Can You Help Me!

[AA1]

I live in the sticks of Surin (Isaan) and computer shops are suspect so need advise first!!

1). A couple of months or so ago my computer coughed & spluttered when I turned it on after a few goes it loaded properly. I took it to the 'computer' man in our local market 'town' who after checking said that the electrics in the box/case were going but the innards were okay. I bought a new box into which he put all inside and all went well

UNTIL

about a week ago when the flat screen monitor light began playing up when the computer is turned on. It flashes for a second or two and then goes out. After turning off then on the monitor switch afetr 6 to 12 or so goes, the light finally stays on for much of the day. My instant thought was now a new monitor but a friend said maybe it's the graphics card. Since he said this I have looked at the screen carefully after the lights goes out and you can see the computer still loading etc. BUT 'in the dark' rather than with the screen light. Has anyone else had this problem and if so do you think that is it a new monitor that's needed?

2). When I moved up here a couple of years ago, I found that CAT EV-DO was the best server for my interent need and have been very pleased with it until recently when the signal began to deteriorate and then today have failed to get any connection at all!! I have had to turn my arial round 180 degrees to get a faint signal and connection to another arial much further away. The local CAT office are both unhelpful and useless so pointless contacting them as they just act stupid!! Has anyone else experienced this or what could be the cause? I have not seen any works going on at the mast.

3). I will be getting a laptop for my own use in a couple of months or so. I need one that is reliable, fairly fast, decnt capacity & with a 15" or so screen. Budget up to 40 -50,000 Baht. At present thinking of a Sony Vaio, Lenova or Acer (for servicing in Thailand!). Do you use any of these and if so would you recommend? You may wonder why I want to repair the Desk top - A). for wife's use & . for my back up & reserve.

Thanks so much for any advise. I regret that I was brought up before computers had been thought of so only learnt on a 'need to know' basis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KunMatt]

1. Could be one of 3 things, and I think the likelyhood of fault is in this order: VGA cable. Monitor. Graphics card.

When the light stays on all day is it green or orange?

Do any of your friends or neighbours have a PC that you could borrow parts from for testing? First try using their VGA cable. If still the same problem use their monitor in place of yours.

If the same problem remains then it's most likely your graphics card. Is the VGA port onboard or on a slot? How many VGA connectors are there on the back of your PC?

if it's in a PCI-x or AGP slot then you can try removing it, cleaning everything and replacing it.

[jackdawson]

acers r the bomb !

and great service at their authorized store in bangkok at panthip

[surayu]

Regarding the problem with your flat screen, i had a similar experience with a laptop years ago, basically the laptop got lots of bumps everywhere and even had a bad fall one day, so the contacts of the wires attached behind the screen detached theirself sligthly creating a very unpleasant visual effect (black vertical lines), after a few repair shops told me i needed a brand new screen, i then try to repair it myself but being the components inside so small, my equipment was not suitable so i just made some sort of emergency repair, it worked fine for a while, but the many movements caused the problem to appear again, so i opened it up again, this time i got a small electric shock and the power supplier for the flat screen just got busted (probably just a diode) or anyway was no more enough energy going to it, in fact i could barely see the o/s was still loading up in the darkness, went to the repair shop again and got it fixed.

Your other issue with Cat, yes they are hopeless, they sent me a reminder of a bill which has never been sent after a call i made 4 months earlier, i could not pay at 7/11 because it wasn't a normal bill and i had to chase them to their local office so far away from my home, i paid and after a few days they sent me a very long letter (all in thai language) that i still had to pay them.......

[sulasno]

1) some hardware details would be appreciated

3) laptops prices are on the way down; decide what you want to do with it and then go searching for it :-)