PC Computer Gurus, I Need Your Help!

[Inspeqtor]

I am running Windows XP in a desktop computer.

I have been noticing for some time now that my hard drive was getting louder. It seemed like "I should add a drop of WD-40" to the bearings, but of course I knew better! For a while I would only notice the problem when I first booted up, then after that it would quiet down.

Last night I noticed the noise the entire time the computer was turned on, so I figured I better go buy another hard drive and get it installed before this one gave up completely. I do have an external hard drive I have been backing up to on a weekly basis.

Today I got a new hard drive (Western Digital) and got it installed fine. The wierd thing is I am still hearing a grinding noise, but not as loud as it was. Maybe the problem was not my hard drive but a fan???

One thing I have noticed is that my new hard drive is now drive letter "F" while my internal Zip Drive is letter "C". I have a DVD and a CD drive that are letters "D" and "E"

Is there anyway to change the drive letters of F and C around?

What is the best way to determine if I need to buy a new fan? I have 2 fans, one on the CPU, and a seperate fan just to blow the air around inside the case.

[genevh]

Yeah....WD40 on a hard drive would be a bad thing. As for figuring out which fan is going bad, if you can't tell by listening carefully to what is going on inside the case, you will need to open it up and watch the fans run. If one seems like it's not spinning fast enough or is having a hard time spinning, that's the one that needs replaced. If you can't tell visually, you can stop the fans one at a time. When the noise quits, there's the bad one. And don't wait to replace it because they will not improve over time, only get worse. And if its the CPU fan, you definitely want to replace that one. Your CPU will overheat within seconds of its fan dying.

To change your drive letters, right click your My Computer icon on the desktop and select Computer Management in the menu that opens. In the next window that opens, select Disk Management. You can right click each drive then and assign it a letter by clicking Change Drive Letter and Paths. Change you Zip drive to something higher than F first, then change your HD to C and your Zip to F if that's what you want it to be. It's been awhile since I've done it, but if it tells you need to reboot to make the change effective when you close out of it, let your PC reboot. You should be OK after that.

You still using that Zip drive? :D

[Ric Cisson]

Charles, I seem to remember when I installed a second HD that I had a similar situation. I wanted the second internal drive to be "F", after Windows assigned it "K". Here is what I remember to access disk management in XP. Choose Start menu, Right click My Computer, choose Manage and then click Disk Management. In the right box, right click on drive and change the letter, careful not to duplicate something already in existence. I hope this helps, but that is what I remember, been a couple of years, and the gray matter isn't what it use to be.

I see Gene responded, I concur.

[Jancy]

Charles I had the same problem a couple of years ago on an older PC. I got a new drive before I opened the computer. When I opened the computer I realized it was not the hard drive-but I installed it anyway because it was larger, but it tuned out to be the powersupply. I could hear it because the fan attached to it was going slower and faster and making noise. Also pc started acting a bit weird as if it wasn't getting enough power. I replaced the power supply which was very easy and haven't had a problem since.

[genevh]

Jancy is right, the power supply fan could also be the problem. I've had that happen to me before, too. I replaced the fan inside one of my power supplies before (probably not the smartest thing to do since the capacitors inside can hold a charge) and was able to keep using it for awhile longer.

[Inspeqtor]

Thank you Gene, Ric and Jancy. This morning I put the computer on a table with nothing connected (no mouse keyboard or monitor) just to watch and listen to the fans. At that time everything was quiet.

I had not thought of the power supply, thank you for that info. Now that I have it back together there is a slight noise but it is weak. I think I will take the covers off again and re-look at them, this time with the case on the floor and everything connected.

Yes Gene, I still use the Zip drive! I use it to back up Quicken and my finances. Seems a lot easier than using a CD. Do you have a better idea? :)

I put the original HD back in the computer case this morning, but to do that I had to remove the Zip Drive :( The original HD is purring along OK. Maybe it was not bad after all. I am thinking of keeping it there as a backup for the time being. When I did that, Windows made my original drive letter "C" since I do not have the Zip in there. I will now go change the drive letters as you fine people instructed me to do.

I am thinking I will go look for another Zip Drive that is USB connected rather than internal as my other one was, so I can still back up my finances that way. Any other ideas for this? I wish I could use a CD the same way you could use the old floppy drives or the Zip Drive.

