Date: 02/02/08     Keywords: no keywords

Please, I'm desperate! I can't make graphics in photoshop because of this problem! Somebody please read my post and tell me what to do or show me where else I can look for help!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/862567.html

Date: 02/01/08     Keywords: no keywords

After reseting my router I can no longer open port for Utorrent client even though I'm sure I did everything right. Also, I can't download anything, it's like something is blocking access. My router is D-Link G684T, and yes I've already followed instructions on portforward.com. I need help fast. :(

x-posted.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/862296.html

Date: 01/28/08     Keywords: software, microsoft

There are three different personal computers in my household, and each computer is incapacitated by its own individual problems. One machine runs Win98, another runs WinMe, and the brand new one runs Windows Vista. (Yes, I'm aware that Win98 is old, and WinXP usually preferred to both of the latter. I'm not changing their operating systems.) I'm somewhat experienced with troubleshooting problems on the computers of family and friends, and I've had some successes with machines that seemed to be lost causes, but I'm at my wit's end with these particular problems. Can you help diagnose these problems, and/or suggest any fixes or work-arounds for these problems?


Nine-year-old(?) desktop PC running Windows 98:

1. This problem started last August. Computer shuts down spontaneously, often at startup. Rarely makes it far enough for Windows to boot up in the first place. Happens so fast that it's probably not overheating, and isn't kept in conditions where it would overheat, either: room temperature, not in an enclosed space, well-ventilated. Several knowledgeable people have said that its symptoms might mean that it has bad RAM. Supposedly replacing the RAM would be so expensive that the computer might as well be junked and replaced. Is that true, or does more affordable RAM exist? Is it possible that the symptoms mean something else?

Seven-year-old desktop PC, a Compaq running Windows Millennium:

1. Can't play streaming .rm (Real Media) files through RealPlayer or through alternative players such as SMPlayer. Problem is not with the .rm files themselves, which play okay on the other computers. How can I get .rm to play?

2. I installed a DivX codec that was too new to run on WinMe. The official Microsoft site said that the codec was compatible with WinMe, but other sites said it was not. Result is that games like Zuma do not display. Supposedly can't downgrade DivX to a compatible version without uninstalling whole OS. Upgrading the OS isn't possible because the machine is supposedly too old to run WinXP. Can I do something so that Zuma will run?

New (bought last September) desktop PC, a Dell running Windows Vista:

1. Computer is not communicating with flatbed scanner at all, and communicating intermittently with USB keyboard. The problem is not with the scanner or keyboard hardware themselves. Scanner has been tested on another computer and worked fine. The scanner connects to the computer by USB, so this may be a problem with the computer's USB ports or drivers. On this computer, when I tell it to scan, the software says "Warming up the scanner bar," the scanner hardware makes a noise like it's about to scan, and then it locks up and has to be closed by ctrl+alt+del. The scanner software won't open again until the computer has been rebooted. As for the keyboard, sometimes it communicates with the computer in a normal way, and sometimes the computer seems unaware that anything is being typed into that keyboard. What can I do to make the computer communicate with the USB scanner and USB keyboard?

a) draque and kistaro suggest: plug into different USB port, because the USB ports I've tried so far might be defective. (I've tried plugging the scanner and keyboard into a few different ports, but I haven't exhausted this possibility yet by trying ALL the ports.)

b) draque suggests: install any drivers that came with the keyboard. (No drivers came with the keyboard that I'm aware of, but I'll dig through my CDs to make sure.)

c) baxil suggests: for keyboard, Add New Hardware wizard, then plug it in, then manually select generic "new USB keyboard" driver. (I've tried this before, but it's worth another try. Sigh.)

d) ridayah says this (or the Bluetooth problem below) is an inherent problem with Windows Vista, although Kistaro begs to differ, having not run into it on a Vista machine.

e) kistaro says a USB problem is so uncommon that it's almost certainly a problem with the computer's hardware, so the computer should be sent in for repair or return.

