Support NeoGAF

[Tristam]

Don't want to make a thread of it, but here is a question:

I want to automate a certain aspect of work that I do on the side for my clients. This involves using a website, entering data into a field and clicking enter, and then seeing what pops up. Is there a bot or something I could use and give it parameters to check, having it load a new tab for each try? It would make life incredibly easy for me if so.

Almost certainly, yes. When you say "load a new tab" it throws me off a bit because something scripted/automated typically means you allow a program to execute things on its own absent any interaction with a program like a web browser. (Of course a script can interact with a web browser if necessary but typically it is not needed -- but even if it is you would typically let a script interact with a 'headless' web browser.) But if you're talking about a conventional script this is something that could be written in Python (or scripting language of your choice) in as little as 3 or 4 lines of code. It's easier if the HTTP response (from your submission request) is JSON, but there are also excellent libraries for parsing HTML in most programming languages (BeautifulSoup in Python for example). Depending on whether the website in question employs a CSRF token it could get a little trickier but should still be eminently possible.

If you want to PM me I wouldn't make taking a look and writing a script for free or at least walk you through in a bit more detail how to approach the task in question if you want to take a crack at it yourself.

 

[clay_ghost]

Never seen anything like that, but I'm curious about why you would write something you can never read again? Or do you want to prevent reading at some times only, using a switch?

Opps missed this reply.

Yup, I want to prevent reading at times only using a switch. In short, The intention of write only is to prevent any files on the drive being leaked while the drive is being written. Of course this will also means that there has to be a check that determine that the data being transferred won't compromise the drive it self and cause the controls to fail; or affect the CIA of the files already on the drive. Strangely it does not seem like the market have anything like this, or maybe it's not possible since I another not technically incline in this field.
========================================
I have another question to Tech GAF. Anyone have a simple dummy guide for Internet home pc best practices? Can be for any OS too. Its easier to refer to something that to tell normal people to oh it is good to have an anti malware, firewall, strong password etc etc, especially you can't enforce it as it's their personal devices for their own use.

Found something that should work

http://www.howtogeek.com/173478/10-important-computer-security-practices-you-should-follow/

Hmm but it may be too technical for normal users as there is a lot of terms they don't understand....

its hard to educate people to stay safe without being prescriptive and possibly break whatever software they want to use. Haha

 

[Scarecrow]

I'm having issues with my laptop and need some help. Whenever I try playing a game that requires any kind of graphical fidelity, I get a crash and a popup saying "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware."

I've tried many different games and launchers: Overwatch on battle.net, Inside/Abzu/Team Fortress on Steam, Battlefront on Origin. All give me the same crash. This' crash happens whenever I'm playing something that's in 3D (usually). I don't have crashes when playing 2D games (Spelunky, Risk of Rain, Axiom Verge) and some 3D games (Devil Daggers, Geometry Wars 3).

I've googled the problem and it seems to come up every so often. I've tried different solutions, for example:
- Roll back drivers, uninstall/reinstall drivers/video card
- reinstalling games, etc
None have worked so far. I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

I had to take the laptop for repairs to its motherboard and since then I keep getting these issues. Before the motherboard crapped out on me, I was playing all my games just fine.

Dell Precision 4600
Windows 10 64bit
AMD Radeon HD 7700m
(If ya'll need any extra system info, let me know.)

 

[Bishop89]

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T1D52PA&opt=

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T1D53PA&opt=

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T5K41PA&opt=

Are these any good? And which one is the best?

 

[Zepp Twofist]

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T1D52PA&opt=

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T1D53PA&opt=

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx?sel=DTP&id=T5K41PA&opt=

Are these any good? And which one is the best?

What's your intended use? The middle one has the best hardware (ram+SSD). You really shouldn't get a computer without an SSD as main drive these days

I'm having issues with my system and need some help. Whenever I try playing a game that requires any kind of graphical fidelity, I get a crash and a popup saying "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware."

Just a shot in the dark, but have you tried disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS?.

 

[Bishop89]

What's your intended use? The middle one has the best hardware (ram+SSD). You really shouldn't get a computer without an SSD as main drive these days

.

Yeh I figured the middle one as well.

Intended use would be just internet browsing, listening /downloading music, watching videos/youtube, photoshopping and potentially some video editing as well.

MAYBE even some gaming, but it'd only be older games (2000-2009).

Is the processor decent?

 

[Scarecrow]

Just a shot in the dark, but have you tried disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS?.

Not that I know of. How would I go about doing this?

 

[Zepp Twofist]

Yeh I figured the middle one as well.

Intended use would be just internet browsing, listening /downloading music, watching videos/youtube, photoshopping and potentially some video editing as well.

MAYBE even some gaming, but it'd only be older games (2000-2009).

Is the processor decent?

Processor should be good. It will do those things just fine. Gaming won't be great because of integrated graphics, but it should be able to play indie games and games that aren't very graphically intensive. Not sure about video editing, but for basic stuff it is probably good enough, and you can probably add ram to get better performance with that down the line. Everything else you listed will be no problem.

Not that I know of. How would I go about doing this?

Can't give you exact instructions, but if you go into the BIOS when you start the computer (usually by spamming F2, ESC or whatever is listed on the boot screen). You should find an option in there somewhere about onboard graphics where you can set it to prioritize the PCI card.

If you want to be sure, your motherboard manual should contain instructions.

 

[Bishop89]

Processor should be good. It will do those things just fine. Gaming won't be great because of integrated graphics, but it should be able to play indie games and games that aren't very graphically intensive. Not sure about video editing, but for basic stuff it is probably good enough, and you can probably add ram to get better performance with that down the line. Everything else you listed will be no problem.

.

Fantastic, thanks dude

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Okay, I'm bewildered by this. My iPhone is stuck in "low battery mode". If it's plugged in, it shows that it's charging. If it's unplugged, it gives me the "plug me in" screen. It has been plugged in all morning.

Sounds like a standard problem, right? The battery has either gone bad, or it needs a hard reset, right? But here's the crazy part:

It's actually on and working. I know this because it's connected to my Apple Watch. I'm sending and receiving messages. I'm getting notifications.

A two button reset won't work, no matter how long I hold in the buttons, and iTunes won't recognize it.

What do I do?

 

[Scarecrow]

Can't give you exact instructions, but if you go into the BIOS when you start the computer (usually by spamming F2, ESC or whatever is listed on the boot screen). You should find an option in there somewhere about onboard graphics where you can set it to prioritize the PCI card.

If you want to be sure, your motherboard manual should contain instructions.

Doesn't look like my laptop has that setting. Apparently, it needs it on to function.

 

[Bishop89]

Ok I've had my laptop for 5 years and I've never had any problems with it.

Starting last night a few things are now happening.

1. Firefox no longer opens, a msg pops up when I try to open it "couldn't load xpcom".

2. I can no longer open gifs which I have saved on my computer. A msg pops up when trying to open it. "*gif location on computer* the app didn't start"

3. The start button doesn't work now... I click it nothing is happening.

What the hell is happening, these just popped up at the same time.


Edit: windows 10 if it makes any difference which it shouldn't..

 

[Zepp Twofist]

Doesn't look like my laptop has that setting. Apparently, it needs it on to function.

Sorry, I didn't see that it was a laptop.

 

[MadSol]

Ok I've had my laptop for 5 years and I've never had any problems with it.

Starting last night a few things are now happening.

1. Firefox no longer opens, a msg pops up when I try to open it "couldn't load xpcom".

2. I can no longer open gifs which I have saved on my computer. A msg pops up when trying to open it. "*gif location on computer* the app didn't start"

3. The start button doesn't work now... I click it nothing is happening.

What the hell is happening, these just popped up at the same time.


Edit: windows 10 if it makes any difference which it shouldn't..

1. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1029239
may help fix this error

2. there has been an issue with the Windows photo app, go to the store and try to update the installed applications

3. I had this problem a couple of times typically updating Windows and restarting to the current latest release has helped. Otherwise more work is needed like http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/com...g-here-are-four-ways-to-fix-it-11364000314532

Definitely Windows 10 for issues 2+3, best of luck.

 

[Koren]

Ill try the USB thing first. I just want to get a few files. I don't really care about most of the stuff on there.

Well, S-ATA to USB connectors are cheap, and unless you've crypted your drive, you'll easily retrieve everything, and with far less troubles than trying to boot a Windows on a completely different hardware...

Yup, I want to prevent reading at times only using a switch. In short, The intention of write only is to prevent any files on the drive being leaked while the drive is being written. Of course this will also means that there has to be a check that determine that the data being transferred won't compromise the drive it self and cause the controls to fail; or affect the CIA of the files already on the drive. Strangely it does not seem like the market have anything like this, or maybe it's not possible since I another not technically incline in this field.

Thanks for the explanations...

I'm not sure there's things like this (although there is strange devices for cryptography that you can only read once or something like this, so who know...)

But if I asked, it's because there's still solutions to do this...

- the easiest is to remove the reading permissions, but I guess you've already ruled it out

- if you have control over the way the data are sent (for example, if you can write into COM instead of write to a file), it's pretty easy to write to an Arduino with a SD card, you won't be able to read the data on the card unless you remove it from the Arduino shield and put it elsewhere (or specifically design a protocol to send the data back)

- you can also crypt the data using a XOR with a stream of random bytes stored on an USB device, even if you can "read" the file, there's absolutely no solution to get back the data unless you can get the bit stream again

- finally, if you really want a "write-only" USB key, I'm pretty sure it can be done... I've looked into designing my own USB mass storage device some time ago, although I never went far for lack of time. Several chips/board can act as USB MSD with very minor tricks (such as LPC1343 if I'm not mistaken), you'll mostly need to find a way to store the data on the board, and modify the software to not allow reading if an input is at a given logical level. Could be slow, though.


Also, some software that check file after saving may go crazy, but nearly no tool does this...

 

[Mozendo]

Having a weird emulator problem with controllers.
So two emulators, Dolphin and Retroarch for some reason aren't registering my controller inputs when I try to map the buttons, but they do detect the controllers.

I've reinstalled both emulators but the problem still occurs, also redownloaded the Xbox 360 drivers, this also happens to non-Xbox 360 controllers that are just plug an play.

Anyone know what the issue might be or if I need to download some extra drivers? The controllers work fine on an emulator like SNES 9X and native PC games.

I've tried the Buffalo SNES, A DS4, 360 controller, and a GameSir G3s

 

[bede-x]

Anyone from PC Gaf that can help me with Shadowplay? I've recently started playing the PC version of Earth Defense Force 4.1 and want to record my gameplay. Being an Nvidia graphics card owner Shadowplay seemed like the most convenient way of doing so, but the problem is when I set it to record the last 20 minutes and tap record (alt + F10) after completing a mission, it divides the recording in two, neither of them being 20 minutes long, even if you add them together. It looks like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Pw_yoWJpY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqx-aeTf0wA

Why does this happen and is there any way to avoid it?

EDIT: I think I've solved it. It's probably happening due to the Shadowplay 3.8GB recording limit in Windows 7..

 

[megarockexe]

I cloned my SSD to a new SSD, but now the old drive, that I still have in my system, is getting indexed identically to my old drive. Can I safely format the old drive, or are they related somehow that this will cause a problem?

 

[Zepp Twofist]

I cloned my SSD to a new SSD, but now the old drive, that I still have in my system, is getting indexed identically to my old drive. Can I safely format the old drive, or are they related somehow that this will cause a problem?

As long as you are sure that the new drive is the one that is showing up as C:, you can safely format the old drive. If you want to be sure, disconnect the old drive, boot up you system and check that your stuff works. It shouldn't be necessary but it should give you peace of mind that the cloned drive works properly.

