HELP is at hand for General PC queries, not Foxestalk ones

[st albans fox]

Question 

in our house we have a fairly new play station and Xbox (both in bedrooms). There is an old Xbox which just doesn’t work properly that son no 3 used. So son no 3 is now spending his time in son no 2’s room.  This is causing issues !

 

they have suggested that I buy a gaming PC rather than another Xbox or PS

 

Does this make sense (and if it does, what should I be looking at ) ??

[taupe]

Any android geeks onboard? The standard Gboard app is driving me mad, I cannot get rid of the emoji button. I don't do emojis and GIFs etc and the button's position means I often hit it by mistake. 

 

I've disabled it in the preferences, and that works for the search bar and URLs etc, but it still appears for text boxes (like now - forum posts etc)

 

I've tried other keyboards but prefer Gboard on balance. If only I could get rid of this darned emoji key!

[Rusko187]

57 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Question 

in our house we have a fairly new play station and Xbox (both in bedrooms). There is an old Xbox which just doesn’t work properly that son no 3 used. So son no 3 is now spending his time in son no 2’s room.  This is causing issues !

 

they have suggested that I buy a gaming PC rather than another Xbox or PS

 

Does this make sense (and if it does, what should I be looking at ) ??

Gaming PCs can cost quite a chunk of change to get something worthwhile, but the logic of having a different thing for each room isn't bad. Guess they could use it for schoolwork.

 

Xbox Game Pass works on PC and I believe there's a similar Playstation PC platform coming soon too. 

[Innovindil]

56 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Question 

in our house we have a fairly new play station and Xbox (both in bedrooms). There is an old Xbox which just doesn’t work properly that son no 3 used. So son no 3 is now spending his time in son no 2’s room.  This is causing issues !

 

they have suggested that I buy a gaming PC rather than another Xbox or PS

 

Does this make sense (and if it does, what should I be looking at ) ??

What do you mean does it make sense? 

 

It depends what you want to spend. Obviously a pc is gonna cost quite a bit more than another xbox or PlayStation, but a pc can do things/play games the consoles can't. 

 

As a pc fan, I'd always suggest getting one. 

 

And if you want some suggestions you'd have to drop a price range and what sort of setup you'd want. Sure I could look something up for you. 

[Kopic]

I got a (very) old gaming PC for free a few months ago, looking for a bit of advice. I know its extremely outdated so it isn't great.

 

Basically my missus is obsessed with sims 4. She played it on an old laptop for years. The lag was absolutely horrendous but it worked. I managed to get it working on the pc, runs really smoothly but it always crashes after about and hours gameplay. I installed an autosave mod on the game but that doesn't actually work. So she doesn't play it anymore because she loses all her progress. Shes been playing a game called Banished which runs absolutely fine with no crashing issues. The PC is so old it's still on windows 7, which caused a headache getting the game installed but got there in the end. Is it still possible to upgrade Windows for free, and would it perhaps make a difference to how the game runs? There's other games she wants that I can't install on windows 7 too. I'll post the specs of the PC below. Having just bought a house I can't really fork out for a new PC for her (unless I can get better than the current setup for about £200).

 

Specs

Intel Core i5-2500k

8GB RAM

2x 1tb ssd

1x 100gb hhd

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

 

Kind of pinning my hope on fixing it by upgrading the OS but I don't know if its still possible.

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Kopic said:

I got a (very) old gaming PC for free a few months ago, looking for a bit of advice. I know its extremely outdated so it isn't great.

 

Basically my missus is obsessed with sims 4. She played it on an old laptop for years. The lag was absolutely horrendous but it worked. I managed to get it working on the pc, runs really smoothly but it always crashes after about and hours gameplay. I installed an autosave mod on the game but that doesn't actually work. So she doesn't play it anymore because she loses all her progress. Shes been playing a game called Banished which runs absolutely fine with no crashing issues. The PC is so old it's still on windows 7, which caused a headache getting the game installed but got there in the end. Is it still possible to upgrade Windows for free, and would it perhaps make a difference to how the game runs? There's other games she wants that I can't install on windows 7 too. I'll post the specs of the PC below. Having just bought a house I can't really fork out for a new PC for her (unless I can get better than the current setup for about £200).

