The SSMB PC Troubleshooting and Discussion Thread

[Sami]

It... didn't work. Alright, system restore it is.

 

Edit: System Restore seems to have made it worse, haha. Almost positive it's a hardware issue now. Damn.

Edited March 16, 2013 by Discoid

[Blue Wisp]

D:

Sorry to hear Discoid. Wish I could have helped you.

 

But a small shard must have been stuck or damaged some important hardware. You might need to replace the whole hardware.

[Sami]

Well, that's certainly disappointing. Was planning on saving for a PS4. Now I have to worry about getting this fixed, haha.

 

Thanks a lot for the help, you guys. I appreciate it a bunch.

 

On the bright side, I do believe I have a year long warranty with iBuyPower, so I should be able to send it in for repairs. I'm just hoping it doesn't end up being a repeat of my VAIO All-In-One situation a few years back. The Sony repair guys were fucking inept and kept replacing random parts (incorrectly, at that - the frame on the replaced screen was improperly set when we got it) before I wrote "REPLACE THE GOD DAMN MOTHERBOARD" all over the request paper on my third attempt at sending it in. Took at least three months to get a working computer again.

[Diz]

If that doesn't work, Discoid, then you should restore the system to the last known good modification.

 

Press F8 as soon as you start your PC and press that option, for me it always fixed any system slowdown errors.

 

Theoretically, that only has an effect if you fail to do a successful logon to the system, but is always a great option to have in mind, nonetheless.

 

It... didn't work. Alright, system restore it is.

 

Edit: System Restore seems to have made it worse, haha. Almost positive it's a hardware issue now. Damn.

 

Try another system restore. By marking a check box, you can list even older system restore points, if needed.

 

But yush. It does sound like the incident might have somehow jeopardized the hardware, so sending it in for repairs might be best. Good luck, and I hope it works again soon!

[goku262002]

So DiZ is our tech support here, cool.

If you want it to run Windows 7, you should check beforehand if it is compatible and all that. I would simply have kept it at Windows XP, grabbing a copy of Service Pack 3.

SP3 I already got in it first day I rebooted it, but I feel since XP is officially losing support next year that its time I get with a modern OS and 7 seems to get much praise as the official successor of XP. I love XP but I gotta let my baby go :'(

Upgrade suggestions depend on what you want to do with your PC. If you really want it to run Windows 7, you will have to upgrade its RAM to at least 2 GB to have a reasonable experience. If you are staying with Windows XP, you do not need to upgrade your RAM, but 2 GB would be nice.

Oh I'am definately maxing out the ram reguardless of what I really use this computer for. 2GB is just needed now.

When I take a look at the link you provided, it tells me that your PC supports a maximum of 1 GB RAM. Is this your exact model?

http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/viewscanbyid.aspx?id=BB143F7F31D926C3

But if that isn't enough, here is a full specs scan from EVEREST:

http://pastebin.com/yc4VrXg9

I would probably upgrade the HDDs first, especially if you decide to go with Windows 7, as its theoretical requirement for installation is a 40 GB HDD with 15 GB of available space. Furthermore, Windows 7 requires certain graphics hardware features, like Pixel Shader 2.0, so if you experience any graphical glitches, you may want to get a cheap low profile card or the like. I am currently on an old computer designed for Windows XP. I installed Windows 7 on it, and certain windows, like MSN and web surfing, would occasionally be filled with pure black and behave strangely. I bought a low profile card for it (cheap, and the only kind that fits into small form factor computers) and not only did it fix the glitch, but now it even runs a few games neatly. Upgraded to Windows 8 and still works like a charm.

I was actually thinking of going for 2 500GB or 1000GB HDDs. also for the graphics cards, the HP forum told me to look through this list:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=agp+8x+graphics

What do you reccommend based on my specs?

If you merely want to use your PC for surfing and chatting, you should not be required to upgrade RAM or graphics components, and Windows XP should be sufficient once you install Service Pack 3. In this case, I would say your HDDs could use some upgrades. Until then, or if not, you should run a full disk check on them and do a fragmentation analysis. Without needing to download more complex tools, you could schedule Windows' Check Disk utility to run at next start-up and later run Defrag, accessible from My Computer by right-clicking the partitions and going into properties and the tools tab. This gives you the opportunity to scan for, and repair if possible, physical damage and file system errors, and it will furthermore let your HDDs optimize file access operations.

Moot point since I plan to get rid of these drives the second I choose some appropriate replacements but thanks for the advice. what do you recommend in HDDs?

[Diz]

I will mention that for the same price of all the upgrades, you might be able to purchase a new computer with a new and fresh copy of Windows and reasonable specs.

