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[985boi]

Hello TechSupportGAF!

I've noticed that everytime there's a windows update, my ethernet connection always crash. First I would go to my ethernet adapter settings and diagnose it, windows would tell me to reset my ethernet adapter. Disable/enable the ethernet never works as it just freezes. After resetting the connection, I would have to restart my computer and it just hangs there in the midst of rebooting. So only way I can reboot is to manually restart it myself. After rebooting, I have to go back and enable my ethernet connection for everything to be working again.

The driver for the ethernet port(Broadcom Netlink) is up to date. I thought it was my router acting up at first but then I connected my brand new modem to the ethernet port and still had the same issue. Anybody know the fix for this problem?

 

[Menome]

A couple of years ago, I had a massive computer failure due to a fried motherboard and had to manually copy over some important files and folders from my Documents folder using the boot-up Command Prompt before I reinstalled Windows.

Being a complete idiot, I used ":copy" instead of ":xcopy" for some of the folders when moving them over. I've kept them on a hard-drive until now, but I have no idea if there's any way to recover them.

Instead of showing up as folders, they show as blank generic 'Files' with no extensions. They have a data-size and so obviously have the content locked in there somewhere.

Is there a way to convert/unlock these files at all and get to the files inside?

Attached an image to show what I mean:

 

[Jams775]

Can anyone tell me what's wrong the a computer that randomly shuts off? Possibilities I've eliminated so far are PSU, windows and reapplying thermal paste and monitoring temps. Its my dad's work pc that was full of dust but I cleaned it out. Can figure out why it keeps shutting off and when I try to turn it back on it powers up but nothing happens like it isn't making it to BIOS. If I hold the power off and turn it back on it starts up.

 

[TharpDaddy]

For a while I've had the issue that I can't run games off my hard drive. The games will preform very poorly (pop in, lag) and then crash. I've had to start playing games only installed on my SSD. Even more recently though I did a format and wiped both drives, and the problem persists; but on top of that games on my SSD are now crashing and locking up Windows as a whole when it does so. I've run extended tests on both my SSD and HDD, both are fine, as well as memtest86 on my RAM, which it passed. Could this be a result of my PSU dying (it's 4+ years old now) and during demanding situations not supplying enough power? I've narrowed it down to likely being an issue with my PSU or Motherboard.

 

[hey_monkey]

Never mind, I bought it and I fear buyer's remorse, so I don't wanna know if I was wrong!

 

[Shy]

Hi, me again.
A few days ago, i made a post in here about getting a blue screen. Well, i got another blue screen yesterday (my first for win 10) and i think it might be the same thing.
Could one of you fine people take a look at the new crash dump file, and tell me what's wrong please. I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NCR Redslayer]

Just how do you turn off auto brightness on a laptop? Its super subtle with Windows 10 but incredibly annoying, even after I fiddle with the settings.

 

[Shy]

Me, yet again. (sorry)
New problem, i'm on windows 10, and i went into msconfig to have a look, because my boot time is much longer than 7, and for some reason i'm on selective boot not normal, and no matter how many time i click it to normal it won't stick.

Does anybody know how to help me.

Sorry again to be a bother.

UPDATE: i tried to change it in safe mode, and that didn't work.

 

[theusedversion]

How do I change the user name of my account? Not the PC name but the user name that names the folder in C:/Users/.... It never gave me an option to name it when I did a clean install and now it has a weird name that will mess up some apps that point to file locations within those folders. There has to be a way to change this right? I'm just not seeing it anywhere. If someone can please help, I would be most appreciative. It's quite important for me to fix this.

OS: Windows 10 PRO

 

[justjustin]

Hey guys, what's the best way to force CPU usage?

I recently installed Terraria on my new laptop (running fresh installation of Windows 10) and the fps absolutely tanks whenever it has to load chunks of the world or a lot of stuff on screen. Ironically, CPU usage is at its lowest when the game is running poorly (around 8%) and CPU usage is about 20-30% when the game runs smooth at 60fps. I'm using Afterburner/RivaTuner to monitor CPU usage.

I have trouble in other games like Payday 2, for example, when I turn around quickly and the fps drops for a few seconds while it loads whatever before ramping back up.

