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Node posted:Can anything be done on my end? I can exchange it but I would rather try to get the thing I already have installed working, since part of it is being seen by the computer. I figured it out by dumb luck. I thought this might have been some issue with available PCIE lanes (which I know next to nothing about) but I couldn't find anything online. At all. So I went looking through my motherboard's bios and found an option for setting the pcie 4_3 slot (which the card was inserted into at the time) to automatically detect if it was a x1/x2/x4 card, or to manually set it to x4. Changing it from auto to manual immediately fixed it, Windows detected the wifi card and showed it as a network adapter right away. My question is why did this work? I could find absolutely nothing about this online.
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Aug 23, 2022 15:52
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Node posted:I figured it out by dumb luck. I thought this might have been some issue with available PCIE lanes (which I know next to nothing about) but I couldn't find anything online. At all. So I went looking through my motherboard's bios and found an option for setting the pcie 4_3 slot (which the card was inserted into at the time) to automatically detect if it was a x1/x2/x4 card, or to manually set it to x4. Changing it from auto to manual immediately fixed it, Windows detected the wifi card and showed it as a network adapter right away. I'm not sure exactly, but it sounds reminiscent of having to manually set my PCIe x16 slot to gen 3 in order to have my 3080 recognized properly. Having it set on auto prevented it from being properly identified as an Nvidia card, but manually setting it to PCIe 3.0 made it work as expected. Glad you got it working!
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Aug 23, 2022 19:52
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I posted this over in the laptop thread, but I figured I should try asking here too https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3552651&pagenumber=1026&perpage=40&userid=0#post525751149 I'm looking to replace the missing screws in my laptop, but it uses several different sizes and I don't want to do anything dumb like pop the touch pad out again by guessing. I figure I'll just grab a box of screws off Amazon since repair shops are far away. I've exhausted every resource I could find online, up to contacting tech support in Taiwan 🤣 The best advice I could find was to use a paperclip as a sort of measuring stick. Is there any way I can reliably/adequately figure out which screw to put where? Is the paperclip idea not a terrible one?
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Aug 24, 2022 02:50
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Cool Kids Club Soda posted:I posted this over in the laptop thread, but I figured I should try asking here too Do you actually need the missing screws? What’s wrong with them being out?
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Aug 24, 2022 03:31
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:Do you actually need the missing screws? What’s wrong with them being out? I've only got 5 of the 10 it takes. The few screws I have in there are probably in the wrong slots, and not applying pressure properly. Along with the missing screws, it seems like the components can't make firm connections, either from the various vibrations or slack. The SDD and HDD have both dropped almost seemingly at random before, and could be coaxed back with jiggling. That seemed to have stabilized with some screw swapping. Unless I move it too much. The data is intact still, no corruption or bad sectors, so I'm guessing they're still holding up fine, just not making that connection sometimes. I've booted through BIOS and it still recognizes everything, so I've been working under the idea the hardware itself is fine. Boot ups take upwards of 20 minutes, mouse clicks won't register for 10-20 seconds. I've read in a few places that my CPU is probably being bottlenecked because the connection isn't secure. Next likely cause is component failure? I mean, it's a well loved computer that has taken some bumps, been packed around and poked inside of, so it could all be related to that (the plate that covers the hinge is busted off, but that's the worst I can think of). New laptop for my use case is out of range, even refurbished, so I thought I'd take a flyer on giving it a go myself edit: I've got 2 4/5mm screws, 1 9mm, and two 12mm, so the sizes seem pretty varied, and the closet to reliable info I've found says that two of the 9mm should be wider, so either M2 > M2.5 or M2.5 > M3 Adhdedit: These are all for the laptop's bottom plate Cool Kids Club Soda fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Aug 24, 2022 |
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Aug 24, 2022 04:59
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Cool Kids Club Soda posted:I've only got 5 of the 10 it takes. The few screws I have in there are probably in the wrong slots, and not applying pressure properly. Along with the missing screws, it seems like the components can't make firm connections, either from the various vibrations or slack. The SDD and HDD have both dropped almost seemingly at random before, and could be coaxed back with jiggling. That seemed to have stabilized with some screw swapping. Unless I move it too much. I’m confused. Is the CPU a socketable CPU? Tons of laptops use CPUs baked into the motherboard. Additionally, a loose bottom plate should not cause CPU disconnect. It could technically cause heat issues if the bottom plate is used as a heatsink, but that’s not super common. If you have 5 screws just use those to test depth. Stop the second you feel any resistant whatsoever, and buy matching screws to what you have in quantities you need. Or just buy this kit for like $7. CO-RODE 450pcs M2 M2.5 M3 Laptop Computer Screws Kit Set for SSD IBM HP Dell Lenovo Samsung Sony Toshiba Gateway Acer Hard Drive SATA, (15-Size) https://a.co/d/guxmYpH You’re complicating this. If you’re careful and pay attention you’re not going to punch through components.
