Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 September 5

= September 5 =

Maxon MX-2450
I got a Maxon MX-2450 cell-phone, and i don't know anything about it, i was wondering when it was made (the year) & just general information about it. I searched google & it only came "unlock Mx-2450"

All info appreciated! 157.157.39.8 (talk) 00:45, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Would http://eng.mobiset.ru/catalog/mobile/?id=2783 help?  Rcsprinter  (talk)  09:38, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, it does help :) Still need to know when it was made :P But thank you.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.157.39.8 (talk) 21:13, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

searching the internet
Is there anywhere online where I could set a list of specifications I am looking for in a new computer and the site will search through relevant company websites and find any with those same specifications, rather than having to go through lists of pages and pages of similar computers? Though, thinking of it, is there anywhere that might sell a 10" laptop with 2GB of memory, I have not seen any so far and suspect they don't exist yet.

79.66.106.191 (talk) 10:49, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/mini210_series/3/computer_store ¦ Reisio (talk) 12:36, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I think you're correct ( the machine Reisio linked to is a 1GB ). If you're willing to go up to 12-inch, there's this, but if you're set on 10" + 2GB, you'll probably have to wait. Since you geolocate to the UK, I restricted my search to that domain, but that likely doesn't matter. Matt Deres (talk) 12:40, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * No, it can have 2GB. ¦ Reisio (talk) 12:46, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm typing this on a Samsung NC10, which is 10 inches, and has 2GB of RAM. It's a nice machine, but the stock configuration only has 1GB of RAM. I suppose that's true of many netbooks. A lot of them may be easy to upgrade yourself, however, if you're careful enough. (Be sure to unplug the machine and pop out the battery before beginning work.) Paul (Stansifer) 13:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Dell has them, just go under laptops on their website. 209.252.235.206 (talk) 05:31, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

My computer is sluggish in the morning
At other hours of the day, if I click on the "file" menu on a firefox browser, I get the file menu, and if I then click on "new window", that's what I get. But when it's been left unused over night, I move the mouse and where there was a firefox window, I see a black square for several minutes before I see the window, and when I click on "file", it takes several minutes before I see the "file" menu, and when I click on "new window", that also takes several minutes. Why the difference in timing? Michael Hardy (talk) 14:48, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * OS? Do you leave it on?  Does it hibernate?  Have you just booted it up? ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:49, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I suspect that some task, like performing updates, is scheduled to run in the mornings, or after the computer has been left unused for some time period. If so, rebooting each morning should hopefully fix this problem.  Others can advise you on how to change the task scheduling, if you need help there. StuRat (talk) 15:57, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I suspect that "several minutes" is an exaggeration. What happens is that when a program is inactive for a long time, the memory it uses may be paged to the hard disk, and the computer's memory space may be allocated to programs that normally have a relatively low priority. It takes a bit of time for the operating system to readjust things so that a program gets sufficient memory to work quickly. Adding more RAM to your computer is usually the easiest way to reduce this effect. Looie496 (talk) 16:06, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Or maybe disable the hibernation mode, etc., which is causing that behavior. StuRat (talk) 18:02, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * What Looie said is probably the true cause. You have to press the power button to wake a computer from hibernation and he said he leaves the computer on.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 20:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

What programs with low priority could those be? I don't do a whole lot with this computer besides run web browser, NX, putty, itunes, and occasionally R. Michael Hardy (talk) 13:49, 7 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Good question. Ctrl-Shift-Esc will give you the list of processes, but it won't tell you what services are taking up all the memory. Nevard (talk) 02:40, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Interesting. There is list of 48 processes, and I don't know what they are.  Some have "User Name" listed as "User"; some say "SYSTEM" (all capital letters); one says "LOCAL SERVICE" (all capitals); some say "LOCAL SERVICE".  One gives "Mem Usage" as 12,840 K.  One is called "AppleMobileDeviceService.exe".  I don't understand why that's there.  Is there some way to tell which one's it's safe to shut down? Michael Hardy (talk) 18:44, 10 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Shutting any of them down is unlikely to damage your computer, but might lock it up or cause something to stop working temporarily, like the sound. Of course, a reboot will restart the processes and return you to the previous state.  So, when not in the middle of anything critical, just experiment with shutting down processes.  If you accidentally shut down something important, then reboot and try again, leaving that process alone. StuRat (talk) 22:21, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Test my linux computer hardware
Hi. Could you give me some examples for websites that can test my linux computer hardware performance. --41.129.31.112 (talk) 17:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Could you be more specific? Would you like to test how your hardware performs in general when running on the penguin? --Ouro (blah blah) 08:39, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, please. --41.129.31.112 (talk) 18:06, 6 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Websites are no good.. try checking out the links at LBS. You should really have 'uprecords'.. if your computer is killing the environment less than 99.99% of the time you need to step something up. Nevard (talk) 23:22, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

