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download PAUSES when MONITOR is turned off, no sleep mode only monitor off. how to fix? I need leave computer on while DOWNLOADING a 10GB game. how to fix? before it worked fine. how to fix?Turning the monitor off should not affect the DLoad...it's likely your CONNECTION is timing out on you...

Hello All ,

I just tried updating the firmware on the Push2TV wireless adapter my company recently purchased.
Tried following the instruction in the booklet that came with it, nada.
Tried following the instructions on the Netgear site, which differs from the booklet, nada.

I do get the display from my laptop, HP Envy Win 8.1, on the Vizio TV but it gets disconnected after
a while and the audio is horrible. From what I've been able to find these could both be attributed to
the firmware not being upgraded.

I was able to download the firmware on my laptop but it did not come in a Zip file as , to my understanding
from the internet, it should have. I FORGET the file extension, just put everything away, but the file you
NEED after you unzip the file you downloaded is the correct file I have.

I am ALSO never able to login to the Push2TV using the IP address which is what you have to do to upgrade the firmware.

Any help would be appreciated.

As usual Thanks in advance.

MP.Do you know the IP this device is using? If its getting an IP from DHCP ( from router etc ) then knowing its IP you should be able to log into it if you have the correct credentials. If this device has a static IP then you need to know that to log into it.

If you are unsure as to what IP it is using you can find out by either looking into the DHCP servers LEASE table or looking at the routers lease info, or run wireshark on the network. Shut the device off and power it on and watch for its traffic on boot to detect its IP address.

Also the flash for devices like this can come in different extension names. For devices I have flashed in the past that dont come in zip format they come in .bin format.

Just curious as to what the extension format is of this device you want to flash?

Also was this device ever working correctly or just bought brand NEW and a problem from the get go?

Lastly do you have adequate bandwidth to support this device as for network problems can lead to operational problems, such as network conjestion etc?Dave ,

It's a static ip 192.168.3.1 When I try logging in using the ip address it times out. It's not going through a router i'm just adding a projector as it's called in 8.1 . Actually just duplicating my laptop screen on the TV. I believe that's called peer to peer ?

The file type is .SBIN

This was bought brand new and this was my first several attempts to upgrade the firmware.

This may help , netgear.com/ptv is where I got the firmware update from.

Thanks much for the help,
MP.

Hello all!  I'm new to this forum.  Hoping I set my account up right so I'll be emailed when replies are posted.  I'm creating a new post here because I am having great difficulty finding that click-button pressure/downward travel, and scroll wheel RESISTANCE, are being addressed by mice manufacturers so that their mice will not create/aggravate tendinitis in the finger.  There are plenty of specially-designed mice out there for everything else: carpal tunnel, hand pain, elbow pain, shoulder pain, tilting one's hand at an angle or to a vertical position, etc., but not for finger pain.  A bit of background: I developed tendinitis in my right (dominate) index finger early last year (2013) after using the wireless mouse that came with my awesome Logitech MX3000 keyboard/MX600 mouse set that I bought at the beginning of 2006.  I bought that set especially to get a wireless mouse because the USB cable from my previous wired mouse kept getting in my way.  Now, that same Logitech wireless mouse is no longer an option because of the tendinitis that developed in using it over time.  I then tried getting a wireless touchpad mouse but, believe it or not, it can aggravate finger pain too, especially when holding it down and scrolling/dragging and dropping/highlighting/adjusting software settings.  Also, I don't prefer a stationary device as I have to repeatedly reposition it, and it's more difficult to be precise in moving the cursor around, and when scrolling.  Since then, it has turned out that an old, roll-ball underneath (as opposed to an optical/laser mouse), USB corded, basic "2-button/scroll wheel traditional design" Dell mouse that Dell threw in with my previous desktop PC tower purchase in 2005 has the lightest click, with almost no downward depress travel to the L/R keys, and a gentle scroll wheel, when compared side-by-side in the stores to such brands as Logitech, gaming, Microsoft, and HP mice, ergonomic or not.  The physical stores near me that I've been going into are Best Buy, Staples, Radio Shack, Walmart, Office Depot, Sears, and the Microsoft Store (neither Radio Shack, Sears, nor Walmart put out display mice, so there's no way to determine the click button/scroll action of the ones they sell since they're inside their packaging) yet, so far, no mouse is as gentle as this old Dell mouse that I'm using right now.  The market is also now focused on making tiny-sized mice that are MEANT to be carried around in your pocket, but those are physically too small for my hand, and for the desktop computing that I do (I don't have any portable devices.  Not needed/desired in my case).  I've looked on websites like TheHumanSolution.com to research ergonomic mice (e.g., Evoluent/Handshoe/Penguin/Pencilus/Orthomouse), but have gotten mixed feedback about button click pressure and scroll resistance, and some remarks that the Orthomouse, for example, has a very hard click-button resistance that would make my condition worse.  Also, I'd have to order from them to try out their mice myself, and they charge shipping both ways and a 10% restocking fee for any that I'd return, with no assurance that any of them would work out.  My hand surgeon and physical therapist have both determined that I need to keep from curling/clawing my fingers, i.e., keep them laid out flat.  Yet, another issue with ergonomic mice is that a lot of them are designed to cause your hand/fingers to curl/wrap around them, which may be great for other repetitive motion problems, but would aggravate my finger.  I also prefer the control/preciseness offered by a scroll wheel over touch/swipe scroll.  Lastly, I want a wireless mouse, preferably Bluetooth, and hope to find one that uses disposable batteries, or at least has a rechargeable battery that can be replaced by me, the customer, as opposed to either ending up with a dead useless mouse when the battery can no longer accept a charge (i.e., mice with "built in", non-replaceable rechargeable batteries, such as the Dell WM713), or that requires a professional technician, or mailing the mouse back to the manufacturer, just to get the battery replaced (as with the Handshoe mouse).  I'm very grateful for any feedback, recommendations, and suggestions that anyone here can offer to help direct me to a gentle desktop mouse that won't aggravate my index finger tendinitis.  MANY thanks to all.My WIFE had carpal tunnel and I ended up getting her a Logitech Cordless Mouse for like $90. It had an ergonomic contour and had buttons that could be used with thumb etc vs just index finger etc. For other stuff that was less precision I gave her a touch pad to use in which she could move the pointer on a flat USB touch pad and double tap for stuff when navigating etc. But for precision with graphic design that she does, the mouse is needed.

The model she had was similar to this one, but I paid only $90 for it 5 years ago brand new from newegg. http://www.rakuten.com/prod/logitech-vx-revolution-cordless-laser-mouse-for-notebooks-black/202985154.html?listingId=339696788&scid=pla_google_Hardware&adid=18163&gclid=CMGkj9Gqz74CFZJefgodWCsAowThanks for your comments and the link.  I'm currently "auditioning" a new Logitech Performance MX wireless ergonomic desktop mouse.  It's button-click action is a bit more pronounced than that 2005 Dell wired mouse I also still have connected, but it's not bad, and its scroll wheel is awesome, including a button to disengage/reengage the click-stop.  More time is needed to determine if I choose to keep it.  Its price ranges from $64.49 (what I got it for) to $99.99.  I emailed the makers of the Evoluent vertical mouse, and they tell me the click-button action on it is similar to other mice currently on the market, and I'd have to pay shipping both ways to try it out.  I also just sent an inquiry email today to the makers of the Handshoe mouse.  Same story in that I'd have to pay shipping to try it, but they have a light click button version of it, so I'm interested to see what they say in their reply.  Please keep those suggestions/recommendations coming!Online customer feedback about the Handshoe mouse is ambivalent.  It has a built-in rechargeable battery that the maker says can only be changed by a professional once it no longer accepts a charge.  Customers find it to be a worthy endeavor as a concept, but they say the mouse itself needs further development.  Hard to reach/press buttons and scroll wheel, large shape takes a lot of room and is imprecise for fine cursor movements.  Battery recharger USB cable is short and stiff, making using mouse with it quite difficult.  Edges of plastic are sharp, and mouse has weights installed inside that one customer removed himself to make it so he could move it around PROPERLY.  Even the "Light Click" version of this mouse had customer feedback saying the buttons and scroll wheel are hard to press/use.  To try it out, I'd have to order it and, if I decided it didn't work for me, would have to pay shipping both ways and a 10% restocking fee.  So, I'm holding off on that and the Evoluent one, primarily because, reportedly, neither of them has click-button force that is genuinely reduced, as compared to any other mouse.  Meanwhile, the Logitech Performance MX mouse I'm currently trying has negative feedback too, primarily that it reaches a point where it can't take a charge anymore, and that the buttons develop problems anywhere from 3  months to a year into using it where the left-click button registers two clicks when it is only pressed once, and the middle button/scroll wheel requires ever increasing pressure to click.  So, I called Logitech and was told the mouse can be used with disposable AA batteries, so I'm using it while the rechargeable AA it came with has power, but once its charge depletes, I'm switching to disposable Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries to see how that works out, instead of bothering with recharging it at all.  As for the problems with the buttons and scroll wheel, I don't use the middle button anyway, and, if I keep it, we'll have to see how the left/right-click buttons hold up.  As I understand it, the mouse has a 3 year warranty.  We'll see.  Despite this, if anyone here has suggestions/recommendations for other makes and models of mice that would have a very light click action so as not to aggravate my finger tendinitis, please reply here, and thank you.The Logitech Performance MX wireless mouse ended up aggravating my tendinitis, despite having a pretty easy click and scroll.  So, I'm back to the old 2005 wired Dell mouse again.  It seems that the "ergonomic" design of a hump-shaped mouse like the Logitech one forces the tendon over the top of the index finger to work harder to click and scroll.  My 2005 Dell mouse is not anything other than a basic, traditionally-shaped one.  I'm hoping to find a wireless mouse that's shaped the same as it is, and has the same light click and scroll.  My next contestant is a Kensington Pro Fit full size wireless mouse that's coming in the mail by 6/17.  I see online that there are even more brands, including Verbatim, as well as others carried in the stores, like the ones that Staples puts its own brand name on.  Hoping I won't have to go through all of them, since they come in totally sealed plastic, so you have to rip them open just to try them, and send them back if they don't work out.  As before, anyone here who has any suggestions/recommendations would be most welcome and appreciated.

