«

I just thought I would follow up on the results of the good tips I got
from you good people here in the NG.

I had the problem where my computer would not finish booting and I had
vertical lines on my screen.

It was suggested that it might be the video card. Today I replaced the
video card and that did the trick. My computer is living again!!

I am still going to get a new computer anyway but now I can get to some
files on this one that I want to save. I will put this one in another
room for a second computer.

I was looking at two new computers today. My final cost after rebates
would be about $1,000 for either.

One was an HP with the lightscribe DVD Writer with 512 MB ram, Athalon
64 processor, 200 GB HD.

The other was an E Machine with 1024 MB ram, Athalon 64 processor and
200 GB HD.

I kind of wanted the lightscribe DVD but I probably would not use it
that much. I sould always upgrade the RAM on the HP later.

My uses for computer are:

Business - Keeping records using Quicken. Print checks and documents
(not that much)

Pictures - I take a lot of digital pictures and make adjustment to them
and print some.

Moves - My wife and I were host family to a baseball player when he
played A ball here in Michigan. Now that he is a big league pitcher, we
record games he pitches that are televised and put them on DVD for him
and his family. I record the games on a DVD recorder. I would like to
transfer them to my hard drive, capture still for the DVD Jewel case
and label, Edit chapters and maybe delete comercials and record them on
a new DVD for him.

Web Browsing - I only have dial-up. High speed not available here
unless I spring for satalite.


Anyway, Thanks to everyone that responded to my post and helped me fix
this one. I really apreciate it!

David

In news: oups.com,
Zaphod spewed forth:
> I just thought I would follow up on the results of the good tips I got
> from you good people here in the NG.
>
> I had the problem where my computer would not finish booting and I had
> vertical lines on my screen.
>
> It was suggested that it might be the video card. Today I replaced the
> video card and that did the trick. My computer is living again!!
>
> I am still going to get a new computer anyway but now I can get to
> some files on this one that I want to save. I will put this one in
> another room for a second computer.
>
> I was looking at two new computers today. My final cost after rebates
> would be about $1,000 for either.
>
> One was an HP with the lightscribe DVD Writer with 512 MB ram, Athalon
> 64 processor, 200 GB HD.
>
> The other was an E Machine with 1024 MB ram, Athalon 64 processor and
> 200 GB HD.
>
> I kind of wanted the lightscribe DVD but I probably would not use it
> that much. I sould always upgrade the RAM on the HP later.

I'm not impressed with the lightscribe. It is monochrome only, and requires
using only the HP discs (which cost more). I'd rather print labels in color.
Hardware wise, I'd go with the HP anyway. I personally feel the components
(motherboard, etc.) are better built.

<snip>

> Web Browsing - I only have dial-up. High speed not available here
> unless I spring for satalite.
>
Go online and check to see if Clearwire is available in your area yet...

www.clearwire.com

It's wireless (using cell towers)

--
We put the "K" in "Kwality"!

Zaphod wrote:
>
> I had the problem where my computer would not finish booting and I had
> vertical lines on my screen.
>
> It was suggested that it might be the video card. Today I replaced the
> video card and that did the trick. My computer is living again!!

Cool.



--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

On 13 Dec 2005 19:07:56 -0800, Zaphod wrote:

<snipped>
>
> One was an HP with the lightscribe DVD Writer with 512 MB ram, Athalon
> 64 processor, 200 GB HD.

If you mean the HP 640i, make sure it has the latest firmware. Otherwise
you'll be in trouble with other CD/DVD types.

--
My E-mail address in ROT-13
vf ab ybatre gurer, abg rira ng ubgznvy.

