10 reasons why PCs crash U must Know

Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy," it says. "Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications." You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Mcft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening? 1 Hardware conflict } The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device. For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself. If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen. The way to check if your computer has a hardware conflict is through the following route: * Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager. Often if a device has a problem a yellow '!' appears next to its description in the Device Manager. Highlight Computer (in the Device Manager) and press Properties to see the IRQ numbers used by your computer. If the IRQ number appears twice, two devices may be using it. Sometimes a device might share an IRQ with something described as 'IRQ holder for PCI steering'. This can be ignored. The best way to fix this problem is to remove the problem device and reinstall it. Sometimes you may have to find more recent drivers on the internet to make the device function properly. A good resource is www.driverguide.com. If the device is a soundcard, or a modem, it can often be fixed by moving it to a different slot on the motherboard (be careful about opening your computer, as you may void the warranty). When working inside a computer you should switch it off, unplug the mains lead and touch an unpainted metal surface to discharge any static electricity. To be fair to Mcft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs. 2 Bad Ram } Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing. But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked. One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged. Parity error messages also refer to Ram. Modern Ram chips are either parity (ECC) or non parity (non-ECC). It is best not to mix the two types, as this can be a cause of trouble. EMM386 error messages refer to memory problems but may not be connected to bad Ram. This may be due to free memory problems often linked to old Dos-based programmes. 3 BIOS settings } Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up. Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to. A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer's display. Mcft Windows is better at allocating IRQ numbers than any BIOS. If possible set the IRQ numbers to Auto in the BIOS. This will allow Windows to allocate the IRQ numbers (make sure the BIOS setting for Plug and Play OS is switched to 'yes' to allow Windows to do this.). 4 Hard disk drives } After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to * Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler. The Task Scheduler should be one of the small icons on the bottom right of the Windows opening page (the desktop). Some lockups and screen freezes caused by hard disk problems can be solved by reducing the read-ahead optimisation. This can be adjusted by going to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-System Icon-Performance-File System-Hard Disk. Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space. Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to * Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk Otherwise assign the Task Scheduler to perform this operation at night when the computer is not in use. 5 Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors } Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems. These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the colour settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high colour 16-bit depth is adequate. If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts. If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse. The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message. Another useful way to resolve video problems is to go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Performance-Graphics Here you should move the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left. As ever, the most common cause of problems relating to graphics cards is old or faulty drivers (a driver is a small piece of software used by a computer to communicate with a device). Look up your video card's manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it. 6 Viruses } Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance. A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer. An excellent antivirus programme is McAfee VirusScan by Network Associates ( www.nai.com). Another is Norton AntiVirus 2000, made by Symantec ( www.symantec.com). 7 Printers } The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file. Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer's performance. If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognised, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer's default settings and you may be able to carry on. 8 Software } A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the programme in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy. The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000. Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don't do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message "Starting Windows" press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode. Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly. Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn't work. Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation. 9 Overheating } Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to. One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable. 10 Power supply problems } With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut. If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut. It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost. WARNING : You must know about your proccesor .don"nt think to overclock when it is older and not supported overclocking. and also overclock it on the limit . and also rember to do with the help of a tech guru.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, make your pc faster,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 1. First, run a scandisk or checkdisk. Let Windows fix any errors. 