Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 August 22

= August 22 =

Layout Diagrams of Computer Hardware Standards
Good Morning, Everyone! I'm looking for layout diagrams / specifications for the following computer hardware standards. I've searched the internet using both Google and Yahoo!, and come up empty. Any help is most appreciated. Thanks as always. Rocketshiporion ♫ 18:52, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * 1) MEB Motherboard Form Factor Mounting-Holes & I/O Face Dimensions
 * 2) MEB Riser Card Form Factor Specification
 * 3) PCIe Bracket Cage Dimensions - i.e. the dimensions needed to design a cage onto which a PCIe bracket would fit.



How can I batch process convert MP3s into mono?
I have a bunch of stereo MP3s that I would like to convert to mono. What is the best way to do this without losing too much quality or reencoding in a higher bitrate (since the MP3s range from 128 to 320 kbps). I am looking for something that can batch process entire folders automatically. Thanks! 169.234.102.200 (talk) 00:02, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

An even better solution would be to convince your OS to do it globally instead of having to rely on a particular player config. If you're using Windows, check Control Panel > Sound > (select device) > Configure for a 'mono' option, you might luck out, otherwise it'll be more complicated (maybe with JACK) &brvbar; Reisio (talk) 08:08, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Why? &brvbar; Reisio (talk) 00:08, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm slightly hard of hearing in one ear so I change the balance on my computer, but then some songs sound weird like that, so I would prefer them in mono. 169.234.102.200 (talk) 00:13, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Hrmmm, I think I'd still go for a player that can flatten stereo to mono on the fly rather than recode them all. I'm pretty sure MPlayer can do this, so any front end that allows passing custom params should be able to also&mdash;perhaps SMPlayer.*  VLC media player, being quite competitive with MPlayer, might also be able to.*

This program can. Select the files you want to convert in the source files tab, then under the Advanced options tab set mp3 channel mode to mono. You can also adjust quality and bitrate settings to whatever you want. The program has some strange sound effects which you'll probably want to disable via Tools -> Configuration -> Disable sound effects AvrillirvA (talk) 00:25, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * SoX (with the optional mp3 plugin) is very handy for doing all kinds of manipulation on audio files. To mono-fy a single mp3 you'd say sox in.mp3 out.mp3 remix -   To get that to work on an entire folder automatically you'd wrap that in a batch file (another refdesker, with a greater fondness for Windows than I, may be able to write that for you). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 00:29, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Diagnosing intermittent crashing
For many months now I have had a Windows 7 computer that suffers from infrequent crashing. The typical uptime is perhaps 2 days at the worst case to around 15 days at the best case. In other words, the bad event (whatever it is) occurs infrequently, and thus is hard to diagnose. To make matters worse, it doesn't even do me the luxury of giving an error message. It either locks up with a blank screen (i.e. black screen requiring power cycling to restart), or it reboots unexpectedly. Rebooting is more common, though locking up and requiring power cycling is not uncommon. I've never observed a blue screen or other visible error message. Following a crash, reviewing the Windows error log shows each unexpected restart but has never provided any information about the precipitating event. The software is kept up-to-date and virus protection is installed.

The underlying pattern of behavior leads me to believe it is more likely to be a hardware problem of some sort rather than a software problem (mainly because it can completely lock the computer in a way that appears to skip all the normal software error trapping). However, I've run all the handy hardware self-diagnostics for RAM / hard drive / etc. without ever detecting any problems. In addition, I've never noticed any connection between computer load and crashes (as might be expected if it were connected with overheating, for example). I've seen it run at high load for days without any problem only to crash days latter while virtually idle. Frankly, I haven't seen anything that really gives me a clue about the specific underlying cause.

Right now I'm pretty much out of ideas. Does anyone have suggestions for how to approach a problem like this? Obviously I don't expect anyone to simply know what is wrong, but how would you track down the problem when it seems to elude both error reporting and hardware diagnostics? Dragons flight (talk) 04:43, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I suggest rebooting each day. If the problem goes away, this tell you it was something cumulative that builds up over several days. StuRat (talk) 04:51, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The reason you don't see a blue screen is because the default setting in windows is to auto-restart following a system crash. To disable this so you can see the blue screen: under system properties > "start up and recovery" you have to untick the "automatically restart" option under "system failure". Full instructions can be found here. Vespine (talk) 05:37, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * That's worth a try, but usually the bluescreen is visible briefly before the automatic restart, and it should be logged in any case. This sounds like a hardware problem. -- BenRG (talk) 09:59, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've known how to disable Windows auto restart for ages. I still don't get blue screens.  Dragons flight (talk) 22:53, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * It could be a faulty power supply, or perhaps you changed a component like a graphics card that needs more power and you're underpowered. Those kinds of symptoms sound suspiciously like power supply issues and they will not show up on any (normal) software diagnostic tests because your PSU is off the motherboard. Sandman30s (talk) 09:04, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * You could try installing a program like Motherboard Monitor to monitor the motherboard's voltages. (Caution - I've never used it, so can't say what it is like). Assuming it can log the voltages to a file, check if they are still within tolerance at the point your machine rebooted/crashed. CS Miller (talk) 10:37, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Reporting facebook abuse
A facebook user has created a public-event facebook page for a social gathering at a house not belonging to the user, without the owner's consent. According to http://www.facebook.com/communitystandards, "If you see something on Facebook that you believe violates our terms, you can report it to us." The only way to do that, as far as I can see, is to click on "report event". After going through some menus, you click on "report to facebook". Then it says "Thanks For Your Report" before you've written anything!! There is no opportunity to write anything explaining the situation (that the house doesn't belong to the person organizing the event).

