The Technology Troubleshooting Thread

[Slyfox696]

Having trouble with a bit of technology? Can't figure out why your computer is acting weird? Your cell phone not making calls? Your GPS receiver not displaying your location?

Come here. Post your problems, and have your fellow WZ members attempt to help you solve your problem.



On a side note, length of post will not qualify as spam. However, the more information you put, the better someone can help you. Putting "My computer won't turn on", wouldn't be spam, but it's not very helpful either. Do your best to help us help you. Off-topic posts will still count as spam.


*Please note...this is not a video game "Walkthrough" thread. Go somewhere else if you are stuck on a certain level of Mario Brothers.*

 

[Spunky]

I'm having a problem with my GameCube, It will play games, But sometime's a couple of noises will come from the Cube, And then Will come up with a message saying, "game disc unreadable" even though, If I leave it for a while(turn off the console), The game will carry on perfect, from the place it crashed, I've just had all of my games resurfaced, But surely that wouldnt do it.

When I say it makes noises, It sound's like something is moving inside of the console.

 

[Tim]

I'm having a problem with my iPod nano. I got it about two years ago, and it has always connected to the computer fine, and I could put songs on it, and whatever else I wanted. But now when I connect it, it will start charging, but a little box will come up that says "The USB device could not be recognised." Does anybody know what's wrong, and how I could get it to connect to my computer properly again?

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm having a problem with my GameCube, It will play games, But sometime's a couple of noises will come from the Cube, And then Will come up with a message saying, "game disc unreadable" even though, If I leave it for a while(turn off the console), The game will carry on perfect, from the place it crashed, I've just had all of my games resurfaced, But surely that wouldnt do it.

When I say it makes noises, It sound's like something is moving inside of the console.

Most likely, it's a case of age/over use. It could also be a problem with the laser lens that reads the information from the game disc. I'm not sure how big GameCube discs are, but is there a way you could use like a CD/DVD cleaner disk? Where there are little brushes that very gently clean the lens?

If so, you might try that. Many times that noise you hear is the console trying to read game data, but being unable to do so.

I'm having a problem with my iPod nano. I got it about two years ago, and it has always connected to the computer fine, and I could put songs on it, and whatever else I wanted. But now when I connect it, it will start charging, but a little box will come up that says "The USB device could not be recognised." Does anybody know what's wrong, and how I could get it to connect to my computer properly again?

Try a different computer, and see if the problem is with your Nano, or the computer.

Then get back to me.

 

[Milkyway!]

So, My computer is like HUGELY magnified, I have no magnifying glass next to my time bar. Its a laptop, so I have no keypad for the plus/minus signs. And my properties are set on normal on text font. And its not just the internet, its aim/yahoo/my icons EVERYTHING. Please help??

 

[HBK-aholic]

My advice was great. "Ask Slyfox".

 

[OIL]

You could try PM'ing him.

 

[Slyfox696]

What size resolution is your computer set at?

For Windows XP: Right-click on your desktop, and then select "Properties". Click the "Settings" tab at the top.

For Windows Vista: Right-Click the desktop, and then select "Graphics Properties". Choose the "Display Settings" tab.



If your resolution is on a low setting, try moving it to a higher setting. For example, a low setting would be "640 by 480" and a higher resolution would be "1024 by 768".


See if that fixes your problem.

You could try PM'ing him.

It wouldn't have helped, as he was taking a nap.

 

[Milkyway!]

There it goes, thank you. Lots.

 

[Slyfox696]

No problem.

 

[Luther_Hull]

When I'm trying to open iTunes, an error message pops up that reads "The iTunes application could not be opened. A required iTunes component is not installed. Please repair or reinstall QuickTime. (~42404)" and as such, my iPod is stuck in limbo, anyone have any ideas? I've repaired QuickTime but it apparently hasn't worked.

 

[Slyfox696]

When I'm trying to open iTunes, an error message pops up that reads "The iTunes application could not be opened. A required iTunes component is not installed. Please repair or reinstall QuickTime. (~42404)" and as such, my iPod is stuck in limbo, anyone have any ideas? I've repaired QuickTime but it apparently hasn't worked.

Yo should be able to remove your Ipod without iTunes. Down in the right corner, there should be a "Safely Remove Device" or whatever it says. You should be able to remove your iPod with that option. Like you would stop your USB drive.

