Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 September 17

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[edit] September 17

[edit] Embedding for YouTube

Why do some videos on YouTube show this: Embedding disabled by request? Jet (talk) 00:34, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Because..some people don't want their videos embedded and click the option when uploading? -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 00:48, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Embedding is when you put a YouTube video into a page which is not YouTube (e.g., a blog). I guess a video uploader can disable that if they want. --24.147.86.187 15:37, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] XP Issues

I tried posting this before, but it seems to have disappeared. ... (edited by frotht) 140.247.236.190 02:00, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

You can find your original question here. --frotht 05:06, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Computers Rebooting

Is it possible to force computers to reboot over the network? I have a PC, a Fedora computer, and a Mac laptop. The only thing they share in common is the power from a shared UPS and a connection (two wired, one wireless) to a Linksys router. I was having very slow DNS lookups last weekend. I called Comcast to complain and the guy walked me through the whole shutdown and restart thing three times, each time telling me that I being stupid and doing it wrong. I demanded to talk to his supervisor and he told me that he'll get him, but I'll be sorry. Ever since, all of my computers reboot without warning every 5-10 minutes. So, that led to my question - could they be forced to reboot through the network from Comcast? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.58.224.126 (talk) 02:17, 17 September 2007 (UTC)


There is no way. That would create a huge security vulnerability. What if I could go and just turn off google.com? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.195.124.101 (talk) 02:37, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Computers can be rebooted from the network, but only if their owners allow it. At least on Unix, if you have shell access as root, you can simply write shutdown -r now, and the computer will reboot without you ever touching it. However, if the Comcast guys don't have shell access to your computer (and I very much think they don't), they can't do that. JIP | Talk 04:10, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
No it's impossible, comcast cannot cause your hardware to halt. Are you sure when he "walked you through" the restart thing that he didn't tell you to do anything weird? If he said "but you'll be sorry.." you might want to call the supervisor back.. excercise a bit of that buying power that's useless against government-supported monopolies like Comcast! --frotht 05:04, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Favicons

I've added a webpage with a favicon (a subset of NPR) to my bookmark list, but the favicon doesn't show. I'm using Firefox 2.0, and it shows the favicons for most pages in the bookmarks. But the NPR one isn't showing. And the properties tab when you right click on the icon lets me do nothing other than changing the name. Anything anybody knows that I can do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.247.236.190 (talk) 04:23, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Try clicking on the bookmark and visiting the page. It often need to actually using the bookmark to fetch the favicon. --antilivedT | C | G 04:27, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Could you give a specific link, so that it might be possible to verify the problem? I've seen similar behavior before, and it seems like the size of the icon file was too big. By manually hacking the bookmarks file, I was able to add the icon, though. --Pekaje 12:14, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I think I had to do that with slashdot a long time ago. A very nasty solution IMO --frotht 23:09, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Clicking on it worked great. Thank god. I have no idea how to manually hack a bookmarks file. 140.247.237.67 14:06, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No sound at all

I have an HP Pavilion a814x desktop computer (outdated really, long story short, I have a new one but I'm waiting for the graphics card because I had to RMA it). It recently went down and I reinstalled the OS to a new directory (WINDOWS2) and it has been running fine, however, I have no sound. The speaker and headphone ports in both the back and front of the computer are non-functional, and the menu from the control panel always says No Device. There are no errors at all that display, and in the BIOS menu internal sounds is set to "auto" (FYI). I went through their complete sound troubleshooting faq (HP's) online, and I have gone through the support option that came with the computer, and I still get nothing. I have also attempted downloading newer audio drivers from their page, and I always get a message from the installer that it failed. Please help.

