Markus C

When I press the power button on my computer (HP Envy 700-311na), the PSU (Corsair CX500M) starts up in the background, but I see no hard-drive led flash from the front of the PC, which should appear soon after I press the power button. About 4-5 seconds later the PSU turns off, then 2-3 seconds later the PSU, of its own accord, boots up again, still no hard drive light and nothing else happens but the PSU is running. If I left it like that nothing else would happen and the O/S wouldn't boot up/screen would show no signal.

What I do then is switch the PSU power button (round the back of the PC on the actual PSU) off, then half a second later switch it back to the on position. For some reason that gets the hard drive responding aka the hard drive led flashes, then the O/S boots up as normal.

I've been doing this for about a week now as a workaround, waiting for the PSU to fail to get the rest of the PC to respond, then quickly turning the PSU off/on and kinda jump-starting it that way. Is this a safe long-term thing to do or could I be slowly breaking something inside the PC by doing this?

Thanks for any help

I've got my eyes on a PC for general gaming, but I'm not sure if I'm making a good choice in terms of longevity. It's not what the sellers would call a 'gaming pc' but seems strong. HP ENVY 700-311na, i7-4790 3.6, 16gb 1600mhz ram, 500w psu, r9 270 2gb ddr5, Intel Z87 mother. I'd be using it for one monitor, one program/game at a time, the target game would be Far Cry 3, target settings mid to high.

Again, I don't see this listed as a 'gaming pc'; no led lights, no mention of a specific cooling system, no 'pro' psu. Does this mean it's unsuitable as a gaming PC or couldn't run, say, Far Cry 3, comfortably?

Or, does this mean it would run Far Cry 3 very comfortably but only for a couple of months before burning out in some way?

Many thanks for your help guys. My current build is truly non-gaming; i3, intel hd4400 graphics, 300w psu so for me, this idea is a big step up for me but of course, I'm an amateur so I admit I could be looking at totally the wrong sort of upgrade.

I posted a similar question in the 'monitors' section but thought I should also ask here in case you gamers are better disposed to answer.

I'm trying to play Far Cry 3 but at any point my monitor screen turns into a series of stationary horizontal or vertical lines, usually black or grey in shade. I just have to turn the computer off using the power button at this point and try again later, though the same result keeps happening. When looking for similar problems on other forums, the fault hasnt been directed at the Asus AMD HD7770 which I also use, but at the VGA monitor which I also use. Apparently such an analog monitor can't handle Far Cry 3 and so the display just gives up.

Would you guys think that is a fair assessment and that I should just use a DVI monitor instead, with a pure DVI cable straight to the card instead of using an adapter like I'm currently using to make the VGA monitor compatible?

Thanks for your help. Specs also are HP tower, i3 3.4 ghz, 8gb of RAM at ddr3, 1tb hdd. The 7770 is 2gb ddr5.

Specs are: hp tower, i3 3.4ghz, 8gb ddr3 ram, 1tb hdd, asus amd hd7770 2gb ddr5.

At seemingly any moment when I'm playing Far Cry 3, even on the lowest settings, the screen will turn into a series of thin horizontal or vertical lines, usually black/greyish alternating colours. The screen just stays there and any sound effects playing at the time will play through but after they're done they'll be no other sound except for any ambient sound in the background and the pc will not respond to any input save for turning the machine off entirely. Really sad, could happen at any point and those checkpoints aren't too regular either.

Now two or three other people on other forums have mentioned it could be to do with my VGA monitor that i'm using, utilising a dvi to vga adapter to link it up to the rear of the 7770. They say that the analog-based VGA just can't handle the game. Are they correct? Should I buy a pure DVI to DVI cable and use the DVI monitor downstairs?

As a side note, whenever I turn off the machine when this bad screen occurs, I hear a faint sort of rice snap from the back of the VGA monitor, near where it connects to the VGA lead. Don't know if that's important but thought I should say it.

Many thanks for any input on this situation.

So I'd been trying a better card in my system:

HP. i3 3.4ghz processor, 8gb ram, 1tb hdd, win 8.

The card was an Asus gtx650 (no TI) 1gb. I'd foolishly not done my research, I had a psu with no graphics card connection and the psu was only 300w, so I got nothing from that card. The monitor didn't acknowledge the card, it just stayed in sleep mode whilst the card whirred loudly. Silly me.

But when I returned the new but basic card I'd used earlier, hd 8470, what happened on bootup was:

The HP logo appeared on screen as usual and the windows loading circle appeared beneath, but after that was done the screen went totally black as if there was nothing coming through, then a greyish-black screen which you might see before the lock screen appeared, but then back to totally black, then the greyish screen again, then black... forever repeating the cycle, screen change every 2/3 seconds or so.

Now when I take the card out and use the onboard monitor connection which I guess uses the Intel HD 4400 there's not a problem, in fact the integrated graphics is probably a little better than the basic 8470. But I'm worried now that the problem lies with my x16 slot. Please let me know what you think, I sure hope the problem lies with the card, as then I could still get a new psu and better card and hopefully there won't be any more issues.

Apologies for writing so much, just wanted you pros to understand the issues. If you need to know anything else I'll add info to the question.

Hi, I'm looking to buy two items:

HP Pavilion 500-123ea desktop - i3 3.4ghz, 8gb Ram, windows 8.

Sapphire AMD HD 7790 OC graphics card - 2gb.

BUT - apparently the Sapphire card requires 500 watts of power, yet the desktop I mentioned apparently has a 300 watt psu. Is this going to be a major problem for running Fallout 3 / Far Cry 3 / Crysis 2 / MOH: Warfighter?

