Re: [H] DVD File Formats
I finally did it with Nero. My mistake was going in through Nero Smartstart. If you go into Nero Burning ROM, you can select the format, it presents you with two directories (audio_ts, video_ts) to stuff your files into and then just burn away. Worked first time Steve Choose open files within DVD shrink and it will backup the files to the DVD burner. It is faster than Nero and does not have to re-encode the files but it will write them to a temp folder. Nero had been crashing lately on TS folders and it is generally slow in recoding files so I have been successfully using DVD Shrink to do this instead, and of course it still is great for condensing a DVD to burn to a DVD5. I still use Nero for DL disks, just slow as hell and mostly crashes on large vob's. Mark -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Maki Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 3:02 PM To: 'Steve Tomporowski'; 'The Hardware List' Subject: RE: [H] DVD File Formats DVD Shrink and Nero will do this easily. DVD Shrink will automatically run Nero for the actual burn. Jim Maki [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Tomporowski Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:53 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: [H] DVD File Formats Someone sent me the entire VIDEO_TS directory from a DVD. How to I burn this to make a workable, playable DVD? I *think* that all I need to do is burn it as data, but I could be wrong. I got an 'advisory' from Nero that if I did that, it would not be playable. What else would I need to do? Nero wants to regenerate everything I have already. ThanksSteve
[H] Cable TV Problems
I'll be pretty amazed if this message shows up on the list, the last two I send never made it. This 'handyman' friend of my wife's (a really long story) rerouted the cable to the Living Room. In the process, he replaced the 2 way splitter outside with a 3 way splitter. One line goes to the living room, the next goes to the cable modem and the third goes to a distribution amp. On all the TV sets in the house, this is analog cable, channels 2 through 6 are virtually unwatchable due to diagonal noise. Outside the connectors are pretty tight, but the connectors that have been out there are weathered. If all the channels had problems, I'd suspect that a shield was bad. I have yet to do any trouble-shooting on this, but I'd like to get some ideas, or maybe someone has seen this before. It's Cox Cable. ThanksSteve
[H] T-bird Annoyance (Software, not the car....)
Admittedly I've not dug into Thunderbird all that much. It downloads mail for me which is 99% spam which I delete. When mail comes down, a icon is put in the sys tray. If I restore the Tbird window, delete the spam and then minimize it, the icon stays. It seems that I have to change mail folders then it removes the Icon. A minor annoyance, but, hey, is there some way to fix this? A stupid question for the weekend;-) Steve
[H] Flat Panel Displays for Gaming
My main machines are still 19 CRT, but with the drop in prices and some notice that flat panels are getting faster, I'm getting interested. What's everyone's take on the best 19 flat panel for fps gaming? A lot of what is written is individual perception and the articles often contradict themselves on the same page! Who's using what? What looks good? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Flat Panel Displays for Gaming
From what I've read so far, there are two types of 19 panels, the 6 bit and the 8 bit color panels. 6 bit is faster, but at the loss of good color. 8 bit is slower. I was just wondering if anyone was running an fps on a 19 panel? Steve On 5/18/05, Veech Malone [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm entering that arena as well... what are the opinions on these.. I've heard Samsung has the best specs so far, any feedback on them? Steve Tomporowski wrote: My main machines are still 19 CRT, but with the drop in prices and some notice that flat panels are getting faster, I'm getting interested. What's everyone's take on the best 19 flat panel for fps gaming? A lot of what is written is individual perception and the articles often contradict themselves on the same page! Who's using what? What looks good? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Flat Panel Displays for Gaming
The Iiyama Prolite E481S is listed as an 8 ms panel. On Newegg, the reviews of the Hyundai L90D+, which is an 8ms panel, are very good. Other panels and speeds: BenQ: FP91E, FP91G+S, FP92G+S -- 8 ms BenQ: FP91V+, F91G+ -- 6 ms Viewsonic: VP191b -- 8 ms Viewsonic: VX924 -- 4 ms And I'm still looking at more, but it's beginning to look like nothing is gained by going sub 8 ms. How are the colors on the Samsung 191 T+ and the Iiyama Prolite E481S? Here at work, they've just give us HP1702's and while the brightness is great, light colors are more washed out. This panel is especially tough on yellows, which fade to almost invisibilty. ThanksSteve On 5/20/05, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: samsung 191 T+ really have seen no problems in MOHAA or D3, and there are faster ones available now. fp At 05:25 AM 5/20/2005, Steve Tomporowski Poked the stick with: From what I've read so far, there are two types of 19 panels, the 6 bit and the 8 bit color panels. 6 bit is faster, but at the loss of good color. 8 bit is slower. I was just wondering if anyone was running an fps on a 19 panel? Steve -- Tallyho ! ]:8) -- Repunzel, Repunzel, ... turn on your modem.
Re: [H] E3 2005
I've been getting them. This is the third time I've gotten the email with the 1st two batches of pictures. Steve On 5/23/05, lopaka [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Review is almost done. None of my initial e-mails seem to be getting through to the list. http://63.193.210.31/e305/index.htm http://63.193.210.31/e305_d2/index.htm lopaka
[H] MP3 ID Tag Program
I would like to modify MP3 ID tags outside of my MP3 database program. Does anyone know of a Tag modifier that will work as a right click from Explorer? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] MP3 ID Tag Program
I use MP3 collector for the database and it works great on renaming, I can have it bulk rename files using the ID tags. It's just that sometimes it's easier to have a right-click from Explorer with the file name in front of me to modify ID tags rather than to open Collector, search for the file, then edit. I still have a bunch of badly tagged MP3s that occurred when I tried using an MP3 database that I can remember the name of. It wreaked havoc with my collection so that I'm still cleaning things up. Partially my fault, I clicked 'rename files in collection' and it proceeded to do what it wanted to the whole 50 gigugh! Thanks for all the info. I'll be looking into MP3Ext and TagRename Steve On 5/31/05, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 10:03 PM 5/31/2005, Jamie Furtner typed: Take a look at MP3Ext (http://www.mutschler.de/mp3ext/). It hasn't been updated in a while, but still works great. Ditto that also. --+-- Wayne D. Johnson Ashland, OH, USA 44805 http://www.wavijo.com
[H] [OT] Bigfoot?
And now for something completely different;-) Does anyone know where I can find a digital copy of the Patterson Bigfoot film? I've been searching the web and there are tons and tons of opinions and tons of contradictory 'scientific' evidence, but I've only seen stills. If I find a copy and anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll shoot it on over to you ThanksSteve
Re: [H] [OT] Bigfoot?
Thanks, that looks like it. Bill, if you can't get it from the same link, let me know, I've got it now. Looks like there are a couple of other bigfoot videos out there Steve On 6/25/05, W. D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 12:10 6/25/2005, Steve Tomporowski, wrote: And now for something completely different;-) Does anyone know where I can find a digital copy of the Patterson Bigfoot film? I've been searching the web and there are tons and tons of opinions and tons of contradictory 'scientific' evidence, but I've only seen stills. Do you mean this? http://www.US-Webmasters.com/Temp/Bigfoot-Roger-Patterson-Bluff-Creek-1967.avi Start Here to Find It Fast!™ - http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/ $8.77 Domain Names - http://domains.us-webmasters.com/
[H] NForce Boards for A65
Back in the dim reaches of the past ;-), I built my A64 system (3400+) with an NForce 3 board. Now I haven't played with this system a lot, but it really doesn't seem so fast and Doom 3 (which I built the system for), despite having a 6800 128 Meg (I think, may be 256M), calls for 640 x 480 (I really need to look into this). Anyways, the MB is the Neo Platinum, now I've been hearing about NForce 4 boards. Is there any reason to upgrade the MB? Some kind of problem I might have missed? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Music mixing app
I second the recommedation of Audacity. It's pretty much Cool Edit without the cost. Steve On 7/19/05, Harry McGregor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't think it will do everything you want, but take a look at Audacity, audacity.sf.net Harry On Mon, 2005-07-18 at 23:46 -0500, joeuser wrote: I wondered if I was asking to much... Thanks for the input. Veech wrote: hoo boy, musid mixing apps don't come cheap, let alone free. Some may offer a 30-day trial demo, Cool Edit Pro used to. Check Adobe Audition or Sound Forge (Sonic Foundry) home pages to see if they let you d/l a demo version for free. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of joeuser Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 7:40 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: [H] Music mixing app Ok, here's a dilly... I have a client and her daughter coaches the local cheerleaders (yes, it's good to be me). Anyway, she wants me to mix some MP3's for their routines... I used to mix a little back when vinyl was still alive (barely). I was wondering if there was an app (free or REAL cheap) that can allow me to mix (maybe count my BPM since I don't have my counter anymore) and adjust pitch, speed, volume sedgeway etc etc... This is charity work so any help would be appreciated... Who'd charge for this *honor* anyway ;P LOL! TIA -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [H] Re: Music mixing app
IIRC Goldwave is shareware. Audacity is Freeware. Might be the only difference. I've never used Goldwave. Steve On 7/19/05, Chris Shaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How about Goldwave? http://www.goldwave.com/ On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 01:00:03 GMT joeuser [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I wondered if I was asking to much... Thanks for the input. Veech wrote: hoo boy, musid mixing apps don't come cheap, let alone free. Some may offer a 30-day trial demo, Cool Edit Pro used to. Check Adobe Audition or Sound Forge (Sonic Foundry) home pages to see if they let you d/l a demo version for free. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of joeuser Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 7:40 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: [H] Music mixing app Ok, here's a dilly... I have a client and her daughter coaches the local cheerleaders (yes, it's good to be me). Anyway, she wants me to mix some MP3's for their routines... I used to mix a little back when vinyl was still alive (barely). I was wondering if there was an app (free or REAL cheap) that can allow me to mix (maybe count my BPM since I don't have my counter anymore) and adjust pitch, speed, volume sedgeway etc etc... This is charity work so any help would be appreciated... Who'd charge for this *honor* anyway ;P LOL! TIA -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key) -- C L Shaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. And dance like no one is watching.
Re: [H] norton corporate AV ?