(and if this matters, the speaker system is a Logitech X-540 system. I have checked multiple times and my configuration is dead-on correct). --208.191.52.89 00:23, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Integrated sound card failure means your motherboard may be faulty. You may just want to save yourself the hassle (sounds like you've been through enough, hah!) and pick up a cheap $25 PCI sound card. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 00:45, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure it's the motherboard failing? I don't want to spend any more money on a card, because this computer is going in the trash as soon as I get the new one running. --208.191.52.89 01:10, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

No, not the motherboard. It's most likely the sound card (which connects to the motherboard). · AndonicO Talk 01:12, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I think I should have mentioned there is no sound card, the sound is built-in to the motherboard. --208.191.52.89 01:56, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I mean, you uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers, and it's on-board, so it's not loose in the slot or anything. I can't really think of any other possibility for "no device". You could get the sound card and use it for your new computer as well, I suppose. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 05:55, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Since this happened when you reinstalled the OS, and you don't mention having any problems with your sound in the past, its undoubtedly a problem with your drivers/OS. Either that, or your on-board sound has failed at the same time as your new OS install ? Not likely. Now, have these Logitech X-540 speakers worked before? Or are these speakers from your new computer and you're trying to use them with the old one? Unplug the x540s and try to get it working with just the headphones... uninstall your audio drivers and reboot your computer. Now see if Windows recognizes the new device automatically with no drivers installed. If it doesn't, and you have it turned on in the BIOS, you can rest assured the onboard sound component of your motherboard is faulty. Jashwood 14:11, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Outrage

The outrage that just recently occurred, can someone elaborate please why that happens? Has this been increasingly occuring? Also, how does wikipedia protect articles and other files, as in if the hard drive/ server kicks the bucket, there are backups somewhere correct? Phgao 13:20, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I am going to assume you mean "outage," not "outrage." For the last part of your question, there is a description of the server setup here; basically, there are a lot of servers, and they are set up with a lot of redundancy so that a single point of failure should not be catastrophic. --LarryMac | Talk 14:06, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Details appear here and on WP:IRC. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:55, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, the outrage is basically perpetual, and may be frequently observed on WP:AN, WP:AN/I and User talk:Jimbo Wales among other places. Talk pages of controversial articles and disputed policies are also good places to look, as are the Wikipedia mailing lists. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 22:07, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes there are lots of backups (on some peoples home comptuers too), but the "working copy" is spread across lots of db servers and caching servers.. no hardware failure could cause loss of data. If something went catastrophically wrong then things can always be restored from backups. That's never happened in my memory, though I think at least one time a few hours' edits were lost for some reason. Brion and his ilk are very good at worrying about the servers so don't trouble yourself. If you really must, just become a developer --frotht 02:10, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
I don't believe it, all this time I was thinking outrage, and only now do you guys point out it's outage! Thanks, learnt something today! Phgao 06:10, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
o_o wow --frotht 23:08, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Loss of data on portable HDD

I have had a loss of data on a portable USB 20GB HDD several times and I am concerned as to what is causing it. It occurs when I plug the drive into the USB port. Everything works fine and all files that were on it before are still there. I can write to the drive and the little red light flashes occordingly. The files appear to be on the drive and can be accessed, and all transfers have compleated before I remove it. But sometimes (like 2/10 times) when I later connect the drive to a computer, all the files or changes from the previous session have disappeared. What could be causing this? Many thanks, Think outside the box 14:28, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Tell us: 1. the make and model of the drive, and 2. the operating system you are using. Otherwise we are just groping with hypotheticals... --24.147.86.187 14:32, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
The drive is a Archos (ARCdisk20), running a FAT32 file system. The operating is Win XP Think outside the box 14:38, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Hmm.. well that is odd. I assume you are properly stopping the drive within Windows itself before removing it? (That shouldn't be the cause of something like this, though.) It is very weird that it would appear to make changes but is apparently not making them — that's not something I've ever heard of and it sounds very bizarre, almost like a problem with the OS and not the drive (the OS should know if it has changed the drive; the drive shouldn't be able to selectively "forget" changes, it is just a medium to be written to). --24.147.86.187 15:32, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I've had this before. It's most likely caused by Windows XP caching the data. That means that in order to speed things up, it doesn't always write the data to the drive right away. If you right-click on the drive and choose "eject" before you disconnect it, it will write all the cached data to the drive and then disconnect the drive from windows. If you want to, you can disable caching on the external drive so that you can just disconnect it without needing to "eject" it. To do this, right click on the drive and select "Properties". Then click on the "Hardware" tab. There will be a list of disk drives. You will have to select the correct one and then click on the "Properties" button. Then click the "Policies" tab. You then can select "Optimize for Quick Removal" to disable caching. I hope this helps. --Daemon 21:32, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
I did think of this, however I don't think it is a caching problem because the red light flashes (showing that data is being written) and it is all of that sessions data which is gone, not just the last pending transfer. Think outside the box 07:42, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Looking for fix/new desktop

