Adult Content Warning

This community may contain adult content that is not suitable for minors. By closing this dialog box or continuing to navigate this site, you certify that you are 18 years of age and consent to view adult content.

The Tech Help Thread

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

  1. Binary

    Binary
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    439
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    4,293
    Almost guaranteed, there is a picture of a sun on one of the laptop keys.

    It'll be one of the alternate functions, so you'll have to hold some kind of alternate function key (probably abbreviated Fn) and press the up or down sun key.
     
  2. Zach

    Zach
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    80
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    525
    What did you search google with that you couldn't find the answer?

    http://lmgtfy.com/?q=adjusting+laptop+brightness&l=1
     
  3. thabucmaster

    thabucmaster
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    2
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    572
    Location:
    NY
    Also, download and install F.lux. Tinker around with the temperature settings for night, and make your eyes happy if you're using the laptop in the dark.
     
  4. Denver

    Denver
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2009
    Messages:
    140
    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    I'm not sure how many people use Safari 5 on here, but it allows extensions such as this one. It basically changes the theme of the board all on the client-side through Safari rather than by implementing themes on the board. I think that looks pretty sweet and so I guess I'm asking if anyone knows how to make something like that for The Idiot Board. It doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to port that one to work on a different board.. It looked like the source code was posted at some point in the thread I linked to, but I'm not sure.

    Any ideas?
     
  5. Macgruber

    Macgruber
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2010
    Messages:
    181
    Is there any way I can increase my upload speed through uTorrent? I usually get my movies from a private tracker, and they require the downloaded/uploaded ratio be at 1:1 to continue downloading. I usually try choosing movies with as many seeders/leechers as possible, but I will leave something seeding for two weeks and it will only upload 1 mb. How do I increase that?
     
  6. rei

    rei
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    16
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,273
    Location:
    Guelph, ON
    If it has a ton of seeders already it's likely you're just such an insignificant part of the pack you aren't sending to anything.
     
  7. Rush-O-Matic

    Rush-O-Matic
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    1,363
    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2009
    Messages:
    12,570
    I am having trouble with my home internet connection. It's 3M DSL and works great for what I need. Until recently, my connection consisted of

    DSL line into Speedstream Modem, Ethernet out of Modem directly into computer.

    This Speedstream Modem does not also have a built-in router (or switch, or other ethernet out connections -- I have no idea what I'm talking about). But, this didn't matter to me, because I only have the one computer, and don't also need wireless connectivity.

    Recently, I wanted to try out the Netflix / Wii streaming movie thing, so I changed my connection to

    DSL line into Modem, Ethernet out of Modem into wireless router, Ethernet out of open port of router into computer.

    The problem is this:
    My internet access is now much, much slower. Video hangs up, some pages take forever to load, etc. (The wireless part seems to work just fine for streaming from Netflix / Wii.) If I was using the wireless connection for my computer, I would expect it to be slower. But, I'm hardwired directly in. It's a cheap Belkin router that is about a year old.

    So, my questions are these:
    1. Is there something simple I should try, that is not specific to the hardware I'm using? Or is this just a case of, "Oh yeah, once you go through a router, it slows way down" kind of thing?
    2. Could my router be that bad to slow things down that much? I remember several years ago there was some 10/100 differences on networks, but I thought that was a thing of the past.
    3. What specific info do I need to come back with to figure out the problem? Modem and Routher model no's? OS? Other hardware info?

    I haven't gone through tech support yet, because they'll just want to sell me one of their combination modem / routers, or make me reload irrelevant stuff. I wanted to see if there was some kind of common knowledge thing I wasn't doing, first.
     
  8. theking23

    theking23
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    141
    My Macbook Pro (the model that came out before the new sleek awesome looking ones) gets really really hot really fast. Is there anything to do about this or just deal with it?
     
  9. Nettdata

    Nettdata
    Expand Collapse
    Mr. Toast

    Reputation:
    3,007
    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2006
    Messages:
    26,810
    Make sure that you've got all the latest software updates.

    Mac's used to run full-bore at 100% when they were doing anything with Flash. The latest OS updates and Flash updates really help with that.

    And it might do you well to take it in for a cleaning. Dust can build up inside the laptop, and can trap heat and screw up the cooling really quickly. A simple cleaning (high-pressure air wash even) can make a huge difference.

    Next time it's running hot, open up your activity monitor and see if the CPU is pegged. See what app is pegged, and update it. Some old extensions that you may have installed may not be updated to deal with the newer OS version, and could be thrashing a lot.

    Also, the case is an active part of the cooling system, so be sure to not place it on cloth or something else that will block air flow. Keeping it on a nice hard surface while you're using it can make all the difference.
     
  10. foredeck

    foredeck
    Expand Collapse
    Village Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2009
    Messages:
    27
    I was given a dead Blackberry 8830 last week since the guy had a free upgrade anyways. So, was wondering if anyone knows how to revive it.

    It went swimming, I don't think it was submerged a lot, but I don't know the details. He charged it, tried to turn it on a few times, then gave up. When you plug it in, the red light goes on, but the screen stays black.

    Is there any hope for it?
     
  11. theking23

    theking23
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    141
    Find the water damage stickers and peel them off and bring it to the phone company and tell them it doesn't work and you don't know what happened to it. Always worked for me with water damage.
     
