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[etta]

Hey guys, I am having an issue with my PC (three year old build), maybe you know what the hell is going on. Sometimes my PC just hard locks, display loses video signal but there's a buzzing sound from the audio, and the GPU fan speeds up to max speed. This happens sometimes mid game, or just on desktop. My 2500K is at 4.2GHz, and temperatures when this happens are 50-60C, and my GTX 680's temps are anywhere from 48-74 when this freeze occurs. I've tried many GPU clock configurations, mild OC all the way to underclocked. So far, I have just tried it with underclocking the GPU by -50 CORE, -50 MEM, and it has not frozen up, but I have not tested it for long.

I have reapplied new cooling paste and cleaned the GPU this morning, and the last time was 6 months ago. Weird thing is, these crashes started happening in two periods of time: when AC U came out and I was playing that, and now with Witcher 3.

I am using KBOOST, but have been for a long time, because the 6XX series have issues with underclocking themselves when the game renders at 60fps, and when the fps drops, then the 680 boosts the clock automatically. So using KBOOST helps force a constant clock, whether idle at 324MHz, or 1200MHz stock clock. I have been using this since day one, in 2012, so this cannot be the issue, but, I have not tried to see if the crashes go away with it off.

Could this be a driver issue? It just now happened in DOTA 2 as well, but yesterday, it would only crash in Witcher 3. I have also replaced the PSU cables with new ones, reseated the card several times, and the PSU was not hot so it is not overheating, thus it is not the issue. It is an HX750 by the way.

 

[SailorCosmos]

Every time I download an .exe and try to run it, I get this error message:

The only workaround is to rename the .exe. Then it runs. However, this causes problems with some installers which expect a particular name for the .exe.

I'm on Windows 8. This is my home computer which I set up personally. I am the administrator. It worked fine for years, and just started telling me this one day.

Check the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) for a rule blocking user installs. If I remember correctly it should be in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Installer.

 

[terrisus]

Hey there TechSupportGAF. I have a random issue that just started popping up a couple of days ago for no apparent reason.

My internet browser is Opera 12.17 (yeah, yeah, I know, upgrade or switch to a different browser :þ), and, up until a few days ago, everything on amazon.com was working perfectly fine...

Now, however, it's kind of in a weird in-between state. It will go to the main amazon.com page perfectly fine... But, as soon as I click on any links or search for anything, I get the following error message:

Remote server or file not found

You tried to access the address http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=something, which is currently unavailable. Please make sure that the web address (URL) is correctly spelled and punctuated, then try reloading the page.

• Make sure your internet connection is active and check whether other applications that rely on the same connection are working.
• Check that the setup of any internet security software is correct and does not interfere with ordinary web browsing.
• If you are behind a firewall on a Local Area Network and think this may be causing problems, talk to your systems administrator.
• Try pressing the F12 key on your keyboard and disabling proxy servers, unless you know that you are required to use a proxy to connect to the internet. Reload the page.

Need help?
Open the Opera Help.
Go to Opera's online support desk.

Now, I've disabled my firewall, checked all of my settings, etc. Everything I can think of, and still the same message.

However, it works perfectly fine in other browsers (I've tried in Internet Explorer and Google Chrome with no issues at all).

Other than suggesting that I update to the current version of Opera or switch to one of the other browsers, what's going on here, and how can I fix it?...

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

My SSD which is 99% Window and apps has been getting fuller and fuller recently and I have been unable to see why despite having a good look into it. However I had a B.S.O.D. earlier which gave me the "dumping physical memory" message so I let it do that and restart itself. Joy of joys however as I have now got back those tens of GBs of free space on my SSD that were mysteriously disappearing. So my question is: what was causing the issue and how can I re-configure my pc so I can avoid this happening again? I am using Win 7 and am happy to provide any further info that is required. Any help would be appreciated .

 

[Johnny Cage In The Shower]

Hi Tech GAF, need your help please...

This just happened now, I think it's my power supply, but could be something else, I don't know...


After swapping the secondary HDD (Not the main OS C:/ drive) this is what my computer is doing when I attempt to turn it on. https://vid.me/e/WFWq

Just in case the video is not clear, like a car or a motorcycle engine, it revs for a second in attempt to start, but fails to contiue staring, shuts down and it automatically cycles through by reving again, until I turn the power switch off on the PSU box or unplug the machine,

In the past it used to freeze for a few seconds and shut down on me, I always suspected the Power supply unit is slowly and surely dying. It is 650Watts, I do have two GPUs in my computer (not SLI) but I do run two graphic cards (one tiny one) and two hard drives, but yeah, even when I removed one of the GPU, no cigar.

