The Sphere
General Garbage => Tropical Paradise of Hard Shelled Fruits => Topic started by: B E C K on Dec 30, 2014, 01:49:20 PM
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...whenever he comes by in case he can shed some light on this. I have no idea what's going on with the memory in this computer. I kept getting low memory warnings when I go about my business. Computer's only a week old. :blink:
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Every time I try to access BIOS, I get this "thing". It just doesn't look right.
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Looks like the thing is reserving half your memory for something...possibly built-in video acceleration. That'll be buried in the BIOS settings, so rather than go through that hassle I'd recommend trying this first: go to the Start Screen (or menu, if you have Classic Shell or some other Start Button replacement installed), type "msconfig" in the search box, and hit enter. In the MS Config window, click on the Boot tab, and then "Advanced Options" button. Make sure the Maximum Memory box is unchecked. If it isn't, uncheck it, reboot, and chell your memory again. Hopefully that'll fix it. Other than that, I would recommend seeing what BIOS settings you can play with...probably under that "Advanced" selection.
It's also possible there's no paging file, or one that continually changes size. If the machine is actually using all your memory it may be clogging up or constantly resizing the page file. You can chell that by going to Advanced System Settings (see the second attached picture, left side, last option), then under Performance choose Settings, then under the Advanced tab choose Change. This screen will tell you. On your main drive make the custom size something like 2048 for both initial and maximum. It can be up to two-thirds of your total RAM, but it shouldn't need more than 2GB. That will speed things up a bit on drive access. It's a good general purpose change everyone should make for starters.
Also, being that it's a new PC, have you run PC Decrapifier (http://pcdecrapifier.com/) yet? If not, try it, and get rid of the junk that's pre-installed.
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Hey, thanks for replying.
Firstly, Max Memory. That does appear to already be unchecked.
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Second, for the BIOS settings, I'm not certain what I would chell or uncheck. One suggestion had to do with remapping memory or something but I don't see any option remotely like that in this Utility Manager thingy.
In Advanced I have:
Beep Sound ON
Sleep and Charge DISABLED
Sys ON CDP Charge Mode ENABLED
Change Boot Order
System Config
And under System Config I have:
Built-in LAN ENABLED
Web Camera ENABLED
--Boot Mode UEFI Boot-- <<-- it's greyed out
Power On Display AUTO-SELECTED
Function Keys
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And as extra credit, here's Power Management:
Wake-up on LAN DISABLED
Wake on Keyboard DISABLED
Critical Battery Wake-up ENABLED
Panel Open Power On DISABLED
Power on by AC DISABLED
Dynamic CPU Frequency Mode DYNAMIC SWITCH (other option is ALWAYS LOW)
Sata Interface Setting PERFORMANCE (other option is BATTERY LIFE)
Internal USB 3.0 Controller ENABLED
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Thirdly, I know I've seen a paging file somewhere so I know it's making one but I didn't consider it changing size. So I'll look into that and the associated settings tomorrow. And I'll also look into running that Decrapifier. Thanks again. I really hope this is a software thing.
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I noticed that you had several instances of Chrome running on the machine. Have you noticed it happening while running Chrome in particular? If so, try another browser and see if you have those problems...it might be worth uninstalling it completely and reinstalling it to see if it helps. And make sure it's the most up-to-date version.
Try checking on that swap/paging file to see if that helps. Short of that, I'd say call Toshiba. It's possible that a marginal stick of memory was installed in the motherboard.
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My health is still not ideal, so I'm going to put this off a tad. I'll probably call Toshiba next week about it. When I actually have a voice to speak to them with.
As for Chrome, I tend to use it with multiple tabs running. That's the only thing I can think of because I don't usually have actually multiple instances running. How odd. I wonder what that HostApp thingy is.
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Chrome runs an instance for each tab.
Maybe some extensions get their own instance as well. Wouldn't surprise me.
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Didn't know that. Eep.
Here's an update on what's going on:
Anyway, I ended up having to send the computer in. I got an email with a link to fill in immediately after my phone call on the Monday before last and got a box Thursday. I packed it up and dropped it off for pickup an hour later and I just got it back today. I don't know what they did exactly, but I'm thinking they just replaced the RAM and called it a day. So I checked the Memory under Task Manager and it read using out of 7.1 something-something which is great. And then I realized the screen would not dim for me no matter what I fucking did.
