DennisD

Yeah, reformatting wouldn't have solved a hardware problem, but it would have eliminated a software one, and saved me carting my pc back to PCWorld for nothing. Imagine how embarrassing that would have been. The Opera problem was really different. As soon as I double clicked the Opera icon I got the message "can't find server", although it never even tried to launch my broadband connection, and I'm definitely not going there again. Firefox launched my broadband service, was trying to connect, but hung just before the "registering your computer on the network" point, and occasionally connected. Binning FF 2.0.0.6 and reinstalling FF 2.0.0.4 immediately solved the connection problem for me, and I kid you not, my browsing speed has increased dramatically as a result. Why? No idea. It might not work for all, but it worked for me. Thanks for your input Humpty, "shell hardware detection service" is running and set to auto. I flushed DNS with Dial a Fix, and I've been using OpenDNS for some time now. I reverted to "obtain DNS server address automatically", and back to "openDNS", but neither option made a difference. Changing Firefox version made an immediate difference. Definitely worth a try, but don't blame me if it doesn't work. But if it does, please come back and tell everybody. And I've still no idea what happened to my CD/DVD drive, or why it started working perfectly again. Possibly reinstalling all the preinstalled drivers may have needed a few reboots to make a difference. Important thing is it's working. Thanks for all your input, appreciated.

Hi Glenn, I could be completely wrong here, but I recollect the message as saying "cannot be restored to ***, because no changes have been made to your system". Two completely different meanings, and I aint running it again to find out if I was reading something that wasn't there. Thanks for the info, I will check it out, but truth be told I don't trust this feature, and would rather do a reinstall and start with a clean slate. Hazel gave me a forum to check out, and when I see the problems System Restore can cause, and being fortunate enough to have a recovery partition, a reinstall is definitely my preferred option.

Enjoyed reading that page. These guys are timeless: Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner has to be one of my all time favourites.

Time for change:

This afternoon, I was at the stage of doing that, for the very reasons you say. I even got right to the point of pressing the key for a Destructive Recovery. And as mentioned I think in the other thread, I just thought I'd stick a cd in again, just in case. I really couldn't face downloading all those windows updates etc again. And lo and behold, the drive was working perfectly again. I have no idea why, and everything is working great now. Computers.

One thing I've learned over the last few months, some things you just can't figure. I'm only keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping that the problem wasn't something else. I'd hate to be back at square one. Hope everything keeps on working for you. Going off on a slight tangent here, I still can't get Opera to connect to the internet no matter what I do. The Opera forums can't even figure that one out, and I'm not the only one with that puzzler.

I've got 3 primary and 3 secondary channels, which fortunately were all set to DMA, as I wouldn't have known which of the pesky ones to pick. I'm not winding you up here, but it's years since I've heard that word. Used to hear that a lot in old westerns, "pesky varmit" etc.. Sadly, words like that have been overwhelmed by the too often used 4 letter varieties. Can you imagine it in a pub argument: "Are you looking for bother, you pesky varmit!" Doesn't quite work does it.

No such thing as a stupid question lotse, stupid answers maybe, and I've been there. Tried everything today. Reinstalled modem drivers, verified my username and password. Everything configured right. Nothing worked until went back to FF 2.0.0.4. I'm still Firefox 100%, but there must have been something about that version, or one of the add ons. Truth be told, I'm only bothered that it's working now for whatever reason, and I hope as few people as possible get the same problem. Off topic slightly, did you like the chess program? I'll go back to that thread when I've tried those bitbases or whatever you call them.

Well, if you like making people happy, I'm thinking of banking online, and I've got this bank loan I'd like removing. Can you fix that?

Hi John, I've got something for you, I'll pm it.

Didn't know any of that stuff Andavari, thanks for the tip. All set for DMA as it happens.

Information only guys: Been having a few problems last couple of days with cd/dvd drive and connecting to the internet, Drive problem sorted itself out somehow, but been really struggling to get connected today, and when connected, could not find any servers 99% of the time. As a last resort, decided to uninstall the latest Firefox. I've no idea if this was really the cause, but since reinstalling Firefox 2.0.0.4 (always keep installer packages), I'm connecting immediately, and web pages are jumping onto the screen. Was this FF 2.0.0.6 to blame, or one of the add ons? I have no idea, and I couldn't be arsed to try and elliminate them one by one. The only addon I have at the moment is Flashblock, and I intend to keep it this way for now. I'm not even installing a theme. I've no doubt FF 2.0.0.6 is working fine for some of you, but if you get similar problems, it's a good place to start. Hope this is useful.

