Athlon Scope...

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
Hi guys!
Ok after some saving and some research, I finally decided on a scope for my Ruger 10-22 LR.
It's an Athlon Talos SFP 3-12 X 40 scope with an illuminated reticle, and she sure is sweet!
I hope the one and only outdoor gun range will reopen soon. It's been closed for some time due to led contamination. Say what? Led contamination?! At a gun range? What's this world coming too... LOL!

Actually, I can't remember when's the last time the place was cleaned up.

Is there a danger of getting dosed with led or do you have to eat the dirt to get led poising? Also can a solid led bullet (when left in the ground) leach led into the water supply. like the Navy's gigantic underground fuel storage tanks have been doing for decades.

Any hoo,, I can't wait to sight in the scope...
 

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Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Ah Ha! In that case, please use it only to shoot at a target that's a long way away and not a poor living creature or a members drone :banghead:
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Hunting for food or other similar reasons is perfectly acceptable... but like everything good, there are others that abuse it and do it simply for sport. Still, the people that condemn it outright are as wrong as those that are doing it for sport.
 

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
I suppose when you have wide open spaces where wild animals can continue to roam around and if you can't get to a shopping mall hunting them isn't so bad. In other smaller nations people tend to get in the way so we have to rely more on the supermarkets.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I haven't hunted in ages ... haven't needed to. I do still like target practicing... more on cans than paper targets. There still are a lot of people that still rely on hunting or supplement their food supply ( and clothing along with everything else that can made )... If food prices continue to increase as they have in the last couple of years, I suspect even more will be forced to.
 

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Back to nature sounds good but around here there isn't too much wild to hunt. I suppose if our eating habits turn to insects that might give an alternative but then we'll probably need a magnifying glass rather than a telescope to assist us in focusing in on it.
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
You guys are great.
Yeah I'm very much a target shooter here on Oahu.
Now I have shot a few of mongooses throughout the years, and maybe a loud pesky rooster or 5.... I do possess a Hawaii State Hunting certification, but not a state hunting license.

My Nephew is good with a bow so if the wild boars come back in the area behind the house, he's got it. But again, he and friends know how to properly deal with the quarry, not me, I'm a target guy till further notice.
 

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
I once tried a shotgun shooting clays (we can't say clay pigeons any more, can we?). It was a group of workmates and was a great time I didn't catch the bug to go further. Watching helicopters fly is much better than pigeons :banana:
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
(we can't say clay pigeons any more, can we?)
I don't know if we can or not... the woke society we have today has a bunch of nonsensical concepts that simply don't have much logic applied it seems. Don't get me wrong, they have pointed out a few things that were certainly glaring issues certainly... but so much more is made without any real thinking things through completely.

Since I'm not too worried about being PC ... in fact, sort of enjoy ticking off those that push for it since it is often silly... I do enjoy clay pigeon shooting. My uncle had even taken several trophies in his day and my Dad isn't/wasn't bad at it either. Since buying the clay pigeons was a little pricey ( when we really needed that money for actual food at the time ), we usually just put up paper targets instead. Dove and quail were our go to hunting birds and the guys in the family would often get together when those hunting seasons came around. Then enjoy of feast later all together after the hunts. Basically we were able to feed 4 families around 2-4 times a year in the fall. When a member of the family got a deer, they would often share a portion with the rest of the family. Hunting, fishing and farming exists on both sides of my family.

I had forgotten to also mention that hunting in America... in my time ( old mans voice ... lol ) ... is or was taught along with conservation methods. What I mean is that we are or were taught to pay attention to the populations of the predatory animals and those that are their prey. If one is getting over-populated hunting that one is encouraged... but if the other is, then the opposite is true. Say the wolves are getting over-populated and rabbits populations are lower than is liked... then we hunt the wolves more. If on the otherhand the wolf population is low and rabbits are getting out of hand... we do the opposite. While I'm uncertain if this is true today, a few years ago the deer populations were getting out of hand because the number of actual hunters were getting smaller... so the number of deer tags available for purchase ( a fee paid to actually hunt a single deer ) were increased.

The circle of life is important. Where there are larger numbers of animals... both hunting and conservation methods are equally important. Man has always been a part of that circle and we can not simply pull ourselves out of it without it having other consequences in the animal world also.
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
May-day! May-DAY Station Haiku!
Massive computer failure! DOE!!!

