Wow, Having this PC trouble for like a year now

command prompts... do you mean dos? try just goggling for it.

 

alright---

so a question about add or remove programs in windows, you see, I installed this game that doesn't work, but I set the directory for "Program Files" thinking that the game will create a foulder for itself, well I was kinda mistaken. This game doesn't work, so I wanna delete it through Add or Remove, and holy ****! This game is 46GB in size!! I wanted to remove it, then just out of curiosity I decided to check the size of "program files", and guess what, it's 46GB!! So I basically can't delete this game without deleting half of my data? Holy crap, that sucks!

Yeah and the game doesn't work cuz in instructions it says to install DirectX and VS Credist or something (m$ C++ Redistributable 2005) and I do that and the game just doesn't launch x_x .....

 

Sounds like it used the already created "progam files" as it's folder,look inside it if there's any icons inside it that are loose delete them,the program files folder should only show a stack of sub folders which each installed proggy places it's icons into,before deleting anything create a restore point or just use system restore to go back before the install assuming syst restore works,then just use ccleaner to get rid of any unused entries,or you could just do a reformat & fresh install

next time you want to try some software & so long as the program does'nt require a restart go install this http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/index_files/rvspersonal.htm

returnil will put windows into a virtual drive,when you exit windows any changes are automatically deleted as you don't actually change anything as nothing is written to the hdd.


OK
Direct x should be 9c for xp as it's the latest,as for the redist pack,all you need do is update windows by using the "windows update" icon in start menu or all progs list,once web paged is loaded follow the prompts & then clik "review other updates" then clik on "custom button" (could be other way round if you already have SP3 installed,minus review updates),once all updates are applied you can ignore further prompts regarding Direct x install as you'll already have it that goes for the redist pack


EDIT: get your self some cloning software,the one below although limited can do what's needed & it's free,tho if a spare hdd is'nt available you'll need ghost or acronis to create image files instead,much better than system restore,however it's better to clone or image a newley formatted drive

http://xxclone.com/

 

the game didn't work, but then I copied the error into google, and it told me to delete directx files on system32, there were lots of them, and it now works.

Funny how it became a discussion about a game, ...well if anything serious comes up, I will post in here.

Thanks everyone!

.......yeah also, I use a UPS, and when I turn it on, wait for it to completely start up, then press ON button on my PC, the PC starts UP...for a second, all lights in case light up, fans are working and then suddenly all is OFF. 3 seconds later the PC starts up again and works. It happens everytime I start my computer. Can this harm my PC?

 

Nope - that's normal for P35/X38 chipset boards. Whenever they are completely disconnected from power for more than 5s, they enter a check state, i.e. when you turn them back on again, they shut down and reboot to avoid POST issues.

Ignore the file size counter in 'add/remove programs' - it takes the file size of the folder the game's in, which is very rarely accurate - a good example is a game with two expansion packs that you install to the same folder (which is what you'd normally do) - the program will read the collective file size of the three of them, for each of them...

 

lol like when it gave me 20GB for Warhammer 40k

Seriously though. So many people told me not to do a RAID 0 array because I could lose all my data if one drive dies. If you have quality components, shouldn't this be a non-issue? I've never had a Seagate drive fail on me and only one Western Digital 80GB that was in a poorly ventilated, passively cooled, and noisy Dell Dimension 3000. Absolutely no airflow to the HDD, video or chipset. CPU cooling was a shoddily designed aluminum heatsink with a duct and a single 90mm fan for exhaust.

So my point being, don't you think a large portion of components failures are due to user error or poor design? My stupid friend with the 9800GTX went through 3 Palit Sonic 8800GT 1GB cards. I tried one out and it worked fine but he says they didn't work in his PC. Go figure, he says, "a 500w PSU should be fine shouldn't it?" lol it had 17a in the 12v rail and was a RaidMax. Then he replaced it with a 600W Ultra contrary to my advice(which he asked for). That one had a failing 12v rail plus there was literally about 50ft of unmodular wires to try and sort out. Finally got him settled with a 650W Antec True Blue that, so far, is just fine.

I still don't regret my 600W OCZ. Still quiet, still stable, and still pushing as much air as my 550VX.

 

You shouldn't have any regrets about it, the StealthXStreams are better if anything than the GameXStreams and decently solid units for the price. I wouldn't want to run 600W off one mind, but then going close to the max output of a PSU is rarely a good idea anyway even with good units.

