Micro Mart Forum / Microsoft Windows / Technical Forums

vista boot times

wrightrhw — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:59:42 GMT

2 laptops one dell inspiron1525 , one fujitsu/siemens amilo Li .1718.. both with vista home premium. almost identical specs. slightly different processors, both dual core, dell 1.6GHz fujitsu 1.73GHz. the dell upgraded to sp1 ok but the fujitsu always fails. the dell boots in approx 1minute but the fujitsu stuggles to get there in 3 minutes. any suggestions gratefully received. i'm fairly sure the fujitsu is not infected.

sp3

leon.electrician — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:01:22 GMT

has sp3 caused any problems for you lot. have everything just right at the moment really don't want to have a reinstall xp again if it goes tits up

xp pro

col55555in — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:14:31 GMT

tried to repair from windows cd,

stops at set up will complete in approx 34min,

the brings up

microsoft uaa bus driver for high def audio HDAUDBUS.SYS

please insert the compact disk labled (above) installation disk , at this point keyboard + mouse stops responding and cannot do anything,pointer is frozen on the screen.

Reinstalling windows xp with a different cd

V-600 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:20:35 GMT

I have been searching around and things aren't looking bright. My sister has a laptop that has become painfully slow (its free of malware etc, just about 3 years of use) what with numerous old programs, data and crud about the hard disk.

I've started by suggesting she remove programs she doesn't use anymore, have a good defragment, registry clear, back up and remove old data and so forth but I fear that a reinstall of windows may be necessary. I have a slightly older version of the same laptop (that I let get into a similar state) which went from a 5 minute boot up to less than 2 mins.

The problem is she has lost/misplaced the original windows and driver cd's. Would it be possible to use my copy of XP with the product code sticker on the bottom of her laptop. I'm certain that the drivers are the same, its just whether I can use the same windows cd twice (with two different product codes) without problems.

As I said at the beginning things aren't looking bright. Most sites suggest not, while only one says it will work, so I put it to you all and hope for the best. Will it work?

Is there such a thing as a virtual keyboard?

g-bhxu — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:17:54 GMT

Just like having the ability to use the mouse and left click on the Windows' calculator buttons, is there such a thing as a virtual keyboard for windows XP?

Where to install XP?

dugeen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:04:59 GMT

Hello all

I've just put together a new system with one SATA hard disc and one old style IDE CD ROM drive. The CD ROM is showing as Second IDE Master and the (SATA) hard disc as Third IDE Master. And I intend to install XP Pro onto the SATA hard drive.

I've also got an older PATA hard drive, full of data, which I plan to add to the new system later, when I've got Windows installed and running.

But I'm wondering: when I do add it, it will show up as First IDE Master, so isn't there a chance that Windows won't be able to cope with suddenly finding itself on the second hard disc in the system rather than the first? I'd expect the drive letter of the SATA drive to change from C to E, too, and that's got to cause problems, right?

WHS Power Pack 1

cheyworth — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:47:49 GMT

Has any one installes the Power Pack yet?

Have you had any problems?

renaming images

Sparks — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:08:54 GMT

Hi folks

Using wxp pro and office 2003.. Have a lot of photo's to sort daughters wedding/holidays that sort of thing ( before she finds out that i aint done them yet). The original naming process is now a no brainer . is there a simple way of renaming them using the word 2003 application in blocks without the renaming of each one individually.

all help gratefully recieved.

sparks

sound problems

kevint — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:35:04 GMT

I am running xp pro and vista home premium in a dual boot configuration on my Abit AN-M2HD. Weird thing is that on Vista I have sound and on XP I have nothing.

Tried the usual un-installing and re-installing drivers etc but without any joy. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Cheers,

K

Firefox 3.0 INCREDIBLY slow

Jason — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:20:10 GMT

I've tried Safe Mode, but it makes no difference. Some sites -- seemingly random -- take minutes to load. The product is unusable. Lots of people seem to be in the same boat. Has anyone got any other suggestions?

Vista install stops at Completing Install??

Mr Green — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:59:00 GMT

Hi,

New system new install of Vista, but its stopping at Completing installation

I have got sata set to ahci wondered if that the problem

Any info you need please ask

MrG

windows xp MCE automatic updates problem

eggster — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:02:14 GMT

Hi chaps,

I am having difficulty turning the automatic updates on. I have tried the suggested route by microsoft via system in control panel and although it says it is on, the security centre says it is off.
When I check the services.msc it is disabled and when i try to enable it I get error 1058 the service cannot be started yada yada yada. I have tried the MS website and the knowledgebase articles on this error do not resolve my problem, any ideas ?
I suspect I have a virus, AVG picks a Torjan up, I've moved it to the virus vault but it keeps reappearing. Not sure what to do... do I do a repair for Windows ?
I'm on SP2 Media Centre Edition

firefox 3

jody! — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:35:03 GMT

is there any way to export passwords from ff3, like you can with bookmarks as i am planning on a reinstall of windows

blank screen on XP startup

chunky1318 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:15:53 GMT

hey guys! in a pickle with this one!!!

