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Doofus question about HP laptop...

2

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Yeah. Ain't nuthin' goin' on now. I fink it's phukked... and I think it's probably an overheating problem....

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @SpinyNorman said:
    I think the fan is on a thermostat and only kicks in after a while when the CPU gets hot.

    Most fans are continuously on after flipping the switch, but variable in speed. When you first turn on a PC, they come on at low speed. If the CPU or another component gets hot, they'll kick it up a notch.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I think it may well have packed up a while ago, because I honestly don't remember it kicking in at all, recently....

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    Oh I didn't know that. The first PC I had was just on/off for the fan, I know because I had to replace it.

  • @federica said:
    I think it may well have packed up a while ago, because I honestly don't remember it kicking in at all, recently....

    That would explain why the CPU has gone wrong. Overheated and possibly burnt out. The fan cools the CPU (main processing chip) The fan is mechanical and sometimes gets clogged with dust, especially on a well used machine. The CPU rarely goes wrong.

    Kundo
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Tried turning it on about a half hour ago. No fan. Nothing. That, in a way, is a 'comfort' of sorts. It's narrowed down the problem nicely. If you see what I mean...

    Kundo
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    Hp is my mortal enemy.

    Maybe 6 years ago, I got a deluxe HP laptop. Like an over $1000 laptop. About a year in... Black screen. Issues. Actually, it all started with the wifi not connecting. Anyways, I had insurance and after fighting with Best Buy's Geek Squad about it, they sent it out to HP. Turns our the motherboard was fried... Huh. Weird.

    Anyway, they replaced the motherboard and everything was fine again. Cool.

    Fast forward one year and one week. Same issues. It was at this point that I do some research on the problem and find out that every HP laptop in this line has this problem. Why? Because someone messed up in the design and the Nvidia chip that they all had caused the motherboard to overheat. So, I call them and they say because the warranty for the replaced motherboard only lasted one year (and I am one week over), all they can offer me is a reduced price to replace the motherboard of like 300 something. I ask to speak to the supervisor. Same thing. I keep calling for weeks and weeks, getting progressively higher on the ladder until I finally get to a guy who levels with me. I say, "Why would I pay 300 to replace the motherboard, knowing full well that it will just fry again because it's not the motherboard that is at fault?" He basically says that is all they can offer me. I say, "With an experience like this, I don't ever want to buy another HP product." He said, "I completely understand."

    I later found out that heads pretty much rolled for this massive mess up. Hp would have probably gone bankrupt had they really solved the issues for all the people screwed by the Nvidia chip defect. I was later told that they have a new CEO now and they are trying to save their name. I don't know.

    This was a while ago but I am still telling this story because the symptoms sound similar. It kind of depends on the specs and age of your laptop tho. I probably experienced problems so quickly because I used it as a gaming laptop which sort of maxes out everything.
    lobsterKundo
  • My HP (in the UK also available as a sauce) was a gift from my brother in law. I run Puppy Linux on it. Speed is fine on practically any hardware. Puppy is fast. No good for Windows games though @zombiegirl‌. Not really finding any games of interest. Want HUD portable virtual reality specs but Google Glass has gone dark (development in top secret mode), the recent announced Microsoft device won't work properly for a while and the console developers and Apple have nothing available - yet. Virtual reality augmentation will be huge when it becomes mainstream.

    I prefer solid state devices, so might get a Chromebook in Feb or March when new batch will be in.

    Most of the time Ipad is my preferred device.

    . . . geek rambling now over . . .

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @zombiegirl said:
    Hp is my mortal enemy.

    ...and that's why I have a Dell laptop, and built my own desktop. Not that either is immune to problems, mind you. When I was I first hired at my current employer, I talked to the techs about the HP laptops that my company had deployed everywhere. They hated the things. We've since switched to Dells. Not that any of that helps @Federica.

    Kundo
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @lobster said:
    I prefer solid state devices...

    Yes, better than valves, which get quite hot. ;)

    My first PC had a 1GB hard drive and that was considered large back then.

    And before that I had an Amstrad word-processor...you'll need to check the history books on that one!

