Quick [tech] Questions Thread

[Salamok]

It might be the BIOS, too.  Mine had to be flashed to read my Quad correctly.  I still need to do flash the newest one (stupid comp not allowing a USB flash boot ><) to get better compatability.

Went into the bios and it was reading correctly there, saved and launched the os and it is now correct there as well.  Never actually flashed the bios but I may not have gone back in the bios since installing all the motherboard and chipset crap in windows.

[Miguel]

Problem with USB storage device is apparently his USB ports are not reading anything at all.  He tried a couple of USB storage keys and other USB devices to no success.

A System Rescue CD comes in very handy for these kinds of things.  It has bailed me out of huge messes more times than I can count.

The newer ones can mount NTFS partitions as well.

[Trippy]

hmmm shouldn't this read as 2997mhz (333.00 x 9.0) for the frequency?  I didn't adjust any clock settings when I set everything up shouldn't the chipset (mboard: ASUS P5Q SE PLUS 775 P45/ICH10) autodetect the proper setting for the CPU? 



Did I get a bogus proc or is the mainboard automatically setting itself to the correct freq expecting too much?

That looks like SpeedStep kicking in. Try disabling it in your BIOS and see if that bumps the multiplier back up.

[Salamok]

hmmm shouldn't this read as 2997mhz (333.00 x 9.0) for the frequency?  I didn't adjust any clock settings when I set everything up shouldn't the chipset (mboard: ASUS P5Q SE PLUS 775 P45/ICH10) autodetect the proper setting for the CPU? 

..pic..

Did I get a bogus proc or is the mainboard automatically setting itself to the correct freq expecting too much?

That looks like SpeedStep kicking in. Try disabling it in your BIOS and see if that bumps the multiplier back up.

nah fixed now, speedstep was never enabled i just thing the proc was initially misread by the bios, or maybe i never gave it the chance to be set.  I recall going into the bios after setting everything up and everything looked fine i may not have saved after that.

[Yegolev]

HomePlug.  Somehow I managed to forget all about this technology but it could solve my LAN problem.  Has anyone had any experience with this?  Gotchas?

[FatuousTwat]

I have a problem that is DRIVING ME NUTS.

My Mom bought a laptop around November last year. Everything was working fine, but for the past week or so, every time she logs into the network, everyone else has repeat drops. It makes it impossible to do anything except read web pages. No setting have been changed on the router, or the laptop (according to my Mother and Step-Father). The only difference is that she has recently been using her laptop in the spare bedroom (right across the hall from my room).

What could be causing this?

[Trippy]

Well your post is very vague so I'm going to assume we're talking about some sort of wireless network here. As such it could be a bazillion different problems but if I had to guess I would say her wireless adapter is set to a different protocol/configuration than the other computers. E.g. hers is set to B and everybody else is on G or vice versa and your/their wireless router is a POS and can't handle a mixed network properly.

[Lantyssa]

Being a Parent and all, she could also have a worm that is flooding the network.  Router difficulties are more likely, but if it only happens with her machine being plugged in, something is going on there.

[Yegolev]

I have a XHTML doc and a CSS that work great.  I move these to another location on the same web server, and now only some of the styles seem to be working.  Most do not.  Since at least the font-family style works, I'm going to assume the .css is in the right place and perms are fine.  Mrh?

[Ookii]

I would assume that somewhere in the document you have absolute links instead of relative links.

[Yegolev]

I do/did use absolute links when defining the .css location in the .html.  The bit where it would use the correct font was throwing me off since a bad path should mean I get Times instead of Arial.

Anyway, I changed to a relative path and now it's not even reading in the font-family style.  I cp -p the .css to the same dir as the .html, changed the link to both "./gla.css" and "gla.css" and got zero style.  I'm going to have to suspect Apache at this point because it works just fine in the other dir structure, and also I don't have any other ideas.  How about a related question: is there a place where such errors are logged?

EDIT: The problem was in meat instead of code.  Never trust meat, especially if it is someone else's meat.  Basically the CSS file did not have the contents I expected.  All is well now.

[SnakeCharmer]

So here's something for you...

Recently reformatted my HD.  Clean install of Vista Premium.  Everything updated, all drivers, etc.  Reinstalled a few games from Steam, the SOE launcher, and that's basically it.  Here I am trying to run Ventrilo, but it keeps crashing due to a problem with the Skype add-in for Internet Explorer.  I don't have Skype.  I've never had Skype.  I don't have the add-in in IE. 

Vent crashes because of it, IE crashes because of it, SOE Launcher crashes.   

Free and clear of viri, malware, etc.

Also, trying to log into gmail is an excercise in frustration.  All it does it refresh.

Double You Tee Eff, mate?

[Engels]

uhm, what's saying that its skype? And what does the Event Viewer say?

