Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 January 6

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January 6

Failure rate of computer DVD drives

It seems to me that DVD drives for computers have a much higher failure rate than even inexpensive standalone DVD players. Is this true? If it is, why? Is there a difference between the reliability of DVD-ROM drives and that of DVD writers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.49.9.141 (talk) 05:03, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, I could think of several possible reasons - but I don't know if any of them are true:

1. The power supply for a portable DVD player is under the control of the designer who can ensure it performs perfectly. In a PC, there is really no control over that since who-knows-what-else is sharing the same power supply. Hence spikes and noise could maybe be more prevelant.
2. The DVD drives in PC's typically spin faster than DVD drives for playing movies (a 16x drive spins 16 times faster than a video DVD - that's gotta take a toll on the system).
3. DVD drives that are playing movies typically have drive heads that for 99.999% of the time are just gently following the spiral track around. In a PC, it has to jump around at great speed fetching directory entries and files - and probably does that a LOT more than a video-mostly drive. High accellerations wear out bearings.
4. Many DVD drives for PC's are also CD-ROM writers - perhaps also DVD writers - that makes them much more complex with multiple laser diodes, etc.

SteveBaker (talk) 05:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

It's mostly to do with what steve said, that the access speeds are a lot lot faster, and about the drive head having to jump around so much, but it's also to do with build quality. Your average DVD player will have been picked by the consumer to have features they want, and possibly have a good brand name, which will result in at least decent build quality. Internal drives are mostly picked because they're cheapest, either because of lack of knowlege from the customer, or because the machine is built by Dell or similar and is made to be as inexpensive as possible. I'd assume (and have a small amount of experience working returns at my local electronics store) that the cheapest standalone dvd players do fail a lot though. Gunrun (talk) 08:57, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I concur, and this phenomenon hasn't started with DVD drives. CD drives, in my experience anyway, have gone the same route. I swear the ones from Creative used to pack up just after the one year warranty! Thank goodness these things are cheap. Funny though that the first cd writer I ever bought (back in 1996!) has a SCSI interface and is still going strong in my mother's PC... Sandman30s (talk) 21:24, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Setting up a WGA54AG Linksys Gaming Adapter

Hey. I was wondering if anybody could assist me in setting up my WGA54AG Adapter. I have followed the directions (several times) to try and hook it up. Then I found this article that says that the XBOX itself (onced wired to the gaming adapter) can manipulate the controls of the adapter and such. I found this to be true once I tried it myself. I've tried manually setting up the IP address, Subnet mask, etc. to no avail. I have tried the automatic settings and I've pushed the reset button (on the adapter) a few times to start all over again. I bought this on eBay, but the seller said it worked perfectly for them. They said the sold it because they didn't need it anymore. I think the main problem lies somewhere with the LED light titled "wireless". The directions say this should remain solidly lit once functionally connect to my wireless network. Mine keeps blinking. My XBOX says that it is connected to my SSID, but it "can't connect to [my] wireless network". Any help would be greatly appreciated. I spent a lot of money on this, and I really was hoping it'd be simple to set up. I guess not. Killiondude (talk) 07:13, 6 January 2009 (UTC) Oh. P.S. It basically is an adapter that connects things (it is aimed for gaming systems, but also works for printers I believe) to your wireless network. Killiondude (talk) 07:14, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

See my conversation with the Linksys worker here. I copied and pasted. It pretty much just ruled out a ton of stuff. But still no luck in finding the actual problem. Killiondude (talk) 08:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with WGAs particularly (though I believe they are essentially a wireless bridge), but can you try connecting a computer to the WGA and checking if the computer is able to connect to the router, access the router configuration page, and access the internet? (make sure to disable any built-in wireless connection first.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 13:59, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Try googling "DD-WRT" it's basically a different firmware for your router (if its compatible; they have a list on their site) that allows the xbox to use the router.  Buffered Input Output 14:02, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

74.137.108.115: I hadn't thought of that. I'll try it when I get home. Thanks for the tip!.

