Dirty Harry

OK, this is a detail, but I'd still like to at least understand why: On my home LAN I utilize wake-on-lan. Cool feature and works well, but I cannot wake up another W2K machine that is hibernated. If it is totally powered off, it wakes up just perfectly. If its hibernated nothing happens. Manually it wakes up great from hibernation. Anyone have a solution or explanation ?? Essential system specs on the too well hibernating system: ASUS P2B-F MoBo 3COM Dynalink 3C905C-TX-M Network Card Router: Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL (BEFSR41) Windows 2000 SR-2

Yes, this is possible and also widely used I believe. For my part I've done about what you describe for years, using Drive Image. The habit started with the same thought that you have, but has evolved a bit. As new drivers, software updates and new hardware anyhow come along frequently it makes your original image kinda dusty pretty fast. Besides,you also have to do the same thing for your data... So, I keep all data and the system on the same partition, and take an image about 2 to 4 times a month. These images are saved on another (physical) harddrive. Typically I keep like the three-four most recent ones saved there. Every now and then I save one to external media too, just to be perfectly safe. This way I can easily turn back time whenever I need to (just need to refresh the data part from the most current image). In addition to this I occasionally also install an image of my current system to the other harddrive, and by switching boot sequence in bios I can then boot to a 1:1 copy of my system, and fiddle around there keeping the real system intact. Has saved me lots of work. Try it, you'll love it. H.

Compass is one such utility, haven't tested it under XP though, but its great with W2K. Shareware, you'll find it at http://www.softgauge.com/compass/ Another one is called Linkman, haven't tried that one. H

Anyone know of any multiplayer games that are playable over a LAN and still somewhat suitable for 5 to 10 year old kids ? Quake & the gang are just fine, but perhaps not what you want to give to children. The controls of most rally games are too difficult for kids. Low learning curve and not too violent, with other words. H.

LOL, you made my day... With kids the rule is "so many a55holes, so few bullets..." H.

BOTH! Trackball (Logitech Marble FX) on PS/2 and MS optical Mouse on USB. Thats one great way to avoid decisions... H.

Somebody should invoice this guy for advertising. H.

The WOL works perfectly but **only** if the machine is "shut down" from the start menu. If I "hibernate" it WOL does not work. Not a big deal but I'd prefer to have the machine to hibernate itself after a set period of inactivity and then just wake it up remotely. Now I have to remeber to shut down the PC and have to wait for the whole boot eternity... H.

OK,Ok, I might switch one day when its mainstream but I really hate the idea of having to contact MS if I upgrade a part or two. I've tried several XP releases and they are OK, but there is nothing earthshuttering when upgrading from W2K. The way I see it, when I bought it, its mine and its none of MS business if I put it on another computer, change mouse or whatever. XP is just a first step towards a subscription based (read pay-per-the-minute) software, which I'm not going to like. I've paid for all of MS bug fixes so far (W3.1, W95, W98, W2K) put doubt I'll pay to have MS snooping at my hardware. When I switch it could well be that I switch to the corporate edition laying around Internet the other night... Or maybe Linux, W2K is really working too well already, not enough problems to tinker with. H.

Be happy, live with it and enjoy it. IRQ 11 is great and ACPI even better!! Not that I doubt all the horror stories about SBLive but personally I've never had any problems with it, not on my current MoBo (Abit KG-7-r) nor on my old MoBo (Abit KA7-100). I also run two mice (trackball on PS2, optical on USB), one USB and one LPT printer, a USB Scanner and a SCSI card. I've done numerous reinstalls and W2K has always sorted out the HW by itself. The only thing I do contrary to common recommendations is that I always put all hardware in place before installing W2K. I rarely really boot the system, just hibernate it. BOOM, up and running in three seconds ! Here's how my IRQ's appear. IRQ Number Device 11 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System 11 NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro 11 VIA USB Universal Host Controller 11 VIA USB Universal Host Controller 11 Hauppauge Win/TV 878/9 VFW Video Driver 11 Hauppauge Win/TV 878/9 VFW Audio Driver 11 3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX) 11 Advansys SCSI Host Adapter 11 Creative SB Live! (WDM) 11 HPT370 UDMA/ATA100 RAID Controller 14 Primary IDE Channel 15 Secondary IDE Channel 8 System CMOS/real time clock 13 Numeric data processor 6 Standard floppy disk controller 4 Communications Port (COM1) 3 Built-in Infrared Device 12 Microsoft PS/2 Port Mouse (IntelliPoint) 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

