Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 November 10

= November 10 =

Wikipedia's servers
Why are Wikipedia's main servers located in Florida, one of the most disaster prone states in the USA (flooding, hurricanes etc)? Battle Ape 08:16, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Data centers are usually pretty safe, with controlled humidity, raised floors and dropped ceilings, and very powerful backup generators. --⁪froth T C  17:55, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Hmm, Cheyenne Mountain isn't used any more, perhaps we can move there ? StuRat 18:19, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I always thought Cheyenne was a bit of a joke. It's like building the most expensive and unbreakable server in the world and putting a giant sign on it that says "PLEASE HACK ME". I mean the pyramids are almost empty for a reason. freshofftheufo  ΓΛĿЌ  12:16, 12 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It could survive anything but a direct nuclear strike on the doors, I believe. StuRat 05:41, 13 November 2006 (UTC)


 * That's because it was exactly for that purpose. The real facility designed to shelter the highest level of government from nuclear attack was somewhere in West Virginia, if I recall, and it was kept completely secret until after the cold war.  If I could only remember the name...  --Jmeden2000 16:09, 13 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I saw an interesting show about it (Greenbrier) on the History channel Ryan Roos 22:23, 15 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Mt Weather, VA (FEMA) http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/mt_weather.htm ; Greenbriar Inn WV, http://www.avhub.net/congressionalhideawaygreenbriar.htm ; Waynesboro, Pennsylvania url gone, seems to be Cheney's secret hiding place

Wired Computer Interfering With Wireless Connection
I keep losing my wireless network connection (after about 20 seconds) and suspect the wreck of a computer downstairs which is connected directly by ethernet. Is this possible? (I'm posting this in one of my 20 second windows). --Username132 (talk) 13:00, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The answer is yes... but why? --Username132 (talk) 14:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I think we need a little more description of what your network looks like. Are you on the same router as the downstairs computer? Are there other wireless networks in your area? How is your wireless connected to the Internet? And so on.  howch e  ng   {chat} 19:14, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * There is one other wireless network in the area. The router connects to a broadband modem by ethernet. The offending computer connects to the router by ethernet. My computer is connected wirelessly to the same router. I note that blocking the MAC address of the computer downstairs in the router settings, stops me from getting constantly disonnected, whereas unblocking enables it again. I've already scanned offending computer for spyware and viruses (no viruses, spyware removed) but the problem continues. --Username132 (talk) 19:41, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * OK, so your two computers are both connected directly to the same router (I assume it's something like a wireless router with 4 ports). Do both computers get their IP addresses assigned by DHCP or are they static? If they're static, make sure the IP addresses are different on the two machines and that they don't conflict with anything else on the network (printer, XBox, TiVO). If DHCP, it may be possible (but highly unlikely) to have an IP address conflict -- get a new IP address to be safe (in Windows, open a command prompt and enter "ipconfig /renew" without the quotes -- I don't exactly remember how to do it on a Mac, but in OS9 I believe it was in the Network control panel). Report back when you have tried these steps.  howch e  ng   {chat} 20:42, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually I fixed IP addresses for both computers (to separate addresses) for port forwarding reasons. You assumption re: four ports in router was correct! --Username132 (talk) 21:53, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

SSIDs
If two WAPs have the same SSID, and you ping a website, why don't both routers send individual pings? In other words, what exactly prevents multiple sending, especially since information is sent "in the air" and any device with the same SSID will pick it up and process it. --⁪froth T C  17:59, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, you're only connected to one network at a time. When you connect to a network, you have an IP address and a gateway. If you're using DHCP (usually the default), then only one router has your computer in its DHCP table (i.e., it assigned you an IP address and knows your MAC address). So when you run a ping (or any other network command), the other routers don't recognize your machine and don't do anything. Now if you have a static IP address, then things get a little more complicated. First, the routers would have to have the same IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.1), and thus be on the same gateway. You would also have to have a different IP address from any other machine on either network. If all of these conditions are true, well ... I guess I don't know enough about networking to know what will happen then.  howch e  ng   {chat} 18:19, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
 * My campus's network has WAPs all over the place, and they all show up as one network- my computer I guess somehow chooses a WAP to connect to --⁪froth T C  23:23, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * That's because they are not seperate WAPs, they are all the same WAP. The entire network will still only have one gateway, but many wireless repeaters. Vespine 22:45, 12 November 2006 (UTC)


 * OK.. so if I have many repeaters, all picking up the signal with varying degrees of "signal strength" why doesn't the network hardware pass them on to the internet as separate requests when they were actually just one? And aren't they called separate WAPs even if they're advertising access to the same wireless network? --⁪froth T C


 * Windows and many wireless network managers will look at all the access points, then take the ones that have the same SSID and group them into one access point. This is to limit user confusion. If you use a program like netstumbler, it will show you each access point that has the same SSID. The windows wireless network manager connects you to the access point that has the strongest signal. Unless you have more than one wireless card or a card capable of connecting to more than one AP you can not connect to more than one AP despite the fact that they have the same SSID. It is one connection to one access point, always, and this is why you will not ping something multiple times. If you move down the street you will automatically connect to the AP with that SSID that is closest to  you. Also, yes they are technically separate AP's though they have the same SSID. I think part of your confusion lays with the SSID. The SSID is merely for users and to help network managers group AP's. To actually distinguish between AP's you should use the MAC address, which is the unique hardware number that all network devices have. --sish 05:59, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

powerpoint 2003 animations
I'm trying to create a presentation that have a world map. I would like to create a powerpoint that zooms in on each section, with some text that pops up for each country involved. How would I animate smoothly? Can you choose a point to zoom into for a certain picture? Thanks 130.207.180.30 18:20, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Perhaps something like Photo Story would suit this purpose better than PowerPoint. It's a free download from Microsoft (since it sounds like you like MS software), is simple to use, and would create what you describe above very easily. --jjron 14:19, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Why I Can't Access A Website That Other People Can?
I was playing a game of babble on www.playbabble.com when it stopped responding to my entries, while my friend who I was Skyping at the time continued and pulled way ahead of me point-wise. I couldn't get a respnose from the website so I used tracert in the DOS prompt as recommended to me above and this was the outcome. I thought the internet worked such that if a packet couldn't get to its destination one way, it'd take another route - what has been absorbing my packets? Why didn't it go a different way? --Username132 (talk) 19:09, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It does (see routing), between backbone networks. Looking at the traceroute, I'm guessing the connection problem was between the domain's host and their ISP. I noticed the last two hops were between address with no domain name. I'm guessing that would address on playbabble's host site, not the ISP. —Mitaphane talk 22:33, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Help
I am trying to open a game i downloaded off the internet. I keep getting the error message: dx error: please check your video card driver. Does anybody know what this is, why it's caused, and how to fix it?


 * Install the newest DirectX (9.0c) and update your video card drivers. --Wooty Woot? &#124; contribs 21:49, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It would be best practice to name the game you are trying to play and the video card you have. Also, more precise help could be found on the website of the game and if it exists, the game's forum. --sish 06:02, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

how do you update a video driver?
how do you update a video driver?


 * Typically, you would go to the web site of the maker of the driver, and download a new version, which will then self-install. StuRat 22:57, 10 November 2006 (UTC)