It could just be that I have a slow mechanical harddrive (I think it's 5200rpm) but I want to test CPU stuff first. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Joe]

Is there a free and easy way to access my friends computer over the internet?

He's having some driver issues and it would be a lot easier for me to troubleshoot if I could take a look at his computer myself but he's in another state.

 

[Ark]

Just wondering, I can't seem to get MSI Command Center working on Windows 10. It just gets stuck on the loading splash screen. A bit of googling didn't turn up anything. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Apt101]

Just wondering, I can't seem to get MSI Command Center working on Windows 10. It just gets stuck on the loading splash screen. A bit of googling didn't turn up anything. Anyone have any ideas?

Check the event logs for anything? Uninstall and reinstall, including any dependencies?

 

[esms]

PSU would be my guess too. Sounds like it's just cutting before Windows even gets to react. Do you happen to have another/a spare PSU rated high enough and of reasonable quality that you could try it with for comparison?

Unfortunately, I don't. Let me know if this doesn't sound totally stupid.

1. I'm going to check the connections between the PSU and everything and make sure nothing got loose. Wait for crash.
2. Take everything out but the PSU, CPU and mobo. Wait for crash.
3. Buy new PSU.

I'm trying to isolate it to make sure. I might also reinstall Windows and format the drive just to be sure.

 

[Symphonia]

Is there a free and easy way to access my friends computer over the internet?

He's having some driver issues and it would be a lot easier for me to troubleshoot if I could take a look at his computer myself but he's in another state.

Low-tech, but could he not share his screen over Skype?

 

[diggmcbadass]

Is there a free and easy way to access my friends computer over the internet?

He's having some driver issues and it would be a lot easier for me to troubleshoot if I could take a look at his computer myself but he's in another state.

Teamviewer is pretty straight forward. Free for personal use and pretty easy to set up.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong the a computer that randomly shuts off? Possibilities I've eliminated so far are PSU, windows and reapplying thermal paste and monitoring temps. Its my dad's work pc that was full of dust but I cleaned it out. Can figure out why it keeps shutting off and when I try to turn it back on it powers up but nothing happens like it isn't making it to BIOS. If I hold the power off and turn it back on it starts up.

If you are sure about the PSU, it is most likely the motherboard. Sometimes the capacitors give out if they are old or have been too hot (dusty). You can check if they are bulging at the center, which is an indication.

For a while I've had the issue that I can't run games off my hard drive. The games will preform very poorly (pop in, lag) and then crash. I've had to start playing games only installed on my SSD. Even more recently though I did a format and wiped both drives, and the problem persists; but on top of that games on my SSD are now crashing and locking up Windows as a whole when it does so. I've run extended tests on both my SSD and HDD, both are fine, as well as memtest86 on my RAM, which it passed. Could this be a result of my PSU dying (it's 4+ years old now) and during demanding situations not supplying enough power? I've narrowed it down to likely being an issue with my PSU or Motherboard.

Do you have the intel P67 chipset on your motherboard (released early 2011, typical for 2500k and 2600k processors). It was recalled due to an error with the sata ports where they would deteriorate over time.

Hey guys, what's the best way to force CPU usage?

I recently installed Terraria on my new laptop (running fresh installation of Windows 10) and the fps absolutely tanks whenever it has to load chunks of the world or a lot of stuff on screen. Ironically, CPU usage is at its lowest when the game is running poorly (around 8%) and CPU usage is about 20-30% when the game runs smooth at 60fps. I'm using Afterburner/RivaTuner to monitor CPU usage.

I have trouble in other games like Payday 2, for example, when I turn around quickly and the fps drops for a few seconds while it loads whatever before ramping back up.

It could just be that I have a slow mechanical harddrive (I think it's 5200rpm) but I want to test CPU stuff first. Thanks in advance for your help.

The CPU will have low usage when it's bottlenecked by other stuff. Real hard to tell exactly what is bottlenecking on a random game though, but if the performance tanks when loading assets, blaming the HDD seems the most reasonable.

 

[justjustin]

The CPU will have low usage when it's bottlenecked by other stuff. Real hard to tell exactly what is bottlenecking on a random game though, but if the performance tanks when loading assets, blaming the HDD seems the most reasonable.

