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[beelzebozo]

problem: i have trouble getting my pc to interface directly with my xbox 360. i can do so through tversity, but just enabling sharing in windows media player and being able to see the files doesn't work; the 360 can't seem to recognize the computer. it CAN recognize tversity once i activate sharing, however.

every time i open WMP, i get this message saying "media sharing is currently disabled, either because the sharing service is not running or because your firewall settings have been changed. to restart sharing, you must confirm your sharing settings."

now, this brings up a small window prompting me to enable sharing and to share my files. i click okay. the "media sharing" window pops up, recognizes my pc, the 360, and says that it's sharing to all of them. i click okay.

when i turn on my xbox and search for the pc using the network test, all it sees is the tversity client. what gives here?

 

[captive]

ok, I unplugged everything and it might be a bad RAM stick. could that be the actual cause?

Yes. how many sticks do you have?
Will it boot with one?

 

[SundaySounds]

The problem: I have 8 external hard drives, various sizes up to 1.5tb. Currently I swap them about using a single enclosure when I need the data from them (3D scan point clouds, large file sizes). It's getting cluttered and annoying.

What I would like: Basically I want to make a tower that holds 8 drives and have it accessible over a network (cheaply). I don't know whether this is called a server or nas or whatever. Everything I've read talks about raid this and redunancy that, it all seems overly complicated. Can it not just let me access each drive separately? Then if one fails it doesn't affect anything? I don't care if a drive fails, the data is backed up elsewhere. It would be great if the drives spun down when not in use and I could schedule start up/shut down times and wake from lan etc.

What next: Do I just buy a case, some components, get some software and build something? Is it relatively simple? Any help or steps in the right direction would be much appreciated.

hm, I'm not sure what kind of MoBo would support 8 different drives. Unless some of the were IDE, and some were SaTa, and some were USB.... I'm not sure.

 

[Slightly Live]

Here's something.

My computer has two sticks of DDR2 RAM. One 1gig and the other 512MB. They were working fine.

I took out the 512mb stick and when I replaced it, Windows would not load. I checked the clips, they were fully secure. I though, maybe the RAM is fried, so I loaded up the BIO at boot to check and the BIOS correctly identifies the RAM except XP refuses to load, it will not even load up with safe mode.

If I leave the stick out, it loads fine.

Why does Windows suddenly hate working with my poor 512MB stick?

 

[SundaySounds]

Here's something.

My computer has two sticks of DDR2 RAM. One 1gig and the other 512MB. They were working fine.

I took out the 512mb stick and when I replaced it, Windows would not load. I checked the clips, they were fully secure. I though, maybe the RAM is fried, so I loaded up the BIO at boot to check and the BIOS correctly identifies the RAM except XP refuses to load, it will not even load up with safe mode.

If I leave the stick out, it loads fine.

Why does Windows suddenly hate working with my poor 512MB stick?

First of all, how many ram slots does your MoBo have? It sounds like you've got a DIMM setup, and that means you need to have paired ram chips. if you have 4 ram slots, make sure that the two different size sticks are separated.

If these are your 4 slots, then put the chips in these positions.
{ 1Gb }
{ empty}
{ 512Mb }
{ empty }

 

[fistfulofmetal]

Ok I have an issue:

Three times in the last week and a half it seems like my VPU has crashed while playing a game. It's happened twice while playing STALKER and once while playing Borderlands.

Now neither of these games are very intensive on my hardware, I can run the all at max with pretty good frames so my pc is not chugging before it happens.

I'll be playing then all of a sudden my screen will cut to gray. It'll stay there and I won't be able to do anything. I'll still hear the games sounds but I won't be able to interact. The only thing I can do is force my pc to reboot.

My first idea is that my GPU is overheating, but I think it could just be early graphics drivers as well. I do have the new Radeon HD 5870 and I'm using Windows 7. So there're two fairly new pieces of software running together.

If it is my GPU overheating... then that's an issue. I have a case with side vents and a big fan in the back... so it should be properly vented.

Any other ideas?

 

[Amon37]

I have my monitor go into sleep mode after 5 min, well I go to move the mouse and nothing, keyboard nothing.

Now whenever I reboot I get picture until it is about to load the desktop then my monitor immediately goes into sleep mode.