Buffered, I went to their website, but my hardware isn't on their list (yet). It says that if its not listed, then it probably "isn't supported yet and you risk breaking it." But thanks for heads up about that. Killiondude (talk) 23:33, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

I hooked it up to my laptop. It turned off the laptop's wireless functions to see if the WGA would work. It was unsuccessful. I tried resetting the IP address several times as well as resetting the Local Area Connection several times, to no avail. Does this suggest that the item itself is faulty? Killiondude (talk) 08:52, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

It also might be incompatible with both your laptop and xbox. It's more likely that the item is faulty. If it's under warranty, i suggest you send it to Linksys and see if they can fix it (i don't use linksys, so i'm not sure of their policies).  Buffered Input Output 14:24, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Booting from DVD

(From earlier discussions "New Hard Drive" and "ISO file") I booted from the CD and everything was fine until I turned the computer off at night and this morning it again said "no operating system found". In bios the only option selected for booting is the dvd drive. Should I change this to have windows permanently on the computer? 90.221.241.97 (talk) 11:59, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I tried and the answer is yes, sorry. 90.221.241.97 (talk) 12:04, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

Why did I lose the Internet?

There may be a hint here [1] but I'm not sure it's related.

I asked another question [2] but no one answered. There's lots of detail there.

But this is the short version of what actually happened. On January 4 everything seemed to be working fine. On January 5, I couldn't get on the Internet at all. I tried everything I had been told to do before. There was a sequence of four three-digit numbers that always took me to a page where I could see if I was online. Of course, this page showed red the last time I checked, even though I was on the Internet, when it was supposed to be green. On January 5, it wouldn't go to the page because I wasn't connected to the Internet. For all other pages, the circle just kept spinning. One of the questions I asked [3] includes all my system details.

So I called the phone company. They finally concluded the modem wasn't working and intended to send me a new one. I had tried both modems. But they wouldn't both go out at the same time. Unless the newer one went down after just an hour when I used it earlier. Fortunately, using a "cmd" command and "ping" and "ipconfig" it was decided first that the cable to the modem wasn't working, and then finally the computer itself. Finally! They had traced it to the computer, which meant I had to call the manufacturer.

Tech support for my computer's manufacturer concluded a system restore would fix the problem. It did. Any ideas what caused this?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 14:23, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Best guess is that something you downloaded (knowingly or not) overwrote some important piece of code (intentionally or not), which is needed to access the Internet. StuRat (talk) 15:20, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't download. I go to a limited number of web sites at home. I go to other sites at libraries. Now it is true that when the libraries are closed, I have to go to certain newspaper web sites at home. But how could that cause a problem?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:54, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

"overwrote some important piece of code" doesn't really make sense, but anyway.

Fortunately, using a "cmd" command and "ping" and "ipconfig" it was decided first that the cable to the modem wasn't working

I don't really see how that is possible you could determine that from just using those two commands, if you could elaborate that would be nice. It sounds like a system file got changed in some way or other, in which case sfc /scannow might have done the trick before. Anyway, it's working now. :) — neuro^(talk) 22:25, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't remember all the details. There was a bunch of stuff they told me to do using those commands and they realized the software needed to be fixed.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:51, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I just wish I knew how to prevent it.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:51, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, *if* the problem was caused by something being installed automatically from a website you visited, I would recommend switching from Internet Explorer to either Firefox or Opera. Firefox is more customizable, but it requires slightly more effort to set up; Opera is well-configured out of the box and a fair drop-in replacement for Internet Explorer. Either of these browsers will protect you from malicious ActiveX content. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 20:38, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

New SATA HD for laptop 2

Hi following advice given here my friend switch from AHCI mode to IDE mode in setup and still gets the same BSOD any other suggestions thanks. BigDunc^Talk 15:18, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Did your friend install the AHCI drivers as directed for the laptop? It won't boot in AHCI mode otherwise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Washii (talk • contribs) 05:13, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

apt equivalent to dpkg-query -L (find files from a .deb package)

After installing a .deb package with apt, how do I find what files it has created and where they are located (as I can do with dpkg-query -L for a package installed with dpkg)? NeonMerlin 20:05, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Try /var/cache/apt/archives/ that is were you should find the .deb files. BigDunc^Talk 20:25, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Just "dpkg -L". Apt uses dpkg underneath. Dpkg is the package system. Apt is just the means to interact with repositories. --169.232.217.1 (talk) 23:10, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

iPod nano is being an ignoramus

So I have a third-generation iPod Nano. I use iTunes for the songs and whatnot. And recently I've been trying to get some anime on it. Illicit anime, if it matters. Anyway, I've tried everything I can possibly try. I've got the latest software on the iPod, the latest version of iTunes, and it won't let me just put video files on the iPod. I go to the "add file/folder" to library and add one episode and nothing happens. It doesn't add it to the library. iTunes says "Music, Movies, TV Shows" and it doesn't come up in either; it doesn't come up on the iPod either. I've tried putting them directly on the iPod's storage but they still don't come up. I've tried renaming them to .mkv, .mp3, .mov, .avi and .wmv (all of which will play in VLC, so they're valid files even with changed extensions). I thought maybe they were too big, so I tried to put a 30-second .avi on the iPod to no avail. Is there something I'm really not getting here or is there an alternative program I can use with the iPod?

