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I have a Laptop with a broken screen that i'd like to use with a regular MONITOR (VGA) but since my main screen is broken, I have no way to go into settings to enable it. Is there some bypass I can use to configure it? Thanks, as always...Should be a Fn Key on keyboard might be Blue in Text Color on Key ( usually lower left ) between CTRL and ALT keys and then there should be a Key for Display MODE to press Fn + Display Mode key ( one of the upper left keys usually it will have a display looking icon as the function mode in white or blue color image ... usually one of the F1-F12 keys, sometimes a number key alternate function to go with Fn Key) to get it to switch to clone or external display mode.

Note: Some systems remember the last setup using external display and other systems you have to set this up every time. For systems that NEED this set this way every time, perhaps having sleep mode enabled to where you press a key on keyboard to wake it up would be a solution vs it shut completely down and then having to Fn + external display key.Have you connected 1 with power off yet ? ?
Most laptops switch to external auto if there is one detected...Dave, It's a Dell Keyboard and all the characters are solid white. I've never USED this Laptop with any external Monitor so there's no memory of it.
Patio, Yes, I connected everything before I turned on the Laptop but still nothing. I just need this to get me buy until I decide whether I want to fix this or replace it. Thank You Both!  John I would look up the keyboard commands that switch it to external monitor at the manuf. wbsite then...I'll try again, no luck the first time. Thanks AgainOK, got it to work but only by taking the *censored* thing apart and disconnecting the Display Ribbon from the Monitor therefore forcing it to pickup my external. Works Now!Good to hear your fixed up...

Hello, I'm new to the forums (obviously) and would really appreciate someones help.

Short story:

My Memory should be getting a latency reading of about 12ns and am getting 79ns.

Long story:

I put together this build about a year ago

I have the (F4-3000C16D-16GISB) g.skill aegis ddr4 3000 16 gb kit in the correct dual channel slots (A2, B2 aka slots 2/4) with a ryzen 5 1600

I just now was able to get past 2667 mhz upgrading to the newest 4.7 bios with the asrock ab350 pro4 motherboard. Running them at default 16 18 18 38 timings at 3066mhz with XMP 2.0 enabled... was exciting because ryzens are supposed to love higher frequency in games.. But that excitement changed quickly lol

So I think to try some benchmarks. I RAN performance TEST and AIDA memory tests and they come back with what looks to be a really high latency... only scores in the 7th percentile in memory mark with a 76 ns... everything else is pretty good and same thing for AIDA coming back with a 79ns score. Shouldn't this be AROUND 12ns?

I read this might have something to do with the amd memory controller and is normal but also read it isn't so I'm not sure what to think. If it's not really degrading potential gaming performance then I don't care because I don't play benchmarks, just worried I'm leaving performance out there which would be a waste of investment.

Thanks again for reading and for any responses.

my usb hard drive 500GB doesn't appear when i connect it with my laptop

but it works so fine if i connect it with the laptop and restart the laptop (that's mean it's works only if it boot with the WINDOWS)







**notice it 's not totally external hard drive it's internal hard drive with usb cable






i tried this solutions :

- all drives up to date
- i changed my windows from 7 to 10
- i've already formatted the the hard drive two times in different formats ntfs ,exfat



my laptop is Toshiba a500-19x :
core 2 duo 2.2Ghz
ram 4 GB
NVIDIA GeForce G210M


my opreation system windows 10 pro x64






can you guys please help me with this problemMJREM,
For Windows, most Hard drives should be formatted as  NTFS
Also, how did you format the Hard Drive? With another  computer?

Even if a Hard drive is not formatted correctly, the system will see it when you plug it into the USB port. However, the system might not assign it a drive letter.

To see if your drive is present, but not mounted, go into tghe administrative tools and find the disk manager. The disk manager lists all drives, including any that do not have drive letters.

you get to the administrative things in control panel.USB Cable that connects to this drive both powers the drive as well as is for communication for the drive. My THOUGHTS on this is that you need a replacement better quality cable that can power the drives current needs.

The drive is likely running borderline of its power/current needs and when connected at boot it has more time to spin up before the OS goes live, so when the OS is loaded the drive is ready. Connecting on the fly to an OS already running its likely taking too long to spin up and timing out because its not getting the current it needs to spin up in a timely manner. GOING with a thicker USB cable can fix for this. Other things that can fix for this is to have this drive connected to a USB HUB so that its spun up and powered off a USB HUB and ready for the OS, but thats a band aid to usually a USB cable that is too lightweight to carry the initial current needs at start up of the drive. Listening to the drive you might hear it clicking or starting up and stopping over and over as its not starting up fast enough and then it bails and starts again and again.

I avoid external drives that are powered only off of USB power because of this problem. I have had data corrupt and lost due to USB power dropping out or flakey cable or cable that isnt heavy enough for power/current needs. Other alternative is to get a enclosure that has its own power supply so that its powered independent of any COMPUTERS that it connects to. Quote from: Geek-9pm on April 01, 2018, 10:11:05 PM

MJREM,
For Windows, most Hard drives should be formatted as  NTFS
Also, how did you format the Hard Drive? With another  computer?

Even if a Hard drive is not formatted correctly, the system will see it when you plug it into the USB port. However, the system might not assign it a drive letter.

To see if your drive is present, but not mounted, go into tghe administrative tools and find the disk manager. The disk manager lists all drives, including any that do not have drive letters.

you get to the administrative things in control panel.

it was a primary internal hard drive for my laptop and i change it because i got some bad sectors and i formatted it with the same laptop
now it formatted in NTFS and it's doesn't appear even in disk manager
but it works fine if i boot it with windows

You've got this same question going on multiple forums. In order to avoid duplication of efforts and/or conflicting advice you should let everyone (on each forum) know exactly what you are doing and what advice you are following.

So I have an Acer Aspire One for repair. It has 360 GB of storage, 1GB of RAM and a 1 GHZ CPU (I know). The problem with this device is every time I make a bootable USB and TRY booting off of it from the laptop, all I get is, No Boot device Detected. -- Please Restart device. I needed to wipe the hard drive due to there being total data corruption on the hard drive. Since the computers performance is very limited, I decided to install windows XP, it didn't detect this drive so I moved things around in the BIOS. Still didn't boot off the drive. I continued this process all the way up to windows 7 ultimate. I have also tried linux mint. I have yet to try any other OS. Any help?How are you buildin these bootable stiks ? ?

Did you SET USB as 1st on boot order in BIOS ?? ?Since the Laptop has no CD drive, I usually copy the files from CD to USB. Worked on other laptops for me. And yes, I have the start sequence as, USB HDD, USB CD, USB FDD, ATAPI CD, HDD, Atheros LAN boot Agent.Thats why it's not booting...

You cannot simply copy a CD to USB and expect it to boot...Yeah I caught myself right there, I just used rufus and I' going to let you know if it works. Thanks
You might try this.( You may to use another computer.)
Prepare a Linux version to boot from USB.  . Test it on other computer.
Remove hard drive from bad computer. Insert USB with Linux and power on. It ought to go to the USB device.

Can you get that far? ?If not, the laptop may have something more than a corrupt hard drive.  Also, many modern laptops will not boot from USB except under very special settings. This was done to reduce UNAUTHORIZED hacking.



Thanks all, it works now!

I have yet another problem. But not critical But I ought to fix it.

I was given a Gateway  from a relative before she went to Oregon
It is a SX2110G 6 GB 64 bit with a 500 GB Hard drive.
It might be about seven years old. Maybe. 

It was windows 8.1 an was upgraded by her to Windows 10 home 64 bit.
Well, to make along story short, I messed  up and lost  Windows. 

I was able to install a new Windows 10 for the insider program and it works.

 But, here is the bad  part, it says I have to activate it. And it seems to think I am using my other PC.   

Now this is not an urgent matter, I use it for  for experiments and as aback up.

But I am thinking maybe I ought to think more about  activation.

But I thin the gateway is different from my Dell. Somewhere I read  the Gateway product key is in the BIOS firmware. Is that true?

Anything you know about Gateway will help.I have not had a Gateway for years. I do remember that somehow Gateway would tie the Windows installation into the hard drive. But that was many years ago. I think it was Windows ME.

Any ideas?Hi Geek,

Well i know this is after the fact but if you had of made a windows restore PEN drive or DVD on the gateway it would have restored windows and activated if it needed to automatically.
Now it is to late, normally when you get into activation issues with  Windows 10 from an upgrade I have had to buy a windows key for the version of windows installed.

I would really like to know another way if anyone has found one.

Remember if you don't have any windows recovery media for the computer, use the tool in windows to make one. Update it often, like after each service pack update. It will re install windows or repair problems.

This link shows how https://support.microsoft.com/en-nz/help/4026852/windows-create-a-recovery-drive
   
 VintronNZ,
Thanks for you reply.
Much to my embarrassment, I did make a recovery for the Gateway.
But I either forgot what I did with it, or I used the pen drive for another project

I need some pills to help me with my memory...
- My doctor gave me some, but I misplaced them. 

It would be nice if the computer itself would remember the product key.

Wait, Google just found something...

Windows 10 Embedded Product Key Tool

I hope this is not an April flirt joke...    It would DEPEND solely on when the Gateway MBoard was manufactured...

Your mistake was using an existing image to install Win10...that violates the EULA.

Have you tried it with a clean ISO ? ?

If it installs proper MS is only a phone call away to verify registration....that is if she in fact did so.

As of now it's not a legal install. Quote from: patio on March 28, 2018, 04:34:25 PM

....
Have you tried it with a clean ISO ? ?

On a laptop that came with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 preinstalled, we never need to enter the Windows 8.1 product key manually.

Geek, you are weird. Most people, if a PC says "I am activated" leave well alone.

Hello folks,
I recently had to replace a stick of RAM after a 2gig stick failed, which I replaced with a 4GB.

I opened up GTA4 this evening and found most of the environment was missing. Checking in Graphics options I see I only have 59mb available.

Another curiosity: I tried getting into BIOS to play around and the boot SCREEN doesn't display before Windows initializes.

If anyone knows what these SYMPTOMS are, I'd really appreciate some tips. My system info is below

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4150 CPU 3.50GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 10110 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630, -2048 Mb
Hard Drives: C: 465 GB (76 GB Free); D: 232 GB (220 GB Free);
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Z87-HD3
Antivirus: AVAST Antivirus, Enabled and Updated I don't know what these symptoms are, but maybe try booting with a different set of RAM? See if anything CHANGES. If not, maybe it's something with the graphics card itself. Try booting with a different card to see if anything changes. If you don't have another card, try booting off of the on-board graphics. Let me know if any of this causes a change in video memory.

Best Wishes,
Aj

I have lost my laptop sticker it is pavilion g4 but how to identify model serial number like 1207nr, 1000nr etc???If you still have the original box that it shipped in it would have it on this box on its label. I keep my laptop purchase boxes but most dont. I wish they put the Windows XP Home key on the box because my netbook had its paper key rub off from heavy use. 