It will boot to safe mode and show picture.

I already removed the power save and tried to restore to old restore point with no success.

OS is windows XP-32bit SP3

 

[Slightly Live]

First of all, how many ram slots does your MoBo have? It sounds like you've got a DIMM setup, and that means you need to have paired ram chips. if you have 4 ram slots, make sure that the two different size sticks are separated.

If these are your 4 slots, then put the chips in these positions.
{ 1Gb }
{ empty}
{ 512Mb }
{ empty }

I have only 2 slots.

Again pointing out that the setup was working fine before the removal of the 512mb stick, and not when I put it back in (although the mobo bio recognised it).

 

[Amon37]

I have my monitor go into sleep mode after 5 min, well I go to move the mouse and nothing, keyboard nothing.

Now whenever I reboot I get picture until it is about to load the desktop then my monitor immediately goes into sleep mode.

It will boot to safe mode and show picture.

I already removed the power save and tried to restore to old restore point with no success.

OS is windows XP-32bit SP3

The issues is apparently with the video card driver.

Every time windows tries to install the driver or I install it off the install cd that came with the card it reboots to windows with no picture. If I disable the driver I get picture in windows just the refresh rate is all jacked up with no driver to go off of. I'll check Nvidias site since the card is a cheap EVGA MX400 or 4000.

 

[Bananakin]

Well, I figured out my six-second stuttering problem. Turned out there was a process called ehrecvr.exe that would start up then disappear every six seconds. It had something to do with my tv tuner, which I don't even use anymore, so I disabled it. Problem solved!

Now, another question for you guys. I have a 19" acer lcd monitor that has developed a large vertical band on it. The problem is with the monitor itself, and not my computer (I know this cause the band is still there even when the monitor isn't hooked up to anything, and is just displaying "no signal"). It's about 3 and a half years old. Is it worth it to take it in somewhere to get it looked at, or is it just a lost cause?

 

[GodfatherX]

looking for a hackintosh expert that is willing to provide some basic guidance on parts

 

[Jordan]

Okay, I'm very very confused by this.

I know with ATI cards (ATI HD2400 is my card) you can use DVI to HDMI cables and send audio through this, obviously needing a driver.

I have an old Dell GX620 with this graphics card in, but I can not for the life of me get the sound to work. I've installed drivers, it says that it is outputting sound etc. I'm plugging it into my LG M228WD screen.

Any advice would be great and highly appreciated.

Thanks,


Jordan.

 

[mike23]

Okay, I'm very very confused by this.

I know with ATI cards (ATI HD2400 is my card) you can use DVI to HDMI cables and send audio through this, obviously needing a driver.

I have an old Dell GX620 with this graphics card in, but I can not for the life of me get the sound to work. I've installed drivers, it says that it is outputting sound etc. I'm plugging it into my LG M228WD screen.

Any advice would be great and highly appreciated.

Thanks,


Jordan.

Does the screen have speakers?

edit: nvm, it does. Can you find a control for the audio in, it might be looking elsewhere for the audio?

 

[clav]

looking for a hackintosh expert that is willing to provide some basic guidance on parts

Just hang out in the Insanely Mac forum. They have many threads there.

Generally, you just look up the mobo you're thinking (Intel chipset works best) and then just search for it to see if it's compatible.

 

[jergrah]

Probably a simple thing....but my sons' Mac volume up/down buttons no longer work on the keyboard. I went in and when I clicked them they would bring up/back the calculator, calendar, etc widgets one day instead of changing the volume like they used to. My sons are 12 (twins) and said they didnt change any settings - it just started doing that.

Looked it up online and followed the suggestions - went to system preferences - was able to turn those off as shortcut keys, but now they just do nothing at all when pressed.

Im a software developer and have always been on PC/Unix - bought the Mac for my kids but just havent spent much time on it so not sure what the deal is with that issue.

