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desktop advice
#26

desktop advice
Quote:I have to keep disconnecting the gizmo for the mouse and plugging it back in, no, it's not the mouse, I tried several.


Sorry, Dom.  I missed this when you first wrote it.  I had the same problem but in my case it turned out to be the mouse which was wired and there was probably something broken in the cable.  I replaced it with a wireless mouse and the problem is gone.

But before that, I consulted the web and found this.  The problem seems to derive from a Windows 10 Update.


https://www.minitool.com/news/mouse-keep...cting.html


I tried several of these before replacing the mouse which did the trick.
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#27

desktop advice
(10-12-2021, 01:40 AM)mordant Wrote: TBH I haven't owned a desktop computer since about 2008, and haven't missed it. My current personal machine (a 3 year old MacBook Air) is plenty adequate for my purposes. When in my office, a thunderbolt cable hooked to a 27" monitor does the trick. The trackpad is fine, but if it wasn't, I'd get an external mouse.

My main work machine is similar, it's a Dell with the latest CPU and a 27" monitor and a mouse, since the trackpad is shit.

But then I am not a gamer. I would probably give some serious thought to a desktop if I were, but my last desktop was an overclocked gaming machine from a boutique maker, and it was a total lemon, as we its twin which my late wife used. I bought it for raw speed, which I had more need of on the local machine at the time. These days though, 100% of the horsepower comes from a cloud machine that I just remote into. It has 32G of RAM and 16 cores, and maintaining it is Someone Else's Problem.

I prefer to have something with a 13" monitor that's very light and portable for travel, a true laptop that can run all day without being plugged in -- but reasonably powerful and able to drive a large monitor in the office. It works for me, and it has the virtue of being a fully integrated package, and very trouble free.

When I was working, I also had a light weight, small size machine for travel. It was great for the purpose. It all depends on what one wants to do. There are gaming laptops and all-in-ones also, each with their own advantages and set backs. Each fits people's needs, or it would have disappeared from the market.
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#28

desktop advice
I have a desktop and three laptops. The big one has ~30 terabytes of external drives so I can keep all the Hyperwar files in one place. The Lenovo wrangles them all nicely.

In my experience I get the best performance machine by shopping for the strongest gaming computer out there.
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#29

desktop advice
Right.  There's no such thing as too much RAM.
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#30

desktop advice
(10-12-2021, 03:12 PM)Minimalist Wrote: Right.  There's no such thing as too much RAM.
When I load a five hundred page relic file into Finereader I don't want to wait all day for it to be ready for processing.

Smack
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#31

desktop advice
(10-07-2021, 03:54 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-07-2021, 03:50 PM)Vera Wrote:
(10-07-2021, 02:39 PM)Dom Wrote: It's that time again - I need a new desktop.

I mostly use it for gaming, other than the usual mail etc. 

I am a hardware ignoramus. 

The current is fine for my purposes, but it's getting old and has hickups.

Current specs:

Intel® Core™ i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz   3.19 GHz

16.0 GB ram

Nvidia GeForce  RTX 2070

I literally just ordered a new one the other day! Was gonna buy one from a big chain but by cousin was like, "no way in hell, they're just getting rid of parts they won't sell otherwise", so he went to the site of one company who offers this and assembled me a PC himself.

Are the current specs for the one you're going to replace? Because if this isn't enough for you you must be a serious gamer  hobo (it'd definitely be enough for my humble needs and I even do a bit of photo processing. No big games though)

It works all right for what I am playing. It has other hickups, and I am ready to replace it, just not sure what has changed/gotten better since I got this one. I use it for everything, no laptop and the phone only for occasional calls. I depend on this thing.

Don't know.  Are you using Windows?  Because Windows 11 is beginning to go away from old style systems.  It wants UEFI, TPM, Secure Boot, and lots of ram.  But due to the chip shortage, a good system is going to be expensive until 2022.  16 gigs of memory nowadays is considered a bit low.  Browsers are getting bloated and memory hungry.  You might be able to eek out a bit more use by adding memory if you can.

I have 32 gigs of memory and with lots of tabs open and PDFs open I have from time to time gotten memory usages under Linux up to 19 GB in use.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/09/23...ported-pcs

The Verge has spotted an apparently new warning message in the Windows 11 Setup app that explicitly warns users of the dangers of installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware -- you may run into "compatibility issues," your PC "won't be entitled to receive updates," and that "damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren't covered under the manufacturer warranty."

