Dirty Harry

You could try copying the install directory to the HD and install from there, in case the CD drive is the problem. Are you doing the install with or without the VIA 4 in 1 drivers ? H.

I've always believed that the hiberfil.sys is unmovable, but would very much like to move it too. Not too sure about the details but I belive that it is the the BIOS (when posting) that checks for something in the the hiberfil.sys and that is what limits its mobility. This is also why hibernation requires a ACPI compliant system (Hardware and OS). H.

Quote: I can also confirm that the decoding is done in software and so you can play both NTSL and PAL DVDs on any drive (providing its unlocked). Uummm... maybe a little bit misleading... As long as you watch the movie on your PC monitor there is no PAL or NTSC standard around to worry about. If you want to connect your PC with DVD-player to a TV set to watch a movie, well then it is the TV-out signal from your videocard that determines which country standard the signal is. For example: a videocard bought in the US will work fine in Europe, but there is no way to get it to work with a European TV set. H.

Quote: Hopefully, then, they will also add a faster spindle speed. Don't know who "they" are, but the folks tinkering with serial ATA are not making hardrives, only an interface that may enable for example the makers of hardrives to make drives that push out data that fast. De-bottlenecking it's called, and its not only for harddrives. SCSI drives aren't really that much faster either if you only look to the sustained transfer measurement. Correct me if I'm wrong but the fastest ones currently offer sustained speeds of around 60MB/sec. And you pay a huge premium (say maybe 300-500$) for the controller, the cable and a tiny little 18GB hardrive. So, after all, I'm pretty happy that someone is doing something. H.

...and the next generation of markers will only work when connected to your mobile phone so they can call home and check if you are authorized to own one. H.

Fairytale or not ? Well, if you believe that the goals for serial ATA are fantasies, then its a fairytale. However, there is no reason to believe that IMO. It is however important to understand that serial ATA is an interface, not a new harddrive. Serial ATA is supposed to be introduced with a speed capapility of 150 MB/sec and evolve to 600 MB/sec speeds. Now we are talking the interface - when harddrives capable of these (sustained) speeds hit the shops is another matter. And yes, it is "anticipated that there will be adapters to facilitate forward- and backward-compatibility of hard disks on PC systems". Anyone who looks for more info on the matter - go HERE where this info comes from. H.

Why did you turn it off ? By default XP installs with ACPI if enabled. Thus a reinstall would be one with ACPI if your hardware is compliant. H.

Chip is one of ze most reputable German PC magazines, and we all know that Ze Germans are very precise people - with other words there is every reason to believe this. Besides, its a zero risk method, but you would of course get a terribly bad conscience and sleepless nights. H.

Agreed, AFAIK it cannot easily be done withou some utility which are different for Outlook Express and Outlook. A site with some info on the different files in Outlook you find HERE. If you are running Outlook express there is for example a free 30 day trial of alittle proggy HERE that does the job. What I believe is the best utils for either one can be found HERE. H.

There is plenty of shareware that does this, do a search for Outlook backup etc. H.

The addres book is just one file, and most propably the only one with a *.wab ending. Just copy it over. You can also set the filename and path from within OE, I guess its about the same in Outlook. H.

Connect either computer to the Linksys but leave the modem unplugged (just one cable between PC and the router, skip internet for now). Try with both computers but not at the same time. What happens when you type http://192.168.1.1 in IE and hit enter? What happens if you open a DOS box and do ping 192.168.1.1 ? First thing here is to get to the Linksys setup screen - have you ever been there ? H. H.

Quote: I can't access the LinkSys router info because the 192.168.1.1 is the DSL modem's stats and not the router. If they are connected Modem->Linksys->Computer and you type in 192.168.1.1 in your browser the signal cannot go to the modem without passning the router, and should open the Linksys settings page. Now, if you have some USB connection bypassing the whole thing this could of course happen, but as our resident LAN guru Clutch already said: unplug the USB (for good). What happens then, and what happens if you do this without the modem plugged in? Two easy checks if you still have trouble after unplugguing the USB: Did you buy the Linksys new (i.e are you sure the settings are at factory default)? Are you sure the two involved cables are standard Ethernet cables (as opposed to crossover cables) ? H.

There are many possible error sources here, and your description is not very precise, I'm sorry to say. Here a few questions so we can start to get somehere: 1) does the setup work with the other computer or is it only the laptop that has a problem? 2) have you followed the setup instructions in the manual exactly? Go over it again. Checkout Linksys site for Q & A 's 3) have you changed any settings in the routers setup screen ? 4) is the LAN on DHCP or are you using fixed IP's? Is the DHCP service running on the laptop ? 5) What happens if you connect your modem directly to the Laptop? Are you connecting your laptop to other LAN's also (work, college etc)? I have the same Linksys (BEFSR41), marvelous piece of hardware ! H.

Quote: the data recieved from the internet comes directly from the modem, instead of goin' to the router and then to my ethernet adapter. I What do you mean? You have a cable from the modem to the router and another cable from the router to the PC? How can the router be bypassed then ? H.

It's pure guesswork, but I'd think that it was a coincidence that you got the problems at the same time you did a reinstall. This is because you seem so confident that your reinstall is the same it was before (drivers, updates etc) and because you've have this problem even after an additional reinstall. Admitted, its ony about a 51% propability its hardware problems and a 49% propability that your reinstall isn't exactly as your old one was. For instance, maybe your BIOS settings were different when you did the first install than they are now? Or you've added some hardware ? H.

Are running your mem @ cas3 and 100Mhz then? If not, try that, if yes try to take out the 100Mhz stick just to see if that canges anything. Any service packs installed ? My guess would be that you have some hardware problem, especially as it seems the problem contimues (?) after a reinstall. One freeze is one too many, but they happen everywhere. H.

To see if its a temp problem run the system case open. I'm still curious about the every few hours thing. After such a freeze, does the system run another few hours before crashing again? Does the system freeze if you just let it sit there? Try first to run a screensaver overnight and then (for example) have 3Dmark looping 4hrs. You cannot be sure that you haven't changed any drivers, Windows doesn't necessarily install exactly the same way every time, and sometimes it identifes hardware slightly wrong. Also, if you run the Service Packs they might update differently depending on whats on the machine already. How many memory sticks do you have?

You don't need netbios for anything at all, and definately not to connect a W98 to a XP machine. TCP/IP does that just fine. H.

Not much comes to mind on the fairly general description, but I'd agree with Sampson that there is a foul smell of hardware failure in the air. Does your freezes always happen after a few hours - like never shortly after a reboot? If so that would sort of, maybe, perhaps rule out temp and voltage trouble. Have you added any hardware at all in the past month? Updated Bios? Any LAN cards ?. Are you really sure you have installed /updated all the drivers like it was before the reinstall? Your disk drive trouble again points in the direction of an install gone sour. The most basic of diagnostic tips is to run the sys case open with as little hardware connected as possible - one stick of memory, no USB devices, no printers, joysticks etc. If you do that, and care to do a reinstall you'd at least narrow down the potential troublemakers, but you've propably considered this already. H.

So install windows to c:\maverick and be happy H.

Yes, you have to be in W2K (or XP / NT) but if you multiboot or you're on a LAN it should work. Or if you have a "reinstall in a new folder.... H.

And HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce and Win.ini (especially older programs) H.

No... please, lets keep this as adult entertainment! H.

Still the original question remains; is there a tool to edit the registry from a dos prompt? I've also been looking for such a tool for a while, but haven't found one. You can however edit the registry remotely, follow this LINK for instructions. H.