Came home from work, as per usual, Im straight up and onto the PC, problem is, all I have is a black screen.... ok, so nothing works... at all... but my PC is powered up. Ive checked all the power / monitor cables and everything is fine. I've had no changes to the machine in quite some time so not a software issue.

Thing is, the monitor works. when i turn the PC off and back on, it shows the usual press del to enter BIOS etc etc.... then shows the "windows loading" screen. After that it goes straight back to a blank / black screen.

I've got my laptop and PC networked, and tried accessing it through the network and even though its turned on, it does not show.

Any ideas to get it working again?

I've also tried removing / putting back in the gpu, cleaning inside, different cables, etc... and i know the monitor works as i have tried it with a second rig!

Thanks guys!

speeding up start up

marc.knuckle — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:34:01 GMT

i was wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of a good, comprehensive list of start-up processes and what they do and whether it is wise to stop them.

wireless clash (i think)

garyhopkin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:52:17 GMT

Hi

i have a wireless keyboard mouse combo (ebuyer cheapo),a cyberlink infra red remote on xp media centre which works fine.i also use a wired 360 controller for windows which is also working ok.

i bought a wireless 360 pad and usb crossfire reciever today and cannot for the life of me get it to sync.i have tried uninstalling/reinstalling software (same as wired software)unplugged all usb items and tried crossfire first,still to no avail...is there any known workaround to get this controller working?..im assuming its a wireless clash as it works fine on another pc but bought it for the other machine.

any help is greatly appreciated as i have a few mates coming round tomorrow and im going to look like a plum with only 1 controller working...lol

Vista enterprise to good to be true?

biff of biff — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:17:09 GMT

I found Vista enterprise for less than £19. It has to be a mistake. Here is the link.

http://store.cbccomputers.com/pp/software/operating%5Fsystems/Windows%5FVista%5FEnterprise%2C%5F32%2Dbit%2C%5FDisk%5FKit%2C%5FVolume%5FLicense%2C%5FDVD%2C%5FMLF%2C%5FUpgrade%2C%5FEN.html

What's the score?

Biff of biff.

scanning windows files freeze

marc.knuckle — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:18:14 GMT

just to state what the problem is and why maybe it is there...

i recently cloned my system to a new drive, much bigger, using acronis true image 10. all seems fine but there are some niggles happening that i thought could be due to the clone. these are, avira scan getting stuck on this screen,

the time is still counting but it just wont progress past this point. malwarebytes scanner freezing on zonealarm vsutil and so far that is it i think but the avira thing definately wasn't there before but i have only installed the malwarebytes scanner after the clone.

could this be the clone?? any ideas how to sort. cherrs guys

Vista Laptop won't boot

musicmaker_117 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:07:20 GMT

Hi All,

I dont know what my sister has done to her laptop but it wont boot. Boot Manager says the following

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem

1. Insert your Windows installation disk and reastart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, then click "next"
3. Click "Repair your computer"

File :\Windows\system32\drivers\volsnap.sys

Status: 0xcoooooof

Windows failed to load because critical syatem driver is missing, or currupt.

Problem is, she does not have an installation disk for the computer. How can i fix the Pc?

Please help!!!

Windows XP start up problems

Homer 64 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:24:09 GMT

Help, I've got major Windows XP start up problems, i.e. the damn thing wont boot, it starts, loading windows ok then a BSOD with the following message:-

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

XXXSTOP:0x0000007B (0XF7C19524, 0XC0000034, 0X00000000,0X00000000)

If this is the first time you've seen this this stop error screen, restart your computer, if this screen appears again follow these steps.

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated.
Run CHKDSK /F to check your hard drive for corruption and restart the computer.

I searched the web and found that it might be a MBR problem, formatted the MBR partition and reloaded it with the xp repair disc, no change,

PowerPoint 2007

Fuzzy-Felt Bloke — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:31:28 GMT

Hope some one has a good link to a clear tutorial as I'm having problems with running shockwave flash object in powerpoint 2007.

