What makes for an interesting power jack repair? - how to test for a power jack problem - this pc passed all of my tests - listen for the solution (requires soldering) - will be in the video
Third party AC adapters and their interchangeable tips: Sometimes those tips break or get loosened from the adapter.
Call came into the shop from Universe Point: As a computer repair shop, I can sell my customers backup storage through this company and their software, much like Carbonite So I could provide a backup service to my customers.
Leaf blower contest emails: Bob says Email in your worst day as a computer tech. Jeff says Send in your repair experience stories. CitizenX says Send a picture of the dirtiest computer you have ever worked on.
Steve begs us to send him dirty pictures! You won't win the contest, he just wants to see them (grin/jest: He left himself wide open on that one.)
Vote on the contest: Do you want worst day as a computer tech? Do you want repair experience stories? Let me know.
Email from Lana: Task bar icons are missing! Looking for suggestions! I offer some suggestions like searching Kellys Korner
Email from Mark: Latitude D510 battery died & power cord no longer gives power. Check power cord. Troubleshoot the power jack.
Go ahead, blame the leaf blower ... Dell Dimension desktop needed cleanup. Customer calls the next day and states the CD drives do not work. They did not show up in My Computer or in Device Manager so customer brought back in. Cable was disconnected. Connected. Still no CD drive showing. Restarted the services I turned off. Still no CD drive showing. Solution: BIOS settings were set to off. Changed to auto detect.
FYI: Trend Micro was consistantly maxing out the CPU at 99% Removed and installed AVG for better performace.
Acer desktop with bad motherboard: I explain how to troubleshoot a bad mother board vs power supply and share common mistakes for buying the wrong motherboard.
No, we did not erase your hard drive: Learn how to troubleshoot Windows Professional that is on a domain.
To change your nickname in uStream chatroom: While in chat type /nick typeyournickname That will fix you up!
Email from Ray: Ray knew that Windows Mojave was a joke. He was being funny... thanks, for clearing that up.
Email from Jeff: Yes driverguide.com is terrible! Try DriverMax for your driver needs. Install required.
Email from Carey: Setting up routers Holzman-style and when to not use WAN ports
Email from Hamrad: Hamrad rubs in his latest Doctor Power purchase. Thanks for this power supply tip!
Voice Mail from Mark: Mark shares his 10 days in tech-hell trying to get a dvd drive to work.
Live call from Nebben: Thanks Scott from Portland, OR for the fix he offered. Also what datebooks are good for keeping track of appointments with customers? (Try Google Calendar) Discussion: Do you have a hard drive brand preference?
Cliffhanger: The Great Tech Debate idea that offers a twist. Not mentioning the twist right now ... stay tuned.
Remember the customer I had and I erased all of his data? (He was very understanding)
I finally got his motherboard in. Replaced it called him for pick up. He came in to pick it up and he brought with him his Quick Books CD for installation. The CD drive would not open. Dead. I see his adapter for the CD drive that allows it to work sitting on the table. Very quickly I unscrewed his entire laptop and attached the adapter - 4 minutes tops. Screwed it all back together and powered on. Thank God the CD drive opened this time. Installed Quicken and copied his data over then noticed his wireless adapter was not lighting up. Wireless card was halfway out of the slot. I just had to reseat it. Job Done. Out the door.
WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows Works like SpaceMonger but offers much more information.
Voice Mail from Simon: Reinstalling Vista if you do not have recovery disks.
Voice Mail from Eric: (The idiot with the 973 area code - LOL) To the listener with the rainbow colored video problem We need to verify if it is a driver or hardware issue. Sounds like a driver problem. Please follow up with us.
Old XP PC before SP1 w/ 1.3 processor 512 RAM Getting slow.. family computer. Installed ubuntu.. and that runs slow, too Idles at 30% Eric please check the hard drive, run a diagnostic.
Voice Mail from Scott in Portland OR: Consistently getting "files are corrupted" warning? I was and it turned out to be a bad stick of RAM. Found solution after running a memory test.
Emailed .mp3 from Mike in NM: DVR for security surveillance cameras accessible via the internet as well. Try dyndns.org to keep track of your dynamic ip address as it changes. Free. gadspot.com for IP cameras with pan/tilt To make your Prt Scrn button actually print the screen Use Gadwin PrintScreen 4.3 Free.
Cool news: The PodNutz Lounge chat software has been changed from java-based add-on chat to an embedded ustream chat from the daily show. Still available 24/7/365
Taking apart Macs: I have to say I love working on Macs. Everything is so nice and neat inside taped down in the correct spots and screwed in all nice and neat.
Power Book G4 had fan problems: (This was filmed for the laptop repair videos) Customer was using it a lot to watch movies in bed. Sitting on sheets or a comforter it pulls in a lot of dust and lint. Fan was clogged with dust. Just had to clean the fans.
Dell Inspiron with sand and a water spill: (Picture taken for the laptop repair videos) It was covered in white corrosion. There was no way this laptop was going to work regardless how well I cleaned it. Just too much corrosion.
Toshiba laptop about 4-5 yrs old: Running really slow and bog down hard drive was also working very hard. Task Manager would not open in this state but would open once the processes calmed down. The hard drive failed the Seatools test. chkdsk/r repaired for a temporary fix.
Email from Sherwin: Topic suggestion - repairing a DC laptop jack I give him the details on equipment I use, ect.
Email from Wendy: Could you list what utilities work with Vista and which ones do not?
Email from Walt: Checklist before returning PC to customer
Email from Roger: Thank you for the LCD inverter tip! It was an $18 fix! Diagnose hard drive health with HD Tune Looking forward to the interview with the creator of SuperAntiSpyware!
