The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

Damn...two strikes already! haha

We have an Epson printer and I've heard some horror stories about wireless. My bro-in-law has had a wireless printer hooked up for a year with no issues?
 
What cards are you talking about? Are you talking an entire motherboard replacement for $35?

So the connection between the AC adapter and the computer is bad? Does it work sometimes? Are you positive that the AC adapter isn't the problem?

For most people, and especially school projects, I don't think that a tablet is an adequate replacement for a computer. As long as you have 1 working computer the tablet route seems like a good plan to me.

By the way, you can buy routers that have print servers built into them if you need to upgrade your router anyways. Personally, I have a desktop computer with a printer hooked up to it that is shared and is essentially wireless that way. There are lots of options as far as making your printer wireless. But be away that new printers are cheap.
 
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Damit someone won the Powerball :( Right when I was getting ready to buy spec miatas for everyone.
 
What cards are you talking about? Are you talking an entire motherboard replacement for $35?

So the connection between the AC adapter and the computer is bad? Does it work sometimes? Are you positive that the AC adapter isn't the problem?

For most people, and especially school projects, I don't think that a tablet is an adequate replacement for a computer. As long as you have 1 working computer the tablet route seems like a good plan to me.

By the way, you can buy routers that have print servers built into them if you need to upgrade your router anyways. Personally, I have a desktop computer with a printer hooked up to it that is shared and is essentially wireless that way. There are lots of options as far as making your printer wireless. But be away that new printers are cheap.

Here are the 'cards' that I found earlier https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) and they are not the entire motherboard. Also, my apologies for referring to them as cards. :) But from what I've read this is a simple plug and play replacement regarding the power port...simple meaning once you get the laptop apart. I hate working with tiny things like this so no way in hell would I attempt it myself.

I bought a new Dell adapter back in October as both of our originals s***-the-bed and it was working fine up until last weekend when we started getting the dreaded 'ac adapter message' upon boot up. If you look at the second pic in the link above, the little black plastic cap for the power port is broken on both of our laptops. From what I've been able to find on-line this is the root of my problem as the connection is not good enough for the laptop to recognize the adapter to charge the battery? Whenever we plug the adapter into either laptop we get an error message, hit F1 to bypass and then boot up. If you drag the arrow over the battery icon it says 'plugged in - not charging'.

That's the thing...we still have two working laptops....they are just not as mobile as they once were. So do I 'upgrade' to a tablet and we use the laptops until the adapter no longer powers them on? After some further research I found that the Samsung will sync with MS Office. Going to look into that more but if we can sync with the pc and they can do the projects on the tablet...and then print from the computer or even the tablet, that might be the way to go.

Not really looking to replace the router right now but good to know for the future. We no longer have a desktop, bit the dust two years ago so we went with the laptop as a replacement. The printer still sits on the computer desk in the basement though but router and modem have been moved to my son's room and hardwired to the Xbox.
 
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Guess I need to buy some gauges. Hate to see them stop making that and miss out on them then. But then again I'd hate to buy one to not need it. Whats first? oil, water temp?
 
Are people really watching their oil pressure lower through corners on a actual gauge? Or is this oil pan just cause other people have blown motors and think that's what did it?????

I've seen my oil light come on mid-corner while auto-xing. Problem is the sump location on the pans. Hard enough turn will slosh the oil to one side, and the pickup tube will go dry. There have been several people who have popped engines thanks to that.
 
I don't think the miata pans are the same as the Proteges though. Nor have I ever seen the oil light come on when I been on the track. I under stand the value of a simple oil pan to a whole build, but I guess if I wait till next off season it should be part of my N/A build.

btw, does flying miata build protege heads?
 
Here are the 'cards' that I found earlier https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) and they are not the entire motherboard. Also, my apologies for referring to them as cards. :) But from what I've read this is a simple plug and play replacement regarding the power port...simple meaning once you get the laptop apart. I hate working with tiny things like this so no way in hell would I attempt it myself.