Also, worth to mention, I took a can of dust buster (with a straw tip) and blew it all over the insides of the machine, nothing too drastic, but I did that as well..

 

[Johnny Cage In The Shower]

Bump, anyone please?

 

[AkuMifune]

After a power outage my PS4 won't connect via LAN anymore, only wireless.

But the Ethernet was run through a router, which is fine, as are all ports on the router. It's also difficult for me to test another cable based on how I have this setup. Is it more likely the cable itself or the Ethernet port on the PS4? Also, wtf? Ran most of the PS4 safe mode options outside of deleting everything option. Seems to find the network but then won't connect.

 

[Tornix]

My SSD which is 99% Window and apps has been getting fuller and fuller recently and I have been unable to see why despite having a good look into it. However I had a B.S.O.D. earlier which gave me the "dumping physical memory" message so I let it do that and restart itself. Joy of joys however as I have now got back those tens of GBs of free space on my SSD that were mysteriously disappearing. So my question is: what was causing the issue and how can I re-configure my pc so I can avoid this happening again? I am using Win 7 and am happy to provide any further info that is required. Any help would be appreciated .

I had a similar problem and for me it was saved restore points taking up a ton of space.

If you open the properties window for the drive in My Computer there is a disk cleanup option. Now in there is an advanced section where you can choose to delete all but the most recent restore point. I don't remember the exact wording and I'm not near a PC, but it should be there.

I don't know of a way to save less restore points since Windows automatically creates them after updates or big program installs.

 

[gamma]

So I just bought a new USB 3.0 flash drive. I'm getting ~240MB/s read and ~100 MB/s write speeds (both seq.) with benchmarks. However when copying a single ~8GB file onto it I only get ~20MB/s write speed. I'm on Windows 7 and I've updated the USB3 drivers already. What might be causing this?

 

[gamma]

Okay so the problem seems to be the source drive which is a regular 2TB HDD. However, benching it gives me seq read speeds of ~100MB/s and ~80MB/s write. So why is it so slow when I'm actually copying something off of it?

EDIT: Well I've narrowed it down further. Looks like it's only that single file that's slow to copy. Copying other large files from the same drive gives the expected speeds. dafuq? Does that have something to do with where the file is actually saved on the HDD?

 

[Megasoum]

Hey guys so a couple of days Skype started acting up. I suddenly can't click any links posted in the chat window. I'm forced to right-click, copy the link and then paste it in my browser.

I searched google but the only fix I could find that was actually working was re-install skype completely. I did that and it did fix the problem indeed but then the next day after I rebooted the pc the problem was back.

I'm running Skype for desktop on Windows 8.1 with Chrome.

Anybody have any ideas?

Quoting for new page... Still looking for a solution.

 

[Rktk]

Buying a NAS (off shelf Synology or Qnap), should I worry about it's transcoding ability? In my setup I'll run a Plex Media Server on the NAS and use a Chromecast, so am I right in thinking in that setup the NAS simply acts to serve the file and the Chromecast actually does the transcoding work?

Is there any real benefit to a NAS having transcoding ability in that instance? Reason I ask is because they tend to be low power CPUs and the transcoding ability adds a great deal of cost.

 

[woo and indeed hoo]

Thank you very much Tornix. I've found the relevant option so will give that a go after my weekly back up tomorrow. I very much suspect that you have cracked it so I am much obliged .

I had a similar problem and for me it was saved restore points taking up a ton of space.

If you open the properties window for the drive in My Computer there is a disk cleanup option. Now in there is an advanced section where you can choose to delete all but the most recent restore point. I don't remember the exact wording and I'm not near a PC, but it should be there.

I don't know of a way to save less restore points since Windows automatically creates them after updates or big program installs.

 

[jbug617]

Quick question. I recently bought a new router (ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750) and I get good download speed on a wired connection however if I have multiple wired connections (2 or 3 wired connections) there is a dramatic speed drop.

I go from around download 120mbps and it drops to around 30mbps with multiple wired connections. Upload seems to stay constant.

Maybe it's suppose to happen but I don't remember it being a problem on my old router.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Hopefully anyone has an idea about this one:

My girlfriend's laptop has been having random internet connection problems for a while now. So from time to time, that yellow triangle shows up on the WLAN connection indicating that there's no internet connection (and indeed there's no internet connection), but she's still connected to the router.
What's a bit strange about this is that my laptop is connected to the same router and I never have any problems with the connection.

