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The General PC Questions Thread

Alright Lads need to find a Laptop in the range of 300 - 400, I dunno wether to get a Dual Core or a Core 2 Duo, i need it to be good Laptop which can last me about 5 years with good performance standards around 2GBRAM and 160HD(120 is acceptable) anyone seen anything like what i'm looking for?
 
check this out: only 449

http://hotukdeals.com/visit/?m=28&q=139837

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
SUPPORT SERVICES 1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Included - No Upgrade Selected
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
MEMORY 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x1024 + 1x2048 MB)
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
 
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Bitter Rivals said:
coopz go for an intel cpu and matching 775 socket motherboard

either a dual core or quad core intel depending on budget, get a motherboard which has onboard graphics but also has a pcie slot for future upgrades if need be

the motherboard will come with sata controllers, make sure the motherboard you buy still has some ide connections aswell so you can run your old hardrives, or use them as external hardrives in a caddy etc

get some ddr2 800mhz ram 2 gig of it

no point upgrading your system, if only getting a cpu and motherboard, you need decent ram aswell, if you are using the old ddr, then you might aswell spend another £50 and get ddr2 so you don't have a bottleneck in the system
Click to expand...

i have only just seen this reply :))

ill look into it

i only have SDRAM in mine ;))
 
Spunk_of_MJ said:
check this out: only 449

http://hotukdeals.com/visit/?m=28&q=139837

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
SUPPORT SERVICES 1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Included - No Upgrade Selected
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
MEMORY 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x1024 + 1x2048 MB)
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
Click to expand...

Comes out to 530 :( my bro's only willing to go max 450"ish" and thats if its a monster of a laptop
 
Tim7 said:
Hey guys,

My wheel scroll doesn't work on my mouse that I connect to my laptop :SS. I had a Dell PS2 mouse and that one didn't work, now I have a TVR Car mouse that is USB and the scroll still isn't working. It works as a button when you click the wheel in (i.e. opening link in new tab in FireFox), but when I just scroll the mouse to move screen up and down, nothing happens? I guess it's a setting on my PC somewhere? Or even that I need a new mouse driver, but I have just downloaded one and that didn't work...
Click to expand...
Right, back to this again. I've now plugged my USB mouse into a USB to PS/2 converter and into my laptop via a PS/2 port. Now, it's recognised it as a Optical Wheel Mouse, which is good, as it's now working, HOWEVER... When I scroll the wheel, it just goes down a few lines then back up a few lines, and keeps repeating this? It's fucking mental :((.
 
you can check the settings on control panel,mouse then click wheel, mine is set to "The following number of lines at time:4".
 
Yeah I checked that, I don't have the number of lines one, I just have an "Enable vertical scrolling" checkbox, which is checked...
 
This is totally random but can anyone tell me something about this? These are the stats from my router. The speed is the most I can get so not too bothered about that, it's the other stuff. I have no idea if it's good or bad.

Connection Speed: 4744 kbps DOWN / 1019 kbps UP
Line Attenuation: 53 db / 16 db
Noise Margin: 5 db / 5 db
 
Line Attenuation the lower the better becuase bacisally this is the distance from your house to the exchange so your 53db is pretty poor

Noise is more complicated but its kinda like the quailty but this is the higher the better and yours is OK
 
Usually ISPs have a description about what it means, and tell you if the numbers are withing normal parameters. You should be able to check those in the ISP's website on your account.
 
oh yeah i just found this. This is what a bad Line Attenuation does for you.

So at 53db your getting 3 times less speed than you could be

But mine is only 27.5 so i can hit full speed

Attenuation.............Approximate Line Length............Potential Connection Speed
32db...................................2.3km.....................................16000kbps
35db...................................2.5km.....................................14500kbps
40db...................................2.9km.....................................11800kbps
45db...................................3.2km.......................................8500kbps
50db...................................3.6km.......................................6500kbps
55db...................................4.0km.......................................4500kbps
60db...................................4.3km.......................................3200kbps
65db...................................4.7km.......................................2000kbps
 
Thanks Coopz/Revan, I appreciate that.

So there's nothing you can do to change it if you live X far away from the exchange? I've read a few things saying, plug into the test socket, remove the ring-wire, but I don't know if it's worth it.
 
thats only for the noise JB so wont help much at all becuase your noise is ok anyway
 
I currently use an attenuator for my Virgin broadband which is just a little device that screws between the line in and the receiver. It boosts the attenuation between the exchange and your receiver. It worked because my Internet had signal drop out if I connected it upstairs and had my TV connected to it downstairs, as the the TV hogged the connection. Sometimes I had no connection to a very poor connection with this set up. So I popped the attenuator on and now get a really strong connection. This may in fact boost your signal regardless of how far you are away. Also, cable companies tend to charge about £80 for them, but I picked one up for about a tenner from my local DIY shop.

There are also signal boosters available for sky/cable on eBay.

Other than buying anything all I can say is try moving your Internet connection downstairs
 
PC Help

Hi guys, not sure where else to turn as cannot find any thing to help me!

I have been given a PC quite decent, wont go into details, but i cannot seem to watch some video from net? Youtube works, and so does avi files dvd's etc on my pc. When I click on southernfm.com (my local radio sattion) to listen online this doesnt work, says connecting and then ready, also other videos that are using WMP also do the same. Programs like sopcast and tvu player do this also, no video plays??

So...I tried to reinstall windows on this PC to stop this problem and get rid of whatever the previous owner had done but I cannot install windows, keeps trying to install, restarts, anfd then gives me a blue screen saying I need to restart the PC and then nothing happens? Tried a system restore but this has been turned off and there is no restore disk, please can someone help me with either a vidoe problem or tell me how I can get this back to its original states as I cant seem to re install windows!

ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!
 
How are you installing Windows?
Try a complete format. Maybe Windows is trying to install himself into bad disk sectors. A complete format should take care of that. It takes a while though, the bigger the HD the longer it takes.
 
hey revan, how do i do that, will that wipe everything off the pc thats on it at the moment?
am trying to install windows by inserting disk and then following instructions, not trying to upgrade but the other option!
 
alexperez said:
hey revan, how do i do that, will that wipe everything off the pc thats on it at the moment?
am trying to install windows by inserting disk and then following instructions, not trying to upgrade but the other option!
Click to expand...

Whenever someone is installing I always recomend doing a clean install, simply because that way you avoid errors that may have been present before.
Clean install includes formating the hard drive. Formating the hard drive will erase everything from the computer, meaning it's a fresh start.
I'm gonna copy and paste here something I have written a long time ago about installing windows.

Revan said:
...
Don’t forget, when formatting your HD you will lose all data! Also make a complete format, and not a quick one, and use NTFS, forget that FAT exists.
After the backup is done, it’s time to check your drivers. You should have your drivers, either in installation CDs or if you don’t, go online and get them before you continue because after the installation you might not able to access the Internet, because you lack drivers for your NIC (Network Interface Card). You might even install a program that makes a backup of all your drivers into one file and after you install the Operating System you install the program and use that same backup to restore your drivers.
If you are installing Windows XP on a laptop use the installation CD’s that came with it. If you don’t have the CDs that usually contain, besides the OS, drivers and software, head over to the laptop’s manufacturer website and find the appropriate software for your laptop. Check your laptop model to find the appropriate software.
Installing Windows, Clean Install “The only way”
Insert you Windows XP CD into the drive. Restart the PC.
• If your computer does not start from the Windows XP CD if you insert it and then restart the computer, do the following:
1. Restart your computer with the CD still inserted in the drive.
2. When the computer restarts, look very carefully at what the initial screen shows. Look for an option such as <F10> Boot Order or Press DEL to enter setup and press the key which is noted (e.g. the Delete key). There are many different variations, so please see your computer manual if you are unsure which button you need to press.
3. Find the options relating to Boot Order, Boot Sequence or similar. Ensure that your CD drive is first in the boot order by following the instructions on-screen.
4. Once satisfied that your CD is first in the boot order, save your changes and restart the computer. It should now start from the Windows XP installation CD.
Now after that’s done, during boot you will be asked to press any key to boot from the Windows XP installation CD. Press any key and you’ll enter the Windows XP setup screen in text mode. Follow the instructions until you reach the point of choosing partitions. If you only have one partition choose it. Then you’ll be given the options to format the partition as either FAT or NTFS. Choose NTFS, ignore FAT, and do not choose (quick), choose the option that hasn’t got (quick) next to it. Now remember after you confirm everything the setup will completely wipe out any data you have in that partition. Right after the formatting, setup files will be copied to hard drive and the PC will reboot. You can remove the Window XP CD now. If you don’t remove the CD, at least do not boot from the CD again, just let it run. Eventually you will reach the graphical portion of the installation were you will be asked to set some installation options that are pretty self-explanatory, like choosing the time zone, setting the type of keyboard you use and configure users that are going to use the system.
Click to expand...

