It’s definitely a desktop situation; my laptop is just way too basic for what I need.. I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to building rigs from scratch, though I’ve popped the hood a few times to swap drives and watch how everyone else handles things. But honestly, like anything else, I don't want to hand over the keys to the kingdom to some guy just because he knows his way around a screwdriver. I want to learn the ropes myself so I can actually diagnose a problem without having to pester someone to come fix it every single time 😉 I don't even need a smaller case; my current one works perfectly fine 😉
My current case is actually totally fine; my desk has plenty of room for a PC anyway, so there's really zero reason to swap that out. But honestly, my dad is just obsessed with this little tech marvel and hasn't stopped talking about it, so he's basically seeing this as his golden opportunity to talk me into it 😁 or at least try his luck! 🙂 I'll figure things out once I tear it down, but honestly, I don't care much if I'm doing this solo, and life is just pure chaos everywhere right now For me, the desktop setup was working almost perfectly; lately I’ve been using Firefox and when opening Word, I’ve been cleaning it regularly—plus I got my high-speed fiber installed in the meantime, so the internet itself wasn't the issue A few months back, I mentioned this one 1TB drive that kept locking itself up out of nowhere... like, I'd go to open it to copy or edit something and boom, it's stuck, over and over again, but that was pretty much it I was thinking, if the motherboard is actually the culprit, maybe I should just grab a new one, a new processor, and some extra RAM. I'm sitting at 4GB right now, which feels like it should be okay, plus I'll obviously need to reinstall Windows—and I am definitely going to pester you guys for advice on that, so the more recommendations the better 🙂 The only thing bugging me is that drive (Windows isn't on it, it's on the SSD)... would a fresh install of Windows fix that, or is the drive itself just straight-up dying? Having tons of storage is huge for me; I don't necessarily mean internal space, but extra stuff like external drives that I use via card readers, so I wouldn't mind keeping this 1TB one around, but if it's totally trashed, I'm too scared to keep using it. How can I check if it's toast? So far, I've only had one instance where the hard drive died on me; I unplugged it and everything went back to normal!
fadedorca66 said:The main thing holding that NUC back is the weak processor—basically an ultra-low power version shoved into a tiny little case with terrible cooling. Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube running in Firefox absolutely devour CPU cycles, and that's exactly where you hit the slowdown.
Whenever you're ready to dive in and actually see what kind of hardware you're working with so we can figure out what's worth saving, just shout. Maybe even our whole squad of IT nerds could swing by your place and actually get somewhere. 😁
If this were my actual job, I wouldn't be stressing over this at all; I’d just hire some pros to build me a killer setup, hand them the cash, and call it a day. Instead, it’s happening bit by bit. I honestly only liked the NUC because it's tiny, but deep down, I much prefer a classic desktop. Not that I'm some expert on the differences between a NUC and everything else, I'll admit that. I don't need a beast of a machine for work, and since I'm starting to dabble more in photography, nothing too insane should be necessary for amateur stuff. Quick, slightly silly question: if I drop more money into a high-end, powerful NUC, is that even worth it, or can they never truly compete with a standard tower? The thing is, I'm fascinated by the NUC for a few reasons—mainly the space savings—but I'm also totally unfamiliar with them and honestly prefer building my own rigs. I lean toward the classic route there; the idea of a NUC feels a bit too abstract to me, and I much prefer being able to crack a case open, swap parts, and fix things myself. The thought of even trying to take a NUC apart scares me...
