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Computer help needed!

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14:54 / 24.08.07

These folks use "mencoder."

18:45 / 24.08.07

Mencoder?

For Men?

REAL Men?

Sign me up.

00:13 / 25.08.07

No, you misunderstand.

It's the software.

IT LETS THE WOMEN CHANGE THINGS!!!

09:06 / 10.09.07

There are two trojan horses or virii or something on my system and I can´t get rid of them:

Win32.TrafficSol.c
Win32.Agent.pz

I´m updating and running Ad-Aware SE Personal, avast! and Spybot every day now but to no avail. Help!

Bubblegum Death

13:39 / 18.09.07

Please, please help.

I'm staying with my sister and her boyfriend for a while. He has an external hard drive filled with music for his computer. Last night, I tried to copy song from his external hard drive to my PSP. When I tried, I got a "delayed write failed; data has been lost" message. I tried again and the same thing happened. I decided to try to copy another song. When I opened the folder, it was empty. There were no files. I tried another and got the same result.

By now I was really scared and went and asked her boyfriend about it. They both said not to worry about it. They get those delayed write failed messages all the time. At this point, I had to go to work.

This morning when I got back I figured I would check and make sure everything was ok.
No.
His hard drive is still plugged in, but when I go to My Computer it's not showing up at all. I've gone online to see if there's anything I can do, but it all seems complicated and honestly I'm worried I may end up making things worse than they are.

He is at work right now. Please. Please. PLEASE tell me I have not erased the hard drive.

Happy Dave Has Left

14:21 / 18.09.07

Unplug the cable connecting the external hard drive to the computer. Leave for five minutes. Plug it back in.

The PC should auto-detect the drive and show it My Computer. If it doesn't auto-detect, there could be any number of reasons it's now showing up. Not least a bad cable. It's very, very unlikely that you have accidentally erased everything on the drive. Even if the drive itself has crapped out, the disc inside is likely to be recoverable.

Chill, and don't freak out.

Bubblegum Death

14:48 / 18.09.07

Thank you, Happy Quadrangle. I unplugged it and when I plugged it back in I got a bubble saying "one of the usb devices attached has malfunctioned".

I just got really anxious because it's not my computer and well...

Anyways, I shall try to calm down.

Happy Dave Has Left

16:15 / 18.09.07

Yeah, sounds like a bad cable or a duff drive enclosure. If the drive has external power, try unplugging it from the wall for a while, plugging it in, powering it up and then letting your PC try to auto-detect it again. PC's have pretty bad USB auto-detection, so you could also try plugging it into a Mac if there's one about, tends to work a lot better.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

20:57 / 19.09.07

Why isn't PageMaker recognizing my fonts? I have Adobe Caslon Pro installed in Regular, Bold, Italic, Semibold, and Semibold Italic flavours. It only seems to recognize only the Regular and Bold types. Not the others! All/None I can understand, but two out of five? Weird! They open up fine and look good.

13:55 / 20.09.07

I had a similar font recognition problem which went away when I went into the fonts folder and double clicked on each of the unseen ones manually.

I don't know why that should be necessary.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

14:21 / 20.09.07

No, that didn't do it. I'll try deleting and re-installing tonight. Supa weird.

16:31 / 20.09.07

Being a bit of a computer idiot I didn't really understand grant's MKV to AVI link above...

... so, when I use ConvertXtoDVD put MKV files on a DVD the audio and visual elements translate fine, but I lose the subtitles. There just isn't an option to bring them up.

Am I doing something wrong? How can I get round this? Is there something I can download to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

02:54 / 23.09.07

I'm having the same problem with .ogg files too. The subtitles just won't burn.

Am I attempting the impossible? Can I only do what I'm intending with a hardsub format like AVIs?

09:43 / 24.09.07

My laptop is not working, in that it gets to a certain point in loading Windows, then restarts, so I can't get in to try and solve any problem. It won't even let me in in safe mode.

So I've bought an external caddy for the hard drive and now have it connected to the desktop 'pute. Does anyone know if there's any way I should be able to solve the problem by changing the files from this 'pute and then putting it back in, or even if it's possible to reinstall Windows on it from here (I tried plugging a CD drive with a Windows CD into the laptop, and that didn't work)? Or am I just going to have to start all over again and use the caddy to save all the documents and so forth?

12:47 / 24.09.07

Did you have backup and restore on? If so you can go into the bios and tell it to boot from the cd drive, put the windows disk in there, and when it boots it up it should have an option in there to rool back to a previous date before the thing stopped loading. I'd backup the files aswell, just incase rolling it back gets rid of them.

12:53 / 24.09.07

Thank'ee, but there's a couple of problems - firstly, that it *does* give me the option of returning to a previous state, but it doesn't seem to help anything, and secondly, I have absolutely no clue what the BIOS password is and I'm not sure I ever did.

