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Frozen Mouse that isn't frozen


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#16
boblink1

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Thank you again for your help Phil, fyi I am sending this note from my Laptop, the Desktop that is giving me problems apparently has gone to another phase, the mini-mouse that I gad been using either freezes on startup or freezes a minute or 2 after I start using the computer so I am not sure when I will be able to download Puppy so I would appreciate if you would please bear with me, the Desktop apparently is very temperamental (or is in deep doo-doo) and I think you can imagine it's very frustrating but I will try and restart it periodically and hope that it stays operational long enough for me to install and run Puppy.

Thank you for your help and understanding Phil,

Bob


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#17
phillpower2

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No worries Bob, reply when you are able to  :thumbsup:

 

 

If and when you are able to run Puppy can I suggest that you back up any important data from the HDD as a precautionary measure, if required please refer to the Puppy Linux tutorial below;

 

=================== 

***Required Hardware*** 

CD Burner (CDRW) Drive, 

Blank CD, 

Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)

=================== 

 

1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:

  • Download Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-528.iso) 

     

    Download BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software 

     

    There are instructions on how to boot from flash drive with puppy here; http://www.pendrivel...e-from-windows/ 

     

     

     


  • Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer 

     

     


  • Extract All files to a location you can remember 

     

     


  • Double Click 1%20BurnCDCC%20Icon.PNGBurnCDCC 

     

     


  • Click Browse 2%20BurnCDCC%20Browse%20Button.PNG and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded 

     

     


  • Open/Double Click that file 

     

    IMPORTANT: Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x 

     


  • Click Start 3%20BurnCDCC%20Start%20Button.PNG 

     

     


  • Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically 

     

     


  • Insert a blank CD and close the tray 

     

     


  • Click OK 

     

     


Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created

 

 

2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second 

 

  •  

     

     


  • Start the computer/press the power button 

     

     


  • Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka "Setup" 

     

    (Usually shown during the "Dell" screen, or "Gateway" Screen) 

     


  • Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to: 

     

    CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd 

     


  • Open your ROM drive and insert the disk 

     

     


  • Press F10 to save and exit 

     

     


  • Agree with "Y" to continue 

     

     


  • Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD 

     

     

    4%20BIOSBootPriorityImage.png 

     


 

 

 

 

3.  Recover Your Data 

 

  • Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer's Memory (RAM).  You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call "your computer".  Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning.  Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy.  To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once.  Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to.  This is normal.  Ready?  Let's get started. 

     

     

    3a. Mount Drives 

     


  • Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop. 5%20Puppy%20Linux%20Mount%20Icon.PNG 

     

     


  • A Window will open.  By default, the "drive" tab will be forward/highlighted.  Click on Mount for your hard drive. 

     

     


  • Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount. 

     

     


  • USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the "usbdrv" tab and make sure it is mounted. 

     

     


  • If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the "drive" tab.  Mount it now. 

     

     


 

 

3b. Transfer Files.

  •  

     

     


  • At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon. 

     

     


  • Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1 

     

     


  • Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1 

     

     


  • If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows) 

     

     


  • From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window. 

     

     


 

 

For The Novice:  The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each idividual name of each user. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos

 

Remember to only click once!  No double clicking!  Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy.  Choose COPY each time you drag and drop. 

 

YOU ARE DONE!!!  Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer.  Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations! 

 

 

 

PuppyLinux528screenshot.png 

 


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#18
boblink

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Hello again Phil, the Desktop was stable enough for me to download the Puppy although my Internet Security software (Bitdefender) didn't want me to, I clicked on Setup and the cursor "circle" started going round and round but maybe 5 seconds later, it stopped and setup did not continue. I tried repeating the process several times but I? could not get setup to install Puppy.