Emailed .mp3 from Mike: How to solve customer's DSL problems -Learn what DSL sounds like on a phone line -DSL and alarm systems for home security - troubleshooting DSL
Question from Hamrad in the chat: How do you tell if the back light in a laptop is bad? Is it discolored? The inverter and the bulb can sometimes show the same symptoms. Test it with a screen that has a known-good bulb.
Dirtiest computer we ever had came into the shop today. Gross. It was a smoker's computer. The dust in a smoker's computer globs and sticks to the parts. We took the leaf blower to it the highest setting and it could not remove this sticky dust from the processor. It had to be peeled off by hand. Disgusting.
Remember the lady who called and said her ethernet card blew up?
It was actually her on board ethernet port. (This can happen due to a power surge) The ethernet port did not even show up in device manager so we knew it was bad. Installed a PCI ethernet port on the mother board. Good to go.
Another symptom of bad RAM: Windows XP running 256 MB I did not have another 256 stick so we installed a 128 stick to give it a boost. Turned on computer. No video & no POST. Just from this stick of RAM. Tossed it in the trash.
Another Sony Vaio laptop with no internet connection: Ethernet port was visible in the device manager.
We tried: A Windows network connection repair We reset IE settings to default Solution: We ran WinSock XP Fix
Another laptop spill: Defective Lipton Iced Tea bottle shattered and tea got on the keyboard. He powered off and took the battery out. Turned it upside down. Waited only a half hour and turned it back on. Worked for a little while and then it stopped. Again: If you spill something on your laptop take the battery out as fast as you can. Do not power it on! It is best to take it apart piece by piece to dry and remove corrosion before you add power to the laptop. Either that or wait a week+ for it to dry. If you cannot do that, take it to someone who can because you are risking frying the motherboard if you power it on while parts inside still have moisture.
Email from Rhino: When taking apart laptops where do you put all the screws so that you do not lose them? I am thinking about getting a magnetic parts tray.
I give Rhino my tips on organizing screws as I take them out. Rhino also reminds me of Acronis licensing policy.
Email from William: Help for Grant who could not boot from an optical drive. You CAN go straight from SP1 to SP3 for Windows XP. For the fellow with graphics issues/strange colors update the bios to get the most current and/or older chipset drivers.
Email from Mitch: PCHelpWare tips and You need a static IP address.
Email from Ray: Dual boot with two hard drives update and he talks about how great Mojove is... what?
Live call from Nebben: When are you going to give away the leafblower? I need to think up some contest rules. Looking for help & suggestions
Live call from Kevin: HP Vista OEM reinstall questions.
Ever use driverguide.com? They have every driver known to man. Free site but what a pain in the neck. You have to click through 10-15 ads to get the driver you need.
Two jobs on one PC Computer today was just too infected with spyware and virus. I removed them all but the system was just crippled. Had to do a reinstall
Dell 1401 laptop with power problems. Turns off after 10-15 minutes. Took battery out and just used cord. Would not turn on. Opened it up and checked the soddering... Tested with volt meter .... I talk about how I fixed this issue via the power indicator light.
Bought a good power supply tester: Thermaltake Dr. Power Power Supply Tester Saved us a lot of time today.
Power button/supplies and IBM NetVista and what is a confidence repair?
Email from David: Downgrade from Vista to XP Get the details of Vista downgrade rights.
UPS vs Ebay battery for DV6000 laptop. My mistake when ordering caused it to ship to my house instead of the shop. Could not change the shipping address with seller. Had to leave the shop early and sit at home. Of course UPS showed up within the last 15 minutes of their 3 hour window.
Shop news: We picked up a couple of KVM switches to increase our productivity. Starting to offer RUSH service at the shop for an additional $119 Reinstall day today!
Dell B130 laptop During boot gets lsass.exe error and reboots. Major registry error. If you have a fix for this, let me know! Did a Windows reinstall.
Another Dell B130 laptop Kept blue screening but not in safe mode. Blue screen had no specific error Just a stop error. Did a Windows reinstall.
Two Mac Powerbooks came in. One has a bad logic board (mother board) The other has a loud fan. These will both be in the laptop videos (soon-to-be-released) So there *will* be some macs in the videos as well as Windows laptops!
Episode #25 of PodNutz is out! Guest: Mike Petro
Next guest for #26: Nick Skrepetos creator of SuperAntiSpyware Cannot wait to talk to someone dedicated to stopping spyware! On Deck: Keith Albright from Mind Of Root
Cool news: I fixed my 52" Mitsubishi DLP projection TV myself! After extensive online searching for a possible problem I took the television apart and saw there were two blown capacitors on the power board. Replaced them. TV now works. 80 cents, people!
Look forward to interesting changes at podnutz.com These changes will incorporate Podnutz podcast PodnutzDaily podcast Philly Tech Guys podcast and the new Great Tech Debate
Voicemail from Grant: Acer 500 cannot boot from CD Loaded with spyware virus Problem with automatic updates Ran Smit Fraud Fix and a bunch of others.
Do a manual update through the MS website. It should flush out the problems.
Email from Bob: Can you explain how you downgrade a Vista machine to XP?
Email from NThinkBone: Had an older computer and reformatted. I successfully installed SP1, SP2 and SP3 one at a time with no problems contrary to the annoyances.org forum that overlaying service packs would be dicey at best.
Email from Bobby: What is up with the PodNutz videos I keep hearing about? Where can I find them? I am currently working on the laptop repair videos. They are not yet released.
