Tripredacus

Of course! I'm not saying you are using too large of USB keys, I'm saying that sometimes Windows detects a USB key as a CD or DVD rather than a removable disk.

Of all the 16GB and 32GB USB keys I've used (there isn't many, I prefer 1GB myself) they are always detected by normal Windows 7 as a DVD_ROM in Explorer.

There doesn't seem to be much information on that Netgear model, not even a picture of what it looks like! Are all of these hybrid systems or do you have a separate DSL modem? You know, all this network hardware can work perfectly fine without having to install any software provided by the ISP.

Additional: 4. Does this ever happen with desktops? 5. Have you tried it on a desktop with a card reader installed? 6. Does this happen if no battery is installed? Also post the make/models of these notebooks. I may be able to do some testing as well.

I mixed up the model of that board. I was thinking of B85M which is an Intel board. Intel chipsets often have problems with an SSD drive if the relevant software is not installed. To my knowledge, there is no equivalent AMD software. You are right, IRST will not work on an AMD board. I don't have the board you have, but I looked at the manual for the Asus A55BM-PLUS and see it only seems to support a variable S4. Check your manual (or BIOS) under APM/Advanced Power Management to see if you have any other or similar options. You can see the different S states broken down here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface#Power_states Typically S3 (or S5 if using Hibernation) would be preferred, especially if troubleshooting a potential disk issue. In a situation where there is a problem with a hard disk, I wouldn't want to have S4 enabled at all.

Is it possible this error can be caused by a resource conflict? I broke my CPU fan trying to get it off and had to swap it to a spare I had. I also replaced the CMOS battery. As noted in a previous post, the PC prompted me to change the time and date. The old battery was measuring at ~0.4v... "New" one is at 2.7, which should be good enough for now. So back to the resource conflict, since my BIOS settings were reset earlier, and even now after replacing the battery I had to go and change my settings back. This board (D850MV) has built in LAN and audio but no video. BIOS settings changed were: - Date/Time - Disable onboard audio, parallel port, serial port - Set resume to S3 (default is S1) I got into Windows and reinstalled the video driver and the input devices. I'm not out of the woods yet. Checklist: 1. Run Memtest. I still want to do this just in case. 2. 3dMark2000 causes the PC to reset on the second (helicopter) test. 3. LCD display can be rotated 90 degrees. I set up the keyboard shortcuts in CCC, but when running a game in tate (殺陣), sound and video are choppy. 4. Saw 1 BSOL* from the Creative software saying a Math Co-Processor wasn't detected. 5. Saw 1 Windows Protection Error (black screen) on shutdown, but I initiated Shutdown during Windows startup so it may be a red herring. *BSOL = Blue Screen of Life. The type of blue screen where the "Press Any key to continue" actually works and you can still use Windows.

I went to check the CPU but silly me didn't have any new paste. It definately needs some! So a delay before I get to run memtest. I will do an HDD test if that is inconclusive.

If you were active on it, it may rule out the sleep issue, although it could be a symptom. Make sure the chipset drivers are installed. If your SATA mode is in AHCI or RAID, see if you can install the Intel Rapid Storage (IRST) software. IRST may refuse to install or open since you have a Kingston SSD. You could potentially be seeing a disk failure. I do not know how to test SSD, but a tool like this might be used: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html Wait for others on that guidance. Also check to see what your Resume setting is in the BIOS. It is the one with S3, S5, etc settings.

What brand SSD is it and what motherboard are you using?

Some have been able to modify the look of Windows 8 Setup. http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/92-setup-billboard-screens-for-windows/

As noted, the only hardware change that was made was changing to case. Of course all sorts of things could have happened in that process without anyone knowing. Since I am able to boot into Safe Mode, I was able to make a few changes in attempt to get it working, alas none have worked so far. - disable all 4 Startup applications (only 2x ATI, scanregistry and systray) - uninstalled video driver - there is no Symevnt.386 present in registry or in system.ini, no Symantec software is installed - bootlog.txt did not have any errors in it that I could see. Last entries are loading fonts (and it complains it can't load) - step-by-step went through all drivers. I have the last one I chose yes to, but I wrote it down at home. Will post later. POST sometimes will say battery is low. I will change the CMOS battery as well. I will run memtest later.

