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I need to find out how to CONFIGURE my wireless router so that all computers will appear with their own IP address and not a ghost riding off the main HUB.Smilinprtty......Have you tried going through the routers manual......it should TELL you how to configue to achieve what you desire.

dl65  have a LOOK here for more>http://www.wown.com/articles_tutorials/netgeneral/ or this>http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=1372

my screen is DISPLAYING ghosted-like horizontal lines, I've tried ANOTHER monitor to CHECK if it was a monitor problem and the lines REMAIN ...and now I'm considering replacing the VIDEO vard, what do you all think could be causing this?
Tomtype dxdiag in the run box this will test you graphics..and try this to see if it find more on whats happening>http://www.webattack.com/get/aida32.shtmlDid you change your Video settings before this problem occured?

What videocard do you own?

I'm installing an HIS EXCALIBUR 9800 Pro, but after PLUGGING in the card and the power connector, my PC won't boot up. Instead, it immediately goes to standby mode. When I reinstall my old graphics card, EVERYTHING works fine. As far as I can tell, I meet the recommended system requirements.

My specs are:

Athlon XP 2400
Gigabyte GA7DX (rev. 3.0)
512 MB
Antec TruePower 330
Windows XP

Any ideas what the problem might be? Thanks in advance.
load the rad drivers remove the old graphics card from the device manager and if on BOARD graphics disable it in the bios  and then put in the the new graphics card in a re-boot..does it solve it..

please help i hve XP on 600K broadband but my download speeds from downloads.com is only about 70kbps please helptake the test>http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp  update modem drivers or try USE another isp ADDRESS?70kb/s isn't BAD at all.

More than one person shares your bandwith, you could never have up to 600kb/s for a download speed. Unless no one else would be connected to the server of your ISP at that time. Which is nearly impossible.

I have a 3mb line and I can perhaps get speeds up to 600kb/s. Because my neighbours are all connected to the same Server. Each ISP has different servers and some are faster than OTHERS because less people are connected. (I donot think there's any way of choosing the server you want on, if there is, wow, I'd like to know!)

By the way, I'm new to this forum. Look forward to posting here. People call me Raptor try pinging the server and see if there is any packet loss..and is this the only web-site this happens on/download.com can be sluggish..due to server problems..

My T-45 printer/fax/scanner/copier black INK cartridge continues to have excess ink on the outside of the cartridge all the time.  THEREFORE, it streaks and makes a mess of my printouts.  I'm using a HP cartridge.......the SECOND one I've tried since the problem began.  I keep cleaning the cartridge, but to no avail.  Help!  Is a HP cartridge the correct cartridge to use?  Maybe you need it serviced.. depending on the number of prints it does you'll need to service it occasionally.Imhayes67...read this, perhaps it will help.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpu02577&product=60398&dlc=en&lang=en

let us know if it helped .

dl65

hello i just changed my file  system not on pourpose to NTFS  and i think my files did'nt go along for the ride. under file options it asks file extention and file type for about 30 icons half of them URL.           Gateway 2000   XP  windows                  that is just the TIP of the ICEBERG my system recently crashed and i deleated all of my files i reinstalled xp but somthing was still wrong ,  i  or should i say something set my file system to ntfs and i didnt figure that out for awhile ny system kept crashing and i kept reinstalling xp right now and probebly from the beginning i think my hard drive is not being acessed by any other part of my comp. from what i gather my ram has takin over all systemshttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308424&Product=winxp  this may explain more>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q307/8/59.asp&NoWebContent=1Try checking the case for dust and dirt. If the CPU heatsink is full of dust, the BIOS may be shutting down on overheat.

Clean the MB, cards, and CPU cooler with a 25mm long-bristle paintbrush and a small vacuum cleaner. DISASSEMBLE the (unplugged!) power supply and clean it out as well, and clean all the fans well. The dust I have seen in some former problem systems is atrocious.

While you are cleaning the fans, insure that they spin freely. Replace any that seem stiff. (You can OFTEN free them up by removing the sticker and bearing seal cap, and adding some 3 in 1 or Marvel Mystery OIL, but sometimes a stiff fan has already wiped its bearings and will get noisy and stiff again quickly.)

if cleaning removes a lot of dust, this may reduce your lockup/restart problems.

i just built a pc with a sk8v mobo from asus, amd fx53, 2 sticks of 512 ram, 2 SATA harddrives for RAID 0 ,geforece fx5900. soundblaster auidgy.
When i boot it up for the first time everything runs fine. Thiers a green light on the mobo. all the fans run fine. ext but i don't think it does the Power on self test. I hold delete like the manual says to get into BIOS but nuthing happens, the whole time the monitor is blank. At first i thought because the mobo only takes 1.5v agp cards that mine card was a 3.3 but pny( where i got my card) says all thier cards work in 1.5 or 3.3. DO i have to change anything on the card or is it autmatic? i didn't see any jumpers. but even still the montior is blank, if thier is nuthing going to it then it should have a box that says check SIGNAL. so i have no idea whats wrong. any help would be appriciated.sory for double postAny beeps?dutty.....several things.....
first......which dimm slots have you installed the 2 512 sticks of ram into ......
2nd.......the board specs ........say it doesnt support a 3.3 v AGP card .........( you may want to check that out ) it may be your problem , regardless of what the guy that sold you the AGP said.
Do you have a PCI vid card that you could try just to see if the rest of your Mb ok ......( with the AGP vid card removed )

let us know

dl65  no beeps, ram is registered and in slots 1 and 3 like the manual states.
it's pny's website that stated their cards are 1.5 and 3.3
i wish i hada pci vid card to try but don'tdutty.....Is this the board your using ?.....
http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=SK8V&langs=09

Have you CONTACTED Asus to see if that vid card you have will work in their board regardless of what your being told ?
Are you sure the onboard diagnostic speaker is connected correctly?

let us know

dl65  
I disconected everything, reseated the ram and turned it on with just the video card in place and got the BIOs and everything works fine know. w00t. i went back and conected everything back up and it still works but i have a new problem. I place the windows cd in and it says to press f6 to install RIAD or SCSI drivers. i am setting up a RAID 0 array and already have the drivers on a floppy so i hit f6 but nuthing happens. I've hit it, held it, tried 2 different keyboards. restarted and then hit f6 over and over even before the windows setup came up. It just doesn't want me to install those drivers.dutty....what windows system are you trying to load....
Can you not install the OPERATING system ?

let us know

dl65  

windows xp home with service pack 1.a. windows sarts to install but then  it says " setup was unable to load support for hte mass storage device . to specify additianl scsi adapter cd rom or special disk controlers for use with windows. ext press s
if you do not have any device support discks from a mass storage device manuafcutre or do not want to specify additianl mass storage device for use iwth windows press enter. i hit s and try to install the raid drivers and this comes up: you have chosen to configure a scsi adapter for use iwth windows, select the scsi adatper you want from the following list.
via serial atat raid controller (windows 2003 ia32/ or xp or 200 or nt 4.) i hit xp and get this error" file \sata\winxp\viasraid.sys cuased an unexpected error (18) at line 2108 in D:\xpsp1\base\boot\setup\oemdick.c.you may need the patch look here>http://www.usbman.com/winxpusbguide.htmdutty ........Are the support disks your using ...original or are they copies........perhaps they are corrupt . Are you sure that you have bios set up as you want ?

let us know

dl65  wow i'm a smart one. i didn't setup the disks right, did it, and i got past the error and now in windows setup it says setup did not find any hard disks drives installed in your computer. make sure they are powered and probly connceted ot your computer. ext ext. I have 2 wester digatal 10,000 rpm 70gig rapotor drives plugged into the SATA raid 1 and 2 slots on the mobo. the only place for them to go for RAID setup. both drives have both the 4pin and the LONGER, (looks like a long sata) power cables on it. and are set to master.dutty.....you a have the drives plugged into the Long 80 pin sockets I think ......one is called the primary and the other is called the secondary.......I would plug the hard drives into the same  Flat RIBBON cable( making sure the referance mark .......is towards the 4pin power plug)
and then the other end I would plug in to the Primary 80 pin slot on the Motherboard) ......Connect the cd drives using a similar wide flat cable to the secondary slot on the motherboard......again making sure that the referance marker is towards the 4 in power plug.
I would also set the jumpers on the drives as either ....make one the master and the other the slave or use the cable select option .

you should be able to see this if you go into the bios....
where it shows you the drives you have connected .
let us know

hope this helps

dl65  


the harddrives don't take the wide ribbon cable. they take the serial ATA cables. I just checked to make sure they are connected right. The harddrives have a spot for hte 4pin power connector and then a samller widder one that looks like a wider sata. both of these are for power but does it need both of them?dutty ......why dont you check the HDD site for specs on your drives and there should be the proper wiring connections shown there ......and also how to set them up .


dl65

Hi

I never really knew what size of sectors to choose when formatting it. Aslo theres an option in properties called ready BOOST don't KNOW if it actually works.
So i you know a little bit about that subject please tell me.
I have a SDCZ36-032G model, it is currently formatted in ntfs, i don't recall the sector size i put, and it has 4 versions of windows and many tools to reboot in dos with xboot.

A SIMILAR question was on the ScanDisk forum a few years back.
Poor write speed ob 16GB cruzer
The thread did not provide a sure answer. If you really need more speed, you have to buy a premium device.

Like hacker just published a review of the NEW USB 3.0 flash drives.
Five Best USB 3.0 Flash Drives
They review the SanDisk Extreme 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive and give it good marks. With a price of $33 it better be good!
Quote

They review the SanDisk Extreme 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive and give it good marks. With a price of $33 it better be good!

Hi,
I run windows 7 and USE an Amd Radeon R7 200 graphics card. Recently my SCREEN has turned dark blue, i.e no RED colour in monitor.
It is not a problemn with the cables as far as I know, everything is in tightly. The same monitors and cables work fine with my laptop. Tried updating my drivers and doing a system restore but hasn't worked.

This happened right after the cable on the back of my monitor CAME undone and I PUT it back in again, any ideas?

Thanks!Try a different monitor cable.

System Conf.
Asus eeepc 1215t
Amd neo k125
320 hdd
2 gb ram

My netbook was flashing low cmos battery whenever I TURNED it on for a few days.... After some days when I turned it on it did not boot just a black screen with vertical HHHH so I changed the cmos battery but of no use..... It always gets stuck in that screen....it STILL says low cmos battery retains time but not the SETTINGS in bios....  Pls help...Do you have a multimeter to check the actual voltage of the battery.... if so please report back the voltage the battery measures. You can get the measurement by touching test leads to the metal pin wings that should be visible at the side of of the CONNECTOR, OTHERWISE if you remove a small amount of insulation from the red and black wires to expose the wire core to measure off of and then place tape over this to seal it back up from shorting against anything after measuring is done.

Hello,
My HP Laptop went off when it was working, and it didn't turn on then. The power button led glows for few seconds when i try to turn on the laptop,but nothing in the SCREEN,no sounds of cpu fan or booting.

