PC Troubleshooting/Advice Thread - Have a problem with your PC? Ask here!

[Svetlana]

Techheads out there...I really need your help.

Picture this...a main computer which connects to the internet via a Netgear wireless modem/router. In the main PC is a wireless card.

The slave computer connects to the network by a Peak II wireless USB adapter. I have assigned both the main and slave computers to share files over the network I have created. The slave computer can easily access the main computer's shared files yet the main computer cannot view the slave to view the shared files.

On the slave computer are antiviral and antispyware programs that need regular internet updates but they, for some reason, cannot connect to the servers. When playing games on Miniclip.com, highscore boards hang on the slave computer when they run flawlessly on the master. Isketch.com also does this on the slave computer.

I'm aware that this is probably going to be a long and complicated solution. Anybody who helps me will receive +rep from my desperate, sorry soul.

Thanks in advance.

[softtack]

Okay let's get started shall we?

First, about the file sharing problem, I have a few questions. What firewall program are you using? Is Windows Firewall still enabled? There is a possibility that a firewall on one side is blocking access to file sharing. And you have run the Network Setup Wizard, correct?

Second, a faulty Macromedia Flash/Shockwave installation may behind the Miniclip and Isketch problems. Try reinstalling both plugins and see if doing so has any effect.

These are basic starting solutions and as I get to know the problem better, hopefully I'll be able to solve your problems!

[Svetlana]

Okay let's get started shall we?

First, about the file sharing problem, I have a few questions. What firewall program are you using? Is Windows Firewall still enabled? There is a possibility that a firewall on one side is blocking access to file sharing. And you have run the Network Setup Wizard, correct?

Second, a faulty Macromedia Flash/Shockwave installation may behind the Miniclip and Isketch problems. Try reinstalling both plugins and see if doing so has any effect.

These are basic starting solutions and as I get to know the problem better, hopefully I'll be able to solve your problems!

I have run the network setup wizard and disabled the firewalls to try and get the network running properly. Alas, it didn't work. I'll try reinstalling Shockwave again but I doubt it'll do the trick.

Maybe I have to manually configure the wireless USB adapter in order for it to be recognised by my main computer. I have run the ipconfig/all in the command prompt and it doesn't register the USB adapter for the slave PC. Is this normal?

Strangely, when I run the tracert 'computer name here' command, the slave computer is recognised.

This has baffled me for over a week now. If I pull at my hair for much longer, I'll be a Gail Porter lookalike.

[Xeo]

I bought an EVGA 8800GTS then flashed the Super clock BIOS on it. The card Runs great just a bit warm. was wondering if anyone else that has one of these noticed this also? My reservoir is pretty much right below the card, and well the card doesn't run to hot (55c idle 68c load) it does radiate a lot of heat and pretty much destroy my loop. My CPU with the oc used to idle 33c load 57c now with the card acting as a mini heater for the reservoir my temps are ruined idle 38c load 67c. I had to get rid of my OC because the temps were to high. going from 3.1ghz oc back to 2.2ghz stock is painful...

I'm thinking about moving my Reservoir because of the added heat from the card, or just getting rid of it entirely for a fill port. Room isn't too much of a problem since all of this is in a CM Stacker 830. The only con to a fill port that i can think of is that it would take longer to fill, but that isn't really to much of a problem. It would certainly look a lot cleaner then a reservoir. any comments/ advice is appreciated.

[proof]

I take it the super clock BIOS is an over clocking BIOS? If so, then yes, it is perfectly normal for the card to heat up. The more you over clock, the more work the card has to do, therefore, it heats up.
You could buy a new fan for it, 3rd party fans, like Artic Cooling fans are very good, however, i think these void the warrenty.

[Xeo]

I take it the super clock BIOS is an over clocking BIOS? If so, then yes, it is perfectly normal for the card to heat up. The more you over clock, the more work the card has to do, therefore, it heats up.
You could buy a new fan for it, 3rd party fans, like Artic Cooling fans are very good, however, i think these void the warrenty.

Not really, I bought the EVGA 8800GTS and i flashed the BIOS from the EVGA 8800GTS Super Clock, since the BIOS on the cards is really the only difference between the two. the cards temps are perfectly fine. it just that it tends to radiate heat. I was looking into water blocks for the card but can't seem to find any for the GTS only the GTX.

I'm more concerned with my loop then the card right now. the 8800 is running well and the temps are well within reason. I just miss my OC it made a world of difference..

[MavSkipper]

I have run the network setup wizard and disabled the firewalls to try and get the network running properly. Alas, it didn't work. I'll try reinstalling Shockwave again but I doubt it'll do the trick.

Maybe I have to manually configure the wireless USB adapter in order for it to be recognised by my main computer. I have run the ipconfig/all in the command prompt and it doesn't register the USB adapter for the slave PC. Is this normal?

