Quick [tech] Questions Thread

[Trippy]

Which CPU does your laptop have? The memory limitation is coming from the CPU like so:

http://ark.intel.com/products/43122/Intel-Core-i7-720QM-Processor-6M-Cache-1_60-GHz

[Viin]

Not being able to run windows updates doesn't sound like something that would be broken by the users folder being moved.

Does your event log say anything about the user profile service having errors?

Nothing specific to that, but am seeing some BFE errors (service doesn't exist) so looking into that. What a PITA - could be a previous virus with files that weren't replaced.

[Stormwaltz]

Hey guys. It sounds like the Hauppage might introduce lag for for games, and wouldn't play the movies at all without some kind of hackery (movies are 85% of why I have the PS3).

Someone on another ofrum suggested a dedicated video capture card like this one for my PC. Would that actually work?

I'm somewhat at a loss on the audio if I use direct connection to the monitor. The PS3 has an "optical audio" output port (a name which... just baffles me), but I'm not sure I can make it work with my sound setup. The card is an X-Fi Elite Pro (I don't have the I/O Console box with me, but I'm headed home at the end of the month). The speakers are Creative GigaWorks S700, which come with an "audio control pod" with a couple of input ports (closeup image here).

[Trippy]

Someone on another ofrum suggested a dedicated video capture card like this one for my PC. Would that actually work?

Not without bypassing the HDCP copy protection (which is doable but requires more hardware).

I'm somewhat at a loss on the audio if I use direct connection to the monitor. The PS3 has an "optical audio" output port (a name which... just baffles me), but I'm not sure I can make it work with my sound setup. The card is an X-Fi Elite Pro (I don't have the I/O Console box with me, but I'm headed home at the end of the month). The speakers are Creative GigaWorks S700, which come with an "audio control pod" with a couple of input ports (closeup image here).

It's really not that complicated. The PS3 can output stereo audio with regular RCA plugs using the standard AV connector that came with the system (which you may have lost). Unlike the fucked up Xbox 360 you can by default have both an HDMI cable hooked up and the AV connector hooked up and in the settings you can specify which output should be used for audio. If you really really wanted to output the audio over the PS3 digital audio port you would need something like this guy and connect it into your audio system (assuming it doesn't have a digital audio input). The input next to the headphone jack on your control pod is the aux input jack for your speakers. You'll need something like this to convert the RCA plugs on the PS3 AV connector to something you can plug into that input.
 

[Trippy]

Someone on another ofrum suggested a dedicated video capture card like this one for my PC. Would that actually work?

Not without bypassing the HDCP copy protection (which is doable but requires more hardware).

If you really really wanted to use an HDMI capture card here's a decent video explaining the kind of hardware you will need to both bypass HDCP and deal with the input lag issue (there are other ways and hardware to use, this is just one setup):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny43jZd7d1Q

But really in your situation all you need to do is plug in the stereo audio output on the PS3 to your control box.

[Salamok]

Which CPU does your laptop have? The memory limitation is coming from the CPU like so:

http://ark.intel.com/products/43122/Intel-Core-i7-720QM-Processor-6M-Cache-1_60-GHz

Wow thanks for that, I had just assumed a 64bit processor wouldn't gimp the memory like that but it does: Core-I7-820QM

[K9]

I purchased a 3TB SATA internal hard drive without realising that this might not be a straightforward thing to install. When I tried to install Win7 (64bit) on it I got an error at the end of installation claiming that there was an issue with the hardware. Some googling later and I see that this is due to Windows having issues with large hard drives.

I checked the BIOS, and it lists the drive as 801GB and change, which is apparently to be expected. I have installed ubuntu 13.04 on it, and that can see the whole 3TB it seems.

Is there any workaround to get Win7 to see this drive as something it can use? I was wondering if I could partition the drive into two or three partitions each less than 2TB and see if this might let the Win7 install work; however when I tried to partitio the drive during install I didn't seem to have the ntfs option for any partition (just every other possible file system it seemed). Will partitioning the disk get around this problem, and if so, can I resolve this from inside ubuntu? Or am I going to have to return the drive and get a 2Tb one instead?