As for HDDs, you'd be surprised, good brand HDDs like Seagates and WDs usually last a long time if they work to start with, but the first few months can expose faulty ones that can go without warning, usually logically.

 

hey Sam, you know, is there any way to make a bootable copy of my current OS? Because I am using SP3 for XP, and I don't wanna start over with ... no service packs at all and then do all these updates, is there any way to create a disc of my current OS? So like I could install windows again? Thanks.

 

Not legally I don't think. You can download copies of XP with SP3 pre-installed, but needless to say, they're not legitimate. A good old fashioned case of piracy being better than legitimately owning a product. Playing it straight and narrow's a mug's game these days huh?

 

bootable copies... like what doing it off you flash drive or disc? There is, and as long as you own a retail copy disc it becomes legal. Its the same principal behind dvd burning software. You are legally allowed to make a back up of your movies as long as you own the disc. This does also include oem software, however I do not know about recovery partitions on out of the box computers. I want to say no, but the problem is as you can burn recovery discs then that may make it legal. If this a desktop or laptop purchased as an out of the box unit; they do usually come with this ability to put it on a disc.

It is possible to do.... but as sam said.

 

Wrong! You may think you can, but in most places, in the world, it is illegal to do so.

 

Indeed, as far as I'm aware, it's still illegal to make backups.

 

Hmm.. what do you mean by the last sentence?

Well say a person got windows in 2001, so then he decides to reboot his system in 2008, he still has to start over from crappy old service pack right?

 

Legally, yes.

 

sammorris is right Under Microsoft's end-user agreement no its not. That's the bad news... the goods is though is not illegal to download any of the services packs and put them on to discs thankfully, Microsoft made damn sure this was understood when sp2 came out for xp that what applied for the handout request for the disc from customers also applied for downloads, so that is where you'd be in luck, and it be what I'd recommend as solve the whole service pack issue install nightmare wait time.

By the way if my words concerning backup's was taken the wrong way I apologize, its why I was asking first if Eugene482 was trying to do so from a jump drive, and maybe I should have been alot more specific. When 4 gig flash drive became available some people I know experimented with making the computer bootable off of it. I was thinking FBI / CIA stuff you see in the movies; making sure if anyone but you tries to get onto the computer they can't because you've got what is needed. I thought he was asking about boot priorities, so my bad.

 

Hey guys I am back, a problem...

So just like last time, my PC freezes, i force restart, get a bluescreen and then find out that all of my BIOS settings are messed up, like seriously. So this Jumper Free Config --> and then everything there was set to AUTO. I changed the RAM clocks to 4-4-4-15 like it should be as well as voltage to 2.1V. Idk, anything else? Should AI Overclocking be set to AUTO? I am just clafyfying, I don't want this thing to blow up on me.

By the way how did the school year start for you guys?

 

wtf y did this happen?

this thread has had 2 pages added 2 it but 2day i get a email sayin thread: Wow, Having this PC trouble for like a year now has been updated

y did i not get a email the other 20times when this thread was updated?

 

Not started yet...

kingy: No idea, send a message to the admins...

 

I'd say you shouldn't mess with the overclocking at all! No offense but either its sounds like you don't know what your doing far as the ram goes or worse you are not listening. Until you have a much better grasp on what your bios can handle, reset it completely back to the defaults. If its still giving you a blue screen, then either get different ram, or change your mobo. At this point I don't think either are faulty... what I'm thinking here is your ram is either too powerful for the board or is not brand recommended by the manufacturer.

Pick one, and move on.

 

I've left overclocking on AUTO AI... so no worries.

I only changed ram which then made those bluescreens disappear, I've set the ram's normal voltage, frequency and timing. I've also set the boot sequency so i would have my HD as the first one. So I haven't changed anything important...besides it stopped giving me bluescreens. Also if I did do something wrong I would kinda notice it by now.

Oh and that e-mail that you've gotten, it's prolly cuz you've accidentally subscribed to this thread, which then immediately notifies you, which is good, and I recommend all of you to subscribe to this thread, cuz I am not gonna wait like 6 hours to get a reply I want it the same minute cuz I know you guys sit on internet 24/7 .... lolol I am just kidding, I am not gonna ask you to do that....