The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[Spitfire]

It's probably also full of garbage SJ, like unnecessary Windows files/spyware/crapware etc, so perhaps a run through with 'CCleaner' or 'Advanced System Care' etc would be a good idea along with a good defrag too. This will probably help on the speed front too.

Maybe a run through with a 'File Shredder' too is in order, unless of course you are going to wipe it.

[buksida]

Is the following desktop PC any good? not bad? not worth the effort? worth using with a few upgrades?

Dell Dimension 2400, CPU Celeron 2.60GHz, 256MB RAM

A Celeron with so little RAM will be woefully slow at doing anything, the spec is about 5 years old making the machine worth no more than about 4-5 grand max.

For todays computing 2 gigs of RAM are recommended, I wouldn't look twice at that spec SJ.

[Super Joe]

A Celeron with so little RAM will be woefully slow at doing anything, the spec is about 5 years old making the machine worth no more than about 4-5 grand max.

For todays computing 2 gigs of RAM are recommended, I wouldn't look twice at that spec SJ.

Sorry I should have been clear, I got the thing already it came with us from UK, and your right about age it's 5/6 years old. I was asking really to see if worth spending money on the thing to get it going or bin it.

Anyway I got 1GB RAM card this evening so will give that a go. Dell says it can run upto 2GB RAM, if this one works could I then replace the factory fitted 256MB card with another 1GB one, or does that have to stay for any reason?

Anyway I'm struggling a bit at the moment with this memory card, taken it out the box and realised its not designed for my USB multi-slot card reader, it looks like something that would feel more at home inside a computer. I've tried throwing it lightly (under-arm of course) at the front of the tower unit where all the slots are but it just seems to bounce off, should I be taking a run up?

Anyone know where you can get the 'cheaper' software options in town, the lad in the night market I used to go to ages ago wasn't there?

Cheers,
SJ

For info the Kingston 1GB DDR1-RAM, 333MHz, was 1,450 Baht from JIB on 3rd floor OLD shopping mall, saw me coming?

[buksida]

Anyway I'm struggling a bit at the moment with this memory card, taken it out the box and realised its not designed for my USB multi-slot card reader, it looks like something that would feel more at home inside a computer. I've tried throwing it lightly (under-arm of course) at the front of the tower unit where all the slots are but it just seems to bounce off, should I be taking a run up?

Anyone know where you can get the 'cheaper' software options in town, the lad in the night market I used to go to ages ago wasn't there?

Cheers,
SJ

For info the Kingston 1GB DDR1-RAM, 333MHz, was 1,450 Baht from JIB on 3rd floor OLD shopping mall, saw me coming?

Yeah, it will be a green microchip looking thing that needs to replace the one that is in there - someone needs to have the back off and do some fiddling! Price sounds ok, laptop RAM is more expensive than desktop anyway.

Never bought software in town - the torrent sites provide everything you need. Gimme a PM if you need any help.

[redzonerocker]

Anyway I'm struggling a bit at the moment with this memory card, taken it out the box and realised its not designed for my USB multi-slot card reader, it looks like something that would feel more at home inside a computer.

on the dimension 2400 the side panel slides off horizontally for easy access.
you'll see the memory card that's already in there quite easily, just pull it out of it's slot & put the new one in.
it's not overly technical, even for a spud

[Super Joe]

Thanks all, will give it a go later today.



SJ

[pharvey]

I've just bought a Seagate ''GoFlex'' 2TB external drive which connects to a WiFi router so I can access files from multiple computers/media center....... a nice piece of kit. However: -

Having had it sent via the UK office where I had numerous documents, drawings etc. put on..... I can't get get it set-up properly A colleague set the system up in the UK office without issue.

I've downloaded the necessary drivers, software etc. and run through the setup. My computer picks up that the drive is there (through the software provided), and can tell me that 18.4GB of memory have been used. What I can't do however is see the drive or view files etc. in ''Windows Explorer" - I have an error message ''WIN32_ERROR''. I've checked through the web and on the customer services website for Seagate, but with zero luck. A real pain in the @rse, as I cannot do anything with the damn thing until I can resolve this.

I'm trying to setup on my Lenevo T500 running on Windows 7 Ultimate - if anybody could shed some light or has any ideas on how to resolve/move forward, it would be very much appreciated.

[buksida]

Try going into disk management and seeing what info Windows has on the drive:

Right click My Computer > Manage > Storage, Disk Management

It will show you all of the drives connected to the machine and their status, it could be that W7 is not recognising the drive properly.

[pharvey]

Try going into disk management and seeing what info Windows has on the drive:

Right click My Computer > Manage > Storage, Disk Management

It will show you all of the drives connected to the machine and their status, it could be that W7 is not recognising the drive properly.

Thanks for the response buksida....

Tried, and no - not recognised/being picked up........ any ideas on how to move forward?

[buksida]

Does anything for that drive show up? Have you tried it on another machine, such as one running XP?

It must be showing something as you stated it said 18.4 Gigs of space was used.

[pharvey]

Does anything for that drive show up? Have you tried it on another machine, such as one running XP?

It must be showing something as you stated it said 18.4 Gigs of space was used.

Hi Buksida

I've not tried on anything other than Windows 7, however the guy who put the files on originally has used both XP and W7 without issue.

Yes, I see 18.4 Gigs is being used, but this is through the ''Seagate Dashboard", which was additional software downloaded from a CD with the Drive. When trying to view files through the ''Dashboard'', I get the error message ''Error occurred while processing command (error code: WIN32_ERROR)''. I cannot see the drive through Windows Explorer or through the ''Disc Management'' as you suggested to try.

[buksida]

Can you remove it from the case and plug it into the computer direct? If it is still not recognised by the BIOS or Windows I would suggest booting to a Ubuntu CD to backup the data, then reformatting the drive as NTFS.

[pharvey]

Can you remove it from the case and plug it into the computer direct? If it is still not recognised by the BIOS or Windows I would suggest booting to a Ubuntu CD to backup the data, then reformatting the drive as NTFS.

Thanks again......

Can you remove it from the case and plug it into the computer direct?

Possibly, this I need to check although I'm not convinced.

If it is still not recognised by the BIOS or Windows I would suggest booting to a Ubuntu CD to backup the data, then reformatting the drive as NTFS.

Uuuuuuuuuuhhh.... Know what BIOS is and Windows!! Lost me at Ubuntu and what the hell to do sorry...... For the likes of me, you need to tell it as it is, layman's terms

[buksida]

Ubuntu is a version of Linux that you can download for free, burn to a CD, and use it to boot your computer when Windows is playing up. It can run entirely from the CD and won't change any of your Windows installation or files ... it is very handy for fault diagnosis and will probably read the hard drives that Windoze wont.

www.ubuntu.com

[pharvey]

Ubuntu is a version of Linux that you can download for free, burn to a CD, and use it to boot your computer when Windows is playing up. It can run entirely from the CD and won't change any of your Windows installation or files ... it is very handy for fault diagnosis and will probably read the hard drives that Windoze wont.

http://www.ubuntu.com

Many thanks - somewhat clearer! I'll take a look tomorrow when (hopefully) clear work-wise AND clearheaded.