Some BIOS's have this info in them, but not all.  Knowing all original specs, and an idea of what model is similar to it, you can usually pinpoint the exact model. If its a healthy computer and drivers are all installed and functional its even BETTER because you can write down what chipset and driver is used and then know down to the main board level what you have for a main board as well since most of the hardware would be integrated to it with exception to CPU, NIC, RAM, Hard Drive or SSD, and sometimes GPU/Video Card. *If the computer isnt functional because it needs an OS added to it then your alternative to finding out what hardware you have would be to either boot off of a linux OS DVD or USB stick and see what hardware is detected or open the laptop up and read the silk screen of the main board and verify identification on chips to know what chips/chipsets are used. However with Linux it can list a generic driver being used that works with a range of chips universally so its not completely perfect.May wanna check inside the battery compartment also...Use the following steps to find the product identification number on the System INFORMATION screen in the BIOS.
1. Turn on the computer by PRESSING the Power button.
2. Immediately press the Esc key repeatedly until a STARTUP menu appears.
3. Press the F1 key or select System Information from the Startup Menu.
4. The product number and other identification numbers are shown on the screen.

What CPU use PC-100 Memory? Which one 486 P1 P2 or P3? I have some and DDR to.PC-100 is mainly Pentium II and Pentium III systems with processors clocked at 50 and 100Mhz intervals such as Pentium II 450Mhz which use a 4.5 multiplier and a Pentium III 700Mhz would use a 7x multiplier. As well as AMD's CPU systems with similar clocked processors of the time. The first generation Pentium 4's I had used mostly PC-133 SDRAM such as my Pentium 4 1.7Ghz.

However if you have a Celeron processor you might be limited to a 66Mhz PC-66 RAM stick if an early socket 370 Celeron, however if a later Celeron that supports PC-100 or PC-133 RAM then you can use PC-100 or PC-133 **ONLY IF** the motherboard supports that CPU and RAM. Some low cost Celeron 500Mhz computers had motherboards that only supported PC-66 66Mhz SDRAM.

DDR RAM is the early AMD Athlon XP and Pentium 4 2nd generation forward. The last series of Pentium 4 with HT, some of them supported DDR2-533Mhz RAM in motherboards designed for DDR2 RAM.


486 computers used either SIMM or DIMM Memory the best board being a DIMM with EDO. SIMM RAM sticks for 486's are not very common they are first generation 486's and early boards as well as bargain boards where manufacturers tapped into the lower cost SIMM memory market to sell a 486 with lesser costing but also lesser performing RAM. Some of the aftermarket boards at the time gave choice of SIMM or DIMM RAM installation which gave option for making a low cost budget friendly 486 DX 33Mhz or AMD 486 equivalent CPU build or an extreme gaming rig USING the same motherboard for lesser or greater performance with a 486 DX4 100Mhz etc.

Pentium 1 systems used mainly DIMM's and best to have EDO.

One memory type to mention that you dont have listed is the RAMBUS RDRAM memory that some systems used.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDRAMI need to find a Computer that won't have problem with Dos driver. The laptop have a the wrong type of sound card. I have a HP DC5750 computer that can take a add on sound card but it has to be a low profile PCI or PCI-Express type sound card but I am not sure if have Dos driver for it. If they do what brand of sound card will it be?If you want to play old games that require legacy Sound Blaster etc, its best to find an older computer and use that. Or use DOSBOX with modern computer in a virtual environment.

I havent run strictly DOS on any systems newer than a 486. In COLLEGE around 2003 we used FreeDOS on a Packard Bell Cyrix MII 266Mhz system that was donated to the college and had to search around for cards that supported DOS drivers such as 3COM 10mbps ISA NIC, SoundBlaster 16 with CD-ROM combo Card but only used the sound part portion of it with jumpers set because it wasnt Plug-n-Pray such as this card here: http://www.esaitech.com/creative-labs-sound-blaster-16-bit-value-isa-sound-card-1.html?pk_campaign=ga-pla&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzryaxcO42gIV3IWzCh38IgpQEAYYAiABEgJtjPD_BwE

I've moved on from old school DOS games in DOS environment. I still have floppies going back 30 years with games on them but they are just collectables at this point because many games I bought in DOS collections/bundles that run on newer computers. Same thing goes for my old console systems I have them but just dont turn them on anymore and so they are just in storage in cool dry place to someday sell maybe or hand down to my daughter.

Friend of mine in Canada offered me a free working TRS-80 Model III and IBM 5150 because he is tired of moving them each time he moves to new apartments, but while I'd love to have them systems, they are 400 miles away and they would just take up space. I suggested that he sell them on ebay to get top dollar for them. He got $300 for the TRS-80 model III with software in like new condition and $200 for the IBM 5150 with 512k RAM and dual 5.25" 360K drives with CGA monitor and original keyboard with some software.

One other suggestion is that maybe there is a FreeCycle group in your area where you can post a WANT for a Pentium 1 or older computer for DOS. Someone might have one in storage that they would give away for free. I have picked up some great stuff for free such as a 27" SONY TV with no problems because someone upgraded to a flatscreen, treadmill with no problems because someone was moving and didnt sell it before moving so it was free, and I picked up a mountain bike and a all in one Canon printer for free that worked but the people giving it away didnt want to throw away good stuff, so its a recycle program in which instead of stuff going to landfills it goes to people who can use the stuff. https://www.freecycle.org/I have DosBox for Linux but I don't play games. So some day will will find something to use.

Thanks for your time
Jackhttps://www.virtualbox.org/

Desktop is a HP Envy 810-493d, configured with a SSD as OS disk and 2 SEAGATE configured RAID 0.

Last week, my desktop was getting lagging and some applications were becoming no response time over time. Finally, the computer failed to boot into OS and stuck in infinite loading showing HP logo.

After tedious troubleshooting, I successfully booted my computer into OS by disable the RAID hard disks in BIOS (ONLY DISABLE the SATA port, leaving the SATA simulation same as before which was RAID option). The tricky thing was that the RAID STATUS was showing normal in Intel RAID BIOS manager which is ember in system BIOS, and showing normal status in Windows Intel Rapid Storage Technology Manager as well. Once I enabled the RAID hard disks in BIOS, my computer cannot LOAD OS, even I tried to boot from bootable USB thumb driver. The only thing I can do to boot into OS is disable RAID hard disk.

Any help can reach me to resolve this problem, I need to RETRIEVE the data on the RAID, and I am HAPPY to provide more details if you want.

Excuse my poor english.

So i am having this problem for about 8 month now. It all started with my old Samsung monitor. When i played in specific scenarios it started to just turn itself off for a second just to turn on again.
I will spare a lot of text if i jump a month or two forward, when after a lot of deduction i have found, that it's a monitor problem. It went black screen (turned off the screen) if i tried to project some specific color patterns.
I have found a place in game, where the problem HIT constantly. And after some testing during which i couldn't fix this problem using another GPU card, or using another cable not even another cable type (i usually used DVI but i tried with another DVI and after that - with HDMI).
So then i tried to go nuts and just made a screenshot from that game scene, upload it to my laptop, and then connected my monitor to that laptop. After that i projected the screenshot from the laptop to my monitor. Aaaand... after some waiting (that was a usual deal for that problem) it went black! So this way i determined, that my PC did not cause any of those black screens (which i should've expect as on the shadowplay recording (done via GPU) there was no problem in game during moments, when monitor were going black).

So far so good. I THOUGHT i got the problem solved. The monitor was old and all so it shouldn't have been a huge surprise. So i bought a new monitor. This time i went for BenQ GW2760HS as i liked that it had all the basic interface options (VGA, DVI, HDMI) and all the reviews were great.

But... After just 3 days of use... It started to do the same f-ing thing as my old Samsung... It started to turn off and on, aka go black screen. The scenarios in which it did that were differ from my Samsung monitor, but all the other signs where the same. So ok... maybe i just got unlucky... a bad monitor - stuff happends, right?
So i turn it back to the store and bought another one from a different store (so it wouldn't be from the same supply).
So the second new monitor... To be extra cautious i tried to switch my GPU to another PCIe slot on the motherboard, and connect monitor not with the DVI but with HDMI. Just to shake things up...
Aaaand... it started to go black ON THE FIRST DAY of use...

At this point i was... kind of lost... I was paranoid to the max. I sold my GTX1060 to miners, as i was thinking - that it somehow killed my monitors, and I bought and installed a new GTX 1050ti. To be 100% sure i also bought a new PSU (previously i was using Seasonic X760, now it is Seasonic Focus+ Platinum), and bought a brand new motherboard for my core i5 4670k (a very cheap ASUS H81M-D R2.0 but it was brand new).
And then once more a brand new BenQ GW2760HS monitor, yet from another store and from another supply (it even had a little different options in the menu, so it's not from the same bunch as those two before).
For the first month... everything was fine... I relaxed a bit. And then just out of nowhere it went black once... I... I was so desper at this point that i let it slide and pretend that nothing happend. Although... From there i started to record my display with shadowplay constantly.
2 months went silent... I relaxed again. "Maybe that one blackout was a software malfunction or something..." - i thought. I wanted to think so even tho there was nothing unusual in the system journal for that day.
I fooled myself... And after 2 month - problem hit again. Now - i recorded it with shadowplay (basically, what it recorded - is that nothing went WRONG on the system side and it was indeed problem on the monitor side of things). And now problem become more pronounce, as just like with my old Samsung (that i was still keep using for some time despite the problem, before a changed the PC parts and bought the third BenQ monitor), this problem hits more and more often as the time goes on. So now my monitor is gioing black screen at least once in a few days. And it will become worse very soon. My Samsung was on the point where i couldn't do anything that was using dark or green colors on the screen and not get blackscreen in a 10-15 minutes period.
So it is dying... again... The third BenQ monitor. Now on almost a new PC build.

Am i REALLY just that unlucky? And it's just monitors deffects. Or there is something, i am missing here?
I am out of ideas and out of money... A am in need of help.My thoughts on this are.... have you added a battery backup and powered the monitor and PC through the battery backup? If you have a quick fluctuation in power it can cause a monitor to act up but a PC could keep running because the capacitors in the power supply were able to smooth out the quick dip and rebound of power.

I understand that you spent a lot of money and dont want to spend anymore probably, but this is a possible solution. If not a solution it will be for at some point when you have a power outage or spike in power that could damage your system. I have 7 battery backups throughout my home and they keep the TV, Telephone, Broadband Internet and Network hardware running as well as my daughters PS3 and her TV and my 3 computers in my office running as well as my wife has 1 for her computer. My power is always flickering and occasionally brown outs or out for periods of time since I live away from a major city in an area susceptible to power problems. I have some that lasted 10 years so far and I know one of these days the lead acid batteries in them will fail to keep stuff running but APC makes good battery backups.

*Sorry if i will sound a bit pissed off. I appreciate any help. I am just pissed off about that problem, not you.

Quote from: DaveLembke on April 17, 2018, 04:12:38 PM

My thoughts on this are.... have you added a battery backup and powered the monitor and PC through the battery backup? If you have a quick fluctuation in power it can cause a monitor to act up but a PC could keep running because the capacitors in the power supply were able to smooth out the quick dip and rebound of power.

Hello guys I'm currently facing a problem with my laptop.

I turn on my laptop and I hear ONE clicking noise then it turns off. The battery has a charge. Are there any solutions to this problem, cheers!The laptop is a DELL INSPIRION 3521 and has WINDOWS 10 HOME 64 BITI have posted this problem on the dell forums to ask for help. Here is the link - https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/DELL-Laptop-randomly-turned-off-not-it-won-t-turn-back-on/m-p/6060499/highlight/false#M18315They think it is your bother board.    
Here are three  , maybe four, suggestions.
A. Contact a local Technician you trust and ask  if he can fix it for under $100.
B. Bay a new battery and see if that makes a difference.
C. Buy a used Dell laptop, same mode, from eBay. (Be PRUDENT.)