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited January 2015

    Thanks for all the info guys.... Hindsight, 20/20, and all that...
    @zombiegirl‌, that is interesting... I suspect the motherboard is caked in dust (positive outlook) or fried sunny-side-up...(W. C. scenario....)

    Incidentally, certainly in the UK, a WC is also a lavatory (water closet). It may turn out to be the most appropriate place for the laptop....

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    Flush it darn!

  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    @nakazcid‌ I now have a Dell too :) It's probably like 5-6 years old now and given me almost no problems. Really remarkable, actually. All I've done is upgrade the graphics card and add a bit of RAM. (PC, obviously.) Can still play whatever I want via Steam and other RPGs (although I've been playing mostly console these days).

    Fed, I hope that the problem you're having is completely unrelated to my woes. And for what it's worth, when I bought my mom's laptop, the guy was really pushing me toward HP, swearing up and down that the company has worked on fixing their issues... But for me personally, I will never buy another HP. Kind of a matter of pride or something.
  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    @zombiegirl said:
    nakazcid‌ I now have a Dell too It's probably like 5-6 years old now and given me almost no problems. Really remarkable, actually. All I've done is upgrade the graphics card and add a bit of RAM. (PC, obviously.) Can still play whatever I want via Steam and other RPGs (although I've been playing mostly console these days).

    I actually have two Dell laptops. My old one (2008 vintage) is currently being used my fiancee since her Lenovo desktop died. I upgraded my graphics card, too, but it still couldn't handle Skyrim very well, so I got a newer (but still used) Dell laptop. Skyrim looks great on it, though not as nice as my desktop. What RPGs have you been playing?

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @nakazcid said:

    RPGs

    Rocket propelled grenades? ;)

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    Role-Playing Games for the uninitiated. :)

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Ooooh Goody! Are we gonna play a game??
    Can I be leeeder...? Can I?

    Pleeeze can I!
    I wanna be leeder!
    Can I??
    I CAN- ?!?

    Ooooh, great!!
    OK.....
    What shall we play??

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Computers collect dust like crazy, it's a good idea to carefully (if you can) use an air compressor to blow the dust out of it every so often, or a container of canned air. We have to clean out our desktop probably twice a year (we have pets so get more dust and hair than someone without pets) and I do my laptop every so often as well.
    I'm in the market for a new laptop myself, I have a Sony Vaio that has given me no trouble whatsoever in the 4 years I've had it, but I have a kid who needs to replace his laptop anyhow. So, hand-me-down for him, new one for me, lol. I think I'm going to get an ASUS Rog so I can play skyrim on the laptop instead of having to use the desktop. It is a laptop that makes replacing the parts much easier than most laptops and it has an SSD which I prefer. Our desktop we built, which is ideal if you can find someone to do it who won't charge you labor. Much more computer for far less cost.

    I have not tried it, but I think my son does it...could you convert your .doc Word pieces into Google Drive? We do not have Word or Office on our home computers, but my son uses it at school and then puts his homework into Google Drive and then he can work on it at home without having Word on his computer.

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @karasti said:

    I have not tried it, but I think my son does it...could you convert your .doc Word pieces into Google Drive? We do not have Word or Office on our home computers, but my son uses it at school and then puts his homework into Google Drive and then he can work on it at home without having Word on his computer.

    @Federica - this is an excellent idea, and I'm smacking myself in the head that I didn't think of it earlier. Google Docs is free, will be able to read your Word files, and you can access them from any device. Great idea @karasti‌

    Great to meet another Skyrim player. An Asus ROG is too classy for me. I bought an old (2011) Dell Precision, with replaceable CPU and GPU and slapped in an SSD. Skyrim looks great, especially with a few mods loaded.

  • AmthornAmthorn Explorer
    edited January 2015
    @Federica, I can assist you with your MS Office issue. Please message me directly.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @karasti said: ...could you convert your .doc Word pieces into Google Drive? We do not have Word or Office on our home computers, but my son uses it at school and then puts his homework into Google Drive and then he can work on it at home without having Word on his computer.

    AAAARGH!!

    Google Drive Wants a Newer Browser

    >

    Time to Modernize!

    >

    It looks like you are using an old version of Chrome which is not supported by Google Drive.