Thank you so very much.

69.81.52.230 (talk) 21:49, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

In one of my previous questions (Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 October 26#iPod without iTunes), the later replies suggested that files just copied onto your iPod are ignored unless the internal database is rebuilt. Quite how that is done is unclear to me - one view was "...it's hard, but probably possible...". FWIW, I still haven't bought an iPod largely because of this kind of bullshit. Astronaut (talk) 01:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Just changing the extension does nothing if the file formats aren't compatible. For example, if the file format is .avi, and you change it to .mov, Windows media player will still play the file because the actual data is still in the .avi format. QuickTime, however, will not play the file because it looks for .mov data, not .avi data. That's why VLC can play them, not because they're "valid files." Also, you cannot put anything directly onto an iPod; if you do, it's like you put it on a removable USB drive. The format must be compatible with iTunes, QuickTime, and the iPod in order to add files to the library. Try the "import" function with the files, and if that doesn't work, use a video converter (there are lots; i recommend AVS Video Converter as it supports iPod formats). Ciao.  Buffered Input Output 14:13, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

The video being transferred to the 'pod must have a screen resolution that matches that of the device (320x240 in the case of the nano 3G) and must be in a supported format. The supported video format is MPEG-4/H.264 Low-complexity "Baseline" profile video at 30 fps and not exceeding 768kbps. Supported audio format is AAC-LC not exceeding 160kbps/48kHz. Supported container formats are MPEG-4 Part 14 (aka .mp4) or Quicktime .mov.

Aside from Quicktime pro, which costs $, there are quite a few free utilities that will do the necessary conversion for you. -- Fullstop (talk) 17:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Use Super Converter (just google it) then use it to convert it to "Ipod" format. It should work right off the bat if you put it in through Itunes. Rgoodermote  14:21, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Treat Fn-V as Ctrl-V

In Kubuntu 8.04, can I make Fn-X, Fn-C and Fn-V synonyms of Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V respectively, to reduce the chance of a typo, without overwriting the Fn-key combos that already have meanings? NeonMerlin 22:24, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

As long as Fn + X, Fn + C, and Fn + V don't have assigned shortcuts yet. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 22:43, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

So how do I do it? NeonMerlin 23:38, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Uploading using Terrapin FTP

Unresolved

Toby and I live in UK and both use Orange ISP. We both upload files to my website, using the same username and password. Or we did. Recently Toby has found he can’t do it. And I have noticed that when he has tried to upload a file (sometimes) it uploads file of size 0kb rather than 525kb. Then nobody can read them. On other occasions he is told the website is trying to connect him but it fails to do so. I am having no problems. We have both reinstalled the latest Terrapin and reset to the same password. What else could we try? Kittybrewster ☎ 22:51, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Do you share the same Orange ISP connection and user account? If not, I would suspect Orange have tightened up their security to allow uploads from only the authorised account holder's connection. Contact Orange's Tech Support (details here) Astronaut (talk) 01:34, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

No we don't. 50 miles apart. Kittybrewster ☎ 16:00, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

"Filling my graphics card"?

I seem to be getting less than satisfactory performance with what I thought was a fairly high end video card. (Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS) To be fair, it works ok, just not as well as I was expecting. And also to be fair, it's entirely possible that my expectations were too high. Anyway, I asked a friend of mine about it, and he asked me what kind of processor I have. It's an Intel Pentium D 2x 2.8 GHz. And he said that my processor probably wasn't even "filling my graphics card." What does that mean, specifically? And would I tell whether or not my processor was "filling my graphics card"?

Additionally, I only have 1 GB of RAM, which I know was a lot a few years ago, but now, probably not so much. And I frequently find my self with less than 10 megabytes of free ram. So, would you say that my less-than-great performance is due to

A. Not enough RAM

B. Processor not filling my graphics card

C. The 8800 GTS just isn't a very good card

D. Some combination of A, B, and C?

Digger3000 (talk) 23:50, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

You will definitely see an improve in performance if you upgrade your RAM to 2 gigabytes or more, and you'll be glad to hear that at today's prices, that's a pretty cheap upgrade, too! I wouldn't know what your friend means exactly, but I suspect that he is saying that your processor is the bottleneck instead of the graphics card. That may be the case, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that -- the technology your graphics card uses is already two generations old now, and while the Pentium D processors certainly aren't the cutting edge either, I'd still say that the card card has a bigger impact on your computer's gaming performance than the processor does. (And don't get me wrong, it's not a bad card! But other things have come out since then.)

