Cayenne

Worth checking your memory. If you have more than one memory module, first take them out (with the power off of course or you'll blow them). Reseat them back in again. power up to make sure everything's ok. Monitor it for a while. Still getting hangs? power off, remove one module. power up. Monitor. Still hanging? power off. Swap modules. power up and monitor for hangs again. If the hanging stops with one module in but not the other, there's the cause. Could well be your original memory module. No good? power off. Unplug the Hard disk drive and it's power lead. Plug back in again. Still no good? Try unplugging the other end of the HDD cable where it plugs in to the motherboard and plug back in again. Check that the cable to the HDD is an 80-way one if the HDD is less than 3 years old - 40 way cables are ok for CD/DVD drives but HDDs can go loopy if the cable is of this type. If it's SATA, this is irrelevant. Still worth reseating the plugs in their sockets though. Power off and GENTLY remove and reseat the graphics card. They can cause all sorts of problems if they are even slightly unseated as the contact area on the pins inside the slot are small. Still got problems? Go into the BIOS and set it to the safe setting. if no safe setting available, set all options to AUTO. Could be that you have a bios setting somewhere set to manual and it is too high (or low) for optimal use. Later graphics cards can use more power than the motherboard can supply. Result, system crashes when you least expect it. Check on the Internet to see if your motherboard is compatible with the graphics card. Try unplugging and reseating other cables such as your CD/DVD drive and floppy drive to make sure they are ok. Same for power lead(s) from power supply. Unplug from the mains before you do this. If your monitor is plugged into the power supply of the computer instead of having it's own mains power supply, change it so it is powered from it's own mains socket. One last thing, I had problems with a system because the motherboard was too near the case and it was touching the case at one point thus causing a short. Check there is clearance between the mobo and your case and all the mounting screws are not loose. Don't overtighten them if they are.

Wireless routers are beggars to get right. Read the instructions for the router FULLY before you start. Your eyes will begin to glaze over by about page 10 but keep going. Often manuals are not organised very well and some of the info you need to know to set it up is buried on page 23. You will need to connect the router to your main computer via a LAN cable to start with and "log in" to it to turn on the wireless part where it will look for any wireless cards or adapters to talk to. Usually, this is done by using Internet Explorer and by typing an address such as "192.168.1.1" in. You will possibly need a password to get in, that should be either in the manual or printed on the underside of the router. When you get in, Explorer will show a screen with umpteen menu choices. Read the manual again, especially the bit about "wireless encryption". The manual if it is any good will tell you the whole process from end to end. Once you have the router set up, read the manual for the USB adaptor. If you have got so far into installing the router and nothing works, press the reset button on it to get it back to it's factory condition and start again. Trying "this or that" to see if it fixes the problem won't work. Getting a wireless router to work is tough if both the router and adaptor are the same make. It's even harder if they are from different manufacturers. If your pc is running Windoze 98, it's even harder still but hopefully you have Xp or at the least ME. Setting up networks started getting easier from Windoze ME onwards but can be complicated by some adapters using the software supplied with them to control LAN access instead of Windoze. The full adapter manual is often supplied on a CD in a PDF file and is worth looking at especially if the adaptor is a different make from the router. If your adapter is unbranded, best of luck. Go get a matching adapter of the same make as your router or at least one by Netgear, Linksys or other well-known brand name. Some things to try. Check once you have found your way round the router's menus, the option to allow a range of addresses (such as 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.10) access through the built-in firewall if there is one. Default setting may be for no LAN addresses to be defined. Without setting a range of addresses for it to allow through, it won't talk to anything. Also check that both router and adaptor have the same encryption type set and the encryption password is set EXACTLY the same on both items.

When I moved down here 30 odd years ago, it took a while to decipher the local dialect. I still have problems occasionally, like "poerk shop" as in "Ah'm jus nippin aht tut poerk shop for a sarni." I still can't get my head round "are the pipes on?" for "Is the Central heating on?" Or "Tat" meaning poor quality goods. Has anyone ever heard of "gobbo" or "sprottle"? The Geordies I used to work with called a lump hammer a "Manchester screwdriver" for some reason. Anyone ever heard "double reyt" for something really good? Like in "it were double reyt, that pint"? Older Sheffield men pronounce "but" as "birt". As in "birt that wont' good enough fer er". I still like the expression "she was having a do with herself" meaning she was flustered. Probably because she had just finished "bottoming" the kitchen. And "she looked at me like tripe" causes a smile. Probably because "she had a face as long as Norfolk Street" which is now not very long at all. Older ladies have a special expression for approval, often of grandchildren. It goes something like this. Daughter tells her Mum of the latest achievements of her offspring to be greeted by "Ayyyyyyyyy" from Grandmother. That's of course when Grandson hasn't "got blog on" and is being "mardy". Men have a similar word but it's more of a long "ahh". "Y'orreyt?" "Fair to middlin'." "Bin aht?" "Ahhhhhhhh." "Get owt?" "Neow, sold aht." "Wocha goffer?" "Star." "Our young'un'll av one burreel av gorn aht nah." "Nah, it'll be reyt. Can manage weyowt." My partner's favourite expression though, is "min't roads" meaning "take care going home".