    >

    Upgrade to a supported browser. Learn more.

    >

    I tried but apparently this system does not support an upgrade... I would have to download a shedload of other stuff too... Sorry.
    Not my laptop, can't really do it.....

  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @federica‌ Are you having an issue backing up files? If you have an internet connection, you could always just email them to yourself. .doc files shouldn't be too large.. although I know this method could be time consuming if you have a lot of files.

    @nakazcid said:
    I actually have two Dell laptops. My old one (2008 vintage) is currently being used my fiancee since her Lenovo desktop died. I upgraded my graphics card, too, but it still couldn't handle Skyrim very well, so I got a newer (but still used) Dell laptop. Skyrim looks great on it, though not as nice as my desktop. What RPGs have you been playing?

    I only play free MMORPGs because I refuse to end up paying over a hundred for one year of play... cough WOW cough I used to play Silkroad back in the day (the game that broke my laptop, haha) but sort of fell in love with Dragon's Nest. To be fair, I can't play it on the highest graphics setting, but it runs just fine and looks fine as well, so I don't mind. I honestly haven't touched it since Hyrule Warriors came out though (because then Mario Kart 8 came out and then Dragon Age Inquisition came out and soon Majora's Mask is coming out... blargh). I've tried a lot of free mmos but those are the only two I've really made any headway with.

    But I will say, even though my computer is pretty old, I play Left 4 Dead (1 and 2) via Steam and was shocked at how much better the graphics were vs on the Xbox 360.

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
    edited January 2015

    @federica said:

    There's a chance that Google Docs (not Google Drive) will work with Safari on your Mac, even if Chrome is too old. Safari will be at the bottom of the screen in the 'Dock' (the transparent bar at the bottom with all the icons on it.) Safari's icon will look like a compass, and should be near the left hand side of the Dock. Once you've started Safari up, navigate to:

    http://docs.google.com

    ...and see if you can upload your Word files.

    @zombiegirl said:
    But I will say, even though my computer is pretty old, I play Left 4 Dead (1 and 2) via Steam and was shocked at how much better the graphics were vs on the Xbox 360.

    Don't get me started on console graphics. I'm not really into MMOs; I can't play them when I want to play them. You've got schedule raids, and coordinate everything with a guild, plus you have all that immersion breaking chatter going on. However, I'm dying to play Dragon Age Inquisition. Unfortunately, I'm in a bit of a cash crunch at the moment, and can't go snarfing up a $60 game. Are you enjoying it so far?

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited January 2015

    Deleted because talking about what video games I like is not on topic :\ sorry fed

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Aw, bless... thank you @Jeffrey‌!

    Just a (doofus) question... what's all this 'backing up files'...? And how am I supposed to do that with a laptop that won't even switch on...? I've lost what people are tying to tell me.....

  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    edited January 2015

    Point taken @Jeffrey‌
    Will take my gamer talk to the PMs :)

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    @Jeffrey said:
    Deleted because talking about what video games I like is not on topic :\ sorry fed

    You're quite right. Sorry to hijack the thread @Federica.

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Gentle Man Veteran
    edited January 2015

    Um, backing up files is moot due to backup on remote HD already. Prob USB HD was in use for backup.

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    My thought was to take the files off your external hard drive where you have backed everything up, and use it in google drive or google docs to continue to edit/work on it. That's all, lol. docs.google.com was the predecessor to Google drive so very well might work with older an computer/OS.

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran

    Just to present the other side, @Zombiegirl, every computer I've ever had (except my first) has been an HP, including when I lived in Thailand. Each has lasted beyond the life expectancy or until I wanted a substantial upgrade. Never a problem that wasn't caused by me. The one time I had to deal with HP's support was when I ordered a monitor and then changed my mind. They were terrific. Perhaps it's all a matter of timing.

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    HP is a kind of ketchup in the UK.

    zombiegirlKundo
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Opened you seasoned gamers a new and apposite thread, here....

    Enjoy!!

    karastinakazcid
  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    @Federica did you ever get your laptop repaired or figure out a way to edit your Word documents?

