Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with crash

Bug Hunters

Artw — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:30:24 -0800

UK 80s gaming magazine question: Who drew "Bug Hunters", the comic strip with the big four armed robot, for CRASH and C&VG magazine? This question might be related to this other question.

Guardian, guard thyself from the Firefox

clair-de-lune — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:22:49 -0800

Why does Firefox always crash when I try to access the Guardian website? I am an American but from time to time I enjoy reading articles from London's Guardian newspaper online (guardian.co.uk). However, for several months now, if I try to access a Guardian webpage using Firefox, it'll make my internet browser crash. This used to happen to me maybe 50% of the time, but this summer the Guardian redesigned their website and now Firefox is guaranteed to crash, 100% of the time, if I type in a Guardian address or even click through from another site that links to the Guardian.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? I have version 2.0.0.16 of Firefox, and am using Mac OS 10.4.10, if that's relevant. Any suggestions about what is causing this error and how to fix it will be much appreciated!

How do I enable simple file sharing on Server 2008 and stop my network from crashing?

Magnakai — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:15:12 -0800

How do I transparently share files from a Windows Server 2008 box to several XP computers? I want it to stop asking for a username and password when people try to access files. Also, can anyone point me in the right direction to solving this weird network issue I've been having? I've been assigned to run the IT stuff for the small business that I part-time for. They have four machines running Windows XP. One of them used to host all the office documents in a shared folder, enabling it to be accessed from across the network. They're connected via brand-new Cat 6 cables going into a wireless router, which is connected via another brand-new cable to a rather ancient 4-port ADSL modem.

They now have need of a dedicated server, and because of some incoming (in the next year) custom written software, it needs to be Windows Server 2008. I built them a low-cost machine with stable components and it seems to run fine.

I hooked it up to the network, connected to current share and transferred all the office files over. I then shared that directory. I created accounts that have the same username and passwords as the default accounts on the XP machines. I gave access to the office file directory to Everyone. At the top of that screen, it specified that if you selected Everyone, it wouldn't ask for a username or password. But it does!

When they were shared from the previous workstation, you could happily access them without entering a password. Is there any way to revert to this level of behaviour?

My second question follows from this - I tried accessing the folder from one of the comptuers on the workgroup, and I then entered Administrator and the password for the server into the request box that popped up. It connects absolutely fine. But once it's connected, at regular but random intervals, it seems to hang the workstation for a period of time and kill the network connection for the server. Other computers were able to access the network and connect to the internet fine. I can reproduce this problem Can anyone give me pointers to trying to diagnose this error, as obviously it makes the whole endeavour rather useless!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for reading this long question.

I promise this is the last computer question I'll ever ask.

backseatpilot — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:09:27 -0800

I hate doing this, but I have a computer issue and need help. Apologies in advance. Random pauses while it's running... what broke? So, I have a machine running Windows XP with some older-ish hardware - Athlon 64 processor, etc. Within the past week, some interesting things have started happening. The computer will hang for about 15 seconds (where NOTHING happens), and then continue on its merry way. If task manager is running, after it gets itself back together it will show a 100% CPU spike during the brief hang.

It has started happening more and more frequently to the point that I get about 30 seconds of useful time followed by a 15 second pause. Previous to this the lags seemed much more random and spread out.

I disabled a few of the startup programs (Nero's, Adobe's, and Office's startup checker thingies) using msconfig, and that helped for about four hours. Now it's back with a vengeance. Adware and virus scans don't yield results. I have not installed any new software recently.

I am led to believe it is a hardware issue, mostly because I now see it during the Windows XP splash screen. Removing the RAM (my initial guess) did not help. My best guess now is that the motherboard is killing itself - does this seem reasonable? It may be an overheating issue, but all the fans are running fine and are relatively clean.

The one last bit of (possible spurious) evidence I have - a previous issue to this one involved the computer failing to make it past the memory check during boot. That hasn't happened in awhile, but it did take some creative power cycling and jamming of power cables to unstick it from that situation.

Hope me!

