Posts by George Sanders37

I don't think you really need a beefier processor just for browsing—though I guess having extra disk space is always a solid move.

analogjackal9 said:Hi there,
I tried to factory reset my Dell Inspiron 15, but I completely skipped checking if the hardware was actually healthy first. During the reset process, I hit a critical error stating that winload.exe was missing. Since I was stuck, I used another PC to download Linux onto a bootable USB. After booting from that, I wiped everything on the laptop—including all the system files. I then installed a different version of Windows downloaded from the internet, but it’s not working right. I can't run the software or games I used to, I can't install certain things, updates won't go through, and even my antivirus is failing. It's basically a shell of an OS. Since I wiped the recovery partition, I have no way to get back to the original factory Windows without using Linux to wipe the drive all over again.
Does anyone know how I can restore the original factory Windows that came with this laptop? Please help.
Thanks,

I think you kind of answered your own question—there's no going back to those "factory" Windows settings now. That data is gone, especially since you wrote over it.

Do you remember which Windows you had? 7, 8? Or an older generation like Windows XP?

I don't have a monitor yet—I'll start a new thread once I finally finish putting together what I had in mind.

What kind of budget are we looking at?

I'm putting together a theoretical build—I'll probably start a dedicated thread once I have everything tallied up, I think 😁—centered around $2333, but I'm currently stuck on the GPU choice. For about $2,000-$733, it looks like I could go with either an Nvidia 960 with 4GB or an ATI R9 380 with 4GB. I’m leaning toward the 960, though I noticed that for around $2,500-$867, I could pick up an AMD Radeon R9 290 at Best Buy.

I'd love to get your thoughts—is it worth blowing the budget to grab the AMD Radeon R9 290, or should I just stick to the original plan and go with the 960 or the 380?

I mean, I think you should probably pull the processor out and reseat it in the socket—and honestly, since the heatsink is coming off anyway (assuming we're talking about that "massive cooler" being removed), it might be worth just swapping out the thermal paste too.

Glad you got it sorted out, though I'm still a bit confused about why that second fresh Windows installation ended up getting blocked.

When was the last time you actually cleaned the dust out of your laptop and swapped the thermal paste on the heatsinks?

Do you have a rough budget in mind?

Definitely go ahead with the RAM—you’ll really feel the difference—maybe just grab one more 4GB stick. As for a graphics card, it really depends on what you're looking to spend. I doubt you'll need to swap out the case, though.

If you've already swapped out the drive cable, then I guess the only thing left is that the motherboard might be the issue.

I've been checking out DDR3 prices in stores lately—on average, an 8GB stick of DDR3 is about 150-$67 cheaper than an 8GB DDR4 module. When you're putting a whole build together, it doesn't really move the needle much on the total cost.

I get that higher clock speeds theoretically mean better performance, but from what I see when people are building PCs, most setups just end up with DDR3 at 1600 MHz. Even though there are kits available at higher frequencies that aren't much more expensive, it seems like 🤷

I only mentioned Dell as an example of a board that’s cheaper than usual while still having built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. I haven't really messed with that brand before, so thanks for sharing your experience. 👍

I get that a new socket means new chipsets and new features—that part makes sense—but I was specifically wondering what those actual new features would be.

I'll just Google it, obviously.

Edit: from what I can see, the only tangible change might be the move to DDR4, but I feel like it's probably too early for that.

Ronald Martin31 said:Hey everyone, I could use some help with Windows 7. I installed everything about a month ago and it was running fine until yesterday. Now, when I boot up, it gets through the initial stages but just freezes right at the logo. It’s doing the exact same thing in Safe Mode, Repair mode, and even when I tried installing Windows onto a different hard drive—same result. I swapped out the RAM and reset the CMOS thinking maybe that was it, but no luck. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

First part of the issue: freezing at the logo usually means there's a corrupted Windows installation. Since you mentioned trying Repair mode and Safe Mode without success, you probably need to do a fresh install on that drive, assuming the drive itself hasn't failed. It's possible the hard drive is dying.

I'm a little confused by what you meant regarding "trying to install Windows on another hard drive." How did you actually do that? Did you just copy the files over from the first drive, or did you go through the full installation process (booting from a USB or disc, etc.)? I honestly doubt a totally fresh installation on a separate drive would trigger the exact same symptoms.

The game doesn't have steering wheel support.
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/hilari...riving-wheels/

Should I just hold out for the new socket—or are there actual new solutions coming that will hit every price point?

I have to admit, I’ve been wondering for a while now why integrated wireless isn't just standard on budget motherboards (the ones sitting around $400-$$167) when they already include 1 Gbps Ethernet as a given.

From what I can see, motherboard manufacturers follow a logic pretty similar to car dealerships. My uncle once tried to get a basic car with power mirrors—sure, fine—but then it turned out to be the most expensive trim level available, packed with five other features he didn't even want. It feels like the same thing here; if you want integrated Wi-Fi, okay, sure, but you’re going to have to jump to a much higher price bracket.

Don't get me wrong, you can always just pick up a separate wireless card and call it a day—then you can buy whichever board you actually like—but I personally feel like Wi-Fi has become just as essential as LAN at this point, given how much everyone uses it.

I’m going to use this thread to ask a quick question about motherboards.

I don't really follow hardware news that closely—I'm not entirely sure how Intel chipsets are ranked or what all their designations actually mean. I was looking at some older s1150 boards and stumbled upon the ECS Z87H3-A2X EXTREME on an online retailer. It seems pretty hard to find outside of one specific spot, but the thing that caught my eye was that it comes with built-in Bluetooth and a WiFi card (I assume it includes an external antenna) for a pretty reasonable price ($226).

My question is: do other manufacturers make motherboards in this price range that offer WiFi, Bluetooth, or both? Also, does anyone have experience with these types of boards—specifically, do the WiFi and Bluetooth modules tend to work without any major issues?

Have you ever tried turning on your laptop without the battery—just running it directly off the power adapter?

Maybe give a video editor like HandBrake a shot http://www.virtualdub.org/.

Personally, I feel like there's not much to be done—recovering files after they've been deleted is always a bit of a gamble, I guess.

I ran into a similar issue—couldn't really get it sorted until I just ended up wiping the drive and reformatting everything.