The Tech Help Thread

If my laptop is plugged in to my ethernet cable from my DSL modem, my connection is fast and steady. Watching video is fine, downloads, and whatever are fast.

But, if I use my wireless router, things get funky. (Belkin 54g router, and the wifi connection built-in to my Compaq Presario CQ60 -Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g) If I'm just browsing I don't notice anything. But, if I try and watch a YouTube video, or download music on Rhapsody, it just quits. Like, if the video starts playing, the progress bar makes it about 20 seconds, and then just stops. I don't mean that it starts to get jumpy or hangs for a minute. It just stops, and will not continue past that point. And, it got to that point really fast, and then just quit. Same thing in Rhapsody - song is downloading, then about half way in, it just quits, never to finish.

If I plug in, I have no problems. So, is there a setting that makes this happen? It's almost like there's some intentional limit on wireless downloading. What things should I check first, or where do I start to correct this?

Edit: to add. When this stop or hang up happens, my wireless connection hasn't ceased. I can go browse other websites, load content, and get no error messages.

 

On top of what Binary said, try changing your DNS settings to statically assigned IP addresses. Use 4.2.2.1 or 8.8.8.8 (both Google DNS addresses) as your primary DNS, and use whatever your ISP provided DNS address as the secondary. I've seen this happen before with YouTube related video issues, and this generally resolves it.

 

If I had to guess I would say its some type of a hardware problem. Even if its not, I am not a huge fan of the window restore utility. Your best bet would be to backup via a linux live boot. Then wipe and reinstall everything. You mentioned that it was still under warranty. You could back it up and then make hp or whoever fix it.

 

Thanks, all. I will try the suggestions tonight, and see what happens.

Also, I meant to indicate in my initial post that I was running Vista, but somehow I edited this out before I hit submit. (and I figured that running IE8 didn't matter with Rhapsody . . .)

It's nice to get actual useful suggestions here, instead of waiting / dealing with Tech Support somewhere, and not have the first suggestion be to reinstall my operating system. Thanks again.

 

<a class="postlink" href="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=convert+FLAC+to+mp3+freeware" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://lmgtfy.com/?q=convert+FLAC+to+mp3+freeware</a>

I kid, I kid.

Here you go: linky

 

So I've finally got my XBox 360 fully integrated into my LAN, and can watch TV shows and movies stored on my PC on my 47" TV. I can watch anything that I downloaded, at least; any files that I ripped myself result in a codec error when I try to play it, with the message: Status code:80-c00df242 .

I googled that error code, but haven't had any luck so far. All video files, playable and unplayable, are in AVI format. So far as I can tell from my Google searches, the problem lies in the audio codec being used. I tried using DVDFab to re-encode the AVI files; going to WMV or "XBox" gets stuck at 13.11% (I gave it over twelve hours in one case). Re-encoding it as another AVI creates a much smaller, garbage file with all of the audio from the original, but corrupted video.

So... How should I rip DVDs so that they'll be streamable to my XBox? Thanks!

 

You could always use TVersity which re-encodes them in a usable format

 

Googled just the code, and the first link yielded results. Once you rip them, you can convert them to MPEG-4, or H.264 using this: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/Xbox360/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/Xbox360/</a>

 

Got an issue with my MP3 player, and I'm hoping one of you will be my hero.

I own a 120gb Zune and it is awesome. Until about a month ago when I dropped the motherfucker in my cocktail. I immediately tried to turn it off but because of my lowered reaction time due to Bushmills I apparently wasn't fast enough.
To make matters worse I had heard just days earlier that Microsoft was abandoning Zune because they couldn't compete with Apple anymore in the MP3 market. Which I'm guessing means that I'm fucked.

After letting it dry, I tried turning it on a couple days later... And got a contact support message, and when I went to Zune's website it told me that I had to send it in because it was fucked.
After making a phonecall to them, they told me that with the error message I had I would have to send it in,,,, in which I would have to downgrade to the lower capacity unit. Which I refuse to do. I can still get my same size on Ebay, Best Buy, or wherever. I'm just assuming that Zune doesn't have any more of them.

