My computer just finally died, any suggestions for a new one?

[60FlatTop]

Where are the reality show producers when stuff like this is going on? I'd miss a rerun of Wonder Woman at 8 PM on a Saturday to see it. I can see the Adirondack's in the background with a 12" PVC pipe, 5 pound bag of frozen peas, and a big can of hairspray. AND after the commercial!.

Bernie

[auburnseeker]

I've got a better one.  We'll call it the show down.  Take one of the guys who designs and builds these computers then put them in a similar environment they have subjected their customers to. 

I would say put a guy like me in one room with the new computer like I have been subject to for the last few weeks.

Take them and put them in a garage with an old car.  Something entirely pre computer.  I'm thinking 20's or earlier but even 30's would suffice.  Give them a box of crude tools and tell the person make it run.  

Oh it's been sitting for years and needs work.   I would pay to watch that one. 

Now if they aren't one of the few crossovers who are really into old cars that would be interesting.  I wonder who would be up and running first?

[Guest AlCapone]

Don't be guilty of the proverbial " Nero fiddled while Rome burned "! Don't let your business go under or suffer while you decide whether to spend a couple hundred dollar on an essential item. In previous posts you have stated that you process thousands of EBay and Craigslist transactions a year. This dilemma has been moving slowly for two weeks in which time you could have made enough money on sales transactions to buy an Apple! Please don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Wayne

Edited January 27, 2016 by AlCapone (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I have still been conducting business daily,  it's just taking longer to do so.  I think 12 or so items Yesterday and the same thing today. I've been listing atleast 15 items a night. 

In the current ebay market/ environment.  I wish I was making enough to say that's only a couple of nights.  This is coming off the worst December I have ever had in 7 years on a year that ended 20 Percent down in sales from the year before even though I listed 20-30 percent more than I ever have.  If I was doing well I wouldn't even think twice.  So far this January is down 50 percent from last January.  I have been talking with a few other colleagues that do the same type of business.  One is very high end super rare valuable stuff and the other does ebay along with alot of swap meets and they both have said they are down atleast 20 percent so it doesn't look good across the board. The one that does swap meets said the last one he did in January despite very good weather had high traffic but very few buyers.  Couldn't be that full recovery economy we are in could it?  In the world of reality where fuel prices are half of what they were but hipping costs have risen?

  The difference between this machine and the same thing in a MAC is a learning curve and atleast $1,000,  plus I now throw out everything I've done to get this machine the way I want it and get to start all over. 

Edited January 27, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

Maybe the eBay market is slower for old car parts because a lot of the folks that buy the stuff are fed up with the new computers available and are fed up with having to re-learn every time the old computer dies. I hate to say it, but even from where I sit things have been slowing down because many of my old customers that have kept me going in the past have moved away from here, or died off, and the younger generation for the most part is not filling the void. Dandy Dave! 

Edited January 28, 2016 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[vermontboy]

The same is true of stamps, postal history and ephemera. I can force sales by lowering prices on the cheaper items by around 50% or selling it off in "wholesale lots" but otherwise business is down around 40 per cent on Ebay..

 

The good stuff still sells but right now I am trying to get rid of the "stuff". Trying to sell off some old books and that market is dead.

[auburnseeker]

Ok if this machine actually makes it through tonight before it goes airborne,  It's going back to the store tomorrow.  It has been horrible tonight.  1/2 hour to list anything on ebay.  Couldn't leave feedback (I spent a half hour trying to do that for 5 transactions from one guy)  ebay as a seller is useless.  Wow the guy paid ++.  That's all we can leave.  What's the point?  Couldn't access this site,  I even cleared all cookies,  restarted the computer and restarted the router.  Then it wouldn't upload photos. Finally got it to work by closing everything but the one tab I was working with.   The it was so slow the snail crawling across the railing gave me a thumbs up and finished his track across before the page opened, 

I turned my wife's old computer on and bang no problems.  For some strange reason it's almost working now but for how long who knows.  

Ok so I'm going back to best buy tomorrow to return this piece of crap.  

Now if I buy a MAC.  what one?  I know something comparable to this is 2,000.  alot of green to spend in a crappy market. What one is going to be ready to go out of the box and be the most user friendly from someone who has never used a MAC?  If one of those gives me a bunch of trouble like this,  you Mac guys are going to hear about it.