 

[Bishop89]

1. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1029239
may help fix this error

2. there has been an issue with the Windows photo app, go to the store and try to update the installed applications

3. I had this problem a couple of times typically updating Windows and restarting to the current latest release has helped. Otherwise more work is needed like http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/com...g-here-are-four-ways-to-fix-it-11364000314532

Definitely Windows 10 for issues 2+3, best of luck.

Just to clarify, based on the link for q1. If I copy my Firefox profile to a USB, I can reset my computer / reinstall Firefox and just paste my profile replacing the new one?

I REALLY don't want to lose my bookmarks.

Is there a way to view my bookmarks without opening Firefox?

 

[Koren]

I REALLY don't want to lose my bookmarks.

Is there a way to view my bookmarks without opening Firefox?

If I'm not mistaken, they're stored in a sqlite database called places.sqlite (at least, it's the case on Linux)

The file is perfectly readable... I just tried with QSLite Database Browser. I'd say that addresses are in the moz_place table, and bookmarks in the moz_bookmarks one.

If you need to reconstruct the bookmark structure, it may require some SQL tricks, but It's definitively doable... If you just want a list of addresses, it's dirty easy with Python and sqlite.

Edit: here is a basic Python3 script that read a places.sqlite file and produce a bookmarks.txt file with all the bookmarks (assuming I haven't made a mistake). You just have to go into the profile directory and run "python thenameofthescript.py".

import sqlite3
con = sqlite3.connect("places.sqlite")
cur = con.cursor()
cur.execute("SELECT url, b.title FROM moz_bookmarks AS b JOIN moz_places AS p ON  b.fk=p.id")

out = open("bookmarks.txt", "w")

for elem in cur :
    out.write(str(elem[1]))
    out.write("\n")
    out.write(elem[0])
    out.write("\n\n")

out.close()

I you don't have Python installed on your computer, I'd suggest Miniconda.

If you need more in terms of structure and you know SQL, the structure is

Re-edit: I'm not sure replacing a profile by a copy of a previous one is a great idea, but you can try it. Anyway, as long as you have a copy of your profile, you can extract most data, except maybe the passwords (it's encrypted, IIRC, I'm not sure how they are protected and what you would need to decrypt those)

 

[OminoMichelin]

Hey guys, what's the best solution to record audio with a smartphone?

 

[Koren]

Hey guys, what's the best solution to record audio with a smartphone?

You mean recording in the phone? You should probably look into a smartphone thread...

Android or iOS? Which kind of sound, voice or music? Do you just need the sound, or do you need fine control over recording? Compressed or not?

For Android, Recforge is a great app for recording audio, although IIRC the compressed recording is limited to 3min with the free version. But if you just want to easily record voice snippets, it's overkill...

 

[Bishop89]

If I'm not mistaken, they're stored in a sqlite database called places.sqlite (at least, it's the case on Linux)

The file is perfectly readable... I just tried with QSLite Database Browser. I'd say that addresses are in the moz_place table, and bookmarks in the moz_bookmarks one.

If you need to reconstruct the bookmark structure, it may require some SQL tricks, but It's definitively doable... If you just want a list of addresses, it's dirty easy with Python and sqlite.

Edit: here is a basic Python3 script that read a places.sqlite file and produce a bookmarks.txt file with all the bookmarks (assuming I haven't made a mistake). You just have to go into the profile directory and run "python thenameofthescript.py".

import sqlite3
con = sqlite3.connect("places.sqlite")
cur = con.cursor()
cur.execute("SELECT url, b.title FROM moz_bookmarks AS b JOIN moz_places AS p ON  b.fk=p.id")

out = open("bookmarks.txt", "w")

for elem in cur :
    out.write(str(elem[1]))
    out.write("n")
    out.write(elem[0])
    out.write("nn")

out.close()

I you don't have Python installed on your computer, I'd suggest Miniconda.

