Computer and tech talk and questions

[Fuzzbucket]

When you turn on the monitor - do you get a quick "no signal" message ? If so it probably is the graphics card. If NOT - it is more likely the monitor.

[crazyflower]

I was using my computer today when the screen suddenly blacked out like it was going into sleep mode. It shouldn't have done that because I was playing Minecraft at the time. My keyboard and mouse, which are plugged in to the monitor, also went out. They light up when turned on and the lights went off when it happened. The monitor only blacks out if the computer has not been used for at least ten minutes(which it is supposed to do). The keyboard and mouse are still on when the monitor sleeps.

It has never happened before. The computer itself however, was still on. I restarted the computer, but nothing happened on the monitor. I unplugged the monitor and gently blew in the connector and plugged it back in. It worked after that. Why would this happen? Could something in my computer not be working right? Or is it my monitor?

 

I am bad at writing so this may not be written well. '-'

[maustin89]

Im not sure what happend to you but somthing like that happened to me. I was playing Minecraft and it went black and turned off for no reason. So i turn it on and my internet didnt work. I resarted it once again and my mouse didnt work. Tried everything and nothing worked. So I went to Best Buy and had them fix it,Which I still havn't got back after a month.

[7Deadly$ins]

That could be a couple of things. I don't know if it's your monitor or not, but as far as components the video card is an obvious thing to look at. If you're unlucky, it could be your motherboard.

[Princess Artemis]

I was using my computer today when the screen suddenly blacked out like it was going into sleep mode. It shouldn't have done that because I was playing Minecraft at the time. My keyboard and mouse, which are plugged in to the monitor, also went out. They light up when turned on and the lights went off when it happened. The monitor only blacks out if the computer has not been used for at least ten minutes(which it is supposed to do). The keyboard and mouse are still on when the monitor sleeps.

It has never happened before. The computer itself however, was still on. I restarted the computer, but nothing happened on the monitor. I unplugged the monitor and gently blew in the connector and plugged it back in. It worked after that. Why would this happen? Could something in my computer not be working right? Or is it my monitor?

 

I am bad at writing so this may not be written well. '-'

That's certainly odd, but before you get worried about the computer, make sure your monitor is OK, since everything you described has your monitor going out as a common cause. It could be something as simple as a power cord being loose.

[demonicvampiregirl]

Okay in a few days I'm going to have to upgrade to the latest version of Firefox. I wanted to ask a few things about it.

 

Does the Norton toolbar work in Firefox 11?

 

Does Stylish (an add on) work with it?

 

Does the latest version of Adobe work well with it? My mom has some issues with it crashing a lot which I think is just contributed to her Facebook game and the fact theres just to much on it and her comp is slowly dying.

 

Does it work well with Windows XP Professional?

 

That's all for now. I hope. It's why I'm worried about upgrading.

[Viktorya]

Okay in a few days I'm going to have to upgrade to the latest version of Firefox. I wanted to ask a few things about it.

 

Does the Norton toolbar work in Firefox 11?

 

Does Stylish (an add on) work with it?

 

Does the latest version of Adobe work well with it? My mom has some issues with it crashing a lot which I think is just contributed to her Facebook game and the fact theres just to much on it and her comp is slowly dying.

 

Does it work well with Windows XP Professional?

 

That's all for now. I hope. It's why I'm worried about upgrading.

Everything should be fine... if there are any compatibility problems (with add-ons) it will tell you before it installs.

[demonicvampiregirl]

Alright thanks. I'm worried about upgrading it cuz I don't want it to mess up.

[Fuzzbucket]

No-one being listenings to me ? I CRYING

 

It happened to me. It was my graphics card. It did other things too when it blew. Cost me $25. I was impressed.

[gravity404]

Hey guys. I've been trying to self-teach Java lately and I've worked through multiple tutorials. I can't seem to find a really good guide, though. Anyone have suggestions for both beginner and slightly more advanced Java resources?

Thanks!

[maustin89]

Go on youtube and type thenewboston hes got videos for like everything

 

[Daydreamer09]

Right now I'm saving up money for a new laptop to use for school and also plan to purchase an adobe suite package of some sort and Corel Painter to put on it. I know absolutely nothing about computer hardware. Would anyone be able to tell me what I need to look for in a laptop for it to run smoothly?

