"The Computer Help Thread"

[jeepnstein]

I've got a bit of a different problem now. My work is picking up in the area of data recovery and transfers. I've got a good tool kit of software and cables but it's a real mess. Does anyone have a cable organizer or carrying case that works well for them? Usually, I'll lug my stuff to the client rather than deal with hauling their disks around. It's truly amazing the amount of stuff that folks have on their computers that they don't even consider when it comes time to upgrade. As soon as I get my "flip chart" methodology down just right I think this is going to be a good second job. It sure does beat running network cables for home networks.

[utopia13]

My machine at home (7 yr old Dell) is a beater that's ready to die! I'm thinking of getting a laptop so I can get it out of my office & use it in the living room if I want.

Any recommendations on a nice one in the 6 to 700 range?? I don't watch movies & such on it, but I'd like a fairly large screen for my bad eyes & a fast processor (or 2!)

[Abuela]

I've had good luck purchasing all of our PCs (including my laptop and Spouse's and step-d's desktops) refurbished from the Dell Outlet (just google Dell Outlet and it will come right up). The inventory can change QUICKLY (like, within minutes) so if you don't see what you want, check again, and if you DO see what you think you might want, stick it into your shopping cart and then decide for sure.

One thing I recommend is to not pay a whole lot extra for a system just because it has more memory, or turn down a nicely-priced system just because it doesn't have as much memory as you'd like, since you can get memory from sources other than Dell (I use Newegg) a lot cheaper.

My own two-cents worth: I never buy extended warranties for anything in my live EXCEPT for PCs, and I have never regretted buying the extended warranty for any PC of any brand that I've ever purchased - it doesn't say much for the reliability of PCs overall, but I've gotten my money's worth each time.

[utopia13]

Wow...thanks for the tip!! I never knew they had an outlet store (online or otherwise) I'm all about the bargain!

Thanks Hon!

[BobG]

Ditto on the Dell notebooks. I have had an HP (pavillion n3300), a Dell (inspiron 1300/B130), and a Sony Vaio. the Dell is by far the best. With its old Pentium M 1.7, it's STILL faster than my dual core 1.72 Vaio, both with 2 GB RAM. Plus, the Del basic wireless card runs circles around the Vaio.

[Abuela]

Plus, the Del basic wireless card runs circles around the Vaio.

Unless you're trying to run Linux. Do a google search for "dell wireless broadcom linux" or something of that nature and you'll get thousands of hits on folks asking for help in getting most versions of Linux to work with the Broadcom wireless cards used in most Dell laptops, and very few answers. Even at Linuxworld you could count on seeing everyone who had a Dell laptop boot to Windows to use the wireless network there.

I have an Inspiron 6000 laptop that I got almost 4 years ago and I've been very happy with it. The screen has fritzed out on me a few times (thus my recommendation for the extended warranty) but as for performance, it's been totally fine. I just upgraded it to the level that most folks would consider a low-end machine by today's standards (from 1G to 2G RAM and from an 80G HD to 120G, which is the most its BIOS will support) and have no complaints.

[utopia13]

WOO HOO!!!!!

Ordered my laptop today! Thanks Abuela...the Dell outlet store is the way to go. Got the refurb (I was a bit afraid of scratch & dent) Inspiron 1720. That 17" screen is gonna be sweet! It's got everything I wanted!!

I can't wait, since mine won't even boot up fully anymore! I either get the annoying blue screen with the white text about "if this is the first time seeing this message..." (unfortunately, no it's not), or it will slowly start to load my desktop then die....then go to annoying blue screen, or lastly, I only get the black screen saying "0" hard drive found.

Good thing my techies at work can retrieve my old data from my hard drive.

Now I just sit by the door waiting....hehehe

[Texas_Ranger]

Now I've got a puzzler for you.

I always access the boards using my iBook running MacOS 10.3.9 and Firefox 2.0 or Safari 1.x. Ever since last weekend I can't post any more though! Firefox keeps telling me I'm not logged in. If I try to log in the forum software says "You successfully logged in!" but as soon as I load the next page I'm out again. Safari seemed better, I saw unread messages, it said "Texas_Ranger" in the top right corner and everything. As soon as I tried to post the same thing happened again though.

Now I'm posting on a different machine running Windows 7 beta and Firefox 3.0, without any trouble.

Now I know some web sites can give trouble on the Mac, but something like that I never experienced in 9 years of surfing the web on a Mac! Does anyone have an idea?

[Schag]

TR, go read the sticky thread on the General Page about the issues we've been having this last month.
There are several fixes, but deleting all cache and cookies usually does the trick.

[Kansas. 1911.]

I've been having problems also, and I'm on a Mac. This site is fickle. But I'll try the fix, nonetheless.