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Technical Help, Please!

 
 
Shortfatdyke
16:38 / 23.09.02
My computer has started trying to install both Windows XP and Word 2002 - even though they're both already there. I can get my documents up, no problem, but there's funny boxes at the page corners. I know Microsoft is evil etc, but I've found I haven't really got a choice if I want to email docs to other people. That said, if you can help me out - I've just spent about half an hour getting nowhere on my technical support FAQs and Microsoft won't help me.
 
 
w1rebaby
18:02 / 23.09.02
Well, I'm not going to come out with any lectures on m$=evil considering I've just switched back to XP.

What do you mean, "funny boxes"? And did you do anything to bring on this reinstallation? That seems unusual.

If in doubt, uninstall Word and then reinstall, the standard Windows remedy.
 
 
Fist Fun
18:54 / 23.09.02
What do you mean by the boxes...can't really picture it. I'd recommend a repair rather than a reinstall of Word. Go to help the detect and repair...you'll need the cd. You could also try starting it in safe mode go start > run and type winword.exe /a ... (get the full list here. If that works then one of the templates or add-ins will be dead so you need to rename them one by one.

As for XP reinstalling, when does that happen?
 
 
Shortfatdyke
06:29 / 24.09.02
Well, what's happening now is that XP seems fine, but every time I try and open a Word document, it begins to 'prepare to install' Word - I've been cancelling it as soon as it comes up, which seems okay. As for the frames around the text, it's like lines facing outward from each corner. As I say, it makes no difference to anything.

The only reason I can think of for things going a little wierd was the earthquake that shook the place on Monday morning - maybe there was a power cut for a while.

I did think about uninstalling Word and reinstalling it, and I've been putting all my fiction and articles onto disk. To be honest, I find even the simplest computer commands almost impossible to understand - even your basic advice, Buk, has thrown me completely. Terrible, isn't it? But it's like numbers - I see numbers and things go haywire.
 
 
w1rebaby
08:59 / 24.09.02
It sounds to me like XP has somehow forgotten that Word is installed but has retained the file associations, so when you click on files it thinks "I'm opening this with Word, oh, better install it, oh, let's open it anyway" or something. Could have a logical explanation or could be another Windows random buggering-up.

You probably won't need to back everything up to uninstall Word, the documents will be stored separately (though it's a good idea anyway just as a general thing). I'd probably still go with un- then re-installing, because that will "clean things out" first.
 
 
doglikesparky
09:36 / 24.09.02
Have you tried installing the all new singing and dancing (and evil) service pack 1 for XP? This has tended to sort out these sort of glitches for everyone I know (including me) who's using it.

Get it by clicking Start > Windows Update and then following the links.

It's a big download though (130 megabytes or so) so unless you're on a nice fast broadband connection it's gonna take a while to download.

Good luck.
 
 
Spaniel
18:39 / 16.04.07
I think this may be a job for the Leather Clad Heroes.

Okay, I'm trying to unlock my DVD player (DVP-NS355) but so far I'm not having much luck with the online tutorials. All of them seem to demand that I go out and buy a new fanangling all-in-one controller, and, frankly, I was kind of hoping I could do the job with the kit that came in the box.

So then, anyone know if it's possible? I have managed to raise a secret maintenence menu if that's any help.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
18:49 / 16.04.07
"Unlock" as in "make region-free"?
 
 
Spaniel
18:52 / 16.04.07
Yup

Sorry, should have been clearer
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
19:11 / 16.04.07
I've been poking around, but no joy so far. Lateral thinking options include buying and returning the remote (or exchanging it for something else you want at the same store, which is slightly more honest) or burning everything you want to watch onto DVD-Rs on a reliable computer (which are relatively easy to region-hack).
 
 
Spaniel
19:26 / 16.04.07
Thanks for the effort Matt. Returning the remote ain't an option, I'm afraid.

It looks like I'm gonna haveta get one of those oneforall (and all for one, Muskerhounds are always ready) controllers, after all.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
19:42 / 16.04.07
Boboss, do you have a laptop or PDA with IR port?

