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6751

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 11:45 AM »

So if you're not  going to go with an "enthusiast" or "hard-core gamer" build, why bother? At least with current pricing.

-40hz (July 15, 2011, 11:09 AM)

I'd like a machine where I can have up to 3 harddrives, so extendable, also memory-wise. I think I'll do what I did last time - buy from a site where you can pick out the components and they'll build (for 20€). Ran well for almost 4 years - I expected more, but I guess that can never be predicted...

But will have to look closer at Dell later as well.

6752

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 10:14 AM »

^Sounds like a golden opportunity to further your education playing with it if you're getting something else to work with.  

-40hz (July 15, 2011, 09:58 AM)

Yeah,
for a short, wild and free moment, I even considered building a new pc or rebuilding this one, but then sanity checked in. I think to be a builder you need to have extreme patience (well - it looks like extreme patience to me!) I get stressed out too easy - this whole thing was a good exercise in keeping cool under fire so-to-speak but I could do with a break

6753

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 09:10 AM »

^ agreed Ath, I've already been looking at options for a new machine.
There is a shop in town that promise to find what part is wonky for a reasonable price - I could try that, but think I'll have to get a new machine anyways.

As to what happened I'd really love to know...

It's actually running now but I'm just getting essentials off of it for immediate use elsewhere so I dont have to go to online backups. Nah, crashed again - I can get it going (sometimes it reboots a couple of times then starts normally) but then it crashes after 5 or more minutes. Could well be a temperature thing....

6754

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 07:03 AM »

UBCD:

• Unfortunately, I'm unable to complete CPU tests - computer sounds okay but screen goes blank after a while.
  
• I'm was unable to get the hardware tests to work at all. Press [Y] to proceed - nothing happens...
  
• There were two apps that gave info about my CPU. The second said I had a virus in memory I think. I was photographing everything and guess what, the SD card no longer works (two weeks old, what's going on here ).

So I tried a anti-virus boot disk from c't magazine here - it's ubuntu based. Downloads latest av info from 4 different AV's.
Tested the partition that kept getting checked on reboot - clean
Tested C: crashed twice

I get the impression that nothing works for long on this machine which kind of makes it difficult to test any damn thing...

6755

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 01:52 AM »

how do I  disable USB? Physically - unplug cables?

-tomos (July 14, 2011, 05:00 PM)

I was thinking more along the lines of a BIOS option to disable them, or at least cut them back to a lower speed and making sure nothing is plugged into them.

-Stoic Joker (July 14, 2011, 06:17 PM)

Doh!
you can tell I dont have much experience at this kind of thing!
Tried that, disabled USB controller - got exactly the same screen as above.

So I guess the next step is to use UBCD to stress test some stuff

6756

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 15, 2011, 01:46 AM »

Addendum: did a little research. Under Linux, this error is most commonly caused by bad cache on the CPU according to one source. See here.

-40hz (July 14, 2011, 06:06 PM)

from that link:

The Machine Check Exception looks like this: CPU 3: Machine Check Exception 0000000000000005 Bank 0: b200004010000400 Bank 5: b200121020000400 On Windows systems a MCE (Machine Check Exception) could also mean bad RAM, Motherboard or Processor. Reseating the processor is also another good option if you experience this error message.

So, "reseating" the processor is another option.
RAM I'm pretty sure is okay, I'll try disabling USB as Stoic Joker suggests and then look at this.
I think it's no harm btw having a "sensitive" version of linux - as obviously windows is sensitive to the same problem.
OTOH the UBCD booted up okay - that has some CPU stress test programmes, if I can figure the damn thing out, but one thing at a time ;-)

6757

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 05:00 PM »

^ yeah, memtest did three full passes without errors...

Or just for fun disable all the onboard USB stuff and see what happens...it is the last thing it was loading before it go poof.

-Stoic Joker (July 14, 2011, 03:54 PM)

 
how do I  disable USB? Physically - unplug cables?
There's usb on the front of the machine & I can see where the cable goes into the motherboard, the usb connection in the back is encased in metal - arrows going to the box containing the usb sockets, and to the right/above the circular thingy I see USB139 written



I also see "LAN USB 1" centre-right

6758

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots CPU Kaputt [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 03:15 PM »

Looks like the CPU might be the problem.
I booted with a Parted Magic CD - it got as far as this with the CPU message at the end



"kernel panic - not syncing: cpu context corrupt"

6759

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 02:03 PM »

If memtest86+ got that far without the screen turning red...chances are the memory is fine.

