MAJOR, computer problmes here guys....please help. WIN.98

["BLAHH"300!!]

hey ya'll.
..my computer is dying. i think it's already dead..
..."see, what had happend was"
i went to wal-mart ,you see my mistake already, and bought a digital camera so i could take pics of my bike. the cam was $30 i forgot the name of it, but it was a small "pen cam". didn't have any features, but i could get my pics on the web. it came with 2 disks.
1 video somethin' or other. (for making short movies
1 picture somethin' or other.(for uploading pics

i took a few pics, and tried loading them to my pc. i put in the picture c.d. and started loading files.
it wassn't an easy step 1,2,3 process, i had to think,
humm..i wonder what this does,
upload that file, still couldn't get my pics uploaded,
then i'd go look for another file on the c.d. that might get the pics uploaded (i hope you understand that)
the cam came with directions on how to use the camera, but it didn't say how to upload them to the p.c..

well, i got tired, and went to bed. i left my pc on as usual, and when i woke up the screen was froze.
CTRL-ALT-DEL = restart.
when it came back up, i had errors everywhere. i had a C: promt, but i couldn't access any other drives, (D: for my CD-rom).

i didn't know to restart while hitting ctrl-f8 (maybe f5) and have it start up in some basic format. if i had done that i would still have all my orriginal files.

i don't remember exactly what i did next, but i finally got my restoration disk working, and used it (thats where i messed up)
right now i'm useing AOL.3.0, DIRECTX.2.0 and other VERY basic versions of needed software.
I only hace 16 COLORS!! i can view pics, but they suk!!.
..i see EXriders as a grid. it's like i'm looking through a screen door. if i look at pics,
i see basic colors. red yellow, green,blue,ect..anything other than what you would see on a color wheel, shows up as white/grey, with black outline.
(this site's "smileys don't show up. i see 5 yellow one's the green one, and the 2 red one's..see what i mean.purple doesn't show

i think i need a VIDEO DRIVER. for WINDOWS.98.
....if you have a win'98 systems disk. please help me.
Gateway computer (EV500 on the moniter)
came with 1.C.D.-ROM and 1.FLOPPY drive.

i don't think the video driver is on the system restoration disk, i talked with gateway, and they think that win'98 might have come with 2 microsoft windows c.d.s
i only have one. i don't know if you can copy the file, and send it to me through e-mail or not. i'm also not sure if "Microsoft" will allow this. (pirate protection i'd think)

i could go buy WIN'2000, but i don't have enugh RAM and it would end up costing me over $200 bux.
i'm happy with win'98. i just need that one file.

if you think you can help me fix this by loading some other file, let me know....this is horrible man, when i move my mouse across the screen, it blinks, disapears, and pops up somewhere unexpected.
i can't make my pointer land between these 2 lines | | . unless i get lucky. very annoying when trying to click links.
that's another thing....i can't load more than one page at a time.
if i clink a link in a thread, a page will try to load, but it never will. and i can't click the X to close the page, so i have to close aol completely, and log back on.

so if you need me to go to a page to download something, tpye the link, so i can write it down, close exriders, then open that page.

i'm really sorry this is so long guys, and i know this isn't the right place to find this info, but...i gatta do somethin.

if you have what i need, E-MAIL it to me, or tell me how to get it.
(microsoft doesn't sell Win'98' system disks any more.)
you can also pm me and ask whatever you need to know.

W1DE5PREADPANIC@AOL.COM

now back to our feature presentation

[FastHonda400ex]

The quickest way to fix your computer is to go to your Windows update and launch it. It will check your system for what updates and patches or drivers that you need.

Good Luck,
Doug:D

[blondie69]

whoa....that majorly sukz. i dunno if i can help u w/ the program stuff cuz alot of the programs on my puter are bootlegged....either I download them or my friends do burn me a copy and take it back....so i have none of my microsoft discs....if i did i would download it onto my puter and send it to u somehow:confused:

[JLanphear]

Well in order to get drivers you need to know what your vid card is. There are a couple of ways to tell. You could open the PC and pull the card out and it should at least say the brand somewhere on there. Another way to tell (and I think only some video cards do this), is to turn your computer on and look in the top left hand corner of the screen...You might see the video card make and model up there.

