Posts by Elizabeth Evans4

So, I was reading somewhere that the media totally botched the reporting on this. Apparently, they're saying the ban for the Kansas City Chiefs and the national team is only for a year. Honestly, I don't see how anyone could justify a lifetime ban based on what happened... But then again, I'm just getting all this from news reports, so who knows...

I’m just reading this on some random forum—it's basically my only source right now—so I’m guessing they finally leaked something. But seriously, what kind of fan laws allow someone to get slapped with a lifetime ban from both MLS and the national team?

darkowl72 said:There are tons of versions for those cards, so I'm not even sure which ones you're running. Usually, a Radeon shouldn't need an extra power connector on the card itself—it's supposed to just pull everything it needs from the PCIe slot. But an Nvidia card? It'll likely have a 6-pin connector you gotta plug in to get enough juice. Honestly, if you haven't hooked up that extra connector on the Nvidia, don't even bother trying. You might end up pulling too much through that cheap power supply and then... well, you know, total disaster.

👍

It does have that 6-pin for power. But man, when I tried booting the PC without it plugged in, all I heard was this constant beeping sound... just beep, beep, beep over and over. Only once I actually hooked up the power to that connector did the computer finally boot up normally.

Larry Ortiz5 said:I mean, you probably ought to swap out the power supply, the GPU, and the CPU too... maybe grab a quad-core or something. But I guess it’s hard to say for sure without knowing what kind of budget you're actually looking at.
Roughly speaking... a quad-core on the 775 socket usually runs about $117, then maybe find a decent PSU for like 250 to $100, plus a graphics card, so you're looking at maybe $333 total.

Like, if you actually drop that much cash, what could you even do with the rig? (Give me some examples, like what kind of games would actually run)

Jonathan Mendoza17 said:That card should have two DVI outputs. Maybe try plugging the monitor into the other DVI port. Might just be a connection issue there.
I mean, I guess I'm a bit confused why resetting the BIOS would even help if the GPU itself is actually fried, right?

Tried the other port, but yeah... same exact symptoms.

Anyway, it doesn't happen every single time, but after I reset the BIOS, the screen just cuts out eventually. Like yesterday, maybe two minutes into a game and the monitor just went black. And once it dies? It won't turn back on at all until I reset the BIOS again by pulling the battery. Then it works for a bit, then... yeah. 😵

Ugh, just wanted to add another symptom to the list. So, I played it by the book—booted into Safe Mode, uninstalled the display drivers, rebooted, let Windows load, let it reinstall the drivers, rebooted again... and yeah, the PC actually booted into Windows normally. But the second I launch a game, it works for maybe two or three minutes before the monitor just goes black. After that, nothing. Not even the BIOS splash screen shows up. It’ll probably show that I pulled the battery to reset the BIOS again, right up to that point.
The GPU is definitely dead and gone.

The only thing crossing my mind lately is... is my 260W power supply even enough to handle this thing?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Look, it’s not like we’re talking about an old Pentium 3 here. It’s a decent enough machine for Word and basic stuff, plus it’s a dual core with 2GB of RAM. Just because you're eyeing a beefier PC doesn't mean you have to overhaul the entire platform just because of a graphics card...

Timothy Ramos26 Based on what you wrote, the issue is definitely the graphics card. I mean, you swapped it out for another one and now the monitor actually shows an image, right?
If you aren't exactly swimming in cash, maybe check out some used deals on eBay. By the way, what kind of budget are we looking at for this GPU?

I've been browsing eBay, and honestly, if you look from $33 onwards, you can find some used gear. I guess you get what you pay for, right? 😁 But yeah, sometimes you stumble onto a solid deal for next to nothing.
But hey, what do you suggest?
If a reasonable investment can actually make this junker usable again, I'm down. 🎉

btw, just so you know, I'm a guy. 😁

Brian Edwards78 said:That’s not even a real PC, man. It’s an ancient piece of junk. Honestly, you should just be happy it hasn't burned your house down yet.

It’s the GPU. And honestly? Don't even bother taking it to a repair shop. It’s probably better to just cut back on the booze, the girls, and the gambling, then take whatever cash you save and buy something newer and actually functional.

Thanks for the input. 👍

The thing is, I don't gamble, I gave up smoking a while ago, and I'm not really into drugs or anything... so you're kind of stripping away my excuses here. 😁

Anyway, being serious for a second. For Word and the basic stuff I need for work, this thing gets me by. But I was wondering if I could push it a little—see if I can get it running something like Far Cry 3 (which I could handle on my old card). I know this thing is trash and anything I throw at it is gonna struggle, but I just don't have the headspace to drop money on a whole new rig right now.

Hey there.

My standard PC setup has a 260W power supply, an Asus motherboard, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.80GHz processor, an Nvidia geforce 9600 GSO 512MB card, a basic DVD drive (think Pioneer), and a 320GB Western Digital hard drive.
I'm running Windows 7 32-bit. BIOS is set to default.

So, here’s the deal. The screen won't turn on, even though Windows boots up just fine—I can hear the startup sounds in the background. I have another card, a Radeon x600 pro 256MB, and everything works great with that one. But, I guess the Windows 7 index performance is way worse on it compared to my usual setup. With this Geforce card, the screen stays black. It occasionally manages to show something, but usually, it just cuts out right at the Windows boot logo. Then the monitor just goes dead. Like, the light starts blinking as if the computer itself was shut off.

What else could be causing this, besides the graphics card? And if it actually is the card, is it even worth taking it to a repair shop? This machine isn't for anything heavy; just some light gaming and some basic work stuff in Word. Since I play a few games, I'm wondering if this situation is salvageable or if there's any way to get this card working again (along with whatever else might be the issue).

Sorry for any typos, typing this on my phone. 🙂

Not sure if I'm putting this in the right spot, so my bad if I'm cluttering things up here.

So, here’s the deal. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15, and the original charger pretty much kicked the bucket. I picked up one of those universal replacement chargers—the kind where you can tweak the voltage and swap out the tips to fit whatever device you've got. At first, I found the tip that fits, set the voltage, and it worked fine. Then, out of nowhere, it just stopped charging. After maybe twenty days or so, the tip itself started acting up; it barely charges unless I wiggle it around until it hits just the right spot. I figured maybe the charging port on the laptop was shot, so I tracked down an original Dell charger to test it out, and turns out, the issue is definitely with that universal charger.😵

According to the manual for the universal charger, 19V is what Dell laptops usually need. When I set it to that, the laptop charges, but then it loses connection again. It's super weak—it only really works if I manipulate the plug until it sits perfectly, which probably means the tip isn't quite the right size and the contact is crappy.

Then, by total accident, I tried setting it to 18.5V, which the instructions say is for HP and Compaq gear. And honestly? It works great. No dropping connection, just steady charging the whole time.

The specs on the original charger are:
output 19V, 3.42A, 65W,
input 1.6A,

But on the universal charger, using the tip that actually works, it's like:🤔
Output: 18.5V, I think 5A, max 90W
input 1.8A
In case it helps, here's a link to the charger I'm talking about:

Is there any chance I'm gonna fry the laptop, the power supply, or even my house by using this thing?🤔?

Thanks, everyone...