Ive got the error “The specified I/O operation on \Device\Harddisk\DR0 was not completed before the time-out period expired.” when I plug in my external USB hard drive.

This error can be caused by the following:

Bad USB Port on Your Computer

Your computer may have a defective USB port. I’ve seen many people get this error when using their device either on their front USB port or on a USB Hub with many other USB devices. Simply try plugging in the drive into another USB port (preferably on the back side of your computer not the front) and see if that works.

You can also try plugging the hard drive (or whatever other device you’re having the problem with) into another computer.

Bad Enclosure on the Drive

If your problem is with an external hard drive then you may be the victim of a faulty enclosure (the case that houses the hard drive). In this case you need to either take the drive out and move it to another USB enclosure or make it a secondary internal drive in your computer.

Bad Operating System

Your error may be caused by a corrupted Operating System. The best way to find out if this is the case is to connect the drive to another computer. If it works then you know that it’s a problem with your computer, if it doesn’t then it’s a problem with the drive.

Bad Sectors on the Drive

And finally it could be bad sectors on the drive. To find out use a tool such as HD Tune to scan your hard drive (use the Full option). If you do find bad sectors you will usually need to use a Data Recovery tool to get your data back. After your data is safe try to replace the drive if it’s under warranty or throw it out if it’s not.

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How do you revert an NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition in windows XP (SP2)… Can you only use WinXP or do you need an external software?

Yes you can convert NTFS to FAT32. But before I tell you how I need to ask: Why?

NTFS is the much better file system. Here are some superior features it has over FAT32:

• FAT32 can only support file sizes up to 4GB while NTFS can go above and beyond.
• NTFS drives are far less likely to develop errors then FAT32 drives.
• NTFS supports cluster remapping for bad sectors allowing the Operating System to “mark” bad sectors off limits. This increases the usable lifespan of a Hard Drive.

But if you’re sure you want to convert back to FAT32 read on.

Unfortunately there are really only two ways. You cannot just use Windows XP to convert back to FAT32 like you could to convert to NTFS. Here’s how:

1. Reformat your computer (saving your data) and reinstall Windows XP using a FAT32 file system.
2. Or use a product such as Partition Magic from Symantec to convert your existing NTFS installation to FAT32.

Whichever option you choose you’ll want to backup your data. Option 1 will erase your data for sure while Option 2 is a dangerous process so backing everything up is a wise move.

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hey. I’m having trouble with my norton and want to remove it. how do it uninstall it?

If you want to uninstall Norton Internet Security or Norton AntiVirus there are two ways to do it. You can either remove it by using the built in Windows uninstaller or you can use the Norton Removal Tool. I prefer the Removal Tool because it removes Norton completely without leaving traces on your computer.

You can download the removal tool from the Norton Website here: Norton Removal Tool.

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I dumped wine all over my laptop, any suggestions? Its been sitting for a few days already.

Ouch! The first thing you want to do (and I hope that you’ve done this already) is to unplug the laptop from any power source including the power cord and the battery. Remove both of those immediately.

When water or any any liquid seeps into electronics that greatest danger comes from it’s internals shorting out. This doesn’t just go for laptops but for cell phones, mp3 players and anything else that has a chip in it.

Now I’m nervous to hear that it’s wine but what I would recommend you do is, as soon as you’ve taken away the power, let the electronic device sit there for a few days and led the liquid evaporate away. After a few days open up the device and see if there are any more droplets of liquid, if not give it a few more days and only then try plugging it back in.

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How do I remove Nero Scout?

To remove Nero Scout simply do the following:

1. Click Start.
2. Click Run (Or in Vista type in “Run” into the search box and click on the Run result that comes up)
3. Type in: regsvr32 /u “%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Ahead\Lib\MediaLibraryNSE.dll”

This will remove Nero Scout.

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Hi,
I am Madhu, I have sony cybershot digital camera model T7 and currently I am getting error C:13:01 error.I have changed memory stick however still I am getting the same. Please let me know what all are the options I need to try to fix the problem. appreciate your quick response.

Thanks and regards
Madhu

From what I know of this error it seems to occur because of a bad connection between the contacts of the memory card and of the camera. Because of this the fixes that I provide attempt to fix a possible contact issue. I recommend that you try the card in a memory card reader (you can buy one for very cheap) before attempting the fix in order to get your pictures off first.

Fix One:

Find yourself a pencil with an eraser at the end. Take the memory stick and rub the gold contacts gently with the eraser. Do this for 20-30 seconds until you’ve covered the entire surface of the contacts. Then insert the card into the camera, switch to “setup” mode and turn the camera on. This should turn off the error message.

The person I heard this fix from recommends you then format the card using the cameras format command.

Fix Two:

We will try to make sure that there is a proper connection between the contacts on the memory card and the camera. To do this remove and insert the memory stick several times over. Some recommend 5, 10, and even 20 times. The point is to get that card to align properly.

Fix Three:

Try to wiggle the card until the error disappears. This should restore contact.

Fix Four:

There are tabs on some cameras that guide the card into the slot. Bend these just the slightest bit towards each other in order to get the card to fit firmly into the slot. Be careful with this step in order to avoid breaking or otherwise damaging the tabs.

