Intermittent problems
in [Computer]
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From: Jeff Strickland on 23 May 2010 17:27 "James D. Andrews" <jamesdandrews(a)att.net> wrote in message news:htbqai$7u5$1(a)adenine.netfront.net... > > "Jeff Strickland" <crwlrjeff(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:ht9e04$s6t$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... >> I bought a motherboard at Fry's last week (Tue., 05/18) for $38.25 that >> included the CPU _ and_ has a $10 mail-in rebate dropping the price to >> $28.25. It's a pretty nice board for a non-gamer -- which with what >> you're running now, you have to be. And if you _are_ gaming with that >> machine and getting by, the board I got from Fry's will change your life >> and improve your scores. >> > > > Sweet deal, Jeff. What CPU did it come with? I wish I knew more about this stuff ... It's a G31. The box says, Intel Celeron E3300 Dual Core, running at 800Mhz. The price on the box (motherboard box) says $47 and change, but I don't know if this includes the processor or not. The processor box has no price on it but it does have a stock tag. The processor is a separate line item on the cash register receipt, but Fry's would list the staples on the box as a seperate item if htey could.
From: Paul on 23 May 2010 18:06 UCLAN wrote: > > Thanks. It's looking more and more like a new base PC is in order. I'm > quickly getting tired of chasing the glitches in this one. They put brand new glitches in each one :-) Good luck with your next one. In terms of the new ones, some of the integrated graphics solutions include video playback acceleration. For example, an AMD 785G chipset has video playback acceleration. Some Nvidia based ones might as well, but I don't know how prevalent they are now. That would be a bit different, than what was included in something like a KM400 or the like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series ("UVD") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo (Geforce 8300, ION, "VP3") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HD_Graphics (GMA X4500HD, G45, maybe core i3?) http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/01/25/intel-gma-hd-graphics-performance/6 Intel chipsets claim to be catching up, but with the lack of frequent reviews of features like that, it is hard to tell whether they're becoming more equal or not. In terms of RAM, RAM is becoming more expensive again. We had a nice dip in prices that existed for a while. DDR2 and DDR3 are roughly about the same price, so there isn't much benefit to either one, in terms of keeping the price down. I still recommend buying pre-built computers, that look like home made ones. The idea there, is if it breaks, you can use standard components to repair or upgrade it. I'm not a big fan of "slim" computers, where you can't find expansion cards to fit it properly, don't have enough power or air cooling. Naturally, everyone sees this differently, in terms of priorities. I like the ability, with my collection of junk, to take cards out of one machine, and plug them into another, which is why I stay with the mid-tower format. Paul
From: UCLAN on 24 May 2010 13:54 Jeff Strickland wrote: >>Drive D: is labelled as "HP Recovery." What will this do? > > Yep, that's the one you want. You should be able to invoke its services with > an F Key during boot-time. If you can't see the opportunity for the F Key, > then you need to go into the BIOS -- again, this is a boot-time option -- > and find a setting that displays the Power On screen. I've been trying different "F Keys" during boot-up. No luck. Still can't get into BIOS or "HP Recovery." I'll keep trying.
From: JD on 24 May 2010 14:48 On 24/05/2010 6:54 PM, UCLAN wrote: > Jeff Strickland wrote: > >>> Drive D: is labelled as "HP Recovery." What will this do? >> >> Yep, that's the one you want. You should be able to invoke its >> services with an F Key during boot-time. If you can't see the >> opportunity for the F Key, then you need to go into the BIOS -- again, >> this is a boot-time option -- and find a setting that displays the >> Power On screen. > > I've been trying different "F Keys" during boot-up. No luck. Still > can't get into BIOS or "HP Recovery." > > I'll keep trying. it could be in a menu such as "Press F12 for boot options" then "Recovery Partition" or something similar. if that does not work you may have to mark the recovery partition as active: go to your Control Panel > Administration Tools > Computer Management > Disk Managment then right click your D: drive (or the recovery partition) and then select mark partition Active, you should now be able to use F11 to recover/restore your machine. JD
From: Jeff Strickland on 24 May 2010 14:51
"UCLAN" <invalid(a)invalid.com> wrote in message news:85vspjFi89U1(a)mid.individual.net... > Jeff Strickland wrote: > >>>Drive D: is labelled as "HP Recovery." What will this do? >> >> Yep, that's the one you want. You should be able to invoke its services >> with an F Key during boot-time. If you can't see the opportunity for the >> F Key, then you need to go into the BIOS -- again, this is a boot-time >> option -- and find a setting that displays the Power On screen. > > I've been trying different "F Keys" during boot-up. No luck. Still > can't get into BIOS or "HP Recovery." > > I'll keep trying. If you see the Windows Welcome Screen, you missed your opportunity. There is a very small window of opportunity to invoke the System Recovery operation that resides on Drive D. You need to repeatedly press F10 starting when you turn the power switch to ON -- I _think_ it's the F10 Key. When you set the power switch to ON, the machine does a Power ON Self Test and then loads the BIOS. I suppose it might load the BIOS then do the tests. In any case, to get into the BIOS (also called Setup), you press ESC or DELETE or F1 -- depending on the system -- and look through the settings for one that allows the tests to be displayed onscreen as they are taking place. Computer makers think that people don't want to see this stuff going on, so they set it to not be displayed. Dislaying the tests as they proceed does not slow the process of starting up, and disabling the display only makes the screen remain off (black) instead of showing the progress of the tests. The entry point of the system recovery is shown during the tests, so if the tests are set to not be displayed, then you do not get to see the system recovery entry point. The entry point is still there, but you don't get to see it. So, you can switch the machine ON, then tap the F10 Key until either the Windows Welcome Screen appears or the System Recovery prompt comes up. If the Windows Welcome comes up, then power down and back up and tap the F11 Key. To open the BIOS, do the same thing, but tap the ESC Key, DELETE Key, and F1 Key each successive time the machine is booting. |