The Computer Geek Thread

[Mikee]

@forteh I don't think Microsoft really care about Windows activation anymore. There aren't that many limitations on an unactivated install of Windows 10. Plus the vast majority of PCs are OEM activated, compared to those that are self built and activated by the consumer. If anything, I think ditching Windows activation would work in Microsofts favour. Since it would drop the price of PCs, in a diminishing market.

 

I've been trying to buy a second hand, low-mid end PC on eBay for a while, to use as a linux machine. But the prices are just ridiculous right now. 

[Topsy]

On 29/01/2021 at 8:24 AM, forteh said:

Got an ssd? Overclocked? Fresh install of windows 10 (not an upgrade) and memtest86 to check the ram.

I would do those things first before upgrading

SSD: Yes, OC: No. Fresh install: Yes.

Memtest: Should finally do it, but simply ignoring the PC was easier. Ought to start that tomorrow incase my school does need to switch to homeschooling again after all and I'll one more be dependent on the computer.

On 29/01/2021 at 10:08 AM, Luke Rainbird said:

Assuming it was all working fine before the Win10 upgrade? Would point towards a software issue if so (not that parts don't ever die, but IME it's pretty rare). Fresh clean install as Ed says and go from there 

Thing is, I seem to be a magnet for pretty rare computer issues. When I built it it didn't boot x times out of 10. Turned out the RAM was incompatible with the specific MoBo.

But yes, I did get the regular picture viewer crashinfg on win 7, but no other issues. I'm was hoping it'd disappear entirely and not get worse by switching to win10!

At the start I was getting explorer crashes every few minutes, but that was something to do with "Stardock (?) Fences" that I used to organise my desktop. So I got rid of that. Then the event viewer started pointing to a .dll to do with the GPU driver, so I did a fresh install of that. Didn't help though.

On win7 it used to point to a ram error. Not sure what to believe now but it's tedious. 

[Topsy]

Finally ran Memtest. No errors after two passes so I doubt that's the immediate problem (but what do I know?).

Started uninstalling lots of stuff to see if it magically fixes itself. 

[HippY]

On 09/02/2021 at 0:47 PM, Topsy said:

Finally ran Memtest. No errors after two passes so I doubt that's the immediate problem (but what do I know?).

Started uninstalling lots of stuff to see if it magically fixes itself. 

I haven`t been on these forums for like 2 years but it is as good as anytime:

How frequent the issues are? Memtest is usually a good test to see whats happening, as it is testing both your memories and memory controller, so it seems like it is either an intermittent hardware issue or software.

Software: Are you opening those files with a specialised program? If the program is misbehaving/glitches (for example misinterpret data) that can cause memory leaks/failure if it loads garbage into RAM.

Hardware: So you have an i5 4670k, and the motherboard and CPU is 7-8 years old probably. Over that many years you can have leaky capacitors or generally worn out components. It depends on how expensive components your motherboard/cpu/RAM uses or whether you got lucky/unlucky. I would start investigating the software issues first (maybe try to use different software to import data), as hardware is expensive to replace.

 

[Joe Aston]

I've just ordered a raspberry pi zero and i plan on setting up pi hole on it to run as a network-wide ad blocker, any one using a pi for any other uses, I've got plenty of time on my hands while furloughed so feel like playing around with this sort of thing a good way to pass the time. 

[marg26]

Got a 2nd monitor and two wall mounts (with some tilt/rotation) delivered today. Had been toying with getting a 2nd 27" screen until I realized there's nowhere near enough space under the stairs. Eventually made the decision to get a 22" screen and rotate 90 degrees. Only requirements were IPS for viewing angles, and minimal frame. Image shows the Arch Linux system shutting down past the point where all the display stuff is running hence lack of rotation on 2nd screen.

Now I can see five sixths of my twin HD displays at work while working from home rather than just two thirds of it (guesstimated proportions).

I've got 3 RPis, a 2, 3, and a 4. Currently only using the RPI 3 running OSMC/Kodi, accessing media off NAS drive, Plex cloud server, Iplayer, ITV, Prime, etc. Soldered a IR receiver to it (actually to a header) (can pick these bits up for a few quid) and software set up to read an old TV remote control I found laying about otherwise doing nothing.

Used to have a HiFiBerry DAC+ sat on top of it but no longer have a HIFI. Once setup DarkIce to stream media from my desktop to it over the LAN to avoid an addition cable from desktop to hifi. Didn't really use it that much though. Toddlers threatened to destroy the HIFI so it went into storage.

 

Annoyed I didn't manage to get the two screens perfectly aligned along that top edge though. I did try!

Edited February 18, 2021 by marg26

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Ok, not strictly a computer geek question (well, it kinda is)... My wifi router spits out both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals. If I turn off the 5GHz access point, will the 2.4GHz signal be any stronger? My wife's having some 'poor broadband' connection issues in our office even though we're now on NOW superfibre which should be up to 63Mbps... I just did a speed check and it reckoned she was seeing 37Mbps but something's not quite right and her audio's dropping out in Teams (not cool as she's a teacher giving lessons!). Any thoughts?!

