New (old) computer
 

Big time crash on my work horse. The shop says DOA with no chance of survival. The tech didn't like the "missing file, (blah blah) "system32.root.hal.DLL"

I have this old Dell from a hundred years ago that has like 125 mb RAM. I will be sucking for awhile.

Meanwhile, after nearly 8 hours of setting up. I'm having trouble with "Wireless Zero Configuration." If I can get this worked out, I can get a connection with my WUSB54G wireless adaptor. Otherwise, I have to manually start that each time I boot up.

Don't even ask me how I got this far because I'm computer stupid.

A little help, please. TIA.

Don't feel lonesome Milt.
I know where the on-off button is if that's any help.

I'm not lonesome. Frustrated, yes. It will take some getting used to being able to have one tab open at a time. I had 3 going a minute ago (habit because I could have 10 with only 1 gb amount of RAM) and it took 30 seconds just to switch between tabs.

I won't suffer this sch!it too long. I'll find the money for a new computer!

Milt, give slodave a shout... He's the guy to help you...

I've tried. :) Even given him an open invitation to call.

Dave is a cool guy and knows his stuff. I actually "owe" him one. I was thinking about having him look at my DOA unit.

But, for now, I know there are several people here that know about settings. That's all I need unless I downloaded the wrong version of the WUSB54G drivers.

Where the hell is my disc? :mad:

Oops, Dave got a post in there while I was typing. :)

The tech was lazy and didn't want to spend the time to fix the issue.

Can you explain the last part in a little more detail? What is the trouble?

128 mb RAM. This is actually pretty funny. I had forgotten all about the old days and dial up....

And here I am trying to divest myself of all life's complications and burdens. I should be relishing this.



Not.

the other machine is missing a .DLL file and it is DOA? i am confused.... unless i am mistaken, the .hal file has to do with partitioning information. i wish i was there. i'd love to have a crack at that machine.

Dave, thanks for coming forth on this.

I simply get a message that my connection is good (or better) but there is "no connectivity."

Talk about things that don't make sense.

Anyway, while searching the Net for some 3 hours, I found some info about "no connectivity." That led me to some of the menus. By manipulating the "start" "automatic" and disable features in the properties section of "network connections," I have managed to get online 3-4 times today.

I'll look to see if I can find where I was and do a screen shot.

When it shows a "good" connection, but no connectivity, go to (assuming Win2000 or XP) Start -> Run. Type CMD and hit enter. A black box should come up. Type 'ipconfig /all" without the quotes, hit enter and look post send me the results.

It was the ".hal" part that he didn't like. He said it stood for "hard drive allocation."

Dave, I can't figure out what to do with the screen shot. I once uploaded such an animal but I can't do it now.

CONTROL PANEL> ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS>SERVICES> (scroll to WIRELESS ZERO CONFIGURATION)> (highlight and right click)> choose MANUAL and then up on the upper left, choose START and I'm connected.

When I shut down, I have to do this all over again.

Proud of me? ;)

It sucks.

Did that about noon today, but I did not put in the "/all." Nothing came back.

I'll have to reboot to get to the point where I can't connect due to "no connectivity."

I don't stay up as late as you youngin's, so this might be all she wrote for now.

Appreciate your help and a PM will be on its way. :)

HAL = Hardware Abstraction Layer... Has nothing to do with HD allocation.

Well, he did kinda mumble and I'm pretty sure his accent is Jamaican, so I was at a disadvantage. ;)

Anywho, is that serious, or is he "lazy?" :D

I like the challenge. If the client has a few days, I have no problem throwing everything at it. What it boils down to, is $. At my rates, I can't always charge 8/10/15 hours to fix that type of an issue. It'd be cheaper to buy a new pc. I basically cap at 2 hours for that kind of stuff. If he was a $39.95 flat fee guy then, he'd lose $ big time fixing the problem. :)

I'm pickin' up on what you're puttin' down.