Solutions Tried:

I tried removing AC supply,and battery and tried holding the power button for 30 seconds and put everything back in. But this doesn't help me either. I also tried with different RAM stick and slot,which doesn't work.

When i plug the AC adapter in, I noticed that the corresponding indicator in the cpu doesn't glow. Anyway i can't either work with the battery.

Please help me out if you can!Might be looking at a bad main board... Have you tried powering it with battery removed and just the power supply to the wall to see if the battery is bricked causing it to not work?

If the LED shows any blink pattern that might help as well as for many of the newer laptops will give a POST LIKE blink code that is specific per laptop or manufacturer, so knowing if it has 1 long blink and 3 short blinks or amber and 2 green blinks etc repeated would help.It might also help to know what exact model of HP laptop this is.DaveLembke I tried, with the battery removed and directly with the power supply. That didn't worked.

If the LED you are speaking about is the AC Adapter charging LED, then there is no light at all in it.

If it is the LED in the power button, as I said when i try to turn the laptop,it lasts for few seconds and goes off.

Another LED on the left, which is the Power LED by my manual,goes off simultaneously with the one in the power button itself.There's no other blink patterns.Calum It is an HP-630.Looks like its going to have to go to a repair shop.... or buy a new one. We have exhausted all options other than swapping out the laptop power supply. As for the only other cause would be not enough current to boot.

I am SUSPECTING the main board is bad based on this info shared.

Info online suggests quality issues... http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-630-15-6-p-p6200-windows-7-home-premium-64-bit-4-gb-ram-320-gb-hdd-series/




Quote

mkazarka
Feb 28, 2014


I've just been given this laptop and it's the worst laptop I've ever used. The build quality feels like a cheap netbook.


The keyboard, buttons and screen are a joke.

I actually encountered older HP laptops and this is somehow a step back. I don't understand this.





TexasZorg
Nov 24, 2012


This is simply the WORST laptop that I have ever purchased! Of at least a dozen units, this is the ONE computer model with the MOST problems.  The LEFT (mouse) button on the Touch Pad has never worked reliably and today has completely failed - the electronics are dead, not just the plastic cover. There is little WAY to cure this, so the 630 is headed for the scrap heap and HP is doomed to never enter my home again. This is horrible, unreliable, slow, poorly built! Get it? Don't buy it... ever!

My wife's laptop when she turns it on it starts up great but after a couple hours it shuts down, i tried spraying air into it with a can of air or whatever its called but it still turns off after awhile..this came on  all of a SUDDEN...
Please can somebody help me?
what else can i try?
we don't have the money to buy a new laptop, so i am hoping i can fix it without spending alot of money...
Thanks for your help!
timalan Quote from: timalan on November 16, 2015, 11:55:38 PM

My wife's laptop when she turns it on it starts up great but after a couple hours it shuts down, i tried spraying air into it with a can of air or whatever its called but it still turns off after awhile..this came on  all of a sudden...
Please can somebody help me?
what else can i try?
we don't have the money to buy a new laptop, so i am hoping i can fix it without spending alot of money...
Thanks for your help!
timalan

• Do Office documents offer "recovered" versions of whatever docs were open at the time of the shutdown?
• Does the list of recent documents/programs show what was being done prior to the shutdown, or is it like that session never even happened?

I am having an issue with a computer I have been using without any problems. I had it unplugged for a few months and went to boot it up. Now it will only boot up or turn on (fans spinning, hard drive boots up) if I remove the CMOS BATTERY and put it back in. I can do a system restart from there and it will restart with no problem. But if I do a shutdown of "turn off" as windows calls it the system will not start up unless I pull the CMOS battery out again and replace it, then it boots up fine, with a message that the CMOS battery has been removed of course.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance.Did you check or replace the battery?i have not done either how would you check that battery?  This is the original battery.If you have a voltmeter, a good battery will measure 3.0VDC.  If not, get a new battery, most likely a CR-2032 available in any drug store.I checked with a meter and it was hovering right around 3 Volts.Post your hardware specs...  List ALL devices installed on your computer..

I'm THINKING that when your computer is boots up (with a CLEAN slate in CMOS RAM) it updates the hardware in the cmos inventory with the current hardware on your system, but one of those hardware components may be faulty so it interferes with the boot process.  Therefore when you clear cmos, that faulty hardware is not interfering and lets you boot..  1 Dvd-Rw
1 80 gig hard drive - Has Windows XP on it
2 200GB drives running raid

I know the hard drives are working fine because I am able to access them all.  The DVD-RW also shows up in the filesystem through windows explorer (start -> explore)

Let me know if you need any additional information.Just for clarification...   when you do not remove the CMOS battery, how far does it get into the boot process?  Is there any indication of power?I think he said it won't turn on at all, but let's hear it from him.  Please also supply make and model number of this computer.

Edit:
Are you doing a Shutdown or Standby?
Try a Full Reset:  http://www.dewassoc.com/support/bios/bios_password.htmyes            we need more INPUT  Thanks everyone for the input.  The make is a custom build but the specs are intel D945GNT Motherboard , pentium 4 processor, 1GB crucial memory.  Let me know if you need me to be more specific than that.  Again this machine ran for a year or 2 fine, and then I had it unplugged for about a year or so.  I would boot it up every few months or so to do some things on it but this problem just recently started when I tried to boot it up yesterday.

For the other questions If I DO NOT remove the cmos battery it does not even boot up, turn on, ect.  The fans do not spin hard drives don't boot ect. 

Once I do boot up after removing the cmos battery everything runs normally until I do a system shutdown.  Then I have to remove the cmos battery again and then I can get it to boot back up.  If I only do a system restart it will restart as normally and restart and REBOOT normally.I'm missing something:

1.  Remove battery to start up.
2.  Perform shutdown.
3.  Remove battery again to start up.

At what point is the battery installed?I think he means that he puts the cmos battery back in, immediately after he removes it...  otherwise there would be no CMOS battery to take out next time he tried to power on the computer 


After reading you post there is still something not clear.
Do you mean:
A. You remove the battery, put it back and it boots fine first time. After power off and power on it does not boot up next time. You have tried this several times. Like ten times. Every time it will boot right only the first time after you reset the CMOS  the normal way.
- OR -
B. You remove battery, leave it out, it boot s up. You power off, battery still out. you power on again and it boots up. You can boot again and again whale the battery is out and it always works. You tried this several times. Like t en times.


Yes, ten times. unless you have perfect  concentration, no distractions and a photographic memory, two or three times is not enough when doing tough nut diagnostics. Do you make lab notes? Please don't take offense, just asking.

If you can answer this,  someone here will know what is going on.
So he's putting the battery back in while the computer is ON?
He says the battery reads 3V, but given the load shown below, I'll bet it drops below 3.0 when installed.  For $3-4, try a new battery.

Intel® Desktop Board, D945GNT, Technical Product Specification
1.5.4 Real-Time Clock, CMOS SRAM, and Battery
A coin-cell battery (CR2032) powers the real-time clock and CMOS memory. When the computer
is not plugged into a wall socket, the battery has an estimated life of three years. When the
computer is plugged in, the standby current from the power supply extends the life of the battery.
The clock is accurate to ± 13 minutes/year at 25 ºC with 3.3 VSB applied.
NOTE
If the battery and AC power fail, custom defaults, if previously saved, will be loaded into CMOS
RAM at power-on.

Hey guys so this has been happening with almost every game I play lately. As you can see from the HUD on the bottom of the screen the pixels are flickering, but still showing the color of the games background, this happens in multiple games in different circumstance making them unplayable almost. Any ideas? I have the latest drivers and all of that stuff, I currently have 3 monitors connected, there is no issue when the PC is running anything else (mostly adobe creative programs) it only happens on games and in certain spots.

Here is a YouTube video showing the problem : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QycrCo7zPdYI see screen taring in a boxed area on the lower right in a 1 inch by 1 inch area when you change CAMERA view etc, but I dont see the pixels flickering. Have you performed a memory test such as memtest86. Also are you running any overclocks? If running overclocks have you gone back to normal clock to see if the problem goes away.That is what I MEANT was the screen taring part, I just didn't know what it was actually called.. But yeah, it happens when overclocked and when running normal. I have not run any tests on it as I really didn't know where to start. Also for what its worth my power supply is the CX500 (I read a lot of posts saying their power supplies weren't good enough resulting in problems, but that was with white pixels). What tests would you recommend I run? And what to look for? I can also post results when they are finished. Thank you for the response. geofflolz,
You asking for help with something transitory. Yet you have not given the  specs of your computer. Also, which games do this?  What about lower resolution? Lower frames? I could matter.

Unlike the CPU, a GPU does not have to be perfect. A GPU can 'fudge' a little and still be considered normal in some cases. Vidal disciples for playing games on a home PC do not have to be absolute.  Now if you were making a Star Wars movie with top of the line industrial computer graphics, it would matter.
Star Wars Revolutionized Special Effects
Quote

The innovative computer-controlled motion photography of John Dykstra’s effects team allowed for more precise use of miniatures and models than ever before, and put Lucasfilm’s visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic on the map...

Unlike the CPU, a GPU does not have to be perfect. A GPU can 'fudge' a little and still be considered normal in some cases. Vidal disciples for playing games on a home PC do not have to be absolute.  Now if you were making a Star Wars movie with top of the line industrial computer graphics, it would matter.

Good Evening All....I think I am getting to old for all this new stuff...Regardless, I need some advice.

Here's my situation: I have a Mini Mac hooked up to dual monitors. One is through Thunderbolt to a DVI adapter and the other is from the HDMI port to a DVI adapter on the SECOND monitor. I use a wireless mouse and keyboard for the mini-Mac....as I approach my GOLDEN Years, the brainiacs above me have decided the company CFO should have Dell Laptop with Windows 7 so he can take it home and be able to work on our accounting systems 24/7, rain or shine, weekends and holidays....but I digress.

The Dell Laptop has only one HDMI port and multiple USB's. No DVI or VGA.

First, I would like to use the same dual monitor setup to be able to use the mini and then switch to the Dell when I am working from home. Using one monitor for one and another monitor for the other simulataneously is all secondary and not a necessity.

Second, I would like to KEEP the keyboard and mouse wireless and be able to operate from one computer to the other. (However, this isn't my highest priority. I am OK with a direct connection to a hub or switch if I have to make my other priorities work.)

I know there is some sort of switch involved. Based on the above info, what kind of hub/switch do I need? And second, what additional cables/adapters will I need to make all this work.

Thanks to all of you in advance for your response. I will answer any questions after my daily dose of Geritol and quick nap.

Warmest Regards,
PaulWhat model of laptop is it?  It may have other video outputs that you haven't noticed such as (mini)Displayport.

You can get USB to VGA/HDMI/DVI adapters which would work for your needs however bear in mind that these need special drivers so check with your IT department to be sure that you/they can install them on the machine.

