Recent Posts

2001

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by Shades on July 04, 2011, 06:13 PM »

@nudone:
Investing in diagnostic software does seem a bit overkill for your situation. And as the market for such software is limited, expect a high price for it as well.

My (rather Cheap) Asus motherboard came with some diagnostic software in its BIOS. The reported diagnostics are not relevant to your particular case, but I know that the BIOS from high end (Asus) motherboards contain all kinds of extra software for overclocking, benchmarking and what not.

Find out if the BIOS on your motherboard has benchmarking tools and use that first for some (very basic) hardware diagnostics. Find out what the I/O throughput is from the manufacturer's website/decent hardware sites and check if the benchmark values from your hardware come close.

If that is not the case, then it might prove useful to buy hardware diagnostic software. Else I think you can take 'the leap of faith' and start using the system.    

2002

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by Shades on July 03, 2011, 06:35 AM »

Mouser was right. And maybe I was just lucky.

I tried to get windows installed for about the twentieth time this morning (after wasting about five hours of my life yesterday attempting the same). I decided enough was enough and arranged for the machine to be collected monday. The shop I ordered it from could have a go and I'd happily pay them to do so.

But, after finishing the phone call I decided I'd try one last thing...

I replaced the sata cable connected to the solid state drive with one of the 'special ones' still wrapped up in the motherboard box. This suddenly allowed windows to install perfectly.



The machine was built by Overclockers (in the uk), a store that have dealt with high end machines for years - so you'd assume they know what they are doing when it comes to putting a new build together for a customer. Somehow they overlooked using the correct 6gb sata cable.

I could have just ordered the parts myself and then built the machine AND double checked which cables to use as I put it all together. I didn't as I thought it would be good to let the experts do this one and save myself hours of stress and trouble.

Moral of the story: it's an old one but...

If you want something done properly, then you better do it yourself.

-nudone (July 02, 2011, 05:22 PM)

Here is a general rule. Whenever a PC is moved, check the cabling inside (especially from those flimsy SATA connectors). Thermal and electrical 'creep' from cabling, together with moving the PC case can have unexpected results. When you move the PC with a car (LAN party or something) you can add vibrations to the list of events that will disconnect your hardware.

Being burned twice myself with this I always (and I mean always!) check. 

2003

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by Shades on June 30, 2011, 07:17 PM »

Keen comment App103 as you easily forget to do so, when synchronizing software and/or data from the main PC to the backup PC is done.

Nudone, are you sure the PSU works fine? Does it supply the intended voltages (+12 Volt, +5 Volt, GND, -5 Volt, -12 Volt) within the margins set by the manufacturer, does it still put out the specified Ampere? Seeing a "pilot" light on the mainboard coming up does not mean that the power supply (reliably) works.

You would be terrified about the amount of power supplies that I have here which appear to be working, but really are not up to the task anymore. For fun's sake, I did count them and there are 14 of them lying around here. The sad reality is that Paraguay has a lot of power failures/spikes/noise which results in a lot of prematurely dying power supplies.

Getting powerful, high quality ones did not pan out. They didn't really last longer than the cheap ones and with the huge price difference I rather replace for another cheap one. Which occurs quite regularly given the amount of faulty PSU's here. 

2004

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by Shades on June 30, 2011, 06:39 PM »

Try the parts one by one on a mainboard that supports the cards, but that you do not care (too much) about. If the parts hold out for a week or so without problems, then I would consider using the cards on the backup PC you want to build.

There is no need to be burned twice by one single event.

2005

Living Room / Re: NSFW! -- IBM's Watson Topless

« Last post by Shades on June 30, 2011, 05:17 PM »

Are you sure? I thought I saw some bits dangling...

2006

Living Room / Re: nearby lightning skrike kills neighbours computers (and mine)

« Last post by Shades on June 30, 2011, 04:53 PM »

My suggestion is to not use any of the old equipment. Although the parts may look good, that does not mean that they are. I got some parts from a friend where lightning struck the telephone line transformer (about 100 meters from his house). After I tried two of those parts suddenly my mainboard developed a problem and died.

Take your loss regarding the hardware. As the saying goes: God works in mysterious ways...well, he had a good teacher called: lightning!

Further precaution: only if you are a bandmember of Metallica, you can ride it.

2007

General Software Discussion / Re: Install Win2000 in SATA Drive for a Dual Boot

« Last post by Shades on June 27, 2011, 02:41 PM »

I agree with Ath.

Having said so, it is possible to properly wall off Windows 2000. As a result it isn't the friendly OS Hulkbuster remembers anymore, rendering the OS useless for the web. 

However, when it is installed on a standalone PC (or virtual machine with networking disabled), I don't see as much issues as Ath does.

Then again, nostalgia about the OS may have colored my opinion too rosy...

2008

General Software Discussion / Re: Install Win2000 in SATA Drive for a Dual Boot

« Last post by Shades on June 27, 2011, 10:56 AM »

If memory serves me right, nLite will allow you to create a new setup disk that includes the drivers you have downloaded for your motherboard. Personally I build several WinXP discs like that and it works like a charm.

