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[NotBacon]

my iPhone finally stopped working today, its old so its fine. So I need a new phone but there are certain things my new phone must have. so PLEASE throw some ideas out because I need a new phone today

1) can see gifs(a lot of phones cant)
2) good battery life
3) nice screen but not massive
4) fair amount of storage space
5) reasonable app store
6) preferably not an iPhone

my carrier is AT&T

So an android phone. Throw a dart at the board, all of the flagships are fine.

 

[NakedCosmonaut]

I suppose here is as good a place as any to find help on this and I do need it. My sound has recently become stuttery, crackling, and sort of metallic sounding, maybe 'tinny' is the word. I've tried reinstalling and updating my drivers but nothing has changed, if anything it's slowly gotten worse. Sound is equally boned through both HDMI and headphones. Oddly enough when I play sound, say a Youtube video, it will often go back to normal, sometimes I have to pause for a short time first. However, doing that yesterday resulted in a hard lock in the middle of a video.

I'm on Windows 8.1 64 bit
i5-2500k CPU
Radeon HD 6800
12 GB RAM

I don't know if I'm dealing with failing hardware or some sort of driver conflict or what. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: There was fairly nasty bit of dust between the heat sink and its fan, but that didn't help, it initially seemed fine but then it was right back to cracklin'. For a few minutes there it was perfect though.

Edit 2: I ran LatencyMon which informed me of all sorts of latency issues. I then tried DriverBooster, apparently I still had old drivers despite updating them. New ones weren't being installed I guess? Seemed to fix it for about five seconds....

Edit 3: Flashed the BIOS, LatencyMon still reads high DPC issues but audio seems to be fine now?

 

[XAL]

My computer did a Windows security/critical system update at 2am last night (4/15/2014) and now my computer is stuck in a bluescreen/boot manager loop.

I'm using:
Win7Home 64bit
ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS/ intel i52500K/ GTX 580 (all drivers current)
I have no external drives attached.

So here's what happens:
I startup, it gets to the windows loading screen, flashes a bluescreen (for a milisecond) and restarts with 2 options at boot manager: repair pc and start windows normally.

Restarting windows normally repeats the process above (as does safe mode, if I can even get to it - f8 brings up a UEFI boot list 99% of the time), going into repair mode states that it was unable to fix the problem, and trying to restore to any restore point fails (as a restart immediately kicks me back to square 1).

The error data from repair shows me this:

ProblemEventName: startuprepairoffline
ProblemSignature01: 6.1.7600.16385
ProblemSignature02: 6.1.7600.16385
ProblemSignature03: unknown
ProblemSignature04: 21200024
ProblemSignature05: autofailover
ProblemSignature06: 3 (has now climbed to 10 # of failed repairs)
ProblemSignature07: baddriver
OSVersion: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
localeID: 1033

I found a guy with a similar problem here:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/for...to-start-system-repair-cant-discover-problem/

chkdsk and bootrec.exe display no problems
sfc/ scannow displays no problems as well (or tells me that I have a repair pending and that I should restart, doing this kicks me back to square 1)

I tried using FRST per the guy in that thread, but it just says that it is unable to find: CMD: Del /q C:\Windows\Tasks\At*.job

It seems like this problem is 100% repairable, but nothing is working for me right now.
I would appreciate any help greatly.

Here is the FRST log
https://mega.co.nz/#!QYIGxAwA!GtlYA8SNt-WoHXT9NnSuIZDI8ntJhQTxxyRWVJpo4GY

 

[xaosslug]

OK, I'm still stuck on this problem. I figured I could do a fresh install of Win8.1 and start afresh... but it's not working! I have win8.1 downloaded to a USB flash drive, and when I try to boot it up in my ultrabook it sits on the little blue windows screen before it restarts and I'm back to the bsod. u_u

any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Omni]

My Surface went weird today. I was browsing another forum and then the screen went all weird. I had to restart it to fix. Should I be worried about this? It's only a month or so old and this is the first time it has happened.

 

[tekumseh]

Alright, I need some help, please! My wife has a Dell laptop for work and until 3 or 4 days ago, it worked just fine with my wireless router. Out of the blue, it now won't connect to the router unless I set the router up with no security in place. I've checked drivers, rebooted everything each time, renamed the router and changed the password protection, and still cannot get it working. The particulars about the setup are below:

Router: Netgear N300 - using the WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] security options
Dell network adapter: 1705 802.11b/g/n(2.4ghz)
Laptop running Windows 8.1

I'm pretty frustrated and desperate to sort this out, so any help would be tremendously appreciated. In the event that I haven't provided enough setup information, please just let me know, and I'll provide whatever I can to help you help me. Thanks!

