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Tech Minor Rant Thread

Dec 22, 2018#1

DarkAudit

(Redacted with apologies to Steve. The more I watch, the more I like his channel.)

Dec 22, 2018#2

PatrThom

That guy’s not someone who’s in it for the fame and exposure, he’s in it to show stuff. Personally, I’ll happily suffer through a crappy video that teaches me a lot rather than some Retro Encabulator BS that looks/sounds great but has no real substance.

—Patrick

Dec 23, 2018#3

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
Retro Encabulator

—Patrick

That was brilliant

Dec 23, 2018#4

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
That was brilliant

Back when I was still pursuing a career in voicework, it was given as a prime example of how to properly deliver copy even when you don’t necessarily understand the material.

There are several other “encabulator” vids out there. It was a running gag for a while amongst companies like that.

—Patrick

Jan 10, 2019#5

PatrThom

Hey @DarkAudit I hear you ordered your RX580 card finally.
Sure hope you didn't get it from these guys.

Starting with macOS 10.13 "High Sierra," support for GPUs based on Polaris (RX4xx/RX5xx) has been included with the OS. No weird aftermarket drivers needed or anything like that, you grab one and plug it in and it just works(tm) (except for the pre-boot environment but that's not a deal-breaker).
This means you can grab ANY off-the-shelf RX580, plug it into a Mac Pro and you're off to the 10.13 and up races (assuming you don't exceed the computer's power budget, of course)
Now this company is usually reasonable about their accessories, but FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS? Come on! It's just a stock Gigabyte Card (which btw is on sale right now at Newegg for $220 after rebate), the only thing they've added is a second PCIe power cable. I mean, I'm sure these guys bought a bunch of 'em back when prices were high due to mining, but if they wanna sell 'em they're just gonna have to suck up the loss. Sheesh.

--Patrick

Jan 11, 2019#6

DarkAudit

PatrThom said:
Hey @DarkAudit I hear you ordered your RX580 card finally.
Sure hope you didn't get it from these guys.

Starting with macOS 10.13 "High Sierra," support for GPUs based on Polaris (RX4xx/RX5xx) has been included with the OS. No weird aftermarket drivers needed or anything like that, you grab one and plug it in and it just works(tm) (except for the pre-boot environment but that's not a deal-breaker).
This means you can grab ANY off-the-shelf RX580, plug it into a Mac Pro and you're off to the 10.13 and up races (assuming you don't exceed the computer's power budget, of course)
Now this company is usually reasonable about their accessories, but FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS? Come on! It's just a stock Gigabyte Card (which btw is on sale right now at Newegg for $220 after rebate), the only thing they've added is a second PCIe power cable. I mean, I'm sure these guys bought a bunch of 'em back when prices were high due to mining, but if they wanna sell 'em they're just gonna have to suck up the loss. Sheesh.

--Patrick

Got the $189 XFX card from Amazon. Plus a PCI wifi card to replace the dongle-on-a-string I'd been using.

Jan 16, 2019#7

DarkAudit

Oh, look at that. Server outage. Right when I'm trying to turn the day over. Yay. Problem with a web-based solution is when things go bad on their end, they take me and a few thousand other properties down with them.

Jan 20, 2019#8

Squidleybits

My Windows computer won’t go beyond the load up screen for Windows. When I would usually hit return for my username and password to come up, nothing happens.

I’ve tried restoring Windows to four days ago and reinstalling it with my personal files intact.

I still can’t hit return to see my user name so I can enter my password. Brutal.

Post automatically merged: Jan 20, 2019

Jan 20, 2019#9

PatrThom

This may sound dumb, but do your use a wireless kbd? Did the battery die?
If you have a USB kbd, I'd try that, if only so you can log in and find out if this is just the kbd dying on you.

--Patrick

Jan 20, 2019#10

DarkAudit

Squidleybits said:
My Windows computer won’t go beyond the load up screen for Windows. When I would usually hit return for my username and password to come up, nothing happens.

I’ve tried restoring Windows to four days ago and reinstalling it with my personal files intact.

I still can’t hit return to see my user name so I can enter my password. Brutal.

Post automatically merged: Jan 20, 2019

View attachment 28450

Sometimes the lock screen won't respond to the keyboard to bring up the password box, but will to a mouse click.

Jan 20, 2019#11

PatrThom

DarkAudit said:
Sometimes the lock screen won't respond to the keyboard to bring up the password box, but will to a mouse click.

There are times with some Macs where I've had the opposite as well. Can't click but can use arrow/TAB keys to select account, then cursor is back the instant you log in.

--Patrick

Jan 21, 2019#12

Squidleybits

PatrThom said:
This may sound dumb, but do your use a wireless kbd? Did the battery die?
If you have a USB kbd, I'd try that, if only so you can log in and find out if this is just the kbd dying on you.

--Patrick

This is a laptop, I use the keyboard built in (at work we get fancy with extras).

I do have a usb keyboard that I can try. Do laptop keyboards die?

Thank you

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2019

DarkAudit said:
Sometimes the lock screen won't respond to the keyboard to bring up the password box, but will to a mouse click.

I’ll give that a try too

Thank you!

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2019

PatrThom said:
There are times with some Macs where I've had the opposite as well. Can't click but can use arrow/TAB keys to select account, then cursor is back the instant you log in.

--Patrick

I’ve mashed every button it feels like, but I’ll try what you’ve suggested.

Jan 21, 2019#13

DarkAudit

Squidleybits said:
This is a laptop, I use the keyboard built in (at work we get fancy with extras).

I do have a usb keyboard that I can try. Do laptop keyboards die?

Thank you

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2019

I’ll give that a try too

Thank you!

It happens more often on my laptop. Clicking my trackpad or the mouse tends to wake up the lock screen better than the keyboard.

Jan 21, 2019#14

Squidleybits

DarkAudit said:
It happens more often on my laptop. Clicking my trackpad or the mouse tends to wake up the lock screen better than the keyboard.

I’ll be sad if I reinstalled Windows and it was this all along lol.

Jan 21, 2019#15

PatrThom

Squidleybits said:
I’ll be sad if I reinstalled Windows and it was this all along lol.

But you'll be in good company, I'm sure.

--Patrick

Jan 21, 2019#16

GasBandit

I just recently had the keyboard in my laptop literally stop working. Had to send it in for service (under warranty, thankfully). Does the light on the keyboard turn off/on if you toggle caps lock/num lock? Does hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL do anything?

Jan 21, 2019#17

Squidleybits

I’ll have a look tonight when I get home. I have work and then class all night.

Thanks so much!

Jan 21, 2019#18

Squidleybits

DarkAudit said:
Sometimes the lock screen won't respond to the keyboard to bring up the password box, but will to a mouse click.

A mouse click isn’t working

I have a USB mouse/keyboard combo plugged in at the moment. I do have one USB port that’s never worked. That’s probably not a great sign.

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2019

GasBandit said:
I just recently had the keyboard in my laptop literally stop working. Had to send it in for service (under warranty, thankfully). Does the light on the keyboard turn off/on if you toggle caps lock/num lock? Does hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL do anything?

I get a light for caps lock, but not num lock. Nothing happens for CTRL-ATL-DEL on either keyboard.

Jan 27, 2019#19

DarkAudit

The porn bots are still following me. Fuck you, Verizon. Fuck you, Oath. Fuck you, Yahoo. And FUCK YOU, Tumblr. Nose? You've cut off your whole head to spite your face.

I haven't deleted my main account... yet, but I haven't been back since the ban started.

Jan 27, 2019#20

Ravenpoe

DarkAudit said:
The porn bots are still following me. Fuck you, Verizon. Fuck you, Oath. Fuck you, Yahoo. And FUCK YOU, Tumblr. Nose? You've cut off your whole head to spite your face.

I haven't deleted my main account... yet, but I haven't been back since the ban started.

I have no idea what you're talking about, but tell me more about these porn bots.

Jan 27, 2019#21

DarkAudit

Ravenpoe said:
I have no idea what you're talking about, but tell me more about these porn bots.

Tumblr banned what they deem “adult content” as of last month. It didn’t go over well, and of course it did absolutely nothing to rein in the porn spam accounts.

Jan 28, 2019#22

PatrThom

That 2009 Mini I've been using as a server for almost 5yrs straight now? Well, last night noticed the fan is starting to noisily complain.
Not unexpected, what with it being almost 10yrs old and running 24/7 for probably most of that (5yrs under me, and its condition when I got it looked like the previous owner had been using it as a server, too).
Replacement fans are no longer carried by Apple (because Obsolete since 2016) but can still be had elsewhere for $10-50, and I AM a computer technician (so I won't have to pay hourly labor), and there's no real rush since the basement is currently at a constant 50F/10C, but ehhhhh...now there's one more thing I gotta get to.

--Patrick

Feb 10, 2019#23

PatrThom

DarkAudit said:
Got the $189 XFX card from Amazon. Plus a PCI wifi card to replace the dongle-on-a-string I'd been using.

I'm looking at a similarly-priced compact RX580 to serve as an interim replacement for my 7970 until I can start putting a new system together for myself (now that everyone else at home but me has computers 3yrs old or less), and that I can repurpose to modernize my Mac Pro once I move on, and came across this review:

Look elsewhere for a 7970 upgrade
Pros: As good as the excellent Radeon HD7970, nice compact form factor.
Cons: No better than the six year old Radeon HD 7970 Ghz Ed I finally replaced with this. Virtually no improvement in framerates or graphical fidelity over the 7970 in any of the games I play, including WoW, Diablo 3, or Destiny 2.

By far the biggest disappointment for me is that it is unable to play WoW on ultra settings at 1080p at 60fps. Multiple settings must be turned down to maintain 60fps in deserted outdoor zones. This includes liquid detail to good, ground clutter to 5, shadows to good or lower, and environmental detail to 5. Raiding requires further reduction in settings. Overall recommended graphics preset by the WoW client based on the graphics hardware is 7 out of 10, which coincidentally is the exact same recommended setting as the nearly seven year old 7970.

Moving on to Diablo 3, with ultra settings the card will maintain 60fps in the camps. This changes quickly when you are in a rift with three other people. When the screen gets busy, the card chokes hard. Sub 40fps is common when multiple elite packs are engaged.

Sooo...dude upgrades to a better graphics card, but is upset that he isn't getting more FPS in games that are CPU-bound? And then leaves a bad review because he doesn't understand how computers work? RrrrrRRRRrrrgh... :mad:

--Patrick

Mar 31, 2019#24

PatrThom

Dangit. I've already taped out my next system, a bit of a "sleeper" with parts people might not normally think of using in a gaming PC. I know I already ranted about a major tech site promoting my choice of CPU because sure enough the price on 'em went up (when you can even find them now). Now another big tech site has reviewed the motherboard and given it a glowing review, and at this rate demand is going to spike the prices of parts I already couldn't afford to levels that'll add several extra months of saving onto my schedule and that'll ruin the whole "sleeper at a decent price because people didn't know about these parts" angle. Grrr.

--Patrick

Apr 30, 2019#25

mikerc

Stop encouraging people to film things vertically. And while you're at it fuck off with the "everything needs to be more like a phone" mentality.

Apr 30, 2019#26

PatrThom

mikerc said:
Stop encouraging people to film things vertically. And while you're at it fuck off with the "everything needs to be more like a phone" mentality.

Hee-hee I saw that and that was the first thing I thought of.
How many people are going to watch a movie on it while the TV is vertical and think, "Damn, why is this so small?"
But if it doubles in the setup as a computer monitor, well, then it might have some usefulness for things like being able to see an entire page of this forum, for instance.

--Patrick

Sep 18, 2019#27

PatrThom

Yay in the victory thread for getting my old computer working.
Boo because I had to run one of them from floppy.
Oh, setting up the floppy wasn't the problem. But a box of ten 3.5in HD floppies today, when you can find them? Almost $20.
Ow.

--Patrick

Sep 18, 2019#28

Dei

Gone are the days of buying them for 50 cents at the high school store when you desperately needed to save your english paper to a disk so you could print it at school.

Jul 20, 2020#29

PatrThom

Has anyone else been having trouble with SSL over the weekend? I keep running into random FORBIDDEN and "certificate invalid" errors, with no obvious pattern.

--Patrick

Jul 20, 2020#30

drifter

Not random, but I haven't been able to access Home Depot's website for the last two months or so.

Jul 30, 2020#31

GasBandit

The uselessness of android's battery useage tracking drives me up the wall. I noticed abnormally high battery useage today (33% over 5 hours), and the graph shows a major dip at a specific point. Of course, I remembered, at that time I ran a speedtest on wifi and then did a little web browsing, which chewed up 10% in 10 minutes.

But the breakdown of useage below that said:
Wi Fi: 1%
Chrome 1%
Phone Idle: 1%
Android System: 1%
Screen: 1%

... so, despite being at 66% battery power, you're telling me I should be at 95%.

I know it's nitpicky but broke-ass shit like this drives me up the wall, because so often I've had a rogue app chewing up battery and had this screen be exactly no help at all in tracking down which one it was.

Jul 30, 2020#32

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
broke-ass shit like this drives me up the wall, because so often I've had a rogue app chewing up battery and had this screen be exactly no help at all in tracking down which one it was.

Can't you get a Task Manager-type app for Android to track that stuff down?

--Patrick

Jul 30, 2020#33

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
Can't you get a Task Manager-type app for Android to track that stuff down?

--Patrick

Most of the battery app are black box fire-and-forget "battery saver" apps that automatically reduce various apps functionality to get them to use less juice. But I guess I could try one or two like AccuBattery, despite some reviews saying the new version of android broke it.

Thing is, and my gripe is... the core android functionality of this feature should not be lying to me.

Jul 30, 2020#34

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
the core android functionality of this feature should not be lying to me.

Well, you're not wrong.
I still have no Android devices in the home, so I got nothing, but one of the other techs is an almost-everything-Android guy, I'll ask if he knows of anything.

--Patrick

Jul 30, 2020#35

PatrThom

Only thing he says he's tried is "Power Battery," but he's heard there are others that are better.
He did not name any of these "others."
Maybe see if you can track it down another way? Find which apps use the most cell data or wifi, or which ones keep the screen/audio on the longest, if that's possible?

