General Computer Help

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Certain MS-DOS program that use the printer port need exclusive access to it.  Windows XP does not allow for this.  I suggest you make yourself a bootable USB drive with MSDOS and have your programs on it.  Then just boot with the USB stick whenever you need to use them. 

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Just to try PSP.
Click on start, Run and the when prompted with OPEN: Type CMD
This will put you in DOS.
Type CD \PSP (your prompt should change to C:\PSP>
Then start the program.

if it runs great. If not then you will have to boot in DOS.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I've never gotten PSP to run on an XP install.  I have an OLD toshiba laptop that I just have msdos on it and use it for my psp fun.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Dell Inspiron 8000
P3 700MHz
512MB RAM
WinXP SP2

Runs Download for Windows and PSP.

Note: This laptop, being so old, does not need any compatibility mode changes to run PSP. FLI2MIK will not run, though, I have an old Toshiba Tecra with Win98 for that.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

I use PSP on my desktop computer running XP Pro and have no operating system issues accessing the serial port. I open a DOS window in the run box like others have and jumper the serial cable.

The only thing I can say it that the computer is self-built with "parts is parts" from Fry's. The motherboard is a uGuru Abit with Phoenix - AwardBIOS and has a Pentium IV processor installed. The serial port is directly on the motherboard.

I hope this is of help to someone. 

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

On my old laptop toshiba with DOS and Win 98 PSP work fine but with my new laptop HP Compaq nc6120 with only Win XP Pro PSP don't work.
My new laptop have COM port on motherboard.
How can I use PSP in Win XP Pro?
How can I make an bootable USB with DOS?

Thanks,
Elvis

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

If you want to start the computer with DOS - when the computer is starting. Hit the F8 key repeatly.

You will get a short menu of different start up options. Choose Command promt. This might be enough.

For a bootable USB, There is a file called USB_memory_boot.pdf in the UPLOAD section.
You can download this and change the PDF to a EXE - this will turn a memory stick into a bootable device.

You might have to alter your BIOS to allow USB boot devices....and/or the boot order. First is usually floppy, then hard drive... etc. You want USB to be first.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

If you want to start the computer with DOS - when the computer is starting. Hit the F8 key repeatly.

You will get a short menu of different start up options. Choose Command promt. This might be enough.

For a bootable USB, There is a file called USB_memory_boot.pdf in the UPLOAD section.
You can download this and change the PDF to a EXE - this will turn a memory stick into a bootable device.

You might have to alter your BIOS to allow USB boot devices....and/or the boot order. First is usually floppy, then hard drive... etc. You want USB to be first.

This don't work with Win XP, they don't have Command prompt at StartUp.

I try with this USB_memory_boot.pdf

Thanks,
Elvis

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

WOW!!!...Retina Readers from GEEKS.COM for ONLY $49.99!!!!!
                     IMAGINE the Possibilities!!!

http://www.geeks.com/pix/2008/RETINA.html?cm_mmc=geekmail-_-daily_html-_-31mar08_RETINA-Viewasweb

Check out the Dog Bark Analyzer and Paw Print Analyzer TOO!!!!!!!

I think I may just buy several of each of these as you just NEVER know!









4.1.08

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

               

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Wouldn't you think that the Dog Bark Analyzer would have the potential to back fire on you.....

Upon a stranger approaching your locked home the pup begins its tirade at the unwanted visitor and "Click" the door unlocks itself.

This would be ok if it was a PitBill or a Rottie but a yappy Polmeranian or Basset would become a furry football soon punted.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

Wouldn't you think that the Dog Bark Analyzer would have the potential to back fire on you.....

Upon a stranger approaching your locked home the pup begins its tirade at the unwanted visitor and "Click" the door unlocks itself.

This would be ok if it was a PitBill or a Rottie but a yappy Polmeranian or Basset would become a furry football soon punted.

Maybe it can measure stress levels in the dog's bark? Or maybe it has a 5 word dog vocabulary installed and "knows" when your dog is barking, "I have to pee", "Walkies!", or "Stay out, big bad burgler"? 

