Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

I’m currently having problems with two computers. The first is a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop. I thought initially that this problem started from a jolt it may have taken when I slammed on the breaks in my car and had it flop off of the seat onto the floor (figures, the one time I don’t secure it this happens!), but the computer did work fine for about a week and a half after that incident. What happens is when you move the computer, it will make a sound similar to the grating noise you hear when plugging speakers into a sound card. Then the computer locks up and the screen stays on, but the touchpad and keyboard are unresponsive. It got progressively worse as time went on, and occasionally it would give me an NMI: Parity error. I figured hard drive, but after doing some research I found that could also relate to the hard drive and CPU. More and more signs pointed to the hard drive. I replaced the hard drive, and still get the same problems. I’m now fairly certain it has something to do with the power supply. When I connect/disconnect the power cord it will make that metalish noise sound that I mentioned earlier and freeze up.

Secondly is my desktop. This computer seems to randomly completely shut off. I can power it back up immediately, but depending on how long I leave it off and unplugged the longer it will work. Sometimes it will go for days on days before doing this, then for whatever reason it will crash. I’m pretty sure this is a power supply issue. I feel like with the extras I’ve added on perhaps I’ve stressed my current PSU and it can’t handle everything. When it shuts off my CPU temp has been anywhere from 85 – 105 (all F) so I don’t think that it’s an overheating issue.

I guess my question is, do both of these issues sound like power supply issues? If so, what size PSU should I get for the desktop (I assume the laptop has limited power supply sizes.)? And what could cause both of my computers to die, but no issues to my roommates? Just coincidence? It’s possible that my roommates computer wasn’t plugged in at the time, but most of the time it is. I’d appreciate any insight you guys have. Thanks!

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Laptop: I would open the case and make sure the memory is seated properly. My first guess is a memory module is not properly seated.

PC: I would guess overheating but if you think it's the PSU, You should replace it and see if that clears up the problem. If you arent running a gaming machine with SLI video cards then any 400Watt PSU would work. Look at your current PSU, Bump up the watts a little just incase it wasn't powerful enough.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Maybe Obama will buy all American's a computer so they can search the web on the internet that Gore invented.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but he was instrumental in making it as mainstream as it currently is.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=Daseal;501827]Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but he was instrumental in making it as mainstream as it currently is.[/quote]
Sorry but buisnesses and people who invested in the internet is what made it grow to what it is today. Gore just took credit.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Way to bring politics right into this, first.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

First of all, first. Do some fact checking. Al Gore never claimed to have created the internet. Here's the link to Snopes that gives you the exact quote. [url=http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp]snopes.com: Al Gore Invented the Internet[/url]

Secondly, he passed a lot of legislation to get the internet publicly used. He worked on getting the internet away from being just a military thing to an academia thing to the general public.

Third of all, get out of my thread. No hijacking here. Hopefully one of those computers Obama gives people will have Mario Teaches Typing to help you with your constant spelling mistakes.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

maybe that guy is around. he is the one that's pretty computer savvy

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=Daseal;501867]First of all, first. Do some fact checking. Al Gore never claimed to have created the internet. Here's the link to Snopes that gives you the exact quote. [URL="http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp"]snopes.com: Al Gore Invented the Internet[/URL]

Secondly, he passed a lot of legislation to get the internet publicly used. He worked on getting the internet away from being just a military thing to an academia thing to the general public.

Third of all, get out of my thread. No hijacking here. Hopefully one of those computers Obama gives people will have Mario Teaches Typing to help you with your constant spelling mistakes.[/quote]

I spell so bad that I have trouble reading what I type.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Daseal, your desktop randomly shutting down actually sounds more like a motherboard issue. Is it also a Dell? We work on about 15,000 Dell desktops, mainly Optiplexes, and whenever one of them shuts down it's almost always the motherboard. A particular problem is a capacitor that blows, which is easy to spot.

Maybe you can take the palmrest plastics off of your laptop and have the keyboard attached but not secured to the motherboard to take a look at where the noise is coming from. This is assuming of course that your warranty is expired.

Have fun!

