Kajper's Info Corner

Timothy Kim60 said:Look, this usually happens when graphics drivers crash. He probably remembered to test out some different drivers, right? You could always try that same thing yourself if you haven't already—it’s not exactly rocket science.

Jab, most shops only offer a one-year diagnostic warranty. 😬
It’s almost certainly a software issue. Worst-case scenario? Just reinstall Windows. 😬

It’s not even like they crashed—you know, where they’re still there but just won't work—it's more like they totally vanished. He had it running for a long time and figured he was in the clear. He checked all his drivers too... or at least, that's how it looked to me. 😉 ...moved it, set it up...
It’s not just a one-time thing, either. It happens every single day...
Is it tough? Honestly... I’m not even that great at English, and half this terminology goes right over my head. Plus, when someone comes by who usually charges for this stuff—and we’re acting like buddies so it’s basically for free (even if we aren't really close)—I’d rather not mess around until they actually get here. I'll suck it up, though. I really don't want to screw anything up; I can be pretty clueless sometimes. But thanks for the heads-up.
Wait, I didn't quite get that part about the free diagnostics... I thought it was supposed to be for two years?
If I only had one, I wouldn't even have that. It’s been exactly a year this month.
When's the move? 🤔

Edit:
Thanks guys, you've been awesome... really appreciate all the help. 🙂

edit2:
So I took a quick look at that... just to see... and turns out he was looking at the exact same images. He knows his stuff when it comes to GPUs and hardware specs, and he actually set the whole thing up himself, but even then? Still no fix.

Edit3:
Well, that lesson just went down the drain... but honestly? After that, Firefox wouldn't even launch. I had to reboot the whole thing just to get it moving again. It actually worked this time, but man, isn't it exhausting when your computer just freezes up and wipes out everything you've typed?

I’ve been scrolling through this thread for a while, so I figured I’d finally jump in and weigh in. 😁

I haven't devoured every single word here—though I got most of it—so my bad if this has already been covered. From what I've seen, things can get messy when you try to install a new version of Catalyst drivers without completely wiping the old ones first. I also remember hearing about some issues where the Radeon HD 7560 D would act up if the BIOS was too outdated.

I don't know the specifics of your situation, but my advice is to have your buddy fully uninstall Catalyste first and just stick with the basic VGA driver. The display might look a little wonky, but the system shouldn't crash or freeze, which is exactly what you need to safely handle the next step: updating the BIOS. You should be able to find the latest BIOS version for your motherboard on the ASRock website, and there's usually an app to make the update easier.

Once that's done, you can go ahead and reinstall Catalyste. Just a heads-up, though: sometimes the absolute latest version of Catalyst comes with its own set of bugs. If you want to play it safe, maybe install the version right before the newest one instead...

FYI, it isn't a massive undertaking; you can probably knock it all out in thirty minutes to an hour. Hopefully, that clears everything up...

Thanks for the tip... he was messing around with that Catalyste stuff you mentioned... moving things in and out... I was just watching from the sidelines, so I'm not exactly sure what his process was.
I'll jot down your advice and show him... if there's something he missed, maybe he can try it... otherwise, I guess I'll have to take it to a repair shop.
Either way, thanks for any help at all... I'd much rather fix this easily than deal with a trip to the service center.
He actually suggested I try ditching Firefox for a bit to see if that stops the issues, so I'll give that a shot over the next few days... He won't be able to help me out for maybe two or three weeks, so I've gotta figure this out myself... until then, I'll just keep studying and taking notes on your suggestions.🙂

Got some updates... I've been using IE lately to see if the same thing keeps happening. It hasn't. But instead, I've run into a few other issues. Red screens and warnings.





So, what gives?
Could this be linked to that "google redirect" virus?
http://atechjourney.com/google-redir...manually.html/

Rachel Jones8 said:Here’s an update... I’ve been using IE lately to see if the same thing keeps happening. It isn't. But instead, I keep getting hit with something else. Just a red screen and a warning message.





