Eclipse Community

To be honest ... once my Optiplex 745 craps out (could be any day) I would not go back to XP and would likely be using windows 11 at some point. I look online at computers and everything is so over-priced nowadays - I didn't buy my two computers they were gifts and the association would prefer clients to all be on a phone or tablet but I don't want that for myself. Is ASUS any good? I read good things but I wonder about the proprietary drivers and hardware that is fixed if that makes sense (not sure if that was the right phrasing). I've never done much with the hardware other than just to keep them clean inside and out. I guess I would have to debloate after the fact because that would be far over my head sad to admit. I would likely also be using stock then. Ugh! I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My Dell Dimension 3000 Pentium 4 is useless with only 2GB of ram (can't upgrade) and can't handle the modern web ... it's in very good shape though because it never got much usage after I was gifted the Optiplex 745.

xperceniol_sal wrote: *

14 Mar 2026, 23:35

I guess I would have to debloate after the fact because that would be far over my head sad to admit.

It's pretty easy and adequately effective, even "after the fact" (ie, do a regular install from regular .iso or using factory "recovery" as starting point).

https://privacy.sexy/ is a good starting point.

MUCH more trustworthy than the very wide range of stuff on GitHub.
With GitHub, you get "professional" *and* you get "amateur high school project" ALL IN ONE PLACE.
Be prepared to reinstall/recover multiple times if trying miscellaneous stuff from GitHub.
You really NEVER KNOW if the uploader is a "professional" or if the uploader is a "amateur high school project".

I imagine this PC still has some life left unless things suddenly change for the worse. The issue with resume used to happen once in a blue moon and I suspect it's a bit more likely to happen with external USB HDD plugged in, though I'm not sure yet. I didn't notice anything else off.

Hardware is overall more expensive due to AI craze and who knows what else. I'd probably try to go with Win10 first if I suddenly ended up with new PC. Probably something pre-built...ASUS doesn't sound bad, but I'm very out of the loop with computer hardware.

I have a Raspberry Pi 5 and I guess I could try that instead, but, it's Linux...and Linux is weird, buggy, fonts don't look nice...

UCyborg wrote: *

15 Mar 2026, 14:27

Hardware is overall more expensive due to AI craze and who knows what else.

BINGO !!! So DO NOT WAIT, upgrade NOW!

That's why I bought a 9-month old laptop a year ago and a brand-new desktop this past November.
Get the upgrades in place *before* all that ***CRAP HARDWARE*** is in place (and NOW while that ***CRAP HARDWARE*** can still be *DISABLED*).

You wait until your ALREADY-DYING is completely DEAD, then the writing is on the wall on just what type of hardware you're going to end up with a year from now, three years from now, etc.

CRAP HARDWARE as in AI-enabled hardware or such?

I've been looking at new computers couple of months ago. But I thought, do I really need a new computer? I don't even do anything interesting on the old one.

I asked on another forum about this resume from sleep issue, it could be flaky +5V SB (stand-by) rail. Which in theory, could be easily fixed by replacing power supply.

UCyborg wrote: *

15 Mar 2026, 18:41

...But I thought, do I really need a new computer? I don't even do anything interesting on the old one...

This is sort of where I"m at ... I don't do anything important on my computers either other than watching movies and TV. My computer is my only outlet to the outside world and I'm much better online and typing. My communication skills suck.

I should change that, but given amount of time I spend on it at work...

Feeling all weird, I hate needles, mouth flooded with saliva, was at dental surgeon, rotten wisdom tooth, ugh...

This country is so stupid, why can't the place where you were operated at issue electronic sick leave? Instead, you have to send the papers to your physician for them to do it.

Computer failed to resume again, this time, without phone or external disk plugged in. :/

UCyborg wrote: *

17 Mar 2026, 09:35

Computer failed to resume again, this time, without phone or external disk plugged in. :/

Is there any difference if you resume from "hybrid sleep" versus "hibernation"?

I once had a laptop "fail to resume".
For me, I only used "hibernate".
For me, it wasn't technically failing on RESUME, but rather it was not COMPLETING its go-into hibernate.
When it "looked like" it was done going into hibernate, I could put my ear to it and still hear an internal fan or HDD, something, still *ON*.
It was this stage that it would "fail to resume".

BUT...
If at this stage, I pressed AND HELD IN the power button for SEVERAL seconds (with my ear still on it!), I could hear it complete the "go-into".
At this stage, I could release the power button, return a day later, press the power button normally, and it would RESUME FROM HIBERNATE.

