Author Topic: Tech-related problems (Read 582309 times)

chera · « **Reply #560 on:** December 19, 2006, 01:07:28 AM »

About the HDD screws, I've tried waiting a few hours (for the drive to cool down), a new screwdriver set, spraying WD-40 on the screws, and all I've got to show for it are a bunch of blisters. The screw heads don't seem stripped - yet.

Besides forcing the grille off, and other last ditch recommendations?

kagaitensai · « **Reply #561 on:** December 19, 2006, 02:23:57 AM »

I am having problems viewing H.264 format video without glitches. The video will get stuck periodically while the sound continues. What aspects of my computer do I need to upgrade in order to fix this. I am currently running on a Pentium 4 2.4 GHZ with 512 MB ram and a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420. The obvious would be the video card. If this is the case any suggestions. The only requirements I have of a video card are that it needs to be a Dual Link DVI-D graphics card with TV output connections.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #562 on:** December 19, 2006, 03:46:51 AM »

^ IMO your ram, and CPU. Graphic cards doesnt help much unless its for gaming and editing. well i could be wrong

Chera: lol, that's what i experienced as well. You may want to get a bigger head screw and attach your HDD directly to the cover. It should be Screw -> cover -> HDD so that the screw hopefully will hold the HDD in place.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #563 on:** December 19, 2006, 03:54:56 AM »

Quote from: kagaitensai;262503

I am having problems viewing H.264 format video without glitches...

What prog are you using to play the videos? If you haven't got Quicktime 7 then get it. Even if you use a different prog to play the videos get it anyway for the codecs it brings with it.

Masabi · « **Reply #564 on:** December 19, 2006, 04:14:59 AM »

I would disagree with the above comment and would say to get VLC player (which recently updated to support H.264) and/or Combined Community Codec Pack. I have not installed Quicktime 7 and they play fine for me with these two (Though I think VLC uses its own codecs, it doesn't hurt to have CCCP)

LaJon · « **Reply #565 on:** December 19, 2006, 04:18:24 AM »

MediaPlayerClassic + CoreAVC = fastest H.264 decoding available.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #566 on:** December 19, 2006, 05:13:10 AM »

For me VLC > MPC. The only problem is the scrolling and volume adjustment for VLC which forces me to use MPC 99% of the time. Only when i encounter strange encoded files or jerky files, then i will switch to VLC which plays 99.9% of all files.

frblckstr1 · « **Reply #567 on:** December 19, 2006, 07:15:07 AM »

^ to all H264 above:

Just say No! (sorry had to do that:)) unless you have a hardware decoder (like some video cards from ATi and nVidia) you will need a CPU in the 2.8GHz+ range to get an OK playback experience for the higher resolution fast motion high detail videos.

I see a lot of H264 versions of HDTV come by in the newsgroups, and for now the quality doesn't way up to the size reduction (but people will still use the yardstick 'hey I can play H264 smooooothly on my machine')

Anyway, VLC or Quicktime alternative will play them for me on a 1.63GHz Pentium M without to much problems (about 2.5GHz equivalent).

Hoping for the VC-1 strandard to get more 'playtime'. From some tests it uses 50% less CPU then H264...

Guchi_Jnr · « **Reply #568 on:** December 19, 2006, 07:45:26 AM »

My pc is an old piece of crap (Athlon 2100, 768meg & 32meg onboard video), and doesn't have a problem playing H264 at all. Just as smooth as smooth, and I play them on PowerDVD just like everything else.

kagaitensai · « **Reply #569 on:** December 20, 2006, 07:42:59 AM »

Thanks for all the feedback. I will try adding some more ram and maybe a more powerfull processor and see if that helps. I have been using TCMP with CCCP for most of my videos, but I also have VLC that I use for the rare few that TCMP can't accomodate. Only certain H264 encodes play with glitches, most play fine. But when they don't it is rather annoying. Thanks again.

JTRIX · « **Reply #570 on:** December 20, 2006, 09:10:06 AM »

I've finally bought my new computer. However when I finish assemble everything (I didn't put in the floppy disk drive and DVD-ROM yet) somehow it won't boot up Windows. I'm using my old hard drive from my old computer as the primary hard drive.

how can I fix it?
Thanks!

frblckstr1 · « **Reply #571 on:** December 20, 2006, 12:15:54 PM »

^ If you get something like a 'blue screen' the motherboard is not compatible with the 'previous' that the harddisk has remembered, you will need to do a repair or even a re-install of XP.

maliciel · « **Reply #572 on:** December 20, 2006, 02:18:39 PM »

Old install won't work with new hardware, just do a repair install.