My questions to you good folk is this:

1)Is there a 3rd party fix it place that I can send it to be repaired? (I've heard of these types of that fix damaged Apple products) Or should I just assume since Microsoft/Zune is telling me that I have to replace it,,, to just replace it?

2)Since Microsoft is not in the MP3 market anymore,,, would it be best to get a completely different model of player? (I've had 3 different Ipods before, and did not like them at all. I've also had another brand that was a present but are not in business anymore, but was also a piece of shit. Zune by far has been the best Mp3 player that I've ever owned, mainly because I'm a Microsoft user not because I like them, but simply because I've never owned an Mac. I assume that if I owned a Mac my experience with the Ipod product would have been great and wonderful. But unless my next PC or laptop was Apple, I'll never buy an Ipod again.)

 

Can anyone tell me why the form won't display the Screenname and email address labels:

Spoiler

Code:

import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;

public class LoLRegister extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
	//Declare output stream
	DataOutputStream output;

  	//Construct a panel for each row
  	JPanel firstRow = new JPanel();
  	JPanel secondRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel thirdRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel fourthRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel fifthRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel sixthRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel seventhRow = new JPanel();
   	JPanel eighthRow = new JPanel();

   	//Construct a panel for the fields and buttons
  	JPanel fieldPanel = new JPanel();
  	JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();

   	//Construct labels and text boxes
   	JLabel screenNameLabel = new JLabel("Screen Name:                         ");
      	JTextField screenName = new JTextField(15);
   	JLabel emailAdressLabel = new JLabel("Email Adress:                       ");
      	JTextField emailAdress = new JTextField(10);
	JLabel firstNameLabel = new JLabel("First Name:                ");
      	JTextField firstName = new JTextField(10);
   	JLabel lastNameLabel = new JLabel("Last Name:");
      	JTextField lastName = new JTextField(20);
   	JLabel countryLabel = new JLabel("Country:");
      	JTextField country = new JTextField(35);
   	JLabel cityLabel = new JLabel("City:                           ");
   		JTextField city = new JTextField(10);
  	JLabel stateLabel = new JLabel("State:");
     	JTextField state = new JTextField(2);

	//Construct button
   	JButton submitButton = new JButton("Submit");

   	public static void main(String[] args)
   	{
		//set the look and feel of the interface
		try
		{
			UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel");

		}
		catch(Exception e)
		{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"The UIManager could not set the Look and Feel for this application.","Error",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
		}

		LoLRegister f = new LoLRegister();
      	f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
	    f.setSize(450,300);
      	f.setTitle("League of Legends User Information");
      	f.setResizable(false);
      	f.setLocation(200,200);
      	f.setVisible(true);
   	}

   	public LoLRegister()
   	{
     	Container c = getContentPane();
		c.setLayout((new BorderLayout()));
        fieldPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(8,1));
        FlowLayout rowSetup = new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT,5,3);
           	firstRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	secondRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	thirdRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	fourthRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	fifthRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	sixthRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	seventhRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
           	eighthRow.setLayout(rowSetup);
        buttonPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));

     	//Add fields to rows
     	firstRow.add(screenName);
     	firstRow.add(emailAdress);

     	secondRow.add(screenName);
     	secondRow.add(emailAdress);

     	thirdRow.add(firstNameLabel);
     	thirdRow.add(lastNameLabel);


     	fourthRow.add(firstName);
     	fourthRow.add(lastName);

     	fifthRow.add(countryLabel);

     	sixthRow.add(country);

     	seventhRow.add(cityLabel);
	 	seventhRow.add(stateLabel);

	 	eighthRow.add(city);
	 	eighthRow.add(state);

     	//Add rows to panel
     	fieldPanel.add(firstRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(secondRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(thirdRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(fourthRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(fifthRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(sixthRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(seventhRow);
     	fieldPanel.add(eighthRow);


     	//Add button to panel
     	buttonPanel.add(submitButton);

     	//Add panels to frame
     	c.add(fieldPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
     	c.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

     	//Add functionality to buttons
     	submitButton.addActionListener(this);

     	//Get the current date and open the file
		Date today = new Date();
      	SimpleDateFormat myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMddyyyy");
		String filename = "Users" + myFormat.format(today);

     	try
     	{
        	output = new DataOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(filename));

