having difficulties rebooting and starting windows

[ladywolf718]

i went to the dos screen.. i honestly think there is a problem here. i dont think it goes to command prompt right away. what i see is c:/document and settings/mommy & daddy> i typed chkdsk what i got was a message saying chkdisk is not a recognized internal or external command. i even typed c:/ and it says the same thing????? i typed d:/ and got command prompt for d but wont go to c....
i typed command prompt on the line where it was c:/ documents and settings/mommy & daddy> it said specified COMMAND directory bad Microsoft(r) Windows DOS (c) Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001
then the C> <--like that came up ??? it did not look like c:/ and that still wont work

[jholland1964]

Hi Ladywolf,
You caused NO problems, it was more of an internal problem having NOTHING to do with you.
I am away from home for the next few days and don't have regular access to my own computer. I am hoping that ~TL or PP may be able to jump in here with some aid for you. I will contact them and see if they can take a look. If not, hang in there and I will return on a more regular basis on Monday evening.
Judy

[Snoopy]

wow ..
the items i disable late last week to the display adapter would run...have all turned themselves back on. I had my monitor set to run with 32 bits color and that setting has disappeared, the screen was set at 1024 x which ever it was it was ( originally i had too choices when i changed that, 800 x 600 and 1024 x whatever it was. now i have more options?)

Take a screen cap of your device manager (with show "hidden devices" checked)

i disabled things in the harware manger im not using so the adaptor could go back to normal and i rebooted.
What are you calling the hardware manager? The device manager or the BIOS?

things still havent changed. I dont understand what happened?

IRQ conflict PROBABLY due to you disabling stuff.

and other than replacing the harddrive how do i get more resources.
The hard drive has to do with physical storage. HDD's have very little to do with system resources (that would be physical RAM and/or your screwy IRQ reassignments)

[Snoopy]

i went to the dos screen.. i honestly think there is a problem here. i dont think it goes to command prompt right away. what i see is c:/document and settings/mommy & daddy> i typed chkdsk what i got was a message saying chkdisk is not a recognized internal or external command. i even typed c:/ and it says the same thing????? i typed d:/ and got command prompt for d but wont go to c....
i typed command prompt on the line where it was c:/ documents and settings/mommy & daddy> it said specified COMMAND directory bad Microsoft(r) Windows DOS (c) Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001
then the C> <--like that came up ??? it did not look like c:/ and that still wont work

"what i see is c:/document and settings/mommy & daddy>"


If you type "CMD" it will give you the Windows command prompt, if you type "COMMAND" it will give you the DOS prompt.

-----------------------------------------------------------

on Win XP, there is a "command" and a "cmd". Here's
the visible difference between the two:

c:\>cmd
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

c:\>command
Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

[ladywolf718]

"what i see is c:/document and settings/mommy & daddy>"


If you type "CMD" it will give you the Windows command prompt, if you type "COMMAND" it will give you the DOS prompt.
-----------------------------------------------------------

on Win XP, there is a "command" and a "cmd". Here's
the visible difference between the two:

c:\>cmd
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

c:\>command
Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

what i did was i hit start> run> i typed in CMD and i got c:/document and settings/mommy & daddy>


Take a screen cap of your device manager (with show "hidden devices" checked)
I would love to do this but i have no idea how to take a screen shot... if you or someone else can tell me how to id show ya anything i can that would help.

What are you calling the hardware manager? The device manager or the BIOS?
yes device manger, sorry for using the wrong terms.


The hard drive has to do with physical storage. HDD's have very little to do with system resources (that would be physical RAM and/or your screwy IRQ reassignments)
So if i am understand what you said nothing i can do to GAIN more except get a bigger harddrive( which I know I need)


I am away from home for the next few days and don't have regular access to my own computer. I am hoping that ~TL or PP may be able to jump in here with some aid for you. I will contact them and see if they can take a look. If not, hang in there and I will return on a more regular basis on Monday evening.
Judy
Thank you Judy. I think I have come to the very sad conclusion that my problem is resources( and a small harddrive) im just now tring to fix it so its not annoying and usable. ALL chages ive made to my computer reverted back and changed them selves for the worse. i read in another forum on tweaking your computer,i changed the refresh rate on my monitor from 60 to 75 ( a program i downloaded called everest said it should be 85) so i went to change it up yesterday to discover there isnt any options anymore all it says is default setting..??? 3 days ago i found a 3d windows screen saver in my computer, i dont normally use screen savers but thought my kids would like it. well it worked for 1 day and yeserday it said there was no 3D device to support it. i went from having normal amont of colors last week to finding i could use the 32 bits.. to all of a sudden loosing the 32 bits and the color on the icons now looks like 6 colors not 16.???

