crappy laptop company

[Jon Elson]

bitrex wrote:

It's too bad ThinkPad used to be a quality product when IBM made them
but it's just bargain basement zombie-brand China junk, now.

Buy a used Dell commercial-grade laptop on eBay for under $100, delivered.
Pick one that has the hard drive removed for security, and then buy a new
SSD in whatever size you need. For about $120 or so, you will have a VERY
good and reliable laptop.

I got a Dell latitude E6510 for my daughter, and she is real happy with it.
This specific model came with 3 different screen resolutions, you can tell
them apart by the service code on the bottom, or if they show the bootup
screen in the listing. The sellers usually don't know the difference, so the
price is usually the same. I got that one for $90 delivered, without hard
drive.

Jon

 

[Chuck]

On Sun, 09 Jun 2019 11:31:37 -0500, Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com>
wrote:

> Dell latitude E6510
Just a heads up if the Dell comes with a Nvidia graphics card. Mine
would blue screen when streaming audio. I discovered that it was the
graphics card driver on the Dell website causing the problem. Two
years after purchase, the Dell driver was still faulty. The driver on
the Nvidia website worked fine.

 

[Jon Elson]

Chuck wrote:

On Sun, 09 Jun 2019 11:31:37 -0500, Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com
wrote:

Dell latitude E6510
Just a heads up if the Dell comes with a Nvidia graphics card. Mine
would blue screen when streaming audio. I discovered that it was the
graphics card driver on the Dell website causing the problem. Two
years after purchase, the Dell driver was still faulty. The driver on
the Nvidia website worked fine.

On a laptop, that would be a chip, not a card. But, yes, there are some
incompatibilities between some graphics chips and certain operating systems.
I have a desktop that has the Intel i810 chip on the motherboard, and
certain Linux OS versions have real trouble with it. The easy fix was to
plug in a graphics card. I think it WAS an Nvidia card that solved the
problem, in this case. But, of course, you can't do that on a laptop.

Jon

 

[Unlisted]

On Wed, 5 Jun 2019 11:35:36 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Also:

"During his diagnosis of your machine, he says it looks like you may
have tried to install Linux or some other non-Windows operating system.
Installing an operating system other than Windows10 (Lenovo Preload) is
not supported."

Yeah, that's why the PSU board fucking failed, Linux made it happen.

There is a lot of truth to this. Linux damages the hardware on a lot of
computers. It also destroys hard and flash drives. I have seen it
happen. Pen drives are usually the first to be destroyed.

 

[bitrex]

On 6/9/19 1:35 AM, ~misfit~ wrote:

You get what you pay for. That said I buy ex-lease Dell corporate
stuff, usually three years old and usually still with two years
warranty and for a lot less money than the punters pay for new
consumer-grade, engineered to fail at the 15-month mark, 12-month
warrantied junk.

It was a $1000 ThinkPad laptop purchased off their US website made for
sale in the US and I was using the OEM brick that came with it. failed
in less than 1 year

Wow they've really gone downhill then - that or it was an outlier. Their
Thinkpad range is still well-thought-of, at least as recently as I'm
aware of anyway. Perhaps an outlier hardware-wise and their service are
just shite?

What finally go them up and moving was leaving some rude remarks on
their social media stuff. I hate to be that guy but I did try most other
reasonable methods of doing it politely to no avail. they seemed
somewhat curious as to how it left the factory for US sale with no
serial number on it.

Maybe Larry (Ling?) at the shop was having an off day or stuffing some
grey-market units sitting around into the container on the sly to keep
the numbers up...

It's a pretty good laptop spec-wise for the price at least it was at the
time I got it: 17" display (one of the nicer displays I've seen at that
price point), 16 gig RAM, i7 processor, 500GB SSD, discrete GeForce
MX-something GPU.

A design flaw is that they appear to have put the GPU heat sink directly
under the WASD keys so if you want to play a game that does a lot of
fancy graphics it hurts your fingers.

