The machine wouldn’t boot fully so a quick trip into safe mode showed the restore points had all been erased and the networking stack was corrupt and irreparable. I have come across this a few times and it is usually the result of a virus that has been cleaned but the machine is left crippled. Previous trawls of the Microsoft Knowledge base have shown that a full re-install is the only solution – so that is what I did. The Packard Bell notebook has a recovery utility so the rebuild was straight forward. It was what happened next that was the interesting bit.

Whilst downloading SP3 and other utilities, the machine powered down without warning – and I don’t mean it shut down gracefully like a low battery but it just switched off like turning the mains off on a desktop machine. Five seconds into pressing the power button it did it again, before BIOS POST so either it was overheating or something was definitely wrong with the hardware.

I opened the chassis and cleaned out al the vents, reseated the memory and hard disk – just basic checks to eliminate loose connections. Once it had rebooted, I checked the error logs but there was nothing of interest. I then ran Memtest from a bootable CD and it failed to finish because it shut down again. Now the question was – is this memory related or heat related. A quick download of BurnIn from PassMark later and I was running a CPU stress test to raise its temperature – it passed! I then ran the RAM test from the same app and the machine died again. I am now starting to see a pattern and it is pointing at the memory. Replacing the memory with some from another laptop that I know works has allowed all tests to run and it has been streaming BBC news for the last 4 hours without problem.

So, my client has their old laptop back which they are happy about – they can relegate it to their daughter as they have a new shiny Dell Studio. The question really is: What should be done about the little computer shop that quoted 800 pounds and who, when my client said that they may as well buy a new one, also requested to keep the irreparable laptop? In my mind, they are either incompetent or shady – either way people should be warned not to use them. However, it could be an isolated incident so I would need to see further evidence before taking any action. So, the moral of the story is: Ask your friends and family for a recommendation or ask for testimonials rather than pick the nearest randon computer shop – everyone should know a good PC expert….and now you do!

Gary Atkinson
Mediaholix Ltd.

The top 3 TVs are shown here – for a more in-depth discussion as to why they were chosen, see below.

Pioneer Kuro 50" Plasma TV

Best 50″ TV

Pioneer Kuro TVs are arguably the best plasma screens on the market – particularly for cinema fans as they have some of the best contrast ratios for making black look black (see glossary for info on “contrast”)

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Sony Bravia 40" LCD TV - KDL-40W4500

Best 40-42″ TV

The predecessor to this, the 40w4000 was a “What-HiFi” category winner and this newer model improves on that one with 100Hz and Motion Blur Technology

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Sony Bravia 32 LCD TV - Sony KDL-32V5500

Best 32″ TV

Sony has released some stunning new TVs that have been getting rave reviews. This model is also a “What HiFi” Best Buy and is perfect as a second set or the main TV in a small room – at around £600 it is also a bargain

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A typical Sky+ or Sky HD installation has the set top box connected directly into the TV, along with the games console and the DVD player. In this scenario, the owner is missing out on a major part of the TV or DVD watching experience. If they are lucky, they have all their devices set to output the best resolution that their TV supports but often that is not the case. They will almost certainly not be getting the best from their audio capabilities. Let’s list the best capabilities of each device to see what is needed.

1. Sky+ can output video via an RGB scart interface at best so a high definition TV is not being used to its capability. A more common ommission is the fact that Sky+ has a digital audio output for those movies and TV shows that are broadcast with Dolby Digital surround sound but without a device to decode that audio into the multiple channels, the surround experience is missed.
2. A SkyHD box has an HDMI (High Definition Multi-media Interface) output which can be described as a modern scart in that it allows a single cable to carry both the audio and the video information. Unfortunately, convenience then means that the SkyHD box is cabled directly to the new HD television which produces great visual results but again, loses the whole surround sound experience
3. Most games consoles (except the Xbox 360 Elite and Playstation 3) have better video and audio capabilities than the cables that they ship with allow you to exploit. The cable provision plays to the lowest common denominator of composite or s-video (sometimes even component) for the video connection and simple 2-channel stereo via phono leads (a cable with one red and one white plug at either end) for the audio. A simple cable upgrade can get you better, even HD, video ouput and provide surround sound with a coax or optical digital audio cable. You will most likely need another piece of equipment and more speakers (if you only have 2) but more on that in a minute.
4. DVD was a great evolution over VHS tapes from a video quality perspective and every household probably has one by now (if not more than one). However, it is very common for the other major benefit of DVD (I would argue more significant than the video improvement) in the surround sound capability to be largely missed out on as the DVD player is treated as a replacement for the old VCR  and is plugged straight into the television. The overall cinematic experience of watching a DVD in the semi-dark with a full surround sound set-up can not be underestimated.

As you have probably gathered by now, there is a common theme running through this post – you are missing out on your various entertainment experiences if you don’t have a surround sound setup or “home cinema” as the AV retailers like to call it. It does not have to be expensive as there are some very good packages out there but it is worth remembering one or two things about surround sound equipment before you rush out to the shops.

1. Most “home cinema” packages include a DVD player that you probably don’t need and they will most likely not have digital audio inputs for your other devices (SkyHD, games console, Blu-ray, etc.) which is why you are getting more speakers in the first place. Therefore, you are more likely to need an AV amplifier to handle all the audio and video inputs and get a seperate 5.1 or 7.1 speaker package that fits your budget
2. You get what you pay for when choosing an AV amp so if you have three boxes that all output HDMI then you will need an AV amp that has at least 3 HDMI inputs and that will put you in the £400-600 bracket.

To help you get the most out of our site we have provided a bit of guidance below:

“What do Mediaholix do?” – Check out our Services page for details of the services that we offer

“This is all a bit confusing!” – To help you understand what is possible, we have included a glossary page that explains the concepts we are discussing

“What do your customers think?” – Our Testimonials page contains REAL quotes from existing customers

“I could do with some advice as I am looking to buy a new ‘TV/Surround Sound System/laptop/camera/etc.’” – we have put together some recommendations based on other expert forums, user feedback, personal experience and price/performance.

We also want this site to be interactive so all pages have a comments facility – if you have a comment or question then please feel free to post your comment to the site.

If you think that a friend or family member should read something that you have seen on this site then please use the “Save/Share” button at the bottom of each page that makes it very easy to let other people know via your preferred method or to simply bookmark that page for another day.