Random Question Thread: Tech

[Jojimbo]

Get Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, they are the best free ones. Nod32 is the best paid for (or free if you use NodLogin) although it's firewall can be annoying and require manual setup.

[Omniyoji]

Yeah MSE is pretty solid for a free product. Comodo's also a good one.

[avelle]

Has anyone had an issue where their router seems to be reconnecting to the internet every few hours? I'll be logged into WoW and tab out to view forums and then find out that DNS resolution has died and I can't get anywhere but I can ping ip addresses. I also have to access my router by ip rather than routerlogin.net. Releasing and renewing the routers connection to my cable modem doesn't seem to fix the issue. It usually resolves itself in a few minutes time. This has only started recently and is starting to get irritating. I use a http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Wirele.../dp/B002HWRJY4.

Any thoughts?

[Salodin]

What? I had that all the time too! I'd get disconnected from the router every few hours, and it'd literally reconnect in less then a minute, but I'd lose my connections to games or streaming content. I've only had it once in the past few days though after I changed my ac adapter, it was making a weird buzzing noise for awhile. Swapped that and I've been pretty fine...but I'll get back to you in a few more days and give ya an update.

[Caiyuo]

although it's firewall can be annoying and require manual setup.

sure the hell is, any advice in this regard by chance? was hoping I'd be able to do something similar to windows firewall and just approve shit as it comes up, or better yet, just use windows firewall

Has anyone had an issue where their router seems to be reconnecting to the internet every few hours? I'll be logged into WoW and tab out to view forums and then find out that DNS resolution has died and I can't get anywhere but I can ping ip addresses. I also have to access my router by ip rather than routerlogin.net. Releasing and renewing the routers connection to my cable modem doesn't seem to fix the issue. It usually resolves itself in a few minutes time. This has only started recently and is starting to get irritating. I use a http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Wirele.../dp/B002HWRJY4.

Any thoughts?

sounds a lot more like an ISP thing than anything else, can you remove the router and see if the problem persists?

[ikariiiii]

forgive me if this has been asked before, I couldn't think of specific enough search terms for this.

can anyone offer suggestions for getting started working on general purpose electronics? most of the time when i look up DIY suggestions they say a microcontroller is a good start but I'm not even sure what to look for in that. solar panels, usb, soldering kits- any info would be great! I just want to start making and developing things that could potentially warrant serious projects in the future, I'm just having trouble finding a starting point.

[jmc]

sure the hell is, any advice in this regard by chance? was hoping I'd be able to do something similar to windows firewall and just approve shit as it comes up, or better yet, just use windows firewall



sounds a lot more like an ISP thing than anything else, can you remove the router and see if the problem persists?

Yea... see if its a ISP issue.

If its not, sounds like the router might be overheating?

[TacoTaru]

I noticed in a few peoples XIV screenshots there's a just kind of a widget on their screen that's purple text that has computer info (temp, etc). What is it that? Also, is there a good FPS checker while playing a game that's not as ugly as Fraps? I want to play with ssettings in XIV to see how good I can get without dipping in performance, but I don't really like that giant yellow numbers fraps has.

[Yugl]

How do I handle or undermine the effect of wireless interference between items? I have a wireless Headset/KB/controller. The controller is my greatest concern since that acts out randomly.

[avelle]

sounds a lot more like an ISP thing than anything else, can you remove the router and see if the problem persists?

I don't think it's the isp. I can still ping outside my network but dns resolution stops and I can't get anywhere that uses domain names (Google.com, Bluegartr.com, etc). I hate to think it's a hardware malfunction because I love this router and I've only had it since December.

I noticed in a few peoples XIV screenshots there's a just kind of a widget on their screen that's purple text that has computer info (temp, etc). What is it that? Also, is there a good FPS checker while playing a game that's not as ugly as Fraps? I want to play with ssettings in XIV to see how good I can get without dipping in performance, but I don't really like that giant yellow numbers fraps has.

Are you talking about something like this?

Spoiler: show

http://risen.loztblaz.com/avelle/ffxiv/ff14shadows.jpg

If so, you can either use MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision. Both allow you to better control and monitor your GPU as well as provide a customizable overlay for your applications that can show you things like temperature, fps, fan speed, clock speeds, etc.