Scary stuff!
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#32

desktop advice
My Mac Mini goes keyboard-dead frequently (but the mouse always works) and I have to restart. I think it is a 8 RAM problem for me. I have 16 to add but I'm scared to try it. Warnings about static charges etc and I am a walking Leyden Jar.
Never try to catch a dropped kitchen knife!
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#33

desktop advice
(10-13-2021, 11:06 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-07-2021, 03:54 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-07-2021, 03:50 PM)Vera Wrote: I literally just ordered a new one the other day! Was gonna buy one from a big chain but by cousin was like, "no way in hell, they're just getting rid of parts they won't sell otherwise", so he went to the site of one company who offers this and assembled me a PC himself.

Are the current specs for the one you're going to replace? Because if this isn't enough for you you must be a serious gamer  hobo (it'd definitely be enough for my humble needs and I even do a bit of photo processing. No big games though)

It works all right for what I am playing. It has other hickups, and I am ready to replace it, just not sure what has changed/gotten better since I got this one. I use it for everything, no laptop and the phone only for occasional calls. I depend on this thing.

Don't know.  Are you using Windows?  Because Windows 11 is beginning to go away from old style systems.  It wants UEFI, TPM, Secure Boot, and lots of ram.  But due to the chip shortage, a good system is going to be expensive until 2022.  16 gigs of memory nowadays is considered a bit low.  Browsers are getting bloated and memory hungry.  You might be able to eek out a bit more use by adding memory if you can.

I have 32 gigs of memory and with lots of tabs open and PDFs open I have from time to time gotten memory usages under Linux up to 19 GB in use.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/09/23...ported-pcs

The Verge has spotted an apparently new warning message in the Windows 11 Setup app that explicitly warns users of the dangers of installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware -- you may run into "compatibility issues," your PC "won't be entitled to receive updates," and that "damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren't covered under the manufacturer warranty."

Scary stuff!

Some of the new ones I have seen have windows 11 installed. I seriously doubt I am ready for that.

I like windows 10 all right. I stream on a windows 7 machine without issues, too.
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#34

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 01:37 AM)Dom Wrote:
(10-13-2021, 11:06 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-07-2021, 03:54 PM)Dom Wrote: It works all right for what I am playing. It has other hickups, and I am ready to replace it, just not sure what has changed/gotten better since I got this one. I use it for everything, no laptop and the phone only for occasional calls. I depend on this thing.

Don't know.  Are you using Windows?  Because Windows 11 is beginning to go away from old style systems.  It wants UEFI, TPM, Secure Boot, and lots of ram.  But due to the chip shortage, a good system is going to be expensive until 2022.  16 gigs of memory nowadays is considered a bit low.  Browsers are getting bloated and memory hungry.  You might be able to eek out a bit more use by adding memory if you can.

I have 32 gigs of memory and with lots of tabs open and PDFs open I have from time to time gotten memory usages under Linux up to 19 GB in use.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/09/23...ported-pcs

The Verge has spotted an apparently new warning message in the Windows 11 Setup app that explicitly warns users of the dangers of installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware -- you may run into "compatibility issues," your PC "won't be entitled to receive updates," and that "damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren't covered under the manufacturer warranty."

Scary stuff!

Some of the new ones I have seen have windows 11 installed. I seriously doubt I am ready for that.

I like windows 10 all right. I stream on a windows 7 machine without issues, too.

I have a $1,000 Dell Windows 10 desktop that I use as a doorstop now. Can't make heads or tails of the damn thing after years with Apple. I can't even get Excel or Paint or Civ2 to open. I started with Windows but I can't make anything work now.
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#35

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 01:43 AM)Cavebear Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 01:37 AM)Dom Wrote:
(10-13-2021, 11:06 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote: Don't know.  Are you using Windows?  Because Windows 11 is beginning to go away from old style systems.  It wants UEFI, TPM, Secure Boot, and lots of ram.  But due to the chip shortage, a good system is going to be expensive until 2022.  16 gigs of memory nowadays is considered a bit low.  Browsers are getting bloated and memory hungry.  You might be able to eek out a bit more use by adding memory if you can.

I have 32 gigs of memory and with lots of tabs open and PDFs open I have from time to time gotten memory usages under Linux up to 19 GB in use.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/09/23...ported-pcs

The Verge has spotted an apparently new warning message in the Windows 11 Setup app that explicitly warns users of the dangers of installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware -- you may run into "compatibility issues," your PC "won't be entitled to receive updates," and that "damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren't covered under the manufacturer warranty."

Scary stuff!

Some of the new ones I have seen have windows 11 installed. I seriously doubt I am ready for that.

I like windows 10 all right. I stream on a windows 7 machine without issues, too.

I have a $1,000 Dell Windows 10 desktop that I use as a doorstop now.  Can't make heads or tails of the damn thing after years with Apple.  I can't even get Excel or Paint or Civ2 to open.  I started with Windows but I can't make anything work now.