Many thanks.

[Trippy]

I purchased a 3TB SATA internal hard drive without realising that this might not be a straightforward thing to install. When I tried to install Win7 (64bit) on it I got an error at the end of installation claiming that there was an issue with the hardware. Some googling later and I see that this is due to Windows having issues with large hard drives.

I checked the BIOS, and it lists the drive as 801GB and change, which is apparently to be expected. I have installed ubuntu 13.04 on it, and that can see the whole 3TB it seems.

Is there any workaround to get Win7 to see this drive as something it can use? I was wondering if I could partition the drive into two or three partitions each less than 2TB and see if this might let the Win7 install work; however when I tried to partitio the drive during install I didn't seem to have the ntfs option for any partition (just every other possible file system it seemed). Will partitioning the disk get around this problem, and if so, can I resolve this from inside ubuntu? Or am I going to have to return the drive and get a 2Tb one instead?

Many thanks.

You need a BIOS that can boot Windows on a drive >2TB. All EFI/UEFI BIOSes can do that. Almost all non-EFI/UEFI BIOSes can not. So you might be screwed. As a secondary drive it only needs need to initialized as GPT for Windows 7 to see the full 3 TB. To see if you can boot from it you can try reinitializing the drive as GPT, reformat it, and then check the BIOS to see if it sees the full 3 TB.

[K9]

Thanks Trippy, I suspected as much, I was just surprised that Linux was happy with the 3TB, I thought that might offer a means around. So I can mount it as a second drive and have it as a 3TB volume fine, but just not as the primary drive? That seems dumb beyond belief...

[Engels]

This guide here states that UEFI is not necessary to identify a GPT partition, and that its 'self identifying'. So do as Trippy says, install the drive as a secondary drive, format it as GPT, and then see if Windows 7 bootloader/installation disk sees it as a viable medium.

Then again, it also says

Q.   Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?
    
A.   Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

[Trippy]

Thanks Trippy, I suspected as much, I was just surprised that Linux was happy with the 3TB, I thought that might offer a means around. So I can mount it as a second drive and have it as a 3TB volume fine, but just not as the primary drive? That seems dumb beyond belief...

Newer Linux kernels + the grub2 boot loader can handle booting off of >2 TB hard drives (with GPT) even if the BIOS doesn't have explicit support for it.

[Shannow]

Question on identifying exactly WHAT is wrong with my PC.

PC will now boot up, even gives me login to windows but then screen goes black. Can't appear to click on anything (havent tested exhaustively) but I can ctrl atl tab to taskmaster and then start games....even played a game of FIFA 13 no problems....

I had a cpl of BSOD...sooo corrupted HD? Windows install? Any ideas on how I can figure out exactly which part of my PC I need to fix?

[Trippy]

Question on identifying exactly WHAT is wrong with my PC.

PC will now boot up, even gives me login to windows but then screen goes black. Can't appear to click on anything (havent tested exhaustively) but I can ctrl atl tab to taskmaster and then start games....even played a game of FIFA 13 no problems....

I had a cpl of BSOD...sooo corrupted HD? Windows install? Any ideas on how I can figure out exactly which part of my PC I need to fix?

In task manager is explorer.exe running? If not what happens if you try and run it? Do you see your desktop if you boot into Safe Mode?

[K9]

So, I exchanged my 3TB harddisk for a 2TB one that matches the one I used to have (now dead), and I seem to have messed something up, because now when I try to install Win7 on it I get an error at the stage where you specify partitions:

"system was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition"

I did manage to install Win7 professional on the disc when it came straight out of the box, but I realised that I only had a product key for Win7 home premium. So I made a new USB installer, deleted the partitions during the reinstall, but I must have screwed something up, because the installer won't automatically create a new system partition for me.

