Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 January 4

= January 4 =

Can't access external hard drive
On a Windows 7 system, an external drive started acting strangely. I started a disc scan. At first it was counting through files rapidly, then it started going very slowly. I decided to stop the scan and reformat the external HD (a Seagate). Now properties shows all of the HD used and when I try to format, it says "you do not have sufficient rights to perform this operation". I have only one user account and it has administrator rights. How can I reformat the external HD? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 03:21, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Try using it with another computer. Starting in safe mode and temporarily disabling User Account Control may help. Use CHKDSK and/or SeaTools for Windows. Von Restorff (talk) 03:48, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I think something has gone wrong with the drive. Now it isn't even showing up under "Computer".  Yesterday my daughter said that it was making a noise, I said that it was just spinning up.  If I unplug it and plug it back in, I get the normal USB sounds, but it doesn't show up.  If I reboot it doesn't show up, the light on it keeps flashing, and there are some sounds like it is trying to connect a USB device but can't (two sounds at the same pitch). Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 04:25, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Your daughter was probably right. Well, I hope you still have your files! Luckily external drives are cheap nowadays. If I understand it correctly the drive is empty and you did not lose any files, is that correct? If so, its probably best to buy a new harddrive instead of trying to get this thing to work. Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor are all decent brands if you want to buy one. Von Restorff (talk) 04:36, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * It had a lot of files on it, but I use it for a backup. I have my primary computer which has an external HD and this external HD is on my secondary computer.  I have a batch file that copies my important files from the primary HD to: the primary external HD, the secondary computer HD, and the secondary external HD.  A day or two ago, I noticed that the batch file was taking a lot longer than it should.  Today the batch file would get only part of the way through, when there was an error 23 scanning the destination directory.  Then it got worse.  So, that combined with my daughter noticing a different noise, and the fact that now the computer doesn't even see it (except for the USB beeps), it must have died.  And I think it was less than a year old.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Rest In Partitions dear Seagate drive. I use Dropbox, that has a couple of advantages over the system you described, but I only need to backup 20-30 gigs. Von Restorff (talk) 06:19, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

I ran Seagate Sea Tools, and it says that it is defective. It read the serial number and it is in warranty (until April 2015). It took me to the area to submit a RMA. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 06:25, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Good work! My personal experience is that Seagate support is OK but a bit slow; I hope they'll help you quickly! Von Restorff (talk) 06:29, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Sea Tools says that it has been on for 11,799 hours. So I got it about 16 months ago.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 07:10, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Seagate has two methods to get a HD replaced under warranty: (1) send it back and they will send a replacement, (2) pay $10 and they will ship a replacement second day and that includes a mailing label to send back the bad one. I selected #2, since it would cost me nearly $10 to send the old one anyway, and this way I get a replacement quickly.

On the phone to Seagate Customer Support, I had to confirm that I would not use the replacement for any terrorist activities! It seems to me that a terrorist might either lie to Seagate Customer Support about that or either just go to the store and get a new one. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 00:08, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You obviously know very little about terrorists; their code of honor would prevent them from ever telling a lie or hurting another human being. Von Restorff (talk) 00:45, 6 January 2012 (UTC)


 * It also seems unlikely to me that a terrorist would be calling up to get a replacement, since you have to send in the old one, and there is a possibility of Seagate discovering terrorist's files on the returned unit. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:33, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Clicking scroll wheel to go to full-screen mode?
I just installed Batman: Arkham City on my computer, and some of the moves in the game require one to push in the scroll wheel on the mouse (not scroll with it, but push it in as if pushing a button). Whenever I do this, however, the screen flashes back for a second. Sometimes I get the desired result as well, as if the push had been successful, and other times I don't. When I do it several times in succession, the game will go from full-screen to windowed mode, as if I had pressed alt-enter. I'm using a Logitech wireless mouse with left and right buttons plus a clickable scroll wheel (nothing fancy). Any idea what's going on here? Help is greatly appreciated--thanks! Meelar (talk) 04:16, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Try the button R. If that does not work the easiest fix is probably to remap the controls in the options-controls screen in the main menu. Use a different button. Von Restorff (talk) 04:26, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Remapping worked. Thanks! Meelar (talk) 06:11, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Whoohoo! You are very welcome of course. Von Restorff (talk) 06:18, 4 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. Buying a cheap gamepad is always a good idea.

