Le_Murphant

My TV is pretty old (10-15 y/o) and analog, and thus has no such thing as a resolution The only inputs I have on the TV are RCA and S-video

I believe I have posted something about this already, but I can't find it on the forums, so I might be wrong. I have an old HP Pavilion 522n tower that I want to use as a server (which works actually) and as a source to project movies on my television. The only output on the computer is VGA, so I bought a VGA to S-video adapter such as this one http://cgi.ebay.ca/VGA-SVGA-TO-TV-RCA-S-VIDEO-CABLE-ADAPTER-FOR-PC-LAPTOP_W0QQitemZ320295005642QQihZ011QQcategoryZ41999QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I tried it out but the image on the TV is in black in white, fuzzy and divided in 3 sections horizontally, so yeah, unusable. I know that the S-video is not the problem because I have been streaming from my laptop through S-video for a while, without a problem. Thus, I tried the adapter on the VGA output on my laptop and had the fuzzy display again. So now I am wondering if it is my (cheap) adapter that just doesn't work or if there's a problem from putting VGA to S-video in theory. I saw that there is another female cable (see picture) coming out of the adapter, and I don't know what it is supposed to do, I assumed it was for better quality since VGA is higher quality than S-Video, but I could be wrong. The e-bay seller had a pretty good rating, so that makes me doubt that the product is defective, but that's what it looks like for now. Could I be missing something? Just for information, the mobo on my HP tower http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prodinfoCategory?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=83455 is the first clickable link. Thanks in advance for your help.

Err, looks somewhat cheezy, infomecial-like... Also, it is quite expensive and I dislike their billing methods. I'l think of it, though, thx.

I'm wondering if there exists something like Word for Dummies, but online, or at least a program. My mother is quite slow at learning and a step-by-step learning program would be great for her since I often run out of patience when I try to teach her and I think that if it exists, something interactive in some way is probably better than a book. She is using word 2003, but I could install word 2008 on her computer. Any suggestions?

I am thinking of buying Mass Effect as a digital download from the EA store, but they say that I can only download it in the first six months, or pay extra to be able to download it for the next two years. Can I just do a backup of the installation file and just install it as many times as I want, given that I might reinstall windows after six months? Of course, I'd be using the same cd-key.

Yeah, I told her about porn and viruses, and I think up to now she's still ok on that (no one's been complaining), and I just might end up deleting limewire after all. Is there anything I can do to prevent her from reinstalling it again? I guess I could block the port it uses or block it with a firewall...

Hmm, cookies.... Which reminds me she owes me some! However, getting a job is "so not cool", so I doubt that she would want to do that. Okay, maybe not, but in any case that wont stop her from watching all the mtv downloadable crap.

Are any of you aware of programs that could filter limewire content, even with limited efficiency? My mom wants me to reduce the amount of crap (mostly MTV stuff) that my sister watches. And I don't want to have to download every movie she is to lazy to go rent.

I would like to reinstall xp and I happen to have two hard drive, one of which is empty. I was wondering if I can just install windows on my unused hard drive and then plug in my used hard drive and transfer the files. Can a hard drive with windows installed on it be used as if it were an external hard drive if it is plugged directly in the mobo sata port? How about if I plug it into an external hard drive enclosure?

Nevermind, forgot to plug in my video card extra power cord Still not used to have that one plugged in. And now, not only am I going to have my temps lower but I'm going to be able to overclock more... which will most likely lead me to another problem and back to you guys again lol

Actually, I found a way to install the heatsink without bending or cutting anything off. The downside is that while my case was open, I thought that I would reseat my cpu hsf, ans I seemingly failed since my computer no longer posts, it just does the opening sound, the fans run for 2-3 seconds, and then restarts with the opening sound, as if I had pressed reset. Nothing ever appears on the screen. Does that mean my cpu is fried?

The northbridge is http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=15210AC7658&vpn=ZM-NBF47&manufacture=ZALMAN%20TECH I'l try bending it or filing it down. It isn't too far from fitting

I wanted to install a heatsink made for a northbridge on the southbridge of my p5n-e sli, but a capacitor is slightly in the way. Is is a problem if I bend it a bit, say 20 degrees? Will it give and not be damaged? I'l try to take pics and put them up.

I discovered a few months ago a website that streams conferences on, well, pretty much anything interesting, but mainly orienting on Technology, Entertainment and Design, thus the acronym name. The website is: http://www.ted.com/index.php/ I have watched virtually every video on there, and I have learned a lot. Some conferences are breathtaking, some are inspiring, some are funny and some are just interesting. I randomly found that site on google and I think that it deserves more publicity than it gets, so here it is for all of you TMN members.

No offense, but if a team of engineers says it is possible to make reentry, I give them some credence. The main reason why it would be difficult to reenter is heat, and that heat is generated by friction, so if they can keep friction to a minimum, the temperatures will be nowhere near the temperatures a real shuttle gets to.

The thing is that I'm not sure that it is not a hardware problem. I would dual-boot with xp but vistabootpro won't install in safe mode. If no other solution arises, I will wipe the hard drive and reinstall indeed.

