Laptops dying of old age

I'm pretty sure it's just a single type-III PCMCIA slot. The thing has
quite a few connectors on it including a serial port, a parallel port,
2 USB ports, a docking port, a VGA-style monitor port, a PS/2 port
(oddly enough only one with symbols for both keyboard & mouse), and an
S-video port. It also has a built-in 56K modem which was used for
internet access by the previous owner that appears to have provisions
to be removed. I think there might be one other port I'm forgetting,
but I don't feel like pulling it out of the case right now. I won't
need it again until Wednesday night and I've already moved the files
to my WIn98SE computer via sneakernet. I'm giving serious
consideration to buying an external 3.5" drive for my new Gateway
since it's the first computer I've ever owned without one.
It's an NEC Ready 440T
Quite nice for the era it was from.
On Oct 15, 6:43 pm, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> Actually, MOST laptops running Windows 98 have Cardbus support. Cardbus
> mostly replaced 16-bit PC Cards in 1997. [***MOSTLY***]
>
> lgreenw...@srt.com wrote:
> > On Oct 14, 8:58 pm, SlickRCBD <slickrcbdn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Regarding your laptop w/o internet access and running windows 98, I
> > managed to find a PCMCIA wireless card that I was able to get working
> > for an old dell laptop Latitude CPi. It was a generic wireless card w/
> > o a brand name and made in china, but it works good. The main
> > problem I had after connecting to the Internet was getting an uptodate
> > browser. The laptop came with IE 5 and will not work with a lot of
> > websites and the new IE version will not work with Windows 98. I was
> > able to find an old version of netscape in an archived site that works
> > reasonably good with websites and compatible with windows 98. So even
> > with Internet access, some more up to date websites dont work well
> > with older versions of web browsers.
>
> > Larry

Barry Watzman <> wrote in news:hb68j4$vnt$1
@news.eternal-september.org:

> A common cause of problems in newer machines is severe overheating.
All
> modern laptops have fans and heatsinks, and after 6 to 24 months, the
> heatsinks get clogged up with dust and dirt and hair, in some cases so
> bad that the fan blades can no longer even turn (I've pulled a couple
of
> cubic inches of dust / dirt / hair out of them when cleaning them).
> Then things overheat and, sometimes, die. The problem effects both
the
> CPU and the chipset. Cleaning the CPU cooling system is easy on some
> laptops (remove an access panel and you can get at everything) and
> nearly impossible on other models (you have to remove the screen from
> the base, disassemble the base, and in some cases actually remove the
> motherboard to get to the fan and heatsink UNDER the motherboard).
> Another problem is failure of BGA (ball grid array) chip mountings.
>

My reply is not about anyone here, much smarter people than the average
laptop owner/user.......that said:

Watch other people use their laptops. They have them in their laps!
Make a note of make/model so you can look on the bottom of them where
their legs are covering up the FAN INTAKES the laptop maker IDIOTS put
perfectly placed so you cannot lay one on your lap and type on it
without covering up the COOLING INTAKE. Who designs these things? Do
they ever use one?!

Next point - Laptop cooling gadgets. Have some fun on your next trip to
the computer mall outlet. Look at your computer, SUCKING air from under
it to cool it. Now, find any cooling gadget that BLOWS air INTO that
intake. Check them out...we'll wait. MOST of the ones I've seen these
people are using SUCK air OUT of the fan INTAKE and blow DOWN, not up!
NONE of them, luckily, have the fans positioned to match the cooling fan
intakes of real laptops sitting on it. How stupid.

Point 3 - How many people do you know who operate their laptop on a SOFT
SURFACE?....Carseat, couch cushion, bed, etc. How can the fan suck air
through a plastic carseat or those fancy satin sheets pushed up against
the intake grate?!

No wonder the damned things overheat! STUPID design, Stupid users....a
disaster in the melting....

Ah, but now there are netbooks with cooler, SLOWER processors that don't
have air pouring out of them that can shrink shrink tubing around a
solder connection....a more SANE, sedate way to look through that data
pinhole into the internet. Add the biggest aftermarket battery so it
TILTS the netbook up off the bed and the fan can even breathe...what
little it's turned on.



--
Larry

>Larry the Ranter wrote:
Next point - Laptop cooling gadgets. Have some fun on your next trip
to
the computer mall outlet. Look at your computer, SUCKING air from
under
it to cool it. Now, find any cooling gadget that BLOWS air INTO that
intake. Check them out...we'll wait. MOST of the ones I've seen
these
people are using SUCK air OUT of the fan INTAKE and blow DOWN, not
up!
NONE of them, luckily, have the fans positioned to match the cooling
fan
intakes of real laptops sitting on it. How stupid.

