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POST COMPUTER PROBLEMS IN THIS THREAD ONLY

Started by Nobody Soup, February 08, 2013, 12:41:30 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Nobody Soup

I'm starting this again because I need it.

it's an xbox question. we have skyrim in our flat (a year behind everyone else) but the CD has become scratched, I think it went a bit funny in the drive one day, and now the game is behaving very strangely, dialogue has gone missing and missions are getting stuck, anyway, I am going to try installing it on the hard-drive to see if that helps get round it, however, if it doesn't I can get hold of my brothers version of the game, so would it be possible to install someone elses copy of skyrim on my hard drive and then use our messed up disk to verify we owned it? or do you need the copy of disk you installed it from?

mcbpete

I can't imagine the disks themselves are unique as that would be a bloody nightmare at the disc replication plant. So yeah I reckon you'll be grand installing it from another person's DVD.

Big Jack McBastard

What he said, any copy is fine to install

I had Prototype and Mass Effect 2 go tits up on a faulty drive which carved rings into the surface of the discs, once it was repaired I took to installing everything after that, reduces the chances of problems and cuts down on the racket they make while in the drive too.

The only issue could be your drive shafting your brother's disc while you're installing it.

Might be time to get the UPS lads out to take your boax on a trip to narnia.

syntaxerror


DocDaneeka

Giving the disc a good clean and using a lens cleaning cd can fix a lot of disc reading issues. But your installation plan should work anyway.

Nobody Soup

Quote from: mcbpete on February 08, 2013, 10:15:18 AM
I can't imagine the disks themselves are unique as that would be a bloody nightmare at the disc replication plant. So yeah I reckon you'll be grand installing it from another person's DVD.

extremely good point, thanks to all.

monkfromhavana

Does anyone know what cable I need to transfer files[nb]porn[/nb] from one laptop to another. Also, can I transfer programs across (Microsoft Word etc), or would I need to acquire new ones?

NoSleep

Do you have an ethernet port on your computer? Because that's the one you need to use.

You could probably do it wireless, as well.

syntaxerror

Quote from: monkfromhavana on February 08, 2013, 06:14:11 PM
can I transfer programs across (Microsoft Word etc), or would I need to acquire new ones?

Most versions of office allow for installation on 2/3 machines - Check your licensing agreement to see what you're entitled to. 

monkfromhavana

^^ I can't find my discs .

OK, i need more help. I have an ethernet cable (i think) hooked between my two laptops, and i'm trying to move my files/documents across, but to no avail. Anyone know how to do this? I have downloaded Windows Easy Transfer for Vista, but it won't open because it keeps saying that I need to update to the latest service pack. But I have no updates left to update.

I thought it might be as simple as when you move files from your computer to an MP3. but apparently it's not.

MojoJojo

In my day, you needed a crossover cable to connect two computers together. We split the cost of a crimping tool between us at university. But I can't believe such bollocks is needed now.

On the application front - if you have a valid product key, you should be able to find a legal installer somewhere (although you'll probably find illegal ones easier). If you don't you'll have to find some illegal copies.

monkfromhavana

i got so sick of it i'm just uploading most of my music from my MP3 player on  to the new machine. I'll have to work out what to do with the rest of my tunes.

NoSleep

A USB memory stick would be handy for moving stuff if you want easy. Or an external hard drive for back up purposes as a bonus.

monkfromhavana

That problem has been sorted. On with the next one :) (fucking hell i hate technology so much).

I put a DVD in the drive, and i'm used t it playing straight off. That's the way it has always been with all of my computers. On this Dell, it whirs a bit and nothing happens. The drivers are installed, they're kosher DVDs, so WTF is happening?

There are 2 CDs that game with the laptop, but they say that these are for reinstall purposes only.

Why isn't my DVD playing? If I click on "computer" the DVD is sat there, right-clicking on it does fuck all. Autoplay setting do fuck all.

All my karma for a month for anyone who can help me set up this fucking piece of shit.

MojoJojo


monkfromhavana

Quote from: MojoJojo on February 08, 2013, 10:37:05 PM
Uhhhh, both leads plugged into it ok?

That one's sorted :)

Just trying to get it to play DVDs now

monkfromhavana


Hank Venture

Yo.

How can I hook my native mac email program (called Mail) up to the new Outlook hotmail rubbish Microsoft has been coming out with?

And can I play Windows games on my macbook through Wine? I'm not really sure what Wine even is, to be honest.

gabrielconroy

You can probably do it by adding it as a POP account on your mail client.

Neil

Site emails are now working again, so PM notifications etc are up and running.  We got blacklisted due to the sheer volumes of emails being sent each day.

Famous Mortimer

I got bored a while back and decided to build a PC inside an old betamax player. I bought about three-quarters of the parts, and as soon as the ram, and the power pack arrive I'll get to building it.