[Inspeqtor]

I just changed the drive letter of "C" (my old original HD) to "G". Then I tried to change my current HD of "F" to "C" but I got this warning:

"Windows cannot modify the drive letter of your system volume or boot volume"

Crap! I now realize I should have had my zip drive dis-conneted at the time I formatted the new hard drive and then installed windows.

If I can figure out how to do it, I may go back and redo that (format and re-re-install windoes), just so I do have a 'proper' drive letter C on my HD to lessen the confusion in the future.

[Jancy]

Charles I kept my old hard drive also in my computer but I have the cables disconnected. Thought about using it as the slave drive but figured I would also just leave it just in case. I also cloned the old drive onto the new with out a problem using the WD utility. Took forever but haven't had a problem. I also did not have a problem with the drive letters. I also found that using the zip wasn't worth the headache quite a a while ago and that I new if I got another computer I did not want to use zips any longer so everything was copied over onto cds that way I could read them on any computer. Here is a photo shot of the change letter.
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1TUPycFLSBHFisAAnxEz6aPLEBusb0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1TUPycFLSBHFisAAnxEz6aPLEBusb0)

[Inspeqtor]

Jancy,

I get the same screen as you do trying to change the letter of my system drive (drive "F"). If you click on "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." for your "C" drive and THEN click on "Change..." you will get the same error I did, I am sure.

Would I be able to clone my old HD to my new HD now that I have installed windoes on my new HD, and it is running? I would really prefer to have my drive letter as "C", but I am unable to do that yet.

A few minutes ago I dis-connected my old HD just leaving my new HD connected. I did this hoping to be able to figure out a way to again format and re-install windows so my HD would again be drive "C", however when I dis-connected the old HD, then I could not get my computer to boot up at all. I then tried changing which end of the cable was connected to the new HD but that did not change anything.

How can I get my computer to boot up with only the new HD connected so I can format and re-install windows again????

Thank you all for your help!

[Jancy]

Charles-When i purchased my WD hard drive I also purchased Norton Ghost which did not work for me after several tries.I called WD and they walked me through a few steps and it took forever really like 8 hours but everything copied over perfect just like the old drive but with a lot more space.
You can reformat the new drive again to wipe it out from the new windows install. I had my new drive hooked up as a slave, old drive master. Then I copied everything with the help of WD, let it run through the coping process and then removed the old drive cables after making sure the new one was the master. Stayed with the same drive letter "C".
If you removed the new drive make sure the old drive is set to master.

[GaryK]

Charles

I think I used DriveImage XML (free)to copy/clone one drive to another. After the copying was done I believe I had to make the copy a system drive (mycomputer>manage>mange drives or however it was you changed the drive letter) before I could boot from it.
It did take a long time (all day) and my failing drive got even worse and pooched about a week or two later (coincidence?).
Ended up getting another HD just to be safe and cloning again.

[genevh]

You may not have to go through reformatting your drives again. Check out this Microsoft Solution (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188/en-us).

And as for other options for your Zip drive (not that there's anything wrong with using one if it meets your needs) you can have two options I am aware of with CD's. One is to use a rewritable CD. These can be written to and erased a few thousand times before needing replaced. The other would be to not close the CD when you do your backup to it. Some CD writing programs (like Roxio or Nero) allow you to write to a CD and not close it so that you can write additional information to it again later. I have done that with my income tax backups the last several years using Roxio to burn the disk. Check your options in Quicken to see if they allow that. The CD will eventually fill up, but you could probably get a lot of backups onto one before you do.

I used to use a Zip drive a while ago, but ended up switching to CD's. And now I have a dual layer DVD burner for really big projects.

[Inspeqtor]

Gene,

I went ahead and formatted my drive before I read your post. At least now my new HD is drive "C" for which I am much happier! I am planning on getting new fans for my computer first thing Monday morning. There is a company here in my town that sells computer parts.

I have another couple of questions for you or anyone else that can answer them for me.

I have my original HD in my computer now as drive "F" for the mean time anyway. How can I get my bookmarks from that drive from Firefox?

Also, I use Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express) to get my email from my comcast account. I know the file I need is outlook.pst and I know the location of the file. How do I get Microsoft Outlook to read the file when I have copy/pasted it from drive F to drive C? Remember I had to re-install Microsoft Office as this was a formatted hard drive with a fresh install of windows. I thought it might be File/Import and Export but that does not seem to work, or maybe I am using the wrong part of that.