Email from Hamrad: Laptop with a blank screen but if you look close you can see an image. I thought I remembered you talking about this and you diagnosed it as a back light failure. True? I share how I troubleshoot this issue.
Email from Ben: Weird graphics issue in the exact same spot only in certain programs. Swapped out graphics card & updated drivers .. still it persists. Posted in the forums.
Problem: No right-click on the desktop. Could right-click everywhere else But if you right-clicked on the desktop Windows would halt or freeze. Solution: Disable context menu items via : shellexview
Problem: Computer could not connect to the internet. Ran my cleaning programs. Solution: WinSock XP Fix Cures the problem of lost connections after the removal of Adware components or improper uninstall of firewall applications or other tools that modify the XP network and Winsock settings.
Problem: This computer was also having problems retrieving Windows updates. In the Security Control Panel the updates were set to ON but PC would still get the system tray red shield warning icon. Solution: I went to the Microsoft website and downloaded the updates manually. This fixed the conflicting security warning.
Ran SeaTools on a hard drive today. Hard drive was bad but still usable really slow and unpredictable.
Cloned the hard drive with Acronis and put that image on the new hard drive via usb 2.0
Voice Mail from Simon: Free partitioning software with useful tools Parted Magic Windows Vista has slightly different requirements for partitioning formats So clone the drive before you use this.
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows has WDdiagnostics built-in which is Western Digital's version of SeaTools.
Simon is looking for advice: When you do a Windows repair install do you have to match the SP level on the CD that is currently on the PC?
I have used a SP1 CD on a SP2 machine But I have never used a SP3 CD on a SP2 machine.
Email from Henry: Wants advice on buying a laptop. I've seen an Acer for $379 But I would buy a Dell for myself after getting a deal from Best Buy through their weekly advertisements.
Email from Ray. Ray recently used ophcrack for the first time. Loved it and worked great. Now he is wondering what to say to his customers when/if they ask how he got past their passwords.
Email from Howard: My Toshiba laptop no longer plays the Windows wav file at start up and shut down.
Email from Sherwin: 4G of RAM in the XP computer but not all 4G were showing.
Check the specifications of the motherboard to see if 4G exceeded what it can handle.
Another remote support tool from the makers of Go To Meeting GoToAssist.com
Live call from Goman: Goman has the Acer Apire 1 Netbook that I have been considering. He gives us his opinion on getting Ubuntu configured to his needs.
Cynthia are you listening? Today's Dell Inspiron 710M 12" Laptop with a power jack problem will be in the laptop videos. I filmed the repair today. 9 contact points and it took me all day. Tough Job.
Email from William: He suggested a free partitioning tool that is working GREAT for me ease us works with Vista! Awesome recommendation William! Thank you!
Vista desktop no SP1 Gobbed up with spyware and virus due to file sharing and downloading Ran the fixes but still acted crippled. Windows Vista Genuine issues. Installed SP1 and walked away for the moment.
Voice Mail from Eric: Memory and 32 bit OS What is detected? Scott Mueller forums answers!
podnutz.com/forums Thank you to everyone offering great tech advice in the forums! You are all building a great resource.
Voicemail from William : SpinRite6 recommended for a hard drive testing utility. Also: What drives to buy and why
Older Sony Vaio desktop nightmare: Sony likes to partition the hard drives in half. Eats up drive C because typical user does not know you can save to drive D (or second partition) This guy had only 15MB left of space on his C partition of a 100G hard drive.
I am trying to extend the C partition or eliminate the D partition. This job is always tricky. My version of Partition Magic does not work on Vista. Free utility Partition Logic was finally tossed in the trash today. I have tried using this about 10 differnt times and it has never worked for me. Looking for feedback if you have used it successfully.
Acronis Disk Director is supposed to be good Possibly a newer version of Partition Magic would work for this job as well. Looking for a good free partitioning program that is easy to use.
Dad took this call: Customer states her ethernet disk that plugs into the back of the computer BLEW UP She replaced it but the computer still does not work. We have no idea what she is talking about. She will drop it off tomorrow and the mystery of the ethernet disk will be solved!
Mother board for Dell Inspiron v6000 came in from Greetings_and_Computations Installed and fired up works great.
PowerPhrasing email from Neil (?) the UK: Worked in the IT field from age 18-40 Was a programmer for the Ministry of Defense He did 12 years as a field service engineer with Compaq Server accreditation. Towards the end of his carreer he worked for a major IT company that abused their staff by sending them on jobs with little experience and no training on the equipment. He was expected to preform these tasks with the threat that if the customer found out he was not qualified he would be in trouble.
This lead him to lose enthusiasm for the industry. He is now a self-employed courier.
Cool News: Podnutz Podcast has revitalized his excitement for the field. He is considering starting his own computer repair business. Awesome! Thank you for listening! Great email.
Email from Tim the Builder: Regarding AVG features greyed out indicating a potential problem and AVG8 custom installs
Live Call from Rick He sold me the motherboard for the Dell V6000. Was glad to hear the install was good.
Tips: How to clean an LCD screen using a microfiber towel.
RAID array: NAS & DNS 323
Live Call from Carey Holzman: (Exclusive Rant) - Clone the customer's HD before you work on it. - Save the data! - Customers do not have disks - Inform customer of possible reinstall - 1 hr to clone a 120g hard drive w/ Acronis True Image - Verify the backup image! - Carey asks: I work on 5 computers a day - Enthusiasms for the podcast - Windows 98 and ME come into Steve's Shop occasionally - Carey expresses the vulnerability of these OS - Carey reveals he is filming his computer repairs. - Carey's YouTube Channel - We need more Computer Tech Reality Shows - PodNutz TV is in the works - My laptop video repair project - revealed - Carey & Scott new technology podcast mentioned - sounds like a down-to-the-last-compound tech podcast. - Steve is contagious. Working funner.
