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[oldmario]

i have an issue with an external hdd and my pc, basically when i plug it in sometimes it'll pop up for a minute or so with access to one partition but i'm unable to open any files with it and sometimes it refuses to read it and says that it needs formatting but if i plug it into someone elses computer or my ps3 for example then i can freely browse it and play videos and open documents fine

both mine and computers i've tested on are windows 7

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Just gonna bounce this out there, see if anyone has any ideas. My r290x seems to have bit it yesterday. Was doing some gaming and it hard crashed. After rebooting I got bad flickering and artifacts just on the Windows desktop before the eventual BSOD. I cleaned a significant amount of dust from the front intakes and left the computer unplugged most of yesterday while doing chores and started it back up and got about 20 minutes of light gaming before it started to fail again. Wiped the drivers clean with DDU, reset the CMOS (the UEFI interface was showing some garbled text and stuff as well until I reset that), but still hasn't helped.

So then I pulled it out of the case and left it overnight. This morning I plugged it back it, then plugged it in on different power connectors on my PSU (800w PSU which is kind of overkill on a one card system) and again got about 20 minutes before going down. Wondering if it still might be heat related. Even after cleaning the dust out, while I was able to play games I was monitoring temps and it peaked in the low 90c, which is definitely hot, but these cards have a reputation for running hot and apparently are OK up to 95c. It does concern me because its pretty cool here in my house and the side panel of the case was off at the time.

Running out of ideas here. Computer is running just peachy on Intel HD graphics, so I'm pretty sure its video card related. Last thing I can think of doing is pulling off the heatsink and redoing the thermal paste, which I've never had to do with a video card. At the very least, if the card is already dying, that shouldn't make things worse.

 

[Ashhong]

Could use some advice guys,

I built my parents a cheap PC about 3-4 years ago, some AMD cpu/mobo combo I can't remember the name of, budget stuff for their web browsing and streaming.

Recently it's failing. It freezes mid use, sometimes just has this loud noise out of the speakers (connected via HDMI through an old cheapy GPU). The other day I couldn't even boot it, and there was just this red light next to the RAM sticks. I reseated the RAM and it at least booted but still freezes randomly.

My first question is, how do I diagnose what the problem is? I figure it could be anything from mobo, RAM, CPU, or PSU.

I guess second question might be better to ask the PC buying thread, but is there a good and cheap combo CPU/mobo I could replace this with or should I put in my i5 4670k and upgrade my own stuff...

Found it in my email, it's actually 6 years old that I have upgraded small pieces to, but the CPU is AMD Phenom II X4 with a M4A87TD EVO motherboard

 

[DSN2K]

Just gonna bounce this out there, see if anyone has any ideas. My r290x seems to have bit it yesterday. Was doing some gaming and it hard crashed. After rebooting I got bad flickering and artifacts just on the Windows desktop before the eventual BSOD. I cleaned a significant amount of dust from the front intakes and left the computer unplugged most of yesterday while doing chores and started it back up and got about 20 minutes of light gaming before it started to fail again. Wiped the drivers clean with DDU, reset the CMOS (the UEFI interface was showing some garbled text and stuff as well until I reset that), but still hasn't helped.

So then I pulled it out of the case and left it overnight. This morning I plugged it back it, then plugged it in on different power connectors on my PSU (800w PSU which is kind of overkill on a one card system) and again got about 20 minutes before going down. Wondering if it still might be heat related. Even after cleaning the dust out, while I was able to play games I was monitoring temps and it peaked in the low 90c, which is definitely hot, but these cards have a reputation for running hot and apparently are OK up to 95c. It does concern me because its pretty cool here in my house and the side panel of the case was off at the time.

Running out of ideas here. Computer is running just peachy on Intel HD graphics, so I'm pretty sure its video card related. Last thing I can think of doing is pulling off the heatsink and redoing the thermal paste, which I've never had to do with a video card. At the very least, if the card is already dying, that shouldn't make things worse.

think you need a new GPU to be honest, once you have seen artifacts at stock speeds your in trouble period.

 

[Pops Maellard]

My PC inexplicably stopped booting because of a corrupt or missing kernel, so I reformatted it, reinstalled Windows 7, and then immediately upgraded to W10 again. Ever since performance has seemed weirdly horrible. Illustrator starts to chug after 30-40 minutes, Premiere is unusable with a 1080p workflow once the project passes 30 seconds, and gaming is essentially impossible. I tried to play Resident Evil 7 for a bit and it's a stuttery slideshow at best, even at 1080p and medium settings. Installed RE4 and it's literally unplayable, lowest settings at 1080p is incredibly stuttery and 60fps/low settings/1440p is almost entirely slow motion.

Also tried to play some Halo 5: Forge, which ran pretty perfectly before the reformat, and on the lowest settings/1080p it rarely hits 30, mostly hovering around the mid 20's.