--Patrick

Jul 30, 2020#36

GasBandit

I'm gonna try AccuBattery for a couple days and see how that goes. It seems to be a very aggressive monitoring system, and I worry that it in and of itself will cause higher battery drain.

Aug 2, 2020#37

LordRendar

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.

Aug 2, 2020#38

figmentPez

LordRendar said:
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.

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.

Aug 2, 2020#39

LordRendar

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.

Aug 2, 2020#40

DarkAudit

LordRendar said:
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.

Did you install the "optional" drivers? Go back to the "recommended" 20.4.2 drivers. This caught me out a few weeks back, too.

Aug 2, 2020#41

PatrThom

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

Aug 3, 2020#42

LordRendar

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.

Aug 3, 2020#43

Gared

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.

Aug 3, 2020#44

Gared

Gared said:
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.

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.

Aug 3, 2020#45

GasBandit

If I so much as gently caress the USB-C connector of my thunderbolt dock at work, it locks my laptop hard. What a piece of shit. What an EXPENSIVE piece of shit.

Aug 5, 2020#46

GasBandit

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%.

Aug 5, 2020#47

Bubble181

Yup, i usually try to stick to the 20%, but 80% is harder... Why would I not just let it charge further, you know.

Aug 5, 2020#48

GasBandit

This accubattery app has a helpful alarm that goes off when charging reaches 80% to let me know to take it off the charger.

But yeah, it's a hard habit to break.

Aug 5, 2020#49

sixpackshaker

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.

Aug 5, 2020#50

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
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%.

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

Aug 6, 2020#51

Bones

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.

Aug 6, 2020#52

PatrThom

Bones said:
watch it outside of a set-top box

What, you mean like via a service + a Roku? Or an appliance like a DVD player?

--Patrick

Aug 6, 2020#53

Bones

PatrThom said:
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.

Aug 6, 2020#54

PatrThom

Bones said:
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

Aug 6, 2020#55

Bones

hey @PatrThom I am trying to understand your response. are you saying they look at it as "fucking pirates ruining it for all of us"? or "well the DRM is compromised, burn the bridges and fields on our way out!"?

Aug 6, 2020#56

PatrThom

Bones said:
hey @PatrThom I am trying to understand your response. are you saying they look at it as "fucking pirates ruining it for all of us"? or "well the DRM is compromised, burn the bridges and fields on our way out!"?

...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.

Aug 6, 2020#57

Bones

PatrThom said:
...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 >_>)

Aug 6, 2020#58

PatrThom

Bones said:
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

Aug 6, 2020#59

Bones

PatrThom said:
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.

Sep 1, 2020#60

PatrThom

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." :rolleyes:

--Patrick

Sep 11, 2020#61

Squidleybits

I totally forgot how Windows always seems to need to update. Grrr.

Sep 12, 2020#62

jwhouk

Squidleybits said:
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.

Sep 28, 2020#63

PatrThom

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

Sep 29, 2020#64

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
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

You and your raid. Live free like me. My Outlook on data:

Sep 29, 2020#65

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
You and your raid. Live free like me.

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

Oct 4, 2020#66

bhamv3

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. :Leyla:

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 ~~pr0n~~ important files and maybe look into what a new computer build would look like these days.

Oct 4, 2020#67

PatrThom

bhamv3 said:
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.

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.

bhamv3 said:
just in case, I'm gonna back up all my ~~pr0n~~ important files

DO THAT ANYWAY, ALL THE TIME

--Patrick

Oct 4, 2020#68

bhamv3

I don't have a multimeter or anything like that, so I might just get a new battery and stick it in there, for peace of mind.

Oct 4, 2020#69

PatrThom

bhamv3 said:
I don't have a multimeter or anything like that, so I might just get a new battery and stick it in there, for peace of mind.

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

Oct 5, 2020#70

jwhouk

Had to switch out keyboards today because the enter key on my old Gateway MediaCenter keyboard had finally snapped and wasn't registering. Fortunately I have an NMB 104-key IBM-equivalent keyboard, but it doesn't have the volume controls the old keyboard had.

Oct 5, 2020#71

Dei

My husband's job is giving everyone an extra $25 a month for internet expenses since everyone is mandatory work from home until at least January. We decided to upgrade out home Internet to gigabit, which actually saves us $3 a month because how the plan worked out. Being locked in to a new contract hardly matters because there's not likely to be another better option in the next year. But the actual rant is that the setup of the new plan claimed out current modem was fine, but that turned out to be a lie, as it can only pull 600/5 and not the up to 1000/35 we are actually paying for. (And there is a 600 plan, so they can't even try that nonsense) We can't open a ticket on it online until our current order goes through, and neither one of us has the desire to be on hold with comcast right now, so I guess when we go in to swap the TV equipment, we'll just bring the router too. The closest office is in Longmont anyways I think, and those guys never have anything to do because everyone there uses Nextlight anyways.

Oct 5, 2020#72

GasBandit

Dei said:
My husband's job is giving everyone an extra $25 a month for internet expenses since everyone is mandatory work from home until at least January. We decided to upgrade out home Internet to gigabit, which actually saves us $3 a month because how the plan worked out. Being locked in to a new contract hardly matters because there's not likely to be another better option in the next year. But the actual rant is that the setup of the new plan claimed out current modem was fine, but that turned out to be a lie, as it can only pull 600/5 and not the up to 1000/35 we are actually paying for. (And there is a 600 plan, so they can't even try that nonsense) We can't open a ticket on it online until our current order goes through, and neither one of us has the desire to be on hold with comcast right now, so I guess when we go in to swap the TV equipment, we'll just bring the router too. The closest office is in Longmont anyways I think, and those guys never have anything to do because everyone there uses Nextlight anyways.

FIVE up? How the fuck have you been streaming?

Oct 5, 2020#73

Dei

GasBandit said:
FIVE up? How the fuck have you been streaming?

Poorly. That's why I bullied about upgrading our internet.

I guess technically we get between 5 - 6 up, but my point stands.

Oct 5, 2020#74

PatrThom

Heck even *I* get at least 10 up on my 100/10 plan (though my ping is in the 30's).

--Patrick

Oct 5, 2020#75

Bones

comcast is famous for shitty upload...its shocking they haven't offered something non-business for people who want higher upload speeds...everytime i have asked about getting a better up ratio they suggest maybe i should switch to business >_>

Oct 5, 2020#76

Tinwhistler

my comcast services is 330 down, 12 up.

Oct 5, 2020#77

PatrThom

Bones said:
everytime i have asked about getting a better up ratio they suggest maybe i should switch to business >_>

That's because the ONLY reason you could possibly want faster upload is because you are running some kind of web/file server, and they more or less mandate you be on a business plan if you're running a "server" machine.

Oct 5, 2020#78

Bones

PatrThom said:
That's because the ONLY reason you could possibly want faster upload is because you are running some kind of web/file server, and they more or less mandate you be on a business plan if you're running a "server" machine.

I realize now that I have obviously made a mistake by my previous comment, wasnt expecting a "no shit, you idiot" response. guess thats my bad for feeling like we deserve more than 5 Mb up when we are paying for 500 Mb down.

Oct 5, 2020#79

GasBandit

Unity is so retarded.

I literally have to install a different version of it for every thing I do.

Making beat saber avatars? That's 2017.1.4.

Making VRChat avatars? Whups, better install 2018.1.2.

Making vtuber avatars? Welp, download and install 2018.20.2.

Jeesh.

Oct 5, 2020#80

Dei

Bones said:
I realize now that I have obviously made a mistake by my previous comment, wasnt expecting a "no shit, you idiot" response. guess thats my bad for feeling like we deserve more than 5 Mb up when we are paying for 500 Mb down.

I think Pat's comment had at least some amount of sarcasm in it.

Oct 5, 2020#81

PatrThom

Bones said:
I realize now that I have obviously made a mistake by my previous comment, wasnt expecting a "no shit, you idiot" response. guess thats my bad for feeling like we deserve more than 5 Mb up when we are paying for 500 Mb down.

Oh, this is definitely not a "no shit, Sherlock" kind of answer.
It's me railing at ISPs because they're using the excuse of "you must be a business trying to sneak by on a residential plan" as a way to push customers up into more expensive plans, even when they already subscribe to "unlimited."

--Patrick

Oct 6, 2020#82

Bones

PatrThom said:
Oh, this is definitely not a "no shit, Sherlock" kind of answer.
It's me railing at ISPs because they're using the excuse of "you must be a business trying to sneak by on a residential plan" as a way to push customers up into more expensive plans, even when they already subscribe to "unlimited."

--Patrick

oh, my bad, I read it as a serious response, I asked them the last time about something with more upload speed, maybe 50 Mb up as I back up a large amount of data to cloud storage regularly and also upload media to major sites like youtube. the agent just laughed at me when I asked about the possibility. I was willing to pay a bit more money(20-30 bucks a month more) for more upstream speed.

ive also been threatened with legal action when i inquired under the same idea that im trying to do something illegal, and my usage would be investigated for wrong doing.

Oct 6, 2020#83

PatrThom

Bones said:
ive also been threatened with legal action when i inquired under the same idea that im trying to do something illegal, and my usage would be investigated for wrong doing.

Yup. To hear them tell it, if you want more than whatever paltry upload speed they give you, then you must either be a dirty illegal torrenter, or else you're a cheap-ass business. Remote backups? Large family? Power user? Work from home? "Ha ha what are those myths? Also would you like to see our business-class plans? The ones that don't have data caps? They start at $129/mo for 50down/50up..." And then you get a faster upload speed, but they slash the download speed to make up for it. And if your business is a bar/restaurant/apartment building, well then it starts to get even more complicated.

I DON'T CARE how many flavors/colors it comes in. Just. Give. Me. Internet.

--Patrick

Oct 7, 2020#84

Dei

Hilariously, even though online setup said we needed a new TV box and not a new modem, they sent us a modem, not a new TV box. So I guess somewhere in the pipeline after online setup is a person who actually makes sure everything is correct.

Oct 7, 2020#85

Dei

My download speed is still no where near where it should be, but woo @ my upload speed.

Oct 7, 2020#86

GasBandit

Dei said:
My download speed is still no where near where it should be, but woo @ my upload speed.
View attachment 35765

That's common for gigabit. It's the old "UP TO 1000mbit!" charade that means you can't get mad when you don't get it. Mine's the same way, I usually get around 600 as well, down. But man, that 50 up is what I really am paying for.

Oct 7, 2020#87

Dei

GasBandit said:
That's common for gigabit. It's the old "UP TO 1000mbit!" charade that means you can't get mad when you don't get it. Mine's the same way, I usually get around 600 as well, down. But man, that 50 up is what I really am paying for.

But there's a separate 600mb charge, so we're probably going to call to see if someone will come uselessly check it.

Oct 8, 2020#88

GasBandit

Dei said:
But there's a separate 600mb charge, so we're probably going to call to see if someone will come uselessly check it.

I know that. That's just what happens with gigabit. Sometimes, during peak hours, you'll get 400mbit or less. I don't think I've ever actually gotten more than 700mbit on my gigabit.

This is just how cable modems roll. What are you gonna do, get some OTHER gigabit cable service?

Oct 8, 2020#89

Dei

GasBandit said:
I know that. That's just what happens with gigabit. Sometimes, during peak hours, you'll get 400mbit or less. I don't think I've ever actually gotten more than 700mbit on my gigabit.

This is just how cable modems roll. What are you gonna do, get some OTHER gigabit cable service?

The point is more one of trying to get Comcast to concede something on price, because they are actually worried about towns trying to follow suit with Longmont. Either way it doesn't matter, it still ended up being cheaper in the short term.

Oct 8, 2020#90

GasBandit

Dei said:
The point is more one of trying to get Comcast to concede something on price, because they are actually worried about towns trying to follow suit with Longmont. Either way it doesn't matter, it still ended up being cheaper in the short term.

Even with your proximity to Longmont, I'll be VERY surprised if Comcast does anything at all about your speed (or price).

Cable companies are notorious for this stuff, and Comcast is renowned to be the worst of the bunch.

Oct 24, 2020#91

GasBandit

So I'm working today on site... commissioning a big combined classroom. I get up to go to the bathroom, and lock my laptop naturally.

I come back to see a mother fucking windows 10 update in progress.

I had a bunch of shit open and unsaved >_<

Fuck. You. Microsoft.

NEVER. UPDATE.

Oct 24, 2020#92

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
~~NEVER. UPDATE.~~ ALWAYS. SAVE.

FTFY

—Patrick

Oct 24, 2020#93

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
FTFY

—Patrick

As a programmer who's lost so much work to crashes, etc....I just habitually hit control-s every 5 minutes or so. I barely even think about it any more.

Oct 24, 2020#94

PatrThom

Tinwhistler said:
I just habitually hit control-s every 5 minutes or so.

Yep. Just like tapping the reload button between skirmishes.
Be prepared!

—Patrick

Oct 24, 2020#95

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
I come back to see a mother fucking windows 10 update in progress.

Also:

How to configure Windows 10 active hours to avoid sudden restarts during updates

You can stop Windows 10 from restarting your PC automatically to apply updates while you're actively using it. In this guide, we show you how.

www.windowscentral.com

—Patrick

Oct 28, 2020#96

bhamv3

A few days ago, Windows 10 wouldn't shut down. I'd tell it to shut down, it would, and then it immediately started up again. At first I thought I'd accidentally selected "restart" instead, but nope, it was starting itself back up after shutting down. I was mildly spooked.

I had to disable something called "fast startup" to get it to stop doing that. I didn't even know I had fast startup enabled. My computer had never done anything like this before. Not sure if this was due to a recent Windows update or something, but it was a bit annoying and creepy.

Oct 30, 2020#97

Cog

It's time for my annual "Let's try Linux". I wanted to test the performance of emulators in my pc with linux. I have three screens. The icons appeared in one screen, the menu in another, and the main screen was empty. I can't find how to correct that. Also my pc needed to reboot after updates. I thought that didn't happens on linux.