The joys of Windows.  From time to time one is suggested to either re-install, or roll back to point where things did work, if you thought to save that.  Each update seems to want to break some piece of software that used to work.  My brother fought Windows 10 until he recently bought a new Windows machine.  His old machine did not have the good enough CPU or memory to run certain programs under Windows.  A 4 core CPU and 8 Gigs of memory were not good enough.
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#36

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 05:08 AM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 01:43 AM)Cavebear Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 01:37 AM)Dom Wrote: Some of the new ones I have seen have windows 11 installed. I seriously doubt I am ready for that.

I like windows 10 all right. I stream on a windows 7 machine without issues, too.

I have a $1,000 Dell Windows 10 desktop that I use as a doorstop now.  Can't make heads or tails of the damn thing after years with Apple.  I can't even get Excel or Paint or Civ2 to open.  I started with Windows but I can't make anything work now.

The joys of Windows.  From time to time one is suggested to either re-install, or roll back to point where things did work, if you thought to save that.  Each update seems to want to break some piece of software that used to work.  My brother fought Windows 10 until he recently bought a new Windows machine.  His old machine did not have the good enough CPU or memory to run certain programs under Windows.  A 4 core CPU and 8 Gigs of memory were not good enough.

And there is "The Cloud". I'm trying to avoid that ...
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#37

desktop advice
(10-13-2021, 11:29 PM)Cavebear Wrote: My Mac Mini goes keyboard-dead frequently (but the mouse always works) and I have to restart.  I think it is a 8 RAM problem for me.  I have 16 to add but I'm scared to try it.  Warnings about static charges etc and I am a walking Leyden Jar.

By a cheap anti-static wrist strap.  Cost ya about $5 bucks.  It straps to an arm or wrist, and clips to the metal chassis of your computer case or some other metal object.  Static electricity is discharged safely.  I usually put it on my leg to keep my hands free and the alligator clip to my computer case somewhere.
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#38

desktop advice
Reading this thread makes me think it's perhaps time to upgrade my HP Vectra 386 SX
 All I know is that I know nothing
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#39

desktop advice
Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.
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#40

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 08:38 PM)PopeyesPappy Wrote: Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.

The mouse isn't it, I am on mouse number 4. No such thing as a local shop. So I have to drive to the city to take it to a shop, and then it will take time to get all that done (why do I want to re-load windows 10? ). So I will have to take a hiatus from life as usual for me. I may end up doing that, but... probably would be postponed until the whole damn thing stops working.
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#41

desktop advice
The problem with replacing a few parts is that one of the parts you didn't replace will fail at the worst possible moment.


Murphy's Law always wins.


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#42

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 11:07 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 08:38 PM)PopeyesPappy Wrote: Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.

The mouse isn't it, I am on mouse number 4. No such thing as a local shop. So I have to drive to the city to take it to a shop, and then it will take time to get all that done (why do I want to re-load windows 10? ). So I will have to take a hiatus from life as usual for me. I may end up doing that, but... probably would be postponed until the whole damn thing stops working.

I recently had the USB 3.0 chip on my motherboard quit working.  I ended up ordering an add in board that gave me 5 USB 3 ports and got a  7 port USB 3.0 hub.  Solved a lot of problems here including a dead wireless mouse.  I also have a new uninterruptable battery backup, replaced my ancient power strips and added a surge protector at the wall socket that runs all of this.  Lightening strikes can do bad things to a system.  Power strip MOVs do have a limited lifespan and can only stop so many surges.
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#43

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 11:42 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 11:07 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 08:38 PM)PopeyesPappy Wrote: Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.

The mouse isn't it, I am on mouse number 4. No such thing as a local shop. So I have to drive to the city to take it to a shop, and then it will take time to get all that done (why do I want to re-load windows 10? ). So I will have to take a hiatus from life as usual for me. I may end up doing that, but... probably would be postponed until the whole damn thing stops working.

I recently had the USB 3.0 chip on my motherboard quit working.  I ended up ordering an add in board that gave me 5 USB 3 ports and got a  7 port USB 3.0 hub.  Solved a lot of problems here including a dead wireless mouse.  I also have a new uninterruptable battery backup, replaced my ancient power strips and added a surge protector at the wall socket that runs all of this.  Lightening strikes can do bad things to a system.  Power strip MOVs do have a limited lifespan and can only stop so many surges.

Yes, and I do have a new power strip and surge protector, we do get lightening here. I am careful about that, once the lighting struck the home phone box up at the road, and my neighbor was using his phone at the time. It burned the wires all along inside the wall and of course ruined his phone. In my house, a lightbulb exploded. Weird, but, yes, I take lightening seriously.

I can't work on my machine myself, even if I knew what to do, my fingers won't co-operate.
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#44

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 11:07 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 08:38 PM)PopeyesPappy Wrote: Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.

