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Hello and thank you for looking at my question.

I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop running Vista. For a while now the sightspeed certificate has been coming up as a Security Alert saying  " The security certificate has expired"

SightSpeed is a videoconferencing company, supplying VoIP and instant messaging software for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems.
In October 2008, the company was acquired by Logitech for $30 million.[1] The Logitech Vid service is based on SightSpeed's technology. Due to competing software, the Logitech Vid video calling service will be discontinued as of July 1, 2013
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SightSpeed

Will I loose my video/camera on the laptop if I disable it?

How can i disable it?

How can I get rid of this annoying nag screen every time I start my laptop PLEASE?

These are multiple choice answers. An answer to one or all would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you ImnoGuru.So this is bound to your camera's driver?

To me it seems as the driver should remain and this conferencing software can be removed, although it sounds like Logitech no longer has download of this software available so before removing it, I'd make sure you still have a copy of it such as on an image or system recovery set to bring it BACK if needed.

Programs like skype etc should work fine with this camera with just the driver installed to enable/disable it when in use and no longer in use etc.

Unfortunately I have not worked with this camera software before to go into specifics.

As far as getting rid of a certificate problem in the past, I set my systems date/time backwards to match up better with the certificate, but thats not a real fix, just a sloppy band aid that leads to problems elsewhere for applications that need the current date/time to function properly etc.

Can you get a screenshot of this message to share?" The security certificate has expired"
Why?
This question has come up before on other forms. Some websites forget to Reno. There certificates. Other TIMES, a website will try to share one certificate with several domain names. Both of those conditions can bring a tear message. Also, if there is an error in transmission and may be interpreted as an invalid security certificate. However, that should be RATHER rare because all packets have a way of checking the validity of the data. So frequent errors in security certificates indicate something else is going on.
Can this past year, at past few months, the issue of is getting greater. Judging by the amount of complaints that can be seen on different forms. I don't recall this being a tissue. A year ago, but now you look around and find many sites have people reporting trouble with the SSL certificate.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that one of two things happened. Either there has been a change in protocol that has not been implemented well, or there's some kind of new trick that hijackers are using to try to hijack your browser.
One thing you might try is to deliberately break your Internet connection and then flash the DNS cache.
Also, you can report this to your Internet service provider. And maybe they have a virus or worm inside of their servers or routers. Anyway, it should be. Their response business fix it, not yours.

This command will clear the DNS cache.
Code: [Select]ipcomnfig /flushdns
Thanks DaveLembke for your reply.
Always a good way to start anything that involves removing or deleting components.
MAKE A BACKUP FIRST !!

I tried to post a screenshot but it was too big and I LOST the post. So here I go again.

Thanks too Geek-9pm. I think you have a valid hypothesis. I didnt use this laptop for a while and when I did start using it recently, I got hit with a websearch browser hijack. A real P.I.T.A.
( My fault... I wasnt concentrating.) but being a CH member I have had some serious backup to teach me how to remove these things. ( & I thought I did a pretty good job of it.)
Although I don't think this is related.

The link may have a spelling mistake in it though. Is it meant to be "ipcomnfig/flushdns". (Just a bit of fat finger syndrome or a late night?)

Hmm just checking on my system restore ...& there are no restore points available... at all??? not even a system checkpoint. Whats the deal with that?
Guess I'll have to try to get restore happening first.

I'll do that first & then have a go at these suggestions.

Thanks ImnoGuru.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]It's ipconfig for all those commands so yes...it's a typo.Thanks patio, I figured a late night or similar ( just checking ) 

Can anyone help me with a hardware issue? I have an Acer Aspire M3201 that has developed a start-up problem. This runs the AMD Phenom 8650 triple-core CPU and my diagnostic software identifies the motherboard as ID9600.

Until a few days ago the computer has always worked flawlessly. Then suddenly it wouldn’t start. I checked the PSU and that is okay but no other sign of life except the fans. The power switch has a light that normally comes on and it also was dead. I tried switching the computer on and off many times in many different ways and nothing. Also nothing from the BIOS. Then, after many attempts, the power light suddenly came on and the computer started normally. I ran it all DAY without any issues.

While it was working I tapped around the motherboard looking for bad connections or chips but everything seemed fine. Eventually I shut it down. The next day exactly the same THING happened. Dead as a dodo. Again, I tried tapping around the motherboard while attempting to switch it on but no response. Finally, after many, many attempts, it suddenly came on and worked normally.

This morning when the same thing happened again I had a bright idea and tried warming the motherboard with a hair dryer. This time it turned on after only a few tries. I have only done this once so can’t be certain that it is temperature-related, but that certainly seems possible.

I know some basic electronics but not enough to diagnose this any further. Has anyone else experienced anything like this, or does anyone have any idea what might be going on? I use this computer a lot and the OS is locked to it, so I would really like to fix this if at all possible. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 
Sounds like a Power Supply issue to me. Try and borrow a Power Supply that is the same wattage or greater and see if the issue goes away.

It could also be bad capacitors on the motherboard. Check to see if any of the capacitors look like this:
Thanks for the reply. I did swap out the PSU and that didn't make any difference. I haven't done a close INSPECTION of the motherboard yet but I'll let you know if I find anything. Thanks again.
Okay, if the motherboard then visually checks out, With the machine off, reseat the first RAM stick, and try again, then the second, etc. If this provides no resolution try reseating any addon cards. If you have a PCI modem, reseat it or consider removing it permanently to avoid any future issues. I have seen these cause many issues like this. Thanks again for the suggestions. I have now inspected the motherboard with a work light and magnifying glass but can find no sign of any damage. I have also repositioned the memory chips and removed a modem card that wasn't doing anything. The only other card I have installed is for USB 3.0.

Unfortunately, none of this seems to have made any difference. I still have the same issue and I wonder if it could be a microscopic soldering fault on the motherboard. I have heard of such things but have no idea how to look for this.
I too have had issues with faults that cannot be seen, where the board would not POST unless the heatsink was unclipped. This kinda DEFEATED the purpose of having the computer on at all!

LAST thing I can suggest would be to reseat the CPU, and replace the thermal paste.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/333968-28-thermal-paste-removal-installation-guide

If this doesn't help, unfortunately with the machine booting after using the hair dryer the motherboard may have a irreparable fault and will need to be replaced, or an upgrade kit if you cannot get a  compatible motherboard. The motherboard does -not- have to be the same board, as most will lead you to believe, there are ways around getting a Windows installation to boot on a new motherboard quite easily.

Toshiba C660 FULL Specifications
CPU: Intel® Core™ i3, Intel® Pentium, Intel® Celeron, AMD® Athlon™ II Dual Core, AMD® V series
Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Basic (32-bit) or Premium (64-bit) on Satellite C660, Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional on Satellite Pro C660
RAM: up to 8 GB DDR3 (1066 MHz)
2.5″ HDD (5,400 RPM) up to 640 GB
39.6cm (15,6”) TruBrite® LED HD display (16:9), 1,366 x 768 pixels, 200 cd/m2; Satellite Pro C660 also available with non-reflective display
GPU: LATEST integrated graphics
2 x USB 2.0, Multi-Card Reader, Fast Ethernet
WLAN (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
10-digit numeric keypad, Touch Pad with Multi-Touch Control
starting at 2.54 kg
Dimensions: 380.5 mm x 254 mm x 28.0 mm (front) / 35.6 mm (back)
DVD-Super Multi drive (Double Layer)
Toshiba Media Controller, Toshiba LifeSpace
VGA Web Camera with Face Recognition, microphone

Hi , It was bought brand new ( from eclipse computers ) and it's a 320Gb Toshiba MQ01AB 5400RPM 2.5 SATA Hard Disk Drive , I only want the laptop as an up grade to the I'm using at the moment for car diagnostic work.

 Thanks , Adam

Hello and thank you in advance for helpful information you might have for my situation.

I purchased a new graphics card for my Dell pc. I was currently running an AMD Radeon 7770.
The new card I purchased was a Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X. Model # GV-R928XOC-3GD.
After installation of the new card, my pc will not boot up. I am only getting a black screen after powering on the pc. I cannot even switch to my onboard graphics while the card is installed in the SLOT. If i remove the card from the slot, the integrated graphics port works. Reinserting the old 7770 worked fine as well.

All fans work including cpu and gpu fans upon power up. The hard drive also spins from what I can tell, however no peripherals such mouse or keyboard work while the new 280X is installed.
I called Gigabyte for support and they told me my PCI E slot may not be compatible. I do not know how to check this.
I am using an EVGA 600B Power Supply.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]I ran into similar problems with an older ( 5 YEAR old ) system and PCIE 16x. I found out that my PCIE 16x slot was only 1.1 and was not 2.0. Some video cards will not work with the older PCIE 1.1. The card I had prior that worked in this MOTHERBOARD was a PCIE 2.0. The video card I attempted to upgrade to was PCIE 16x 2.1 and it would not work with 1.1. I got a black screen just like you stated. I placed this same video card into a newer motherboard with a PCIE 16x 2.0 slot and the 2.1 card is able to operate fine on 2.0. So this older motherboard with the 1.1 slot is going to stick with the 2.0 Radeon HD5450 with 512MB RAM I guess. This is my older gaming system anyways. I have a better system that has the better 2.1 card in its 2.0 slot. Just waiting for a deal on an 8-core FX CPU for it. Currently using a 4-core Athlon II.

What is the exact model of your Dell so we can look up motherboard info and see what it has for a PCIE slot spec?

If this video card is powered off of a molex connection from the PSU, then its either a PCIE slot issue with spec speed or you may have gotten a bad video card to put into the system. From Gigabyte though that would be really rare to get a bad video card. If the video card is powered off of the PCIE slot directly without any 12v molex connection direct from PSU, I have also heard of some people overloading the PCIE slots wattage before. Usually cards that are watt hungry come with a 12v molex direct power connection to ease the power demands off of the PCIE slot.My power supply had a pair of 6+2 pin connectors labeled PCIE so I was using those to plug in the card. The card itself did come with a pair connectors though, molex at one end and 6 and 8 pin at the other. Does it matter which set I used?


Motherboard
   Manufacturer   Dell Inc.
   Model   0YJPT1 (CPU 1)
   Chipset Vendor   Intel
   Chipset Model   Ivy Bridge
   Chipset Revision   09
   Southbridge Vendor   Intel
   Southbridge Model   H77
   Southbridge Revision   04
   System Temperature   28 °C
      BIOS
         Brand   Dell Inc.
         Version   A05
         Date   4/18/2012
      Voltage
         CPU CORE   1.044 V
         MEMORY CONTROLLER   1.500 V
         +3.3V   2.040 V
         +5V   2.843 V
         -5V   (8.928) V
         +5V HIGH THRESHOLD   2.762 V
         CMOS BATTERY   1.536 V
      PCI Data
            Slot PCI-E
               Slot Type   PCI-E
               Slot Usage   Available
               Data lanes   x16
               Slot Designation   PCIE1
               Characteristics   3.3V, Shared, PME
               Slot Number   0
            Slot PCI-E
               Slot Type   PCI-E
               Slot Usage   Available
               Data lanes   x1
               Slot Designation   PCIE2
               Characteristics   3.3V, Shared, PME
               Slot Number   1
            Slot PCI-E
               Slot Type   PCI-E
               Slot Usage   Available
               Data lanes   x1
               Slot Designation   PCIE3
               Characteristics   3.3V, Shared, PME
               Slot Number   2
            Slot PCI-E
               Slot Type   PCI-E
               Slot Usage   Available
               Data lanes   x1
               Slot Designation   PCIE4
               Characteristics   3.3V, Shared, PME
               Slot Number   3 Ok your system is fairly new then. BIOS of 2012. You likely have PCI-E 2.0 if not 2.1, so the video card should work without issues.