[Stripey]

Right now I'm saving up money for a new laptop to use for school and also plan to purchase an adobe suite package of some sort and Corel Painter to put on it. I know absolutely nothing about computer hardware. Would anyone be able to tell me what I need to look for in a laptop for it to run smoothly?

I don't know much, but my husband knows loads, and helps spec out computers as part of his work. I asked him, and he replied with

8gigs ram, core I7 Intell processer, solid state hard drive

as primary things to look for.

[TikindiDragon]

8gigs ram, core I7 Intell processer, solid state hard drive

May be a question on the SSD. Those programmes you're talking about are *big*, and you may not be able to find a solid state that's big enough without having to pay a huge amount of money to get it.

 

Of course the programmes you're talking about aren't cheap either - so if you've got that kind of cash then by all means go for it.

 

You'll also need a 64bit version of Windows, just fyi, or it won't recognise more than 4gig of RAM.

[Princess Artemis]

As I understand it, right now, SSDs are very good for booting up super quick but not that good for storage since they are very expensive for larger sizes. An SSD would probably make a fantastic scratch disk but dunno if you'd want to use it to store your finished files on.

 

Not sure that an Adobe suite + Corel Painter would really be served best by a laptop, though. It's doable, but it might be something you want to use docked to a regular monitor and external HDD + tablet. Which somewhat places you at a desk anyhow, so...why are you considering a laptop over a desktop?

[Daydreamer09]

As I understand it, right now, SSDs are very good for booting up super quick but not that good for storage since they are very expensive for larger sizes. An SSD would probably make a fantastic scratch disk but dunno if you'd want to use it to store your finished files on.

 

Not sure that an Adobe suite + Corel Painter would really be served best by a laptop, though. It's doable, but it might be something you want to use docked to a regular monitor and external HDD + tablet. Which somewhat places you at a desk anyhow, so...why are you considering a laptop over a desktop?

I want a laptop over a desktop for portability moreso. I have school, so being able to move the computer around would be nice. I've thought about a desktop, but there's not much space for one in my room.

 

The laptop would really be my biggest expense, as my community college's bookstore gives half off to students and teachers for computer programs. I just have to buy the programs soon, as I'm graduating at the end of the quarter.

[7Deadly$ins]

Just know that in terms of hardware vs. cost, a laptop costs a lot more for lesser hardware. You can just about always get a more powerful and faster computer with a desktop.

[demonicvampiregirl]

Anyone got the latest version of FF? They just released FF12 and I wondered if it was worth upgrading to. I kinda want to stick with FF11 but if it's more stable and fixed my issue with the DC layout that'd be awesome. If anyone is using it on a Win XP Pro Service Pack 3 that can tell me that'd be great. Also if anyone has Personas long with it tell me if that works. I got a layout I don't want vanishing on me.

[Fuzzbucket]

Anyone got the latest version of FF? They just released FF12 and I wondered if it was worth upgrading to. I kinda want to stick with FF11 but if it's more stable and fixed my issue with the DC layout that'd be awesome. If anyone is using it on a Win XP Pro Service Pack 3 that can tell me that'd be great. Also if anyone has Personas long with it tell me if that works. I got a layout I don't want vanishing on me.

I'd like to know this too - I haven't dared try 11...! I have Win XPHome SP3, myself...

[demonicvampiregirl]

Fuzzbucket it works well and Personas and Nortons do work. Mine updated on it's own. ' Shouldn't have but I think I figured out what I did wrong. Anyway it's running it hung a bit on the Mozilla Support forums but it does scan the browser to see what one is currently running so I figure that was the cause.

[demonicvampiregirl]

Sorry if I shouldn't double post but I got a new question.

 

I just put a VisionTek Radeon HD 6570 into my computer which is a Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (not updated to the most recent updates. Was updated 3-4 months ago). First when we put it in it hung up after it did it's usual beep and stayed on the screen for Express Gate which is uninstalled and hasn't been in the entire 3 years it's been running.

 

My motherboard is a ASUS M4A78 Pro AMD 790G Socket AM3. When it did this we did a hard shut down. When it stalled on that screen (Express Gate) I did a hard shut down because it was not moving at all. When I did that it act like it didn't even really power down at all it flickered then came right back on (not the problem).

 

After that it did it's usual run auto-adjust, show the ASUS screen, another auto-adjust or two, Windows XP loading screen then the sign in screen. Signed in it detected that it had new hardware was going to use the software wizard to install it. Canceled out of it and put the disc in to install. Installed, something failed (which when we checked the installation log everything said successful).

