Wireless and Wifi Forums - alt.comp.hardware

USB vs. PS/2

Dishum — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:52:20 GMT

Paul wrote:
> Dishum wrote:
>> philo wrote:
>>> On 05/15/2012 12:52 AM, Dishum wrote:
>>>> I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard
>>>> because
>>>> it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being
>>>> unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or
>>>> press
>>>> F1
>>>> when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that
>>>> I've
>>>> never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to
>>>> try
>>>> out.
>>>>
>>>> A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs
>>>> with
>>>> some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed
>>>> mice
>>>> behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB.
>>>> The
>>>> trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice
>>>> and
>>>> many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw
>>>> someone
>>>> in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die".
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2
>>>> is
>>>> falling out of favour?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice
>>>
>>> The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the
>>> machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2
>>> port
>>
>> Same here. When I said that I've never used a USB keyboard, I
>> meant for regular use. I use USB keyboards and mice for
>> exactly
>> the same reasons as yours and such times are only when I work
>> on
>> and with other people's computers.
>>
>>
>
> PS/2 for that purpose, is a superior solution, for the
> reasons mentioned. The OS always seems to recognize it (unless
> the PS/2 port is blown out, by hot-plugging it, and you don't
> get too many reports of that type). It just seems to work. And
> because it's interrupt driven, the response is instantaneous.
> With
> USB, the USB bus uses a polling method, to determine if devices
> have
> info to offer, and if the polling process is delayed for any
> reason,
> then so is your input delayed. Perhaps the addition of a new
> USB
> device (just plugged in), can affect the keyboard/mouse USB
> response
> slightly.
>
> The reason Intel is on such a mission, to remove PS/2, is so
> the
> SuperI/O chip can be completely removed from motherboard
> designs.
> At the moment, perhaps the hardware monitor function is all
> that
> remains of it (once floppy, parallel port, serial ports,
> CIR/SIR,
> PS/2 are removed). The only bit Intel is missing, is ADC
> converters
> capable of measuring power supply voltages (which as of today,
> would still be an accessory function available on about half
> the
> SuperI/O chips). And perhaps Intel doesn't think that function
> is
> worth having, or perhaps Intel doesn't even recognize that as
> an
> "official" chipset function as such.
>
> Once the legacy interfaces are removed, and all the third-party
> chipsets are removed from competing with Intel (by lacking a
> license for the bus interface), then Intel provides all the
> "intelligent" functions. The only things left on the
> motherboard
> are peripheral chips (NIC, HDAudio chip, Firewire chip), or
> regulator chips (VCore, VDimm regulators). It would mean, for
> each motherboard sold, Intel makes the maximum profit from it.
>
> With the recent removal of PCI bus from the motherboard, for
> a few years there will be motherboards with a PCI Express to
> PCI
> bridge. But eventually that will disappear from all boards as
> well.
> I think Z77 may be the beginning of chipsets for desktop,
> without
> a PCI bus being available natively. The interface solutions
> then
> are PCI Express and USB2/3, for virtually everything. Which
> means
> every time you need a legacy solution (such as when I needed a
> serial port for a dialup modem), it's a trip to the computer
> store
> and forking out $29.95. Same thing happened when I needed a
> parallel
> port to run a hardware programming dongle - another trip to the
> store, and fork out more money, for a PCI Express to parallel
> port
> card. Interfaces are *so* much cheaper, when they're bundled
> with the
> motherboard.
>
> Paul

Thanks. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was something along
the lines of what you said, except that I didn't know about
Intel's scheme to eliminate competing standards. The issue has
been muddled by some people who voice the opinion, implied or
expressed, that USB is superior to PS/2.

How to clean Acer netbook screen, two opinions.

micky — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:08:20 GMT

micky wrote in
news:eib0r7h8b9bntnockfv4o0fgaempt6nfmo@4ax.com:

