Computer General Discussion Thread

[Valentine Z]

So err... dual-booting failed on my new laptop, and I've been trying to use it for my school stuff.

Now I got two laptops - my newer Dell running Windows 10, and my laptop from 2012 (Sony VAIO S Series, 15.5") running Ubuntu. And ironically, Ubuntu is doing some things way faster than a newer laptop with Windows 10 inside.

I also did the "nuke Windows 8 and install" thing a little too quickly, so now my Sony laptop won't charge beyond 80%... because I activated some Battery Care function on W8, and W8 just got nuked.

I think there should probably be some way to change that in the BIOS, or simply resetting the BIOS could work.

Oh yes, a follow-up on this!

There was nothing wrong with the BIOS configuration or anything else for that matter.

It just so happens that I have not been charging my laptop for so long that the battery meter needs a discharge cycle to refresh itself.

Thanks for the help though!

[Cekoviu]

I think there should probably be some way to change that in the BIOS, or simply resetting the BIOS could work.

Oh yes, a follow-up on this!

There was nothing wrong with the BIOS configuration or anything else for that matter.

It just so happens that I have not been charging my laptop for so long that the battery meter needs a discharge cycle to refresh itself.

Thanks for the help though!

Oh, didn't even think of that. *facepalm*
Glad you could fix it.

[Cekoviu]

So, my laptop was designed by idiots and has literally no means of ventilation, which means that when I recharge the battery (frequently because I use it all the time for school and it has low battery life) and try to do anything more intense than play Minesweeper, it freezes and has to be rebooted about every 7 minutes even when I allow open air to be under most of it. I already limit CPU usage to 80% to try to help reduce overheating, but it still has problems. Anything I can do until I get my next few paychecks and I can buy a new laptop?

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

I'm just curious. I've been installing/reinstalling/uninstalling more common lately.

installing/reinstalling itself isn't going to cause corruption. Hard Drive failures tend to come with physical issues, dust that made it into the unit in operation, minor manufacturer defects that escalate over time. drive shock, etc. All in all if you're concerned about longevity you want to look for drives slated for enterprise use. They tend to have slightly more stringent manudacturing expectations are rated for longer total operating hours than ones slated for desktop use. This also goes for drives rated for NAS and surveillance use.

Ah, I see. Mine already comes with the package, it's laptop and not PC. So I don't know the kind of hard drive it used. Also this is a new info for something else, but apparently if you have 4GB of RAM it turns out you only use about 3.89 GB of it. It's a thing I found while accidentally pressing the Windows flag on the keyboard and pause/break button.

[Tekania]

installing/reinstalling itself isn't going to cause corruption. Hard Drive failures tend to come with physical issues, dust that made it into the unit in operation, minor manufacturer defects that escalate over time. drive shock, etc. All in all if you're concerned about longevity you want to look for drives slated for enterprise use. They tend to have slightly more stringent manudacturing expectations are rated for longer total operating hours than ones slated for desktop use. This also goes for drives rated for NAS and surveillance use.

Ah, I see. Mine already comes with the package, it's laptop and not PC. So I don't know the kind of hard drive it used. Also this is a new info for something else, but apparently if you have 4GB of RAM it turns out you only use about 3.89 GB of it. It's a thing I found while accidentally pressing the Windows flag on the keyboard and pause/break button.

Usually in cases where less is showing it's owing to integrated video. Some system RAM is used as VRAM on system with integrated video. Sometimes this is setable, sometimes it's autoset by the BIOS based upon the amount of installed RAM.

[Tiffanybella]

Really surprised that a lot of users here are using Linux. Had no luck with it lol

[Valentine Z]

Oh yes, a follow-up on this!

There was nothing wrong with the BIOS configuration or anything else for that matter.

It just so happens that I have not been charging my laptop for so long that the battery meter needs a discharge cycle to refresh itself.

Thanks for the help though!

Oh, didn't even think of that. *facepalm*
Glad you could fix it.

Update on my laptop... it also just happens that the battery meter means squat now. This is for my old VAIO laptop.

So I was using it on a train yesterday to do some stuff, battery is at 70%, so it would last me an hour or so... right? Then after a few minutes of use, the laptop suddenly shut down, and I can't power it back on.

When I went back home to charge it, it was at 0-1%... so the battery meter and the battery itself might be wonky and has to be charged with the A/C adapter, or to be given a few good charge-discharge cycles now.

