I've got an intermittent fault with my computer and I wondered if you guys could help?.
Sometimes when using the Net, the page that is being viewed, will freeze up and the mouse will not work.
The only way to correct this is to shut down the computer and re-start it.
Is there a fault with my software?.
How can I stop this from happening?.
Has anyone had a similar problem before?.

Try reinstalling the browser, when I've had this problem I think it was related to Java script problems.

Kale,
Thanks for your advice,
This really only happens about once a month, even less, but it's really annoying when it does.
It just catches me when I am about to send a HUGE e-mail to one of my suppliers with about 150 lines of product orders and I normally end up having to re-type the whole thing out again.
GRRRRR!.

Trumpy,

A thought. If there is actually a correlation between lengthy new outgoing email that you've just created and the freeze. . .examine the settings on your email software. There should be an automatic background save of what you are creating to a "draft" location. The interval between automatic saves can be shortened. That way, if you have to reboot, you'll only lose the last little bit, not the entire thing.

If a draft save capability is not available, using File - Save should accomplish the same thing. Just remember to do it often, while preparing that long missive for the supplier. ;D

Trumpy,

There are probably many reasons why the freeze might happen. Prior to MS Explorer 6 I had good luck with re-installing Win98 every now and then to straighten out similar problems.

As far as your Emailing goes, I'd recommend typing your order in MS Word, Excel or something similar and saving it first and then sending it as an attachment.

Bill

I get the same thing from time to time. Windows-based software is ssooo flaky at times that conflicts and crashes are inevitable.

I've found it best to reinstall Windows and my browser software about every 6 months.

Web pages freezing up sounds like a Java problem. Used to have this same problem with Netscape 4.0, but a few patches took care of it.

No E-Mail problem like you mentioned using Netscape of any version (probably because I disable Java scripting in E-mail messages???).

Unsure what happens with IE, but will be learning it soon at work .

The hints from other members are great! Save your work, send out as Word or Excel attachments, or retreive it from the "Drafts" folder or make copy and hold it in the Drafts folder (alternately, make your own temp folder and hold stuff there).

Search the web for upgrades / patches and the problem "may" dissappear...??? ... or new ones might appear!

Good luck!

Scott35

Fella's,
I've got a rather elderly system, here at home that is looking to be repaired.
I didn't personally want to do this job, but I was pressured to, by my partner, so here goes, I hope that your collective knowledge can help me.
I started up the system and it will only run as far as the BIOS screen (hope I've got this term right!)
As soon as the System Configurations List comes up, it shows the following:

• Primary Master Disk: LBA, Mode 4,1280MB.
• Pentium S
• CPU Clock Speed:100MHz
• Display Type:EGA/VGA
• Total Memory:16.3MB.

Believe me, there is a lot more on this list than this, but here is the real problem.
The lady that brought the thing around to me, said her teenage sons had been mucking around with the system and had "tried to make it go faster".
Now at the bottom of the screen in the BIOS location, there is a message of:System disk invalid, replace disk and press any key.
Could this be a fault with the Hard Drive?.
Or what could be causing this to happen?.
I can't even tell you what version of Windows it uses.
But, could you guy's please help, and bear in mind that I will not be getting paid for it, either!.

This could be as simple as a floppy left in the drive. If it's not a "boot disk", meaning it was formatted specifically to be able to start the computer, then you will get the message quoted above.

If there is no floppy issue, then it could be that the hard disk's operating system (DOS, Windows NT, etc.) was corrupted.

One other thing to check is the "boot order" in the BIOS setup (keep track of any changes you make--incorrect changes to BIOS settings can cause even more problems).

For example, if the BIOS is set to first boot at "A" drive (floppy) then "B" drive (floppy) and then "C" drive (hard drive) you can change it so that "C" drive is listed first. Thus, if there's a problem with the floppy drive, the computer won't get bogged down trying to boot from it.

Also, you might want to try a boot disk to just get into a DOS prompt, and try to access C: drive.

I can try to help you along with this, though these things can get messy...

Send an e-mail if you get really stuck

Edit:

Almost forgot--you can try finding one of the keyboards that has this:



[This message has been edited by ThinkGood (edited 07-10-2003).]

As Thinkgood says, the hard drive is probably corrupted (no longer bootable).

Something to try: If you can come up with a win95 or win98 boot disk with fdisk on it (I assume this oldie has win95 or win98), use it to boot up to dos. At prompt type "Fdisk /MBR" (without the quotes) and hit enter. This will rebuild the Master Boot Record. That may be all it takes - all data still there. If that doesn't do the trick you may have to reformat the c: drive and reinstall windows.