I need to CONNECT my Canon MX452 printer to my home WiFi network because I have a few laptops which are able to connect to the printer, but cannot print because of no working WiFi on the printer. I have AT&T U-Verse Internet and the modem they have provided to me has a fully numeric passcode. The printer has a numeric keypad just like a phone, but I an UNABLE to actually enter numbers with they keypad, only letters. For instance, I can use the "2" key to enter "a", "b", or "c", but not a "2". I am unable to change the password because of how AT&T service works. How do I enter the numeric characters for my passcode into the printer?Go back and read the INSTRUCTIONS again.
Canon MX452 has good documentation. Find it. But if that is hard to follow, they have a forum where this topic has been covered many times.
 Here is a short version:
Quote

Please try the following steps to connect the UNIT to your Wi-Fi router:
1.  Press the Setup button on the printer.
2.  Use the arrow keys to select Drive Settings and press OK.
3.  Select LAN Settings and press OK.
4.  Choose Wireless LAN Setup and press OK.
5.  If a WPS prompt appears, press the STOP button.
6.  Select Standard Setup and press OK.
7.  Select your ACCESS Point and press OK.  When entering the passphrase, use the Tone or Star (*) key to change character modes.
Once this has been done, insert the CD for the unit into your Windows or Mac OSX computer and perform the installation.

a friend gave me a thinkpad e520 (intel i3 chip) to check out . it's completely dead . no power light . no bios error BEEPS . nothing .what could it be ? the BATTERY is charged . i had it plugged in . no signs of life at all . she said someone told her it's the motherboard but i think it the power board . how can i find out ? helppppp . lol .   It very likely may be the motherboard.

Do you KNOW any other history behind the failure as to when the last time it ran correctly and then what happened between then and the time that it died?

( such as .... drink spilled in laptop, it took a dive down a flight of stairs, it was left turned on and put into a backpack or computer bag and overheated to death in the confined SPACE, bad storm came thru and ever since it wont boot, child ran thru room and clotheslined the power cable to laptop and laptop dropped off coffee table to hardwood floor ..... ect ) * All these of which I have seen kill laptops.

Information as to how it may have died can point us in a direction...my friend said that one night it was working and the next day it was dead . even if it was the motherboard wouldn't it at least still show that it was getting power from the adapter ? You stated that the battery was taking a charge.... with no indication from the computer, how do you know that this is happening?

I am guessing that you ALREADY removed the battery from the laptop for like an hour and then placed it back into the laptop and tried to boot it up then. I have seen some laptops brick them selves and then when you  remove the battery for a while and add it back its fixed.

I have an HP monitor I got with a desktop I bought. It worked fine for a long time, but recently something seemed wrong with the left half of the monitor . On a white background it is a faint gradient of RED towards the center, but I can still see whats on the screen(The gradient is only on EVER SECOND pixel). Also, on a BLACK background there is a faint screen shot of some sort, what is on my screen, first it was my original red background then is changed the background and restarted the computer and it changed to what my screen LOOKED like when it first started up. If anyone know what is wrong with it, or how to fix it please inform me. You can mail me at "email link removed by allan". It would be greatly appreciated. Also, you can just reply on here if you don't want to email me I removed your email address. All responses go on the forum.Sorry I Allan I didn't read the "Please read this first" post, thanks for fixing it.Trust us...
Had it been left up your Inbox would have been flooded by now...

Here's the PROBLEM:
 A few days ago Windows 7 installation seems to have decided to change drive PARTITIONS (C: > D:)... Tried BOOTREC, but after that it doesn't  even load past the initial start... Tried System Recovery Tools to no avail, now I tried to delete the C: partition and System partition, as suggested on one site, and install Win7 again... I GET errors on ~50%, Error Code 0x8007045D... I'd gladly wipe the drive or replace it but there are important files on drive partition D: dunno how to SAVE it, help plix...Hook it up as a slave drive on another working PC...
Or you can get an external enclosure for it for about 35 Bucks...Good idea, but I don't have the resources for that... Anyway I simply booted up Ubuntu Linux from a DVD and extracted the files to an external HDD (so simple, I know...), now trying to reinstall windows after a whole drive format, still a lot of errors but that is unrelated to my original question, thank you for the suggestionAnytime...Welcome Aboard.

I'm in need of a new GPU and want to get the best bang for my buck. I want to spend under $150. I have a GA-990XA-UD3 motherboard, current GPU is a Sapphire radeon 6570, OCZ600MXSP POWER supply, F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL (2x4GB) memory. OH I currently have two monitors hooked up, ONE through dvi and one HDMI. I will be BUYING TWO new monitors later on and will go with two DVI inputs. I don't really GAME but I multitask A LOT. Please help me out, thank you


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102934
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ600MXSP-OCZ-Technology-ModXStream-ATX12V/dp/B001FQRGYQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
Given the following information:
- Priced under $150
-1 HDMI Port
-1 DVI Port
- Keeping your motherboard specs in mind.

I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121710&cm_re=Graphics_Card-_-14-121-710-_-Product

It uses PCI Express 3.0 x16 which is backwards compatible to your motherboard's PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot and meets the needs you specified.

I NEED to upgrade my laptop, the first step is buying a solid-state-drive, but I am beginner of the hardware, I need some advice. I take an interest in KINGSTON V300. Its capacity is 120GB, it is big enough for me, and the main controller of drive is SandForce 2281. The max sequential read is up to 450MB/s, the speed of 4KB random read is 85,000 IOPS. The hard drive USES SATA3 interface, its working temperature is 0℃ - 70℃. These are the main parameters of drive, should I buy this solid-state-drive. i do hope get some advice. However, why the price of same drive is different between two site?

http://www.tinydeal.com/kingston-25-120gb-ssd-v300-px29pf7-p-128408.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120GB-Kingston-SSDNow-V300-SATA-6-0Gb-s-2-5-Solid-State-Drive-SV300S37A-120G-/400417743537?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item5d3ac1e2b1I'd generally AVOID anything with a Sandforce controller, they have had a lot of issues in the past.  Something like a Crucial M500/M550 would be a great value option. Quote from: namjic on May 30, 2014, 08:36:38 PM

I need to upgrade my laptop, the first step is buying a solid-state-drive, but I am beginner of the hardware, I need some advice. I take an interest in KINGSTON V300. Its capacity is 120GB, it is big enough for me, and the main controller of drive is SandForce 2281. The max sequential read is up to 450MB/s, the speed of 4KB random read is 85,000 IOPS. The hard drive uses SATA3 interface, its working temperature is 0℃ - 70℃. These are the main parameters of drive, should I buy this solid-state-drive. i do hope get some advice. However, why the price of same drive is different between two site?

http://www.tinydeal.com/kingston-25-120gb-ssd-v300-px29pf7-p-128408.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120GB-Kingston-SSDNow-V300-SATA-6-0Gb-s-2-5-Solid-State-Drive-SV300S37A-120G-/400417743537?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item5d3ac1e2b1

I'd generally avoid anything with a Sandforce controller, they have had a lot of issues in the past.  Something like a Crucial M500/M550 would be a great value option.

you should not buy this ssd, I strongly recommend you Crucial too, the best solid-state-drive.

Hey guys, what's the difference between move harddrive and this solid-state-drive?

Not to begin at the beginning, to make it simple, I have come up a Windows 'Delayed Write Failed' error (test writing a 60KB file wasn't a problem  , running HDTune error scans lead to failure, Delayed Write Failed, and subsequent detection of bad blocks starting at different places depending on the scan - i.e' not reproducible  .  I have previously tried this disk as an external USB disk with similar results).

A Microsoft kb article I was reading suggested changing the Policies for this disk to Disable Write Caching to circumvent this problem.  So I go to the Disk Policies window for this disk, and deselect the enable Write Caching radio button, and click on 'OK'.

Then I noticed that having done this the disk temperature of this disk (HD1) in Speedfan was 0C which was silly  (it had been reading 32C or something remotely sensible.) [similarly with HDTune], so I thought I would change THINGS back to get to the situation I was in before...but now the Policies window is greyed out, with seemingly 'optimize for performance' and 'enable write caching' selected !  So I can't change policies now.   

Dumb_Question
19.June.2014
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.Replace the drive.Echoing the above- the drive is almost certainly dying and the longer you wait the less likely you will be to save your data to a more reliable drive.

The only other alternatives would be a possibly bad SATA cable or a failing power supply. The latter is possible but I wouldn't go banking on that being the problem. Basically if the System is getting unreliable power, the Memory may be prone to corruption. As a result File system operations may detect errors or fail where there are no physical problems. This is often the cause of inconsistent detection of bad blocks.

Either way, fiddling about with options and settings will not fix the issue. The issue is either a failling Hard disk drive or a failing Power supply. It is difficult to point direct at one or another I think, at least given what you've described, but  I would tend to assume Hard drives were failing, particularly if you aren't having any issues elsewhere that would seem to imply the Power Supply.You can get a used drive cheap to replace this drive if you dont already have one. I bought my daughter a used 120GB IDE Seagate HDD for $9.99 with free shipping from newegg and she uses this drive daily with no problems. The drive is not covered by a warranty beyond like 30 days, but is better than stuffing a $50 drive into a desktop computer that gets bumped around in her room etc.

They have a 160GB for like $17 here that is used. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148823

They also have where you can buy a 1 year warranty on the drive for like $5.99, but as cheap as it is, I'd just buy it and take a try at it if your looking for a cheap drive replacement and dont have one on hand.

For the fact that you tested this as an external with same results I am thinking that you might have a spare drive to use, but if not, I have had good luck with used drives from Newegg for both HDD and SSDs.

Looking into your motherboard here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00019945&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

You are pretty much stuck having to buy used drives if you need one or attempting to use an IDE to SATA converter, but if you used a IDE to SATA converter your system might only be able to address up to 137GB depending on the IDE controller
I had a similar aged system with the Athlon XP 2800+ and the IDE controller was not limited to 137GB, so I was able to install a 160GB drive to it. They also have IDE SATA 1.5 controllers that can be installed to give this system SATA 1.5 support, but I wouldnt waste any money and troubles into upgrading to a slow 1.5 SATA drive when a ATA 100 is probably fine for this Celeron.