I have a question though which keeps not getting answered on the dedicated tech places I visit. I was going to mount the motherboard on a piece of wood and stick that to the bottom of the VCR case. I have the mounting screws so the motherboard won't be touching the wood or anything...now, am I an idiot for attempting this? Provided I get all the pieces right, should it matter that I'm fitting it into something it's not designed for?

By the way, Betamax players are heavy. And there's a surprisingly large amount of stuff inside them. A happy Saturday afternoon was spent unscrewing it all and Dremel-ing the rough edges off.

Wood shouldn't conduct any electricity where it shouldn't be on the motherboard, but I'm not sure if wood can become charged with static. I suppose if it's not lacquered wood it shouldn't pose a static threat.

Once the board is plugged into the mains the components'll be earthed anyway so it should be alright.

^note that I've used the words "shouldn't" a lot, so I'm not 100%.

Your biggest problem is probably airflow though. If the case isn't designed to have all those heat generating electronics in there will the thing get too hot?

MojoJojo

At university, my house with 3 computer scientists in it put a media PC inside an old CD player, so it's certainly possible. We used a mini-itx board though - and we network booted it so there was no hard drive or whatever in the case. I can't remember how we attached it to the case though. Don't remember any wood - I suspect we drilled holes in the case. (We also worked out how to connect and control the CD players LCD - including a plugin for mplayer so it showed current time played, which was pretty cool).

Are you putting a "full sized" PC in? I agree heat is probably the main problem, but shouldn't be much of a problem assuming you're not trying to build a power gaming rig with paired graphics cards or anything.

Famous Mortimer

It's a mini-ITX or a micro-ATX (I forget which one, it's all at home), but it's decently small. I've got a 60 gig solid state drive, a blu-ray player and that's about it, so there's not going to be a ton of stuff in there heating it up...and I'll put a fan in the side, as there's plenty of holes in the box.

I was going to use one of those pico-PSU energy units, but for anything other than the tiniest PC, they're still not viable. But I guess fitting the power unit I do get, and making sure it's got space for fans and such, will be the biggest problem.

Also, I tried and tried to find info about blu-ray drives and PCs. All the articles I read seemed to indicate that PC blu-ray drives aren't region-locked, and as long as you have a program like AnyDVD HD, you should be able to play anything (I have a few American blu-rays).


MojoJojo

We managed to get a brick on a lead type power adaptor. Not really sure how that worked now I think about it, but it meant we didn't have to fit a PSU in the case and kept everything fanless except the cpu.

Mini-ITX boards are ace and I built one running off a 150 Watt pico-PSU. I was only using the on-board graphics on an i5 chip, no graphics card to over stress the pico-PSU. I also used a SSD to save power. The newer i5 chips only use 73 Watts in full Turbo Boost mode, so you've got plenty left to power the mainboard and CD drive so long as you don't require a graphics card.

I bought a Dell laptop power brick off eBay and modified the lead to fit the pico-PSU, which I snaffled from a local PC shop for free (the cylindrical power connector bit).

The pico-PSU's take a 12V supply, so to deliver 150W you need:

Power=Volts x I(current)

P/V=I

150W/12V=12.5A

I think the Dell brick I used was rated at 12A max, so I was probably getting slightly less than 150W out of the Pico but it ran alright.

Famous Mortimer

Cheers Too Many Cochranes. I guess I need to make a decision fairly soon on that - will having a blu-ray drive push it past the power usage? And also, I think my board is one of the ones that finishes ATX...but I guess that information will be in the box somewhere, about power usage.


As far as I know, the two main sappers of watts from your power supply are the CPU (when in full boost mode, not idling) and a graphics card if you need one.

I'm speculating that your motherboard will drain 10W max even if it's a full size one, sticks of RAM another couple of Watts each and a CD/DVD drive maybe 10W.

Going off my wild speculation:

Full size motherboard (10W)
+2 sticks RAM in dual-channel mode (4W)
+Blu Ray drive (10W)
=24W

On top of the 73W used by an i5 in full boost mode = 97W

Since an i5 will only ever be in full-boost for a few seconds at a time (unless you're gaming) you'll have plenty power left and won't be stressing a 150W power supply. When it's idling (i.e. when you're watching a video file) it'll be using less than 30W. I don't have much experience with AMD chips.

Using a traditional spinning hard drive would probably add on 5W but since you're using an SSD with no moving parts the power drain would be only 2 or 3 Watts I reckon.

Blumf

Here's a website that allows you to spec up a PC and it'll give you an estimate for it's power consumption.

lipsink

Hey, was wondering if anyone can help with this probably very simple enquiry.

How do I free up hard drive space on drive C:?