That program is powerful and allows you to set a lot of things. Don't do that unless you know what you are doing. Their forum and FAQ are quite helpful. Its default settings are set so it doesn't change anything and you have to enable the sections that will allow for the changes. Practically foolproof...

2009

General Software Discussion / Re: Betanews.com - What was once a great site, is no longer

« Last post by Shades on June 26, 2011, 10:54 PM »

I mostly rely on Dutch tech sites as they appear to be faster than Slashdot most of the time anyway.

Maybe with Google translate the following sites are an option for you?  Tweakers.net and WebWereld

2010

General Software Discussion / Re: What is Mozilla trying to do?

« Last post by Shades on June 24, 2011, 04:22 PM »

Firefox 5 did not break 'NoScript', 'Zotero' and 'DownThemAll' plugins, so it is ok by me.

2011

Living Room / Re: Anyone Using Bitcoins Yet?

« Last post by Shades on June 24, 2011, 04:06 PM »

I find it "funny" that maximum limit of debt the US is allowed to make, has to be stretched further...which is first to be handled by their own government and has to have the backing of the IMF as well (as far as I understand).

Guess what, the bossman of the IMF has been caught with his pants down.

Starts to become too coincidental, if you ask me.

2012

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Shades on June 22, 2011, 05:08 PM »

At least I beat Nosh... 

2013

Living Room / Re: Non-tech, off-the-wall topic: Gasoline/Petrol, does grade matter?

« Last post by Shades on June 20, 2011, 11:36 PM »

6 miles per gallon...that is around 10 kilometers. A gallon is slightly more than 3 liters, so that comes to a result 3 kilometers per liter of fuel.

Amazing! In a bad way. I expect to see those numbers when a truck is hauling 30.000 kilos of freight.

The sound of American engines (muscle cars), that is how heaven could sound like. But the consumption is appalling. Darn, combustion engines in cars should already be driving 100 kilometers per liter to be sustainable.

Ok, more ontopic now:
To my understanding, the quality of fuel does matter. Not necessarily in consumption, but also for maintenance. Here in Paraguay there is a fuel called 'Flex' and is sold for practically the same price as diesel (slightly over 1 USD/liter). But you can run your engine completely down if it doesn't "support" it.

For my motorbike I only use the good fuel (about 1.5 USD/liter) as I notice that the engine is more responsive and generally sounds nicer.

Granted, all this is anecdotal, so your mileage may vary...or not in the case of your dad's truck.

I never understood the US and their stance against diesel. Especially the distances one has to travel over there. In the Netherlands I had diesel cars that easily drove 20 kilometers/liter, even one that had no problem getting to 25 kilometers/liter. That particular Peugot 205 was from 1986, strong, dependable and a joy to drive. So it is not impossible to get way better mileage, even with old technology.

Ah well, this post is starting to become a nagfest, I'll stop.

2014

Living Room / Re: Do it yourself dropbox

« Last post by Shades on June 19, 2011, 10:50 PM »

Yep, most (if not all) functionality from Teracopy should already be incorporated in Windows Since Windows 2003...

2015

General Software Discussion / Re: Compressing Outlook-Datafiles (PST) for free without Outlook?

« Last post by Shades on June 19, 2011, 02:51 PM »

To my understanding no data files are stored on your PC, only Outlook itself. Your data is stored on the central (Exchange) server.

In that case your mail, agenda, address book, etc. are stored there. If space is lacking, let your administrator know about this so he can assign more storage space to your account.

2016

DC Gamer Club / Re: Terraria

« Last post by Shades on June 18, 2011, 11:56 AM »

Re-installing becomes quickly the only option that is left, I am afraid. 

Tried to give the application wusa.exe unrestricted access using the security policy editor (secpol.msc), then tried SubInACL to fix the likely broken ACL's. As this got me nowhere I read more from the link above and saw in one of the comments that it is not working on 64-bit systems. But there is a suggestion to use CACL to try to elevate that app, but each time the result is the same: "access is denied".

Even the last ditch attempt to install: copying the wusa.exe executable and every other file showing up in DependencyWalker into the extraction folder and re-execute the command-line mentioned in an earlier post, proved to be fruitless.

2017

DC Gamer Club / Re: Terraria

« Last post by Shades on June 17, 2011, 07:27 PM »

Shades it sounds like something is using a .net4 file when you are trying to update and it is locked. Try making sure you exit all applications (including anything in the system tray) and disable any AV.

Also try downloading the installer form MS and doing it manually - sometimes the Windows Update version gets damaged and if it is a cached version it will never work!

If that doesn't work try running MSCONFIG and disable all Startup items and all non-MS services so that you get as near to a clean Windows startup environment as possible. Note some security software doesn't like you doing this so it may be best to leave any such software allowed to run and disable it before trying to install again.

-Carol Haynes (June 17, 2011, 02:49 AM)

Terraria comes with a webinstaller so I downloaded the installer from Microsoft and used that as my PC is not (or will be) connected to the internet anymore. That installer worked great on several PC's but not on mine. Because it is not connected to any network I didn't see the direct need for security software, so I uninstalled Avira and disabled the firewall. Actually, that PC is quite devoid of sofware/service as I use more and more portable apps these days.