Computer Freezes but mouse still moves

zeoslap — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:25:26 -0800

My PC has been crashing - I can move the mouse - but everything else is dead as a doornail. Apps don't respond, clock doesn't change etc. As though the display is frozen in time. Any ideas?

My computer doesn't like to think too hard

lpctstr; — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:25:38 -0800

Why are my high CPU load applications crashing? Lately whenever I run applications which uses a lot of CPU, they randomly crash in 0-2 minutes. These are application crashes and not system crashes.

They are extremely consistent and reproduceable so I can't even finish the tasks. I have been able to do these tasks in the past with no problems.

I've seen this in:

1) Transcoding my ripped CDs to flac
2) Compressing large folders

What can be the problem? I consider myself tech savvy am would be willing to try anything.

One thing that may be related is I had bad ram (memtest failed) last week and I replaced it with the same model of ram from Frys (memtest passed). I also tried eliminating the pagefile but the application crashes still persist. I'm on Windows XP SP2.

graphics tablet and photoshop smudge tool crashing woes.

merocet — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:16:28 -0800

I have an old Active XP-Pen graphics tablet with up to date drivers that I use for occasional graphic design work in Photoshop CS2. All seems to be fine except when I use the smudge tool. After a short while the action on screen becomes laggy and then Photoshop hangs completely. No amount of waiting has brought it back so far so I lose work. Will getting a nice shiney new Wacom tablet solve my problem or is this more likely a hardware issue on my PC's side? I'm using it on a Dell 8600 laptop with 1.7 Ghz processor and 2 GB of ram. Running XP. Thanks.

Computer woes

bmalicoat — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:29:39 -0800

ComputerDebugFilter: How can I find out what caused my computer to crash? I'm running Vista 64-bit (I know, I know...) with 4gb of ram, 3 hard drives with a raid array and an intel quad core processor. The nature of the crash is very strange. Basically the mouse cursor will slow down and then intermittently work and then it will just stop, all in the span of 4 seconds or so. After that the entire computer is frozen with the reset button as the only source of relief. During the lead up to the freeze and the after the processor is not working hard at all (ie no audible stress). I do multiple virus scans from different vendors on a regular basis and no spyware/malware has ever been found. The only thing wrong that I know of is iTunes isn't installed correctly and it lets me know this each time I start it.

Is there a log or stack trace that I can access after resetting that could clue me in to what's going on?

Why'd my reliable mac crash so violently?

thecaddy — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:31:31 -0800

My 15" Powerbook from 2003, running OS X.3, just froze up and demanded that I restart my computer. Why? The screen grayed out and a message popped up telling me to restart my computer in English, German and a couple of other languages, in front of a graphic of the apple power logo.

Was it some kind of kernel crash? I've gone through my logs and don't see anything out of the ordinary.

I've never seen anything like this. Has my computer been hacked, or was it just running so long that a serious crash was bound to happen? (Disclosure: I've been using OS9 support recently.)

I want my music back

klangklangston — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:50:16 -0800

iTunes failure. Version 6.0.5. Attempting to open it through terminal gives "terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::out_of_range' what(): basic_string::substr" What does this mean? What are my options? I've kept 6.0.5 because it works with OurTunes and various other cheats around DRM, also because I haven't felt the need to upgrade. But it just stopped working (like, crashed) on Tuesday night and I haven't been able to find any advice since then on what to do.

Windows Vista is laughing at me...

cgomez — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:37:02 -0800

Server/network/IT-Filter? Windows Vista keeps, or more specifically explorer.exe drops my network transfers, how can I fix this or what is the best Explorer replacement? Also, how can I make Windows Server 2008 more useful on the small scale (more inside of course) ... I previously asked about a storage array for my personal network and ended getting another computer and converting the old one into a RAID-5 Windows Server box.

Here's what's on the network:

Computer 1: Windows Server 2008, RAID-5 Disk Array (2.3TB usable).
Computer 2: Windows Vista Ultimate (used as a media center/personal computer)
Computer 3: MacBook Pro

All of this is linked up through 802.11n/gigabit ethernet.

