http://www.bootdisk.com/ 0029 February 2008
HouseCall
Welcome to the 29th Edition of HouseCall
INDEX
1) Is My PC Too Hot?
2) Problems With Recycle Bin In Win98SE
3) CD Tray Not Opening
4) Problem Burning Bootable CD
5) Clear CD Broke Apart In My Burner
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1) Is My PC Too Hot?
Murray asked - Is there an easy way to tell if my computer is running too hot?
*** Well, its sort of a complicated question if you really want all the details. It depends on so many things, including what cpu you are using and the associated bench operating temp. of such. Any other "computer guy/gal" will say the same. As a "rule" a temp of 50C or 125F is fine. One can of course see what your temps are in the bios or even use a util. On the other hand, there is no real "rule" regarding cpu temps or case temps. And, any bios temp monitoring firmware or windows/dos software may be totally unreliable.
One "rule" I can attest to is this: If you put your hand on the side of your pc case and it feels "very" much warmer than "room temperature", or even semi-hot, then your PC "may" running too hot. In other words, a "slightly warm" case may be no problem at all.
For example, one one PC I use I recently felt the side of the case and it felt "too" warm", ie "just like putting my hand on a cheap radio". I didn't even bother to take the cover off. I simply used a can of "compressed air" and blew out the PS fan. Afterwards, now, it seems to be at room temperature, not even warm to the touch.
Unscientific I know. But often when I visit customers who's PC is "freezing" during games and such I feel the case. It's a dead giveaway that it needs more cooling or a fan cleaning. If on a housecall to fix a freezing PC I always take the cover off to check all the fans. Note that even the cheapest Dell desktop PC "eg $299" has 3 fans inside. All three must be operational.
If you take the PC cover off, be sure and also blow out the cpu heat sink, as the cpu fan blows into the sink, and it often accumulates lots of dust. If there is a smoker in the house than the dust may be very sticky and harder to get rid of.
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2) Problems With Recycle Bin In Win98SE
Lori Ben wrote - I use Windows 98SE in a dual boot with XP and went to Empty the Recycle Bin in Win98 but it said it couldn't delete a file in my D: drive. I looked in the Recycle Bin and there were no files there yet the icon showed it had files in it. Any easy hints?
*** Sure, what I'd try first is to use F8 on bootup, boot to "command prompt only", then go to C:, then deltree Recycled. Then go to D:, do the same. By habit, I then just use md to recreate the directories on both drives, even tho Windows is "supposed" to recreate them on the reboot. Of course, if your XP drive/partition is in NTFS then you wont see it doing an F8 on boot w/win98.
The problem was probably caused by using a "pen" aka "flash" drive when you used it when booting/using to XP.
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3) CD Tray Not Opening
Cindy telephoned - My son and I copy a lot of cds. For no reason now when I push the open button on my cdrom drive it doesn't open right away. I have to press it several times and wait. If I am making multiple copies of cds then it opens no problem so I can put the next one in. Is my cdrom drive bad?
*** Sadly, that's a sure sign of a CDrom drive about to fail to open up at all. Time to order a new optical drive. You may even keep it in the closet until you finally need to replace it.
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4) Problem Burning Bootable CD
Mike G. posted - I am having a major problem burning a bootable CD. No matter what program I use, no matter what type of bootable CD I want to make, it never works. Any tips?
*** Yes, I have this tip. GoTo Start | Run and type in msconfig | click on Startup. Uncheck most "everything", then try to burn again. Many apps. even tho you have uninstalled them, may still leave startup files in msconfig | startup. They may be interfering with your burning process. Yes, in theory, they shouldn't, but often they do.
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5) Clear CD Broke Apart In My Burner
Dolores wrote - While making multiple copies of a CD I accidentally put in one of those clear "cds" that are often put on top and the bottom of the stack and it broke apart in my drive and made one heck of a noise. Now my drive wont open. Is there anything I can do?
*** If you take apart your optical drive it will look like an "International Harvester" with all kinds of belts that look like black rubber bands. Any piece of plastic "may" muck things up temporarily or permanently. It's probably not worth the effort as CD drives are quite cheap these days. In the future its best to take the clear "protectors" out of the pack before you start using the media.
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