Now before you do the above,  try this:
Remove the ac adapter, both ends, unplug from the wall and the Dell.
Next Remove the battery. Set it ASIDE for now.
Now plug in the AC adapter to the wall and the Dell.
Now try the power button again.

Does that help any?   Hello Geek

I have tried the follow instructions below many times HOWEVER it doesn't seem to work.

I have looked at the suggestions that you have posted - I will take them into consideration.
Do you think there be any point of purchasing a new motherboard?

Thank you.A clicking noise can be a sign of a failed or failing hard drive. Not saying you shouldn' onvestigae whether it is a diffrent part, please do.The hard-drive is fine, I used two working hard-drives to see if one of them is faulty. As somebody said previous it may be a motherboard failure.MBoards dont clik...It's definitely not the hard-drive, they work perfectly fine.  The "Clicking noise" is almost certainly the hard Drive, but it is probably just a sound it makes while it parks it's heads when it loses power. COULD also just be a noise coming from the speakers.

Based on that I'd have to guess it is Motherboard, CPU, Battery, or AC Adapter related if the system isn't able to complete power up.Thank you guys for the help and suggestions!so you're gonna keep us in suspense ? ?I bought another laptop. As the problem is a motherboard problem there is no point of purchasing a new motherboard for the laptop. Purchasing a new laptop is the way to go. As I said earlier thanks for the suggestions and help!

Hi,

would it be possible to install a GTX 1050 ti in my system (see my current pc specs in my name, the PC currently has an Intel HD 530 and also the 240W PSU is the one that came with the pc when I bought it and the SSD drive I added later). The PC currently works fine, but I was just thinking of potentially (not sure if I really want to do it right now though) of upgrading the HD530 to a discrete graphics card after having seen the following video from PC Per since it seems like it can improve gaming without breaking the bank and NO, I will not upgrade or touch the PSU that is already in the system, seems like I don't have to anyway.



 (youtube link below as well as an amazon link to what I believe is the graphics card that is featured in the video)

Would like other opinions! Thanks!
 

https://youtu.be/7myQLMSw5B8
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GTX-1050-TI-4G/dp/B01M27X836Not with that PSU...no.actually since you have an i3 6100 YES it would work just down the road i would recommend getting a beefier power supplyDitto on Patio's post. That PSU wouldn't last long if you tried it.

Quote from: 2x3i5x on April 11, 2018, 12:14:23 PM

...and NO, I will not upgrade or touch the PSU that is already in the system, seems like I don't have to anyway...

Ditto on Patio's post. That PSU wouldn't last long if you tried it.

Out of curiosity any particular reason for this stance?

Dell PSU's stopped bein propietary years ago...what model and year is this rig ? ?

PS...doesn't matter the card has no 6 pin adapter...what matters is how much power it draws.

Only you can decide that now...

Hello

A Packard Bell laptop (Win has come into my possession (house clearance). It didn't come with a charger but I have one that fits. When I plug the charger into the mains socket and laptop, no green light - or any light at all - comes on. The laptop may have been abused by its previous owner. Do the lack of lights mean that there is a battery problem with the laptop or a motherboard problem? There is nothing wrong with the charger because I use it to charge a Netbook.

Thanks.  Chargers are NOT universal...in fact using the wrong one can completely brick a PC...The Voltage and Amp Rating need to match with voltage more important than A or mA rating, however the rating should be greater in amp rating than the laptop requires to avoid damage to power supply. If the A or mA rating is lesser on the power supply than the laptop needs it can cook the power supply making it very hot and possible failure or fire.

If you plug in the wrong voltage you can smoke it. Wrong amperage and you can smoke the power supply itself.

That being said, I have a Gateway Laptop that I am using a HP charger with. The voltage is an exact match and the amperage rating is also within 200mA. I had to chop the end off the gateway power supply and add it tot he end of the HP power supply to make this work though as for the plugs are different.

Its best to use the power supply intended for that model.

For the fact that you DONT have any lights it means that its either wrong voltage and maybe cooked, the amp rating listed as amps or thousands of mA is too weak to carry the load of the larger laptop ( possible SINCE you stated the power supply does to a netbook which likely draws 2x to 4x less amperage than the laptop needs ), the plug goes in but center PIN not PROPERLY connecting for (+) connection ( there are some with smaller pins and others with larger pins for (+), or the laptop is damaged internally or at the power jack to where there is an open CIRCUIT.

I'd look up the make/model and see what the amp and voltage rating is if not listed on the bottom of laptop on the mfr label. And you could cook your netbook power supply by it connected to a system unintended for it that pulls too heavy of a current (amp draw).

My PC used to restart randomly before. It stopped restarting when I went to advanced settings and disabled the restart function . Now I have changed my hard drive . I have also disabled the restart function again. but now whenever I start my computer there is a black screen and a restart loop without even loading the bios . I am getting stress and chest pain because of this pls help.way more info needed.

make/model, OS, age, desktop/laptop, why was the drive changed, and anything else that can help.

I'm guessing the restart was the symptom and by ignoring (and bypassing) that, the actual cause has still been there, maybe getting worse.

did the 'black screen and restart loop' happen straight after the drive was replaced?It was a custom built PC. I cant tell everything because it shows a black screen.
core: Intel dual core (unparked) speed 2.94 gigahertz
ram: 4GB ddr3
graphics card: geforce gt 710 1GB
drive: 160 GB sata drive
OS: windows 8.1 64 bit
age:3-4 years old

I Had to change the drive because the drive 'died'. I don't know why .
Before that I had a 500 GB drive , There was a pink screen error and the drive got corrupt. So I switched to a 25- GB hard drive . The restarting problem started a few WEEKS after I switched the drive . sometimes It did not restart for even 8 hours straight but sometimes there was a restart loop . I fixed it or rather stopped it by disabling the restart function. later the hard drive died and I again replaced it with a 160 GB hard drive . It started restarting and this time there was the black screen and restart loop which goes like restart-restart-restart-shutdown-boot up-repeat. 
160GB drives haven't been available for EONS so I'm guessing it was an old drive and I'm further guessing perhaps it has gone pear-shaped.

can you boot the PC into Safe Mode?It does not even load into the bios as it shows the black screen.
I personally think the black screen is due to the continues restart that happens as soon as the computer starts. any writing on the screen at all when the PC starts (or tries to start)?
so you can't even hit F2 or Del (or whatever you BIOS requires to enter it)?

sounds like major hardware failure.
have you tried DISCONNECTING everything; mouse, keyboard, hard drive, CD unit, even memory and restarting.
you should get a POST failure of 3 beeps (providing the mobo has a speaker), this is good.  turn it off, add one stick of memory back in and restart.
you should get one beep (this is normal and good) and from there try to enter the BIOS.No writing on the screen as it restarts as soon as I boot it up.
usually whenever you boot up there will be a bios screen . Even that does not show up as the pc restarts before that
No i did not do that and will do it now.
How do I enter the bios after entering 1 stick of memory


Could it be power problem as 1 plug point gives power to cpu,display,speakers. We get 220 volts of power so...when you hit the power button to turn it on, do the fans spin up and the LED power light and hard drive light come on?
but no writing on the screen at all is not good and does suggest a power issue, or a major hardware fault somewhere, like the motherboard.First of all I thank you for spending time on me .

The fan is running , The Led power light is on as it restarts so fast that it looks like it is on and I do not know how to check if the drives working.
 Look up your Manual to find out how to enter Setup...(BIOS)...
I did not touch my PC for 2 days as I was in my relatives house . So to follow your instructions I took my pc to a different room as it was easier to remove parts from there. I did not here the 3 beeps but when I assembled it again (in the new room) it did not restart till now. Also I forgot to mention that my plug point has a extension cord attached to it . My CPU's ,  monitors's, speaker's power is connected to itAlso I did this once . I wanted to clean my pc so I took it to the new room and well no restart. But it used to restart without any extension cord before (when I was using the 250 GB hard drive)Boot options-boot order-boot from cd/dvd-exit. Quote from: rana on April 01, 2018, 08:47:10 AM

I do not know how to check if the drives working.

Look up your Manual to find out how to enter Setup...(BIOS)...

We have dual monitors at work and it is mostly a positive experience. Unfortunately, we work with a computer system for inventory and sales that uses ESC and Delete for navigation. What happens because of this is we will accidentally delete things in our emails because we think we're on the other screen using the inventory/sales program. I'm thinking there may be an add on that will RESOLVE this problem, but I haven't had any luck finding it. Help please!Does the software allow changing key functions to use alternate keys?I just mapped my pause key to be delete, that should work (we'll see today). I'll have to MAP everyone else's key the same too.

I think it would be great to have an add on that frames your screen with a color or something so you know which monitor you're active in. Quote

I think it would be great to have an add on that frames your screen with a color or something so you know which monitor you're active in.

I'm confused, Because most of the android emulators require Virtualization, As VT is supported in my computer, Can you help me with that Please ? I'd appreciate it Not SURE what you are asking. Why do you think virtualization might shut down your PC? What virtualization products are you thinking of using?
Quote from: Salmon Trout on April 26, 2018, 09:23:14 AM

Not sure what you are asking. Why do you think virtualization might shut down your PC? What virtualization products are you thinking of using?

Why do you think virtualization might shut down your PC?

OK, I'm helping a friend with her laptop and something came up that I've never actually dealt with.
Specs are
Acer Aspire V5-591
M.2  128 GB SSD
1 TB HDD
Intel Core i7 GHz
8GB Ram

Problem is I cant see the SSD in device manager or Computer Management. The only reason it came up is she was trying to write files to it one day when she realized it's not showing up. I have no experience with these new ssd's since all my experience is from the older computers. I was wondering if maybe it's set up as a ready boost drive and kept hidden to prevent users from corrupting the files on it. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks
JohnIf disk management doesnt show the drive attached then the drive is EITHER dead or issue with sata cable etc. Whats disk management show for attached drives for the system?
I would expect with such a configuration for the SSD to be the boot drive.

From what I can find, the V5 doesn't come with an SSD. It is the more recent V15 models which come equipped with an SSD. The OS comes installed on it as well.

The V5 models sometimes have a smaller cache drive (8-16GB), that won't be visible in disk management but it should appear in device manager.Sorry, I meant to say Disk Management, not Computer Management. Also, it is a V15 but the sticker also has V5 so I wasn't sure. I have attached an image of the sticker to show you. It was given to someone else before me to try and figure it out but I think he made it worst and STACKED multiple copies of the OS on the 1 TB drive. There were 4 windows.old files on her drive. I think that since he couldn't see the damaged SSD, he assumed it wasn't there. At least that's what I think. I was just making sure about being ABLE to see the M.2 SSD in the Disk Management, Device Manager, and in Windows Explorer. I have installed 2.5" SSD's in computers before, just no experience with M.2 SSD's. Thank's for such QUICK responce's and help, as always.

JohnHi Jahness

Is the M2 drive configured as an HDD cache as explained here.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/How-it-Works-Intel-SSD-Caching-148/

If the hard drive shows as over 1 TB like 1096 GB's then is is likely the 2 drives are configured in the above mode and show as 1 drive in disk management.