As long as the connection on the video card is fully satisfied with the 12VDC ( yellow and black ) wires it should work. Some video cards some with an adapter to convert some lesser featured power supplies to be able to power the video card.

Here are test options which may or may not be available to you:

Test the system with a different power supply and see if you get same results.

-OR-

Test this video card into another known good system with a power supply of at least 550 watts or so to see if the card works in another system.

If the power supply swap fixes it then you need a new PSU and this PSU is running weak and not really 600 watts anymore ( It can happen ). If the video card doesnt work in another system then maybe its a freak occurance of Gigabyte selling a defective video card.In addition to the above, if your card has the dual BIOS switch it's worth switching that to the other position and trying the card again - it won't hurt.
I've read instances of some R9 series cards giving the same problem if the system's BIOS isn't compatible, it can usually be fixed by either flashing the card's BIOS or the board's BIOS.  Some cards come with a UEFI and non-UEFI BIOS to cover both possibilities, some are the same BIOS on both switches for backup purposes.  It won't hurt to TRY it.
Do you know if there's a BIOS update available for your system direct from Dell, too?have you tried uninstalling the driver for your previous card in your system before installing the driver?  this solved my prob before. i did this both before installing the cardPlease test the card in another machine as DaveLembke said, but if you cannot then read on...

I had an issue with my motherboard where the Top PCI-e slot was faulty. It ran my HD4870 (PCI-e 2.0 16x) but in BIOS it would only work at 4x speed at 1.1, not 16x at 2.0.
When I upgraded to an HD7870 the card would not work at all. Changing the BIOS settings for the PCI-e slot made no difference.

RMAing the Motherboard solved the issue and gave me full 16x PCI-e 3.0 support.

Place your old card back into the machine, boot it up, ensure the drivers are installed correctly and run GPU-z from
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2360/techpowerup-gpu-z-v0-7-8/

Run the tool and on the right hand side in the middle-ish there will be a box labeled Bus Interface. Whatever it states before the symbol is the cards normal standard, after the symbol is the cards current running standard. You may need to click the ? button next to the box and run the rendering test if your card, like mine, drops down to 1.1 standard when idle.

If the card is reporting incorrect values or reports anything different than the supposed rate, then it can be a BIOS setting interfering with the new card.In your case, the new graphics card is possible cause of the problem. It is possible that your newly installed graphics card is not compatible with your motherboard. Also, mouse stops working upon installing the graphics card?... There could be an IRQ (Interrupt Request) conflict between the graphics card and the mouse driver. Try troubleshooting the conflict by right-clicking My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager and there you will be able to view your hardwares installed in your computer.     Feel free to ignore the above post.

Hi. I have a Gateway W350A (aka T-1616) that is acting a little suspicious starting yesterday. Every time I go to turn it on, it begins to load and I get the blue 'hang' screen (windows xp) so fast it's literally a blip and it reboots. Then, when it asks I select 'start windows normally' and it boots up just fine. I have, in the past, had hang screen issues on many computers and always resolved the issue - but it was always a problem. This time, I am able to get it to work every time just by trying to start twice. I'm a bit confused. If it were a hardware or software problem, it would seem to be present the second time I log in as well (on each occasion). The laptop had been OVERHEATING recently and turning off; but I blew out the ventilation system the other day and speedfan and coretemp have shown the cpu operating at normal temperatures since so I no longer have that problem. However, I find it suspicious this has started happening since I fixed that issue. Part of me thinks perhaps the cpu was damaged by overheating or some FILES became corrupted, but I thought either of these would cause either a permanent hang at startup, irregular startups, or random errors. So far, it is the same thing each time (so there's regularity) and immediate success booting on the second attempt. If I were booting under 'last known good configuration' I'd understand, but I am just telling it to boot normally on the second go round. I am well aware that in these forums, giving a little information and asking what you think is happening is a bit like telling a doctor by phone you have a SPOT on your leg and expecting him/her to tell you if it's EBOLA or a bug bite; but still - what is your best guess what is going on here? Thanks. Issue resolved: Turns out Speedfan itself causes the giveio.sys to hang. REMOVING the program solved the problem.

BTW: A failed CD/DVD drive can cause the same symptoms.

why is my gpu core temp 60c idle? its usually at 40c idle. after I play a graphics intensive game and stopped, it went to 60c idle and wont go back to 40c, NOT playing the game! how to fix? is 60c okay?Please include the specs for your machine.
From 40 to 60 C is a long way, but MAY be inside the specs for your computer.You  do understand  the Graphics card puts an additional  thermal load on  the total case cooling. How long does it take to come back to about 50 C ?

What kind of cooling do you have? Here is a link that covers the basics of PC cooling systems.
http://www.tested.com/tech/pcs/454619-cooling-your-new-pc-water-cooling-options-explained/

Because of the way that Air cooling works, the temperature of your GPU will rise as the air temperature inside your case rises closer to the temperature of your card.
The temperature can never really be below the ambient air temperature of the air surrounding the card. 60 Degrees as idle is okay, as long at the temperature under full load doesn't breach 85 Degrees. Some cards are happy at 90-95 Degrees but this is pretty hot.

If this is an AMD card, you should be able to control the fan speed in Catalyst Control Center, allowing you to give additional cooling to the card manually.
My HD7870 sits around 40 Degrees idle (before I play a game) with the fans on auto (Around 20%) 70ish under full load and will drop back down to 50ish idle. My fan speeds never auto increase at these temperatures. Forcing the fan speed to 100% makes a little bit of noise but can drop my temperature to under 30 Degrees sometimes.

There should be an nVidia EQUIVALENT, but I haven't used a nVidia card since the 8600GT 

Depending on the age of the card the thermal paste may need replacing too.
Is the cooler tight on the CPU so that it can't be moved? Most of the time the CPU cooler causes the heat when it isn't properly installed. What are your temps at full load? MAKE sure that your fan is very good for airflow. for example,having 1 fan trying to exhaust all the air that 4 other fans bring in, especially since their all the same rpm, will have worse airflow than having 3 exhaust fans and 2 intake fans. I would try to change at least one of the fans so they are more even.
Simply quitting the game is not gonna cause the temps to drop back to 40c...

Hi everyone,

So I've decided to go and buy a new headset after my current one is getting a bit dodgy in some aspects.

I am limited to buying from this website: http://www.pccasegear.com
and I am QUITE confident in buying one of two Corsair headsets. I'm completely indecisive of which one though. One is a direct USB connection, and the other one is analogue that I would use with my Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card.

First option: Corsair Vengeance 1500 v2 Dolby 7.1 USB Headset
(Note that this is virtual 7.1 surround sound with Dolby software)

Second option: Corsair Vengeance 1400 Analog Headset
(Note that this is stereo only)

My main concern is whether or not it is better to get the more recent 1500 model or the older 1400 model that I could use with my sound card.

I'm also open to suggestions of other headsets, although they need to be worth less than $110 on the website I mentioned. I'll be using the headset for the entire range of things from gaming to movies to music. I will be using the mic every day as well. i dont know if this is out of your price range but i can recomend the Corsair Vengeance 2100 iv tried them and i know a happy custome that used them for a long time
and i can also recomend the Logitech G930 ones if the price ISINT a problem (those are siting on my head right now)

the reason i have for recomending those are that there wireless and for me thats a huge bonus as i have about 10 expensive WIRED ones all broken and eavry time its the same thing, that the wire just where it goes into the headpones started glitching and thay brake

plus its a huge bonus that i can walk aroung my whole house with the headphones on and chat with PPL and LISEN to music

but incase these arent in your price range id recomend the Corsair Vengeance 1500 v2 one out of the 2 you were looking at and dont worry about them having a usb and not using your sound card

id recomend the Logitech G35 Headset aswell as a wired alternetive becos thay are almost exakly like the G930 exept wired and both these have exelent sound and the best thing i like is that the ears fit into the headpones so the pads on them are not presing on you ears and isolate sound frome the outeside realy well plus the pads themselves are realy soft and therefore enables long time use of the headphones without geting sore and iritated ears

id also like to recomend the Logitech G430 Headset and the for the same reson i recomend the G35 it has good sound and those nice soft and big earpads for extended use 

these are all recomeded with gaming in mind thoug

Hi, 

I hope someone can help me out. I've been trying to deal with this for days and I've HIT dead ends every time. 

(Some info about my hardware: My laptop is a Dell ultrabook  with windows 8.1, my two external hard drives are WD my passport ultra, 1 is 1TB and the other is 2TB.)

So, a couple of days ago I was messing around with some virtual drive and decided to unmount it. Unfortunately seems I might have unmounted my external hard drive instead. That was a WD my 1Tb passport but my 2Tb was still readable by my computer.

I tried the 1Tb on another computer and it was read fine and so I am SURE the hard drive itself is not corrupt.

My Laptop can't read my hard drive at all. I tried going to disk management (can't see it), tried device manager (Also can't see it). I've tried any and every suggestion I could find online.

I even decided that maybe if I formatted my 1Tb hdd, i would be able to open it again on my computer. So I went ahead and moved all my data (using a different computer) to my 2Tb hdd. I did a quick format bc I was short on time but my laptop was still not able to read it. But here's the kicker, After moving all the data to my 2TB, my laptop can't read that hdd anymore either. (It still works on other computers)...

Oh And the other computers I've tried the hard drives on, both have windows 7, so I'm also starting to wonder if its a windows 8.1 issue?


So does anyone have any other suggestions  . PLEASE... Anything.

Thank You
Mount an External HDDThanks Patio. I tried it already. I can't see my hard drive in there at all. Common INSTALLATION Problems and Their Solutions

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/20...tallation.htmlThis might be also helpful:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-PH/windows7/windows-7-installation-problem-hard-drive-not-found

Hi, I'm new to this FORUM and very much a newbie when it comes to computers, so I need help choosing.

I am hoping to buy a custom built computer for photo and video editing but I'm not sure what to consider. Also I'm a little nervous of being scamed.
So far I have two offers. Both are $1000

Offer 1

CPU: Intel i7-4770 Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card: 2G nVidia GT 630  Asus

Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 500W ATX Power Supply
 
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer


Offer 2

CPU: AMD Fx 8350 8 Core CPU Vishera
CPU Speed: Stock, Not Overclocked. 4.0 GHz Base clock 4.2 GHz Turbo Clock

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X Universal

Motherboard: Asrock 970 Extreme 3 V.2 Capable of Quad SLI and Crossfire

Graphics Card: MSI 270x Gaming Edition 2GB

Ram: Single DDR3 Patriot 8GB

Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W Constant Power 80+ Bronze Certified

HDD: WD Blue 1 TB

Case: Cooler Master N400 With Side Mirror (Tinted)

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro

Thoughts?

