PC Computer Hardware – Daves Computer Tips

Will Copilot+ PCs Become The Only Choice?

Jim Hillier — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:01:53 +0000

Will the day come when traditional PCs are no longer available, and Copilot+ PCs then become the only choice? This is a question that I often ponder, and with a certain amount of trepidation, I might add. While our politicians seem unable to learn from history, it’s to history I turn when seeking a possible answer. If history has taught us anything, it’s that newer technology usually…

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No Power On Gateway PC

Terry Hollett — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:12:38 +0000

After a winter storm, we had a power outage that lasted almost 20 hours. Not good in an apartment with only electric heat. No lights, no heat, can’t go online to complain to anyone. 🙂 I previously wrote about someone’s computer not turning on after a power outage. The fix was to unplug the computer, hold down the power button for 30 seconds, plug it back in, and turn it on.

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What Has Been The Greatest Advancement In PC Specs?

Jim Hillier — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 08:05:31 +0000

When you get to my age, looking back at the history of PCs owned, it’s amazing just how much PC specs have advanced over the years. My very first PC was a TRS-80, which loaded programs via tape cassettes. The programs were written in BASIC, a language I eventually mastered, and each was volume-sensitive. So I kept a list of programs, each marked with the optimal volume for loading successfully.

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Some Motherboard UEFIs Are Injecting Software Into Windows

Marc Thomas — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 05:01:52 +0000

Following my article about BitLocker encrypting the OS drive on my Asus laptop without my consent, I began to delve deeper into what was really going on with my one-year-old Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop. My findings will surprise you. Having solved the BitLocker issue, I was curious about other software that was installed without my intervention, so I looked at Armoury Crate and My Asus…

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What’s The Oldest Tech Hardware You Still Use?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 05:01:16 +0000

Shiny Thing Syndrome (STS) is a hard condition to shake, and I’ve been collecting computer hardware since the early ’90s. Some I’ve kept and some I’ve regrettably sold. Not all my vintage hardware is in continuous daily use, except for one. I’ve had this case since the early ’90s and have been lugging it around ever since. Originally, it housed an Intel 486 and a tiny hard drive with…

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ASCOMP PC Internals Overview & Giveaway

Richard Pedersen — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 07:51:15 +0000

This contest has now expired. Winners will be notified by email. Congratulations to the Winners and Thank You to everyone who participated! ASCOMP has kindly offered our DCT readers a chance to win one of five licenses for their PC Internals program. These licenses are currently each valued at $24.90 (US). A limited free version is also available for personal use and evaluation.

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This Is Why “Gaming” Adds So Much To The Price Of Hardware

Marc Thomas — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:23:40 +0000

Gaming is an expensive hobby, not only for the price of games but also rising costs of hardware. We are all aware of Microsoft’s questionable stance on Windows 11 requirements, and the same is happening in AAA games. For example, DOOM: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle require an SSD and a hardware-capable ray tracing GPU. I can understand the SSD requirement because everything…

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Dead NVMe Boot Drive In Sony VAIO Laptop

Marc Thomas — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 05:01:05 +0000

Last week, a customer brought a four-year-old Sony Vaio VJFE54F11UAR model laptop to me that wouldn’t boot to Windows and instead went directly to the BIOS. Upon further investigation, it was found that no NVMe drive was installed. I then booted from a WinPE rescue pen drive, and no disk was present, so I opened up the laptop. I was surprised to find a brand of NVMe I had never seen before…

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New Windows 11 Auto-Repair Feature

Jim Hillier — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 04:02:33 +0000

Microsoft has added a new feature to Windows 11 that has the ability to automatically repair a non-booting system. This new feature is called “Quick machine recovery” (QMR) and, while it’s available in all Insider builds, I believe the general release is still in the process of rolling out. So, if you haven’t gotten QMR yet, don’t worry, you should be getting it soon. QMR is a cloud-based…

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How I Fixed The Power Button On My Wife’s PC

Marc Thomas — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:19:56 +0000

The other morning, as I was enjoying my usual cup of tea, my wife told me that her PC wouldn’t switch on. At first, I thought it was the PSU (power supply), and I even tried numerous power cables because sometimes even these can fail. But then I remembered that the power switch had been behaving strangely, requiring two or three presses to get things going. I had built the PC myself after…

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Desktop Doesn’t Power Up After Outage

Terry Hollett — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:19:44 +0000

We had a few power outages in town. A few planned, a few not. Hopefully, the power company has it all straightened out. After a power outage, I received a call from a woman because their desktop computer wouldn’t power up. The fix: I unplugged the power cord. Held the power button for about 30 seconds. Plugged it back in. Then I turned it on, and it powered on. I showed them what to do if it…

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Windows Recovery Mode Is Still Garbage

Marc Thomas — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:52:22 +0000

I’ve been fixing PCs for more than 20 years, from Windows XP to Windows 11, and I can barely remember when Recovery Mode has actually recovered anything. In fact, it’s worse now than it ever was and even more difficult to invoke. Remember when you could hit F8 at boot? The fact is that when Windows goes wrong, i.e., unbootable, the only option is to hit the nuclear button and reinstall the OS.

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Xbox Rumours Persist Amid Huge Game Pass Price Hikes

Marc Thomas — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 04:54:30 +0000

Over the weekend, a Reddit user started a rumour that Microsoft had cancelled the next Xbox console, and the gaming community went into a tailspin. Microsoft then replied that things were not ‘up in the air’ and that the company is actively investing in its first-party consoles, etc. It takes a lot for a trillion-dollar company to make a statement refuting rumours, so read into that what you will.

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GPU Upgrade – Size Matters Part Two

Marc Thomas — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 04:07:07 +0000

In GPU Upgrade – Size Matters! I related how I upgraded my graphics card without carefully considering its size, and later decided to strip down the computer. Well, I finally finished, and it’s not something I will be doing regularly because it’s a two-day job – two or three hours to disassemble to the bare metal, wash the case in soap and water, dry out in the sun, and clean every component…

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