dbminter

Well, whoever you may have been, you're out of luck. They're all destroyed.

Well, got my PC back from the shop. I'm still getting the random CMOS Checksum error on boot. But, I've decided to just live with it as it shouldn't affect anything major. The date and time are being saved. So, fuck it. I've also got a new problem in that the CD drive I use to boot rescue media from no longer boots the rescue media. So, I've just decided to live with it and boot from another of the 3 available drives. As for the CMOS Battery Failure error. I spent $85 to fix a simple problem: I placed the battery in the wrong side in! The CMOS battery in this machine is different all other CMOS batteries I've ever seen. Instead of being inserted flat, it's inserted on its side, like a coin on its side. I THOUGHT I put it in the right way because I THOUGHT I made a note of the direction the battery was facing when I removed it. I guess I didn't.

Well, they started looking at my machine Friday. But, an "on site emergency" prevented them from fully looking at it. So, it won't be until Monday the earliest when they can look at it. So, for now, I'm still stuck using the library's Internet computers to read and answer e-mail and forum posts. Which means I won't be getting to any betas any time soon.

Don't get me started on pins. I have a nasty habit of bending them. Had to bend one to get the CMOS battery off and I wonder if that's what caused the subsequent errors. I once bent a pin on a floppy drive connection and, strangely, the drive worked fine except it would never finish formatting a floppy. I'm 6 foot 8 and have these big hands that making just getting the CD drives in and out a challenge. Had to remove a RAM module just to get the old CMOS battery out. Hopefully, I'll get it all sorted out soon as work is already starting to pile up. It will be a week this Saturday since the store has had my machine.

Actually, the 3 part turned out to be the number of times that particular error, CMOS Checksum Error, was logged by the BIOS. I tried replacing the CMOS battery, but, I got even more errors. CMOS Checksum Error CMOS Battery Failure and CMOS Time Not Set. So, I took it in to the place that sold it to me as 1.) hardware, save for installing it, is not my forte 2.) I've never had a CMOS error before on any computer I've ever had 3.) the system was still under warranty as I purchased it in May. So, they're going to take a look at it. As for shorting out the pins, I don't know what you're talking about so I'll just see if the tech guys I'm turning over my precious baby to can find a problem with it. Plus, while they have it, I want them to check on the HDD and Power On lights as they're present on the system, but, have never lit up. So, my guess is they're disconnected and maybe the tech guy can connect them for me as I never found a cable or a place to hook it up in.

Just got this interesting message from my boot time routine. CMOS Checksum Error 3 I have an idea what is possibly is, but, I wanted to run it past anyone who might know as I tried Googling my board ID and the CMOS Checksum Error 3 and got nothing. My guess is I need to replace the CMOS battery. Does that sound like a possible line of repair to anyone's guess? It should be interesting to fix as the battery is only $3 but, I've never done a CMOS battery replacement before. Thanks!

Why, thank you! IMO, it's never too late.

I just now realized. No one wished me a happy birthday on my birthday this year. Oh, well, too late to complain about it now.

I wanted some 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW's but locally all I ever saw on the shelves was at Office Depot. To top that off, it was Memorex branded CD-RW's. I had tried some of those before but got skipping playback on the Playstation 2. Which I would have expected from Memorex, one of the bottom of the barrel choices. But, it was my only one. So, imagine my surprise when I got 5 more Memorex Ultra Speed CD-RW's from Office Depot and found out they were MCC Manufacturer ID'ed! Which I believe is Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. I also believe MCC is the same kind of manufacturer used for Verbatim's DVD-R's. Which means that they should be pretty good. I had only thought of DVD+R as being any kind of media that had any value from Memorex, save for their earliest brand of CD-RW's from like the early 2000's.

Oh, dear. I just got one of these drives. I had a Sony DRU-700a that went tits up after a month. Then, many months later, when I put it in again to test it, it was working. Go figure.

I believe my NEC/Optiarc drives did the same thing as well.

Only 8 left! I really went through the last few pretty fast.

I just now tried ConvertXToDVD and it works. No need to go through my lengthy process of restoring my factory default partition and installing Nero.

I have ConvertXToDVD but never knew it could do that. I'll have to give it a throw and see if it works better than my method of restoring down my factory default partition so I can keep installing the 30 day trial of Nero whenever I need to.

I seem to recall using Maxell media with MXL in the MID years ago and they worked fine, playing their content even years later. Sometimes, though, Maxell uses RITEK media, like the Maxell discs bought from Office Depot. They can have a few skipping problems when using those. I stopped using Maxell for that reason.

Funny enough, I just tried the IFOEdit method last night. It didn't work for me. The VOB output would not load in DVDShrink and when I made an actual disc out of it with ImgBurn, the screen only displayed a solid black screen. My method is to use Nero Vision in Nero. You can get a 30 day trial of it. Yes, believe it or not, I actually found a use for Nero's software.

Was there a postal workers strike in the UK anytime (or still going in) in January? I ordered something from the UK and the e-mail I received told of some possible impending postal strike action that might delay my order. So, I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me. Thanks!

I'm in the US and I get my burners from Newegg. Have for the last 2 or 3 NEC drives I've gotten from them.

I've got to put in my 2 cents on TrueImage. The last two versions, 12 and 13, that I tried the 30 day free install for had a very serious bug in both versions. The rescue media that boots from CD would forget that the USB drive was there when it tried to open an image from a USB HD. Thus, it was impossible to restore without first reinstalling Windows, then installing TrueImage, then restoring the image from within Windows and letting it reboot and do the restore. Version 11 is the last version I have come across that "worked." Another problem with the newer versions is they can't restore older backups that are split into multiple parts. Norton Ghost is another option to go with. I've not tried it since they bought up Drive Image, my all time favorite and first disk partition imaging software. However, Norton Ghost is software you can usually find in a store like Staples. I've never seen TrueImage in a store so I'd think you'd have to buy it online. You'd have a better chance to get store credit from a brick and mortar store, I'd say, should it not be what you want.

Man, that even Verbatim chooses CMC Magnetics stuns me. At least they offer a better alternative quality media. For now, anyway. Hopefully, they won't become another Optodisc for me where I stopped getting Optodisc media after they switched over to CMC's which wouldn't finish burning, etc.

I got to thinking. Installing DT may completely defeat the purpose I would install it for. I would guess DT would want to install SPTD 1.62 or it may not work. At the very least, it would want to install it. It may install it without asking me if I want to. But, it's an option I can try sometime after taking a daily partition image so I can restore back should something go wrong.

The problem with using the installer is it tells you what version it will install on its splash screen but goes ahead and installs it without telling you what current version is installed. At least, that's what I remember when I installed 1.62 before. I remember it asks to disable the service and then restart and rerun the installer. Which would mean I'd have to update to 1.62 then reinstall Alcohol again, which I've already done once before so I'm not going to repeat it just to have it do what I think it already does.

You think it would be in the About box for Alcohol but nay. I wanted to see because I don't think Alcohol's current version works with 1.62. I installed 1.62 and its virtual drives disappeared. So, I reinstalled the app and I think it installed an older version of SPTD over 1.62 to get it working. But, I wanted to be sure. I know the Alcohol installer SAID it was installing 1.58, I think. But, I was wondering a way to do it easily to see what version I would have in the future if an update was necessary after they released a new one.

I don't have DT installed. I have Alcohol. I guess I could install it, check the version, then uninstall it.