Welcome to A Tech's Life. The purpose of this blog is to provide insight to some of the simple and more complicated chores that I encounter during my day as a Computer Technician.

My website is InfoTechNow

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Compaq Presario CQ60 Flashing Caps Lock

So today I went to a clients house whose laptop would boot anymore. The caps lock light is pulsing and nothing else. The fans seem to fire up but nothing else.

Well I took it back to the shop and put in a new Hard Drive and was able to load Windows and thought that that was that. Well on reboot same issue.

I tried a hard reset. To do this take out the battery, unplug the unit and hold the power button for 15 seconds or so. This works sometimes but not this time.

So I called HP. It was out of warranty, and they felt it was a Motherboard.

So if your having this issue and your under warranty call HP. 1-800-HP-INVENT.

If not it looks like your buying a new Laptop.

Sorry.

:(

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Router not Working

Went to a call today because a router they just bought from us was not working. The computer said that it was connected to the network, but no internet access.

Most internet providers (in this case "Shaw") will not allow more then one computer or router to connect to a modem at a time.

When ever you replace a router or computer you must always clear the old information from the modem.

This is done by unplugging the power from the modem and router. Wait 30 or more seconds. Sometimes it flushes quicker then other times. So if it does not work the first time, try waiting 5 minutes the second.

Then plug in your modem. Wait for all the lights to come on. Then plug in the router. If you are just changing computers and have no router you can turn the new computer on.

After a minute or so you should now have internet. If this does not work, then you should call your internet provider and have then trouble shoot the issue.

IF you are changing computers and already have a router, you should not have to worry about this as the router is "married" to the modem not the old computer.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

I can't eject a DVD on my Mac

Had a call this morning from a Mac user that uses a non Mac keyboard. She could not eject her DVD on her old eMac. The same situation could be true on a Mac Laptop. The simple answer is .......... drum roll please. "Rat-a-tat-tat Rat-a-tat-tat...... Hit the F12 Key.

Done like dinner.

Monday, December 26, 2011

My new external speakers are not working on my Mac Book Pro!!

Today I had a customer who owns a Mac Book Pro come in to the store today after buying a set of speakers from me last week. They are USB powered and plug into the headphone jack.

Mac's have a safety feature that sometimes turns your volume down when you plug in a set of headphones. When you plug in a set of external speakers, the Mac sees them as a set of headphones and can turn down the volume which make it appear as if the speakers are not working.

Unplug the speakers and you can hear your music again, plug in the speakers and oh no!, no sound again.

Do not fear. With the speakers plugged in, turn up the volume. You can do this by hitting the volume up button on the keyboard (F12).

No problem.

Have a good day.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Word 2000 not responding

Word 2000 not responding? Unistall Microsoft Office Live AddIn and blamo, all systems ago!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Windows XP mode in Windows 7 Pro, Enterprise and Ultimate

So you have an old 98 application that worked in Windows XP but will not work in Windows 7 32 or 64 bit. What do you do? Jump off a bridge? Take back the new computer? Buy a new POS? No, it is as simple as 2 downloads.

Microsoft has a very easy walk through to follow.

Click here for the walkthrough

Thats it.

Enjoy.

Kyle

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Windows 7 and Email

So you buy a new computer, get it home, setup Windows 7 and start looking for Outlook Express or Windows Mail and can not seem to find it. Well that's because it is not there. Stop looking.

I am not completely clear on why Microsoft in its infinite wisdom decided not to include an email program with Windows 7, but it didn't. Do not fret, Windows Live Mail is only a download away.

You can download Windows Live Mail here.

http://download.live.com/wlmail

You will find it quite different from Outlook Express and some what different from Windows Mail that came out with Vista.

A few Key things to note are:

1. Send and Receive is now called Sync.
This is because you can have multiple emails come into WLM. Gmail, Hotmail, your regular mail etc. and you can view all of your new mail in the first Inbox or view them individually from each of thier own sub folders below.
2. Address Book is now called Contacts and can be accessed near the bottom of the page on the left hand side.
3. There is now a calander that can be accessed online if you open a live.ca account or have an existing hotmail account.

You could also download Thunderbird from Mozilla or Incredimail and use their client as well.

--kc