I can't figure out whats happening, but from your last post it seems that everything can work out OK. That means it is likely, but not sure, that your PC is OK. Try to unlearn everything you know about windows and re-learn it again, do things in different ways. Read that book you have carefully. Don't be afraid to ask someone to actually look at what you're doing, its hard to help without seeing what you do. You can copy a program (instead of making a shortcut) by right click'in it and dragingt it to the new location. Keep the right button pressed and drag the install from the CD to the hard drive and when you let go you'll see the option "copy here". H.

It sounds like either your CD rom is defect (try to copy all of a CD to a directory and install from there) or your W2k installation is screwed up. I presume that those seven programs are unrelated and on different CD:s, and that at least some of them are on legitimate, factory made disks. Almost all "normal" NT compatible programs work in W2K, but if you suspect the programs to be the problem, you should test by dowloading some win2000 shareware and installing them from the hard drive (www.tucows.com for example has tons of them). As you say that the box is new, I suggest you take it back to the vendor, and insist they fix it. H.

It sounds like the problem is with the program, it could be that the proggy just refuses to install. Try to install something else to determine wether this is a general problem or a problem with that particular CD / program. Maybe it installs or runs in a DOS box so fast that you don't see it. Try to open a DOS window, go to D:\ and try to run the setup from there. Are you sure that the program hasn't installed, maybe it is there but has not created any icons ? Sorry, I'll be off-line for the next 24 hrs, more or less. H.

"Can't open programs from CD's" - do you mean that nothing (or no program) on any CD or a floppy is accessible? Can you see a setup or an install icon on the CD ? Can you browse the CD ? What if you doubleclick the file C:\winnt\explorer does that start explorer ? Lets say the *.exe file you want to run is called setup.exe (the .exe might be hidden) and its in the root directory of your CD drive which is D:. Then try to use the Run.. on the Start menu, click it and in the dialog box you type D:\setup. What happens? H.

OK, so far everything is as it should be. What program is it you can't install from a CD, and what happens when you try? H.

Ok, maybe I'm outta touch with ready-made computers (always bought 'em as parts) but it strikes me that you have two computers old enough to have only 2 or 3 PCI slots but functioning USB ports. Just to avoid disappointment it might be worthwhile to test that those games are playable on both boxes. H.

If no window pops up when you put the CD in, that "feature" might be disabled /not working. Use the My computer icon to navigate to the CD drive and look for a program called setup or install. Also, many programs require you to be an administrator (a specific user right in W2K that can do more than just a user). Make sure you are (it does boot up to a log-on prompt, doesn't it?). Do you log on as an administrator? Have you used this box for long / installed the W2K yourself? If you for example have a corporate roll-out install of W2K it could be that it only alows you specific rights, and denies you the ability to install anything. H.

Quote: What is an ISA NIC. as opposed to ISA card? Its the same thing, a NIC is a Network Interface Card. Sorry for the confusion, I should have been writing properly. H.

A ISA NIC should be OK, but future proof it's not. A alternative is perhaps to get a cheap (used) ISA soundcard and go with PCI NIC's. On the other hand an ISA NIC won't cost you much, but could be difficult to find. You might also run into driver problems, especially if you ever try to use it on a W2K box. Dunno really, haven't used any ISA cards for years and never a ISA NIC. H.

