If you can fix it yourself, why not?

Today I had the lovely experience of replacing a system board for a Toshiba M200 Portege tablet PC....it was not pretty.....but I got it done. First time I've ever replaced one on a Toshiba. Replacing parts on a laptop/tablet can be very difficult if you are not careful. The system board part cost was $285 which was paid for by the client.

Funny thing.....that was not even the problem........

After replacing the system board, which by the way took 3 hours, the original issue was still present: No power LEDs were working.

Luckily, we had a couple of other M200s available so I removed the keyboard from one of the others and guess what.....there is a little cable that runs from one side of the system board straight to the LED module. Of course, this cable was MISSING on the one I was attempting to repair. So I "borrowed" the cable from the spare Toshiba for now.

My very long day is over now.....another issue solved.

Benefits of adding more RAM to your PC

RAM or Random Access Memory is a critical component for a computer to run properly. Having not enough RAM can render a computer useless over time due to too many programs or applications being used at the same time. The more applications a person opens, the more RAM is needed to run those applications. Today, most computer manufacturers sell new computers with at least 512MB of RAM. Compared to a few years ago, the minimum amount was 256MB. And before that, the minimum amount was 128MB or even 64MB. The increase is due to the complexity of the software and Operating systems that are being installed on the computer. For example, Windows XP has a bare minimum RAM requirement of 64MB to operate. But according to Microsoft, it is recommended to have 128MB to "increase performance". As for myself currently working in the PC support industry, you really need at least 256-512MB of RAM to get any type of performance out of Windows XP. If not, as soon as you start installing any type of games or database intensive software, the computer will slow down dramatically. Of the people that I support either at work or my personal clients, one of the main issues is not having enough RAM installed.

As another example, if an application uses 128MB of RAM, and the PC only has 128MB installed, that application will do one of two things:

1) Not even launch

2) Will launch, but then the PC will become unstable and eventually lock up.

When a PC runs of out RAM (or its all being used) then the PC will have to find RAM from somewhere else. Usually this means it converts some hard drive space into a term called Virtual RAM. This slows the computer down even more since its using "fake" RAM to try to help the computer run. Then the issue of available hard drive space becomes a factor. If you are low on hard drive space and the PC is attempting to convert some of the space into Virtual RAM, the PC will become even more unstable. You do not want to get to this point because again, the PC will eventually crash or lock up.

Bottom line, you can never have too much RAM installed in your PC. If you can afford it, I recommend purchasing the most amount of RAM that will fit on your PC. Usually these days, most newer PCs will hold 4GB of RAM. And of course, most PCs now come with Windows Vista pre-installed. Windows Vista will not even run with less than 1GB of RAM! So if you plan on upgrading your PC, spend some extra money to increase RAM as far as it will go.

Daylight savings may still affect some PCs.

Its time to spring forward again. Daylight savings time begins this evening (or morning depending on how you see it)

Read all of the information from here at Microsoft's Daylight Savings page.

Windows Vista delayed media player files fixed

For those of you that have Windows Vista....I just fixed something that has been bugging me since I bought my new Dell PC a few months ago....

When you play an audio file (MP3, WMA, WAV) through a link on the web or maybe an email....there is a 5-10 second delay in the file playing.

To fix this do the following:

Go to the Control Panel and open the Sound properties:

Click the box that says: "Disable all Enhancements"
Press OK twice and.....there you go...no more delay in Media player.

(this should work for Vista...not sure if there is an issue in XP)

UPS guy conclusion

The UPS guy brought his PC to me today and I was able to reinstall Windows XP & Office 2000....yeah, I know, Office 2000 is like 7 years old. But so is his PC....at least I got it back up and running. He is happy now and I am pretty sure he will be purchasing a new PC soon anyway just to keep up with this century. Windows XP is basically at its end for free support so its time to get to know Windows Vista. My next article will be one about the basics of Windows Vista and some of its new features.

Update on UPS guy

Our local UPS guy decided to go ahead and have me upgrade his PC. I am going to see what kind of custom-built PC he has already and then determine if its worth upgrading before I even attempt to do so. At least now he has legal copies of Windows XP & Office.

More to come soon.....

IE 8 beta is here

Internet Explorer 8 has been released by Microsoft.

Of course its "beta" software so that means Microsoft will not help you if your PC crashes.....

My suggestion, do not even bother downloading it, ever......well maybe 3 yrs from now when they announce the next version. By then they will have fixed IE8 for the most part.

"IT humor.....you gotta love it"