I need internet, Mail, photo uploading capability to run my ebay business.  That's the majority of use it will get.  I don't need gaming crap capability.  just an efficient running machine.  If my wife's 5 year old cheap HP pavilion runs circles around it you will hear about that as well.  I may even go with the smaller 13" screen with a bigger screen but I hate the idea of having to buy another screen to replace what should have been included for that much money in the first place. 

[MCHinson]

It seems very unusual to me that you have tried several different new laptops and all have given you such trouble. I wonder if your router, wireless network device, or Internet Service might be part of the problem. 

 

If I were you, I would replace all of the devices that are used for your internet connectivity, as well as find a new or factory refurbished slightly older laptop with Windows 7, and see if that does not fix your problem. 

 

It seems very unusual that you would find multiple new laptops that all fail to solve your problems. I hope you find what works for you and solves your frustration. There are multiple devices that all have to work together to get you good internet connectivity. You should be able to replace all of those devices without having to spend more than your previously discussed budget. Good luck.

[auburnseeker]

I've only tried 2.  My router is 1 year old and according to one of the members a sufficient unit.  The first one ran all be it a little slow but had other issues.,  The new one runs horribly slow.  It took me 4 hours to list on ebay tonight on stuff that should have been done in 1.5 tops.  Several times the uploader had issues,  sometimes the pages just wouldn't open.  I had to go back. more than once I closed the tab and started over from scratch.  I'm thinking it's crap they have running on the laptop. Too much @#$% in the toilet bowl to go down the drain.

As usual I'm sitting here working on my wife's lap top that just like my old one works absolutely fine and is like a lightning bolt compared to the new one.  I've watched paint dry faster than it opens pages. 

OK what Mac do I buy all you mac lovers?

Edited January 28, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

I hope you figure out the problem(s). Just because your router is only a year old does not mean that it is working properly. You could also have modem problems or problems with your internet service or some of your internet provider's other equipment.  Without knowing exactly what equipment is involved, and its condition, it is impossible to rule out any potential problem.

 

I often serve as the computer technical support guy for several of my friends. I typically find that when my friends are having trouble accessing the internet, they more often have network issues than computer issues. If you don't have a local independent computer store, perhaps your Best Buy can send out their "Geek Squad" to troubleshoot your computer/network/internet service and find the problem. Maybe you got two defective laptops. Maybe there is some other problem. It is very difficult to troubleshoot it without seeing exactly what it is doing. Good luck.

[auburnseeker]

It's doing pretty much exactly what I described above.  It has a hard time accessing most pages.  it will partially open them then just keep trying.  Other times it won't access them at all and just search.  With ebay sometimes the page would open OK but then there would be info missing from the page.  A few times the computer sent me to youtube for instructional video clips on how to perform a task or set something up.  Those seemed to work fine.  Accessing yahoo was problematic and spotty.  Sometimes when in mail I couldn't reply to emails.  That was more a problem with the other computer than this.  This more than not just doesn't let me access my yahoo account. 

When I signed in to this site it said there were problems but I was signed in.  Once I got locked out of my account.  Both laptops seem to have problems but not exactly the same.  If they were the same I would say definitely a network or router problem.

Headed out shortly to get another new machine.  Lets hear what to buy before I make another mistake.

Working from my wife's laptop now as I was for email and the forums last night.

Edited January 28, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[vermontboy]

For what you use your computer for I think MCHinson's advice to find a new or used basic laptop running Windows 7 is the best advice there is, Go to Craigslist and search under computers selecting "dealer" rather than owner.

 

I forget exactly where in the north country you are but it wouyld surprise me if someone fairly close didn't run a small computer repair shop out of their basement. In the Rochester area the going rate at independents for a used Windows 7 laptop is around $250 tops. Mine was under $500 new (Dell Vostro) - business machine with no bells and whistles). I've got lots of music and photos and still have 145 GB out of 232 total GB available.

[auburnseeker]

I just checked.  Nothing on our Craigslist. One machine in Saratoga.