You can get "KVM Switches" to switch between both the Mac Mini and the Laptop however ones that support dual monitors are not that common and ones that support HDMI/DVI (not just VGA) are generally very expensive.  For the time it takes, I'd be inclined to just swap the cables manually as needed.Cameron:

Its a Dell Inspiron 15R. Aside from an ethernet port and a slot for an SD card, I don't see any other ports.

The manual cable changeover is a PIA. Hope there is a hub or switch somewhere that will do the trick

Thanks for your responseTalk to a salesperson at you favorite PARTS store.
Or search for  switches by themselves.
That is :
One s2 way witch for keyboard.
One 2-waY switch for VGA l monitor.
Other 2- way switch for HDMI monitor.

Buy another mouse. (Cheaper than the switch.) 

Simple switch is economical:
http://www.amazon.com/Ports-VGA-Switch-Selector-Monitor/dp/B003DTZQFY

And there is a product called share mouse...
http://www.keyboard-and-mouse-sharing.com/two-computers-one-keyboard.htm
But it is pricey.



Thanks for the link but I this is for two computers and one monitor. I have dual monitors but it did give me some ideas for looking. Thanks againThe simple mechanical 2 port switch works either way.  Hook it  up backwards. I had two monitors and two computers. With two switches, you cover all bases.
A. Left PC on Left monitor and right PC on right Monitor.
B. Reverse the above.
C.Left PC gets both monitors.
D. Right PC gets both monitors.

Hi'
I'm running windows 7 and am getting a message saying I'm low on physical Memory. I have 2*4Gb Patriot Viper "Black Mamber" Generation  3 DDR3 12800C9 Dual Channel Kit Memory.
Do I get another pack the same or will it not work


Regards

DaveHi Dave, been a while

You're best to buy another kit that matches your current RAM, if memory serves (pardon the pun) this should be what you need - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Patriot-Viper-Black-Mamba-DDR3/dp/B008LTJJM2Your system has 8GB of RAM and your low on memory with Windows 7 64-bit? Are you running any special application or game that is eating up about  6.5GB +/- of RAM?

I have a system with 8GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit and when gaming and multitasking on my FX-8350 the most I can weigh it down to is about 5GB used of 8GB. The only time I can flood the RAM is through a benchmark.

If its not a specific game or application that is eating up lots of RAM, then I would look for why your memory is being consumed. Look in task manager and see where the memory is being allocated. Maybe you have a virus or malware that is eating up RAM or an application with a memory leak that GROWS until it consumes all...   Thanks Calum,
Your right, Long time since I saw you. BTW the computer is running great. I think the problem must have been when I was checking sectors on my 2Tb HDD but since that finished I haven't had the warning again. So I suppose it was a false alarm. At least I know it's OK to get another twin pack of Black Mamba. All the best for the Festive Season Calum
Thanks also to DaveL.

Hi Calum
Do you think I should get another pack of memory, will it improve anything. I only ask because my son is posting a Xmas parcel to me sometime soon and I could get the memory included..
Kind Regards

DaveGlad the computer's still running well for you!  Checkdisk in Windows 7 does use a lot of RAM, especially on a large disk like a 2TB drive - this is by design from what I've read, to essentially get the disk check COMPLETED as quickly as possible.  So, it would've used almost all your available RAM thus causing that message to show up.

However I do think as DDR3 prices have dropped recently it could be a good time to add an additional 2x4GB, you may not see a huge benefit from it at the moment but it's so cheap and easy to install, it almost makes sense to upgrade before the prices inevitably go up again and you may end up wishing in a YEAR that you'd done it.

Hope that all makes sense!Thanks Calum

Best Wishes

dave

So I just built myfirst computer, not an extreme amount of prior knowledge but I just finished putting it together and it turns on, all the fans run but there is no display, also I saw somewhere that it computer is supposed to beep to show errors but I don't hear anything We're going to need more information, what parts did you use and have you TRIED running it with the bare minimum parts installed (one stick of RAM, no drives, no video card (if you have onboard graphics)).

The PC will only beep if your case includes a speaker which you have CONNECTED to the motherboard or your motherboard has one built in, not all do and they are becoming less and less common.Gigabyte b85m-d3h
Radeon r9 280
Intel core i5

And no I have not tried running with minimal parts yet but the only thing that i would take out from what u listed is a second stick of ramA full list of parts including links would be better rather than just the CPU board and RAM.

That SAID, MAKE sure you are connecting your monitor to the video card and not to the motherboard, this is a very common mistake to make.Well yes that would be it, but it seemed that it only fit in the motherboard one, the one on the video card is largerYea it only fits with the motherboard, do I need a diferent cord? I'm probably doing something stupid, but I don't know what it isIf it only fits the MBoard vid outlet then you need to power down and completely remove the vid card so the onboard vid will work...That will be the issue, it must be connected to the video card, you will need to get an appropriate cable.Regardless he should still do the above to test his build in the meantime...

Hi,

I searched on the forum as best I could but couldn't find a solution for my specific problem...

My motherboard recently got fried so I had it replaced.  The BIOS however is now reporting that I only have 8gb ram instead of 16gb.  I checked the settings and sure enough they didn't enable the XMP when they replaced it.  I enabled it, searched through every BIOS setting and even manually changed the DRAM speed to try and get it to work but still it only reports 8gb.  Am I missing something here?

Every single article I read they tell you to enable XMP and select profile 1 but I can't find where to "Select profile 1", the closest I find is the OC Profile save slots which just clears all the changes when I load it so it's not like there's a preset already loaded there?

MOB:  MSI 970 Gaming
CPU: AMD FX 6300
( Also replaced as the heat paste was too old and they couldn't seperate it from the heat sink and it being AMD's silly reverse pin mount, you can't mount it while it's attached. )
RAM: Two Corsair 4x2gb DDR3, installed in dimm 2&4
PSU:  Corsair HX650W
GPU:  Gainward nVidia GTX670 Phantom

-  The BIOS, underneath the XMP setting, does show it correctly set to 1600mhz, 9.9.9.24, 1.50v but the BIOS report it still at 1333
-  Technician's confirmed compatibility with my existing hardware before replacing it so the RAM should be compatible.
-  Running a single dim it reports 4gb instead of 8gb meaning there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the RAM as running both dimm's reports 8gb instead of 16.  Did a mem check to be sure and no errors.
-  I would return to the tech's but it's weekend, far away and I would like to know the solution myself as well.

Thanks in advance for any assistanceTry slots 1 and 3...

Also travel to Crucial.com and run the scan....the tech may have been wrong about the RAM

Was this eBay RAM Btw ? ?Hi Patio,

Thanks for the response.

- Yep, tried it in 1,3 and still no joy.
- Crucial shows 32gb as being the max RAM capacity for the board with 1600, 9.9.9.24, 1.50 as an acceptable upgrade.  Nothing else useful other than that it picked up that the system currently reads the RAM as 4gb/4gb atm
- CPUZ Shows DDR3,Dual Channel, 8192Mb, NB 1999.9Mhz, DRAM 800Mhz, SPD Ext XMP 1.2
- See attached CPUZ report.  From what I understand the Max Bandwidth on CPUZ confuses everyone as the 667Mhz is just the default value used when loading any stick over and above 1333 as the BIOS doesn't automaticaly enable an XMP profile for it.
- I only ever buy custom rigs and then only from certified wholesalers so the RAM was all on the up and up when I originally bought it and did report 16gb before the MOBO gave in
( Unless you know the guy private sales through EBay is a Very bad idea on hardware ... never know if it's a person trying to flip re-calls or factory rejects )
- Is the memory diagnostic able to test every facet of the RAM even though it's running at 1333 or is it possible that a RAM failure is hiding somewhere due to the BIOS settings restricting testing? 

Thank you for your asistance.

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]Ugh ... my bad, I'm getting way too old for this. 

I didn't know of the existance of so called "Kits" meaning one stick gets labeled as "8Gb" but meaning "One of Two 4Gb".  I've been out of the loop for so long I assumed 2x4 meant they started splitting it to two modules on one stick to allow for SHALLOW acces ( Go on ... laugh xD )  Back in the day you just bought two seperate sticks of equal specs.  Really stupid way of labeling the things though, I mean seriously xD

But thanks non the less for all the help, it's greatly appreciated and sorry for the time.

( My mind is still screaming though ... could have sworn it reported as 16gb's on my R.I.P board )Read this shaking my head .... 

Quote

CPU: AMD FX 6300
( Also replaced as the heat paste was too old and they couldn't seperate it from the heat sink and it being AMD's silly reverse pin mount, you can't mount it while it's attached. )

The proper way to get the CPU to release its bond with the heatsink is to release the heatsink lock and then twist the heatsink clockwise and counter clockwise

So I had this HEADSET for over a MONTH. I was just USING skype and I pressed the MUTE button and muted myself. When I came back, the headset wont work. Any ideas on fixes?Power down and UNPLUG it...power up and plug it back in...

Hello there, I was SEARCHING the internet for a while, trying to find some cheap way to connect my tv and speakers with my laptop without cables. I was thinking to do it (not sure if it's possible, but why wouldn't it be?) by USING vga to usb converter, where one (vga) connector would go into tv, and the other, converted, usb side would stick to the usb hub, and then, wirelessly to laptop. Speakers would be connected to the external usb sound card, which would be connected to wireless hub too. The only thing I was able to find was some products from "Belkin" (like this one http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F5U301-CableFree-4-Port-Dongle/dp/B000LP9RQC) but the price of 200$ was not exactly what I was looking for. I mean, u can find some wireless mouses on EBAY and everywhere else for less than five dollars (work method is the same I think, they use 2.4Ghz technology just like usb hub), so why this thing would be 40 times more expensive?Making USB wireless is an extremely hard task, I'd be surprised if even that $200 Belkin device would work reliably.  A wireless mouse is different as it doesn't send the USB signal wirelessly, instead it simply sends its movements wirelessly to the dongle which translates it into the USB signal, this is very little data to transfer.  General USB on the other hand can send huge amounts of data at high speed.

A USB signal is not designed to be sent over anything other than a perfect wired connection so what you are looking for is extremely hard.  Even with that Belkin device I'd be amazed if it COULD move enough data reliably enough to support a video signal.

