FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!

Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start learning to
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD Compaq
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it was so
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare monitors
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3 times
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a modem
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY, and
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the phone
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and are
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the modem
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk him
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way. After
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all of a
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all. Therefore, I
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can
someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him through
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing is
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does anyone
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so I can
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

You don't mention what operating system the new Presario is using. Was it
used? Is it running XP or 98?

As for the CD issue, the trouble-shooting steps start with verifying that
the CD drive itself is OK, that the cables are properly seated. You do this
by either putting a known-good drive in and seeing if it works, or taking
the suspect CD drive to another machine and seeing if it will work there.

You don't mention whether the CDROM drive shows up in BIOS.

If you boot to a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk and choose CDROM support,
can you still not access the CD drive? (Remember that the letter will be
bumped up one by the RAM drive that the Startup floppy uses. If it's
normally D:\ drive, when you use the Startup disk with CDROM support, its
letter will be E:\.

So, if the drive shows up in BIOS properly, have Dad boot to a Windows
Startup disk, choose "with CDROM Support", then run the following command to
see what happens.

e:
dir

Does the modem now work?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User


"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start learning
to
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD Compaq
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it was so
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare monitors
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3 times
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a
modem
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY, and
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the phone
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and are
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the
modem
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk him
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way. After
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all of a
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all.
Therefore, I
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can
someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him through
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing is
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does
anyone
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so I
can
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

gate0keeper wrote:

Does anyone know how I
can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so I can see
what he's doing and do it myself?

VNC

Free
http://www.realvnc.com/what.html

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is remote control software
which allows you to view and interact with one computer (the "server")
using a simple program (the "viewer") on another computer anywhere on
the Internet.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

If your immediate concern is the CD drive, tell him to start regedit,
expand and highlight the following key and delete the following key
if it exists, then reboot.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\VxD\IOS

Ben

"gate0keeper" wrote in message =
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start =
learning to=20
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD =
Compaq=20
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it =
was so=20
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare =
monitors=20
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3 =
times=20
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a =
modem=20
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY, =
and=20
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the =
phone=20
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and =
are=20
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the =
modem=20
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the=20
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk =
him=20
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way. =
After=20
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all =
of a=20
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all. =
Therefore, I=20
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can =

someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him =
through=20
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing =
is=20
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does =
anyone=20
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so =
I can=20
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or=20
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

Correction.

"Ben Myers" wrote in message =
...
If your immediate concern is the CD drive, tell him to start regedit,
expand and highlight the following key, look for "NOIDE" in the right
window, delete it if it exists, then reboot.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\VxD\IOS

Ben

"gate0keeper" wrote in message =
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start =
learning to=20
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD =
Compaq=20
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it =
was so=20
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare =
monitors=20
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3 =
times=20
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a =
modem=20
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY, =
and=20
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the =
phone=20
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and =
are=20
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the =
modem=20
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the=20
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk =
him=20
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way. =
After=20
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all =
of a=20
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all. =
Therefore, I=20
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can =

someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him =
through=20
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing =
is=20
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does =
anyone=20
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so =
I can=20
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or=20
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

Thanks Gary for helping me, you don't know how completely frustrating this
is!!!! I thought I would be helping him and now I'm making his like
miserable.

Anyway......the new system also runs on Windows 98, but he HAS windows XP
that I gave him to install to upgrade his new computer. But the computer
recognizes no CD ROM or the drive at all!!!! When he opens My Computer, it
shows the floppy disk drive, but no CD ROM drive. One thing that baffles me
is that my brother gave him some games to install on CD's that my dad
installed no problem, then, it started acting up and I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer (both were Compaq's). The ebay
(newer) computer never came with any restoration CD's and of course he is
ignoring me. SO, the old restoration CD's worked and I guess he was STILL
able to reinstall the games, and all of a sudden the drive doesn't exist as
far as the computer goes. All I want to do at this point is get Windows XP
on his computer and screw windows 98. I've been reading up about trying to
get into his computer remotely from mine at home, but it seems confusing,
I'll study more up on it tonight.

Have you ever heard of such a mess?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

You don't mention what operating system the new Presario is using. Was it
used? Is it running XP or 98?

As for the CD issue, the trouble-shooting steps start with verifying that
the CD drive itself is OK, that the cables are properly seated. You do this
by either putting a known-good drive in and seeing if it works, or taking
the suspect CD drive to another machine and seeing if it will work there.

You don't mention whether the CDROM drive shows up in BIOS.

If you boot to a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk and choose CDROM support,
can you still not access the CD drive? (Remember that the letter will be
bumped up one by the RAM drive that the Startup floppy uses. If it's
normally D:\ drive, when you use the Startup disk with CDROM support, its
letter will be E:\.