I can access the command line through the install program, and I can use diskpart to create new partitions, I can even create a new partition called "system" that is listed as a system partition during the install process, but despite that I can't actually install anything there and I get the above error message.

I have set the disk to MBR, I have tried changing pretty much every setting in the BIOS that seems relevant, then I have reset to the defaults and tried again. The only thing I can see that seems off is when I use the 'attributes disk' or 'details disk' commands in diskpart, and the Boot Disk attribute is set to 'No'. I have googled hard, and I can't find any way to set this to 'Yes', and other than that I am out of ideas.

If anyone can shed any light on this that would be great, thanks.

[Chimpy]

Do you have anything on the disk?

In cases where I dont have any data I need on the disk, I usually just delete all volumes in the installer and then tell the setup to create a new volume which should set the disk to bootable etc.

[Trippy]

Do you have a 2nd hard drive plugged in as well? If so try it with only the DVD-ROM drive and the hard drive you are trying install onto.

[K9]

Do you have anything on the disk?

In cases where I dont have any data I need on the disk, I usually just delete all volumes in the installer and then tell the setup to create a new volume which should set the disk to bootable etc.

No, it's a brand new disk. It had a Win7 Pro install on it, but it's been reformatted since. One of the reformattings seems to have buggered everything though. For some reason the setup doesn't want to create a bootable volume, and I can't figure out how to manually create one.

Do you have a 2nd hard drive plugged in as well? If so try it with only the DVD-ROM drive and the hard drive you are trying install onto.

It's the only disk in the machine. The only peripheral I had connected other than DVD/Keyboard/Mouse was a USB wifi adapter. I tried installing without that and had no success. Frustratingly the machine won't even install Ubuntu now either, which makes me think that I have somehow broken the disk inadvertently.

I'm trying to install from a USB key. I have the boot order set so the SATA disk has priority, and then manually select boot from USB by hitting F12 at the bios loading screen.

Thanks for the suggestions, if you have any other ideas I'd gladly try them

[Trippy]

I would delete the entire partition with diskpart and see if the installer will create a new partition and volume for you.

[K9]

Gave that a try, it gives me the same error:

"system was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition"

I tried doing this too, but none of the commands are in the right format for diskpart as it exists on my install USB apparently. Also I have no idea if an efi system partition is the thing I want, or what anything else on that page means really. It's all a bit arcane to me...

[Trippy]

No you don't want a GUID partition table, that'll make things worse.

Try using the clean command in diskpart and making sure your hard drive is setup in the BIOS as the first boot drive.

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-installation-upgrade/75832-setup-unable-create-new-system-partition-locate-existing-system-partition-installation-error.html

[K9]

Ok thanks, that clarifies one thing at least, heh.

I have tried that, still no joy.

I tried this:

Code:

Select Disk 0
Clean
Create Partition Primary Size=40000
Select Partition 1
Format fs=ntfs label="System" Quick
Active
Create Partition Primary
Format fs=ntfs Label="Windows" Quick
Assign Letter C
Exit

As I understand it, 'active' should make the partition bootable, but it doesn't. If I do all this and then look at the details I get the following

Code:

DISKPART> detail disk

Disk ID	:	2417C0F9
Type	:	RAID
Status	:	Online
Path	:	0
Target	:	0
LUN ID 	:	0
Location Path	:	PCIROOT<0>#PCI<1F02>#RAID<P00T00L00>
Current Read-only State	:	No
Read-only	:	No
Boot Disk	:	No
Pagefile Disk	:	No
Hibernation File Disk	:	No
Crashdump Disk	:	No
Clustered Disk	:	No

	Volume ###	Ltr	Label		Fs		Type		Size	Status		Info
	----------	---	-----------	-----	---------	-------	---------	--------
*	Volume	1		system		NTFS	Partition	39	 GB	Healthy
	Volume	2		windows		NTFS	Partition	1823 GB	Healthy
	
DISKPART> detail volume

	Disk ###	Status			Size	Free	Dyn	Gpt
	--------	-------------	-------	-------	---	---
*	Disk 0		Online			1863 GB		0 B		

Read-only				:	No
Hidden					:	No
No Default Drive Letter	:	No
Shadow Copy				: 	No
Offline					:	No
BitLocker Encrypted		:	No
Installable				:	Yes

Volume Capacity				:	39	GB
Volume Free Space			:	38	GB

Switching back to the installer lists the type of Partition 1 as "system" yet it won't let me install there. *sigh*

[Trippy]

Why are you creating two volumes?