If this is the case , it is very important not to separate the 2 drives and to keep a current full backup. If you are wanting to replace either drive you need an image of both drives to RESTORE. And also don't try restoring the image to a single SSD and expect it to boot. There is changes to windows you need to make before making the image and changes to the BIOS before booting the single drive.
 
Hi Lisa, I really don't think this is the case since the 1 TB is showing the correct size but also the SSD doesn't even show up in setup. I opened the computer and removed the SSD completely and rebooted just to see what would happen and it booted as before. I think the SSD is dead and she may want to install a new one as her boot drive so I guess my new question is this, after installing a new SSD, can I just run system restore and choose the option to install the OS on the SSD? She's my daughters friend and I really want to help her as inexpensive as possible. Thank You   JohnHi Thanks for the reply,
 I would check how much of the 1 TB drive is used . And what the Laptop is being used for, from that info you can then decide  to install a 250 GB or 500 GB M2 drive or say a 500 GB SSD in place of the 1 TB standard drive. With either option you could do a clean install or image the 1 TB. I like the idea of the 500 GB M2 drive. Then you can  run system restore and choose the option to install the OS on the SSD.
Perhaps consider this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147677

Perfect, that's what I was wanting to do for her. She's taking courses in Cad and will be doing alot of 3D Rendering. I wanted to setup the M.2 as her boot drive and a few program installs so she can use her 1 TB Strictly for saved files. Thanks Again to all.....John

Hey everyone, I recently picked up a new computer  and noticed the limited availably of SATA POWER available. I'm pretty experienced everything computer wise, but I haven't been sure about this topic for a while. I have a bit of a problem here. There are going to be a total of 3 SATA drives in the system and there are only 2 SATA power connectors available. I have some molex to SATA adapters, but I want the best performance from my PC as possible. The drives that are going to be installed are; A Seagate 2.5 Inch 1TB Barracuda HDD, A KingSpec 64 GB SSD, and A Samsung 320 GB HDD. Which one should I give the molex power to? In other words, which one requires the least amount of power to run efficiently?

ThanksWell the adapter can be used for power HUNGRY as well as green drives using little power. SATA cables pretty much use 5V and 12V. The other voltage leg is not necessary on most drives.Hi
None of the 3 drives use a lot of power. So cable for the tidiest looking.
Just an idea as molex connectors are sometimes a little problematic, when you get a good connection put a tie wrap around the plug and socket to keep it held tight closed.  Also if you gently pull on each wire to make sure they won't come out of the plug or socket.It doesn't really MATTER what you connect to the adapter although one important thing is that there is a large amount of SATA connectors (found mostly on Molex to SATA adapters) which have a design FLAW that has been known to cause them to overheat and potentially catch fire.  This is a pretty decent video that shows how to spot the differences between the safe adapters and the ones that are prone to cause problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TataDaUNEFc

Few weeks back everything was fine the camera then it SUDDENLY went blank. I tried using online camera but it didn't WORKED. I recently upgraded to win 10 hoping it will fix the PROBLEM but it didn't. The camera is showing in device manager and the webcam light is also on.

The funny part is that it is showing in my "DISK Management" app.



Most of Disk 1 is formatted for Linux. But as you can see in the center, there's an NTFS partition. Shouldn't I be able to see that in File Explorer?

Thanks GUYS,

JDLIt has to be assigned a drive letter. If you right click it and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." you can give it a drive letter.Without those panels extended i cannot TELL what is assigned what...BC_Programmer,

Thank you ever so much! That did it! 

Now I can GO to sleep 

DPC

Hi,
I'm trying to Skype with my grandkids. I get the connection, can see and hear them, but they can't see or hear me. I get a note that my camera is being used by another app.
I often get messages that my camera is being used by ____ , and tried to stop access that I wasn't AWARE of, but am still GETTING these notes.
New here and not very GOOD with computers. Am I even in the RIGHT forum?

I was looking for some cooling accessroies to cool my laptop down(cooling pad, external fan etc.), and I came across a Vaccum Air Extracting Fan. The picture shows that you put it on the outside and it extracts the air out to help cool the laptop. They are relatively cheap, from $5-$20, but are they good and how does it work? Thanks!
Whitebeard.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]The cooling pads are actually like a helping hand to the internal laptop fan. It is of no use if internal laptop fan is not functioning or the vents are blocked with dust because of which the heated air is not coming out of the laptop. I have not used this vacuum fan as you have shown in the pic.
If you have over-heating problems, I would suggest you should rather first check the internal fan, make it dust free and check thermal compound before spending on these stuff. I really don't see the point of these sorts of "add on" COOLERS for laptops.  When a laptop is built its internal cooling system will be capable of cooling the laptop fine, so if down the line it starts overheating and needing extra cooling, you really should get the internal cooling system checked (It's probably just dirty and NEEDS cleaned).

To me the LOGIC of "Oh your laptop is overheating, get this external cooling device" is flawed and seems similar to "Oh your roof is leaking, put a BUCKET under it" - You should be fixing the cause of the overheating rather than trying to patch it up.

And if you aren't experiencing overheating then you really don't need to do anything to "cool your laptop down" - It should be able to do that fine by itself.I completely agree to Camerongray.Hello, thanks for the replies, they were helpful. I cleaned the fan with compressed air as shown on some tutorials. There was a little bit of dust there, but not too much. After the fan has been cleaned, the computer still overheats. When I touch it, it is very hot. Speedfan also said it's overheating. Anything else I can try, besides the external fans?
Thanks very much.Its a laptop, if you blow air without taking it apart, you may see some dust coming out. But the solid dust is still inside stuck in the vents and fan. To properly fix this problem, (if you feel confidant), take the laptop apart, clean the fan. Make it completely dust free. If possible use a soft brush to clean the corners. DO NOT WASH and do NOT use a cloth to clean the motherboard or around it. Be very careful while cleaning the fan, the blades are very delicate. Clean the vents so that hot air can freely pass out. If necessary change the thermal compound on the processor. Compound on the GPU may not be required to be replaced.
Do make sure you don't force on 'any' screw while putting it back. Forcing may break the plastic around and / or break the plastic which holds those golden threads.
If you feel it is getting difficult to take apart, better to give it to a shop which can professionally do it.Hello. I took it to my local computer store, and they took it apart and had it cleaned for me. Thought they fixed the overheat problem...nope. The laptop looked fine whe it started up, but soon the temperature will be at around 60*C. 
Thanks,
Whitebeard1 Quote from: Whitebeard1 on November 20, 2013, 10:58:37 PM

Hello. I took it to my local computer store, and they took it apart and had it cleaned for me.

It is a Asus laptop.

I was looking for some cooling accessroies to cool my laptop down(cooling pad, external fan etc.), ...

Some background on most recent events:
I removed my CPU cooler, and the CPU came off along with the cooler. I did put it back.
I unscrewed the tiny cooler fan. Then I screwed it back.
That's all.

I already REPLACED the monitor, and tried both my graphics card, and the on-board graphics. Neither of these made a difference. The monitor still says "No signal".

What should be my NEXT thing to test?

Thanks guys
Whenever you remove the CPU/cooler you should re-do the cooler paste...

See Here...After a closer look I noticed that indeed a couple pins were a tad bent. Moreover, I realized that I had not used the little lever to secure the CPU previous time, so I'm not even sure how it was working LIKE that on the 1st place.
Then to make MATTERS worst, when I put it back, I just assumed that it was sitting ok (while it was not), and went ahead and used the lever on the cooler, which as you know, puts a tremendous physical pressure on the CPU (to keep it in place while having most possible contact). Either way, no doubt I ruined the CPU, and chances are, the CPU socket in the motherboard.
Nevertheless, I did proceed as if there was a chance, placed the CPU the best I could (while the socket's lever was up), then closed the lever. Cleaned the old thermal paste, put some new one, placed the clean cooler back. And started the pc. Same situation.
What sucks too, is that I don't have another CPU to check if the socket is ok, or not. And I'm certainly not going to buy another CPU just to FIND out that the socket IS ruined too.
I guess this pc is good for parts now

Thanks a bunch for your help patio

hey there guys,

have some weird issue when booting my computer. im getting some strange error when my computer boots, its a Dell Windows XP, it will turn on but go blank after a complete bootup, the characters im getting is very strange and its hard to explain exactly what it says but i would suspect its an issue with the hard drive, any helps greatly appreciated thanks so much in advance guys. Also, apologies if this is posted in the wrong section but i figured the XP forum was the best place to post it in since im running a Dell XP machine. thanks for the help.

FrankWelcome Aboard....when you say characters on the screen is it getting to Windows ? ?...or not ?

Also do you still have the Dell XP CD that shipped with the PC ?hi patio,

thanks for the WELCOME, and for moving my topic in the correct section. i accidentally posted in the wrong place, basically it will turn on ok, but wont get to Windows, the heading of the error says "Windows Boot Manager" and it has me select from 3 various steps, but when they pop up i typically ignore them and turn my machine off since i didnt want to mess further with the computer due to limited knowledge with pcs, however to respond to ur question i do still have the Dell XP CD that was shipped with the PC, if theres any more details u need me to provide will make sure to post them here thanks again.
1 of the choices should be last known good configuration...select that and let's see what happens.Hey there, Try to clean your hard drive, Maybe it is the issue Quote from: Senior16 on April 29, 2018, 10:59:41 AM

Hey there, Try to clean your hard drive, Maybe it is the issue

Hi, I have a problem with a usb stick not working on other computers. windows 8.1 formatted exfat 62.4 gb. It used to work on windows 8.1, windows 7 and Xp however put it into a computer with Xp and it says it needs formatting and looking into properties it comes up has "raw" I don't understand why. I have other usb sticks which I have no problem with. One the computer which has windows 8.1 I done a disk part see attachment. Why exFat ? ?

XP i don't believe reads it...only older Win versions...
Does it show as RAW on any of the other PC's ? ?Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I put it into a laptop with windows 7, comes up as exfat I done a scan disk on windows 7 and it found no errors. put it back into the XP machine and it says it needs formatting. (I have 2 XP machines one for files and one for cctv neither on the internet, I get the same on both XP machines) It used to work on any machine including daughters laptop windows 10P.S. should I try formatting it ntfs?Formatting it as NTFS is one option. NTFS, however, isn't really optimized for removable drives, as I understand.

exFat was added in Vista SP1. it was more or less an improved FAT32. You could reformat your flash drive as FAT32- doing so could require additional tools. You can find some of those described in This ARTICLE on the subject.

Now, one might simply say that exFat is too new for Windows XP. And that would typically be the case- but, that is where it get's interesting- because Microsoft did release a patch to some of their previous operating systems, including Windows XP, that added exFAT support. These were found as KB955704.However, as you can see on the associated Support Page Despite there being instructions for Windows XP,  and despite the other released windows versions having a link- they seem to have specifically pulled the Windows XP version! There is seemingly no explanation for this.

I did some searching. First I stumbled onto this Microsoft Answers post, where somebody else has the same issue. it is met by the "support" of one MVP who apparently is as dense as lead- asking "what problems are you having that you think it will solve" and blabbering about security updates and Internet connections.

I did find a source for this update, another individual made  these same discoveries and uploaded the update file in question. But the site owner was concerned about traffic "Do NOT link to this site from ANY kind of high volume service or web site. Doing so will make this page go away.". I don't know whether this forum counts, but it's possible this page could get google indexed and if I linked to it that could count... Because of that, I've gone ahead redownloaded the file and rehosted it myself.

