Having DSL problems AGAIN!!!!
 

AAARRRRGGGHH!!!

Verizon sent me a new modem. All was well for a few days, and then the DSL light started blinking. That was a new one for me.

I always had a steady green light.

Anyway, this has been going on (problems with connecting) for a while now.

I even replaced all the phone connections. And five minutes ago, I lost the connection yet again, so it's not my phone lines (can't remember what you call the thing that goes from the phone to the wall jack, my mind is so bad right now. lol

The guy is coming out tomorrow afternoon.

So either I will have this fixed or I will bang my head against the wall.

lol

If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why.

Melody

Maybe something wrong outside the house?

Last year we suddenly lost our TV cable. We called Comcast and went thru the whole activation thing...still dead as a doornail.

They sent a guy out, very quickly (we were soon to find the reason), and once he determined it was not the set or inside, he climbed the pole. Guess what he found there?

A previous employee had capped off our line. Our repairman brought the cap in to show us and to take back to work... seems another home discontinued service and the technician who climbed the pole disconnected US instead. !! He was amazed in fact!

You could have a loose connection or a squirrel/rat chewed line that is shorting out -- outside your place. They will check for that. UpNorth, there is line damage all the time from those little red squirrels. In the cities, it can sometimes be rats!

I hope you get it fixed finally... I bet he finds something outside!

Hi Mrs. D.

I wish Alan was techno savvy. I am tired of doing it all with this darn computer, modem, cable boxes, phone lines, etc. etc.

Just ONCE, I'd like a man to say "no problem, I'll do it'.

I guess I'm the man in this house (techno speaking I mean)

Anyway, it just went out again (the dsl light on the modem). It will be fine for 15 minutes, steady green, then it starts blinking, and I get "unable to connect", or "can't recognize your IP address",

Then it might come back by itself, or I have to reboot modem (which is 5 days old).

Anyway, just to be sure, I replaced all phone connections into the modem. I thought maybe it was that. NOT THAT!!! lol

So just now I was sending an email, and I lost the connections. Came back again.

Do you think if I unplugged the connection from the main wall outlet, it will re-set itself or something like that.

Verizon kept asking me "Is there another computer connected to this line, do you have wi-fi, blah blah.

I kept saying "listen I have one computer, one modem, no wifi, no router, been having this for 5 years, you replaced the modem, now the dsl light starts blinking when it should be steady green.

That's when they said "We are sending a man out tomorrow afternoon"

I gather he goes up a pole and looks there first (before he comes in).

Oh my goodness, I hate having strangers in my house. I don't trust people.

Thank goodness my husband is home.

I am putting all wires, connections out in plain site so he doesn't have to move anything.

I'm tired.

lol

Melody

When we have to reboot the modem, we disconnect its power source.

Is it windy there?

No, not today, but I've been having this problem for almost 2 weeks.

And two weeks ago WE HAD WIND, oh my goodness.

Melody

uggh - maybe you can suggest he check outside first??? before coming in.
but I suppose they have a certain protocol to follow and most likely they want to check all inside connections first.

wind/rain could have forced water into a worn or loose exterior connection.
I hope the new modem isn't faulty already. but since you had problems with the old too makes me think the cable /connections are at fault.

We have Verizon and the Green light on our DSL Modem is always blinking.

Knock on wood... we haven't had any problems for quite a while.

This stupid thing is driving me crazy.

Oh, I should mention that the telephone dsl line (for 5 years now) was not plugged directly into the modem. I have this really good surge surpressor with two phone jacks and I was told that it would ground everything in case of a lightening strike, so (up until tonight), the dsl phone line had been plugged into the surge suppressor, and I had another phone line coming out of the sure suppressor and THAT ONE was plugged into the modem.

Never changed this. But!!!! the day I got the new modem, I thought it would be okay to just unplug the electrical connection from the back of the old modem, and simply plug it into the back of the new modem.

I blew everything out. Tripped the surge suppressor, all things went dead.

I then unplugged everything, went down into the basement, re-set the circuit breakers, came back upstairs, and re-plugged everything fine.

Worked good for two days, then everything started blinking.