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

724, the desktop is not a Dell. I'll definitely look into taking the keyboard off. The fact that if I wiggle my power cable it freezes the computer makes me think it's a PS issue. I'll definitely look at my mobo to see if I have a blown cap. If you say it's easy to spot I should be able to see it quickly.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=Daseal;501939]724, the desktop is not a Dell. I'll definitely look into taking the keyboard off. The fact that if I wiggle my power cable it freezes the computer makes me think it's a PS issue. I'll definitely look at my mobo to see if I have a blown cap. If you say it's easy to spot I should be able to see it quickly.[/quote]

I have seen simple connector issues. Take the keyboard off and see if the connector to the PS is busted. It is a simple soldering fix if thats the case. The behavior of your laptop is consistent with such an issue although it is consistent with several other issues as well. Dropping laptops usually leads to bad things unfortunately.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=724Skinsfan;501935]Daseal, your desktop randomly shutting down actually sounds more like a motherboard issue. Is it also a Dell? We work on about 15,000 Dell desktops, mainly Optiplexes, and whenever one of them shuts down it's almost always the motherboard. A particular problem is a capacitor that blows, which is easy to spot.

Maybe you can take the palmrest plastics off of your laptop and have the keyboard attached but not secured to the motherboard to take a look at where the noise is coming from. This is assuming of course that your warranty is expired.

Have fun![/quote]

Just curious but did you have the capacitor problem with the 270s? We had a buttload of those and then the 280s had a random overheating issue.

And Daseal, Mario Teaches Typing is awesome. He'd kick the shit out of Mavis Beacon.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=TheMalcolmConnection;502089]Just curious but did you have the capacitor problem with the 270s? We had a buttload of those and then the 280s had a random overheating issue.

And Daseal, Mario Teaches Typing is awesome. He'd kick the shit out of Mavis Beacon.[/quote]

Yep. The super-cool thermal event problem that popped up just after warranty expired. Our 280's are doing okay but that should change soon since their warranty expired a few months ago.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

gore did see the importance of the internet before most other people did, and he worked pretty hard to get it funding, so, yeah.. he helped make the internet mainstream even though he was completely uninvolved on the technical side of thing.

on the computer, parity errors can be caused by memory too... I'd say there's a chance the jolt may have loosened the heatsink from the cpu/gfx card (if it has one).. usually laptop power supplies aren't a problem because they don't make heat (they're external to the laptop), they're rated and come with a specific laptop, and laptops generally don't offer much of an upgrade path, so you can't overbook them. if it were the power supply, does the laptop have issues on batteries power? cause the batteries aren't high tech, just lithium ion types in a casing that ensures it won't work on other laptops.

If it's the motherboard, you're straight f'd... those things can be $200+ if you can't find them on ebay, and the companies will want $90 for labor costs... doing it yourself brings a high chance of killing the casing, since some laptops are put together in a way where they really don't ever want to come apart again.

on the desktop - first go to power options and make sure that's not killing it, then run thorough anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-root-kit etc tools on it (adaware, bitdefender, avg, etc). Also make sure your graphics drivers are up to date (does it shut off when you start a 3d game? if so, that's a good clue to the PS). when you check the crash log or event viewer, what does it say about the time of the crashes? bad ram can also cause random crashes, though that's typically not common these days.

what are the system specs? the power supply ratings? operating systems?

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

for a blown cap, all you'll see (typically) is a little bulge at the top... instead of being flat, it'll be rounded and pushed up a bit, you do need to actually look at each capacitor and not just glance at the board to see it.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

For what it's worth -- it seems the new power supply is working. I stress tested a bit and did some things that crashed it before. Once exams are over Ill give it a really strong stress test. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

anyone know how to fix a wireless mouse? mine only works when i hold the small receiver? thanks for any help

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

What is the model you have? Initial thought is something's jarred loose in the receiver. However, do you have any other USB devices you can plug into that USB port? Have you tried the receiver in another USB port?

Generally you have one of two options.

1) take the receiver apart and fix the loose connection which will most likely lead to...
2) buy a new mouse

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

How old are the batteries?
Has it worked before and you just started having problems? If so change the batteries out if you have extras.

