why does my laptop not work?

[Leafster]

Oh. Dunno why it's saying that, a CD-RW would normally be fine. Have you used CD-RWs in it before?

And is there anything else you can back up onto - does the laptop have two hard drives? Or have you got any flash disks (with enough space on them)?

Or have you got another PC you can link it to? (wirelessly or otherwise)

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Oh. Dunno why it's saying that, a CD-RW would normally be fine. Have you used CD-RWs in it before?

And is there anything else you can back up onto - does the laptop have two hard drives? Or have you got any flash disks (with enough space on them)?

I''ve never been able to use a CD-RW, only CD-Rs.

I have a C and a D drive. I save all my photos in the D drive although my holiday ones I DID copy over to C drive. Wouldn't I still lose them if they were all copied over to C drive as well?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Or have you got another PC you can link it to? (wirelessly or otherwise)

Only have the one laptop

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'm going to have a bath. All these dots on the page are doing my head in

 

[Hi-ASL]

If they're all on the D drive they're probably quite safe. If there are any on the C drive that aren't on the D drive copy them over. I would also get them all onto CDR at some point (or better still buy a 4GB or 8GB flash disk and copy all your important stuff onto that) but they'll probably be OK on the D drive for now.

Not sure what's causing your startup problems, like I said. There's no system restore built into Win 2000, so that's not an option. Not sure what to suggest other than trying to get hold a Windows 2000 disk and repairing the installation - think I have one you can borrow.

Still, I expect someone will come along soon who actually knows what they're talking about, so...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

If they're all on the D drive they're probably quite safe. If there are any on the C drive that aren't on the D drive copy them over. I would also get them all onto CDR at some point (or better still buy a 4GB or 8GB flash disk and copy all your important stuff onto that) but they'll probably be OK on the D drive for now.

Not sure what's causing your startup problems, like I said. There's no system restore built into Win 2000, so that's not an option. Not sure what to suggest other than trying to get hold a Windows 2000 disk and repairing the installation - think I have one you can borrow.

Still, I expect someone will come along soon who actually knows what they're talking about, so...

Hm, flash disk. That might be an idea. Now they're those little oblongy things aren't they? Different to what you put a memory card in to download stuff onto computers when you're away?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

hm, just right clicked on "my pictures", it's apparently 16GB. Think I'll need a few of those flashy thingies

 

[Leafster]

hm, just right clicked on "my pictures", it's apparently 16GB. Think I'll need a few of those flashy thingies

There's a 16Gb memory stick here: http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=288398&Sku=137022

 

[Hi-ASL]

hm, just right clicked on "my pictures", it's apparently 16GB. Think I'll need a few of those flashy thingies

Hmm. Yes, I think you will. They don't exactly come cheap neither, especially for a decent make (Kingston, Corsair). You can get cheaper ones but quality and reliability varies.

Sixteen bloody gigabytes though. What resolution are the photos at - 3million x 2million? Or do you just take lots?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

There's a 16Gb memory stick here: http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=288398&Sku=137022

Right, I don't understand all these things, but

1) are all of these compatible with my computer?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...-alias=aps&field-keywords=flash+drive&x=0&y=0

2) would I be better off getting a load of 2MB ones rather than a 16MB one in case something went wrong with one of them?

3) Wouldn't 2MB ones copy back on to computer quicker than a 16MB one (although ultimately a load of 2MB ones would probably take the same amount of time to copy over as a 16MB one, but having them in bits and pieces means I might be able to sort them a bit better IFSWIM.... sort of!)

4) And if in future I were to use them (ie. on holiday), would it not be better to have them in bits and pieces rather than all on one (although I don't actually understand how they work yet)?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Hmm. Yes, I think you will. They don't exactly come cheap neither, especially for a decent make (Kingston, Corsair). You can get cheaper ones but quality and reliability varies.

Sixteen bloody gigabytes though. What resolution are the photos at - 3million x 2million? Or do you just take lots?

They're all taken on 3M.

I do take a lot and I take lots of video clips. I have to, because of b/f's memory so I take photos of everything.

 

[Detroit City]

I'm going to have a bath.

probably good that you go low-tech for a bit

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

probably good that you go low-tech for a bit

true, can't get the hang of those new-fangled shower thingies

 

[Hi-ASL]

Speed and reliability tend to increase with price really, where flash drives are concerned. These are probably the fastest if you can stretch - nearly £40 for a 16GB one though. You could buy a decent external hard drive for that price if portability isn't an issue:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BOOST-Flash...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221929270&sr=8-1

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Hmm. Yes, I think you will. They don't exactly come cheap neither, especially for a decent make (Kingston, Corsair).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Te...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221928482&sr=8-1

 

[Leafster]

Right, I don't understand all these things, but

1) are all of these compatible with my computer?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...-alias=aps&field-keywords=flash+drive&x=0&y=0

2) would I be better off getting a load of 2MB ones rather than a 16MB one in case something went wrong with one of them?