Any computer I use, I have to dim the screen. I researched the problem a bit and just got all the usual "fixes" that I already tried anyway. The only thing suggested that I hadn't already done was try and roll back the driver. Following the steps on the page I got that solution from, it mentions other drivers listing but I don't get a list. So I'm not going to waste anymore time and decide to call support again. They really have no solution and want me to send it back in and now we repeat. I was supposed to get an email w/ my confirmation and a link and I still haven't gotten anything. I'll give it a couple of hours and call back. Real fricken annoyed with Toshiba right now.
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I had the same problem with HP with my old laptop from 2005. After sending it in three times, they finally replaced the whole motherboard...and none of the control keys over the keyboard worked thereafter. There may be a software brightness control that you can use.
http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Video-Display/L750D-ST6NX1-Screen-Brightness-Will-Not-Change/td-p/275345
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I sent it back to them so they're working on it right now. Somewhere in Indiana or something. Seems to be taking them longer than the last repair too, which is interesting. At least the Fedex dude was amused with everything. Having to deliver an empty box here twice and all.
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I got it back a couple of days ago. Apparently, they needed to order parts and it took an extra ten days or something. I fired it up a few minutes ago and the display works and the 8GB of RAM seem to be read by the system so it appears to be fixed. It wouldn't let me connect my Outlook account though. I don't know how much that matters yet. Does it need to be associated? Because I kinda didn't want to make one in the first place.
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I hate the whole thing about setting up an account. I just want the computer to compute. My laptop has a different account than my desktop purely because I was in a hurry and forgot the info...heck, I still don't know it, nor do I care. I thought I had to use my old Hotmail or create a new one, and on the laptop I realized I could use my regular email, so I don't remember what I used for the desktop anymore. Maybe my Gmail? I use that for my Android and Chrome stuff. It's like what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino...elephino, right?
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Hey, hold up, we can use any email? *checks* Oh, I didn't even notice. I'll be damned. I just made a new Outlook one. Well, I'm glad I didn't notice in any case. I likely would've used the same password as my email account's and due to my new comp having to be handled for repairs twice, that means I would've had to change the password twice. Because they wanted my password everytime I sent it in. "But we'll keep it safe, blah blah blah." HAHAHAha... NO. :mad:
I mean, I get the concept. I even admire it. I know there's people that want all their shit connected and it makes their lives so much easier. Your computer's connected to your email, backs itself up to a cloud, customizes your apps and whatever. But all that shit makes me uneasy.
So right now my new comp's using a local account. But I recall Merla had a local account when she first got her comp and was later forced to associate with an email. I don't remember the reason or if she could've just done some sort of cheat or workaround at the time. Reading into it a bit, it seems it's possible to get the use I want out of my comp with just a local account. Which is what I'm happiest with. I mean, it's up to me to back up my own shit. And if I want a cloud, then I'll find the one I want and back up whatever I would actually want them to have. Maybe with pictures of my cats and some music? (http://www.rabbitinasuit.com/emoticons/R-T/shrug2.gif)
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Ha ha, so I basically use the new comp as a tv now. The mouse pad is so fucking awful. Unlike my old Toshi, it doesn't have nice buttons to click. Instead, the mouse functions are all on one smooth pad. I really have to press hard to get it to register my clicks, which is uber shitty. Yeah, I can just add a mouse through the USB port, I know, but it still diminishes the device imo because I wanted to just be able to grab it and use it w/o plugging other crap into it. But at least it's been working. And it does have nice picture and sound. I had bought my mom a Toshiba a couple of x-mases back that I use a lot now and while I like the overall functionality of that one better, there's no denying the sound quality on it is balls.
Now, is this the right dude: http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download ??
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That's the one.
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The saga of the laptop continues. Can you fucking believe it? I closed the lid so I could move it to another room and now several keys don't work. AT ALL. I have no Rs or Ys. This bullshit seals it: this computer is a piece of junk.
If anyone has laptop recommendations this may be a good time. The tech support dude had me do the damn reset thing again in hopes that might fix it and nada. I'm so sick of this damn thing and tired of having to ship it out for repairs. I'm going to speak with Toshiba's customer relations dept tomorrow to see if I can finagle a refund due to all of these problems. Even if they deny me and I'm stuck with this damn paperweight, I'll need to buy a new one eventually that I can actually use as a laptop and not as an app-riddled mini-television.
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So support had me reset the damn thing and it was no dice. I knew it wouldn't work. I gave support a call and they wanted me to sent it in for repairs again. Long story short, my ticket or case or whatever has been escalated and I should be getting a call from some order desk department next week to discuss getting a replacement. Which I don't want. Because I've wasted enough fucking time on this. But I know this type of thing can be a process so step by step.