I am sure I will have more questions later.

[Inspeqtor]

Another question. I used to know how to do this one. I am also trying to import my favorites from Internet Explorer but I don't remember how to do it or where the file is.

Thank you :)

[genevh]

To get to your FF bookmarks on the old HD:
X:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\yo9mhxij.default

X being whatever that drive's letter is now. The last entry there (yo9mhxhij.default) will be something else for you most likely. The bookmarks themselves are in a file called bookmarks.html. Copy that file over to the same directory on your new drive with FF shut down and you should be good to go the next time you start FF.

Your IE bookmarks are in the Favorites folder under X:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Favorites. You will probably need to copy that to your Favorites folder on the new drive in order for FF to see it. I don't see where FF gives you an option to go find them when you do File -> Import.

And another thing I love about FF. When I was trying the import dialog, fo some reason my FF locked up and crashed, but when I re-opened it and told it to resume the last session, it did and even kept everything I had entered in the Reply To Thread box! I didn't have to retype all this!

[genevh]

As for recoverng your old emails, I think you need to import the .pst file rather than copying it over. The sequence to try for that is:

File -> Import and Export (hit NEXT)
Pick Import from Another Program or File (NEXT)
Pick Personal File (.pst) (NEXT)
Browse to your original .pst file
- there are some options here you may want to take a look at and set.
Hit NEXT, and that should pretty much do it.

[Inspeqtor]

Gene,

I really want to THANK YOU for all the help you have been to me. I REALLY do appreciate the time and effort you have given to me. :D
I now have FF and Outlook both back up and running thanks to you. I also have written down more complete instructions to myself for the next time I have to go thru this, and I am sure there will be a next time as no HD lasts forever :(

When I copied the *.default folder to the new HD and then ran FF after doing so, making sure FF was closed down in between did not work. FF did not see the new folder at all, but I did figure out how to get it working. Perhaps I misunderstood your instructions.

To restore FireFox use this procedure from FireFox

Bookmarks / Organize Bookmarks / Import and Backup / Import HTML / From HTML File/
Now browse to this location and click on bookmarks.html
X:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\****.default

[Inspeqtor]

Gary,

Thank you also for stepping in to try to help me in my dilemma. I don't think I will need to clone my drive. I am in the process of re-installing all the programs I will be using. There were MANY programs I had installed but never used I won't be installing again.

Oh, I was wondering who Eddie was! :confused: :eek: Now I know he was me? :)

[Benny Pedersen]

Gene,

I have my original HD in my computer now as drive "F" for the mean time anyway. How can I get my bookmarks from that drive from Firefox?

Also, I use Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express) to get my email

I am sure I will have more questions later.

For the e-mails and contacts, etc. it is the file with the extension
PST that you should keep...
No need to import, etc., just replace instead (use the same name).

Press F3 will bring up the search, specify this: *.pst

For the firefox booksmarks, I can't remember it but I can figure it out (if you still need a solution for that).

For the backup process, you maybe can use the following code. It
find the driveletter by volume. Author myself, but free to use in other app:

function DrvLetterByVolume(byVal vol)
wScript.echo vbLf & "* DrvLetterByVolume("""& vol &""")"
dim char, d, label, ret
char= "C" '[ uppercase letter begin, eg "C" ]
on error resume next
do: set d= fso.getDrive(char & ":")
label= d.volumeName
wScript.echo char & left(" --> " & label, 16*(1-abs(cBool(err))))
if cInt(err) = 0 and vol = label then ret= d.driveLetter: exit do
char= chr(asc(char) +1)
err.clear
loop until char > "Z" '[ uppercase letter end, eg "Z" ]
wScript.echo string(11,"_")
set d= nothing
DrvLetterByVolume= ret
end function

Benny,
PS. The above code is snipped from my new program "Photo Match", (download from my Website), but it will also be suitable for other things such as backups, etc...

[Benny Pedersen]

Another question. I used to know how to do this one. I am also trying to import my favorites from Internet Explorer but I don't remember how to do it or where the file is.

Thank you :)

Maybe a bit off-topic, but I got this idea, so the file below, can be used to create favorites...