I now have this desktop and the big, gray component attached to the rear wall next to the fan started making a funny noise. I tilted the desktop and the noise went away for a few seconds, but that trick no longer works. Any idea on what I can do to fix the problem? Also, I now want to by a new desktop to be used mostly for wordprocessing and Internet surfing. Any suggestions? Thanks. -- Jreferee (Talk) 15:29, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Word processing and Internet surfing are pretty low bars. What's the most intensive thing you plan on using it for? (Games? Photo editing? Video editing? etc.), as that will tell you whether you need to get a high end system or whether you can buy a sub-$1000 cheapy and be just fine. (Note that if you are just using it for word processing and internet, you might want to give some thought into what OS you plan to get. A Mac will be a lot less trouble if that's all you're doing with it than a Windows machine.)
As for the funny noise, I can't really figure out what component you are talking about. My guess is that it is something to do with the power supply or something else with another fan in it (fans are often the causes of noises, because they are one of the few moving parts in the machine). --24.147.86.187 15:36, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
A sub-$1000 cheapy might be the way to go. I don't do much photo processing. I do want something fast that won't cause me delays in my word processing and internet use and perhaps can be connected to my existing desktop. I don't have MAC software so I'll stick to a IBM type computer. The component is the one hidden below the green cover in the lower left corner of this photo. I'm fairly certain that it is the power supply. I didn't realize that there are more than one fan, and that probably is the problem. According, to this, there is a five year warranty. Not sure how I collect on that. -- Jreferee (Talk) 15:47, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

The "big grey component" is almost certainly the computer power supply and within it is another, smaller fan. The power supply unit can be replaced as a whole or you could get a knowledgeable repair shop to replace the internal fan. You don't sound like you have enough experience to do it yourself, though.

Atlant 18:07, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

DO NOT try to replace the fan yourself. The PSU capacitors hold a lethal charge (or high voltage, or whatever the technically correct term is, electricity makes no sense to me) and can store it for months before it dissipates. Our article says "for most PSU's this can be fixed by unplugging the PSU and then pressing the power-on button" but I wouldn't trust that method. -frotht 01:59, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
It's probably not the fan itself but a capacitor straining or something. Replace the whole PSU, you can get it done or do it for less than $50. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 02:21, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Capacitors don't change their noise when tilted; fans do. It's the PSU fan.
Also, in response to "months", that's just nonsense. I agree that this user shouldn't do the fan repair themselves, but no off-line switcher is going to hold charge on its electrolytic capacitors after "months"; the electrolytics are just too electrically leaky and even in the absence of deliberate bleeder resistors, there are other sneak paths that will bleed down the stored charge.
Atlant 12:24, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Be careful if replacing it yourself. Some Dells use non-standard power connectors that are (mind-numbingly stupidly) keyed exactly the same as standard ATX power supplies and motherboards.[1]. I think they have changed back to standard connectors, but please do your research, or at least post which model you have here (looking at the picture's filename, it's a Dimension 8300?). --Bennybp 03:26, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
So, to summarize, you can likely have either the entire power supply or just the power supply fan replaced quite cheaply at the nearest computer repair shop (if they will put in for payment from the manufacturer's warranty, all the better). Therefore, I wouldn't replace the entire computer unless you are deeply dissatisfied with it for other reasons. If you are happy with it, then you are more likely to have problems with a new computer (loading all the software from the old one, for example) that can be entirely avoided by sticking with "the old grey mare".
One warning on warranty replacements, some of them are a scam. They require you to send your computer to Asia for replacement, and make you wait for months, knowing full well that nobody will do that and they won't be forced to honor the warranty. StuRat 04:53, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] getting rid of dropdown box in excel pasted from html

