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WHSmithIV
1 October 2014, 05:09
To everyone in this forum,

I am a computer engineer and I am the computer repair company in this sparsely populated valley here in Idaho.

I offer all of you members of this forum free information and advice should you run into a problem with your computers. I will not suggest you spend a dime that isn't necessary. If you have a problem, contact me and I will help you fix it. I'll call you if needed while you are at your computer. IF companies are begging you for money for anything DO NOT PAY them. You don't need what they are offering for your own personal computer. Web space does have to be paid for if you have a web site and even web space can be found for free.

If you have computer questions, just ask. I've been a computer engineer for over 30 years. Both hardware and software.

-Will-

MoxyDave
1 October 2014, 05:16
Wow, you sir must be a glutton for punishment [:)]

GaSwamper
1 October 2014, 05:48
Mighty fine offer WH. Thanks!

Eric
1 October 2014, 07:55
Go figure, right after I had one that died. I had to give up my Vista OS for Windows 8.1. Any suggestions on a WiFi extender? Thanks for the incredible offer. Hopefully you don't get too abused.

Computalotapus
1 October 2014, 08:02
Go figure, right after I had one that died. I had to give up my Vista OS for Windows 8.1. Any suggestions on a WiFi extender? Thanks for the incredible offer. Hopefully you don't get too abused.


Give Windows 8 a solid month. Take your time and learn it. Its a solid OS unless you are just that attached to the start menu.
I started using 8 when it was at dev release and haven't looked back. Windows 10 dev release is today and I will start using it today. I am in the same business as the OP.

WHSmithIV
4 October 2014, 13:33
Go figure, right after I had one that died. I had to give up my Vista OS for Windows 8.1. Any suggestions on a WiFi extender? Thanks for the incredible offer. Hopefully you don't get too abused.

There are a couple ways to extend WIFI range, but first figure if you actually need to. Without know what/why you would want to extend the range it's hard to suggest what you need to do. In general, WIFI routers will provide signal easily to 150 ft. plus. Most will be good up to 250 ft. reliably. You could simply have a signal obstruction situation and just moving the router 15 ft. will solve it if it's a signal problem you are having in your house.

WHSmithIV
4 October 2014, 13:36
Give Windows 8 a solid month. Take your time and learn it. Its a solid OS unless you are just that attached to the start menu.
I started using 8 when it was at dev release and haven't looked back. Windows 10 dev release is today and I will start using it today. I am in the same business as the OP.

There are some things you can do with Windows 8 that will make it easier and more familiar to use. One of them is to install ClasicShell. It's a free shell utility that will give you a start menu that looks like XP, Vista or Windows 7. That brings back all the easy access points for things like the Control Panel. Just look up ClassicShell in google or go to classicshell.net to download a copy.

UWone77
4 October 2014, 14:39
So the big question?

Factory built?

Or Home built?

[:D]

WHSmithIV
4 October 2014, 16:36
So the big question?

Factory built?

Or Home built?

[:D]

Actually, I have some of both [:)]

Computalotapus
4 October 2014, 20:28
There are some things you can do with Windows 8 that will make it easier and more familiar to use. One of them is to install ClasicShell. It's a free shell utility that will give you a start menu that looks like XP, Vista or Windows 7. That brings back all the easy access points for things like the Control Panel. Just look up ClassicShell in google or go to classicshell.net to download a copy.

MS did the start menu justice in Windows 10. So far been running the developer preview of Windows 10 Enterprise for the last week and really like it. FYI shortcut key in Windows 8 for any power user is "Windows Key + X" ;)

lake1963
4 October 2014, 20:57
i have done the write to zero on my comp several times, and allegedly stopped un needed programs from running. what absolutely HAS to run so i can stop more stuff from slowing me down? lake_eyes1963@yahoo.com thanks for any advice you can give me. it's an e machine, windows 7 home premium. 4.00 GB RAM with 3.75 usable,, 64 bit

deerhurst
7 October 2014, 15:46
Not looking for help, I am a tech for a local shop and studied embedded systems engineering for a couple years before I switched to mechanical engineering tech. I dread the days we get Win 8 and Win Vista machines in at work.

I too am running Win 10 tech preview and I am loving it so far. Switched from Se7en on my primary machine. Some of the stuff is still kinda funky but I can get used to it. Its not liking some of my Win 7 drivers though. At least its not as bad a hacking together drivers for a Toshiba Portege M200 to run win 7 like I did a few years back. Being a Linux user when I can I appreciate the multiple desktops but hate that it always resets to one after boot!

