Where do I begin?

All newly registered members can make their grand entrance via the introduce yourself forum. This section is only for personal introductions and not for tech questions. New members should also update their profile with their system specs.

Please also refer to:

• Guide to Making a Good Post/Thread
• TechSpot Community & Posting Guidelines
• TechSpot Terms of Service (TOS)

Many new members tend to jump right in without reading these guidelines, and these new topics are generally posted correctly. However, in some cases moderator must edit the topic to bring it up to standard.


Ok I can adhere to all the guidelines. Now what?

As TechSpot has been running for many years, the information (answers) to many questions can usually be found by searching for keywords to do with your issue.

Many forums have a sticky that members should read and they often contain policies specific to that section.


I'm ready to create my new topic!

Select the appropriate forum or sub-forum that best suits your issue. Once inside that section, click the large button:

Be sure to use a concise and accurate title to your new topic. It should be emphasized that when creating a new support-related topic, you are asking for help from others who have no previous knowledge of your computer. Please give as much information as possible about your problem, including any, or all computer hardware specifications. In any case, if support members require more information they will request it.

When finished, you can either click on "Preview Post" to make any corrections; or "Submit New Topic" to submit your new topic straight away. Note: A submitted topic can be altered by using the "Edit" button, on the lower right of all your posts. The title, though, can only be changed by moderators.


What are all these buttons and symbols on top of my new topic window?

Some of these buttons you may already be familiar with, such as:
B = Bold
I = Italic
U = Underline
=Color

Note: Main body of text must normally be black. We strongly discourage you from using colors and other text formatting unless it's absolutely necessary.

Other buttons:

for creating links.
for attaching files (up to 200kb in size).
for including pictures in your post.
for quoting text.


Ok I created my new topic! What now?

Be patient! Don't bump the thread if someone doesn't reply in a few hours -- or even the first day. If nobody replies, you can take that as a good indication that people simply don't have an answer for you, or you've broken the guidelines specified above.

When someone replies to your topic you will receive an email notification. Open the email, and click on the provided link to open your thread and read the new post. You can unsubscribe from the topic to stop receiving email notifications.

If someone answers your question, be sure to extend gratitude, and if you solve your own issue, post the fix so others can benefit! If you have any questions about posting a topic, reply to this thread or contact a moderator.

Many thanks Kimsland,

That information is great. I have already read the rules of conduct for posting a thread, and I will certainly read all the other relevant articles.

Regards, Poppa Bear

Very nice Kimsland, that contribution was unbelievably helpful. I am willing to bet you there are hundreds of people who needed this information.

I appreciate all the info. I'm sure I will be visiting on a regular basis.

Great kimsland! Now if we could just get the people tor read it 'before' they drop a question without any information!

Of all the good points you listed, I think this is one to be emphasized:
* Be descriptive with your subject.

I got after someone a few days ago because the subject was 'I need help!' I said that everyone here needs help and tried to explain-in a few words as possible-that we are all not experts in all subjects and look at the topic to determines whether to stop or not. Well, I do anyway.

You might want to include 'in this thread', not referring to other thread, #2 for emphasize: that they must tell us what the problem is, what they were doing when they got error message and discourage from just dropping logs for us to check!

I like using the HTML tags because we can group in quotes and emphasize in bold or underline. I do not have this ability some other places and it's very had to make a point! But even with your explanation, I think you have to be somewhat familiar with the process. And of course, "the" most important is 'closing' the tag! How many of us have gone on to print everything below us in BOLD or RED, for instance, because we didn't close the tags!

Thanks for getting this together. Hope "they will come"!

thanks kimsland we really appreciated. more powers

original post removed: doh I just saw that link in your first post

Ready to thread- thanks for the heads up, good info, straight to the point.

excellent starting info for newbies like me, many thanks

Ok Sir Got it

Not sure if i'm doing this right, but I need to post.

Have a eMachine W3107 and have a start up problem. Once the tower in plugged in, the fans automaticly start to run. Upon pushing the power up button, the lights flash but wont stay on. Not sure if this is a button problen or is the mother board fried?

elisantana941 I think you are talking about Power On Self Test (POST)
Although this thread, is to help in posting (or creating) a New Thread
And therefore there has been some confusion with terminology.

If you have a Power On Self Test issue, please click this link ==> http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic113137.html

If you still have issues you will need to create your own ==> New Thread

I hope this helps you

Thanks forthe help...

kimsland thanks for the information.

thanks for the help!

The thread has just gone Hot ->
With over 1500 individual member views

And I am one of them.

Thank you Kimsland for the link.

I am a new member and this sure does help! -- girgit

Thanks for taking the time to put this thread together. I have posted in the past but I think it will seem as though I'm not a newbie anymore after reading all this info again. I read it before but it all didn't make since but now I done a few posts, now it makes lots of since. Like playing football once in awhile you have to go back to the drawing board, and basics.

Again Thanks Frank

thanks for the post. Why limit on 5 posts nefore I can attach files?