Wireless Adapters and their software: I hate the programs that come with these adapters. They fight with Windows Configuration Utility. Nightmare.
How I only load the drivers for the adapters: Plug in the adapter. Let Windows detect it. It will ask you to point to the drivers. Load the disk. Point to that drive.
This solved the problem with the Dell that was having wireless issues.
Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop: One good account (profile) The other profile was slow and newly created profiles were slow, too. Tried installing SP2 and it crashed. Rebooted. Seemed fine. SP2 was recognized. USB ports not working. Installed SP3. Installed fine. USB ports still not working.
Uninstalled all of the usb controllers via device manager Rebooted. USB worked fine.
Chronic IE issues with customer: IE giving script errors and would crash Reset under tools/advanced/reset.
Customer was visiting shady sites suggested FireFox as a browser to fix the issue once and for all.
XP antivirus 2009 on a Vista .. just came in today. Will let you know how it goes. Still running rampant.
Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop that needs new motherboard (looked like it had a spill on it, customer says no) Found a good deal on Ebay through greetings_and_computations Thoroughly tested and he was in NY so I knew I would get it fast.
Cool News: I get an email from greetings_and_computations HE IS A FAN OF PODNUTZ and specializes in Dell computer parts. Thank you, Rick for the email. Small world.
Are you paying attention here? I have (so far) given you three reputable and SAFE eBay sellers to buy PC parts from.
Sunday was Chkdsk Day! Five PC's with chkdsk solved - issues.
I bought a plasma TV! Vizio 42" Class Plasma HDTV with Built-in Tuner, VP422HDTV10A They were getting great reviews. $725 / Walmart
While the picture is good ... I get system degregation (empty pixels) in HD Sure might be the cable signal, but I think it is the TV.
... I suggest spending more on a name brand Lax return policies allow me to return it for what I really want. You get what you pay for.
Finally downloaded CDBurnerXP via Mike Tech Show Good for burning cds / dvds / isos and works with Vista!
Email from Ray: Two sata drives One has XP - One has Vista Problems dual booting dual harddrives. Possibility of an external switch to free me from the bios??
Email from Jeff: Jeff thanks Cate for the Juice replacement program Use ziePOD to: download podcasts overwrite id3 tags .. and much more !
More Cool News: Email from Carey Holzman Information on power supplies and a cool YouTube video announcing Carey Holzman teaming up with Scott Mueller in a weekly tech podcast! (Carey did the video all by himself -- impressive!
Live Call from Nebben: Windows updates sometimes FAIL Running SP2 but SP3 update comes back as corrupted. IE7 cannot connect. FF will not go to Windows update page.
PS: For every day I do not upload shownotes... God saves a kitty. Still dedicated. Slightly distracted.
Year-old Vista 15" glossy screen CompaQ V6000 laptop with a psychedelic screen spilling of color. Bad screen. Not the video card. I love screen replacements. Easy job. My Ebay screen guy: dvdsuper999
Tip: If you do a CompaQ V6000 search for a screen It is MORE expensive. Instead search the model number of the screen and save $30-$40 bucks.
Fixed the computer that could not run iTunes. Not enough space on the hard drive. Used spacemonger to get a graphical representation of what is on the hard drive. Cleaned house. I used this a lot this weekend. Highly recommended. iTunes is now running fine.
Another iTunes fix: 1. Uninstall iTunes. Uninstall QTime. 2. Reinstall QTime as stand alone application 3. Install iTunes on top of that.
Computer freezing at different times: Eric aka ElBurro in the forms/chat was working on this one. He is volunteering at my shop on weekends. Solution: Ran Dial-a-fix
HP Vista laptop with bad wireless connection: It would try to connect to three networks at once. Went into properties of the wireless card the ip address settings were not set to automatic and the rest of his settings were out of whack.
Easy fix: Go into device manager Uninstall the wireless adapter. Reboot the computer and Windows will detect and install the drivers.
Dell laptop with one bad account: One profile was just fine. No issues. The other MAIN profile was giving us fits. The processor usage would not idle at less than 13-20% We disabled everything in start up. Also disabled every service that was not Windows. Same result.
Programs would take double the required CPU usage. Tried dial-a-fix, removed all of the spyware, ran AVG Ran ComboFix and VundoFix Tried backing up the profile and creating a new account. Same.Thing.
Voice Mail from Clifford in Washington: Regarding the amber Dell Power light - It could be the power supply, the mother board and sometimes it can be switch on the i/o panel.
Voice Mail from Simon in Wales: Great tip! Simon reports on show #73 and the OEM activations.
Just a thought: He is also planting the seed by requesting a Podnutz Wiki filled with user guides and tips to fix errors. We can all participate and make it brilliant!
I use addonchat for The PodNutz Lounge and asked them if they would sponsor me by upgrading my account. They said no, therefore, I am looking into an open source chat for the room. Looking for ideas to embed on my page.
PhillyTechGuys.com Built by PodPress but missing an rss feed right now. The podcast and the chat log from the show are available!
Yesterday I talked about cleaning a PC in safe mode and that there was a user account that did not show up in safe mode. I thought it was a new malware trick. Turns out Limited Account profiles Do not show up in Safe mode by default. Makes sense.