So today (even though I know the man is coming tomorrow), I replaced all telephone lines, and connections, and five minutes ago I looked at the surge suppressor and said "What if it's the surge suppressor that is doing this? (I HAVE NO IDEA) but I said 'what the heck"

So I simply took out the dsl line from the surge suppressor and plugged it into the dsl outlet in my modem.

Took out the other phone line from the surge suppressor and put it in the drawer.

I then turned the modem back on.

Working fine (but then it usually does for 15 minutes).

It's obviously connected correctly right?

I'm going to shoot this thing.

lol

Melody

Your light is always blinking?? See, this is why I get confused. Everyone has told me I should be seeing a steady green light (which is what I have seen for 5 years).

And the guy is not coming in my house first. He initially goes up a pole and checks out the Central Office (which is a little box on top of a pole), and he checks all the lines, and if he doesn't find anything, THEN he comes into my house.

Hate this, but have no choice.

It's hard to be paranoid but I don't like strangers.

Oh well. It is what it is.

Let's just hope this stupid green light doesn't go all nutty on me again.

Melody
P.S. And why did the internet light keep going off and stay red.

Only when I rebooted it (up until today, this was happening), only when I rebooted the modem, then the red internet light went green AND THEN EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

Bloooey!!
lol
Mel

I can't help you much on the modem /blinking lights - ours is in the other room and hidden behind stuff on the shelf , so I can't even see any of the lights.

Of course if it stopped us from getting online then I would dig it out and check everything..

did you see the modem light chart on Verizon website? not sure if you have the Westell or not , but you can find the right one to check it if this isn't yours.
http://www22.verizon.com/residential...sone/88092.htm

If it is going red you definitely have a signal problem. That would be the line coming into the modem... my guess the one coming into the house. At the very least it's the one going into the modem.. there is an interuption in the signal.

It could very well be the surge protector. If your phone or electrical lines are experiencing surges then it is causing little "blinks" therefore the surge protector is constantly resetting... that would cause your modem to constantly reset.

If the green is blinking it's the DSL working. Ours has always blinked!! We run 3 computers off of one modem. I can tell when Dad is on his computer.. the light blinks faster.

I understand about not wanting strangers in your house!!! I'm the same way... we had to have the cable company in several weeks ago... all of the lines enter the house in my room... I hated that!!!

I wish you the best and hope they can figure it out without entering your house!!
:hug:
Abbie

Our modem does not blink unless there are problems.

When you power up from a cold start, all the green lights blink a little as they come back. The last light blinks green when connecting to something on the net. It turns red when connection is lost. It blinks briefly when Hubby is connecting to something upstairs, and it blinks when I hit submit here, or search things. If either of us is just reading...the last light is not on at all.

There must be different types.

When our router was dying, the red light came on all the time and I stalled on the net. Sometimes it would recover and sometimes not.

Hi.

I'll check on that link you provided. I have a Westell 6100.

And guess what? Last night after I changed all the phone wires, I took a look at the dsl phone line, I traced it back to the wall jack and I saw a piece of the wire that was all frayed. I said wow. But since Alan was having no problems last night, I went to bed.

This morning, I turned on Computer. Steady green light.

I then walked into the other room, went over the part of the wire that was frayed, picked it up, looked at it, went back over to the modem and guess what? IT WAS BLINKING. So, in my mind, my picking up the dsl line and handling the frayed part, made it blink. So what did that tell me? REPLACE THE DSL phone wire.

The dsl phone wire was a VERY LONG WIRE that went from one room to another, it was too long, so we had to pick up all the slack and it was nice and neat behind some piece of furniture.

So I got two other brand new phone wires, connected them together with a little conning thing that I already had, and VOILA, I had a brand new (much shorter dsl phone wire).

So a few minutes ago, (and the modem was blinking like crazy), I unplugged the one that was frayed, gathered it up, put it away and plugged in the brand new one that I just made.

No more blinking, and I'm not writing this post.

So whether or not I fixed my problem, I have no idea. The man will check outside later, and possibly come in and check all my connections.