Run this next: Samsung HDD Tool

If the manufacturer's diag give the drives a green light, it's probably the power supply.

-Stoic Joker (July 14, 2011, 11:43 AM)

Thanks SJ
I downloaded UBCD for windows earlier and see that that Samsung tool is on it.
I was thinking at this stage, to leave it till tomorrow and get an external drive and copy everything over before I test it. I have all the really important stuff backed up online, otherwise backups are from one HD to the other - and seeing they both bought at same time, they could even both be dodgy

6760

Living Room / Re: [HELP!!] Win XP continuously reboots *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 09:01 AM »

to summarise:

over the last month, windows often rebooted 'spontaneously' after having just started (usually shortly after the desktop & icons showed - also after start from hibernate). Usually it would then run okay.
Always during the reboot, it checked Partition X which is where the Temp folder is, also where the Page file is (I presume there is some significance to this but guess almost anything could be using the Temp folders...) Partition X is on a second drive. C/windows is on first drive.

Yesterday it escalated - now it either continuously reboots or reboots randomly/unexpectedly - with no errors bluescreen or warnings.

What I've done:

• I tried to create an image (acronis TI) but got message about "MFT Bitmap corrupted on one of the partitions"
  
• I did a system restore [image restore] to before the problem - restarted okay but crashed again shortly after. Then went into rebooting cycle so I turned off the power. I presume this rules out any of the software updates being the cause).
  
• Currently running memtest86+ from a CD - first pass is error free [second pass also error free]

edit/ HARDWARE is listed in post #5 above

6761

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 07:25 AM »

I take it you've vetted your hard drives, checked their S.M.A.R.T. status and have done a surface scan. Likewise, I hope/assume you have looked into giving your memory at least one full cycle of MemTest86(+) tests.
...
Also, test the voltages your power supply gives off, especially when being stressed. (Prime95 and some benchmarking tools are nice for that.) A flakey power supply is also a good culprit for instability issues like yours.

-worstje (July 14, 2011, 04:46 AM)

worstje - you're talking to a noob here - especially when it comes to hardware stuff i.e. I havent a clue how to do anything you list - apart from the mem test, probably.
I have described above what I have done and it unfortunately doesnt include anything on your list. Memtest was the only one already suggested (I think).

Now my problem is, after a seeming okay start this morning (my last post), it crashed again shortly later - without warning, and rebooted. I just switched the power off at that stage. So, it looks like I cant run windows on it.

If you, or anyone else, could give me a tip or two about how to proceed - maybe what to begin with, dont have to spell absolutely everything out, but roughly how & what.
Many thanks in advance


[edit] memtest86+ is running (couldnt get it to work from usb so took a while to get going) [/edit]

6762

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 04:19 AM »

Back on-topic:

After my computer spring-clean, I had one clean start, then one faulty (reboot shortly after desktop showed).
But this morning I couldnt boot properly at all - it just kept rebooting.

I tried reseating the memory - no difference.

Then I dug out the acronis boot disc -
First I tried to do an image of C partition - I got the message "MFT Bitmap corrupted on one of the partitions".  I presume they meant the source partition (C) but not fully clear from message. (I have yet to google that.)

So did a restore from before problems began and had a successfull booting experience - phew...

6763

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 14, 2011, 04:12 AM »

^ Well, I had the compressed air can in one hand and the hoover in the other to try and catch some of the dust clouds.
@ 11 euro a can (CCM "Spray Duster") I can see why you'd be looking for alternatives

6764

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 13, 2011, 04:36 AM »

@tomos: I did a comparison between your Olympus E-PL2 and my Sony DSC H-55, and thought it's probably comparing apples and eggs, the E-PL2 looks rather nice.