Laptop with all kinds of fixes ..the cord was damaged ..the hard drive was bad ..two plates were missing from the bottom (memory and wireless card slots)
Ebay had the needed plates for a dollar each with $10 shipping. Got for the customer.
Again I discuss how you can buy broken laptops and take them all apart and sell the tiniest pieces of the laptop on Ebay because there IS a market! I think of this everytime I buy these kinds of parts.
Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop Bad motherboard with sticky substance/corrosion that I mentioned in yesterdays show and how I removed it safely from the system board.
Customer swears nothing was ever spilled on it. Bad motherboard. This might be another trade-in for services.
iTunes would not load on a customer's PC. Remoted in and spent a few hours. Still have not figured it out. It installs fine but when you try to run Error messages stating iTunes has encountered a problem. Possible solution via google. Will try that.
New Shop Policy Any computer that comes in running XP with 256 of RAM will automatically require a memory upgrade to 1G.
Computer would not write to cd anymore. Every other function of the drive would work. Installing a new drive did not work. Uninstalling iTunes solved that issue Mentioned: Google search for upper and lower filters
The latest feedback on the Podnutz Lounge is that I am not ever in the chat. Fair enough. I will make a better attempt.
Email from Hamrad: Acronis back up issues with external usb drive. Had to plug directly to PC and not use usb 4 port hub to connect the drive. Backed up successfully. Used Acronis to validate the backup file and it failed immediately. After checking it appears the Validation tool is at fault. Backup appears to be fine.
I have no answer to this issue. Let me know if forums or email if you know why this is happening.
Email from Ray: Previous email regarding why 3G RAM was recognized by 32 bit XP but 4G would not work. It is NOT the quality of RAM that is the problem. Windows XP has limitations and will only recognize 3-3.5G of RAM. Recognize = Use
Email from Jeff: Jeff explains that Limited user accounts will not show up in safe mode.
Email From Mike: The biggest problem with [podnutz daily] is that it is too short. Keep up the great show! Get Acronis True Image 11 for $9.99 through September 21st via srqpcrepairs.com/acronis
Live call from Mitch: Networking XP and Vista machines. Looking for a solution for a client.
Same guy has a Netflix account to download and watch movies. After his Vista updates Netflix would not work to watch the streaming movie. He called both HP and Netflix. Netflix remoted in and blamed Active X control. He is running two firewalls as well. No solution. Looking for help with this.
Looking for #74 video? Sorry, I forgot to hit record in uStream last night. I am still looking for feedback on the Podnutz Lounge Any suggestions or feedback on the java, drop me a line.
Howard is in the show chat to night. I meant to give him a hard time about finally picking up his computer. He says he is afraid to turn it on.
Dell laptop: LED lights come on. No fans spinning. No video. Runs for three seconds and turns off. Pulled out hardware one at a time to see if any of the hardware was causing it to short out. Troubleshooting narrowed it down to the processor or the motherboard. Sticky substance on the motherboard causing corrosion. I used an electrical cleaner and a toothbrush to remove. Purell removed what the cleaner didn't. Never use water! The motherboard booted up successfully once. After I put it back together it would power off again. Looks like we need to replace the motherboard.
CompaQ laptop: Windows features like My Computer and internet would not load. Ran the built in recovery partition did a non destructive system recovery to save his data. This also loads all the drivers and brings the PC back to the factory settings. That fixed the problem. Customer was happy.
Removed Norton too and installed AVG8.
Dell desktop filled with spyware. Dad and I are debating on this one. As we were cleaning it up we realized there were four accounts on this machine. One account would not show up in safe mode. It would only show in the normal Windows enviornment. We clean in safe mode so we have to go into each account and clean every profile. I feel that there is a spyware program running in that profile and that program prevents it from loading in safemode as a devious attempt to thwart its removal. The debate: Maybe that is the latest thing, or maybe Windows is just acting wonky.
New iPod Nano was recently released. Looking at the new netbooks with 7" screens like the Asus All of the major manufacturers are coming out with these. Liking the Acer Netbook with Intel Atom processor and Windows XP for only $350. I am looking for feedback on the Acer. Wanting to get one of these netbooks.
Email from Anonymous: A possible solution for Jeff who keeps getting optical drives that will not open. Maybe the button on the drive itself has gone. Navigate to the drive in Windows Right-Click on it and choose eject. This always works for me if the drive will not slide open using the button.
Email from Craig: Held for the Philly Tech Guys podcast this Saturday 08.13.08 @ 2pm I think this email will be a great topic for discussion. Thanks for the email! I like it!
Email from Mark: Paragraph long compliment on my podcast. Not reading this either. I enoyed it personally. but I don't want to toot my own horn. Second paragraph states: Regarding burning your tools to CD so your thumb drive will not catch any virus from the PC. I use a flash drive with a write-protect switch.
Williams nLite guide was posted to #74 shownotes. Google document and righteous.
Email from Jason: Help! I was copying music from my internal hard drive to my external. Half way through copying I received an error. Acknowledged the error & checked the misic files on the external drive. I tried playing them in Windows Media Player but they just caused it to freeze up. Repeating pop-up error is: Unable to save file G: ****.mp3
After restarting my computer the external drive was not showing up in Windows. I tried a plugging the drive into a different usb port. Computer would freese up and the drives access light would stay lit. Unplugging the drive from USB unfroze the machine.
Ran Knoppix Live CD to see if I could reformat it using the built in G-Parted. Starting up G-Parted froze the machine.
Getting drastic: Unmounted the case and installed it in my PC. It was now recognized by the bios. Put in my XP Pro install disk rebooted and tried to install. I got as far as the Microsoft ULA. I chose accept. I chose the external drive from the menu and selected the slow format. Waited. After 2 hours it formatted the hard drive. It got stuck at 2% copying the install files. Drive is just out of 1 year warranty. 40G of music lost. Still stuck and looking for suggestions.