To me, this is no coincidence. I pick up a frayed wire and my modem starts blinking??

We shall see. For now I'm on the internet.

lol

Melody

Sounds to me like you fixed it. :D

You have a different model DSL Verizon box than I do... that's probably why mine blinks and yours doesn't.

Any time I see a frayed wire on any phone line or electrical equipment I replace it. I don't want to take any chances.

Let us know if the technician finds anything.
:confused:
Abbie

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE, MELODY HAS AN UPDATE. WOO HOO!!!!

I'm happy (crossing fingers that this is all settled). The guy came today.

He rings my bell and I said "Oh, you are the Verizon man, you've checked outside already??" and he goes "No, I am just arriving, I'm announcing myself so you know I'm not a stranger and you don't call the police".

I burst out laughing and said "Get in here". He came in (with his ID badge on) and all his equipment on his belt, etc.)

I bring him into the computer room and explain in detail what I had done and how the dsl line blinks green now and then, but comes back. He said "you want a steady green light". I said "I know".

He then goes into the bedroom (where I have all phone connections going into a multi thing and then into the phone jack). He then declares "Oh you have an octopus'. I said 'I have a WHAT??" He explains that when you have many phones in a multi switch and if these phones are sharing the same connection, you'll get a weaker signal.

Didn't know that.

So I unplugged the extra phones and the lines that go into the cable box so I can order shows on demand (which I have never done so I obviously don't need these phone lines).

Then I showed him that I replaced my DSL phone line cord with a new one, and I show him the 60 foot cord that I had been using, even though the distance between the modem and the wall jack was 20 feet.

The look on his face was priceless. He said 'Holy Cow, this cord is too long, you are only supposed to have 6 feet from the modem to the wall jack, but sometimes it can go a few feet more, BUT NOT 60 FEET, holy cow!!

Didn't know that either!!

Previously I didn't have a shorter cord so I just took up the slack and hid the extra wire behind furniture.


So he gets out his wireless thingees and he runs line test and EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

He said "It might have been the surge supressor (which I no longer have connected to the modem". He said "modems run slower when connected to a surge suppressor".

Didn't know that either either!

Then he sat down and we went on the computer and re-configured the modem again so it recognizes my IP address.

It was working fine he said. He looked at the screen information, pointed out things to me and said "see this, see that?" I understood it all. (quite amazing actually).

So we go outside and I said "I want you to check the phone box outside of my house". He goes 'no problem, but you are getting a 100% signal with no outage and I can tell" So far so good.

So we go outside of my house to look for the phone box. COULDN'T FIND IT.

He's going "What the heck, What the heck, where is the phone box?"

No phone box.

He did not go up the pole because he said "All that would tell me is that you are getting a good signal because I have tested your line 3 times. It''s working fine and so is your modem.

He then came back in the house, everything was working and so far so good.

So far it's been fine since 1 p.m. and it hasn't been this good in soooooo long.

Don't know what he did but he did SOMETHING.

Maybe I did something?? Who knows.

What we are going to do is move the computer into another room so it's closest to a wall jack and the guy told us it's better for the computer to be there than where it now is.

So when the weekend comes, Alan and I are going to move the computer.

Thank goodness I know how to do this stuff.

I think it's cool that I can learn new stuff and apply it.

It's all that Wheatgrass juice. I drink a little cup every morning.

Energy here I come!!

lol

So I thank all of you for listening to my tale of modem woe!!!

Melody

I don't think you ever mentioned having so much extra cord before or I would have suggested a shorter one. But probably the damaged one was the biggest problem.

Generally for anything - TV antenna, phone, modem and cords connecting any of those types of things - the shortest length is the best way to go.

All the extra length can degrade the signal of whatever is traveling thru it.

I recall reading about antenna cables and if they are coiled the current can jump and degrade that way- so maybe for phone/dsl it can do the same.??

Well, what I don't understand is how come for 6 years or so, I never had a problem with the 60 foot cord. This phone cord was so long, well, believe me it was long.

So now I have two regular phone cords (connected by a coupler or something) and now my cord is maybe 20 feet. Because the phone jack is in another room.

It's doing just fine now.

