Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computer and troubleshooting

Seeking a permanent solution for my Wacom tablet woes.

iamkimiam — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:09:30 -0800

Sometime around the beginning of this year, my Intuos2 Model 0608-U 6"x8" Wacom tablet driver stopped loading upon login and restart. I reinstall it every time I login/restart. All of the tips, tricks, workarounds suggested by both Wacom and Apple do not work. I am running Mac OS 10.5.7. Is there anything left to try? The tablet works after I reinstall. I have tried uninstalling, disk repair, permissions, reinstalling (various versions of the tablet driver) in all possible combinations. Is anybody else having this problem? What has worked for you?

I'm looking for a permanent solution that does not cost $$. I will reinstall indefinitely if I have to, but it is getting tiresome. Thanks!

Powerbook: No Logo

DiscourseMarker — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:41:28 -0800

Powerbook G4 won't boot up. I hear the chime, get a gray screen, but NO apple logo or spinning wheel. This is a circa- late 2003 1.25GHz PB running OS 10.5. something. Yesterday, my husband was trying to open some Word 2008 docs he had saved on this laptop. Word would not open, it just kept bouncing in the dock, and we could not get it to force quit, so he did a forced shut down of the computer. Ever since then I cannot get the computer to boot past the gray screen.

I have tried resetting the PRAM, but it still sticks at the gray screen, same with resetting the PMU and trying a safe boot. It never progresses to the Apple Logo, just stays on the gray screen. When I pressed my ear to the keyboard I heard a few clicks from the HD after trying to start up, but now there's no sound.

Any suggestions?

Luser can't get five-year-old Russian video game to work on his four-year-old computer.

Scattercat — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:56:41 -0800

Okay, so after the mention and the link to the review of Pathologic, I decided that a depressing Russian game sounded awesome and downloaded it. (Yes, I paid for it. Not that you asked.) However, as is usual when I try to do something interesting on the computer, I find out there is a problem. It says that it can't start up because it can't find "Open AL 32 dll," that sound will not be enabled, and that the renderer cannot start. I do not know if these are related problems or not. (As far as I'm concerned, a computer is basically a Black Box.) I did some Googling and found several skeezy-looking sites which want me to run their scanning software and download the file I need "FOR FREE." As a proud owner of all of my current frontal lobes, I find this deeply suspicious.

Anyone know what the heck my missing file does and where I can find a non-sketchy copy? Any possible assistance with troubleshooting?

(I would gladly provide my computer's specs once someone tells me where I can find them. I know it has well more than the minimum recommended hard drive speed and RAM, but I have no earthly idea what kind of sound or video card I possess.)

How do I stop the stalling?

Seeba — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:11:38 -0800

Allright-- my windows (Vista) is funky: can I fix this without reinstalling? More inside. First, the specs:
Windows Vista, AMD9500 Phenom processor, 4GB RAM, HD2400XT graphics card, and 500GB hard drive, 200GB used (plus an external HD, mouse, keyboard, webcam, monitor, all that jazz)

Now, the problem:

Starting about two weeks ago, whenever I move a file, the "Moving X file(s): Y MB/GB, Z Seconds Remaining" pop-up shows up. As it gets to "0 Seconds Remaining", it just stalls.

Whenever I delete a file, the pop-up "Deleting X file(s): Y MB/GB, Z Seconds Remaining" shows up. As it gets to "0 Seconds Remaining", it stalls.

Anytime I move a file on my internal hard drive, the same thing happens. "Moving X file...." etc.

I haven't touched my registry (to my knowledge), or screwed with my internals any more than changing the "Hibernate/Sleep after X Minutes" or the screen saver in several months.

Whenever this happens, I open the task manager (Ctrl/Alt/Del), hit "End Program" a few times, then the window opens up to let me close and restart windows explorer. So I do. And then life goes on as usual.

Anyone have any idea what's wrong/how I fix this?
(Preferably without reinstalling my op system)

Thank you!

ohshitohshitohshitohshit

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:40:32 -0800

Why won't my computer post? About a year ago I built this computer. It died a month ago, and I thought it was the video card. The card was replaced under warranty. I popped the new card in the system this morning and was disappointed to find that it's still not posting.

