Posts by swiftowl7

Morgan Chavez4 said:He said, not she, 😁
I think I have some kind of Android, maybe it's my Gica, but it's only got 1 GB and honestly, that wouldn't

Unfortunately, the TV doesn't have a USB port; it's a Samsung TV plasma model.
Does a TV really need a USB port just to watch stuff from a phone?

By the way, you’d probably be better off dropping a few hundred bucks on a used LED smart TV instead, because man, that plasma pulls 400 watts. A used LED TV would basically pay for itself in six months just from the savings on your electric bill.😁

I haven't checked out the specs for the device you're looking at yet, but if it runs on USB power like
analogwalker2 mentioned, you could just use any standard USB power source. For example:
- You can grab one of those power strips with built-in USB ports at Walmart right now for $13 a decent price—just plug the device into that and then run an HDMI cable to the TV, and you're good to go (assuming they aren't sold out already).
- Or you could just pick up a wall outlet adapter that has those USB ports built-in, which usually costs around 10 bucks.

Unless the device strictly requires exactly 500mA... in that case, an old iPhone charger might actually do the trick, assuming it's a micro USB port, which I'm guessing it is.

coppersailor28 said:I’m honestly not sure how you managed to pull that off...

Maybe try using that same software (Handbrake) to just grab a tiny snippet from the movie—say, about 15 seconds (basically, just trim away everything except those 15 seconds) and save it. Then, you can play around with all the different conversion and saving settings on that little clip without worrying about wasting time.

It looks like the video was cropped, since the subtitles—which seem to be burned into the video itself—are stuck in that old NTSC format, unless the DVD player is handling them.

I haven't personally messed around with that specific program, but you make a great point; it really is best to start with a quick little clip so you can figure out how the export settings actually work and see exactly how the cropping behaves! 🙂

That email and detective stuff sounds like one intense thriller, I think I'll have to check that one out 😂—where on earth did you find it? 😁

I’m guessing you might have accidentally buried a charger with the polarity reversed or maybe just grabbed one with way too much voltage, which are pretty classic rookie mistakes, but honestly, there isn't much we can do at this point to save it.

Morgan Chavez4 said:Is this actually what I'm looking for?

How can I tell if my TV supports DLNA? It's a Sony, but it's easily over a decade old.

Honestly, just forget DLNA altogether. If you grab that device from the link, you can just plug it right into the HDMI port and you'll be all set to go.

ps: Which specific TV is it? There should be a little sticker on the back of the set that lists the exact model number...

Reading between the lines of what you wrote, I honestly don't think there’s any software out there or even some fancy AI algorithm capable of pulling off a high-resolution upscale like that, especially if the original file was already heavily compressed to begin with.

You might get a slightly better result if you print it out and then scan it back in, or you could always try taking a quick photo of your monitor with your phone and just seeing if the built-in processing gets lucky with the enhancement.

At the end of the day, it's really tough to turn a low-quality image into something crisp and clear without someone stepping in to manually redraw it by hand.

Honestly, any battery is going to do just fine as long as it's brand new, so your best bet really comes down to what fits your budget and what's actually available on the shelf. If you can swing it, definitely aim for one with a higher mAh rating to get more juice out of it.

The biggest headache is that the battery you're using right now is basically a total loss; based on how things are acting, even the internal electronics have given up the ghost. It's at the point where even taking it to a specialized repair shop—which is usually my go-to move for getting a reliable refresh despite it costing about $133—wouldn't help. You could try to kit it out with a new shell and all, but it’ll still be unreliable and won't give you an accurate reading, much like the one you've got now.

The cells inside one of the battery packs have finally given out, so I'm going to have to pick up a new battery.

graniteranger81 said:Not quite—I actually just disabled the option for my PC to enter standby mode altogether.

I’m honestly asking mostly out of curiosity and a bit of self-interest, since this kind of glitch pops up quite a bit, and in my experience, it usually traces back to a faulty transistor or a chip on the motherboard within the power delivery zone, especially when we're talking about laptops. That doesn't seem to be what's happening with your setup, though, unless you're looking at a failing SSA drive.

