if anyone needs some computer help just holler!

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

i know quite a bit about computers. i am not the guy to talk to about photo shop but can help with most of the general questions people have with problems or can offer good advice on parts or building a comp.

[conundrum]

In a nutshell: Close friend bought a new Compaq desktop unit within last three months. Worked perfectly until the oaf grandson moved into their home. He is a porn downloader, and generally an idiot. He has managed to mess this unit up-I put a password on it, but "granny" gave it to him, so the games began again. Just put a new administrator password on it and deleted the guest account, along with things I found by using Crap Cleaner. Fine so far.
Yesterday evening a message came up on the opening screen:The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\WINDOWS\System32\HHCTRL>OCX 0ccupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

O..kay...? I have no idea what this gibberish means and am not too keen on contacting the Micro$$$$$ folks if I can avoid it. The few times I have it seems they want to speak in tongues.
This is a unit running XP, 512mb ram, gigabig hard drive, straight out of the box from Compaq. No modifications other than what the brain dead grandson has done to it.
Any help or info as to what the above message really is would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and trouble. c.

[conundrum]

Okay-found the answer on the web-may or may not have been the idiot kid's doing-fixed now.

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

ok i suck....i didnt notice your post till today.

[conundrum]

Aw, no problem. There are days I look in the mirror and don't recognize who is staring back at me.....

[lunghd]

Aw, no problem. There are days I look in the mirror and don't recognize who is staring back at me.....


You should run for congress then! Those are the main qualifications. :D

[conundrum]

I don't think they would like me there. Besides, I can't find my Joe Iszuzu suit!

[berven2]

I have a minor pc problem I think ??? I hope someone can help. One day, I was getting ready to use my word processor on my machine ( MS Word 2000), before I was to begin, I wanted to change how my text message would appear. So I went into where you change the text message either change the color or to make the text large or small. I had accidently hit the wrong radio button and now when I want to use MS Word, all I get is a blank screen. Does anyone know what I can do? Thank you for any help. Rachelle berven2@myway.com Denver,CO

[Weezin]

I have a Gateway laptop, about a year old, it has a synaptics pointing device program. Every once in awhile I'll hear a "swosh " sound over the speakers and my vertical scolling quits working, have to go to the icon at the bottom right work bar and click on it.
I can live with that, but yesterday it Swoshed again, but this time the icon had disapeared.Messed with it for over an hour and it came back. Tried so many things cant remember what the last thing I did.. Any suggestions? *Thanks....Dennis

[MadTripper]

I would look for an updated driver or application. *If you go to Gateway's site, enter the appropriate model of your laptop and then look for the synaptics driver. *It is possible there is an update available. *You could also try Windows Update however odds are that driver isn't as current as what you would find on Gateway's page. *Additionally, do a search on Google or the like and perhaps there is another piece of software that doesn't work well with your device.

Tripper

[Weezin]

Mad Tripper : Went to the Synaptics site and got a free download.
So far so good.
Haven't had much luck with Gateway.com as I bought this unit "refurbished" from Tiger Direct and Gateway wants big bucks for Tech Support.
Thanks much......Dennis

[MadTripper]

If you can, post the model number and I'll try and get you a link. There is a possibility that you may have to remove the old software first but I don't believe so.

Tripper

[Weezin]

Tripper: Model is MX6421. Thanks for any help you can offer......Dennis

[MadTripper]

The driver they have is from March of '06 so I'm not sure if it is newer or not. You can give this link a try:

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?ref=step&st=browse&platform=10022&model =10636&os=10406&type=10105

If it doesn't work, go to www.gateway.com
Scroll down and about dead center you will see a drivers and downloads icon, click it
You can put the serial number in if you have it however I chose the tab that says "browse all downloads"
Enter the appropriate info: type, model #, operating system, and type of download (I chose touchpad)

Let me know how you make out.