If you want better performance out of this, I'd install a Pentium 4 in place of the Celeron. I bought a socket 478 Pentium 4 3.0Ghz HT for $4.99 with $3 shipping for my friends computer who was running a single core Celeron D, and this brought some new life into his old eMachine inexpensively. Quote from: DaveLembke on June 20, 2014, 03:15:39 PM

You are pretty much stuck having to buy used drives if you need one or attempting to use an IDE to SATA converter, but if you used a IDE to SATA converter your system might only be able to address up to 137GB depending on the IDE controller
I had a similar aged system with the Athlon XP 2800+ and the IDE controller was not limited to 137GB, so I was able to install a 160GB drive to it. They also have IDE SATA 1.5 controllers that can be installed to give this system SATA 1.5 support, but I wouldnt waste any money and troubles into upgrading to a slow 1.5 SATA drive when a ATA 100 is probably fine for this Celeron.

I have a P4 SL6PG (3.06GHz, HT) which I plan to use in the future (i.e. when I get round to it !) I also have a 1GB DIMM for this PC to bring it up to  maximum supported memory.

I have now acquired additionally a Ge6800GT and a Radeon X800XL (to be used either/or not simultaneously !

I think I've got the parts, but when (if) I assemble them things usually don't work.

Right i bought this KVM switch in the hopes that i could hook up 2 computers to the one Monitor and im having an issue when everything is plugged in.. that the monitor wont start

Its windows 7 and XP are the computers I think the problem is because of THIS imgur.com/x8Dn6Vh

Is that the reason everything isnt working correctly? ..to my understanding its not standard vga port because its not blue whereas the xp's machine is blue Quote

Is that the reason everything isnt working correctly? ..to my understanding its not standard vga port because its not blue whereas the xp's machine is blue

Is it a safe bet that there will be at least two spare slots for the old drives? They are SATA drives. The specs for the machines don't always mention how many extra slots there are. No, it is not a sure thing. New Desktops are smaller.
You have to look and see or ask. Many now come undersize and barely have room for one more drive.
You may have to put your extra dives in external enclosures.

You will need to check both how many ports it has and how many bays it has to put the drives in, you can also get adapters to let you install extra HDDs in optical drive bays if needed.

What makes/models are the PCs you are looking at? Quote from: camerongray on June 17, 2014, 03:48:15 AM

You will need to check both how many ports it has and how many bays it has to put the drives in, you can also get adapters to let you install extra HDDs in optical drive bays if needed.

What makes/models are the PCs you are looking at?

Here us a review:
http://www.pcworld.com/product/pg/1292504286/detail
It is said to be a mini-tower.

I think you could remove the floppy and put a drive there.

So mini-towers are not expandable, correct?

In computing, eSATAp (also known as Power over eSATA, Power eSATA, eSATA/USB Combo, eSATA USB Hybrid Port (EUHP)) is a combination connection for external storage devices. An eSATA or USB device can be plugged into an eSATAp port.
...
eSATAp throughput is necessarily the same as SATA, and USB throughput is that of the USB version supported by the port (typically USB 3.0 or 2.0). eSATAp ports ... can run at a THEORETICAL maximum of 6 Gbit/s (bits PER sec) and are backwards compatible with devices such as eSATA 3

It also shuts down as soon as I lift it.

Hi,

I've a problem with ASUS K73SD - I've bought a repaired motherboard from buymotherboard.net

Changed and now:
- the notebook turns on when I plug electricity adapter.
- NOTHING happens on screen
- after few seconds it start switching on off on off... (like power button is permanently pressed)

I've trying RESETTING bios, waited for hours, and still the same... Is the motherboard broken or I'm doing anything wrong? Any ideas?

Thanks a lot for help!

Br,
David V.Try reseating the RAM, if that does not help you are BETTER off returning the board for a replacement if they will take it.Try diagnosing the software first. The auto-restart/shut down must have been enabled. 

Does the OS load?

Is your battery CHARGING?

Ok here goes. I have a Compaq presario which has a dual core 2.63ghz processor with 4 gig DDR3 ram and a recently purchased MSI Geforce GTX 750ti. I checked the Mobo and an intel core quad is compatible with this board(socket775). Ordered the chip. Rubber gloves, thermal PASTE etc, was very careful when installing the new CPU. POWERED up and i just get 2 long beeps and no display. Put the Dual Core back in and everything works fine again. Is the chip dead or could it be a power problem and there is no BIOS update for my Mobo on the HP website. The GTX 750ti requires no extra juice from the PSU by the way. It's a pretty hefty GPU but low powered. This is bugging me to *censored*. I have the option of the CPU being replaced from the seller but is it a fried processor. As i said when i put the Dual Core back in it boots fine.
Please help people:-(How did you determine which MBoard is in that Compaq ? ?Checked on the board, model was right below the CPU socket.
H-IG41-uATX. REV 1.0 then was able to determine which CPU's were compatible with that board.No core-Quad listed here...

SEE Here...REALLY?? Rang my local PC specialist and gave him that specific Mobo number and he said get a core 2 quad q6600 socket 775. I've got a feeling an Intel Core 2 Quad is not a Quad Core chip. Either way it didn't work. The Engineer was adament on this particular chip.Also would this chip give me much more of a performance boost on FPS on GFX if it did work or would i be better of getting an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16ghz that would almost certainly work.The Core 2 quad is in that link you provided but it just will not boot. I've tried removing RAM and varios other things and it just will not boot. It's so frustrating man.Return the CPU under warranty for replacement...Cheers Patio i knew there was something wrong with this chip. According to my research it just a BIOS update and a straight swap over and it should have booted no problem.Best of Luck with the replacement...let us know.It should be noted that HP gives a proper support list for this board...The Q6600 is not listed there.

Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:

    Core 2 Quad Q8xx0/Q9xx0 (Yorkfield core) (95W)
    Core 2 Duo E8xx0 (Wolfdale core) (65W)
    Core 2 Duo E7xx0 (Wolfdale core) (65W)
    Pentium Dual Core E5xx0 (Wolfdale core) (65W)
    Celeron Dual Core E1xx0 (Conroe core) (65W)
    Celeron 4xx series (Conroe core) (35W)
Source: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&docname=c01903990#N116
Under the Processor Upgrade Information section.

The Q6600 is a Kentsfield architecture.

The Q8400 will be the appropriate replacement CPU to work with the board with similar specs to the Q6600.

If you want to go a bit higher, a Q9550 costs a little bit more (On Ebay anyway) but it is 2.83GHz instead of 2.66GHz.

In my opinion price for performance gain you are better off saving a bit more and buying a new Motherboard + CPU + Ram upgrade KIT. Unfortunately Compaq cases are usually heavily designed to fit the components that they supply. This means that things like the front panel connector and power supply connectors may not reach the new board properly meaning modifications have to be made and the power supply replaced to support the new motherboard.

Because you already have a dedicated graphics card to use you could purchase something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1622704

I realise the outlay is 4-5x more, but in the long run will be much better performance wise.

Has anyone here built tier own case?

I'm so frustrated with what I believe is a SHORT that I looked into bread boarding and thought of building my own case to keep metal to a minimum. I already have 4x8 sheets of acrylic so I just need wood and a way to ground. Anyone ever done this?Building your own case would be extremely difficult to do, especially when trying to mount everything and ensure everything is held together well.  if you put the PC together properly shorting will not be an issue in a metal case - Every PC manages it fine.

You would be much better off buying a premade case and then modding it to your preferences - Building it from scratch will be extremely difficult and I can't imagine the results will look that GOOD or be very strong. Quote from: camerongray on June 09, 2014, 11:58:48 AM

Building your own case would be extremely difficult to do, especially when trying to mount everything and ensure everything is held together well.  if you put the PC together properly shorting will not be an issue in a metal case - Every PC manages it fine.

You would be much better off buying a premade case and then modding it to your preferences - Building it from scratch will be extremely difficult and I can't imagine the results will look that good or be very strong.

It's an interesting and project but I wouldn't expect it as a serious replacement for a professionally made case - Look and work out why the board is shorting, I'd focus around screw holes and the rear IO - I also assume you have tested it out of a case entirely?

Mineral oil systems are cool for sure but they ruin the components - Once they have been put in the oil they will work but you'll never really be able to get it off again and it will void your warranties for sure.

i have an hp pavilion g7 that will not boot up

when it starts up it shows the logo with the "starting windows" text for about 2 seconds then it will restart or go black for a quick moment then will go to a screen with the option to try and recover and fix it or to start up windows

no matter which option i pick it will keep doing the same thing and go into windows error recovery but will not fix it

is it possibly the HD going bad? Quote

is it possibly the HD going bad?

1: No, the system has a recovery partition and recovery disks are not necessary. However, I would recommend to create them in case of a complete failure of the hard drive as a backup for a new hard drive and getting the system back to its factory settings.
2: No, the system on the laptop is OEM and a Windows CD is not needed. However, it might be useful when the MBR is damaged and other system repairs have to be done.
Some info how to restore the laptop to the factory settings:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c02638587

Updated: DECEMBER 9, 2013
Applies To: Windows 8.1
When installing Windows on UEFI-based PCs using Windows Setup, your hard drive partition style must be set up to support either UEFI mode or legacy BIOS-compatibility mode.
For example, if you receive the error message: “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style”, it’s because your PC is booted in UEFI mode, but your hard drive is not configured for UEFI mode. You’ve got a few options:
    Reboot the PC in legacy BIOS-compatibility mode. This option lets you keep the existing partition style. For more info, see Boot to UEFI Mode or Legacy BIOS mode.
    Reformat the drive for UEFI by using the GPT partition style. This option lets you use the PC’s UEFI firmware features.
    You can do this yourself by reformatting the drive using the instructions below, or if you need to preserve the data, use a third-party utility to convert the drive to GPT format.

"To install Windows 7 on GPT is simple; while installing from windows 7 DVD, and you get to the segment that you can create or delete partitions press "shift+F10" this will open a command prompt and you can use diskpart to convert to GPT"

I have 16gb of Buffalo Firestix that are 2.1V. I cannot FIND a MB that can utilize the RAM. The latency is very low and I'd love to be able to USE them. I have an AMD8320 which I love, an i5 2500k, an i7 920 and numerous 775 processors. Why make RAM at such a high VOLTAGE if there is no MB that can use it?
There are plenty of motherboards that can supply 2.1 volts to the RAM, there are settings in the BIOS, (vDIMM) and 2.1 volt RAM can often be run at 1.8 volts, although higher is better for stability.
Quote from: Salmon Trout on June 17, 2014, 02:17:44 PM

There are plenty of motherboards that can supply 2.1 volts to the RAM, there are settings in the BIOS, (vDIMM) and 2.1 volt RAM can often be run at 1.8 volts, although higher is better for stability.