A Chromecast sounds like the ideal device for this, you can easily use it to play media such as YouTube directly on the device or you can use a simple Chrome extension explained here to share anything on your screen: http://www.howtogeek.com/199565/mirror-anything-from-your-computer-to-your-tv-using-google-chromecast/.  It costs $35, connects to your TV with an HDMI cable and to your laptop over an existing WiFi network.  If you want to use your separate speakers with it, either connect them to the audio output of your TV or get a simple HDMI audio extractor.Thanks so much mate, I was skeptical for that idea of mine, why can't I find some more information, if it's gonna work, and obviously, there is no any info. cause it isn't working. Anyway, I don't really know how, but I've never heard of that chromecast device, I'm definitely gonna get it. But I just can't figure it out, that little usbflashlike thing is going into hdmi tv connector, and than, how it connects to my router, and how am I connecting to chromecast with my phone/laptop?The Chromecast is essentially a SMALL computer (very similar to what you'd find in a low end smartphone) that can connect over HDMI so it can pretty easily do what it needs to do, it's not just a dumb stick.  You can see how to set it up here: https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/2998456?hl=en-GB.  Essentially you install a special app on your computer (With WiFi support) or phone and it will scan for Chromecasts and then let you set it up with the password for your WiFi network.  Once it's set up, other devices on the network should be able to automatically see the device and send video to it.

just BOUGHT a Thinkpad T440s with the mid range (from the list of choices) 4th generation i5-4300U cpu (like one or two up from the bottom?) and 4gb of ram for $400 w/ free shipping

(ya, it doesn't have true trackpoint buttons.... get over it! I never really cared for the Trackpoint yet)

I needed to replace my old compaq laptop with windows 7 (maxed out at 2gb of ram and slower than anything)


now what type of ram would you recommend? would like to put a 4 or 8 GB stick in it..... just basic cheap ram.....

and I'm thinking an SSD later on but that's already decided on.... an EVO 840 128 or 256GB.....

I use a T440s as my main laptop and have done for ALMOST 2 years.  I love it!  I can easily get 10 hours of battery out of it, the Full HD screen is a joy to work on, it's really light and portable and despite that is still very well made, last Monday it went flying off my lap and bounced across a wooden floor (long story), still absolutely fine!

My machine is the touch model (albeit with the touchscreen disabled) with 8gb RAM, 250gb SSD (factory installed Samsung), Full HD IPS DISPLAY, 72Wh rear battery and 3 cell internal battery. i5 4300U.  Backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.

Definitely get an SSD and a RAM upgrade if 4gb won't cut it.  Just remember that it takes 1.35v DDR3L RAM instead of the more standard 1.5v memory so bear this in mind when buying the RAM.

As far as the touchpad, as a trackpoint user coming from an x230, I hated it, even as a touchpad it was so loud I felt awkward using it in lectures!  It's not something I could just get over, used it for over a year and never got used to it!  I'm talking in the past tense as I purchased the touchpad for a t450s and fitted it myself, I now have a much better touchpad (which I keep disabled) and more importantly for me, physical trackpoint buttons!  The hardware is a direct replacement, drivers under Windows are fiddly but supposedly can be done however I run Linux on mine (Debian Sid) which it worked with with only slight config CHANGES to enable middle button scrolling.  The part was under $50, well worth it for me!

I wrote about my experience with the new touchpad here: http://camerongray.me/2015/02/fitting-physical-trackpoint-buttons-to-a-lenovo-thinkpad-t440s/I believe mine has the the dual 3 cell with backlight keyboard and non-touch 1920x1080 panel and it does have the WWAN module which I may activate..... only thing i don't know is if it has windows 7, 8, or 10..... I can tolerate windows 8 but I think I might upgrade to windows 10 if it has windows 8..... it's free for the first year

I get this error Data Error (cyclic Redundancy Check)

is there a way i can fix this error?
COS i don't want to lose my stuff, or is there a way to get my stuff off of the drive...
its a Seagate Expansion Drive 3tb drive...
thanks alot!

timalanThe most feasible  DIY REPAIRS would be:
Try another power supply.
Try another USB interface.
Otherwise, this drive itself is not made for the USER to open and repair.
Companies that recover data may charge $300 and still not get all the
date. You may wish to contact Seagate and see i they can HELP you.

ok thanks Geek i really appreciate it :-)

timalanThe other option is removing it from the enclosure and hooking it up internally...

If it does work that way start backups immediately....you may get only 1 chance.Thanks Patio :-)
timalan

I have a real head-scratcher here and would like to get some fresh opinions on what to do.

I have an Acer that over the last few YEARS I've cobbled together a variety of different parts so its less Acer and more Best Buy / Fry's assorted products.

The other day my wife clicked on Yes to install IE 9 as part of the Windows Vista Update process.

As the machine rebooted, it began to start turning off shortly after displaying the bios and sometimes the Windows launch bar.  At first I suspected this was a Power Supply problem and then an overheating problem but I ruled both out by replacing the PSU and monitoring heat levels and ensured fans were working and blew out some of the dust that had accummulated.

Since the entire computer was turning off I continue to suspect that this is hardware related. So far I've:

    * tried a different video card
    * installed a new power supply
    * pulled the memory stick by stick
    * tried booting from each of the two hard-drives (I pulled the power from each of the hard-drives to force Windows to load from one or the other)
    * tried booting from the CD-ROM directly
    * tried booting from a USB drive

However, after trying all of these options I'm still at the same place.  It seems to turn off only when it tries loading an Operating System like Windows Vista/Windows 7 or Unbuntu.  However, I can run Seagate Disk Tools for several hours off a CD as I tested the hard-drive (a Barracuda 1TB) which passed all tests.

I've pulled the memory stick by stick and tried testing and booting with it but I still get the same results, the computer shuts down at different points while loading EITHER Windows Vista repair or the Win7 upgrade disk I have.

I even put in a new CMOS battery but no change in behaviour.

Any thoughts on what might be the source of the problem?
Hmm that is a puzzler. The only possible thing I can think of is that the OS's are trying to load drivers for something that is no longer working properly. What happens if you try to boot into safe mode on either OS? (I think that Linus has a safe mode)


On a side note, upon consulting my computer repair chart of wisdom, it says to try booting without the case and only RAM & GPU (place components on a non-conductive surface, not on the carpet) . I have learned not to argue with it's wisdom.Thanks for the reply...the machine turns off usually after a minute or two so although a few times I was able to get to the Safe Recovery menu most times it turns off shortly after the Windows launch bar appears.

After a little more research I think the problem is with the CPU/heat sink.  I bought a new 2GB stick of RAM and the computer still shut down after a few minutes.  It seems to primarily occur when the processor gets engaged (it can stay on the BIOS setup screen indefinitely or I can load a hard-drive tool from the CD with barebone DOS and things are OK).  I called a few friends and have a few posts on other forums and this seems to be the consensus. I'm going to get a replacement CPU tomorrow and will try that (fingers crossed).  The fact that the entire machines shuts down too seems to tell me that some internal temperature threshold is being reached (although I'm currently running the machine without its side panels and I have an extra FAN that I installed).

I'll keep everyone posted on my outcomes in case someone else runs into this in the future.Pretty unusual for a CPU to spontaneously cause overheating problems (although I assume you are going to change the cooling as well), saying that I have seen a CPU with a haywire thermal sensor causing reboots and shutdowns (REGISTERED cold at about 80 C).

Best of luck.After checking the heat issues...try the fresh in stall with only 1 stik of RAM...

Let us know...Hi everybody! I'm having the same problems and issues with my PC too, just about almost the same with Haggisdog's. Anybody help me find solutions PLEASE! REALLY REALLY appreciate the help!

It all started after installing Nokia Suite for the purpose of using internet with my nokia mobile. During installation of Nokia Suite, it hangs. So, I couldn't wait and i restarted it by pushing reset button. Then, the problems appeared.

First, it boots up 1 or 2 times, saying disk read error. So, i figured that it could be hard disk error and I CHKDSK it with other my laptop and it's good! I put it back in the desktop and rebooted. Then a few times, it looping around windows loading and restarting like 7 or 8 times. After awhile, it all started shutting down randomly while POST, loading windows. But it stays on if running BIOS setup for about 20 to 30 minutes.

I booted a linux, Precise PUPPY 5.5, and it's good for the first time but later, it shut down while loading drivers screen. I booted it again to make sure but the shutting down is random.

I COULDN'T FIND A CLUE ANYMORE! HELP ME PLEASE! REALLY APPRECIATE THIS!

my desktop specs are the followings

CPU = p4 3.0GHz
motherboard = p4p800 se
RAM = 512MB
Graphics = Radeon 9200 se
HDD = 80GB IDE
Please, everybody with the same problem, start a new thread.

When a PC can idle at the BIOS c and not shut down, it is unlikely that there is a major overheating problem. Instead, the graphics processor is having some kind of issue and begins to overheat when doing a the Windows GUI.

The diagnostic  to remove the graphics card from the system and use the built-in display. If it works on the build-in, then it must be the graphics card that is forcing the shut down.

Hello so I am interested in purchasing an external hard drive for the purpose
of backing up my data mainly audio/video files. I have never actually
backed anything up before and am curious as to how to go about backing up my
data.

Is it as simple as connecting to drive through USB and just copying/pasting the files
onto the external hard drive or is there a much more intelligent way to go about it?

Thanks!Disk Imaging software takes a "snapshot" of your drive as it exists at the time you create the image. You can then restore the entire image or any file(s) or folder(s) you choose. It is a virtually foolproof way of backing up your system and providing a safe haven in the EVENT of a catastrophe that requires you to blow away your system partition and restore it to a previous state. It also allows you to "test" various software and be confident that you have a the ability to return to the prior state any time you choose.

 
I use Acronis True Image. It is the best of breed, but it isn't free. The best free alternative is Macrium Reflect.


1) I create an image of my system partition once a week to a second hard drive and keep the 2 or 3 most recent images. I also image my other partitions about once a month. I always enable "verify image" in the options. It takes a little longer, but insures a valid image.

2) I also create an image before performing any drive level function (ie, changing the size of a partition) or making any significant change to the OS (installing a service pack, upgrading IE, etc). Also sometimes before installing new software.

3) Images may be created on any medium (cd, dvd, external drive, etc). For obvious reasons they should not be stored on the same drive you are imaging. The best option is a second internal hd if you have one and, if you're really ambitious, to an external drive as well (one week to the internal, one week to the external). That's actually the procedure I follow.

4) Images may be created "in the background" within the OS. If you need to restore the system partition, that will need to be done before the OS loads. You can start the process within the APPLICATION in the OS and it will then tell you it needs to REBOOT to finish the process. Alternatively, you can boot to a "recovery disk" which you can create when you first install the software (or to the application disk itself if you have one). Other partitions can be restored without a reboot.
Ditto...

Remember the verifying step in Line #1.There's no operating system on this second hard drive just files, what's the difference between creating an image of it vs just copying and pasting the files of my internal hard drive onto my external.The 1 advantage i can think of is if it's burned to DVD as an Image you have another source for your data in case of HDD failure...

The other advantage is you don't neccessarily have to use all that HDD space to access your data...Thanks! Anytime Bud... Quote from: patio on December 07, 2015, 01:22:18 PM

The 1 advantage i can think of is if it's burned to DVD as an Image you have another source for your data in case of HDD failure...

