What's your computer glitch?

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-09-03 12:24pm

Shogoki wrote:My old dvd drive is dying, sometimes it does not turn on or something, and is not loaded or recognized by the OS, when this happens i turn the pc off, pat the dvd drive a bit, and turn the pc back on, voila, the drive works again.

Check and reseat your IDE cable connectors (make sure you do this while the computer's off). Then turn it back on.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2003-09-03 12:25pm

Sound blaster live! has f*cked up again. I have to manuelly kill the helper process which manages sound enviromental settings to reset them back to desktop settings.

Windows sounds wierd when it is using the same sound enviromental settings as dungeon keeper 2.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-09-03 12:28pm

ggs wrote:Sound blaster live! has f*cked up again. I have to manuelly kill the helper process which manages sound enviromental settings to reset them back to desktop settings.

Windows sounds wierd when it is using the same sound enviromental settings as dungeon keeper 2.

LOL!

Worse: Windows looks like overexposed CRAP when it's using the same monitor settings as Quake 3!

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2003-09-03 12:43pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Shogoki wrote:My old dvd drive is dying, sometimes it does not turn on or something, and is not loaded or recognized by the OS, when this happens i turn the pc off, pat the dvd drive a bit, and turn the pc back on, voila, the drive works again.
Check and reseat your IDE cable connectors (make sure you do this while the computer's off). Then turn it back on.

Done that several times, i even replaced them with some round cables.

Also, the CD RW attached to the same cable works just fine.

I've tried alternating them as master and slave several times, no dice.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-09-03 01:15pm

Shogoki wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Shogoki wrote:My old dvd drive is dying, sometimes it does not turn on or something, and is not loaded or recognized by the OS, when this happens i turn the pc off, pat the dvd drive a bit, and turn the pc back on, voila, the drive works again.
Check and reseat your IDE cable connectors (make sure you do this while the computer's off). Then turn it back on.
Done that several times, i even replaced them with some round cables.

Also, the CD RW attached to the same cable works just fine.

I've tried alternating them as master and slave several times, no dice.

Oh ok. Time for a new DVD drive then...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-03 09:16pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Worse: Windows looks like overexposed CRAP when it's using the same monitor settings as Quake 3!

Looks like the gamma is set too high. Tone it down a bit (I usually set mine at Mac gamma, which is higher than Windows gamma)

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-03 09:17pm

ggs wrote:Sound blaster live! has f*cked up again. I have to manuelly kill the helper process which manages sound enviromental settings to reset them back to desktop settings.

SBLive? Ugh, I'm sorry.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-09-04 12:41am

My SBLive! works just fine under Linux

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-09-04 08:54am

No problems yet

DarthBlight · Post by **DarthBlight** » 2003-09-04 09:24am

ok, whenever i log into my DSL service, MSN Messenger keeps sending me a message that I need to update my Messenger. Thing is, I removed Messenger a long time ago and don't use it. I can't stop the darn thing and before anyone asks, yes, I turned off the Messenger service.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-04 11:27am

You've still got MSN/Windows Messenger somewhere on your machine then.

McNum · Post by **McNum** » 2003-09-04 04:27pm

My comp crashes whenever I've used 3D applications (games). However, it doesn't happen immediately, it usually waits 10-15 minutes.

Anyone have a clue what's wrong? I'm thinking motherboard troubles...

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2003-09-04 04:40pm

McNum wrote:My comp crashes whenever I've used 3D applications (games). However, it doesn't happen immediately, it usually waits 10-15 minutes.

Anyone have a clue what's wrong? I'm thinking motherboard troubles...

Unlikely. Those do not tend to be related to specific activities and don't usually happen after a given timeframe.
I would usually suspect the graphics subsystem (card drivers/DirectX), but the time delay issue suggests a graphics card and/or CPU overtemp problem.

Hm. On second thought, that stuff also tends to be memory intensive.
Defective RAM /graphics RAM, maybe?

McNum · Post by **McNum** » 2003-09-04 06:53pm

I've done a complete Windows reinstallation, downloaded the newest DirectX, juggled with nVidia drivers, updated the sound card drivers for good measure, tried running games in OpenGL, and tried running UT2003 in software mode.