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Aug 24, 2022 06:30
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I mean, buying a pack of big box of screws off Amazon was my plan and I just wanted to know if there was a more reliable way of checking which screw would go where besides going through them one by one till I find the right fit  Not worried about damaging anything either - I already pushed the touch pad out of it's frame once before and popped it back, and had one corner of the keyboard ajar before, so I know not to be rough or force anything. Honestly I'm just glad I didn't damage anything that time (I hope) The computer was running even worse before I did my last re-arrangement of the screws, so I'm not really eager to take them out to test until I feel a little more well informed or have a full set to replace themMaking things complicated and over-thinking things is kind of my jam. If you hand me a box with 8 types of screws and say I only need 3 of them(or possibly 4 if that one source was right! Or I'm not getting it mixed with another one!), I'm going to literally get them confused and mixed up repeatedly, regardless of what organizational system I try to use. Having clear specifics before beginning a task helps me tremendously to manage that. Very much aware that my ADHD addled brain doesn't process things efficiently, so I suppose I thought I was being clearer that I know it could be something else. What that is more specifically, no idea. If you or anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate them. The screws just felt like one of the last things I could think of to try after everything else. Then I read some encouraging things in a few places that seemed like that could be a culprit, so it's probable I hyperfocused on that edit: could there be another cause for the SSD and HDD to disconnect? 2nd edit: I've already done a system restore and had my sister who works in IT help me go over to see if there was anything obvious or on the software side causing anything. We didn't find anything, except when she used it, the fan started roaring, even though neither the CPU or GPU were being utilized beyond typical idle. Roaring stopped after I took it back to another room and hasn't happened since, but I barely move it now. Problems still persisted after that. Cool Kids Club Soda fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Aug 24, 2022 |
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Aug 24, 2022 07:18
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Cool Kids Club Soda posted:I mean, buying a pack of big box of screws off Amazon was my plan and I just wanted to know if there was a more reliable way of checking which screw would go where besides going through them one by one till I find the right fit To make things easier, I'll start with what you need to do. Here's what you need to post to get help. 1.) What is the exact model of your laptop (sticker on bottom). And does it actually have an SSD + an HDD? 2.) Why did you take the laptop apart, and what did you do to it when you took it apart. Be very specific here. 3.) How exactly did you a system restore? This is exceedingly rare and very unlikely to be your issue, but you can try taking the screws out and see if it makes a difference. If a screw is too deep, it could be grounding out on something. But I don't think this is the problem. Outside of that, the only way the bottom casing is causing your issue is if A.) The hard drive is too loose and it's physically disconnecting (unlikely) B.) There was a temperature sensor in the bottom plate that is no longer reading correctly (also very unlikely) C.) There is a piece of metal on the bottom plate hitting another component causing a short (really really unlikely) Bottleneck is the wrong term. A bottleneck refers to a component preventing an application from running properly because that component is too slow for that application. Bottlenecks do not refer to physical issues (which is what you are experiencing). You also talk about how your ssd + hdd disconnect in windows all the time, but do not in BIOS. If both disconnected in windows, the computer would shut off because windows needs the boot drive connected. So I don't know if you're explaining that properly. Assuming I've pieced together all the information you've posted correctly, I suspect either 1.) You have windows installed on the HDD instead of the SSD 2.) You system restored incorrectly and you have a filesystem issue 3.) There is something wrong with your mainboard/motherboard.
