Adult Content Warning

This community may contain adult content that is not suitable for minors. By closing this dialog box or continuing to navigate this site, you certify that you are 18 years of age and consent to view adult content.

The Tech Help Thread

Discussion in 'Technical Board' started by rei, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. rei

    rei
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    16
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,273
    Location:
    Guelph, ON
    You are correct, but not as correct as it used to be. If its IE8 or newer, it'll still not be as good as Chrome or Firefox but it won't be the complete abomination older versions were.

    I'd not bother risking your job due to browser preference. You'd be better served talking to your IT administrator's superiors and making a fuss that way.
     
  2. Nirvana

    Nirvana
    Expand Collapse
    Average Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2009
    Messages:
    57
    Hey guys, I'm trying to install a new hard drive into my laptop but I'm having some trouble. The new hard drive has windows 7 already installed so I thought that I should be able to put it in and then everything would be sweet. But when I try to boot it up it gets to starting windows and then simply reboots. I have no idea what I should be do for this so any help would be awesome. Thanks!
     
  3. Binary

    Binary
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    389
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    4,082
    That's pretty typical. You can't just put a drive in with an OS installed from another system, because none of the drivers are installed to handle your machine's hardware.

    You're going to have to re-install Windows 7 on the new drive. There are ways to get around it, but in my experience, virtually none of them result in a stable and and highly-performing system.
     
  4. rei

    rei
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    16
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,273
    Location:
    Guelph, ON
    The easiest way around this is performing a "repair install" but to do so you'll need to have a DVD with the same service pack as the one currently installed on the disk, which can be a pain in the ass if you've patched since you got your DVD. The Windows DVD will give you the option when you boot to the Windows installer and attempt to install to the drive

    Failing that formatting and reinstalling is quick and simple
     
  5. StayFrosty

    StayFrosty
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2010
    Messages:
    1,149
    Hey guys. I'm looking to get a new mobo/CPU. Ideally something that can run newer games well, but doesn't have to be "CRYSIS 3 ON MAX SETTINGS OVERCLOCKED X100000000 WATER-COOLED WITH HEATSINKS" craziness. Needs to be $200 or less preferably. Any product references are appreciated.

    Or hey, if you have an old quad-core that's been gathering dust ever since you joined the modern age, that's cool too.
     
  6. Celos

    Celos
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    292
    Location:
    Estonia
    If you need it right now, an FX-6300 with a cheapo AM3+ mobo is probably your best bet. However, Intel's new architecture, Haswell, is rumored to release less than two months from now, so you might want to wait.
     
  7. Nettie

    Nettie
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2010
    Messages:
    207
    Location:
    BFE, IL
    I have a $20 off $200 or more from Tiger Direct (one use) that expires Sunday. PM me your e-mail address if you'll actually use it & want me to forward it to you.
     
  8. Arctic_Scrap

    Arctic_Scrap
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    1
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    734
    Location:
    Duluth, MN, USA
    Well my Gigabyte Z68x motherboard finally died again, stuck in "boot loop" just like the others. This is the third one to have this problem since I built the computer at the end of 2011. This one actually lasted awhile, though. I ordered an Asus Z77 based board this time. I'm glad I decided not to sell this old laptop.
     
  9. mad5427

    mad5427
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    356
    I'm buying a new macbook pro most likely tomorrow. I have been using a 15" MBP for the last 6 1/2 years and it's finally time to retire her. I loved it as I was able to upgrade ram, replace the HD with a bigger one and my logic board was replaced a month before my 3 year warranty ended. It's been great.

    I've spent time looking at the retina and regular displays. I can't tell the difference much between the two and I don't play HD stuff on my computer. I do heavy CAD drafting and 3d modelling but no video work and my renderings are stills. I hate that the retina displays are un-upgradable. Once purchased, that's it. I also don't like the glare at all even though it's less than the regular MBP glossy screen.

    I'm going with the traditional model only with the anti-glare screen. The resolution is still HD and it's also WAY better than the one I've been using for the last 6 1/2 years. Also, I can get it with 8gb ram which is way more than the 3gb I have now. Plus, I can upgrade it on my own down the road to 16 to be equivalent to the retina model of similar specs. I can also remove the disk drive at some point and add a second HD. I just like having future options.

