Packard Bell computer driving me crazy!!!! Help!

[John Rumm]

burn)

Doh!

I clicked once, and just got extra file info. Did not think to keep clicking!

More likely a Vista thing...

[Dave Headley]

Thanks John, I think you're right there. Just tried with a Knoppix CD and it shows "Decompressing Linux..... Parsing ELF....Done.....Booting kernel....." and then it goes no further, just sticks there.

Thanks for your help.

[John Rumm]

If this is the same revision board, and same BIOS version, then that (in theory) ought to boot from the old hard drive.

This is starting to look like either the new board is in some way faulty, or you have a corrupted drive image.

Try the more extensive test suite on UBCD4/5

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hmm.

Sugggets some mighty borked hardware to me..RAM good?

[Dave Headley]

Yep, I put it into my machine and ran Memtest86+ overnight without errors.

[The Natural Philosopher]

OK..then what its is probably having issues with is that it needs drivers for the hardware that are not in the live CD. At which point you are off the 'simply boot a live CD' and into hackers paradise.

May I make a pragmatic suggestion?

Buy a new disk and either install a FULL linux or a FULL windows on it, and then jumper the old disk as a slave to get the data off it.

This will get your old data back, and you will have to reinstall all the programs.

I am tempted to say go Linux, and reinstall windows and its programs in a virtual machine: After crashing several times a week ago my VM windows refused to boot in under 45 minutes. I went back to an earlier snapshot, and now its fine.

Sine no use data is actually held in the windows area whatsoever, by deliberate choice - I regard windows as an unstable OS and will only use it as a program launcher for three programs I need - this is no big deal for me.

Unless your favourite windows programs are gaes, which are a bit sick in a VM, this is definitely the way to get stability - move email, browsing, word processing and the like to Linux, and leave - in my case Rhino CAD and Corel suite running on a virtual machine..

Or dual boot the thing and use a local server to hold all the important data.

[Dave Headley]

ELF....Done.....Booting

OK..then what its is probably having issues with is that it needs drivers for the hardware that are not in the live CD. At which point you are off the 'simply boot a live CD' and into hackers paradise.

May I make a pragmatic suggestion?

Buy a new disk and either install a FULL linux or a FULL windows on it, and then jumper the old disk as a slave to get the data off it.

This will get your old data back, and you will have to reinstall all the programs.

I am tempted to say go Linux, and reinstall windows and its programs in a virtual machine: After crashing several times a week ago my VM windows refused to boot in under 45 minutes. I went back to an earlier snapshot, and now its fine.

Sine no use data is actually held in the windows area whatsoever, by deliberate choice - I regard windows as an unstable OS and will only use it as a program launcher for three programs I need - this is no big deal for me.

Unless your favourite windows programs are gaes, which are a bit sick in a VM, this is definitely the way to get stability - move email, browsing, word processing and the like to Linux, and leave - in my case Rhino CAD and Corel suite running on a virtual machine..

Or dual boot the thing and use a local server to hold all the important data.

*********************************

I don't know about my mate going over to Linux but we're now at the stage of grabbing the important stuff off the drive and then a complete wipe, reformat and reinstall. Cheers for your help :-)

[Lee]

Good suggestion. I'm still thinking a bios or settings conflict...

@OP, I'd suggest removing everything non-essential, including anything USB especially disconnect the front panel memory card reader, if it has one, doing a bios reset and load optimized defaults and try again... Then put things back one at a time.

Lee

[John Rumm]

Since that is two live CDs that have failed, it could point at a hardware problem...

[Jules Richardson]

I'm wondering if your CPU isn't hosed - although you don't have a spare CPU, can you perhaps lay your hands on a known-good board supporting that particular CPU in which to try the one that you have?

Perhaps there was some problem which caused the machine to overheat severely - e.g. failing fan, dust build-up, something jamming (PSU wires are good for that) the fan, PSU glitch (possibly due to marginal PSU).

That could account for the burning smell reported. I've seen severely- overheated CPUs fail in ways where they still semi-work, but problems subsequently manifest in all sorts of odd ways.

cheers

Jules

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes. bus timings go way out of spec.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Mark escribió:

from the FAQ:

"DIY stands for Do It Yourself, Plumbing, wiring, building, decorating, furniture making, and in fact anything and everything to do with maintaining, running, and improving your home, from putting up shelves to building a house."

Nothing there about fixing computers, and there are other, more suitable, more targeted, groups where the OP would receive excellent advice.

