The computer and electronics super geek thread

[Knight26]

quick question: My wifes smartphone, well it was destroyed, still functions but the screen is no longer. I'm looking at getting her a replacement, but since she neglected to get the insurance on the phones we have to go out of pocket on the costs. I have found the same unit for sale second hand for around $100, and a refurbed through verizon will be twice that, so my question is this, if I get her the second hand phone, can the verizon store clone her old phone over to it, number and all, or do I need to take it someplace else?

[pfunk]

should just be a sim card switch

[mikeszekely]

should just be a sim card switch

Verizon (and Sprint, and any other CDMA carrier) doesn't use SIM cards (with the exception of Verizon's LTE phones).

That being said, you can take it to a Verizon store and have them program it to work with your wife's number. Contacts, pics, and apps are gone though... unless it's an Android phone. Then she should just have to pop her gmail account into it. Her contacts and calendar should sync right up.

[Knight26]

Verizon (and Sprint, and any other CDMA carrier) doesn't use SIM cards (with the exception of Verizon's LTE phones).

That being said, you can take it to a Verizon store and have them program it to work with your wife's number. Contacts, pics, and apps are gone though... unless it's an Android phone. Then she should just have to pop her gmail account into it. Her contacts and calendar should sync right up.

Thanks that is what I needed to know, it is a droid phone, so before we take it in I will sync it up to try and save most of it, hopefully it will autosync like its suppossed to once it has power.

[VF-19]

How did the install go? I'm assuming it's just a matter of putting in the OEM disc and booting it up, or is there more to it?

Just like every other version of windows I've installed (although it was a little smoother). Just switch the boot priority in Bios, and let it do it's thing.

Although, the last install of windows 7 I did have a tiny little hiccup. I forgot to update my bios when I bought a SSD, and I had to do a bios update and then reinstall, for windows to be installed properly. Other than my stupidity, it went perfectly.

[myk]

Just like every other version of windows I've installed (although it was a little smoother). Just switch the boot priority in Bios, and let it do it's thing.

Although, the last install of windows 7 I did have a tiny little hiccup. I forgot to update my bios when I bought a SSD, and I had to do a bios update and then reinstall, for windows to be installed properly. Other than my stupidity, it went perfectly.

Hmm alright thanks. I had read somewhere that you needed a 2nd computer to write, verify or do something or the other with files and stuff. I might give the OEM version a try...

[azrael]

Just like every other version of windows I've installed (although it was a little smoother). Just switch the boot priority in Bios, and let it do it's thing.

Actually, most modern BIOS/UEFI have a boot menu (F11, F12, or some key) so you don't have to change the boot priority order then switch it back.

[BeyondTheGrave]

is it worth buying a universal laptop charger for a laptop that hasn't been used in .... over 2 years.

its a dell d10(i think)

Edited December 8, 2011 by BeyondTheGrave

[azrael]

is it worth buying a universal laptop charger for a laptop that hasn't been used in .... over 2 years.

its a dell d10(i think)

Do you plan on actually using it or is it "Oh look what I found! Let's see if it still works."-and don't use it afterwards? If it's the latter, then no, it's not worth it.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Both?

When used last it worked*. But when I purchased it the laptop was already approaching 3.5 years old.

The word processing is what is the useful thing I would like to use it for and internet.

*Battery is shot though.

[mikeszekely]

Universal chargers don't always play nice with Dells. I'd look to see if you can find an OEM charger first.

[Chewie]

Thanks that is what I needed to know, it is a droid phone, so before we take it in I will sync it up to try and save most of it, hopefully it will autosync like its suppossed to once it has power.

Days late, but Best Buy Mobile and most mobile stores have a device called a genie that should be able to get most/all of her data off the old phone.

Never hurts to try.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Anyone ever consider or actually build a Laptop from a barebones kit?

Kits

[VF-19]

I actually had a co-worker ask me that question, and I told her that it was far easier (and less time consuming) to get one on a back-to-school sale. The closest I've ever come to actually doing what you've suggested is taking apart my Dell to get to the RAM so I could double the on-board RAM.