So what's the deal?
Could this be related to that "Google redirect" virus?
http://atechjourney.com/google-redir...manually.html/

That just means Google flagged the site for having a virus and they're blocking you from catching it.

I don't know if this is some weird glitch caused by an ad on a site like Reddit or maybe some shady IE plug-in, but this has been popping up randomly for the last few weeks. Once it starts, it's basically impossible to get anything done on the forum. I've even asked some smarter people about it, and nobody has a clue why it's happening. Anyway, it seems to be strictly an IE issue; I switched over to Opera and everything works perfectly fine without any hiccups...

Thanks for the reply.
So it’s got nothing to do with my previous issue... which, by the way, isn't even popping up now that I've switched over to IE. But hey, that's not really a fix, just more "diagnostics," right? Honestly, I hate being on IE—I'm such a Firefox girl through and through—but at least now I know more. We'll see if this info actually helps. I'll give Chrome a shot too.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:this basically means Google caught wind of a virus on that site and they're using that warning to stop you from getting infected.

The thing is, my computer is "trying" to go to that site on its own... it's not me doing it. It happens while I'm just browsing the forum.
Got any tips or ideas about that other issue? Like, why does it only happen when Firefox is running? Is there anything else worth trying besides what's already been suggested? And... can I count on the repair shop to actually fix this, since it only happens randomly, maybe once a day? (It's impossible to predict or trigger it on purpose).

Rachel Jones8 said:Thanks for the reply.
So this isn't actually linked to my previous issue... which, by the way, isn't popping up now that I've switched to IE. Still, this feels more like "diagnostics" than an actual fix. I hate using IE—I'm a Firefox person through and through—but at least I have more info now. We'll see if it helps. I'll try Chrome too.

The thing is, the computer "wants" to go to this specific site on its own... it's not me doing it, it just happens while I'm browsing the forum.
Got any advice or ideas regarding that first problem? Why does it only happen when Firefox is running? What else can I try besides what's already been suggested? And... can I count on a repair shop to actually fix this, given that it only happens occasionally, maybe once a day? It's totally unpredictable, so I can't really force it to happen.

The quickest, easiest move is just a fresh install of Windows... wasting time on diagnostics like this is a total headache.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:honestly, the easiest and fastest fix is just to wipe it and reinstall Windows... trying to diagnose all this crap is a total nightmare.

My buddy told me last time he was over that it’s not even a Windows issue. We haven't talked since and won't for another two weeks, so I gotta be patient.
He just suggested I ditch Firefox... so that's what I did.
If he's right, then switching should fix it... there's really no other way. (Plus, after I upgraded the RAM and the SSD recently, it actually worked fine for a while).
Nobody's stressing out right now 😁 ...I'm just doing my homework while he's away... so when we finally catch up, it'll be easier to decide on a plan. I'll tell him how the PC has been acting and what advice I picked up.
Everything else seems fine, though. It hasn't crashed once in the last few days.

So... I spent the whole week using IE and aside from this annoying red warning popping up constantly—which seems totally unrelated to the previous one—I didn't run into that daily headache again. (You know, that black screen and the error about the AMD driver)
Yesterday and today I tried out Chrome for a bit, and still nothing... then I stumbled upon this: https://support.mozilla.org/hr/questions/968168
so I figured I'd see what the deal was. My bad though, I didn't realize there was a difference between the setup version and the portable one
https://www.waterfoxproject.org/downloads.html
and I clicked portable...
The thing is, I don't get it... I downloaded it, but it's not showing up in my list of installed programs. When I found where it saved and clicked the desktop shortcut, the icon says waterfox.exe, but when I click it, it just opens... everything looks exactly like Firefox, except it's in English instead of American English like my Firefox was. If I go to help at the top, it does say Waterfox, but otherwise, it's identical to Firefox.
I have no clue why it isn't in my programs list or how to switch the language to American English.
When I launched it, something popped up about the Firewall, so I shut it down... I wasn't sure if I should let it through.
Anyway, even though Waterfox isn't in my programs list, I've got the icon in my taskbar and it worked today without that issue I was having with Firefox.
Basically, I click the Waterfox icon and it works, looking just like Firefox. But under Start -> All Programs, there's no sign of Waterfox. The icon has an .exe extension... but it doesn't trigger an installation, it just opens the app, which looks exactly like Firefox.
I'll stick with this for the next few days and see if any problems pop up.
(Sorry for the long, confusing post, I'm a little lost right now)

