Sampson

Just a physical check. Something has to be shorting out since the machine is not even getting to the beep signals which normally tell you what to look for.

When it happens this fast, check to make sure the motherboard is not grounding out against the case somewhere.

Are your keyboard and Mouse USB devices? Right now it is looking like the NIC is the culprit. This first glance could be deceiving becuase you could have had some kind of spyware originally that mucked things up before your decision to re-install XP. You've probably done this but right click on My Computer, select Properties, then Hardware tab, then Device Manager button. It will bring your to your devices like the keyboard, mouse and NIC. Are there any yellow "!" by these devices? If not, you can click on each to see if the same memory is being used by some or they are in conflict with another device. It is totally up to you, but at this stage you could, eliminating these devices, let's say the mouse first, then have Windows re-install it and see if it will come up. Then, you might try the keyboard, then, with the NIC (see if there is a device driver that was supplied with that NIC and install it. Two other questions: 1) is yours a VIA based motherboard, and 2) everyone has their own reason for choosing Fat32 over NTFS, (and you don't have to answer this) but why did you make this choice.

It would help to know some particulars. How did you install XP. Was this an upgrade package or did you clean install it? After it installed, did you immediately have this problem or did it develop later? There are several things that could be done especially since you can get into safe mode, but it is easier to target possible solutions if you could give us more information.

There are a number of pieces of information that we need to know so that we can help. One of the main pieces is the motherboard manufacturer. It would help to know what steps you took to install the new card. Did you uninstall the nVidia drivers first before installing the ATI card? How did you go about doing this? The ATI card needs the newest DirectX (9.0c) installed and it also needs .Net Framework. If perchance you have recently installed .Net Framework 2, you many have to re-install .Net Framework 1.1 since the card's software may need that version of .Net which Windows sometimes gets rid of after installing .Net 2. You may very well have a problem with the sis agp driver. Not knowing which of those fits your system, here are some I found that may be germane to you quandry: SiS AGP Driver 1.16a Windows 98/ME/2000/XP download SiS AGP Driver Version 1.16a For Windows 98 /ME /2000 /XP. Support:SiS630, SiS540, SiS630ET, SiS630E, SiS630S, SiS630ST, SiS635, SiS645,... FileName:agp116a.zip Two different Chipset Graphics drivers SiS SiS630/SiS730 Chipset Graphics Driver 2.09 Windows XP download SiS SiS630/SiS730 Chipset Graphics Driver 2.09 WinXP.--Supporing products:SiS630, SiS630E, SiS630ET, SiS630S, SiS630ST, SiS635, SiS730S,... FileName:630_209_winxp.zip SiS SiS651/SiS650 Chipset Graphics Driver 2.22 Windows 2000/XP download SiS SiS651/SiS650 Chipset Graphics Driver 2.22 Windows 2000/XP FileName:650_222_win2kxp.zip Finally, did you try the card in another computer to see if it really works?

Depending on which service pack you are using apparently helpsvc can run amok. (Though I have read that if affects even those SP2 packs that are supposed to be immune. Generally happens during a windows update or install of a program that goes awry. This article from Microsoft explains it. It also gives a possible hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;839017 But, if you want to shut it down and not have it continue to restart do the following: Create a DWORD entry called Headlines and give it the value of 0, for the following Registry Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ PCHealth \ HelpSvc \ There is a side effect to this solution however: This disables the Headlines feature which simply means that your Help and Support Center headlines are never updated.

Sorry. I've never had the Roxio software interfere with the Nero burning software. I've never uninstalled the Roxio from WMP9.0 on my W2K machine. I thought that you wanted to burn something using your WMP player using Nero instead of Roxio. Will try to read the request more closely next time.

Since you are talking about free games: http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/arcade.htm

You can refer first to this about the plugin for WMP and Nero (didn't check, but think it works for W2K): http://www.wmplugins.com/itemdetail.aspx?itemid=228 Then, of course, there is Windows take on it: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03september16.mspx

Right click Desktop-Properties-Settings tab-Advanced button, Nvidia tab. There should be a pop up screen to the left of the main window. One of the contents on that screen should be Nvidia Direct Access. (This allows you to use the Nvidia interface to center or move your screen) Click on this. This will change the main screen and tell you the video card, the serial number, the display type, etc. It should read Cathode ray tube and Analog when you are using the SVGA connection. But, under Plug and Play generic monitor, I have found that when the DVI input is used, this remains Cathod ray tube - Analog. Or, when it reads it correctly LCD Digital, for whatever reason the Plug and Play is not always in sync with some LCD monitors. Have you tried to see if you can get Windows to see your specific Monitor? Right click Desktop-Properties-Settings-Advanced button-Monitor tab-Properties button-Drivers tab-Update drivers button-at pop up window tell it no and you want to choose the monitor which will eventually bring up the Manufacturers and the specific models for that manufacturer? Nvidia can be quirky and can start throwing you into the "Infinite Loop" syndrome saying it failed at nv4_disp.dll if you mess around with it too much. I was just curious to see what your card was reporting. Don't want you to be a guinea pig.

