Computer/Technical Help

quote:

Originally posted by R.Smith M'k, I'll leave it alone. Just glad it wasn't being created by anything I would have to worry about.

You might want to keep an eye on the files that appear there for a while, but so far it sounds harmless.

quote:

Originally posted by D-Boy Ahem. Sorry for the double post but I fixed it myself. Winsocksxp Fix FTW.

I was in the middle of typing up some instructions on how to fix TCP/IP and Winsock when I read this. Glad you got it fixed, though.

I'm thinking of getting more RAM, the 512 I currently have is nolonger able to really cut it. I've checked the inside of my computer, and I have two slots, one with a stick already in there. I don't know the difference between RAM, or SD RAM or DDRRAM or any of that, nor do I know if I need to adjust something on the computer or buy a specific kind.

Is it as simple as grabbing some RAM and shoving it in there, or is there more to it?

When installing it, there's no need for configuration, so all you need to do is add it to the empty socket and the BIOS will take care of the rest. As for the type, you need to make sure it is the same general category (SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, etc.) and that its speed is compatible with your motherboard (PC2100, PC3200, etc.). It would probably be easiest to remove your existing RAM and check to see if there are any labels that mention what type it is. If not, you may need to look it up in the documentation for your motherboard.

Annoyingly, my RAM was lined up right on perpendicular to my agp graphics card, so I had to pull that out first to remove the RAM... anyway...

samsung
KOREA 0247
PC21000-25330-B1
M368L6423DTL-CB0
512 MB DDR PC2100 CL2.5

assuming i read everything right... i have pc21000 and 2100, probably just miswrote something along the way, but that'd mean, whatever RAM i get, as long as it's DDR and PC2100 it's ok?

Yep, that's right. You might want to double-check the box to make sure it's non-ECC and unbuffered, but most RAM falls into that category anyway.

All right, I've had a bit of computing trouble during the down time.

I bought an older TV Tuner. at first the video and audio didn't work at all. updated drivers from online and plugging the card into my sound card w/a wire fixed the video and sound.

the tv tuner came with a remote; there is an IR sensor that hooks by wire to the card, and then a remote for the sensor. it doesn't work. reinstalling the drivers, removing and reinstalling, and going back on System Restore to before i installed the drivers doesn't help, it just doesn't work.
card is a Philips SAA7130.

also, i don't know if this is related or not, but i have a Lexmark X75 All-In-One printer/scanner. i went to scan a picture, and the computer reported an error, check the cables and such.. everything is fine, so i reinstalled those drivers. i thought i was ok, because it print a test page, and will print from other programs, but has up to this point been unable to scan. i suspect it's related to the TV tuner because it IS a capture device, maybe the tv tuner drivers messed it up..

with ram, coincidentally a friend asked me to fix her computers and change her ram around. i ended up putting a PC1000 in like a PC1200 slot.. or something.. i know the numbers were similar but not quite the same, but the BIOS still saw and used it, so i'm wondering if there are expcetions to the rules.

aaaaaaaaaaaand one more thing before you get bored of me and walk away... any free tv-capture software u've experienced and know is good?

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 All right, I've had a bit of computing trouble during the down time. I bought an older TV Tuner. at first the video and audio didn't work at all. updated drivers from online and plugging the card into my sound card w/a wire fixed the video and sound. the tv tuner came with a remote; there is an IR sensor that hooks by wire to the card, and then a remote for the sensor. it doesn't work. reinstalling the drivers, removing and reinstalling, and going back on System Restore to before i installed the drivers doesn't help, it just doesn't work. card is a Philips SAA7130.

First, make sure that the remote has a fresh set of batteries and that there is a clear line of sight between the remote and the IR sensor. Also, if there is a program that needs to be running in order to sense the remote, make sure that it is running first.

quote:

also, i don't know if this is related or not, but i have a Lexmark X75 All-In-One printer/scanner. i went to scan a picture, and the computer reported an error, check the cables and such.. everything is fine, so i reinstalled those drivers. i thought i was ok, because it print a test page, and will print from other programs, but has up to this point been unable to scan. i suspect it's related to the TV tuner because it IS a capture device, maybe the tv tuner drivers messed it up..

