You'll find them listed here (http://www.caithness-business.co.uk/category.php?cat=67) and most, if not all, should be able to offer the same services you require. If in doubt ask your fellow Orgers for recommendations :D

Easiest and quickest way of finding them ... let you tongue do the talking (so to speak) and ask friends, relatives or in here! Then you don't need to go through that awful pain of not knowing if they're reliable, trustworthy or competent! Alternatively get my guide to Choosing a Honest, Reliable and Competent Computer Support & Repair Business (http://www.smallbusiness-it.com/reports/the_consumer_awareness_guide_to_choosing_an_honest _reliable_competent_suppo). At least if you don't have any friends or relatives it will give you pointers on what to look for!

[teritoots]

Not to jump on the band wagon, but it is extremely difficult to try and diagnose pc probems without seeing whats what. So scorrie please do expect BlueIvy to state whats wrong from the info Porshiepoo has given. I know personally that someone can give you info which really does not put you right direction. It could be various things that is wrong and if I was was porshiepoo I'd ask a technician to come round and ask for a no obligation quote to repair her pc before buying a new one. You could see the link on Bobinovich posting and call them all to see if they'd be willing to do this? There is loads out there.
Speaking from experience if you don't know what your doing with computers dinni start sticking disks in and trying to repair (sorry porshiepoo not having a go) as it generally makes things worse and takes more time to fix therefore costing you more in the end. If you cut your toe off you wouldni try stitching it back on yourself would you? Use people who are fully trained and know what they are doing :)

[blueivy]

Not to jump on the band wagon, but it is extremely difficult to try and diagnose pc probems without seeing whats what. So scorrie please do expect BlueIvy to state whats wrong from the info Porshiepoo has given. I know personally that someone can give you info which really does not put you right direction.

I tried to give a quick first steps but as you say, without actually seeing it it is incredibly difficult.


It could be various things that is wrong and if I was was porshiepoo I'd ask a technician to come round and ask for a no obligation quote to repair her pc before buying a new one. You could see the link on Bobinovich posting and call them all to see if they'd be willing to do this? There is loads out there.


That's what I'd do. In addition though ask them how long they've been in business, if they will still charge you if it's unfixable and will guarantee their work when finished. For me it's 5 years. I don't charge you. I guarantee all of my work.

[teritoots]

Sorry for going off the track here but I never said you did not?

Anyhoo now I am going to have a Jibe though - How on earth can you guarantee your work for 5yrs?? They could install something that conflicts therefore what you did is then broken? Do you mean you guarantee if something you fix breaks you'll fix it again for free? Or you telling me you can guarentee that it'll not break for 5 yrs if you are your mad as a hatter!:eek:

[blueivy]

No territoots,

No, you didn't. I wasn't implying that you didn't say that or you did, or anything in between :-) A problem of miscommunication ...

When I said:



For me it's 5 years. I don't charge you. I guarantee all of my work.
I meant:
I've been in business 5 years.
Business was established at the end of July 2001.
I don't charge you if it's unfixable.
If you ask me to resolve a problem with your PC where it won't boot. I'd take a look at and give you a quote. If it turns out the PC is beyond repair (after some investigation) then we both agree that, I give you it back, you pay me nothing and you're happy.
I guarantee all of my work.
I usually guarantee that any problem I resolve will not reappear within a certain period of time (varies depending on what it is that has been fixed). When I resolve something I make sure I actually trace and solve the source of the problem and therefore stop it coming back rather than just fixing the symptom. That's how I can guarantee that type of work. I guarantee each type of work differently but everything I do or sell is guaranteed by me (which can cause problems with software manufacturers as they don't always guarantee their software in the same way I do so I sometimes have to take the hit on the cost but happy customers are more important - to me anyway!)Sorry for the confusion!

[scorrie]

Not to jump on the band wagon, but it is extremely difficult to try and diagnose pc probems without seeing whats what. So scorrie please do expect BlueIvy to state whats wrong from the info Porshiepoo has given.

That is my point. There may be more wrong than is apparant and you can end up in a scenario where you get a big bill for a fix on an old PC. I am not saying Blue Ivy would do that but my personal feeling is that once expense is involved and you have an old PC, then it is not a great jump of the imagination to buy new, given that you will get at least windows XP, 512MB Ram, 160 GB Hard Drive and possibly some on site/return to base warranty thrown in. That is my personal feeling, Blue Ivy is free to disagree. No big deal in my mind, don't look like it is me that is taking the hump at all!!

[j4bberw0ck]

I think this serves as an object lesson for buying a pc.

Saving £100 or so by buying from Dell and the like is all very well but sooner or later that pc is going to go wrong. One of the ways Dell and the like save nmoney is by issuing recovery disks, and when you call their tech support, their first answer is "put the recovery disk in and reboot" - which wipes everything off your disk.

The Lidl pc which Scorrie appears to recommend is very highly specced and you can bet your left buttock that when it goes wrong it'll be a problem. Cheap computers are partly to do with purchasing power (of Lidl) and partly to do with cheap components. I'm a biker as well as a computer enthusiast and what they say about crash helmets is "if you've got a cheap head, get a cheap helmet".

Scorrie, you're way up a gum tree on replacing the pc. Windows Me has had a bad press and any number of people, having read the bad press, are happy to look like they know something about pcs and slag it off. Me is a perfectly fine operating system. which I used for 5 years on one machine with no problems at all.

PC magazines have a vested interest in getting people to upgrade and so you have a whole load of people running Win XP Pro on AMD 3800 processors with 1 GB RAM and the most they ever do with it is email and a bit of web browsing. That's insanity. And all of them are likely convinced they're better off than they would have been running a Pentium 3 and Windows 98, or Windows Me. All because the journalists said so.

