Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 October 28

= October 28 =

Key-agreement protocols not based around Diffie-Hellman
I've always thought the way the Diffie-Hellman protocol worked was kind of neat, but I'm disappointed to see that most key-agreement protocols, barring the types that use public-key cryptography, are just variations on it. Are there any key-agreement protocols like DH in that each participant has a secret number and a number they exchange not based around DH? — Melab±1 &#9742; 05:10, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * The key exchange article discusses some. 209.149.115.7 (talk) 19:51, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Internet don't work, Proxy-server don't respond... help?
On my laptop, I suddenly can't go on the internet anymore. My connection is just fine, but when I open the Internet explorer, I get "Proxy-Server don't respond" error-message. There's nothing I can do to search for problems or click anything that might work..

I've tried restart the computer a few times, and every time I get a strange error message which I *think* is about the root to the problem. That message also started today.. Translated to English it pretty much reads as follows; "Can't load Sorttbls.nlp or any associated files." Last time I rebooted I also got another error-message that said 'Client.exe' didn't work or couldn't run or something. I don't know what these messages mean but I can only assume they are the root to the internet problems. The laptop otherwise seem to work, after a fashion at least.

Any useful insight here, and any know-hows as to what can be done? 84.211.153.120 (talk) 09:47, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Do you use a proxy server? Is anything non-internet related different or not working? This may be of help for sorttbls.nlp, . Have you made any recent changes to your system, had any symptoms of malware, etc.?Phoenixia1177 (talk) 09:57, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

I've had some bad symptoms, yes, but whether they are due to malware, I can't say.. I'm frequently using anti-virus, but today and yesterday I can't run it, it gets stuck on 10%. Coincidence that it happens now? No, it can't be. No real changes to system, computer have crashed many times lately and presented me with the chance to go back to "previous adjustments on the computer" and it hasn't made any difference. I don't think I'm using a proxy, if I have understood the meaning of it correctly. Standard fiber-net provided to the whole street by the same company. Beyond that, I don't have the skills or know-hows on computers to be using any advanced stuff. I open the explorer and browse the net for news etc. and stream football and cycling broadcasts as well as downloading the odd movie or tv-series... that's what I do. I'm a very simple internet user. I suppose the only option is to take the laptop in for repair then. 84.211.153.120 (talk) 11:00, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * If you can move files onto the malfunctioning machine, via usb, I could try to talk you through some various things you can do - though, depending on the cost to get it fixed, you might be better going that route; then someone is liable if anything goes wrong and you don't have to worry about a detail getting lost in communication. Drop me a line on my talk page if you would like. If not, best of luck, hopefully you'll be up and running soon:-)Phoenixia1177 (talk) 14:15, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Presuming you are running Windows, try resetting TCP/IP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357 --  Gadget850talk 17:33, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Largest computer
At they talk about the new British Meteorological Office computer is going to weigh 140 tons. I'm sure it is quite a bit smaller than the Chinese Tianhe-2 computer though I don't know how much that would weigh, and there might be earlier ones that were physically larger. Some sources talk about the SAGE computers being the biggest, they weighed 250 tons each and there were two of them per centre. So anybody have an idea what was or is the single largest computer? Dmcq (talk) 12:49, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