Edit:
The devil was on my shoulder so I started clicking things (something about reloading) and now both Firefox and Waterfox (they won't run at the same time) are a total mess... my Bookmarks are gone... and I had a ton of them. Now my Firefox is stuck in English too...
Yeah, I know, I messed up. Totally my own fault... I'm done tinkering. 🙈

Waterfox is basically just the 64-bit version of Firefox, and people claim it's actually the fastest browser out there... On that page where you downloaded it, you'll see language packs listed underneath. There isn't an American one available, just Canadian, so you could try using that. You'd likely have to download it and manually drop it into the Waterfox folder.

If you need to find where the program is actually installed, just right-click the icon and hit properties. That'll show you the full file path and the exact name of the executable that runs when you click the icon.

Quote: The New Guy

darkowl72 said:Waterfox is just the 64-bit version of Firefox, and people swear it’s the fastest browser out there. On that site where you downloaded it, check under the language packs—they don't have an American one, only Canadian, but you could give that a shot. You probably just need to download it and drop it right into the Waterfox folder.

Check out the downloads page here. Ready to switch things up?
It’s all here... but I'm hitting an error that makes zero sense to me. Any ideas?

Quote: The New Guy

Where can you find the program? Just right-click the icon and hit properties. That’ll show you the full file path and the exact name of whatever is running when you click it. Simple enough, right?

It says it's under users /username... weird that it's not in Program Files, right?
I hit Start and clicked All Programs, but nothing shows up. Shouldn't there be something there?

You should see two distinct folders: Program Files (x86) for your 32-bit software and the standard Program Files for 64-bit applications.

Otherwise, you're looking at another Mozilla-based browser—usually some stripped-down, high-speed version. It's a lot like Pale Moon, which I use myself (it even has an American English version available)

Sorry, I'm not really following you... I don't get this stuff. I installed it today and everything seemed fine, but now my Bookmarks are gone and the whole thing switched to English.
Under Computer - Local Disk C - all I see are Program Files and Program Files x86. There's no sign of Waterfox anywhere.
I can't find any x64... even though I know I have the 64-bit version.
I'm totally lost here....🙂
But hey, aside from some unexpected changes, at least it's working and hasn't crashed on me today. 😁
That's enough for me today, thanks guys...
...taking notes. 😉

Oh, seriously? You actually have 😍. How can you not? It downloaded for me without any issues—it’s just zipped up, so you need to extract it and drop it into the right folder. If you don't have a zip tool handy, just grab 7-Zip; it's free and handles pretty much every format out there.

It should be showing up under All Programs. It might not be listed specifically as Waterfox, though, so check the exact file path being called and look directly in that folder.

And yeah, obviously your Bookmarks are gone. You're using a different browser now; you actually have to manually import them from the old one.

Rachel Jones8 said:On my computer—local disk C—all I see is Program Files and Program Files (x86). There is absolutely no sign of Waterfox anywhere.
I can't find the x64 version anywhere, even though I know I have the 64-bit version installed.

My bad, sorry about that! If you only see "Program Files," that’s actually where the 64-bit version lives.