When I press the power button, the fans spin, and everything seems normal for about the first 3-4 seconds, then it just shuts off before a video signal is ever sent to the display. About 4 seconds later, it starts again, fans spin for 3-4 seconds, and then it dies. This repeats indefinitely until I kill the power by flipping the master switch on the back of the power supply.

My next guess is that it's the motherboard (GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard ) or processor, but I'm not sure how to troubleshoot that problem. It looks like all the cables are connected.

Any thoughts?

Help, KVM ate my keyboard!

masher — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:08:09 -0800

When my Server 2003 desktop auto locks, the keyboard becomes unresponsive while the mouse continues to work. Anyone had a similar experience? No indicators in any of the logs. Running Dell 2950 and Avocent AMX KVM. The easiest way to recover is to initiate and console RDP connection from another machine, upon which the keyboard regains consciousness.

Please help me turn my webcam off! (So that I can use it)

Seeba — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:46:38 -0800

ComputerTroubleshootingFilter: My google-fu has failed me. How do I turn my webcam "off" so that I can have programs turn it on and use it? I have an HP VGA Webcam EW193AA webcam, and for quite a while, it's been working quite well.

I unplugged it a few days ago, set it next to my computer, and replugged it in today. (Being a plug and play device, this's something I do rather often, never had problems before)

Normally, when I plug it in, Windows makes it's little "ba-dum" noise of a plug-and-play device being plugged in... then the inverse "da-bum" of a plug-and-play device getting unplugged. At the same time, the little indicator light flickers on... then turns off.

Whenever a program starts using the camera (like connecting a skype call, or opening it for use in a video-capture program), I hear the plugin ba-dum... and it works, and the light stays on the entire time that the camera is in use.

Today when I plugged it in, the light stays on.
I've tried restarting the machine, both with it plugged in and without.
I've uninstalled then reinstalled the initial factory drivers.
I've found the latest updated drivers from HP... installed them.

When I try to capture video from the camera, skype tells me the webcam is in use, and other programs tell me that it's being used by twainUI. (I've no idea what that is except that it seems to be related to printer/scanner spooling)

So. My question:
How do I find out what programs are using the camera? (so that I can close it and start using the camera by choice)
or
How do I circumvent whatever program's using the camera so that I can use it?

Thank you all.

What have I missed troubleshooting my VGA problem?

Kraki — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:50:25 -0800

I'm getting a video display error when i try and boot up my computer. Is there a solution I'm just not thinking of? If not, can I still buy a Socket 939 motherboard to replace a malfunctioning one? A little history. I built my computer a few years ago, and Its been fine. I finally decided I wanted to upgrade to a newer video card, and that was an ordeal in itself because I need an AGP card, and can't afford to upgrade my CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Video Card all at once.

Basically, I put in the new video card, and booted up. It looked and sounded normal at first, beginning to boot up, but stopped checking memory. I turned off the computer, fiddled with the ram to make sure i didn't dislodge it at all, reseated the video card, and tried again. the next time i didn't even get that far.

Now when I turn on the computer it beeps at me. One long, and two short, followed by a lower mid length, and a still lower tone. i've heard the "long-short-short" before, and in fact, when I looked it up in the motherboard manual, it says Video Display Error. I've tried my old AGP card and even the video card I had before that, and all 3 cards get the same error.

I also have an old linux box i play around with from time to time, so I've tried all 3 video cards in there, knowing that the latest one shouldn't even boot up since it require more power than the old PSU puts out. It did start booting up and got all the way up to initializing the video card (which it failed, but i'd expected it to.

At this point, I'm assuming there is something wrong with my Comptuer's AGP slot on my main computer's motherboard. I don't have access to a PCI video card, or I'd try that out to see if that worked.

I'm hoping i'm forgetting something stupid, so let me know what I missed!

Assuming it can't be fixed, the other problem I have is that I can't find a Socket 939 motherboard anywhere to replace my old one.

I typed this in the wrong language. help!תעזור לי

Izzmeister — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:14:33 -0800

How do i fix typing in the wrong language (forgetting to Alt+Shift before typing) without retyping the whole thing? Sometimes, I type a sentence or paragraph, only to find that I have used the wrong keyboard (i Am using XP with Hebrew as well as English)

is there any macro/plugin/software or easy way to fix this without retyping all the words?

i'd think many people come across this problem...

If you have this problem as well, even if you don't have a solution, please post and perhaps it's worth paying a freelance programmer to produce...

