Media Players?

There a many media players online that you can download for free. It all depends basically on which one you want. Windows comes of course with Windows Media Player. Most people will use different players for different things. I like the way Windows Media Player plays movies but I like Winamp for music. I use Real Player for websites that use Real Player. Different sites will give you usually up three options of players to use to watch their content. There are tons of subscription services offered through the different players. If you like online radio or streaming music there are those options as well. Be careful of the peer to peer programs that offer music, videos, etc some contain spyware. I use limewire cause they don't try and install extra programs on my PC.

One of the ways to keep your computer running good is to organize your downloads into one or two folders that you can manage. Songs and movies eat up a lot of space so you want to keep track of what your downloading. If you have extra cash you can get an extra hard drive just for that purpose to store media you want to keep. Some users will have thousands of songs stored on their PC's. Its easy to lose track of what we download so make sure you organize your folders and keep your desktop from being cluttered.

As always I hope this info is usefull. Until later have a nice day and enjoy your weekend.

Tim

Steps to troubleshooting a CD ROM

This happened to me the other day. I turned on my PC and I got a message CD-ROM not found. I intend to give you steps to check what the problem is and to come to a resolution. Sometimes it can be something simple like a loose cable or something. So here are the steps:

1. If you get the message I had restart your PC and enter the setup (bios settings). Depending on your motherboards bios that would be hitting F1, F2, or Del. Most of the time its F2 or Delete. You do this quickly before it goes into windows usually with a few seconds after you turn it on.

2. Basic Bios settings should show the IDE controllers. The hard drive would be the master and usually the CD is on the secondary IDE controller. If you have a DVD and CD-RW combination or CD and CD-RW combination one will be the master and the other the slave.

3. If one of the other is not recognized. Turn off your PC and swap the cables between the two. Never change cables while the PC is turned on. You could damage you motherboard.

4. Once you have swapped the cables turn the system on. If you have only one CD swap it with the hard drive cable and go into bios again. Check to see what is recognized if suddenly the hard drive is missing and CD is recognized you have a bad cable and need to replace it. If the hard drive is on the second and the CD is still not shown turn off the PC and switch back the cables and be sure to check that the tray button on the CD ejects the tray. If it doesn't turn it off and switch the power cables and see if once you turn it on your CD is recognized and the tray opens.

5. If the tray does not open still and it still is not recognized you have a bad CD and it needs to be replaced. Cd's, CDRW, and DVDs vary in price and you can get one for under $50 dollars unless of course your system is under warranty than your PC manufacturer will replace it for you. You can install it yourself if you want to save some money or have a friend do it. Many people just take it to a shop if they don't feel confident doing it themselves.

6. There is one other step I failed to mention that sometimes your secondary port can be defective thus your motherboard would need replacing. One way to check this is to go into windows and if in device manager under IDE it does not show the secondary port as missing or having a splat your motherboard is fine and you need to replace your CD.

7. What if your bios shows the CD and you don't get any message when booting up but when you boot into windows your CD does not work.

8. First thing you want to do is check the IDE settings in device manager if the secondary port is missing or has a splat. If this is the case remove the both primary and secondary your PC will prompt you to restart click okay.

9. Once your PC reboots check it again if everything is fine this time try using your CD if it works than your okay.

10. If it doesn't work try removing the CD in device manager and reboot. If when you reboot everything is fine than your okay. If it still doesn't work which is unlikely than make sure there are no splats at all in device manager and that the CD is reading correctly if its Reading SCSI and you don't have a SCSI remove it and reboot again. If it doesn't work this time replace the CD.

11. If you check the device manager and you have splats on both IDE's try removing the bus mastering and both primary and secondary and reboot your PC.

12. If everything is fine when you reboot than you back in business if it still is splatted than you need to run your virus software. You would be getting a message that your hard drive is running in real mode which is DOS mode. This happens when drivers get corrupted.

13. If running your virus software finds and removes a virus that caused the problem you should be okay. If not I suggest at this point reloading your hard drive. Sometimes this is the only option.

14. If you feel confident in doing these steps congratulations. There is always help somewhere if you do not. Just note if your PC is in warranty contact your PC manufacturer first. If its out of warranty most shops will charge a diagnostic fee plus parts and replacement installation if a replacement is warranted. A computer shop is required to contact you after diagnostics to let you know what costs or estimates will be if further action is needed.

