E-Chat Quick Question Thread

[Homer Thompson]

Thanks. I've tried to find a generic password online but none so far have worked out for me and unfortunately the boot options menu seems to be password protected too. 
 
Is it possible to put an SSD in an external caddy and install windows via my own machine before putting the hard drive in the other laptop? The only other laptop I have here has an m.2 slot and won't be compatible if I do it the way you have suggested. 

Sounds like her work has locked it all down.

I don't if the caddy will work, to be honest. It might but I think windows might get confused if it detects another install. Worth a try.

You wouldn't need another laptop if it's just a sata 2.5 HD. Just chuck it into a desktop

[bopolopoluss1]

I follow you now, thanks. I'll give it a go and see what happens.

[deej]

2 minutes ago, deej said:

Anyone know if there's a way to watch my sky box upstairs, without giving them £14 a month for multi room?

 

Happy for it to be the same programme on both, as I'd like to watch the football upstairs while the Mrs watches netflix or whatever on the downstairs telly.

^ as asked in the Sky Q thread

[charger29]

Does anyone know if it is possible to unlock the BIOS on a laptop if it is password protected and you don't know/can't remember the code you set up?
 
My sister left a job in 2016 and was allowed to take her laptop with her. She used it for a while but it was (is) running Windows 7 and not long after she bought herself a macbook pro. She has 3 young kids who are all home schooling at the moment and they're sharing 1 laptop; I'd hoped to be able to put windows 10 on this machine to give her another option but unfortunately the BIOS is password protected, as is the 'boot from USB option'. I'd try to upgrade from within Windows 7 but she can't remember the password for the either.
 
It's an HP ProBook 645 G1. I've contacted HP but they said the password has been set by a user locally and because of that they can't do anything. Does that seem right? It's a pretty basic machine but it seems a bit daft for it to go in the bin.
EDIT:  Is it possible to install windows on an external hard drive and then put it in the machine? Would that bypass the BIOS?
 

Can you not use something like Hirens Boot CD?
I'm sure that's got a windows password remover. Probably a BIOS password remover too but you'll probably have more luck getting into windows.

[Ginaro]

I thought a BIOS password was set at the hardware level - from memory (years since I set one) it appears before anything is loaded from the boot menu so you can't just bypass it by changing the HDD or putting in a boot CD?

If you can find the CMOS battery removing it for a while might work.

[BFTD]

5 hours ago, bopolopoluss1 said:

Does anyone know if it is possible to unlock the BIOS on a laptop if it is password protected and you don't know/can't remember the code you set up?

My sister left a job in 2016 and was allowed to take her laptop with her. She used it for a while but it was (is) running Windows 7 and not long after she bought herself a macbook pro. She has 3 young kids who are all home schooling at the moment and they're sharing 1 laptop; I'd hoped to be able to put windows 10 on this machine to give her another option but unfortunately the BIOS is password protected, as is the 'boot from USB option'. I'd try to upgrade from within Windows 7 but she can't remember the password for the either.

It's an HP ProBook 645 G1. I've contacted HP but they said the password has been set by a user locally and because of that they can't do anything. Does that seem right? It's a pretty basic machine but it seems a bit daft for it to go in the bin.

EDIT:  Is it possible to install windows on an external hard drive and then put it in the machine? Would that bypass the BIOS?

Are you, in fact, Elvis Black from Cameroon? https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Boot-and-Lockup/HP-ProBook-645-G1-BIOS-password-reset/td-p/6875120

Couple of options there that might be worth trying. You can certainly still get replacement BIOS chips on eBay. Whether they are soldered on to the board or easily removable is another question. This has brought back memories of removing BIOS chips from 3/486 motherboards and applying 5V to different pins to remove password settings, but I'm guessing that's a bad idea with modern machines!

Maybe I missed it, but I take it that laptop didn't come with an optical drive? If not, might be worth getting hold of one and adding it to the (presumably blanked-off) slot. That won't be included under 'Boot from USB', although 'Boot from CD/DVD' might still be disabled.

I haven't performed a Windows upgrade (as opposed to a clean install)  in more than a decade, but is that still a thing with Windows 10? Download the image from Microsoft, run the installer in Windows 7?

[BFTD]

Has anyone seen any 140mm slim case fans lately? The ones that are 15mm (or less) in height, mainly meant for slimline PCs. I've been looking around for one for a few days, but no joy - everywhere appears to have sold out. No luck even on eBay.

It's for my CPU - I bought an absolutely massive cooler for this PC when I built it six year ago, and there wasn't room on the motherboard to attach the standard 25mm fan, so it's been passively cooled this whole time (at a surprisingly low temperature - as I say, it's a big heatsink). Wanting to start overclocking to see if I can avoid a full upgrade this year - maybe a new video card will be enough, he said while clutching at straws  

[mozam76]

I'm with VM for my telly and Broadband, and have recently changed to their 300MB offering. It's their Hub 3 that I have. 

I stay in a pokey two bedroom hoose, and in the bedroom upstairs (router doonstairs) the wifi signal is really patchy. My teenage laddie often has issues when gaming.

I've read that if the router sits next to other wifi items it can have an effect, however I've also read that the VM hub is actually shite and I should get a new router (non VM) router. 

