General Computing Randomness

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:34 am

Samsung Odyssey Ark 55" curved display. Comes with a remote too to change settings. Doesn't look 55" but it is.

First the ad video

And now a hands on

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 9:25 am

Lately and sporadically my PC will act odd. odd in that when Im browsing...even if Ive just got up and started the browser it will be super slow. Then if I click to open a link it will open 2 or 3 of them. If I click the X to close the window / tab it opens another one and another...sometimes all its own it will open so many I cant move my mouse and have to turn my PSU off to stop it. And sometimes when I try to google search it says it has seen bot activity or bot LIKE activity and I have to click I am not a bot to use it.

I use WIN10 and its built in antivirus stuff since you guys told me its all I need. But Ive also ran WinTools, CCleaner, and Malwarebytes. Nothing shows up.

EDIT: Just downloaded and ran my own ISP's bot detector cleaner and nothing.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:13 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 9:25 am Lately and sporadically my PC will act odd. odd in that when Im browsing...even if Ive just got up and started the browser it will be super slow. Then if I click to open a link it will open 2 or 3 of them. If I click the X to close the window / tab it opens another one and another...sometimes all its own it will open so many I cant move my mouse and have to turn my PSU off to stop it. And sometimes when I try to google search it says it has seen bot activity or bot LIKE activity and I have to click I am not a bot to use it.

I use WIN10 and its built in antivirus stuff since you guys told me its all I need. But Ive also ran WinTools, CCleaner, and Malwarebytes. Nothing shows up.

EDIT: Just downloaded and ran my own ISP's bot detector cleaner and nothing.

It isn't always malware. It is sometimes a setting, a corrupted file, a bad addon, a hardware issue, or any of a dozen other things - and possibly even multiple things working together (for instance, the "Click a link, open multiples" can happen with a bad mouse button that multi-clicks when you click once - although the rest of your issues make it sound like that's not it.)

What browser? It sounds like you may need to start your troubleshooting there, possibly with a browser refresh (IE - restore default settings, cut unneeded addons, etc.)

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:19 am

Whatever the latest FireFox is. Ive ran everything ad cleaned up the system and cold booted. Shall see if it happens again before putting more work into it

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:21 am

Dont know if you recall a few years back I was trying to remember what my SRS surround box was called. Most settled on WOW Thing but I knew it wasn't quite it because of the look. I could remember mine being a jet black box that sat between my pc and speakers not a translucent one.

I am reorganizing my storage room and found the actual box to mine. its the predecessor of WOW Thing...Nureality Vivid 3D.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/nu ... ent-system

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:38 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:19 am Whatever the latest FireFox is. Ive ran everything ad cleaned up the system and cold booted. Shall see if it happens again before putting more work into it

Run it in safe mode for a while. See if it stops.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:47 pm

I had issues a while back with Firefox with slow loads and page hangs and it was one of the scripts I was running to control ads. At some point it stopped being supported and one of the FF updates really messed it up somehow. I had to disable it but once that happened, everything was fine.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 1:30 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:13 am
It isn't always malware. It is sometimes a setting, a corrupted file, a bad addon, a hardware issue, or any of a dozen other things - and possibly even multiple things working together (for instance, the "Click a link, open multiples" can happen with a bad mouse button that multi-clicks when you click once - although the rest of your issues make it sound like that's not it.)

What browser? It sounds like you may need to start your troubleshooting there, possibly with a browser refresh (IE - restore default settings, cut unneeded addons, etc.)

Yeah, and sometimes it can be something as simple as a Windows Update downloading in the background. I've had it several times where on a Tuesday, I'll forget it's an update day and wonder why it's acting all sluggish. On an older PC, it can make quite a difference.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:43 pm

I did have an update to win10. It asked last night and I told it to do it while I was asleep. But when it messed up today and I had to power cycle it I could swear windows updated itself.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 6:20 pm

since i had to return the work laptop (Lenovo Carbon X1 Gen9) to my ex-workplace, i'm back on my late-2011 MacBook Pro as the portable. it has an optical drive so it is quite heavy but it's still working great - i got it second-hand years ago _on this very forum_ with 8GB of RAM and an SSD already installed (sorry, forgot who i purchased it from). it's stuck on OS X High Sierra, but thinking of using the dosdude1 patcher to get it to run Catalina. http://dosdude1.com/catalina/

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Nov 05, 2022 11:34 am

I just installed a Firefox plugin called "I don't care about cookies." No more closing that popup on literally every website.

