My first laptop 2

[Rmcta]

I just purchased an IBM ThinkPad R50.
I am totally ignorant about laptops.
Do I need to buy something extra to charge the battery? or does it get charged when I plug the laptop to the wall?

 

[Daire]

yes
plugging the AC adapter into the laptop and into the mains supply will charge the battery and allow full use of the laptop at the same time.

On the bottom right of your desktop you should see a battery monitor that will show you the status of your battery and how full it is.

the purpose of a laptop is mobile computing but when using near a mains supply you might want to connect to the mains so that your battery is fully charged when on the move.

you may also purchase a seperate battery to carry with you to replace an empty battery to double your mobile capacity.

ds

 

[Rmcta]

Thank you

 

[NaiDanac]

Tyr completely discharging the battery before charging it again. It will make your battery last a bit longer.

 

[Rmcta]

Thanks!

 

[Daire]

i think newer batteries dont need to be charged and discharged a number of times to provide full battery lifetime - just check the laptop manual for the battery care instructions

 

[Rmcta]

Ops...now I can't put my txt file on a disk.
I have a Memorex CD-RW 700 MB. I have used the disk to get 1 file from my desktop to the laptop.
The laptop reads it fine but when I try to save a file from my laptop to the same CD (which is 99% empty).
If I try to copy it I get: Windows encountered a problem trying to move the file. What do you wish to do? ????

If I try to move it, as soon as I select the D drive, the move icon gets greyed out.

What is wrong?

I also tried the following: I opened up the file on the cd, selected its contents, and then did a paste of the information I have on my txt file on the laptop but I the system tells me that the file on the cd is read-only.

How do I proceed?

Do I need a special CD?
Please help!

 

[jrbarnett]

Rmcta,

1) Which operating system is the laptop running?
2) Does the laptop have any special CD burning software installed (eg Nero, Roxio, Pinnacle CD/DVD creator)?
3) Is the drive a writer or just a reader?

John

 

[Rmcta]

One more detail: I also tried using NTI CD-Maker 2000, click on FileCD and get the following message:

No supported CD-RW drive was detected on your system.
Please check:
- your CD-RW drive is powered on
- all cables are scurely and properly connected
- if the drive is SCSI type, the SCSI bus is propertly terminated.


When I open InterVideo WinDVD4 I get: NO valid DRive/Disk found

What is wrong here?

 

[Rmcta]

Here are the specs of the laptop: Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Pro
Included Devices: AC Adapter
Microphone
Modem
Speakers
Interface Type: Audio - Line In (1/8" Mini)
Audio - Line Out (1/8" Mini)
Ethernet - RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT)
IEEE 1394 - 4 pin Unpowered
Infrared - iRDA Wireless (iRDA-SIR)
Parallel - 25 pin D-shell (IEEE 1284A)
Serial - RJ11 Modular (Phone/Telco)
USB - Universal Serial Bus 2.0
Video - 15 pin High-Density D-shell (VGA)
Video - 4 pin mini-DIN (S-Video)
Input Devices: Keyboard
TrackPoint
Included Network Card: Ethernet (10/100 Mbps)
Wireless Ethernet - 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b
Resolution: 1600 x 1200 (UXGA)
Video Chipset: ATI RADEON™ 7500
Battery Life: 4.7 hour(s)
Display Size: 14.1 in
Display Type: Active Matrix LCD (TFT)
Video Bus: AGP 4X
Sound Support: Digital Audio (16-bit)
CD Write Speed: 24 X (CD,CD-R)
CD-ROM Read Speed: 24 X (CD,CD-R)
CD Rewrite Speed: 24 X (CD,CD-R)
Drive Controllers: IDE (Ultra ATA/100)
IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
DVD-ROM Read Speed: 8 X (DVD, DVD-R)
Hard Drive Capacity: 40 GB
Included Drives: DVD/CD-RW Combo
Cache Size: 1 MB
Installed Memory: 256 MB
Installed Video Memory: 32 MB
Memory Technology: DDR-SDRAM (DDRRAM)
Maximum Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 333 MHz
Slots: Type I CardBus
Type II CardBus
Type III CardBus
Processor Class: Intel Pentium M Processor
Processor Speed: 1.5 GHz
System Chipset: Intel 855PM

 

[jrbarnett]

Rmcta

Thank you, that answers two of my questions: namely the operating system (WinXP Pro) and the fact that the drive is writable (a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo driv), but do you have any installed burning software in addition to the in built XP CD burning facility and this NTI CD maker that doesn't understand your newish drive?

John

 

[Rmcta]

What can I do? Is there anything I can buy to solve this problem?

 

[jrbarnett]

Use Device manager to work out if your particular drive is supported by a later version of NTI CD maker:

http://www.ntius.com/default.asp?p=support/supdrives

Then try the Windows XP in built CD burning software (not easy to use, but would let you know if the drive works).
Failing that, buy another package such as:
Roxio CD creator (Formerly Adaptec Easy CD Creator)
Nero Burning ROM
Pinnacle CD/DVD Creator

There are several high quality CD burning packages available.

John

 

[bcastner]

First, a file written to the CD is read-only.
Second, why not use the native XP CD tools to write to the disk? If you use a different program it might well finalize the disk, and bar further writes.

See:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324129

 

[Rmcta]

bcastner I am trying to use the program that comes with Windows XP. I insert a new blank disk.
It asked if I wanted to format it and I say YES.
It tries to start but I immediately get back:
"Format failed due to general failure".

What am I to do?

I don't think that going out there and buying a new burning sofware is the solution. There are 2 burning softwares and none is working.

If I righ-click on properties for the D drive, I do see the Recording tab and it is not disabled.
CD Drive.

Driver Files are:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\drvmcdb.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\imapi.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\PxHelp20.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\redbook.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\sscdbhk5.sys
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\storprop.dll