-IainB (July 13, 2011, 01:38 AM)

that's an interesting site, good for getting the technical side of things - although they dont seem to cover very important things like how true the colour is.
The E-PL2 comes in at #15 in their list of 27 mirrorless cameras tested. But if you read in-depth reviews, you'll see things like colour being off, ergonomics not so good, etc, etc on some of those much higher up that list. It also ignores lenses...

6765

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 13, 2011, 03:32 AM »

There are way too many "f"s in photography. It means, variously:

-CWuestefeld (July 12, 2011, 05:59 PM)

I know what you mean! I used a film SLR years ago, so understood how it worked but couldn't explain it (articulately) to anyone. The aperature f number getting smaller as the aperature gets bigger is where it all starts to go pear shaped for me...

6766

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 05:20 PM »

Thanks CW

I never could get my head around the terminology - DOF means how much (depth) is in focus, but no - this reduces with the F number. So lower aperature is the first step, but I googled and found out that the distance between the subject and the background is important too:
http://mansurovs.com...obtain-maximum-bokeh
http://www.thephotof...6-how-get-bokeh.html

6767

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 05:09 PM »

BE CAREFUL with that stuff! You can do a lot of damage inadvertently.
Don't let that 'freezing' propellant get near to anything.
Also, lock the blades of the fans somehow before blasting them, you don't want to rev them faster than they're designed to go.
If you don't already, turn off all power to the machine and let the entire thing stand for a while.

-cranioscopical (July 12, 2011, 04:38 PM)

  oups! (There's lots I dont have a clue about so thanks for the advice...)
I did keep it a good distance from everything at least.
Also I had plugged everything out and earthed myself first on the heater.

You'd be better off using straws and soft-bristle, artist-style paint brushes.

-cranioscopical (July 12, 2011, 04:38 PM)

do I have to suck up the dust through the straw
... or what ?!!

6768

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 04:43 PM »

it's nice to have a camera again

6769

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 04:33 PM »

tomos, you didn't mention what you're most interested in taking pictures of. Portraits vs landscapes vs kid's soccer games vs macro all have different needs, and would benefit from different feature sets.

-CWuestefeld (July 12, 2011, 12:09 PM)

good point, I mostly take pictures out there in 'nature' - so landscapes yeah, but close up stuff too. Took some pics today outside with the Olympus E-PL2, just uploading them now.

It seems to be a good balance for what I want, quality image but small package (Pentax make very small DSLR's dont they?). The only thing that bothers me about it is if you let it hang in your hand, it does not feel secure - it's too small to have a decent relaxed grip on. But while I'm taking photos it's fine so I'll buy a hand-strap (dont like shoulder straps - have them on the camera bag already!).

I'm struggling a bit with the tech - the resolution - the amount you can enlarge the image on the LCD (14 times I think) - landscapes just look out of focus at that size...
I think the IS doesnt make up for the lightness of the camera at times - I had a couple with camera shake at 1/60.

Here's a couple of samples - just took screenshots rather than resize







the Cornflower is cropped (otherwise images not touched), could do with more blur in the back, which this lens cant offer. Not sure how much blur you can get with this sensor size, but there's a panasonic lens that's supposed to be very good that goes down to something like F/1.7 (this lens only goes to F/3.5).
I dont see myself getting lots of lenses, although this reviewer's passion for lenses is contagious (see the first portrait for a nice blurred background).

6770

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 03:37 PM »

^ thanks 4WD for that info!

well, I bought a can of compressed air and just used up the most of it on the inside of the machine - I made the mistake of starting at the bottom, and had to redo a lot of it... It actually wasnt as bad as I thought it might be, but the intake fan was really bad. It restarted fine, but fan sound is very uneven now, and louder than before or louder at the back of the machine at any rate. Maybe I should start it with the case open see if the fans working okay.

Also going to install Speedfan for a look.

If the problem recurs, I'll have a look at the memory.
Will let ye know how it gets on....

6771

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 03:28 AM »

What model/brand motherboard?

-Cloq (July 11, 2011, 07:47 PM)

Mobo: Msi p35 neo-f, intel p35, atx

Do you know if you have sata set to ahci mode?

-Cloq (July 11, 2011, 07:47 PM)

I have no idea (!) any tips how I might check?