Since my last entry, my computer started to shut down every, oh, about 5- 10 minutes. What the devil now?
We thought it was the power supply. So we ordered another one and installed it. But Nooo,,,, that wasn't it!
We do have a new SSD recently installed, but he guy that installed it says, it can't be that, hummm,,,,, so sure are you?........

Anyway, I'm lucky enough to be able to borrow my older bro's lap-top computer so I can continue our search for a new computer.
Oh man, what a different animal! It's almost like relearning to,,, well,,, ok I'll stop now, HA! LOL!!!!

Mayday Mayday, Station Haiku!..........
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
The things that come to mind when a computer is shutting down often... the first is heat, the second is a poor connection somewhere.

CPU coolers often come with a plastic seal over the surface that mounts to the CPU itself. Every skill level tech forgets to remove this rather regularly. The thing is, when electronics are new, they are more tolerant of heat... so sometimes the overheating may not be noticed right away. So double check for that... but while here, put on some new thermal compound as well. Now you've covered 3 possible causes of a system that may be overheating. Yeah, I only mentioned 2... the third is that during all of this, you are also verifying the cooler mounting to make sure it didn't come loose somehow.

Instability can also be caused by poor settings in the BIOS setup... As the electronics age, they are also less tolerant to aggressive BIOS settings. So it may help to reset the CMOS settings, go back into the BIOS and reset the memory timings to what the memory wants ( ie XMP etc )... make any other settings changes you may have made... but do not apply any overclocks if any had been applied.

What the guy that put that SSD in should have said was that it's very unlikely to have caused the problem. Still, any electronics that are added to a system are suspect, it's just very rare that it would have caused anything. Still, there was work done in the computer and that is more suspect. It's pretty easy to bump a connection so it isn't making good contact. Taking the proper static precautions... I'd go in and reseat all of the connections just to be certain. Cleaning the contacts on any add-on cards like a GPU as well as the contacts for the memory is also not a bad idea. Just make sure to put things back exactly where they were plugged into. I'd also check with the motherboard manual where the memory is recommended to be installed, typically this will be the slot farthest from the CPU and skip a slot and then the next slot in from that... but some motherboards are weird and sometimes they want the memory together... so check the manual.

While at it... take a pic of the inside connections before you start... it will help if you happen to forget and it also gives a record of them if they need reviewed later.

That covers some of the most common causes of restarts... potential overheats, potential overclocks and the potential of a poor connection somewhere. This doesn't test for a part that is or may have gone bad.... To do that... you disconnect everything that isn't required ... disconnect other USB devices leaving at most just a mouse, monitor and keyboard... such as a printer, camera or scanner that isn't required during a test. Disconnect from the internet and only use local programs for testing.

Good luck ... if you went through everything listed above and it still happens... that only leaves the main components as suspects. Testing those because a little tricky unless you stock compatible ones you can use as temporary replacements ...
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
Ok, a scope to look into the problem. Excellent! It may have already paid for its self.

Hey, hey Randy! I knew you would have some approaches to my problem. I'll keep you in the loop and we'll see if we can get the ole, oh, I don't know, maybe 5 year old tower to come back alive.

In the mean time, I'm still working on the 1996 Accord. Much work done. The picture below just shows the trunk lid being held upright, while I flooded the lower inner seam with a rust destroyer chemical. Actually, it's pretty clean in there but here in Hawaii, you treat the seams inside and out or else!!!!

The body work in the lower rear corners of the rear- wind-shield is done now , so finally the front and rear wind shields can be reinstalled. HURRAY!!!

This is of course the short version of events. Must continue multi-tasking, ha!
Thanks buddy! You know it....

PS. I need a good camera!!!
 

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Rob Lancaster

Active Member
The things that come to mind when a computer is shutting down often... the first is heat, the second is a poor connection somewhere.

CPU coolers often come with a plastic seal over the surface that mounts to the CPU itself. Every skill level tech forgets to remove this rather regularly. The thing is, when electronics are new, they are more tolerant of heat... so sometimes the overheating may not be noticed right away. So double check for that... but while here, put on some new thermal compound as well. Now you've covered 3 possible causes of a system that may be overheating. Yeah, I only mentioned 2... the third is that during all of this, you are also verifying the cooler mounting to make sure it didn't come loose somehow.