The only thing that worked was UT2003 in software mode.

My CPU isn't overheating, it's cruising at a comfortable 50-55 degrees celcius.

I haven't checked my graphics card temp. Can't seem to find a program to do that. It's a MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 with 64MB DDR Ram.

My theory is that some of the lesser components on the motherboad have gotten worn out. The PC is nearly 3 years old, and it has been used a lot. If this lesser component is connected the AGP slot it could cause the symptoms I have.

Of course, I'd rather it was the GeForce 4. There's still a warrenty on that card.

Jadeite · Post by **Jadeite** » 2003-09-04 08:58pm

Hmm.

- My floppy drive refuses to acknowledge the existence of floppies put into it most of the time.
- Rise of Nation's has a bug in which some units (scholars, generals, peasants, caravans, and supply wagons) don't upgrade their appearance to match the age.
- My modem delights in kicking me off right in the middle of conversations, or kicks me off without telling me, and still displays the internet symbol in the taskbar.
- IE refuses to launch every now and then.
- And finally, last week I had a window open up for no reason announcing that the computer was going to reboot itself in 1 minute.

EDIT: Oh yeah, my video card is a Voodoo 4 thats nearing the end of its life I think, and my processor (Pentium III) is about the same way.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2003-09-04 09:10pm

Install Windows 98? Y/N

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2003-09-04 09:11pm

I just got myself a problem... My floppy disk drive is constantly indicating that it is reading, when it is not. If I insert a diskette, it says that it can't read the drive. W00T!!!

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-09-05 01:41am

McNum wrote:My comp crashes whenever I've used 3D applications (games). However, it doesn't happen immediately, it usually waits 10-15 minutes.

Anyone have a clue what's wrong? I'm thinking motherboard troubles...

Is it just a straight out and out crash or does anything appear/ seem odd on the screen? immediate shutting down is a side effect of your graphics card majorly overheating...the banshee card I had used to try and fry itself when it played anything intensive....how that sodding thing never melted, I'll never know

but, check the temp first...(ie just open the case and move a hand towards it...but for jeeps sake, don't touch the damn thing) If it really is overheating...you should be able to feel the heat right off....if it's not that...and nothing else seems apparantly wrong...you might indeed have a motherboard problem..

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2003-09-05 04:18am

Embracer Of Darkness wrote:I just got myself a problem... My floppy disk drive is constantly indicating that it is reading, when it is not. If I insert a diskette, it says that it can't read the drive. W00T!!!

Check the cable.That's usually a sign of the floppy cable attached in reverse.

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2003-09-05 07:29am

Batman wrote:
Embracer Of Darkness wrote:I just got myself a problem... My floppy disk drive is constantly indicating that it is reading, when it is not. If I insert a diskette, it says that it can't read the drive. W00T!!!
Check the cable.That's usually a sign of the floppy cable attached in reverse.

Hehe, I've checked everything. Even had a guy who used to teach computers and hardware at a university check it out, no such luck. I've taken the thing out and replaced the nice little plastic square which came with the case.

I seriously doubt I'll ever need it again anyway, I haven't used a boot disk or anything in years.

McNum · Post by **McNum** » 2003-09-05 02:01pm

Well it doesn't reboot, just freezes. I've practically eliminated software as the culprit. I'll try checking the graphics card temp by hand. But I kind of doubt it.

This really reminds me of my "Wing Commander Prophecy incident". That cost me a new processor... This looks very similar.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-09-05 09:31pm

Nothing that I haven't been able to explain; it works fine now, so IMO crazy glitches (especially shutdowns/hard locks/etc.) tend to be caused by bad or conflicting (or both) hardware.

One of my friends had a computer where, during POST, if you held down the Insert (? maybe another key) key, the hard drive wouldn't stop spinning up... it would just keep going faster and faster the longer you held the Insert key. I don't think he ever tried seeing just how far it went.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-09-05 09:53pm

Probably mine is the blue screen of death. For no reason. I don't download anything, or install any new software, just RUNTIME_ERROR_10980 Then I have to boot from the windows CD, run a Scandisk, it fixes it, and everything is fine. Fucking windows. Stable my ass.