I've run into an issue, and i'm hoping somebody can help me out. I put this on facebook as well, so i'll just paste it here:

So, I use a panasonic tv for my computer monitor, and it's worked perfectly until I ran into an issue just now. I'm able to turn my tv on when my computer is off, and I can turn my computer on when the tv is already on.

However, when I turn the tv off when my computer is on, I can't turn the tv back on, and the remote stops working.

I'm not exactly sure what the issue is, because both my computer and my tv seem to be working fine perfectly.

I'm going with the assumption that my tv overheated and tried to cool itself down. But I don't know.

That's probably the weirdest support issue I've ever heard of.
My first instinct is to call foul on video drivers, but if what you say is legit, then there are factors that would be unrelated.
My second instinct is to call foul on video card hardware itself, but again, there are factors here that rule it out.

Ultimately, I'd need a lot more information, but if I were to do a blanket, assumptive diagnosis, I'd have to say it's probably software related if you haven't had problems in the past, but it could be hardware related if your video card is flaking out itself, or the TV's interface with it is. There isn't any way to be sure without doing elimination tests.

At this point, all there can be is speculation. But, as a general rule of troubleshooting, you should always attempt the easiest fixes first, so if you were to do any troubleshooting, think of the simplest possible cause and verify whether it is one or not, then progressively move forward.

That's about as much as I can tell you with the information you've provided.

^I appreciate the reply :)

I found that if I shut my computer down when i'm done using it, and turn the tv on before I turn my computer back on, it seems to work just fine.

However, the only reason I never shut my computer down is because I heard that it's not good to turn it on and off. Though I just read that leaving the computer on is wasted energy.

Seems like an issue with the TV and how it handles the input from your computer at some step. Are you using VGA or DVI as a connection? (Cable with blue ends or white ends)

As far as turning your computer on and off, these days it doesn't matter. The only legitimate reason to turn your computer off when you're not using it is A) to save on electricity, and/or B) to provide less of a likelihood that a power surge will mess something up if you don't have a surge protector, in which case you'd also be unplugging the computer as well.

The act of turning it on and off on a daily basis has no negative effect. In fact, if we want to look at it objectively, over time, there is more wear on a computer the longer it is on, obviously, because the fans will be constantly running, and all the parts are still operating, even at a baseline load of just being ready to respond to any input.

I use a VGA cable, but I'm willing to bet that they may be the issue.

That's what I read so seeing you say the same thing gives me more comfort with that. I'll see if I can get my hands on a DVI cable in the near future to test it out. Because it worked perfectly fine with my old VGA cable, and I bought a new one yesterday, and that's when the problems occurred, so that could very well be it. Thank you for the help by the way :) I can usually figure these things out, but this one had me stumped.

Just make sure your TV actually has a DVI input first, otherwise you might just look into going back to the cable that didn't give you any issues, or buying a new one that's longer, if that's what you need.

Well the problem with the old one was the wiring was all messed up, so that's what prompted me to buy a new one. I know that my tv has an HDMI port and my computer also has an HDMI port, I wonder if an HDMI cable would solve the issue.

Hey guys, I'm wondering if you can help me (or rather, help my dad with his computer lol). It's a 5 year old Dell Inspiron Laptop, running Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. 3 GB RAM and 250 GB HDD that is only about 50% full. All drivers are up to date and no new software or hardware has been installed in the past 6 months. He uses Avast security on this computer and there is no malware or viruses according to that program.

I was using my dad's computer last night (just the Internet), and it started up fine and everything. Then after about 20 minutes, the BSOD appeared and the computer restarted itself automatically so I had no time to read what it said. The computer did a System Restore and everything was okay for a bit. Then about 30 minutes later, another BSOD and I restarted the computer manually in Safe Mode, shut it down, and restarted it normally again.