Instability can also be caused by poor settings in the BIOS setup... As the electronics age, they are also less tolerant to aggressive BIOS settings. So it may help to reset the CMOS settings, go back into the BIOS and reset the memory timings to what the memory wants ( ie XMP etc )... make any other settings changes you may have made... but do not apply any overclocks if any had been applied.

What the guy that put that SSD in should have said was that it's very unlikely to have caused the problem. Still, any electronics that are added to a system are suspect, it's just very rare that it would have caused anything. Still, there was work done in the computer and that is more suspect. It's pretty easy to bump a connection so it isn't making good contact. Taking the proper static precautions... I'd go in and reseat all of the connections just to be certain. Cleaning the contacts on any add-on cards like a GPU as well as the contacts for the memory is also not a bad idea. Just make sure to put things back exactly where they were plugged into. I'd also check with the motherboard manual where the memory is recommended to be installed, typically this will be the slot farthest from the CPU and skip a slot and then the next slot in from that... but some motherboards are weird and sometimes they want the memory together... so check the manual.

While at it... take a pic of the inside connections before you start... it will help if you happen to forget and it also gives a record of them if they need reviewed later.

That covers some of the most common causes of restarts... potential overheats, potential overclocks and the potential of a poor connection somewhere. This doesn't test for a part that is or may have gone bad.... To do that... you disconnect everything that isn't required ... disconnect other USB devices leaving at most just a mouse, monitor and keyboard... such as a printer, camera or scanner that isn't required during a test. Disconnect from the internet and only use local programs for testing.

Good luck ... if you went through everything listed above and it still happens... that only leaves the main components as suspects. Testing those because a little tricky unless you stock compatible ones you can use as temporary replacements ...

Hi, hi Randy,
Ok, here's where I'm at.
I'm kinda moon-lighting with this computer thing. Bro Tom is suspost to be digging into this problem while I FIX HIS CAR! LOL!!

Ok , ok,, I checked all connections over and over. I cleaned the mother board, (especially where the prossesor is).. It was coated pretty good with a fine stuck on dust. No plastic shield was found between the CPU and heat sink. The underside of the CPU was a nice shinny gold. Pins clean. The heat-sink grease was a bit dry so I replaced it. The problem remains.

I do want to make it ckear that it very quickly started to shut down after 5 minutes or so. The very next day, it won't even start up. So an overheating problem has been ruled out.
Now when we push the power button, nothing happens. But if you push and hold the power button for 10 seconds, the fans start but that's all. To shut them down, you need to push and hold the power button again for 10 seconds.

Yeah, I have a funny feeling about this. It may still be a fried CPU due to over heating. Heck, here in Hawaii, the humidity and salt air and vog, is KILLER!!!! We have NO AC.
But I want to exaust all possibilities before it's scraped for spare parts. Or just dump the whole thing in the bin. HA!...
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I always put new heatsink grease on when I remove a CPU, it's cheap and usually required after a couple of years anyway. Since it was a bit dry, even more reason to.

Unless you bent a pin on the CPU or motherboard ( MB ), chances are it is NOT the CPU.

First do a sanity check. Unplug everything you don't have to have... including your storage devices like the new SSD. Then try turning it on. The minimum you need are the PSU, MB, CPU and memory... if your CPU doesn't have integrated graphics... a GPU also. Externally you will need a KB, mouse and monitor only. If it turns on then... add just one thing at a time and test again. A weak PSU or a bad MB could cause it to still be intermittant... so don't assume the last part you put back it is actually bad until you repeat the test a few times.

My two next suspects I'd look into are the PSU or MB. Since a new PSU could be used with a new computer... if you don't have one that you can test with and have to buy a new one... get one that is in at least the 750-850w range. Those would cover most of the latest video cards ( GPU ) if you aren't overclocking them ( I never recommend OC'ing ). Stay with name brands and something with a 80+ Gold rating if possible.
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
I always put new heatsink grease on when I remove a CPU, it's cheap and usually required after a couple of years anyway. Since it was a bit dry, even more reason to.

