Request for leave

[SA1911a1]

My computer died and I had to revive an old on. It is so slow that It takes literally 15 minutes to boot, and a minute to change screens here..If you don't hear from me, I may not be dead, so don't start the wake without me.

[millman]

[ffuries]

My computer died and I had to revive an old on. It is so slow that It takes literally 15 minutes to boot, and a minute to change screens here..If you don't hear from me, I may not be dead, so don't start the wake without me.

Run disk cleanup, defrag, and clear you internet history/cache. Plus since it takes so long to boot up and load, I'd leave it on. My old laptop was this way, so leaving it on allowed me access to needed files and the internet quicker.

Plus you can download the free version of CCleaner and run it, you'll be surprised how many orphaned files it'll find.

Or you can make a Panama City run, drop it off with me, and I can run the cleanup and all for you, while you and misses grab lunch and all.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Wake? You mean the looting raid on your house to grab all the guns?

[qz2026]

The best thing to do is to fix your PC... With your old PC if this is what you are left with, then it might be a good idea to replace your C:\ drive with an SSD. You can get software to clone your current drive to the new one. For an older PC, depending on how old it really is, a change to a solid state drive is like night and day. I'd stay away from ccleaner. It will drop all kinds of tracking programs on your PC.

And, really, no PC ever truly dies. Only some parts might fail and would need to be replaced. Of course that depends on how old the PC is and the availability of parts. But, parts are much easier to find for PC's (and cheaper) than for Mosins Worst case is that you buy a new PC and depending on your needs this could be cheap or relatively expensive.

[SA1911a1]

The best thing to do is to fix your PC... With your old PC if this is what you are left with, then it might be a good idea to replace your C:\ drive with an SSD. You can get software to clone your current drive to the new one. For an older PC, depending on how old it really is, a change to a solid state drive is like night and day. I'd stay away from ccleaner. It will drop all kinds of tracking programs on your PC.

And, really, no PC ever truly dies. Only some parts might fail and would need to be replaced. Of course that depends on how old the PC is and the availability of parts. But, parts are much easier to find for PC's (and cheaper) than for Mosins Worst case is that you buy a new PC and depending on your needs this could be cheap or relatively expensive.

I bought the computer that failed from Amazon in August. 90 day warranty... It was "reconditioned to like new." It powered down instantly with no warning. I did check the power supply to the box and it was good. Are these things fused on the inside. The failure was what you would expect if a fuse blew. The one that I am typing on now is about 15 years old, it has nothing going for it except as a backup.

I will say this; it waited until a few seconds after I backed up the inventory that I had spend all afternoon working on; so I appreciated that.

So what is the advice, do I take the box to the gurus at Bust Buy?

[millman]

My old computer got like yours, and was so slow as to be useless. Not wanting to buy a new one, I simply bought a $200 Samsung tablet. I did eventually buy a new computer, but I still use the tablet for about 90% of my computer needs.

[SA1911a1]

My old computer got like yours, and was so slow as to be useless. Not wanting to buy a new one, I simply bought a $200 Samsung tablet. I did eventually buy a new computer, but I still use the tablet for about 90% of my computer needs.

The only reason that I don't do that is that I need a full-sized keyboard to work. I touch type, but I am horrible at hunt and peck. I am going to town tomorrow and I will take the box and see what the experts say. Hopefully it is something simple. I hate to have paid $300.00 for the box and have it last less than five months. My tightwad Scottish heart breaks at the very thought.

[qz2026]

Sounds like a power supply to me. How do you know it is not the power supply that is the issue? Did you check the voltages of the wires coming out of it? Could be a mother board or the CPU however. It's pretty difficult to diagnose these things. Even a $300 computer should not crash and burn like that. One of those three things failed. The easiest thing to do is to open the box up and check all the electrical connections first to see if they are plugged in. There's really a ton of things that could have caused this failure.

[tomaustin]

with all the stuff qz threw at you, unplug it, take it down to the local guru, and get an evaluation......

[millman]

Not a problem. You can get a fullsize Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I got a case that makes it like a mini laptop. I can use the mouse or the mouse pad on the case. I got the 10 inch tablet which is good all around, but I'll get a 12 next time.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I never fix computers, or buy new ones. When they shit the bed they go out the window. I go to Amazon, or Walmart.com and buy a refurbished off lease PC for around a hundred bucks and they last ne six years each on average. I am not a gamer, or running a business off my computer, email, Craigslist, the board, netflix, that pretty much sums up my internet activities. No way I am paying full retail for any computer, or paying to have an old shitbox fixed.

[SA1911a1]

So I took the computer to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. It was a waste of time and gasoline. Some 20 year old, who obviously didn't want to be there, looked at it, and without any diagnostics, said that it "might be" the power supply, or the mother board, but since it would not come up, he had no way to confirm that (I guess they don't have a multi-meter to check the power supply and I didn't tell him that mights were the little bugs on bird's asses) I asked him if he had a power supply...Nope. I asked him could he order a power supply....nope. Although my computer is an HP and they sell HPs...

I looked at new HPs in the place and found one that I could live with and asked if they could load it with Windows 10 instead of 11...nope. He also suggested that I not buy the HP but a higher priced unit....

I thought that it was either the power switch or the power supply and more likely the power supply, so I rolled the dice and bought one on Amazon. It took all of about three minutes to swap out; everything is modular and really well designed. So I am back! It cost almost exactly what the sales tax would have been on a new one. Yesterday, I could not even spell coupeter teknition, now I is one.

