katskradle

I have a Gateway laptop running Windows 8.1. The other day I was feeding my infant while reading stuff online, and she spit up quite a bit all over the keyboard. I wiped it up as best I could and removed some keys to wipe up under them. It dried and continued to work fine. The next morning most of the keys had stopped working so I used an external USB keyboard. By the evening the laptop refused to boot up, staying at a black screen. I managed to get to safe mode, but at the log in screen the password bar is completely full of characters and it won't let me erase them or type anything even with the USB keyboard. I have no windows boot disc or usb drive to boot from, and any repair option I try requires my windows log in, which I am unable to do. I have accepted that I will probably need a new laptop but I would like to recover certain data on this one. Any idea what the issue is or how to get in, barring removing the hard drive or taking it to a repair service?

Up until yesterday we had a couple laptops, a couple cellphones, and a PS3 that all worked on our home wifi. Our ISP had an outage that lasted about 4 hours, and since it came back the laptops still work fine but the cell phones and PS3 will connect to wifi but can't access the internet. I've spent all day trying every single solution I could find on the internet, both on the devices themselves and in the router configuration. Nothing worked. Why would the internet suddenly not work with some devices but still workwith others? They are all configured the same way. Would this be an issue with the ISP, or would that outage and this problem have just been a coincidence? Would it be a router problem? My router is a a TP-Link one, probably close to 10 years old now. Should I just get a new one?

I have an 80bg PS3 (non-slim) using HDMI cable, and when I put a DVD disc in the circle icon goes round incidating its trying to read but nothing happens. The disc doesn't show up in the video menu. Blu-ray movies and games still work. I thought maybe it was a red laser issue but CDs still work so I'm not sure that's it. I've tried changing all the video and resolution settings possible and nothing works. Any ideas?

I have a small plush baby toy that has one of those little sound boxes inside that plays a short tune when you squeeze it. The toy accidentally got soaked and now the sound box plays repeatedly without being touched at all. I am not able to remove the sound box as it's stitched into the toy. Is it permanently damaged or might it go back to normal once completely dry? If anyone has experience with this, please let me know. It played all through the night and drove me nuts!

I had braces as a child from 10-12 years old. After that I had a removable retainer on the top for 2 years, and a permanent one glued onto the back of my 6 front bottom teeth that is still there. I am now in my 30's. My permanent retainer just broke apart in an area between 2 glue spots. So it is still tightly glued on, but it's like I have 2 separate retainers glued on now, if that makes sense. I don't currently have dental insurance and money is very tight. The broken part doesn't bother me physically at all. I don't know if I should bother getting it fixed. Since it's been a couple decades, and my top ones haven't moved at all, I'm thinking the chances of my bottom teeth shifting are probably low. What would you do?

When you log in to youtube, there is a section/box on the left side called "Subscriptions" and there is a list of channels you are subscribed to, which you can scroll through and click. Beside each channel name there is a small number in light grey. Not all the channels have numbers, and the numbers change every time the home page is refreshed. What does this number indicate?

It is definitely not new videos because it doesn't correspond with the channel uploads, and its not videos I haven't watched because there are channels where I've watched every video that have those numbers. I thought maybe they could be new subscribers the channels have received, but most of the time those numbers are under 10, which doesn't seem right for channels that have huge amounts of subscribers, unless they are just the new subscribers received in the last few minutes/since the previous refresh. I've searched youtube help and google but can't find anything about these numbers. Anyone know for sure what they are? Links to info about them? I'm very curious.

I found this book at a used bookshop the other day. It is actually a binder full of cards with crochet patterns, and came out in 1985. From what I gather from the title card, the binder and cards were purchased/collected separately. There are deck numbers on the backs of the cards, and I can tell there are some missing because there are gaps in the numbers, but I have no idea how many decks there were total/what number the decks went up to. I haven't been able to find any information anywhere online about this publication. If anybody knows, please share so that I can figure out which ones I need to keep my eye out for at used shops and yard sales. Thanks!

I have a GE fridge, small apartment sized model, not sure exactly how old as it came with the apartment but at least about 10 years, typical freezer on top style, and has element coils all down the back of the fridge which I vacuum occasionally to keep free from dust. On occasion, about once a week, I find a large puddle of water on the floor in front of the fridge. It seems to have started as soon as the hot weather hit, if that matters (although this is the first summer it's happening). I've searched online for things to check when this happens but I can't find any of the typical things in my fridge. I don't see a drain hole in the freezer or bottom of the fridge, and underneath my fridge is an empty space with no tray (there isn't even a spot for a tray to sit on, it's a completely empty space). I've checked the GE website for a manual for my fridge but it doesn't recognize my model number. Any ideas where the water may be coming from or what to do about it? We're getting new flooring soon and I'd rather not have it ruined immediately! Thanks!

I am collecting old issues of Crochet World magazine. I know when the first ever issue was published and can thus figure out which monthly issues I need, but there were quite a few special editions published through the years and I would like to know how many there were/what they were called. I have done exhaustive web searches which turned up nothing, and the Crochet World site only archives back to 2009 (the magazine started in the late 70's). Any idea where I can go to find a list of previously published magazines?

Note: I do NOT need to know where to buy the magazines, I only need to know where to find a LIST of the back issues. Thanks.

