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Author Topic: No, I will not fix your computer.  (Read 65329 times)

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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #360 on: January 18, 2011, 03:30:33 PM »

Stupid seemingly-basic question, but you guys might be my last resort.

We have a basic network here. Modem goes to hub, hub goes to our comps. Simple shit. Recently, I've had issues where I'll boot up and have no internet connection. Other computers on the network are fine and have no issues. If I reboot, it may or may not fix itself, so my only answer so far is to keep rebooting until the issue randomly fixes itself for whatever reason.

The repair connections features and the like have totally changed from XP, so I'm out of my depth. The Win 7 Network troubleshooting tool is garbage (no problems found - and no fucking useful information for that matter). I suspect maybe it's a very basic problem with the IPs changing around or something, but have no idea what to do to figure this out.

As usual I've tried Googling for a while before annoying people like a grandpa who doesn't know what a cellphone is, but as you can imagine searches along the lines of "HALP, I CAN'T CONNECT TO THE INTARNETS! WINDOZE SEVUHN! HERPADERP!" just nets me endless pages of inane hopelessness. The only thing I can gather is that Win 7 seems to have general problems with ethernet connectivity that should have been spotted by a brain-damaged nine-year-old (this seems to be a recurring theme with Windows 7 issues).
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TA

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #361 on: January 18, 2011, 04:09:53 PM »

When this happens, does any internet work, or is it completely blank?  I mean, can you ping IPs?  If so, might be some DNS fuckups.

Can you see other computers on the network?  Have you tried a different cable and a different port on the router?
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #362 on: January 18, 2011, 04:16:58 PM »

Can't see other computers on the network, but it's not an open network like that. Haven't tried to ping IPs or switching router ports. I don't think it's the cable itself, because it works fine once the connection's back up.

I'll try each of those things next time the trouble happens (I haven't isolated a cause, so I'm assuming it'll happen again).
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Thad

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #363 on: January 18, 2011, 09:18:36 PM »

We have a basic network here. Modem goes to hub, hub goes to our comps.

There should be a router in there somewhere.  Did you mean "router" when you said "hub", or is the router integrated into the modem?  Or is it in-between them?

Pinging the router's a good place to start, and I find command-line ipconfig superior to any of Windows's GUI nonsense.  Like you say, first thing to figure out is if it's pulling an IP at all.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #364 on: January 19, 2011, 03:55:21 AM »

We have a basic network here. Modem goes to hub, hub goes to our comps.

There should be a router in there somewhere.  Did you mean "router" when you said "hub", or is the router integrated into the modem?  Or is it in-between them?


The former. I have a bad habit of conflating the two terms.

Quote
Pinging the router's a good place to start, and I find command-line ipconfig superior to any of Windows's GUI nonsense.  Like you say, first thing to figure out is if it's pulling an IP at all.

That brings up something else I discovered. When you try to run ipconfig at the 'Run' line, it actually just blinks on the screen for a second but doesn't do anything you can see or control (not sure if it even runs). Apparently this is normal for Win 7. You have to manually open the command line screen and type ipconfig there (I tried this a little while back). Bizarre.
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patito

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #365 on: January 19, 2011, 04:01:59 AM »

not really bizarre so much as when a command line program is done it automatically closes the window. Unless the program was the command line itself.
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TA

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #366 on: January 19, 2011, 09:37:04 AM »

Yeah that's been normal as long as I can remember.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #367 on: January 19, 2011, 03:28:39 PM »

Really? Because I used to be able to run ipconfig from the run line just fine in XP. It would bring up the command line screen.

Oh well, I'm not using XP anymore, so it's not like it matters.
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patito

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #368 on: January 19, 2011, 05:41:29 PM »

Oh yeah, it's totally stupid, but that's the default behavior for Vista and W7. Just saying there's nothing individually wrong with your system if it does that.
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Thad

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #369 on: January 19, 2011, 11:24:25 PM »

Really? Because I used to be able to run ipconfig from the run line just fine in XP. It would bring up the command line screen.

Pretty sure XP has to be set up to keep a command-line window open after the program has finished executing.  You might be able to do the same in 7; not sure.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #370 on: January 29, 2011, 06:19:59 AM »

Yeah, I used to get that every once in a while; the keyboard input language was switching on me between French (Canada), English (Canada) and English (United States). That's because there's a hotkey for doing that on the fly if you need to, and by the default that hotkey was Left Alt + Shift. If restarting the application fixes it, it's because the keyboard layout is changed only for that instance; you can have, say, TF2 on one layout and Notepad on another, at the same time.

I don't know the exact process for correcting this in Windows 7, but if it hasn't changed too much from XP, you want something like Control Panel / Regional and Language Options / Languages tab, press "Details..." in the "Text services and input languages" box, and then "Key settings...".

I don't know how I managed to hit Left Alt + Shift by accident, but it hasn't happened since I murdered the hotkeys, so I'm not gonna spend a lot of time thinking about it.

Alright, I fucking give up. It doesn't working using the old XP path (not a surprise, really) and this is still driving me crazy, because half the time when I hit left alt + shift a second time it doesn't actually reverse the keyboard language change. It doesn't do anything. So whenever I hit those two keys I have to close whatever application I was using.

Google is SHIT USELESS on this topic. All it has is instruction that require registry editing (why does fucking registry editing always come up as a solution to incredibly minor technical issues in Win 7?), but don't even disable individual hotkeys - they just disable hotkeys entirely (it's not clearm but doing so may even disable basic stuff like ctrl + alt + del fer chrissakes).