And then maybe 10 minutes later, a 3rd BSOD and then the computer rebooted with this screen:

http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7c36fa18.jpg

I let the computer finish it's disk check or whatever the **** it was doing, and it shut down again completely. Now it won't restart at all - I can't turn it on!! It's plugged into AC power, so no dead battery or anything. It just won't turn on.

Tell me, has this computer finally died? Did I break it? :(

First I was thinking a RAM chip might be wonky, but actually it sounds like the motherboard died.

I attempted to send this in to Tom's Hardware but they want an account, so I figured I'd ask here first. I mentioned this awhile back and Freebase was able to help but a new issue has come up that I don't think I can get around.

As always, and help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

You didn't break anything. It's definitely a hardware problem. If it was dead RAM, you'd get beeps when you started the computer. If it was the hard drive, you'd get a "no operating system" error. If it was your power supply, you probably wouldn't have been getting the blue-screens nor the disk check.
If none of the above applies, it's probably your motherboard. Since it's a laptop, this is not something you replace, and unless it's still under warranty and you can send it back to the manufacturer, the fix is to get a new laptop and simply salvage the RAM and the hard drive. DVD rom too, if you want it.

If you'd prefer verifying whether it's the RAM or the hard drive, you can swap either out with a friends computer and see if you have any luck. If not, you can pretty much default to the mobo crapping out. Again, since it's not practical to replace a laptop mobo, you'll be purchasing a new laptop.

This can either be a software problem, or a software problem caused by a hardware problem. I bought a laptop back in '03 that, right out of the gate, had an issue where any time I would power down, I had to end up restoring system files. I never figured out what it was, but I always assumed it was possibly a bad cmos chip or some other issue with the motherboard, because no matter how many times I wiped and re-installed, the issue persisted.

With that in mind, the first easiest/cheapest way to test your options is to make sure it's not just a software problem. You can start by updating all your drivers, doing a cleaning and defrag, scanning for viruses, and seeing if that fixes the issue.
If this doesn't solve it, you go more drastic. Wipe and re-install. Install all your drivers and monitor the situation. Go? No go?

Finally, failing the above, you move on to hardware problems. Like I told BD up there, try to see if you can swap out the swappable stuff and see if it makes a difference. RAM, HD, maybe replace the CMOS battery for sh*ts and giggles.

I don't know about where you live, but over here most of the PC repair shops will let you bring a computer in and have the hardware checked for free. These tend to be the shops that sell hardware, so keep that in mind. But don't go out and buy new parts just to test an old throwaway laptop. Do what you can to borrow or utilize a friends', or a PC repair shop. Shops always have loads of spares lying around for this very purpose.

If you can determine that it is/isn't the swappable stuff, go from there. If it's not the RAM, not the HD, etc. then you can pretty much bank on it being the motherboard. And like I told BD, this is not something you're going to be getting repaired or replaced on a laptop.
Assuming that laptop is no longer under warranty, if it turns out to be the mobo, you can go ahead and start shopping for a new lappy.

You can get an older Dell with an i5 for around 5-600 dollars on Amazon. Lenovo is also another brand that has some low priced offerings. Search 'em up, but beware of the ones that come with Windows 8, or else you'll be buying Windows 7 just to get out from under it if you don't like it.

Good luck.

Danke, Senor

ipod related question, if anyone can help me.
I regularly grab selections of albums from my PC to put on my ipod via Media Monkey, but when I play them in the ipod often some of the albums don't show album art. Now I know that they all do have album art --- I've checked them on MM, shots enclosed. So why would some show up and some not? Any ideas?

It's only a little thing but damn I hate that grey note icon! :rolleyes:
Thanks if anyone can shed any light on this most perplexing mystery! ;)
http://www.trollheart.com/ipod1.png
http://www.trollheart.com/ipod2.png

I don't know about Media Monkey but I know iTunes has two ways of storing artwork. If you paste an image into the info dialogue I believe it pastes the image into the file itself but if you download the artwork through iTunes it stores it separately in an Album Artwork folder. Perhaps Media Monkey doesn't transfer the artwork that is stored separately? Just guessing.

