Computer Help Thread

Frenzy · Post by **Frenzy** » 27 Apr 2007, 17:39

Since upgrading to vista, I haven't been able to select 1280 x 800 resoloution at all, either though the CCC, windows, or any games. This is a problem as it was the only resoloution TDU was playable at and wasn't streched in. The only resoloutions that I can select are the standard (800x600,1024x768,1152x864,1280x960) and 1440x900, which is my monitor's native resoloution.

I have a HP w19b monitor, with latest drivers installed, and an ATi x1650(se I think), also with latest drivers.

I have also tried telling the CCC that my monitor's best resouloution is 1280x800, but this still wouldn't let me select that resoloution, so does Vista not support that resoloution or something?

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 13 May 2007, 08:18

I can't help you with resolutions, I would just keep an eye out for drivers and jump on them when they come out. One tip for Vista is, if your like me and you only have about 1GB of RAM, try increasing your page file to whatever you can spare without going crazy. I increased mine from 1GB to about 10GB because I do alot of mutiltasking while listening to music and playing games, and my little 2.4 GHz 3400+ Sempron 64 couldn't keep up. I am very impressed with how much stabler my system is now, and GRAW won't even lag when I push the settings to high anymore!

However, I normally use Nvidia, but I have used a x1600 PRO on a clients Vista system I built for him, and I think I could push it to 1280x1024, which is also the max for my 7600GT OC (Major Overclock tho, plus factory overclock on top of mine.) But I'll keep an eye out for posible solutions. Do you think you could post your full system settings?

donaldgladden · Post by **donaldgladden** » 13 May 2007, 10:04

thats weird.. my system can only max at 4096gb pf page file! Man, GTR2 would run alot smoother if i could get mine to 10gb.

darknight788 · Post by **darknight788** » 13 May 2007, 10:34

page file is how much memory you set aside for the HDD memory to act as ram. the only bad part is page file memory is alot slower than ram

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 13 May 2007, 16:37

Ya, but that's why I put abunch. I think it's because of my HDD size though. PLus, getting a SATA HDD would help that speed problem, but I HATE SATA, way to much trouble to install windows on.

But I think we're getting off topic of help with his resolution.

Post by **YaelDjiel** » 13 May 2007, 17:14

no need for a page file larger than 2-3GB.. above that is just overkill and wasting space

why? because you wont ever need it

@donaldgladden
if you cant go above 4GB, that probably means you have FAT32 filesystem
it has 4GB per file limit

The Gravedigger · Post by **The Gravedigger** » 13 May 2007, 20:49

donaldgladden wrote:thats weird.. my system can only max at 4096gb pf page file! Man, GTR2 would run alot smoother if i could get mine to 10gb.

.... No it wouldn't.

The only reason it doesn't run smooth would be because your computer's specifications are not high enough to get 'smooth' gameplay. Your video card, CPU, and a few other pieces are better causes as to why you can't run the game smoother.... also, if it doesn't run smooth, just whack the settings down a notch so that it will.

The amount of pagefile you should have is only 1.5 times your actual amount of RAM, so..... if you have 1 gig, then you'll have 1.5gigs of pagefile. Increasing it over that amount does not mean it will run smoother or help your system out, the only thing that does mean is that you will be wasting your harddrive space.

Jmac- · Post by **Jmac-** » 13 May 2007, 23:24

Not completely true ... If you're running a server (or any other computer which runs for long periods of time without a restart/shutdown), increasing the page file beyond 1.5x will considerably improve stability long-term ...

For example, I use one of my old computers for a media server to feed my TV and other computers in the household but, after about 1.5 weeks, it froze with a message saying I was low on virtual memory. I increased the virtual memory up from 1.5 GB (1.5 times) to 3 GB and it ran for about a month and a half before it froze and I got that message again. I then increased it to 6 GB and haven't received that message yet and it's been about 4 months now.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 14 May 2007, 21:33

Heres a problem for you guys to help me out with. When my computer starts up, after about 30 seconds the mouse starts to lag terribly even though the start menu and other applications are running at normal speed. It lags for around 40 seconds then goes back to normal. This only occurs at startup and at no other time. It started two weeks ago and I thought it would fix itself but it hasn't. I found that it is only the mouse by opening the start menu via the keyboard and opened a program and it ran fine while the mouse continued to lag. If any of you know what could be causing this, please let me know. I will give a Joost invite to the person or persons that help me fix this.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 14 May 2007, 22:04

Download a program that can scan startup entries and look through them. I can't remember any off the top of my head that are free, but there is quite a collection of good free ones online. It's most likely some startup entry that's causing the lag.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 14 May 2007, 22:33

Would Ad-Watch from Lavasoft work? When my computer starts up, it shows 7 registry modifications right at startup. It's the same 7 every time I log onto my computer.

