Gandalf the White (Computer) has died?

It's kind of more that I prefer Windows 7.

Yeap, I'm shopping around. It just needs to let me watch my dvds, stream video, and putz on the internet. I had to work with Windows 8 and then Windows 10 and dislike them both (the latter slightly less than the former).  I really prefer my windows 7 if I can find it.

I think my 620s only had 4 gig ram, so....?

Was it running home or pro? Sounds like you really don't use it for much so it may be fine. You've only got 2 more years to use Windows 7, they're stopping security updates in 2020, so enjoy it while you can!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm just starting to update myself with desktops. I haven't had one in 10 years or so. Mostly for gaming......gets a bit expensive for better stuff as usual.

Hmmm, well if there are only two more years left, I may need to move forward in time a bit then.... I emailed the vendor and he said that the chip in the one for sale is older than the one in the dearly departed, so I'm thinking that's not the way to go. Daughter says that she can set it up so that I can run linux on a Windows 10 machine without problems, so perhaps I'll look for an inexpensive Windows 10 desktop.  Really, the only things I use it for are internet, streaming videos, the odd word processing and spreadsheet, and playing DVDS. I have a few computer games, but they ran on the computer we had before Gandalf the White (Gandalf the Gray, which we brought with us and that still works for the games).

Hmmm, well, it's a convenient time for it to have keeled over, at least. Checking the online sales, not sure where else to go. I see Argos, there's Amazon, the last time I was in Curry's PC world I was unimpressed with the prices, but was looking for something else. Are there other shops I should consider?

If your old computer won't start at all, I'd follow the path that JF KIMBERLEY suggested and open that thing up.  I would check every connector to be sure it is tight, and push on all of them.  Give it a good vacuum as well.  Remove the ram, wipe the contact are with a cloth and shove it back in there fairly hard.

If it starts working OK, it will probably last for a while. 

I wouldn't buy a desktop computer for £200, it's gonna drive you crazy with slowness.

Most new computers these days come with solid state drives, and it makes a huge difference to both boot up and operating speed. You should try that. 
Windows 10 is fine once you've had a while to get used to it.

I bought my last desktop from these guys:
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/home/

And was happy enough.  They have decent support and won't sell you a computer already infected with dodgy anti virus packages and bloatware like the high street shops.

If you insist on buying on the high street, at least go to John Lewis rather than curry's which are supreme rip off merchants.

I bought my last desktop from these guys:
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/home/

And was happy enough.  They have decent support and won't sell you a computer already infected with dodgy anti virus packages and bloatware like the high street shops.

If you insist on buying on the high street, at least go to John Lewis rather than curry's which are supreme rip off merchants.

Thanks for this. I didn't know John Lewis would have this kind of stuff.......they carry some pretty high end desktops. Novatech looked pretty good as well. Now I just need to open my wallet which I am reluctant to do.....takes me a while to justify the expense.

I think John Lewis do price matching as well, but they make it difficult by offering an odd warranty that nobody else does. Still, it's worth checking prices before buying.

I actually drove down to the Novstech shop and picked up all the bits and built my last desktop.  So far, so good.

If your old computer won't start at all, I'd follow the path that JF KIMBERLEY suggested and open that thing up.  I would check every connector to be sure it is tight, and push on all of them.  Give it a good vacuum as well.  Remove the ram, wipe the contact are with a cloth and shove it back in there fairly hard.

If it starts working OK, it will probably last for a while. 

I wouldn't buy a desktop computer for £200, it's gonna drive you crazy with slowness.

Most new computers these days come with solid state drives, and it makes a huge difference to both boot up and operating speed. You should try that. 
Windows 10 is fine once you've had a while to get used to it.

Hi.       I've used windows 10 at work for quite some time, and dislike it intensely. Not as much as I disliked windows 8, but definitely dislike it.  If we have to go with a Windows 10 machine, the Daughter will arrange for it to run Linux for me, she says.  I'm trying to do as much of this on my own because she is obsessive about privacy and says windows 10 "phones home" waaaay too much. If I could afford a Mac, I'd probably go that route, if nothing else, but they are entirely to pricey.

Right now I am on a Dell Latitude E6410 Windows 7 laptop that I got from surplus sales at my former employer, it has a i5cpu with 8gb memory, and runs 2.4ghz. It's absolutely perfect for my needs - except that the Daughter has use of it most of the time for her studies. SO, I want to get something similar in a desktop for me. I already have a very nice 1 year old monitor and usb speakers/keyboard/mouse and external hard drives, so pretty much I just need the actual computer.

I opened the cover last night. I replaced the battery. I wiggled all the plugs.  I kind of blew out what dust I could see.  The only thing I did not do is pull/clean/reseat the ram. Will try that this morning. Even flipped the input voltage switch and used a power converter, nada. So I'll go back to the mains power setting (since it was working well enough) and go through the clean-and-shove again. Just in case.

If no luck, we'll go to plan B. I don't care how long it takes to boot up, but it's kind of important that it processes quickly enough to stream video and/or DVDs....

Thanks.   

Was it running home or pro? Sounds like you really don't use it for much so it may be fine. You've only got 2 more years to use Windows 7, they're stopping security updates in 2020, so enjoy it while you can!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Home.   

I bought my last desktop from these guys:
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/home/

And was happy enough.  They have decent support and won't sell you a computer already infected with dodgy anti virus packages and bloatware like the high street shops.

If you insist on buying on the high street, at least go to John Lewis rather than curry's which are supreme rip off merchants.

Thanks. No desire to pay more than I need to, so the high street is not a requirement. But I'll shop around! Will check out this link, too. Thanks!

I actually drove down to the Novstech shop and picked up all the bits and built my last desktop.  So far, so good.

Congrats!  I did that years ago, when things were more simple.  I looked on their website and they have some bare-bones computers that might serve, so.... Appreciate the tip. [Edit - pulled, cleaned, reseated the memory. nada. Bummer!   ]

Also checking with Dell.  They have these on sale.

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktops-and-all-in-ones/inspiron-desktop/spd/inspiron-3662-desktop

I've currently got the i3 chip, not sure the difference but I think I read that the i5 was a LOT better?