Like I said i've written this a long time ago. If you have any questions just ask.
 
Guys,

At the moment I have 2 IDE devices (DVD Drive and DVDRW Drive) connecting to my PCs motherboard, and I now want to add a third, a new 80GB hard drive. So I need an IDE cable with 4 connections on it, one for each device, plus one to my motherboard. Does such a cable exist? The most I've seen so far on one cable is only 3 connections :((. If such a cable does not exist, then is there any way to connect a 4th IDE device without unplugging one of the current 2?

Cheers.
 
In your case, I supose you have 2 optical drives and 2 disks already! Right?
If you have only one HDD, then use the same cable and set it to slave.

Do you have SATA?
 
as Revan said, you must have another ide slot. as far as i know, you can only attach 2 devices to each slot, which would make a total of 4.

if you mobo was bought in the last couple of years, you probably have a few SATA sockets there too. have a look. it's about half and inch long, and looks like an 'L' shape...
 
failing that, you can buy a SATA card that attaches to a spare pci slot in your computer - that will definitely solve your problems if you have no SATAs...

also, you could always backup your (assuming you have) 2 IDE hard drives and buy one larger one - that would free up another slot...
 
Cheers guys, I unplugged the DVD drive, so now I have connected a DVD-RW drive and my new HDD. Works a treat :TU:.
 
ARGH, please help me, I've been trying to fix this for two hours and now I officially give up. :(

FM2009 was running a bit slow so I uninstalled ten old games from the PC, installed the new NVIDIA drivers and grabbed the new DirectX that was released a week ago. I also downloaded the new Java (I was using 1.6 update 9, when update 10 is now available). FM2009 is running a bit better now, which is great, but unfortunately I've developed one problem, and it's really getting on my nerves.

When I do a Google search in Firefox, all of the text on the page appears in bold (meaning that you can't see the highlighted search terms in each website blurb)...

googlebastardgooglemk0.jpg


So I did a Google search in Internet Explorer, thinking that it might be a Firefox problem, and in IE everything appears in italic!!

googlebastardgoogleagaixa2.jpg


Thinking that it was "obviously" a Java problem, I uninstalled Java completely and removed all of the plugin leftovers (and used CCleaner to remove all registry entries). I'm typing this now without Java installed and it's exactly the same.

Now obviously you can't uninstall DirectX, and I don't want to uninstall these NVIDIA drivers because they make FM2009 run a bit smoother. But surely it can't be those things at fault anyway?

What's really weird is that it seems like the only site to have a problem is Google. All the other sites run fine, although I did notice that with Java installed sometimes the "Java test" site will work, other times it will say I haven't got Java installed.

What's going on?!

EDIT: Oh crap, it happens on the Tranmere website and the Play.com website as well.

:CRY:
 
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Thank you, that's exactly what it was - apparently the Arial font became corrupted somewhere in-between uninstalling 10gb of games and defragmenting the drive. I'm a bit concerned another file will have got corrupt along the way, but it was definitely corrupt because I tried to use Arial in Wordpad as a test and it would only let me type in italic or bold.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the advice. And also, love the avatar, Lugia for the win. :D
 
Another question...

I've just got a really dodgy email:

High quality good service!
i would like to introduce a good company who trades mainly in electornic products.
Now the company is under sales promotion,all the products are sold nearly at its cost.
They provide the best service to customers,they provide you with original products of
good quality,and what is more,the price is a surprising happiness to you!
It is realy a good chance for shopping.just grasp the opportunity,Now or never!
The web address: www.bj-trade.com
Click to expand...

I know it's spam and everyone gets spam, BUT... The "sender" field states my email address, and the "sent to" field states everyone who is, or ever has been, on my MSN list.

Along with that I've had six "delivery status notification (failure)" messages where it's tried to send to email addresses that no longer exist.

Unfortunately a few people have received it (really fucking sorry), but I've scanned the PC and there's no viruses on it according to Avast. I'm very careful and I've not had many viruses in my life, usually the anti-virus picks it up. So I'm almost certain it isn't a virus.

I've had this happen to me in the past, and I've seen it happen to others as well. Can someone tell me, has this happened because of a virus on my computer, or has it somehow been done via a Hotmail server?

I feel like a total arsehole, I'm sure the email hasn't got a virus in it (no attachments or anything) but still, shit.
 
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