Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving that uses logical, systematic steps to solve the problem.
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Why is Google prompting me with Captchas?
Why is Google prompting me with Captchas?
I turned on urlsnooper2 and found this (below). I don't know why my computer would request any of it. What I changed in the past few days is:
Reformatted ...
6
votes
4answers
273 views
Troubleshooting an mysteriously unstable machine
I have a machine with a Core i7 CPU, 12 GiB of memory, 4 hard drives and a graphics card/sound card (both add-in PCI-E). This machine is somehow unstable, and I'm wondering how to troubleshoot ...
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2answers
2k views
What does this dtrace error mean?
When running iotop -C 5 12 on my late-2010 Macbook Pro (10.6.7) I get repeated instances of this error:
dtrace: error on enabled probe ID 5 (ID 19507: io:mach_kernel:buf_strategy:start): illegal ...
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1answer
218 views
How can I fix a website that doesn't work on my computer?
Tech support for the school website says it is Internet Explorer but every other website works? I need to be able to access classes on this website. We have two other computers and they are working ...
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1answer
132 views
Does the PC power switch indicate CPU health?
I have a PC that died tonight after I swapped a power supply. Putting the old power supply back did not help.
Symptoms: Fans and lights come on normally. There are no beeps, but I don't see any ...
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1answer
7k views
Having an with Java/ minecraft (Windows 7 64bit) [closed]
I have had issues with java on my computer for a while. First of all, java has never worked on Google Chrome or Firefox, Only IE. Whenever I need to use Java, I use IE. Now, I just tried to play ...
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1answer
105 views
Access file on my external hard drive when I have no OS
I have no operating system on my computer. But I do have the Windows 7 installation file on my external harddrive, is it possible to load that iso file to run the windows 7 installation from my ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Intermittent freeze of Windows 7 SP1 x64 since last week
It's a self build Core2Duo 8 GB workstation used as a 24/7/365 server, started in 2007. Installed Windows 7 on February 2010, running flawless till last week. Nothing specials happened / installed ...
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1answer
921 views
Cannot login to Linux server via SSH/Console
I got two computers with the exact same symptoms today: Both seem to be alive. They answer pings and they host virtual machines which are working.
However, I cannot login via SSH. I get
$ ssh -v ...
3
votes
4answers
554 views
Is someone stealing my bandwidth?
I have a lot of internet problems (very slow connection, randomly not working).
I've tried a tracert:
Tracing route to www.l.google.com [7
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms <1 ms ...
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4answers
4k views
How can I solve Canon MX870 printer only printing blank pages?
I have a Canon MX870 printer which I have connected to a Windows Vista laptop via a USB connection. Whether I print or copy, the result is the same: blank pages.
The result is the same when I use a ...
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votes
2answers
4k views
What is an XPerf alternative for Linux and Mac OS X?
XPerf is a tool that allows you to take a detailed trace of various system activity like CPU, I/O and more...
Because of it's detail you can see stack trace counts, disk position offset graphs, ...
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1answer
78 views
Why does my printout have bottomless lines of characters?
I printed out some code from Visual Studio 2008 (12 pages), and a few lines of each page are printed only partially. It's as if the bottom 80% of each of the characters were chopped off and left for ...
3
votes
7answers
2k views
Why can't I traceroute or access certain websites in my browser even though I can ping them from terminal?
On just one computer in my household, I cannot complete a successful traceroute nor browse in any browser to a seemingly random-selected, small set of websites. This includes sites like twitter.com ...
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votes
4answers
1k views
How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?
I am looking for hints, tips and answers on how to get started on troubleshooting when:
The problem is intermittent
The problem could lie literally anywhere - operating system; free source software; ...
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vote
2answers
149 views
The graphics are my machine are corrupting, both in windows & in the BIOS. Has the memory in my graphics card died?
I have an 8800GTS, latest drivers from Nvidia, and 2 monitors.
I've recently been playing Dragon Age 2, but 5 - 10 minutes, the graphics utterly die. The game locks up, Numlock won't go on & off, ...
