Archived CalgaryPuck Computer Help Thread

[arsenal]

Hmm... looks like I am going to be rebuilding my laptop this weekend.. fun fun. I guess the good thing is I got all the stuff off here that I wanted to keep yesterday..

thanks for your help guys.

[Bobblehead]

You can try to get a Linux live CD and see if it can read that partition.

It may even be able to rebuild the MBR

[arsenal]

I tried a windows partition doctor tool. It found the partition i lost, but it couldn't read the partition that is actually working. Plus it thought the rest of the partition was ext3 which is weird.. I think PM really screwed up my laptop...

I thought of using GParted, but it might just be easier to start from scratch and set up the partitions that I want.

oh well, it's probably time to rebuild anyway.. hehe.

[Bobblehead]

ext3?

Was partition Magic thinking it was creating a Linux partition? Weird.

[arsenal]

I dunno.. well it found my "system" partition as ntfs but it also found 2 other 7mb partitions inside of where my "data" partion should have been. And those 2 other partitions where ext3. And it didn't find my "data" ntfs partition.

[Bobblehead]

If it is a laptop then perhaps what Partition Magic found was the recovery partition (I HATE those because now you need to pay for recovery media if you actually want to use the whole drive).

[arsenal]

Hope not.
Well, I am going to start the re-install.. hopefully my drive isn't completely fubar.. i'll let you know how things turn out.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Mccree

Thanks again. I want to do b) using a virtual machine such as Virtual PC but I do not know how to load win 98 on the virtual pc without a floppy drive. I know how to do it with a floppy but the win98 cd have is not a bootable one.

I think making a bootable cd will work and will try your link

Ahh. Use a CD Burning software to create a bootable ISO image with Win98 on it (there are guides on the interweb for that). Then load that image as the cd to boot in Virtual PC. That should get you going.

[MoneyGuy]

I sit on the board of directors for a facility that attracts patrons who have lots of spare time in the building during visits. I've asked whether we could set up wireless Internet access for patrons to use their own laptop computer during this down time. I've been told that the facility feels there is risk to the facility should someone use the Internet from their facility for inappropriate purposes.

I don't agree with this and would like to hear some opinions on whether I'm right. There are many facilities now where you can go and use their wireless Internet server where there is the possibility of inappropriate use and they don't seem to be concerned about such "risk." Even cities are setting up free wireless Internet seemingly without concern for such "risk."

The facility I'm associated with is a public facility. Is their concern justified???? Maybe the fact that it's a public facility is the reason for such concern.

????

[photon]

A lawyer could probably better address the liability portion of it, but it's easy to think of things that people could do with an open internet connection:

-Hack other people's computers, or use the connection to hack somewhere else
-Send spam emails
-Download illegal materials (child porn, hate materials, etc)
-etc...

Much of this could be mitigated with filters and such that block non-desired sites in the same way companies do, but of course people can get around those.

And even if they use it for inappropriate purposes, what's the downside? If there's a real legal risk then sure, but if there's no risk (ie if it's open and the lawyers think that absolves you of risk), then what's the difference?

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I sit on the board of directors for a facility that attracts patrons who have lots of spare time in the building during visits. I've asked whether we could set up wireless Internet access for patrons to use their own laptop computer during this down time. I've been told that the facility feels there is risk to the facility should someone use the Internet from their facility for inappropriate purposes.

I don't agree with this and would like to hear some opinions on whether I'm right. There are many facilities now where you can go and use their wireless Internet server where there is the possibility of inappropriate use and they don't seem to be concerned about such "risk." Even cities are setting up free wireless Internet seemingly without concern for such "risk."

The facility I'm associated with is a public facility. Is their concern justified???? Maybe the fact that it's a public facility is the reason for such concern.

????

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by llama64

Ahh. Use a CD Burning software to create a bootable ISO image with Win98 on it (there are guides on the interweb for that). Then load that image as the cd to boot in Virtual PC. That should get you going.

Perfect I wil give it a try

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I sit on the board of directors for a facility that attracts patrons who have lots of spare time in the building during visits. I've asked whether we could set up wireless Internet access for patrons to use their own laptop computer during this down time. I've been told that the facility feels there is risk to the facility should someone use the Internet from their facility for inappropriate purposes.

I don't agree with this and would like to hear some opinions on whether I'm right. There are many facilities now where you can go and use their wireless Internet server where there is the possibility of inappropriate use and they don't seem to be concerned about such "risk." Even cities are setting up free wireless Internet seemingly without concern for such "risk."

