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Dell 780 Problem:



 
 
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  #16  
Old November 17th 17, 12:12 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Another unrelated problem cropped up on the
8500. My flash Player no longer works although it
did this morning. The only thing I did was update
the computers.

I tried to Update the Flash Player(under Programs)
but it shows I have the current version. Nevertheless
the download failed 3 times. Could you please give me
a link that will work?

Thanks,
Robert
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  #17  
Old November 17th 17, 12:17 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Well this is weird,. now it's back working no sooner
than after I finished my previous message but before
it wasn't.


Robert
  #18  
Old November 17th 17, 01:20 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Well now my Flash Player is messed up again, so it
looks as if I'll need a good link to flash player.
Since my efforts failed.

As far as the 780 all seems good with the exception
of having to click F1 on 3 and 4. So should I insert
both DIMMS again?

Thanks,
Robert
  #19  
Old November 17th 17, 02:42 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Mark Twain wrote:
Well now my Flash Player is messed up again, so it
looks as if I'll need a good link to flash player.
Since my efforts failed.

As far as the 780 all seems good with the exception
of having to click F1 on 3 and 4. So should I insert
both DIMMS again?

Thanks,
Robert


You should verify the DIMMs one at a time on the 780.

You'll also need to use your recollection of how much
RAM it was reporting before this happened. Were both
DIMMs operational at some time ? Or has that one been
sitting on an angle for a while ?

For example, say the DIMMs were 2x1GB. Were you seeing
1GB reported in Task Manager ? Or was 2GB reported from
the day you took delivery of the 780 ? If you've been
operating the machine without the benefit of that
second DIMM, maybe you don't need it. If you do need it,
and the second DIMM tests bad, then you could buy another.

You can "use the slots that don't complain" if you want,
or find the entry in the 780 manual that explains how to
reprogram that feature so the other slots are honored.

*******

Flash is currently at 27.0.0.187

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/about/

Here is a set of links I posted a year ago.
Substitute the 27.0.0.187 number in the field
where it says 23.0.0.207.

Netscape, Seamonkey, Firefox (npapi-type browsers...)

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flas...ash_player.exe

Older versions of Internet Explorer which don't have built-in flash

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flas..._player_ax.exe

An uninstaller (if it was really broken or something)

http://download.macromedia.com/get/f...ash_player.exe

Test page, so you can check the version number on it.

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

So that means, you want this one right now for Firefox. It downloaded.

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flas...ash_player.exe

When you download one of those, if you plan to keep it,
you should modify the filename so you can remember
what it's for. "install_flash_player__27_0_0_187_npapi.exe"

For SRWare Iron (a defunct Chrome-a-like for WinXP),
you'd need PepperFlash (ppapi) plugin.

https://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/fla...ayer_ppapi.exe

In the table here, when it says "embedded", that means
the browser should download it (somehow) on its own.
So Chrome takes care of itself, while Chromium requires
the user to do the manual ppapi download. On embedded browsers,
the delivery of the plugin isn't always uniformly fast,
and sometimes an update can be a day late on those.
It all depends on which way the wind is blowing at the time.

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/about/

HTH,
Paul
  #20  
Old November 17th 17, 08:39 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

I have verified both DIMMs function one at a
time and I have verified that all slots work
although I had to press F1 for number 3 and 4
slots first before the desktop screen appeared.
So that all should be functional.

The flash player is working again, and I saved the
files as you suggested.. thanks.

Here are the specs for the 780 as I bought it.

https://www.staples.com/DELL-780-Tow...roduct_1498887

Robert
  #21  
Old November 17th 17, 10:07 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Mark Twain wrote:
I have verified both DIMMs function one at a
time and I have verified that all slots work
although I had to press F1 for number 3 and 4
slots first before the desktop screen appeared.
So that all should be functional.

The flash player is working again, and I saved the
files as you suggested.. thanks.

Here are the specs for the 780 as I bought it.

https://www.staples.com/DELL-780-Tow...roduct_1498887

Robert


It's a Q45 Northbridge. The memory type is a function
of the sockets soldered to the motherboard. The
chipset would support 4x2GB DDR2 memory or 4x4GB DDR3 memory.

Since your machine shipped with 4GB total. then the DIMMs
should have been 2x2GB in dual channel mode. They could
go in the pair of black slots, or they could go in the
pair of white slots. Those are the easiest options
to understand. The chipset is new enough, it probably
supports Flex Memory, and in fact you could have dual
channel with one white slot and one black slot. But
the reason they color the slots, is to help recognize
the "pairs" for easiest installation. Matched sticks
in pairs in same-colored slots, operate in dual channel
mode for sure.

But if some slots were damaged, it might still be possible
to get dual channel operation with "mis-colored" slots.
And that's because the Flex Memory is... flexible. There
was a time when the pairing scheme was more rigid and
unbending. Some AMD designs were like that, and the fill
order was kinda fixed on them (only one fill order of merit).
AMD has fixed that on their stuff too now, and it's practically
anything-goes like on Intel. But the older the hardware is,
the greater the chance for rigid fill rules (lazy engineers).