Hardware is reasonably dated at this point, but as previously mentioned it ran Halo 5: Forge and handled all of my Adobe production work like a champ just a few months ago:

i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz (feeling like this is the biggest issue, but doesn't really explain the change in performance post-format)
12gb RAM
GTX 970

There's definitely a noticeable degradation in performance, but I don't know how to isolate the issue at this point.

 

[Horseticuffs]

Hey guys. I'm looking for software, and willing to pay for it, that will convert .ts files into something editable in Adobe Premiere Elements. I'm finding a lot of thinly veiled ads and poorly reviewed freeware. Surely with the popularity of streaming there must be some widely loved program out there.

 

[Spladam]

Hey guys. I'm looking for software, and willing to pay for it, that will convert .ts files into something editable in Adobe Premiere Elements. I'm finding a lot of thinly veiled ads and poorly reviewed freeware. Surely with the popularity of streaming there must be some widely loved program out there.

You can just rename the file extension to .mpg, as Transport Stream files are basically mpeg2 format, but you will most likely loose audio. The best open source converter I've found for this is StaxRip, it should solve your problem. Try it out, hope it helps.

 

[Nero's Neptune]

I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer for this. I'm running an Intel i5 4690k with a Noctua NH-U14S cooler. It runs exceptionally cool, of course, so I have a lot of play with overclocking. I was rocking 4.6Ghz for a while, but I had so much temp headroom I decided to push it to 4.8Ghz. It seems to be stable judging by the CPU-Z stress test I ran, but I'm wondering... With the auto voltage adjustment I'm running 1.5v, is this a concern so long as it's not running hot? It peaks at 80 degrees under full stress with averages being around 76 degrees.

Some answers I've seen say it can shorten the lifespan, or even kill the CPU regardless of temps, other say as long as temps are safe it's fine. Can I lower voltage while still retaining this clock speed? I'm kinda new to the overclocking thing, as this is really the first CPU I've ever had that I can overclock.

 

[Spladam]

I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer for this. I'm running an Intel i5 4690k with a Noctua NH-U14S cooler. It runs exceptionally cool, of course, so I have a lot of play with overclocking. I was rocking 4.6Ghz for a while, but I had so much temp headroom I decided to push it to 4.8Ghz. It seems to be stable judging by the CPU-Z stress test I ran, but I'm wondering... With the auto voltage adjustment I'm running 1.5v, is this a concern so long as it's not running hot? It peaks at 80 degrees under full stress with averages being around 76 degrees.

Some answers I've seen say it can shorten the lifespan, or even kill the CPU regardless of temps, other say as long as temps are safe it's fine. Can I lower voltage while still retaining this clock speed? I'm kinda new to the overclocking thing, as this is really the first CPU I've ever had that I can overclock.

Why did you adjust the voltage? Usually, you want to push up the clocks until you run into a problem THEN push up the voltage. Theoretically you can over power your CPU without pushing temps into the extreme, voltage tollerances and thermal levels are NOT directly proportional. Push the voltage down then stress test it. I don't know what the spec voltages are for that i5, but it won't hurt to try it a little lower.
Also, remember that there is a risk/ reward ratio for pushing clocks, the performance gains you get for that last one or two hundred Mhz are often not worth the stress on your CPU, unless you just want to see how fast that thing can go. 4.6 Ghz is a great speed to run that thing at if you can achieve that stable.

 

[Nero's Neptune]

That's the voltage it's automatically set at as I increase clock speed through my motherboard. I tried manually turning the voltage down, but it locked up within a few minutes of stress testing. At 4.6Ghz voltage is set to about 1.36, and from what I've seen people say, that's about safe for this CPU. Might just leave it like that.

 

[Horseticuffs]

You can just rename the file extension to .mpg, as Transport Stream files are basically mpeg2 format, but you will most likely loose audio. The best open source converter I've found for this is StaxRip, it should solve your problem. Try it out, hope it helps.

Thank you. I read that just changing it to .mpeg will work and it even kept the audio. I appreciate your help.

 

[Spladam]

That's the voltage it's automatically set at as I increase clock speed through my motherboard. I tried manually turning the voltage down, but it locked up within a few minutes of stress testing. At 4.6Ghz voltage is set to about 1.36, and from what I've seen people say, that's about safe for this CPU. Might just leave it like that.

Oh, you left the auto voltage setting alone, ok. You're cool then, the auto voltage on newer UEFI systems are pretty reliable, as it's simple math, and always go with the least amount of power able to sustain the chosen clock. Changing clock speeds has been vastly simplified these days as opposed to the past, and there are multiple protections built into the hardware and firmware now. You're gonna be fine, you have yourself a fast machine now, I assume you have some pretty decent environment temps.

