Sulkdodds
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- Joined
- Jul 3, 2003
- Messages
- 18,846
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So I need some help (I'll explain the title later).
My HP laptop has been ****ing me around for a good while. I bought it in January last year and it did everything I wanted it to do, but by that September it had mysteriously degraded, and was no longer able to play Left 4 Dead. I tried various methods of cleaning it up - installing new drivers, cleaning the startup programs, clearing hard drive space, etc, etc (while I'm here I never fully thanked Laivasse for his help in that thread - thank you!). Eventually, stressed and with more important degree-related things to do, I felt forced to accept that my computer had stopped working as it should for no reason at all. It also had a persistent fault that occasionally muffled music or continuous sound for minutes at a time (why I didn't claim on the ****ing warranty at this point I don't know. Probably because it would have taken weeks during which I wouldn't have any computer at all. Still dumb).
By early this year the sound fault seemed certain to be a hardware problem with the on-board sound chip. I say this because a problem that caused regular WoW crashes - sudden lockups, terrifying sound repetitions, then a black screen - turned out to be experienced only by other people who had sound chip faults. Indeed, playing WoW without the sound solved the issue.
Now, however, that fault has migrated to all other situations involving continuous sound. I can't use skype, play music or any videogame without an eventual crash. And a new problem has ensured that I cannot even simply turn off the sound. The laptop now crashes - seemingly from overheating - after an hour or so of strenuous activity, or even less, and that's after I put it up on stilts near the open window and hoovered at its air vents. This has never happened before, and there seems little to be done about it. In retrospect, it's looking like Laivasse might have been right about the graphics card overheating - this might all be linked to all the other hilarious quirks this PC has thrown up.
In my entire life I have probably spent, in total, about a year in possession of a working computer which I can rely on to run new games. Absorb that: I've been a gamer for more than a decade and yet I have almost never been in a position where I can just PLAY WHAT I WANT TO. It feels like never having been kissed. Which is ironic, because people who use computers are supposed to have great luck with their machines and none with girls, not the other way round. So what can I do?
In a few weeks, and with no further effort, I will graduate from university with a pretty good degree. My parents will probably be willing to help me with any purchase I mean to make. So I'd like to ask you all...well, of course, at first, I'd like to ask you all if there is a better way to get what I want without spending £400-500 or more on a new machine. I'd hoped that a reformat might fix the random and mysterious slowdown, but now there's heat problems and the sound chip's just escalated that doesn't look like a possibility. So presuming this particular laptop is a lost cause, I'd like to ask you all about my options.
A friend helpfully suggested building a desktop, but there are two problems. Firstly that for the next two years I will potentially be travelling between the USA and the UK - and through several locations within each - at alarming frequency. Secondly that I want a working computer as soon as possible, and it might take weeks to order all the parts, put it together, get it running, etc, etc. Make no mistake, some day I'm going to build a cheap and brilliant home desktop, but maybe it should be when I feel at leisure to do it, and when I live in one single place. On the other hand, a laptop won't be upgradeable, and, for all I know, might go wrong in the same completely, infuriatingly ineffable way that this one did.
So: what are my options? What's best? And, if I'm going to order a laptop within the next few days and receive it in the mail a few days later, what model would be a good investment? Whatever I do, I'm looking for decent enough gaming capability - I want to play Source games, TF2, Modern Warfare 2 would be an unexpected pelasure - and my budget is preferably around £500, but potentially rather higher.
Thanks in advance <3
PS: I realise there's a gaming laptop thread already, and I've been having a look through it. Just I thought this complex of questions would merit its own thread.
My HP laptop has been ****ing me around for a good while. I bought it in January last year and it did everything I wanted it to do, but by that September it had mysteriously degraded, and was no longer able to play Left 4 Dead. I tried various methods of cleaning it up - installing new drivers, cleaning the startup programs, clearing hard drive space, etc, etc (while I'm here I never fully thanked Laivasse for his help in that thread - thank you!). Eventually, stressed and with more important degree-related things to do, I felt forced to accept that my computer had stopped working as it should for no reason at all. It also had a persistent fault that occasionally muffled music or continuous sound for minutes at a time (why I didn't claim on the ****ing warranty at this point I don't know. Probably because it would have taken weeks during which I wouldn't have any computer at all. Still dumb).
By early this year the sound fault seemed certain to be a hardware problem with the on-board sound chip. I say this because a problem that caused regular WoW crashes - sudden lockups, terrifying sound repetitions, then a black screen - turned out to be experienced only by other people who had sound chip faults. Indeed, playing WoW without the sound solved the issue.
Now, however, that fault has migrated to all other situations involving continuous sound. I can't use skype, play music or any videogame without an eventual crash. And a new problem has ensured that I cannot even simply turn off the sound. The laptop now crashes - seemingly from overheating - after an hour or so of strenuous activity, or even less, and that's after I put it up on stilts near the open window and hoovered at its air vents. This has never happened before, and there seems little to be done about it. In retrospect, it's looking like Laivasse might have been right about the graphics card overheating - this might all be linked to all the other hilarious quirks this PC has thrown up.
In my entire life I have probably spent, in total, about a year in possession of a working computer which I can rely on to run new games. Absorb that: I've been a gamer for more than a decade and yet I have almost never been in a position where I can just PLAY WHAT I WANT TO. It feels like never having been kissed. Which is ironic, because people who use computers are supposed to have great luck with their machines and none with girls, not the other way round. So what can I do?
In a few weeks, and with no further effort, I will graduate from university with a pretty good degree. My parents will probably be willing to help me with any purchase I mean to make. So I'd like to ask you all...well, of course, at first, I'd like to ask you all if there is a better way to get what I want without spending £400-500 or more on a new machine. I'd hoped that a reformat might fix the random and mysterious slowdown, but now there's heat problems and the sound chip's just escalated that doesn't look like a possibility. So presuming this particular laptop is a lost cause, I'd like to ask you all about my options.
A friend helpfully suggested building a desktop, but there are two problems. Firstly that for the next two years I will potentially be travelling between the USA and the UK - and through several locations within each - at alarming frequency. Secondly that I want a working computer as soon as possible, and it might take weeks to order all the parts, put it together, get it running, etc, etc. Make no mistake, some day I'm going to build a cheap and brilliant home desktop, but maybe it should be when I feel at leisure to do it, and when I live in one single place. On the other hand, a laptop won't be upgradeable, and, for all I know, might go wrong in the same completely, infuriatingly ineffable way that this one did.
So: what are my options? What's best? And, if I'm going to order a laptop within the next few days and receive it in the mail a few days later, what model would be a good investment? Whatever I do, I'm looking for decent enough gaming capability - I want to play Source games, TF2, Modern Warfare 2 would be an unexpected pelasure - and my budget is preferably around £500, but potentially rather higher.
Thanks in advance <3
PS: I realise there's a gaming laptop thread already, and I've been having a look through it. Just I thought this complex of questions would merit its own thread.
I dislike this swooshy-shiny aesthetic that seems to be the default. It is disingenuous - this is a computer of the kind I've been using for a decade, not some shiny new sci-fi machine.