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 15 May 2007, 16:13

Start > Run > Type "msconfig" without the " > Startup tab > deselect all (leave only those things you really need at startup) > Restart Computer and if it doesn't lag then the cause of the lag was too many startup programs. If it still lags then i don't know but if you want those programs to load at startup again you just go in "msconfig" again and you select them again.

xHaZxMaTx · Post by **xHaZxMaTx** » 21 May 2007, 23:43

Hola peeps, I was wondering about hooking my computer up to an audio reciever we have in our living room (for the TV, VCR, DVD Player, etc.). Anyone happen to know what sort of cables/cards I would need to do this?

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 22 May 2007, 01:22

I have my computer hooked up to an audio receiver. I found a cord that had a standard headphone jack at one end and two plugs on the end to go into an A/V input on the back of my receiver.

Here is the cable I am using:
LINK

xHaZxMaTx · Post by **xHaZxMaTx** » 22 May 2007, 01:29

That's only stereo, is there a way to get 5.1 surround?

The Gravedigger · Post by **The Gravedigger** » 22 May 2007, 01:29

3.5mm headphone jack to red and white RCA cable.... picked up form most electrical stores for about 5 bucks.

Least over here it's that simple.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 22 May 2007, 01:47

It works for me, my receiver converts it over and plays the sounds in the proper channels.

xHaZxMaTx · Post by **xHaZxMaTx** » 22 May 2007, 03:44

There's a difference between having sound coming from all 5 speakers and surround sound.

weedman173 · Post by **weedman173** » 22 May 2007, 04:17

I know there is, but I used a surround sound tester, and when the sound was supposed to play out of the indicated speaker it did. It went through each speaker and it was all correct.

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 22 May 2007, 05:47

Jmac- wrote:Not completely true ... If you're running a server (or any other computer which runs for long periods of time without a restart/shutdown), increasing the page file beyond 1.5x will considerably improve stability long-term ...

For example, I use one of my old computers for a media server to feed my TV and other computers in the household but, after about 1.5 weeks, it froze with a message saying I was low on virtual memory. I increased the virtual memory up from 1.5 GB (1.5 times) to 3 GB and it ran for about a month and a half before it froze and I got that message again. I then increased it to 6 GB and haven't received that message yet and it's been about 4 months now.

Well, that counts me... I can go for weeks without cutting it off.

I do have a problem, I keep blowing every pair of speakers i get for my computer... is there any better way of trying to prevent this? (Well, they don't actually blow, they just break and don't work... if you get what I mean...

)

AKA Will cut off in the middle of a song and never turn on again...

darknight788 · Post by **darknight788** » 22 May 2007, 06:02

@ haz dont you have a 5.1 surround sound card ? my card is over 4 years old and it is 5.1 so you should be able to pick one up for a good price if you want one

xHaZxMaTx · Post by **xHaZxMaTx** » 22 May 2007, 06:39

weedman173 wrote:I know there is, but I used a surround sound tester, and when the sound was supposed to play out of the indicated speaker it did. It went through each speaker and it was all correct.

Well, I bought the cable, and it's going through all 5 speakers (though I don't know it's surround or not, yet), but the subwoofer doesn't seem to be getting any input.

Post by **YaelDjiel** » 23 May 2007, 17:44

umm.. need some help here

after having my pagefile(2048MB) in 1 piece for months, now that *censor* windows fragmented it and i cant get it fixed

ive tried some defrag tools.. didnt help me
ive tried swapping it to another hdd and then back.. didnt help either

if anyone knows a nice solution, that'd be great... a fragmented pagefile is a bad pagefile XD

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 23 May 2007, 21:15

There are defrag programs that are capable of defragmenting the page file aswell (during boot time) but they are not free, atleast the ones I'm aware of (diskeeper pro, for example) .

If you happen to have more than one partition, you could move the paging file to a different partition (obviosly having defragged that partition first). Even better if you two (or more) physical drives, in which case having the page file on another drive (vs having it on the same drive as your os) slightly improves overall system performance too.

Post by **YaelDjiel** » 23 May 2007, 22:08

ive tried O&O offline defrag, it didnt do anything

i do have another hdd, but its IDE(8MB) vs the currently used SATA2(16MB)... so yeah

might have to give that diskeeper a shot, thanks