This NUC is just a temporary fix, definitely not my 😉 but I'm testing the waters in case my desktop stays dead—just seeing if a high-end mini PC could actually replace a full tower Honestly, life has been such a total circus lately that my computer is the absolute last thing on my mind The desktop is still sitting there untouched; neither I nor anyone else has even had a second to troubleshoot it I’m sticking with this setup for now because I don't know how much I want to sink into this, and frankly, I'd much rather just grab a new motherboard and some extra RAM than shell out for an entirely new rig... ugh
So, I finally fired up this NUC today, and honestly? It’s definitely not winning any speed awards compared to my desktop. I’m not exactly sold on it yet—browsing feels a bit sluggish, and while opening basic apps is fine, things get dicey when I pull up Mozilla. Trying to run that Facebook game room was a total nightmare; it was painfully slow. I had a few tabs open in Mozilla—you know, the usual suspects like Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, plus a few other light ones—and throwing that game room into the mix at the same time was clearly a recipe for disaster. Now I'm wondering, how much can these little things actually handle? It’s running an Intel processor at 2.16 GHz with 4GB of RAM. My desktop has the same amount of memory, but it actually handled multitasking way better than this thing does when I've got several things going at once. My internet is fiber at 200 Mbps, so you can rule out the connection being the bottleneck. The NUC is running a fresh install of Windows, whereas my desktop is still rocking the same Windows version from three years ago—it just got upgraded to 10.
fadedorca66 said:IT guys are basically useless when you need actual advice if they don't know their way around hardware 😁 many times I've had to fix mistakes made by "programmers" and "IT specialists" who wouldn't know a circuit board from a toaster. Don't get me wrong—they're wizards with software, but when it comes to hardware? Total amateurs.
Just pop the case open and snap a photo of the guts so we can actually see what kind of motherboard and power supply we're dealing with. If the rig is only three years old, it’s probably not total junk, especially since you mentioned it has an SSD and stuff. Dig through your receipts too; you might still have some warranty left to lean on...
hahaha yeah, man, he's basically admitting he isn't a hardware guy and calling it a day... My replacement just arrived—it's an NUC—but I'm not sure what my game plan is for the desktop yet. I'll test this thing out first and see where we go from there. I'm really crossing my fingers that my PC isn't completely dead, it shouldn't be that old.. Word is that a bunch of computers at the office started acting up right after that last Windows update... :/
Man, I wish I could give you the full rundown, but since this whole rig was built from scratch just three years ago, nothing is really "ancient" yet—though that 1TB hard drive might be showing its age while the SSD is still pretty fresh I know for a fact there's 4GB of RAM, but honestly, I can't tell you anything else because I can't even get a signal on the monitor, so yeah, total blackout They're telling me it’s either the motherboard or a CMOS issue, so I’ll probably crack it open later and hunt for that little reset button on the board The guy and his dad are both IT pros, and here I am, totally clueless, begging for advice... it's kind of embarrassing One of them won't be able to help until next week, and the other one is basically telling me to just junk the whole thing and buy something new 😁 great idea, really! So, the tower is sitting right there on a stand under my desk, so space isn't the issue, but seeing how much people rely on laptops lately—especially with all these faster, better models hitting the market—has me second-guessing everything What I actually need is a machine that's snappy and packed with memory; since I'm diving deeper into photography, I really don't want it lagging out on me whenever I'm running heavy editing software I'm being pretty frugal 😁
Look, I'm definitely no tech guru, so I won't bore you with a massive list of specs But my desktop has been acting incredibly sketchy lately. I mentioned before that one of my drives keeps locking up on me—it’ll let me access files, then suddenly freeze everything up so I can't copy or edit a single thing, and I have zero clue what's causing the drama or how to actually fix it for good.. Lately, even Word has been dragging its feet; I thought maybe it was because I was running stuff off an external drive, but then it’ll happen when I'm using the internal drive too, just hitting me with that "not responding" message before finally deciding to behave And for a while now, the startup process has been a total coin toss; sometimes it just hangs there, forcing me to do a hard reboot just to get the thing to boot up.. Google is crawling, too. I clean out the cache constantly and I have an SSD, so it really shouldn't be this sluggish, but... On Friday, it straight-up refused to boot. It felt like it got stuck during a memory check, but after two restarts, it finally kicked in. Yesterday and today started off fine, but after a few hours, the whole thing just went haywire A little while back, I set it to go into sleep mode after an hour of inactivity, which worked great most of the time, but not today.. the thing stayed powered on for two or three hours when it should've been sleeping, and when I came back, it was buzzing like crazy, the screen was black, and neither the mouse nor the keyboard would respond (even though the keyboard is brand new!). Everything seemed totally fine, and then—bam—total meltdown
When I try to turn it on, there aren't any beep codes or anything; it feels like it's running, but the screen is dead—all I see is a message saying it's entering sleep mode while an orange light just blinks at me
So, here's my dilemma... People are telling me it's probably the motherboard or the CMOS—how do I actually verify that, and is it even worth fixing at this stage? Should I grab a new motherboard? I've been wanting to bump up the RAM anyway (this rig is a bit over 3 years old), or should I just bite the bullet and buy a whole new computer? If I do decide to pull the trigger on a new setup, what's the move? Standard desktop tower or a NUC? Does anyone here actually use a NUC for real work?! I don't have my laptop on me right now, so trying to navigate all this on my phone is a nightmare. Sorry if this is the wrong subforum...