As far as iTunes goes, the best thing to do would be to uninstall, and then re-install. If you had a CD with iTunes on it, use that to re-install it.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I'm using Firefox while I clear my browsing data on Google Chrome. It's taking ages. At least five minutes so far. Is it meant to take this long?

Edit: It finished, literally, as I was typing this. So long Firefox.

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm using Firefox while I clear my browsing data on Google Chrome. It's taking ages. At least five minutes so far. Is it meant to take this long?

It just depends on how how long it's been since the last time you cleaned, and how many pages you have on there.

There are free programs that will clean them for you, and it usually does the job quicker than your web browser. One program I recommend for this is EasyCleaner.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Maybe it doesn't belong in here but fuck it. Sly, shed some light on this for me. If I get an HDTV, is it worth getting an upscaling DVD player, or should I just wait until I can throw myself into the whole Blu Ray experience?

 

[Slyfox696]

Maybe it doesn't belong in here but fuck it. Sly, shed some light on this for me. If I get an HDTV, is it worth getting an upscaling DVD player, or should I just wait until I can throw myself into the whole Blu Ray experience?

The "upscaling" doesn't come close to matching Blu-Ray quality, and I've never noticed a difference in an upscaling DVD player and a regular one. I'm sure someone somewhere has, but I haven't. When I bought my TV, I also bought a home theater set, which included a five disc upscaling DVD player. I've played DVDs on it, and on my $20 DVD player I bought from Wal-Mart, and I can't tell much difference in quality.

If you're going for a full 1080p HDTV, then, personally, I wouldn't bother with paying extra for the upscaling DVD player. I'd just wait until you buy that PS3 you were talking about, and hook that up to your TV and play Blu-Ray on there.

 

[Tim]

So basically i've got Audacity, and I want to be able to hear want i'm saying into the mic through the speakers as i'm recording. I've got vista. If I check the software playthrough, I can hea what I say into the mic through the speakers, but there's a delay. If I uncheck the software playthrough, then I can't hear any output at all as i'm recording. Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

 

[TwistofRKO]

Anyone know anything about MACs? It's my parents computer, I'm not on it often, but we switched keyboards and know the computer always talks.. annoying as old people. I've searched the preferences and I can't find anything even related. Any ideas?

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

Could be the keyboard itsel, make sure its clean and their isnt any dirt of residue from tea or coffee in it, if the keyboard is brand new then check it on another computer first see if its working, if all else fails check the usb port on the Mac that the keyboard is plugged in to

 

[TwistofRKO]

That must be the problem then, we're borrowing my uncle's old keyboard, and just by looking at it you can tell it's old. There's my answer, thanks man.

 

[Bozzaholic]

Excel Question
I have a massive employee database on an excel spreadsheet at work and I want to create a search engine (with a google style GUI) - does anyone know how I could possibly create and code the gui and search code on sheet one to bring up results from the result engine on sheet 2? I could just use CTRL+F but I actually want to design a nice looking search page

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

Excel Question
I have a massive employee database on an excel spreadsheet at work and I want to create a search engine (with a google style GUI) - does anyone know how I could possibly create and code the gui and search code on sheet one to bring up results from the result engine on sheet 2? I could just use CTRL+F but I actually want to design a nice looking search page

you can perform a find search using excel in regards to finding employees, but you will have to use a database style software in order to incorporate an employee GUI system, Basicaly something like Dbase or something newer, im just trying to think what microsoft use nowdays in order to create databases themselves.

If you have no clue how to do it you can either spend a shed load of time putting together and incorperating a database system or you can outsource.

Excel never had or ever will incorperate a gui system im afraid

 

[Ty Burna]

If you want to use a Microsoft product in order to build a database, the program Microsoft offer is Access. Now I am not 100% sure how it works, as I have it, but I've only dabbled a bit in it so I'm not sure if that's the best program for the job or not, but it looks like a pretty useful program that you can change the appearance of accordingly.

 

[Spunky]

When I play FIFA09 on my PS3 the high fan comes on, Not that it bothers me, It's just it only comes on when I play that game, And switch off when I take it out.

It doesn't happen with any other game either.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Anybody know how in the fuck I cancel Amazon Prime? The fuckers offered me a month's free trial, but I haven't been able to cancel it and the ***** are now charging me for it. Apparently, there's no way to stop it on the actual website so I've been officially raped of my cash.