6772

Living Room / Re: Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 12, 2011, 02:39 AM »

oups - forgot the hardware info - it was from a site where you can choose the different parts and they build it

CPU: Intel core 2 duo e4400 tray 2048kb, lga775, 64bit 100,60 € Mobo: Msi p35 neo-f, intel p35, atx 90,75 € CPU fan: Arctic freezer 7 pro sockel 775 14,17 € Memory: 2048Mb-kit ddr2 mdt , pc6400/800, cl5 70,91 € Box: Coolermaster centurion5 schw. Cac-t05-uw no PSU 44,49 € PSU: Atx-netzteil corsair vx450w 450 watt 65,00 € Graphic card: ASUS GF-7100GS Silent, 128MB, Nvidia 7100GS, PCIe 36,50 € Harddrives: Samsung hd321kj 320gb serial ata-ii, 7200 upm, 16mb 60,40 € Samsung hd321kj 320gb serial ata-ii, 7200 upm, 16mb 60,40 € DVD burner: Samsung sh-s183l bare schwarz 35,38 € Floppy Laufwerk 1.44 Mb,3.5" Schwarz 4,99 € Sound: Terratec aureon 5.1 Pci 16,40 € Modem: Devolo microl. 56K pci (bulk) pci 11,55 €

-tomos (August 09, 2007, 08:08 AM)

6773

Living Room / [HELP!!] Win XP reboots sometimes *after* startup [Any Ideas?]

« Last post by tomos on July 11, 2011, 02:31 PM »

This started about a month ago (I think after the Windows updates mid-June).

Restarting after hibernate failed sometimes - mostly it did manage to restart and show all windows, but then screen would often go black, and and it would reboot. (Sometimes one drive would be checked on reboot, see below)

So I gave up on hibernate, but I'm getting the same symptoms with a full restart! I'm not even sure if it's every time (I tend to do something else when starting from scratch, so may have missed it sometimes).

I did get one or two blue screens, I copied the message (below) and googled it with no results. Unfortunately my Dr.Watson (is that what it's called) doesnt work -due to a windows update- a MS-known problem to which there is no solution offered. That means I cannot use e.g. NirSoft's BlueScreenView to check out what the problem might be.)

0x0000008e (0xc0000005, 0x00000000, 0xb3816850, 0x00000000)

.
Often (but not always) on reboot it checks partition X -which is where temp folders are, and also where the page file is (on second drive). But I dont get any messages - i.e. it seems to be okay. Drives (two of them) sound okay but I havent checked anything.

Around about that time, I installed the following

Spoiler

==================================================
Entry Name          : GPSoftware Directory Opus
Installation Date   : 2011-06-17 12:03:18
Product Name        : Directory Opus
Uninstall String    : "C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{556DF27F-5B74-11D5-B876-004005E12EF1}\setup.exe" -runfromtemp -l0x0407  -DentalFloss -removeonly
Company             : GPSoftware
Version             : 10.0.1.0
Description         : InstallScript Setup Launcher
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder : C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{556DF27F-5B74-11D5-B876-004005E12EF1}
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : www.gpsoft.com.au
Installation Change String: "C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{556DF27F-5B74-11D5-B876-004005E12EF1}\setup.exe" -runfromtemp -l0x0407  -DentalFloss
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {556DF27F-5B74-11D5-B876-004005E12EF1}
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Adobe Reader 8.3.0
Installation Date   : 2011-06-17 09:30:56
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : MsiExec.exe /X{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A83000000003}
Company             : Adobe Systems Incorporated
Version             : 8.3.0
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://www.adobe.com
Installation Change String: MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A83000000003}
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A83000000003}
Installer           : Windows Installer
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:34:22
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : MsiExec.exe /X{C09FB3CD-3D0C-3F2D-899A-6A1D67F2073F}
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 2.2.30729
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://go.microsoft....fwlink/?LinkId=98073
Installation Change String: MsiExec.exe /I{C09FB3CD-3D0C-3F2D-899A-6A1D67F2073F}
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {C09FB3CD-3D0C-3F2D-899A-6A1D67F2073F}
Installer           : Windows Installer
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:52
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : MsiExec.exe /X{9BE518E6-ECC6-35A9-88E4-87755C07200F}
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 9.0.30729.6161
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            :
Installation Change String: MsiExec.exe /X{9BE518E6-ECC6-35A9-88E4-87755C07200F}
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {9BE518E6-ECC6-35A9-88E4-87755C07200F}
Installer           : Windows Installer
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows XP (KB2476490)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:46
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2476490$\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2476490
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows XP (KB2503665)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:41
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2503665$\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2503665
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows XP (KB2535512)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:36
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2535512$\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2535512
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows XP (KB2536276)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:31
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2536276$\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2536276
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 8 (KB2530548)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:29:26
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\ie8updates\KB2530548-IE8\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2530548-IE8
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows XP (KB2544893)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:27:41
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB2544893$\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2544893
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:27:37
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : MsiExec.exe /X{710f4c1c-cc18-4c49-8cbf-51240c89a1a2}
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 8.0.61001
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            :
Installation Change String: MsiExec.exe /X{710f4c1c-cc18-4c49-8cbf-51240c89a1a2}
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {710f4c1c-cc18-4c49-8cbf-51240c89a1a2}
Installer           : Windows Installer
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : Security Update for Windows Internet Explorer 8 (KB2544521)
Installation Date   : 2011-06-16 10:25:41
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : "C:\WINDOWS\ie8updates\KB2544521-IE8\spuninst\spuninst.exe"
Company             : Microsoft Corporation
Version             : 1
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            : http://support.microsoft.com
Installation Change String:
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : KB2544521-IE8
Installer           : Unknown
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