What about the CPU? What CPUs support 2.1V?

Vcore does not have to be the same as Vdimm. You need to read up a bit on this sort of thing.

I have a Magnavox MBP 5120 Blu-ray player that I am trying to get to hook up to my wifi everytime I try. Sometimes it will go though but most of the time I get DHCP cannot be acquired. I have moved the blu-ray player and it took four times to get it to connect without that ERROR so I know where it is is not the issue. Connects just fine though the cableHave you tried setting a static IP address manually as suggested in this  link?Yes
If I set the internet type from automatic configuration-DHCP to Static IP it will connect no issue. I had the Blu-ray connected to the wifi on March 8th (after trying 4 times) I was able to connect once after that but in the m9iddle of a movie got a network error. The router is a Linksys WRT120N. I have changed nothing except for what I said in the post about the Static IP and that was done after
Does it happen on both manual and static IP and DHCP/Auto? The only remaining suggestions are UPDATING the router's firmware, move the access point where there is less interferences . Not sure if the Linksys router supports DD-WRT though...The outer is maybe at the most ten feet away from the blu-ray player. I am not sure what you are aski9ngJust to be clear on wifi issues is distance and interference or poor router signal broadcast. See last post PREVIOUS suggestions also just in case.The router is in the same room

I can print from my files, but when it comes to printing ANYTHING Online nothing happens
OS..Windows 7 64BIT version
hp6600 printerWhat broswer are you using and which version?GOOGLE Chrome ver 34.0.1847.116Check NETWORK CONNECTION and device connections... Quite simple yet possible

I used Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN). I am a little unclear about GPT and UEFI, but it's not called MBR anymore is it? I just need a partition table I think."We couldn't create a NEW partition or locate an existing ONE."

How are you selecting the destination? You should be selecting Unallocated Space as the target, so Windows can create the System Reserved Partition. At the page selecting a destination, use "Drive Options (Advanced)" to delete all partitions (if any), then choose Unallocated Space as the target.
MBR has not dissappeared as a drive designation...it's still there.
It depends on what exactly you want... Quote from: PATIO on June 13, 2014, 10:08:25 AM

MBR has not dissappeared as a drive designation...it's still there.
It depends on what exactly you want...

Since he chose to use a 3rd party tool to nuke the HDD the OEM...whoever they are will not offer any assistance...period.

I acquired a netbook (Asus eee 1005hab) from a friend for cheap and it works great. I want to install some music making software (Mixcraft 6) onto it. From what I understand software will function the same on a netbook as it would a laptop. I can get a local computer shop to install 1 terabyte hard drive for a good price to allow me storage for my projects. The netbook runs Windows XP, which supports Mixcraft 6, but I am thinking about having the same computer shop install Windows 7. For the price that I bought the netbook from my friend, the upgrades to the netbook will save me hundreds compared to buying a 1 TB hard drive laptop. I am not going to use the netbook for anything other than my music projects.

My question is will the netbook support my Mixcraft 6 projects after upgrading the hard drive (and maybe the OS)? Thanks
There's no reason why a larger hard drive won't work and it should run Windows 7/8.1 fine.  However, both of those upgrades are going to be expensive - I'd expect around $150 overall (for parts, excluding the labour of the person fitting them) which is likely more than the machine itself is worth.

You also have to watch with these old netbooks is that their CPUs are very weak so will be sluggish for even fairly basic tasks like web browsing, I wouldn't expect it to fare well with music production which is pretty reliant on the CPU.  I would strongly recommend you try Mixcraft on it before you pay for any upgrades to check that it will run it fine (and expect it to run a little slower with Windows 7/8.1) before you think about spending any more money on it.This netbook looks like it has just 1GB RAM in it unless your friend upgraded it before selling it.

These netbooks because they had weaker processing power Intel Atom CPU's usually came with Windows 7 Starter instead of the normal Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate editions which was a more weak processor friendly version.

I have a TOSHIBA Netbook that I installed 2GB of RAM into which is the maximum that my model supports and yours may have the same memory capacity limitation. I tried Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit on my netbook thinking that is the best pair up for 7 since I am limited to maximum of 2GB of RAM, and it turned into being a pretty fast netbook with the SSD drive that I have installed on Windows XP Home SP3 to a snails pace with Windows 7 because the CPU is so weak in processing power.

I have since moved back to Windows XP Home SP3 with my netbook with the 90GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD installed. Swapping out the 160GB 5400rpm HDD with this 90GB SSD made a drastic improvement to both boot time and application launch times as well as it extended my battery life longer not wasting juice to spin platters and MOVE the arm etc.

So my suggestion is that since you are only going to be using this for music to stick with Windows XP if you can do so.

I use my netbook as well with music, but use a piece of software called, MIXPAD which is FREE for Non-Commercial Use

This link shows all software they have... for the Mixpad I am using for multitrack support and editing etc see direct link at bottom of my post.
http://www.nch.com.au/index.html

You can record up to 4 tracks at the same time if you have an audio device that can take in 4 tracks through USB etc. I only use this for single tracks in which I record music directly from my Roland Amp that has a line out and then I plug the line out to line in on my netbooks internal sound card, so I can jam on my Ibanez and record a track and can play with it with the many features in Mixpad to edit out a section etc and save as a MP3 or save the project to work on later etc. Upon plugging anything into the headphone jack on the netbook I have it asks what type of device is connected to select for line in. After that its just setting levels etc and running with it.

Also with the 90GB SSD I have it would take a lot of recordings to fill the 45GB that I have free on it. I have quite a lot of recorded time on this drive and the MP3's that I generate and the project files to be able to edit the project later or copy segments out to blend in with other tracks etc also does not take up much room. So the 1TB drive  you are interested in will probably be overkill for storage capacity for what you want to do.

Here is a direct link to the Mixpad that I am using perfectly fine with Windows XP Home SP3 on a 1.66Ghz Intel Atom CPU with 2GB of DDR2 667Mhz RAM and 90GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD. http://www.nch.com.au/mixpad/index.html

*** Also I ran this software on just 1GB RAM just fine with XP on another system when wanting to have a larger area than a 10.1" display to work with all the tracks and precision of the mouse selection for chopping or adding sections at specific time markers etc.Thanks guys. I will test mixcraft on the netbook first and see how it runs (I have already purchased mixcraft). It sounds like sticking with XP will do the trick. I won't receive mixcraft for a few more days, but I will come back and post on the netbook's response to the software. Poor netbooks.  They are always put down.

I have a 6 year old Acer Aspire One netbook that originally came with 1G of RAM, a 160G hdd and Win XP Home.  I bumped the RAM up to it's max of 1.5G, replaced the 160G hdd with a 64G ssd and installed Win 7 Pro on it.  I ran it that way for 4 years or so and did not encounter any performance issues.  About a year ago, I installed Win 8 on it and feel it runs Win 8 better than it ever ran Win XP or 7.

I am not familiar with the Mixcraft software you want to run but t should work reasonably well.  My netbook handles everything I throw at it.  Of course it won't be stellar at multi-tasking nor will it run the latest, graphics intensive games but for most other tasks the Atom processor does fine, it's pretty close in performance to a P4 in a less power hungry package.

The advice to try the Mixcraft software on the netbook before paying for any upgrades is right on. Quote

Of course it won't be stellar at multi-tasking nor will it run the latest, graphics intensive games but for most other tasks the Atom processor does fine, it's pretty close in performance to a P4 in a less power hungry package.

Poor netbooks.  They are always put down.

Netbooks have earned their reputation...please don't state poor netbooks.

This sound quality, of course, comes at a price: high processing demands. The published system requirements are a 1.4Ghz G4, Pentium or Athlon, but I think this is too low. I tested Massive on a G5 Dual 2.7GHz Mac and a 2GHz Intel Core Duo Macbook Pro, and even these worked up a sweat. On the G5, I usually use Ableton Live with the buffer at 256 samples, but Massive stuttered and refused to play properly. It was perfectly smooth at Live's default 512-sample buffer, however. In both Live and stand-alone modes most patches reported about 20 to 30 percent CPU usage during normal playing. On the same patches, the Macbook Pro reported about 30 percent higher CPU usage. This was for presets using one to six voices, which is actually enough for most patches as the sounds are so, well, massive. Pads and decaying sounds that use more voices eat further into CPU resources. By default, Massive is limited to 16 voices, and using all at once generally had the processor of my G5 pushing 70 percent. This is pretty high even compared to heavy Reaktor synths. Very roughly speaking, it's about twice as CPU intensive as Absynth 4, or FM8 in high quality mode, and a bit heavier than Arturia's analogue emulations, like the Minimoog V, voice-for-voice. There are bound to be many who find Massive's CPU hit prohibitive, but I think it makes sense. From what I've seen, the trend is away from multitrack MIDI recording and towards recording and manipulating audio, and also towards simple and less restrictive freeze functions in modern hosts

hello i need help big time with my Toshiba satellite with windows 7
four years ago the bottom of my computer got a little wet my battery started to smoke. so i took out the battery right away. after that i thought the whole thing was trashed so i kept it in a room as i was moving my friend pointed out that it should run without a battery as long as i have it plugged into the charger, she was right. my computer works and some days it does not . i wanted to factory reset it but i cant. i know about the when turning on hold down zero but my computer is really old and my keys don't work so i use a wireless key board now and it wont work with this. so then i thought maybe if i wipe my hard drive that did not work. then i did some more research and one place said to delete the main administrator and make a NEW one that's what i did. now every time i try to delete something it says i do not have the permission and that i need to get it from the old administrator but that does not show up anywhere. So now i just want to wipe out the whole hard drive and start from new with nothing on my computers but the things it mainly came with. It works sometimes but then sometimes it does not and when i try to go on it. i turn it on and it makes a loud beeping noise at me. Can someone people help me this is driving me crazy. Quote

So now i just want to wipe out the whole hard drive and start from new with nothing on my computers but the things it mainly came with. It works sometimes but then sometimes it does not and when i try to go on it. i turn it on and it makes a loud beeping noise at me. Can someone people help me this is driving me crazy.

The recovery process deletes all applications not included with the laptop when new. This includes but is not LIMITED to pictures, music, programs, application data, personal data, and documents. It is highly recommended that before performing a recovery, save the files you want to keep to an external source, because after the recovery is complete, there will be no way to get them back.
 