Is there a separate driver or additional software required to scan? If so, try uninstalling and reinstalling that. Also, see if Lexmark's site has any updated drivers.

quote:

with ram, coincidentally a friend asked me to fix her computers and change her ram around. i ended up putting a PC1000 in like a PC1200 slot.. or something.. i know the numbers were similar but not quite the same, but the BIOS still saw and used it, so i'm wondering if there are expcetions to the rules.

Faster RAM is usually backwards compatible and should work fine in slower computers (e.g. PC3200 RAM will most likely work on a motherboard that is expecting PC2100 RAM), but it's not a good idea to set it up the other way around. It will probably work, but it may damage the RAM or just slow the system down a little.

quote:

aaaaaaaaaaaand one more thing before you get bored of me and walk away... any free tv-capture software u've experienced and know is good?

I personally prefer VirtualDub for both capturing and editing. Go to File > Capture AVI, and you'll be able to access all the settings and capture from there.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang First, make sure that the remote has a fresh set of batteries and that there is a clear line of sight between the remote and the IR sensor. Also, if there is a program that needs to be running in order to sense the remote, make sure that it is running first.

When I run the program, Winremote.exe, I get an error. The title of the box is "Have no device" and the error is "Cannot get Device" with only an OK button.

quote:

Is there a separate driver or additional software required to scan? If so, try uninstalling and reinstalling that. Also, see if Lexmark's site has any updated drivers.

Lexmark's site doesn't appear to have updates, they discontinued the printer and that's the end of the story from their end. The lexmark software installs both the printer and scanner drivers, as well as Lexmark's scanning program and photo editor. I've tried uninstalling the whole thing and reinstalling the whole thing, but I get the same error. Also tried changing the USB cord, but that did nothing at all. Oddly, Windows Device Manager says that the device is working correctly *shrug*

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 When I run the program, Winremote.exe, I get an error. The title of the box is "Have no device" and the error is "Cannot get Device" with only an OK button.

Run Windows Update to make sure there aren't any updated Windows components that need updating for compatibility. Also, check the Device Manager to see if there are any conflicts.

quote:

Lexmark's site doesn't appear to have updates, they discontinued the printer and that's the end of the story from their end. The lexmark software installs both the printer and scanner drivers, as well as Lexmark's scanning program and photo editor. I've tried uninstalling the whole thing and reinstalling the whole thing, but I get the same error. Also tried changing the USB cord, but that did nothing at all. Oddly, Windows Device Manager says that the device is working correctly *shrug*

See if the drivers from this site are newer than the ones that came with the printer. After uninstalling the old drivers, you can also try the Uninstall Clean Utility from the Utilities section to completely remove the old drivers before reinstalling. If that doesn't work, try using a different USB port.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang Run Windows Update to make sure there aren't any updated Windows components that need updating for compatibility. Also, check the Device Manager to see if there are any conflicts.

Hmm... went to Windows Update, they said they had an update, it was 0 KB... so i just tried it, and the add new hardware wizard popped up. it was listed under Philips Semiconductors, so i went to install a Philips device. there were two options, the closest to the device name as given by Windows Update was the video encoder, so i tried that and the device didn't work. i rolled back onto the previous driver and the video worked again. maybe the remote would have worked during that time. or maybe i should just try the other philips thing there... or try installing it as an IR device?

quote:

See if the drivers from this site are newer than the ones that came with the printer. After uninstalling the old drivers, you can also try the Uninstall Clean Utility from the Utilities section to completely remove the old drivers before reinstalling. If that doesn't work, try using a different USB port.

i didn't know what u meant by Uninstall Clean Utility, so i used Disk Cleanup (got rid of 10 gigs of wasted space, too). but still, the scanner does not scan. I switched to another USB plug when I installed the newer software, but the result is the same.

EDIT: new problem.. last two or three days, i've been experiencing a real slow down at some times, and the hard drive is just churning away. i got worried, checked processes and found svchost.exe taking up the most. i understand the concept of svchost but still decided to try closing that one instance of it, and the computer goes back to normal. i've repeated this a few times. i think it's only suposed to be in the system32 folder of Windows. i've found it also in:
WINNT\$NTServicePackUninstall$
WINNT\Prefetch
WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386

should i delete any of those, or is it that i have a process that just takes up alot of memory at times?

