GREAT !! my Alienware's boot drive ( SSD ) has died .

[kingofnobbys]

Stop Code = BAD SYS Config & on autorepair = no media ( with win10 ) present.



This is the 2nd SSD boot drive , looks like drive # 3 coming up and a reinstall of Win10 Pro and all my Alienware Drivers .

Dell tech guy remotely with me spent about 4 hrs trying to get a full boot up , he wanted me to install win10 on the D- drive after a reformat , not keen on that even though I have backup of entire computer from about 1 month ago.

So I'm back to my old Latitude e6230 i5 for now until the big Alienware 17R i7 is fixed.

OUT OF WARANTEE so I'll have no choice but get a local techy to come the home to replace the SSD and make sure everything runs.
He'd better have a mask when he comes.

[CooperDragon]

That's a bummer! Using a high quality SSD makes a difference. Try to avoid the cheaper TLC (triple layer cell) drives and get a MLC or (better yet SLC) if you can. I really like the Samsung 860 Pro series drives. I tend to stick with them for all computer installations and have seen excellent reliability with them.

Good idea to have a full image backup too. For Windows, I highly recommend using Veeam. The free version works really well for desktop backups. You can send the backup to an attached USB drive or to a NAS on your local network. The backups are full image so you can be right back in business in case of a drive failure in the future. You can also dig into the backups to restore files as needed. https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html

[Claudiusx]

Personally I've always felt that alienware was overpriced junk. However I do second Coopers suggestion about the Samsung SSDs.

Oh boy, I haven't made a full system backup in probably 10 years. I don't even really have backups of my important files. I just really haven't had any catastrophic failures in such a long time.
I like to live on the edge apparently hah.

-Brandon

[kingofnobbys]

I dug out my "backups", for the Alienware I have a full system backup on a separate portable HDD that I created the day after I had to have the original boot SSD replaced after I'd reinstalled windows and all the drivers that's been sitting in my study in the filing cabinet drawer where I keep all my spare drives , DVD , cables , and computer bnps in .
Checked this drive is still working , I can see stuff on it when I plug in the USB3 .

The last major full backup was done in LATE January according to my note book, but I can't see it on the second B/up portable HDD , I am wondering if a big Win10 update changed the backup settngs and maybe it's been saved on the Data drive ( my computer's D drive. ??)

I'll provide both portable HHD's with the backups to the tech when I can get one here .

Would prefer to be present when computer is "fixed" , but suspect they might want to take it away.

I'll check out that Veeam product.

[kingofnobbys]

After getting the run around by a few local inhome computer repairers , finally get one to come here , and yes , the SSD used as my boot drive is cactus.
He ended up taking the Alienware laptop away to test and reported my HDD ( data drive a bit noisy too - sign it's on its way out too )

could diagnose your laptop. The ssd is faulty so you need a replacement. Your hard drive (data) is about to die as well, I'm hearing noises coming from it and that's a clear signal it will die soon. I have 3 options for you: 1) I suggest you to install a 1Tb SSD and have just one disk running in your computer (once a sata SSD is very unlikely to die) 2) you can buy a new ssd and keep the hard drive even though it will stop working soon. 3) you can buy both brand new ssd and hard drive and keep the same structure with brand new items.

SSD 1TB = $210
Hard drive 2TB = $210

So opted to replace both drives ( to keep the same structure ) , tech guy will use my DELL WIN10 MEDIA thumb drive to reinstall Win10 and all my drivers on the new monster (1TB SSD boot drive , so up from 128GB SSD boot drive to 1TB SSD boot drive) , and will copy everything from my old 1TB fast SATA HDD to the new 2TB fast SATA HDD , and will provide a cable so I can use the old D drive as a backup and to make it accessable externally.
I have slots for 3 SSDs + a SATA HDD in my Alienware , if I was into high performance gaming or high resource demand image processing I'd go to 2x 2TB SSDs + the 2TB 7200 rpm SATA HDD.