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I run a business and I don’t want people going on youtube or Face Book, is there any way I can block these sites for cheap? I have a mac and Safari.

NOTE: New method below.

Do you work in a retail store? I see teenagers on Facebook at the local mall or Best Buy all the time. Hilariously enough the employees at these stores are either annoyed…..or on Facebook themselves!

Onto your question. There is a simple way of blocking websites on a Mac. Simply modify a file called “HOSTS”. This file allows you to add as many websites to it as you want. You can either block the websites outright or have them redirect to whatever site you want. The procedure is ridiculously easy.

Here’s how:

1. Click on Go at the menu bar.
2. Go to Utilities and select Terminal in the window that opens. (without quotation marks)
3. Type in “sudo pico /etc/hosts” (without quotations)
4. You will be asked for you password. Enter it.
5. Terminal will open the hosts file. Move the curser down to the end of it and enter in the following (without quotation marks):

“127.0.0.1 http://www.facebook.com”

“127.0.0.1 http://www.youtube.com”

And that’s it! Save the file and exit the terminal. When you’re done fire up Safari and try to go to facebook. You can’t!

EDIT! PLEASE FOLLOW THESE STEPS IF THE ABOVE DO NOT WORK!

Several people have told me in the comments below that the above did not work for them. I tried it on 10.5 myself recently and could not find a way to save the HOSTS file after it have been modified. So here is a workaround.

1. Disregard the above.
2. Click on Go at the menu bar.
3. Go to Utilities and select Terminal in the window that opens.
4. Type in sudo su. Press Enter.
5. If at any point you’re prompted for a password please type it in.
6. Type in “echo “127.0.0.1 www.xxx.com” >> etc/hosts (with quotation marks and substituting xxx with the site you want to block. Press Enter
7. Type Exit. Press Enter.
8. Close Terminal, restart your browser and you should be good to go!

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I have a TS-H492A internal DVD drive in my computer. The problem I have is that I have a disk jammed in the drive and I can’t eject it. I have tried going into my computer and going to eject on the pull down menu. We are running windows XP. Is there a way of freeing the disk without dismantling the drive?

This sometimes happens, especially with older computers, when the drive mechanisms wear down and just don’t want to respond anymore. The disc may also not have been inserted correctly. Fortunately there is an easy way to open the tray and take the disc out.

Nearly all CD/DVD drives have a little pin hole. Simply take a paper clip, twist it open and insert one end into the pinhole. Push in the paper clip through the pin hole and the disc should pop out. Make sure that your computer is turned off to reduce the chance of damage to the drive or to yourself.

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Cathy writes:

How can I get System Error Fixer OFF my pc? I’m not really Great at working on here, but RRunner said I needed to get it Off. When I went where they told me it was just to hard for me to even Try. Can U Help Me?

The link to the forums.

A quick fix is just to delete the files and processes that the spyware uses. If your only goal is to remove the “System Error Fixer” malware then just run the automated removal tool that you can download here.

Instructions:

1. Boot into Safe Mode for best results (although you don’t have to.)
2. Open the compressed folder and run the program.
3. Reboot the computer.

Of course if you’re infected by one type of malware you may be infected by other types (and viruses as well.) The best choice in this situation is to run an antispyware utility like Spybot Search and Destroy or SuperAntiSpyware.

Having other problems with your computer? Simply scan your computer for free to identify problem areas. Click here to start a free scan.

Welcome to the first Question page! Questions can be asked through the widget to the left of the screen and are posted to the forums where the guys there shoot out some ideas. The best questions/answers are posted to the main page.

Question: My IBM “Stinkpad” R60 constantly has a BSOD saying:

*** Hardware Malfucntion
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** The System has halted ***

I have ran MemTest and Hard disk diagnostics and they come out clean. What’s going on? I have Vista, but the problem is there on XP as well.

Answered by theFakeGeek:

A parity error will usually indicate a memory issue, which you’ve correctly surmised. Now using MemTest you’ve ruled out that there is an issue with the RAM. This is good.

For the benefit of those readers who don’t know what MemTest is I’ll do a quick plug here: MemTest is probably one of the greatest friends a technician can have. MemTest is a software program that randomly reads and writes data to the RAM installed on your computer. If it finds that some of that data is corrupted it notes the sector and classifies the RAM as “bad.” It’s a free program you can download from the MemTest website.

Now back to the problem at hand. Just because your RAM doesn’t have any bad sectors does not mean that we should rule out a memory issue. The first thing that MemTest ignores is any dedicated video memory you might have on your computer (such as a video card.) The parity error might be from that. You can try to rule this out by disabling the video card, if when disabled you no longer get the error then you know where the problem is coming from (hard to do on a laptop however). You might be able to fix it by getting updated drivers.

A second cause of this error could be a problem with the laptop’s power supply (unlikely however.) Memory needs power like every other component in your computer, if that power becomes destabilized or it isn’t receiving enough power problems can occur. The only way to test this is by using a multimeter or swapping in a different power supply (find a different AC adapter.)

Hope that helps ya. If anyone would like to contribute more on the subject just follow the link to the forums.