Lake, we would need to know what is running and what you do on it to say what would be safe to disable on boot or not. Do NOT trust most of the software out there that says it can make your computer faster. Some of it does nothing and the rest seems to cause problems. Probably 50% of what I do at work is clean up from those "PC Optimizer!" junkware suites.

Eric
30 October 2014, 01:28
I am awesome! I managed to break yet another computer, this time the Toshiba laptop that's about 7 years old. It was having some display issues already, but now I managed to crack the screen and totally kill it. Oh, and there was a prior cup of coffee on the keyboard issue...

It looks like I'll pick up a lower end replacement, like the ASUS X551MAV-RCLN06, (15.6", 4GB DDR3L Memory, 500GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Intel Celeron N2830) for about $250. I have a strong suspicion that repairing the old one would be pointless, as it wasn't really anything high-end to begin with. It's interesting to see that many of the low end laptops now come without an optical drive and only onboard RAM, with no room for expansion.

Use for this would be email, web surfing, occasional photo editing, occasional DVD playback and Netflix. I'm open to input.

WHSmithIV
30 October 2014, 02:10
Without an optical drive, you won't be playing any DVD's. Since it's an older laptop you can probably get a screen to replace in it for about $50. A keyboard for around $20. PM me the model of your Toshiba. I'll look up what the parts can be had for.

Keep in mind that any new computer now is going to have Windows 8 in it. Also, simply replacing it means you don't get any of your files out of it that you may want - not even your favorites list from your web browser.

If you do decide to go ahead and replace it, let me know. I'll tell you how to get that hard disk out, pack it up and mail it to me. I'll copy whatever files you want from it, put them on optical disks for you or a flash drive and send them back to you. I can connect the laptop drive to my test bench computer and copy whatever you want from it. Again, just let me know the model of your Toshiba so I can give you the correct instructions for removing the hard disk if you want to go that route.

My philosophy for buying a laptop is go as cheap as possible. All the 'bells and whistles' the manufactures want people to pay for are a waste of money because 'most' people use their computers to get on line, check their mail, come to forums like this one, look up something on the net, buy stuff from the net, copy pictures from their camera, print some stuff, use Facebook (and maybe play some of the flash games there), and maybe do video calls with family members. Other than that, some people do use their computer for bookkeeping. Every low price computer on the market will do all these things just fine.

Companies don't make lots of money and salesmen don't make money by telling you this though.

If you're planning on buying a new computer, let me know and I'll check which models are available at really good prices and give you some recommendations. I'll also give you some helpful tips on how to keep your laptop alive the longest.

Spilling coffee on a laptop is a VERY bad idea by the way ;)

Eric
30 October 2014, 12:02
I ended up picking up a new one at a ridiculous price, just $164.09! Staples did a Best Buy price match, let me use a $75 coupon, plus a $5 reward coupon. I'll be able to recover all data from the old one and just transfer files to an external drive.

Low end ASUS (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/7288011.p?id=1219262036899&skuId=7288011) model, but workable for where it will be used.

WHSmithIV
30 October 2014, 13:57
Then you're good to go Eric [:)]

Soisauss
30 October 2014, 18:27
So the big question?

Factory built?

Or Home built?

[:D]

I'm a pc gamer sooooo homebrewed and built :p

camomike
30 October 2014, 20:02
I'm a pc gamer sooooo homebrewed and built :p

Same here. Love building my own. Same problem as black rifle disease. Hey look I found a spare dimm..... turns into hey want to see my new $2k gaming rig?

Thompson
30 October 2014, 22:04
I'm a pc gamer sooooo homebrewed and built :p
Ditto ... I've built 2 thus far ... so I think I'm doing it right.

Smith - curious, WN7 or WN8? I love WN7 (came from the world of Vista ... was a love/hate relationship to say the least).

WHSmithIV
31 October 2014, 02:02
Today I helped an elderly lady fix her computer. She has a Mac and I don't work on those much.

But, I sent her instructions on how to fix it. She didn't dare try them, she was too afraid she'd screw it up more, but, she had her husband contact me. So, I walked her husband through the process with simple chat messages. Lo and behold (and no surprise to me), their Mac is working fine now.

I'm happy to help so, if any of you need help, please just ask me.

David asked me if they could pay me something for my help because this is my business. I said "Nahh, I'm happy to help"

Now that I think about this, I think perhaps the outpouring of offers to send any extra parts lying around for me to build a gun to replace the one ones I had to sell must be because I help people myself as much as I can. I don't know, but it's a thought.