Oct 30, 2020#98

DarkAudit

Cog said:
Also my pc needed to reboot after updates. I thought that didn't happens on linux

Certain things, like some drivers and especially kernel-related updates, require a reboot. It's far less often than with Windows, but it happens.

Nov 6, 2020#99

GasBandit

Network admins will fight tooth and nail and sandbag for hours to avoid doing one task that would take them 90 seconds.

Also, I get griped at for e-mailing them directly. I have to e-mail someone else so they can put in a request to someone else so they can assign the task to the network admin. Because that way it takes 2 hours to get something done instead of 5 minutes.

Whatever, I guess. I'm paid hourly.

Nov 9, 2020#100

PatrThom

Looks like Phision and Silicon Motion are finally releasing native (i.e., faster & lower-power/heat) PCIe v4.0 NVMe controllers instead of the less efficient 4.0-interface-bolted-onto-a-3.0-controller method they’ve been doing.

...which is great because the specs for PCIe 6.0 are on track to be released next year. Starting to wonder if anyone is going to bother using v5.0 for anything.

—Patrick

Nov 15, 2020#101

bhamv3

The D:\ drive on my laptop has vanished. So now I'll probably have to open this sucker up and fiddle with the cables, see if that fixes it.

Nov 16, 2020#102

bhamv3

Oof, I just watched a teardown video for this. I can see myself accidentally breaking a couple of things within the first three steps or so. Maybe I should send it in for repairs.

Dec 13, 2020#103

PatrThom

PatrThom said:
This thread is now about scalpers.

Ok, so is this one.
I know we had a discussion about Apple's new headphones, and how a price point of $550 seemed... high.
But apparently there's plenty of people willing to spring that much for them, since they're apparently being scalped on eBay for $1500... and up.

Scalping is the new Bitcoin, I guess. Instead of hashrate, we're going to see people start rating their GPUs by their scalprate, by how many times a second that GPU can reload a webpage to try to submit a purchase order.

--Patrick

Jan 20, 2021#104

PatrThom

Playing Crossout on my PC tonight (yes I still play it), when my gaming computer suddenly makes a sound like you hear when someone throws a branch into a wood chipper, and I immediately exit the game mid-match and shut it down to find out what is causing the loud VRRRRRRRRR it is now making. Pop the side off and look around and, near as I can tell, the front intake fan either had a big ball of lint break loose and get sucked into the fan blades or else it was one of these bastards getting mulched while looking for a cozy place to wait for Spring.

Stupid Arthopoda.

--Patrick

Jan 20, 2021#105

Bones

PatrThom said:
Playing Crossout on my PC tonight (yes I still play it), when my gaming computer suddenly makes a sound like you hear when someone throws a branch into a wood chipper, and I immediately exit the game mid-match and shut it down to find out what is causing the loud VRRRRRRRRR it is now making. Pop the side off and look around and, near as I can tell, the front intake fan either had a big ball of lint break loose and get sucked into the fan blades or else it was one of these bastards getting mulched while looking for a cozy place to wait for Spring.

Stupid Arthopoda.

--Patrick

that is why my case has screens, fuck that on ice.

Jan 20, 2021#106

PatrThom

Bones said:
that is why my case has screens

This case is reeeeeeally old.
Like, flip-down shutters over the DVD/CD drives, I-don't-know-what-HDMI-means, no USB3 support old.

--Patrick

Jan 21, 2021#107

DarkAudit

Wanted to blow the dust out of my case for the first time in forever. The front cover resisted coming of, so I tug a little harder. The cover did come off, but snapped 90% of the pins holding it on. It's still secure after putting it back, but dammit.

Jan 21, 2021#108

Bubble181

I have the side panel off permanently, because the front fan needs to be manually stopped a few times before it'll whirr away happily. Otherwise it just sounds like a vacuum trying to suck up metal ball bearings. Used to restart 3 times every time I wanted to do something but I've now found just sticking my hand in there to stop the blades works just as well, and it's probably better for the computer.

Feb 3, 2021#109

Bubble181

Chrome mobile now enforced the use of grouped tabs, and I absolutely hate hate hate it. I'm sure there'll be some hidden way of turning it off (I haven't checked flags etc yet, just the settings).
I can see how it ought be useful in some cases, but for people who browse like me, it's just a hassle, a whole bunch of extra clicks, and if slows switching over down a lot. Also, swiping downward opens a bar at the bottom of the screen to quickly jump to other tabs in the same group... Taking up my screen real estate. This quick bar might help the slower switches... If it would just stay away unless I want it to. That's NOT every time I swipe downward. Grrr. Arghhhh.

Feb 3, 2021#110

grub

I found it here:

Go to
chrome://flags
Search grid
And disable

I had to restart my phone before I could change it.

Feb 13, 2021#111

Fun Size

I finally got to wire all of the things required for my first animatronic part - an eye mechanism. It did nothing, so now I get to figure out how to debug hobby electronics, which I have literally no time for (I was following an online design and using my birthday as an excuse to take the time to do this).

Apr 20, 2021#112

PatrThom

A moment of silence, please, for my old GPU* which failed after something like 8 years of service. Replacing it with something new is going to be next to impossible without bending my wallet backwards over a counter. Buuut...

...good thing when I bought it back in 2014 or whatever, I also bought a spare!

--Patrick
*had to update the video, the first one was so annoying,

May 5, 2021#113

PatrThom

Cranky FINALLY decided to take the dive to newer storage.
He's been running since 2015 on a 400GB Intel 750 SSD (which is an absolutely amazing SSD, even today) but trying to install games has been a nightmare because a single game install these days can eat up as much as 80-120GB. So this past weekend we finally had him step up to a 2TB HP EX950 mounted in a carrier. Don't knock the fact that it has an HP logo on it, it's actually one of the top performing PCIe v3 drives out there, and it was on sale.

Installed card & carrier, system recognized it just fine, downloaded and installed the free version of Macrium Reflect and successfully cloned the drive over on the first try. Even remembered to increase the partition size from 400GB to the full 2TB before hitting "go!" Moved the new card to replace the old one aaaand... it wouldn't boot. Boot settings were correct. Couldn't even boot to diagnostic boot because boot would just hang on start with the drive activity light staying on for many minutes before going dark and staying there.

So I swapped out the new drive for the old one to return it back to the original configuration. Still wouldn't boot (or else would take ages and ages to boot, not a good sign for such a fast SSD). Scandisk found nothing. "Repair boot issues" did nothing. Hours pass. And then I realize something... where did the D: drive go?

See, because his (old) SSD has such a low capacity, I added 2x 2.5in 1TB WD Red in a 3.5in RAID-1 adapter connected via SATA to give him a place to offload any stuff he didn't need fast access to, with the idea that it would be safer than a single external drive. Well apparently the RAID adapter (or one or more of the drives inside of it) picked exactly that day to fail. So I disconnected it. Computer now boots flawlessly. Swapped to new drive. Computer still boots flawlessly. Left him to gleefully download probably 500GB of game data overnight.

So now I have to find out what's up with the RAID adapter and either fix it or extract and manually hook up the drives inside of it to get back what was on them. So stupid.

--Patrick

May 11, 2021#114

Far

We're a software company...

May 11, 2021#115

Bubble181

Far said:
View attachment 37831

We're a software company...

I called a customer today, and when I asked her to open a file in Excel, she asked me to call back later when someone from IT could be there to help.
I tried, but, yeah, no, she really did need someone to open it for her.

May 18, 2021#116

Ravenpoe

So, I think my ssd might be dying. It started with some steam games... downloading an update lead to corrupted files. Trying to uninstall and reinstall the game lead to more corrupted files. Trying to reinstall steam leads to steam not working, and now an automatic update left my pc completely unable to boot, requiring that I rollback to before the update. Does this sound like drive problems to anyone else?

May 18, 2021#117

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
Does this sound like drive problems to anyone else?

Could be. Many SSDs switch to "read-only" mode when they fail BUT the thing they usually don't tell you is that it will only keep working until you reboot, after which it probably stops recognizing the drive. So if it's still working, grab what you wanna save onto an external, just in case.

It could also be a flaky cable or controller, so it MIGHT not actually be the drive. You might try reading the drive's S.M.A.R.T. data to see if that reveals anything. The three main ones to watch for are "Bad sector count" (drive) "Pending sector count" (drive) and "CRC error count" (cable).

--Patrick

Aug 22, 2021#118

PatrThom

This probably belongs more in a "funny pictures" type thread, but whatever.

( @GasBandit can appreciate this, I'm sure)

I can intimately feel the exasperation in this post. It is palpable.
But what I also find amusing is that someone decided to make a subreddit for IT that uses the F7U12 nomenclature. SUCH an IT nerd thing to do, and adds so much meta.

--Patrick

Aug 25, 2021#119

Bubble181

Don't know where to put this, could've gone here, could've gone in the regular minor rant thread, or the stories from work thread (but that's more lighthearted I guess)...
So anyway, we support a whole bunch of software and online solutions. One of the fairly new ones is not being really properly supported at the moment, so we now got a questionnaire to fill in to gauge everyone's knowledge of this to see where and what is needed as far as training goes. Fair enough.
It starts off fairly easily ("do you know where to find the installer?" and that sort of thing).
And then it goes on to questions like "explain your understanding of all functionalities in the Agent"
Err, the user manual is 198 pages. I'm not saying I know all about all functions available, but do you really need me to list off "new shipment" - click this for a new shipment, "cancel shipment" - click this to cancel a shipment, "printer locations" - click this to open a menu to choose which printers to use, "pending shipment" - click this to go to the Pending Shipments screen" and so on and so on? Mind you, I asked, and I'm NOT ALLOWED TO USE SCREENSHOTS, TEXT ONLY.
Whoever created this questionnaire is a MANIAC. And whatever manager approved this idea is an IDIOT.

Aug 25, 2021#120

mikerc

Bubble181 said:
Whoever created this questionnaire is a MANIAC. And whatever manager approved this idea is an IDIOT.

The questionnaire might have been created for different software with much less functionality and was repurposed for use with this software. The manager that signed off on it is still an idiot though.

Aug 25, 2021#121

Bubble181

I guess it may have been adapted from something else, but some of the other later questions were very solution-specific ("how do you set up option X to work with integrator tool Y to achieve result Z", "how many projects would you need to set up to turn this type of input files into a stable solution that would output valid labels and show examples" (yes, work out how to set up flows and writing it all out by hand...ARGH). Someone who knew the software at least added questions.
Half of these questions frankly don't even apply to me, I'm support, if it's about setting up new workflows I'm supposed to just send it on to Field, I'm not allowed to mess with that. Still wrote the explanation on how to do it, though :cool:

Aug 30, 2021#122

Yoshimickster

WELL-I'm either gonna have to get a new mother board, return the legacy Nvidia I got, OR start a fresh build, either way that's on me for not checking.

Aug 30, 2021#123

PatrThom

Yoshimickster said:
WELL-I'm either gonna have to get a new mother board, return the legacy Nvidia I got, OR start a fresh build, either way that's on me for not checking.

Why would you need a new motherboard? A new case, maybe, but a new board?

--Patrick

Aug 30, 2021#124

Yoshimickster

PatrThom said:
Why would you need a new motherboard? A new case, maybe, but a new board?

--Patrick

WELL-the motherboard is fine, its just theoretically I can't add the part I want to the system because the HDMI port on my Motherboard MAY be permanently disabled, and the graphics card I got don't got a HDMI port. I MIGHT be able to be work around it in BIOS but LORD knows if I know the cheatcode to get it to work, mucked around in it too much today and I had to re-insert the CMOS battery just so's I can get my PC to show up on my monitor.

Aug 30, 2021#125

GasBandit

Yoshimickster said:
WELL-the motherboard is fine, its just theoretically I can't add the part I want to the system because the HDMI port on my Motherboard MAY be permanently disabled, and the graphics card I got don't got a HDMI port. I MIGHT be able to be work around it in BIOS but LORD knows if I know the cheatcode to get it to work, mucked around in it too much today and I had to re-insert the CMOS battery just so's I can get my PC to show up on my monitor.

Amazon product

I use these alllll the time. Almost every single job, customer gives us a PC with only displayport outs, and we gotta have HDMI for our AV gear.

Aug 30, 2021#126

Yoshimickster

GasBandit said:
Amazon product

I use these alllll the time. Almost every single job, customer gives us a PC with only displayport outs, and we gotta have HDMI for our AV gear.

Sweet strawberry Jesus, THANK YOU, I'd say it'd muck up my USB organizational system but FUCK it I'm doin' it!

ALSO-are Amazon ads not showing up on anyone else's PC, or is that an Adblock thing?

Aug 30, 2021#127

Dave

Adblock.

Aug 30, 2021#128

DarkAudit

My surplus Optiplex doesn't have HDMI, but it does have DisplayPort. I bought a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter from Best Buy and never looked back.

Aug 30, 2021#129

PatrThom

Easy to go DP or mDP -> HDMI, much harder to go the other direction.
So usually if a card only has one kind of output it's gonna be some flavor of DP.

--Patrick

Sep 1, 2021#130

bhamv3

My laptop is gradually failing piece by piece. First the D:\ drive will only be detected about half the time when I start it up, so if it doesn't find the D:\ drive then I need to shut down and restart until it does. Then the touchpad started becoming unresponsive, but I usually use a USB mouse so it's not a huge deal. And now the built-in microphone has apparently died, which is more problematic because I use this laptop for remote meetings, and it only has one 3.5mm port that functions as both the headphone jack and the microphone jack, depending on what you plug in. Sure, I could plug in a microphone, but then I'd need to use the laptop's speakers, and that's not a good idea for remote meetings.

Sep 1, 2021#131

GasBandit

bhamv3 said:
My laptop is gradually failing piece by piece. First the D:\ drive will only be detected about half the time when I start it up, so if it doesn't find the D:\ drive then I need to shut down and restart until it does. Then the touchpad started becoming unresponsive, but I usually use a USB mouse so it's not a huge deal. And now the built-in microphone has apparently died, which is more problematic because I use this laptop for remote meetings, and it only has one 3.5mm port that functions as both the headphone jack and the microphone jack, depending on what you plug in. Sure, I could plug in a microphone, but then I'd need to use the laptop's speakers, and that's not a good idea for remote meetings.