If you need more in terms of structure and you know SQL, the structure is

Re-edit: I'm not sure replacing a profile by a copy of a previous one is a great idea, but you can try it. Anyway, as long as you have a copy of your profile, you can extract most data, except maybe the passwords (it's encrypted, IIRC, I'm not sure how they are protected and what you would need to decrypt those)

Thanks for the detailed post. Fortunately for some reason I decided to just download firefox again without uninstalling it first, and then it started working again... bookmarks intact :/

So the first thing I did was export that sucker to html and now I have my full list double backed up!

I reinstalled windows 10 as I had a couple other problems which seem to have been fixed now.

 

[AndyD]

Now this is a weird one.

Desktop has an SSD OS drive and a hd drive for documents. I added a 2TB new harddrive as extra space and all was well. Then after the Anniversary update, the Extra drive no longer appears in windows. It shows in BIOS, shows in Device Manager, but not in Drive Management or is the Storage Spaces in Win 10.

Tried uninstalling, tried moving it to another SATA port, tried just about everything and no luck so far. Am I missing something obvious?

 

[Piston Hyundai]

I have an issue with my GTX 970 and it's starting to drive me insane. In pretty much every game I play, the edges of models/geometry and textures (most noticeably ones that are overlapping others) start to flicker like crazy past a certain distance, and it can get pretty damn bad depending on the situation. Looking into it, it seems like a pretty common issue, but I haven't seen any real solutions. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Oracle Dragon]

Hi, I purchased a new 1060SC yesterday, and spent the evening installing it. I upgraded from a EVGA 560Ti and figured I would just swap the cards out and everything would be good.

However after plugging in the new card, the computer would not get past the AMI BIOS prompt (Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP), it would just sit there. I would freeze and then make the "beep" like it was restarting (even though the AMI logo remained frozen on the screen). It would just do this in an infinite loop (which unfortunately corrupted my BIOS and my windows install on my SSD, but that is another story of pain).

At any rate, I got the system to get into Windows after setting the following on in my Mobo BIOS (I had to go back to the 560Ti to get into the BIOS properly and change the setting):

Other PCI Device ROM Priority: Legacy OpROM
(The default setting was UEFI OpROM).

So my question(s) are:

1) Why do I need to set this to "Legacy"? Is this normal to have to change, and an expected setting to need when using the 1060SC?

2) Is there any way to get the 1060SC to work with UEFI OpROM? My primary concern is that the BIOS will reset or some other event that restores the default setting, and then I won't be able to get back into the system any longer without opening it up and swapping out the 1060SC again.

3) Does anyone know what the difference is between Legacy and UEFI OpROM?

Thank you for any assistance!

 

[Polioliolio]

Man, I love it. I just love it how windows 10 updates hijack your computer and shut you down in the middle of whatever you were doing. Fuck you Microsoft.

This better wrap up before the debate.
Seems to be taking its time.

Also, as always, pray it doesn't break anything.

Edit:

Blue screen of death 75 percent through the update, been waiting 20 minutes.. Now restoring previous version.

What a steaming load. Thanks Microsoft.

 

[oneran]

Now this is a weird one.

Desktop has an SSD OS drive and a hd drive for documents. I added a 2TB new harddrive as extra space and all was well. Then after the Anniversary update, the Extra drive no longer appears in windows. It shows in BIOS, shows in Device Manager, but not in Drive Management or is the Storage Spaces in Win 10.

Tried uninstalling, tried moving it to another SATA port, tried just about everything and no luck so far. Am I missing something obvious?

If its not showing up in disk management you may want to try opening up a administrative command prompt type: diskpart then list disk and see if it lists your 2tb drive.

 

[Mozendo]

Hey GAF any of you guys know how to make Windows Explorer(?) more like Windows 7?

Want the layout (including the sidebar to look like this)

Currently like this
http://i.imgur.com/QkHCzWW.png

Please help this is driving me insane

 

[Owari]

Hey all! I sent in my 980 for a step up, and plugged the monitor directly into the mobo, but the picture looks all Glitché.

Any ideas?

 

[Zepp Twofist]

Hey GAF any of you guys know how to make Windows Explorer(?) more like Windows 7?