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 Hmm... went to Windows Update, they said they had an update, it was 0 KB... so i just tried it, and the add new hardware wizard popped up. it was listed under Philips Semiconductors, so i went to install a Philips device. there were two options, the closest to the device name as given by Windows Update was the video encoder, so i tried that and the device didn't work. i rolled back onto the previous driver and the video worked again. maybe the remote would have worked during that time. or maybe i should just try the other philips thing there... or try installing it as an IR device?

Try going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and doing a Custom install. From there, look under the Hardware category and see which driver it is trying to install. If it is for the TV tuner, that doesn't help much, but if it is for the remote, try installing it.

If that doesn't work, I have a question. Is the card itself manufactured by Philips, or is it a card by another manufacturer with a Philips chip in it? If it's the latter, the remote functionality may not be controlled by the Philips chip, so it may require a separate driver from the manufacturer of the card itself.

quote:

i didn't know what u meant by Uninstall Clean Utility, so i used Disk Cleanup (got rid of 10 gigs of wasted space, too). but still, the scanner does not scan. I switched to another USB plug when I installed the newer software, but the result is the same.

On the Lexmark download site, click the Utilities tab and download LxXP75cleanLE.exe. While you're there, download lxkx75patchle.exe from the Patches tab and CJXP75LE.exe from the Drivers tab. Afterward, uninstall the old driver from the Windows Control Panel, then run LxXP75cleanLE.exe to clean up any old files left over. Then, install the drivers using CJXP75LE.exe and the patch using lxkx75patchle.exe. Hopefully that setup will allow both the printer and the scanner to work.

quote:

EDIT: new problem.. last two or three days, i've been experiencing a real slow down at some times, and the hard drive is just churning away. i got worried, checked processes and found svchost.exe taking up the most. i understand the concept of svchost but still decided to try closing that one instance of it, and the computer goes back to normal. i've repeated this a few times.

Svchost.exe's only purpose is to run Windows services, so it is actually a service that is taking up resources. Rather than ending the process for svchost, it would be safer to disable the service directly. Go to Start > Run and type:

services.msc

and press Enter. From there, find Indexing Service, double-click it, set it to Disabled, and click OK. Next time you restart your computer, see if it helps any with the hard drive usage. If not, try Process Explorer to track down exactly which service is causing the problem.

quote:

i think it's only suposed to be in the system32 folder of Windows. i've found it also in: WINNT\$NTServicePackUninstall$ WINNT\Prefetch WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386 should i delete any of those, or is it that i have a process that just takes up alot of memory at times?

$NTServicePackUninstall$ and ServicePackFiles are backups from service pack installations, and Prefetch helps speed up the startup time of certain programs. In each case, it would be best to leave them there.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang Try going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and doing a Custom install. From there, look under the Hardware category and see which driver it is trying to install. If it is for the TV tuner, that doesn't help much, but if it is for the remote, try installing it. If that doesn't work, I have a question. Is the card itself manufactured by Philips, or is it a card by another manufacturer with a Philips chip in it? If it's the latter, the remote functionality may not be controlled by the Philips chip, so it may require a separate driver from the manufacturer of the card itself.

Optional Hardware Updates
Philips Semiconductors SAA7130 TV Card - Video Capture
-Items Technology Co., Ltd. - Video - SAA7130 TV Card - Video Capture

If I type the Items Technology thing on Google, I get alot of "FlyTV Prime 30" and "lifeview." these might indicate whom the manufacturer is.. the truth is, the box doesn't say, it's a generic TV Tuner that just says "Easy TV Capture" on it.

On the Lexmark download site, click the Utilities tab and download LxXP75cleanLE.exe. While you're there, download lxkx75patchle.exe from the Patches tab and CJXP75LE.exe from the Drivers tab. Afterward, uninstall the old driver from the Windows Control Panel, then run LxXP75cleanLE.exe to clean up any old files left over. Then, install the drivers using CJXP75LE.exe and the patch using lxkx75patchle.exe. Hopefully that setup will allow both the printer and the scanner to work.[/quote]

Nope. Perhaps I wasn't supposed to restart my computer each time it said to? Otherwise, there has been no affect on the scanning.

I already have Indexing Service disabled, so when I get a chance, i'll download Process Explorer.