 

[Skyfireblaze]

A friend of my dad recently asked for some help, he has a old Sony VGN-N38M/W Vaio notebook and asked if I could upgrade this thing with a 500gb HDD, 4gb RAM and Windows 7. He provided me a Windows 7 DVD so that was all fine and while I never replaced the HDD on a laptop I'm sure I can manage this but I was curious about something:

I googled first and came across a data-sheet for said laptop that says it only accepts up to 2GB RAM, can that be? I know this model is already pretty dated but it find it surprising that a laptop that came with Vista pre-installed would be capped at 2gb RAM o.o But then again I know little about laptop hardware.

 

[scogoth]

It will probably work. Usually manufacturers qualify a list of RAM that is guaranteed to work and at that time there were no 4GB dimms to qualify so they only officially support up to 2GB. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work that sucks but then you just return the RAM

 

[Skyfireblaze]

It will probably work. Usually manufacturers qualify a list of RAM that is guaranteed to work and at that time there were no 4GB dimms to qualify so they only officially support up to 2GB. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work that sucks but then you just return the RAM

Hmm okay I see, well I will ask my dad's friend first what he says because it will already take till next week till the RAM arrives due to easter holidays and I don't know when he wants it back :/ Thanks! Oh and there is one other thing I'm confused about, the laptop itself lists its memory type as DDR2-SD RAM but when I look at my online-shop for Notebook RAM the only type available is DDR2 SO-DIMM. Looking at the form-factor that's the correct one right?

 

[ambientmystic]

Hmm okay I see, well I will ask my dad's friend first what he says because it will already take till next week till the RAM arrives due to easter holidays and I don't know when he wants it back :/ Thanks! Oh and there is one other thing I'm confused about, the laptop itself lists its memory type as DDR2-SD RAM but when I look at my online-shop for Notebook RAM the only type available is DDR2 SO-DIMM. Looking at the form-factor that's the correct one right?

It's just another way of calling it. The full notation would be DDR 2 SO-DIMM SDRAM.

SDRAM can be in the usual DIMM sized modules (full sized RAM modules for desktops) or the SO-DIMM sized modules which are used for laptops/mobos with laptop RAM modules. What you want is the SO-DIMM modules.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

It's just another way of calling it. The full notation would be DDR 2 SO-DIMM SDRAM.

SDRAM can be in the usual DIMM sized modules (full sized RAM modules for desktops) or the SO-DIMM sized modules which are used for laptops/mobos with laptop RAM modules. What you want is the SO-DIMM modules.

Alright thanks that makes sense, I opened the RAM cover now and saw them, yeah they are the same size

Though there was no sign of the HDD so I googled around and while I didn't find info on that specific model I saw a very similar one where you have to unscrew the entire backplate to reach the HDD and I feel quite uncomfortable about that one :/

I can build desktop PCs with closed eyes half-asleep but laptop hardware seems so fragile that I fear the whole thing will fall apart when I unscrew the backplate, anyone have any experience working with laptop hardware that can say if my fears are justified or not?

 

[scogoth]

Alright thanks that makes sense, I opened the RAM cover now and saw them, yeah they are the same size

Though there was no sign of the HDD so I googled around and while I didn't find info on that specific model I saw a very similar one where you have to unscrew the entire backplate to reach the HDD and I feel quite uncomfortable about that one :/

I can build desktop PCs with closed eyes half-asleep but laptop hardware seems so fragile that I fear the whole thing will fall apart when I unscrew the backplate, anyone have any experience working with laptop hardware that can say if my fears are justified or not?

Its not that much different, just be extra careful not to lose screws and make sure you have a system to know what screw goes back where. I usually layout the screws in the same pattern that they are laid out in the case.

 

[drspeedy]

looking for some help from iOS/bluetooth GAF-

I'm using an iPhone5 running 7.0.6, and the bluetooth A2DP transmitter in my car is driving me nuts... It's similar to this one

Here's the issue:

• 25% of the time I get in the car the phone automatically sees the BT, connects and off we go. Awesome.
  
• 25% of the time BT will start off fine for 3-5 minutes, and then stop randomly for reasons unknown to me, and I have to go into settings and re-enter the PIN
  
• The other 50% of the time I have to go into settings and re-enter the PIN before it will connect at all. Pretty much every morning I do this, but in the afternoons when leaving work it could be any one of the 3 scenarios- fine, stops, or enter PIN.

I assume the transmitter has a time out feature, which is why morning seems to be the worst time, but the device is on 100% of the time (probably not the best for my battery, but hey...) so I don't know what is going on.

I find no rhyme or reason to it- and when I walk close to the car with my phone, it connects automatically 100% of the time, even if I'm using another audio source (I discovered that fact when a call on my BT earpiece swapped from my phone to my car unexpectedly. I swapped it back to ear and when I ended the call I had to pair the *&%@ car BT again).

Any way to prevent this, GAF? Can I force the phone to remember the PIN somehow? Is it A2DP music that's causing the issue and not voice? I'm stumped.

