The computer and electronics super geek thread

[azrael]

Az, that was my first thought too, but I couldn't find any settings on my router (a Netgear N300 with Gigabit).

Not all routers support that ability so the Netgear might not have it (even though it's fairly useful).

[pfunk]

Az, that was my first thought too, but I couldn't find any settings on my router (a Netgear N300 with Gigabit).

David, I had different issues with Avast a few years back, and at the recommendation of several PC mags/blogs I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials. It's extremely light and unobtrusive, integrates well with Windows, and performs well in testing.

Downloading now, Thanks M Z

[Knight26]

So, my laptop is having issues again with random shutdowns. I still think it is heat related after the last go around but thought I would ask you guys and see what you think. Basically the issue is this, the laptop will shut itself down after an indeterminite time and for no obvious reason beyond that I can feel a lot of heat at the exhaust vent. Now, it was really having this problem a few months ago so I did the following:

1) tore it down and reseated all the daughterboards, video card, and memory, everything...

2) scrapped off and reapplied new thermal gel to all points that contact the heat sink

3) cleaned and reset the exhaust fan

4) purchased a cooling fan to place it one, setting it up for maximum airflow underneath

This seemed to work well until just last week, now in the interim period I noticed the following:

1) THe computer would lag when hot or running high memory applications

2) Playing ME3 requried me to periodically pause while the frame rate dropped to unplayable levels for upwards of two minutes, not that big a deal, it just forced me to take a break

3) AutoCAD slowdowns

4) Has the biggest issue when running streaming video

Since it has started overheating and shutting down again I noticed the following:

1) started a new ME1 playthrough, cannot play more than 15 minutes before it completely shuts the machine down

2) streaming video or playing downloaded videos it will last maybe an hour before having problems and slowing down

3) streaming multiple videos or audio streams will almost always result in a shutdown

Now the biggest issue is this, my wife has agreed that I get a new laptop this year, but can't be until the fall, so what can I do in the interim in order to keep this beast running through the hot summer?

Oh and one last bit of wierdness to throw in, when I take the LT into my office and use it in the big conference room I can stream or watch video, run autocad and/or ME3 with no slow downs, no overheating, none of the problems I have at home. However I have not stress tested it since we had our PG&E smart meter removed at the house yet, but it did overheat after I let my son watch videos on it.

[pfunk]

Heat, to save the processor., maybe its bad or a bad core, with the vid, thats ram, so check those maybe

[azrael]

Heat, to save the processor., maybe its bad or a bad core, with the vid, thats ram, so check those maybe

You can try a test with Memtest but I think I don't think it's the RAM. It could be that your CPU or even GPU is a lemon. So reapplying the thermal paste probably won't work since it could be a manufacturing issue (it's rare but it does happen).

[Knight26]

well the computer is also 3 years old and has had some adventures already in its life so that could be part of the issue as well

[BeyondTheGrave]

What kind of printing do you do? How much printing do you do? Do you need other features, like scanning, faxing, or duplexing?

While, as Az suggests, a high-quality laser will give you the best quality (especially text), they can be pricey. Especially if you want color, or more than just printing. And a high-end inkjet can actually deliver better quality than a cheap laser.

Inkjets are generally cheaper, too. The printers are cheaper, an ink cartridge costs less than a toner cartridge, and better inkjets actually have a lower cost-per-page than most laser printers under $400.

That said, I think the best bang-for-your-buck might be HP's OfficeJet 8600 Plus. Depending on sales and promotions, you can find it for around $180. It scans (legal size). It duplexes. It makes two-sided copies from two-sided originals (handy for making D&D character sheets). It can scan to and print from an SD card or a flash drive (with OCR software for making PDFs). It's wireless (useful when you've got 8 computers on your network). Best of all, the printing cost is cheap. The ink isn't the cheapest, sure, but a $37 high-capacity black cartridge gets something like 2000 pages.

(No, I don't own that printer. I do own the 8500 Plus, which it replaced. And yeah, it's a pretty awesome printer).

Not too much heavy duty printing. But when they do print large amounts usually they have to buy several replacement cartridges.

Currently folks have two printers in use. The lexmark 3300? does a better job a scanning printed documents than the epson n110.

[mikeszekely]

Not too much heavy duty printing. But when they do print large amounts usually they have to buy several replacement cartridges.

Currently folks have two printers in use. The lexmark 3300? does a better job a scanning printed documents than the epson n110.

