31 May 2010

PC wont boot with USB drive

An external harddrive is a great way to back up all your system files but you may of attached one to your computer and found that it wont boot and hangs on the bios information screen.

To get around this unplug the power on the USB External harddrive and then reboot - when your computer turns on you need to enter the bios - to do this hit the del key when you see the screen that shows your post screen.

In the bios you need to find USB mass storage support and enable this - exit your bios saving the change this normally is by hitting the F10 key. Then say yes to save changes.

Reboot your computer with your USB external Harddrive plugged in and it should boot you in to windows.

Update: My computer stopped booting and again was haning on the BIOS screen - I unplugged my USB drive and moved it to another USB slot and rebooted this fixed the problem.  

13 March 2010

Rip DVD to iPod

Ripped a DVD to a format that you can use on your iPod Touch is easy to do.

You will need 2 tools which are free to use, the first rips the DVD to your computer and the second converts the file format to MP4.

To copy a DVD to your computer you will need DVD Decrypter which can be downloaded here

To covert the file to MP4 you will need Videora which can be downloaded here

When you have installed Videora it will give you full instructions of what settings to use in DVD Decrypter and then give you a wizard to then convert your file to MP4.

15 February 2010

iTunes Locked Windows 7

The folder iTunes is on a locked disk or you do not have write permissions for this folder.

I got this error after changing folder locations on my computer that iTunes was set to use.

To get around this problem go to your 'iTunes folder' and right click on 'iTunes.exe' and choose 'Properties' - choose to 'Run As Administrator' - this should fix your error.

This isn't a permanent fix and you need to go through this process every time you want to load iTunes. Today I am going to look for a more permanent fix.

I have since (I do not recommend doing this btw) removed itunes and every itunes related entry on my computer inculding folders and reg entries.

I reinstalled iTunes and then had a new problem which was "This iPod cannot be used because the required software is not installed" I am running windows 7 64bit version and had installed iTunes 64bit version.

I googled that and found this post http://randomwindowstips.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/windows-7-itunes-9-software-is-not-installed/ - I followed these instructions and now everything works as it should. Thanks to the owner of Random Windows Tips for creating that post.