Question 1: Windows Vista randomly drops network transfers to the server (explorer.exe). This usually happens when I'm moving 5GB or more of data which is often. Essentially it stops transferring and when I press 'cancel', it locks up and I can't kill explorer.exe from the task manager. The only way to recover is restart.

This is, however, not a problem with Windows Networking. I've tried a different file manager called "Directory Opus" which is great and solves my issue. Network transfers never fail. The issue is the program costs $85 US and I'm not going to steal it :-\. So, does anyone have ideas on how to solve explorer.exe or is there a more affordable file manager/Explorer replacement? Also, I've tried this with and without SP1.

Question 2: I'm using Windows Server 2008 as a storage and print server. I've toyed a bit with the virtualization features but I'm looking to see if there are features that might be useful outside a true-server environment for my setup.

(all software licenses are legitimate, piracy is bad, m'kay)

Photoshop is suicidal when I try and save. Errrr....

actionpact — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:48:58 -0800

Photoshop CS keeps crashing when I try and save a file. WHY? I run OSX and Photoshop CS, a 6x8 Wacom Graphire4, and a Epson Perfection 4850 scanner. Since I bought my iMac two summers ago, I've had zero trouble with Photoshop-- eerily so. But about two weeks ago I started trying to scan in multiple files with my scanner, and I started having Photoshop crash any time I tried to save more than two files. OK, I got over my annoyance with that, thinking it was some bizarre new glitch when I scanned and saved, but now I was working on one file, saved it twenty minutes ago, tried saving it again just a minute ago, and it's crashed.

To my knowledge nothing new has happened in the last month or so, like an update or something. No new programs were installed, it's been a pretty uneventful time lately. I am baffled at why it just keeps crashing before I can save. It doesn't seem to matter whether I save it as a PSD or as a TIF, it just crashes when I save something more than once or twice.

Any idea what could cause this? I know it's probably a longshot, but maybe there's something I totally am not considering that would cause this. Nothing else has problems, except for the occasional Firefox lockup. I am hoping I don't have to go and shell out for a new copy of Photoshop....it's getting pretty frustrating after a while.

Is a job in Education sheltered from the market?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:11:05 -0800

I have just been offered a staff position at a large University of California campus. Given that my current job is with a small (employees<15) consulting company in the technology field, and given the current national (and global) economic situation; is a UC job more likely to be stable in the next 5 years when compared to one in a small tech company? Also, what's it like to work at a UC? Is the UC system subsidized by the government enough at the state and federal level to make it as secure as a government job?
Will a big CA educational institution weather the inevitable financial storm comparatively better than other sectors?
What is it like to work for a big UC school?
The benefits are good, but is working for an academic institution as political and as slow moving as people say?
What have you experienced as a UC employee?

Lifestyle changes post modern day 1929-style market crash?

raikkohamilonso — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:16:09 -0800

If the stock market were to completely crash this year, how would the effects differ from 1929? I am not saying I think there will be one - or not. I am also not saying circumstances leading to it would be the same, or that there aren't different safeguards today versus 1929.

But if there were, how would daily life be affected for the years afterward?

How can I fly?

Cat Pie Hurts — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:19:21 -0800

Please help me figure out how to get on an airplane. Due to a possible family emergency, I may need to get on a plane at a moment's notice. The problem? I haven't flown since January 2000. Ever since then, the very thought of flying sends me into a vicious panic attack, full shakes, crying, near-crap-my-pants kind of terror. (Long story short: my Dad died and my mortality circuit got fried - and, no, he didn't die in a plane crash).

The last time I actually attempted flying was early September 2001. I was hopped up (or down) on much Ativan and I still started screaming and crying before even checking in, and had to be dragged out by my best friend.

The majority of my dreams over the last seven years have been related to my fear of flying. I'll be on a plane about to take off and start freaking, I'll see vivid plane crashes, etc.

(Mind you, before my Dad died, I had mild nervousness regarding flying, but all in all I loved it, and flew fairly often - 5-6 times/year).

