Computer hardware issue- help needed

[HellCat]

And for once, it's not specifically for me ;) My sister is having problems with the A drive on her computer. The flap has suddenly started sticking, not allowing any floppy discs to be entered. It seems to be catching on something on the right hand side, the same side as the button. It's a HP Pavillion model. I don't supposed anyone would know if this could be fixed ourselves? Don't wanna attempt a foolish makeshift repair effort.

[solarflere]

And for once, it's not specifically for me ;) My sister is having problems with the A drive on her computer. The flap has suddenly started sticking, not allowing any floppy discs to be entered. It seems to be catching on something on the right hand side, the same side as the button. It's a HP Pavillion model. I don't supposed anyone would know if this could be fixed ourselves? Don't wanna attempt a foolish makeshift repair effort.A new Floppy drive costs just $10 now:sweat:. Newegg.com is yor one stop place for everything. Just buy a new one and save yourself a headache.

[Scorpio_G]

I might as well recycle it for my advantage.

I have a problem with my sound card. It worked perfectly on my old computer but when my brother switched harddrives and the soundboard there's no sound and it wont play any sound effects or MP3s. My theory is that the sound card from my computer is too "new" for the motherboard, which is 3 years older but more powerfull. Help me out guys.:)

[HellCat]

A new Floppy drive costs just $10 now:sweat:. Newegg.com is yor one stop place for everything. Just buy a new one and save yourself a headache.

But then wouldn't she have to face the headache of paying someone to install it? Unless you're suggesting something externally USB linked...

[HellCat]

I might as well recycle it for my advantage.

I have a problem with my sound card. It worked perfectly on my old computer but when my brother switched harddrives and the soundboard there's no sound and it wont play any sound effects or MP3s. My theory is that the sound card from my computer is too "new" for the motherboard, which is 3 years older but more powerfull. Help me out guys.:)

The hell?! Unless the thread starter has said anything to imply their problem has been resolved, don't jump to assumptions!

[Scorpio_G]

The hell?! Unless the thread starter has said anything to imply their problem has been resolved, don't jump to assumptions!

Sorry.:crying:

::counts eggs before they hatch::

But anyway, this kind of happened to me once. Except my hard disk was stuck in the A Drive.

Ask your sister what was the last hard disk she put into it? See if any part of the metal slide is missing, cracked or something.


And while I dont recomend doing this but if your really desperate get a sharp knife, a pin or a unwounded paper clip and try pushing the flap in. Maybe it'll open, I hope.

Or call HP support.

[solarflere]

But then wouldn't she have to face the headache of paying someone to install it? Unless you're suggesting something externally USB linked...Wha...........?
Connect 2 cables. So much for an "instalation". Remove floppy cable from the old one and put it into a new one, do the same to the power cable. Done. And don't worry, you can't put them backwards, they only go one way in. The whole process only takes 30 seconds, 1 minute if you are doing it slow. :sweat:

[HellCat]

Sorry.:crying:

Didn't mean to flip out, just please don't assume the matter has been resolved and take the thread elsewhere when the thread starter hasn't even replied.

[solarflere]

I might as well recycle it for my advantage.

I have a problem with my sound card. It worked perfectly on my old computer but when my brother switched harddrives and the soundboard there's no sound and it wont play any sound effects or MP3s. My theory is that the sound card from my computer is too "new" for the motherboard, which is 3 years older but more powerfull. Help me out guys.:)Most lilely a driver issue (or new and old sound card conflict). Remove the old soundcard drivers out first, install the new sound card drivers and check Motherboard Bios to make sure it configues the board correctly.

[HellCat]

Wha...........?
Connect 2 cables. So much for an "instalation". Remove floppy cable from the old one and put it into a new one, do the same to the power cable. Done. And don't worry, you can't put them backwards, they only go one way in. The whole process onbly takes 30 seconds, 1 minute if you are doing it slow. :sweat:

No offence, but you seem to speaking from your point of view which is someone familiar doing this stuff all the time. Few others will wish to risk tampering with things they don't fully understand. For starters, the drive is rather firmly in position...

[solarflere]

No offence, but you seem to speaking from your point of view which is someone familiar doing this stuff all the time. Few others will wish to risk tampering with things they don't fully understand. For starters, the drive is rather firmly in position...No offence taken. But try to understand, that unpluging the PC from the outlet, and unpluging 2 cables from a floppy is not rocket Science. A floppy is not a nuclear reactor. The drive is already broken, so what if its flimsy, its not gonna explode on you. Anyone can do it with proper instructions, even those who don't know what they are doing.

[HellCat]

No offence taken. But try to understand, that unpluging the PC from the outlet, and unpluging 2 cables from a floppy is not rocket Science. A floppy is not a nuclear reactor. The drive is already broken, so what if its flimsy, its not gonna explode on you. Anyone can do it with proper instructions, even those who don't know what they are doing.

How am I or her supposed to get to cables that are inside the computer? I know for a fact that if I suggest she remove the case to fix the issue she won't have it.

[solarflere]

How am I or her supposed to get to cables that are inside the computer? I know for a fact that if I suggest she remove the case to fix the issue she won't have it.well, then taking it to a local shop for a repair is a good idea. Just buy the floppy yourself, they will mostlikely overcharge you. That way you will pay only for the labor (which shouldn't be that much).

[Dr. OneWay]

I might as well recycle it for my advantage.

I have a problem with my sound card. It worked perfectly on my old computer but when my brother switched harddrives and the soundboard there's no sound and it wont play any sound effects or MP3s. My theory is that the sound card from my computer is too "new" for the motherboard, which is 3 years older but more powerfull. Help me out guys.:)

Like Solar said, it's most likely a driver issue. Try googling your sound card name and model number, then driver. If the sound card isn't absolutely ancient, there's bound to be a XP (or whatever OS your using) driver out there.