Want the layout (including the sidebar to look like this)

Currently like this
http://i.imgur.com/QkHCzWW.png

Please help this is driving me insane

If you are talking about getting rid of the libraries list, you pretty much can't. There is a registry tweak to remove them from these lists, but Windows will restore them every single update and sometimes just randomly on restarts.

 

[bgbball31]

So guys my CPU cores are running exceedingly hot. Like near 100C hot. Just started tonight. I reset the CMOS, so no overclocking. I reseated the heatsink after they started getting hot, but that didn't fix the problem, so I either messed up reseating it, or there is a different problem.

I am using a Corsair H100i water cooler. Both of its fans are running, but the BIOS is reading that are no CPU fans are running. Maybe the pump isn't working correctly? Or there is a blockage of some type? I have no idea how to check for those things though.

I guess it could be that my CPU sensors are just wrong? That's kind of hoping for the best (although that would be somewhat annoying), but my computer seems to be running just fine for the temperature that is being output.

Pic of my HWMoniter is here: http://www.picpar.com/5Occ

 

[clav]

Check thermal paste on the CPU.

Clean and reapply.

 

[bgbball31]

Check thermal paste on the CPU.

Clean and reapply.

Done. Turned on computer and immediately got a CPU fan error. Watching the CPU temp in the BIOS quickly rise to 60C (and climbing as I type) as well. Still reading no CPU fan despite having it plugged into the controller on the motherboard.

 

[AgeEighty]

I use a Dual Shock 4 connected to my PC, and periodically I have an issue where the controller input freezes briefly, causing whatever I was inputting at the time to lock in place. This causes me to do things like running off ledges to my death in a straight line, or, if I wasn't inputting anything, to freeze in place.

It lasts about three seconds, then input comes back for about one second, then it freezes for another four seconds or so.

It happens every ten minutes, on the sixes, 30-40 seconds into the minute (it varies).

This same issue, whatever it is, is also causing me to get the "Scan to PC has been disabled" Windows popup message regarding my printer.

I'm running an Intel Core i7-6700K with Windows 10.

Anyone recognize what's causing this? Alternately, what's an easy thing I can do to figure out which process or service is causing this?

 

[Corpekata]

I use a Dual Shock 4 connected to my PC, and periodically I have an issue where the controller input freezes briefly, causing whatever I was inputting at the time to lock in place. This causes me to do things like running off ledges to my death in a straight line, or, if I wasn't inputting anything, to freeze in place.

It lasts about three seconds, then input comes back for about one second, then it freezes for another four seconds or so.

It happens every ten minutes, on the sixes, 30-40 seconds into the minute (it varies).

This same issue, whatever it is, is also causing me to get the "Scan to PC has been disabled" Windows popup message regarding my printer.

I'm running an Intel Core i7-6700K with Windows 10.

Anyone recognize what's causing this? Alternately, what's an easy thing I can do to figure out which process or service is causing this?

Are you running any OC? Are you connected via USB wire or bluetooth? Have you tried putting whatever you connect through in a different USB port?

To me it sounds like a bad USB port that's disabling, re-enabling, disabling. I've had experiences with USB ports acting weird as shit with an OC so that's why I ask about that.

I also get that weird Scan to PC thing every once in a while but it is router related for me. When it happens I have to reboot my router as all wireless devices will not work until after it (and I don't always notice as my PC is wired). Presuming you are running the DS4 wirelessly, does anything else wireless screw up when this happens?

 

[AgeEighty]

Are you running any OC? Are you connected via USB wire or bluetooth? Have you tried putting whatever you connect through in a different USB port?

To me it sounds like a bad USB port that's disabling, re-enabling, disabling. I've had experiences with USB ports acting weird as shit with an OC so that's why I ask about that.

I also get that weird Scan to PC thing every once in a while but it is router related for me. When it happens I have to reboot my router as all wireless devices will not work until after it (and I don't always notice as my PC is wired). Presuming you are running the DS4 wirelessly, does anything else wireless screw up when this happens?

