Karaoke Forums

Ok so last night I hook up my "back up " laptop in my basement studio as I sometimes do to sing and add new music etc etc . ALL I GET IS AN ERROR message . Won't read the hardrive no matter how many times I reboot it !!! - So I go crazy, I'm on dells' website ready to pull the trigger on a new laptop ..because I need a back up !!!!-I decide to wait and have the IT man look at it this morning - Can't sleep all night as I'm PO'd !!!!!---

I bring it in this morning and explain to the IT man and tell him it needs a NEW hard drive. He jsut brought it over and said ..It's fine !!!!
There are 2 screws holding the HD in on the bottom of the laptop and they are missing ???? So the hardrive was just loose not BROKEN

I feel like I just hit the lottery

DO you have a back up system?

Yes, my system regularly gets "my back up".

Seriously though I still have my old desktop computer which I used to use for karaoke with an old version of Sax n Dotties.

I suppose I ought to drag it out from time to time to make sure it's still up and running. It would be like stepping back in time !!

Nice to hear your back up and running.

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[font=Fantasy][/font] "Travellin' at the speed of light"

Well, right now I have a brand new laptop, with an external harddrive which has all of my music on it, and have another external harddrive as back up. The laptop that I was using wasn't fast enough, and I had a lag in the lyric tracking, so IF I had to, as a last resort, I could use it. If my laptop crashed during the show, and I couldn't get it to work, I'd connect the external harddrive to my Cavs 203g player, disconnect the video from my capture device, and hook it directly into my singers monitor, and be back in business, the only thing I would be losing is my hosting program, but since I still use books, and song request slips I could still keep the show running. That's one of the advantages of still having a player with usb capabilities at the show. Right now I use it if someone brings in their discs. I know the show would probably go a little slower, but at least it could still go on.

Rosario

2 laptops, 3 external drives..

One tower two laptops. I did use a laptop last night and found out I was hooked up to the net all night on the bars WIFI. It didnt miss a lick. First time ever downloaded 2 karaoke songs while running a show.

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well I guess I kinda have a backup...husband's laptop has all his own stuff on it and I have all gig stuff since last backup on an external...I guess that reminds me its been a while since I backed up

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

We could have told you.....you had a couple of screws loose....

I hear ya...we actually run desktops in our systems...and our biggest problem is losing power supplies. We lost one on Wednesday...I had to run out and swap computers at the show. The host was fantastic, though. He was DJing off his I-Pod when I got there. The rest of the system was running fine, so he just patched into the mixer. It took 5 minutes to swap out and he was fine. What a nightmare though. Very stressful. I'm just glad we had an extra computer that we weren't using.

birdofsong

If you have a higher end power supply, it should work for you..

Check wall voltage to confirm it meets minimum specs..

I am finding with the newer computers they are using low wattage or inadequate power supplies. I have 2 boxes sitting here that need power supplies and on ebay a 500 watt is about $25.

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Be aware the $25 power supplies can be lower wattage than advertised..

Dell is the Vocopro of the computer world.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Correcto mundo.. Emachinesis next although HP and Acer's quality control is faltering too..i

Whether it be for a compute or mixer a grade A chip is $.50. A grade B or c is only .15 with a higher failure rate. When producing thousands the manus will opt for for the lower quality and with a slack quality control dept will mass produce. An engineer will replace the lower quality with Brown or higher quality chips. Yes I can modify a Bheringer or alesis and make it dependable and improve the specs but my charges are cost prohibitive.

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It's the bean counters I say..

Dell did have a few blown mobo capacitors for a while, but that problem is history..

HP has so many returns, they have a complete line of refurbs..

Acer is still pretty good, (So far) and they were the OEM for IBM until that business was sold to Lenovo..

IBM sold the hard drive business to Hitachi, and now that's failing.. Seagate too..

Bean counters I say.. They graduated from those commie universities and screwed up everything..

I just bought a refurbed Acer Aspire One from Tiger Direct. Everything seems to be working alright except for the fact that it won't let me create a restore disc. If it does crash sometime in the future and I have to install a new hard drive, I will be screwed so I'm gonna have to try and get ACER to send me a restore disc since the little 9 inch laptop won't allow me to do anything but restore it to factory defaults from the on board restore files. That won't do me any good if the hard drive bites the dust. If they won't send me the restore disc, I guess I'll have to just return it and buy something else. I thought I had found a great deal but I guess there's always something.

The nine inch portables can be a great web book..

Use Norton "Ghost" or similar to image your drive. Save the image.. Restore as needed.

The first little acers had a heat problem did not have enough fan or ventilation. Make sure it doesnt get hot.

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Thank you, JD. I will do that as a last resort but I think that ACER should make it right before I have to spend another $50. Being able to create images of the hard drive is supposed to be part of the Acer e-recovery management software. This little glitch may be the reason why so many of these have been sold as refurbs. If they know this is an issue, you would think that they would ship the refurbs with a recovery disc or with a working version of the e-recovery management software so you could make your own.

Anyone/Everyone PLEASE Explain! I ALMOST pulled the trigger on buying (2) 17" vostro laptops from Dell Direct this week. 2.0mhz 320gb drives 3 gb memory and a free DOWNgrade to win xp for $649 each. that's $318 each off the regular price.

I am going laptop for the first time and will run CompuHost in the coming months. As i've read many many threads on laptops, and someone has yet to suggest the best overall manufacturer, speed, reliability (heating probs), plug-in layout design (usb/2/jack placement), soundcard, and perhaps BEST Overall laptop out there for running Compuhost and dj filler music ONLY.

From reading multiple threads, intel has the best chipset, xp is less of a resource hog than vista, and a 17" screen is preferred. And a vga-out is more reliable and longer lasting than s-video out.

So is it advisable to back away from Dell altogether?


I will purchasing two laptop units making them identical and purchase 2 Compuhost programs to have as backup. My budget is $2300 total for 2 laptops. They will be mounted in a dj rig with a laptop slider and cooling fan underneath.


Having a laptop with an decent soundcard already installed without having to use a usb-device, and a large internal hd to store karaoke files on is what i would like to purchase. A great all-in-one reliable machine. And since this is my 1st one i would like to do it RIGHT the first time around.


I suppose i should ask a question like; "If you had your choice of a brand new laptop, what brand/specs would you choose to run karaoke/ dj filler ONLY and WHY?

Thank You for all replies! Jay

I'd disagree that DELL is the Vocopro --might be a harsh statement.
I've acutalluy nothing BUT dell at home , in work and KJ'ing and nothing but success. YES I've had a HD crash once ..but that happens on any machine ..correct?

Dell is a massed produced machine and could be subject to quality issues like any other. GOOD QUESTION ..What is a good brand ???? Sony / Toshiba / HP ????