Scrambled keyboard is not dfb. Sorry, I meant 'fun.'

flibbertigibbet — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:52:33 -0800

Sometimes, my keyboard switches to Dvorak for no apparent reason. We can't find a trigger for it--it occurs when typing in word, when playing TF2, when entering an address in the address bar, etc. Only a restart can restore QWERTY. Even though the text input on TF2 will be scrambled, the TF2 controls work as though on QUERTY--'W' is still forward, even though it types out 'E'. Incidents can be anywhere from hours to weeks apart. I've personally only seen it happen inside TF2, but my sister swears it happens other times, too. Googling only returns 'how to switch to/learn Dvorak' pages. The computer runs Windows XP, and only happens to that computer. Can you help me stop Dvorak?

How can I get data off a bad hard drive?

deafmute — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:28:11 -0800

I am having a very unusual problem with my hard drive and CANNOT recover any data from it after trying numerous methods. Please help me with your technical expertise. A few weeks ago the hard drive for my Dell Inspiron 1520 became unable to boot into Vista after freezing suddenly. When trying to boot, I get a BSOD with the error message "Stop: c000142{DLL Initialization Failed} Initialization of the dynamic link library winsrv failed. The process is terminating abnormally." When attempting to launch startup repair, boot into safe mode, or boot off of several different Vista DVDs I am greeted with a cursor (that I can control) on a black screen that never goes anywhere.

I ran Dell's built-in diagnostic program, and after being given several hard drive related errors, Dell (very quickly) sent me a new hard drive. Now I need to send them the old one, and I would like to recover my data from it before wiping it and sending it back.

I first put it in an enclosure and connected it to Vista, but Vista does nothing more than prompt me to format the drive.

I then ran Spinrite, which, after 27 hours(!) of operation returned no bad sectors or errors of any kind. What's unusual, however, is that my old drive does not exactly match my new drive in terms of partitions. The data partition is flagged as being too large for the size of the drive, and I am advised to change my BIOS's "understanding" of the drive (which I can't do). It is also missing a partition labeled as "hidden CTOS memory dump". I have no idea what this means.

I then booted off of a Knoppix cd and attempted to mount the drive there. I was able to mount the two partitions containing Dell's hidden diagnostic and recovery data, but Knoppix was unable to recognize the existence of a third partition containing my data.

Google searches have proved inconclusive (particularly in the case of my BSOD error message). Please help me get my data!

Standby and hibernation issues

Ricket — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:58:26 -0800

How can I fix my restless computer? (standby/hibernate problems) Computer: Dell E1705 laptop, Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz, 2GB ram, updated drivers, Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit

Lately I have noticed weird happenings with my computer. First of all, standby just doesn't work any more. I'll press the button, the screen will fade to black as usual, and it pretends like it's sleeping - but after waiting, the power never goes out, and I move the mouse and the screen comes back on, to show the locked computer screen. Sometimes, after a fresh restart, it will work, but it's very seldom.

Hibernate, however, seems to work ok. I press the hibernate button, the screen fades, and then about a minute later (after full harddrive activity - how long does it take to dump 2gb??) the computer shuts off.

But there is something weird going on. I will tell it to hibernate, it will go off, and I'll put it in my backpack, and then somehow I believe it turns itself on. I have not fully caught it in the act yet, so that's my next priority, but I discover it later with practically dead battery life, running very hot, inside my backpack. I'm pretty doggone sure I hibernated it and waited til I saw it shut off, but that's the problem - there's always that element of doubt, because I'd like to think the computer can not possibly turn itself on spontaneously. It has happened twice now, both times in my same backpack, both times after using it (plugged in) for a while and then hibernating (I think). For the purposes of this question, assume it is as I think - that I do successfully hibernate it to the point where it's off, then I unplug the outlet and put it in my bag, and then somehow it turns on.

So this is a two-part question:
How do I find whatever is stopping the computer from standby? Do you think it's a piece of software, or maybe a service? How can I diagnose it?; and
How is it possible that the computer turns itself back on? How can I prevent this?

