Smacking lusers with the clue-by-four (the new tech support thread)

[elpollodiablo]

hahaha

In 2007 I made the argument that subscription services “almost make the idea of having selective musical taste superfluous. Not there is anything wrong with that; musical taste’s centrality to identity seems a peculiar quirk. Nonetheless, taste in commercial music comes down to what music you are willing to pay for specifically. If you are paying to have it all, you effectively have no taste.”

I take this to mean that I have all the taste in the world, then.

[davy]

Haha, I just realized that if you try to turn the volume down during the ads, Spotify automatically pauses them.

I really am considering the $5/mo. ad-free version. Supposedly, becoming a member also means you have "unlimited" streaming. I'm not paying yet and I've been listening heavily for about a week. So far, it hasn't stopped me. Has anyone else reached a limit yet?

I'd like to know more about the "improved sound quality" you get with premium membership. Is it the difference between, say, 128kbs and 320kbs? Or what?

[RavingLunatic]

So my computer is a Dell Inspiron E1705, and it's starting to get really freaking slow at times. Is the best solution simply to load it with more RAM or should I try that reformat thing where it just wipes your computer clean? I don't really want to do the reformat if I can avoid it because of all the hassle and program installing and stuff you've got to do, but I do have an external hard drive I can transfer everything to.

And if more RAM is the best solution, how does that work? Right now it says my computer has 1GB RAM. The upgrades I'm seeing are either 512MB or 1GB. Is there an empty slot where I can put this extra RAM or what? I remember my old computer had two RAM card slots, and I had to take one of the original RAM cards out so that I could put the new bigger one in.

Also, would this link be a good place to buy from?

[FreddyKnuckles]

You could do both. 

This link shows how to swap out memory on your model.  If you want to know what/how much memory to get, turn off your computer and open up the compartment it shows.  If you've only got one slot in use, that's good, that means you've got 1gb on one card, so you'll just have to buy another 1gb card. but if you've got 2 of the 512mb cards, then you'll probably want to buy 2 1gb cards. 

It also looks like your limit is 2gb, so you can't do more than the 2 1gb cards...

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9400/en/sm/memory.htm#wp999869

[alistarr*]

In addition to that (and more RAM is a good idea indeed) you could try "defragmenting" your hard drive. Windows has a tool to do this and it takes a few hours, after which it'll have to work significantly less hard to retrieve data from the hard drive. Wouldn't need to reformat to do that, I don't think.

[Ashley]

Hey dudes,

I'm trying to find a new ac adapter for my netbook and figured maybe you could help?  Every time I search for something online the information gets all garbled and I can never tell if it'll work for me or not.

My netbook is an Acer Aspire One D250-1832, the model number on the power adapter I have is ADP-30JH B, input 100-240V~ 1.2A(1.2A) 50-60Hz LPS, output: 19V 1.58A(1.58A).   I can find stuff on ebay.ca that matches that but then I get freaked out because they list netbook model numbers and mine isn't listed, and when I email to ask if mine will work they tell me no.  Are they lying to me?  Are ac adapters for my netbook just super rare and more expensive?

I am starting to feel like nothing could be as luxurious as to have a fully functioning netbook again,maybe then I could move from the bed to the couch to the desk, like a limited space nomad.  How cool would that be?

[RavingLunatic]

You could do both. 

This link shows how to swap out memory on your model....

It also looks like your limit is 2gb, so you can't do more than the 2 1gb cards...

In addition to that (and more RAM is a good idea indeed) you could try "defragmenting" your hard drive. Windows has a tool to do this and it takes a few hours, after which it'll have to work significantly less hard to retrieve data from the hard drive. Wouldn't need to reformat to do that, I don't think.

Thanks. I ended up getting the two 1 GB RAM things for $30, watched the video on how to install them, and everything's working much faster now. I'm pretty sure that my computer automatically defragments itself once a week (or maybe every day) at like 3 in the morning, but I'll have to check to make sure.

[Ashley]

Hey dudes,

I'm trying to find a new ac adapter for my netbook and figured maybe you could help?  Every time I search for something online the information gets all garbled and I can never tell if it'll work for me or not.

