Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 April 15

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April 15

Serial port?

Just wondering, but is this a serial port? Thanks in advance, --The High Fin Sperm Whale 02:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I think it depends on your definition of Serial port. If you mean RS232 compatible, then no. If you mean a port for serialised data, then yes. See also PS/2 connector --Tagishsimon (talk) 02:26, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Most of the time when people refer to a "serial port," they're talking about a DB-9 port. Such a port is often colored light blue. The best way to refer to the connector you linked to is as a PS/2 port, as that avoids any confusion. But PS/2 ports still send data one bit at a time, instead of in parallel, so in that respect, they are serial. USB ports also are serial, but no one calls them "serial ports" because doing so would be confusing.--Chmod 777 (talk) 02:29, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Although some may refer to them as universial serial bus ports :-P Note that from my experience people tend to mean a DE-9 port carrying RS232 (although they may not appreciate the difference). I don't think people tend to call DE-9 ports carrying something else, even if it is serial a serial port without explaination. For those of us old enough to remember, DB-25 carrying RS232 is also a serial port. Nil Einne (talk) 08:02, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Computer problem

My computer is now working but in earlier days something strange used to happen. Whenever I turned it on it used open but automatically after 2-3 seconds it used to off. And again open and this cycle continued. So, I called a computer engineer to stop this. He formatted the computer but didn't told the reason. What was the problem actually?? --Extra999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 12:10, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

If formatting it fixed it, it was a software problem. Most likely a virus. -- kainaw™ 13:11, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't know about your computer, Kainaw, but all my computers are still doing the BIOS RAM test after 2-3 seconds. Comet Tuttle (talk) 13:54, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

The question states that it is 2-3 seconds after "open". I assume that is after "logging in" or at least after "getting to the login screen". -- kainaw™ 14:12, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Welcome screen came (Windows XP Prof) and then the desktop. From that onwards, I mean 2-3 seconds. --Extra999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 15:35, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

It sounds as if your computer engineer didn't bother to find out the exact cause (this would have taken time), but just assumed that the problem was software, probably a virus (as Kainaw said), and just deleted everything. If the symptoms had been intermittent, then hardware might have been a more likely explanation. If you have a system backup from just before the problem, it might be possible to find out exactly what the problem was, but it would be foolish to restore it to a working system. Unless it is important for you to find out, I would advise putting the problem behind you and keeping anti-virus software up-to-date to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Dbfirs 06:55, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Robozzle

Does anyone know where I can find solutions (direct solutions not hints) to Robozzle.com? Joneleth (talk) 15:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Symbol

Resolved

I am looking to find a symbol so I can put it into a word document it is similar to the equals sign = but it has 3 parallel lines any ideas were I would find one thanks. Mo ainm~Talk 17:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Triple bar (cut and paste from the Wikipedia article into Word). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 17:18, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Thats great thanks, wasn't aware it was called Triple bar. Mo ainm~Talk 17:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

You use charmap for this. Press Win+R, enter "charmap" and press Enter. Select font "Arial Unicode MS", "Lucida Sans Unicode" or some other Unicode font. Select "Advanced mode", and "Sort by Unicode interval". Now you can find all mathematical operators under "Mathematical Operators". In particular we find ≡ as U+2261: IDENTICAL TO. Thus you can insert this character in Word by writing U+2261 and pressing Alt+X. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:32, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Media program

Whats the easiest way to get music off an ipod onto a new computer? I would like to convernt the format into mp3 alost in the process. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.158.3.71 (talk) 19:33, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

itunes82.43.89.71 (talk) 08:06, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

iTunes is unidirectional in this respect and will not take the music off an iPod/iPad/iPhone. The idea is that the computer controls what music on on the iPod, not the other way around. This is to keep you from plugging your friend's iPod into your computer and downloading all of their music without having paid for it yourself. To do what you want, you can go to almost any download/shareware site and find utilities for getting the music off your iPod. Dismas|^(talk) 08:57, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Monitor: no signal?