Paul
  #22  
Old November 17th 17, 02:34 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

That's correct with the black and white slots. I
was kind of wondering about the different colors
when I opened it up.

So having tested all the slots and both DIMMS do
you feel it's safe to put them both back in ?

In passing, I also did system updates during this
time.

Thanks,
Robert
  #23  
Old November 17th 17, 10:08 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Mark Twain wrote:
That's correct with the black and white slots. I
was kind of wondering about the different colors
when I opened it up.

So having tested all the slots and both DIMMS do
you feel it's safe to put them both back in ?

In passing, I also did system updates during this
time.

Thanks,
Robert


If both DIMMs work tested individually, then
you can try for dual channel mode and plug
both in.

*******

You can also use a memory test program, to test
that all the bits in the memory are good.

For example, half way down this page, are floppy
based and ISO (CD) based, compressed packages for
memory test. On the floppy one, you run "install.bat"
on a 32-bit machine or "install64.bat" on a 64-bit
machine, and it erases/formats/writes a floppy containing
a memory test program. (The other contents of the
floppy are removed!) Running the test program for
one pass (there's a counter) says the RAM is good.
There shouldn't be any error message printed on the screen.
Pressing esc exits the test program and then you
can reboot into Windows. It can take up to a couple
hours to test a machine-load of RAM.

http://www.memtest.org/

And you boot that floppy, once you make it. Once
prepared, the files on the floppy cannot be listed.
The "install.bat" writes them in an invisible mode.
But rest assured, the floppy will boot, even though
there is nothing obvious on the floppy. I have a
couple of those floppy diskettes next to me, that
I use for memory testing. In a sense, the contents
of the floppy are their own OS - it's simply a
program that takes control of the entire computer.

Paul
  #24  
Old November 18th 17, 09:48 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

The Mem test sounds iffy,. am I making a bootable CD?
If so, I don't have any CD's left. Also there are so many
Mem tests how am I to know which one?

https://s17.postimg.org/62zp32mbj/Mem_test.jpg

In passing, have you noticed FF has changed with black tabs?
I know it doesn't make sense but it seems the 8500 is a tad
slower since.


Robert
  #25  
Old November 18th 17, 10:07 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Mark Twain wrote:
The Mem test sounds iffy,. am I making a bootable CD?
If so, I don't have any CD's left. Also there are so many
Mem tests how am I to know which one?

https://s17.postimg.org/62zp32mbj/Mem_test.jpg

In passing, have you noticed FF has changed with black tabs?
I know it doesn't make sense but it seems the 8500 is a tad
slower since.


Robert


If you have a floppy drive and at least one blank
floppy diskette, memtest fits quite nicely on it.

Some users complain if I mention "floppy", because
they don't have one, or "it's too archaic". Most
of the capacity of a CD would be wasted. But, it's
convenient if you have discs handy.

I use floppies for my copies, and for the machine
that doesn't have a floppy drive cable, I use a
USB floppy drive instead (an external device).

So I don't have a problem with floppies. Once the
boot process is complete and the screen is 640x480,
you can pop the floppy out.

** Memtest86+ V5.01 (27/09/2013)**

Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)

*******

You might have Firefox 57, since WinXP stops at
Firefox 53, and lucky Windows 7 users get to
continue receiving updates.

Firefox 57 is called "Quantum" for some reason,
and it is a multi-process version. If you look
in Task Manager, you might see four instances
of the word "Firefox" in there.

That's not supposed to slow the machine down.

You might use Task Manager to see if anything
in the machine is mis-behaving (using a lot of CPU).

Firefox will use something like 20% more memory than
the previous version.

The new Firefox is modeled after Google Chrome, and
that's why it has four processes running minimum.
Because Chrome does the same thing. Firefox already
used a Container concept for the Flash plugin (plugincontainer.exe?),
so that if Flash crashed, the browser remained running.
The multiple processes could be used for Process Isolation,
but I suspect that's not really all that practical when
the processes also have to talk to one another. There's
still a possibility the set of processes could freeze or
deadlock, depending on what flaky thing happens.

You can turn off that new feature if you want.

In the URL bar, enter "about:config".

In my copy of Firefox 57, I can see

browser.tabs.remote.autostart False
browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 True --- change to False, to make
Firefox run a single
process

You can double-click the entry in the table,
to "flip" the state of a boolean variable
like that one. Once that's done, the next time
you start Firefox, it should behave a little
more like the old version.

But the ugly icons (you know, the issue with
the folder icons in bookmarks), those icons
are now there to stay. The only way to revert
the appearance of the browser, quickly, is to
use an older version. It's not clear
to me whether any "themes" are available
as WebExtensions or not, to go back to the
old icons.