 

[baultista]

problem: i have trouble getting my pc to interface directly with my xbox 360. i can do so through tversity, but just enabling sharing in windows media player and being able to see the files doesn't work; the 360 can't seem to recognize the computer. it CAN recognize tversity once i activate sharing, however.

every time i open WMP, i get this message saying "media sharing is currently disabled, either because the sharing service is not running or because your firewall settings have been changed. to restart sharing, you must confirm your sharing settings."

now, this brings up a small window prompting me to enable sharing and to share my files. i click okay. the "media sharing" window pops up, recognizes my pc, the 360, and says that it's sharing to all of them. i click okay.

when i turn on my xbox and search for the pc using the network test, all it sees is the tversity client. what gives here?

Disable Windows Firewall and try to create the share. If it works, you know that your problem is w/ Windows Firewall. You'll need to add an exception.

 

[Jordan]

Does the screen have speakers?

edit: nvm, it does. Can you find a control for the audio in, it might be looking elsewhere for the audio?

I've looked under the settings of the screen, can't find anything.

I know with my screen if I go to HDMI it gives me two choices, DTV (Which my 360 defaults to) and PC. It shows up on both, but no sound on either.

 

[daw840]

Ok, I am in need of some help in figuring out how to play some video to my TV. I have an HDMI output on my computer and it is a Blu-Ray player as well. A buddy of mine wants me to watch this skateboard video that he made, but it is a .mkv file. He brought over some program called VLC (?) and it will open it, but the sound only plays through the computer speakers and not the TV. Furthermore, the laptop screen shuts off as soon as it is hooked up to the TV and I cannot seem to find the option to have both of them on. I know it gave me the option the first time I hooked the HDMI up from the laptop, and I retardedly clicked "only TV." I know nothing about what I am doing, please help.

If it helps, I have a brand new Sony Vaio with Windows Vista and some sort of Nvidia thing.

 

[gblues]

Okay, I'm very very confused by this.

I know with ATI cards (ATI HD2400 is my card) you can use DVI to HDMI cables and send audio through this, obviously needing a driver.

I have an old Dell GX620 with this graphics card in, but I can not for the life of me get the sound to work. I've installed drivers, it says that it is outputting sound etc. I'm plugging it into my LG M228WD screen.

Any advice would be great and highly appreciated.

Thanks,


Jordan.

HDMI<->DVI is video only. You need HDMI<->HDMI to get sound.

 

[gblues]

Ok, I am in need of some help in figuring out how to play some video to my TV. I have an HDMI output on my computer and it is a Blu-Ray player as well. A buddy of mine wants me to watch this skateboard video that he made, but it is a .mkv file. He brought over some program called VLC (?) and it will open it, but the sound only plays through the computer speakers and not the TV. Furthermore, the laptop screen shuts off as soon as it is hooked up to the TV and I cannot seem to find the option to have both of them on. I know it gave me the option the first time I hooked the HDMI up from the laptop, and I retardedly clicked "only TV." I know nothing about what I am doing, please help.

If it helps, I have a brand new Sony Vaio with Windows Vista and some sort of Nvidia thing.

Your laptop should have a display selector Fn hotkey. On my HP laptop, it's Fn-F4 and on my Toshiba it's Fn-F5. There should be a color-coded icon of a computer monitor on one of your function keys. Using this hotkey will alternate among LCD, LCD+TV, and TV only modes.

 

[Jordan]

HDMI<->DVI is video only. You need HDMI<->HDMI to get sound.

Ah, thank you.
I decided just to connect the PC to my sound system in the end.
Will remember for future reference though.

 

[beelzebozo]

Disable Windows Firewall and try to create the share. If it works, you know that your problem is w/ Windows Firewall. You'll need to add an exception.

no dice man.

[1] disabled/enabled firewall
[2] added exception for windows media player
[3] opened windows media player, tools -> options -> library ->configure sharing,

and i get that message about sharing being disabled. i enabled sharing, click okay, but when i access the options screen again, it gives me that message again. i hate this.

 

[Chris R]

Does a USB "splitter" exist? I need to use my keyboard and mouse on two different machines and pressing a button to swap from a to b would be most convient. I searched monoprice but didn't really see anything. I guess it could be a single channel splitter and I could use a hub before the split, just woried about power draw in that case (as even plugging my mouse into my keyboards USB port causes huge speed/power issues).