As far as I can tell the file is still digitally signed and doesn't appear to have been TAMPERED with.thanks for your surgestions but I could not get them to work. I did convert the stick to fat32 using smartdisk fat32 format utility however XP does not recongise it now. time here 21.30 B.S.T. (putting it to bed) Quote

I have other usb sticks which I have no problem with

I used to be a member a long time ago but hadn't had any serious problems until now. I', getting a black screen on startup that states:
1720 Smart hard drive detects imminent failure
failing drive SATAO
failing attribute #B8
On bottom left of screen in blue is F1:boot.
A tech at Staples said I could press F11 on startup in order to get to safe mode but F8 is said on google in order to do that. I've done both several times but no luck. I run windows 8.1 on a HP PC. I was hoping to gather some files before replacing the hard drive, is that possible? I have a recovery disk but was going to USE it on the new hard drive.
Staples...hee. It's F8 for safemode but not a press of the key...immediately start tapping it repeatedly before the Win logo appears...


What is your backup strategy if it GETS that far BTW ?What you've described sounds like the BIOS S.M.A.R.T check, and would be happening before Windows even starts. The same sort of error you might get if the CMOS battery is dead or if it doesn't detect any keyboard and such. Starting in Safe mode I don't think would make any REAL difference.

The Attribute in question suggests what is called an "End-to-End" Error, which is a result of parity errors being detected, which could be a result of the mechanical drive itself failing or a result of the Drive's cache RAM failing.

Your best chance is to replace the drive, install/restore Windows, and then try connecting the old drive as well to try to copy data. But the error suggests a RATHER serious failure that would likely make reading anything from the drive impossible without getting into SPECIALIST data recovery stuff.First, to Patio, I knew that tapping the key was the method as I have done that before on older operating systems but it still didn't work. Also, I questioned his suggestion because to me it didn't seem like I could access any files and copy them to a flash drive in safe mode.

To BC_Programmer, I double checked my wireless keyboard and found a leaky battery. I cleaned the area and put new batteries in it to no avail, I guess I could check it on this computer? There wasn't anything major I wanted to retrieve but thought about giving it a shot if possible. I've already ordered a new computer. I plan to replace the hard drive on the one that failed and set it up for my wife. I'm concerned that my recovery disk might not work and I'd be out more money. I heard that HP would/might send a recovery disk if one hadn't been made or didn't work. I'm sure a fee would be involved if indeed they would/could do that. BTW, I didn't know there was a battery for the CMOS in a PC. I agree with you in that from the alarm I'm getting, copying anything after replacing the hard drive would be fruitless and even getting it cloned wouldn't necessarily guarantee good results. Thanks to both of you for the responses, it looks like I'm SOL with this endeavor.

You misunderstand. When I referenced batteries I was saying that those error messages would also appear before Windows boots up. I was not suggesting either of my examples were relevant to your situation- they give different error messages but at effectively the same point in the boot-up process.

If the systemwas capable of booting into Safe Mode you would be able to copy files to Flash Drives, but it sounds like you can't get that far. Likely due to the nature of the drive failure.The failure alarm comes on the screen right after the HP logo. I've read where it's tricky getting the F8 key to work but don't know why. I've never had any problem with older operating systems using that method. I might give it a few more tries yet. I was told by one of the local computer people that if I had it cloned I might be copying some problems onto the new hard drive. I suspect it's a mechanical failure but don't know for sure. You would think if it hadn't failed yet, I would still be able to get into safe mode.The key to enter safe mode only takes effect while Windows is booting. At the point you receive the error message, Windows has not even received control yet.
10-4 thanks for the input.

I am looking at different laptop specifications. Some of them have an I3 or I5 processor. They will have a base speed of 1.8 ghz with a turbo speed of around 3.7. I read that the processor will speed up to 3.7 when needed. Some have a speed of 2.7 with no turbo speed. Which one is better?
Thanksi5 is better than an i3. The turbo speed is a good thing as for the CPU will self regulate the clock to be faster as thermal design and power management setting/rule allows.

I have a AMD A8-5545m that is 1.7Ghz quadcore with 2.7Ghz Turbo and its running at 1.7Ghz when idle and when not much processing power is needed and it RUNS to 2.7Ghz frequently and hovers around an average of 2.4Ghz as the system steps the processor speed around as needed and as able to keep cool.

I have a i3 laptop and it runs at 2.1Ghz and the turbo kicks in when needed but its not a gaming laptop so. I have an older Core i7 laptop that can be used for gaming but its GPU is kinda limited to todays standards given its a first generation core i7 laptop and they have moved on to 8th generation now years later. SO be sure when looking at i3 and i5 as to what generation they are as it can be misleading. Additionally compare benchmarks and look at user reviews for each processor to see if it is what you want before BUYING into it.Thanks for the help

Hi all,

These are my specs:
Micro ATX motherboard: MSI 760GMA-P34, CPU AMD Phenom II X3 710, 2.6 Ghz (triple core).

Thanks in advance guys!Larger the fan the SLOWER the RPM and quieter. Additionally in the BIOS turn on Cool n' Quiet and let the system control fan speed vs the fan speed set to maximum all the TIME. Fan speed should be set to auto which is system controlled speed. Some BIOS's have a fan speed calibration where it will step the CPU fan through  PWM signal outputs and calibrate what speeds will be used.

If setting to auto in BIOS with ORIGINAL fan and cool n'quiet ENABLED and still noisy then if you have a tower ATX case you can go with a tall heatsink like this one which will be very quiet and also will keep the tripple core CPU cool. With fan speed set to auto it may actually passively cool the CPU when idle due to how extensive the heatsinking of this heatsink is without the fan on. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186066&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-CPU+Cooling-_-N82E16835186066&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIko3E7prT2gIVTz0MCh0-mgH4EAQYAiABEgLgyfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.dsThanks a bunch for the info DaveLembke

I was so excited when my IBM keyboard came in the mail today, I couldn't wait to try it out. I turned off my system, plugged in the keyboard, started my computer up, and nothing!
My new keyboard doesn't work! Its plugged into the PS/2 port, but it doesn't show up on my system. It doesn't even show up/work in BIOS. Its not in device manager, or anywhere else.
The PS/2 port was just working moments before with my other keyboard, an '02 Dell OEM one. It was working prior to the system shutdown, plugging in the IBM keyboard, system start up.
Am I missing something here?

for now I'm using my crummy old one (PS/2) that feels like typing on sponge. Pls help me!If it was working before the shutdown, and was working when you put the old keyboard back, the IBM one is probably dead. If it's an IBM branded keyboard, it's at least 15 YEARS old (when IBM made the last Model Ms).YEAH i suspected that, but I did test it to make sure it works on a different computer, the only other working computer in my house with a PS/2 port is some old PowerSpec PC with windows 95 (was my first computer).
so the keyboard definitely works. but the huge difference in OS doesn't really give me any help there.

[edit]
some good news, after several restarts I'm able to get my PC to turn on the num lock light on the keyboard, so that means at least for the split second the computer turns on the keyboard is connected and recognized?
currently the num pad light is on, so the keyboard does have power however it doesn't do anything else. device manager still see my IBM keyboard. Not sure if this will work but you could try the keyboard in a PS2 to USB adapter, they are pretty cheap.Some PS/2 ports on motherboards are more robust than others. Some PS/2 ports stick closer to the spec than others. It is possible for a a bad keyboard to be not recognised (or even kill the PS/2 port) on one computer but still work OK on a different computer.

I tried my keyboard at work today, it works great on the Windows XP Pro. It didn't work on the PS/2 port so I bought the adapter.
I bought it home with high hopes the adapter solves the problem, it does not. the keyboard is recognized by windows & BIOS, but it doesn't work in either MODE, none of the keys work, the num lock light turns on when the system starts up and stays on, but nothing else happens. in BIOS/POST the computer sees 2 keyboards & 1 mouse, 2nd keyboard being the logitech I'm using right now. in Windows (Vista) its seen as a "Human Interface Device", and windows claims its working properly despite me not being able to use it at all. it did automatically install drivers for "HID keyboard device" when i first plugged it in today.

I also tried every USB port I have on my PC to see maybe that might IMPROVE things (8 total), it made no difference.

I don't understand why doesn't it work on my computer. what else could be the problem?Have you tried only having one keyboard hooked up at a time?yeah. doesn't help me.
besides, i had the 2 keyboard setup for a while now, its never had any issues. but one keyboard was one the ps/2 port, the other usb.  (dell keyboard, logitech illuminated)

right now the IBM is still connected, even though it doesn't do anything. the other keyboard, the one I'm using, the logitech, works fine. normally if you have two keyboards its possible to use them at hte same time (if you have 4 hands) or one at a time. if i disconnect the IBM anytime the system is up & running, the keyboard will not be seen again until the next restart. (typical of ps/2 keyboards). Quote from: 10twenty on May 25, 2011, 08:23:58 AM

if i disconnect the IBM anytime the system is up & running

but I almost never do that ever anyways

I finally pulled the hard drive out after it had failed and found mixed reviews on it. I wasn't wanting to spend very much money but wanted to get as much bang for the buck, The one I took out was a ST1500DM003 SEAGATE Barracuda Green Hard Drive ST1500DM003 which costs $165. It failed after 6 years. I think that's too much to spend on a computer that has 6 years wear on the other parts and was thinking about going to a $44 WD Blue 1TB SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive (WD10EZEX). What are your thoughts on this, any other suggestions? The Sad part is, I bought another HP computer that probably has a Seagate in it. I still haven't opened it yet BTW.Why not just wipe the Seagate and use it ? ?...or are you using the other PC.
That being stated the WD Blue line is pretty solid...

Long as it's not used.I can't access it to wipe it, besides that it failed or to be more precise, it was in imminent danger of failing. I tried going into safe mode to gather some files but had no success. I have 3 computers right now, one in the box, one with the hard drive removed and the one I'm posting with. The one with the hard drive removed is to be used again by my wife ... if possible. It was a much faster computer than this one. Thanks for the approval of the WD drive, it makes more sense to get it over the other and it's not a used one either.I think you misunderstood...i meant the 2nd Seagate...it sounded like that PC was not in use.

BTW the Black edition WD's are the better ones if it's in your budget...but i've never had issues with the Blue's.
With Hard Drives it seems like people either have luck with one brand or another. Some people have sworn off WD drives for constant failures, others Seagate. I've been leaning towards the latter, personally- Seagate has had some issues with their drives over the last decade or so. A few models really skew their failure rates, including the one you mentioned. Just speaking for myself, I had a 1.5TB which failed after about a year; I replaced that with a WD Red which has worked for over 4 years, and later got a 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 for more storage- which started to show signs of failure after 6 months (disappearing from Windows, very poor performance, etc. I moved it to another infrequently used computer and it pretty much failed last weekend. In the meantime, none of the WD Drives I've bought have failed, which includes two WD Blues, a WD Black, and a WD Red.

If you are concerned about the other system with the Seagate drive, you can determine the model number and see if it is one of the models with a relatively high failure rate. I w ouldn't expect laptops or premanufactured systems to still be using the problematic models, but you can never be too sure I suppose.