Unless you bent a pin on the CPU or motherboard ( MB ), chances are it is NOT the CPU.

First do a sanity check. Unplug everything you don't have to have... including your storage devices like the new SSD. Then try turning it on. The minimum you need are the PSU, MB, CPU and memory... if your CPU doesn't have integrated graphics... a GPU also. Externally you will need a KB, mouse and monitor only. If it turns on then... add just one thing at a time and test again. A weak PSU or a bad MB could cause it to still be intermittant... so don't assume the last part you put back it is actually bad until you repeat the test a few times.

My two next suspects I'd look into are the PSU or MB. Since a new PSU could be used with a new computer... if you don't have one that you can test with and have to buy a new one... get one that is in at least the 750-850w range. Those would cover most of the latest video cards ( GPU ) if you aren't overclocking them ( I never recommend OC'ing ). Stay with name brands and something with a 80+ Gold rating if possible.

That's great it's not the CPU or pins right?

Need to make a quick correction. When we push the power button breifly, (normal start up), the fans run, but the power light doesn't light up. No beeps, no nothing. To shut down, I push power button for 10 seconds. Ok I think I got it strait now.

I Did the unplugging process. Problem remains.
I have no seperate graphic card, just the CPU and RAM.
Here's a look at my units specs. Ok, don't laugh aah.

Windows 10
6th gen, Intel Core i5-6400T processor
8 GB DDR4 system memory
New SSD 256 GB
Intel HD Graphics 530
Ultra Slim Tray Super Multi DVD Burner
Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (1x1) and Bluetooth 4.0 M.2 combo

Power Supply: 180 Watts.
New SSD : 2.5" SSD SATA 6 GB/s ---8 months old. Rated DC +5.0v @ 1.6A

Once again, the only change in the tower was the change to the new SSD from the old hard drive and the computer ran extremely well for 8 months.
Also, we changed out the power supply with an original HP, no go.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Saying there is a chance that it is NOT the CPU.... is not claiming that it isn't... it's simply less likely but like anything electronic, still a slim chance of it.

An HP computer from back in 2015-2016 ( the CPU was released late 2015 ) ... is going to make you rely on buying only used parts unless you are really lucky at finding "old new stock". Even the PSU you got to test with is probably used so can't be relied upon being good even if the seller stated it was in working order. At that time, the systems I built were using nothing less than a 450W and more than likely a 550w-650w PSU. The CPU you have is rated at only 35w, so the PSU isn't underpowered, but the system as a whole was built to the minimum spec for the time. HP was also using only partly industry compatible parts... so even replacing say a motherboard would give you trouble unless you also replace the case.

I always estimate a computer's lifespan VERY pessimistically. Using good above average parts... I give them a 7-10 year lifespan ( despite many of mine from after that long are still running ). A lot of an estimated lifespan is based on how good the electrical grid is in the area... and we have a lot of storms here... so being pessimistic is good so my clients aren't surprised if they do have a failure.

Considering the age of the system and current market price of a used equivalent... I wouldn't recommend fixing it unless someone just gave you the parts to test with. You would quickly reach or exceed it's value since it wasn't an expensive system when it was brand new. That isn't me laughing at it by any means... just stating what the approximate current value is what you'd potentially spend trying to fix it.

If the system is/was fast enough for most of your needs and you aren't needing a lot more.... I'd strongly consider getting a new MiniPC that will probably blow away the speeds you are seeing with your older system. Amazon is carrying a brand I trust named Minisforum and they have a lot of them to choose from. The one I'd mention is currently going for $380 ( may be higher in Hawaii due to shipping costs )... Amazon even has a $50 off coupon listed in their coupon section ( which isn't advertised, you have to search for the coupon area and then the brand name to find them ), how long they have a coupon is anyone's guess.

The one I'm looking at is a 6 core / 6 thread cpu running up to 4Ghz ... Your's is a 4c/4t at up to 2.8Ghz but using older tech so the IPC ( instructions per clock cycle ) are much lower. This one has 16 Gb of system memory and a 512Gb Nvme SSD. If you need a CD/DVD drive, you can get an external one for those times but most people are just using USB thumb drives now since they are faster and hold more data. You may also want a USB hub if you need more USB ports. The last thing you'd probably need is a HDMI to VGA adapter since I suspect you have an older monitor as well. The CD/DVD drives are probably in the $35-ish dollar range, the USB hubs vary a lot depending on needs... but a decent USB 3.0 4 port one will run no more than $25-30 and the video adapter can be found for under $10 all day long.