I verbally contemplate a possible bad hard drive but offer other suggestions to try.
I am no longer getting voicemail messages. Thought you guys were my friends !!? I love playing the voicemail messages. Call and leave a message if you have solutions to any of the problems covered in the shows or ask your own questions regarding issues you are dealing with.
Live call from Sherwin in NY: Lexmark printer installed on a customer's machine and customer was upgrading to a Dell printer. Uninstalled the Lexmark printer. Drivers and services. But I could not get the Dell printer to work. LexBCE server was running as a dependency under print spooler that kept crashing. Removed the dependency via cmd prompt -- Dell printer now works. Never ran into that before.
Regarding your mention of the Asus ePC: I had a user this weekend that forgot his password. Brand new and running Linux. F9 full disk recovery.
Live call from Colin aka "Sacs": More on the ePCs He was not impressed until he came face-to-face with one. Decent machine.
Regarding Jason's external issue: Can it be seen in Windows disk manager? This could determine if it is hardware or software issue.
Regarding AVG and disabling link checker: Does the icon that runs in the system tray grey out if you disable link checker?
No. It is still fully functional. You never load that service so it does not effect required updates.
Feeling lonely & want to chat tech? If you are wanting to chat tech I have set up the PodNutz Lounge chatroom. Requires Java. Let me know if you do not like tha java based chat. I am looking for feedback.
Remember the guy who was told by Verizon that his Acer laptop was not compatible with Verizon FIOS? He brought in both of his laptops. I downgraded one laptop to XP because it did not have any business running Vista. (lacking the required hardware) Runs like a rocket with no wireless issues.
His wireless dropped out on both computers at the very same time and came in for a fix. Sounds like a modem/router or signal issue since both cut out at the same time.
One of his computers has a hard-wired wireless switch on the side of the computer to toggle the wireless card on or off. By default it should be on but sometimes it gets turned off. Always look for this switch if a customer has wireless issues. Sometimes it is not on the side but rather right on the keyboard. Look for the wireless icon on the function keys.
The computers were running slow. I had created a restore point after my last optimization. So I used that restore point to bring them back to health.
XP Laptop running service host. This was taking up 100 MB of RAM. This listing is a common finding in services. But sometimes this service will tie up your memory/cpu Service Pack 3 solves this issue. Not sure why.
Laptop & installing XP This computer would consistently Blue Screen at Setup is now starting Windows and the message was: Plug and Play has encountered an error.
I had tried so many ways to fix this issue sometimes I tried them twice. This is only with an XP install. Ran Knoppix no problems. Installed Vista on it and it runs fine. Customer ended up trading it in So I wanted to sell this laptop. Turns out the ethernet was bad and was causing that XP install issue.
One of my customer's computers was hanging on normal Windows functions. He could not open My Computer, My Documents folder. Things like that. Running Dial-A-Fix got us into the My Documants folder. I will run all Windows updates tomorrow including SP3. See if that helps. sfc /scannow might also help because this makes sure all the Windows files are in their original form.
Email from Michael: He wants to know the best way to reinstall Windows on a client's computer if they do not have the system disks/operating system on CD common name brand computer and they DO have the product key. Can the product key be used with any Windows disk? You can use a Dell disk on all Dells and so one. Manufacturer specific. Utilize the recovery partition on these systems you do not have the correct manufacturer disk for. The recovery partition has become a standard feature in the least 5-6 yrs.
Email from John: Problems installing 4G of RAM on a motherboard that has 4 dim slots. All is well with 3G in three slots. Adding the fourth system becomes unstable. Tried turning up the volts in the BIOS. Try running memtest Or try a different stick of RAM if you have one.
Email from Michael: HP DV9000 single core laptop with XP. Internal wireless card stopped working. Tried several ways of troubleshooting. Found this link stating the motherboards have been recalled.
Does it have a wireless toggle switch? I had to ask!
Re-do of Philly Tech Guys Remember to tune in this weekend to Mike Tech Show for the re-do of Philly Tech Guys. Saturday, September 13th @ 2pm A nice structured format!
Remember the PodNutz Lounge too! Tech chat 24/7 @ PodNutz.com/lounge/ Hang out with other PodNutz fans and talk tech!
No notes to fall back on. The day was so terrible that I almost did not do the show today...that's how bad.
But I decided to do the show because I feel the need to reveal that in this field of computer repair, you have bad days. It is NOT the end of the world. But it was real close today.
Let us reminisce: The overwritten files PC? Remember that one? Yeah that nightmare. I was going to do a free repair on his laptop since I messed up so hard. I spent weeks on his laptop. Blamed the processor and replaced. It worked fine. Threw the old processor in the trash.
This guy came in today and wanted to transfer files from his old laptop to the one I fixed.
I rebooted his laptop and the same problem that he brought it in with occurred in front of his face. Wouldn't post and froze. This guy is cursed. He is a nice guy and it doesn't make sense but definitely Bad mojo.
So I am *giving* him a Dell Laptop that I was going to sell to another customer and I will take the loss because of the history.
PodNutz Tech Chat 24/7: http://www.podnutz.com/lounge This is the same chat software that Computer America uses. addonChat If you do not like the java let me know.
Philly Tech Guys re-do: Saturday Sept 13, 2008 @ 2pm EST Me, Mike and Keith Be there or be a square!