I know some of the artwork can be flaky on my iPod but I don't actually load the songs onto it. I just use home sharing and stream the songs from my iMac. Sometimes I find albums showing the artwork for a completely different album.

Yeah thanks for that stp. The way around it seems to be to use itunes; I just hate the bloody thing! :(
It's odd though that it only happens with some albums, while others are fine.
Oh well, like I say it's not a huge problem and at least I know how to get around it if I really need to.
Thx again for the reply.
TH

iTunes isn't really a way around it. I use iTunes and I still get misfires sometimes. I'm not really sure what causes them but I assume it stems from some there being some little thing somewhere in the way that particular image file was written that the iPod just doesn't like. I've found that replacing the art with a different image file of the same thing usually fixes it.

Yeah I don't seem to have as many problems with iTunes as people complain about but one issue I have is with albums being split so the same album appears two or more times in cover flow. I usually fix it by renaming the album to something else temporarily and then changing it back and it cures whatever annoying glitch it was stuck on.

What determines which are the first images in a google images search? Like a specific word or thing typed in, is it most viewed or most visited?

You would definitely have to ask Google about that. If their methods were common knowledge, they wouldn't be on top.
But generally, I think the things that are most relevant to the query being made will tend to show up more at the top, but not before being initially more accessible due to SEO of the website that is hosting those pictures.

But if there are a large number of images relevant to that image, just say it was a historic even, and there are photos of tapestries and paintings. They are all relevant, but what makes one more relevant than the other? It is the amount of activity directed to those image in relation to the relevant subject?

In short, SEO. (Search Engine Optimization). And even that is behind people that pay Google to rank their results higher. But in general, SEO is the process of making your content more efficiently visible to a search engine via the use of proper tagging, header content, etc. And the result of that is typically that a search engine will rank such things higher in its database based on hits resulting from it.

For instance, if you take two make-believe sites that are exactly the same in every way, except on site A, you tag the picture data with relevant tags, all spelled correctly and just the obvious ones, and on site B, you include misspellings. Site B will get more hits, and will be ranked higher according to Google, because it gets more hits.

So it's a process of getting the hits via SEO, then being ranked higher because of those hits.
Of course, there are other factors. Google, for instance, ranks this very website higher for having a swear filter and not displaying gory images or linking to known gore sites. So when searching for "music forum", ours is likely to be higher than one that does not have a swear filter and gory content.

A lot of things go into it, but from the little I understand about SEO and search ranking, this is a pretty big factor.

Anyone know anything about web-design?

What would you like to know?

my windows 7 just got a blue screen of death a few minutes ago and i lost all my files. Does anyone know why this may have happened? it was just a single blue screen, not repeated. I didn't install any new drivers or software, or any new downloads recently. My computer was not overheating. I believe i'm computer saavy enough to notice if i have any malware or viruses and i don't think i did. I've never had a blue screen that completely wiped my system,

Sounds like a hardware issue.

If you want to get your files back (assuming your HD isn't fried), get a USB to IDE/SATA adapter, pull the HD out of the bad PC, and hook it up to a working PC. I've done this quite a few times over the years.

What files are you talking about? The whole operating system and everything in it? If so, how did you determine that your files are indeed gone, versus unreachable because of the inability to boot up.
Need more information.
If it wasn't an actual wipe, but a boot sector corruption or something, the files are still on the drive and can be obtained like Plankton says, assuming the filesystem itself is intact. If the firmware on the hard drive went out, you'll probably need to take it to a specialist, who will have to remove the hard drive platter.

hey

Hey spammer. How's it going?

:laughing:

Freebase, can you please help me? You are such a sexpert at all of this. ;)

I am having trouble with getting the camera working on my relatively new computer (4 months old). It's not being picked up by ANY software and I rang Samsung who told me it's most like a software issue. They suggested I do a refresh on my computer to put it back to when I first bought it. Do you think this is a sensible idea or do you have another idea why no software will pick up my webcam that is part of the laptop?