 

Specs

Intel Core i5-2500k

8GB RAM

2x 1tb ssd

1x 100gb hhd

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

 

Kind of pinning my hope on fixing it by upgrading the OS but I don't know if its still possible.

So strictly speaking you need to pay for Windows now as the free upgrade from 7 to 10 has expired. That being said, anyone can install it without a product key and all that will happen is you'll have a watermark saying "please register". With some help from Google, I'm sure you can make that disappear...I don't think going from 7 to 10 will make much, if any difference, to gaming performance.

 

However, for the Sims and definitely Banished (great game) that system should be OK. Ensure graphics drivers are up to date as I recall Windows 7 didn't do that for you. You could installed something called "GeForce Experience" which is good for managing drivers. 

 

Windows 10 should work on that system. Just to be sure, you can have Windows installed twice on the PC (leave 7 as is for now). When you turn it on, it'll then ask which one you want to launch. Saves you losing any stuff on your current OS. 

[The Bear]

You can install Windows offline by pulling your network cable out during the install. It'll avoid installing any extra guff, stop all the tracking, or associating your install with any Microsoft account too. 

[Innovindil]

On 27/08/2022 at 10:36, Kopic said:

I got a (very) old gaming PC for free a few months ago, looking for a bit of advice. I know its extremely outdated so it isn't great.

 

Basically my missus is obsessed with sims 4. She played it on an old laptop for years. The lag was absolutely horrendous but it worked. I managed to get it working on the pc, runs really smoothly but it always crashes after about and hours gameplay. I installed an autosave mod on the game but that doesn't actually work. So she doesn't play it anymore because she loses all her progress. Shes been playing a game called Banished which runs absolutely fine with no crashing issues. The PC is so old it's still on windows 7, which caused a headache getting the game installed but got there in the end. Is it still possible to upgrade Windows for free, and would it perhaps make a difference to how the game runs? There's other games she wants that I can't install on windows 7 too. I'll post the specs of the PC below. Having just bought a house I can't really fork out for a new PC for her (unless I can get better than the current setup for about £200).

 

Specs

Intel Core i5-2500k

8GB RAM

2x 1tb ssd

1x 100gb hhd

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

 

Kind of pinning my hope on fixing it by upgrading the OS but I don't know if its still possible.

A bit of a wide field question, but do you have the sims 3 camera mode enabled in the game options settings?

[Suzie the Fox]

On 27/08/2022 at 10:36, Kopic said:

I got a (very) old gaming PC for free a few months ago, looking for a bit of advice. I know its extremely outdated so it isn't great.

 

Basically my missus is obsessed with sims 4. She played it on an old laptop for years. The lag was absolutely horrendous but it worked. I managed to get it working on the pc, runs really smoothly but it always crashes after about and hours gameplay. I installed an autosave mod on the game but that doesn't actually work. So she doesn't play it anymore because she loses all her progress. Shes been playing a game called Banished which runs absolutely fine with no crashing issues. The PC is so old it's still on windows 7, which caused a headache getting the game installed but got there in the end. Is it still possible to upgrade Windows for free, and would it perhaps make a difference to how the game runs? There's other games she wants that I can't install on windows 7 too. I'll post the specs of the PC below. Having just bought a house I can't really fork out for a new PC for her (unless I can get better than the current setup for about £200).

 

Specs

Intel Core i5-2500k

8GB RAM

2x 1tb ssd

1x 100gb hhd

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

 

Kind of pinning my hope on fixing it by upgrading the OS but I don't know if its still possible.

 

 

Sims 4 will run totally fine on that, maybe a little laggy if you have many sims about and lots of stuff in your house to load. What would speed it it up (depending on the slots in the motherboard) is increasing the RAM to 16gb. Im assuming its probably DDR3 or 4, both of which are pretty cheap now. 

[Rusko187]

On 30/08/2022 at 10:47, Suzie the Fox said:

 

 

Sims 4 will run totally fine on that, maybe a little laggy if you have many sims about and lots of stuff in your house to load. What would speed it it up (depending on the slots in the motherboard) is increasing the RAM to 16gb. Im assuming its probably DDR3 or 4, both of which are pretty cheap now. 

With a 2500k that would be DDR3 ram

[The Blur]

Hello fine folks of Foxestalk.

