asparian

Or even "Strong motors" :<

Go to http://mbm.livewiredev.com and try the freeware Motherboard monitor. It will tell you if you have voltage problems. Note that it is fine to have even a (thoretical) 1000w power supply, but if everything is on one cable you will get voltage problems and hence lock ups. Make sure the power is evenly distributed between devices. If this means going to MAPLINS and buying some cable extenders then so be it. If you have devices with string motors, such as tape drives, then you will need at least a 450w supply for a modern machine. ( ( - My day in smilies.

PCMCIA is too slow for the most recent graphics performance. But one was made. I saw it again recently in Akihabara in Japan. It was in a bargin bin - But it did come with a DSTN 4 inch screen. I bought the screen and ditched the card. I am thinking of rigging it up at the front of my PC with a Trio32 graphics card (no 3d no problems) for the ultimate Status Screen

Due to the more rigorous application of IRQ settings that is a forerunner of IRQs being scrapped once-and-for-all, many 3D PCI graphics cards just don't work under XP/NT/2000. Even if you have drivers for XP, dump the card. I finally ditched my Savage4, and I feel much better for it; the PC is now fully stable! Also, don't think of keeping both PCI and AGP graphics cards in the same machine if you are running XP. Even if you don't use the PCI card at all, it will still screw up. ---------------------------------------- Am I the only man who thinks the only good soundcard CLabs ever made was the SBAwe32 pro (16Mb memory - HUGH FULL SIZED PRO CARD! Not the little pretended to the title) SBLive = dead PC

Have you tried running as a normal (limited) user and not a Admin. Admins run extra tools and you could have triggered one. Not all processes show up in Task Man! MSDN explains how to write and detect hidden sys level tasks if you are interested. Be aware that IRQs are not used in the same way they were when DOS compatibility was important. Just because three devices share the same IRQ does not mean the individual devices run any slower. Of course if you are trying to run DOS or old Win95 games under XP/NT/2000 then IRQ settings are important. If this is so, make a Bootable DOS partition just for them! The changes to IRQ usage are a fore-runner to 1960s IRQ design being scrapped - I will break out the champagne that day!

Just installed the Ref 30.30 drivers with XP Pro (all updates in place) and overclocked the GF4-420 to 315MHz (added a fan to the GPU). Everything still works wonderfully, plus the 30.30 drivers add even more speed than the 29.xx series did. As to the OEM v REF thing. Nobody seems to add their own stuff to the cards. Use Ref drivers first, any problems look at the OEM drivers. - Note: all creative nVidia based products just have rebadged drivers.

Got my GF4420 to above 460 specs (UK names for GF4 stuff I think) The following is stable with Riva Tuner and adding a GOOD fan to the GPU GPU Clock (250MHz - > 315MHz) MEM Clock (166MHz - > 185MHz) (MDLL 333Mhz -> MDLL 370Mhz) I can't really push the memory any higher, but I have a cooling system that was used in an IBM4381 mainframe that cools to -10C. Yep that is minus. Goin' to OverClock the world and see if this baby helps. It has small plastic packs that look like the "GelPacks" in StarTrek Voyager. Maybe I should patent my use of them!

Just because a game works under ME does not mean it will work with XP. ME is a huge hack that allows bad programmers to get away with crappy code. XP still feels a bit hacky when you code for it, but poor programming is punished heavily! -------------------------------------- If I am condemed to a life controlled by numbers, let it have : The simplicity of zero, The sturdiness of one, The complexity of Pi, The wonder of infinity, and the beauty of the Golden Ratio Anton Clarke - 9/11/2001

"If batteries are your concern, check out this one that gets charged via USB adapter:" Still has rechargables in it. A Battery is a Battery is a poisoned fish is my lunch; So to speak.

The design of the case may be at fault for serious heat problems. If you find that the processor runs cooler with the covers off then it means you have dead airspace that is not being extracted. Usually this is at the top of the case. My 1.2GHz Duron ran at 57C (Ambient 27C), cut out a hole in the space on the right hand side of the case (removeable cover) and fitted a 8000RPM 65mm fan. The MBM now reports only 47C (Ambient 29C). 10degrees difference without liquid cooling in a bloody hot room. Oh - And before anyone tells me that the case design is part of the cooling system (directed flow). I know this, that is why I put the comment at the top about "If...the covers off." Most case design below $200 is pretty terrible for cooling matters.

I once had a call from an angry salesman telling me how he could not do his presentation because I had given him a bad monitor. After asking him to turn the brightness up, which solved the problem, he still didn't say "thankyou." Anyway the reason I started this way is because I have seen this XP Dual CD problem before it has always been down to one thing; although all the ideas above are good I think it may be time to turn the brightness up. Make sure that if you are using a standard IDE cable that one of the drives is set to master and the other to slave. In addition some DMA capable drives don't like being run in PIO modes, so if DMA is possible then TURN IT ON. I have had some users say that CDR/RW drivers only work in PIO mode. This is so much BULL PUCKY, the usual reason is a bad ASPI layer. Anyway I digress. The main fault with CD-ROM drives not being recognised is down to the more frequent availability of CS cables, something I fully condone. If your IDE cable has more than one colour of connector (BLUE one for the board, BLACK one for one drive and GREY for the other) then you must set up your drives using one of the following options. EITHER: Switch both drives to CS. The one connected to the black connector will have the lowest drive letter. OR: Set the drive connected to the BLACK connector to MASTER and the GREY connector one to SLAVE. If you have this the other way around then drives vanish randomly. This is true for HDD too. So far I have solved over 95% of this type of fault this way, the other 5ish% was due to normal drive failure. I do wish they would document this in the M/B manuals. Anyway, that's my 2cents worth. Happy burning. Oh BTW, SCSI does not suffer this way. As consumers we should protest about IDE and give up on it. The idea that SCSI is more expensive is only put about by greedy hardware vendors. Each IDE-SCSI controller (yes I can run IDE drives as scsi devices!) I build costs about 15quid (20 dollars). I am sure big manufacturers could get this down to 1 dollar. Or just start with SCSI and it costs nothing!