> How to clean Acer netbook screen, two opinions.
>
> How do I clean my Acer netbook screen?
>
> One source says to use a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water on an
> Acer Aspire laptop.
> http://techtips.salon.com/clean-acer...laptop-63.html
>
> And the other source (both of them near the top of google search),
> Netbook Review, says in general not to use alcohol at all, just
> distilled water with vinegar. (Isn't that Windex?) or just plain tap
> water.
> http://netbookreview.com/netbook-cleaning-tips/
> So far, I've tried spit, and it doesn't work well on fingerprints or
> spots (I'm borowing the netbook from a friend, and this is the first
> time he's gotten the screen dirty. Since he's nice enough to lend it,
> I think I should clean it.)
>
> Thanks.
>
> Details:
>
> The first url:
> "*Items you will need
> Lint-free cloths...
> Solution of equal parts rubbing alcohol and distilled water"
>
> The second url:
> "Screen
> Don�t use anything with alcohol, ammonia, or solvents. Distilled water
> is recommended along with vinegar, else a damp cloth wrung of all
> water (non-distilled) should suffice. For the extra conscientious, two
> products which we recommend are Monster Alcohol Free Cleaner($15) and
> Speck CrispView Screen Cleaner($9.95).
> Process
> Turn off netbook
> Moisten a cloth/rag with the solution/water, making sure to wring
> extra liquid out.
> Wipe across the face of the screen gently.
> The liquid should not be sprayed directly onto the screen."

I've got some stuff named "ULTRA" that I honestly can't remember buying.
It is hard to read the print on the bottle information so I laid it on
the rug and took a picture of it.

Then I looked it up and found it as an item at TigerDirect.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...m-details.asp?
EdpNo=4256349&CatId=4204
or
http://tinyurl.com/yjfkmfc
I have used it a few times and am impressed. The reviews on TigerDirect
are generally good.
The bottles are different (http://mewnlite.com/ultra.jpg) but the
instructions are identical.
It comes with one of those silky looking cleaning cloths.

Other than "ULTRA" there is no company name or reference. That in itself
is enough to make one a little leary. Like who do you sue? :-)

Like Paul said, it's probably not a good idea to use it on someone else's
screen. I've only done that once but that one was so bad that nothing
could have made it any worse. Actually it worked great on that one.

For what it's worth, the solution is clear. The bottle is colored.

--
-- I'm out of white ink --

Fat sheboon caged for throwing pitbull from balcony

Michael Gross — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:05:07 GMT

http://www.examiner.com/article/laug...y-from-balcony

There was nothing funny about the cruelty inflicted on one stray Pit
bull puppy Monday morning, but Jamille Marshall, the 22-year-old woman
accused of felony animal cruelty, was laughing.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Marshall hurled the puppy from her
third story balcony, breaking its front leg.

But the East Garfield Park, Ill. woman did not seem overly concerned
about her heartless actions. One responding Chicago police officer
quoted her as saying,

"The Chicago Police Department must have better things to do than
worry about a dog,��

According to the responding officers, Marshall was laughing as she was
handcuffed outside of her West Monroe Street home.

The woman attempted to justify her cruel actions by telling the
authorities that she and a friend discovered the puppy on the balcony
and because it was not theirs, they "didn't want it".
Advertisement

Apparently contacting animal control did not occur to them.

Thankfully the puppy, who was taken to Animal Care and Control for
treatment, is expected to recover.

Something good did come out of this otherwise disturbing incident - one
of the responding police officers intends to adopt the injured puppy.

Marshall is expected in court on Thursday to face her felony aggravated
animal cruelty charge.

Read more here.

Desktop With Two Hard Drives

tb — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:57:55 GMT

tb wrote:
> I am not much of a hardware expert...
>
> I have a desktop with an Intel DQ965GF motherboard. Right now, Ubuntu
> 11.10 is installed on its hard drive.
>
> The desktop has one SATA hard drive installed. I have this old IDE
> hard drive that I would like to install too and maybe put another Linux
> distribution on it. Therefore the desktop would be dual-booting and
> have two hard drives: one (the primary one) with SATA interface and
> the other one with IDE. (The desktop has both SATA and IDE headers on
> the motherboard.) GRUB2 will be installed on the SATA drive.
>
> Question 1: Is it possible to have two hard drives with different data
> architectures installed on the same motherboard? Any drawbacks?
>
> Question 2: How does the system know that the SATA hard drive is the
> one to boot from? SATA drives do not have master/slave jumpers. Is
> there some sort of flag in the BIOS or the two disks' MBR that signals
> which hard drive is the one to boot from after POST?
>
> Just curious...
>

Each drive is handled independently.

