Archived CalgaryPuck Computer Help Thread

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

There should be a power management option somewhere. Usually most laptops degrade performance when on the battery to extend battery life. It should be a simple switch to change it back to full performance (on my mac is right on the top bar).

Indeed, goto Control Panel and then Power Options and change the setting to Always On. Most laptops have speedstep and by default, when running on battery, it's on maximum battery life mode which slows down your CPU to save energy. Remember to turn off Always On later though when you want to have battery life.

[MoneyGuy]

Went to power down my laptop and now it's frozen up - not powering down. The desktop icons aren't showing and it's just the wallpaper and nothing else. It seems to have stopped part way through the power-down process. It's on battery power so in about 90 minutes it will lose power and go off. Is there something I should do if it won't power down to turn it off manually? I don't want to take the battery out for fear that might do something harmful. Is just leaving it to lose battery power and go off on its own the best strategy or is there something else I should do? I've pushed the on button but that doesn't turn it off. It's a Dell.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Went to power down my laptop and now it's frozen up - not powering down. The desktop icons aren't showing and it's just the wallpaper and nothing else. It seems to have stopped part way through the power-down process. It's on battery power so in about 90 minutes it will lose power and go off. Is there something I should do if it won't power down to turn it off manually? I don't want to take the battery out for fear that might do something harmful. Is just leaving it to lose battery power and go off on its own the best strategy or is there something else I should do? I've pushed the on button but that doesn't turn it off. It's a Dell.

You say you pushed the button, but did you hold it for 5-10 seconds? Sometimes that will work, depending upon which part of the subsytem is locked.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

You say you pushed the button, but did you hold it for 5-10 seconds? Sometimes that will work, depending upon which part of the subsytem is locked.

No I hadn't before, but I did it now and now it's off. Was that safe? It's probably no worse than letting the battery lose power and the computer going off, huh?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

No I hadn't before, but I did it now and now it's off. Was that safe? It's probably no worse than letting the battery lose power and the computer going off, huh?

Not as "safe" as the machine shutting down gracefully, but more safe than pulling the battery. It just bypasses the ACPI sub-system (which all O/S's use to shutdown/hibernate/etc) and cuts the power. This is better than pulling the battery, and similar to letting the battery just die (but way faster).

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by photon

Alright, it seems you aren't the only one with this issue and it seems like it might be a flaky implementation of the AGP 3.0 standard. I found some info here:

http://forums.viaarena.com/messagevi...&enterthread=y

But before trying a few of those things try the latest "F8" version BIOS from Gigabyte:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=1810
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=1919

Unfortunately there's two versions of your motherboard, so I'm not sure which one you have or even how to find out. It might be on the motherboard itself somewhere, usually there's the brand name and model # printed onto the motherboard somewhere, and often it'll have which version it is.

Stupid question ...

what and where for the F8 bios. I dumped the download onto the Destkop and then extracted to the desktop which clearly isn't right.

C:?

Oh and my MOB didn't give a version number that I can see so I just grabbed the first link.

[Prototype]

Here's one that I don't know if anyone has posted yet or not.

My brother gave me a Video Card with a video output. I've used it in the computer I want to use it in now, but when I install it, it goes to the window loading screen, then stops pumping out a signal... any ideas?

[photon]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Stupid question ...

what and where for the F8 bios. I dumped the download onto the Destkop and then extracted to the desktop which clearly isn't right.

C:?

Oh and my MOB didn't give a version number that I can see so I just grabbed the first link.

Hm, without the version # you won't want to flash the BIOS.. if you use the wrong one it could make the board unusuable (ie it probably wouldn't boot at all).

On either of those links there's a Utility menu, and in there there's a link to the @BIOS utility, download that and install it, that's what will be used to update the BIOS.

Instructions here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/...ech_a_bios.htm

Hm, to find the revision level try this software: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Download that and run it, under the mainboard tab beside Model there's a field which might tell us the revision level.