But when I move it into the other room, well I can put it in a corner, but Alan wants it in the middle of the room (which I would prefer also).

The problem is the phone cord (specific to dsl) that came with the new modem, won't reach. I have to get an extension. I'll go to Radio Shack and see if they sell this.

Also, do any of you have your modem 10 feet or so from the wall jack? Or do all of you have your modem right next to the phone jack?

I'm trying to get various opinions here.

Thanks, Melody

I just had the most brilliant idea.

Why can't I move the computer to another room exactly where I want it to be (it would be about 20 feet from the wall jack).

I then put the modem near the wall jack with the provided round proper dsl phone cord, and then I get A LONGER ETHERNET CABLE (about 20 feet) and run it from the modem, bringing it behind the couch, and over to the back of the computer, where I can just plug it in, and then we'll be all set.

There is no rule that the modem has to be near the computer right? It just has to be not too far from the wall jack, right?

So my question is. Can I buy a 20 foot Ethernet cable (I have a radio shack near me), and then when I'm ready, I can move the whole computer over to the other room.

Is this viable?

I believe there should be no problem with a 20 foot ethernet cable between the modem and the computer.

If this is do-able, I'll be all set.

What do you all think?

I'm getting excited here. It's like my brain is firing up.

lol
Melody

My phone outlet is on the front wall and my modem and phone is 13' away on a cabinet in another corner. I think I have one 15' cord for the dsl and a 6 & 10 for the phone.
Haven't measured them but they don't have a lot of excess & they are tucked behind the sectional.

Before we got the wireless we had a cable running along the floor & thru the kitchen, hallway and to the far corner of the dining room.
laminate floors so taped cable down & covered it with rugs :o

Our layout had about a 25' run of cable so you should be fine - we just had to cross the kitchen & hallway which was not ideal.
if you can go behind furniture good deal.

looks like 25' Cat 5 /Ethernet cable for about 5-10 bucks per amazon , walmart & the local place near here..

Let me tell you why I am confused right now. The only Ethernet cable I have ever seen is the one I have connecting my computer to my modem.

I just went online and typed Ethernet Cable, and I get all kinds of cables.

some are patch cables, some have numbers.

I just want to connect the modem to my computer with a regular old Ethernet cable.

So what exactly is a patch cable?

Is this what I want?

I'm going to bring (I have another ethernet cable that came with the new modem), I'll bring it to Radio Shack and say "See this little ethernet cable, I want one that is 20 feet long".

Is this what I should say??

Thanks much

Melody

I saw ones called cat 5e, cat 6, twisted, snag free...whew...prob the fancy stuff LOL

Just show it to them & tell them the length or approximate & they will get you the right kind.
mainly the plug ins need to be the same as what you have.

Hi.

Just came home from Radio Shack. They have a 25 foot Ethernet cable for $19.99 THAT'S RIGHT, 20 BUCKS for the same thing I can get in the ninety nine cents store, that sells it for $5.99

So I asked the guy at Radio Shack "what's the difference?" and he whispered "It's got the Radio Shack name".

I thanked him, went to my computer guy who has been my computer guy for YEARS, and I asked him, (I even brought my spare Ethernet Cable with me). He said 'yeah, we have one of these, it's a Cat 5 and it's $15.99.

I then said "but it's MUCH cheaper at the other store". He laughed and said "yeah, I know".

So I went into the ninety nine cents store, walked over to the back wall WHERE ALL THE ETHERNET, PHONE, AND COAXIAL cables are and I looked at all of the Ethernet cables.

Well, they are various lengths and there's a Trisonic 25 foot Cat 5 and there's a Trisonic 25 foot Cat 6.

They look EXACTLY the same.

so I left the store, marched back to my computer guy and told him what I had seen.

I said "what the heck is the difference between a Cat 6 and a Cat 5?

He said "the Cat 6 is a better cable".

I didn't buy anything yet because either one is $5.99 and I have time before I buy this item.

I am now going to go to Google and type in . "which is better, a Cat6 or a Cat5"

My goodness, the stuff I have to learn when I'm 63 years old.

