Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Computing/2006 September 25

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[edit] Batteries in Logitech Mice

About 3 weeks ago I bought the Logitech EX110 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse set. It comes with software which monitors the batteries and now after 3 weeks it's reporting that the batteries are critical. The ones that I've used are the Duracell AA's that Logitech supplied. I've spoken to my girlfriend who has a different Logitech wireless mouse but her batteries have lasted 3 years and are still going. Does anybody know if this is lifespan is normal (Which seems highly unlikely) or if there's a problem with the mouse or software? --Kiltman67 01:31, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Try popping in a new set of batteries. If they fail again after 3 weeks call Logitech (as something must be wrong with them). If they don't, most like there was a problem with the batteries. I suspect the latter. —Mitaphane talk 07:18, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
I have a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse as well. The batteries that they supplied me were rechargable and the time that they last depends entirely on use. When I type more they die faster. Dismas|(talk) 07:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Submitting music to iTunes

I wasn't sure if this should go in the humanities section or maybe the misc section, but...

I'm in a band (new album coming out tomorrow!) and I know a guy who said you could sign a deal with iTunes over the net and I assume one could just upload songs to them and eventually they'd be in the Music Store. Is this possible? If so, how do I do it? Thanks! NIRVANA2764 02:03, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

See http://www.apple.com/itunes/musicmarketing/. You need to submit an application to Apple to become a signed iTunes artist/label before you can upload and sell your music on the iTunes store. --Canley 05:22, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] CIS and hardware

What would be the differences between the components of a computer informaiton system and the basic kinds of computer hardware components? I'm just confused by the difference between components of a computer information system and hardware, they seem the same. I'd appreciate it if anyone had any ideas. I know about Processor, input, output, storage, and communication devices, but I'm not sure which part that would fall under, and what thing or kind of thing would fall in the other category. Chris M. 03:35, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

You could consider CIS as discussing theoretical information systems, and a computer as being an actual implementation which is attempting to fulfill the goals set forth by such a theoretical system. In some cases the mapping from theory to implementation may be simple and obvious, but other times there may be computer components which map to multiple CIS components, or don't fit into any obvious category at all. A similar thing happens with the OSI 7-layer network model. When comparing this theoretic model with a real network stack implementation, one quickly sees that practical considerations have forced engineers to deviate from the "ideal" OSI model.
Here's some examples from the categories you gave:
Processor: CPU, GPU
Input: Mouse, keyboard
Output: Monitor, printer
Storage: Hard disk, dvd-rom, thumb drive
Communication device:NIC, modem --65.105.3.194 13:39, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A driver packet received from the I/O subsystem was invalid.

I recently built a new a computer. Everything's running real well except that I occasionally get an error message appearing in the event viewer that says:

"A driver packet received from the I/O subsystem was invalid. The data is the packet."

When this happens my sound gets very distorted and I'm often forced to reboot. All my sound card (Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS) drivers are up to date and I've been unable to pinpoint what's causing this error. Anyhow, just wondering if anyone has any ideas what might be the problem.

Thanks in advance.


Windows XP Professional SP2 AMD 64 X2 4600+ Corsair 1GB X 2 TWIN2X2048-5400c4 connect3D Radeon X1900GT 256MB Asus M2N-E Seagate Barracuda 320 GB Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W


Unfortunately not all problems with hardware are driver-related. I had a brand-new ATI Radeon 9600 which had similar problems; unexplained errors, random crashing/distortion. I tried every possible method of updating and repairing the drivers and the OS; finally one day I replaced the card with another one and not a single error has happened since. I'm not guaranteeing this is your problem, but you should be prepared for the possibility that your card is defective. --65.105.3.194 13:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
I plugged the whole error message into Google and found a lot of pages talking about this message, but did not locate a definitive answer. It seems to be related to networking, perhaps the sound issue is just an effect of the problem, not a cause. There were also a few sites discussing this message in relation to either McAfee or Kapersky anti-virus. Amusingly enough, the most relevant page at microsoft.com said "don't write messages like this." Check for updated drivers for your network card and also for your AV software. --LarryMac 13:37, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
I would guess the issue is not your soundcard, however, because you are listening to music, a constant stream of data, anything that hogs the system bus (the copper bits that connect PCI sockets, ram, CPU etc.. on your motherboard) will display its symptoms as the soundcard skipping. Try removing every hardware component you dont need to boot your PC and see if it works ok, then gradually re-add each component until you see the issue again. If you still see the issue without any 'extra hardware' then i'd try downloading a linux livecd (personally i like www.linuxfromscratch.org), when you get a boot prompt enter 'memtest86' without quotes, this will take several hours to examine your ram, if you see no errors, try booting into linux and follow the instructions on their site to try compiling GCC, this is a c compiler and during its compilation it uses most cpu instructions, which is how i pinpointed a cpu failure on my old P3 box a few weeks back. If you want more specific information on the linux memtest and compile stuff, either email phillip.upson@hotmail.co.uk or ask in here, i just don't want to flood half a book of text on here if it's not needed, regards, Phill Upson.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I am currently running Kaspersky Internet Security Suite and as mentioned by someone on one of the Kaspersky forums I've noticed that it is actually happening when I'm accessing shared drives on my network. I don't have time to fool with it at the moment, but thanks again for getting me on the right path where I have at least narrowed it down a little.