'Make shortcut links in IE favorites
'***********************************
option explicit' Program by Benny Pedersen

dim FavLocation, LinkAddress, LinkTitle, MyFavFolder

dim wso: set wso= WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
dim fso: set fso= CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

dim Cancel: Cancel= vbEmpty
FavLocation= fso.buildPath(wso.specialFolders("Favorites"), "\")

'---
LinkAddress= inputbox("Enter the URL you want to add " & vbLf _
& "to the Favorites menu in IE." _
& string(3,vbLf) & "e.g.:",, "www.fineraw.com")

LinkAddress= trim(LinkAddress): if LinkAddress = "" _
then wscript.quit

if not cBool(inStr(LinkAddress, ":")) _
then LinkAddress= "http://" & LinkAddress

'---
LinkTitle= inputbox("Enter the name you want to see." _
& string(4,vbLf) & "e.g.:",, "A useful Homepage")
LinkTitle= trim(LinkTitle): if LinkTitle = "" then wscript.quit

'---
MyFavFolder= inputbox("If you want the link in an existing Fav"_
& "orites folder, then enter the name of the folder, or leave "_
& "blank." & string(3,vbLf) & "e.g.:",, "Found in the Village")
if MyFavFolder = Cancel then wscript.quit

if MyFavFolder <> empty and not _
fso.folderexists(FavLocation & MyFavFolder) then
MyFavFolder= inputbox("That folder doesn't exist. " _
& "You can rewrite it." & string(4,vbLf) _
& "Click OK, so it will be created:",, MyFavFolder)

if MyFavFolder = Cancel then wscript.quit
if not MyFavFolder = "" and _
not fso.folderexists(FavLocation & MyFavFolder) _
then fso.createFolder(FavLocation & MyFavFolder)
end if
MyFavFolder= fso.buildPath(MyFavFolder, "\")

'---
dim Lnk: set Lnk= wso.createShortcut(FavLocation & MyFavFolder _
& LinkTitle & ".URL")
Lnk.targetPath= LinkAddress
Lnk.save
set fso= nothing: set wso= nothing: set Lnk= nothing

Benny,
PS. The file is both in the code box above, and in the ZIP file below

[Inspeqtor]

Benny,

Thank you for wanting to help. I really like this forum as so many people here want to pitch in and help people with their problems.

I already have my email up and running, and I have my bookmarks for FireFox back up and running.

As for the code you wrote, you are way above my head. I have no idea what any of the code means or how to use it.

[Benny Pedersen]

Benny,

Thank you for wanting to help. I really like this forum as so many people here want to pitch in and help people with their problems.

I already have my email up and running, and I have my bookmarks for FireFox back up and running.

As for the code you wrote, you are way above my head. I have no idea what any of the code means or how to use it.

hmm, Glad your PC is running again.

As for the last code, it is both very simple and easy to use, also including the newbees below you.

Either Copy paste the code, or extract the file from the attached ZIP.

Try and see, very simple... :p

A screen shot that show what would happen when it is double clicked:

http://www.fineraw.com//elementsvillage/fav.jpg

The Cancel button will abort that simple program without creating a link in the favorites.

BTW. For information about making screen shoots, see old thread:
http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40615

[genevh]

When I copied the *.default folder to the new HD and then ran FF after doing so, making sure FF was closed down in between did not work.

All you needed was the bookmarks.html file from inside that folder, not the whole folder. That folder is created by FF the first time you run it and its name is automatically generated when created so will be different every time. Perhaps my instructions weren't clear enough. :o

Anyway.....I am glad you got it all running again and were able to recover all your bookmarks and emails. I once had a HD go bad on me and that was one thing I didn't have backed up. Lost 4 years of emails and my entire address book on that one.

I now make sure I have all of that stuff backed up! :D

Benny:

You seem to spend an awful lot of time writing these tools and utilities of yours. Do you upload them anywhere so they are available to anyone that might want them?

[Benny Pedersen]

Benny:

You seem to spend an awful lot of time writing these tools and utilities of yours. Do you upload them anywhere so they are available to anyone that might want them?

I have only uploaded some few. See my Homepage.

I you want a program, we could construct it here ?

If so, then first try this one line:

msgBox "Hello World"

The file extension should be VBS, and the editor used is Notepad.

Benny