On a side note, this isn't really a 'problem', but it pisses me off. Firefox 2.0.1 breaks my theme. Yes, buttons not working and shit. Someone recommend me a theme that doesn't look like shit and looks better than the default, because I can't take much of this.

chera · « **Reply #573 on:** December 20, 2006, 06:14:04 PM »

Quote from: Maliciel;263430

Someone recommend me a theme that doesn't look like shit and looks better than the default, because I can't take much of this.

Metal - iCe works for me:

BigDnm01 · « **Reply #574 on:** December 20, 2006, 09:58:02 PM »

Excuse me, but since u guys been talking about XP themes, i just wanna ask where can i download special custom made themes and how do i install it? i actually have a couple of themes i want already but have no idea on how to install it. could you help me out here?

There's another problem, u see i have movie files and also the subtitle file for it. but i don't know how to encode, hardsub, Prerendered, or soft subs anything. i really want to know how though.

so could anyone point me to the right direction. i try to search the net but i don't know where to start, so i think asking those who knows about it here and even did themselves could truly help me out. thanks, awaiting ur reply.

thatguy · « **Reply #575 on:** December 20, 2006, 10:16:42 PM »

Quote from: bigdnm01;263683

Excuse me, but since u guys been talking about XP themes, i just wanna ask where can i download special custom made themes and how do i install it? i actually have a couple of themes i want already but have no idea on how to install it. could you help me out here?

there are a couple ways. there are some programs like windowblinds [link] that you can install, and then download themes to use. the downside (in my opinion) to windowblinds is that it's an additional program, so it uses extra cpu. i tried windowblinds once long ago and it was very laggy, although i don't know if it's better now. also, it's shareware, so they'll nag you to buy a license.

the other way is to find a patch for the windows' uxtheme.dll. by default, microsoft's theme manager (when you right click your desktop > properties > appearance) will use uxtheme.dll to check if a theme is approved to use on windows. by patching uxtheme.dll, all themes (including custom ones) can be used. if you want to do this, i recommend you to download and install xpize [link], which is just a program that updates the old win95-looking icons, and has an option to patch uxtheme.dll. you can then use windows' own theme manager to use custom themes. most will come in a zip file, and you will have to extract the files and put them into your C:\Windows\Resources\Themes directory. check the readme's for specifics.

to download themes, i prefer using deviantart [link]. under categories, go to Customization > Skins & Themes > Windows Utilties, then WindowBlinds for those themes, or Visual Styles for windows native themes.

Quote from: bigdnm01;263683

There's another problem, u see i have movie files and also the subtitle file for it. but i don't know how to encode, hardsub, Prerendered, or soft subs anything. i really want to know how though.

people have mixed experiences with subs files. just fyi: if the subtitles come in a separate file, it's always referred to as softsubs--because the original video is left untouched. to play them, i just select both files, and drag-and-drop them onto VLC [link]. sometimes in VLC you may have to go into the Video > Subtitles menu, and select the subtitle track. other people have also used BSplayer and MPC, so you may want to check them out.

some people have tried that before without success, so if that's the case, in VLC you will have to go to File > Open, and then check the box to load a subtitles file, and open them together.

huggumwuggums · « **Reply #576 on:** December 21, 2006, 03:46:55 AM »

Firefox problem:

My browser seems to be "resetting" itself everytime I close it. For example, I'll changed certain options but the next time I open it, it'll all be at the default ones. The same goes for homepages.

Hazu · « **Reply #577 on:** December 21, 2006, 08:56:10 AM »

Hey guys, is it bad for me to leave my PC/Laptop turned on and rarely being turned off? If i need to turn off my fan/air conditioners, what do i need to keep the laptop cool?

thatguy · « **Reply #578 on:** December 21, 2006, 09:18:47 AM »

depends. desktops are generally ok to leave on all night (mine's been on non-stop for the past 4 months, and my server for the past 2 years)--but it's better to have a strong power supply. if you have a weak power supply in your desktop and you leave it running all the time, even if the computer's not doing anything, the power supply will be stressed and will wear out quickly.

for laptops, you generally should turn it off at night. there isn't much risk of wearing down the ac adapter, but laptops tend to get hot regardless of power-saving settings. that said, i've left my laptop on all night for several weeks at a time before, and had no serious problems. however, one thing you might run into (depending on your laptop) is that dust will continually be sucked into the fan, and you'll end up with a louder and less efficient fan sooner.

effective cooling varies for each laptop. just keep it in a well-venthilated area. if you feel adventurous, you can use a fan. if there are different performance settings, set it to low- or battery-mode.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #579 on:** December 21, 2006, 09:37:45 AM »

^ hehe my laptop has been running 24/7 with 1 day rest in between here and there. Basically for seeding torrents.

I sleep in an air-conditioned room so its ok at night, i don't open my window so there less dust, and most of all a laptop cooler is useful no matter what ppl says.