I recommend a USB headset.

Unless you can, you know, swing a new laptop.

Sep 1, 2021#132

bhamv3

GasBandit said:
I recommend a USB headset.

Unless you can, you know, swing a new laptop.

A USB headset is an option, because I do have the spare USB port for it. Though I am also thinking about getting a new laptop, because the recent lockdown in Taiwan has led to my wife pretty much taking over the desktop computer, resulting in me doing most of my gaming on my laptop. And this laptop isn't exactly bad for gaming (i5-8250U, GTX 1050, 12GB ram) but it could be better.

Sep 8, 2021#133

bhamv3

Now my D:\ drive will randomly disappear while I'm using the laptop. I suspect it's a hardware issue, probably a loose connection or something, but from my rudimentary research this laptop is really finicky to crack open and fiddle with.

So time to get a new laptop I guess.

Sep 10, 2021#134

bhamv3

So now I have a new laptop.

I7-11800H@2.30GHz, 16GB of RAM, RTX 3070.

Sep 10, 2021#135

PatrThom

You didn't tell us what size your drive is. Hopefully at least 512GB, 1TB would be even better.
Your next stop will no doubt be 32GB RAM, unless you run out of drive space within the next 6mo.

--Patrick

Sep 10, 2021#136

bhamv3

Originally it was a 512GB SSD but I sprung for the 1TB upgrade. I believe I can also stick a HDD in there if I want, but I haven't looked into it in detail.

Sep 18, 2021#137

Bubble181

I've been thinking about building a new pc for a good long while now, but prices... Man, it's ridiculous.
The same graphics card costs $1400 in the USA, €1270 in Germany (about $1490), and... €1490 in Belgium (about $1750).
I could literally have a forumite buy this stuff and FedEx it to me, pay all import and shipping fees, and still be cheaper off. Sometimes taxes really suck.

Of course, on the other hand... While I still like to consider myself a gamer... I've still never run into a game I wanted to play but couldn't, and those I have that are near the edge I don't play anyway (I have Jedi Fallen Order installed and have literally not booted it up once), and given my current mental health half of me is telling myself not to invest in that kind of stuff because I won't be around in 3 months anyway, and it all adds up to "not going to happen any time soon".

Sep 18, 2021#138

PatrThom

I honestly can't recommend doing a new build right now unless you absolutely HAVE to. Pricing and availability are stupidly weighted in favor of seller(s) right now, and the speculators are murdering anything decent that does happen to make it to market.

--Patrick

Sep 18, 2021#139

GasBandit

Laptops are still somewhat reasonable, but yeah, building a new desktop PC right now is going to come with a 200% markup.

Sep 18, 2021#140

Bubble181

I know, but it's been like that for... What, three years now? I remember "wait 'til the 2000-series drops so the 1080ti drops in price" way back when. The 1080ti is still one of the more viable bang for buck cards now and it's four years old.

Sep 18, 2021#141

PatrThom

Bubble181 said:
it's been like that for... What, three years now?

I thought it started some time in late 2019/early 2020, but it looks like the actual start date of ballooning GPU prices was December of 2017 (GeForce GTX 10x0/Radeon Vega), meaning we're coming up on four years of this shit.

PC gaming is becoming way harder to get into, and that sucks

Just when you think PC gaming is becoming more affordable and accessible.

www.pcgamer.com

--Patrick

Sep 19, 2021#142

GasBandit

Bubble181 said:
I know, but it's been like that for... What, three years now? I remember "wait 'til the 2000-series drops so the 1080ti drops in price" way back when. The 1080ti is still one of the more viable bang for buck cards now and it's four years old.

TBH, unless you're doing a lot of VR (like, AR embedded VR that you are then streaming in real time) or insisting on 4k at 60fps. you don't need a 3000 series card. My 1060 3gb, the most bargainy of the 10 series, still plays everything that doesn't go in goggles marvelously in 1080p60.

Sep 26, 2021#143

PatrThom

Microchip shortages, CPU/GPU(/console) scalpers, RAM/flash price fluctuations, alleged "spy chips" on motherboards, cryptocurrency demand, and now...

Price Hikes and Shortages: Production Uncertainty for Electronic Parts in 2021 - Z2Data

Electronic industry expects increased prices and lead times for electronic parts due to shortages and uncertainty.

www.z2data.com

...yes that's right, now it's not just chips, but also other surface-mount components like resistors, chokes, capacitors, and so on. Companies like Rubycon, Nippon-Chemicon, and other well-known names in the electronics industry are all succumbing to COVID-19 and other factors, leading to shortages of even the most basic electronic components found on circuit boards everywhere. Heck, even raw material prices are going up due to supply constraints. I didn't even really know anything about Ho before reading these stories. And supplies aren't expected to recover for as much as six months...IF nothing else happens to disrupt things even further, that is. It's gonna get to the point where you can't even buy a wireless doorbell or a walkie-talkie if this keeps up.

--Patrick

Oct 12, 2021#144

PatrThom

Microsoft, regarding Windows 11: "We pretty much require that your system be built around Intel's 8th generation ‘Coffee Lake’ CPU or newer architecture or else your system will be flagged by the upgrade advisor tool as not meeting the requirements for Windows 11."
The *nix community: "Goddammit, Intel! Why did you hopelessly break HPET reliability in your 8th generation and later CPUs?"
Consumers: "You guyyys! I just wanted to dual boot my machine!

"

--Patrick

Nov 19, 2021#145

Cat

Why does imgur not show me any progress for my uploads on the app or in my browser? People are paid more than I will ever make to design this

Nov 19, 2021#146

GasBandit

Cat said:
Why does imgur not show me any progress for my uploads on the app or in my browser? People are paid more than I will ever make to design this

Imgur's been on the downslide for a long time now. Just waiting for the next starry-eyed idealist startup to come along for everybody to jump to, that gets its 12-18 months before it has to actually start making a profit/paying for overhead, and turns into what all other image hosts turn into since even flickr and photobucket.

Nov 19, 2021#147

Cat

GasBandit said:
Imgur's been on the downslide for a long time now. Just waiting for the next starry-eyed idealist startup to come along for everybody to jump to, that gets its 12-18 months before it has to actually start making a profit/paying for overhead, and turns into what all other image hosts turn into since even flickr and photobucket.

I've been using bc it's so easy to bulk upload but on my desktop it's not even putting them in the right order

Nov 19, 2021#148

GasBandit

Cat said:
I've been using bc it's so easy to bulk upload but on my desktop it's not even putting them in the right order

I've never had it upload multiple things in the right order. Then I fix the order... then it reverts back to the wrong order.

Nov 19, 2021#149

Cat

GasBandit said:
I've never had it upload multiple things in the right order. Then I fix the order... then it reverts back to the wrong order.

The app at least gets the order right for me, I had to move my screenshots to my phone for the upload lol

Nov 19, 2021#150

GasBandit

Cat said:
The app at least gets the order right for me, I had to move my screenshots to my phone for the upload lol

The phone app has sooooo many other issues though, from what I read. I refuse to use it in any case.

Nov 19, 2021#151

Cat

GasBandit said:
The phone app has sooooo many other issues though, from what I read. I refuse to use it in any case.

I can believe that if even what is functioning correctly is still shit

Nov 19, 2021#152

Tinwhistler

To be fair, when you copy a group of files, Windows does not properly order the list that it passes to whatever program/api. It's been like this since like Win3.1.
Here's a 6 year old StackOverflow question bitching about it.

incorrect order of files in dragdrop event in vb.net 2013

I'm dragging multiple files from Windows Explorer into my VB.net program. Everything works, except that in the DragDrop event the order of files that I get from e.Data.GetData, appears to be random...

stackoverflow.com

So if you're selecting a bunch of files and dragging them to Imgur on the web, imgur is at the mercy of whatever random file order Windows decides to send.

Nov 19, 2021#153

Cat

Tinwhistler said:
To be fair, when you copy a group of files, Windows does not properly order the list that it passes to whatever program/api. It's been like this since like Win3.1.
Here's a 6 year old StackOverflow question bitching about it.

incorrect order of files in dragdrop event in vb.net 2013

I'm dragging multiple files from Windows Explorer into my VB.net program. Everything works, except that in the DragDrop event the order of files that I get from e.Data.GetData, appears to be random...

stackoverflow.com

So if you're selecting a bunch of files and dragging them to Imgur on the web, imgur is at the mercy of whatever random file order Windows decides to send.

Huh, did not know that

Edit: tried deleting an album and now I have 50 loose images to delete goddamnit

Nov 19, 2021#154

GasBandit

Cat said:
Huh, did not know that

Edit: tried deleting an album and now I have 50 loose images to delete goddamnit

If you use the website from a PC, you can select multiple images to delete all at once.

Nov 19, 2021#155

Cat

GasBandit said:
If you use the website from a PC, you can select multiple images to delete all at once.

I was, didn't notice an option to select more than one post at a time so I used tabs and hit delete as I flipped through them

Dec 7, 2021#156

PatrThom

Nowhere is safe from superfluous RGB.

Razer made a $60 RGB cooling fan with MagSafe for your iPhone

Of course there are Chroma LED lights built in.

www.theverge.com

NOWHERE.
(available for iPhone and Android)

--Patrick

Jan 5, 2022#157

PatrThom

PatrThom said:
the board I've chosen is absolute effing overkill

Ha ha well looks like supply is so tight that suppliers are only selling this board directly to OEMs or as part of an entire system and not to the general public. I have a call in to a supplier to see if they can release one (just one!) board for me, but I've already ordered most of the other components (because I didn't know there was any kind of restriction on the boards) and if/when they get here it's gonna be a real shame if I can't get my hands on a board to slot them into. Whooops.

--Patrick

Apr 17, 2022#158

bhamv3

Why is it so hard for my ISP to maintain an Internet connection? Every few months the Internet will start going down for several hours at a time. I'd call, they'd send a tech, the tech will mess around with things, the connection will come back, and then the cycle repeats.

Apr 18, 2022#159

PatrThom

Next time, find out what they're messing with.

--Patrick

Apr 18, 2022#160

bhamv3

Last time around the guy replaced some of the cables physically connecting the router to the... connection thingy in the wall. He suspected that there was something wrong with the cable or the connector.

Apr 18, 2022#161

GasBandit

bhamv3 said:
Last time around the guy replaced some of the cables physically connecting the router to the... connection thingy in the wall. He suspected that there was something wrong with the cable or the connector.

What's your uplink? Is this cable modem? DSL? Or just an ethernet plug that goes somewhere-you-know-not?

Apr 18, 2022#162

bhamv3

GasBandit said:
What's your uplink? Is this cable modem? DSL? Or just an ethernet plug that goes somewhere-you-know-not?

Cable, I think. The router (provided by the ISP) connects to an F type connector that goes into the wall. That's pretty much all I know.

Apr 18, 2022#163

GasBandit

bhamv3 said:
Cable, I think. The router (provided by the ISP) connects to an F type connector that goes into the wall. That's pretty much all I know.

It's rare for a router to have a coax uplink, it's probably a modem with a built-in router. It seems rather odd to me that a bad coax cable would take several visits, but I suppose dumber things have happened.

Apr 18, 2022#164

bhamv3

GasBandit said:
It's rare for a router to have a coax uplink, it's probably a modem with a built-in router. It seems rather odd to me that a bad coax cable would take several visits, but I suppose dumber things have happened.

Any suggestions on what I could do? Aside from harass the ISP every time my Internet goes down?

Apr 18, 2022#165

GasBandit

bhamv3 said:
Any suggestions on what I could do? Aside from harass the ISP every time my Internet goes down?

Unfortunately, if it is upstream of your modem, it is pretty much out of your hands. Of course, the modem itself could also be the problem, especially if it uses the Puma chipset. Replacing it with one of your own that uses a Motorola chipset might help in that case, but it is a bit of a hassle to get your ISP on board with it sometimes. At the very least, you will have to spend time on their support line to tell them your new modem's CMAC.

Apr 18, 2022#166

PatrThom

Keep an eye on whether anything interacts with that cable--furniture, pets, weather, guests, foot traffic, other nearby electronics, mechanical strain, etc. If none of those things are a concern, you may want to peek at the cable itself just to see whether the center wire is too long/too short at either end, or consider getting a shorter cable (if possible). If the cable is fine, then it is either upstream OR something to do with your router. If you reboot your router and everything goes normal, then it's probably sloppy router software that just needs to be rebooted every month. If that doesn't resolve it, then we're starting to get into stuff that's outside of the consumer realm (router config, intrusion attempts, other people on your loop).

--Patrick

Apr 18, 2022#167

ncts_dodge_man

Also, if there are any cable splitters before your modem, try to remove them (if possible) - those degrade signal too.

Oct 19, 2022#168

GasBandit

I hate tech people online, especially anime fans. Everybody's a fucking Mort.

"Hey, Yameii, when you name your torrent 'Show name 6th season episode 4' Sonarr thinks it's season 1 episode 4 because the ENTIRE TORRENTING WORLD has standardized on S06E04 for season and episode codes and you're just being contrarian. Would you mind naming things in accordance with established practice?"

"No, Sonarr sucks, you should use Medusa."

"Sonarr has worked just fine for literally every other show that YOU have not uploaded. You are literally the only group I have to manually spoon feed, and it's because of this issue. But just to give it a try, I have now tried to set up medusa and it is 9 flavors of arcane inscrutable bullshit that never works and often makes things worse. So your pet favorite niche torrent scraper only works for you and your iconoclastic naming convention. So that's a no go. And it sucks that I have no alternative other than to manually load your torrents and manually import in sonarr them because no other group will duplicate the effort since you're doing it already. But it's not like I'm paying you to do your thing so I guess I just have to put up with it."

God I miss Golumpa. His shit worked just fine. Now the only consistent purveyor of english dubbed anime torrents is Yameii. I almost hope Yameii gets busted too. Almost.

