Official Computer Help Thread

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
I've also had issues with the FireFox engine recently, even though I do not actually have FireFox...

Most is like you describe with pages not loading right somewhat at random but a simple refresh gets it correct...

I also have the issue where sometimes the multi-engine browsers stomp on each other... sometimes Lunascape in FireFox mode for example can take out the ability of Avant to display pages with the FireFox engine, you need to refresh with the newest Avant download to correct. Or switch to the Safari or Trident engine In Avant or the Webkit or Trident engine in Lunascape.

I think the occasional browser stomping is merely something having changed in FireFox itself, and Lunascape and Avant are using slightly different versions of the FireFox engine. If so it might resolve itself when the two browsers update next.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
Good to know it's not just me. Thanks, folks.
 
My PC just sorta wont post. (using Office PC at work right now.)

essentially it powers on with the CPU fan and external fans spinning with MOBO lights on but the rear I/O like the graphics and the mouse and keyboard wont power. Using the onboard graphics since my 1060 died.

do I just replace the Power Supply or the Motherboard all together.?

I disconnected the HDD and it wont post and again the mouse and keyboard are dead.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
I'm a bit confused... did the graphics card die earlier or s part of this set of issues.

You need to learn whom makes the bios for your PC, and see if there is a guide to count the number and type of beeps it makes, if any.

Also, be wary of it not powering when the HD is disconnected. Some motherboards will fail to post if there is not enough of a draw, meaning if there are no drives connected to the power cables, the motherboard will not be drawing enough juice to post. this is not a bug, but inherent to many modern designs.

If the keyboard and monitor are plugged into ports on the back, plug them up front, if plugged in up front, plug in back. It is possible to loose mouse and keyboard if the USB controller tey are connected to is non-functional. Additionally, some systems require a keyboard connected to post, due to a little known design feature holdout from long ago that split the bios between system and keyboard.
 
my 1060 died earlier. the screen sorta just flickered and I lost display.

used the onboard graphics since then, maybe a month or so now.

my Mobo has a dual BIOS so I thought of switching it but nothing. I also replaced the CMOS battery in case but no progress again.

my system is an old 4th gen i5 4460 with an MSI gaming motherboard with 8gb of ddr3 RAM.


and my system posted to BIOS with no HDD before.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
I wonder, did you run any other tests back when the video card died... if it was due to overheat it could indicate the fans needed replacing or even if spinning they may not have been spinning fast enough.

Did your MB have a status light to at least show it was getting power... if it did and is not lit, the the PS may be bad even if the PS fan is spinning

Do you hear beeps... or anything from the MB?
 
I was just browing the web and watching youtube when the card died.

the MOBO has onboard power and reset button that lights up as well as the BIOS switch. the CPU fan spins as well as connected cases but like I said it wont post, my speaker thats connected to the Rear Audio lights up but no display on the Onboard graphics and the mouse and keyboard which is RGB has no light.

also no beeps coming from the mobo.
 
I was just browing the web and watching youtube when the card died.

the MOBO has onboard power and reset button that lights up as well as the BIOS switch. the CPU fan spins as well as connected cases but like I said it wont post, my speaker thats connected to the Rear Audio lights up but no display on the Onboard graphics and the mouse and keyboard which is RGB has no light.

also no beeps coming from the mobo.
It is probably your PSU. Though, hopefully it didn't fry anything else when it died.

If you have an older PSU you know works I'd try connecting that to it and see what happens. It doesn't need to run every feature on your PC, just enough to try and boot to see if that's the issue.

I'd replace the Power Supply first and see what happens. This sounds like you just might not be getting enough juice.

It could be another issue, but PSUs are the most common failure point for a PC, and are also one of the cheapest things to replace.

Just make sure it's got enough of the right kind of power connectors for your setup before you buy it.

I'd also try that GPU again. Don't get your hopes up as it probably is indeed dead, but if it's a power supply issue it might have just been an early sign your PSU was dying. You may have had enough juice output to run the rest of your PC, but not enough for the card. Won't hurt to try.

Don't cheap out on the PSU. Spend the extra money on a gold or platinum rated PSU. Antec, Corsair, Enermax, FSP, OCZ, PC Power and Cooling, Seasonic, Silverstone, and XFX are the best options for PSUs.

Coolermaster, Rosewill, and Thermaltake are okay if you can find a good deal on a higher end model, do not buy their low end PSUs as they are crap.

