… and a new computer.
My twelve year old desktop died last night, and that leaves me with a twitchy old laptop as backup. Blogging will be slow at my end until Lance can perform transplant surgery on the old box, or failing that, I have to buy a new one. Ugh. Not so good.
Until then, you’re in the capable hands of the guest bloggers and our new constitutional subordination to the “national interest”. Rage on.
Used to be you could go to OTV, and get a good refurbished desktop or laptop. But, the scamdemic put them out of business.
If your desktop was 12 years old, even an older refurbished computer can seem like quite an upgrade. I realize “money is tight” means different things to different people, but a couple years ago I bought a “new” computer, a refurbished 2013 HP with a Core 5 processor (I believe state-of-the-art for the time, or nearly so) for about 300 bucks and I’ve been very happy with it. It doesn’t play the latest FPS games, but neither do I so that works out pretty well.
I will also note that the refurbisher gave me the choice of having a fresh install of either Windows 7 or Windows 10. I took the 7 of course because I’m old and don’t like new things.
You chose well. I hope you cherished W7 because W10 kinda blows.
It’s my understanding that Windows 10 was designed to work as a smartphone browser since far more people buy smartphones than desktops. I still have an old flip phone that just makes phone calls and sends texts and fits in my pocket. As God intended.
W10 Pro is OK. I wouldn’t waste any time on “Home”.
Same here, my last 4 PC’s have been refurbished. Not a gamer so it don’t matter.
Yank the drive and put it as secondary in the “new” one.
Memory Express has a selection, a new box for a few hundred.
Amazon too.
Dust? It’s always dust.
12yrs. is a good run.
RAID 1 or 10
Hardware for RAID driver.
Actually, the plastic tab that holds the chiller to the CPU broke off and the chiller came off the CPU which in turn fried the CPU. Boots to BIOS, but that’s it.
Of course, getting a new Phenom II is kinda pointless so we’ll go w/ new ASUS mobo, ram and AMD Ryzen CPU. The rest should be fine, she has a newer video card and power supply already. We’ll get an M.2 SSD if the mobo supports booting off it for a fresh install, if not we’ll run with the older Sata.
She runs Linux, so Windows isn’t an issue or an option.
oof…. vexing.
well… for entertainment value. “Thermal vibrational depravity” (I was impressed.)
You beat the three month life mentioned here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/cvupnx/my_am4_cooler_bracket_spontaneously_broke_today/
Best of luck with the re-boot, I think the SSD will work out, I’d get two and mirror. Perhaps an extra fan.
linux….nice
FreeBSD is better.
I run Ubuntu Studio on one of my laptops.
Complete sound, video and graphics editors etc out of the box.
Runs well on an i3 too.
Not dust, smoke.
Smoke is what keeps your computer running.
If the smoke ever comes out, it stops running.
Keep the smoke in.
foobert…what about mirrors?
Get a new one on sale. Maybe look at Craigslist if you’re okay with a bit of risk. Computers are cheap thanks in large part to international trade.
Hi Kate, sent you a donation to help on computer problems.
You can always depend on a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A when you need longevity.
Small donation sent. Hope it helps.
Worst Buy sells refurbished desktops, as well as laptops. Lots of used Dells get sold through them.
Watching people talk about computers always amuses me.
I just went through the same thing earlier this week. My Apple iMac didn’t boot properly, so I worked for much of the day working off some of my FreeBSD machines.
It turned out that some file directory for my account on the iMac became corrupted, something which I haven’t been able to fix. I could still log on if I booted in single-user mode, which allowed me to rescue my files.
I bought another second-hand iMac the same day and I was finally back in business yesterday after ordering and installing a copy of a certain software program.
I don’t know how that corruption happened. It looks like I’ll have to completely overhaul the hard drive by reformatting it and re-installing the operating system. My files are backed up so I’ll copy them onto it, assuming that the re-installation was successful.
And people wonder why I prefer FreeBSD. It runs on just about any PC-like Intel or AMD machine and the software is open-source.
BA, I have no clue what you, and others on this thread are talking about. What I know (understand) about computers could be written in block caps with a sharpie on one of my thumb nails. They are a complete and frustrating mystery to me. When I get to the point of having some of the tech figured out, they go and change the damn tech, so I gave up long ago, trying or caring. When my computers die, (not often thankfully) I take em out to the range and put a few bullets through em to finish em off. My mind and sanity are much happier for my clueless disinterest, and my computer executions. Now if you need a house or V8 engine built, I’m your man, but computers …..sigh!