So, my laptop was designed by idiots and has literally no means of ventilation, which means that when I recharge the battery (frequently because I use it all the time for school and it has low battery life) and try to do anything more intense than play Minesweeper, it freezes and has to be rebooted about every 7 minutes even when I allow open air to be under most of it. I already limit CPU usage to 80% to try to help reduce overheating, but it still has problems. Anything I can do until I get my next few paychecks and I can buy a new laptop?

I would try setting the Maximum Processor State to something less than 100%. It so happens that you can reduce the maximum speed that your laptop will hit, and I set mine at 98% (99% doesn't do anything). My laptop will only follow 100, 98, 96, the even numbers. The percentages work differently with each model.

Go to Energy/Battery Options > Edit your Energy Plan > Advanced Energy Plan Options, then there you go!

You want to look at something called Processor Energy State, or something like that. I have been using my laptop in foreign languages for far too long that I forgot what they exactly say in English.

EDIT: Oh wait, you already tried that... my bad! Then I have no other option for you, unfortunately. Unless you can get a hold of a fan or a cheap laptop cooler to constantly blow some fresh air at it? Or... you can try using your laptop in an A/C room, though this is not going to be that helpful for the most parts.

All the best!

[Minoa]

So, my laptop was designed by idiots and has literally no means of ventilation, which means that when I recharge the battery (frequently because I use it all the time for school and it has low battery life) and try to do anything more intense than play Minesweeper, it freezes and has to be rebooted about every 7 minutes even when I allow open air to be under most of it. I already limit CPU usage to 80% to try to help reduce overheating, but it still has problems. Anything I can do until I get my next few paychecks and I can buy a new laptop?

What’s the laptop brand?

I should point out that if you are using a laptop cover like I do, to reduce dents and scratches, the cover has to allow for good ventilation too.

[Cekoviu]

So, my laptop was designed by idiots and has literally no means of ventilation, which means that when I recharge the battery (frequently because I use it all the time for school and it has low battery life) and try to do anything more intense than play Minesweeper, it freezes and has to be rebooted about every 7 minutes even when I allow open air to be under most of it. I already limit CPU usage to 80% to try to help reduce overheating, but it still has problems. Anything I can do until I get my next few paychecks and I can buy a new laptop?

What’s the laptop brand?

I should point out that if you are using a laptop cover like I do, to reduce dents and scratches, the cover has to allow for good ventilation too.

It's Acer. Don't remember the exact model, but it uses a Skylake Pentium iirc and has 4GB of RAM.
I don't use a laptop cover, so that won't really do much.

[Danternoust]

No one mentions this, but reducing the bandwidth for wifi increases spectral density, and thus range.

Edit:

What’s the laptop brand?

I should point out that if you are using a laptop cover like I do, to reduce dents and scratches, the cover has to allow for good ventilation too.

It's Acer. Don't remember the exact model, but it uses a Skylake Pentium iirc and has 4GB of RAM.
I don't use a laptop cover, so that won't really do much.

ask techsupport macgyver on reddit what to do.

[Valentine Z]

I'm the 10111th post here, which in turn means I'm the 23rd post now.

Anyway... well, no issues as of now. Just the general sluggishness of Windows, and the fast speeds of Ubuntu. I might be biased in the sense that the laptop on Ubuntu was just reset recently, while the one with Windows have been hit with many, many programs.

[Nordengrund]

What reasons might my battery not work?

I have a HP Notebook, and the charger works, but the battery doesn’t so, I can’t turn it on without it being plugged in.

Any way I can troubleshoot?

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

It's all been downhill since they told us we wanted thinner laptops.

The battery stopped charging on my last machine, pretty sure it was a loose connection, but you would have to dismantle the entire laptop to get to it.

Talking of Windows 10, it takes 8 seconds from clicking on the icon to my email programme opening. That's not an operating system, it's a hostile environment for non-Microsoft apps.

[Crookfur]

What reasons might my battery not work?

I have a HP Notebook, and the charger works, but the battery doesn’t so, I can’t turn it on without it being plugged in.

Any way I can troubleshoot?

The most reliable method is always a 2 way swap with a known good laptop and battery but I appreciate that such is pretty much impossible outside of a company with a decent IT dept these days.

