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Pc Tech Support


Dr. Nick Riviera

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Basically, inside an external drive, there is an internal drive. Little super portables (USB only) use laptop drives, and thus are limited to 1tb at the moment.

Big ones that need extra power have desktop drives, and thus are generally 2tb-3tb.

I recommend the Samsung S2 1tb USB3 portable. I have one, it's a year old, it cost £84 and costs £107 now because of the hard drive shortages, but I've seen speeds of 100mbps+ in real world transfers. (Films). USB2 drives max out at about 35mbps.

Sorry for the short replies earlier, I was at home, and thus wasn't getting paid the write them.

Edited by Muel
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No worries about the short replies got all the info I need!

I really don't think I need a TB. My laptop has 320gb and it's just no where near full. It's just for backing up pictures and stuff like that. Speed isn't important to me at all either. Portability would be nice though if I ever need to bring it home.

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If you can't stick it anywhere else, Dan, try and get hold of some foam sheet to use for dust filters. Particularly handy if you've got some semi-decent fans and shit.

Foam sheet? Forgive my ignorance but is this computery related or just general foamy sheet? Never heard of it before.

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Maybe foam isn't the right word, though that's what the basic ones that come on a lot of cases seem to be.

Just a bit of foam/mesh that still allows airflow to get through but catches the bigger particles/dust. Filter might be more appropriate perhaps, something to sit in front of your fans/generally where the PC is open to the elements a bit to protect it. (Y)

This this, but cheaper; http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-000-OE

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Is there a way to get past the max. volume lock on laptops? I'm playing the drums to a few songs atm (it's too rainy to go riding :P) and can't hear very much with the hearing protection and the headphones.

I know that the lock is there to protect the speakers, and I was surprised to find it still there when using headphones..

I tried turning the volume to 200% in VLC and downloading the song with 200% volume. It doesen't seem to change a thing. :(

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I've been doing some reading. I've just bought some rubbing alcohol, cotton buds and a new toothbrush to replace the one I'm going to remove from duty to move onto a nobler task: One good go at rescuing this motherboard tonight.

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Good luck with it man. Sorry I haven't been around to help much recently.

Do you have another PC to test parts in? I'd test PSU last and on something that doesn't really count for anything (so if it kills that motherboard as well, meh).

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Good luck with it man. Sorry I haven't been around to help much recently.

Do you have another PC to test parts in? I'd test PSU last and on something that doesn't really count for anything (so if it kills that motherboard as well, meh).

Due to not having another PC, but having enough bits and bobs, I was planning on using my spare PSU after I've given everything a good clean. Hopefully I'll be lucky and it was just the PSU that died, because it's showing zero signs of life as is. If only I could remember it happening, I'd be able to remember whether it was on or off when it got spilled on, and if it was on what happened and how quick I turned it off! Damn alcohol.

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I've never seen no signs of life at all, apart from with either a knackered PSU or the power button packing in. (Finding that particular fault was fun).

To rule out the button, just short the pins on the motherboard with the blade of a knife that the switch normally plugs into.

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I've never seen no signs of life at all, apart from with either a knackered PSU or the power button packing in. (Finding that particular fault was fun).

To rule out the button, just short the pins on the motherboard with the blade of a knife that the switch normally plugs into.

Shall do! Nothing will be happening until at least 7 tonight, so I'm bound to be posting some shit in here later :P

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I'm not about at all tonight mate, so won't be checking here. Feel free to test me, but can't promise I'll be prompt with replies, got a lot on. :P

Like I said, done a fair bit o' reading ;) Not planning on needing any help :P

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I was hoping for blow by blow updates more than hoping to be of help. :P Never tried pouring a pint of water into my computer to see what would happen before...

I'll try and take some pics of the state of it and a step by step, just in case I get it going... According to the fact that you should believe everything you read on the internet, I could well be ok.

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I am in no doubt that it can be resurrected, just might need a few new bits. :P

Might as well post this here for reference, nothing to do with the above post whatsoever, but I'm thinking of selling my biggest computer. It's very fast, burns a lot of electricity, is worth a fair bit and never does anything.

No idea what it's worth though. Maybe £600 at a guess. (Half the price of the money I've spent on it in the last 2 years?) AMD Phenom II 965BE, 8gb DDR3, Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H motherboard, two ATI 5830s, 650w PSU, 1tb HDD, many mods and fettlings done, no OS.

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I'm tempted to say put what ever is damaged by the water in rice to soak up all the water moisture but I don't know if putting a computer component in rice is a good idea.

I once spilled water on my old phone and it wouldn't turn on, I could see the moisture building up behind the screen cover. Googled around and people put their phone in rice and left it over night. I did exactly that and the phone came back alive. My sister has it now and it's still working.

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I'm tempted to say put what ever is damaged by the water in rice to soak up all the water moisture but I don't know if putting a computer component in rice is a good idea.

I once spilled water on my old phone and it wouldn't turn on, I could see the moisture building up behind the screen cover. Googled around and people put their phone in rice and left it over night. I did exactly that and the phone came back alive. My sister has it now and it's still working.

That seems to be recommended quite a lot with motherboard issues too, except with paper towels between the rice and the board itself. I've actually taken the advice to allow the board to dry in the coolest part of my airing cupboard for near on a week, so it should be damn dry now. Now it's all about clearing off all the potentially shorted connections and hope that the PSU did its job by dying first!

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I'm thinking of selling my biggest computer. No idea what it's worth though. Maybe £600 at a guess.

Lawl, looks like it would actually fetch about £400. f**k. That. Might as well keep it and run it into the ground if that's all it's worth.

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Did you like my constant barrage of updates last night?

Oh yea, I forgot.

Anyway, first I took a toothbrush to all the parts of the mobo that looked 'calcified' even though I don't know whether that's what it was. Just white, almost powdery, reaction to the water. Oxidisation I guess... That came off with ease, although it felt proper odd using water to do it! Patted that dry with some kitchen towel and then on with the rubbing alcohol. Cotton buds galore to meticulously go over every connection and then dry it off with the other end of the bud. Found some somewhat dodgy areas, which look more burned out than anything else. I know approximately fag all about PCBs though and I know I've seen similar 'damage' on stuff that has worked in the past.

Basically, right now the mobo is thoroughly drying out again today and I'll probably try plugging some bits in tonight and see what happens...

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Chucked the new MoBo in this evening. Picked up an MSI 880gma-e55 and it's spot on. VGA/DVI/HDMI which is handy at the mo while the 5770's out of action, SATA III/USB 3.0 etc and brings the SSD up to a bench of 530Mb/s read, 460 write. Not too shabby :)

Still new to replace the PSU though so I can run my GPU again - last one went back for RMA after making some pretty nasty noises :P

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