Posts by Angela Evans2

Keith Lee94 said:So, File Explorer keeps crashing on me constantly, especially when I try to run older games that use lower resolutions than whatever my desktop is set to.

I'd appreciate any help at all!

From what I've seen (and that's just my experience)... this is pretty standard behavior. It's usually some kind of incompatibility issue with the sound card, or maybe the graphics card, who knows.

If you want to actually enjoy those older games (which I love, and I ran into the exact same thing once), I honestly just keep two dedicated PCs for them.

They were built around 2001-2003, and I take good care of them. I only fire them up when I'm in the mood for Commandos, Lula Wet, FIFA 1999, Project IGI, Postal, stuff like that. They run on Win98SE.

Anyway, if you ask me, what's happening to you is normal, and you could probably find a cheap fix on Craigslist if you really wanted to.

Betty Barnes3 said:So, you're telling me those wet pins were pressed right against the motherboard? 🤔

Yeah! 🍿 Actually—you definitely want them soaked. I guess the whole idea is more about cleaning the contacts inside the motherboard slots than the pins themselves.

You spray the pins, lightly wipe them with some paper towel (leaving a thin film of WD-40 on there), and then plug it into the PC. That should ensure a perfect connection, maybe.

I suppose you can even revive parts of a PC you thought were totally dead just by doing that. It’s kind of funny how few people seem to realize that.

Where exactly are you trying to watch these? On a PC or through your TV's built-in DVD Player?

If it's on a computer... honestly, the easiest fix is to just install this codec pack from this site.

If the issue is with your TV's DVD Player, you'll probably need to demux those two movies into a codec that actually uses 😁those three. AVI is really just a container for codecs and stuff, not an actual codec itself.

The problem is usually something like this:
- Those 3 movies you can play are .avi files using a codec your DVD Player recognizes (probably Xvid, maybe even MPEG-4 if it's newer enough)
- The other two are in a codec the DVD player doesn't support (like DivX or H.264).

To turn your current .avi into one that works on your DVD player, you could try using this program. I haven't touched it in a while, but it's probably not that hard to figure out. It actually lets you convert the .avi codec—which most converters suck at—and you can even burn subtitles directly into the video.

I guess the rule of thumb is... whenever you get a new DVD player (or if you're trying to watch movies via USB on a digital receiver like I do, though mine only handles MPEG-2)—you should check which codecs it supports first. Then you'd have to convert all your movies to that specific codec before burning them to a disc.

To find out what codecs or formats are inside an avi container, you might want to just install VLC on your PC. Open the video, right-click the screen > MediaInfo.

Betty Barnes3 said:Hey everyone,

Here is what I am working with:
Motherboard: ASUS 890gx Extreme 3
CPU: Intel Core i7
COOLER: CM Hyper 212 Evo
VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GTX
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1333 Corsair
SSD: SanDisk SSD, 120 GB
HDD: Seagate Hard Drive 1 TB
PSU: LC Power GP3 560W

So, out of nowhere tonight, something just decided to quit on me. When I hit the power button, the LED lights kick in and all the fans start spinning away like nothing is wrong. But there is no "beep" to signal life, and instead of a boot screen, I am just staring at a black monitor with a tiny "0033" code sitting in the bottom right corner. It is just total darkness aside from that little number.
I tried pulling out all the RAM sticks to test them one by one, but no luck there either. Interestingly, when I strip all the memory out entirely, I do get those usual three beeps indicating the system can't find any memory. I also played around with the graphics, trying both the integrated port and my dedicated card on the PCI slot, but the result was exactly the same. Now, I am certainly no hardware wizard, but I did some digging online and managed to try a CMOS clear. I pressed the clear CMOS button, shut everything down, unplugged the power, popped the battery out, messed with the jumpers, put the battery back in, and fired it up. Once again, I got that 0033 error, though after about 15 seconds, the BIOS screen finally popped up along with a message saying the CMOS settings were invalid. I tapped DEL to enter the setup and tried to at least fix the clock, but the whole thing just froze solid on me. After a restart, I was right back to a black screen and that stubborn 0033. On the two-digit display on the motherboard, it is now showing a 38.

