Oh no! More boring computer problems! Oh no!

oops i misread.

Do you lose the ability to see the name of the wlan?

yes. it disappears off the radar altogether.

tried newer firmware?

no. im kind of scared to because i cant remember how i set it up. i know its set up on the mac. like i cant get an internet connection on the laptop if the mac isnt on. (and weirdly, the xbox can connect when my laptop isnt on?).

anyway, point is if i screw it up were all screwed

The IT guy in me says that you have a bad router. There was a run of Netgear wireless routers from like 2-3 years ago where the wireless bit had massive issues. It's not a blue-box Netgear, is it?

no. but i did buy it about 2 years ago and my googling on the subject seems to suggest this very thing. stupid netgear.

If it keeps up, I think I have a spare 802.11b WAP that I could send you for nothin.

woah, really?? that would be great!

(this has actually been happening since we got the router, the difference now is that i have to walk up stairs to reset it so im suddenly inspired to fix the problem)

Let me look in my store of crap. I left a WAP on the street last week because I didn't need it, but I tend to hoard computer crap.

cool. thanks!

do the firmware update, DO IT.111

ill TRY

can someone recommend an NAS RAID storage device? I talked with someone about the Yellow Machine but it's not being manufactured anymore. This is for a studio that needs some kind of file management solution quickly. At least 1TB of storage.

I hear very good things about the Drobo. RAID without the hassle - just plug it in and it's seen as a single disk. Four bays that you can slot any standard HDs into, mixing and matching sizes if you like. Hot-swap new ones in when drives become full or fail. Up to 16TB theoretical maximum (4TB is the max in each bay).

Oh, and DroboShare makes it networkable.

that looks pretty cool, but no raid?

also, usb 2.0 : not so great. but maybe with droboshare it would work better.

Yeah, ethernet with droboshare.

Do you need quick access to the data? Studio makes me think large audio/video files.

yeah it's large audio files. I actually recommended the drobo with droboshare and I think they're going to look into that. their backup system involves shuffing around a bunch of random firewire drives now (some of them internal drives that snap in and out of enclosures). they don't actually "archive" people's stuff there, you're supposed to take it with you, but people like me tend to take a year to finish their albums, so you have up to 40GB of stuff for one project that lasts forever sitting around.

i have just got an external usb hard drive, self powered, but my pc fails to boot up if it's plugged in. any suggestions?

it works fine once windows is up and running.

it won't even let me in the bios setup.

> my pc fails to boot up if it's plugged in. any suggestions?

a man goes to the doctors and says 'my arm hurts when i do this'...

mine does the same, usb drive and a tiny 4g memory stick, so i just pull them out before booting.

Stupid question probably but: is it possible to get some sort of "hub" that connects to my computer via firewire but has usb inputs?

Basically I want to use usb peripherals, but I think my usb ports are fucked. My firewire port, however, is not.

it won't even let me in the bios setup.

That's the real issue there.

When you can get into the BIOS, change the boot order and disable external devices.

the trouble is, when i can get into the bios - the external drive is disconnected. and thus not listed in the boot order.

i have been informed that perhaps it's my firmware ? wuh ?

Is your computer a Lenovo? I ask because I know who people with similar USB problem on Lenovos and there doesn't seem to be a solution.

Stupid question probably but: is it possible to get some sort of "hub" that connects to my computer via firewire but has usb inputs?

Basically I want to use usb peripherals, but I think my usb ports are fucked. My firewire port, however, is not.

― Gorgeous Preppy (G00blar), Thursday, January 8, 2009 1:22 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't think there's such a beast. Why do you think yr USB ports are fucked?

Can anyone explain why my Mac does not want to install Flash Player 9+? I've tried so many times and it's just 2 hours 40 minutes of rainbow spinny wheel limbo.

Machine Name: Power Mac G4
Machine Model: PowerMac3,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.9)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 450 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 576 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.2.8f1

What OS version?

10.4.10

ALSO why MS Word wants to check and acknowledge EVERY SINGLE ONE of my 12,000 fonts when I try to open the damn program?

Open Console and see if any interesting logs are going by.

Word 2008 is better with the fonts. You are using an earlier Word, yes?

I don't remember what Word I tried but it was two years ago. I couldn't even get through the Aachens. Will look into Word 2k8.

I mean, I tried it once and got so hulked out only a very long bike ride could calm me down.

My computer is old!

the pterodactyl inside it that writes on the slate screen when you type has probably died

I seem to recall that Word X was an absolute beast about fonts. 2004 was better, but not great.

DO NOT TELL ME I KILLED A PTERODACTYL

Before 2006 they used Pterodons

You need a font manager. that is all I know. I read a thread about this somewhere last week.

Getting a font manager to fix broken Word behavior is like buying a machine gun to rid yr house of termites.

OK, fucking computers again.

i want to use the eurosport online player - http://player.eurosport.co.uk/ - and when i try to subscribe, it tells me:

Windows Media Player Plug-in for Firefox needed.
Click here to download the plugin

but i have a mac. i do have flip4mac installed but i still can't see the test video on the eurosport subscription page. is there a way round this? and if not why haven't they bothered to make it available for mac users?

I can't test 'cause my country is "denied", but they probably have a malfunctioning browser/player sniffer.

Or they forgot that mac users even exist <- genuine possibility.