Q: What is essential to run an Operating system? Is it only a hard drive to store the operating system and a processor to run it?
Q: I am going to college to become a Software Systems Engineer. What I would like to know is if you have any suggestions as to what kind of computer I should get or at least what some of the specs I might want to have. For example which processor and which sound and video cards and what type(s) of drives and CD burners etc. I would greatly appreciate an answer to this question because I have done lots of searching and have really found nothing of import.
Q: I am in the process of buying a computer and the guy I am trying to buy it from says that it has 512GBÂ hard drive but when I went to My computer and clicked on C: Drive it says that it only has 30.1GB. He says that he just put in a larger one and it won’t show up under My Computer. How do I find this “Missing” information? It is a HP running on Windows XP 2000.
A: The first thing I would suggest would be to check the Device Manager to make sure that the drive is showing up there. If you right click on the My Computer icon and select the Hardware tab you should see the Device Manager button.
Select that button and choose the Disk Drives and make sure that the drive is listed there.
I would then double click on the name of the drive and see if the device status shows that it is working properly.
If everything checks out there then I would try the following:
1. Right click My computer and select Manage.
2. Click on Disk Management.
In the right hand window you should see all of your drives with their drive letter.
If you see a drive listed but without a drive letter that is likely to be your “missing” drive. To gain access try the following:
1. Right click the drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
2. Click the Change button.
3. Select a Drive letter and click Ok.
Now check My Computer for the drive.
Q: I have installed a new motherboard (XFX nforce 681i SLI motherboard. I bought a Seagate 400GHz SATA hard drive to install as my second hard drive. I connect the data transfer cable and the power cable. When I power up the machine, all the lights blink and everything shuts down immediately. A friend has said that there is something wrong in the BIOS. Can someone help me to get this second hard drive installed and working properly? I am running Windows XP if that makes a difference on anything.
A: You probably have a short somewhere in your hardware setup or a bad component. Disconnect and reconnect everything and check for any loose cables or bare wires touching the case. Also, see if the system boots up without that new hard drive installed, as it is possible the hard drive came defective.
