Computer issues, Viruses, trojans, crashes, install problems etc Options

[ghastley]

So my main question, am I safe in assuming most modern hard drives have the same inputs?

Yes, but those are not modern hard drives, so a new one will not use the same cables. Those are IDE, and everything these days is SATA. On the newer drives the larger plug is for the power and the small one is the data connection!

You may be able to get an IDE replacement drive.

[SubRosa]

#1. Those are connectors for two different cables. The small one is going to be a SATA data cable, the large one a SATA power cable. Here is a page with pictures of the various types of hard drive cables. Yours looks like the very first.

#2. I would go with whatever is cheapest between Seagate and Toshiba. I have had both, and others, over the years. I have never really noticed any difference between them.

I suggest looking at your current hard drive and getting the make and model, and looking that up to verify the physical size of the drive, and its connectors. It sounds like you have a SATA drive, which has been standard for a long while now. But they do come in different physical sizes. Solid state drives are faster, but are also physically smaller (2.5 inches). You need a little plastic adapter to mount them in a standard hard drive bay (which is 3.5 inches). Like one of these. If you don't have one of those little adapters, you will need to buy one for the new drive. You can probably get one at the same place you get your hard drive. I am sure Micro Center has them (and believe they have a store near you).

#3. I have been using Windows 10 Home for a over a year now on my gaming PC, and for longer on my other PCs. I have not had any real trouble with it. It looks different from Windows 7. But I use a couple of programs that allow you to revert the start menu and explorer view back to whatever previous style of Windows you prefer. Open Shell Menu allows you to change the Start Menu. OldNewExplorer does the same with Windows Explorer. Both are free. With the two of them, it is just like using Windows 7.

[Renee]

Correct, my drive is SATA. Says so right on the back.


I actually just figured how to take the drive out myself. The little screw which holds it in place was a toughie, but I got it. Hey, in a way it's good all this is happening. You all really are right; it's not so hard to build these things, it seems.

Gonna head to Micro Center tomorrow after work. I'll show some tech my old drive. Cool thing about MC is they have classes there. I assume he or she'll be able to point me in the right direction.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jul 21 2024, 10:29 PM

[Lena Wolf]

All that screwing and unscrewing... Good going, Renee! BUT: are you grounded?

What I mean is whether you are wearing a grounding wristband? Otherwise you may fry your electronics because we humans are "bags of almost water" and therefore highly conductive.

I'm only nagging about this because I fried my RAM once... that was a lot more expensive than a wristband. You can get them anywhere, they are also called anti-static wristbands or wrist straps. They are cheap. You basically connect yourself to a radiator which is assumed to be earthed.

[Renee]

Thank you. Yikes, that sounds scary.

Well what I've been doing is putting my palm flat onto the case before going into it. I read that somewhere. It removes static electricity, something like that. Maybe tomorrow when I go to the computer store I'll ask if they have one of these wristbands as well.

I'm really messed up about Windows 7 versus 10 though. Can't decide which way to go. Maybe I make a poll.

[haute ecole rider]

Couple of things about working with open computers:

DO NOT WEAR ANYTHING POLYESTER!!!! Make sure all your clothing is 100% cotton or other natural fiber (plant fiber). Or if you're ghastley, nothing at all . . .

STAY OFF CARPET AND RUGS!!! Work on your computer in a room with a hard surface floor.

Even the slightest static zing (the kind we can't feel) will fry a computer component.

Always ground yourself before touching any components. I've always touched a part of the metal frame of my computer before unplugging it (the plug grounds you).

I've been able to swap out hard drives, RAM cards and even graphics cards without zapping my beloved beastie (RIP - obsolescence finally caught up).

As for Win 7 and Win 10, I find both to be quite stable on my Macs - Win 7 ran flawlessly in BootCamp on my Intel Macs, and my current Mac Studio (Apple Silicon chip) runs Win 10 ARM under Parallels beautifully - I've got Skyrim with over 500 mods running nicely at the moment. I did run Oblivion (GOG) on it as well, so that's that. That leads me to the belief that both are solid OS's, but you have to have solid hardware to run them - no trying to run them on aging equipment or you'll have problems. Hopefully that'll help you make your decision, Renee!

[Renee]

Awesome, thanks rider. I don't think I'll be working on my computers like the ghast. But otherwise, I think we're good.

That does shock me though, what y'all are saying about a mere tiny spark of static causing an entire component to fail.

[mirocu]

Just a minor complaint.