 

For the operating system upgrade, I recommend Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit, unless you require additional features provided in other editions. You will need to purchase a proper OEM license for this, as the upgrade-only editions are only compatible with Windows Vista of the same architecture.

 

For storage, it depends on how much you want to invest and how much storage you want with it. You might want to verify how much storage your motherboard/BIOS can handle. I am not sure exactly how old your PC is, but it does sound like its upgrade capability might be limited in certain aspects. There is also the fact to consider that your PC uses PATA technology. How big PATA disks can you get, and if you have to use SATA, I have no idea how it is to switch to that, as I do not really know anything at all about hardware, so hopefully someone else can give input on that.

 

If you have an opportunity to use SATA, you might want to go with those kind of HDDs. If you want to invest a lot, you could purchase a small SSD (SATA) for Windows and a big HDD for programs, games, files and so on to optimize system performance, but then again, the motherboard and CPU and stuff could be a bottleneck to that. If you do not plan on playing games or so, you can try just using the graphics component already in it.

 

Once again, I am bad at hardware, sorry. I am sure others will be able to offer help in greater detail!

[goku262002]

I will mention that for the same price of all the upgrades, you might be able to purchase a new computer with a new and fresh copy of Windows and reasonable specs.

 

...

Umm, DiZ? I think you missed the point of my reasoning for doing this...

 

For the operating system upgrade, I recommend Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit, unless you require additional features provided in other editions. You will need to purchase a proper OEM license for this, as the upgrade-only editions are only compatible with Windows Vista of the same architecture.

 

I was given Win7 Ultimate actually as a gift so I was planning on using that.

 

For storage, it depends on how much you want to invest and how much storage you want with it. You might want to verify how much storage your motherboard/BIOS can handle. I am not sure exactly how old your PC is, but it does sound like its upgrade capability might be limited in certain aspects. There is also the fact to consider that your PC uses PATA technology. How big PATA disks can you get, and if you have to use SATA, I have no idea how it is to switch to that, as I do not really know anything at all about hardware, so hopefully someone else can give input on that.

 

I posted this in my first post but I guess it was overlooked, Here is the product listing of my PC, the specs are in my previous post:

 

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&​lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c00231096

I'll check in on how much HDD space my computer can take but I did have 2 500GB drives in it at 1 point. So I'll be starting from there. and as for the drives' connections I was just going to buy 1 of these suckers.

 

If you have an opportunity to use SATA, you might want to go with those kind of HDDs. If you want to invest a lot, you could purchase a small SSD (SATA) for Windows and a big HDD for programs, games, files and so on to optimize system performance, but then again, the motherboard and CPU and stuff could be a bottleneck to that. If you do not plan on playing games or so, you can try just using the graphics component already in it.

I think SSDs are overdoing it since SSDs is a rather new tech and this is an old computer. at the most I want to at least get Halo PC or a DS emulator running fluidly when it comes to gaming. not really expecting this thing to run crysis or anything similar.

Once again, I am bad at hardware, sorry. I am sure others will be able to offer help in greater detail!

Your doing fine, I'm just picking your brain anyways. anybody else is free to comment.

[Remy]

Upgrading that PC is going to be a massive pain in the ass haha. You're going to pay way more for the components that you need than what they're worth, and ever then you're still going to be bottlenecked by all the old tech.

 

2GB of ram is probably your best bet. After that you could buy a graphics card, but you'd need to find an AGP graphics card that isn't complete ass. Which is going to be a battle as it's mostly a dead standard. I had a quick look around and most of the cards for sale these days were low end when they were new so that's not great. >.> The most widely available

but DS emulation would be a stretch. IMO

 

The SSD isn't as overkill as you think, and probably one of the more sensible things you could do with it. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-upgrade-hard-drive,2956.html

 

-----

 

To be honest, like Diz said it'd be a lot easier to just let it be dead and buy newer, better hardware for about the same price, but that's just my bias IT guy speaking. When it comes to computers in my opinion, there is zero reason to hold onto old tech. 

[Solkia]

So I have a problem that's annoying me to death. I'll just paste it from the status updates:

 

 

I signed into Skype the other day while a YouTube video was playing, and suddenly the audio on everything became quieter and muffled.

 

I have no idea what happened, and I don't know how to fix it.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Akihikohikoakikaki

[Frogging101]

So I have a problem that's annoying me to death. I'll just paste it from the status updates:

 

 

I signed into Skype the other day while a YouTube video was playing, and suddenly the audio on everything became quieter and muffled.

 

I have no idea what happened, and I don't know how to fix it.

