A business customer calls, wanting to get a new (second) laptop working on his wireless network. He also wants all the outlook emails transferred over to the new laptop.

I say ok, & the whole process is not too difficult.

I get the usual wrestling to getting a wireless network running (requiring a few reboots of the laptop & router).

The outlook email files are split into 2 folders within ”documents & settings”… & the copy over the network take over 30 minutes. I also mistakenly did a “move” instead of a copy, so once the move is complete, the old laptop stops receiving emails… so spend more time copying the files back again.

While the copy takes place I’m asked to look into an intermittent shutdown problem with a PC. At first glance, it looks like a power supply problem. the customer say he got windows error reports after the sudden power loss, which vaguely say there is a problem with the video card. I initially dismiss this as random act of the power fluctuation.

As I investigate, I see the problem is getting worse. I install a spare power supply and: the problem keeps happening. I carefully look at everything until I notice the video card (nvidia mx4000) has a bulging capacitor… an obvious sign for anyone less blind than I am . Anyway I dig into my box of video cards & pull out an agp video card and … it doesn’t fit into the agp slot… the slot has a “tab” which stops my “older” agp cards from fitting (probably because of a voltage difference).

I don’t have a card that fits, so I promise to return tomorrow with a working card.

I cannibalise a home pc for the correct card (its just 1 month old) & install it, & finally everything is working fine

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:49 PM EDT

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A neighbor askes me to try & install windows XP onto an older PC. He is having trouble booting from the xp install cd.

A quick check of the bios reveals that the the boot order is to blame… to install xp, you need to have the boot priority be: cd first, then the hard drive.

So I setup windows xp, run autopatcher to get XP all up-to-date (and add a few tweaks as well).

A few days later, I get a call asking for help: the new owner had tried to install a dvd burner, & now it dives an error message, even after the cd & dvd are not conected to the system… hmmm, very odd. I go out & check, & sure enough, it won’t boot & give a strange error message. I try safe mode & I get a different error. I try BARTPE, & I get a 3rd error at load time… wow…

This is looking like a hardware problem, but I didn’t have any problem like this during my setup. What could it be?

I start getting suspicious about the bios: there are 2 hard drives & the bios setting have the HDD cylinders, landing zone & other parameters all hardcoded… this should be in auto mode, but I didn’t change it while I was setting up the PC (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).

So I change all the drive settings to auto (after writing down the old settings)… shazzam, it all works now. I check the bios again, & the hdd settings have reverted back to the prior settings… but at least the PC is starting now.

I put it down to a corrupt bios, I remove the old cd drive (the dvd writer should be enough), I re-assemble everything, then I do a final restart & everything goes well.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:52 PM EDT

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New customer needs some urgent assistance. There seems to be a few problems (fax answers when the phone rings… but fax should be on a separate line, computer only runs for a few seconds… up to 1 minute before shutting down, a new adsl modem has been installed, but not sure if it is running correctly).

Anyway, I go take a look asap. Fax & phone lines were reversed… easy to fix.

PC suddenly switches off after a few seconds & will not restart until power is removed for a few seconds… Its the power supply & it all works once I install a new power supply.

I check the inet connection, notice that norton IS has expired, so i install antivir ( http://www.free-av.com/). PC is needed urgently, so I leave it but arrange a time to return, so that I can complete installing antispyware & check windows update & answer any other questions.

On my return, I’m also asked to setup a laptop & 2 ipaqs (in a weeks time) She also needs help to move the computer setup to a new house in a months time.

Time to brush up on ipaq skills.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 5:30 PM EDT

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Another mystery problem…

Computer starts (power & HDD leds light up), but nothing appears on the monitor (monitor just goes into power-saving). Computer is about 2 years old (a celeron)… for the last few months, I’m told that there is always the message “press F1 to continue” & they need to press F1 before it will boot.

Since the boot process is stopped (and pressing F1 doesn’t seem to get anything going (I only have the HDD light to judge with), it starts looking like a monitor or video card problem. I install an old ISA video card & I finally get the POST message. I see that it thinks the CPU has changed… press F1 to continue, or to enter the bios… I go into the bios & correct a few mis-configurations (eg plug and plas OS installed was set to “no”). Save & restart & no more bios problems… but windows xp seems to take a while to start.

Once fully started & logged in I see it has a spyware infection (gambling & adult popups). At least its working & I put it all down to a failed on-board video card. Customer says she will call me back to remove the spyware sometime soon. I put the computer case back into its alcove under the desk & re-start it again… just to be sure… and it doesn’t start !

Just like before… no activity & the monitor goes blank. I pull the computer back out & try another restart… this time I get a long beep, followed by 3 short beeps. Hmmm, a bios message, not good. I move the video plug from the ISA card to the on-board VGA & I can see the windows login prompt… I re-open the case & restart again… now sometimes works, sometimes with the onboard video, somtimes with the ISA video…

 Whats wrong? a faulty cable or connector? I tell the customer it looks like a motherboard fault… It could be 1 to 3 days for me to replace it…but she would like it working “now” as her kids are addicted to it.

I say I can swap her disk into another computer, but she will still have to live with the spyware. Anyway, I can try 1 or 2 more things before I go with the motherboard replacement. I try pulling out the ISA video card, since it might be interfering with the on-board video… & it seems to boot correctly… I close the case, & reboot… still fine. I put the case back under the desk & reboot … all ok. I try a few more power downs (even remove the power cord) but I get no failed starts anymore.

Customer is happy to be back on the air again (except for the spyware)… I tell her the best thing to do now is to keep an eye on it & if problems re-occur, then I’ll need to take the computer for some analysys & remove spyware while I’m at it.

Customer will get me to remove the spyware at a later date. I say to not leave it for long, as it will only get worse.

All I can assume is that by inserting & removing my extra video card, I either disloged some dust (or a short) from somewhere, so that everything started working again… If its a motherboard fault, then its bound to re occur… Hopefully next time, the fault will be less intermittant & thus easier to pinpoint.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 5:09 PM EDT

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