You won't see your old Bookmarks because this is a completely different browser. 🙂
It might have asked you during the initial setup if you wanted to migrate your bookmarks, provided that specific option was available.

edit
Look for the bolded text here:

Navigate to the bookmarks menu, then choose organize bookmarks. From there, select import. This allows you to pull data from another browser, similar to the prompt you might have seen during installation. Note that if you aren't importing specifically from IE or Chrome, this step won't resolve your issue.

darkowl72 said:Whoa, seriously? It actually has 😍 How could it not? It downloaded for me just fine. It’s probably just zipped up, so you gotta unzip it and drop it into that folder. If you don't have a zip tool handy, just grab 7-Zip—it's free and handles basically any format out there.

It should be in your All Programs list, though maybe it isn't listed under Waterfox. Check the exact file path you're calling to find it in that folder.

And yeah, obviously the Bookmarks are gone. You're using a different browser now; you've gotta import them from one to the other.

Nope, something's definitely off.
Whatever, I'm not sweating it too much. My buddy will fix those little things when he gets here... but the whole situation feels weird. Why hasn't that blackout happened this week? Just constant chaos lately. Robert Rodriguez2 said it might be a Windows issue... not that I don't believe him, I just don't know anything about this stuff. Would a reinstall help, or was something wrong with Firefox? I'll just stick with Waterfox for the week and see how it goes.
My Bookmarks were right there... until I clicked something... now everything looks a bit different. I just realized some changes happened... nothing until I clicked a different icon and saw the Help menu offering support for Waterfox. So yeah, I'm definitely on Waterfox now.
A minute ago, I couldn't even get Firefox to open.

Timothy Kim60 said:My bad, sorry! That folder where it just says "Program Files" is the 64-bit version.

You won't see your Bookmarks in there because it's a different browser.🙂
Maybe it asked you if you wanted to import your Bookmarks during the first launch? (If the option popped up).

edit
Look for the bolded part.

Maybe... if I remember right, it didn't really ask me anything.
I don't see any bolded text anywhere. 😢

Edit:
The Bookmarks aren't even in Firefox anymore, so I clearly can't import them... no clue why they vanished.
Not exactly thrilled about it, but... it happens. The main thing is just getting the core issue fixed.

Why would you even need an American version of a browser? 😬

If you're looking to jump ship from Firefox but want something with a similar feel, check out this—you'll find a link for a migration tool at the very last bullet point to help you move over your Bookmarks. Over here, you can select the English language settings. Just make sure you install both of those after you've finished installing the browser itself.

Once it's installed, click on Pale Moon in the top left corner, then head over to Add-ons in the right-hand column (look for the blue puzzle piece icon). Type "adblock" into the search bar on the right and hit install on the first one that pops up (click the install button on the right side).

Timothy Kim60 said:Why would you even need an American browser? 😬

If you're looking to ditch Chrome, here's how.

No way, I'm not feeling it at all... I've used it forever and honestly would rather stick with what I know, but since my screen goes black on me every single day (like I mentioned earlier), I'm just venting a bit. I'm waiting for my buddy to get back and see if he can fix it, unless I have to haul the whole rig to a repair shop. If it wasn't happening on Edge, I figured maybe switching over to Chrome might actually work, since it's basically the same thing I usually use.

You got anything similar to that? This is it. Check the last bullet point—I dropped a link there for a migration tool from Chrome to help you move those bookmarks over. Here? You’ve got American English. Obviously, you'll set that up right after you finish installing the browser.

Once you've got it installed, just click the menu in the top left corner of Chrome. Head over to the extensions icon—that little blue puzzle piece—then search for "adblock" in the bar on the right. Just hit install on the first one that pops up. Easy enough, right?

A bit late for me to be digging into this... but wait, are you actually pitching me a new browser now? Or what?
I probably wouldn't be able to get bookmarks working in Chrome anyway if they've disappeared over there too.
Better off hitting the sack... long day.

Seriously though, thanks to everyone stepping up to help. I can't thank you guys enough. 🙂

Exactly, because I actually know how that browser operates well enough to walk you through it—plus, there's the migration from Chrome to consider, not to mention the American language support.