I need some help. Whenever I play a video or even just scroll down a web page, it lags. It has a little of a "Repainting" effect, where the image of the page comes down from the top of the screen. This happens with ANYTHING that takes up the whole screen it would seem. Is this symptoms of a virus or is it a graphics problem?

Well I only run at 1440x900 resolution on a 19 inch monitor, but my PSU should be up to stuff. I believe it's an Antec earthwatts 600w, but I can't find my order from newegg anymore to confirm that. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333 looks good to me, but what's with the "mini HDMI" port?

Well, mini HDMI because they couldn't fit a standard HDMI port along with two DVI. This is also a guess, as I haven't looked into it too much, but it's inclusion may be so that you can use nVidia Surround (3 monitors, NV's version of Eyefinity) on just one GPU.

I see, well it looks like the card comes with an adapter anyways, so as long as I don't lose any functionality (not like my HDMI sound output works right now anyways) I'll be fine.

I learn something new everyday

Can anyone answer my other question about my Physical memory?

In Vista/7 that is normal. This is only an issue if you have less than 2GB of RAM.

So I have a problem.

I bought a computer not long ago from someone to help them out and because I needed one and it's worked well until last night.

I went to plug in a new headset and the microphone didn't want to work(at that time sound appeared to be fine,I listened to music for a couple mins through the headset before deciding to unplug it) so I just decided to give up and plug my USB mic/earphones back in but when I did the sound on my computer seems to be very,very low.

With everything as high as it will go I can hardly hear,I've tried updating drivers and I've tried different speakers/headphones.

I also ran a system restore to go back 24 hours because I thought maybe I changed something that I couldn't remember.

Any ideas?

If the sound was gone completely it would be easier on me for a guessing game but since the sound is there just extremely low I'm confuzzled.

Yup, that's normal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834107053

Seems like it would be good for some games, web browsing and such...

Spec for spec it is worse than the laptop I helped my sister get, and only $5 cheaper. Not to mention is is a recertified Compaq (Compaq is a subsidiary of HP, which have horrible heat issues, and general http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf) whereas hers is a brand new Toshiba (second lowest malfunction rate)

single core processor, only 2.1 GHz (hers was a dual core)

2 GB Ram only, 4 GB is the max supported, and it has a 64-bit OS. Why on earth ship 64-bit OSes that can't support more than 4 GB is beyond me (hers was 3 GB with support for 8 GB)

ATI Radeon HD 4200 (hers was ATI Radeon HD 4250, which is a higher clocked version), which is shared memory only, on a system with only 2 GB.

I would steer far clear of that Compaq given it is recertified (so only 90 warranty) and how bad Compaqs generally are, and how poor it's specs are. Sure it may be able to play "some games" half-decent (depending on your definition of half-decent and if "some games" means nothing that has come out remotely recently), but it is all around a horrible deal.

If you were wondering, I did http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2151046 for my sister's laptop (using the Staples coupon), unfortunately the deal ended yesterday. If money is an issue, I definitely recommend poaching slickdeals until something good and cheap pops up. Make sure to check the Hot Deals forum rather than just watching the front page.

Not sure what you're talking about with the limitation there, Home Premium supports a max of 16 GB, the limitation is due to the laptop itself. It's probably only got 1 RAM slot. Even IF you were correct about it being the OS though, the point would be to standardize use of 64-bit and phase out 32-bit, which is still sound.

While I agree that there are better deals, I find the Compaq bashing odd. I've seen a lot of people say they're terrible, but my family has used lots of Compaqs, gotten very good deals and they all lasted a long time. Only one died, and that one was absolutely abused (by me, heh). Survived a five foot drop while running onto the top, though.

The laptop can't support more than 4 GB of RAM due to the motherboard limiting it to 2x2GB. That is what I am saying. I am well aware of the memory limits on all versions of Windows. What I am saying is why ship PCs with 64-bit OSes when they (the PCs) can't support more than 4 GB of RAM? It is dumb and something I see all to frequently. In such cases you might as well go with the higher compatibility that 32-bit OSes offer, since the main advantage of a 64-bit OS is eliminated by the restrictions of the motherboard.


It's not odd, it is a statistical fact that HPs and Compaqs have amongst the highest malfunction and failure rates of all laptops. Check the PDF I posted.

I apologize for the misunderstanding, you phrased it in a way that really made it sound like the OS. "64-bit OSes that can't support more than 4 GB is beyond me" rather than saying "64-bit OSes on motherboards that can't support etc...". Personally I've had no compatibility issues using a 64-bit OS, though I don't use a great amount of exotic business software. But, if everyone gets on 64-bit, the compatibility issues will get ironed out eventually.



Statistical yes, but from my perspective, it doesn't make it less odd considering that none of my family's Compaqs have ever had a problem, no one I personally know with a Compaq has had a problem, and up till recently when HP started slowly killing them off, they were all I recommended to people looking for laptops. *shrug* Just perspective, not math. I wasn't telling them to get the laptop, there's definitely better deals, just remarking on that.

Yeah, looking at it now, I can see how that could have easily been misread.

64-bit compatibility will never be fully worked out, though. Windows dropped support for 16-bit applications, and legacy hardware will never get 64-bit drivers released. The only thing that will happen is time will pass, people will replace the hardware without 32-bit drivers naturally, and companies using it will be forced to pay out the butt to upgrade their hardware. Legacy software is another issue, and there already is a growing market for rewriting legacy software for 64-bit, which I suspect will only continue to grow. Still, I don't expect to see Windows be only 64-bit for at least 2 releases (the one after the one after Windows 7) unless there is another long period between Windows 7 and Windows 7 + 1 like there was with XP and Vista, then I could see 7 + 1 being 64-bit only.


Until about 2004/2005 I would be inclined to also recommend Compaq. HP bought them in 2002, and around 2004 they started being cheaper HPs with equally bad heat issues It's a shame, I liked them in the way I liked eMachines before Gateway (and later Acer) purchased them. Now eMachines have too much bloatware

Note: this is only for their notebook sector I am talking about here, not Compaq as a whole.

I've got two monitors being used on one computer right now, does anyone know how I can change the background on only one?

http://www.displayfusion.com/ is the current favorite free app for multiple monitor customization

Thanks Defron ^_^

Better than Multimon, if one has already bought it?

The free version of multimon and the free version of DisplayFusion both bring different things to the table. I'd say the pay version of DisplayFusion is definitely better than the pay version of multimon, but a person using the pay version of multimon will still get benefits from using the free version of DisplayFusion. so I say it is still worth checking out.

Thanks DEFRON. Oh and by some game I mean games that don't require insane specs, like crysis 2 or anything like that. If you guys find a laptop under 400$
that can play games that don't require any high specs or anything, let me know. Oh and I was planning on getting that compaq for christmas, just so you know, but probably won't now.

I'm thinking about buying a new monitor, and I wanted to know what the Tech Thread thinks of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254048. Is it a good deal? Could I do better?

So, I'm going to add lubricant to my video card's fan. Ball bearing's driving me nuts. Any idea what lubricant I should use?

So I had to order a replacement ac adapter for my laptop and I just received but thought it odd it was not grounded. Should I return it and find one that is or it it not a big deal?

I still find this to be a better built monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Known to be excellent for gaming.


Air tool lubricant or sewing machine oil works alright. Did this a while ago for case fans and found this thread to be useful:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8508&highlight=wd40


Grounded? Not really following? I figure AC adapters just plug into the wall and that's it. Are you saying it's missing a receptacle plug?


New thread:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1108118-the-community-tech-thread-no-91/