|
I would just like to point out that 27” 1080p monitor may seem crappy but it’s nice and big text and icons to boomers eyes, don’t immediately discount them.
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 01:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 19:13 |
|
|
Reasonable points about boomer eyes. But they could also just scale fonts where needed with 1440p. I’ll have them look at a 1440p to see what they think before they jump in.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 01:12
|
|
|
My PC's having an issue reading my external USB drive. It doesn't show up by name, just as the drive letter, and any attempt to interact with it locks up Explorer - trying to open it, or even opening up Disk Management (which comes up blank) or CrystalDiskInfo (which just doesn't open). In Device Manager it does get recognized as a WD My Passport drive, though; I asked it to update the drivers but apparently those are up-to-date. I can't remove it safely because right-clicking on that icon doesn't even bring up a menu, so I've had to just pull the plug. I tried other USB ports as well as a new cable, but it's the same every time. This is my backup drive and though last week's backup was completed successfully it took twice as long as normal, so that was maybe a sign something was awry. Dying drive? It's about 2.5 years old.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 11:41
|
|
|
pmchem posted:My boomer parents need a new desktop PC to replace a very, very old Dell. The plan is to get them another Dell and a 27" screen to go with it. Use case is basically general web surfing and spreadsheets, plus some light photo/video archiving.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 12:02
|
|
|
Glare Seethe posted:Dying drive? It's about 2.5 years old. Dying drive would be my guess, yeah. At least it should (hopefully) still be under warranty.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 12:08
|
|
|
KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I assume the parents are fairly accustomed to windows. You can always strap a thin client to the back of a monitor as well, kind of a homebrew AIO without some of the inherent issues. It depends though.. to some people, accustomed to windows means you have to show them the Chrome icon instead of the IE icon. Then you don't have to worry nearly as much about things breaking.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 14:17
|
|
|
LRADIKAL posted:It depends though.. to some people, accustomed to windows means you have to show them the Chrome icon instead of the IE icon. Then you don't have to worry nearly as much about things breaking. Absolutely, all depends on the level of comfort, familiarity, and capability.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 14:28
|
|
|
Helter Skelter posted:Dying drive would be my guess, yeah. At least it should (hopefully) still be under warranty. Thanks, I just dropped it off at the shop with the warranty and they'll take a look. Hopefully won't take too long to get it back, or a replacement. I guess they're formatting it as a first step and I've half a mind to just buy a new drive tomorrow so I'm not without a backup until they're done (and then at worst I've got two backup drives, which is fine or even ideal), but on the other hand I still have an old internal (from 16 months ago) and the older external and those should have 99% of the important stuff, so maybe I'll live dangerously and hope my SSD doesn't coincidentally die as well before I hear back.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 15:21
|
|
|
Two backup drives - if your backup system supports it - is better than one. That way, if you have a catastrophic failure that kills your whole system during backup, you'll still have a slightly older backup which survived.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2021 16:38
|
|
|
So I have an old HDD that in trying to get data off of The drive spins when first connected, but after windows recognises it in Device manager it spins down and never shows up in file manager, I get an IO error when trying to initialise it in disk management too. Is the drive proper hosed or is there anything I can do to fix this without shipping it to someone.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 12:18
|
|
|
CyberPingu posted:So I have an old HDD that in trying to get data off of It's probably screwed up but it's hard to tell if it's the drive mechanism or controller board based on what it's doing. Was it in an external case you used the wrong power adapter on? If so there's probably a protection diode that's cooked that could be removed. Otherwise, it's hard to say definitively. Some folks buy the same drive and try to change the controller board but due to some of the chips on the board containing information about the drive's physical layout, it frequently doesn't work even if it's identical. If it's valuable enough to try this I'd consider sending it to data recovery since they'll do a better job of recovering whatever you lost.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 16:52
|
|
Rexxed posted:It's probably screwed up but it's hard to tell if it's the drive mechanism or controller board based on what it's doing. Was it in an external case you used the wrong power adapter on? If so there's probably a protection diode that's cooked that could be removed. Otherwise, it's hard to say definitively. Some folks buy the same drive and try to change the controller board but due to some of the chips on the board containing information about the drive's physical layout, it frequently doesn't work even if it's identical. If it's valuable enough to try this I'd consider sending it to data recovery since they'll do a better job of recovering whatever you lost. It was an internal drive, it's a really old drive and really all that was on their was music. If there was a quick fix I'd try but not worth sending it off to someone for extortionate amounts of money tbh.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2021 18:59
|
|
|
