Bear Down Wildcats

I've got a home PC problem. It won't turn on. About a week ago it started shutting off all by itself while watching videos (youtube, streaming, etc.), and then you would have to restart it. The other day it wouldn't restart. I replaced the power supply with a known good one, but no change.

azgreg wrote:I've got a home PC problem. It won't turn on. About a week ago it started shutting off all by itself while watching videos (youtube, streaming, etc.), and then you would have to restart it. The other day it wouldn't restart. I replaced the power supply with a known good one, but no change.

Reads like it was overheating. Is there a bunch of dust on the coils on the heat sink over the CPU, and the fans?

If it still won't start, disconnect everything except for the CPU, heatsink/fan, RAM and video card/monitor. Reseat the RAM. Then boot it up. If that works, keep adding components until you find the faulty one.

If you have a built in speaker, count the number and duration of the beeps.

Thanks Merk. I'll give that a try when I get home tonight.

Merk you smart bastard! Turned out to be the video card.

That's usually caused by downloading too much porn.

You can never download too much porn.

I have had PCs since the 8086 days (10mhz CPU, 20mb hd, 1mb RAM) and have been building my own since the 486DX days, so have had every computer problem imagined.

My 386DX 40mhz is about the fastest computer I ever had since it was pre-Windows, it ran just DOS.

Alieberman wrote:That's usually caused by downloading too much porn.

Beat me to it.

Olsondogg wrote:

Alieberman wrote:That's usually caused by downloading too much porn.

Beat me to it.

Really poor choice of words

Merkin wrote:I have had PCs since the 8086 days (10mhz CPU, 20mb hd, 1mb RAM) and have been building my own since the 486DX days, so have had every computer problem imagined.

Just built a new office comp last month. Been working fine except Ive gotten a blue screen with oodles of words on it and it forces me to restart. Only happened twice but about 3 weeks apart. Its been fine for over a week now. Something not seated right? Has on-board graphics, nothing fancy.

Jefe wrote:

Merkin wrote:I have had PCs since the 8086 days (10mhz CPU, 20mb hd, 1mb RAM) and have been building my own since the 486DX days, so have had every computer problem imagined.

Just built a new office comp last month. Been working fine except Ive gotten a blue screen with oodles of words on it and it forces me to restart. Only happened twice but about 3 weeks apart. Its been fine for over a week now. Something not seated right? Has on-board graphics, nothing fancy.

Haven't seen the BSOD for quite some time, but usually it was a driver problem. I would update the video driver first.

Loose RAM can also be a problem.

You're also missing a "P" on your keyboard.

Have a kid in our hood who couldn't pronounce the letter S when he was a tyke.

"What are you going to be for Halloween?"

"Uperman or Piderman!"

The solution is money. Which is why I share your problem.

how do i download movie and tv shows for free to watch on a 16hr flight?

I wanna get caught up on Game of Thrones (8 episodes behind) and maybe watch something like the Amerikans. or a bunch of bourdain that I've missed.

Any tips on how to do this. (like torrents I guess)

I have seriously no clue, but want to load up my computer. Also taking suggestions for good shows that I should watch.

CalStateTempe wrote:how do i download movie and tv shows for free to watch on a 16hr flight?

I wanna get caught up on Game of Thrones (8 episodes behind) and maybe watch something like the Amerikans. or a bunch of bourdain that I've missed.

Any tips on how to do this. (like torrents I guess)

I have seriously no clue, but want to load up my computer. Also taking suggestions for good shows that I should watch.

Does the HBO ap let us do that without a signal?

Honestly, I just like the airplane to surprise me with their selection. If it isn't of interest, then I just lean over my neighbor's lap and stare out the window for 11 hours.

Get the internet plan from the airliner and just use Kodi on an android device.

I have a MacBook and iPhone. Am I screwed?

I wonder how long desktops, and even laptops will become obsolete. Many of the work based programs can be used as an app on a tablet or Chromebook. It makes me wonder how long before the pc becomes obsolete. I have built my own computers for the last 15 years and haven't built a new one since 2009. Mine still runs all programs I use, and can run any game. Although I have changed the video card and processor (flashed the motherboard) since then. I don't even see where I need to rebuild a pc until the MB dies. And even then I may just go another route. I already use my iPad more than my PC.

Times are a changin'

Merkin wrote:

Jefe wrote:

Merkin wrote:I have had PCs since the 8086 days (10mhz CPU, 20mb hd, 1mb RAM) and have been building my own since the 486DX days, so have had every computer problem imagined.

Just built a new office comp last month. Been working fine except Ive gotten a blue screen with oodles of words on it and it forces me to restart. Only happened twice but about 3 weeks apart. Its been fine for over a week now. Something not seated right? Has on-board graphics, nothing fancy.

Haven't seen the BSOD for quite some time, but usually it was a driver problem. I would update the video driver first.

Loose RAM can also be a problem.

The only time I have seen the BSOD in the last 15 years was due to improperly seated RAM. I have been building my own machines since at least 1998.

Catintheheat wrote:I wonder how long desktops, and even laptops will become obsolete. Many of the work based programs can be used as an app on a tablet or Chromebook. It makes me wonder how long before the pc becomes obsolete. I have built my own computers for the last 15 years and haven't built a new one since 2009. Mine still runs all programs I use, and can run any game. Although I have changed the video card and processor (flashed the motherboard) since then. I don't even see where I need to rebuild a pc until the MB dies. And even then I may just go another route. I already use my iPad more than my PC.

Times are a changin'

Realistically, there's no difference between all the things we use, phones, tablets, laptops, PC's, game consoles, smart televisions, Google Glass... They're all just different interfaces. The end result will be a centralized computer processor, perhaps not even your own, that's running whatever interface you choose to use at the moment. Give it 20 years. The years between will be interesting, because the different platforms will battle it out to see who the inheritor will be. My bet? Probably Google/Android. Apple's too exclusive and puts too many restrictions on developers.

Puerco wrote:

Catintheheat wrote:I wonder how long desktops, and even laptops will become obsolete. Many of the work based programs can be used as an app on a tablet or Chromebook. It makes me wonder how long before the pc becomes obsolete. I have built my own computers for the last 15 years and haven't built a new one since 2009. Mine still runs all programs I use, and can run any game. Although I have changed the video card and processor (flashed the motherboard) since then. I don't even see where I need to rebuild a pc until the MB dies. And even then I may just go another route. I already use my iPad more than my PC.

Times are a changin'

Realistically, there's no difference between all the things we use, phones, tablets, laptops, PC's, game consoles, smart televisions, Google Glass... They're all just different interfaces. The end result will be a centralized computer processor, perhaps not even your own, that's running whatever interface you choose to use at the moment. Give it 20 years. The years between will be interesting, because the different platforms will battle it out to see who the inheritor will be. My bet? Probably Google/Android. Apple's too exclusive and puts too many restrictions on developers.

You're probably right, but it will be interesting to see what they do to solve the latency issues that make that impossible today.

I, for one, am not looking forward to paying a subscription for my computer service.

I've been in IT a long time and this thing just cycles.

From a large mainframe with dumb terminals, to many servers with smart PCs, back to a single large server with dumb PCs. Too many servers is a maintenance nightmare.

Right now my employer runs email through Microsoft, and hosts the enterprise apps on Amazon.

Speaking of building PCs, I have been doing that for a really long time too. My first open the case PC work was a 286-10 running DOS where I added a 4MB RAM card. Next was a 386DX40 barebones running DOS then Windows 3.1, then a complete build was a 486DX-50.

Those machines were blazing fast running DOS and even 3.1. When 95 came out it was all bloated.