I am defeated.
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Brentai

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #371 on: January 29, 2011, 07:34:34 AM »

Manger, Frenchie.
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yeoz

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #372 on: January 29, 2011, 07:46:16 AM »

Alright, I fucking give up. It doesn't working using the old XP path (not a surprise, really) and this is still driving me crazy, because half the time when I hit left alt + shift a second time it doesn't actually reverse the keyboard language change. It doesn't do anything. So whenever I hit those two keys I have to close whatever application I was using.

Google is SHIT USELESS on this topic. All it has is instruction that require registry editing (why does fucking registry editing always come up as a solution to incredibly minor technical issues in Win 7?), but don't even disable individual hotkeys - they just disable hotkeys entirely (it's not clearm but doing so may even disable basic stuff like ctrl + alt + del fer chrissakes).

I am defeated.
For me with a japanese keyboard layout, at least, the only time I can reverse the current keyed language is to hit the shortcut while in an input box.
So, in TF2, it can only be hit when the chat window is open with the cursor blinking, for example.

You can try the following steps in Windows 7 to get to the screen to disable shortcuts for this:
Control Panel -> Region and Language -> Keyboards and Languages -> Change Keyboards -> Advanced Key Settings -> Hot key for input sequences -> and set everything to "Not Assigned" (or some other keystroke)
You may need to install an additional keyboard first, if the Advanced Key Settings tab doesn't show up. Add anything, and then remove it afterwards.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #373 on: January 30, 2011, 03:54:15 AM »

That worked perfectly. I did have to install a new keyboard first because (as you said) that was the only way to get the Advanced Key Setting option to appear, but once I did, I was able to get rid of the shortcut with the click of a mouse. Thanks Yeoz.

***

New question. This one isn't so much a problem as a request for a recommendation.

See, I used to use Audacity to record streaming audio bits I wanted to save as mp3s. Great program, intuitive & easy to use. Problem is that Windows 7 seems to have discouraged the old "Stereo Mix" option at the hardware/driver level due to the usual IP-protection nonsense. There really isn't anything I can do with Audacity it seems (short of buying physical hardware), so I fished around for recommendations this morning. After a little search,  Freecorder seemed to be the name that came up most often so I gave it a try.

I wound up disliking Freecorder for several reasons. First off, it's a browser toolbar (I despise toolbar add-ons). Second, in spite of a careful installation it changed my settings anyway with random spammy nonsense like swapping my homepage to Bing* and adding other things like Conduit Engine I specifically told it not to install. All of which are sure signs of assfuckery and computer herpes.

More importantly, there's very little control over the audio. In Audacity the start and stop were independent of the sound source and of course you can cut or add sections (in addition to more advanced sound editing). Freecrapper seems to just ape the start and stop of the source. So, looking for another program. Any recommendations?

*It also changed new tabs to Bing, even though there's no way to change the setting for new tabs in Firefox without an add-on, which I wasn't using - new tabs should always be blank. I didn't have any way of reverting it back to blank tabs except through the remove button on those new tabs, so I still don't know what Freecorder actually CHANGED. RAAAAGE.

In general Win 7 is aggravating me and generally making me feel incredibly stupid on a regular basis. I've never really been the greatest for computer maintenance, but when I was running XP, I could generally find more than enough info through Google to sort out any problems I had on my own. With Windows 7, not only have I repeatedly failed to find solutions to seemingly simple problems, but now I'm downloading questionable software and generally acting like the worst kind of tech-support-nightmare retard.

To use a car analogy, I feel like I went from being able to change my own oil and do my own simple-to-moderate repairs by carefully following a good shop manual, to not being able to change a tire or even figure out how to open the gas tank.
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Thad

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #374 on: January 30, 2011, 04:05:51 AM »

Presumably they changed it because Alt-Shift is a really stupid key combination for something.  But yeah, it's pretty dumb not to give an obvious alternative.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #375 on: January 30, 2011, 04:18:30 AM »

I think the silliest part was having to install a second keyboard just to get access to keystroke management options that are installed by default. There's no way I would have ever even guessed that option existed without Yeoz's explanation. 
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yeoz

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #376 on: February 02, 2011, 11:52:30 AM »

See, I used to use Audacity to record streaming audio bits I wanted to save as mp3s. Great program, intuitive & easy to use. Problem is that Windows 7 seems to have discouraged the old "Stereo Mix" option at the hardware/driver level due to the usual IP-protection nonsense. There really isn't anything I can do with Audacity it seems (short of buying physical hardware), so I fished around for recommendations this morning.
You may want to ask Frocto or any of the other LPers. I know Frocto had similar problems trying to use stereo mix to record from games and emulators or whatnot at one point, but, I'm not sure how he resolved it. I do think getting stereo mix enabled might just mean getting the right driver, but, again, Frocto could probably point you in the right direction.

In general Win 7 is aggravating me and generally making me feel incredibly stupid on a regular basis. I've never really been the greatest for computer maintenance, but when I was running XP, I could generally find more than enough info through Google to sort out any problems I had on my own. With Windows 7, not only have I repeatedly failed to find solutions to seemingly simple problems, but now I'm downloading questionable software and generally acting like the worst kind of tech-support-nightmare retard.
Yeah, a lot of things got shifted around for the sake of user experience, but, a lot of those changes really were step backwards for windows. Sorry. :(
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Büge

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #377 on: February 02, 2011, 12:39:40 PM »

I need a good solid IRC program that won't lock me out like mIRC did when my trial expired.

Any recommendations?
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Classic

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #378 on: February 02, 2011, 12:44:05 PM »

I need a good solid IRC program that won't lock me out like mIRC did when my trial expired.

Any recommendations?

I use trillian to get on IRC out of habit, and it's nice to aggregate all of your nonsense instant messenging stuff.
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Mongrel

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Re: No, I will not fix your computer.
« Reply #379 on: February 02, 2011, 12:50:36 PM »

I use Miranda. It's worked decently enough for a good many years now.
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