The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Well, what happens is, it tries to sync even when it's unchecked, and then "an unknown error occurs and it cannot sync." Sort of annoying. I'm reticent to try anything because I somehow accidentally deleted the entire address book, and if I do it again, my father will be none too pleased.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

For some reason, when I try to change the name of one of my playlists on YouTube, it says "the request is invalid." I'm not going over the allowed number of characters, I wonder why it won't let me.

Also, the website ifanboy.com I like to visit has a podcast, and for some reason when I try to play it, I just get a gray X. It'll play in IE, but not FF?

 

[MDawg]

For some reason, when I try to change the name of one of my playlists on YouTube, it says "the request is invalid." I'm not going over the allowed number of characters, I wonder why it won't let me.

This problem isn't just for oyu. Check https://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube/thread?hl=en&tid=3efcfdd878c0cfca for others having the issue. No resolution for the Youtube team yet.

Also, the website ifanboy.com I like to visit has a podcast, and for some reason when I try to play it, I just get a gray X. It'll play in IE, but not FF?

My guess is one of two things. Either your Firefox browser is not up-to-date or more likely is your non-IE Flash plugin is out of date. For Firefox, jsut do a Help --> About and see what version you have. It'll prompt you to download updates if needed.

For Flash, visit http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ in Firefox and verify that you have the current version installed. If you don't visit http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and download it (uncheck that McAfee download. It's not necessary).

 

[TheButcher]

iTunes/iPod/iPad/iPhone/Apple question about tranferring files.

Here's the story....

My sister has an iPhone and iPad and has thousands of MP3's she's downloaded from various places throughout the years and wants to place them on her new iDevices, the problem is that she wants to avoid iTunes and refuses to even think about using the program. In other words, she loves Apple hardware and hates the software. Is there any other possible way to transport her stuff over to her devices without the iTunes program? I believe there has to be a way, but I'm having trouble finding a true answer to this question.

Thanks in advance!

 

[defunctzombie]

I think you will need iTunes regardless. The newer iOS devices aren't as simple to play around with compared to the older iPods, from my experience. There are drivers that need to be on the computer, and they come through iTunes.

 

[Ed Liu]

My sister has an iPhone and iPad and has thousands of MP3's she's downloaded from various places throughout the years and wants to place them on her new iDevices, the problem is that she wants to avoid iTunes and refuses to even think about using the program. In other words, she loves Apple hardware and hates the software. Is there any other possible way to transport her stuff over to her devices without the iTunes program? I believe there has to be a way, but I'm having trouble finding a true answer to this question.

She might be able to dodge iTunes by using iCloud, since its whole purpose is to substitute for a desktop machine in acting as your "digital hub" in the Apple-designed ecosystem. The whole idea is that iOS devices will sync media files, contacts, browser bookmarks, and all that fun stuff via iCloud which comes with something like 5GB or 10GB of space for free and then charges some subscription fee if you need more than that.

There's also iTunes Match, which is a $25/year fee and lets you sync all your music to iCloud. The benefit over just using iCloud is that you get a centralized location for up to 25,000 songs. That fee also covers the service where Apple will check your music and give you equivalent iTunes tracks for anything that matches without those songs counting towards the 25K limit. So, if I ripped my own CD of B.B. King's Live at the Regal, for instance, once I go to iCloud, if Apple already sells that through iTunes, what will sync is their copy (probably with better audio quality, considering Live at the Regal was one of the first CD's I ripped more than 10 years ago) and the 10 tracks on the disc won't count towards the 25K limit. If you go with iTunes Match, then I think the default iCloud storage space should be more than enough for anything else she wants to sync to your devices.

I'm describing all of this in the abstract because I haven't gone to do much with iCloud yet and have yet to sit down to subscribe to iTunes Match. There is also the problem that you're just going to be dealing with DIFFERENT Apple software other than iTunes. If the issue is that your sister thinks that iTunes sucks, then maybe this solution will make her happy. If it's some conceptual thing about Apple software in general, this solution may not make her happy either.