A cheap PSU might work in the short term, but is far more likely to cause problems down the line. It'll probably cost you less than $150 US. For a dedicated GPU system, I'd go with over +800w. 1000w would probably be the best option, but a 900w will do just fine. Even if it doesn't work, it will be an upgrade that will help make whatever you end up doing more reliable so it won't be wasted money.

If you can't afford that right now, save up for it. You do not want a cheap PSU. If you absolutely must have something right now, buy a cheap and extremely temporary one and then replace it as soon as you can afford it. Don't put it off, cheap PSU failures are a lot more likely to fry other system components. Keep the cheap one boxed up somewhere and use it in the future if you need to test and see if you have a PSU failure and as a temporary backup if possible.

Even nice PSUs don't last forever, but they are a lot safer for the rest of your PC and will last longer.

After that, then I'd try replacing the Mobo, and try the GPU again just to be certain once you have the new one in and running. [Again, don't get your hopes up.]

If you're getting a new mobo, you need to get new RAM to go with it. What you have may not be compatible with the new Mobo, and it may have issues anyway if the mobo is the failure point.

Also, make sure you get the right kind of CPU slot for what you have. AMD has some limited backwards compatibility with their newer slots. Intel generally does not. Research exactly what kind of slot you need for your CPU, and make absolutely sure your CPU is compatible. An LGA 2011 is not the same thing as an LGA 2011-3 and the CPUs that fit in those slots are not compatible with each other.

Also, be aware that if you put in a new Mobo, you'll have to reactivate Windows. This probably won't cost you anything, but a new Mobo is seen as a "new PC" by Windows. This isn't too hard and here are the instructions.

It shouldn't cost you anything, but if you're not "eligible" for whatever reason, be aware that you may have to pay for a new Windows license. Might be a good time to try Linux if that happens, especially if you're without a dedicated GPU anyway. It's not nearly as much of a pain as it used to be. Go with Ubuntu if you're new to Linux.
 
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violinmana

(Hardcore) Gamer
Nah, I find that if someone is new to Linux, it's best to throw them off of the deep end and go with ArchLinux.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
If you still have the moms PSU hooked up... if you did not try already, try using a different power cable going from PSU to wall (or to surge protector), and plug into a different wall outlet. Just to rule out either bad power cable or bad wall outlet.
 

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
It is probably your PSU. ...

Don't cheap out on the PSU. ...

A cheap PSU might work in the short term, but is far more likely to cause problems down the line.
Umm... I'm a bit confused on reading your post. By "do not get a cheap PSU" , do you mean,

  • a 800W PSU is better than a 600W one OR
  • brand ABC 800W PSU is better than brand XYZ 800W PSU ?

I think you meant the latter, but am not quite sure.

-chronodekar
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
Personally, I think a lot of people get PSU's that are more powerful than they need... Sure, a 800W is great for gamers and really heavy systems, but standard or older home systems... not so much.
 
Umm... I'm a bit confused on reading your post. By "do not get a cheap PSU" , do you mean,

  • a 800W PSU is better than a 600W one OR
  • brand ABC 800W PSU is better than brand XYZ 800W PSU ?

I think you meant the latter, but am not quite sure.

-chronodekar
Brand is a factor, but they also have ratings. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. The quality of the components and stress testing determine the rating. I wouldn't buy a PSU that isn't at least rated Gold.
 
Personally, I think a lot of people get PSU's that are more powerful than they need... Sure, a 800W is great for gamers and really heavy systems, but standard or older home systems... not so much.
If you have a 1060 installed, you have a gaming system. A 1060 is not a low end GPU. There really isn't any other reason to buy a GPU like that unless you need it for games. Well, I suppose if you're doing a lot of high resolution rendering for work, but that amounts to the same thing.

I'm assuming that the GPU will be replaced at some point. So a 900w-1000w PSU is probably best, even if you're just replacing it with the same card and not upgrading. An 800w is probably a little underpowered for that kind of system actually.
 
cannibalized the PSU from my moms PC and still the same problem.

probably a motherboard issue.
I'd still replace the PSU. It isn't unlikely that a PSU failure is what caused the Mobo [and GPU] issue in the first place.

You don't want to replace the GPU and Mobo only to have the same PSU short out again and fry them too.

If possible, see if you can test that GPU on Mom's PC, just to be sure it's actually broken and it wasn't just your Mobo dying.