I should be knitting for grandchildren at this age.

lol

Melody

Our modem is next to the phone jack...

Our computers are 15 and 30 feet away.... so it is viable to use longer ethernet cords.

We ran the ethernet cord along the baseboards.

Hi.

As I shall be doing this tomorrow, and I'll be buying a Cat5e, well tomorrow will tell the tale.

I haven't moved a computer from one room to another in over 15 years.

This will be SOME doing!!!!

lol

Melody

Started having the same problem AGAIN. I almost shot the modem. So, I moved the whole thing into the living room. Seems to be working.

And I did it all by myself. Very proud of me!!

but if you don't hear from me for a while, it means I shot my modem and I am awaiting the Verizon guy yet again.

Just wanted to let you all know.

Bye for now.

Merry Merry!!!

Melody

connection problems
 

I was just thinking when I read your post how much I hate having repair men in my house and will go to all costs to not have them come in. One of the times my computer went out I discovered it was the phone jack. My male dog probably used it and I did not know it, and it burned out. yeah, dog's wetting on cords is never a good thing. Hopefully it is something outside like mentioned before. Mine is supposed to be high speed, lol, yep, high speed dial up.

Okay, here is what happened today. I moved everything to the living room. Hooked up the cordless phone and the answering machine and did the splitter thing in the wall jack.

Everything worked just great for 30 minutes. Then the stupid green dsl light started blinking like crazy and no more connection.

So I said 'what if I can't use a cordless phone with the dsl modem? So I took out the cordless phone and put in a landline phone. (I have to have a phone by the computer, I HAVE ALWAYS HAD ONE, and never had a problem)

Well, everything worked fine, Alan used this computer for 4 hours, I sit down, I do an email, the connection is lost and I go "uh oh, I bet the dsl light on the modem is blinking again". I walk way over to the modem, and sure enough, it's blinking.

So how can a modem be fine for 4 hours, everything works fine, and bam, I sit down, I do fine for 5 minutes and then I lose the connection yet again.

So I re-set the modem, it came back on, and now it's working fine again, and I'm doing this post.

If anyone knows what I should next, I'd appreciate it.

I'm calling Verizon tomorrow and all they will do is check my line, pronounce it just fine, and if I ask, they'll probably send the guy out again.

He never found anything wrong, but then again, he never found any outside box that any of my phone wires connect to.

He never went up any pole either. He said "your signal is just fine".

So what happens next? How come after 4 hours, I lose the connection?

Thanks much
Melody

Hi All.

Have had 3 modems. Tech guy has come out 3 times (they missed an appointment and never showed up), so that would make 4 appointments.

The last being last Saturday. He did not do any re-wiring yet, telling me "it's your phone, there is a short in your phone, so switch the phone". and he said further "if this does not fix it, tell my supervisor and I'll come out, put in a new phone line in your house, give you new jacks, etc and that should do it"

I said "what if it's the wiring on the street, I mean, cmon, it's old"

He said"yeah, that's true but we have to do it this way first"

So he left, and that night, IT HAPPENED AGAIN, the green dsl light started blinking, we lose the connection for 2 minutes or so, then it rights itself" I disconnect that phone from the wall jack and all I had was the dsl modem connected to that particular jack. Made no difference. So I put the phone back because to me, IT'S NOT THE PHONE that's making the problem.

I am NOT calling again because I can't make an appointment because Alan has doctor visits this week and I'll worry about this later. I mean, it works most of the time, but we lose service after an hour (or after 3),

I can't stand this thing so I really don't care any more.

So here are my thoughts. What if it's NOT the phone lines, what if it's my computer. I know someone that this happened to already. They had a virus.

Now I have all the anti-virus stuff and spyware stuff but as you know, one cannot catch ALL of them.

And my computer has been acting extremely flaky for some time. Things popping up, and it had a crash report the other day but it fixed itself.

Here is what I want to do.

I want to borrow my friend's laptop. I want to use it for a few hours. If there is NO BLINKING light in the dsl thing, that will tell me that it's NOT the phone line, right?

And I would not download anything on her laptop, just go on various sites and do what I do. Maybe some forums, maybe IMDB. Sites that are safe I mean.

