Posts by Keith Lee94

So, I spent some time falling down a Google rabbit hole looking for headphones to listen to music on my phone and my PC. I've pretty much narrowed it down to this handful of options, mainly because they all stay under $133.

Does anyone have any thoughts, personal experiences, or solid recommendations?

Thanks a ton for all the info!

So, I went ahead and grabbed a Samsung!

Peter Green said:It was relatively recent. Maybe 2 or 3 months ago. The price is solid, just grab it.

Alright, thanks a ton! That’s what I figured—if it’s a newer model, there probably won't be any massive sales anytime soon.

I just spotted this monitor
https://www.newegg.com/lcd-monitors/gaming-monitor

Is that the Dell or Samsung one mentioned earlier?

Also, what am I actually missing out on if I don't go with a curved monitor? Is it just about immersion while gaming, or is there more to it?

Timothy Kim60 said:There's a slim chance that the specific thing you want will actually go on sale. Usually, 99% of components aren't discounted, or if they are, it's a fake discount (where they jack up the price to an insane level just to cross it out).

Man, that's true. I just saw some SSDs over at Newegg marked down to $500 $500. When I check Best Buy, the price is hovering right around $500-$$200. That should be enough to call out that kind of nonsense.

Does anyone happen to know when that Samsung 24G2U 144 Hz monitor first hit the market?

I just spotted a deal on $477, but I'm wondering—is it actually worth holding out for something better once Black Friday rolls around?

It didn't crash at all yesterday! But the day before? Total disaster—it tanked while I was playing both World of Warcraft and Fallout 4.
Honestly, what "every few days"? I have no clue what’s actually going on here.
I was reading through that other thread, and man, I think I'm right there with them. It feels like my drivers are just giving up the ghost during specific loading screens or certain heavy workloads.
I managed to dig up that atikmpag file and the other one too. Maybe they weren't wiped out when I installed the latest drivers? They seemed to show up after I used the drivers from the original graphics card CD.
The thing is, I have zero clue how to actually mess with those files using the command prompt. I still need to look into how to handle that.

@placidtinker39, I’m really hoping it doesn't come down to me having to RMA this card because I am doing everything in my power to avoid that. I picked it up from an international online retailer, so if I have to send it back, I'd have to go through a friend and some courier service. Honestly, who knows when or how it would even get back to me? It’s such a massive headache, so I'm trying to dodge that scenario at all costs.

@Jonathan Mendoza17—okay, so we all missed that one. Does that mean I should just copy and paste the files into that folder, or is there something else I'm overlooking? Thanks for linking that thread, I'll definitely check out the advice over there!
I honestly don't get why my log is reporting a missing file. I ran DDU in Safe Mode and reinstalled everything after the reboot. But this time, I actually used the drivers from the disc that came in the box with the card, and hey—it hasn't crashed once since yesterday!
I'm going to keep monitoring things to see what happens. I'll run a stress test and try out some other games. If it starts acting up again, I'll keep digging for more solutions! Huge thanks to everyone for the help so far!

Edit 2: I tried copying over the atikmdag file—it was the only one I could actually track down. The other one, atikmpag? It’s nowhere to be found. It just doesn't exist in the folder. And guess what? Same old story. Another BSOD, a full reboot, and then there it is: a TDR failure error pointing straight to that missing atikmpag file. Like, how am I supposed to fix a file that isn't even there?

My last attempt at a reinstall threw an error saying the installation failed, but strangely enough, it just kept going anyway. It finished like nothing happened. Honestly, I'm starting to think these drivers are just broken. Is their support or software just too outdated? Who knows.

I’m going to try putting her through a bit of a graphical stress test. Found a free program online that looks like it might do the trick!

@Jonathan Mendoza17 - Nice call, man! That was a smart move. Honestly, I didn't even think of that. Since I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I’m pretty sure there’s a win.old folder hanging around somewhere. I checked the standard Windows folders but couldn't find those specific files to mess with. I'll dig into it later today, give it a shot, and let you know how it goes! Thanks for the hand!

Edit: So, just to be clear—I'm looking for Windows.old---System32---drivers---those .sys files, and then I just copy them?

I don't play anything through Steam; I don't even have the thing installed on my rig.

The only thing I run is World of Warcraft, which I pay for regularly—so yeah, it's a legit, official copy.

Thanks a million!

I tried doing a full uninstall and then reinstalled the latest version, but things still aren't running steady.
With the older drivers, the whole thing just froze up on me while I was gaming a bit ago. The screen gets covered in these weird little colored squares—it's a total mess. I'll try to upload a photo so you can see what I mean. There’s this weird sound coming through the speakers that just cuts out. No BSOD or sudden restarts, though; I actually have to hard reboot by hitting the power button on the tower and starting over.
Could this be a power supply issue? I'm running a Fortron Hyper 500 W, which is supposed to be a decent unit. Or maybe it's the hard drive? Or did I just not seat the graphics card correctly? I doubt it, since the PC was running perfectly fine at first.
I've been keeping an eye on temperatures using GPU-Z and CPUID, and everything seems totally normal—GPU and CPU are both hovering around 60 degrees.

So, I’m dealing with a brand new PC here. I built the whole thing myself and everything was running perfectly fine at first.
Over the last few days, though, things have gone sideways. My monitor starts showing these weird, distorted squares, then the screen goes black, and suddenly I'm staring at a Windows blue screen with a "video TDR failure atikmpag.sys" error—pretty much like what you see in this link.

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge...or-windows-10/
I already tried the fixes suggested in that link, but the problem just keeps coming back.
Every single time I reboot, the computer works normally, but yesterday it completely lost the signal. The screen just went black and wouldn't respond to anything at all.
Right before the blue screen hits, my monitor actually gave me a "going into sleep mode" notification twice.

