Finally gave in

4x4

Solid State Member
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Nice to be here. I have tended to not sign up to computer forums as I find the tech speak hard to deal with; I'm not that PC savvy TBH.
But.................... I recently moved to Windows 7 from XP which I had used happily for years and problems seem to have been non stop.
So tonight my laptop won't load Virgin webmail where it will load on my PC and another laptop. This has been going on for days and I just don't get it.
Also I had hundreds of pictures on an external HDD but when I plugged into my recently installed W7 it said the drive was corrupted. I have no idea how to recover them. I followed some suggestions I found online but it looks like the control on the drive is a goner.
Also I have a so called gaming PC (but it is not very high powered) which I upgraded to W10 and the picture would not fit the screen; either too big or there was a border. I couldn't get it to just fill on the screen so I went back to W7. All was fine so I tried fitting a better graphics card hoping it would be OK when I go to W10 again but then W7 wouldn't fit properly on the screen.:facepalm:
So I began to feel out of my depth cos nowt seems to go right since W7. And here I am.
 
What browser are you using to connect to your webmail? Make sure that you have installed all of the W7 updates and service packs, including the latest version of Internet Explorer (11). What capacity and model is your external drive? What method did you use for copying the photos to it? check in Disk Management, and see what is shown for your external drive.

For the video issue, maybe you don't have the latest video drivers installed. Check Device Manager, and right-click on the video adapter and select "update" to see if Windows can find a newer driver. If that doesn't work, you can try downloading the video drivers yourself from either the video card or PC manfacturer's website. Then in Display Properties, make sure you have set the correct resolution for the monitor you're using. If you aren't sure what the resolution should be, do a google search for your monitor model # native resolution.
 
What browser are you using to connect to your webmail? Make sure that you have installed all of the W7 updates and service packs, including the latest version of Internet Explorer (11). What capacity and model is your external drive? What method did you use for copying the photos to it? check in Disk Management, and see what is shown for your external drive.

For the video issue, maybe you don't have the latest video drivers installed. Check Device Manager, and right-click on the video adapter and select "update" to see if Windows can find a newer driver. If that doesn't work, you can try downloading the video drivers yourself from either the video card or PC manfacturer's website. Then in Display Properties, make sure you have set the correct resolution for the monitor you're using. If you aren't sure what the resolution should be, do a google search for your monitor model # native resolution.

Thanks for the help.

I am using Chrome. I use it on all my machines. It is why I left XP because Chrome stopped supporting XP. I do not use IE but I might give it a go to see if Virgin webmail will load. At the moment on my big laptop webmail tries to load on Chrome but seems like it is being held up and hanging. However, I really I do not want to use IE and on my other machines (even my Dell 430 which is my little travel companion) it loads with no problems.
I recently had Windows updates. About that I had almost 200 on my desktop PC but I will double check the laptop.
The HDD is a Maxtor 80gb and was in a USB enclosure. I've tried another enclosure and a kit. I forgot to mention this happened to another 160gb HDD; so since going to W7 two exHDDs have been affected.
I did not realise how dubious it is to store things on HDDs. I always assumed that HDDs were a safe backup facility and before I went to W7 I had made sure the hundreds of pics and documents I had were on both drives. Some go back maybe 10 years. Incidentally I now always store things on DVDs but it is a bit late shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.:whistling:
I spent ages on links online establishing what I could do - here is just one of them as an example.

HDD External Hard Drive Corrupted and Unreadable - Hard Drives - Storage

The video issue also came about through lack of support as the card in the (gaming) PC was a Radeon (5400 series as I recall) and was not supported for W10. It had no catalyst feature which meant only the default W10 adjustments were available.
After a lot of time and effort I found a video card that would physically fit into the gaming PC - GeForce 750 - and it came with a CD. I went online so as far as I know I obtained the latest driver updates etc. I messed around with settings for days and could not get the picture to just fit on the TV. BTW I use a TV as a monitor via HDMI. I can live with a black border but I hate it.
 
Since you are using a TV that could be where the problem lies. What is the native resolution of the TV? It's probably either 1920x1080 or 1280x720. Try setting the computer's resolution to one of these in display properties.