Oct 19, 2022#169

GasBandit

In case anybody's confused by what I mean about being a "Mort."

Jan 4, 2023#170

PatrThom

I keep getting these weird network hiccups on our LAN. I thought it was the wireless, so I completely disabled one of our three APs. Didn't get worse, but also didn't get better. Finally thought about a ping test, and I can now confirm that what we're having is either due to our modem or my router, because it happens just like this even on a computer connected directly to the router, like so:
75ohm Internet cable -> ISP-provided modem -> 1m Cat5 -> ridiculously overbuilt 8-port router -> 1m Cat5e -> Test computer

Code:

Pinging halforums.com [192.64.115.225] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=82ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=95ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=98ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=83ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=51
Reply from 192.64.115.225: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=51

See, this is the part I don't get. My connection/turnaround time is ROCK SOLID (only varying by a bare handful of milliseconds each ping)...except that it'll just up and lose what, 1 out of every 32 packets? I thought it was due to the flow control I have on the router (which is set to occasionally drop packets for any client that tries to suck up all the bandwidth in order to throttle it down), but it continues even after I turned off the traffic shaping, so it's not that.
The rant? Now I have to contact my ISP and attempt to get them to understand that 1) I have a problem, and that 2) it is definitively being caused by something on their end, which will require being connected to someone who understands these things well enough to be just as confused as I am about what's going on.

--Patrick

Jan 4, 2023#171

bhamv3

Someone at your ISP is an XKCD fan?

Jan 10, 2023#172

PatrThom

It looks like it may have been the patch cable between the modem and my router. My speed was upgraded from 100Mbps (110ish effective) to 200Mbps (180-210 effective), then again to 300Mbps (265ish effective) BUT nobody upgraded the patch cable from standard Cat5 to at least Cat5e, meaning the link from my modem to my router officially only supported up to 100Mbps. The tech who came out did also find we had a second coax run from the distro box to our property that wasn't terminated and another few things, and also replaced our DOCSIS 3.0 modem with a newer DOCSIS 3.1 model. So who knows what the real reason was? ...but it was probably the older patch cable.

ANYWAY: On to my new rant.
Why is it so dang hard to find a new monitor??? All I want is a monitor that is:

240Hz
IPS or xLED (not VA or TN)
10-bit HDR 400nits minimum
At least 2K (1440p) resolution
HDMI 2.1 (will accept 2.0) and DP 1.4
Minimum 27in diagonal measurement
Under US$1000

Every monitor I can find is lacking in at least ONE of these categories. Arghhhhlgl...
Oh sure, CES was full of a bunch of really interesting monitors, but most of them don't even have prices yet and aren't going to be coming out on the market until around Christmas of 2023, according to the mfrs.

--Patrick

Jan 11, 2023#173

mikerc

PatrThom said:
aren't going to be coming out on the market until around Christmas of 2023, according to the mfrs.

Unsure if you mean manufacturers or motherfuckers.

Jan 11, 2023#174

GasBandit

I mean, that IS a pretty stringent level of requirements.

Jan 11, 2023#175

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
I mean, that IS a pretty stringent level of requirements.

it is not it's perfectly normal you hush I know you are but what am I

--Patrick

Jan 11, 2023#176

figmentPez

240Hz is kind of a crazy requirement to me. Especially since you didn't list Freesync, or is that just a given for 240Hz monitors?

Jan 11, 2023#177

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
240Hz is kind of a crazy requirement to me. Especially since you didn't list Freesync, or is that just a given for 240Hz monitors?

Most monitors in that class have some form of VRR included. It's practically expected at that point.
I don't know which video card I'll ultimately be using with it, so at this point which one(s) it includes is less of a concern.

--Patrick

Mar 14, 2023#178

PatrThom

PatrThom said:
All I want is a monitor that is:

240Hz

IPS or xLED (not VA or TN)

10-bit HDR 400nits minimum

At least 2K (1440p) resolution

HDMI 2.1 (will accept 2.0) and DP 1.4

Minimum 27in diagonal measurement

Under US$1000

Eventually settled on the Gigabyte M27Q-X (US$450-ish). I ordered it on Thu afternoon from B&H and it arrived Sat 10a.
The rant? Between taxes and work schedule and other obligations, I won’t even be able to open the box until Wed afternoon at the earliest.

—Patrick

Mar 21, 2023#179

Bubble181

I really hate how crappy Google's search algorithms have become over the last few years.
Sick, so trying to replay some easy-on-the-mind old classics. In this case, Warlords: Battlecry. Yes, the first one.
Now, several years ago (when this was already an old game), I could use google and easily find WBC walkthroughs, guides, and all that. There are far more for WBC2 and 3, but you could easily tell them apart, tell Google not to look for those, and with the right search choices and such, it was easy to get those for the first game on the first page of results.
These days, even with literally telling it to exclude ANYTHING containing the word "sequel" or the numbers 2 or 3 or the Roman numerals or whatever, on the first 11 pages of Google results (yes, I actually went beyond the first page), I managed to find 3 links, all leading to the same walkthrough (which is not the one I'm looking for. I remember the file). Everything else is "popular" WBC3 guides, trainers, cheat lists, or WBC2 guides, sponsored links, suggestions, ads, etc.
Google has just gotten so incredibly unusable to find anything but the most popular or successful page that is somewhat tangentially related to your search terms it's appalling. If I just type in some random crap, ok, fine, but if I'm using multiple search operators MAYBE TAKE THOSE INTO ACCOUNT YOU PIECE OF CRAP.
I swear, I'd go back to using Altavista if it still existed. This can't be "the best search engine around". By now I'd damn well prefer using the Google of 2005 which actually showed what I was looking for. They're just making themselves useless.

Mar 21, 2023#180

Bubble181

OK, while I didn't find the actual old file I was looking for - BING returned better, more accurate results. BING.
That's like finding Internet Explorer actually providing a better experience than Chrome. Holy crap.

Mar 21, 2023#181

PatrThom

I, too, miss Lycos.
And Dogpile.

—Patrick

Mar 21, 2023#182

GasBandit

What's good for users is usually shitty for ad revenue.

What's good for ad revenue is usually shitty for users.

Companies built up a userbase in phase one, floated by investment capital that wants in on phase 2's profits.

Phase 2 is the enshittening of the user experience through monetization, because the users are now being sold as a product.

Phase 2 lasts until enough people get sick of the shittiness and move on to the next phase 1 venture that the thing in question collapses/gets sold to yahoo who shuts it down a few years later.

Mar 22, 2023#183

PatrThom

A week ago PatrThom said:
I won’t even be able to open the box until Wed afternoon at the earliest.

Another week gone, still in the box.

--Patrick

Mar 23, 2023#184

mikerc

Bubble181 said:
OK, while I didn't find the actual old file I was looking for - BING returned better, more accurate results. BING.
That's like finding Internet Explorer actually providing a better experience than Chrome. Holy crap.

Modern day Bing is very much a better search engine than modern day Google. No, it's not great but despite its reputation it is decent - and that's more than Google has been able to honestly claim for years.

Mar 23, 2023#185

GasBandit

mikerc said:
Modern day Bing is very much a better search engine than modern day Google. No, it's not great but despite its reputation it is decent - and that's more than Google has been able to honestly claim for years.

It is FAR and away superior if you're trying to find specific varieties of porn. :whistling:

Mar 23, 2023#186

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
It is FAR and away superior if you're trying to find specific varieties of porn.

The algorithm is so trained on finding what gas is looking for that it's learned to feel disgust

Mar 24, 2023#187

mikerc

Ravenpoe said:
The algorithm is so trained on finding what gas is looking for that it's learned to feel disgust

That's not disgust it's feeling :unibrow:

Mar 24, 2023#188

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
It is FAR and away superior if you're trying to find specific varieties of porn.

Now want a comparison of each search engine's response to the goat question.

--Patrick

Apr 19, 2023#189

PatrThom

OH MY GOD SO MUCH THIIIIIIS

--Patrick

Apr 28, 2023#190

PatrThom

Am on vac 'net so slow 4Mb/s 4000ms ping.
Civilization calls to me but not enough bars to answer.

--Patrick

Apr 28, 2023#191

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
Am on vac 'net so slow 4Mb/s 4000ms ping.
Civilization calls to me but not enough bars to answer.

--Patrick

That's enough to stream 720p from plex!

Apr 29, 2023#192

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
That's enough to stream 720p from plex!

The drop-outs are long enough that it sometimes takes 15min before I can reconnect to HF.
The spread between my signal/noise varies between 20dB to only 3dB over 802.11n and my AP is something like 30m away.

--Patrick

Apr 29, 2023#193

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
The drop-outs are long enough that it sometimes takes 15min before I can reconnect to HF.
The spread between my signal/noise varies between 20dB to only 3dB over 802.11n and my AP is something like 30m away.

--Patrick

"Time to move out of the sticks, gentlemen." - Winston Wolfe

Apr 29, 2023#194

Bubble181

I'm in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in France and I have 5g here. I don't even get that at home!

Apr 29, 2023#195

PatrThom

Am currently here:

According to Wikipedia, they had a total population of just 136 in 2020. And I can believe it. The cell coverage map just kinda fades out as you get closer to the tip of the Keweenaw. The annual snow thermometer shows they managed to “only” get just over 21ft (6.5m) of snow this year.

—Patrick

May 1, 2023#196

figmentPez

Computers are annoyingly weird sometimes. On my PC Netflix playback stutters when subtitles appear on screen. If the subtitles remain up playback smooths back out, but if they stop then the next line of dialogue causes stutter again. Turning subtitles off makes playback smooth. But here's the weirdest part, it's only full screen, and only when the window is in focus. If I put another window in focus, even the tiniest little bit of another program in the corner of the screen, playback with subtitles is smooth. I have no idea why this is. Reminds me of an issue I had back in the WinXP days where some sort of video playback would only be smooth as long as I kept moving my mouse.

May 1, 2023#197

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
it's only full screen, and only when the window is in focus. If I put another window in focus, even the tiniest little bit of another program in the corner of the screen, playback with subtitles is smooth.

This sounds like a viewport issue. The subtitles are being treated as their own window, which knocks your computer out of fullscreen (i.e., “exclusive”) mode in order to display layered windows. If your player has an option for “windowed” or “fullscrren-windowed” try that and see if that fixes it.

—Patrick

May 1, 2023#198

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
This sounds like a viewport issue. The subtitles are being treated as their own window, which knocks your computer out of fullscreen (i.e., “exclusive”) mode in order to display layered windows. If your player has an option for “windowed” or “fullscrren-windowed” try that and see if that fixes it.

—Patrick

It's Netflix, the player is probably a browser.

Which leads to the next question - WHICH browser?

And, of course, what video card, and are your drivers up to date.

May 1, 2023#199

figmentPez

GasBandit said:
It's Netflix, the player is probably a browser.

Which leads to the next question - WHICH browser?

And, of course, what video card, and are your drivers up to date.

Microsoft Edge, because that's the only one that does 1080p (Chrome and Firefox are limited to 720p on Windows, and Linux, according to Netflix). The issue also happened with the Netflix app, the last time I tested with it.

Video card is AMD RX 480. Graphics drivers are up to date, but this has been a periodic issue for years. At least I think there have been times when it hasn't been an issue.

May 1, 2023#200

GasBandit

figmentPez said:
Microsoft Edge, because that's the only one that does 1080p (Chrome and Firefox are limited to 720p on Windows, and Linux, according to Netflix). The issue also happened with the Netflix app, the last time I tested with it.

Video card is AMD RX 480. Graphics drivers are up to date, but this has been a periodic issue for years. At least I think there have been times when it hasn't been an issue.

The app might just be a wrapper for an Edge instance without exposing the URL, a lot of crappy devs do that sort of thing.

I wonder, even at 720p, does firefox experience the same subtitle issue? This kinda smells like SmEDGEma to me.

I'd also be curious if watching something with subtitles in, say, crunchyroll or plex in a browser has the same symptoms.

May 1, 2023#201

figmentPez

GasBandit said:
I'd also be curious if watching something with subtitles in, say, crunchyroll or plex in a browser has the same symptoms.

I thought that Netflix was the only problem, but I re-tested to be sure. Disney+ and Amazon Prime are fine. I don't have HBO Max anymore, so I can't retest, but it was working fine. Freevee stutters, though; which is weird because Freevee is tied to Prime Video, and I thought they were using the same player (the interface looks the same). I've tried two different Freevee shows, and they both do the subtitle stutter, but an Amazon Prime show does not.

Freevee does not have a stutter problem on Firefox (and can do 1080p*). I'll test Netflix on Firefox when I get a chance, I'm not currently logged-in there.

*Arbitrary DRM weirdness. Prime Video happily does 1080p in Firefox on Windows, but on Linux (on my Raspberry Pi, but I think in general as well) Prime is limited to 480p. Other streaming services play 720p on Linux, but won't do 1080p on Firefox+Windows. I assume this is because Microsoft has a deal with them to make Edge the "better" browser, but I can't figure out what Amazon has against Linux.

May 1, 2023#202

Tinwhistler

figmentPez said:
Computers are annoyingly weird sometimes. On my PC Netflix playback stutters when subtitles appear on screen. If the subtitles remain up playback smooths back out, but if they stop then the next line of dialogue causes stutter again. Turning subtitles off makes playback smooth. But here's the weirdest part, it's only full screen, and only when the window is in focus. If I put another window in focus, even the tiniest little bit of another program in the corner of the screen, playback with subtitles is smooth. I have no idea why this is. Reminds me of an issue I had back in the WinXP days where some sort of video playback would only be smooth as long as I kept moving my mouse.

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

these guy found the same issue, and use an always-on-top window to basically 'solve' the problem without fixing it.

May 1, 2023#203

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
*Arbitrary DRM weirdness. Prime Video happily does 1080p in Firefox on Windows, but on Linux (on my Raspberry Pi, but I think in general as well) Prime is limited to 480p. Other streaming services play 720p on Linux, but won't do 1080p on Firefox+Windows.

I believe this is because Widevine is required to properly play back the encrypted HD content, and Google is, uh, … resistant to providing a FOSS (and thereby reverse-engineerable) version of Widevine for the *nix crowd.

