That's quite bizzare. I wouldn't be happy either with that sort of service.

Was he wearing a stetson?

I phoned the company who organised the collection and they said that they had no end of complaints about the Citylink service, but clearly they were getting a very cheap parcel rate so it was either a case of putting up their prices and changing carrier, or putting up with it. My past experience of Citylink is that they are cheap and sloppy (probably why Rentokil are trying to offload them). You generally get what you pay for. I have sent the package recorded Royal Mail accompanied by a letter of complaint. I shan't hold my breath!

Can anyone help.

My wife has a Acer Iconia Andriod Tablet A110.

It appears to be going in a continual loop.

If you switch it on, the Acer name comes up then screen goes blank within seconds then Acer name comes up then so on and on.

We have found how to get past this by switching on and immidiatelly pressing the volume up/down button that for some reason brings a random photo up from its picture gallery.

There is also the wording 'safe mode' that then apears but then it goes back to the loop again.

Any idea's how to solve this.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds like a boot up problem and the BIOS is unable to find something. Maybe a RAM problem. If it was a PC I would also suspect a fan (on the main processor) failure, but not sure if tablet fans work in the same way. Also, does your machine beep at you when trying to boot up? Again, not sure if tablets work in the same way, but PC's have a beep code to identify what is causing the boot up fault.

Look at this. You might find other advice through Google

http://www.askmefast.com/Acer_iconia_tab_a110_reset_button-qna5181992.html

Harrycat and Haystack,

Many thanks for your help.

Before reading your replies I have just found it on the site mentioned by Haystack (after a merry go round of about an hour).

Still much apreciated for your time and effort re this.

Regards Greek.

Just found a pet way of cleaning the inside of my computer screen http://www.formation-massage-stage.fr/outils/nettoyeurecran/cleanscreen.swf

.. I hope that yelps.

I prefer this way!

My daughter has a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop which came with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series video card/chip. The video card is apparently failing as I keep getting a blue screen. I've had this card disabled and am running the laptop with onboard graphics (at a much lower resolution). Question now is - a technician has offered to replace the video card at a cost of £120 (parts and labour) - is it worth fixing at that price? I'm aware that graphic cards are not the easiest to replace on a laptop and I would never attempt to do it myself! Grateful for opinions.

The cost sounds pretty reasonable. I know from experience that most charge at least £75 for the labour plus extra if it is a long job. Try finding the graphics card online to work out the price of the labour element.

Isn't the laptop under warranty. Dell may repair it anyway as a service centre.

Thanks for the input, Haystack. Unfortunately, the laptop is well beyond warranty. This is one laptop that's given me a fair bit of grief but it had been behaving perfectly well for over a year (after I did some tinkering) until this new problem. Since the technician has offered to do the work at a fixed cost and keeping in mind the rates you mentioned, it sounds like a good idea to have it repaired rather than buy a new one.

If its given you grief, I'd give it the 'Fawlty' treatment!



PC world have some £100 cash back offer on certain PCs until Tomorrow - £100 casback

skinny, :-) That is the first treatment I try in most situations, especially with technology - the user manual comes a distant 999th!

Thanks for the heads-up on the PC World offer. Some of the laptops on offer do look tempting.

Developers force Microsoft to release Windows 8.1 early

An outcry by programmers has forced Microsoft to give them early access to Windows 8.1.

The furore came after Microsoft announced that developers would get the new release at the same time as everyone else.

That marked a change from established practice which saw certified developers get early access to new versions.

Microsoft has now given coders access to 8.1 so they can start testing and developing before the public release.

Programmers who subscribed to Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN developer services historically got early access so they could ensure code for their own applications was not broken by the new versions of Windows.

Microsoft's strong developer community were unhappy with the change Microsoft made with 8.1, particularly as the new version made changes to its appearance and the way programs can work with it.

Windows 8.1 is due to be released to the public on 18 October. The version that will ship to customers has been ready since late August.

Klal, presumably the replacement graphics card due to be installed isn't the same as the duff one, so might be worth asking what is being put in. Price depends on the memory on the graphics card & the processor speed. Maybe not worth sticking in anything fancy if it's an old machine?

Thanks HC. The machine is about three years old. Hopefully, the technician will be able to obtain a matching graphics card. You're right - certainly don't want to put in anything excessive. If the solution goes in that direction, I'd rather scrap the machine and buy a new one. Desktops are so much easier!

Require some help please on updating to a later operating system than WinXP Pro,i have used WinXP for years even on new machines but they are stopping support for it sometime early next year.

I have to upgrade at some time and i think my only option is either WIN7 or 8,have to admit Win8 does not really grab me so can Win7 be setup feel and look like WinXP ??? and also is it bullit proof like XP.

Many thanks

I hate win 8. Only use it if you have a touch screen PC. If you are tempted to get win 8 then go to PC world or similar where you can play with it.

I like it and I don't have a touch screen PC.