 

[Suitcase Test]

Does a USB "splitter" exist? I need to use my keyboard and mouse on two different machines and pressing a button to swap from a to b would be most convient. I searched monoprice but didn't really see anything. I guess it could be a single channel splitter and I could use a hub before the split, just woried about power draw in that case (as even plugging my mouse into my keyboards USB port causes huge speed/power issues).

Probably not what you're looking for (since you want USB), but I'm looking at this baby...

http://www.sweex.com/en/assortiment/connectivity/kvm-switches/KS001

So I can use 1 mouse, 1 keyboard and 1 speaker set with both my laptop and my desktop (which sit next to eachother). However my laptop only has USB ports (no PS2) so I still need to get two USB->PS2 cables. xD

 

[Chris R]

I have (or had) a KVM that worked with the old connectors for KBM and VGA, but I need a USB version of it now :lol

My monitor has 3 connections so everything is fine on that front, just want to be lazy with connecting the keyboard and mouse.

 

[projectkuro]

So here's my problem:

I'm not quite sure how long it's been going on, but as of late, I've noticed that my wireless connection to my laptop has suffered a lot. It doesn't matter where I am in the house, either far away in another room or right beside the router, the speeds I get are exactly the same.

My PC:


My Laptop:


On my laptop, I'm used to having anywhere from 3-4Mb/s and now it's down to under 1Mb/s, so I'm downloading everything at about 25% speed. So I'm wondering, what exactly could have caused this and what measures can I take to fix my connection. As far as I know, there are no other people that are hijacking my wireless.

EDIT: Just checked the speed on my sister's laptop and she's getting comparable speeds to my PC, so I know that it's my laptop for sure now.

 

[SundaySounds]

EDIT: Just checked the speed on my sister's laptop and she's getting comparable speeds to my PC, so I know that it's my laptop for sure now.

My best guess would just be to try reinstalling your wireless driver. Also, just out of curiosity, try plugging your laptop directly into the router. See if it's still slow.

 

[McLovin]

My dad got a new laptop and wants to hook it up to the net. As of right now he doesn't have a router, but since his old computer is crap he would just like to hook the new one up. The problem is that the modem keeps giving limited connectivity. I'm guessing that for some reason the modem doesn't want to talk to the new computer. Maybe it doesn't want to give it an IP address or something? Any ideas?
The computer detects the network.
But its limited connectivity.
Also when I plug the old pc back up it gets online in seconds.
Its DSL and my dad said it doesn't require a user name and password(I don't know allot about dsl since I use cable)

 

[yodandy]

I just upgraded from a noname 500w power supply, to a Tuniq Ripper 1000w (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817611009)

upon installing, I now get no beep, no video, everything is spinning away though just fine...but no boot...

i reset ram, cmos, vid card, etc.

what else can i do here? im about to put the old psu in to see if i can at least get beeps, hopefully a boot...i hope i didnt fry the mobo by hooking something up wrong (mobo is an Asus A8n-e)

 

[clav]

My dad got a new laptop and wants to hook it up to the net. As of right now he doesn't have a router, but since his old computer is crap he would just like to hook the new one up. The problem is that the modem keeps giving limited connectivity. I'm guessing that for some reason the modem doesn't want to talk to the new computer. Maybe it doesn't want to give it an IP address or something? Any ideas?
The computer detects the network.
But its limited connectivity.
Also when I plug the old pc back up it gets online in seconds.
Its DSL and my dad said it doesn't require a user name and password(I don't know allot about dsl since I use cable)

Who is his DSL Provider? Verizon? AT&T?

As far as I know, the Verizon modems provided in California are provisioned to the MAC address. That means if you change the computer/router, you have to wait at least 2 hours for the MAC address hold to reset on Verizon's end. Do not connect to any devices! In fact, just turn off the modem and disconnect everything for that 2 hour break.

For AT&T DSL and Verizon users outside of California, most modems are programmed with the PPoE information. Sometimes, with older modems (or people who hate using the modem for PPoE) need to enter this information through the router or computer.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Quick question:
I've got a Phenom II X4 940 BE w/ stock CPU cooler. Everest reports my CPU temperature as ranging from 55°C to 60°C (core temperatures at ca. 50°C to 54°C) when running Windows, Firefox, Messenger and foobar2000 (BIOS reports CPU temperature being 20°C when starting up the PC). Is the CPU temperature dangerously high when running Windoes etc., or should it be just fine? I've had no problems so far, Windows has been as stable as ever, so it hasn't caused any trouble yet.