Usually, you see this stuff happen with older, used laptops where it’s just not worth the time or money to hunt down the specific issue or pay for repairs because the machine isn't worth much anymore, so I don't bother digging too deep into those. But I will say, in those cases, there's typically no way to wake it up or even reboot it; once it goes to sleep, the only way to get it running again is to pull the battery for a second and then restart the system. It won't respond to anything else.

Since you're working with a desktop, your situation is a little strange because the power supply architecture is completely different. If I were in your shoes, I'd try an experiment: unplug your current SSD and HDD from the case, install a different hard drive, put Windows on that instead, and see if the problem persists. Just to test the waters. Another thing to look into would be swapping out the power supply to rule out a bad connection, or checking the connections between the PSU and the motherboard, like those 4 or 8-pin connectors right next to the CPU.

If you feel like tinkering with that, let me know how it turns out!

Did you ever get that issue sorted out?

graniteranger81 said:Yeah, it's the same deal as when I'm doing a full reboot after shutting everything down. I actually tried disabling the sleep mode settings to save power, but honestly, that didn't really fix the underlying issue.

I'm afraid there might not be any other way around it. On the bright side, at least the PC still gives you the option to reboot on demand, which is a huge relief because with these kinds of hardware failures, you often end up having to pull the battery just to get a response; the system just freezes in sleep mode and won't respond to any "wake up" command whatsoever.

It’s pretty tough to make an educated guess here, but you could always try

1. pulling a stick of RAM out first to see if things stabilize, and then testing with just the other stick to see if one of them is acting up,
2. you could also try swapping out the HDD for an SSD just as an experiment, mainly to rule out point number three entirely, and if that doesn't do it, then...
3. it's most likely a motherboard issue.

It's a tricky one to troubleshoot. It's probably best to hand it over to a local repair shop where someone can really dive into the hardware.

Does Windows actually manage to successfully reboot the computer?

ironcyclist58 said:It looks like Adobe started planting a little "time bomb" in Flash back in some older version, which finally triggered on January 12th. I guess you could try hunting down an ancient build from before they baked that in... but honestly, I'm not sure how much of a difference it'll actually make. Most browsers have already pulled the plug on Flash anyway.

It really feels like things have gone a bit overboard, doesn't it? If you actually need any of the older versions from a couple of years back, just let me know—I still have them tucked away somewhere—but since I’m running xpu, if I remember correctly, I think I still see some websites running those old Flash banners on my screen.

Just give me a shout if that matters to you; I haven't personally used Flash in ages, but I kept all my backups from back in the day.

That's exactly why I'm always a little hesitant about hitting that update button, especially when it comes to new OS releases or browser updates; it always feels like I'm being forced to swallow someone else's brand-new "revolutionary" nonsense.

You actually need to log into the network being broadcast by your Wi-Fi Extender, rather than the main Xfinity signal you might be using right now.

If you’re already connected to the extender's network and that specific IP address still isn't loading, we probably just need to hunt down some instructions for a different login method or a different gateway address.

wanderingpanther68 said:I went through the exact same thing just a few months back where the PC would boot straight into Windows but there was absolutely no signal on my monitor. I ended up giving everything a deep clean—blown out all the dust from the case, wiped down the GPU, swapped out the DVI cable, and reseated everything, and now it's been running perfectly every single day. For me, it turned out to be a simple connection issue, though obviously, your situation might be different, but it's definitely worth considering.

It’s definitely a possibility 👍 Though if I had to guess, I'd say you're looking at a loose connection in the power supply this time around.

Maybe try grabbing some contact cleaner and spraying down all the connections one by one; that might just get the whole rig humming again.

placidtiger142 said:between dealing with the pandemic, boredom, and all that other stuff, I figured I'd head over to Steam and pick up a game just to have something to do to kill some time..

So get this, I ended up buying Medal of Honor Airborne, which came out back in 2007. Since I know my laptop isn't exactly a powerhouse, I figured if I bought it in 2016, it should be able to handle games from 2007 without much trouble.

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 5795
Intel Core i5-6200u CPU
8.00GB RAM
64-bit operating system
Intel HD Graphics 520 and AMD Radeon M5 335

Could you guys please tell me if those graphics cards are really such garbage that I won't be able to play anything at all... like, absolutely nothing..

Please?