A lot of the motherboard BIOS I have here, work at two levels
when specifying devices. The top level might be

Floppy
CDROM
Hard Drive
Net Boot (or other alternative method)

Then, within the Hard Drive area, there is a separate control,
that puts the drives in order

HDD3
HDD1
HDD2

If HDD3 didn't have an MBR with valid signature, then the BIOS might
be able to skip to the next one in the list. And if none were valid,
perhaps it would "fall through" the Hard Drive entry, and you'd see
a PXE netboot status message (spinning cursor).

And all of that is happening at the BIOS level.

*******

If your motherboard is modern enough, it may support a "popup boot
menu". That is an option, that doesn't require "entering" the BIOS,
and allows a temporary boot selection to be made. It looks like
a tiny boot manager. I use that here, when booting from hard
drives, as it saves having to enter the BIOS, and do a
"Save and Exit" to select another disk. On one motherboard,
I press F8 to trigger that. On another motherboard, the
key is F11. Check the first screen full of text in the BIOS,
and look at the bottom line of the screen, to see hints as
to what keys control these functions. (For example, my current
motherboard would say "Press DEL to enter BIOS, or F8 for Popup Boot".
Something along those lines, with a couple defined key presses.)

If your motherboard is set to "Full Screen Logo" mode, and
only a cartoon graphic is present during POST, then the
very first thing you do is enter the BIOS and disable it. And
then you can see all the text I'm referring to. (Once "Full Screen
Logo" is disabled, the POST process will show all its text messages.)

Paul

Strange RAM Behaviour

TheScullster — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:17:19 GMT

"Paul" wrote

> TheScullster wrote:
>> Hi all
>>
>> Recently bought 3 x DT790 Dell desktops, one of which suffered "Windows
>> Shut
>> Down Unexpectedly and Needs to Recover" type errors and also, Kernel
>> Power
>> event id 41 issues. After swapping components around with the other
>> 790s,
>> the problem was seen to follow the RAM. So Dell are sending out
>> replacements. Dell's supplied diagnostic showed no hardware issues at
>> all.
>>
>> OK so this failure in itself is not so surprising. The part of this
>> situation that I find strange, is that the erratic behaviour occurs
>> almost
>> exclusively overnight. Between 21:45 yesterday and 08:18 today, there
>> were
>> 44 errors reported, with the last one (at least) resulting in a machine
>> restart which I witnessed as I arrived at my desk. The longest time
>> period
>> between errors was approx 1 hour and the shortest just a few minutes.
>> The
>> PC has been up for three hours now with no errors reported.
>>
>> Now I know from server UPS data, that our building is subject to
>> over-voltage on supply during the night. Is this likely to give rise to
>> this erratic behaviour? When testing the problem PC, the other 790s were
>> also left on over night and these reported no errors (the desktops do not
>> have UPS on supply).
>>
>> Comments appreciated.
>>
>>
>> Phil
>
> You'd look at the UPS make and model number, and look up the specs.
> Chances are, it conditions the line, and adjusts the output voltage
> such that the ATX supply doesn't see anything. (There are at least
> five different architectures of UPS design, so YMMV.)
>
> And the ATX supply has its own resiliency. An ATX supply can operate
> down to around 90V. And the ATX supply has hold-up time, provided
> by the main capacitor inside the supply. When a PC is idling, this
> hold-up time can be significant (up to around a second or so). You'd
> practically have to kill incoming AC to the UPS, and wait for the
> UPS battery to drain, before that desktop PC would notice.
>
> That's a guess.
>
> *******
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028504
>
> "Description of Windows Kernel event ID 41 error in Windows 7
>
> The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first"
>
> Once you get the new RAM, try running Prime95 "torture test" for
> four hours, and see if no errors are detected. You should really
> do "acceptance testing" on new PCs, because the factory testing
> can amount to a 2 minute run. Dell would rely on the RAM manufacturer
> to test the RAM, before it's assembled. And we all know how
> the RAM manufacturer makes money - by reducing test time. That
> means the "consumer is the tester". Prime95 is a good acceptance
> test, and will give some idea whether the PC is ready to deploy.
>
> http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
>
> ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v266.zip
>
> Extract file (no install needed). Keep the files in a separate
> directory. Double click "prime95.exe". In "Welcome to GIMPS"
> dialog box, click "Just Scress Testing". In "Run a Torture Test"
> dialog box, "Blend" is good for a start. If you used the 64 bit
> version, it's possible using "Custom", you could select a larger
> memory test size. On the 32 bit version, you may be limited to
> around 1600MB. In any case, start with "Blend" and open Task Manager
> after it starts running, to see what resources it is using.
> When the four hours is up, if all icons are still "green", select
> "Stop" and then select "Exit" from the menu. The program should
> then be gone.
>
> It is even possible to run multiple copies of Prime95. Create a
> separate folder for each copy. Copy the prime95.exe file into
> each separate folder. Start the program as above, and select
> custom and set the number of test threads and memory test size.
> By doing it that way, you could test more of system memory,
> by using say four copies testing 1600MB each. You'd run fewer
> test threads on each copy, to spread the load.
>
> Note that the stress from this test, is too much for older OSes.
> Before the computer runs out of resources, instances of the program
> may die. Instances may die even before the system runs out of RAM.
> I was quite surprised by that. It's only an issue, from a test case
> design point of view (i.e. wanting reproducible behavior for the
> test). I've only got one copy of Windows 7 here, and wouldn't
> expect the same problem with that.
>
> Still, Prime95 is a great shakeout test for a new PC, and you'll
> get a test of its cooling system, as well as RAM and CPU. The
> testing icons in Prime95 should stay "green". If a test thread
> stops, you could have bad RAM or a bad CPU. Or in the case
> of an enthusiast retail motherboard, something needs to be
> adjusted for stability (like bumping Vdimm perhaps, or adjusting
> tCAS).
>
> Paul

