PC Problems

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Horus
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PC Problems

Post by Horus »

As of now I am having major PC problems, I may be able to keep in touch via this flakey laptop, but maybe not. So I may be gone a while until I get things sorted again, thinking it may involve a new PC :(
Keep chatting :up


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Re: PC Problems

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Can't stand it when the PC or TV starts to act up. I feel so unable to FIX them and they do epitomize built in obsolescence.
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

Get the semaphore flags out mate :lol: :lol:
:gg:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Been messing with it all day with no real luck, the problem is it is quite an old machine, but it did everything I needed as it was a good spec when I bought it many years ago. This laptop seems to be holding up after a very slow start, mind you I have not used it for ages so it was probably updating itself. I will miss my desktop for my photography as I hate using laptops although there may be a temporary fix around it, but I have had enough of PC's for one day :evil:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

Horus, do you not have a re-install disc? or Ctrl>F8 reboot? I think that was the keys I used to use on my old machine but I am sure you will have tried any such shortcuts...
:gg:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Back again after jury rigging a passable fix for now :)
Connected my WI-Fi directly into the laptop with an Ethernet cable (helps with the internet speed)
Connected up the laptop video output to my main desktop 23" monitor
Plugged my old keyboard into a spare USB slot on the laptop.
Plugged a spare mouse into the Laptop
So now I can look at my normal monitor and type using my normal keyboard and use a mouse as before, the downside is that the laptop is a lot slower and less powerful. Also the screen resolution is a lot higher on my large monitor than the laptop video card can support, so the screen resolution is poorer than it was before, I can get around this a little bit by using Ctrl + - to make the print smaller on the forum. So now after starting up I can just close the screen down on the laptop and do everything else using my old setup of monitor, mouse and keyboard which makes it a far more usable option for me than just the laptop even if things are slower. Hopefully it will see me through until I decide what I am doing desktop wise ;)

Grandad, I just cannot get it to boot in any fashion, there is abigger problem somewhere, maybe a hard drive failure :(
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

Horus wrote:Grandad, I just cannot get it to boot in any fashion, there is a bigger problem somewhere, maybe a hard drive failure :(
Oh I hope not :( Have you done a recent back up?
:gg:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Wasn't having a PC problem today but for most of today I couldn't get onto E4U at all.
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

After so many years Grandad it is hard to know what is backed up and what is not, many things get duplicated and stored in different places, but no doubt that something will go missing. Maybe not a bad thing in some ways as I really do have too much stuff that I tend to hang on to, most photos are fairly safe (I hope) although a few docs may go astray, nothing really important with any luck. The biggest problem is as always reinstalling all the older stuff that needs drivers finding for them and getting all the peripherals working again. :( I may just go down the new clean PC route.
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Kiya »

Oh my !! Hope your all sorted out soon Horus :)
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Thanks Kiya, so far I am getting by with using this laptop, so no real desperation as yet, I am still trying to get my head around where the problem may lie, it could be just about anything at the moment. Unfortunately everything involves throwing money at it and I am loathe to do that as the PC is quite old so anything I do replace will have little use elsewhere should it not solve the problem, The other bit is being forced into using Win 10 if I buy a new PC, so at the moment I am trying to stay rational and have a think about it before I decide on the best action, also something may come to mind that I could try before giving it up entirely. :tk
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Jayway »

Dear Horus, stop messing with all that stuff you do, get in your car and take the thing to " the man ", tell him you are needing it for work (I did) and it gets fixed by next day. If I was asked to describe you I would call you "the man with wires " haaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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Re: PC Problems

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I firmly believe that since the day cyber world started some bright bulb figured out built in obsolescence that there is nothing much can be done about this except buy another one. Guess it helps keep the economy going.

