Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 January 22

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

January 22

What is the fate of files uploaded to Megaupload now? Are they all deleted there?

On 20 January 2012, Megaupload was seized by the US Dept. of Justice for many crimes, the biggest of which is piracy of music and films. However, as noted in the site's article, there were many legitimate, non-infringing files uploaded there, and they are all affected by the shut-down. Are the files deleted? Or are they all still on the servers? I don't have any files uploaded there. but I'm curious about this. Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 01:20, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I don't think there has been a resolution beyond what's discussed at Megaupload#Data retention. That its, it seems the files are all still stored on servers owned by Megaupload's suppliers, Carpathia Hosting. Those, it seems, are still sitting in Carpathia's hosting centre (and that most or all haven't been seized). They're all offline, so no Megaupload user can access anything. In general, one of the concerns about any kind of hosted storage is that it's often the case that legitimate users get caught up when they happen to share storage equipment, or a storage service, with unrelated customers or services which run into legal troubles. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 01:30, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

cpu fan

i have a cookie crumb or something in there. making a horrible grinding sound. how do i get it out in less then 30 minutes or so? thank you, 70.114.248.114 (talk) 02:40, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I doubt if it's a cookie crumb. In my experience, the most common cause of a grinding sound from the fan is if a cable is interfering with the fan blade. This obviously isn't good for either the fan or the cable. As long as this isn't a laptop, opening it up and pushing back (or tying back) a cable should be easy in 30 minutes. If it's a laptop, then you might want a professional to do it for you, as they are not meant to be user-serviceable, and are thus easy to break. StuRat (talk) 05:56, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

With the computer off, spray at it from different angles using a can of compressed air. If that doesn't work, clean it with a dry cloth. Sometimes it's a rogue cable that doesn't necessarily have to be touching the fan... it might have come loose and is being rattled around by the airflow. This last scenario is more likely from the case fan rather than the cpu fan though. Sandman30s (talk) 20:13, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Cookie crumbs, loose cables and other things hitting the fan blades will make a ticking or rattling sound. Worn out fan bearings will make a grinding sound (the same sound can also come from a hard disk on its last legs). Astronaut (talk) 16:07, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

IQ pocketbook 701

my iq pocketbook 701 wont come on. please help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pockebook 701 (talk • contribs) 05:27, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Possibilities:

1) No power. If a device runs on batteries, make sure they are properly installed and charged. If a device runs off a wall outlet, make sure the plug is properly seated (not loose). Unplug it and/or remove and replace the batteries, to see if that makes a difference.

2) On/off switch not working. Is it "mushy" or does it click nicely ?

Also, just to make sure it's not the monitor that's out, do you get any sounds or indicator lights at all ? StuRat (talk) 05:52, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a thought - I had an ebook reader that wouldn't switch on and wouldn't charge via USB because the battery had got too low. I needed to use a proper wall plug charger to get it charged initially before it could be recognised as a USB device and start charging via that method too. Also, sometimes there are different ways to switch the device on and off like when people press the off switch on a tablet - not really off just sleeping - in order to reset when there are problems, the power button has to be held down for a few seconds to reboot - quite often there'll be a recessed reset button somewhere on the device to do a sort of hard reboot (though beware, hard reboots can sometimes wipe whatever is on the device memory). Failing that, maybe it's just broke. ---- _nonsense ferret 19:39, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Mac usb boot

I have an older intel-based macbook. My understanding from this article is that it should support USB booting. However, will that only work with an OSX formatted keydrive? Or is it possible for me to boot into linux using a USB drive? I've had trouble doing the latter in the past. Is there a workaround? Shadowjams (talk) 20:48, 22 January 2013 (UTC)