DW's Hoyty Toyty Dell LT . . .

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

. . . shot craps yesterday.

I spent 2 hours trying to get a live voice on the phone, since support.dell was just an eternal loop of bs. I finally called sales cuz I knew a real person would answer if they might get new money for it.

Sales got me to customer service and they told me to go to Best Buy.

$107 later it works again.

In the meantime, Ole POC keeps limping along.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I've got 2 desktops and a laptop. The desktops are really limping along, but the laptop runs pretty good still.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I've got 2 desktops and a laptop. The desktops are really limping along, but the laptop runs pretty good still.

Have you tried cleaning and optimizing the registry? That is the major culprit in unstable and/or slow performance.

I use Advanced System Optimizer "AOS" which is rated number 1 by Consumer Reports, and other rating organizations. I have used it for years and just got the newest version a few months ago for $19.00. It not only optimizes but does many other things such as driver updates, anti-spy-ware, disk cleaner/optimizer, uninstall tool ( better than the add/remove in the Control Panel ), program startup, etc.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I remember you mentioning that a short while ago and considered it, but the desktops are old and I'm hoping I can get some time to work on them first. Funny thing is that the oldest one runs better. I clean the registry weekly, but I have a couple of errors I need to deal with. I'm shopping for a new one with better speed that I need for one task.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

The power adapter shot craps, that's all. The computer whiz/high school student in the blue shirt knew exactly the problem.

Well, I did, too, except I had no way to confirm it was the power adapter, rather than the battery, without a working power adapter.

Enitire notebook new: $500
Replacement Power Adapter: $107

The battery is due also.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

You can buy cheaper generic power adapters- do a search.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

The power adapter shot craps, that's all. The computer whiz/high school student in the blue shirt knew exactly the problem.

Well, I did, too, except I had no way to confirm it was the power adapter, rather than the battery, without a working power adapter.

Enitire notebook new: $500
Replacement Power Adapter: $107

The battery is due also.

I bought a genuine Dell power adapter for my son's laptop a few months ago at Amazon.com for $39.00. The power adapter was not faulty but was destroyed by his kids. It came from one of Amazon's vendors and NOT directly from Amazon. Do a search for "your laptop model power adapter prices" and you should find a lot better price. I found third party adapters for less than $20.00. I chose to buy the Dell part. There is no sales tax from Amazon.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Normally being an avoid bargain hunter, I deferred this time in favor of a rapid fix.

Also I needed to determine whether the problem was more than just the power adapter, and Best Buy was a relatively easy/quick/cheap way of doing that.

But, yes, once having found that out, I could have come back home, shopped the Internet, saved a few bucks, and listened to whining for a few days.