Thanks for you input, I appreciate it. After some more testing I'm convinced it's the hard drive. This Acer laptop has a 1TB Seagate Hybrid drive and I'll look into what I can do to properly configure it (drivers/software settings/bios options) to get the most out of it. Acer's website provided some Intel Rapid Storage Technology software for my model laptop, but I feel like it's missing a lot of performance options it offers for most hybrid drives.

 

[outunderthestars]

Is there a way to get rid of that annoying full screen notification window in Chrome?

 

[ChoklitReign]

Just how do you turn off auto brightness on a laptop? Its super subtle with Windows 10 but incredibly annoying, even after I fiddle with the settings.

It's a toggle in Settings > System > Display. There's a brightness bar and "Adjust my screen brightness automatically. I have no idea why this would be separate from Power Options but there you go.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

what are good tools to open up/fix stuff? im currently looking to reapply thermal paste to my PS4 and to open up a MSI GS60 Ghost Pro laptop to install two m.2 sata ssds

currently i have this on amazon

Professional 45 in 1 Magnetic Precision Tool Screwdriver Set w/ 42 Driver Head Bits Phillips Slotted Torx Hex Handle Tweezers Case for Hardware Electrician PC Mobile
by JACKLY
Link: http://amzn.com/B00BNYJL5M

Anytime Tools 30 pc MICRO PRECISION SCREWDRIVER SET w/ T4 T5 T6 Mini Torx, Hex, Flat, Pozi
by Anytime Tools
Link: http://amzn.com/B000F9CS1U

Maxtech 16521MX 32-Piece Precision Bit Set
by Maxtech
Link: http://amzn.com/B000MF754W

iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit
by iFixit
Link: http://amzn.com/B007XGWQ2Y

key features though are magnetized tips so if you have suggestions that;s the most important thing to me, i wouldnt mind something with good quality as long as it doesnt break the bank because im no pro-technician anyway

 

[Joe]

Low-tech, but could he not share his screen over Skype?

Never used Skype but if it works and he has it I will definitely try it. Thank you!

Teamviewer is pretty straight forward. Free for personal use and pretty easy to set up.

Another good suggestion, thank you!

 

[bryanee]

Hello. I was wondering if any one can help me with this.

I keep getting virus warnings on Gaf and IGN. I think it has something to do with banner adverts at either the top or bottom. Any idea how to stop this shit? Its happening on every page near enough on both sites.

This is what avast says



http:[SNIP]pool.admedo.com/imp/adi/tCg-LOIPUJrhLPYbzKbBqrruA0es1Hkvby6dlPWspWHd_LISiJTo98l_6E13A05LCTfDts3OsCvrIWGGBf9vmb3M9TBMA6u6ZbTiv8b7UfBvoMYDjBFlxge2SBewwCZwArwmPY5roDFy8vT3UCYkUPjhAj8sfsFQEZuRv92JZ2JKL_5zlJOBfCrw0l9sNNrFoV1nELunsPS7IblTH-vQSRY4KxU3tUzOTIEWojCgBdRYL7kXwA9q63b-WBby8HxPoPMwXYMJ0Kc6jCNHZHGB2RmRdHbenjtTw2oLr-PrykqCAQFl0TC7DRrZbxI4BfST2qyT7MAtrYRBM_qEAxQu7SSq6AdgH57LBiMVlpjKt_OmivKgB5ZelqCs_wyhkMvxvQhhLvbmszoOiTYFDvBRJbGAq5gXUQ7bboR9uAe_wA9658Su5ht9qxQJ6bkrZr8BGkOwi58ze9tFiVSUAenZ_YgtqQtZZ-7GaNim/2.81566/

URL:Mal
C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE

 

[justjustin]

Quick question about cloning drives since I've never done it before. I have a 3.5" form factor external hard drive enclosure that supports SATA I/II to USB. Can I use it to transfer all data from my laptop's hard drive to my new 2.5" form factor SATA III SSD? It's all I have laying around, but it should technically work, right?

 

[Wafflecakes]

I fell in the ocean and my phone got wet. Even after drying using rice, it will not start.

