[Rant] Tech Minor Rant Thread
- Thread starter DarkAudit
- Start date
The AMD driver update really fucked me over.
Got no more HDMI Audio. Wont show up in Device Manager nor in Audio Settings. Downloaded Realtek Audio Drivers, but that is for the onboard audio not audio via GPU. Guess I need to dig out my old PC speakers with the 3.5 jack.
Got no more HDMI Audio. Wont show up in Device Manager nor in Audio Settings. Downloaded Realtek Audio Drivers, but that is for the onboard audio not audio via GPU. Guess I need to dig out my old PC speakers with the 3.5 jack.
figmentPez
Staff member
Uninstall the current drivers and re-install an older version?
Also, was this you updating your AMD drivers, or was this a Windows Update thing? Because Windows has a bad habit of installing really old AMD drivers when it does a major system update.
I updated my AMD drivers. Tried reinstalling the drivers.
Tommorow I am going to use the AMD cleaner to remove every trace of AMD on my PC and then try it again.
For tonight I am using my bluetooth usb speaker. It is good enough to play Hobo Tough Life on silent and have a podcast in the background.
Tommorow I am going to use the AMD cleaner to remove every trace of AMD on my PC and then try it again.
For tonight I am using my bluetooth usb speaker. It is good enough to play Hobo Tough Life on silent and have a podcast in the background.
Did you install the "optional" drivers? Go back to the "recommended" 20.4.2 drivers. This caught me out a few weeks back, too.
I try to stick to the WHQL ones when possible.
Heck, I'm still only running the 17.7.1 version.
Of course, that's because I'm using a GCN v1.0 card on Windows 7, but still.
Yes, I could upgrade all the way to 20.4.2 (the most recent WHQL'd version), but I don't know as I need all that Adrenalin stuff added in, since a lot of it requires a newer OS than Win7 to work anyway.
--Patrick
Heck, I'm still only running the 17.7.1 version.
Of course, that's because I'm using a GCN v1.0 card on Windows 7, but still.
Yes, I could upgrade all the way to 20.4.2 (the most recent WHQL'd version), but I don't know as I need all that Adrenalin stuff added in, since a lot of it requires a newer OS than Win7 to work anyway.
--Patrick
AMD Cleanup did the trick. It removed every file,driver,profile, anything AMD and I reinstalled the newest drivers and new everything works fine again.
I am going to pull what little hair I have left out of my head, I swear, if I have to deal with any more of this complete and utter batshit insane, utterly incomprehensible compatibility failures! Bought a new hosting package. Integrated email into it. Have my own private email server now, well, for the business. Set up Thunderbird on my computer flawlessly. Set up Thunderbird on Aislynn's last computer flawlessly. Set up Thunderbird on Aislynn's new Omen Desktop? Are you insane? You can't set up POP3 and SMTP over SSL on this computer, that's just lunacy.
What. The. Absolute. Fuck.
What. The. Absolute. Fuck.
I should say that it's this sort of asshattery that has me looking so seriously at Linux instead of Windows. Three windows computers. Three of the exact same version of Thunderbird. Do the setup exactly the same way three times. It fails 33% of the time. That's just un-fucking-acceptable.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, accubattery has revealed one unpleasant fact for sure... my battery charging neurosis has definitely hurt my battery. Of an original 2770mAH capacity, my obsession with keeping it above 80% means its capacity is now closer to 900mAH. Apparently there are studies out there showing that you should only charge your battery to 80% and charge it again when it gets down to 20%.
So, I guess I need a new battery. This was also driven home today when my phone shut itself down at 49%.
So, I guess I need a new battery. This was also driven home today when my phone shut itself down at 49%.
My Logitech Mx510 mouse finally gave up the ghost after only 15 years of use. I ended up replacing it with a Microsoft Intellimouse. I could have waited a few more weeks and gotten a Mx518, but I was in a rush since my games were unplayable. 
Sorry, I thought you already knew.