The only use for image backups that I can see is for an OS partition so you backup the MBR etc. For backing up folders, e.g. My Documents or whatever, why not just copy them to another hard drive or burn them to an optical disk? Personally I prefer using an internal or external hard drive, as DVDs or BD disks can get scratched or damaged. To guard against the possibility of HDD failure, use more than one, as Allan describes.

where would be the best place to BUY a Trackpad for a Lenovo Thinkpad T450?

maybe this isn't the right place to ask I also would like to find the best USB RECHARGEABLE headphone amp for my computer as sound output is low even at 100%I have used Amazon, and Ebay as my main sources of oem parts when not buying from oem.I also like amazon for the VARIETY of things they have but for computery things I tend to prefer tigerdirect.com  This is of course my personal preference. I also often search a broad topic for an item on google and find SOMETHING closely to what I WANT and refine my search from what seemed like a good product brand or style.NewEgg...

Hello all, I would like to build what I am calling a computer jukebox.  My plan is to use a TOUCH screen monitor and a computer I have (WINDOWS 7 on it). I am totally lost on what kind of sound card I need and what kind of speakers I should get or just what would I need? Would my home stereo 8 ohm speakers work?  do I need another type of speaker or maybe an amp?  I am kind of new at this so any HELP getting me going in the right direction will be greatly appreciated.  Would really like to hear from others who have made such a thing....Thanks to all.You won't really need a sound card, the onboard sound on most recent motherboards is going to be good enough, at least give it a go and see.  To use regular speakers you would need some SORT of amplifier, you can't just connect them directly to the PC.  You may find it easier to get a set of powered speakers for it which will have the amplifier built in.can you be more specific of what you will be using this "computer jukebox" for, that would MAKE it easier to know what you will need. I have an audio interface and 2 powered studio monitors as my speakers when I want to have a really good sound at higher than traditional computer speaker volumes, otherwise I use headphones. You can pick up a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 for $120 and they also sound very nice.

I am looking to buy a new graphics card for my computer to help it run games a little bit better. I was looking at the nvidia 750 ti but im not sure if it will work with the computer i have (acer aspire ax3950)

Pc Specs:
n   Acer Aspire X3950 - Core I5 650 3.2 GHz - 4 GB - 1 TB
    EAN   4717276210243
    
    Dimensions (WxDxH)   9.9 cm x 37.1 cm x 26.4 cm
    Processor   1 x Intel Core i5 650 / 3.2 GHz (3.46 GHz) (Dual-Core)
    Hard Drive   1 x 1 TB - SATA 3Gb/s
    Networking   GigE
    RAM   4 GB (installed) / 8 GB (max) - DDR3 SDRAM - non-ECC - 1333 MHz - PC3-10600
    Storage Controller   SATA (SATA 3Gb/s)
    Graphics Controller   PCIe x16 - ATI Radeon HD 5570
    Type   Personal computer - small form factor
    Cache Memory   4 MB L3 Cache
    Optical Storage   DVD±RW / DVD-RAM
    OS Provided   Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition
    Cache Per Processor   4 MB
    Processor Main Features   Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel Turbo Boost Technology
    Processor Socket   LGA1156 Socket
    Video Memory   1 GB
    Microsoft Office Preloaded   Includes a pre-loaded image of select Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Purchase an Office 2010 Product Key Card or disc to activate preloaded software on this PC.
Processor / Chipset
    CPU Qty   1
    Max CPU Qty   1
    64-bit Computing   Yes
    Max Turbo Speed   3.46 GHz
    Number of Cores   Dual-Core
    Processor Main Features   Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel Turbo Boost Technology
    CPU Socket   LGA1156 Socket
    CPU   Intel Core i5 650 / 3.2 GHz
    Chipset Type   Intel H57 Express
Dimensions & Weight
    Height   26.4 cm
    Depth   37.1 cm
    Width   9.9 cm
Input Device
    Type   Mouse, keyboard
Hard Drive
    Spindle Speed   5400 rpm
    Type   HDD
    Capacity   1 x 1 TB
    Interface Type   SATA 3Gb/s
Graphics:
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Operating System / Software
    
OS Provided   Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition
    Microsoft Office Preloaded   Includes a pre-loaded image of select Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Purchase an Office 2010 Product Key Card or disc to activate preloaded software on this PC.
Optical Storage
    Type   DVD±RW / DVD-RAM
Cache Memory
    Cache Per Processor   4 MB
    Installed Size   L3 Cache - 4 MB
Storage Controller
    Type   1 x SATA - integrated
    Controller Interface Type   SATA 3Gb/s
Power
    Device Type   Power supply
    Power Provided   220 Watt
Networking
    Type   Integrated
    Data Link Protocol   ETHERNET, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
RAM
    Features   Unbuffered
    Installed Size   4 GB / 8 GB (max)
    Form Factor   DIMM 240-pin
    Memory Speed   1333 MHz
    Technology   DDR3 SDRAM - non-ECC
    Memory Specification Compliance   PC3-10600
Expansion / Connectivity
    Slots   1 PCIe x16
1 PCIe x1
4 DIMM 240-pin
1 (total) / 0 (free) x CPU
    Interfaces   11 x USB 2.0
1 x VGA
1 x DVI
1 x LAN (Gigabit Ethernet)
1 x HDMI
1 x audio line-in
1 x audio line-out
    Bays   1 (total) / 0 (free) x external 5.25"
1 (total) / 0 (free) x internal 3.5"
Yes...any card that fits in a PCI-e slot will work... Quote

Power
    Device Type   Power supply
    Power Provided   220 Watt

I have a NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 CARD in a dual boot and have it span a crossed two screens but, for some reason I can not get it too do this again in Windows 7.  I am not sure why, I am not able too get this setup again. 

Have you read this:
Guided Help: Dual monitor setup is easy in Windows 7!
Quote

In Windows 7, it is easy to add a second monitor by using the new HOTKEY Win+P. This is CONVENIENT when you need to change the display settings during your presentations with a projector CONNECTED to your laptop.
Here are two methods to SET up multiple monitors in Windows 7. Make sure that you connect the external monitors to your laptop or your desktop computer first.

I would like to boost it to play recent games.

It has AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 630 Processor 4 cpus 2.8GHz, and 10gb of ddr3 ram in it. I also have a 2gb Zotac Geforce GT 630 graphic card.

I also have a P5e VM Hdmi pc with a Q9400 intel processor and 8gb of ddr2 ram in it, is there any chance it could be in anyway better to play recent games?
sirgilmour,

You need to specify what kinds of games you're trying to play as there are games that can run on literally any system and others that need a work house. So you need to be more clear as to what you're trying to run.

In the terms of Specs both machines are half decent, but could be bottle necks with both. The AMD machine has a nice mid range Quad core that can handle quite a bit but is no comparison to say an AMD FX series chip. However its still a decent chip, again depending on what games you wish to play. Same with that Zotac card. Now keep in mind that ZOtac is a GDDR3 which isnt the latest or the greatest but it can still handle some HIGHER end games at low- medium settings.

As for the Pentium core 2 Quad machine, thats a nice system. For its time. IF you PUT a nice video card it in you could get away with gaming on it, however you'll be bottlenecked by the older bus style and CPU.

In short, yes these machines can play games, not the best and not every game out there, but they are decent computers. Well, i have never tried a game that a ps3 or xbox one could handle on one of my pcs, but even for a game such as transistor  that requires this : MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7 32-bit
Processor: Dual Core CPU - 2.6ghz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 1GB of VRAM: Intel HD 3000 GPU / AMD HD 5450 / Nvidia 9400 GT
Storage: 3 GB available space

i noticed the cpu fans volume/speed going up and down, (my gaming pc is currently the p5e-vm hdmi (ddr2) + the zotac card)
It has probably something to do with the bios fan speed being set to automatic because when i don't play games it is the quietest.

But lets take a game like Metal Gear V, Batman Arkham Knight, Star Wars Battlefront, Fallout 4, they ask for around 3.3 ghz or a gtX card and such, is there a way around that? like putting the resolution lower, also is there a big difference between ddr2 and ddr3? should i make my HP pavilion (ddr3)  my gaming comp due to that?Why not try the video card in both machines and SEE which performs better?

The Q9400 is very slightly more powerful but the rest of the Athlon system is way newer which may be better.  The GT630 is a pretty basic card so that could also do with an upgrade to something a bit better - a GeForce 950 would be a good mid range card for a system like that.  The AMD system may also take a CPU upgrade to some sort of Phenom which would give it a reasonable boost, I wouldn't spend too much on it but you could quite possibly get a used chip pretty cheaply (just make sure you buy it from somewhere you can return it if you have issues).Ok, do you think upgrading my HP amd cpu (that is already fast and SILENT as a cloud for everyday task) would be noticeably better? Like opening photoshop faster or booting pc.
Here's what the official hp site says in the cpu upgrade tab : Supports the following processors:
AMD Phenom II X4 9xx/9xxe/8xx Quad-Core (Deneb)
AMD Phenom II X3 7xx/7xxe Triple-Core (Heka)
AMD Phenom II X2 5xx (Callisto)
AMD Athlon II X4 6xx/6xxe (Propus)
AMD Athlon II X3 4xx/4xxe (Rana)
AMD Athlon II X2 2xx/2xxe (Regor)

First of all if the hp site says that, does it mean there's nothing better that would work with it? Or they stopped updating this pc page and there is way better on the market that would fit perfectly?
If not, the best one would be the amd phenom II x4 9xx?For booting and opening applications faster I'd suggest a low cost SSD drive. It can take what feels like a slow 5 year old computer feel like new again if the SSD is the boot drive and drive with applications installed to it. SSD will only help with load times taking far lesser time to launch programs and OS, but when it comes to games only large installation games would show a performance gain when large map files etc are loaded.

I am partial to Logitech keyboards, as a typist and not a GAMER, so I don't use mechanical keyboards (yet). I was wondering what makes one membrane keyboard cost $30 and another $60+? As an example, I am now using a Logitech K270 (a decent keyboard but not unified USB), and looking for another Logitech like the K750. What's in the K750 that makes it more than double the price?
With membrane keyboards a lot of it comes down to the "features" - Wireless, fancy programmable/media keys.etc.  Ignoring the super cheap and nasty ones, being more expensive doesn't mean it will feel better to type on.  In fact, my favourite RUBBER dome/membrane boards are the Dell KB212 and those ones with the ridiculously huge space bars - Dirt cheap but actually feel really good.

That said, mechanical keyboards are certainly not just for gaming, It's just that they are currently the next big "cool" thing AMONGST gamers.  I almost never game (unless occasionally playing GTA with a 360 controller or Minecraft counts) yet I use really high end keyboards as I spend hours a day typing (programming).  At home I use a Topre Realforce with capacitive rubber domes and at work I use a Filco Majestouch with Cherry MX Blue switches.  They are both great for typing (as are the several IBM Model Ms) I also use.  In fact, I'd argue that a good mechanical/high end keyboard is more important for a typist than it is for a gamer.  Just look for the high end ones and ignore the flashy light up "gaming" ones that promise nonsense about low lag. 