  12. carl24

    carl24
    Expand Collapse
    Average Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2009
    Messages:
    59
    Location:
    China
    Hi, with hesitation, I downloaded MP3 Validator. Hesitation because I knew it would detect a lot of problems (I have 19350 songs) and I am too lazy to fix so many tracks and I don't think I am knowledgeable enough to properly use this program 100% or even 90%.

    http://www.gromkov.com/faq/repair/mp3_validator.html

    Synopsis of program:
    1. MP3 Validator (also known as MP3val) is a small, high-speed tool for MPEG audio files validation and for fixing problems. It was primarily designed for verification of MPEG 1 Layer III (MP3) files, but supports also other MPEG versions and layers. It can be useful for finding corrupted files

    2. Quick and easy recovery from errors. MP3 decoders are very tolerant to inconsistencies in the input file. Most players even don't report to user about stream errors. So, as a rule, user doesn't know whether his files are valid or broken. But using broken files can eventually lead to problems during playback on certain software/hardware.

    3. MP3val can also fix most of the problems. Be careful: although MP3val can repair even files with MPEG stream errors, it is recommended that you find a "good" copy of this file, because a "click" sound usually can't be removed, the repaired file will only look like good.

    So my question is after using the program on about 50 albums I often get these errors:

    "Wrong number of MPEG data bytes specified in Xing header" This is the most frequent.

    or this: "MPEG stream error, resynchronized successfully"

    or "It seems that file is truncated or there is garbage at the end of the file"

    But what exactly do these three things mean? Is it really bad, or something minor? Do I need to fix this problem before putting these tracks on the ipod? I noticed that the tracks (a few) that were working incorrectly on the IPod showed errors in the mp3val.
     
  13. Tuesday

    Tuesday
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    3
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    361
    Picked up an iPod touch today. I need to get a case for it. Highest priority is protection. I do not want to bust this screen and blow $400 like that. I use my ipod in my car, at work, while I'm riding my motorcycle (in my pants/jacket pocket). Not sure if I want to go full otterbox, but again, protection is most important. I also have a dock for my home theater I'll use it with.
    Kind of a personal preference - soft covers/rubber feel like they offer better protection from drops, but that's just perception. A hard cover would actually be more useful for sliding in/out of my pockets when riding. Thoughts?

    What are you idiots' opinions and suggestions? Green and e-fellatio as thanks.
     
  14. $100T2

    $100T2
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    108
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,966
    Does anyone know how to A) burn .flac files to CD so they can be played in my car, B) convert .flac files so they can be burned to DVD and played in my other car's DVD/MP3/WMA player, and C) convert .flac files so they can go on my portable MP3 player?

    Thanks!
     
  15. effinshenanigans

    effinshenanigans
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    145
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,950
    Location:
    CT
    I'm pretty sure that I've got a virus on my laptop at home. I noticed the hard drive was working harder than usual, considering I was just checking email. I brought up the task manager and noticed that wuauclt.exe was running. I didn't recognize it, so I looked it up and found out that it's associated with Windows AutoUpdate. Just to be on the safe side, I went to open my Norton Security to do a system scan and it wouldn't open. Not a good sign.

    I restarted the computer to see if it would work after the restart and wuauclt.exe was running again, except now there was the regular file and one of the same name with all capital letters. I ended both processes. I tried launching Norton again with no success, and shut down the computer.

    After reading on here for a little bit, I decided that I'm going to download and run Avast, as well as the malwarebytes Anti-malware. Is there anything else that I should be doing?
     
  16. TJMax

    TJMax
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    52
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    471
    Location:
    North Las Vegas
    First, see if your MP3 player can already play FLAC. If not, then the solution to all of the above is going to be converting them to MP3. You may want to keep the FLAC files after you do this for the higher quality, though if your ears are anything like mine you might not notice a difference between FLAC and 320 kbs MP3.

    As for converting them, there are several free programs a Google search will turn up. I was going to recommend whatever I use, but then realized that I haven't replaced it since I nuked-and-paved my drive a couple of months back. I know Foobar 2000 does it and that a lot of people like it a lot, but I have little experience with it.
     
  17. Durbanite

    Durbanite
    Expand Collapse
    Eeyore

    Reputation:
    39
    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2009
    Messages:
    1,145
    Location:
    Weymouth, U.K. (formerly Durban, South Africa)
    I use Free MP3/WMA converter. I *think* it might work for .flac files. I did a search on CNET and found this one also - seems to support .flac to .mp3 conversion.
     
  18. Dcc001

    Dcc001
    Expand Collapse
    New Bitch On Top

    Reputation:
    434
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,736
    Location:
    Sarnia, Ontario
    After almost 15 years with a hotmail email address, I've switched to gmail. Everything's golden, except one thing. How do I change my MSN Live Messenger email address? Do I have to create a new account with the gmail address and import the contact list? I can't find a "change email" function in the menus, and google isn't helping much, either.
     
  19. scootah

    scootah
    Expand Collapse
    New mod

    Reputation:
    12
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    1,750
    Don't bother changing. Just set your gmail account to collect the email from that account and then ignore the hotmail account.

    Google has instructions - It's ludicrously easy.
     
  20. Dcc001

    Dcc001
    Expand Collapse
    New Bitch On Top

    Reputation:
    434
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,736
    Location:
    Sarnia, Ontario
    Gmail account is handled. It's being able to use MSN's messenger service that I'm stuck on.