Wow thanks for comprehensive response Paul.
I have new RAM installed - it has passed the Dell hardware diagnostic (just
like the faulty sticks did!), but the Kernel Power errors have disappeared.

So things are looking promising, but I'll download the Prime95 and give that
a run out.

Thanks again

Phil

ASUS specs

Retired — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:28:26 GMT

VanguardLH wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>
>> Retired wrote:
>>
>>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>
>>>> Retired wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm looking at an ASUS CM6870-US-3AA from Tiger Direct. I need to
>>>>> know what card slots are available.
>>>>> The Tiger Direct URL is: http://tinyurl.com/76eu6kj
>>>>> All I want to know is if there is a *&$%#! PCI slot in it!
>>>> Since they are selling on specs, they are not obligated to include
>>>> more hardware that would dimish their profit margin.
>>> Thanks for your detailed answer. I am just going to assume that it
>>> doesn't have a PCI slot.
>> You can get PCI Express cards with USB2. Or PCI Express cards with
>> USB3.
>
> As long as the 3 card blanks on the backside as shown in Asus' product
> pics aren't just holes in the case but one (up to 3) of them actually
> has matching slots in the mobo behind those blanks AND they're unused.

But the reviewers identified that of the four slots, the
shipped systems had two cards present. A video card and
a Wifi card. One reviewer commented that the Wifi
could have been a USB based chip, and hung off a USB
interface from the chipset, and that would have freed up
another slot. And that reviewer is right, in that cheesy
Wifi is perfectly happy on a USB2 port.

So as shipped, there are two PCI Express x1 slots empty. Perhaps
arranged that way, for slightly better video card cooling. The video
cards Asus is providing, aren't high end cards, and they're probably
not scorchers in any case.

Paul

Self-Clean Range Will Not Work

wei@taiwan.com — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:15:00 GMT

On May 15, 8:48*pm, Bob wrote:
> On 5/14/2012 20:40, trad...@optonline.net wrote:
>
> > ... *I'm not sure
> > there isn't a stove somewhere with a stovetop heating element
> > that runs off 120V. *But I haven't seen one. *They've had
> > 240V heating elements. *I'd like to see a schematic for
> > one of these 120V element stoves. *Shouldn't be hard to
> > do if they are out there and common.
>
> Prior to the modern cooktops with infinite heat levels accomplished by
> time cycling power to the coils, variable heat levels were accomplished
> by powering coils at 120 or 240 volts. *The GE 5-speed scheme used two
> coils on each unit powered as follows:
>
> Hi - both elements 240v parallel
> 2 *- one element 240v
> 3 *- both elements 240v series
> Lo - one element 120v
> Wm - both elements 120v series
>
> --

That's interesting. Out of curiousity, how long ago are
you talking about? It seems to me the method of
using a simple switch that cycles the power on and off
to control the amount of heat has been around since
at least the 60s, no?