3) Wouldn't 2MB ones copy back on to computer quicker than a 16MB one (although ultimately a load of 2MB ones would probably take the same amount of time to copy over as a 16MB one, but having them in bits and pieces means I might be able to sort them a bit better IFSWIM.... sort of!)

4) And if in future I were to use them (ie. on holiday), would it not be better to have them in bits and pieces rather than all on one (although I don't actually understand how they work yet)?

1) So long as it says it's Windows 2000 compatible it should work.

2) I think they are very reliable but I wouldn't want to use one as my only back up for important files. I use mine for transferring files around from one PC to another where I can't connect them directly.

3) I don't think the bigger capacity ones are any slower and it would definitely take you much longer to keep swapping them over.

4) I'm not sure how you would be intending to use them on holiday. Did you want to transfer your photos onto one so that you would have more space on your memory card in your camera? If so, you'd have to find a way to transfer them and that would probably mean uploading your photos from your camera memory unto a PC and then copying them across to the memory stick. If you've got enough memory cards for your camera, I'd carry on storing them on there until you get home.

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

wait. It may not be a virus. Since you have no evidence of this. And don't listen to DC when he talks about computers. Or women.

Get into safe mode, double click My Computer>right click C:\>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Now
Put a checkmark in both boxes, click 'start' >OK then reboot. Let it run through chkdsk and let us know what happens.

You may also want to right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Startup & Recovery>Settings>System Failure and take the checkmark out of 'automatically restart' which should give you the BSOD and allow you to read the error message.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

4) I'm not sure how you would be intending to use them on holiday. Did you want to transfer your photos onto one so that you would have more space on your memory card in your camera? If so, you'd have to find a way to transfer them and that would probably mean uploading your photos from your camera memory unto a PC and then copying them across to the memory stick. If you've got enough memory cards for your camera, I'd carry on storing them on there until you get home.

er, not sure. As an example, a couple of years ago, went somewhere and took lots of photos on hols. There wasn't enough internet cafes for me to have time to copy photos on to disk. When I got home, I lost memory card so I lost all pics. Another place put photos onto disc in a format my machine couldn't read. Not sure how these Flash things work so if it'd be easy enough to back up my photos on holiday at an internet cafe or something.... or stuff... erm!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

wait. It may not be a virus. Since you have no evidence of this. And don't listen to DC when he talks about computers. Or women.

Get into safe mode, double click My Computer>right click C:\>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Now
Put a checkmark in both boxes, click 'start' >OK then reboot. Let it run through chkdsk and let us know what happens.

You may also want to right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Startup & Recovery>Settings>System Failure and take the checkmark out of 'automatically restart' which should give you the BSOD and allow you to read the error message.

who said I don't listen to DC or women? Or are you saying I shouldn't listen to DC or women?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

wait. It may not be a virus. Since you have no evidence of this. And don't listen to DC when he talks about computers. Or women.

Get into safe mode, double click My Computer>right click C:\>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Now
Put a checkmark in both boxes, click 'start' >OK then reboot. Let it run through chkdsk and let us know what happens.

You may also want to right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced>Startup & Recovery>Settings>System Failure and take the checkmark out of 'automatically restart' which should give you the BSOD and allow you to read the error message.

I get a message saying I can't do it as "exclusive access to the drive could not be obtained. Do you want to schedule this disk check to ocur the next time you restart the computer? " I assume I click on yes?

What's BSOD?

 

[Leafster]

What's BSOD?

That. (Blue Screen Of Death)

 

[Detroit City]

what the hell is going on now??? jesus fucking christ

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

yes and bsod is the blue crash screen. You need to note this error if it occurs.
Also is may useful to see what errors are in the event log viewer. You can copy them here. To view them go to contol panel administrative tools. Sorry for appallin grammar typingon an iPod touch.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

yes and bsod is the blue crash screen. You need to note this error if it occurs.
Also is may useful to see what errors are in the event log viewer. You can copy them here. To view them go to contol panel administrative tools. Sorry for appallin grammar typingon an iPod touch.

er, I do that after I've done everything you told me to do re chkdsk etc.?

I haven't seen any BSODs... yet

 

[Hi-ASL]

Oh just shut up and do it Minnie. Boris is an expert and, if he breaks it, at least you'll have the satisfaction of having it broken by someone who knows what he's talking about.

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

well you probably don't want to see a bsod but it can be useful in diagnosing faults. As can the event logs.

Not sure what the rolleyes were for, just trying to help.

 

[Hi-ASL]

They were at Minnie. She's always asking daft questions.

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

i wouldn't say daft. It might seem obvious stuff to us but unless you are working with the bastard things day in day out, it's confusing.

take DIY for example. I don't know shit about that. I once even was very grateful for advice given by Tobyjug re: sanding floors. And believe me my questions about that were very daft.

 

[Hi-ASL]

Oh, but she asks daft questions about everything. Not so much now, mind. Not since The Ban.

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

lolz