Well, you have been given an effective solution to keep your Dad from compromising the security of your machine. This is what the folks at News Forge have to say about disbling IE: "Once you've decided to get rid of IE, you can use the following process, provided you have Internet Explorer version 6 or later installed. Ironically, the easiest way to remove Internet Explorer versions earlier than version 6.0 is to first upgrade to 6.0 -- a process best done through Windows Update. If you're using Windows 95 and want to remove IE, Microsoft has instructions here. In Windows NT 4.0, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, and Advanced Server Limited Edition, open up your Control Panel, which is found in the Start Menu under Settings. Then double-click on Add/Remove Programs; a new window will appear with this same title. Select Add/Remove Windows Components from the left-hand icon column and then uncheck the box next to Internet Explorer. Click Next and IE will disappear from your system; click Finish to complete the process. All IE icons will be removed from your quick launch, desktop, and Start menu. Depending on which operating system you're using and how it has been updated and configured, the option for removing Internet Explorer may alternately be in the Add/Remove Installed Programs section instead of the Add/Remove Windows Components section, but the basic process remains the same. In Windows XP the process is exactly the same, except you have some further options to limit Internet Explorer. In the same Add or Remove Programs window, Windows XP has an additional option for those with Administrator rights: Set Program Access and Defaults, which is the last icon down on the left-hand icon bar. Click on it and you'll see some different profiles to choose from. Click on Custom; this will list some program defaults and access controls that you can change manually. The first group in the list is for your Web browser. Uncheck the box labeled "Enable access to this program" next to Internet Explorer. You'll notice there is a button for the system default -- you'll want to click the dot next to your new browser to make it the default if it isn't already set. Internet Explorer is, unfortunately, built into Windows in all versions after 98 and can't be fully removed. No matter what you do, IE will still be available in a limited capacity for the purpose of running Windows Update, which requires Internet Explorer to run. It will not be generally available to users, however, and since you set your default browser to whatever you installed earlier, IE will never open on its own when you click a link offline. This is the best you can do; Windows security is all about reducing risk, rather than eliminating it. If you start Windows Update, an IE window will open and you can use it for browsing sites other than Windows Update despite the fact that it's been "removed" and "disabled." This is one of the main problems with Windows -- there are always loopholes like this one that compromise your system's security. A more effective long-term answer to such security concerns might be to switch to GNU/Linux." As you can plainly read, and as a whole plethora of people have pointed out, IE is so integrated into the way XP works, it cannot be entirely removed without disabling XP itself. You don't think that Microsoft looked at 98lite and saw how he substituted .dll's from 95 and was able to "eliminate" IE? They fixed that in XP. You've been given an effective way to frustrate your Dad's using IE as a browser. You have obviously Googled for a solution that fits your parameters and have found none. Until a disgruntled former Microsoft programmer leaks the info onto the internet (assuming that such a solution is really possible), your quest is pretty much a waste of time. You are trapped by Zeno's paradox - while in theory it is solvable, empirically infinity is unachievable.

It could very well be a defective card or some driver problems. I have noted a peculiarity about nVidia drivers in relation to monitors. Don't want to go into a long discussion about it but sometimes if the monitor is not designated correctly before the drivers are installed for whatever reason it messes things up. From your desktop right click and choose Properties, click on the Settings tab, then click the Advanced button, then click on the Monitor tab. Is the monitor name and number showing up there? If not then click on the nVidia tab, let its interface come up and click Direct Access and read the Window that comes up. When the DVI is connected is it saying that it is a Cathode Tube Analog or is it giving you the proper manufacturer, LCD, and Digital? I know that the drivers usually work with the Generic plug and play, but sometimes the card and certain monitors have to be specific.

As you say, that does not make much sense. If computer one saves the document in a shared file, and pulls it back up to make sure that everything that was entered was actually saved - you are saying the computer two going to that exact same file pulls it up and and the data in it is two days off. Tell you what, since you are using Excel and it cannot share a spreadsheet at the same time with another user the way a database can, have computer two go to the shared file on computer one and bring up the spreadsheet. Then have computer one go to the exact same spreadsheet in the exact same folder - you should get the message that another user is modifying data and you can bring it up as Read Only, or notify you when they are finished or cancel. If this happens, your shared folder is working correctly. If, on the other hand computer one brings up the document without the popup, it means that it is accessing a spreadsheet that is not in the Shared folder.

Joke or not Microsoft says this: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321959

The out of date problem seems to be that you are thinking that if computer one saves its spreadsheet to its shared document folder on computer one's hard drive that automatically it is saved on computer two's hard drive in its Shared folder. That doesn't happen. If you are computer one and you pull up a spreadsheet, modify it and save it, it will save to the folder you pulled it up from, lets say that was computer one's Shared folder. If you want to save that spreadsheet to computer two, you will then have click on File - Save As and then when the box comes up as to where to save it, click on the pull down arrow for the box that says Save To. Look then for Computer two's drive or folder, click on it, then click on Save or OK. You don't even have to change the name of the spread sheet. Guaranteed this will save that spreadsheet to computer two.

mctonale, you are having way too much fun with this. It will affect Outlook Express probably (though you may be able to set it up independent of IE) and any of a number of Browsers out there that build on IE. [Edited by Sampson on 2005-12-10 05:12:58]

You are correct. The activeX controls won't work through the proxy. It is easy enough to Uncheck the proxy to get through as you said.