I have had many systems with many brand drives. Only brand that I ever had a high failure rate with was Maxtor which is no longer around. Seagate bought them out as well as for a short while placed a 5 year warranty on Maxtor drives that originally only had a 2 or 3 year warranty, so I was able to send a 500GB failed Maxtor drive to Seagate after Seagate bout out Maxtor and they shipped me a new 500GB Seagate drive. I had a 120GB Hard Drive fail 10 years ago and Seagate sent me back a 160GB drive replacement because they didnt have another 120GB to ship to me, which was a sweet 40GB upgrade for free.

For western digital, only issues I had with their product was an external hard drive that had a LCD display that displayed how much free space was left on it. I paid an extra $20 to buy this model that had that feature and well that feature died on the external. Western Digital was willing to give me a warranty replacement BUT I didnt have a drive big enough to move my data over to ship this drive back, so I decided to take the loss in no longer having the LCD display feature. Later the external drive no longer worked and it was the PCB USB to SATA controller that died. Opened the external and installed that drive as an internal drive and that drive still works. Whoever made their external enclosure electronics made a bad one, but their drive had no problems.

Seagate and Western Digital make good drives and have good warranties. They occasionally have one model better or worse than others but just look at reviews first before buying into specific model drives and you should be able to avoid buying a troublesome drive.

Thanks to all for the good info. I had typed out a heck of a response to all three of you but by the time I got around to posting it, I had timed out (bummer). Anyway, I always check reviews, will check the computer in the box for the reliability of its drive and will more than likely order a WD drive for the one that failed.It is not clear why the OP can not just install the OS over again.
When Windows installs on a Hard Drive, it gives you the option to format all or part of the drive. One 'trick' you o may try with an old PC and an old HDD is to just use part of the drive for the system. With 'lick' you might avoid parts of the disc that have errors. This may extend the useful live of a failing old  drive by two years or more.Of course, you WOULD not do this with  anything that is doing very important work. It only costs you your time.
With the old drive TECHNOLOGY you  can have up to four primary partitions, each can have an operating system. Do you  can have 'spare' installations.
My point is that you can still have fun with an old PC and a old hard drive.  Well Geek-9pm, you may have something there. I have a recovery disc but don't know if that would work. I was told something similar before by a person I met that runs a business out of their home but to me, the hard drive is trying to or will fail mechanically. The reason I say that is I've started the computer before (several times to be exact) and while it's booting up go get a cup of coffee. Upon returning, the computer is still off which puzzled me because I knew I had heard the hard drive start up and saw the power light come on. I know partitioning a computer is best but never have dabbled in that area.Unfortunately while it can work in some situations- I did so successfully with a LAPTOP hard drive before, allowing me to continue to use the drive- it only works when the failure is related to physical damage or mechanical problems involving certain areas of the disk.

However, as I understand them, the issues with the ST1500DM003 are related to a firmware issue whereby a bug results in the drive getting stuck in a "BUSY" state which persists between boots, so I'm doubtful that partitioning the drive will matter.

Besides- Often with those sorts of failures- and at least with all my failed Seagate drives- they refuse to properly identify in the BIOS to begin with anyway.zinger,
Was I correct  when I assumed that the computer does not have valuable data?
If that is the case, you might find a person among you FAMILY or friends who likes to tinker with old computers.
The install CD for Windows 2000 and Windows XP let you alter the number ans size of partitions.  This can help sidestep some problems with hard drives. I presume you want to use an older operating system. Does this old system have a sticker on it that identifies the operating system?
Wow, you guys have thrown me some curves. Obviously, you guys know quite a bit more about computers than me but list yourselves as beginners (except for Mastermind). When I first got into computers I tried to learn as much as I could but only up to a point. I can't tear apart a carburetor and put it back together unless it's a vintage Holley but know how they work (used to). I hope that statement wasn't too vague. Obviously, things have changed in computers and carburetors over the years and some have kept up and some like me have lost what little knowledge they've had.

OK, back on topic. I came on here because I was getting this imminent hard drive failure alarm as was wondering if I could get past the alarm/error page to gather some files that I'd rather not lose but not something that would shatter my world if I couldn't. I used to back up everything to flash drives but kind of got out of the habit and am now paying for it (never again). I now depend on folks like you guys to get advice from but don't ask me to rebuild the computer, I had to watch a video twice in order to get that hard drive out I've been talking about. The advice I've been getting has been very good but some a bit past my skill level. I've been through XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and am dreading having to use 10. I'm not for sure if I can even find the information on this new computer's hard drive to check it's success/failure history.

BTW, this is what I bought.

HP Pavilion 570-p026 Desktop (Intel Core i5, 1TB HDD, 12GB RAM, Windows 10, Intel HD 630 Graphics) One other fun thing to do with dead HDD's is searching out and replacing the controller...my success rate is 3 out of 20 i think... Quote from: patio on May 02, 2018, 08:15:55 AM

One other fun thing to do with dead HDD's is searching out and replacing the controller...my success rate is 3 out of 20 i think...

I've found over the past few weeks that I would receive a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA BSOD when restarting or shutting down my Desktop PC. It didn't affect anything- it booted up just fine afterwards. Nonetheless, I was concerned. I was able to determine the cause and I think it may be useful if OTHERS are encountering this issue.

After some investigation and analyzing the crash dumps with Windebug, I stumbled upon stack trace references to "USBCHARGER.SYS", which I found in my Windows Driver folders. However, I also found this was not a Microsoft file, but seems to have been installed as part of my Motherboard chipset driver packages. it seems to be related to a feature of the motherboard to allow charging while the system is in sleep mode... or related to Apple devices in some way. I'm not entire sure.

I found within the installation folder for said product a .reg files which uninstalled it. I also renamed the file. (These were found at "C:\Program Files\GIGABYTE\ONOFFCharge\uninstall.reg)


I've rebooted twice since them and haven't received a BSOD so I suspect this was the cause. I thought this could be useful if anybody else may be encountering similar behaviour.Good find and thanks for sharing.
While I predominently only use Gigabyte mobo’s, I never install the USB Charging ON/OFF software so luckily have dodged this particlular bullt thankfully.I have 2 systems with this motherboard ( GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-USB3 ) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128565

One system running Win 7 64-bit home and other system on Windows 10 64bit Home. One of them is Phenom II x4 3.0Ghz and other is AMD FX-8350 x8 core 4Ghz. No problems so far.

No problems yet and I installed the drivers off the disc that came with it.

Maybe its a software/driver/hardware difference between our builds.

The only Gigabyte board that isn't trusted and acts up is my Socket AM1 Kabini Build. It has this GIGABYTE GA-AM1M-S2H  motherboard: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128696 with the Quadcore 1.3Ghz Sempron 3850 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113366

It has a strangeness in that it will lock up tight or will severely lag with constant HDD LED lit as well as occasional BSOD in the middle of doing just about anything without warning. Windows event log complains about a power failure from improper shutdown. HDD LED will also remain on solid when no HDD activity.

Swapped out the power supply, checked all connections, reseated RAM ( single stick because memory controller only supports single channel ), even tried disconnecting the soft power button in case caused by a flakey power button. After troubleshooting and it not being reliable, because I have other computers that are reliable, I use them instead. I have since pulled this motherboard from the case and installed another electron sipper low power board which has no problems and running strong since last August. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138448
Moved the RAM stick, Hard Drive, and Power Supply to this board and no problems. So the only thing I can think of is that the AM1 boards are built so cost cutting cheap that the motherboard itself has an issue. I didn't bother sending it back under warranty because the Gigabyte motherboard was only $35 new and I got almost 2 years out of it before it got ill. Additionally the Sempron 3850 1.3Ghz quadcore was too limited by the 1.3Ghz clock. The A8-5545m quadcore which runs between 1.7 and 2.7Ghz, most of the time running in the 2.4Ghz range is snappy and quick and so I have been very happy with its performance to handle most of my games, and no crashes yet with it. Only thing in back of my mind with the A8-5545m Biostar motherboard is that the APU fan is not a standard cooling fan replacement, so at some point when that fan fails I am going to have to dig around for a replacement fan to mount to the heatsink. Its not as easy as buying a new heatsink with fan attached for a specific socket because the A8-5545m is a mobile processor intended for laptops and not a desktop motherboard so I would probably have to order a fan and splice it into the connector for CPU fan for +, -, and Tach.Probably should have mentioned the motherboard model itself for posterity: Z87X-UD3H-CF.

I've only had it occur on that one. I also have a Gigabyte EP43-UD3L in my older build as well as a GA-AM1M-S2P. However I think this is the only one that had the ON/OFF charging feature installed- it's not a feature I would use so if I was paying attention I would have unchecked it. Maybe I was feeling generous when I was installing or updating the drivers at some point.

I also found a number of hits online where others were affected by the same BSOD due to Gigabyte's "USBCHARGER.SYS".

However- It actually gets a little more interesting and I might not be able to entirely blame Gigabyte's Driver software, A while ago when booting the system I would get a bunch of (say 20 or so) USB connect and disconnect sounds. I thought nothing of it since I couldn't really figure out what it was, and everything I had connected via USB still worked.  owever, when I discovered that my BSOD was USB-related, I popped into device manager and took a look and noticed that I had a "Generic SuperSpeed USB Hub" with the ol' exclamation mark listed as being unable to start because "The USB hub failed to reset". I enabled it, got about 20 USB connect/disconnect sounds, then it went back to an exclamation mark. I assumed this was the card reader/USB 3.0 combo front panel I had added some time ago having failed as it had been somewhat finicky, so disabled it and rebooted. When that didn't fix it I proceeded onwards.

However, in writing this post I wanted to verify "And yet all my USB Ports seem to work anyway" which I had written, so I started plugging a Flash Drive into each of my unoccupied Motherboard USB Ports- to double-check what I thought I already knew:



I made my way over to the ports beneath the Ethernet jack. The BOTTOM one was first. I plugged it in- and nothing! I had seemingly discovered at least the ports that had been disabled, which  resolved that mystery. For completions sake I plugged it into the other port. And my computer shut off altogether!  , seems like I've got a hardware problem as well! It may be some combination of these various factors involving incompatibility issues with Gigabyte's motherboard software and what seems to be a failure on the motherboard itself related to USB ports.

It seems to only affect two USB ports which I wasn't using anyway, and I have a 10-port USB 3 Hub for if I need more than the 4 USB Ports I have on the front of my case plugged in at once, so I'm not too bothered.

Also here's a bonus story: I got a Digital Audio cable which I intended to plug into my audio card's digital input in order to route audio from some HDMI devices (mostly, my Super NT) to my PC Speakers rather than my monitor speakers. I spent nearly an hour trying to plug it into my Sound card and it would just fall out and it felt like I was about to break something I was pushing it in so hard. I was googling for whether there were different versions or something.

Until I went to "wipe" off what I thought was the connector and a little plastic dome slipped off.

I had been trying to plug in a connector while it had a protective cover on it. For an hour.

Hi!

I want to connect 2 computers together by USB cable.
Purpose: Data transfer

It connecting more computers, but at once only two.
It is between OSes:
WINDOWS - Windows
Windows - DOS
Windows - Linux Mint based Commodore OS
Windows - OSX

How to do it and what in connections written above is it possible?

Thank you for help.
Miro
MIRKOSOFT,
Here is the easy answer. Connect the devices via Wireless ,not cable.

Let me explain. The cost of the special USB crossover cable and the required software is expensive and does not fill your specs. It only works an some systems.

