Hey there, technophiles!

So I downloaded the Videora (iirc) iPod thingummy onto my laptop, and have successfully reformated 4 vids so that I can put them onto my iPod. This is a source of great joy.

However, for some reason I'm not able to reformat 6 or 7 other vids. And I'm not quite sure why that would be. The 4 that would reformat are not all the same flavour of file, so it's not just that, I think.

Any ideas?

Can you tell us what flavors of file would and wouldn't convert?

A brief glance at the webforums tells me I might have some ideas - the application Videora uses to actually do the conversion is a program called ffmpeg that i'm familiar with. For example, I know ffmpeg can't handle recent WMV files.

ETA: [link] <-- the FAQ for Videora. Suggests installing a scripting program called AVISynth to make certain types of files work. Tells you how to use it on the next question. Try that?

ETA2: If you can't make this guy work, there seem to be a couple of pay solutions out there that you can download trials of. M2Convert seems like a promising one. It's $30.

Help!

I have an old IBM ThinkPad that was my dad's. I only ever use it plugged in because the battery's bad, and I just used it yesterday. Shut it down properly, unplugged it, put it away. Just plugged it and turned it on and I'm getting a black screen with the message:

ERROR 0271: Check date and time settings Press F1 to Setup

When I do that, though, I don't where to go from there. And I have no idea why is this happening. Any hints?

Sounds like the battery on the motherboard is mostly dead. What model of ThinkPad is it? Basically all motherboards have a small battery on them that keeps thinks like clock and BIOS settings in tact.

Well, Stephen (wisely, I guess) decided I should do what it asked, so we input the date and time again and now it's on. Weird.

It's pretty old, as computers go, I guess. It's a T23. I have noticed in the past that when I tried to let it run on battery it would lose time.

Found the part that you need to replace the CMOS battery on that laptop, but it doesn't look like a non-technical swap. There are two leads you'd need to desolder from the motherboard and solder the two new leads into place.

There are two leads you'd need to desolder from the motherboard and solder the two new leads into place.

::runs screaming::

Thanks for looking, though. I can't complain, since the thing was free, but we're planning to buy a new one when we can afford it. In the meantime, I'm going to keep saving everything to my flash drive when I'm done writing for the day, just to be safe.

If an organization were looking to build a database that people in different programs could access from different sites, would they be likely to use MS SQL Server? It's to track who's in what programs, attendance, progress, etc.

Amyliz, Here is the [link] to the IBM page that tells you how to navigate the t23 bios. You could set the date and time and see if it sticks, at least once.

Worth at least one try, if there is any life left in the batteries, it'll stay for a while.

If an organization were looking to build a database that people in different programs could access from different sites, would they be likely to use MS SQL Server? It's to track who's in what programs, attendance, progress, etc.

Maybe.

Well, how would people access the database? Would someone write dynamic web pages serve as the front end? Some other frontend?

Anyway, MS SQL Server is good, but expensive when compared to such open source databases as MySQL and PostgreSQL. But MS SQL Server is probably easier to maintain.

Your choice of frontend may influence your choice of backend. For example, if you develope an .asp application, you'd probably want MS SQL Server as a backend.