 

[Ya no]

Hey GAF,

So yesterday I spilled a tiny drop of water on my macbook pros track pad. Wiped it off didnt think anything of it cause it's happened before. Now today I go to use it and it took over an hour to boot up (usually under 15 seconds with ssd) and once it finally did was basically unusable. The fan was spun up, the mouse barely moved and lagged like crazy - if I was able to get it over something the interaction was incredibly slow...like I said it's unusable. I opened it up and tried disconnecting the track pad and using a USB mouse but had the same result, long boot into an unusable system. I tried disconnecting everything else, removing the battery and booting with the power cable on with the same result. Reset the pram, tried to boot into recovery mode...nothing. Am I screwed?

Late 2011 model way out of warranty, but I've upgraded the RAM and threw in SSD in so up until now it was still screaming fast.

 

[sarcastor]

So I was playing doom and then I heard a popping noise and my computer turned off and won't turn on again

Is it the motherboard or PSU?

 

[Spladam]

So I was playing doom and then I heard a popping noise and my computer turned off and won't turn on again

Is it the motherboard or PSU?

Popping noise coming from inside the PC or from the speakers? Open up your PC and look at the capacitors on the motherboard to see if any of them have blown, if they are capped and you can't tell, smell the mobo and the power source and see if you smell anything funny. The electrolytic materials in the capacitors make a very unique smell when they blow. Look for any kind of burn mark or anything on the PCB (printed circuit board) of your mother board as well.

 

[T.A.L]

I had a move recently and let my cousins keep my pc. When I went to pick it up it wasn't working anymore. I push the power button and the fans spin and it lights up but nothing comes to the monitor. I usually use hdmi and I tried dvi and nothing . I have a r9 280x with an amd 6300. I'm of the belief my gpu is gone. The fans still spin on it but I don't know. I have reseated the ram and pulled the battery from the motherboard. Nothing. Any idea what could be wrong?

 

[Johnny Cage In The Shower]

Kinda have an IT (administrator privileges) question here.

Windows 7 platform, I've noticed someone at my workplace logged into my workstation using their own ID login, and they are also "administrators" I guess I'd be qualified as a "regular" user?

Question is, can they access my account, while they are logged into their profile? ie: can they view my browsing history etc.? (maybe they can view my files??)

I'm a bit put off by this, because I cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would need to log into my computer using their ID, without my consent.

 

[Spladam]

Kinda have an IT (administrator privileges) question here.

Windows 7 platform, I've noticed someone at my workplace logged into my workstation using their own ID login, and they are also "administrators" I guess I'd be qualified as a "regular" user?

Question is, can they access my account, while they are logged into their profile? ie: can they view my browsing history etc.? (maybe they can view my files??)

I'm a bit put off by this, because I cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would need to log into my computer using their ID, without my consent.

Yes, if they ran the same browser while on your system, they can access the history. They can also view the browser cache if that has not been cleaned, but nobody bothers to do that much anymore.

 

[Johnny Cage In The Shower]

Yes, if they ran the same browser while on your system, they can access the history. They can also view the browser cache if that has not been cleaned, but nobody bothers to do that much anymore.

Ok just to be certain, they are logged in with their user ID as admin, not to my account, just on the same machine...

They can't access my web based emails like gmail can they? my browser cache wouldn't give them access to my inbox, right? they still have to log into my Gmail.

 

[Spladam]

Ok just to be certain, they are logged in with their user ID as admin, not to my account, just on the same machine...

They can't access my web based emails like gmail can they? my browser cache wouldn't give them access to my inbox, right? they still have to log into my Gmail.

No, browser cache would not give them access to your inbox, and remember to log out of your email when you are done using it. What browser was it?
I can't remember if the auto login is attached to OS user privileges, but I would recommend you not use an auto login on your email at work.

 

[nicanica]

Edit: Oop. Sorry, this isn't PC related. More game pad related. My bad.

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Cross-posting from "I Need a New PC" thread, as I couldn't find this one initially:

I'm kind of at my wits end with my desktop PC and was really hoping to get some help on how to proceed.

Backstory: This was my first (and only) PC build. It was built in mid 2012 and was used moderately for about half a year. No issues during that time. However, in early 2013, I began getting a lot of crashes/BSODs. I recall reformatting a bunch of times, but that didn't help. I eventually gave up on the PC and it's pretty much sat in my closet for about 4 years. Just yesterday, I got the PC out and up and "running" again. Obviously, same issues as before.