I'd repeat my Officejet 8600 recommendation, then. It sounds like they mostly work with documents. I think most HP printers these days come with OCR software and scan-to-pdf features, and they'd have to print A LOT to go through more than one at a time. Heck, I've printed half of "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" for a D&D game I'm running, and I've only had to replace the black ink. And it wasn't a high-capacity cartridge, it was the one that came with the printer.

The only downside is that the printer is fairly huge as far as inkjets go, but that's partly mitigated by the fact that it's also wireless, so you can stick it pretty much wherever.

[anime52k8]

What do you guys think of Epson printers? I've been thinking about getting a wide format printer (13x19inch), and I'm leaning towards an Epson Artisan 1430. I like it because it's wireless, has 5 color + black ink and costs under $300.

Edited May 29, 2012 by anime52k8

[mikeszekely]

What do you guys think of Epson printers? I've been thinking about getting a wide format printer (13x19inch), and I'm leaning towards an Epson Artisan 1430. I like it because it's wireless, has 5 color + black ink and costs under $300.

I tend to prefer HPs (for inkjets, anyway), but Epson's my runner up. Good print quality, but the cost-per-page is a little higher and they're not as dead simple as most of the HPs are.

In this particular case, though, I'd go so far as to say Epson might even be the better choice. I'm assuming it's for graphics? The Epson's got a higher-than-average print dpi, six inks (versus four in most of the competition), and borderless printing. If you went with an HP, the Officejet 7500A will do borderless 13x19, but 4800x1200 print dpi and four inks, but you're gaining scan/copy/fax functions if you need 'em, it'll have a lower cost-per-page, and the printer itself is cheaper (I see Staples offering it, through today at least, for $180). The Epson Artisan 1430's looks to be more of a specialized, graphics-oriented printer, while the HP is more of a workhorse sort of printer.

[areaseven]

For printers, I swear only by Epson. Their dot-matrix printers are bulletproof and their color printers have always been excellent in quality. Plus, since their inks are alcohol-based, the printouts dry faster and don't smudge.

I owned a Canon printer once. The black wasn't as dark as on other printers and the feeding mechanism conked out on me after a year. When I took it to Best Buy to have it fixed, I ended up having it recycled instead. What a waste of $150.

I've never personally owned an HP printer, but it's what my office uses. So far, they're user-friendly, but Epson is still better when it comes to print quality.

Stay away from Lexmark. Their printers are very flimsy and their print quality is crap.

[David Hingtgen]

For me, the #1 issue is often the "simple thing that's way too complicated for no reason"---the paper tray. On my current very-old but very-loved and very-user-friendly Deskjet 832C, it's nothing but a pile of paper sitting in a plastic tray. No springs, no feed mechanism. If I run out of paper, or need to add more---I just add more, as easily as you add cards to a deck. Just plop them down on top. The following rant is based on my last 2 trips to BestBuy to see if there was a printer worth buying so I can print photos etc:

Why do so many modern printers have a 10-piece folding, spring-loaded removable tray that makes it a hell of a chore just to add paper? Adding paper should be the quickest, easiest thing.

Plus, my deskjet can quickly and easily print envelopes---you just put an envelope into the envelope slot, simple as that. But most every printer out there now? "Remove paper tray. Disassemble paper tray. Remove paper from disassembled tray. Reassemble tray into configuration B. Add envelope. Place reconfigured and loaded tray into printer". Then do all of that again, backwards, to re-load it with normal paper.

And, a lot of printers seem to "unfold" when in use (mainly their paper trays) that makes them too big to put in a drawer or on a shelf etc, because there'll be no room for their extended paper tray when actually printing--or, they'll spit out the finished sheets on the floor if their tray remains folded up. Again, my old Deskjet has all of this built-in, in its simple easy paper tray. I hit the "on" button and that's it---ready to feed sheets, ready to re-load, ready to switch to envelopes, ready to hold a stack of printed sheets neatly. Paper goes in at the bottom, comes out at top having turned a 180 while being printed on----how has that simple elegant design been lost to most manufacturers these days?

[anime52k8]

Paper goes in at the bottom, comes out at top having turned a 180 while being printed on----how has that simple elegant design been lost to most manufacturers these days?

Because the paper is being bent in half across a roller. That's fine for 20lb copy paper but if want to print card stock, gloss photo paper, peel-and-stick labels and a whole host of other paper types, it's not going to end well.

Personally I like dual feed printers that have an internal tray so I can keep it loaded with plain paper, and a fold out tray for specialty stuff that I can close to keep dust out of the printer.