Is the statement that "you can report it to us" merely dishonesty? Is the assertion that it's dishonest the WHOLE story, with nothing more that can be said? I can't even imagine creating software that behaves that way with any motive other than to be amused by what one thereby does to one's victims.

Am I missing something? Michael Hardy (talk) 06:33, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * It's more likely that your browser/configuration isn't what they planned on people visiting that page to be using. Facebook is pretty dishonest IMO, but they wouldn't be able to get away with that. :p &brvbar; Reisio (talk) 08:30, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't use Facebook, but if it's like some other sites then the "report" button may just increment a counter of "the number of users who have reported this", and when the counter exceeds a certain value a Facebook employee will take a look at it. In this case, even if enough people clicked "report", the employee would probably ignore the complaint since there's no obvious violation. Hopefully there is another complaint system for cases like this, but with a user-employee ratio of 300,000:1 you may find it hard to get noticed. Another option would be to contact the police. -- BenRG (talk) 09:50, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * If it's about incrementing a counter, then it's quite dishonest to tell people they can report it. Michael Hardy (talk) 18:23, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * One thing to try is notifying the police; this may be a crime, depending on where you live. Perhaps they'll station a squad car outside the house that night and tell people to go home.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:37, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I second that motion - I would think that the old boys in blue would have a vested interest in not having a possible riot on their hands when a large accumulation of bods turn up after a few Pimms and get a bit restless when they realise they've been had. Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 17:47, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I once reported something to facebook and it was removed in a matter of minutes. I don't know what it's like in general though. Grandiose (me, talk, contribs) 21:29, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
 * @Grandiose: If the abusive nature can be seen by looking at the page, then its removal is not surprising. But one cannot report the fact that the user is inviting the public to someone else's house.  Facebook is unwilling to hear about that! Michael Hardy (talk) 00:56, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I have to disagree with you there old chap - according to Facebook's own terms and conditions - "You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory." (emphasis off my own bat) - this would seem to fall under that proscription. Regardless setting up a fake event where a crowd of inebriated ruffians might to try to gain entry to a innocent gentlemans domicile is simply not cricket. Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 17:57, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
 * It is true that they forbid such things, but they won't hear about particular cases where it happens. Michael Hardy (talk) 18:06, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Because Facebook has no way of verifying things like this, that's probably why they only seem to take care of more obvious problems. I'm not saying that's the right attitude to take, but otherwise they'd be removing events/messages all over the place if anyone claimed anything. As suggested by others, contacting the police seems like the best step because if they think it's a potential problem and contact Facebook, I'm sure then they'd do something.  ZX81    talk  18:21, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I called the phone number at which the police can contact facebook, and got a recorded message saying that facebook returns calls from police about two days after they are received. Michael Hardy (talk) 05:56, 24 August 2011 (UTC)
 * They will obviously hear if people report it. Looking at FB, the most appropriate choice appears to be 'it's harassing a friend' which, it is if it's trying to get people to go said person's house uninvited (but believing they were). I presume you know the person who's house it is (so it's resonable to call the person a friend) else you wouldn't really know it's a fake event (if you didn't, it could very well be the person who is saying the person who set it up doesn't own the house is the one lying although to be honest anyone who makes a party 'public' on FB is an idiot). The question is whether they will understand what they are hearing. Personally I'm not sure I agree with the above answers. From my limited experience (I have a bunch of not really friends I added for social games) I suspect Facebook, as with many companies, will just remove the event if they receive enough complaints even if they can't actually see the problem and deal with any issues that arise if necessary. They may remove it faster if the problem is more obvious, but I'm not convinced they will fail to remove the event if they can't see the problem, since they probably won't want to spend enough effort that they can be sure of seeing the problem. I would agree with the other comments, informing the police is a good bet. And I do mean informing the police, they're likely to know what to do in an emergency situation which what I've seen in the news, may include going to the media (since even if the event is removed many people may not realise). Pretending to be the police when you're not is only likely to make it more difficult for the actual police since FB has to waste time on those people using resources they reserved for the police. Don't get me wrong, I've been frustrated by FB and others as well but ultimately just learning to work in the system they set up is the best bet. Nil Einne (talk) 12:58, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Tor Proxy error..please help (Q moved from misc desk)
i got this error while using TOR proxy and it does not allow me to log into any mail id: The proxy server is refusing connections Firefox is configured to use a proxy server that is refusing connections. Check the proxy settings to make sure that they are correct. Contact your network administrator to make sure the proxy server is working. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.199.76.71 (talk) 07:01, 22 August 2011 (UTC)


 * What happened when you logged off from Tor and logged in again and tried again? Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:36, 22 August 2011 (UTC)