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PC gone up the shoot...

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Tom

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Hi guys,

Unfortunately, my PC has just broken and at first glances is not repairable, I'm looking into getting a new PC right now. :)
 
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The Snap

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Unlucky! Did you manage to get any of your stuff onto floppies?
You can get a DELL one for £299 with a flat screen and an Intel Pentium 4 Processor. (Not sure if it's Internet ready though).
Good luck! ;)
 

jonb

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Yes that is a good idea TC my dad had two built to his spec and they work fine.
 

Tom B

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RichardH said:
Unlucky! Did you manage to get any of your stuff onto floppies?

*splutter* If you are stupid enough to store stuff on floppies these days, quite frankly you deserve to loose it as a warning! (It does work, I've found - people will only take security and integrity of their data after they've lost some important coursework due to saving it on a floppy and dropping it in their bag, they will then roll up to me a few days later on charm offensive with a few splinters of plastic and cloth...)

RichardH said:
You can get a DELL one for £299 with a flat screen and an Intel Pentium 4 Processor. (Not sure if it's Internet ready though).

Dell are reasonably good, I've never had any problems with them - but a £299 model won't be very much use, you'll need a decent wadge of memory, a good graphics card and a reasonable processor. Internet ready? Does that mean it comes in with an RJ-11 cable plugged in and an AOL disc in the box :lol:? Hey, I could sell my collection of RJ-11 cables and AOL CDs as "internet ready-ness kits" to gullible people ;)!

Edit: aaah, that would be why it's cheap - TFT. CRTs all the way!
 
T

Tom

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It's working again now, so I'm completing the Seaside Slammer MSTS activity. :)
 

Techniquest

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I must be the only one who doesn't back-up my data...

Maybe one day...Oh wait, no! NO!!! I've lost two loads of important data on two seperate PCs due to not backing up and both PCs being no good at the moment. Well, one of them I just can't remember a password for really.
 

David

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Thank God I've got 2 hard drives. So saying that, I'm $@!£ed if my second one pack up though, that's where all my important docs is!
 

HSTfan!!!

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FGWFan said:
I must be the only one who doesn't back-up my data...

Maybe one day...Oh wait, no! NO!!! I've lost two loads of important data on two seperate PCs due to not backing up and both PCs being no good at the moment. Well, one of them I just can't remember a password for really.

does the system with password run windows xp? if yes, thats not hard to fix!

My personal system went up in smoke the other day, the chipset has gone and the slave drive just refuses to whirr into action.
Unsure whether to replace it with a nice new Abit NF7 V2 motherboard and Athlon xp 3200+ barton or get a laptop. I can get discount off apple and dell but not sure I fancy any of their current offerings.. :cry:

Harry Potter said:
Thank God I've got 2 hard drives. So saying that, I'm $@!£ed if my second one pack up though, that's where all my important docs is!

one word of advice their harry - don't rely on the slave to keep your docs safe! I did that and have lost a load of important stuff twice with the same hard drive! now its gone altogether so time for a replacement!
 

Guinness

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FGWFan said:
I must be the only one who doesn't back-up my data...
Well, one of them I just can't remember a password for really.

I don't back up data. :(

If you forget your password, remove your BIOS chip from your PC and insert it in an hour.
 

Tom B

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Mmm does that work with Windoze passwords? As far as I know, removing the battery will just clear the CMOS so you dump all BIOS data (and :. the bios p/wd). but not windoze?
 

yorkie

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Cockfosters said:
Mmm does that work with Windoze passwords? As far as I know, it will just clear the CMOS so you dump all BIOS data (and :. the bios p/wd). but not windoze?
It's nothing to do with Windows.

Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)
 

Tom B

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Thought as much :). I think you can download programs which will let you into Windoze if you've forgotten the admin password - chuck it into Google and see what happens.
 

Guinness

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yorkie said:
Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)

According to several computer magazines it does. ;)
 

HSTfan!!!

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Chaz said:
yorkie said:
Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)

According to several computer magazines it does. ;)

well they are incorrect then, the battery off the motherboard will just clear the CMOS. only handy if you forget your BIOS password, or for failed overclock attempts really.
 
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Tom

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I am pleased to announce that the chip I bought failed - and therefore, I need to buy a new PC.
 

Gareth Hale

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Haha, Excelent! How much computer experiance do you have? If you are a expert with them, Id suggest buying a barebone and recycling the graphics card and other stuff to the new PC.

My 2.8GHz only cost me $275 (apx £140)
 

Tom B

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Chaz said:
yorkie said:
Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)

According to several computer magazines it does. ;)

Which ones? Proper ones, or "Windoze XP for Lusers?"

HSTfan!!! said:
well they are incorrect then, the battery off the motherboard will just clear the CMOS. only handy if you forget your BIOS password, or for failed overclock attempts really.

:oops: :oops: The latter in my case!
 

HSTfan!!!

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Cockfosters said:
Chaz said:
yorkie said:
Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)

According to several computer magazines it does. ;)

Which ones? Proper ones, or "Windoze XP for Lusers?"

