GoRedwings19's Computer Help Hotline

I'm stumped here and hoping someone else may have faced this issue before and solved it already. I'd like to burn some MP3 CDs for my wife's car so she can just put the changer on shuffle and have a decent amount of music on tap. (No, sadly it doesn't have an aux in.) Since I now keep my music in iTunes in lossless format, though, I haven't yet figured out a simple way to convert and burn a large playlist without subsequently ending up with loads of duplicate files needing to be purged from my library. Any thoughts?

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Hey gang- Having some really bad video issues. I've had this BFG 8800GT for a while now, and its been great. Last week I started having problems: yellow lines across the screen, random swirly blue dots showing up in any picture, and several minutes after these errors begin, my screen starts going black for several seconds, then flick back to normal for a second or two, then black, and so on back and forth, basically making it impossible to do anything with my computer. I haven't run any games in a while, this just happens when I'm browsing the internet. My quick resolution is to shut down the computer for a couple of minutes, then turn it back on. Everything works…

So I had ripped Abbey Road into FLAC files a while back and converted them (via Max) recently to ALAC so I can use them with my iPod. For some odd reason, I can't play one of the tracks (Something) nor can I add it to the iTunes library. Rest of the album works just fine and the track in question plays just fine in FLAC format on Cog. Anyone have any idea why this is happening? It's not that big of a deal but I really don't feel like tracking down my CD in the abbys that is my closet.

I have a Sesonic X750 GOLD 750W PSU that I purchased from NewEgg exactly 2 years ago tomorrow. It stayed in its box until I finally in late 2013. My motherboard is an Asus Sabertooth Z87. Six times over as many days, I've had a panic reboot with the BIOS reporting an error message that the system had automatically restarted because excessively high voltage coming from the PSU. It then prompts me to go in to BIOS and make any necessary changes. I have not made any changes as I don't know what is wrong. These reboots have happened in groups. Usually two within a short period of time, and then none for a few days. A week ago I had a 2 minute power outage that happened whi…

I was thinking about my small, messy CD/SACD/DVD/Blu-ray library and stumbled across this upcoming media format: https://news.panasonic.com/global/stories/2017/49438.html Looks like Sony and Panasonic have been working on yet another optical standard: Archival Disc. They don't plan to sell them in the consumer market, but anyone who lived through the 90s is going to get déja vu reading this article... the same ambition, the same complex, expensive jukebox solutions, the same media/library customers...

so i'm moving into an apartment next year that offers free internet as part of their glorious deal. this is nice, but means that i can't download shit or share massive amounts of information between my roommates and such for fear of them shutting off our internet. so i decided to use my old powerbook g4 as a server, plug in x number of external hard drives, and enable global file share on that bad boy so that everyone in the network can use it. here's my question. since the new airport express doesn't have gigabit ethernet, i'm wondering if i can simply link my powerbook and an airport extreme together with an ethernet cable, and create a wireless hub without having th…

So my brother is looking to build a box for doing CAD. His budget is ~1k. I can pretty much make him a decent desktop, but where my expertise and those I normally talk to regarding hardware draws a blank is the Nvidia Quadro line or other workstation/pro cards. What is the difference between a gamer/consumer card and a more pro workstation card? What would someone recommend with a max of probably ~500 bucks though preferably less unless the performance sweet spot demands the higher price? I don't think he's doing anything especially zany as I believe he intends to use this mostly for small projects.

I've been having this problem for years, and have gone through like 5 different routers and various wireless cards. I am constantly having dropouts with my wireless and have to constantly reconnect, and even when connected it can still be pretty slow. Right now I have a Trendnet something N router and an N card. It had been working pretty well until around a week ago, I have no idea why it would suddenly start being so terrible again. My computer a floor above the router and pretty far, but I have problems with the laptop one room away from the router as well. What the hell can I do, other than getting ethernet wired through the house (which would be really expensive i…

On Friday, 7/24, MS switched my Hotmail account, where I send anything that may generate spam, over to Outlook Mail (Preview). Since then no email, spam or otherwise, has soon in the browser, nor mobile app. Web search for others problems shows nothing specific about Friday, but some down today, which is possibly par from most days. Anyone else have problems? EDIT: It could be a lower max mailbox size limitation implemented on the automatic user switch. That would be very MS.

