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One day after 2/7/18 MS update, there was a 3hr power outage and when the power returned, my WORK dell couldn't boot and I later found that 6 more pc's at the office were down as well. IT vaguely said it was from a previous update and the power outage triggered the bug which altered some bios settings preventing the machines from initiating boot-up. That was just some background. I came home to find my primary machine off which was on when I left and my secondary on when it was off when I left. I pushed the power button to my Lian Li and nothing no pwr button light and so I thought without surge protection I had been fried. I began to setup my secondary machine for primary use when after ten minutes or so the Lian Li was up. This machine was really dirty so a couple days later I shut it off and cleaned it with air and when I hit the power button It was just like 2days earlier only this time it has never awoke. I tested the psu with an led readout psu tester and all of the voltages are right on. I tested the power button and it checks out and the green standby/ blue memory led's are lit on my Intel DQ77MK 1155 socket mobo but no power button light and no fans. I don't want to start buying things just to eliminate possibilities. I've PULLED the gpu, pci-e ssd, and the memory cards and this machine is not responding. these fans won't run. bad psu that tests good? bad mobo that lights up? or is it the i-5 laying there dead in it's 1155 coffin. IDK!?!?I'd swap the power supply out with a known good out of a working computer and see if that helps.

 If that doesnt help then the main board most likely may be cooked.The psu was old and decrepit at that pwr fail might've triggered a bad capacitor. It's possible that psu can't carry a load and just reports good voltage but lacks the current to back it up. We'll see, I'll grab a psu asap and get it to the mobo I don't want to get this mobo out of the case with my multitester and pinpoint the ailment cause there's too many area's for false readings especailly if there's CIRCUIT damage. I've also done a capacitor drain with the power button, changed the 0.8v 2032 for a new 3.0v and cleared the cmos with the board jumper. I could check the fans circuit's RESISTANCE but nothing else til a new psu gets here.life's too short to own a psu lcd readout tester that doesn't load the circuit. I plugged a working psu in and my lian li WOKE up and said, "(wha what the *censored* happened? how long have I been out?)" And so crisis averted and a new psu is on it's way. The lesson learned today was: stop bein a cheapskate and get a UPS or you'll suffer the wrath of the grid. word.

Hello, i have this old PC and it's getting more difficult to play videogames with it. I just WANT to play with decent graphics, so i'm thinking on upgrading my system with new GPU and RAM (and SSD?) but i have no knowledge about new CARDS. Could you suggest me ? Or do you think it's not worth upgrading my system?

Here is the speccy link:   

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/Dvov3CFx8U8YoBi021bQaiG


Accept any advise, thanks!Have you tried upgrading the amount of RAM in your computer? You only have 4 GB RAM in your system. 6 - 8 GB RAM is reccomended for most games. So, 4 GB RAM is notthe best for video games.For the GPU upgrade - maybe a GTX 960 or at least a GTX 750ti if there are drivers avalible for your hardware and computer?Hi

You can do all 3 upgrades and get a reasonable MACHINE.

First to buy and something most users can install is a Graphics Card the GTX 750ti which Coco423 suggested is a good start and will fit in your system. Keep the white or blue vga and other video COVERS from the card and use these with a little glue to cover the MOTHERBOARD connectors. This stops mistakenly plugging the monitor into the wrong socket.

Next is an SSD I suggest a Samsung EVO 960 there is only 89gb of the current 1TB drive used so a 250GB should be enough. Look for a local computer company who can copy your old drive to the SSD,  set up your old drive as extra storage and maybe to store backups of the SSD. This is bread and butter work and some will do it for little more than the cost of the SSD.

Then the memory 2 * 2 gb DDR3 memory . The speccy report doesn't show make or model of the memory which  is installed so you will need to match some new memory. Perhaps when they are fitting the SSD, ask the tech to do the memory or at least advise what memory to get.
Thanks for the replies, that was very useful.

I think main upgrades are RAM, GPU and PSU at the moment, so i'm leaving the SSD behind for now.

Here is what i found on amazon

GPU: GTX 750ti 2GB Palit Edition (300W usage)

RAM: 2 x 4 GB HyperX Fury 1866Mhz

PSU: Corsair VS550 550W

All of them for 250 euros. What do you think? Is this a good upgrade? I think all pieces should be compatible with my setup.

I'm Tony,

Im disabled with a spinal CORD injury. Money is an issue and I let myself get scammed in a craigslist deal. I thought I was getting a solid video EDITING system but instead I got SOMETHING pretty much unusable. I was sold an iBook G4 and the software is so outdated I can't even pair a phone to it. My PLAN was to make YOUTUBE videos about my injury and potential recovery but now I'm back to square one.

What's the least expensive set up I can get to do 1080p video editing? Heeeeelllllpppp!

I hqve an Intel 4790k OC'D to 4.6 and replaced my asus 980 TI with an evga 1080 FTW....everyhing looks great,runs smooth as sht,but i have read some people experience bottlenecks,maybe its another problem such as not properly wiping and resetting frivers,but i just wanted to get some opinions.Is it possible that the 4790k running at 4.6 ghz can bottleneck th evga 1080 FTW? thaks for the advice in advance.No, you have to go back a few more generations to find a CPU that causes software to underperform with even the most recently released graphics cards. thanks for the reply,i was told as long as i have 100% gpu usage it-s not- a problem,but i just ran starwars battlefront and it was between 95 to 98 % it never went over that- far as usage,think thats a problem? should  i overclock the chip from 4.6 to maybe 4.7 or 4.8?aia mean everything looked gret and ran smooth,im just wondering why it -never hit 100 % usage
Considering as you say you don't really have any issues, It sounds like you got a bit caught up in the all-too-common "GAMER *censored*-waving CONTESTS" (for lack of a more polite term!).

GPU usage being lower than 100% could simply mean the game doesn't utilize the GPU 100%. For reference, rendering a basic, rotating Cube at 120fps won't use 100% GPU but it doesn't mean there is a bottleneck. Even if there was some DISPARITY in performance, 98% with one component and 100% on the other is a pretty even match.gotcha,ty bc,youre prolly right

My pc used to restart before
I reinstalled my OS and everything was fine
later I downloaded Epic Games LAUNCHER for fortnite
From that it used to restart whenever I used to play games
Now It restarts randomly .

Can you tell me what to do and how as I am new to all this.Hi rana,

To help get more information quickly can you download and run speccy , SELECT file, publish report, and copy the link to the report here.

https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy

Also if you know the make and model power supply your COMPUTER has fitted it could help.
Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in NOTEPAD, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next replyOK I will do it thanks for responding
Quote from: Allan on February 12, 2018, 05:17:42 AM

Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next reply

Sorry for the length of this post, but it will be necessary to explain what I am seeing. I purchased a Samsung 850 EVO SSD (500 gb) about 18 months ago. I installed it into my Samsung laptop, along with new RAM. About 6 months ago, the computer had some issues and I bought a replacement, a Samsung Notebook 7 Spin. Before I bought it, I checked with Samsung to make sure there would be no compatibility issues with swapping the existing HDD out with my EVO SSD. They said it would be just fine.

Well, I cloned the "new" HDD (Toshiba) onto my Samsung 850 EVO and installed it. Everything was fine for about 3 months, then I started to get this random error on a restart or reboot: "All boot options are tried. Press key to recover with factory image using Recovery or any other keys for next loop iteration". When I pressed F4, the same error message would occur. So, I googled it and went into the bios settings and adjusted the start up/boot up according to others that have had this issue. I did the following: bios setting > boot> disabled secure boot>os made selection >cms and uefi os > save and exit..

This seemed to work for about 10 weeks, then about 2 weeks ago, it started again. Most of the time I could reboot it a few times and it would start up. But not this time. It wouldn't do anything but give me that same error message again. So, I get home and put the HDD back in the laptop and it is working fine. So I figure bad SSD, which is under warranty, by the way. I get out my Sabrent docking station to see if the drive is dead.. Well, when I plugged it up to my desktop, I am able to access all of the info on the EVO 850.

My question is this: If the SSD is bad, could I still access it through the docking station? Is it normal to be able to access something like this but it can't boot up for some REASON?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions..Run Crystaldiskinfo on the system and check drive health. If the SSD has an issue it should be flagged in its S.M.A.R.T data which is hidden on the drive and that software can view its info for free.


https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/Thanks for the information. I will let you know what I find out.Looking at a video of your laptop hard drive installation it seems to use a white cable for the power and data, is it possible you damaged the cable when you installed the SSD making it intermittent ? Here is the utube video of someone swapping the hard drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYbN3saLAUA
Do you see the white cable these are very easy to damage. As well as the connector on the motherboard. 

If you run Crystaldiskinfo as DaveLembke suggested it does say in hex NUMBERS the connects and disconnects a high number would suggest a damaged cable. An easier to understand report can be got with Hdsentinal.

https://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php

There is a free 30 day trial.

I downloaded and ran HD Sentinel and Window Smart Professional. Both returned that the SSD is good. No issues at all. I also ran windows disk check and it said the same thing.

Maybe something got corrupted in the bios somehow.

As far as damaging the power cable, no I didn't. It was a very simple/easy swap out. Also, I put the original HDD back in it and it is fine..

Should I format the SSD and clone it again? Give it another try?Yes I would re clone it again, great you kept the old hdd to do this.
Although this is unlikely to show anything it maybe an idea to run a surface scan on the SSD in HDsentinal which is under the disk menu, surface test if it passes then the drive is good. Do the whole drive not just the c partition.
Is Hdsentinal is saying the drive is 100% on the first screen?  Yes, it is reporting fine. The free version of HD Sentinel doesn't offer the surface test.



[attachment DELETED by admin to conserve space]Screen shot of HD Sentinel for Samsung EVO..


[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]Thanks for the info about the free version not giving the surface test. The drive looks it those images to be great. So a re image and see how it goes.
I still think the most likely cause is a intermittent connection on the white cable.

I am going to try it and see what happens.. I will let you know how it goes..Okay, so I cloned the HDD and reinstalled the SSD. Worked fine for an hour or so until I set up the SSD performance software and had to restart the computer to have the changes (rapid mode) take effect. Sure enough, same error. Although this time I rebooted and it came right back up. So I ran crystalmark and it shows 100% good..