MOHAAA haha, man, I love that game, it’s just so much fun. I usually stick to playing those kinds of titles exclusively on a Windows XP OS and never run into any issues.

By the way, that laptop is actually way too powerful for those old games, so I’d honestly suggest looking for a weaker one for that purpose, maybe something with up to 4GB of RAM on a 32-bit system. Though, if you really can't play anything at all... hmm, it might be a situation where the RAM vs HDD setup is causing a bottleneck.

I know it sounds like a pretty silly explanation, but since I'm a huge fan of games that are about 20 years old, they usually only run smoothly on hardware from that specific era without crashing. I have no idea why, and honestly, I don't even care enough to dig into it anymore. I suspect it has something to do with how DirectX communicates with the graphics cards.

For example, when I was looking for stuff like 2D Commandos, Lula Wet, or FIFA 99, I spent ages hunting for a computer that could install Windows 98SE without any problems, so it wouldn't crash right when things were getting interesting.

If you can't get it working, just shoot me a private message.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:I can swing by with the other PC, but I won't be able to get there for about a week.

Alright, if you can make it happen, here’s my suggestion:

- Just grab a new power supply. Honestly, even if the PSU isn't actually the culprit this time around, it's still a smart move. Don't bother returning it to Best Buy; just tuck it away in a box in your closet as a spare for later.

With high-end gaming rigs, power supplies tend to burn out eventually anyway, so you might as well stay ahead of the curve. From what I gather, you'll probably need one that has that 6-pin molex connector.

The best way to handle this is to pull out the current PSU you're using and take it with you to the shop so you can match it up perfectly.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:The RGB keyboard lights up as soon as I boot the PC.

It doesn't really matter right now because before we can even start guessing, we have to rule out the power supply, since everything starts there.

If a single voltage rail on the PSU is acting up, you'll see it everywhere—the motherboard won't behave, you might not get any BIOS beeps, and parts of the system just won't kick over. It’s a lot to explain, but it's all connected.

A failure like yours usually points toward the PSU, the motherboard, the GPU, or the RAM, and none of those components are particularly cheap to replace, especially if you're looking at a combination of two or more failing at once.

Jack Cook7 said:Good grief...

First things first, just unplug that 110-volt power supply from everything.

What's the deal with those armor plates? 😁

Then you should probably give that hyperactive geek friend of yours a call, and while you're catching up and geeking out over the new season of Mandalorian, just casually—you know, totally discreetly—ask him if he knows a solid PC technician who specializes in power supplies.

Haha, you're hilarious😁

First off, that beeping doesn't necessarily mean much, but here's my take on what's going on:

- Based on the symptoms, it's almost a certainty that a component within the power supply gave up the ghost, even if the computer sounds like it's running fine. Your best bet is to grab a spare power supply or borrow one to test it out; if swapping it in gets the system running smoothly, then you've found your culprit. If you can borrow one from a buddy, do that, and if it works, it's definitely time to go out and buy a new one.

Until you actually try that, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the motherboard is the issue, though this whole situation feels a lot like a failing graphics card. But since your RGB keyboard isn't even lighting up, I'd say it's most likely the power supply without a doubt.

swifttinker40 said:With this kind of data, you're never actually going to find house number 35 because there are just way too many houses and tiny side streets tucked away everywhere.
Google really let me down here.

Honestly, I feel like Google surprises me with how disappointing they can be on a daily basis... between all the privacy digging, selling off our data, handing info over to federal agencies, and those sketchy, misleading ads, it's a lot to deal with.

On a side note, I live on one of those long residential streets that branches off into a bunch of dead ends, so you wouldn't believe the mess we deal with when Google Maps sends a massive semi-truck down our way and they realize there's absolutely no room to turn around.

The navigation just isn't quite where it needs to be yet—at least not for places like this—and I can tell you that much for certain right off the bat. 😁

I can't quite recall which specific editors handle the .vob format out of the box, but if you're feeling stuck, you might want to try

just renaming the file extension from .vob to either .mpeg or .mpeg2 and then attempting to import that video into your software again.

If that doesn't do the trick, you'll likely need to hunt down a dedicated video converter for .vob files, though I’d personally suggest avoiding that route if possible since it usually leads to dropped frames, wasted time, and a noticeable dip in the overall MPEG quality.