[aaaa44]

Yesterday after turning on my desktop pc the screen was broken up into small rectangles, and I could not log on.  I restarted the computer and the message "Windows is resetting. Don't turn off your computer" message came up, and it took a long while for the desktop screen to appear.  When it did it was clear, and the computer has run fine since.  I ran MBAM, and it found nothing wrong.  Also, the hard drive seems to be getting noisier as it ages.  These are symptoms of a bad hard drive, correct?  Even if the hard drive is still good I want to replace it because it is several years old and has so many hours of use on it.  

 

I only use this computer for typing documents and surfing the internet, so it's fine for my needs.   These are the specs for my computer:

 

Lenovo H500S

Celeron J1800

4Gb RAM DDR3

W8.1 64 bit

500Gb HD 7200 rpm

 

Are SSD drives compatible with my computer?  I want a 1 TB drive.  The Samsung 860 QVO 1TB SSD is $110 on Amazon.  Is this a good choice?  Thanks for any replies.

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The EVO would be a better choice.  See:

https://linustechtip...ng-860-qvo-2tb/

 

Might want to wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday and see if you can find a sale.

 

These are 2.5" drives and your desktop uses 3.5 so you will probably want an adapter so you can mount it.  Lots of them available on Amazon for under $10 but read the 1 star reviews before buying.  Also the connectors are the same so all you need is a physical mount - no circuit boards like on the hot swappable units.  If money is a problem you can just tie wrap or tape the SSD into place.

 

Samsung has a program on their website to move your operating system and data from the old drive to the new. 

https://www.samsung....60-qvo-sata-iii

It only works when connected directly.  If you try to use it with a USB to SATA adapter it won't recognize the drive and refuses to work. 

 

We can look at the drive's SMART info to see if it is failing:

 

Get Speedfan:

 

http://www.filehippo...nload_speedfan/

Download, save and Install it (Win 7+ or Vista right click and Run As Admin.) then run it (Win 7+ or Vista right click and Run As Admin.).

(It's main purpose is to check temps (Desktops should be around 45C when idle)  but it also reads the SMART info)
click on the S.M.A.R.T. tab.  Click on the down arrow to the right of the Hard Disk box.  Select your hard drive.  Click on Perform an In-depth Online Analysis of this hard disk.  Your browser will open.

At the bottom of the new page will be a line:  

The link to get back and see a new report about this hard disk in the future is this.

Right click on the underlined "this" and select Copy Link Address.  Move to a Reply and Paste (Ctrl + v).
 

[RKinner]

The EVO would be a better choice.  See:

https://linustechtip...ng-860-qvo-2tb/

 

Might want to wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday and see if you can find a sale.

 

These are 2.5" drives and your desktop uses 3.5 so you will probably want an adapter so you can mount it.  Lots of them available on Amazon for under $10 but read the 1 star reviews before buying.  Also the connectors are the same so all you need is a physical mount - no circuit boards like on the hot swappable units.  If money is a problem you can just tie wrap or tape the SSD into place.

 

Samsung has a program on their website to move your operating system and data from the old drive to the new. 

https://www.samsung....60-qvo-sata-iii

It only works when connected directly.  If you try to use it with a USB to SATA adapter it won't recognize the drive and refuses to work. 

 

We can look at the drive's SMART info to see if it is failing:

 

Get Speedfan:

 

http://www.filehippo...nload_speedfan/

Download, save and Install it (Win 7+ or Vista right click and Run As Admin.) then run it (Win 7+ or Vista right click and Run As Admin.).

(It's main purpose is to check temps (Desktops should be around 45C when idle)  but it also reads the SMART info)
click on the S.M.A.R.T. tab.  Click on the down arrow to the right of the Hard Disk box.  Select your hard drive.  Click on Perform an In-depth Online Analysis of this hard disk.  Your browser will open.

At the bottom of the new page will be a line:  

The link to get back and see a new report about this hard disk in the future is this.

Right click on the underlined "this" and select Copy Link Address.  Move to a Reply and Paste (Ctrl + v).
 