With false positives, how could you tell??? j/kSteve On 7/20/05, Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 09:35 PM 19/07/2005, Ben Ruset wrote: Ugh. I've switched all of our corporate PC's to ClamWin anti-virus. Seems to do a good job, auto-updates, and best of all - is free. ClamWin does look interesting, though I'd be a bit leery of trusting my system to a pre 1.0 release. Have you scanned any of your machines with something else to see if there's anything left over that ClamWin is missing? (They don't appear to be listed on VirusBtn.) T
[H] UT2004
Is anyone still playing Unreal Tournament 2004? I just started. I've got the game up to the most recent patch (which is unsupported by Atari - surprise) and I'm noticing one thing is that the weapon sounds are very. I'm used to the loudness of the guns in Quake. Is this normal? It was the same when I just installed it. It's only the weapon sounds that are too low, the announcers are plenty loud, also the team chatter is fine. I've got a Hercules Game Theatre for a sound card, yeah, way old. Any experience here? ThanksSteve
[H] UT2004
Is anyone playing Unreal Tournament 2004? Just started, got it up and running but there's a sound glitch that's bugging me. Weapons sounds are way too quiet. I diddled with the volume controls and the announcer is fine, even louder than needed, but the weapons are a lot quieter. And it's the best I can get with the settings. I've upgraded to the most recent (unsupported by Atari) patch and there's no difference. I'm still running an old Hercules Game Theatre XP. I'm one revision behind on that, although it doesn't seem like that would matter as every other sound is fine. Any ideas? ThanksSteve PS: I don't think this went through when I tried a couple of days ago. Hate to think that the previous email title might have gotten it eliminated as spam
Re: [H] UT2004
Well, thanks anyways. It just struck me as a bit strange and wanted to know if anyone else was experiencing the same thing. Steve On 8/1/05, CW [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I saw it.. I 'm just not sure what solution to give you.. since I don't play much in the way of games :( (just keeping the thread alive for you) -Original message- From: Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 09:54:19 -0500 To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: [H] UT2004 Is anyone playing Unreal Tournament 2004? Just started, got it up and running but there's a sound glitch that's bugging me. Weapons sounds are way too quiet. I diddled with the volume controls and the announcer is fine, even louder than needed, but the weapons are a lot quieter. And it's the best I can get with the settings. I've upgraded to the most recent (unsupported by Atari) patch and there's no difference. I'm still running an old Hercules Game Theatre XP. I'm one revision behind on that, although it doesn't seem like that would matter as every other sound is fine. Any ideas? ThanksSteve PS: I don't think this went through when I tried a couple of days ago. Hate to think that the previous email title might have gotten it eliminated as spam
Re: [H] P2P suggestions
Teach them about bittorrent?? On 10/11/05, Chris Reeves [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd also stick with not using a P2P.There is also Itunes out there.CW --FIGHT BACK AGAINST SPAM!Download Spam Inspector, the Award Winning Anti-Spam Filterhttp://mail.giantcompany.com-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Bill Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 11:44 PMTo: 'The Hardware List'Subject: RE: [H] P2P suggestions -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware- [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of joeuser Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 7:49 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: [H] P2P suggestions Normally, I just tell customers and clients to avoid using P2P because of the possible risks. However, it seems they wade into the unknown and come to me with problems related to something they are using. I used to suggest Kazaa Lite - this appears to have faded away. I understand limewire and bearshare have spyware components. What do you guys suggest for a kazaa / limewire - like p2p program. Torrents aside, can anyone suggest something spyware free that has a kazaa / limewire like UI? -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)Not using P2P, still good advice. But if one must.. For .mp3's.. Limewire Pro is fast and has no adware or spyware. Only the Pro version.Cost, about $20...The modified version of eMule Dazzle eMule which I hear is very fast...Bill
Re: [H] P2P suggestions
I mentioned BitTorrent mainly because virtually all P2P are being aggressively pushed to shut down. Winmx shut down due to pressure from (guess who). Some are resisting, but it just seems a matter of time. Steve On 10/11/05, warpmedia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And News Servers!Chris Reeves wrote: I'd also stick with not using a P2P.There is also Itunes out there. CW
[H] K8N Neo Platinum Problems
This is a system I built last year: K8N Neo Platium MB, BFG 128M 6800 Video, A64 3400+, Two SATA Drives, Two PATA Drives, CD Burner, DVD Burner, 430 Watt (Old) Antec Power Supply. It has a couple of problems: 1) Initially this system was set up with 2 SATA drives and a DVD drive. Consolidating systems, I added the two PATA drives, then after a while, tried to add the CD and DVD burners. For most of the troubleshooting time, Win2k Sp4 would hang at the Loading Windows screen (rolling blue bar would stop). Suddenly on a reboot, it started working. Now, for the most part it boots completely, but every once in a while will hang. Tried to enable bootlog on one of the hangs, but got nothing, no file at all. Tried replacing cable and each drive separately. Without either there was no problem. 2) UT2004--This system works worse than my NF2 with a 5900 Nvidia. Basically it stutters, if I move in one direction and look straight ahead, no problem. However if I try to strafe or turn, I get several rapid stutters of the image. I've even reduced the detail to the same as the NF2 system, no improvement. Nothing extra running in Process Manager. Nvidia drivers at 7803, don't know the current status of the NF3 drivers, might be original as well as the BIOS being original. The only things I can think of right now is to update the BIOS and the MB drives. Is there a know problem here? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] K8N Neo Platinum Problems
Nevermind, found it. There's a basic incompatibility between Nvidia 6 series cards and NF3. You have to disable AGP fast writes and things are much better now, at least in UT2004. I'll see if that might have been affecting the drives. SteveOn 10/23/05, Greg Sevart [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Several things...1. Try Windows XP. Win2k sucks for gaming, and I guarantee you thatdriver/hardware/software compatibility testing is less extensive than it isfor XP.2. Update system BIOS, NF3 drivers, and video drivers 3. Are you using any additional PATA controller?4. Overall, to me, it sounds like a horked Windows installation.Greg- Original Message -From: Steve TomporowskiTo: The Hardware List Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 9:33 AMSubject: [H] K8N Neo Platinum ProblemsThis is a system I built last year:K8N Neo Platium MB, BFG 128M 6800Video, A64 3400+, Two SATA Drives, Two PATA Drives, CD Burner, DVD Burner, 430 Watt (Old) Antec Power Supply.It has a couple of problems:1) Initially this system was set up with 2 SATA drives and a DVD drive.Consolidating systems, I added the two PATA drives, then after a while, tried to add the CD and DVD burners.For most of the troubleshooting time,Win2k Sp4 would hang at the Loading Windows screen (rolling blue bar wouldstop).Suddenly on a reboot, it started working.Now, for the most part it boots completely, but every once in a while will hang.Tried to enablebootlog on one of the hangs, but got nothing, no file at all.Triedreplacing cable and each drive separately.Without either there was no problem.2) UT2004--This system works worse than my NF2 with a 5900 Nvidia.Basically it stutters, if I move in one direction and look straight ahead,no problem.However if I try to strafe or turn, I get several rapid stutters of the image.I've even reduced the detail to the same as the NF2system, no improvement.Nothing extra running in Process Manager.Nvidiadrivers at 7803, don't know the current status of the NF3 drivers, might be original as well as the BIOS being original.The only things I can think of right now is to update the BIOS and the MBdrives.Is there a know problem here?ThanksSteve
Re: [H] K8N Neo Platinum Problems
Well, I found a forum where they talked about compatibility and when I disabled AGP fast writes, the stuttering went away. BTW, the problem with the DVD and CD burners hasn't gone away. It hung during a reboot and took a couple of tries to get started. Interestingly it restarted after sitting off for ten minutes. It may be heat related. The two PATA drives don't have any fans, so that heat may be drifting to the drives above. The main problem with this hypothesis is that everything works fine, even burns, once it's booted. Another idea I have is to uninstall the disk controllers and let them reinstall with a reboot. I find it interesting that there is nowhere in the BIOS to refresh ESCD. It must do it every boot? Steve On 10/23/05, Stan Zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Never had a problem with my K8N Neo2 Platinum with Geforce 6600GT andWinXP SP2. I've been playing with the new FEAR demo lately and it runs good on it. @:)Steve Tomporowski wrote: Nevermind, found it.There's a basic incompatibility between Nvidia 6 series cards and NF3.You have to disable AGP fast writes and things are much better now, at least in UT2004.I'll see if that might have been affecting the drives. Steve On 10/23/05, *Greg Sevart* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Several things... 1. Try Windows XP. Win2k sucks for gaming, and I guarantee you that driver/hardware/software compatibility testing is less extensive than it is for XP. 2. Update system BIOS, NF3 drivers, and video drivers 3. Are you using any additional PATA controller? 4. Overall, to me, it sounds like a horked Windows installation. Greg - Original Message - From: Steve Tomporowski To: The Hardware List Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 9:33 AM Subject: [H] K8N Neo Platinum Problems This is a system I built last year:K8N Neo Platium MB, BFG 128M 6800 Video, A64 3400+, Two SATA Drives, Two PATA Drives, CD Burner, DVD Burner, 430 Watt (Old) Antec Power Supply.It has a couple of problems: 1) Initially this system was set up with 2 SATA drives and a DVD drive. Consolidating systems, I added the two PATA drives, then after a while, tried to add the CD and DVD burners.For most of the troubleshooting time, Win2k Sp4 would hang at the Loading Windows screen (rolling blue bar would stop).Suddenly on a reboot, it started working.Now, for the most part it boots completely, but every once in a while will hang.Tried to enable bootlog on one of the hangs, but got nothing, no file at all.Tried replacing cable and each drive separately.Without either there was no problem. 2) UT2004--This system works worse than my NF2 with a 5900 Nvidia. Basically it stutters, if I move in one direction and look straight ahead, no problem.However if I try to strafe or turn, I get several rapid stutters of the image.I've even reduced the detail to the same as the NF2 system, no improvement.Nothing extra running in Process Manager.Nvidia drivers at 7803, don't know the current status of the NF3 drivers, might be original as well as the BIOS being original. The only things I can think of right now is to update the BIOS and the MB drives. Is there a know problem here? ThanksSteve No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.1.361 / Virus Database: 267.12.4/146 - Release Date: 10/21/2005
Re: [H] -LO- CNet does a test workout: Dual Core AMD vs. Dual Core Intel
One of the comments mentioned that NForce SLI consistently under-performed with Intel chips. Of course, as with people that usually make those statements, he left no link for verification. Is this true or is the comparison as shown, correct? My tendency would be to go with NForce over Intel (that is, if I ever wanted to over-pay for what I got;-) Steve On 11/28/05, CW [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-9.html?tag=btn Interesting.The ref would have stopped the fight in the real world.
