Computer help requests

[Kayma]

I'm reasonably confident that I've hit shares on Windows 2012 from my Linux machine, but I dunno what the deal is with home editions of Windows and arbitrary feature removal.

[Thad]

...yeah, on further inspection it's working fine with shared folders on the Win10 machine in my office, just not the one in the living room. (Which I swear was one of the first things I checked, but oh well.) So definitely seems to be a server-side configuration problem.

(Wonder what the odds are that it didn't work in one of the prerelease builds, so I changed a bunch of shit trying to fix it and then when MS issued an update to fix it it didn't work? That would explain why it didn't work on either computer before and works on one computer now.)

[Thad]

Shit I've checked so far:

Advanced Sharing Settings
IPv4 settings
Permissions
Registry
-> HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
-> ...\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters

Everything appears to be identical in these settings between the computer that works and the one that doesn't. (Aside from IP and MAC addresses, of course.)

Also tried turning off the firewall; no change.

The server's name is broadcasting; I can see it when I list computers on the network. But when I try to open it, here's what I get:

In ES File Explorer (Android) I get a spinning progress icon and "Loading..." for awhile, then:

Login fails
This may be caused by:
- WLAN is off
- SMB server is out of network scope
- The IP is invalid
- Blocked by the firewall
- SMB service is off

(For the Win10 computer that works, it does the same "Loading..." screen for a minute, then prompts for a username and password.)

Similar symptom on Xubuntu, but the error is:

Failed to open "HTPC".
Failed to retrieve share list from server. Connection timed out.

Again, the expected behavior is to prompt for a username and password.

[Grath]

santorum I've checked so far:

Advanced Sharing Settings
IPv4 settings
Permissions
Registry
-> HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
-> ...\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters

Everything appears to be identical in these settings between the computer that works and the one that doesn't.

Also tried turning off the firewall; no change.

The server's name is broadcasting; I can see it when I list computers on the network. But when I try to open it, here's what I get:

In ES File Explorer (Android) I get a spinning progress icon and "Loading..." for awhile, then:

Login fails
This may be caused by:
- WLAN is off
- SMB server is out of network scope
- The IP is invalid
- Blocked by the firewall
- SMB service is off

(For the Win10 computer that works, it does the same "Loading..." screen for a minute, then prompts for a username and password.)

Similar symptom on Xubuntu, but the error is:

Failed to open "HTPC".
Failed to retrieve share list from server. Connection timed out.

Again, the expected behavior is to prompt for a username and password.

1) Does it work sharing HTPC -> Office windows-windows?
2) If so, are the two machines in the same homegroup and is that possibly why it does work?

[Thad]

1. Yes.

2. Could be why the Office computer can access the HTPC files, but doesn't explain why the phones can access the Office shares but not the HTPC ones.

Anyway, I've hit the "Fuck this, I'm just reinstalling Windows" step in the troubleshooting hierarchy. Guess we'll see how well "Reset PC but keep user files" actually works. (I backed up a couple important directories just in case; couldn't figure out where to find my Deus Ex save file but it should be backed up via Steam even if Windows breaks.) Either way I expect to spend most of the rest of the day reinstalling programs.

[Thad]

So, Reset But Keep Files:

The good news is, it fixed the network issue.

The bad news is, "Keep files" is a bit misleading as it nukes your AppData directory. Not entirely surprising but annoying. (I backed up the most important thing -- my Kodi database -- but I lost a couple things I forgot to back up and I'm going to have to restore them from months-old backups.)

It also wipes out anything in c:\program files and c:\program files (x86), but appears to leave programs that are installed on other drives. Steam gave an error the first time I started it and I had to elevate it, but after that it ran fine and detected all the games that I'd already installed.

It even sticks an HTML file on your desktop that contains a list of all the apps it removed, with links to their homepages for most of them.

On the whole, it's less painful than a clean install, but still a pretty giant pain in the ass.

[Kayma]

Might be worth checking windows.old for your app data junk. I've had windows save stuff I specifically told it not to in there.

[Thad]

Well, it does indeed seem to have most of my stuff in there; thanks, and I'll know for next time. Or if I run across anything else that's missing.

(Though SickBeard's database file doesn't seem to be in there, and that's the thing that took me the longest time to restore anyway, so I'm not sure it would have saved me in this case.)

[Thad]

Anybody know of a tool to get a DualShock 4 to work with Xinput besides InputMapper? InputMapper works fine with Deus Ex: HR but not with Arkham Origins.