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Haven't investigated repairs yet. No opportunity and TbH, no funds either....
    As for editing, well, this is my mum's laptop but younger brother who is far more techno-savvy than I, put it all together - and installed Microsoft Word... It's a bit different to the programme I have been used to using in the past, as there's no toolbar but just a spectrum of different criteria across the top, to choose from, with every different conceivable option sorted into the various appropriate category... Getting used to it, but thankfully, getting there!

    nakazcidlobster
  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
    edited January 2015

    Great, glad to hear you got something sorted out. :+1:

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    New Question regarding Apple MacBook.
    How to delete list of different forum names in drop-down menu when logging into a forum.
    Chrome (browser) instructs that in order to do this, you use arrows to highlight name to be deleted, and to use ctrl+alt+delete, but this does NOT work on the Apple MacBook. Further suggestions to use the 'fn' key also do not work. The moment I press the 'fn' key, the screen image 'shoots up' to reveal the desktop.

    So... now what?

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    ...Anyone? Any clues?

  • Are you talking about 'Who's Online?' of NB or similar on another forum?

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    no.
    When I log into a forum, (it doesn't matter which forum for now) I put my cursor in the box in which to type username. if I just click it, all the forum names I have used, (misspellings, begun typing but not finished, added password to name by mistake) all appear in a drop-down menu.

    I want to delete all the errors, mis-typings etc, and have nothing come down in the drop box other than the correct forum name I am using.

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    This is a help entry I got from Google. Seemed to work for me.

    Delete specific Autofill entries

    Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
    Select Settings.
    Click Show advanced settings and find the "Passwords and forms" section.
    Click Manage Autofill settings.
    In the dialog that appears, select the entry you'd like to delete from the list.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    No, that's not it.
    There's nothing there. I don't subscribe to 'autofill'.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    It doesn't seem to apply to Apple MacBook either.
    I tried it before.

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Not sure if this will help but supposedly it works for incorrectly typed web address, so maybe it'll work for other fields, too.
    when the list comes up, go to one of the incorrect entries using the arrow keys. then press fn, shift, backspace keys at the same time. The entry should disappear. In theory...lol.

  • nakazcidnakazcid Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran

    Is this what's happening?

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited February 2015

    @karasti said:
    Not sure if this will help but supposedly it works for incorrectly typed web address, so maybe it'll work for other fields, too.
    when the list comes up, go to one of the incorrect entries using the arrow keys. then press fn, shift, backspace keys at the same time. The entry should disappear. In theory...lol.

    As I said: hitting the 'fn' key just makes the current screen 'whizz up' and expose the desktop.
    I have seen te above advice before, but unfortunately it's ineffective...

    @nakazcid yes, that's what I mean, but it doesn't work in chrome on the Apple MacBook.
    I don't know why, it just doesn't.

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited February 2015

    not sure if this helps but I would try going to the gear thing on the toolbar 'System Preferences' and there is a keyboard section. Maybe then monkey with it.

    (to try and understand the 'fn' key doing that. I don't know about the rest probably the video of nakazcid helps)

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    What about ctrl+shift+delete after highlighting the one you want to delete? It seems like some macs have "delete" and some don't, so I don't know if you can substitute backspace in the case yours does not have a delete button.

    What if you try the combination with the fn key without pressing fn first? or doesn't it matter? Some people have posted that using shift+fn+delete (or backspace) works but using fn+shift+delete does not.

    Also, sometimes sites themselves save previously entered information, and not the browser. In that case, you'd have to look at deleting the cookies, cache and history. But it might delete ALL of the entries, including ones you want to keep.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Jeffrey said:
    not sure if this helps but I would try going to the gear thing on the toolbar 'System Preferences' and there is a keyboard section. Maybe then monkey with it.

    (to try and understand the 'fn' key doing that. I don't know about the rest probably the video of nakazcid helps)

    Yes, I tried that. Thank you for mentioning it.

    I haven't stated all the things I've already tried for brevity's sake.
    I don't mean to rain on your parades, and you cannot possibly know what I have already tried, so thanks all for coming up with these suggestions....

  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    @federica said:

    Now - the big problem is - how much is this going to cost me...?!

    How much does a Dell go for :p

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