I've copied the whole hard drive onto something connected to my desktop, and am now trying copying the system32 folder from my desktop onto it. Is there any chance this might work?

13:35 / 24.09.07

To answer my own question: no, that did absolutely nothing. Hmm...

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:48 / 24.09.07

If you have a desktop computer and a laptop computer, and have the laptop hard drive in a caddy, which can read it, it might be best to take all the data you need off the drive, put it back in and then reinstall Windows completely - could you do that? Or Linux, for that matter...

14:17 / 24.09.07

I'm currently thinking that's the best option, even though I'd love to keep all the settings. Though I'm not sure what I need to delete to do so - I first tried doing so just by attaching a CD drive with Windows, but it just ignored it, and just now I've tried deleting the Windows directory and putting it back in, but it still tries to boot off the hard drive, complains about missing files and crashes...

Janean Patience

14:54 / 24.09.07

I got a Seagate Freeagent external hard drive last month, partly with the intention of getting all the valuable files I have on two outdated computers and putting them in one place for when the computers are replaced. It worked with the one running XP but the older PC running Windows 98SE, which this drive supposedly supports, can't do anything with it. I've searched for drivers and come up empty. Can anyone suggest anything? This is delaying some awesome compilation CDs.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

14:58 / 24.09.07

Have you looked into what kind of disk formats 98 will accept? I suspect XP might work with both FAT and NTFS but whichever you have might not be recognized by 98 (I think it's FAT that's more compatible but I could be wrong).

You may need to reformat the drive, sadly.

06:54 / 25.09.07

please help, this is really doing my head in - the space bar on my laptop has a secondary function of changing the screen resolution. that's fine - except I can't get the space bar NOT to change the screen res now! I've tried all manner of key combos to try to turn the function off, but it's not helping. anybody got any ideas? it's really very annoying, my laptop is a s good as useless stuck like this (and I'm having to post this from work!! scary!)

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

08:12 / 25.09.07

Boot in safe mode, if you know how (depends on your computer, and I'm assuming you're using Windows; usually it's tapping F8 at startup) and that should disable whatever it is that makes your space bar go wonky. You also won't have Internet access or functioning peripherals, so make sure you have whatever info you need on this program is on hand (and in your hard drive) and not online.

Safe Mode loads your computer with just Windows core -- no drivers or additional routines -- so it should let you operate clumsily but without interference from whatever this software is.

Worst come to worst, download uninstall instructions for whatever it is that uses your space bar for screen resize and uninstall it from Safe Mode. Then reboot and get back to Windows normally.

08:46 / 25.09.07

that sounds hard but i'll give it a try later. Thanks!

Janean Patience

08:56 / 25.09.07

I'm afraid I'm just too dumb to take advantage of your advice, Matt, not knowing anything about how information is recorded on any of my hard drives. Plus the problem with formatting the external hard drive is that I've probably not got enough space on any PC hard drive to put the data on. I have had another idea about how to move the date from the Windows 98 PC, though, so I'll look into that...

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:09 / 25.09.07

On NTFS - NTFS was introduced with Windows NT, so Windows 98 does not play well with it. If you have no file names over 64 characters and no files over 2GB, FAT32 is a better bet, at least for temporary storage (that's strictly speaking a JOLIET issue, I think, but better safe than sorry. Likewise, I have stored 10GB files on FAT32 drives, but I wouldn't recommend it).

However, that is not your problem, I don't think. Your problem is that Windows 98 does not support hot-swappable or plug and play storage drives - you need to install drivers, and I don't think the Freeagent range offers drivers for Win98. So, essentially, you can't get your 98 computer to recognise the drive. Reformatting won't change that.

Options:

1) Ask for a refund, buy a drive with Windows 98 drivers, like the Lacie range.
2) Find a homebrew driver set that works with the Freeagent
3) Get a smaller storage device - like a pen drive for $10-20 - that does have Windows 98 drivers (most still do). Use that to transfer the files you want to keep from your win98 box, which presumably doesn't have too much data on it because hard drives didn't go very high in the days of Windows 98, onto your win2000/XP or other NT-based box. Transfer them from there to your drive Or, you can just plug it in, cut and paste from one external storage drive to the other - as long as there is enough space on your old PC to store the temp files created by the transfer.
4) Install Ubuntu, either onto the Win98 hard drive or using a live CD version, or knoppix, or similar. Ubuntu _does_ recognise USB storage devices natively, and you should be able to get the files onto your drive from there.
5) Set up a home network and transfer the files by ethernet to your other PC, and thence to the drive.
6) Take out the 98 PC's hard drive and put it in a 3.5" storage caddy.

