Posts by wearymason2

Scott Allen10 said:You initiate CPR after evaluating the victim's status—which means doing a rapid assessment of consciousness, breathing, and obviously heart rate. It’s common sense.
Basically, in one single motion, almost within 3-4 seconds, you step up, kneel down, shake them, and shout... finger on the carotid artery, face positioned over their mouth/nose, eyes on the chest... and... everything happens at once. Under your finger, you check for a pulse, and by combining that with feeling their breath on your cheek and visually watching the chest rise, you evaluate breathing.
In cardiac arrest, where the heart is in asystole or ventricular fibrillation, you see what’s called agonal breathing, which should never be mistaken for normal breathing. An unconscious person might occasionally, maybe for a minute or two after the arrest starts, take a deep, loud "gasp" for air... and people mistakenly think, "Look, they're breathing!"... but they aren't breathing; they're dying.

Thanks for the answer; that clears things up. This specific way of checking breathing and pulse isn't in any of the textbooks I've been studying. Best regards. 🙂

Hey, I have a quick question regarding CPR.

Everywhere I look, it says you should start CPR when an accident victim isn't responding to stimuli and either isn't breathing or isn't breathing normally. What exactly does "not breathing normally" mean here? I was digging through the official guidelines from back in 2015, and all they say is that agonal gasps shouldn't be mistaken for normal breathing—that’s it. I can't find any specific details on what kind of breathing irregularities actually trigger the decision to start CPR.

As far as I understand, we aren't supposed to check for a pulse anymore; we just check breathing, because if there's no pulse, there's no breathing, and vice versa, when looking at CPR indications. Am I right?

@darkowl72/">@@darkowl72 - My fan doesn't have a Molex connector, just a 3-pin header for the motherboard. I could technically solder the wires directly to the power supply—I did something similar on my old rig, though the details are a bit fuzzy now—but I’ve already spent forever cable managing behind this motherboard. I really don't want to mess with a brand-new PSU, especially since the fan is mounted on the side panel right by the tempered glass; it would look like a total mess.

I'm checking the Links website right now; they carry a ton of stuff, but I can't find a resistor anywhere. 😢

I'll check again next time I'm over at the Links in San Diego or maybe hit up a few other shops. If I strike out, I'll just pick up a 4-pin blue LED fan. Because yeah, it absolutely needs to glow. 😁

Like the title says, I’m trying to figure out if I can pick up something like this here in the States. I'm honestly not even sure what the technical term is—is it a reducer, a silencer, a resistor? 🤔
Ideally, I'd find it in Charleston or New Orleans so I don't have to deal with shipping from Washington, D.C. if I can help it.

The fan I'm looking to slow down is a 3-pin model connected directly to the motherboard. It runs at full blast constantly, and while the noise isn't totally unbearable, it's definitely noticeable. I'm not interested in buying a new controller since I already have one managing the other five fans in my rig; it's just this one lone fan causing all the racket.

Just finished the fix and everything’s running smooth (for now) 😁

To wrap it up, I just stripped a tiny bit of the insulation off the red fan wire and tucked it into the opening at the base of the pin where the yellow wire is exposed. I secured the whole thing and tightened it down. If it ends up pulling loose, I’ll switch to that method you suggested, Willis.

Thanks for the help, everyone 👍

@fadedorca66 and @Mario - I forgot to mention that this fan is screwed directly onto the graphics card (and obviously, it's not spinning right now). Two thin wires come out of it—one black and one red—and they plug into the larger pins on that Molex connector (check image #2 and my explanation for clarity). The black wire goes with the other thick black wire, but the red one goes with... well, that's the question. I'm guessing it's yellow, not red, though. 🙂

Here are two more shots:

1. The GPU fan and those two thin wires coming off it (it's not an OEM part, so there's only one screw) - EDIT: ImageShack is being a pain in the neck. 😠 Check the second image; you'll see four small thumbnails on the right side. The top-middle one was supposed to be the link here, but for some reason, it's not working.

2. This picture looks complicated, but I know everything worked fine before (until that thin red wire from the GPU fan snapped off), so I don't want to mess with it too much. You can see the computer case fan in here too, which is why everything connects via the Molex connector (male end) to the power supply, if I've got that right. On the right side of the image, you can see what I posted in the first thread.
https://imageshack.com/i/n8ywn8j

@John Turner34 You're right, I neglected to mention that this is the fan mounted on the video card. I'm going to reconnect that snapped red wire to what looks like a yellow one; I'm not about to start playing chemist with the red wire since the fan wasn't exactly loud before anyway. Now, this might sound like a rookie question, but is it difficult to pry open a pin and then crimp it back shut once I slide the red wire in? 😕 I've never done this before—is just a basic toolkit enough?

So, my Radeon HD 4650 has been acting up lately 😲 and I just need it to limp along for about another month until I swap out most of my build.