Honestly, I'm pretty pissed. This is an unexpected expense I really wasn't planning for, especially since money is tight right now. I'd love to find a way to patch this up without breaking the bank... or dropping a fortune on a new machine immediately. If anyone knows a painless way to fix this, thanks.. also, I've been getting pushed toward getting a NUC instead of a traditional desktop for a while now, so I'd love to hear some real-world feedback. Saving desk space would be huge, provided a NUC can actually handle everything my current desktop does...
Thanks in advance for any help or advice! Sorry for the massive wall of text, hope it wasn't too much of a slog to read...
Yeah, induction cookware is marked with that little coil symbol! Honestly, that’s pretty much its only downside, but it slashes your cooking and heating times so much that it pays for itself in the long run! 😉
It’s not just about pills being dirt cheap in Canada; honestly, how can you even think about continuing to shop over there?
I know those Triquilar things used to be dirt cheap, but honestly, let's just leave that in the past—it was so long ago I can barely even remember the prices anymore. I’m thinking the price for those is probably hovering around the hundred-dollar mark here in the States, though who knows if they’ve hiked it up lately. As for me, I grab my Dianas on prescription, so I don't have to shell out a dime.
Look, don't even think about popping birth control pills without getting some blood work done first; a few years back, there was a massive mess involving Yasmin pills because people were flying blind without checking their levels... Honestly, same here—during my first cycle, my doctor didn't bother sending me for blood tests, but now? Not a chance. I wouldn't touch them even if they paid me, and honestly, I’d happily get tested twice a year if it meant staying safe.
Whether you're seeing a specialist at a private clinic or just hitting up your local community health center, they’ll list whatever labs you need in your report; at least that’s how it worked when I went privately. Even with public insurance, they just issue a referral to the lab anyway... basically, if you're paying out of pocket, you usually still need to be registered with a primary care provider so they can send the order over to the lab, and from there, the medical pros know exactly what needs testing.
Ugh, tell me about it... I totally blanked on the pill part. That’s actually why I quit in the first place. I started out on Triquilar, but man, it absolutely wrecked my stomach—constant nausea was just too much. Then they switched me over to Diane. Some people thought I should have moved to something with lower hormone levels, but honestly? I went back to Diane a few years ago and I'm doing just fine now. I mean, sure, the bloating and mood swings happen, but that’s basically just part of the package deal, nothing crazy.
If you've been on them for a while, you really should've adjusted by now. You need to ask for a different brand because those massive mood swings shouldn't be happening if the pills are actually working for you. Everyone reacts differently, obviously, but you've gotta lay it all out for your doctor so they can give you the best advice on what to swap to. Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't stick with them if they're making everything feel totally off.
stormyharbor2 said:Yeah. I started taking them because my PMS was absolutely brutal—made the anxiety and depression ten times worse—but they didn't touch that part at all. They help with the cramps, sure, but honestly, I’d rather deal with the physical pain than have to go through that kind of hormonal meltdown again 🤷 I think I handle the pills okay, but the PMS itself... it's definitely been worse lately...