     	}
     	catch(IOException io)
     	{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"The program could not create a storage location. Please check the disk drive and then run the program again.","Error",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

			System.exit(1);
     	}

	  	addWindowListener(
		 	new WindowAdapter()
			 {
				public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
				{
				  	int answer = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Are you sure you want to exit and submit the file?", "File Submission", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
				   	if (answer == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
				   		System.exit(0);
				}
			 }
	  );
   	}

  	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
   	{
      	String arg = e.getActionCommand();

		if (checkFields())
		{
    		try
      		{
				output.writeUTF(screenName.getText());
				output.writeUTF(emailAdress.getText());
				output.writeUTF(firstName.getText());
				output.writeUTF(lastName.getText());
				output.writeUTF(country.getText());
				output.writeUTF(city.getText());
				output.writeUTF(state.getText());

				JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"The payment information has been saved.","Submission Successful",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
			}
			catch(IOException c)
			{
				System.exit(1);
			}
			clearFields();
		}
   	}

	public boolean checkFields()
	{
      	if ((screenName.getText().compareTo("")<1)     ||
            (emailAdress.getText().compareTo("")<1)      	||
            (firstName.getText().compareTo("")<1) 	||
            (lastName.getText().compareTo("")<1)  	||
            (country.getText().compareTo("")<1)		||
            (city.getText().compareTo("")<1)      	||
            (state.getText().compareTo("")<1)     	)
      	{
			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"You must complete all fields.","Data Entry Error",JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
			return false;
      	}
      	else
      	{
		  	return true;
	  	}
  	}

	public void clearFields()
	{
		//Clear fields and reset the focus
		screenName.setText("");
		emailAdress.setText("");
		firstName.setText("");
		lastName.setText("");
		country.setText("");
		city.setText("");
		state.setText("");
		screenName.requestFocus();
	}
}

 

So, I just replaced my laptop with a new Eurocom Panther 3, running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

The problem: I cannot upload pictures to Facebook to save my life. I tried IE, Chrome, Firefox, all to no avail. They start processing but appear to just time out. Likewise, I tried uploading using Windows Photo Gallery Live as well as an add-in program called LiveUpload, which also works through the gallery.

The most success I've had was with Liveupload, but it also manages to upload one to two pics at a time; the rest all fail saying Facebook did not respond to request. Any thoughts?

On my older computer, running Vista Ultimate, I was only able to get pictures to upload reliably using an old version of Safari. Pictures are 3 to 5 megs in size, but my understanding with the FB uploader is that compression is done locally, then pictures are uploaded.

 

Have you tried just selecting the pictures you want, right clicking them, and selecting Resize Pictures...? You can select a much smaller resolution (that will still take up the entire screen), and have images that are a tenth of that size (or smaller).

Doing that will not resize the original picture, but create a copy like Image01 (Medium).jpg/png/etc.

 

Okay, I inherited a DVR expander for my HD DVR in my home theater system over the weekend. Formatted it fine, system detected it, etc. When it goes to record a show, it gets about 5 minutes into recording and then completely shits the bed. Has anyone else had this occur? If so, what was done to resolve it?

System Info:
Time Warner Cable - Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HDC
Apricorn 1TB DVR expander via eSATA

I know that certain DVR units don't work well, but this was hooked up at my parents place (they got the full house system, fuckers), and worked fine recording shows.

What gives?

 

My dad has recently got himself a PS3 and wants to use it to browse the internet. I've shown him how, but he finds the onscreen keyboard that you use via the controller a bit clunky, and would prefer an actual keyboard and mouse set up-preferably wireless.

I started checking things out online, and I keep coming across conflicting info. Some say they work fine, some say that the PS3 doesn't support bluetooth keyboards and mice. Others say that as long as they are connected to the PS3 via a dongle, they should work straight out of the box. Once again the internet has confused me, so I turn to you good people.

I've found a keyboard and mouse set up (BCL 2.4g wireless RF8888) for pretty cheap, and it also comes with a dongle-any ideas whether this means it's a safe bet or not?

Cheers people.