But Wireless is the now-standard way of data transfer between a wide range of devices. Most PCs and tablets already have wireless.You cost can be zero.

Bluetooth is a good way to transfer data between two drives in your home or office.

Another  popular method is to use a 'cloud' service to share data.  Any numberof devices can GET the same set of MP3, Photos and text all in one place. And lyou can have as much privacy as you want.

Forget the USB cable. 
<< OR- >>
Do you want the link to the expensive, worthless USB crossover cable.
You need a USB Bridge cable. These effectively appear as network devices, and the computers at either end communicate with the other as if they were communicating over a standard network connection.

here is an example from a search of Amazon. ~$20.

These are compatible pretty much on any platform, However, DOS is out. USB compatibility in DOS is limited to certain aftermarket products which provide say USB Mass storage. It is not generally USB capable. You would need to find another solution for a DOS-only system if necessary.

Otherwise, Linux and even Windows 98SE can be handled with it I expect. The latter requires appropriate driverss which appear to be available in a generic form.Ok, I want to ask for else one possible solution:
I have all computers connected to single router and they're all connected via LAN RJ-45 cable.
How to make them visible between?
Windows 10, Windows 7, MS-DOS 7.10, Linux Mint based Commodore OS and OSX 10.4

MiroBow you are on the right track!
Sharing files over Ethernet is a wall-developed methjod.
Here is a good starter from Gizmo:
[ur=]https://gizmodo.com/5430678/how-to-make-your-pc-and-mac-share-stuff-like-best-friends]How To: Make Your PC and Mac Share Stuff Like Best Friends[/url]
quote...

Networking is stupid. You'd think it'd be real darn easy to share stuff between PCs and Macs, but it's not as nearly simple as it should be. So, here's how to make 'em talk and share stuff like best friends.

He is right, it harder than it outta be. But he does help.

Talk to Me, Girl
So, assuming that your PC and Mac are both sitting comfortably on your network, wirelessly or otherwise (if you haven't gotten that far, you need more help than I'll be providing right here), there are a couple of different ways for the various machines on your network to talk to each other and share files. Think of 'em sorta like languages.

You will have to read the whole article to catch what he is saying. There are different methods of sharing from Apple OS and the Windows OS.
Windows 7 is rather easy. Turn on FILE sharing and select a folder to share.
Linux is easy. Use Samba. With Samba you see anything visible on the network.

The big advantage of  using Ethernet is that you do not have to buy anymore hardware if the  PC or device has Ethernet. And most routers now tie the Ethernet and Wireless together in the same local block. Smartphones Tablets have wireless.
Read over that article and come back here if you need to.

The USB device sold on Amazon is for Widows only. You would have to find a App in the Apple store to make it work. There is, and what I found was very limited.
EDIT:  Watt I may be wrong. I did not try this free Apple App:
USB Disk SE
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/usb-disk-se/id370531520?mt=8 Quote from: Geek-9pm on May 13, 2018, 02:21:58 PM

The USB device sold on Amazon is for Widows only.

You would have to find a App in the Apple store to make it work. There is, and what I found was very limited.

I am currently thinking of building a pc but I am stuck with the motherboard choices. Which motherboard would you recommend for my build: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/krprD2 .

Any extra feedback on improving the build is highly appreciated.Motherboard you chose in part picker looks good. Only reason to change would be if your looking for a feature that this one doesn't have or a spec greater than this board supports such as maximum MEMORY count or further CPU upgradability for future upgrade beyond the i5. But the i5 you got should be plenty powerful for the LIFE of the motherboard. Later when upgrading you would PROBABLY want to upgrade Motherboard, CPU, and RAM as something better is available however a top end processor could be IMPLEMENTED to push it to the max and get the most out of it buying a USED  higher end processor 5 years from now etc.

Hello! I've been experiencing problems with my computer whereby it always freezes up. This problem has been ONGOING for months, but I was always able to unfreeze it after a few minutes of waiting.

However, recently the problem worsened whereby the computer would hang at least twice or more a day and i had to FORCE shut down and switch it on again.

At the end of the day when i head to bed and switch off the computer, I noticed that it does not actually fully shut down and the CPU is still running. After about 10 mins or so, the computer would start up with a BSOD message showing "DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE". I've tried to update my BIOS and the problem still persists. I've also tried to update my drivers but it's still the same.

Does ANYBODY know what could the problem be?what make/model computer or if custom build all the specs on this system so we are aware of what you have for hardware before making suggestions.

Hi all! I need to get a monitor. I can afford about $500 CAN. I know it's not much, but then again, with the affordable monitors nowadays, I can see that I could either get a 28" 4k, or a even a 31.5" curved monitor!

Which one should be more fun and a better buy in the long run?

Thanks guys,I'm not really a gamer so can't hugely comment on that side of things but it's worth thinking about everything you need the PC for.  For example, a 4k display will look great and give you loads of screen space for running multiple applications at the same time, however, for gaming it will require a really powerful GPU in ORDER to run games at a 4k resolution.  On the other hand, the curved monitor you linked will probably work pretty well for gaming and the relatively low 1080p resolution won't push your GPU too hard however that resolution is really low for that size of display so you won't be able to fit a lot of stuff on it when using it for productivity tasks.

Out of those two, I'd avoid the curved one unless the machine is used purely for gaming as it's just too low resolution for productivity tasks given its size IMO.  4K would work well as long as your GPU can handle it (of course you can always run the games at a lower resolution if it comes to it and get a better GPU in the future).  Another option would be a 1440p monitor which is a BIT in the middle of the two - Gives you much more screen space for productivity than 1080p does but won't push your GPU as hard as 4k.  Bear in mind that the resolution is what defines how much you can fit on the screen at once, not the size - that 31.5" one you linked would have the exact same AMOUNT of "screen real estate" as my 14" laptop.  Another thing to look at is the type of panel used - there's two main ones - TN and IPS.  TN is generally cheaper and is sometimes preferred for gaming due to having slightly higher response times.  IPS on the other hand provides much better colour accuracy and viewing angles, personally I only use IPS screens.Boy! That is a great response!
Thank you ever so much for sharing such a complete and elaborate reply. Anyone else visiting this thread will benefit thanks to you

I will look into this.

Have a super day!Hi, I'm no expert but I have a 4k monitor (TN panel) and love it, as long as you have a good GPU I'd recommend the 4k option for gaming (I play a lot of modded skyrim.) IPS screens will look better but TN is still great.

My GPU is a gtx 1080, I can run 4k on skyrim with 200 mods at roughly 34 fps, to give you a ball park at the gpu you will need, it differs for other games of course

Just bought a new graphics card and its saying no signal on my monitor.

EVERYTHING I KNOW SO FAR - the graphics card fans arnt spinning although when i first start up my pc they spin but then STOP,  its not the cable,  I took out the circle battery on motherboard and PUT back in, taking out ram cleaned put back, ive tried plugging the cable (dvi to dvi) into the motherboard while the graphics card is not installed still says no signal/

If anyone has any ideas please let me know!! PL0xTell us your make and model of the graphics card.
But it may be as simple as you haven’t supplied the extra POWER it needs.Thanks for replying MARK,

Its a ASUS GEFORCE GTX 1060 6GBAnd is it one of the varietys that need the extra 6 pin power connectors?Yep it is and its plugged in, any ideas??What PSU ? ?PRETTY sure its a 550w, not sure what brand it is as theres no stickers on the outside

My motherboard is an 354895-001 Pentium 4 3.06 MHz processor with an ATI 9000 graphics chip. I really just need the PLL but don’t want to take my laptop apart. If anyone knows this info, I would greatly appreciate itIt is not clear what you are asking. By PLL do you MEAN "PHASE locked loop"?Yes.Say clearly what you want to do.I’m trying to overclock this ancient laptop using clock gen SOFTWARE. I have a list of pll’s to choose from but I don’t know what mine is. It should be stamped on my motherboard but I don’t want to take my computer apart if I don’t have to. Supposedly, if I can find someone with the same motherboard that is accessible I can get their PLL and use it with mine. I know it is not recommended to overclock a laptop but I am willing to risk it. The computer will be no use to me otherwiseHi...according to me you will lose any programs on the computer that you do not have the installation MEDIA for. The exception to that might be if the programs in question came installed on the computer from the factory and the restore partition of the hard drive is still INTACT. Even then, there is still a risk of losing even them if the new motherboard chipset is incompatible with the drivers included in the restore partition.According to you ? ?

Recently I've noticed large fluctuation in the performance of my PC during gaming, specifically on Overwatch and Dark Souls 3. My games "stutter" and movement in either game is very clunky, almost like input lag combined with the game moving like a second HAND on a clock but in a "smooth" way.

I've been running Overwatch on ~medium settings (1080p). If I set the fps limit to ~100, the game is FINE for the most part, until there is a lot of action of the screen, then my fps may only drop 5-10 dps from 100 to 95 or so, but I get the stuttering movement and the game is very hard to play. And if I set the fps limit higher to ~200, regardless of action there is immense fluctuation in fps, from 200 down to 100 and back up to 200 in about 2 SECONDS repeatedly, and then my PC turns off: straight to a black screen and off.

This is a fairly new problem and seems to occur no matter my settings, low or high/ultra, and with my specs I should be able to run the game flawlessly at high/ultra. My GPU temp doesn't exceed 90 C and my CPU doesn't exceed 65 C, which I'm aware is warm, but from what I can see there is little/no dust in there, fans are running, and as I say, this is only recent while my temperatures haven't changed drastically over the months.

I've tried to use HWInfo to look for problems, but with the fps limit at ~100 I don't see any drastic issues, and at ~200 the PC switches off. There's nothing relevant in the Event Viewer for Windows from what I can see. Perhaps the problem is voltage/amps? In which case I'm not sure what to look for, though the data is there on HWInfo.

My specs are:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 480 (8GB) (18.2.1 Adrenaline)
PSU: Corsair VS550 Series 80 Plus (Possibly the problem?)
RAM: 2x Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133MHz
MOBO: ASUS H110M-A/M.2
OS: Windows 10

Please help me, do I need a new power supply, or perhaps a replacement gpu?

Hi!

My notebook features one mini PCI slot and is empty.
I want to ask if is possible to FIND any RAM board or connect external harddisk to that slot
Notebook is Compaq Evo N1000v and has RAM limit 1GB (installed).
LIKE other notebooks has only one harddisk port (this uses IDE 2,5").
I want to find way to increase RAM size (no matter of speed) or else one harddisk (it can be also SD/microSD - to fit into case, so real HDD is not required).
Is any of these two devices possible to find?
I had there longer time wifi card, but I'm using it only at home and no moving, primarily using DOS and Windows + Commodore OS (Linux MINT based). So I removed wifi card away and will sell it.

Else one Q: Notebook allows not booting from USB - is possible override it?

Thank you for help.
Miroi'd check the manual...i didn't see 1 of those but i could be wrong...looks to me like a docking port.Or trying Mini-PCI CF or SD card adapter?
I found lot of these adapters but for Mini PCIe...
Exist any for Mini-PCI?

MiroYou MISSED my whole point...you have to find out what port it is exactly before buyin stuff to try in it...Ok, but don't understand now.
AFAIK it is Mini-PCI, there was plugged in wifi card before I removed it.
Please explain it me to understand...

Miro

Hi!

