So, you're saying it's two different roles? Or maybe just one big transformation because that’s what the script demanded? Or are you just pushing the version you like better? Make up your mind... What, was Laura supposed to just spontaneously turn into an alien just so you wouldn't get bored with her performance?
To me... she’s just totally bland. She has these forgettable features, like those cookie-cutter actresses you see everywhere—think Diane Kruger, Jessica Biel, or Jessica Alba. Just those sweet, pretty faces I can barely remember, perfectly suited for Disney productions: gorgeous blondes with baby faces or just plain, overly perfect features. They always end up looking like washed-out versions of real, soulful actresses. Since you brought it up, guys like Benicio del Toro have such distinct looks and facial expressions. It’s way easier to get lost in their performances because they actually feel alive, you know?
Besides, it's been proven forever that that ancient ideal of beauty—with all those symmetrical, perfect lines—is actually just boring. People crave what we call "charm," right? Something authentic and unique, even if it's super imperfect, rather than some generic beauty standard. Julia Roberts is the ultimate example of how a random mix of features that might seem "off" individually—like huge lips or a big, masculine nose—can come together to create something totally captivating.
To me, Naomi is like our version of Barbara Walters: basically built for the cosmetics industry. She has that model face that can be molded however they want. And that's exactly what the industry does—they shape them to fit a mold while the women themselves just act as "passive beauty." On the flip side, look at Charlize Theron. She’s the total opposite: a model-type who realized she could take control of her "neutral" features instead of just being a doll, and she used that to pull off some really diverse roles.
The whole reason I’m going on this rant about reducing her to just her looks is because I think that’s exactly what you’re into. You're trying to force her into the "greatest actress" category when it would be more accurate to just call her "the most beautiful." Personally, I'd much rather watch types like Claire Forlani, Cate Blanchett, or Charlize...
As for the acting: Mulholland Drive was okay, though to me, Laura Harring was the real standout (man, I felt like she was doing all the heavy lifting while the other girl just stood there). 21 Grams was also just alright... maybe she just has bad luck and keeps running into characters with way more presence, leaving her as just eye candy to fill a role. Or maybe she's just not lead material—as they say, she's more of a supporting player than a star.
I’ve had nothing but headaches with the DC version on both Windows 8.1 and 10. It kept throwing this annoying DLL error at me. Basically, I’d manage to open my first document without any issues, but then? Boom. Just a constant stream of errors related to that same damn DLL until I finally gave up and rebooted the whole computer. Anyone else deal with that mess? Turns out the issue was just their security sandbox acting up. All you gotta do is head over to Preferences -> Security -> Settings -> Security and toggle off "Enable Protected Mode at startup." Fixed! I haven't got a clue how much that actually messed with the security, but hey, at least it’s been running perfectly ever since...
Christian Morales said:That is exactly the point. That specific information is just completely out of their reach. 🕺
Actually, after getting my laptop back from the repair shop, I opened it up and guess what? The ventilation seems to be working perfectly fine again. I can't tell if this is just a temporary fix before it starts acting up again, or if it's actually solved for good... They told me the issue was with the bearing. It looks like they poked around in there and managed to sort it out to some degree, despite telling me earlier that nothing could be done because the whole unit would need a full replacement. And now, here I am, opening the laptop to find the airflow back to normal. To be fair, they did mention they ran some heavy stress tests on it. Maybe that helped push things back toward a normal state? Now, the real question is, how long will this last...🤷
That "unavailable" excuse isn't even surprising. Manufacturers love using a million tiny variations for the exact same model series just to make life difficult. Even if a repair shop has parts in stock or can order them, those spare parts are priced at insane levels for such trivial stuff. Neither the tech nor the customer wants to pay those prices. Like, charging fifty bucks for a tiny screen cable or over a hundred for a screen? Add labor on top of that, and the whole repair costs more than the laptop is worth.
Maybe try checking eBay? You can usually find crews that buy old, broken laptops just to tear them down and sell the individual parts—that's where the real money is nowadays...