Well, some of us have this genetical defect that causes sleepless nights if there is something faster out there. To various degrees obviously. Some tinker with vintage cars, some with PC:s... Agreed, a faster video card is propably the best upgrade for a lot of ppl. Anyhow, I'm not saying keep your CPU and upgrade just to get DDR(this thread wasn't really about upgrading at all). But if you need to upgrade the mobo and the CPU, you might as well throw in some DDR and get the added bandwidth. And I hear there are people building a new computer from scratch- why not go for DDR ? I agree with Brians basic principle, my last upgrade was from a Athlon 800 on a Abit KA7-100 to an Athlon 1400@1600 on a Abit KG7 with DDR. And it is twice as fast. Maybe I'll sleep well for a few more weeks, if it wasn't for the fact that I really, really wonder what that Geforce 3 Titanium would benchmark at... H. Lian-Li 60 USB with Enermax EG365P 350W Power supply KG7-Raid MoBo Athlon 1400/266 (cooled by a Swiftech MC462-A) 256 MB Mushkin Hi Perf. 2100 DDR CAS2-2-2-2 (one stick) IBM 45,0 GB (75 GXP -DTLA 307045) 7200 rpm ATA100 IBM 27,3 GB (34 GXP -DPTA 372730) 7200 rpm ATA66 Asus V-7700 AGP (Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS), 32 MB DDR SGRAM Advansys SCSI Controller SCSI Iomega Jaz drive Hauppage Win/TV Theater (model 498) PCI Asus 50x CD-R Ricoh 7040A CD-RW (firmware upgraded to a 7060A) Soundblaster Live! 1024 Cambridge Soundworks speakers 3COM Dynalink 3C905C-TX-M Network Card Philips 21' Monitor 21B582BH HP Laserjet 6L HP Deskjet 970 Cxi Canon D660U Scanner Logitech Trackman Marble FX MS Intellimouse Optical USB MS Natural Keyboard Pro Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL router BEFSR41 Motorola Cable Modem (12/00) Local LAN (three PC's) Windows 2000

Your easiest option might (?) be to shift the PCI cards around, if you have two slots available total. Do you really want to keep all those cards in the primary machine; with a network most devices would be available on both. Networking isn't that ddifficult, and you'll love it once you start. Think about throwing out something to make space for a standard NIC. Just curious, how many slots (on both machines) and what cards are in use ? I'd guess you have at least 8 PCI slots alltogether. H.

I guess its difficult to put a precise figure on it, but on several crediable sites I've seen a figure of 10-15% mentioned. Also, if you look at SiSofts reference benchmarks that seems to be about right. H.

Two guesses... First problem: Dragon Orb, it's not up to a Athlon 1400 Second problem: thermal paste - get some Arctic silver instead. What temps where you getting ? I run a a KG7 with a Athlon 1400(266)@1600 cooled by a Swiftech MC462-A and get CPU temps of around 50 C, case closed. H.

The easiest way is to get a proggy called Remote Administrator, it's available from http://www.famatech.com/. It also gives you the possibility to view and work on the other machines desktop in a window. There are other similar progs available also, I even think I saw one that was freeware, but can't recall the name, sorry. Look around the network utilities in various share/freeware sites. H.

Pricewatch is showing a price difference of 29$ between a 1000 and a 1400 Athlon. Even if its a tad higher where you buy, go for the fastest one, if you have a power supply rated at 300W or above. The Geforce GTS 2 can handle all games out at the moment, upgrading would cost you quite a bit. I'm stuck with that one too, it doesn't feel like making sence to fork out 150 $ for the Geforce 3 right now. Maybe tomorrow. H. Main System: Lian-Li PC 60 USB /Enermax EG365P 350W Power supply KG7-Raid MoBo Athlon 1400@1600, cooled by a Swiftech MC462-A) 256 MB Mushkin Hi Perf. 2100 DDR CAS2-2-2-2 (one stick) IBM 45,0 GB (75 GXP -DTLA 307045) 7200 rpm ATA100 IBM 27,3 GB (34 GXP -DPTA 372730) 7200 rpm ATA66 Asus V-7700 AGP (Geforce 2 GTS), 32 MB DDR SGRAM Advansys SCSI Controller Iomega Jaz drive for Backups Hauppage Win/TV Theater (model 498) PCI Asus 50x CD-R Ricoh 7040A CD-RW (firmware upgraded to a 7060A) Soundblaster Live! 1024 Cambridge Soundworks speakers 3COM Dynalink 3C905C-TX-M Network Card Philips 21' Monitor 21B582BH HP Laserjet 6L HP Deskjet 970 Cxi Canon D660U Scanner Logitech Trackman Marble FX MS Intellimouse Optical USB MS Natural Keyboard Pro Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL router BEFSR41 Motorola Cable Modem Running Windows 2000, Local LAN (three PC's)