Working with video, even just converting it from one format to another is extremely taxing on the computer requires a fairly large amount of memory. With 256 MB of ram, my first thought is that your computer is paging constantly to the hard drive. If your hard drive is almost full or extremely fragmented, your system will lock up and crash. Let me explain. If I told you I was going to give you a ten digit phone number (area code + number) and asked you to remember it for a few minutes, you'd probably be able to do this from memory. Now If I told you that I was going to give you 5 ten digit phone numbers and asked you to do the same, what would you do? You'd most likely need to write it down on paper to be able to give it back to me. Right? This is the same thing that happens with the computer. The computer uses the ram in the same way you'd be able to memorize the first number. When it runs out of ram to do this, it needs to jot the information down, temporarily. It does this on a hard drive with what is called a paging file. Under default settings, the paging file size is managed by the operating system. If your computers hard drive is full to the point that the paging file is not what the operating system requires it will most likely crash. This can also happen with a heavily fragmented hard drive. Anyway, I went on a tangent there. I would recommend that you increase your system ram. The more the better, especially if your going to work with video. To get info on hard drive. Click my computer, then right click on your "C" drive and select properties. It will show you a graphical representation of the hard drive with free and used space. From this box you can select the "tools" tab and then the "defragment" utility to defrag the hard drive. Note that with 256 MB of ram, it will take an extremely long time if the hard drive is heavily fragmented and there is even the possibility it will crash. Do this overnight. The information on the video card can be found in the device manager located in the system properties which can be accessed int eh control panel. Control panel - system - hardware - device manager. Select display drivers - then your video card should show.

You did alright price wise, as others have said. Remember that and do not feel cheated, it is a reasonable computer for reasonable needs. However you really need to consider the word "gaming" in relation to a 20 year old. Is he going to take this tower to tournaments, I doubt it has or can have the punch needed for that type of activity. A video card for serious gaming can cost as much as that computer. One of my computers has 2 six wire power connectors to the video card alone as it needs 125 watts and I am not a gamer at all at any level. The documentation suggested I needed a 650 watt or better to use the video card successfully. The power supply is totally inadequate at 300 watts. A cheap power supply will not fit the needs and factory built machines for the masses do not use high end parts. Should you decide to upgrade the power supply make sure HP used a standard sized power supply rather than a custom build of non conventional sizing. Even the quad core processor will not take high end gaming I suspect. As I wrote at the outset, don't feel cheated. You bought a very nice gift for an age group above you with the best of intentions. Buying electronics for any 10 to 25 year old today is almost impossible without their input as we old foggies (me, not you :~) ) really have no idea what their needs or wants are. All computers look like black boxes on the outside but inside is a very different story. Ha ha, just before posting I took another look at the thread. Zep's 15.0 post says it all.

NO I meant the connections to the actual video card in the laptop. If those connections are loose or coming not fully in contact it has an alarm that is very loud to let you know to check the connections. Things are so crammed into a laptop it is not an easy thing to check like in a tower for a pc. There is a free program called speccy by piriform that you can install and run and it gives you all the specs and details of your device and in some cases will show warnings of problems I am not sure if it would help any but it won't hurt to give it a try. Has the sound happened again once you turned it on? I noticed you said the laptop was on the floor, be sure anytime you use it that it does not have the vents on the bottom covered like with carpet, clothing, pillows etc it has to have good air flow at all times or it can cause over heating even if it does not feel hot. Using a special laptop pad with a built in fan is a good idea. speccy

Maybe it is just a basic human trait to copy what others are doing. Celebrities are photoshopped and shown in fantasy perfect situations. Then they put it out for all to see. People want to copy what they see on the internet or magazines and what their friends have done. Everyone wants to be their own star and you can make any fantasy picture you like to share. The wedding or birthday is just the excuse for more and grander fantasies. There are some blogs I like but I know that these people don't really have the perfect lives that they present. It's just so much romance to make a pretty blog for followers to adore. It wouldn't be my choice for a wedding but if that's what really makes them happy...... I do hate the cake in the face though and was glad I never went to a wedding where that happened.