Category Archives: computer tips

OSD Lockout message on HP LCD [SOLVED]

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If you have a newer HP LCD monitor like the HP Pavilion 23xi you may encounter the on screen display “OSD Lockout” message when trying to access the OSD (on-screen display). This message locks you out of any adjustments to brightness, contrast, color, etc. and only displays OSD Lockout: Thankfully, to disable the lockout, you only have to press the OSD button for approximately 10-12 seconds and then the normal OSD will appear! 🙂 If you are struggling with the

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How to flash BIOS upgrade on MSI motherboard via USB

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If you are trying to update your BIOS on a MSI motherboard, like the new MSI AM1I, be aware that there are some requirements. Specifically, if you are using a USB thumbdrive to contain the BIOS update file, make sure you format it as FAT32 and not exfat or NTFS! You can download the latest version here: (dl link) Once you have a FAT32 formatted USB drive containing the BIOS update, you can boot into the BIOS /UEFI (press DEL

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AMD Kabini Athlon 5350 review and overclocking

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I finished my new AMD Kabini Athlon 5350 build yesterday. Here are the specs: AMD Kabini Athlon 5350 at 2.1GHz (overclocked from 2.05GHz) Stock cooler 4GB Kingston Blu DDR3 memory 64GB Lenovo SSD MSI AM1I mini-itx motherboard Mini-itx case Windows 7 So far I am impressed with the system. It boots in < 10 seconds and is very responsive. CPU OC screenshots: http://www.eteknix.com/amd-kabini-am1-athlon-5350-apu-fs1b-review-winning-sub-60/12/ http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1390-page5.html http://www.overclock.net/t/1480711/various-socket-am1-kabini-apus http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2377334 http://www.anandtech.com/show/7933/the-desktop-kabini-review-part-1-athlon-5350-am1 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-5350-am1-platform-review,3801-9.html

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Keyboard not working Windows 7 [solved]

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Q. My keyboard just stopped working and I have tried plugging in other USB keyboards to no avail 🙁 any suggestions? -Steve A. Check and see if ‘Filter Keys’ is enabled! Use your mouse to: Click the Start Button Select ‘Control Pane’ Select ‘East of Access’ Select ‘Easy of Access Center’ Select ‘Make the keyboard easier to use’ Uncheck the ‘Turn on Filter Keys’ box Hopefully that will help 🙂 Followup from Steve: That worked. Thank you! More info:

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SD cards for the Yoga 2 Pro that don’t stick out as much

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In general, the Yoga 2 Pro is an excellent upgrade over the original Yoga 13. One of the few drawbacks of the Pro 2 is that Lenovo made it so normal SD cards stick out (rather than sitting flush like on the original Yoga). Thankfully, there are some shorter SD cards that meant to at least partially resolve this issue. You can find some more info at the links below:   PNY StorEDGE 128GB Flash Memory Expansion Module (P-MEMEXP128U1-EF): Computers &

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Which X220 USB port is the USB 3.0 one? [SOLVED]

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Q.Which X220 USB port is the USB 3.0 compatible? A. It is the ‘blue’* one, the rearmost USB port located on the left side of the laptop near the fan exhaust vent. You can see a photo of the port here: The other two ‘black’ ports are regular USB 2.0 ports. *Please note only the i7 X220’s have a USB 3.0 port, the i3 and i5 models do not 🙁 If you have an X220 i3 or i5 model and

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