Thanks Is this $1000 (USD) or some other form of money?

Sorry should have clarified AUS $1000Why Windows 8?
Windows 7 is proven to be solid and reliable. Just what the offer was. It really comes down to whether the software you use will benefit from having a powerful video card or not.  The video card in the first machine is weaker but most of the other aspects of the first one are better - It has a better CPU, more RAM and better brand of motherboard.  Does the company at least let you specify some parts to change as you could then go with the first one but with an upgraded video card.

Have you thought about building it yourself or having something built completely to your specifications as this would give you a lot more flexibility?

Quote from: Geek-9pm on May 10, 2014, 11:05:17 PM

Why Windows 8?

Have you thought about building it yourself or having something built completely to your specifications as this would give you a lot more flexibility?

See attachment.

It started a few days ago and has gotten worse today. It seems to be monitor specific because I have dual monitor setup and there are no problems with the other one.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]OK i did an experiment switching the monitors and there is no problem. Then I switch them back and the problem is back.

Also the problem is not browser specific. It is an  across the board problem. ie even the fonts in the taskbar are smudged.

The monitor is brand new and the drivers are the latest. I just looked at the image I submitted and the problem cannot be seen in a screen cap. I had an issue years ago with a LCD with blurred columns that affect text. Does the blury/smudgy text all blur vertically in line and repeat later on the screen with another column of blur/smudge. You may have multiples of these blurry columns.

The fix was to change the refresh rate in the video properties from the default of 60hz to 75hz even though its a LCD and not a CRT, this corrected it on that HP DC5000 COMPUTER. It seemed to be a refresh issue where there was an odd analog harmonic at 60hz refresh and 75hz SETTING made it go away.

Also some LCD's have Video Noise ( Phase and Clock ) adjustments when you press MENU and navigate to adjusting the settings and these can be used to sharpen and get rid of blur/smudge as well.

Also... as per ... Quote

OK i did an experiment switching the monitors and there is no problem. Then I switch them back and the problem is back.

Are you connecting the problem monitor with a VGA Connector?

I was troubleshooting my faulty disk drive that I plug into my Y510p laptop. The only thing I hadn`t tried was plugging something in to the port by the USB port on the disk drive. It matched with a power cord (with an adapter that says input 120V output 9V or 3V) that my guitar pedal uses so I plugged that into the drive and then plugged in the drives USB to the laptop. The laptop immediately shut off and won't come back on. I'M SO STUPID! Freaking hindsight bias! What have I done?!?!

Is there any hope or did I completey blow out my laptop? That laptop is my life...Now I'm stuck using the Internet Channel on my Wii, pointing to and clicking on each individual letter on my TV screen to create this post.

When the battery is in the laptop it won't turn on at all, but take out the battery and the power button will light up but the screen doesn't come on. The laptop is plugged in in both of these cases.

What have I done, what have I done...Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but USB ports are very sensitive to power being forced backwards into them, and it is very likely there has been damage done to the motherboard of the laptop.
Try removing the battery, and power from the laptop. Hold the power button for 30s, and then press the power button 10 or so times to drain any residual power from the laptop. Plug the power back in and try to boot again.

The only laptops I know of with USB port fuses are Sony Vaio machines.

Does your external drive have a power connector normally or is it powered via the USB? I am interested to see what port you are talking about here, the only thing I can think of is a firewire connector or something similar.
The USB controller chip is likely blown. If you were lucky and able to locate this chip, you could carefully remove the chip and maybe it would boot if the blown chip is holding down the 5V but chances are your looking at buying a new laptop since who doesnt use USB anymore these days and swapping a main board to get USB back is not an easy as well as not a cheap repair.

Its too bad its not a desktop computer as for a desktop is easier and cheaper to fix. I have fixed many desktops that took lightning strikes etc as well as one that took a direct hit and amazingly the CPU and RAM was good, but the PSU, Motherboard, and the HDD was toast. The CPU and RAM I would have thought would have been the most sensitive to a high voltage spike, but somehow the ELECTRONS from the strike took a path of least resistance that skipped by the CPU and RAM. I was able to install the CPU and RAM into a new motherboard and install a new HDD and PSU and the system ran flawlessly. Even Memtest86 proved that the RAM was untouched by the lightning strike. Quote from: Kurtiskain on May 15, 2014, 08:19:30 PM

Does your external drive have a power connector normally or is it powered via the USB? I am interested to see what port you are talking about here, the only thing I can think of is a firewire connector or something similar.

I have fixed many desktops that took lightning strikes etc as well as one that took a direct hit and amazingly the CPU and RAM was good, but the PSU, Motherboard, and the HDD was toast.

I play a game called minecraft and im buying a new laptop and i was wondering about how many fps i will be getting in this one http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/hp-pavillion-15d051sa-156-laptop/317250/104.12#techmight help, read on http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1280250-will-this-laptop-run-minecraft/
For games you need a better GPU (Graphics card) than anything else and that page didn't say anything about the GPU on that specific laptop (or maybe I just didn't read it properly). Although minecraft isn't a very graphics intensive game so you might be able to get away with it. If it was me I'd keep on looking but it's up to you

ALSO have a look at this it should help you out alot.
https://help.mojang.com/customer/portal/articles/325948-minecraft-system-requirements

Hope this helped a bit.It is impossible to give you a GOOD figure on the FPS you will get in Minecraft. The settings vary the speeds greatly. Are you going to be running on max settings all the time? are you going to be running MODS?

The laptop does not have a 'dedicated' GPU, it is reliant on the  built in Intel iGPU, which isa very weak compared to a dedicated GPU unit.

You might get away with Medium settings, but it will definitely play smoothly on low. Quote from: infiniytMC1999 on May 16, 2014, 06:36:29 AM

Although minecraft isn't a very graphics intensive game

Here's my system and graphics card info:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 5/17/2014, 09:14:47
       Machine name: ECKHARDT
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.101014-0432)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
       System Model: NP238AA-ABA e9107c
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 04/28/09 16:39:33 Ver: 5.03
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q8200  2.33GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.3GHz
             Memory: 8190MB RAM
          Page File: 3192MB used, 13389MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 10

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4350
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x954F)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
   Display Memory: 3570 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 502 MB
    Shared Memory: 3067 MB
     Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)

I want to upgrade to Windows 7, I want to upgrade to DirectX 11, and I want to be able to play games in my monitor's full 1920 x 1080 instead of having to pick the lowest resolutions to get anywhere near decent performance. With those in mind, does anyone have any graphics card recommendations? Also, I'd like to keep it under $300. Thanks!Personally I wouldn't go mental and get a really powerful card as you'll start to find your CPU is also a limitation in modern games.  I'd recommend something such as an NVIDIA GeForce 750ti.  You would also find that if you were to go above the 750ti to something like a 760 you would need to upgrade your power supply to cope which would be around and extra $70 for a quality unit, the 750ti on the other hand will be happy on your current 300w PSU.

You aren't going to get crazy performance in all games on a card like the 750ti but it will run pretty much everything at your full resolution, you may just need to TURN down the detail settings on some more intensive games down to medium/high instead of ultra.

A card like this would do the job fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025 Quote from: camerongray on May 17, 2014, 10:45:31 AM

Personally I wouldn't go mental and get a really powerful card as you'll start to find your CPU is also a limitation in modern games.  I'd recommend something such as an NVIDIA GeForce 750ti.  You would also find that if you were to go above the 750ti to something like a 760 you would need to upgrade your power supply to cope which would be around and extra $70 for a quality unit, the 750ti on the other hand will be happy on your current 300w PSU.

You aren't going to get crazy performance in all games on a card like the 750ti but it will run pretty much everything at your full resolution, you may just need to turn down the detail settings on some more intensive games down to medium/high instead of ultra.

A card like this would do the job fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025

found an ITEM enabled in my icons on my Toshiba that switched off by battery. I have now disabled the switch and it is now charging.

most information on the web does not mention this.


thought someone might need to know.
peak shift control  Wankel rotary engine.I dont know what that reply meant but assume it was sarcasm.   

What I was saying is that I bought a new Windows 7 laptop and it has been showing PLUGGED in. Not Charging when checking the battery availability.

I discovered there is a button that has dates settings etc where when it reaches the date it switches off the battery.    The Toshiba was set for July 1st to 31st August to swich off the battery.   I didnt know about this setting and after exploring the web for solutions and noticing all the attempts to fix this problem I posted to tell anyone interested that you can disable this setting to stop it switching off when it reaches the set dates.    I went through several solutions including a youtube solution to fix it but they did not work.

If my offer of information is of not interest then I see no reason for sarcastic responses.  If I had found this information in the first place i would have saved two hours.It must be in the documentation.
That is not a 'bug', it is a feature.
Turning off the battery prolongs battery life.probably.    But it took me by surprise and so I went on Google to look for a solution. This solution wasnt offered by anyone on google that I found. I was REALLY just offering it in case someone else confronts it. 

It is worth checking that button in the icons to see if the battery is TURNED off.  Like a lot of things once you know you know sort of.
Another thing that can cause this to happen is a bad power supply. Sometimes the power supply will boot your laptop fine but not have enough power to charge the battery. I solved this by taking the battery out when not using the computer.   it seems to TRICKLE feed while turned off and is always flat.  so doesn't go flat in the bag and install each time I use the computer.

Was about to leave the house for vacation, but needed to check something before going..

PC started like it normally, bit seemed a bit slow. And then it froze where i took the screenshot. What could be the problem? I have pulled out all but one stick of memory out, same error, the single post beep is there, but hdd is not spinning up, still spinning slowly tho.. I took the screenshot because to me it looks like something is missing there

Please help:)

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by ADMIN]How many hard drives are currently in your machine? I see only one being detected there, as well as an optical drive.

The hard drive spinning up is not enough to determine if the disk if faulty or not. If the HDD is not spinning up correctly then this is the almost guaranteed cause of your issue, it could also be the PSU not delivering correct voltage to the drive, but this would also likely mean the machine would not boot at all.

I assume you are now away on vacation anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it for now, go and gave a good vacation and make a new post once you get back Hi there

I only use one disk, and one optical drive so that is normal
I dont think the disk is spinning up normally, feels like it only spinning slowly
But i wonder what that purple 'U' in the corner means?
PSU is pretty new, dont think that is the issue:)

So i should try with another disk at first? Then try a new psu?Okay not on vacation yet  Are you able to give some more details on the machine? Brand, model, and any other specifications will help.

Because the machine is powering on and I assume staying on until you turn it off, the PSU is likely okay, but cannot be ruled out yet.

I forgot to ask, do you have any USB hard drives plugged into the machine? If you do try unplugging these and boot again.

Does the drive make any clicking, surging or odd noises?