 

[clav]

Quick question:
I've got a Phenom II X4 940 BE w/ stock CPU cooler. Everest reports my CPU temperature as ranging from 55°C to 60°C (core temperatures at ca. 50°C to 54°C) when running Windows, Firefox, Messenger and foobar2000 (BIOS reports CPU temperature being 20°C when starting up the PC). Is the CPU temperature dangerously high when running Windoes etc., or should it be just fine? I've had no problems so far, Windows has been as stable as ever, so it hasn't caused any trouble yet.

Seems fine.

You should be worried when those temperatures are hitting 70-90 degrees Celsius.

 

[catchabad0ne]

Copy/Paste from the Stupid questions thread, maybe I'll have some luck here.



I need some TV/DVD set up help, I'll try to be as clear as possible.

My mom has a Sony KDL-52xbr4 TV and a Samsung DVD/VCR combo, V9650


I am trying to hook the DVD player up to her TV via HDMI.


Here is what I am doing:

I have it set up via HDMI as well as Composite. I go to video 1 on the tv, use the dvd remote to set the tv to "Alt Output" HDMI.

This makes the tv screen go blank, presumably searching for an HDMI signal?? So I then change the input on the TV to HDMI 3, the input that the cord is inserted in. I get no signal. The manual says to press the HD button on the front of the DVD player until I see a signal. Nothing happens. I go back to video 1 and there is still no signal from the composite source. To get the signal to go back to composite I power down the DVD player and it boots back up in Composite mode.

I have tried this multiple times with multiple HDMI cables and HDMI inputs 1-3.

The only thing I can think of is that the DVD player is set to 480i in the DVD menu under the HDMI output setting. Now I have tried all I can to change this setting but the option is greyed out and I can not adjust. The manual is no help in this regard. If I could change the HDMI output setting I should be able to get a signal through HDMI correct? Any body have any idea how to do this on this model DVD player? I've googled and googled to no avail.

If I left anything out or anybody needs any more info to help answer this problem then I'll try and be here to answer. Thanks for any help.

EDIT: I still can't get a signal through HDMI but for some reason the dvd player now lists 720p under HDMI though I don't know why.

Also could it be because the DVD/VCR combo is from 2006 and the HDMI cables are new-ish ones bought from Monoprice? 3 bought within the last year? I remember reading (maybe on neogaf) about newer HDMI cables being 1.3 or 1.4 or something like that and being incompatible with older HDMI outs?

 

[projectkuro]

My best guess would just be to try reinstalling your wireless driver. Also, just out of curiosity, try plugging your laptop directly into the router. See if it's still slow.

Yeah, I just installed a new wireless driver + update and the speeds are still the same.
And when I'm wired in, I'm getting the full 7Mb/s just like the other computers.

So there's something wrong with my wireless, I just don't know what.

 

[clav]

Yeah, I just installed a new wireless driver + update and the speeds are still the same.
And when I'm wired in, I'm getting the full 7Mb/s just like the other computers.

So there's something wrong with my wireless, I just don't know what.

What OS are you running?

Copy/Paste from the Stupid questions thread, maybe I'll have some luck here.



I need some TV/DVD set up help, I'll try to be as clear as possible.

My mom has a Sony KDL-52xbr4 TV and a Samsung DVD/VCR combo, V9650


I am trying to hook the DVD player up to her TV via HDMI.


Here is what I am doing:

I have it set up via HDMI as well as Composite. I go to video 1 on the tv, use the dvd remote to set the tv to "Alt Output" HDMI.

This makes the tv screen go blank, presumably searching for an HDMI signal?? So I then change the input on the TV to HDMI 3, the input that the cord is inserted in. I get no signal. The manual says to press the HD button on the front of the DVD player until I see a signal. Nothing happens. I go back to video 1 and there is still no signal from the composite source. To get the signal to go back to composite I power down the DVD player and it boots back up in Composite mode.

I have tried this multiple times with multiple HDMI cables and HDMI inputs 1-3.