But... That only bought me so much time. It was a "freebie" but I still wanted to get as much life out of it as I could.
I ended up getting too FRUSTRATED with that sort of "go-into" that I stopped even TRYING to "go-into".
I ended up never actually using the Start Menu to power down / reboot / or go into hibernate.

I would just always PRESS AND HOLD the power button for SEVERAL seconds and basically FORCE a **CRASH** whenever I wanted to power it down.

Resuming from RAM specifically is the problem, resuming off disk (hibernation) is fine. I think it goes into sleep OK, just doesn't always wake up.

Ah, I've seen that before.
In my case, I had *mixed RAM*.
Despite both being the same TYPE of RAM.
I had one slot populated with Brand A and the second slot populated with Brand B.
Third slot was empty.

Despite that *mixed RAM* working, once it finally powered on, it would never have any power-up issues if Brand A was removed, or if Brand B was removed. It just stopped liking both of them being populated. :/

After some quick tests, after the conclusion was that it might just be unstable with resume only when all 3 sticks were used, the situation has worsened radically after putting things back like they were. Same symptoms after initial power up, after two power cycles, same. I unplugged the power cable of one of the disks and then it could POST, I went into BIOS to put things how they were (no CMOS battery) and after couple of seconds on the BIOS settings screen, screen went garbled. It normally responded to power button and went off, I unplugged the power and will leave it as is until new power supply arrives.

It was ordered before the situation worsened, but for all I know, it might already be too late, we'll see.

Yikes! May already be too late. :/

You knocked the dust lose and made things worse.

It's like running a "detergent" through a very old engine.
The "sludge" in that engine wasn't really hurting anything clinging to NON-VITAL WALLS of the insides of that engine.
But running that "detergent" knocked the sludge off the non-vital walls and into very critical and vital moving parts of the insides of that engine.

I'm sorry to hear of this news, UCyborg

This is why I don't dare take anything apart on my old machines for the reason(s) you mentioned the-10-pen. I'd bet my computers are already held together by the debris and sludge - better to leave things as they are when dealing with old machines. I didn't know that about a vehicle ... I'll pass this information along to my drivers and support workers.

EDIT: Fixed mistakes. Sorry!

I blow out dust every year or two. And the tests were just seeing how it works with only the original 2 RAM sticks and then with the third one on its own. There weren't any errors on Memtest86 in single pass.

Looks new PSU is not arriving before next week. Also have spare graphics card in case the current one got wonky.

Time is really dragging by now. This computer is one of the few (good) things I have in this life.

UCyborg wrote: *

19 Mar 2026, 18:51

...This computer is one of the few (good) things I have in this life...

I feel the same ... I'd be lost without my computers because I'm not social and the forum is my only outlet to the people. You'd be shocked if you knew me ... online I'm chatty but in person I'm practically a mute and extremely awkward around sheeple.

I also have mismatched RAM sticks in my PC and I get frequent memory errors and crashes. I'll put up with it so long as I can.

Good luck getting your computer back to where you need it.

In similar boat when it comes to being mute in these types of situations. I wish I could navigate them better.

Regarding desktop computer, guess I'll see what still works or not next week. The laptop also got a new problem in recent months that upper and lower portion of the screen blinks in white for short periods, most often when it's turned on, seems it's triggered by lid movement.

Elections are tomorrow. No idea what to vote for. Does it even matter? For all I know, the end of the world is coming.

UCyborg wrote: *

21 Mar 2026, 22:20

...
Regarding desktop computer, guess I'll see what still works or not next week. The laptop also got a new problem in recent months that upper and lower portion of the screen blinks in white for short periods, most often when it's turned on, seems it's triggered by lid movement...

Any luck? Gosh, two computers on the fritz ... I hope you get things working. Good luck.

UCyborg wrote: *

21 Mar 2026, 22:20

...For all I know, the end of the world is coming...

It does feel that way nowadays.

UCyborg wrote: *

21 Mar 2026, 22:20

For all I know, the end of the world is coming.

The end of our civilization as we know it for 2000 years, maybe.
The end of human kind, surely. Sooner or later.
But the end of the world, no. The world, our planet, has about 4 billions years to go so it will have time to try many things before being eaten by the dying sun. We, humans, are not the world, despite of what we think.

I installed new PSU on Monday and things seem to be back to normal.