I do so hope all of the winners of Stick's giveaway stay here as participating members of this WEVO forum. Share your knowledge as i will share mine.

I am making many new friends here in WEVO, we can never have too many good friends.

-Will-

ddearmon2010
31 October 2014, 03:08
So the big question?

Factory built?

Or Home built?

[:D]

laptop is factory
PC home built.... I would never buy a desktop from a store

DutyUse
30 July 2015, 23:23
I know I'm reviving an old thread here, but any chance I might be able to take you up on your computer help Will?

We bought a seagate external Hard Drive so we could be assured if anything happened to the computer our wedding photos, kids birthdays etc etc wouldn't be lost. Well our iMac got hit with something and went down hard. No problem, took it to a computer repair store and had them wipe the computer and then reload the apple operating system. Our mac is back up and doing well, but now regardless of how many seagate employees I speak with, or firmware updates I download for this external HD I cannot get to any of our photos. Any ideas?

Computalotapus
31 July 2015, 05:38
I know I'm reviving an old thread here, but any chance I might be able to take you up on your computer help Will?

We bought a seagate external Hard Drive so we could be assured if anything happened to the computer our wedding photos, kids birthdays etc etc wouldn't be lost. Well our iMac got hit with something and went down hard. No problem, took it to a computer repair store and had them wipe the computer and then reload the apple operating system. Our mac is back up and doing well, but now regardless of how many seagate employees I speak with, or firmware updates I download for this external HD I cannot get to any of our photos. Any ideas?

If you open a new finder window and scroll down to devices do you see the Seagate under remote disk? If not do the basic stuff like make sure all the cables are plugged in correctly and what not.

You can try and mount the disk.. open disk utilities Go>Utilities see if the hard drive is listed on the left if you see it underneath it may be the volume, highlight the volume and click on the "mount icon". If you can't click on the mount icon you may have to verify the disk first. If it doesn't verify it will prompt you to repair it. Run the repair after it completes disconnect the drive reboot the mac wait for the desktop then plug in the usb drive it should show on your desktop.

DutyUse
31 July 2015, 07:10
If you open a new finder window and scroll down to devices do you see the Seagate under remote disk? If not do the basic stuff like make sure all the cables are plugged in correctly and what not.

You can try and mount the disk.. open disk utilities Go>Utilities see if the hard drive is listed on the left if you see it underneath it may be the volume, highlight the volume and click on the "mount icon". If you can't click on the mount icon you may have to verify the disk first. If it doesn't verify it will prompt you to repair it. Run the repair after it completes disconnect the drive reboot the mac wait for the desktop then plug in the usb drive it should show on your desktop.


I'll give it a go tonight. Thanks for the great write up I really appreciate it bro

WHSmithIV
31 July 2015, 11:21
If you don't see it in the Mac, plug it into someones Windows machine and see if that pics it up. If that doesn't pick it up, then most likely the USB controller in the external drive box is dead. That doesn't mean the drive itself is dead though. Let me know if Computalotapus's help didn't solve the problem. I can still try recover the pictures for you if that doesn't work and a Windows machine won't see the external drive. You'd just have to mail it here. As long as the drive spins up and the drive controller is OK then all the data can be recovered without much problem.

What happened when you tried to install the firmware updates? Did they actually install?

Canexpat
9 August 2015, 10:14
Message sent Sir.

Eric
23 December 2017, 16:48
I'm reviving this from the dead for some feedback! I have a lower end desktop, Compaq Pavilion 500-336 4GB RAM i3-4130 CPU @ 340GHz, 64 bit Win 10. The thing is getting rather sluggish and likes to freeze up on occasion. I was thinking about trying to rehab it, instead of replacement. Plan: New SSHD (solid state hybrid, 1TB), up the RAM by another 4GB for 8 total, fresh install of the OS on the new HD and then use the the old HD for storage.

Total cost is only about $128. My needs are fairly basic. The usual web surfing, email, video/music streaming, photo editing. Thoughts?

Joelski
23 December 2017, 17:35
I'm reviving this from the dead for some feedback! I have a lower end desktop, Compaq Pavilion 500-336 4GB RAM i3-4130 CPU @ 340GHz, 64 bit Win 10. The thing is getting rather sluggish and likes to freeze up on occasion. I was thinking about trying to rehab it, instead of replacement. Plan: New SSHD (solid state hybrid, 1TB), up the RAM by another 4GB for 8 total, fresh install of the OS on the new HD and then use the the old HD for storage.