How to select proper PSU for my PC with new GPU card upgrade
Hi guys, I have Intel pentiumD3Ghz CPU, 2GB RAM,1HDD,1DVD,965Mobo,300Watts local PSU. The APC UPS of mine can provide load upto 390W. The software tool of UPS tells me the power consumption of my PC(PC alone plugged in, all other devices are removed from UPS while doing this test) is 113W at Idle and 170W at 100% CPU (+/- 5watts). I think this reading is somewhat equivalent to kill-a-watt meter reading.

Watts consumed by PC = 100% CPU(Using App) + 100% HDD(fileCopy) + 100% DVD(read/write test) = 175W MAX

I plan to buy HD 6870/GTX560ti which may eat 150W/175W (Max).

So as per my calculation(Max),

Watts Consumed by GPU(max) = 175W (for GTX 560ti) / 150W (for HD 6870) ( As per Spec)

So total power(max) = (CPU+RAM+mobo+DVD+HDD) + GPU = 175W + 175W = 345W for GTX 560ti = 175W + 150W = 320W for HD6870.

I dont use cooling fan\chasis fan. And these cards are not Overclocked versions. Hence I dont have idea of buying any cooling systems. Also the DVD drive isn't going to run all the time.

So as per my calculation, the required SMPS rating (PSU) I should go for either of two cards is 400Watts. This should be sufficient Am I correct?.

This is again for my configuration only.

But in recommended spec in websites and reviews say 500W min is required. Why is that?. Even in some GPU reviews, I had seen like using kill-a-watt meter, total PC consumed power with GTX560ti as GPU is 365W Maximum. Then why still Nvidia\Radeon suggest to buy 500W with 2x75W on PCIe cable as min PSU spec?....

All I know is that these cards do expect above 35A in +12V rail. So is it because PSUs with 500W and above should only be capable of delivering that much current in +12v line?.

Or is this a market strategy?. Now can anybody suggest me what rating I should choose here?..Your help can help me choose right one.

Thanks Balan (talk) 08:20, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You generally want some headroom but from my experience most manufacturers strongly overestimate how much power you will need as you've concluded yourself. This reduces the risk of problems. This is partially because of 12V rail problems but with modern ATX 2.0x PSUs this isn't really an issue. The far bigger problem is likely all those of cheap, crappy PSUs which suffer from false advertising and can't reliably deliver what they advertise. Even in those parts of the developed world where there are strong consumer protections laws regarding false advertising and product quality, from my experience computers PSUs is one are which still tends to fall thru the cracks. Remember from GPU manufacturer POV, the number of customers they are going to lose is small. The fact that people are getting seriously oversized PSUs and particularly before the 80Plus standard became withspread were likely wasting power by doing so, isn't their concern. Product failures and product problems because people are using some crappy PSU which claims 500W but can't even reliably deliver 350W is not something thay want. Generally those who know what they are doing ignore the manufacturers recommendations for video card PSUs anyway knowing them to be often seriously inflated, and knowing not to touch crappy PSUs with a barge pole due to the risk it will take out the whole computer (which incidentally violates the ATX standard). Nil Einne (talk)

Thanks and I understood. But I am more cornered like first selecting wattage spec for my requirements. 122.164.214.96 (talk) 18:01, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Two sets of earbuds in one iPhone 3GS
'sup?

I've been wondering if there's a possibility of plugging two sets of earbuds in one port on an iPhone. If yes, which devices would you recommend?

Cheers, 93.143.9.167 (talk) 08:49, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Is this what you need? Von Restorff (talk) 08:52, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * IPod and iPhone audio plugs.JPG If it's just for listening to music, you can get a simple splitter for about £1 – . However you'll lose the functionality of the iPhone headphones' microphone, as the iPhone jack is a TRRS connector (middle in photo) whereas the splitter will only be a TRS (left in photo).  The audio will still sound the same (like when you plug in "normal" headphones to an iPhone) but you won't be able to use the mic.  matt (talk) 15:51, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Ah, yeah, I should've mentioned that, with that link I gave you still have the microphone functionality, but it is more expensive. Von Restorff (talk) 16:00, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Is face detection involves matching faces
Hi, i had a doubt on topic Face detection. Whether it involves matching the faces? Is it possible to find out a person from a group of people? If a input photo is given, whether it possible to find correct person? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.211.60.17 (talk) 09:59, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I am not completely sure what you mean but I think the answer is that face detection and facial recognition are not the same thing but they can be combined. Von Restorff (talk) 10:25, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I think you are asking if there are any shortcuts other than directly comparing the face with every face in your database. I believe there are, such as measuring various dimensions and ratios on the face, and using those to pare down the database to only a few which match those parameters.  A side-by-side comparison can then be done with those. StuRat (talk) 16:44, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