What say you, good denizens of P&B? 

[Homer Thompson]

I'm with VM for my telly and Broadband, and have recently changed to their 300MB offering. It's their Hub 3 that I have. 
I stay in a pokey two bedroom hoose, and in the bedroom upstairs (router doonstairs) the wifi signal is really patchy. My teenage laddie often has issues when gaming.
I've read that if the router sits next to other wifi items it can have an effect, however I've also read that the VM hub is actually shite and I should get a new router (non VM) router. 
What say you, good denizens of P&B? 

I would suggest powerline adaptors, particularly for gaming.

Router placement can definetly have an effect, so if you can try moving it, or moving things around it to see if it makes any difference

[mozam76]

23 hours ago, Mr X said:

I would suggest powerline adaptors, particularly for gaming.

Router placement can definetly have an effect, so if you can try moving it, or moving things around it to see if it makes any difference

 

Thanks for this Mr X, much appreciated. I'm guessing something like this would work? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5585575?clickSR=slp:term:powerline:2:6:1

Sorry for the additional question - so, my son is in one bedroom going tonto at the lag whilst on his Xbox. He needs a wired connex. In the other bedroom, my wee girl is moaning because Unspeakable on youtube on her ipad is laggy. She needs better wifi as opposed to wired.

Will I need to buy two of the above, so that i've got three pieces of kit?

[Homer Thompson]

Thanks for this Mr X, much appreciated. I'm guessing something like this would work? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5585575?clickSR=slp:term:powerline:2:6:1
Sorry for the additional question - so, my son is in one bedroom going tonto at the lag whilst on his Xbox. He needs a wired connex. In the other bedroom, my wee girl is moaning because Unspeakable on youtube on her ipad is laggy. She needs better wifi as opposed to wired.
Will I need to buy two of the above, so that i've got three pieces of kit?

Yes, something like that would work.

You're also right you would need one plug at the router and one in each bedroom.

You might be able to buy the WiFi extender one separately rather than buy two of those packs and have an extra. Just make sure you get the same model number

[mozam76]

1 hour ago, Mr X said:

Yes, something like that would work.

You're also right you would need one plug at the router and one in each bedroom.

You might be able to buy the WiFi extender one separately rather than buy two of those packs and have an extra. Just make sure you get the same model number

Brilliant, thanks very much!

[GiGi]

Virgins routers are just a gubbins mess. Great speed on ethernet. Crappy wifi about even my small flat.

[BFTD]

How come everyone seems to be out of entry-level all-in-one inkjet printers just now? Brexit throttling imports, or high sales from everybody working from home?

[Homer Thompson]

How come everyone seems to be out of entry-level all-in-one inkjet printers just now? Brexit throttling imports, or high sales from everybody working from home?

The latter probably. Same reason some desks and chairs are in short supply too

[UpInTheAyr]

Virgins routers are just a gubbins mess. Great speed on ethernet. Crappy wifi about even my small flat.

After my extensive research into this it seems to be largely solved by buying your own router and putting the hub into modem mode or connecting a mesh system around your place

[Romeo]

Buying RAM there 2 are different speeds but the 3600MHz has slightly higher latency. 18 v16. I'm inclined to go for the 3600, anybody any more clued up on it?

@Mr X

Corsair VENGEANCELPX16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4 3600 (Pc4-28800) C181.35V Desktop Memory - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, Black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

eta rest of build in Ryzen 5 160 3gb, b450m MB

Edited February 16, 2021 by Romeo

[Homer Thompson]

Buying RAM there 2 are different speeds but the 3600MHz has slightly higher latency. 18 v16. I'm inclined to go for the 3600, anybody any more clued up on it?
[mention=1702]Mr X[/mention]
Corsair VENGEANCELPX16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4 3600 (Pc4-28800) C181.35V Desktop Memory - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, Black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
 
eta rest of build in Ryzen 5 160 3gb, b450m MB

I read an article that said anything over 3200 is a waste of time, although I can't remember why! So unless there's no, or very little, price difference I would go for the 3200

[UpInTheAyr]

Would a Cat6 ethernet cable make any difference in speed to my over 10 year old desktop? It is connected to my Virgin 3 hub atm with the old ethernet cable I used for my BT hub, assume it's just a standard cable. Getting about 70 Mbps at the moment with it but can/suppose to be getting up to 200 Mbps, can get that speed over WiFi on my Pixel 4A.

wondered if it's worth getting a Cat6 to improve speed or would my ancient desktop harware make that irrelevant.

[Homer Thompson]

Would a Cat6 ethernet cable make any difference in speed to my over 10 year old desktop? It is connected to my Virgin 3 hub atm with the old ethernet cable I used for my BT hub, assume it's just a standard cable. Getting about 70 Mbps at the moment with it but can/suppose to be getting up to 200 Mbps, can get that speed over WiFi on my Pixel 4A.
wondered if it's worth getting a Cat6 to improve speed or would my ancient desktop harware make that irrelevant.

Depend on the hardware in the PC!

If it's got an old 100mb network card then a new cable isn't going to make much difference, if any.

Gigabit network cards are cheap as chips though and that will make a difference - although you'll probably still need the new cable too.