Is there such a thing as a cheap, affordable IP KVM? I’m looking for a way to remotely access PC’s while they’re installing windows or Mac OS (so Remote Desktop software solutions are out of the question). What I’m looking for is a KVM that has a web interface. All I need is a video feed, keyboard and mouse pass through and a way to switch between machines and to access all of that over the web. Searching for IP KVM might not be the right thing because I’m seeing 32 port monsters that cost $2 grand that allow you to make the KVM-switch-to-PC wiring connection over Ethernet. That’s not exactly what I’m looking for, all of the PCs I need to deal with can be right next to the KVM switch and won’t need to be extended over Ethernet. As long as I can access those PC’s remotely over the internet, switch between them and get KB/M pass through, I’m good. I’m thinking 4 ports, 8 at the max. Ideally something like DRAC would work, but I’m talking end-user machines that don’t have that tech. Does something like that exist in the couple hundred dollar range? I need the Belkin of the ip kvm world, not the Cisco, lol
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 14:39
|
|
|
This popped up on craft computing a couple months ago, a pi based ip kvm https://youtu.be/CyEpshm16HY
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 16:11
|
|
|
Ugh the dreaded YouTube face. But thank you I’ll check that out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 16:20
|
|
|
Upon watching, that only takes one source in. If I want 4 sources, I have to buy 4 of them at $300 a crack.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 16:34
|
|
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Upon watching, that only takes one source in. If I want 4 sources, I have to buy 4 of them at $300 a crack. Well, it's only about $100 in materials for one, but yeah
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 16:56
|
|
|
Oh yeah I suppose if I go the diy route. I just went to their store and looked at the prebuilt model
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 17:37
|
|
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Upon watching, that only takes one source in. If I want 4 sources, I have to buy 4 of them at $300 a crack. You connect it to a 4 device KVM with keyboard control.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 18:42
|
|
|
But I couldn’t switch that kvm remotely on the web as far as I understand it
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 18:47
|
|
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:But I couldn’t switch that kvm remotely on the web as far as I understand it If the KVM supports switching by keyboard it should work. Assuming it's a key sequence the TinyPilot can easily send.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2021 19:51
|
|
|
I finally got a job that pays. I want to replace my desktop and play un-optimized games like rimword with a bunch of mods or roguetech. My budget is say 2k. What should I buy?
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 10:22
|
|
|
stoicheian posted:I finally got a job that pays. I want to replace my desktop and play un-optimized games like rimword with a bunch of mods or roguetech. My budget is say 2k. What should I buy? Probably a Ryzen 5600X (5800X is also in your budget but probably a bit overkill, though it is easier to find in stock) with a B550 motherboard and an appropriate amount of RAM for your needs (16 or 32 gigs, depending). Hold on to your current video card because the GPU market is very, very stupid right now. Come on over to the PC building thread if you'd like more specifics.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 10:51
|
|
|
Helter Skelter posted:Probably a Ryzen 5600X (5800X is also in your budget but probably a bit overkill, though it is easier to find in stock) with a B550 motherboard and an appropriate amount of RAM for your needs (16 or 32 gigs, depending). Hold on to your current video card because the GPU market is very, very stupid right now. While this is good at this point buying a pre built is legit the only way to acquire a video card in any reasonable time frame. A few weeks ago there was a PC with a 3080 for like 2k which is almost impossible to find.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 16:55
|
|
|
I'm about to move from a(n AMD) B350 board with two DIMM slots to a(n Intel) B460 with four I know from the manual where to place the two sticks of RAM that I have to get dual channel even with just two slots filled, and I don't feel like I need any more RAM than the 16 GB I already have, but it's not clear to me if there's any kind of benefit at all to filling all four slots. Is there?
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:05
|
|
|
gradenko_2000 posted:I'm about to move from a(n AMD) B350 board with two DIMM slots to a(n Intel) B460 with four please correct me if i'm wrong but my impression from a recent LTT video on motherboards is that there is absolutely no performance gain and possibly a performance penalty depending on the board, unless you have a CPU/mobo that can take advantage of quad channel. similarly you'll get better speeds at more stable voltages with 2 versus 4 because the ram's uh i think it's VRM controller (?) has to push to four instead of two. honestly pretty marginal as i understand it - if you need the extra ram go for it otherwise i don't really see the point.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:15
|
|
|
Dual rank (distinct from dual channel) can improve things on AMD boards, I assume Intel will behave similarly, but only in CPU bound scenarios. It is generally harder to overclock 4 sticks than 2 but I don't know if that matters at all if you're not doing extreme OC. Probably not something worth worrying about, unless you know your ram needs are going to increase dramatically before ram prices come back down.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:19
|
|
|
I can't memory tune on a B460 anyway, so that's a moot point. Okay, so no appreciable perf upgrade, and I don't need more RAM. Gonna stick with what I've got. Thanks folks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:22
|
|
|
Also depending on how old they are, your sticks may already be dual rank! CPU-Z can tell you in the SPD tab. Most 16gb kits these days are single rank but I have a kit from late 2015 that's dual.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 17:57
|
|
|
