Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss AT&T and TWC's merger, Microsoft buying Github, a Google Home update, being too drunk to Uber, Tesla's job cuts, and more.

Emily in Ontario Canada listens on AM800 CKLW “The Information Station” and asked: "I have an HP laptop that is about 4 years old. I lost the charger for it, so I bought a universal one. Worked for a long time, had to leave it plugged in because it didn't have battery power anymore. but it worked plugged in. Didn't use the computer for about 6 months. Went to use the same charger to plug it in, and whatever I do, I can't get it to turn on. I get a flashing light saying that it charging, but can not get it to turn on. Hoping you can help me with that."

Emily, there’s a good chance that your laptop not turning on has nothing to do with your charger.

Chargers are a lot simpler devices than computers, and odds are that if one of those is still working after not being used for 6 months, that would be the charger.

If you haven’t tried already, it’d probably be good to leave it plugged in for hours without trying to turn it on, in case it has to use the battery to boot up. 4 years old is not terribly old, it may not be a brand new laptop but it’s not old enough that you should have to write it off. It refuses to turn on, it may be worth having it diagnosed to see what may be going on with it.

If you managed to rescue a phone after 3 days in a lake, don’t give up on your laptop yet!

Clifton in Toledo, Ohio asked: "I have a Galaxy 6 phone. When I turn it on, it logs very slowly and then before it's finished, it says process system isn't responding. What can I do to stop it or get the phone to run faster?"

Clifton, the Galaxy 6 is a 2015 phone, way back when cavemen roamed the earth. Seriously though, it’s not unreasonable to expect a former flagship to last a few years.

If the process that’s not responding is an app you can uninstall, it may be time for it to go. If it’s not and it’s part of the operating system, it may be worth restoring the phone to factory settings.

A lot of can be wrong with an older phone, some from use, some from age, some from software, and it’s hard to pinpoint what’s causing the issue without running some tests, but if it’s software related restoring the phone will likely make it go away. If it’s not software related, even if you find out what the problem is, it probably won’t be worth fixing, hardware repairs of that kind are not easy or cheap on smartphones.

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