I just don't get what is going on. Sounds to me like the "performance" software is the culprit...Another possibility could be the power supply, as it looks like you added the SSD and the other Hard drives are still installed- it could be the "straw that broke the camel's back" if it happens that the Power supply was quite near it's capacity. While I've not seen it involving SSDs, I have had instances where adding a third Hard Drive resulted in arbitrary boot failures as well as drives completely disappearing from the system while it was running (which resulted in a hard freeze if it was the boot drive, of course), and the problems all went away after the power supply was replaced.I just don't know. It's Samsung Magician. It is used to check the performance and optimize the Samsung EVO for best performance. I have used it since getting the SSD, about 18 months ago.

One thing I have noticed, which probably means nothing, but the Interface is showing SATA 6.0Gb/s.. At other times it will read SATA 3.0Gb/s..

It is frustrating THOUGH...That could suggest a problem with the cable, as Vintron noted. When the system boots the SSD and the Host Controller on the motherboard would negotiate a speed which involves some cursory testing of the capability of the Cable to determine speed. A poor cable, or one that is damaged could very easily fail to PERFORM well enough for higher speeds to be negotiated- or could fail to work properly at all (thus not seeing the drive to boot from)).

Hello, I have a fairly new Toshiba laptop computer. I started it up one morning and it had a screen that said Toshiba Update. Next line said bios update failed. Computer went off and has never booted up again. Any advice would be appreciated. victor1244victor1244,

That sounds very strange. You should contact Toshiba and INFORM them. hey might take ownership of the issue, even if it was not their fault.
In the USA, USE this link:
http://us.toshiba.com/
In Europe use:
http://www.toshiba.eu/
Contact them before you try this:
https://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/htd9502m10000r01.htm
The above link relates to very specific things. Be careful.

Also,  what operating system have and when you bought your Toshiba and be important. A few years ago there were some issues with the Toshiba BIOS update.

Tom's Hardware has information specific to the  L755.
http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/111/configuration.html
Does this help any? 

Just wabbit, there are others here that know more about this...Thank you very much for your quick reply. I will follow your advice and update accordingly. victor1244Sounds fishy...Toshiba does not force thru BIOS updates...they are always optional...
Thanks for the reply. But I have stated the problem just as I experienced it. Do you suspect foul play, as in virus? victor1244No...but i would contact Toshiba though...

Was the update interrupted ? ?

It's possible, I think I have a new paperweight! Quote from: victor1244 on February 18, 2018, 01:10:59 PM

It's possible, I think I have a new paperweight!

Search Results
Toshiba Satellite BIOS recovery
4- Now, in your dead Laptop, remove the battery , CD or DVD rom, any card, unplug it from the AC source , and put in the usb drive. 5- You must put your laptop in Crisis Recovery Mode, by Holding down: Fn+B and while holding, plug the computer in to power and press the power button.Mar 20, 2010

I've got one down and I don't know how long it'll be down. There's important data on the Kingston predator pciex4 ssd. Trouble is, my shuttle xpc says : ss what!? oh you PLUGGED something into my pciex16 slot?? it must be a video card so I'll automatically give board video up to you, mr gpu.  except that's not gpu, that's ssd and my shuttle say's I've never heard of such witchcraft! I'll never allow this on my pheonix award bios v6.0.   My shuttle mobo has pciex16, and pci (32 bit) but when designed, pciex16 was a gpu slot and ssd's weren't popular yet. so bios isn't as configurable as one might think I don't want to MESS around and hickup my last and only pc. When I plugged the pciex4 ssd into the pciex16 slot and powered up, I lost DVI, but I think the pc booted cause I heard new hardware sound. Can someone tell me how to SET the bios so I can get the data from that ssd onto a thumb drive using the shuttle as a file explorer. Shuttle has vga and dvi mobo vid out and a core 2dou cpu that has integrated graphics. I'll bet there's some GEEKS at the senior citizen's hall that could spit out this fix as fast as they could spit out their grill  but seriously. it's so old, shuttle can't even remember if they made that model let alone support it in any way. so experience in this area would be great. It's running windows 10 from an 8.1 build and has no optical drive it boots from a 500G hdd.Why didn't you tell us what model Shuttle it is? I have owned 2, an ST62K and an SN78SH7. That would kinda speed up the process indeed...
Probably, given the age of the motherboard, you will need some kind of adapter. About $40.

Yep you are right clnsflknr your shuttle doesn't support your Kingston predator pciex4 ssd.
You need a much newer system. At least the pcie in the shuttle wouldn't have damaged the drive.
If you need the data off the drive then look for a system from the last 4 years or if you are just wanting to get the speed of the drive wait until you upgrade to a motherboard which supports pciex4 drives.  yes, you are correct sir. You've heard of the phrase, "you can't get there from here."  That's where I'm at, and even if I did manage to patch it through to a sata port on the mobo, It would probably want to format it before it let any electrons go inside. I know I would if I were a computer, ha! I'm a joker, I know.  I'm abandoning this endeavor, as my lian li who runs on that hyperx drive has been diagnosed with service poisoning of the PSU luckily the power surge didn't get the mobo. I'm gonna consider myself lucky and get a UPS. But I wonder....why would you want a psu lcd readout tester that gives you a thumbs up on a psu that's bad(that's what happened with the other pc and I didn't have a spare psu at the time, only my tester that was reading good but without a load) That was a 2009 SG31V2 w/FG31 LGA775 mobo, btw. thanks for lookin into it. Sorry for delayed response fellas.

Hi.

I just ran Speccy and it's stating that my RAM is from an unknown manufacturer/model and is running at 1466MHz. The RAM is in fact some Corsair Dominator and bios states clocked at 2933MHz. Should I be concerned. The RAM cost me a lot so it'd be pretty annoying if it's not performing. I only ask because my system cost £1200 in total but sometimes it just doesn't FEEL as fast as it should be.

Line in RAM summary from Speccy states: "16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown 1466MHz (16-18-18-36)"

Full log attached.

Thanks!

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]1466 is roughly half of 2933, so EVERYTHING is fine.
Speccy has always reported RAM as such, as it should, because don't forget what DDR stands for?  Double DATA Rate.
I'll let Google be your friend and how it works at the nitty-gritty level. Ah HAH!

Of course seems pretty logical. Thanks Markno worries.

Looking for a bit of advice on an upgrade path to take. I like to play small multiplayer games with friends, currently this is achieved with one of us hosting.

I've been trying to WORK out if I want to upgrade my current AMD 8350FX to a i7-8700K. I have no problems with single player games currently but hosting as well as playing is not ideal.

Alternatively I could build a separate server machine for a similar price (thinking i5-6600T based).


Does anyone have any advice on which method will yield the best results?What game are you hosting so the computational requirements are paired properly to a hardware?

Other thing to consider is if your having issues with hosting and playing using your FX8350 it might be just that you will want to govern what cores are used for hosting vs which ones are used for running the game. That is, if the hosting is not that intensive and say a dual-core could really handle that, you could set core affinity for the server processes on your system to set say core 6 and core 7 to hosting and shutting off cores 0 thru 5, so that cores 0 thru 5 are for everything else including running the game that most games at 4Ghz clock CPU and 6 cores are plenty, and your local server hosting with 2 cores at 4Ghz would probably be plenty too.

From my experience with LAN parties and hosting. There are 4 things to take into CONSIDERATION: ( CPU Processing Power, RAM Amount, Hard Drive Performance, and Network )

CPU processing power... I am thinking you actually have plenty, but if you mess with setting up core affinity you will get it to behave much better for you as for I too own AMD 8-core FX processor systems a FX8300 3.3Ghz and FX8350 4Ghz, and I have had to play with core affinity when multitasking for certain situations. So upgrading away from the CPU you already have to a Core i7 might be a waste of money for something that can be resolved for free in task manager.

You might have plenty of CPU but say your running at 8GB of RAM and the server process is eating up 4GB, now your game only has 4GB etc. So maybe all you need is to upgrade to 12 or 16GB RAM.

You could have plenty of CPU and RAM, yet the server process has a database and maybe even map data that is passed over the network to others. This can be read/write intensive and so while you think your computer is too slow, it might just be that you will want to install a second hard drive or even better a SSD or second SSD so that the server service being hosted is on a different drive than the drive that the game is running from.

Network speed also is to be considered but rarely a problem these days. If you have a few people playing and on a 100mbps network or faster with a network switch then your pretty much golden as long as no one is downloading junk from the web at the same time which will make for traffic congestion.

Most game hosting that I have done, I found out that the CPU for that host doesnt need to be that powerful, however the read/write hard drive or SSD speed, RAM amount, and network speed is a must.

I tinker in free time with trying to see how weak of a computer/ lesser power consuming of a computer I can use to achieve a goal of hosting or running something.  I have even gone in and intentionally under clocked my CPU to see how it will work at 700Mhz etc. At one extreme I had a Pentium 3 600Mhz with 384mb RAM acting as a game server where it was suggested for you to run a Core 2 Duo or better. Because Windows XP will run on the Pentium 3 I was able to run the server on the Pentium 3 since it was intended for running on XP. If I had a Pentium II 233Mhz I would have even tested for slower hardware but i didnt have that available and at 700Mhz Pentium 3 there was some added LATENCY in the game as for the laptops 5400rpm drive wasnt that fastest and when the database was doing heavy read/write processes it caused requests to line up line a traffic jam and then refresh.

 If you have a heavy read/write process with the server you could even mount the database and server into a RAM Disk in which a portion of system RAM is allocated and acts like a hard drive. Everything happening in this RAM Disk is 22x or faster than a SSD. I had a game server that was heavy with read/write processes and mounting all this into a RAM drive made it all lightning fast for database updates and got rid of lag between clients connected to it as for the hard drive was no longer getting battered with read/write requests, it was all happening within system RAM where getting data to and from the CPU is the fastest.

Here is the one that i have used and it works really well. There are many others out there as well, but the free one at the bottom of the page I have used before, but its limited in capacity, but if your database fits within the limited size then you can have a SUPER fast database for free. http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdiskMy only real experience with game hosting would be Minecraft for a short time on a setup that didn't need to deal with many USERS. I found that it ran better when I ran it on my Laptop of the time (A simple Dual Core) over my Q8200, so I think stuff can simply run better if you have it separated from your "main" system.

