Georgelemmons

#-o Duh! I should've changed that, but I completely forgot about that. Thanks :

:P We had a looong discussion about this in Forsakenmage's chat. Anyway, I looked it up and found several conflicting theories. Here's the basics of them both- the north and south poles reverse every couple of thousand years - anywhere from 10000 to a million. During this shift, the magnetic field's strength would fall to 20%. This is where the controversy comes in. Many people believe that this will expose humans to dangerous cosmic radiation, and that we'll die without protection. However, it's not the magnetic field that protects us the most from radiation, it's our atmosphere. So yes, the radiation will increase some, but not enough to kill anyone. There may be a small increase in mutations, and migrating birds will lose their sense of direction until they can adapt to the new magnetic positions.

Why do people never pay attention to what they download? Do some research, and never trust an antivirus software download until you can validate that it's malware free (use a computer tech site, or some software site that has reviews. Also, asking on TIF can be a big help :) )

If your actual computer hardware was sparking, you definitely need to get it repaired. Sounds like you shorted something out, but I'm not really sure. However, there's no way any kind of software, be it virus, trojan, or keylogger; could make a computer spark. There's a hardware failure going on. You're going to have to have a professional look at it.

People who pm me with terrible grammar and spelling to tell me about some "hilarius no0b!". -.-

Hmm... sounds interesting. I wonder how much benefit you get from that though, because there are nowhere near as many laptop parts as desktop parts for sale on the market.

Yes, I don't think it's even possible to build you own laptop without scavenging parts and getting reeeally lucky. ;)

To be honest, I don't really know. I definitely have more hardware skills than software skills, and was just wondering if I could get some good advice. : Don't worry. Even if I do screw up, it has nothing to do with you. And yeah, I HATE Dell's screws.

Okay, thanks for the advice; I think I might end up repairing it myself. : I'll let you know how it goes. (might be 2 weeks or so before I get the diagnostics and either repair it myself or get it repaired)

Awsome idea! Support! :thumbsup:

For Dell, I can send it in and have them do diagnostics for $200. If it's a motherboard problem, it costs an additional $300 for them to fix it. Apparently, their policy is that they don't fix motherboards, only replace them. I found a place that will do free diagnostics for me, and I'll see if that comes up with anything. If it does, I'll try and shop around to see if I can find a better price than Dell. Otherwise, I'm considering doing the repair myself, depending on what's actually wrong. My up-to-date theory- I really think there's no chance of it being a software problem, because the fan turns on right when I turn the power on; even before the hard drive has started. Here's the theory- Thermistors are fried/messed up, and the CPU clock is slowing the CPU down to try and reduce the temperature. This would explain the fan, the thermistors failing, and the slow performance.

Uninstalled Norton, and ran all three programs in safe mode. They didn't come up with anything. I called Dell Support, and my warranty expired 6 months ago, so I couldn't even get tech support. According to them, it's a problem that will cost money to fix and have to be done by a professional. Any advice regarding this?

Thanks. :) Fact added.

That texture doesn't even look similar to anything in the game. That's an extremely weird glitch. Very interesting indeed. :geek:

This was posted yesterday, but was locked quickly and not seen by many people. It really is worth a shot. Right now I am the best bartender with the high tavern reputation, and I'm struggling to keep it that way. :? Hehe.. good game. Was fighting you for top bartendering spot, but then I found chemistry. :)

I believe it's still under warranty, but I'll need to check. I got the laptop directly from Dell (online order). I'll try the spyware scanners, see if they come up with anything.