I ended up leaving the power cable unplugged overnight and took the battery out of the motherboard entirely. When I turned it back on, I actually heard a beep and Windows managed to load! However, the mouse was completely dead and I didn't have a driver for it. I tried to navigate through the keyboard to install something, but it was a lost cause. As soon as I restarted, I was back to the 0033 error. Later, I pulled the battery again, popped it back in, and once more, Windows successfully booted up. It turns out my mouse had actually died on its own (tested a different one and it works fine), so as far as I can tell, the rest of the components seem to be behaving normally.

Honestly, I am feeling pretty lost here. At first, I was almost certain the motherboard had given up the ghost, but now I am wondering if the power supply might be acting up too, especially since my mouse died at the same time...

I even checked out some tech support forums, but I haven't had much luck finding an answer yet... 😢

🤣

I pulled the cable overnight and took the battery out of the motherboard. When I turned it on, I heard a beep and macOS loaded. But my mouse wasn't working, and there was no driver for it. Tried to install it via keyboard, but nothing happened. Restarted the computer and it went right back to 0033. Later, I pulled the battery again and put it back in; turned it on and macOS loaded fine. The mouse didn't work because it turns out it was dead (another one works), but everything else seems to be running normally.

So, I'm pretty lost. At first, I was almost certain it was the motherboard, but now maybe it's the power supply since the mouse died too...

Haha, sounds like you had a fun night. 😁

Anyway, I'm thinking it might be the power supply too—not that it's totally dead, but maybe it's failing partially, or there's an issue with the connections somewhere.

A failing power supply can sometimes boot you into BIOS and mess with your head, but it usually won't let you fully boot into the OS, like macOS. Usually, you notice a hardware failure through weird graphics issues; common symptoms include BIOS freezing, screen flickering, half the screen working while the other doesn't, unstable BIOS images, or seeing ripples on the screen while in BIOS. This could probably be what the chip on your board is reporting.

I'll say this for the third time on this forum when dealing with these weird symptoms: grab some WD40 and spray all the contacts and pins on both sides, then plug everything back into the board. Check every connection; the power leads, the drives (SATA or whatever), the RAM, the PCI slots, the molex connectors, etc.

I don't even bother building or fixing PCs anymore without using WD40—I always use the used stuff, though I'll spray new parts too. After that, things either work perfectly or you catch the failure quickly. It's pretty much mandatory if the user is a heavy smoker, or whenever nicotine is basically hanging in the air.

But honestly, booting up a PC while praying it actually works isn't a great way to live. I'm 99% sure once you do that, you'll have a working, trouble-free machine again.

Maria Price61 said:Hey, a girl I know was supposed to send me some money through the post office. She said she made the payment on the 19th, but there's still nothing in my account.
She emailed me a photo of the receipt showing all the info and the date, but it's just a picture of the first page—not the green receipt you usually get from the clerk when you actually pay something at the USPS.

Is it possible it takes this long, or am I just being paranoid? 😵

Awwww, it doesn't take that long, Maria Price61. 😵

Besides, she would have sent you the carbon copy if she actually paid. If it's just the red slip, she probably hasn't even gone yet and just printed out the transaction details on her own computer at home. 🙄

Wait, did you even send her what she was supposed to be paying for???

Morgan Brown6 said:When I play an .mp4 movie downloaded from a torrent using VLC, everything works fine—audio, video, subtitles, all of it.

Well, the main thing here is that movies from the hard drive work fine, which means we have decent codecs and the HDD is doing its job, so we can move forward.

So, something isn't right when it goes through the DVD burner. (Maybe the burner itself, maybe the cable...?)

It's a weirdly specific mess, honestly. 🙂 It's like... like the data is being sent in half-packets, but somehow it still qualifies as "OK," which is just great.

Since the PC runs fine and the burner clearly works, there's likely a data transfer issue somewhere on that IDE channel.

