Recent content by TMTOWTSAC

You said that if you moved/adjusted the charger it would start or stop charging. Instead of moving the charger around, just focus on the plug end at the laptop. Don't be rough or anything, but if you gently push on it is there any unusual give? Does the charge light go on and off if you push in...

Have you checked for physical issues? The charging symptoms sound a lot like a loose port, and if one connector has worn down others may have as well.

The other option is a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 that supports external GPU's. There are still trade offs. A bit of processing overhead, and high end GPU's can still saturate the bus depending on the resolution and refresh rates and texture sizes. The better versions sell a dock that can accept...

Hand and cloth sounds a lot safer than a vacuum cleaner, which is what I originally used. Even then I got away with it for years, until an old P4 system. When I held the wand up to the PSU, the fan spun so fast it made a noise like an electric car peeling out. It didn't die, but it never stopped...

Take a few precautions when you clean the fans, especially if using canned air. It could spin them fast enough to cause damage. I like using a wooden toothpick since it's non-conductive, and a bicycle pump (without the metal needle) to blow air. I've also used air pumps that came with an...

You can try keeping Task Manager up in the background, on the Processes tab, and sort by CPU usage. You may need to show processes from all users. In Win 10, I think you access that from the users tab.

If you search for kaby lake micro code update you mostly get results about a crash bug involving hyperthreading. Assuming that's what's in the BIOS, it seems like a worthwhile thing to get. The safest way would be to follow the manufacturers instructions in the same readme file that contained...

The only thing that sticks out is the MCU (microcode update) for Kaby Lake. They're used to address fundamental CPU parameters. That could include power usage, the Skylake Prime 95 crash bug, the famous Pentium math errors, and so on.

Are you just looking at the newest update? Changelogs usually show differences from version to version, not cumulative. If there were earlier versions you skipped over, they could contain other updates that would only be listed in their release notes.

People are wary of BIOS updates because if something goes wrong, they can potentially brick an expensive device. But it's not quite as bad as people make it out to be. If you run the update while your laptop is plugged in for power and a reliable internet connection, you avoid most of the...

Battery life predictions are similar to estimated mileage. If you always drive at exactly the same speed on a flat road and never brake, they would be pretty accurate. If you're going uphill and downhill and sometimes stop and go traffic but other times freeway speeds, not so much. If you check...

Yeah, the battery seems to check out ok. Cycle count is roughly how many times it's gone through a full battery's worth of energy, or one cycle. Doesn't have to be continuous though. ie 5 sessions using the full 41060 mWh each time would register the same as if you did 10 sessions each using...

What does it say for Design Capacity compared to Full Charge Capacity? Design Capacity is what the battery should be able to hold when new. Full Charge Capacity is what it's actually capable of holding right now. Lenovo says it's a 3 cell, 42 Wh (Watt*hours) so it should read somewhere close to...

Not sure if this still works, but try opening up a command prompt, and typing: powercfg /batteryreport If that doesn't work, I'm also reading that somewhere under Power Management there's some way to access battery settings and get a health report.

Ok, sounds like something is definitely wrong. Lenovo claims up to 11 hours, actual reviewers seem to be getting more like 8 or so, which is about what you'd expect. Either the battery is defective, or something else is causing it to use more power than it should. If you open up Task Manager...