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Oh, and worst offense of all: Yesterday, I had done all of this work on my story and it was erased because of this damn issue. Argh. This attachment appropriate reflects my rage.
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I won't be buying a Toshiba anytime soon.
I would recommend Lenovo as I love mine, but they just had a spyware scandal with their laptops.
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Y'all saw the new gold mac air? mamma needs it. i have a silver one so i need the new one so it can match my phone :3
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What all do you do with your laptop, Beck?
Because Chromebooks are super nice if you mainly just use shit on the Internet.
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I won't be buying a Toshiba anytime soon.
I would recommend Lenovo as I love mine, but they just had a spyware scandal with their laptops.
Aw, and I was looking into Lenovo. Didn't hear about the spyware thingy. I like my old Toshiba, but yeah, stay away from the Satellite L50D-B. (That's my crapbox.)
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What all do you do with your laptop, Beck?
Because Chromebooks are super nice if you mainly just use shit on the Internet.
I write, listen to music, look at pictures, watch tv and sometimes play a game or two but nothing that takes a huge amount of room.
I'm looking for good speakers and picture. I don't want to have to buy different speakers and have to plug them in. I listen right off my comp. Crapbox had some really nice Skullcandy speakers. My old Toshiba has Harman/Kardon speakers which are also quite nice.
I'm looking for a screen at least 15" or bigger. I need mouse buttons. I didn't know that was a need, but it apparently is because smooth pads you tap are now in vogue and I've realized hate them. I want space to store stuff. I have an external drive but I still want some space. Maybe 750GB to a TB. In that neighborhood. I want the computer to have user upgradeable battery and RAM. Crapbox had its shit sealed off. I guess that's also in vogue now. I want more than 4 GB of RAM. So if it's at 4, I better be able to buy more RAM and upgrade it. If I can't upgrade it myself, then it needs to have at least 8 GB of RAM. Price needs to be reasonable. (So no Macs, ha ha.)
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Okay, yeah, and today I spoke with a duder named John. He began to go through the replacement process. And I'm all, "dude, no, none of this shite, please. I don't want another crapbox, I want my money back." And he's all, "But we'll send you a brand new one fresh out of the box." And I'm all, "this one was a brand new one fresh out of the box and needed the motherboard assembly replaced twice. Look, John, my man. I love Toshiba products. I bought this comp from you guys and gave you a chance to fix it because I was being a loyal Toshiba customer. Do not abuse my goodwill any further. This thing's junk. Refund me." And he's all, "Well, it'll have to be pro-rated because you had our piece of crap since December." And I said, "And about two of the three months I've had it, it was in Toshiba's possession, non-functional, or in transit. So you better prorate that shit with that in mind." And he's all, "We'll prorate it a month. Sorry, no taxes or shipping charges refunded." And I'm all, "Whatev. Deal." So he forwarded my original order confirmation to the finance desk and will update me further on what they say about it.
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Re: Lenovo, the laptops that had the spyware were very limited in distribution, and after it came to light they removed the offending machines from stores, so you shouldn't have any problems if you get one. Mine's quite nice, but they're pricier than a lot of brands as they tend to be Mac-like in the quality department.
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What all do you do with your laptop, Beck?
Because Chromebooks are super nice if you mainly just use shit on the Internet.
I write, listen to music, look at pictures, watch tv and sometimes play a game or two but nothing that takes a huge amount of room.
I'm looking for good speakers and picture. I don't want to have to buy different speakers and have to plug them in. I listen right off my comp. Crapbox had some really nice Skullcandy speakers. My old Toshiba has Harman/Kardon speakers which are also quite nice.
I'm looking for a screen at least 15" or bigger. I need mouse buttons.
Hmm, I haven't seen a chromebook with buttons on the trackpad. The ones I've used are incredibly responsive but who knows how it will be for you. Gaming is an issue. Not sure how good the speakers on most of them are, I'm usually using my Chromecast when I play something on mine but the SO really enjoys using hers, she's watching videos and listening to music all the time.
Lenova ain't bad, that's true.
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Chromebooks don't have windows, though. They have ChromeOS, which is a glorified Android OS for a notebook, and only runs google apps. No windows app will run on a chromebook without serious hacking. I've seen a lot of people buy one and hack it and put linux on it.