 

[bitrex]

On 6/9/19 12:31 PM, Jon Elson wrote:

bitrex wrote:



It's too bad ThinkPad used to be a quality product when IBM made them
but it's just bargain basement zombie-brand China junk, now.

Buy a used Dell commercial-grade laptop on eBay for under $100, delivered.
Pick one that has the hard drive removed for security, and then buy a new
SSD in whatever size you need. For about $120 or so, you will have a VERY
good and reliable laptop.

I got a Dell latitude E6510 for my daughter, and she is real happy with it.
This specific model came with 3 different screen resolutions, you can tell
them apart by the service code on the bottom, or if they show the bootup
screen in the listing. The sellers usually don't know the difference, so the
price is usually the same. I got that one for $90 delivered, without hard
drive.

Jon

The last Dell laptop I had used a three-wire PSU that locked you in to
buying only Dell-branded power bricks. There's a lockout chip on the
brick that communicates with the motherboard and if it detects it's not
Dell OEM it prevents the battery from charging at full speed and
throttles the processor. down to 400MHz.

the way it does this is the BIOS flips a bit in the processor register
set called BD_PROCHOT which is a flag from the motherboard temperature
sensor, and fools the processor into thinking the temperature sensor on
the motherboard is saying the system is overheating. It does this if it
doesn't receive the proper readout from the power supply brick.

fortunately it's easy to flip it back by running a program or script on
startup, with root access, and then everything works fine again lol.
this is some hopefully cross-platform C code that does just that:

#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdint.h>

#define BUFSIZE (64)

int get_msr_value(uint64_t* reg_value) {
const char* cmd = "rdmsr -u 0x1FC";
char cmd_buf[BUFSIZE];

FILE* fp;

if ((fp = popen(cmd, "r")) == NULL) {
printf("Error opening pipe!\n");
return -1;
}

cmd_buf[strcspn(fgets(cmd_buf, BUFSIZE, fp), "\n")] = 0;
*reg_value = atoi(cmd_buf);

if (pclose(fp)) {
printf("Command not found or exited with error status\n");
return -1;
}

return 0;
}

int main(void) {
const char* cmd = "wrmsr -a 0x1FC";
char* concat_cmd;
int ret;
uint64_t* reg_value = &(uint64_t){0};

if ((ret = get_msr_value(reg_value))) {
return ret;
}

printf("Old register value: %lu\n", *reg_value);

*reg_value = *reg_value & 0xFFFFFFFE; // clear bit 0

printf("New register value: %lu\n", *reg_value);

if (asprintf(&concat_cmd, "%s %i", cmd, *reg_value) == -1)
return -1;

printf("Executing: %s\n", concat_cmd);

system(concat_cmd);
free(concat_cmd);

return 0;
}

 

[bitrex]

On 6/10/19 12:31 AM, bitrex wrote:

On 6/9/19 12:31 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
bitrex wrote:



It's too bad ThinkPad used to be a quality product when IBM made them
but it's just bargain basement zombie-brand China junk, now.

Buy a used Dell commercial-grade laptop on eBay for under $100,
delivered.
Pick one that has the hard drive removed for security, and then buy a new
SSD in whatever size you need.  For about $120 or so, you will have a
VERY
good and reliable laptop.

I got a Dell latitude E6510 for my daughter, and she is real happy
with it.
This specific model came with 3 different screen resolutions, you can
tell
them apart by the service code on the bottom, or if they show the bootup
screen in the listing. The sellers usually don't know the difference,
so the
price is usually the same.  I got that one for $90 delivered, without
hard
drive.