My netbook is an Acer Aspire One D250-1832, the model number on the power adapter I have is ADP-30JH B, input 100-240V~ 1.2A(1.2A) 50-60Hz LPS, output: 19V 1.58A(1.58A).   I can find stuff on ebay.ca that matches that but then I get freaked out because they list netbook model numbers and mine isn't listed, and when I email to ask if mine will work they tell me no.  Are they lying to me?  Are ac adapters for my netbook just super rare and more expensive?

I am starting to feel like nothing could be as luxurious as to have a fully functioning netbook again,maybe then I could move from the bed to the couch to the desk, like a limited space nomad.  How cool would that be?

No help?  I feel like it should be so simple. 

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

Acer are a pretty helpful company, I'd call them and ask for a new one. Hell, if the netbook isn't too old they may even send you one for free - a couple of times I've sent them laptops without the chargers, and when they sent back the (repaired) laptop, another charger was in the box!

[Ashley]

Thanks, I don't know why I didn't give that a shot before. 

[peacocks]

I just got an iphone 3gs for free to replace my original iphone. the lady at the store said in order to synch my contacts all I had to do was plug my old iphone into my computer, open itunes and click "backup". But when I do this it says it can't do it because the software doesn't recognize the phone. I was afraid of this and asked the lady, I said "my phone is really old, I never do anything with it on itunes or the computer, will it work?" she said "yeah, yeah, it will definitely work" grrrrr.

[peacocks]

oh nevermind I called tech support. my itunes was just that old, I had to download a new version- oooops.

[peacocks]

check it. my old iphone won't. stop. backing up. It came up with an error message saying there was an error and it had to stop but then it DIDN'T STOP. whaaaaaaaaat

[Thermofusion]

That happened to my buddy's og iphone...like he went years without ever backin up his shit, then when he plugged it in, itunes had a panic attack and couldn't finish the backup...like it just went on forever

[peacocks]

dammit. Ok so I restarted and it finally finished but then when I restored my new phone from the backed up stuff from the old one it didn't give me any of my contacts? baaaahhh so frustrated I might not even go to jacuzzi boys tonight

[peacocks]

I am going to try it again.

[peacocks]

SUCCESSSS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wHryHj0z8s

[peacocks]

all I wanna do is link my twitter to my facebook!

[Thermofusion]

Fuck yeah peacocks I believed in you girl!

[peacocks]

Butterfly in the skyyyyy
I can go twice as hiiiigh
Take a look.
It's in a book.
A Reading Rainboooow

III can go ANYWHERE
Friends to know
And ways to grow
A Reading Rainbow

IIII can be ANYTHING
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainboooow
A Reading Rainbow

[Thermofusion]

BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

[RoyBiggins]

Tech Guys:

My iMac has been dropping its internet connection a LOT since I updated to Lion.  Let me recount to you the ways I have tried to fix it:

-Toggling every setting on the thing
-Setting up a new 'home' profile in the wireless settings
-Giving it a bunch of new DNS settings, including Google's.

I feel like there are other things, but those are the big ones that I feel like should fix it. 

And just to be clear, this only happens on the iMac. Every other device connected to the internet over here works fine.  Any ideas?

[RoyBiggins]

Ironically, I may have just solved this problem.  Not really by doing much that was new, but by literally deleting all the wi-fi services from the menu, and rebuilding them, and feeding it 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.1.1. for DNS settings. Let's see how it goesssss.

[YojimboMonkey]

You should probably use addresses of actual DNS servers instead. That information is probably available from your internet provider. DNS being kind of important as that is how "lastplanetojakarta.com" get turned into 184.173.73.167 and your packets are able to be routed properly. Right now the DNS data for the sites you most commonly visit are most likely cached on your system but those cached entries will expire and need to be refreshed and unless there are actual DNS server at the bogus addresses you entered, suddenly you won't be getting shit in your browser.

[YojimboMonkey]

I have had a lot of beer tonight, I don't mean to lecture, this is kinda what I do