 

[Horseticuffs]

Tech gods,I beg thee. My girlfriend brought her PC to my house and not the monitor so I could fix a really simple issue. Problem is I go get a spare HDMI cable to hook it up to my monitor and I see it accepts this kind of plug;

I had an old monitor from back in the day but plugged it in and it didn't work. Her PC has no HDMI out. It's been so long and Google isn't helping, oddly enough. What's this type of connection called so I can order an adapter?

 

[Pickles Spill]

Tech gods,I beg thee. My girlfriend brought her PC to my house and not the monitor so I could fix a really simple issue. Problem is I go get a spare HDMI cable to hook it up to my monitor and I see it accepts this kind of plug; I had an old monitor from back in the day but plugged it in and it didn't work. Her PC has no HDMI out. It's been so long and Google isn't helping, oddly enough. What's this type of connection called so I can order an adapter?

It's a VGA cable.

 

[Horseticuffs]

It's a VGA cable.

Oh, god. My dork cred is in shambles. I'm literally ashamed of myself Thanks so much!

 

[Goddard]

My sound card creates a crackling and popping noise after my computer is on for a few hours. I created an EMI shield and put it on the back of my sound card, but it didn't help, any thoughts?

 

[Professor Renegade]

Hey guys, I have a problem with Microsoft Office.

Today I tried to open a word document, only to find that instead of Word 2013 loading up as usual, I am greeted with a choose program window that recommends that I open my word doc with WordPad. I look at the other programs that I can use, but Word 2013 isn't on the list nor will it appear if use the browse option.

At this point I know that something is up, so I try to open Word on it's own instead of directly opening a document, only to get this message:

I tried googling this problem and found that it can usually be solved with the run command: winword.exe /r. Tried this as well, butt I got a message saying that "Windows cannot find winword.exe"

So then I went to the control panel and found that Office has a repair feature. I started it up, but I was given error code 30029-4.

I figure that I need to uninstall it at this point, but even though I bought Office 2013 legitimately it did not come with a CD, installation was done through the internet. I want to be careful when I do this, I don't want to have to end up buying this shit all over again.
What should I do GAF?

EDIT: Seems to be working now.

 

[Aesius]

Is intermittent micro stuttering/lag while typing and doing normal functions in Windows usually caused by the hard drive?

I'm getting it big time in Microsoft Word and in Windows in general. Already tried formatting my hard drive, reinstalling Windows 7, etc. Still there.

Should I consider replacing the HDD?

 

[Rufus]

First you should keep an eye on Task Manager to see if something is eating a lot of CPU or RAM. If the latter runs out your OS starts paging, meaning it writes the excess data to your harddrive and that can slow things down a LOT.

I just had Flash cause that for no apparent reason. 1.5GB of RAM gobbled up even though I have barely any flash open (barrings some small ads). It's weird.

 

[Aesius]

First you should keep an eye on Task Manager to see if something is eating a lot of CPU or RAM. If the latter runs out your OS starts paging, meaning it writes the excess data to your harddrive and that can slow things down a LOT.

I just had Flash cause that for no apparent reason. 1.5GB of RAM gobbled up even though I have barely any flash open (barrings some small ads). It's weird.

This is a fresh Windows install, so I don't think there's anything in the background gobbling up resources.

Plus, it has happened even with <800 MB ram being used by Windows and CPU usage <10%.

 

[ambientmystic]

This is a fresh Windows install, so I don't think there's anything in the background gobbling up resources.

Plus, it has happened even with <800 MB ram being used by Windows and CPU usage <10%.

Open up Resource Monitor in one window, and keep Word open in another window/perform other tasks. Switch over to the Disk tab, and have a look at the disk activity while the microstutters are occuring. Be on the look out for any abnormal processes with high disk activity.

To completely rule out your HDD (bad sectors etc) is physically at fault, you could always perform a chkdsk /r operation from the cmd. Do it overnight though, it takes ages to finish.

Another thing you can do is to use a program like dpclat and check for any abnormal spikes in the DPC Latency of your system. If they occur (red/yellow spikes), your drivers could be at fault.

 

[Sykotik]

I've been having trouble lately with my PC hard-locking or resetting randomly.

Nothing is OC'd, temperatures are all perfectly fine. I scanned my RAM and SSD for errors, nothing. Event Viewer doesn't show any error other than unexpectedly shutting down, as far as I can find.

Biostar TZ77A - latest firmware, latest drivers I could find.
i7 2600k - not OC'd, idles at 30c
Crucial M500 SSD - latest firmware - no SMART, or bad sectors.
AMD 7970 - Latest drivers. idles at 35c
16GB RAM - no errors on 1 pass of memtest, volt. is set correctly
700w PSU - No way of testing this atm.
2TB HDD for games/data, no suspicious activity here.

The crashing happens, as far as I can tell, completely randomly. It's happened many times but I haven't noticed any pattern to it. I can play games for extended periods of time without issue. Watch HD content, write to the drives, etc, with no issue.