Hope this helps!

 

[TheButcher]

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate them!

Now for a follow up question: What if she chooses to use iTunes, will the mp3 files that she has be able to work on her iDevices or does the content have to be purchased via the iTunes market? She has literally thousands of songs and hundreds of TV shows and films and wouldn't want to spend the money to purchase them again through iTunes.

 

[Ed Liu]

Now for a follow up question: What if she chooses to use iTunes, will the mp3 files that she has be able to work on her iDevices or does the content have to be purchased via the iTunes market? She has literally thousands of songs and hundreds of TV shows and films and wouldn't want to spend the money to purchase them again through iTunes.

No, iTunes will happily import any MP3's that you have -- something I learned when I installed it, allowed it to find music on my hard drive, and discovered that it had imported all the music for every game on my machine that happened to use MP3s. It will ask if you want to do this when you launch it for the first time, and you can do it manually whenever you want. It will also do it non-destructively, meaning it will copy any files into its own library and leave the originals alone. I think there's a way you can have it point to the original files without making its own copies, too.

Movies & TV shows are a bit more difficult, though (which, now that I think of it, is true even with iCloud). The iPod will take a number of video formats, but not all of them. Hit Apple's website for tech specs (here's where they are for the iPad). It pretty much takes any QuickTime variant, MP4, and one or two others I don't recognize. No Flash or Windows Media -- for that, you'll have to get Handbrake or some other video converter and convert it to a format the iDevices will recognize.

It also dawns on me that she'll have to use iTunes to at least get iTunes Match to work. What's her major beef with iTunes, anyway?

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

I'm guessing that Picasa pictures are impossible to save to the iPhone? Other than a screen cap, the phone won't let me do it, so guessing there's no way?

 

[SilentBat18]

EEKK! my SD card is freaking out on me! Here's what happened: i bought this new sd card recently and used it to take a whole bunch of pictures and videos today. Well when i load it into my mac to import them, i get a warning message that 30 of the pictures/videos were in an unreadable format so i couldn't import them. I found this weird because the pictures i took before and after the 30 loaded just fine. not sure if this happened cause i dropped my camera or cause the sd card is a dud, but i looked around on the net and found this on ehow that explains how to recover the pictures. However, i'm not sure if there is anything else i should do or not do and which program to use. i haven't deleted anything yet, but i really don't want to lose those pics. They're super awesome. Help

 

[Beefy]

I recommend Zero Assumption Recovery. It's helped me recover many hard drives.
If you're just using it to recover pictures from a camera memory card, then you can use the free version. You will need a Windows-based PC. I'm not sure if it will work in a virtual machine on a Mac.

 

[MDawg]

I'd suggest either PC Inspector Smart Recovery or Recuva, but both require Windows. Are you able to us a virtual machine or have a Boot Camp instance of Windows XP or above?

On the Mac Side, you can try http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec or http://www.itu.dk/people/jobr/magicrescue/ but both are command-line-based. THere is documentation to guide you through it though. There's also http://www.bluem.net/en/mac/exif-untrasher/ which is more user-friendly with a proper GUI, but it hasn't been updated in several years. It may or may not work on your Mac.

 

[SilentBat18]

I recommend Zero Assumption Recovery. It's helped me recover many hard drives.
If you're just using it to recover pictures from a camera memory card, then you can use the free version. You will need a Windows-based PC. I'm not sure if it will work in a virtual machine on a Mac.

it doesn't work for mac unfortunately. i have a standby pc.... but it's currently 8000 miles away thanks though.

I'd suggest either PC Inspector Smart Recovery[url] or [URL="http://www.piriform.com/recuva"]Recuva, but both require Windows. Are you able to us a virtual machine or have a Boot Camp instance of Windows XP or above?

