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glasgow_bhoy
post Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 00:02
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Had some pretty good IT advice on this forum before so I thought I'd ask here first.

I've got a 13 year old laptop- previously had Vista, now has Windows 7.

When starting up, it always takes at least 2/3 attempts as it reboots during the Windows login process. Theres a click and then it restarts.

If I get past that point, the screen will either freeze completely, or it suddenly just goes all lines across it. I then have to take the battery and charger out to reboot it.

Once it gets going, its fine. But it can be a good 15 minutes from trying to get started initially to getting it up and running without crashing/dying/rebooting.

Any ideas on a cheap fix?

I'm trying to avoid a new laptop- partially because I had a newer laptop which wasn't a patch on this one, and partly because I have a work laptop and only use my own one occasionally now (maybe once a week or so). The cost of them puts me off as well... call me tight but I'd rather spend my money on holidays or changing my car.
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post Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 00:02
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Fredd
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 11:21
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QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 01:27) *
Surprised at the enthusiasm for Linux. I think it has it's place for projects which benefit from command line input - I use it for my MagicMirror and web server. But I would never want it as a main OS simply because huge sections are unintuitive and involve diving into the command line and opening files in nano for the most trivial of tasks.

It depends on which distribution you choose - you'd never want to expose the average user to something like Arch Linux, but others like Linux Mint are very easy for the casual Windows user to pick up, and have GUIs for all the fiddling they're likely to want to do. The average home laptop user probably never does anything outside a browser, email client and file manager anyway.

Personally I think the best advice for an infrequently used 13-year old laptop with a hardware fault (if that's what this turns out to be, as seems likely) and one year before the OS is EOL is not to waste money repairing it, but just bin it and get a newish cheap & cheerful reconditioned one instead.


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DancingDad
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:01
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Tis true enough.
My local PC place outs second hand laptops (with clean OS installed) starting from about £80, 3 months guarantee IIRC.
State of the Ark but....
They are also showing Intel Core i3 versions with Win 10, 15.6" screens from likes of Dell and HP from £145 at moment
And ultra slim, i5 laptops with win7/win10, SSD and HD drives installed starting from £175.

I'm sure there are many places in Glasgow that does similar.
Google search seems to support there are a few but would need shopping about to find a decent deal.

As has also been said, cheap tablet PCs are available and if GB only wants something to surf and watch movies when the works laptop may kick up a fuss, work well.
I got a Linx tablet running Win10... hate to use it as a business machine but as a browser works well.
Brand new they don't break the bank.... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HY8X46F/ref=...1_t1_B00O636WPY
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Broadsman
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:06
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QUOTE (DancingDad @ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 13:31) *
QUOTE (cp8759 @ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 12:41) *
QUOTE (DancingDad @ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 12:37) *
QUOTE (cp8759 @ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 12:28) *
......….but if you're going to stick to Windows, I would suggest you go back to Vista, Microsoft tend to make their OS more bloated with every version and older hardware often struggles.

...the best OS from Microsoft.

Lolz, best OS from Microsoft, that's a bit of an oxymoron tongue.gif



Just being accurate biggrin.gif
Not getting into "the game said it required Windows 7 or better so I tried in on a Mac" arguments.

To be fair to MS, when they get an OS right it generally does all that most computer users need or indeed are comfortable with.
But when they get it wrong it can be a pain even for more experienced users. And they got it wrong with Vista.
I've yet to find any PC or laptop that did not perform better with Win7 then Vista.
Win8 was another abortion.
I am not convinced on Win10 yet but it does seem to be doing what most need.
Having said that, most these days only seem to need a PC that connects to tinternet and lets them find TwitFace et al.
Which any smart phone will do quite comfortably.


The next OS, if they move from 10, I will not be purchasing.

A quick look back at history, when I say it fixed it, it did in it's time.

Win 95 not good
Win 98 fixed it
Win ME messed it up
Win XP fixed it
Vista messed it up
7 fixed it
8 messed it up
10 fixed it.

As I said, you think I'm buying the next version? biggrin.gif
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DancingDad
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:27
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QUOTE (Broadsman @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:06) *
……….
Win 95 not good
Win 98 fixed it
Win ME messed it up
Win XP fixed it
Vista messed it up
7 fixed it
8 messed it up
10 fixed it.