Tripper

[Weezin]

Tripper: Went to the site and downloaded the suggested driver. So far so good.
Thanks again.....Dennis

[conundrum]

Holler!! I have made a semi-huge mistake. Bought myself a Christmas present, that being a tower preloaded with ubuntu. Seemed like a way to get rid of Microlawyers once and for all. Well...no.
I have sadly discovered that it is essentially a horrid collection of non-functioning gibberish that apparently has got to be fiddled with constantly. If you want a laugh, drop by ubuntu forums and take a look.
And, of course, to get it to work with dial up is apparently next to impossible-even with a serial modem. Assuming you can ever cut through the gibberish to figure out how to set the thing up.
So...learning from my mistake I go on. At least I have a new tower with tremendous advantages over the old P2 I am using as I write this. My question is, I hope, simple. I just want to uninstall Ubuntu 7.04 and start with a clean slate. If someone can walk me through this I would appreciate it. At this point I don't trust myself to do it without guidance. I would think it would be the same as uninstalling windows, basically, but am fairly shaken after spending the past two days mucking about in Linux land.
Thanks for any help.

[MadTripper]

Just to clarify, you want to remove what you have and reinstall Ubuntu? *I think this is correct so its like this:

Get the installation disc for Ubuntu if you don't have it. *You can download the latest version here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Once you acquire that, or if you already have it, place the disc into your cd drive and reboot your computer.
When it boots, select the appropriate button to boot from your cd drive.
Basically, from here you will be prompted to select a full installation. * Be sure you choose to format your hard drive which will remove the existing installation. *The process is very straight forward and is almost automatic. *The default settings will work fine for most cases.

Additionally, you can also install it on an external usb drive, like a memory stick or something similar.

Drop a note if you need any additional help and here is the link for installation info:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

Tripper

P.S. If you are going back to a Microslob product, you don't really uninstall Ubuntu. Basically you would perform the same steps by booting from a Windows disc, delete the partitions, format using NTFS and start a new install.

[conundrum]

Thanks, Tripper. No, I have no interest in ubuntu. Once nicked is enough for me. I have a clean,never opened copy of win98se that my cousin, gave me a couple of years ago. I do not like XP-have tried it, and not enamored of the way it works-too much candy for me. Reminds me of aol somehow. At some point I would like to try Linux Puppy or Pclinux, but after the mumbo jumbo I encountered in ubuntu forums, etc. I have no interest in dealing further with the system.
I know it sounds odd, but for now that is all I want to do. I do not have access to a computer with a cd burner, so will purchase a copy of whatever I eventually settle on.
Thanks for the reply. Are the procedures the same to install 98se?

[MadTripper]

Yepper! You should be able to insert the cd, boot from it, format and move from there. Have you tried Win2000? That is a far better solution than 98. XP is based off 2000 however 2000 isn't as "pretty". Just a thought!

Additionally, you could always install Ubuntu, Fedora, DSL....or most any other linux distro on a USB thumb drive. This way you wouldn't be messing with your windows installation and you could play to get familiar.

Tripper

[conundrum]

Cool. Thanks muchly. If I had a copy of 2000 I would give it a shot, but the 98se is here on the desk staring at me, so....Thanks for taking the time. c.

[AlchemyAcres]

.......a tower preloaded with ubuntu....to get it to work with dial up is apparently next to impossible.....

I'd be extremely P'ed off if I bought a PC pre-loaded with Ubuntu and an incompatible modem!
>:(
There's no excuse for that!!!

Ubuntu is bloated anyway...it's just as easy or easier to get started with Puppy or Damn Small. They're both screaming fast, even on older hardware.


~Martin

[conundrum]

Well, the price was very good for the tower-moved right up into the 21st century on that count. Did not come with a modem-bought a serial modem as I was advised a regular dial up internal modem was not going to cut it.
I toasted a weekend probing about-ubuntu forums got to be comical after I realized most of the folks on there can't get it to work properly either. And it seems the answers to questions bring on a shower of different results couched in terms that make Sesame Street look normal.
For the time being I am retreating to 98se. At some point I will poke around in Linux land again, but probably not for a LONG time. Thanks for the sites AA-I will hang on to them. c.