Thanks

Bob

P.S.-the PS did not arrive as scheduled today, Monday is the revised delivery date and I've got a lot going on Monday and Tuesday so I probably won't be able to switch out the PS until Wednesday or Thursday (assuming I can do it being I switched out memory cards, HDD, Vard readers but never PS)


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#19
boblink

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Never mind Phil, I believe that I should be able to download puppy Linux from my Laptop, save it on a memory stick and use the flash drive on the Desktop


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#20
phillpower2

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We will wait on your next update regarding Puppy  :thumbsup:

 

The PSU replacement we can come back to and I will provide a tutorial and any guidance that you may need when you are ready.


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#21
boblink

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Hello Phil, I had sometime this evening (your time, afternoon my time)  before the *^$# hits the fan and for some reason my Desktop has been MUCH more stable that it had in the past week, I think I've been on it for >hour and the mouse hasn't froze.

I am in the process of playing with Puppy Linux and will do so after I POST this note where I am asking your help with a Windows System Restore issue.

I wanted to create a restore point in the event that all else fails but wasn't able to do so.

FYI, I have a 1T HDD that I partitioned as you can see in the ScreenShot that I have attached.

I also included the restore options that have OFF for everything except OS© (Missing) marked as On.

I don't know what and didn't not knowing create a partition called OS© (Missing) that is ON but I also am unable to change (override) OFF for the partitions that I would like to create a restore point for C: (Windows). "J"  Data is where I store my files, "L" is my Photos and "D" is the HP Recovery partition that is a (protected) hidden file.

Can you please advise me what I need to do to create a Restore point for "C" (Windows OS) and what would C (OS) Missing possibly be and if I don't need it, can I / should I delete it? 

Thank you for your help Phil,

Bob


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#22
phillpower2

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Hello Bob

 

The attachment appears to be missing I`m afraid.


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#23
boblink

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I apologize for the attachment Phil, I browsed then click on the JPEG file but forgot to click the Attach This File icon, I might as well apologize for past and I'm sure future sloppiness,  I have a family medical situation so my mind is even more scattered than usual but believe that the "screen.jpg" file is now attached.

Now on to our Puppy friend, the reason that I did not attempt to reboot the Desktop so that Puppy Linux would boot yesterday is that the mini-mouse must have had a good hair day yesterday and was "moving" every time I tried to do something with my Desktop which was very important because I had my tax returns on the computer and needed to finish them up and print them (which I did) before it became temperamental again or worse, crashed and I would lose the latest iteration, so I just left it alone.

When I went to the Desktop this morning, the mini-mouse was frozen and started the system with Puppy, it took considerable longer to load that Windows but it did load and I got a Personalize Screen where I was able to type (use the KB) but good old mini-mouse was not impressed with Puppy and treated it the same was as it did Windows, it failed to move (it was frozen).  I tried rebooting Puppy and the exact same thinghappened si took the SC out of the drive and rebooted "normally" with Windows and it took me 3 reboots before it would unfreeze and that's where I am.

So to net things out, Puppy has been installed but the mouse still is frozen so my (uneducated) guess is that whatever is going, I have noticed happening with the mouse (the large one doesn't work, only the mini-mouse works and it not all the time) and my Logitech Solar Wireless KB doesn't work but the wired HP KB that came with the system works) and I assume the Creating a Restore Point is completely unrelated to the "freeze" problem.

Thank you again for ALL your help Phil, I feel like you are acting as my personal computer Geek and true appreciate all the time and effort you have and hopefully will continue to provide to me.

Regards,

Bob

P.S.- I probably will be on and off the computer today, very sporadically tomorrow, probably not at all on Tuesday and won't know about Wednesday until Tuesday

.

 

 

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  • screen.jpg

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#24
phillpower2

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Sorry to hear that you are also having other more important difficulties to deal with, I will reply to your updates as and when you post and there is no rush on my behalf

 

Can I just confirm that you are trying to provide a screenshot of the Disk Manager showing the partitions on the HDD.

 

Please try restarting the computer and booting into the BIOS, if you are able to get into the BIOS please find the restore default settings option (sometimes listed as most stable settings) once done save the new settings and exit, see if the mouse behaviour changes.