Since Christmas, there has been a lot of activity on the site of the old bus station, between the new one and Pond's Forge. Anyone know what it's for? More student accommodation, perhaps?

I drive the 3 1/2 miles to work because I have a car, have had years earlier in my life getting wet and cold waiting for buses, cycled 1000's of miles, but now have a free car parking space in the centre of town. It takes me 10 minutes to get to work when the kiddies are out of school but 20 when they are back. Plus it's all downhill to work and uphill the other way. If Sheffield was on a hill instead of in a valley, maybe I'd cycle. But after 8 hours at work, pedalling up 1 in 6 hills does not appeal much.

We have two bus sevices up here, the 20 and the 20a. My partner complains that the amount of times one is left out and you have to wait for the next one is getting to be a daily occurrence. Or the 20 goes down the 20a route or vice versa. When you are in town, though, every other bus seems to be a 52. No wonder the house prices in Crookes are so high, it must be their wonderful bus service. Why do they need so many?

People who get to the top of an escalator and then stop, never thinking there are other people still coming up. Then when you crash into the back of them, they look at you as if you had materialised out of thin air.

Did nights for 15 years on and off. The best thing was there were no bosses around so you could suit yourself how you got the work done. Hated earlies (6-2) as I got home and often fell asleep in the chair despite my best intentions. Shift work generally does your metabolism in - it's like jet-lag. But you get used to it after a while. A bonus then is you don't suffer jet-lag when you go abroad as it's just like changing shifts. Still have nights when I can't sleep every now and again even after not doing shifts for about 3 or 4 years now.

Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu-Siemens all do budget laptops. A Celeron M processor about 1.5Ghz, 512Meg of memory, 15.4 widescreen display, 40Gig Hard drive, Wireless IEEE 802.11g networking. DVD RW drive.

Try switching it to a different channel - you may be getting interference with something else using the same radio channel. Might be yours or a neighbour's device. A cordless digital phone uses the same channels as do surround sound wireless speakers. I fixed mine by changing the radio channel - the phone had grabbed the same channel as the router defaulted to. Mine goes haywire when the microwave oven is on. Wireless networks are still mystic creatures even after being around for a while. Persevere!

I've got a soundblaster Live! Thinking of changing it to something decent - it hums badly, doesn't matter which PCI slot I put it in. Do Yamaha still do sound cards? I am not interested in games, MIDI is essential though.

Sounds like you'll have to take the plunge and visit an opticians. :cool: Books are better than the internet - some stuff on the internet can't be found in books but there's an awful lot more in books but not on the internet.

Have you just installed XP or is it a previously owned pc? Try clicking "cancel".

Just a thought before you break it up. Check the processor fan's working and it's not bunged-up with gunge. If it's not doing it's job, it might cause the laptop to shut down to prevent frying the processor.

Tesco's have some in on Abbeydale Road. About £30 or so. I would be surprised if they wouldn't exchange a faulty one. Mine has a 7-day TV guide feature which you can use to set it to turn on and switch to the right channel at the right time so you can record from it. The guide feature is useful anyway to find out "what's on" later on in the evening or later on in the week. Not all have this, look out for one which has. Almost all come with a "what's on now and what's on next" display so you can see what the other channels are showing. It sometimes doesn't get updated though, so still shows what was on earlier. I haven't got Top-up TV but what comes up on the guide seems to be very restricted as to the number of hours in the day when it's available. 1/2 of it seems only to be available whilst I'm at work, so there's no point getting it IMO. The early ones were very slow when using teletext, this seems to have improved lately, though. The only thing I miss from my original 'ITV On Digital' box (which was the same size and weight as a VCR) was the display showing which channel it's on. You'll need a modern ariel and not be in the bottom of the valleys if you want to receive a good picture. Digital is all or nothing. it either works fine or not at all.