No matter which direction the fan blows...as long as it doesn't
directly suck where the laptop sucks...it will allow better air flow.
(no, I don't sell these things!)

bob_v

In
news:559893ab-6244-47b5-8e47-,
Bob Villa typed on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:59:32 -0700 (PDT):
>> Larry the Ranter wrote:
>> Next point - Laptop cooling gadgets. Have some fun on your next trip
>> to the computer mall outlet. Look at your computer, SUCKING air from
>> under it to cool it. Now, find any cooling gadget that BLOWS air
>> INTO that intake. Check them out...we'll wait. MOST of the ones
>> I've seen these people are using SUCK air OUT of the fan INTAKE and
>> blow DOWN, not up! NONE of them, luckily, have the fans positioned to
>> match the cooling fan intakes of real laptops sitting on it. How
>> stupid.
>
> No matter which direction the fan blows...as long as it doesn't
> directly suck where the laptop sucks...it will allow better air flow.
> (no, I don't sell these things!)

Do you use these laptop cooler things Bob?

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

In news:Xns9CA617A87AD25noonehomecom@74.209.131.13,
Larry typed on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:19:31 +0000:
> My reply is not about anyone here, much smarter people than the
> average laptop owner/user.......that said:
>
> Watch other people use their laptops. They have them in their laps!
> Make a note of make/model so you can look on the bottom of them where
> their legs are covering up the FAN INTAKES the laptop maker IDIOTS put
> perfectly placed so you cannot lay one on your lap and type on it
> without covering up the COOLING INTAKE. Who designs these things? Do
> they ever use one?!

My two Gateway MX6124 and four netbooks work well off of your lap. I
monitor the temp sensors and they are fine with it. Although I have had
some laptops that doesn't take too kindly of sitting on your lap.

> Next point - Laptop cooling gadgets. Have some fun on your next trip
> to the computer mall outlet. Look at your computer, SUCKING air from
> under it to cool it. Now, find any cooling gadget that BLOWS air
> INTO that intake. Check them out...we'll wait. MOST of the ones
> I've seen these people are using SUCK air OUT of the fan INTAKE and
> blow DOWN, not up! NONE of them, luckily, have the fans positioned to
> match the cooling fan intakes of real laptops sitting on it. How
> stupid.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to have two fans (or more) playing
tug-of-war with each other, does it?

> Point 3 - How many people do you know who operate their laptop on a
> SOFT SURFACE?....Carseat, couch cushion, bed, etc. How can the fan
> suck air through a plastic carseat or those fancy satin sheets pushed
> up against the intake grate?!

I hate this limitation! I created two longer feet for the back end of my
Gateway laptops that raises it up about two inches. And it does wonders
for the temperature. It even stays cool lying on the bed.

My four Asus EeePCs are okay on a soft surface. So no major problems
there. Some even run them without the fan connected and have good
results by doing so.

> No wonder the damned things overheat! STUPID design, Stupid
> users....a disaster in the melting....

One thing you haven't mentioned that even on a hard flat surface, most
machines still gets very hot. Manufactures seem to want to make the
machines hug the table/desk as close as possible. Thus there is only a
sliver of space between the bottom and the hard surface and it traps
lots of heat under there. When you increase the space like I did with
the Gateways, their CPU temperature dropped by 15°F.

> Ah, but now there are netbooks with cooler, SLOWER processors that
> don't have air pouring out of them that can shrink shrink tubing
> around a solder connection....a more SANE, sedate way to look through
> that data pinhole into the internet. Add the biggest aftermarket
> battery so it TILTS the netbook up off the bed and the fan can even
> breathe...what little it's turned on.

Ah, but Asus EeePC Celeron netbooks are great. They don't need much air
flow, can block the vents and very little or no measurable increase of
temperature is detected. Those under clocked Celeron CPUs helps a lot in
this regard. As they just don't create enough heat to do any real
damage. I do clock them up to speed sometimes and then you need to have
the fan running and the vents unblocked. But they do run well under
clocked, so no real need to do this.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

>One thing you haven't mentioned that even on a hard flat surface, most
>machines still gets very hot
>Those under clocked Celeron CPUs helps a lot in
>this regard. .

No Bill, I don't use any of those coolers.

