The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[WolfieKiwi]

First you need to make sure it's actually the backlight, and not the screen itself that's damaged.
When the laptop is powered on: take a flashlight and shine it on the screen almost parallel to the screen or at about a 20 degree angle from the surface of the screen. If you can't see an image, then the screen is bad. If you can still see an image, then it's either the backlight or the inverter.

Most of the time a laptop screen that won't light up is caused by a bad inverter and not a problem with the backlight.
Try replacing the inverter first. They're only about $20 on eBay, and much cheaper than replacing the screen.

(And most replacement laptop screens do not come with a replacement inverter. I had a friend whose laptop screen would not light up and he bought a new screen/backlight and it did not fix the problem because the inverter was bad. So we replaced the inverter and it turns out the old screen/backlight was fine.)

I was able to see the "boot up" screen and later my desktop under the flashlight so thankfully, my laptop has nothing more than a lighting issue. Thanks a bunch for the helpful info about the inverter! I'll be looking out for one on the net.

 

[Beefy]

Being able to see an image on the screen is a good sign. It proves the video card and the screen still work. This narrows the problem down to the backlight or the inverter.
The inverter is what provides power to the backlight, so it's the most likely suspect.

The inverter is located right below the screen in the lid of the laptop. It can be accessed by removing the inside cover of the laptop lid. There are usually six screws underneath the rubber circles on the laptop lid. Once the screws are removed the bezel covering the screen should come off revealing the inverter right below the screen.

 

[defunctzombie]

My hard drive won't defragment. Windows defragmenter does nothing (it only tells me it's "good" and won't do anything after that). Defraggler shows 40% fragmentation on the C partition and 0% on the recovery partition. The files that Defraggler lists as the biggest fragments are all in system volume information. They're 4-12 gb each. Is there any way to defragment this drive, or am I just going to have to live with it? I have a vista laptop with a 300 gb drive.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

My hard drive won't defragment. Windows defragmenter does nothing (it only tells me it's "good" and won't do anything after that). Defraggler shows 40% fragmentation on the C partition and 0% on the recovery partition. The files that Defraggler lists as the biggest fragments are all in system volume information. They're 4-12 gb each. Is there any way to defragment this drive, or am I just going to have to live with it? I have a vista laptop with a 300 gb drive.

First, dont even try to defrag your recovery partition. If your C: partition states that its good, then you dont need to defrag it. dont pay attention to the gaps in the drive, it is the way it should be. As ling as it says "good" then you are good. End of story.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

When I use my Quicktime player, I can't see the controls. It's rather annoying. Have I accidentally altered the settings or something?

 

[Beefy]

When I use my Quicktime player, I can't see the controls. It's rather annoying. Have I accidentally altered the settings or something?

What operating system are you using and what version of QuickTime?

I haven't seen that issue since QuickTime 5.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

What operating system are you using and what version of QuickTime?

I haven't seen that issue since QuickTime 5.

I think that I have QuickTime 7; I'm not 100% sure how to check. I know that it's the free version . My OS is Vista (curse it, I say).

 

[Mynd Hed]

Here's a question: I've been having BSoD issues which I believe may be caused by an overheating CPU due to a dying fan. Can anyone recommend a good aftermarket CPU cooler, and ideally also someplace with a reasonably user-friendly tutorial on how to install them? (Instruction manuals that come with computer hardware tend to be not so much with the helpfulness.)

 

[Beefy]

I think that I have QuickTime 7; I'm not 100% sure how to check. I know that it's the free version . My OS is Vista (curse it, I say).

Yeah... QuickTime and Vista don't play well together. I can't even open QuickTime without Vista crashing.

I would try turning off the Aero glass interface first and see if that makes a difference.

Other than that, I got nothing.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Yeah... QuickTime and Vista don't play well together. I can't even open QuickTime without Vista crashing.

I would try turning off the Aero glass interface first and see if that makes a difference.

Other than that, I got nothing.

um yea they do. I have Vista and Latest Quicktime is just fine. Yours in probably just an isolated incident. Maybe you should reinstall it.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Here's a question: I've been having BSoD issues which I believe may be caused by an overheating CPU due to a dying fan. Can anyone recommend a good aftermarket CPU cooler, and ideally also someplace with a reasonably user-friendly tutorial on how to install them? (Instruction manuals that come with computer hardware tend to be not so much with the helpfulness.)

All after market coolers require the removal of the motherboard to attach a backplate to a motherboard. Thermaltake coolers are good, PC Power and Cooling is another good one, Antec is another good brand. Those are just the top reputable brands I can think of but there are many more. Even if you stick to those 3 i mentioned, there is a wide list of coolers from any one of them, randing by performance and price. Do some research on the one you want to settle on.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

um yea they do. I have Vista and Latest Quicktime is just fine. Yours in probably just an isolated incident. Maybe you should reinstall it.