[Snoopy]

i read in another forum on tweaking your computer,i changed the refresh rate on my monitor from 60 to 75 ( a program i downloaded called everest said it should be 85) so i went to change it up yesterday to discover there isnt any options anymore all it says is default setting..??? 3 days ago i found a 3d windows screen saver in my computer, i dont normally use screen savers but thought my kids would like it. well it worked for 1 day and yeserday it said there was no 3D device to support it. i went from having normal amont of colors last week to finding i could use the 32 bits.. to all of a sudden loosing the 32 bits and the color on the icons now looks like 6 colors not 16.???

your monitor may not support an 85 refresh rate. check in the device manager and see what video card is listed there and if it is properly installed (also see if there are more than 2 video cards listed)

[TurcoLoco]

Sorry Lady,

I had a busy weekend and kinda overlooked this thread but I see Snoopy lend you a hand a bit. This is a long thread and I see the list of issues has changed drastically. Would it be fair to ask what the current 'actual' problems you are having so we could concentrate on them or the screen resolution/icon issue is it?

Due to system problems, the Video Card's drivers could have gotten hosed (corrupted and therefore discarded by the Operating System) which would explain Windows displaying low resolution/color depth and displaying errors like video card has no drivers installed.

Bad or incompatible (if there were multiple sticks installed) PC100/PC133 type SDRAMs (an older RAM type) were notorious with causing Windows to lose the Video card drivers or not see it even after installing the Video card drivers over and over, defaulting back to the default screen settings (640x480 and 16 color depth) where Windows XP would default back to 800x600 and 256 color depth.

Also as Snoopy mentioned your current screen settings could be more then what either the Video card or (more likely) the monitor could handle, again you would have to give us more info on your system and the size/type of your monitor. If you have an LCD monitor, regardless of its size, keep it as 60Hz unless the monitor's manual does specify supporting higher refresh rates (usually 70Hz or 75Hz at the most).
For CRT type monitor, the screen resolution, color depth and refresh rate are all matters and are directly linked to one another. for example, a 17" CRT monitor could support 1280x1024 resolution with 32 bit color depth but only at 60Hz. In order to increase the refresh rates to make it easier on your eyes, either the color depth or the resolution would have to be decreased.

Again, we need more info.

Oh, also to take a screenshot and paste it, you need nothing else but this:

1) To take a screenshot of everything visible on your screen, press 'Print Screen' key on your keyboard (usually, on top row, to the right of F12 key).

2) Then, START > RUN > (type) mspaint > OK.

3) When MS Paint opens up with a blank image area, hold down the CTRL key and press V to paste the screenshot into it.

4) Once done, from the File menu on top, FILE > SAVE AS..

Note: If you like to capture only the active window, hold down the ALT key before you press the 'Print Screen' key.

Sorry for the late reply, Judy should be back tomorrow to follow up.

~TL

[ladywolf718]

Well as It stands everything is runnign better than ever!...
What happened i figured was after i redid my computer the reformatting the video driver was corrupt or bad. thats what gave me problems for so long. but not knowing it how could i fix it.
I realized something wasnt right after i tried changing the driver...it wasnt compatible with ANYTHING and when i found soemthing compatible it didnt change just created more problems. The problems i mentioned...
anyways i unistaled and hoped windows would detect and reinstall which it didnt do.. i went insearch of something that was nvidia and was compatible with my system. i found something in a free download area and poof everythng is working.It is amazing how much was messed up do to 1 driver...even the F8 button is working to get into safemode. wow!!!

[TurcoLoco]

So, it was the corrupt drivers, huh?

Well, glad you sorted it all out and got the system working again!

I am sure Judy will be happy to hear it as well, I wonder if she is back?


Take care,

~TL

[ladywolf718]

Thank you all again, I really did appreciate the help..