Other than that the easiest way to tell if a drive is faulty would be to grab a spare USB PEN drive, a 2GB drive is enough.
Note that this will require you to format the USB drive so back up everything on it if you want to keep it.

Use another machine to follow these instructions:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

Boot from the USB, try TAPPING F8,F9 or F12 while the BIOS first SCREEN is on your monitor, one of these should give you a boot device selection screen.

If Linux boots and you can access the drive, navigate folders etc the drive is 99% likely okay.

I admit the I noticed the purple U up in the top corner, this could be a symbol meaning that BIOS completed its tests successfully. It could also mean the BIOS has had to halt but I cannot seem to find any information on a purple U in the top corner.

EDIT: had another thought just now, unplug the Hard drive and see if the BIOS progresses further, giving a message similar to "Operating System not found".Check your Master-Slave CONNECTIONS. One device has to be primary..

I need a new gaming PC 120fps at least for minecraft and 60 fps whilst recording for minecraft. Settings 8 chunks. Everything else max.That topic is found ELSEWHERE. Do you think this forum will give a BETTER answer?
Prices are coming down. SSD is not affordable.
Tom's hardware already.did that.
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1986391/good-gaming-build-700.html
But it kind looks looks like a commercial for a hardware vendor.  What country are you in?

Also, why Amazon?  A LOT of the custom PCS on Amazon are terrible - You are really much better getting one from a company that will custom build it to your order.

I have a combinatin of one small subwoofer speaker and two L/R common speaker together. I expected the speakers to be much louder than what I was using before, but it appears the output is about the same. I've gone to control panel and checked in the audio areas etc. but everything shows as being at max volume. Am I MISSING something here? All the speakers have sound coming from them so they do WORK fine in that sense.What brand and model are those new speakers?  Forgive a silly question, but are you certain the speakers don't have a separate volume adjustment? Quote from: soybean on May 22, 2014, 08:29:57 AM

What brand and model are those new speakers?

Forgive a silly question, but are you certain the speakers don't have a separate volume adjustment?

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 purchased in 2002. The computer sounds like it's booting, but there is no video.

-There is four or five years of entering ancestry information that would be DIFFICULT to replicate - hence the effort to get this working (it was transferred to a new computer a year ago, but that one is no longer available)
- There may have been a power surge
- When the computer BOOTS, you can hear the drive working - if you remember the days of XP when it would run out of ram it would USE the hard drive and you could hear the hard drive chunking away, that's what it sounds like
- There are no beeps from the motherboard when it boots... the kind you expect to hear when there is a hardware problem
- The fans work
- The lights on the network card don't light up
- There is an AGP slot and an available PCI slot, I put in a number of AGP cards... it does not have ONBOARD video, the current video card is a 4x NVidea card.. I tried another 2/4x video card as well as multiple other AGP cards that I have - no change.
- There is an open PCI slot. I put a pci video card in and there is still no video

I put the hard drive into a Dell Dimension 8300 and I got the BSOD with a message that it couldn't boot and it would stop now to prevent damage

Do you have any other recommendations? I originally thought that it would be easy to find another Dimension that I could put this drive in just to be able to boot the program. If I can boot the program, I can export the data into a format that can be put into a new computer. But, I haven't been able to find an 8200 (I thought the 8300 would be close enough, but it's not).
Stop using it immediately...a chunking sound is not good and could RUIN your chance at data recovery.

To get the data have another PC ready with a HDD that has enough free space and folders setup as you want...as you may get only 1 chance.

In order to retrieve the data it has to be hooked up as a slave drive...you had it connected as a boot drive. This does not work because Windows is designed to move from 1 PC to the next.
If it's an older IDE HDD the jumper by the connectors needs to be set to slave before proceeding.

Grab the most important files 1st as i said you may only get 1 chance...

can i install a FIREWIRE card in a HP Proliant DL180 G5 SERVER running windows 7 ultimate? The server has 2 PCIe x4 slots open. If it is possible what card would you recommend? THANK you for your time and help with this!I believe to take advantage of firewire they would need to be X16 slots...

Someone else may be along shortly to confirm.

i am making a computer from scratch and i plan to have a 3  monitor setup. i plan to use only one monitor for gaming and the other two for web surfing and homework. i was wondering WHETHER it would be CHEAPER to RUN one gaming graphic card has three monitor hook up. or two graphic CARDS, one gaming and another cheaper one for the other two monitors. the other question which is probably dumb is if I have the do different graphic card to run my three monitors a still only need one mouse right.Just get a single, good video card - There is absolutely no reason to run two.  Most good video cards nowadays will support 3 monitors out of the BOX anyway.+1 to Camerongray's post. And just to add that you are correct, the mouse simply flows from monitor to monitor.

I bought a USB-3.0 hard drive 3.5" enclosure, and mounted on it a Western Digital 3.5" 1TB hard drive I've been using, successfully for years while mounted in a USB-2.0 enclosure. I then connected the USB-3.0 enclosure to an USB-3.0 port but the result was an extremely slowness in writing, copying and deleting files.

I can see what is inside the hard drive and I can create partitions, but cannot work with such a super low speed, especially because I need that hard drive for backup purposes.

If I mount it back in the US-2.0 enclosure, it's the same thing.

Please, fin attached the 4 Western Digital test results.

Does anyone know a way --program tool, for instance-- to get this hard drive working at least at USB-2.0 speed?

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]So it was fast in 2.0 enclosure, moved it to 3.0 and had problems. Moved back to 2.0 and problems remain.

This drive might have an issue itself SINCE its acting the same as it did in the 3.0 enclosure now in the 2.0 enclosure that it was once happy in.

One suggestion I have is if you can see files that are important copy them off of this drive immediately to a healthy drive. Then install a different drive into the 3.0 enclosure and see if the problem is gone.

There seems to be a problem with this drive you have where it says that smart is healthy and yet not healthy and it definitely is not acting healthy. This drive may have been damaged somehow through the move between enclosures.

Would you happen to have a drive to test in the 3.0 enclosure on hand?

Also when it comes to external enclosures I have run into issues where many enclosures with prolonged use cook the drive inside because they have a poor thermal design where they are a sealed unit once together and they bake in the small air pocket that they have inside the enclosure. Cheap enclosures that I buy that are clearly poorly designed for AIRFLOW I will drill holes in the plastic prior to installing the drive and USB/SATA board controller this way I dont bake a drive.

I have a 300GB Maxtor SATA drive that I baked about 5 years ago that only works now when its cool, so I use it for short use ( less than 30 minute ) data transfers between systems, but no longer use it for important data storage. This drive ever since it got baked in a cheap enclosure will act fast until the drive starts to get hot to the touch and then it starts to make strange ping noises and lag out. If I have a fan blowing across this drive to keep it cool it will run without problems, but if it doesnt have airflow it will work fine until it gets hot and then it starts to act up and lag and make strange noises. Oddly, S.M.A.R.T for this drive says that it is healthy when it clearly is not when it gets hot.

Which enclosure are you using btw to see what model it is?Thanks, DaveLembke.

I already saved the important files

Yes, I've a second drive to test in the 3.0 enclosure, but I wouldn't like to do that because I'm afraid the 3.0 enclosure could damage this other drive too.

My external drives —I've had several— are only used for about 3 hours on Saturdays.

The 2.0 enclosure is a this Macally model G-S350SU
( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013LRLUM/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=34230351707&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12829720638835657362&hvpone=50.00&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3ru6lg4rus_b )

And the 3.0 is this Sabrent model EC-3US35
( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CJQ69A/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1 )
The only way to test the 3.0 enclosure would be with a drive, but I agree with you that its best not to put a drive in it that you care about, just in case it has an issue of some sort that created this problem.

The 3.0 drive that you linked is a drive baker design. I wouldnt run that type for 3 hours at a time because the drive cant breathe to cool. The USB 2.0 drive you linked is a far better design to breathe.

One enclosure that I am happy with that is 3.0 is this one. It has a cooling fan built into it to keep the drive cool. I run a 1.5TB drive in this same enclosure for about 6 to 12 hours a day when my computer is on at home. The drive in it is always cool at 30C when checking the properties of it with CrystalDisk Info a free tool. I am RUNNING mine at 2.0 vs 3.0 since its backwards compatible to 2.0.

Here is crystaldiskinfo if you want this free tool. I use the standard portable version since I dont like to install stuff if not required to keep windows as clean as possible, so when portable is available I run portable apps instead. This utility will give smart data info as well as tell you the temps for all connected drives that have temp monitoring features, which most do: http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

If you can get your money back on this 3.0 enclosure, I'd suggest this Rosewill 3.0 enclosure with the cooling fan built into it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182248&cm_re=usb_3.0_enclosure-_-17-182-248-_-Product Rosewill is not the best brand out there, but some of their products are good and others are to be avoided. This external drive enclosure however is beyond the quality I expect from their brand and it almost makes me wonder if they bought these unbranded from SOMEONE with higher quality standards than what they normally brand and manufacture based on how well they are constructed and operate. I own 2 of these one with a 2TB drive in it and another with a 1.5TB drive. The 1.5TB is used daily and the 2TB drive is a mirror copy of the 1.5TB that I join up with the 1.5TB drive on occasion to sync them up to latest info to have a safe copy of all important data on hand if the 1.5TB should ever die. 13 months of no problems knock on keys with this enclosure model.

Only thing to mention with this enclosure is that the Blue LED they use is bright and so when in use you dont want it in direct view of eyes. I defused the Blue Laser Beam LED from being so bright by applying a sticky note stuck to the face of it in which the blue flashing etc can be SEEN through paper that is easier on the eyes. One of these days when I am bored I might swap out the ultra bright Blue LED with a normal LED from an old computer case to have a yellow or green blinking indicator that is easier on the eyes. But for now the sticky note to block the beam works.

I used a Sabrent 2.0 for years and had no problem with it. The 3.0 pilot led never blinks, and I suppose that it should. The Macally pilot led did.

I'd like to sent back this Sabrent but I cannot because I'm in Latin America.

Thanks for the links.Since you can't send it back, if you can find a good healthy HDD that a friend has that doesnt need any storage capacity, even a 40GB SATA would do, or can get one cheap that is SATA, I'd test the drive in this 3.0 unit before putting in a drive that you care about just to be careful not to destroy a drive that you need not to get ruined.

I'd suggest drilling some holes in the plastic in the bottom of it and a few at the top of the unit so that it can breathe, but do that without the drive and com board installed as for you just want to air out the case and not drill holes into the drives soft cast aluminum. A 1/4" drill bit slowly drilled into the plastic will make for holes that aren't ugly. And when used upright, heat rises and so the hot air will vent out the top and cool air will replace the heated air from the bottom.