Just tried that, and it didn't work. This is very peculiar....

 

[Beefy]

um yea they do. I have Vista and Latest Quicktime is just fine. Yours in probably just an isolated incident. Maybe you should reinstall it.

Ok. I got my QuickTime to work on Vista.
I had to uninstall iTunes and all the junk that came with it and just installed QuickTime by itself.
I also updated my video card driver, sound card driver, and DirectX just to be safe.

Just tried that, and it didn't work. This is very peculiar....

Do the controls show up if you move the QuickTime Player window after it's open?

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Ok. I got my QuickTime to work on Vista.
I had to uninstall iTunes and all the junk that came with it and just installed QuickTime by itself.
I also updated my video card driver, sound card driver, and DirectX just to be safe.

Maybe I'll try that.

Do the controls show up if you move the QuickTime Player window after it's open?

I can't even get the player to open separately. I can just open it in a browser tab. If I click in a magical special place, I can see the volume control, but so far, that's the only luck that I have.

EDIT: I did just manage to get it to open separately.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

OK, so I have now discovered that by moving the cursor where the controls out to be, I can control the video, but I still can't see them.

 

[Jacob]

Tonight, I was downloading a new version of iTunes. It wanted me to restart my computer, so I did. After I did that, I began noticing a problem. Every time I opened a program, the "Windows has detected an error. Don't Send or Send Error Report" message pops isup. Does that sound like a virus? I used to have Norton Antivirus Protection, but the subscription just expired. How should I go about fixing this problem? I'll probably take my computer to the Geek Squad, but I'd love to know if there's another way to fix this problem.

BTW, I'm writing this from another computer.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Tonight, I was downloading a new version of iTunes. It wanted me to restart my computer, so I did. After I did that, I began noticing a problem. Every time I opened a program, the "Windows has detected an error. Don't Send or Send Error Report" message pops isup. Does that sound like a virus? I used to have Norton Antivirus Protection, but the subscription just expired. How should I go about fixing this problem? I'll probably take my computer to the Geek Squad, but I'd love to know if there's another way to fix this problem.

BTW, I'm writing this from another computer.

What program are we talking about? iTunes? what happans when you log into windows? This is most likely not a virus, but a software glitch. If this started to happen right after you installed iTunes, you should uninstall it and see if the problem still happens.

 

[Jacob]

What program are we talking about? iTunes? what happans when you log into windows? This is most likely not a virus, but a software glitch. If this started to happen right after you installed iTunes, you should uninstall it and see if the problem still happens.

I meant all programs. But, luckily for me, the problem just randomly stopped. Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll let you know if it happens again.

 

[Jacob]

En Sabah Nur,

How exactly do you reset your hard drive? I have a Windows XP Inspiron Laptop, if it matters. I don't have any valuable files, so I'm not worried about losing anything. And my computer's a piece of crap (the problem that I was having came back).

So, yeah, help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

En Sabah Nur,

How exactly do you reset your hard drive? I have a Windows XP Inspiron Laptop, if it matters. I don't have any valuable files, so I'm not worried about losing anything. And my computer's a piece of crap (the problem that I was having came back).

So, yeah, help would be greatly appreciated.

What do you mean by "reset"? Format? To format a hard drive you would need a recovery partition on your computer, or recovery discs, or Windows OS with all the drivers that came with your PC. But before you do that, try to uninstall iTunes since thats the program that most likely caused this. Go to control panel>Add Remove programs and remove iTunes. If you cant do that because of the same problem, restart your PC and keep pressing "F8" key. A menu will pop up, choose Last Good Known Configuration and your Windows will boot and try to fix what ever was wrong with it. If that does not help and the problem keeps on happening, restart your PC again, again press F8 and go to Safe Mode this time. Wait for all that white on black text to finish running and wait for windows to load into a gray scale tone. You will be asked if you want to use the safe mode or if you want to do a system restore to restore the system to an earlier date. Choose to use System Restore and chose any date available before this problem started to happen/before iTunes install, and sit back and wait for it to restore itself. Hopefully that will fix the problem. If that still does not fix the problem, Restart your PC, press F8 go to Safe Mode, choose to work in safe mode, go to Control Panel, Add Remove programs and try to remove iTunes and restart your PC and see if that will fix the problem. If after all of this, you problem still did not go away, a format might be in order. Hopefully you have one of the first two choices available in order to format your PC. Otherwise things will be very complicated for you.