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Yeah, it's actually really easy to do the Linux environment with Crouton which means you have Wine which means you have access to some Windows apps. Crouton even makes it so you don't have to dual-boot. It's all in one environment. Gaming is definitely the stickler- though you have Linux and there's a lot more games available there than there once was. The Chrome web store does have an assortment of games as well but nothing that's going to blow your mind.
But not getting Windows apps only matters if the Windows apps you want are impossible to replace or if they have a function that alternatives don't. That would certainly be true of some games and certain advanced features of MS Office (seriously not like stuff every day Excel users would play with, crazy advanced stuff). I haven't played with Office 365 so some of those less widely implemented features might be available there anyway (and wouldn't even require Crouton or Crubuntu).
And the architecture is a good bit different than Android. If it was actually Android I'd be happier because that would mean Android apps are easy to use there. They aren't until recently with App Runtime for Chrome (which I believe will also eventually work in your standard Chrome on other OSes).
So, yeah, they don't run Windows apps but just saying that definitely oversimplifies things.
My girlfriend has been using one for a year now and every time I bring up Crouton she's like, "Why, I don't even need that."
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I'm yanking my hard drive tonight! Yeah...sexy.
Actually I'm pulling the hard drive out of my old laptop that just died the other day because I got all kinds of files on there that are the only copies and I want them back. Taking the HD to work with me were they have a dock and I'm going to try to transfer them over.
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Update in the saga of my crapbook... I finally got a Fedex label to print off, packed up the computer and its cables in the original packaging which I still had, and sent it off today. Let's see how prompt they are with my refund. I've already spent the money I haven't gotten back yet anyway. On vet bills. Boo hoo. But at least my animals are healthy.
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Update in the saga of my crapbook... I finally got a Fedex label to print off, packed up the computer and its cables in the original packaging which I still had, and sent it off today. Let's see how prompt they are with my refund. I've already spent the money I haven't gotten back yet anyway. On vet bills. Boo hoo. But at least my animals are healthy.
How likely do you think it will be that they'll ship you another one in a week and say, "What refund." Oh, that would be awful.
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Pffft, omg, they're gonna send me a prepaid card. What the shit.
Normally you will receive the refund, within 3-4weeks starting today. But don't worry it was already completed in our end it will be shipped via USPS.
Once you receive the debit card / visa this are the steps on how will you activate the card
*The prepaid debt card can be used anywhere in the world, where Visa is accepted.
*The prepaid debit card will expire after 6months. we will not reissued if you called in after 6months.
*The card must be activated either online or by phone before usage.
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Pffft, omg, they're gonna send me a prepaid card. What the shit.
Normally you will receive the refund, within 3-4weeks starting today. But don't worry it was already completed in our end it will be shipped via USPS.
Once you receive the debit card / visa this are the steps on how will you activate the card
*The prepaid debt card can be used anywhere in the world, where Visa is accepted.
*The prepaid debit card will expire after 6months. we will not reissued if you called in after 6months.
*The card must be activated either online or by phone before usage.
This is pretty typical these days, except for the bullshit 6 month expiration. What the shit is that about?
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Considering I bought the thing with a credit card, I don't see why they can't just credit back my damn card. It's like they're trying to steal your money or something. Ugh. Heinous.
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USE IT REAL QUICK LIKE!
I imagine they get some kind of discount when buying these bullshit cards.
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Probably. Like when I did my taxes online. It was all "git ur reeefund on a gift card and weeeeel give you money!" How many people did that and then didn't use the gift cards. I bet those expire, too. Disgusting.
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Can you take it to an ATM and withdraw every dime off it? I have no idea how prepaid cards work....
Granted, I thought of this because that's what I did when I pulled everything that was left on my unemployment benefit debit card when I got a job since I didn't know how long it'd stay on there afterwards. Come to think of it, I believe I bought my first gun with the proceeds....
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Can you take it to an ATM and withdraw every dime off it? I have no idea how prepaid cards work....
Granted, I thought of this because that's what I did when I pulled everything that was left on my unemployment benefit debit card when I got a job since I didn't know how long it'd stay on there afterwards. Come to think of it, I believe I bought my first gun with the proceeds....
Probably not. I think there's some intricate nonsense with these things perhaps including debt accrued so there's not real money there or some shit like that.
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Update on the original topic: I still haven't gotten the damn prepaid card yet. I gave Toshiba a call and a case manager--that's what they call the people that handle coordinating the refunds, like I'm a battered child stuck in the government system or something--told me not to worry as it has been processed but then added that they would look into getting it expedited. So if it's been processed already, how would you expedite it? Something tells me it was approved but someone dropped the ball on getting it sent out to me. Nice, Toshiba. Nice. They're supposed to give me a follow-up phone call about this. Meh, we'll see.