I have a Vantec enclosure that is just about air tight that I had to drill to add airflow. Dropped the HDD temp from 53C to 37C when monitoring it with speedfan after the holes were added to breathe. This is the case I have that is similar to this model you have but doesnt have the eSATA feature, but its just like yours which is just about air tight which is not a good place for a drive to be that creates heat and cant get rid of the heat. My Maxtor 300GB cooked in one of these enclosures. I have since drilled holes in bottom and top of it so that it can breathe and not roast and have a 500GB Seagate in it now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145167

And the feedback says it all in numerous cons posted with heat issues such as this one, that while it hasnt killed the drive yet, its a problem ( Design Flaw where appearance is more important than thermal design ):

Quote

Pros: Very straightforward to get a drive installed. Compatible with every drive I've used with it, and every computer I plugged it into. Fast, good build-quality, and good-looking. No issues at all.

Cons: Can get hot with certain drives installed, but has not seemed to cause any reliability issues.

Power button will not turn on computer HELP!! I just put together a FX8520 with an ASUS M% A97 R2.0 and I remember something about possibly selecting the power button to turn off the computer. Now the only WAY to start it is to manually push some buttons on the MB and then push the power button for 3 seconds, then one push and it BOOTS. Can someone tell me what is going on? I am running Windows 7 with a Corsair AX 750, 1TB, 4gig RAM, and HD5850. I already made sure all connections are okay.

ThanksCorrection, M5 A97 R2.0Are you sure the front header connections are all correct ? ?
Even polarity reversal will cause this symptom.Yes, positive.Then it's possible the case switch is defective...It worked fine until I finished installing Windows 7
Also, if I push the RAM ok button and the reset
 MB button the computer will boot with the power button.Stop re-setting the MBoard...your stuck in a power loop it sounds like.

Installing a new OS would not affect the power switches if they worked before...Basically, it will not turn on unless I clear the CMOS. I tested the PS and all the specs are fine. I do not get it.Replace the CMOS BATTERY...you been messin in the BIOS ? ?Did that already. I'm about to take this JUNK MB back and get a Gigabyte
Quote from: PATIO on May 24, 2014, 09:23:51 AM

Replace the CMOS battery...you been messin in the BIOS ? ?

Replace the CMOS battery...you been messin in the BIOS ? ?

Basically, it will not turn on unless I clear the CMOS. I tested the PS and all the specs are fine. I do not get it.

okay my friend just dropped some TYPE of computer off at my house just the tower and the POWER cable. ive plugged it in and it turns on then I hooked it up via hdmi cable to my tv but it wont connect..... this is as far as ive GOTTEN and in KNOW nothing about computers if any one could help it would be very appreciated Try a keyboard and MOUSE. Ask your friend.

And a regular monitor...

have a pavilion dv4,  black screen, but lights come on and fan works, etc,  is there a way to know if it is the lcd screen for sure?
i tried hooking up external monitor, that didnt work THOUGH.   also, i RESEATED and swapped out ram,  reseated hard drive.
any other ideas??  thanks.Is there any history prior to this problem of any other problems? Such as overheating or battery LIFE issues etc?

I need a UPS for my mini desktop tower computer. The specifications of my computer are as fallows:-


System- Dell Inspiron 545MT
Operating System- Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Motherboard- N826N DG33M06 SOCKET 775 LGA775
Pcessor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 B3 2400 MHz Kentsfield
Ram- 4GB. Two sticks each 2GB DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) 240-pin
Graphics card- AMD Radeon HD 4550
Hard disc- one Regular SATA
Optical drive- one DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive
Card reader- one front bay card reader
Fans- one regular 80mm processor FAN and one regular 92mm case fan

The recommended PSU wattage I got was 288 W with 20% capacitor aging when I did the calculation at extreme outervision.com.
I have also bought a new power supply for my computer which is a Silverstone ST55F-G 550W power supply. I am also giving the details from the AC input requirements table given in the power supply manual so that it can help in suggesting a good UPS. Please have a look below.

Parameter            Min.     Nom.             Max.     Unit
Vin(Full range)      90      100---240      264       VACrms
Vin Frequency      47       60-----50       63          Hz
lin(ST55FG-G)                  7------3.5                    Arms

I am from India, Mumbai my budget is 8000 INR or $136 and 10000 INR or $170 which is maximum. I want a UPS to power my power supply sufficiently and efficiently during times when there is adequate power coming from the power GRID and during times when there is an outage. I want a UPS which can keep my computer on for ten to fifteen minutes during an outage so that I can shut down my computer. So please suggest a nice power supply that fulfills these requirements efficiently and which also fits the budget. Thank You very much. Most Universal Power supplies now made can handle either 50 or 60 cycle  power. For your use, a 50 VA unit is enough.  The service time depends more on the size of the battery.

The efficiency is a little better if you use 2430 volt rather than  120 volt. But the savings is not much. Either will work.
Some UPS systems allow you to use an external battery, such as a automobile battery. The batteries are often 12 volts types in common  use. A battery rated at 100 amp hours could deliver 300 watts for almost 4 hours. In theory. If it comes with an 8 amp hour battery, it can do about 18 minuets.. No exactly. But almost.

That is about all I can can say. I do not know if one brand is better than  another.

EDIT: Also, one can  purchase a spacial power supply for a tower computer that has battery back-yip built in. It has the same size, but would use and external battery. This might be available in your country. But you will have to investigate..

All good UPS manuf. have power consumption calculators on their sites...I think a 50VA UPS would be way to low for my computer. Because I have a old UPS with is 360W, output of 230V and a 600VA and this was used  to power my olde power supply of 300W and the UPS after one month of being continuously one started to shut down during normal conditions even when there was sufficient power coming from the power grid which led to quite a few crashes of my computer.    You need  500 (five hundred) VA or higher.
In the past few years the technology has improved. Mostly because of more market demand for quality UPS.
This looks like a fair review of some brands.
http://lifehacker.com/five-best-battery-backups-ups-units-1465536280
Five Best Battery Backups/UPS Units

The units they recommend are much more than what you need.
One low power unit the suggest is APC Back-UPS 650
That model will sell l for about $75 in the USA.
Personally, I am skeptical about such a low price. But I can be wrong.

EDIT: After reading over your last post again, I recall some of my own mrmpoies in living in another country. You may need more that just a UPS. Anotehr item tath migh be useful is called a "power conditioner".  The term is perhaps misleading. Here is a explanation.

Quote

A power conditioner (also known as a line conditioner or power line conditioner) is a device intended to improve the quality of the power that is delivered to electrical load equipment. While there is no official definition of a power conditioner, the term most often refers to a device that acts in one or more ways to deliver a voltage of the proper level and characteristics to enable load equipment to function properly. In some uses, power conditioner refers to a voltage regulator with at least one other function to improve power quality (e.g. power factor correction, noise suppression, transient impulse protection, etc.).

The terms "power conditioning" and "power conditioner" can be misleading, as the word "power" here refers to the electricity generally rather than the more technical electric power.

Conditioners specifically work to smooth the sinusoidal A.C. wave form and maintain a constant voltage over varying loads.

Someone brought in a 1500watt space heater

yes my name says it all, I am a noob. what is the best brand for amd video cards? I currently have a xfx 6870. and would like to upgrade. i would also like links to website for buying. i would like to keep under 160 USD. new or used is fine just must be under good condition. places i would like to shop ebay or amazon.Gigabyte, XFX, and ASUS are video card brands that I like to stick with. However I have had some of the cheaper brands and they seem to work. The one brand I will never BUY again though is HIS brand. I bought a bunch of video cards that were HIS brand for the graphic arts department at work and the failure rate was high. They lasted pretty much just beyond the warranty and then crapped out.

Cheap brands that I haven't had any problems with, but they are cheap low end cards are = Sparkle, Sapphire, PNY, PowerColor. ( PowerColor was probably the cheapest low quality LOOKING components and PCB materials. " But it worked and continues to work" )

My biggest concern with the cards is the fan life of the cards. That is that some cards are made with cheap fans that dont last and then the cards overheat and die etc. I had bad luck with a bunch of series 7 and 8 GeForce cards with the fans dying I feel prematurely such as a BFG 8800GT that the fan died after about 14 months of use and cooked the GPU to death. On inspection of why the fan died, there was no clump of dust bunnies in it, the bearing simply dried up of what little oil etc is between the metal and plastic and it froze up tight. I think the placement of the fan motor was the problem on these with the heat of the GPU overheating the bearing while it was spinning causing it to dry out and lock up.


As far as purchase locations..... I avoid ebay for anything like this and would go with Amazon of the 2 choices. I have been burned by ebay purchases of electronics, yet I have had good luck with Amazon purchases of computer parts.

I'd rather deal with Newegg or Tiger Direct though than even Amazon for a purchase like this.

As for ebay, I only buy these days parts that are worth the gamble, no high dollar purchases. The last 2 purchases from ebay were for a $5.00 with free shipping Pentium 4 3.0Ghz Socket 478 for a friends eMachine upgrade from Celeron D which made a big difference. He could have upgraded to a 3.4Ghz Pentium 4, but that CPU was $30 at the time, so the $5 deal made more sense. As well as I bought a cheap Athlon 64 x2 4450B Socket AM2 CPU for $10.00 with free shipping for my old gaming system when I moved the quadcore out of my old gaming system into my new gaming system and still WANTED my old gaming system to be functional, so this CPU was the best benchmark for $10 I could find on ebay and it worked out fine.  There were some 4450E CPUs that were almost identical to the 4450B for the same price, but the 4450B was the better benchmark Business Class CPU vs the different Cache Config Economical 4450E for home users etc. At some point I will buy the AMD FX 8350 8-core 4.0Ghz CPU for the new computer and put the quadcore back into the old gaming system or enough time will pass by that I skip the 8-core 8350 all together and go for an even newer build.Personally I like Sapphire branded cards. I agree with DaveLembke on HIS, very high failure rate imo.

Sapphire lately have been releasing cards with excellent non-reference cooling solutions, keeping noise to a minimum while having good temperatures.EVGA should have been mentioned in this...not the cheapest...but rock solid. Quote from: patio on May 14, 2014, 05:09:15 PM

EVGA should have been mentioned in this...not the cheapest...but rock solid.

I was wondering when you were going to pop in to say that  I have not had a lot of experience with EVGA cards, but can agree that what I have dealt with were very dependable.

Is it POSSIBLE to disable Integrated Graphics CARD and just keep the NVIDIA one on my LAPTOP .More INFO on the PC in question would be super...

I am trying to reconnect my Magnavox MBP 5120 blu-ray player to my Linksys routers wifi (which I have done before without trouble) and I am getting DHCP cannot be acquired. I have change the IP ADDRESS to manual on the blu-ray player without changing the IP address itself and no error. I have checked the routers settings and DHCP is enabled. Is there a way to fix this?Try power cycling the router and BLURAY player and see if it connects the next time. Use auto configuration on bluray wifi settings and connect only to the intended wireless router. Done all that
Quote

I have change the IP Address to manual on the blu-ray player without changing the IP address itself and no error.

Hello, I would like some help setting up my new gaming PC. I very new at making PCs.
The setup I'm going for ( http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Nsr3Hx ) is to be able to run smoothly games such as Skyrim in high setting without having low fps and lag.
My questions are:
1. Are all those parts compatible? I know the web PAGE says so but I'd like to be sure.
2. Will I need more RAM?
3. Do I need to upgrade some parts? If not, what parts can I downgrade so it is more economical
4. I know the PSU is very good one and probably too good for my need. Which do you recommend will be more appropriate for my setup?

