Random Fix - Computer Help » Random Fixes

Google Reader: some of my tags cannot be removed; Ooops…an error occurred. Please try again in a few seconds.

Ryan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:00:00 +0000

I’m happy to report that the one tag that I could not get deleted now deletes. As of 4/14/10, the Google team has apparently fixed the issue.

Try it now! All they need now is to allow us to rename folders/tags!

Excel 2000 crashing upon startup excel.exe being faulted within Event Viewer

Ryan — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:36:27 +0000

If you’re having problems with this ancient piece of software, try doing a search for an .xlb file and re-naming said xlb file to .xlbold. This fixed the problem for myself.

Microsoft Word 2007 crashes upon exit

Ryan — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:05:45 +0000

If you experience this it’s due to an update that was installed.

Go to your registry and delete the following key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

The Windows installer service could not be accessed Windows Vista 64-bit/Windows 7 64-bit

Ryan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:17:08 +0000

If you’re trying to install something, such as iTunes or any other program and you are experiencing the dreaded error of: The Windows installer service could not be accessed, you have come to the right place for the right solution.

I have searched high and low for the solution. I finally figured it out.

You have to go into your registry.

Start, run, type in “regedit”.

Next go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Services
MSIServer

To the right you’ll see WOW64. Double click on it, or right click on it and click on modify. Change the setting from 1 to 0.

Next, go to the start menu again and type in the search box: “services.msc”.

Look for and find the Windows Installer service.

Double click on it and tell it to stop. Next, tell it to start.

You should now be able to install your programs.

Dell Inspiron 530S desktop shuts down then restarts automatically

Ryan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

I am working on a Dell 530S that when shut down properly from within Windows, restarts roughly a few seconds after a complete shut down. I have tried everything from updating the BIOS, installing the latest chipset drivers, removing the memory modules and replacing them with new ones, as well as changing the memory module slots, resetting the CMOS, disabling every single power feature within the BIOS, changing the power settings within Windows, as well as changing out the power supply. The computer still turns on after a few seconds. I’ve gotten it to shut down completely once or twice but it will consistently not shut down after I turn it back on again.

This is definitely boggling my mind. Doing a Google search yields very little results with one or two that match the same thing I’m through. The suggestion in those were all related to turning off the power settings or power on settings in the BIOS. I tried it all.

My next guess is simply that it’s a motherboard failure and that a new motherboard is going to be required. There isn’t much more I can do at this point. The strange thing is that this is the second computer within the past month with the same symptom. Although the last computer was not a Dell, it was a Compaq.

Unable to access nVidia Storage software through the nVidia Control Panel

Ryan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:36:20 +0000

SO I’m at work working on this client’s computer. The computer is using an ASUS M2N-32 SLI Deluxe motherboard. Obviously onboard RAID sucks but I never knew how badly it truly sucked. This guy’s initial RAID1 array died and both drives went with it. I fixed him up with two new hard drives and reconfigured them for RAID1, again. I then imaged one drive and tried to get the other drive to rebuild the array and copy all the data from the drive that has all the data to the drive that is empty. I realized that this could not be done through the nVidia SATA RAID BIOS. I booted into Windows and tried looking for an nVidia RAID utility which usually is a software based tool that should help with the recreation of the RAID1 array and population of data from drive to drive.

I looked long and hard and could not find the software. I did a Google search and came up with something called MediaShield. That looked familiar as I’ve seen it come up when installing nVidia drivers.

Lo and behold I found out that the RAID utility is actually a part of the nVidia Control Panel. If you have the nVidia drivers installed, right clicking on the desktop and clicking on nVidia Control Panel should take you to the right place. In my case, it didn’t.

In the left hand panel there should be something related to storage. There was nothing at all.

I did a little more searching and figured that many people have this issue but there was no fix. I was stumped. I literally sat there with a blank stare and did a face palm a couple of times since I could not figure it out.

Then, just for good measure, I looked in device manager and saw that the IDE/SATA drive was a basic nVidia SATA driver. I then looked in the nVidia folder that is created when you install the nVidia software. I saw a folder called IDE and in it I saw a sub folder that was titled sataraid. I then, through device manager, updated the IDE/SATA driver with the driver that was located in the sataraid folder. Sure enough, after a reboot, I could now see the storage portion in the nVidia Control Panel.

So if you’re having problems, here’s hoping this will help you.

Microsoft .NET framework setup failed.

Ryan — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:25:08 +0000

If you encounter this while trying to install the standalone .Net Framework 1.1 or even 2.0 or 3.0, try doing this:

Go to your start menu.

Click on Run

Type in msiexec.exe /regserver

Hit Enter

Now try it again. It should work.

iTunes error: There is a problem with this windows installer package.

Ryan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:44:13 +0000

If you receive this error while trying to install or upgrade iTunes, please download this file. This is the Microsoft CleanUp Tool. It will remove all of the various left over things that iTunes has somehow corrupted or could not remove.

Install the program.

Run the program and look for iTunes or anything related Apple as well as QuickTime. Remove those items and try the installation again. This should fix the problem.

Double clicking on My Computer or folders causes search companion to appear

Ryan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:10:49 +0000

If you’re having a problem with double clicking on My Computer, C:, D:, E: drive itself or also when you’re double click on a folder and the search companion comes up, check out this Microsoft support article.

It’s very easy to fix although it does entail going into the registry and changing one or two things.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321186

Windows Vista DHCP service disabled attempt to enable with error Access Denied 5

Ryan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:53:08 +0000

So I’m working on this Vista computer and it cannot get online. I go into a command prompt and type /ipconfig. I see it’s pulling up and automatic IP address, the 169.x.x.x variant and realize hmm, something’s up. Immediately I go to services.msc to check and see if DHCP is enabled. It’s not. I go to start it, bam, error message indicating a problem has occurred and that access is being denied. NOOOOOOOOO. I searched long and hard for a remedy but came up short. I found a few pages from Microsoft that indicates it is a problem with permissions in the registry. I tried their fix, no luck.

I gave up on my work and just wiped it out and reinstalled Windows. I’m hoping to start this post and get feedback from anyone who has gotten stuck on this and found an actual solution. I know there are others out there who are probably going to come across this and if we can all put our heads together to find a solution, that’s the best part of it all.

It seems to possibly be related to removing spyware and viruses but don’t quote me on that. It could also very well be related to registry permissions. If that’s the case, we have to figure out which registry key or keys are being affected.

Here’s to finding a solution!