All that didn't help, so I thought that there is some security setting in place that doesn't allow access to the folder .Net4 wants to install into.
The log file from the .Net4 installer shows one error:
Launching CreateProcess with command line = wusa.exe "D:\d4ab5f75b780171ea7f2662625\Windows6.1-KB958488-v6001-x64.msu" /quiet /norestart
Exe (D:\d4ab5f75b780171ea7f2662625\Windows6.1-KB958488-v6001-x64.msu) failed with 0x5 - Access is denied.

I am able to access and extract the .msu file mentioned above. to Granting read/write capability to everyone in the folder from the wusa.exe command didn't help. Copying the extracted data from the installer to another (also fully shared) folder and executing the command in the console returns the same 'Access is denied' result.

The above I tried with the Administrator account and the account that belongs to the Administrators group.

It appears to me that the command 'wusa.exe' is not sufficiently elevated to install .Net4.

Ah well, at least this is becoming an interesting puzzle to solve...

2018

General Software Discussion / Re: Compressing Outlook-Datafiles (PST) for free without Outlook?

« Last post by Shades on June 17, 2011, 06:31 PM »

Isn't Outlook (2003 and higher) not capable of compressing PST itself? Or does it throw away attachments?

Anywayz, There is an option that can trim it automatically in 2007 and higher (if memory serves me right). There is also a Free (and portable) version of Mailstore Home with which you can create backup from your email. After having done so, you can clear out your PST yourself.

Best advice? When you're not connected to an Exchange server, stop using Outlook. Completely. Utterly. Immediately!
At least you don't have to work around this archaic limit anymore. If you do have to connect to Exchange, you're S.O.L.

2019

DC Gamer Club / Re: Terraria

« Last post by Shades on June 16, 2011, 11:08 PM »

Still not able to play, because .Net4.0 will not install itself in my (Win7 Ultimate x64) PC. Continuously getting the same error 'Access is denied' even when using the Administrator account, granting all available user rights, disabling UAC, lifting restrictions on folders, even partitions etc. 

Used the .Net4.0 installer on a different PC's (Windows 7/XP) and on those it installs without problems. The puzzle to get to play Terraria already proves to be a challenge.

2020

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for advice, tips, wisdom: Adding my 1st Mac into the [tech] family...

« Last post by Shades on June 12, 2011, 01:26 AM »

@40hz:
Rite of passage would describe it better, I think. 

2021

Living Room / Re: Couch surfing over USA

« Last post by Shades on June 12, 2011, 01:06 AM »

A friend of mine here in Paraguay had an experience two years ago. One girl from the Eastern Europe region came over here (to Paraguay) for trekking...the kind where one is walking with a big bag on their back, not having discussions who was hotter, Deanna troy or Seven of Nine (after all, this is a site where also nerds tend to hang out).

As it was hot she tended to sleep naked...and during the morning rise routine, paths would sometimes cross.  My friend was not complaining, but his wife did not appreciate it too much. After she left the "water" for couch-surfing was dried up, so to speak...

2022

Living Room / Re: $ vs €. there we have it again!

« Last post by Shades on June 07, 2011, 06:12 PM »

To me it appears that the euro is not tightly enough regulated. When the Euro was introduced, the Netherlands were one of the few countries who could hold up to one of the rules (max of 3% overspending). Because of Germany and France could not go down to the 3% that rule was not strictly enforced. Germany could be excused though, as East and West Germany became one Germany again not that long before the introduction.

Because of that many countries were allowed into the pact if they would promise to go down to the 3% level, same as France and Germany. Nasty effect is that this has weakened the strength of the Euro.

The US Dollar gets printed almost faster than it is spent, devaluing the coin.

My point is that with proper financial regulation both the Euro and USD would not have fluctuated that much and could have benefited prices/exchange rates. Now I can only guess how this would have affected the crisis, I cannot help but think that both continents would have been out of the woods by now.

Just read that the growth of the US economy was stagnating again in May, according to FED's Ben Bernanke.

2023

General Software Discussion / Dropbox....without dropbox?

« Last post by Shades on June 05, 2011, 11:57 PM »

Saw something that could tickle the interest from several DC members regarding the creation of their own cloud backup solution.

The software is called FTPbox, is open source and in beta state. As such some features and options (from Dropbox) are likely not there (yet).


Regards.

2024

Living Room / Re: Suggestions for removing nVidia drivers?

« Last post by Shades on June 05, 2011, 11:40 PM »

Revo uninstaller (either portable or the installer) also works very well for removing drivers.

The portable version is my preferred method of uninstalling any piece of software, to be honest.

2025

General Software Discussion / Re: Goodbye OpenOffice, Hello LibreOffice

« Last post by Shades on June 04, 2011, 03:34 PM »

I think they (Oracle) exchange their sales-force on a regular basis with Quest Software (creators of TOAD, a very extensive manager for Oracle databases).

Both are very aggressive. They even used the "...or else..." sales-pitch on me when they called years ago. As I have to work with Oracle, I couldn't drop Oracle, but QUEST got some verbal abuse back and lost me forever as customer.

Hmmm...memory lane definitely has some "potholes" in it.