Ask your Hardware - Software questions here

[Kyyle K]

Make sure you update your spyware removal software. Also beware of alleged spyware removal software, some of it is actually a front for more spyware. I'd personally recommend the free version of Ad Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy. If you need URLs, lemmie know.

[KitFisto]

If any of the 4% of the members of this board need my help with any Apple questions, I'll answer them here.

[Kyyle K]

http://www.lavasoftusa.com Ad Aware

http://www.safer-networking.org Spybot

[Rogue_Six]

Anyone use Linux?

Yeah, I do - I've been using it for about 8 years. What do you want to know?

If you just want to try it out, download knoppix (http://www.knoppix.org/), burn it to a CD & boot from the CD... that'll let you run linux on your box without fucking up your windows install... then you can see how your hardware will work, get a feel for the OS, etc...

If you ever want to actually install linux for good, I'd recommend Suse. I used RedHat for years, but the last version of Suse I used (9.1) just flat out kicked ass.

[BearnBird]

I've got a question actually.

I had a faulty 120GB Western Digital HD and lost everything. NewEgg.com replaced it under the 1-Year Warranty policy it came with, and I just got my new unit. I run an Asus A7N8X Deluxe Mother Board & am connecting the Hard Drive through SATA.

The problem is that I need to update the BIOS on my MB to recognize the HD before I can run the new 120GB. I've got a floppy with the new BIOS, which I need to install when the XP install CD asks for SATA/SCSI Drives. But when I get to that screen, the screen goes all jacked up. (Gray Background with 6-8 rectangles flashing pink/white).

I need to somehow bypass the current BIOS in order to install and get the new BIOs up and running for the SATA connection.

Any Help would be great.

[Guru]

I've got a question actually.

I had a faulty 120GB Western Digital HD and lost everything. NewEgg.com replaced it under the 1-Year Warranty policy it came with, and I just got my new unit. I run an Asus A7N8X Deluxe Mother Board & am connecting the Hard Drive through SATA.

The problem is that I need to update the BIOS on my MB to recognize the HD before I can run the new 120GB. I've got a floppy with the new BIOS, which I need to install when the XP install CD asks for SATA/SCSI Drives. But when I get to that screen, the screen goes all jacked up. (Gray Background with 6-8 rectangles flashing pink/white).

I need to somehow bypass the current BIOS in order to install and get the new BIOs up and running for the SATA connection.

Any Help would be great.

Buy a new motherboard.

or

Use the XP CD as a boot disk and select plain old DOS Prompt. Copy the files for flashing the BIOS onto your current IDE HDD, run them and flash the BIOS as the instructions require (usually the command file and the bin file e.g. "flashme BV1234.ext"). Reboot and your motherboard should have an extra option in the settings for a SATA HDD.

[BearnBird]

In the process of doing so.

In my MB options, should I have the boot order as 1) Floppy 2) CD-Drive 3) HD-001 or SCSI/SATA?

[Guru]

In the process of doing so.

In my MB options, should I have the boot order as 1) Floppy 2) CD-Drive 3) HD-001 or SCSI/SATA?

Makes no difference really. If you need to use a bootdisk of some sort then just change the settings when you need to. Personally, I just boot straight off C because its a little quicker.

[BearnBird]

Done, and finally back up and running.

Now the real problem was all of the data that was lost.

Before the wipe I had burned all my mp4's but about ~90-100 songs I'd bought in iTunes over the last few months to DVD-R's.

I've got the songs that didn't make it on the DVD-R backups on my iPod still in the playlist "Purchased Music".

When I install iTunes 4.6 from the installation cd I got my ipod with, it asks me to congifure (Wipe) my iPod. Of course I answered no thinking it would wipe the pod and erase the 90 files.

Now that I've updated to version 4.7, could I possibly connect my iPod to the computer for the first time, and upload the songs to my library safely, without the iTunes trying to wipe the iPod and 'configure' it?

[dylan]

You can either check iPodLounge.com for software to pull the files off of your iPod or turn on your OS's option to see hidden files in directories. Your music will reside in the "ipod_control" folder on you ipod. The only catch with that easy way is that the music isn't broken down into neat subdirs, you'll just have to hunt for the music files you want.

[BearnBird]

Thanks Mcdermd, got em all. Have you checkd out Tiger yet?

[KitFisto]

Dr. Gonzo, I'm having some issues. I got myself an Airport Express, works great with AirTunes, but Airfoil is a bit of a bitch. Whenever I play quicktime/vlc/dvd player there is a 5 second delay... do you have the same problem ?