Thanks Hazel, I'll bear that in mind, and apologies to you guys for going off topic for so long in this thread. Fingers crossed, everything working ok for now.

Just installed them as normal, using Zsoft to track the install. Try the stuff first with Returnil, and if I like the program I reboot and install normally. When I first started using Returnil, after rebooting to get rid of something, I searched the registry for any traces of it, although I knew there shouldn't be any, and it does as it says, nothing goes onto your hard drive. So in the last month I've installed Adobe Reader 8.1, Karens backup app , Spyware Blaster, MedaJoin, AudioGrabber, Sensorview Pro, Digital Guitar Tuner, Burrrn, Panda AntiRootKit, IObit Smart Defrag, Ultra Defrag, Photo Commander. And System Restore tells me my system hasn't changed. Windows XP installed, and I tried System Restore in safe mode. Still wouldn't have it. Edit: Tried System Restore in stages. Went back a through restore points from a couple of days ago to about a month.

The three last occasions I've tried System Restore, today being the latest, I've been told that my system hasn't changed. I tried to go back a month, having installed half a dozen apps since then, but it wouldn't have it. I'd like to disable it this time, as there's no benefit coming from it. Is there any other purpose to system restore apart from not restoring your system?

Both of you?

Can you imagine it coming charging out of the trees at someone with a cigarette in their mouth. Love to see that.

Don't you just love computers. Tried to do a system restore back about a month. Wouldn't do it, says nothing has changed. I've installed at least half a dozen apps since then. However, being an optomist, I thought I'd just stick a cd in just in case the gremlin had vacated the premises. You can guess what happened. Bloody thing played perfectly. I think I'll still check how long I've had this pc, as something happened, and may happen again. I'm sure it's less than a year old. Still taking an age to connect to the internet, still haven't quite sorted that one yet. Anyway, thanks Hazel, and firery for the input. Fingers crossed.

No specific error number or anything, just the standard window that comes up saying "windows has closed this application to protect your pc", and the standard "send error report" etc., the program on this occasion being windows explorer. I have made one discovery, audio devices don't work in safe mode, and I assume that's normal. Will look in the event viewer. Tried the cd in standalone player, works fine. I take your point that it could still be a hardware fault even though it passed every test, as everything I try to play (original cd's and dvd's) just play very slowly with poor sound, although I'm puzzled why the Divx played ok with ok sound off a dvd.

Everything working ok until last night when I burned off a cd using Burrrn. Tried to play the cd, and every app I tried (winamp, media player, real player), just kept hanging. Thought it was a duff copy, so tried an original cd. Played, but was playing slowly, with clicking noises evident in both channels. Tried a DVD, that also played very slowly and jerky with s**t sound. Tried a Divx movie on disk, played perfectly, with perfect sound.. Tried playing music and Movies from Hard Drive, and they all played perfectly. I also started having real problems connecting to the web. Actions so far: Scanned for everything. Reinstalled modem drivers. Reinstalled via Compaq Application Recovery, all drivers that were preinstalled on purchase. Edit: CD/DVD drive passed every test with pc doctor. Weird. Connecting to web ok (for now), CD/DVD drive still the same. Almost forgot, Windows Explorer kept closing down to "protect my pc". Any ideas?

This little app might be just what you're looking for JD: Quick Sound Switch V2.11. Never tried it of course, but it might do the job.

Don't like flying, so floating is definitely out.

What's wrong with number two? Random thought. When is number one a number two, and number two a number one? Told you it was random.

No idea why this happens, but it's happened a few times over the last few months. Occasionally, and quite suddenly, the CPU just maxes out and the fans have to go into overdrive to cool it down. On each occasion it's been kbd.exe and one of the svchost.exe's apparently fighting to see which one can use more cpu power than the other. Stopping kbd.exe in task manager immediately cures the problem. This process only controls keyboard shortcuts/actions, and the only thing I actually lose with it disabled, is visual info on the screen when I use a keyboard shortcut. Trouble with disabling this, is my daughter has a habit of turning the volume way up to use the puny monitor speakers, and I plug my headphones in later and almost blow my eardrums apart. Posting this really for info in case one of you guys gets the same symptoms, as I don't think there's a fix for it. However I would be happy to be contradicted on that. I'm gonna look for a small volume control app (visible one), and disable this permanently.