[sei]

http://ds4windows.com/

Doubt joytokey will work, since analog input will be an issue.

Do you have any other controllers hooked up that might have punted inputmapper's virtual gamepad to #2?

[Thad]

http://ds4windows.com/

I thought that was the predecessor of InputMapper. If it's still its own thing and under development, it's probably worth a shot.

Do you have any other controllers hooked up that might have punted inputmapper's virtual gamepad to #2?

Hm, good point. I don't know what dongles I've currently got connected back there.

This, of course, shouldn't be an issue, but the Arkham games are kind of terrible as far as controller configuration goes. I'll see if there's something in an ini file somewhere I can edit.

[sei]

IIRC, DS4Tool is the inputmapper ancestor.

EDIT: I use InputMapper, but I'm extremely unhappy with its bluetooth behavior. If I turn off my DS4 (hold L+R+ps button for a while) then when I later hit the PS button, it seems to reconnect to my PC via bluetooth appropriately, but to not get locked in via InputMapper. Not sure whether I'm overlooking something or those are just the breaks, but the behavior happened even without other controllers or controller-wifi-accessories plugged in.

[Thad]

Do you have any other controllers hooked up that might have punted inputmapper's virtual gamepad to #2?

Hm, good point. I don't know what dongles I've currently got connected back there.

This, of course, shouldn't be an issue, but the Arkham games are kind of terrible as far as controller configuration goes. I'll see if there's something in an ini file somewhere I can edit.

Didn't find a setting in any of the INIs (which doesn't mean it's not there), but unplugging the receiver for my Rumblepad did indeed get my controller working. Good call.

EDIT: I use InputMapper, but I'm extremely unhappy with its bluetooth behavior. If I turn off my DS4 (hold L+R+ps button for a while) then when I later hit the PS button, it seems to reconnect to my PC via bluetooth appropriately, but to not get locked in via InputMapper. Not sure whether I'm overlooking something or those are just the breaks, but the behavior happened even without other controllers or controller-wifi-accessories plugged in.

Haven't noticed that, but I only fire up InputMapper when I need it. Most games I've played recently have actually worked fine with the PS4 controller out of the box.

(Oddly, when I played Arkham Knight on the PC in my office, it showed the PlayStation button icons, but when I streamed it to the living room it substituted the Xbox ones. Even though the game was running on the same computer in both cases, and I was using the same controller in both cases. Only differences were (1) playing locally vs. streaming and (2) USB vs. Bluetooth.

Not a serious issue or anything (though my muscle memory STILL gets confused by Microsoft's reversal of A and B, X and Y versus where Nintendo put them), but kinda weird.)

[Thad]

Anybody know a good extension for ripping a YouTube livestream?

I'm sure I'm not the only person to think of saving a copy of the MST3K telethon trainwreck, but just in case...

[beatbandito]

I've been having huge issues with my display drivers since going to Windows ten. Playing games and even just watching video in IRC is usually enough for the driver to crash and reboot. Sometimes, rarely, I get totally black screens and need to restart the system.

The thing of it is, I have an onboard Intel HD Graphics 4600 which is the culprit, and also seems to be the only GPU running. I should also have an nVidia GTX 960M, and both windows and the nVidia 'GeForce Experience' recognize that it exists. However the nVidia control panel can not find it, the 'GeForce Experience' can't connect to nVidia, manual updates don't work, and when I manually disable the Intel device I only get basic graphic options and nothing else changes.

Basically, it feels like the nVidia card isn't actually in here, or somehow got disconnect? Is there any way to confirm or fix this issue without opening the hardware up to see what lurks beneath?

[Thad]

If you're comfortable in a Linux environment, I'd try booting a Linux liveUSB (xubuntu or suchlike); that could maybe help determine whether the hardware still gets detected by a non-Win10 OS.

If you don't know your way around Linux, I know there are some Windows-based live-boot environments but I haven't used any of them in years and I'm not sure how useful any of them are for the purpose of checking hardware detection. Can Windows boot from a USB drive? If you've got a spare external hard drive around that you can install Win7 on, that would be one way to check whether Win7 recognizes the hardware without having to get rid of Win10 and all your stuff in the process.

Alternately, it's possible that the secondary chipset got disabled in the BIOS. I think that's pretty unlikely unless you've either been changing settings in there yourself or running BIOS updates, but it's worth checking.

