Items filtered by date: December 2015
Windows Setup Hangs When "Setup Is Starting Windows" Screen Appears
Symptoms
During text-mode Setup in Windows, your computer may stop responding (hang) when the "Setup is starting Windows" screen appears, and you may have to restart it.
NOTE: Hardware detection is occurring during this portion of Setup. Based on your computer's configuration, this process may take 30 minutes or longer. Be sure your computer is actually hung before you restart it. If you can restart your computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE, it is probably not hung.
Cause
This behavior can occur if Windows does not recognize or cannot configure the hardware in your computer.
Resolution
work around this behavior, use the following methods:
- Contact your computer manufacture to inquire about an updated Basic Input/Output System (BIOS).
- Modify your computer's BIOS the following ways:
- Change the Plug and Play settings. For example, if Plug and Play functionality is currently being controlled by the BIOS, change it so it is controlled by the operating system.
- Enable or disable Universal Serial Bus (USB) support.
- Disable power management support.
- Disable infrared support.
- Disable all serial ports.
- Remove non-essential hardware devices one at a time. This includes a second video adapter, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapters, modems, sound cards, network adapters, and other non-essential Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) adapters, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) adapters, and PC Cards.
- Disconnect non-essential external devices and cables, such as backup devices, external hard disk drives, printers, and scanners.
- If you are using a notebook computer, verify that it is not currently in a docking station.
- Specify a different computer type when you start your computer. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
214351 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214351/EN-US/ ) How to Specify a Specific or Third-Party HAL During Setup - Using a text editor, disable unnecessary SCSI lines in the [SCSI.LOAD] section of the Txtsetup.sif file by typing a semicolon (;) at the beginning of each line.
Windows XP asks for product activation when its already activated
Your Windows product must be activated within _ days.
Do you want to activate Windows now?
After I click yes getting a Windows Product Activation window appears.
Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit
Deactivate your machine and then reactivate it.
Go to Start > Run, and type:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a
If that doesn't work, then run regedit, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents
and change any single number in OOBEtimer in the right pane. Close regedit and try the command in the Run box again.
Vista Autorun key
How to Downgrade from Windows Vista Business or Ultimate OEM Edition and Install Windows XP Professional
According to Microsoft:
OEM downgrade rights for desktop PC operating systems apply to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate as stated in the License Terms. Please note, OEM downgrade versions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate are limited to Windows XP Professional (including Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP x64 Edition). End users can use the following media for their downgrade: Volume Licensing media (provided the end user has a Volume Licensing agreement), retail (FPP), or system builder hologram CD (provided the software is acquired in accordance with the Microsoft OEM System Builder License). Use of the downgraded operating system is governed by the Windows Vista Business License Terms, and the end user cannot use both the downgrade operating system and Windows Vista. There are no downgrade rights granted for Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium.For user who doesn’t want to pay any more payment to OEM brand vendor after paying a hefty price to buy the desktop PC, laptop or notebook computer that comes with Windows Vista Ultimate or Business edition, but want to downgrade to Windows XP, try the following trick to activate Windows XP for free yet legitimate genuine workaround.
1. Retrieve and record down the product key for the Windows Vista Business or Ultimate edition that is currently installed. There are various tools available for reveal the product key installed in Windows, or you can look at the OEM Certificate of Authenticity sticker pasted on the machine’s casing.
2. Find a valid legitimate Windows XP Professional setup CD media and install Windows XP on the system. User can use any valid, but not pirated copy of VL media, retail (FPP), or OEM CD such as those coming with old PC.
3. After installation, log onto Windows.
4. When asked to activate Windows (or go to “Start” -> “All Programs” -> “System Tools” -> “Activate Windows” or right click on “Computer” and click “Click here to activate Windows”), click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to active Windows now to use automated phone system to activate Windows.
5. An Installation ID will be displayed on screen in Step 3, together with an option to select the location where user is nearest to in Step 1.
6. After selecting your country, toll and toll-free phone numbers to call to connect to Microsoft customer care is displayed. Dial to call the corresponding number.
7. Follow the automated voice recognition and response system to get to talk with a human customer care representative. The phone system will initially require Installation ID to be entered. Just input anything so that after a few failed attempt, user can talk to a human.
8. Tell the customer care representative that you would like to downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP. When asked, give the Windows Vista product key you have and the source of the Windows XP media used to install the machine.
9. After validation by Microsoft customer care, a Confirmation ID will be given, which should be entered into the Step 4 of “Activate Windows by Phone” wizard to activate Windows proper. If you wish, you can request for a new Windows XP product key too
System restore - An exception occured while trying to run
An exception occured while trying to run
"C:Windows\system32\shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL"C:\Windows\system32\sysdm.cpl",System"
Follow these steps to reinstall the System Restore function.