 

I am looking into getting a new laptop but would be using it for surfing the internet, watching films and Word/PowerPoint/Excel so I would only need a basic laptop.   I think the budget of £400-500 would be sufficient (let me know if this is not the case!)

 

My question is which CPU will be good enough to do the tasks above as I almost bought a second handed laptop that have been barely used only to realise it would struggle a bit with video streaming. 

 

I will head down to Currys to take a look but suspect I can find better value online?

[Zear0]

On 06/01/2023 at 17:10, The Blur said:

Hello fine folks of Foxestalk.

 

I am looking into getting a new laptop but would be using it for surfing the internet, watching films and Word/PowerPoint/Excel so I would only need a basic laptop.   I think the budget of £400-500 would be sufficient (let me know if this is not the case!)

 

My question is which CPU will be good enough to do the tasks above as I almost bought a second handed laptop that have been barely used only to realise it would struggle a bit with video streaming. 

 

I will head down to Currys to take a look but suspect I can find better value online?

I think for your needs, literally anything would suffice from a modern hardware perspective. Going to Curry's is wise as what'll matter for you is the screen size and feel of the thing. Might be worth looking at Chrome books too as they tend to be even cheaper (your budget is more than enough). 

[The Blur]

7 hours ago, Zear0 said:

I think for your needs, literally anything would suffice from a modern hardware perspective. Going to Curry's is wise as what'll matter for you is the screen size and feel of the thing. Might be worth looking at Chrome books too as they tend to be even cheaper (your budget is more than enough). 

 

Cheers.   I have not really considered Chromebooks so will look more in it.   I think I am little hesitant about leaving Windows and the security of having Office software at the hand.  

 

Saw a nice HP laptop that tick all boxes but I am little wary as I remember my parents HP and Dell laptops were horrific for bloatware while likes of Asus, Acer and Lenoxox seems to value quality over reputation/advertising/profit margins     Not sure if that is still the case now?  

[Zear0]

2 hours ago, The Blur said:

 

Cheers.   I have not really considered Chromebooks so will look more in it.   I think I am little hesitant about leaving Windows and the security of having Office software at the hand.  

 

Saw a nice HP laptop that tick all boxes but I am little wary as I remember my parents HP and Dell laptops were horrific for bloatware while likes of Asus, Acer and Lenoxox seems to value quality over reputation/advertising/profit margins     Not sure if that is still the case now?  

Nice, hope you find something that suits. Regarding bloatware, Windows is so easy to install that if they do pack it full of crap, a fresh Windows install will shift most of it. 

[Daggers]

Bought a pair of plug in ethernet things.

 

I have a stupidly fast internet coming into the house but make do with 250-300mbps wireless in the office.

 

Ethernet things gave me 56.

 

Both were plugged directly into the wall, not near anything that would interfere and nothing else was running on leccy in the house.

 

Having taken a drill and saw to various bits of the house to accommodate them, I'm a bit miffed. They're now bagged and ready to go back to Amazon tomorrow. What a waste.

[Innovindil]

On 14/01/2023 at 18:09, Daggers said:

Bought a pair of plug in ethernet things.

 

I have a stupidly fast internet coming into the house but make do with 250-300mbps wireless in the office.

 

Ethernet things gave me 56.

 

Both were plugged directly into the wall, not near anything that would interfere and nothing else was running on leccy in the house.

 

Having taken a drill and saw to various bits of the house to accommodate them, I'm a bit miffed. They're now bagged and ready to go back to Amazon tomorrow. What a waste.

What do you mean by "ethernet things"?

 

Ethernet cables? If so, what type? If you are using older ones, they will produce garbage speeds. To make use of anything 100mbps+ you'll need a cat 5e (or better).

[The Bear]

I assume he means homeplug type extenders which are ethernet only, not WiFi.

 

Worth checking your cables are not the older spec ones though. 

[Daggers]

Cat 8. 
 

And yes, the plug in things. Not cheap ones either. 
 

It’s a new build too, so the internal wiring isn’t exactly duff. 

[Jon the Hat]

32 minutes ago, Daggers said:

Cat 8. 
 

And yes, the plug in things. Not cheap ones either. 
 

