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The Tech Help Thread

Discussion in 'Technical Board' started by rei, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. Elset

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    On my TV I use a 1/8" Male to Male cable (like this) to get sound to come from my computer to my TV. I bought the cord the previous poster mentioned but it wasn't what I needed. I'd check out the back of your TV.
     
  2. foredeck

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    I believe this is the right thread for this question, if not, just let me know.

    I'm interested in VOIP because I do about 500 minutes of long distances within Canada per month. I pay 25$ for my home phone, plus 20$ for unlimited long distances.

    However, I have a hard time to grasp the concept of VOIP. From what I understand, I can set up my phone to have any number in the world basically, and put the VOIP router (is it called a router?) by my wiring panel downstairs. I could use my regular phone lines in my house with VOIP as well.

    I looked at voip.ms and a few other sites that would offer the service for about 10$ per month, but, I don't see DIDs for my rural community. There's basically only phone numbers available for the top 12 cities in Canada. Does this mean that I'm shit out of luck when it comes to voip, unless I go with vonage?
     
  3. Diablo

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    Is it possible for wireless internet networks or and Xbox Live connection to interrupt/disrupt/jam a cell phone signal?

    I have Verizon Wireless and it seems like half the time I'm online either with the computer or xbox, my cell signal goes from perfect to shit. Then when I bring my phone to the back of my house, away from any wireless connection, the signal comes back. Right now, I'm on my computer, my xbox is off, and my phone has all the bars. 2 min ago, it was shit and I was doing the same thing. This happens all the fucking time, and just at my house.

    Edit: finished typing and it dropped again.
     
  4. Binary

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    Doubtful, in my opinion. Wifi operates on a 2.4ghz frequency. Most cell phones operate @ either ~800/850mhz, or ~1900 mhz.

    Easy to test, though. When you see your signal drop, go unplug your wireless router without moving your phone. If it comes back, that's your problem.
     
  5. Nettdata

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    Depending on the version of WIFI you're using, it can run around 900MHz, 2.4GHz, or 5GHz.

    It very well can be stepping on your phone signal, if you're using older, 900MHz WIFIm but that's highly unlikely, as only the very early WLAN protocols used the 900MHz range.

    More likely is that you're using some sort of wireless peripheral, such as headphones, mic, etc., that is in that frequency range.

    Likewise, early wireless controllers were in the same frequency range, as it was one of the early ranges opened by the FCC for general, unlicensed wireless use.
     
  6. Thorgouge

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    I'm not entirely sure if this is the thread my question belongs in, but I didn't want to dedicate a new thread entirely to one simple question.

    The gated community I live in has had ComCast as the main service provider for the last six or so years due to a contract with Adelphia (they were our first providers before going out of business for severe internal corruption). Now that the contract has expired in December, the board of directors (read: bitter old homeowners in the community with nothing better to do but ensure nobody else here receives any joy) has been looking for a new possible isp before deciding to stick with ComCast.

    Now, its turns out that the BOD have decided to go with Hotwire Communications as the new isp for television and internet. I guess there are two parts to this question:

    1. Does anyone have experience with Hotwire Communications either as their isp or know something about the company's service? So far my google searches have yielded about a dozen 100% negative reviews about Hotwire's service.

    2. I think Hotwire Communications uses fiber optics. ComCast, of course, is cable. My ComCast service hasn't been too terrible despite it being from ComCast and so I wonder, would switching our isp make a significant difference in the service we experience? Can a company suck so badly that they just ruin our connection or does it have more to do with location and the wires already in the ground?

    Any help on this topic would be great because I am freaking the fuck out seeing as I spend A LOT of my time on competitive online games and latency is my worst enemy.
     
  7. Binary

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    Largely irrelevant. What they use to your doorstep has little to do with what they use along the street or back to the head end.

    It can.

    Yes.

    I know little about Hotwire, but the type of connection they use into your home isn't very important. For instance, I have Time Warner Cable, and I burst up to 28 Mbps, which means they're perfectly capable of providing me a sustained 28 Mbps connection over the coax into my house. Most people's cable connections max out at ~5-8 Mbps. It's all just artificial caps on the bandwidth so that their total bandwidth isn't overloaded.

    Also, my TWC in the city I used to live sucked. Problems all the time. Slow speeds, latency, sometimes completely unusable. That was in a brand new section of roads, with brand new drops, into a brand new home - as ideal a situation as you can get in terms of wiring and I had the wires tested many times. Here, it's perfect, even in an older apartment complex with older wiring - so it's very locale specific.

    If you have real input over the decision, lobby to keep Comcast since it's a known quantity. If you don't have control, though, relax. There's nothing you can do about it. Hotwire may be fine.
     
  8. Binary

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    Ah. Just did some quick reading. Hotwire is one of these companies that specializes in complexes/communities. Good luck, it's going to be either just fine, or horrendous. Depends on if your community is over-subscribed or if they actually provide sufficient bandwidth for everyone.

    The only good part is the old men running your community aren't going to be able to jerk off to their anime tentacle rape if the connection sucks, so they may have a vested interest in maintaining a decent internet connection.
     
  9. jacobv81

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    Hey guys I was hoping for help reencoding various video files I have. They range from 20mb ipod ready music videos, 175mb tv episodes to 700mb movies and 1.4gb movies, usually avi but a few are mkv or mp4. I was hoping to find an all in 1 video encoder, something that would either have preset profiles or allow me to make them so I can be able to convert my videos for various sized windows mobile phones, my psp, my ipod, etc.


    I tried a program that didnt work as well as I hoped, "super", I also used to use PSP Video 9, and gave xilisoft video converter trial a go. Thanks a lot.