I have been using this online tutorial

[url]http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/071213youtube07.htm[/url]

but I just get a blank screen, I have been through this step by step about 4 times now with the same result.

I'm trying to embed Youtube into a powerpoint.

Thanks

Fuzzy-Felt Bloke :):)

Vista problems. rundll32.exe showing 100 +times in task maneger.

djintensate — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:46:14 GMT

My second experience with vista the biggest known pre installed virus. I'd rather have Norten as a operating software!!!!!!!!!
I was trying to help a friend with vista home premium.
I would open internet explorer and it would open 100+ windows. Under task manager was rundll32 shown 100+ times .I also found pctstray.exe ,cmds.exe and sdclt.exe which google says may be a virus.
Cpu usage at idle is 30-65%, this is not normal . I know with xp that under 15% is good ,but not what is normal for vista.
I tried to close them down under end task ,but they started up again

The machine is full of virus's . These have turned of system restore and the firewall, so I look in control panel to re enable them but cannot. The icons are not shown in control panel so I use the help function and follow the instructions to enable them but the they will not .
I hate Vista.

I ran it under safe mode and it was better,only the real rundll32.exe was running.
I left it scanning in safe mode with Avg
In normal mode you can make and drink a cup of tea whilst you wait for it to do anything.
It got too late for me to finish trying to fix it.

I will find out from my friend if Avg has cured it or not.

I was thinking its easier to re install it ,but as usual with new pc's it has no disk supplied.

The pc is a dual core athlon 4200, 1gb ram made by Hp.
Any ideas apart from the optional"Microsoft branded Hammer" which was also not supplied upon purchase.

Corrupt Excel file

alansecker — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:25:10 GMT

The file appears to open in several of the commercial restoration programs (which do not permit saves unless you pay) but I cannot open it in Excel 2000 nor openoffice calc. Does MicroMart know of a Free recovery program? Either Windows or Linux will do!

Vista

compaq2 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:29:26 GMT

how many hardware changes does vista allow before it asks for a new key like xp does ?

ive been playing around with one of my pcs using it as a processor test bed and im on my 4th processor.

so just wondering am i likely to upset it if i change graphics card now ?

Firefox 3

dhep — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:35:21 GMT

Hi everyone.
Is it only me that is having problems with the new Firefox 3 'locking' it happens on all different sites I have run the virus scanner, spybot but no difference but the same sites are no trouble in I E 7 ?
I really wanted to use this, I also like opera but cannot get into secure sites (bank etc.)

XP & Vista

Teafie — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:12:18 GMT

Have you or do you know some one who has recently stocked up with oem XP now its finished?

Also: have you or do you know some one who has managed to run an oem copy of vista on multiple machines perminent?:)

XP showing only 1 core

Badgerman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:40:55 GMT

Howdy all I hope you are all having a good friday. Not long till work ends and the weekend begins :)

Just a quick question hopefully. MI have just built a new machine and reinstalled Xp then upgraded to sp2 and installed the large variety of updates.

I happened to go into task manager and under the process tab it is only showing one graph. If I run cpu-z under processors it shows 1 core & 1 thread. Seeing as I have a nice shiney new e4600 Im a bit worried that its not working properly.

The motherboard is a ASUS p5kc. Both cores show in the bios.

Hopefully someone can stop me from worrying and help me resolve this.

Thanks in advance for any replys. and to all the rest have a good weekend.

Chris

windows update error codes

pfoster23681 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:42:06 GMT

my new laptop with vita home premium will not install the new windows updates when it shuts down, so i tried to get the updates via windows update on my start menu. it just brings up error code 80004002. following a couple of tips on the microsoft live forums, which were to reinstall SP1 (which hasnt worked), and to go into a command prompt and update regsvr32 with various files. the first one updates fine, but when i try wups.dll, wups2.dll, wuweb.dll, wucltu1.dll and wuaueng.dll, i either get another error code 80070005, or path could not be found. i use AVG 8.0 free, super anti-spyware and ccleaner. could these be conflicting? i cant see anything else on my comp which would make it any different to any other vista machine? help me please!

Sata HDD prob

yeoboy — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:58:26 GMT

Have nearly new drive, Had to format after PC crashed now it can load Vista but when trying to load XP it will not recognise the drive, Have tried on 2 pc`s and dont think its a driver issue, Any comments otrher than send it back?

XP TO VISTA...BUT WHICH ONE ?

WALDEIS155 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:10:54 GMT

Hi guys,

Ive recently built my 1st ever PC and i am now stuck in which O/S to buy

I am using an old Pc i bought at a computer market which came with XP installed
but no discs so i am looking at getting Vista Home Premuim....
...the question is though which one ?