I'm unsure why your cannot see your CD drive in Windows though...Can you see your floppy drive?

-Josh

[cudaman]

JL is prety right on this one. find out what kind of card you have. then just go to there website and download the updated drivers for your computer. make sure you get drivers for win 98. another way to find out what it is, is to go to control panel. system, device manager, video cards i think?? and it will tell you. anyway tell us what kind of card you ahve and ill post a link for ya!

[JLanphear]

Originally posted by cudaman
JL is prety right on this one. find out what kind of card you have. then just go to there website and download the updated drivers for your computer. make sure you get drivers for win 98. another way to find out what it is, is to go to control panel. system, device manager, video cards i think?? and it will tell you. anyway tell us what kind of card you ahve and ill post a link for ya!

Going to the device manager may work, but since his drivers aren't installed it probably will just say something like Standard VGA card....worth a shot either way though. Good luck with that man.

["BLAHH"300!!]

i do have my c.d.-rom, and floppy dirve's working now.
..they didn't work when i only had a C: promt.
i have sound and all that, and i found aol 4.0 on mu pc last night, and now i can use "search"

i think there may be more of my old lile's on here than i'm aware of. it's a 3.00 GB hard drive, with 2.74 GB used, and 282 MB free.
..i should have alot more than that free, wouldn't you think.
i don't remember what i was before all this happen.

it won't let me load aol 7.0 becouse there's not enugh space, but i can't find anything to delete. i've had it at 500 MB free, and there was more stuff on it (that i could see anyway)

i can't use the windows update, becouse i can't open EXplorer.
say's there's not enugh memory, close some programs and try again....but the only program i have open is AOL.

should i try d-loading explorer again. i don't have it on any of my disks.

and yes, it's STANDARD VGA,

i don't know if this is a good idea or not, BUT
.you can see what was on my pc when i bought it, by going to gateway.net, and typing in my seral number.
then you can look around and see if you find anything i missed.

[JLanphear]

If it was my computer, I would copy all of the files I need to another hard drive or CD-R and format the whole thing and reload windows. You'd have to start from scratch and reload all of your programs, but you will probably end up with a lot more hard drive space than you have now.

I didn't see where you put the S/N for your computer so I can't go on the web and see what VGA card you have.

-Josh

["BLAHH"300!!]

..i might put this thing in the truck, incase i ever get stuck in the mud and need something to put under the back tire's for traction

i went to gateway, there's a chat thing there, where they can see my screen, and use my mouse. he played around for a while, i downloaded somethin, and told me to restart my pc....
...."i'm 100% sure this will fix everything."

it didn't fix shh....
i guess im'a have to take it in to get serviced.

[cudaman]

dude, as old and outdated as that thing is. go buy a new one. you can get a computer that is ample enough for your needs for like 6-800 bucks

[crazybuffalo]

do the update

[pbarr86]

Go here http://support.gateway.com/support/default.asp and type in the serial number of your machine. You should be able to find drivers and stuff. Or post your serial number and one of us could look for what you need. Not sure of your serial number at least post the model number of the pc.

Paul

[OG350]

Nvidia Drivers (http://www.nvidia.com)

ATi Drivers (http://www.ati.com)

If the vc was made by sis or 3dfx your on your own on that 1 buddy because those are seriously old school. If not find out who made your mobo because most of those old computers didn't have agp slot so the vc was either a pci based vc or an isa based vc. The mobo drivers should include the drivers for the built in-video and that should be your fix. Sell the damn computer bro and check out Newegg Computer Parts (http://www.newegg.com)I always buy my parts from them when it comes time to upgrade every 6 months...

[OG350]

$200 bucks ain't jack bro just go build u an entire new comp for say $500 not includeing monitor which will be better then most pc's at Bestbuy and Fry's that cost well over a grand.