—Patrick

May 1, 2023#204

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
I believe this is because Widevine is required to properly play back the encrypted HD content, and Google is, uh, … resistant to providing a FOSS (and thereby reverse-engineerable) version of Widevine for the *nix crowd.

That's the excuse for why most streaming services are limited to 720p on Linux. However, that doesn't explain why Prime Video, seemingly alone among the streaming services, is limited to 480p on Linux, while at the same time being more permissive with browser playback on Windows.

May 1, 2023#205

PatrThom

I think we’d be able to draw some conclusions if we were able to see the real-time streaming stats/metrics, but I don’t know if the respective players allow you to do that any more.

—Patrick

May 4, 2023#206

PatrThom

No Safari, but I assume this was meant to specifically represent the choices available on WinOS.
Still. Yeah. This.

--Patrick

May 4, 2023#207

figmentPez

Liked because we don't have a "this is scary" rating.

May 4, 2023#208

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
View attachment 45041

No Safari, but I assume this was meant to specifically represent the choices available on WinOS.
Still. Yeah. This.

--Patrick

This meme format makes me nerd mad because it's backwards, in that scene Peter could only see clearly without his glasses.

May 4, 2023#209

PatrThom

Ravenpoe said:
This meme format makes me nerd mad because it's backwards, in that scene Peter could only see clearly without his glasses.

Oh good, I wasn't the only one.

--Patrick

May 5, 2023#210

evilmike

FIFY

May 5, 2023#211

PatrThom

Thank you, that's much better.

--Patrick

May 16, 2023#212

figmentPez

I loathe the push to make ad supported devices standard, but this one is exceptionally bad:

Telly, the ‘free’ smart TV with ads, has privacy policy red flags

First, this TV is "free" because it has a second screen dedicated to showing nothing but banner ads, and it has sensors to detect how many people are in the room watching (and probably gather a whole lot more information about them as well).

The sketchy levels get even higher when reading the privacy policy, which includes comments from someone at the company asking if they actually have the ability to delete information gathered about children under 13, as they claim to be able to do.

I hope this stinking pile of dog shit goes up in flames.

May 16, 2023#213

GasBandit

Permanent on screen banner ads just reminds me of one thing.

"GO WAY, BATIN. OW MY BALLS IS ON"

May 16, 2023#214

PatrThom

This is what Pluto does after selling to Paramount for $340mil, I guess.

--Patrick

May 17, 2023#215

PatrThom

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ins-spark-debate-among-cybersecurity-experts/

Earlier this month, Google introduced eight new top-level domains (TLD) that could be purchased for hosting websites or email addresses.
The new domains are .dad, .esq, .prof, .phd, .nexus, .foo, and for the topic of our article, the .zip and .mov domain TLDs.
[N]ow that they are TLDs, some messaging platforms and social media sites will automatically convert file names with .zip and .mov extensions into [clickable] URLs.

WHAT NO NO NO NO

--Patrick

May 17, 2023#216

Bubble181

At a certain point it gets really hard to attribute it to stupidity instead of malice.

May 17, 2023#217

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ins-spark-debate-among-cybersecurity-experts/

WHAT NO NO NO NO

--Patrick

It would have to be some terrible programming indeed to mistake
https://thissite.com/thisfile.zip (obviously a file)
with
https://thissite.zip (obviously a tld)

though I suppose if you were generically discussing a file...like "open mycontent.zip in your local drive"...but how often does that come up in casual conversation?

May 17, 2023#218

Bubble181

Tinwhistler said:
It would have to be some terrible programming indeed to mistake
https://thissite.com/thisfile.zip (obviously a file)
with
https://thissite.zip (obviously a tld)

though I suppose if you were generically discussing a file...like "open mycontent.zip in your local drive"...but how often does that come up in casual conversation?

"Can you download notascam.zip to keep as a backup please?"
"Hey man, you got to see this aweosme new video of Scarlett Johansson ScarJonaked.mov!"
"Please click here to download the videos of your trip to Jamaica: ScubaDiving123.zip!"

May 17, 2023#219

PatrThom

Tinwhistler said:
how often does that come up in casual conversation?

Because so many client OSes automagically use logic to convert any displayed text strings that they recognize as URLs (such as "halforums.com") into clickable links, the worry is that websites, notes, emails, messages, or the like -- even ones that were created prior to these TLDs being released -- will be "gamed" by people abusing this detection logic in order to convince clueless users to visit a website. As an example of this gamed logic, imagine you are emailing a pics.ZIP file from yourself to yourself, between a work and personal computer, let's say. When you open the email on the destination computer, you will see your email "Here are those pics I needed" or whatever, and there will be the icon in the email showing the file "pics.zip," which you can click on to download the file. The email client program will of course put the name of the file under that icon (again, "pics.zip") because that's what email clients do. BUT if someone registers the http://pics.zip/ URL and sets up a site, the existing URL-detection logic on the client's computer will say, "Oh hey, that's a text string that is also a URL" and so light it up as a hyperlink which you could easily click on because you would expect it to download the linked .ZIP file. They then have their site auto-download a file named "pics.zip" which is actually something entirely different than what you expected, and you go and automatically double-click on it because innocent ol' you is expecting it to be the pics that you just sent yourself, but nope! Malicious payload!

This is something that an email client could easily be updated to avoid, but of course the threat actors are counting on it to take a while before the IT community at large comes around to guarding against this sort of thing.

--Patrick

May 17, 2023#220

Tinwhistler

I hadn't even considered email..which would be a major issue, I agree

Aug 7, 2023#221

PatrThom

Son's HDD just failed.
Well, there goes 1TB of Minecraft worlds and mods/packs, we'll see what we can salvage once the drive gets replaced.

--Patrick

Aug 7, 2023#222

Dave

PatrThom said:
Son's HDD just failed.
Well, there goes 1TB of Minecraft worlds and mods/packs, we'll see what we can salvage once the drive gets replaced.

--Patrick

I just bought a 16 TB external. That gives me about 40 TB spread across 8 drives RAID 10 format. Hot swapping on the fly can be so nice.

Aug 7, 2023#223

GasBandit

Dave said:
I just bought a 16 TB external. That gives me about 40 TB spread across 8 drives RAID 10 format. Hot swapping on the fly can be so nice.

What made you decide to go raid 10 instead of, say, 5? Are you doing something that requires the faster write and rebuild time?

(I use raid 5 on my server)

Aug 7, 2023#224

PatrThom

I’m probably going to upgrade him to a 1TB SSD. He’s not gonna know what to do with that kind of speed.

—Patrick

Aug 7, 2023#225

Dave

GasBandit said:
What made you decide to go raid 10 instead of, say, 5? Are you doing something that requires the faster write and rebuild time?

(I use raid 5 on my server)

Some of the disks are plate read so I wanted faster read/write speed. I had the extra space so fuck it. I know it uses more space but I only do it for my media/plex stuff. My M.2 drives hold my games.

Aug 7, 2023#226

GasBandit

Dave said:
Some of the disks are plate read so I wanted faster read/write speed. I had the extra space so fuck it. I know it uses more space but I only do it for my media/plex stuff. My M.2 drives hold my games.

Well, it's not like you did anything wrong. Raid 10 is definitely the most solid way to go. But it's also the most expensive per byte.

But you get 90% of the read speed of 10 with 5 (though 66% of the write speed due to having to do parity calculations), and get to use n-1 drives worth of your total space instead of n/2. So if you had 4 10tb drives, a raid 5 would give you 30tb of space whereas a raid 10 would give you 20. And you have to expand your 10 in pairs, whereas you can expand a raid 5 1 drive at a time. 5 is a good option for those looking to get speed and redundancy for less money. And even if you're doing platter drives, motion video needs, at most, ~50 mbit per simultaneous user, and even the slowest single non-raid platter drive out there is gonna give you 600.

Aug 8, 2023#227

Tinwhistler

To NAS or not to NAS, that is the question.

That's not the same one you linked to me (maybe somewhere else). That one was this one and is 2.5". Yeah, that was just the first hit I found, which is a little cheaper. The second one I linked is the one I bought. Man. Your office is so CLEAN! You should see my house :P

www.halforums.com

Jan 29, 2024#228

PatrThom

PatrThom said:
Son's HDD just failed.
Well, there goes 1TB of Minecraft worlds and mods/packs, we'll see what we can salvage once the drive gets replaced.
I’m probably going to upgrade him to a 1TB SSD. He’s not gonna know what to do with that kind of speed.

Salvaged all of it. Put it all on freshly installed SSD.
Too bad he can't play right now because his privileges are taken away until he gets his schoolwork caught up, but at least that's complete.

My own rant: Built this new machine almost 2 years ago now. Only just last week finally installed the IGP drivers. Couldn't install 'em earlier because I had the IGP set to "Auto" in the BIOS which means it never got lit up since I never plugged anything into it, and that means 2 years where I never got to enjoy the benefit of Intel's v8 QuickSync (not that I was transcoding all that much, but still).

--Patrick

Apr 5, 2024#229

GasBandit

Roku has filed a patent for your TV to detect when you're paused and play 'relevant ads'. Nope, no thank you, not for me I'm afraid https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/ro...t-ads-nope-no-thank-you-not-for-me-im-afraid/

Apr 5, 2024#230

PatrThom

The article I saw had it titled like this:

Roku patent invents a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV

System would detect paused content on external devices and show ads on top.

arstechnica.com

...because what we here at Roku have determined is that you are not seeing enough ads.

--Patrick

Apr 5, 2024#231

Dave

God damn it we love our roku! You were supposed to be the chosen one!

Apr 6, 2024#232

GasBandit

Dave said:
God damn it we love our roku! You were supposed to be the chosen one!

Here at (corporation), one of our guiding principles is line go up. Our other guiding principle is rate at which line go up go up. And we will burn any bridge and poison as many wells as we need to in the pursuit of those principles.

Apr 6, 2024#233

Bubble181

GasBandit said:
Here at (corporation), one of our guiding principles is line go up. Our other guiding principle is rate at which line go up go up. And we will burn any bridge and poison as many wells as we need to in the pursuit of those principles.

Ah, I see you also work in (corporation). Hello, colleague. Let's go make line go up more.

Apr 7, 2024#234

GasBandit

May 2, 2024#235

GasBandit

Let me get this straight, local maroon-flavored university...
I have to train your IT staff to code as part of a 1 hour meeting? Well enough to make me completely unnecessary? I mean it's not like people spend years to get to the point I am or anything.

May 15, 2024#236

ThatNickGuy

Why the FUCK do companies give you a USB cord with USB-C to USB-C ports? My PC doesn't have any USB-C plugs. I'm pretty sure MOST PCs don't.

And yet, I just bought a Rugged USB-C external hard drive. I wanted to move all my GoPro footage onto it because I'm running out space on all of my hard drives. But the only plug it comes with is a USB-C to USB-C.

I tried using the cord I use to charge my phone, a USB-A to USB-C. My computer recognizes the device, but then it does nothing. It keeps making clicking noises and doesn't show up in File Explorer.

I give up. I'm returning this POS to Best Buy tomorrow.

May 15, 2024#237

PatrThom

ThatNickGuy said:
Why the FUCK do companies give you a USB cord with USB-C to USB-C ports? My PC doesn't have any USB-C plugs. I'm pretty sure MOST PCs don't.

I tried using the cord I use to charge my phone, a USB-A to USB-C. My computer recognizes the device, but then it does nothing. It keeps making clicking noises and doesn't show up in File Explorer.

USB-C started becoming "normal" on personal computers in 2016 or so.
One of the reasons it is finally spreading faster now is that USB-C ports can carry more power than USB-A ports, which are limited to just 12W or so. This means no more "hydra" Y-adapter plugs required to boost power, faster charging for phones and such, etc. The reason your drive is not working properly is likely because it is expecting at least 20-30W to come down that cord, but that would exceed USB-A's limit. You can probably get a powered hub that will make up for the power requirement, but that'll mean buying another thing that goes on your desk.

--Patrick

May 15, 2024#238

GasBandit

I can also attest that USB-C is becoming the de facto norm. Almost all the new PCs are coming with them now, and laptops have been coming with them since, as Pat says, 2016 or so. In fact, my USB-C port is pretty much the *only* port on my work laptop I use because it's what my docks connect to. And it's gotten so that I won't even consider buying a laptop that doesn't have a USB-C port that is both 100w power-accepting and Thunderbolt compatible.

Most of the pro AV laptop content inputs in the solutions we sell and program have started including USB-C connectors for laptops, many of them also delivering 60w or more to keep the laptop powered by that same port while getting video from them. They also join the room's cameras, mics, and speakers so that the entire room can be used in zoom/teams/webex/discord/whatever for videoconferencing.

So yeah, I understand that there's a lot of legacy gear out there, but for things to really be getting serious... the kid gloves come off, and USB-C is a standard that serious users insist on.

Heck, the dock connector for the Steam Deck is USB-C.

May 15, 2024#239

figmentPez

ThatNickGuy said:
I'm pretty sure MOST PCs don't.

I'm absolutely positive you're wrong. Laptops have been outselling desktop computers for about a decade now, and every single modern laptop has USB-C ports.

May 15, 2024#240

ThatNickGuy

figmentPez said:
I'm absolutely positive you're wrong. Laptops have been outselling desktop computers for about a decade now, and every single modern laptop has USB-C ports.

This is just anecdotal, but since 2015, I've had two new PC towers and a laptop. None of them have a USB-C port.

May 15, 2024#241

PatrThom

It's true that there were some holdouts who didn't want to add the new ports. Maybe they thought it was a passing fad, another new connector that wasn't going to go anywhere, or maybe they would just add one as a kind of token gesture, but the momentum definitely accelerated, and they're just about everywhere now. Especially what with Europe mandating them, and all.

--Patrick

May 15, 2024#242

Tinwhistler

The alienware desktop computer I bought in 2022 has 4 USB C ports in the back and one in the front.

