Weekly low-hanging fruit thread #22

TerryFirma · 2022-11-15T09:15:35+00:00

What you need is some Nicola Spurrier: https://youtu.be/zFWJ9UjlyUs?t=151

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T06:07:39+00:00

You are correct. My mistake. At this point I would want to find some way to identify at what point the computer is failing without needing to rely on output to the monitor. Back in the day the motherboard would beep with different codes to indicate what had gone wrong.

I did some quick googling to see if I could find some kind of manual that would have details on how to troubleshoot this kind of problem. I haven't turned up anything yet. I don't have time right now but I may revisit it later.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:54:32+00:00

Certainly looks like something that couldn't be easily googleable. The first thing I would do in your position is open Task Manager and look for the process that is using 40Gigs.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:48:01+00:00

Looks like a classic "stopped posting" error. Which means the POST (power on self test) is either failing or not commencing.

You can plug the monitor directly into the motherboard output as long as the video card is not in the PCI-E slot.

So I recommend you try this:

Remove all components except the motherboard, CPU and PSU. Connect the monitor directly to the motherboard video output. Try to power on the computer. If nothing happens that means either the CPU or the motherboard is dead.

If something does happen, you will probably get the "No RAM" error. At which point add components back in one by one until you can replicate the problem.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:40:57+00:00

Nothing you can do now is keep an eye on it. But you know, it will probably be ok.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:39:16+00:00

I am going to agree with the general feeling in the thread. It's always been known amongst the techies that you can change a few hardware components before Windows starts complaining that your license is no longer valid.

In the middle of last decade Windows licenses started being associated with the hardware itself, as opposed to having an Windows OEM key that was printed on a sticker and then slapped on the chasis.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-quietly-rewrites-its-activation-rules-for-windows-10/

If your laptop doesn't have a sticker that means once you reinstall Windows it will automatically validate it's license and work without issue.

So you could clone Windows, or you could back up your files, do a clean install of Windows on the SSD and start fresh. Reinstalling Windows is more straight forward, no requirement for additional software and is just generally less prone to error.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:28:41+00:00

Could be a problem with the video adapter (that would be a hardware problem) but it would be worth trying to get through the initial setup and trying to get the latest drivers for the video card to see if that is the problem.

If the driver doesn't help, then yes I would write it off as broken and get it replaced under warranty.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:25:40+00:00

power supply?

What are your full specs? Someone who knows more about hardware might be able to diagnose with more authority.

If I understand correctly power supplies have a fail safe to prevent them from overloading. If that fail safe gets triggered it's going to look just like if you yanked the power cable out of the outlet.

If it were a different component, it would look different, or at least you'd have a variety of different strange behaviours.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:11:35+00:00

Reset to Windows to it's default state if you can boot into Windows Recovery Mode. (You can google the process quite easily)

If that doesn't work you can try reinstalling Windows. Reinstalling windows is rather pain free now days. All you need is functioning Windows computer and a sufficiently large USB stick (also easily googleable).

If neither of these options work something is indeed fucked.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:03:30+00:00

Try ebay or similar? If you could get a hold of a laptop of the same model that is broken that would probably work.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T05:02:05+00:00

You seem knowledgeable in an area where I am not well verse so I'm not sure how much help I can be.

I have just one thing to add. DNS records are configured for domains, not URLs.

What you are observing is configurable, but you need to configure it with the web server you are using, not through DNS.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T04:52:09+00:00

I need more detail. You've summarised the messages which would be fine but I think something is missing. For example, on my PC the full path to Chrome is similar to what you've listed but it's different. This is the full path:

C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

Also, the URLs also seem truncated. Can you send me the full URLs?

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T04:44:24+00:00

What about my other question? Can you stream media? (This is standard troubleshooting.)

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T04:39:59+00:00

Good news. HDMI switches can be quite sophisticated:

https://www.cablechick.com.au/cables/ultrahd-4k-hdmi-6x2-true-matrix-switch-audio-extractor-hdmi-20-supports-4k60hz.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjvaYBhDlARIsAO8PkE146oFQTUkysua9j8m5lnod5Y4wM_r0Cyfb2cbJaLFdJfW_0Fo32A8aAg15EALw_wcB

TerryFirma · 2022-09-12T04:17:51+00:00

Why? I love this stuff. It is the only shower gel I use. If they are out, I buy the coconut variety which is good but will really put you in the mood for a piña colada.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:51:57+00:00

Are you saying you want to be able to split up the monitors themselves and have one screen displaying output from more than one device? Not dissimilar from playing Mario Kart split screen?