Total cost is only about $128. My needs are fairly basic. The usual web surfing, email, video/music streaming, photo editing. Thoughts?Save your money. You can find a better, refurbished box at woot.com for not much more. Newer means compatibility as well as performance; support for older computers is being dropped like a bad habit.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Aragorn
23 December 2017, 17:51
I'm reviving this from the dead for some feedback! I have a lower end desktop, Compaq Pavilion 500-336 4GB RAM i3-4130 CPU @ 340GHz, 64 bit Win 10. The thing is getting rather sluggish and likes to freeze up on occasion. I was thinking about trying to rehab it, instead of replacement. Plan: New SSHD (solid state hybrid, 1TB), up the RAM by another 4GB for 8 total, fresh install of the OS on the new HD and then use the the old HD for storage.

Total cost is only about $128. My needs are fairly basic. The usual web surfing, email, video/music streaming, photo editing. Thoughts?

$128?

How could you go wrong? I have muzzle devices that cost more than that.

FortTom
23 December 2017, 18:15
Just doubling the RAM to 8 gig should breath some new life into it. The new drive and fresh Win 10 install should be icing on the cake.

FT[:D]

UWone77
24 December 2017, 17:11
Eric,

I've got an old HP laptop I mainly use for web browsing. I was considering dumping it for something new, but like you, I just upgraded the RAM and used a SSD. The SSD alone made the upgrade worth it. Computer boots up almost instantaneously and for the basic needs I have with it, has made the upgrade worth it.

Thompson
27 December 2017, 13:32
Plan: New SSHD (solid state hybrid, 1TB)
Not sure what manufacturer you are going with (and assuming this isn't your plan already) - but take a look at the different manufacturers. A lot of them offer some sort of mirroring/image cloning software for free --> for use of data migration from one hard drive to another.

What's the size of the current (old) drive? Depending on how large that is, instead of getting a SSHD you could get a SSD. Much faster; and you'll pretty much never have issues with it being slow ever again. Can easily find a 240GB SSD (to be used primarily as your boot drive) for under $100.


The SSD alone made the upgrade worth it.
+1

Eric
27 December 2017, 14:01
The current platter HD is 1TB. I was looking at an inexpensive 1TB Seagate SSHD for about $75 from Amazon. It looks like the hybrid design of flash memory with a standard HD puts it somewhere between a real SSD and a traditional HD.

With that said, I could also just pick up a SanDisk Ultra II SSD 240GB SATA III 2.5-Inch for about the same price. I believe that I would just need to get an adapter to secure it in the larger bay on the desktop. Now that I think about it, 240GB should be ample for the OS and program files.

FortTom
27 December 2017, 14:13
The current platter HD is 1TB. I was looking at an inexpensive 1TB Seagate SSHD for about $75 from Amazon. It looks like the hybrid design of flash memory with a standard HD puts it somewhere between a real SSD and a traditional HD.

With that said, I could also just pick up a SanDisk Ultra II 240GB SATA III 2.5-Inch for about the same price. I believe that I would just need to get an adapter to secure it in the larger bay on the desktop. Now that I think about it, 240GB should be ample for the OS and program files.

Eric, that drive is going to be the tits for an older system, but more so, you need to crank up the memory. 4G, what you have now, is really the minimum for Win 10. It's a memory hog. Do the memory upgrade, check out the speed, then do the SATA drive. It'll be like nitrous oxide in your hot rod.[:D] Even on a older system.

FT[:D]

ChattanoogaPhil
28 December 2017, 06:03
Breathing new life into older equipment can be a worthwhile project.
Recently installed 12gb ram and a 4tb drive into a 2009 27in iMac. The pics you guys post sure look nice on that screen.

It's been nice since the desktop world reached the point where I don't need an entire new unit every year. Hell, 25 year ago they were obsolete before ya got the dang thing home and pugged in.

UWone77
28 December 2017, 22:10
Eric, that drive is going to be the tits for an older system, but more so, you need to crank up the memory. 4G, what you have now, is really the minimum for Win 10. It's a memory hog. Do the memory upgrade, check out the speed, then do the SATA drive. It'll be like nitrous oxide in your hot rod.[:D] Even on a older system.

FT[:D]

I've basically extended the life of my last 2 desktops by another few years just by upgrading the RAM from 8 to 16 on the first one, and this current one from 16 to 32.

Probably time for a new machine sometime in 2018 though.