2. Computer is intermittently failing to communicate with Bluetooth devices, including the Bluetooth mouse and the Bluetooth keyboard that came with the computer. Problem is probably not with the Bluetooth devices themselves: their batteries have been changed, their status lights look okay, they have no signs of physical damage. Sometimes I have to go through the Add Hardware wizard to re-introduce the computer to the Bluetooth keyboard or mouse. What can I do to make the computer reliably communicate with its Bluetooth peripherals?

a) kistaro suggests: the computer's bluetooth antenna is internally connected by USB, so this is part of the same USB problem described above.

3. New Wacom Intuos 3 tablet mouse recognizes a single-click as a double-click, although its option screen claims that it's recognizing a single-click as a single-click. (Likewise, the tablet's pen sometimes recognizes a single-tap as a double-tap.) Previous Wacom tablet worked perfectly on this computer, and its drivers were uninstalled before installing this one, so probably no conflict from older drivers... although there may well be a conflict in something else. Maybe there's another options screen somewhere, where I can change the setting so that it works...? Is this another USB communication problem? What can I do to make the tablet recognize a single-click as an actual single-click?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/861264.html

Date: 01/26/08     Keywords: no keywords

Animated images aren't moving on my computer. This started yesterday. Why is this happening?! 

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/860991.html

Date: 01/26/08     Keywords: no keywords

After finding out my CMOS battery may be low or dead, I contacted Compaq and they sent me a replacement one for free. Considering I have a laptop, it wasn't that hard to replace. Hooray.

Except windows is still not keeping time, and we have a new symptom. Sometimes any sound that's played through the system comes out horrendously distorted. The only way to make it stop is if I restart, and it'll start doing it again once I take the laptop out of sleep mode. If I leave it alone, then the distortion may or may not stop on its own.

So what does this mean? It can't be that my mother board is going out, is it? I mean, I bought this laptop in September of 07! Then again, the CMOS battery is supposed to last for years as well.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/860785.html

Date: 01/26/08     Keywords: browser

Whenever I click a link, I have to click on it five or six times (sometimes up to ten) for the link to actually register having been clicked on (i.e. make the little hourglass appear). It also happens when I click icons on my computer--I had to double-click the Firefox icon four times to actually open up the browser. This also occurs when trying to place the cursor where I want it, to type something, and choosing items from drop-down menus. It's starting to drive me crazy. I've restarted the computer and disconnected/reconnected my cable modem, to no avail. So basically the mouse is acting all wonky, not registering the first few times I click things--either that, or the computer doesn't "know" when links and icons are being clicked--and I don't know what's causing it or how to fix it.

EDIT: Huh, it seems to be working now. Must have just been a temporary thing. I'll edit again if it starts doing it again.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/860438.html

Date: 01/25/08     Keywords: no keywords

The color on my computer is messed up. On the desktop, internet explorer, and pictures pasted into Word, the color looks normal. But in Photoshop and in the computer's default photo viewer, the color is wrong. This prevents me from being able to make graphics in Photoshop because I don't know what the color will actually look like, and it's annoying when I'm just simply trying to view pictures. How can I fix it? Here's some information about my computer:

Windows Vista Home Premium
Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2180 @ 2.00GHz
1.87 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/860380.html

Date: 01/23/08     Keywords: no keywords

My neighbor has a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Vista Home Premium. He thinks the hard drive itself (the physical mechanism, possibly, but he's not sure) is dying, but he wants to know if he can get the files transferred on to an external hard drive even though his computer won't start.

Every time he turns it on, a screen asking him to choose between "Launch Startup Repair" or "Start Windows Normally" comes on, but both just lead to a black screen, or occasionally a screen that mentions something about "faulty hardware such as a hard drive or CD-ROM drive that is failing". It also mentions something about "Status: 0xc00000e9" and "Info: An unexpected I/O error has occurred."

Is there anything he can do? Or any way to get into command prompt and try to repair the hard drive if it's a bug problem or something as opposed to a physical damage problem? It'd be great even if there was a way to only get the files off, but not necessarily repair the hard drive.

Thanks ahead of time!

ETA: This also came up, "File: \Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe", "Info: Windows failed to load because the kernel is missing, or corrupt."

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/859963.html

Date: 01/20/08     Keywords: virus

My DVD drive is malfunctioning. When I put in a disc the play back is choppy. The problem is more pronounced with a DVD disc than a Audio-Only disc. Its choppy like it doesn't have enough processing power to handle running the disc, but I also have a Cd-rom drive installed in my computer and it plays Cd's fine. I noticed the problem after my dad installed an anti-virus program on my computer. But that AV was un-installed and the problem remained. I also cleared out the hard drive, put the computer back to factory presets and the problem went away for a little while but returned.
Does anyone have any clues on what to do, I'd rather avoid buying a new DVD-drive.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/859368.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: no keywords

 I have a program on my computer called CyberLink Power Dvd. It was working fine and then one day a box popped up on the screen and I can't get it to go away. I shut down the program and its still there. Shut down my computer and its still there. The box says time, video, audio. It blocks out a good bit of the movies I watch. Is there anything I can do to make it go away?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/858520.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: no keywords

When I download a file and look at the licence agreement, it's changed to a swirly/very complicated font to read.
How can I change the default font on these?

I use Win XP.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/858356.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: virus

Hi all, lurker here. I'd just like to ask how I can disable "Autorun" whenever I hook up my USB thumb drive to my desktop computer, so I can finally ensure that I don't accidentally activate a virus lurking inside it. (I use it at work, and since I'm in marketing/advertising, that means going to internet cafes to go online on wee hours of the morning to please clients who think that account executives like myself are robots that work round-the-clock if I have to.) I use WinXP. Thanks heaps! v^_^v

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/858014.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: no keywords

Is it possible to use garageband to effectively record karaoke? In other words, can I take a CD with song backups, put it on Garageband, and then use a mic or something to record me singing with the music? Effectively, can I use Garageband as my own private recording studio?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/857640.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: no keywords

I think it is, but can't find any info on it.

Is it possible to automatically have Firefox open installers after downloading them? You know, like Internet Explorer. When you download an installer with IE, you can either save the file or just run it. In FireFox, as far as I know your only choice is to save the installer, THEN open it. And you have to delete it after.

So, is there a setting you can change to give you basically a "just run this" option for installer files?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/857508.html

Date: 01/19/08     Keywords: software

Okay, I hope someone on here can help me! I'm completely lost. The sad story here is that my husband cheated on me and we're getting a divorce, and he was the person that always helped me with my computer problems... haha. So I'm relying on the kindness of people on the internet now...

Problem: My computer freezes at random. When I say freeze I mean a total lock-up. It's extremely sudden, the mouse won't move, the harddrive appears to be doing nothing, EVERYTHING is totally frozen. The only solution is to press the reboot or power button on my tower. If I use the reboot button it just locks up during boot-up so I have to shut it down completely and wait a few minutes.

When it happens: During boot-up, right after, sometimes in the middle of nowhere after hours of being on, sometimes DAYS after. I had a theory that it was only during or around booting up so I left it on for days and for 2 it was fine... today I got home and it was frozen. There are no patterns that I can see in when or why it happens. There are no specific programs that seem to cause it as sometimes it freezes during boot up.

When this started: It originally started when I got a substantially better video card. I'm not sure what kind it was because my soon-to-be-ex returned it and put an older but still better-than-what-I-had video card in mine. The current card is an NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB). Originally the problem WAS worse with the previous card, but it IS still happening.

Theories: Power source isn't strong enough? But if it's that, why isn't it more consistent? Or the power source is just dying?

Here are the stats I could get off my computer to share... I'm not a total n00b, I swear. I do know my way around a computer quite well. Hardware is just something that's new to me.