In retrospect, it wasn't hard, once I knew the tricks to getting the thing open without breaking anything.

[mikeszekely]

So after a long (but merry) holiday with my family, I come home and turn on my computer for a little Skyrim time. To my shock and horror, the computer asks me to insert a proper boot device.

To be on the safe side, I unplug my external hard drive (even though I've booted fine with it inserted before), and I unplug the only other piece of newish hardware installed (an Azio USB Bluetooth adapter that I've also booted fine with before). Nope, still asking me for a boot device. And of course, I can't remember the key to get into the BIOS, and my monitor is one of those ones that goes to sleep the instant there's no signal but takes forever to wake up once it's found it. Hitting F8 brought the startup menu, though. I pointed it at the right hard drive, and it booted fine. As near as I can figure, the problem seems to be (and I'll double check on this when I finish running a hard drive scan and can reboot) that I have two hard drives, one with Windows and most of my programs, and one for my downloads. Somehow, the non-bootable storage drive jumped ahead of the Windows drive on the boot order list. My questions would be how, why, and how do I prevent it from happening in the future?

[azrael]

And of course, I can't remember the key to get into the BIOS, and my monitor is one of those ones that goes to sleep the instant there's no signal but takes forever to wake up once it's found it. Hitting F8 brought the startup menu, though. I pointed it at the right hard drive, and it booted fine.

BIOS would be either F2, Del, or you have to tap a key like Enter as soon as you see the BIOS screen. You can change the boot order once you get into the BIOS. The manual for your MB should also tell you which key it is if you can't find it.

[mikeszekely]

BIOS would be either F2, Del, or you have to tap a key like Enter as soon as you see the BIOS screen. You can change the boot order once you get into the BIOS. The manual for your MB should also tell you which key it is if you can't find it.

Lost the manual in the move. I guess I could have looked to see if ASUS had a PDF version, but I decided to do trial and error. After trying all the F-keys, it did turn out to be Del.

Once I was in the BIOS, I'm quite familiar with changing the boot order. Thing is, the boot order was exactly the way I'd had it before... first CD-ROM, then HDD, then removable device. The problem is that, rather arbitrarily, the BIOS had decided that the Hitachi SATA II drive I use for storage was the hard drive it was too boot from, instead of the Western Digital SATA III drive. I don't know what caused it. Obviously, I hadn't changed any of the BIOS settings in so long I couldn't even remember the BIOS key. And it's not like this is a new computer... I built this computer over a year ago, and the only changes I've made to it was to add a USB wifi dongle, replace the ASUS DVD drive that failed on me with a Samsung, and to add a USB bluetooth adapter. The wifi dongle and DVD drive I did in September, and the bluetooth dongle maybe a week ago. Both of the drives are the ones I installed from day one, the Windows installation is from day one, and the Hitatchi drive has never had an OS on it. I simply cannot think of anything I did to make the BIOS think it should try to boot from the Hitachi drive.

Once I set the primary hard drive back to the WD, the computer booted fine.

EDIT: I checked the BIOS version, and it was from September 2010. There have been several revisions since. I decided to update the BIOS. BIOS settings were revered to default, and the default settings again had the Hitachi set the default drive. It's the only one that shows up as a SATA device. The WD shows as an IDE device. Could some kind of electrical malfunction have reset the BIOS previously?

Edited December 26, 2011 by mikeszekely

[azrael]

EDIT: I checked the BIOS version, and it was from September 2010. There have been several revisions since. I decided to update the BIOS. BIOS settings were revered to default, and the default settings again had the Hitachi set the default drive. It's the only one that shows up as a SATA device. The WD shows as an IDE device. Could some kind of electrical malfunction have reset the BIOS previously?

It's possible. Is the WD a PATA drive or a SATA?

[Hiriyu]

Lost the manual in the move. I guess I could have looked to see if ASUS had a PDF version, but I decided to do trial and error. After trying all the F-keys, it did turn out to be Del.

