Recent content by Joe_Q_Smith

Forcing a BIOS update seems to have fixed it.

The computer in question is a Dell Latitude E6530 running Windows 10 with all available updates applied. On Friday a weird phenomenon popped up in which the computer spontaneously entered Airplane Mode and can't exit. I see the Airplane Mode icon in the status bar in the lower right of the...

^ Thanks for your note. The computer is quite free of dust and the cables are neatly tucked away. I had initially thought that overheating might be the issue but I don't think so -- I can't understand why that problem would suddenly crop up, in any case. I'll have a look at the system temperatures.

Hi everyone -- My computer is a home-built Windows 10 PC with an AMD A10 CPU in a small form-factor case. It was worked mostly flawlessly for three or four years. About a month ago I started experiencing random "hard" reboots of the computer at unexpected times. In the middle of use, the...

I have been having an annoying issue with my desktop computer's network connection, and am hoping some of the experts here can provide some advice. Background info: Computer is a home-built desktop machine AMD A10-5800K running on an MSI FM2-A5MA-P33 motherboard with 8GB RAM All drivers are...

Thanks, I'll try both. Was trying to avoid paying the $10 for Parted Magic but it looks like that may be one of my only options. EDIT: Parted Magic (even an older version) did the trick. It found the security frozen state as well, but entering and exiting sleep mode removed it, and allowed me...

Hello all -- I have an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD, connected into my computer via a standard SATA connection. I am trying to use the Intel Solid-State Drive Toolbox to do a secure-erase on the drive, but am unable to do so because of the "security freeze lock". Googling around gives several methods...