These things never used to happen to me - I think they started around the time I upgraded to SP1. While I'd like to think SP1 is not the cause of them, I just can't be sure. Maybe it was one of the Windows Updates? Bottom line is, if none of your suggestions help then I guess I'll be backing up, reformatting, and then installing things one-by-one and testing standby and hibernate after each one.

my computer screen is too small!

arcadia — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:25:22 -0800

Help! My computer screen has shrunk and I can't make it big again! Calling all geeks and dweebs: help me fix this problem so I can continue using my ancient and hammered computer. Some sort of unexpected shutoff happened, and now my computer screen is 640 x 480 pixels, with about 2" black space on all sides. Also the colours are set at 16 colours. If I click Control Panel > Display > Settings, I'm taken to the place where I'm apparently supposed to be able to fix these things. However the only colour setting offered is 16, and the little 'Screen Area' sliding thingamajig is stuck at the far left and won't move when I try to move it with my cursor. What gives?
It's an IBM Thinkpad 6000 series, running Windows ME.

How do I get my browser to work?

MrMulan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:39:23 -0800

How do I get an Internet browser to work in Vista? Trying to troubleshoot a Lenovo T61 laptop for somebody. Here are the facts:
- Running Vista Home Premium 32Bit, Lenovo T61, dual core 1.8Mgz, 2GB RAM
-IE7 and Firefox display their respective page cannot be displayed message
- User says, unprompted, "It just stopped working for no reason", and "I did not do anything to the machine"
-Would rather not reinstall the OS
-Both the wired and wireless network adapters give me the same problem
-I can pull an IP address from the DHCP servers
-I can ping the gateways
-I flushed the DNS
-I set up the DHCP addresses as statics
-Made sure the proxy setting was off
-Disabled AV, and Windows firewall
-I am able to use network resources
-I am able to use remote access software (remote desktop, VNC)
-AOL Instant Messenger does not work
-I have scoured forums without any luck
-This is the first time I have actually used Vista
-I have tried different networks at work and home

Have I missed something?
And just for my own knowledge, why do over 10 network adapters display when I do an ipconfig?
I have gotten the go ahead to install WinXP, but wanted to give AskMF a shot.
Lenovo tech support was not helpful, since it is a software issue. The offered OS support for $99, that might solve the issue.

BSODude, This Fucking Sucks

B(oYo)BIES — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:02:23 -0800

BSOD Filter: Help me pinpoint the cause. Dump file contents included. Purchased about 2 months ago, it is still under warranty, but I would like to know exactly what I am looking at before sending it in or asking for replacement parts. From what I can tell, it is bad memory I guess. Is there a way to tell which stick it is? Any software recommendations for testing the memory? Is it possible that it is off the video card memory? If it is the DDR2, should I just replace it with better memory?

Here is some information on the rig, further below is the dump...

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (4x 2.4GHz/8MB L2 Cache/1066FSB)
Asus P5N-E SLI nForce® 650i SLI Chipset w/6-channel CODEC, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB
2GB Corsair XMS2
NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.8.0004.0 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Loading Dump File [C:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping PC\Desktop\Mini120607-01.dmp]
wMini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: C:\WINDOWS\Symbols
Executable search path is:
Unable to load image ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (4 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x8055c720
Debug session time: Thu Dec 6 08:33:14.906 2007 (GMT-7)
System Uptime: 0 days 12:38:18.528
Unable to load image ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Loading Kernel Symbols
.............................................................................................................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
....................
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for hal.dll
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 9C, {0, bab3c050, b2000040, 800}

Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

1: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9c)
A fatal Machine Check Exception has occurred.
KeBugCheckEx parameters;
x86 Processors
If the processor has ONLY MCE feature available (For example Intel
Pentium), the parameters are:
1 - Low 32 bits of P5_MC_TYPE MSR
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of P5_MC_ADDR MSR
4 - Low 32 bits of P5_MC_ADDR MSR
If the processor also has MCA feature available (For example Intel
Pentium Pro), the parameters are:
1 - Bank number
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
4 - Low 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
IA64 Processors
1 - Bugcheck Type
1 - MCA_ASSERT
2 - MCA_GET_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_GET_STATEINFO while processing MCA.
3 - MCA_CLEAR_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_CLEAR_STATEINFO while processing MCA.
4 - MCA_FATAL
FW reported a fatal MCA.
5 - MCA_NONFATAL
SAL reported a recoverable MCA and we don't support currently
support recovery or SAL generated an MCA and then couldn't
produce an error record.
0xB - INIT_ASSERT
0xC - INIT_GET_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_GET_STATEINFO while processing INIT event.
0xD - INIT_CLEAR_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_CLEAR_STATEINFO while processing INIT event.
0xE - INIT_FATAL
Not used.
2 - Address of log
3 - Size of log
4 - Error code in the case of x_GET_STATEINFO or x_CLEAR_STATEINFO
AMD64 Processors
1 - Bank number
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
4 - Low 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000
Arg2: bab3c050
Arg3: b2000040
Arg4: 00000800