So, if the drive shows up in BIOS properly, have Dad boot to a Windows
Startup disk, choose "with CDROM Support", then run the following command to
see what happens.

e:
dir

Does the modem now work?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User


"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start learning
to
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD Compaq
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it was so
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare monitors
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3 times
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a
modem
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY, and
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the phone
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and are
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the
modem
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk him
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way. After
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all of a
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all.
Therefore, I
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can
someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him through
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing is
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does
anyone
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so I
can
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

Again, I ask you to concentrate on the basics. Does the CD drive appear in
BIOS? What is the boot sequence? (Boot sequence is the order in which BIOS
looks for bootable volumes.) Windows XP setup CD does not require Windows 98
to see the CD. It doesn't require any support from the existing OS at all.
It only requires that BIOS sees the CD drive and the CD, and that it boots
to that before it boots to any other active volume.

The only way we can offer cogent advice is to go through the step-by-step
t-shooting steps we've come to find efficient.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Thanks Gary for helping me, you don't know how completely frustrating this
is!!!! I thought I would be helping him and now I'm making his like
miserable.

Anyway......the new system also runs on Windows 98, but he HAS windows XP
that I gave him to install to upgrade his new computer. But the computer
recognizes no CD ROM or the drive at all!!!! When he opens My Computer,
it
shows the floppy disk drive, but no CD ROM drive. One thing that baffles
me
is that my brother gave him some games to install on CD's that my dad
installed no problem, then, it started acting up and I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer (both were Compaq's). The ebay
(newer) computer never came with any restoration CD's and of course he is
ignoring me. SO, the old restoration CD's worked and I guess he was STILL
able to reinstall the games, and all of a sudden the drive doesn't exist
as
far as the computer goes. All I want to do at this point is get Windows
XP
on his computer and screw windows 98. I've been reading up about trying
to
get into his computer remotely from mine at home, but it seems confusing,
I'll study more up on it tonight.

Have you ever heard of such a mess?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

You don't mention what operating system the new Presario is using. Was it
used? Is it running XP or 98?

As for the CD issue, the trouble-shooting steps start with verifying that
the CD drive itself is OK, that the cables are properly seated. You do
this
by either putting a known-good drive in and seeing if it works, or taking
the suspect CD drive to another machine and seeing if it will work there.

You don't mention whether the CDROM drive shows up in BIOS.

If you boot to a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk and choose CDROM support,
can you still not access the CD drive? (Remember that the letter will be
bumped up one by the RAM drive that the Startup floppy uses. If it's
normally D:\ drive, when you use the Startup disk with CDROM support, its
letter will be E:\.

So, if the drive shows up in BIOS properly, have Dad boot to a Windows
Startup disk, choose "with CDROM Support", then run the following command
to
see what happens.

e:
dir

Does the modem now work?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User


"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start
learning
to
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD Compaq
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it was
so
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare
monitors
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3
times
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a
modem
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY,
and
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the
phone
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and
are
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the
modem
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk him
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way.
After
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all of
a
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all.
Therefore, I
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can
someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him
through
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing is
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does
anyone
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so
I
can
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

Ok, I see where you're going with this. It's pretty late here on the West
Coast and even earlier on the East, where my dad's at, but I told him to be
ready for a phone call tomorrow night and I'll find out all the details and
post the answers. Thanks a lot for your help!! You're really nice. If you
want, I can give you my direct email and vice versa so we can talk, but, if
you prefer the message board, that's cool too.

Thanks!

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Again, I ask you to concentrate on the basics. Does the CD drive appear in
BIOS? What is the boot sequence? (Boot sequence is the order in which BIOS
looks for bootable volumes.) Windows XP setup CD does not require Windows 98
to see the CD. It doesn't require any support from the existing OS at all.
It only requires that BIOS sees the CD drive and the CD, and that it boots
to that before it boots to any other active volume.

The only way we can offer cogent advice is to go through the step-by-step
t-shooting steps we've come to find efficient.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Thanks Gary for helping me, you don't know how completely frustrating this
is!!!! I thought I would be helping him and now I'm making his like
miserable.

Anyway......the new system also runs on Windows 98, but he HAS windows XP
that I gave him to install to upgrade his new computer. But the computer
recognizes no CD ROM or the drive at all!!!! When he opens My Computer,
it
shows the floppy disk drive, but no CD ROM drive. One thing that baffles
me
is that my brother gave him some games to install on CD's that my dad
installed no problem, then, it started acting up and I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer (both were Compaq's). The ebay
(newer) computer never came with any restoration CD's and of course he is
ignoring me. SO, the old restoration CD's worked and I guess he was STILL
able to reinstall the games, and all of a sudden the drive doesn't exist
as
far as the computer goes. All I want to do at this point is get Windows
XP
on his computer and screw windows 98. I've been reading up about trying
to
get into his computer remotely from mine at home, but it seems confusing,
I'll study more up on it tonight.

Have you ever heard of such a mess?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

You don't mention what operating system the new Presario is using. Was it
used? Is it running XP or 98?