I bought a new Dell adapter back in October as both of our originals s***-the-bed and it was working fine up until last weekend when we started getting the dreaded 'ac adapter message' upon boot up. If you look at the second pic in the link above, the little black plastic cap for the power port is broken on both of our laptops. From what I've been able to find on-line this is the root of my problem as the connection is not good enough for the laptop to recognize the adapter to charge the battery? Whenever we plug the adapter into either laptop we get an error message, hit F1 to bypass and then boot up. If you drag the arrow over the battery icon it says 'plugged in - not charging'.

That's the thing...we still have two working laptops....they are just not as mobile as they once were. So do I 'upgrade' to a tablet and we use the laptops until the adapter no longer powers them on? After some further research I found that the Samsung will sync with MS Office. Going to look into that more but if we can sync with the pc and they can do the projects on the tablet...and then print from the computer or even the tablet, that might be the way to go.

Not really looking to replace the router right now but good to know for the future. We no longer have a desktop, bit the dust two years ago so we went with the laptop as a replacement. The printer still sits on the computer desk in the basement though but router and modem have been moved to my son's room and hardwired to the Xbox.

Looks like a relatively easy fix as far as that the power adapter goes. But I understand the hesitation as it can be easy to brake the little pieces in a laptop if you aren't careful. As long as you have working laptops I would vote for a tablet. I'm in the market for one myself.
 
Here are the 'cards' that I found earlier https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) and they are not the entire motherboard. Also, my apologies for referring to them as cards. :) But from what I've read this is a simple plug and play replacement regarding the power port...simple meaning once you get the laptop apart. I hate working with tiny things like this so no way in hell would I attempt it myself.

I bought a new Dell adapter back in October as both of our originals s***-the-bed and it was working fine up until last weekend when we started getting the dreaded 'ac adapter message' upon boot up. If you look at the second pic in the link above, the little black plastic cap for the power port is broken on both of our laptops. From what I've been able to find on-line this is the root of my problem as the connection is not good enough for the laptop to recognize the adapter to charge the battery? Whenever we plug the adapter into either laptop we get an error message, hit F1 to bypass and then boot up. If you drag the arrow over the battery icon it says 'plugged in - not charging'.

That's the thing...we still have two working laptops....they are just not as mobile as they once were. So do I 'upgrade' to a tablet and we use the laptops until the adapter no longer powers them on? After some further research I found that the Samsung will sync with MS Office. Going to look into that more but if we can sync with the pc and they can do the projects on the tablet...and then print from the computer or even the tablet, that might be the way to go.

Not really looking to replace the router right now but good to know for the future. We no longer have a desktop, bit the dust two years ago so we went with the laptop as a replacement. The printer still sits on the computer desk in the basement though but router and modem have been moved to my son's room and hardwired to the Xbox.

Replacing that part is pretty easy. I did it on an older laptop a few months ago and just followed a video on Youtube to do it. The other option is to have a local computer shop do it. Will probably be an additional $30-40 but still a cheap way to go if you don't feel comfortable to do it by yourself.
 
I don't think the miata pans are the same as the Proteges though. Nor have I ever seen the oil light come on when I been on the track. I under stand the value of a simple oil pan to a whole build, but I guess if I wait till next off season it should be part of my N/A build.

btw, does flying miata build protege heads?

Just to confirm with Phen says, I have noticed that after a 20-25 minute track session, my warning light for low oil pressure comes on. I would go with oil pressure first, especially since we we do have issues with legitimate oil pick up issues. I am sure that SM76, Bill Brees will chime in as well.
 
Are people really watching their oil pressure lower through corners on a actual gauge? Or is this oil pan just cause other people have blown motors and think that's what did it?????