    Jacobv81
     
  10. Capital

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    Does anyone know how to get around the authentication warnings in Windows 7? I've come to the end of my 2-month leeway period on the pirated copy I have and there isn't a WinGPtray to delete like for XP.

    Any way around getting my wallpaper blacked out and getting annoying pop-ups every 20 minutes?
     
  11. spoons

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    Problem description:
    I am attempting to install an additional 2GB of memory (2 1GB sticks) and when I install the two new sticks the system will not post.
    I have tried multiple configurations, any two of the modules will work fine, but installing more than that causes the machine to fail to boot. Upgraded bios with no success.

    I've been trying adjusting some settings in the bios per a suggestion on another forum (memory clockspeed to 667, memory voltage to 2.0 v and memory timing to 7-7-7-20) but haven't ha any luck with that.

    --

    Operating system:
    Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

    System specs:
    Asus M3N72-D motherboard
    AMD Phenom 9650 2.3GHz
    2GB memory (DDR2 800)
    Geforce 6800 GS (currently using an old gfx card because my newer one has been overheating)
    120GB WD HDD
    80GB WD HDD
    500GB Seagate HDD
     
  12. Binary

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    It won't even POST? Like, no memory counting, no POST beep, nothing? Just a dead screen?

    Bad memory slot, likely.
     
  13. Spekkio

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    I just bought a used computer. It was pretty much wiped clean when it got in my hands, so I didn't reformat it myself.

    # Operating system:Windows 7 2.6.1.7600
    # CPU type: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
    # CPU Speed (GHz):3.352
    # System memory (GB):1.999
    # Graphics card model:ATI Radeon HD 4550
    # Graphics card driver:atiu9pag.dll
    # Desktop resolution:1680x1050
    # Hard disk size (GB):232.88

    I've been having a problem with a sort of freezing behavior. This almost exclusively happens when I'm watching any kind of video. I've had it happen while playing games. Occasionally it will just freeze for about 5 seconds, while the speakers emit a loud noise. The computer then restarts. It used to go to the blue screen of death, if I remember right.

    First I thought it was the graphics card over heating, because it first happened while playing Starcraft 2 Beta, a new game. I did some tests, and the graphics card is performing great.

    Could it be outdated drivers? Would my problems likely be solved if I just reformat my computer?

    Thanks
     
  14. spoons

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    That was my first thought, but any combination of the modules, in any functional variation of the slots still works as long as I only have two sticks installed. Which is why I am baffled as to what is going on. Thanks for the input though.
     
  15. Binary

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    Ah, that wasn't clear in the first post.

    It could still technically be a bad slot. If there's a short between the traces of two of the non-paired slots, you don't complete the circuit until you install the memory module. Quite frankly, I'm not enough of an electrical expert to know how likely that is.

    Call your motherboard manufacturer.
     
  16. snobes

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    help, the wife's hotmail was hacked yesterday. It's sending a link to about 12 people at a time. She's changed her password, but is there more she should do? Other than kill hotmail? What shoud I run to clean her pc so that's not infected?

    thanks a ton
     
  17. Dcc001

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    I have a Sony Cyber-shot 7.2 megapixel camera that suddenly started acting strange.

    When I hooked it up to my laptop before, I could browse the files within it as I would any storage device. Since it started acting strangely, instead of allowing me to just move through the folders as I would with Windows/Explore, it opens them up under the label "storage device," and they are read-only. I can copy them to other places in my computer, but I can't highlight whole blocks of junk photos and delete them from my computer.

    Any advice?

    EDIT: I can't unclick any of the 'read only' tags on the folders, because I can no longer access the folders. I go into explore, and under the F: drive it lists "Sony Digital Camera," and when I go there it immediately shows the device's used memory capacity. From there, it opens directly to the photos. It no longer lets me pick which of the folders I want to go into.
     
  18. Binary

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    There are probably two storage modes on the camera. You'll have to look in the manual or in the camera settings.

    One is "Mass Storage Device" - that makes it act like a regular drive plugged into the computer, like it used to act.

    I can't for the life of me remember what the other one is called but it no longer acts like a storage device; the computer recognizes it as a camera, and has various different ways it will treat the device.

    Just look through your camera settings until you find something called "storage mode" or "usb mode" or something of that nature.
     
  19. Binary

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    Probably has nothing to do with hotmail. Very likely a virus on your PC.

    Do the normal virus routines; download virus scanners, do full scans of your PC - preferably in Safe Mode.

    I recommend at least Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, plus at least one other - there are many in this thread.

    Once your machine is clean, change the password again.

    Also, scan your backups. You do have backups, don't you? Scan them to make sure they're clean.

    If you don't have backups to scan, do two things: punch yourself in the nutsack for being an idiot, and then go out and either subscribe to a service like Backblaze (http://www.backblaze.com) or buy an external drive.
     
  20. spoons

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    Alright, seems like I'm coming to this thread all to frequently recently, but I have a quick questions about Windows 7 Activation.

    I was able to download Windows 7 for free last year through MSDN Academic Alliance, a program through which my University purchased the Activation Keys and allowed students in certain disciplines (Computer Science, Engineering and some others) to download them for free and receive a valid key. Unfortunately due to a HDD crash I recently had to reinstall my OS and I cannot locate the key that I received at that time. I know that I have it written down somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it and my 30 day activation period is about to expire. I am no longer a student, so I cannot access the MSDN web page to retrieve the activation key, something I was not aware would expire. Does anyone have any suggestions that would allow me to retrieve my legally obtained product key now? I really don't have the funds to pay for a new product key and don't particularly want to drop back down to XP at this point.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.