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Inspiron laptop LCD Dead?

Hi, I have an Dell Inspiron 8500. One day, the bottom of the LCD starting flickering and lines starting appearing. Three hours later, the screen turns into this: http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~frances/laptop/index.html There's some faint images on certain screens, but for the most part...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Jul 27, 2005
- Replies: 1
- Forum: Laptops
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WD hard drive powers off and on by itself while computer is on

I have a 40GB Western Digital 7200rpm 2mb cache hard drive. Its is about 3 months old. This drive was a RMA replacement drive from WD. However, recently, its been acting strange. When I use it for long periods of time, the drive powers off and back on by itself. For example, if I'm playing...
- bruincal
- Thread
- May 31, 2003
- Replies: 5
- Forum: Computer Building
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What's a good mouse for people with big hands??

I have really big hands (measuring 8.25 inches from base of palm to tip of middle finger), and I've been using the usual IntelliMouse / Logitech Optical mice. However, because the mice are too small for me, I have to scrunch up my fingers. The result has been a constant pain and aching in my...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Apr 15, 2003
- Replies: 8
- Forum: Mice
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Hard drive shutdown issues in Windows XP Pro

oh yeah, I have my 40GB configured as Master and 100GB configured as Slave. Windows XP sits on the 40GB and the page file sits on the 100GB. Thanks! =)
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Apr 10, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Hard drive shutdown issues in Windows XP Pro

I am using Windows XP Pro (SP1 and all patches and all drivers updated) and I replaced my faulty 40GB Western Digital hard drive with another 40GB Western Digital drive. The drive is identical in all specs, but of course, manufactered on an earlier date. I never had any shutdown problems with...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Apr 10, 2003
- Replies: 1
- Forum: Computer Building
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Occasionally HD isn't recognized on cold boot

Sometimes failing drives will exhibit those problems. Have you tried using PowerMax from www.maxtor.com ? It creates a bootable floppy with diagnostic utlities. It will also read the SMART feature on the drive and tell you if the drive is failing and if everything is working properly. It can...
- bruincal
- Post #4
- Apr 2, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Need advice on good backup software for hard drive

Oh yeah, I forgot - my system specs and OS: Windows XP Professional, SP1 and all patches Pentium 4 2.0 GHz Intel 850MV motherboard 256 MB RDRAM 40 GB HDD 100 GB HDD DVD/CDRW USB2.0/FireWire Thanks!
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Apr 2, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Need advice on good backup software for hard drive

Hi, I need to backup my 40GB drive. Its filled to capacity, totalling about 37GB of data on a single bootable NTFS partition. I need to back it up onto a USB2.0 hard drive that is formatted FAT32. The thing is, I will not be using this backup to restore the image later. I will only be...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Apr 2, 2003
- Replies: 2
- Forum: Computer Building
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PC doesn't recognize my new slave hdd!!

Oh whoops, sorry about that ... I read your post a little too fast =P Did you deleting all partitions in PartitionMagic, and then recreating a new primary partition that spans the entire drive?
- bruincal
- Post #4
- Mar 27, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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PC doesn't recognize my new slave hdd!!

for security reasons, new hard drives do not automatically show up in windows xp. you have to go to Control Panel, Adminitrative Tools, Computer Management, choose Disk Management on the left pane, right click the drive, and choose something like Make Partition Active .. or something like that ...
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Mar 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Western Digital Hard Drives extremely loud

I took the drive out, plugged it into a spare power supply and turned it on. ... Then I got my MD recorder and placed the mic near the drive as it was running by itself. This is what it sounds like: http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~bruincal/wddrive.mp3 (its a 400KB mp3 file)
- bruincal
- Post #6
- Mar 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Western Digital Hard Drives extremely loud

Thanks for the reply! My computer is a Gateway 700X, and the mounting brackets are those ones that slide the drive in ... no screws at all. They produce noise all the time ... its a whiny, high-pitched noise. I think it may be the 40GB drive only ... When I turn my computer on, I can hear the...
- bruincal
- Post #4
- Mar 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Cannot write to CD-RW

Or your CD writer may have failed and not be able to burn CDRW's anymore ... that's one of the many possibilities ... This happened to one of my older CD-Writers. It can burn CD-R's fine, but fails to recognize or burn CD-RW's (I tried the drive in another computer, and same thing).
- bruincal
- Post #6
- Mar 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Western Digital Hard Drives extremely loud