Is English your native language Bill? Above examples usually mean
otherwise.
Not a criticism...just an observation.

bob_v

In
news:65921424-a24d-4398-8d8b-,
Bob Villa typed on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:33:04 -0700 (PDT):
>> One thing you haven't mentioned that even on a hard flat surface,
>> most machines still gets very hot
>> Those under clocked Celeron CPUs helps a lot in
>> this regard. .
>
> No Bill, I don't use any of those coolers.
>
> Is English your native language Bill? Above examples usually mean
> otherwise.
> Not a criticism...just an observation.
>
> bob_v

You mean academic English? Nope! Both Mark Twain and I believe...

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he
made school boards." -- Mark Twain

"I never let schooling interfere with my education." -- Mark Twain

"I have no respect for a man who can only spell a word one way!" -- Mark
Twain

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2

"BillW50" <> wrote in news:hb9rbn$2f1$-
september.org:

> I hate this limitation! I created two longer feet for the back end of my
> Gateway laptops that raises it up about two inches. And it does wonders
> for the temperature. It even stays cool lying on the bed.
>

At any electrical department of a hardware store, there's the ideal
solution, Wiremold! These plastic strips come in two parts, the base with
the sticky tape on them and the cover that snaps onto the base.

What I did was to cut a 1.5" wiremold strip the width of the laptop. I
used 1.5" because that was how wide the fan intake hole was in this
particular laptop. Match yours.

So, now you have a rectangular tube with the ends open. Cut away the base
(with the sticky tape) as wide as the fan intake hole, but not the cover.
Stick the two pieces of base on either side of the intake hole, in line,
with the open end at the left and right edge of the case. The tape holds
very well and when it fails a little contact cement holds it firm to the
case. Snap the full width cover into place over the base and fan hole.

Voila! You now have a dual-way intake air plenum the bedclothes cannot
block. Sit your laptop on any soft surface you wish. Air is drawn in the
open ends on either side of the laptop, NOT THE DUST OFF THE DESK SURFACE
UNDER THE DAMNED FAN HOLE, not only keeping the unit cool on any soft
surface but also reducing by a LOT the sucking of dust and dirt into the
CPU heat sink and fan blades. As the Wiremold strips are only about 1/4"
thick, you don't end up with a nasty tilt stand and the unit lays nearly
flat on your desk on the wiremold intake plenum.....(c;]


--
Larry

If the laptop had USB ports, it is a near certainty that the PC Card
slot was a Cardbus slot.


SlickRCBD wrote:
> I'm pretty sure it's just a single type-III PCMCIA slot. The thing has
> quite a few connectors on it including a serial port, a parallel port,
> 2 USB ports, a docking port, a VGA-style monitor port, a PS/2 port
> (oddly enough only one with symbols for both keyboard & mouse), and an
> S-video port. It also has a built-in 56K modem which was used for
> internet access by the previous owner that appears to have provisions
> to be removed. I think there might be one other port I'm forgetting,
> but I don't feel like pulling it out of the case right now. I won't
> need it again until Wednesday night and I've already moved the files
> to my WIn98SE computer via sneakernet. I'm giving serious
> consideration to buying an external 3.5" drive for my new Gateway
> since it's the first computer I've ever owned without one.
> It's an NEC Ready 440T
> Quite nice for the era it was from.
> On Oct 15, 6:43 pm, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOS...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> Actually, MOST laptops running Windows 98 have Cardbus support. Cardbus
>> mostly replaced 16-bit PC Cards in 1997. [***MOSTLY***]
>>

Somewhere on teh intarwebs wrote:
[snip]
> Regarding your laptop w/o internet access and running windows 98, I
> managed to find a PCMCIA wireless card that I was able to get working
> for an old dell laptop Latitude CPi. It was a generic wireless card w/
> o a brand name and made in china, but it works good.
[snip]

My oldest laptop is a Latitude CPi A PII 400MHz ('Dixon', great CPU for it's
time) and I have a 3Com PCMCIA WiFi card in that too. Although the OS on
that is 98SE 2 ME, a hybrid system that is mainly the 98SE that it came with
but it uses the few things that ME improved on and integrates them into 98SE
(Google will tell you about it).

I have the newest version of Firefox that will run on 9x on it. I can't
remember the version number and I'm short a clover-leaf power cord right now
and can't be bothered pinching one off one of my ThinkPads and firing it up.
<g> Actually, the battery on that machine is still good for about 90 minutes
or more (I can watch an avi movie on it on battery).
--
Shaun.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's
warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchet, 'Jingo'.