Suggestions would be awesome. I could buy a new power source and install it if that's the issue, but I don't want to if that's not going to fix it... I don't have the money to waste on that, it would have to come out of grocery money and stuff, haha... but my computer is important to me. XP

Windows XP Pro version 2002 Service pack 3, v3180
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz
2.41 GHz, 786 MB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256 MB
Direct X 9.0

I also have a dvd burner, two harddrives, and a rather large fan on my current motherboard. I don't know if those would be draining a lot of power or anything.

I also just reformatted and put windows back on this machine about... a month - two months ago. So I'm not sure it would be something software based... but if there is anything that I should try, please let me know!

Any help is really appreciated!!!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/857339.html

Date: 01/18/08     Keywords: no keywords

I'm pretty sure this can be done, I just don't know how.

How do you disable the My Music and My Videos folders in My Documents? I'm using Windows XP Home if that helps. :) Thanks!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/856987.html

Date: 01/18/08     Keywords: asp, web, shopping

Dear LiveJournal,

I'm getting a new computer. When? I don't know. It's not going to be right away, maybe in March. I'm definitely getting one, though.

The problem is, I'm not sure what products I should get. I don't want an all-in-one computer, because, for the most part, they normally suck. I decided to surf around today for some ideas based on this data:

• Most of my time will be spent surfing the web, using online word processors and email clients.


• I'm going to be using the lightest IM client I know (AIM Lite).


• My music/video/image collection is very extensive (no more than 80GB, though).


• I'm a Windows guy, and I don't hate Vista.


• Since I'm not a big gamer, that's not a big priority (though I do play from time to time).

• Acer Aspire Desktop with Intel Core2 Duo Processor E4500: I don't know much about Acer products, but this is very close to what I want. It has 3GB of RAM (I don't think I ever use more than 200MB), has a 500GB hard drive (double what I was initially looking for), and comes with a keyboard and mouse. It has Windows Vista already installed.


• Dell 22" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD Monitor: Not much to say about this, I just find it appealing. I'm not in a hurry to find a new monitor, but I do want one.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/856795.html

Date: 01/16/08     Keywords: no keywords

In Cygwin I oftenly get the following diagnostics

[~] touch data.cpp ; make
make: Warning: File `data.cpp' has modification time 0.86 s in the future
g++ -O -Wall -c -o data.o data.cpp
g++ -o test test.o data.o
make: warning: Clock skew detected. Your build may be incomplete.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/856091.html

Date: 01/16/08     Keywords: no keywords

I've noticed that my windows clock has changed the time by itself a few times today. What would be causing it to do this? The only program I've installed recently is the Linksys Agent for my wireless network. I'm running Windows XP.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/855681.html

Date: 01/16/08     Keywords: no keywords

I'm completely out of my depth with wireless, so bear with me-- I've no idea what information you'll actually need.

Setup: my machine, no-name self-built box currently running XP (I switch back and forth between XP and Ubuntu depending on whether techs from my ISP are coming out-- they don't support anything but Windows/Mac) connected to a Netgear WGR614v6 wireless router, which is connected to a Motorola Surfboard cable modem. All that is working great, except that while my computer is wired to the modem, every two to three minutes, my computer also finds the wireless network, connects to it, and then disconnects a minute or so later. This is annoying, but I can live with it. (During a modem outage today, I realized that when the system says it's connected to the wireless network, it's not pulling in data from anywhere else-- I still had no net.)

Second part of the setup: my wife's machine, which is in the next room. It's a Dell of some sort, relatively new (bought in 2004). We've attached a Netgear WG111v2 USB wireless egg to it. Roughly half the time, her system will see our wireless network and connect to it-- but she has no internet, even though it says it's connected. The other half of the time, the system doesn't see our wireless network at all, but will see a couple of others in the area (one's an unsecure coffee shop, but the signal's too weak to use it as a test). She's also running XP, and it's patched up to the limit.

I have no earthly idea whether this is connected, but I also run a wireless keyboard/mouse combo (Logitech EX110). Was working fine last night. Came home from work today, and the receiver is totally dark-- no signal to either whatsoever. Good thing I didn't throw away the old wired stuff.

What else do you need to know, or is that enough? Thanks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/855313.html