There is no hope is there?

 

[GK86]

This started awhile back. My desktop pc will boot up with a blank/no picture on the screen. Within a minute or two, it will shut down on its own and then reboot again. Cycles forever if I don't unplug the power supply.

Any ideas?

 

[RGM79]

This started awhile back. My desktop pc will boot up with a blank/no picture on the screen. Within a minute or two, it will shut down on its own and then reboot again. Cycles forever if I don't unplug the power supply.

Any ideas?

That could be caused by a whole bunch of different things. Hardware failure, a loose wire, bad power source, etc.

Have you made any changes to the PC in the last while? Suffered any damage? Changed or installed any software?

Quick question about cloning drives since I've never done it before. I have a 3.5" form factor external hard drive enclosure that supports SATA I/II to USB. Can I use it to transfer all data from my laptop's hard drive to my new 2.5" form factor SATA III SSD? It's all I have laying around, but it should technically work, right?

Yep, the connectors are the same size, type, and placement. All three generations of SATA are cross-compatible, it might just operate at a lower speed so it might take a while.

I fell in the ocean and my phone got wet. Even after drying using rice, it will not start.

There is no hope is there?

Doesn't seem likely. Water is bad enough, saltwater is worse.

 

[GK86]

That could be caused by a whole bunch of different things. Hardware failure, a loose wire, bad power source, etc.

Have you made any changes to the PC in the last while? Suffered any damage? Changed or installed any software?

I don't think I damaged it or installed any new (or changed any) software, as I have been barely using it since I have gotten my laptop.

Last thing I remember was that it froze up, and wouldn't respond to anything. After this problem surface, once or two I was lucky that a picture went up and I was able to use it like normal, only to have it freeze again.

 

[RGM79]

I don't think I damaged it or installed any new (or changed any) software, as I have been barely using it since I have gotten my laptop.

Last thing I remember was that it froze up, and wouldn't respond to anything. After this problem surface, once or two I was lucky that a picture went up and I was able to use it like normal, only to have it freeze again.

Unfortunately, it's a little too vague and broad a problem to diagnose over the Internet. You'll have to open it up and take a look inside or have someone do that for you, maybe.

 

[justjustin]

Yep, the connectors are the same size, type, and placement. All three generations of SATA are cross-compatible, it might just operate at a lower speed so it might take a while.

Great, thanks for the confirmation. Luckily I don't have much installed on the laptop since I just recently got it. It only took a few days until I realized I can't live without SSD.

 

[GutsOfThor]

Anyone know why Google Chrome does not display all images in a thread?

This is not a problem on mobile but for whatever reason Chrome on my desktop will not display all images in a thread.

 

[Rufus]

Have you looked for any patterns in the URLs? Any examples?

 

[Messypandas]

I notice the balance of my PC earphones fading out at times (like, goes to left ear only). Requires me to pull out the cable and reinsert a couple of times. Its not an issue with the headphones because its the same on a few. Am I fucked?

 

[Jams775]

If you are sure about the PSU, it is most likely the motherboard. Sometimes the capacitors give out if they are old or have been too hot (dusty). You can check if they are bulging at the center, which is an indication.

I changed PSU and the problem persisted. Yeah I thought about the caps too and when I looked at them I saw 3 at the bottom that I could have sworn were just very slightly swollen compared t the rest. Could something like a temp sensor malfunction due to too much dust? I loaded up Arch linux to see if windows was causing the problem and right before the pc shut off it mentioned something about the temp sensors being unreliable and disabling them.

 

[GK86]

Unfortunately, it's a little too vague and broad a problem to diagnose over the Internet. You'll have to open it up and take a look inside or have someone do that for you, maybe.

Thank you for trying though.

 

[Con_Smith]

Anyone know what would cause a publisher file not to combine with pdf and word files in Adobe 11? Sorry if I'm being too obtuse going off the information a user provided for me while they were in a rush.

 

[mrklaw]

trying to use EaseUS todo backup to back my system up to an external drive, but it complains that I have my system drive on a different drive to my boot drive. Checking disk management shows this:

Disk1 is a 250GB SSD which is my boot disk with windows on. Disk 2 is a 1TB HDD with most of my steam games on and I put some backups on there too. But why is it showing as having a System Reserved partition on there - I don't remember putting it there.

