Laptop Problems

[moonjiver]

Phew! Are you serious? Well, if you are willing to that, obviously I'd be very grateful to you. The CD drive, as I say, at first didn't work at all, then after some fiddling around (including tipping the laptop up a little!), it worked with fearful grinding and whining noises. At the moment much smoother and quieter, but several hiccups and CDs which didn't burn properly.

Am I able to send you a private message with my phone no. etc.? I'm not sure .. I'm not asking anyone to do something for nothing, Geoff, it was only ever about finding someone honest! I'm sure the rusty skills you mentioned would still far surpass mine ..

[Geoff]

Yes, sure. Send me a PM and I will arrange to pop round. I am not expecting to be paid, just trying to help out.

[Richard]

have you resolved the problem yet moonjiver?
As an interim measure I would do the following:
Take the memory stick and a suitable CD to a friend with a desktop and copy the files over.
Do the Library allow this or are they scared of viruses?
Your questionable computer shop could do this and at the same time you could quietly raise the problems you have had from day one with the laptop they sold you?

There is always a way round a problem and Geoff is more than willing to do his best (either way) I believe.

[moonjiver]

No easy solution in sight yet, I've wrestled with this for much of a year, on and off! Unfortunately I only have one friend (not at all technical) who owns a computer, so it's difficult for me to consult with others. I use the library a lot, not very convenient or quick but I have no other option. My memory sticks and CDs work perfectly there, my only con ern is that the library security is poor, at one time viruses were getting through regularly and the computer suite had to be shut down for a while whilst new software was installed.

I have chatted briefly to KC Computers - they were scathing about the Queens Road shop (they would be of course!) and took the view that I may have an illegal copy of Windows 7 installed - remains to be seen, but then that begs the question: would a shop actually sell that to me knowingly? I know KC have a good reputation but there was a lot of pressure on me to buy a new computer with Windows 8 (which I don't like). Also they rather praised BT - in my experience BT are crooks and I once won a lot of compensation from them!

I think the moral of my problems may be don't try to go it alone if you don't know enough about the technical side, get some good help. Trouble is where? I'm not sure I trust anyone at the moment!

[Richard]

1. Do you have a 'product key number' needed to activate windows 7 after the 30 day period ?
2. once you get online via your own reconditioned lap top you can always use 'cloud storage' instead of the wretched CD.
3. BT is preferred by many businesses as its response is more business-like.

[moonjiver]

Thanks for your input again, Richard, all helpful. If I'm understanding your question properly, the Windows 7 op. system was already installed on the laptop before I bought it, so I assumed nothing more needed to be done there. No warning messages came up on screen at first - they started fairly recently as far as I remember, even tho I've not done anything different on the laptop. Since I had it, just typed a few documents and copied some of my writing from memory stick to CD. Nothing else, since there are hardly any useful programs installed!

This cloud storage is a useful development. I'm anxious not to ever lose any of my work (masses of poetry for a start), so storing it online seems a good solution. One day!

[Richard]

Assuming windows 7 was indeed activated on the copy pre-installed you could still be getting warnings to activate it because of permissions problems, or if certain hardware changes have been made.

right click on 'my computer' and choose properties
look at the bottom and see if:
"windows is activated"
If it is activated then you at least know that you are having some other issues listed above.

If it is not activated you either need the activation code from the supplier of the computer or are presumably running an 'illegal' copy and would need to install a genuine copy.

Did the person you bought it from state it had been activated and registered to microsoft with its genuine code?

[moonjiver]

Thanks, I should have thought of going into Properties before. This Windows edition is listed as "Windows 7 Home Premium, 2009" (getting a bit old maybe?!). Under Windows Activation, the message: "You must activate today. Activate Windows now".

I myself can't tell whether this just means glitches for some reason .. or maybe the op. system was installed but not actually activated - is that possible? The shop where I bought it said nothing.

Geoff is I think popping round shortly to very kindly give me an opinion. I'm fascinated to see where that leads!

Meanwhile, I have one new CD left, I'm going to try again burning data to disc, see if I get the same problems as before.

[Geoff]

Okay, I have your laptop connected to the internet via my wi-fi.

Interestingly microsoft still reported it as non-genuine using the validation code that it was installed with. I have now changed that to the code on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop and it works. Windows is now reporting as genuine and all nagging messages are gone

I have also downloaded all 47 windows updates that have been released since your version of windows. So you are all up-to-date.

[moonjiver]

I'm dumbfounded .. and grateful. Geoff, you are obviously some kind of wizard or maybe just a bit brighter .. I wonder how you identified the code the op system was installed with, was that somewhere in the systems folders?

So it looks like my only real problems are the functioning of the CD drive and the compatibility issues with Open Office. I have only created one or two docs so far on the laptop, then copied them to memory stick - interestingly the library computer this afternoon was clever enough to open the docs in the Word format, at my request, and I was actually able to read the damn things!

Out shortly, to celebrate the progress at some insalubrious place of liquid refeshment ..