I bought two hard drives for my computer about a year ago. One was a 40 GB, 2MB cache, 7200rpm Western Digital and the other was a 100 GB, 2MB cache, 7200 rpm Western Digital. For the past few months, they have been getting extremely loud. When I first installed them, I noticed how quiet they...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Mar 26, 2003
- Replies: 8
- Forum: Computer Building
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computer posts, then power shuts off???

yup, bolomite has a good question .. you might be exceeding the maximum power output by your power supply
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Mar 7, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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USB SuperDisk Drive problems

I have a 120MB Imation USB SuperDisk drive, and recently its been giving me problems. When I try to format a 1.44MB diskette, it gets to about 7/8 done, and then it chokes on the disk. It just keeps trying to write but eventually fails. Also, if I fill up a disk near that point, I also get...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Mar 7, 2003
- Replies: 1
- Forum: Computer Building
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CDRW light flickers every one or two seconds

You didn't say what version of Windows you're using, but the reason that it blinks is because of Auto Insert Notification in Windows. Basically Windows keeps checking the drive every second or so to check if there is a CD in there. When you put a CD in there, Windows knows that there is a CD...
- bruincal
- Post #4
- Feb 27, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Data corruption on USB transfers to Hard Drive

bump! =)
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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IBM 120GB Deskstar noise.. Used to be a very quiet drive; now it is noisy. What do I do?

I am having a noise problem too with my 100GB Western Digital 2mb cache drive. I bought it about a year ago, and when I first installed it, it was so quiet, I didn't even know that it was on. However, now it's so loud, just like you said, like a muffled rotary saw. It has that sound of a high...
- bruincal
- Post #5
- Feb 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Data corruption on USB transfers to Hard Drive

Oh yeah, I am also using a 10 feet 'high-quality' Belkin Pro USB cable. thanks =]
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Feb 26, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Data corruption on USB transfers to Hard Drive

I have a USB hard drive, and I regularly use it on my P4 system with the integrated USB on the Intel 850 MV motherboard. I use it as a backup storage drive, so the data integrity is very important. I use a CRC/MD5 verifier to check that the data has been stored correctly. The data is written...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 26, 2003
- Replies: 4
- Forum: Computer Building
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M920LR IDE problems

I think PCChips makes the motherboard ... they typically have the naming of their mobo's as M---LR or M---LMR, where the "---" indicate a 3 digit number. Are you sure you plugged the cables in correctly (and not reversed) when you put your system back together? Also, you should go into the...
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 24, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Fixed!! : Motherboard problems

I fixed it!!! I decided to give it one last attempt to fix it .. and if it didn't work, the computer was going to the garage for some long term storage ... I took the CMOS battery out, and let it discharge for about 5 minutes ... I put the battery back in, re-entered all the BIOS settings, and...
- bruincal
- Post #5
- Feb 24, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Fixed!! : Motherboard problems

Before formatting, I ran a thorough ScanDisk check and also I ran Disk Doctor in Norton SystemWorks 2002. From the advice of someone here, I also downloaded MaxBlast from Maxtor's site (the drive is a 4GB Maxtor) and ran the long test. According to MaxBlast, the drive is Certified Error...
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 22, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Fixed!! : Motherboard problems

Hi, I have an old PCChips 598LMR motherboard, with the integrated video, sound, and modem. The processor is an AMD K6-2 at 500MHz. Recently, it crashed a lot in Windows 98 and it froze on shutdown, so I formatted and tried to install Win98 again. The installation crashes at the end and comes...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 21, 2003
- Replies: 4
- Forum: Computer Building
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Why are some songs missing when I burn an audio cd?

One of my roommates tried to burn an audio disc with an older version of Nero 5. It did the MP3 checking, but after it was burned, the track on the CD was silent. The MP3 played fine in Winamp though. I guess the solution for MP3's that aren't encoded right is to use DiskWriter like one of...
- bruincal
- Post #7
- Feb 19, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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high pitched noise

Try putting all the PCI cards in a different slot! =) I had a high-pitched noise problem with my new Gateway system. Gateway tech couldn't figure it out. I also posted here and everyone told me the usual 'check your cpu temps', 'check hard drives' ,etc. However, I did some research online...
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 18, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Laptop hard drive capacities wrong

Thanks, I already know about how bits are counted towards the total. However, I was asking if anyone knew why I have 14mb already used up right after a format. Also, why my friend's hard drive has 4GB's used up right after a format and only 11GB usable.
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 13, 2003
- Forum: Laptops
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Laptop hard drive capacities wrong

I have a 15GB Toshiba laptop hard drive. When I formatted it and checked the capacity in PartitionMagic 7, it states that 14MB were already used up. But I had just formatted it in PartitionMagic, so that's impossible. Are those 14MB of bad sectors? When I select Info in PartitionMagic, it...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 13, 2003
- Replies: 3
- Forum: Laptops
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Recover data destroyed by Opaserv network worm?