 

I had the same problem yesterday (my audio sounded really muffled and shitty), it turned out that my speakers weren't plugged into the jack all the way. I don't know if you use external speakers or not (or headphones maybe), but if you do then check the connection. If it's a software issue then a reboot should fix it (unless some setting was changed that persists between reboots). Good luck

Edited March 19, 2013 by Frogging101

[Solkia]

It's a Laptop, so they're Integrated.

 

I'll try rebooting later.

[Frogging101]

If you don't feel like rebooting, there's something else you can try. Personally, I hate rebooting so I like to have a solution that works without doing so . Here's a solution that solves most of my software-related audio problems that occasionally pop up:

 

1. Press WindowsKey+R or go to Start->Run (Or you can even just type it into the start menu's search bar if you're using Windows 7), and type "cmd".
2. In the command prompt that pops up, type in [net stop "Windows Audio"] (Don't put the square brackets, but do put the quotes around Windows Audio), and press Enter.
3. Type in [net start "Windows Audio"] (again, quotes but no brackets), and press Enter.

This might fix your audio issue. If that doesn't work, then try restarting. If a reboot doesn't fix it, it's likely that someone or something has changed a persistent audio setting (such as equalizer settings if you have them, or something like that).

Edited March 19, 2013 by Frogging101

[Diz]

If your audio problem persists even after Frogging's good suggestions, there might be a driver issue.

 

Drivers are sometimes automatically installed through Windows Update, and I have personally experienced several times where a WLAN driver was automatically applied which killed my ability to use the Web. Did the audio work fine before this problem mysteriously started? You can verify if a driver is the cause by going back to a previously installed audio driver. To do this, right-click Computer, click Manage and then choose Device Manager in the left pane. You should have a list of devices load up in the main window.

 

Expand the sound portion of the list. Double-click the audio component (if there is more than one, I suppose you could try this with all of them) and enter the Driver tab. Click on roll back driver. If the button is grayed out, then the cause of the problem is not a driver update. In this case, you should try to reinstall the driver. You will have to go to your computer manufacturer's support site (or the Device manufactorer's home site, though that might be harder).

 

If drivers do not resolve the issue, your speakers may be damaged or worn out. There is also a chance that a cable may be loose on the inside of the laptop. If you hear the same type of audio quality by plugging in a non-USB headset or audio output, I suspect there is something wrong with the drivers or audio software.

 

I hope you get it back to working!

[Solkia]

It says  that Access is denied when I try the Command prompts. But I Rebooted and it didn't help.

 

I don't know why it'd be a driver issue since it only started after I signed into Skype, but I'll try to find the drivers

Okay, I have "RealTek High Definition Audio".

[Diz]

In Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, you have to elevate the command prompt, even if you are logged on as an administrator. To do that, after typing cmd in the search bar and it showing up, right-click it and click run as administrator, then click Yes on the UAC prompt to confirm. This should give you access to execute the suggested commands.

 

If it occured the moment you started using Skype and has not stopped since, you might want to uninstall it and see if it takes the problem with it, then install it once again.

[goku262002]

Upgrading that PC is going to be a massive pain in the ass haha. You're going to pay way more for the components that you need than what they're worth, and ever then you're still going to be bottlenecked by all the old tech.

 

2GB of ram is probably your best bet. After that you could buy a graphics card, but you'd need to find an AGP graphics card that isn't complete ass. Which is going to be a battle as it's mostly a dead standard. I had a quick look around and most of the cards for sale these days were low end when they were new so that's not great. >.> The most widely available

but DS emulation would be a stretch. IMO

 

The SSD isn't as overkill as you think, and probably one of the more sensible things you could do with it. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-upgrade-hard-drive,2956.html

 

-----

 

To be honest, like Diz said it'd be a lot easier to just let it be dead and buy newer, better hardware for about the same price, but that's just my bias IT guy speaking. When it comes to computers in my opinion, there is zero reason to hold onto old tech. 

Look back on my past posts, I posted all specs and information about my PC and what I'm researching including Graphics cards. I'd like to hear your opinion on what graphics card I should go with.

I know I know, everybody keeps telling me to junk it. but honestly I cant! this computer holds allot of centamental value to me, its allot like how you would feel about an old car thats just shit compared to a flashy modern one. its not about the car (or in this case, the PC) its about the memories thats tied to it. and maxing it out was just a thing I allways wanted to do but never got to because of high prices at the time.

I have a PC thats modern and means nothing to me, the second it shows weakness I'm going to chuck it out the window. but this one though, this one means allot. I hope you can understand.

EDIT: And I know I can run DS and N64 emulators flawlessly on it, Back when I had my AIW 9600 in it it was running emulators of all types fine hell I had Sonic Heroes PC and Sonic Rush running together 1 time. 