Thank you and I sorry if this is not the place for this topic.
Ps: Non-English speaker   
"
All generalizations are false, including this one.  "Not bad, just a few things I would move around a little to give this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/P7TXnQ costing a whole 5¢ more.  What I did there was drop the power supply down to 650w as 850w is WAY too high for a single video card SYSTEM and then replaced the GeForce 670 video card with a GeForce 780.  The 780 is a current GENERATION card whereas the 670 is from NVIDIA's last generation, the 780 is also significantly higher up the range of cards so will perform a lot better than the 670 for not a massive price increase (which is well offset due to that PSU).

To save money you could get an Intel Core i5 4670k instead of the i7 which won't impact your performance massively in games.  That said, newer games are starting to benefit from an i7 so if your budget allows it it is probably worth keeping.

16gb RAM is way more than enough, for gaming and most general computing tasks you'd be fine with downgrading that to 8gb.

Finally, why Windows 7?  There's no real reason not to go for Windows 8.1 nowadays, it just takes a couple of weeks to get used to it.

Quote from: eQuilibrium on June 02, 2014, 02:40:03 AM

   
"
All generalizations are false, including this one.  "

I have an emachines T3624 that I bought brand new from Best Buy in 2005. It has Windows98 XP on it of course. All I basically use my pc for is
(1) to sell a few postcards on ebay, so I have a printer/scanner too.
(2) a little emailing
(3) looking up info/checking the news
(4) store a few photos and some music
(5) check my bank account info

I do not play games online and even though I have AT&T DSL internet service, I find that I can seldom watch a video without waiting for it to keep loading up (buffering), so I give up.
I know that Windows98 XP is now all but dead. Money is really tight at my house (and getting tighter!)   However, if 98XP makes my pc websurfing dangerous b/c of security glitches, I'm assuming that I need to get another pc and soon! Sigh...  
Can someone advise me of a few things here? I'm still really dumb about pcs for the most part.
I will have to buy a used one, but want to do so through a reputable dealer like walmart where I can at least get some kind of warranty!
I need to know if most desktop pcs still have ports for a telephone line as it looks like I will be having to switch to a dial-up ISP like netzero or such to save money.
I only need the pc itself as I have a great dell monitor already.
When I was looking on walmart's site about buying a used pc, they mentioned trading in your old pc and getting money for it. What can I do to get as much of my personal info off of my pc as possible before doing something like that? I don't want my pc to go in a landfill either afterall!
And what is the earliest Windows OS I should be willing to accept on a pc? I know that 98 XP is OUT!
My 9 year old pc is still working. I've never had a problem with it. I'm using it as I type this now! But I guess that I have to face reality since 98 XP is "gone".
Any and all advice would be appreciated. I am on disability and I help my Mom who is on social security. We're both having to make more adjustments with our expenses and so my ISP will be one of mine. Believe me, I'm NOT looking forward to dial-up, but you do what ya gotta do.
Thanks all!
BreadcrumbPretty much any new/refurbished PC with Windows 7/8.1 will be a good upgrade from your current one.  Unfortunately not that MANY computers now come with Dial Up modems, your current computer has a modem on a PCI expansion card you can always take it out and put it into your new system assuming it has an appropriate slot.

As far as clearing your personal details off you can use http://www.dban.org/ - You burn that software to a CD and start the PC from it, it will securely erase everything on your hard drive (This will take a long time so you may need to leave it overnight).  After this everything will be gone (including Windows) so depending on the trade-in programme it may be fine like this or you may need to reinstall Windows XP from a CD (although they will likely be fine with it completely wiped).

Also, just to clarify - Windows 98 and Windows XP are different versions entirely, you are running Windows XP.Thank you for all the info! of course, I'm dumb as dirt about some of the technical aspects you mentioned.
Since few pcs have dial-up now, does this mean that netzero and the like are going the way of the dinosaur? As to removing parts from my pc, I know nothing about doing that. You might as well be telling me how to FIX the transmission in my car! LOL!
So what does a person do when internet service is so expensive and dial-up is basically phasing out?
BreadcrumbDial-up has been dead for years in most countries where DSL is available.  The first thing I would do is to look at other DSL packages as you may be able to find one dirt cheap as this would still be better than Dial-Up - Modern websites don't really see Dial-Up as an option any more so include lots of images and other content that will bring them to a crawl on Dial-Up.

If it ends up with Dial-Up being your only option you can get a USB Dial-Up modem for between $10 and $20.  This will plug into the computer over USB and the telephone line will plug into the modem.  Of course check the computer once you receive it as I have seen some fairly recent computers still include modems although this is very rare. Quote from: breadcrumb on May 30, 2014, 12:26:09 AM

I have an emachines T3624 that I bought brand new from Best Buy in 2005. It has Windows98 XP on it of course.

(1) to sell a few postcards on ebay, so I have a printer/scanner too.
(2) a little emailing
(3) looking up info/checking the news
(4) store a few photos and some music
(5) check my bank account info

I do not play games online and even though I have AT&T DSL internet service, I find that I can seldom watch a video without waiting for it to keep loading up (buffering), so I give up.
I know that Windows98 XP is now all but dead. Money is really tight at my house (and getting tighter!)   However, if 98XP makes my pc websurfing dangerous b/c of security glitches, I'm assuming that I need to get another pc and soon! Sigh...  

I will have to buy a used one, but want to do so through a reputable dealer like walmart where I can at least get some kind of warranty!

I need to know if most desktop pcs still have ports for a telephone line as it looks like I will be having to switch to a dial-up ISP like netzero or such to save money.

When I was looking on walmart's site about buying a used pc, they mentioned trading in your old pc and getting money for it. What can I do to get as much of my personal info off of my pc as possible before doing something like that? I don't want my pc to go in a landfill either afterall!

And what is the earliest Windows OS I should be willing to accept on a pc? I know that 98 XP is OUT!

My 9 year old pc is still working. I've never had a problem with it. I'm using it as I type this now! But I guess that I have to face reality since 98 XP is "gone".

I also have several eMachines of the same vintage and they all will run XP, and  Windows 7 with little or no problems.
Sound seems to be the greatest problem.  eMachine used some weird sound drivers that were never updated for Windows 7 or later.
I have gotten sound on an old eMachine by adding a Sound Blaster sound card.

My best suggestion for that eMachine with XP, is to turn off Auto UPdates, add RAM to get up to 2GB at least and then do a massive cleanup on the hard drive.

There should be a LAN port on the back of that PC and all the LAN circuitry is on the motherboard.  If not, then a $10 LAN card could be added to get that thing to work on a DSL or Cable Internet line.

my left click doesn't work. EVEN when i touch my touch pad twice to double click it won't either
and then i went to control panel and switched the left function with the right function.
the left clicked worked and did the
functions of the right click but the right click didn't do anything


But then after i restart it it works again!

This always HAPPENS. About 1 hour into using my ACER Aspire E1-522 laptop the left click and the double tap of the touch pad stops working. ARG!Did you  SAY the problem also happens with an EXTERNAL mouse?
No I plug an external mouse in and it works. But the touch mouse pad doesn't work.Can someone please help. Its a big problem for me. I hate aving to carry my external mouse with me when I go out.Did you try re-installing the touchpad drivers from the Acer site for that Model ? ?Hi, I was having the same problem with my new Acer E1-522, the mouse cursor moves around and the right-click works fine, but the left click (or just tapping / double tapping the touchpad) goes off after I've used the laptop for more than 10 minutes.

I have today rolled back the drivers and (fingers crossed) that seems to have fixed it, time will tell...

HTH  maybe the ribbon that connects to the motherbroad is LOOSEN

I use a wireless mouse with arch bridge design because it is elegant with its ergonomic design. Perfect sensor at 800 dpi, extremely comfortable hand touch and you don’t need to setup any software, wireless range up to 8-10 meters. It can be carried in your bag after you FOLD it up, it doesn’t have extra button. I much prefer the simple mouse. I purchase it for around $30, and I have tired of several other mouses like Logitech. Show me your mouse and tell me the reason why you buy it. With my laptop, I'm currently using a Logitech M305 wireless mouse.  I also have another Logitech mouse that is practically identical to the M305; I have it connected to a desktop system now.  The M305 comes with a much shorter wireless receiver.  I don't even need to remove it when I carry the computer somewhere in a backpack.  The receiver for the other mouse was nearly as long as some flash drives.  So, handling the computer with that receiver in it requires the same care as when a flash drive is in the computer. 

As I recall, both these mice retailed for about $30 but, of course, could sometimes be purchased for less.  I like the feel of them in my hand.  They both have tilt wheel, which I like to use for horizontal scrolling.  I don't know their wireless range.  I just tried the M305 from a distance of about 8 feet and it worked.  But, I see this point as insignificant since the mouse is normally used close to the computer.  Like MANY makes and models of mice, I can use both of these mice without installing Logitech's software but do install Logitech's software because that yields a little more flexibility with regard to mouse settings and controls.  Logitech all the way...I am musing a Logitech. Best mouse in the house.  Logitech M510I'm using an Alienware TactX which is basically a rebadged Logitech G9 without the removable weights.  I won it in a competition but am extremely happy with it, very comfortable to use for long periods of time - It comes with all sorts of software to change the lights.etc but I've never bothered with it.Desktop: Microsoft IntelliMouse

Laptop (when on desk): Genius Micro Traveler Mouse
Quote from: camerongray on May 28, 2014, 11:35:47 AM

I'm using an Alienware TactX which is basically a rebadged Logitech G9 without the removable weights.  I won it in a competition but am extremely happy with it, very comfortable to use for long periods of time - It comes with all sorts of software to change the lights.etc but I've never bothered with it.

Logitech all the way...

With my laptop, I'm currently using a Logitech M305 wireless mouse.  I also have another Logitech mouse that is practically identical to the M305; I have it connected to a desktop system now.  The M305 comes with a much shorter wireless receiver.  I don't even need to remove it when I carry the computer somewhere in a backpack.  The receiver for the other mouse was nearly as long as some flash drives.  So, handling the computer with that receiver in it requires the same care as when a flash drive is in the computer. 

As I recall, both these mice retailed for about $30 but, of course, could sometimes be purchased for less.  I like the feel of them in my hand.  They both have tilt wheel, which I like to use for horizontal scrolling.  I don't know their wireless range.  I just tried the M305 from a distance of about 8 feet and it worked.  But, I see this point as insignificant since the mouse is normally used close to the computer.  Like many makes and models of mice, I can use both of these mice without installing Logitech's software but do install Logitech's software because that yields a little more flexibility with regard to mouse settings and controls.