Anyway, you should start looking for a solution right now. What the shop told you is true: once that bearing goes, it's just a matter of time before it dies completely. Sometimes a drop of oil on the shaft helps for a little while, but it’s definitely just a band-aid...
Eric Alvarez said:Windows 7 64-bit can be quite temperamental on older hardware. Why bother switching if the 32-bit version was running smoothly? If I were in your shoes, I would have just reverted to 32-bit. I've run into similar issues on my old machine—a Q8300 with 4GB of RAM and an HD 6770. It really should be performing fine, yet it struggles; I suspect it might be a hardware limitation, perhaps because the CPU isn't fully compatible with a 64-bit OS. It's just a guess, though.
Come on, seriously? How "compatible" is your CPU with 64-bit then? Like 75%? Are we talking "sort of," or is there some special app you use to measure compatibility? Does it run three instructions and then one fails miserably?
The Q8300 came out in 2008, but Intel has been pushing 64-bit mainstream processors since 2006. Yours is basically a later revision of the Core 2 generation.
Windows 7 dropped both 32 and 64-bit versions late in 2009, and obviously, they support the instruction sets that Intel had already mass-produced three years earlier.
AMD has been rocking 64-bit chips since way back in 2003. There's almost zero chance Microsoft would build an OS after Windows Vista designed to save their skin if existing processors weren't compatible with it. An instruction set isn't just something some factory worker decides on a whim; it’s baked into the blueprints before the chip is even drawn. Sure, both Intel and AMD add their own little proprietary extensions here and there, but those are optional. If the OS or an app doesn't know how to use them, they just sit there. If it does, you get a little boost. But the core instruction set is sacred; nobody's messing with that.
So let's not send people down the wrong path with generalizations like that. It just makes things more confusing. If there's an issue, it's probably not the instruction set. It's likely chipset software (drivers), maybe the BIOS, then GPU drivers, or most likely, just the version of Windows itself—making sure it isn't some weird custom build, checking for updates... and ensuring the hardware isn't actually broken in the first place.
mistybear522 said:I used to think the same thing, but if that's true, why does it work perfectly fine on two older laptops without any drops?
Why does stuff work or fail outside the "standard" rules? That’s a question for Milan Vidović: a cheap USB cable can cause headaches even at under 5m, while some other gear works just fine over longer distances. Plus, you've got to consider how much power the user draws, which specific wireless chip is in the model, the antenna design... in the world of wireless, there are a hundred different factors at play. Nobody can tell you for sure that something *will* work under specific conditions; it usually just comes down to trial and error.
The best advice actually came from G/Duki: borrow a USB adapter with an antenna and test out a few different spots. Or, just download an app like WiFi Analyzer on your phone to scan your apartment—check the signal strength and the channels... One of the cleaner fixes would be to grab an old router that one of your friends or relatives got from their ISP and isn't using anymore. You could set it up as a repeater (if it lets you configure it that way). That way, you'd have solid signal throughout the whole place without being tied down by adapters, cables, and all that extra junk...
Paul Fox62 said:you probably just need a plug-in signal extender. they aren't even that pricey.
... but honestly, you can get something like this for free...
How do I completely wipe this OS (Win7) and roll my laptop back to MS-DOS? I want that black screen with just one line saying something like "Please insert bootable device and press any key..." If I don't, the guy I bought it from won't let me return it because of these missing specs. (Dell G15 SSD+HDD (Y0a58EA))
If I were you, I’d just demand the seller show me how to perform a factory reset... if they can't or won't, tell them where to shove it and insist on the exchange.
Look, you bought a used item, so obviously you're going to use it—that's the only way you'll even find the defect in the first place! If the hard drive is shot, you shouldn't be blocked from making a claim. You've still got consumer protection rights to lean on... It’s like buying a car and having them expect you to roll back the odometer to zero and make it look showroom-new just to get a repair. Makes no sense, right?