The infamous crashing computer is back at it again. I tried to install vista sp1 on friday but windows update was trying to install another update unsuccessfully and would not do anything else. So then I tried to remove a previous update, at which point the computer became unstable and would not boot into windows when not in safe mode. I tried resetting the bios to default, to no avail, the system would not even offer to log into safe mode anymore, but just return to the post screen after post. Then I removed the motherboard battery and it seemed to get into safe mode, but not in regular windows, which would BSOD right after logon. I have tried repairing windows through the vista dvd and through system recovery but both get me BSODs even in safe mode. I have tried running memtest and got an error, removed one stick of ram and ran it again for half an hour and didn't get an error. I'm now running in safe mode with 1 stick of ram and I just don't know what to try anymore. I checked pretty much any connection I could think of on the motherboard and disconnected the ones I didn't need such as floppy disk and memory card reader. I ran speedfan and the temps all seem to be normal. Any ideas? My specs are ASUS p5ld2, e6400, 1x1GB generic ddr2-667 ram vista home premium 32-bit.

What IP address do I use? My internal address, my external address or both? Also, what services need to be enabled in the XP machine? I have disabled a few that I didn't think I needed. And are there ports that need to be forwarded on the routers?

Can I have access to remote desktop from an XP computer?

I'm looking for a way to get remote access to my parent's computer, perhaps through LogMeIn. I was wondering if one needed to be logged into an account to get remote access or would I be able to create a LogMeIn account that would have administrator rights? I would mainly use the connection to install updates and troubleshoot. Could I have access to all the accounts? Is there a program that can do that?

Huh, we really aren't thinking the same thing. My ideas might be outdated, can a third party confirm one or the other here?

Well then if americans and cubans get along, why are cubans not welcome in the US and Americans not welcome in Cuba? Actually,I got this possibly erronous information from an explicit reference in Sicko and an implicit reference in an american reportage.

I just finished watching Michael Moore's Sicko (which, by the way, I didn't really appreciate but found to have mild biased educative value) and it got me thinking on some point which was not the point of the movie at all: why is Cuba evil? I can't recall any recent president putting it on the axis of evil. Fidel is no longer in office so if you didn't like his face, you should be ok. The Cuban misslie crisis was ages ago and there's no talk about nuclear weapons anymore, which doesn't mean that there aren't any, only that they are not threatening. Is it because of communism? China also is a communist country and I believe that it is the country with which the US has most commercial exchanges. They use censorship? Well, China once again is a good candidate, you can visit http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org/ to see which websites are censored. They are not living nor wanting to live the American dream? Most of Europe is in that situation to. They speak Spanish? You can cut yourself off of south america if you wish. They support terrorism? Well, I don't know if that's a fact or even a claim, but it would be pretty convenient to label the country as an extension to the axis of evil, it seems to be a pretty good way to be on the list nowadays. In any case, you hated Cuba before terrorism became the enemy. Now, was slightly sarcastic in the previous paragraph but in truth, I do not know why the American government and its people vow such a hate cult to Cuba to the point where one cannot circulate between the two countries. Talk about liberties you don't want taken away by communists! I must tell you that it is a subject about which I am not educated, which is why I'm here (and also because I felt like picking a fight) and I am not emitting a solid opinion, but rather looking for reasons to hate Cuba like a majority of fellow Americans seem to do. So be nice and don't even think of mentioning where I live, because if you form you opinions in function of where my ip pings me, I wouldn't call them opinions but simply speeches and just dismiss them because they are not what I am looking for.

mudmanc4, that is partially my field of study and I have to say that you seem to have it pretty much all right. I just don't know about the aggressiveness of pure water, I'm not saying it's false but I just don't know. What I do know is that it would at least work for a few minutes assuming that the water isn't contaminated and, without the "attacking the hardware" factor, would probably work indefinitely if one were able to keep the water isolated from contamination. One potential problem with certain liquids that I could think of is that if it's viscosity/surface tension were strong enough there could maybe be some conduction on the surface separating the liquid from the air, but I am merely conjecturing here, and I really don't know if such a thing could happen. For conductivity 101, Wikipedia's page is quite technical, so I'l do my best to summarize: The conductivity of a material (or fluid) is basically the opposite of its resistivity, which is it's resistance to the passage of electrical current. That means that the higher the conductivity, the more easy it is for current to pass though that substance. For example, air typically has a conductivity of the order of 1x10^-14 Siemens/m, sterilized (or distilled) water is about 5x10^-6 Siemens/m and drinking water is somewhere around 1x10-3 Siemens/m. That means that drinking water is about 100 000 000 000 times more conductive than air (meaning it is that much more prone to conduct electricity) and about 100 times more conductive than drinking water. So, you can see that since electricity has a much harder time passing through distilled water than it does through drinking water, which explains why drinking water would make a short circuit and distilled water wouldn't. Now you will remark that the conductivity of distilled water is still much higher than that of air, but before a certain threshold which is situated somewhere between the conductivity of water and its distilled brethren, there is just no observable conduction of electrons and thus no short circuit at those voltages and at those distances (distance is important since conductivity depends on distance too). People usually say that I'm horrible at explaining stuff without a sheet of paper, so tell me which parts of this you don't understand so I can clarify. For the water attacking the copper, I'l ask a chemistry geek friend of mine and get back to you if she has an answer.

The only reason why you think that liquid is bad for electronics is because most liquids are much more conductive than air and thus liquid contact between two points can create short circuits.. But if you can use a low-conductive liquid, you're fine, at least electrically. The other good point, which is the reason for conventional water cooling, is that most liquids have a much higher thermal capacity than air, thus they can absorb more heat than air per gram (and per centimeter) which makes them efficient for cooling.