Random Question Thread: Tech

[Yuri-G]

I ended up trying a different hard drive and Windows recognized it right away. posting from my new computer now. took a hell of a long time to get here - probably 10-15 hours total? - but I learned a lot, and I'm pretty happy that this beast is working. for now. knocking on wood...

so yeah, I guess I'll return or exchange the WD drive, no idea why it didn't work. using a Seagate Barracude and having no problems so far.

not gonna get ahead of myself though - haven't tested anything much yet beyond basic browsing. gonna install Morrowind 2011 and see how things go.

[Adajer]

You did update your BIOS and drivers right?

[Yuri-G]

I didn't update the BIOS (should I? I have no idea how) but I ran the motherboard's installing CD, and updated all of my drivers now that the PC is up and running. works great - played Morrowind 2011 (through HDMI; it gave VGA too much of a workout) with maxed settings and it looks absolutely gorgeous. gonna go to Gamestop and pick up something else to test my machine's limits.

the fans are a bit loud, I'm not sure why. they're supposed to be quiet, according to the reviews. might tinker with them at some point.

[Isiolia]

Gamestop? Dunno 'bout you, but the Gamestops around me have maybe one little rack in the back with all the PC software crammed on them. You're just as well off going to Target - mine actually has several times more shelf space dedicated to PC. Gamestop seems more concerned about pushing ratty looking stickered up used games on people for $5 less than new. /rantoff

If you have decent internet, watch Steam for good deals - it doesn't satiate the collector in me to have a digital copy, but when the games only cost a few bucks, hard to complain. Gog.com has a lot of older titles for cheap (and sans DRM, with DosBox if necessary).

Don't worry about updating the BIOS unless you can look in the changelog and see something that fixes a problem you're having, or adds a feature you want (usually only things like compatibility with a new CPU).

Fans may be relatively quiet - or are they adjustable?

[Yuri-G]

yeah I know Gamestop is no good for PC but it's the only place within walking distance that would have games, so I picked up a couple - Bioshock 2 and The Witcher for $10 and $13 respectively. just wanted something else to play on my PC. tried out Bioshock 2 and it looks gorgeous at maximum frame rate... which was expected. still nice though

I've gotten a few things off of GOG, I should see if I can still download them onto my new PC... aaaaaaand yes! sweet.

just picked up Mass Effect through Steam, I'll have to keep an eye on them for deals though.

I think I'll just ignore the fans for now, maybe this is "quiet" for them. they're not obnoxiously loud or anything. guess I just got too used to using a laptop, maybe.

[Baha]

Had been planning to get a decent sound setup for a while now, and last week I finally ordered a receiver. Was kind of an impulse buy, but it was a pretty good deal at the price I got it for. Now, of course I'll need to buy speakers, but I'm kind of torn between a (cheaper) 5.1 set, or a pair of better quality speakers.
Infinity, Set of 4 bookshelves, center and a sub (€271 in the shop I'm looking at)
Or for around the same amount of money for a pair something like these JBL's maybe.

Currently I'm leaning towards the Infinity set, with the reasoning that I can later still upgrade it to a 7.1 when I feel like splurging on some better fronts. That, and it'd be a more conservative first foray into more serious audio. On the other hand, I'd like to avoid paying more, only to just end up with a glorified HT-in-a-box set.

Any comments welcome, other stereo options, mix and match sets or other prepackaged sets. Budget's about €300-400, and the space they'll be occupying is about 4m x 5m.

[Suburbanelite]

I'm looking for a private torrent community, as it seems the mainstream bunch have all been assraped by a 10-foot spiked metal hotdog sculpture... without lube. Any info? PM or telegraph in Morse if you're concerned about your (and your family's) safety.

I'm not a cop.

[Purrrfect]

I'm looking for a private torrent community, as it seems the mainstream bunch have all been assraped by a 10-foot spiked metal hotdog sculpture... without lube. Any info? PM or telegraph in Morse if you're concerned about your (and your family's) safety.

I'm not a cop.

Ditto. The years of random public trackers seems to be a bad idea now. >.>

[Eaglestrike]

So I just got a new motherboard/cpu. Put it in my computer and it boots, goes to Start windows and then reboots, over and over again. Had it flash a blue screen once before shutting off. I get a single POST beep. I'm switching from Intel to AMD, no idea if that matters. Otherwise every other component was working a couple hours ago. Windows Startup tool could not repair it. Any ideas?

