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Post by LaFille on Oct 30, 2008 5:01:59 GMT
Awww, what a shame... Well, you now know what brand not to return to, at least. =/ Back-ups are lifesavers for cases like that, and only a fraction of the time (and perhaps money) that recovering the lot from scratch would be...
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Post by peterh on Oct 30, 2008 13:56:16 GMT
I was sending out an application and needed to attach two files. Pretty simple - except it took four tries to make it work. The first time my browser crashed and couldn't even access the documents and the following two times the browser froze due to the grueling task of attaching a 26 kb file! The fourth time was succesfull but the comp started heating up to the point I was afraid it would shut down. This isn't a browser issue as I tried it in both IE and FireFox. It sucks!  |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Oct 30, 2008 16:05:09 GMT
Awww, what a shame... Well, you now know what brand not to return to, at least. =/ Back-ups are lifesavers for cases like that, and only a fraction of the time (and perhaps money) that recovering the lot from scratch would be... After discussing with Konrad, I think it actually might be because my apartment is rather prone to surges. Looking back, I should've realised it sooner! a) Computer connected to different outlet suffered blown PSU. Twice. First time was supposedly 'cos of incompability issues. Second time: the PSU just died like that. Hard disks died at least 2 times.  Or got damaged(but couldn't be RMAed due to warranty period over). b) A computer (much older one) suffered tons of dying Seagate hard disks. And yet another one: had Hitachi and IBM hard disks dying too. c) This computer(connected to outlet in room A, now in room B) has also had the hard disk(Maxtor RMAed to Seagate) die a few times. d) Someone's notebook kept running into power issues. Battery kept dying and notebook going cranky. Same thing happened with newer notebook. e) And the list goes on though I don't even remember, anymore! |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 1, 2008 21:57:07 GMT
I was sending out an application and needed to attach two files. Pretty simple - except it took four tries to make it work. The first time my browser crashed and couldn't even access the documents and the following two times the browser froze due to the grueling task of attaching a 26 kb file! The fourth time was succesfull but the comp started heating up to the point I was afraid it would shut down. This isn't a browser issue as I tried it in both IE and FireFox. It sucks! Looks like your pc needs a ton of CCleaner, antivirus and malware scans.  Heating issue? Sounds also like a hardware problem to me. You ought to get someone to help clean out all that gunk. Dirt and dust are computer killers. |
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Post by janggut on Nov 2, 2008 0:36:16 GMT
or that Pete is a messy installer. ;D i think the windows in your PC's pretty much screwed up & needs re-installation.  @ Sonar Chix -> do u have a surge protector for your PC? better get one soon before any more stuff gets conked out. get one with at least 800VA rating. |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 2, 2008 2:15:05 GMT
or that Pete is a messy installer. ;D i think the windows in your PC's pretty much screwed up & needs re-installation. @ Sonar Chix -> do u have a surge protector for your PC? better get one soon before any more stuff gets conked out. get one with at least 800VA rating. I just got a Surge Protector + UPS. Surge protector: www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=P5BT-UK UPS: www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BE525-AS&total_watts=200Right now, the UPS is charging but I'm trying to figure out why Windows XP refuses to let me configure it. (Yeah... my annoyance with Windows is growing by the day. It just decided to BSOD earlier 'cos of some annoying Upnp bug. Yes, it's a bug... and damn annoying!) Eh... how do you get the VA thing for the surge protector? Oh wait... mine's about 220-240V ~ 13A max. So, it means Volt times Ampere? |
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Post by janggut on Nov 2, 2008 11:03:34 GMT
hey Sonar Chix!  alright, to answer your questions; 1. as to why WinXP refuses to let u configure the UPS, does the UPS come with a cd with a program to configure it? not all UPS's are configurable, i think. well i've read the documentation of the UPS link u gave. i assume yours is ES 525 which should come with a communication cable (or comm cable, in short). i also assume that u already have plugged in the comm cable to your computer's serial port (which was used for mouse back in the day) & that the UPS software is already installed. how many serial port do u have in your PC? have u tried restarting your computer before getting the software/WinXP to detect the UPS? according to the online documentation, u can find out more via the documentation in the cd. do take the time to read. if u still can't make heads nor tails of it, u