[Guest AlCapone]

Usually a computer is on Craigslist because someone else was getting rid of a problem. You don't need someone else's problem, you have enough of your own. You need something with a warranty and technical service. Contrary to MCHinson and the boy from Vermont, In my opinion a used machine is not prudent advice. Wayne

[Standard Eight]

I hope you figure out the problem(s). Just because your router is only a year old does not mean that it is working properly. You could also have modem problems or problems with your internet service or some of your internet provider's other equipment.  Without knowing exactly what equipment is involved, and its condition, it is impossible to rule out any potential problem.

 

hello auburnseeker,

 

MCHinson makes a good point that something in your connectivity chain to the internet could be a problem.  If I remember your setup it was pretty flat, device-->router-->internet (not switches or access points) so there are not many points to check for issues.  Your router, Arris TG862, is an ISP provided combined cable modem / router / WiFi access point, so you will need to work through your ISP to have the unit checked or replaced.  While your router is a popular commercial ISP router it is using the "older" "n" WiFi standard.  Your new ASUS (an now most new Windows or MAC devcies) supports the latest "AC" WiFi standard.  Most times these WiFi adapters are pretty good at being backward compatible to the older WiFi standards but sometime issues do occur (independent of the device being Windows or MAC based).  You could see if your ISP has a newer router available which supports the "AC" standard.  Maybe they would swap in a new modem/router of they have one.  Even if this does not solve your ASUS issue your newer WiFi devices will never achieve their maximum WiFi performance unless your WiFi router/access point support the same later standard.

 

Have your tried any speed test checks comparing you wife's old laptop and your new laptop?  Maybe as a first step take WiFi out of the loop, direct connect each device via cable to your router, and then run some speed test checks (if your ISP has their own speed test page you would want to use this as this will help eliminate the "greater" internet from the speed test).  If the speeds look similar via wired connection then connect each device via WiFi and repeat the speed tests.  The results could help to point where the root of your issues might be found, internet communication vs. physical device problem. - Bob

[vermontboy]

"Usually a computer is on Craigslist because someone else was getting rid of a problem. You don't need someone else's problem, you have enough of your own. You need something with a warranty and technical service. Contrary to MCHinson and the boy from Vermont, In my opinion a used machine is not prudent advice. Wayne"

 

Which is why I specified limiting the search to "dealer". The little independents for the most part offer much better service than the Big Box stores. Some even provide more or less lifetime guarantees and you  get to play with them in their shop before you  take them home.

[auburnseeker]

I just hardwired it in and although I don't know how to do a performance test,  I did it the old fashioned way and opened up 7 tabs including streaming a you tube video while I edited an ebay listing and it works pretty darn good.  probably as good as my old machine. so it must be the whole internet router problem.  what's the next step?  A new router?  I'll call the cable company and see what they say. 

[ChazA]

I just hardwired it in and although I don't know how to do a performance test,  I did it the old fashioned way and opened up 7 tabs including streaming a you tube video while I edited an ebay listing and it works pretty darn good.  probably as good as my old machine. so it must be the whole internet router problem.  what's the next step?  A new router?  I'll call the cable company and see what they say. 

Try http://www.speedtest.net/

Yes, good idea to contact cable company to see if any issues as they can run diags remotely, or send a tech if needed.  If Time Warner as I see you are upstate NY, connecting to the Time Warner Wireless router is a good test, vs your own (Let the tech walk you through steps). 

Edited January 28, 2016 by ChazA (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I just had the cable company reset the router to a new frequency and it works pretty good.  Talk about hours of frustration for nothing.  I want to thank all that helped.  Looks like I won't be buying a new Apple today.  If this seems to work pretty good and I keep it,  I'll be in touch on how to strip it down and get rid of the crap.

[Standard Eight]

Who is your cable company (your ISP)?

 

This may point to the issue not being so much with the router part of your combined cable modem but with the WiFi part.

 

I would start with your cable company and see if they have a newer modem they could swap in for the old one (if the new one does not support AC WiFi then swapping in a new one won't provide any WiFi improvement).  If they don't offer a newer cable modem then you could buy and use your own WiFi access point.  You would still use the ISP modem as your router but you would have the ISP disable the built-in WiFi on their cable modem and then you could use your own WiFi access point. - Bob

[Standard Eight]

I just had the cable company reset the router to a new frequency and it works pretty good.