Ergonomic mouse? well i have found 2 and i made a comparison.
The first one is from http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-4-GHz-Wireless-USB-Optical-Vertical-Ergonomic-Mouse-Mice-for-Laptop-PC-/121351260721?pt=Mice&hash=item1c41194a31
another one is http://www.tinydeal.com/delux-m618-24ghz-px29mxn-p-124689.html
Compared to the regular mouse, we found a significant feature is that our right hand is nearly on a vertical position when work on the mouse. Actually we are rotating to a parallel position when working on a regular mouse. We'll feel painful at the joints and the wrist area.
The one in tinydeal features more buttons, one is for changing DPI resolution, another 2 are front button and back button for browser. But the one from ebay, left mouse button and right mouse button are larger.
In addition, there is a pad for resting your bottom of the wrist but it can't be removed.
Ergonomic is a subject used in everywhere. It's a great spot to occupy a ergonomic mouse.

which model?

I have Dell optiplex 745 PC, it was working so nice. now when I try to switch the POWER on I have the amber blinking light. I tried to unplug every thing connected to the system board. The power SUPPLY works well, the RAMs work so fine. I tried to power on the PC with only the motherboard , I RECEIVE the same problem. The amazing thing is that SOMETIMES the PC boots and reached the DESKTOP of windows and works fine. with the same steps it doesn't work sometimes.
Any advice??!!!

Hi

My laptop (Asus Zenbook UX31e) has developed a fault where it will only turn on when plugged in to the mains. Unplugging it will cause it to turn off immediately. While plugged in, the tray icon indicates that the battery is charging, but it remains at 60% no matter how long it's connected.

I've tested this in the Windows 7 and Ubuntu partitions, and the behaviour is the same.

I'm fairly sure that this is a battery problem, and I'm ready to order a replacement battery (HTTP://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Genuine-Battery-for-Asus-ZENBOOK-UX31A-UX31E-7-4V-50WH-C22-UX31-/121141244432?pt=Laptop_Batteries&hash=item1c3494b210).

Is there any way to be sure that this will be RESOLVED with a new battery? Is it POSSIBLE that the battery is fine, but there are other problems with the power system?

ThanksYes it is a battery problem. Not the charger because it is detected by your computer as you have said. No other power source to be suspected except the battery. If replacing battery don't work, it is the motherboard's fault.  Thanks for the response. I've ordered a replacement battery. I'll post an update when it arrives.

i have a toshiba satelite l300 laptop and when my laptop is on charger the SCREEN goes in some colour and it's not functional and if i charge it i can use it on battery but i must charge it when it's offif it's no charger it starts but after one minute the monitor goes black and again i dont have that problem with the monitor when i use it on batteryMaybe this will be of some help.
First of all, I have never worked on a Toshiba laptop, nor have I ever seen that problem on any laptop. Therefore, these comments are more conjecture then actual proven facts.
The laptop ahs internal regulators that reduces battery voltage down to a level that is suitable for the laptop. When you plug in a charger, the voltage jumps way above the level of the battery. That is necessary in order for the battery to charge. Now it's theoretically possible that the regulators on the motherboard of the laptop can no longer adjust to the higher voltage that is normally present for in the charger.
As I said, this is being stated without any PROOF that that ever happens. A more plausible explanation is that there is something wrong with the charger and it is putting out far too much voltage than it should. The laptop has internal devices that prevent the battery from being overcharged.
That is the best I can possibly offer. My recommendation is to not try to use the computer while you have the charger plugged into it. Also, you should verify that the charger is putting out the correct voltage for your laptop. Even if you are sure it is the original charger, there is the possibility a component in the charger could fail in such a way as to increase the voltage output. Although that may seem unlikely, it is not. In theory, at least, a component failure could cause the charger to put out more voltage out than it  should.
The cost of preparing your laptop may be more than you are willing to pay. Also, it could be, there is something wrong with the display, even though that seems unlikely. According to the information you have provided.
The best solution may be to contact Toshiba and find out what services they have available for you and what options they will give you.
Toshiba is one of the big makers of laptop computers and we would expect they take pride in their equipment. They may wish to do you a favor and offer your replacement Toshiba laptop for the wholesale price. Just a possibility.
Geek-9pm's analysis is probably the best we can give with such limited information.

Another possibility would be a problem AC Adapter itself.Hi

Do you have a standard screen you can plug in to test if that stays on when the laptop is plugged into mains.  I suggest the back lite invert er is failing at high brightness. You can test this by shining a bright LIGHT down the display and see if there is a dimm image on the screen. If you want to test the invert er you will need one of these.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Non-Contact-Voltage-Tester-NCVT-1SEN/100661787

That is an example

If you run the tester around the display to check the inverter is out putting if it indicates voltage on battery but not mains you will need to get that replaced.

This is what the inverter looks like

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=toshiba+satellite+l300+inverter&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XYyOU8HvGoPzkAW1wICoAg&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=823
i have tried with another toshiba charger and it KEEPS happening same so i guess it's not the charger that's making the problem

Gentlemen - I have a Dell dimension 5150 desktop running with Windows 7 that had a 3.5 disc drive. I replaced this with a 4 port usb 3.0 kit with an attached pci-e card. When I boot the computer the power light comes on for the device I installed. After inserting a usb 3.0 jump drive, when I check to see if it is recognized, it dosen't show up in the My Computer file. Is there something else I should  changing in the set-up program? I went in the set up  and SAW the pci-e slot recognizes the usb. Any help will be greatly appreciated. ThanksDid you install the drivers for the USB 3.0 PCI-e card?Yes, I installed the drivers from the disc that was supplied.In that case, there could be a problem on the usb jump drive itself. Another POSSIBILITY is that there is an ERROR on the USB driver. Check it by right-clicking My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager. Double check everything. ;-)I did as you suggested and everything was working except 5 items in the system devices. they showed no drivers installed. They are  1. direct memory access controller  2. intel 82801G (ich7 family)smbus controller -  27da  3. NUMERIC data processor  4. programmable interrupt controller and  5. system speaker an timer. I don't if one of these is causing the problem. The usb 3.0 jump drive works when it's in a usb 2.0 connection. Your help is very much appreciated -ThanksRe-install your MBoard Chipset drivers and re-boot.reinstalling the CD that comes with your computer will be able to help you.Stop parroting...Thanks for every ones suggestions. I tried them all and it still does not work. I have ordered a new pci-e card with 4 usb 3.0 ports. It that does not work, I will stay with usb 2.0 and sell all the other components on e-bay. Thanks again to all. Unless it was an el' cheapo Chinese knockoff card i can't see how it wouldn't work...

Best of Luck...let us know.Just to close this thread - I received the new pci-e card, installed it and loaded the drivers and everything works. Thanks all for your help, the problem must have  been with the other 2 devices I purchased.Good news indeed...glad you are fixed up.

I have an Alienware m17xr3. My harddrive has failed S.M.A.R.T tests. Crashing, freezing up. I few times when trying to install windows it did not detect a drive. So here is when it gets interesting. I have 2 bays so I moved the harddrive to bay 2. Run a test and it passed. Installed windows, got it all SETUP with drivers. Then when I was installing steam, and a few other GAMES explorer stopped responding. Basically required a hard RESET. And now windows won't boot. The flag just sits there with its animation. So is my harddrive failing of is it something more serious like a connection? I don't want to buy a harddrive if that's not the problem. It's the HDD...
Many times when they are going the issues BECOME intermittent...which is what your seeing it do now.It could be that the programs you install have virus the makes your OS crash and FREEZE upon booting. Or it could be a HDD problem. Try replacing your HDD.

I've decided to buy one of these. There is only a small difference in the price, but on the other hand, all I do is a little ebaying, emailing and such on my pc. I do not play games. I do not do business stuff online either. So would the more powerful pc make any real difference for someone LIKE me? Would it play online streaming videos better, for example?
Here are my 2 choices:

1) Dell Pre-Owned, Refurbished Black GX520 Desktop PC with Intel Pentium 4 Processor, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Home Premium (Monitor Not Included) $130.95

2) Dell Pre-Owned, Refurbished 755 Small FORM Factor Desktop PC with Intel Dual-Core Processor, 2GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Home Premium (Monitor Not Included) $143.54

Any advice/words of wisdom appreciated from this dumb-as-dirt-about-computers-gal!


Breadcrumb

I have both. The 250 will allow a half high video  card, if you want.
The 755 has a little better performance.  But  any people really hate the Small Form Factor. But it works for me.  Small and cute curt. Not room for anything. Only two RAM slots Actually, that is true of both machines.
 If you have a choice, ask for the 64 bit Windows 7. It works fine of both machines.
Be sure and get another RAM stick. It will help load time.

Personally I would go with (2) because it is a more modern PC, is smaller and neater, has a bigger hard drive, and is likely to run cooler and quieter. Pentium 4 machines are an older generation. One thing that CPU had a reputation for is running warm, so Pentium 4 machines tended to have noisy fans. In fact I would definitely choose (2).

I think in VIEW of your intended use, you can pretty well ignore the comments above about RAM sticks, etc.
As said above, the second is significantly better in terms of the CPU power as well as being a generally more up to date machine.  Being so small you can't add in any expansion cards but for your needs I can't imagine this being an issue.

The only thing I see with it is that it only has a DVI monitor output whereas your monitor probably uses a VGA connector due to its age.  Thankfully if it does turn out that your monitor does not have the APPROPRIATE connector, all you need is a cheap adatper like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Manhattan-DVI-I-Dual-Link-Male-to-VGA-Female-Digital-Video-Adapter-PC/19415385The vendor of the 755 should INCLUDE both the DVI splitter and the external PSU . Quote from: Geek-9pm on June 01, 2014, 11:25:12 AM

The vendor of the 755 should include both the DVI splitter and the external PSU .

Support and Warranty:
    1-year limited hardware warranty; 24/7 technical assistance available online or toll-free by phone
    Recovery partition is installed on the hard drive with the Dell Refurbished Desktop PC with 2GB Memory and 250GB Hard Drive

"All generalizations are false, including this one."

tell me everything I need to kno please I mean everything. like does it have to be the same brands? I got a amd diamond r9 270x I just bought. and hoping I can GET another . how to do crossfire with a 2nd?I know I'm wasting my time trying to help you here but why are you even thinking about crossfiring two 270xs?  You should have just bought a single better card and used that.  All you do by adding in a second video card is get a slight increase in PERFORMANCE while doubling your heat output and consuming twice the power.

You would also need to replace your power supply as the one you put in (again, against our advice of not getting a cheap power supply) will not be nearly enough for two cards and will need to be replaced with a QUALITY unit of 700w+.

If you need more video card power, then you should sell the 270x and buy a better, single card - There is no reason to crossfire two lower end cards where there is a better single card available.

And for when you ignore all this and still go ahead and do it, there are loads of guides online that explain how to set it up, you don't need someone to repost all the information here for you.

That said, I know you won't LISTEN to this and I'll await your new thread that will appear in a COUPLE of weeks either saying "Why is my crossfire crashing/not working" or "Why did my PSU BLOW" when you are either trying to run two 270xs on your current PSU or after buying a junk "700w" unit.

Current Specs: AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon(TM) HD GRAPHICS 2.00 GHz


Processor: HTTP://www.amazon.com/AMD-Quad-Core-A8-6600K-Radeon-AD660KWOHLBOX/dp/B00CPLGGWS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1401580536&sr=1-4&keywords=AMD+A+series



Graphics Card: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDG3IDO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1TXKQJ42VHZV0&coliid=I2EI0A7Y4LKS8AWhat's the question ? ?