[H] Again - Best Motherboard - Looking for Recs
It's time for an upgrade and I'm looking into AMD motherboards. I want to do SLI, but I probably won't do any overclocking. What's a good motherboard? My last motherboard was the MSI Neo3 Platinum and that's worked reasonably well. I intent to get a dual core, so that comes into the mix. Any recommendations? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Again - Best Motherboard - Looking for Recs
The only roundup on Anandtech mentioned the DFI Lanparty as tops with the MSI Neo4 close behind. I hesitate to use DFI since we had some of their computers at PMSNA when I was there. POS every one of them. But as we' ve noticed, things change. SteveOn 12/3/05, Chris Reeves [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Note though: We've had a lot of people have problems with the Gigabyte SLIboard and the 7800GTs (XFX/BFG) because of the way the Northbridge HS islocated.So, just a note on that ;) --FIGHT BACK AGAINST SPAM!Download Spam Inspector, the Award Winning Anti-Spam Filterhttp://mail.giantcompany.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Jim Edwards Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 8:58 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Again - Best Motherboard - Looking for Recs At 12/2/2005 08:56 AM, Steve Tomporowski wrote: It's time for an upgrade and I'm looking into AMD motherboards.I want to do SLI, but I probably won't do any overclocking.What's a good motherboard?My last motherboard was the MSI Neo3 Platinum and that's worked reasonably well.I intent to get a dual core, so that comes into the mix. Any recommendations? ThanksSteve This is what I got recently. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128306 GIGABYTE GA-K8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard Got it on sale for 82 beens. Quick, easy install, zero hassles so far since 11/20
[H] Trouble Installing Media Center Edition
I can't get to this system until tonightI started on the system last night. AMD 3800+ Dual Core in an MSI Neo4 SLI MB, 1GB memory. It is replacing an NF2 system. The system posts fine and even boots up on the original Win2k installation. The original installation was on a PATA drive, I want to preserve that install, so I added a SATA drive and wanted to install MCE on the SATA drive (which was unpartitioned and unformated, fresh out of the box). MCE went fine, partitioned and formatted the SATA drive without complaint. It then began copying files over. The only hitch was when it asked for the SP2 disk, which I didn't have, so I cancelled that part. When it went into reboot, it refused to boot from either the harddisk or the CD. It gave the message something like 'Disk Bad, insert System and hit return'. It was late so I just shut the system down until tonight.BIOS was set to boot CD first, then floppy, then harddisk. If anything, it should have booted off the PATA drive. To me this sounds like the CD drive went bad on me and the system refuses to go further. Any other ideas? I'll be taking a closer look at it tonight and see what's going on. ThanksSteve
[H]Nforce 3 Board
I have a drive acting funny onmy Nforce 3 (MSI Neo3 Platinum) and I'm wondering if this is a board that I should dump entirely. I have 6800 video card in it which is the combination that causes problems, but I was wondering if the Nforce3 chipset has enough problems that I should replace it with something else. Does anyone have any info on this? The secondary question would be what to replace it with, since I'm stuck with a 754 socket processor. The hard drive in question is a Maxtor PATA 250G drive that is probably all of 6 months old. The symptoms? I cannot access some directories. Explorer (this is 2000) gives an 'inpage error'. MS support only has one article on this and it relates to bad floppy media. Luckily most of the drive is backed up, but I can't help wondering if the board (or the Nforce drivers) are causing the problem. The system was on 24/7 for several weeks, so it's now shut down just in case it was a heat problem. Will try and get the drive up later today. As always, any recommendations are appreciated! Thanks...Steve
Re: [H]Nforce 3 Board
I just ran Maxtor's Powermax software and came up with a dying harddrive. I'll RMA it and see what happens. The symptoms seemed similar to another Maxtor the died on me. The beginning symptom is that getting a list of folders/files takes a few extra seconds. Not enough to really tip you off. Then the folders start dying. Last drive went all at once (or I accessed it too infrequently to notice). This time I has some warning. On my small setup, I've had four HD die on me--one WD and 3 Maxtors. I'm beginning to wonder about Maxtor. FWIW: There is only one other Maxtor on this system with Two Western Digitals. None of the rest seems to show any problems. What's good freeware to read SMART? I had something but I've misplaced it. ThanksSteve On 12/20/05, Stan Zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Almost always software related. @:DSteve Tomporowski wrote: I have a drive acting funny on my Nforce 3 (MSI Neo3 Platinum) and I'm wondering if this is a board that I should dump entirely.I have 6800 video card in it which is the combination that causes problems, but I was wondering if the Nforce3 chipset has enough problems that I should replace it with something else.Does anyone have any info on this? The secondary question would be what to replace it with, since I'm stuck with a 754 socket processor. The hard drive in question is a Maxtor PATA 250G drive that is probably all of 6 months old.The symptoms?I cannot access some directories. Explorer (this is 2000) gives an 'inpage error'.MS support only has one article on this and it relates to bad floppy media.Luckily most of the drive is backed up, but I can't help wondering if the board (or the Nforce drivers) are causing the problem.The system was on 24/7 for several weeks, so it's now shut down just in case it was a heat problem.Will try and get the drive up later today. As always, any recommendations are appreciated! Thanks...Steve No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.1/207 - Release Date: 12/19/2005
Re: [H]Nforce 3 Board
The 250 gig drive is out of warranty. Probably serves me right for buying it at BestBuy, probably on the shelf for 6 months.I think we can expect worse from Maxtor now since Seagate's buying them. Nobody will be working very hard or diligently until they find out if they still have a job. SteveOn 12/21/05, Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 11:40 AM 20/12/2005, Steve Tomporowski wrote:On my small setup, I've had four HD die on me--one WD and 3 Maxtors.I'mbeginning to wonder about Maxtor.Don't wonder about Maxtor.Believe it.I've seen at least 30 Maxtors fail since September.There were two dead Fujitsus, and three Quantums duringthat time, and no WDs.I am recommending everyone avoid Maxtor rightnow.(Of course, this is based on one to three year old Maxtors, so it is possible that they have fixed the problem, but I'll let someone else testthem.)T
[H] Getting Rid of the extra Operating System
I don't want to do everything from scratch again;-)Old system (NF2) was upgraded to NF4 system (3800+ Dual core). I added a SATA drive to the existing 2 PATA drive system. Installed WMC to the SATA drive so that I could consult the primary PATA drive on what I had configured and installed. Old install was Win2k. Drive architecture is now PATA drives as C: and D:, SATA as G: (with two DVD drives). Now I want to get rid of Win2k. Actually I'd like to reformat the C drive. However, there seems to be stuff in the C root like boot.ini that includes reference to both installs. I fear that the C: is really the boot drive. Can I just reformat and do a repair install? Or is the repair necessary. I don't want to have to start off from scratch again. ThanksSteve
[H] Winamp 2 Gone???
Maybe I missed this, but I went to www.classic.winamp.com to see if there was a new version and couldn't find any reference to Winamp 2! Nor do I get the impression that the plugins are for version 2 either. Was this announced? Steve
Re: [H] Getting Rid of the extra Operating System
So, Boot.ini is the only thing I need to retain, the rest of the drive can go?On 12/29/05, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:At 12:46 PM 12/29/2005, Steve Tomporowski typed:Now I want to get rid of Win2k.Actually I'd like to reformat the C drive.However, there seems to be stuff in the C root like boot.inithat includes reference to both installs.I fear that the C: isreally the boot drive.Can I just reformat and do a repairinstall?Or is the repair necessary.I don't want to have to start off from scratch again.Just edit out the Win2k part from the boot.ini file deleteeverything that has to do with Win2k such as the i386 folder youshould be done.--+-- Wayne D. JohnsonAshland, OH, USA 44805http://www.wavijo.com
Re: [H] Tvshows.org
There's a pretty good, elementary BT Faq here:http://dessent.net/btfaq/On 12/28/05, Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:At 04:23 PM 28/12/2005, Winterlight wrote: That means that the seeding never finished (which is why one should allowyour files to complete seeding 100%I see the seeding but what exactly does it mean?My understanding is that seeding occurs when you have a full copy of a file and are uploading it (you also upload the parts of the file you have whenyou are a peer, but of course you don't have the entire file to upload.)http://www.vladd44.com/torrent/terms.php T
Re: [H] Getting Rid of the extra Operating System
Should have been more explicit. WMC was meant to be Windows Media Center Edition, my bad. Nope, no third party boot managers used. I expected the Win2k install to fail on the new MB, but was surprised when it worked. Not totally, it refused to load the audio driver. It's just a this point, I don't know which of the files in the C: root belong to which operating system. I was surprised to find boot.ini on C:SteveOn 12/29/05, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 01:27 PM 12/29/2005, Steve Tomporowski typed:So, Boot.ini is the only thing I need to retain, the rest of the drive can go?In your OP you say both installs the subject says extra OS but younever do say what the extra OS is.I ass-u-me that it is XP in which case XP had to be installed after 2k unless you use a boot mgr. Ifyou don't use a boot mgr you installed the OSes in order which youwould have had to then you can just delete any reference to 2k inyour boot.ini file [back it up 1st if you like] any files thatbelong to 2k ONLY. If any of the files are shared between the OSesthen they'll need to stay.FWIW I've done this several times itworks as advertised. The whole key is that 2k was installed prior to Xp you did NOT use a 3rd party boot mgr.--+--Wayne D. JohnsonAshland, OH, USA 44805http://www.wavijo.com
Re: [H] Getting Rid of the extra Operating System
Thanks Wayne. I'll take a look at getting rid of the /winnt directory. There's also an io.sys and msdos.sys in the C: root, but of size 0. Artifacts probably--that Win2k install was very old, upgraded in steps from Win95 OSR2 (!?). Now I'm off to edit the boot.ini file. Hmmm, I bet it's read-onlySteveOn 12/29/05, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 01:45 PM 12/29/2005, Steve Tomporowski typed:Should have been more explicit.WMC was meant to be Windows Media Center Edition, my bad.Nope, no third party boot managers used.Iexpected the Win2k install to fail on the new MB, but was surprisedwhen it worked.Not totally, it refused to load the audio driver.It's just a this point, I don't know which of the files inthe C: root belong to which operating system.I was surprised tofind boot.ini on C:WMC is really XP with extras so you should be ok just to remove 2k from the boot.ini file. FWIW if you had stated MCE I probablywould've caught on to that. ;-)All the files in the i386 folder belong to 2k all the files in thec:\windows\folder belong to MCE or XP you can look at file dates to be sure with the many of the 2k files being older.If you reallywant or think you need to clean the system then a wipe is in order of course you have backups of the stuff you absolutely have to have. ;-) --+--Wayne D. JohnsonAshland, OH, USA 44805http://www.wavijo.com
[H] Winamp Replacement
Okay, Winamp 2 is dead--version 2.91 keeps asking me to upgrade to 5. Tried 5 and it sucks. What is everyone using as a replacement?ThanksSteve
[H] How to Write Unmaintainable Code
This is worth a reprise, especially since the location changed: http://mindprod.com/jgloss/unmain.html Steve
[H] Socket A Motherboard (no, this is not another CR archive message)
My son is trying to slightly update his computer on a very limited budget. Currently he has a 1.47Ghz Athlon in an Aopen AK75 MB. Since it was 6 months old the board has refused to warm boot, you always need to turn off the power supply and wait, so it's time for a change. He's got a new power supply picked out, but we need a socket A MB (I'll be giving him a 5900 to update his Geforce 2). There's not much out there and it's a waste to have video on the MB. What is a good name for the MB maker? --Jetway, BIOSTAR, Asrock? I tend to shy away from VIA chipsets, but is SIS still good? He supposedly has a budget of $250 for power supply, motherboard, network card and video card. The 5900, although not the best, should be adequate. I just briefly looked at processor/MB combos but nothing thrilled me and he still has to stay with AGP. He does play 3d games, but he can't afford something big now. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Socket A Motherboard (no, this is not another CR archive message)
Thanks for the info on the Foxconn board. The ECS board has been good to me, had four and only one died of cap failure. I tend to like the NF2 boards, but I'd have to look around to possibly find a major name board. If it weren't for the warm boot problem, we could probably keep the MB and just replace the network and video cards. I don't know what a 1.47Ghz Athlon would do for Doom3. Been to Newegg, really did not like any of the selection, then again, I would have loved to find an ABit NF2 boardSteveOn 2/5/06, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have been using Foxconn 748K7AAfor socket A rebuilds, have been OK. Mostly replacing ECS with blown caps. sis chipset.from Newegg, like $39 delivered.Only done 3 and my friend has done 3 but so far seem fine. Manual leaves a lot to be desired though. They have a version with SATA headers for a few buck more. Fp
[H] Nero 6 and CD text
How do I get Nero to write CD text to an audio CD? I am trying to put together a compilation and I'd like my player to pick up artist/title. What do I need to do in Nero Buring ROM version 6? Is there a list where I can find out if my CD/DVD burner supports CD text? You'd think I'd be able to search for this stuff, but found squat. Plus KI's internet access sucks:-( ThanksSteve
Re: [H] DVD Formats
Hmm, is there a way to either read an unclosed disk or close it after the fact?SteveOn 3/4/06, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:disk not closed most likely, my mom had the same problem with a go video unit. At 05:58 PM 3/4/2006, Greg Sevart Poked the stick with:My guess would be that it is either using packet writing (unlikely), or the disc isn't closed.- Original Message - From: Steve Tomporowski To: The Hardware ListSent: Saturday, March 04, 2006 6:53 PMSubject: [H] DVD FormatsI'm just starting to look into this, but maybe someone here knows the answer already.I have a set-top DVD Burner, a Samsung DVD-R120.Got it for only 80 bucks and used it hooked up to a VCR to copy over tapes.Does a pretty good job.However, I recently slapped it into my computer (actually both computers) and neither sees the disk at all.Doesn't play and won't show up any file listing (MCE just hangs).Do set-top DVD recorders use some sort of different format?I'm using the same disks for all my DVD burners (-R). ThanksSteve--Tallyho ! ]:8)Taglines below !--If you NEED to count your money, you're not really rich.
Re: [H] bazooka
I've used Bazooka before, it's not spyware and has no spyware install. The difference is that Bazooka only tells you what the problem is, does not fix it. It gives you links to the fix for each problem.Steve On 4/14/06, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I agreeI finally got rid of the bug, well sort of gave up. Created a new user account and transferred her mail and data. script error gone. if caused by spyware it may come back. I put in better spyware protection and AV protection but she leaves OE loaded all day with preview pain on. I have tried to explain it, or at least just turn OE on when you need it. WTFhope all is well in wet landfpAt 04:56 PM 4/14/2006, Mark Dodge Poked the stick with:Anything that takes only seconds to scan and is free only sounds likespyware itself. Mark DodgeMD Computers360-772-2433-Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of FORC5Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 10:05 AMTo: hardware@hardwaregroup.comSubject: [H] bazooka any one tried this ?http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html?source=scripterrorI still have a customer getting OE and IE script errors when trying to print or view certain attachments. Last resort is restore system.Printer is a HP 1320 laserThanksfp--Tallyho ! ]:8)Taglines below !--I can be decisive, I think. --Tallyho ! ]:8)Taglines below !--I can be decisive, I think.
[H] Well, it sort of is hardware...
The water pressure at my house isn't the greatest and the 'new' shower head that the contractor put in, frankly, sucks. We've had a 'soaking' shower head but that particular beast had a huge head and pretty much drizzled rather than sprayed. Does anyone know of a good shower head that gives you coverage and a reasonable spray? The current one acts like the water flow is restricted, but even so, there's only a row of ports around the edge so it give you a circle of water. Any leads appreciated! Thanks...Steve
Re: [H] Well, it sort of is hardware...
Oh, I'm sure it's a flow restrictor, but it's a cheap shower head with a bad spray pattern. I'm looking for something that doesn't just give you a circle. Gmail actually threw up this website: http://www.highpressureshowerheads.com/ Which looks interesting. And now that Rick has mentioned Waterpic, yes those are good, have used them before, the only problem is that the ones I've had began to leak after a couple of months...around the adjustment ring. Steve On 4/20/06, Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Assuming your water pressure is good, then it's probably the restrictorwithin the shower head, which is code where I am. But if you had plumbing work done, it could also be clogged up from new plumbing. Sometimes whenyou first use new copper pipe and fittings, tiny bits of dirt, and metal,come off the inside of the pipe, over time, and clog up the fixture. This is why the lines should be blown out before putting on the fixture. It isnot unusual to have to go back and blow them out again.Since you just had this done, I would call the contractor and see what he says. If he says it is the constrictor, and he won't help, then you can fixit yourself. Technically, he can't really help you without violatingbuilding code.First, take the shower head off and turn on the water to clean out the line. Is the pressure good now? If it is still slow, then you have apressure problem. Check your pressure. It should be at least 45 psi. But ifyour pressure is now great, then you have a restricted fixture, so look at where it connects to the half inch shower arm, and remove anything you see,so you end up with a clean threaded half inch fixture. The restrictor lookslike a piece of plastic in the form of a cross, or star, often with a gasket. Just pull all that out, put some Teflon tape on the shower armthreads, and screw the fixture back on. Now you can enjoy your good waterpressure.Licensed General ContractorThe water pressure at my house isn't the greatest and the 'new' shower head that the contractor put in, frankly, sucks.We've had a 'soaking'shower head but that particular beast had a huge head and pretty muchdrizzled rather than sprayed.Does anyone know of a good shower head that gives you coverage and a reasonable spray?The current one acts like thewater flow is restricted, but even so, there's only a row of ports aroundthe edge so it give you a circle of water.Any leads appreciated! Thanks...Steve
[H]Digital Input Bad on Samsung 204B?
Bought a Samsung 204B about a week ago, used the digital cable/input. Video card is a Asus 7800GT. After working fine for a week, turned on the computer the other day and the monitor kept searching on video between digital/analog. Bought new digital cable, still no video. Stuck an analog cable (digital/analog adapter on 7800GT output) and the monitor displayed fine. Does the fact that I have analog video with the adapter mean that the video card digital is ok? I'd like to determine whether it is the monitor that's bad or the video card. Video card is probably out of warranty. I wanted to try the second monitor output, but I can't figure out how to turn it on, there's nothing under properties. What's the fastest way of determining whether it is the monitor input or the video card output that's bad? How do you enable the 2nd monitor output? Any help would be appreciated! ThanksSteve
[H] Dell 2100
I'm trying to help someone (remotely) who has a Dell 2100 computer and experiencing no video. Anyone have any information on a Dell 2100? The net does not have much and I don't know Dell that well. Does Dell do beep codes? So far all I know is this guy replaced the MB and still have no video. Thanks...Steve
Re: [H] Dell 2100
Thanks, Thane. Doing this remotely is a pain but even worse because the guy answers in monosylabbles. On 8/26/06, Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 06:59 PM 26/08/2006, Steve Tomporowski wrote:All reseating was done when he apparently changed the MB.He's pretty spare in what he's telling me.No video, no beeps, but doesa Dell 2100 beep?If this were a system I was personally workingon, I would have guessed it was a dead CPU.Dell's normally give one beep at boot up, but I don't recall POST code beep.If you're getting no beep and no video, then I'd guessdead MB, dead RAM, dead PS or dead CPU.T
[H] Monitor Driver
After the digital input died, I began running my Samsung 204B off the Analog input (like it too much, but I still have 2+ years of warranty left ;-), now I'm havinga funny problem with the driver--or so it seems. It began whenever I'd come out of UT2004, I'd get a message that I wasn't in the optimum video mode (monitor message). I'd hit the autoadjust and go on from there. Then I finally decided to figure out what was causing that and discovered that the refresh was set to 75hz and the 'Hide display modes...' button was unchecked and greyed out. I changed it to 60 hz and thought I was happy, but now at every boot-up it is reset to 75hz. I have yet to search on this, but I suspect a broken driver. I *think* the driver is the one supplied with the monitor, have to look for a new one. BTW, this is MCE. ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Monitor Driver
Advance Replacement! Great! I'll look into that.Thanks! Steve On 8/29/06, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: a friend's samsung 191 had the same bug ( no dvi out ) and samsung did do a advance replacement for him and he even got a newer model :) fpAt 09:35 AM 8/29/2006, Steve Tomporowski Poked the stick with:After the digital input died, I began running my Samsung 204B off the Analog input (like it too much, but I still have 2+ years of warranty left ;-), now I'm having a funny problem with the driver--or so it seems.It began whenever I'd come out of UT2004, I'd get a message that I wasn't in the optimum video mode (monitor message).I'd hit the autoadjust and go on from there.Then I finally decided to figure out what was causing that and discovered that the refresh was set to 75hz and the 'Hide display modes...' button was unchecked and greyed out.I changed it to 60 hz and thought I was happy, but now at every boot-up it is reset to 75hz.I have yet to search on this, but I suspect a broken driver.I *think* the driver is the one supplied with the monitor, have to look for a new one.BTW, this is MCE. ThanksSteve--Tallyho ! ]:8)Taglines below !--I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid you're just a mirage.