It’s a new build too, so the internal wiring isn’t exactly duff. 

Ive tried them a couple of times, never with much success.  Annoyingly I'm now in a large house with some fancy homehub with Lan ports all over the place, none of which are working except the one I have managed to patch to the study and plug in the wireless router.  wifi is shit in half the house and it looks like the only simple approach is $500 or so of mesh wifi.  Arse.

[Daggers]

32 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Ive tried them a couple of times, never with much success.  Annoyingly I'm now in a large house with some fancy homehub with Lan ports all over the place, none of which are working except the one I have managed to patch to the study and plug in the wireless router.  wifi is shit in half the house and it looks like the only simple approach is $500 or so of mesh wifi.  Arse.

Six months or so, I’m hoping 5G will stretch to the village, at which point everything will run through my phone. There again, it took us forever to join the 4G network. 

[LanguedocFox]

I'm not sure if I should post a new topic, but I'll try here first: here goes.

 

I have an LG M2352 Full HD 1080P monitor. It's fairly old (April 2013) but has worked fine until the past couple of days. All the controls are activated by touching the screen frame. When the monitor powers on, a red LED lights up below the screen-frame, and usually touching the frame above this light causes the light to turn orange as the monitor starts working and images appear on the screen. However, now when I touch the frame, the red light goes out for a second, then comes back on. Nothing appears on screen.

 

I've tried the usual stuff. Clearly the power is there, and I've got another monitor that's working fine, so it's not the VGA cable that I use nor the graphics card on the computer (I'm running Windows 10 on an HP EliteDesk box). I've tried connecting the monitor using an HDMI cable but have the same issue.

 

I've searched online and can't find an answer or anyone describing a similar problem. The monitor is probably knackered but I'm loath to junk it if there is a simple and cheap solution. All help/advice gratefully received. Thanks in advance

[Innovindil]

1 hour ago, LanguedocFox said:

I'm not sure if I should post a new topic, but I'll try here first: here goes.

 

I have an LG M2352 Full HD 1080P monitor. It's fairly old (April 2013) but has worked fine until the past couple of days. All the controls are activated by touching the screen frame. When the monitor powers on, a red LED lights up below the screen-frame, and usually touching the frame above this light causes the light to turn orange as the monitor starts working and images appear on the screen. However, now when I touch the frame, the red light goes out for a second, then comes back on. Nothing appears on screen.

 

I've tried the usual stuff. Clearly the power is there, and I've got another monitor that's working fine, so it's not the VGA cable that I use nor the graphics card on the computer (I'm running Windows 10 on an HP EliteDesk box). I've tried connecting the monitor using an HDMI cable but have the same issue.

 

I've searched online and can't find an answer or anyone describing a similar problem. The monitor is probably knackered but I'm loath to junk it if there is a simple and cheap solution. All help/advice gratefully received. Thanks in advance

Monitors are notoriously a pain to fix and it usually costs more than replacing. 

 

And if you've tried another monitor and that's working fine then you can rule out computer hardware or connection issues so it probably is just a dead monitor.

 

10 years out of a monitor is a great return, though I doubt that makes you feel any better. 

[LanguedocFox]

19 hours ago, Innovindil said:

Monitors are notoriously a pain to fix and it usually costs more than replacing. 

 

And if you've tried another monitor and that's working fine then you can rule out computer hardware or connection issues so it probably is just a dead monitor.

 

10 years out of a monitor is a great return, though I doubt that makes you feel any better. 

Thanks for this. I'm sure you are right and, as you say, ten years is pretty good for what was probably a cheap monitor. I'm going to order a new one today, which also will not be very expensive!

[red5]

Sounds like it's not starting up which is most likely the power supply, could just be a capacitor that'll be a cheap repair but you'll need someone to open and check it.

[The Bear]

2 minutes ago, red5 said:

Sounds like it's not starting up which is most likely the power supply, could just be a capacitor that'll be a cheap repair but you'll need someone to open and check it.

I was going to suggest this, but it'd take a bit of research, knowledge of which capacitor has gone (if that's the case it'd likely be bulging) and then maybe a soldering iron to put a new capacitor on the board. 

 

I did this once with an old TV that stopped working and had blown a couple of capacitors, but most people aren't confident with that sort of stuff.