By the way, what's your optical setup? One HDD and one burner? Anything else? Are the HDD and burner on the same IDE cable, or separate ones? And are you using a 40-pin or 80-pin PATA cable?🙂

Anyway, try following this closely:

0. Unplug the computer, set it on a table, and take off the left side panel of the case.
1. Find the PATA cable that has a CLEAR blue connector in the middle and has 80 wires. Spray all three connectors with WD-40 (personally, I don't build used PCs without WD-40; I lost my mind dealing with bad contacts once, and WD-40 brought it back :P).
2. On the back of the HDD, there's a sticker showing how to set the JUMPER for "master w/ slave." Set the jumper like that.
3. Plug the middle blue connector of the PATA cable into the HDD.
4. Plug the end blue connector of the PATA cable into the motherboard, specifically the IDE channel where it’s currently plugged and working fine.
5. Plug the computer back in, turn it on, and see if it runs okay.

If everything is fine and working properly (which I assume it will be), let's reconnect the burner.

5. Unplug the computer.
6. Remove the burner from the case.
7. Set the jumper on the burner to "slave" (or cable select).
8. Plug the burner into that third, black connector on the PATA cable.
9. Turn the computer on.

If you hooked everything up right, Windows should boot up with the burner visible. If the burner still acts up...

10. Unplug the computer,
11. Move the end blue connector of the PATA cable to the other IDE channel on the motherboard.
12. Turn the computer on and test it.

If the burner is still giving you trouble, let me know. :P

ps: It's possible one IDE channel is fried, while the board can still run perfectly fine on the other one (I've seen it happen). This procedure might save you from buying a new motherboard like Antomon suggested, so we have to outsmart him 🤣 since the warranty is probably long gone anyway. 🤣

Morgan Brown6 said:Maybe it’s a software issue. I noticed that on certain sites (like Napster torrents), the movie posters are just empty boxes with an X in them now. It's the same thing in Outlook Express—some emails show an empty box with an X instead of the actual photo. Could this be related to a missing codec or something?

Look, there are way too many variables and settings involved to really explain it here, but it feels like a software problem.

Your best bet is probably just downloading VLC Media Player from the web. Just install it by clicking next through the prompts. Once it's set up, try playing the video with that.

Then let me know if you're still seeing the same issues using that player.

slyraven2 said:Hey everyone

I've got this issue that's honestly driving me a little crazy, and I'm really hoping someone might have some insight to share.
So, my current 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) just isn't cutting it anymore, so I figured I'd go ahead and bump it up to 8GB (2x4GB) while I have the chance.
I ordered some new RAM through eBay—they're a matched pair from Hynix.
Link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-2X4GB-DD...item33676c5da2

It's for my Toshiba laptop, a Satellite A665-145.
Specs:
Intel i7-740QM 1.73 GHz
4096 MB DDR3 RAM
500 GB SATA
Windows ® 7 home 64-bit
Nvidia gt 330 m / 1GB
The memory is upgradable to 8GB, at least—I'm not totally clueless about that part...

Regarding the RAM itself, I made sure everything matched up—both the old and new sticks are SO-DIMM DDR3, 1066MHz, PC3-8500, dual channel, and 1.5V.

As for what's actually happening—I pull the battery, unplug the power, swap out the old sticks (trying my best to watch out for static electricity), pop in the new ones, plug everything back in, and hit power. The Toshiba logo pops up, I can get into the BIOS, and everything seems fine for maybe two seconds before the logo disappears. Then it hits the boot process where a white cursor flashes twice—it always does that—and then it just freezes. With my old sticks, that cursor flashes maybe three times and then Windows boots up perfectly fine.
When I check the BIOS, it actually sees the full 8GB of RAM without any issues.
I've tried pretty much everything I could think of—swapping the stick positions, making sure they're seated properly, testing each one individually in different slots (which works, the BIOS detects them), trying one old and one new, even resetting the BIOS to defaults... but it's the same headache every single time.
The only thing I haven't tried is pulling the CMOS battery, but it's buried deep inside the laptop, and I'd have to take the whole thing apart. Plus, I'd be worried about messing with anything fixed, and honestly, I don't really know how to handle a BIOS update right now.🙄
Maybe there's something else I could try, but I'm stuck with this stripped-down version of a BIOS that doesn't let me do anything useful...

