My Computer Bit It

[The Warren]

My computer died like 3 weeks ago or something. We are just getting back up and running now. Still troubleshooting some hardware before we full load all our stuff. Seems like nVidia and Realtek drivers hate each other, hate Windows 7 and 8, and just hate in general. So I've had no sound, and I can only get picture not using the HDMI on my monitor which sucks it cuz my work laptop uses the VGA port already, and so now when I work from home I have to unplug the VGA cable from my computer and plug it into my docking station.

[mosaic]

blech. hope you can get everything up and running to your satisfaction.

[MakersDozn]

Warren people,

Sorry about the puter. Hope everything is sorted out soon.

Our Gateway is 10 years old and runs on XP. You probobly know that Microsoft will stop supporting XP next year. We know that we need a new puter, but it's hard to find one that runs 32-bit software. The Microsoft Store has a location about 45 minutes from where we live, and they sell puters that run both 32- and 64-bit. We just haven't had a chance to go there and check it out.

MDs

[finlyalive]

You may find it difficult to find a computer that has Windows 7 at this point. However, there is a 32-bit Windows 7 OS. I'm not as familiar with Windows 8 yet, as I have not had to repair or activate any at this point.

As for the hardware conflicts, are they the same components that you had before? If so, it is a driver conflict and you simply have to go to the website and download a different driver. If you have new hardware, you can often google how to change how the components work so that they will not conflict. If it is not supporting the hdmi, is the driver loaded and if it is, maybe there is a problem with the graphics card? Troubleshooter does well, but if it doesn't have an easy answer, it gives up. Google can be your best friend.

[nats]

the best thing about Microsoft is the philanthropic funding provided by the Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/)... the software we're not so crazy about.

[Elizabethn]

Oy. Yikes. I have been putting off any updates/purchases that take me beyond XP for these same reasons. Result is that my puters have Alzheimers.

[The Warren]

Oh we found that out about XP a loooong time ago, when we ended up with Vista and looked into getting a copy of XP to "upgrade". It was near impossible, and then when we did get ahold of an XP disk, we needed HD drivers to even install it and anyway it wouldn't support the 8 gig memory we had, so we said f-it. We kept Vista, and then later upgraded to 7. Cuz having an OS that could only support 4 gigs of RAM when I had 8 woulda sucked.

I ended up with Win 8 of course. YOu can still special order PCs with 7, but whatever. I figured if it sucked butt really bad, I could find a Win 7 disk for sale somewhere. After a lot of tweaking the heck out of it, it's okay. It is not designed for desktops/laptops. Windows needs to fix that much with it, so that if you have a non-touch device you can easily configure it to work in PC/Desktop mode and ditch all the stupid "apps" and the stupid start screen. For now, you have to download 3rd party tools and do other things. I was lucky, I bought a PC without all the added bloatware, just Windows 8 and nothing else. It made setting up a lot easier without having to deal with all the other useless crap big name companies put on their machines.

Turned out I also had an issue with the monitor, which took a few weeks to sort out. It was highly technical and required us to install an old graphics card from like 2 graphics cards back and booting off a DOS disk in order to fix corrupted information in the monitor itself. Srsly. Win 8/Win 7 and the latest graphics cards don't work with the easier fixes like editing the registry or hacking the drivers.

We've been mad busy with work, so we don't have everything fully configured still on this machine, just bare essentials - browsers, office, email, some games we don't get time to play anymore. *sigh*

So far though - we like our new PC and now that we've "fixed" the OS, it's like using Win 7.

My work laptop is still XP. I really liked Win 7 better than XP. Wish they would upgrade the rest of us. My laptop came with Win 7 originally, but my department had not approved use of Win 7 and Office 2010 yet due to program compatibility issues. Office 2010 eventually rolled out to everyone, but probably not going to see an OS upgrade until I have to replace the laptop.

[Elizabethn]

In the meantime, my netbook and PC were both truly on their last legs, so I bit the bullet and bought a Windows 8 laptop. We're still getting acquainted, but so far, so good :-).

[MakersDozn]

We've tweaked the Win8 on our new desktop (see the New PC thread) a bit, but probably not as much as you/Lea have the ability to do. We hate the fact that MS seems to think that everyone wants a mobile interface, which isn't true.

People on their message boards say, "Why can't I change/eliminate the Start screen?" "Why is the clock not always visible when I browse in the new UI mode?" MS Moron answers, "It was designed that way." One disgusted user called Win8 a "Fisher-Price OS."

Well, at least it's not as bad as Vista. The MS people were probably counting on users to be grateful for that and not complain about Win8. But there have been enough complaints for them to come out with Win8.1, which brings back the Start button, among other things. Knock on wood.

Just realized that we can't see the text formatting icons here in Firefox (latest version). We're gonna have to save this post as a draft and open up IE10 to post it. Maybe you/Lea can check out the FF issue when you have a chance.

MDs

[The Warren]

Yeh at least Win 8 is stable. Vista didn't really give me problems, but 7 ran a lot better. The Modern UI is useless on a PC, especially with a huge screen. WTF?

In somewhat related news, I heard the guy who invented the mouse died.

Heh we're on FF 21, can see the text formating icons fine. *scratches head*

[MakersDozn]

(07-04-2013, 04:51 PM)The Warren Wrote: Yeh at least Win 8 is stable. Vista didn't really give me problems, but 7 ran a lot better. The Modern UI is useless on a PC, especially with a huge screen. WTF?

Yeah, really. If we'd wanted a *&^%$#@! smartphone, we'd've bought one.

We've only had a very brief experience with 7, when we visited a friend in February of this year. From what little we could tell, it was better than Vista, but with none of the BS that Win8 brings to the table.

(07-04-2013, 04:51 PM)The Warren Wrote: In somewhat related news, I heard the guy who invented the mouse died.

May he find his eternal reward. :-P

(07-04-2013, 04:51 PM)The Warren Wrote: Heh we're on FF 21, can see the text formating icons fine. *scratches head*

We have FF22. We also can't see the forum banner at the top, and we can't click on the "get more" under the smilies at the left. The JavaScript doesn't work right. And Quick Edit / Full Edit doesn't work right. Dunno whether these issues are FF, Win8, or both.

Laura and others

[Cammy]

MD: Igraine here. I have severe techno-disability or I would help. All I can do is tell you that I'm sorry for all the computer problems you're having right now. Wish I could fix it for you.

[MakersDozn]

Igraine, thanks for posting. The problems that we mentioned to Lea seem to have resolved themselves. Sometimes it's hard to tell if something is an MM forum thing, a browser thing, or a Windows thing. But it's okay for now.

MDs

[The People]

A thought. I see that this posting was 2 years old and you probably got a new computer by now. But when I get to writing the letter asking for support perhaps we could put tech money in to help you keep your machine up to date etc.