I am curious as to what SE I should post this question on:  I am trying to reformat my Alienware M15x laptop which has a aftermarket graphics card installed (NVidea Geforce 675m). No matter what OS I try to install, as soon as I get past the first part of the installation and it tries to actually start up the OS, the screen is white and I cannot do anything. How can I fix this? I have an exam tomorrow and need this fixed before then!
631
There seems to be more than a few computer science/programming Stack Exchange networks (is that the correct term?). Stack Overflow, being the first, has by far the most users, questions, and answers.  What is the reasoning for creating the others, and are there clear guidelines for which kinds of questions should be posted? I can see a large amount of potential overflow, many cases of people not getting a good answer to their question, because the person who has the answer isn't browsing that particular network at the moment.  I understand that they were probably created for organizational purposes, but wouldn't it almost make more sense to just have them as categories under Stack Overflow, keep them separated but still connected, instead of making people have to create multiple 'account's, one for each network?  I am sure there was a very good reason to break them up, but as someone that is new to SE, it can be somewhat intimidating to decide which one to post in to ensure you get a good answer. For example, if I am a computer science student, my first instinct might to be to post in the computer science network, until I see that it literally has 1% of the users as the Stack Overflow network, which still seems to be for programming/computer science related questions.  So my second instinct would then to be to post it into the Stack&nbsp;Overflow site on the basis that I have a significantly higher chance of my question being seen and getting a good answer. Then I notice that there is also a 'programmers' network, and I don't even begin to know where that fits in. I, and I am assuming most people, will probably just post on Stack&nbsp;Overflow to be safe.  My question is, other than the short little description blurb of each one, is there a clear cut set of guidelines which what each network is intended for, what kinds of questions should go to each one, and is anything being done to encourage people to post in these newer, smaller (more specialized?) networks as opposed to just posting in big daddy Stack Overflow?  Now again, this is for computer science/programming/"why isn't this code doing what I want?" related questions, I am not saying that if I had a question about Linux or WordPress or something I would have the same confusion.
92966
I'm using:   Alienware M14xR2 laptop running Ubuntu 14.04 2 * DELL U2412M monitors attached via HDMI and Mini Display Port Optimus graphics (Intel + nVidia GeForce GT 650M) running with nvidea-340 and nvidia-prime, with Prime setup in nvidia-settings GUI to use the NVidia GPU built-in laptop monitor disabled   Unfortunately, the monitors only work successfully in the default mirrored setup - I have the following issues trying to get a dual external screen extended desktop to work:   nvidia-settings GUI can only see one monitor on the X Server Display Config page. System Display GUI can see both displays but can only mirror the displays successfully. By fiddling with Display GUI and ARandR, I temporarily managed to get an extended desktop working, but NVidia GUI still only sees one of the monitors and if I try to reboot with 2 monitors attached, the GUI is totally glitched and unusable after login. During boot, the system just uses the left monitor (via HDMI i/f) for display, so I presume this is treated as the primary display. However, after boot, it appears the system switches to using the Display Port for the primary display and the system will not let me have the Ubuntu launcher only on the left (HDMI) display. The only options that work are for having the launcher on both or just on the right (Display Port) monitor. I tried to forcefully fix the issue with the primary monitor incorrectly being set to the right monitor by changing the primary monitor switch in ~/.config/monitors.xml, however this does not work and causes both monitors to appear at strange resolutions and glitch badly with uncoordinated mouse input.   Running  /usr/lib/nvidia-340/bin/nvidia-xconfig --query-gpu-info gives  Number of GPUs: 1  GPU #0:   Name      : GeForce GT 650M   UUID      : GPU-...   PCI BusID : PCI:1:0:0    Number of Display Devices: 1    Display Device 0 (DFP-0):       EDID Name             : DELL U2412M       Minimum HorizSync     : 30.000 kHz       Maximum HorizSync     : 83.000 kHz       Minimum VertRefresh   : 50 Hz       Maximum VertRefresh   : 61 Hz       Maximum PixelClock    : 170.000 MHz       Maximum Width         : 1920 pixels       Maximum Height        : 1200 pixels       Preferred Width       : 1920 pixels       Preferred Height      : 1200 pixels       Preferred VertRefresh : 60 Hz       Physical Width        : 520 mm       Physical Height       : 320 mm   Running xrandr --query gives  Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3120 x 1920, maximum 16384 x 16384 DP-0 connected primary 1200x1920+1920+0 left (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 518mm x 324mm    1920x1200      60.0*+    ... DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) LVDS1 connected    1600x900       60.0 +   40.0      ... DP1 disconnected DP2 disconnected HDMI1 connected 1920x1200+0+0 518mm x 324mm    1920x1200      60.0*+    ... HDMI2 disconnected VGA1 disconnected VIRTUAL1 disconnected   Running lspci | grep VGA gives     00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)   01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 650M] (rev a1)   My xorg.conf is almost empty but I believe 14.04 automatically detects those settings.
