The Technology Troubleshooting Thread

[Slyfox696]

Well I tried uninstalling, then reinstalling both games. I had to manually activate the setup.exe folders for both. I tinkered with the compatablity setting for both games with no luck. Changing the color settings made both games crash immediately. I think that it might be that Vista just doesn't support these games.

I have another game called Microsoft Train Simulator that runs just fine on my computer. What makes this game different from the other two? Is it supported by Windows XP?

No idea why it would work. I don't think it has XP support. I'm sure there is a reason, but I don't know what it is.

There are other ways to try to get the games to work, but they begin to get more technical in nature.

You might try changing compatibility to Windows XP, instead of 98. Other than that, I don't know how to get it to work, without physically being at the workstation.

 

[The Brain]

For the past few days I have been having a problem using Google. I type something into the search bar and am given a list of links like usual but when I click on one of the links, a Wikipedia page for example, I am directed to a page called GimmeAnswers which has nothing to do with my search. This happens no matter which link I click. Anyone have any idea why this is happening?

 

[Slyfox696]

For the past few days I have been having a problem using Google. I type something into the search bar and am given a list of links like usual but when I click on one of the links, a Wikipedia page for example, I am directed to a page called GimmeAnswers which has nothing to do with my search. This happens no matter which link I click. Anyone have any idea why this is happening?

Yes, your search is being hijacked, most likely because of malware on your computer. You need to do a virus scan. See if you can detect it that way. If not, post here again, and we'll go through a more detailed process.

 

[riahc3]

Is this about only games or regular tech?

 

[Slyfox696]

Is this about only games or regular tech?

Any technology you are having trouble with, you can ask your questions in this thread.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

My computer has trouble installing and updating programs.

For instance , it refuses to install new video drivers. I've uninstalled the old one multiple times and tried to reinstall only for it to somehow revert to the old drivers. During the install process it isn't uncommon for it to last near 5 hours just to give me a failed to install message.

And the insanely long update/install times happens with everything I do. From Hamachi and Tungle drivers to just Direct X updates. I don't know a ton about computers sp this might not be related but I know it's having trouble recognizing outside inputs like my external HDD as well.

 

[Slyfox696]

My computer has trouble installing and updating programs.

For instance , it refuses to install new video drivers. I've uninstalled the old one multiple times and tried to reinstall only for it to somehow revert to the old drivers. During the install process it isn't uncommon for it to last near 5 hours just to give me a failed to install message.

And the insanely long update/install times happens with everything I do. From Hamachi and Tungle drivers to just Direct X updates. I don't know a ton about computers sp this might not be related but I know it's having trouble recognizing outside inputs like my external HDD as well.

When you get a failed to install message, what does it say? Can you take a screenshot (hit "Prt Scr" on your keyboard and paste into Paint) and show me?

As always, the first thing I would try is a virus scan. If you don't have MSE, uninstall whatever you do have and install MSE and let it run. I have a link to it in my Free Programs thread. If you're having trouble updating it, go to a public internet machine or a friend's house and you can download the latest virus definitions (and the program itself, if need be) from there.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

Print Scrn only gives the very first part of the log so I copied it here.

Spoiler

Catalyst™ Install Manager
Installation Report
02/14/12 09:38:05

Hardware information
Name ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9610
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x030000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
Other hardware
Existing packages
AMD Catalyst Install Manager
AMD APP SDK Runtime
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
AMD VISION Engine Control Center
Packages for install
AMD Catalyst Install Manager
Final Status: Success
Version of Item: 3.0.855.0
Size: 20 Mbytes
AMD Display Driver
Final Status: Fail
Version of Item: 8.920.0.0000
Size: 90 Mbytes