The mouse isn't it, I am on mouse number 4. No such thing as a local shop. So I have to drive to the city to take it to a shop, and then it will take time to get all that done (why do I want to re-load windows 10? ). So I will have to take a hiatus from life as usual for me. I may end up doing that, but... probably would be postponed until the whole damn thing stops working.

It might be worth while to download and burn a bootable Linux live CD system, such as Knoppix.  Boot that and see it the mouse problem still exists.  If not it is a software problem.  If so, it is hardware.  A cheap way to eliminate one possible problem.  Have you tried vacuuming out the power supply?  I had a computer long ago that would quit once a year and would not boot.  I gave the PS a good vacuuming out and it would start again and run trouble free.  For about a year.  A few cans of canned air can be used to clean CPU heat sinks.  And cruft out of keyboards.
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#45

desktop advice
(10-13-2021, 11:06 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote: ...16 gigs of memory nowadays is considered a bit low.  Browsers are getting bloated and memory hungry.  You might be able to eek out a bit more use by adding memory if you can.

I run Win 10, 64 bit, and I'm using 16GB quite happily.

ZDnet says:  The time when more than 8GB of RAM becomes useful and starts
paying for itself is when you're running several resource-heavy applications
simultaneously—especially with image or video processing, 4K video, or 3D modelling.
Try running Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and After Effects side-by-side on a system
with 8GB of RAM, then bump that up to 16GB of RAM and see the difference.
Having more than 8GB of RAM also comes in handy if you make extensive use of
virtualisation tools such as Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware Workstation, especially
if you run multiple virtual machines simultaneously.

—After Effects will run on 4GB of RAM;  Photoshop on 8GB Ram; Premiere Pro on
   8GB RAM, although Adobe and Microsoft do recommend 16GB of RAM.
   Crucial 32GB CT32G4RFD4266 DDR4 RDIMM 2666MHz Single Stick RAM will
   set you back $299 (in Australia).    Not worth it to me at that price!
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#46

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 11:57 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 11:07 PM)Dom Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 08:38 PM)PopeyesPappy Wrote: Damn, Dom. I know I'm late to the party here, but replacing what you have is going to be pricy so if you don't have to don't. Order a new mouse. Call a local shop, tell them what you have, and ask them what they would charge to replace all the fans, put in an SSD, maybe add another 16 GB of memory, and reload Windows 10. Gong to cost a lot less than replacing/upgrading what you have now.

The mouse isn't it, I am on mouse number 4. No such thing as a local shop. So I have to drive to the city to take it to a shop, and then it will take time to get all that done (why do I want to re-load windows 10? ). So I will have to take a hiatus from life as usual for me. I may end up doing that, but... probably would be postponed until the whole damn thing stops working.

It might be worth while to download and burn a bootable Linux live CD system, such as Knoppix.  Boot that and see it the mouse problem still exists.  If not it is a software problem.  If so, it is hardware.  A cheap way to eliminate one possible problem.  Have you tried vacuuming out the power supply?  I had a computer long ago that would quit once a year and would not boot.  I gave the PS a good vacuuming out and it would start again and run trouble free.  For about a year.  A few cans of canned air can be used to clean CPU heat sinks.  And cruft out of keyboards.

Yes, I do need to give it another good cleaning. After I set up my new aquarium. Smile

And you are right, browsers are getting really bloated! I used to use them as an open filing system and run 5 different ones, each with a bunch of open windows, and flip back and forth. No more of that!
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#47

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 11:07 PM)Dom Wrote: (why do I want to re-load windows 10? )

10 isn't nearly as bad as earlier versions of Windows, but update after update after update and things can get a bit glitchy. A fresh install with all the updates done upfront instead of slowly over time will often help with many software related issues and speed things up a bit.
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#48

desktop advice
Fear not....or maybe FEAR MUCH.  Windows 11 is coming.
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#49

desktop advice
(10-14-2021, 12:00 PM)Cheerful Charlie Wrote:
(10-13-2021, 11:29 PM)Cavebear Wrote: My Mac Mini goes keyboard-dead frequently (but the mouse always works) and I have to restart.  I think it is a 8 RAM problem for me.  I have 16 to add but I'm scared to try it.  Warnings about static charges etc and I am a walking Leyden Jar.

By a cheap anti-static wrist strap.  Cost ya about $5 bucks.  It straps to an arm or wrist, and clips to the metal chassis of your computer case or some other metal object.  Static electricity is discharged safely.  I usually put it on my leg to keep my hands free and the alligator clip to my computer case somewhere.

Thanks, I thought it was a lot more complicated than that, like attaching a wire to my bathroom ground-fault interrupter circuit or a grounded metal water pipe. Might give that a try with my waterbed after. It gets pretty staticky in Winter.
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#50

desktop advice
Hey, Dom

Got an email this morning from IBUYPOWER.  They are running a sale.
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