Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

[Tuerto]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

Didn't I give you that to start with? One I found in the attic when I moved here? Or did I dream that?

Yeah, i'm sure you gave me an old school 90s blaster type thing, although you told me that you bought it from ebay as a gift, not something a dead person had discarded, thanks mate......

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

Yeah, i'm sure you gave me an old school 90s blaster type thing, although you told me that you bought it from ebay as a gift, not something a dead person had discarded, thanks mate......

I think there were three in the attic when I bought this place. And two old TVs. And a hole in the roof that was fixed by Mark who called himself the Alien on here if I recall correctly?

[Tuerto]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

I think there were three in the attic when I bought this place. And two old TVs. And a hole in the roof that was fixed by Mark who called himself the Alien on here if I recall correctly?

Indeed, Mark was a diamond, i regularly called him up when i needed advice on roofing work.

[sneggyblubird]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

The symptoms you quote are not uncommon and not difficult to fix. The reason your computer kept shutting down is because the fan is probably clogged with dust. A give away for this type of problem is you tend to hear the fans work harder much sooner than normal resulting in the PC shutting down through overheating. You may well have to get a new PSU but the problem may not go away until you've tackled the processor fan. Not a difficult job in a tower PC because there's lots of room to work in. AS it's an old PC the contact paste on the processor may have dried out somewhat and that paste can be bought on Ebay for buttons. That quote for £180 seems a little steep unless it includes parts . If it was my computer I would spend 50= 60(poss cheaper on Ebay and a glance on your broken PSU should tell you exactly what you need} on a new PSU, a couple of quid on contact paste and a can of air to blow out all the dust. Under no circumstances use a vacuum cleaner on it. Someone competent would do this in half an hour. I did have a similar problem on an old PC of mine about 20yrs ago and that's how I fixed it.

[LA Bluebird]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

I'd be amazed if the hard drive is knackered. The psu may have taken out the motherboard but the other components should be fine.

Recovering the data should just be a matter of plugging the hard drive into another computer

I doubt the hard drive is knackered as you say, but anything that old could die at any time especially assuming it's old magnetic based storage. Also depending on age you might struggle getting an interface with a newer motherboard.

[Wales-Bales]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

I've tried a couple of times in the last couple of years, but the problem is PC towers with optical drives are few and far between and those that are available have very flimsy optical drives that are barely fit for purpose.

As I've said, I only really use the tower PC for recording and burning CDs. I bought a new one from John Lewis two years ago, but the optical drive proved hopeless within a few days, so it went back. About a year ago I bought a refurbished tower PC with an optical drive, but that was also hopeless. Despite me clearly stating in my communications with the sellers that the optical drive had to be robust and fully operational, when it arrived it was rubbish.

It's a tricky situation. I fully appreciate that CDs are considered old media now (just as vinyl was not so long ago...), but I have a huge collection and really enjoy setting the music quizzes, so I'm determined to find a solution.

I would only use Asus optical drives and then back up everything online and offline.

[Tuerto]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

Can i just say that i'm really impressed with the knowledge people have on here on various subjects, i learn so much. My input would have been to bang the **** out of the computer like we used to do with the TV back in the 80s, my old man was a craftsman when it came to lumping the TV.

[Taffy Blue in Berkshire]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

I replaced a psu on an old tower a few years back after the old one packed up and it cost prob less than £30. It was easy to do. I also used to put the hoover over the vents on pc's and laptops and you'd be amazed at the dust levels.

In terms of backing up data if the drivers support it you can buy usb pen drives for v little and I got a 64gb drive for under £10!

[FormerlyJohnnyBreadhead]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

I only use the PC for recording audio music quizzes. That involves ripping 30 to 40 second segments of songs from CDs to create WAV audio files and then burning compilation discs in the disc drive.

If that's literally the only thing you're looking to do, you can probably just use your phone (assuming you have a basic smartphone).

Download the song you want from YouTube using a free ripping website or app (there are hundreds of them, just Google "YouTube music rip android" or similar).

Then download a simple audio editing app to trim the song to 30 seconds. Again, there are hundreds of free ones available (your phone might already have one installed).

If you're just playing the first 30 seconds of the song (rather than a specific section), you don't even have to do that.

Almost all sound systems should have bluetooth or even a wired connection so that you can then play them during the quiz.

Might sound like a faff on the surface but it's far more efficient (and cheaper!) than the "old school" way.

[truthpaste]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

Last week my 12 year-old HP tower PC went bang, literally. It’s been chugging away on Windows 8 for the last few years and had developed a habit of suddenly shutting itself down at random moments. Whenever that happened, I merely used to unplug it, give it a few seconds, plug it back in again and it would usually start back up after a short delay. However, when I tried that on Friday there was a loud bang, the electric in my flat tripped out and there was a brief smell of smoke from the back of the PC. I’m not a computer expert by any means, but I think it might be knackered…..

