The grumpy thread

[dollywobbler]

HP = HoPeless. This HP laptop keeps developing wi-fi problems. It just seems to lose the wi-fi card. Thankfully, it usually comes back with a reboot but it's bloody irritating and gives that feeling we often get with a shite car - nervously awaiting a sudden and complete failure. My previous HP laptop (this is my wife's that I've commandeered!) suffered sudden and complete motherboard AND hard drive failure. My wife's now using an elderly Toshiba which seems like a small-engined Toyota Corolla. Just keeps going but isn't very quick.

[Richard]

My HP all-in-one refused to scan when it was attached to the PC, though it would print happily enough. I eventually fixed it by uninstalling, deleting every reference to HP from the Registry and reinstalling.

[ashmicro]

HMG in NI is no longer buying HP non-server stuff (or Dell). Quality is A BIT SHIT, many aspects being outsourced. I set up a brand new HP lappy for my mate's wee girl on XMAS Eve. Flimsy as fuck, two different manufacturers on the SODIMMs! Lots of HMG here use Tosh or Fujitsu-Siemens (now FDS), as do I for my laptop, although I get 40% discount on gear as ex-crew.

 

Acer stuff has gone up and up in quality, and don't come preloaded with nearly so much interface branding over Windows as even 2 years ago. eMachines is an Acer brand. Sony Vaio stuff, you're taking a chance, good and bad production runs.

 

Epson printers: cheap ink FTW, and pretty sturdy.

[quicksilver]

seems that HP is a computershite brand and the quality is going downhill fast. I work in IT so I've tried all the obvious things plus some that aren't so obvious and there's just no way round it, the thing has a mind of its own. All they ever say for any problem is to reinstall the printer driver which does sod all to help.

[ashmicro]

I know what you mean, been in IT 16 years myself. You see lots of ill-thought out stuff, but it makes you appreciate the good stuff (Cisco gear for example) even more.

 

 

Have you tried turning the printer off and on again?

[quicksilver]

Have you tried turning the printer off and on again?

That's the root of the problem, if I could leave it on all the time it would possibly work ok. I hate printers, they are hideous contemptible devices that take great delight in making simple jobs difficult. If the ones at work weren't too heavy to lift I'd have happily thrown them out of the window several times.

[Captain Mainwaring]

People who use the rolleyes smiley too much should be drowned.

[outlaw118]

RE: Printers.

 

Have you tried hammering a ............slump.......drool......

[Felly Magic]

I had an Epsom printer that went ronnied quite early on through lack of use, and when using pattern carts, would never print right.

[ashmicro]

^^ Here's a tip from an IT Pro - turn it on for an hour every now and again. You don't need to print anything. Ink goes to stage 1 of the heat cycle ("Prime Pens" mode), in case you do want to print. Keeps it fluid. You've been very unlucky if pattern carts fucked your printer. I've never had an issue, and I fit a LOT of them.

 

Try this guy (Darren). Top Qual. http://www.hornseainkjets.co.uk

[chaseracer]

http://itcouldbeloopus.blogspot.com/2012/01/last-hurrah-for-fss.html

 

Don't laugh.

Very, very good...

[Negative Creep]

To the resident IT bods - what brands would you recommend in general?

[Craig the Princess]

People who use the rolleyes smiley too much should be drowned.

[ashmicro]

To the resident IT bods - what brands would you recommend in general?

 

 

Printers?

[Negative Creep]

Printers and PC stuff in general. My mega shite desktop needs to be retired, although not for a few months

[ashmicro]

Printers: colour ink, low volume: Epson all the way. Cheapo ink : Pro-jet (eBay, comes in orange boxes)

 

laser (monochrome) HP (yes!) or Samsung. Avoid : Brother. Bloomberg reported today that Kodak are circling the drain. Lexmark ink is more expensive than the printer in many cases, likewise Canon.

 

Desktop PC. VERY dependent on what you want it to do. Personally, I use an Alienware Area 52 ALX II, as I need a lot of grunt. Alienware is owned by Dell, but the Alienware systems are hand built and mine has a guarantee for as long as I own it.

