error code: 80048820 extended error code:80048412

My sister recently called me because she couldn't use her MSN Messenger.

She kept getting the error code: 80048820 and extended error code:80048412.

I just did a simple search on Google.ca and one suggestion was that its because of an incorrect date/time.

So I checked the date and time. This year, last time I checked was 2007, but according to their computer it is the year 2172. Setting the date back properly solved the problem.

Digital Camera - Driver Duds

A guy came to me because he couldn't get his digital camera to work on his computer after upgrading to WinXP.

He had the CDROM that came with the camera drivers on it but they would not install or setup the camera properly.

This time I went to www.driverguide.com and managed to download a different driver for the camera. I would recommend you to go and sign up just in case. Its completely free. In my case it has come in handy a number of times.

This driver worked. Why the original did not work? Don't know don't care. However, my theory, most of this new USB so called PLUG and PRAY... sorry...PLUG and PLAY hardware will tell you to INSTALL SOFTWARE FIRST and PLUG IN CAMERA, PRINTER, ETC., SECOND.

If you plug in the hardware first, Windows tries to detect it and install its own drivers and for some reason it just seems to get screwy from there.

I Hate Those Side Models (Soundblaster 16 troubles as well)

I'm referring to the models that lie flat compared to the tower models. I don't know the official name for theses types of computer cases if any.

But I hate them anyway. The ones I had to work with have proven to be a real pain in the butt. The computers themselves are OK but the cases leave a lot to be desired when it comes to upgrading.

My first computer of this nature was a COMPAQ DESKPRO.

I upgraded my memory at one time and had to remove both the floppy and the hard drive to get at the memory chips.

Then, eventually the floppy went bad and I discovereed Compaq wasn't using a standard floppy drive, apparently their own custom made brand. I had to take a standard drive, rip of the plastic facing and even then I had to wedge some carboard into the drive bay inside my computer to get it to fit properly.

Even the eject button, to remove the floppy disk, will not line up with the hole where the eject button goes. I have to stick a pen in to push on it to eject any disk. I don't use it presently but I still have my Compaq, mothballed as a backup.

Then a couple of days ago a guy brought his computer down. He had two problems. One he's sound card would not work and two, he had somes pictures he wanted burned of on a CD. He doesn't have a burner.

He has one of those cursive side lying models. It was a IBM 300GL much similar to mine, but his was only a Pentuim 200 MHZ , with 64 MB RAM, and WinME.

His sound card wasn't working and this is one problem even I could not solve. I downloaded all kinds of info of the internet, new drivers, but nothing.

One of the procedures involved taking out the card, startup up the computer, shutting down again and putting the card back in again, hopefully to force windows to reinstall the drivers properly. I mixed this procedure with the following data received from a Microsoft web page, unfortunately to no avail.

The following is quoted from the Microsoft website; NOTE: Make sure you have the drivers on CD, floppy or your computer just in case.

• Start Windows in Safe mode.
• Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
• Click the Device Manager tab, remove all of the instances of the device in question from the device tree, and then click Close. If you are prompted to restart your computer, click No.
• To rebuild the Driver Information or Hardware Information database:
  1. Rename the Drvdata.bin and Drvidx.bin files.
  a. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.
  b. In the Named box, type drvdata.bin, and then click Find Now.
  c. Right-click the Drvdata.bin file, click Rename, type a new name for the Drvdata.bin file (for example, Drvdata.xxx), and then press the ENTER key.
  d. Repeat steps a through c for the Drvidx.bin file, and then quit the Find tool.
• Restart your computer normally.

This was supposed to force Windows to rebuild its database of drivers.

I don't know if it makes any difference but one thing I noticed when I removed the sound card, the name on the card is Sound Blaster ViBRA 16C, Windows installs drivers for Creative Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play (WDM). I have Vibra 16 drivers but when I run the installion program (wich seems to run and install with no indication of errors), Windows just seems to ignor those drivers and just reinstalls the same ones that don't work.

Just a note to get into SAFE MODE
There are different ways to do it.

• You can keep pushing the F8 key while booting up your computer or a simplier way, In WinME and I beleive its similar for Win98, just click on Start and then Run and type in msconfig.
• Click on the Advanced button and in the menu that pops up check the option to use the start menu. If I remember correctly I beleive Win98 users might have the option to startup up in safe mode directly from this menu.
• WinXP users, when the msconfig utility opens just click on the BOOT.INI tab and check the option /SAFEBOOT.
• Now everybody restart. If you have the Start Menu option (WinME), then when your computer restarts, you will see a menu with a number of options. Just pick the number for the Safe Mode option.

Of course this has nothing to do with the case. But this leads to problem number 2.

This guy also wanted me to burn of a bunch of pictures onto a CD. I discovered that to be an just as hard a task. Other than no burner I discovered the floppy drive wasn't working. There was no ethernet connection otherwise I could of set up a network connection with my system and copy the pictures from his computer to mine.

My only other option. I have two hard drives in my computer but I was going to temperarily disconnect my second drive and set up his hard drive in my system and just burn the pictures of from there. Unfortunately, this is where the problem of the case comes in.

Ok I'll try to describe the setup. Starting from the CDROM and where it is mounted inside the computer, the floppy drive is mounted right beside it and the hard drive is directly under the floppy. There is about an inch of space (if even that) between the area of the CDROM and FLOPPY/HARDDRIVE. And IBM in their great wisdom decided to put a bunch of screws on the inside of these two where they are unaccessable to humankind. How they got them in there in the first place is a mystery still.

Anyway, I could not get at them to move the hard drive. I have an IBM 300PL - notice its PL not GL but very similar still. At least IBM decided to make the hard drives, CDROMs, etc., more accessible.

In my computer, the CDROM and hard drives are mounted inside like a basket (what I call a basket) that I can pivot upwards allowing me to add and remove the screws as seen fit. Where the ad-in cards go, its very roomy, since it has built in video and sound and network support. I only have one card, a ethernet adapter. And the memory chips are right out in the open. I don't have to remove anything but the computer case to get at them.

Just a technical note, the IBM 300GL, doesn't have any built in sound or network adapter, also it uses a CIRRUS LOGIC video adapter(built in) compared to my IBM 300PL that has a S3 built in adapter.