The laptop I bought years before that has 2 usb C ports as well

May 16, 2024#243

Bubble181

My tower desktop does not have a USB-C connector, but it's 10 years old now.
My work laptop has one USB-A connector and three or four USB-CS, (depending on if you include the one for the power cord/docking station).
And yes, like Pat said, a lot of it has to do with power throughput.
Having said that, I've been annoyed by only getting a C-to-C connector too.

Jul 12, 2024#244

blotsfan

Whoever decided that wifi network adapters should require drivers that must be downloaded from the internet should be shot.

Jul 12, 2024#245

Thread Necromancer

My TV, also my computer monitor, is slowly going out. it's darkening from the bottom up. Saddening. I'm not prepared to buy a new one, and there's no way I could afford one I would want.

Jul 12, 2024#246

PatrThom

blotsfan said:
Whoever decided that wifi network adapters should require drivers that must be downloaded from the internet should be shot.

The first step on any new build is always to go to another computer to download the drivers to put on a ~~floppy~~ USB stick and hand-carry over to the new build so I can download and install the everything else.

--Patrick

Jul 19, 2024#247

Bubble181

Well, my HDD seems to have died. My computer is old as Dave, so I have a small 128 GB boot SSD, and a 2 TB HDD for games, files, everything else. And suddenly that last one is gone. Boot can't find it, Windows cant find, it's like it's physically not there.
Minor rant so far because I haven't investigated yet, off to cable management etc we go I guess...

Jul 19, 2024#248

Bubble181

....OK, the first thing I tried - replace the power connector from the PSU to the HDD with another loose connecter that was left over - solved it. I thought. The drive was visible again in Windows Explorer, Steam could see it and even say how muc hof it was Steam and how much of it was other stuff....Try to install anything....Disk write error. And after another reboot, the drive is gone again. Hrmph.

Jul 19, 2024#249

Bubble181

Connected it to another connector on the same cable, and it's showing again - and now usable...For the time being. I don't have much faith in this drive right now.

Jul 19, 2024#250

ncts_dodge_man

I'd get any data you want off of it immediately.

Jul 19, 2024#251

PatrThom

...in small, controlled bursts. Like, one folder at a time.

--Patrick

Jul 19, 2024#252

GasBandit

And do not try to write anything new to that drive.

Jul 19, 2024#253

Bubble181

Yeah, intend to do that. But it's about 3/4 full and I don't have THAT many external disk space lying around.
Though most of it is gog/steam stuff I could download again if necessary. Save games, some weird abandonware stuff, documents and photos will be moved shortly though.

Jul 21, 2024#254

Bubble181

Trying to copy stuff off, fails;..chkdsk > station type is RAW. Uh-oh. Booted again, no drives to be found. Booted again, drives are NTFS again, and chkdsk finds no errors at all. Right, sure.
Don't know what's going in with it, but obviously it's not going to last much longer.
Which again raises the question of if it's even worth getting a new HDD for this PC or I just just get a bigger SSD now, or just build a new PC - I'm overdue as it is but I'm sure Patrick will tell me it's just not the right time now :-P

Jul 26, 2024#255

Bubble181

Case for new computer build arrived. has a scratch all along the glass pane side. I was hoping to build it next week, but with return times being what they are, that's never going to happen now.

Aug 2, 2024#256

figmentPez

I fucking hate Xfinity/Comcast. My internet is only about half working right now. I can get to some sites okay-ish, but some other sites (like xfinity dot com) won't load at all. When trying to get to stuff like Netflix, DisneyPlus, and YouTube I'll periodically get bumped to a page telling me that my device has been paused and that I need to go to Xfinity's website and unpause it. I'm the only one who should have access to my account. If I turn off the WiFi on my phone I can get the Xfinity app to work, and it'll tell me that my network is fine, and that none of my devices are paused.

Trying to use Xfnity's automated system just tells me that everything is working, and that if I want to do more I'll have to schedule a technician to stop by in person. The earliest appointment they have is three days from now, and I know that if I schedule that it'll come with the threat of making me pay money if they don't find any problems.

Fuck Xfinity and their "limited" monopoly.

Aug 2, 2024#257

figmentPez

figmentPez said:
I fucking hate Xfinity/Comcast. My internet is only about half working right now. I can get to some sites okay-ish, but some other sites (like xfinity dot com) won't load at all. When trying to get to stuff like Netflix, DisneyPlus, and YouTube I'll periodically get bumped to a page telling me that my device has been paused and that I need to go to Xfinity's website and unpause it. I'm the only one who should have access to my account. If I turn off the WiFi on my phone I can get the Xfinity app to work, and it'll tell me that my network is fine, and that none of my devices are paused.

Trying to use Xfnity's automated system just tells me that everything is working, and that if I want to do more I'll have to schedule a technician to stop by in person. The earliest appointment they have is three days from now, and I know that if I schedule that it'll come with the threat of making me pay money if they don't find any problems.

Fuck Xfinity and their "limited" monopoly.

Disabling MoCA seems to have fixed my problem. While technically this may mean that the problem was closer to my end than theirs, I'm still baffled at how this issue isn't just automatically detected by their system. Surely if there are two cable modems on two different accounts that are causing conflicts by trying to connect with each other, their system should be able to recognize that?

Aug 3, 2024#258

ncts_dodge_man

figmentPez said:
Disabling MoCA seems to have fixed my problem. While technically this may mean that the problem was closer to my end than theirs, I'm still baffled at how this issue isn't just automatically detected by their system. Surely if there are two cable modems on two different accounts that are causing conflicts by trying to connect with each other, their system should be able to recognize that?

You're expecting competency from Xfinity? :rofl:

Sep 4, 2024#259

PatrThom

You always suspected it, and now there's even more evidence for it.

Facebook partner admits to eavesdropping on conversations via phone mics for ad targeting

A pitch deck from Cox Media Group (CMG), seen by 404 Media, states that the marketing firm uses its AI-powered Active Listening software to capture real-time data...

www.techspot.com

The agency claims that it is legal for phones and devices to listen to users. Cox says this is made possible by including consent to use Active Listening in the multi-page terms of use agreements – which few people ever read – that appear with new app downloads or updates.

--Patrick

Sep 5, 2024#260

PatrThom

Of all the absolutely BONEheaded things you could do, this has to rank right up there with Russian soldiers leaving their cellphones going when in the field.

After seeing Wi-Fi network named “STINKY,” Navy found hidden Starlink dish on US warship

To be fair, it’s hard to live without Wi-Fi.

arstechnica.com

--Patrick

Sep 7, 2024#261

figmentPez

Computer died last night. Bought a replacement today. Will not be posting specs, because I cannot handle any criticism right now. It's a pre-built that's on the cheaper side, and it just needs to be enough to keep me from freaking out.

I was already stressed from moving physical locations, I did not want to have to move PCs, too.

UGH, I really hate setting up a new PC. So many settings to fix, programs to install, sites to login to. Hopefully installing the old drives into this new PC will work.

First Nvidia graphics card in over 20 years. I've been all ATI/AMD since I got a Radeon 7500. My last Nvidia graphics card was a RIVA TNT.

So stressful.

Sep 7, 2024#262

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
Will not be posting specs, because I cannot handle any criticism right now.

The best ~~camera~~ computer is the one you have on you.
It's not that prebuilts are always garbage, it's just that their inevitable compromises are ones not of your choosing. If the choice was between "I need a computer NOW" and "Wait three weeks to build a better system," then that's completely understandable. If you ever want to start looking for upgrades, you know we'll be there for you.

--Patrick

Sep 7, 2024#263

GasBandit

I concur. If all my PCs broke tomorrow, I'd be buying the firstest, localest, whateverest thing I could get just to get back online here, and worry about the rest later. Hell, I might do a $99 chromebook, if those are still a thing.

Oct 16, 2024#264

figmentPez

I can't remember what thread I last posted about my PC woes in, but holy shit this PC has been one of the most obnoxious I've owned since Packard Bell.

The short version:

Bought a CyberPowerPC from Costco because it seemed like a reasonable deal and they've got a good return policy. Got it home, got it up and running, and started getting random restarts with blue screens saying "critcal_process_died" within the first day of owning it. Tried to restore Windows, and that failed. Could only restore by wiping all the stuff I'd installed. Ended up getting blue screens and reboots again. So I returned it and got a replacement of the same model. Same type of crashes and reboots happened with the replacement, so it's likely software and not hardware.

Also had electrical problems with microwave (display flickering, replaced under warranty) and humidity sensor activated bathroom fan (replaced with a dumb switch), so we had an electrician come out to check for issues, none found.

Restored Windows to fresh again, scanned everything for malware, ran chkdsk, ran memtest, didn't find any problems. Chkdsk has never found any problems, regardless of when it's been run. I updated my MoBo's firmware, but that didn't help. Eventually figured out that GigaByte Control Center was routinely crashing, probably while trying to install drivers. Uninstalled GCC, and manually installed as many drivers as I knew how to, and had about a week of stability. Played Saints Row 2022 and Nobody Saves the World without issue. Only persistent problem was video hitching when I was playing something in the background while scrolling through a site loading a lot of small videos (e.g. Imgur, Tumblr, etc.). Then I was trying to play the FF4 randomizer while watching Netflix, so RetroArch running bsnes in one window with MS Edge playing video in another, and the whole display would occasionally freeze and recover.

Trying to troubleshoot this error, which I thought might be tied to a missing DLL that was showing up in Windows event log, I installed C++ distributables, and that's when things went very wrong. I started getting critcal_process_died errors within minutes of booting. Most of the time I couldn't do anything before the system froze up and bluescreened.

My current theory is that GigaByte Control Center didn't do a good job of uninstalling itself, and that missing DLLs were the only thing keeping part of it from starting up and crashing again. Though I could be wrong. Currently I've had Windows wipe everything and try to start afresh. Havne't crashed yet, but then I've only installed Firefox thus far. I told GCC that it can fuck off, and hopefully never installing it in the first place will keep things from devolving into crashing again.

Oh, and this last bout of constant crashing came while I was really sick. I've spent most of the last 4 days laying in bed exhausted. Even when I haven't been sleeping I've been lying down because I'm slightly dizzy and very tired. Left my computer completely off for like an entire day because I coudln't do anything with while I was so tired. Thank goodness for being able to use my Raspberry Pi and my phone to stream stuff to entertain myself.

Oct 16, 2024#265

PatrThom

Stuff like this makes me wish you lived closer. Nobody should have to go through this, prebuilt or otherwise.

--Patrick

Oct 18, 2024#266

Ravenpoe

figmentPez said:
I can't remember what thread I last posted about my PC woes in, but holy shit this PC has been one of the most obnoxious I've owned since Packard Bell.

The short version:

Bought a CyberPowerPC from Costco because it seemed like a reasonable deal and they've got a good return policy. Got it home, got it up and running, and started getting random restarts with blue screens saying "critcal_process_died" within the first day of owning it. Tried to restore Windows, and that failed. Could only restore by wiping all the stuff I'd installed. Ended up getting blue screens and reboots again. So I returned it and got a replacement of the same model. Same type of crashes and reboots happened with the replacement, so it's likely software and not hardware.

Also had electrical problems with microwave (display flickering, replaced under warranty) and humidity sensor activated bathroom fan (replaced with a dumb switch), so we had an electrician come out to check for issues, none found.

Restored Windows to fresh again, scanned everything for malware, ran chkdsk, ran memtest, didn't find any problems. Chkdsk has never found any problems, regardless of when it's been run. I updated my MoBo's firmware, but that didn't help. Eventually figured out that GigaByte Control Center was routinely crashing, probably while trying to install drivers. Uninstalled GCC, and manually installed as many drivers as I knew how to, and had about a week of stability. Played Saints Row 2022 and Nobody Saves the World without issue. Only persistent problem was video hitching when I was playing something in the background while scrolling through a site loading a lot of small videos (e.g. Imgur, Tumblr, etc.). Then I was trying to play the FF4 randomizer while watching Netflix, so RetroArch running bsnes in one window with MS Edge playing video in another, and the whole display would occasionally freeze and recover.

Trying to troubleshoot this error, which I thought might be tied to a missing DLL that was showing up in Windows event log, I installed C++ distributables, and that's when things went very wrong. I started getting critcal_process_died errors within minutes of booting. Most of the time I couldn't do anything before the system froze up and bluescreened.

My current theory is that GigaByte Control Center didn't do a good job of uninstalling itself, and that missing DLLs were the only thing keeping part of it from starting up and crashing again. Though I could be wrong. Currently I've had Windows wipe everything and try to start afresh. Havne't crashed yet, but then I've only installed Firefox thus far. I told GCC that it can fuck off, and hopefully never installing it in the first place will keep things from devolving into crashing again.

Oh, and this last bout of constant crashing came while I was really sick. I've spent most of the last 4 days laying in bed exhausted. Even when I haven't been sleeping I've been lying down because I'm slightly dizzy and very tired. Left my computer completely off for like an entire day because I coudln't do anything with while I was so tired. Thank goodness for being able to use my Raspberry Pi and my phone to stream stuff to entertain myself.

It looks like it's a common error:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CYBERPOWERPC/comments/1f7k0cd/critical_process_died_error_cpsupport/

Most common solution seems to be wiping all the pre-installed data and doing a full windows reinstall, which sounds like you've already done, but given just how prominent this error seems to be with this exact manufacturer, if you're still within the return period I'd consider refunding and getting a different computer.

Oct 19, 2024#267

figmentPez

Ravenpoe said:
It looks like it's a common error:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CYBERPOWERPC/comments/1f7k0cd/critical_process_died_error_cpsupport/

Most common solution seems to be wiping all the pre-installed data and doing a full windows reinstall, which sounds like you've already done, but given just how prominent this error seems to be with this exact manufacturer, if you're still within the return period I'd consider refunding and getting a different computer.

I'm going to try to talk my mother into doing just that. She doesn't want to abuse Costco's return policy, but this really seems to be a case of a defective product line.

My latest re-install of Windows has started crashing again, and I've only got Firefox, Chrome and Steam installed. I though Gigabyte Control Center was messing things up, but that's not it.

