Think the problem was with the CD, took it to my friend’s desktop and same thing happened to him.
Could be the CD. My Macbook Pro won’t recognize generic CDs like Windata, but it’ll read Verbatims just fine.
can i get links or the program names?
i tried CHKDSK /R on it, it completed and it still BSODs.
i appreciate it.
Speaking of Macbook Pros, I’ve noticed a good number of kids in my building have some here. What makes them such a popular buy?
I’ve seen HPs and they have a pretty flashy design, but as for using one I didn’t think it was anything great.
Macs as a whole are pretty popular right now. If you want a Mac and you want a laptop, then the Macbook Pro is the way to go, as the regular Macbook pales in comparison.
Is there a way to change the product key registered to your copy of windows? I have a current install of XP PRO on my home PC that uses a volume license product key which won’t let me upgrade to SP2. I have access to a regular product key, and would rather not have to re install.
There’s a lot of ways to change your PID key. Through various Registry hacks, and there’s also an automated process that does it for you. Been a while since I’ve needed to on my machines (we have a legit volume license at my work), but this article might help.
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5034890.html
Said my product key was invalid (which is isn’t, however it may be for some insignificantly different version), so am just reformatting :sad:
They’re definitely trendier now than they’ve ever been. I’ve been using Macs (I’m a designer) and PCs (gaming) my whole life, but I don’t have a strong preference one way or the other. I got a Pro so I could have OSX and Windows on the same computer.
Regarding everyday use, the lack of viruses is a big plus. The lack of games isn’t. But you know what they say, Macs just work.
This is going to evolve into a Mac vs. Windows debate, I can feel it.
Fun little problem that I can’t seem to get around.
My poor little Dell PC recently had some of it’s drivers crash somehow, resulting in my monitor constantly flashing like I was turning it on and off and eventually BSOD’ing me with problems with my NSVL_disc. So, I hopped into safemode, deleted said drivers, and redownload / installed them entirely, but now, since doing that, I no longer have the blinking and BSOD, but my device manager tells me under ‘Display Adapters’ that my ‘Video Controller (VGA compatible)’ is missing, and thus I can’t run any games on the computer without it immediately crashing. Internet and movies and such play fine, but any game causes an immediate crash.
I’ve tried to research various ‘Video Controller (VGA compatible)’ solutions on the net, but they basically give me downloads to update the driver that results in the driver saying said download is uncompatible with my driver when I attempt to install it.
As it stands, I can system restore to before I wiped everything and play games, but I just can’t internet surf, and I can restore back to my current settings and surf, but due to the Video controller, I can’t play any games.
Any ideas?:shake:
That means that you don’t have a video card installed. You have the generic/default display adapter installed.
See if Dell has an uninstall program to completely uninstall the old video drivers, if not, look up the GPU manufacturer’s site and see if they do, or if not that, instructions for completely uninstalling them. Uninstall them and install new ones.
If you want you system to run decently, you’re going to need the drivers specifically designed for your video card, not just random ones that turn up when searching for a generic phrase like the one you posted. If you don’t know your video card, you are in luck because someone else here was just having monitor problems and Shoo posted how you can find the model you have. After you find out what video card you have, if you still have problems finding the right driver, just post your video card model here and I’m sure we’ll be able to help you out. :tup:
Yeah, that’s the thing, following said method to check my driver just shows a yellow ‘!’ and ‘Video Card (VGA Compatible)’ under my Display Adapters tab. The video card I have in there is a Mad Dog Multimedia Predator MX 4000 Plus.
I got a new laptop a few months ago. The thing comes bundled with Vista (in frenchewwwwwwwwwwww) so I’m desperately trying to remove it to install XP. How exactly would I go about doing that?
Has trying to re-install the driver done anything? If you haven’t tried that yet, here is the page with the drivers from the manufacturer, so specifically you would want to download this one.
When it comes to operating systems, you don’t really need to do anything special to remove it. There really isn’t an uninstall option for them or anything like that. Assuming you know how to boot from a CD and start the installation process for XP, when XP asks where you want to install it, just select to format your entire HDD. That will, for the purpose of running another operating system, do away with Vista and allow you to install XP instead. If you don’t know how to boot from a CD and start the XP installation, just post back.
I know how but I’d rather you tell me …just to make sure…:looney:
It’s not too bad. First you have to set your machine to be able to boot from a CD, rather than just checking the HDD first. There are a couple of ways you can do it. One is to access the BIOS menu and change the order of places that it checks. During your BIOS screen (the screen that should appear BEFORE the Windows Vista loading screen… it will usually feature the name of your computer’s manufacturer) press the Delete key. For most BIOS chips, that will take you to the BIOS menu. From there, you should see some option for boot order. Just set your CD or DVD drive to be first.
If you don’t want to mess around with that, some BIOS chips also allow you to manually tell them where to boot. For example, on my machine I can press F12 at the BIOS screen and it will take me to a menu where I can select to have it immediately boot from my DVD drive for just that one time. Either way works, although the keys you need to enter them may depend on the specifics from your BIOS.
So once you figure out which of those methods works for you, put your XP CD into the drive, reboot, the machine, and load from the CD or DVD drive. XP should take a few minutes to load up some things before finally starting the installation. Where to install the system should be a fairly early choice, and you’ll see a box that has the current partitions of your HDD shown. The biggest NTFS partition you see should be for Vista. Following the menus, you should be able to delete that partion (it will tell you what to press on the keyboard to do that; it’s been awhile since I installed XP so I don’t remember exactly), format the unallocated space (when it takes you BACK to the screen with the box that has your partitions shown, there should now be a big block of your HDD that is empty since you deleted the Vista partition), and then install XP over top of that (select that empty block as where you want to install XP).
There may also be an option to just format the entire drive, but many OEMs have begun the practice of just making a “Recovery Partition” on the HDD instead of sending users a restore disk. In that case, you probably want to leave that partition intact just to be on the safe side. If you are confident that you will never want to use Vista under any circumstances, though, then you can probably go ahead and nuke it.
i just got a new laptop as gift from my parents. it’s a sony vaio with vista os. i’m having trouble connecting to my wireless internet. i’m able to connect to my neighbor’s unsecured line but when i try to connect to mine it tells me “taking longer than usual to connect.” anyone wanna help out a vista noob and tell me what’s wrong? thanks.
does anybody have any recommendations for a brand of DVD-R drive??
the one I have now, which is Pioneer, does not work very well.
it still burns DVD like a charm, but it cannot burn CD very well!!
I like to make a lot of audio cds to listen to during commute, but lately I have had much new shyt to listen to.
at first I jus had to burn at like 10x or 4x speed, but now even if the burn is successful the CD sounds all scratchy and skips a lot, so it’s no good!!
Might not be a problem with your burner… Could be the software, CD-R brand, disc player, etc.
Random example: I remember a friend of mine having a problem with his audio CD-Rs skipping when he tried using a Nero with a broken MP3pro plug-in. He tried a different software and the problem disappeared.
Real good burners are cheap these days (<$45) but I’d still test everything before you (potentially) waste your money.
Also, the software you’re using to burn CDs should have some kind of check to verify the data after the burn is complete, so try using that if you haven’t already.