I hate lousy service, I despise bullshit advertising, and now I add Best Buy to my "kiss my ass list."

[Junk Yard Dog]

and people wonder why I never go into the stores anymore and only buy online? That little shitbird would be in the hospital and me bordin' with the warden. Never buy a new computer when you can get one of the cheap refurbished ones. it busts and out the window it goes, and I order the next one. Customer service......I could go on a serious rant here, more combinations that include the word " fuck" than you have ever heard, but I am supposed to be watching my blood pressure.

[Darryl]

If you are going to go to the Geek Squat (not a typo) for repairs, you might as well try and hire a homeless person to do your tech work.

I took my iPhone to Geek Squat for a new battery. They made me make an appointment to get it replaced. So, I did. When I got there (2 days later) I was told they don't do it there and send it to Apple repair station and it will take 3 days. So, why did I have to make an appointment? Just to have them tell me that? Also, it was around $80. So I got pissed off and bought a battery off ebay and installed it watching a You Tube video in about 5 minutes. Battery was around $8.

Steve, I wish you were closer to me here in California (well, maybe I should move out there!). I can fix anything PC wise. I'm retired three years now and was director of IT. I also built all our computers from components except for the big servers. We had some "HOT" computers because they had to run the latest version of Autocadd 3D drafting software.

You can build a computer (NEW) from around $300. Now, .... that won't run AutoCadd...

Repairing the mechanical part of a computer is the easy part. The damn software it the hard part.
I have all the test equipment to fix them also, ............. like power supply testers. Just plug in your power supply's cables and it test everything all at one time.

Oh and Steve, if you can run Windows 10 then you can run Windows 11.

Darryl

[SA1911a1]

If you are going to go to the Geek Squat (not a typo) for repairs, you might as well try and hire a homeless person to do your tech work.

I took my iPhone to Geek Squat for a new battery. They made me make an appointment to get it replaced. So, I did. When I got there (2 days later) I was told they don't do it there and send it to Apple repair station and it will take 3 days. So, why did I have to make an appointment? Just to have them tell me that? Also, it was around $80. So I got pissed off and bought a battery off ebay and installed it watching a You Tube video in about 5 minutes. Battery was around $8.

Steve, I wish you were closer to me here in California (well, maybe I should move out there!). I can fix anything PC wise. I'm retired three years now and was director of IT. I also built all our computers from components except for the big servers. We had some "HOT" computers because they had to run the latest version of Autocadd 3D drafting software.

You can build a computer (NEW) from around $300. Now, .... that won't run AutoCadd...

Repairing the mechanical part of a computer is the easy part. The damn software it the hard part.
I have all the test equipment to fix them also, ............. like power supply testers. Just plug in your power supply's cables and it test everything all at one time.

Oh and Steve, if you can run Windows 10 then you can run Windows 11.

Darryl

Darryl, if I had my choice, I would still be running DOS..../fr ;)

[Darryl]

Darryl, if I had my choice, I would still be running DOS..../fr ;)

Hey, I have a copy of DOS 1.0
Problem is, it's on 5 1/4 floppy dish!

My first computer was a 8088 clone running DOS. I used it to print out invoices for a maintenance / repair company I was running. I had to write the program in Basic!

Jumped over the 286 and 386 to a 486 and though I was in heaven!

Darryl

[SA1911a1]

Darryl, if I had my choice, I would still be running DOS..../fr ;)

Hey, I have a copy of DOS 1.0
Problem is, it's on 5 1/4 floppy dish!

My first computer was a 8088 clone running DOS. I used it to print out invoices for a maintenance / repair company I was running. I had to write the program in Basic!

Jumped over the 286 and 386 to a 486 and though I was in heaven!

Darryl
[/quote]

When I upgraded to the 8088, I thought that I was the man! Do you remember the floppies before the 5 1/4"? They were about 8" square. I never used one, but I remember seeing them around. I remember trying to convince an employer to purchase me a computer to do construction estimates on, I remember him commenting that he wasn't buying something for his employees to play games on.... It took a while, but he ended up with one on his desk too.

When I was a senior in High School, I worked for the state in the division that handled WC and UC claims. We had the state of the art computer, the IBM 360. The thing took up the space of a couple of large conference rooms and took a gazillion tons of AC to keep cool. Data storage was on reel to reel and I am thinking, but not certain, that the data input was punch cards. The obsolete computer that I am on now would blow that thing out of the water. It is amazing how much has changed in the last fifty years. Now I am waiting for my community to get high-speed internet, the DSL phone line is about as fast as putting the bits and bytes in a bucket and hand carrying them to the downstream computer. It will be a while before fiber comes to poor rural areas, and it holds us back.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Fifty years? 1973, we had people walking around on the moon, combat operations stopped in Vietnam, we had a crook for a president but at least the red Chinese seemed to respect him. Cannon, Streets of San Fransisco, Waltons, and a show about a junk man, Sanford and Son, TV I would watch. Arab oil embargo made sure we drove less and stayed home to watch TV more, wood burning stoves became very popular and I am still feeding that today. I could eat any shit I wanted and fuck the sugar, salt, and cholesterol, nothing hurting all the time, I could climb mountains without it being an invitation to a heart attack. So many of my old friends and family were still here. Got a way back machine? Count me in, I want to go back even if it means putting up with Disco for another decade, the shitty post embargo economy is something I am used to. Oh, I forgot, no Covid, and while there was lots of political crap going on down in DshitholeC at least I understood what most of it was about.

[Darryl]

For me, I'm glade those days are gone!

Darryl