I could cry...

[madjack]

As someone who has worked in an IT environment from before IT even became the name we used for anything running a software programme I will openly confess to being less than comfortable with PCs.

I know more about how a processor actually works that I do about the set-up of Windows.

But I am now the less than proud owner of 2 of the worlds most useless laptops!

Laptop 1 is reasonably old (around 7 years) but is running all the latest Windows software, it's battery life is slightly less than 10minutes (but that's ok as I leave it on mains power) and the on-board CMOS back-up/boot-up battery has failed (but that's also ok as I simply over-ride the screen). I could have fixed all of these for around £100 and some effort, but this little laptop has a deeper, darker side. For reasons no-one can discover and I cannot fix on occasions it simply refuses to believe the internet exists! Nothing I or others try will make it accept that there IS an internet connection - WIFI or ethernet all fail, despite the diagnostics giving me a positive connection. I'm especially vexed when it will connect to some sites, but then fails on others - the very best being trying to connect to the BBC site (most assuredly up and running) then suggesting I try 'Bing' (you know the message) before announcing there was no such location as 'Bing' 

EPIC! 

Laptop 1 also suffers from a huge processing delays which I've never quite got to the bottom of, sometimes taking it take hours to save anything over 100Mb or up to 5mins to open a simple jpeg file.

So, Laptop 1 was a bit flaky, not very modern and so I decided to invest in a new toy - laptop 2

Laptop 2 is a well reviewed mid-range 'Social use' device - not pricey but well spec'd. Just like laptop 1 it runs the very latest Windows software and was perfuming brilliantly until 2-3months after the warranty expired....

Laptop 2 has now got the most unpredictable graphics behaviour. It can run perfectly for weeks and then be the most obdurate machine in the world, taking dozens of attempts to produce a screen that I can login through (corrupt images, all black screen, all red screen, etc, etc.) and even then can look like the login is fine before instantly crashing when I get the desktop or else randomly crashing in the middle of something. I know it's just the graphics (programs I've been running continue uninterrupted even uploads are fine) but I'm flummoxed if it's hardware or software.
I'll try re-installing drivers, updating drivers and that seems to fix it (sometimes) but then the blasted thing falls in a heap again. I'll check all the connections, convincing myself that something 'clicked' and sure enough the screen is fine... for a time, before I'm back to square one once again!

I've been through the usual forums, trying suggestions that 'fixed it' for others, but no use (I am detecting an increasing number of people with similar problems - suspicious?).

I know I could simply hand it over to a repair shop and let them have a play, but I'd have to 'clean' things up a lot before that and even then I wonder if they'll actually be able to do anything (ok they'll do all the software stuff I did... again! and will probably charge me for a new screen - which will not be cheap!) but I am seriously wondering if it'd be worth the effort and that buying a third laptop might be an easier and almost as cheap option.

Oh, did I mention it's got the most annoying keyboard, that's almost, but not quite the same as every other QWERTY set-up I've used - I mean WTF is wrong with manufactures that makes they think it's OK for their keys ever so slightly different? Like dropping one shift key (hey who needed the right hand one? DUH! me!!!!) or in the case of my GF's laptop, when the left-hand side has  whole bunch of new keys that mean I keep printing out stuff when I'm trying to type an upper case letter!  

So, I've one laptop that slow and won't speak to the world and another that super-fast but won't show me anything - if only I could take the good bits from each and bastardise them into a single machine... but knowing my luck I'd end up with a plastic and silicon slab that buzzed away to itself but never ever shared a single byte of data or pixel of display with outside world!

Ahhh, it's good to get that off my chest!  😁 

And typing in a weird red font, with a fetching pink tinge to the forum page has been very relaxing.... maybe I'll get used to this and see it as some kind of zen experience

Now, where's my big axe? It could be time to get into threatening the damn things and see if that has any effect!

MJ

[The inspector]

The second one could be to do with the cable between the screen and the board. I have seen them before where the cable has started to wear in the hinge and it has done a whole manner of weird things. Again, if it starts to cut out it can send the whole machine loopy and cause crashes.

[The inspector]

And thought on the first one. Check the date and time. Is it syncing correctly?

[essanym]

What is the brand and model of each of the laptops?


Without even thinking too hard on these issues, I can safely say that, in general, laptops are notorious for overheating their components and the companies that build them are notorious for being cheap bastards where cooling is concerned.  What happens when things heat up?  They expand.  What happens when something tries to expand and it's attached to another thing with different thermal density?  They both bend, micro-fractures occur and some trace that was passing signal suddenly would need to throw electrons across a gap (which won't happen at those voltages) and so things stop working.  I once recovered important data off of a harddrive by turning the drive upside down (chips up) and finding the hottest chip with my fingers (the one that burned me) and just setting a cpu heatsink on that chip (not attached, just using gravity).  I was able to get the harddrive to run long enough I was able to get all the data off of it.  It would be a lot of effort but if you had to, you could take the motherboard out of the laptop and do something similar.  The laptop with the graphic problem might just need more heatsink grease on it's graphic chip... or maybe the fan is blocked with bits of hair and fuzz (do you have pets?)