They’re messing up the business side of things again, especially with corporate clients who are the biggest targets for piracy. Are they actually going to tie the license to the legal entity—the actual company—which is the only way this makes sense? And how would the settings work? Would you have to register both the firm and the employee? If an employee leaves the company, do they take their custom settings with them, or does the system require that specific combo of company plus user to function? You can't have your cake and eat it too... Why don't they just set a realistic price for the OS? If it were fair, hardly anyone would mess around with piracy. Honestly, I'd happily buy a license for every single computer I own for life and promote them for free... but nope, instead they’re just messing with our heads using these subscription models. They're acting even more thick-headed than those big telecom companies, constantly breaking everything with "updates" to half-baked products and dreaming up new ways to squeeze money out of us for the exact same OS...
Nathan Cooper80 said:Have you actually checked what those keyboards go for online? They aren't even close $212. Not even half the price.
Man, seriously. People don't want to mess around with their laptops themselves—maybe they can't or just won't—so they take it straight to an authorized service center. Those guys give you a quote for a keyboard sourced through official channels and stick to their sticker price. A keyboard like that could easily run you $150 or more. You're paying for the labor hours, the fact that it's a professional shop and not some guy in a garage, plus sales tax. That's why the price is what it is.
Is it too much? Yeah, it is. Just like everything else with laptops—they sell them cheap just to rip you off on maintenance later. It’s basically the same racket as inkjet printers and stuff like that.
@Keith Lee94/">@@Keith Lee94 The price is "fair" because it's transparently stated, so hey, it's your call. Nobody is forcing you to use official channels, but those channels come with a premium. Your other option is hunting on eBay or Amazon, where you can grab used or refurbished ones for maybe $25-$30 including shipping... then you just install it yourself, if you actually know how...
That keyboard is used, but they’re offering you a brand new one. At that price point, there's no way they'd be installing your old one; plus, they don't offer any warranty anyway. If the laptop is running fine, just boot it up a few times while you're still at the shop...
The price is fair for anyone willing to pay it—if you don't like it, no hard feelings! I can't just start swapping out parts via $167 without your green light, so feel free to keep looking elsewhere. As for everything else: what was the actual issue you reported when you brought it in? Everything from the diagnostic fee to the final bill depends on that. Proper lifting should be demonstrated right then and there, so is this really just a case of "he said, she said"?
analogtiger19 said:If that’s the case and they just slapped an image (like a jpeg, gif, or png) right into the header or footer, the easiest fix is just to hunt down the original file. Just open it up in an image editor—even something basic like MS Paint works—tweak it, and swap it back in. Or, you know, just "ask nicely" for the original version from whoever built it in the first place. 😬
Honestly? It feels like that "someone" baked the logo straight into the image on purpose. They probably want to hold onto the source files just so they can charge extra for any little tweaks later. Makes sense, right? You pay for the fix, you get the fix, but if the logo is stuck inside a design made in Adobe, it’s a total pain to mess with...
Lawrence Torres56 said:Yeah, it's totally arrogant and rude to tell the truth, and it's seriously irresponsible to teach kids from such a young age not to be ashamed of who they are and what they want.😲 It's much better to just teach them hatred, lies, hypocrisy, and how to divide people whenever it suits them, right?
And if anyone is actually stigmatizing children here, it’s the people who spit on religious education while simultaneously forcing their own kids to show up to it... It's supposedly "better" to force your kid into something they hate, disrupting the flow for the religious kids because God forbid they sit in a hallway with a kid whose parents are atheists... why should that kid have any social life in the hall? Why shouldn't the school just form a separate group for the non-religious kids? Apparently, it's just easier to either fake it or act like a jerk depending on which crowd you're hanging out with at the moment.
Either I’m not making sense, or you’re playing dumb here...
1. Where do you—or anyone else, really—get off claiming to know exactly what kids are thinking? Elementary schoolers aren't even fully formed people yet, let alone high schoolers, and some are adults too... why assume every single kid wants religious studies or religion in general?