Li-ion/LiPo battery tech is the current king of capacity-by-weight. BUT that capacity degrades over time, and it degrades faster when used heavily, subjected to thermal stress, etc. And as you discovered, charging it that last 10-20% causes more wear than charging it the first 80%. It is not by coincidence that satellites are usually hard-limited to never charge their onboard battery above 80% nor let it get below 20%, because in a satellite longevity trumps runtime.
So a haphazard charging schedule usually works out better in the long run because it means your battery spends most of its time between 20-80 and doesn’t spend long stretches of time >80 or <20.
—Patrick
4K UHD anime has finally hit the US with the release of Ghost in The Shell 25th anniversary edition. I will be purchasing it, but as of yet am unaware of any set-up that will allow me to either rip it or watch it outside of a set-top box, which btw fewer and fewer companies are supporting.
What, you mean like via a service + a Roku? Or an appliance like a DVD player?
--Patrick
EDIT2: UHD refers to UHD 4K Blu-ray discs to be clear.
EDIT:misread pats reponse lol
the UHD drives for computers exist but require a load of DRM black magic to work, and you cant use any GPU that is not onboard. the set-top players are easier but most companies are abandoning support and it seems from the complaints effectively bricking them as they exit.
In other words, once people figure out how to use them to break the DRM, they are forced out of the market.
--Patrick
...neither-ish? But both?
My assumption* is that each manufacturer gets issued its own set of keys, and once enough of a particular line of players have enough of their keys compromised, Blu-ray HQ considers them "traitors" for not somehow preventing this (in spite of the fact that this is inevitable) and so somehow makes it difficult for them to continue--prohibitively increases their licensing fees, sues them for aiding piracy, whatever.
--Patrick
*This is completely a guess on my part, but I feel like it makes sense.
no i meant literally there are like 3 manufacturers left making UHD players as far as I am aware. as each company exits they cancel their keys effectively bricking the player when it goes to renew its passkeys every 30-90 days. (you have to have a connection or it will just autobrick anyways >_>)
This sounds like a singularly unsuccessful business model. The player mfrs become literal slaves to Sony and if they don't pay what Sony demands, their products go dead, so at some point they get fed up with being beholden to Sony and commit seppuku. I seriously don't understand why anyone would tool up to manufacture any sort of widget that can be remotely destroyed at the whim of another.
--Patrick
im just guessing to be fair, but yeah on the same page as you. normal blu-ray works pretty good in my experience other than needing to update keys every so often when they revise something. the 4K ones seems pretty user unfriendly, so for the most part I was planning on just ripping the discs and watching the resulting files on my local network.
Buddy of mine: "My Internet is kinda spotty when I'm on my deck."
Me: "Well the WiFi probably just has trouble with that location."
B: "Oh but it's not WiFi. I thought WiFi would have trouble so I hardwired it."
M: "Hmm, I don't know then."
[time passes]
B: "Hey I think I found the cause."
Me: "Yeah, that's probably it, all right."
--Patrick
Me: "Well the WiFi probably just has trouble with that location."
B: "Oh but it's not WiFi. I thought WiFi would have trouble so I hardwired it."
M: "Hmm, I don't know then."
[time passes]
B: "Hey I think I found the cause."
Me: "Yeah, that's probably it, all right."
--Patrick
I totally forgot how Windows always seems to need to update. Grrr.
Yep. Many mornings I've gotten up to log in to my computer only to find my login screen greeting me.
Went to do my dailies last night after work, discovered my gaming PC wouldn’t boot. ”Hmm,“ I thought. “It was working just fine last night.”
Hook up a ps/2 keyboard, and a handful of restarts later, I can get into the BIOS. Temps are ok, power is ok, RPMs are ok, everything is recog...oh, there it is. Looks like one of my new hard drives has failed, or at least the RAID1 isn’t happy. Well, that’s why I have a RAID1 array in the first place. I’ll look into more detail after I do my dailies.
<Two hours pass...>
Ok. RAID controller says disk just dropped, not an I/O error. Might just be a cabling issue. Start disk health check to rule out bad sectors, but that says it’s gonna take 3+ hrs to complete. Fine. Set an alarm for 2:30a to check on it.