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Aug 24, 2022 15:44
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I have a computer with both SSDs and HDDs in it. I now have enough storage space as SSD that I have put all of the poo poo that I use regularly onto them and the HDDs are just for backups and I won't need to access them 95%+ of the time. Since not having HDDs spinning would make my computer quieter, cooler, and draw less power, I'd like them not to be running when I don't need to use them. I was thinking of taking them out and buying an SATA -> USB adapter or enclosure to turn them into external drives but that would involve me spending money and also transfer over USB would be slower when I do need to use them, so I'd rather leave them in situ as SATA drives if I can. I set the power settings in Windows so that the drives switch off after however many minutes of inactivity, but I'm finding programs and background processes keep waking them up too often for my liking. I went into the BIOS and made the SATA ports in question hot-swappable, so now I can eject the drives. However this has created 2 new problems - a) the drives get mounted at boot so I have to manually eject them (I've tried using "automount disable" in diskpart but this doesn't work as I think it's just for new volumes), and b) once they are ejected I can't find a way to re-add them for access without rebooting (or I suppose opening up the computer and physically unplugging and plugging them in again would work, but this is more hassle). Am I barking up the wrong tree with this method and I should just buy an enclosure/adapter?
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Aug 24, 2022 15:54
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imo you're kind of making it more difficult than it needs to be. for your use case i'd suggest some kind of network attached storage - a low power computer sitting somewhere in your house where the noise doesn't bother you with a ton of storage. if you have old equipment it's ideal for a project. this limits you to network speed, but also provides redundancy in case of catastrophic hardware failure so from a backup perspective it's much better. you can usually automate the backup to happen overnight or whatever obviously.
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Aug 24, 2022 16:13
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:To make things easier, I'll start with what you need to do. 1)Asus (K)X556UQ. i5-7200U, 4gb RAM, GeForce 940MX, one 128gb SSD, one 1tb HDD. SSD is primarily boot drive for Windows and daily applications 2) First time time taking apart was 2 years ago in an attempt to replace the RAM. Friend's RAM turned out not to be for laptop, so popped everything back in where I found it, as far as I can recall. No issues at that point. Honestly don't remember if I just popped out the plate covering the ram or did the whole bottom plate. -Second time was unscrewing the bottom plate to give the fans a clean and blow out dust after the system started whining a bit more playing more intensive games. This is when screws started shaking loose and falling out (not tightened enough cuz I haven't done this in years and forgot how much tightness they needed, lost in carpet or behind shelves like tears in the rain). I remember a wicked rattle in one of the screws after I did this, so I had the sense to back and tighten some of the screws. -Third time was when I started noticing significant performance issues. Bootups were taking a lot longer. Programs weren't as quick to open. I'd be mixing music, everything would drag down to a stutter briefly, then resume. I was still able to adjust my mix in real-time through my DJ midi controller, ie nudging tracks, adjusting levels and adding effects. When I play back the recording, it plays smoothly and there's no indication when it happened except my mixing goes off a bit from trying to adjust on the fly and compensate for the beat being off. This is also around when the HDD started to have issues and disconnect. I would be working at my desk, and the HDD would disconnect, closing any windows or applications currently accessing it. Anything on the SSD was still accessible. HDD would reconnect seemingly at random while laptop was still powered up, and seemed to have a higher success rate with a reboot. It just felt really sensitive to pressure or being moved even slightly. Opened the bottom to see if anything was out of sorts, hdd or other components were still properly connected, or any visible damage. Didn't unplug anything to reconnect to confirm because I didn't want to take even more risks. This could be when I started getting screws mixed up and lost a few more (moving houses), or that could have happened between this time and the next -Fourth time was basically the same - laptop had been functioning again but still facing massive slowdown and HDD disconnecting (which could be sometimes be temporarily alleviated by like, pushing on the top plate or putting a book on it. It'd work for awhile after the weight was removed, then disconnect again whenever it felt like it ). Seemed to be getting worse. Noticed around this time that HDD seemed more likely to drop when spinning up and moving larger amounts of files.