Many thanks and pardon my ignorance.

I have a PC and I've played all sorts of games, but I'm looking for something with a more peaceful setting. Fallout 3 and Far Cry 3 have what I want in terms of an open world where a lot of the gameplay is up to you, but both those games have a very dark side that's not so pretty.

I remember, years ago, watching a friend play as Roxas in Twilight Town, Playstation of course. There was something peaceful and light about that place and that setting. Any similar styles of that in PC games between 2005 and the present day? And I'm actually also open to games that might not be first or third person, so long as the quality of the game is good.

Many thanks.

I'm looking for a game where I can wander around for a long time... pick up some guns (real ones, not plasma toys)... save some people from bad guys... see some sights... be aware of my supplies given I'm trying to survive... ignore as much of the storyline as possible. Am I looking at the right game or should I not be considering Fallout 3?

My laptop is reliable, but her specs are modest; i3 2.4ghz, 6gb RAM, Intel HD4000. That's why I'm thinking 2008-era games are the highest level of games I can play without visiting slideshow city.

Many thanks

So I now have a HP G6 laptop, i3, 2.4ghz, 6gbram, 750hdd, win8; pretty standard. I'm never using it outdoors etc, always near a power socket. Is it a bad idea to always be using the mains power supply or should I be using the battery until it's low and then charging up and draining again? I know there used to be rules back in the 2000s about all that but I also heard that modern machines are more flexible in these respects.

Many thanks

Using maybe 10% number characters and 90% letter characters, I can maintain 65-70wpm. But If I'm typing with, maybe 50% number characters, wpm goes right down, quite depressing. If I want to state my wpm standard, can I stay with the 65-70 or would that be dishonest? From a company's point of view, for example.

I've only recently found out my old, cream-coloured keyboard is called a 'mechanical' keyboard. It's one of those with raised keys, doesn't actually make much more noise but I suppose you need a little bit more effort to register each key. Now, for those secretaries, typists etc out there, just what keyboards are most of the companies out there using for their computers? Do they all stick with the mechanical keyboards, or have they opted for a cheaper way with modern, lighter keyboards, or do they not mind? I'm asking because I might soon be working in an office too and wpm speed will be a factor. I'm using this mechanical now, but if all the companies are using lighter ones I'd rather just pop out to the store and get one too, so I'm getting used to the same stuff they're using.

Many thanks

So I've used 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7; not used 8 yet. I've heard there's a lot of kerfuffle about it, how it's a mess etc. Now I'm looking to buy a mid-range laptop, this one maybe:http://h20386.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.as... Like all the other machines being sold by top sellers, it has 8 too. Is this gonna be a problem?

I might use: basic internet, vlc media player, couple of games from 2000-2009, that's about it. Will 8 get in the way of this, or are the problems which people are talking about for more advanced pc users?

Many thanks

So I'm not interested in the story, is it possible to explore the island, free-roam, capture bases, drive around etc without doing the story-based game? Is it possible to just ignore all that stuff and do what you like, or do you have to progress through the story to go round the island?

Thanks

I'm on Windows 7 at the moment, wanted to know something about 8. I hear that when you turn on your PC you go to a Start Screen instead of the regular desktop. I also hear you can access the desktop by clicking the 'desktop' icon on the Start Screen. Is it possible to have only one icon on the Start Screen, namely the desktop icon?

I know there's tweaks out there to start with the desktop automatically, but was wondering if the above example was possible. Many thanks

I've never played it before, so I wanted to know something about it before I got it.

Is is heavily story-based gameplay? I know there's some silly plot about being in a pirate world devoid of morals where you've gotta kill all the bad guys and save a girl etc etc, but is that story really prevalent, or can you do a lot of exploring/driving/hunting without being regularly reminded of your character's aims and progress through Far Cry 3's story?

Many thanks, as you might see in my last question, I'm looking for open world games and it appears that apart from DayZ, the only other option is currently Far Cry 3, so I thought it was worth asking you guys about it.

Dayz, the survival mod, looks very nice, looking forward to getting a modern PC and being able to play it later in the summer. But I was wondering if you guys knew of any other titles, single or multiplayer, that offered large worlds to explore, vehicles to drive, and little or no storyline to follow aka you do what you like. Someone mentioned Far Cry 3, but after looking into it, I think there's a lot of story to follow there. So any better ideas out there?

Many thanks

My machine is, compared to the ones you guys have, bad. Pentium4, 1GB of RAM (Rdram, the old and rare stuff), 2.4ghz processor, 40GB HDD, Vista. I'd love to speed it up a little more, but getting just 500mb more RAM is gonna be expensive. Is Readyboost worth a shot? If so, any usb stick I should be looking for? Someone suggested a Sandisk cruzer micro, presumably 8gb, that ok?

Many thanks

When I import a song, I use a function on the bar at the top that changes playback speed. Little green arrow thing. I got this song and it sounds great at a slower speed of 0.80x. But that just works whilst the song's in Audacity. Export it at this point and nothing happens. What must I do to export at 0.80x, and please also tell me what 0.80x would be converted to another speed change representation. Thanks.

Phil Anselmo, during live performances of Domination, he sometimes did epic stomping when the instrumental part kicked in. Can anyone suggest any other songs with bits like that, where you could sorta stomp to? (don't actually want to stomp, just feel epic)

I've been checking out the band Crowbar, cos I loved the sound of a live performance of 'Bury Me in Smoke' by Down. Two songs were particularly epic: Leave it Behind and Numb Sensitive (both from the 1995 album). Can an expert please direct me to more songs/whole albums with that same, very heavy but smooth sound?

Many thanks.