OK, I had a big list of stuff in a html page which I copied and pasted into excel and got nice columns etc. except that the drop-down box on the html page which said view 50 or 100 or all is now floating around the worksheet. I deleted all the javascript boxes floating around, but this box is still there in the upper left corner of the visible screen no matter how I scroll down or up. I can't seem to select it to delete. Fooling around with all the options for viewing doesn't help. how do i delete this monster? thanks. Gzuckier 18:07, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Could it be as simple as deleting that row? Right click on the row number -> delete row. Other than that, I dunno. Maybe uploading the spreadsheet somewhere for us to look at would help. JoshHolloway 18:32, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
well, I fumbled my way into it; opened the "control toolbox", set the thing into "design mode", then i could select the stupid box and cut, then exit. good thing I'm not scared of visual basic. Gzuckier 18:38, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Drwaing toolbar - select object pointer - select - delete? Lanfear's Bane 08:33, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] kamerflauge

What is Kamerflauge?24.124.14.97 18:39, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Camouflage? JIP | Talk 19:05, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Here you go. Holy crap that's cool! It's some special technique that allows things to be visible through a camera but not by the naked eye. The opposite of a vampire I guess. Check out the "applications" page --frotht 01:52, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Kinda cool idea, but the most probable use of it will just be watermarking or obscuring of images and movies to avoid redistribution — i.e., it will became a method for copyright holders to prevent you from doing things like photographing the Mona Lisa (imagine if every picture of copyrighted material you took became cross-hatched and nasty—blah). Hopefully it won't take off. --24.147.86.187 13:51, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
I note that their "technology explanation" page completely misses the fact that most cameras have a hot mirror in front of the sensor that greatly reduces the amount of infrared light that gets through. --Carnildo 22:19, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Security exception in ASP.NET

I tried to make an ASP.NET page that asks for my Windows login. The page compiled fine, but when I ran it and typed my Windows username and password, it gave me an error saying I was trying to hack into the server. Is this only because I have a < character in my password, or is it something far more sinister? JIP | Talk 19:08, 17 September 2007 (UTC)


It would help if you gave the exact message you got rather than a paraphrase. Was it by any chance "A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected from the client"? If so, you can get around the problem by adding validateRequest="false" to the page directive. See asp.net[2] for more details. AndrewWTaylor 08:43, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, exactly that. Thanks for the help. JIP | Talk 15:47, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] nVidia

Hello. I've been having problems with the graphics in a new game I bought (Caesar IV). This game was released a year before I bought this brand-new computer, so I don't understand why even when I put the game's graphics on the lowest quality, I still experience bad performance. I have nVidia's GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, and I was wondering if it might help if I downloaded a newer version of ForceWare (I have version 158.18), or is ForceWare product specific, I mean, does each nVidia product have its own ForceWare that is not compatible with any other product? I'd appreciate any advice that you can give me about improving my graphics and game performance short of buying some high-performance new graphics card (since this new computer should already have the capabilities of running a year-old game). Thanks! (By the way, RAM's not the problem. I've got 3GBs)--El aprendelenguas 20:15, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I was going to say that nVidia uses a unified driver for their GeForce cards, but their download site now appears to let you choose between geForce series 8, 7, 6 etc - so you'll be wanting the 6 series driver. 82.152.197.13 20:26, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Actually, they still seem to offer one driver for all their recent GeForce cards - they just have more specific options to search. 82.152.197.13 20:32, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
Brand-new is not equivalent to high performance. If you didn't pay a ton of money for your hardware don't expect any gaming performance from today's ridiculously bloated and inefficient games (128kbps upstream for crysis?! what, is it transferring the whole game? 512MB vram? What is it, voxel based? Oh wait, yes it is) --frotht 01:48, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Check the game's minimum requirements, the GeForce 6150 is an integrated graphics chipset (also called onboard video) that uses a portion your system's memory as opposed to a dedicated graphics card, which has its own. As fast as desktop memory is these days (compared to several years ago), the dedicated memory on a graphics card is still much, much faster, desktop memory simply cannot provide the bandwidth (the speed at which data can be moved in and out of memory) needed by today's games. Lower the resolution and quality settings until the game becomes playable, if they are already as low as they can go and you still get poor framerates, there really isn't much you can do short of buying a new video card. Cyraan 17:52, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
If it's integrated, wouldn't it be attached to the motherboard? · AndonicO Talk 14:00, 20 September 2007 (UTC)