If that doesn't do it, maybe your TV has an option to stretch the image, but I'm not sure. But that is definitely not the best way.


The hard drives- that seems strange. I've had issues reading on XP those that were created in Win7, but never the other way around. It's possible they are corrupt but I suspect it's something else. I'd try removing the drive from the USB enclosure entirely and plugging in directly to the motherboard. It's possible the enclosure(s) isn't compatible with Win7.

Like I said before, check in Disk Management (It's in control panel. You can also do a start menu search for it.) to see if the drive is recognized. It may just need to have a drive letter assigned to the partition. If these options don't work, you might have a savvy friend or local shop take a look at them, since you said they have precious photos on them.

lastly not sure on the webmail. can you give us a link to it so I can see what it looks like? I'd try another browser and see if it works and go from there.
 
Since you are using a TV that could be where the problem lies. What is the native resolution of the TV? It's probably either 1920x1080 or 1280x720. Try setting the computer's resolution to one of these in display properties.

If that doesn't do it, maybe your TV has an option to stretch the image, but I'm not sure. But that is definitely not the best way.


The hard drives- that seems strange. I've had issues reading on XP those that were created in Win7, but never the other way around. It's possible they are corrupt but I suspect it's something else. I'd try removing the drive from the USB enclosure entirely and plugging in directly to the motherboard. It's possible the enclosure(s) isn't compatible with Win7.

Like I said before, check in Disk Management (It's in control panel. You can also do a start menu search for it.) to see if the drive is recognized. It may just need to have a drive letter assigned to the partition. If these options don't work, you might have a savvy friend or local shop take a look at them, since you said they have precious photos on them.

lastly not sure on the webmail. can you give us a link to it so I can see what it looks like? I'd try another browser and see if it works and go from there.

Cheers.
TV
I have tried setting the computer's resolution to one of those in display properties.

exHDD
It might be a compatibility issue though the eHDD did run at first which is why I didn't take any real backup precautions. Once or twice it gave me a message to format the drive........really weird.........I should have heard alarm bells ringing. Also I bought one of these to no avail.
USB 2.0 to IDE SATA S-ATA 2.5 3.5 HD HDD Hard Drive Adapter Converter Cable WS | eBay

Under disk management I did get a request to format the drive. I won't do that as I am hoping to recover the contents. Commercial rescue seems expensive.

Webmail.
I tried IE earlier and it worked. When I used to use Opera years ago I had to switch to IE sometimes.......a total pain. Seems like chrome has a similar issue but with Virgin webmail. I am going to contact them when the weekend is over.

Virgin Media – Cable Broadband, Digital TV, Mobile & More
 
The login screen loads fine for me and I'm using Chrome as well. I'm not sure if I would need to login to see the problem you are experiencing. I know that Chrome has stopped supporting older plugins so if Virgin hasn't updated the site that could be part of the issue. (although I'd be surprised if they hadn't) If you can contact them they can tell you the system requirements for the site. Also make sure chrome is fully updated. Someone on the Virgin forums suggest trying incognito mode.

As for the hard drives I still think the usb adapter could be the problem and I'd try using the power adapter and SATA cable from your kit from ebay and plugging the drives directly into your motherboard and see if that works.
 
The login screen loads fine for me and I'm using Chrome as well. I'm not sure if I would need to login to see the problem you are experiencing. I know that Chrome has stopped supporting older plugins so if Virgin hasn't updated the site that could be part of the issue. (although I'd be surprised if they hadn't) If you can contact them they can tell you the system requirements for the site. Also make sure chrome is fully updated. Someone on the Virgin forums suggest trying incognito mode.

As for the hard drives I still think the usb adapter could be the problem and I'd try using the power adapter and SATA cable from your kit from ebay and plugging the drives directly into your motherboard and see if that works.

I contacted Virgin who told me to either reinstall Chrome or use Internet Explorer. Chocolate teapot land.
I found a Chrome PC cleaner from Chrome and after using it Virgin worked. Wahay.
I think I have a spare Sata lead and power lead in the PC as there is spare drive availability so I'll try that when I get a chance.
 
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