All up 3 hrs work , so about $800. Will be back tomorrow.

So will be back to using my nice big 17inch laptop screen tomorrow , I wont miss using this 12.4inch laptop .

Should have my wife's new DELL Inspiron 15 3000 Series -3593, ordered on the 12th when her old elcheapo 15" HP's Notebook hdd died , is due to arrive on 1 Sept.
It's specs

it's a 4core i7 , so should be nice and quick, not as fast as the high performance 4core i7 6th gen in my Alienware 17.


Was looking last night at the new ALIENWARE 17" i7 LAPTOPS , PRICEY !!! same 32GB RAM , updated GeForce , twin SSDs ( a 7200rpm SATA 2GB HDD isn't a selectable option )

10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10750H (6-Core, 12MB Cache, up to 5.0GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) is a 6 core , more cache and higher speed processor) doubt I need such fast chip as I don't game , but I do mathematical modelling and image processing .
Also the option for 3 drives , in this case up to 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage] as a selectable option.
or a 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) and 3ms FHD (or 17.3" UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz 25ms 500-nits 100% Adobe RGB color gamut + Tobii Eyetracking technology for $500 extra).
I don't have any 4K videos and don't do gaming. But I can see how 4K would be helpful for astroimage processing ( making those stars TIGHT and TINY rather than bloated like with FHD ).
Tidy $7500 !!
I have the money , its not been spent on the deck or the observatory .
Not been going anywhere that involved using petrol or buying food ( eating out ).

Maybe an option for me to think of for a Xmas instead of something else, as it doesn't look like we''ll be getting the builders here to the roll off roof observatory or the big off ground deck before mid 2021 with Covid still about in NSW & Vic ( esp the Central Coasr & Sydney ).


A lot cheaper replacing my drives than replacing an otherwise still very fast and capable upgradeable laptop.
I chose Alienware because it is upgradeable like a desktop. Wereas other consumer notebooks and laptops are only RAM and HDD upgradeable.




Wanted to get a 17" inspiron i7 for her but they no longer exist. This will be her 40th anniversary present from me. I ordered it few days before my boot drive died.

[CooperDragon]

Wow $800 for 3hrs of labor is a lot (my shop charges $100/hr). Good that the drives are going to be replaced. A noisy sata drive does usually indicate that it is about to fail so, good that was caught in time. I wouldn't trust it much for a backup but would pick up a new WD Passport or Seagate external drive. For the time being you could test out Veeam backup onto the older drive but don't trust it for backup storage in the long run.

The specs on the Dell look good, except for the hard drive. It's a 5400rpm which will be a huge bottleneck right from the start. I don't know why they still ship those slower drives for primary disks. I suggest getting a Samsung 860 Pro 2.5'' 1TB SSD to replace it. You can use a disk clone software like Acronis or the Magician software that comes with the Samsung to clone the original drive to the SSD and then just drop it into place. You could then use that 5400 as a backup drive since it's new and disk access speed doesn't matter nearly as much. It should fit right into a 2.5'' external USB enclosure.

[Claudiusx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Perqf0dOGLk
Thought you NERDS might find this enjoyable...

I did at least, makes me wanna try something like that..

-Brandon

[CooperDragon]

Sounds like something Apple would release.

[kingofnobbys]

Dell ALIENWARE came back yesterday , now has a 1TB SSD for my boot drive & I've upped to a 2TB 7200 rpm high grade HDD for my data drive , I also have a SATA - USB3 EXTERNAL cable so I am now using the old 1TB HDD as my b/up .

Took for ever to install my astroimaging & engineering programs & apps & to update them , lot of needed to me to update the licence / passkeys as they are set up for my old boot drive or my old old data drive and so needed to reregister them ( no cost involved , just time consuming ).