If the GPU really is dead, especially replace that PSU in addition to the Mobo. With two failures of that sort, it is almost certainly the actual source of the problem. I can't 100% say that is a fact, but given the circumstances I wouldn't risk hooking it up to anything else.

Also, again, if you're replacing the Mobo you'll likely need new RAM. Unless you're just getting the exact same model of Mobo, in which case it may still work assuming the mobo failure didn't ruin it.
 
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i3 8100 or ryzen 3 2200g

for my new rig.?

not gonna bother scrounging for a 4th gen mobo for my dead one.
Neither.

You want at least an i5 or a Ryzen 5 for a gaming rig. Even if you're just replacing the GPU with the same type of card you're looking at a potential bottleneck due to the CPU. You'll definitely be seeing a performance bottleneck in CPU intensive games. You will not be seeing the full performance of a 1060 with an i3. It won't be as bad as it would be with a 1080, but it's still going to be holding your GPU back.

In my experience you don't ever want an i3 in a gaming machine. You'll regret it down the line, I've never heard about anyone who put an i3 into a build for gaming that didn't regret it later. Best to bite the bullet now and just spend the extra bit on an i5. Cores and clock speed aren't the only thing that matters, the number of threads a CPU can handle and the cache size matter as well.

However, between those two, go with the i3 as it has better benchmarks. The difference between the two is slight though, so the Ryzen isn't really any better in anything but price.

If you're planning on just using this CPU temporarily and upgrading later once you have some money saved up, you may want to think about which way you're going.

In general, AMD has a lower price point and slightly lower performance. Meaning you'll get more per dollar in the mid range. However, if you want the top of the line performance you're going to want to go with Intel.

Intel on the other hand has better performance overall, but also costs more.

I've heard the new Ryzen CPUs are doing well in benchmarks, so if you're looking to go with a more budget conscious PC that has decent performance and isn't bleeding edge, you'll probably want to go with an AMD build.

If you prefer Nvidia cards, you can still go that route with an AMD CPU.

Neither of the CPUs you listed is good enough for gaming.
 
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Im on an extremely tight budget at the moment so those are the only ones that I can afford.
Like I said, it's a temporary solution at best and you're going to see performance suffer with either of those CPUs. It will give you a PC that works, and it will run most games at okay settings, but will really struggle with CPU intensive games. Stuff like particle effects, physics heavy titles, and AI threading will be an issue.

Of the two the i3 is the best option performance wise, but if you're going to replace it down the line [and you will want to] then plan ahead and consider which CPU slot will be best when you replace it and decide based on that.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
So, I had to buy a Fire HD 10 tablet while i save up enough money to get my laptop fixed (I accidentally spilled a glass of milk on it, and it went to shit). How do I download files off the web (html) with the tablet?

(Also, the cover/stand I bought does not work as a stand. Too flimsy. Luckily I've got a work-around, but still...)

How do I turn off Safe Mode?
 
So, I had to buy a Fire HD 10 tablet while i save up enough money to get my laptop fixed (I accidentally spilled a glass of milk on it, and it went to shit). How do I download files off the web (html) with the tablet?

(Also, the cover/stand I bought does not work as a stand. Too flimsy. Luckily I've got a work-around, but still...)

How do I turn off Safe Mode?
You should have bought a generic Android tablet instead for the kind of use you seem to want it for. A Kindle will do most things in a pinch, but it's not an open platform device really.

Kindle is kind of like a gaming console, it's designed to be a walled garden device for accessing specific content. A Kindle is basically a more restricted Android tablet with a custom UI.

Shut down your Kindle by holding down the power button until it shuts down and then just turn it on again. Safe Mode turns on when you start your Kindle Fire while the volume button is pressed. If it's starting in safe mode after you do that, check and make sure the volume buttons aren't sticking for some reason. If that doesn't work, you'll want to talk to support because something is amiss.

As for how to download, it would depend on what kind of files you're talking about and what you intend to do with them.

If you mean saving websites for offline reading, in the Silk browser open the menu icon [the three dots], and then select: Save a page to your Reading List for offline viewing.

Alternately you may want to check out Pocket for Android if you want more options and features for saving websites for later use on the device offline.
 
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da_fox2279

California Crackpot
I see. Thanks.
 
About 2 years ago, I put a custom water loop into my computer.

I believe that my pump is dying.

It won't spin up to any practical degree, even when taken off the fan header for pump control. When that's not connected, it goes along at ~30% speed.
 
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