[TacoTaru]

Yeah, that's the exact one I have. I'm using EVGA Precision, but it just launches a little application that allows me to manually do adjustments to my gpu as well as monitor it. I didn't see an option to do overlays on the application, is there somewhere else I'd need to look for that in?

[avelle]

Yeah, that's the exact one I have. I'm using EVGA Precision, but it just launches a little application that allows me to manually do adjustments to my gpu as well as monitor it. I didn't see an option to do overlays on the application, is there somewhere else I'd need to look for that in?

I'm at work right now, so I can't recall the specifics, but go into the settings and I think in one of the tabs there are options to enable monitoring of fps, temp, etc in the system tray or "on screen."

[TacoTaru]

Great, thanks a lot! I'll try it when I get home.

[Shojin]

I have a RAID question.

I recently bought a second 1tb drive to raid 0 with my other 1tb. I also have a 2tb storage drive.
Now my motherboard has 6 sata ports, in the bios ports 1 to 4 can be changed from IDE to RAID or AHCI, ports 5-6 are IDE only. Now, the manual advises to use ports 5-6 for optical drives etc and leave 1-4 for hard drives, so I have my DVD burner in port 5 and my front esata port in port 6.

If I have the 1 tb's in ports 1 and 2, and the 2tb in port 3 then enable RAID, will it enable it for the 2tb?

I'll try explain a little better in the code below, BIOS looks like this

SATA SETTINGS

SATA Ports 1-4 [IDE] // This option can be IDE, RAID, AHCI
SATA Ports 5-6 [IDE] // Can't be changed from IDE

I don't see a way to only have ports 1 and 2 be raided, so I'm kind of fearing that ports 1 to 4 all get raided unless there is a way I can change that in windows? Anyone that can explain?

[Purrrfect]

Port 3 will be available to raid, but that doesn't mean you have to. You can raid 1 and 2 into 1 'drive' and leave 3 by itself, so windows would see 2 2tb drives. The raid utility will handle the setup with your direction, you either start it from the bios or a key combo while booting.

[Shojin]

Okay awesome. I'm new to RAID as I've never had 2 similar size drives. I'm in the process of moving everything important to the 2TB and going to reformat the 1TB's.

So let me get this straight, I can put the 1TB's in to ports 1 and 2, the 2TB in to port 3, set "Ports 1-4" to "RAID", and continue from there? Or will I have to install OS in IDE then switch to RAID? Do I need anything other than these BIOS settings? (I've looked around and don't see where to select what specific RAID mode I want) Or will I be able to configure all this shit in Disk Management in Windows?

I know my Mobo supports RAID 0, 1 and 5. I'm just new to it. I also don't want to store everything on the 2TB and have the mobo RAID it (limiting it to 1tb and losing half my stored data on it lol)

Thanks in advance

[Jojimbo]

You have to install the OS while in RAID mode. I have SSD and 2 1TB drives in RAID0 and all drives are in RAID mode (setup with mobo, don't do it within windows because you lose the data on the raid if you have to reinstall/can't access OS) but only the 2 HDDs are actually RAIDed. You have to install the OS while the drive is on RAID mode or you won't be able to boot.

Change to RAID config > RAID the 2 HDDs > install windows (assuming its on the RAID?) > once in windows install 'Intel Rapid Storage Technology' (I think that works with RAIDs and not just SSDs anyway)

[TacoTaru]

Question about GPUs. When my friend built his PC about a year ago, he bought a mobo with that was PCI2.0 capatible and a 5770 to hold him over until he could get a better card. He's always been a Radeon guy, but has noticed now all the cards coming out are PCI2.1. Would this mean he'd need to upgrade his mobo if he wanted to keep using Radeon cards and he needs to swap over to Nvidia or are there some backwards compatible 2.1 cards?

[Salodin]

all pcie cards are backwards compatible, it's just a bandwidth thing and just means you won't be getting the max out of the card if it ever tries to move data through that quickly.

Then again, I don't know how noticeable it is with that extra bandwidth, or if we're even at the point where the cards are taking advantage of the extra bandwidth.

[Bilopdop]

So a friend of mine moved away and left me his computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883113109

I am not too great at computer components and which parts can be placed in which computers, so I was looking for some suggestions on a Graphics Card to put in this PC.