Sure they are expensive, but they will last a long time and can often be repaired if they go wrong, if one of the switches on my Filco died for example, I could pick a new one up for £1 and replace it.  For example, one of my favourite keyboards is an IBM Model M from 1986, it has been heavily used over the years but apart from being a bit yellowed, after a good clean it works as good as new!camerongray, thanks for the excellent reply. Myself being an ancient IBM desktop user, I am also very partial to the IBM model M keyboard. I noticed that they are still available, and I am definitely TEMPTED.

Happy Holidays,Yeah, the Model Ms are awesome - I have both a pair of original ones (From 1986 and 1989) and a more modern Unicomp Classic from 2012 - They all feel great!Unicomp Ultra Classic User here! Glad I got it before the Canadian dollar dropped hard... Buckling Spring switches are noisy but amazing to type with.

I have sort of the same perspective as Cameron here. The membrane keyboards I find least annoying tend to be the cheapest ones. I have two right now- a cheap Microsoft Wired Keyboard 500, and a wireless keyboard. The wireless keyboard was more expensive (even accounting for the mouse that came with it) but I can't stand it- they screwed with the key layout, it feels mushier than FRESH bread and is not nearly as tasty.

Usually more expensive keyboards that use membrane switches tend to add things like added media keys or backlighting features. This is similar for more expensive "gamer" keyboards- For some of those you find they provide full RGB backlighting that can be customized for every single key. Which is, uh... somehow useful, I guess?

I have one of those dual sized cd disks that were before cd's and dvd's but, held the same amount of DATA about.  I used too connect it via a SCSI cable too a ISA Card but, most machines don't have that and was going to replace the unit.  I wondered if this wouldn't work http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007T27HS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3T00CR2M3DA7P  to read the disksNo. That is not a SCSI adapter.
What KIND of PC do you have now?
Does it have PCI slots?
Look at this:
SCSI CONTROLLER
That might work.
Also, look at these:
https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+SCSI+cards&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Not even CLOSE, that's a parallel connector, not SCSI.  You need to BUY a proper SCSI controller card

Today, I replaced my video card with an Asus AMD Radeon R7 240 4GB and it is not powering on. Everyboard does and the Windows boots up, but not the video card. Please help! As quick as possible!Please share system specs, most importantly the POWER supply make/model and wattage rating?I only know its Wattage: 500 W. That's everything I know about the PSU but it's enough for the video card.What Brand is it ? ?It is Floston I think. Quote

Everyboard does and the Windows boots up, but not the video card.

I'll send it to service somewhere. Thread solved. Period

Alright So I installed windows 10 on my new machine and put my other hard drive that I had in my last computer that I kept all my music and media on in my case and connected it,

Windows 10 Detects the drive but now I can't open any of my music files
or COPY and paste them ONTO anywhere else on the drive.
Windows Media Player TELLS me I don't have permission or the files in use
and VLC gives me "Bad File Descriptor"

Whats going on? It was WORKING fine yesterday in my other build.Also I can play other files that are on the drive
such as Video files, I just can't access any of my MP3s...See Here...

Hello everybody how are u All i hope you all are fine im new here just before a minute i register here i have a problm if someone can help me. I have a leptop of accer i did not use my laptop from few months may be one or two months.after that when i try to open my laptop i PRESS many times the power button but my laptop could not turn on then i put my laptop in sunlight for half hour after that when i try to turn on i was successful but after going on desktop its auto turn off and then again i press the power button and again it were on but again its off after a minute .one more thing is the place where im living is very cold temperature always below from 10¤ so please do anyone know whats the problm and please help me what should i do??? Hello.... I am having a hard time following what your sharing for information. English might not be your first language. If you struggle with english you can type in your native language into a Google translator and have it spit out English at the other box then copy paste that usually understandable english to the forum for help.

Please share system Brand and Model Number
Please share SYMPTOMS of how long the computer runs for before it shuts off, its critical to know if it runs for 10 seconds and shuts down or 5 minutes and shuts down.
Please also share any know damage the system has taken such as any known drops or spills etc.BRAND : ACER MODEL NO: MS2264
It runs only for a minute and then it shuts off in short it shuts off within a minute . And theres no damage in my laptop i dont know then whats going wrong with my laptop and im really sorry for my bad english bro and i appriciate ur strugle to read my massages God bless you dear bro.will WAIT for your reply.If you haven't used your laptop for 1-2 months, your battery needs to recharge, usually overnight.
This depends on how old the battery is? Try taking the battery and hard drive out and turn the machine on, making sure it is plugged in to wall outlet power. This should give you an ERROR. Don't worry it won't hurt anything. Turn off power. Now replace battery and HDD with the laptop still plugged in to power. Turn on and if you get an error post it here. Another test to try is boot to a bootable disc and see how long it runs. If it goes for several minutes or hours you probably have a corrupt file system and need to rebuild system, usually windows has a disc you can download that will help you restore. Good luck!Thanx for ur help bro. I take out out my laptop betery . power was plugin then i hit power button it was runing good then i play a movie it runs good i watch a movie for 20 minute after exect 20 minute again its shuts off. Now what is the next step Sounds like a cooling fan is failing or overheat condition unless its sitting idle in which it can be a power option of when for it to go to sleep etc.

Check power options first to make sure that the system isnt set to go to sleep after set period of time. If all is good here then you can install and run speedfan to make sure that your system is not overheating.

If its a fan that is failing this is harder to detect unless you watch the fan for motion or hear a strange noise from it a buzzing or groaning etc.

Hello everyone, this is kind of a last hope kind of post before I try to rma parts.

I built a "new" computer with mostly used parts but it's not turning on.

The parts are:
PSU: corsair cx500 (3 months old)
CPU: g1840 (new)
RAM: corsair vengeance 2x4gb (from friend, used)
mobo:asus z87-k (bought myself, worked for a while with an [email protected],2ghz)

Here the situation is this:
I press the power button, the psu fan starts spinning and the cpu fan also but very FAST, black screen/ no beeps

I also had some other parts that I TRIED:
CPU: i5-3570 (from friend, used)
mobo: Intel DZ77SL-50K (from store, used)

Here the situation is:
I press the power button, the psu fan starts spinning, the cpu fan makes an effort(for 2ms?) but doesn't spin.
The mobo has a red light flashing and my monitor has a black screen/no beeps.

Things I've tried:
Reset bios by switching the jumpers, removing cmos battery
Switch cpu fans
Using 1 ram module in the a2 SLOT (2nd from the cpu away)
I can't see bent pins in the socket so that should be ok

ThanksDo what you can to get the BIOS setup screen. That will confirm the motherboard is doing most or all of its job.
Try another VIDEO card.
Try another Power Supply.
Remove hard drive and DVD drive.

If the above does not help any:
Check the mobo documentation. Does it have a beeper?
If it has a beeper, try no RAM. Right, I said no ram. If the CPU can run, it will beep at you because there is no RAM. Bat if that does not force it to beep, the CPU is in la-la land and not doing anything meaningful.

It just may be the motherboard has died.    Quote from: Geek-9pm on December 14, 2015, 04:36:14 PM

Do what you can to get the BIOS setup screen. That will confirm the motherboard is doing most or all of its job.
Try another video card.
Try another Power Supply.
Remove hard drive and DVD drive.

If the above does not help any:
Check the mobo documentation. Does it have a beeper?
If it has a beeper, try no RAM. Right, I said no ram. If the CPU can run, it will beep at you because there is no RAM. Bat if that does not force it to beep, the CPU is in la-la land and not doing anything meaningful.

It just may be the motherboard has died.   

Please help, i'm not smart at all with technology, and buying this for my grandson. I tried to take out the non important things on the list. Also, i'm really worried if this computer can function properly since I had to choose the parts, or if it will overheat or BREAKDOWN.

Case(APEX EL 660 Gaming Case - Black)
Processor(Intel® Core™ i5-4690 Processor (4x 3.50GHz/6MB L3 Cache))
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive(None)
Processor Cooling(Corsair Hydro Series H60 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler [Intel] - ARC SILENT High Performance Fan Upgrade)
Memory(8 GB [4 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand**Free Upgrade to DDR3-2133 ADATA XPG)
Video Card(NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 - 4GB [FREE Upgrade to GTX 970 - 4GB -

ASUS TURBO] - Single Card)
Motherboard( Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI -- 2x PCIe x16, 4x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0)

Power Supply( 800W Standard 80 PLUS Bronze)
Advance Cabling Options(Professional Wiring - for all standard default cables inside the system))
Primary Hard Drive(2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive)
Optical Drive( 14X LG Blu-ray Re-writer)
Media Card Reader / Writer(12-In-1 Internal Media Card Reader/Writer - Black)
Sound Card(3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard)
Network Card(Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100))
Operating System(Windows 10

So, would anyone know if this pc would function well with these parts or does something look messed up?

Also how about the water cooler? I'm afraid of it breaking, or if i'd ever have to do maintenance, but I hear I won't on this specific one.

I guess an easier way to do this is with a list of questions:

- Can it operate smoothly with the parts i've chosen?
- Can it run most games with good graphics?
- Will it over heat horribly with the cooling system and case i've chosen?
- Will the water cooling ever break or need maintenance? I've read that these can go years without needing any attention.
- And how often should he open and clean the dust?
What is price tag you looking at this as well so we can make sure your not getting taken for... maybe you can get better with price tag etc such as a Core i7 etc? Also what is budget?That's a PRETTY good start.  The only parts I would change would be to swap out the "Standard" power supply for a branded one from the likes of Corsair, Evga, XFX, Seasonic.etc.  You could then go down to a lower wattage like 550w.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the liquid cooler, they are only really worthwhile when you are overclocking and the CPU you have selected can't be overclocked.  You also always have the risk of it leaking, it's small but I've had a Corsair H60 for 4 years and a couple of months ago it decided to leak all over my video card, thankfully it still works but the warranty will be void now.  I'd be inclined to swap this out for a cheap but reasonable air cooler such as a Coolermaster Hyper-212 - Even the stock cooling will be sufficient for that CPU.

If you can afford it, I would highly recommend getting an SSD as the primary hard drive (around 120gb to 250gb) and then put the hard drive in as a secondary one just for storing large files.  The difference in speed this will make to the machine is huge, makes the whole machine feel a log more responsive!

So I just built my new comptuer and have noticed that my Case fans are running at full speed
and not throttling at all, they are running at full speed even when the computer is hibernating. I was
wondering what I should do to fix this I am not sure if it is something I have to change in the BIOS
or what.

my motherboard is MSI H81M-P33
CPU: Intel i5 4460
Graphics Card: R9 290
OS: Windows 10 64 bitI would see if its a software or hardware issue that is causing this. EASIEST test would be to download and install to USB Stick or burn to a DVD Linux Mint 17.2 or 17.3 and boot computer off of that and then tell Linux to shutdown. If Linux Mint shuts down after removing the disc when it tells you etc then you know that its not a hardware or BIOS setting and its some problem with Windows 10 completing its full shutdown process.What kind of fans are they? What connector do they use?They're 3 PIN connectors and I read that only the 4 pin ones throttle, but that doesn't SEEM right because my case fans throttled with my old motherboard...