I'm connected via Bluetooth. I've used two different adapters: a Plugable one and the official Sony one, and this issue happens with both. It also happens when the controller is connected via USB (to a different USB port). I've tried the BT adapters in different USB ports; same problem.

The only other wireless thing I can see that screws up at the same time is the Scan to PC thing. That message really does pop up exactly at the same time this controller issue happens, every ten minutes.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not using any OC.

 

[Maximo]

Could be a number of bloody issues but want GAFs help in trying to solve this issue.
Computer no longer displays on my monitor, nothing wrong with the monitor or the cables as far as I know. Before the monitor randomly had..sorta small blurred lines every now and then but now the monitor doesn't turn on when I turn the PC on and no display at all. Sadly my friends aren't great with hardware and there isn't any reliable places to take my pc in to near my area.

 

[Corpekata]

Could be a number of bloody issues but want GAFs help in trying to solve this issue.
Computer no longer displays on my monitor, nothing wrong with the monitor or the cables as far as I know. Before the monitor randomly had..sorta small blurred lines every now and then but now the monitor doesn't turn on when I turn the PC on and no display at all. Sadly my friends aren't great with hardware and there isn't any reliable places to take my pc in to near my area.

Have you tried onboard video? It might be your GPU that's the issue. Looked inside the case much when booting?

I'm connected via Bluetooth. I've used two different adapters: a Plugable one and the official Sony one, and this issue happens with both. It also happens when the controller is connected via USB (to a different USB port). I've tried the BT adapters in different USB ports; same problem.

The only other wireless thing I can see that screws up at the same time is the Scan to PC thing. That message really does pop up exactly at the same time this controller issue happens, every ten minutes.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not using any OC.

Does the disconnect of your printer always happen every 10 minutes innately or only after you use the dualshock the first time? Does it only happen in games and when you're done playing, does the Printer disconnect still or go back to normal?

 

[Glasshole]

Ok guys, I hope I'm in the right thread for this. Here goes.

I recently bought a Dell PowerEdge T20 as a home server. It's this thing here, the Xeon E3 Version.

I installed Windows Server 2016 on it, as I will get the license for free (Microsoft Imagine) sooner or later. As we speak, I'm reading up on the functionality of Server Manager, as I have no clue what Roles and Functions to assign, but that part I'll manage.

I outfitted the Server with 3x 2TB Western Digital Green Harddisks and put them together to a RAID-5 through Windows' disk manager (not hardware). Was that a mistake?

The question I'm here for starts here though:

I want to run the server for mainly two purposes:

1.) Mediaserver for the house (Intranet)
I have a HTPC in the living room, but two Samsung Smart TVs in two bedrooms without any devices connected to them. They're the reason why I'm asking: Which media server software should I use for maximum compatibility? When I converted my DVDs many moons ago, I did the mistake of ripping most of them to the .mkv format. (Disclaimer: All my data is either family videos (they're .avi though) or digital copies of videos I legally own as DVDs). This format is mostly not compatible with Samsung's Smart TVs, as far as I know.
Some time ago, I bought a brilliant piece of software called "VLC Streamer" on my iPad, which needs the "VLC Streamer Helper" on the PC. The media file is automatically converted to a format that can be played on my iPad, and later deleted automatically. Does such a thing exist as a media server?
If this would be a major headache or not achievable at all, I would also be open to buying Google Chromecasts (or similar devices) to attach to my TV, so I can access my Videos on the server. If you have an idea, I would be very glad for proposals. I do have a Chromecast in the living room, and my experience is that streaming local data is a nightmare and sometimes even includes monthly fees for full functionality.

2.) Cloud for Internet use.
Here I plan to run a slim, virtualized Linux on top of Windows Server 2016 for the sole purpose of running OwnCloud on it.
Does that make sense? Is there a reason why I shouldn't run this on the RAID-5, but should rather connect an additional drive to run the virtualized linux on it seperately?

I think that's most of my questions for now. Thanks a lot for any help, I really appreciate some pointers here from people that have more experience in servers than me.