Oct 19, 2024#268

figmentPez

I'm fucking exhausted. If I can convince my mom that I should just buy a different computer all together, can anyone help me figure out a good pre-built to buy for ~$850 or less? It's really hard to shop around for a PC when your PC isn't working.

Oct 19, 2024#269

GasBandit

figmentPez said:
I'm fucking exhausted. If I can convince my mom that I should just buy a different computer all together, can anyone help me figure out a good pre-built to buy for ~$850 or less? It's really hard to shop around for a PC when your PC isn't working.

I'm a bit of an Asus fanboy. If I were getting a computer at Costco, it'd probably be this one (But it is online only)

https://www.costco.com/asus-s5-mini-tower-desktop-s501mer---13th-gen-intel-core-i7-13700---windows-11.product.4000266670.html

It's got a solid processor and a good amount of ram, but only an intel GPU. But that can be upgraded later when you can afford it.

Oct 19, 2024#270

GasBandit

Could you do a Steam Deck?

Oct 19, 2024#271

figmentPez

I don't have to buy from Costco, and I'm pretty sure I want a desktop.

I have thought about a Steam Deck, but I'm hesitant to have a Linux handheld as my only PC. Especially since I would not use it's portable features much.

Oct 19, 2024#272

figmentPez

GasBandit said:
I'm a bit of an Asus fanboy. If I were getting a computer at Costco, it'd probably be this one (But it is online only)

https://www.costco.com/asus-s5-mini-tower-desktop-s501mer---13th-gen-intel-core-i7-13700---windows-11.product.4000266670.html

It's got a solid processor and a good amount of ram, but only an intel GPU. But that can be upgraded later when you can afford it.

I'll keep looking. Upgrading later has historically been an issue. It'd probably be easier to try to get any sort of gaming capable card now, than do an upgrade later.

Oct 19, 2024#273

GasBandit

figmentPez said:
I don't have to buy from Costco, and I'm pretty sure I want a desktop.

I have thought about a Steam Deck, but I'm hesitant to have a Linux handheld as my only PC. Especially since I would not use it's portable features much.

I understand your trepidation. I kinda felt the same way, til I got one. Now I'm done buying windows PCs - my next gaming PC is going to be a Steam Deck (and a dual monitor USB-C dock).

Oct 20, 2024#274

figmentPez

I'm still sick, so this really sucks. I don't feel competent to be doing this right now, but I don't want to be without a PC any longer than I have to be. I'm typing this post on my Raspberry Pi while watching a movie on my phone.

Anyway, specs of the PC I have now that is crashing:
Intel i5 14400F
32GB DDR5
Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060 8GB
2TB NVME SSD

Looking around that would be a damn good set of specs for the price, if it worked. I can't find anything with that much RAM and storage for the same price.

My price range is not set in stone, but I also need to remind myself that a reliable PC is better than a flaky one with better specs.

Okay, I'm starting to feel dizzy from sitting up too long.

Oct 20, 2024#275

GasBandit

figmentPez said:
Looking around that would be a damn good set of specs for the price

I would say that is firmly in "too good to be true" territory, personally. I would expect to pay ~$1000 for those specs... though I'd probably insist on an i7 which would probably take it to $1200.

Oct 20, 2024#276

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
though I'd probably insist on an i7 which would probably take it to $1200.

That depends entirely on what it's going to be used for. If it's just going to be for games and web browsing, you can get away with a pretty low spec cpu and save a lot of money.

Oct 20, 2024#277

GasBandit

Ravenpoe said:
That depends entirely on what it's going to be used for. If it's just going to be for games and web browsing, you can get away with a pretty low spec cpu and save a lot of money.

There's been a number of games now that are starting to shift some load back from the GPU to the CPU (especially VR titles, though Pez may not be interested in that), but I've been noticing a LOT more CPU load in games lately that make it so that I'd call the i5 a bare minimum and i7 a happy medium.

Even here as I sit playing baldur's gate 3 and idle champions while web browsing in windows 10, my CPU is pulling about 80%. Granted it is MANY generations behind, but I have definitely noticed a trend over the last few years for game devs to stop leaving those idle CPU cycles on the proverbial table.

Oct 20, 2024#278

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
as I sit playing baldur's gate 3 and idle champions while web browsing in windows 10, my CPU is pulling about 80%.

The biggest question here is core/thread utilization. Is that 8 cores* each running at 80%? Or is that 7 cores maxed out at 100% and one core practically idle?

--Patrick
*Assuming 4+4 due to hyperthreading.

Oct 20, 2024#279

GasBandit

PatrThom said:
The biggest question here is core/thread utilization. Is that 8 cores* each running at 80%? Or is that 7 cores maxed out at 100% and one core practically idle?

--Patrick
*Assuming 4+4 due to hyperthreading.

8 at 80.

Oct 20, 2024#280

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
specs of the PC I have now that is crashing:
Intel i5 14400F
32GB DDR5
Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060 8GB
2TB NVME SSD

Do you know if the motherboard is B760 or H770? Also which brand is the SSD?
<checks Costco site>
Ok so it's B760...
<checks Gigabyte's site>
...and going by the pictures has to be either Gigabyte's B760M D3HP or B760M G AX motherboard (because white southbridge) but has to be the D3HP because it has 2x PCIe x1 slots listed in the specs (G AX only has one).

Things to look for:
-If this IS indeed the D3HP motherboard (and CPU-Z should confirm if it is), then make sure you update to the F5 BIOS which is suppose to finally fix the CPU microcode voltage crashing thing that's been kicking Intel's behind for the last two years. This update just came out Sept 27th, so it's likely your board might not have it yet.
-If it already has the F5 BIOS, then make sure you're using the "Intel defaults" setting rather than any performance settings. Better to lose a few FPS but not crash, right?
-Your SSD should be installed in the upper M.2 slot (the one between the GPU and the CPU), and NOT the lower slot (the one near the white southbridge).
-If you only have 2 memory modules installed, they should be installed one into the slot closest to the CPU (should be labeled "B2") and the third one from the CPU (should be labeled "A2"). If it's 4 then obviously one in each.
-If you are only using 2 memory modules, try locking the RAM speed in the BIOS to DDR5-4800 (PC5-38400). If you are using 4 memory modules, instead lock it to DDR5-4400 (PC5-35200). Memory is supposed to step down the speed when you double up the modules, but in case it is trying to overclock itself (because XMPGaMerZ), locking it down to the slower speed might tame it. This assumes your memory is rated for 4800/38400 speed or higher. If the labels on the RAM do NOT say DDR5-4800/PC5-38400 or higher, then definitely lock the RAM speed to whatever lower number is printed on the modules.

--Patrick

Oct 21, 2024#281

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
...and going by the pictures has to be either Gigabyte's B760M D3HP or B760M G AX motherboard (because white southbridge) but has to be the D3HP because it has 2x PCIe x1 slots listed in the specs (G AX only has one).

It's a B760M C and I have updated the BIOS to the latest version.

I'll check on the rest of your advice after I shower and lie down for a while. Even after over a week of being sick, I took a turn for the worse today.

EDIT: the SSD is Western Digital, from memory, but I'll get you specifics later.

Oct 21, 2024#282

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
It's a B760M C

Well then their website pic is a LIAR.

--Patrick

Oct 21, 2024#283

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
Well then their website pic is a LIAR.

--Patrick

Costco's listed specs are wrong, too. It's only got 1 place for a 5" internal drive, not two. And that's just screw holes in the bottom of the case.

Anyway, does anyone know what MSI's current reputation is, and what does anyone think of this deal?

MSI AEGIS R 13NUD-461US (i7-13700F RTX 4060Ti) - $949.00

Oct 21, 2024#284

PatrThom

-The i7 CPU on that deal is far better than the i5 in your current rig.
-GPUs are almost the same, but the second one is better.
-RAM is the same (possibly better, if your current rig has 4x modules instead of just 2).
-SSD is half the size, so you'll probably want to upgrade that to a PCIe 4.0 2TB at a later time, but PCIe 3.0 1TB should be enough for a while, so long as you're ok shuffling things back and forth to the HDD whenever you want to switch.
-WiFi is identical. Ethernet is faster, but don't know if you'll notice, depending on your router.
-PSU is 50W better on the MSI.

The MSI seems like a better deal all around (except for the SSD), though of course if you go for it I would make sure to check for that BIOS update right away if one is available. As far as MSI's reputation goes, they are middle-of-the-road for reliability.

--Patrick

Oct 22, 2024#285

figmentPez

figmentPez said:
Anyway, does anyone know what MSI's current reputation is, and what does anyone think of this deal?

MSI AEGIS R 13NUD-461US (i7-13700F RTX 4060Ti) - $949.00

Went ahead and ordered this one.

Oct 22, 2024#286

figmentPez

The dud PC has gotten so bad that it can't even fully load the desktop, except in safe mode. A normal boot starts to freeze before the system tray icons load in, and bluescreens into a reboot shortly after. I can't even get it to restore Windows, it just says that something went wrong.

It runs in safe mode, though, seemingly indefinitely. At least that allowed me to check that none of my files remain on the drive (at least not obviously). Maybe I just wasn't spending enough time in safe mode for the instability to hit.

Maybe CyberpowerPC can figure out what component is causing all this havoc, when they try to refurbish it / salvage the parts, but I sure as heck have no idea what caused all this. Temperatures were fine whenever I checked. Chkdsk never showed anything but minor errors, and mostly nothing. Windows Defender never found any infected files. None of my data was lost, except when I wiped it to restore Windows to as pristine a state as possible. I had a couple of long stretches of stability to play Saints Row 2022 and Nobody Saves the World, and Saints Row only crashed on me once or twice (which is actually pretty damn impressive for a game known to be buggy and unpolished).

Probably should have run memtest on this one while it was stable. I did run that on the first dud, but didn't get any errors in the hour that I ran it.

Oh well. Guess I get my internet via my phone and Raspberry Pi for an estimated 5 - 7 days. ($24 for overnight shipping didn't seem like good value.)

Oct 22, 2024#287

PatrThom

At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? The computer specs show it is built primarily with off-the-shelf parts, none of which appear to be proprietary, so there is no good reason why it and its brethren should fail so frequently just because of whose name plate is attached to the exterior of the box. There has to be some common thread, and I'm willing to bet it's going to be a spectacularly dumb one, at that.

--Patrick

Oct 22, 2024#288

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? The computer specs show it is built primarily with off-the-shelf parts, none of which appear to be proprietary, so there is no good reason why it and its brethren should fail so frequently just because of whose name plate is attached to the exterior of the box. There has to be some common thread, and I'm willing to bet it's going to be a spectacularly dumb one, at that.

My pet theory, and it's based on very little, is that something went wrong with assembly/manufacture (newbie bending pins? A batch of bad capacitors? who knows.) A $150 instant rebate making an already good price into a too-good-to-be-true deal? Maybe CyberPowerPC knows there are issues, and they're trying to cycle units out as quickly as possible so they can get enough units back to refurbish in a large batch.

Oct 22, 2024#289

PatrThom

I would propose that you are conspiracy theorizing...BUT I've already seen too many PCs where someone plugs every accessory into the same power rail, or tries to plug the MLB +4+4 power cables into the GPU's 8-pin connector (there's a reason it doesn't fit there, buddy!), or tries to connect the front panel audio to a USB header (doesn't fit there, either!) or plugs a PCIe card into a slot that specifically says "resources shared with USB ports 4&5, pick one" -- junk like that.

--Patrick

Oct 22, 2024#290

figmentPez

It doesn't even have to be every single unit. If, hypothetically, 10% of the units are faulty, that's still way above what I've read is the average (about 1 - 5% within the warranty period). Getting two duds in a row would still be a 1 in 100 chance, but far from implausible.

Oct 22, 2024#291

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
It doesn't even have to be every single unit.

Oh, believe me...when someone tells me, "Everyone on the Internet is talking about this problem!" I think "Sure they are, buddy. Sure they are."

--Patrick

Oct 25, 2024#292

figmentPez

figmentPez said:
Went ahead and ordered this one.

While I wait for my new PC to arrive, I've got a janky temporary setup. I'm surfing the web on a Raspberry Pi 4, but since that can't play video and surf the web at the same time I'm borrowing a Roku from my parents, and it's plugged into an old monitor sitting on a stool next to my desk. Since the speakers on that monitor suck I'm using a bluetooth speaker with a line-in connected to the headphone jack on the monitor.

I think I'm past being sick, but now allergy season is hitting me like a sack of hammers. So I'm still suffering, but I'm also getting less sleep, and my anxiety is ramped up. Technically I've got more energy, but I'm not really capable of doing much with it.

Things are really not going well for me. I hope that changes soon.

Oct 29, 2024#293

figmentPez

figmentPez said:
Went ahead and ordered this one.

Still waiting on it to arrive. Didn't get a tracking number until the 27th, which then showed that it had already been moving around in Amazon's warehouses since the 25, making it's way from Hoboken, NJ to Katy, TX. There has not been any update since. Supposedly Woot/Amazon is handing the package off to USPS, but nothing has been logged.

Hopefully I won't be waiting as long as @GasBandit did for his PineTime smartwatch.

Oct 29, 2024#294

GasBandit

figmentPez said:
Hopefully I won't be waiting as long as @GasBandit did for his PineTime smartwatch.

I still haven't gotten it. I've basically given up.

Thursday at 11:10 PM#295

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
At this point, I want to tear into it just for closure's sake, like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???

Reddit recommended a thread to me, which had comments about updating the firmware on the WD SDD.

October 16: https://community.wd.com/t/critical...that-can-cause-bsod-on-windows-11-24h2/298372

SanDisk SSDs, Memory Cards, and Flash Drives for Your Digital Life | SanDisk

Find detailed answers to your support questions for your SanDisk or WD_BLACK products.

support-en.sandisk.com

The SSD in the model I had is on that list.

Wish I'd found this info before returning the PC.

Friday at 8:16 AM#296

PatrThom

Dangit, I knew about that, too. But the WD SSD was mentioned only in passing, and didn't trigger putting the two together.
reddit also recommended this one to me:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1ggp9aa/bought_a_pc_from_cyberpowerpc_and_got_a_free_cpu/

--Patrick

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