I can work around it by just doing a disk backup, but I want to make sure that won't cause any trouble in the future if I have a drive failure and need to restore back to a new C drive? Do I need to back up that system partition in case of that drive failing too? Confused..

 

[Freshmaker]

Anyone with a suggestion on how to get Avermedia's Live Gamer HD to work?

I've installed the thing, updated the firmware to v22, and have the latest software and drivers. The thing worked one night, and now I get nothing but a black screen in rec central. On Xsplit, get some kind of error (says things may not work properly) and it says that the camera can't be found.

Meanwhile the pass through is making my other monitor freak out as it detects a signal, then doesn't. So I get a blue flashing screen on that side. If I unplut the HDMI cable, and plug it back in, I can get the Pass through working, but capture seems eternally boned.

Running Windows 10, have an i74790 16 GB's of RAM etc.

Connecting via HDMI but I have a HDCP stripper that at least up til two days ago was working.

I saved my twitch archive to YouTube just to prove I actually get get capture at one point... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRXmm9HMiPo

 

[Deaf Spacker]

Can anybody advise why my Office 2013 Windows Live programmes are lagging slightly? I'm running a week old install of Windows 7, my 680's have maximum performance mode selected in the Nvidia control panel and I'm using an SSD.

Nothing else is lagging or slowing down.

 

[WedgeX]

Got myself an open box msi laptop from newegg...and it seems whoever bought it previously decided to wipe it prior to returning it. Fine, fine. Although in the process they seem to have wiped every single program and a few key drivers from it. Just barebones windows 8 seems to exist. No wireless devices are even detected, and the Ethernet and network controllers have fun little locks next to them with awesome statuses such as "the drivers for this device are not installed." I'm downloading the wireless driver currently to my wife's computer but is there anything else that I might be missing before I download and install?

 

[JLateralus]

Do you think I'd get a bigger performance gain from:

Going from 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM

OR

Going from a traditional HDD to an SSD

I use Visual Studio, Lightroom, and Photoshop on my machine. When developing, I'll have something like a couple VS windows (maybe a couple instances), Sublime Text, Fiddler, and a web browser open at once. I don't often seem to run out of physical ram, so I'm guessing a SSD might be my better option to do first.

This is coming from someone who has used Mac OS at home for years and Windows at work. I'm tired of running Windows in a VM so I can develop in Visual Studio.

Any thoughts?

 

[TequilaHero]

Got myself an open box msi laptop from newegg...and it seems whoever bought it previously decided to wipe it prior to returning it. Fine, fine. Although in the process they seem to have wiped every single program and a few key drivers from it. Just barebones windows 8 seems to exist. No wireless devices are even detected, and the Ethernet and network controllers have fun little locks next to them with awesome statuses such as "the drivers for this device are not installed." I'm downloading the wireless driver currently to my wife's computer but is there anything else that I might be missing before I download and install?

You might need to re-install your chipset. Not sure which one you will need, but here is a place that may help: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/1145/Intel-Chipset-Software-Installation-Utility
You will need the .NET Framework: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653
And the Service Pack: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/service-packs-download#sptabs=win7
EDIT: Might as well get Security Essentials while you're at it. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download
Hope this helps

 

[TequilaHero]

EDIT: Shit, meant to add those posts together. My bad.

Do you think I'd get a bigger performance gain from:

Going from 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM

OR

Going from a traditional HDD to an SSD

I use Visual Studio, Lightroom, and Photoshop on my machine. When developing, I'll have something like a couple VS windows (maybe a couple instances), Sublime Text, Fiddler, and a web browser open at once. I don't often seem to run out of physical ram, so I'm guessing a SSD might be my better option to do first.

This is coming from someone who has used Mac OS at home for years and Windows at work. I'm tired of running Windows in a VM so I can develop in Visual Studio.

Any thoughts?

I suggest upgrading to an SSD, at least, but both if you can afford it.
I also use graphic intensive programs and upgrading to 16GB of RAM didn't help much with the bottom-of-the-benchmark HDD I have in my laptop.
I just bought a Samsung 250GB SSD on sale from Newegg and am waiting on the cable I ordered before I clone my drive to it. I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm guessing I won't have lag issues anymore.