You're clueless. They can at the very least help differentiate between software (device driver) and hardware issues.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Dave Headley escribió:

I don't think you even bothered to look.

Would you walk into a plumber's merchant with a query about a car problem?

Brown-nosing will get you everywhere.

Which you didn't mention in your original post. I gave up mind-reading years ago. If you're so knowledgeable, what are you doing posting here for help?

Why should I? Post to usenet, read the reply in usenet is the convention (as well as posting in an appropriate group)

Had you been arsed, you could have included the error codes in your OP. You're the one asking for help. after all, prat.

[Dave Headley]

Ooh, you are a spitty little pussycat aren't you? You have the honour of being the first person in my Bozo Bin I think.

[tony sayer]

In article , Mike Tomlinson scribeth thus

Try a posting on alt.computer

[Andy Champ]

That excludes Matty's fascinating posts about the inside of trams. And wood splitting. And chainsaws. And bikes. Personally I do do my own computers, so they're no further OT than many topics we have.

That however may well be true.

Andy

[VanguardLH]

NOTE: Newsgroups have been altered from those specified by the OP.

Original newsgroups: uk.d-i-y Added newsgroups: alt.computer

The original thread can be viewed in Google Groups at:

is to add the notice that Tony chose to omit. Whenever the list of newsgroups is changed, make notice of that fact. Place a note at the top of your reply that the Newsgroups were changed (added or removed) from the original list so others are aware of the change. Optionally state in the notice why the change was considered appropriate if not so stated in the body of your reply. Notice of change is optional but appreciated if your Usenet provider does not carry one, or more, of the original newsgroups (that is, you cannot post there).

Users should not have to ferret out or happen to notice the attempt to redirect a thread (to move it elsewhere or remove it). Tell them you did it. Redirection without notification is a troll maneuver.

NOTE: The uk.d-i-y newsgroup (for my NNTP server) requires use of the FollowUp-To header (which is a ridiculous requirement if the poster intends to NOT be rude by yanking the discussion away from where it originally appeared). As such, the FollowUp-To header was used to move/retain this discussion under the following newsgroup that I monitor:

alt.computer

As such, replies will go to alt.computer unless you change (and politely notify of such) the Newsgroups header for your reply.

t> In article , Mike Tomlinson

Original newsgroups: uk.d-i-y Added newsgroups: alt.computer Effector/Respondent: tony sayer

This is to warn that Effector has copied [only their subthread of] an existing discussion to other groups by cross-posting their reply to groups not originally specified by the OP (original post[er]). There may be additional replies back under the original post in its original group(s) than just those shown under the subthread for the Effector's cross-posted reply. If the OP and others wish to ensure that they see ALL replies then they must visit the original groups to check if there are subthreads *other* than just under the Effector's reply.

If the OP wishes to move or copy their discussion to another group, that should be *their* choice and not as an UNSOLICITED action enforced by another *user*. Despite his pretense, the Effector is not a moderator or admin but just another user who is propagating the OP's discussion to different group(s) that he has divined are more appropriate and to possibly enlarge the audience or hopefully provide a more focused community on the topic but which may not be a correct or best choice for the OP. The actual source of the problem may turn out not to be relevant to those other groups simply based on what the OP reported as the symptoms and upon what the Respondent based their decision to forcibly redirect someone else's discussion. If the OP wants to move or copy their discussion to another group, that should be THEIR choice and not of the Respondent. The Respondent should only recommend to the OP that there may be more appropriate or useful groups to which the OP should repost or cross-post their message, not enforce the propagation of the OP's discussion to other groups.

A misguided urge to enlarge or change exposure for a discussion based on the Respondent's biases or presumptions is not an adequate reason to alter the Newsgroups header. Recommend the OP should move. Do not SHOVE them over. It should be the OP's choice as to where they focus their discussion, not a forced change made by the Respondent. Despite trying to help, forcing a redirection of someone else's discussion is troll-like behavior. Suggest the change. Don't force it.

RECOMMENDING the discussion move to a more narrowly focused newsgroup that may better address the topic is laudable. SHOVING someone over there without their permission and without notification is despicable and smacks of behavior typical of trolls, spammers, and malevolents.

[John Rumm]

I don't know, I can't imaging a house without a computer these days, or for that matter building one without the aid of a computer. So its as much a valid tool as a screwdriver!

[The Natural Philosopher]

All my design work is done on one now.

apart from rough sketches on A4 scrap, I get a computer model going ASAP so I can see how it will look in 3D....

[John Rumm]

Yup, same here for any furniture projects (bar the simplest) generally.