Dell 8200 HD problems:

Mark Twain wrote:
A couple of questions if I may, while were waiting
for the HD etc.

I have updates turned off on both the 8500 and the
780 and both are Windows 7 Professional OS's but on
the 780 there's a red circle with a white X over the
Action Center icon whereas on the 8500 there's nothing.

The other question I have is that lately I've noticed
that when on Yahoo; if I click a story it seems to lag
or stop altogether where I can't even scroll down but
only on Yahoo or sometimes MSN. Are they overloading the
browser because I don't have any problems with any other
webpage?

I noticed also that if you click on anything anymore it
triggers other stories ads, and who knows what ? Now they
even put them in on the email page.

Robert

Check your Task Manager display.

It could be, that the browser is simply using up
all the resources it can get its hands on. I've
noticed this behavior on CNN advertising platform.
(That piece of crap on the right hand side, that
slides up and down when you scroll.) On my 32 bit
OS, using a 32 bit browser, the browser burns up
1.8GB of RAM, and then seizes up (because in this
case, it's out of address space to be able to
ask for more RAM).

While it is possible to get a 64 bit version of
Firefox, I don't recommend doing that, at this
time. Instead, study the problem first, to see
whether this is even something you can fix from
the user end.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/46.0/

win32/
win64/

I don't know if Adobe Flash is available for a 64 bit
Windows browser or not. So changing to a 64 bit browser,
may require some work. It's not necessarily a drop-in
replacement, and at the moment, I would not expect
"better behavior". It would be a stop-gap measure.

If you had Google Chrome loaded up, you could retest
the web page with that, and see if the obnoxious behavior
is handled better by the rendering engine in the browser.
That may be the only temporary fix, until these web
idiot designers ruin the user experience, once again.

HTH,
Paul

I really don't know what I'm looking for?

http://i67.tinypic.com/2j4wxlc.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/14t3pxz.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/2qsc4md.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/6fuvx2.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/ruqqom.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/s4z6v8.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/2hxm1xt.jpg

What about refreshing FF ?

Robert

What was that program that created
an arc? To test the CPU? would that
be of any value?

Robert

I thought I was using the 64 bit version
in both the 8500 and 780 computers?

Robert

On 30/05/2016 03:08, Mark Twain wrote:
I thought I was using the 64 bit version
in both the 8500 and 780 computers?

Robert


No you didn't. You are an intelligent person. Windows XP 64 bit were
very common in those days and the very first thing they asked the store
person was "does it run 64bit XP?" The answer was always YES.
Nowadays, it is hard to get a 64 bit machine because everything is 32
bit! They are short changing customers!!

Can you not ask for a refund?





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Excuse me, yes I did

Mark Twain wrote:
I really don't know what I'm looking for?

http://i67.tinypic.com/2j4wxlc.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/14t3pxz.jpg Need to click "Show Processes for all users"
Then click memory column, to sort on most memory.
http://i68.tinypic.com/2qsc4md.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/6fuvx2.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/ruqqom.jpg 1.56GB used ( 1GB for OS, 560MB programs ?)

http://i64.tinypic.com/s4z6v8.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/2hxm1xt.jpg

What about refreshing FF ?

Robert

Since this is Windows 7, I can kinda guesstimate
that the browser is not in trouble at the moment.
If I assume the OS is fully expanded, it uses around
1GB. The browser, while not shown in your pictures,
would be using 560MB or so.

Task Manager has a stupid button

"Show Processes for all users"

That should be the default. I don't know
why we have to go through the extra step
every time. But that's life. Even if Task
Manager would remember I clicked that
from one usage of the thing to another,
I might be happy with the design. But,
you have to click it every time you visit
there.

*******

First, make sure your menu bar is turned on. Right-Click on
the blue area near the top of the browser window. Check the
menu presented for "Menu Bar". Select that and it should
become ticked. The words "File"..."Help" should appear.
For example, now the word "Tools" should be up there.

http://s33.postimg.org/xex6z2x4f/FFmenu.gif

To clear cache:

Tools : Options : Privacy
Clear your recent history

http://s33.postimg.org/tjghanqr3/FFcache.gif

If you want to Refresh the browser, that may remove
extensions. I did this to my test browser, and Plugins
like Silverlight are still there.

Help : Troubleshooting Information
Refresh Firefox (button on page)

http://s33.postimg.org/cdyvpfcq7/FFrefresh.gif

The current version of Firefox (just updated mine
for the purposes of taking some pictures) is 46.0.1 .

But knowing Yahoo News, I don't think this is going
to help. We'll see.