Email from Mike: Windows 98 and XP Windows 98 can be installed on a VM inside of Windows XP provided extra RAM is installed. Or within XP you can utilize the compatibility mode. XP is backwards compatible that way for 98 software.
Also techs should have a mountable headband flashlight. Another item for the tech toolbag for about $10 for spelunking.
Email from Ray: Your last guest on #24 was awesome (Scott Meuller) and issues on registering Windows on a new install.
Email from Jack: Problems with this podcast in iTunes and is looking for alternatives to iTunes for podcasts. Get Juice, Jack
Email from Jeff: Laptop tip for laptops that appear to be dead Unplug the AC adapter Remove the battery Plug in the AC adapter Power on the computer Shut down Put the battery back in and plug the AC adapter back in .. and it will work as normal.
Getting close to Podnutz Daily #100! That will be a milestone achievement and I want to celebrate it somehow. Stay tuned for details.
Dell Dimension Desktop Kept getting IRQ Not Less Than Equal Blue Screen This computer came in a few weeks ago. It was Blue Screening and eventually would not start. Removing a bad stick of RAM fixed it at that time.
Now it is getting the IRQ BSOD. We did a system recovery using the Dell Recovery Partition that is accessed through Ctrl+F11. Still getting the same BSOD.
Decided to run some diagnostic programs that are built into the Utility Partition on newer Dells. The Utility Partition is accessed through the boot menu. Ran a memory test and learned which one was bad.
I will be using memory tests much more especially when I get the IRQ BSOD.
Dell laptop: Customer stated it would not start at all. Dead-as-a-doornail.
I got it to start so I called him and got some background information. Nephew was using this computer for a while and he got an error on the screen stating the battery was about to die. It requested that the battery be replaced or recharged. The system died a few moments later. Nephew bought a new battery and installed it. System ran for a half an hour and died. The AC adapter was plugged in at the time but the new battery would not charge.
Solution: The AC adapter was bad and was not charging the battery.
Philly Tech Guys at PodCamp Philly 2008 was a flop. No internet connection and we were not mentioned in the schedule. We will be doing a do-over.
Podcamp Philly was great though. It is for podcasters and bloggers both. I am going to try to be a speaker at the next PodCamp Philly.
Pentium 3 desktop computer: System was Blue Screening at the same spot during Windows XP start up. It happened right before you would get either the Welcome screen or the log ons. We tried: chkdsk fixboot chkdsk/r and Windows repair. No changes. Ran a parallel Windows installation and it worked. Looks like a video driver issue to me because that is where the screen resolution changes. Will look further into that tomorrow.
Email from Laverne: Wanted to know my objection to using LogMeIn Free as a remote desktop tool for fixing computers. I explain again my issues with security.
Email from Ray: Does Grub enable you to boot from USB? I want to be able to boot into Windows XP from a usb drive.
I have tried getting Windows XP to boot from an external USB drive. I never could. I have never tried Grub though.
Email from Ed: Josh mentioned using a CD to store malware removal tools to prevent viruses from getting on your thumbdrive. Another solution is to use a USB SD card reader. SD cards have a slider on them to write protect them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital ClamWin as AV for Thumbdrive
Ed's response to Sherwins email regarding cloning/imaging: I use the Live version of Clonezilla to backup the partition Windows is installed on to an external ext3 formatted Linux partition. I create the Linux ext3 partition using a Linux Live CD with GPartedon the same hard drive. This always gives me a fresh Windows install that is hidden from the user. (More information on this is divuldged in the audio!)
Email from Hamrad: At Staples through November 30th 2008: Acronis True Image 11 Home Edition $39.00 But if you buy a PC or a HD Acronis is only $19.00 You can also download it through NewEgg for $29
Email from Steve: Have you ever tried to use Windows remote assistance in Vista? I need to do some tech support for my Mom. BTW: I am impressed with Vista's FireWall and Event Viewer. (Listen to the show to hear WHY Steve is impressed)
I say I have never used Windows remote assistance in Vista. I use LogMeIn or PCHelpWare But Steve: Please post this in the forums in order to get feedback from other listeners who may have tried it.
Email from Jeff: Plethora of 5-6yrd old HP computers where the CD tray will not open. I just replace the optical drive. Have you come across this Steve?
Again I ask you to post this in the forums. I have no experience with this issue. Like you, I would just replace the drive.
Blue Screen Of Death Screen Saver Ever see one? It is a Sysinternals product. Malware. SuperAntiSpyware detects & removes it.
Dell Latitude D600 Would not boot. After the Dell spash screen it would go black. No error messages. Tried fixboot bootcfg/repair in the Recovery console. Also ran chkdsk (not /r) Started right up after that.
Thankful for the easy jobs. Back-to-back difficult jobs stress you out while the easy jobs give you confidence and energy.
HP laptop with IE 7 issues: It would say application halted or application failed. I thought it could not be as easy to fix as going into IE Tools/Advanced/Reset ... but it WAS that simple to repair. (You cannot do this in IE 6 though)
Repairs come in waves. The current wave is processors. Normally I will do 5/yr and I talk about how I troubleshoot/pinpoint processors issues. And how I determine hd/processor problem.
Customer returns: I have been experiencing customers calling back after a fix stating specific things do not work after I have fixed their issues.
Don't cut corners. Do a stellar job. Learn from your mistakes/returns Tie up all of those loose ends that are nagging the back of your mind that you know will make or break a thorough job. They will call back if it is not right.
Email from William: Apps that I install on new PCs Firefox Thunderbird Foxit Reader PCHelpWare Open Office KeePass 7zip AVG CD Burner XP Picasa VLC What do you install??