Edit: I should point out that switching to a wired connection really isn't going to be easy due to the location of the BT point and router.

[forteh]

2.4ghz is slower but longer range, turning off the 5ghz won't increase the speed.

We have an odd dead spot in the lads room (his pc is hardwired but his phone struggles in one place) which I think is related to the central heating pipes in the floor by his door, when speed testing on my phone, outside his door I would get 140mbit, inside his room it would drop to 25mbit; switching him over to the 2.4 from the 5 improved things because the connection was more stable.  See if you can set up the router to give two SSIDs out, one for each band and then force her to use the 2.4ghz. 

Failing that a powerline adaptor will likely help as it uses your household wiring to put an AP into the room she's in.

Essentially, Wifi is shit

[AdamR28]

17 minutes ago, forteh said:

Failing that a powerline adaptor will likely help as it uses your household wiring to put an AP into the room she's in.

Can confirm these work great!

[Davetrials]

25 minutes ago, Adam@TartyBikes said:

Can confirm these work great!

Can also confirm.

I hate them. 

[JT!]

My powerline adapters worked great.

3 hours ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

Ok, not strictly a computer geek question (well, it kinda is)... My wifi router spits out both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals. If I turn off the 5GHz access point, will the 2.4GHz signal be any stronger? My wife's having some 'poor broadband' connection issues in our office even though we're now on NOW superfibre which should be up to 63Mbps... I just did a speed check and it reckoned she was seeing 37Mbps but something's not quite right and her audio's dropping out in Teams (not cool as she's a teacher giving lessons!). Any thoughts?!

Edit: I should point out that switching to a wired connection really isn't going to be easy due to the location of the BT point and router.

As mentioned turning off the 5ghz won't do much. Certainly don't use 5ghz as they're not that great at going through walls. You could also consider a wireless USB adapter with some big antennas if she's sat at a desk. But I'd go for powerline adapters.

Oh and another thing you could try is changing the 2.4ghz channel. Should be an option in the router. Unlikely to help but simple to try.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

So I've  downloaded WiFi Analyser and set the 2.4GHz to a specific channel. I've also turned off the 5GHz transmission to force things to use the 2.4GHz as I don't think all our devices are 5GHz compatible...

Thanks for the advice all! If we still have prpoblems I'll look into a powerline adapter.

[Topsy]

On 2/18/2021 at 10:21 AM, HippY said:

I haven`t been on these forums for like 2 years but it is as good as anytime:

How frequent the issues are? Memtest is usually a good test to see whats happening, as it is testing both your memories and memory controller, so it seems like it is either an intermittent hardware issue or software.

Software: Are you opening those files with a specialised program? If the program is misbehaving/glitches (for example misinterpret data) that can cause memory leaks/failure if it loads garbage into RAM.

Hardware: So you have an i5 4670k, and the motherboard and CPU is 7-8 years old probably. Over that many years you can have leaky capacitors or generally worn out components. It depends on how expensive components your motherboard/cpu/RAM uses or whether you got lucky/unlucky. I would start investigating the software issues first (maybe try to use different software to import data), as hardware is expensive to replace.

 

Thanks!
It's got way better now, I think I only got one explorer crash within a week, and that pointed to NetFramework this time. if it stays this rare I think I can live with it.
I would like to upgrade sometime, but I can't possibly justify it at the moment (not that that would stop me...).

Speaking of mobo components: Funnily enough I get coilwhine from the mobo as soon as I start up Trackmania United. Always has done that as soon as the .exe is running. I never figured out why that happens. I don't get it with any other games or programs either. 

 

Powerline adapters can be a pain, but when sorted they work great. Depending on how your house is wired you might also get issues though.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Topsy

[Joe Aston]

On 18/02/2021 at 0:51 PM, Joe Aston said:

I've just ordered a raspberry pi zero and i plan on setting up pi hole on it to run as a network-wide ad blocker, any one using a pi for any other uses, I've got plenty of time on my hands while furloughed so feel like playing around with this sort of thing a good way to pass the time. 

If anyone is interested and watches a lot of youtube I would recommend this to block all ads. I followed a mix of the guide below and had to do a bit of other digging around but it was only because I was using a virtual windows machine to SSH into it rather than a physical machine. It cost me about £15 all in, as i already had a USB to ethernet dongle and a power supply and micro USB cable. 

 

 

[Mikee]

I took the plunge and have switched to Linux Mint, on my main machine. I've been meaning to move away from macs for a while now, and I finally found decent alternatives to all the apps that I regularly use. I've still got my windows PC for games and rare compatibility needs though.