- So I tried to find anything different for her computer in the router's settings, nothing came up.
- I updated her WLAN adaptor's driver. Didn't change anything.
- I replaced her WLAN adaptor's driver with a unofficial modified one. Didn't change anything either.
- I checked for viruses and stuff like that, didn't find anything.
- Might have done other stuff, I can't remember, but basically I'm out of ideas.

Some of her data:

- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- router: Frtiz!Box Fon WLAN 7390
- network adaptor: Atheros AR9285
- laptop model: Asus G73Sw
- WLAN connection: 2,4 GHz / n / 20 MHz / WPA2

Any ideas?

 

[ironmang]

Having a strange situation happen that I hope someone here can help me with. One program that I use to play card games online is randomly "stealing focus" from whatever else I'm doing. So say I'm typing this message on GAF, the program may jump in front and half my sentence will end up on there. Is there any way to either universally or specifically stop this from happening? I'm on Windows 7.

I already asked someone involved with the program for help and all they said was "never heard of that before" and then ignored any additional questions/comments from me.

 

[MadSol]

Hopefully anyone has an idea about this one:

My girlfriend's laptop has been having random internet connection problems for a while now. So from time to time, that yellow triangle shows up on the WLAN connection indicating that there's no internet connection (and indeed there's no internet connection), but she's still connected to the router.
What's a bit strange about this is that my laptop is connected to the same router and I never have any problems with the connection.

- So I tried to find anything different for her computer in the router's settings, nothing came up.
- I updated her WLAN adaptor's driver. Didn't change anything.
- I replaced her WLAN adaptor's driver with a unofficial modified one. Didn't change anything either.
- I checked for viruses and stuff like that, didn't find anything.
- Might have done other stuff, I can't remember, but basically I'm out of ideas.

Some of her data:

- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
- router: Frtiz!Box Fon WLAN 7390
- network adaptor: Atheros AR9285
- laptop model: Asus G73Sw
- WLAN connection: 2,4 GHz / n / 20 MHz / WPA2

Any ideas?

Does she connect to other networks? Maybe lingering settings from another network.
Router configuration - possibly issue with renewing address lease in DHCP if that is being used.
It really can come down to many different settings, with still connecting to router but not internet that would point me away from the laptop adapter and more to a Network configuration.
Open command prompt on your PC - ipconfig /all do the same on hers and compare settings.
Check Default Gateway and DNS.

 

[A.D. Skinner]

Big question, little question.


WD My Cloud drives.

I plan on getting one but can't seem to find if it will work how I want to use it. The current plan is to use it as both a backup for the PC and also access it through other devices with DLNA.

I want to be able to do a full restore if an internal drive dies, but I also want to be able to access my files through the network...is this possible?



smallq
Best software to use to rip music CDs 320 mp3?
Best software to convert flac to 320 mp3? (flac squisher?)

 

[iN1njaCPFC]

Hi guys, hope you can help, been driving me crazy!

When I boot up my PC (Brand new, literally 4 months old) The hard drive is on 99-100% Active time, and I can hear it spinning like crazy. It affects gameplay as it causes my games to lag.

I know it is definitely not the fact my PC cannot run the games as its a 970SLI build.

Any way of stopping the Primary HDD from being 100% Active. It calms down after about 20 mins, but I don't want to have to wait for around half an hour before being able to play a game.

Can put in proof if need be, when I get home.

 

[ElTopo]

Hey guys I have an issue at work.

We have Lenova X230 and they won't read the USB sticks we use to load the drivers. We went through the bios options to force the system to reads the Sticks but no go. This applies to both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports.

 

[Apt101]

Hi guys, hope you can help, been driving me crazy!

When I boot up my PC (Brand new, literally 4 months old) The hard drive is on 99-100% Active time, and I can hear it spinning like crazy. It affects gameplay as it causes my games to lag.

I know it is definitely not the fact my PC cannot run the games as its a 970SLI build.

Any way of stopping the Primary HDD from being 100% Active. It calms down after about 20 mins, but I don't want to have to wait for around half an hour before being able to play a game.

Can put in proof if need be, when I get home.

You can use perfmon and the other performance analysis tools from task manager to find out what is causing the I/O.

 

[Ramma2]

Hey guys I have an issue at work.

We have Lenova X230 and they won't read the USB sticks we use to load the drivers. We went through the bios options to force the system to reads the Sticks but no go. This applies to both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports.

I had that issue on the latest Toughbooks we got in here at work. Never figured it out, USB devices just didn't work in Windows (worked outside of windows for booting, etc).

Ended up putting the USB drivers on a disc and installing them that way.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Hello Tech Support GAF

I have a Dell XPS 13 running windows 8.1 and a i7-4500U

The laptop has been suffering safety shutdowns when playing Kerbal Space Program. No blue screen, just a repeated sound byte. Well today I was just reading a PDF and listening to streamed music when I got another safety shutdown.

When I am at work I use the High Performance power option (CPU 50-100%+high brightness).

The CPU temperature is 90C average with max 98.

How can I stop having this resets?

 

[Mistake]

Can anyone tell me exactly what settings change with onekey theater and if I should uninstall it? I only see or hear slight differences

 

[diggmcbadass]

The CPU temperature is 90C average with max 98.

How can I stop having this resets?

That temp is too high. It is probably shutting down when it hits 100 as a safety measure. You need to check if fans are running properly.

 

[BronzeWolf]

That temp is too high. It is probably shutting down when it hits 100 as a safety measure. You need to check if fans are running properly.

It sounds like the fans are working at maximum speed, but honestly I cannot feel any air flow

 

[diggmcbadass]

Open the bottom cover and check for obstructions in air flow. It's not uncommon for there to be dust buildup. A can of compressed air can also be used to clean it out. And if your computer has a dedicated gfx card, there might be more than one fan and the one you are hearing might be the gpu fan.

Edit: I'm not familiar with you specific computer, so I don't know how easy it is to open. Most laptops can be opened fairly easy though.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Open the bottom cover and check for obstructions in air flow. It's not uncommon for there to be dust buildup. A can of compressed air can also be used to clean it out. And if your computer has a dedicated gfx card, there might be more than one fan and the one you are hearing might be the gpu fan.

Edit: I'm not familiar with you specific computer, so I don't know how easy it is to open. Most laptops can be opened fairly easy though.

Pretty acctually. Just needed a T5 Star Screwdriver. Cleaned the fan and heatsink fixture which had a couple of nasty lint obstructions both inside the fan and between the heatsink and the mobo. Iddle Temperature is 70C average max 78 Under Load 84 C

Thanks for the help!

It seems that cleaning the pc is always the first answer

 

[AzureSkies]

I'm having an issue with my 2560x1080 monitor right now and 1080p scaling working perfectly, before upgrading my AMD drivers it scaled perfectly, but now it's smaller than it should be:

(see the top and bottom of the screen, it's scaling wrong). This is HDMI if it helps.

EDIT: If anyone has this problem, change your Windows display to 1920x1080 and change Overscan settings on Catalyst afterwards. It'll work.

 

[OmegaSkittle]

I'm having an issue with my 2560x1080 monitor right now and 1080p scaling working perfectly, before upgrading my AMD drivers it scaled perfectly, but now it's smaller than it should be:


(see the top and bottom of the screen, it's scaling wrong). This is HDMI if it helps.

Check the Overscan settings in the Catalyst Control Center.

 

[AzureSkies]

Check the Overscan settings in the Catalyst Control Center.

I tried changing them and nothing will affect 1080p, this doesn't happen at the native resolution.

 

[iN1njaCPFC]

You can use perfmon and the other performance analysis tools from task manager to find out what is causing the I/O.

I've checked perfmon, I get a stupid amount of "System" and "svchost.exe"

 

[diggmcbadass]

I've checked perfmon, I get a stupid amount of "System" and "svchost.exe"

svchost is used by a number of Windows services. Open Task Manager, right click on the instance of svchost that is consuming resources and choose "go to service". It will show you which windows service that is responsible. One of the usual suspects is Windows Defender.

 

[aravuus]

My PC has been randomly hanging/freezing for.. Well, a long time now, and it's starting to finally piss me off enough to make me do something about it. Temps are fine, RAM is fine, so it's most likely the SSD I've got Windows installed in.

My question is, if I buy a new SSD, install Windows on that one and format the old, faulty one, can I still use the old one as additional space? I assume the PC is freezing because the faulty SSD handles all the important files and processes, which is something it probably won't be doing if I'm just gonna use it for stuff like Steam games. I'm fine with the occasional game freezing.

For once I've actually got some extra money on me, but I'm still not really excited about spending over a hundred euros, so I'm probably gonna go with a 128GB Samsung 850 EVO. Which is why an extra SSD for games would make a huge difference.

 

[Anfang]

My PC has been randomly hanging/freezing for.. Well, a long time now, and it's starting to finally piss me off enough to make me do something about it. Temps are fine, RAM is fine, so it's most likely the SSD I've got Windows installed in.