I remember hearing about oil starved proteges when I first started autocrossing mine years ago. The AWR pan is worth it for the additional capacity alone. 3.5 quarts is not nearly enough oil for a car you are driving on track. At higher engine speeds half of that will be up in the head and you don't have much margin for safety in turns. Overfilling risks raising the oil level up to the crank. The AWR raises the capacity to 5.5 quarts, which also helps a lot with oil temps.
 
Alright, this is a random thread so I figure I'll ask your guys/gals opinions as some of you are tech savvy as well. I currently have two Dell Inspiron 1545's that are just over 2yo and both have broken power ports so the battery will no longer charge but they will boot up and operate just fine as long as the connection with the ac adapter is good (both have play so a little shift and the connection is lost). Dell tells me that the motherboard has to be replaced costing approx $400ea...not happening. Found some cards online that will replace that unit for around $35 but then I have to take it apart...not happening I'll def. eff it up and then they are paperweights....a true docking station that will power the unit and charge the battery is not available (mad)....so much for the quick/easy fix. Now that you have the back story, these are my thoughts going forward....

1)buy a new laptop (looking at a Toshibahttp://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+17.3%22+Satellite+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Matrix+Graphite/4677402.p?id=1218505449572&skuId=4677402, SamsungSamsung and ASUShttp://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+17.3%22+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Matte+Dark+Brown+Suit/4566308.p?id=1218492385044&skuId=4566308 currently) for approx. $500. Tell the kids that it is only to be used for school projects and at the table...for youtube, facebook, etc they can use the Dells.

2)Buy an iPad2 for the same price, set-up time limits for the kids to use it to keep the teeth gnashing and hair pulling to a minimum. And when they are in bed, daddy will have a nice little toy to play with after playing with mom.*

3)Buy a Samsung Galaxy tablet. From what I've been reading it's just as good if not better than the iPad2 and will allow me to use Flash player (not that it's a deal breaker over the iPad2 but a pro) and I'm still reading up on it.**

Regardless of the scenarios, I'm looking into a wireless print server because my cheap ass didn't buy a wireless printer from the get-go. This will be nice feature to add to the home network anyway and should I choose option 2 or 3 will make printing school reports from either Dell less of pain-in-the-ass as it can be done from the kitchen table vs. powering down, going downstairs and powering back up.

Any/all comments are welcome whether you are a fanboi of any particular brand or like to bash any particular brand.

*Assuming of course that mommy wants to be played with beforehand. If not, daddy will just have to be happy playing with the tablet. (evil)
**See notes for iPad2

1. the "card" you mention is an easy fix, but I understand you feeling hesitant to do it yourself. This would be the cheapest option.

2. if the printer is connected to a computer, you could run an ethernet cable to that computer and share the printer, that way any computer connected to your local network would be able to print to it. This is your cheapest option but has a potential to cause issues as sometimes Windows drops the connection to the printer when the laptops are turned on\off AND it would mean that the desktop would have to be ON if you want to use the printer. I have a device that would help you with this, it's not a print server but it allows you to connect USB devices to a wireless router, sharing them on the network. It's a https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned), I'm not using it anymore since it's not compatible with the latest version of the MAC os but it's in like new condition, I've been trying to sell it for $35.

3. your kids could do school work on a tablet, and you might be able to set it up to print as well, but I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe if all the do is document, but if they have presentations or drawings of any kind, working with a mouse is much easier. In this case, I would recommend the tablet for yourself and have the kids deal with the laptops.

4. I agree with Bill, you can have a computer shop replace the "cards" on the laptops and it will still be cheaper than buying a tablet, but then you would have to come up with other ideas to play with yourself ;)
 
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Looks like a relatively easy fix as far as that the power adapter goes. But I understand the hesitation as it can be easy to brake the little pieces in a laptop if you aren't careful. As long as you have working laptops I would vote for a tablet. I'm in the market for one myself.