Other detected devices
RS780
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9600
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9602
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060400
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x960f
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x040300
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x960f
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1002
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9603
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060400
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
AMD Radeon Graphics Processor
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9490
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x030000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x902d
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1b0a
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0xaa38
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x040300
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0xaa38
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1b0a
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9605
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060400
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x9606
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060400
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
ATI Integrated SATA Support
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x4390
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x01018f
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
ATI Integrated SMBus Support
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x4385
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x0c0500
Revision ID 0x3a
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
ATI Integrated SATA Support
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x439c
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x01018a
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
ATI Integrated Azalia Support
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x4383
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x040300
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0155
Subsystem vendor ID 0x1025
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x4384
Vendor ID 0x1002
Class Code 0x060401
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x1200
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x1201
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x1202
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x1203
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000
Manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Device ID 0x1204
Vendor ID 0x1022
Class Code 0x060000
Revision ID 0x00
Subsystem ID 0x0000
Subsystem vendor ID 0x0000

Error messages
Driver Install: the installation failed

Noticeable thing, I don't have a 3200 card in here anymore. I have a 4600.

Thats the whole thing, and I've run MSE pretty often and haven't found a thing.

 

[Slyfox696]

Print Scrn only gives the very first part of the log so I copied it here.



Noticeable thing, I don't have a 3200 card in here anymore. I have a 4600.

Thats the whole thing, and I've run MSE pretty often and haven't found a thing.

Uhh...wouldn't that be your problem on the driver? Uninstall your 3200 driver from Device Manager. Download from their website the 4600 card driver and install it. You can't re-install the same driver for a different card and expect a different result, you'll have to install the new driver for your new card. Did your problems first start when you installed the new card?

What about your other problems installing software? Have you tried rkill/iExplore before running MSE? iExplore will kill known malware processes from running, and then MSE might have a better chance at catching them.

The other problem you may have installing software from the Internet is a bad network. Either a bad network card on your machine, a bad modem or bad router. If you're having problems installing from Internet, unplug your modem and router (whether your have one or both) for 30 seconds and then let it reboot. See if that helps.

 

[Bad Booking]

My computer has trouble installing and updating programs...

...And the insanely long update/install times happens with everything I do. From Hamachi and Tungle drivers to just Direct X updates. I don't know a ton about computers sp this might not be related but I know it's having trouble recognizing outside inputs like my external HDD as well.

For the hell of it, what type of computer is this machine: a laptop or a desktop?

(Poster's Note: I am Cisco Certified in Windows repair, so if anything, I just want to be a guy who can provide additional assistance where it could be needed.)

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

Uhh...wouldn't that be your problem on the driver? Uninstall your 3200 driver from Device Manager. Download from their website the 4600 card driver and install it. You can't re-install the same driver for a different card and expect a different result, you'll have to install the new driver for your new card. Did your problems first start when you installed the new card?

What about your other problems installing software? Have you tried rkill/iExplore before running MSE? iExplore will kill known malware processes from running, and then MSE might have a better chance at catching them.

The other problem you may have installing software from the Internet is a bad network. Either a bad network card on your machine, a bad modem or bad router. If you're having problems installing from Internet, unplug your modem and router (whether your have one or both) for 30 seconds and then let it reboot. See if that helps.

I'm trying to uninstall the 3200 drivers through Device Manager but, and I kid you not, I started it up at 7 p.m. last night, it's 9:30 a.m. here now and it's still going. And no, when I first uninstalled the old card I made sure to uninstall it through the Device Manager. I had no issues at all until around maybe 9 months ago when I got a serious virus and had to format the whole thing. For about 3 months nothing was wrong, then I noticed the slow and failed downloads started happening. I never even downloaded the drivers for the 3200 card so I'm not sure how they are there though.

Also, ran rkill and MSE again. nothing.

For the hell of it, what type of computer is this machine: a laptop or a desktop?

(Poster's Note: I am Cisco Certified in Windows repair, so if anything, I just want to be a guy who can provide additional assistance where it could be needed.)

Desktop.

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm trying to uninstall the 3200 drivers through Device Manager but, and I kid you not, I started it up at 7 p.m. last night, it's 9:30 a.m. here now and it's still going. And no, when I first uninstalled the old card I made sure to uninstall it through the Device Manager. I had no issues at all until around maybe 9 months ago when I got a serious virus and had to format the whole thing. For about 3 months nothing was wrong, then I noticed the slow and failed downloads started happening. I never even downloaded the drivers for the 3200 card so I'm not sure how they are there though.

Also, ran rkill and MSE again. nothing.