I've copied over Duke Nukem 3D and Wolfenstein 3D from my Windows 3.1 to my Windows Millennium and while Duke saves/loads normally and the music is as it should, not the same can be said about Wolf. Not only didn't the highscores transfer over, new entries don't get saved. Moreover the music in Wolf doesn't sound as it should but it does in Duke. However, savegames in Wolf transferred fine and work as they should. I have no idea as to why all this is.

[Renee]

Assuming nobody here at Chorrol knows what the answer is, and you haven't got a specific forum to ask questions, literally start with Google. Or Bing. Or whatever worldwide search engine you use & trust.

> By 'specific forum' I mean a Wolfenstein forum. Or whoever makes Wolfenstein. Assuming the forum is still active, somebody there is going to know an answer, or at least a direction to start.

> But maybe you can't find a forum like this. Next thing to try is one of those search engines. Because you're starting off broadly. "wolfenstein high score missing" is what I would type. You'll probably get all sorts of answers, so narrow down toward the ones which seem to fit your conundrum.

I've become the Queen of Diagnoses over the years, so hope that helps.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jul 30 2024, 03:23 PM

[stargelman]

STAY OFF CARPET AND RUGS!!! Work on your computer in a room with a hard surface floor.

Except if it is cork. Avoid cork at all costs. Cork is at least as bad as a polyester carpet. I am guessing that is because cork causes friction (it's not all that smooth) and it is particularly bad at conducting electricity. I used to have cork flooring, and I used to get zapped real bad especially during winter when the air was dry.

[mirocu]

Thanks, Renee. I don't actually look for an answer since I don't think I'll get it to work anyway, and it isn't any sort of deal breaker. I just wanted to vent

Actually have a sound problem with Red Baron too so I guess it may be sound card related and/or Windows Millennium related. Probably both. It's interesting how Duke works 100% and the other DOS games don't though.

[macole]

Actually have a sound problem with Red Baron too so I guess it may be sound card related and/or Windows Millennium related. Probably both. It's interesting how Duke works 100% and the other DOS games don't though.

What are you using for sound? if you have a Sound Blaster 16 laying around, I would pop it in and see what happens. I skipped Windows Millennium so I'm just taking a shot.

[Renee]

2). I also notice my new card's GPU temperature falls to about 40C at the lowest, when no game is playing. While gaming it rises into the 50s. Granted, I'm only playing Baldur's Gate right now. But that minimal temp... it never dips below 40, even when the game is off... Is this okay?

My intuition here was correct. For some reason the fans in my brand-new graphics card weren't coming on. Drivers installed? Yes. I noticed the fans do come on briefly while my computer's powering up, so it's not a power issue. But they wouldn't work while gaming!

I had to install Afterburner to MANUALLY turn the fans on. So they're working now, but is this normal? I don't think it is.

Yeh, now that I've got the Afterburner program displayed, my GPU temp is 30.4C while idle instead of over 40.

This post has been edited by Renee: Aug 1 2024, 02:29 AM

[mirocu]

Actually have a sound problem with Red Baron too so I guess it may be sound card related and/or Windows Millennium related. Probably both. It's interesting how Duke works 100% and the other DOS games don't though.

What are you using for sound? if you have a Sound Blaster 16 laying around, I would pop it in and see what happens. I skipped Windows Millennium so I'm just taking a shot.

I don't have it myself but maybe I can find it somewhere. I doubt it, though.


Not sure what soundcard I have on the Millennium now, btw.

[ghastley]

I am having fun with the HP support site. I wanted to find out if the laptop I intend to use in the UK meets minimum ESO spec. It appears that if your warranty has expired, you can't get far enough into the site to inquire whether your warranty has expired. It doesn't simply tell you that, but it says your serial number is invalid.

However, it appears that the lowest configuration of that model should be OK. It is running Win 10 64-bit, has at least 4G ram, and the only doubt is the video spec. We will find out heuristically on Monday. The machine is already there, and I only have the box in the USA.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 3 2024, 07:47 PM

[Acadian]

Good luck!

[Renee]

Funny, I just got an HP myself, with 4GB of ram. Not using it for gaming though; it's for work and also writing / surfing when I'm not in my room.

My previous laptop died this week after 6 years of service. It's a cheapie laptop, one of those Google Chrome deals. Literally just internet and some basic storage. The advantage: it was so cheap I could just leave it around at work, even in public places. My newer laptop is a couple steps up, so gotta be more careful.

[ghastley]

Since the empirical answer to "will this laptop run ESO" was no, I now have a new one, for which the answer is yes,

Nevada is an ASUS A15 with an AMD Ryzen 5 7535 CPU, and nVidia RTX4060 GPU 16G RAM and an annoying lighted keyboard I am still trying to set to less annoying. The mouse is misbehaving, too.

But I can play and get onto discord at last. Wheee!