As I said, you think I'm buying the next version? biggrin.gif


Yup
Go back further, DOS worked, Win 1 (and 2) awful, win 3 worked...at least from 3.1
It does seem as though every second major revision fails.
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Ocelot
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 13:43
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QUOTE (Broadsman @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:06) *
A quick look back at history, when I say it fixed it, it did in it's time.

Win 95 not good
Win 98 fixed it
Win ME messed it up
Win XP fixed it
Vista messed it up
7 fixed it
8 messed it up
10 fixed it.

As I said, you think I'm buying the next version? biggrin.gif



I would disagree on Windows 95. I thought it worked fine, and that 98 was no better.
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DancingDad
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 14:27
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QUOTE (Ocelot @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 13:43) *
.........I would disagree on Windows 95. I thought it worked fine, and that 98 was no better.

Win 95 was when Plug and Pray came in.
And many problems with it.
While you could spend many hours sorting out resource conflicts with 3.x and 95 was supposed to sort that, it often brought new conflicts.
Prone to hanging with older 16bit programs as well.
Win 98 did clean up that act.
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Ocelot
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 16:11
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QUOTE (DancingDad @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 14:27) *
QUOTE (Ocelot @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 13:43) *
.........I would disagree on Windows 95. I thought it worked fine, and that 98 was no better.

Win 95 was when Plug and Pray came in.
And many problems with it.
While you could spend many hours sorting out resource conflicts with 3.x and 95 was supposed to sort that, it often brought new conflicts.
Prone to hanging with older 16bit programs as well.
Win 98 did clean up that act.


I never had a problem with it. I still used it when 98 came out and moved straight to XP.
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cp8759
post Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 21:50
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QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 01:27) *
Surprised at the enthusiasm for Linux. I think it has it's place for projects which benefit from command line input - I use it for my MagicMirror and web server. But I would never want it as a main OS simply because huge sections are unintuitive and involve diving into the command line and opening files in nano for the most trivial of tasks.

I do all sorts of fancy stuff on my laptop (some people on here even accuse me of being some sort of IT wiz), but I honestly cannot remember the last time I used a command line for anything. Everything nowadays seems to be plug and play, what you describe is more akin to the status Linux was in in the late 90s / early 2000s.


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jdh
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 13:50
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QUOTE (Broadsman @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 12:06) *
The next OS, if they move from 10, I will not be purchasing.

A quick look back at history, when I say it fixed it, it did in it's time.

Win 95 not good
Win 98 fixed it
Win ME messed it up
Win XP fixed it
Vista messed it up
7 fixed it
8 messed it up
10 fixed it.

As I said, you think I'm buying the next version? biggrin.gif
In my experience
95 good
98 not bad
2000 good
ME never tried but heard it was terrible
XP good after the initial wrinkles ironed out
Vista bag of shite
7 back to being good again
8 undid all the good work of 8
10 what 8 should have been
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andy_foster
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 14:32
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I can't believe that nobody has mentioned MS Bob


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The Rookie
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 14:38
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I still have a soft spot for 3.11.......


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Umkomaas
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 15:01
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QUOTE
They are also showing Intel Core i3 versions with Win 10, 15.6" screens from likes of Dell and HP from £145 at moment
And ultra slim, i5 laptops with win7/win10, SSD and HD drives installed starting from £175.

I'm sure there are many places in Glasgow that does similar.

Much cheaper in Liverpool. A pint of lager and a laptop please. smile.gif
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notmeatloaf
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 16:33
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QUOTE (nigelbb @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 10:45) *
QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 - 18:15) *
If you want to keep it, I would swap the hard disk for an SSD. Put a fresh install of Win7 on it and you will likely have a fixed, faster laptop for less than £20 and 20 minutes of your time

Is that a typo for £120? That is how much you will need to pay for even a small SSD & Windows 7.

https://www.7dayshop.com/products/pny-cs900...p;siteid=116019

120GB £16.69

Presumably the OP already has a licence for Windows.
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notmeatloaf
post Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 16:43
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QUOTE (nigelbb @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 07:47) *
QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 - 02:27) *
I do have a slight fantasy that the Department for Health would be both competent at delivering large scale IT projects, and realise that instead of all areas of the NHS paying huge licencing fees for proprietary software which doesn't work with other Trusts. Instead they could design one Linux based system that worked across the entire NHS.
Unfortunately this would require us to have a National Health Service rather than a collection of a couple of hundred independent Trusts all busy reinventing the wheel.

