MoonPoint Support Weblog

Problem with Media Card Reader in HP G70 Laptop

A family member has an HP laptop, model number HP G70-460US. I upgraded Microsoft Windows on the system from Vista to Windows 7 a few weeks ago. Today, when she tried using memory sticks from her camera in the media card reader built into the laptop, Windows Explorer would stop responding. I attempted to restart Windows Explorer, but it wouldn't restart. Nor could I shutdown and restart the system without powering it off using the power button.

I tried a couple of memory sticks, but the result was the same. She could sometimes move files from a memory stick, but then attempting to access the memory stick again would cause the Windows Explorer to stop responding.

I downloaded and installed the Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader driver, which appears to have resolved the problem.

Released:	2009-08-28
Version:	6.1.7100.30093 A
Compatibility:	Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Starter (32-bit), Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic (64-bit)
System requirements:	No additional prerequisites
Description:	This driver enable card reader read/write functionalities.
Enhancements:	Original Software/Drivers

Download Site: HP
Download URL: Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader

[/pc/hardware/hp] permanent link

Thu, Aug 06, 2009 9:39 pm

Sat, Apr 11, 2009 12:28 pm

Toshiba M35X Laptop Discharges on AC Power

I've been experiencing more power problems with my Toshiba M35X-S109 laptop. Even when it is powered by A/C, i.e. I have the power cabled attached to it, the battery will sometimes discharge and the system will power itself off. If I check the power status (click on Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Toshiba Power Management), I see that the system is on A/C power, yet the battery is still discharging.

Toshiba Power Management on A/C battery discharging

Eventually, the Toshiba Power Management Utility will show that the battery has fully discharged. Then within a minute or two, the system will power itself off.

Toshiba Power Management on A/C battery zero charge

I had configured the Toshiba Power Management Utility to put the system in hibernate mode when the power got down to a a very low percentage, but it has never done so; the system just powers off. And, even though I had it configured to warn me when the battery power got down to 10%, I'm never warned either. The system just abrubtly powers itself off.

I had found other people reporting similar problems with this laptop when I searched for information on the problem previously - see Toshiba M35X Laptop Powers Off Randomly. The system had been showing 100% power yesterday evening and I hadn't noticed the charge state decreasing - I use Laptop Battery Power Monitor to constantly monitor the charge state of the battery - and I hadn't saved a lot of notes I had made regarding a problem I was working on. I know better than to use Windows Notepad, since it doesn't do any automatic file saving, but I had pasted output from a remote system and URLs related to the problem I was working on at the time into Notes. So I utterred a few curses when the laptop powered itself off, since all those notes were lost.

When the system is not charging, I see the two left-most LED's lit green on the front of the laptop. The left-most one indicates the laptop has A/C power. The middle one is lit green indicating the system is powered on. When the system is charging, the right-most one is lit amber when the battery is charging. And the Laptop Battery Power Monitor will have an orange arrow pointing out of it to notify me that the laptop battery is charging.

When the system powers itself off, I've found that if I power it back on immediately, it will show a zero percent charge and power itself back off within a couple of minutes. If I do nothing, but leave the system off for awhile, when I turn it back on, it may show the battery as fully charged or show it is in a charging state, depending on how long I've left it powered off. Sometimes, though, it shows the battery in a partially charged state and immediately starts discharging again.

Today, I found that if I tipped the laptop backwords, I could get the state to go from discharging to charging. If I put it back down, sometimes it would show that it was charging, other times it would be discharging the battery. I also found that if I pulled the A/C power plug from the back of the laptop and plugged it back in, sometimes I could get it to go to the charging state. Sometimes the Laptop Battery Monitor utility would show briefly that the battery was being charged, but would almost immediately switch to showing it was discharging. If I removed the power plug and put it back in multiple times, I could sometimes get it to stay in the charging state. At the moment it's charging again.

I did some more online searching with Google again today to see what others were saying about such problems with Toshiba laptops. I found others reporting similar problems with other Toshiba laptops. Many, like myself, stated they are unlikely to consider a Toshiba laptop for future laptop purchases. I found a lot of very informative postings on the problem by various people at Toshiba Satellite P25-s520 AC Power Problem. Some people had reported resolving the problem by simply opening the laptop and blowing out dust. Others fixed their problem by replacing the nib on the power adapter. Others replaced or adjusted the placement of components inside the laptop. For anyone experiencing similar problems, I would recommend reading the postings there. If those webpages ever disappear or the site is unavailable, the Internet Archive, aka the Wayback Machine, has them archived at Toshiba Satellite Ps5-s520 AC Power Problem. One of the posters even posted a link on how to disassemble a Toshiba Satellite P25 notebook, which you might want to try to get rid of dust inside the laptop or if you want to check the power connection to the motherboard. The link is Disassembling Toshiba Satellite P25 notebook. It may be helpful for those who need to disassemble other models of Toshiba Satellite laptops as well.

One poster even said he was able to rectify the problem by wrapping aluminum foil around the nib of the power plug that goes into the back of the laptop. I tried that; it didn't help and, when the foil comes off and remains inside the connector on the back of the laptop, it may be difficult to get all of it back out, so, personally, I can't recommend that solution, though, if you are desparate, you can try it.