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, switch to Classic View and double-click Folder Options.
2. Under the View tab, click to check "Show hidden files and folders", and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files", click Ok.
3. Launch Explorer or double-click My Computer, locate to C:\Windows\inf, right-click on SR (SR.inf) and select install.
4. If the system requests the XP CD, please insert the CD into CD-ROM and finish the installation according to the instructions.
Missing Windows hal.dll file
Issue:
Missing Windows hal.dll file.
Cause:
The missing or cannot find hal.dll, \windows\system32\hal.dll, or \winnt\system32\hal.dll error message may be experienced on a Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP system when the boot.ini becomes corrupted or when a user is attempting to dual boot a computer.
Solution:
Verify that the computer boot.ini is present and not corrupted
- Verify the boot.ini file is found on the computer by using a boot diskette or use your Windows CD to get to the MS-DOS "C:\>" prompt.
- From this prompt edit the boot.ini, verify that it is pointing to the correct operating system, and that no anomalies are found within the file. Additional information about editing the boot.ini as well as additional information about its available options can be found on document CH000492. Below is a listing of what to verify
- If only one operating system is on the computer verify that the boot.ini only has one operating system listed. In some situations an alternate configuration line may be added for the same operating system, leaving the improper line.
- Verify that the "default=" line as well as the operating system line are the same and that they are pointing to the correct operating system.
Verify that the computer has the hal.dll file
From the MS-DOS "C:\>" prompt quickly determine if your computer has the "hal.dll" file by typing "dir hal.dll /s" at the prompt. If the computer returns a "File not found" message, the hal.dll has been deleted.
To recover this file boot the Windows operating system CD and choose the option to "Restore", "Repair", or "Recover." This option will prompt you for the Windows installation to use, the administrators password and will allow you to restore the proper file. At the MS-DOS prompt type the below command.
expand x:\i386\hal.dl_ y:\windows\system32\
In the above example "x" would be the letter of your CD-ROM drive and "y" the letter of the drive your operating system is installed on. For example, your disc drive may be D: and your hard drive is likely C:.
Additional information about the expand command can be found on our expand help page.
Reinstall the operating system
If the boot.ini is found on the computer and does not appear to be corrupted and/or if the hal.dll file is missing it is recommended that you reinstall your Windows operating system.
Additional information about erasing everything and starting over can be found on document CH000186.
Additional information:
- See our HAL dictionary definition page for additional information about this term and related definitions.
Change list separator for a csv file
- CGoto your control panel (XP)
- Select regional and language settings
- Select customise
- Now change the list separator to whatever you want.
The list seperator in Excel is now changed for csv files
JCE Editor opens with cursor in the middle of text area
My editor now open up with the cursor flashing in the middle, it also defaults back to this posistion rather than the left as all text editors should.
This causes the obvious problems of having to left align everything every time. Something is pre centering everything. I install tinymce just to see what that would do, it works fine.
Once when i pasted some text in in pasted in as a very thin colum in the middle, like an invisible table had been made.
In all these instances there is no code in the html view, also i have tried reinstalling the admin and editor. this changes nothing. I am running joomla 1.5.8 on a php 5 and mysql 5 linux server. The editor has been running fine for about 2 weeks that i have noticed.
The is due to a setting in your template css file -
http://joomlacontenteditor.net/support/ ... tyles.html
For a quick fix I changed the template back the default one.
Envelope Missing in Notification Area (office 2003)
Make sure the option is still selected
Tools-> Options-> tab Preferences-> button E-mail Options…-> button Advanced E-mail Options…-> option Show an envelope in the notification area
Make sure the envelope isn’t hidden in the Notification Area
When you are using Windows XP unused and inactive icons in the Notification Area are automatically hidden. You can either expand the Notification Area to see the unused icons or configure the Notification Area to always show the envelope. To customize the Notification area;
- Start-> Control Panel-> Taskbar and Start Menu-> button Customize…
- Find the envelope and click on the dropdown list and configure it from “Hide when inactive” to “Always show”
- Press OK twice to close the open windows
*The Notification Area in Windows XP is what the System tray is in previous versions of Windows
Clicking on IE7 creates a new shortcut on desktop
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Double click IE icon on the Desktop. It won't open IE page but creates a shortcut to IE.
Cause:
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LegacyDisable subkey under the following two keys:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}\Shellex]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Computer_User_Name\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}\shell\OpenHome
Resolution:
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Delete the LegacyDisable subkey