This add-on will remove these cookie warnings from almost all websites! You can report any website which still warns you about cookies: just click 'Report a cookie warning' from the extension menu (the brown cookie image next to your address bar).

In most cases, the add-on just blocks or hides cookie related pop-ups. When it's needed for the website to work properly, it will automatically accept the cookie policy for you (sometimes it will accept all and sometimes only necessary cookie categories, depending on what's easier to do). It doesn't delete cookies.

Other browsers are supported too. Check https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/ for info, support and donations.

I haven't used it long enough to provide any further info; just hope it works as advertised.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:34 pm

UGH what am I going to do. My newer mid size case wont fit my GTX 970 STRIX in it. It is barely a hair too long . But it fits right at the meeting of two drive cages that are riveted in. Ive hammered and pried on them and barely made a dent. Its no use. Ive been using a giant super beige tower from 1999 that weighs like 28 pounds empty and it taking up space on my desk...chest whatever.

I want to reinstall my mechanic hard drives because they have my storage photos and files on them. I also want my dvd cd writer back in to make some music for my car. Im sick of the 1 cd I listen to and the radio sucks. NVER playing anything to listen to and mostly just talk with ads.

I 'could' get them in this case but again I want to stop using it. Ive thought about going ahead and buying the case I plan to build my next system in but thats a couple years yet and the case I want is over $200.

Ive considered buying a small temp case for like $50 when I sell some stuff. Is that a good idea or should I just break down and keep using this giant ass one? If I could just get those damn rivets out I could fit the card in the newer smaller one. But all the tools cost money plus I dotn think any of them will fit in the tight space to work.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:59 pm

The last time I upgraded a video card I had the same problem. I ended up using a dremel with a cut off wheel and cutting the middle section out of the cage.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:10 pm

If I had a Dremel. Always wanted one. Seemed handy.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:28 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:10 pm If I had a Dremel.

You could dremel in the morning.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:30 pm

I looked on Ebay and Amazon. They aren't as expensive as I feared. On ebay Id worry that a tool like that is worn out but my wife bought me a cordless drill on there many years ago and its been great. Amazon has a great price on a new one though. Could pay $10 more and get it new. Could get one next month. My power bill should be even lower.

The model 200 is cheap but the model 7300 is listed online as being for metal and its a good bit more. Wonder what the cheapest model is that would cut out a metal drive cage?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:49 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:28 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:10 pm If I had a Dremel.
You could dremel in the morning.

He could dremel in the evening.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:51 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:49 pm
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:28 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:10 pm If I had a Dremel.
You could dremel in the morning.
He could dremel in the evening.

Ain't we got fun?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 2:40 pm

Bored and sitting here looking at my system. Its dusty again . I also dont see myself skimping and saving for a super cheap small case to waste money I need on or buying a Dremel for what I may used 2 times. So I think today Ill just power down and unplug this system and take some stuff out of it to make room to work then clean it completely up and reinstall all the parts I left out on this temp case build and put the side back on and use it for the couple years until I can just fully build a new system.

That way I save money I dont have lol and I can use my mechanical storage drives to see my photos again and dvd writer to make music cds for the car. I wish I was able to use a thumb drive in the car radio. But its too old being a 2001 model.

Hope I get it all running when I put it back together lol. Its the way my luck has been going that worries me

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:05 pm

Im tired out , my back is out, and my legs a re trembling like jello but I got it together.

It didn't bring up the 2 hard drives on first boot and I saw no errors. Also didn't show the dvd drive. After a reboot the 2 hard drives are showing up and working . I can access all of the data this is on them still.

But that dcd drive is nowhere to be seen. Its powered and opens and lights up but the pc isn't seeing it at all. No errors either. Like it aint there. I put a cd in to test and it looked to load it by the accessing list on the drive but nothing popped up in windows. So I either have a big problem or Ive put the sata cable on it wrong or used the wrong cable. I may need to look around the house for another cable.