This is what happens; the system locks up, usually accompanied by my keyboard and mouse losing power for a moment and then regaining power. Sometimes they lose power indefinitely. If I unplug then and re-plug them in they don't re-connect, the system is locked. The screen is frozen as it was, no movement or activity. Audio stops. I have to reset the PC via manual button.

---It froze at this point in my post, only thing I was doing was listening to music on Spotify. I'm glad firefox saved it or I'd be pissed.

Reformatting and re-installing Windows 7 has no effect, it can freeze at any point.

Edit: I use a g15 keyboard, probably draws a bit more power than most KBs, so I switched with it a basic one, still happens. Mouse also draws more power than normal, but I can't find my extra to swap out.

 

[ambientmystic]

I've been having trouble lately with my PC hard-locking or resetting randomly.

Nothing is OC'd, temperatures are all perfectly fine. I scanned my RAM and SSD for errors, nothing. Event Viewer doesn't show any error other than unexpectedly shutting down, as far as I can find.

Biostar TZ77A - latest firmware, latest drivers I could find.
i7 2600k - not OC'd, idles at 30c
Crucial M500 SSD - latest firmware - no SMART, or bad sectors.
AMD 7970 - Latest drivers. idles at 35c
16GB RAM - no errors on 1 pass of memtest, volt. is set correctly
700w PSU - No way of testing this atm.
2TB HDD for games/data, no suspicious activity here.

The crashing happens, as far as I can tell, completely randomly. It's happened many times but I haven't noticed any pattern to it. I can play games for extended periods of time without issue. Watch HD content, write to the drives, etc, with no issue.

This is what happens; the system locks up, usually accompanied by my keyboard and mouse losing power for a moment and then regaining power. Sometimes they lose power indefinitely. If I unplug then and re-plug them in they don't re-connect, the system is locked. The screen is frozen as it was, no movement or activity. Audio stops. I have to reset the PC via manual button.

---It froze at this point in my post, only thing I was doing was listening to music on Spotify. I'm glad firefox saved it or I'd be pissed.

Reformatting and re-installing Windows 7 has no effect, it can freeze at any point.

Edit: I use a g15 keyboard, probably draws a bit more power than most KBs, so I switched with it a basic one, still happens. Mouse also draws more power than normal, but I can't find my extra to swap out.

If you've ruled out all of your other components, it's definitely got to be your PSU. Try swapping it out for another one and see whether it still happens.

 

[Sykotik]

If you've ruled out all of your other components, it's definitely got to be your PSU. Try swapping it out for another one and see whether it still happens.

Yeah, I suppose that is the next step. Too bad I live in a ho-dunk area. These tech issues always arise on the weekends, so I have to wait to have orders shipped.

 

[Sykotik]

Decided to google if Spotify causes hard-locks, and apparently it does. It may not be a hardware issue at all.

 

[Aesius]

Open up Resource Monitor in one window, and keep Word open in another window/perform other tasks. Switch over to the Disk tab, and have a look at the disk activity while the microstutters are occuring. Be on the look out for any abnormal processes with high disk activity.

To completely rule out your HDD (bad sectors etc) is physically at fault, you could always perform a chkdsk /r operation from the cmd. Do it overnight though, it takes ages to finish.

Another thing you can do is to use a program like dpclat and check for any abnormal spikes in the DPC Latency of your system. If they occur (red/yellow spikes), your drivers could be at fault.

Thanks for the reply.

No latency spikes with the DPC Latency Checker.

Here's what the Performance Monitor tab for the HD looks like:

Basically, when I'm typing in Word, the entire computer hangs for a second and nothing happens onscreen, and then after 2-3 seconds, it spits out all the characters I just typed. Does this every 8-10 seconds or so. Really annoying. It also hangs momentarily while opening/closing windows and programs, but not quite as often.

 

[ambientmystic]

Thanks for the reply.

No latency spikes with the DPC Latency Checker.

Here's what the Performance Monitor tab for the HD looks like:

Basically, when I'm typing in Word, the entire computer hangs for a second and nothing happens onscreen, and then after 2-3 seconds, it spits out all the characters I just typed. Does this every 8-10 seconds or so. Really annoying. It also hangs momentarily while opening/closing windows and programs, but not quite as often.

Now we're getting somewhere. Having a 1.4 MB/s disk I/O coupled with a 63% highest activity is definitely abnormal. It means that your HDD (or one ot them) is chugging unnecessarily hard for such a low throughput.

Next thing you want to do is to unplug all external hard drives from your PC. (if any, to isolate the cause). Then expand the "Disk Activity" section (it's closed in your screenshot) and when the microstutters occur, look for any file ops with abnormally high Response Times.

Here's an example of what a normal Disk Activity window should look like when your PC is idling (from my own laptop):-

Response times should be no more than 0 - 20 ms for file ops on your main drive, especially if you're not actively transferring files around/loading programs from your HDD. Notice that even with all the system file ops happening on my system, the Highest Activity % is still zero and response times are no more than 1 ms.

If any of them exceed the threshold, you've got a potentially faulty HDD on your hands. Verify it, using the chkdsk /r command, as I've mentioned in my previous post.

 

[Aesius]

Now we're getting somewhere. Having a 1.4 MB/s disk I/O coupled with a 63% highest activity is definitely abnormal. It means that your HDD (or one ot them) is chugging unnecessarily hard for such a low throughput.

Next thing you want to do is to unplug all external hard drives from your PC. (if any, to isolate the cause). Then expand the "Disk Activity" section (it's closed in your screenshot) and when the microstutters occur, look for any file ops with abnormally high Response Times.

Here's an example of what a normal Disk Activity window should look like when your PC is idling (from my own laptop):-

Response times should be no more than 0 - 20 ms for file ops on your main drive, especially if you're not actively transferring files around/loading programs from your HDD. Notice that even with all the system file ops happening on my system, the Highest Activity % is still zero and response times are no more than 1 ms.

If any of them exceed the threshold, you've got a potentially faulty HDD on your hands. Verify it, using the chkdsk /r command, as I've mentioned in my previous post.

I'm guessing these response times aren't good:

I'm already upgrading the CPU and RAM in this laptop. Should I just go ahead and buy a SSD to replace this HD?

Major thanks for your help, man!

 

[ambientmystic]

I'm guessing these response times aren't good:

I'm already upgrading the CPU and RAM in this laptop. Should I just go ahead and buy a SSD to replace this HD?

Major thanks for your help, man!

Yep, it's a goner.

Backup that HDD and replace it ASAP, especially if you've got precious personal data on it. Any decent SSD would be a nice upgrade over that failing drive.

Glad to have helped.

 

[accx]

My sound card creates a crackling and popping noise after my computer is on for a few hours. I created an EMI shield and put it on the back of my sound card, but it didn't help, any thoughts?

Driver issues or Hardware issue. If it's anything like my external sound card (Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6) then your sol basically. Some units work fine, most don't.
I'd RMA it or ask for better driver support but you know that's not gonna happen because sound card manufacturers seem to care fuck all about windows drivers.
What's the card? google it and see if there's an overwhelming amount of users with the same issue with the same card, then try returning it and get a card that has an overwhelming amount of satisfied users.
Also, if you don't absolutely need the ports, you don't need a sound card other than your onboard for most uses. If you need a card for music production you should get a usb card.
Internal cards that some manufacturers push out (creative, asus and so on) are not needed for anything.
I'm hesitant to link to Tek Syndicate because they're not always unbiased and sometimes gives outright shit advice but i feel that this actually is correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0

If you're just using your onboard, like Realtek, try removing the driver completely and just use the windows standard driver. It's fine and realteks driver are horrible.

EDIT:
If anyone else reads this, AVOID Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 soundcard if you're planning on using it on windows.
I can actually replicate my crackling by watching a bunch of (like maybe 50 or so?) youtube videos.
It also only happens on the 1/2 output. 3/4 output seems to be just fine. It's mindboggling and i spent 6 months trying to locate the problem (because i obsessed about DPC latency) when i should've just returned it to the store and researched for another card.


EDIT2: Will be going through the last page.

My Surface went weird today. I was browsing another forum and then the screen went all weird. I had to restart it to fix. Should I be worried about this? It's only a month or so old and this is the first time it has happened.

Looks similar to when a graphics card overheat tbh. I'd replace it if i could.

OK, I'm still stuck on this problem. I figured I could do a fresh install of Win8.1 and start afresh... but it's not working! I have win8.1 downloaded to a USB flash drive, and when I try to boot it up in my ultrabook it sits on the little blue windows screen before it restarts and I'm back to the bsod. u_u

any help would be much appreciated!

You never bothered to answer me in that thread. Did you do anything that i suggested?

Did you do a Memtest? create a usb stick with memtest and run that for a couple of hours.
I'm beginning to think that it's broken but i'm not sure since it could just be faulty sata settings.
Hm.. maybe the harddrive is broken? Were you able to pull the drive out, run it in another computer and pull files from it?

heya guys and gals -

I'm rebuilding my MAME cabinet and was donated an old work PC for the task. It's a couple of years old and was running Windows 7 Professional, nothing great but it'll run Street Fighter Alpha 2 just fine so what else could I want

However - since it's an old work machine, there's a login screen at the start that I need to type in a password to get through to the desktop. Not exactly what you want to see on a MAME cabinet.

I have the password so I can manually type it in and get to the desktop and from there run MAME, but what I want to know is - is there a way I can remove the requirement for the password to be entered?

The password I have is for the user account, not the administrator account.

Any ideas folks? Thanks!

yes. Hit Windows-key +R. Type in "netplwiz" without the "".
Uncheck "user needs to enter username bla bla...", Type in the Password and voila!
You'll need to change your power options settings as well if you're gonna have it go into hibernation/sleep mode.