2. Run a disk cleanup utility...this will flush your temporary internet folder, trash can, temp system files, etc. 3. Delete any garbage files or data...if possible, run a Duplicate File Finder program. 4. Run Defrag on all partitions (NOTE: run this after you have deleted all trash and excess files!) 5. Run a registry cleaner utility and delete or get rid of any orphaned entries in that registry. 6. Check your exisiting swap file for it's size and location (*will explain location later in the post). If you have alot of ram (i.e. 1 gig and over) set this swap file to something small, like 250 mb. The reason is that this will force Windows to load more into memory, resulting in faster performance (note: some games and applications actually require a certain sized swap file so check your applications performance after making a size adjustment for any error messages.) 7. Under XP, you can tell Windows to use Classic Style on your desktop, - this will remove the neat single click and internet-style desktop but for lower end systems this will improve performance in other areas, such as gaming and multi-tasking. 8. Run msconfig and under startup and only keep the programs that are essential to load in the tray icon (and hence stay resident in memory). Uncheck anything else non-essential, like an ATI or Nvidia control panel, Quicktime utility, Real Audio, etc. 9. Upgrade drivers! Check for the latest BIOS, video, motherboard, sound, etc drivers from the manufacturers. Alot of my friends had chipsets on their motherboard that had advanced disk management capabilities or AGP port settings but the drivers weren't loaded for them so they were never being used. A simple upgrade realized a noticeable difference. For instance, they didn't have the latest driver for their AGP port so it was set to 1x, instead of being used at 4x! 10. (OK, so this won't speed up your PC but it could save you alot of time and trouble later on!) After making all these improvements, make a working backup! I use Ghost, but for XP users you can also use System Restore... -FOR ADVANCED USERS- 1. Take a look under the hood (for IDE owners). How are your IDE devices configured? If you have more than 1 hard drive, put the master hard drive on the primary IDE channel and the secondary hard drive on the secondary IDE channel (most motherboards have two IDE channels). 2. Place all CDROM drives, DVD readers etc. on the secondary IDE channel (or SCSI bus, etc). This will reduce I/O contention with your master hard drive which should have your OS and apps installed... 3. Remember when I mentioned the location of the swap file? OK, if you have 2 hard drives and you have one on the primary IDE channel and the other on the secondary IDE channel, move the swap file to a partition ON THE SECOND hard drive (on the secondary IDE channel). This will greatly improve system performance as the PC can write to the swap file while loading and running OS and system commands without I/O contention on the primary IDE channel! 4. Take a look under the hood (for SCSI owners) What kind of SCSI do you have? If it's the newer Ultra 160/320 etc cards then guess what? Any devices placed on the same bus will automatically default to the slowest drive on the chain...this means that if you have say, an Ultra 160 SCSI card, and it has an Ultra 160 drive (capable of transferring 160 mb/sec) on the same chain as a SCSI cdrom drive (capable of only 40 mb/sec) then the whole bus slows down to the 40 mb/sec speed...use different chains for the slower devices and maximize those hard drives! 5. Run a utility like WCPUID and check the settings...is your CPU/front speed bus/AGP port running as fast as they should be? If not, check your drivers and BIOS configuration options. Also, are all of your chipset features enabled? If not, then enable them! (usually done in your BIOS!) 6. Dig in to the BIOS...check settings like boot order, for example...is it checking the floppy first? Change this! Select your order to reflect the hard drive first, then CD, then floppy for a noticeable boot time improvement. Also disable any non-used on board peripherals...for instance, - does your motherboard come with an on-board NIC card? Guess what, if you don't use that NIC card and it is enabled it will eat up valuable CPU cycles and can be detrimental to your systems' performance. DISABLE THAT MUTHA! Also, see if you can play with memory timing and CPU clock frequencies (NOTE! This is for expert users only!) Set these timings to "Aggressive" and see what happens in your games and apps...Also, check to see what your video aperature is set to. If you have a video card with 128 megs of on-baord memory, your aperature should be set to this amount too. Read the BIOS owner manual for further non-general performance tricks or improvements! Do you have the latest BIOS firmware version? 7. Under hardware properties, check to see that everything is working properly, and fix any hardware contention issues. You'll see the dreaded yellow exclamation point (!) beside any hardware componenet that is not working correctly. 8. Evaluate the potential for system/hardware upgrades...usually, the best bang for the buck is adding memory so buy all that you can afford (don't go much above 512 megs for Win 98 or ME). If you have a motherboard with an 8x - capable AGP port but you are using an older 4x video card, consider upgrading to an 8x card. You get the idea here... 9. Quit using software pigs like Norton system utilities, etc. These place files everywhere and can be a real system resource hog on lower end PCs. 10. Did I mention to make a good backup? Do it now! Also, while you're at it, run a good virus program with the latest definitions. There are more options to make your system faster, such as overclocking, etc. but (just about) everything I've mentioned in this tech post costs you nothing and will result in faster system performance! Good luck and if you have any questions on how to do anything mentioned here, ask a knowledgeable friend or consult a book, - don't mess up something trying to do something you are not sure of! Good luck and I'd like to dedicate this post to all of WorldWarez which has given me so much! You're all great, peeps!

........./////Make Your Own Ringtones For Mobile Phone, also logos, wallpaper .etc ... I have a Motorola V220 and want to have my own ringtones without down load from internet and PAID angry2.gif . After searching all night for "how to" ...this is what I got - after testing with my mobile...and it works very well. I want to share with you ... A - Tools ----------- 1- You have to have a mobile phone which has USB connection (of course yu.gif ) 2- a USB cable (whatever cable that can connect PC to your mobile, mine is a digital camera USB cable) Softwares ----------- 1- MobilePhoneTools_1.23c 2- MobilePhoneTools_2.21b (updated) 3- p2k_driver_2.3 (for modem driver update) 4- USB_driver (just in case) B - SETUP ------------------ 1- Unzip and install MobilePhoneTools_1.23c 2- Update with MobilePhone_2.21b 3- Unzip p2k_driver into a folder 4- Connect your phone to PC 5. Windows will automatically detect the new hardware and open the "Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard" 6. Click "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)", then click next. 7. On the next window, only choose "Include this location in the search", then click "Browse" 8. In the "Browse for folder" window, click on the folder you unzip "p2k_driver", then click "OK", then "Next" 9. Windows will search for the driver in that folder, and it is there ....BUT..... 10. A window pops up: "The software you are installing for this hardware: Motorola USB Modem -------------------------- has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP. (Tell me why this is important.{XP says this, I am not asking it}) Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the correct operation of your system either immediately or in the future. Microsoft strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contact the hardware wendor for software that has passed Windows Logo testing." Click "Continue Anyway" 11. After the wizard finds the driver, click "Finish" C - Copy MIDI, WAV, MP3, PICTURES ...to mobile After setup you can copy any your favours Midi, MP3, Wav etc ..to your mobile as your own Ringtones, wallpapers cheer.gif D - Down load SOFTWARES here ------------------------------------ MobilePhoneTools_1.23c_EN (18MB) CODE http://www.free.cz/motorola/Motorola_MobilePhoneTools_1.23c_EN.zip MobilePhoneTools_2.21b_US (21MB) ------------------------------------------ CODE http://www.free.cz/motorola/mobilePhoneTools_2.21b_US.exe p2k_driver (43kb) CODE http://www.free.cz/motorola/P2K_driver_2.3.zip USB_driver (1.2MB) ------------------------- CODE http://www.free.cz/motorola/Motorola_USB_Modem_Driver.zip E - Some useful websites ------------------------- CODE How to make your own ringtones -------------------------------------- http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~HB9T-KTD/music/English/Research/Ringtone/create.html http://www.engadget.com/entry/1498517852773617/ http://www.mrbass.org/ringtones/ http://www.ringtoneripper.com/ AND ..this is the site for you that Ringtones are made ready for you to d/l FREE :beer: http://powerlink.no/sound/ FORUM to discuss and ask questions ------------------------------------------ http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=38

Xp Tips

Xp Tips ------------- Assigning scheduled tasks and automatically waking your computer is very useful, especially if you want your computer booted and virus-scanned before you arrive at work. There are various programs to do this, but it’s not that hard to do it manually. 1.First go to Control Panel and choose Performance and Maintenance. Click the scheduled tasks icon. 2.Next click on Add Scheduled task to open the Scheduled Tasks Wizard. 3.Browse for the program you want to run or select it from the list. Type the name and select how often you want it to …

^^^^ THEGAME ^^^^ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ computer A NOTICE } . ALL this things include hardware and software language . ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port ALI - Acer Labs, Incorporated ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit AMD - Advanced Micro Devices APC - American Power Conversion ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programming Interface AT - Advanced Technology ATI - ATI Technologies Inc. ATX - Advanced Technology Extended --- B --- BFG - BFG Technologies BIOS - Basic Input Output System BNC - Barrel Nut Connector --- C --- CAS - Column Address Signal CD - Compact Disk CDR - Compact Disk Recorder CDRW - Compact Disk Re-Writer CD-ROM - Compact Disk - Read Only Memory CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute (ft�/min) CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor CPU - Central Processing Unit CTX - CTX Technology Corporation (Commited to Excellence) --- D --- DDR - Double Data Rate DDR-SDRAM - Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory DFI - DFI Inc. (Design for Innovation) DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory DPI - Dots Per Inch DSL - See ASDL DVD - Digital Versatile Disc DVD-RAM - Digital Versatile Disk - Random Access Memory --- E --- ECC - Error Correction Code ECS - Elitegroup Computer Systems EDO - Extended Data Out EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory EVGA - EVGA Corporation --- F --- FC-PGA - Flip Chip Pin Grid Array FDC - Floppy Disk Controller FDD - Floppy Disk Drive FPS - Frame Per Second FPU - Floating Point Unit FSAA - Full Screen Anti-Aliasing FS - For Sale FSB - Front Side Bus --- G --- GB - Gigabytes GBps - Gigabytes per second or Gigabits per second GDI - Graphical Device Interface GHz - GigaHertz --- H --- HDD - Hard Disk Drive HIS - Hightech Information System Limited HP - Hewlett-Packard Development Company HSF - Heatsink-Fan --- I --- IBM - International Business Machines Corporation IC - Integrated Circuit IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics IFS- Item for Sale IRQ - Interrupt Request ISA - Industry Standard Architecture ISO - International Standards Organization --- J --- JBL - JBL (Jame B. Lansing) Speakers JVC - JVC Company of America - K --- Kbps - Kilobits Per Second KBps - KiloBytes per second --- L --- LG - LG Electronics LAN - Local Are Network LCD - Liquid Crystal Display LDT - Lightning Data Transport LED - Light Emitting Diode --- M --- MAC - Media Access Control MB � MotherBoard or Megabyte MBps - Megabytes Per Second Mbps - Megabits Per Second or Megabits Per Second MHz - MegaHertz MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second MMX - Multi-Media Extensions MSI - Micro Star International --- N --- NAS - Network Attached Storage NAT - Network Address Translation NEC - NEC Corporation NIC - Network Interface Card --- O --- OC - Overclock (Over Clock) OCZ - OCZ Technology OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer --- P --- PC - Personal Computer PCB - Printed Circuit Board PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect PDA - Personal Digital Assistant PCMCIA - Peripheral Component Microchannel Interconnect Architecture PGA - Professional Graphics Array PLD - Programmable Logic Device PM - Private Message / Private Messaging PnP - Plug 'n Play PNY - PNY Technology POST - Power On Self Test PPPoA - Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet PQI - PQI Corporation PSU - Power Supply Unit --- R --- RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks RAM - Random Access Memory RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital Analog Convertor RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory ROM - Read Only Memory RPM - Revolutions Per Minute --- S --- SASID - Self-scanned Amorphous Silicon Integrated Display SCA - SCSI Configured Automatically SCSI - Small Computer System Interface SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory SECC - Single Edge Contact Connector SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module SPARC - Scalable Processor ArChitecture SOHO - Small Office Home Office SRAM - Static Random Access Memory SSE - Streaming SIMD Extensions SVGA - Super Video Graphics Array S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface --- T --- TB - Terabytes TBps - Terabytes per second Tbps - Terabits per second TDK - TDK Electronics TEC - Thermoelectric Cooler TPC - TipidPC TWAIN - Technology Without An Important Name --- U --- UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter USB - Universal Serial Bus UTP - Unshieled Twisted Pair --- V --- VCD - Video CD VPN - Virtual Private Network --- W --- WAN - Wide Area Network WTB - Want to Buy WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get --- X --- XGA - Extended Graphics Array XFX - XFX Graphics, a Division of Pine XMS - Extended Memory Specification XT - Extended Technology