Here are the specs:

Windows 8 Pro 64 bit
Biostar TZ77B motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K @ 3.40Ghz (4 cores)
8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz Corsair Vengeance Blue RAM (2 x 4 GB sticks)
Seagate Desktop ST2000DM001 2TB internal hard drive (this is where everything, including Windows, is installed this time)
Kingston 64GB SSD Drive (like a first or second gen SSD; currently have nothing on the drive)
GeForce GTX 570 1GB GDDR5 card

Here are the issues:
- More than occasional BSODs, with various errors (PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA, PFN LIST CORRUPT, MEMORY MANAGEMENT)
- Hangs a LOT during installations, many times just not proceeding at all (i.e. when installing Steam, etc.)
- Typically unable to download from Windows Update (tried deleting cache and such; can sometimes download a single update or so, but then it hangs on the next; almost always fails to install)
- Occasional reboot loop
- I've also noticed that in the bios, the RAM shows up as 1333 mhz, but these are rated 1600? Memtest shows it at 1600, too. Not sure if this is relevant.

Here is what I've tried:
- Reformatting (many times) several years ago
- Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic (showed no errors)
- Ran memtest; showed MANY errors (10,000+)

How do I proceed from here? Is the RAM the most likely culprit? I'd be very grateful for any assistance anyone could offer.
While I'd love a newer PC, I don't have the money for it. If I need to replace a single part or two here, I'd be willing to (provided cost isn't outrageous, which I don't think it will be).

 

[Spladam]

Cross-posting from "I Need a New PC" thread, as I couldn't find this one initially:

I'm kind of at my wits end with my desktop PC and was really hoping to get some help on how to proceed.

Backstory: This was my first (and only) PC build. It was built in mid 2012 and was used moderately for about half a year. No issues during that time. However, in early 2013, I began getting a lot of crashes/BSODs. I recall reformatting a bunch of times, but that didn't help. I eventually gave up on the PC and it's pretty much sat in my closet for about 4 years. Just yesterday, I got the PC out and up and "running" again. Obviously, same issues as before.

Here are the specs:

Windows 8 Pro 64 bit
Biostar TZ77B motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K @ 3.40Ghz (4 cores)
8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz Corsair Vengeance Blue RAM (2 x 4 GB sticks)
Seagate Desktop ST2000DM001 2TB internal hard drive (this is where everything, including Windows, is installed this time)
Kingston 64GB SSD Drive (like a first or second gen SSD; currently have nothing on the drive)
GeForce GTX 570 1GB GDDR5 card

Here are the issues:
- More than occasional BSODs, with various errors (PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA, PFN LIST CORRUPT, MEMORY MANAGEMENT)
- Hangs a LOT during installations, many times just not proceeding at all (i.e. when installing Steam, etc.)
- Typically unable to download from Windows Update (tried deleting cache and such; can sometimes download a single update or so, but then it hangs on the next; almost always fails to install)
- Occasional reboot loop
- I've also noticed that in the bios, the RAM shows up as 1333 mhz, but these are rated 1600? Memtest shows it at 1600, too. Not sure if this is relevant.

Here is what I've tried:
- Reformatting (many times) several years ago
- Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic (showed no errors)
- Ran memtest; showed MANY errors (10,000+)

How do I proceed from here? Is the RAM the most likely culprit? I'd be very grateful for any assistance anyone could offer.
While I'd love a newer PC, I don't have the money for it. If I need to replace a single part or two here, I'd be willing to (provided cost isn't outrageous, which I don't think it will be).

As far as your ram showing up at 1333Mhz, many RAM modules RATED for 1600Mhz will default to 1333 without you manually changing them to the higher speed, as that is how they are made to report to the BIOS. For now, just leave them at that speed, as the speed reported in the BIOS is what they are running at.

What you do to proceed is remove both modules and install only one, then run memtest on each 4GB module, it is highly likely that only one of them is faulty, and it is highly likely that the RAM is your problem. If you have to replace one of them, make sure you buy a matched module of the same make and speed. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[The Shadow]

My system:
Windows 10 64 bit
Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H motherboard
Intel Core i5-4570K (Default clock)
8GB DDR3 (2 x 4 GB sticks) (Don't remember brand or speed)
GIGABYTE Radeon R9 290 8GB
XFX TS 650W PSU

Issue: Basically, random BSoD. And I mean random. I'll be browsing the net, or using remote desktop, or playing a video and they'll happen. It's not repeatable in the sense that I can do something very specific that'll cause them. The only thing that seems to change the frequency is if I use Remote Desktop. It'll really piss off my PC, and I'll get a 2-3 reboots in a 30-1hr connection.

Troubleshooting done:

- Ran Windows Mem test and the memory came out clear.

- Used an app called "Whocrashed" and it pretty consistently reported that these two files are causing it: dxgkrnl.sys and atikmdag.sys. The BSoD always report "thread stuck in device driver"

- Pulled my R9 290 and used the I5-4570K IGPU. Worked prefectly fine without issue.

- Cleaned out AMD and Intel drivers using 3rd party apps and reinstalled drivers.

- Re-installed WIndows 10

- Physically inspected R9 290 fans to make sure they were spinning up properly, case had proper air flow, etc.