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 Optional Hardware Updates Philips Semiconductors SAA7130 TV Card - Video Capture -Items Technology Co., Ltd. - Video - SAA7130 TV Card - Video Capture If I type the Items Technology thing on Google, I get alot of "FlyTV Prime 30" and "lifeview." these might indicate whom the manufacturer is.. the truth is, the box doesn't say, it's a generic TV Tuner that just says "Easy TV Capture" on it.

This post seems to be describing the same card that you have, and it lists some download links for the drivers from LifeView's site. Try following the instructions in that post to see if it gets the remote to work.

quote:

Nope. Perhaps I wasn't supposed to restart my computer each time it said to? Otherwise, there has been no affect on the scanning.

Hmm, it's beginning to sound like this is a hardware problem. Just to be sure, though, if you have access to another scanner, try installing it on your computer to see if it works. If it does, there's a hardware problem with the Lexmark, but if not, it must be a problem with Windows.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang This post seems to be describing the same card that you have, and it lists some download links for the drivers from LifeView's site. Try following the instructions in that post to see if it gets the remote to work.

Ha, I found that site, too. Just to be safe, I went through those instructions (again) but I've had no change. However, I looked on page three, and found a guy whose remote worked, but he couldn't get it to work on non-adminstrator user names (not important to me). He said his installation disk came with a file 713xRMT.exe which installed the drivers for the remote. Neither my installation CD, nor, the files they had up there to download, as a file remotely similar.

quote:

Hmm, it's beginning to sound like this is a hardware problem. Just to be sure, though, if you have access to another scanner, try installing it on your computer to see if it works. If it does, there's a hardware problem with the Lexmark, but if not, it must be a problem with Windows.

I sure hope it isn't the hardware... nor will I understand how it can be, when the thing never moved, just sat there, worked one day and then it didn't. I don't have another USB scanner, and we through out an old parallel port scanner a while back (it sucked).

My webcam is on the same list as the scanner in the Control Panel, and it still works fine, whether or not it's on its original USB port.

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 Ha, I found that site, too. Just to be safe, I went through those instructions (again) but I've had no change. However, I looked on page three, and found a guy whose remote worked, but he couldn't get it to work on non-adminstrator user names (not important to me). He said his installation disk came with a file 713xRMT.exe which installed the drivers for the remote. Neither my installation CD, nor, the files they had up there to download, as a file remotely similar.

This should hopefully be what you're looking for. It seems there are many different cards which use the same Philips chipset, and this is the remote utility from one of them.

quote:

I sure hope it isn't the hardware... nor will I understand how it can be, when the thing never moved, just sat there, worked one day and then it didn't. I don't have another USB scanner, and we through out an old parallel port scanner a while back (it sucked). My webcam is on the same list as the scanner in the Control Panel, and it still works fine, whether or not it's on its original USB port.

Oh, I assumed that it was recently bought, so I didn't know that it used to work. All I can think of is that when you restarted the computer when installing the new drivers, it picked up the old drivers instead. Try running those three installers again in the order I mentioned previously, only don't restart until all three have been run.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang This should hopefully be what you're looking for. It seems there are many different cards which use the same Philips chipset, and this is the remote utility from one of them.

Eh? It contains 4 files.. 713xRMT, 713xRMTInstall.exe, 713xTVCtrl.exe and TS.dat
Running either of the executables results in.. system reboot? o.O Other than that, there appers to be no change. Winremote.exe still doesn't work, the remote itself doesn't either.

quote:

Oh, I assumed that it was recently bought, so I didn't know that it used to work. All I can think of is that when you restarted the computer when installing the new drivers, it picked up the old drivers instead. Try running those three installers again in the order I mentioned previously, only don't restart until all three have been run.

Bad communication, then. I'm either gonna try the driver installation tonite or tomorrow, but i'll post the results tomorrow cause i don't really feel like typing more, college is getting tiring x.x (and to think, I'M the one applying as the computer help person at college, when i probably ask more questions here than anyone else )

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 Eh? It contains 4 files.. 713xRMT, 713xRMTInstall.exe, 713xTVCtrl.exe and TS.dat Running either of the executables results in.. system reboot? o.O Other than that, there appers to be no change. Winremote.exe still doesn't work, the remote itself doesn't either.