But Im entirely give out and almost sick from just energy of putting it all together.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:13 pm

Hit up garage sales for tools and entertainment.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 5:28 pm

Not the season and its too dark to see and too early to bother. I haven't been to one since about 1991.

What makes this stuff hard is I have no good table or workbench. Every PC Ive ever upgraded or built has been done on my bed here. I sit on the side and work. I have a counter in the kitchen but standing at it makes everything hurt worse plus its harder to get inside of and see.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:25 pm

I fixed my dvd drive so now everything is working. Seems when I shoved and crammed all the wires back in there I hit the sata cable on the dvd drive back and knocked it total off. No wonder the pc couldn't see it.

But damn I had worked hard to get the side of the case back on and I damned well nearly couldn't get it back off. Lots of prying. I then happened to be standing directly in front of the pc with the panel off and saw that my air cooler is protruding just a bit outside the edge of the case. Its a wonder I didn't break my cooler or case, or CPU getting that side panel on and off. I left it off this time. Ill just got open case.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:54 pm

Rant only:

I'm pretty sure that my living room computer just died. It's the one I used for LAN gaming with the kids and as a Plex server when we're not gaming. It's a ~14 year old motherboard/processor/RAM that I got second hand about six years ago (if I'm thinking of the correct transaction), so it was overdue for dying.

Still,

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:09 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 2:54 pm Rant only:

I'm pretty sure that my living room computer just died. It's the one I used for LAN gaming with the kids and as a Plex server when we're not gaming. It's a ~14 year old motherboard/processor/RAM that I got second hand about six years ago (if I'm thinking of the correct transaction), so it was overdue for dying.

Still,

verify first that it's not just the PSU that crapped out, as solid state electronics can go for a long time if not for, say, faulty capacitors, but if that's still fine: what processor/mobo type? i might still have a spare one.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:16 pm

I will give the PSU a look.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:09 pm what processor/mobo type? i might still have a spare one.

Digging through my old PMs earlier trying to figure out when I got it, I'm think this is the one I bought from you when it's predecessor died back in 2016 - an Asus P6T with a 2nd-generation i7. I believe you used it in a Linux machine.

For right now, I'm not necessarily looking for a solution (although I may be later.) With Christmas coming up, there may be some other alternatives that would benefit the family more (IE - buy someone an upgrade and pass parts down to the dead machine.) It'll likely be more than I can afford, but I need to check into it first. Today is certainly the right day to decide, though.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:24 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:16 pm I will give the PSU a look.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:09 pm what processor/mobo type? i might still have a spare one.
Digging through my old PMs earlier trying to figure out when I got it, I'm think this is the one I bought from you when it's predecessor died back in 2016 - an Asus P6T with a 2nd-generation i7. I believe you used it in a Linux machine.

For right now, I'm not necessarily looking for a solution (although I may be later.) With Christmas coming up, there may be some other alternatives that would benefit the family more (IE - buy someone an upgrade and pass parts down to the dead machine.) It'll likely be more than I can afford, but I need to check into it first. Today is certainly the right day to decide, though.

it's an LGA 1366 mobo, so if that does turn out to be the problem, there's a good chance i actually have another one of those.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:27 pm

I will keep that in mind (although it's pretty much impossible to guarantee that it's a mobo problem and not a CPU/RAM problem on a board that old.)

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 4:32 pm

I've been thinking about upgrading our oldest PC which would free it up for sending elsewhere, but it's also a pretty old one. I'd have to check the specs, but I am not sure it would be much of an upgrade (I mean other than being better than a dead PC). Target would really be March though (bonus time/tax return time).

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:10 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 3:27 pm I will keep that in mind (although it's pretty much impossible to guarantee that it's a mobo problem and not a CPU/RAM problem on a board that old.)

i might have a CPU and i definitely have RAM, should that be the case

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 6:24 pm

Swapped in a different PSU. I'm pretty sure that it's the motherboard that died.

Luckily, this happened on Cyber Monday. I had a bunch of Amazon rewards points I've been saving for a new-model Nintendo Switch, plus was looking for options for Christmas for my son. I discussed it with him, and was able to buy the parts necessary to upgrade one system and shuffle other parts in to the TV computer. It still stung quite a bit, though, in an 'I need a drink' kind of way.

