The Australian-specific problems and questions PC thread

[monkeysrus]

Am yet to buy a NAS. Looking at the thecus n220.

Yeah toppy can read usb storage devices. Does a NAS output from USB or are they all inputs?

[monkeysrus]

I also want a new router. Any recommendations? Want N, gigabit, storage & print server all in one. Possibe?

[VDUB2C]

if anyone's interested... connect a HDD directly to your router...
http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/...70226

[shogun2]

Quote, originally posted by monkeysrus »

Am yet to buy a NAS. Looking at the thecus n220. Yeah toppy can read usb storage devices. Does a NAS output from USB or are they all inputs?

I have a Thecus N4100 with 4 x 750G drives running RAID 5 (about 2 years old now). Great box!I will have to have a look at what the USB does on it - haven't used it yet.

[shogun2]

I have a Dell XPS1340 running Win 7, 64 bit with 8G RAM and 500G HDD. It's about 8 months old now. In that time it's had:

3 x MB
3 x HDD
2 x KB
OS reinstalled about 6 times.
HDMI problem when it loses connection

Now:
Whenever it comes out of sleep mode it loses it's network connection, and you have to reboot to get it back again. Although it keeps the network connection if you hibernate instead of sleep.
Also had the system totally shut down - all DEAD yesterday
Also now BSOD twice yesterday - using HSDP card
Also taken to random freezing

Do I:

Wait for Dell to attempt another repair?
Get another computer? If so, what - must be small, large HDD and powerful.

[Saxton Hale]

I'd take to not computing in the shower.

Also you've had multiple failures of multiple components, it's also keen on tuning itself off and its never had the power supply looked at / replaced/ suspected?

Short of as i said, playing with it in the shower i cant see why you'd have so many problems, thats pretty insane.



Modified by Saxton Hale at 3:20 AM 4-9-2010

[mdt]

[shogun2]

Quote, originally posted by Saxton Hale »

I'd take to not computing in the shower. Also you've had multiple failures of multiple components, it's also keen on tuning itself off and its never had the power supply looked at / replaced/ suspected? Short of as i said, playing with it in the shower i cant see why you'd have so many problems, thats pretty insane. Modified by Saxton Hale at 3:20 AM 4-9-2010

I have multiple power supplies here, but th problems occur with different supplies, so I don't think I can blame the supply.

Maybe I should take a shower with it and claim it on insurance ...


Modified by shogun2 at 5:03 AM 4-9-2010

[IML337]

Wes' thought of the PSU is a very good one.

[Saxton Hale]

forget all that sh*t its a laptop i didnt even look..

laptops are sh*t, i'm with mdt on the lemon theory.


Modified by Saxton Hale at 3:38 AM 4-9-2010

[monkeysrus]

Quote, originally posted by VDUB2C »

if anyone's interested... connect a HDD directly to your router... http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/...70226

Maybe if i got a external drive with two usb ports & this??????

[mdt]

For the first time in about seven Sony Laptops, the VAIO software is actually useful. It has this one click maintenance programs that runs all the scheduled maintenance programs that you normally have to do manually or otherwise schedule which is a huge PITA.

I tried to download it for Liz's computer because it was taking several minutes to boot up, but it turns out that Sony won't allow you to stick it on to PCs that didn't come with one click care from the start.

So, I found this other software, which you can use free for 30 days, called Tuneup Utilities. It seems to do most if not more than one click care and the boot up time on Liz's PC is now back to 40 seconds.

[Saxton Hale]

Interesting video of Windows 7 with multi touch screen, not as swish/smooth as Apple but it seems to get the job done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBtEhQqS1dw

[Timbo_S3]

Quote, originally posted by Saxton Hale »

Interesting video of Windows 7 with multi touch screen, not as swish/smooth as Apple but it seems to get the job done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBtEhQqS1dw

....hmmm...and people talk about issues buying the 1st gen of any Apple product! One thing that video shows is that many people, who buy the lo-ball priced Win7 tablets, will find themselves hating it because of cheap, slow and non-responsive touchscreens

[IML337]

As always, you get what you pay for.

I've always thought that just slapping touch onto an existing OS not really designed for it is a crap idea, but that video made it look surprisingly good! A good quality screen would make that quite easy to live with I suspect. Not bad at all really.

[mdt]

Tonight I look at my computer at Google Earth has disappeared without a trace. WTF?

Dammit, I use it several times a day. I can't have it disappearing like this.

EDIT: Seems like it is an unintended consequence of updating vista through MS.

You can fix it by creating a new desktop shortcut pointing at either
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\client\googleearth.exe (On Win2k, XP, and Win2k3, Vista x32, Win7 x32)
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Earth\client\googleearth.exe (On XP x64, Vista x64, Win7 x64 )



Modified by mdt at 4:42 AM 4-14-2010

[Saxton Hale]

Fascinating.

[VDUB2C]

Awww Mattys growing up!
Fixing his own pc problems, creating shortcuts on desktops and everything!
So proud.

[Jim Bookie]

[GizmoGTI]

u should try stellarium - its free and it's awesome! oh do you have a telescope? if not, at your house next time you have a GTG i'll bring it along with my brother and he could talk to you about the constellations all night.

http://www.stellarium.org/

[MickyD]

Quote, originally posted by mdt »

Tonight I look at my computer at Google Earth has disappeared without a trace. WTF?

I assume you've seen Nearmap.com ??
It's MUCH better imagery for Melbourne, and updated regularly (3 times so far this year from memory), with the historical imagery still available.
Might be somewhat relevant to you....

[mdt]

You're not wrong. You can even count the herb pots on the seat outside my house. Thanks Micky.

Wes, you can **** off.

[FL00DY]

Quote, originally posted by shogun2 »

Do I: Wait for Dell to attempt another repair? Get another computer? If so, what - must be small, large HDD and powerful.

Kick and scream about it to Dell. That's a massive lemon. I do love laptops, I've had a few over the last 5-6 years. I've currently got a XPS M1730 that I need to return after the end of lease. I only had one LCD replaced with a single dead pixel and the SLI video cards replaced. Other then that it was an OK system. However XPS and Alienware quality has been a massive problem the last 12 months. Read the posts on http://forum.notebookreview.com and that's enough to turn anyone away. I've be aiming to get what ever you can, new system, but I'd try for my money back and get something else.

[mdt]

I've had laptops replaced for less trouble than that's been.

[FL00DY]

Currently posting from Android running from the SD card in my Asus netbook. As usual with any kind of linux distro wifi isn't working. I went looking for a screenshot app and keep hitting deadends.

It's obviously not very intuitive to run a mobile OS on a laptop and the speed of my 1.6GHz Atom is fair on Windows, but the speed of the web browser is fantastic, transitions very quickly between open pages, uses the Esc key to go back, even using the dual-touch of my track pad.

[VDUB2C]

that's awesome!

would love to chuck it on my Asus netbook, and carry it around like a phone... then i can post a pick of my CPU speed like tim did with his N900

[Zorg2]

still happy with my toshy laptop bought new for rather expensive $699 wifey loves it. Set it up day 1 took about 15 mins for wi fi etc and being running solid a year later. Specs more than enough for what we need, nice and solid unlike my work dell which is already falling apart. Matt I'll buy your Sony for $500

[shogun2]

Quote, originally posted by shogun2 »

Do I: Wait for Dell to attempt another repair? Get another computer? If so, what - must be small, large HDD and powerful.

Kick and scream about it to Dell. That's a massive lemon. I do love laptops, I've had a few over the last 5-6 years. I've currently got a XPS M1730 that I need to return after the end of lease. I only had one LCD replaced with a single dead pixel and the SLI video cards replaced. Other then that it was an OK system. However XPS and Alienware quality has been a massive problem the last 12 months. Read the posts on http://forum.notebookreview.com and that's enough to turn anyone away. I've be aiming to get what ever you can, new system, but I'd try for my money back and get something else.

OK - Dell are replacing the laptop with a brand new unit!
They ran some tests and found faulty RAM. Replaced the RAM, and two days later it "blue screen" ed again. I rang up and said I want a new one, and they just said yes.
Now waiting - should be here sometime next week.

[Timbo_S3]

As an Apple fan boi, I definitely :bow::bow: to Dell's after-sales service. Exceeded my expectations in every respect!

Of course, it shouldn't have been faulty in the first place but I'll give points for a good recovery!

[FL00DY]

As an Apple fan boi, I definitely :bow::bow: to Dell's after-sales service. Exceeded my expectations in every respect!

Of course, it shouldn't have been faulty in the first place but I'll give points for a good recovery!

lol like there's never ever in history been a faulty Mac :p

[Saxton Hale]

Interestingly Re the XPS, have a friend i just spoke to with a similar Laptop which as it was advertised as a "gaming laptop" he pretty much took them at their word and thats all its used for..

He's a little more hardcore with his gaming than me so i can only imagine it was for many hours a day, every day. Over the length of the warranty Dell replaced 3 of them they basically said no more, its just not designed to be used to play games non stop, the heat it made would just kill it within 6 months of constant use.

[FL00DY]

Interestingly Re the XPS, have a friend i just spoke to with a similar Laptop which as it was advertised as a "gaming laptop" he pretty much took them at their word and thats all its used for..

He's a little more hardcore with his gaming than me so i can only imagine it was for many hours a day, every day. Over the length of the warranty Dell replaced 3 of them they basically said no more, its just not designed to be used to play games non stop, the heat it made would just kill it within 6 months of constant use.

I used mine for gaming most weekends for the first 8-10 months, always made sure it was sitting on my lapramp. The downside to the SLI was that I had to disable it when ever I plugged in my 24" samsung, so the SLI was probably only used 50% of the time. Also the XPS M1730 had the option of an extreme CPU, I can imagine that creating massive amounts of heat. He should have sat it on a laptop cooler and it might have survived.

[Timbo_S3]

lol like there's never ever in history been a faulty Mac :p

It never happens! Macs just "fail to proceed" :p

[shogun2]

I an seriously considering selling the Dell when it arrives and replacing it with a hard core HP. The amount of time the old one took for support, and the times it stopped working were a serious issue with business productivity.
Hopefully HP may be better ...
Anyone want a brand new Dell XPS Studio 13?

[mdt]

I'm trying to take an old VAIO laptop back to the factory settings by using the partition on the hard drive.

However, I can't seem to get the bios settings screen or whatever you call it up, instead it keeps on loading, irrespective of whether I press F1, F8 or F10 (which are the suggestions I have found through Google).

Any other ideas? I have NFI where the boot CD is.

TIA.