 

[BasicMath]

Guy that had his Pc blow up or burn a week ago here. Thank you for the suggestions guys. I was able to find the issue.


Nothing seemed to be wrong until I Took it apart completely and found the cause. It was a molex to sata cable that was burned near the yellow wire. Theres a bubble like burn mark and the yellow cable is swollen. The Bd drive it was connected to also got a dark mark. I'm not sure if it even works. I'm unsure if I should blame it on the PSU or the cable. Multimeter actually reported OK readings, I believe. Im guessing and praying it was either the cable or the Bd drive at worst.


As for the Hdd drive dropping off from the OS, I think it's because one of the other sata cables was cut a bit. Not really that bad but significant enough to cause it to go on and off. Or it could just be dead, I have been giving that drive hell.

With that said, I'm thinking of just replacing cables all over and see hiw it goes. What do you guys think?

 

[accx]

Guy that had his Pc blow up or burn a week ago here. Thank you for the suggestions guys. I was able to find the issue.


Nothing seemed to be wrong until I Took it apart completely and found the cause. It was a molex to sata cable that was burned near the yellow wire. Theres a bubble like burn mark and the yellow cable is swollen. The Bd drive it was connected to also got a dark mark. I'm not sure if it even works. I'm unsure if I should blame it on the PSU or the cable. Multimeter actually reported OK readings, I believe. Im guessing and praying it was either the cable or the Bd drive at worst.


As for the Hdd drive dropping off from the OS, I think it's because one of the other sata cables was cut a bit. Not really that bad but significant enough to cause it to go on and off. Or it could just be dead, I have been giving that drive hell.

With that said, I'm thinking of just replacing cables all over and see hiw it goes. What do you guys think?

Yea every cable that has any damage on it what so ever should be removed immediately.
I would also consider backing everything up from that HDD and replacing it, and the PSU. and the Bluray Drive.
You should check for any burnt markings on the motherboard as well. I would consider replacing it as well if you find any.
I once had a fire in a PC when i overloaded the PSU (this was about 10 years ago). the 24-pin on the mobo was melted but the mobo in itself worked fine.. for 6 months until it totally broke down.
I'm not saying that's gonna happen to you but i would be vary of using any parts that's been in a fire.
Get a PSU that has all the required connections so you don't have to bother with adapters.


EDIT:

I just updated windows and whenever I try to boot in I get the error message "reboot and select proper boot device". Any help would be appreciated. Running windows 8.1 BTW.

Change your boot order in BIOS to the right drive?

Right this is doing my head in.

Every few weeks, my computer either blue screens or just refuses to turn on. I think both at the same time. It blue screened yesterday and then worked fine, this morning it was OK, now this evening it won't turn on.

It's a custom home built PC so I worry about it, my buddy has the exact same machine and hasn't had any issues. I feel like I should just take it to a repair shop but the fact it picks and chooses when its faulty makes it kinda tricky. What should I do?

It could be anything. Either take it to a repair shop or join in on the wonderful journey that is troubleshooting.
It sounds likely it would be your PSU, what brand is it?
Check your motherboards website, see if there's any Bios updates regarding stability.
Run memtest86 for several hours (8 is fine).
Driver issues? Unlikely since it seems to be hardware related.
Faulty wires? Maybe, reconnect everything (that goes for the wires inside the computer).
Overheating perhaps? Clean out the dust.

Can you list all the components?
Would you be able to return it to the company that custom built it or did you do it yourself?

Hi I am having problems updating my laptop. Every time I updated and try to restart my laptop after 30% it said that it failed to update and then reverts back. what is the problem, and how can I solve it? Thanks.

Try running disk cleanup on all drives to remove old Windows Update files and run again. Have sufficient space on your drives.

Hey guys I have a flash drive that was working fine, put a file on it from a Mac, then plugged it into a PC and it doesn't show anymore. I can only see it in disk management and it says that it is not partitioned. Can I recover the files or should I just reformat?

A relative removed the drive from the Mac without ejecting because it said "eject failed". Is that probably the reason for this?

This is a funny one because it's actually related to how Mac fucks up flash drives if they're not ejected properly. It won't be usable on the windows pc because of that. I think the same issue arise with mac not being able to read the flash drive if you don't eject it "properly" through windows as well but i can't really remember.
But yea, it's something to do with Mac's.
Here's an interesting link regarding it.

 

[itxaka]

Hey guys,

So suddenly my athlon X4 3,2Ghz is locked at 800Mhz. All the cores can't run higher than that.

Restored the motherboard settings just in case, but still nothing.

Any clue what could be?

EDIT: Doesn't seem to be a software issue as on Linux the cores are locked too.
EDIT: Fixed it by reflashing the motherboard...strange

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Its not that much different, just be extra careful not to lose screws and make sure you have a system to know what screw goes back where. I usually layout the screws in the same pattern that they are laid out in the case.