William also has a Welcome document he hands out to his customers. Missing the link. Please resend William!
Email from Hamrad: Two computers 98 and XP He wants to eliminate the 98 machine (and dual boot XP and 98 for software reasons?)
Steve admits he was not into PCs until 2005. I think that gap hurts me with these types of questions.
Email from Michael aka "Zinger": Google Ads and I want to see your website that turns your Google traffic into business.
Email from Bob: Bob loves hearing from Simon and would like to have him as a repeat guest.
Voicemail from Sacs aka Colin: Colin says Open ID is good. He also uses Acronis at work. Active Password Recovery Learn how to change a Windows Password using a Windows CD!
Voicemail from Joe: Joe chimes in about IE 8 If you are on Vista and install IE 8 there seems to be no way to retro back to IE 7
Open ID Sick of entering user names and passwords? What do you think of it? Let me know!
Code 19 on Windows: Replaced a DVD drive and drivers would not load. Device manager showed a *bam* (yellow exclamation mark) for the drive and the reason ended with a code 19.
Googled code 19 (should have checked Scott's book) Registry key upper filters and lower filters need to be deleted to fix this.
Viao laptop: Has power but no POST No video. No HD activity. Fans spin up. Figured something was loose on the motherboard. BTW: Don't poke the MB with anything metal when it is on. Did not notice anything wrong with MB connections. Will test the video card. Before I start looking at the MB.
Makes me remember Steve D'Amico (see PodNutz #23) and how he acquires broken laptops and breaks them up into very small valuable parts and resells them. I buy those parts!
Scott Mueller interview: fixboot vs fixMBR Back up data before fixMBR!
More on successful trade-ins for computer repair jobs: Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop After spending time diagnosing It had a bad mother board. It took time to find the problem. Hence no free estimate. I could charge you the diagnostic of you could trade in your laptop and we will call it even. Customers agree to this and This is how I get parts to play with.
And I go into scenarios where this one acquire works out for several happy customers. Good times hearing about a worn out keyboard.
2nd part of Paul's Voicemail: Inernet Explorer Beta 8 Paul recommends it. Let me know what YOU think.
Paul also wondered why my contact info is not readily available via my sites. Simple: Tired of the spam. Hence I tell you during every audio show HOW to contact me.
I am even getting spam on twitter. Makes me sick.
Email from William: William wants to know what tech sites I frequently visit. Not many.
Mostly Google is my friend for finding solutions to computer issues I am currently dealing with. That and the tips for getting info from tech-experts (for free) has allowed me to take advantage of their site as well.
Email from Ramoonus/Ramoos (?) Steve your show is amazing (Thank You)
Old PC AMD 3000+ Trying to boot from CD to reinstall Windows the keyboard stops working.
I say: Bad processor? Bad CD drive?
Email from Carl: Buying parts off Ebay- Do you tell the customer they are used parts? We go into ethics ...
The screens I buy off of Ebay are always new. But I DO buy used parts and use them to repair. Whether or not I tell them they are used or new depends upon the part replaced and the warranty I give them I go on to explain further ....
Email from Damien: An easy way of testing a power supply is to take a paper clip and bend it into a U shape and stick it down the back of the plug for the mother board down the side of the green wire into the metal part of the plug. Test with a multimeter. (PLEASE just listen to the show if curious)
Email from Moe: Article on how to avoid reactivating Windows XP after a fresh install. Here's the link.
Email from Marie ( or Terri) in Idaho: She will be recommending my podcast to her students. ( Thank You Marie !! )
She is looking for opinions on software for cloning a HD & password recovery
I say For Cloning: Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost Password Recovery: I use what is on the Ultimate Boot CD: NT Password recovery or OPH Crack on a bootable CD
Live Call from Mike in NM: POST card reader that reads the codes of a MB during bootup Uses a PCI or ISA slot and gives LED read out Is this a useful tool? Ever used one of these? Learned via Technibble.
I said: I never used one. But I might. $25 for the tool.
Mike also asks for business card advice - If you were working out of your house would you put your address on business cards?
I say yes ... because I did put it on mine back in the day. It is a matter of preference.
Short show. Have to get ready for my call with Scott Mueller for PodNutz Ep #24.
Google Chome Simplistic looking browser. Let me know what you think if you have tried it.
Toshiba Laptop and touchpads. Yes the same laptop. This is longest I have had a customer's machine. (For the history of this laptop listen to previous shows) I cover a quick history of what I have done so far. This computer is finally going home!
Getting rid of Windows Defender in Vista. It is not in add/remove programs. I haven't found a way to completely remove it. You have to disable it in msconfig/services BUT you have to show Microsoft services to see it to turn it off.
eMachines desktop from yesterday. It was doing something different every time at start up. Replaced the processor. Works fine.
Microsoft Outlook 2003 nightmare Worked on it practically all day. Customers whole life is on outlook. Blackberry sync .. all that. Friends used his computer. He can no longer send mail from Outlook. Instead you would get: Microsoft is configuring Office Professional 2003 and a progress bar. No email sent.
I tried every kind of Outlook repair. I decided to uninstall and reinstall. Had to use Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to allow the uninstall. No change.
Fix: Went into msconfig/services and cleaned out a bunch of unnecessary services. Not sure which service was causing the issue but Problem solved.
Next computer: Word 2000 was taking forever to load. Uninstalled and reinstalled Word. After the reinstall, the first time you started Word it loaded like a bolt of lightening. However, if you closed Word, and tried to open it again it would take 5 minutes to load. Hours and Hours trying to fix this. Same result with a fresh install of Word 2003.
