PCI Simple Communications Controller.

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks for your persistence Nick.

I've done as requested and reached the stage of opening the XP CD only to run up against the message stating newer version of XP is already installed; I tried Set Up; Check system automatically and when I tried to visit compatibility website received "Sorry the page you requested cannot be found" .

I had this communications problem a few years ago and can't remember how I resolved it but it's proving frustrating.

This computer is winding the big key in my back; earlier the monitor suddenly died whilst I was attempting to trace the cables; the mains lead was loose; it all adds to the fun.

Kind regards, Col.

[Skywave]

Col - you said "My current monitor is set at 1024 x 768 and colour at highest 32bit."

I take that to mean that those setting are the max. settings that your video card will support. If that is the case, then that implies that your monitor card (at least) is much too old and needs to be replaced. Even video cards which are quite old now will do a good deal more than that. The one in this PC is quite an old one: it is an AGP NVidia GeForce 6200, set to 1152 x 864 x 32, but I know it will do a lot more (as a product: a x b x c). The only reason I chose those particular settings is that it suited my 21" glass monitor - and the resolution of my eye-sight! (Incidentally, these days I never use anything else other than AGP. If I have a mo-bo that doesn't support AGP - it goes into the bin!)

The point I am trying to make is that it sounds like your video card is too old - and that, in turn, raises a question as to the entire capability of the mother-board to meet the performance you now require.

HTH.

Al.

[Retired]

Hi,

I've spent many hours trying to resolve this problem and was getting nowhere in spite of all the useful information received.

It's taken ages but I decided to try to identify what the "Unknown Device" was so went into systems and kicked things around eventually finding the name "Conexant Systems" and I already had a long list of numbers and letters for the device. With this new information I surfed the web and found the following;

http://www.conexant.com/support/md_winxpinfo.html

It beggars belief that a modem has given me so much grief; not only had I found out what the unknown device was I knew immediately why it didn't have any drivers. Years ago when I first connected to the Internet I needed this modem as I was on Dial up only and eventually went onto broadband. Now here is the bit that has messed me up; the modem is redundant because we've been on cable for over twenty years at first just for phone and TV.

NTL supplied the connection rendering this modem obsolete hence it is still installed but gets flagged by the yellow perils as faulty because it isn't connected and has no drivers.

I simply clicked Delete then uninstalled it and it is no more. Possibly when I boot up tomorrow the yellow perils will appear once again and if they do I can remove the offending modem.

This problem has tested my patience and involved forum members going to a lot of trouble in order to help me. I hadn't a clue what the fault was and had completely forgotten the old installed modem. I'm going senile at 65.

Now the yellow question marks are sorted the next job is to have a look at the graphics which still do not allow transfer of 3D from emachineshop; it might still require a new up to date graphics card but boy am I glad to have cracked the PCI problem.

I'm tired out and can only thank you all once again for your help and guidance.

Kind regards, Col.

[Skywave]

Hi Col,
As I have always maintained, Persistence, Perseverance and Patience are the three most valuable tools in any fixer's toolbox: this you have clearly demonstrated. Also, FWIW, when (many years ago) I used to configure PCs for dial-up, Conexant modems always gave me more grief than all the other dial-up modems put together - and it was always due to driver problems.

Keep at it: you'll get there.
For example, a few months ago I had my first experience of installing Wi-Fi on my home network. Boy, did I have to struggle with that! But I got there in the end (after about a week ) - and learnt a great deal in the process. So much so, that when soon after that the need arose to extend the range of the Wi-Fi from the existing wired router / gateway, I managed that by configuring another router / modem, configured as an AP (access point), CAT-5 wired to the main router / gateway using Ethernet @ 100 Mb.: it took me about one hour, and most of that was installing cable, drilling holes through walls, etc.

Worthwhile knowledge does not come easily - it has to be worked for - and earnt.

Al.

[Radio Fixer]

Think its true Colin ... the hardware stays the same but the applications and what we want to do doesn’t. 5 or more years has been a long time for hardware, it’s evolved hugely in that time. Whether it will continue to do so over the next 5 I'm not sure. But by the sound of it you are trying to run sophisticated software on an old, and probably not even a top spec machine at the time, with a new larger screen (more pixels) and its simply not up to the job.

I go with you: don’t spend any money on upgrading the current PC, new video card etc. Put that towards a new one. The old maxim of buying better than you can imagine needing is still good … may mean a bit more of a gulp on the spending though.