Today at work my computer turned off. I meant it was overvoltage what is here not unknown.
I pressed power-on button, works not.
Then I switch PSU off and later on - again no action. Then I removed power cable and later connect BACK and then turn on PSU and hit power-on - same result.
So, I was searching MB diodes and internal buttons (like MEM-OK etc.). Diodes lightning and even I had connected phone to computer USB and it signalized CHARGING.
So, it looks like PSU can be ok, but what happened and how to solve it?
PC config: MB Asus Z170A, iCore i5, 20GB RAM, ~7TB storage, GPU onboard + nVidia GeForce 210, 3 desktops, OS Windows 10.1803 Pro x64

Please reply anybody. To add - don't have another working PSU.

Thank you for each word.
MiroGet another power supply and try that. You can have a power supply fail and put out USB power for charging but have another voltage rail blown out causing it to not turn on.

What type of over voltage did you have? Lightning or a power surge?

You might want to invest in a surge suppressor or a UPS as well so that if a power spike happens again it doesnt kill anything else.Here's overvoltage happening by this way:
1. Lost power in whole house
2. Few seconds ago powers on
3. It turns off all power switches in house off
4. I must switch them back
5. Then I can turn on PC and other electronic on

Now it was without power switches off. It looks like losing power only or only PC lost power.
All LEDs lighting ok on MB - seems like PSU is ok.
Or not?

MiroBorrow another PSU of same or greater wattage to test...no need to buy 1 til you know it's the culprit. Quote from: MIRKOSOFT on May 08, 2018, 10:07:03 AM

Today at work my computer turned off.

Borrow another PSU of same or greater wattage to test...no need to buy 1 til you know it's the culprit.

Hello friends, this is the first time for me to post in this forum and i have a PROBLEM which got me mad i wish i can find a solution.
I have connected my Laptop to the TV through HDMI the desktop is displayed on TV without problems but sound is not transferred .
Solutions i have TRIED

• There is attached photo with playback devices appeared to me i have switched default sound playback devices with no result
• I have tried updating sound drives from dell official website and from device manger i found it updated
• I restarted the laptop while HDMI connected with TV

Hi everyone, first off thank you for having this site, it's nice to see a free platform to get some help and I really appreciate any input as to what may be causing my very strange issue.

My computer is hand built and have never had an issue with it before. I used to have a Radeon HD 7970 GPU but replaced it with the powerful GTX 1080...the card works fine but if my computer shuts off unexpectedly, example power outage, a windows update that was stuck (blue screen after shutting off, example 04 of 15), or anything that would cause the PC to need to be turned off in a way which isn't normal, normal being defined as windows, start, shut down, upon reboot my computer tower will power on just fine but the monitor will display no signal and just stay black. I don't think it's necessarily an issue with my monitor because I have a 4k one now and this problem will still happen.

The only way I have found to fix this is to take the (i'm guessing its a dvi cable, the white one with pins), and to take it off of the GPU slot and connect it to the processor slot instead, power on computer, wait 10 secs, shut off and re connect to the GPU, after doing this the computer will resume as normally. Since I have a 4k monitor now with display port, i need to take out my old screen with the DVI cable if i am to fix the issue.

I've never seen anything like this before, it seems to happen since I replaced the gpu though....I have an ASUS gaming mother board and my power supply is 750 W if it helps any. Also my OS is windows 7.

Thank you again guys, much appreciated.Make and Model # of PSU ? ?hi patio, the power supply says its a LSP ULTRA 750W ATX Power Supply with model # ULT-LSP750     Hope it helps That's a marginal PSU at BEST...

However to rule out temps as the culprit DLoad install and run Speedfan and see how hot things are getting...you can minimise it to the tray and do some gaming for say 10 minutes and get readings under load...Come to think of it my GTX seems to be a little bit loud when I'm running 4K gaming I'll DOWNLOAD that now and play for about 10 minutes and then will let you know what I find. If I should replace the PSU with something stronger what would you recommend?after 15 min of gameplay my temperatures are:

GPU 55 c
System 48 c
CPU 128 c
Aux 0 22 c
aux 1 39 c
aux 2 -128 c
aux 3 -23 to -60 c
hd0 and hd1 are 46 and 47 c

Okay final edit, real temps seems to have the CPU reaching 44 - 52 C or so, it's quad core so they seem to fluctuate a lot.

the GPU is at 53 C

Edit:  I did some research, someone else had 128 C cpu on speedfan and the forums suggested trying realtemp as it can handle the newer CPU readings, will edit and update this using realtemps readings, I think 128 c would melt my computer lol.

I had to minimize skyrim to get to desktop and check.Nothin wrong with testin with aNother app...
That 128 is a worry though...

CPU-Z is another one i believe...See Here...

Thay are not a retailer...so shop around...solid unit for the price.rob,
what was the app that gave you that 128 CPU temp?
if it was Speccy, it has a known issue of wrongly reporting some temps on some PC's.

as to the display starting correctly from a normal boot and not showing anything on a restart after an abnormal shutdown, I'm just thinking that maybe it could be a BIOS setting that has the integrated graphics card listed first.  I realise it's a long shot, but sometimes they pay out. 
Thank you both for your help    It was the speedfan app which gave me the 128 c CPU reading, I used the real temp app instead for CPU. I just played around 3 hours of a heavily modded skyrim in 4k and have measured my new temps, GPU got to around 65 c and the cpu was roughly 50 c, I'm not an expert but I think those temps are okay       I will check out another psu patio thank you.

I think that may infact be WHATS causing the issue Mark, my dad mentioned something with the integrated card but he wasn't sure either, the way you described it makes a lot more sense. How would I go about fixing something like that? Everytime the PC shuts off abnormally i get worried I may not be able to bring my computer back.

Thank you again as it is greatly appreciated. Those temps are fine...

90 % of the time when a card is installed onboard grafix are disabled...so i don't think thats the issue...you are 100 % correct patio, i just tried the bios and everything seems in order. The problem happened again...this time it was after a normal shut off using windows. It was difficult to turn back on...i don't know now if my solution was the fix...I unplugged the power supply cord this time...held the power button to eliminate any residual power and then it finally booted. Does this sound like a bad power supply? I wonder if it's starting to fail on me, my sisters boyfriend is knowledgable and said that ULTRA brand isn't so good and people have had issues, a lot of my parts are from 2011 also. I think I might try replacing the psu with a reputable brand and up it to 850 w, fingers crossed that fixes the issue. You are goin overboard on wattage...more wattage don't equal clean power...
For example the 1 i linked is a 550...puts out more power under load than your current one does...
So it would be more than adequate for that system...

On a side note if it's that old i would DLoad and run diagnostics on that HDD from the HDD manuf. site...it's likely not the cause of restart issues but it'll tell you if its healthy or not


Keep us posted.now you have the PC not starting despite the way it was turned off would point more to power issues, so yes, consider replacing the >6yo PSU and have you taken the cover off the tower and checked the motherboard capacitors - are any bulging or worse, leaking?

with the age of your system, it may have all solid caps on the mobo, with is great and means there will be no external sign of voltage over currents.
but for that vintage the caps may have be scored to provide a release mechanism to stop them from exploding, they'll have a K sort of symbol scribed into the top.
this top should be flat, with no outward curve at all and certainly no 'gunk' leaking out of the score mark.Will try your suggestions and will let you guys know. I haven't taken the casing off the part where the power supply is is see through so was EASY to check the make and model. My dad is the one that built the computer for me so he is a bit more knowledgeable on what to look for I'll pass on your message and get him to see if everything is okay or not and in the meantime I can try out that program and run it to see if there's any other issues. No matter what though I will definitely replace the power supply unit hopefully within a week since the ultra brand Isn't So Good and it might be causing me issues.  Once again I really appreciate all of the input I'll keep everyone posted so you know if the problem was fixed by changing the power supply.

I've just started to set-up my custom BUILD and I'm getting error code A2,
Set-up : Asus ROG MAXIMUS IX HERO MOTHERBOARD, Socket 1151, Z270, DDR4, Intel i700k kaby lake processor, G.Skill Trident Z RGB Ram. ANYBODY got any ideas

StefanoSee what you get if you disconnect all the Drives. If that works, one of the drives might have been DOA- you'd have to use the process of elimination to find out which one. If it FAILS with any DRIVE, it could be the Motherboard.

Another option is to try using HDMI or DVI if you are using Display Port. I found other forum threads where that resolved an A2 error code.

Hi all.

I posted about looking for a new HARD drive for a old dell laptop. My son told me about a HP pro book 675B that I could get for $170 and put a new drive in it and load it with xp  and use if with cad. It is my understanding that I can get the drivers for it in xp on the HP site. Anyone know if this is true? That may be the way to go if it's true.you will need to confirm all that with HP.go to the support page at HP here; https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/laptops and plug in the PC's serial number and see if they still offer XP drivers.
+ 1 for Mark...you definitely wanna check beforehand...HP pro book 675B shipped with:
Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade

Look for something that has Windows 7 or later.Commando windows 7 will not play Auto CAD 2000. I have windows 7 on two computers and it will not work on it. That is the hole idea of using windows XP. If you visit the AutoDesk Forums on running AC 2000 on Win 7...
Sure beats buying a new version.
BTW there are more than 1 workarounds so choose which suits you best...

And i agree with Commando....buying a used XP laptop rather than 1 with Win 7 is kind of a waste. Quote from: I Shooter on May 20, 2018, 08:59:59 AM

Commando windows 7 will not play Auto CAD 2000. I have windows 7 on two computers and it will not work on it. That is the hole idea of using windows XP.

My hyphen key was stuck and to disable it, I used keyboard mapper. However  instead the minus key got disabled. Even after re enabling it, it is still diabled. Restarted computer to SAVE changes but not working. INFACT i uninstalled keyboard and reinstalled. Yet not working. Pls helpIf you are using a desktop, then try another keyboard to see if the problem still continues. If you are using a LAPTOP, connect an external keyboard. If you still can't use your minus key on another keyboard, the it is the computer, if the other keyboard works, then it is your ORIGINAL keyboard that is the problem. Try that, and let me know.

I was wanting to hook up a Dell E172FP1 VGA monitor to the DVI port on my nVidia GTX 950 video card.  My main monitor is working on the HDMI hookup just fine.  I have the VGA cable from the monitor going into an adapter to the DVI port in the video card.  Windows 10 or the nVidia settings software does not recognize the Dell monitor.  I COULD use a little advice here, thanks.Try the other DVI port from the one you are using. Most 950's come with one DVI-I port and one DVI-D port. only the DVI-I port has the analog signals that are necessary for the adapter to work.

If you don't have ANOTHER DVI port, then it seems like the one you have is DVI-D which means you don't have a (STRAIGHTFORWARD) WAY of using it with your VGA monitor.Does anything appear on your monitor? Like any signal at all?

I found a ton of old CD/DVDs I had made years ago and noticed that some of them had gathered moisture in the case and caused the TITLE sheet to get stuck on the disk. When I tried to remove the paper, some of it stuck to it. My question is, will it damage the motor drive with a PATCH of paper stuck to it? I would think it would make it unbalanced and am afraid to play them. I tried a few and they did ok but wondered whether or not I should use them? Silly question probably but you can't be too careful sometimes. BTW, there's nothing on the disks that are of any major importance. Quote

BTW, there's nothing on the disks that are of any major importance.