Speed control of 3pin fans is very much motherboard dependent, I imagine that your new board doesn't support this.  For case fans I'd just get a basic fan controllers or quieter fans.  You could also get fans with built in speed controls which could be quite a neat option.Cameron could I use a program like speed fan to control them?
Or could I go into the bios and change something?

It's just strange to have them running full speed at all times lol.Wefro_froyas,
Could you please give a link to the motherboard documentation?
It may be that mother has some options that have to be set, but each mother is different. Documentation needed.
Did you choose CONTROLLABLE fans that are compatible with the motherboard?
This photo from a manual for the motherboard.
It explains that you need a four pin fan for temperature control. If the motherboard sports it.


[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

Hi, I'm on and old WINDOWS XP Pro, SP3 and been having some problems lately, like programs having errors and programs shutting down, today when I rebooted I get this message-
'Verifying DMI Pool Data-
MTLDR Is Missing
Press CTR- ALt- Delete to restart'

The trouble is, I cannot get into anything, not Safe mode, not the Bios screen, nothing works, even tried using my Windows CD to maybe do a repair or reinstall, but it WONT even read the disc!

OK, GOT into the bios SECTION, but not sure what to do from there, can anyone help me out?Given the history, it sounds like the hard drive has finally failed, and you will probably need to get a new one and reinstall. Your data is probably gone.
I found a link here- http://ccm.net/faq/4716-xp-recovery-console-admin-password-forgotten that seemed to work, so crossing my fingers a repair will work, will find out soon.....
Fullbug , it is your choice. The recovery console might help. But not always.Be very careful. Do the wrong thing and  maybe erase and date that was still there.
IMO you should get another drive and do a clean INSTALL on the new drive and then see if you can read your data off of the old drive.

Hello,

My HP LAPTOP is dead and I am planning to buy a new one. I have to buy one under 600USD and I use this for application development as I am a CS Student. My Earlier Laptop was a i3 one probably second gen I guess. Now I am confused between i3 vs i5. The price difference is also large enough between them.  I also see the laptops with the dedicated Graphics card cost much higher. I don't play games, should my system have a dedicated graphics card even? Or can I trade off Graphics card for more RAM? And what about i3 and i5 equivalents in AMD? are they GOOD enough?

Please suggest me some laptops as you already know i am pretty confused with i3 i5 amd graphics cards etc.,

Hope you could help me out! If you had a i3 prior that was fine, then a i3 or better newer model will be fine.

The integrated modern APU's actually have pretty good graphics processing for the INTEL APUs ( GPU/CPU ) combined processors.

I have a Celeron 1000M ASUS laptop that might even be plenty of processing for what you do, although I would suggest a Core i3 or better. The integrated GPU that is part of the CPU that MAKES up the APU is actually good enough to play the lighter end games that I play without any issues I also write and edit programs on it in Perl, C#, and C++. I bought this laptop cheap brand new for like $279.99 on sale from the $329.99 price tag a few years ago on a Newegg Black Friday deal. The laptop was to replace my Intel Atom Netbook as for the Netbook with the Intel Atom single core with HT was showing its age and code compiled would take a few minutes sometimes for large projects. The Celeron 1000M 1.8Ghz is much more powerful than the Intel Atom ever was, however if I had $600 and wasnt looking to buy cheap I would have gone with a i3 or an i5 instead.

As far as suggesting a model... it might be easier for you to look online or a local retail outlet for models and then share them here. This way any that are listed are ones that you feel would work out well for you. We then can suggest an alternate model off of that or tell you which one of the list is the better purchase.

As far as AMD Processing laptops go... you have to be careful with some of the AMD laptops as for they might be too green for your processing power needs. *Green as in they have weak processors that are battery life friendly, but weak processing power.

Sharing a list of which ones you like and their price tags would help us help you better.How do you feel about getting one used or refurbished?  I'm a CS Student too and by far the most popular type of laptop on my course (bar MacBooks) is business grade machines like Lenovo ThinkPads, I use a T440s myself.  They are expensive new but can be picked up used/refurbished easily for under $600, you could quite easily get something like a T450, T440 or T430 for that price (that's ordered from newest to oldest),  Alternatively if you want something smaller/more portable look at things like the X250, X240 or X230.  The benefit you get over regular consumer machines is far better build quality, better support and a wide variety of accessories and spare parts - You can easily get extended batteries that last 10+ hours for example.  If you were to break part of the machine, for example one of the hinges, on many consumer machines it can be a total pain to find the correct part, with business machines part numbers are very well documented and easy to find.  As an alternative to ThinkPads I'd also look at other business machines such as Dell Latitudes or HP ProBooks as these are similar in terms of reliability and build quality.

If you don't game, FOCUS on ones without dedicated graphics, this will help your battery life and look at the screen resolutions, on larger screens (over 13") you're going to want to look for resolutions higher than the basic 1366x768 most cheaper laptops have, the higher resolution is particularly useful for having two things on the screen at once or if you are using some sort of IDE with loads of different panes.  Your budget more than enough for an i5 so I'd focus on that or an i7, and I would focus on laptops that either have SSDs or upgrade it with one yourself, the performance and robustness IMPROVEMENTS are immense.

I just recently, got a new keyboard and mouse setup for one of my machines.  I PLUGGED in the usb reciever and found the keyboard without problems but, the mouse don't seem too respond.This is a brand new Logitech MK700 ? And the mouse and keyboard are part of the same package?
This is the first time you used it?
You do know that both mouse and keyboard require BATTERIES. Check again. There is a switch under the mouse.
If you can not get it t o work with reasonable EFFORT, you should CONTACT first the vendor for a refund. If the vendor does not help, contact Logitech on the support forum.
http://forums.logitech.com/
They can give you help with your specific issue.It WORKS with another fine but, not the other one that I need too have it setup with.

So last night I went out to my loft of my barn where I have a heated insulated office that is only heated when I am out there to turn on the heat vs wasting money heating it when I am only out there maybe once a week or so. It was 27 F in the office. I turned on my computer and it came up with a hard drive failure at boot. After about 3 minutes of letting the system run with this error I  hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE and it booted fine. Looked at the SMART data and the drive says its still healthy which is strange I would have thought that this would have tripped a error counter but it didnt. My assumption is that the drive chilled to 27 F might not have been spinning at the full speed at boot due to it chilled and so after warm booting it it was already to speed. Within about a half hour the temp in the office climbed to a more comfortable 55 F. I should probably go with a cheap SSD in this system after observing this, but I was curious if anyone knows if there is a temp that hard drives need to stay above to function properly or if its just  if it works your golden and if it doesnt in a chilled environment upgrade to a SSD?Hard Drives have operating temperature ranges.

As an example, I have a WD Red 4TB Drive. WD lists the specs here.

In this case, the drive has an operating temperature of 0° C (32 F) to 70° C (158 F), with non-operating going down to -40. The spec can mostly be taken as the range of temperatures the drive is designed to run in, outside of that range and problems like the one you witnessed, or even worse issues (particularly from condensation) aren't unexpected. For HDD drives they use hydraulic bearings, at lower temperatures the hydraulic fluid may be too viscous to allow them to spin at their full speed, or, at very low temperatures, may even be frozen, preventing the platters from spinning at all. It could also be a limitation of the electronic components as well.

For HBoth kinds of drives, it is generally recommended to allow them to get within their operating temperature range before, well, operating them. An SSD doesn't really change this much- the rated operating temperatures on an SSD are the same on the devices I looked at (0-70), with the main difference being a much WIDER range of non-operating temperatures.

SSDs obviously don't have to deal with fluid bearings. Their failure mode at lower temperatures would be due to the design of the PCB itself, since thermal coefficients between the various metals in a PCB as well as contraction between components.To add to/echo BC's post, the biggest issue I've seen with HDDs in cold weather is condensation.  At a previous job we would have PCs awaiting repair sat in a freezing cold warehouse, when we brought them into the much warmer tech room for repair we'd try and let them warm up for a while before powering the machines on and we'd keep an eye on the drives even then, as bringing them in from a 0-4 degree environment at best into a room which could be 20-35C did sometimes leave them with drips of water on - not to mention other surfaces of the machines.
Not something that comes up very often but worth bearing in mind due to water and electronics not mixing well, a possibly more relevant example to most might be a PC or laptop left outside in the boot of a car overnight then brought into a warm house or office.

As BC says, SSDs have different considerations to HDDs but this doesn't mean they're immune to heat or cold.  I'd imagine some enterprise drives, or models for embedded use, may have a wider range of operating temperatures but I haven't Googled this.I was thinking that the computer although exposed to a large swing of temperature, that because the computer isnt temperature shocked  but instead gradually the temperature increases in the room that it probably wouldnt be that bad for it. Such as when the room warmed to 55F I touched the computer case and it was still dry because it took 1 hour for the baseboard heater to warm the room.

I know that electronics brought from cold to indoors where its warm can get condensate quickly on them and cause corrosion and shorting etc. Friend of mine ordered a Dell computer and as soon as UPS guy delivered it from cold truck he had to turn it on and he smoked it because he didnt wait for it to get to temp and dry on its own before power applied.

I have some extra plywood, and plexy glass and I might make a temp controlled cabinet for the computer. A simple 40 watt light bulb, and 80 mm 12 volt fan blowing at the bulb to move the airflow in an insulated cabinet with a thermostat set to a max temp of 65F and a relay to place the 40 watt load across properly rated contacts that can keep the computer into a safer operating temp is probably best for this office as the cheapest and safest to computer components method to have a computer out there kept within normal operating temps.

Was just thinking there is adequate empty space in a computer tower that you could even mount the light at the bottom base of the inside of the tower and have the thermostat and relay internal to the computer case to keeping it all warmer than outside temp and hopefully dry as well. The only problem though is the massive HEATSINK EFFECT of the metal case. So would you then surround the case in blue board insulation to lessen the loss of heat through the tin case. Kidding I am not going to go this route. 

Im gonna go with the cabinet that is temp controlled and make sure the computer doesnt roast in a confined space when operating as the best solution for this. I already have parts on hand to do this except for the relay. But I have a thermostat that I can set to 65F, I have 80mm fan and 12Volt power supply to power the 80mm fan and relay in series with the thermostat for the coil to energize and deenergize the relay to switch the bulb on and off as needed. To prolong the relay contact and bulb life I could even make it shut off the bulb at 70F and not turn the bulb back on until 50F or 55F this way the bulb isnt on and off frequently with a 3 degree temp swing but instead the bulb doesnt turn on to create heat from the filament until the temp drops by 15 or 20 degrees. Which would produce longer CYCLES vs frequent short cycles of hot and cold. 