So another issue came up = I discovered the B key was not functioning , ran a full test and this was the only issue found .
Discovered sticky fluffy gunk under it ( pretty sure this was not a problem before I sent the laptop away ( don't know how the tech cleaned the outside of the laptop ) , and I accidentally busted the little hinge mechanism under the key when I lifted up the sticky key ( cap , 2 hinge parts & soft plastic sucker piece came flying off as separate pieces , I spent ages trying to get them all back together and working but I think the smaller hinge piece has had a bit sheer off so i'll not stay together or work properly.



Checked DELL USA Parts (as DELL Asia-Pacific were closed at 2am Sat am ) and told they don't carry individual replacement keys ( or hinge mechanisms ) , and my keyboard is no longer stocked in parts by DELL & they cant tell me when I might get one from DELL.

Found a seller based in the USA who sells individual keys complete with their mechanical bits , contacted them for quote for a new B key , no quote yet to send to me by airparcel post .

Found a few places online who had never used CF2YW , KYBD,103,US-INTL,M16IXF-BW keyboards in stock , one in Germany (Ebay) , one each in USA , HK , UK & France .
Chap in Germany was fast , so I've ordered a full replacement keyboards. and it''ll be here next week.

Fair bit more expensive than one key ,but worth it to swap out keyboards completely and keep the old keyboard for spare parts if another key ever fails.

Computer tech says maybe 1 hour to swap out keyboards.

I'm still reinstalling stuff . might have everything running tonight.

[kingofnobbys]

Wow $800 for 3hrs of labor is a lot (my shop charges $100/hr). Good that the drives are going to be replaced. A noisy sata drive does usually indicate that it is about to fail so, good that was caught in time. I wouldn't trust it much for a backup but would pick up a new WD Passport or Seagate external drive. For the time being you could test out Veeam backup onto the older drive but don't trust it for backup storage in the long run.

<< that was $800 all up including parts , about 3 hrs works all up

my ALIENWARE 17R4 original configeration was
338-BKFX : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ (4-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 3.5 GHz w/Turbo Boost)
490-BDHU : NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1060 OC with 6GB GDDR5
370-ADGP : 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 at 2400MHz
400-AORO : 128GB M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Boot ) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (St orage)

The specs for drives on my wife's new Inspiron 15" i7 are limited , DELL didn't offer a 7200 RPM SATA HDD , and the SDDs offered topped out at 250GB . Will upgade it later when it's out of warrantee.

I managed to her elcheapo ( was a gift from her dad ) HP 250 G5 running yesterday , hitting F12 on boot up got it past the issue and it immediately updated Win10 and it seems to running fine now .... so she'll have it and her new Inspiron 15" i7 .
It's specs
Intel Celeron N3060 with Intel HD Graphics 400 (1.6 GHz, up to 2.48 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, 2 MB cache, 2 cores)
500 GB 5400 rpm SATA
8 GB DDR3L – 1600 MT/s RAM .

i think she'll like the i7 with FHD . She's liked the Latitude i5 , but it's only got a 12.4" FHD screen and most her programs and apps aren't on it.

Took the opportunity to backup it's HDD while it works and to copy all her important cricut files and her photos to a portable PASSPORT HDD , so we have less risk of loosing them in future . This made her VERY HAPPY !!

Will likely pass the old HP to our grandson to help him with school work next year.
>>

The specs on the Dell look good, except for the hard drive. It's a 5400rpm which will be a huge bottleneck right from the start. I don't know why they still ship those slower drives for primary disks. I suggest getting a Samsung 860 Pro 2.5'' 1TB SSD to replace it. You can use a disk clone software like Acronis or the Magician software that comes with the Samsung to clone the original drive to the SSD and then just drop it into place. You could then use that 5400 as a backup drive since it's new and disk access speed doesn't matter nearly as much. It should fit right into a 2.5'' external USB enclosure.

To keep the price near the price point , standard was a 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive which is pretty small . So opted for the 1TB SATA HDD in stead.