-Fifth time was re-doing the screws because I put some longer ones in shorter slots and my touchpad was pushed enough out of the frame that it straight up couldn't left-click. The panel closest to the screen hinge also had an approx 1/4cm gap because I had prioritized screws near the front instead of any in the back, which didn't strike me as good. It was a fair bit of guess work between the 3 sizes of screws, but I think I got a couple right, and the others are just shorter than their slots, not longer. For awhile after it was running smoother and stuttering less often, but at some point noticed hitching when playing a game with my DJ controller when it hadn't done so before. This time the audio was uninterrupted, and my input still responded accurately, but the onscreen display would freeze and then jump suddenly to the current point in the track. I can't recall if the audio started hitching at some point too. (But I think it was still bugging out before then - I was just using it less and mostly to play some turn-based games where responsiveness is less of an issue. Didn't seem to be stuttering in Slipways, but clicks could take 10-20 seconds to register and for the game to react) That's when I started getting blue screens and problems getting it to boot - it would power up, go through the Asus screen forever, then the screen would go blank like it was trying to boot and couldn't, then blue screen and restart the whole process. Keep in mind that these range from 2 years to 6 months ago or more, so I'm probably missing some details. I definitely know attempts 3, 4 and 5 involved trying out different screw configurations and having to test out which ones would allow the computer to boot or reliably read the HDD. I did the system restore after this, about 2 or 3 months ago, and am fairly certain I haven't messed with the case since. It was only a couple days after the restore when for like, one day? two? the fans would max out without really engaging CPU or memory, and then suddenly stopped having this problem on its own. If it was an issue with a component grounding out, I thought that component would stop working altogether or potentially be fried - but I'm reading it can also lead to overheating and fan issues? But usually fans not working? They still run and will speed up when needed. This is also around the time that I started to wonder if could repair it by using the right screws. I searched online and found a few threads where people talked about it, as a fairly rare thing, and from my experience, it seemed to match up and be worth pursuing. Of course now I can't find those threads again and I've got over 10k bookmarks on my phone. 3) System restore was back to ASUS default like from the shop, using the Reset this PC option. This was the most recent attempt, probably 2-3 months ago? I had some critical files on the SSD I couldn't reliably backup, so I went with the option to keep my files. I actually had made system restore points years before, but totally forgot about them until after I clicked "Yes I'm sure", so I lost my sweet Rainmeter setup and didn't bother to replace it. I had considered doing a full wipe of the SSD and doing a complete reinstall of Windows, but that's a bigger ask and wanted to see if there were any alternatives first. I made sure to scan my drives for bad sectors or any issues with file systems before and after, as well as update drivers and Windows, and didn't find anything. All of these problems existed before the system restore, and in some cases seemed worse. The most recent cycle of boot failures a couple weeks ago seems to have stopped once I moved my laptop onto some books on my desk. I feel like a caveman superstitiously tying his own actions to something acting independently and of it's reasoning. Last time me move the clicky-talkbox, gods angry. Me move clicky-talkbox back, gods happy. I mentioned that my laptop's current functionality has been a towering pile of Jenga that can easily be disturbed by too much monkeying around, so I've been very hesitant to do anything to interrupt the status quo, like going through the screws I have more systematically. Barely functioning laptop beats non-functioning laptop. I know corollation does not equal causation, there just seemed to be a relation between where I screwed in and performance issues, and I felt I'd already exhausted most other options. A) I thought the hdd being too loose was unlikely as well, but the way it responded to the laptop being moved and the screws made me think they could be related. When I read about how an unsecured hdd can vibrate and potentially cause an unstable connection, that also seemed to explain why it could just disconnect in the middle of using it. I never took the time to use either drive in isolation to confirm that though. B) I hadn't considered issues with the temperature sensor before, although I have had my worries about overheating from how it's been used. C) Yeh I really never considered that something inside might be causing a ground. Seemed too unlikely considering everything still *worked*, albeit sporadically and at half mast. Is "loose, missing and mismatched screws results in vibration sensitivity and unsecure connections, leading to cpu slowdown" an even more far-fetched idea than this? Legit asking, for my own curiousity. I know I didn't provide as much info before to support my ideas Would throttling have been a better term than bottlenecking? My mouth often moves faster than my brain and grabs on to associated memories and concepts. When I say that the SSD was disconnecting, but I could still see it in BIOS, I missed explaining that the first time I checked the BIOS was when the comp bluescreened a few times a few weeks ago and automatically booted to BIOS on it's own. That's when I first noticed that the SSD wasn't registering, because it didn't show up there. Powered down, tried the 'wiggle and pray' method, powered up, SSD was reading again. Went into BIOS to confirm it was showing up this time. Windows is installed to the SSD, which I'm guessing is the reason behind the bluescreen when it couldn't register. This is all post system restore, and the point where I felt like I confirmed to myself that it wasn't an issue with the longevity of the drives themselves. 