HSTfan!!! said:
well they are incorrect then, the battery off the motherboard will just clear the CMOS. only handy if you forget your BIOS password, or for failed overclock attempts really.

:oops: :oops: The latter in my case!

aye I did that and all lol! took my 1Ghz Duron to 1.1Ghz... ran fine 1.2Ghz..... ran fine.... then 1.3Ghz - frying the CPU to death!
 

Techniquest

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Overclocking, when will people learn...

I'll see what I can find out about the password thing, although TBH I'm looking at getting a new mainboard, CPU and RAM, plus probably have to get a new HDD then...It's going to be expensive...

Why? I suspect the mainboard is the problem in that PC, or perhaps the CPU, so I'm replacing both when I'm at it, then we'll see if it works. SDRAM-supported mainboards aren't exactly around anymore, so I'll get a load of PC3100 (or whatever it is these days) DDR RAM. A 40GB HDD will probably be useless once I start loading all my .avi and photos, along with BVE stuff, onto it, so will look at upgrading that too.

EDIT: I've NEVER heard of removing the CMOS battery affecting data on the HDD. That's ridiculous. In 7 years of studying ICT (at different levels), this never happened, never will either. Anyone who believes it is a fool, needing to go back to ICT school too.
 

Tom B

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FGWFan said:
Overclocking, when will people learn...

Well, an old machine heading toward the skip, who'd decline a bit of fun ;).

FGWFan said:
In 7 years of studying ICT (at different levels), this never happened, never will either. Anyone who believes it is a fool, needing to go back to ICT school too.

... the thing with ICT in schools is stuff like that isn't usually taught. How to add things in a spreadsheet and create a fancy leaflet in a DTP program is taught, how to clear the CMOS, what CMOS stands for, hell what CMOS even *is* isn't anything to do with it. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of a conversation with someone who'd done ICT at GCSE level and yet asked for assistance on plugging in a USB device (tip for all of you: never reveal to *anyone* you are good with computers, you'll never get away from the stupid questions ;) - "Where's the ANY key?")
 

Techniquest

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I didn't just study at school. I also studied it for 2 further years at college, on an AVCE, where much more stuff was learnt (pity I didn't take half it on-board, I spent too much time boasting how I knew so much yet in reality knew so little), but still in all fairness we didn't do anything that helped me find the problem with my own PC that I built.

Apart from school and college, I did learn stuff from magazines and friends, which builds me up to being able to say I studied ICT for 7 years. Fair enough, the first few years were basic things. Who wants to teach stupid 15-year olds how to build a PC? Not me. Probably some of the same reasoning behind why schools don't teach kids how to do some of the more useful things.

In any case, I no longer know bugger all about PCs, I gave that up after a risk of becoming a big nerd was realised. Now, though, I show off at work instead. Showboating perhaps. Why not I say, my job is terrible. Might as well show off all the knowledge I've gained at my workplace regarding the stuff we do anyway, pointless having it otherwise! At the same time though, it's like most of what I learnt in IT lessons at school, useless knowledge in the real world.

With regards to the overclocking thing, I'd decline the opportunity to have fun with it, mainly now due the fact I cannot remember where to put the jumpers on the pins on the keyboard. I did manage to re-clock an old PC that is now OOU from 120MHz to 200MHz when I upgraded the CPU, but that was it. I've lost all knowledge of how to do it now though!
 

Tom B

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FGWFan said:
Who wants to teach stupid 15-year olds how to build a PC? Not me. Probably some of the same reasoning behind why schools don't teach kids how to do some of the more useful things.

Mmm, you have a point - most 15-year olds had difficulty remembering their password for more than a week...
 

Gareth Hale

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HSTfan!!! said:
Cockfosters said:
Chaz said:
yorkie said:
Taking the battery out of the motherboard does not affect data stored on hard drives ;)

According to several computer magazines it does. ;)

Which ones? Proper ones, or "Windoze XP for Lusers?"

HSTfan!!! said:
well they are incorrect then, the battery off the motherboard will just clear the CMOS. only handy if you forget your BIOS password, or for failed overclock attempts really.

:oops: :oops: The latter in my case!

aye I did that and all lol! took my 1Ghz Duron to 1.1Ghz... ran fine 1.2Ghz..... ran fine.... then 1.3Ghz - frying the CPU to death!


Id never dream of overclocking this PC. Id much rather just buy a CPU Upgrade 8)
 

HSTfan!!!

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I was tinkering with the insides of pc's from yr7 - found an old one in a skip so dragged it home and started tinkering! that was influenced by having read "Building a PC for dummies" - highly recommended btw!
I know a reasonable amount about computers and would rather have been taught hardware at school over software.

I'm considering between a new Abit motherboard, AMD Athlon xp 3200+ barton core or a new IBM thinkpad. I love my PC but portability would be useful.
 

jonb

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Mmm, you have a point - most 15-year olds had difficulty remembering their password for more than a week...

Tell me about it.....Thank god they can change it.....
 
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