80815
How do I install Ubuntu on my powerpc G5? which version do I download? where do I download it from? and how do I get it to install? I tried burning ubuntu powerpc 12.04 and booting from the cd and all I get is a DOS like setup prompt "boot:" I've tried 'live' and everything else listed when I push tab; but, every time I get a bunch of white text on black screen, then black text on white and then my monitor just goes black and nothing happens??? what am I doing wrong? any suggestions?
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I'm considering to upgrade my PC to Ubuntu v17.10, but I'm afraid because there's a BIOS issue has been confirmed for several different lines of Lenovo laptops also the reports of it affecting a few Acer, Toshiba and Dell laptops.  Should I upgrade or not? Also I can't download the Latest Ubuntu 17.10 ISO, the official website download link is currently discouraged.
72918
I have a laptop with nvidia graphic. How can I find if the program is running with nvidia graphics card or with the intel graphics.I searched for this query but could not find the suitable answer?
15098
I've started getting random blue screens from my (admittedly aged PC). Unfortunately it reboots straight away so I don't get chance to read the error. It's been happening when browsing Stack Overflow in Google Chrome and Firefox so I'm assuming that it's something fairly fundamental.  Most of the time it puts up the "Report the error to Microsoft" dialog and I've checked the data files it wants to send but can't find the information there. I'll freely admit I could be looking in the wrong place.  I'm running Windows XP SP3 and I'm fully up to date with the updates.  The CPU is an Athlon XP 2600+, I've got 2 GB of RAM installed, an nVidia Quadro4 980 XGL driving two DELL 2001FP flat panels at 1600 x 1200 pixels (32 bits/pixel).  I've checked the CPU fan (which has been recently replaced) and that seems to be turning freely. The insides are a little dusty, but not excessively so.  So I need to either stop it rebooting or find out where the error code is stored so I can read it after the reboot.  UPDATE 22/09/2009  OK - just had the BSOD and it's in win32k.sys. I'm doing some research to see if I can find anything that might help. If I get stuck I'll post a new question. Thanks for all the suggestions.
91322
This is the third reinstall of Ubuntu 14.04 I have done today.  I just bought a laptop with an Core i3 processor and an Nvidia GeForce GT 840M graphics card.  I have installed the Nvidia driver using their .run file, and also following tutorials, and it just doesn't work. When I check in the terminal which GPU I am using it says "i915" instead of "nvidia".
102386
I just installed ubuntu 13.04 x64 My resolution is 800x600 and there is no other option. I tried to install the nvidia driver 313 but still nothing. I tried doing this   still no luck, thank you
22299
I always seem to have grief with Nvidia drivers and have often had to re-install Ubuntu: is there a better way to remove them? When I first installed the drivers, the display came up on 640 by 480.  I managed to set 2 screens to 1024 by 780 which was usable, but then Ubuntu recommended installing proprietary drivers (nvidia-current-updates 295.40-ubuntu1). After doing this and re-booting it shows LAPTOP and offers only 640 by 480 on a single screen.   Is there any way to revert to the original driver? Is there any way to find out if the new drivers work before installing them? - For years I have been hoping that it would be all fixed in the latest release… I always seem to fall for this!
23860
I bought a Dell N5110 laptop and installed . The Nvidia graphics card in the laptop has 1 GB of RAM, but when I try to run the game, a message appears that says there is only 128 MB of graphics memory.   Here is the message:     Warning : Your computer does not meet the Minimum System Requirements to run this software. As a result, you may experience errors during operation. Your Video Card does not meet the required specifications. (GPU:VRAM 128MB)   What could the problem be?
46803
I tried running DxDiag (DirectX diagnostics), and I noticed that my graphics card is set to the onboard one that comes with the Core i5 processor (some Intel HD stuff).  On my computer, I also have a dedicated graphics card (an Nvidia 310). No serious gaming stuff, I know - just for programming.  However, I would still love to know how to switch to that dedicated graphics card instead.  My laptop is an MSI CX720.
