If mine seems to be getting warm or if I am running it quite a bit.. then I just prop it up with something to get more air flow underneath - keep the fan vent opening clear.

I usually use CD cases under each corner.

I think generators should be OK, esp with the extra power bar for surge suppression.. we ran our well, water heater , big TV & fridge at the same time last year with the generator.

windows error info-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Thanks, Jo. I talked to my son today, and he found the same link. Our problem appears to be that the discs that came with the laptop won't boot at all. He said he would have to look at it in person...etc. We can't do it this weekend, and so hubby is chomping at the bit to get a new one anyway...He WANTS it, and you know what that means...LOL.
We have the back up storage, which can be downloaded into the new one. All of My Documents. This new one will have Windows 7 too.

I can put Paint shop pro on it, like I did from this one..so that is all that matters. Anything else we can move from this main one with a flash drive. To me it is rather overwhelming... so I will let THEM do it all. I don't have the mind/head for all this.
The biggest problem last time with the first laptop was activating the Wifi. We'll let my son do that one!

I do not use a stand or cooler, but I put it on a hard surface, not my lap or a pillow so it vents okay.

And I shut it down when not in use - dd did not and hers was always a problem.

I use it without a surge protector, but I would use a SP in your case, with a generator. House current can be oddball enough, I would not bet on a genny keeping a steady current, or the laptop's cord being able to protect it.

I wonder if you can get it to boot from disc if you go to the boot menu and manually set it to do so - I had to to something like that with mine when it crashed. It kept setting itself to some other boot sequence.



Which is how I learned they have a boot menu, lol.

My ds got it to come around just enough to save my files. But the hdd was toast.

I think when you first turn it on, you can hit f12 or something to get to that menu.

I'm pretty sure, if I remember right, that after I put the new hdd in, I had to do this, too. Would be nice if I could remember any dang thing.

Thanks for the tips. We tended to leave that laptop on because it was a pain to get the wifi started. The new one will definitely be turned off at night.

It is important to me to have my graphics program on there, and we are considering Adobe maybe ...but if I can weasel my Paint shop pro back on there (don't tell on me), that will be enough for me. The laptop is really for hubby...and since he is so helpful and is supporting us 100% now that I am not working... who am I to say, no? We take it on vacation... and that is when I use it most. Sometimes in the night I use it if I can't sleep and don't want to brave the stairs at 2am. Going up and down really then wakes me up and I have wasted a sleep time.

We did the F12 thing...nada. My son thinks the HD is totally dead. He said he'll try to resurrect it. We'll take it to him sometime after Xmas so he can work on it at his convenience. His job is releasing a new software product and he is totally stressed and tired with the moving into the new house and all on top of that. He is the bug tester...and feels it is really a big responsibility to catch ALL the bugs!

So hubby is sharing the main machine downstairs where I typically work. He insists on using HIS side, so there is alot of logging off here etc. I always just used his side on the laptop, but he won't do that here. So logging off back and forth is a pain of sorts. He is going to put our finances on this machine from the backup... since this one has the software on it. That way we can move to the new laptop with a flash drive. He made spread sheets showing our retirement situation and it is pretty nifty. It is easy then to see trends and move things etc. That way we don't lose much by mistake. So today he will be starting that back moving and I won't be online as much as before.

Hi mrsD, sounds like your about to make a new purchase!! That is so cool! You probably wont have the wireless problems on the new one because it is all built in, and especially if it is Windows 7. That OS takes all the hard stuff out and just connects like a breeze.

I have used those cooling stands, it made me feel like it was safer but it started makin noises and I havent used it since LOL. Best is to not put it on top of bed, pillows, clothes, or anything that will constrict the air flow.

Here is a video on how to change out the hdd in the old one in casr you might want to do that later on for a back up puter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg_EhfPcZX4

You will be totally surprised at the ease LOL!

Oh, that's cool.... thanks!
Getting a new computer is rather exciting, I agree! LOL

Another way to check it once you get the new laptop... I bought a hard drive caddy on ebay I think it cost around $10 with shipping. It has a usb cable with it. I took the HD out of my old laptop and hooked it to the new one and was very thankfully able to retreive all of my old files. And now I use that drive as a backup and I can plug it into any computer and it pulls right up.

I mention this because the old one sounds like it could be more of a partition issue than the hard drive.

I will say this much for dell.... The dog knocked a glass of lemonade over on my latitude fried the keyboard...but it still worked. Then my DH2B's DD came to visit and she was using my computer to watch movies...apparently she fell asleep and knocked a glass of tea over on the table that my laptop sat in overnight... it took a while to dry but it kept right on chugging...until I dropped a glass and a few tiny drops of tea hit the keyboard and THAT was the final straw and the dead of my 5 yr old dell that I bought used to begin with. I will say that was one tough little machine!

Another word of caution...that tough little machine downloaded a virus while mcaffee was updating when i left it running overnight. Try not to leave it connected to the internet when you go to bed.

I always have a backup hard drive hooked up incase of a failure. I have a western digital, ibook. It works really well with apple time machine to keep information secure.