One of my clients has an old Toshiba laptop with a 6GB drive running Windows 98. One day, he turned on his computer and it said "Your version of Windows is illegal. You are in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. .." etc. Of course, there is no such thing in Windows, so I...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 13, 2003
- Replies: 3
- Forum: Computer Building
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I can not open winxp encrypted file on my computer please help

There is no hack program, nor can any repair shop do it for you without the key. The original intent of the encrypted file system was to prevent unauthorized reading of data. The encryption is practically impossible to break. It would take a supercomputer running for thousands of years before...
- bruincal
- Post #8
- Feb 11, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Computer freezing up a lot / unable to shutdown / dying?

I tested my memory, and sometimes there are errors and sometimes there aren't. However, one thing is for sure. I cannot install Win98 without getting a Fatal Execution Error at 0000:00000000. I have two memory modules, a 32mb and a 128mb, both SDRAM. With both in there, just the 32MB, or...
- bruincal
- Post #8
- Feb 10, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Computer freezing up a lot / unable to shutdown / dying?

Thanks, I'll give MemTest86 a try. I was running the DocMemory software overnight, and then all of a sudden after about 5 hours, the computer starting making a loud grinding noise, like one of the fans was dying. I looked at the monitor and noticed that the DocMemory software had detected a...
- bruincal
- Post #7
- Feb 10, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Computer freezing up a lot / unable to shutdown / dying?

Hmm... there's actually no thermal compound ... someone's been using this computer for the past 2 years without any serious problems like I'm having now, so I assumed that it didn't need the thermal compound. When I took the heatsink off, however, there was a square plastic-type material...
- bruincal
- Post #5
- Feb 10, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Computer freezing up a lot / unable to shutdown / dying?

Thanks, I'll give it a try ... I thought dust might have been building up, so I opened up the case and checked it out a couple days back. Surprisingly, there was very little dust. However, I still removed the heat sink, check it out, and vacuumed any of the dust out. thanks!
- bruincal
- Post #3
- Feb 10, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Computer freezing up a lot / unable to shutdown / dying?

Hi, One of my other computers is an old AMD K6-2 at 475MHz. The motherboard is a PCChips M598LMR with 160 MB of PC100 SDRAM, a 4GB Maxtor hard drive,and some other misc stuff. Just recently, I formatted the entire disk and reinstalled Windows 98SE on it. I updated all the drivers...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 10, 2003
- Replies: 7
- Forum: Computer Building
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UltraDMA not showing up for hard drives in Windows 2000

SOLVED! -> I did some looking around and went to Microsoft's support site. All you have to do is: If the option is currently set to DMA Mode if Available but the status is PIO Mode Only, to switch to Ultra DMA mode, just toggle the settings: 1) Change DMA Mode if Available to PIO Mode Only...
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Feb 9, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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Hard freeze when mouse pointer at lower right

Maybe some part of Windows is corrupted so that it crashes whenever it tries to run the code for the scrollbar. Have you tried running System File Checker to make sure that all your system files are not corrupted? Click Start, Run, and type "sfc" in the prompt. The scanner will scan your...
- bruincal
- Post #2
- Feb 8, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building
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UltraDMA not showing up for hard drives in Windows 2000

I've seen this problem before in here many times, but for some reason, I couldn't find it in any of the searches ... I'm using a PCChips M598LMR Super 7 mobo (pretty old and slow) with an AMD K6-2 at 475MHz. The mobo chipset is the SiS 530 (which I should mention is also pretty ghetto)...
- bruincal
- Thread
- Feb 8, 2003
- Replies: 1
- Forum: Computer Building
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Trouble reading burned cd's.

What kind of CD-R's are you using? Low quality CD-R's have problems in a lot of drives. I personally recommend Taiyo Yuden CD-R's. They're sold under Fujifilm, and also sometimes Sony. If the CD-R's say Made in Japan, then they're likely Taiyo Yuden. I've burned a lot of these Taiyo Yuden...
- bruincal
- Post #5
- Jan 31, 2003
- Forum: Computer Building

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