"Zaphod" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>I just thought I would follow up on the results of the good tips I got
> from you good people here in the NG.
>
> I had the problem where my computer would not finish booting and I had
> vertical lines on my screen.
>
> It was suggested that it might be the video card. Today I replaced the
> video card and that did the trick. My computer is living again!!
>
> I am still going to get a new computer anyway but now I can get to some
> files on this one that I want to save. I will put this one in another
> room for a second computer.
>
> I was looking at two new computers today. My final cost after rebates
> would be about $1,000 for either.
>
> One was an HP with the lightscribe DVD Writer with 512 MB ram, Athalon
> 64 processor, 200 GB HD.
>
> The other was an E Machine with 1024 MB ram, Athalon 64 processor and
> 200 GB HD.
>
> I kind of wanted the lightscribe DVD but I probably would not use it
> that much. I sould always upgrade the RAM on the HP later.
>
> My uses for computer are:
>
> Business - Keeping records using Quicken. Print checks and documents
> (not that much)
>
> Pictures - I take a lot of digital pictures and make adjustment to them
> and print some.
>
> Moves - My wife and I were host family to a baseball player when he
> played A ball here in Michigan. Now that he is a big league pitcher, we
> record games he pitches that are televised and put them on DVD for him
> and his family. I record the games on a DVD recorder. I would like to
> transfer them to my hard drive, capture still for the DVD Jewel case
> and label, Edit chapters and maybe delete comercials and record them on
> a new DVD for him.
>
> Web Browsing - I only have dial-up. High speed not available here
> unless I spring for satalite.
>
>
> Anyway, Thanks to everyone that responded to my post and helped me fix
> this one. I really apreciate it!
>
> David
>


David

Most of your PC uses could be done on almost anything, in fact the machine
you already have may be best retired to do your accounts only (seperates the
web & it's nasties from the chequebook)

The 'lightscribe' drive doesn't do anything for me, but then I've found most
HP drives still going after many years of good service.

The 'biggie' I see is the 'Video' & 'Picture' editing. For that you need a)
Grunt b) lots of RAM c) a half way decent Graphics card.
Things to ask:
Athlon 64, is it 754 or 939 pin (939 Venice core one of the best bang for
buck)
Motherboard chipset nVidia (prefered) or VIA or SIS
Video onboard or AGP or PCI Express
Hard drives Pata or Sata, 2 or 8 MB cache.
Front mounted USB 2.0 (almost taken for granted nowdays) Firewire (for DV
cameras & better video capture boxes)

A simple test is to take a CD with some photo's on it to the store and build
a slideshow with Microsoft Moviemaker (start, accessories, entertainment,
moviemaker) on both machines.
Do some experimenting on your present PC first so you have a feel for the
bottlenecks.

Cheers
Paul.

Thanks, I will check on the Clearwire.com.

I was wondering if the conponents in the HP would be better.

I was also wondering how much difference ther is in modem quality.
Right now all I can get is 2400 KBS using this machine and the phone
lines around here that always seem have static.I do have a power strip
that includes telephone hookups that is supposed to filter out the
static and give better performance but I see no difference in speed.

Thanks again!

David

Thanks, I will copy your suggestion onto a page with other questions
that I can print outand take with me to the store.

David

Thanks Paul, I will print out your suggestions and take it with me when
I go shopping.

<SNIP>
>Most of your PC uses could be done on almost anything, in fact the machine
>you already have may be best retired to do your accounts only (seperates the
>web & it's nasties from the chequebook)


Actually, I was thinking of using this computer for my common browsing
and using the new one for doing any online banking, ebay and other
browsing that I want to be secure.

Thanks again,

David

In news: oups.com,
Zaphod spewed forth:
> Thanks, I will check on the Clearwire.com.
>
> I was wondering if the conponents in the HP would be better.
>
> I was also wondering how much difference ther is in modem quality.
> Right now all I can get is 2400 KBS using this machine and the phone
> lines around here that always seem have static.I do have a power strip
> that includes telephone hookups that is supposed to filter out the
> static and give better performance but I see no difference in speed.
>

Mom has the same problem with slow dial-up. It's not the computer or modem,
but poor quality phone lines (probably because she's a few miles outside of
town). There's nothing that can be done. You may be in the same situation.

--
We put the "K" in "Kwality"!

Zaphod wrote:
>
> I was also wondering how much difference ther is in modem quality.
> Right now all I can get is 2400 KBS using this machine and the phone
> lines around here that always seem have static.I do have a power strip
> that includes telephone hookups that is supposed to filter out the
> static and give better performance but I see no difference in speed.

Well if you have static then that's most likely the reason why you get
such a slow connection. Did you try running a dedicated wire from the
room jack to the phone company connection in your basement?


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/