Computer Guru's...............

[Kachina26]

Please help. I was given an e-machines t1125 model, (insert jokes here). It has a 1.3GHz celeron, 256sdram 40gig hd. The guy that gave it to me gave up on it, I want it for an extra computer. It had gotten a virus of some sort, I forgot which one but it was one of the big ones a few months ago. Anyway, I know enough to get myself into trouble and that's about all. When the machine is switched on it goes past the "e-machines" white screen and then to a blinking curser. If I hit the delete key I can go into the Bios and change the boot order and whatever else is available in there. I made a startup disk from a good machine with the same OS (winxp home). The machine boots and I get to an a prompt line, but I don't know what to do with it. I also got the machine to boot off of the cdrom sort of. It gets to a screen that says press any key to boot from cd, but nothing happens when I press the anykey.
Thoughts, ideas (insert joke here) really?

[Nokomis]

Kachina, see if the machine will boot in safe mode.
Make sure the hard drive is the boot device in the bios.
Restart the machine and as soon as it starts up, begin tapping the F8 key. It should give you some choices on how you want to boot. If it does, choose safe-mode and see what it does
By doing this you'll bybass some of the possible hardware or virus/spyware problems.
Good luck.

[Kachina26]

No dice on the safe mode :(

[Nokomis]

Im gonna take a guess and say its hardware if it wont boot from an original XP cd. Maybe a bad stick of memory, or worse something on the motherboard. If it was a hard drive I think youd still get it to boot from cd.

[Kachina26]

I did go through and unplug and plug back in all connectors and the memory stick just for grins.

[Nokomis]

I should also add computers are not the way I make a living. I know enough to keep my friends and my stuff up and running.
Ive also been drinking
Have a good Thanksgiving too :)

[100mbs]

Kachina26,
When you get in the BIOS go the section that lists all of your hard drives and cdroms. Do you see your Hard Drive listed as the Primary on IDE1?
Then if that looks good go the section that shows the BOOT Order. This will probably have Floppy, CDROM, then the Hard Drive listed in this order. If it isnt in the order put it in this order.
The Boot Disk that you made does it have the "FORMAT.* and FDISK.*" files on it? if not go to the machine that you made the boot disk from and do a searc for fdisk*.* and format*.*. You will find 2 files for each but with different extensions. Copy all 4 files to the floppy.
If the PC doesnt boot with the CD-ROM with XP on it after pressing "Any Key" then you will need to try to boot from the floppy and format the C: drive.
Boot with Floppy when you get to the A:\ prompt type in format c:
It will ask are you sure you want to do this, just say yes and continue. It will take a little while for this to complete.
****ONLY DO THE FORMAT IF THERE IS NOTHING ON THE DISK THAT YOU NEED. FORMAT ERASES EVERYTHING ON THE DISK.
Try one or all of the steps and see what happens.
Try that and see what happens

[Mrs.Racer277]

I agree 100mps,
Boot to the startup disk, then try "c:" command.
If it gives a c:\ prompt, do a "dir" command.
Are there any files that show up?
If not, it has already been formatted, now load the new OS.
I still am not sure why it doesn't boot from the CDRom.
Maybe the CDRom (hardware) had been changed-I've seen motherboards that won't boot from a CDRom that wasn't installed with it.
Just a thought.
Oh, this is R277, not a computer tech, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.

[Dr. Eagle]

Computer = DOOOOOOOOOOMED (http://images.fedex.com/us/about/advertising/tvads/drama1.wmv)

[Kachina26]

I agree 100mps,
Boot to the startup disk, then try "c:" command.
If it gives a c:\ prompt, do a "dir" command.
Are there any files that show up?
If not, it has already been formatted, now load the new OS.
I still am not sure why it doesn't boot from the CDRom.
Maybe the CDRom (hardware) had been changed-I've seen motherboards that won't boot from a CDRom that wasn't installed with it.
Just a thought.
Oh, this is R277, not a computer tech, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.
It does have a different CDrom than what came with the machine and I believe he was having problems with that also.
I will try what 100 said.