[K9]

I thought I needed to create a separate partition to be the system partition? I won't lie, I'm out of my depth here, hardware really isn't my thing.

I'll try it again with just the one partition.

Edit: It made no difference

[Trippy]

Turn off RAID in the BIOS.

[K9]

I switched it to ATA, that was the only other option.

Still getting the same error during install.

Thanks for taking the time to help Trippy, I appreciate it.

[Trippy]

What does detail disk look like now?

[Lantyssa]

I'm confused.  Are you creating the volumes in diskpart then trying to do a windows install?

Nuke the partitions, nuke the volumes, nuke everything.  Don't format.  That's higher level stuff.  Nuke nuke nuke.

With a completely blank disk, what does the Windows installer see?  Does it see volumes or nothing at all?

[K9]

I'm also confused; I've been tryign to manually create a system partition because the windows installer doesn't seem to want to.

If I nuke all the partitions then in setup I see Disc 0: Unallocated xxx, and if I try to hit next I get the "system was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition"; if I create any arrangement of partitions I get the same error. I really don't know what I did to mess up this disk so bad, all I did was stick it in, install Win7 Pro, then reformat and try again, but somewhere the reformatting broke the disk.

I may just send it back and ask for a replacement if I can't fix this soon.

What does detail disk look like now?

Same as before, only RAID has been replaced by ATA.

[Chimpy]

Are you clicking the "new" option on the volume select screen that says disk 0 unallocated?

[Lantyssa]

Yeesh.  I'm not sure what the heck you've managed to do.  I'm about ready to ask you to post pictures from your camera phone so I can see the screen...

[K9]

Best I can tell I have managed to make the disk non-bootable in some arcane and irreversible way. Fixing this is above my pay-grade though; I think I'm going to just return the disk and try again.

Thanks for all the time and help though, I appreciate it.

[Stormwaltz]

I went ahead and ordered an HDMI-to-DisplayPort and a component audio adapter to connect my PS3 to my PC monitor and surround sound speakers.

Neither of them work.

/headdesk

Since I don't have anything else to connect the PS3 to, I can't even tell if the adapters don't work, or if it's the console. EDIT: When I try to switch the monitor source to the DisplayPort, it says no signal. Likewise I get no indication of a signal through the speakers.

[Trippy]

You'll need to fiddle with the PS3 settings. Remember above I said the PS3 has settings for selecting the audio output. It also has settings for selecting video output.

Under Settings -> Display Settings -> Video Output Settings

make sure it's HDMI and not component that's selected as the video output.

Under Settings -> Sound Settings -> Audio Output Settings

make sure it's "Audio Input Connector / SCART / AV MULTI" that's selected, not HDMI.

You'll probably need to unplug the AV Multi connector so you can get the video output to default to HDMI. Then you can plug in the AV Multi and then switch the audio.

[Stormwaltz]

Thanks to my cousin and his amazing collection of wires and adapters, it's working. The problems appeared to start with the HDMI to DisplayPort adapter being dead - rectified with a cable he had that's HDMI to DVI. Right now I'm swapping cables on the back of the monitor. I can deal with that, can probably get a switcher sometime in the future. Sound is only in stereo of course, but since I'll mostly be playing stereo mixed subtitled anime through it, it's not likely I'll even notice.

So! Panic and despair over a faulty adapter. It's working beautifully now. Eheh. 

[Trippy]

Finally!