    I don't want to put the smaller SSD drive in. I'm happy for now with a regular HD. I can always swap out a couple years from now with an SSD when prices go lower.

    My main question to you guys is this: I can either get a 750GB drive at 7200rpm or a 1TB drive at 5400rpm. I can't find the specs but I'm assuming all else is equal. The extra space would probably be nicer for me down the road but I want to make sure that the speed of the 5400 wouldn't be too slow. What are your thoughts? I've read a few articles comparing and opinions are everywhere. Figured I'd try to add a couple more before I choose. My current drive in my machine is a 500GB drive at 7200rpm. But it's a few years old and probably a previous generation and I've read that current gen 5400 would be faster than older 7200.

    Any opinions would be great. I'm leaning toward the 1TB but don't want to make a mistake. I'm also happy getting the anti-glare traditional MBP versus a retina as it's also $1000 cheaper and will consume less power, better battery life, etc. for a machine that I don't feel I need the extra resolution, etc. for the screen.

    Thanks.
     
  10. Binary

    Binary
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    389
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    4,082
    For CAD and 3D, I'm surprised you don't want the extra resolution. If your eyes are good, it basically equates to extra screen real estate - smaller objects, but more space to work with.

    Also, the single biggest upgrade I've given any computer in the last 5 years has been the solid state drives I've installed. It's really astounding, just how much they improve the whole experience of using a computer. Boot & resume times, application load times, those are obvious areas. Areas that are less obvious are things like web browsing, where cache files are created which slows everything down on platter drives, or browsing files, especially thumbnailed images. Another nice feature is when you bounce your laptop off the sidewalk, the drive head doesn't destroy the data on the platter.

    It's expensive, for sure, and if you need the space then there are pretty few options unless you want to spend big bucks, I'm just mentioning that you're turning down, in my opinion, two of the best upgrades to laptops in the last few years - high resolution displays and ultra fast/low power consumption/quiet/robust solid state drives.

    You know your needs best, just sharing my thoughts.
     
  11. mad5427

    mad5427
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    356
    As much as the retina display would be nice and the solid state drive as well, I just can't swing the extra $1100 it would cost me.

    My eyes are good enough and I'm very efficient with my current computer which has a lower resolution than the one I'm looking at.

    I found out today that ram and hard drive upgrades don't void the warranty so I saved money by getting the stock 4gb ram instead of the 8gb I could upgrade to and am getting the 750gb 7200 drive, which is $40 cheaper than the 1TB 5400 drive. I'm putting the total savings into a 16gb ram kit, maxing that out. In a couple years or when prices drop enough for a very large ssd, I'll swap the drive out and then eventually pull the disk drive and put in a second hard drive. I like that I can upgrade this over the next few years. Also, even though the screen isn't as high of a resolution as the retina, I just am not a fan of the glossy screen. It's not terrible in any way and I could buy an anti-glare screen cover, but at the end of the day, I just don't have the extra $1100. This computer will also be infinitely easier to work on or have worked on once my warranty is up in three years compared to the retina machines where it's really all one piece inside.

    I managed to get 6 1/2 years of very demanding use out of this machine. It's still running pretty well and I'm giving it to my wife after a clean reinstall of everything, etc. Better for me to get a new machine while this one still runs. She'll use it maybe a half hour to an hour a day while I use mine around 9+ easily. The life of this one will hopefully be extended by this move.
     
  12. joule_thief

    joule_thief
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    62
    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2010
    Messages:
    604
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    I'm not certain if it's just the Retina versions, but I think the memory in new MBPs (mid 2012 up I believe) is not upgradeable any longer. It's soldered in now. If you want 16GB RAM, you have to get it at the time of purchase.
     
  13. mad5427

    mad5427
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    356
    Just the retina versions are unable to be upgraded. The original MBP is still able to be worked on. Rumor is they're going to eliminate that model and go purely with the non-upgradable retina display models. They'll be supposedly a little cheaper, but still no options ever to do anything to your machine.

    I ordered and should have today the non-retina 15" model. I opted not to pay $80 for any extra ram as they only offer an upgrade from 4gb to 8gb. I also purchased the 750GB 7200 drive instead of spending the additional $40 for the 1TB 5400 drive.