Until you know for sure the rev level of the motherboard, don't flash the BIOS. You may end up with a paperweight.

[Eddie Bronze]

I thought I'd upgraded my computer enough that my problems were fixed, but alas, I'm still having problems with it freezing up.

Whenever I open iTunes and play music or when I'm using the P2P program Soulseek, both of these programs cause the computer to freeze up and I'm forced to reboot. What could potentially be causing this?

I have 1GB of RAM so the memory is there.
Maybe a new processor?

Windows IS authentic and completely updated.

When I recently ran Windows Vista test to see if it was compatible, there were a few issues, most of which I fixed, but couldn't update the drivers for my ethernet card. I wouldn't think that would be the problem, although I realize I need a new one now.

Any ideas at all?

[photon]

The ethernet card could actually be the culprit. Check to make sure you've got the latest drivers for it first (sometimes you actually have to go to the chip maker's website to get them).

But I used to have a Netgear network card that would hang my computer if I did anything with Bittorrent that used more than 20 connections. I swapped it out and everything was fine. So it could be something like that.

Could also be a memory problem, and you're only seeing it when a more memory intensive program gets loaded. There should be some memory testing software out there.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by photon

Could also be a memory problem, and you're only seeing it when a more memory intensive program gets loaded. There should be some memory testing software out there.

Memtest86

[Eddie Bronze]

Thanks photon and bobblehead.

I may have to just get a new ethernet card, I didn't think it would cause that kind of a problem. I went to the website to get the drivers and it doesn't even list the card I have on the Canadian website. I got what I thought was the proper download off the US website. I unzipped the files and it seemed as though everything was okay. To double check it I ran that Windows Vista tester thing again (I'm not planning on getting Vista, just thought it would be a good test) and it didn't recognize any changes, still told me the drivers needed to be updated.

I'm going to try the memory test but I thought with two new sticks of memory (1GB total) that I should be fine.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

Thanks photon and bobblehead.

I may have to just get a new ethernet card, I didn't think it would cause that kind of a problem. I went to the website to get the drivers and it doesn't even list the card I have on the Canadian website. I got what I thought was the proper download off the US website. I unzipped the files and it seemed as though everything was okay. To double check it I ran that Windows Vista tester thing again (I'm not planning on getting Vista, just thought it would be a good test) and it didn't recognize any changes, still told me the drivers needed to be updated.

I'm going to try the memory test but I thought with two new sticks of memory (1GB total) that I should be fine.

Do not use the vista thing to check ethernet drivers. Most of the time vista will spit out the error because there just aren't any drivers yet.

[Eddie Bronze]

Thank you. Is there another way for me to test drivers for that device to make sure they are updated/installed properly?

[photon]

Not really, at least not beyond going to the website and manually checking.

What kind of network card is it or what does it show up as in the device manager?

[Eddie Bronze]

Linksys NC100 Fast Ethernet Adapter

[photon]

Linksys is usually pretty good with their drivers.

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...=1121811353362

Should be able to download it there and install to make sure the latest drivers are being used.

[Eddie Bronze]

That is the same one I dl'd, photon. But after download, you double click it and it asks to unzip. The problem is, I'm not sure if I'm unzipping to the right place.


I ran the memory test. Now I'm not that well-versed in computer stuff, so I'm not sure if what I did was right or not. I put the floppy disk in and turned the computer on and it ran the test. It went through 8 tests and found no errors and had 100% pass rating. But when the 8 tests were done, it began test #1 again. Should I have let it keep going at that point or was that it?

[gottabekd]

So, how long did the test take? 30 mins or so? After one pass, and no errors, that is a good sign. Of course, that doesn't prove that there ISN'T a memory problem, but I'd say it is unlikely.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

So, how long did the test take? 30 mins or so? After one pass, and no errors, that is a good sign. Of course, that doesn't prove that there ISN'T a memory problem, but I'd say it is unlikely.

The 8 tests took almost 2 hours to complete.