Body & Soul6 mins ago
An Evening Of Hell.
I was on my laptop this morning, no problems. After a boozy lunch decided to go for a lie down. Woke up five hours later and laptop seemed to be fine. I found that while I could refresh the tabs I had open I could not access any other links. Nor could I shut down in the normal way, I had to force a power cut yet my mobile dongle still kept flashing, suggesting the power was stll on. To cut a long story short it has taken me over three hours staring at a black screen, despite pressing the power button at regular intervals before it once again burst into life.
I don't know whether this has anything to do with my laptop (HP Stream) or Windows 10, but it's driving me mad. As I am more or less housebound I was planning to book a taxi to PC World tomorrow, not my favourite emporium but I need the internet.
Any advice?
I don't know whether this has anything to do with my laptop (HP Stream) or Windows 10, but it's driving me mad. As I am more or less housebound I was planning to book a taxi to PC World tomorrow, not my favourite emporium but I need the internet.
Any advice?
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This is it but I can't find any slide tabs anywhere. It looks like a completely sealed unit.
https:/
https:/
Aaagh!
It's one of those dreaded things which were originally called 'notebooks' but which now seem to have got themselves included within the generic term 'laptops'. As you suggest, it's a pain-in-the-backside to remove the battery, which is likely to cause you a few problems. (I've never had a genuine laptop, or an old-fashioned netbook, which didn't require me to remove the battery from time to time. Sometimes it's the only way to force a full reboot).
Further, it's only got got a 32GB 'hard drive' (which is actually a solid state device). The internet is littered with vast numbers of posts (including here on AB) from people who've found that Windows 10 won't update on such machines because there's insufficient memory left. Whatever else you do with it, ensure that you tell it that you're using a metered internet connection (where you pay per megabyte), even though you almost certainly haven't. That will restrict Windows to downloading only the most important updates, hopefully preventing you from running out of storage space:
https:/
In the short term though, ensure that you've disabled any automatic 'sleep' or 'hibernate' functions and leave the machine switched on until the battery goes flat. Then connect up the power and see if there's any improvement.
And/or . . . if you can actually get the thing working, try running System Restore to take the registry back a few days.
It's one of those dreaded things which were originally called 'notebooks' but which now seem to have got themselves included within the generic term 'laptops'. As you suggest, it's a pain-in-the-backside to remove the battery, which is likely to cause you a few problems. (I've never had a genuine laptop, or an old-fashioned netbook, which didn't require me to remove the battery from time to time. Sometimes it's the only way to force a full reboot).
Further, it's only got got a 32GB 'hard drive' (which is actually a solid state device). The internet is littered with vast numbers of posts (including here on AB) from people who've found that Windows 10 won't update on such machines because there's insufficient memory left. Whatever else you do with it, ensure that you tell it that you're using a metered internet connection (where you pay per megabyte), even though you almost certainly haven't. That will restrict Windows to downloading only the most important updates, hopefully preventing you from running out of storage space:
https:/
In the short term though, ensure that you've disabled any automatic 'sleep' or 'hibernate' functions and leave the machine switched on until the battery goes flat. Then connect up the power and see if there's any improvement.
And/or . . . if you can actually get the thing working, try running System Restore to take the registry back a few days.
Thank you for your advice, Chico. This also explains why I have had trouble with updates. It was definitely advertised as a laptop and not a notebook. I think I will stick to my original plan; ditch this and give it to the needy while I invest in a new proper laptop. I remember a few months back now that you advised me to buy a numlock device as mine did not have one. I feel as though I have been sold a pup but the price should have set alarm bells ringing. I suppose you get what you pay for.
Make sure any laptop / notebook you buy has a decent sized hard disk or SSD.
The problem you had with your current device is the small SSD (solid state drive). It was only 32Gb and in modern computer terms that is quite small. Windows 10 can often take more than half of that.
And when Windows 10 tries to update itself (which it does every 6 months or so) there is just not room enough on the SSD to do it so it grinds to a halt.
A new laptop should have a decent sized SSD (128Gb or 256GB) or a large hard disk (500Gb or 1TB). I think many laptops come with 1TB hard disk nowadays and that should be plenty big enough.
An SSD will be faster than a hard disk, but also make the laptop more expensive.
However an SSD has no moving parts (like in a phone or tablet) so is better than a hard disk if the laptop is dropped so try to go for an SSD if you can.
The problem you had with your current device is the small SSD (solid state drive). It was only 32Gb and in modern computer terms that is quite small. Windows 10 can often take more than half of that.
And when Windows 10 tries to update itself (which it does every 6 months or so) there is just not room enough on the SSD to do it so it grinds to a halt.
A new laptop should have a decent sized SSD (128Gb or 256GB) or a large hard disk (500Gb or 1TB). I think many laptops come with 1TB hard disk nowadays and that should be plenty big enough.
An SSD will be faster than a hard disk, but also make the laptop more expensive.
However an SSD has no moving parts (like in a phone or tablet) so is better than a hard disk if the laptop is dropped so try to go for an SSD if you can.
Couple of comments.
This has a Pentium CPU.
Generally Intel CPUs go from Celeron (slowest), Pentium (faster), then i3, then i5, then i7 (fastest)
I would have gone for an i3 rather than a Pentium.
Secondly, it says it is a HD screen, but it is 1366x768 pixels.
For HD I would have expected 1920x1080 pixels (better for watching movies and TV on a full HD screen)
It is an OK laptop but nothing special.
This has a Pentium CPU.
Generally Intel CPUs go from Celeron (slowest), Pentium (faster), then i3, then i5, then i7 (fastest)
I would have gone for an i3 rather than a Pentium.
Secondly, it says it is a HD screen, but it is 1366x768 pixels.
For HD I would have expected 1920x1080 pixels (better for watching movies and TV on a full HD screen)
It is an OK laptop but nothing special.
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