If you can get into the BIOS or some other settings and enable fans to run more, then try that.  Don't sit your laptops down on soft, fuzzy surfaces like the arm of a sofa or in your lap while covered up in bed.  Get some kind of hard surface to always keep your laptop sitting on so air can get where it needs to.  Secondly, try to operate the laptops in the coolest area of your home and note whether your issues take longer to occur.  Also, buy a laptop cooling pad that gamers would use and see if that helps at all.  As with any kind of over the internet diagnosis, I can't make any guarantees.

The laptop that loses internet connection, can you plug an ethernet cable from it straight into your network router and test if internet works then?  Have you tried using a usb wifi adapter?  If only the laptop's built in wifi adapter is the one that loses internet connection, then I'd say you have a hardware problem.  If everything else you would connect with is also not working, I'd say you have a windows problem.

[The inspector]

What is the brand and model of each of the laptops?


Without even thinking too hard on these issues, I can safely say that, in general, laptops are notorious for overheating their components and the companies that build them are notorious for being cheap bastards where cooling is concerned.  What happens when things heat up?  They expand.  What happens when something tries to expand and it's attached to another thing with different thermal density?  They both bend, micro-fractures occur and some trace that was passing signal suddenly would need to throw electrons across a gap (which won't happen at those voltages) and so things stop working.  I once recovered important data off of a harddrive by turning the drive upside down (chips up) and finding the hottest chip with my fingers (the one that burned me) and just setting a cpu heatsink on that chip (not attached, just using gravity).  I was able to get the harddrive to run long enough I was able to get all the data off of it.  It would be a lot of effort but if you had to, you could take the motherboard out of the laptop and do something similar.  The laptop with the graphic problem might just need more heatsink grease on it's graphic chip... or maybe the fan is blocked with bits of hair and fuzz (do you have pets?)

If you can get into the BIOS or some other settings and enable fans to run more, then try that.  Don't sit your laptops down on soft, fuzzy surfaces like the arm of a sofa or in your lap while covered up in bed.  Get some kind of hard surface to always keep your laptop sitting on so air can get where it needs to.  Secondly, try to operate the laptops in the coolest area of your home and note whether your issues take longer to occur.  Also, buy a laptop cooling pad that gamers would use and see if that helps at all.  As with any kind of over the internet diagnosis, I can't make any guarantees.

The laptop that loses internet connection, can you plug an ethernet cable from it straight into your network router and test if internet works then?  Have you tried using a usb wifi adapter?  If only the laptop's built in wifi adapter is the one that loses internet connection, then I'd say you have a hardware problem.  If everything else you would connect with is also not working, I'd say you have a windows problem.

It’s the exact reason I don’t buy laptops. Desktop all the way.

[B1u3]

What is the brand and model of each of the laptops?


Without even thinking too hard on these issues, I can safely say that, in general, laptops are notorious for overheating their components and the companies that build them are notorious for being cheap bastards where cooling is concerned.  What happens when things heat up?  They expand.  What happens when something tries to expand and it's attached to another thing with different thermal density?  They both bend, micro-fractures occur and some trace that was passing signal suddenly would need to throw electrons across a gap (which won't happen at those voltages) and so things stop working.  I once recovered important data off of a harddrive by turning the drive upside down (chips up) and finding the hottest chip with my fingers (the one that burned me) and just setting a cpu heatsink on that chip (not attached, just using gravity).  I was able to get the harddrive to run long enough I was able to get all the data off of it.  It would be a lot of effort but if you had to, you could take the motherboard out of the laptop and do something similar.  The laptop with the graphic problem might just need more heatsink grease on it's graphic chip... or maybe the fan is blocked with bits of hair and fuzz (do you have pets?)

If you can get into the BIOS or some other settings and enable fans to run more, then try that.  Don't sit your laptops down on soft, fuzzy surfaces like the arm of a sofa or in your lap while covered up in bed.  Get some kind of hard surface to always keep your laptop sitting on so air can get where it needs to.  Secondly, try to operate the laptops in the coolest area of your home and note whether your issues take longer to occur.  Also, buy a laptop cooling pad that gamers would use and see if that helps at all.  As with any kind of over the internet diagnosis, I can't make any guarantees.

The laptop that loses internet connection, can you plug an ethernet cable from it straight into your network router and test if internet works then?  Have you tried using a usb wifi adapter?  If only the laptop's built in wifi adapter is the one that loses internet connection, then I'd say you have a hardware problem.  If everything else you would connect with is also not working, I'd say you have a windows problem.