Hope you can figure it all out H. Nothing more frustrating that not to have something you use lots glitch up.
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Jay, I probably know more about PC's than "the man" does :lol:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

Horus, slightly digressing but, I was at a newstand yesterday and saw a magazine, Computer Active, with the front cover showing a bold headline 'Windows 10, the 24 changes you must make'

I thought ah, some good advice on getting the best out of Win 10 and bought the mag. (Only £1.99) Got home and thought, let's get all these whizzy secrets up and running. Doh!

It was little more than such things as 'How to add shortcuts to your desktop' and 'How to change your mouse pointer' etc etc. All stuff that anyone has used a computer from Intel 8086 onwards would know about.

So, if you do get a new machine which will undoubtedly have Win 10 preloaded, you won't have any problems finding your way around, even I didn't. ;) :lol:
:gg:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

The only one I found useful was how to change from double click to single click mouse operation. :up
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Well I have some good news to report :D
I finally whittled it down to "possibly" being a video card problem, so as a last throw of the dice I tried to get my hands on a spare one to test mine out. I was not having much luck and did not want to buy a new one because (1) even a cheap one would set me back about £45 and if it didn't work I would have wasted the money and (2) If I did buy a cheap one it would not be much use to me if I decided to buy a new PC as it would not be a high enough specification. Anyhow I was off shopping when I stopped to chat through my car window to a neighbour and as part of the chat my PC problem came up. In early years I had spent ages teaching this guy to use a PC and to fix all of his many (self inflicted) problems, so I was more than pleased when he said " I have got a couple of Graphics cards somewhere" and offered to dig one out for me.

So after returning from shopping I took Annie out for a walk and when I returned there was an bag stuffed into my letter box and in it was what looked like a brand new card plus a driver disc. I promptly plugged the new card in and switched on .............. Eureka! my PC fired up and after a few minutes of sorting itself out I had a screen once more.
I tried a few things out and everything (touch wood) seems to be working OK, some things seem a tad slower, but that may just be me, or even the PC setting stuff back up again, but at least the graphics seem to be OK again. I am typing this up on my original Desktop PC and throughout the day i will be testing out a few more things.

So on the basis of maybe having saved myself a few hundred quid in not having to replace this PC, I will probably get myself another external hard drive and then spend a few days in making extra backups (I already have another external drive) and then I may reformat this PC and start everything fresh again. So if I have missed anyone’s posts and not commented please accept my apologies as I have been dodging between computers, but hopefully now I am almost back again, time will tell ;)
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Grandad »

Good to hear H and a tip for us all to remember if we have similar problems :up
Did it mean the card had simply gone defunct?

AND, you have reminded me that I have not backed up for a couple of weeks, off to do it now ;)
Last edited by Grandad on Fri Mar 11, 2016 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
:gg:
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Kiya »

What a stroke of luck to meet your friend & getting a card etc from him.....good friend to have :up

Hope your going to be all sorted out now..

I guess you'll be buying a pint or 2 for your friend now :wi
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Re: PC Problems

Post by Horus »

Thanks folks :up and hopefully things will remain OK, although in typical Windows fashion it has insisted on installing loads of updates which keep throwing wobblies before I can get it up and running normally which is a bit of a pain, but just so long as I can get the data transferred I will be happy. Yes Grandad it was totally caused by my Graphics card going faulty and it was only the fact that I noticed a certain series of ‘beeps’ emanating from the dead machine when I tried to boot it up that I started to investigate what this ‘Beep Code’ may actually mean. All ‘Bios’ manufacturers will incorporate their own beep code into their boards to enable trouble shooting on new machines. Have you ever noticed for example if you leave something resting on your keyboard when you switch on that you usually get a rapid series of beeps? That is a beep code informing you of a keyboard problem. I gleaned enough information to point me towards a faulty Graphics card and as luck would have it that was the problem.

Kiya, I know that this may sound awful, but he is actually a pain in the arse and if anything it is him who should be buying my beer for all the things I have done for him over the years. :lol: To be fair to him I did offer to pay him for the board, but he declined and said I could do him a return favour and take him to and from the garage when his car goes in for repair, so fair exchange is no robbery as we say around here. :up
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