Beyond that, outside games, I found stuff simply works better when isolated onto it's own system. (Postgres, CI Server, our own server software)

A "Server" Setup might not therefore be a horrible idea- And you cna make use of it for other purposes or hosting of other stuff if you want- such as for example having it host both some game servers and perhaps be a file server. However instead of a "new" build, I'd suggest looking into a Xeon chip that is a few years old. Sometimes, you can get Xeon chips and even the server motherboards that use them for relatively cheap as companies offload their old servers on eBay-= though there is definitely luck involved there.Thinking more about it I can use the server as a media centre for the living room.

The RAM drive software looks interesting and I can testify that memory access is the most important factor for a server. However with the price of RAM it's not very cost effective. Not to mention adding on the cost of the software licence.

However PCIe NVME SSD's [what a mouthful] look very promising if I can find one in a bay form factor. e.g. https://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1B4-008A-000W9

I've heard of PCIe extension leads and I know they have a detrimental effect on graphics card performance but I have no idea how these will affect on these new hard drives.


"Peripheral Component Interconnect Express Non-Volatile Memory Solid State Disk" lol, and that's the abbreviated name.

This is for reference.
RFI stands for Radio Frequency Interfere. It can happen at any frequency., but the lower frequencies often have more trouble. Evne devices not intended to radiate can generate enough RADIATION to cause interference. Even a small switching power supplies  were found to be doing it.
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2435737/low-voltage-pucks-causing-radio-interference

Some have thought that the 5G wireless band is not subject to the kind of interference problems that have been reported on lower frequencies. The is not absolutely true. Here are some references.

Intel has reported that a USB 3.0 device can interfere with a 802.11 wireless device in the lower band, namely 2.4 GHz and could suggests  using 5 GHz as a solution. Instead, they recommended SHIELDING the USB 3.0 device to prevent unwanted radiation.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.html

That 5 GHz can get RFI has been reported.  Here is a link.
http://techgenix.com/tips-assigning-wi-fi-channels/
He says they just might be others using the 5GHz near you.

PCWorld magazine had an article about the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz choices.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/228859/dlink_wireless_bands.html
Quote

...standard can move up to the higher-frequency band to take advantage of additional channels that are less prone to interference than 2.4GHz.

Hello, recently all 3 of my USB died on my pc. I tried everything, but it is dead.

So I was wondering, is it possible that adapters with USB to ethernet, or USB to HDMI, or USB to mini-DisplayPort, or USB to sd card.

Can any of those read the USB device using an adapter?
Stanz,
Short answer, No.

What is the make and model of your laptop?
What do you think made the USB ports go bad?
Most often it is the cable. And sometimes the connector gets damaged. Bit replacing the connectors on a laptop is hard work.

What devices do you need connected to the laptop? Some devices can go wireless. Printers and mice can go witless.

Do you have another computer? Another PC  could share device over the network.
 For a desktop computer you can install Add-on PCI-E CARDS that provide  additional USB ports.

For Laptops, if the laptop has an ExpressCard Slot, you can get similar ExpressCard adapters which provide USB Ports as well.do they even make laptops with Expresscard slots these days?
my second laptop, a HP, did but that would be the best part of 15 years ago.
(it's long since gone but I still have the Expresscard modem card and a ethernet network card - why I've kept for I have no idea)https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41aWPLdri5L._SX425_.jpg
So something like this won't be able to read any USB data?That is specifically  for connecting certain USB Networking devices which already support it. It doesn't provide general USB capabilities via Ethernet. Quote from: Geek-9pm on February 19, 2018, 04:47:36 PM

Stanz,
Short answer, No.

What is the make and model of your laptop?
What do you think made the USB ports go bad?
Most often it is the cable. And sometimes the connector gets damaged. Bit replacing the connectors on a laptop is hard work.

What devices do you need connected to the laptop? Some devices can go wireless. Printers and mice can go witless.

Do you have another computer? Another PC  could share device over the network.

But first some questions. Are you able to get into the firmware area? That is, what used to be called the BIOS? If you can get there, it will show you what devices is able to find. If there is a bootable USB device available, it ought to be listed. Also, the hard drive will be listed even if it is not bootable but is readable.
I hope this is possibly of some help to you.
At this point I think it's premature to start buying additional hardware until you know what the problem really is.
End of dictation.
 

stanz,
It helps if you provide the make and model of the computer.

The BIOS features vary from by maker and by date. The BIOS should have some thing that shows the USB device is present.

Also, often a design has more than one USB controller.  It would help to know if you model has more than one USB controller.

What about a CD/DVD reader?

Two printers just failed me. They both insist there is something wrong that can not be fixed with just more ink. So, it is time to get a new printer.

Much to my surprise, a friend bought me a new cheap printer. Now  I am not going to say anything bad about it. It was a gift. STILL, it is among the LOWEST price models. There are a lot of them out there.

Some quick checking, a short list of good cheep inkjets were  grouped with one laser. Hard to believe. A laser at a inkjet price. Hard to believe.

Short list:
https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/best-printers-for-under-150-dollars/
"
A few low-cost standouts from CR testing on more than 160 models
By Tercius Bufete
November 01, 2017

Basic Laser Printer
Brother HL-L2360DW
 ~ $85.

All-in-One Laser Printer
Samsung Xpress M2070FW
 ~ $ 120

All-in-One Inkjet Printer
Canon Pixma MG3620
 ~ $44

Another All-in-One Inkjet Option
Kodak Verite 65 Plus
 ~ $130
"
He says  the cost of owning these will be from 250 to 300 per year, on average. Maybe. The last model, the Kodak has the loosest cost of ownership. But he did not like the idea of replacement of all the ink when only one color goes dry.

Anyway, my printer in the Cannon Pixma 2500 group.
It goes through ink very fast. 

So, I refill the thing with generic ink and it works, but it still complains that there is not enough ink. And my hands  are stained with ink.   

What do you think? 
Are you going to buy a new cheap printer soon?
If so, buy a box of latex gloves.    QUOTE from: Geek-9pm on February 23, 2018, 07:50:37 PM

A laser at a inkjet price. Hard to believe.

Hello

I have an old hard drive from a laptop that has stopped working. From what I understand I need a sata to usb cable to retrieve my data and use it as an external hard drive.

It is a Toshiba MK8034GSX and the pins are quite long and thin, while the sata end of the cable is way to short to fit, plus has a partition in the middle. LOOKS something like this ( _______| |___ )

What do I Need for my drive? Is it not a sata? Is my drive differnent/How? What should I be looking for? Any links to what I Need?

Unable to attach pics, but is a 'normal' sata to usb wire I have brought and hopefully you can search for what my drive looks like from model.

ThanksYes the drive is a standard sata so should work with a usb to sata adapter. You will need ether a powered adapter or one with 2 usb plugs as the drive requires more power than a single usb 2.0 port can supply.

These are pretty good : Sabrent USB-DSC7

As it has a power supply there is no problem working with all sata drives and usb ports.
 

Thank you for the reply. I have been able to use the wire i already had, it says it can provide enough power without an external power supply (or the TWO usbs like you say).

It did fit fine, it was just i didn't realise there was an adapter attached to the hard drive which connects to the laptop which i had to first REMOVE. Anyway i eventually discovered this. Now i have connected it to a computer and it does connect and show me the files.

My next hurdle is that it will not let me open any files  (it gives me a message that i don't currently have permission to access the folder and to click continue to permanently get access to the folder.) Upon clicking continue (it says you have been denied permission to access this folder, to gain access i will have to use the SECURITY tab). I have had a little play around but to no avail.

I have also tried to simply copy the folder to an external hard drive, (it says you need permission from the computers administrator to make changes to this folder).

Now im guessing this is all because the previous laptop from where im trying to access the toshiba hard drive had a password. Im hoping its not to much to get past this (although i dont 100% recall the password, i reckon a few attempts would work).
So any help for a novice? What should i do to get past this and get my files? could someone walk me through where and what i need to do?

ps. i am using a public computer, could this only be doable from somewhere where i can become a admin?

Cheers

I am trying to get youtube videos to play in fullscreen on 2 monitors at a time with chrome , each time i hit fullscreen it just goes on fullscreen on ONE monitor, can a browser window run in full screen mode across multiple monitors?

i have a program called DesktopFusion, but i cant seem to FIND any option for this issue there , is it possible to do this with fusion?i FOUND a WEBSITE that does what im talking about , but is there any other ways to do this ? chrome EXTENSIONS , programs , youtube settings , monitor settings , nvidia settings etc ?

site that does it for u  : www.stretch.site/
I just use the F11 key to stretch by bringing the browser full screen. Each browser should support the F11 key. F11 toggles it on and off.

My cat pointed this out to me one day when walking by.

so my moms monitor has been doing this multiple times it black screen and says check video cable, i have checked the cable it isnt broken or cut.Check cable on a monitor is generic error for when the monitor isn't receiving a video signal. Normally it isn't a faulty cable when it HAPPENS in use. It could be a lot of things which some more detail could help to isolate.

What monitor is it and what cable are you using to connect to the computer.
Is the computer a desktop or laptop.
If a desktop is it using the on BOARD graphics or a separate card.
What do you need to do to get the monitor WORKING again.

A QUICK way to give all this detail is to run a Speccy REPORT and publish a link to the report , with a link to the report here.

I'm upgrading my Dell Optiplex 360 to a 380 mb so I can double my ram and use a quadcore 9650.  Will any 9650 WORK or do they come in different sockets?  Hi

I checked and both MOTHERS have pcie slots the same on both boards. So the card should work.Optiplex 380 motherboard... If it lists the 9560 on its SUPPORT listing then you should be all set. It should be a standard socket 775 CPU.

 *You might NEED a better heatsink for the extra TDP heat that will be given off since the heatsink you started with is likely rated for 65 watts since the E7500 is a 65 watt TDP CPU and the new Core 2 Quad is a 95 watt TDP CPU.

Its also the kind of upgrade that will point out if you have a borderline power supply, so if it starts to acts funny after the CPU upgrade like failing to boot with black screen ETC then you could be looking at needing a better power supply as well. If you already have a video card in it that is drawing heavy on the power supply the extra 30 watts of power consumption could be a tipping point to a non booting system or unstable system. If you have a better than stock power supply in it you should be all set but if its a 300 watt power supply you could find yourself needing a better power supply that can power the heavier power need.