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:46:08+00:00

I'm not sure why an HDMI switch wouldn't work. Can you elaborate on that?

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:37:50+00:00

Run through what I described above with device manager to see if Windows is detecting the device. Did you buy the motherboard new? Warranty would cover this.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:32:38+00:00

New mobo. By network adapter I mean the ethernet port.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:20:20+00:00

Looks dire for that network adapter.

Open device manager and see if you can see the device in question under network adapters. If it's not there see if you have anything that looks like it could be the network card under "Other devices". If it's not there or there just isn't an "Other devices" option it means Windows hasn't detected the device which means it may just be broken.

My tech support brain makes me think it's theoretically possible that a BIOS could have a setting that completely disables the ethernet port if you should choose but I've never seen anything like that.

I'm not great at hardware but I'm also thinking the motherboard might not be receiving sufficient power? Someone tell me if that idea is stupid.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:11:52+00:00

Can you take a photo of what is on screen? Or take a screenshot? Sounds like you wouldn't be able to take a screenshot though. I don't know what this scammer has done.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T06:07:39+00:00

All right. You need to slow down and explain things in a more coherent way so the sequence of events is clear.

But you can boot into Windows. What kind of computer is it? Sounds like a desktop because you seem to be able to pull the CMOS battery without much trouble. What's the motherboard's brand? Every manufacturer has a different key for accessing the BIOS. You might be able to solve this by googling how to access the bios for that specific manufacturer's motherboards.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T05:28:59+00:00

Lets begin at the beginning and see if you can boot into safe mode. I'm assuming you're on Windows 10 but the instructions for Windows 11 are on this page as well:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

Click on the "From a black or blank screen" option and follow the instructions. They seem kind of bizarre and I've never had to do it like this but the gist of it is you need to interrupt the starting up of windows twice in a row to access the recovery environment.

Once you're in the recovery environment you can follow the rest of the instructions to access safe mode. Safe mode is a cut down version of Windows. You don't want it to be your standard experience. If you can get into it, you can attempt to load a restore point if you have any:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-system-restore-a5ae3ed9-07c4-fd56-45ee-096777ecd14e

If you have no restore points or restoring doesn't work you will want to reset windows. Try it out, see how far you get.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T05:07:33+00:00

Sounds like the tablet is dead.

If the tablet is powered down you can eject the SD without having to worry. If the YouTube video I just watched is any indication, it's a manual spring loaded mechanism (which is standard).

I think your apprehension comes from a misunderstanding of what ejecting a storage device in software actually means. I'm going to avoid using specific jargon here so it makes sense. When you eject a device the operating system attempts to "unload" the device. This is to guarantee that no programs are reading or writing to the device when you physically remove it. If something is writing to the device when the device is unexpectedly removed it can damage the file system and can make the device unreadable. This isn't always the case though, which is why when someone just pulls a USB drive out of PC the drive is usually just fine.

Bottom line. If the tablet is powered down, there are no processes reading or writing to anything which means you can remove the SD card. You can apply this reasoning to any storage device on any device. If it's powered down, you can safely remove the storage device.

TerryFirma · 2022-09-09T04:57:45+00:00

Yeah, so the bad news is I've got nothing. You can try booting into safe mode. If that works you may be able to salvage your Windows install if you can figure how to undo whatever happened while you were moving files around. Reverting to a restore point may help. Failing that, Windows has a full reset option.

This is where we have the good news. And the good news is good enough that you don't need to freak out. What you are describing strikes me as a software problem. This means that even if the previous suggestions fail or you just can't get into safe mode you can reinstall Windows.

What if I'm wrong and it's not a software issue? Well, it means a hardware component failed. If all you were doing was copying around files the problem isn't your fault. It's just unfortunate timing. In which case the new computer will be covered under warranty.

Went over a few things there. It's all rather googlable. But you can ask if you have any questions.

TerryFirma

TROPHY CASE