 

Min spec these days in the real world should be roughly Core2Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz) 4GB RAM. Avoid nVidia graphics as there are issues with nVidia not keeping up properly with driver compatibility, and have been since Longhorn (Vista dev. name)

 

500GB hard disk. The actual "make" is relatively unimportant.

 

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-h4 ... 7-pdt.html is very decent. Monitors, even big ones, are dirt cheap these days.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Well, if you are buying a desktop it's probably better to just mix and match various bits.

 

As for printers, the advice I had been given here is "either buy the cheapest one you can find and treat it as disposable, or spend a couple of hundred quid on something decent", and I can't find a reason to fault the logic in that.

[myglaren]

I bought a pair of HP laptops nearly seven years ago and took them back two days later, both cabbaged in different ways (different models)

Swapped them for the Toshiba's that I had gone for but were out of stock.

 

Both still going fine, used daily (using one now).

 

My son and son-in-law both bought HP laptops at the same time. Nine years ago. SIL's died a couple of years ago and son's is on a shelf here awaiting repairs, DC input broken on motherboard. Will get round to it one day. He replaced it with a Dell that he thought was great until he bought an Acer for his girlfriend's parents for Xmas and realised that the Dell wasn't that hot after all.

[CIH]

I got a refurbed Toshiba Satellitre SomethingOrOther laptop from Argos outlet on ebay for £200. Modern enough for me and 12 month warranty. I scarcely use it for more than web browsing, though.

[quicksilver]

Watch out for Nvidia graphics on laptops, there was one type of chip quite commonly used and they lied about the heat output on the spec sheet so the heatsinks aren't up to the job. Result: after a while, the chip desolders itself and your display goes blank. Some manufacturers glue the damn things down solid so you can't even reflow the solder underneath.

[ashmicro]

Aah the imfamous NV260. Class action happened on that in the US. And you're right, they lied their arses off!

[AnthonyG]

I have a 2005 Toshiba laptop which still runs fine, and also a new Asus netbook which is fine for net browsing, although it has a fairly pathetic 1GB.

[Negative Creep]

I think my PC is about 6-7 years old now PHEAR THE POWAH of its 1.8ghz processor, 1gb of RAM and 80gb hard drive. However it steadfastly refuses to die, and can't quite afford a replacement yet. Presumably can't be long before XP support starts to die either

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'd say that 1.8ghz is fine for 99% of people who don't do CAD/video editing/the latest shoot-em-up. Get yourself a bit of extra RAM and Bob's your uncle.

[Negative Creep]

Not enough to play Starcraft 2 though. Plus the sound card is buggered, and since it's integrated with the motherboard i've never bothered replacing it

[greengartside]

I'm pissed off because I'm in serious financial difficulty.

 

SWMBO lost her job a couple of months ago but has recently started a new one. In the meantime I have had to pay her share of the rent, council tax, water etc. and its left me penniless. I owe a lot of things and I've been threatened with credit rating shit and debt collectors. I don't have any savings and neither does the other half. I have tried speaking to my local branch of the bank but they are just being idiots and messing me about. I don't want to get a payday loan as they do more harm than good. I really don't know who to turn to as I feel I'm losing control of my life. I fucking hate not having any money.

[M'coli]

^^^Do you have a local credit union that you could go to, or have you tried them already?

[greengartside]

^^^Do you have a local credit union that you could go to, or have you tried them already?

 

What's a credit union, pardon my ignorance?

[M'coli]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_union

This explains it far better than I can.

 

Edit: moneysupermarket lists credit unions by region.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/ ... s/0004691/

[DSdriver]

First rule of Banking: Only lend money to people who don't actually need it.

Have you asked your own employers if they will give you a sub?

It is good that you are asking advice, don't just bury your head in the sand like I did, it just gets very messy. Make a list of all the people you owe money to and pay a token amount to each with a letter explaining your reason, asking them to be patient and with a plan for future payments. That way you are showing them that you have good intentions. If they then give you grief tell them they are going to the bottom of the list.