So as a test, plug in the modem to your Ethernet port, open a command prompt and type "ipconfig." What do you see?

BTW, lots of software and hardware config issues can keep the connection from functioning properly with your PC. These usually aren't a factor with a router. If you have one, I would also try hooking it up to your modem and PC just to see.

Was the modem plugged into your PC ethernet directly, or into a router?

If it was plugged into your PC directly, check the TCP/IP settings on your network card (Control Panel -> Network -> Local Area Connection -> Properties -> Internet Protocol TCP/IP -> Properties)

Make sure "Obtain IP automatically" and "Obtain DNS automatically" are selected.

If theres a router involved, you'll need to check the configuration of that.

Just put the drive in your new PC, whether you hook it up internally or buy an external enclosure for it. You won't have any problem copying files off of it, but Windows XP will refuse to boot in your new PC - it does not handle complete hardware changes very well. Besides, you suspect it is virus infected, why would you want to attempt to keep using it?

I hope you have a virus scanner going in Vista to avoid infecting that, too.

Ultimately, you'll want Windows 7. Whether you wait on the laptop until its available or buy one with Vista that include a free Win 7 upgrade.

That is how the game looks without any anti-aliasing taking place. Many newer games, for whatever reason, don't allow video cards to force AA upon them, so if they don't offer their own AA method, you're stuck looking at jaggies. I have Ghostbusters TVG and its the same story.

The reason the video has no jaggy lines is because they are blurred together by the downsampling that occured when the creator lowered the video res to make it more download-friendly (or maybe its a YT requirement, I don't know). Try watching the HD version in full screen - see how the text in the game's tooltip windows is blurry and barely readable? Same effect.

For better or worse, there is nothing wrong with your video card.

Yeah, most laptops lock those options out, especially the mainstream Sonys, HPs, Dells, etc.

I'm shopping for a new card (making the big switch from ATI to Nvidia, ATI's drivers have given me endless grief) And I saw a 1 GB Nvidia card at a great price, but it's only 128-bit interface. The 256-bit of course would give better performance, but the price is signifigantly higher. So my question is could a card even with 1 gb of memory but only 128-bit be outmatched by say a 512 mb card with a 256-bit interface?

Vuud

It depends on the card, but usually 256-bit cards are going to be high-end cards while 128-bit are the budget to mid-range cards. So when comparing two cards of the same generation, the 256-bit will likely trump the 128-bit.

But all this is secondary to the graphics chip itself anyway. The chip is what really matters.

everything went well until it was what i though a restart. then it never turned on

NSR34GTR

I kinda got lost between here and the thread title. Is the PC dead? Or do you just have a problem where your display turns off after Windows finishes loading? If its the latter - its possible Windows defaulted to a resolution your monitor does not support, assuming you already tried both monitor ports. Hopefully getting Nvidia drivers loaded will solve the problem. You might have some luck trying safe mode

Are you using a KVM switch?

Control Panel -> Sound, make sure its reporting Stereo speaker setup.