I seem to have very different experiences with printers to everyone else. The last 3 canon printers we've had have been great, all three where pixma all-in-ones of various models and have never gave us much in the way of problems. I've owned a couple HP's a few years back, and found them to be nice printers, but they burnt through ink significantly faster than the Canon's did. my only experience with an Epson was a couple years ago when we decided to get a wireless all-in-one. There was something seriously wrong with that particular unit because it refused to connect to our wireless network, and even running through a USB cable it was painfully slow to print (like 2~3 page a minute when printing an all text word document) if it even printed at all.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Why do so many modern printers have a 10-piece folding, spring-loaded removable tray that makes it a hell of a chore just to add paper? Adding paper should be the quickest, easiest thing.

So that when it breaks and you call tech support and find out the replacement part is $50 but a new printer is $110 on sale at best buy. You end up buying the printer and a ll the crap associated with it.

I'd repeat my Officejet 8600 recommendation, then. It sounds like they mostly work with documents. I think most HP printers these days come with OCR software and scan-to-pdf features, and they'd have to print A LOT to go through more than one at a time. Heck, I've printed half of "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" for a D&D game I'm running, and I've only had to replace the black ink. And it wasn't a high-capacity cartridge, it was the one that came with the printer.

The only downside is that the printer is fairly huge as far as inkjets go, but that's partly mitigated by the fact that it's also wireless, so you can stick it pretty much wherever.

Size is not a problem. i'll ive it some thought

Whats everyone opinion of acer laptops?

[areaseven]

Whats everyone opinion of acer laptops?

I currently have an Acer Aspire ZG5 that's running on Ubuntu 12.04 as my secondary unit. It's second-hand, as my brother abandoned it, but it hasn't given me any headaches since I upgraded it on March (aside from it being pretty slow).

As for specs, it's a single-core Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz, 1.5 GB DDR2 RAM (upgraded from 1 GB), 160GB SATA HDD (upgraded from 8GB SSD), 802.11g wi-fi and a 6-cell Li-Ion battery (replacing the dead 3-cell it came with).

Overall, I still prefer my Asus laptop, but if I were to buy another netbook, I'll definitely consider Acer.

[azrael]

My printers experience?

HP? They're good...when they work. When they fail, EPIC FAIL, is what I see.

Canon? So far so good.

Lexmark? So far so good.

Epson? Problems. There's always something I see wrong with it, usually software-related. But as mentioned, they do make some high-quality prints.

Since most printers are made of more plastic than metal, I tend to think of them as cheap equipment that will eventually fail. So smoke 'em if you got 'em.

[Beltane70]

I have yet to own an Epson printer that lasted over a year. HP, on the other hand, has never failed me. My current one (the second HP printer I've owned) has been around for two years without any problems. The one that I had before this one, I actually gave to a coworker, as I upgraded it from a standalone printer to a printer-scanner.

[areaseven]

This doesn't sit well with BlackBerry owners...

Edited June 1, 2012 by areaseven

[David Hingtgen]

I will never allow anything Lexmark to interface with my PC. They have the absolute worst "invading" software/drivers of anything ever. I was desperate and hooked up an all-in-one to my PC briefly just to use it to scan. It *killed* my ability to print with anything else, slowed down Windows, everything. Nothing short of a full HDD reinstall of Windows fixed it. (even a repair reinstall didn't work). It was like the nastiest virus ever----all from just plugging the damn thing in via USB. (I even tried stripping out lines from the registry to fix things before I effectively wiped my HDD)

So yes, I am very bitter and very opposed to Lexmark.

[areaseven]

I will never allow anything Lexmark to interface with my PC. They have the absolute worst "invading" software/drivers of anything ever. I was desperate and hooked up an all-in-one to my PC briefly just to use it to scan. It *killed* my ability to print with anything else, slowed down Windows, everything. Nothing short of a full HDD reinstall of Windows fixed it. (even a repair reinstall didn't work). It was like the nastiest virus ever----all from just plugging the damn thing in via USB. (I even tried stripping out lines from the registry to fix things before I effectively wiped my HDD)

So yes, I am very bitter and very opposed to Lexmark.

I always knew Lexmark was crap, but damn.

Meanwhile, I needed to print an A3 spreadsheet at work. Unfortunately, the HP printer capable of large prints in the office has no Windows 7 drivers online. I spent over an hour scouring through message boards, blogs, etc. to look for anything that would make the printer work with Windows 7. In the end, I copied the file and printed it through a co-worker's laptop running XP.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Can anyone recommend a good blu-ray player that can do net-flicks with an easy to use UI?

