Random Tech Questions you want answered.

LeapingGnome wrote:

You'll have to see what is causing it before anyone could say how to stop it. Have you been able to see in a disk monitor what is using the drive at that time? Process, app, etc.

That's kind of the thing. I didn't see any processes that had high hd usage which was confusing. The usage graph for that drive shoots up to 100% and stays there until whatever it's doing stops. I'll take another look next time it starts going.

Hey.

Is there a way of searching for old threads by their title?

Thanks.

You can just do a google search and add gamerswithjobs.com to the title bar. For instance, searching : coop games gamerswithjobs.com will find the thread Local Co-Op Games by Dethroned.

astralplaydoh wrote:

You can just do a google search and add gamerswithjobs.com to the title bar. For instance, searching : coop games gamerswithjobs.com will find the thread Local Co-Op Games by Dethroned.

Worked first time!

Many thanks.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

You'll have to see what is causing it before anyone could say how to stop it. Have you been able to see in a disk monitor what is using the drive at that time? Process, app, etc.

That's kind of the thing. I didn't see any processes that had high hd usage which was confusing. The usage graph for that drive shoots up to 100% and stays there until whatever it's doing stops. I'll take another look next time it starts going.

Yeah you might have to find a more fleshed out disk monitor than the built in task manager. I am not up to date on what one might be, sorry.

Tableau has a free web version. I think the main drawback is you can't open multiple tabs. (need the pro version)

Can a dying computer PSU cause an AFCI breaker to trip? My home office is on an AFCI breaker, which occasionally trips for no clear reason. However recently when playing games the circuit trips every 1-20 minutes, so clearly something is going on. Wondering if replacing the power supply would help.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

Can a dying computer PSU cause an AFCI breaker to trip? My home office is on an AFCI breaker, which occasionally trips for no clear reason. However recently when playing games the circuit trips every 1-20 minutes, so clearly something is going on. Wondering if replacing the power supply would help.

Two things can cause an AFCI to trip:

1. Overloading the circuit with too much demand.
Most AFCIs are rated for 15A (1650W to 1800W max). Some are rated for 20A (2200W to 2400W max). If total usage on the entire circuit (usually multiple outlets) rises above the rated amperage, it can cause the AFCI to trip. Just as with regular circuit breakers repeated trips can cause the AFCI to become more sensitive, requiring replacement of the AFCI.

2. A short circuit or arcing condition somewhere on the supply side.
The supply side includes cables, power supplies, or anything else directly connected to AC current. An AFCI will detect these faults and trip. For example: A damaged laptop power supply or cable leading to it could cause this, but the laptop itself would not - as the laptop is on the DC side of the power supply.

Whether it's the first, the second, or some combination of the two I can't be sure. However, something like a cheap kill-a-watt could tell you how much the stuff on that circuit is using. It'll show power consumption stats for whatever is plugged into it. That would help eliminate or diagnose the first one.

The second one is more difficult. The source of the fault could be anything on the primary (AC) side on that circuit - even a damaged power cord or outlet with a loose wire. The PSU could do it, but I'd also try to rule out other things if possible.

Thanks Lou. I will give the outlets a check first I think just to be sure. That circuit covers two bedrooms, but the PC is the only device on that circuit using more than a few hundred watts at a time. I did increase my overclock a bit a few weeks ago, which probably wasn't the best idea since I'm running a 430w PSU I'm running a 4690k + 970, so I don't think I would have been overloading it, but the PSU is about 4 years old now, so who knows. Temps always seemed to be in a decent range, at least.

Any tips on how best to calibrate a 4K tv?

I have a 5-series TCL tv and have generally consulted this RTings guide, but it didn't feel all that useful, and left Assassin's Creed Odyssey looking oddly dark and overly brown (tho ACO's own HDR settings menu is also confusing and may be the culprit there). And everything about color calibration says you can't use numbers you get online because every panel is different, but I haven't found a good source to consult to tell me how I could come up with those numbers myself.

Back when I bought my first HD tv (~2007?), I got a bluray that has a bunch of test patterns and stuff to aid in calibration. Is there a similar tool out there for modern TVs? I don't want to pay someone hundreds of dollars to make my TV look its nicest, but if there's a tool I could get for $20-30 to help me do this, I would certainly be interested.

mrlogical wrote:

Any tips on how best to calibrate a 4K tv?

I have a 5-series TCL tv and have generally consulted this RTings guide, but it didn't feel all that useful, and left Assassin's Creed Odyssey looking oddly dark and overly brown (tho ACO's own HDR settings menu is also confusing and may be the culprit there). And everything about color calibration says you can't use numbers you get online because every panel is different, but I haven't found a good source to consult to tell me how I could come up with those numbers myself.