I have no connexion with Blue Ivy - I don't even know the guy who runs it. But ask yourself this: he spends his own time giving free tech advice to people with problems. When did you last see Dell doing the same?

If you want a PC, buy local. It might cost you more but you have back up when there's a problem. Scorrie, if you have any pc's you're about to consign to the bin because they sounded funny, or crashed one time, or have an unfashionable OS, please call me - I'll take them, no problem, for my distributed processing team. We can try to help cure cancer with your cast-offs! How good is that? :lol:

[teritoots]

Ah sorry all is forgiven I should of re-read before going off on one sorry :)

Good post j4bberw0ck :)

[j4bberw0ck]

That is my point. There may be more wrong than is apparant and you can end up in a scenario where you get a big bill for a fix on an old PC. I am not saying Blue Ivy would do that but my personal feeling is that once expense is involved and you have an old PC, then it is not a great jump of the imagination to buy new, given that you will get at least windows XP, 512MB Ram, 160 GB Hard Drive and possibly some on site/return to base warranty thrown in. That is my personal feeling, Blue Ivy is free to disagree. No big deal in my mind, don't look like it is me that is taking the hump at all!!

Hehehehehe..... we crossed.

You're very vague, scorrie - "there may", "you can", "not a great jump of thr imagination" to buy a "160GB hard disk, 512 MB RAM" pc and "possibly some on site / rtb warranty".

Why most people would need a 160GB hard disk is beyond me, and if you need one you can get it for about £60 and fit it to your existing pc in a couple of minutes. If you buy local you'll definitely get RTB ot on-site warranty. If you run Me or Win 98 there's almost no way you'll need 512 MB RAM; if you run XP and do anytthing serious with it it'll barely be enough.

KISS.

Keep It Simple, Stupid. Even Clinton knew that.

Cheers! J

[blueivy]

That is my point. There may be more wrong than is apparant and you can end up in a scenario where you get a big bill for a fix on an old PC. I am not saying Blue Ivy would do that but my personal feeling is that once expense is involved and you have an old PC, then it is not a great jump of the imagination to buy new, given that you will get at least windows XP, 512MB Ram, 160 GB Hard Drive and possibly some on site/return to base warranty thrown in. That is my personal feeling, Blue Ivy is free to disagree. No big deal in my mind, don't look like it is me that is taking the hump at all!!

Hi Scorrie,

That's kind of my point though you might not need Windows XP, 512Mb RAM (really should be looking at a minimum of 1Gb now) and 160Gb HD. I have an 80Gb in mine and it's more than plenty. I have a 30Gb in my laptop and it's fine too. You might not need all of that extra stuff.

Any IT business worth their salt will let you know if there is going to be any additional expense over their quote and let you stop at any point where you're not happy. If porshiepoo's PC is failing to read a CDRom then it *looks* like a new CDRom is needed (from the limited amount of information there). Reinstallation of Windows could be done by porshiepoo so she's down about £20.00 maybe £30.00 total if you want to include installation. Yes, once that's done it may need more but looking at what we know I seriously doubt it! I even have my doubts anbout a new CDRom if it was working perfectly well before switching off - maybe it's a loose cable!

It's great to recommend buying new if you've got the money but why throw out something that's working fine for you for something brand spanking when you know nothing of it's history! I like to compare computers to cars and this is classic case ...

[porshiepoo]

Okey dokey this is how far I've got.I downloaded a boot disk (it says win98but it was under the ME download) and that all booted up. The computer put my broken dvd drive at X and my cdrom at Y.When I typed Y:\DIR the computer actually gave me the list of files on the cd rom so does this mean that computer is at least recognising the cdrom? The boot disk I used has a generic cdrom drive to it. Once I'd done all that it asked me to restart without the boot disk and just the recovery disk in the cd but the computer won't have it. I'm not getting any prompt at all to give it a command. Any ideas?????? All I'm getting is it asking me to insert a valid system disk even though the cd is the proper gateway recovery disk.Is there not a command I can give it to get it to start downloading the contents of the cd?

[j4bberw0ck]

Is there a file called "start.exe" or "start.bat", or something with the same general implication, on the cd-rom?

[blueivy]

Okey dokey this is how far I've got.I downloaded a boot disk (it says win98but it was under the ME download) and that all booted up. The computer put my broken dvd drive at X and my cdrom at Y.When I typed Y:\DIR the computer actually gave me the list of files on the cd rom so does this mean that computer is at least recognising the cdrom?

It does. Looks like your CDRom drive is probably working okay.


The boot disk I used has a generic cdrom drive to it.

That should be fine. Very few drives need a specific driver for doing simple things in DOS.


Once I'd done all that it asked me to restart without the boot disk and just the recovery disk in the cd but the computer won't have it. I'm not getting any prompt at all to give it a command. Any ideas?????? All I'm getting is it asking me to insert a valid system disk even though the cd is the proper gateway recovery disk.Is there not a command I can give it to get it to start downloading the contents of the cd?

If you boot from the floppy disk, try the following:

At the DOS prompt, type Y: [PRESS ENTER]
Type SETUP [PRESS ENTER]That's what you would do with a Windows ME disk, however I know it's a Recovery CD so it may be slightly different. You can however check what programs you could try to run by doing:

DIR Y:\*.EXE

and seeing what is listed. You could have a SETUP.EXE or as j4bberwock says a START.EXE that may kick the installation off. There may be one called INSTALL.EXE or WINME.EXE etc. etc. You get the idea. One of them should kick off the installation.