Such is life.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:05 pm

Its always like that for me. Never fails. Ill save for one thing and something else will go tits up and so much for what Id planned to buy.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:17 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:05 pm Its always like that for me. Never fails. Ill save for one thing and something else will go tits up and so much for what Id planned to buy.

I'm not complaining too much. That hardware saw 14-15 years of hard use - dying was to be expected. It ends up benefiting everyone in the household, as everyone will have something better than what they do now. Yeah, the solution I chose throws a big wrench in the works for some other things. This is the second time I have saved up my points for a Switch OLED model (my oldest son lives on the 'family' Switch, so I rarely - meaning never - get to play it), and had to spend it on fixing another problem.

Being poor is about trade-offs. I could get one fun thing - or I could make a fun thing better for everyone (including myself.) I could have several streaming channels, or I could turn them off and buy more 'stuff.' I could eat food I enjoy more, or I could go for cheaper food and have more money for other things. Or I could go for really cheap (but unhealthy) food and have much more money for other things. But that's the thing - I have choices. I've had enough times in my life where I didn't have any choices. Where I ate the cheapest possible food or didn't eat. Where I had only free channels or didn't watch. Where I read free books or did nothing. I am lucky enough that I got to choose between two fun options.

I just feel a guilty that I chose to spend money on something that is, in the end, frivolous. I always do feel guilty for that.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:54 pm

You have a better outlook of life than me thats for sure. Mine sticks these days...been dragged down one too many times. Not more than you, Im not saying that. Just you deal with it better.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:02 pm

Because that's a choice, too. It's not an easy one, but it's the most important one.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:07 pm

Good article from PC Gamer: 15 things I deleted from my PC that you can probably delete too

Free PC space is a precious commodity, especially if you're a stubborn bastard like me and refuse to just buy a new SSD when you should. Spending money on a modest storage upgrade? That's the coward's way. Instead, I spread backups across a drawer full of old USB sticks, and spend an hour every month or two clearing out my PC's internal storage to make room for whatever I'm trying to download.

Although it pains me to delete even the most trivial file (what if I need that Garfield gif later?), most of the data that accumulates on my internal SSDs can be sent to the digital afterlife without consequence.

During my regular PC storage clearing sprees, I've occasionally kept mental notes of what I removed and where I found it for future reference. Now I'm publishing those notes here with the hope that this map of my own deletable data will help others discover and clear out the internet sediment clogging up their own PCs.

People are often more similar than not: When I asked my colleagues at PC Gamer for tips on what to delete, it turned out that we had many of the same data hoarding problems. I was mildly taken aback, however, when Associate Editor Tyler Colp admitted to storing over 70GB of Final Fantasy 14 screenshots. That is too many Final Fantasy 14 screenshots, so that's the hard drive region where we'll start.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:40 pm

cool. I have all my photos on my mechanical HD. I have a backup folder of that folder. I have burned multiple DVDs of that folder yet Im afraid to delete it afraid Ive added a few to it since then and would lose them. SO I have multiple DVDs dated months apart. Then of course I copy the photo dirs on my phone and tablet over..
Now my backups are bigger than a single DVD.

My plan it to keep them on the mechanicals and make one final DVD copy or copies when I build a new system then not put those mechanical drives back in....Whats on them will stay as forgotten backups to backups to copies. Forever.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:19 pm

I threw away hundreds of CDs and DVDs a few years ago. We no longer have any computers with optical drives.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:20 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:19 pm I threw away hundreds of CDs and DVDs a few years ago. We no longer have any computers with optical drives.

I have an external optical drive just in case. I also have a floppy disk (3.5") external drive for the same reason

Eel Snave · Post by **Eel Snave** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:20 pm

It's time for an upgrade for me, but I haven't upgraded any of my core components in so long I don't know what's good anymore. Here's what I've got:

Intel Core i5 4590 @ 3.30GHz
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-A (SOCKET 1150)
16 GB DDR3
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

When I bought this stuff four years ago it was midrange. It can't have improved in the meantime.

My question is this: I don't mind getting stuff that's a year or two old assuming the price is right and the it's still viable. I want to stick with Intel, even though I used to be an AMD stan back in the day. What socket is the midrange one now?