The Official Computer Problems/Advices Thread

[Suzy Quatro]

Hello everyone, I need your opinion for a future purchase (I wonder if I can ask it here)

I'm an ultrabook person and have been eyeing the Surface line...that design is just so tempting. Honestly I'm leaning more towards the Surface Pro 4 rather than the Surface Book for the portability but I wonder; if I max out the SP4 (the i7 one) will I be able to play The Sims 3, all expansions & stuff packs and tons plenty of mods and custom contents with decent frame rate? Judging the form factor of the SP4, I kinda doubt it provides an adequate cooling system. The one thing that worries me is that I end up frying an expensive device. I tried googling it but I'm afraid I haven't yet found any SP3/SP4 user who tested TS3+all that baggage.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I think an i7 should handle it but you could check the specs required to that game but from what I've read there's a surface pro 4 that even comes with a discrete nvidia gpu and look this guy did tested some games on it and gave a good review as well.

 

 

[mc_razar]

Hello everyone, I need your opinion for a future purchase (I wonder if I can ask it here)

I'm an ultrabook person and have been eyeing the Surface line...that design is just so tempting. Honestly I'm leaning more towards the Surface Pro 4 rather than the Surface Book for the portability but I wonder; if I max out the SP4 (the i7 one) will I be able to play The Sims 3, all expansions & stuff packs and tons plenty of mods and custom contents with decent frame rate? Judging the form factor of the SP4, I kinda doubt it provides an adequate cooling system. The one thing that worries me is that I end up frying an expensive device. I tried googling it but I'm afraid I haven't yet found any SP3/SP4 user who tested TS3+all that baggage.

 

Thanks in advance.

I think the SP4 has thermal throttling. If it gets too hot, it will reduce the power of the CPU to reduce the heat. This will most likely prevent the device from frying. So, if you notice a drop in your gaming performance, it may mean your device is getting too hot. Heat can still cause damage to components over time though.

[sakurahanabira]

I recently ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 bluetooth keyboard and it came today, but I'm confused on how to get it to work. I turned on Bluetooth in my settings, but nothing happens when I try to use the bluetooth keyboard. The bluetooth keyboard is on, too. Am I missing a step?

 

ediy: nvm my sister figured it out.

Edited November 17, 2016 by lavender mint

[IAmTheQuestionToAllAnswers]

 

*this is less of a computer and more of a my laptop disliking OH-problem, so if I'm in the wrong thread please tell me where to go*

 

 

Idk if my laptop is too slow or other users do this intentionally, but for some images they post, I only see the URL and not the picture. And when it comes to images or gifs in quotes, I always see the url only (is that normal?) Here's a screenshot to show what I mean:

 

 

and when I click on the url I get a white box which doesn't load

 

 

and the only way to get the picture displayed is by right-clicking and going for "view image" -- which will then take me to the picture but I have to get back to the thread afterwards and everything has to load again

 

 

I use Linux (Ubuntu) and Firefox. I regularly clean my cache and delete cookies.

 

 

Do you have advice for me? I'd like to see the pictures immediately - going through that procedure every time is a hassle.

Thank you

[Salieri]

*this is less of a computer and more of a my laptop disliking OH-problem, so if I'm in the wrong thread please tell me where to go*

 

 

Idk if my laptop is too slow or other users do this intentionally, but for some images they post, I only see the URL and not the picture. And when it comes to images or gifs in quotes, I always see the url only (is that normal?) Here's a screenshot to show what I mean:

 

 

 

and when I click on the url I get a white box which doesn't load

 

 

and the only way to get the picture displayed is by right-clicking and going for "view image" -- which will then take me to the picture but I have to get back to the thread afterwards and everything has to load again

 

 

 

I use Linux (Ubuntu) and Firefox. I regularly clean my cache and delete cookies.

 

 

Do you have advice for me? I'd like to see the pictures immediately - going through that procedure every time is a hassle.

Thank you

Does this happen only on firefox, not sure about lunix operating system but using windows and firefox just seem to work for me, though there are some times where I get the problem of loading an image or even twitter on both chrome and edge. Have you checked updates for the browser you're using or update on the os itself? Try checking your browser settings and any extensions you may have on it. Also is this on OH only or do you get the problem on other places sites and fourms

Edited January 1, 2017 by Salieri

[Suzy Quatro]

*this is less of a computer and more of a my laptop disliking OH-problem, so if I'm in the wrong thread please tell me where to go*

 

 

Idk if my laptop is too slow or other users do this intentionally, but for some images they post, I only see the URL and not the picture. And when it comes to images or gifs in quotes, I always see the url only (is that normal?) Here's a screenshot to show what I mean:

 

 

 

and when I click on the url I get a white box which doesn't load

 

 

and the only way to get the picture displayed is by right-clicking and going for "view image" -- which will then take me to the picture but I have to get back to the thread afterwards and everything has to load again

 

 

 

I use Linux (Ubuntu) and Firefox. I regularly clean my cache and delete cookies.