3) is by far the easiest solution, if you have a few gigs of data and do not intend to have the 98 box as a regular part of your network.

Be aware also that the moment you delete the data on your non-98 PC, to make space for the files from your 98 PC, you will drop or break the Freeagent. Likewise when you have stored all the data, ready to transfer it, and have wiped both your old PCs. Always try to keep data in two places if you want to keep it.

19:28 / 25.09.07

ok, how do i find out which program is the one causing the bother? this is very annoying, because the fucking thing has been titting up all evening, but now for some reason is fine. i don't trust it to last for long fuki

19:40 / 25.09.07

that's not a joke it's actually fucking up as i type. f10 is involved somewhere. all the second functions keep getting stuck so sometimes, completely unpredictably, so sometimes 'o' is '6' for some reason. i want to throw it out the window. what's wrong with the keyboard? would a newly installed program be doing this? why is it working now? HHHEEELLLPPPP

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

13:22 / 26.09.07

Dude! Your "Function" key is probably stuck. Is it an HP keyboard? I used to have one that got all f&?%ed up with the Function key; the "o" turning to "6" suggests that it is "helpfully" converting part of your keypad to a number pad like the ones to the right of old-school keyboards.

If you're on a PC laptop I have a suggestion:

a) Go to used-computer shop and buy old keyboard. Bring laptop with you.
b) Plug old keyboard into back of your laptop.
c) Solve problem at your leisure.

99% of PC laptops have a PS/2 port at the back for auxiliary keyboards, for the disabled who need special gear or just people that hate those cramped little keyboards. You should be able to pick up an old beige keyboard for $5. Most places have BINS of them just sitting around. Granted, this will make your laptop a bit less portable temporarily, but it sounds like your sanity is in peril and this might help.

Not sure about a Macbook's external-keyboard capacity.

Happy Dave Has Left

13:25 / 26.09.07

Macbooks will work with any basic USB keyboard. Jus' plug it in.

15:01 / 26.09.07

Bah! Sick of this whole laptop thing. I decided the other drive was running out of space somewhat and so that maybe it'd be a good idea to buy a new hard drive anyway - 80Gb can be scrobbled for about £25 on eBay. I proceeded to put this in the laptop with a Windows CD, whereupon it started to load for a while and then blue screened. Now after restarting it just comes up with a black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left.

When trying to plug this new hard drive into the desktop, it said something about finding a new "USB mass storage device" and then did absolutely nothing.

Does anyone have any idea what I can do?

15:09 / 26.09.07

Ah... on replugging it into the desktop, it's now a) making an irritating bleepy sound in time to a flashing blue light, and b) there's something in device manager under disk drives, but it doesn't seem to be mapped or anything. I don't feel much more enlightened, though.

17:37 / 26.09.07

I have a new laptop and have got a new broadband service from AOL. I am extremely unworldly with regards to computer stuff and installing pretty much anything new causes me untold anxiety. Occasionally, things work first time. Mostly, though, they don't. I've already had the laptop replaced due to a hardware problem and was excited this afternoon to receive my wireless/broadband starter pack. What seems like a hundred years and a million tears later, I am connected to the internet - by wires only. I can't get the wireless bit to work.

To save this from being simply toooo dull, I'll be brief. I've had two horribly unpleasant and unhelpful calls to the AOL helpline and their final verdict is that my inbuilt wireless adaptor does not support their wireless router thingy (plugged into my wall).

Well, it strikes me that having bought a wireless ready laptop of known make from a known high street retailer, I have a reasonable expectation that this shouldn't be happening. Rather than it being my laptop's fault, surely it is the fault of their crap router? And why was the helpline woman so keen to sell me a USB adaptor that she reckoned would work? If I wanted one of them sticking out of my laptop I could have arranged it in advance.

I'm so ignorant about all this stuff that I simply don't know whether this is a reasonable outcome or whether I'm just being taken for a ride. Help...

17:57 / 27.09.07

Wireless can be a bit tricky. A little more info might help. What type of laptop is it (simple answers, like HP or Mac are okay here)? And does it see your wireless network - when you look for something to hook up to in the wireless utility, do you see your wireless network in the list?

20:19 / 27.09.07

Well, I now know that it's an 802.11b/g wireless adapter in a Fujitsu Siemens laptop trying to connect to a Thomson 585 v6 router. I have been further confused by advice to switch on the adapter using a switch on the front or side of the laptop, but no such thing seems to exist. The light on the front is on, though. Certainly, there's no sign of the target router on screen, although it does seem to pick up my bizniz signal. I'm a little less stressed, anyway, now. The whole darn lot of it's like a big ball of string in my head, but I suppose I can live with that. The office IT Guy is coming round on Monday (to, rather ludicrously, install wifi on my office line which now has restricted download), and I am buttering like mad.

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