Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65307 times)

Thad · « **Reply #440 on:** June 17, 2011, 08:02:08 PM »

Apparently it was designed by the same people responsible for New Super Mario Bros Wii's button layout.

Thad · « **Reply #441 on:** June 18, 2011, 09:37:17 PM »

Went to Fry's to do some price comparisons; did not expect to buy anything. However, there was an open-box GTX 570 being sold for $313, with a $30 rebate on top of that. The guy there confirmed that the rebate and lifetime warranty are still good.

I can't actually USE the thing yet, as Macs are too pretty to come with rats' nests of molex cables coming out every which way and I have to order a couple of Mac power adapters separately. But I am pretty pleased with the deal I got. Once I get that rebate I'll have only paid about $30 more than a 560 Ti, and the 570 benchmarks substantially better and has also been more thoroughly tested on Lion.

Büge · « **Reply #442 on:** July 07, 2011, 05:45:42 PM »

My computer's been giving me a weird problem lately. I think I've explained before how I have two HDs, and the larger one, E:, sometimes doesn't show up during the boot-up sequence.

Well, now it's starting to disappear while my computer is running! It usually happens when I open a directory with lots of files, or if I'm scrolling through images. The computer will suddenly slow to a crawl and then boop! E: is gone for a minute or so. It is a fairly recent phenomenon and it has me stumped.

Crap, it's a foreigner

(0:23)

JDigital · « **Reply #443 on:** July 08, 2011, 02:23:06 PM »

Anyone know anything about microphones?

Both my new gaming headset microphone and proper dynamic microphone sound quiet and muffled. Even right next to the microphone, it sounds like you're hearing someone in the next room. Microphone boost just boosts the background hiss too.

The microphone on my USB headset (Arc got me for the Worst Podcast Ever because he was disgusted how bad my sound recording quality was) works better but has what seems like mains hum. It still sounds recorded through a cardboard box and downsampled to a 64k MP3.

I see Youtube videos where people have good sound quality. What are they doing properly?

Rico · « **Reply #444 on:** July 08, 2011, 06:06:20 PM »

Especially with computers, a hum from your microphone is probably electrical. Depending on the source, a good conditioning power strip can reduce it, or sometimes spreading out computer internals.

If two separate microphones are exhibiting the same problem, it's probably a Windows/Sound card proprietary control panel setting somewhere gone wrong. It's also possible that your sound card's plug is obstructed or failing so that a full connection isn't made (especially if it sounds like the equivalent of only half-way plugging in your headphones). You could also make sure that the mic doesn't have a hi-lo-off switch somewhere on the cable or something like that.

While I'd think it unlikely since you have two mics failing at once with the same symptom, a loose wire could also be the culprit. This is actually what made me replace my last headset since it's not really worth breaking the thing apart and trying to put it back together.

Smiler · « **Reply #445 on:** July 16, 2011, 09:59:48 AM »

So I am wondering what I should spend my money on next when it comes to computer upgrades. I think the next two are going to be the CPU and graphics card, but I am wondering which one I should replace first.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ 3.1ghz
Graphics card: ATI HD 4670

Saturn · « **Reply #446 on:** July 21, 2011, 05:04:23 PM »

So, my PC had occasionally flashed a blue screen at shutdown, now it does it at random.

I think that the videocard (That was a replacement for a fried one no less) is fucked as it had worse performance than the old one even though it had far higher specs even before the bsods

Mothra · « **Reply #447 on:** August 02, 2011, 12:34:54 PM »

Anyone ever had an issue where their VLC seems to raise and lower its volume automatically? It might be doing it to everything, but I only really notice it when listening to some music on VLC.

It is quite annoying. I've already gone into sound settings and turned off that thing that automatically lowers your volume when you get an incoming call, but no change really.

Thad · « **Reply #448 on:** August 02, 2011, 12:51:40 PM »

Yes.

Or, more precisely, my wireless mouse used to erroneously report scroll wheel movement, which is VLC's shortcut for adjusting volume. Have you noticed any random scrolling in other programs?

Obvious troubleshooting step is to disable volume control via the scroll wheel. If it keeps happening, then it's not that.

Mothra · « **Reply #449 on:** August 02, 2011, 03:45:53 PM »

Hrm, could be, actually. I'm still staying at my folk's place for my recovery, and the PC I've been using has a wireless mouse and keyboard. No scroll wheel issues in anything else that I noticed, though.

Tried looking for scroll wheel control in the settings, but no dice. Nothing under Advanced, either.

I'll try hooking up a wired mouse and see if that does the trick. For yucks I also upgraded VLC and Adobe Flash to their latest versions. Until now I was pretty convinced it was Flash or Firefox fucking it up somehow.

Mothra · « **Reply #450 on:** August 11, 2011, 01:23:13 PM »

Turns out it was just my dang monitor! It doubles as a TV, and apparently has a function to raise and lower the volume to within a certain range.

Thad · « **Reply #451 on:** August 11, 2011, 01:54:29 PM »

Sounds useful.

Büge · « **Reply #452 on:** August 11, 2011, 06:11:26 PM »

I was uninstalling some drivers for a scanner that never worked and I got this message:

Code: [Select]

Unable to delete registry value 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Update 4300C'.
1. Should I be worried?
2. How do I get rid of it?

Thad · « **Reply #453 on:** August 12, 2011, 07:13:27 AM »

You're probably better off ignoring it than fucking with the registry.

Classic · « **Reply #454 on:** August 12, 2011, 09:25:33 AM »

You could try uninstalling it from safe mode? But... What Thad said.

Büge · « **Reply #455 on:** August 14, 2011, 05:35:39 PM »

I think I've figured out the problem! My primary HD is more than a decade old.

Where can I find a relatively cheap replacement with IDE ports?

Dooly · « **Reply #456 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:32:36 PM »

Take your pick.

Thad · « **Reply #457 on:** August 14, 2011, 08:54:46 PM »

Trouble is that IDE drives aren't really any cheaper than SATA. It might be worth it to you to buy a SATA card.

Büge · « **Reply #458 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:59:09 AM »

Except then I'd have to buy TWO new hard drives.

And a SATA card.

Thad · « **Reply #459 on:** August 15, 2011, 06:50:54 AM »

How so? If you were still using one IDE drive, adding a SATA wouldn't prevent it from working.

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Author Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65307 times)