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Update on the original topic: I still haven't gotten the damn prepaid card yet. I gave Toshiba a call and a case manager--that's what they call the people that handle coordinating the refunds, like I'm a battered child stuck in the government system or something--told me not to worry as it has been processed but then added that they would look into getting it expedited. So if it's been processed already, how would you expedite it? Something tells me it was approved but someone dropped the ball on getting it sent out to me. Nice, Toshiba. Nice. They're supposed to give me a follow-up phone call about this. Meh, we'll see.
They probably wait a month before printing the card, then a week before putting it an envelop, a few more days and they put an address on it, and then a fortnight later they mail it.
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I wouldn't be surprised if they pony-express it.
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Final update, I suppose. I never got a follow up phone call but my original case manager dude emailed me about it. He sd he would follow up with another email about when I should get the card but he never did. I then got my card about a week ago. It had to be activated by phone or through a website before I could use it. I went to the website and activated it. When I did, it shows me a screen with all transaction activity for the card. The card was loaded by Toshiba around the last week of May. For a refund approved in late March. Nice going, Toshiba. You dock off $100 for me having your defective computer for a month and then enjoy an interest-free loan on my money for, like, two months.
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Hokey gosh dang.
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I will assume that this means you will be buying another Toshiba post-haste, then. I mean, you got their money...that means everything's chill, right?
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I've already been spending the refund money on groceries. :blink:
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Food! What the hell do you need that for?
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Food, that's a kind of solid beer isn't it?
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It's quite similar.
Oh, yeah, the other day I finally maxed out the card on part of a tank of gas. The saga ends, I guess. But I wasn't gonna let Toshi-chan keep my dinero by being daft enough to let the card expire in November, so I spent that puppy.
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It's quite similar.
Oh, yeah, the other day I finally maxed out the card on part of a tank of gas. The saga ends, I guess. But I wasn't gonna let Toshi-chan keep my dinero by being daft enough to let the card expire in November, so I spent that puppy.
You show 'em girl!
Talking about gas... So on highways there are people that sell gas in bottles (only motorcycles buy it). Of course sometimes I forget to put gas in mine so I end up having to buy it from these people instead of the gas station. Well I just realised that when I buy it from these fuckers my motorcycle consumes it faster, so that means they probably dilute that shit with water or something. Fucking scammers. This whole country is a scam.
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Where are you at right now? Vietnam?
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It's hard to keep up. First it was Peru or whatever, then Japan, then Germany, then Diddy Wah.
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I'm soooo jealous of her going to Diddy Wah. I hear it's really nice over there.
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It's hard to keep up. First it was Peru or whatever, then Japan, then Germany, then Diddy Wah.
I haven't lived in Peru since January 2001 ( i know because i left one month after i graduated high school) and haven't even visited since 2008.
Yes I live in Vietnam now :-/
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Weren't you there before?
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Weren't you there before?
If by "there" you mean Vietnam yes Ive been here for almost 2 years already.
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You move around way too much for us to keep track of
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You move around way too much for us to keep track of
I am hoping to go back to Europe next ;)
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It's quite similar.
Oh, yeah, the other day I finally maxed out the card on part of a tank of gas. The saga ends, I guess. But I wasn't gonna let Toshi-chan keep my dinero by being daft enough to let the card expire in November, so I spent that puppy.
Wait gas...you finally take the DL plunge? Public transit people too smelly? Paying for Merla's gas to haul you around?
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Nah, Schmoo's been unemployed so she's my full-time taxi now and I pay for the gas.
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Nah, Schmoo's been unemployed so she's my full-time taxi now and I pay for the gas.
She's your driver now. Call her Perkins
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Nah, Schmoo's been unemployed so she's my full-time taxi now and I pay for the gas.
My sister-in-law's mother makes a desert she calls Schmoo. It's cake layered with pudding and whipped cream. As I ate it I thought about your mother, whom I've never met and know nothing about.
It was all very abstract.
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I'm just trying to figure out where Schmoo's chocolate cake factors into all of this.
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It can factor right into mah belleh!
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Ha Ha...Joe is gonna eat your mom.
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Haven't you heard about the hot new anime where a sentient chocolate cake poops out a little girl who possesses magical powers?
Choko Keiki Purinsesu B E C K
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Listen I like where this is going. Here is my card. Have your people call my people. We'll do lunch. I think we can make this happen.