 

 

Do you have advice for me? I'd like to see the pictures immediately - going through that procedure every time is a hassle.

Thank you

 

I think it could be due to your internet connection and bandwidth. This forum is filled with huge ass photos and gifs everywhere so you need a good connection in order for everything to load smoothly. You could also try something to set your content web cache to 0 and see how that works.

[FloralPastel]

Guys, can you help me decide between Asus and Dell? I like both but the problem I have here is whether I want to go for the cheaper option or one with a better processor. 

 

The laptop I'm using now is Asus with an i3 core processor but I want to buy another one so that my dad and brother don't have to share my laptop. My dad doesn't need it for anything else other than surfing the web and the same thing goes with my brother so I was thinking maybe an Intel Pentium would be fine? Yes, no? As you've already figured, I know nothing. 

 

The two laptops are:

Dell with and i3 core processor for $320 or Asus with Intel Pentium for $250. Both are 15.6 inches and comes with Windows 10, not sure if that matters. 

[IAmTheQuestionToAllAnswers]

Does this happen only on firefox, not sure about lunix operating system but using windows and firefox just seem to work for me, though there are some times where I get the problem of loading an image or even twitter on both chrome and edge. Have you checked updates for the browser you're using or update on the os itself? Try checking your browser settings and any extensions you may have on it. Also is this on OH only or do you get the problem on other places sites and fourms

thanks! I tried a different browser (Chromium) and now everything is properly displayed.

 

 

Although I still wonder why it doesn't work with Firefox...

The OS I use is a long term support version of Ubuntu (quite current, which is supported for 5 years, doesn't need updates) and Firefox came as a standard with the distribution (I checked, it's a current version). Browser settings are so that everything from OH should be supported. The only add-on I use is Adblock plus. 

So far this only happened on OH.

 

 

 

I think it could be due to your internet connection and bandwidth. This forum is filled with huge ass photos and gifs everywhere so you need a good connection in order for everything to load smoothly. You could also try something to set your content web cache to 0 and see how that works.

Thanks for the tip, I tried to set the content web cache to 0 but still things aren't displayed. And maybe you're right, my internet bandwidth isn't the best. But magically it works with Chromium browser xD

[Ludark]

Guys, can you help me decide between Asus and Dell? I like both but the problem I have here is whether I want to go for the cheaper option or one with a better processor. 

 

The laptop I'm using now is Asus with an i3 core processor but I want to buy another one so that my dad and brother don't have to share my laptop. My dad doesn't need it for anything else other than surfing the web and the same thing goes with my brother so I was thinking maybe an Intel Pentium would be fine? Yes, no? As you've already figured, I know nothing. 

 

The two laptops are:

Dell with and i3 core processor for $320 or Asus with Intel Pentium for $250. Both are 15.6 inches and comes with Windows 10, not sure if that matters. 

I will say first that I am not an expert on laptops.

Now I don't think that the processor is going to matter much if you are only planning to do some web surfing and maybe some light work(microsoft office and the like).

 

But a few recommendations, make sure the screen resolution is at least 1080p(Full HD) as many cheap laptops have sub 1080p screens and that won't look good if you plan to watch any sort of video on it

Also make sure that the laptop has at least 4gb of ram, more if you think your brother or father will end up with more than like 10 tabs of chrome open at a time.

 

The following is a bit more situational but you might want to consider it as well:

 

 

Storage medium: Hard drive (HDD) vs solid state drive (SSD)

 

SSD's ares much faster in terms of boot times for both the laptop itself and programs but will have much less storage capacity than HDD's, if going with a SSD I would recommend one that has at least 128 gb and you will most likely need an external drive if you plan to store photos and videos

 

HDD's while much slower than SSD's will typically offer much more storage capacity for programs and things like photos and videos, if the laptop your father and brother are sharing is more than a few years old this is also likely the type of storage they are using in that, so that is what you should expect speed wise.

 

Battery life, if you can always hook up the laptop to the wall you can ignore this otherwise you might want to look up reviews on just battery life it offers.

 

 

[Salieri]

Guys, can you help me decide between Asus and Dell? I like both but the problem I have here is whether I want to go for the cheaper option or one with a better processor. 

 

The laptop I'm using now is Asus with an i3 core processor but I want to buy another one so that my dad and brother don't have to share my laptop. My dad doesn't need it for anything else other than surfing the web and the same thing goes with my brother so I was thinking maybe an Intel Pentium would be fine? Yes, no? As you've already figured, I know nothing. 

 

The two laptops are:

Dell with and i3 core processor for $320 or Asus with Intel Pentium for $250. Both are 15.6 inches and comes with Windows 10, not sure if that matters. 