[PLIW]

Any one here running Ubiquity kit? I have the following but we’re about to move and will need to add some additional AP’s and switches. Thankfully it’s a new build so I’ve been able to go in and run 25mm conduit, all joins have been glued so it won’t come apart. I’ve also ran pulling twine using Kevlar twine so super strong. My wife one end stuffs it in the tube, there is a bit of cloth tied to the twine to seal the tube. Other end I have Henry. Sucks it down the length instantly. I can then go back and do a 2nd fix terminating it all. Need to add 3 more AP’s internally maybe 4 and 2 more externally. The externals have also had the conduit run done, plus some external lighting so all worked out well. 

[ArcticBeast]

12 hours ago, PLIW said:

Any one here running Ubiquity kit? I have the following but we’re about to move and will need to add some additional AP’s and switches. Thankfully it’s a new build so I’ve been able to go in and run 25mm conduit, all joins have been glued so it won’t come apart. I’ve also ran pulling twine using Kevlar twine so super strong. My wife one end stuffs it in the tube, there is a bit of cloth tied to the twine to seal the tube. Other end I have Henry. Sucks it down the length instantly. I can then go back and do a 2nd fix terminating it all. Need to add 3 more AP’s internally maybe 4 and 2 more externally. The externals have also had the conduit run done, plus some external lighting so all worked out well. 

 

I use the ubiquiti stuff in my house and have installed it for countless number of customers, it's a good bit of kit for the price especially the controller software not being subscription based, although I'm not 100% taken on the quality of the hardware I've had 2 of the unifi Poe switches fail on me just outside of warranty (Poe issues) not great when your trying to work from home and the AP's are constantly losing power.

Currently using some of the edgemax stuff for switching and routing, which seems to be alot more reliable and more suited to more advance configuration.

Edited February 28, 2021 by ArcticBeast

[Joe Aston]

I'm fed up with patchy wifi in our flat, so I've ordered a couple of powerline adapters and a second wireless access point, the plan is to connect the powerline adapters to the second access point and put this in the kitchen. Im planning on setting up the 2nd router with the same SSID and password as the main router and disable DHCP on the second router and assign it a static IP with the main router. The reason for the powerline adapters is i don't really want to run cat6 cables through the flat when we are in the process of selling. 

Is this all i need to do to set up the second access point so i am able to connect to the wifi? Im not a complete noob when it comes to this sort of thing but i just wanted ask the more educated if i was missing something obvious. 

[PLIW]

9 hours ago, ArcticBeast said:

I use the ubiquiti stuff in my house and have installed it for countless number of customers, it's a good bit of kit for the price especially the controller software not being subscription based, although I'm not 100% taken on the quality of the hardware I've had 2 of the unifi Poe switches fail on me just outside of warranty (Poe issues) not great when your trying to work from home and the AP's are constantly losing power.

Currently using some of the edgemax stuff for switching and routing, which seems to be alot more reliable and more suited to more advance configuration.

I agree the quality of the hardware is an issue. I’ve had switched and a cloud key go on me. I use a Raspberry Pi for my controller. 

[JT!]

3 hours ago, Joe Aston said:

Im planning on setting up the 2nd router with the same SSID and password as the main router and disable DHCP on the second router and assign it a static IP with the main router.

Why have a second router? Why not just use a wireless access point?

[Joe Aston]

Well, i was looking at standalone access points and they seem to be considerably more expensive than what you can pick a router/access point/switch combo up for.  Would using "router" cause more issues than it would solve in this sort of configuration?

 

[JT!]

I never got it to reliably work when I tried that configuration. Maybe I just got unlucky. Ended up picking up a used Ubiquiti AP from ebay.

[Joe Aston]

I've heard great things about Ubiquiti stuff, I was just trying to avoid spending that sort of cash. Although there seem to be a load on ebay that seems to cheap to be true. Il see how i get on with my this approach. 

Cheers JT

[ArcticBeast]

3 hours ago, Joe Aston said:

Well, i was looking at standalone access points and they seem to be considerably more expensive than what you can pick a router/access point/switch combo up for.  Would using "router" cause more issues than it would solve in this sort of configuration?

 

Depending on what router you get/have some have the ability to be converted to AP's, or so long as you turn off all the router functionality there shouldn't be any issues really. 

[Joe Aston]

So my plan fell at the first hurdle, i wanted to have the second access point in the kitchen but because of how the mains are wired up i think the socket i was planning on using isn't on the same circuit as the rest of the flat, i think the cooking is on that circuit so its separate. Not the end of the world il just have to find somewhere else for it live that still gives the coverage i want.

The old router i had did have an access point mode so i tried that, got it set up, initially with a separate SSID to the main router but whenever the access point was switch on it seemed to be crippling the main wifi network, web pages wouldn't load on devices connected to the original network but anything connected to the new AP was fine. I need to have a dig around in the settings and see whats happening. With me and the mrs both working from home it will have to wait until this evening/weekend for me to investigate.