I wanted to upgrade the graphics on my old rig for the kids to enjoy. When I press the power button, my led lights come on and the case, cpu, and gpu fans all spin. After about 5 seconds or so the gpu fans quit, with led lights and other fans continuing to operate normally. The monitor remains black and I receive no POST sound. I tested the card in a different rig and it worked fine. When I reinstall my old gpu, the old rig both POST and boots normally.

New graphics card:
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 DirectX 12 GV-N1050OC-2GD 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 ATX Video Card

Old rig and graphics:
OS: Win 7 Prof
Mobo: GA-78lmt-2sp Rev: 4.0 (upgraded to BIOS FDc 12/13/2012)
CPU: AMD FX-6100 3.3GHz
RAM: 2 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
GPU: HD 6770 850M 16B DDR5
Hard-drive: Samsung HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
PSU: Antec earthwatts EA500 500W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.2 80 PLUS

What is my next step please?If you have another power supply, i'd try another power supply to verify that your power supply isnt the cause. A power supply can be weak to act exactly like this. Also verify that the 12v molex connections are made to video card if it has the 12V (6 or 8 pin) connections. If your using an adapter to add these you could run into problems as well. Seen some people GET a P-connection to Molex KIT and they are iffy whether they work or not to supply enough amps to the video card on the 12V rail.Hi

If you check here you will find your motherboard is not LISTED as compatible with the 1050 card.

http://www.pc-specs.com/gpu/Nvidia/1000_Series/GeForce_GTX_1050_FTW_DT_Gaming_ACX_3.0_2GB/3792/Compatible_Motherboards

So this maybe the cause of the no display.

As the card doesn't need secondary power from the PCIE power connectors and is a lower power requirement than the  HD 6770 850M it is unlikely the power supply. The 1050 card using 30 watts less than the old card.

I've tried a different PSU, well able to handle my old rig, with the same results. The 1050 doesn't require power outside of the PCIe slot.

-The board is listed as being 1050 compatible. Gigabyte board listed about 40 down.Thanks for pointing me to where your motherboard is listed.

Just for a test , try starting the computer with the monitor plugged into the graphics card and then swapping the video lead to the motherboard does it display anything.

If it does you are either using an HDMI cable ? or the 1050 isn't telling the motherboard it is there and setting the display to on board. If this is the case then you may need to set the display type in the Bios to PCIE.

If you are using HDMI then you should have said or known BETTER as most likely you would not get a display until the drivers were loaded in windows. And as you had an AMD card before the AMD drivers could conflict and cause windows to crash. You would be better to start the computer with the on board or AMD card, remove the AMD video drivers, set windows  back to standard VGA then install the 1050 using DVI .
  I replace my board with a GA-78lmt-USB3 R2 and everything works. I don't know if it's relevant, but my old board had only a 4 pin power connections. Either that wasn't enough for a PCIe powered graphics card, or the old board was just bad.Thank you for letting us know what fixed the PROBLEM. 

I was wondering how hot is ddr4 allowed to get? when i game my corsair dominator 3000mhz ram goes up to 60°C60C is warm but should be OK, however cooler is better. For your RAM Corsair actually makes a fan assembly that can mount above the RAM and remove heat. Check out link here. I LOOKED to see if it could be purchased after the fact. Looks like its part of a memory kit, but if you contact Corsair you might be able to buy one separate. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820236062&cm_re=ram_fan-_-20-236-062-_-Product

If you already have this cooling fan and its still running hot then I would check internal airflow of case, maybe you have a hot pocket of air in the case that just sits there. * Also seen cases get hot inside when people ADD cooling fans to case and the airflow direction of muffin fans are pointing in or pointing out vs front side of case in and backside out.I have the RAM and fan mentioned in Dave's post but I don't use the fan because it's clunky and doesn't really fit well given the layout of my mobo, so it's probably worth checking that before making a purchase. $250 Bucks for 16G of RAM and a carp cooler that is clunky...sounds like a good deal to me...Gotta be the worst time in history to buy RAM.Close...but no cigar...

Look up the History of RAM pricing thru the years.If you look at it in Price per MB, it's still quite good, particularly compared to historically. I have a 256MB SDRAM stick that still has a 625 dollar price tag from who knows when.

a 128MB SDRAM stick would cost around $121 in 1997, which is about $186.87 today. That's about $1.48 cents per megabyte.

Comparatively, $118.99 can get you 8GB of DDR4, which is something like 1 and a half cents per megabyte.

References.  "History of RAM pricing thru the years."

Memory Prices 1957 to 2017

Why RAM Prices Are Through the Roof
Quote

The slow increase in RAM prices hasn’t earned the same attention as the headline-grabbing sticker shock of modern GPU prices, but it’s another factor working directly against PC builders and the DIY market.

So, I actually just had a general question. I have a custom computer, so I don't exactly have a brand booting. This game I play has horrible optimization, and the main features are all used on a single core, instead of spreading out. My BIOS ALLOWS me to disable/enable certain cores (I have it set as auto). At the moment I have an FX 6350, which has 6 cores with 3.98 GHz. Let's say I disabled all but one core. Would all 3.98GHz go onto one core, or would the one core only have a certain amount of power? Is it possible for it to overheat or become unstable using only one core? Will it be as efficient?

  Thanks for ANYONE that can answer these questions as soon as possible.

-EluxiAll cores get the same clock so if all but 1 are disabled then that one core is at 3.98GHz.

No it will not overheat the CPU as long as you have a good heatsink thats able to draw heat away properly.

What game title are you having issues with optimization that only wants to run as a single-core game?

I have had some issues with games built back before multicore processors to which if you start the game and then go into core affinity and tag the games exe to run only on a single core but all other cores are RUNNING everything else, the game issues have cleaned up for me. One such game is UT99 ( Unreal Tournament 99 ) which was made back before multicore CPU's. Setting core affinity to core 0 the games LAG and other choppy frame rate is corrected as there seems to be an odd hand off issue with the single-thread execution getting bounced around between cores and it creates a strange lag and excessive frame rate drop.

The problem you will have with disabling all but one core would be that now the system would have to run the OS and any other multitask applications along side a game and so you might only get 50% of the processing power of the lonely core for the game with the other 50% used to run the OS and any background things going on or multitasking that you do such as browser open or music playing etc. Setting Core Affinity is the way to go with this for now until we get more information to go by.You won't get a performance benefit just by disabling cores.  You have 6 cores, each of those run at 3.98GHz, if you disable a core, the remaining cores will continue to run at 3.98GHz.  The only time I can see people disabling cores would be if they are overclocking as disabling cores *may* give them more power or thermal HEADROOM to overclock although it's not commonly done in regular use.  You'd be best just to leave all cores enabled.

HI,     I have a problem.   I   was  TRYING to move  some folders   from ONE  partition of  my  Hard DRIVE  to  other.    I  made the mistake of   clicking in the   instruction   "MOVE  TO" ,  instead  of  "COPY TO" ,  then,   the folders  were moving  for some minutes,   and  suddenly the ENERGY   went
 off,    so the PC  turned  off.    I did not have  back up system,  so  no chance to do anything.     Later  I  saw  that FILES that were  moving  did not appear  in any  part of the hard drive.   I  did not use  that  computer  again but I kept the  Hard Drive.     Is  it  still   possible to recover the  folders   with some software  of   they are definitely  lost?      Thanks.         For a Free solution you can try Recuva...

If no joy -joy you are looking at a partition recovery software...none of the good ones are free..
Good Luck and keep us posted.

Hi,
I have a Dell Latitude and always have problems getting the A/C adapter to work when plugged in on an airplane.  This happens regardless of airplane model and with either the Dell adapter that came with the laptop or the generic one I routinely use for travel.  I always fly BUSINESS class internationally or first class domestically (in case that's relevant), but which is to say I have "my own" adapter at the seat.  (Airlines are Delta, KLM and Air France.)  What happens is I plug in the adapter, the small led light on it lights up and then after 1-2 seconds, fades away.  The icon on computer itself shows it's charging when the light is on, but goes to battery only when the light goes off.  I have to delicately wiggle the plug in various directions, sometimes leave it not completely plugged in, in ORDER to keep the adapter LIT.  It can literally take 45 minutes of plugging, unplugging moving it a millimeter to the right, to the left, up, down.  When I finally FINALLY get it to stay lit, I have to hold my breath so it won't fade out again.  I have tried plugging the adapter plug into another adapter first, e.g. three prong adapter or foreign two pin adapter, then into the outlet, but it doesn't make a difference.  It still takes at least a half an hour to find the exact spot for the plug to rest in the outlet for the adapter to work.  More often than not I am on a long flight, e.g. 12 hours Paris to Cape Town, and the battery simply won't hold out that long.  Finally, I have zero problems with either original or backup adapter, regardless of whether I'm in the U.S. or overseas, so the voltage when plugged into a wall doesn't appear to make any difference.

I realize there are bigger problems in the world but this is so frustrating as I travel a lot.  Any input or ideas for resolving would be very welcome!
Thanks you,
BonnieThere should be no problem running the Laptop power SUPPLY on a plane especially if you plug it in before the battery is flat. If it is flat you may need to remove the battery before starting the laptop and when it has booted, re install the battery. This is because the seat power is limited and may not be sufficient to run the laptop and charge the battery. This isn't the case with your laptop it seems it is a connection problem with the seat socket. Most likely your power supply has a 2 pin mains plug without the earth pin. If so, to get a good connection with the socket  you will need a cable like this one.

https://www.newegg.com/AC-Power-Cords-for-Laptop/SubCategory/ID-2811

This cable is easily switched with the present cable as it unplugs from the power supply.
I KNOW the socket on the plane is very universal but best to have as many pins holding the plug secure as possible. 
 Thanks so much for the input.  I always get on the plane with the laptop fully charged, because I've had trips where I have never been able to get it to work and then just get as much done as I can until the battery goes.

I've got long trips coming up and will get this today and let you know if it solves the problem.

Thank you again!

Hallo to every member.A friend of mine,gave me a pc but it shows a black screen from the beginning and i can't do anything.The vga is a GTX 550 Ti.I connect it through vga but also by HDMI.Nothing. Could someone help me ,please. Thank you very much. For starters I am guessing it turns on and so you hear fans but no video output?

