jmmijo

Could be a bad firewire port on either your motherboard and/or the enclosure. I would get myself a combo USB2/Firewire port card and try that. This will at least tell you if the ports on the motherboard are indeed bad.

Could the data cable be bad, the one that connects the internal bridge-board to the drive ?!? Usuually these are tested from the factory so this seems unlikely. Another thing to check is the MASter/SLAve jumper block. Some of these external enclosure's require that you use the CS or Cable Select position rather then say the MASter/SLAve position. Also, I take it that this external enclosure has USB and/or Firewire. So is this cable good that connects to the enclosure and the computer ?!? Also, if you're using the USB port, have you tried connecting it to another USB port on your computer, both rear and front panel ports ?!?

Well two things that maybe causing this issue: 1) You're creating a data disc and leaving the session opened. This will mean that further writing to this particular disc is still possible with the drive you created it on. Double check that this option/check box is disabled so that the disc get's properly closed and then should be able to be read on any other system that has at least a DVD reader in it 2) There maybe an issue with Roxio Media Manager. I personally don't use nor like this app. I prefer to use Nero 6.xx but again, if this app is working properly then possibility one is the only reason I can think of for this problem.

Originally posted by american zombie: Quote: Don't want to jump to any conclusions but this can also happen if the person has a pirated copy. Hmm, interesting

I can't contribute as I don't play the game at all, I have no inclination to purchase any of the SIMS franchise games. I do however like there Sim City series, that was quite fun I have two fond memories of playing the original "TAMIGUCHI" type of games and they were Little Computer People and Alter Ego both published by Activision for the C64. These were interesting simulation to play

Have a happy new year everybody I'm afraid however there will always be a Sims xxx from now until infinity

Sounds good to me

So just when will the next flood for help start ?!?

I like this idea, I've not really noticed any issues on any of the boards I'm on, I think because there is a size limitation on Avatars

Originally posted by Wicked101: Quote: ..............Dosfreak, HUH? and I always thought you were innocent :) lol Being ex-Military myself, I know better

Originally posted by thatsteveguy: Quote: I knew someone would beat me to a Sims 2 joke on this.... S Yeppers

Glad to hear things are going good for you now down in the Silver State, man I hadn't heard the name Pahrump for awhile now. Reminds me of my visits to Winnemuca if you know what I mean

Originally posted by Wicked101: Quote: ............Oh yes, you forgot SIMS 2 :):) Regards Wicked and the ubiqutous DirectX 9.xx install issues that go with it

I think this is a good start

The other thing you should do is to make sure you have the latest VIA 4-in-1 service pack installed. This is the motherboard chipset software. Also, make sure the motherboard firmware is up to date, check the manufacturers website for this info.

I think you do hit upon something there APK, I think that many large OEM's, you know, Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway and what used to be IBM should think about not selling newbies a pig in a poke so to speak When configuring a new system using only the on-board graphics and then of course what is the very first thing Jane/Joe Newb does, well purchase The Sims 2/KOTOR/Far Cry/HL2/Doom 3 etc... and wonders why they are having so many problems The only real good thing that onboard graphics are good for is business users, perhaps even in schools as long as the edu software doesn't require a decent graphics card to operate properly. I mean why not include an nVidia 5200 or an ATi 9200 as the minimum graphics card in these boxes for home users ?!? Cost, although it's not much more to add one of these cards anymore and besides the home user will need it for just the above reason I mentioned. The company I work for, a system builder, has a really cheap $299 AMD Semprom box. Nothing fancy, a cheap as Jetway motherboard using onboard graphics, the 2400+ and 256MB of ram. However it does come with an AGP slot for upgrades and of course the sales staff tells the client you need to add a card if any gaming is to be considered So how many have come back asking for this upgrade after wards, about half, due to this very thing... The others I guess could live with it or are business clients that don't really need it.

First, get the latest 4-in-1 service pack from Via Arena and install that. Restart afterwards. Second, get the latest C-Media audio drivers. Install them and reboot afterwards. I would also recommend that you d/l DirectX 9.0c from Microsoft's website and install this package as well. You have not mentioned wether or not you have the latest BIOS update for that motherboard either. Make sure you have the latest firmware from ASUS installed too Also, since you have a third-party PCI sound card, be sure it's removed for testing purposes, also any other PCI card too should be removed for testing, this includes Modems/NIC's etc... Since this board has a Promise ATA RAID controller onboard, are you using this in RAID mode or just the onboard ATA controller ?!? I recommend disabling this for testing just to make sure

Another thing I've noticed is how an "Untitled Thread" is somehow related to only other "Untitled Threads", hmm, just how can this be

Originally posted by dosfreak: Quote: Closed/Deleted the advert threads. Thanks for taking care of this dosfreak Originally posted by dosfreak: Quote: As for The Sims 2 threads I've got an easy out. Redirect them to Sims 2 forums. If someone can find the official Maxis forums that would be great. NTCompatible is not Maxis and with such an overload of people, and with such simple questions Maxis should be handling the load. Here's one Sims site I found: http://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/forum.asp?forumID=112 Or at least paying Philip for the time and effort spent answering these questions

I know what you mean there, pmistry I noticed there's a freaking spam ad by versoft in three different threads about webcams, bah humbug

Sure thing, that would be nice thanks

The two graphics cards you just listed are exactly the same. The MX4000 is the direct replacement for the MX 440, just a cheaper part to manufacture now... As for performance, I can't see any difference between them either. I would recommend the FX 5200/5600 instead or the ATi 9200/9600 graphics cards. All of these come in either 64MB or 128MB versions, I recommend the 128MB version. You'll be glad you spent a little extra for the added 3D hardware support and performance.

Well actually you can't rule out the *new* floppy drive as being bad, I've built many machines with new floppy drives that have been bad from the factory However, you may also be having an issue with the onboard FDC. When you disable it of course the issue goes away but enable the FDC once again and the problem comes back. SO let's assume the floppy drive is good but if the FDC is bad then this problem will still occur. The only way to check this out is to connect this *new* floppy drive to another machine and see if it functions or replace your current motherboard with another one and see if the onboard FDC is at fault. Sorry this is not an easy thing to troubleshoot but I'm giving you info from a system builder and of course the company I work for has lot's of stock to test things out with

Originally posted by crzylgs15: Quote: I am having the same problem with a 915G Combo motherboard. I can't find the boot floppy.exe you referred to on the Intel site. Can you help me out? Thanks. Well it's most likely going to be THIS ONE! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see the Floppy Boot Disk Installer app to download...

So I'm guessing you have to do a floppy boot and manually copy the shell32.dll file or is this an auto-installer type thing ?!?