(in case you don't know, you find the Event Viewer by right-clicking 'computer', selecting 'Manage', then looking under Windows Logs in Event Viewer. There look at both System and Application

[SnakeCharmer]

When it crashes, it gives you the option of closing the program or checking online for a solution.  Clicking online for a solution brings up this page:


Here is more crash info:



Here is the Event Viewer says specifically about the Ventrilo crash:
Faulting application Ventrilo.exe, version 3.0.4.0, time stamp 0x49186cdc, faulting module ntdll.dll,
version 6.0.6001.18000, time stamp 0x4791adec, exception code 0xc0000374, fault offset 0x00000000000a6e97,
process id 0x83c, application start time 0x01c97d46ce212322.

I have what seems to be in the hundreds of error messages for DistributedCOM, that pretty much all say the same thing:The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{BC866CF2-5486-41F7-B46B-9AA49CF3EBB1}
 to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

All I know to do is do a fresh install of Vista .

[Ookii]

If the problem is with a add-in in IE just disable the Add-in.  You should be able to go to Control Panel > Internet Options and disable the Add-in from there, or at least see if it's loading.  You could also download Hijack This! and disable it that way if it's doing something in IE it shouldn't.

[Engels]

Uhm, I think he's already said that there is no skype, and there is no identifiable add-in. I think that Vista is confusing the vent module with skype. Its possible that they use some of the same .dll files and hence Vista thinks its Skype.

For starters, I would uninstall Ventrilo, then run CCleaner's registry 'fixer'. Be sure to back up the registry changes (the program lets you do that). Restrart the machine.

Also, for the heck of it, go through the add-ins in IE and see if there are any unneeded add-ins active.

Finally, reinstall Vent and see how it goes.

[SnakeCharmer]

Did a reinstall of vent, but no luck.  I'll check out the CCleaner registery fixer and see what happens. 

Something hasn't been right with the install since the beginning, so I'm thinking about just redoing everything this weekend and seeing what happens.  Vista only takes about 30 minutes to install, and about 2 hrs to update so, won't take long.

Edit:  Thanks for the help, btw.

[NiX]

What's the best way to calibrate your monitor? Just got my dell monitor, but it's 50 on all settings and looks terrible.

[rattran]

I use AVIA and DVE, along with a set of filters for color. Just set it like I would an LCD tv.

[NiX]

I'm beginning to think DVI isn't that good. It locks out auto-adjust, colour settings and the other settings (clock, phase..etc)

[SnakeCharmer]

On my Vista re-install, do I just need to do the Windows Update, or would it be better to download SP1 and run it after Vista is installed?  Then do whatever updates I need to do?

Only bad thing about re-installing is having to yank 2GB of RAM since it fairly always causes a crash if I try and install with 4GB.

[Engels]

In general, its safe to apply an SP right out of the box, but then again, this is Vista, so...not sure. You could run WU, and if the first update to install is SP1, cancel out and run the update from your previously downloaded version. If not, and it wants some prior updates first, go that route.

I'm also trying to remember why your installation of Vista would balk at 4 gig. XP before SP2 would indeed barf, but that's another matter.

[SnakeCharmer]

Early (or early-ish) versions of Vista would get a BSOD and 0x00000000E or something error after the first restart when it was installing.  Google 'vista premium 4gb install problem' and it wil give you plenty of info if you're at all curious. 

There's a hotfix for it, and is also covered in the SP1 release.  Doesn't do me much good on install however so 2GB has to come out. 

Edit:  Re-installed Vista, everything is peachy.

[apocrypha]

What's the best way to calibrate your monitor? Just got my dell monitor, but it's 50 on all settings and looks terrible.

Depends on your need. If you're wanting to do proper photo work on it then I'd strongly suggest a hardware calibrator like a Huey or a Spyder. Otherwise then you can just use simple tools like Adobe Gamma.

Good page on basic calibration here.

[Venkman]

What's the longest DVI or VGA monitor cable I can get? Ideally it's like 10-12'.

[rattran]

5 meters is the dvi spec, though I've used 25' with no problems. For vga, I've used 12' cables with no problems.

Cables from http://www.monoprice.com specifically.

[NiX]

Need to pick up a DVD-RW drive, any specific brand to look for or avoid?

[Trippy]

Lite-On is the largest maker so many of the "name" brand drives like HP and some of the Sony's are just Lite-On drives. I have a few (as Lite-On drives and rebadged drives) and they work fine though I haven't been trying to make copies of copy protected game discs these days so I'm not sure what people recommend for that application these days.

[Venkman]

5 meters is the dvi spec, though I've used 25' with no problems. For vga, I've used 12' cables with no problems.

Cables from http://www.monoprice.com specifically.

Ok great, thanks. Never been to that site either. Good source.