I was typing perfectly fine and then all of a sudden they stopped working on my laptop.(I'm typing on a crappy external keyboard right now) I don't know why this happened at all however idk if this effects anything but my computer over heated twice yesterday but was fine after that for a long time with no issues i put a fan on with it to keep it from over heating again. I checked and there is no dust or anything in the keyboard all looks clean. I tried rebooting the computer even took the battery out popped it back in. What can fix this? please help I need this computer for work its desperate i keep it working. You will either need to run with an external keyboard that is better than the 'crappy' one you have or swap out the keyboard on the laptop in hopes that its the keyboard and not the KB Controller that got cooked from the overheat. So there is a CHANCE that swapping out the keyboard on this laptop you can still have the same problem, yet a USB or PS2 keyboard depending on the age of the laptop uses a different controller and may work fine.I can't really roll with an external at the moment. You can TAKE a chance on buying a replacement keyboard for it and swapping it out, but sorry to say there are no quick fixes for a problem like this, and due to the nature of the system overheating leading up to this, there is no guarantee that swapping out the keyboard would cure it. However if the keyboard is troubled, swapping it out with the correct one would fix it.

Question I have is, would your employer buy you a new computer to use for work?

If you are self EMPLOYED you can buy a new one and write it off as a business expense also. Quote from: acoustichead on June 19, 2014, 05:01:08 PM

I can't really roll with an external at the moment.

What's your recommendations?Do you already have an OS or is the OS cost included in this budget?Sorry about the late reply, I dont have one picked out but I've been watching this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229544I'd steer well clear of that one - The CPU(APU) and video card are pretty low end and I'd worry about the quality of the parts they have used, namely the very generic looking power supply and MSI brand motherboard.

For your budget you could do a lot better with something like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/L63c4D which would be much more powerful, uses better quality parts and gives you a much better upgrade path for the CPU (The CyberPower one already has the best CPU it can SUPPORT whereas the parts I linked would let you upgrade to an even better CPU down the line).I also agree that I'd steer away from CyberPower. They generally build systems up cutting corners in quality as far as lack of use of better brand components, and only advertise the specs that most would look at. They do not list the motherboard and other parts that the make/model would be interesting to know. In the past I have seen them use ECS and ASRock motherboards and these boards in my oppinion are not the best boards out there. Some may claim that they have had good luck with them, but there are many others who complain that the motherboard dies within the first 3 years of use or the system experiences strange bugs as a result of components that are not exactly within spec to work in harmony with timings etc. I also agree with Cameron that you can get a better build that is within budget with room for upgrades later vs buying a system that is painting youself into an upgrade corner running a max supported CPU for motherboard match etc, and having no where to go except swapping out motherboard later etc.There's about 150 to $200.00 in that Cyberpower unit not justified that could be better spent...
I'd follow the above advice personally.Take into consideration just the processor, memory and videocard having high quality performance. Brand of the component doesn't really count if you are to build your pc. In this way you can MINIMIZE your expense. Quote from: eQuilibrium on June 06, 2014, 10:33:06 PM

Take into consideration just the processor, memory and videocard having high quality performance. Brand of the component doesn't really count if you are to build your pc. In this way you can minimize your expense.

I dont KNOW if this the right place to ask this, but here goes.  I bought an everex stepnote model va250e laptop at a pawn shop.  It was powered on at the pawn shop when I checked it and everything on it worked fine.  So I turned it off, bought it, but when I returned home and tried to power it up, the first thing it does on startup is ask for a password, even before I get to the splash screen.  I took it back to the pawn shop, and all they said was 'well it was working when you looked at it over here.  We dont know what you did to it after you took it'. 

All this happened withing HALF an hour.  Well, anyway, is there anyway I can remove this darn password, or have I just bought myself an expensive paperweight?  Please help.Is this a Windows Password or a BIOS Password?

BIOS Password would be requesting password with a black screen, and Windows password would be a normal windows prompt with username/password.

If its the BIOS Password, some laptops need to go back to the mfr to be factory reset as for the BIOS is locked. This is set up on laptops that are high risk of theft to make the computer a brick for whoever stole it.

The only way I can see this being activated between the pawn shop and home would be if someone intentionally did this to it, or the cmos battery is weak and somehow allowed for a bogus password to be enabled to the BIOS system lock.

If this system is not one that has a BIOS lock that is protected, you can remove the cmos battery and wait like 10 minutes and then plug it back in and have the password reset to no password required. However most of the newer models have this feature which REQUIRES pc mfr to reset it which sometimes requires swap out of the bios chip.

You might have a computer brick on your hands if pawn shop or pc mfr dont help.

I generally stay away from pawn shops with electronic device PURCHASES, they generally do not operate to keep A+ customer satisfaction and prey on the poor and have shady business tactics. For the fact that so many people are willing to go in there for a chance on a deal or desperate for cash they dont mind upsetting someone as for there will always be more desperate people to allow them to continue making money. Also unless you have a good pawn shop that can be trusted its generally as-is no refunds etc ... "sorry charlie" business where they rarely lose out on any deals or are willing to give a refund to maintain you as a repeat customer, especially if the pawn shop is in a city with a heavy population where they thrive, whereas one in a lesser populated area may want to maintain a good customer relation for repeat customers.

If its a Windows password, please give the version of Windows and we can go from there, but i have a feeling this is a hardware BIOS password that you get right at the get go which is a far worse problem.Pardon me. The story is just not credible.   

EDIT:   Everex StepNote va250e is a cheap net-book and does not run Windows.
About  $240. used. Quote from: Geek-9pm on June 19, 2014, 03:12:01 PM

Everex StepNote va250e is a cheap net-book and does not run Windows.

Pardon me. The story is just not credible.   

EDIT:   Everex StepNote va250e is a cheap net-book and does not run Windows.
About  $240. used.

How check DISC is helpful to a COMPUTER or its HARD disc?HTTP://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx?mfr=true

More and more online shops sell 3D printers now, like amazon or newegg, but the price of them are so high, and maybe buyer needs to spend long time to learn how to use. People can use 3D printer to DIY, some small component models would be finished so fast. However, in my opinion, 3D printer would not be common in the future. It is unpractical for most of people, they don’t need to DIY everyday, and the high price also PREVENTS people who TAKE interested in printer. What is your opinion?I think it's like any other new technology, as 3D printing becomes more commonplace, the price will drop and people will find more uses for it.Not sure if there's question here... Quote

What is your opinion?

Hi All,

Last week, my monitor BEGAN FAINTLY but rapidly flashing, and eventually the screen went black. Not off, no messages, just black. Upon toggling the power switch off then back on, the monitor would work for less than 2 seconds, then go black again. For awhile, rebooting did the trick for a LENGTH of time, but the monitor would always go back off. Eventually the rebooting stopped working altogether. Now it will flash for -2 seconds and remain black upon reboot.

Things I've tried-
Separate cable
separate power cord
different monitor - display remained dark on this as well
removed the graphics card and used original port - problem remained.

Anyone have any ideas on this? There was no prompting it, just during REGULAR use it RANDOMLY started happening.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps!

I predict 6 pages on this one... QUOTE from: PATIO on April 13, 2014, 10:59:40 AM

I predict 6 pages on this one...

So I want to be able to play current games on my computer but when I try, it is really bad. When I play bioshock infinite I have 10-15 fps when on the lowest graphics settings and no other programs running.
My question is should I change my cpu or gpu or what? and to what
price range is preferably below $250. Processor is Intel Core i3-3240 CPU 3.40 GHz. 7.87 GB usable RAM. 814 Gb of free hard drive space. I'm not quite sure what my gpu is since when I go under device manager, it just says Intel HD Graphics, but I remember reading somewhere that it is 2500.Sounds like you have a motherboard with integrated graphics.  If that's the case the the best bang for your upgrade dollar WOULD be athe best gpu you could afford.As strollin said, your biggest limitation is your video card so this could really do with being upgraded for gaming.   The only thing to really check with this is that your current power supply is capable of running a video card as if it isn't it may need to also be upgraded.

What make/model is your current power supply?  This is the big box inside the PC where the power plugs into, there will be a STICKER somewhere on that that gives the make/model.btw... we are all assuming this is a desktop computer that should EASILY take an upgrade... if this is a laptop your most likely stuck with the Intel HD 2500 integrated graphics. Also impressed that the Intel HD 2500 is able to get 10-15 fps on integrated.... I would have bet on it being much worse such as around 3-5 fps given the GPU demands of that game.  Yes it is a desktop pc. I'm pretty sure it is a DELL inspiron 3000 series. But again, don't know for sure if the gpu is actually 2500, I just think. Power information is attached.
 Edit: sorry the picture is upside down. Don't really know why.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]Cool, in that case you have a 300w PSU.  This is pretty low for high end video cards although SOMETHING like an NVIDIA GeForce 750ti would be fine on it.  Alternatively, if you want to get a higher end video card than the 750ti, you would need to also upgrade your power supply, do not cheap out on this, make sure you get a good PSU from a reputable brand, not some generic brand one for $20!

It all comes down to how much you want to spend on the video card and potentially a power supply.Alright cool. ThanksIf you upgrade the GPU ( go to a dedicated card ) you have the issue of the Power supply, in that it will not be enough ( Probably no PCIe connectors or not enough ). If you do go that route, then there may be an issue of the CPU bottlenecking the GPU. To be honest there is no real modest budget fix.

Hi guys I've recently bought a barebones pc with the following specifications:

System:

Display:

I basically want to buy a new graphics/video card to use for gaming and post-production work (mainly gaming). I'm pretty new to this so I would appreciate any help as I don't want to buy a new card and it not work. I'm on a budget and don't want to go over £120 ($203.68) if possible, in fact the cheapest card that can play the latest games sufficiently will be fine.

Thanks in advance for your time and help

RyYou'll need to check what POWER supply (PSU) the system has in it - Specifically the wattage and make/model - There will be a sticker on the power supply itself stating this information.

Also, why are you running a 32bit version of Windows?Hey man thanks for the reply. I have no idea why I have x32 I just downloaded a windows 7 installer and USED that with an old win7 key I had.

The power settings are:

That power supply is not even close to adequate.
the PCI-E connectors that would need to be attached to the graphics card draw up to 150 Watts, with less powerful graphics adapters typically drawing 75 Watts.

