Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sappho]

hmm, fresh install of windows then?

Oh dear god don't say that. I had my last computer for 4 years without needing to reinstall. I don't have an external hard drive or any other way to back up my files while I reinstall. I don't want to do that without absolute necessity.

One thing I'm pretty sure of, I've been thinking about it and I believe the last time this happened, I was playing Dungeons of Dredmor through Steam. This time, Steam was open in the background, and when I tried to shut down the computer at last, I had to wait a few minutes while Windows complained that Steam was not responding. Is it possible this is the culprit? I've noticed some overall glitchy behavior on the computer since installing Steam just before Christmas. Is this common? Is the program unstable? Am I better off playing my games without having the Steam interface open?

[Tellemurius]

well i mention reinstall because when these companies drop these images on the hard drive, theres some to lots of corrupted system files that usually just either get fixed by a system update or just sits there until they break the system. My next course of action for you is run a SFC scan on the cmd terminal (run it in admin mode) and reinstall Steam, this sounds like a dll problem but whether its windows side or steam i would not know.

[Sappho]

"Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."

I told the Windows add/remove programs dialog to "repair" my installation of Steam. It ran a progress bar and then closed. I also set Steam to not run when the computer starts up. I don't use it that often. So if this happens again and Steam is closed, I'll know it's not Steam causing the problem. Then maybe I'll consider borrowing an external hard drive from someone and doing a clean install of Windows I guess.

Thanks for the help so far. It's only happened twice. Maybe it won't happen again. I hope not!

[Alastar]

When you're not sure whether something is an OS-specific problem, you could check with a second operating system.

Some Linux on a bootable USB stick is dead useful even if you aren't proficient or interested in it for everyday use  (data recovery, some repairs that require no knowledge beyond how to use google, having a system with critical programs and settings on someone else's machine, getting around permission problems...)

[Sappho]

Yeah, I don't generally have things like that lying around. Also, I don't know how to reproduce the problem. Still not sure what caused it. I've been using my computer at least 3-6 hours per day (much more on weekends) and it's only happened twice in the past couple of months. Once I restart, the problem is fixed, so I don't think a second OS would be of use in this case. : / In fact, the only reason it's really a problem at all is that if I'm playing DF and it happens, I have no way to save my game. Is there any possible way to get the menu open and save the game without a keyboard? I don't have an external keyboard.

I've never used Linux. It sounds good in principle, but the few times I tried to get it, I could never figure out how to make it work. That was a few years back though. Is there any simple way to use it now? Also, how much HD space does it take up? I tend not to have too much open due to always obtaining large video files (and slowly deleting them to make space). I could really use with a nice big external hard drive, but they cost money, and money is less than abundant in my life at the moment.

[Descan]

All I could think of would be an external macro-program that you open with your mouse and use with your mouse that does the keystrokes necessary to save your DF game.


I don't even know if that's possible, let alone how you would do it.

[Alastar]

Yeah, I don't generally have things like that lying around. Also, I don't know how to reproduce the problem. Still not sure what caused it. I've been using my computer at least 3-6 hours per day (much more on weekends) and it's only happened twice in the past couple of months. Once I restart, the problem is fixed, so I don't think a second OS would be of use in this case. : / In fact, the only reason it's really a problem at all is that if I'm playing DF and it happens, I have no way to save my game. Is there any possible way to get the menu open and save the game without a keyboard? I don't have an external keyboard.

Isn't the current world updated continuously so that you can copy it to a backup folder via the mouse?

I've never used Linux. It sounds good in principle, but the few times I tried to get it, I could never figure out how to make it work. That was a few years back though. Is there any simple way to use it now?

These days, most work straight from the installation medium so if you just want it for emergencies you don't need to install anything.
If you want it as an option for a daily OS, hardware detection is generally good and installation easier than Windows. With the mainstream distributions you get a fairly complete system - things like drivers, codecs, flash, an office suite, multimedia stuff, image manipulation included. Everything should be done in about half an hour, no upgrade marathons or driver hunts.
On the downside, default Linux installs are usually not tweaked for laptops: Power saving features tend to be disabled, enabling them may be a little newbie-unfriendly. Certain GPU and wireless chipsets may not work out of the box although this has supposedly become quite rare.

One of the most popular versions:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Installation instructions applicable to most others.

Also, how much HD space does it take up? I tend not to have too much open due to always obtaining large video files (and slowly deleting them to make space). I could really use with a nice big external hard drive, but they cost money, and money is less than abundant in my life at the moment.

Varies a lot because Linux is so modular. Useful systems start at around 100MB installed, the full-featured ones can set you back 5GB.
Linux programs tend to be built on common libraries, the latter already has many of them so won't grow much even if you install a lot of seemingly heavy applications.
Linux deals with NTFS well enough that you'll probably just keep your data on the Windows partition.

[Blargityblarg]

All I could think of would be an external macro-program that you open with your mouse and use with your mouse that does the keystrokes necessary to save your DF game.


I don't even know if that's possible, let alone how you would do it.

Onscreen keyboard? Default as part of windows, look in the accessibility bit of control panel

[Max White]

What site should one use if one were wishing to quickly and easily legally upload some files to be publicly shared without registration and all that junk?

[Aklyon]

What site should one use if one were wishing to quickly and easily legally upload some files to be publicly shared without registration and all that junk?

Mediafire is good if you have an account, the public others need no registration.

[Lord Shonus]

Couldn't you simply use Dropbox? That's what I host everything with. (Yes, that requires registration, but operating it's so absurdly seamless, and it's generally so useful that it's worth the <5 minutes it takes).

[Tellemurius]

What site should one use if one were wishing to quickly and easily legally upload some files to be publicly shared without registration and all that junk?

dropbox is nice enough to just you need to setup a account and you can give a public link to people

[Aklyon]

'Setup an account and send a link to people' Is the answer to all of the useful sites though (Mediafire, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc), except for the sites that make you sit on a timer.

[Chiefwaffles]

So I was just recently attempting to build a computer. However, I have a problem.
The power LED lights up just fine when I plug it in, yet when I turn on the computer, the computer turns on for less than a second, then turns off. I'm assuming this is an issue with the power supply. Yet with all my attempts, I can't find the correct power usage for these parts. Could anyone please tell me the power usage of the listed parts? Thanks.

Spoiler: Computer Specifications (click to show/hide)

• Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard
• Seagate Desktop HDD, 7200 RPM, Sata6, 64mb cache, and 1tb of memory (Can't find model number)
• ATI Radeon HD 5670 (Keeping from an older computer)
• 3rd Gen i5 Intel Processor 3570k

(Are there any other high energy consumption items I'm missing?)

[Tellemurius]

shit with that graphics card in? you are looking around 350 to 400 watts idle

edit: what kind of ram do you have?