As always I hope this info was helpful. Until later have a nice day.

Tim

Lose Your Driver Disk?

I was working on a friends older laptop yesterday. He did not have the driver disk and since we reloaded his hard drive we needed the driver disk to make sure all his components would function. The only recourse you have in these cases is to go the manufactureres website. Most PC manufacturers will keep a database of drivers or tell you where to get them. So if your able to get access to the web you can download the drivers you need. If you do not have access to the web you can contact your manufacturer and see if he can send you a disk. If ones is available you can pay from $19.95 up to around $35.00 for a CD. If you have a friend who has access and CDRW you can get the drivers that way. Keep in mind when loading Windows 95/98/ME that Microsoft no longer supports these operating systems and your on your own. If you have problems you can still get help from forums, tech support online and offline, or a friend. It is possible to restore and older PC or laptop to factory settings with or without the driver disk it just takes some patience and places to go for answers. Thats why its always important to keep your disks in a safe place. Also, a good idea is to make backup copies if possible just in case your originals get damaged.

I hope this info is helpful to you as always. Until tomorrow have a nice day.

Tim

P.S. I know I promised to talk about CDROM's and how to troubleshoot them I will cover this topic tomorrow.

New Blog added

Check out my new blog I added. This blog will be dedicated to recommending the best software utilities you can use to keep your PC running at peak performance. Go here to check it out.

Until tomorrow have a nice day.

Tim

What if an offered driver does not install?

What if you are running windows update and get an offer to update a driver but it doesn't install? Well there is patch for it to fix it. You can find that patch here . This happens now and then. Instead of reinstalling windows its best to search to find a solution if possible first. If all else fails you can always reinstall windows later. Just make sure you back up any documents, songs, pictures, etc you want to keep. Did you know there are places on the internet you can backup up to 100mb of files you want to keep. This is not a good place for music files but its meant to save your all important documents, bookmarks, history, etc. Some of these places will allow you to create an account for free. If you need more space you can upgrade to get a larger capacity. Not everyone owns a CD-RW so these make storage a no brainer for small amounts you need to backup quickly.

As always I hope you find this info useful tomorrow I want to talk about troubleshooting CDROM's
Untill next time have a nice day.

Tim

Windows error ?

What if you have a windows error that you cannot figure out or you cannot get rid of? You can search the internet with the error and see if you get any tips or results. You can also type your error in Microsoft's database, but sometimes you get way too many results back that you have to weed through. I recommend this forum Tech Support Forum
as a place to go to get help. Its free and these guys and gals no their stuff and can help you. So, if you have a problem shoot on over there and register and make a post.

I hope this info helps. Until next time have a good day.

Tim

Limited Cash but you need to upgrade your PC?

In an earlier post I talked about updating your RAM. What if you need a new PC bad but you have limited cash. The internet is chuck full of places you can buy components you need. One of the places I recommend is Newegg. One of the things you can do if you have little money is buy a barebones system and transfer your components like harddrive, CD-ROM, sound card, and video card if applicable. A typical barebones comes with motherboard, cpu, power supply, case, and possibly memory. What you purchase depends on your needs and money. Just shop around and get the best deal you can get for your money. Read reviews on different motherboards and their configurations. There are so many options its hard to cover it all in this article. You don't always have to buy from a PC manufacturer to get a good PC. You can put one together yourself or get a friend who is knowledgable to help you. I have priced quite a few configurations and you usually can get a case, motherboard, cpu, and power supply is around $300. Sometimes memory even comes with it. You can build a brand new PC for around $700 and that includes all new components. So you see its possible to build a PC for less than what manufacturer would charge for a brand new system. The only draw back is you don't get the warranty and tech support you would get from a PC manufacturer. You can also try out Tiger Direct they have barebones systems with everything you need.

As always I hope this information is helpful. Until next time have a nice day.

Tim

Guestbook and Message board added

I added a guestbook and message board to the blog so you could post any questions or comments. Of course you also have the comment section after each posted article here as well. This is a blog about PC problems, fixes, and tips please keep your questions and comments on topic. For you techies out there your input is always appreciated cause no one knows everything. You may have experience with something I don't.

Until next time everyone have a nice day.

Tim