And the GE method still has the range using both
240V and 120V to heat. The two assertions being
made that I disagreed with were that
all ovens use 120V elements and stovetops use
120V elements.

Looking for A particular type of Video card

Rick Massey — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:45:12 GMT

"Paul" wrote in message
news:jo0rr4$oud$1@dont-email.me...
(Much very helpful information snipped because my news provider is strict
about how much one can leave in a response)

Well, I doubt anyone is going to worry too much about text -- the TV is an
old CRT type 32 inch television, and I'm doing this just for those who might
happen to be here and want to watch a movie with me, since I'm blind.
But thanks for this, it should help a lot.

Question about 64-bit and IDE?

Grumpy@Oldman.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:22:03 GMT

"John McGaw" wrote in message
news:ZiOor.217684$Ub2.6460@en-nntp-02.dc1.easynews.com...
> On 5/4/2012 6:22 AM, Grumpy@Oldman.com wrote:
>> Dumb question maybe. I am fishing for explanation of what I see as
>> slowness in my W7 64-bit. Since my drive is IDE, I am wondering if
>> it could be that IDE can't handle 64-bit processing and that I must go
>> to SATA.
>>
>> Anyone?
>>
>> Grumpy
>
> Seems wildly unlikely. Have you run the built-in 'experience index' test?
> If so, does it say that the hard disk is to blame for your problems? This
> test isn't infallible or even very sophisticated but it might get you
> moving in the right direction.

Also, if the above test gives a disk score of 5.9, your HD
speed is nominal. Less than that will most likely be due
to the lower transfer rates of the IDE interface. The 64 bit
OS has no bearing on this. The maximum score a mechanical
drive will receive is 5.9. For a greater score you will need an
SSD. The max score with an SSD is 7.9.

Re: mouse scroller repair

John Doe — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:21:59 GMT

"B. P. TBC" wrote:

> Hi all I have a mouse (A4tech X-710F), it works, but the
> scroller works bad. (When I try to scroll, it trembles.) Can
> anyone help me, how can I repair it? I tried to clean it, but it
> still works bad. Thanks!

If you do take the mouse apart... That probably would be a good
application for compressed air from a can. I would avoid touching
stuff inside the mouse.

How to unlock this ssd without paying much money?

Massimo — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:30:12 GMT

On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:12:47 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

>Massimo wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>>
>>
>> It would really be a pity if the ata password -I think that is the
>> password i am speaking about- would tie the ssd to the mainboard it
>> belonged too... for that mainboard has been thrown away because of not
>> functioning properly. I bought a new board for him and the old board
>> is not available any more.
>
>That might be where you're stuck. Since the device looks to be locked
>and asks for a password, it seems likely to be an ATA password issue.
>
Hm. My friend seems to have kept the faulty mobo. Because I am a total
fanatic as long as it's about computers, I maybe trying to use that
old mobo in my oldest computer when I will be renewing its hardware in
the future... just to have a final peek into its cmos for the
ata-password option.

>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralle...s_and_security
>>> Note this says you might get back the device by using the HDD's
>>> firmware "secure erase" function. This wipes the device. One
>>> secure erase program (that uses the disk's own secure erase command
>>> in its firmware to wipe itself, not some program you run under an
>>> OS) is:
>>>
>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDDerase
>>>http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>>>
>> HDDErase...I will not use after having read about experiences of other
>> people with it. ;-)
>
>Haven't needed to use it (yet). That's the program that I remember uses
>the HDD's own firmware to run its secure erase command. There are
>probably other such utilities but remember that the erasing is being
>performed by the HDD, not by the software that called the command that
>the HDD executes.
>
>I see users in hddguru.com forums talking about removing the passwords,
>like http://forum.hddguru.com/ata-passwor...t12257-20.html, and
>doing a secure erase to make the device operational again in a new
>system. They mention the MHDD utility but I've never used it. It's
>listed at http://hddguru.com/software/.

I looked at the MHDD software but in the documentation is repeated the
fact that you have to know the password in order to remove it.

>The suggestion is NOT to attach
>the HDD via USB or other removable-media interface but have it connected
>to an IDE or SATA controller on the mobo. It has security commands for
>unlocking and removing the password but says you need the password:

Exactly.