 

That's great!  Your new device might have been using a WiFi channel which had some competing interference in your house.

 

Try http://www.speedtest.net/

Yes, good idea to contact cable company to see if any issues as they can run diags remotely, or send a tech if needed.  If Time Warner as I see you are upstate NY, connecting to the Time Warner Wireless router is a good test, vs your own (Let the tech walk you through steps). 

 

If your ISP is Time Warner try running a speed/throughput test directly from Time Warner's private speed test site ( http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/support/speed-test.html ).

 

In general if your ISP provides their own speed test site the results from your ISP's own speed test servers will be more consistent and more accurate as you are usually testing directly to/on the ISP internet backbone.  While testing to generic speed test sites certainly works, and this is sometimes the only place you can tests, the results of these tests are almost always impacted by the general internet path your test has to take to get to speed test servers. - Bob

[ply33]

I just had the cable company reset the router to a new frequency and it works pretty good.  Talk about hours of frustration for nothing.  I want to thank all that helped.  Looks like I won't be buying a new Apple today.  If this seems to work pretty good and I keep it,  I'll be in touch on how to strip it down and get rid of the crap.

Officially there are, I think, 11 channels a WiFi access point (AP) can be set for. But the channels overlap and there are really on three that can be used at the same time without interfering with one another: 1, 6 and 11.

 

It is possible that you have a new neighbor or a neighbor has a new WiFi AP and it is causing interference issues in parts of your house.

 

I've just moved into a new house in a new town where the buildings are much closer together than at the old place. Using appropriate software, I've noticed that at any given place in my house there are about 19 WiFi APs visible with a most of them on channels 1 and 6. So basically my WiFi performance regardless of brand of router will be horrible as there will be too much interference.

 

One of my near term projects is to pull CAT6 to every part of the house where I care about decent Internet access (like the streaming boxes for the TVs, the printers, all the computers). I'll still have and use WiFi but mostly to save on data charges when the smart phone is at the house.

[auburnseeker]

They did set it  to 11 I believe.  I shouldn't have interference though as we have over 7 acres and the closest house is probably 2 -3 acres in either direction and you can't see them through the woods.  We are really close as in almost under some electrical supply lines.  The major supply kind.  I'm not sure if there is anything they do that might cause interference.  That's even a possibility. 

[Standard Eight]

Officially there are, I think, 11 channels a WiFi access point (AP) can be set for. But the channels overlap and there are really on three that can be used at the same time without interfering with one another: 1, 6 and 11.

 

There are 11 consumer/public WiFi channels on the 2.4ghz bands and another 8 consumer/public WiFi channels on the "newer" 5ghz bands.  When buying/replacing either a WiFi router or a WiFi Access Point one should consider purchasing a dual band device (supports both 2.4ghz and 5ghz).  Because many of the latest devices (mobiles in particular) support the 5hz bands you are able to add some separation between channels in your WiFi environment in your house by utilizing both bands.

[Standard Eight]

We are really close as in almost under some electrical supply lines.  The major supply kind.  I'm not sure if there is anything they do that might cause interference.  That's even a possibility. 

 

Certainly is a possibility.  Even things like turning on your microwave can create huge amounts of interference under the right circumstances.  Most times when I help friends with WiFi signal problems the problem is more weighted towards something in their house creating interference and less weighted towards crowded WiFi channels.  Today's better WiFi routers and access points actually do a pretty good job of dynamically analyzing and switching WiFi channels as needed. - Bob

[padgett]

There are wireless telephones that operate in the 2.4 GHz band and can cause interference. If you are getting better response on 11 that indicates something was walking on you. Tools like insider can help.

I live in a dense area for WiFi so am running on channel 9, is some overlap but getting 50MB/s down 11 MB/s up on wireless.

BTW there are some real deals on factory refurbished and guaranteed devices on Ebay but look carefully at the specs, some are aa bit obsolete.

ps nothing wrong with a Win 7 device, right now the Win 10 upgrade is free but unlikely to have a touch screen.

Edited January 29, 2016 by padgett (see edit history)

[bill pritchett]

I sent you a pm earlier.