The Total 12V power drain on the Power supply, however, is only 228 Watts. The Graphics card is not the only thing that draws 12v power, The CPU also draws 12v power through the CPU Power connector. That specific processor is rated to draw up to 55Watts of power from 12v. That brings us to 205 for a higher-end card and 130 watts for a card that draws 75 watts.

Drive motors, including hard disk drives and optical drives, also use 12v. so does the chipset. Given this I find even the idea of a lower-end 75-watt draw graphics card to probably exceed the power supplies ability to provide power.

Fundamentally if you want a new graphics adapter you would need a new Power supply.As far as a card I would recommend something like the GeForce 750ti.  It is very power efficient so although tight, it should be fine on your current power supply.  Just make sure the 750ti you buy does not have the additional PCI-E power connector.  This card would meet those requirements: http://www.ebuyer.com/621485-evga-gtx-750-ti-2gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-02g-p4-3751-kr

As BC said, for anything above the 750ti you would need a new power supply which would cost around £40-50.Thanks but they all appear to have PCI-E power connector.

Would this one work with my system?

http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127784It would yes however MSI isn't the best brand.  The EVGA one I linked is a much better brand and also doesn't need the power connector.That card requires a 450w PSU Minimum. It does not use the Extra PCIe connectors and gets all of it's power from the BUS. Ih the budget with HANDLE the card and the PSU, the3n fine, but then there may be a Bottlenecking issue with the Processor, but should still be an improvement over the integrated graphics.

Simple question.
Can I USE this drive to burn cd's?
ThanksThe model number you POSTED is for a hard drive
http://www.samsung.com/us/business/storage/hdd/downloads/2007SSHDDPGB_1st_version.pdfOops sorry Allan, SAID I was a beginner, didn't I?
Let's try
HL-DT-ST dvd-rom GDR8084N
Hope that's better
Thanks
Hi

It's a DVD-ROM, which MEANS that it can read CDs and DVDs, but it can't burn them.

Thanks Lisa_maree
Not the answer I was hoping for but that's life.
Cheers

Yesterday I acquired 14 of these old Dell C640's that where formerly used by the local school system, most seem to work, however they all have a BIOS admin password, it's not a huge deal, I can still reinstall windows and all that, but I'd like to be able to change a few settings in the BIOS that are currently locked out. I intend to sell these old machines, and the BIOS being locked out in no way prevents me from setting them up to do so, I'd just like to clear it out so the machine is as fresh as possible.

Now this is my dilemma, I know there is a way to disassemble these laptops and short a chip I forgot the name of which the BIOS is stored on, 'cause these computers where often used as a business machine and they wanted it to be very hard to access them illegally. I am not motivated to, nor am I even entertaining the idea that I would take all of these apart and go through that procedure. They aren't worth enough money to make it worth that.

So, short of disassembling all these machines to clear it, what else can I do?

Side note, anyone want a stack of floppy drives for these things? I have no idea what I'm gonna do with all of them, I haven't used a floppy in almost a decade.  As far as I know, the BIOS password is stored in NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) and cannot be erased or reset by 'shorting' anything. I hope you didn't pay a lot for these?
Contact Dell directly...For Dell, the window where it asks for the bios password, does it show a serial number or a service tag number that probably starts with a '#'?? Quote from: PCdoc on June 29, 2014, 07:32:26 AM

For Dell, the window where it asks for the bios password, does it show a serial number or a service tag number that probably starts with a '#'??

Contact Dell directly...

As far as I know, the BIOS password is stored in NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) and cannot be erased or reset by 'shorting' anything. I hope you didn't pay a lot for these?

I have a Dell Latitude c640 Laptop that says it needs an administrator password with a white screen and doesn't allow me to do anything not even enter setup. I believe this is a BIOS password it's asking for and I don't know it. I though I had to remove the CMOS battery and all would be well but that didn't seem to work. Just curious if anybody has a different way to fix this issue or if there is just a jumper i need to be messing with and know the location of it. ...

How would this help? The password is set by one of the technicians in the school system.

As far as I know, the BIOS password is stored in NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) and cannot be erased or reset by 'shorting' anything. I hope you didn't pay a lot for these?

Not any more.  It's stored on a separate chip.
http://www.ianmcshane.org/2009/10/01/clearing-the-bios-password-on-a-dell-d610/

It's usually an Atmel chip

A friend of mine recently acquired a D630 with the same issue.  Dell is probably going to want them all returned to clear them, if you can have them all transferred ownership to you.  They won't do it for free.  Other than doing nothing, the easiest way will be to perform the "hard reset".  If you could located the IT admin that set up the laptops & get the password from him, that would be the best way.

- theft of laptops is a serious problem all over the world. The use of secure passwords is one of the means used to slow down or deter  theft of laptop computers. Not that everyone who posts a password question is a thief, but because this is a public forum the members here have to be careful about publishing facts that could be used by anybody for evil ends.

Because if you can show proof of ownership they will tell you how to do it...that's why...

Yes, why? The service tag is also on the bottom of the computer, and no I did not think to try to that as the password, if that is what you are thinking. I will test that, out of curiosity.

Hi all,
If i got a printed DOCUMENT(black N white) , can i find from which printer it is printed.?
while googling i found that for color printed documents, there would be some hidden yellow dotes added with the printing content. Those dotes indicate the serial number of the printer from which it was printed , and this cannot be VIEW by naked eyes. It would be clearly visible if we use blue LIGHTS in the dark room to read it.
please replay if any one knows about this.Many colour and some monochrome (black and white) devices produce tracking dots in their output, but the makers will only reveal the identity of the printer to government AGENCIES e.g. police.

I have an older gateway machine, and It had been sitting for a while until I got it back up and running with a new HD display. Upgraded ram etc. Ive been running it for a few days without any issues, but today was different. I had left the PC on while i was out, and came home to BSOD on the display, and rebooted the PC (not catching what the error codes were, DUH). Fans came on and there was one short beep and the fans started to slow like normal... but no display...

 I shut it off and unplugged it, and held the power button for a minute, and PLUGGED it back in. Windows started to load, but then screen went black and nothing. I tried to restart it and nothing would display on the screen. When i attempted to boot and it did it's single beep (which makes me think it posted) I wondered if windows loaded so i attempted to get sound out of the pc, with no luck. Also at these points i was able to TURN the machine off by simply pressing the power switch on the case, instead of needing to hold it in. So i removed all of the ram but one STICK, as well as the graphics card and it didnt seem to act a whole lot different, still shut off with one touch to the power button. Not sure what my issue is, i would hate for it to be motherboard, but i suppose it is possible. Is there any way i could tell weather it is the mother board, power supply, or graphics card?

PC is Five or six years old. Graphics card is what came with it new, ati raedon 4800? (not sure on that, just a guess) and 6gb ddr3, core i7. It seems that when i have the graphics card out and i try to boot it up, it turns on, single beep, and then eventually the LED behind the power button on the case shuts off (but all of the hardware keeps running) and nothing else happens (i wish i had a VGA cable to see if the motherboard's onboard vga port had an output) And if i want to shut the hardware off i have to hold the power button in for ten seconds or so. (this button normally stays illuminated while PC is on.) And while graphics card is in the light stays on, and pc never boots up. It is shut off by just tapping the power button at that point.

Any HELP would be great, thanks!
Quote from: Doomsfox on June 27, 2014, 02:27:06 PM

Is there any way i could tell weather it is the mother board, power supply, or graphics card?

i want tips on how to figure out what the problem is (considering im on a budget and dont have money to gamble on parts)

Hey guys!

Okay, so, I have this one, almost 6 years old PC and it's CPU start to overheat during summer.

CPU is ANCIENT one "AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+" and i also have cooler master hyper tx3 evo ( i thought replacing stock cooler with this one would help, but its same).

So, my questions are:

1. Could that processor cause overheating by itself since it is very old? if so what to do?

2. Would additional vent on hyper tx3 help?

note: I already have 3 case vents, 2x 8mm at BACK and one 12mm at SIDE, all of them are exhausting air out of pc case.

I clean whole case from dust ever 2 weeks or so.
p.s. sorry about spacing, but i find it more readable. thanks in advance.Its more probable that the thermal compound has dried up.

I have 2 systems with similar CPU's and while some may claim they are dinosaur old in age, they still run well for everything I throw at them. I have the AMD Athlon 64 x2 4450B ( 2.3Ghz overclocked to 2.53Ghz ) and AMD Athlon 64 x2 4850e 2.5Ghz and they idle around 37C right now with stock coolers ( solid chunk of cast aluminum ) and the only one that runs warm in the overclocked Athlon 4450B that caps off at 53C when performing burn in tests while watching Speedfan temp results.

I'd remove the heatsink, remove the old thermal compound, and then apply new thermal compound such as arctic silver, and reapply heatsink, and then see where your temps are at. This may fix it.

Additionally there have been some AMD CPU's from this ERA that have bad thermal couplers inside and so they will report wrong temps. This is the case if right at boot its reading like 118C and the system hasnt even had a chance to wam up yet. Because the thermocouple is internal its only replaced by swapping out the CPU, but as long as the system doesnt shut down as a result of this, then I'd run it as is as long as new thermal compound applied and CPU fan is spinning to blow away the heated air.well i did reapply thermal compound like 2 months ago and until summer temps were never above 60*c in full load. Now at summer at night its stable around 65*c, but during hot day it does 80+ i didnt check how far it goes, but i assume until shutdown.Curious as to what your room temp is at that this COMPUTER is operating in?

Also, are you overclocking this or running normal clock?  Some motherboards can dangerously wig out and overclock on you if cmos battery is weak etc, but it usually gives other indications like lost date/time etc.Hot day so meaning your environment temperature must be high. This so much affects your device especially in your CPU which is above normal temperature(<50C). CPU usually heats the highest because it does everything from the user. CPU age doesn't matter much. What causes heat is environment temperature and the activities of your device like playing multimedia or gaming. Additional heatsinks would help and try minimizing your computer's power usage when the day is hot.

 DaveLembke, it's summer so warmer than usual, room temp is around 26*c or so... i did not overclock it, settings are like at day when i bought it.

eQuilibrium, i am not sure what do u mean by additional heatsinks.

Also, reason why i asked is it possible for cpu to overheat is few years ago it could run any game on stock cooler during hot day without overheating.

