Mann-Made Global Warming. - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr Seuss - You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
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Well I'm now loaded down with all the needed Wiindows 2000 and Windows XP drivers but I can't get those two BIOS updates. It requires me to enter a serial number and it's my luck that there is no serial on the case so I would have to power the thing on to get the serial from the BIOS however I can't power the thing on.
That's just stupid.
Why would anyone that doesn't have one want their BIOS code.
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Mann-Made Global Warming. - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
-
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr Seuss - You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
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Well I did a little work and found a power supply rated for 16V, 3.26A.
I used the power connector off my scanner, wired it up and plugged it into my laptop.
Even though I am only 3V short of the 19V this laptop needs, I'm still getting the same issue.
While the drive will spin up and the status LEDs respond, the screen does not display anything (let alone light up).
I also can't hear any error beeps as I broke the speaker and I'm looking for something to substitute it.
Okay, so I am either having an issue with the voltage still being too low or because the laptop does not like to work without the battery (For a moment when I plugged the laptop in the CHARGING led lit and went amber but promptly went out as soon as the charging circuit realized there was no battery installed).
OR, the thing is just plain and simply dead (and I don't want to think about that).
I did email Getac several times now but either they don't give a damn or I'm not doing it right and they can't respond (but nobody is that stupid so I assume that they don't give a damn)
EDIT:
Well the processor, Northbridge and Southbridge are getting warm so they are getting power at least.
The computer was originally part of a satellite uplink system with proprietary software that calculated look angles for satellites and controlled the various parts of the system.
It was worth about $10,000 for a copy and it was keyed to the individual computer.
Thus access to the bios was restricted.
You should be able to get windows XP to run but you would have to do a new install to get rid of the special version with the restrictions.
It sounds legit and it's perfectly clear to me.
Which word did you have the most trouble with?
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Mann-Made Global Warming. - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
-
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr Seuss - You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
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Not every computer in the world is designed for the consumer PC market and then modified for something else.
Single use proprietary computers are everywhere and they don't want their software stolen by competitors so they make it hard.
In the industrial world [meaning factories, labs, plants, refineries, communication, etc..] and you'll see proprietary computers ~everywhere~.
[And I mean ~everywhere~.].
They could not be used as a home PC if you want to. - Too proprietary.
[And it ain't a new thing...]
We had this 286 based machine that that was drive-less.
OS was in non-re-programmable ROM chips.
It used a RAM-drive built with FPM chips.
No sockets or slots. Everything was soldered on.
It was designed in the 70's using an Intel 8008 CPU and the 80286 was a mobo field-change upgrade done in the 80's.
They still use them in the 80286 form although I think brand new units get a 80386 version mobo due to lack of 286 CPUs.
LOTS of proprietary computers in Medical equipment too.
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Proprietary computers exist everywhere in the consumer world too.
A great example would be the computer in LIKE EVERY FLIPIN' CAR built since the 80's.
Or an I-phone.
Or a game console.
Or a thermostat.
Or an automatic sprinkler controller.
~everywhere~
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Mann-Made Global Warming. - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
-
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr Seuss - You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
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I think manufacturers are moving away from super proprietary. Seeing more regular PCs in medical equipment, etc. Its cheaper to lock down the software or just charge to make up for it.
i doubt they are "regular".
the ones in the amusement industry are designed to run 24/7 at extended temps.
all tantalum & poly caps for example.
and all cooling is passive - no small fans to die.
Well it has the look and feel of a toughbook (metal panels and rubber corners) and some cool features (smart card, SIM card, EX slot) but it's most certainly just a slightly more rugged gaming laptop with it's immense LCD and Core 2 Duo processor.
I got it free but it's missing some notable parts (battery, SATA hard drive, optical drive, ram and the precious Core 2 Duo processor)
The even cooler part about this system is that the manufacturer actually lists the manual and everything for download on their site. This one is a LOT better than the Getac.
Unfortunately because it lacks PCMCIA I can't use my GPS anymore.
hmm... this what i find odd... my latitude d400 seems to have a lot of rugged features although not considered rugged... magnesium or aluminum lid and base mainly.based onthe wear of the plastic port area on the side (chew marks), it appears mine had been put through hell but it still runs great, minus a dying battery and not enough ram. hell, for $80 plus a hdd and power cord, it was not a bad deal... then stevo1012 got one in near-mint condition with everything for free ... but $80 was still not bad.
good luck on the cpu... i think a member had a c2d mobile in the for sale area...
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