So am I correct in that to accomplish this, I simply unplug the ethernet cable from the back of my computer tower and just replug it into the laptop.

I don't have to do anything else right? I don't have to worry about mouse, keyboard, anything else, right? The laptop is self sufficient right?

I just want to make sure of how to hook up this laptop to the internet. I gather I would plug the laptop into the electric outlet, connect the ethernet cable and I'm good to go?

did I get this right?

And if it goes well, then I'll find out it was MY computer all along, and then I can give her back her laptop and we can make a decision on whether to replace the desktop with another desktop or a laptop.

Thanks much.

Melody

Yes that should work & be a good way to find out if it is the wires or the computer.

Did you ever make the back up & restore cd's when it kept popping up with that notice suggesting it? last spring I think it was.


But now before it gets worse is the time to do it and save/back up any important files that are on it.

After you get the back ups all done and the restore cd made- then you should be able to do a reinstall & start fresh again.

**But you should read up on how to on the HP website so you know the best steps to take and how they suggest you do it.**


You could just have some scrambled/cluttered files and the system is clogged up.

I don't know exactly what the computer place did to fix it last time - did they do a restore or re-install, or cleaned out some junk files?.

Last time, (some months ago), the computer guy had to replace the motherboard. That took a long time (it came from China), he separated the hard drive and backed up everything for me.

So are you saying I can back up all my microsoft word documents? How do I do this? My dvd drive does not work, but I have a cd drive.

Can I re-format my hard drive (or can't I just have my computer re-set to factory defaults or something like that.

By the way, wouldn't backing up files possibly keep a virus (if indeed I have one), well, how do I know that a virus is not hiding in anything I back up.?

this is so confusing.

melody

Yes windows has a back up wizard - here are HP links about how to do it.
I would print or take notes on it, and read through it a few times to fully understand it, but it is fairly easy just follow the promps and use your notes.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&expIds=...f87efc6f926f13

I gave a list of info links so you can look through all to find the ones that are clearest for you.

Ive never done anything like it on a hp - but it should be straight forward.
esp if you only have one hard drive, I don't know if you have partitions on it - other than the restore partition - i think hp has that saved for the restore files.

a partition is a hard drive that is divided into sections and will have a label c, f,g,h, etc.

cd & dvd are usually d & e drives

Okay, I shall check on this tonight when Alan is watching No Ordinary Family. He has expressed one wish. SAVE MY FAVORITE PLACES on Mozilla.

They are called Bookmarks in Mozilla.

Now is this on MY side, or on the SERVER side?

Might be a stupid question but he has MANY MANY bookmarks and they are important. So do I have to save these, and if so, HOW???

Thanks much hon.

Melody

Your Bookmarks are saved on your computer only , unless you saved them somewhere else - like a cd ir flash drive.

usually when you back up your documents & settings - the bookmarks are saved too.
To be sure just go bookmarks in the FF tool bar and go to organize bookmarks.
click on import & backup - to make a saved file and save it to a location you can find easy later on.

Okay, one thing has been done (I think). I saved the bookmarks. I named it "Alan's favorite places" and saved it to my desktop. Just checked, It's there. I clicked on it and it gave me options on how to open it.

How do I open this? and when I do open it, (let's say I have reformatted my hard drive, and re-installed everything, then the Alan's Favorite places icon will be on the screen, and after I open it, what do I do with it?

I'm not kidding, I have no idea what to do with this.

Melody

just make sure that file gets saved to the cd and then when you reinstall everything copy that file back from the cd ( or flash drive which ever you use to store your backed up files & settings)

I usually save mine in my documents section - then it for sure will get copied & saved during the back up procedure.
you can drag/drop it or just make a copy and place it in the documents folder.

so after all the back ups are done and you have reinstalled windows & FF
- then when you open FF it asks if you want to import anything - say yes and select your file - find your favs or bookmarks file and click it. it should add it right back in to the program for you.
If not after you have it open go to bookmark /organize and in the same import/backup area click that and add the file in that way.

this might explain it better than I did
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/...ring-bookmarks

Hi.