I'm surprised they didn't come up with a cat meow voice-print access analyzer? Or is it because cats are resourceful enough to get in without one? 

How about that paw print analyzer?  Poor Spike comes home with a missing leg and the next night your house is emptied out. 
I think I need TWO of those retinal scanners. After all, I have TWO eyes! 

<ADD> I always thought it would be cool to have warning signs on my property/house that said, "Beware of snake!" Then I'd let a 20ft python run loose in the livingroom, or maybe a Cobra when I wasn't home providing I could contain it when necessary.

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

UPDATE....I FINALLY got my laptop back up and running. Thanks to Power Data Recovery and my New Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive, I managed to salvage almost ALL of my LOST information. Spent yesterday formatting, reinstalling, and updating. I still have to copy my files back over from the portable hd but at least I am now back up & running. Now my wife can have HER laptop back
Woo-Hoo!!! Methinks any other worms I come across shall be fed to the fishys!
Thanks to everyone for all the ideas and suggestions!

Travis

[uniman]

Having trouble with my XP home edition. The dreaded svchost.exe error! 
I tried MalWare scan, nothing. Windows Defender, for what that's worth, nothing there too.
Was gone several days with computer off. Got home, turned it on, several updates. Next thing I know... svchost errors.
Same one each time,
"Instruction 0x7c90100b referenced memory 0x02falea8, memory could not be read"

Suspected corrupted update (since I have dialup)
Disabled auto updates, rebooted, and reupdated. No change.
Hard drive almost full, moved files to second drive, deleted several old doc's and pic's, movie files. Defragged and now have 20% free space.
Any help appreciated!!!
Took two reboots to get this post completed! 

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

are you running vista or xp???

If you are on xp, i would suggest to try combofix  .....  But note there are some cautions to be understood before run this application 

Read the disclaimer carefully and cross your fingers to get your PC back on business.  I have used it several times and it restores my xp laptop to factory state everytime i need it.

Go to this site for a tutorial on how to use it     http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix  (download it from one of the three sites mentioned in the article)

Good luck!

[tacman]

I forget, does XP have a system restore feature or just Vista?

 Dan (tacman)

[stayouttadabunker]

they both do and both don't work....lol

[SAT (aka GANDHI)]

they both do and both don't work....lol

       

[StatFreak]

they both do and both don't work....lol

       

I agree in part, but to be truthful, system restore has saved my butt in XP several times.

I used to get restoration failures when using SR, but I found that as long as I make sure to leave the slider set to maximum space for saving data (under My Computer/Properties/System Restore/Advanced), AND I periodically shut down SR and re-start it (to delete the database of previously saved system states), then it never fails me. It seems that the database gets corrupted once there are too many restore points.  Of course, even when it does work it doesn't always fix the problem at hand.

I also set a new restore point before beginning any kind of install, without exception. That's really what has saved me. Sometimes I'll even set a new point before browsing to new websites.

[tjkeller]

Having trouble with my XP home edition. The dreaded svchost.exe error! 

Found This: How to Fix the Svchost.exe Application Error in Windows XP by DiDill


How to Fix the Svchost.exe Application Error in Windows XP

Introduction:
If you use Windows XP Professional, you may encounter the SVCHOST.EXE error message. When this error is displayed, you will have the option to either click "OK" to terminate
the program or click "Cancel" to debug the program. This error message usually occurs after Windows Updates ran before your previous shutdown. When starting the computer in
Safe Mode, you will still receive the error message. If you use the event log in Windows XP, you will more than likely find out that the process causing the problem is svchost.exe.
Follow the steps below to fix this error.

Instructions:
Difficulty: Moderate


Verify and Configure your Windows Update Service Settings.

Step One:
Click on the START button at the bottom left-hand corner of your desktop. Once the Start menu opens, click RUN and then type in "services.msc" in the text field.
Click OK when you are done.

Step Two:
Navigate to the Automatic Updates service in the right-hand pane and then double-click on it. Select the LOG ON tab. Now make sure that Local System Account is
selected as the default logon account.