The inability to get on a plane has had severe effects on my life over the last seven years; missed job opportunities, missed family and friends. And now, at a time when I should be focused on my very sick Grandpa, I'm thinking all about me, and that's just not fair.

What I really need is a B.A. Barracus style shot-in-the-ass service, but I don't think they exist. (Besides, I'd REALLY like to be able to enjoy flying again).

So, Mefites, any tips for a not-just-fearful-flyer-but-crazy-terrified-flyer?

I do this for a living, really...you'd think I could fix it.

geckoinpdx — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 01:03:45 -0800

I know it's early in the morning, but hopefully someone who can help is out there. My RAID-5 array just went titsup...while attempting to add a disk. Please tell me I didn't lose a terrabyte of mostly irreplaceable data... MeFi tech support, help! This is a little long, sorry.

I had a three-disk raid-5 array on a windows server 2003 box (three 500GB WD drives), giving me just under 1TB of space. I recently (last night) tried to add a fourth disk to add space. Used the mediashield utility application (which is how I built it in the first place, as well as successfully replace a previous failed drive) to add the disk. Everything started well.

Right at 5%, it choked (it may be relevant (or not) that right about this time something tried to access data on the array). The application (and O/S) froze (yes I'm sure it wasn't just grinding away in the background). Had to reboot.

After rebooting, both the BIOS RAID utility and the windows-based application recognised what I was trying to do and attempted to continue building the new 1.5TB array. Right at 5% again, the app threw up a "raid access failure"...on one of the original three disks.

click. click. click.

One of the original three drives was what was clicking. Went out and picked up a shiny new drive to replace it.

I decided to hell with it and wanted to just go back to where I was with three disks, but the RAID manager is having none of it, it keeps trying to rebuild the new four-disk array.

If it helps, the current configuration is this:

drive 1: good original 1TB-array disk
drive 2: good original 1TB-array disk
drive 3: bad clicky original 1TB-array disk
drive 4: good new 1.5TB-array disk (only built to 5%)

The short version of the question is this: can I get two new drives and successfully rebuild the array that it's trying to build (1.5TB), or is everything lost?

I apologise for the rambling but this data represents eight years of media collecting, a significant portion of which is irreplaceable. Upset is a mild term.

(Yes, I know the mantra "RAID does not replace backups" but I haven't been able to find a cost-effective (or affordable) 1TB+ backup solution)

Tipsy Mac, why do you crash when I pick you up?

cocoagirl — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:40:31 -0800

My laptop crashes about 80% of the time when I pick it up or put it down, even when I'm ultra-ginger. Why? Before you cry "Disable the sudden motion sensor!" as far as I can tell, I don't think it even has one. Relevant details: It's a 12" PowerBook G4, circa 2004. 1GHz power PC G4, 1.25 GB DDR SDRAM running OS X 10.4.10. I have about 30 GB available. I used the instructions on this page from Apple Support to try to set/disable the motion sensor, but I don't even get a line item readout for SMS or AMS in Terminal. Perhaps relevant, in May I added more memory (this), but the crashing problem seemed to start about three months after that (though I'm hazy on exactly when). I changed batteries over the summer when a recall happened, and the machine gets warm but not as hot as it used to. Possibly related: about once every two or three hours of use, I hear a sound like a single piano hammer or ping pong ball "bounce" inside the computer to the left of the touchpad (where the heel of my hand rests).

The machine is very sensitive. I can pick it up gently from a couch and before I've lifted it a couple of feet, it's crashed (total lock-up of the screen requiring a restart). It also happens when I put it down, rock it side-to-side gently, or tip up one edge (for instance, it crashed about 10 minutes ago when I lifted it to slide a piece of paper out from underneath). Even something like lifting it gently to put in a USB cord or turning it to show someone the screen can crash it. It seems to do this no matter what program(s) I'm running (and that's usually only Firefox, Word and/or Mail). To be honest, my instinct tells me it's the screen - it seems sort of related to whether the screen angle shifts or "sags" under the g-force of my lifting, or jiggles when I shift the base (it's worse if the rubber feet have stuck to the table). Another odd thing is that there was a space of about three weeks where it seemed to clear up, but now it's back. I can't think of anything that changed in those three weeks. I'm very good about updating the OS, but I do not update stuff like iPhoto, iTunes, iWhatever because I don't use them. Ideas? I dislike Apple's suggestion of seeing someone with "genius" in their title for a machine that is supposed to "just work" but obviously I will if I have to.