And by all means, use the Task Manager to survey
the state of the machine, when it feels "a little slow".
There might be a reason - something that needs to
be fixed. It might not be Firefox at all.

Paul
  #26  
Old November 18th 17, 07:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Well the problem is that I used all my CD's to
make backups etc when we redid the 8500 from
scratch. I used all that I had. So I would have
to buy more just to test the DIMMS and for no
other purpose. I would have to wait until next
week before I could buy any.

So do I or do I not put in both DIMMS?

I'm not up on monitoring the Task Manager so I
wouldn't even know what to look for even if it
is slow, but it did show (4) Firefox entries,..

I took a screenshot of my Task Manager but TinyPic
and Post Image aren't working for me.

I've never used Google Chrome but I believe your
the one who told me it wasn't all that hot. So
now FF is mirroring Chrome? I wish these programmers
would leave well enough alone.

I don't feel comfortable making any changes,.. so
I'll leave it as is but I'm not happy they keep
changing FF. I wonder if I should go back to Explorer?


Robert

Robert
  #27  
Old November 18th 17, 09:51 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

Mark Twain wrote:
Well the problem is that I used all my CD's to
make backups etc when we redid the 8500 from
scratch. I used all that I had. So I would have
to buy more just to test the DIMMS and for no
other purpose. I would have to wait until next
week before I could buy any.

So do I or do I not put in both DIMMS?

I'm not up on monitoring the Task Manager so I
wouldn't even know what to look for even if it
is slow, but it did show (4) Firefox entries,..

I took a screenshot of my Task Manager but TinyPic
and Post Image aren't working for me.

I've never used Google Chrome but I believe your
the one who told me it wasn't all that hot. So
now FF is mirroring Chrome? I wish these programmers
would leave well enough alone.

I don't feel comfortable making any changes,.. so
I'll leave it as is but I'm not happy they keep
changing FF. I wonder if I should go back to Explorer?


Robert

Robert


The memtest.org page also has an option to
prepare a bootable USB stick. That's if you
don't have a floppy to use. I find the floppy
is the best for me, as the executable is small
enough, other kinds of media are a waste.

http://memtest.org/

** Memtest86+ V5.01 (27/09/2013)**

Download - Auto-installer for USB Key (Win 9x/2k/xp/7) *NEW!*

*******

From the Readme file in the installer

"Memtest86+ USB Installer is a script that uses NSIS
to automate the creation of a bootable Memtest86+ USB
Flash Drive. Memtest86+ can be used to test your
system memory for errors."

But to use the USB stick, you have to know how to
get the machine to boot from a USB stick. The popup
boot menu can do that. The key to using the USB stick,
is knowing which key to press at power on, to get the
popup boot menu to appear. It will list all the
storage devices, including the USB stick you have plugged
into the computer. You select the USB stick from the menu,
and then memtest86+ should run soon after. And in this
case, I think when the USB stick is listed in File Explorer,
it will have files. It was the floppy boot method, where
the contents of the floppy were not visible in Windows.
Some of the other methods, use actual file systems to
hold the materials.

*******

You can use any browser you want. I prefer to not have
the one or two Google Updater processes running on my
machine, while Google programs are present. Chrome also
has its share of exploits - and the reason for this, is
it's the dominant browser numerically. There are more copies
of Chrome than anything else. The "bad guys" consequently,
have to focus all their tricks on Chrome, where they can
make the most money. It's sorta like buying fly paper,
and noticing it's hard to keep the paper clean :-)

Paul
  #28  
Old November 19th 17, 07:14 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default Dell 780 Problem:

OK,. I guess I'll have to order some CD's.

Robert
  #29  
Old November 19th 17, 07:25 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Dell 780 Problem:

In message , Mark
Twain writes:
OK,. I guess I'll have to order some CD's.

Robert


Or salvage a floppy (-:
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

_____
___ |[]|_n_n_I_c
|___||__|###|____)
O-O--O-O+++--O-O
  #30  
Old November 19th 17, 07:41 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Dell 780 Problem:

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Mark
Twain writes:
OK,. I guess I'll have to order some CD's.

Robert


Or salvage a floppy (-:


He might have a USB card read in the floppy slot.
So no floppy.

USB keys are more expensive than a CD or a floppy,
but you get to reuse them. You have to figure out
how to get them to boot of course.

On my really old computers, I can't boot from a USB key,
so that wouldn't be an option. On my year 1999 computer
P2B-S), I'd be using floppy or CD.

But on newer machines, the USB stick is a viable option.
And both his machines, generationally, are new enough.

Apparently, some BIOS hide a setting in the Setup Screen
to turn on popup boot. The magic key can be turned off.
Imagine how annoying that would be. That BIOS screen
also tells you what key to press.

https://www.eightforums.com/attachme...enshot_306.jpg

( https://www.eightforums.com/installa...t-usb-key.html )

Paul
 




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