[/pc/hardware/toshiba] permanent link

Sun, Feb 15, 2009 8:42 pm

Toshiba M35X Laptop Powers Off Randomly

I've been having a lot of power problems with a Toshiba laptop, model number M35X-S109 and part number PSA7U-01300U, recently. The system will randomly power itself off without warning. Often, when I power it back on, the battery will show a very low charge and will be charging. At Satellite model M35X - fixing power connector, I found that this model of Toshiba laptop is known for having a power connector problem. The webpage has pictures of the power connector on the motherboard showing signs of the problem. Pictures are also shown illustrating a repaired power connector. Another webpage with information on the problem is Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite A75 power jack and battery charge problem. There is a Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround page detailing how one person, who had his laptop repaired multiple times to fix the problem, finally resorted to moving the power connector outside the laptop case. Another reference to the problem is at Satellite 1900. Laptop loses power and shuts down without warning.

I have the Toshiba Power Management Utility configured on the system to sound an alarm and display a message when the battery charges drops to 10%. I have it configured to sound an alarm, display a message, and hibernate when the charge drops to 5%. But it never takes those actions. Instead, the laptop just powers off.

So that I could at least have some forwarning of when the battery charge is getting very low, I installed Laptop Battery Power Monitor, which places a battery widget on the desktop which displays the battery's charge level and which appears above other windows.

[/pc/hardware/toshiba] permanent link

Sun, Jul 13, 2008 7:57 pm

BFG Tech Model BFG550WGSPSU Power Supply

Click either image to see a larger version

Manufacturer: BFG Tech Model: BFG550WGSPSU AC Input: 115/230V~,60/50Hz,10/6A Specifications ATX12V 2.2 Dual 12V Rails SATA Connectors PCI Express Ready Efficiency: > 80% Typical Silent 140mm Intake Fan BFG Thermal Control Technology Protection Circuitry MTBF: 80,000 Hours at 25° C Safety Approval: CCC, CB, UL, TUV, CE, CSA, CUL, NEMKO, SAA, GS, VDE Dimensions: 8.6cm W x 15cm H x 14cm D (3.4" W x 6" H x 5.5" D) 1 Year Warranty
DC Output +3.3V = 35A +5V = 40A +3.3V +5V Max. Combined Wattage = 130W +12V1 = 18A +12V2 = 18A +12V Max. Combined Wattage = 432W -12V = 0.5A +5VSB = 2.5A
Included in Box 1 x 550 Watt Power Supply Unit 1 x US Power Cable 1 x User's Guide 4 x Mounting Screws
Connectors 1 x 24-Pin (20+4-Pin) Motherboard Connector 1 x 8-Pin (4+4-Pin) CPU 12V Power Connector 1 x 6-Pin PCI Express Connector 1 x 8-Pin (6+2-Pin) PCI Express Connector 4 x 4-Pin Molex Connectors 1 x 4-Pin Floppy Connector 4 x SATA Connectors (also includes connectors for IDE drives)
Works With The Following Motherboards PCI Express AGP PCI

Manual

BFG Tech "GS" Series User's Manual - Microsoft Word Document
BFG Tech "GS" Series User's Manual - HTML Document (produced by OpenOffice.org Writer)

References:

[/pc/hardware/power-supply] permanent link

Sat, Jul 15, 2006 7:27 pm

Tue, Feb 07, 2006 12:02 am

Sat, Jun 25, 2005 10:08 pm

Dell 4700 Hardware Drivers

I had to replace a disk drive in a Dell Dimension 4700 PC. Perhaps not coincidentally, the disk drive in another Dell Dimension 4700 PC also purchased in December 2004 died the same week. The drives were 80 GB Maxtor drives with model number 6Y080M0. It seemed odd that both systems, which though purchased from Dell at the same time were at separate locations, should suffer a drive failure in less than six months of use.

Dell shipped a replacement drive that arrived the next day. I told the Dell support person I spoke to that I only needed the drive, not someone to install it.

I was able to recover the users' files in her "My Documents" folder, but there was no backup for the system, so I had to reinstall the operating system and applications. Unfortunately, Dell apparently did not provide all of the drivers needed for the system on a CD with the system. So, though the user had a CD for Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office 2003, Sonic RecordNow, and CyberLink DVD, there was no CD with the needed Network and Video adapter drivers nor was there one for the modem driver, which would make it difficult to obtain the needed drivers if no other PC was available to use to download the drivers.

I was able to download the needed drivers with a laptop, however, and transfer them by USB key to the 4700.

[ More Info ]

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Fri, Oct 08, 2004 5:20 pm

Dell Recalls Laptop Power Adatpters

Dell is recalling power adapters for some of its Latitude, Precision, and Inspiron laptops due to the possibility that the adapters may overheat, posing a risk of fire or electrical shock. The adapters being recalled have "P/N 9364U," P/N 7832D" or "P/N 4983D" and Dell's name on them. Dell is offering a free replacement adapter for the defective adapters. See CPSC, Dell Inc. Announce Recall of AC Adapters for Notebook Computers or www.delladapterprogram.com for further details, though the latter site is returning a "Service Unavailable" message at the moment.

There was a prior recall of Dell Combination Auto/Air Adapters sold with Dell Latitude X300, D400, D500, D505, D600 and D800, Inspiron 300m, 500m, 510M, 600m, I8500, I8600 and Precision M60 laptops sold between December 2003 and May 2004. Those adapters pose the risk of electrical shock to users. Those adapters have "DELL" and "Dell P/N W1451" printed on the top of the adapters. For details on that recall see www.auto-air-adapter.com or the Dell Combination Auto-Air Power Adapter Retrofit Program webpage.

References:

Part Numbers 9364U, 7832D, and 4983D Recall

Part Number W1451 Recall

[/pc/hardware/power-supply] permanent link

Sun, Sep 12, 2004 10:46 pm

Painting Plastic

If you want to paint cases, parts, or most plastics, you can use Fusion paint from Krylon. The paint dries in 15 minutes or less.

The paint comes in the following colors: