QUESTION THREAD!

For tech wizards and n00bs alike. Questions, answers, or just general hoo-haa.

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RobbieThe1st
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#361 Post by RobbieThe1st »

I've usually gone with either taking the old HD out, copying the files I want off and then doing a full wipe, or simply buying a new(bigger) HD, and installing fresh onto /that/, and then copying any files I want off the old HD via a USB adapter. The second is the easiest, as you never have to worry about losing anything, but it does cost you a new HD.

Once you've got a fresh disk, I've always figured it's best to wipe it and do a full from-scratch install -- download *new* copies of the latest drivers from the manufacturer(so you get any new updates). Of course, I'm always working with decent machines -- Lenovo, Dell etc -- who do provide drivers for many years. You may have problems if you have some sort of poor, bottom-rung manufacturer who doesn't provide good drivers.

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Zylver
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#362 Post by Zylver »

Thank your for your helps SirSlaughter and Robbie! :)

I gave my girlfriend the task to copy all her important files, documents, music and pictures on her dad's notebook and after once that is done, I'll format her laptop's hard drive and see how will that solve those glitch and keyboard issues :)
If that still doesn't help, then comes the repair service :? Hope we don't have to get there...

Thank you again for your helps, guys! :heart: You are awesome! :wink:
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#363 Post by Gotheran »

OKAY, does anyone know anything about Java? I tried playing some old games that run off of java and they bugged me to update, so I did, and now java doesn't run at all. I'm on Windows 7 and the troubleshooting on Java's website, as well as several other sites, has entirely failed me.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#364 Post by avwolf »

I'm surprised nobody suggested using a crossover cable and basic Windows file sharing (with some firewalling precautions of course) to do file transfers for Zylver. (Or just put them both on the same network if one was available) :| Maybe it's just me, but I tend to find that an easier method of moving multiple gigabytes of data than doing it little-by-little with a USB stick.

Gotheran, I'd start by going into your Programs and Features and uninstalling anything to do with Java that's in there, and then reinstalling a fresh copy of Java7 from Oracle. It's possible that the latest version breaks compatibility for your older games, though, so you might end up having to find and revert to an older (and more security vulnerable) version. I'd try the latest version first, of course. Uninstalling everything and then reinstalling the latest version used to be how you had to upgrade Java, because their autoupdate process used to be really borked, it's easily possible that you're in that situation.
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#365 Post by Gotheran »

avwolf wrote:Gotheran, I'd start by going into your Programs and Features and uninstalling anything to do with Java that's in there, and then reinstalling a fresh copy of Java7 from Oracle. It's possible that the latest version breaks compatibility for your older games, though, so you might end up having to find and revert to an older (and more security vulnerable) version. I'd try the latest version first, of course. Uninstalling everything and then reinstalling the latest version used to be how you had to upgrade Java, because their autoupdate process used to be really borked, it's easily possible that you're in that situation.
I don't really play anything terribly old that uses java. But I heard runescape has brought back the original combat system as an option to use alongside their stupid new system, dunno how that's supposed to work alongside pvp but my interest lies in Dungeoneering, runescape's form of raiding.

I also think I've tried uninstalling and installing the fresh update, but I'll try it again...

EDIT: Yeah, no dice just tried it again. It boots up something called Jp2launcher.exe which kicks up to 30ish megabytes of memory usage when it stops running.


Java finally updated their troubleshooting page to cover why the 7.65 Java was [censored] out on Windows 7, I don't really understand what the issue was but its fixed.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#366 Post by InceptionBwaaa »

Well, Windows 7 may be covered, but methinks Windows 8 is not. I try running Minecraft. Nothing happens. I try running Technic. Nothing. Terraria. Nada. Starbound. Zilch. I know nothing besides that Java is still [censored] itself.
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#367 Post by Gotheran »

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick to work with Kerbal Space Program?
EDIT: Okay so it seems to work natively, but I still don't know what on earth that knob on the front is for.
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Also whats that little grey knob, lever, switch thing for?

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#368 Post by RobbieThe1st »

Gotheran wrote:Does anyone know if it's possible to get a Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick to work with Kerbal Space Program?
EDIT: Okay so it seems to work natively, but I still don't know what on earth that knob on the front is for.
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Also whats that little grey knob, lever, switch thing for?
The lever on the front is a throttle control. This was designed for aircraft flying, so you have an engine throttle.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#369 Post by Zylver »

Hai guyz, I have another question!

How can I change the proxy of my internet?
My girlfriend wants to watch some Irish television's stream and she needs an Irish proxy to access it. So is there a solution for that (program or some setting changes, maybe)?
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#370 Post by cliffpanther »

Free, and for watching? Proxies, forget about it. Free proxies are way too slow for that, they usually block media streams. The only free solution I am aware of are VPNs (Virtual Private Network). The ones I've used are:
-Expat Shield (it gives you a British IP address), and stuffs your websites with their ads (not a problem if you have AdBlock installed)
But I don't recommend it. Use it only if everything else fails.
The better option:
-UK IP VPN http://www.ukipvpn.com/ - it requires some configuration, but they have a pretty good tutorial. I use it these days, it has decent speed.
I do not know of any Irish vpns, but you could google around.
And there is one more website which gives you a week long trial for free without any credit card info, it worked pretty well and can give you an address from various places throughout the world (Like Australia for example): http://www.unblock-us.com/
I hope that helps you.

PS Just in case: I believe posting those links do not violate the rules because changing the IP address is not a crime (however be aware that using them in order to view copyrighted material is questionable and you should talk to a lawyer about it blah blah blah, I said it for the peace of my mind XD)

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#371 Post by RobbieThe1st »

cliffpanther wrote:Free, and for watching? Proxies, forget about it. Free proxies are way too slow for that, they usually block media streams. The only free solution I am aware of are VPNs (Virtual Private Network). The ones I've used are:
-Expat Shield (it gives you a British IP address), and stuffs your websites with their ads (not a problem if you have AdBlock installed)
But I don't recommend it. Use it only if everything else fails.
The better option:
-UK IP VPN http://www.ukipvpn.com/ - it requires some configuration, but they have a pretty good tutorial. I use it these days, it has decent speed.
I do not know of any Irish vpns, but you could google around.
And there is one more website which gives you a week long trial for free without any credit card info, it worked pretty well and can give you an address from various places throughout the world (Like Australia for example): http://www.unblock-us.com/
I hope that helps you.

PS Just in case: I believe posting those links do not violate the rules because changing the IP address is not a crime (however be aware that using them in order to view copyrighted material is questionable and you should talk to a lawyer about it blah blah blah, I said it for the peace of my mind XD)
The other thing to look at is SSH tunnels -- it's effectively the same thing as a SOCKS5 proxy that you can configure, but uses a 'SSH' connection to a Linux PC to do it.
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~xuanluo/sshproxywin.html
The advantage of this is that Linux systems -- in the form of VPS or Virtual Private Servers -- are available from /many/ different places, cheaply. So you rent a tiny, cheap VPS whereever you need your IP to be, connect using the above method, and have a tunnel with good speed to work with. Speed is critical here if you are streaming video or anything like that.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#372 Post by InceptionBwaaa »

Copied from the rant/vent/sad thread.

Well, my computer is probably completely [censored].

I'm not sure what's wrong. It goes to the start-up, the Windows logo spins around and forms, then there's a split second bluescreen and it starts over. I try to run in startup recovery, that goes for a few hours, and it does nothing. I don't know what to do, and I don't want to shell out a lot of money to fix it. I will if the need be, but I want to find some alternative means of fixing it. I'm gonna copy this to the tech board, hope Robbie can help me out.

So, my question is, what can I do?


And will it be very difficult?
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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#373 Post by SirSlaughter »

It sounds like Your HDD may be failing, or your OS corrupted.

Easy enough fix. Take out your HDD and dock it to another computer. See if it tells you there are errors. If so, fix them.

Or you can just reload your OS.

If your HDD is screwed, then replace your HDD and re-install your OS.

At most you are looking at around $40-80 for a hard drive provided your OS license key is still legible and you have an OS disk lying about.

I fix these issues all the time. It takes a couple of hours to fix the errors or a day to re-install the OS and do all the updates and their computer is as good as new.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#374 Post by RobbieThe1st »

I agree. Typically, if your harddisk is failing, you can usually 'hear' it fail -- listen whenever the OS is 'hanging'. You might well hear a "click-click, click-click, click-click, cllllllllllllllllllllick" sound. You hear that, it means the HD is toast and you need a new one immediately... and *may* be able to recover some of your files.

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Re: QUESTION THREAD!

#375 Post by Gotheran »

Any reason a ghost icon, or file, would appear anywhere? I had something I deleted yesterday show up on the desktop this morning looking like it was cut ready to be pasted somewhere else but I was unable to tell the system to do anything with it, whenever I messed with it the computer told me to specify a real file. It's gone again but it was unusual and somethin I never had happen before. OS is windows 7

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