[H] Weirdness with Refresh Rates.
Since switching from a tube monitor to a Samsung 204B Flat Panel, every once in a while, sometimes each time you power up, I get the warning from the Flat panel that the settings are not optimum. When I check the refresh rate in MCE, it has 75 instead of 60 as last set. The check box for hiding refresh rates no available on the monitor, is greyed out. The video card is a 7800GT, the drivers are 8198. I tried to install 9147, but that made the video overlay green, I got video sound, but a flat green screen. So I went back to 8198. I tried to update the monitor driver but that did nothing for me. The Nvidia control is installed, but clicked on 'use Windows settings'. Anyone every encounter this before? Any help thoroughly appreciated! ThanksSteve
[H] Test
Just testing.did this hit the list? I had sent a question in a couple of days ago which I didn't see come back on the list. Steve
Re: [H] Test
Here's the question: Updated a system from a 19 tube to a Samsung 204B. Nice monitor. Now, periodically and without rhyme or reason, system will boot up and upon entering XP (MCE), the monitor gives the message that settings are not optimum. Found that the refresh is set to 75 Hz. Change to 60 and monitor is happy. Then happens again a day to two later. Special note that the checkbox for hiding refresh rates the monitor cannot display is greyed out and cannot be checked. Nvidia 7800GT video card 81.98 drivers. Tried 91.47 drivers but all video overlay was solid green. So switched back. Know problem? Ideas? ThanksSteve On 10/9/06, Julian Zottl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Loud and clear :) What was the q? _ Julian Zottl CTO, Radiant Network Technology, LLC Getting ahead in the tech sector isn't about kissing butt ... you gotta sniff the right packets -- Original Message -- From: Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 14:53:57 -0400 Just testing.did this hit the list? I had sent a question in a couple of days ago which I didn't see come back on the list. Steve
[H] Nero 7.5.7.0 and MCE
Just a heads up on problems I'm having, will let you know when it's resolved. Running Nero Ultra 7.5.7.0 on a fully updated MCE. Initially all runs well. I associate video files with Nero Showtime (I like the spacebar pause). Do a few burns. Now I try to run a video file. Nero Showtime bombs with an uninformative error - Unable to update graph. Now all files with a video extension cause MCE to throw a 0xc005 error. Even if you click on the file to highlight it, it throws an error. Apparently some damage to the registry. The only solution thus far is to do a System Restore. I've run through this scenario twice, so it's not a one-time fluke. Nero has been informed. I don't have this problem on 2000. Currently using WMP only and haven't burned on that system since the last restore. Will definitely not be using Showtime. Fingers crossed and waiting. Steve
[H] TV Card Software
I have an ATI TV Wonder 200. Got it just to watch football while on the computer, so it's very frustrating that the ATI software has this huge window, large menu and itty-bitty TV screen. If I'm going to have it on the desktop I'd like to have just the TV itself, not a lot of 'dead' area. Anyone have any idea on what 3rd party TV software I can use for this? I've tried a few and basically discovered that most of them have lots of bugs, either crashing on installation, or stubbornly refusing to find any channels. Tried ChrisTV and SageTV both of which have serious problems, at least with my card. Anybody using anything like this? Thanks...Steve
Re: [H] TV Card Software
I've tried two versions of SageTV, 4 and 5 and neither gets past initializing the user interface. I'm assuming that it doesn't support the ATI TV Wonder 200, which is why it hangs. Steve On 11/7/06, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 08:46 AM 11/7/2006, Greg Sevart typed: I still haven't decided on software to use...I'm currently running the Beyond TV trial, using a DVICO FusionHDTV5 Gold tuner and a VBox Cat's Eye 150 HDTV tuner. Anyone have experience with BTV, Sage, and GBPVR that provide some qualitative comments? I have another machine with the Fushion HDTV5 as well that menu system seems ok but admittedly I use that primarily for capturing play back thru the MyHD 120 card. Sorry I couldn't have been more help. ---+-- I'm a geek that loves to tweak.
[H] Nero Ultra 7, MCE and Weirdness
I had posted problems I was having with Nero Showtime and MCE, I don't know if it made it to the list, however the strange just got weird. Working with Nero Support, I uninstalled, ran CleanTool and reinstalled. I played several videos via Media Player and Nero Showtime with no problems. Then I spent most of a day backing up my Dr Who collection to DVD (with Nero). Now here was where I had problems before. I played a video in Media Player, no problem. I took the same video and did right-click to play it in Showtime and as soon as I selected Showtime, Windows threw an error and closed the file window. Now everytime I click on that file, same Windows error. Now it gets weird. I did several system restores to almost a week back, but each time clicking on that file throws an error. Last time it was every avi, this time I try other files but only this one throws an error. Fine, I go to my backup and try to run that file from the CD--Error! So I figure the file is bad. Wrong. Take it over to my Win2k machine and the file on the CD plays fine in Nero Showtime. WTF! Anyone ever encountered this Thanks...Steve
[H] Hard Drive Inspector
Is anyone familiar with the program Hard Drive Inspector? The experience here has not been good. First off, it increased my MCE boot-up time from 30 seconds to 2 minutes (which did not go back after uninstall), predicted my newest drive, a WD 500 gig was about to die (2 weeks old) and actually caused a blue screen on bootup (which triggered it's removal). The blue screen was so momentary--it rebooted immediately--I didn't get any info, however it has not reoccurred after removing the program. Could this be a result of trying to use the program with the most recent Nvidia disk drivers? Are the Nvidia drivers good or unstable? Oh, and is there an easy way to figure out what is causing such a long boot-up? The whole delay time is at the splash screen. ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Hard Drive Inspector
My thoughts exactly, but I'd have to find a utility that I trust to check. The parameter that Hard Drive Inspector was reporting has a top reading of 100 and reported the drive at 1. Forgot the name, but that sort of difference doesn't inspire confidence in the reporting software. Probably go with a WDC utility at least for now. Steve On 11/30/06, Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 11:49 AM 30/11/2006, Steve Tomporowski wrote: boot-up time from 30 seconds to 2 minutes (which did not go back after uninstall), predicted my newest drive, a WD 500 gig was about to die (2 weeks old) and actually caused a blue screen on bootup (which The dying drive is a possibility. You might want to check that further. T
[H] Green Screen on Videos - Solved!
Ever since the Nvidia version 9.x.x.x drivers have come out, I have been unable to upgrade. Everything would work fine EXCEPT playing videos (in Nero Showtime, Media Player, Media Player Classic, anything) would have audio but video out be a blank green screen. It took a lot of digging but the solution, at least for me, was to install NVTweak and enable VMR (which I don't know what it is). One enabled, video now play. Thought you guys would like to know. Steve
Re: [H] Hard Drive Inspector
I ran a version of HDTune and the parameter in question was Hardware ECC Recovered which was listed as currently 1, worst 1. Know anything about this one? Steve On 12/1/06, Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 03:43 PM 01/12/2006, Steve Tomporowski wrote: My thoughts exactly, but I'd have to find a utility that I trust to check. The parameter that Hard Drive Inspector was reporting has a top reading of 100 and reported the drive at 1. Forgot the name, but that sort of difference doesn't inspire confidence in the reporting software. Probably go with a WDC utility at least for now. Sounds like it was reporting SMART results. If that is the case, then it is probably correct, though it may be reading the SMART information incorrectly (since this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.) If you knew what the parameter was, I could probably tell you if you need to be worried. T
Re: [H] virus bug, help
Search for Trojans. I got hit with some scumware once where the infection was based on a trojan that keeps downloading the scumware when it detects that it's been removed. Steve On 1/2/07, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have a customer box with adware.purityscan. It basically is shut down and blocked and not running but the infected file keeps re appearing and I can not figure out how. Have checked all the usual suspects in the run and services and win.ini etc. folder that the AV sw finds is in documents and settings/(user)application data/dobe~1/nopdb.exe the end of that is not visible under explorer but every time I run a av scan it shows up and gets quarantined. Symantec says to use the purityscan unintsller but the AV sw says that is infected and seems ridicules to use a uninstall routine from the infector. Webroot supposedly removed the infection it is just this stupid file keeps reappearing according to symantec corporate. tempted to tell sace to ignore on next boot. other then fdisk, any clues ? FWIW this box came in with a bad HD and it was a pain but I finally got it to ghost, wish I hadn't :'( fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- What doesn't destroy me makes me stronger.
[H] Vista Really has been Cracked
http://apcmag.com/5512/pirate_crack_vista_oem_activation No matter how small the hole.some hacker will crawl through it Steve
[H] Rescuing someone from AOHell
Let's see if this message makes the list. Last one I sent didn't... I'm not sure of the details, but here someone is finally ripping their spouse away from AOHell, but she needs to bring her address book with her. Is there some way to import/export an AOHell address book to Outlook, Outlook Express, etc? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Rescuing someone from AOHell
Excellent idea! Thanks muchSteve On 3/21/07, FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have heard of aftermarket stuff to do this but have never had any luck. Easiest way is when you send the email to everyone about the address change send one to yourself and then reply to all. adds them to the address book in OE fp
[H]Video Converter
Here's the story: I've got a 30gig Creative Zen and the video converter they provide can't handle a lot of formats. So I installed the update, which then broke the converter entirely. Creative, as you would expect, is giving me a hassle about helping me fix it, claiming they can't help me (without being paid!) since my Zen is out of warranty. They can't seem to pick up the idea that the Zen is fine, it's their lame software that's broke. Sowhat can I use for a good quality decent conversion? A couple of things I've tried are practically useless, one even took a 700 meg file and took 3 hours to convert it to the 'smallest' size at 2 GB. Sheesh. Recommendations requested. ThanksSteve
Re: [H]Video Converter
I *think* that one was #1 Video Converter, although I have tried quite a few 'one-click' converters. Thanks for the info, I'll try that out Steve On 6/17/07, Neil Davidson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html Will convert just about anything to just about anything else. What did you try that gave you that rubbish result? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Tomporowski Sent: 17 June 2007 21:26 To: The Hardware List Subject: [H]Video Converter Here's the story: I've got a 30gig Creative Zen and the video converter they provide can't handle a lot of formats. So I installed the update, which then broke the converter entirely. Creative, as you would expect, is giving me a hassle about helping me fix it, claiming they can't help me (without being paid!) since my Zen is out of warranty. They can't seem to pick up the idea that the Zen is fine, it's their lame software that's broke. Sowhat can I use for a good quality decent conversion? A couple of things I've tried are practically useless, one even took a 700 meg file and took 3 hours to convert it to the 'smallest' size at 2 GB. Sheesh. Recommendations requested. ThanksSteve
[H] Data Aquisition
Okay a different kind of PC hardware question. My company just got screwed over pretty good by National Instruments. Basically we bought a package and surprise! The software is incompatible with the hardware. The incompatibility does not appear on the webpage nor did the sales 'engineer' mention it. So, short of rewarding their incompetence by buying labview or something else, I'd like to find out if there is third party/free software out there that can collect data from an NI Daq card, specifically the NI-5911. Anyone know of anything? ThanksSteve
Re: [H]Video Converter
'One click' converters are usually rubbish. Amen! Have a look on http://www.doom9.org/ He mainly does guides for DVD quality rips etc, but the forums are full of useful info. Unfortunately he doesn't deal with converting one kind of AVI to another, or decreasing resolution. I'll have to read some of the ones he does have, just in case the techniques are applicable. I do use his method of using DVD Decrypter VirtualDub to rip and convert DVDs. Steve
Re: [H] Data Acquisition
In short, it's more less taken me 6 months to get some time to go over this system. It's meant for noise measurement (electronic noise). Purchased at the same time/same quote was NI-5911, Measure, Diadem. I wanted Measure because it pulled in data directly to Excel. NI Scope does work with the board but not entirely, when you abstract data from it, you can pull it into Diadem but then all the sampling rates are off and you can't specify what interval of data to capture, it does what it damn well pleases. I *thought* I had gotten it to capture 1 sec of data at 1 Mhz, Diadem told me I had 100 points at 17.94 hz. I wish I had the time to sit down and write something to access it. But I would not get enough uninterrupted time, that's why I'm asking for something that has been done already. All I really need is something to acquire the data, the rest I can do in Diadem. On 6/19/07, nobozoz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I did a little digging on ni.com and found quite a bit of useful info regarding niscope. I think the current version of niscope is 3.3 and downloadable with a simple registration at ni.com. If you know your way around in M$ Visual Studio or Visual Studio .Net, you should be able to figure out how to communicate with your NI-5911 - it is listed as being supported currently. hth, _jim -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Steve Tomporowski Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 7:47 AM To: The Hardware List Subject: [H] Data Aquisition Okay a different kind of PC hardware question. My company just got screwed over pretty good by National Instruments. Basically we bought a package and surprise! The software is incompatible with the hardware. The incompatibility does not appear on the webpage nor did the sales 'engineer' mention it. So, short of rewarding their incompetence by buying labview or something else, I'd like to find out if there is third party/free software out there that can collect data from an NI Daq card, specifically the NI-5911. Anyone know of anything? ThanksSteve
Re: [H]Video Converter
Acknowledged, my nomenclature is off. I meant that he does not deal with transcoding between different codecs. One clickers seem to have a terrible problem with this also, never even coming close to the same size as the original. Surprisingly most 1 clickers say they can handle the transcoding but don't, you either have size or quality problems. I have seen the whole color spectrum screwed up by using a 1 clicker. Haven't found one yet that does not have a problem with either size, speed or quality. Steve On 6/18/07, Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 14:43 06-18-2007, Steve Tomporowski typed: Unfortunately he doesn't deal with converting one kind of AVI AVIs are just containers just as WAV files are. If you take an MP3 file then rename the extension to WAV you'll see that the file still plays. It all depends on which codec was used in making the original recording. whether the 1 click app can handle or not. WaViJo Forever
[H]Scanning Photos
This is slightly off-topic I've got a Canon 4200F scanner and it's doing a great job, it's just that I have some 'problem' photos. To be specific I've got some pictures from the 70's that were the textured borderless kind. When I try to scan them, for some reason, probably reflection, some of the textures show up as blue 'hairs'. Not very large but they make was a pristine picture look like the scan of a beat-up photo. So the question is, has anybody encountered this and found a solution? ThanksSteve
[H] Autopatcher
This is the first time I've tried Autopatcher and I love having all the options on what to install. I've just come up with one glitch: At the beginning of the installation process, it tries to install Windows Installer (I couldn't find an option not to install it) and it halts saying that another version of windows installer exists, so quit, uninstall the other version and reinstall. After closing that box, everything else seems to go along normally. Is this normal? ThanksSteve
Re: [H]Scanning Photos
I'll have to see if I have a descreen option. I actually solved most of the problem by turning off the color correction and using an adjustment to the blue to correct the color. Also used the 'grain correction'. On 7/4/07, Rick Glazier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is a function of your Software (and Twain driver). I use Paperport 6 and/or 7, and in the advanced settings (I hit that button on the actual preview screen window) I look for a selection -- descreen. Works for me. It also makes half-tone BW newspaper photos scan correctly since they also have a repetitive pattern... Rick Glazier From: Steve Tomporowski I've got a Canon 4200F scanner and it's doing a great job, it's just that I have some 'problem' photos. To be specific I've got some pictures from the 70's that were the textured borderless kind. When I try to scan them, for some reason, probably reflection, some of the textures show up as blue 'hairs'. Not very large but they make was a pristine picture look like the scan of a beat-up photo. So the question is, has anybody encountered this and found a solution?
Re: [H] Flaky PS?
Depending on the age of the system, don't forget to examine the MB for bulging caps Steve On 9/12/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thane Sherrington wrote: At 04:45 PM 12/09/2007, Anthony Q. Martin wrote: Yeah, I was thinking that. I guess as a test, perhaps, I could remove most of the HDs and opticals and see if that helps things. I also had an external HD plugged into a USB port, but I don't think it draws much power from it has it also plugs into the electrical socket. Thanks. I would think pulling everything internal you don't need, and seeing if that stablizes it would be a good idea. Of course, the PS could be damaged from overload, but I'd try it. If you want, send me the list of all internal components and your power supply amps for the rails, and I can give you an idea if it's overloaded. Thanks, Thane. Here is the info: Antec SL 350 SmartBlue. +5V: 35A +12V: 16A +3.3V: 28A -5V:0.5A -12V: 0.8A +5VSB: 2.0A 5V, 3.3V, and 12V: 330 W max 5V, 3.3V combined: 230 W max Mobo: Asus P4C800 Deluxe CPU: P4 3.00 GHz 3 WD 2000JB HDs Radeon 9800 Pro Pioneer DVD 106D Pioneer DVD 109 3.5inch Floppy 1GB RAM (2x512 HyperX RAM) USB/Firewire noname 3.5 inch bay device. 2 80mm stock case fans stock CPU HS/FAN I think that pretty much covers it.
Re: [H] Blown capacitors
From what I heard, the reason these caps are bulging failing is that their construction didn't really meet the temp spec. The caps can be heating up from two sources: Ambient temps near them or having to filter out large amounts of noise (60hz) off the power lines. Since you had to replace a lot of caps that were blown, I would assume that it was a cascade effect where the remaining caps had to do extra duty filtering. In general, if the cap is spec'd at 6.3V, you don't want to go to 16V because electrolytics work better if they are working at, at least 75-80% of rated voltage. My take is that you replace the bulging caps with the same values and you should be fine. Steve On 10/19/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: New mobo! Having to re-design after the fact, in the field is bad new, IMO. Thane Sherrington wrote: Here's an interesting one. I had a machine in with seven blown caps (one group of four near the CPU and one group of 3 near the AGP slot - all 3300uF 6.3V.) So I replaced them all and this morning (after running AV scans overnight) the three near the AGP are all puffed. So I'm figuring that the AGP card must be pulling more than the caps can handle, so I probably need 3300uF 16V ones. What do people think? T
[H] Nero Showtime Problem
I've been playing around with tubehunter ultra and run into a strange problem with Nero Showtime 4. Tubehunter downloads video from places like Youtube and converts them to avi. When I play the resulting AVI in Showtime, it runs much too fast, like double speed, when I play it back in Media Player, it's fine. Anyone run into this type of problem? Is Nero Showtime using a different codec than Media Player? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Nero Showtime Problem
Okay, well it looks like I'm gonna hafta talk to Ahead. Steve On 11/5/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes. Showtime comes with it's own codec that MP won't use... Steve Tomporowski wrote: I've been playing around with tubehunter ultra and run into a strange problem with Nero Showtime 4. Tubehunter downloads video from places like Youtube and converts them to avi. When I play the resulting AVI in Showtime, it runs much too fast, like double speed, when I play it back in Media Player, it's fine. Anyone run into this type of problem? Is Nero Showtime using a different codec than Media Player? ThanksSteve
[H]Abit IP35 Pro Motherboard
Does anyone have any experience with the Abit IP35 Pro Motherboard? Apparently Anand is pretty high on this board. It seems that Abit took complaints about the IP35 seriously and came out with a board with a nice layout features. ThanksSteve
[H] Vista or XP?
I'm about to install software on a new system: Abit IP35 MB, 2 gig, 6850 Processor, 8800GTS video card. I have the option to install XP or Vista. Is there any reason to do Vista rather than XP? Is Vista really slower? ThanksSteve
[H] Netgear going down the tubes???
A few months ago, my wife's business discard the Netgear router I had given them and replaced it with a Linksys. I had been having trouble with my DSL connection. Every once in a while I'd get no internet reaction, rebooting the modem/router would bring it back, sometimes it would take two tries. Generally when trying to transfer files between my two computers, nothing would show up under My Network Connections, so I'd have to go to view all computers. If something did show up, clicking on it would generate an error that the resource was not available. I blamed M$. Last week I had a couple of outages, one resulted in a call to ATT, but their diagnostics caused the connection to come back. It dropped out 10 minutes later. When I could get the connection back, it would drop out in 5 to 10 minutes. I blamed ATT (logical, huh?). But before called that abysmal voice response system, I figured I'd do all the troubleshooting. Hooking up one computer directly to the modem and surprise, it stayed up, no problem. Quick trip to Best Buy and back with a Linksys router. Suddenly everything is running faster. Really. So is Netgear really that bad now? I used to avoid Linksys Steve
[H] Abit IP35 MB 'Deep CMOS Clear'
Abit IP35 MB right out of the box refuses to post. There's a display on the board with post codes and this board would get up to 83, spin fans up, then spin down fans going to 99, then recycle. 99 is power off, 83 is Power Supply. The Vcc lamp is also flashing on and off. I try the usual suspects: Clear CMOS, replace supply, break system down to minimum, nothing changes the result. On the Abit Forums they talk about a 'Deep CMOS Clear', which consists of pulling the battery, shorting the jumper and let it stay for a while, at least 30 minutes. After this clear, everything is good. Weird. Apparently there are quite a few IP35's doing this (per forum). Why would they ship boards that way? It would seem to me that something they are doing in final test is causing problems. Steve
Re: [H] Vista or XP?