[Mrs.Racer277]

It does have a different CDrom than what came with the machine and I believe he was having problems with that also.
I will try what 100 said.
Ok,
After booting to the floppy, try a b:, d:, e: or whatever drive you think the cdrom is. If it doesn't read the cdrom drive, you are looking at configing the bios or replacing that.
Whether or not there are files on the c: drive. You will need that cdrom drive (usually d: ) to work to load the new OS (operating system-windows).
R277<-I really should log in

[Kachina26]

I added the format files to the floppy but could not find the fdisk.* file.
I installed the floppy and started the machine, from the a prompt I typed "format c: " it said theis program cannot be run in dos mode.

[Kachina26]

Ok,
After booting to the floppy, try a b:, d:, e: or whatever drive you think the cdrom is. If it doesn't read the cdrom drive, you are looking at configing the bios or replacing that.
Whether or not there are files on the c: drive. You will need that cdrom drive (usually d: ) to work to load the new OS (operating system-windows).
R277<-I really should log in
funny.......... I have an a drive which is my floppy and I have a b drive which is also my floppy????????????? I type in c: and it tells me invalid drive specification, same for d and e . they do show up in the bios , I think........

[Unforgiven]

I agree 100mps,
Boot to the startup disk, then try "c:" command.
If it gives a c:\ prompt, do a "dir" command.
Are there any files that show up?
If not, it has already been formatted, now load the new OS.
I still am not sure why it doesn't boot from the CDRom.
Maybe the CDRom (hardware) had been changed-I've seen motherboards that won't boot from a CDRom that wasn't installed with it.
Just a thought.
Oh, this is R277, not a computer tech, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.
sean, can't you log in as yourself...I'd hate to be typing love letters to your wife and it turns out to be you......

[Mrs.Racer277]

The bios must point both drive letters a and b to the 3.5 drive. NO biggie.
Now you do have issues with this pc, may just be bios settings, or may be drive issues or both.
You have to make sure the bios is set for the c: to be the correct hardrive (size, cyl's, heads, etc), and that it's connected to the correct connector on the IDE cable from the motherboard to the hard drive.
This may take some trial and error, if nothing works, the hard drive may be bad. Alot of checking and testing may result in "replace with known good unit" (just a joke for you mekanics out there).
The same has to be done for the CDRom.
The reason you get the flashing cursor is that the machine cannot boot to an os because it cannot find your c: or hard drive.
If you do get it working, then you will be able to see if there are files on the drive, and you will also be able to load an OS on it if there are not (or if there are).
What a pain, I know. This is why most pc's of this age get thrown out or people want to "donate" them to someone. After a week's worth of work you'll wonder if saving 200 bucks was worth it.
Good luck, keep us updated.

[Mrs.Racer277]

sean, can't you log in as yourself...I'd hate to be typing love letters to your wife and it turns out to be you......
Tell me about it! :rolleyes:
I'm down stairs trying to use the goose to get along with the in-laws. She's the smart one, up stairs talking to the real world.

[Unforgiven]

Tell me about it! :rolleyes:
I'm down stairs trying to use the goose to get along with the in-laws. She's the smart one, up stairs talking to the real world.
time for you to get up there with the goose...get her ready for the "SHOCKER"

[Kachina26]

I think I fixed something :D OK, I don't know the nomenclature of the machine so I'm gonna talk like one of my customers. There is only one place for the "ribbon" cable, so I think it's right. However, there are 2 places for the other 3 wire cable (don't know wtf it is) I figured what am I gonna do break the broken machine that was given to me? So I plugged it in the other spot, restarted the machine and when it said press the anykey to continue , it actually continued. (whoopie!) So anyway, it is now reformatting the drive and reloading windows xp. I hope this works. Once I get this figured out, maybe you can teach me how to fdisk my old PII HP. It won't let me . Another story for another day. I'll let you know how this pans out.

[Mrs.Racer277]

time for you to get up there with the goose...get her ready for the "SHOCKER"
Hey you two enough! Mrs.R277 :wink:

[Mrs.Racer277]

I think I fixed something :D
Way to go!
Reloading and running a good anti virus may work out easiest for you.
For your HP, you can't format c: from a file on your c: drive.
You will have to make a bootable floppy, put format (fdisk etc) on it, boot to the floppy, then format the c: drive.
Good job,
Now about the noisy muffler bearings...

[Kachina26]

Now about the noisy muffler bearings...
The 94 Mazda 929 actually had a non servicable muffler bushing. I kid you not! There was a cable actuated butterfly valve in the muffler to "tune" the muffler while driving. This valve was seated in a bushing. Amaze your friends with that little tid bit.
Now about rotating the air in your tires.............