Could low quallity thermal compound like(cooler master that comes with cooler or Titan Silicone) cause overheating in hot days?

And last hyper tx3 is not really polished, so i dont know did i put good amount of thermal compound, could more than enough cause overheating?Things to consider for an overheating desktop computer is:

1.) Room computer is in is too hot or computer is baking ( black computer case in the direct sunlight by the window...etc ) and inadequate or clogged with dust cooling vents. ( Sounds like you already makde sure case had proper airflow )
2.) Dry Thermal Compound ( You checked/replaced this )
3.) Heatsink Heatpipe or Fan Failure or heatsink not property latched down and instead is leaning vs flat to CPU surface ( It sounds like you replaced the heatsink and are having same issues )
4.) Not adequate thermal compound ( Generally a droplet about the size of a rain drop of it center to the CPU and then heatsink applied is plenty )
5.) Motherboard is overdriving the CPU - Overclock ( You confirmed that this is not the case )
6.) Power Supply Failure - Over Voltage ( Check your voltages to make sure that they are correct as for a power supply can fail and allow too much voltage to be applied to devices leading to overheat condition ) * Some BIOS's have where you can look at system monitor that will show voltages. Confirm that all look correct. If your motherboard does not have this you can swap out the PSU and see if that cures this.
7.) Bad or Out of Tolerance Voltage Regulator 'VRM'   ( Motherboard with a bad voltage regulator is allowing too much voltage to be applied to the CPU. )How much Thermal paste did you use? You can use too much as well as too little.This has been covered pretty well. The ambient room temps can play a part. IK have central air, but this corner gets hot and as result, my CPU temps may rise 5c. As for the Thermal compound, it's sole purpose is to fill in the tiny cracks on the cap left from the maching process. If you put it on like you are icing a cake, you are looking for trouble as it will insulate the CPU and the temps will go through the roof rather than transfer to the heat sink. As I recall, those processors have a high TDP, so they are going to run a bit hotter anyway. Make sure there is no build u[p of dust in the heatsink over the CPU.

Hi all. Like it says i am a new member so i don't know if this is where i should post it. Anyway this is my problem: i booted my pc then it started beeping. Being the clueless person that i was i panicked andi tried to force shutdown it. I can't really remember but i think it said something about a bios update i think. After that everything went downhill. For awhile a message popped up that said something like "windows all user could not run" or something like that and google chrome wouldn't run. However i was able to fix that thanks to youtube. I'm saying this because it might be relevant to my current problem and that is the internet. Ever since that bios thing happened my internet got slower and became intermittent in connectivity. Which leads me to ask the question, how can i fix it?
I have already searched this on this website but to no avail.Hard to BELIEVE that will have anything to do with your internet connectivity but i am not the expert here.

Could it be some sort of virus infected your PC causing problems with the bios and now internet ? Especially that you mention chrome isn't working correctly.

Run MBAM and see what it brings up.

Good luck!MBAM is not an anti virus app. While running a scan with MalwareBytes is certainly a good idea, you should also run a full scan with your installed anti virus app.Thanks guys I will try these today. Will get back to you asap Quote from: Allan on June 27, 2014, 04:29:33 PM

MBAM is not an anti virus app. While running a scan with MalwareBytes is certainly a good idea, you should also run a full scan with your installed anti virus app.

You need to tell us exactly what you did to "fix" the problem you originally had.

Hi all. Like it says i am a new member so i don't know if this is where i should post it. Anyway this is my problem: i booted my pc then it started beeping. Being the clueless person that i was i panicked andi tried to force shutdown it. I can't really remember but i think it said something about a bios update i think. After that everything went downhill. For awhile a message popped up that said something like "windows all user could not run" or something like that and google chrome wouldn't run. However i was able to fix that thanks to youtube.

It's certainly NOT a BIOS issue...
What adapter are we talking about here ? ?

The highlighted portion above is what I'm asking about. What did you do?

First off, a list of specs:

i7 4770K 3.50GHz (not overclocked yet)
GTX 780 Ti
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (running in XMP)
Corsair 750D
Corsair RM850W PSU
Corsair H100i Liquid cooling
Asus Maximus VI Hero
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM

I built this SYSTEM 3 days ago. The first day I had some CPU overheating problems, which I fixed. The H100i cooler was not on well enough and the thermal paste only covered about 1/3 of the CPU. Great, all's fine.

The day after though, my system got random reboots. When I powered it on right after, it said ASUS Anti-Surge was triggered and the system reset to PREVENT damage from power surges.

Today, the system reset at least 3 times, the last time it did not give me the power surge message. Instead, I got Q-code 00 and the system would boot up, but I didn't get a display, nor were the rear and front fans spinning.

Now I have gotten the 00 code twice, though if I wait about half an hour, I can boot up and do what I'd do normally, wair for another reboot.

Stress testing under 100% load showed normal voltages on everything in the PC. I reach max temps of 60 degrees on my graphics card and 55 degrees on my CPU.

I have reseated RAM and disabled XMP MODE, I didn't even overclock my CPU yet. I ran the system with integrated graphics and I flashed the bios to the latest version, no dice.

Any help is EXTREMELY appreciated, thank youFound This....I have read all threads on 00 codes, they have nothing to do with my situation as their motherboards are either DOA or not working.. I have a functioning motherbaord which I have used for over 3 daysThere are plenty of users with this issue who's MBoard is NOT DOA and in fact working...
One here...

And another...Doesn't change the fact that none of the solutions work... Also, they can't boot ANYMORE. I'm on the computer right nowI saw more than 1 solution that worked....

Most common one was more conservative RAM clockings.Is it possible my BIOS is outdated? I tried updating the bios version with a CAP file but it is still displaying the same version for me

My husband has an HP XW6400 work station that won't boot up.  It EITHER beeps four times while a red light in the front blinks four times or it will act like it is trying to start up, then stop, then start up again, then stop.  Once it got all the way into the Windows 7 is starting up screen, then SHUT off.  We have removed the RAM & reset it, but that didn't solve the problem.  Any suggestions on what the problem could be?

The last time he tried starting it, a black screen came up with different options rerarding starting in safe MODE, repair mode, etc.  He selected safe mode & that is when it started having the above problem.

He's gone to the store to get a NEW CMOS battery for it.
 
Thanks!
 
Kim RindeHi

With what you have already done and the information here about that code.

  710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01682505-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1404333740702.876444892.199480143" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0 710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01682505-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1404333740702.876444892.199480143

It seems it is likely a power supply fault or excess load on the power supply

there is a procedure there to diagnose the this error.

Another thing to check is DAMAGED USB ports.
If you do have any USB ports damaged report back for a solution .
The link you gave me did not work.  I have a friend coming over to check the power supply.  New CMOS battery didn't make any difference.Sorry this link will work

710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01682505-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1404340653934.876444892.199480143" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0 710b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01682505-2%257CdocLocale%253D%257CcalledBy%253D&javax.portlet.tpst=ba847bafb2a2d782fcbb0710b053ce01&ac.admitted=1404340653934.876444892.199480143

To post long links you hit the link button...then backspace = then the link...close with the ] and type in a Title...

First off hey everyone, I'm new to the site but I'm glad to be here!

I've had a bit of an issue recently with my fan/pump. As of the last 2 weeks it's been running very loudly which is strange because I've only had my PC for a little over a year and I just changed the thermal paste on it around 2 months ago. So yesterday I decided to reapply the paste and see if there was some issue with that. At first it seemed to be fine but it quickly got loud again. Even stranger though is the things that make it speed up are running videos or even loading a new web page just simple things you wouldn't think would cause problems for a fairly HIGH end PC like mine.

I'm just CURIOUS if it's the pumps heat sink that's going out or if it's a bios issue. If anyone has any idea about what it could be it would be greatly appreciated!

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

System Manufacturer: Alienware
       System Model: Aurora-R3
        BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/25/11 09:41:30 Ver: 04.06.04
        PROCESSOR: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
        Memory: 6144MB RAMM

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 TI
Total Memory: 4gbFirst thing I would do is check your temperatures with a program like HWMonitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.htmlWell it just kicked back up again after I've had it turned off for a about 30 minutes and HWMonitor is reading CPU temperatures as high as 90 C.
All I've done was deleted one folder off my computer and my CPU temp shot up to 90 C, I just don't understand what could be causing this.That is far too high, I wouldn't use it until the issue has been resolved.

First thing I would do is check the connections to the liquid cooler, make sure that the pump is connected to power for example.  If the cooler is all connected properly and is FITTED tightly onto the CPU, I would next be checking to see if the cooler's pump is still working, if not it may need replaced.Well I've been wanting to pick up a Noctua fan for my CPU and get away from the whole liquid cooling pump anyways. I guess I'll know for sure if I'm still having the same issue after I change it over to that. Thanks for the help, I just really wanted to make sure if it wasn't a bios problem and my temps weren't just being read wrong by the PC.

I want to be as thorough as possible, so I'll probably try to post some sort of tl;dr at the bottom because I wanna make sure I leave nothing out.

I bought parts for a PC that I checked compatability of with PC-Part-Picker listed here: http://pcpartpicker.com/b/qNt6Mp

I made this PC about 6 months ago. It was the first one I've ever made, but everything ran well.

I moved to a new place AROUND 2 weeks ago and everything was still working just fine, running perfectly fast and with pretty low temps for summer time as far as I could tell. There was no apparent damage from moving.

I usually leave my PC on all the time. Last night, I was watching some shows (so not doing anything intensive) and then I closed every window, but left the PC on and the monitor off.

When I came in this morning, the PC was off and refused to turn back on.

I looked at many different FAQs and such, and I think it may be my motherboard, PSU, or CPU. What happens is that I can connect the power to my Z77 and it will always stay powered and if I try to turn it on, the fans start to spin and some lights come on, but it won't really start.

When I plug the 8-pin (4+4) CPU cable up to the PSU and motherboard, the CLR_CMOS button will briefly flash its light and then it's all dead until a hard restart (like unplugging the PSU and then plugging it back up).

RAM, GPU, SSD, HDD, ETC. aren't making any differences. It's always just plugging up the CPU cables that STOPS it. The GPU fans will spin if the GPU is plugged up.

From that, I want to assume that the GPU, SSD, HDD, and the PSU (because it powers the motherboard and the GPU) are not a problem.