Other than my list of favorites and a few pics of my most recent 911, there is not much that I can't live with throwing the tower away.

Not trying to "puttin'" anything down. :D I personally feel better saving a pc for someone, even if it takes a couple of days and not fully billable.

I just think the tech didn't want to deal with/fix the problem. :)

Ship me the DOA unit and I'll fix it and send it back to you , ready to go! Of course, shipping is expensive, but I have enough spare parts and experience with these things to fix just about anything, unless it's a laptop.

Art, I'm going to cal Dave and see what he wants to do. I have to be clear about the tech guy in the corner shop down the street. He said he could fix the thing with a new HD. He was honest about it, $200 put into something that is old and would not have anything left in it, or spend the money towards a new 64 bit. 4 GB RAM 500 GB HD with a 400 mghz something processor that was likely to cost no more than $700.

He just said recovery would be difficult at best.

this is the kind of computer problem i live for. i bet it is a fairly simple fix. it doesn't sound like any of your hardware is bad, windows just crapped the bed somewhere.

Back to the original question: Does anyone know about this "wireless zero" business where I have it set on manual so I can tell it to "start"? If I leave it on auto, nothing happens and I have a connection but no "connectivity". Specifically, I can't get an address assigned for an online hook up. That is unless I launch the wireless zero thing in a menu. Does that make any sense?

I have a screen shot, how do I save that and post it?

perhaps the wireless zero needs to be running in the background. there are a couple of ways to do this, if that is the case.

Yes, and....?

Is this a registry thing? I may need to reinstall the driver?

you do understand that troubleshooting this over the forum is going to be nigh impossible....

i would start by uninstalling (if you have that option) by going to the control panel and add/remove hardware.

then, reinstall the drivers/software.

OK, I can do that. However, I don't have a disk for the driver. I did, but who knows when the dog ate it. So, I'm using a downloaded version from the vendor website. I think it may be faulty as to the version. If I see it correctly, they are using a combo driver with all 3 versions on board.

At least it says 01, 02, 03. I think I have a v.1 from 2006. WUSB54G from Linksys. Hard to figure these things out given the info on their site.

Milt,
Let me know if you need any hardware, I almost always have parts available that I could send to help a fellow Pelican out. Tell me what kind of PC it is and how much RAM you have in it, I may have some RAM for the thing...

any joy?

Milt,
What model Dell do you have, ie.. Dell Inspiron 510, Dimension 4500, etc... Thanks!

Milt, got your PM, but I hate responding to them via the iPhone. Give a call and we'll work out the details.

I had your contact info saved on the now dead HD. Sorry.

I'll send it later. Came down with a fever last night.

Well, Dave and I are going to hook up. We are going out to Santa Ana and look at some wood and special tools for woodworking at Austin Hardwoods. Who knows if we'll get anything done computerwise. Ya know, we have to do lunch as well :)

MEANWHILE....... Art Z. (azasadny) did a really cool thing and sent me some memory cards. He told me to call him and he'd walk me through installing one. Hell, I unplugged, made sure I wasn't packing a bunch of static electricity and jammed a 512 in the board. Fired that puppy up and I'm wizzin' along now, buddy.

Hey Art, you think I ought to go for broke and throw the 2nd 512 card in there? Poor ass little processor would have an ocean of memory, huh?

I might even celebrate and open a couple of new browser windows. How 'bout them apples? :D

Thank you, Art!

Milt,

You're quite welcome! I'm very glad that RAM worked for you! Load that other slot up with a 512MB (if you have another one) or a 256MB, the more, the merrier!!

I didn't know how to pair them up. A 512 and a 256 in the no 2 slot works?

The first of the two 512 cards caused a buzz/alarm and the computer would not boot. so I set that one aside for now.

You should be able to "mix" the RAM on that PC. If the PC doesn't boot up, beeps , etc... pull the RAM out and try another. It won't hurt the PC.

Hokay!