My guess:

Based on Whocrashed, it seems like it's a driver issue and pulling the R9 and having my PC run just fine without it seems to show this is true. However, given the random nature of the crashes, and the fact that none of the crashes seem GPU related, makes me question this. I've been able to play games like Arkham Knight, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and a few others without issues for hours. Last night, I was browsing for 30 minutes when I clicked on the start button to look for an app and I got a BSoD. Plus, it BSoD way more when I'm using remote desktop for whatever reason. Basically, it's almost definitely not a heat issue, being that it runs fine at full load (most of the time) but seems to crash when I'm doing pretty mundane things.

Any guesses? Reading other threads on similar issues, some people seemed to have solved this issue by replacing the PSU with a higher output. I'm just flummoxed because usually things like this are somewhat reproducable but the crashes are so random. Even remote desktop doesn't always crash my PC and the sad irony is that my PC seems most stable when I'm playing games.

 

[DOWN]

A mod should add spaces between Tech Support and GAF because people are always not finding this thread when they search Tech Support

 

[The Shadow]

A quick update from my last reply:

My original hunch was correct in that it's not the GPU. However, it wasn't the PSU either. I have an external 1TB HDD that I use to store photos, old movies, etc. As part of my further troubleshooting, I had unplugged every non-vital device from my PC, thinking that perhaps there was too much wattage being drawn from my PSU.

After testing for a few hours and running Rise of the Tomb Raider for 2 hours, it seemed like my hunch was correct, that I was hitting the limit of my PSU since it was now running stable without everything plugged in. So I kept everything unplugged. But I needed to move some stuff to this external HDD. I plugged it in and not 5-10 minutes later, my GPU soft crashes (it recovered without going into a BSoD). Literally a minute later, another soft crash. About 5 minutes after that, a hard crash where my system froze and was unresponsive. Didn't even go to a BSoD.

So yeah, something about my external HDD is crapping out my system. So now how do I get my shit off of it. -_-

A mod should add spaces between Tech Support and GAF because people are always not finding this thread when they search Tech Support

Agreed. Despite a few searches, I only found this thread because it was linked from the "I need a new PC" thread.

 

[Spladam]

A mod should add spaces between Tech Support and GAF because people are always not finding this thread when they search Tech Support

That was a good idea dude, I've noticed this before as well. I just PM'd a mod about it, hopefully they edit it.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I have a Chrome issue that I hope someone can help me with.

This just started happening recently, so not sure what changed. When watching videos like on youtube, if I change the tab it will keep playing the video in background fine.

I can hear the audio fine. But when I switch back to the tab the video itself would be paused on the part where I left and then Chrome will catch up to current time.

So, you see this short 1-2 second lag where the video frame catches up to where it should be based on amount of time I had the tab closed.

 

[The Shadow]

Update 2:

Wrote a long ass reply but my 8 month old son erased everything with a keystroke. This is why they make babies so cute.

Anyway, tl:dr, couple of hours of Rise of the Tomb Raider and about 2-3 hours of office work + listening to music without issue. I use my phone to create a remote desktop connection and my PC locks up in 5 minutes.

And unlike before, they aren't polite BSoDs with my PC automatically rebooting. These are hard locks with an unresponsive screen. First time was just black screen and unresponsive PC. Second lock maybe 5 minutes later was a nice checkerboard pattern of digital static (random pixels in small 1 inch squares).

Ran a mem test overnight and it looks fine. Using the PC now, seems fine.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on here? Do I just need to replace the GPU?

Something I just remembered. So when I had the GPU out of the PC and everything was stable (though I realize I never tested remote desktop), once or twice my screens would flash this odd pattern, like the iGPU reset or something. I never got an error screen, BSoD, or anything else. Super fast, like 10ms or something. Wondering if that's related.

 

[Hydrus]

Need help please!!! So my PC randomly freezes and my keyboard and mouse stop working. PC continues to run, fans, lights, etc but everything is frozen. The lights on the keyboard and mouse stay on until I unplug them. When I plug them back in, nothing happens. No lights, nothing. I noticed some smaller devices get some power like a really cheap mouse ( the cheap mouse doesn't do anything either, just the optical light comes on), but my Logitech mouse doesn't work at all. Also sometimes the monitor stays off as well when I reboot the pc. My PC is 6 years old. I'm gonna take a guess and say it's either the mother board going bad or power supply.

It happened frequently a couple of months ago then stopped doing it until now. Now it's doing it again. Sometimes I can use it for a few hours before it freezes again and then I have to keep rebooting it over and over until it finally gets going.

Any idea what it could be?

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Already accepted I'm probably going to have to take my laptop to a professional on the weekend, but on the offchance I'm not 100% buggered (I totally am)...