 

We did not remove the old drivers for my old video card before the installation and the video card was a VisionTek Radeon 3650 HD. Was messing up and some graphics accelerator or something was messing up. I don't recall the error anymore. (I posted about this before actually! See this link: DC Video Card Post)

 

I did all that and the computer started up completely fine it did another auto-adjust after the Windows XP screen this time (new card and different settings probably). Reset the display back to where it was and my icons were messed up. No big deal would move them after checking something. I went to the Control Catalyst Center and went to the Colors section which is just above the VU-something tab. I did that and completely froze. I could not move the mouse, HD light wasn't flashing so the HD wasn't reading. Only thing that worked was DVD drive. Tried to put the disc in to get it to read the HD nothing. Finally just did a hard shutdown.

 

What happened before with it not shutting down properly happened again but this time something different happened. When it got to the Express Gate screen the text saying installation incomplete (as usual) was messed up like the text had been corrupted or something. We unplugged the tower completely after that and plugged it back in then it booted perfectly normal.

 

I have not been back into the CCC at all since then. I started my FF, checked in the Control Panel to see if any error was going on and everything checked out fine. I checked out a video on YouTube (which is where it messed up on me last time which caused me to change my video card at this time), started up [PROTOTYPE] for a test run and it was fine graphics were great and completely clear, tried the movie Christmas Carol (was first on the DVD stack ) and opened up Opera to GPX and did clicks. It's been perfectly fine.

 

My dad thinks it needs a few days to settle into the OS before we mess with the CCC and I'm worried maybe something else is wrong. Does anyone know if it sounds like something is wrong from all this? It's running great but I'm a bit worried something else may go wrong later on.

 

Also sorry for the incredibly long post but I thought it'd be best to get all the details I could remember.

Edited April 26, 2012 by demonicvampiregirl

[Fuzzbucket]

I don't know but I have to say that is the scariest post I have ever seen in my LIFE.....

[Zaxian]

...not updated to the most recent updates. Was updated 3-4 months ago...

Hmm, it's well worth keeping things up to date.

 

I'd suggest:

a) Updating windows (whether you're having issues or not).

Making sure you have the latest drivers for that video card (usually the CD will come with reasonably recent ones, but they might not be the newest) - check the manufacturer's website for updates for that card and your OS. I've found in the past that doing this will solve a surprising number of graphics card issues.

 

It's worth making a system restore point before you do either of these updates, so you can roll back the update if it breaks something.

 

For future reference, if you're getting really stubborn hardware compatability issues (and have tried everything else) you can consider looking into whether there are any BIOS updates that fix it. Be aware, though, that the general consensus seems to be that you should only do a BIOS update if the changes listed for that update fix the *exact* problem you're having - BIOS updates can brick your machine if they go wrong, so make sure that you know what you're doing before you do one (I personally have never had any problems with them, but clearly there are risks!).

 

Generally though, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! So if it's working for all the things you want it to (which it sounds like it is) don't worry too much

[Princess Artemis]

Yikes. It shouldn't be that hard to swap out a videocard.

 

In addition to Zaxian's suggestions, I'd suggest removing Catalyst entirely before reinstalling a newer version--try booting up the machine without any Catalyst installed; if the card is OK, the computer should still be able to put stuff on the monitor through it. BIOS flash might not be a bad idea if your BIOS is olden; a 2.1 PCI Express should work with a 2.0 slot, but maybe a newer BIOS is needed to get everything to play nice on that front. Also consider that the new card is a dud.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Princess Artemis

[demonicvampiregirl]

I just turned the comp back on after it being off for several hours and it's fine now. I don't know if I should remove the Catalyst I have no clue what that does.

 

Updating Windows I do every few months either way because last time I did that and didn't update my adobe after that it was freezing up every few seconds so I usually wait a while before I update. Plus my dad aint home at the moment and I let him check them to see which ones it needs.

 

The Catalyst I was looking through to see what the fan speed was for my dad but he said he can more than likely find that online so I don't really have to mess with it. The only thing I'm worried about is what if the issue I had before with my old one comes back and it tries to give me the error message and it wont show up. Beyond that everything seems to work and I wont bother it.

 

My only worry is a anti-virus scan cuz that slows it down for a bit but it will probably be fine either way. Thanks! :3