Windows Startup tool comes back with this:

Problem Signature 1: 6.1.7600.16385
2 same as above
3: Unknown
4: 21201042
5: Autofailover
6:3
7: BadPatch

OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

[Isiolia]

Did you reinstall Windows with the new motherboard/CPU and now it's not working?

Or did you just swap the board/CPU, leaving the Windows install as it was? 'cause if that's the case, Windows bluescreening on startup would be the expected result.

[Callisto]

Just got a new 1080p monitor, everything I have to run into it is 720p, will that work fine with the resolution still set to 1920x1080 or should I set the resolution to 1280x720?

[Isiolia]

Just got a new 1080p monitor, everything I have to run into it is 720p, will that work fine with the resolution still set to 1920x1080 or should I set the resolution to 1280x720?

How do you mean?

The resolution is set on the source side, not the monitor itself. Most monitors can accept a range of input signals, but an LCD has a fixed pixel count. If you use anything but the native resolution of the panel, then the picture needs to be scaled to fit (usually handled automatically). Usually that'll result in a reduced quality image, but it should still work.

What sources are you using? I can't think of many devices that can output 720p and not 1080.

[Callisto]

Erm more mean that the monitor says it's native is 1920x1080. It's PS3/360 but I run mine in 720p since my capture card is only capable of going up to 1080i. It's this monitor, typically I just use my TV as a monitor and need to use 720p with the resolution modified to 1114x668 or some shit to fit the TV. Usually I run my consoles through the capture card, then use the recording software of the card as a viewer.

[Isiolia]

Ah. Well, if you mean if the capture software will scale it up to full screen, I couldn't say. Try it and see I guess.

Are you not able to defeat the overscan for your TV?

Your supported modes for the monitor are list on page 3-5 of your manual. None of them are standard 720p (closest is 1280x800), so you couldn't just use that anyway.

If you aren't using the capture card to capture, I'd just hook the consoles up via HDMI.

[Callisto]

Yeah, eventually I'm going to have some splitters and stuff going on to have it straight into the monitor/TV when not recording. My TV is a CRT that won't natively display the full resolutions properly(cuts off the sides) so I use the recording software to force it to display the full resolution. Mostly meant what you said before, if I can use the capture software at 720p, fullscreen it, and have it not look like ass.

[Eaglestrike]

Did you reinstall Windows with the new motherboard/CPU and now it's not working?

Or did you just swap the board/CPU, leaving the Windows install as it was? 'cause if that's the case, Windows bluescreening on startup would be the expected result.

I'm not sure how I managed to not know that would happen when installing a new motherboard/CPU. I suppose everytime I've ever put in a new mobo/cpu it was a new computer.

Anyway yeah, shit is fixed, what a stupid waste of a day.

I suppose I do have a question now though:

I installed a new OS and have windows.old for my old stuff. I'm currently copying the PlayOnline folder over. How might I go about installing it to registry to get it to work? Can I just install Playonline and it'll work for the rest of the game?

[Jojimbo]

I think you need to install FFXI then copy the files over, if you already copied the files then you can rename the Playonline folder, install, then merge the two folders again after.

@Callisto: My monitor is 1080p is and I can play 720p PS3 games on it fine, I have no idea what it would look like if captured though.

[Miroku_Asura]

I asked this in the FFXI RQT, but haven't gotten a response yet- this might be a better place to ask:

I play on a 1920 x 1200 monitor and whenever I summon an avatar, it's summoning circle underneath it is an oval instead of a circle- My aspect ratio is 16x10 which is correct, so I have no idea why it's squished- is this just a thing that happens if you play with widescreen settings?

Here's a pic- had to crop for BG bucket:

Spoiler: show

[Eaglestrike]

So I got my computer working with a clean OS install. I got my brothers up and running (my old mobo/CPU + windows XP) and it boots to windows, but needs drivers for internet to work. I can't find the mobo cd (I swear I saw it yesterday -.-) and figured next best thing would be to download the drivers on my computer and burn them to a DVD. But I did that and his computer can't read the files, says they may be corrupted. Put the dvd into a 3rd computer and it can read the dvd just fine and downloaded the files off of them. So if I cannot get online, and can't burn the drivers needed to get on his computer, what can I do?

Do I need to do a clean install on his computer too? Or is there something I'm missing about burning the files over?

[Callisto]

If the usb ports are functional you could try to move it over via a flash drive? The disc drive may have its own drivers as well that you need to pop in for it to read stuff properly, I know mine came with a drivers cd of some sort.