The only thing I can think of is that the DVD player is set to 480i in the DVD menu under the HDMI output setting. Now I have tried all I can to change this setting but the option is greyed out and I can not adjust. The manual is no help in this regard. If I could change the HDMI output setting I should be able to get a signal through HDMI correct? Any body have any idea how to do this on this model DVD player? I've googled and googled to no avail.

If I left anything out or anybody needs any more info to help answer this problem then I'll try and be here to answer. Thanks for any help.

EDIT: I still can't get a signal through HDMI but for some reason the dvd player now lists 720p under HDMI though I don't know why.

Also could it be because the DVD/VCR combo is from 2006 and the HDMI cables are new-ish ones bought from Monoprice? 3 bought within the last year? I remember reading (maybe on neogaf) about newer HDMI cables being 1.3 or 1.4 or something like that and being incompatible with older HDMI outs?

I heard XBR4s are extremely picky what device it decides to do the HDMI handshake. Your best bet is to purchase another combo player that works. Go to a XBR4 tv lover's forum and see if they have recommendations.

 

[projectkuro]

What OS are you running?

I'm using XP Home Service Pack 3. The wireless card is a "Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card".

 

[catchabad0ne]

I heard XBR4s are extremely picky what device it decides to do the HDMI handshake. Your best bet is to purchase another combo player that works. Go to a XBR4 tv lover's forum and see if they have recommendations.

Thanks for the info. I'll go see what I can find.

 

[captmcblack]

Problem:

My girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron e1705 laptop running XP Pro SP3, and I bought her a Zune HD for her birthday to use with it. She had a first-gen Zune 30GB prior to it, and was using Zune Software 3.x with it.

In order to use the Zune HD, we updated to software 4.x, but when we run the installer, we get a "Zune Installer has encountered an error and needs to close" error. I figured we'd need to use Windows Update maybe to get all the updates in and start the installation from there, but when I use Windows Update, I get error 0x80070002.

I suspect spyware, and fucked-up files in Windows from when her father tried to "fix" the system's spyware issues earlier. I am going to do my regular tagteam of Malwarebytes, Combofix and Avira, and see what happens...but any ideas about the other errors? I know that the Windows XP Pro SP3 in the laptop is legit. Thanks in advance!

 

[Samara]

Bought a Wacom tablet, but Vista installed a driver on it's on, and I can't use my eraser! how do I remove?

 

[BreakyBoy]

I'm using XP Home Service Pack 3. The wireless card is a "Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card".

You need to lock down where the problem is. It's possible that the problem is a configuration issue with your router (i.e. Quality of Service settings specific to the MAC address identifying your laptop's wireless card), or if it's something on your laptop that is throttling your connection speed.

To lock down the problem point, try and take your laptop to a friend's house. Ask if they can plug in your laptop directly to the router and do a speed test. Then get on their wireless and do the speed test again. If you get similar results to what you get at home, then it's your laptop. Otherwise, it's your router.

Assuming you can't (or can't be arsed to) do that, you can try to make sure your router isn't at fault by resetting the settings on your router to defaults. Only do this if you know how to set up the router properly yourself. Otherwise, don't bother until you know for sure that it's the router at fault.

I would also recommend trying to update your wireless card's driver. Based on what you said earlier, this looks like the latest update. However, assuming you have a Dell laptop, make sure by going to their Drivers and Downloads page, and finding your specific model there. Once you do, you should be able to find the latest driver by looking under the "Networking" or "Wireless" category.

 

[yodandy]

I just upgraded from a noname 500w power supply, to a Tuniq Ripper 1000w (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817611009)

upon installing, I now get no beep, no video, everything is spinning away though just fine...but no boot...

i reset ram, cmos, vid card, etc.

what else can i do here? im about to put the old psu in to see if i can at least get beeps, hopefully a boot...i hope i didnt fry the mobo by hooking something up wrong (mobo is an Asus A8n-e)

Well nobody responded, but upon googling I found an answer to try to barebones it out and see if you get any beeps, so i have the mobo out on a piece of cardboard, with cpu, 1 stick ram, video card, and psu, and speaker on the mobo, thats it, and still no beeps or anything...fans spin, green led is lit, just no beeps, no video...

idk, i think the mobo is dead...i have 3 perfect HD's, a good pci express vid card, brand new PSU...anywhere have any good MOBO/CPU/RAM combos? i guess ill have to start looking

 

[diddlyD]

i would just like to say, dust your stuff off every 6-12 months.

i noticed my core i7 920 (overclocked to 3.2 ghz) was idling at about 62c recently. i looked at the fan (stock fan) and there was a thin coat of dust on the top of the heatsink, between the fan and the heatsink, blocking air movement. i didn't think that little bit of dust could be that bad, but i vacuumed it out, and now i'm idling about 48c, almost 15c cooler. that was about 10 months worth of light dust.