Edited March 19, 2013 by goku262002

[Frogging101]

Doh! I forgot about the elevation thing because I have UAC permanently disabled. But yeah, do what Diz said. Alternatively you can just open "services.msc", find the Windows Audio service and restart it (I think services.msc will automatically start with administrator rights, IIRC). Good luck

EDIT: The drivers suggestion is good too. It's funny how I don't think of these things unless I'm at the computer trying to solve the problem

Edited March 19, 2013 by Frogging101

[Solkia]

Uninstaalling Skype didn''t do anything, I'm going to look for the drivers online and try re-installing them.

 

Actually, I'll try the services.msc thing first.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Akihikohikoakikaki

[Remy]

It says  that Access is denied when I try the Command prompts. But I Rebooted and it didn't help.

 

I don't know why it'd be a driver issue since it only started after I signed into Skype, but I'll try to find the drivers

Okay, I have "RealTek High Definition Audio".

Skype has an annoying habit of turning the volume on everything down when you're in a  call. could it be that that's causing the problem? 

 

 

Does the same thing happen through headphones? The speakers on your laptop could have died. 

[Solkia]

It was the drivers. I guess Skype messed them up or something.

 

I reinstalled the drivers and now it works just fine. Hesitant to reinstall skype.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Okay, I have "RealTek High Definition Audio".

 

Urm... I think I might know what the problem is... or at least be able to point you in the right direction.

 

Last year when I was on holiday I tried to use some earphones with my laptop. Only they wouldn't work, the normal speakers were fine but the earphones just simply would not produce sound, this confused me since I have in the past used headphones without any problems at all, thinking they were dead I just turned off the sound when using the machine in public. When I got back to england I tried some others and they wouldn't work.

 

Testing the earphones on other devices, discovered the problem was with my laptop...

 

So I tried everything, control pannel, sound settings. You name it.

 

Eventually I gave up... however, I then discovered by accident someone online who had a similar problem, his earphones suddenly stopped working, a user asked if he had realtek and he said yes. He then discovered that realtek had muted his earphone socket and it held priority over his control pannel sound menu or something.

 

What does this have to do with you?

 

Well, this was a good 6 or 8 months ago, but from what I remember, the Real Tek audio settings can take priority over your systems audio output. Even if other menus/screens are showing it as working fine what-ever you have in realtek can give other menus false readings.

 

You need to play with the settings in there in order to return your speakers to how they were before the issue, I would guess that something you've used has changed the settings in there, so just play around with it.

 

The place I go to find it on my system.

 

Type "Realtek" into the start menu search box, and click the first listing, for me it's called "RealTek HD audio"

 

For me, I get a menu that pops up which shows a laptop on a desk in a room. here I can alter the audio of my entire system. I would look here and see if theres anything out of place.

[Solkia]

Yeah, I read something about RealTek drivers taking priority when I was downloading the drivers.

 

It's fixed for now, but thanks for your help guys.

[Frogging101]

I got one. What is "Intel HD Graphics Family"? I've heard of "Intel HD Graphics 3000" or "Intel HD Graphics 4000", but what the hell is this thing with no model number? It's what shows up in my laptop's device manager and it bugs me because it's not specific at all; it could be any one of the Intel graphics chips, and I have no idea which one. This makes Googling solutions difficult because everyone else seems to have a more specifically-named Intel display device. Is there any way to find out what it actually is?

 

EDIT: While playing around in the device manager trying to figure this out, I updated the drivers and the name changed to "Intel ® HD Graphics 3000", so it's no longer ambiguous. If anyone else has that ambiguous name in their device manager, try updating your drivers and see if it changes .

Edited March 21, 2013 by Frogging101

[-blank-]

Okay, I figured I should ask this here;

Basically, I have a Dell Inspiron laptop that I got for Christmas. It works fine for the most part except for the fact that it cannot read wireless internet and hasn't for a while now. I have a broadband mobile device that gives me internet in the meantime, but it has to be plugged into a usb port to do anything.

Any idea what I should do?

[McGroose]

So I've been thinking of upgrading my PC from Integrated graphics to a more powerful PCI Express card for a while now, and I think this one is fairly good.

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Vapor-X-PCI-Express-Graphics-11201-05-20G/dp/B00861BB0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362856277&sr=8-1&keywords=Sapphire+Radeon+HD+7770+1GB+GHz+Edition+OC

It should run well with my other PC components, but I'm concerned it won't run too well with my PSU of 300 watts. How well will this card work with my PSU, since the minimum recommendation 450?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I decided I'll just buy a stronger power supply to match the graphics card requirements. 

Edited March 25, 2013 by McGroose