- Give it a shot by going into your BIOS and turning off that startup logo so it just shows "POST" instead. That way, you might actually be able to see exactly which step the system is hanging on. - Try unplugging everything else connected to the motherboard—your DVD drive, extra hard drives, and those front panel USB ports. Take a quick look at the rear USB ports too, just to make sure none of the pins are bent or busted. Obviously, it won't boot without a Windows installation disk, but if it stops freezing, you'll know that specific device was the culprit. - If you've got multiple sticks of RAM, try running the PC with just one at a time. Swap them out one by one until you find the specific stick that's causing the headache.
I always grab Microsoft directly from the manufacturer's site. If you start downloading stuff from random third-party sites, you're basically asking for trouble—especially with torrents, which are notorious for being loaded with malware. If you're already living life on the edge using torrents, I assume you've at least fortified your PC with some solid antivirus and anti-malware software. You really need to run a deep scan on those downloads, or honestly, just scan your entire hard drive to be safe.
Check "Disk Management" first and see if all the partitions on that drive are actually showing up, because I have a feeling there's more going on than just E:\ Are you running Windows on both your main PC and that laptop (on his drive)? Your best bet might be to boot into Linux from a USB stick, then try to access the drive and grab whatever files you need.
Before you dive in, make sure the drive in that Dell Inspiron 15 is set to SATA mode. If it isn't running on SATA, the SSD will still work, but you're basically leaving speed on the table—it'll be like driving a Ferrari in a school zone.
...a switch definitely comes with its own set of pros and cons... it’s pricier, too. Plus, if you’re relying on it and your Max TV and internet both go down, you're stuck—but if you have a splitter, you’ve still got a backup plan.
Drivers? Honestly, who cares about those right now... as long as you've got the bare essentials—CPU, RAM, a drive, and a GPU—the installation itself should go through just fine. I'm just not sure what kind of hardware you're actually working with here. And using a DVD for Windows 10? That feels like such a hassle. Wouldn't it be way easier to just grab an official, legit installer from the Microsoft website and run it off a USB stick instead of using some sketchy third-party disc?
- Look, even without a hard drive, the PC should still boot up. - It looks like you either bumped a cable while opening the case or you've got a bad connection somewhere. - You can actually tell what's wrong just by listening to those beep codes...
My best advice? Take it to a local repair shop—basically, get it in front of someone who actually knows their way around a motherboard.
I don't know, man. You didn't even post a photo of the switch side so we can actually see what's bent. It might just be that the four USB contact points have snapped... honestly, some of these things are easy enough to fix if you just solder them back together, maybe even using a wire from an old broken charger or something.
Just grab two simple Ethernet splitters if you don't mind capping your speed at 100Mbps. Basically, you plug two short patch cables from your router into one splitter, then connect the other splitter to your existing wall jack in the room, and boom—you’ve got two ports for your devices.
If your LAN is acting fine, then you might just be dealing with a channel conflict. For instance, if your router is sitting on channel 13, some older smartphones or laptops can only pick up signals up to channel 11. It’s worth jumping into your router settings and switching the WiFi channel from "auto" to something fixed, like channel 9. Giving the router a quick reset might help too—just unplug it for a few minutes and let it breathe.
So, I've got an idea. Try cutting the internet entirely—just kill the LAN and the Wi-Fi—and see if things start running smoother. A fresh install is usually a total hog because it’s constantly trying to pull down updates in those first few days, not to mention stuff like OneDrive syncing everything in the background.
Just to be safe, unplug the charger and pull the battery out of the laptop (keep the screen detached) then check back tomorrow afternoon to see if everything's still holding up.
It’s not like coaxial cable where you're losing signal strength for every foot of run. The Democratic Party setup will work just fine up to 100 meters, regardless of which connectors you're using.
It’s not like coaxial cable where you're losing signal strength for every foot of distance you run. The Democratic Party setup will work just fine up to 100m, regardless of how many connectors you throw in there.
So, you tell me... do you think this guy actually "knows what he's doing" or what? 😁 "...and then claims he can just hop onto any router in the neighborhood for free..."
ps: Last time I checked the signals around my place, everyone was running WPA2 (zero WEP in sight), WPS was disabled on everything, and there wasn't a single open AP to be found. I didn't say a laptop, either—I specifically mentioned the WN722N, which can handle every single one of those tricks you listed... (besides, the v1.x uses the exact same chipset anyway).
You're spot on. Plus, basically every laptop out there today comes with at least a 300Mbps adapter that actually reaches halfway across the room, mostly because they tuck decent antennas right behind the screen. A little USB stick without an external antenna? It’s got pathetic range. It would've been way smarter to just grab a faster, beefier WN722N v.2 with an actual antenna—it probably would've even saved him some cash. ps: And if I'm reading the situation right and he's planning on messing around with Kali later, he's gonna be stuck spinning his wheels.😁
He could probably crawl onto that ancient (a,b,g) USB Wi-Fi adapter at maybe 27Mbps if he actually knew everyone's passwords, which—let’s be real—is basically impossible nowadays with WPA2 in the mix, no matter what he thinks he’s doing 😁
....it's kind of a waste of time messing around with Kali Linux and all those tools when you almost never run into a router or an AP these days that still has WPS enabled or uses WEP protection.
If you can actually see all those WiFi SSIDs popping up in the range like in the screenshot, then the drivers themselves should be doing their job just fine. Honestly, looking at the other shots, it feels like someone went overboard tweaking settings that didn't even need touching. Once the drivers are actually installed, that little WiFi icon should show up right there in the taskbar. You just click it, pick your network, hit connect, punch in your password, and if it's right, you're good to go—it'll say "connected." Maybe try checking things out here to get everything back in order: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-m...mpt-windows-10 Like brightbadger57 was saying, we're basically flying blind here since we don't even know what kind of laptop or wireless card we're dealing with.