Jon


The last Dell laptop I had used a three-wire PSU that locked you in to
buying only Dell-branded power bricks. There's a lockout chip on the
brick that communicates with the motherboard and if it detects it's not
Dell OEM it prevents the battery from charging at full speed and
throttles the processor. down to 400MHz.

the way it does this is the BIOS flips a bit in the processor register
set called BD_PROCHOT which is a flag from the motherboard temperature
sensor, and fools the processor into thinking the temperature sensor on
the motherboard is saying the system is overheating. It does this if it
doesn't receive the proper readout from the power supply brick.

fortunately it's easy to flip it back by running a program or script on
startup, with root access, and then everything works fine again lol.
this is some hopefully cross-platform C code that does just that:

Or OS-agnostic, rather, asprintf call may IIRC be gcc/**ix specific though.

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 6/9/19 11:20 PM, Unlisted wrote:

There is a lot of truth to this. Linux damages the hardware on a lot of
computers. It also destroys hard and flash drives. I have seen it
happen. Pen drives are usually the first to be destroyed.

Good Lord, what are you installing Linux on, eMachines?
I've been doing Linux installs for the past 25 years, I've NEVER had
a failure.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

[bitrex]

On 6/10/19 4:15 AM, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

On 6/9/19 11:20 PM, Unlisted wrote:
There is a lot of truth to this. Linux damages the hardware on a lot of
computers. It also destroys hard and flash drives. I have seen it
happen. Pen drives are usually the first to be destroyed.

Good Lord, what are you installing Linux on, eMachines?
I've been doing Linux installs for the past 25 years, I've NEVER had
a failure.

"Unlisted" is a pro-troll who pro-trolls on many NGs.

I have concluded with high probability that the psychological basis of
it is due to a lack of maternal nurturing during early childhood
resulting in habitual attention-seeking behavior.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Mon, 10 Jun 2019 03:15:20 -0500, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

Good Lord, what are you installing Linux on, eMachines?
I've been doing Linux installs for the past 25 years, I've NEVER had a
failure.

Same here. Never even heard of one!




--
This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via
the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other
protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of
GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

 

[Roger Blake]

On 2019-06-10, Cursitor Doom <curd@notformail.com> wrote:
> Same here. Never even heard of one!

I think early on there may have been some laptops where fans were
not handled properly, causing things to run too hot. Don't know if
it rose to the level of hardware failure though.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
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Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[~misfit~]

On 10/06/2019 4:31 PM, bitrex wrote:

On 6/9/19 12:31 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
bitrex wrote:



It's too bad ThinkPad used to be a quality product when IBM made them
but it's just bargain basement zombie-brand China junk, now.

Buy a used Dell commercial-grade laptop on eBay for under $100, delivered.
Pick one that has the hard drive removed for security, and then buy a new
SSD in whatever size you need.  For about $120 or so, you will have a VERY
good and reliable laptop.

I got a Dell latitude E6510 for my daughter, and she is real happy with it.
This specific model came with 3 different screen resolutions, you can tell
them apart by the service code on the bottom, or if they show the bootup
screen in the listing. The sellers usually don't know the difference, so the
price is usually the same.  I got that one for $90 delivered, without hard
drive.

Jon


The last Dell laptop I had used a three-wire PSU that locked you in to buying only Dell-branded
power bricks..... <snipped

I've never seen that on Dell's corporate range of laptops, only on the low-end retail things. The
corporate ones usually are capable of docking or using different size PSUs depending on needs so
are left 'flexible'. Also they've been using the same 19V rating and connector now for quite a
while so that customers can use their old PSUs and docking stations. (That said the latest Dell
'docking stations' are in fact wireless so not really docking stations at all.)
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.

 

[Jon Elson]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:26:52 +0000, Roger Blake wrote:

On 2019-06-10, Cursitor Doom <curd@notformail.com> wrote:
Same here. Never even heard of one!

I think early on there may have been some laptops where fans were not
handled properly, causing things to run too hot. Don't know if it rose
to the level of hardware failure though.

Yeah, we're talking about 1996, maybe?

