Posts by fadedorca66

Maybe just use some common sense from here on out and grab an antivirus 😁

It’d be pretty much perfect if I could just grab all my important files, whip up a bootable USB, wipe every single partition, and start from scratch...

You probably picked up some piece of junk and now your PC is basically just a glorified crypto miner. 🙂

If you don't mind a full Windows reinstall, that's usually the fastest way to deal with this mess.

If you feel like playing around, I'd say try making a bootable antivirus on a USB stick first, then boot from that to scan the whole system. Maybe try Norton:

https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/...ee-rescue-disk

That adapter looks like it runs on Miracast, which is honestly pretty garbage. If you try to stream anything, it’ll probably stutter like crazy. I'd suggest grabbing something more reliable, maybe a decent streaming stick or a TV box instead.

Or, if you've got the budget, just put an old plasma in the bedroom or the vacation house and get a big smart TV with Android for the living room. You can ditch the ATSC receiver entirely and just watch whatever you want.

You definitely fried something on the motherboard, but maybe not the whole thing. I'm thinking someone who does component-level repair could probably fix this. Honestly, it might not even be that big of a deal for a pro. This shop does that kind of work:

http://www.itelektronika.com/

If I were you, I'd just send it over to RI. It feels like a waste to trash a decent laptop when it might only cost a few hundred bucks to get it running again.

I mean, there’s probably hope, but you really need to find a shop that does component-level repair. Replacing the whole motherboard just isn't worth the money...

Yeah, I wouldn't disable the page file. It's probably better to just let the OS handle it automatically, or maybe just set a fixed size if you really want to.

As for those USB issues—that sounds pretty weird. 🤔 Are we talking about the ports on the case itself, or the ones directly on the motherboard?

1. What’s the deal with your virtual memory, and why did you go ahead and disable it?

2. Which WiFi adapter are we even talking about here?

Maybe you should just start mining too, then you'll actually have some cash in your pocket 😁

Forgot to get back to you...

Glad you got it sorted! I guess maybe a lightning strike fried the integrated chip or something?

Maybe it’d be easiest to just boot some live Linux from a USB stick to see how the network card behaves. If the internet is still dead there, you’re probably looking at a hardware issue—but if it works, then something is definitely wonky with Windows.

Haha, turns out it’s not blowing out dust, just the fan test 🙂

That's actually a feature on newer cards, not a bug—they spin at max speed in reverse for the first few seconds just to blow the dust out of the fans and cooler.

urbanowl81 said:I guess I'll jot down those suggestions, though I was hoping for something beefier—like what I mentioned before, maybe a Ryzen 5 3600 (surprised to see people hating on that elsewhere), a 1660ti, etc. That feels more like a solid, mainstream build for a decent price. Basically, just staying current with this generation so I don't feel like an idiot for waiting two years only to drop even more cash in 2021 on basically the same rig from 2019.

The thing is, there’s a massive hardware shortage right now, so prices have gone through the roof. Everyone's stuck at home with nothing to do but buy PC parts. On top of that, factories are slammed making the PlayStation 5 and Xbox, plus crypto mining is blowing up again since prices are climbing. So, someone might have said that CPU and GPU combo isn't worth it right now simply because they're overpriced. Honestly, a 3600 is a great chip, and the card is fine too; it just hurts to recommend that specific setup when you could've picked up the exact same thing for $333 less
just a month ago.

Yeah, suggesting you shut down the VM is honestly pretty useless and kind of a dumb tip 😁

Since everything seems to be running fine now, I'm guessing you won't be picking up any new gear because this setup should be plenty for what you need...

What does that out-of-memory error actually look like? I guess it shouldn't even be happening, since it's supposed to just swap over to virtual memory when you run out...

Maybe start there—swap out the SATA cable and the drive itself, just to see if the connectors are actually seated right and stuff.

Maybe try a different DVD, or even a third one. If none of them work, I guess the DVD laser might be shot—there are actually two separate lasers in there, one for CDs and another specifically for DVDs.

When your PC restarts after a BSOD, does the SSD actually show up in the BIOS, or does it just vanish from the drive list entirely?

So, what kind of specs are we looking at here?