can let us ( as in me & whoever techie-savvy here, like our Master Yoda ) know. 2. since the surge protector that u bought is not an electrical appliance per se, it has no power rating. thus no VA value. i'm sorry that i used the wrong term which may have misled u to buy the wrong thing. the correct term & device that i actually wanted to recommend u was a voltage regulator. it does all that a UPS can do except providing backup power. a voltage regulator is much more preferable to a surge protector when it comes to computers as computers are very very sensitive devices. brown-outs (will explain later) are even more dangerous to computers than black-outs. a voltage regulator will cut off power when it's too low while a surge protector only protects your devices from surges or spikes. we know what black-out is. brown-out is where the voltage level of your electricity is way way low. why is this bad for your electrical appliances? it's really bad on electrical appliances that have motors as it can cause the motor to heat up then burn. might cause fire. for your computer to operate under optimum voltage level, this brown-out can damage some stuff seriously. good thing u have a UPS so i hope u can get it up & running soon enough. |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 2, 2008 12:54:35 GMT
1. Ah yes... I remember the good ol' serial mouse!  I only have 1 serial port and okay, I installed PowerChute which detected that the UPS was "online". Most of the options in PowerChute are grayed-out so I guess this UPS doesn't offer or support them.  Still, no idea how to configure this darn thing. You'd have expected they'd give a bit more information and that they'd give out a more recent edition(maybe recent but a light edition) of the software. 2. Eh? You didn't mislead me in any way. I'd already bought the surge protector 2 days ago. Interesting to know about this issues, except that only that this block hasn't suffered a blackout in quite a long time. There was only once to twice in the last 10 years but that was 'cos of some issue at the power plant or 'cos they were having an exercise or something. And I don't think we've ever had a brown-out. I suspect it's more 'cos the wiring here is darn old, so what I'd need to guard against are power fluctuations and stuff. |
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Post by janggut on Nov 2, 2008 13:33:09 GMT
hey Sonar Chix here's a link that i found on how to install & configure PowerChute. hope it helps. another set of question: do u have ZoneAlarm installed? Wikipedia mentioned that these 2 seems incompatible. what version is the PowerChute that u're using? Personal or Business? anyway, here is s link that i found in APC on PowerChute. it contains downloads for PowerChute for different APC products. maybe u can find the latest version which might help. not sure how it can help u but .....   ;D APC PowerChute download link |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 3, 2008 17:25:24 GMT
Thank you. Nope, not at all. It's the Plus version(very old) which seems to be the only one that's able to detect the UPS since it uses serial connection. I wish someone had told me that this UPS doesn't even display battery life on the pc.  Thank you. Tried both versions and again, both don't can't detect my UPS since my connector is Serial. Gods... and a serial to usb connector costs as much as SGD$20 to $30. Darn rip-offs. :/ |
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Post by peterh on Nov 3, 2008 18:44:11 GMT
The comps been acting pretty good these last few days but I still keep getting messages about the same two vira infecting the comp. The format might be the only solution =(
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 3, 2008 19:23:27 GMT
The comps been acting pretty good these last few days but I still keep getting messages about the same two vira infecting the comp. The format might be the only solution =( Peter, just download a trial version of Nod32. It's said to be really good and you ought to be able to fish those few pests out. |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 4, 2008 15:47:35 GMT
Oh man... just found out my external hard disk has developed bad sectors too. I think computers just hate me in general. |
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Post by janggut on Nov 6, 2008 14:39:53 GMT
Oh man... just found out my external hard disk has developed bad sectors too. I think computers just hate me in general. BACKUP!! or maybe u've got them overworked. do u check your hard drives' temperature when u use them? of course the one in your pc can't be checked (unless u have one of those software that can do that) but u can do so with your external HD. let's hope your next HD won't give u this problem. |
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Nov 6, 2008 22:39:05 GMT
Erm, that was supposed to be my backup drive. You meant the "external hdd" can't be checked, right? Meh... simple. The power issue damaged it. |
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Or got damaged(but couldn't be RMAed due to warranty period over). 
;D