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Officially Laptopless


V.T. Eric Layton

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, all the old soldiers didn't die; they just faded away onto a shelf in my shop, where they're wrapped tightly in protective plastic bags with a little index card included that states the issue at time of wrapping and the date.

 

--> ericslaptop01 (faulty display; still works w/ external monitor)

- Slackware 17:08 13/01/2016

 

- Win 7 00:35 26/08/2015 (cannot boot to Win - cannot see LILO or Win w/ faulty display)

 

--> ericsnetbook-01 (retired - system functions 100%, but has display issues)

- Slackware 16:21 23/12/2015

 

--> andyslaptop (ethernet/wifi issues - retired)

- Slackware 23:45 09/05/2016

 

--> jenslaptop (will not power up - retired)

- Slackware 21:26 22/03/2016

 

The times and dates are of the last good update of the OS. Maybe one day I have the $ to start dropping some parts in to these guys to get them fixed up again. In all reality, though, it's probably time that I upgraded to a lappy that isn't 10+ years old. ;)

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, today was a new day with new issues and fixes...

 

I found out that my little Dell (jenslaptop) wouldn't power up because the battery was soooooo dead that it was loading the power supply down too much to start the unit. I'd never seen that happen on a lappy before, but when I removed the battery, the machine powered up fine. I updated it and have it back in its laptop bag under my desk.

 

I also managed to updated (via wifi) my crippled systems: ericslaptop01 (bad display) & ericsnetbook (partially bad display).

 

I don't know what the heck is going on with the little Compaq (andyslaptop), though. It is having troubles staying connected to my home network via wired ethernet. It is experiencing throttled down speeds, too. My down is 50Mbps+, but my up is only 10Mbps on ethernet. My wifi is only showing 75% signal when I'm 2 feet from the router antenna. Speeds are very slow on wifi... 28Mbps down, 8Mbps up.

 

That's just not right. If it wasn't for the fact that the other laptops work fine with this ethernet connection and wifi, I'd think there was something wrong with my router. Myeh... I gave up tinkering with it before I lost my patience and tossed it out in the street. I'll boot it up in a week or so and see what's what again.

 

I'm finding that I just don't seem to have patience for this spit anymore. Maybe I have ADHD. I passed this test, though...

 

http://totallyadd.com/23-signs-you-do-not-have-adhd/

 

:th_run-around-smiley:

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I'm finding that I just don't seem to have patience for this spit anymore.
Welcome to the club! As I age, I want to do less and less fixing and more just turning on a computer and doing.
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V.T. Eric Layton
I'm finding that I just don't seem to have patience for this spit anymore.
Welcome to the club! As I age, I want to do less and less fixing and more just turning on a computer and doing.

 

EXACTLY!

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I've always had more patience with desktops than laptops. My desktops are like old friends; you can always work on the relationship. A laptop is like an automatic washer; it does its job, but you know someday it'll fail in the middle of something and leave you in a mess. :bangin:

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :yes:

Edited by raymac46
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V.T. Eric Layton

OK, I got the ethernet working on andyslaptop (the old Compaq). I had a corrupted /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.config file. Strange. I hadn't made any changes to it, but something did because it was set to use DHCP and this was causing a conflict with NetworkManager, which prefers to make that choice in its software.

 

Wifi is still stumbling along and at very, very slow rate of speed. Something is definitely wrong there.

 

I'll keep tinkering. It's possible that the wifi hardware is kaput in this little lappy.

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Eric I thought you had some USB dongles around your shop. Why not plug one in and see if the situation improves? You can go into the BIOS and switch off the internal wifi.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Yup. That'll be my next step. It's not really a priority because this little Compaq is taking over from my Dell Latitude with the busted display. I use it over on my other desk, where I pay bills and such with it. There's an ethernet connection over there, so wifi is not a necessity.

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