Jon

 

[Jon Elson]

On Sun, 09 Jun 2019 23:20:37 -0500, Unlisted wrote:

On Wed, 5 Jun 2019 11:35:36 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Also:

"During his diagnosis of your machine, he says it looks like you may
have tried to install Linux or some other non-Windows operating system.
Installing an operating system other than Windows10 (Lenovo Preload) is
not supported."

Yeah, that's why the PSU board fucking failed, Linux made it happen.


There is a lot of truth to this. Linux damages the hardware on a lot of
computers. It also destroys hard and flash drives. I have seen it
happen. Pen drives are usually the first to be destroyed.

Ummm, I've been running Linux on a variety of machines for over 20 years
now, almost exclusively. If I need a Windows app, I run Windows in a VM
on the Linux system. My last main desktop was a used eBay Dell Optiplex
(commercial) model, and ran 24/7 for 12 years, and is still running at my
mother in law's place (still under Linux). I've had several other Dell
Optiplex machines used as my web server for the last 15 years or so, had
to upgrade them for more performance, not because anything went bad.

There's at least 10 Linux systems at my house, some running 24/7, others
just booted up when needed.

It is possible to have heavily used flash drives (SD cards, USB sticks
and SSD drives) wear out if certain settings are not made to reduce
writing to the drive, mostly the noatime setting. This is very easy to
do, and may be done automatically on newer OS versions.

So, I don't know where you get this info, but it is patently wrong.
Check what OS is used by major data centers, ISP's, etc. You will be
amazed that there is a HUGE amount of this done using Linux.

Jon

 

[Jon Elson]

On Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:34:31 -0400, bitrex wrote:

The last Dell laptop I had used a three-wire PSU that locked you in to
buying only Dell-branded power bricks. There's a lockout chip on the
brick that communicates with the motherboard and if it detects it's not
Dell OEM it prevents the battery from charging at full speed and
throttles the processor. down to 400MHz.

The older ones I have just have a resistor on the center pin that tells
the charger in the laptop whether this is a 60W or 90W power supply.
But, they ALWAYS have to keep making things harder, more complicated, to
lock out competition. Groan...

Jon

 

On Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 6:23:13 PM UTC-4, Jon Elson wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:26:52 +0000, Roger Blake wrote:

On 2019-06-10, Cursitor Doom <curd@notformail.com> wrote:
Same here. Never even heard of one!

I think early on there may have been some laptops where fans were not
handled properly, causing things to run too hot. Don't know if it rose
to the level of hardware failure though.

Yeah, we're talking about 1996, maybe?

Even now. Putting a laptop on the bed on top of the covers for example, versus on top of an airy permeated surface that allows plenty of air circulation. That's why data centers have so much refrigeration, right?

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 7/7/19 10:24 AM, bruce2bowser@gmail.com wrote:
> Putting a laptop on the bed on top of the covers for example

It's still a problem. A friend got the top of his legs burned by
a laptop.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

[~misfit~]

On 8/07/2019 3:52 AM, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

On 7/7/19 10:24 AM, bruce2bowser@gmail.com wrote:
Putting a laptop on the bed on top of the covers for example

It's still a problem. A friend got the top of his legs burned by
a laptop.

I keep a piece of 2mm hardboard the same size as my laptop in my laptop bag and always use it under
my laptop if it's not being used on a hard surface. It maintains clearances for air gaps. Common
sense really...
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

On 6/5/19 11:37 AM, bitrex wrote:

"During his diagnosis of your machine, he says it looks like you may
have tried to install Linux or some other non-Windows operating
system. Installing an operating system other than Windows10 (Lenovo
Preload) is not supported."

Yeah, that's why the PSU board fucking failed, Linux made it happen.

be the last machine I buy from this company just avoid these shit heads.

It's too bad ThinkPad used to be a quality product when IBM made them
but it's just bargain basement zombie-brand China junk, now.

I have bought still-in-warranty used Lenovo T-series ThinkPads and found
them excellent in quality and excellent value for money.

Perce