My question is, if I buy a new SSD, install Windows on that one and format the old, faulty one, can I still use the old one as additional space? I assume the PC is freezing because the faulty SSD handles all the important files and processes, which is something it probably won't be doing if I'm just gonna use it for stuff like Steam games. I'm fine with the occasional game freezing.

For once I've actually got some extra money on me, but I'm still not really excited about spending over a hundred euros, so I'm probably gonna go with a 128GB Samsung 850 EVO. Which is why an extra SSD for games would make a huge difference.

If you don't mind dealing with the headaches you can use it. Out of curiosity what's the ssd make/model?

 

[aravuus]

If you don't mind dealing with the headaches you can use it. Out of curiosity what's the ssd make/model?

I can't actually take a look inside the case right now, but pretty sure it's a 256GB Kingston HyperX something something.

But yeah, alright, I'll be using the old one as an extra drive, then. And if it magically does make the computer start freezing again, I suppose I can just unplug it. If the freezing continues after that, though.. Well, I'll just pray that it's the SSD that's causing this.

e: kingston, not samsung

 

[Anfang]

I can't actually take a look inside the case right now, but pretty sure it's a 256GB Samsung HyperX something something.

But yeah, alright, I'll be using the old one as an extra drive, then. And if it magically does make the computer start freezing again, I suppose I can just unplug it. If the freezing continues after that, though.. Well, I'll just pray that it's the SSD that's causing this.

If you haven't done it yet always worth a shot updating the bios and ssd firmware, might help with the problem.

 

[aravuus]

If you haven't done it yet always worth a shot updating the bios and ssd firmware, might help with the problem.

I tried this a while back, but I never managed to do it. AFAIK, you can only do it with Kingston's automatic software, and I never got the tool to recognize the SSD. I suppose I could give it another try, though.

 

[AzureSkies]

Check the Overscan settings in the Catalyst Control Center.

Late reply, but I got this working properly:

I set my resolution to 1920x1080 and then changed the overscan settings. it worked perfectly!

 

[BronzeWolf]

I tried this a while back, but I never managed to do it. AFAIK, you can only do it with Kingston's automatic software, and I never got the tool to recognize the SSD. I suppose I could give it another try, though.

Have done some SMART on the SSD?

 

[Duress]

I want to transfer data from one external drive to another. Is there a way to check if the files transfered alright?

 

[Samara]

Ok, I went to a store and told me the laptop Bios password removal will cost me 100$. That's almost the cost of the damnn pc.

Can someone please tell me what to do? I've tried removing the battery or the little chip. Nada.

I feel really hopeless, this isnt even my own pc.
Its a dell inspire

 

[BronzeWolf]

I want to transfer data from one external drive to another. Is there a way to check if the files transfered alright?

Teracopy has a verification check after transferring files

 

[More_Badass]

Having an annoying issue where my laptop can't connect to my wifi but all the other devices in the house can. I was connecting fine for the past two weeks, and it was connecting fine last night, but now it won't connect

It's an HP, Windows 8

 

[Symphonia]

Having an annoying issue where my laptop can't connect to my wifi but all the other devices in the house can. I was connecting fine for the past two weeks, and it was connecting fine last night, but now it won't connect

It's an HP, Windows 8

Sounds stupid, but have you accidentally pressed the wi-fi toggle button that HP laptops have on the keyboard? It's happened to me before.

 

[More_Badass]

Sounds stupid, but have you accidentally pressed the wi-fi toggle button that HP laptops have on the keyboard? It's happened to me before.

Sound have clarified more. The issue is more related to the network than the overall wifi. The wifi is on, my laptop is connected to wifi and lists the available networks. But it can't connect to the network, while all my other devices connect fine.

 

[Symphonia]

Sound have clarified more. The issue is more related to the network than the overall wifi. The wifi is on, my laptop is connected to wifi and lists the available networks. But it can't connect to the network, while all my other devices connect fine.

Have you tried resetting your network settings? I know it's a ball ache, but that usually does the trick when one of my devices won't connect.

 

[More_Badass]

Have you tried resetting your network settings? I know it's a ball ache, but that usually does the trick when one of my devices won't connect.

Do I do that by resetting the router? Or is it done through the laptop?

 

[Symphonia]

Do I do that by resetting the router? Or is it done through the laptop?

It's done by logging in to your routers control panel and resetting to factory settings. What router make/model do you have?

 

[More_Badass]

It's done by logging in to your routers control panel and resetting to factory settings. What router make/model do you have?

A D-link DIR868L