As for the CD issue, the trouble-shooting steps start with verifying that
the CD drive itself is OK, that the cables are properly seated. You do
this
by either putting a known-good drive in and seeing if it works, or taking
the suspect CD drive to another machine and seeing if it will work there.

You don't mention whether the CDROM drive shows up in BIOS.

If you boot to a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk and choose CDROM support,
can you still not access the CD drive? (Remember that the letter will be
bumped up one by the RAM drive that the Startup floppy uses. If it's
normally D:\ drive, when you use the Startup disk with CDROM support, its
letter will be E:\.

So, if the drive shows up in BIOS properly, have Dad boot to a Windows
Startup disk, choose "with CDROM Support", then run the following command
to
see what happens.

e:
dir

Does the modem now work?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User


"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Not too long ago, I gave my dad my old computer so he can start
learning
to
email and surf the net and whatever else. Anyway, it was an OLD Compaq
Presario 7478 and after I gave it to him I felt TERRIBLE because it was
so
slow and the monitor was so HUGE, so I mailed him one of my spare
monitors
(lighter) and I bought him a new Presario Deskpro EN off ebay with 3
times
the hard drive and a much faster processor, not knowing there wasn't a
modem
included. Now, I live in Los Angeles and my dad lives in Buffalo, NY,
and
knows next to nothing about computers. You can imagine how long the
phone
calls are and why we usually end the conversation with frustration and
are
both in full panic attack mode!!!!!
SO, I flew into town last month, took the computers apart and took the
modem
out of the old and put it in the new one. Then, I had him use the
restoration CD's from the old computer on the new one so I can walk him
through setting up the drivers. THe OS is Windows 98 by the way.
After
this, I thought we were GOLDEN, it worked great for a bit, then, all of
a
sudden the computer is not recognizing the CD ROM Drive at all.
Therefore, I
cannot re-boot the restoration CD's or a more current windows XP. Can
someone please help us? What am I doing wrong? I've walked him
through
going through BIOS, create startup disks with Floppy disks. Nothing is
helping, OR he just can't see what I'm telling him on the phone. Does
anyone
know how I can set up remote accress from my laptop to his computer so
I
can
see what he's doing and do it myself? Or can I set up a network or
ANYTHING???? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!

Believe me, I know how it is. I, too, am on the West Coast, and I do regular
computer consulting for my hapless uncle who's currently living in a cheap
motel in Raleigh. (He's an civil and mechanical engineer but can't keep up
with new computer technology.) Worse yet, he's on dial-up using the only
phone line he has. Makes scheduling a nightmare.

We newsgroup regulars prefer to keep tech correspondence in the public
groups. Allows others with possibly helpful knowledge to chime in, and let's
others learn from our experiences. I do occasionally "go private" when the
information involved is sensitive or the user is getting too confused by
multiple sources of advice (not to mention the occasional troll battles,
etc.) Let's see how this goes for now, figure out if that CD drive is really
any good or not, first. Then we can decide where to go from there.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Ok, I see where you're going with this. It's pretty late here on the West
Coast and even earlier on the East, where my dad's at, but I told him to
be
ready for a phone call tomorrow night and I'll find out all the details
and
post the answers. Thanks a lot for your help!! You're really nice. If
you
want, I can give you my direct email and vice versa so we can talk, but,
if
you prefer the message board, that's cool too.

YES!!!!! This is the 1st computer my father has had EVER and he's in his
60's, also uses dial up with the only phone line in the house. I called him
and honestly, I'm starting to get aggrevated. I love my father to death, but
I think I may have to go to the last resort, remote access from my computer
to his and do it myself, and I don't even have a clue where to begin with
setting this up. Back to the drawing board. It's way too hard trying to
help him over the phone when you can't see what the other's looking at. So,
thank you VERY much for your help so far. If you know anything about remote
access, by all means, tell me everything!!!! I am willing to send you a
check for your voluntary help, really, you deserve it!!

Penny

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Believe me, I know how it is. I, too, am on the West Coast, and I do regular
computer consulting for my hapless uncle who's currently living in a cheap
motel in Raleigh. (He's an civil and mechanical engineer but can't keep up
with new computer technology.) Worse yet, he's on dial-up using the only
phone line he has. Makes scheduling a nightmare.

We newsgroup regulars prefer to keep tech correspondence in the public
groups. Allows others with possibly helpful knowledge to chime in, and let's
others learn from our experiences. I do occasionally "go private" when the
information involved is sensitive or the user is getting too confused by
multiple sources of advice (not to mention the occasional troll battles,
etc.) Let's see how this goes for now, figure out if that CD drive is really
any good or not, first. Then we can decide where to go from there.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User

"gate0keeper" wrote in message
...
Ok, I see where you're going with this. It's pretty late here on the West
Coast and even earlier on the East, where my dad's at, but I told him to
be
ready for a phone call tomorrow night and I'll find out all the details
and
post the answers. Thanks a lot for your help!! You're really nice. If
you
want, I can give you my direct email and vice versa so we can talk, but,
if
you prefer the message board, that's cool too.