Back when I bought my first HD tv (~2007?), I got a bluray that has a bunch of test patterns and stuff to aid in calibration. Is there a similar tool out there for modern TVs? I don't want to pay someone hundreds of dollars to make my TV look its nicest, but if there's a tool I could get for $20-30 to help me do this, I would certainly be interested.

The Blu Ray test patterns are your best option unless you can find someone to lend you a calibration device, which typically start at a couple hundred dollars. There's no practical way to calibrate for HDR content yet, so the Blu Ray standard is fine.

Hey people, do you have a smart watch? If so what do you use it for? I completely stop wearing watches years and years ago because of cellphones.

Also which one would you recommend. Prices seem to be all over the place. Oh and I have a android phone. I'm guessing android watch only works with android phones and a apple watch only works with iphones.

I was gifted an Amazfit Bip smartwatch this Christmas. It's certainly not great, but I've enjoyed using it to more precisely track my steps and sleep. Also I do actually use it to check the time now instead of my phone. I keep wanting to try an Apple Watch, but can't bring myself to put the money down for it.

I have an Apple Watch Series 1, bought it on sale about nine months ago.

I'll be honest, I don't have any daily practical use for it. For awhile I was wearing it at night to track sleep, which I feel it did quite well using the Pillow app, however I just don't know what to do with that information. Later, when I was on vacation last fall, it was neat seeing how much walking I had done on any specific day, but again it was more novelty data than something I would use for self-improvement.

I do find some good utility in it when traveling, however. If you're willing to put up with Apple Maps for directions, while driving the watch will tap you to let you know when to turn. Sadly, Google Maps and Waze don't have the same Watch integration.

I've used Apple Pay a few times and find that useful. And having Authy for multi-factor auth codes on my watch and independent of my phone really saved me a buttload of pain when my phone went kaput last month.

Finally, the top thing I found useful with my Apple Watch? Telling the time. When I was in the Philippines last year, I customized a watch face to show local time and the time back home in the US, which helped me sort of conceptualize the fact that time is a flat circle and totally meaningless, especially when traveling to the other side of the planet.

All that said... I don't feel a compulsive need to wear it daily. It's useful for what it does, but I definitely don't feel the need to always have it on my person. Neat gadget, but not a necessity.

I'm trying to do a run through of ALL of the Mario games and I'm a little confused on the "new" 2d versions.

Are any of the below remakes of other items on the list?

New Super Mario Bros Wii - Wii
New Super Mario Bros - DS
New Super Mario Bros 2 - 3DS
New Super Mario U - WiiU
New Super Luigi U - WiiU

Specifically, is the Wii game the same as the DS game? Is New Super Mario U a remake of the Wii version?

I know the latter two just released as one title for Switch, but I already own New Super Mario U for WiiU so I'd just have to pick Luigi, or sell the WiiU version and pick up the Switch.

All of those are separate games.

Nintendo naming is utter trash. Good games though.

They should have just called the first installment in the “New” series “Super Mario Bros. 5” and continued from there. It would have made things so much easier.

So I've got a mess of files from not very good backup practices across a couple of different drives, and whole chunks of them are duplicates. IIRC there are programs that can help me sort it out, can anyone recommend a good one?

Anyone have any clue as to why Amazon Prime video stopped working on my Xbox One X? Works on every other device in the house. It will open and show me the app, but any video I select just turns into a gray screen.

SpyNavy wrote:

Anyone have any clue as to why Amazon Prime video stopped working on my Xbox One X? Works on every other device in the house. It will open and show me the app, but any video I select just turns into a gray screen.

try hard resetting your Xbox? App is working fine on my phone.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

Anyone have any clue as to why Amazon Prime video stopped working on my Xbox One X? Works on every other device in the house. It will open and show me the app, but any video I select just turns into a gray screen.

try hard resetting your Xbox? App is working fine on my phone.

Yup, and Uninstalling etc... Works fine on all the tablets, phones, ps4, fire sticks etc... Worked fine this morning. Now nothing.

Tried updating the synology nas yesterday that usually goes perfectly but this time it wouldn't complete. The update stalled at the wait for a reboot screen. So I manually shut it down and started it back up and got the dreaded blinking orange system light and lost access to my nas.

I tried manually installing DSM which is the OS synology used but that failed. I tried just rebooting a couple of times. I tried replacing the hard drives with two brand new ones at had on hand and that also failed. I tried reseting the nas which doesn't work for some reason. I should get one beep followed by 3 beeps when doing the reset but I never get the three beeps.

I'm thinking somehow the update screwed up the physical NAS. So I'll try putting in a ticket with Synology tomorrow. The good thing is I bought it in Aug of 2017 so it is still in warranty. However, I have no idea if they will come through for me. I was just looking through the synology forums and many people had CS just stop contacting them. On the other hand I did see people get taken care of. I hope it is a case of most people not posting if things went good for them on warranties.