[areaseven]

I can't wait to try this out when it hits stores. It runs on both Windows 8 and Android ICS.

Asus Unveils All-in-One Transformer as Biggest Tablet

[mikeszekely]

I'm feeling a little frustrated...

I've got a PS3 in my bedroom. It's an old 40GB model my brother gave me because the disc drive crapped out. I was mostly using it to watch Netflix.

Awhile back, my 60GB PS3 died. I bought a new one, but I managed to use the drive from the dead one to fix the one in the bedroom. Loaned it to my dad for awhile, hadn't really used it since I got it back. Today, I decided to use it for Netflix again. Can't get it to connect to my network. I've tried using automatic settings, and I've tried using manual ones. I even tried updating the firmware from a memory card. It finds my network, no problem, but it won't get an IP. It keeps giving me an error 8013013D.

[azrael]

... It keeps giving me an error 8013013D.

A quick look around PS3 forums seem to point to your wi-fi security settings or you need to reboot the both the PS3 and router. I'd look at the wi-fi security settings. You may want to redo the settings or if the router is a dual-band router, isolate the PS3 to one channel (i.e.,Channel X using the 2.4GHz or Channel Y using 5GHz).

[mikeszekely]

A quick look around PS3 forums seem to point to your wi-fi security settings or you need to reboot the both the PS3 and router. I'd look at the wi-fi security settings. You may want to redo the settings or if the router is a dual-band router, isolate the PS3 to one channel (i.e.,Channel X using the 2.4GHz or Channel Y using 5GHz).

I'll try the reboot thing.

The thing that irks me, though, is that this exact PS3 used to work fine with my current router. And although I've got around my house manually assigning IP addresses to the stuff that I have online regularly, I haven't actually changed my router's settings.

On the other hand, I have been having some problems with this router lately. For the last month or two, it seems like it drops my internet connection whenever I use bittorrent. And, although I'm online as I type this, the router isn't actually letting me log on right now, it's just hanging on "Connecting".

[areaseven]

Looks like I found my next laptop.

[emajnthis]

I'd repeat my Officejet 8600 recommendation, then. It sounds like they mostly work with documents. I think most HP printers these days come with OCR software and scan-to-pdf features, and they'd have to print A LOT to go through more than one at a time. Heck, I've printed half of "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" for a D&D game I'm running, and I've only had to replace the black ink. And it wasn't a high-capacity cartridge, it was the one that came with the printer.

The only downside is that the printer is fairly huge as far as inkjets go, but that's partly mitigated by the fact that it's also wireless, so you can stick it pretty much wherever.

I actually own the Premium version of this printer, there are three models, 8600 e, plus and premium, the 8600 plus and premium are the way to go though. I got my 8600 premium during a staples promotion i found on slickdeals for $100, notable differences the premium has over the plus are an extra set of color ink cartridges, an additional paper tray, and ReadIris Pro12 software. As an MFC it works very well, scan to pdf and scan to e-mail functions are wonderful the color printing is pretty good in general and the ink cost is very cheap. The only thing i don't care for is in order to use the full features of the printer you have to install proprietary software on your computer, this has become a fairly common trend among most print makers but i still don't care for it. As MS said the printer is wifi (and wired ethernet capable as well) so i have mine stuffed in a corner somewhere out of the way hanging off of my wireless network.

All in all it's a great printer, build quality is on par with consumer grade equipment, i would feel comfortable paying up to $150 for the plus model, but probably not more than that, i got the premium at the above price due to some extreme couponing (coupon, price match, stackable rebates).

I think like any company HP's reliability is highly dependent on the model you have, we had some HP Laser Printers that would break on a weekly basis at my old job and the Brothers that replaced them never gave us a single problem. HP's laptops are just complete garbage though, i think Printers are the only thing i would buy from HP and so far i can report zero problems with my 8600 Premium.

[Freiflug88]

Anyone have any experience usingl Wine playing windows games in Linux? Rather then buy Windows OS I am considering building a budget computer with ubuntu+wine and spending the $100 on a better graphics card instead.

[pfunk]

I'll try the reboot thing.

The thing that irks me, though, is that this exact PS3 used to work fine with my current router. And although I've got around my house manually assigning IP addresses to the stuff that I have online regularly, I haven't actually changed my router's settings.

On the other hand, I have been having some problems with this router lately. For the last month or two, it seems like it drops my internet connection whenever I use bittorrent. And, although I'm online as I type this, the router isn't actually letting me log on right now, it's just hanging on "Connecting".

