Random Tech Questions you want answered.

I should have mentioned that most of this stuff is meant to be printed out or PDF. I have been doing lots of instructions lately for personal use and work. For example how to repair electronics that my company sells or how to winterize a summer home. So it's mostly pictures I take with my phone and throw on a document.

I will give google slides a go. Screensteps looks pretty nice but is too pricey for my needs.

I would like to find a Thunderbolt 3 VGA adapter that also has a port that will let me plug-in my power adapter to charge my laptop (Razer Blade Stealth) at the same time. I have purchased one that claimed to do this but it doesn't charge my laptop. Other than a dock does anyone know of something like this?

astralplaydoh wrote:

Fraps will do this for you.

http://ccm.net/faq/20090-fraps-take-...

This solves it, thanks.

Could use some advice. I'm currently on US Cellular, using a Galaxy S4, and been looking to get an unlocked phone as an upgrade. I'm leaning towards this one, which by everything I'm seeing appears to be compatible. I am terrible at comparing specs though for devices like these, I just don't know enough about them to tell if it's a decent upgrade.

Also, having never used an unlocked phone, what do I need to know before taking the plunge? I can't really find much information on US Cellular (I'm on a family plan through my mother's account, so I don't deal with that stuff really) to know what the process is for this kind of thing.

Canada is banning service provider locked devices. I can't imagine any issues with an unlocked phone.

dhelor wrote:

Could use some advice. I'm currently on US Cellular, using a Galaxy S4, and been looking to get an unlocked phone as an upgrade. I'm leaning towards this one, which by everything I'm seeing appears to be compatible. I am terrible at comparing specs though for devices like these, I just don't know enough about them to tell if it's a decent upgrade.

Also, having never used an unlocked phone, what do I need to know before taking the plunge? I can't really find much information on US Cellular (I'm on a family plan through my mother's account, so I don't deal with that stuff really) to know what the process is for this kind of thing.

I don't know much about US Cellular and I'm sure that you can google to figure out specifically but being a CDMA carrier they might not activate certain phones. Make sure your unlocked phone has both a CDMA (3G) and 4G(LTE) radios in it or chances are they won't activate it. I know Verizon is a real stickler when it comes to unlocked phones.

We recently purchased a Lexmark CX510DE printer, a small business unit that scans, laser prints and copies. It was heavily discounted but new in the box.

And there's something wrong with the print quality, example:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EQDyUPo.jpg)

This happens when copying or printing from 2 different PC's and from the printer itself. It happens with every color and in black and white. The paper tray settings are correct, that's been checked.

I've opened a ticket at Lexmark, but maybe someone here has encountered something similar and can advise me?

Does anybody know what the technical term in English would be for what happens? Smearing, tearing, ... ? That might help me find the right google search term, or help me get the support ticket anywhere useful.

If anyone has any council on this issue, it would be hugely appreciated!

dejanzie wrote:

We recently purchased a Lexmark CX510DE printer, a small business unit that scans, laser prints and copies. It was heavily discounted but new in the box.

And there's something wrong with the print quality, example:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EQDyUPo.jpg)

This happens when copying or printing from 2 different PC's and from the printer itself. It happens with every color and in black and white. The paper tray settings are correct, that's been checked.

I've opened a ticket at Lexmark, but maybe someone here has encountered something similar and can advise me?

Does anybody know what the technical term in English would be for what happens? Smearing, tearing, ... ? That might help me find the right google search term, or help me get the support ticket anywhere useful.

If anyone has any council on this issue, it would be hugely appreciated!

I think it's called "light print". From what I can gather, it could be caused by toner having got stuck to part of the fuser (the thing that heats up the toner to stick it to the page)

per this I'd call it a partial light print. instructions on the same to try. if those don't work then

dejanzie wrote:

recently purchased

How recent? don't be afraid to take a page and/or the printer in to said shop and ask for a free fix or exchange for one that works.

I'd guess that to be a problem with the drum, the part that's drawn on by the laser beam, and then proceeds to pick up toner and then transfer it to the paper. The photosensitive chemicals on them eventually wear out, but it looks like yours has a bad spot already. Notice how it happens at regular intervals down the page? That's probably the exact circumference of the drum, the same bad spot rotating back in to mess up the same page multiple times.

If that's an accurate diagnosis, a drum replacement should instantly fix it. Whether or not you'll *get* one, I don't know.

