PC fettling and repairs thread

[Grant Fondo]

My latest acquisition is an HP 110 Mini netbook. This is one of the later variants in that it originally came with Windows 7. Later doesn't mean higher spec, though. It's a 32-bit machine, using an Intel Atom N270. This is a hyper-threaded single core chip (think Pentium 4HT was the first chip that did this). It has just a single RAM slot, which I've populated with 2GB of DDR2. A PNY CS900 120GB SSD should move things along reasonably well.
So, what OS? 32-bit really bites as a limitation; the only continuously maintained Linux that still does 32-bit is Debian, not known for its ease of installation. Suggestions?
Edit: I didn't pay enough attention to the ads. What I somehow perceived as rose gold (bad enough, but bearable) is in fact bright bubblegum pink...

Remember those single core Atom's were a bit weak? Low power though, which was the whole point i suppose. Why not 32 bit Win 10?

 

[DCBassman]

Remember those single core Atom's were a bit weak? Low power though, which was the whole point i suppose. Why not 32 bit Win 10?

That will certainly get a trial. So many Linux distros are built over Ubuntu, and they have dropped 32-bit. Under Ubuntu lies Debian, still available in both flavours. Win 10 will be first though.

 

[Grant Fondo]

That will certainly get a trial. So many Linux distros are built over Ubuntu, and they have dropped 32-bit. Under Ubuntu lies Debian, still available in both flavours. Win 10 will be first though.

Sounds weird, but Intel made an 8 core 64 bit Atom, bet that sold well

 

[ColinJ]

I think a bigger and faster SSD would be a worthwhile investment though. The current SSD is only 256 GB and is about 2/3 full. It probably isn't as fast as it could be either...

YIKES!!! I was just having a bit of a clear-out and discovered that AndroidAuthority alone had cached 12.5 GB of crap on that SSD! Another 2.5+ GB by other sites...

Well, that is about 10% of my used storage space back!

 

[ColinJ]

Can anybody think of a reason why Chrome would suffer but Edge and Brave do not?

Looks like it might have been a dodgy cookie or other cached file. I just cleared all the data for the site and it seems to have started loading properly again. If I can get through 2 or 3 evenings without it giving me the 520 error then that was probably the answer that I was looking for.

 

[lazybloke]

Gulp! That's what I paid for my 32" 4K monitor 6 years ago ... no wonder they are the worlds richest company!
Apple prices are mad .. you can build a £4k pc which trounces a £40k Apple Mac Pro .. mind you, the case is rather nice
View attachment 675712

 

[StuAff]

View attachment 675880

It's actually been tried. Not very good at grating cheese. So, not Insanely Grate…

 

[Smokin Joe]

My NVMe ssd arrived today, bought to replace the HDD.

The physical swap looks a doddle, anything I need to know about installing it?

 

[ColinJ]

My NVMe ssd arrived today, bought to replace the HDD.

The physical swap looks a doddle, anything I need to know about installing it?

Intel's advice HERE.

 

[Grant Fondo]

My NVMe ssd arrived today, bought to replace the HDD.

The physical swap looks a doddle, anything I need to know about installing it?

yes, i made the mistake of not spotting a standoff screw the first time i fitted one, luckily no harm done.
I know some motherboards have a latch system as well, which is a good idea.

 

[ColinJ]

Yikes - I nearly clobbered my laptop off its laptop tray just then...

I was playing a level of the puzzle game that I have been writing, but dozed off. I started dreaming that I was being buzzed by an angry wasp. I woke up swatting furiously, my hand passing VERY close to the laptop screen!!!

 

[Grant Fondo]

Yikes - I nearly clobbered my laptop off its laptop tray just then...

I was playing a level of the puzzle game that I have been writing, but dozed off. I started dreaming that I was being buzzed by an angry wasp. I woke up swatting furiously, my hand passing VERY close to the laptop screen!!!

A couple of years back i knocked half a cup of coffee off the table onto my newish gaming pc. It missed the top fan vent by millimeters, phew! It was a pretty high spec Skylake build, around 1500 quids worth

 

[Smokin Joe]

Well, my new ssd is on it's way back to Crucial. Plugged it into the PCI connector on the board making sure it was fully home, lightly tightened the retaining screw down and fired the PC up. On opening the cloning software I was told I needed to have an ssd fitted first. So I re-opened the case, all was as it should be and I restarted, went to disk management where no new drive showed up. Another restart, into the BIOS and nothing present either.

Faulty ssd or have I missed something?

 

[DCBassman]

Have you checked right through the BIOS to see if there's a setting that activates booting from PCIe?
If there is such it should then light up. This sounds a good possibility to me, because a dead SSD is a rare thing these days.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Faulty ssd or have I missed something?

Also, is there another m.2 slot you can try it in?
Do you have this enabling option in the bios?