Step Three:
Un-check the option labeled "Allow service to interact with desktop." Now go to the "Hardware Profile" section, also found under the "Log On tab." Enable this service.

Step Four:
Click on the GENERAL tab. Verify that the start-up type is set to "Automatic." If not, use the drop-down menu to select this option.

Step Five:
Go to the "Service Status" section. Click on the START button to enable this service. Do the same thing for the "Background Intelligent Transfer Service." (or BITS)


Re-configure Your Windows Update DLLs

Step One:
Click the START button and then click Run. Type: cmd into the text field. Click OK.

Step Two:
In the Command Prompt, type in REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL and hit Enter.

Step Three:
Wait until you receive a message reading "DllRegisterServer in WUAPI.DLL succeeded."

Step Four:
Repeat this process for each of the following commands: type in each command and hit Enter after each line:
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL, REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL, REGSVR32 ATL.DLL, REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL, REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL, REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL, REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL


Delete the Corrupted Windows Update Files


Step One:
Type the following command into the command prompt and press Enter: net stop WuAuServ. Type in: cd %windir% and hit Enter.

Step Two:
Now type in: ren SoftwareDistribution SD_OLD. This will rename the SoftwareDistribution folder.

Step Three:
Restart the Windows Update service by inputting the following command: net start WuAuServ.

Step Four:
Type in: Exit and then hit Enter to close the Windows Command Prompt.

Step Five:
Reboot your PC. When you restart Windows, you shouldn’t receive this error message anymore. If you do, Download the two Windows Updates listed in RESOURCES below

Resources:

    * * Update for Windows XP (KB927891)
    * * Windows Update Agent WSUS 3.0

[stayouttadabunker]

Thanks for the fix TJ
I have a question for you.
Is there supposed to be THAT many svchost processes as shown in a snapshot of my Task Manager?

click on photo to enlarge it>>
Or click on link and open even larger with windoze picture and fax viewer>>

[dpalmi]

Nice PINK color scheme you've got there, stayouttadabunker.....

 

Dan #2

[stayouttadabunker]

I printed it out then scanned it because NLG doesnt accept .rtf files...arghh!!!
I was running out of colored ink...

[tjkeller]

From MSDN Forums: svchost.exe- Application Error

svchost.exe is a generic process used by MANY different programs on your system...

- if you have recently loaded a new printer / scanner or other device w/ software... camera... uninstall and see if ok...

- to narrow it down... get a application called "Absolute Startup" .. free eval version on inet is fine

-install it... go to Services section... look thru the list... you will see many services that use the svchost.exe to start... you can see this in the description
 of the service... near the end it will show that it uses srvchost.exe to run

- if it does... disable it... make note of what you disable... probably 5 -10 services

-restart... if ok... note, then go and start service back up and see which causes the error

- another common culprit is Mcaffe... uninstall...

- basically some software service is using SVCHOST.exe to start... and it is crashing... eliminate by stopping all the auto start stuff from starting up...
  get it to just the basics ... fix it... than work back

- also you can try to start in Safe Mode With Networking... press F8 while booting... it will probably now work fine with no
  errors... this is because it did NOT try to start the culprit process

As this author noted, "svchost.exe is a generic process used by MANY different programs on your system" so it is not uncommon to see this many processes
running with this listed due to the fact many programs use svchost.exe to start. While in most cases this is not a big issue except when you get a
corrupt file or program. Then the infamous, WHY?, What's Wrong?, What's causing this? It can come from any number of things. Virus Attack, Incomplete/Interrupted
Updates, Disk Issues, etc, etc. In Uniman's case, I suspect the updates were incomplete/interrupted. No matter what the case, these issues are just another
pain in the a . Personally, my luck has not been good with software repairs. It seems almost inevitable that at some point you will have to do a complete
system restore. You may be able to limp along for awhile but sooner or later that day is coming. Funny thing is your PC always runs better after a restore
due to the fact there's not all that junk anymore...until the next time.


PS: As noted by the Author, Absolute Startup can be found Here

[stayouttadabunker]

Thanks TJ,
I will check out my start up box and see what's going on there before I download this...
Again, thank you very much for your help on this...