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'Nother New Laptop

Started by Magicman, May 19, 2018, 08:23:31 PM

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Magicman

Yup, 'nother new laptop again....again. ::)

I finally had to send the "new" one back to Dell.  They did whatever is the easiest thing for them to do so now I am stuck will setting all of this mess up again....again.  ::)  The very first thing that I did was to add the FF to the Favorite bar and start to make this reply.  Yup, hit the backspace and it took me back to the index page.  I chunked it into the corner until I can install Firefox again....again.

I just want something that is dependable and works, which seems like a small and reasonable request.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Southside

Maybe petition Wood Mizer to create the "Info Mizer" series of laptops that come with the Accuset 2 operating system?  :D
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Magicman

It will probably run all night getting updates....or either shut itself down again....again.  One would think that when Dell installed the operating system and whatever else that they would install the most updated one??  Naaa, too easy.  

I did install Firefox but MS/Edge did not go down without a fight.  There are some features that I really like with Edge, but taking me back a page when I backspace burns me up.

After it finishes updating I will have to do all of my bookmarks again....again.  :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WDH

I would rather take a beating with a 1.5" sweetgum limb than break in a new computer :)
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Magicman

This thing is churning away doing Win 10 updates.  If it does not finish I'll just let it sleep with the light on.

Well I would have waited forever because it was "awaiting a restart".  It's so stinking smart why didn't it do it itself??   If that is what it needs, then do it.  ::)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ianab

Win10 updates are still a pain. 

The reason they now say "Waiting to restart" is to give you a heads up. If they just restarted they might spend an HOUR completing the updates. Want to check your emails or calendar before you head out for the day? Tough... At least this way you know to hit the restart button and let it do it's thing. 

I do prefer the way Linux does it's updates. You just click on the notification icon, enter your password, and it runs in the background. Very seldom it needs a reboot, and it it does, it's in the normal time.

Very frustrating when you go to set up and deliver a new system to a customer. We've learnt to unpack them the day before and let the updates run while you do other basic setup work. Otherwise you can get stuck on site with the "Installing updates... 1%" screen for an hour.    >:( 

Linux isn't for everyone, but current versions like Mint are user friendly enough for most people, and with so many things being web based now, as long as you have a current browser (Chrome and Firefox both run on Linux) 

If you have a rainy day and an old but still functioning PC, download a Linux Mint setup disk and give it a go. You might be pleasantly surprised. I'm running now on a 7 year old machine that used to be someone's email server. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

clearcut

While I agree that Linux has a lot to offer, there are 2 issues to consider. One is choosing a distribution that suits your hardware and software needs can be confusing. The other is when you do have to tweak a setting especially to get a piece of hardware to run, a trip to the command line can be intimidating. 

For folks with relatively simple needs, email, web sites, simple spreadsheets, I've been recommending Chrome OS (Google's variant of Linux) on a Chromebook. Quick to start up, automatic updates, automatic cloud backup with Google. The machines are low cost but snappy. There is a version suitable for old laptops. Usable refurbished Chromebooks can be had for $100 or so. 

Carbon sequestered upon request.

Ianab

Fair comment, a Chromebook is all a lot of folks actually need, and the stripped down version of Linux is both easy to use and pretty secure. The kid's school have a few in each classroom, and they are used as part of the lessons. They can save their work to Google Drive and call it up at home and work on things there, with whatever device they happen to have at home. 

But if that's all you need, a default install of Linux Mint will work just as well. There can be issues with the most modern (or total oddball) hardware not being supported, but if you are running reasonably standard hardware that's a couple of years old it seems to work fine. Never had it not run up on an Intel or Gigabyte system board, because they are pretty "standard" stuff. 

We have all sorts of stuff networked here at home. It's amazing how the kids will swap devices, and just carry on. We had 4 kids here today on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and they were swapping between Win10 (desktop, laptop and tablet) / Android / Ipad and logging into the same multiplayer games on all of them. 

