Look, you aren't Adriatic. Adriatic was annoying, sure, but he actually made sense about 5% of the time when he wasn't busy preaching or pushing products... You’re just talking nonsense. A phone dies if you use it under an umbrella and suddenly the warranty is void? Seriously? 🤣 😂 🤦 😱
How on earth is a technician supposed to know if you were standing under an umbrella, for crying out loud? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 😵
Look, I don't usually get involved in these petty arguments—I hate bickering—but I have to say something here...
How exactly is this three-month rule determined? Is it three months from the purchase date? What if the ink sat on a shelf unsold for three months before anyone bought it—how does that count? And how does the math work for different batches? If one was made in March and another in July, how do you calculate that? Also, what if you aren't buying a full set and just need one specific cartridge? You don't exactly buy a new one every fourth time you run out.
And where on earth does it actually say that???? 🤦 I mean, even milk has a longer shelf life than this...
You’ve got it all wrong. People buy stuff everywhere, including eBay, with the intention of actually using it, and there's supposed to be some kind of guarantee for usage, not just for sitting there unopened. When a product reaches you, that's only the beginning of the story. By your logic, if you buy a phone, it arrives undamaged, and that's it? You unbox it, it dies immediately, and you're just out of luck? This is the first time I've ever heard someone argue that.
edit:
Anyway, by the way, what do you suggest we do then? Should we just hunt down a used Epson on eBay and stick strictly to original ink? eBay isn't good enough for you, Epson isn't good enough, CISS isn't good enough... nothing works for you. So go ahead, make a suggestion. Or better yet, drop a link to that Epson you're trying to sell on eBay...
Whether my post was actually smart or helpful is really up to the person who asked the question, not you...
Shit happens, I get that... But IMHO, you have way less chance of getting screwed over on eBay. First off, you only deal with sellers holding at least a 98% positive feedback rating, and second, those sellers are terrified of negative feedback. There’s plenty of buyer protection and money-back guarantees too. It sounds like you haven't spent much time on eBay lately; on local classified sites, you don't have any protection, and scammers are everywhere...
And if the chip was faulty, you should've filed a complaint. On eBay, you can't just sign up as a seller without consequences like you can on some random local site; they can track down a seller easily, no problem...
Even if someone managed to find an identical drive, they’d have to go through hell swapping out the electronics—wasting hours on guesswork about whether the platters and firmware actually match. Honestly, I have no idea how you were even planning to pay back 🤷 . Also, I don't know if you've looked into data recovery prices lately. They've dropped enough that you don't need to sell a kidney just to get one drive back. Just Google it; there are plenty of specialized firms with the actual gear to handle this. Check these guys out:
Yeah, diagnostics are usually free, which means you drop the drive off, they figure out what's wrong and give you a quote for the recovery and transferring everything to a new medium... If the price is too steep, just say thanks and walk away to check a few other shops...
Further down the page, you can see an example price for three hours of labor $133... Is it expensive? Yeah, sure, it's pricey. But it's nowhere near what it used to cost. And maybe it won't take a full three hours. If the files on that drive are critical, it's worth it.
Just like everyone else already told you: stop touching the drive. Don't turn the computer back on. Just pull the drive out and try not to drop 😬, because every single time you power that thing up, you're killing your chances of getting anything back...
Great advice... Just grab a cheap inkjet off eBay. Honestly, you might as well just go out and spend that money on drinks instead; at least then you won't be stressed out. Seriously, cheap inkjets cause nothing but headaches, and buying used is a gamble since you have zero clue how much they’ve actually printed or what kind of abuse they've seen.
Look, it’s simple with printers: you can’t have your cake and eat it too. They are basically designed to die quickly and force you into buying overpriced ink or toner. It all comes down to luck. If you’ve owned a printer before, you already know how this game works.
I don't see why you're even questioning the resolution of laser printers. They’ve always had better resolution and print quality than those cheap inkjets—why would you even think that's an issue?
With inkjets, everyone has a different opinion based on whatever junk they have sitting on their desk and how they treat it. But the golden rule is: don't let the print heads clog up, which I'm sure you already know. As for whether you need a scanner or not, that's your call; nobody can decide that for you. And if you've lived in the real world long enough, you probably know that "cheap" rarely means high quality or durable.
If you go the inkjet route, dealing with ink is going to be a nightmare. Those famous EPSON T0711-714 cartridges are tiny, and Epson is notorious for swallowing them up during cleaning cycles. There are decent third-party options, and Epson Orink stuff is cheap, but those can leak easily too. If you're getting an inkjet and planning to print a lot, a CISS is pretty much your only sane option. You can find them here in the US, but check eBay for reasonable prices—you can find installation guides on YouTube for almost every model out there. All that's left is to decide if you need the scanner. And for heaven's sake, don't forget to print something once a week just to keep those heads from clogging.
Lasers are obviously the better move because the toner lasts longer, and the drum and other consumables generally have a much longer lifespan than anything in an inkjet. Don't bother asking about replacement toner or ink here; just check your local shops or wherever you usually buy your supplies. A "cheap" toner isn't actually cheap if you're paying a fortune in shipping just to get it to your door.