1) Can confirm Windows is installed to SSD, not HDD 2) I'd considered that the system restore might have caused an issue, but all of these problems existed well before then. Updated all my drivers inside the OS and reinstalled Windows updates both before and after the restore, scanned for bad sectors or issues with the file system, tried to figure out if there were any processes running that could be at fault. 3) I know it could be board damage 😞 I'm sure all the I really don't have the finances to buy a new or refurbished laptop that fits my needs at the moment - 7th gen i5 or newer, min 4gb of ram (preferably 8gb), at least 1tb of storage for mp3s and flac, preferably with a GPU for gaming. Anything I bought now would be a stopgap until I can afford to actually replace the laptop, and would just set me back on getting one more appropriate to my needs. So I've been fixating on any solution that doesn't involve admitting that my 4 year old laptop just isn't repairable. One that doesn't involve replacing components (not worth it when this unit is already old and could have other failure points just waiting), spending at least half of a refurb to take it to a repair shop and be told "shits dying", or going without until I can put some money together. Working memory deficits mean I can't rely on my own experiences to keep track of what specifically I've tried and causes me to go over issues repeatedly out of fear that I missed something or messed up an earlier step, and leads me to endlessly relitigate issues I've already been over. For instance, I still need to take a look to see if any of the threads in the CPU have been disabled, since I only thought of that last night before bed. edit: cleaned up spelling, grammar, model# edit 2: For a couple months now, if I let my computer go to sleep for too long, it runs the risk that it will lock at the start-up screen. I can move my mouse cursor around, but it doesn't register any clicks or keyboard inputs, and just ... sits there, screen turning off after 5 minutes and going back to sleep in 15 if I don't sit there and wiggle the mouse or type something. But even then, all that does is just keep it at the start-up screen, before the clock and date can even appear. For four hours. Which also seems to have mysteriously improved when I moved it on top of the books? Now I'm back to a breezy minute or two for wake-up. I still get ridiculous lag even just in File Explorer seemingly at random editeditedit: I admit to being attached to my keyboard with Zhuyin for typing Chinese. I still need to hunt and peck to use it, but I use it often. Buying cheap stickers to put on a new laptop just seems like they'd feel off and be prone to peeling. And there are not a lot of options for keycaps that don't also have Cang Jie, even on Taiwanese sites, if I want to go the mechanical route. Cang Jie makes the least sense to me and the people I interact with all use Zhuyin exclusively. Unnecessary functions mess with my *aesthetic* and my ability to avoid distractions. If that wasn't already obvious Cool Kids Club Soda fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Aug 24, 2022 |
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Aug 24, 2022 19:33
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I installed Windows 10 on a computer for a friend's small business. Somehow I hosed up and there was a bunch of empty space at the "start" of the SSD. I include a crude diagram of the current layout of the disk below. In the intervening time, the programs used for business have been set up on this machine. I don't want to fresh install again. quote:[100_gigs_of_empty_space][a_small_partition_for_uefi_or_something][the_windows_partition] What will be the easiest and cheapest way to move that UEFI or whatever partition to the beginning of the drive and then expand the Windows partition to fill the currently unused space? This is for commercial purposes. I am not averse to using an open source tool that boots from a USB flash drive if it can do this work without wrecking the existing Windows install (bootable GParted?). I have other SSDs I can use if some kind of cloning tool might do the job. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Aug 25, 2022 |
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Aug 25, 2022 16:40
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I've been out of the desktop game for a LONG time (last non-laptop I bought was an HP in 2003) and am looking to buy a prebuilt one for video editing. What's the basic yay/nay reputation of the major PC brands these days? Any I should just avoid like the plague?