==================================================
Entry Name          : pdfforge Toolbar v4.4
Installation Date   : 2011-06-14 21:40:32
Product Name        :
Uninstall String    : MsiExec.exe /X{BCB52F35-4C56-49F2-A3D6-FDED54B01847}
Company             : Spigot, Inc.
Version             : 4.4
Description         :
Obsolete            : No
Installation Folder :
Uninstall           : Yes
Web Site            :
Installation Change String: MsiExec.exe /X{BCB52F35-4C56-49F2-A3D6-FDED54B01847}
Quiet Uninstall     : No
Registry Key        : {BCB52F35-4C56-49F2-A3D6-FDED54B01847}
Installer           : Windows Installer
Root Key            : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
==================================================

I really wish I had taken better notes so I could narrow it down more, but I didnt

Since then I upgraded the driver on my video card (nvidea) but that hasnt made any difference.
I thought I'd restore an image from before all this and try installing things one by one and see how I get on (or maybe that mighn't even fix the problem - if it's hardware...)

Any tips !?


Edir 2011-07-14 / added [HELP!!] to the title

6774

Living Room / Re: Looking at Cameras

« Last post by tomos on July 11, 2011, 02:01 PM »

Well, I'm on camera #4 and I better like it cause I've got no return option (private ebay sale, used camera)
And thankfully, I do like it - yeah, I got the Olympus E-PL2

What I've noticed about (digital) cameras, is that no matter what ISO you use, photos will be noisy in low light situations. But the noise in the Olympus is actually almost likeable (naturally that does depend on the extremeness of it) - I mean it can have a nice fine grain to it when it's not too extreme/not too high ISO.

I also tested the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H70 and while it's a lovely little camera - with a good lens (which was very important to me) I'm just too much of a fussy beggar and wanted a bigger sensor camera with better noise handling. Ideally I'd like both but cant afford both.

(PS anyone in Germany interested in buying a Sony DSC-H70 with about 10 photos taken on it - I screwed up on the return, and will be selling it on ebay - but trying to sell it locally first. Completely off-topic, ebay really take their cut, dont they , at a very quick look I estimated €20 for a €160 non-auction sale...)

6775

Living Room / Re: Windows Live Skydrive: Tried Anyone?

« Last post by tomos on July 11, 2011, 01:42 PM »

Whatever you think about Skdrive remember it is MS and personally I don't trust them with my data since they lost a whole pile of community websites after a server failure (and didn't have backups).

I hope they learned the lesson (I certainly did - which is why I will never trust them to look after my files again - and that includes Office 360 or Office Live).

-Carol Haynes (July 11, 2011, 07:21 AM)

who do you trust (?!)
... a sort of a rhetorical question I guess