Once I was in the BIOS, I'm quite familiar with changing the boot order. Thing is, the boot order was exactly the way I'd had it before... first CD-ROM, then HDD, then removable device. The problem is that, rather arbitrarily, the BIOS had decided that the Hitachi SATA II drive I use for storage was the hard drive it was too boot from, instead of the Western Digital SATA III drive. I don't know what caused it.

Mike,

Check to see if there were any Windows updates pending application from your last shutdown to your first startup today. I had a similar issue occur a couple of days ago on one of my machines, and was only able to solve it by restoring a backup hdd image (machine in question is a Windows tablet with a single hdd, and I couldn't get any sort of access to the boot menu until I plugged in a keyboard). Restore point didn't work; had to go whole hog with hdd image backup. Interestingly, the last backup was right on the cusp of an automatic Windows update which appeared to have failed installation resulting in the inability to boot (a single file in the boot partition was corrupted).

[mikeszekely]

It's possible. Is the WD a PATA drive or a SATA?

SATA III

Check to see if there were any Windows updates pending application from your last shutdown to your first startup today.

Nope. I did solve the problem, by telling the BIOS that the main HDD is the Western Digital one. But it should have know that, it's been booting from that drive for over a year, and I have no idea why it suddenly decided to use the Hitachi drive. My concern is that the BIOS defaults to the Hitachi drive, and some kind of electrical problem caused the BIOS to revert to the defaults.

[VF-19]

So... I picked up a nice subwoofer (a Klipsch RPW-10) for my 2.0 system attached to my TV. Any suggestions as to how I should locate the sub for proper enjoyment? The manual suggests that I put it in the corner behind one of the speakers, but I'm not so sure that it's an ideal solution. My friend was suggesting plopping the sub where I sit, play a test tone, and then standing around the room in locations I would like to put the sub and then putting the sub there (regardless of wires).

Honestly, I'm a little confused as to what to do.

[jenius]

It's been a long time since I had to bone up on subwoofer placement but the common thought was always "it doesn't really matter." So, don't overthink it, put it where it fits well.

[mikeszekely]

In my experience (short of spending a small fortune rennovating a room), the reality of your home or apartment never matches the perfect little rooms they demo systems at at stereo shops.

Sadly, living room's layout means I have a TV with the right and left speakers on the far edges of the TV sand, and the center speaker centered under the TV. This has all the fronts in a five foot line, 15 feet from where I'm sitting. The rears are a little better, since I ran the speaker wire along the baseboards, I managed to get them on the backs of the end tables flanking the couch. Hardly ideal, and to make matters worse, I have a large, open living room with hardwood floors. Floor length curtains, the sofa, and an 11x7' area rug do little to mitigate the echo.

As for the sub, I stuck it to the left of the TV stand, between it and some shelving.

[VT 1010]

My friend was suggesting plopping the sub where I sit, play a test tone, and then standing around the room in locations I would like to put the sub and then putting the sub there (regardless of wires).

That's an often recommended method. Low frequency sound is supposed to be non-directional. A poorly placed woofer, however, can cause the sound to become directional. Minimizing or eliminating this is the first priority. The best way to determine this is basically what your friend suggested. Due to how much rooms can vary, this is the best method short of specialized equipment and software.

After you've done that, you'll have to fine tune the placement, so to speak. That's when you focus on the sound of the woofer itself (dull, boomy, muddy, etc.) in regards to position. And once that's done, you'll want to calibrate it as well.

Edited December 27, 2011 by VT 1010

[Chewie]

So's like, I posted in the Christmas thread about it but I actually got what I wanted!

An Nvidia brand GTX 560 Ti. =D

[treatment]

Nope. I did solve the problem, by telling the BIOS that the main HDD is the Western Digital one. But it should have know that, it's been booting from that drive for over a year, and I have no idea why it suddenly decided to use the Hitachi drive. My concern is that the BIOS defaults to the Hitachi drive, and some kind of electrical problem caused the BIOS to revert to the defaults.

either buggy bios or faulty cmos-battery.

