Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by megabyte

[WTA]Business startup discussions

megabyte — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:33:20 +0800

Dear all,

We all live in an age where everybody has the opportunity to open up their own business, be it small or medium, large scale. If you got no money to pay rental? No problem, there's tons of websites out there that can give you the space to sell or advertise your products.

So my question is, putting the online business aside, how do you get the stocks from suppliers with no or little modal / capital?

For example, to startup a computer store, do you guys do consignment with the distributor? Or do you have to fork out a large sum of money to pile up the stocks?

I have no experience at all in starting a business. I do not know how to run them, I fear of failure of the business. I don't know what to do, but I have the passion to open my own business. I would love to open a computer store in my hometown.

Question is, with so many big companies out there, how can we small business owners compete with them? Is this unfair competition? The riches get all the businesses with their large retails stores and nice renovation? What are the chances of a small computer store to survive? And possibly expand the store to international market?

Sincerely,
Megabyte
Passionate business startup wannabe.

Laptop lifespan survey

megabyte — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:17:53 +0800

Hi guys, I've been "desktop-less" for almost 4 years now. To my surprise, my laptop lasted longer than what I expected. I wasn't so sure about getting this brand at the first place, but I did, and the brand is Hp Compaq.

My sister's first laptop was also a Compaq back in the 2001s version. They were great, albeit a little bit too heavy, it ran great till it was stolen in year 2005, yeah pathetic right? These thieves don't care what year or how obsolete they are, they just grab what they see.

Ok back to the topic, it's actualy a CQ42-177TX. I am definitely impressed by this laptop's lifespan. I run it almost 24 hours a day, my workhorse, my gaming companion, movie theater, torrent downloader, you name it. I do almost everything on this laptop. The battery died on me on the 1st year, but I wasn't really dependant on the battery anyways, since I never relied on these pathetic batteries which wouldn't last me half day.

It's been great owning this laptop, I would've bought a new one if it died on me, but no, it's still running strong! Heck even the speakers are still one of the best speakers I've heard on a laptop.

So tell me, how long did your laptop last before it died on you? And brand?

Note: Do backup your files no matter how reliable or expensive you think your laptop are. The harddisk will eventually die one day.

[WTA]Can I actually RMA my notebook?

megabyte — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:44:59 +0800

Hi there guys, I am scratching my head, didn't want to waste my time or even embarrass myself bring my laptop to service centre and asking something that will not be entertained.

So guys, I bought my Compaq CQ42-177TX about a year ago, didn't expected to game on it, until recently, installed Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 and tried gaming on it. So the game was flawless until recently, I see artifacts in almost every scene of the game.

I know this could be overheating issue, but can I actually RMA my notebook for that? It used to work fine with no artifacts at all, and it's a few times now the notebook froze and needed a hard restart. (While playing PES 2011, haven't tried other games YET)

I hope you guys can help me out on this. Either way, will try updating the driver later and do some more research, but glad to hear if you guys have any comments. Thank in advance!

[WTA]AMD X4 965BE vs Intel i3 2100

megabyte — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:49:40 +0800

Hi guys, so I'm going to a basic computer, but nothing too fancy, but would like to do some gaming and a bit of video/photo editting.

I am able to get the Phenom II x4 965BE paired with a Gigabyte ga-m68mt-s2 and a 2GB DDR3 ram at RM688. It is priced very closely to the newer i3 2100 LGA1156 processor which I can get at around RM698. paired with a gigabyte h61m chipset motherboard and paired with 2GB DDR3 as well.

Is it wise to still get the X4 965BE which is going to be phased out soon? Usually, what do people compare with X4 965BE ? is it the i5 series or the i3 series? Sorry haven't been in the field for so long now. Didn't update myself too much since getting a laptop as my desktop replacement.

Thank you in advance!

[WTA]Does HP Care Pack covers battery also?

megabyte — Fri, 27 May 2011 15:21:28 +0800

Hi guys, so I purchased the HP care pack during purchasing of my laptop, which is a CQ42-177TX a year ago.

The battery went kaput last month while the warranty was just over and when I check it with the included battery diagnostic wizard, it asks me to replace the battery. So I did.

I sent the battery back to the shop where I purchased my laptop. I waited for around a month, and 2 days ago, they called me to collect the battery.

To my amaze, they didn't even change the battery. It is still the same old battery that I sent one month ago. I was stupid enough to not bring my laptop for testing while collecting the replacement battery as I was in a hurry that time.

So the question is now, does the HP care pack covers the battery as well? If no, I guess probably they were to "shy" to tell me that they didn't replace the battery. As I was saying, I was in a hurry, so I didn't bother to ask more questions regarding the warranty.

Here I am now, hoping that gurus can advise me what to do and I think I should bring the battery back to the shop, but the thing is , the 1st year warranty is over already. Bringing it back again would waste my time and petrol if in the end they will just reject my battery to be sent for warranty.