And Lil has made peace with the computer lab look, cos if her machine goes down, there is always a spare or 3 ready to go.  :D Or the "can you fix..." or "can you get the files back off this" sort of thing. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Magicman

It seems to be OK this morning and with only one notification which is a Mozilla feedback.  I'll load Malware Bytes & Libre Office this afternoon and check picture uploading and video viewing.  Oh yes, and connect to the printer and see how that goes.  I guess that I'll have to find Pop-block or whatever it is on Firefox and enable it.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

This thing has already crashed again....again, stopcode: faulty hardware, corrupted page.  I just hope that it was because I was feeding it too many Prunes and it crapped out.  :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

Hopefully I am on a roll and more hopefully this thing doesn't crash again....again.  

I have gotten all of my Favorites/Bookmarks in both Firefox and Edge.  I intend to use both enough to be confident that there are not any surprises hiding/lurking. 
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

Died again....again.  :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

I am back communicating with Dell technical support again....again.  :-\  

I never know when this thing will conk out and have to be restarted.  I have about had it, but I don't think that I have any recourse except to do what they say to do.  The error messages say; "faulty hardware", and they keep wanting me to download stuff and I have but it has not done anything to correct the problem.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Magicman

Yup, I just finished going through another batch of tests, all of which said that no problem was detected.  I am sure that the person (Tanzeel_Shaikh) that I am "communicating" with knows his/her stuff.  :P
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

For the past few weeks I have been communicating every couple of days with "Tanzeel".  I have been downloading and installing updates and chipsets.  One download this morning was for an older version of something so we shall see again....again.  :-X
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Texas Ranger

I stopped buying Dell years ago for the reasons you have posted.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Magicman

I agree but I am not convinced whether this is a Dell or an Intel problem??  It seems that the updates are Intel and Win 10.

I do know that the Dell technician has been very persistent and courteous trying to work with me.  Of course I have been on either cellular hotspot or campground internet service while traveling which has been an inconvenience.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

pineywoods

Just an fyi on late model dell stuff. I do a bit of pc repair for neighbors and friends. Neighbor brought me a fairly new (but waranty expired) low end dell desktop. Would not boot at all  Corrupted bootloader program in the pc bios, therefore can't load any kind of fixit program. The current trend is to store the pc bios in a programable non removable memory chip rather than a permanent burned-in chip. If you have auto-update enabled, dell will occasionally update that software, in addition to microsoft updating windows. Here's the catch.. If that bios update gets interrupted before it completes, you will probably have a new doorstop. In addition, at least one bios update requires a corresponding update to windows. Dell's solution is to replace the entire motherboard at a price that makes junking the unit attractive if the warranty is expired. . Dell's low end desktop computers use the same motherboard as their lap tops, just different keyboard and screen..so the problem applies to both..Beware of automatic updates....
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Magicman

Thanks Wayne, at least this one still has 6 more months of warranty.  

The next step this morning was to schedule a technician to make a home visit and replace the board.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Jim_Rogers

MM
How's your computer running now?

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Magicman

So far Jim, I am coasting along.  I did everything that "Tanzeel" told me to do, and he has already sent me 2 emails inquiring how it's doing.  At least I can't fault him. 

I want it to work because this is a nifty and lightweight 14" Laptop.  I also would like to use Edge but it has a habit of forgetting everything that I have typed occasionally when I backspace.  Grrrrr, so Firefox it is.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Jim_Rogers

Well, I guess no news is good news.....
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Magicman

I have not had any problems since June 24th so I gave Dell permission to close out my service number this morning.  Time will tell, but so far, so good.

I did get an "emergency" call this morning notifying me that my Microsoft Windows License had expired and that I needed to immediately call an 800 number and have my license renewed.  Wow, that was a close call!  :o  All that they needed was my credit card number and it would be renewed and thus prevent any disruption of my computer activities.  Wow, I love it when so many people are looking after my best interest.  ::)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman