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1301

General Software Discussion / Re: "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?

« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2014, 10:57 PM »

Great summarization IanB.

Delayed write failure errors only occur when a device isn't responding in the allotted time to signal the file system that the write action can take place.
And there are many reasons for this to happen and have been already discussed. However, these are practically always hardware related (in my personal/anecdotal experience at least).

@yksyks:
Are the systems also properly cooled? All the time? Are you sure?
The reason I ask is that here in Paraguay there can be very high ambient temperatures. Because of that I need hard disk cooler, which are screwed on the bottom of the drive and have 2 fans on it (one to blow air onto the device, the other to suck the hot air away). Without these,  I can run these disks for only a few hours (in spring and summer) and then the operating system/file system plain simply "looses" the drive. 

Running hard disks at high temperature seriously shortens their life span and damages it in the mean time.

If you do work with hard disk coolers, are these functioning properly? A fan that is stuck or not moving smoothly draws much more power than you expect and in essence becomes a heating element...residing under your hard disk, making the drive more hot more quickly.

Do you use solutions that make any of your PC fans slow down after a while? Are these coolers perhaps connected to chassis fan connectors? (I have such crap here when people bring me computers to repair.

Software can do crazy things if the hardware supplies a '1' when the software expects a '0', When that happens on a slightly bigger scale a cascading effect occurs that makes your computer behaves erratically. With the densely packed (magnetically/electrically) hard drives of today, there isn't much margin for error anymore on the hardware side and in combination with an intertwined operating systems such as Windows those errors can create havoc easily.

You have a vague problem and it is good of IanB to ask/confirm the details of your setup. Without a good description our guesses are as good as yours 

1302

Non-Windows Software / Re: BYOBU - Even more fun with Screen and Tmux

« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2014, 03:28 PM »

Here in Paraguay I get a message that says the video is not allowed to be accessed on certain sited. And the message offers a link to watch it on YouTube itself.

1303

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 06, 2014, 11:39 AM »

Service

1304

General Software Discussion / Re: Rollback RX or Acronis ?

« Last post by Shades on September 06, 2014, 12:36 AM »

Perhaps this [redobackup.org] is a better solution...

1305

General Software Discussion / Re: "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?

« Last post by Shades on September 05, 2014, 01:58 AM »

Take a look at the event viewer. Although not as extensive with information as modern versions of Windows, even the one in Windows XP should be able to give you a hint of where to look for the error.

Do these errors occur at the same time? Are the computers you mention in close proximity (for example: same housing block)? Then I would try a voltage stabilizer or UPS or high quality PC power supply on at least one of the computers and check if that makes a difference. If so, you are getting bad power from the grid, which could cause the hard disk controller on your MoBo to act up giving you these kind of errors. That could also happen when the hardware you are using is getting old or got too hot too many times. This can even create bad blocks on brand new hard disks almost directly after these are connected and used for the first time.

I have learned a long time ago that software like MHDD is much more reliable in telling you the true state of your hard disk. More so than anything else Windows can offer. Windows also keeps telling you there are no problems when there clearly are. MHDD is dangerous software to use and should only be used by people who really know what they are doing and don't mind the spartan interface. 

[story-time]
Where I live in Paraguay electricity can be very problematic. Now I have a Windows PC that I use as a server and it automatically reboots after a power failure. At some point in time Windows wouldn't boot at all anymore because it couldn't read/write on the registry files. After restoring working copies of these registry file by hand in the recovery console several times I got tired of it. After restoration Windows would boot, and chkdsk would fix whatever else was wrong and the system remained working until the next power failure. Mind you, there was no problem rebooting the server if stopped and started the normal (Windows) way.

Now I divide my hard disks into partitions. At least 3 but I prefer 4. In other threads in this forum I explained why (in a very opinionated way), so search for those posts if you want to know, I won't bore you with this here and now. The 1st partition only contains the Windows installation (no user data, temp files or page file) and in this way the first partition was only 5 GByte in size and still had over 20% of free space.

To solve my dilemma I shrank the second partition by 5 GBYte and move the 1st partition into the "liberated" space on the hard disk (MiniTool partition software is freely available and works very well). Now the PC starts up without a hitch after a power failure as well as the normal reboot procedure. Point is that Windows/chkdsk deemed the 1st 5GByte of the hard disk to be good, while it clearly wasn't.

Problems with flaky power grid also became a lot less after I installed the better class of power supplies in all of my PC's (80% efficiency Gold rated), much more than using UPS'es (I have 7 or 8, all of them with fried electronics (some even came from the USA)...so after a while I stopped repairing them. Too much hassle for hardly any gain (in my local situation, your location cannot be as bad as here, so use an UPS!).
[/story-time]

$MFT is the Master File Table where the NTFS file system keeps track of the files on the hard disk/partition. The other one is a part of the Windows registry that isn't written correctly. As mentioned earlier, there are ways to restore these files from the registry, but that will require working with the recovery console. Sorry, too tired to google it for you...but you should be able to find these instructions.

Changing anti-virus software might help as well. Also, check in the Windows Device Manager if your network card and USB controller have an option enabled that allows Windows to turn these off to conserve power. If that is the case, turn this off and see if there is a difference. If so, your OS was too eager to conserve power.

Those are the first things that sprung up in my mind after reading your post. If the above works out for you...great! If not...back to the drawing boards then.

1306

Living Room / Re: bluetooth: folder browsing possible?

« Last post by Shades on September 05, 2014, 12:41 AM »

When I was living in the suburbs of Asuncion, I got a WiMax based connection to the internet. But that was directional antenna, mounted on a pole that was 5 meters high and fastened to the house.

I could be wrong, but I don't think WiMax was ever intended to make wireless connection over short distances.

For the rest, after you successfully connect to another device (be it by Bluetooth or something else) only the first layer of connection/communication is established. Now the software on the device you use as controller needs to be able to communicate with the software on the device that you want to control. If that is not the case...then the software on either the controller or the controlled can't communicate with the API's both devices have available. 

To my limited knowledge software can communicate through an API and options that can be offered to the user depend on the functionality encapsulated in that API. Not all are created equally, so mileage varies a lot. Take a look at the layers in the OSI model, then you will get a more clear picture of what is necessary before software is even able to communicate between devices.

1307

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 04, 2014, 07:57 AM »

alternative

1308

Living Room / Re: The One Word Game!

« Last post by Shades on September 03, 2014, 12:07 AM »

Basic

1309

Living Room / Re: Buying a 125CC Motorbike...Your Opinions Wanted!

« Last post by Shades on September 02, 2014, 11:59 PM »

A Suzuki 'hayabusa' or Honda 'blackbird' are definitely no beginner bikes. (Yamaha very likely has a similar bike, but I don't know about, so it was omitted...sue me  )

1310

Living Room / Re: Buying a 125CC Motorbike...Your Opinions Wanted!

« Last post by Shades on September 02, 2014, 10:56 PM »

When geared properly, you shouldn't have too much problems keeping up with traffic (highway). 250 is already a big improvement over 125 because of the wider range in acceleration and better brakes. you want that as there a lot of "blind" car drivers that do not have the capability to respond properly to your kind of traffic. Bikers that have a lot of experience driving a car are the best suited for driving a motorbike. Because you will need to drive for both the car and your bike to avoid accidents.

Driving a motorbike here in Paraguay taught me that.

 

1311

Living Room / Re: My Stinking, Rotten ASUS Router Died Overnight!

« Last post by Shades on August 29, 2014, 01:20 AM »

Sounds like there is a problem with getting the required power to the router. Open the box and check if a capacitor (or other component) blew in the section where power is converted from AC mains to the required DC voltage (usually 5 or 12 volts).

If replacement of the broken part is possible. Done that here with PC power supplies on occasion. Used a capacitor from a broken washing machine that matched the broken capacitor from the power supply almost perfectly. Been using that power supply for 2 years now. Even used parts from broken PC power supplies to fix a micro-wave as well.

You might be lucky as well. Attempt a repair only if the device isn't under warranty anymore, of course. When it isn't repairable, you at least got the satisfaction of breaking it up...

1312

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by Shades on August 28, 2014, 09:50 PM »

The Strain: episodes 1 & 2 and 3 woke/kept my interest, 4 and 5 not so much...but 6 is getting better again. I'll keep watching this one.
The Last Ship: I'm with Wraith on this one, much more entertaining than I originally anticipated.
Dominion: great concept, good production values...but the main actors don't bring 'it' for me.
Under the Dome: waste of time. There should not be a season 3.
Falling Skies: at its usual strength. The professor should do a new: The Librarian movie again. I always found those entertaining 1, 2, 3.
Defiance: season 2 is indeed better than the 1st one. I liked Julie Benz in Dexter, I like her much more in Defiance.
The Knick: interesting one about a New York hospital around 1920, where Clive Owen is finding the proper operation procedures we take for granted nowadays.
The Leftovers: weird one from the creative minds behind Lost. 2% of the global population disappears without any trace at the same time and we get to watch how the ones that stayed behind deal with this.

I recently finished an oldie but goodie: Legend of the Seeker (only two seasons) don't let the first appearances trick you into thinking that it is intended for pre-teens. The producers from series as Spartacus, Hercules and Xena were behind it. A lot of actors play in Legend of the Seeker and Spartacus. Legend of the Seeker is much more suggestive and uses dominatrices, while Spartacus is brutal gore and nudity. Fight scenes in both series are well done. Production values from Spartacus were better, story-wise the advantage would go to Legend of the Seeker.

As a fan of D&D I can't help but think that the story of Legend of the Seeker would translate in an awesome D&D campaign.

1313

Living Room / Re: My cat needs your thoughts | RIP Saffron my dearest cat

« Last post by Shades on August 28, 2014, 08:51 PM »

My condolences, it is always bad to loose a furry friend. Especially when they were part of your entourage when you are going through the stages of life.

However, if time spent between you and Saffron was enjoyed by both, find happiness in your memories with Saffron. I understand she was around 20 years old...that is a long time and that couldn't have happened if Saffron wasn't happy with you, the situation at your place and life in general. So you have done your done your best for Saffron in good times and bad. What friend would want more? Although cats hide it under more layers than dogs do, they know and appreciate this.

Now Saffron is at piece, it is how it must be. Unfortunately.

1314

Living Room / Re: CMD-commands

« Last post by Shades on August 27, 2014, 07:31 PM »

Rob van der Woude - his webpage discusses batch commands extensively...including in which version of Windows a command works.

1315

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Shades on August 27, 2014, 07:10 PM »

Please fill in a password:
carrot

Sorry, passwords require 8 characters or more:
cooked carrot

Sorry, passwords require at least one number:
1 cooked carrot

Sorry, no spaces allowed in passwords:
50cookedcarrots

Sorry, passwords require at least one capital letter:
50FUCKINGcookedcarrots

Sorry, no subsequent capitals allowed in passwords:
50FuckingCookedCarrots

Sorry, no curse words allowed in passwords:
NowIGetReallyAngryIfMyPasswordIsStillIncorrectShoveThose50CookedCarrotsUpYourBum

Sorry, that password is already taken:
...

1316

General Software Discussion / Re: Weird issue with computer: Volume spontaneously going to 100% at random

« Last post by Shades on August 26, 2014, 07:21 PM »

All the inconsistencies that occur with USB-based keyboards...especially when they age...make me really appreciate the PS/2 keyboard that I actively use for more than 10 years. Not one key wrong except for my ability to type with drunk fingers and a sober mind.

There are exceptions to the rule with USB-based keyboards, but not that many (in my strictly anecdotal experience).

1317

DC Gamer Club / Re: Suggested top 30 solitaire board games

« Last post by Shades on August 23, 2014, 01:51 AM »

Not completely on-topic and I'm too lazy to look if this has been mentioned before here in the forum, but if you like board games you can also take a look at Youtube channel: Geek and Sundry

There is a section called: Tabletop where Whil Wheaton and Felicia Day play board games with a group of (semi-)famous people and/or friends. I have found this channel to be very enjoyable. Never thought that seeing other play could be fun, but it really is. Wasted more hours than I care to count playing boardgames/D&D (2nd Ed FTW!).

Sometimes there is coarse language, so if you are easily offended, you might not want to watch Whil uttering something when he's losing...again 

Nice and big diversity in games being played on the show and captures the spirit of board gaming very well.

1318

Living Room / Re: Wi-Fi Turbocharge: The Future of Connectivity (From The Web)

« Last post by Shades on August 20, 2014, 09:37 PM »

Higher frequencies are more easily stopped by most types of materials. Yes, the frequency band is less clouded...until everyone gets on board with this frequency. Can you imagine the fun when IoT starts hogging this frequency band as well?

To be honest, get me a cabled connection any day.

1319

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome and Malware detection

« Last post by Shades on August 15, 2014, 02:30 PM »

Use 'autoruns' from the Sysinternals Suite before you install Chrome. Repeat this after Chrome is installed. There are quite some additions. One of these is Google Update. When using 'autoruns' to disable it from running when Windows starts...you just get a new entry of Google Update, that is set to boot automatically. Repeat ad infinitum.

Technically Chrome is not malware, but accompanying Google software behaves just like it. So....pot calling kettle black?

1320

General Software Discussion / Re: Fastest way to get files off a damaged RAID Mirror drive onto a new drive

« Last post by Shades on August 11, 2014, 02:55 AM »

First of all: I only work with one system that has a raid setup, so I can only share my experiences with that system.

Raid solutions quickly become a stinkin' pile of c... when a disk fails when it is just set to striping (yeay...speed, boo...writing same data twice). Unless there is a contingency drive (preferably same brand, type and size) put in the raid setup, you likely will have a big problem trying to get your raid setup to rebuild itself.

I work here with a Linux server that has a software raid with 4 disks and a separate boot drive. Till now it was every time still able to rebuild itself after a calamity. But only because one of the 4 drives is there as a contingency. Now I always get confused with the numbering, but if I remember correctly this setup is called: raid 6. the number might not be correct, but it is a compromise between raid 5 and 10. Can't be bothered to look it up, sorry.

However, I never recommend a raid setup to anyone. Although the speed difference is noticeable, it isn't that much. It also doesn't weigh against the problems you run into when one of the standard consumer components breaks. It could take sometimes one or more days before the raid was usable again.

If there would still be an option to have the broken drive work long enough to clone it, you should be able to use the cloned drive to continue with the raid rebuilding. Turn the broken drive upside down and see if that helps (you would be amazed), There is also the trick of putting it in a zip-lock bag, make very sure there is no air inside the bag with the drive and putting it in the freezer for several hours. If you have no means of doing that, don't bother with this trick...which is a 'hail Mary' at best.

And when you do connect the drive again for cloning, work as efficient/fast as you can to get all data off it. Prepare beforehand everything you need so you waste as little time as possible. If the heat doesn't kill the drive, the condensation most likely will. In the mean time it is best to not use the system with the RAID at all. Avoiding too many discrepancies between drives and all that.

If it contains 10 years worth of data, where are the (confirmed) backups? Raid is not backup!!!!!!!!! Anyone who thinks it is...should seriously be punished by 10 whiplashes... so they will never ever forget that! Ok, that may be harsh nowadays...wearing a fool's hat at home, work and their commute for 10 days then. 

1321

Living Room / Re: Malwarebytes self-start problem

« Last post by Shades on August 10, 2014, 09:48 PM »

You can find the manual here (it's a .pdf file). Anyway, page 14 confirms there is no on-board video on the MoBo. It is also a rather old one, still uses DIMM RAM (according to page 12).

Come to think of it, I used a very similar one (because of the onboard RAID controller) (I had two of them, one active, one spare), but these boards degraded quick after 2 years of use (24/7). First of all, the nVidia chipset on that board isn't the best one to begin with.

The model I had used a fan for cooling the North/South bridge chip and if that one didn't ran well enough temperature would rise gradually and reboot automatically (overheating protection). So I started swapping just that fan from one board to the other and servicing the fan the came free. Worked for a while, but not really to satisfaction...then the chipset started to "buckle" and lost RAID and all networking facilities on both boards.

After 6 years of doing this swap/service thing, both board were dead. I have here still 2 servers and a router PC that are almost 10 years old, still running excellent and very reliable (all Asus K8V-X boards , the cheaper, less advanced model than the A8N).

True soldiers, those boards...and the same is true for their Athlon x64 processors. AMD had a good thing going with that processor.

1322

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 30: August 22-25 Weekend

« Last post by Shades on August 09, 2014, 02:06 PM »

It is GOOD that the SLAUGHTER of Children leaves a BAD taste with you...

1323

General Software Discussion / Re: Any Ideas whats causing the Kernelbase.dll error?

« Last post by Shades on August 09, 2014, 12:10 AM »

Directx 10 is not supported in the game?

XP doesn't support Directx 10, so selecting that mode would revert back to Directx 9 allowing the game to run.

That would be my best guess.

1324

General Software Discussion / Re: Dual Boot questions

« Last post by Shades on August 08, 2014, 10:35 AM »

Windows Server 2012 R2, the 'Standard' version with GUI, to be more specific.

1325

Living Room / Re: Malwarebytes self-start problem

« Last post by Shades on August 08, 2014, 01:59 AM »

It can also be the power supply not being able (anymore) to supply all the components of sufficient power all the time. You will experience all kinds of vague errors because of that.