Excuse me? Who gave you permission to exist?

Cordelia ,'Beneath You'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


omnis_audis - Aug 01, 2014 3:29:09 pm PDT #23963 of 25496
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

Long shot, can't hurt to ask. Here at work, a co-worker in the music dept has upgraded her Mac mini. For whatever reason, IT didn't take the old one, and doesn't want to (??). And for what ever reason, she accidently disposed of the external power supply. I don't suppose anyone has a power supply for a late 2006 Mac mini that they don't need anymore? Not sure how well the computer works, and it looks like a replacement is $50-110, and budgets aren't that big.


Jesse - Aug 02, 2014 11:43:45 am PDT #23964 of 25496
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

My parents' old, long-unused computer won't turn on. It's apparently plugged in fine, because there's a light in the back that is on. Googling suggests it needs a new CMOS battery. Does that sound right to you people? And is that actually something that is easy for me to do? My mother just wants to see if there are any files she wants to save before trashing it.


omnis_audis - Aug 02, 2014 12:56:07 pm PDT #23965 of 25496
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

remove the hard drive. Buy an enclosure for it. Connect it to your new computer. Transfer files. Save hard drive. E-waste recylce the old computer.


Jesse - Aug 02, 2014 6:07:49 pm PDT #23966 of 25496
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

How easy is that to do? I am willing to try whatever, but have no experience in opening up computers.


Dana - Aug 03, 2014 6:04:50 am PDT #23967 of 25496
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

It's not that hard, especially if you don't have to worry about breaking the computer.


Theodosia - Aug 03, 2014 9:03:45 am PDT #23968 of 25496
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

Jesse, it's the kind of thing that a local computer shop should be able to do while you wait. They'll have enclosures and the right kind of cables and software, and be able to copy it over onto a jump drive, most likely, right in front of you.


Jesse - Aug 03, 2014 11:20:00 am PDT #23969 of 25496
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Thanks, guys!


meara - Aug 07, 2014 7:35:36 am PDT #23970 of 25496

Argh! What is going on and how do I fix it? My wifi is not working....sort of. It was being weird on my iPad and phone but after I tried turning it on and off, resetting the router, and "forgetting" the network once or twice, it's now working fine. But my Mac is still claiming that the wifi doesn't have an IP address or has a self-assigned one and can't connect to the Internet. Which is clearly false. What do I do to my computer to smack it upside the head?


meara - Aug 07, 2014 8:44:24 am PDT #23971 of 25496

Ugh. Fiddled with 18 billion different things google suggested (restart! delete this file! delete that file! type in this thing! hook it up via ethernet, then restart! etc etc), eventually futzed with some settings on my router and it suddenly worked fine...even when I then changed those settings back. WTF??


§ ita § - Aug 07, 2014 2:02:21 pm PDT #23972 of 25496
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

TiVo question:

1. There's a point in this week's Perception (god, I love that show) that makes my TiVo HD restart. I tried watching it three times just to make sure (that I'm an idiot, but not hallucinating)
2. Pixellation. For the first time I have a show so pixellated it's unwatchable 50 minutes out of 60. Audio's gone during this point.

Does this sound like system failure, or HD failure? Last time I took it in they pointed out that some of the capacitors had popped their tops (I didn't even know capacitors did that--nifty). I'd rather get a new HD, but this would be the third time I've done this. So it may be time to say goodbye anyway. Maybe to weaknees, maybe to the TiVo HD.