Strangely, when I run the tracert 'computer name here' command, the slave computer is recognised.

This has baffled me for over a week now. If I pull at my hair for much longer, I'll be a Gail Porter lookalike.

i dont know much about a wireless USB adapter because i don't use one but try re-installing the driver for the USB adapter

you also need to make sure that both PC are on the same Workgroup for file-sharing

and also... you need to let the "Workgroup" know which folder are being shared and/or accessed
for example... if you want to share your whole C Drive, right-click on it and choose "Sharing and Security..." and a new window will pop up then click on the underlined sentence with the words "click here" at the end and you will see the options
below "Network sharing and security", tick the box "Share this folder on the network" and name it to whatever you want(i.e. "Slave C Drive")
you can also tick "Allow network users to change my files" if you want to do some changes to the shared folder/drive... the only folders you're not allowed to access in the network if you share your C Drive is the "Program Files" folder and the "WINDOWS" folder
once you click OK and everything's done, you will see a hand below the C Drive icon.. as you can see in the image below, most of my drives are shared




well i hope that helps... on my network, 2 PC's are connected wired and 1 laptop is connected wirelessly... and sometimes when my sister visits here with her laptop, she's also able to access those shared drive on my network wirelessly

[Svetlana]

i dont know much about a wireless USB adapter because i don't use one but try re-installing the driver for the USB adapter

you also need to make sure that both PC are on the same Workgroup for file-sharing

and also... you need to let the "Workgroup" know which folder are being shared and/or accessed
for example... if you want to share your whole C Drive, right-click on it and choose "Sharing and Security..." and a new window will pop up then click on the underlined sentence with the words "click here" at the end and you will see the options
below "Network sharing and security", tick the box "Share this folder on the network" and name it to whatever you want(i.e. "Slave C Drive")
you can also tick "Allow network users to change my files" if you want to do some changes to the shared folder/drive... the only folders you're not allowed to access in the network if you share your C Drive is the "Program Files" folder and the "WINDOWS" folder
once you click OK and everything's done, you will see a hand below the C Drive icon.. as you can see in the image below, most of my drives are shared




well i hope that helps... on my network, 2 PC's are connected wired and 1 laptop is connected wirelessly... and sometimes when my sister visits here with her laptop, she's also able to access those shared drive on my network wirelessly

Unfortunately, I have done the things that you have suggested a while ago but to no avail. Any other ideas?

[Varsh]

Techheads out there...I really need your help.

Picture this...a main computer which connects to the internet via a Netgear wireless modem/router. In the main PC is a wireless card.

The slave computer connects to the network by a Peak II wireless USB adapter. I have assigned both the main and slave computers to share files over the network I have created. The slave computer can easily access the main computer's shared files yet the main computer cannot view the slave to view the shared files.

On the slave computer are antiviral and antispyware programs that need regular internet updates but they, for some reason, cannot connect to the servers. When playing games on Miniclip.com, highscore boards hang on the slave computer when they run flawlessly on the master. Isketch.com also does this on the slave computer.

I'm aware that this is probably going to be a long and complicated solution. Anybody who helps me will receive +rep from my desperate, sorry soul.

Thanks in advance.

So both of your computers are connected via wireless adapters to the router? In that case log into your router and check your settings, occasionally the router assigns only 1 application per computer, or 1 port per computer, so the first things to check are what ports are needed and route them to your specific PC that requires those ports for your applications.

Now when you reboot your computers the IP addresses while most likely change on the router, so the best solution is to either set up a static IP address on your computer, or set your router to give the computer a static address by detecting its MAC address. Then port forward your settings to that IP address and it should sort out the application problems.

As for the File Sharing, what you can do instead is Map a network drive to your main computer. Or after setting up the folder sharing, use this program (I haven't tried it though).

[Svetlana]

Thanks for the help Varsh - I had to do port forwarding for a program just to get it to work on my master computer. I've logged into my router's settings but I cannot see anything that's out of the ordinary. I also have a static IP address set up.

To make matters worse, my slave computer randomly disconnects from the internet every so often. It's incredibly annoying!

[Varsh]

Some wireless adapters struggle to actually stay connected to the router after a specific length of time, generally if you only surf the web you don't notice it disconnect and reconnect as it's done in the background, however there are some that are just really picky, and if you play a single game online (UT for instance), you'll notice a sudden drop from a ping of 20 to suddenly somewhere over 9999 for a small brief period before it corrects itself. It's the main reason my brother stole my Linksys adapter...good job I'm hard-wired in with a Cat5. D

Might want to check the positioning of the adapters to the positioning of the router too, having it going through too many items or walls is a big X in any wireless book, if possible hang it out to dry with a straight line towards the router.

How did the file sharing go?

[Svetlana]

My main computer with the wireless modem router is about ten metres away from the other computer. However, there are two walls separating the two stations. Sometimes the internet connection on the slave computer is fantastic and doesn't disconnect at all but more recently, disconnections happen quite regularly.