 

In an emergency you can try the How to use your keyboard to control the mouse in Windows 7 option, details here


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#25
boblink

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Thank you for understand Phil, as I mentioned, my mind is in other places, the screen shot that I attached was not what I intended to attach, it concerns another problem that I am having with the Desktop,  shadows instead of clear text appear on my screen and I made a screen shot for comparison purposes (which I inadvertently sent as an attachment). I have attached restore.jpg which is what I should have attached earlier.  I'll go into BIOS and revert it back to Default setting later and will get back to as soon as I can (meaning how temperamental the mini-mouse is).

Thank you Phil,

Bob

 

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  • restore.jpg

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#26
phillpower2

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No problem, computer problems on their own can be stressful.

 

If the mouse behaves itself can you try and access the folder labelled as OS (missing) it is possibly empty.

 

Once you have tried restoring the default settings to try improving the display issue do the following please;

 

Right click the Desktop
Click Personalize
Under 'Basic and High Contrast Themes, click 'Windows 7 Basic'


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#27
boblink

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I thought that I reset the BIOS but am not quite sure since the last time I went into a BIOS was to update it and I believe it was calling Flashing BIOS then but today, the computer manufacturers (HP in my case) have taken over most of the functions that were previously done through MS Windows so I am not sure if I did reset the BIOS and if I did, nothing changed.  The mini-mouse is operation but the USB wired mouse is frozen.  Further, even if the BIOS is updated, I looked in HP Help for BIOS and it states "HP Update checks for and downloads updates of Windows 7 installed on the computer" so I assume that even if I am able to Reset BIOS to Factory settings, HP will unilaterally update the BIOS to current settings.

 

I am also unable to locate Basic and High Contrast Themes" (see attachment) and I am longer able to locate the "C" Missing folder and have attached a screen shot of My Computer (taken a few minutes ago).

 

Not a good day so far Phil,

Regards,

Bob

Attached Thumbnails

  • personalize display.jpg
  • My Computer.jpg

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#28
phillpower2

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You are not updating/flashing the BIOS chip you are restoring the default settings on the chip, this will clear any possible settings that may have changed somehow.

 

A couple of links here and here

 

The display issue we can come back, please let me know if you need a break from this.

 

NB:  Backing up your important data should be done asap, due to the strange behaviour going on with the computer we should check the OS and the HDD. 


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#29
boblink1

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Hello Phil and thank you again for ALL your help.  As well as the Desktop was responding yesterday, it is doing the exact opposite today. I don't think that I have been on it for more than 15 minutes (in total) and have rebooted it probably a dozen times. 

I have a few observations that I would like to report and assume that they l mean nothing but I believe that the more information you have, the better.

The last time that the mini-mouse froze, I heard 2 quick sounds, not beeps but sounds that I heard before.

I previously tried PF2, DEL and ESC and ESC brought me to a StartUp Menu where FILE had a option Apply Defaults and Exit, which I did. The only other (vague)reference to BIOS was ADVANCE, where BIOS Protection was one of the option. I did not select it so it appears that I did NOT restore/reset the BIOS to Factory Settings.

I will try holding down PF1 when I restart the Desktop and will get back to you and I know that you have a life Phil, so please don't worry about me and my computer. 

This has been going on for almost 2 weeks and it can wait until tomorrow or the next day or ... whenever you get a chance. As I mentioned previously YOU are helping ME and I sincerely appreciate it.  I'll POST  the BIOS update status  probably today and do what you need to do and with your help, I am sure that we'll get this resolved sooner or later


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#30
boblink1

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Hi Phil, this will be the last update for a while and it's evening where you are so I am not expecting a reply. 

I can't seem to get into the BIOS option.

I previously tried PF2, DEL and ESC and just tried PF1 which brought up Safe Mode options, PF10 brought up HP Setup Utility (which I previously reported as what happened when I held down the ESC key).  It appears that HP doesn't want users like me to fool around with their system / settings.ESC key) and for good measures, I held down PF12 and it also brought me to Safe Mode options. and I am sending this from the Laptop, the reboots using PF1, PF0 and PF12 all resulted in a frozen mini-mouse


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