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1answer
4k views
can't connect to the internet after setting up the router N300 netgear wireless
I set-up my router which I got from the provider of my internet. So far my internet was working was fine.
I got N300 netgear wireless router. I followed the instructions in the manual in connecting ...
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1answer
89 views
Connecting an external monitor
I plan to connect my laptop to a 22" external monitor. My earlier laptop crashed a few days ago because of the video card problem.
I am not an expert in this, but still would like to know connecting ...
3
votes
3answers
6k views
wi-fi connection drops periodically for a few seconds
I've read the similar question on wireless connections dropping, but no answer seems to apply to my case
I have configured the wi-fi lan of my router to broadcast sid and use WPA-PSK.
Every few ...
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votes
1answer
382 views
Green Screen when the system restarts
I am having this problem with the Sony Laptop (VGN-NR38Z series). Sometime, it just crashes with a green screen.
When I do a hard reboot, it will have a Green Stripes in the boot menu as well.
Any ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
Windows 7 logon takes 2 minutes — how to troubleshoot?
I got myself a brand new laptop with Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit.
I used it no problems for a couple of months, and then a strange thing began to happen:
I press the On button.
In 20 seconds or ...
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1answer
305 views
Why are videos from my camera not playing in full color on my computer?
I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-H55. Any video I download off the camera onto my computer plays back in pink and grey/blue tones, not full color, on my computer. How can I fix this?
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votes
3answers
6k views
What are the causes of BIOS corruption? Can one tell the cause of corruption?
I'm sure it is a case of bad BIOS. What I'm not sure of is how did the BIOS get corrupted.
What causes BIOS failure in common scenarios? It was a Pentium 4 from 2004. Does age have to do anything ...
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1answer
120 views
On MacOS where would a message be logged if the startup disk is not found? (Trouble shooting startup problem.)
When starting up an iMac (Intel, Snow Leopard 10.6.6) the first time after being off for a while the Mac starts up from a system backup on an external drive rather than the internal drive as it ...
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votes
2answers
4k views
Best way to troubleshoot intermittent network outages?
We have a Comcast 50/10 line into our office. We keep seeing very short but sometimes frequent drops in our internet service. It's enough to kick you off of skype and stop any websites from loading, ...
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4answers
1k views
Why does my computer show a black screen when booting into Windows Vista?
Today, I removed some old software from dad's vista, and installed SP1.
After which the computer restarted and it went into a "black" screen. I left it running for a few hours, and the laptop was ...
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2answers
1k views
Why is my Tab key not working under the Windows version of Google Chrome?
Under Linux and OS X the tab in when typing in the Chrome URL bar will set a search provider. So for instance, wiki TAB will change the URL bar to a Wikipedia search, and then anything I type past ...
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2answers
368 views
How to solve my black screen at boot?
I've got a friend with a weird problem. When he starts his computer the screen is completely black until the computer is completely started. So the screen is black until it suddenly shows the Windows ...
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vote
3answers
2k views
Can't login into Fedora 14 (XFCE) desktop. For the second time
I'm experiencing a problem with my Fedora 14 XFCE spin, which doesn't seem to let me pass the login screen: I enter my password for my user record, authentication passes (no 'Authentication Failure' ...
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votes
0answers
102 views
Help: Nautilus has stopped working on my Ubuntu (10.0.4 LTS 64 bit)
problem fixed. The error message in ~/.xsession-errrors file help me diagnose the probelm. It was a missing shared lib that I had accidentally deleted during development on my machine.
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1answer
209 views
External disk repair error on a MacBook Pro
I have my MacBook Pro backed up with Time Machine on a WD external passport drive. Time Machine no longer recognizes the drive and I cannot open any other files that are on it. I tried disk repair, ...
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2answers
1k views
Windows 7 fresh install blank screen
I've just installed Win7 Ultimate to my PC. During the install it reboots a couple of times, but 2nd or 3rd reboot I see the "Starting Windows..." message, but followed by a black screen. No mouse ...
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2answers
854 views
AC power on my laptop freezes
AC power on my laptop Toshiba satellite freezes and I have to forcibly off it by computer power button. and to start it on battery power now, Windows Vista will recommended start with repair option.