So, since I went to a conference a few months ago, well, long story short, I ended up having to run quite a long way to catch the last Eurostar of the day back, because the conference overran on the final day (because of course it did). Without properly securing my laptop, because I didn't have anything to do it with, it got knocked around more than I realised in my backpack.

Now, the screen has been progressively getting worse and worse visual glitches that with my limited knowledge I can only call dead pixels. Except they're not pixels, they're long horizontal lines of them. Up until today, they were only along the top line(s) of the laptop, so I could deal with it. Now they've started appearing in the middle of the screen too. (See below image for example).

They show up both on my ubuntu partition and windows partition, and if I use the HDMI out to connect it to my tv, the picture displays properly, which leads me to assume it's a screen problem.

Basically ask the dumb question : This isn't going to be something I can likely fix myself being a complete layman on computer hardware, is it? (Google wasn't really helpful, but it never is when you aren't sure what to ask!).

Replacing a 15.6 inch touch screen isn't going to be cheap either, I assume, . Oh and the keyboard actually doesn't work properly either since the same timeframe, bugger me.

 

[Spladam]

Already accepted I'm probably going to have to take my laptop to a professional on the weekend, but on the offchance I'm not 100% buggered (I totally am)...

So, since I went to a conference a few months ago, well, long story short, I ended up having to run quite a long way to catch the last Eurostar of the day back, because the conference overran on the final day (because of course it did). Without properly securing my laptop, because I didn't have anything to do it with, it got knocked around more than I realised in my backpack.

Now, the screen has been progressively getting worse and worse visual glitches that with my limited knowledge I can only call dead pixels. Except they're not pixels, they're long horizontal lines of them. Up until today, they were only along the top line(s) of the laptop, so I could deal with it. Now they've started appearing in the middle of the screen too. (See below image for example).

They show up both on my ubuntu partition and windows partition, and if I use the HDMI out to connect it to my tv, the picture displays properly, which leads me to assume it's a screen problem.

Basically ask the dumb question : This isn't going to be something I can likely fix myself being a complete layman on computer hardware, is it? (Google wasn't really helpful, but it never is when you aren't sure what to ask!).

Replacing a 15.6 inch touch screen isn't going to be cheap either, I assume, . Oh and the keyboard actually doesn't work properly either since the same timeframe, bugger me.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your external monitor test somewhat confirms that it is indeed your (I assume LCD) panel on your laptop. It could be one of several things, most likely the bezels on the side not securing the panel properly or the ribbon that connects the monitor to the video adapter through the hinge has been damaged, or you lost one of the capacitors that distribute the power signal.

There is one thing you can try as an experiment, try gently (and I do mean gently) squeezing the edge of the display area where it is happening, or pressing gently on top of the area where it is happening, while powered. Does it seem to remedy the situation somewhat?

As a word of advice, it would most likely more cost effective to replace the entire laptop that it would be to have the LCD repaired. There are some relatively decent cheap options in the "2 in 1 windows notebook" market, but most of them have less than desirable keyboards.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Thanks for the quick reply. Pushing down didn't seem to fix the issue at all, though the side of the screen with the black lines does feel slightly loose Vs everywhere else on the bezel, which I hadn't noticed before.

It's actually a pretty good laptop spec wise, getting something similar probably would cost significantly more than just replacing he screen, it'd probably have to cost more than £300 for replacement to make me even begin to consider buying a new one.

Which may well still be less than getting it replaced would cost, dunno. Turns out my university will look at PhD student laptops for free anyway (won't officially fix hardware, but it can't hurt), so I'm going to get them to have a look on Monday before I decide what to do.

 

[Spladam]

Thanks for the quick reply. Pushing down didn't seem to fix the issue at all, though the side of the screen with the black lines does feel slightly loose Vs everywhere else on the bezel, which I hadn't noticed before.

It's actually a pretty good laptop spec wise, getting something similar probably would cost significantly more than just replacing he screen, it'd probably have to cost more than £300 for replacement to make me even begin to consider buying a new one.

Which may well still be less than getting it replaced would cost, dunno. Turns out my university will look at PhD student laptops for free anyway (won't officially fix hardware, but it can't hurt), so I'm going to get them to have a look on Monday before I decide what to do.

Good to hear, even if they can't fix the issue, it's still good to take it to a repair service with a solid diagnosis, and chances are you can get an LCD replacement for around that much. Hope it works out for you, and, of course, invest in a protective case for it.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Good to hear, even if they can't fix the issue, it's still good to take it to a repair service with a solid diagnosis, and chances are you can get an LCD replacement for around that much. Hope it works out for you, and, of course, invest in a protective case for it.

Annoying thing is I do have one, but I couldn't fit it in my carry on luggage I was taking for the conference where I think it got damaged! "What's the worst that could happen!" Will teach me.

 

[kaioshade]

Hopefully someone can help with this one, as its been driving me insane for the past few weeks.