I only use the PC for recording audio music quizzes. That involves ripping 30 to 40 second segments of songs from CDs to create WAV audio files and then burning compilation discs in the disc drive. I have a Chromebook I'm currently using for the internet and almost all of my document work, but it’s not possible to do the music quiz stuff on anything other than a tower PC. Unfortunately, all the external CD drives currently on the market are really flimsy and not designed for the type of frequent use I need while preparing a quiz.

My questions are these: do you think there is any realistic possibility that the old PC could be fixed? If so, do you reckon it would prove cost-effective (I've already been quoted approximately £180, and that's if it only needs a new power unit)? Failing that, do you reckon the small amount of data on the hard drive that I'd like to keep could be recovered and moved to an external hard drive so that I could eventually transfer it to a new PC tower? My guesses are possibly, probably not and quite likely but, as I’ve said, I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to stuff like this.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

This TOWER comes in at £189.99 has a fast Intel i7 Processor, Windows 11, 8GB RAM and 1TB SSD memory.

The danger of running old operating systems is security, with mainstream support for Windows 8.1 ending on January 9, 2018, and extended support ended on January 10, 2023.

The above package is customizable - so give yourself a much easier time at the keyboard

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

If that's literally the only thing you're looking to do, you can probably just use your phone (assuming you have a basic smartphone).

Download the song you want from YouTube using a free ripping website or app (there are hundreds of them, just Google "YouTube music rip android" or similar).

Then download a simple audio editing app to trim the song to 30 seconds. Again, there are hundreds of free ones available (your phone might already have one installed).

If you're just playing the first 30 seconds of the song (rather than a specific section), you don't even have to do that.

Almost all sound systems should have bluetooth or even a wired connection so that you can then play them during the quiz.

Might sound like a faff on the surface but it's far more efficient (and cheaper!) than the "old school" way.

Thanks for the advice, and I understand what you're saying, but that's not for me. I don't use my mobile for music at all.

I have an enormous CD collection which includes a couple of hundred three or five disc various artists compilation albums. A large part of the enjoyment of preparing and recording the quizzes is digging through the collection, finding the tracks, selecting the segments to be recorded, etc.

There will be a way to continue and I'll find it. There are a couple of apparently sturdy BluRay/DVD/CD players and burners available on the market at present costing between £120 and £160. The problem is the reviews are mixed as the machines are geared towards far more complicated operations than I need.

I'm talking a local professional PC expert tomorrow to get his views on the existing machine and any possible solutions going forward.

[blue matt]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

2 options in my opinion

get a new PC PSU, £50 - £60 on eBay , 15 min job to change it in your Tower PC, hoover out all the fans and vents, maybe if you are feeling brave change the fans to better ones ( with more airflow )

option 2, get yourself a old MacBook Pro ( Sub £200 ), install windows on it ( using bootcamp ) which is easy to do , get yourself a external Mac CDR ( the apple superdrives are only £30 on eBay these days, which USB 2 and a slower date transfer rate, they will be good enough and simple enough for what you want to do )

[blue matt]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

There will be a way to continue and I'll find it. There are a couple of apparently sturdy BluRay/DVD/CD players and burners available on the market at present costing between £120 and £160. The problem is the reviews are mixed as the machines are geared towards far more complicated operations than I need.

not sure what you are doing with it to be hung up on it being " sturdy " , they are designed to be slung in a laptop bag , at £15 each, get 2, if one fails when you need it, you will have a spare, but they are not as delicate as maybe you think

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

not sure what you are doing with it to be hung up on it being " sturdy " , they are designed to be slung in a laptop bag , at £15 each, get 2, if one fails when you need it, you will have a spare, but they are not as delicate as maybe you think

I can understand your viewpoint, but I'm not talking about the build of the external CD/DVD drive as such. As you say, they are sturdy enough in that respect. I have an old HP external CD/DVD drive and it's solid enough. However, what I'm referring to is the internal mechanism of the machine.

When I record a quiz, there are ten rounds. Each round contains ten tracks and each track excerpt is between 30 and 40 seconds long. Therefore, each quiz lasts approximately an hour and contains 100 track clips. Unfortunately, almost all of the external CD/DVD drives on the market are just not built to cope with such a rapid turnover of discs. Unlike normal CD players, you need to clip the disc into these external drives. It's fiddly and the mechanisms are not robust enough for frequent use.

I need a drive where I can open it, drop a CD in and close it again like you would with a standard CD player on a stereo system. That's how they used to be on PC towers like the one I have now, but these days any PC tower that does come with an optical drive has the flimsy, upright, clip-in type of mechanism.

The sort of external drives you're referring to are no doubt fine for loading the occasional CD and burning the occasional disc, but they're not robust enough for the type of frequent use I'd need. I require something more like the Pioneer models in the link below, but they're obviously a lot more expensive.

https://pioneer-blurayodd.eu/

[lardy]

Re: Some computer questions for the tech-savvy

The sort of external drives you're referring to are no doubt fine for loading the occasional CD and burning the occasional disc, but they're not robust enough for the type of frequent use I'd need. I require something more like the Pioneer models in the link below, but they're obviously a lot more expensive.

https://pioneer-blurayodd.eu/

Never knew what the Welsh word for bluray was.