Thanks again, I will give it a try coming Tuesday and hope I don't mess anything up with the screws

 

[BasicMath]

Yea every cable that has any damage on it what so ever should be removed immediately.
I would also consider backing everything up from that HDD and replacing it, and the PSU. and the Bluray Drive.
You should check for any burnt markings on the motherboard as well. I would consider replacing it as well if you find any.
I once had a fire in a PC when i overloaded the PSU (this was about 10 years ago). the 24-pin on the mobo was melted but the mobo in itself worked fine.. for 6 months until it totally broke down.
I'm not saying that's gonna happen to you but i would be vary of using any parts that's been in a fire.
Get a PSU that has all the required connections so you don't have to bother with adapters.

Thanks. I'm actually disconnecting just about every PSU cable and removing it entirely from the PC. The only exceptions are the atx 24 pin, cpu 8 pin and a sata power cable. The rest are getting new replacements. I'm also pulling out the BD drive and the HDD for sure. I've checked the mobo and I don't see any burn marks.

And I really hope the same doesn't happen to me. I can't replace the PSU or the mobo right now. The PSU is definitely on my list, but I can't get it anytime soon.

 

[Akai__]

-I can't get this capture card to work with HDMI cables and the Xbox 360 Slim.
-It works perfectly fine with the included breakout cables and seperate Component cables.
-Doesn't work with the Black Magic Intensity Shuttle (USB 3.0) and HDMI cables, either.

Settings in Media Express:

Set output: HDMI & Component
Set input: HDMI Video & HDMI Audio
Video standard: 720p 59,94

Settings on Xbox 360 Slim:

Resolution: 720p
HDMI Color Space: Auto

I have tried other combinations of settings and all I get are black screens on my TV screen and on my preview screen in Media Express. The Xbox doesn't turn on and it doesn't output audio. After a while, I even get a blue screen on my PC. What am I doing wrong?

If I didn't provide enough information, please let me know. Any help, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[xaosslug]

You never bothered to answer me in that thread. Did you do anything that i suggested?

Did you do a Memtest? create a usb stick with memtest and run that for a couple of hours.
I'm beginning to think that it's broken but i'm not sure since it could just be faulty sata settings.
Hm.. maybe the harddrive is broken? Were you able to pull the drive out, run it in another computer and pull files from it?

hey, so I'm doing the memtest thing rn. It's been running for about an hour, and is still going. Here is a pic:

that's pretty dire... right?

also, yes I was able to remove the hdd and put it in an external enclosure, and connect it via usb to my other laptop and pull a bunch of files from it. Does that mean the hdd is OK?

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

hey, so I'm doing the memtest thing rn. It's been running for about an hour, and is still going. Here is a pic:



that's pretty dire... right?

also, yes I was able to remove the hdd and put it in an external enclosure, and connect it via usb to my other laptop and pull a bunch of files from it. Does that mean the hdd is OK?

You can stop memtest now. You didn't even have to run it for an hour, the moment it went red, it confirmed a bad RAM stick.

 

[xaosslug]

You can stop memtest now. You didn't even have to run it for an hour, the moment it went red, it confirmed a bad RAM stick.

oh, OK. Well that sucks. It only has one ram stick... does that mean if I replace it I'll be able to power up my computer?

would either of these be proper upgrades?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LDLV6S/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMO6WW4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[accx]

oh, OK. Well that sucks. It only has one ram stick... does that mean if I replace it I'll be able to power up my computer?

would either of these be proper upgrades?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LDLV6S/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMO6WW4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-Z-and-P-series/U310-RAM-Upgradable-Voided-Warranty/td-p/789923

READ THAT WHOLE THREAD.
The last comment will tell you that if you want to upgrade to 8gb, you'll need to flash the bios again, unless you have that version OR newer.
It also points to what ram that are recommended.
AND
It also tells you what bios settings you should be running PRE-installation of Windows.

 

[xaosslug]

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-Z-and-P-series/U310-RAM-Upgradable-Voided-Warranty/td-p/789923

READ THAT WHOLE THREAD.
The last comment will tell you that if you want to upgrade to 8gb, you'll need to flash the bios again, unless you have that version OR newer.
It also points to what ram that are recommended.
AND
It also tells you what bios settings you should be running PRE-installation of Windows.

my BIOS is version 65CN21WW, so I should be good no? >_<

i'm wondering if the time/cost of this would be cheaper than just buying a new ultrabook? LOL

EDIT: mmkay, so I went ahead and ordered the 8gb ram stick. I'm gonna try and see if this will help any. >_<

 

[Quick]

Is there a way I can wake my computer from sleep mode using a specific sound?

Think clapper, but with a recorded sound.

 

[accx]

my BIOS is version 65CN21WW, so I should be good no? >_<

i'm wondering if the time/cost of this would be cheaper than just buying a new ultrabook? LOL

EDIT: mmkay, so I went ahead and ordered the 8gb ram stick. I'm gonna try and see if this will help any. >_<

Yes, this will work.