It's hard to find a laser printer nowadays that doesn't have a compatible third-party toner available. Even if there isn't a direct replacement, you can usually find cartridges that can be refilled. The cost-effectiveness depends entirely on where you shop, so ask your local vendor or talk to a specialist who handles refills. Sure, you can buy toner powder on eBay and do it yourself, but that can be a messy, complicated job that requires specific tools. It's probably better to leave it to the pros; last time, I paid to have a Brother cartridge refilled $27, and you can usually get 3 or 4 uses out of a cartridge before it's done.
I used to have an Epson multi-function SX model with those T07xx inks, and I used Epson Orink replacements without any issues until I let the heads clog. Now I'm using a Canon and I installed a CISS. So far, so good. I don't print massive amounts, but I make sure to print a page every week and run a cleaning cycle just to be safe.
Looking at the lasers you linked, pay attention to the duty cycle. The Samsung is rated for 10k pages a month, the Xerox is 15k, and the Epson hits 30k. Not only does the Epson feature duplex printing (that 'd' in the name), but it also has network capabilities (the 'n'), meaning it has an RJ45 port so you can hook it up to your network and print from multiple computers. Check the prices for both original and third-party toner so you can actually calculate which one is the best deal.
And no, it shouldn't be an issue with Windows 10...
If you’re using a VGA cable, those connector pins can get bent out of shape easily—it happens all the time. Just take a look at the end of the cable; if the pins are crooked, you’ll have to try and straighten them out really carefully with some needle-nose pliers, because they snap if you aren't gentle. If you mess that up, you're stuck dealing with the headache of trying to solder on a whole new connector...
You don't have 350 MHz RAM. With DDR2, we're talking 400, 533, 667, 800, or 1066 MHz. Just keep in mind that tools like CPU-Z or AIDA64 usually show you the effective speed with a 2x multiplier, which makes it look half as fast as it actually is.
Look, regardless of whether you're running 533 MHz or 667 MHz, you're much better off having 3GB of RAM, even if it is slightly slower. You won't notice that tiny speed difference anywhere, but that extra 1GB of capacity is going to be a lifesaver when you actually need it.
It could be anything. Start by trying a hard reset—hold down the reset button for ten seconds. If that doesn't work, some people swear by the old "turn it off and on again" trick. Unplug it, yank the cartridge out, shove it back in, and power it up. Sometimes the machine just realizes you aren't giving up and finally starts cooperating. Also, pay attention to how many times that light flashes; it might not even be an ink issue.
Watch what you're buying when it comes to adapters. Those cheap ones are often just glorified wires meant for specific projectors and won't work for your setup. Also, an HDMI to VGA cable won't cut it; you specifically need a VGA to HDMI converter, something like this:
Basically, you need a converter, not just an adapter, to turn that VGA signal (which is a weird hybrid of analog and digital) into a pure digital HDMI signal. Since VGA can't carry audio by definition, you'll have to pull the sound from your laptop's headphone jack. With this kind of converter, you plug the VGA and audio from the laptop into one side, and the other side outputs an HDMI signal that includes the audio.
Besides the converter, you're going to need three cables, and you really need to pay attention to the orientation (the genders) of the plugs:
1. A VGA cable from the laptop to the converter 2. A stereo audio cable from the laptop to the converter 3. An HDMI 1.2 cable (I think 1.2 is the lowest version that carries audio) from the converter to the TV
VGA and 3.5mm stereo are pretty standard, but for the HDMI, check if it's a full-size or a mini version. And obviously, make sure you know which end is male and which is female, otherwise, you're stuck. If you can't find the right polarity for a cable, there are "gender changers" you can use to fix that.
That USB to microUSB cable included with the converter is there to power it. It just needs 5V from a USB port, so make sure you have a spare USB port on your laptop available.
It’ll be hard to find a converter like this locally since they aren't common, so eBay is probably your best bet. For all the cables and extra gear, I'd recommend checking out Chipotle—they actually have decent prices and a good selection of this stuff...
Sometimes grabbing the latest drivers isn't actually the smartest move; you often have to dig around for an older version that actually plays nice with your system. But before you go messing with that, just make sure to check your CPU and GPU temps with some monitoring software first...
They changed things up. It’s totally free now, but they’re only giving us a 15-day trial... Something in there says they'll explain how it works via email. You check your inbox yet to see if the details are there?
Pop the speaker open and look right where the power cord enters. You're probably looking for a tiny glass tube held together by metal caps. There should be a thin wire inside. If it's broken, then it's blown...
That R7 is practically half as powerful as the R9...
Besides, nobody buys pre-built rigs anymore because they’re usually junk. You're better off just listing what you want to do and your budget; those guys will put together a decent build for you once they show up...
Pre-built rigs are usually just a way for shops to clear out inventory—stuff they can't move individually or older parts sitting on the shelf. Honestly, any decent shop will put together a custom build based on exactly what you want without making a fuss. Some charge a fee for the labor, while others don't. Most of the places we recommend here include assembly for free, and some even throw in shipping, like AMD.