I was wondering, is it possible to configure Windows 98FE to create a memory dump on a bugcheck? Such a thing doesn't appear to be covered in my Windows 98 for Dummies book.

I can think of two commercial products, but not sure where you could get them nowadays. Macromedia Fireworks 2 Adobe Photoshop 5.5 There are some versions of Photoshop 5.x that were labelled Special or Limited Edition that were pack-ins CDs with some hardware bundles. I have one of these but I don't remember what it came with.

Well I could use the example that 512MB RDRAM was better than 2GB DDR... Anyways, when it comes to computing it really comes down to what works best for you. I'm certain there are still those out there that wish to participate in RAM stick measuring contests, but whatever works for you is just fine.

The SPD looks good. The only reason I asked for it was because you can run into RAM sticks that are re-labelled. Well I don't think your benchmark is "testing" as single channel. It either is or it isn't. AFAIK, these tools merely read the state from the BIOS. It could either be a reporting error or a reading error. I looked up Hwinfo32 and see that it has detection for single/dual/quad per chipset. On the Memory tab of CPU-Z, there is a Channel # field. When you have the mismatching pair in, what does it say? If it says Single (as I would expect) then see if there is a newer version of hwinfo32... or if that doesn't work then perhaps file a bug report? However, if CPU-Z also says dual channel with the mismatched set, then the problem might stem from the system itself.

Guess who's back! Today I had some time to fiddle with things after doing the chassis swap a couple weeks ago. First I wasn't getting any video using VGA on a tate LCD. So I tried a widescreen using DVI and nothing there. Then I reseated the video card and I got video. I had to reset the time and date. And it booted to a Fatal Exception but I didn't take note of it. So I rebooted and went into the BIOS and disabled the floppy drive because it wasn't lighting up during POST. Then I choose to boot into Safe Mode and it works. However the widescreen monitor has its own problems where it works fine if it is in the BIOS, or during boot but after a couple seconds of being in Windows, it turns off. I knew this already so it was no big deal. I then swapped over to the rate monitor and connected using DVI and it works too. I didn't fool around too much in there and restarted and chose to go into normal mode. This is the error: I'll fiddle with this more later, for now time to watch a hockey game! Post any ideas about this fatal if you have them.

Two things to note. It appears that chipset will allocate 512MB to the video controller. http://www.backoffice.be/prod_uk/Packard_Bell/pb57c00390_packard_bell_easy_note_sw51-204_turion_64_x2_tl.asp Second, in the 1+2 or 2+1 configuration, you are running in single channel. Using the matched set you are in dual channel. Some benchmark tests will show memory running in dual channel to be "faster" as can be seen here: http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3 See the MaxxMem one for example. Can you post screenshots from CPU-Z showing the SPD for each stick? Also post the model numbers physically printed on each piece for comparison.

This doesn't seem to be related to multi-boot. Did you put this in the wrong place? What happens if you use the Windows 8 32bit files?

Yes, if there is an option to download a trial, it will then provide a product key. IIRC, there is no (legitimate) way to get a key if you already have the software. The first link you posted, if you try to get the software it goes to a 404. The other ones may well work, but require registration to continue. OP will have to try those out and see if they still work.

Laptops are fairly heavy and not good for modern gaming: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=900 Notebooks, on the other hand, have been getting better, but I still wouldn't want one over a desktop when it comes to gaming.

I don't think the average desktop user's needs or wants have anything to do with what hardware becomes available. Desktop hardware seems to solely be made up of things that gamers want or need. It is possible that engineering fields also are a driver, such as any working with CAD software.

Some are forced into Skype... at least those who used MSN/Live messenger are now using Skype accounts. Reverse engineering of any system that still has active copyrights is, in most cases, illegal. That might be why.