2. Why should an agnostic or atheist kid feel ashamed of themselves? Honestly, you should be embarrassed for even suggesting that...
3. So, anyone who skips religious ed is automatically taught to be hateful, dishonest, and two-faced? Moral concepts and value systems existed long before the Catholic Church; they don't own a monopoly on morality, and their system isn't any different from others. Who are you to judge and divide people based solely on their relationship with religion?
4. Kids who don't take religious classes get stigmatized by the "devout" community, regardless of who they are as individuals. From what I can see, you fit perfectly into that "us vs. them" mentality. Are you seriously saying that attending a specific religious class or belonging to a denomination is the only way to be socially superior?
5. Sure, I think it's better for a kid to attend the class rather than wander around a hallway or a locker room. But that kid has the same right to be in a proper space as the religious students, not tucked away in some random room (under video surveillance? What is this, Guantanamo Bay?). Are the principals at fault here? They claim the libraries are full and they don't have the staff to supervise them. The principals aren't the problem; the people who designed this entire system are. They allowed these schedules to happen without insisting that these kids get the exact same treatment as the believers. Principals are often just the ones stuck carrying out these flawed rules.
And I'm not playing dumb. We're talking about a real issue where kids aren't being looked after properly. A hallway, a locker room, or a library isn't a proper way to care for a student. Video surveillance isn't appropriate either. The issue isn't that these kids are opting out of class; it's that when they opt out, they're basically thrown out into nowhere. If you think that's fine, then why don't you start a movement to hold religious classes in the hallways or the locker rooms instead?
Lawrence Torres56 said:Look, this isn't just a pathetic excuse—it’s actually pretty dangerous if someone is seriously sending a kid off to religion class just to dodge supervision.
This post is honestly so arrogant, rude, and irresponsible that it makes me want to...
It's not just dangerous; it completely ignores the fact that these kids aren't even attending the religious studies classes in the first place! Look, the way it works is that the school exists for the sake of the church, not for the kids. Sure, it's risky to leave a child in a religion class they have zero interest in—especially when their parents don't even want that kind of education (since "religion class" in practice is basically just Catholic indoctrination)—but at least they're safe in a classroom. Instead, we let them wander the halls or hang out off-campus because the principal doesn't want them in the library or hasn't provided a supervised spot for them to go. Makes sense, right?
Why not just move those elective religion classes to the very last period of the day (which I know the Church fights tooth and nail against!)? And can we please stop stigmatizing the kids who don't take it? Now people just confidently and ignorantly claim it doesn't even happen. Stop bundling school religion classes, church rites, and sacraments into one mandatory system where you have to turn in attendance slips just to prove you were there. If you did that, you'd see how uninteresting and useless it is for kids to be forced by some authority figure to sit there coloring comics about saints while being told "professionally" that everything else they learned during those other four or five hours of school was total nonsense...
Honestly, this isn't even about how long the device has been around: I had this happen to an old desktop that barely saw five or six discs in its entire life... It’s just that I stopped relying on it since I moved over to a different PC. One time I mentioned the issue at a repair shop, and we decided to try and push through with it one last time. Even the old paperclip trick didn't work. We tried jamming some thicker wire deep in there to force it open, but nope—same result... It’s pretty obvious this tech is basically dead. Hardly any new computers even come with a disc drive anymore. It’s such a minor thing, too; once it jams, it stays jammed. Besides, everyone just uses thumb drives or SD cards with way more storage anyway.
Look, I get it. The stock cooler on this CPU isn't exactly a masterpiece of engineering, but does it really need to be? We’re talking about a chip that pulls a measly 54W under load. You’d have to dump a bag of flour directly onto it before you even started seeing dust issues. The i3 just loves to throttle its own clock speeds, doesn't it? It basically tries to downclock itself whenever it gets the chance. I have the exact same processor, and at idle, it sits right at 0.76 GHz, occasionally jumping up to 1.33 GHz. Just now, with maybe 4 or 5 apps open, I tasked it with generating a report—about 600 pages so far, and it hasn't stopped. Only then did it finally kick up to 3.6 GHz, even though usage was under 40% across my 1730 threads... okay, maybe that's not the best benchmark, but it didn't even break a sweat while crunching those numbers. As soon as it finished? Right back down to 0.76 GHz.