If so..if it has integrated video as an option I would remove the GTX video card from the system and see if it will boot running off integrated video only. ( remove the video card safely with power off )

If still nothing on display remove all system RAM and install a single stick of RAM.

If still nothing try again with another stick of RAM if available where more than one stick was installed.

If still nothing try a single stick of RAM in a different memory slot to eliminate odds of a damaged RAM slot causing the post failure.

If still no boot then verify that the RAM is correct for the system ( seen before where a person got a system with wrong RAM installed and no post. Unlikely but mentioning.

If still nothing on display then disconnect the hard drive(s) and see if it will boot. (This reduces the power draw on what could be a weak power supply. )

If still nothing then perform a BIOS ( CMOS RESET ). This will be a jumper, or push button, or removal of coincell 2032 battery, and if removal of battery replace battery back into board after a few minutes which should clear BIOS of any out of spec settings that could cause the system to fail to boot.

If still no SUCCESSFUL boot then replace the power supply with a known good power supply. ( These can be BORROWED from a friend or another desktop computer to avoid spending money.)

If still no boot then its likely that the motherboard itself is BAD. ( You could take a gamble on finding another board with matching CPU socket which also has support for that specific CPU in its CPU support list and swap out motherboards and the CPU should still be good for use in new motherboard as well as RAM should be healthy as well unless the system was struck by lightning etc which can fry RAM and CPU, BUT usually when that happens its a system that wont boot at all and is completely DEAD with no spinning fans and lit LEDs.

Lastly its assumed that this isn't just parts slapped together that they never got working and aborted the build process, and that all hardware here originally worked together at some point in the past. ( Stating this because I had a guy bring a system to me once that had a CPU Installed that the motherboard never supported, and he has ECC RAM installed where the motherboard only supported NON-ECC RAM, and the computer was given to him from a friend who was buying up parts on ebay and when the system didn't work and they couldn't figure out why they decided to throw it away and this other guy took over trying to get it working to which he contacted me and I found these 2 issues that caused a system that would turn on with fans running and no display and no post beep codes. *Replacing the ECC RAM with a single stick of NON-ECC RAM that I could DONATE to his build and finding a Core 2 Duo CPU which I also could donate to him we got the system to boot successfully. He held onto the socket 775 quadcore that was originally in it in case he ever got a better motherboard that could support it. )

One of my systems is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M70e 0809 (CPU: Intel Core 2 DUO E7500 2.93GHz, 4GB RAM).   I had a BLUETOOTH transmitter/receiver, or dongle, in a USB port of front of the PC for some MONTHS.  I installed it more or less out of curiosity to see whether I could listen to some music or other content from it using my bluetooth stereo headphone.  I just left the transmitter/receiver in the port, thinking this would cause no issues. 

Recently, I was reviewing content on the numerous USB flash drives I have accumulated and realized that, when I would connect a flash drive to another USB port on front of this PC, it would initially make an audible sound (the sound normally heard when a flash drive is attached) but would not appear as a drive in File Explorer, and I had no way of invoking to proper procedure for disconnecting a flash drive since the computer simply failed to give it any RECOGNITION after that initial audible sound when first connected.   At first, I thought I had some defective flash drives.  But then, I tired using them on a different PC and they worked fine; they appeared in File Explorer and the proper Eject option was available.

So, I can only conclude that the Lenovo PC will not power both the bluetooth dongle and flash drives at the some time from the two USB ports on front of the PC.   I think I'll simply no longer use the bluetooth dongle.  I can use my bluetooth headphones with my smartphone and my tablet, so not using the PC dongle is not a big issue.  I just thought this info might be helpful to anyone who might encounter this situation. I think you jumped to an early conclusion.  The PROBLEM may be caused by the Bluetooth dongle but without further testing, how do you conclude that the PC can't provide sufficient power for both?  It could be that the driver for the Bluetooth dongle has a bug in it that is causing the problem and a different Bluetooth dongle may work fine.Good points, strollin.   This bluetooth dongle was one of the cheaper ones I saw when shopping online.

I bought an Acer Switch Alpha 12 last summer and really like it.  The only issue is that the battery LIFE is very limited.  I will be traveling for a couple of weeks and not have access to plug it very often during my travels.  What would be the best way to increase my usability?  Should I buy an external power source or an extra battery for the unit?  If I buy an external power source, what kind is recommended?  If I go the battery ROUTE, I have no idea how to take out the current one and replace it!  THANKS.Hi capper.

Seems the Acer with  power a very tight power profile will  run 5 hours , So that would be no blue tooth, wireless on demand, anti virus turned off and all services not needed disabled.
The battery is not switch ABLE , meaning you need to dismantle the unit to swap the battery.
You would need another charger to recharge the battery like a 12V to 19V ADAPTER if you had access to a car 12v system.
Is this sounding really hard ?
If so it maybe better to get a tablet with say a 10 hour battery life which can charge from a usb external charger a medium size unit would give 3 charges so about 40 hours tablet use.
Some things to consider.
Lenovo tablet    https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/tablets/android-tablets/tab-4-series/Lenovo-TB-X304/p/ZZITZTATB0X
Power bank https://www.easyacc.com/media-center/how-to-choose-power-bank-for-your-phone-and-tablet/

If this was at all help full please use the thank you option 

I will thank you personally!   Very helpful.   I don't want to buy another laptop or tablet as I already have a fairly new larger one in addition to the 12-inch alpha.  As far as power banks go, there are many brands with various amounts of power. Which would be my best bang for the money?  One that I could also use with other devices...Unfortunately the power banks only output 5V which is not suitable to charge the Acer . You need 19 V to charge the Acer so either keep charging using the adapter supplied or there is a 12V to 19V charger for use in cars available.

Hello
When I switch on my Packard Bell PC it has started to make a continuous HIGH pitched noise and no screen or keyboard lights APPEAR. Nothing appears on the screen
 It was OK earlier today when I shut it down
 What could be wrong, please?It's most likely the fan on the CPU...replace it.
You can remove the side panel to confirm this...Hi

Most likely the power supply is screaming due to an OVERLOAD or it can't support the load of the computer. If you are not comfortable working on computers it WOULD be best to have a technician check it for you. In the mean time leave it tuned off at the wall.
If you are comfortable replacing computer parts, plug the computer in and see if you can isolate where the noise is coming from. If it is the power supply please post the model of Packard Bell or some pictures of the current power supply and MOTHERBOARD so a suitable replacement can be found.

  Thank you for your replies.

I changed the position of my screen on the computer desk and the noise disappeared. All seems to be working well at the moment - fingers crossed.

Thanks againHmmm...

I've been working on this old laptop for a while now trying to restore it a little. This is a just a fun little project, I don't really need or want this laptop for anything.

Anyway I have resolved the failing HDD and replaced the old dried up thermal paste but the laptop is still not performing as well as it once did. That is to say programs which it could run in the past no longer run well.

It may just be the case that more RAM is now USED by the operating system and page file usage has increased. There is currently only 2GB RAM installed, I plan on increasing this.

Operating system is Win7 x86 SP1 fresh install.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I may want to tackle?Questions.
When you did a re-install of Windows 7, did you use the same exact version that goes with that laptop?
And did you install drivers from the HP web site?
In the device manager, are there is yellow question marks?



Windows installed a few months ago (Laptops not been used a lot). Originally the laptop CAME with Vista but that was removed after about 5 minutes.

Relevant drivers have been installed from HP. Although Windows downloads most AUTOMATICALLY. I replaced the graphics drivers with the original drivers but this made the system unstable.

Yes one, in the USB section. I believe this to be the webcam.Bit of an update on this:

I have disabled the anti virus and all is well. I NOTICED before that the anti virus software was utilizing a lot of hard disk time (lots of read requests despite not performing a scan). And near constant run time spent on updating.

The anti virus in question was Bit defender.Anyone have any ideas on why this may have happened? I use this anti virus on all my machines and NEVER had an issue before.

I gathered a new computer. It is made with already used periferies. They were spotless, each one was tested with several softwares, with varranty as well.
I put it together, however at the first time it couldn't LOAD in the operating system whatsoever I did. I bought a winchester (used as well), tested with HDS 100% in each test.
I installed windows, and finally could load in everything.
However (here comes the black soup), everytime windows freezes randomly for 30sec-1 min, in 5-6 minutes. I spoke with several IT specialist, they said it is the power supply.
So i bought a brand new one (chieftech 500W), and yet every problem still occurs. The HDD is GETTING lower in HDS, making 1000+ connection issues with the system (code #199).
Im hopeless, i have no idea. I reinstalled the system several times, checked every pereferie with softwares, cleaned the pc, switched cables, and yet i cant run win 10 without lagging in 5-6 mins.
I payed a loads of money, i do not really want to waste it.
Do you guys have any advice which part of the computer might be bad, or what should I do?

You have any idea how old a Winchester is ? ?

As a side note that's a cheapo PSU...just sayin.I THINK the Original Post is far too rushed. I don't like that I had to figure out what "HDS" was, for example. Specifically which "tests" did you run? Short Self Test? Extended Self Test? Random Seek Test? Surface Test?

Also, I seem to get identical symptoms when running HDS. Massive system "hangs". The program also can only seem to show it's menus one item at a time and takes about a minute to respond to any interaction makes me suspect it is poorly written. Maybwe it's intentional to try to get people to buy their pro version. Try uninstalling that program altogether. (Exiting it was enough for me to "fix" the problem)

I'd  suggest keeping task MANAGER open sorted by CPU, and then waiting for the "hang" issue and seeing if anything pops on top with high usage. Same for the Disk% column. That will at least pinpoint specific processes.

All this said:

Quote

with warranty as well.

Processor is usually below 50% just like RAM.
HDD-s are always on 100% usually.

Hi! I'am trying to connect my bose earbuds to my HP laptop but I don't have BLUETOOTH on my laptop so I got a bluetooth USB and I installed the USB and I can see it working correctly in the device manager but it's not showing anywhere in the tray PLEASE help.In my experience USB bluetooth in Windows can work, but it can be flaky. If you're using Windows 10, go to Settings -> Devices -> Add Bluetooth or other device. See if your USB receiver is listed there.Have you used Bluetooth before?
In Windows and other OS, using a Bluetooth device the first time requires some work. But after that it is easy.
Here is a reference that might help:
Connect a Bluetooth device
Applies to: Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Quote

You can connect all kinds of Bluetooth devices to your PC—including keyboards, mice, phones, speakers, and a whole LOT more. To do this, your PC will need to have Bluetooth. Some PCs, such as laptops and TABLETS, have Bluetooth built in. If your PC doesn’t, you can plug a USB Bluetooth adapter into the USB port on your PC to get it. To get started with using Bluetooth, you’ll need to pair your Bluetooth device with your PC.