Where I'm lost is whether it's the actual processor (which appears to look fine to me), the cable for the CPU (but I tried a working spare to no avail), or the motherboard.

Additional info is that the Z77 gives me no sort of debug code or anything. When the CPU cable is connected, it's as if the motherboard is basically dead.

The Z77 has a switch BIOS button, but they both work the same for this issue. No change.



tl;dr: CPU won't boot. Maybe it's the CPU or motherboard? Potentially the PSU? Read the last few paragraphs for more info.What does 'tl;dr' mean?
Quote from: Dattebayo on June 14, 2014, 02:46:34 PM

When I plug the 8-pin (4+4) CPU cable up to the PSU and motherboard, the CLR_CMOS button will briefly flash its light

and then it's all dead until a hard restart (like unplugging the PSU and then plugging it back up).

RAM, GPU, SSD, HDD, etc. aren't making any differences. It's always just plugging up the CPU cables that stops it. The GPU fans will spin if the GPU is plugged up.

Where I'm lost is whether it's the actual processor (which appears to look fine to me), the cable for the CPU (but I tried a working spare to no avail), or the motherboard.

What does 'tl;dr' mean?

You did this with the PSU connected to the AC?
See above?

Could be the motherboard and/or CPU and/or RAM. Hot-plugging/unplugging motherboards is a recipe for disaster.

Hello guys

I am using intel DG41RQ motherboard with core 2 duo processor and 2GB DDR2 RAM. Previously ii was using Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD which was SATA II HDD, but unfortunately that stopped working so i DECIDED to upgrade my HDD. Now I've got a Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD which is SATA III compatible. The real problem arised when i connected my HDD to the motherboard and started my computer and noticed that system is not detecting the HDD. But, sometimes (1/10 times) it luckily gets detected and then if i start installing OS to it, it again gets disappear in the middle of OS installation.

I have really got frustrated. Please help/guide me.

Looking forward for a solution.I have had a bad PSU cause the issue you are having!

Are you sure the PSU is good and that the 500GB drive really is dead or not?

I had an older system 5 years old that was used DAILY all of a sudden start showing up as HDD issues and finally the one day it wouldnt boot the OS and the HDD was not detected by the BIOS.

I swapped out the HDD with another HDD I had on hand and while I was installing the OS the HDD disappeared on me, and once again not shown in BIOS.

Checked my PSU and my 5V was 4.73VDC and my 12V was like 11.39VDC. I swapped out the old 300 watt PSU with another I had and my 5V was now 5.01VDC and the 12V was 11.89VDC and the HDD was detected right AWAY. I then installed the OS fresh to the replacement HDD with no problems. I then decided to swap out this HDD and place the original back into it and it detected the drive right away. I then just needed to run checkdisk on this and correct for SOEM corruption, but then after that everything was good.

So it wasnt a crashed drive, it was a crashed PSU. So it might be worth checking into given the age of your computer.

Do you have a good PSU to swap out with this system to see if that corrects this?

I am still running windows XP professional SP3 on  a desktop machine. I am somewhat computer illiterate and a newbie so please forgive me. How can I tell if I have a possible video card problem? My video displayed on my LCD monitor comes from a VGA cable that connects to the video "whatever" on the motherboard I think. PC is pretty old but I would like to keep it for several more months until I can afford a new desktop. Finances are pretty tight right now. Can I buy a cheap video card? I have several PCI slots available that I can plug into.



When I right click on desktop icons, the context menu slowly fades in. Plus, I have had to REBOOT several times.....the computer hiccups and the font gets really blurry and all the images and icons displayed are huge and not clear. After I reboot, things are ok until it happens again and it is starting to happen more frequently. Please help. Can I just buy a cheap video card to get me thru about 6 more months or do you think I may have another problem? Any suggestions or help welcomed. Thanks for reading.Computer Make/Model Number could help to know what your system can handle for video card.

You could have something else going wrong that is causing this to happen, although it could be a GPU ( onboard video ) that is failing.

The only drawback to PCI video cards are that they are very limited in what they can render. The PCI bus is quite a bottleneck for graphics with AGP being the far next better, and PCI Express being the best. Also many 1999-2004 integrated video motherboards have an internal AGP controller and so the integrated AGP graphics even if only 64MB is usually better than adding a PCI base video card, however with one that is failing, adding a PCI video card and disabling the internal probably AGP bus type should fix for the problems you are experiencing if its just the GPU and nothing more serious.

The best video card you could probably get for this is like a GeForce 6200, although the PCI bottlenecks the performance greatly on the 6200, and the only benefits of the 6200 would be the EXTRA shaders and water effects of older games on this older system etc. Frame Rate will be poor with a PCI card unless its an old game etc. Newer games 99% of them will not run through a PCI video card, and the 1% that do run will run poorly.

As far as web surfing and youtube videos etc, the surfing and word processing would be fine, but you would see a degradation of performance when going from the preview video window of say youtube to full screen with more having to be rendered and the PCI bus being a bottleneck.

If your motherboard has an AGP slot, you can install a far better video card and have far better performance vs integrated. A video card such as a GeForce 7800GT in the AGP video card type wityh 256MB or 512MB would probably be far better performance than you ever had prior, BUT if you are buying a new system sooner than later you will not want to sink too much money into a video card, and PCI cards are usually pretty cheap especially if bought used, however buying used comes at risk of buying junk so be careful if buying used.

Hey Dave, you are the man. I think I understand the gist of what you said. I really appreciate the time you took to respond to me. Let me do a little more research and I think I have a simple followup question. I wish I had a better understanding of these technical things like you experts but I try to explain the best I can and I am constantly trying to learn. Again, thanks so much for your reply.  Much appreciated!Hey Dave,
Here is the exact video card I have now.

http://www.pcliquidations.com/-imageview/15158-20576/hp-5187-6146-radeon.html





What can you tell me about this card?Will this card from tiger direct work in my PC? What does  PCI-Express (x16) mean?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7373215&CatId=1558Ok your video card is more modern than I expected. This is a good thing.     This means that you can replace it with a modern card such as a Radeon HD5450 which is a low power draw card, but better performance than the card you have now.

If your motherboard also has a VGA port ( blue ) connection on it, you should be able to run the computer with this video card removed and running only on the integrated video of the motherboard. *This is an OPTION if you dont want to spend any money and dont use the computer for heavy gaming.

Below is info on your video card with the PCI Express in bold because this is the important connection type to the motherboard.

HP 5187-6146 Radeon X600 Pro PCI-Express 256MB VGA/DVI

Here is an ok cheap video card that should be able to run on your computer without a power supply upgrade needed: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655&cm_re=hd5450-_-14-150-655-_-Product

This a Radeon HD5450 with 1GB VRAM and is PCI-Express and should work backwards compatible to your motherboard if PCIE 1.0 or 2.0. This is a 2.1 card, but 99% of them run legacy bus speed connectivity for 1.0 and 2.0.

I have the HD5450 in 3 systems of MINE and its perfect for light gaming and netflix etc.Funny that we both picked out the same video card.... 

Yes that should work fine. Quote from: DaveLembke on July 01, 2014, 11:01:21 PM

Funny that we both picked out the same video card.... 

Yes that should work fine.

basically heres what I got

24" LED monitor
Desktop Gaming computer hooked via HDMI
a table the monitor is on with a chair at the table.
a sofa behind the chair
a wireless receiver to hook up my xbox 360 controller wirelessly to my gaming desktop.

but when im on the couch the monitor feels too small and too high (but the couch is only like 4.5ft from the monitor.

but if i put the monitor on a stand, then I cant use the mouse and keyboard sitting at the table, unless I got like a coffee table and wireless mouse and keyboard, but then it feels too far away and too small.

when I do browsing or play MMO games I want to sit at table and use mouse + keyboard, but some of my video games that are good with controller I want to sit on couch and play. so what would be the best solution here? im completely stuck.

heres a pic of the room and my setup - so what would you recommend thats cheap but will accomplish what i need?

Suggestion I have is not cheap, but the best suggestion....

LARGER Display is needed, such as if you have a 52" tv with HDMI, and video card with HDMI, plug system into that and use that.

I have a similar setup with a 36" flatscreen TV and wireless keyboard and mouse that I use with a spare system of mine to play world of warcraft from the comfort of my recliner. Prior to this I had an old 27" CRT TV with S-Video which was far worse.

The 36" is ok and works, BUT the text of what people are saying is very tiny to read. So its best to have voice chat going on in games with headset etc.

One of my friends has a setup with a Ergotron VESA display arm and so he is ABLE to sit at his recliner and move the display off to the side and then move it in front of him so he has sit at recliner and have his display suspended about 2ft from his face in the ultimate GAME recliner. Ergotron arms are not cheap, but is the best option if you cant AFFORD a huge flatscreen TV.

Here is what he used... you can also buy segments to add to make the arm reach further from the mount point.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824994063&cm_re=ergotron_arm-_-24-994-063-_-Product

I have downloaded the latest version of SetPoint in order to customize the way my Logitech Mouse OPERATES, however, the download will not open.  It did open when I downloaded it and I CLICKED on RUN and NOTHING happened.  Clicked on it about 3 more times and clicked on RUN and nothing.  Now when I click on it, it won't even bring up the RUN window.  What is it that I doing wrong?  Grab a fresh DLoad....you sure it's for the right Model# and OS ? ?
If so check in Control Panel...it may have installed....Yes, it was for Windows Vista 32bit and I checked to see if it is LISTED with the other programs in the Control Panel and it isn't.  It did take well over an hour to download about 75MB.  Hughesnet is extremely slow.  I will wait and get up early tomorrow morning during their "free time" and see if it downloads faster.  Hopefully a fresh download will work better.  THANK You.........Have a Bud with a better connection scarf it for you and throw it on a flash drive...

hi , i cannot type anything in my win7 acer laptop, 64 bit, running a paid for VERSION of zone alarm plus spydot. i have had this problem in my XP machines , i do a system restore and it fixes it, but in win7 i have to type , " system restore " in start, any HELP would be appreciated, thanks donarCan you boot in safe mode?There's no need to type in 'System Restore'.
If you want to restore, SIMPLY go to -
Start-->Control Panel-->System and Security-->Backup and Restore-->Click on restore system SETTINGS at the bottom.

hi
i have laptop LENOVO z500 when on laptop must press BUTTON f11 else screen is black
but when restart dont need press any key
i changed windows 8 to 7 but ...
there both of problem windows