Two computers both seem to be having problems at the moment. Heres the Skinny...

1: Desktop, brand new, put together and set up by my roommate who knows a thing or two but isnt a professional or anything. Though we had some small difficulties and my floppy drive is apparently DOA we got it running great. The problem is when I restart the computer windows cant load. It either freezes on a black screen before windows can start loading or freezes part way through the windows loading screen. If you cut off the power supply then start it again windows will start once but then fails if you try to reboot. My roommate has been able to take care of all problems so far but he says this is something he has no idea about so any insights would be helpful.

2: Alienware Laptop, approaching 3 years old. For being a "high end" machine i havnt been too impressed with this thing. Not sure if i dont know how to run it the way i want, if its poor manufacturing, if its just harder to get a laptop ot be "high performance" but it's never run as well as it should and has been slowly falling apart for a while now.

Not long ago my CD drive vanished according to my computer. For a short while it would disappear, but reappear when i restarted the computer, now it just never comes back. Sometimes it hints at being there... for example when i plug in a usb drive it will register as E drive, so the computer thinks theres a D drive but doesnt display it. Other times the usb drive registers as the D drive and its icon is a CD drive, which might just be residual from having a cd drive at one point. Also, if i put a cd in the drive i can hear the drive reading the cd but nothing is being relayed to the computer, or its choosing to ignore it.

Problem 2 with my laptop is that the wireless adapter seems to have quit on me. It vanished like my CD drive yesterday, but then shortly after it went away my computer detected "new hardware" and said there was a network controller waiting to be installed. If i use the new hardware wizard to look for drivers however, it cant find any.

If i look under my hardware profile the "network controller" is there with a ? for its symbol, and there is no sign of a cd drive to be found. I am also wondering if these things have anything to do with losing a rubber footy from the bottom of my laptop. The adhesive failed and it was lost some time ago without me knowing it. I wondered if in the months following the laptop has become warped from sitting on my desk unevenly and thus the hardware has become disconnected... Kinda doubt it but just a thought. I thought i would look to the internet for help before taking it in to be looked at. Not to mention few people dare touch alienware, as i found out shortly after i got it and took it in to best buy to see if they could help with something.

Sorry if i rambled a bit, trying to make sure all the details are there. Any questions ill be happy to answer asap. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Hi Indy11 and welcome to PCHF!

We have a great team here at PCHF, and I'm sure someone will be along shortly to assist you with your problem.

Best regards,

Pgh

Thanks I hope its a relatively easy fix and not a hardware failure

Hey Guys,

@Indy, my welcome to PCHF as well. Whoa! that's a lot of information there buddy.

I think to make things more managable, we need to put these two computers into their own threads. That way neither you nor the Techs will end up being confused by the directions, or what has or has not been done to each, etc.

I am going to ask you to please cut and paste the information regarding the rebuild, into a thread in the XP section. It may turn out to be a hardware problem, but sounds more like a driver issue to me.

I am going to ask you to put the information regarding the laptop, again cut and paste, into a new thread in the CD/DVD Rom Forum.

Then Pgh (it will probably be him, lol) will put [Open] tags on both of those threads, and we will delete this one.

Thanks, this is an out of the ordinary request for us, I hope you understand.

TTFN

LGW

Ya I understand, no worries. I was wondering myself if I should split it. Ill make 2 new topics.

Super, can you please post back when they are done, I want to make sure that they are handled appropriately.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Probably a bit late as you already replied to one of them but they are up thanks for the help.