Externally visible battery self check systems also seem to have largely gone. You might try rooting around in the bios for battery info and check it's still being detected and if the system gives any info on its charge/discharge rate and/or battery health.

[Saiwania]

As of late, I've been wanting some second opinions about whether or not the Asus Vivobook F510UA is a better investment than the $600 version of the Acer Aspire E15? I'm aware that the Acer has better specs but I have concerns about it's reliability over the long term. More power does me no good if it breaks in less than 5 years. Reliability is more important to me but would still like the best mobile hardware $600 can buy. I'm willing to spend no more than $650. It'd be quite a setback to go over that budget.

I read that the Acer has thermal problems and inferior screen compared to the Asus. While the Asus has better build quality but has inferior graphics and doesn't have as many ports. There is a trade-off I have to make.

I would get the Acer Aspire E15 for it's dedicated graphics and many ports were I not concerned about it's ability to not break with normal usage. If I get the Asus Vivobook F510UA, my plan is to put in an SSD to store Windows on. Budget would still be slightly below $600 in that case. If the Asus runs with less heat and holds up better with use, I want to get that instead.

I just need a powerful and reliable all purpose workhorse laptop that is no more than $650 but preferably $600 to $500 at minimum. I'm looking for hardware within that tier or range. Not going too low in price and getting stuck with specs that're too weak. This needs power, but not expensive power, more like mid level.

Any recommendations? The Acer Aspire E15 still looks like the best deal for what I'm looking for. But alternative laptop models if more reliable or a better value overall, I could pick instead.

To clarify, I don't care about size and weight or thinness or the keyboard layout. I'm looking within the traditional clam shell form factor and don't need a touch screen. But do want the screen to be 15 inches or 17 inches, but no smaller than 14 inches.

What I focus on is the port selection and what performance the hardware can offer. A good CPU and dedicated graphics of some form (if it comes with decent cooling) impresses me more than a laptop simply being lighter or smaller as the trend supposedly is now. Storage and RAM, I can ignore or be flexible on if it can be added in separately, like is the case with the Acer Aspire E15.

My current top 2 contenders which are closely tied:
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-i5-8 ... way&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-Nanoedg ... way&sr=8-2

Alternative models that're $500 to $600 but no more than $650, I'd welcome for consideration if the specs are equivalent or better. I got no loyalty to any particular brand, but will lean towards whatever is more reliable if not more powerful. The purchase will be happening some time this year, but I'm waiting strategically for whenever price drops generally happen. Either back to school or holiday seasons.

[Valentine Z]

It's all been downhill since they told us we wanted thinner laptops.

The battery stopped charging on my last machine, pretty sure it was a loose connection, but you would have to dismantle the entire laptop to get to it.

Talking of Windows 10, it takes 8 seconds from clicking on the icon to my email programme opening. That's not an operating system, it's a hostile environment for non-Microsoft apps.

I always like the thick laptops. You don't have to fear about shattering them, and you know that they will have good ventilation or components inside for the most parts.

[JoWee]

Need some help, I am searching for a good vpn service for mac, any suggestions? I'd like to find something that is cheap enough but good at the same time.

[Minoa]

I am currently with Mullvad, and there have been no issues.

Generally, the VPNs that provide good service are paid, although you need to be aware of scams.

A number of “free” VPNs got into huge trouble recently, notably with Hola (botnets) and Onavo (browser history).

And you will want OpenVPN support as well, and the VPN should be based outside the Five Eyes alliance (including the UK and USA).

Side note: Mullvad users need to download new configuration files because their current root certificate is expiring on 22 March: when they were founded in 2009, the maximum age of any root certificate in the world was 10 years.

[Immoren]

I wonder if I've Become pickier or if modern hardware or/andsoftware has become better at Picking/replicating faults in audio. Because I was listening to some songs uploaded to YT ages ago, that I used to listen as teen, and I found myself thinking "Sound quality could've not been this bad". Lol

[Tekania]

I wonder if I've Become pickier or if modern hardware or/andsoftware has become better at Picking/replicating faults in audio. Because I was listening to some songs uploaded to YT ages ago, that I used to listen as teen, and I found myself thinking "Sound quality could've not been this bad". Lol

Human memory sucks. You do not actually remember what it sounded like. By now your brain has filled in gaps so your memory will make it out to sound better than it actually did. And hearing it now will just place that in star contrast. Same thing happens with old video as well. Jurassic Park CGI was awesome for a time, and I can remember how phenomenal and awesome it was to see when it came out in theaters originally. But going back and seeing it now the CGI is horribly dated and looks worse than how it is remembered. This is just a normal effect of human memory.