Thanks everyone. I haven't even got a confirmation email for the ticket I opened unfortunately. We purchased it online at a steep discount, on one of those stock clearance websites. So no store to return it to. I'll open a ticket there as well, we'll see what happens.

edit: a call to the support center activated my ticket. They asked for some diagnosis procedures to be done on the printer, I sent the results today. The person I spoke to agreed that it was probably a hardware failure of a printing component. To be continued...

edit 2: issue resolved! They suspected that I left some plastic behind while unpacking, so I opened everything up and lo and behold: behind the black ink cartridge there was. It was stuck tightly, so I sent them a picture to confirm it was a removable. They did, I ripped it out and now print quality is top notch. Pretty happy with the way Lexmark support handled this case actually, I wasn't talked down to even once!

I am currently typing on a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard at work and I need something that has the 2 halves angled further apart.

Are there any split or non-split keyboards you guys can recommend?

-BEP

Have you looked at the Microsoft Sculpt already?

dejanzie wrote:

We recently purchased a Lexmark CX510DE printer, a small business unit that scans, laser prints and copies. It was heavily discounted but new in the box.

And there's something wrong with the print quality, example:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EQDyUPo.jpg)

This happens when copying or printing from 2 different PC's and from the printer itself. It happens with every color and in black and white. The paper tray settings are correct, that's been checked.

I've opened a ticket at Lexmark, but maybe someone here has encountered something similar and can advise me?

Does anybody know what the technical term in English would be for what happens? Smearing, tearing, ... ? That might help me find the right google search term, or help me get the support ticket anywhere useful.

If anyone has any council on this issue, it would be hugely appreciated!

I think the word you are looking for is "faded". The print jobs are faded on one side. In my experience, I've seen this happen when either the toner is low or the fuser kit needs to be replaced.

Lfjui wrote:

I think the word you are looking for is "faded". The print jobs are faded on one side. In my experience, I've seen this happen when either the toner is low or the fuser kit needs to be replaced.

Under nearly all conditions it's evenly faded down the page (unlike the example - where the left side is sometimes OK and sometimes faded) unless there's toner melted on part of the fuser. Luckily, it wasn't either of those. See above. dejanzie had missed some peel-able plastic when assembling it.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Have you looked at the Microsoft Sculpt already?

It didn't look any different than the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard I'm currently using as far as angling the 2 halves of the keyboard further out. Typing on this current one, my wrists are still turning outwards.

I think I need a split keyboard or one that allows you to adjust the angle, if there is a such a thing. I'm open to suggestions if you guys have used one and have a recommendation.

I neither need nor want all the silly media keys at the top, and of course, as we all conclusively agreed upon months ago, I require a numpad because all correct keyboards have numpads built in. I don't want the Tetris piece arrows and extra Insert/Home/Delete/etc. 6-key cluster, but can safely ignore them if they happen to exist on whatever keyboard I get.

-BEP

I definitely recommend the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard - been using that for two years now and it's great. Separating the numpad from the rest of the keyboard saves some space, which is nice. I'm also still on the original set of batteries!

That said, I was recently looking into ergonomic mechanical keyboards and heard good things about this Mistel Barocco, which allows you to split the keyboard as far apart as you desire. The downsides for me, however were that the keyboard cannot be "tented" (like the wrist rest of the Sculpt keyboard), at least without some sort of additional accessory.

Finally, I know keyboards and personal computing are definitely a personal thing, but when you mentioned that your wrists are still bent outward when using the Sculpt, I tried it myself and found the position to be extremely uncomfortable. Have you considered wearing carpal tunnel wrist braces? I've worn them on and off even when using the Sculpt and previous Microsoft ergo keyboards and they definitely helped me.

Yeah I have the MS Natural and have been using it for about 20 years, and I am not sure what you mean your wrists bent outward, or what style are you looking for. Are you thinking something with more pitch so the keys are more vertical? Like this?

IMAGE(http://www.micwil.com/images/gallery/safetype_safetype_vertical_keyboard_p1_800x566.jpg)

Are you looking for just the two halves split wider? Something like this:

IMAGE(http://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-492apnl0xy/products/186/images/884/kinesis-advantage-contoured-usb-keyboard-dual-qwerty-dvorak-legend-KIN501__03997.1484614231.1217.655.jpg?c=2)

Is that first one a real keyboard or a joke keyboard?

Edit: Real. Weird.

Yeah that is an extreme example, there are others in between like this one:

IMAGE(https://www.kinesis-ergo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Keyboards_widget_final.jpg)

Kinesis is a good source for speciality ergonomic stuff.