Debugging Details:
------------------

NOTE: This is a hardware error. This error was reported by the CPU
via Interrupt 18. This analysis will provide more information about
the specific error. Please contact the manufacturer for additional
information about this error and troubleshooting assistance.

This error is documented in the following publication:

- IA-32 Intel(r) Architecture Software Developer's Manual
Volume 3: System Programming Guide

Bit Mask:

MA Model Specific MCA
O ID Other Information Error Code Error Code
VV SDP ___________|____________ _______|_______ _______|______
AEUECRC| | | |
LRCNVVC| | | |
^^^^^^^| | | |
6 5 4 3 2 1
3210987654321098765432109876543210987654321098765432109876543210
----------------------------------------------------------------
1011001000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000100000000000

VAL - MCi_STATUS register is valid
Indicates that the information contained within the IA32_MCi_STATUS
register is valid. When this flag is set, the processor follows the
rules given for the OVER flag in the IA32_MCi_STATUS register when
overwriting previously valid entries. The processor sets the VAL
flag and software is responsible for clearing it.

UC - Error Uncorrected
Indicates that the processor did not or was not able to correct the
error condition. When clear, this flag indicates that the processor
was able to correct the error condition.

EN - Error Enabled
Indicates that the error was enabled by the associated EEj bit of the
IA32_MCi_CTL register.

PCC - Processor Context Corrupt
Indicates that the state of the processor might have been corrupted
by the error condition detected and that reliable restarting of the
processor may not be possible.

BUSCONNERR - Bus and Interconnect Error BUS{LL}_{PP}_{RRRR}_{II}_{T}_err
These errors match the format 0000 1PPT RRRR IILL

Concatenated Error Code:
--------------------------
_VAL_UC_EN_PCC_BUSCONNERR_0

This error code can be reported back to the manufacturer.
They may be able to provide additional information based upon
this error. All questions regarding STOP 0x9C should be
directed to the hardware manufacturer.

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x9C_GenuineIntel

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: INTEL_CPU_MICROCODE_ZERO

PROCESS_NAME: Idle

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 806e7bf7 to 804f9f05

STACK_TEXT:
bab3c028 806e7bf7 0000009c 00000000 bab3c050 nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+0x156
bab3c154 806e2c52 bab38d70 00000000 00000000 hal!_allshr+0x9
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 hal!HalpWriteCmosTime+0xce

STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156
804f9f05 5d pop ebp

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 0

SYMBOL_NAME: nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: nt

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 469f3fa8

IMAGE_NAME: memory_corruption

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x9C_GenuineIntel_nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

BUCKET_ID: 0x9C_GenuineIntel_nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

Where do I find occasional computer help?

Ms. Next — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:25:22 -0800

What is a good website for computer (and related hardware) help? I know there are several websites that allow people to post questions about software, hardware, drivers, but which one would you recommend?

I'm not very knowledgable about computers and software, but am not a total newbie either. I sporadically (once, twice a year?) have computer questions that even with Google and the likes I can't figure out myself.

(For example, the kind of questions I'd be searching help for: In this case it's about installing a "plug and play" Lexmark printer on Windows XP where I can't properly install the drivers: not from the cd rom that came with it, nor from the Lexmark website. Calling the manufacturers (printer and laptop) hasn't helped so far).

How do I "start" an enabled driver in XP SP2?

padjet1 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:19:06 -0800

My audio device is giving me the following message: "Driver is enabled but has not been started." Please help. Long version: All of a sudden yesterday I had no sound on my three-year-old Thinkpad X40 (XP Pro SP2). In the Control Panel under "Sounds and Audio Devices," all of the devices and options are grayed out, and when I play an audio file I get this message: "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."

I've reinstalled the driver for my SoundMAX sound card, updated the BIOS, and tried everything in the Windows and Lenovo troubleshooters, including disabling/enabling every relevant audio device. The Device Manager is showing no conflicts.