[Venkman]

Ok, new problem:

I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-fi card on the below machine. A few months ago I went from WinXP to Vista Ultimate. Prior to switching, I on occasion I'd use a headset for gaming. Been awhile though, and trying again today I've run into nothing but trouble.

1. Finally getting behind the box, I see I have two different sets of ports. Turns out my on-board sound supports surround sound, because I've got a number of ports for that. The X-fi card though only has four ports, and into one goes the headphone part. The other seems to pull double-duty between Optical In or Microphone. I assume it knows how to recognize the difference.
2. I tried launching the Creative Audio Console software; however, while it has three modes (Entertainment, Audio Creation, Gaming), it only allows me to launch into one of them (Audio Creation). If I launch either of the other modes, I get the message "The console for the current mode of your audio device cannot be launched. The console may not be installed, or may not be installed properly".
3. Even in just the Audio Creation mode, "The recording device cannot be used."
4. Thinking the drivers were out of date, I downloaded newer ones from Apr 2, 2008. When the actual installation begins though I get an error that the audio device is not recognized.
5. So I google'd up a separate set of drivers, found a link on some trade journal to a different (and more recent) version, downloaded and installed. That installation went fine. Had to uninstall the old drivers, install new ones, uninstall the audio console altogether, install a new one.
6. I quit the entire Audio Console just to see if that was causing a problem with the mic. Using Sound Recorder, I get nothing. Using the Speech Recorder wizard, I get nothing.

None of this solved the problem. The only mode I can use is Audio Creation and it still doesn't recognize the mic.

Specs:

Motherboard:  Asus P5N32-E SLI nForce® 680i SLI Chipset
Memory: Corsair XMS2 Xtreme 2x1024mb RAM
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6600 (2x 2.4GHz)
Power Supply: NZXT PRC-550 550W Power Supply (SLI-Ready)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
Sound: Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi
Hard Drive: 250gb SATA-II 7200rpm

[Viin]

I'm not familiar with the X-Fi cards, but that seems really strange to me. (Edit: having a control panel to activate the ports is the weird part, you should be able to do what you want without a SB specific control panel, just the Windows Sound applet).

Can't you use your onboard card instead? Just put your headset in SPEAKER and mic in MIC? Then, if you really want, pipe your "normal" sound through the SB card to your desktop speakers.

Which X-Fi is it?

Edit: I do see that they recommend OpenAL drivers for Vista (http://www.soundblaster.com/products/gaming/article.asp?articleID=62367&categoryID=13), so check those out if you haven't.

[NiX]

This is somewhat of a tech question, I think.

Anyway, turns out my computer problems are directly related to the combination of my video card and my motherboard. Neither of which can be returned now, so whose tech support should I be hounding over this? I'm leaning towards Asus (Motherboard) because I've always thought mobos were compatible with all video cards.

[Trippy]

This is somewhat of a tech question, I think.

Anyway, turns out my computer problems are directly related to the combination of my video card and my motherboard. Neither of which can be returned now, so whose tech support should I be hounding over this? I'm leaning towards Asus (Motherboard) because I've always thought mobos were compatible with all video cards.

What's the problem? I would blame the video card first.

[Engels]

Ok, new problem:

I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-fi card on the below machine. A few months ago I went from WinXP to Vista Ultimate. Prior to switching, I on occasion I'd use a headset for gaming. Been awhile though, and trying again today I've run into nothing but trouble.

1. Finally getting behind the box, I see I have two different sets of ports. Turns out my on-board sound supports surround sound, because I've got a number of ports for that. The X-fi card though only has four ports, and into one goes the headphone part. The other seems to pull double-duty between Optical In or Microphone. I assume it knows how to recognize the difference.

A couple of things:

The universal color for the mike jack is red. It should be so colored on the back of your x-fi card, next to the green for the headphones/speakers jack.

Secondly, does your case have a front panel with a mike/headphone connection? Open up the box and see where that cable is going. Its probably hooked up to your motherboard, so you should disconnect it from your motherboard and plug it into your sound card (somewhere on your sound card should be a bank of pins, 2 rows, that fit the 'plug' of your front panel audio inputs)

Once you have that set up, try the headphones again, but this time using the front panel. See if that fixes it. You may have a defective mike jack at the back of your sound card, or, alternately, having the front panel hooked into your mobo (if that was the case) could have been causing some internal confusing. Now that you have it hooked into your sound card proper, the confusion may disappear.

[Venkman]

Hmm, good questions.

So, I have a headphone and mic jack on the front (bottom right side) which I'll trace the wires for. I also have the X-fi card itself (four ports) and then another card above that which appears to be onboard because on the inside it's just a tiny nothing card with a white wire to the board.

I also get three options for sound in WoW: System Default, Regular Speakers (X-fi), SPDIF Out (X-fi). I have no idea what that third one is.

Finally, if the wires thing doesn't solve it I'll go with Viin's AL driver link.