Is your camera driver up to date? If you look up the make and model of your computer on the manufacturer's website you should be able to find and download all the drivers you need to use the hardware on your computer.

Here's an article that may help you, Jess...
How do i get to my webcam on my samsung laptop? - Yahoo! Answers

I'm not sure, and now the internet space is gone at home so I'll have to wait till the 28th to find out UGHHHHHH I hate my flatmates (except the Ukrainian's)!!

Thanks Trollheart, I've actually already tried that, plus there is already 2 programs that I could use on my computer that don't pick it up as well as Skype and Photobucket can't see it.

Can't you take your laptop to an internet cafe? You could check there...

Well I could but I really don't have time to take it and there isn't any cafes in my area that have the internet. I do most of MB stuff at work at the moment.

I have a late 2009 MB Pro running latest OS and I would like to hook it up to my TV to play dvd media from an external hard drive. My mini DV port doesn't have audio (as far as I can tell from specs on Apple website) so if I get a mini DV to hdmi converter cable I believe I need to connect the audio separately (which I don't know if it will even work- would the tv pick up a separate audio input if it was on one of the hdmi inputs?). I believe I can AirPlay some media if I get an Apple TV but DVD doesn't have AirPlay so I would have to convert them to a format which I can play in iTunes meaning I lose the subtitles. Any suggestions about either cabling or streaming options?

You should have software that came with the computer to set it up. If not, do what Pete said and when you get a chance, download the latest driver and peripheral software for it from the manufacturer, ensuring you're using the right bit version.

Did it ever work?
Did it just stop working at some point?
Do you see the camera listed in Device Manager?
Are you trying to use third-party software with it?

And no, I think restoring your computer to factory defaults is a highly retarded suggestion from Samsung.

It did work. It just stopped working the next time I decided to use it after the first time I used it. I will check the device manager for it and I'm using the software that was part of Windows 8.

Do you think my computer freezing 1 month after purchasing it is from software I've installed or the computer's software itself?

I was pretty sure the guy from Samsung didn't give two ****s about me because he kept trying to fob me off when I kept wanting to know more.

Probably because he didn't know more. A lot of primary tech support seems lost if they step outside the standard FAQ walkthroughs.

Do you have a usb drive? While at work you download it and put it on that, then when you go home install it from the drive. I keep a folder full of the drivers for all my laptop's hardware so whenever I have to reformat (which is semi frequent), they're all in one place and I can immediately begin to install them.

Computer malfunctions can be from any number of things. I can't say with any certainty without physically checking it myself or knowing absolutely everything you've done with it. But certain things do help to point to likely causes. If it worked before, but suddenly stopped working, it's still either a hardware or a software problem. You have to figure out what you did from the point where it worked until the point where it didn't.

Obviously, you can go overboard and wipe the whole computer and reinstall everything to determine whether it's a software issue or not. If it is, you'll probably fix it. You just won't know what caused it and might do it again. The reason that's suggested so often is because it's usually quicker and easier than actually tracking down the problem, but it comes at the cost of starting from scratch. Fortunately you would be able to back up any pertinent data prior to doing this.

Another option is to use your last known good configuration, or reverting to a previous restore point. This is less drastic than a complete wipe, but there's no guarantee that it will solve the issue.

Ultimately, you can decide to do the detective work and try to figure out what changed, or you can just go back to a working restore point, or if that fails, revert back to the factory image and have to reinstall all the software you've installed since you had the PC. If I were you, I'd do the less-drastic stuff first. I just have limited information, so I can't recommend anything beyond that, besides just telling you to make sure that the computer is, indeed, seeing the camera (Device Manager), and whether the most recent drivers are installed or reinstalled. Apart from that, you can start uninstalling other 3rd party software that you've installed since the time it was working to now, and see if any of them were conflicting.

Just do the least-drastic/crazy stuff first.