[aaaa44]

I selected my hard drive and clicked "Perform an In-depth Online Analysis of this hard disk", waited a half hour, and no new page opened.  I tried the same thing twice yesterday.  

[RKinner]

Sorry about that.  Seems the latest version is broken.  My usual alternative (HDTune) is not working either so probably a Windows update has messed them up.  If you look at the speedfan SMART info there are usually some entries marked with icons in green, yellow or red.  Do you see any that are yellow or red?

 

Speccy appears to still be working:

 

Get the free version of Speccy:

http://www.filehippo...ownload_speccy/ 

(Look in the upper right for the Download
Latest Version button  - Do NOT press the large Start Download button on the upper left!)  
Download, Save and Install it.  Tell it you do not need CCLEANER.    Run Speccy.  When it finishes (the little icon in the bottom left will stop moving),
File, Save as Text File,  (to your desktop) note the name it gives. OK.  Open the file in notepad and delete the line that gives the serial number of your Operating System.  
(It will be near the top,  10-20  lines down.) Save the file.  Attach the file to your next post.  Attaching the log is the best option as it is too big for the forum.  Attaching is a multi step process.

First click on More Reply Options
Then scroll down to where you see
Choose File and click on it.  Point it at the file and hit Open.
Now click on Attach this file.

 

[aaaa44]

All icons were green in Speedfan.  There were no yellow or red icons.  Both Fitness and Performance at the bottom of the screen were one bar below max.  I don't know if those readings are relevant.      

 

Attached Files

•  LENOVO-PC.txt   1.21MB   294 downloads

[RKinner]

Speccy doesn't see anything wrong with it either (other than low transfer speed of SATA II instead of SATA III ) but it's a Seagate and they don't last so you are smart to be thinking about replacing it especially if it's noisy.

 

The external drive looks good too.

 

One thing Speccy shows:  You connect with WiFi on Channel 6 and there are three other signals on Channel 6 which might cause interference.  Routers are supposed to adjust for the best channel but in my experience they never do.  If you are able to log on to your router you can change the Channel assignment from Auto to Manual and then select a better channel like 1 2 or 3 and get away from the interference.  Probably improve your connection speed.

 

There is a program called inssider:

 

Download inssider

http://www.techspot....6-inssider.html
Double click to install it. Then run it by right click and Run As Admin.

It will show you a graph in the bottom left that has your signal in blue and competing signals in orange and yellow.  It may also recommend a different channel which might have less interference.
 

[aaaa44]

My computer is five years old, and I use it a lot.  Five years of heavy use is way above the average life for a HDD from what I understand.

 

My computer is slow but adequate for my uses, but the slowness is annoying.  Will an EVO SSD increase my computer's speed significantly? 

 

Is a SATA to SATA cable and the Samsung program all that is necessary to transfer my O/S and data to a new Samsung SSD drive?

 

If I am able to log onto my router, do I choose the strongest unnamed channel?  The named channels are already in use, so I should not try to select a named channel, correct?  Thanks.

[RKinner]

Assuming you have a free SATA port on the motherboard, a SATA to SATA cable and a spare power cable you should be able to install the SSD and use the Samsung cloning program to move your operating system and data to the SSD.  (Hint if you do not have a spare cable and/or power cable you can usually borrow them from the DVD.)

 

It will be much faster.

 

Wireless channels are numbered not named.  You may be thinking of the SSID that you see from your computer when you set up a wireless connection. 

 

Routers always claim to automatically choose the best channel but I've never seen it work.  You can use inssider to see what channels are free of interference.  Then log on to the router and change it from automatically selecting channels to manually assigning a channel and change it to the channel that inssider recommends or shows is free.  What make and model is the router?

[aaaa44]

I've been busy.  I will have time to reply on either Monday or Tuesday.  Thanks.

[aaaa44]

I asked the owner of the router for the router make and model, and he told me the make is Arris.   The owner knows nothing about computers, so I am hesitant to ask him anything else regarding the router.  I will ask him for more info if necessary.  In my searching online and attempts to log in to the router the name Netgear R7900 came up somewhere.