OEM/Retail ?
Upgrade ?

I didnt realise an O/S was so expensive (yes, sadly i am naive lol)

Can you please explain which one i need, if any, or am i able to use my old 40gb HDD
which has XP installed already (is this RAID ? if so, back to my manual for further tuition)

I really enjoyed my 1st build and am really looking forward to getting an O/S to finish
my baby off :cool:

Thank you in advance for any help on this subject matter

Ian

E2200, HD 3650 512mb DDR3, 2GB OCZ DDR2 800Mhz and 500GB HDD samsung...:D ive always wanted to write that at bottom of my posts :cool:

Is all the worlds bandwidth really worth using up for this update?

Mitch — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:13:04 GMT

Do you get the feeling that now Bill has gone, MS employees can stretch their political legs a bit

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955020

I cannot believe WU has just applied this patch!

Windows XP update problems

Bobduk — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:37:02 GMT

When I switched on the computer this morning there was the yellow shield telling me there was 2 updates to download. After the download I did a restart which went ok but then found that I could no longer connect to the internet. The broadband was working ok and the local area status showed as connected but could not download mail or get isp.I use firefox and opera and isp is orange. I did a system restore to before the update and then all was well. Now I have the yellow icon back. Has any one else had problems with this update or have any idea what may have happened before I try again. Thanks.

Saving a private address book.

Fixtheleek? — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:25:23 GMT

Is there a way of retrieving an Outlook Express address book from a HDD with a Windows install that is damaged?
I will connect as a slave to try and save some documents, which I have done before but I am not sure on the address book.
Thank you for any help.:)

CPU idling at around 75%

bombus — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:40:01 GMT

MY CPU is idling at around 75%. It should be around 30%. I have checked for viruses and spyware (using AVG and Spybot) but no malware was found.

Anyone got any ideas what's going on?

Err, maybe this should be moved to a Technical Q & A?

XP SP2 HDD backup

RRich — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:03:35 GMT

Hi I'm using XP SP2, Having installed SP3 it killed MBR on all drives :crying: had to buy disaster software from pc wurld on a sunday, £30 but wurth every penny cos saved 2*250 gb hdds of photos films music etc. Any how my question is can you ask windows to copy large directories in a queue? rather than trying to do it all at once and taking days?:unsure:

windows xp home recovery cd on a laptop

dj-toonz — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:18:14 GMT

Hi all , just a quick question, i'm running windows xp home on a laptop with a 40gig harddrive & buying a 160gig 2.5" ide one in a couple of weeks, will the windows xp recovery cd work or is it only lienced on the equmpent that it came with? as i dont want to re-install it & find out that it wont work as i'm also upgrading the ram to a gig aswell at the same time thx

vista boot up problems

alphatune — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:16:05 GMT

running vista ultimate and recently have had a problem when first booting up. i get the first vista screen with the progress bar at the bottom then i get a message OODBS file missing, skipping autocheck program

the computer then hangs and takes about 5 mins to carry on booting

anyone any idea what this OODBS is please

thanks in advance

forcing XP to use 1 core for programs and 2 cores to boot

marc.knuckle — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:00:10 GMT

i have recently read that in vista you can go into task manager and set the affinity so that a program uses only one core so i did this so that my spyware scan used core 0 and virus scan core 1 so that if they both run at the same time, the pc would maybe run quicker(would this be better if both were on one core freeing up a whole core???) can this be done in XP as well?????

also, i read that if you go into msconfig in vista and go to boot option, advanced you can change it so it uses 2 cores to boot which should obviously speed up boot, can this also be done in XP????

Re-partitioning

We'reLostAgain — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:45:58 GMT

Hiya

I have an older version of Partitionmagic (Version 7.0 (Build 303) )

I have used it to add a little partition onto my hard drive-which is XP and Vista dual boot from new. I think I took the space from XP.

I want to pinch some more Disc space from Vista and give it to XP-am still not using Vista!!

PartionM sees the partition, but doesn't have a name for it and i can't do any thing, this is when running XP.

I can't load it on Vista-it needs SP6 at least?????????

Any ideas? i don't want to format or any of that stuff. Any good opensource partition kit out there?

Many thanks

codec for windows movie maker

PoWeR UsEr — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:50:08 GMT

i have been looking for a codec which will let me edit MP4 videos in windows movie maker, i found one a while back but it did not seem to work well with my computer, it would BSOD every time i tried to play full screen video.
does anyone know of a codec pack which would help me out?

cheers, Calum