I’d like to get my Mom a laptop that will enable her to play DVDs in wide
screen format without having to boot an OS.  I’ve read about such beasties,
but am having trouble finding one.  Cheaper is  better – the most this will
be used for is dial-up access and some word processing and surfing.

The main requirement is that a DVD plays automatically upon insertion with
no passwords, no long boot ups, no nothing except DVD playing.  I got her a
stand-alone DVD player to hook to the TV through the VCR RCA inputs, but
even with a OFA remote with macros, it’s still too much of a hassle for her
to use.   I’ve seen dedicated DVD portable players, but it seems that for a
few hundred more, you can have a whole computer.

Recommendations of specific models or decent site that lists such machines
or even a name like "Instaplay" or whatever they call the quick DVD play
feature so I can search in Google would be helpful!

TIA,

–
Bobby G.

Could You help me with this? I had to remove this dark plastic cover at
the top edge of the keyboard to expose some screws but it does not want
to pop up. I lifted the middle part of it and it formed a beautiful
arch but the side parts hold stiff.
Thanks for help.

I’m trying to rebuild my home laptop so I reinstalled the OS ( windows 2000
pro) from scratch. When I rebooted the machine it detected new hard ware
ETHERNET CONTROLLER. I went to the device manager and the ETHERNET
CONTROLLER is under OTHER DEVICES. This implies to me that it hasn’t been
recognized properly. I know it’s a IBM 10/100 EtherJet Mini PCI Adapter
because I’ve been using it for 2 years. I tried loading the new drivers from
the reload disk IBM gave me with the machine and it couldn’t find them on
the whole CD I downloaded them from the IBM web site same result. What is
going on here????

Hi All,

Does the phrase "Wireless Enabled" actually mean that you do not need a
separate wireless network in a laptop, or something else?

TIA – Paul H

Hello,

I am hoping someone has come across (and hopefully solved) this problem
before. I have a Gateway Solo 2500 laptop. According to Gateway’s
website, this laptop can support up to 288 MB of RAM. (32 onboard + 128
in Slot 1 + 128 in Slot 2) The problem that I am having is slot 1 will
only recognize 64 MB when it has a 128 chip in it. The other slot will
recognize 128 MB chips with no problem.

I know it is not the RAM chips, because I have tried them both in slot
2. Slot 2 sees them both as 128 MB as it should. Slot 1 sees them both
as 64.

I have spoken with Gateway and they told me to flash the BIOS. It
turned out though that I already had the latest version of the BIOS
installed.

Both RAM chips are the same brand and speed (PC-100), Gateway’s site
says that it uses PC-66, but I don’t think that this is the issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I had a problem with my Gateway M460 after I reinstalled Windows XP Pro
on it lately.  CD’s would burn fine, but DVD’s would burn extremely
slow, like 3 hours to do a single disc.  After much himmm and haahing
with Gateway support I ended up searching the cd forums for the answer
and this is what I found.  Goto Device Manager and look under atapi
devices.  The second listed Primary IDE controller shows that the first
device, the hard drive is useing DMA mode 5 and the second device, the
cddvd burner is useing PIO Mode, even though it says use DMA if
available.  The fix for this is to uninstall the 1st Primary ide
Device, Uninstall the Secondary IDE Device then uninstall the 2nd
Primary ide device and reboot.  Now when the reboot occurs windows will
auto install those devices again and you should see the cd rom device
useing DMA mode 2.  Now You can burn a full DVD in about 10 minutes.

John D. Bivens

Hello,

I was able to successfully change the power connector on one of our
Presario R3306 notebooks. The solder connections are fine. The notebook
powered up okay and I had it running fine for a time on the AC. I then
let the battery drain completely.

Now, I cannot get the notebook to power up at all, either with the
battery or AC adapter. I tried to remove the battery and AC adapter,
hold the power button for 45 seconds, then re-insert the power adapter.

The AC charge light blinks (sometimes faster, sometimes slower). Then
the light may go off for a while. When I press the power button, the
power and hard drive lights come on momentarily then go off.

What might be the problem here?  It is quite puzzling. Are there codes
for these flashing patterns?

Thanks.
Mike McWhinney

Can anyone recommend a reliable firm to repair my Acer 233 laptop.

Regards David

Hi everyone,

I’m a writer working on an article on how to buy a laptop and I’m
looking to get a feel for how well notebook companies are supporting
their customers these days. If you have an opinion on this based on
your own or someone else’s horror story – or great support experience
– please e-mail me at Carla.thorn…@mindspring.com

Thanks!

Carla

I am using a DELL Inspiron 4150 and every once in a while my synaptics
touchpad’s scrolling facility suddenly "staggers" when I am scrolling
up and down with it. It still works, but the issue is the scrolling is
no longer smooth. To correct it is simple, all I have to do is restart
the computer. When it happens? I have no idea. Just randomly. But
frequently enough for me to write this post.

Regards

Kevin Clark.