It would be better to know the models of the laptops you're looking at but I3 and Pentium chips aren't that much different if you're going for a laptop for web surfing but may reduce time needed to open up the browsers, though most Pentium chips have 3mb of cache which can be used for it's full advantage if you're just using it for basic web browsing. 720p screen  and 1080p screens  (15.6) won't be an issue since most users use their laptop right in front of them, it may be good for sharper images but 720 is more than enough for HD viewing experiences. Ram aka memory use for a cheap budget laptop defo opt for the one with 4gbs. SSD and HDD is another question to ask, would they have it? SSD side would be more expensive yet with lower captivity but longer lasting (if you don't constantly overwrite files) and faster boot up time compared to a spinning HDD. OS wouldn't matter in this day and age since their all windows 10 unless you are getting a second hand machine over 3 years old. 

Edited January 2, 2017 by Salieri

[FloralPastel]

It would be better to know the models of the laptops you're looking at but I3 and Pentium chips aren't that much different if you're going for a laptop for web surfing but may reduce time needed to open up the browsers, though most Pentium chips have 3mb of cache which can be used for it's full advantage if you're just using it for basic web browsing. 720p screen  and 1080p screens  (15.6) won't be an issue since most users use their laptop right in front of them, it may be good for sharper images but 720 is more than enough for HD viewing experiences. Ram aka memory use for a cheap budget laptop defo opt for the one with 4gbs. SSD and HDD is another question to ask, would they have it? SSD side would be more expensive yet with lower captivity but longer lasting (if you don't constantly overwrite files) and faster boot up time compared to a spinning HDD. OS wouldn't matter in this day and age since their all windows 10 unless you are getting a second hand machine over 3 years old. 

 

Dell: I3558-5500BLK

Asus: X540SA-BPD0602V

 

I think I'll go with the Asus, thank you for the help!!

I will say first that I am not an expert on laptops.

Now I don't think that the processor is going to matter much if you are only planning to do some web surfing and maybe some light work(microsoft office and the like).

 

But a few recommendations, make sure the screen resolution is at least 1080p(Full HD) as many cheap laptops have sub 1080p screens and that won't look good if you plan to watch any sort of video on it

Also make sure that the laptop has at least 4gb of ram, more if you think your brother or father will end up with more than like 10 tabs of chrome open at a time.

 

The following is a bit more situational but you might want to consider it as well:

 

 

Storage medium: Hard drive (HDD) vs solid state drive (SSD)

 

SSD's ares much faster in terms of boot times for both the laptop itself and programs but will have much less storage capacity than HDD's, if going with a SSD I would recommend one that has at least 128 gb and you will most likely need an external drive if you plan to store photos and videos

 

HDD's while much slower than SSD's will typically offer much more storage capacity for programs and things like photos and videos, if the laptop your father and brother are sharing is more than a few years old this is also likely the type of storage they are using in that, so that is what you should expect speed wise.

 

Battery life, if you can always hook up the laptop to the wall you can ignore this otherwise you might want to look up reviews on just battery life it offers.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for the help!!

[Salieri]

Dell: I3558-5500BLK

Asus: X540SA-BPD0602V

 

I think I'll go with the Asus, thank you for the help!!

 

 

Thank you so much for the help!!

If you have the money I'd defo recommended the i3 over the pentium. You get better performance (just faster) on task and activities and 500gb of more storage is a nice added plus (though you could upgrade or use an external/cloud, if that's not enough) but thats up to you. Edited January 3, 2017 by Salieri

[FloralPastel]

If you have the money I'd defo recommended the i3 over the pentium. You get better performance (just faster) on task and activities and 500gb of more storage is a nice added plus (though you could upgrade or use an external/cloud, if that's not enough) but thats up to you.

 

The Asus ended up selling sold out so I guess i3 it is. Yeah, the faster aspect is what got me but might as well get the better one for my dad and brother, thank you!

[Trixbox]

The Asus ended up selling sold out so I guess i3 it is. Yeah, the faster aspect is what got me but might as well get the better one for my dad and brother, thank you!

 

Other than having i3 vs Pentium, consider also the amount of RAM on the laptop. Given that the laptop you are choosing both use internal graphics card, it will be starved with RAM because both the integrated graphics and processor will be accessing the meager allocated ram.

 

I usually see 4gb ram on this kind of deals, don't buy that! Buy laptops that have at least 8gb with upgradeable slots up to 16gb.

 

4gb is rubbish for a laptop and should be thrown out, just casually browsing using chrome already consumes up to 600mb of ram, imagine if you have multiple browsers open plus using outlook or playing spotify or torrent on top of that.

[Salieri]

Other than having i3 vs Pentium, consider also the amount of RAM on the laptop. Given that the laptop you are choosing both use internal graphics card, it will be starved with RAM because both the integrated graphics and processor will be accessing the meager allocated ram.