How about by power requirement? That would probably be a good proxy for size. Dmcq (talk) 11:52, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Windows 7 driver installation
I'm having a problem installing a device driver (Windows 7 64-bit). In Event Viewer, the appropriate message from UserPnP contains an error code of 0xE0000219, No Associated Service. According to Microsoft here, "This error is usually the result of incorrectly editing the .inf file." (which I haven't), and "If you did not edit the .inf file, then contact the vendor of the device for an updated device driver package." (I'm using the latest driver, which has installed successfully on another system). I'm not an expert on INF files, but I've compared the one that doesn't work to another one (from the same manufacturer) that does, and they appear to be identical apart from the hardware ID - in particular, the _Inst.Services section in both files contains the same value for the AddService key. Does anyone here know what the error message actually means? That is, _what_ is Windows trying to do that hasn't worked, rather than the reason _why_ it hasn't worked? Any help would be most appreciated. Tevildo (talk) 15:22, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
 * What device are you installing? What is the other OS this is installed on? --  Gadget850talk 15:37, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
 * This is a PXI device. The good system also has Windows 7 64-bit, but an older version of NI-VISA.  I've tried taking the bad system back to the version of VISA that's on the good system, but it hasn't fixed the problem. Tevildo (talk) 17:22, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
 * On the good system, search the registry for the device name and export all the settings, the import into the problem system. --  Gadget850talk 17:30, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
 * That won't work, as the PCI addresses are different between the systems. In any case, it's more important at this stage to track down the source of the error, rather than the solution - if I have to reformat the system, that won't be a major problem, but it would be useful to establish what's going wrong first. Tevildo (talk) 18:31, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Possibly Absurd Question, Naked Power Supply and Risk
I preface this with: I know nothing about electronics, beyond how to follow what connects to what and diagrams. So, I had a few vacation days to use and nothing to do, so I bought a bunch of survival horror games, for the holiday (my partner is out of town) and took the week off; of course, my 360's power supply brick fan broke and now overheats and shuts off power every 30 minutes (and ordering a new one takes ten days+). So, I opened it up, cleaned out a bunch of horrid dust from the fan, and anywhere else, and the unit still displays the same behaviour (I get about ten more minutes out of it). So, two questions. 1.) Is it possible the fan doesn't spin at all because the motor burned out from being clogged - or might it just need more cleaning? 2.) If I remove the top part of the case, set it somewhere out of the way, and use a small fan to blow over top of it, will it give off harmful something or anothers, or light on fire, or etc. because the case is missing? I intend to unplug it when I am not using it and never leave it by itself; I'm mainly concerned with the case somehow protecting me from more than touching a live wire, and that it will still overheat anyway. Any help would be appreciated, thank you for indulging what may be a quite stupid question:-)Phoenixia1177 (talk) 19:50, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * My power supply is out in the open (technically, it is mounted to the bottom of my desk, behind the file drawer - similar to my motherboard, also mounted to the bottom of the desk). As long as you don't touch it, drop things on it, spill things on it, etc..., you are fine. The deal is how the power supply monitors the fan. Most power supplies that I've had will not run if they do not detect that the fan is spinning. So, if the fan is not spinning (which means it is dead), the power supply will shut off - even if it is not hot. A fan is cheap. So, it is trivial to pop over to some store that sells them solder a new one in where the old one was. It doesn't have to be the same size and mount in exactly the same spot. You just need the load to show it is spinning. You *could* use a resistor instead to give it load, but it is harder to figure out the ohms and you'd still have to run down to the electronics store and solder the resistor in. So, I suggest just replacing the fan. 209.149.115.7 (talk) 19:56, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Nothing can possibly go wrong if you solder home-made parts in to the AC-DC supply that powers your expensive computer/console/toy!
 * This is a great way to:
 * electrocute yourself
 * set fire to your house
 * permanently destroy your expensive computer/console/toy.
 * If a power cord or PSU becomes damaged in any way, stop using it immediately and contact Xbox Customer Support for a replacement. You already know this.  Don't try to "home-brew" a solution.  Residential AC/DC power-supplies carry enough energy to kill an adult human.
 * Without a detailed schematic, and an expert familiar with this specific power supply design, there is no way to know what has gone wrong. Do not try to fix it yourself.  Do not try to operate it.  It is not clear whether the observed overheating is a cause or a symptom of a more serious problem - like a short-circuit or a damaged high-energy component.
 * Nimur (talk) 21:20, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I will wait for the replacement, then - I'm going to give cleaning it one more go, though.Phoenixia1177 (talk) 21:22, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

NFC for photography?
I was in an electronics store today and I noticed several point-and-shoot cameras that are near-field communication (NFC) enabled. I don't understand what NFC brings to cameras as its range is so limited. Any ideas? --76.168.132.112 (talk) 20:28, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * From this web page: There’s also NFC (Near Field Communication), which is starting to be rolled out across more cameras and works on the basis of touching devices together to transfer images. Search engines are awesome. &#8209;&#8209; Mandruss  &#9742;  20:51, 28 October 2014 (UTC)


 * It saves users the hassle of taking the SD card out of the camera to then transfer them onto their computer. Dismas |(talk) 04:03, 29 October 2014 (UTC)