Thanks in advance!

[WTA]Some upgrading questions

megabyte — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:04:08 +0800

Guy, I have a desktop PC that just died on me. I'm suspecting it's the display card failure, because according to the manual and some resources on the web, a long beep followed by 2 short beeps mean that the display card has error.

I didn't bother to open it up to check because I knew the display card was gonna die soon because it had lotsa artifacts and though changing the thermal paste does help a little, but little does it help, only to an extend that it extended its lifespan by a few months.

So the question is, what's the best graphics card money can buy with a budget of only RM200? Or should I invest more? The games that I play is mostly sports games like NBA 2K11 and PES 2011, FIFA2011 etc. Gaming on 1920x1080. Though I have no problem switching to lower resolution to get performance.

The other option is a complete new system build. Since this desktop PC is about 6 years old now, with constant upgrading, till now it has:

Biostar P965
2GB DDR2 RAM
X1950PRO 512MB DDR3
Samsung 250GB HDD
Enermax 460W FMAII

Since I have another laptop, which means that the desktop isn't really essential. Rather it is only meant for some gaming, torrenting and for my family members to print their documents and such.

Any comments? I would really like to hear what you guys think about it. To upgrade or not? Or just simply get a graphics card and fix this 6 years old ancient box which might fail me again in the near future?

[WTA]PC Upgrade Concerns

megabyte — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:22:31 +0800

Hello guys. I am helping my friend to upgrade his company's computer. The budget is around RM500 only. So guys any recommendation? The cheaper the better. Since he will using the PCs for Word processing and UBS only.

What I have in mind:

Intel E5300
Intel G31
2GB DDR2 RAM

Might add a PSU because his PC is quite obsolete already. Year 2001-2004. He can't provide me the exact age.

Oh yeah, since I'm gonna use back the harddisk, will it cause any conflicts? I want to skip the step of backing up the files and installing a new OS.

Thanks in advance guys!

[WTA]Electric shock from USB cable

megabyte — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:35:38 +0800

Problem solved!

[WTA]Belkin Wireless Modem+Router

megabyte — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:57:29 +0800

Good evening guys. I have some questions regarding my modem router which I purchase around a year ago.

So the model is F5D7632-4 v7000ak. It is a ADSL2+ Modem with Wireless-G router. The thing is that, I was facing frequent disconnection with the modem.

How can I request for a direct replacement from Belkin? Tried to go back to the shop where I bought it for an exchange, but the people at the shop is so neglecting to exchange for me, they ask me to try this and try that settings, but none of those settings work at all!

Anyone has the same experience before? If the shop is so neglecting to exchange for me, what can I do to complaint? Any ideas guys? Bringing back to the shop for an exchange now won't be happening anymore since I think the warranty is over 1 year already. I think I should call Belkin up. But I would also like to hear some opinions as well on this issue.

[WTA]Streamyx E-mail

megabyte — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:30:59 +0800

Hi guys. What is the default password for checking Streamyx email? Is it the same as the one used to access the internet? Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[WTA]PC cannot turn on.

megabyte — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:39:32 +0800

Hi there all sifus. I have some noob questions here, hope you all don't mind giving me some ideas on what is going on with my friend's PC.

Here's the story:

My friend bought his PC in Australia and the PC is around 1 year old. He brought his PC back to Malaysia after finishing his studies, and the PC was working for a month before he went to travel. After coming back from his holiday trip, his PC couldn't turn on at all, and he thought it's the power supply problem since the fans were not running at all.

And so, he bought an Acbel 660W PSU I don't know which model/series since never mentioned to me, my guess would be the iPower series. After installing the new power supply, still it didn't work.

He had an extra motherboard and replaced the faulty one with no hesitation after finding it still not working after changing the power supply.

Now, the worse thing comes, when he turns on his PC with a new power supply and a new motherboard, it still didn't work. The fan and power did run for approx. 3 secs and then turns off itself. Again, he went to a PC shop, the technician told him that he motherboard is burnt.

If the motherboard is burnt, wouldn't the fans still be running? But no, it only ran for about 3 secs and no response at all. Any ideas guys?

My guess would be:
1. RAM problem
2. CPU problem
3. Graphics card problem

Thanks in advance for the replies.

[WTA]Building i5 Rig

megabyte — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:00:29 +0800

Guys, have a look at the specs I've gathered, please feel free to give me comments and recommendations on which part to change or etc. to make it a decent rig. Thanks in advance for the help.

Intel i5 750 2.66GHz 8MB RM709
Gigabyte P55-USB3L RM499
2GB DDR3 RAM RM159
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 RM269
LG DVDRW RM78
ATX Casing incl. normal PSU RM95
LCD Monitor RM500

Total: RM2,353

Since this is only a working rig. I don't want to spend too much money on PSU, graphics card and casing. Or should I really invest on a good PSU to run this powerful i5 rig?