Now, the device properties window is showing the message above, and my question is this: how do I "start" the audio driver once it's been enabled?

My own research has revealed that apparently I'm not alone with this problem. One common solution appears to be a reinstallation of the Plug and Play Software Enumerator. I tried that. I've also discovered using the Thinkpad utilities that the Microsoft Kernel Wave Mixer (kmixer.sys) is showing "Status: Stopped" as compared with the previous "Running" status.

I'm reaching the limits of my own knowledge, and I'd really like to avoid this guy's solution of reinstalling Windows. I'd very much appreciate any help.

Headphone jack issues: "Garble garble foofoofooo." "Exactly right, Rose."

flibbertigibbet — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:23:06 -0800

The main headphone jack on my computer has a huge distortion (to the point of making words incomprehensible) for higher pitched voices and instruments. Why? To describe the effect, imagine watching a TV show, and most of the sound was ok, except that most of the voices of female characters are distorted. This also goes for high-pitched instruments (some synthesizers, some guitar solos, sometimes even drumbeats, etc).

(a note before I describe it: I know nothing of music, so I'm probably using the wrong words all over). The high-pitched elements of a song or video become really thin and squeaky, and sounds like they're coming from a room full of echoes. It's like something was stripped from the sound, and then what was left was duplicated, except with the time slightly off. It's very garbled.

Now, some technical notes:
1) This happens no matter what program is used. The same videos etc. work fine on other computers.
2) When connecting speakers to the computer, then headphones to the speakers, everything sounds fine: so it's not the computer or the headphones, just the jack.
3) It started suddenly a few months ago.
4) It happens at every level of volume.

I normally wouldn't care (since I could use the speakers as a fix), but recently the volume control of the speakers went haywire, blowing out my ears while trying to watch or listen to anything.

So: what the heck is up with my headphone jack?

What software do I need to troubleshoot Grandma's PC?

desjardins — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:46:07 -0800

I'm going to visit my grandparents, who want me to look at their slow-running PC. What software should I bring with me? Here's what I know about the PC: It's a low-end Dell from 2003, running Windows XP, and they're complaining that it "moves slowly." They can't give me many further details, like how much RAM it has. They're on dial-up, but since they've never had cable/DSL with which to compare it, I don't think they're complaining about the Internet speed. I also know that they run Norton, and I've heard horror stories about those products grinding RAM to a halt. However, I can't imagine what else would be that memory-intensive. All they do with the PC is type emails and letters.

I'm bringing my 6 gb USB drive and my XP laptop. I'm no tech wizard, but I can feel my way around. I'd like to know what programs I should run to help diagnose their problem, and since they're on dial-up, I'd like to download them before my trip. Any additional insight would be appreciated.

Why would formatting be suppressed on all html pages on a particular computer?

Manjusri — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:38:57 -0800

Why would formatting be suppressed on all html pages on a particular computer? I'm doing my annual repair/cleanup of all the wacky things my parents do to their computer over the year, and have run into a bit of a puzzler. For some reason all webpages are rendered in the browser minus formatting. Background colors, text colors, frame borders, etc. are all somehow suppressed. This is true for both IE6 and Firefox2. Can anyone tell me the cause of this, or at least point me in the right direction?

Thumbthing's wrong with my iMac's USB ports

baltimore — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:28:34 -0800

OSXFilter: Because AskMeFi is where all the coolest Mac nerds hang... On my iMac 24", USB thumb drives and memory cards are failing when copying files. The specific symptom is that the file transfer will hang, and the only way to recover is to manually remove the device from the port. This happens regardless of whether the device is plugged into the back of the iMac, or into a powered hub.

And, to make the issue extra-difficult to diagnose, it doesn't happen all the time.

Behavior replicates across two different user accounts on the machine, so it's not specific to one login.

Is there some kind of diagnostic tool to run or a driver I can replace? Apple's hardware disagnostic disc comes up problem-free.

And, yes, I've tested the USB devices on other Macs and they work fine.

Thanks in advance, hive mind.

Have you tried turning it off and then on again?

MsMolly — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:20:39 -0800

It's the oldest computer question in existence... My computer won't start. Help me. I feel like I've tried all of the obvious things, but maybe someone will have something even more obvious.