I'm thinking I should be looking into building my own server. Amahi is looking interesting.

My son collects old consoles and wants to stream to twitch from a Japanise Sega Saturn. Anyone have any experience of doing something like this? Googling has suggested using an Elgato Video Capture Device hooked up to a p.c.

Random persons blog post

Elgato web site

SpyNavy wrote:

Anyone have any clue as to why Amazon Prime video stopped working on my Xbox One X? Works on every other device in the house. It will open and show me the app, but any video I select just turns into a gray screen.

Do you have a 4K HDR TV and receiver? I had an issue with Netflix where it was going to black screen and it, likely, came down to the receiver not properly doing the 4K HDR HDMI negotiation. After unplugging everything it worked again but my suspicion was the receiver since I had previously hard reset the XBO. Next bet would be to try a different HDMI cable.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Tried updating the synology nas yesterday that usually goes perfectly but this time it wouldn't complete. The update stalled at the wait for a reboot screen. So I manually shut it down and started it back up and got the dreaded blinking orange system light and lost access to my nas.

I tried manually installing DSM which is the OS synology used but that failed. I tried just rebooting a couple of times. I tried replacing the hard drives with two brand new ones at had on hand and that also failed. I tried reseting the nas which doesn't work for some reason. I should get one beep followed by 3 beeps when doing the reset but I never get the three beeps.

I'm thinking somehow the update screwed up the physical NAS. So I'll try putting in a ticket with Synology tomorrow. The good thing is I bought it in Aug of 2017 so it is still in warranty. However, I have no idea if they will come through for me. I was just looking through the synology forums and many people had CS just stop contacting them. On the other hand I did see people get taken care of. I hope it is a case of most people not posting if things went good for them on warranties.

I'm thinking I should be looking into building my own server. Amahi is looking interesting.

When you reset it, did you push the pin in until the first beep and stop there, or did you put it back in for the three beeps to wipe out the current installation of DSM?

PurEvil wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Tried updating the synology nas yesterday that usually goes perfectly but this time it wouldn't complete. The update stalled at the wait for a reboot screen. So I manually shut it down and started it back up and got the dreaded blinking orange system light and lost access to my nas.

I tried manually installing DSM which is the OS synology used but that failed. I tried just rebooting a couple of times. I tried replacing the hard drives with two brand new ones at had on hand and that also failed. I tried reseting the nas which doesn't work for some reason. I should get one beep followed by 3 beeps when doing the reset but I never get the three beeps.

I'm thinking somehow the update screwed up the physical NAS. So I'll try putting in a ticket with Synology tomorrow. The good thing is I bought it in Aug of 2017 so it is still in warranty. However, I have no idea if they will come through for me. I was just looking through the synology forums and many people had CS just stop contacting them. On the other hand I did see people get taken care of. I hope it is a case of most people not posting if things went good for them on warranties.

I'm thinking I should be looking into building my own server. Amahi is looking interesting.

When you reset it, did you push the pin in until the first beep and stop there, or did you put it back in for the three beeps to wipe out the current installation of DSM?

I tried both. I never got more than one beep for the second press in. Even watch their youtube video to make sure I had the timing right.

This is how it should go.
press reset for 4 seconds
Beep
Release
Press reset for 4 seconds
beep beep beep
release

I do that only get the one beep on the second reset press. I even tried different timings between the first release and second press. I went from right away to 10 seconds each time adding one second but no dice.

strangederby wrote:

My son collects old consoles and wants to stream to twitch from a Japanise Sega Saturn. Anyone have any experience of doing something like this? Googling has suggested using an Elgato Video Capture Device hooked up to a p.c.

Random persons blog post

Elgato web site

Yeah that is the type of thing the Elgato is made for. They have been around a long time.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

I do that only get the one beep on the second reset press. I even tried different timings between the first release and second press. I went from right away to 10 seconds each time adding one second but no dice.

Sounds like the firmware got corrupted then. I think your only option would be to submit a ticket and hope that you could send it in to get fixed.

PurEvil wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

I do that only get the one beep on the second reset press. I even tried different timings between the first release and second press. I went from right away to 10 seconds each time adding one second but no dice.

Sounds like the firmware got corrupted then. I think your only option would be to submit a ticket and hope that you could send it in to get fixed.

Yeah I submitted a ticket a few hours ago.

Mermaidpirate wrote:

So I've got a mess of files from not very good backup practices across a couple of different drives, and whole chunks of them are duplicates. IIRC there are programs that can help me sort it out, can anyone recommend a good one?

I feel like this is something SyncBack Free can do, but I've not done something like this in years.