If so check this out:
Your model is in the group after the playstations
 
 
Spaniel
19:51 / 16.04.07
Grrr, I don't have an IR either. Cheers Elijah.
 
 
Lama glama
19:58 / 16.04.07
I did a bit of rooting around too, and was surprised to see that this player requires a one-for-all remote, or PDA to unlock it in most cases. I bought a fairly cheap DVD-R a few weeks ago and managed to unlock it with the remote that came with it. Argos do a moderately priced one-for-all remote, but it'll still cost you about £25.

However, I did eventually come across one website that featured this method for unlocking your player, Boboss.

1. Turn your machine on with no tapes or discs present.

2. On your remote control press the set up button.

3. On your remote control press the right navigation arrow button (next to the enter button) until you get to the System Info Screen.

4. Read the on screen list and you should find that it ends at “Loader Version”

5. On your remote control type in 1 1 0 1 - This should then add an additional item of Region Code to your list.

6. On your remote control type in which ever one of the following that you need….

0 - For region-free

1 - USA, Canada

2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland

3 - S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia

4 - Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)

5 - Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa

6 - China

7. On your remote control press Enter to confirm.

8. Exit the setup program slip in the disc you wanted to watch and you should be all set.


It's worth a try, I suppose.
 
 
Spaniel
20:05 / 16.04.07
I'll give it a go.

You guys are so great.
 
 
Spaniel
06:40 / 17.04.07
Turned out there wasn't a set-up button.

Naughty world.

Looks like I'm gonna have to get me down Argos and buy a oneforall and allforone Musterhound.
 
 
Lama glama
17:33 / 17.04.07
Mea culpa.

Argos are pretty alright when it comes to returning stuff, though, so once you've unlocked the player, you could return it if you want.
 
 
Sunfell
15:41 / 18.04.07
(Professional PC Support person here...)

If you've installed any recent version of Office (2000 on up), the first time you start one of its components- especially Word, it'll do that. Just allow it to start, and it should work fine.

Usually, it's a one-time only thing. If it keeps doing it, something in its startup file is hosed up, and you can dig out your Office disk and run a repair on it. That usually fixes the problem.

There's no such thing as a 'computer dunce'- we all start out that way. Experience is an excellent teacher.

Good luck!
 
 
Spaniel
17:48 / 18.04.07
I now have multi-regionality thanks to my oneforall controller!
 
 
All Acting Regiment
14:25 / 17.10.07
Right then, my cd-dvd drive seems to be having trouble. Yesterday it refused to burn some stuff from Itunes to blank CDs (I tried both CDs and it wouldn't burn to either) and now it's refusing to play my nice Werner Herzog DVDs, although it will play certain music CDs (with a bit of wheezing - also you can't scroll forward through them).

I used to have a game that used the StarForce copy-protection thing - that's supposed to bugger up disk drives, but I thought I removed it ages ago. I wonder if anyone can tell me some obvious faults I'm missing or if there's a reputable place to get the starforce removing software.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
14:34 / 17.10.07
Okay, we're now getting the start of the film and then lots of stopping every second and then nothing.
 
 
Bamba
14:55 / 17.10.07
Starforce could indeed be responsible, it convinced me that my DVD writer was totally fucked and when I later read about and removed Starforce it turned out the drive was totally fine. Which means someone somewhere owes me the cash I shelled out on a brand new replacement for the 'broken' drive but that's another story. Anyway, there's a page telling you how to check if the Starforce drivers are still installed on your machine and how to get shot of them if there are here. If I remember rightly from my own experience, running the uninstaller wasn't enough, I then had to delete the drive from Device Manager and let Windows rediscover and reinstall it at next boot.

Note: despite all the above, it is possible that your drive is just dying a natural death. They're dirt cheap these days anyway if that is the case and not at all difficult to fit.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
15:01 / 17.10.07
Cheers Bamba, I'll look into it.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
15:23 / 17.10.07
Gah. Well, StarForce is gone but the drive's still being a dick. It's played through about 5 minutes this time.
 
  
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