Here is the setup: Intel Core i7 6700, 16GB of RAM, a Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 480 GDDR5 8GB graphics card, running on Windows 10 x64.

I've got the latest drivers for the GPU and the chipset, and I've updated everything else too.
One of the solutions mentioned in the link involves renaming a file called atikmdag.sys inside the System32 folder, but I can't even find that file anywhere!

What is going on here? Is this a software issue or a hardware problem, and how do I fix it? Thanks!

Edit: WhoCrashed says:

On Sat 12/17/2016 1:36:17 PM your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\121716-14468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: atikmpag.sys (atikmpag+0xF284)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFB3057E7A94A0, 0xFFFFF8062951F284, 0x0, 0xD)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\c03 09270.inf_amd64_47c09dd18e1ee4c5\atikmpag.sys
product: AMD driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
description: AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.).
Google query : Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination with the errors that have been reported for these drivers. Include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions on the web by users who have been experiencing similar problems.

Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.

So, should I try rolling back to the previous drivers? Like, the ones released right before these current ones?

I actually tried firing it up a few times right in front of them. Which basically means they skipped the full diagnostic entirely, even though I gave them a super detailed, step-by-step breakdown of exactly what was going on. So, $212 a new laptop keyboard plus $50 the labor—does that sound like a fair deal to you guys?

Sent from my Samsung using Reddit

I'm wondering if this price is actually fair. I noticed another repair shop down the street charges $25 just for the labor to swap out a keyboard, especially since you can easily grab a replacement online for about $50. When I dropped it off, I made sure to mention that the keyboard is dead and that nine times out of ten, the laptop won't even boot up the OS. It just sits there emitting these constant, piercing, high-pitched beeps. Honestly, it sounds like some component just totally fried itself.

Sent from my Samsung using Reddit

So, here’s the deal with my Dell Inspiron. The keyboard completely died on me, so obviously, it needs a replacement. But there’s this other annoying issue when I try to boot up—macOS just won't load. Instead, I get these constant, high-pitched beeps coming from the machine. It’s super unpredictable; maybe once every ten tries, the OS actually boots up without any drama. I took it into a local repair shop to get a diagnosis, and they told me the keyboard was broken... which, hello, I already knew that! I literally told them that when I dropped it off. They also claimed the OS loads perfectly fine, which is just flat-out wrong based on my experience. Now, they want to charge me about $320 to install the new keyboard they’re ordering.
I’ve got a few things on my mind: Is that a reasonable price just to swap out a keyboard?
And why on earth would the computer be acting up during startup like that?
Also, do I really have the right to refuse paying that diagnostic fee since they didn't actually *do* anything besides state the obvious?

Sent from my 9005X using Reddit

William Richardson12 said:It sounds like a GPU driver issue. Try hunting down an older version that doesn't crash on you.

Actually, it just hit me. Why on earth would anyone sell a computer pre-loaded with drivers that crash? It’s not like they built the software themselves, right? This machine was rock solid until just a few months ago. I’ve tried everything—scouring the web for different drivers, installing newer ones, rolling back to older ones... nothing worked. I finally had to struggle my way back to the original factory drivers just to get some peace.
Is it possible that a Windows update messed things up by pushing out some buggy, unstable driver package?

William Richardson12 said:Come on, just download WhoCrashed and paste the report right here!

I just downloaded this program, and honestly? Everything was running smooth as silk at first. No issues whatsoever. But then... things started acting up. Why does that always happen?
Well, it’s happening again. That annoying glitch is back! But get this—my dump file is totally empty. Not a single crash report to be found, yet File Explorer just keeps crashing over and over. Seriously, what gives?

crimsonfalcon38 said:If you're trying to get those old-school games running, you really ought to grab some patches from GameCopyWorld. It makes a huge difference! Also, don't forget to mess around with Compatibility Mode on Windows 98 or XP. Sometimes that's all it takes to get things moving again, right?

I’ve downloaded every single patch available. I even tracked down a brand-new version of the game that comes fully patched right out of the box. I even gave that community mod a shot, too. And honestly? Still nothing. It’s the exact same headache. Why does this always happen?
So, basically, every single time I mess around with my screen resolution, File Explorer just starts crashing on me. Why does that always happen? It’s like it can't handle the change!
Sometimes the player just acts up. You know, like during those intro clips? It’s just totally random stuff happening out of nowhere. Why does that even happen?

It’s a legitimate version of Windows 7 Home Premium—it actually came pre-installed on the machine when I first picked it up.
The bummer is, I never actually got an installation CD since everything was already set up and ready to go.

So, my File Explorer keeps crashing on me constantly, especially when I try to launch some older games that run at lower resolutions than what my desktop is set to.

The games just keep minimizing themselves, kicking me right back to the desktop, then File Explorer restarts, and my DVD drive starts acting up trying to read media. It's such a mess!

I checked out the Action Center—the problem details section—and this is what pops up when I click on the error regarding File Explorer:

Description
Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.1.7601.17567, time stamp: 0x4d672ee4
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521eaf24
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00000000000c4102
Faulting process id: 0xcb4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d09fdaf71d27f1
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 46960f07-0bce-11e5-b1c8-14dae9d6a97d

Does anyone have any ideas? I would really appreciate any help you can give!

Does anyone know if I can use a standard bank deposit slip to fund my account at DraftKings? And if so, should I be using dollars or just stick to whatever the local branch is offering?

Snag that bonus right here. It’s a bit of a climb to get to it, but hey, you can definitely make it happen!
http://www.wettnetzwerk.com/wett-bonus