In any case, I'd start with the RAM upgrade, as it won't set you back too much (depending on what kind of RAM your motherboard accepts, you can get 2 gigs of RAM for well under 50 bucks), and I'd bet that alone will have a notable impact on your gaming experience, and probably have an all-around impact on what using Windows feels like, too, especially if you're a Vista user. If it's still not what you'd like it to be, you may then want to consider other, more expensive upgrades. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 02:23, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

If upgrading your card doesn't make things go faster - then your friend is probably correct (although that's a funny way of expressing it). Either the CPU, the RAM, the motherboard bus or the graphics bus (PCI-Express or AGP) isn't fast enough to shove data into the graphics card at the limits of it's capability. That means that your new card undoubtedly gets it's work done faster than the old one did - but because the rest of the system isn't fast enough, it spends most of its time just sitting there waiting for more data to work on. That could mean it seems to be running only a little faster than your old card - or if the old card was ALSO not running at full capacity - then an upgrade might have resulted in no speedup whatever, just more time spent sitting around waiting!!

The Captain's claim that adding more RAM will help is not necessarily true. If you're running some kind of demanding 3D game and there is enough RAM for it to run in and there is nothing else running in the computer - then adding more RAM won't make it run any faster at all. The last game I worked on ran on both PS3 and Xbox-360 - neither of which has 512Mb of RAM. Adding more memory into a computer that was running my game and nothing else wouldn't make it go any faster at all.

Worse still - the extent to which everything I just said might apply to you will vary wildly from one 3D application to another. Some games that are horribly texture and data-streaming intensive WILL benefit from more RAM. Some will heavily load the graphics card despite only small amounts of data having to be provided from the CPU (eg if it has very heavy-duty "pixel-shaders") - and in that case, your new graphics card WILL show a lot of speed. Other games (older ones, typically) may need to send a TON of data from the CPU and yet demand very little from the graphics card - and in those cases, you see zero speedup with a faster card.

The dynamics of what goes on inside a modern computer game's graphics system is horrendously complicated - and BTW - did I mention - I write 3D computer games for a living? I'm a graphics programmer! I spend an alarming fraction of my life wondering why things aren't running as fast as I'd like them to - and if it's tough for me to understand - you can be forgiven for having a hard time with it!

So - what to do? Well, if you need more speed - you'll have to decide whether to upgrade the CPU, the RAM or replace the motherboard. That's life, sadly.

SteveBaker (talk) 05:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Damn captain ,ram is costly where you live! 50 bucks really?Here you get trascend or kingston 1GB RAM (DDR2 800MHz) for around Rs. 1000(which translates to around 20 bucks)! And Steve i see that you seem to know rather lot cause i've seen you answering a lotta questions every other day.!(Which we all appreciate) So what exactly do you do in life?I'm guessing a computer proffesional but what do you specialize in?Vineeth h (talk) 06:18, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Oh, that's not what it costs where I live. I just scanned a few websites selling RAM and based the price estimate on that; it's entirely possible that I was way off base. (As for Steve, he's a graphics programmer in the games industry... As he just mentioned.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:03, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Woah really Steve? Glad to finally meet someone in the gaming industry!! I really wanna be a graphics programmer!! And i'd love to talk about how you started with it.Could you like leave your email id or something of that sort?or any other way i can contact you? Or just leave a message on my user talk thing the next time you see this message.Vineeth h (talk) 06:18, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Sure - I'm a games programmer/developer. I specialise in graphics - but dabble in many other areas. 3D graphics is something of a passion of mine. If you want to chat about what it takes to get into the biz - I left a message on your Talk: page. But FYI, any Wikipedian who is willing to be contacted by email can be reached by going to their user page (just click on their signature). Then click on 'E-mail this user' in the menu to the left. That's nice for the recipient because (s)he doesn't have to reveal their email address to evil spammers until after communication has been established with the sender (not that I care - but some do). Also - if you want to know about what people in the real world - you can generally look at their user page - where people reveal whatever information they are happy to reveal. Also, if you are looking to talk to Wikipedians with specific careers, you can go to the Category:Wikipedians by profession - and indeed, if you go to Category:Wikipedian video game developers you'll find a couple of dozen people who have identified themselves as such. SteveBaker (talk) 02:12, 12 January 2009 (UTC)