 

[BreakyBoy]

I figured we'd need to use Windows Update maybe to get all the updates in and start the installation from there, but when I use Windows Update, I get error 0x80070002.

I've seen that code a few times. Generally means that something that Windows Update is trying to install is corrupted. Windows Update won't fix it because it'll just say "oh, you haven't installed this yet. Oh, it's already downloaded! Let's install it! OH SHI-" and then it loops endlessly every time you try. To fix that you need to fool Windows Update into thinking it hasn't downloaded it yet. Try this:

1. Stop the Automatic Update service by clicking on Start -> Run -> Type services.msc -> Click OK.
2. In the Services window that pops up, look for Automatic Updates, right-click it and choose Stop.
3. Don't close the Services window yet.
4. Open a command prompt. (Start -> Run -> Type cmd -> Click OK)
5. In the command prompt, type: cd %windir% That should put you in your Windows directory.
6. In the command prompt, type: ren SoftwareDistribution SD-Old This renames the folder Windows Update checks to see what it's downloaded so far.
7. Go back to the Services window, and right-click on Automatic Updates again, and click on Start this time.

Now, when you go to do a Windows Update, it might take a little longer to churn through it, but it'll eventually figure out what has and hasn't been installed, and should re-download whatever update was corrupted before.

Let me know if it works.

 

[projectkuro]

You need to lock down where the problem is. It's possible that the problem is a configuration issue with your router (i.e. Quality of Service settings specific to the MAC address identifying your laptop's wireless card), or if it's something on your laptop that is throttling your connection speed.

To lock down the problem point, try and take your laptop to a friend's house. Ask if they can plug in your laptop directly to the router and do a speed test. Then get on their wireless and do the speed test again. If you get similar results to what you get at home, then it's your laptop. Otherwise, it's your router.

Assuming you can't (or can't be arsed to) do that, you can try to make sure your router isn't at fault by resetting the settings on your router to defaults. Only do this if you know how to set up the router properly yourself. Otherwise, don't bother until you know for sure that it's the router at fault.

I would also recommend trying to update your wireless card's driver. Based on what you said earlier, this looks like the latest update. However, assuming you have a Dell laptop, make sure by going to their Drivers and Downloads page, and finding your specific model there. Once you do, you should be able to find the latest driver by looking under the "Networking" or "Wireless" category.

Thanks, I've got the update installed. I'll just have to wait to go to a friend's house to test the connections.

 

[captmcblack]

I've seen that code a few times. Generally means that something that Windows Update is trying to install is corrupted. Windows Update won't fix it because it'll just say "oh, you haven't installed this yet. Oh, it's already downloaded! Let's install it! OH SHI-" and then it loops endlessly every time you try. To fix that you need to fool Windows Update into thinking it hasn't downloaded it yet. Try this:

1. Stop the Automatic Update service by clicking on Start -> Run -> Type services.msc -> Click OK.
2. In the Services window that pops up, look for Automatic Updates, right-click it and choose Stop.
3. Don't close the Services window yet.
4. Open a command prompt. (Start -> Run -> Type cmd -> Click OK)
5. In the command prompt, type cd %windir%. That should put you in your Windows directory.
6. In the command prompt, type ren SoftwareDistribution SD-Old. This renames the folder Windows Update checks to see what it's downloaded so far.
7. Go back to the Services window, and right-click on Automatic Updates again, and click on Start this time.

Now, when you go to do a Windows Update, it might take a little longer to churn through it, but it'll eventually figure out what has and hasn't been installed, and should re-download whatever update was corrupted before.

Let me know if it works.