 

[Freshmaker]

Going from a traditional HDD to an SSD

I use Visual Studio, Lightroom, and Photoshop on my machine. When developing, I'll have something like a couple VS windows (maybe a couple instances), Sublime Text, Fiddler, and a web browser open at once. I don't often seem to run out of physical ram, so I'm guessing a SSD might be my better option to do first.

This is coming from someone who has used Mac OS at home for years and Windows at work. I'm tired of running Windows in a VM so I can develop in Visual Studio.

Any thoughts?

The SDD is night and day. I added one to my aging Core2Duo PC and it was like getting a new PC even though it's somewhat gimped by Sata 2 limitations.

Photoshop opening in one second is just glorious.

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Hi Techgaf, not a problem persay but looking for some suggestions:

My kids are old enough I feel to start having some computer access of their own. I was going to get a couple of Pi 2's with some second hand monitors and set them each up one. However I very much want to restrict what they can access and make sure they can't get to anything they shouldn't get to. So only general/everyone content, no facebook, etc. I figured I would have to run them through a proxy/net-nanny type setup. I have a linux file/media server which I thought I could use for this task.

Any recommendations for a good application I could use for this purpose? it doesn't have to be super advanced, they are still young (grade 4/5) which is when I got my first computer. So definitely the first layer of security is that they won't have any clue how to change proxy settings for a while

 

[Ramma2]

Do you think I'd get a bigger performance gain from:

Going from 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM

OR

Going from a traditional HDD to an SSD

I use Visual Studio, Lightroom, and Photoshop on my machine. When developing, I'll have something like a couple VS windows (maybe a couple instances), Sublime Text, Fiddler, and a web browser open at once. I don't often seem to run out of physical ram, so I'm guessing a SSD might be my better option to do first.

This is coming from someone who has used Mac OS at home for years and Windows at work. I'm tired of running Windows in a VM so I can develop in Visual Studio.

Any thoughts?

Spinning disk drive to SSD is the single best upgrade I've seen since I started working on computers, circa 1994.

 

[Ramma2]

Hi Techgaf, not a problem persay but looking for some suggestions:

My kids are old enough I feel to start having some computer access of their own. I was going to get a couple of Pi 2's with some second hand monitors and set them each up one. However I very much want to restrict what they can access and make sure they can't get to anything they shouldn't get to. So only general/everyone content, no facebook, etc. I figured I would have to run them through a proxy/net-nanny type setup. I have a linux file/media server which I thought I could use for this task.

Any recommendations for a good application I could use for this purpose? it doesn't have to be super advanced, they are still young (grade 4/5) which is when I got my first computer. So definitely the first layer of security is that they won't have any clue how to change proxy settings for a while

I don't know about anything linux based, but I'm currently using OpenDNS (free) for content filtering and DD-WRT firmware on my routers to limit time by mac address. Open DNS is great because it filters content to everything on the network, so phones, ipods, consoles, etc. Plus you can easily bypass it by setting DNS settings locally to your ISP or google's DNS. So it will work until my kids figure that out at least.

K9 Web protection is another good free one that installs locally.

 

[Strike]

Been getting "nvlddmkm" bsods the last few days. At least once per day after a few hours. Haven't made any new installations and virus scans came up clean. Any suggestions? I'm running Windows 7.

 

[RGM79]

Been getting "nvlddmkm" bsods the last few days. At least once per day after a few hours. Haven't made any new installations and virus scans came up clean. Any suggestions? I'm running Windows 7.

That suggests something to do with either your graphics card or graphics drivers. Try using Display Driver Uninstaller and then reinstall the latest drivers for your graphics card.

 

[Prosopon]

I have a really, really old computer that was originally designed for Windows 98, and originally had a Celeron processor.

Would it be possible to upgrade it with newer hardware or is that a lost cause?

 

[Rufus]

I have a really, really old computer that was originally designed for Windows 98, and originally had a Celeron processor.

Would it be possible to upgrade it with newer hardware or is that a lost cause?

Lost casue, everything in it will be several generations out of date.