A lot of what I know about computers is self-taught, though I had some basic knowledge from my time as a university student.
I got fed up with buying stuff from Apple more than a decade ago. Just about each of its machines that I’ve owned had problems and, worse, I can’t do much to fix them myself. I concluded that its stuff is over-priced and of questionable quality. The company would like nothing better than for its clientele to buy an expensive piece of hardware, only to chuck it out and buy a new one if it goes wonky right after its warranty expires.
I prefer computers that I can tinker with. There’s a lot of information available on the Internet on what to do and, with open-source systems and software, chances are that someone’s already dealt with the same problem I might be having. By buying and using refurbished PC-based tower machines, I often can get spare parts easily and add an extra hard drive or more RAM.
If I can fix it myself, I won’t have to take it into a repair shop and pay someone more than $100/hr, only to tell me “I dunno.”
“Let the smoke out, then it’ll chooch”
For the AvE fans in the crowd.
Still running the Dell W7, but have a Dell W10. You can get a new unit from Dell for about $700+. You don’t need much, but it all depends on what you want to use the computer for. Your choice, but my W 7 was top of the line and still runs fine today. Get this, my tax software won’t run on W7 now, or it’s not recommended, so that’s why I got the W10. From what I’ve noticed there’s less hands on tweaking needed with the new units, even faster to load. I went for coffee when the W7 booted up. Price hasn’t changed much, $2400 BIG W7 vs $2400 BIG W10. Can’t remember off hand when I got the W7. Your chips are faster today and you can do a lot more with less. I use Dell ’cause no bloat. You pay for what you get.
Hey, what do you get when you take your computer and throw it in the ocean?
You get a Dell, rolling in the sea!
I’m in lethbridge, but if you have someone who can pick it up here .. I’ll give you my old backup machine. It’s a Dell T3600, 4 core Xeon at 2.8Ghz max, 16GB ram, and two 7200 RPM 1TB disks. Nvidia graphics – 16″ dell screen, mouse,keyboard included.
This thing is utterly reliable, DOD certified – currently running debian 10 but I can put ubantu on it if you prefer – plus, if you want something specific pre-loaded, I can probably do that too.
Just let me know.
Sorry to hear about your computer. May I suggest you contact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He always gives free things for Canadians (white males excluded). That is why we love Him!
destroy the hard drive an get a new one.
I’ve often replaced wobbly hard drives in machines, and then re-task them for storage. I’d just an enclosure for them and they’re back in business.
New hard drives are dirt cheap now. The last time I bought one, a 1 terabyte unit cost me around $100. Compare that with more than $500 for 4 gigabytes in the mid-1990s.
Unfortunately, when a laptop craps out, there’s not a lot that can be salvaged from them. Aside from the HD, one might be able to re-use the RAM cards. Even the display can be re-cycled, as it were, but one needs to buy an adaptor for that. There’s an outfit or two operating through eBay that makes them.
When a desktop/tower machine dies, there’s more that can be salvaged. I’ve saved power supplies, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, interface cards, heat sinks, and fans.
Sometimes, I find an machine in a state of disrepair that a tenant in my building has abandoned. If I can, I take it apart, clean it, and re-build it from whatever leftover parts I had on hand, going to a store for whatever bits I don’t have in my junk boxes. One such resurrected computer lasted me several years before giving up the ghost, but it’s several years of computing that I didn’t need a new machine for.
Machines have a tendency to go on the blink when it’s most inconvenient, namely late at night or on weekends. Having a number of leftover pieces on hand, and using them to make repairs, has bailed me out of a scrape or two.
I’ve even used a leftover chassis as a ground plane for some of my radio antennas. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
Thanks all for the offers — this is also my work station for graphic design, so it does need some horsepower. We’re in the process of rebuilding now.
Set it 300 yards out in the field, and start taking potshots at it.
If that don’t wake it up, it is a goner.
When I know it’s a goner, that is when I take shots at it with my trusty .45 🙂
When one of my computers is a goner, I cannibalize it for parts. Whatever I can’t use eventually ends up at the recycling depot.
ACEPC..small-form factor 8 gigs, 120 gb, W10 Pro, Gemini Lake, dual monitor 4K support…$280. Really like mine. Take it from a guy who used to spend $1,500…
Mine dies, it hits the scrap trailer ! So I always buy top of the line, and have it rebuilt once or twice, as I did this sucker. My computer guy SIL no longer talks to me, cuz I offered to scrap trailer that fool, so I now use sourced repair people:-))))