<Four-ish hours pass...>
Hmm disk comes up clean. Guess it musta been the cable. But now I need to rebuild the array. How long will that take? Ugh. I’m going back to bed. It should be done by morning.
<Four-ish more hours pass...>
Ok let’s see what...why is the computer off? Oh, it’s just asleep. Must’ve shut down when idle. I’ll just check the [57% COMPLETE] oh for f...it went to sleep during the rebuild? AARGH.
Fine. Abort the rebuild since I can’t trust it now and make it start over. Change sleep settings to “Aw Hell Naw!” and I’ll just have to check it when I get home from work in another TEN HOURS uuuuughhhh.
—Patrick
Hook up a ps/2 keyboard, and a handful of restarts later, I can get into the BIOS. Temps are ok, power is ok, RPMs are ok, everything is recog...oh, there it is. Looks like one of my new hard drives has failed, or at least the RAID1 isn’t happy. Well, that’s why I have a RAID1 array in the first place. I’ll look into more detail after I do my dailies.
<Two hours pass...>
Ok. RAID controller says disk just dropped, not an I/O error. Might just be a cabling issue. Start disk health check to rule out bad sectors, but that says it’s gonna take 3+ hrs to complete. Fine. Set an alarm for 2:30a to check on it.
<Four-ish hours pass...>
Hmm disk comes up clean. Guess it musta been the cable. But now I need to rebuild the array. How long will that take? Ugh. I’m going back to bed. It should be done by morning.
<Four-ish more hours pass...>
Ok let’s see what...why is the computer off? Oh, it’s just asleep. Must’ve shut down when idle. I’ll just check the [57% COMPLETE] oh for f...it went to sleep during the rebuild? AARGH.
Fine. Abort the rebuild since I can’t trust it now and make it start over. Change sleep settings to “Aw Hell Naw!” and I’ll just have to check it when I get home from work in another TEN HOURS uuuuughhhh.
—Patrick
My next system will likely only have a single drive, but that’s because all the irreplaceable stuff will get shipped off to a NAS.
—Patrick
So my computer started acting up. The screen would randomly turn off, and when I tried to force it to restart, it'd give off 5 beeps and then sometimes grudgingly restart.
I looked up what 5 beeps would mean for my Gigabyte motherboard. Holy crap, it could mean a whole bunch of hardware failures, such as CPU failure, motherboard failure, CMOS battery dying, etc. Cue panic.
Then I looked around some more, and it turns out 5 beeps can also mean a faulty display cable or display.
Right now I'm not sure what the problem is. I fiddled with the CMOS battery, and reseated the display cable, and so far things are going okay. But just in case, I'm gonna back up all mypr0n important files and maybe look into what a new computer build would look like these days.
I looked up what 5 beeps would mean for my Gigabyte motherboard. Holy crap, it could mean a whole bunch of hardware failures, such as CPU failure, motherboard failure, CMOS battery dying, etc. Cue panic.
Then I looked around some more, and it turns out 5 beeps can also mean a faulty display cable or display.
Right now I'm not sure what the problem is. I fiddled with the CMOS battery, and reseated the display cable, and so far things are going okay. But just in case, I'm gonna back up all my
This is something which is easily checked and fixed, btw. Assuming you have some way to test the voltage, that is. Any reading below 2.7VDC means it needs to be replaced.So my computer started acting up. The screen would randomly turn off, and when I tried to force it to restart, it'd give off 5 beeps and then sometimes grudgingly restart.
I looked up what 5 beeps would mean for my Gigabyte motherboard. Holy crap, it could mean a whole bunch of hardware failures, such as CPU failure, motherboard failure, CMOS battery dying, etc. Cue panic.
DO THAT ANYWAY, ALL THE TIME
--Patrick
This IS how many people troubleshoot that particular issue. Just chuck in a new one cuz they’re cheap and because they usually last something like ten years.
Quite a few modern BIOSes have added the CMOS voltage to their system health page, though. Might be worth a peek.
—Patrick