Do flash drives have a limit on the number of times they can be written to, or can they be written to indefinitely? I want to get an 8G USB flash drive and use it for swap (virtual memory)...I realize it's over the bus and USB, but it should still be faster than an internal hard drive, no? Seems like a good way to artificially boost my performance. Paying US$50-ish for 256Mb of internal PC133 SDRAM seems like a waste of money. I currently have a Sony Vaio PCV-RX550/PCV-7732 (depending on whether you believe the front or the back), which has 256M upgradeable to 512M. I think the real solution is to get a new computer, but I'm just wondering if the above trick is worth t…

So I re-imaged my PC a week ago with a custom XP image with SP3 and everything works beautifully, but my usb ports are acting funny. So far, only one of the usb ports in the back seem to see my iriver H140 and H320 as well as my wife's ipod nano without any errors and run full speed 2.0. If I plug them into any other port (4 total in the back, 2 in the front) XP will come up with a message that the device is unknown (ie. I need to install a device driver) or that it could run faster if I upgraded my ports to USB 2.0 high speed (in the latter case I can access my mp3 players, but I ain't waiting 60+ mins to transfer what full speed does in 9 minutes). I installed w…

Samsung has unveiled the video studio's dream storage unit. How many would Bad Robot need? https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/20/17031256/worlds-largest-ssd-drive-samsung-30-terabyte-pm1643

For quite some time now I've noticed that I'm constantly having to re-log in on certain websites. Head-Case is fine, but for example if I don't go to Head-Fi for 2 days when I do go back I'm logged out. There are at least 4 or 5 other sites that have been giving me this grief lately. I'm on Firefox 3.0.5 on a Mac. I'm the only one on this machine so I'm not worried about someone getting on and pretending to be me. This problem is really starting to annoy me. Any suggestions? I do periodically clear out private data minus Cookies, Offline Website Data, and Saved Passwords.

With Windows 8 due to launch (what you've missed the glee style '8' advert showing no-one actually engaged in any productive activity) you may need this handy survival guide from el-reg. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/25/reg_kb_surviving_windows/ Beware Heisenfeature's

So my desktop is having some issues. I'm trying to solve the problem before I take to repair. What happens is that when I open MS Outlook the computer crashes and reboots. This is really strange as with other programs such as my accounting/stock management program it works ok. The hardware is a bit old but didn't have any problems up to now. MS Office is also having a few problems, I try to open a word doc and it won't start. I tryed doing a system backup to a DVD but I can't either. I am starting to consider saving all files manualy and then formating everything, but if I can save the trouble it would be great! Any ideias of what might be wrong? Thanks…

I was going to burn a copy of a commercial audio CD and could not get it to load. No messages, etc. It just makes some noise, then the drive ejects it. I tried some other audio CDs and they loaded fine... any ideas?

A quick search online hasn't yielded any helpful results.. I picked up a refurb T40 a while back. The last few days I've had issues where the video would cut out completely, or the display would get distorted, looking as if there were a bunch of the same images just barely offset. It always happens when handling the laptop or when typing. It can be manipulated by applying pressure on the case. Sometimes a bit of pressure tweaking the case can make it come back completely, or at least get it to the point where I can save what I'm doing. I'm guessing it's the display adapater, which AFAIK is integrated and non-servicable. But I thought it was worth seeing if th…

I've pretty much had enough of my PSC 1315 HP All-in-one printer. It's not a bad printer in itself, it's just a pain in the ass. Feeds papers wrong, ocassionally refuses to scan, ocassionally refuses to print, drains ink, simply refuses to cancel prints unless the drivers are reinstalled, check cartidge warnings, check paper warnings...it's just too much to handle. So, in your opinion, who do you feel makes the better printers. Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Brother...? Before I've had Canon, and all I can remember is that Canon ink is cheap as hell.

As some of you already know, my iBook has been going through a slow and painful death the last couple of months (it can now only stay powered on - if I turn it off or put in sleep mode, it may not boot up again for couple of hours). As much as I don't really need one, a MacBook would make things so much more convenient, especially with my continuing ed classes going at least through July. The question is, should I get one now or wait until the next update? Past history suggest that MacBook isn't due for any update for few months, but with the recent introduction of MacBook Air, that may change. Any suggestions? Any of you know about any imminent updates/changes to MacB…

Well, it seems after some time being in beta Vista Service pack 2 is available to download. With any big update I would wait a few weeks to a month or longer for them to patch any issues or bugs that may crop up. Also, this service pack can be used if you have Windows Server 2008. Here are the links to 32 bit and 64 bit versions: 32 bit Download details: Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465) 64 bit Download details: Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465)

Any suggestions on a good card reader? Needs to be multi-format (CF, SD (SDHC if possible), xD, MMC).

So I've been tasked at work to put together a spec sheet for a mobile workstation (think gaming laptop, without games) and I'm looking for some advice/assistance. The general requirements are that it needs to be able to run damn near any software that we throw at it (CADD, REVIT, Solidworks, Photoshop, etc.), store a bunch of data, but not be so obnoxious that it can't be used in a conference room for presentations (i.e. loud or stupid looking). It only needs to be transportable so battery life isn't really a concern or heft/size. Budget is TBD and quite robust, for once. So far the likely candidates that I've come up with: 1. MSI GT80 Titan 2. Origin EON17-SL…

AMD new line home cinema line code name Maul (like the name) has 2.1 channel audio from the motherboard. Just wondering what you guys think of it? Here is a snippet of the article: Here Today, Gone to Maui? Hands-On with AMD's HTPC Platform | Maximum PC

Well, as the title says, my PC is kaput. It has passed on! The PC is no more! It has ceased to be! Now, I have the fun task of trying to retrieve any pertinent data I hadn't backed up. Oh joy.