 

[AgeEighty]

Does the disconnect of your printer always happen every 10 minutes innately or only after you use the dualshock the first time? Does it only happen in games and when you're done playing, does the Printer disconnect still or go back to normal?

Always, games or no.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

1.) Mediaserver for the house (Intranet)

2.) Cloud for Internet use.
Here I plan to run a slim, virtualized Linux on top of Windows Server 2016 for the sole purpose of running OwnCloud on it.
Does that make sense? Is there a reason why I shouldn't run this on the RAID-5, but should rather connect an additional drive to run the virtualized linux on it seperately?

I think that's most of my questions for now. Thanks a lot for any help, I really appreciate some pointers here from people that have more experience in servers than me.

For nr. 1, I think something like Plex solves all of your problems. I haven't used it myself, but it is highly recommended from what I can tell. If you want something more open, there is Kodi as well (former XBMC)

For nr. 2, there really isn't a need to put it on a separate drive unless you are planning on some extreme use cases with tons of reads and writes.

 

[Knurek]

Can anyone tell me how can I bloody disable Windows constantly scanning my hard drive?

I have a rather large Steam install folder on a magnetic drive, about 2.5 TB total and I hear almost constant disc activity, with CompatTelRunner, TiWorker and svchost.
I get that the last one can be drive defragmentation, but what about the first two?

Win10 x64 1607

 

[Koren]

If you are talking about getting rid of the libraries list, you pretty much can't. There is a registry tweak to remove them from these lists, but Windows will restore them every single update and sometimes just randomly on restarts.

If it's a registry tweak, you can usually script the modification and put it in tasks that are launched on startup? Or is it different from XP/7?

 

[Zepp Twofist]

If it's a registry tweak, you can usually script the modification and put it in tasks that are launched on startup? Or is it different from XP/7?

That would probably work.

 

[Glasshole]

For nr. 1, I think something like Plex solves all of your problems. I haven't used it myself, but it is highly recommended from what I can tell. If you want something more open, there is Kodi as well (former XBMC)

For nr. 2, there really isn't a need to put it on a separate drive unless you are planning on some extreme use cases with tons of reads and writes.

Thanks for the quick answer! Installing Plex as we speak. I've tried Kodi on two of my PCs (one of them being the HTPC) and I couldn't be more frustrated. It hangs up all the time, the interface gets scaled beyond the screen regularly, and more. I'm using the standard version with no downloaded theme.

Follow-up question: What constitutes an extreme use case with tons of reads and writes? I'm a normal drop box user, and I'm planning on switching from drop box to my own OwnCloud for all tasks.

 

[Zepp Twofist]

Follow-up question: What constitutes an extreme use case with tons of reads and writes? I'm a normal drop box user, and I'm planning on switching from drop box to my own OwnCloud for all tasks.

Gigabytes of read/writes every day. That's nothing you run into if you use it as a regular dropbox user would. You media server is most likely going to dwarf the disk activity of your owncloud, and even that will only constitute normal use.

 

[AgeEighty]

I use a Dual Shock 4 connected to my PC, and periodically I have an issue where the controller input freezes briefly, causing whatever I was inputting at the time to lock in place. This causes me to do things like running off ledges to my death in a straight line, or, if I wasn't inputting anything, to freeze in place.

It lasts about three seconds, then input comes back for about one second, then it freezes for another four seconds or so.

It happens every ten minutes, on the sixes, 30-40 seconds into the minute (it varies).

This same issue, whatever it is, is also causing me to get the "Scan to PC has been disabled" Windows popup message regarding my printer.

I'm running an Intel Core i7-6700K with Windows 10.

Anyone recognize what's causing this? Alternately, what's an easy thing I can do to figure out which process or service is causing this?

Even if someone can point me to some kind of tool that can easily show me when certain processes or services are becoming active on the fly, that could be helpful. I tried Microsoft Process Monitor, but I couldn't make heads or tails of what it was showing me; there was too much data to parse.

 

[Whooter]

Edit: Nevermind, sorry to have cluttered the thread. I somehow missed a thread right here on NeoGAF about the issue.