Gamer, definitely. No DirectX10 for XP? I vaguely remember reading that somewhere. Now if you turn off the eye-candy, is it just as fast as XP? And...oh, yeahcan you install Office 2003 on it? On Nov 25, 2007 6:06 PM, Jason Carson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm about to install software on a new system: Abit IP35 MB, 2 gig, 6850 Processor, 8800GTS video card. I have the option to install XP or Vista. Is there any reason to do Vista rather than XP? Is Vista really slower? ThanksSteve With Vista you get DirectX 10 but I don't know if you are a gamer or not.
Re: [H] Vista or XP?
Thanks for all the info, it seems that Vista is only faster in the realm of audio/video encoding and I don't do much of that, or so much that the difference is important. Then the final question: Is 64bit WinXP worth it? Faster? I'd assume it would be the same on 32 bit applications. Although I have heard that the driver situation is sorting itself out. ThanksSteve On Nov 25, 2007 7:23 PM, Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: XP definitely. Vista has some better eye candy but as far as I can see that only uses more resources. On Nov 25, 2007 7:16 PM, zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: XP is faster that Vista, has lower memory requirements, SP3 is due to come out in the near future and has already been reported as being much faster than SP2, HardOCP has only found one DX10 game that is FPS and visually superior to DX9 and XP can easily be made as secure while online. All in all, the only 2 reasons I can find for upgrading is if you buy rather than build or you want 64 bit computing (of course MS makes both 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista so beware). IMHO Vista isn't ready for prime time until late next year or early '09 and I personally think it's the ME version of 98SE. You didn't buy ME did you? g Good hunting! Steve Tomporowski wrote: I'm about to install software on a new system: Abit IP35 MB, 2 gig, 6850 Processor, 8800GTS video card. I have the option to install XP or Vista. Is there any reason to do Vista rather than XP? Is Vista really slower? ThanksSteve -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] Vista or XP?
Come to think of it, this particular computer will be running my 4 year old chessboard (DGT), so finding 64 bit drivers for that may be difficult or impossible. At least this time I will install regular XP, not the Media Center crap that I never use On 11/26/07, Raul Limos [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Nov 26, 2007 10:22 AM, Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Then the final question: Is 64bit WinXP worth it? Faster? I'd assume it would be the same on 32 bit applications. Although I have heard that the driver situation is sorting itself out. I dual boot with 32 and 64-bit Windows XP and I have 4 gigabytes of RAM that's why I use the 64-bit version to utilize better my 4 gigs of ram. The 64-bit version is less prone to viral/malware attack and the like but the drivers for some peripherals are not supported. Better be prepared to look for 64-bit of XP before installing it. It will bring some headache. The 64-bit version does not recognize my China-made el cheapo webcam and I had to look for an alternative driver for the Canon inkjet printer.
Re: [H] Vista or XP?
The encoding was mentioned on one of the links that was posted here. Some encoding is marginally better, some much better. Do you have any comparison timings? Of course I will have the option of setting up dual boot. That's too bad as I find that Xp Pro x64 to be much faster when extracting archives with my AMD64 X2 4800+ or encoding video or even just burning a DVD DL disk. I dual boot this machine x32 the x64 versions on this machine whenever I want to do some serious CPU intensive work I go to the x64 version. ---+-- I'm a geek that loves to tweak.
Re: [H] Netgear going down the tubes???
Actually I have both coming to the house. Long story but the short answer is: Wife. I'm on ATT DSL. The have put fiber into the neighborhood but refuse to sell the internet separately. On 11/26/07, Naushad, Zulfiqar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Are u using DSL or Cable? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Naushad, Zulfiqar Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 3:53 PM To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Netgear going down the tubes??? Tomato firmware is technically a 3rd party firmware hack. Similar in vein to the DD-WRT style firmwares, the difference being that it is more lighter, has amazing QOS routines built in, and has a really snazzy AJAX/SVG web interface. Not to mention it is stable as hell. Handling hundreds of connections via bit-torrent is a breeze and it doesn't slow down or hang, etc. Requirements are the older WRT54G router (not greater than v5 I think) or a WRT54GL (which I have). Just flash the firmware and enjoy the goodness of tomato :) I would highly recommend it. P.s, another awesome feature is to increase the radio power. I have safely increased my radio power to around 100mW and it gives me a noticeable and needed range boost. Zulfiqar Naushad IT Consultant SIEMENS Ltd IS Oil, Gas IT Solutions P.O. Box 719, Al-Khobar 31952 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Phone: +966 (3) 865-9730 (*NEW) Mobile: +966 (050) 587-0964 Fax: +966 (3) 887 0165 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Tomporowski Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 3:18 PM To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Netgear going down the tubes??? I'm not around the router, but the new one is the 'N' version. Is that tomato firmware some kind of 3rd party hack? On 11/26/07, Naushad, Zulfiqar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think that both are good and both are bad. It all depends on the model you get. That being said, I have owned both and I currently own a WRT54GL running Tomato firmware 1.11. By far the best router I have used in my life!! DSL modem is a linksys AM200 patched with the latest firmware and set to bridge mode. I have owned one of those D834N gateways from Netgear, and they ran great too, no issues. Zulfiqar Naushad IT Consultant SIEMENS Ltd IS Oil, Gas IT Solutions P.O. Box 719, Al-Khobar 31952 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Phone: +966 (3) 865-9730 (*NEW) Mobile: +966 (050) 587-0964 Fax: +966 (3) 887 0165 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of W. D. Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:12 AM To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Netgear going down the tubes??? At 16:58 11/25/2007, Steve Tomporowski wrote: So is Netgear really that bad now? I used to avoid Linksys Unfortunately, yes. Even though I like the new Netgear white color scheme (it blends in better with the living environment), Linksys is more reliable and easy to work with. I tell my customers that all the home routers are crappy. Linksys is just the least crappy. I really wish Netgear would get their act together, so I could stop buying products from the evil Cisco/Linksys dynasty. Start Here to Find It Fast!(tm) - http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/ $8.77 Domain Names - http://domains.us-webmasters.com/
Re: [H] How do you turn off connection actions in XP?
Good link, Thane, Thanks! On 11/26/07, Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 07:42 PM 26/11/2007, Brian Weeden wrote: So you know how with XP when you connect a device like a thumb drive it pops up a dialog asking you what you want to do with that device? Usually things like browse photos or something. Is there a way to turn that darn thing off? Every time I connect my iPhone it pops up 2 dialogs, one asking whether I want to open it with an audio program and another asking what I want to do with the camera I just connected. Like this? http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/ht/autorun.htm T
[H] Upgrading the Video Card
First of all I want to wish everyone on the list a joyous and wonderful Christmas! After I built the IP35/6850/8800GTS system (which is running well fast), I've loaded Unreal Tournament III on both it and my 'old' computer (Athlon64 X2 3400+, 7800GT, MSI Nvidia 4 MB). I've always been a fan of the Unreal Tournament series, except that they eliminate Assault every other version. People must complain because the next version has it back again. Anyways, the new system is running UT3 at 1280x1024, high detail at around 60 fps whereas the Old system was chugging along at 29 fps at 1024x768. It shows the big difference in the video cards. I upgraded the old system to a BFG 8800GT, based on the idea that most games are now video choked, rather than CPU choked. I was a little less than thrilled to see the old system only getting 50 fps in 1024x768. Just for laughs, I boosted the resolution to 1280x1024 and suddenly it's getting over 60fps. Unusual behavior? I've noticed that some review sites see the same thing where the video card needs to have the right resolution. Or am I just kidding myself? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Upgrading the Video Card
All I changed was the resolution. Everything else was at the defaults. Game defaulted to 800x600 on installation. I used the same battlefield, Torlan. Don't really have to solve this mystery, just enjoy it, I guess. ;-) On Dec 24, 2007 8:09 AM, zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Merry Christmas to you too! I've not played UT3 yet, but all the reviews I read say that games nowadays are GPU bound and that even a moderate CPU coupled with a fast video card will yield good frame rates. I'm at a loss to explain why your FPS were less at the lower resolution. Did you have the same in-game settings at both resolutions? Steve Tomporowski wrote: First of all I want to wish everyone on the list a joyous and wonderful Christmas! After I built the IP35/6850/8800GTS system (which is running well fast), I've loaded Unreal Tournament III on both it and my 'old' computer (Athlon64 X2 3400+, 7800GT, MSI Nvidia 4 MB). I've always been a fan of the Unreal Tournament series, except that they eliminate Assault every other version. People must complain because the next version has it back again. Anyways, the new system is running UT3 at 1280x1024, high detail at around 60 fps whereas the Old system was chugging along at 29 fps at 1024x768. It shows the big difference in the video cards. I upgraded the old system to a BFG 8800GT, based on the idea that most games are now video choked, rather than CPU choked. I was a little less than thrilled to see the old system only getting 50 fps in 1024x768. Just for laughs, I boosted the resolution to 1280x1024 and suddenly it's getting over 60fps. Unusual behavior? I've noticed that some review sites see the same thing where the video card needs to have the right resolution. Or am I just kidding myself? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Upgrading the Video Card
In FPS games, I try to run at the highest resolution with a decent amount of frames/sec so that I can see the enemy (and hit him) at a distance. On flat panels, the best image is the one at the native resolution but that can't always be had, depending on the video card. One of the systems I'm running UT3 on has a 1600x1200 native resolution but I have to run at 1280x1024 to get the 60 fps and in this game you need it. The first time I fought the Torlan Delta, I was running on a 7800GT at 1024x768 and getting around 30 fps. I could not win the level. Tried over a dozen times. Replaced the card with an 8800GT and won the first time out. BTW the desktop was at 16x12. Steve On Dec 31, 2007 3:45 PM, GPL [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Isn't there a rule of thumb to go by? Something like, if your desktop is at 1280x1024 you should run the game at that same resolution too? You should always have the game and desktop resolution matched? Does this rule still apply? On 12/24/07, Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: All I changed was the resolution. Everything else was at the defaults. Game defaulted to 800x600 on installation. I used the same battlefield, Torlan. Don't really have to solve this mystery, just enjoy it, I guess. ;-) On Dec 24, 2007 8:09 AM, zaske [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Merry Christmas to you too! I've not played UT3 yet, but all the reviews I read say that games nowadays are GPU bound and that even a moderate CPU coupled with a fast video card will yield good frame rates. I'm at a loss to explain why your FPS were less at the lower resolution. Did you have the same in-game settings at both resolutions? Steve Tomporowski wrote: First of all I want to wish everyone on the list a joyous and wonderful Christmas! After I built the IP35/6850/8800GTS system (which is running well fast), I've loaded Unreal Tournament III on both it and my 'old' computer (Athlon64 X2 3400+, 7800GT, MSI Nvidia 4 MB). I've always been a fan of the Unreal Tournament series, except that they eliminate Assault every other version. People must complain because the next version has it back again. Anyways, the new system is running UT3 at 1280x1024, high detail at around 60 fps whereas the Old system was chugging along at 29 fps at 1024x768. It shows the big difference in the video cards. I upgraded the old system to a BFG 8800GT, based on the idea that most games are now video choked, rather than CPU choked. I was a little less than thrilled to see the old system only getting 50 fps in 1024x768. Just for laughs, I boosted the resolution to 1280x1024 and suddenly it's getting over 60fps. Unusual behavior? I've noticed that some review sites see the same thing where the video card needs to have the right resolution. Or am I just kidding myself? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Verizon FIOS
Which brings up one of my pet peeves.ATT has had fiber in my neighborhood for the past 6 months. There is only one problem, to get the fiber internet I have to get a package that includes their TV offering also. Can't get the internet separately. Steve On 1/1/08, GMrtn [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Fios Internet.pretty dam goodI have 15M down and upthey have other plans too - Original Message - From: Naushad, Zulfiqar [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 1:07 PM Subject: [H] Verizon FIOS Anyone on the list using FIOS? How is the performance. My friend in the US is thinking of getting it and wants some advice/caveats etc.