I cant advise what Dell PC to go for as I always build my own. I would get W7 (and in 64 bit) though and not W8. I like W7, its Vista made to work. I run it in XP ‘look a like’ mode and it’s a big improvement over XP, although a lot of the things are subtle … So I have read W8 is a mess up of trying to make an OS that’s good for tablets and fingers and works for the mouse pushers (or tablet and pen like me).

Would def recommend a machine with an SSD (the biggest improvement for years). Some come with a small one and a big HDD for mass storage, although I'm told this can give probs. I just went for a 256 GB SSD and an external USB 3 HDD. (USB3 another leap forward, impressively quick).

To give you an idea of the improvement of PCs in 5 years my old one (and a pretty decent spec machine for the time) took 4 hours to render a 20 minute video from still images. The new one (middle of the road, 6 core, games player spec) does it in 15 mins; so 16 X faster.

It plays streaming web video, full 24" screen and depending on the resolution that it was saved in the quality is very good. There is a tennis site down in Aus and they have an archive of all the old top matches. I watched the classic 6 hour game (Aussie open 2012) and I remember it as TV quality … no stutters, jumps just sit back and watch.

Gary

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Al and Gary. What a day I had yesterday and sure enough the yellow perils are displayed again this morning as soon as I boot up with an on screen message saying "New hardware found" the message should really read ancient hardware found.

Rather than waste more time I'll put up with it until I buy a new computer. As you say Gary computers soon age I paid £1000 for my first top of the range computer about 14 years ago with something like an 8gig HDD. I have an external drive hooked up and this is 1TB which didn't cost a lot.

My demands are not great on a computer as I don't use it for gaming. I do enjoy learning through You Tube videos and now I'm getting started with 3D graphics; as you also said previously Gary a big screen is nice.

I'm not complaining in the least about my computer as it is; I upgraded a few years ago costing £400 but once again it is now outdated; my recent purchase was the 23" flat screen monitor and this alone was money very well spent; it makes drawing so much easier.

You sound to have also had fun with your system Al but you are so right about sticking with a problem until resolved; the worse things get for me the more I dig in; I'm like a dog with a bone when something is troubling me and I'm too thick to quit and walk away. Yesterday was most frustrating but I also enjoyed it and learnt a great deal.

I did wonder what OS to go for with the new computer as I've always enjoyed XP so I think you've answered the question before it being asked Gary and I'll likely go for Win7. I'm used to XP and I can wipe the HDD to install a fresh copy of XP so is it still as easy to re-install Win7? I remember setting up a new computer a few years ago for my brother and I think the OS was Vista; on initial boot up it recommended copying the boot up disc for future use; this boot up disc actually ended up as something like 12 separate CD's which was a real pain; the computer was supplied without disc as it installed through the web? This put me off Vista before I had even started.

One thing which puzzles me Al after all the troubles I've just endured; why the heck was this modem described as "Unknown Device" when in fact it was a modem? It took at least a couple of hours last night turning stones over just to find "Conexant Systems" and even then I hadn't a clue what this was about so I surfed the web. A days frustration could have been avoided by the word "Modem".

When I initially found it to be a modem at first I thought the cable modem was faulty and thought at last this will now be an easy fix until I realized the old on-board modem was still in place. Unlike Gary I haven't fitted castors to this desk so it is a bit of a job gaining access unlike Gary's where he can simply wheel his desk out so I'll leave well alone until I buy the new computer.

One thing I did learn however was that it might be better to simply "delete" the offending device and this will then soon identify the "Unknown Device" hindsight is wonderful.

I do feel a bit of a plonker after involving you all and having you spending time trying to help me the way you so generously did only to find the fault to be something so simple in the end.

Thanks everyone.

Kind regards, Col.

[Nick]

You don't have a video card - you are currently just using the on-board SiS video driver which has a max resolution of 1024 x 768 x 32bit and no hardware acceleration which is pretty rubbish.

Get a new machine, but a couple of quick points.

Don't buy the manufacturer's memory or solid-state disk unless its very very cheap - they tend to completely rip you off. Go to Crucial at http://www.crucial.com/uk - this is the retail arm of Micron, one of the world's largest memory manufacturers - they make a lot of memory for people like Kingston etc. as well as the PC manufacturers themselves. i.e. their stuff is absolutely first rate and completely reliable, as well as being dirt cheap.

Here's a good tip - when buying from Crucial, create an account before checking the pricing on DIMMs & SSDs (the site will ask which MB etc. you have and will tell you exactly what your options are).