batch files
On Windows 7 I want to supply a variable to a .bat file using the call function. So say I have 1.bat or whatever with something like @echo off echo %text% pause in it. I want to use the call function from another .bat file to call 1.bat with some input text into the variable %text%. How is this done? 82.43.90.90 (talk) 18:34, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * You need to change %text% in 1.bat to %1, and then you call it by call 1 hello. %1 means the first parameter passed to 1.bat (likewise for %2 etc). If the parameter can have more than one word then you can enclose it in double quotes, e.g. call 1 "Hello world", but the quotes will be included, so you would see "Hello world". AndrewWTaylor (talk) 21:29, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! 82.43.90.90 (talk) 22:30, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Windows reinstall disc scratched
I wanted to reinstall Windows XP on my Dell notebook after formatting my hard drive. After deleting the old installation of WinXP, during the re-installation stage, an error popped up saying it couldn't complete installation. I'm confused about what to do, since I don't have an OS installed on my notebook anymore. I've tried redoing setup, but it's unable to read the disc. Ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance. Hasanclk (talk) 23:37, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Dell will ship you a replacement reinstall disk - 2.122.75.122 (talk) 00:56, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * But that's only for recent systems with Windows 7. My system is about 6 years old and came with Windows XP. Hasanclk (talk) 01:44, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * No, it's for all their machines. Try reading the whole page. 2.122.75.122 (talk) 09:24, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * If you have a boot disk that will allow access to the Internet (say a Linux boot disk), you can probably boot up and go to the Microsoft site and download and install a fresh copy of XP, provided you have the authorization codes. If you don't have a boot disk, you can probably create one on another PC with a DVD burner. StuRat (talk) 02:51, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know what a Linux boot disc is, nor do I have one. I do have access to the Internet (obviously). How do I go about creating a boot CD? Reading this, I don't think that the i386 thing exists on my notebook since I formatted my hard drive. Are there any other options available? I'm sort of at the end of my wits now. 68.40.59.33 (talk) 03:55, 6 September 2011 (UTC)      This was me, by the way. Hasanclk (talk) 03:56, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * If you have a CD-R you can simply burn the fresh ISO file downloaded from the Microsoft and restart into it, or you can use UltraISO to "burn" the ISO into a USB device. A Linux boot disc is an image containing a Linux kernel, it's rather small and can be written into a USB device and then lead the booting stage, so you can copy the installation file onto the hard disk without the help of a CD-ROM. Anyway, what's the exact error popped during the previous installation? Maybe a bad sector occurred on the disk, since it's so old. --LunarShaddowღIvy (talk) 08:34, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Note that some computers don't allow you to boot from a USB flash drive, but almost all will allow you to boot from a CD. StuRat (talk) 21:54, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I do have access to other computers with internet. I also have CD-Rs and a CD/DVD burner. So I should be able to download the ISO from the Microsoft website. Is this legal, though? Reading this doesn't make it any clearer. The disc spins around for maybe a half hour, after which the error message is: 'Cyclic redundancy error'. It also recommends to use another disc for installation. Hasanclk (talk) 22:13, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, it will be a legal copy if you get it from the Microsoft website. They will, of course, require you to enter the product key string to verify that you own a legal copy. StuRat (talk) 22:39, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry, but Microsoft don't make OEM versions of their software available for download (although if you can provide a link I'll happily apologise!). Technet, MSDN and Volume Licence customers can download retail and volume licensed versions, but not OEM editions and you need to be a member of one of those schemes anyway. The Microsoft site says that for media replacement OEM customers need to contact who you got the hardware from (in this case Dell) and because Dell are very much still in business, Microsoft won't assist. As someone said above though, Dell will give you additional media, even for Windows XP, and the link they gave looks like it won't even cost you anything either.  ZX81    talk  23:31, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd recommend DSL as one of the smallest Linux versions, suitable for a boot CD. If you want to buy a Damn Small Linux boot CD, instead of building your own, they sell them for $10-$11.50 here:, although I don't know how long delivery takes.  This might be a good option if you don't have access to another computer with both Internet access and a CD burner or if you're just not comfortable doing that type of thing.  Note that after you use the Linux boot disk to get to the Microsoft location and download a fresh version of Windows, you should keep the Linux boot disk in case something like this happens again, or in case you want to play with Linux in the future.  StuRat (talk) 21:50, 6 September 2011 (UTC)