[Mynd Hed]

How am I or her supposed to get to cables that are inside the computer? I know for a fact that if I suggest she remove the case to fix the issue she won't have it.

It's really a very simple fix, so I'd concur in recommending that you just take care of it yourself. As solarflere said, all you have to do is open up the case (depending on the case, this is usually just a matter of unscrewing a couple of screws and popping off the side panel), unplugging the data cable and the power cable from the old drive, slide it out, slide the new drive in, and plug those same two cables into the same place. If you buy a brand new floppy drive in its original box, it should come with more detailed instructions (usually accompanied by illustrations), but that's really all there is to it.
If she absolutely balks at doing it herself, your best bet is to find someone who's comfortable with computers to show her how it's done. Ask around at school or work.

The only down side to doing it this way is that you'll void your warranty. Personally, I think warranties are for chumps (when's the last time anybody actually got anything fixed by tech support?), but if this is going to be a concern for you or her and the computer is still under warranty in the first place, you could try and get HP to fix it for you. Unfortunately, this will usually involve packing up the whole tower and sending it off to a repair facility at your expense, which seems to be a ridiculous amount of hassle over such a simple problem.

If the only concern is being able to sneakernet files about, you could always do an end-run around the problem by writing off the floppy drive as a lost cause and using a CD/DVD burner or USB thumb drive instead. Newegg has external DVD burners (which can be plugged into a USB port since you're squeamish about installation) for about $65; there's little point in getting a CD burner without DVD burning capability since you won't save that much money that way.
The sweet spot for USB thumb drives is about $40 for 1 gig, but if she doesn't envision herself using that much capacity you can get smaller ones for even cheaper. These are pretty much the floppy disks of the future; just plug them into a USB port, drag and drop your files, unplug it, and go. No fuss, no muss.

If you DO bite the bullet and take it someplace local to get the floppy drive replaced (Best Buy and Computer Renaissance are good bets if you have one in your area), make sure and get a quote before they start work. No matter how reputable, computer repair places are notorious for gouging you for even the simplest repairs.

Good luck!

[HellCat]

Well, the issue is this- we have a computer, located in my room, which is basically THE computer for net access in the house. It's old (late 98) and has USB ports which have never worked (was advised here a year or two ago on how I might be able to work...it basically totalled the system, so safe to say they aren't ever working). My sister's computer is a fairly more recent one (about 3 years old). Due to this one's lack of USB, if she wants to transfer something she found online to her computer she has to use a floppy disc. This is why it's an issue for her, since usually she has to use the files for career related reasons.

[Mynd Hed]

In that case, your best bet is definitely to just replace the floppy drive yourself. It'll take $10 and half an hour, tops. And in the VERY unlikely event that you screw up something important, you can always console yourself with the fact that at least you only ruined an old cruddy computer. (-: Seriously, anything without USB support is crippled for any reasonable use nowadays.

[HellCat]

In that case, your best bet is definitely to just replace the floppy drive yourself. It'll take $10 and half an hour, tops. And in the VERY unlikely event that you screw up something important, you can always console yourself with the fact that at least you only ruined an old cruddy computer. (-: Seriously, anything without USB support is crippled for any reasonable use nowadays.

No no, the A drive problem is on her more recent computer. That's what I'm saying, she only really uses it because it's the only way to transfer stuff from the older, net connected computer in my room.

Anywhoo, another issue for her. Noticed this error message a few days ago but now she's tried to print something it's obviously a problem http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324757 Anyone know how to fix it? Her printer is an Epson Stylus C40 Plus and I've tried everything I can think of, including using the original instalation disc.

[solarflere]

No no, the A drive problem is on her more recent computer. That's what I'm saying, she only really uses it because it's the only way to transfer stuff from the older, net connected computer in my room.

Anywhoo, another issue for her. Noticed this error message a few days ago but now she's tried to print something it's obviously a problem http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324757 Anyone know how to fix it? Her printer is an Epson Stylus C40 Plus and I've tried everything I can think of, including using the original installation disc.My first choice would be to delete the old printer files and install them anew. But the link you gave from Microsoft Knowledge-base tells you to do the exact same thing including registry editing. So it it didnt work, try to reboot with F8 and and use the Last Good Known Configuration.

If that does not work try the flowing:
If its an HP PC, see if it has in Start>Programs>PC Help & Tools.
See if you have Software Repair Wizard, HP PC Application Recovery, HP System Recovery and System Restore.
Try Software Repair Wizard, go to drivers and reinstall printer drivers. If that does not help, try PC Application Recovery. If that does not help try System Restore (it will restore your system to an earlier date before this problem happaned. If that does not help, try System Recovery = formatting and system reinstallation to its default out of the box state (all files will be gone).

if you don't have any of this, see if you have HP recovery disks, they will do the same thing System Restore will do. You can create your own recovery cds by going into Start>Programs>PC Help & Tools> HP PC CD-DVD Recovery Creator. You will need either 10 CDs or 2 DVDs for this.

[kirschy]

No no, the A drive problem is on her more recent computer. That's what I'm saying, she only really uses it because it's the only way to transfer stuff from the older, net connected computer in my room.
Even on the "newer" computer its still likely out of warranty (unless you bought a 3-year extended warranty) which means you're going to spend more on labor than the cost of the components. However since your sister is so determined to not let you open the case, you should probably just buy a replacement internal drive and take it and the computer to your local computer repair shop as solarflere suggested.

And while they have it, you could have them fix the printer issue for you.