The Tech Random Crap Thread
- Thread starter DarkAudit
- Start date
The results are in. NVIDIA’s revenue is up 66% over last year’s. Their stock was ~$140 a year ago, it’s about ~$250 now...but NOBODY thinks they’ll be able to do it again next year, and anyone who does should probably be viewed with extreme suspicion.
Also, Gas, here’s something for you that’d probably rank just below redheads:
—Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I never used the default XP theme
I used the classic theme! So it should be more like... windows 98... 2018 edition!
It looks like we survived a potential catastrophe last night, and now new regulations will be made concerning computer usage and the types of drinks containers that are allowed at the desk. The cats knocked Aislynn's Treasure Island skull mug over onto her laptop last night, but it was closed, and all of the water ran around/off/under the case. I wiped all of the remaining water off, checked to make sure there wasn't any coming out of the air slots on the bottom, and when I opened the cover to check the keyboard it booted up, and seems to be working. Just a very nervous ten minutes and a slight freakout about money on my part. And just now I watched the cat try to knock a cup of coffee over. Sippy cups only at the computers!
GasBandit
Staff member
I learned very early on in owning this cat that I am no longer allowed open containers. All cups will be dumped over.
I learned very early to have no open containers because I am a klutz.
Alexa can now lead you in prayer. They're stealing @Dirona's job!
I'll get worried when it can do a funeral.
Welp. Talked to a MS certified repair expert. He's thinking the issue could be the hard drive itself, both for the April 2018 update issue and for the igdkmd64.sys issue. Gonna take it down to his place (a good half hour away, mind you) tomorrow.
EDIT: obviously I am going to backup my stuff on my 1 TB external drive before I hand it over.
EDIT: obviously I am going to backup my stuff on my 1 TB external drive before I hand it over.
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What he suggested was to install a new SSD hard drive and install WinX 1803 on that, and use my current HD with all my stuff as a "secondary" drive. He did mention that it was likely that the drive was the issue, but didn't rule out the memory being a problem.
Meanwhile, I went over Sam's Place and got an Acer Chromebook so I had something to play on for a while.
Meanwhile, I went over Sam's Place and got an Acer Chromebook so I had something to play on for a while.
Did you ever get the results of the memory tests?
Also, do you have any utilities that can read SMART data (such as the free SpeedFan, for instance)?
I mean, nothing against this guy, but I also happen to be a certified repair person...except that I haven't gotten any answers from you yet about the results of any of the tests I've suggested (not even a "I haven't run the tests and I'm never going to, so stop bugging me about them")
--Patrick
MemTest came back okay. The HD that came with the DX4750 wasn't a SSD, so he thinks it's probably past its sell-by date. He also commented that the processor was slow - which kinda took me aback, because compared to all the other stuff I have here at home, it's fast as heck. (Including the wife's laptop, on which I'm trying to update to 1803 as well).
I've got Pavilion of a similar type that still has the stock 6GB RAM. Other than taking ~4 hours to do the April update, everything's been running okay up to now.And, of course, I go to update my wife's laptop (slow as molasses, low RAM HP15).
It is now running Build 1803
That we need a switch so that whatever stuff they disable for the low-end machines can be disabled for the high-end ones, too?
--Patrick
Welp, got the puter back today. No sound. Ethernet "says" it's offline in the taskbar, but (obviously) it's still up. The old drive is disconnected in the machine. He suspects the issue is - wait for it - the power supply.
This doesn't surprise me, because of the issues I've had with this thing in the past (at least one or two brownouts and a nearby lightning strike). He also isn't sure the thing might be able to run 1803, just because of the problems I had in the past.
I'm doing my books now and backing that up, so if he has to do the clean install again, I can try to start over without running away screaming.
This doesn't surprise me, because of the issues I've had with this thing in the past (at least one or two brownouts and a nearby lightning strike). He also isn't sure the thing might be able to run 1803, just because of the problems I had in the past.
I'm doing my books now and backing that up, so if he has to do the clean install again, I can try to start over without running away screaming.
Huh. Looks like I forgot about one of the problems with the hardware in this old case. The optical drive is dead - won't open, won't read what's inside if you get it open, had a disc stuck in it for months last time. I'm trying to decide if I'd rather open the case and throw the optical drive from my last computer in this one, or find a good DVD ripping software option to use on Aislynn's laptop and just rip all of our DVDs down to digital files so I can actually stream them to the TV without having to cobble together the video and audio files or set each chapter up as a different entry in a Videostream playlist.
GasBandit
Staff member
Good DVD ripping software: Makemkv. Pop in a DVD, spits out a 4-6gb MKV file. Super easy solution. Works with blu-ray
Good re-transcoding softwhich you may or may not need, depending on what you want to do with your media: handbrake
Good media server which works on pc, mobile, roku, chromecast, playstation, xbox, amazon fire, etc: Plex.
Hey, @Dave looks like your DIMM-based storage is becoming a reality.
https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/re-architecting-data-center-memory-storage-hierarchy/
No word on price yet, though...which means if you thought $350 for a SATA SSD was too much, well...
--Patrick
https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/re-architecting-data-center-memory-storage-hierarchy/
No word on price yet, though...which means if you thought $350 for a SATA SSD was too much, well...
--Patrick
Y'know, VLC has been around for quite a while now, and they've made several improvements to the program over the years, but there's one thing they're still missing - the ability to set, by default, that no video should autoplay subtitles. If I want subtitles, I'll turn them on myself, tyvm.
New update just dropped. Still doing the thing?
A reinstall fixed that, but yes, the original behavior does persist. If the video you're playing has a subtitle track, that must mean you want them on by default.
figmentPez
Staff member
Well, they do need an obvious setting to change this, but there is a pretty simple way to do it. Just tested the first method on that page and it works for me.
Thank you! I suppose I should have Googled it again, but a few years back when I checked no one had that handy little tutorial out there.