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What's going on with my computer? (The computer help thread)

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  • Can you help me test it?
    Sorry, I'm pretty tired right now to futz around with getting your game settings set up correctly, as well as your network. You'll have to also forward the ports correctly if you're behind a NAT. Once you set up your network settings to allow you to host, you should just need to use sv_lan 0 to make it work as a normal server with nothing extra. Things like allowing people to download custom maps, changing the bot limit and adding bots, and other such tomfoolery require more dicking around with settings. I don't know what source game you're playing but they're all pretty much the same in terms of getting a basic server set up.
  • edited December 2010
    Apparentally, one of the updates broke sv_lan 0. I got it working using these directions
    Post edited by Pegu on
  • I used to think I had no stereo mix, but it turns out it's just disabled. Right, I enable it, and it detects no sound. I check through the options, a checkbox with the text "listen to this device" is unchecked, so I check that. I set it to listen to the default playback device.
    You don't have to set it to listen. When you play anything through the soundcard with the Stereo Mix, it should be picking that up. If it's not, some volume control or something is messed up. Listen to this device is only neccesary when you want to monitor your sound through a specific output, like another sound card normally, because everything in Stereo Mix is already playing through your speakers/headphones.
  • Mac users,

    Do you know if there's a way to setup an airport router to be a web server?
  • I need to buy a new hard drive for my MacBook Pro. The internet says it can accept drives up to 9.5mm (.374in) thick. I haven't found any with that dimension on Amazon; they're all listed as .4in. Is this just rounding on their part or do I need to continue looking?
  • edited December 2010
    Here in the civilized world, randomly selected laptop hard drive is measured as having a width of 9.5mm.

    Seriously though, who measures things in three decimal places of an inch?
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Randomly selected Amazon hard drive with a corresponding dimension of .4in.

    The conversion to foreign was my own. I just wondered if there just rounding on Amazon's part, or an actual difference.
  • I'm assuming it's a rounding thing. In case you couldn't guess.
  • edited December 2010
    I have a semi-computer related question. My graphics card came with a DVI to VGA adapter which I don't need. My new monitor came with a VGA cable which I also don't need. My sister's TV has a DVI in port and her laptop has a VGA out port. My question is this: Will the adapter designed to convert DVI from graphics card to VGA for monitor also take VGA from my sister's laptop and convert it to DVI for her television? I know the adapter has the right gender connectors but is that enough?
    Post edited by Pegu on
  • I have a semi-computer related question. My graphics card came with a DVI to VGA adapter which I don't need. My new monitor came with a VGA cable which I also don't need. My sister's TV has a DVI in port and her laptop has a VGA out port. My question is this: Will the adapter designed to convert DVI from graphics card to VGA for monitor also take VGA from my sister's laptop and convert it to DVI for her television? I know the adapter has the right gender connectors but is that enough?
    Should be, There's nothing overly complicated about switching a video feed from one to the other. Try it.
  • I know the adapter has the right gender connectors but is that enough?
    I doubt it. There aren't enough pins in VGA to put a signal through to DVI AFAIK. I think it only works one way. Only one way to find out though...
  • edited December 2010
    Yeah, converters need to be attached to the DVI graphics card so that it can, on the board itself, switch over to sending an analog signal.
    DVI to HDMI converters, I think, work both ways.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • edited January 2011
    Third Samsung hard drive failing on me after a year of use (First was a month, second was an hour or so.). Going to buy a second 1TB and copy everything over because re-downloading 100GB of Steam games would take quite a while. After that I'll send back the first.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • I was wondering: My new computer's motherboard came with a built-in sound card that had identical outputs to my old Creative Labs card. I hooked up everything properly as far as I can tell, but the system still insists on only giving me the option of either digital or non-digital audio in Stereo. I have a 5.1 system. Any tips on to where I should look? I think it's likely a missing driver, but I'm not really sure where to start.
  • I was wondering: My new computer's motherboard came with a built-in sound card that had identical outputs to my old Creative Labs card. I hooked up everything properly as far as I can tell, but the system still insists on only giving me the option of either digital or non-digital audio in Stereo. I have a 5.1 system. Any tips on to where I should look? I think it's likely a missing driver, but I'm not really sure where to start.
    Welcome to the world of surround sound! What 5.1 system do you have, exactly?
  • Welcome to the world of surround sound! What 5.1 system do you have, exactly?
    And why I don't use surround sound. :P
  • edited January 2011
    Good question. It's a Boston brand 5.1 that I got with my old Gateway700XL, but I'm not sure what it is beyond that. I can check for model numbers and such when I get home if you think I'll need that info too.
    Post edited by GreatTeacherMacRoss on
  • Good question. It's a Boston brand 5.1 that I got with my old Gateway700XL, but I'm not sure what it is beyond that. I can check for model numbers and such when I get home if you think I'll need that info too.
    It connects with three normal headphone plugs, right?
  • edited January 2011
    Good question. It's a Boston brand 5.1 that I got with my old Gateway700XL, but I'm not sure what it is beyond that. I can check for model numbers and such when I get home if you think I'll need that info too.
    It connects with three normal headphone plugs, right?
    Yeah. No crazy plugs except the odd one that goes into the subwoofer. All 5 speakers & the woofer plug into a control device with knobs on it for volume and balance, which also has a plug for headphones and a plug for a mic on the front. The plugs (three or four) go from the back of that to the sound card.
    Post edited by GreatTeacherMacRoss on
  • Yeah. No crazy plugs except the odd one that goes into the subwoofer. All 5 speakers & the woofer plug into a control device with knobs on it for volume and balance, which also has a plug for headphones and a plug for a mic on the front. The plugs (three or four) go from the back of that to the sound card.
    Yeah, that's going to be a pain in the ass.

