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General discussion

still scanning

Mar 18, 2004 3:25AM PST

hello....don't hurt yourself laughing to hard at this one....I posted on Feb 27th, or there abouts....well the computer is still doing a system scan....and it is still only at 57%....so now I went out and purchased a windows 98 pack....someone had mentioned that you can do a total reformat if you have an operating system to install....bada bing....this computer was a piece together as far as I know....and then we got it second hand....my origanal post was in referance to the colors which magically changed when my son hit a button....someone had said I could go into the bios and check the video card settings or the video adapter settings....they said I could get to the bios by hitting delete at start up....ok ok ok....it's been four weeks....my walls look like a comic book advertisement....I have to get this computer up and running again for the kid....can I kill it and bring it back like new with this windows 98 cd?....will reformatting it help with the bios by setting them back to the way they should be if indeed by hitting one button the kid eliminated the 256 color choice? or should I just keep scanning the system indefinitely....at 57% I figure it will take till June at least....thanks guys for your help....

Discussion is locked

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Re:still scanning
Mar 18, 2004 3:49AM PST

Autumn,

You've got to be kidding....Are you saying you haven't turned the Win98 machine OFF since Feb. 27? If not, please do, then restart the machine..

Instead of reinstalling the operating system, have you tried simply installing the newest video drivers for your video card? If your only problem is a graphics display issue, then you probably don't need to reinstall everything.. You can do the research yourself, or you can give us the pertinent computer information about the drivers and video card. (RIGHT click on "My Computer", choose "Properties", and when that loads, click on the ""Device Manager" tab. When that loads, click on the + sign next to the "Display Adapters" tab and a specific device will be listed. Click on it once to highlight it, then click on the "Properties" button. Please tell us the "Manufacturer's" name, the date, and the version number.)

We might be able to find a driver for the card which just might fix the problem.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re:Re:still scanning
Mar 18, 2004 4:51AM PST

no....the computer has been running since my last post....it did all the stuff in the thorough scan and got to the system scan....the one before the surface scan.....made it to 56% and found a bad cluster....has been repairing bad clusters ever since.....we now have eight boxes with a b in them and we are at 57%....I was afraid to shut down and stop the scan....still haven't done the surface scan....as for the color of the monitor....I know it had 256 before the kid hit the button....whatever button he hit....I havent been able to check any info because the computer is still scanning :}

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Re:Re:Re:still scanning
Mar 18, 2004 5:09AM PST

Shutdown the system. Boot into DOS, and retry scandisk (from DOS type scandisk c: followed by enter). If it still fails: throw away the hard disk and buy a new one. Be sure the BIOS can handle the drive: old BIOS-es may be limited with big disks.

And yes, then you will have to fdisk and format and install Windows and all drivers, and visit windowsupdate.

Kees

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Autumn, I Agree With Kees
Mar 18, 2004 7:35AM PST

At this point, you need to shut down the Scandisk program, and move on. Here is a link to your original, and only other post and I don't see any instructions to reload the operating system?? At least, not at this point.

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7809-0.html?forumID=75&threadID=13655&start=0

But first, after reading that earlier post, did you try the easiest solution to fix your display problems? RIGHT click on a blank area of the desktop, choose "Properties". When that loads, click on the "Settings" tab, then move the "Desktop area" (resolution) slider to something like 800 X 600, then click on the "color palette" drop down arrow to select "High Color 16 bit". Then click on "Apply", then OK. Did that fix the problem???

Like Herb Chong suggested, have you checked for the updated video driver yet? You can do that yourself or you can give us the driver manufacturer, version, and date, by looking in the 'Device Manager', under the "Display Adapter" device properties. We might be able to help you find an updated drive to fix the display problem.

If that didn't fix the issue, if you have a Win98 boot floppy, place it in the floppy drive, then click on "Shut down", choose "Restart the computer". After the computer boots into DOS, try running a thorough scandisk again by typing in the DOS command that Kees sugggested above. If you have any problems with the DOS commands, post back and we can make them a little clearer. (By the way, a thorough scandisk, even on a large drive shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours.)

Hope this helps and let us know what happens.

Grif

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What program is scanning what?
Mar 18, 2004 4:42AM PST

And don't believe every 'someone' (Grif is a noted exception!).

Most video card/adapter (what's the difference?) settings aren't in the BIOS. Even with on-board video there's likely to be a driver to do it from Config Panel (or desktop properties), with the BIOS only having a switch to disable it if you insert a 'real' video card.

And video problems can always be a hardware problem (monitor or videocard). I once had a monitor turning all yellow after being on half an hour. I had it repaired and it worked for years afterwards. Must have been a bad contact somewhere, and heat.

Even if it's software or settings, please note that problems can very well get worse if you reformat and do not have the correct motherboard and video and other drivers. So whatever you plan to do: get that videodriver. And play around with it to see if it helps before installing a new OS as a last resort.
And remember, whatever is refreshed by an OS install, not the BIOS; that has it's own 'reset to default' function.


Hope this helps.


Kees

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Turn Computer Off and Stop The Scanning
Mar 18, 2004 9:15PM PST

Then turn it back on.

Then let people know what happens.