On the Mac Side, you can try http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec or http://www.itu.dk/people/jobr/magicrescue/ but both are command-line-based. THere is documentation to guide you through it though. There's also http://www.bluem.net/en/mac/exif-untrasher/ which is more user-friendly with a proper GUI, but it hasn't been updated in several years. It may or may not work on your Mac.

for the mac stuff the first 2 you suggested kinda had me confused. I'm not very computer savvy when it comes to that kind of stuff so i couldn't figure it out. The latter, it downloaded just fine, was promising, then it froze one it reached 48 items out of the 80 something on the card. I tried uninstalling then reinstalling, but the issue didn't clear up. I'm guessing maybe the bug is because it hasn't been updated in while.

I surfed the net for free mac-friendly and user-friendly software and i;m currently trying out stellar phoenix photo recovery. it's taking quite a while, but i have a feeling it won't be promising. But i'll keep trying.

thanks for the advice guys.

Update: my future father in law will be helping me out

 

[Philmister978]

More of an internet problem, but anyone on Hotmail, can you open your e-mails? I can't.

 

[MDawg]

More of an internet problem, but anyone on Hotmail, can you open your e-mails? I can't.

What OS and browser? Have you tried on any other computers as well?

 

[Peter Paltridge]

We've had DSL connection problems over the last few days. The DSL modem kept losing the connection, and I was constantly walking back and forth between the room it was in and the room my computer was in, unplugging the modem, waiting 10 seconds, plugging it back in, waiting until all the lights were back on, then walking back to my room and getting one or two minutes' worth of Internet time before I lost the connection again.

This was happening enough times that we figured the modem was shot, so we went to Best Buy and got another. That was today. And for the entire afternoon, there were no problems, until..........it started again. And we're out $90.

I don't know what else it could be or who to turn to, or who I call about this sort of thing. Help, please??

 

[MDawg]

Are you sure you have DSL? I've never heard of having to actually buy the modem. Verizon just gave us ours when we needed it and swapped it when there was problems.

That said, contact your service provider (be it cable or DSL) and have them have send someone out and check your line (why you didn't call them first surprises me). It's likely you're having an issue either inside your home, the line leading up to your home or someplace farther up the line.

 

[Ed Liu]

All the DSL (and cable) providers I've used gave me the option of renting their equipment or buying my own. I always ended up buying my own, figuring that the length of time I'd own it would make renting a losing proposition in the long-run.

Anyway, I'd agree that you need to call your DSL provider because this sounds like a problem in the line. If it looks like the issue is in the line and your old hardware is working fine, then I'd just take the modem back to Best Buy and return it, as long as you still have all the original packaging and the receipt, and you didn't demolish that stuff unpacking it. If that's not feasible for whatever reason, I'd just use the new modem because these things do advance in technology (though not anywhere near as fast as computers do), so you'll probably want whatever newer gee-whiz features are in the new hardware.

 

[defunctzombie]

Did you or your neighbors have any lightning strikes in the last year, Peter? Your problem sounds almost exactly like what happened to me a couple years ago. We replaced the modem and ethernet cards in the computer but it turns out the house wiring was damaged as well (and nobody noticed because we always ended up with the lazy repairmen).

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Are you sure you have DSL? I've never heard of having to actually buy the modem. Verizon just gave us ours when we needed it and swapped it when there was problems.

We got DSL all the way back in 2003, I think, when policies were different. They just sent us one and it's the one we've used ever since. It's not Verizon, heaven forbid. It was Qwest, which is now extinct -- CenturyLink bought them out last year.

And we're taking back the new modem....know why? Because at least with the old one, if I lost the connection I could power-cycle it back temporarily. The new one doesn't respond to that and this evening it quit receiving altogether, so it's back in the box.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but the modem we bought was specially built for CenturyLink customers (but we figured it'd work, since the old one was built for Qwest and it still works).

Did you or your neighbors have any lightning strikes in the last year, Peter? Your problem sounds almost exactly like what happened to me a couple years ago. We replaced the modem and ethernet cards in the computer but it turns out the house wiring was damaged as well (and nobody noticed because we always ended up with the lazy repairmen).

None that I know of. My parents won't be happy to hear the line needs to be inspected, though. They were VERY unhappy to have to shell out $90 for the new modem, which at least they can get back (I hope anyway).