If not, have you looked at the settings for the mouse in your control panel? and is it a specialized mouse, or just a standard 2 button wireless mouse?

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=dmek25;563457]anyone know how to fix a wireless mouse? mine only works when i hold the small receiver? thanks for any help[/quote]
What's the advantage of a wireless mouse beside not having the wire in the way?

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=firstdown;563566]What's the advantage of a wireless mouse beside not having the wire in the way?[/quote]

It moves and clicks faster.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=firstdown;563566]What's the advantage of a wireless mouse beside not having the wire in the way?[/quote]

I would say mainly not having the wires and the flexibility to use the mouse from more than one place easily. Now if it is optical or laser, then it definitely moves smoother and over multiple surfaces (not glass so much). Not really positive of the difference between the laser and optical, but I assume that the laser has more precision.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Somewhat off topic, but I just installed [URL="http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1525&sku=29572"]these wireless usb to vga adapters [/URL]in my conference rooms (wireless projection). They work exactly as advertised and are very cool little gadgets for cheap.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=That Guy;502691]for a blown cap, all you'll see (typically) is a little bulge at the top... instead of being flat, it'll be rounded and pushed up a bit, you do need to actually look at each capacitor and not just glance at the board to see it.[/quote]

Yep; sometimes I'll lightly run my fingers across the top or even along the sides if I can to feel for any bulging.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;563573]Somewhat off topic, but I just installed [URL="http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1525&sku=29572"]these wireless usb to vga adapters [/URL]in my conference rooms (wireless projection). They work exactly as advertised and are very cool little gadgets for cheap.[/quote]

Cheap for a commercial setting yes.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;563567]It moves and clicks faster.[/quote]
Ummm, no. Moving and click speed acceptance are managed by either the Operating System's controls or by the software installed for the particular device (if you go that route).

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=tryfuhl;563817]Yep; sometimes I'll lightly run my fingers across the top or even along the sides if I can to feel for any bulging.[/quote]

Where are The Office fans for this one???

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=cpayne5;563828]Where are The Office fans for this one???[/quote]
Guess I'm lost on this one :(

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=cpayne5;563828]Where are The Office fans for this one???[/quote]

That's what she said

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=Mattyk72;563934]That's what she said[/quote]

Thank you. You've just earned one...
[IMG]http://cfs2.tistory.com/upload_control/download.blog?fhandle=YmxvZzQ3NjA3QGZzMi50aXN0b3J5LmNvbTovYXR0YWNoLzgvODk1LmpwZw%3D%3D[/IMG]

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Nice, but can I cash that in for some Stanley nickels?

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

Only if you can figure out the conversion ratio.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3drGOh6d8E]YouTube - Ratio of Bucks to Nickels[/ame]

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

haha classic episode

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=tryfuhl;563819]Ummm, no. Moving and click speed acceptance are managed by either the Operating System's controls or by the software installed for the particular device (if you go that route).[/quote]

Trust me. Once I switched to a wireless mouse, my computer started running so much faster.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;563971]Trust me. Once I switched to a wireless mouse, my computer started running so much faster.[/quote]

That was most likely because the wireless mouse had a better driver.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;563971]Trust me. Once I switched to a wireless mouse, my computer started running so much faster.[/quote]

I've been in IT for a while now and hadn't heard that one before. You also get a Schrute buck.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

I've also got users who swear they've deleted almost all of their email, yet their mail file is 25 gb and they're inbox contains 14,000 emails. perception is a wonderful thing.

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=GhettoDogAllStars;563971]Trust me. Once I switched to a wireless mouse, my computer started running so much faster.[/quote]

Try moving the box onto your desk so then the info doesn't have to travel upwards against the force of gravity too. J/K man :)

Re: Sick of politics here? Fix my computers!
 

[quote=FRPLG;563994]I've been in IT for a while now and hadn't heard that one before. You also get a Schrute buck.[/quote]

I think it has something to do with the wires... With a wireless mouse, the data doesn't have to travel through some long wire to the computer -- it just beams directly to the monitor. So much better.

Also, I moved my computer to my desk ages ago to avoid gravity interference. What do think I am, a noob?