...
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2answers
229 views
After boot, Windows Live Messenger says it can't connect
When I boot my computer and automatically logins to my Windows account, when Live Messenger starts it says it can't connect. Although when I retry it works just fine. Due to my low amount of ...
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2answers
466 views
Windows 7 goes to sleep with wireless keyboard and mouse attached
I installed Windows 7. Now I have the computer going to sleep every 2 minutes or so. It turned out that the wireless keyboard I am using is the problem. How do I fix this? Btw, both the keyboard and ...
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votes
1answer
4k views
Lots of BluetoothHeadsetProxy.exe processes
I have a weird problem with my Win7 Pro 64: after booting it keeps spawning new BluetoothHeadsetProxy processes. I have 400 of them now and it keeps counting of course slowing down the system ...
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2answers
195 views
Screen is black on PC startup
I have a Dell desktop and when I try turning it on, the screen is black and all I hear is a few beeps. Can someone help me find the problem?
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1answer
327 views
How can I troubleshoot a Rockbox Utility installation?
I'm trying to install Rockbox on my sansa e260 v2 because it's no longer working properly and I thought I might as well try Rockbox before chucking it out.
The problem is that I can charge it fully, ...
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1answer
2k views
Why does my computer shut down automatically?
I have 3 year old computer that shuts down automatically after 15 minutes. Since all the fans are working, I don't suspect a heat problem
So what else could cause my computer to shutdown like this?
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votes
1answer
4k views
How can I troubleshoot a computer that won't shutdown?
One of my parents work computers running Windows XP won't shutdown properly.
The computer is shutdown normally through the Start menu, but hangs on a system message. This problem occurs at every ...
3
votes
4answers
971 views
Diagnosing computer freezes
Background:
New system build, new components, Windows 7. Detail build below.
Symptoms:
Complete system freeze/lock - no mouse movement, no keyboard lights, everything on-screen freezes - no ...
1
vote
1answer
433 views
PC wont boot with more than 1 stick of RAM
I've got the following computer and I've just put in a new CPU QX9650 and I've run into this problem since making this hardware change.
Whenever I put more than 1 of my 4 sticks of ram into my ...
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votes
1answer
467 views
Corsair SSD appears completely blank and does not retain written data
I have a 180GB Corsair SSD (model# CSSD-F180GB2-BRKT) as the primary drive in a Windows laptop. Recently the machine became unbootable after installing Windows updates. Windows installed updates ...
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votes
1answer
3k views
How to restore jump list for Windows Explorer pinned taskbar icon?
I pinned Windows Explorer's icon to my taskbar months ago, and all worked fine, including jump lists. Note: I changed the default Explorer's folder using the usual trick of changing the GUID in the ...
1
vote
3answers
186 views
Bios wont post unless I restart power supply
I have an annoying problem with a computer.
The BIOS wont post after it has been turned off and started again unless I turn the switch off/on on the power supply. The fans, cdrom hdd and everything ...
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1answer
246 views
Troubleshooting a crash with Windows 7
I have a folder with several thousand videos (All .MPG extensions). When I open the folder with these videos, it shows up fine, but as I start scrolling down, it crashes the Windows Explorer.
In ...
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votes
3answers
611 views
How do I troubleshoot problems that occur during boot?
In the case that my computer would have issues with booting, what steps can I take to troubleshoot it?
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7answers
1k views
Desktop PC does not power up on power button
When I press the power button on my desktop, it does not power up completely. Before I press the power button, I see lights on the motherboard. Everything is normal. On power button press, the fans on ...
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votes
4answers
632 views
PC freezes after repeated clicking noises
I have an oldish PC (Athlon XP 2200, WinXP). Every time I switch it on, I hear a loud "click" first of all, and when it is shut down, again a click is the last sound I hear.
Lately it started to ...
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2answers
909 views
Why is the Windows Help & Support screen not working?
When I click on the icon in the Start Menu, the error is:
The Windows Help And Support can't start
A problem has occured with Windows Help And Support Center. For online help visit Windows ...