3359
During the upgrade, my computer shut down.  After starting it I see a black screen with [OK] sentences with finished tasks after them. The last one is:  [OK] Started GNOME display Manager.       Dispatcher Service...ed database.s.pp link was shut down...   Do I need to format my computer? If not, what else can I do?
54464
A friend has asked me to repair his Toshiba laptop after a virus crashed it. I've managed to do a clean re-install using the built in recovery partition, but the newly installed Windows is running absurdly slow. As in, it takes upwards of 30 minutes between logging in and the desktop actually showing, and once up doing anything has the same kind of wait periods. Booting up in safe mode seems to be working just fine, however.  I've done the re-install twice now and had the same problem both times. I've also noticed that the Toshiba install comes with a huge amount of bloatware and I'm worried that this is contributing to the issue. Even if its not, it definitely isn't helping things. Since I have his product key and a compatible Windows 7 install disc I've been debating whether to just use that instead.  My question is: is there any potential issue using a standard install disc instead of the built-in OEM version? I realize that I'd have to go find all of the drivers and manually install them this way, but that'd be a small price to pay if it actually works. And I wouldn't have to spend time going through and removing all the useless apps the OEM version adds in. So other than missing drivers, what problems could I run into?  (EDIT) I have used a linux live cd to check the hard disk and it is doing fine. I've tried removing some of the bloat while in safe mode, but half of the apps are could not be uninstalled due to errors/missing uninstaller/whatever. Starting up with a clean boot did not show any real difference in performance.
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As there's no definitive answer to this, and I would prefer not to be too specific about particular models, what are the things that determine whether this is possible or not?   What expansion slots would the laptop require to do this? How can you find out if a motherboard/chipset supports upgrades?  Is heat an issue? Could it void the warranty? How is battery life affected?
32769
Update  This has been confirmed resolved in a later version 376.33 and possibly the update prior.     Okay, I recently did a computer update. I used to run Blender 2.77 on a Dell desktop (5 GB RAM, 2.7 GHZ, Windows 8, build in graphics card). Since that computer wasn't fast enough for my preference, I saved up and got a new gaming laptop - the Asus ROG GL552 (Windows 10, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M with 4 GB DDR5 RAM, 2.6-3.5 Ghz, and quad-core intel processor). That laptop has been known to have outdated drivers, so when I got it, I updated it to up to date Windows 10 drivers.  As soon as I started Blender, I immediately noticed its speed. Even doing simple things, like clicking buttons, or rotating the view with the middle mouse button, took too long to register in the program. I tried changing some User Preference System settings, but that didn't really help much. And the hardware seems to be fine - the render is lightning fast (renders the startup scene in under .1 second; it's just laggy when loading the uv screen), so I don't know why it's like this, or what to do. Also, I ran Blender 2.77 on this computer, and it was also slow (although it was fine on my previous computer).  It could be an issue with drivers perhaps (or maybe OpenGL?), but I ran Unreal Engine 4, and had none of the same issues - the speed was pretty decent on that; so I'm not sure why Blender would be so slow. Any help is appreciated - thanks guys!
109956
I don't know where to address my question. It is about hardware - I need to know which is the recommended hardware (PC).  Which is the site in which I can ask my question?   My question will be:     Where to find info about hardware required to make hackintosh?   I need specific models of MB and CPU - for best compatibilty.
110549
OK, please, following you have an updated one step ahead question regarding my first question post on the title.  The question now is, how possibly get some info or tracing/debug on, which possible reason is leading to this error referring to SYSPREP.  In the net I found several posts for this, and the following link do have quite exact instructions what to look at and try, and I have also been following most of them, except maybe one-two, which I now will still follow on a next Upgrade trial in few hours.  ->   Here you have a summary of the background info for this case:   Windows 10 Anniversary Upgrade is stuck at ab. 32% done, in a minute after the second (despite named as FIRST_BOOT) restart at 30%, during the actual final update process phase, with blank grey display and power-on after an emergency power-off in a quarter or so, the Upgrade trial will got reversed and following error splash window will pop-up:     We couldn't install Windows 10      We've set your PC back to the way it was just before you started installing Windows 10.      0xC1900101 - 0x30018    The installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with an error during SYSPREP operation  the laptop is some 7yrs old with dual-core AMD 1.9GHz 32-bit, memory 3GB, and has been working great with Windows 10 Pro (updated from 8.1) since 9 months I know there is outdatings with e.g. display driver, now run with the basic MS one, and Wi-Fi driver etc., but several of the risky devices and also software have been disabled during the Upgrade trials   I hope someone could help me some step ahead on this.