Computer/Technical Help

OK. So my friends drives are still down. Tried that safe mode thing. Didn't work.

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Originally posted by Green_Bird I just got done backing up my documents, but every time I try to run the disc the computer just hangs. And now I'm missing a bunch of icons off the systems tray as well namely the virus scan icon that useualy hides when it's inactive but it isn't even there when I click the arrow thing. This didn't happen until I closed the window that the back up was in. I just want to know why it did that....I'm afrade to even turn my computer off now because it's being really screwy as of late....and I really don't want to loose the stuff that I've made....

What program are you using to back up your files? Also, what media are you backing up to (CD, DVD, external hard drive, etc.)?

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Originally posted by Zaphod Beeblebrox OK. So my friends drives are still down. Tried that safe mode thing. Didn't work.

What exactly happens when you try to put a disc in one of the drives? Is there an error message, or does nothing happen at all? Do the drive letters for those drives even show up in My Computer?

It marks no drives. He has two. Neither show up when you go the my computer window. In the device manager it displays yellow circles with ! in them.

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Originally posted by Zaphod Beeblebrox It marks no drives. He has two. Neither show up when you go the my computer window. In the device manager it displays yellow circles with ! in them.

In device manager, right click the drives and choose Properties. What do you see under "Device Status"? Is it a driver error or a hardware error?

I'm 80 percent sure it was a hardware error.

The most likely problem is a conflict of resources. Try Safe Mode one more time, delete any duplicate entries in Device Manager, and reboot. If that doesn't help, look at the Device Status to see the exact problem (I/O range, IRQ, or DMA). Then, on the View menu, select Resources by Type to narrow down the problem.

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Originally posted by Krang What program are you using to back up your files? Also, what media are you backing up to (CD, DVD, external hard drive, etc.)?

I'm backing them up to a CD, and I'm using Nero, so it shouldn't really be doing that.....

Does this problem occur every time you put the CD into the drive, or was it just after you burned the CD? If it happens every time, try another data CD and see if the same problem occurs.

Everytime I put the disc in it does that, even after rebooting....but the strange thing is, is that the other backups from my previous computers (that were not done by me) work .....

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Originally posted by Green_Bird Everytime I put the disc in it does that, even after rebooting....but the strange thing is, is that the other backups from my previous computers (that were not done by me) work .....

When the computer is hanging, check the access light on your CD-ROM drive and see if it is blinking. Also, about how many files are on the CD?

the light doesn't blink. the only one that blinks is the Hard drive one like it's trying to read it but it's not going. I don't have alot of files, I was trying to split it up so the bigger files would be on the DVD-R insted.

You might want to try FileMon to see which application is causing the excessive hard drive usage. The stress on the system resources may also be what is causing the system tray icons to disappear (especially if they appear again later).

in regards to my PSX>USB adaptor, it did not work on another computer, so i got frustrated and opened it up. all wires were soddered in place, but when i rehooked the adaptor to a PC, it worked again. so there i am happy.

my dad wants me to learn about modchips. he has a friend who supposedly bought a phone from one phone company, and later dropped the company for another (i think Alltell or however u spell it was involved somewhere). i'm not entirely sure of the story. in the end, however, the guy put a chip he either bought, or took out of another phone, into his own, and then it worked w/his provider and had all unlocked features and all the fun stuff.

since i'm not even sure what parts are legal or whatever, i was more wondering if i could have links to sites that explain how to mod cell phones. i looked a bit myself, but everything would end up being about modding X-Boxes and PS2s instead.

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Originally posted by NVWC2006 since i'm not even sure what parts are legal or whatever, i was more wondering if i could have links to sites that explain how to mod cell phones. i looked a bit myself, but everything would end up being about modding X-Boxes and PS2s instead.

I'm not very familiar with cell phone modding, but this site should help you out.

Alright, that deletion thing always results in them popping back up. Heres the error message.

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

He's using XP Home, btw

Ok, so far this is the second time I've had to stare down the "blue screen of death".

Has something to do with "vsdatant.sys".


First time it happened about a day or two ago, was opening up a new program, but this time it was random.


Here's the error report I got:

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Originally posted by Zaphod Beeblebrox Alright, that deletion thing always results in them popping back up. Heres the error message. Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39) He's using XP Home, btw

It sounds like uninstallation and reinstallation of SP2 somehow caused the driver versions to conflict. If those drives came with installation disks, try installing the drivers from those. If not, go to Device Manager, right click the drive, and select "Update Driver." Choose "no" for Windows Update, and choose "Advanced" for the next option. At the next prompt, choose "Search for the best driver." Now look at the list of available drivers and select the newest one. If that doesn't work, repeat the process and select the next oldest one and so on.

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Originally posted by R.Smith Ok, so far this is the second time I've had to stare down the "blue screen of death". Has something to do with "vsdatant.sys". First time it happened about a day or two ago, was opening up a new program, but this time it was random.

The file vsdatant.sys is associated with ZoneAlarm, so that is most likely the cause of the problem. If you are currently using ZA, try uninstalling it and installing it again. If not, the file is left over from an old installation, so you should still try installing ZA again and uninstalling it to clean out the remaining files.

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Originally posted by Krang The file vsdatant.sys is associated with ZoneAlarm, so that is most likely the cause of the problem. If you are currently using ZA, try uninstalling it and installing it again. If not, the file is left over from an old installation, so you should still try installing ZA again and uninstalling it to clean out the remaining files.

I am indeed using ZA, and that sounds like a good way to attempt to fix this, but there's one tiny problem. I don't have the latest installer from the last update, though I'll check their homepage and see if I can get it there. If not any suggestions?

You can download the latest version here. Be sure to completely uninstall your current version before installing this one (I would recommend disconnecting your computer from the Internet while upgrading).

Thanks for the link Krang. Will uninstall in a moment.

Unrelated to this problem, I checked my bookmarks just a second ago, and once again, every bookmark not in a folder has vanished. Oh actually a new folder I made a day ago vanished as well...........quite annoying and seems to happen for no reason.

*edit, I checked the bookmark backup folder and just renamed the backup from a day ago, and bookmarks are back!