I don't know the exact procurement rules but all the different EPR software is linked into NHS Spine, the (crap) set of databases for patient demographics, smartcards, etc. run by BT.

And there is shedloads of legacy software from well before Trusts which have varying levels of integration with other Trusts.

If the DoH offered their own EPR software at low cost and with total integration across the country which wasn't designed by some egghead who had never been on a ward people would lap it up.
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DancingDad
post Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:52
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QUOTE (The Rookie @ Mon, 21 Jan 2019 - 14:38) *
I still have a soft spot for 3.11.......

biggrin.gif biggrin.gif
Bet that would fade if you had to use it today rolleyes.gif

I was somewhat a wizz on DOS having progressed from the likes of command lines on Spectrum and Commodores.
Windows was so much easier, at least once 3.x came out. Although run commands in DOS still helped if digging into many features or bits that Windows would not handle.
Could actually refer to a spreadsheet while typing in a word processing document and playing Golf biggrin.gif
Microsoft Works anyone ?
Or Lotus 123 versus VisiCalc ?

This post has been edited by DancingDad: Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:54
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cp8759
post Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 13:32
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QUOTE (DancingDad @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:52) *
Or Lotus 123 versus VisiCalc ?

All I will say is I know of one senior manager at a major insurer who was willing to pay tens of thousands a year to get support on lotus 123, rather than upgrade to something a bit more modern. I think he was pensioned off in the end.


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DancingDad
post Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 15:41
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QUOTE (cp8759 @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 13:32) *
QUOTE (DancingDad @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:52) *
Or Lotus 123 versus VisiCalc ?

All I will say is I know of one senior manager at a major insurer who was willing to pay tens of thousands a year to get support on lotus 123, rather than upgrade to something a bit more modern. I think he was pensioned off in the end.


Gordon Bennet….
IIRC Office included filters so you could import 123, VisiCalc or Supercalc directly into Excel, at least earlier versions of Office.
I did it, most of the spreadsheets I had been using up to then were Supercalc.
Can't remember any particular issues in doing so.
Even my venerable copy of Office 2000 will open Lotus 123 formats and use them.
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notmeatloaf
post Wed, 23 Jan 2019 - 00:27
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QUOTE (cp8759 @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 13:32) *
QUOTE (DancingDad @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:52) *
Or Lotus 123 versus VisiCalc ?

All I will say is I know of one senior manager at a major insurer who was willing to pay tens of thousands a year to get support on lotus 123, rather than upgrade to something a bit more modern. I think he was pensioned off in the end.

With the amount of money I've seen spent on legacy support over the years, I actually wonder if companies selling business critical software actually make a significant proportion of their money after they end support.

After all, almost everything has to be networked nowadays and it would be a brave IT manager who promised no external access to a networked system.
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typefish
post Thu, 24 Jan 2019 - 09:34
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QUOTE (notmeatloaf @ Wed, 23 Jan 2019 - 00:27) *
QUOTE (cp8759 @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 13:32) *
QUOTE (DancingDad @ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 - 12:52) *
Or Lotus 123 versus VisiCalc ?

All I will say is I know of one senior manager at a major insurer who was willing to pay tens of thousands a year to get support on lotus 123, rather than upgrade to something a bit more modern. I think he was pensioned off in the end.

With the amount of money I've seen spent on legacy support over the years, I actually wonder if companies selling business critical software actually make a significant proportion of their money after they end support.

After all, almost everything has to be networked nowadays and it would be a brave IT manager who promised no external access to a networked system.


A client at work had to pay a near six figure sum to a vendor to extend a maintenance contract on a system for three months, ostensibly to fix issues on this system that was caused by the vendor!

Muppets
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I am Weasel
post Thu, 24 Jan 2019 - 11:39
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I work for a large software company and have the following observations

We prefer for customers to be on the current or near current release(s) of our software and ideally no more than 2 or 3 years behind the current release. This helps reduce the number of different environments we need to have available and ready for our support guys to try and reproduce customer issues

Extended support is often limited to phone support to a single person (often in India these days) who has access to these older environmentsand will not include andy bug fixes or patches, especially if these have been addressed in newer releases
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