>http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.....html#password.
>Well, if you never entered a password, maybe just hitting enter to
>specify a null string will work.
>
Hm. I tried that with the Intel Storage Manager program and it did not
work. I have tried NULL, idrive, [ENTER] and others.

Well, thanks again for youw thoughtfull reactions. :-)

Massimo

>As far as some users having bad experiences with utility-grade software
>or tools, well that abounds with whatever utility software you find,
>including:
>
>partition managers
>snapshot backup programs
>registry cleaners or tweakers
>defragmenters
>hardware drivers
>S.M.A.R.T. viewers
>
>You can't stop users from using tools they don't understand. If they
>can install it, suddenly they consider them an sysadmin.
>
>> The old motherboard was a Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 and I bought a
>> Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 (AM3+ mobo) as a replacement.
>
>As I recall from reading, the password is hashed to store on the HDD so
>it has to match the hashed password stored in the EEPROM for the BIOS on
>the mobo where you original defined the non-blank password.
>
>I think you're stuck with having to using HDD diagnostic software that
>workarounds the ATA password. You might get lucky by trying to unlock
>the device in the BIOS. Maybe by hitting Enter for the password (since
>you say no password was entered) would work.
>
>I find articles, like http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html, but they always
>seems to be iffy in that they'll only work on a small subset of HDDs
>that the authors happens to experiment upon.

Need Laptop Hard Drive

taichung@taiwan.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:23:15 GMT

On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:16:21 -0500, edfair
wrote:

>
>You probably want to look inside to see what kind of connector, too.
>Some do additional stuff to change how the drive connects.
>
For sure.

It looks to be IDE - certainly not SATA. Two long rows of pins.

xiexie

wei

MBR?

roger@dodger.com — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:54:26 GMT

On Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:25:47 -0400, Paul wrote:

>Your usage of the word "bad" kinda threw me off.
>As when Partition Magic *really* doesn't like your
>disk, it errors out and you don't get to look at anything.
>I've had that happen before.
>
>I thought perhaps you were seeing an error message
>I'd never seen before, that's all.
>
> Paul

The word 'bad' was in PM's hard drive display. Big letters. I saw
the same flag for a Ubuntu-formatted drive the other day. It wasn't
my word.
Thanks
Big Fred (:<)

Does the AGP version of Nvidia 6200 have h.264 decoder?

PC Guy — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:57:21 GMT

PC Guy wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>
>>> I swapped an MX440 (64 mb) video card for an Evga GeForce 6200
>>> (256 mb) video card because VLC can't really play large h.264
>>> video files smoothly on my system.
>>>
>>> I updated VLC to the latest version (2.0.1 I think).
>
>>> VLC has a check-box to enable "Accelerated video output (overlay)"
>>> - and I have that checked.
>>>
>>> VLC also has (in the Input & Codecs settings section) a check-box
>>> for "Use GPU accelerated decoding" - but that option is greyed out.
>>> Any idea why?
>> Wouldn't this be a question for the VLC forum ?
>
> I have started a thread there.
>
> I've messed with a bunch of VLC settings and have gotten the file in
> question to playback almost perfectly.
>
> What is apparent is that MANY people are seeing playback problems
> (stuttering video) with this new 2.0 version of VLC (and naturally they
> have more moderm CPU's and video cards, and are also running win-7).
> Some or many people are un-installing VLC version 2 and going back to
> version 1.

I found an article here, on VLC. DXVA is mentioned in the article,
which I believe means "Use GPU accelerated decoding" is using the
video decoder block. The author of the article, uses a tool called
DXVA_checker, but I didn't see a link to the tool while flipping
through the article.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3786/h...with-vlc-110/4

Paul

Aceess to Dead Laptop HD

Jim T. — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:55:10 GMT

On 4/28/2012 3:55 PM, Jim T. wrote:
> My wife's ten year old Dell laptop has quit. I tried to attach
> another monitor, but got nothing, so it's the video card and not
> necessarily the screen. AFAIK the keyboard and mouse are OK. I can
> access its hard disk on my network, but most of the files I want to
> copy are protected - I am "denied access". Is there a way I can get
> those from my desktop? I've bought a refurbed Lenovo from IBM, and it
> works great except the screen is a little small. BTW, I had
> administrator access on the laptop if I was logged on, but I assume
> that nobody's logged on!

I would probably try pulling the HD from the laptop, and connecting it
straight away to a PC with a USB adapter, like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812232002