And what MBoard ? ?Will the graphics card and processor i'm upgrading to work for my PC and the motherboard is 500-a60The processor is not upgradable according here http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c03786042#N221

Hello,

Whenever i plug in my HDMI cord into my EVGA 750GTX TI, my computer RUNS well for about 5 minutes, before it freezes up and I have to do a hard reboot. However, when it was previously plugged into my Mobo it had no issues. Also my computer randomly started detecting my GPU without me changing any SETTINGS within the BIOS as I was unable to find it.

Any help would be appreciated!Forgot to add: Built the rig myself about a month ago!What POWER SUPPLY brand and wattage output is installed? Have you tried a different PSU?

I have Toshiba SATELLITE C660-162 laptop. I cleaned every thing inside the laptop. When I turn it on sometimes it boots and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't I can HEAR the sound of the fan and I can feel the hot air, after few seconds the sound of the fan became louder then the device shutdown. When it boots, after few seconds watching the desk top of windows, SUDDENLY the computer shutdown.
Please help me. The computer is either overheating or there is a short circuit. Best thing is to consult with http://forums.toshiba.com/ and ask other owners if they had that problem ever.
Question I have is what MAKE/model it is and did you remove any heatsinks etc, and if you removed heatsinks or heatpads if you applied new thermal compound?Obviously, sudden shutdowns are caused by overheating of your computer because you feel hot air. HENCE, try checking the airflow in your unit. Make sure the fan is spinning and the environment is cool.
Thanks so much for the help.I cleaned the fan and put new heatsink paste on all the main chips. The problem unfortunately is still exist.

My computer is more than 4 years old I believe, and it's CPU in my opinion needs an upgrade. I am getting an AMD FX-6350 and I currently have an AMD ATHLON(tm) II X4 620.
The NEW CPU will be 6 months old (as I am buying it from a friend) and will come with it's own ventilation unit. Now my question is, will I need to get a new power supply? I've never changed a power supply before, nor do I know how much would I need. The current one says 250 total output. About the socket, I believe both CPU's use the same one (AM3). My motherboard is Asus M4A77TD Pro.

Also I want to increase my random access memory (RAM). I ALREADY have 2x2GB (SuperTalent SUPERTALENT02), and what's interesting is that I see 2 other slots aligned with them. Can I add more, using these slots? I want to buy a single 8GB Corsair Vengeance. Can I just put it in there and get a total of 12GB, is it that simple?

Why I want to change my processor and RAM? Because those are the things that my task manager says are always capped at 100% when I try to video render, play games, etc And my video card is still in the high-end charts (ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5).

I am being offered a Samsung SSD of 120GB capacity for a low price (like 60$) and I am also thinking of getting it. But will it come of any good use? My friend told me that I can install an OS on it and it would start 10 times as fast. How true is that? And is installing it as easy as I think the RAM would be (just put it in and start the computer)?

Thank you in ADVANCE!Unfortunately the AMD FX CPUs are not listed as supported on your motherboard so I can't tell if it will work or not: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=M4A77TD%20PRO&p=1

I would strongly recommend you replace that PSU with a quality unit of at least 500w - Running a video card and even your current CPU on that 250w unit is cutting it far too closely, I imagine you are regularly hitting/going past 250w when you are putting the system under high load.

As far as the RAM, you generally should have the RAM in matched sticks so you would be best to take out the existing to get 8gb in total.

Your video card is still in the "high end charts" on some benchmark sites but is in no way a high performance card by modern standards.

An SSD would be a massive benefit but your current motherboard doesn't support SATA III (Only SATA II) so you won't get the full speed of an SSD without a separate SATA III card.  That said, even on SATA II an SSD will speed the machine up massively in terms of the time for it to boot and load things.I searched even more and I guess my motherboard doesn't support AM3+, which is strange, because I believe that my current one is AM3. Well thanks a lot for the information, at least I won't waste my money, since getting a new motherboard would mean reinstalling windows, and I don't have time right now to reinstall every single program right now. Quote from: camerongray on June 02, 2014, 05:55:15 AM

As far as the RAM, you generally should have the RAM in matched sticks so you would be best to take out the existing to get 8gb in total.

He has two modules installed and two empty slots.  So, he already has two matched sticks. He could buy two more 2GB modules and install them, giving him a total of 8GB.  This would not violate the matching principle, right?

I want to buy a single 8GB Corsair Vengeance. Can I just put it in there and get a total of 12GB, is it that simple?

Help! I just recently bought a computer about 5 months AGO. It is an ACER Aspire v5-572g-6679. So a couple nights ago I was playing an online game and I needed to GO to bed so I shut my laptop screen like I normally do, putting it asleep, but this TIME being impatient putting the computer to sleep with the game closing because I didn’t want to wait for the game to shut down. The next morning I wanted to get on my laptop to get on the internet to look something up, so I opened my laptop and turned it on. My computer was taking an unusually long time to boot up, I automatically assumed it was the game that didn’t close down the previous night so I turned the computer off using the button ( I know this is bad for the laptop ). The next time I turned it on, I let it do its thing, by the way the computer normally takes less than a minute to boot up, so I was concerned at this point. I waited a good 10-15 waiting for it to get past the Acer splash screen and go to the login screen. Then once past splash screen it would take another 5-15 min. trying to load login screen, then once on login screen and I would type in password it didn’t want to login and I had to wait another 5-15 min. for it to go to desktop, then it would load desktop, but it was too slow to barely do anything. Well you get the point, I waited a lot : (

I automatically assumed it was a virus/malware and did get the computer to log on to desktop so I could perform scans. I followed the online guide from http://malwaretips.com/blogs/malware-removal-guide-for-windows/ , but only got to complete step 1 & 2 because the computer was so slow I would have to wait a month for malware bytes to finish 1 scan. I found nothing from both step 1 & 2, does that rule out it being a virus???

Because I just bought the laptop I believe I still have the 1 year warranty that everyone gets from Acer, at least I hope. I bought the laptop from Amazon, is there anything they will help me with, give me a replacement? I have heard bad things about Acer and sending computers in for repair, should I do that??

I seriously don’t know what happened overnight for this to happen; this is a brand new laptop that acted perfectly fine the night before. I don’t know what to do….I hope someone can give me a suggestion on what is happening or just simply what to do to diagnose the problem, please I am so lost!

If you need any more information about the laptop please tell me.

I am not sure if this has something to do with what is currently happening with my laptop, but I will tell you anyways, in case someone can link this with my current problem. So about a couple months into owning my laptop, my computer gave me memory PROBLEMS (RAM (Random Access Memory)), I would be playing a game or just browsing the internet and a little box would pop up saying I had low memory and I needed to close programs, then I would shut off my computer and just turn it back on and it would be working fine again, so I ignored the problem until this new problem happened D:

This is a Windows 8 laptop.
Processor: 1.8 GHz Core i5 3337U
RAM (Random Access Memory): 6 GB DDR3
Hard Drive: 500 GB SATA (Type of Hard Drive)
Graphics Coprocessor: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 720MIt's still under warranty, let Acer repair it. Quote from: Computer_Commando on June 02, 2014, 05:02:58 PM

It's still under warranty, let Acer repair it.

Hello, I have a dell XPS 420 using windows 7.  The computer hasn't given me any real problems a few weeks ago it had trouble booting up and went to system restore to FIX any issues it may have had.  After that it booted and shut down up perfectly fine with no problems.  It was unplugged a few days ago while I was moving and was plugged back up yesterday when the monitor displayed the "entering power save mode."  I've tried swapping monitors, holding the power button down while the computers unplugged, removing/putting the graphics card back in, and trying different cables.  There are no beeps and the diagnostic lights aren't lit up to show if there are any issues.  You can hear the computer loading to the windows login screen.  The power button lights up blue and the miniview displays welcome and has the slideshow screen.  I tried taking the CMOS battery out and tried booting that way since I was told that it shouldn't keep it from booting up, but I get a message that says system low on voltage and it doesn't start.  I'm not sure if it's a power supply, graphics card, or motherboard issue.  Can a graphics card just go out without warning?  It's only about 2 years old.  Thanks for your help! Here is a list of my system components.

PROCESSOR, Q6600, 2.4, 8MB, CDKE, G0

DN0041Assembly, Heatsink, PRFMC Shroud, MATRIX TANK DESKTOP

KR4901ASSEMBLY, CHASSIS, PWA INTEGRATED, 375W, EXTREME PERFORMANCE SYSTEM, 420, V2

5120P1Cord, Power, 125V, 6Feet, SJT, Unshielded

D097D1HARD DRIVE, 640GB, S2, 7.2, 16MB, SAMSUNG, F1

DJ3311KEYBOARD, 104, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, UNITED STATES, ENTRY, LITEON, BLACK

DC0941ASSEMBLY, CABLE, Serial ATA, OPTICAL, MATRIX,SMITH,MINI TOWER

DM6911Assembly, Flash Storage Device Universal Serial Bus, Reader Enhanced, 420, TEAC

W338C1ASSEMBLY, DVD+/-RW, 16X, Serial ATA, HALF HEIGHT, TOSHIBA SAMSUNG STORAGE TECHNOLOGY

GH4831ASSEMBLY, CABLE, FLEX-BAY, TANK/MSMT

VisionTek Radeon HD 4650 graphics card - Radeon HD 4650 - 1 GB

J579F1ASSEMBLY, CABLE, HIGH DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE, 2

J84611ASSEMBLY, CABLE, VIDEO, LEAD FREE

X590C1Assembly, Digital Video Disk Drive, 16X, Serial Ata, Half Height, Plds

K257H1KIT, Software, VHP32SP1A, DigitalVideo Disk Drive, Multiple, 5

RU2971Kit, Card, Network, DocumentationAntenna, Screw Assembly

TK2081CARD (CIRCUIT), WIRELESS, NETWORK, DW1505, FULL HEIGHT

Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) Memory Module Kit DDR2 SDRAM - DIMM 240-pin

Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) Memory Module Kit DDR2 SDRAM - DIMM 240-pin
It sounds to me more like a Monitor power saving mode than a failing vid-card...

Have you tried all the monitor buttons to see ? ?I tried pushing the buttons on my monitor and the following message came up "there is no signal coming from your computer push a button on monitor to change setting," and then it goes back to entering power save mode.  I changed the setting from auto select to vga, but still got the same message.  The video card starts off loud, but quiets down as the computer boots up like it normally did.Try reseatting again video card, cables/power cables.
Quote

It was unplugged a few days ago while I was moving and was plugged back up yesterday when the monitor displayed the "entering power save mode."  I've tried swapping monitors, holding the power button down while the computers unplugged, removing/putting the graphics card back in, and trying different cables. 

Quote from: IPDO on June 07, 2014, 08:32:02 AM

I have considered your advice. The advise which was delivered in an improper manner as I have said before, which hurts others feelings.

I want a computer which is best in GAMING, Video editing and software LIKE simulation, CAED etc.