I have a little HP Photosmart A310 photo printer. I do not use it often so I keep it unplugged until needed. The last time I used it, about a year ago, it worked fine. The other day I plugged it in to my computer (via USB) and Windows could not detect it, and it was listed in device manager as an unknown device. I know it is not a computer issue, as it did the same on my laptop as well, and its not a USB port or cable issue because it did the same in every port I tried, and other devices work just fine in the ports and using that cable.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer software/drivers, both from the disc that came with the printer and downloaded from the HP website. Windows still could not detect it, and while installing the drivers the install program prompted me to turn on the printer before continuing and it couldn't detect the printer either. Should I assume there is an issue with the printer itself? It is fairly old.

I recently picked up an original Nintendo Game Boy at a thrift store with the rechargeable battery pack. It works great, but the battery pack is missing the power cable that plugs into the wall so I can't recharge it. I've been searching all over the internet but can't find a cable without the whole battery pack. Anyone have any idea where I could find one (besides ebay)? Is it even possible to buy just a cable, or would I need to buy a whole battery pack to get one? Thanks.

I won Lego Harry Potter for PS3 in a contest but I don't have a PS3 and I would really like the Wii version. If I take it to EB Games unopened, would they do a straight swap or would they only give me credit? If credit, would I get the full price of the game? Or would I be better off selling it somewhere else?

I have a Phillips VCR/DVD combo player hooked up to my tv. It has and extra set of video and audio ports (the yellow, red, and white ones) on the front on the VCR side. I've been using these ports to connect my Wii and PS2. Over the past few months there have been issues with the video port and I'd have to jiggle the video plug around a lot to get the picture on the screen to work. Now it doesn't work at all. The audio ones still work, I still hear the sound from both video games systems, but I don't see any picture. I know there's nothing wrong with either of my game systems as they work when I plug them directly into the back of the tv. Obviously the issue lies with the yellow video-in port. Is this something that can be fixed, or is it broken for good?

I have a memory card reader (an internal drive with slots for SD and various other memory cards) that I took out of my old computer tower and installed in another one. The computer I installed it in is a Dell, and has a very different motherboard than the first computer. The card reader has one 5 pin connector coming out the back (4 holes have wires in them, one is empty and closed). Where on the mother board would I plug this in? I know all motherboards are different, but I was hoping someone could give me a general idea of where on the motherboard I should be looking.

This computer is a refurbished one from a small shop and didn't come with a manual. I have no idea what the exact name/model of the motherboard is so I can't exactly search for a manual for it. Also the card reader has no name on it either. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a Cisnet desktop computer thats at least 5 years old, and within the last year I've had to replace/repair tons of things in it...motherboard, cpu, heatsink and fan, power supply, etc. I'm having problems with it again and probably need a new power supply or fan again. Since It's not exactly new, I figure I've already put more than enough money into it and am thinking that at this point I'd be better off to just buy a new computer (I probably could have bought a new one for the price of all those repairs). Opinions?

The problem started a few months ago and I figured the most common cause is a faulty power supply so I replaced it. It was working fine for a while but now it's doing it again, more frequently. Sometimes it reboots multiple times during the initial start up, sometimes it stays on for a few minutes and then reboots itself.

Could I have another faulty power supply (I did buy a cheap refurbished one from a little computer shop)? Could there be a virus? If so, how would I get rid of it since it won't stay on long enough to do a virus scan, even in safe mode (most of the time safe mode won't even boot)? Could there be a problem with some other physical component? If so, should I just buy a new computer at this point since it's at least 5 years old and I have already put a few hundred dollars worth of repairs into it (motherboard repairs, CPU and heatsink replacement)?

FYI it's a Cisnet desktop with Windows XP service pack 3.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have two computers, and am having trouble signing in to my account on Xanga.com on one computer but not the other. Everytime i try to login in on this computer, i just get a blank white screen. If i click refresh, it just takes me back to the login screen without having signed me in. This happens in both Firefox and Explorer. Xanga is the only site i'm having this problem with (i've tried logging in to various email accounts, Facebook, and Myspace and all work fine). I used to be able to log in fine from this computer, and only started having this problem today.

Things I have tried:

-Made sure both browsers accept cookies

-restarted the browsers, restarted the computer, rebooted the modem and router

-ran virus and spyware scans using two different scanner programs.

I have no idea what to try next. I tried sending a help message to the tech support team on Xanga.com through a form but i got that same white screen when i clicked send. Any suggestions? Any ideas why it would do this on one computer and not the other?

I replaced my heat sink the other day because i was having problems with over heating and my computer was freezing on a regular basis. So immediately after i replaced it, I turned it on and nothing happened. The fans powered up, but it the computer did not boot and didn't make any of the usual booting up noises. Normally when everything's working right, there's a green light on my tower, but this time there was only a red light on. The screen was black with the green monitor light flashing, like it would be if the monitor was in sleep mode. Also, when i was clipping the heat sink in, I was using a flat head screw driver and it slipped. Is it possible that i could have damaged the CPU?

Recently my computer has been freezing a lot. Like it freezes about 5-10 minutes after you boot it up, everytime, and you can't even press ctrl+alt+del. Everything is frozen and i have to press the reset or power button. I noticed that the fan on the motherboard started making loud grinding noises and when i opened it up to check it out and clean it, the peice of metal that the fan is mounted on was burning hot (i almost burned myself on it). Am i right to assume that the problem is the fan and the freezing is because of overheating?