I had to set everything manually, seems PS3 has an issue with Cisco, it was a PITA to figure it out. I almost ran a cord across the floor

I can't wait to try this out when it hits stores. It runs on both Windows 8 and Android ICS.

Asus Unveils All-in-One Transformer as Biggest Tablet

its HUGE or that guy is really small. If I got a tablet, Id be looking at the fire or that size

[mikeszekely]

I had to set everything manually, seems PS3 has an issue with Cisco, it was a PITA to figure it out. I almost ran a cord across the floor

My router is a Netgear. I rebooted the router and the PS3 jumped right on afterward. Like I mentioned, I've been having some issues with this router. I might replace it with one that's got more throughput. This one craps the bed every time I do even a little bitorrenting.

[Oihan]

Anyone here familiar with madVR that knows how to properly configure the settings?

I'm trying to make the jump to 10-bit and I can't seem to make a smooth transition. I have a couple of 10-bit sources, one 720p the other 1080p. The 720p source plays just fine with no issues whatsoever. However, when I play the 1080p source, the video plays fine for a while until some "complex/busy" scenes...where the video starts stuttering.

The first thing I did in this transition was uninstall CCCP completely. Afterwards I downloaded and installed the latest versions of Haali Media Splitter, LAV Filters, madVR, and MPC-HC, and I manually configured MPC-HC (auto load subs, add LAV Video Decoder, etc) to use all of the above. I eventually went back to the latest version of CCCP and kept madVR - everything else was uninstalled.

I've tried tweaking a few settings from what I've read, like the scaling algorithms and some of the rendering settings.... I don't know if there is an order in which things should be tweaked or if I'm just not finding the right combination of settings. I've read for Chroma Upscaling that SoftCubic with softness set at 100 is preferred and that Lanczos or Spline at 4 taps for Luma Up/Downscaling is preferred. I'm not sure which of these settings to tweak to gain better performance while losing the least amount of quality. I can't seem to find anything concrete out there on the web either. The rendering settings I'm not sure about either. When I was using the EVR Custom Presenter I had the EVR Buffers set to 5...but I'm not sure where to go with the madVR rendering settings.

I've read that some graphics cards and or CPUs just aren't up to snuff in regards to handling 10-bit sources...but from my understanding my HD Radeon 4870 is 10-bit able/enabled. I would hate to think my Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2.8GHz is a/the bottleneck. I initially thought this may be a GPU issue but then I saw my CPU being utilized at 100%.... I don't know if it's a combination of both the graphics card and CPU, if it's just one or the other, or if some settings need to be tweaked. I simply don't know enough at this point in time in regards to video rendering.

I apologize for the long read, but I am stumped and am in need of help. Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?

Thanks!!!

Edit: Edited for clarity

Edited June 12, 2012 by Oihan

[myk]

What you're going through is more complicated than anything I've ever heard about, but I will say that when I noticed my Dual-Core CPU being utilized at 100% along with two GTS 250's in SLI mode starting to stutter like yours, I took a guess that my CPU wasn't good enough. Despite everyone telling me that my setup should run with no video performance problems and tweaking settings and drivers for weeks I just couldn't get rid of the video lag/stuttering. I got a good deal on a quad core CPU and the first time it booted up all my video problems were gone; CPU utilization wasn't anywhere 100% either. Based on my experience I'd say you're bottlenecked at the CPU...

[Archer]

Well, bought a new retina display MacBook pro for college use. As a historic PC owner but Mac supporter and enthusiast, I hope it is good!

[pfunk]

Anyone here familiar with madVR that knows how to properly configure the settings?

I'm trying to make the jump to 10-bit and I can't seem to make a smooth transition. I have a couple of 10-bit sources, one 720p the other 1080p. The 720p source plays just fine with no issues whatsoever. However, when I play the 1080p source, the video plays fine for a while until some "complex/busy" scenes...where the video starts stuttering.

CPU and graphics card. I started recording in 1080 and my old computor would do the same thing with complex scenes. I have a dual core laptop that plays it just fine, it has a pretty decent graphics card.

AMD Phenom II dual core 2.9

AMD M880G ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

[Oihan]

I ended up uninstalling CCCP again and re-installing everything individually. I then went with xy-vsfilter for the subtitles rather than going with MPC-HC's own. I also reduced the GPU queue size down to 5 from 8 in the madVR rendering settings. That seems to have fixed my problem. So if anyone else has a similar issue...they may want to try what I tried.