See youtube on how to replace your RAM once you get it.

Is there a way I can wake my computer from sleep mode using a specific sound?

Think clapper, but with a recorded sound.

Not that i know of.. May i ask you why you would want that?

 

[L1ttle Brittle]

I got one for GAF.

Was using a USB mic for my PC and about a week ago it magically stopped registering it. The mic has no drivers and I checked all other drivers for my USB hub and audio card, all are up to date. I then attempted to use a 3.5mm jacked mic (3 seperate mics) and it will not pick up my voice at all but it sees the mic as being there. I am running windows 8.

The only thing I could think of is I installed DirectX 11.5 around that time. Anyone know if it is related to that?

 

[Quick]

Not that i know of.. May i ask you why you would want that?

Novelty. Purely for novelty.

 

[Sykotik]

I've been having trouble lately with my PC hard-locking or resetting randomly.

Nothing is OC'd, temperatures are all perfectly fine. I scanned my RAM and SSD for errors, nothing. Event Viewer doesn't show any error other than unexpectedly shutting down, as far as I can find.

Biostar TZ77A - latest firmware, latest drivers I could find.
i7 2600k - not OC'd, idles at 30c
Crucial M500 SSD - latest firmware - no SMART, or bad sectors.
AMD 7970 - Latest drivers. idles at 35c
16GB RAM - no errors on 1 pass of memtest, volt. is set correctly
700w PSU - No way of testing this atm.
2TB HDD for games/data, no suspicious activity here.

The crashing happens, as far as I can tell, completely randomly. It's happened many times but I haven't noticed any pattern to it. I can play games for extended periods of time without issue. Watch HD content, write to the drives, etc, with no issue.

This is what happens; the system locks up, usually accompanied by my keyboard and mouse losing power for a moment and then regaining power. Sometimes they lose power indefinitely. If I unplug then and re-plug them in they don't re-connect, the system is locked. The screen is frozen as it was, no movement or activity. Audio stops. I have to reset the PC via manual button.

---It froze at this point in my post, only thing I was doing was listening to music on Spotify. I'm glad firefox saved it or I'd be pissed.

Reformatting and re-installing Windows 7 has no effect, it can freeze at any point.

Edit: I use a g15 keyboard, probably draws a bit more power than most KBs, so I switched with it a basic one, still happens. Mouse also draws more power than normal, but I can't find my extra to swap out.

I replaced the PSU - system is still freezing. So it has to be the motherboard, or SSD, right? What else could it be? A drivers issue, I suppose, but how in the world do I find which driver is causing this?

This is the error that event viewer gives every time.

Session "Microsoft-Windows-Setup" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D - I don't know if this is what is causing it, or if it's a bi-product of the PC freezing.

That's all I have to go by, there is no BSoD so I have no -- PC crashed here, same error. -- so I have no error there to go off.

Anyone have any ideas? It's crashing roughly 9 times a day now.

 

[TronLight]

I replaced the PSU - system is still freezing. So it has to be the motherboard, or SSD, right? What else could it be? A drivers issue, I suppose, but how in the world do I find which driver is causing this?

This is the error that event viewer gives every time.

Session "Microsoft-Windows-Setup" stopped due to the following error: 0xC000000D - I don't know if this is what is causing it, or if it's a bi-product of the PC freezing.

That's all I have to go by, there is no BSoD so I have no -- PC crashed here, same error. -- so I have no error there to go off.

Anyone have any ideas? It's crashing roughly 9 times a day now.

Judging by the loss of power of the KB and mouse I'd say it's a motherboard problem.

 

[Sykotik]

-I can't get this capture card to work with HDMI cables and the Xbox 360 Slim.
-It works perfectly fine with the included breakout cables and seperate Component cables.
-Doesn't work with the Black Magic Intensity Shuttle (USB 3.0) and HDMI cables, either.

Settings in Media Express:

Set output: HDMI & Component
Set input: HDMI Video & HDMI Audio
Video standard: 720p 59,94

Settings on Xbox 360 Slim:

Resolution: 720p
HDMI Color Space: Auto

I have tried other combinations of settings and all I get are black screens on my TV screen and on my preview screen in Media Express. The Xbox doesn't turn on and it doesn't output audio. After a while, I even get a blue screen on my PC. What am I doing wrong?

If I didn't provide enough information, please let me know. Any help, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Blackmagic Intesity Pro and Shuttle are HDCP compliant. They don't work through HDMI via PS3, either. You can bypass this by using a HDMI splitter.

This is the one I use: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005HXFARS/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It works fine.

 

[Sykotik]

Judging by the loss of power of the KB and mouse I'd say it's a motherboard problem.

Yeah, those are my thoughts, as well. I wonder if I should just RMA the drive and mobo at the same time, to cover the 2 bases I have left.