    I ordered a 16gb ram kit from OWC for $150. So, I got a hard drive that will last me for a couple years and am maxed out on ram for $30 more than the two upgrades above.

    I like still having the internal disk drive and when I truly don't need it anymore and prices of SSD drives go down, I'll install that as my OS drive and move the 750 over to the disk drive bay as a nice second drive.

    I spent time in a store and really have trouble with the glare on the retina displays. It has less glare than the regular MBP glossy screen but there is still so much glare. Working anywhere outside of an evenly lit space with no reflections would be terrible. I really liked the anti-glare screen. As I mentioned previously, I've been very productive on my 6 1/2 year old machine and this new one still has an HD display that has 15% more pixel density. Nice enough for my needs.

    If rumors are true and they make all new MBP models retina with no ability to upgrade at any point, what will the reaction be. I know so many people who were pissed off when they dropped the 17" model. This will just piss off more people. Most people won't care as it's just glossy and mac and powerful and they'll just buy whatever apple sells. It's too bad that they are moving in the direction that they are. The only reason I need a mac is that the main cad software I use is primarily mac and my boss is a mac user. We both work from home offices and remotely every day so we both need to be mac.

    One last reason I like being able to do work on your own machine unlike the new MBP. Once I'm up and running on my new machine, I'm giving this one to my wife. She will use it 1hr per day at most, probably less. This is perfect for her. It's still in great condition overall. New battery and power cord in the last 6 months. The top cover is scuffed from 6 1/2 years of use and I found a replacement online for $100. Ram is topped out at 4GB from original 2GB and it has a 500GB 7200 drive I installed a couple years ago from the original 120GB. The superdrive broke on here recently and I found a replacement online for $20. So, she will be getting a cosmetically near perfect machine with many new working parts. Only because I had the freedom to work on it. I think that ultimately sold me on the choice of new machine for myself.
     
  14. $100T2

    $100T2
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    108
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,966
    This is a combo html/db question.

    I'm working on a program in html, and it's actually getting pretty data intensive. I've simplified a lot of tasks/scripts, but I'm wondering if it would be easier to use XML or maybe PHP or SQL or something to manage the data instead of building so many pages of things.

    Does that make sense?
     
  15. rei

    rei
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    16
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,273
    Location:
    Guelph, ON
    if its pretty data intensive, and you're creating redundant pages, it would be easier for the data to be stored in a database and displayed dynamically from php selecting said data rather than writing it into HTML documents one page at a time.


    most google'd intro to php and mysql guides should give you a just dangerous enough amount of knowledge for that
     
  16. $100T2

    $100T2
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    108
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    1,966
    I got myself a shitload of books from the library and downloaded some stuff to try to teach it to myself. Seems like MySQL and PHP are the way to go. We'll see if I'm as smart as I think...
     
  17. toejam

    toejam
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    442
    Anyone familiar with using HBO GO? I am trying to run it, unsuccessfully, through my xbox. My general setup is this: modem supplied by comcast runs to my apple airport, which my xbox connects to wirelessly. At first, it worked with no issues. Lately, I have been able to start a show, but it barely runs for a few seconds before it begins buffering again. I set up an NAT connection with the xbox and the router, and opened all the ports microsoft notes need to be open for xbox live to function properly.

    Does this sound like I'm missing some kind of technical detail that I can troubleshoot on my own, or does comcast just provide me with an abysmally shitty internet connection?
     
  18. tempest

    tempest
    Expand Collapse
    Disturbed

    Reputation:
    1
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    258
    Location:
    in transit
    Does anybody know if I can connect a wireless hard drive the a Roku 3 with a USB cable and still be able to transfer files to it wirelessly?

    Thanks!
     
  19. StayFrosty

    StayFrosty
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2010
    Messages:
    1,149
    Fucking Firefox just started this shit...instead of my address bar searches taking me to a google results page, it takes me to a youtube results page on youtube. If I wanted to search youtube I'd use the fucking YT search bar. Any fixes, please, before I stab that fox in the ass.
     
  20. StayFrosty

    StayFrosty
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2010
    Messages:
    1,149
    Fixed it. Silly command line crap.