[FearlessYeti]

Ok, how about this one. How do you play MPEG-4 videos outside of Quicktime? I downloaded and installed every codec imaginable including the k-lite mega pack. They still won't play in anything but Quicktime. What gives?

[FearlessYeti]

My computer rides the short bus then lol.

[KitFisto]

Burn them onto CD, any files you want to keep just put them on CD/DVD-R, and when you have your mac, just pop the CD in.

[dylan]

Dr. Gonzo, I'm having some issues. I got myself an Airport Express, works great with AirTunes, but Airfoil is a bit of a bitch. Whenever I play quicktime/vlc/dvd player there is a 5 second delay... do you have the same problem ?

Yeah, that's a problem with no real solution. It's buffereing the audio within the Airport. There's no real way to "slip" the video track unless you use a video editor to do so. Kind of overkilll just to avoid hooking audio input up to the A/V receiver. I mean, you have to hook the video up anyways, why not just hook the audio also? I only use Airfoil for audio-only streaming - web radio, etc.

[KitFisto]

Yeah, that's a problem with no real solution. It's buffereing the audio within the Airport. There's no real way to "slip" the video track unless you use a video editor to do so. Kind of overkilll just to avoid hooking audio input up to the A/V receiver. I mean, you have to hook the video up anyways, why not just hook the audio also? I only use Airfoil for audio-only streaming - web radio, etc.

I read after posting that you can use VLC to have the audio play a head of the video, thus fixing the issue

[dylan]

I read after posting that you can use VLC to have the audio play a head of the video, thus fixing the issue

Awesome, I'll keep that in mind. BTW, I found this Dashboard Widget that shows you the EpIII lineup webcam

[dylan]

and if I had used my mac instead of this XP machine, my post would have been free from spelling errors.

[BearnBird]

***Resolved***

Repost from File Sharing Forums
I've just come around finally I guess, and found how useful RSS feeds can be.

I've heard about using RSS feeds to automatically download Bit-Torrent files of Television programs and such to your computer using the XML RSS feeds.

I'm using Azureus as the Bit-Client, but I can't seem to keep the RSS Feed Pulgin Option Enabled. It continually gives me this error message.

Code: Select all

Warning! Please set a default directory and activate it to use this plugin!
Warning! No rss channels defined. Cannot start plugin.
Plugin deactivated

I've also tried using a few sites like http://www.btefnet.net/ and http://torrents.to/ for finding the RSS feeds, and was curious if there were any other feeds potentially.

Any useful regular RSS feeds or XMLs pertaining to this would be appreciated as well as other interesting ones.

P.S. Mcdermd/Kit - Either of you podcast?

[BearnBird]

I'm trying to burn the Video_TS folder of a DVD I ripped with Nero Ultra 6 and my HP dvd writer dvd300i internal DVD writer. Everytime I try and Burn the Current Compilation however it asks me to insert a blank media disc when theres already one in the drive. I've tried 3 differnt types of DVD discs, and none work.

[Daglington]

Should we assume that you've got media that matches the type that the DVD burner writes to?

Have you tried burning something else, to determine whether the issue is with the drive/burning programme?

Also, if you want to rip and burn movie DVDs, try using DVD decrypter:
http://www.dvddecrypter.com/index.php?act=news

If you want to shrink the movie to fit from a DL to single layer, then use DVD Shrink:
http://www.dvdshrink.org

I've used them to...back up a few movies, and havent had a single problem. DVD Decrypter contains its own burning software, so you dont have to worry about Nero either.

Both programmes are completely free.

[dylan]

Should we assume that you've got media that matches the type that the DVD burner writes to?

That burner only supports DVD+R/W media, not DVD-R/W media.

[BearnBird]

Well I tried ripping the DVD (Family Guy Volume 2 Disc 1) with DVDShrink, and then burn the Video_TS file but it didn't work. I'm about done using Decrypter ripping the files and will try and copy the DVD then.

Quick question, everytime I rip an episode off the disc it asks:

Code: Select all

The desintation folder already continas a file named:

'VTS_03_0.IFO'
'VTS_03_1.VOB'

Size: 156 KB
Modified etc.....

Would you like to replace the existing file?

I have been saying yes each time it appears. I'm ripping in IFO mode. Am I doing something wrong?

[BearnBird]

Should we assume that you've got media that matches the type that the DVD burner writes to?

That burner only supports DVD+R/W media, not DVD-R/W media.

Is that to say my burner won't burn the DVD rips then?

**AH, I've been using DVD-R all along. thx mcdermd**

[dylan]

It was in regards to what kind of disc you're placing into the drive, + or -.

[Daglington]

Well, one problem solved. You needed the right type of media to match your burner capabilities.

As for DVD Decrypter, I've never had a problem like that, but then again I've never ripped a TV DVD. I'll throw one in tonight and see how the output is. It might be that each individual episode has the same filenames, so they all interfere with each other during ripping. I'll let you know what I can see. But I've definitely had no issues ripping movie DVDs.

[BearnBird]

I just ended up ripping the TV DVD's with DVDShrink, and the movies with
Decryptor. Is there a good freeware program that can convert the .TS and /VOB video files from the DVD into AVI/MPEGs? I'm using AutoGK right now with a few automated plugins such as AviSynth and VirtualDub atm, but its just a tad bit confusing.

[Daglington]

Apparently you can convert VOB to MPEG-2 using DVD Dedcrypter, followed by AC3 Delay Corrector (you'll need the GfaWin23.ocx file too) and Imago MPEG-Muxer

I've never done it though, so I have no real clue

The information I'm getting on that is from the DVD Decrypter Forums thread on the subject. Go there, sign up and follow their really clear instructions. They look pretty good and easy to follow.

[BearnBird]

What if the files I extracted from the DVD are larger than the 4.7 GB Burnable DVD, do I have any other options?

btw AC3 Delay Corrector and MPEG-Muxer both work great converting.

[KitFisto]

What if the files I extracted from the DVD are larger than the 4.7 GB Burnable DVD, do I have any other options?

btw AC3 Delay Corrector and MPEG-Muxer both work great converting.

You need a DVD shrink program.

[Daglington]

Such as DVD Shrink, perhaps?

[BearnBird]

Well I used DVDShrink to rip the DVD (Family Guy Voulme II - Disc 2), but the Video_TS Folder is 4.49 GB (4,823,404,544 bytes).

I'm using Nero Ultra 6 to "Burn DVD-Video Files".

anyone know of a free program that transfers songs on an ipod to a computer?

Had the same problem myself.

You can either check iPodLounge.com for software to pull the files off of your iPod or turn on your OS's option to see hidden files in directories. Your music will reside in the "ipod_control" folder on you ipod. The only catch with that easy way is that the music isn't broken down into neat subdirs, you'll just have to hunt for the music files you want.

[BearnBird]

Could I split the DVD Disc itself into two separate discs? The eighth and final episode on the disc is what makes it too big.

**EDIT** Nevermind I see the subtitles and audio now. thanks.

[Daglington]

Exactomundo (to what JimDangle said). You dont need foreign language tracks, etc. Just get rid of extraneous rubbish that takes up space. Reauthoring also allows you to compress the video so that it fits on one single layer DVD. The quality wont be quite as high, but it'll hardly be noticeable on most TVs.

As far as splitting onto two discs....its probably possible, but I cant help you with that. Reauthoring is really simple and easy.

[BearnBird]

There we go, no more frenchy. Thanks fellas.

[dylan]

Well, you don't mention what type of OS you're using - Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, ProDOS, CP/M?

[Nothing]

Whenever I try to install some updates for certain things, i.e Windows Media Player 10, during the install process I get promted with a "Windows Logo Testing" window saying the software has not passed Windows Logo Testing. If WINDOWS Media Player can't bloody pass WINDOWS logo testing then what the hell will?

Fucking windows.

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

[Nothing]

Nope, I get it from the official site. It doesn't just happen with Media Player, it happens with a various new updates I try installing, like new drivers for my Broadband modem... I haven't been able to find any solutions through search engines as of yet.

[BearnBird]

How does one get SpyWare .DLL file out of their WINDOWS\system32 folder?

[BearnBird]

Yea and Ad-Aware. I run both and let Ad-Aware tell me it can't delete 'DrPMon.DLL' from the system, and to run it at startup after I log on. But it can't delete the file then either. Nor can I simply delete it to the recycle bin from there cause the file is in use.

[BearnBird]

I've tried that, but I just can't seem the find the process. I get these ad-popups called 'Aurora' now and am Assuming they come from the .DLL

[dylan]

<snicker>

[BearnBird]

Oh har har. I knew somthing was fishy about that Family Guy Live in Los Vegas rip...

Damn you Direct Avenue Inc. Damn you all!

[BearnBird]

Is 'Anti-Spy*' freeware through say Cnet? or distributed throuh Gates himself, I've never heard of it.

[yarq]

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[yarq]

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