With dual rank kits, you want to only ever use two sticks. A dual rank stick acts like two regular RAM sticks, meaning it causes more load on the memory controller - with four slots filled with dual-rank sticks, you won't be able to achieve the max speed potentially. Also, don't forget to enable the XMP profile for your RAM in the Bios, otherwise it will just run at standard JEDEC speeds and not the speed that is printed on the packaging. This is very much an essential step.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2021 18:05
|
|
|
I thought my keyboard was all of a sudden dying when I started to have phantom alt key presses (that don't show up on the onscreen keyboard!) that persist after restarts, with up to date drivers, every other device removed, unplugged replugged, key removal, key brushing, key vacuuming, key turn this loving keyboard the gently caress upside down and shake the hell out of its, but I finally launched the keyboard software that comes with a heatmap thing (it's a logitech 513) to see if these alt presses were showing up while I typed there and now it stopped happening. I know the software can write lighting profiles and macros to the keyboard do you think it reset like some broken keyboard firmware or something?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2021 05:58
|
|
|
I'm thinking of upgrading to one of those dual-fan air coolers, like a DeepCool Gammaxx 400 Pro except, as I understand it, each fan needs its own header, but I only have a single CPU fan header am I supposed to: * get a splitter for the CPU fan header? * just plug one of the fans into the case fan hub? should it be the push fan or the pull fan?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2021 06:10
|
|
|
You're supposed to get a splitter. Usually, one is included with dual coolers.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2021 09:31
|
|
|
Bit of a dumb question, and I guess I'm mostly looking for reassurance here, but how bad is it that I'm running a backup to a HDD while the adjacent building is being demolished with a jackhammer...? :\ It only occurred to me halfway through that the vibrations are probably not great for a spinning platter drive. I'm gonna let it finish cause I'm otherwise without a backup and it's nearly done, but still. I'd like to believe modern hard drives, particularly portable ones like this My Elements, are a lot more resistant to this sort of stuff. I've put it on some dense fabric in the meantime to hopefully soak up a little of the vibrations. It's probably fine but maybe not do it again, I guess? Really hope they wrap up this demolition soonish because it's a loving nightmare. And that the inevitable subsequent construction work won't be as bad or I'll actually have to start looking for a new apartment.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2021 12:23
|
|
|
Glare Seethe posted:
This. The cloth helped a bunch I'm sure
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2021 22:51
|
|
|
Thanks. The jackhammer's gone today (after three days in a row) so hopefully that's done, but in any case now that I at least have a completed backup I feel a little safer, I only do weekly backups anyway and can easily skip a couple if necessary.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2021 10:00
|
|
|
Drives made for NAS applications supposedly have vibration sensors because they're made to deal with the vibrations from other drives in the same cabinet. Whether these drives just park the heads whenever vibrations get too bad, spin down like an unbalanced washing machine, or do some other magic with the rotation speed to avoid harmonics and resonance, I have no idea about. The NAS thread might know more about that. Edit: I'm bringing up NAS drives because the LaCie branded external drives I bought some time ago actually contain Seagate Ironwolf Pro NAS CMR drives inside them. Vir fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Apr 22, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2021 15:13
|
|
|
Hello thread. I'm looking for advice on buying a KVM switch because I've never used one and have zero clue what's good. Here are the two (Win10) computers I'm looking to switch between: PC 1: personal computer with DVI and HDMI video outputs PC 2: work laptop with HDMI and Thunderbolt outputs Other stuff: - Keyboard and mouse are Logitech and use the "unifying receiver" wireless system on my personal computer. I like them and would like to be able to use them on both PCs. - Monitor: subject to change/upgrade. Currently old-rear end HP with DVI and HDMI inputs. - Audio should remain completely separate and not flow through the KVM, with my personal computer using speakers and the laptop a headset, i.e. the current setup. I don't have a dock for my laptop, but could get one through work in case that helps. I think that about covers it... any suggestions besides "just get the most popular one on Amazon?"
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2021 20:41
|
|
|
Full KVMs can be expensive and bulky so if you don't absolutely need a one-button solution I'd generally recommend a just using a USB switch for your inputs (I got this one a while back and it's done the job just fine, although it seems to have doubled in price since I bought it) and connecting both machines to separate inputs on the monitor. DVI obviously isn't ideal but if you're upgrading the monitor ones with two HDMI inputs are pretty common.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2021 22:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 19:13 |
|
|
Hello, my 13 year old ViewSonic monitor finally died. It was paired with an ancient desktop with a GTX560Ti. I have no desire to re-do my entire setup, because I don't really have a lot of time to play video games these days, but I would like to use the desktop, and maybe play games on it sometimes when the opportunity arises. What's the best option for a monitor that's affordable as in bare bones features, but not cheap as in poor build quality? I don't need anything high end, because a 10 year old graphics card isn't going to be able to take advantage of it, but I also don't want some office supply monitor with an atrocious refresh rate that's going to come with a bunch of dead pixels.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2021 01:19
|
|