The facility I'm associated with is a public facility. Is their concern justified???? Maybe the fact that it's a public facility is the reason for such concern.

????

you're responsible for what people use your network for. Its no different then people leaching off your home network. The traffic can only be traced back to an IP for the most part.

Most cities that are setting up the free Wi-Fi are putting filters on it to filter the content. And if they're aren't doing that a lot of them are logging the traffic to see what sites are being visited.

[cSpooge]

Guys I need some help. My desktop just shut off on me randomly and now it wont boot at all. When I try to boot it up the onboard LED blinks 6 or 7 times then stays solid for almost a second. Its an ASUS A8N-E mobo (I think its a mobo problem personally). Anyone got any ideas?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

Guys I need some help. My desktop just shut off on me randomly and now it wont boot at all. When I try to boot it up the onboard LED blinks 6 or 7 times then stays solid for almost a second. Its an ASUS A8N-E mobo (I think its a mobo problem personally). Anyone got any ideas?

Hmmm, well, pretty sure all mobo error codes are beep codes so I don't think the LED is trying to tell you anything. You are reffering to the LED on the motherboard or the one that indicates disk activity?

Does it POST?

It's been my experience that stuff like this usualy indicates a bad power supply. Many times I have assumed that my mobo is gone only to find that a new power supply was the solution.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Hmmm, well, pretty sure all mobo error codes are beep codes so I don't think the LED is trying to tell you anything. You are reffering to the LED on the motherboard or the one that indicates disk activity?

Does it POST?

It's been my experience that stuff like this usualy indicates a bad power supply. Many times I have assumed that my mobo is gone only to find that a new power supply was the solution.

the LED on the mobo is what I mean... it won't even POST ... I just got a new power supply at the begining of the summer as well so hopefully that isn't the problem.

[wooohooo]

Howdy,

So I just got my laptop a week ago and in my apartment there are a few of us that use this unsecured connection (don't know why) so that internet doesn't cost that much. I haven't had any problems with this internet ever before, my other computer works fine without disconnecting, same with my sisters laptop.

However, the new laptop that I just got has a bad habit of randomly disconnecting from the internet. This disconnect is a very brief one - it'll sign me out of msn and reconnect but if I press the connect button it will connect instantly. I also do play my fair share of online video games and have been constantly disconnecting. If I am surfing the net there is no problem... just msn and video games.

As I thought it was the computer itself, I went over to a friends house and the university but no disconnects... worked perfectly!
So then I thought it was probably my internet, so my friend came over with his laptop and he got no problems.


Any clues in how I should fix this? I have Windows Vista Home premium.
I have updated my bios, video card, wireless card.. all the updates I could do, turned off the firewall. Not sure what else there is for me to do.

Thanks in advance!

[Cerebral]

Hey guys, I am looking to purchase a new PC (something decent that is under $1000) and a friend of mine has been raving about Acers. I know a decent amount about computers but not a lot about Acers - would purchasing one be a good move? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

As an example, is this one any good in your view?

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

If you feel Acers are junk, do you have any other recommendations for a computer around $1000? Also, would I be wrong in assuming that Core 2 is better than AMD Dual Core?

[Bobblehead]

Some Acers are good, some are crap. It varies widely model by model. The best idea is to search on the model you are interested in and see if there are many issues (note: a search will always find people who are unhappy - those are the ones who post looking for help. Read their responses (from techs, if possible) to get the best idea of quality).

And when it comes to mobile computing Intel processors have been the best for quite a while.

[Vulcan]

From what I know, that computer has a great processor but if you are into gaming the built in video card isn't up to much. Everything else looks good and you can always upgrade the video card. Depends on what you are going to use your computer for or you can be like me and aim for close to the best just because.

[MoneyGuy]

Just got a message from "Bank of Montreal" that my on-line account has been shut down because of several unsuccessful log-ons. I don't use on-line access (my wife does but she's out of the province and unavailable; she can tell me if she's still able to log in). They want me go to a site to create a new account, which I will not do until I know this is safe. I don't know if this is legit or a phishing attempt. I could call BMo but getting through to banks is very annoying. Is there any way to tell from this URL if this site is legit or bogus? I don't know what the hevec.nl/desite part is all about. Anyone know?

http://hevec.nl/desite/http://www.bmo.com/index.htm