It is unlikley to help, and do NOT flash it if the computer is frequently crashing\shutting down. If it crashes in the middle of an update, you will have some SERIOUS problems, ranging from having to change from jumpers (if you have a dual bios) to replacing your motherboard. It sounds very much like a thermal event; something such as a CPU\GPU overheating cannot necessarily be felt by touching the case. Make sure all your fans are spinning, clear of dust and other blockages, and that there is plenty of space between the outside of the fans and your desk\wall. Try running some sort of graphics card (aquabench works) and CPU (Prime95 works) stressing program to see if the computer overheats faster. Obviously maintaining an up to date antivirus scanner is a good idea; the 70% CPU usage is a sign of something running in the background sucking up resources. This could be aggravating an overheating problem, or an inherently bad cooling system (although unlikely). Possibly talk to your computer manufacture, and see if they can solve the problem if you cannot. Heh, it doesn't take long to update the BIOS. I have a question for you. How much have your worked with computers? Also i said to clean the fans above. You might want to watch what useless information you put out there first. Yes a BIOS update can mess it up if it isn't flashed right. This does help to get your BIOS up to date to work with the latest drivers. If you are a computer consultant in real life i will be sure to never ask you for advice. Ever since windows came out, I mostly specialize in Microsoft. Personal arguments being over, I'll continue on with the rest of your post. Is a bios update likely to solve a recent problem? No. Is the computer likely to be trashed if it fails? Yes. Will it fail if the computer crashes while it is being flashed? More then likely. I've flashed BIOSes dozens, if not hundreds of times, and the likelihood that it will help a new problem is very low, and CERTAINLY not worth the risk of bricking the motherboard. I was suggesting the fans as part of an overall solution, exactly the same as I would to a client, regardless of what he was advised before. BIOS are updated for two reasons - adding new features that you need, or solving existing conflicts. The fact that his problem seems to have appeared recently (surely he hasn't been having it for two years now!) indicates that flashing the BIOS would NOT help, and is a VERY bad idea when the computer is constantly crashing. Replacing the motherboard in a laptop is time consuming and expensive if you do it yourself, and VERY expensive if you hire someone for it. If the motherboard is specialized, it may not at all. Is a tiny chance at fixing your computer worth the very real possibility of having to replace it, or pay 300-500+ dollars to repair it? Giving out worthless advice is one thing, giving out advice that could easily destroy the client's computer is another thing entirely. Try all the other fixes recommended, and talk to the manufacture (especially if it is still under warranty). Flashing this BIOS in this situation is a very last resort. It would help if you provided some more detailed information (how recently the problem came up, how often it happens, what are you doing when it happens, what have you done to try and fix it etc.) Okay.. Let's see. It started about 3 months ago, less than once a week. The computer would beep at me, and blackscreen instantly. Pretty much the only thing I've been doing when this happens is playing Runescape, which is a moderate load on my cpu. (Usually it runs at about 80% while playing). I'm not really sure they're connected, because playing Runescape is one of the few things I do on my laptop. ;) I've tried multiple times to revive it from this state, but nothing has worked. Ctrl-Alt-Dlt: Nothing. Alt-Esc: Nothing. Closing + Repoening: Nothing. Trying to turn off or possibly restart using power button: Nothing. Unplugging all peripherals: Nothing. 2 weeks ago it was left on in this state. When I found it like this, it was making a soft, repetitive noise that I couldn't really trace, but with some certainty decided it was coming out of the speakers. None of the above mentioned techniques worked here either. I took the battery out and restarted. The fan sped all the way up (I've never heard it go anywhere close to that fast) and the resting cpu usage was constantly around 70%. I looked at all the processes, but nothing was out of line. It was just system processes taking up more cpu than normal. I ran a full system scan using Norton Antivirus, and that came up with absolutely nothing. I ran the boot menu diagnostics, and they gave the results mentioned in my OP several times. I tried using the system restore to set the disk back to 2 weeks before this started happening, but it had no effect. *Phew* Hope that helps :pray: Thanks for responding to my pm :)

I don't think it should lead to a blank tab, I think a blank tab is best as summoning is completely P2P, anything summoning should not display, for example the summoning icon next to the mini-map is not there if you are F2P. Should I put you as a supporter or not? I guess that makes sense. FYI- I'm already on the supporter list. :lol:

:shock: It just keeps getting better!!! =D> =D> =D> Awsome work, looks better than ever.

Tbh, good for Britain.

:shock: ooh, thanks. Sounds interesting.

Niiice... This looks awsome :thumbsup: Support.

I think there should still be an icon there for F2P. Just put the greyed out wolf there, and when you click on it, have a blank tab.

Nice, simple, sounds like it'll make the skill menu a lot neater + more appealing. Support.

^ yup. I think the obby cape isn't the only cape it happens with too.