I have the newest version of RTSS, but whenever i have it enabled, my fps drops to 23 fps, no matter the game im playing. If a game is borderless windowed, tabbing out i can see the fps go back to 60 fps (my limit set), but giving the game focus again drops the fps back to 23 fps again. if i exit rtss the framerate is fine. I have tried every single combination of detection 3d override, etc i can think of.I really like to monitor and cap my framerates, but this pretty much makes rtss unusable

 

[Spladam]

Hopefully someone can help with this one, as its been driving me insane for the past few weeks.

I have the newest version of RTSS, but whenever i have it enabled, my fps drops to 23 fps, no matter the game im playing. If a game is borderless windowed, tabbing out i can see the fps go back to 60 fps (my limit set), but giving the game focus again drops the fps back to 23 fps again. if i exit rtss the framerate is fine. I have tried every single combination of detection 3d override, etc i can think of.I really like to monitor and cap my framerates, but this pretty much makes rtss unusable

What OSD's do you have installed/ are using? Are you using any capture software as well?

 

[kaioshade]

What OSD's do you have installed/ are using? Are you using any capture software as well?

I have GeForce Sharing disabled, as well as the xbox DVR software disabled as well. The only extra thing i have running is borderless window, but i have that disabled as well and can also replicate the problem. All Nvidia control panel settings are at their defaults, minus the setting for gsync.

 

[The Shadow]

Geez. I guess my issue has everyone else stumped as well.

Update 3:

So I pulled the R9 290 from my PC again, just to have a more stable system in general. I don't play highly demanding games anymore (I have 2 super young kids that take my free time), so it's not a big loss to pull it.

Except I've noticed icons shifted around my desktop, and my browser reported that it wasn't closed properly. Huh. I check WhoCrashed, and now the crashes are PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, caused by usbhub3.sys, and acpi.sys.

So my original hunch was correct after all. That it wasn't the R9 290, but something else in the system that it's sensitive to. Still don't know what it could be, but I'm starting to wonder if it's the motherboard. Going to try to turn off sleep modes in the BIOS to see if that doesn't help anything, since that would really make my system unstable when I had the R9 in.

 

[Barrett2]

Hi guys. Quick question.

I just moved into a 4 story townhouse, having some issues with WiFi range / strength / connectivity. I have a new TP-Link 343Mbps 8x4 modem and a new Archer C7 1750 router. Internet package is 300Mbps, speedtest over Ethernet is excellent. But over WiFi having some issues.

For example, my iPhone a few times has shown WiFi signal but won't connect, or upstairs when trying to connect Chromecast device it said signal was too weak to connect. Also a few instances of wild speed fluctuation over WiFi on mobile devices.

Any suggestions for basic things I could do that might help? Should I stick with 2.4Ghz instead of 5? Should I maybe buy a WiFi range extender device? Thanks!!

 

[Spladam]

Hi guys. Quick question.

I just moved into a 4 story townhouse, having some issues with WiFi range / strength / connectivity. I have a new TP-Link 343Mbps 8x4 modem and a new Archer C7 1750 router. Internet package is 300Mbps, speedtest over Ethernet is excellent. But over WiFi having some issues.

For example, my iPhone a few times has shown WiFi signal but won't connect, or upstairs when trying to connect Chromecast device it said signal was too weak to connect. Also a few instances of wild speed fluctuation over WiFi on mobile devices.

Any suggestions for basic things I could do that might help? Should I stick with 2.4Ghz instead of 5? Should I maybe buy a WiFi range extender device? Thanks!!

The easiest solution is to invest in a repeater (called wifi extender now I believe), there are some affordable and easy to set up solutions out there right now. There is firmware you can flash onto your router that allows you to increase the broadcast signal, but this is very limited in most routers and uses more power, which in turn increased heat and can be dangerous to the router.

Whatever device can use the 5 Ghz channel you'll want to use that with the respective device but not all devices can see the 5Ghz channel (depending on what standard the adapter on it supports) as far as I know most phones do not. The higher the frequency the better penetration through walls and signal range you get, so 5GHz is always preferable. I know D-link makes an extender you can find for cheap that supports 2.4 and 5GHz channels, the D-Link DAP-1520.

 

[Akronis]

The easiest solution is to invest in a repeater (called wifi extender now I believe), there are some affordable and easy to set up solutions out there right now. There is firmware you can flash onto your router that allows you to increase the broadcast signal, but this is very limited in most routers and uses more power, which in turn increased heat and can be dangerous to the router.

Whatever device can use the 5 Ghz channel you'll want to use that with the respective device but not all devices can see the 5Ghz channel (depending on what standard the adapter on it supports) as far as I know most phones do not. The higher the frequency the better penetration through walls and signal range you get, so 5GHz is always preferable. I know D-link makes an extender you can find for cheap that supports 2.4 and 5GHz channels, the D-Link DAP-1520.