[Unforgiven]

Hey you two enough! Mrs.R277 :wink:
oh see how you are....your not that way when you PM me!!!

[Mrs.Racer277]

oh see how you are....your not that way when you PM me!!!
:supp: :supp: That was our little secret! :hammer2: :hammer2:

[Unforgiven]

:supp: :supp: That was our little secret! :hammer2: :hammer2:
secret??? everyone on the forums KNOWS about our secret... :rolleyes:

[Mrs.Racer277]

secret??? everyone on the forums KNOWS about our secret... :rolleyes:
:confused: YIKES! :jawdrop:

[Unforgiven]

I'm going home call me later...we'll discuss our secret... :D :D :D :boxingguy

[Mrs.Racer277]

The 94 Mazda 929 actually had a non servicable muffler bushing. I kid you not! There was a cable actuated butterfly valve in the muffler to "tune" the muffler while driving. This valve was seated in a bushing. Amaze your friends with that little tid bit.
Now about rotating the air in your tires.............
Ha ha, that is funny.
Now that you point that out, most perf. streetbikes use some type of exhaust valve to vary the volume. I bet for the same reason.
Worked at an independent m/c shop in a former life. Killed me every time a manual suggest for electrical parts tests to"replace with known good unit". I envied you dealer guys. It must be even worse for the independent car guys now, with all the computer crap.
We ran with you some at the ATDR, we were with SocalHD and wife in "Blessed".
Beautiful Kachina you have, maybe someday in the future for us, they make such stunning boats.
R277

[Kachina26]

We ran with you some at the ATDR, we were with SocalHD and wife in "Blessed".
Beautiful Kachina you have, maybe someday in the future for us, they make such stunning boats.
R277
I met SocalHD for lunch in Calimesa a few weeks ago, great guy. We love our Kachina.

[BajaMike]

I think I fixed something :D OK, I don't know the nomenclature of the machine so I'm gonna talk like one of my customers. There is only one place for the "ribbon" cable, so I think it's right. However, there are 2 places for the other 3 wire cable (don't know wtf it is) I figured what am I gonna do break the broken machine that was given to me? So I plugged it in the other spot, restarted the machine and when it said press the anykey to continue , it actually continued. (whoopie!) So anyway, it is now reformatting the drive and reloading windows xp. I hope this works. Once I get this figured out, maybe you can teach me how to fdisk my old PII HP. It won't let me . Another story for another day. I'll let you know how this pans out.
Sounds like you have it figured out....but just in case:
Here is a good link to help u in making a boot disk...
Making a Boot Disk (http://www.computerhope.com/boot.htm#71)
When I want to wipe a hard drive clean, I do the following:
1.) Boot to the "a:" drive with a good boot disk.
2.) At the a:, type "fdisk /mbr" (no quotes) and press "enter". This wipes out the old Master Boot Record.
3.) Type "fdisk", press "enter", and follow the directions to delete any partitions on the "c:" drive.
4.) Follow the directions to create a new partition on the "c:" drive.
5.) Reboot to the "a:" drive again with the boot disk. Type "format c:" to format the "c:" drive.
6.) Now boot with the Windows XP CD in, and install the new operating system.
Good luck..... :wink: :)

[Phat Matt]

Screw computers. I have been working on Jen's Dad's pc since we got here last night about 6pm. This thing was infested with spyware, malware and viruses. It was ready for a bullet to put it out of it's misery. I finally got it fixed just a little bit ago. It's running pretty good now but, THEY STILL ONLY HAVE DIAL-UP!!! :yuk: Downloading upodates and fixes were a pain after I was finally able to even get online.
Happy Thanksgiving. :)

[Kachina26]

Thanx for the help everyone! I am posting this from my free e-machine :D Not too bad for an afternoon's work. Now all I got to do is figure out if this turd will run as a small server for CounterStrike :idea:
Matt, it's cool that the older generation is still plugged in. But man what posseses them to DL every free cutesy wootsey thing they see is beyond me. I went back east last year to visit my wife's family. We stayed with her uncle who is 72 years old. He knows how to email but isn't sure what a browser is and that guys computer was soooooo infested with crap it ain't even funny. I won't accept email from him.
Well, I'm gonna go watch Man on Fire and hang with the family. Thanks again everyone!

[Kim Hanson]

Thanx for the help everyone! I am posting this from my free e-machine :D Not too bad for an afternoon's work. Now all I got to do is figure out if this turd will run as a small server for CounterStrike :idea:
Matt, it's cool that the older generation is still plugged in. But man what posseses them to DL every free cutesy wootsey thing they see is beyond me. I went back east last year to visit my wife's family. We stayed with her uncle who is 72 years old. He knows how to email but isn't sure what a browser is and that guys computer was soooooo infested with crap it ain't even funny. I won't accept email from him.
Well, I'm gonna go watch Man on Fire and hang with the family. Thanks again everyone!
E-Machine, first cumputer I had also. Just had to stick in the restore disk and follow along Ken :rolleyes: :p It's not that hard, shit! I was newbie to puters and got that one down pat...good to see ya got the key in the right ignition :p .......( . )( . )......

[Kim Hanson]

Thanx for the help everyone! I am posting this from my free e-machine :D Not too bad for an afternoon's work. Now all I got to do is figure out if this turd will run as a small server for CounterStrike :idea:
Matt, it's cool that the older generation is still plugged in. But man what posseses them to DL every free cutesy wootsey thing they see is beyond me. I went back east last year to visit my wife's family. We stayed with her uncle who is 72 years old. He knows how to email but isn't sure what a browser is and that guys computer was soooooo infested with crap it ain't even funny. I won't accept email from him.
Well, I'm gonna go watch Man on Fire and hang with the family. Thanks again everyone!
E-Machine, first cumputer I had also. Just had to stick in the restore disk and follow along Ken :rolleyes: :p It's not that hard, shit! I was newbie to puters and got that one down pat...good to see ya got the key in the right ignition :p .......( . )( . )......Happy Turkey Day!

[ColeTR1]

Dude get your self a Dell. Or something like that! I don’t mean to be a smart A$$ but I run in to this all the time. I have been working on computers for twenty years. If you take the time you spend to get that thing working and times it times $10.00 and hour it would be cheaper to by a new computer. The other choice is to take it to some place like a COMP USA, they are going to want 100 bucks to re install the operating system and if you don’t have the disk that came with the computer you will need to buy XP for it. That puts you at 1/2 the price for a new CPU And you will still have an old computer that is haft the speed of a new computer that you can get for $499.00. That E-machine computer if you don’t have the system disk for it you will never get it to run right. It needs special drivers for the video and audio.
If you get to A: you have to type C: (Enter) then type chkdsk it will look like this C:\chkdsk (Enter)
that will tell you if the Hard Disk is ok! Good Luck!!

[100mbs]

I am glad to hear that you got it working again, Congradulations!!!!
Thanx for the help everyone! I am posting this from my free e-machine :D Not too bad for an afternoon's work. Now all I got to do is figure out if this turd will run as a small server for CounterStrike :idea:
Matt, it's cool that the older generation is still plugged in. But man what posseses them to DL every free cutesy wootsey thing they see is beyond me. I went back east last year to visit my wife's family. We stayed with her uncle who is 72 years old. He knows how to email but isn't sure what a browser is and that guys computer was soooooo infested with crap it ain't even funny. I won't accept email from him.
Well, I'm gonna go watch Man on Fire and hang with the family. Thanks again everyone!

[Kachina26]

Dude get your self a Dell. Or something like that! I don’t mean to be a smart A$$ but I run in to this all the time. I have been working on computers for twenty years. If you take the time you spend to get that thing working and times it times $10.00 and hour it would be cheaper to by a new computer. The other choice is to take it to some place like a COMP USA, they are going to want 100 bucks to re install the operating system and if you don’t have the disk that came with the computer you will need to buy XP for it. That puts you at 1/2 the price for a new CPU And you will still have an old computer that is haft the speed of a new computer that you can get for $499.00. That E-machine computer if you don’t have the system disk for it you will never get it to run right. It needs special drivers for the video and audio.
If you get to A: you have to type C: (Enter) then type chkdsk it will look like this C:\chkdsk (Enter)
that will tell you if the Hard Disk is ok! Good Luck!!
Thanks , but go back and re-read the post. This is just some old thing to play with. I have an awesome Dell and a pretty nice Toshiba Laptop. Both less than a year old. I just wanted to get this thing going for an extra to maybe Lan party CS or something. I'm still a tweaker at heart, so I've pretty much had my fun.
:messedup: :coffeycup