How long have you been on them? I feel like it takes a minute for your body to actually get used to the chemistry. For my cramps, they worked after just the first month, and while my mood swings weren't full-blown anxiety or depression, I definitely felt the shifts. Personally, the low-hormone pills haven't really done much for me—Diane-35 seems to be my sweet spot, though I've swapped them around a few times. My PMS usually kicks in about ten days out, but for me, it mostly manifests as this insane, bottomless pit of a craving for anything sugary. I could eat my weight in chocolate!🙂 The mood stuff isn't nearly as bad as before, though looking back, being on Lyndanet was basically a nightmare; it absolutely wrecked me during that time of the month. Now on Diane, it's more like a sudden dip in energy or just wanting to ghost everyone for a bit rather than a total breakdown... unless something else goes wrong, then things get a little spicy. But even now, like in a few days when I'm due, I'm feeling totally chill, though I would literally sell my soul for something sweet right about now.🎉
Stormyharbor2: Honestly, if you think this is going to be some smooth ride, you’ve clearly spent too much time watching Hollywood movies instead of living in the real world. It's more like trying to drive a lawnmower through a swamp during a hurricane—messy, unpredictable, and you're probably going to end up covered in mud. kaže: I honestly thought it’d be smarter to jump in on day 7 instead of waiting for day 8. I figured that would give me some kind of safety net, but hey, maybe I'm just being paranoid. 😁 I feel like I’m about to lose my mind or something. Honestly, this whole past month has just been one giant, nonstop PMS nightmare; even the Advil didn't do squat for the mood swings, only helped a little with the actual cramps.👎 Honestly, it’s like my brain is stuck in a permanent loop of absolute garbage—the worst part is that the actual mess is long gone, but I'm still sitting here feeling just as trashed as when it all went down. :/
Is it Lyndinettama or whatever the heck they call it these days? Honestly, those things were a total bust for me... just go find a gynecologist who can swap them out if they aren't working for you.
stormyharbor2 said:Well, yeah, if that's what the instructions say, then that's just how it is. But look—it basically means if you follow the rules, you aren't actually 99% protected, you're less than that... because, you know, they recommend the seventh day instead of the eighth. I don't get why she got an answer like that. 🤷
I gotta admit, this is the first time I've heard anyone say you should start pills on day 7. My OB-GYN specifically told me to wait until the 8th day after finishing the last pack. I definitely had my doubts about being protected during those 8 days, but they insisted there was no issue, and that starting on day 7 would just shift my period around—so I'm sticking with what they said!
[No input provided for Dotty] kaže: So, I totally botched my schedule and took my birth control a day early—basically thought I was running late and popped a pill at 8 PM tonight when I actually wasn't supposed to touch the pack until tomorrow morning. :/ Now I’m spiraling thinking I’ve completely derailed the whole system by starting a new box a day ahead of schedule. What’s the move here? Am I still protected this month, or did I just throw my cycle into a blender?
Reading. Here?
So, here's the deal... my pill instructions say "Day 8." Does that mean we're basically walking around with half an umbrella in a thunderstorm if we don't keep going past day eight? Great, just what I needed—another reason to spiral into a full-blown paranoid meltdown. 👎
I've been using them for years now—always grab mine on the 8th of the month like clockwork, and honestly, I’ve never run into a single hiccup.
I heard Dr. Šikanić performed that procedure over at the Mayo Clinic, assuming you fall into that teenage demographic 😛 It only takes about 10-15 minutes under local anesthesia, and while it might sting a bit once the numbness wears off, it’s honestly not the end of the world.
driftingwolf4 said:I have extensive experience with Diane-35; I took them continuously for over ten years without a single break to manage my PCOS. Everyone seems terrified of these pills because of the long list of side effects, but I happen to be one of those rare cases who didn't even feel like I was taking anything at all—I never experienced any issues or complications whatsoever. 👍
I've been on Diane for ages now. I actually cycled through a few other brands before this because my doctors kept trying to push those low-dose pills on me, but honestly, they were a total bust and left me feeling like absolute garbage. I don't have PCOS or anything, but it was pretty obvious my hormone levels were tanking, so these were basically handed to me as the fix.
Man, that stuff absolutely wrecked me under the Lindanet pills—it was brutal! Everything finally settled down once I quit taking them, too. I honestly couldn't believe how hard they hit me. Even taking something like Triquilar didn't do me any favors; I just ended up dealing with constant nausea...