Unforunately human memory actually sucks, and people generally have more faith in their own memories than they really should.

[Saiwania]

Rest in peace, Adobe Shockwave.

I got confirmation as of late, that its End of Life is coming on April 9th of this year. I have it on my PC for some reason, I always kept it updated but I forget what I ever needed it for. When was the last time you've come across a game or whatever that used Shockwave? It was far more common for me to have needed Adobe Flash back in the day.

[Minoa]

A long time ago, perhaps in the early-2000s.

In any case, Flash eventually ate away the market share of Shockwave, and Flash itself is heading for end-of-life next year, due to the ridiculous levels of security flaws.

[Saiwania]

I took the plunge and purchased the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-576G-5762 for $530. I got $70 off this day. It is at its lowest price ever so far, so I thought it to be a good deal given that it's usually $600 and it comes with some form of a dedicated graphics card. It's not the best GPU, but it is more than what Intel Graphics 620 integrated can offer right? It is supposedly the best value overall that $600 can get (so most review resources say).

I'm just really hoping that I didn't choose wrongly on this. I need a powerful workhorse laptop that'll last for at least 5 years that is versatile but not too cheap and under powered but not too expensive either. I looked for decent hardware at a medium price point.

Positive reviews say that it is a good overall value with lots of ports old and new.
Negative reviews however, say that it can have heating issues and that parts on it might fail.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-i5-8 ... B075FLBJV7

If it holds up well, I plan to add an HDD for data. 500 GB or so, but if its only $5 more, I may as well get a 1 TB.

[Nordengrund]

What’s the best place for professional advice? I’ve asked around for my issue and received some similar answers, but I don’t really want to go through with it in case they are wrong or someone is trying to mislead me.

I have a battery problem, and have tried troubleshooting, and it is recommended that I delete my driver since it will reinstall automatically upon startup. However, I’m not going to do this unless I’m 100% certain it will work.

[Saiwania]

I have a battery problem, and have tried troubleshooting, and it is recommended that I delete my driver since it will reinstall automatically upon startup. However, I’m not going to do this unless I’m 100% certain it will work.

You don't have to be 100% certain strictly speaking, I say just minimize the risks to you. A full backup using some form of external mass storage would allow you to restore everything if your software gets screwed up. That is good insurance if you have a known good full backup of your entire disk on hand, but an easier method is to take advantage of the System Restore feature of Windows.

Create a restore point before making any changes in software, if it goes wrong- you can use the restore point to "go back" to the point in time before you made any change (most of the time).

If your BIOS still works (which will be the case- unless your motherboard gets "bricked"), you can usually still access System Restore via Safe Mode or some other method even if you're not able to boot into your OS for whatever reason. From there, you can restore from backup or use System Restore or other methods if necessary to get your machine back to the previous state it was in.

My experience is that if you delete a driver, Windows will look for and install the most compatible driver it can find for your hardware if Windows detects that a driver is missing. This generally won't happen however, until after you restart the machine. Windows does a pretty good job of picking a correct driver these days. Only a manufacturer driver is better, but those are very hard to track down unless its for graphics.

I had quite a problem with my USB drivers causing occasional blue screens. I ended up deleting all of my USB drivers and letting Windows try to find and install what was most compatible, it seems to have solved my problem.

In addition: Do NOT use "driver updater" software- tempting as it might be, those rely too heavily upon version number and as a result, will lean towards installing any driver with a higher version number, even if it's too new or not meant for your specific hardware or software and would thus risk causing instability to your system.

You get compatible drivers solely from either your OS or from the firmware/support page of the specific make and model you have. Drivers are hardware and software specific. It can be too new or too old. But generally speaking, a driver that is too old will cause fewer problems than a driver that is too new. Thus a higher version number isn't always better.

You never really have to update your drivers unless it's for graphics or if a driver in question is corrupted or incompatible in some way. Drivers rarely change except for graphics drivers. If it's for graphics, it's less risky to try to get the latest for that. For other drivers, use the Manufacturer support page for the device you own or Windows Update.