File sharing is still the same - my slave computer can access the main computer's files with ease but there isn't a chance in hell of the opposite happening. I still receive the error message when I try to open shared files on the slave computer on the main.

This is so infuriating. How can something so straightforward go so completely wrong?

[softtack]

If I remember correctly, you mentioned that the wireless USB adapter on the slave PC doesn't show up in ipconfig /all, which is odd because my Linksys wireless USB shows up.

I'm assuming both PCs are running XP, both are in the same workgroup with File and Print Sharing enabled and running static IPs. Have you tried transferring a large file between the two computers? It might be a good idea to test the reliability of the wireless connection. If it continues to cut out, try resetting the router back to factory settings and reconfiguring it and reinstall the drivers for the wireless USB adapter.

[Varsh]

In fact it's interesting you brought that up, if you're not using any of the network ports then disable them all, then use ipconfig /all again, if you still don't get anything then try ipconfig /release, then ipconfig /renew, you should hopefully then get it showing up in ipconfig /all. If that still doesn't happen then like softrack said, reinstall your drivers.

[Svetlana]

If I remember correctly, you mentioned that the wireless USB adapter on the slave PC doesn't show up in ipconfig /all, which is odd because my Linksys wireless USB shows up.

I'm assuming both PCs are running XP, both are in the same workgroup with File and Print Sharing enabled and running static IPs. Have you tried transferring a large file between the two computers? It might be a good idea to test the reliability of the wireless connection. If it continues to cut out, try resetting the router back to factory settings and reconfiguring it and reinstall the drivers for the wireless USB adapter.

Ah! I didn't think about creating a static IP address on my slave computer. Good idea...I'll give it a try!

[Varsh]

I mentioned static IPs earlier. That should definitely work. ^^;

[Svetlana]

Ok. The slave computer has now got its own static IP but once again, nothing has changed at all.

At times like this, I can understand how the little German kid in the Youtube video could erupt with computer induced rage. At this very moment, I could happily throw the computer out of my window and feel the happiness inside me swell as the machine smashes into a thousand pieces onto the driveway!

I'm not an expert in computers but Jesus...does the networking of two computers have to be so difficult?

Today I tried pinging the computers. The master pinged the slave effortlessly and I received a message telling me that it was successful. However, when pinging the master computer from the slave, it simply didn't work. I find this odd considering how it's the slave computer that has access to the master computer's files.

<<<Sick to death of computers.

Edit: PROBLEM SOLVED!

Why is it that whenever something goes wrong with a computer, it's usually always a simple procedure that resolves the problem. Why also is it that these simple procedures are so elusive during such problematic periods.

The reason why I couldn't ping the master computer was because of a ZoneAlarm firewall was blocking it. Upon uninstalling the program, I had instant access to the files on my slave computer. I could slap myself for being so stupid!

Thanks for your help and enjoy your +rep.

[Varsh]

Glad you got it working. D

Why have you got a firewall on your computers anyway? If you have a router you don't need one...

[Svetlana]

Glad you got it working. D

Why have you got a firewall on your computers anyway? If you have a router you don't need one...

I know! Duh! Before getting the wireless router, I used to use a regular DSL modem, hence the need of the firewall. Thanks for the help though, Varsh. You earned your +rep!

[softtack]

Hehe I thought I asked if you were using any firewalls. If you had told me you were running ZoneAlarm, this could have been solved a week ago.

You don't need to uninstall ZoneAlarm to allow network access. On the left menu, click "Firewall" and then the "Zones" tab. You can then add an IP or IP range that you allow into your PC. For example, I have 192.168.0.100-192.168.0.110 allowed to enter my main PC. I run ZoneAlarm to restrict outgoing connections so whether or not you need a software firewall is down to your computer usage.

[Blu-Ray]

Ok guys, I'm having a problem with my computer. Every time I use photoshop and use certain files, my computer restarts on the spot. Is there any way to stop it from doing that? Like give me a warning message instead of just restarting my entire computer? I did this 3 times im 2 minutes 2 hours ago and it starts to get really annoying.

[Varsh]

Are they large picture files? If so your peak wattage maybe too much for your power supply, what's the specs of your computer? This includes the PSU.

This has happened to me numerous times before so I had to splash out for a new higher wattage PSU and it solved the problem.

[Blu-Ray]

No, it's just brushes I use in Photoshop.

[WhatRuOn]

After your computer shuts down or whatever and you restart...Go into the control panel and open up administrative tools. Open up the Event Viewer from there, look for errors in the application and system items. If you find any describe them.

[IPB]

I'm trying to connect a IDE hard drive to my computer using a IDE to SATA adapter. But it's not working, has anybody here had any experience with connectiing IDE hard drives to SATA computers?