 

I usually see 4gb ram on this kind of deals, don't buy that! Buy laptops that have at least 8gb with upgradeable slots up to 16gb.

 

4gb is rubbish for a laptop and should be thrown out, just casually browsing using chrome already consumes up to 600mb of ram, imagine if you have multiple browsers open plus using outlook or playing spotify or torrent on top of that.

I actually wouldn't worry about ram aka memory usage. My gaming desktop has 8gb of ram and I'm only using 40% and have 6 tabs open alongside antivirus, mouse, DS4 and for his/her circumstance advising 8gb of ram is total overkill. My laptop has 8gb's of ram and I barley even used up 3gbs let alone 4. Internet browsing with 6 tabs open would only result in 3.4 gb of ram not to mention office needs about 200mb to run. If it was for a media creator than I can see why 8gb is needed but 4 is plenty for any given user.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Salieri

[mc_razar]

*this is less of a computer and more of a my laptop disliking OH-problem, so if I'm in the wrong thread please tell me where to go*

 

 

Idk if my laptop is too slow or other users do this intentionally, but for some images they post, I only see the URL and not the picture. And when it comes to images or gifs in quotes, I always see the url only (is that normal?) Here's a screenshot to show what I mean:

 

 

 

and when I click on the url I get a white box which doesn't load

 

 

and the only way to get the picture displayed is by right-clicking and going for "view image" -- which will then take me to the picture but I have to get back to the thread afterwards and everything has to load again

 

 

 

I use Linux (Ubuntu) and Firefox. I regularly clean my cache and delete cookies.

 

 

Do you have advice for me? I'd like to see the pictures immediately - going through that procedure every time is a hassle.

Thank you

 

I believe it's either because you are using Private Browsing Mode or your Firefox is set to not accept all cookies.

 

You can also create a second profile using Firefox's Profile Manager to see if your browser settings is the cause.

[Salieri]

EDIT: Nevermind fixed it.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Salieri

[maybebhemy]

Hello! 

 

I have Asus x555ld laptop... and sometimes I'm having a hard time when it scrolls down when I am trying to scroll it up.

What should I do then? I tried turning off the touchpad but my FN button won't function (lols)

 

Thank you! 

[Blem]

Hello! 

 

I have Asus x555ld laptop... and sometimes I'm having a hard time when it scrolls down when I am trying to scroll it up.

What should I do then? I tried turning off the touchpad but my FN button won't function (lols)

 

Thank you!

 

I've seen laptops that do that. Have you tried wiping it with a damp cloth. Sometimes trackpads read leftover residue such as dust, prints which can cause the cursor to move on it's own

 

Also try reinstalling your touchpad driver or take it back if it's still under warranty.

 

If nothing helps buy a Bluetooth mouse

[maybebhemy]

I'll take note of all of these. Thank you so much! 

[CrayCray]

Can someone help me? Sometimes when I shut down my laptop, I think it actually restarts instead and when it's back on, I only see a black screen and the mouse pointer and the only way I know how to restart it again is to do a cold boot  how do I fix this?

Edited April 29, 2017 by PLAY UGLY

[maybebhemy]

Hi! Can someone help me with my HDD problem. 

 

I inserted it to our Smart TV and yesterday when I checked to use it on the TV, there was no file. 

 

I checked it earlier today using my laptop but there was no readable external drive. It has blue light but it wont blink just like the usual and no G: pop-out. How to fix this> T_T

 

I have Transcend Storejet 25M3 (green) 1TB, 

[Salieri]

Hi! Can someone help me with my HDD problem.

 

I inserted it to our Smart TV and yesterday when I checked to use it on the TV, there was no file.

 

I checked it earlier today using my laptop but there was no readable external drive. It has blue light but it wont blink just like the usual and no G: pop-out. How to fix this> T_T

 

I have Transcend Storejet 25M3 (green) 1TB,

How are you connecting the external hdd into the laptop and smart tv? Is it using a usb y cable or just single port? Sometimes (I know I have it a lot of times) it may not be providing enough power for the device.

Are you sure its a 3 at the end of the name of your external hdd? And are you connecting using the same port (as in usb 3 and usb 2) usb 3 users more power and needs more to run it.

You tried other ports?

Tried other cables? Does it even get recognise at all?

[Yooa's Forehead]

Can someone help me? Sometimes when I shut down my laptop, I think it actually restarts instead and when it's back on, I only see a black screen and the mouse pointer and the only way I know how to restart it again is to do a cold boot  how do I fix this?

i dont know if this is fixed or not, but boot up in safe mode and disable drivers.  if not then system restore to a previous date.  make sure power button is set to turn off

Edited May 22, 2017 by disguymAn

[Idiot's Nightmare]

Does anyone ever encounter sounds coming from their CPU? Something like a frying sound.