The computer isnt anything that special for a system so if it dies oh well, but if i can make it last why kill it off early by neglect
Quote

Athlon 64 4850e Dual-Core 2.5Ghz 1MB L2 cache
2GB DDR2 800Mhz Corsair XMS2 (2 x 1GB sticks)
ASUS AMD Radeon HD5450 512MB Video Card
Windows XP Home SP3
40GB IDE Seagate Hard Drive ST340016A
DVD ROM 16x IDE
Rosewill 350 watt PSU

In the barn I do have 2 ducks and 15 chickens that are all egg layers... My office in the upstairs of it

Which Battery Does My EMachines 1352-01e Use?

I Do Not Have The OLD Battery.
I Am Working With Three Computers
Changing Processors and Memory.
"These Are All Too Unique For Any Of This."

MY PRIMARY HP COMPUTER USES THE #2032 I FOUND O U T .
My Big Emachines Uses Just Any Battery I Found O U T .
#2016 Works. Lol.

THIS LIL EMACHINES COMPUTER IS NOT WORKING
WITH ANY OF MY BATTERIES.

I Cannot Find This SIMPLE Information Anywhere. 2032 in the manual but you need to UNDERSTAND: desktop computers do not need a CMOS battery to work. The battery just allows system date and time to be REMEMBERED when power is off. If the machine does not work without a battery, it will not work simply if you put a battery in. In other words, you have some troubleshooting to do. You have posted this question in lots of forums across the WEB, and have been told this already.

2016 is 1.6 mm thick, 2032 is 3.2 mm thick, but same 20mm width; same voltage. If battery holder clip will allow either, 2032 will last longer.

Hi,

So one day I realise that only the front LEFT and right speakers are working on my 5.1 creative T6160. I HAE tried it on two systems and the result is the same. The speakers are fine bbecause when I plug them in front speaker outputs, they work fine. How can this e fixed?What audio source are you playing?  It's a set of speakers for SURROUND sound, the rear speakers should only output audio when the source is sending audio to them, e.g. in movies that support 5.1 surround.   For regular stereo sources like music the front speakers will be the only ones that play.Either the jack in the rear is damaged or its configured differently than the front port. When you connect to the audio jack does it ever ask you what type of device is connected with audio options?

If you do not get audio options for connecting to rear or front jacks then its likely that the jack is damaged to the rear.

If you get a POP up that asks what was connected, you can try to plug the sound SYSTEM into the line in jack and then specify that its really to be used for line out and if the port is damaged for the Green Line Out port you can redirect your sound output thru the normally input only jack. *System has to have this redirection feature for this to work this way. If you are not given a pop up message when you plug in an audio device to the audio jacks then you most likely do not have this redirection feature.

This is about an HP all-in-one printer. The 8610 is similar to other HP printers in the same model series,  8520, 8630  etc.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04204791.pdf

This HP 8610 is over a year old, so I can not send it back now. The first year I did a lot of printing with no big problems. But now, it is wasting ink, paper and my nerves. When printing a job, either single or duplex, it will pick up 2, 3 or even more sheets of paper. It is standard 20lb letter paper I have always used.

Yes, I have cleaned the rulers time and time again. There does not seem to be any kind of adjustment to correct this. A Google check shows this problem is frequent on HP printers in the model group. The suggestions by HP on forums do not after a real fix.

Any ideas?
I always shingle the paper before loading. I mean grip the stack at one end and flap it slightly to make the sheets separate from each other.
Yes, that does help. Nut not always. Your remark caught my eye and I did a Google. Turns out there are two recent patents from Pitney Bowes Inc. for a devise called a
"Shingle media item feed tray with SPRING loaded self locking sled
US 7427063 B2"
and-
"Multimode stack and shingle document feeder
US 7699303 B2"

So one might guess that HP did not wish to use the design of Pitney Bowes. Or it would seem so. Or maybe it just wears out.

I never hears of shingle document before. New to me.

I learned the term when I was working in an office doing bulk print runs with some big old HP laser printers. They had rather worn out rollers and in an economy DRIVE the company had switched to CHEAPER recycled paper. They started getting lots of double feeds. An old guy who remembered the days of mimeographs said "TRY shingling the paper". As well as flapping the stack you can do this to the stack - give the short ends a SLOPE - I have exaggerated the scale


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Also you can try adjusting the guides in the paper tray (if there are any) to make them tight to put a little pressure on the sides of the stack. Lastly you might try a different weight or type of paper (more/less glossy).

Hi!

My friend has a Lenovo Thinkcenter M58 type 7373. After a long unused period, the system won't even post. It is impossible to go in the BIOS. The screen shows "no signal". Keyboard lights (such as NUM pad or caps lock) are off.

When I start the PC, the HDD "crunches" for a few second (the HDD light is blinking), then it stops. After the case and CPU fans start spinning at 100%.

Here is what I tried:
- Unplugging all HDD and CD drive
- Removing the RAM STICK (the PC beeped when booting)
- Clearing CMOS with the jumper (CLR_CMOS SP1_DEBUG)
- Switching the power supply voltage switch from 115v to 230v and back to 115v
- Messing with another jumper (CLR_CMOSHW)

Here is the official info on this PC: https://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/documents/pd001918

Thank you!


P.-S.: I apologize for my sometimes-not-that-good EnglishHere is the clue:
Quote

- Removing the RAM stick (the PC beeped when booting)

It is half fixed. The problem was a faulty DIMM slot. So I moved the stick to the 3rd slot and the PC boot. BUT half of the time it does not boot and is beeping. After a reboot, it is ok.

He got it to post. Thanks is what he wanted.
So if is half fixed.  Round up to fixed.

I apologize in advance for my imperfect English. Could you advise me, please?

I've got my laptop for 7 months (Dell Latitude 3540 OS Windows 7 Professional ) and its battery keeps slowly draining even though I always keep my computer plugged in and never run it on the battery. When the battery goes down about 50%, I simply SHUT down the laptop, take out the battery, put it back, turn on my laptop again and then the battery starts to charge and goes up to 100%. It remains fully charged about a week or so and then starts slowly draining again. Is it a bad sign? What should I do?

I've checked BIOS and it shows that there's a 65W adapter on the computer and the battery works normally.

It's generally not a good idea to keep a machine running on mains power all the TIME and never use the battery as this is not very good for the battery's health.  You should ideally run the machine on battery from full to almost empty every couple of weeks at least to keep it in decent health.  What I'd do is charge the machine up full and run it on battery until it is TOTALLY dead then plug it in and charge it up again fully and see if this helps.Thank you for your reply  I will let it go on full drain next time. Just one thought: could it be that the battery in my computer is programmed to drain by itself? It happens every TWO weeks or so. Does it mean that I shouldn't worry about it? IMO you should not worry about it. 

Strange   behavior for a laptop battery and charger system have been reported. It is a common issue and does not prove any component is defective.
One of many:
Laptop battery odd behavior  - HP forums
Quote

I'm using HPFanControl by troubadix at constant medium fan level so I know it's not heating issues. I also never go above 50c
I also ran the battery diagnostic in BIOS and it gave me no errors.
I also tried to discharged my laptop and it still happened.

The last time I started my computer it didn't show a WIRELESS internet connection in my network connections.

I tried to create a new connection, but there was no option for wirless internet.

Upon inspecting my DEVICE manager, I noticed that the wireless internet adapter was not there.
-The only adapter listed was: Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network Connection (I went to the Intel site to VERIFY that this was a harline adapter only).

Anyone have any ideas what HAPPENED or how I can fix it?

I'd prefer it if you sent me a response at [email protected], but if not here would be alright.

Also, the adapter came with the computer and I have no idea what the product is specifically ie I don't know the name brand or model.

Which one of these to buy? Dell INSPIRON 3542(core i5(4th gen),4 gb ram) vs Lenovo g50-80(core i5(5th gen),4gb ram). Dell is slightly costlier but i don't mind if thats worth the money. The things which bother me to GO for this dell is the maximum ram supported is 8gb as opposed to 16gb in lenovo and the processor generation 4 rather than 5th gen in lenovo. Do they MATTER much? I am gonna use this for development and confused to select one. Are Lenovo laptops good ENOUGH as Dell? Do they last long?I deleted your duplicate thread. No need to post the same question more than once (regardless of the subject title)

my specs are
PSU- EVGA 600 B1 80+ BRONZE, 600W
GPU- gtx 750ti sc
cpu- intel core 2 due e7500
mobo- FOXCONN 2A8C

i tried the paperclip test, the psu worked for that. Its not my motherboard because i tried my old psu on it and it worked. The thing is all i had to plug in for my old psu to work was rgw motherboard plug. whats the problem? sorry if i made it confusing Make sure you are connecting both the 4pin and 24pin CABLES to the motherboard when testing the new PSU and that both connections are tight.  Bear in mind that the paperclip test will tell you for sure if a PSU is faulty but passing the test does not mean that the PSU definitely WORKS when load is put on it, it MERELY shows that it can start up.im pretty sure you plug everything out during the test

Hi Guys!
I'm not sure whether I use the forum right so feel free to tell me if i made a mistake/posted in the wrong place. As you can tell from the title, the problem i'm facing are constant BSoD-s. I think it's a hardware related issue since, i used win7, and win10 as well, tried reinstalling thousand times, nothing happened. Here is my build: AMD A10 7850k (apu) ; G.Skill Trident X 2400MHz (ram) ; Asrock FM2+a88x + Killer (mobo) and a beQuiet dark POWER pro p6 650w (psu). I'm desperate. I don't know where the problem is. I get SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED and ATTEMPTED_TO_WRITE_READONLY_MEMORY. (I get the last one when the pc is "idle-ing") Obviously i started testing. Memtest did something strange. First i tried to run it it froze. Not completely, the little underscore on the left was flashing but the timer and the testing stopped. I restarted it and it reached 13% then the error counter went nuts (it found so many errors that it was simply unable to display). I panicked. I am 18 YEARS old and i wasted all my money on a faulty computer. (or at least a computer with malfunctioning ram) For some reason i decided to take out the 2 modules and place them back into the other 2 slots. The TEST was completed 2 times, and was running for around 6 hours without an error. That's pretty strange if you ask me... and although i'm into IT (well kind of, as much as you would expect from a lazy 18 years old guy  ) and my father also had work related to IT we couldn't figure out what to do, what's the problem. We tried to swap my modules with his kingston hyper x blue-s for a week and both of our pc-s were running flawlessly (although i don't want to make a conclusion out of this since, it happened before that i was running well for a week or so). What i managed to find that: on asrock's site, the ram is not present as compatible ram, and on the gskill's site vica versa. So i turned to the G.Skill support and they said it should work with no problem. These modules has LIFETIME warranty so if they are faulty i can change them by only sending them to Netherlands (or something) but i need a clue, something LIKE a convincing evidence, to be able to say, yeah there is a problem. The fm2+ based systems are kinda rare so i couldn't find a replacement mobo or apu at my friends or relatives. I thought it might be due to an amd driver issue but i tried it with my old gt8600 VGA and it did the same thing (crashing). Now i'm pretty sure it's completely hardware related.
Please help me. I Don't know how to continue. Can you tell me a way i can test the components one by one?
Well i guess that's all i could write so merry Christmas for all of you guys!See Here...