You have it backwards. Higher frequencies do not penetrate surfaces well and have a shorter range.

The reason you want to use 5GHz, if possible, is because the 2.4GHz spectrum is overcrowded as fuck.

 

[Stronginthearm]

I bought a new smartphone (Moto G4 Play) but it only comes with 16gb storage. It can take up to 256gb micro sd card. Is it worth getting one that size or would a 128gb card be enough? I have all my music in Google Music storage so I won't have any on my phone.

 

[Transistor]

I bought a new smartphone (Moto G4 Play) but it only comes with 16gb storage. It can take up to 256gb micro sd card. Is it worth getting one that size or would a 128gb card be enough? I have all my music in Google Music storage so I won't have any on my phone.

Honestly, I haven't even passed 64gb storage on my phone. Unless you're storing a lot of movies on your phone, 64 should be fine (128 would be overkill IMO)

 

[Spladam]

You have it backwards. Higher frequencies do not penetrate surfaces well and have a shorter range.

The reason you want to use 5GHz, if possible, is because the 2.4GHz spectrum is overcrowded as fuck.

Yeah, my bad, had it backwards, I've been up too long, need to shut down and rest.

 

[wamberz1]

Just gonna drop this issue I've been having here since I'm running out of options. Running on windows 10.

I was playing some modded fallout 3 recently when suddenly the game crashed. No biggy, happens all the time, especially when it comes to mods. Tried to CTRL+ALT+DEL task manager out but only got a black screen upon opening task manager. Couldn't do anything. So I manually turned off my computer.

Here is where things got weird. I started getting a slew of issues that seem to almost be separate... I'll list them all here, but together my computer is mostly unusable right now.

- Hitting the windows button to open the start menu works for the first few minutes after the computer is turned on, but then stops. you can still click the button and the "button clicked" animation plays on it, but nothing opens.

- Most programs, when opened, will kind of "semi-freeze" when they get to their main screen. For example, chrome just goes straight to pure white when opened (except for the minimize and close buttons at the top, which both work) and my FFXIV client will start the "checking for updates" thing but then go to a white screen, where my login screen should be. The really weird thing here is that some programs work just fine - uplay, file manager and both my anti virus softwares are running perfectly, along with a few other things.

- Sometimes, clicking or double clicking things on the top half of my desktop wont cause anything to happen. But clicking icons or whatever on the bottom half works just fine.

- When I navigate to my desktop in file manager, not everything that is actually on my desktop is listed there. In fact, only about half of the programs/files are. I cannot find a correlation between the working/not working programs and this, however.

- CTRL-ALT-DEL causes the computer to go to a black screen. If I hit escape it closes, so I assume the menu is still opening and that I just can't see it for some reason.

- Attempting to run things as an administrator cause the screen to kind of fade like it would when it goes "are you really really sure?" but the option doesn't come up, so I have to do a hard reset.

- Right clicking on the desktop and trying to open display settings gives my a generic error message.

And here is the kicker -

- In safe mode, none of these issues happen - but my freaking mouse doesn't work.

I've tried running sfc /scannow in cmd, running my antivirus softwares and hard rebooting my computer (unplugging it and turning off the switch - no luck)

If anyone has any help or even advice it would be much appreciated.

 

[zMiiChy-]

Help, please.

I believe I know what's wrong with my PC and it isn't something I trust myself fixing.
It crashes within a few minutes of being on, a weird screen with lines all over it shows up and it turns off and won't turn back on for an hour or so.

I need to know if anyone has suggestions as to where I might take it to be fixed or about how much that may cost me. The laptop was originally worth $1,500 and I don't have too much money to put towards repairs..

Help?

 

[Big-E]

Hi

The company I work for is tasking me with getting a private meeting live streamed. The company chose me as I am the only one with a working grasp of computers. The company I work for has no equipment outside of laptops. They want this streamed out to only about 20 people. I am thinking getting a couple of webcams connected to a laptop and a single mic as being enough but would love some input from anyone here who does streaming.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

Here's a retro question for you guys.

Is there a way to test if floppy disks - both the 3.5 and 5.25 inch variety work on my modern computer?

 

[Spladam]

Here's a retro question for you guys.

Is there a way to test if floppy disks - both the 3.5 and 5.25 inch variety work on my modern computer?

Do you have the drives or do you just have the physical disc? As far as hooking up the old drives, with a new 3.5" there is a slight possibility, as far as the 5.25, not gonna happen. You can buy an external 3.5" to usb drive on the internet for as low as $35, but the only way to read a 5.25 drive is with this piece of very specialized hardware. The easiest solution is a data recovery service, there are many for different prices. You send them your disk and they send you a DVD/ Flash drive with the disk images on them.