[Thad]

Something got hosed and Windows 10 no longer recognizes my DualShock 4. (The issue started right after I updated my graphics card drivers. Which involved a clean install because when I didn't check the "Clean Install" box on the nVidia installer, I consistently got a fucking BSoD. This could be coincidental, but it's the only system change I've made since the last time the controller was working, about two hours ago.)

It's not listed under Game Controllers when it's connected via USB, and when I try to pair it via Bluetooth, it sees the controller but when I click the Pair button it just times out.

Nothing wrong with the controller itself; works fine via both USB and Bluetooth on other computers.

And I can't roll back to a previous restore point, because apparently restore points did not get turned on the last time I installed Win10.

Any idea what driver Windows uses for the DS4? Is it just the generic HID driver? Is there any way I can get it to reinstall the driver in question?



ETA: Found that the PC also won't pair with a Bluetooth speaker. (The speaker works fine with Android devices; I've never tried to pair it with a Windows device before, and IIRC once had some trouble pairing it to an Ubuntu laptop.) That doesn't explain why the controller doesn't work via USB, but it definitely suggests a Bluetooth problem more than a controller problem. Could be that my Bluetooth dongle is giving up the ghost (I bought it for cheap back in '09), and I plan on checking that out tomorrow by hooking it up to another Windows 10 box, but I'm still more inclined to think something went wrong with Windows at some point during the last update. Anyone ever see any similar symptoms?

[Thad]

Annoyingly, the answer to "Is it the dongle or is it Windows?" appears to be "Neither."

I remembered I still had a Win7 boot drive in my HTPC. Rebooted to it. It did recognize the controller when it was hooked up via USB, so that's different from Win10's current behavior, but it failed the Bluetooth pairing, same as Win10 did.

So, it's the dongle, right?

No. Put the dongle in another Win10 machine and it works.

So my new working theory is that something -- suddenly, last night -- started causing an issue with the dongle's reception. Whether it's getting interference from some neighbor's newly-activated wireless device, or got nudged slightly out of position and can't get good reception from the couch anymore or what, who the hell knows; I am hoping not to spend my entire New Year's Eve trying to figure it out.

(I'm sick with a head cold so I'm going to be staying home anyway; I would very much like to be able to play video games on the couch while I do so. Guess if I have to I could break out the old RumblePad or just play something on my tablet. Never did finish Game of Thrones.)


ETA: Yep, works fine when I plug it into the front USB ports. Annoying mix of prosaic and baffling (why did it suddenly stop working in the spot it was in, where it's been working fine for over a year now?). (Also the reason it wasn't plugged into the front USB ports in the first place was that I added them to the HTPC after hooking up the dongle.)

My (RF) wireless keyboard seems to be working better too. I expect that this is because I nudged its receiver while I was disconnecting the Bluetooth dongle, though I suppose it's possible the two things were interfering with each other in some way -- though I've been having trouble with the keyboard reception for over a week now and the Bluetooth trouble only started last night.

Anyway, nice to have it figured out. And not to have to go to Fry's or someplace to buy a new one on New Year's Eve when I'm not feeling good.

(Might still wind up ordering another one from Amazon or somewhere anyway; my main desktop doesn't have Bluetooth.)



ANYWAY.

The reason I was dicking around with graphics drivers in the first place is that I installed FF: Type-0 and I've got that thing where the prerendered cutscenes stutter. Not badly, but enough to be annoying. I've tried most of the shit people have recommended in the various threads I've found about the issue (set your monitor to 60Hz, set Vsync in your graphics card control panel, turn off anti-aliasing -- I think the only suggestion I haven't tried yet is to go into Energy Saving and crank up my CPU's idle performance, so I guess I'll try that next, but it's sure an irritating solution to a problem that shouldn't exist in the first damn place) but no luck yet. Push come to shove I guess I can always run it on my desktop and stream it to the HTPC, but it sure is irritating having to go through that much trouble for a game that fucking-well does not need a GTX970.

[Classic]

Yeesh.
So, yesterday my machine started having graphical glitches and failures, eventually requiring a hard reset.
But it was also accompanied by sound-looping.

Do I look first to the mobo, the psu, or the graphics card?

EDIT:

Looks like CPU heat rises really fast and accompanies the tearing.
Could the sound-looping be caused by this?

[sei]

Sound looping happens on all kinds of crashes.

You can use http://openhardwaremonitor.org/to monitor temperatures and load. Widget is very handy for quick overview.
MSI Afterburner (if you can find the download tab through all the hideous gamer bullshit) lets you regulate GPU fan speeds, which can be useful if the GPU is heating up more than it needs to be.