By logging in, you get even better pricing than that shown when you are logged out (which is excellent anyway). e.g. they are currently doing a 256Gb SATA3 2.5" SDD for GBP 120 including VAT.

Consider NOT going for the traditional mini-tower - maybe go for a Small Form Factor (SFF) board, e.g. "Pizza Box" miniATX or microATX, use a 2.5" rather than 3.5" disk and keep it all on the desk top rather than have all that gubbins on the floor. Make sure you can install a decent graphics card though - I would point out that the newer Intels (i3 & i5 series) have pretty good on-chip graphics now and for non-high-end graphics they are more than adequate. Note that newer processors are also multi-core, typically they will do up to 4 things at once. Some of the Intels do NOT have integrated graphics, so do check the specific chip you intend to get if that's what you want to use.

Avoid Windows 8 - we've been evaluating it and its horrid - never use a "new" Microsoft o/s until atleast the SP1 pack is out - typically a year after release.

Go for Windows 7 64bit Home Premium with at least 4Gb of RAM or something very similar. Its very good & stable.

When buying components for a system you'd like to build yourself, I tend to recommend people to look at the PC Pro "A-List" at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/alist - this is the best of their current reviews & recommendations - a very good starting point. Some of their reviews are a year old and the pricing is quoted as being too high, e.g. their SSD estimates are way too high as pricing in that sector has plummeted in the last 12 months...

[Joe]

I would say the computers age LESS quickly than they used to. I got my first one in 1988 and after ten years it was way beyond obsolete. The one I'm typing this on is ten years old (an HP Pavilion 793.UK) and it's fine. I can find no subjective difference in speed, since upping the memory, compared to my Sony Vaio lap-top which is five years old and theoretically far superior.

I had the same back-up thing with Vista but fitted it on two DVDs.

As ever, it's Horses for Courses and my needs aren't very demanding.

- Joe

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks for your information Nick; I've just downloaded Crucial's system scanner and the scan recommends a 1GB upgrade. (£20.51inc.).

The result of the scan confirms that my computer is fitted with 1GB plus 512MB. Unfortunately with no spare slots it would be impossible to add another 1GB; if I removed the 512MB to free up a slot replacing this with 1GB I would only gain 500MB.

I didn't know my computer wasn't fitted with a video card; I always assumed it had a card fitted as I can view videos etc. I've got a lot to learn. Also SSDs; this is a strange language to me so I viewed Crucial's site and as you say Nick these are Solid State Drives which replace the traditional Hard Disc Drives. Solid State Drives have no moving parts and are more reliable than the HDD in that no heat is generated; I only know because I've just been reading the details.

http://golbornevintageradio.org/forum/sh...p?tid=2204

The above is a link to my new desk thread. I designed and made this desk to accommodate my tower in the left hand pedestal also to tidy up all the cables so I would like to retain these features.

Although I have stated my desire to buy a new DELL computer I am open to suggestions regarding building my own especially now Nick has advised regarding various items to go for; a number of my friends have put their own systems together. The last time I upgraded I had a local computer shop do it for me and ended paying for an inferior system compared to what I could have got out of the box at PC World for similar money. The reason I like DELL is that we had them at work and DELL was the first computer I ever used.

I don't need all the latest electronic must haves; all I need is a computer that can keep up to me; loads quickly plays videos without constant buffering and transfers files without silly messages appearing. I already have a 1TB external hard drive to back up anything I'm ever likely to need so I don't need a massive hard drive in the computer.

If bought the graphics card you mentioned previously Nick to try on this computer assuming I still had problems would this card transfer without trouble to my new computer?

I'm aware mother board bundles are readily available on eBay as is anything computer related; for drives though I'll accept your advice Nick and go with Crucial if I decide to build my own system. I'm not in a hurry so I'm open to suggestions; I don't want to spend a fortune on extras that I possibly will not use; I can buy a DELL ready to go for £500 so would I be better using this money to build my own?

I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation and hope this thread is of use to other members as it contains a lot of basics ideal for novices like me.

When my computer starts to slow down Joe I do a complete wipe which clears the rubbish at one go.

One other important question I have is that for a few years I used Cyber Scrub to destroy old files etc totally preventing them being accessed by a third party. Is there a free program that does the same as I take computer security seriously.

Kind regards, Col.

[Tedzed1]

Col, if you download ccleaner, a very useful utility

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

you will find "drive wiper" under tools.