You reformatted your machine? How did you get your operating system installed again?

Boot into Safe mode, run iExplore again, and then MSE again. Sometimes you can catch things in safe mode. At the end of the day, it could just also be dying hardware.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

You reformatted your machine? How did you get your operating system installed again?

I actually gave it to my high school IT administrator.

Boot into Safe mode, run iExplore again, and then MSE again. Sometimes you can catch things in safe mode. At the end of the day, it could just also be dying hardware.

Doing this now.

 

[Slyfox696]

I actually gave it to my high school IT administrator.

My guess is he just used a recovery image on the hard drive, which would explain why the old video driver is on there. Let me know how the new scan works out.

 

[Bad Booking]

I actually gave it to my high school IT administrator.



Doing this now.

About the dying hardware, be 100% thankful it's on a desktop where it's easily replaceable, whereas on a laptop you'd be 100% screwed.

As a matter of fact, I switched back to the desktop for that reason. My video card in my laptop was starting to go, and even if nothing came out of switching drivers, then it would be toast.

Let's not forget that on laptops. most everything (very few exceptions) is built into the motherboard. If one part goes, then the whole MB has to be replaced. At that point, might as well get a new machine.

 

[SD619]

I'm using the latest version of Firefox. I have two problem downloading files from the net:

1.The file downloads partially (some random %), but it shows that the file has finished downloading.

2. If I pause the download and then resume it shows me an error saying that the server can't be reached.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

My guess is he just used a recovery image on the hard drive, which would explain why the old video driver is on there. Let me know how the new scan works out.

So far the scan has found a lot of severe risk, but when I tried to remove them, it got hung up at about 3/4ths of the bar for 12 hours. Do you know what issue I'm having?

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

Also, would allowing all of them, then using MSE remove each one by one work, or does allowing them to begin with automatically make them irremovable?

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm using the latest version of Firefox. I have two problem downloading files from the net:

1.The file downloads partially (some random %), but it shows that the file has finished downloading.

2. If I pause the download and then resume it shows me an error saying that the server can't be reached.

Try doing the same download in Internet Explorer and see if you get the same error. If you do, it's a network issue, if you don't, it's a Firefox issue.

Let's narrow it down.

So far the scan has found a lot of severe risk, but when I tried to remove them, it got hung up at about 3/4ths of the bar for 12 hours. Do you know what issue I'm having?

So MSE is finding problems. That's good. Instead of removing all of them, just try removing a couple of them at a time.

Also, would allowing all of them, then using MSE remove each one by one work, or does allowing them to begin with automatically make them irremovable?

Do not allow them. If you do, then MSE will not catch them again.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

So MSE is finding problems. That's good. Instead of removing all of them, just try removing a couple of them at a time.

Do not allow them. If you do, then MSE will not catch them again.

Well the problem is after MSE got stuck on cleaning them after the first scan I used task manager to close it because it wasn't doing anything for near 12 hours. Now the second scan didn't find anything, and for the history it says I allowed them.

 

[Slyfox696]

Well the problem is after MSE got stuck on cleaning them after the first scan I used task manager to close it because it wasn't doing anything for near 12 hours. Now the second scan didn't find anything, and for the history it says I allowed them.

Can you go to your history and remove them from there? Not clear your history, but remove the offending items.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

Can you go to your history and remove them from there? Not clear your history, but remove the offending items.

Thats the odd thing, for actions taken it says Allow, but they aren't in the Allowed items only section.

 

[SD619]

Try doing the same download in Internet Explorer and see if you get the same error. If you do, it's a network issue, if you don't, it's a Firefox issue.

Let's narrow it down.

I downloaded the file using IE 8. No problems.

 

[Slyfox696]

I downloaded the file using IE 8. No problems.

I'd completely uninstall Firefox, including your default profile. You can easily find instructions on how to do that with Google, depending on your version of Windows.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

This isn't so much a trouble shooting question as it is a general question about something I'm not sure about. Can I use a system repair disk made from a laptop to reformat a desktop PC? I know it's unlikely but I lost the one I made for my desktop and didn't feel like buying a new Windows disk.