Here is a link to the one I just mentioned ... but remember they have different ones that list up to close to $1000 if you want to spend more ... Amazon product
If you are considering something higher priced or even close to the upper end ones... I'd consider just doing a custom build instead which would run you close to $1100 instead and you'd end up with a lower end gaming video card as well. Of course, a custom built one will be a bit larger than what you have now... so space would still be a consideration.
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
Saying there is a chance that it is NOT the CPU.... is not claiming that it isn't... it's simply less likely but like anything electronic, still a slim chance of it.

An HP computer from back in 2015-2016 ( the CPU was released late 2015 ) ... is going to make you rely on buying only used parts unless you are really lucky at finding "old new stock". Even the PSU you got to test with is probably used so can't be relied upon being good even if the seller stated it was in working order. At that time, the systems I built were using nothing less than a 450W and more than likely a 550w-650w PSU. The CPU you have is rated at only 35w, so the PSU isn't underpowered, but the system as a whole was built to the minimum spec for the time. HP was also using only partly industry compatible parts... so even replacing say a motherboard would give you trouble unless you also replace the case.

I always estimate a computer's lifespan VERY pessimistically. Using good above average parts... I give them a 7-10 year lifespan ( despite many of mine from after that long are still running ). A lot of an estimated lifespan is based on how good the electrical grid is in the area... and we have a lot of storms here... so being pessimistic is good so my clients aren't surprised if they do have a failure.

Considering the age of the system and current market price of a used equivalent... I wouldn't recommend fixing it unless someone just gave you the parts to test with. You would quickly reach or exceed it's value since it wasn't an expensive system when it was brand new. That isn't me laughing at it by any means... just stating what the approximate current value is what you'd potentially spend trying to fix it.

If the system is/was fast enough for most of your needs and you aren't needing a lot more.... I'd strongly consider getting a new MiniPC that will probably blow away the speeds you are seeing with your older system. Amazon is carrying a brand I trust named Minisforum and they have a lot of them to choose from. The one I'd mention is currently going for $380 ( may be higher in Hawaii due to shipping costs )... Amazon even has a $50 off coupon listed in their coupon section ( which isn't advertised, you have to search for the coupon area and then the brand name to find them ), how long they have a coupon is anyone's guess.

The one I'm looking at is a 6 core / 6 thread cpu running up to 4Ghz ... Your's is a 4c/4t at up to 2.8Ghz but using older tech so the IPC ( instructions per clock cycle ) are much lower. This one has 16 Gb of system memory and a 512Gb Nvme SSD. If you need a CD/DVD drive, you can get an external one for those times but most people are just using USB thumb drives now since they are faster and hold more data. You may also want a USB hub if you need more USB ports. The last thing you'd probably need is a HDMI to VGA adapter since I suspect you have an older monitor as well. The CD/DVD drives are probably in the $35-ish dollar range, the USB hubs vary a lot depending on needs... but a decent USB 3.0 4 port one will run no more than $25-30 and the video adapter can be found for under $10 all day long.

Here is a link to the one I just mentioned ... but remember they have different ones that list up to close to $1000 if you want to spend more ... Amazon product
If you are considering something higher priced or even close to the upper end ones... I'd consider just doing a custom build instead which would run you close to $1100 instead and you'd end up with a lower end gaming video card as well. Of course, a custom built one will be a bit larger than what you have now... so space would still be a consideration.

Yeah, never say never.
Anyway we're still tinkering with it. It's still comatose. I'm starting to hear Taps in the distance, ha!

Hey, that Minisforum Mini PC looks cool. good price.............. That would suet our needs.
Good on meationing the monitor cable. Your on the ball buddy. We got one of those cables last time because the monitor is very old.
I almost forgot. Our island power grid is shall we say pretty weak. Today we had 50 mile an hour winds and the power went out for hours. With that said, we have a good UPS for all sensitive equipment like computers, O-scopes and spectrum anilizers and more. But I guess, never say never, LOL!
 
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