I have a HP z545 Media Center PC. It was working fine today, no error messages, no warnings, nothing. I shut it down, and now it won't start up again. I've tried
1. Plugging it into different outlets
2. Switching out the power cable
3. Hitting it and yelling "Whyyyyy!?"

Pressing the power button has no response. The fan doesn't start, there are no noises of things trying to power up, there's no text on the front LED display. Normally, I'd think this meant the power supply is hosed, but there's a small green LED light near the power supply that comes on when it's plugged in. According to HP's website, this means the power supply should be good. We've tried everything here except for the final step of disconnecting everything and reconnecting piece by piece to find the problem. Any other ideas before we try that?

Computer Boots, Then Monitors Shut Off

ubersturm — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:47:30 -0800

My computer boots, but the monitors go black before the OS loads. I restarted my computer this afternoon because I'd heard a sound [something like the whining noise of a chopsaw, heard from far away] coming from my computer, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I'd heard this noise occasionally in the past, but restarting the computer after a short break generally eliminated the problem. [My suspicion has generally been that this may have something to do with fans and overheating, since my computer's always on, but I've never really investigated it further.]

This time, however, the computer went through the boot process, but the monitors went black before the Windows login screen appeared. I tried to go through the login process blind to change the display settings, but [though the computer appeared to be on, and all fans were running] there was no effect. Restarting the computer with only one monitor plugged in results in the same problem. Windows does start in safe mode, and it doesn't seem to me that the boot drive [or any of my other hard drives] is malfunctioning - nor apparently are either of the monitors, although in safe mode, the normal dual-monitor setup doesn't work. Nothing strange seems to be showing up in the event viewer [except for the notes about processes not running in safe mode], and the computer is not making any further unusual noises.

Any idea what could be going wrong? What diagnostic stuff can I do to figure out what's happening? Is this failure mode typical of any sort of ailing computer part?

Computer specs:
Dual AMD Athlon MP 1800+ processors - these run a little hot, in the 60C range.
Asus a7m266-d motherboard
Allied AL-A400 ATX power supply, max 400w
Geforce4 ti4200 8x graphics card
768mb RAM [computer is in an awkward position to check precisely what kinds are in there]
Cheap Lite-on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives; the former is broken.
There are five hard drives; a 100GB WDC wd1000bb is the boot drive. There's a second internal drive - 120GB Maxtor. There are three external drives - a 300GB LaCie drive attached to a USB 1.0 port, along with a 200GB Western Digital drive and a 250GB LaCie drive attached to firewire ports.
The two monitors are a 17" KDS monitor and a 21" digital monitor; one attaches to the VGA port and the other to the DVI [with an adaptor.]
The OS is Windows XP Professional, SP 1, and I run regular checks for viruses, spyware, etc.

Intermittent PrePOST Hangs

srboisvert — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 08:57:50 -0800

How can I trouble a system that intermittently hangs before the POST? It usually boots fine but every week or so the system starts up and starts displaying the Bios info and then hangs with just after writing Memo. (The start of the line for the Memory Test). Would this mean the memory test is failing right away? What other things can I look into?

Strange PC noises

raddevon — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:50:35 -0800

What are the strange noises coming from my computer? My PC is making a couple of strange noises. There is a high-pitched noise that is constant, and a clicking noise which seems to accompany any operations performed on the computer (i.e. starting an application, opening a document, etcetera). For a short time after I boot the system, there are anomolies in the image displayed on the screen. Horizontal lines may flash across the portions of the screen in which the image being displayed is changing (for instance, when the mouse pointer moves).

I have tried a number of solutions. I have unplugged each of the hard drives in turn and booted the system, unplugged the power from the video card and booted, unplugged the power from the case fan and booted, and adjusted the speed of the processor fan. The high-pitched sound persists, and the clicking also persists when any operation is performed. I am beginning to suspect a processor issue is the culprit. Is it possible for a processor to make a clicking sound? Any other ideas? I will post the systems components below.

Intel P4 3.0 gHz Processor w/ Zalman heatsink and fan
ABIT IC7-Max3 Mobo
1GB Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM
2x WD Raptor S-ATA Hard drives
1x 250GB WD S-ATA Hard drive
Asus 16X DVD-Rom
NEC 8X DVD-RW
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB video card
Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS sound card
Ultra 500W modular power supply