Hardware

Infopackets Reader Edith S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just bought my new PC in December and am problems with all my software games. I start playing the games, and all of a sudden they go off the screen, and I'm brought back to the task bar. Then I ... have to re-click on the game task to bring it back into full screen again. This happens on and off, almost like clockwork (about every 2 minutes). Is there a setting maybe that is causing this, or is it something else? My games are all that is affected by this strange annoying behavior. Is there something I can adjust to stabilize the my game play so ... (view more)

A recent question raised a red flag in my mind. I think most, if not all, of you read my 'brief' description of about what happened to the missing 32 MB on a 512 MB Thumb Drive: Available Space Misreported by USB drive? Allow me to explain in ... greater detail. On a hard drive, thumb drive, or any other storage device in common use, the capacity displayed on the carton is the maximum 'raw' or usable number of bytes the device can hold. However, a device that 'says' it can hold 512 MB of data will not display the number 512 MB after it has been formatted. As stated in the previous article , some ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jeff R. writes: "I recently bought a 512MB USB 'TravelDrive' made by Memorex. Everything works great, except I can't figure out why the drive is only showing 480MB of usable, available space. In correspondence with a Memorex tech, ... I asked why this was so, and his answer was rather vauge and confusing. Does it really take 32 MB of overhead to format a USB drive? If this is the case, it's probably a good thing I didn't buy a 128MB drive!" Doug's Response: It's questions like these that make me feel glad I've been involved in the computer industry for as long as I have. ;-) In ... (view more)

How many times have you fixed problems on your computer? By fixing a problem, I don't mean dropping your machine off at the local fix-it emporium, where you will pay big bucks for someone to make decisions for you concerning what your machine really ... needs. I've heard too many stories from acquaintances where they shelled out hundreds of dollars, only to get back a machine that still doesn't run in an acceptable manner. As much as you may resist the idea, computing is still a tinkerer's hobby, where your best chances of a satisfactory relationship with your magic box is to take responsibility ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader George S. writes: " Dear Dennis, Since I can't seem to get a response from Epson, I wonder if you have any information about the approximate print head life of a low priced printer like the Epson C66. I have printed about 5,000 ... pages in black, using the normal text mode, and now the print head seems to be showing signs of wear. Is this about normal? " My response: Printing 5,000 pages should not cause your printer to wear-out prematurely. My best guess is that your print head is clogged with ink (rather than worn away). If you used an ink refill as opposed to ... (view more)

We apply power to the system and suddenly, we have a problem. Even though I had correctly installed that wonderful 20 GB hard drive, including the Master/Slave/Cable Select jumper, the drive was not identified by the system! After a lot of ... additional research and a fair amount of testing, I discovered the awful truth! The 20 GB hard drive was too big! Yes, that is correct. The system would not accept a drive much bigger than 12 GB. Time for a BIOS upgrade since the Dell systems allow BIOS Flashing. It was time to download an appropriate BIOS load for the system. However, when I try to apply ... (view more)

This is a Christmas story. It is also a tale about the extension of the life of a computer. I suppose you could say that this posting is a good example of what you can get for the new computer user. This saga starts with a phone call from a good ... friend describing her desire to purchase a computer for her husband. He was sharing her system that was in use most of the time for business purposes and it was difficult for him to have the use of it. Therefore, the need was real. Her problem was that funds were extremely tight and she did not have the money to buy a computer. "I only have $100 to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joanna writes: " Dear Dennis, I have installed a 120 gigabyte (GB) hard drive in my computer. The 120 gigabyte drive has been split into two entities: the C drive is 15.5 GB large and contains Windows XP plus all my installed ... programs; the D drive is the remaining 104 GB and contains a few downloaded programs. The problem is that my C drive is nearly full. I want to resize my C drive, but is there any way to do this without having to format my hard drive and reinstall Windows and all my programs along with it? I am on dialup Internet access and it would take *weeks* if ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Holy Hal' writes: " Dear Dennis, I am at best an intermediate when it comes to computers -- and I certainly do appreciate all the effort you put into your newsletter! With that aside, my question for you today is in regard to ... backups. I have Windows 2000 Professional, and I would like to backup my entire Operating System (Windows). Would an external USB hard drive that has some backup software be appropriate for this type of application? Or would I still need to use a software program like Acronis True Image with my external unit? I feel that a software backup program ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Michel S. writes: " Dear Dennis, First, thank you for this very informative and welcoming website. My question today is in regard to a corrupt DVD disc. After having burned some of my favorite downloaded files to DVD disc (using ... the 'D-well' brand blank DVD), some files appear to be OK, but part of the DVD disc cannot be accessed at all. ;-( I am using an ASUS DVD writer and Nero 6.0 for my backup. So far, my computer friends haven't been able to help me with this issue. I'd certainly appreciate if you can help me to clarify this mystery. Thank you in advance! " ... (view more)