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Aug 25, 2022 19:43
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PBCrunch posted:I installed Windows 10 on a computer for a friend's small business. Somehow I hosed up and there was a bunch of empty space at the "start" of the SSD. I include a crude diagram of the current layout of the disk below. I'm not 100% up to date on what's out there, but my instinct would be to clone the partitions you want to keep to another SSD, then reformat the target SSD without the empty partition, then clone the partitions you want back to the target SSD. If it was UEFI-empty-Windows then just expanding the Windows partition should be fine, but unless things have changed trying to change the sizes of non-contiguous partitions was always a pain at best, if it was possible at all. Like I said, though, I'm not completely up to date on that. I guess you could copy the UEFI partition to the empty space (setting flags as needed), shrink the new UEFI partition to an appropriate size, delete the old UEFI partition, then expand the Windows partition, but I think you would still want to clone the drive before doing that in case something goes sideways. The one significant wildcard I can think of is whether Bitlocker is enabled on the existing Windows install, but even if it is I'm not sure if it's a big problem.
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Aug 25, 2022 19:55
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WerthersWay posted:I've been out of the desktop game for a LONG time (last non-laptop I bought was an HP in 2003) and am looking to buy a prebuilt one for video editing. What's the basic yay/nay reputation of the major PC brands these days? Any I should just avoid like the plague? Were you thinking prebuilt to find a GPU? They're pretty easy to find now I thought. Or just don't want to save the money by building one?
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Aug 25, 2022 20:00
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VelociBacon posted:Were you thinking prebuilt to find a GPU? They're pretty easy to find now I thought. Or just don't want to save the money by building one? I'm luckily at a point where I can afford the extra bucks (and also don't have a lot of spare time + tech knowhow) so I'd prefer to get a prebuilt. Just looking to get something up and running out the box. I've been fairly happy with my last two Lenovo laptops over the last 9 years but don't know if that transfers to their desktop line. I'm just so out of the loop I wanted to see if any brands have STAY AWAY reputations these days.
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Aug 25, 2022 21:09
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WerthersWay posted:I'm luckily at a point where I can afford the extra bucks (and also don't have a lot of spare time + tech knowhow) so I'd prefer to get a prebuilt. Just looking to get something up and running out the box. For a video editing machine you're not looking at first party companies like Dell, Lenovo, etc. You're looking at prebuild companies, check out Puget systems as an example. I've heard good things but they also do a lot of marketing.
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Aug 25, 2022 21:14
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Tens of thousands of people edit video on Dell workstations every day just fine, not sure what you mean by that.
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Aug 25, 2022 22:26
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FCKGW posted:Tens of thousands of people edit video on Dell workstations every day just fine, not sure what you mean by that. I guess I feel like you pay a big premium to subsidize everyone's aging dads calling the dell support line because they can't find a file they saved when you buy from them. I also can't recommend dell in any way due to their use of proprietary 'solutions' which make it a nightmare to swap parts out, upgrade down the line, properly cool the hot bits at a reasonable volume, etc. You see this even in the alienware stuff. Not sure if that's changed in the last few years but when I think Dell I think of cost cutting and headaches around proprietary stuff.
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Aug 25, 2022 22:39
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FCKGW posted:Tens of thousands of people edit video on Dell workstations every day just fine, not sure what you mean by that. Because Dell prebuilts are actual measurable loving garbage coffins that cook your components. WerthersWay posted:I'm luckily at a point where I can afford the extra bucks (and also don't have a lot of spare time + tech knowhow) so I'd prefer to get a prebuilt. Just looking to get something up and running out the box. Go post in the PC Building thread, we deal in pre-builds too. The OP is a bit out of date, but just follow the questionnaire post and people will probably find a specific one you can trigger pull on if you want. If you want to build, prices are excellent right now and it’s a good time to do so. I’m going to look at this for you, eventually. But this is a shitton of words (that’s ok) and I need time to actually sit down and read them instead of drive by shitposting.
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Aug 25, 2022 23:53
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My Dell experience is if you're a corp customer and buy prosupport, the reps are actually empowered to do things to help you. If you have to deal with the non prosupport as a normal customer you're hosed.
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Aug 26, 2022 00:02
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PBCrunch posted:I installed Windows 10 on a computer for a friend's small business. Somehow I hosed up and there was a bunch of empty space at the "start" of the SSD. I include a crude diagram of the current layout of the disk below.