Anyway, I hooked it up to my PC yesterday, and when I got zero signal on the monitor for some reason, I started poking around under the hood. Long story short, I managed to yank a thin red wire right out of its pin—assuming "pin" is the right word for what I'm looking at; I've got a photo if anyone needs proof. And before you start: save your breath, I know exactly what I did. Bravo me!

Here’s the shot:

https://imageshack.com/i/ngtozkj

The issue is I have no clue where that red wire originally came from. I can see the black one matches up with its counterpart, but I'm lost on this red one. I'm guessing it goes with the red pin, but I want to be certain since I'm definitely not an expert on this stuff.

If my logic holds, I'll need to strip a tiny bit of insulation off the red wire and pry open the corresponding pin (maybe yellow, one of the two blacks, or red), shove the stripped wire back in, and crimp it shut. It seems like it should work similarly to how you'd join two wires using a crimp connector, if I'm not mistaken.

If anyone actually knows the fix and doesn't mind walking me through it, I'd appreciate the help. 😁

EDIT: In case it matters, the fan on this card isn't the original one.

@Flatron - I have to admit, your suggestion actually seems like the best way to go, even though I wasn't sold on it at first. Once I have the cash, I'll just swap in a beefier power supply and a better GPU. Honestly, if I pick a decent graphics card now, I'm pretty sure I won't even need to touch the processor for another year or two.
I do have a few concerns, though:
Opinions online regarding the integrated graphics on this motherboard are all over the place. Some people claim they can run games at 1080p, others say they can't even manage 720p on low settings, and then there's a middle ground (which I assume just depends on the specific game).
I also noticed that integrated performance relies heavily on RAM speed. Will my future 4GB be fast enough for that, if you know what I mean? (I'm assuming 1600MHz will cut it). I know this is just integrated graphics, so I'm not expecting miracles, but I want to be certain since I'll be stuck with it for a while. Also, would it make any sense to try and Crossfire my HD4650 with it?

@Smartic - Your idea is also solid, mainly because of the price, but just for the short term. If I wanted to drop a high-end GPU in here a year from now, I'd likely have to swap the processor too. I generally prefer Intel over AMD, but the prices 😠 are hard to ignore. So, I'm going with an AMD CPU this time around.

@Joseph Barrett/">@@Joseph Barrett - If my processor could actually handle those kinds of graphics cards, I probably would build something like that, but since it can't... once I'm already at the point where I have to replace the GPU, the processor, add more RAM, and swap out the PSU, I might as well just start fresh with an entirely new build and a new motherboard. :zubo

Thanks for the input, everyone. 😁

Since I'm here, I might as well chime in and ask for some advice if you guys are willing to help 🙂.

Lately, my AMD HD4650 has been overheating, so I've been thinking about picking up a beefier graphics card. Honestly, after scouring the web, I’m starting to feel lost—the sheer number of options is overwhelming 😲.

My biggest hurdle is my current setup. It's seven years old, and I seriously doubt an upgrade is actually worth it, but since I can't afford a total system overhaul for probably the next year or eighteen months (perks of being an intern here in the States), I've decided on this incremental approach
.

My current specs:
Motherboard: P5QPL-AM with PCI-E v1.x
RAM: Only 2GB right now, but I plan to add another 2GB of DDR2
CPU: Intel Pentium dual-core 2.8 GHz (I'm worried this might bottleneck a new GPU)
PSU: AOpen 350W (400W peak)

I'm looking to drop about $100-$$400, $500 max. That budget should ideally cover 2GB of RAM (I found some for $50, which I'll likely grab), a new graphics card, and most likely a new power supply too. I have zero interest in upgrading the processor.

I use this PC for pretty much everything, but my main goal is to get Skyrim running in full screen. I have a 1920x1080 monitor, though I realize playing at that resolution might be a stretch (right?), so I'm open to compromises. To keep it simple: the GPU is primarily for Skyrim. I'm not counting on playing any major new releases, so it doesn't strictly need DirectX 11.

As for where to buy, I haven't really dealt with online shopping before, but if that's the best way to go, I'll pick it up as I go.

EDIT: Any idea what I could get for my 4650 if I can get it fixed? (It's currently with a buddy who knows more about this stuff than I do)

I wanted to start a thread here because I’m 20 years old and this craving keeps getting stronger—you can probably guess which 😲 I’m talking about. At first, it just felt like a cool idea, but now it’s become a genuine goal of mine. I’m based out of Venice, so if anyone knows the deal—or better yet, if someone has actually gone skydiving there—could you walk me through the costs and the actual process? 😉

The biggest thing on my mind, though, is the risk. What are the actual chances of getting injured? If something goes wrong, I don't think I could live with myself. I know there's always a gamble involved, but I want to know the reality. Has anyone ever had a major accident while skydiving near the Golden Gate Bridge, and how many people have actually done it? HELP 🙂 🙂