So I have a standard HP Pavilion computer (a1648x) with a swapped out video card (Nvidia Geforce 8600 GT) and a 500 watt power supply. (these installations are not recent, but I wanted to include all the details) Everything's been working fine for the past few years but all of a sudden I woke up this morning to find that the monitor refuses to display anything. It's still on, but every time I unplug/plug it in to an outlet it just says 'no signal'. I tried hooking up an old CRT to the computer but that one doesn't work either. What do you suppose the problem is? I have had no recent software changes. Is my video card/ motherboard broken? I still hear sound on boot and the keyboard and mouse are working. The last thing I did was put in in standby last night, but when I got up the power was off.

Thanks in advance. 20:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.192.73.12 (talk)

Have you tried removing the video card and connecting your monitor to the motherboard's onboard installed video? (If your motherboard has one) 174.22.229.237 (talk) 21:02, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

No, I haven't. If I removed the graphics card, would it automatically switch back to integrated graphics? 98.192.73.12 (talk) 21:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it should automatically detect changes. If not, you may have to change a setting in the BIOS. 174.22.229.237 (talk) 21:17, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

The good news is, your monitor is probably OK, and that's typically more expensive than a graphics card. StuRat (talk) 21:31, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree, that is good news. Sorry for the delay, I'm having a hard time removing the video card right now. If the computer has no video signal, how do I access BIOS? 98.192.73.12 (talk) 21:35, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Well that is a good question. Considering you have to connect your monitor to a different GPU it should automatically detect that connection and not continue using the previous card for display. 174.22.229.237 (talk) 21:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Hah, looks like I'm having a *very* difficult time removing this card. Any advice on taking something out of a PCI express card? should I just pull straight up? 98.192.73.12 (talk) 21:50, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Well first you should make sure the metal plate at the back of the card is not screwed in. After that is taken care of you should gently grab the sides of the card and shimmy it up without putting pressure on the printed circuit board of the card. I'm not sure if there are any flips that you need to pull up on the slot. It probably depends on the motherboard. It is similar to removing RAM. 174.22.229.237 (talk) 21:57, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Do you suppose that the card burned out? The fan on it still works. 98.192.73.12 (talk) 22:04, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I believe it is a possibility. From the information you provided it seems to be more likely a problem with the video card. 174.22.229.237 (talk) 22:06, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

If you ever manage to get it to boot properly with display using your integrated graphics I would advise you to uninstall any drivers you have for the video card you've been using. It might possibly have been a driver problem and you could try reinstalling your video card and seeing if there are any changes. 174.22.229.237 (talk) 23:07, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, I appreciate all your helpful advice. I think I might have lost the original PCI device that ran to my motherboard's onboard graphics. I have a suspicion that this may be a software issue-- I'm trying to find a friend who will take my hard drive and do a system restore for me. That is, a fairly irrational suspicion, but a suspicion nevertheless. 98.192.73.12 (talk) 23:43, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

If you don't even get the BIOS display on the monitor, there's almost no chance it's a software problem, and taking the disk out and getting it restored on another PC will almost certainly lose data needlessly. I echo others' thoughts that it would seem like your graphics card has failed. --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:27, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

As for pulling out the graphics card, try this:

1) First make sure you remove any wires attached to it.

2) Then ensure that any screws or snap-down latches are removed.

3) Pull with your hand. If you can't get enough leverage and there isn't enough space to grasp the board because it's covered with components right to the edge, then try some needle-nose pliers. You can use one on each side, if necessary, but you will then need someone else to hold the box down. StuRat (talk) 18:18, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I got it, finally. You guys were right: there was a little lever underneath the card that was holding into the slot. I've isolated the problem as the 8600 GT itself. When I plugged my monitor into the motherboard directly, I finally got video. The thing is, I'm completely mystified as to why Windows has stopped recognizing my other card. It's not detecting it at all, even after I reinserted it. I went into device manager to try to uninstall/ reinstall the drivers but all I saw was my onboard card, which was shown as a VGA thing that needed drivers to be installed. It's running fine now with the onboard, so I guess at this point I should just attempt a reinstall of the 8600? 98.192.73.12 (talk) 15:08, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

First, look very carefully at the graphics card for any sign of damage or burning. (It might just be a tiny sooty spot next to a component.) StuRat (talk) 22:55, 18 April 2010 (UTC)