This can happen when "trying to make it go faster". The kids may have increased the speed of the Front Side Bus to overclock the processor a bit. Usually there is no harm down - it either works or it doesn't and if it doesn't you just set the FSB speed back to its default setting (50 to 66 Mhz for old pentiums). But, when you increase the front side bus speed, you usually are also increasing the PCI bus speed and the hard drive is controlled via a PCI IDE interface. Some hard drives are not tolerant of an out-of-spec PCI bus and will become corrupted (but not usually damaged).

It could also be that they selected incorrect hard drive parameters. You could look through the bios screens (hold Delete during boot-up) to see if there is a HDD autodetect option.

Ahh, interrupt 80! It's trying to tell you that the BIOS cannot find the 512 byte signature on any disks, which preceeds the operating system's boot tracks (in a basic sense!).

This means:
<OL TYPE=A>

[*]There is a floppy disk in the drive, which does not contain any boot data - either it is blank, or contains some raw data - but not any bootable data,

[*]The BIOS has been reconfigured, and does not have the hard disk drive setup correctly (could be many things causing this),

[*]The hard disk drive has a corrupted boot sector,

[*]The hard disk drive has been formatted,

[*]The hard disk drive's communication cable has been taken loose, or jumpers have been mis configured,
or

[*]Hard disk failure.
</OL>

Try to boot the machine using a floppy disk. Make an "Emergency Startup Disk" from a known working machine, then use it to start up the non booting machine.
If you are successful, it will boot you to a DOS screen, with the command prompt logged to the floppy drive (typically drive A, so it will look like A:\> ).Try to log onto the hard disk drive by typing in the following command:
C:\
then press the enter key. If that works, the command prompt will now show " C:\> ", which means at least DOS sees the drive and can attempt to access directories on it. If DOS cannot access drive C:, it will come up with an error, which means anything from a blank/formatted disk, to a non functioning drive.

If you are successful with logging to a "C Prompt", type in this command:

DIR /P
then press the enter key. This will display the directories on the disk, one "page" at a time. press the spacebar to "roll down" the directory list, until you come to the end of it.

If you can get this far, things aren't too bad, and you can salvage the machine + data without too many hassles
(hopefully??? )

Let us know how things turn out.

Scott35

p.s. Trivia Time!!!

Q: What was the original function of IRQ 80, and what makes that function such an important and key item for a PC type machine?

First 10 callers with the correct answer win a free Oven Mitt!

Scott35

No, it's a dead duck!.
The owner doesn't want to spend any money on it.
I put a boot disk in it, but it wouldn't even recognise that.
Looks like the kiddies have really done it this time.
(The phrase "just wait 'til your father gets home!", oddly springs to mind).
Thanks heaps for your advice on this one guys!.

Computer went back to it's owner today.
Along with the words said under the breath of "You couldn't even fix it".
Didn't worry me, got some more room for the extra TV and VCR that came in earlier on!.

I've just noticed that my computer at start up, once it's on the Windows XP screen and that blue scanning thingy stays on there for about two or three minutes now, it used to only be there for a few seconds before, have I installed something that has seriously slowed down my computer's processing time at start-up.
Or am I just paranoid?.

This is really starting to annoy me, the time taken to move from this screen to the Desktop has panned out to 5 minutes!.
Can someone give me some help w/ respect to this problem?.

I'm not sure what "blue thingy" you're talking about, as I've not used XP, but I've found that once Windows gets that hopelessly bogged down the only realiable way to get everything back to normal is to re-install it.

Get a good book, fill up the coffee pot, and make yourself comfortable. "This may take a few minutes...." as MicroSoft will tell you!

Paul,
Sorry about the ambigious note of my last message, but that was the best way I could explain it.
After the start-up Window and also after the DOS loading, there is a Desktop screen that says "Windows XP Professional"
and there is a scanning thing like the KITT car on Knight Rider, But it takes a hell of a long time to load(sometimes up to 5 minutes).
How can I speed this part of the computer start-up up?.

Trash the whole lot and go over to Unix ??!!

Seriously, I'm afraid I can't help there. Maybe one of our XP gurus has a solution.

Well, I found something on Google Groups (the old http://www.deja.com ) that might help:


To get there, right click on "My Computer" and select Properties.

Click on the Hardware tab.

Click on the Device Manager button.

Click on the plus-sign-in-a-box to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

Right click on Secondary IDE Channel.

Click on the Advanced Settings tab.

If you can change Device Type to "None", change it. If you can not change it, that's because XP is keeping you from disabling something that should not be disabled.

Caveat: Perhaps try printing out this thread so you can go back to change things if need be. I don't know for sure if this will fix the problem, but according to this article it helps.

[This message has been edited by ThinkGood (edited 08-09-2003).]

All of which suggests that Windows might be "hangin up" for a time while it tries to communicate with a device which is not present.

Come to think of it, I've seen a problem with multiple device drivers under Win95/98.

ThinkGood,
I tried that but Iam just as slow during Start-Up.
I suppose it really doesn't really matter, after all I only start the compuer up once in a given email session.