C# cannot convert from char[] to string
I'm working in a windows application using forms, I only have a label on it which I'm using for output. I keep getting system.char[] on the label instead of the desired iu. Any ideas? Bastard Soap (talk) 14:28, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Possibly you could just assign the array to the label attribute?       label1.Text = x;  Just guessing, not being a C# programmer... --CiaPan (talk) 14:41, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * (ec) Or use an explicitly created temporary string object, like the author ofthis question at bytes.com. --CiaPan (talk) 14:44, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * label1.Text = new string(x);     -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:42, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

In C# and Java, and some other languages, String objects are immutable, so they are not directly interchangeable with character arrays. You need to use a String construction function for such purposes. This is detailed in the remarks section of the official C# String reference. Nimur (talk) 16:18, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

So convert.ToString is totally useless? Bastard Soap (talk) 10:21, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The Convert class has many uses, including converting many primitive types and some object types into Strings. However, those uses do not include conversion from char[] to String.  This is explained in the remarks section of the documentation.  The problem is that an array of characters does not contain the necessary character encoding information to create a String object.  If you are hoping to treat strings and character arrays as identical objects, C# String object is not suitable.  In pure C, you can use char[] as a string (not as a String object though - that entity doesn't even exist in C).  C# is not the same as C.  Nimur (talk) 18:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Delete facebook
My name is Roxanne Sellers and I am with Gulf Islands National Seashore and we are asking to please delete this facebook site it is not an offical site. Any questions please call or email me at

Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.83.133.248 (talk) 17:24, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You seem to be in the wrong place, Wikipedia is not affiliated with Facebook and we have no control over their content-- Jac 16888 Talk 17:36, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I read this as a request to remove the Wikipedia article Gulf Islands National Seashore. -- k a i n a w &trade; 17:50, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * [[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] Facebook community pages may incorporate content from Wikipedia— such use complies with Wikipedia policies on reuse of content. We at Wikipedia have no control over how the content is included nor can we help to remove it. Facebook does have a topic on Community pages and profile connections on their Help Center. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:13, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * A piece of advise for Ms. Sellers. I'd suggest embracing the page instead of asking for it to be deleted.  You can most likely post whatever you want on it, thereby somewhat controlling the direction you want it to go (assuming here it would be to promote tourism and education), so why not post links to websites of local hotels, restaurants, schools, marinas, fishing clubs, etc ...and share those posts on the other community pages in your area? Long story short:  In this day and age, people are going to create websites and social media pages about the people, places and things they are interested in.  There is not much you can do about it...so it's best to just work with it instead of against it.  Plus using Facebook is a free form of advertising, and I guarantee that more people are looking at their Facebook feed on a daily basis than the "official website" of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Quinn &#10163;WINDY  20:21, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * And here's a good article discussing the difference between Facebook community/business pages. I realize that the GINS is not exactly a business, but still might be informative. Quinn &#10163;WINDY  20:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Just to clarify - Ms Sellers might be encouraged to "post whatever you want ... promote tourism ... [advertising] ..." on any Facebook page (subject to FB's terms and conditions of course), but not on Wikipedia. Mitch Ames (talk) 09:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Multithreaded Apartment in Visual Basic Application
I am writing an application with Visual Basic 2010 Express. The application has a COM reference to a DLL, and everything works fine as a single threaded application. However, I want to break the application into two threads, one for the GUI and one which actually does the work. Both threads need to make calls to the COM reference. When I set up a multithreaded application, I receive this error message: "Unable to cast COM object of type 'Sync Framework Managed Class' to interface type 'Sync Framework COM Interop Class'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{73EA794F-1251-4466-A19C-DAEAF5BDBD04}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE))." which according to here (third heading) means I need to use a multithreaded apartment model. Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to do that? I've read Microsoft's pages on that (starting here) but I can't figure out how to make it happen. anonymous6494 22:11, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Indeed, you'll need a multithreaded apartment model. Google "multithreaded apartment model visual basic 2010"; you'll find info written by people who understand this stuff a lot better than I do. On page 2 of this explanation you'll find a code sample (read the comments!). Von Restorff (talk) 12:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)