Bringing Office on a Mac back from the brink

skylar — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:27:18 -0800

All the Microsoft Office 2004 apps on my PowerBook (10.4.10) have stopped working. The icons bounce around in the Dock, and a Microsoft Error Reporting application launches, but nothing happens. I've attempted to rebuild my Entourage database but it won't respond; I have also tried fixing the permissions but with no luck. Any ideas? I do have an enormous (6 gigabyte) Entourage database, but renaming it or emoving it from the relevant folder makes no difference. This problem seems to be affecting all the Office applications. Above all I'd like to make sure I can access my Entourage database, but it would be good to rescue all the applications. Thanks.

Excel copy cell CRASH. (why?)

lucasks — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:53:39 -0800

Excel for Mac freezes on copy (command-c)! Help. Earlier today I had my PowerBook G4 hooked up to a bigger monitor. Later, when working in Excel I tried to make a chart, when I did so the chart wizard window appeared off screen. Not being able to resolve this issue, and not being able to get Excel to let me quit, I killed it. Upon restart everything seems to work fine but if I try to copy a cell I get the whirly beach ball of death EVERY SINGLE TIME. Behavior is consistant over multiple restarts of both Excel and the Powerbook. Any ideas? I really need Excel to work.

2nd internal harddive

Rustbeard — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:52:18 -0800

if my computer crashes will I lose my data on my second internal harddrive like I would on my first? This is something I've been wondering for awhile now but never could find an answer to it. This past year I installed a second internal hard drive into my desktop pc, I was wondering if my computer crashes will I lose my data on my second hdd like I would on my first? I only have media files on my second harddrive no programs or system files, just videos, pictures, and music.

Xbox 360 + 64Mb memory card + BioShock + crash = _RAGE_. Any way back?

StephenF — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:28:23 -0800

Xbox 360 + 64Mb memory card + BioShock + crash = _RAGE_. Any way back? I have an Xbox 360 but no hard drive, just a 64Mb memory card. BioShock saved games fill it up pretty quickly, so each time I just saved in the same slot. Meaning that the autosave never worked, but that was fine - I just saved manually every time I started a new level. I was having just a grand old time.

Then, in a rather unexpected turn of events, the machine crashed, and took my saved game with it. The previous save is, I would estimate, 10 hours or more behind where I last was. I found the Microsoft KB article which informs me in corporate speak that I am shit outta' luck. I don't want to spoil the game for anyone who's playing it, so exactly where I was is explained here.

There is no sign of the saved game anywhere on the memory stick (well, I assume that quantum-mechanically there is, but not a hint through the 360), I can't find any 'skip levels' cheats online, and the hard drive is in the post as of this evening. Is there any way I could obtain a saved game from some mysterious source, transfer that to my 360, and play on from there? (I can't find anything on that on the nets). Is there _any_ way to get back to where I was? Or do I just need to accept that everything is easier the second time around?

Thanks hive-mind.

Whaddya mean we dropped a zero from it?

richter_x — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:03:04 -0800

WhatIf Filter - What would happen if the dollar 3/4ths of it's value? For all you economic MeFites out there?

I remember someone talking about this a long time ago, and he mentioned something about debt you hold being cheaper because things cost more, and (eventually) you might make more because of the change. Would this hold true? What other dire consequences would come about from such a thing happening? Additionally, would there be any bright spots in this, where if properly planned, you might actually come out better than you would otherwise?

Legalities after Bicycle Accident?

suedehead — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:41:50 -0800

I got hit by a car on a bicycle while carrying a laptop. Bicycle & laptop are busted, but thankfully I'm not. What do I do now, legally speaking? I was riding my bike uptown on an avenue on a green light. A livery cab coming uptown on the same avenue turned to his left, across the avenue, to enter a eastbound street. I saw him coming and tried to brake to avoid him; he was going pretty fast and didn't brake in time, and he hit me on my left, his front/right. I flipped over and landed on my back.