He makes a good point: the real headache starts when your memory fills up and the system begins swapping to the disk, or if it's just slow program loading. This is the perfect scenario for an upgrade to more RAM and an SSD, especially since the current setup is probably ready for retirement.
Every decent repair shop follows a standard playbook that’s pretty much predictable: intake with a description of the issue, diagnostics, waiting for the customer to greenlight the fix, the actual labor, testing everything out... they don't do this just to jack up the prices, either. It’s about protecting themselves and their work so they don't get sued for being sloppy.
Let’s start at square one: saying "my cooling system died..." isn't actually a diagnosis. Cooling isn't just one single part; it's an entire assembly working together. You've got the intake vents, heat pipes, the heatsink, thermal paste, the fan, the exhaust fins, the outlets—that's all the cooling system. Sure, the fan is the only moving mechanical part, so it’s usually the prime suspect, but its failure might just be the tip of the iceberg. It could be a warped heatsink, solder joints on the chip loosening up from overheating, or even the chip itself being fried. To actually fix anything, you have to tear down a good chunk of the laptop, clean every single one of those components, swap in a new fan, check everything once it's back together, and maybe even perform a reflow... it's all done by the book because a user's description isn't the final word (like when someone says "the screen went black," but the laptop won't even turn on...). Prices can range from a few bucks to something totally not worth it, depending on how hard parts are to find and which model we're talking about. Your friend gave you some solid direction, but he's just a well-meaning user, not a pro. Professionals don't just wander around handing out free advice; they work for a living. Why won't a shop give you a quote over the phone? If you call a mechanic and tell them your car engine died, is he going to give you a price right then? Or is he going to insist on inspecting it to see what's actually broken and what else might be damaged? Or maybe you want a shop to just swap the fan, bill you, and hand it back? And if there are other underlying issues and the computer still doesn't work, you don't care because they did exactly what you asked? There are more laptop models on the market than there are people, and nobody can guarantee a part will be in stock immediately, or even available at all.
So, where should you go? If the laptop is under warranty, there's no contest: take it to an authorized service center (meaning the one the distributor actually vetted, not just any registered shop). It'll cost a bit more, but it should guarantee quality work and gives you legal ground to stand on if things go sideways. For any job costing over $167, they're legally required to ask for your permission anyway.
If it's an older machine, you can hit up any high-end repair shop. If it's not worth much, you can go anywhere, ask a buddy, or even use used parts from eBay. It really just comes down to what the laptop is worth to you versus what you're willing to sink into the repair.
Which shop is the cheapest, closest, or best deal? Hold on, let me consult my crystal ball... nope, I can't see where you are or what kind of laptop you're rocking, so all I know is you're probably somewhere in the US.
It’s not vibrating because the thermal paste is old or dried out. That’s a myth. The issue is the fan bearing is shot. It starts shaking once it hits a certain RPM or hits a specific resonance point—that's why it feels random sometimes. There isn't some magic fix here; you've gotta swap the part out and refresh the paste while you're at it. Honestly, factory application can be pretty sloppy sometimes, causing the whole rig to overheat. That forces the fan to crank up the speed, which just wears it down even faster. It’s a vicious cycle. Plus, you know how it goes—someone takes their laptop to bed, sets it on a comforter, and suddenly the vents are sucking up lint and dust. Now the airflow is choked, the fan works overtime, and boom... total meltdown. Since you already pulled the paste, the situation is actually worse now. Even if the old stuff was degraded, it at least filled the gaps and moved heat along. Now? There’s nothing there. You need to get that fixed ASAP, especially with this summer heat hitting. If the cooling is trashed, you're looking at some serious hardware damage...