posted on October 25, 2001 07:32:28 PM new
I'm gearing up for holiday sales on eBay after taking the summer off. Was getting tired of having resource problems when running IE, PaintShop Pro, and Front Page all at the same time, so today I took the ol' tower in and had a bunch of RAM and a faster chip put in.
My question -- the tech was unable to get the CPU fan to work off of the motherboard power connection -- said the fan on the original chip wasn't working either, so he hooked it up (via a little adapter) directly to the power supply. Is this an OK move? Is there any reason one would not want to do this?
Thanks in advance! Now, off to write my first ad of the season!
--signed slightly paranoid about cheap tech service
posted on October 25, 2001 07:43:12 PM new
"The olden days about 3 years ago." Yep I know what you mean. That's about when this computer was built! Must be 75 human years...
posted on October 25, 2001 07:44:29 PM new
That work fine. The only reson to you the cpu conector to use the mother boards dianostic S/W to inform you if it quits before you fry the CPU. most people don't install it.
posted on October 25, 2001 08:30:16 PM new
geo. and kathy -- actually, having the software warning sounds like a good idea to me. What might have caused the MB connection to stop working?
posted on October 25, 2001 08:58:20 PM new
I'm going to post another question here, since it sounds like there are some techies out there who can help.
I use PaintShop Pro to edit all of my eBay images. If I download the camera directly into the program (as opposed to downloading to the hard drive), the images start opening up on my screen one after the other, and after 3 pics or so, the program freezes. I have gotten around this by downloading to the hard drive instead. But I'd rather download to the program and then close-but-not-save the pics that are ugly or otherwise not usable for eBay.
Is this a RAM problem, a video memory problem, or some other problem all together? (Your best guess please). I've been working with 64MB RAM (Win95), but today upgraded to 192. Haven't had a chance to take any new pics to check it out.
posted on October 25, 2001 09:06:44 PM new
Islander: Like geowishart said, most people don't use the diagnostic software, because it never really worked well. Nasty and invasive stuff that causes more problems than it cures - you won't see it on a Dell computer or any decent one.
The best way to tell if your fans aren't working is that your computer seems to reboot for no reason. If you put your hand at the back of the power supply and don't feel air movement, or if you touch the case and get burnt, check the fan.
Anyone with a computer that is 3 years old or more may very well have a fan out. The best way to fix it is a bandaid approach like what your tech did, becausse this computer is old and not worth anything.
posted on October 25, 2001 09:28:55 PM new
Kathy -- Appreciate the extra info (especially the part about the SW causing more problems than it solved!
Please take care with the phrase "not worth anything" -- my computer (which I had built to my specs) may not be worth anything on the open market, but it's worth a ton to me! Certainly don't have the money to go out and buy a new one, not even a cheapie, so I need to take good care of this one.
posted on October 25, 2001 09:43:04 PM new
Answer to the next question:It's both a memory, or lack of problem and win 95. Windows 98 can manage memory better. I use Paint Shop Pro also.(verson 5. I down load all my pictures to a scratch directory first. Then use the "Thumb Nail viewer" to check out the ones I will keep. lighten and resize them, then move them to a ebay directory. If you are downloading via serial port,I know it can be slow, but paint shop deals with it better, if you don't have to have all those windows open at the same time.
posted on October 26, 2001 03:46:15 AM new
Islander...where are the picture files you are trying to edit? Are they still on the camera or are they on a floppy disk?
It is always best to have files (no matter what kind) saved directly on the hard drive before opening, editing, and saving. Working from a floppy, zip drive, network drive, etc, can very likely cause problems. You can get lock ups, corrupted files, and all sorts of troubles.
Make a Temporary folder to put your pictures in first, then open them from there, and do your editing. Save them to the Final folder, then go delete the unwanted ones.
posted on October 26, 2001 09:46:52 AM new
Hi Meya -- All of the suggestions you make are actually the way I now process the photos. When I moved from Corel to PhotoShop Pro, I lost the ability to open the photos from the camera and its memory card (serial cable connection) directly onto the screen (I'd imagine they were downloading into a temp file) opening up in a cascade fashion onto my monitor screen. I would then edit and save (to the hard drive) the ones I wanted to keep.
PhotoShop is a much more sophisticated program than the Corel program I was using, so the resources needed must be much more. The cascade of windows starts, but freezes up after 2 or 3 are downloaded from the camera.
The advantage of being able to do it that way (directly) is less housekeeping in the long run. I'd just edit the photos I liked (I always end up taking 3 or 4 times more than I actually need)and simply close the ones I don't, without saving them. Poof! off they go. Also didn't end up with a bunch of photos named Image 1, Image 2....Image 50, which I then need to rename. Call me lazy I guess.