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Aug 26, 2022 03:50
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:Because Dell prebuilts are actual measurable loving garbage coffins that cook your components. Ayyyy appreciated. It's been an whole wild ride for me lol. I got a 5 beep error code yesterday for CPU problems, while Windows was running, which... What?? I've never had that happen before, only gotten beep codes on startup with old systems And then later, my desktop switched to an old background, when I know it was just plain black an hour earlier, then went back to black when I rebooted I'm p sure it's the spirit of laptops past come to haunt me at this point
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Aug 26, 2022 15:10
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Cool Kids Club Soda posted:Ayyyy appreciated. It's been an whole wild ride for me lol. I got a 5 beep error code yesterday for CPU problems, while Windows was running, which... What?? I've never had that happen before, only gotten beep codes on startup with old systems 5 beeps appears to be a CPU issue for Asus Laptops, which is a bad sign. Here's what I would do to try and solve this issue, in order. 1.) Reseat the ram, firmly. 2.) Reconnect the HDD and make sure it's secured well. 3.) Remove those case screws you aren't sure where they go just incase. 4.) Completely wipe (as in reformat during setup) the SSD and reinstall windows fresh. For the main issue, if you're lucky the ram is seated bad, and a reseat may fix it. If you're unlucky, the CPU is bad or there's a short somewhere. My assumption here is that during your take-apart escapades, a screw ended up loose in the case at some point and was rattling around, and caused some kind of short. This is what I suspect is most likely to be at fault here, and if it is there's no repairing. Laptops and computers can absolutely function if there's a short or ground caused by a screw or other piece of metal. Not all pieces of a board are required to power on and use the device, but it can certainly impact performance. I suspect your HDD is not connected or secured well, which is leading to disconnects. Or the drive is dying. 4 years on a laptop that gets moved a lot would not be unexpected.
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Aug 26, 2022 17:55
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:5 beeps appears to be a CPU issue for Asus Laptops, which is a bad sign. Thanks, those are a lot of the same conclusions I ended up with yesterday too. The beep code was probably the most reassuring thing to happen, since at least it seemed consistent and narrowed down what specifically I should look at. It was also the point where I decided that getting more cover letters written & resumes out is more important in the immediate future than trying to solve this RIGHT NOW. My game plan, once I start getting some callbacks and interviews, is to reseat the RAM, HDD & SSD just to be sure, take a thorough look at any components for any visible damage or anything out of order, and if it still isn't working, do a full wipe and Windows install. I'm kind of at the point where if that *still* doesn't work, I might try flashing the BIOS too, in case it might have gotten a bad update. But that's pretty much my last desperation move. Could gently caress up my system completely! Or do nothing! But all in all I feel pretty fortunate to have gotten as much out of this laptop as I have. If CPU failure is the root cause, then thems the breaks. Mad appreciative of your help and dealing with my  and definitely got me looking to see if there was anything I missed. Cheers!Oh! One last q - a beep code while running basic Windows processes is weird, right? Obviously not a good thing, but I couldn't find anything online explaining it, just a few people who experienced it and were equally baffled. Any time it's happened to me was during boot up on previous computers.
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Aug 26, 2022 18:33
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Cool Kids Club Soda posted:Thanks, those are a lot of the same conclusions I ended up with yesterday too. The beep code was probably the most reassuring thing to happen, since at least it seemed consistent and narrowed down what specifically I should look at. It was also the point where I decided that getting more cover letters written & resumes out is more important in the immediate future than trying to solve this RIGHT NOW. No it can happen. Beep codes or error codes can trigger at any point, they’re just more likely at boot as boot does specific tests that will trigger error codes. Memory beeping is more common when in use than CPU, but certainly possible.
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Aug 26, 2022 18:48
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The more you know! 🤜🤛
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Aug 26, 2022 19:09
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FCKGW posted:Tens of thousands of people edit video on Dell workstations every day just fine, not sure what you mean by that. Yeah this. Those Puget computers are like 2x the price of what I'm looking at. I can easily run Da Vinci / Premier (albeit annoyingly slow) on my 5 year old laptop from my own computer or remote edit bays. Just in my 10 mins of searching yesterday, I was seeing prebuilt gamer desktops from HP and CyberPower that start with more than enough power to video edit and are starting at around $1200-1300. I'm just seeing if any companies have bad reputation over the last 5 years or so for prebuilt. If not, cool!