On the 780, the Intel graphics in the Q45 may not
be the fastest for the purposes of "hardware acceleration".
Both the browser and the Adobe Flash plugin can use
hardware acceleration. On the 8500, you have an Nvidia
video card, which is modern enough to have some
shaders to use for the purpose. (Modern Intel processors
also have a slightly better GPU, but that's not
going to help in this case. Both of your
processors don't have a GPU inside the CPU package.
Even my test machine, is like your 8500, in not
having a GPU inside the CPU. So for hardware
acceleration on the Test Machine, I have a $50
HD6450. You would want something more modern
than that, as it is now out-of-support.)

Example of today's rubbish video cards. $30
This one would fit in a short x16 slot. I ruled out
a number of other cheap cards, as they had no fan,
and my experience with fanless cards, is some
are a bit unstable when "flat-out". And even some
of the cheap cards with fans, they have no housing
to control airflow (making the fan useless).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487221

I no longer have good data to compare video cards,
so I'm operating blind here. The gpureview.com web
site no longer updates their table.

While I don't believe the performance issue
is hardware related, it's about all that is
practical to upgrade on the 780.

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
I thought I was using the 64 bit version
in both the 8500 and 780 computers?

Robert


I don't know if it indicates somewhere on the
browser or not.

Mozilla initially introduced a 64 bit browser
compile some time back. But I don't know if the
plugins were ready for it at the time. And then,
Mozilla withdrew their 64 bit browser, and just
distributed the 32 bit one for a few more years.

But the 64 bit version has made a comeback.
In part, because Google Chrome is in the
process of switching entirely to 64 bit
browsers. So Mozilla now ships a 64 bit version
(again).

A 64 bit OS (what you've got on both machines),
can run a 32 bit browser or a 64 bit browser.
Other than being able to gobble down more memory
when it wants to, I don't see the point of a
64 bit browser. As far as I know, every Firefox
browser I have installed here, is the 32 bit version.
(And that's likely to be what the download page
offers a user automatically, is the 32 bit one.)
I've not even tested any 64 bit ones.

If you wanted the 64 bit one, you'd browse the
releases server for a copy. And the browser also
isn't likely to be all that happy to upgrade on
the fly from a 32 bit to a 64 bit version (since
a different Program Files folder gets used). I
don't know if their installer is "graceful" or not,
when making such a transition.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/fire...1/win64/en-US/

And while your Task Manager pictures weren't
conclusive, just the total RAM usage of 1.56GB
in the picture (1GB for OS maybe), suggests
Firefox hadn't gone crazy. I'm not sure what
problem we're fixing yet :-)

Paul

Good Guy wrote:
On 30/05/2016 03:08, Mark Twain wrote:
I thought I was using the 64 bit version
in both the 8500 and 780 computers?

Robert


No you didn't. You are an intelligent person. Windows XP 64 bit were
very common in those days and the very first thing they asked the store
person was "does it run 64bit XP?" The answer was always YES.
Nowadays, it is hard to get a 64 bit machine because everything is 32
bit! They are short changing customers!!

Can you not ask for a refund?

The 8200 was a 32 bit machine. It used RAMBUS RAM, to
give some idea of the vintage (an older P4 processor).
It came with a copy of WinXP x32 on it.

The 780 and 8500 have 64 bit CPUs
and both have 64 bit OSes. And
both can run either 32 bit or 64 bit
programs.

He doesn't need a refund.

*******

I only know of one person running WinXP SP2 x64 in this
group, and I don't think he's all that happy with it. I
wouldn't recommend that software to anyone - the reviews
on Newegg for that software purchase, said all that
needed saying about it.

HTH,
Paul

I'd didn't know the history of 32bit/64 bit OS's
I just assumed that 32bit was for older computers
and 64 bit was for newer computers.

So can I/ should I covert both computer to 32 bit?

Not really a problem;I was just saying that on the
780 there's a red circle with a white X over the Action
Center logo. Yet both computers have Windows Updated
turned off but the 8500 has no red circle.

When I open the Action Center on the 780 it's just the
Windows Update in red.

Robert

I checked for updates and there were none.

the scans have picked up nothing,

As far as I can tell it all looks good except
for the red circle over the Action Center flag.

Robert

I have the current version:

http://i67.tinypic.com/jsln3q.jpg

Robert

Are you suggesting we upgrade the video
card in the 780? If so, I don't have a
problem with it. You suggest this (as good
as any other)?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814487221


Robert

I guess I don't need to 'convert'

The 8200 lasted 16 years with upgrades
and was still working when boxed and has
a spare bootable 320 GB HD.

Still using the beautiful monitor that
came with it for the 780 which was an
excellent choice.

Robert

Problem resolved,.....

It was there all along and I didn't see it. I
had Windows Update turned off but I didn't turn
off the Action Center Window Update messages.

So after I turned the messages off the red circle
with white X disappeared.

Robert