    Basically, here's how it works. The three wires the go from the PC to the speaker system are stereo mini cables. They are the same kind you use for headphones on your iPod. They are each capable of carrying two channels of audio. Typically that is left/right for your stereo headhpones or speakers. However, with a 5.1 system, you need six channels: front left, front right, rear left, rear right, center, and subwoofer. Six channels means three cables.

    Now, the problem here is what channels does your speaker system expect to be on which cables? Back in the day I had a 4.1 system that was specifically designed to be compatible with a Sound Blaster Live! card. The colors on the cables matched up and everything. I imagine that your sound system was designed to match up with the sound card that was in that Gateway computer.

    Sound cards today that are built into motherboards are typically compatible with two standards. You want to use the modern Intel HD Audio, but it will be backwards compatible with the older AC '97. Modern sound cards, even built-in ones, can detect which holes have connectors in them. For example my computer knows to switch to microphones/headphones when I plug them into the front of the computer. One reason that you aren't seeing any surround options is because you are trying to connect the cables to the holes with matching colors. Most likely, the colors do not match up. You need to figure out which holes correspond to which audio channels. If you connect it correctly, a surround option might appear.

    Another possibility is that you are using a weird driver or something. Windows should by default intelligently select the correct driver, but you never know. Check the device manager to see if there are any audio devices with question marks. Also check the web site for your motherboard to see if there are drivers.

    Also, be aware, it might actually be impossible to get the surround sound to work correctly. For example, let's say the sound card has one hole for front audio, one hole for rear audio, and one for center/sub while your speakers expect one line to be left, one for right, and one for sub/center, then there is no actual way to make it work properly unless the driver allows you to select which channels go on which holes. Full control of that is extremely rare, if it exists at all.

    The other thing to be aware of is that with this sort of surround sound, your computer and sound card have to do all of the work of figuring out which audio goes on which channels. This is why I have switched to using only optical audio. I got the Logitech Z-5500, which has an optical input. All audio devices simply send out the untouched audio over the optical output, with no chance of messing it up. Then the speaker system takes care of figuring out all the surround-ness. That is the way I have managed to avoid so many surround sound problems, the depths of which I have not even begun to scratch in this blog post.
  • On a side note of some relavence: When I put my soundcard into a Windows 7 system, I couldn't get surround sound, went to the manufacturers website and they said said to use the built in drivers, essentially saying fuck you to anyone wanting to use their surround card for surround sound on Windows Vista or Seven.

    Terratec, this is not acceptable.
  • On a side note of some relavence: When I put my soundcard into a Windows 7 system, I couldn't get surround sound, went to the manufacturers website and they said said to use the built in drivers, essentially saying fuck you to anyone wanting to use their surround card for surround sound on Windows Vista or Seven.

    Terratec, this is not acceptable.
    Don't blame them. Surround sound, especially on PCs, is the worst. I imagine that most people in the world who think they have surround sound working properly actually do not. What's worse is a lot of people have sound coming out of all of their speakers, and they think it's working properly, but in many cases even they do not have things setup 100% properly, and they can't tell otherwise.
  • Back when I had a PC setup in my parent's media room I just used one stereo connection and Dolby ProLogic II. Trying to get actual surround was just too much effort and it really didn't sound that much better anyway.
  • Don't blame them..
    Blame them, they aren't even letting me enable the extra channels at the hardware level.
  • Blame them, they aren't even letting me enable the extra channels at the hardware level.
    That's what consumers get for purchasing unsupportable and non-open hardware. ;^)
  • edited January 2011
    Works fine with the Linux drivers.

    Wait, Rym, what the hell are you talking about?
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • Mean while in the land of stereo, everything is just peachy. ^_^
  • Mean while in the land of stereo, everything is just peachy. ^_^
    Until I own you because I can hear you sneaking up behind me in Counter-Strike.
  • Until I own you because I can hear you sneaking up behind me in Counter-Strike.
    That's what headphones are for.
  • Wait.. is this going to get sexy?
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