It’s the exact reason I don’t buy laptops. Desktop all the way.

+1

Besides that, keep us informed. I have a few ideas, but please first try out the given hints.

[Like Ra]

1- ... Linux ...
2- Does any of the laptops have a touch screen? (And yes to the cablewear)
3 - If the 2nd laptop has a separate graphics chip, it can be switched off to use the iGPU.
4- Red and pink look sooo girlish ... 😋

[Like Ra]

BTW, my main computer (DIY) is 13yo, the one I use for work (laptop) is 9yo. Fun...

[bondagetom1]

As someone who has worked in an IT environment from before IT even became the name we used for anything running a software programme I will openly confess to being less than comfortable with PCs.

I know more about how a processor actually works that I do about the set-up of Windows.

But I am now the less than proud owner of 2 of the worlds most useless laptops!

Laptop 1 is reasonably old (around 7 years) but is running all the latest Windows software, it's battery life is slightly less than 10minutes (but that's ok as I leave it on mains power) and the on-board CMOS back-up/boot-up battery has failed (but that's also ok as I simply over-ride the screen). I could have fixed all of these for around £100 and some effort, but this little laptop has a deeper, darker side. For reasons no-one can discover and I cannot fix on occasions it simply refuses to believe the internet exists! Nothing I or others try will make it accept that there IS an internet connection - WIFI or ethernet all fail, despite the diagnostics giving me a positive connection. I'm especially vexed when it will connect to some sites, but then fails on others - the very best being trying to connect to the BBC site (most assuredly up and running) then suggesting I try 'Bing' (you know the message) before announcing there was no such location as 'Bing' 

EPIC! 

Laptop 1 also suffers from a huge processing delays which I've never quite got to the bottom of, sometimes taking it take hours to save anything over 100Mb or up to 5mins to open a simple jpeg file.

So, Laptop 1 was a bit flaky, not very modern and so I decided to invest in a new toy - laptop 2

Laptop 2 is a well reviewed mid-range 'Social use' device - not pricey but well spec'd. Just like laptop 1 it runs the very latest Windows software and was perfuming brilliantly until 2-3months after the warranty expired....

Laptop 2 has now got the most unpredictable graphics behaviour. It can run perfectly for weeks and then be the most obdurate machine in the world, taking dozens of attempts to produce a screen that I can login through (corrupt images, all black screen, all red screen, etc, etc.) and even then can look like the login is fine before instantly crashing when I get the desktop or else randomly crashing in the middle of something. I know it's just the graphics (programs I've been running continue uninterrupted even uploads are fine) but I'm flummoxed if it's hardware or software.
I'll try re-installing drivers, updating drivers and that seems to fix it (sometimes) but then the blasted thing falls in a heap again. I'll check all the connections, convincing myself that something 'clicked' and sure enough the screen is fine... for a time, before I'm back to square one once again!

I've been through the usual forums, trying suggestions that 'fixed it' for others, but no use (I am detecting an increasing number of people with similar problems - suspicious?).

I know I could simply hand it over to a repair shop and let them have a play, but I'd have to 'clean' things up a lot before that and even then I wonder if they'll actually be able to do anything (ok they'll do all the software stuff I did... again! and will probably charge me for a new screen - which will not be cheap!) but I am seriously wondering if it'd be worth the effort and that buying a third laptop might be an easier and almost as cheap option.

Oh, did I mention it's got the most annoying keyboard, that's almost, but not quite the same as every other QWERTY set-up I've used - I mean WTF is wrong with manufactures that makes they think it's OK for their keys ever so slightly different? Like dropping one shift key (hey who needed the right hand one? DUH! me!!!!) or in the case of my GF's laptop, when the left-hand side has  whole bunch of new keys that mean I keep printing out stuff when I'm trying to type an upper case letter!  

So, I've one laptop that slow and won't speak to the world and another that super-fast but won't show me anything - if only I could take the good bits from each and bastardise them into a single machine... but knowing my luck I'd end up with a plastic and silicon slab that buzzed away to itself but never ever shared a single byte of data or pixel of display with outside world!

Ahhh, it's good to get that off my chest!  😁 

And typing in a weird red font, with a fetching pink tinge to the forum page has been very relaxing.... maybe I'll get used to this and see it as some kind of zen experience

Now, where's my big axe? It could be time to get into threatening the damn things and see if that has any effect!

MJ

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rV-dbDMS18

or for us masochists...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFuekXaEKXo
- Old, but it gets very funny at the one and two minute marks

Hang in there MJ (or maybe

Source: https://xhamster.com/videos/suspension-bondage-3217397
)

😊

[essanym]

@bondagetom1 Are you really a mac fan?

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8


Macs also have tremendous over heating issues since the company worries so much about making a machine that's sleek and quiet, well that means they make something too small and turn the fans off so proper cooling can't happen.