I tried to stop that service, but I get the error "Could not start automatic updates on local computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified". :-x
Maybe something is corrupted in a system file?

 

[BreakyBoy]

I tried to stop that service, but I get the error "Could not start automatic updates on local computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified". :-x
Maybe something is corrupted in a system file?

Maybe, or it might be looking for the file in the wrong place. It kind of reeks of leftover damage from the spyware removed earlier. Try this:

1. Open up your Registry Editor (Click Start -> Run -> Type regedit -> Click OK)
2. In the Registry Editor, click through the following on the left-hand tree view to get to the path your Automatic Updates is looking for:
   • My Computer
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • SYSTEM
   • CurrentControlSet
   • Services
   • wuauserv
3. On the right-hand pane, look for ImagePath. It should say: %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs to the right of it.
4. If it doesn't, then that's (at least one of) your problem(s). Double-click ImagePath and change the Value Data to the path I noted in the last step.

FYI: I'll try to remember to look into this thread later, but I'm leaving work now, and between class/projects/etc, I may not get around to it until I'm back in the office tomorrow. Not to mention I use a Mac at home, so I won't have an XP machine to refer to.

Good luck!

 

[captmcblack]

Maybe, or it might be looking for the file in the wrong place. It kind of reeks of leftover damage from the spyware removed earlier. Try this:

1. Open up your Registry Editor (Click Start -> Run -> Type regedit -> Click OK)
2. In the Registry Editor, click through the following on the left-hand tree view to get to the path your Automatic Updates is looking for:
   • My Computer
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • SYSTEM
   • CurrentControlSet
   • Services
   • wuauserv
3. On the right-hand pane, look for ImagePath. It should say: %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs to the right of it.
4. If it doesn't, then that's (at least one of) your problem(s). Double-click ImagePath and change the Value Data to the path I noted in the last step.

FYI: I'll try to remember to look into this thread later, but I'm leaving work now, and between class/projects/etc, I may not get around to it until I'm back in the office tomorrow. Not to mention I use a Mac at home, so I won't have an XP machine to refer to.

Good luck!

This worked amazingly. Once I did this, I was able to fix Windows Update, updated my girlfriend's computer completely, and got Zune Software 4.x to work. For my valor, I got laid. Breakyboy is a motherfucking boss. :lol

Now, two new questions:
1. In my house, I have a wireless network created via a Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G MIMO router. All the other computers in the house can connect to it just fine, except for two things - my brother's laptop (a Toshiba Satellite M105-S3001), and my Xbox 360 (connected via the original Xbox MN-740 Wireless Adapter). The laptop can see the network, but won't connect to it. The Xbox won't see the network at all.
What can I do to fix this?

2. I'd like to try a new wireless router out, and I understand that dual-band Wireless N routers are currently the best. What is the one with the longest range? My house has a lot of rooms, and I want to make sure I can reach all my Wireless G devices!

 

[BreakyBoy]

This worked amazingly. Once I did this, I was able to fix Windows Update, updated my girlfriend's computer completely, and got Zune Software 4.x to work. For my valor, I got laid. Breakyboy is a motherfucking boss. :lol

Not kidding here -> You are the third person this week to say I helped them get laid.

It seems my vow of abstinence is causing all my game to seep through my pores.

...I should bottle this shit up.

 

[Chris R]

I have (or had) a KVM that worked with the old connectors for KBM and VGA, but I need a USB version of it now :lol

My monitor has 3 connections so everything is fine on that front, just want to be lazy with connecting the keyboard and mouse.

Found it!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10102&cs_id=1010201&p_id=4617&seq=1&format=2

Also does sound which is a bonus as I don't have a dedicated sound system and use my headphones.

 

[Leunam]

I'm becoming very frustrated with my computer. I installed Windows 7 Home Premium from a clean install, yet I am still having the same problems I was having earlier where games would not run. I was trying to play CoD5 and I couldn't do anything since the screen just kept blacking out every few seconds before going back to normal and blacking out again. I can't find drivers for this motherboard (ASUSTek Benicia 1.01, according to CPU-Z) and I've already updated the drivers for my 8800 GT. Nothing in my device manager is popping up that needs my attention.

What is there to do?