Please HelpIt is hungry. Feed it. 

This is a glitch in Windows 10 install and/or updates.
However,the issue predates Windows 10.
You can try:
A. Disable CD-ROM boot in BIOS
B. Disable Auto-play in Windows.
C. Buy a new CD/DVD drive.
D. Disconnect power and data to the drive.

Otherwise, you do REGISTRY edits that still might not solve the problem.


Does this only happen when a specific game or program is running or random?

College friend years ago had a game that normally required a disc present that the game worked from but the crack wasnt perfect in that it kept popping the drive open for the original disc even when the game was running, so he ran the game with the tray open. 

The drive itself could be defective and think that the tray isnt seated properly in which its hard coded to open itself VS trying to close if the close sensor isnt detected as well. *If this is the CASE then blowing CANNED air into the drive to free up a dust bunny might correct for a blocked LED sensor beam, or the drive needs to be REPLACED if its mechanically flawed causing itself to reopen.I would ignore Geek's advice above if i were you...
Did you maybe interrupt a burning task >? ?
Check whichever apps you use for burnin/playin DVD's...

Greetings CH!

Have a computer here that is RATHER STUMPING me a tad. Its an Asus S400CA touch screen laptop that has a DUAL storage SETUP. 24gb SSD + 1TB mechanical and running software windows combines the drives. Question is, is that software intel rapid technology? I installed it but can't find it now to configure it, unless im doing something wrong. Could anyone offer some assistance?
thanks. That is a cache drive. It would be handled by "ExpressCache" software.Alright thanks. Any idea on how it would be setup? little confused if I should have installed windows on the SSD or on the HDD? To use it as a cache drive the SSD has to be unpartitioned, then you install the cache software and it will create a partition that it will use.yeah found that out the hard way haha. Had to reinstall the entire OS. Appreciate the help. the little machine is up and going perfectly fine. THANKS!

I have been building computers for my brother in law whose business is shooting green screen photos at fairs and events. I have been using i5 processors with 32 gig of memory. He will sometimes have three canon 100-pro printers running at the same time and trying to use his green screen software but the system bogs so badly it sometimes just locks up.

My question is what can i do to alleviate this bottle NECK and allow him to process faster? I have wondered if I should go to more cores like AMD Ryzen 1700 with 8 cores to help lighten the load on the PROCESSOR. Is my reasoning on this correct? I have also thought about setting up another computer to be nothing but a print server. I have also told him to start putting money back for a beast of a machine as memory and video cards are out the roof now.

Please share any insights you may have on this problem.

Bruce (Kbtarl)I'd look at resources when doing this in task manager and see where your bottleneck or system freeze up is happening, is it really the CPU, or RAM, or is the software your using having some sort of issue that it doesnt matter how much processing power you have backing it it could be a problematic program etc. From your description it seems like a shotgun approach to just replace the system, but i have done shotgun moves before and found out later that it could have been corrected differently.

If your CPU pegs to 90+% then I'd say you need a better CPU. If the RAM is all used up, which I find using up 32GB of RAM kind of hard to do, then you will know you need more RAM, if the CPU acts like its sitting idle and not an excessive amount of RAM in use when the system acts up then its likely a system corruption or software issue. REINSTALLING the OS and software fresh might correct for this or the software itself has issues which the software manufacturer may be able to assist with correcting. Other cause other than software corruption or bugged software would be possibly a hard drive that ISNT quite healthy as for a hard drive or SSD is critical to system health due to how the system uses virtual memory. A system that is moved around setup here and everywhere else might get bumped around when transported and hard DRIVES dont hold up well to this.Computers in the 90's had fewer capabilities yet had zero issues printing to multiple network printers. This doesn't seem like a "Throw hardware at the problem" type of issue to me.

If the green screen software is being used through the network in some way and the three printers are all networked, particularly wirelessly, that could partly explain the problem as it would be network congestion. Particularly if there are multiple systems on said network trying to use the same files.

Depending on the software it may be a case of poor maintenance. Programs like Lightroom run incredibly slowly if their catalog is not optimized, for example.

Hello everyone, I'm new here, so the last few days my computer was shutting down itself every time Memory or CPU be in 100 degrees, As well as when I place a CD/DVD into the computer case, PC also shutdown, then RESTART, I don't KNOW if PSU (Power Supply) is the cause or not!

Any help will be appreciated, Thanks!Hi Senor,

Could  you give us the computer make and model or details of the parts.
Certainly the computer restarting when you PUT a CD into the drive points to a power supply problem.
Is the whole computer case hot or only the RAM and CPU ?
If the case is really warm then it could be the power supply fan has failed.
Quote from: VintronNZ on April 23, 2018, 02:32:41 PM

Hi Senor,

Could  you give us the computer make and model or details of the parts.
Certainly the computer restarting when you put a CD into the drive points to a power supply problem.
Is the whole computer case hot or only the RAM and CPU ?
If the case is really warm then it could be the power supply fan has failed.

Hi
You don't say what power supply you are using. Also has anyone been over clocking the computer? If it helps you can post images and screen shots here. If this has just happened without there being any changes it seems odd. It seems from the CPU the system could be 5 to 7 years old which if the power supply is lower end could point to a failing power supply.
Could you supply details of the Power Supply please.

BlueStacks does not require it....did someone tell you differently ?

    OS: Windows 10
    You must be an Administrator on your PC.
    Processor:  Intel Core i5-680  (passmark 3500) or higher processor with virtualization extensions enabled in the BIOS
    Graphics: Intel HD 5200 (passmark 750) or higher
    Memory: 6GB or higher
    HDD: SSD (or fusion)
    storage HDD Space: 40 GB
    Internet: Broadband connection to access games, accounts and related content

BlueStacks says nowhere you need to OC...the issue is your PC does not meet the requirements and you're trying to squeeze more out of what you have...

OC = overclocking...are you doing that ? ?

Virtualisation is a feature of the CPU/system...
It would need to be enabled in the BIOS to load BlueStacks.

hello guys yesterday i made a mistake did not realize that my new PC had different ram slot(DDR3) i tried to ADD the Ram memory from older (DDR) PC(witch fitted only half off it than i realized that it was not okay) and now when i try to start my PC it keeps on beeping 13 times and than restarts bought new RAM but still not working .
Any Ideas how to fix it ?

Thanks Remove ALL RAM and do 3 4 cold boots and shutdowns...

Then replace the PROPER RAM.Hi

If what Patio suggested doesn't fix the problem .

With the DDR memory installed did you try to TURN the computer on? if you did it is likely you have damaged the motherboard. Or that the DDR memory physically damaged the memory sockets.
 Patio thank you for the idea i tried it did not work it is still beeping and wont start .
VintronNZ yep i started it ,  may be one of these problem :/ .
thank you for your TIME guys and in the unlikely event of dust and lose components, try REMOVING, cleaning and reseating the video card if the PC has an add-on one.
if not, I'm with Vintron - you have pushed that incompatible memory in too hard and screwed up the slots.

Was checking out the resource manager when playing a game to see how hard Flatout 2 was hitting the APU and down in lower right corner of this it lists L1 and L2 cache sizes of the CPU. The size of the L2 cache states 8MB, but I went looking online to see if this is correct and the AMD A8-5545m 1.7Ghz with 2.7Ghz Turbo processor states 4MB of L2 cache.

So curious if there is another way to check L2 cache size to see if its really 8MB vs 4MB?

AMD has been known to disable sections of processors that are high END that didnt pass stress testing and shut off those areas and relabel higher end processors as lower end with LOCKED out/disabled features. I am curious if this APU is a higher end processor that wasnt properly locked out for a higher cache size, so 8MB of L2 cache is actually functional vs 4MB of L2 cache.

I am IMPRESSED with the performance of this APU. It plays almost all of my games old and new titles and the computer alone without monitor with the quadcores running full tilt only draw 60 watts of POWER. It runs almost constantly above 2Ghz in the 2.4 to 2.7Ghz range and doesnt overheat. This just about constant Turbo enabled clock really helps with its ability to play games since most games run best at 2.5Ghz or faster clocked processors no matter of core count.

Here is the motherboard that I am running which came with this mobile APU in a desktop motherboard. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138448

Been running this board since August 2017 with no problems as my main computer to save on the electric bill as for combined power draw is 83 watts with computer and flat screen monitor. My other 8-core 3.3 and 4.0Ghz systems run between 200 and 465 watts with the power hungry CPU and GTX 570 and GTX 780 video cards. 

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]What does CPU-Z report?

Windows 10 get's that information by reading SMBIOS information, which would have been gathered by the BIOS at boot-up. It could be parsing it incorrectly or the information is wrong.

My understanding is that Programs like CPU-Z access the information more directly by actually looking at the hardware.Thanks for that suggestion BC... sure enough CPUZ reports 4MB so I guess Windows 10 is getting wrong info then. 

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]WMIC

Code: [Select]C:\Users\Mike>wmic cpu get L2cachesize
L2CacheSize
1024
Task manager



cpu-z



All agree... 1 MB L2 cache on the i7 4790.

I think Task manager queries the Registry, and gets a value from the key below, UNLESS that value is zero, in which case it queries the CPU via the HAL. It is possible someone altered that value as a misguided "tweak". It is set at zero on Windows installation I believe. I don't think changing it to some bigger value than the CPU has will do anything, good or bad.

Code: [Select]C:\Users\Mike>reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v SecondLevelDataCache

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
    SecondLevelDataCache    REG_DWORD    0x0
Quote from: DaveLembke on March 17, 2018, 11:20:34 PM

Thanks for that suggestion BC... sure enough CPUZ reports 4MB so I guess Windows 10 is getting wrong info then. 

Okay so i just built a new GAMING pc but when i try to GET into a operative system, it crashes after about 1 minute. I tried both windows 10 and linux, in windows i’ve gotten 4 different bsod, whea uncorrectable error, watchdog clock error, bad pool header and critical process died. Then windows reboots and repeats. Linux just reboots without showingnanything.