Well, from what I've read, the difference between 8X and 4X is nothing to write home about. The FX5200 is a rcck solid card for basically Office Applications. They are not renowned for being able to be overclocked. So, you do have a good card. It will play games, but not at great framerates. It should have been pretty cheap. Everyone at one time or another has had lapses of judgment.

Did you enter into the non-proxy or exception box: *.microsoft.com or you could do it like so: microsoft.com ; update.microsoft.com Make sure you place a semicolon between entries

I hate responding to you, shassouneh, since you rarely read or follow what is asked of you, but since this involves your Dad. If you had read the whole discussion that American Zombie suggested you would have seen the following: "I have found the best way yet to disable IE. This will allow you to disable Internet Explorer for general browsing, but still have it work for WindowsUpdate. First open IE, and open the options screen by clicking on 'Tools' at the top of the screen and clicking on 'Options'., Click the 'Connections' tab at the top of the new options window that has appeared. Click the 'LAN Settings' button that is towards the bottom of the options window. Check the box that says 'Use a proxy server for your LAN'. In the 'Address' field, enter anything - I put 'fakeproxy'. Click the 'Advanced' button, then in the 'exceptions' text box enter '*.microsoft.com' and then click OK. Now IE will only function on pages at Microsoft.com, and WindowsUpdate." I would add that rather than putting in 'fakeproxy' you put in 127.0.0.1 in the address and a number like 5555 in the proxy. Next, when it comes up that it can't connect and gives you the page about retrying or DNS is down - Click Tools and make that your Home page for IE.

Sometimes the installation of SP2 ona a machine corrupts the AUTOEXEC.NT file. There is a backup on your hard drive to restore it. Double click "My Computer" then your hard drive (probably C drive) and open the "WINDOWS" folder. Open "SYSTEM32" and see if the "AUTOEXEC.NT" file is in there. Chances are it isn't. If it is, then it's probably corrupt. Arrow up or hit "Back" to return to the main WINDOWS folder. Go down to "Repair" and double click. You should find "autoexec.nt" and "config.nt" in there. Copy these files (Ctrl+C) then go back to SYSTEM32 and paste them there (Ctrl+V). It will ask you if you want to replace the old one—click "Yes". That should do it. Now try installing that program and it should work fine. The long way to do this is found here at Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324767&Product=winxp

People who set up servers and networks are awfully sensitive about unsollicited advice. Two things you can look for or try: 1) a potential cause of this problem occurs when a network card is installed in addition to the satellite receiver adapter or another NIC. If not properly configured, the domain name resolution requests may occur over the network card instead of the satellite receiver adapter or the wrong NIC. Advanced users may wish to use the Route utility provided by Windows to manipulate the network routing tables. In any case what may be happening is that the first time you type in the domain name it "hits" the wrong card. 2) you can do this if the above is not a problem: run the NSLOOKUP program from the command prompt. It tries to attach your computer to the name server listed in PRIMARY DNS Server settings in IP Properties. If you get an error indication at that point you need to verify that the machine you're on has the correct Primary dns ip and that the primary dns server has a correct "NS" record and a correct "A" record that points to itself. If nslookup connects properly then from within the nslookup program you can try resolving names from there. If you can't resolve the names from within the NSLOOKUP program, then the configuration of the dns server is incorrect. If this local DNS server is configured to be a SLAVE then the Master DNS server should be checked to verify that it will supply the new DNS server with the records from that domain. Take these suggestions with a huge grain of salt because sorting out DNS names can get very messed up.

Sorry, but your second post makes no sense. If the Shared folder was read only, no changes could have been made to it. That being the case, had a user on a different machine attempted to modify the file, they would have received a message that the file could not be modified. If on the other hand, their modification was saved, and the shared folder on the other machine was Read only, it only goes to show that they are saving the modification on their own machine not on the other machine. You don't seem to understand that a document has to be saved to the same Shared Folder on a designated machine. If the two computers are saving to the Shared Folder on their own machine in a peer-to-peer network, there is no sharing going on.

You might want to look at this article: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132 The amount of bits that a card processes is one of the components of figuring the quickness of a card. It is not the only one. Both the core clock and the memory clock probably have a larger impact on a card's speed - then there is also the transfer rate. The FX5200 does come in a 128bit version. However, if you'll look at the chart it is really not a game card. The 5700, and 5900 cards are pretty good cards for their price all things considered. The higher 6200 and 6600 are quite a bit steeper in price. What you will have to consider in finding the proper card is not only the speed of the card, but the speed of your computer. While many card relieve the processor of tasks, many games are still processor intensive. Putting a 6600 in a PII machine wouldn't be worth the cost of the card. The processor will be taxed by a game such that it will still appear to run as fast as a much slower card.

You've probably done this, but this is from McAfee: http://ts.mcafeehelp.com/doconly.asp?docid=68757&CategoryId=&chat=