[edit] How can I code a program to execute several instances of StarCraft: Brood War?

That. Thanks.

Open notepad and type this, then save it as something.bat
cd "%SystemDrive%/program files/blizzard/"
:LOOP
starcraft.exe
goto LOOP

I think it's called starcraft.exe (IIRC) but I'm almost certainly wrong about the install directory. Replace them with the correct values. Run something.bat to spam your system with starcrafts --frothT C 20:37, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't have Starcraft installed at the moment, so I can't check, but Windows programs have the ability to know whether there are other instances already open, and have the power to prevent multiple instances (a lot of programs do, I would expect Starcraft also does). In this case, you wouldn't be able to code something, unless you can tamper with the operating system to prevent this communication (like, if you wrote a Windows emulator, you could certainly take control of this). Alternatively (if you're handy with a disassembler), you could hack the starcraft program to not be able to detect the multiple instances. - Rainwarrior 20:44, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
It's usually done through semaphores + mutexes on Windows. The wonders you can work with Process Explorer! :) Jdstroy 22:06, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Well, it would have to be accomplished with some sort of system like that. The question is, can you break into the OS and change the mutex values? (Or prevent them from being set without blocking the Starcraft program?) - Rainwarrior 03:52, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is VPN - Virtual Private Network

Search first, it's quicker. You can search for Virtual private network by using the search box on the left. --Robert Merkel 15:08, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] servers

how to access a server?

What type of access do you mean ? After all, you use servers every time you go on the Internet. StuRat 18:37, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Simply by asking this question answered your own question. - Ridge Racer 00:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Most direct way to register a .mobi domain name from the UK

I've just read that .mobi domains can be registered by the public tommorrow. I want to register one or two for a business I'm hoping to start - not cybersquatting.

Could anyone tell me the most direct and quickest way to do it please? And could I register a name for my business that dosnt exist yet? Amd does anyone know the exact earliest time (for London UK local time) I could register? Thanx. 81.104.12.94 18:14, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Select your favourite registrar from the list. Anyone can register .mobi domains, and the general registration period began yesterday. -- AJR | Talk 11:48, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] computer wallpaper

i am sorry if you pain to answer a question so simple, but i am hopelessly computer illiterate. i want to know how i can change the size of my small pictures so they will fit the background of my desktop without being pixelish.

thank you a ton 142.161.231.45 19:10, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

It should be pretty obvious that in general this is impossible: what if your picture was 2 by 2 pixels, and your desktop 1600 by 1200? How would you display the picture at all without dividing the screen into four quadrants and painting each one a single color? There just isn't enough information to full the whole screen with "interesting" image content. However, it might occur to you that you could at least blend the colors together in the middle, so the pixels weren't so blaringly obvious. I believe common "stretch image as background" operations already attempt to do this, but you might be able to get something like Photoshop or The GIMP to do a better job of it. Then you could use the prestretched image that looked better. --Tardis 20:32, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
There's only so much you can do, but as mentioned software like Photoshop and the GIMP can resize images with the best possible quality, and you can also use "blur" and "sharpen" tools to increase quality, but it's not going to be perfect. Sum0 11:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

There are various options provided when assigning a wallpaper, such as tiling a small pic or stretching it to fit the screen. StuRat 23:13, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] www.site.com/index/

pretty simple question. instead of having a url such as www.site.com/index.html how would i go about saving it as www.site.com/index/ so it looks better and can be accessed easier? 70.80.66.195 20:01, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

If you mean when you're making the website, then you just make "index" a directory. Typically, a webserver, when asked for a directory, will look in that directory for a file named "index.html" (so, in this case, the file equivalent to www.site.com/index/index.html) and return that. So you could put your file there. (By the way, it's standard to use "example.com", "example.org", and "example.net" for dummy domain names; they are guaranteed to never actually point anywhere. See RFC 2606.) --Tardis 20:35, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] File Sharing

Limewire and similar systems are blocked in my university campus. is there any way around this? Ken 20:25, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

It varies very much by the specific systems involved. Most likely all traffic is routed through a gateway that censors "undesirable" stuff, like P2P. I think the best bet is to encrypt the traffic. You might want to try encryption-enabled BitTorrent clients like Azureus or uTorrent, they are already proving useful in thwarting ISPs who try to detect BitTorrent usage. More "exotic" but probably impractical methods include tunneling under a VPN (might be difficult to do as you need a server outside the university campus); route the traffic through Tor (nearly impossible as many Tor exit nodes block P2P anyway) or using some other encrypted method or proxy. I'm not aware of any encryption implemented natively in LimeWire or any other Gnutella client. ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 21:38, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Encrypt the traffic and randomize the port. Also you might want to change your mac address every once in awhile so not too much unidentified traffic is associated with you. By the way, P2P is blocked for a reason; bittorrent and other P2P protocols consume an enormous amount of very expensive bandwidth; use this advice conservatively! --frothT C 21:52, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Yea and certainly don't download warez or pirated stuff. ;-) ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 22:12, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Ares Galaxy is said to work wonders on college campuses. - Ridge Racer 00:23, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 1080p HDTV