There were quite a few people around, who started calling the police and an ambulance. The police came and got the driver's license number, et cetera, and I went in the ambulance to the ER, where I got checked out and they told me that I'd probably be okay for now. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet and a messenger bag, and so I don't have any harsh bruises or scrapes. My neck/head seem okay for now.

Problem is: My bike wheels are bent, a pedal is bent, the handlebars are bent sideways, et cetera. On top of that, I had my laptop in my messenger bag. The laptop's LCD screen is cracked, and my laptop won't boot up past the Apple login screen. I went to the police, they gave me an accident report, but told me that they couldn't include any information about any valuables I had in a police accident report.

All I want is to have my bike, my laptop, and any medical fees resulting from this to be covered. I do have medical insurance. I don't think that it was my fault - I was going slower than the cars, it was my green light, I have the right of way because he was turning left, and if the livery cab wasn't going so fast he would have been able to stop in time.

1) What should I do next?
2) How do I prove that the accident caused the damage to my laptop?
3) Should I just contact the driver's insurance company and try to settle it that way? Will they cover my medical fees/bike/laptop?
4) Should I try to find a lawyer specializing in these cases? (I'm in NYC.)
5) The police report doesn't have any info about witnesses - should I try to find one?
6) Does the fact that the car was a livery cab change anything/make anything difficult?

I'm just very confused and frazzled - nobody I've talked to has been able to answer these questions. Thanks!

Snowy laptop lockup

T.D. Strange — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:30:28 -0800

My laptop screen randomly locks up and gets all 'snowy', I have no idea why. So my laptop likes to lockup at random, the screen gets jumbled and 'snowy' looking and the whole system freezes. When this happens, it seems to be when I am working with it, either on the internet, IM or office software, or just doing random tasks on the desktop. I play games on it occasionally and it has not locked up in-game before. I also leave it on for long periods of time downloading files and I have never come back to find it locked up (although it has locked up shortly upon resuming use after leaving it running for a long time).

Whenever it locks like that, I have to turn it off and reboot it, and everthing works fine when it reboots, so I am confident it's not the LCD screen itself. (also, the LCD was cracked earlier this month and it jsut came back from repair, the lockups happened before the LCD repair and have continued after I got it back, it's not the screen)

I have no idea what's causing this. I've built/modded/overclocked several computers in the past and am pretty computer savvy, but I have never seen this kind of lockup/crash before. My best guess is some sort of RAM error or a particularly hard/obscure software conflict, maybe even a video card problem, though I would have expected that would have showed up during a gaming session. Google-fu tells me any of the above are plausible explanations. I dont really want to send it off to get repaired again since it's so close to the start of the semester, but I dont want to lose any valuable work later on either.

Basically- does anyone have any idea what could be causing this and how to fix it? Or alternatively- what's the best way to go about isolating potential causes on a laptop without interchangeable hardware?

The laptop is a Sony SZ series, 1gb DDR2, GeForce Go 7400, all drivers are up to date.

Buying a house in Chicago - good or bad?

BuddhaBelly — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:49:00 -0800

Given the current market situation, should I buy a condo in Chicago? I'm aware of the existing question with applications to the UK. This is regarding the U.S., specifically Chicago.

I am looking to purchase a condo - for my own residence - in Chicago (downtown, $300,000-$350,000). I have a great buyer's agent. I know exactly what I want.

I am just worried about all the talk of a housing market collapse...upside-down mortgages...recession.

Am I, an average Joe(sephine) going to get caught up in all this? Is it prudent to wait? If so, how long?

I am currently in a month-to-month renting situation that can continue indefinitley. I'm doing OK on money, and am planning on a 20% down, 30 year fixed mortgage. As of this morning, interest rates from my 3 lenders ranged between 6.32%-6.7%.

Any advice is, as always, deeply appreciated.