[VF-19]

That's an often recommended method. Low frequency sound is supposed to be non-directional. A poorly placed woofer, however, can cause the sound to become directional. Minimizing or eliminating this is the first priority. The best way to determine this is basically what your friend suggested. Due to how much rooms can vary, this is the best method short of specialized equipment and software.

After you've done that, you'll have to fine tune the placement, so to speak. That's when you focus on the sound of the woofer itself (dull, boomy, muddy, etc.) in regards to position. And once that's done, you'll want to calibrate it as well.

Well, I did the first step today, and actually got a cable that's longer than 3 feet. Then I moved the sub. I'm gonna try a few different positions over the course of a few days. I did notice a significant difference in the sound of the sub in it's new position, however. What I'm trying to track down are the frequency responses for my Technics SB-A15 speakers (as I have no documentation on them). They have some crossover frequency listed on the speakers themselves, but I suspect they refer to where the sub, mid-range, and tweeters are set to respond. The reason why I'm looking for this is that my particular sub, in addition to having a gain switch (from low to liquify internals), it has a crossover setting (from 40 to 120 Hertz). Both Google, and Panasonic has failed me (rather surprisingly) in locating this vital bit of info (although, google was very helpful in finding other people who want to sell theirs)...

[mikeszekely]

either buggy bios or faulty cmos-battery.

I updated the BIOS, as there were several updates since I installed it. We'll see if I have any more issues with it. So far I haven't, but I can't even say I've used it today.

Hmm, that has me thinking, do you guys usually shut down your computers, or just sleep/hibernate them? I shut off both of my laptops (one Windows 7 computer I only use if I want to play PC games on vacation or at a friend's house, and the other's an Ubuntu machine that I use only when I'm fooling around with Linux). I also shut off my Windows desktops. The one in the bedroom I use infrequently to watch videos. My main Windows computer has issues waking up from sleep sometimes, and I tend to use it a lot, so I turn it on when I get up or when I get home from work, but I shut it down at night so as not to waste electricity. My last computer is a Mac Mini. The only time it gets shut down is to restart after some updates. Otherwise, I'll put it to sleep when I'm done using it or it'll sleep on its own after an hour of inactivity. Even if I don't think I'll use it for a month, I just let it keep sleeping. Only thing I'll do is shut the mouse and keyboard off so they can't accidentally wake it.

I'm finding that while I don't use the Mac for long periods at a time, I do use it a lot because it's my fastest on, fastest off.

[David Hingtgen]

Shut down daily, any other "pause" during the day is usually sleep.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Shutdown after use sleep when leaving but want to immediately use later. Left running overnight for various activities. And even then after its done. shut down.

[azrael]

Main: Shutdown if not going to use it for more than an hour (i.e. work, bedtime, vacation trip) or if it's not doing anything (downloading/burning/maintanence). I don't use sleep.

Secondary/Testing box(es): Off 97% of the time. I turn it on, do some things, then it I shut it down.

Laptop (which happens to be a Mac): Shutdown. It's my fastest On/Off so it gets used for quick things.

Work system(s): Usually on 24/7.

[Lynx7725]

Me, Home PC (Vista) is shutdown every day (as I leave for work). It's ok. Some times startup issues, but usually stable.

Work PC (Win7) is left on pretty much perpetually (locked but awake), with occasional shutdown/ restart. It's actually fairly stable.

Work Personal (Mac) is locked but left running, but shutdown over weekends, and personally I feel is the least stable.

[pfunk]

I run my phone and TV through (as a media server) my desktop so its on 24/7 win7 (and eventually my heating/cooling/alarm/etc...)

Work is on 24/7 win7 also

my last desktop which my dad owns now was on 27/7 for a couple years with me,, it was XP/pro MCE

Edit (once I re-installed win7 on my desktop and laptop the startup times are cut in half)

Edited December 28, 2011 by pfunk

[BeyondTheGrave]

How would I dispose of old outdated computers.

OS WIN2000 Pro.

Vista

XP PRo

[myk]

There should be an electronics recycling joint around you somewhere...