My specs are
Msi gtx 1050 ti 4gb gaming
Ballistix sport lt DDR4 8gb 2x4
Msi z270 tomahawk socket 1151
Intel pentium g4560 KABY lake
And a seagate firecuda 1tb sshd

Does that hardware have drivers for those paticular operating systems?I don't see that RAM on the MBoard QVL list....

I just bought a RavPower Super-C Series 26800mAh Portable Chargre so that I can re-charge my Acer Switch Alpha 12 laptop/tablet while traveling.  I can't seem to GET it to work.  My Acer states that it's USB-C port can be used for charging.  I have tried connecting my new RavPower but it won't work.  Perhaps I'm not connecting it properly?  Can anyone please help???  Thanks...

I think we discussed this before, if not the Acer switch can't be charged thru the usb port only with a 19V adapter. Sorry I was wrong   

Seems with the correct adapter the usb c port can be used for charging as explained here. : 

https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/43000#_ga=2.38365987.1221564952.1521428047-768810088.1521428047

Seems it needs to be a 45W adapter with an output of  20V at 2.25A .

Sorry for the confusion, the internet is full of people with the same question looking for a suitable portable charger.
At least now you know what to look for. Remember the 45W is for 1 charge if you need 2 or 3 charges the portable battery PACK will need higher wattage.

And there is still the suggestion for the same price as the power pack get a tablet and use your preset RavPower Super-C Series to charge it.Laptop Magazine did a review.
Acer Switch Alpha 12 Review
The article is about two years old. NEWER machines are better and cost less.
IMO you have two choices.
 A. Get a very expensive EXTERNAL power pack.
 B. TRADE you machine in for a newer model.

Either way it will cost you money. 

My laptop is in the different network segment from that of the printer in my office. I try to connect to the printer but with no luck. After I switch to another segment, everything's GOING well. Wonder what went wrong.What you describe is normal.
Making connections over segments of a network is a potential security issue. Your network administrator can help you with this.

Now then, what follows for a users that owns all of the equipment involved. A home user, not a MEMBER of a commercial business network.
Home users can setup their own printer to make it a remote printer over the internet.Most makes of printers provide the software for this.

Let us suppose a user just bought an 4in1 Cannon or maybe HP from Best Buy or Walmart, or other MAJOR store.  Thee is a CD in the box that has all the instructions. (Do not buy a used printer that does not have all the stuff that came in the box. )

The instructions are specific to each make and model of printer.
If the user has not already done that part of the setup, he can start the installation again   and include that part of the setup. Once that has been done, his printer will have an unique address that can be used TOP print anyway from any kind of device that has internet ACCEDE. Well, almost any devise. 
HP says:

With HP Mobile Printing, you can easily print and scan to your HP DesignJet printer or MFP from your smartphone or tablet via wireless printing or Wi-Fi Direct. Plus print remotely by emailing files directly to ePrint-enabled printers.

Source:
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/mobility/overview.html?jumpid=va_r11400_touchprinting

Other printer companies have that kind of stuff for what they sell.

This is a recommendation for some recent videos on You Tube about mini PC devices
Before you invest MONEY in a home entertainment system, consider getting a Do-It-Yourself home server.

A mini PC might be powerful enough to serve as a home server for youMP4 videos. Some are small enough to hide behind your TV set.
Here is a video that does s a summary of the 10 best mini PCs currently available. Most of thees are fast enough to stream wireless HD video to two or more TV sets in your home. Some are under $100. Take a look. (Skip the Ads.)
Recent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dby6MT5EmE
Over on the right panel on the YouTube page also has other videos like the one above. Enjoy!   I was very close to buying a new mini PC a few months ago as for I wanted a low cost and low power consumption x86 or x64 NAS that also ran mySQL for my database testing and socket connection testing with scripts etc that interface with a database.

I looked at the mini PC's and what I needed and realized that repurposing my OLD Toshiba Netbook bought in 2009 with Intel Atom processor and 2GB RAM was the best solution for me. The Intel Atom APU based netbook operates on 13 watts of continuous power draw and runs cool. It is running Windows XP Home SP3 32-bit which is the OS that it came with.

I was on the search for a low power consumption x86 or x64 based computer, but many of the mini PC's that supported the x86 or x64 OS and programs ran on 19 watts or greater power consumption. I was hoping to find a mini computer that was in the 5 watt range drawing close to a night light bulb of power and able to act as a NAS as well as have a MySQL database running 24/7/365. What i found when looking is that in order to get to that low of a power draw I need to cross over from x86 and x64 CPU or APU's to ARM processors, but that might work for making a NAS but it wouldnt be hosting a MySQL server. So I threw in the towel on going to a more power efficient setup beyond that of the Intel Atom 1.66Ghz Netbook.

Prior to this Netbook I was running a AMD Athlon 2650e 1.6Ghz 15 watt TDP single-core desktop tower, but the tower itself was drawing 31 watts continuous. When i dug out my Netbook and tested its power draw and saw that it was just 13 watts I decided to migrate everything over to that. It would be nice to get to around 5 watts of power draw and have what i need but I just dont see that happening at this TIME, then comes the ratio of SAVING 8 watts of power would come at what cost. Electricity is 15 cents per kWh and so daily consumption is equal to 312 Watts or .312 kW and a cost of just ( 4.62 cents ) and if I can get to 5 watts it drops the daily cost to 1.8 cents to run it which would be a 2.82 cents less power consumption which is an annual  savings of $10.29 . So to break even if a Mini PC cost me $100 would take almost 10 years to RECOUP the cost of going lower in power draw, so I've hit the wall where 13 watts will have to do for now I guess.

Lastly its beneficial to the netbook or a laptop to be handling this role as for if there is a dip in power it will run off the battery. And if there is an outage it will run for as long as the battery can keep it up and at 12% power it shuts down safely to not corrupt itself, whereas a modern Mini PC would require a battery backup to give data protection like this at additional cost. So an old laptop or netbook that otherwise is too limited to be used for daily computing could be repurposed as a mini PC server and low cost of operation and setup.

(Sony Vaio laptop, Win10 (originally WIN7), model vpcf126fm, service tag c605gwxd, CPU i7 1.73ghz, 6gb RAM.)

This laptop screen shows weird colors (e.g. green where black should be), and it flickers in some contexts. (the Knoppix desktop looked like a wormhole animation!)

FYI, an external monitor hooked up to the vga port looks fine, so I assume it's the laptop screen, not video card.  Also, I completely reformatted the drive and put in a FRESH copy of Windows 10, and this didn't change anything.

But when I pressed on the laptop screen, the problem went away; the image was normal. So I kept pressing here and there, and the problem returned. Kept pressing more, til the image was normal again.

Ppl report the same thing here:
https://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/hardware/threads/25441/flickering-green-laptop-screen

Can anyone estimate what's going on physically inside the laptop? (If you answer "loose cable", can you specify which connection?)

Thanks!
The "loose cable" would be the display connector going from the mainboard to the Display. It could be loose on either end. Depending on which of the Red, Green, and Blue signal pins aren't making contact you'll get different colours on-screen; If two of those contacts are not making contact, then you get the third colour; if blue isn't, you'd get yellow; if green isn't, you get Magenta. if Red isn't, you get Cyan.If you CHECK out this u tube video it shows your laptop being dismantled. "I'm not suggesting you dismantle the laptop" .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcuqLnj_b3c

At the end of the video they are removing the LCD screen and shows where the video connector is, it seems in your model to be higher up towards the top of the screen.
If pressing the connector area changes the colour then it could be a bad connection on that connector and re plugging it in may be all that is required.
If pressing in other areas which would not effect the connector CAUSE the FAULT it is most likely the screen itself. Which you would likely get replaced.

I recently built my NEW PC and after a few days I noticed that my rear audio sound louder than usual and when something is playing from the right channel or the LEFT you can hear a little bit of static of or HISSING so I tried plugging my headphones in the front panel jack and the problem doesn't seem to be present there. Can someone HELP me determine what the problem is?

My motherboard is ASUS Strix B350-F

Friend of mine hit me up with a question that I found interesting. A laptop that is used more like a desktop computer. Its always plugged in to an outlet and that outlet is through the battery backup side of his UPS. His laptop will run direct from power supply without laptop lithium battery installed.

He was wondering if this was OK to do for long term use without lithium battery installed?

My initial concern when he was talking about this before FINDING out its powered through a battery backup was that it would drop like a stone if there was a dip in power, but since its powered off-of/thru  a healthy UPS I couldn't think of any reason why this would be a problem although it relies HEAVILY on the power supply to carry it along in operation and NEVER gets a cycle of charge/discharge if a battery was present.

One concern he had was that if the battery was always installed that on top of it prematurely killing the lithium battery, he also is fearful of the lithium battery explosions and fires of some of the batteries of years ago. His laptop is an older laptop a Compaq V5000 with Sempron 3300+ Mobile CPU running Windows XP SP3 on 512MB RAM. The battery to the laptop was changed once about 6 years ago and on the rare occasion that he needs the laptop to not be used as a desktop he will charge the battery and it will keep the laptop running for about an hour or so. I told him that while the battery removed does remove the lithium fire hazard, it also means that his battery not charged for long periods of time of non-use could also lead to its degradation in health for the times when he wants to TAKE it out as a laptop on battery power. And that maybe on a quarterly basis he should give the battery a full drain using it off of battery and then a full charge then remove the battery from laptop and this way it still goes through a charge/discharge cycle every 3 months to not go stale.  Quote from: DaveLembke on March 23, 2018, 12:01:34 PM

I told him that while the battery removed does remove the lithium fire hazard, it also means that his battery not charged for long periods of time of non-use could also lead to its degradation in health for the times when he wants to take it out as a laptop on battery power. And that maybe on a quarterly basis he should give the battery a full drain using it off of battery and then a full charge then remove the battery from laptop and this way it still goes through a charge/discharge cycle every 3 months to not go stale. 

Hi,
Can anyone tell me what the problem might be. I gues it's hardware related since it appears in the demo page printout also. The printer inserts blank space in the printout, about 3 horizontal blank space lines about a half inch per page, random placed. The printer has only printed 3000 pages total.just to state the obvious....

have you put the printer through all its cleaning/maintenance tasks?
like nozzle cleaning, printhead alignment etc.
when's the last time you checked/CLEANED/replaced the rollers or drum or toners?That printer can  do 50,000 pages before major repair is done. Or is should.
Cleansing and replacing ink is normal. A major repair is when you have to hire somebody to take it apart.
Amazon no longer has that printer and it got bad reviews on Amazon.
You can buy a similar printer for under $100 plus shipping. 