Re: [H] Newegg like
The state of Connecticut, I think, was the first state to begin the 'use tax'. Sales tax in CT was higher on large ticket items in the surrounding states (which, at the time, had income tax, but CT didn't). The state of CT was incensed at 'losing' all that revenue so they tried to collect sales taxes from other states. That, of course, is illegal and CT got slapped down for that Federally. So they came up with the idea of a 'use tax' which is just a sales tax with a different name. A few years back someone did try to test the legality of the 'use tax', which, on the surface, is one state imposing taxation on the residents of another state. Constitutionally this is a no-no, but in the case at hand the use tax was upheld, mainly from some lovely linguistic gymnastics. I'm sooo proud of my home state, I could s**t. Basically, if some politician wants a tax, he'll get it On Jan 5, 2008 12:15 AM, Tharin Olsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 03:15 PM 1/4/2008, you wrote: If you are paying the use tax as you should for your out-of-state purchases does it make much difference? ;) http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqusetax.htm What are you kidding me... for a consumer retail purchase. You would have hell of a time finding any consumer in this state paying that! Ermm yes well.. since use tax is pretty much an honor system the only people who would normally have to fear anything would be businesses and institutions because they are bigger fish. Just about every state, if not all, has an excise tax on out-of-state purchases that applies to EVERYONE but most folks don't know about it or ignore it. We don't have state income tax in Texas but I think some states that do include a line for use tax. I like to joke about it when people talk about buying stuff out of state. Newegg.com and Zipzoomfly.com tend to be my favorite for special orders (single unit items) because of aggresive pricing and their cheap shipping rates. It seems that alot of the better e-tailers for computer equipment are based in California. Probably because most hardware gets off the slow boat from china (literally!) in California first and most of the wholesale distributors are based in California. Anyway check out... Directron.com (its in houston, tx) globalcomputer.com (new york state)
Re: [H] DROBO
The one big negative I see here is that since it's a proprietary solution, what happens if DROBO goes down? You have a bunch of drives that cannot be read except by DROBO, all your data is pretty much toast until you fork out another $499.00.and then will it be able to access all your data On 1/8/08, Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well like I said in my previous email it's not RAID it's a bit different. And really you are paying for the user friendliness of the Drobo. From the demos that I have seen, you turn it on and it tells you with lights (green/yellow/red) its status. Yank a drive and it goes red, insert a new one it goes yellow while rebuilding and then green when it is good. There is also a more detailed web interface for those that want it. Add in the ability to use disks of all different sizes with no space penalties and it's a pretty sweet solution, especially for those that are not necessarily the most geeky. On Jan 8, 2008 3:05 PM, j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What makes this any different from the usual RAID setup beyond the dumbed down interface? I think for $500 I'd want something with a few more bays, an ability to daisy chain units together, and an optional interface like eSATA. Interesting idea though. FORC5 wrote: neat for data, not for bootable backups. Demo did not say what kind of drives, assume sata cool fp At 11:41 AM 1/8/2008, Naushad, Zulfiqar Poked the stick with: Wow, this product looks pretty nifty!! What do you guys think? http://www.drobo.com I seriously need something like this. I have 2 x 750 GB external hard drives plugged into my NSLU2 (which I primarily use for streaming music and movies). This would really fit the bill for me!! Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] Nero Showtime Problem
Opps, sorry, but I haven't been keeping the list updated on this problem: I've found more video files, besided those generated by Tubehunter, that cause the same 'too fast' playback in Nero Showtime. Contacting Ahead took a solid week to go through their typical auto-responses, half of which didn't even apply to the problem. Then, of course, you have to repeat your problem several times. Finally I got through to one guy who was ecstatic that he 'solved' MY problem. All I have to do is use Nero recode to recode all the problem files. And why does Windows Media Player play them fine without recoding? All you have to do is recode them with Nero Recode! Uh, did you hear the question? The two things I do like about Nero Showtime which WMP doesn't do is the spacebar for pause the ability to drag the playback window to any size I'd like. Does anyone use something with those features that might be able to play files without redoing them? ThanksSteve On 11/5/07, Steve Tomporowski [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Okay, well it looks like I'm gonna hafta talk to Ahead. Steve On 11/5/07, Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes. Showtime comes with it's own codec that MP won't use... Steve Tomporowski wrote: I've been playing around with tubehunter ultra and run into a strange problem with Nero Showtime 4. Tubehunter downloads video from places like Youtube and converts them to avi. When I play the resulting AVI in Showtime, it runs much too fast, like double speed, when I play it back in Media Player, it's fine. Anyone run into this type of problem? Is Nero Showtime using a different codec than Media Player? ThanksSteve
Re: [H] Nero Showtime Problem
Last time I tried it, it did not have the features I liked like the resize spacebar pause. I don't remember the version I last tried Steve On 2/6/08, j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Media Player Classic? http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/ Steve Tomporowski wrote: snip The two things I do like about Nero Showtime which WMP doesn't do is the spacebar for pause the ability to drag the playback window to any size I'd like. Does anyone use something with those features that might be able to play files without redoing them? Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
Re: [H] Nero Showtime MK
Finally contacted Nero support on this and got a response that absolutely 'thrilled' me. Nero Showtime does not support mkv at this time.' That's all folks! Steve On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 9:30 PM, Hayes Elkins [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I noticed the same issue. Actually it wasn't with just showtime, it was Nero's codec/filters in general. After v8, x264 would not play using nero's filter. Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:15:39 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: [H] Nero Showtime MKV I'm currently somewhere in Nero 8 (haven't checked the revision leve recently), but somewhere between Nero 7 and 8, I've lost the ability to play .mkv files in Showtime. It worked before, then suddenly only Media Player would run them. If I force Showtime to run a .mkv file, I either get nothing after a long wait or on one system I get a vague error (yeah, I know, what Win error isn't vague). Just wondering if it's me or something general. A look at Nero.com and google got some people with similar problems but no solutions. Next will be to install the latest .mkv codecs. Steve _ Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_042008
[H] Prog for CD Burning
Nero has gotten to be too much of a hassle and expense to use. Does anyone have any experience with anything else to burn CD, DVD, etc? Thanks...Steve
Re: [H] Prog for CD Burning
Thanks for all the suggestions. Free is definitely good. What was beginning to bug me is, 1)The only updates in the last 3 versions of Burning Rom is that it works with newer recorders, the same clunky interface, the same awkward GUI. 2)Nero Showtime is now virtually useless, won't play most avi's (I was told they have to be 'fixed') and won't play mkv files. Note that WMP plays everything with no problem. I expect better features on upgrades, not less. Steve On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 12:25 PM, John Steinbruner [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanx for the tips on what to use I too have given up on Nero, have not updated since Version 6.6 due to all the bloat and crapola they keep adding in.. On May 25, 2008, at 8:24 AM, Brian Weeden wrote: I use either CDburnerXP or StarBurn, both free and pretty good feature set. Brian On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 10:17 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 10:40 AM 25/05/2008, Steve Tomporowski wrote: Does anyone have any experience with anything else to burn CD, DVD, etc? Deepburner? http://www.deepburner.com/ (there is a free, for pay, and portable version.) And CDBurnerXP has a following: http://cdburnerxp.se/ Al -- JRS [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please remove **X** to reply... Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored.
[H] Zune Software
Does anyone have any association with the steaming pile called Zune software? I picked up the Zune because it had a larger screen than my Zen and it's cheaper than Ipod. I use it mainly to watch videos on the airplane. First off, unlike most mp3 players, you apparently can't access the Zune as just an external drive (am I wrong), so I decided to install the Zune software. First off, now I'm not trying to break the rules here, but just to show the ironyI have two WinXP installations: A legitimate Media Edition 2005 and a, uh, release of regular XP. I tried to install it on the Media Edition. I honestly really tried. It kept calling for updates, I installed everything, even the optional ones, no go...refused to install. On the other system, uh, installed right off. Is MS sending the right message here??? Moving right along, once installed, Zune takes over everything, literally. All media files now come up with Zune as default and the only other choice is 'Other' where you have to search for the executable. This sucks. Also the software itself, when just idling, takes 35% of my E6850. Just idling! I'm going off to find out what else I can use and get rid of this...stuff. Steve