Please help me out if you can, because if these brand-new, identical sticks won't work, I'm kind of lost on what will—and I really don't want to just throw them $167 in the trash.

Look, the only thing that makes sense is that the board recognizes the RAM, but... for some reason, the RAM
a) either isn't working, or
b) isn't making a solid connection.

This might help, though you're doing it at your own risk (not that there's much risk involved, I guess):

1. spray the RAM pins (contacts) with some WD-40.
2. after 10 seconds, lightly wipe the contacts with a bit of toilet paper so a tiny bit of the spray stays on them.
3. pop the RAM into the laptop.

Optional: try it with one stick first (the bottom one, closest to the board). Pop it in that way and boot the laptop. If everything works, obviously do the same with the second stick.

If the laptop still won't boot after that, I rest my case.

ps: about six months ago, I had this whole debate over whether it was a dead motherboard or just one single stick of RAM. After trying the steps above, the RAM finally worked after we plugged it in maybe 7 or 8 times right before, which hadn't worked at all.

Megan Myers88 said:I sent a letter with return receipt from a company in Chicago to another company also based in Chicago about a week ago, and I haven't received the receipt yet. Could it just be a mail carrier not doing their job properly, or should I worry and resend it? Can I just walk into the post office, show them the slip I got when I mailed it, and ask if it was received? It’s pretty important, and it was supposed to get there urgently.

The post office won't just give you an answer on the spot like that. To track certified (or insured) mail, you basically have to file a formal inquiry through the USPS.

Usually, 14 days is the standard timeframe for when you'd expect that receipt—mostly because the recipient has about 7 days to actually accept it, and then you've got maybe 8 days for the mail to move from them back to you.

If you don't see the receipt after about 15 business days, maybe it's worth filing a claim to look for the package. Anyway, just because the receipt hasn't arrived doesn't mean they didn't get the letter, or that it won't show up in, say, 30 days.

Maria Fowler28 said:I'm wondering if the mail carrier is required to leave a slip, or am I just supposed to guess when a package arrives? I've been waiting 6 days for a package coming from Chicago, but I'm out here in Phoenix. Should I call the post office or something?

They are required to leave you a notice slip.

Olivia Lee23 said:In the last week, two certified packages I sent from the post office in Buffalo went missing—both were certified plus.

I'm calling their customer service now and they're just telling me to "see when it left," but nothing else... I guess I can file a claim. As if that helps...

Important (mandatory) items should always be sent as insured mail rather than just certified.

That really applies if you're sending cash in an envelope or extremely sensitive documents. That kind of stuff should go via insured mail.

Insured mail is strictly tracked through the postal distribution system, and to put it simply—they aren't supposed to just vanish.

Karen Thomas88 said:I might be asking something totally random here, but I’ve honestly never had to deal with this before... where exactly on an envelope do you put the label for something? Thanks in advance!

Usually in the top right corner. Like if it's marked "Bulk Mail," for instance.

PS: If the label is meant for a specific recipient within a company—like addressing someone specifically at a business—you'd write it like this:

Generic Corp.
"Attn: Peter Perry".. or "For Sweepstakes" or "Entry Form" (the label)
123 Unknown Street
Anytown, USA
Republic of Xyz Quote

Linda Nguyen40 said:How many days does it usually take for a letter to arrive25 miles?

If the wind is blowing the right way, it's one-way, and nothing gets stuck, I'd say maybe 2 to 4 days. If you drive it yourself, it's about half an hour—probably the fastest way. 🤣

If you're using the USPS, it'll probably take anywhere from 2 to 12 business days, depending on how far apart the sender and receiver are.