Relatively easy for you perhaps...I'd be the one breaking clips, taps and what not and eventually throwing it across the room out of frustration. :) I'll be honest, when I started thinking tablet the iPad2 was at the top of the list but after the browsing I did today I'm leaning towards the Galaxy.

Replacing that part is pretty easy. I did it on an older laptop a few months ago and just followed a video on Youtube to do it. The other option is to have a local computer shop do it. Will probably be an additional $30-40 but still a cheap way to go if you don't feel comfortable to do it by yourself.

See above reply...lol I'm sure it's not too bad especially with the video but I'm all thumbs when it comes to working with the small screws and what not. I'm going to look for some local shops tomorrow and give them a call, thanks for the tip! I did call Best Buy and they said that the motherboard may not need to be replaced but wouldn't know until they opened it....best case $150-$200 low end to $400 high end to fix each machine. I wasn't too crazy about spending $300 to fix them both but if I can get a local shop to replace this part and get them both fixed for under $200 I'll be happy.

I remember hearing about oil starved proteges when I first started autocrossing mine years ago. The AWR pan is worth it for the additional capacity alone. 3.5 quarts is not nearly enough oil for a car you are driving on track. At higher engine speeds half of that will be up in the head and you don't have much margin for safety in turns. Overfilling risks raising the oil level up to the crank. The AWR raises the capacity to 5.5 quarts, which also helps a lot with oil temps.

Sounds like a good enough reason to me to buy one if I was going to be tracking the car.

1. the "card" you mention is an easy fix, but I understand you feeling hesitant to do it yourself. This would be the cheapest option.

Yup and what I'm going to look into tomorrow. Hoping I can find a shop to do it. If not, I may just call one of the IT guys at work to see if they want to make some cash on the side.

2. if the printer is connected to a computer, you could run an ethernet cable to that computer and share the printer, that way any computer connected to your local network would be able to print to it. This is your cheapest option but has a potential to cause issues as sometimes Windows drops the connection to the printer when the laptops are turned on\off AND it would mean that the desktop would have to be ON if you want to use the printer. I have a device that would help you with this, it's not a print server but it allows you to connect USB devices to a wireless router, sharing them on the network. It's a https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned), I'm not using it anymore since it's not compatible with the latest version of the MAC os but it's in like new condition, I've been trying to sell it for $35.

No desktop in the house, just the two laptops and Xbo360 on the network. Xbox is hardwired to the modem and router and the only equipment on the computer desk are the printer and an external hard drive, both with USB's ready to plug and play. Not even sure but if I go with the print server will the printer need to be turned on at all times? Going to go back and click the link for the item you have. From the sounds of it though, I'd need to relocate the router downstairs and plug it into the Verbatim and then plug the printer into the Verbatim? Just rattling off the top of my head since I clicked 'reply' before opening the link.

3. your kids could do school work on a tablet, and you might be able to set it up to print as well, but I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe if all the do is document, but if they have presentations or drawings of any kind, working with a mouse is much easier. In this case, I would recommend the tablet for yourself and have the kids deal with the laptops.

Which is a cool little feature I didn't know was possible until today. The one thing I don't like is that neither the Galaxy or iPad2 have USB or SDcard slots. I saw some accessories that I could buy but damnit, if I'm dopping $500 I shouldn't be nickel and dimed for the other s***. /end rant

4. I agree with Bill, you can have a computer shop replace the "cards" on the laptops and it will still be cheaper than buying a tablet, but then you would have to come up with other ideas to play with yourself ;)

Def. going for cheaper at the moment. If I can find a shop or someone to do it for cheap, that's great. In the meantime I'm sure I can come up with something to keep my hands busy while laying in bed at night.....one thing that comes to mind is the damn volume on commercials is always loud so I'll have the remote ready to adjust.

for those NOT subbing to the Mazda Corrals thread ...

but get to subbing so you don't miss a beat ... or a zoom

Awesome!!!!! Gotta love Bruce's car creeping.....lol
 
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