[OG350]

Here it only took me a matter of seconds to find pieces that might meet your needs. Tell me what u think Cheap $800 rig (http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishHistoryReview.asp?position=HISTORY&submit=VIEW&ID=322139)

[OG350]

Originally posted by JLanphear
If it was my computer, I would copy all of the files I need to another hard drive or CD-R and format the whole thing and reload windows. You'd have to start from scratch and reload all of your programs, but you will probably end up with a lot more hard drive space than you have now.

I didn't see where you put the S/N for your computer so I can't go on the web and see what VGA card you have.

-Josh Or he can use norton ghost to copy every file from his original computer to his new hd so that he won't have to worry about formating a hard drive and loading windows...

[Mxbubs]

Sounds like all you need to do is reset your display settings. Your video drivers are probably still good. I have seen certain camera's and video cards actually take over your display options and set them to whatever they like. This sounds like all that has happened.

Check this out.

Go to your START BUTTON/SETTINGS/CONTROL PANEL/DISPLAY/SETTINGS

Make sure you are on 800x600 pixels. Try different color setups, it should be on "HIGH COLOR 16 BIT"

In that settings window, click on advance, check out your Font size, it is probably 'SMALL' with a DPI (dots per inch) of 96. If your DPI isnt 96, hit that little drop down arrow and click other, and change it. Make your fonts bigger or smaller. Play with it.

There are 4 things that can change your display.

1. Your monitor is crapping out
2. The settings I just discussed are manually changed
3. Your video card craps out
4. You install some kind of display utility/software on your PC, it
takes over and sets the settings up how it likes it because it
has pictures or something that views best in its own settings.
This kinda sounds like what happened.

Good luck!
:D

[gojk]

Originally posted by Mxbubs
Sounds like all you need to do is reset your display settings. Your video drivers are probably still good. I have seen certain camera's and video cards actually take over your display options and set them to whatever they like. This sounds like all that has happened.

Check this out.

Go to your START BUTTON/SETTINGS/CONTROL PANEL/DISPLAY/SETTINGS

Make sure you are on 800x600 pixels. Try different color setups, it should be on "HIGH COLOR 16 BIT"

In that settings window, click on advance, check out your Font size, it is probably 'SMALL' with a DPI (dots per inch) of 96. If your DPI isnt 96, hit that little drop down arrow and click other, and change it. Make your fonts bigger or smaller. Play with it.

There are 4 things that can change your display.

1. Your monitor is crapping out
2. The settings I just discussed are manually changed
3. Your video card craps out
4. You install some kind of display utility/software on your PC, it
takes over and sets the settings up how it likes it because it
has pictures or something that views best in its own settings.
This kinda sounds like what happened.

Good luck!
:D

His video card drivers are pooched. He said in Device Manager it had it listed as microsofts Generic Standard VGA driver. Find out what card it is and we can help you.

[Sparky416ex]

do a system restore...

[mxdave28]

Aiptex VGA pen cam....i have the same thing

i didnt have any troubles loading it up or have any troubles with getting pics loaded into the puter or anything...the cam itself is a little picky with light ive found out but it does the job for 30 bucks hey what ya expect....once ya get you puter straightend out and load the cam info back in i can help ya with the rest if needed later and good luck

[Mxbubs]

I have a logitech web cam that totally BLOWS my system up if I am not careful.......something about these cheap little cameras.


Okay, well lets reinstall your drivers for your video card.

Go to the icon MY COMPUTER, right click and go to PROPERTIES/HARDWARE/DEVICE MANAGER/.....

Once in here, we are looking for your video card, it will be listed in SYSTEM DEVICES and or in DISPLAY ADAPTERS. Both should have a little monitor icon by it.

First try DISPLAY ADAPTERS. Hit the little plus by the icon to EXPAND it out, and find your video card, it should say something like GRAPHICS CONTROLLER. Once you find it, RIGHT CLICK on it and go to PROPERTIES. Now click the little tab that has DRIVERS.

Click UPDATE DRIVERS, NEXT. Tell it to list the KNOWN DRIVERS for this card instead of you doing the search. It will find the driver and tell it to REINSTALL. Let it do that, reboot, and see what happens.

GOOD LUCK! YOU WILL NEED IT!

:D