 

I have not been able to log in to the router with the username and password that the owner gave me.  I have been using the login link from this site: https://192-168-1-1ip.mobi/. 

[RKinner]

192.168.1.1 is the correct address to log in to your router.

 

Following site has a good list of routers and default logins and passwords:

 

https://proprivacy.c...r-login-details

 

Arris by default uses admin and password  admin and admin or admin and no password and a few others depending on the model but if the router was provided by the cable company there may be a sticker on the bottom or back with another password.

 

If you are seeing netgear  r7900 when you try to log in to 192.168.1.1 then try: admin and password

[aaaa44]

Still having trouble logging in to my router.

 

On the proprivacy.com site 192.168.0.1 is listed as the login IP for Arris routers.  When I click the 192.168.0.1 login link from any site I get "The connection has timed out" message.  When I click the 192.168.1.1 login link from any site the "Authentication Required" window pops up.  I tried admin and password, admin and admin, admin and no password, and admin and the password the owner of the router gave me.  None of them have worked.

 

On the "Authentication Required" window it says "The site says Netgear R7900" at the top.  Does that mean that the router is a Netgear R7900 instead of an Arris?

 

Should I ask the owner of the router for more info on the router?

[RKinner]

Yes.  It is a Netgear R7900 and not an Arris so ask the owner to look for your Netgear R7900 and see if there is any login info on it. 

Ask him to look for one like this:

 

https://geeks.com/pr...=28086044950621

 

Looking at SPECCY again there is an extender connected to the network and that is what you are actually connected to.  This is a little box usually with an antenna attached that is plugged into a wall outlet somewhere between you and the router. 

Something like:

https://www.bestbuy....p?skuId=9064008

They tend to be transparent to you.  The extender is giving you a strong signal but the signal it receives has to fight with other routers on channel 6.  If you move the R7900 to a new channel you may need to move the extender to the new channel.  If it's a netgear you will need the nighthawk app and a smart phone

https://www.netgear....ters/R7900.aspx

or an old copy of Netgear Genie

https://www.techspot...gear-genie.html

I'm thinking this is going to be too complicated.

 

What speed do you get now?

speedtest.net

 

Maybe the theoretical improvement is not worth the hassle.

[aaaa44]

When I try to download Speedtest I get the message:"It looks like you don’t have any applicable device(s) linked to your Microsoft account. To install, sign in on a device with your Microsoft account."

 

There are several residents in the building I live in that use the same router.  So attempting to improve my connection may be futile.  My connection to the internet is poor on average.  My connection cuts off or weakens regularly.  About two thirds of the time I have a decent internet connection.  But maybe I just have to continue to live with a bad connection because I am not willing to pay for a landline from Time Warner which is the provider that has the monopoly for my area.  They are too expensive.   

 

This is the antenna that I use: 

Belkin Dual-Band Wireless Range Extender

Model:F9K1106v1

Is this antenna compatible with the router or extender?  Are there antennas that are more compatible?

[RKinner]

 Don't know why MS is getting in the act.  Make sure you have an adblocker like ublock origin on your browser when you visit the page.  Sometimes you pick up an ad instead of the software.

 

try speedtest.com instead.

 

About all you can do with the range extender is try putting it in different locations and setting it at different angle.  The strength to you is probably always going to be 100% so it's going to be difficult to tell where the best location is.  If you disconnect from SSID    NETGEAR73 and connect to Netgear73extended you can move your laptop around and see where the strongest signal is then try to move the extender to that location.  If you have inssider up when you move your laptop around I think it might be easier to see how strong the signal is.

 

The better alternative to an extender would be a power line extender pair with wifi but your landlord would have to let you plug one in near the router and run an Ethernet cable from the router to the extender.  Then the other goes in your room.  This requires that the two outlets be on the same phase which is not always the case.

 

That being said if there are a lot of people on your connection it's going to suck anyway during prime hours.