Yeah I know it's old and big, but for me it's a keeper. Because I have lots of large ink tanks and spare printheads and I also have the A3 hp business inkjet 2800 which uses the same inks. It's not allways that bad an idea to have something no one else WANT to have        
The print quality is fine and the printheads also. Nothing misses in the printout, the printer just add blank horizontal space.  I don't know how the paper handling works but perhaps there's a sensor or something else that needs to be cleaned. Are you sure it is not an issue with the print heads?
Anyway, here is a simple test sheet of vertical  color lines.

Does it print it alright? 


[attachment DELETED by admin to conserve space]Transformed into windows

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]That does not look good at all. I have never seen that on any printer ever had of the past twenty years or more. Most lively you already tries another print head and the did not help; - Right?
Here is some stuff from HP:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00068745
Which leads to:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-9100-all-in-one-printer-series/376170/model/376175/troubleshooting

Maybe you need the roller kit. I do not have any knowledge about this.
The kit is sold by HP and vendors like Amazon.
Picture below:

Amazon lists used kits for almost $200. But for that price you buy a printer that performs most of the same functions.

As I said, I have no knowledge of this. Found it in a Google search. 
Sure I'm not GOING to pay 200$ for a spare part, but I might be lucky to find another used printer for the price of almost nothing.  For me it's more interesting to use hardware that other people just throw away. Thanks for the effort trying FIGURING it out.Your are welcome.
I am very sure that the roller is the problem. But I can not prove it and I do not have actual experience with that part. I understand what it does and I understand that one kind of failure is to insert repeating large blank areas in the printout. It is very hard to find an reference that explains that in so many words.
Sorry I do not have any references.

Need tutorial for a USB RFID kit.

On eBay I got a RFID kit that uses a 125KHz exciter and reads or writes  a card or one of 5 key chin tags. Passive mode.
Here is a photo.


It appeaser to work. It can write to a key chain TAG.
This device could be use to do my Windows password. But not yet, I do not understand how it WORKS and the software has not SOURCE code.

Here is a screenshot from the reader.


What is lacking is documentation. I am very ignorant about this kind of thinmg and I got it to learn more about how it works.

The chip is a type ATA5577 and there is a data sheet, but that does not tell me much.
Does anybody here have experiences with these passive RFID tags?
Where can I find a tutorial?  Hi....RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) is commonly used nowadays in security systems such as door locks. RFID sets/modules can be very affordable, such as the Mifare MFRC522 chip we will be using in this tutorial.The MFRC522 RFID READERS comes with a RFID’s tag card. The MFRC522 communicates with CARDS or tags up to 1cm using a 13.56MHz electromagnetic field, then sends the data to an Arduino board through SPI communication.You get what you pay for...just sayin...

Hello!

I try to boot from a mainboard with following error beepcodes: 1-3-3-1 and sometimes (!) 1-3-4-1
I have TWO identical mainboards and tried different ram, also both dimm sockets (single and dual).
I tried 2 different cpus and still same errors. I tried to reset the BIOS by removing the battery over night (no power supply). Nothing changes. Fan of cpu is working.

Any suggestions how to fix this? THANK you.Please PROVIDE more info on which Motherboard Make/Model, what CPU, and what RAM your using so we can see if something stands out with hardware combination. Additionally knowing what other hardware you have such as power supply, video card, etc can also be HELPFUL to see the whole picture of your build.  did you look up those beep codes?
found this...  (would seem to point to bad RAM or dead mobo)

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]Also since the codes change intermittently 1st thing i would do is replace the CMOS battery...

I installed a Seagate portable drive to save data on. My PC shows two drive letters for the same drive. I was told this is a registry issue by Seagate. IM HOPING there is a simple FIX?

ThanksNo NEED to double-post...

Topic Closed.

The letter 'p' on my KEYBOARD is not working. I tried USING an external keyboard and it still doesn't work. Does anyone know how to fix this?nvm, all it needed was a restart. Thanks to those who considered helpingAh yes, the OL' CLASSIC "Have you tried TURNING it off and on again"
(you should watch some Roy and Moss from The IT Crowd, they use that one a lot)

I am using a three and a half year old Lenovo G50.

It was working fine 2 days ago and this problem started yesterday. The batter can last about 40 minutes to an hour if fully charged.

The hinge is LOOSE, I GLUED it on and the charging port also is slightly loose. When I plug it in, it charges normally when off. However, I cannot charge the machine when it is on. It says "plugged in, not charging".

What can I do? My guess is that that loose connection cant carry the current load of charging BATTERY and powering laptop off of the power supply. Correction would be to inspect the main board or daughter board where this power jack is located and verify that the solder connection is still good and not cracked or loose. If cracked or loose you might be able to apply new solder and make a better connection which could then take the current load of a battery charge + powering of the laptop.

Other thing it could be if not a current issue at the "loose" power jack would be if this power supply was an aftermarket power supply or suddenly is now unable to carry the current load of both battery and powering of laptop. To correct for this you have to replace the power supply.

Sounds like this laptop has had a hard life so far, taken a fall, or someone or something clothes lined the power connection when it was plugged in damaging the jack.Thank you for answering my question.

Do you think that this problem is easily fixable and will it be easily done by a repairman at a decent cost?

The laptop has fallen a few times. I replaced the HD a few months ago which may have been caused by a fall and it may have been subjected to rough handling while in my bag as well especially with the hinge being loose. The power jack is the 1st issue that needs to be ADDRESSED...as i stated in Chat a local PC shop can do it...expect $35 to $50 for the repairs...
Then you can DECIDE if it's worth throwin more cabbage into the machine...

I was working in Chrome browser. Screen went black, almost instant, but saw a faint gradient look along the bottom. Waited 5 mins, remained black with no change. Hard restart via power button. I hear everything start running like usual, the LED lights come on, the backlit keyboard works, the USB works, but the screen remains black. There is no longer the Qosmio logo or any sign of Windows 8. Only a deep blackness that is the same as when it's powered off. I tried holding up a flashlight during startup for signs of a faint display, nothing. I tried HDMI cable with TV and fn + f4 to force display. TV was in the correct HDMI source. Nothing. Bought VGA and external monitor. Monitor was in VGA mode. Still nothing.

It has the original batteries. I did have a battery alert recently, is that main battery or CMOS and would that cause the screen to shot off and stay off, but everything else (excluding Windows) still power on? Shouldn't it be fine as long as it's hooked up to the cable?
"Your battery charge capacity is relatively poor. After a period of time, the battery will lose its ability to perform at max capacity & may need to be replaced. This is normal for all batteries. For more info about the 'poor' charge status click the help button."

I also have had issues with windows update database error which the computer troubleshooting tool fixed. I recently upgraded an older Wacom tablet to a newer model with both pen and touch. I put my computer into sleep nightly. Windows asked me to install a maintenance update required for a connected device. It had never asked that before, so I assumed it was because of the Wacom. Installed it. The laptop touchpad started behaving like the touch Wacom. Using the laptop touchpad, the mouse wouldn’t move on the screen. I could only scroll and had to navigate with tab and keyboard arrows. The next day, I woke the computer and the Wacom was blinking. Tried my old Wacom, it also wouldn’t ‘connect’. I tried restarting the tablet and Wacom services manually. I tried restarting the computer. I tried an old wireless USB mouse, but at first the USB ports didn't respond. I used keyboard navigation to uninstall the Wacom. Then the old USB mouse worked. The touchpad was still acting like a Wacom touch tablet. I also noticed the touchpad worked normally until I enter the password to login to Windows. Once logged in, the touchpad acts up again. Otherwise, all seemed fine. I woke it from sleep yesterday and was using the USB mouse in Chrome. The screen turned off. It is black and will not come on.

If I can’t diagnose and save my computer, I need to know how to safely get my data off the hard drive...if it's not too late. Thank you.

Toshiba Qosmio x875-Q7390
Windows 8
Original batteries, never opened, no user modifications.

SPECS:
http://www.toshiba.co.il/en/discontinued-products/qosmio-x875-bqs/
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Qosmio-X875-Q7290-17-3-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0085N1EV8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
my initial thought was the screen's back light has failed, and it could still be that, but your flash light technique should have seen some screen writing although it is an art to get the flash light at the RIGHT angle to the screen and at the part of the screen that should have characters.

either way, just the back light or the screen itself, it'll be a costly exercise to repair, about a third or maybe HALF the cost of just replacing the whole unit.

first priority for me would be to get my data backed up (you don't have any at the moment do you? )
so flip it over, remove the hard drive (that in itself can be an adventure) and you can install it into an external drive enclosure, costs about $AUD20.Thank you for replying.  

I tried various angles, but with the HDMI/VGA method not working, I'm assuming It's not the back light?

It was $1600 new, so hoping won't be too expensive to repair. I'd planned to upgrade soon, but not this way. Had intended to use it as a backup. Without some idea of the cause, the repair bill will be even higher.

That's my priority. I've got about a TB of photos and documents to somehow retrieve. Without the screen, the only option I'm aware of is laptop surgery + adaptor as you'd mentioned. I'm concerned I'll damage it during removal or have static and damage something else. I also don't know which external drive or adaptor to use. I may be overreacting, but I am quite nervous.   Hi sorry to but in, I have a few customers who have had the same laptop and when it has the no screen problem it is likely it is a failed GTX 670M video card. They are getting very hard to find and are still quite expensive. If you TAKE the laptop to a service shop they will take the 2 hard drives out. yes your laptop has 2 and copy the photos to a USB drive.

Don't let the shop keep the drives or your laptop as the 750Gb hard drive from the laptop is another backup of your stuff.


 

  vintron,
all good - no such thing as too much advice. 

amber,
agree, if you are unsure as to the way forward, definitely time for some hired help.
despite the initial cost of the rig, and an equivalent now only being probably somewhere around $1000-1200, and the cost of repair (if even possible) running into, say, a few hundred, you'd still have to ask yourself, is the money better spent on bringing the planned update forward, even though it's via an unplanned REASON?