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Of course you can replace the 1.50V Athlon with one rated for 1.65V with no risk of damage. But unless you can feed the replacement CPU with 1.65V or even 1.70V, it'll perform below specs (because you'd be starving it), so I don't think it's worth it. If your machine's BIOS config offers the option to change the Vcore, that's easy. If not, you'll need a third party (or a modded) BIOS or, in the worst case, to get a soldering iron and mod the motherboard itself (which IMO is definitely too much trouble). What provides the CPU voltage? The socket, motherboard circuitry, BIOS, power supply, or something else? Both the 1.5 V and 1.65 V CPU are identical in specs. The only difference between them is voltage. So, if I install the 1.65 V CPU into the 1.56 V-set socket, would the CPU be stable and not suffer a performance penalty? The HP BIOS either locks or hides the option to set the V Core. Soldering is too complex and expensive. I agree.

My HP A7V8X-LA motherboard has a Socket A for an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ CPU. The HP-supplied CPU runs at a low-voltage of 1.5 V. Could I safely replace the low-voltage CPU with the stock version of said CPU that runs at 1.65 V, or would this damage the CPU or motherboard? AMD, ASUS and HP did not know the answer. :roll:

I don't have any fire stories or anything cool like that, and I've honestly never made a dumb move with a PC in all my eight years. I'm too professional and boring.

Bookie is exactly right. My level of computer knowledge challenges engineers. I do things that 99.9% of users wouldn't dare. I open my power supplies, slim down Windows to barebones (every junk file, not just the easy ones), manually clean the registry.... And all without even an error message or broken component. I only come here in hopes that maybe one member has undertaken an insanely difficult project I'm working on, to get answers or confirm my theories are correct. But I ALWAYS ANSWER A QUESTION, NO MATTER HOW EASY, AFTER I RECEIVE AN ANSWER TO MY QUESTION. It's only fair. However, I try to answer the tough ones, and when I do play tech support, my answers are always professional and step-by-step, but I never receive the same treatment and am often left confused. Google only has answers to common questions. I'm the guy that innovates the question that very few people would even think of asking. Tech support always has to escalate my cases to the engineers, and even sometimes they don't know the answers. The problem is the masses are lazy and don't want to learn. They want everything done for them. They think the computer will fix itself when there's a problem, and there will be problems. They think they can buy an OEM computer and just have fun. They think they're gonna share the same experience that a user who has sacrificed 10-20 years of their life to learn software and hardware does, not because they wanted to, but because they had to, to protect the investment. WRONG! A computer is a full-time job. And if you want to be lazy and just play, then don't buy one. Live a mostly non-digital life. A person isn't stupid for asking questions. Those are called smart people. Then you have those people who play smart by never asking questions to try and look like a know-it-all. Nobody knows it all and we all need help. We are human beings, not machines with god knowledge. A computer is a very stressful and time consuming thing. You need to ask yourself one question: is a computer right for me?

Has anybody had an IDE or any other power or data cable go bad?

1. No 2. No 3. No

I say CPU, RAM, and power and data cables. Write from personal experience. There's no right or wrong answer.

Which hardware could last a lifetime: CPU? RAM? Motherboard? Monitor? CD or DVD drive or burner? Card reader? Power or data (IDE) cables? LEDs? Speakers? Expansion cards (PCI modem or graphics card)? Fans? Keyboard? Mouse?

Sure. It means input your desired data in the Find what: box and check any desired boxes in the Find dialog box.

I think I've discovered an XP Registry bug. Open Registry Editor. Search for a GUID or any other data type that you've never searched for before. Adjust the proper settings. The Registry does not find a thing. It's there, but the Registry doesn't know it. Now, repeat the process and search for any data that you know Registry Editor has found during one of your past searches. It finds it within seconds. It appears the search algorithm is flawed.

That's right. I mean, other types are good in that they'll completely protect data and partially protect hardware. For a home user, any UPS is a must-have.

?"Ten Bucks"??? And you have "best standby UPS"?I googled and the GOOD UPS are more in the range of $150-$450. And GOOD Surge Protectors roughly $50. Honestly, when the Consumer can buy a Dell (ugh!) Tower from Walmart with Win7 on it for about $400, why would they bother with that so-called "extra $10"??? Also, where would this $10-worth of components fit in a standard ATX case? In conclusion... Seriously, dude? (P.S. - certified Electronics Tech, so, no, I don't think so...) My standby UPS cost $85 and is best in class. The ten dollars I mentioned would be the ten-dollar price increase for each component. Actually, a good UPS cost thousands. This is of course a mega-watt online UPS found in servers. All other UPSes have a transfer time, so none fully protect the hardware. Not everybody owns a "generic parts" e-Machine. The power protection would be integrated into each piece of hardware, not a standalone component. I don't know if it's possible, but I'm trying to get some real answers...

Protects WHAT from WHAT? An UPS will normally do three different kind of "protection": keep the voltage at the same level in case of line peaks (generated by the mains supplier end, typically transient peaks up to 400 V) mantain power in case of voltage too low and/or power completely missing (for a given limited amount of time) filter high voltage peaks (lightning striking the power line) <-this has lmits and depends on the actual model and on a number of other factors* Some will have as a "side feature" the decoupling of data lines (telephone, fax, DSL, etc.). Good as it may be an UPS, the hardware ANYWAY gets a (very short in time) "shock" when the thingy "switches". As always happen there are good UPS's and bad ones as well as good hardware and bad hardware. An UPS generates a "fake" sinusoidal AC wave converting CC from the battery, usually a "squarewave" read (example): http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ocz-ups-battery-backup,7489.html Google for "pure sine wave". *there is something (RARE) that cannot actully AFAIK be "protected" efficiently and reliably which is the event in which a lightning strikes near you building and (wet ground and what not) raises (temporarily) the "ground" potential. When this happens, the ground which is normally and by definition @ 0V may raise (for a relatively long period, seconds, not milliseconds) to a much higher voltage, sometimes enough to fry grounded low-voltage devices The moral is always the same , use as good hardware as you can afford, protect as accurately and effectively as you can both your hardware and data, but for the latter, ANYWAY, implement the Three Golden Rules: jaclaz Seriously, no hardware is designed with built-in power protection? Is it not possible, or a common case of the "dummy engineer"? I'd gladly pay an extra ten bucks for the peace of mind. I own the best standby UPS in the business, but power protection makes me paranoid, because I don't know if it's really protecting my invaluable hardware. I've spent too much time maintaining my perfect XP box to have a spike zap my motherboard. It's really idiotic given how useful and valuable computer hardware is to us and them, the engineers don't take steps to protect it from its worst enemy: poor power.

Does any computer hardware (motherboard, CPU or RAM) have built-in power protection (brownouts, surges, spikes or blackouts)? Also, is it true that UPSes - specifically standby UPSes - only protect against data loss, but not hardware damage? I've read countless idiotic posts by "master" electricians on the subject. The manufacturers swear all UPSes protect data AND hardware, which I believe is true, because a good UPS has integrated surge protection; switches to battery in milliseconds when AC power becomes unsafe; and keeps the computer on when a blackout strikes, but what do you think?

IE8 to .NET Framework. Probably pirated Windows. nLite successfully integrates all XP critical, security and updates, right? No Windows components, though.

I've read a lot of problems with add-ons. Some work for a while and then break. Some work for some users but not others. Do you think the risk is really worth the hassle?

Yeah, I edited it 'cause I found some answers. Can a Windows update for a certain add-on, say, IE8 cause that add-on to break in the future? I already have your site bookmarked for future Windows integration.

If an update type is incompatible with nLite, will the program pop up an error dialog box informing the user, or silently fail without knowledge until you attempt to install the OS, which will fail as a result?

Deen, just read your PM. You're welcome. Getting help and giving help is the purpose of MSFN. Nobody can do it alone. But when we work together, there isn't a Windows problem we can't fix. I know things they don't. They know things I don't. We need each other to accomplish our goals.

CoolerMaster said it was electrically compatible, too. I'm buying it.

1. Restart PC and repeatedly press F8 at manufacturer's splash screen to enter Windows Safe Mode. 2. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder. 3. Locate dotnetfx.dll and click it. Then press Shift + Delete and click OK. 4. Click Start button in lower-left-hand corner next to Taskbar. 5. Click Turn Off Computer > Restart.

It's a good thing I ask the questions Google can never answer. Good work, gang. I'm sure it'll help a lot of people wanting to keep their Windows disc patch-updated. Does WUD support all Windows updates, such as IE8 and .NET Framework, or just critical OS updates? And if an update type is incompatible with either WUD or nLite, will the respective program pop up an error dialog box informing the user, or silently fail without knowledge until you attempt to install the OS, which will fail as a result?

That's an impressive site, X. But I'd like to know how you determine if an update is obsolete? What data do you look at?

Why don't any of the KB000000 registry keys contain data for the Installed On REG_SZ?

It says it's for only critical updates? Can't it find and download IE8 and all the other updates, too?