713xRMTInstall.exe should extract 713xRMT.exe, which is the file you're looking for. If it doesn't, use the instructions from this article to expand 713xRMT.ex_ into 713xRMT.exe. Then, run the extracted file and it should allow you to use the remote. BTW, it doesn't sound like Winremote.exe is compatible with your remote, so you might want to uninstall that.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang 713xRMTInstall.exe should extract 713xRMT.exe, which is the file you're looking for. If it doesn't, use the instructions from this article to expand 713xRMT.ex_ into 713xRMT.exe. Then, run the extracted file and it should allow you to use the remote. BTW, it doesn't sound like Winremote.exe is compatible with your remote, so you might want to uninstall that.

When I try to expand any file, the result file is exactly the same as the original, and acts the same way. I named the file I wanted in "File to restore," put the location of 713xRMT.ex_ as "Restore from" (i also tried the other 3 files as well) and my desktop as "Save file in." the new file has no difference, it's exactly the same in size, name, and icon, as the original file it was 'restored' from.

i went over the printer steps again, first uninstalling, then using the Clean utility, restarting (it wouldn't let me install any driver until i restarted), installing the driver, installing the patch, and restarting again. the results are the same, the scanner doesn't work while the printer does.

also, i got process explorer. i will be sitting at the computer and open no new program and then everything starts to slow down.. in this instance, there isn't increased HD activity, but while i'm typing, there's a lag for the words appearing on the screen, same lag for when i watch videos or drag things or what not.

quote:

Originally posted by NVWC2006 When I try to expand any file, the result file is exactly the same as the original, and acts the same way. I named the file I wanted in "File to restore," put the location of 713xRMT.ex_ as "Restore from" (i also tried the other 3 files as well) and my desktop as "Save file in." the new file has no difference, it's exactly the same in size, name, and icon, as the original file it was 'restored' from.

It works for me using the command line. Copy expand.exe from the i386 folder of your Windows XP CD into the same folder as 713xRMT.ex_. Then, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and use the cd command to navigate to the folder with those files in them. Once you're there, type:

expand 713xRMT.ex_ 713xRMT.exe

and press Enter. You should see a message like this:

Copying 713xrmt.ex_ to 713xrmt.exe.
713xrmt.ex_: 286720 bytes copied.

quote:

i went over the printer steps again, first uninstalling, then using the Clean utility, restarting (it wouldn't let me install any driver until i restarted), installing the driver, installing the patch, and restarting again. the results are the same, the scanner doesn't work while the printer does.

The only other idea I have is to try setting it up on another computer and see if the scanner still works. That should help narrow down whether the problem is with the hardware or the software.

quote:

also, i got process explorer. i will be sitting at the computer and open no new program and then everything starts to slow down.. in this instance, there isn't increased HD activity, but while i'm typing, there's a lag for the words appearing on the screen, same lag for when i watch videos or drag things or what not.

You'll need to use Process Explorer to determine which of the svchost.exe processes is the one that is using up the resources, similar to how you used Task Manager before. Then, hover the mouse cursor over that instance of svchost.exe and you should see a list of Windows services that it corresponds to. Post that list here and I'll help figure out which one is causing the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Krang It works for me using the command line. Copy expand.exe from the i386 folder of your Windows XP CD into the same folder as 713xRMT.ex_. Then, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and use the cd command to navigate to the folder with those files in them. Once you're there, type: expand 713xRMT.ex_ 713xRMT.exe and press Enter. You should see a message like this: Copying 713xrmt.ex_ to 713xrmt.exe. 713xrmt.ex_: 286720 bytes copied.

All right.. did that, it expanded succesfully. so i ran it.. AND the computer rebooted! joy!

quote:

The only other idea I have is to try setting it up on another computer and see if the scanner still works. That should help narrow down whether the problem is with the hardware or the software.

It's software. I just went to run it on my mother's laptop... the installation was messed up... It said, it couldn't find certain DLL or DL_ files for installation, when it was looking at the exact right folder they were in.. then i ran the patch, and afterwards, it said the printer drivers weren't installed right. none the less, i tried the scanner, and it worked. so it isn't the printer...

quote:

You'll need to use Process Explorer to determine which of the svchost.exe processes is the one that is using up the resources, similar to how you used Task Manager before. Then, hover the mouse cursor over that instance of svchost.exe and you should see a list of Windows services that it corresponds to. Post that list here and I'll help figure out which one is causing the problem.

Will do.