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Aug 26, 2022 20:21
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WerthersWay posted:Yeah this. Those Puget computers are like 2x the price of what I'm looking at. I can easily run Da Vinci / Premier (albeit annoyingly slow) on my 5 year old laptop from my own computer or remote edit bays. Just in my 10 mins of searching yesterday, I was seeing prebuilt gamer desktops from HP and CyberPower that start with more than enough power to video edit and are starting at around $1200-1300. I'm just seeing if any companies have bad reputation over the last 5 years or so for prebuilt. If not, cool! I imagine a lot of those people on dell machines aren't buying them themselves because they're work machines and don't care about whether or not you can upgrade them down the line, longevity of components when not cooled properly, proprietary connectors, etc. Gamer's Nexus is a youtube channel that does a very good job at being impartial and evidence-based. If you're thinking of just buying a prebuilt 'gaming' pc with maybe a little extra RAM, they do reviews of prebuilts there and you might find something that works for you. There are definitely prebuilt companies to avoid, you hear about nightmares but because I'm not a prebuilt person I didn't commit the brands to memory. Isn't IBUYPOWER bad?
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Aug 26, 2022 20:28
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Yeah Gamers Nexus is a decent source since they include Adobe Premier in all their tests for the video editing folks. IIRC they got an ABS pc that was quite decent and not insanely expensive.
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Aug 26, 2022 21:30
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VelociBacon posted:I imagine a lot of those people on dell machines aren't buying them themselves because they're work machines and don't care about whether or not you can upgrade them down the line, longevity of components when not cooled properly, proprietary connectors, etc. Generally yes, ibuypower is bad. The only ones that are decent are ultra premium only like falcon northwest, or smaller companies (skytech has some ok stuff). Again, there’s significantly more collective knowledge on prebuilts in the PC building thread, and they’ll tell you exactly what to buy.
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Aug 26, 2022 22:21
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what's the favorite or recommended laser printer these days? Home use, B&W, ideally with wifi, only occasional printing needed.
the tingler fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Sep 1, 2022 |
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Sep 1, 2022 15:51
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the tingler posted:what's the favorite or recommended laser printer these days? Home use, B&W, ideally with wifi, only occasional printing needed. It's old and not current anymore but I've had such amazing luck with my Brother HL-3170CDW that I would be looking for a replacement Brother product if this one broke.
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Sep 1, 2022 16:27
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I also have a Brother bw laser printer and have zero complaints. I'd just get whatever their entry level model is these days.
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Sep 1, 2022 16:31
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Party Boat posted:I also have a Brother bw laser printer and have zero complaints. I'd just get whatever their entry level model is these days. Same. I’ve had it it for like 3 years and it works perfectly every 6 months when I need to print
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Sep 1, 2022 16:32
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i bought some samsung one off facebook market for a tenner. works great, those things are built like tanks.
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Sep 1, 2022 16:42
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I actually came to this thread to ask for a printer rec, that's convenient I usually hit up various "best X in 2022" lists and look for common threads but there aren't any. There's usually some HP models, some Canon models, and maybe a Brother model or two (The Press doesn't seem that into them?), and they all have completely unique and indecipherable model numbers
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Sep 1, 2022 21:48
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Just FYI, there is a dedicated printer thread, too. It tends to be pretty slow, but could be a good place to ask. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3862377&pagenumber=13#lastpost
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Sep 1, 2022 22:01
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Oh hey it turns out I bought the updated version of the printer in the OP (HL-L2350DW). Like most people these days I print a handful of pages per year but when I need a printer I need it to work immediately and it's never let me down
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Sep 1, 2022 22:09
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 02:53 |
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the tingler posted:what's the favorite or recommended laser printer these days? Home use, B&W, ideally with wifi, only occasional printing needed. The Brother lasers are great, and toner tends to be reasonable-ish and easily available. Here's some testing from wirecutter. Might point you in a decent direction. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laser-printer/
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Sep 1, 2022 22:34
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