I have been playing around and this is what I just did.

I found a Lightscribe HP CD-R 52X 700mb data disc

I put it in the Lightscribe rom drive.

I went to my desktop and saw the icon "Alan's favorites" and I clicked on it, clicked copy, then went to my computer, saw the Drive in which I had the lightscribe disc and right clicked and selected COPY.

So it copied the whole thing.

I then wanted to see what it looked like.

I went to 'my computer", saw the disc in the Lightscribe thing, and I clicked on "open", it asked me "what do you want to use to open this', I selected "Wordpad" because I have no idea what I am doing.

Well, what was there was all kinds of nonsense. It had given me many options to open this file. ONe of which was Firefox.

I did not know if I was supposed to click on that.

Please tell me what I am supposed to do with the copy of Alan's favorites that I now have on a Lightscribe HP CD-R52X (or am I even supposed to have done this).

I am still learning. Never did this before.

thanks much

Melody

P.S. I went to the Back up Windows XP thing and it says you have to insert a Windows CD Rom, ...I don't have one.

This is VERY confusing for me. I know it's a walk in the park for young ones, but this is so confusing to me.

I have another stupid question. Can't I buy a flash drive, copy all my documents, etc, (does this include email?), and copy all this stuff to my flash drive, then re-format my hard drive so it's like it was when it was new, then I can stick the flash drive in the flash drive slot (I think it's the Compactflash1/11 think on the front of my computer???)

and then I can copy the stuff from my flash drive back into my computer?

Or is this NOT feasible.

I am trying to go easy on my brain here. I have NEVER copied anything, (I did burn one thing once but that's a long time ago), I have never used a flash drive or a memory stick/pro or a Smart Media /xD or any of the things in the front part of my computer. It's a HP Media Center and it's 7 years old but I've never really used it as a media center if you know what I mean.

I just do my Flip videos and that's fine with me.

Any help here is very much appreciated.

melody

Yes a flash drive, travel drive, or USB stick all the same thing...more or less - that would be better and last longer than a cd that can get scratched etc.

Go to your hard drive icon and right click - go down to properties - then you should see a pop up page that will show & tell how much is used - mine says 39.5 G used.

your HD should have 2 partitions - 1 is for the recovery/restore files & 1 for the xp system that you use.



[HP computers that ship with Microsoft Windows XP do not come with recovery CDs. Instead, they use a hidden space (partition) on the hard drive to store the recovery information. The use of a separate partition provides a convenient process that eliminates the use of recovery discs that may be lost or scratched. A system recovery from the hard drive may not be possible in some circumstances. Your computer may contain Recovery Disc Creation software. Recovery discs for Windows XP are available from HP for a minimal cost. See Obtaining Recovery Discs for ordering information. ]
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...ct=434459#N417

just guessed on the model number for your media center - but you can look up the exact model - but I suppose the directions are pretty much the same.



On the bookmarks if FF is an option then click it to open. that way you can verify that they re saved.

as long as you used the copy option , the original file should still be on the desktop also correct?
move option moves the files - copy makes a copy of the files.
that file on a cd is good - good practice too. now you know they will be there no matter what.

*P.S. I went to the Back up Windows XP thing and it says you have to insert a Windows CD Rom, ...I don't have one. *
I think it was asking for your restore cds, did you ever make them and/or is the section(partition) for the files still on your hard drive

Jo. I'm following you so far, I'll go to the properties thing and see how much is used. Will let you know.

Now here is where I get confused. When I either click on the desktop icon that says "Alan's favorites", or I pop in the cd rom that has the same file, HOW DO I OPEN IT UP? When I try to view it in wordpad, it's all jumbled.

What is the correct program to open up Favorites so that it looks like it does when Alan clicks on the Bookmarks up on top of the screen?

Thanks much

Still learning. lol
Melody
P.S. Oh, just to update you, it just might not be my computer that is affecting the internet connection. The guy at Verizon just messaged me saying something about speed and upstream connection and it might be the NID and that's why they want to come back to my house.
THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS 4 APPOINTMENTS AGO!!

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH
lol