Hi. I am looking to buy an LCD or plasma HDTV. I have a few requirements, and i haven't yet found one that meets ALL of them. If you know of one, please advise me of the make and model name, and/or website or retailer you saw it at.

these are the requirements i have:

  • Accepts AND displays 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressive).
  • Has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and aspect ratio of 16:9.
  • Has VGA-in (can be used as computer monitor).
  • Has the option NOT to stretch 4:3 standard TV to fill the screen. (most of them do this by default, and its very annoying. i need one where this can easily be turned off).

one more question. which gives better overall picture quality, 1080i or 720p?

thanks in advance adam the atomTEC 20:44, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

The answer to your second question can be found in 720p#720p_versus_1080i. ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 21:46, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
I believe that if the TV accepts HDMI input, you can buy a DVI to HDMI convertor cable to connect your PC directly to the TV. Your PC will have to have a white DVI port rather than blue VGA, but modern ones often do. Sum0 11:44, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes and some newer graphics cards have HDMI sockets as well. ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 16:46, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Logitech Technical Support

Does anybody have an E-Mail address or a link to a web form for Logitech technical support? What I've found already was useless, took me an hour to find a web form, which I found by accident through information about the Webmaster. Two week since sending the E-Mail I'm still awaiting a reply so I don't have much faith in the particular page. --Kiltman67 20:55, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Try here, if you haven't already. Whats the problem, anyway? CaptainVindaloo t c e 21:06, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Checked that but yet to find anything useful. My problem is related to an earlier question. After 4 weeks of owning the mouse I've had to replace the batteries and on checking it I'm beginning to suspect that it doesn't switch off after a period of inactivity (Which wireless mice should) so after 4 weeks of being on non stop the battery died. I've been trying to find out if my mouse actually does switch off and if so after how long so I can check for sure and then try and return it. --Kiltman67 21:35, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Mine never does, even though its supposed to. Its a lot easier to just buy rechargeable batteries. I think they switch off automatically when you spend 10+ hours programming it to. Try this, it might work:
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> Device Manager
Find your mouse on the tree, double-click the entry, then click the Power Management tab. There should be an option in there to 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'. This is in WinXP, mind you. CaptainVindaloo t c e 21:45, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Just checked and while the option is there it's grey so I can't select it. I don't know if it's relevant to that option but the mouse isn't USB. --Kiltman67 22:15, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Hmm. Worth a try. CaptainVindaloo t c e 22:23, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] USB ports failing in sequence

This is a bizarre problem that is hard to explain, so bear with me please, folks. I have a computer here that is using a USB keyboard. For several weeks, the keyboard has been plugged into a USB socket on the back of the PC without incident. Then, a few days ago, it stopped working. Eventually, I got it working again by plugging it into a different USB socket, thinking that one socket was defective. The next day, this second socket did the exact same thing, as did a third the day after. Device Manager reports no problem devices, and a quick blast of compressed air into the ports (to dislodge dust, etc) was to no avail. I can't imagine this being a problem with the USB Controller/Driver, as if either of them failed, all USB ports would fail in one go, correct? It cannot be a Keyboard Controller failure, as a spare PS/2 is working fine. What is going on? The PC is a Packard Bell NEC, about 4 years old, 1.9GHz P4, built for WinXP. I don't know what model it is; I acquired it for spares when Windows corrupted without the manual or restore CD, and Packard Bell's website is currently down. CaptainVindaloo t c e 21:01, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

What happens if you connect other devices into the USB sockets? Do they work? If they do, the problem is probably in the keyboard but if they don't then the system is at fault. ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 21:49, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
A webcam powers up and is detected when plugged into one of these; I can do a more thourough test tomorrow; the PC is my brothers and he's switched it off now. If it is the keyboard acting up, I can probably return it as it is quite new. Thanks for replying. CaptainVindaloo t c e 21:59, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Well if the USB ports work with other devices then obvious we can narrow down the problem to the keyboard. Just to make sure though, see if you can get another USB keyboard (borrow it or something) and plug that in, just in case your USB ports is really acting up. However, normally if a single device doesn't work but others do there's most likely something wrong with that device. Glad to be of help! ----龙★Ukdragon37★翔talk 22:07, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Windows often keeps track of devices on a per-port basis, meaning if it sees a keyboard on port 1 and it moves to port 2, it thinks of it as a completely new keyboard, loads new drivers for it, etc. There is a chance that Windows is fouling the usb configuration for that one port and disabling just that device on that port, so it continues to work on other ports while other devices still work on all ports. Have you tried booting into safe mode and clearing out all usb drivers for devices that aren't actually plugged in? That, or boot to a live CD from the likes of ubuntu or knoppix and see if they exhibit the same problem, to confirm/deny an OS correlation. --Jmeden2000 15:00, 27 September 2006 (UTC)