[kingofnobbys]

The replacement CF2YW , KYBD,103,US-INTL,M16IXF-BW keyboard is with DHL and on it's way from Germany.

Sorted the issue that was caused by a hardware driver conflict in the old LATITUDE latitude laptop that was caused by the updating to W10 ( was running well under W7 ).
Was showing no internet connectivity to old LATITUDE( but wass still able to search, upload , download , get emails , etc ( VERY STRANGE ?? ) .

Spent the day today troubleshooting settings , resetting Bluetooth , resetting wireless setting , resettng my internet connection = no change , so , updated wireless drvers & BIOS , rebooted , connection seemed OK after an inline chat with a BIGPOND TECH ( my IPV ) .

I use Bluetooth pairing android to computer and MY PHONE COMPANION to recieve & send sms and images and files via the andriod , much nicer typing using a proper keyboard and seeing the messages on a nice big screen ( even on the 12.6" LATITUDE ).

Not tested conneciivity using Bluetooth to them wireless headphones again, stange , can connect via Bluetooth to my alienware laptop and Adroid phone & to the modem , but cant see the headphones ( or even detect them .... more trouble shooting tomorrow to sort that .

I considering getting a 4G / 5G wireless USB dongle and ignoring the integrated wireless chip as a work around ( cheaper than getting the tech guy back to sort it .

Is it worth installing ZOOM ?

[CooperDragon]

I don't like Zoom and try to avoid it due to their poor track record of privacy breaches. For video conferencing, I prefer using Jitsi because I can easily build my own server on an old computer running Linux. They also have a public host available for use. It is free browser based software (app for a phone).

[kingofnobbys]

I don't like Zoom and try to avoid it due to their poor track record of privacy breaches. For video conferencing, I prefer using Jitsi because I can easily build my own server on an old computer running Linux. They also have a public host available for use. It is free browser based software (app for a phone).

I never even heard of Zoom til recently, the people on SBS & ABC & BBC & ITV . Seem to like it and use it lots .
My old colleagues at the Uni of Newcastle use it for e-lectures and e-tutorials too.
As do the schools in NSW & QLD and Victoria when doing i-education and fulltime remote education.

SKYPE came with Win10 , never used it - but my son uses it he tells me ( via Facebook ) and some of the younger family use it.

Just looking for video calling options so we can at least see our son and grandson on the screen.

[CooperDragon]

Zoom has been incredibly popular over the last 6 months or so. Skype is still around but is being retired in favor of Microsoft Teams video. Google Meet is also an available option that is popular and can be used within a browser. Zoom has been slowly addressing their security holes, but aren't very forthright about it. My original concern was when they were routing video through severs in China. I worry that AI facial recognition algorithms are monitoring the feeds there. They have supposedly stopped doing this, but it was enough to send me elsewhere. I simply don't trust the company. I try to use Apple FaceTime when I can because it's end to end encrypted, but it is only useful when both parties are using apple devices, so it's limited in that way.

[kingofnobbys]

installed adobe Lightroom on my d drive , then noted it's only a trial so uninstalled it , this seems to have up set win10, the desktop vanished and I was unable to get it back, got those boxes instead and app resizing next to x stopped working.'

So downloaded the win 10 installer and am reinstalling win10pro in the hope I get back to proper win10 operation and my desktop returns.
Selected to keep my files and settings.
Is restarting now …. ?? and working on updates as expected .
No change.

Was expecting to see something like this

but I see this instead


Desktop is now just a folder , and the quick access icons and shortcuts are still there.
and
GUI resizer overlayed squares no longer does anything. gRRRRRRRRRRRRR…. I REALLY LIKE THEM the desktop < and want it back > but can't any way of getting the desktop and GUI resizing back .

Am I THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS THIS PROBLEM ?


I DON"T LIKE THIS CHANGE , I want my Desktop back .If this was an UPDATE it was a real DOWN GRADE .