Tons at The Human Solution too.

http://www.thehumansolution.com/ergo...

I found another one....

(I know, I'm no help)

IMAGE(http://www.medievalwarfare.info/pics/torture/hand_crusher.jpg)

I've owned three of the Kinesis Ergos. They're very comfortable, once you learn how to type on one; this will take a week or two. They're very frustrating for the first couple days; you will be very slow. But the brain does rewire, and it becomes easy to switch back and forth between an Ergo and a regular flat keyboard. I didn't even really notice when I switched, things just worked correctly.

They have two major downsides: they are very expensive, and I found them to be very unreliable. When the third one broke, I gave up on them.

I think a split, as in 2 pieces, keyboard is what I need. Having the left and right side keys separated and adjustable where I can set the rotation is how I will get the wrist angle I need. The Kinesis Freestyle2 with the raised middles seem like it would be perfect, but if you've had 3 of their brand and they don't last, I'll stay away from them. I'll look for another brand that does the same thing.

I have a vertical mouse I bought on a lark that I use in meetings and having my hand in a vertical position is more comfortable that a horizontal position. It feels more relaxed.

I've used wrist braces and they help to a point, but don't solve my issue.

Thanks for the suggestions and real world experiences.

-BEP

I recently changed jobs (working for a third-party support contracting company to working directly for the company that contracted out their support... yes it's confusing). I have Chrome set up exactly how I like it with my bookmarks and extensions, synced to my Gmail account managed by the former company. I will soon be losing access to that Gmail/managed Google account.

Short of taking a screenshot of my moderate list of extensions, does anyone know an easy way I can export my Chrome bookmarks/settings/extensions from that managed Google account and import them to another Google account?

Bookmarks are easy. Not sure about the other stuff.

For bookmarks click the settings button > Bookmarks > Bookmarks manager. From there you can export them to a file.

So... I installed a IEEE 1394 card in my new PC so I could pull DV video off an older Canon camcorder. After installing it, Windows booted to an error screen saying it was repairing windows (and then failed to repair it). After much screaming and gnashing of teeth, I was resolved to reinstall windows. I unplugged the IEEE card (probably a mistake).

When reinstalling, though, I came across the following error: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

This lead me to unplug all but the one hard disk I planned on installing to since I did not want to reformat the wrong one. As soon as I did this, Windows booted normally, and I proceeded to reinstall one hard disk at a time. Now everything works great, but I still do not have the IEEE card in the PC.

Does anyone have any ideas what happened when I plugged the card in, and what I can possibly do to avoid this from happening again (or how I fix it if it does). Alternatively, is there an IEEE solution that does not involved installing an expansion card in the PC?

sheared wrote:

So... I installed a IEEE 1394 card in my new PC so I could pull DV video off an older Canon camcorder. After installing it, Windows booted to an error screen saying it was repairing windows (and then failed to repair it). After much screaming and gnashing of teeth, I was resolved to reinstall windows. I unplugged the IEEE card (probably a mistake).

When reinstalling, though, I came across the following error: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

This lead me to unplug all but the one hard disk I planned on installing to since I did not want to reformat the wrong one. As soon as I did this, Windows booted normally, and I proceeded to reinstall one hard disk at a time. Now everything works great, but I still do not have the IEEE card in the PC.

Does anyone have any ideas what happened when I plugged the card in, and what I can possibly do to avoid this from happening again (or how I fix it if it does). Alternatively, is there an IEEE solution that does not involved installing an expansion card in the PC?

Modern PC's can get fairly complicated in terms of what SATA ports are active depending on what PCIe ports are populated. You might have to google to figure out if something is getting disabled depending on what PCIe slots are used

What can happen is your boot drive gets disabled and windows blue screens trying to boot from a disk with a different boot partition than it's configured for.

TheGameguru wrote:

Modern PC's can get fairly complicated in terms of what SATA ports are active depending on what PCIe ports are populated. You might have to google to figure out if something is getting disabled depending on what PCIe slots are used

What can happen is your boot drive gets disabled and windows blue screens trying to boot from a disk with a different boot partition than it's configured for.

That's why I was confused. Windows booted enough to try to repair, but it kept failing. I cannot figure out if it was booting to the correct drive, or if the PCI card caused the entire PC (bios) to switch to some other kind of setting that caused everything else to go haywire. Needless to say, I'm hesitant to try a second time.

You should be able to pull the motherboard model and google and see what SATA ports share bandwidth with what slots. You say PCI but unless your system is really old you probably mean PCIe no?