Vista and Windows Explorer

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

Hi All,

My first post and I'm hoping in the right place.

I tutor, in computer basic subjects, at our local community college.
Because the college has Vista installed on their pc, I recently upgraded to Vista Business. I got a great deal for it on eBay.

This is the message I received after running Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor:

"Your current video card will not support the ™ user experience. Contact your computer manufacturer or retailer to see if an upgrade is available.
Click here for a list of video cards that support Windows Aero.".

Here is my pc spec’s:

4CoreDual-Sata2 Cpu: Intel® Pentium® D Cpu 3.00 Ghz.
Motherboard serial and model number: "7AMOX1086283"; Part No: "90-MXG5KO-AQUAYZ".

Bios Version: P1.60

4Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports Jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

Monitor:
RADEON 9250 (Microsoft Corporation - XDDM)

Display adapter:
RADEON 9250 (Microsoft Corporation - XDDM)

I have 2 questions, if I may:

1.)

My screen/monitor will, on occasion (more often lately), go blank/black with the power button remaining a blue color; and there are times, before upgrading, the screen will display “No signal . . .”, go blank/black with the power button turning a yellow/amber color. I have to hit the power button and re-start.
What my motherboard has:

o 1 x PCI Express Graphics slot (@ x4 mode)
o 1 x AGP 8X slot
o 4 pci slots.

What would be a lower end and upper end video card that would satisfy Vista Business? I do some gaming.

2.)

The windows explorer is telling me that my f:\ drive is not accessible and when I right click/properties it is showing a entirely blue Local Disk drive icon. I have all of my downloaded program software on this drive.

When I left click Computer/Manage both Diskeeper and Disk Management are showing a healthy F:\ drive.

When I right click Computer there is an icon, a picture showing 2 subjects in front of the hdd.

Can someone please tell me what the problem is?

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Wccc-Pc-Tutor

 

[Zoron]

Upgrade to any video card with DX10 support... then you will be guaranteed to have something that will work with Aero. How much you're willing to spend is really what it come down to.

Run a chkdsk on your hard drive... could be that something screwed with your file system. The advisable thing to do is a clean install always... upgrade installs almost always seem to cause issues either immediately or somewhere down the road. It may be worth formatting your Windows partition and reinstalling Vista clean... but it depends on if you have easy access to reinstall the programs you need.

 

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

Hi Zoron,

Thanks for replying.

"It may be worth formatting your Windows partition and reinstalling Vista clean . . . . access . . . reinstall the programs you need."

Got to go before my monitor goes black.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Wccc-Pc-Tutor
Yes, that is the problem. I had this problem, in the past, but I was able to fix it by changing owners. I couldn't do that with this problem.

All of my software and I mean all of my software is on that drive. I thought saving my information on an external hard drive would keep me from seeing these kind of problems.

If the chkdsk does not work, what do you suggest I try next.

I'm not a geek, yet, by any means. There are so many available videos cards out there. How do I use the information below to find the appropriate video card? What should I look for when checking one out?

1 x PCI Express Graphics slot (@ x4 mode)
1 x AGP 8X slot
4 pci slots.

I currently have a Startech "ATXPOW320P4" I plan on buy a Startech "ATX2POW450HS" psu.

 

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

Hi all,

I used Webroot Spy Sweeper on my “Access denied . . . ” f:\ drive and it found nothing in the 7,077 Files/Folders on it.

Why can I perform a complete Security Sweep on the drive, but unable to access it?

I am unable to do any type of new install/upgrade until I get this fixed. If I do a new install is there a chance my drive will become accessible? All of the software that I use, is on that drive.

"It may be worth formatting your Windows partition and reinstalling Vista clean... but it depends on if you have easy access to reinstall the programs you need."

When that option becomes a reality, what would be the best approach? Start from WinXp Home - 2 - WinXp Professional and then Windows Vista upgrade? Or do a work around, I read about using only the upgrade version?

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Wccc-Pc-Tutor

 

[Zoron]

You may have to take ownership of the files in order to access them.

 

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

“You may have to take ownership of the files in order to access them.”

I already tried that approach:

Left click f:\ Drive.
Left click Properties.
Selected Security.
Selected Advance.
The proper “Current Owner” is correct.
The proper “Change Owner” is also correct.

I’m going to reveal age with this reply.

I was listening/watching a video on YouTube when the monitor went blank again. I thought everything was going on as usual, even though I was unable to view the events. Well, when the video stopped playing, all I heard was the sound of a “needle stuck on an old 78 disc”.

http://www.dcwstore.com/turntables.htm I hope the posting of links is acceptable.
The old turntable would play 33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPM records.

As usual I turned the pc off with the switch on the back of the unit. I thought, when one does this approach, the pc would shut off. In this case the green indicator light was still on, but not as bright. I would hit the power button and the “Power-on self-test (POST)” would start.

Any suggestions?

The college has Vista installed on their computers and I’m still not comfortable using it, so un-installing is not an option.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Wccc-Pc-Tutor

 

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

You may have to take ownership of the files in order to access them.

Left click f:\ Drive.

Left click Properties.

Selected Security.

Selected Advance.

I tried the above earlier, but when I got to the Security tab, I immediately selected “Advance”.

Well, on the Security tab, I didn’t notice in the Group or user name that my information was not there. Once I “Edit” and “Add” my information the problem was solved.

I also have another strange ending.

I did a system wide scan, using Webroot Spy Sweeper and it found several items. After they were quarantined, I have had no problem (knock on wood) with my monitor. I can’t think of anything else, other than the Webroot Spy Sweeper, I have done, which would explain my “happy ending”.

Knock on wood, but I haven't been up and running this long, in a long time, without the monitor going blank.

Can you or anyone please give me a logical explanation for this?

I would welcome anything.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Wccc-Pc-Tutor

 

[Zoron]

Your account name may have been the same, but that is meaningless... you still have to take ownership of the files because it's still a new user account.

As for the monitor going blank, it sounds like Webroot managed to contain some sort of malware that was causing Windows to crash.

 

[Wccc-pc-tutor]

Hi Zoron,

I apologize for this very late reply, but I have been out of town and when I got home I got tied-up with other business.

I bought the following from SuperBiiz.com:
XFX GeForce 6200 512MB DVI/TV-out AGP Video Card

I installed it last night and I haven't had the problem with the display/monitor since then.

I have had, however, a continuing problem with Windows Explorer stopping and having to restart. On one of the occasions, I was given several options to choose from, but can't recall what they were. I will, however, make note if it happens again.

I now have Vista Business (I bought the upgrade and received a good/great deal on eBay) installed. Why? I tutor at our local community college and they have Vista installed on their pc.

I will look online for the solution, but if you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

pctutoratwccc

 

[Zoron]

You need a program like Driver Cleaner Pro to remove all traces of the ATi drivers. People report issues when going from ATi to nVidia or vice versa without removing the old drivers first.