Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[peter grimes]

I set up a VPN on a VPS a few days ago. It is almost 5 times faster than hidemyass and VPS only costs $5 a month.

Why should I look at a VPS when I'm only interested in getting a connection from my work connection to the broader internet?

I'm not streaming stuff or torrenting.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

How do I unblock this, and get my Firefox and system settings to stop blocking this?

 

[Zelig]

I've never seen that dialog before, how do you reproduce the problem?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I'm on Firefox, Windows 8.1. I was trying to use the custom data selection page from the global land 1-km base elevation project, at ngdc.noaa.gov, and I was going to try to use the point-and-click java interface, to try to find a good map to convert for use in civ 2, although Im not sure if that's the best source, now that I think about it.

 

[peter grimes]

Well shoot.

I'm using the original install disk that came with the macbook and it's not seeing the SSD.

I accept the license agreement and then I'm supposed to choose an install location. The window is empty

Upon reading some many threads with very similar problems I'm wondering if the issue is the harddrive connector + cable assembly.

Apparently it's a known weak point. Rats! The ifixit guide for it is quite a bit more complex, but as long as I'm careful it's nothing I shouldn't be able to handle...

Replaced the cable and the computer still isn't seeing the SSD.

I think I'm going to bring it to L2 for a diagnosis. No idea how else to proceed, since checking the integrity of the cable and SSD are beyond my little shop's limited capabilities.

In any case this has been a fun learning exercise. I also have a couple of Xboxes that suffer from red circle of death syndrome. I was reading up on it a couple years ago and it turns out that there are some weak heat-sink solder joints. So I might tackle those in the future.

But for now, I think I'm going to have to take this MacBook to a professional. I did my best, and it wasn't good enough

 

[leif erikson]

I'm not a MAC guy, so am not sure what to suggest.

In the Windows world, would check to see if the BIOS needed updating? Do MACs have a BIOS?

 

[Zelig]

I'm on Firefox, Windows 8.1. I was trying to use the custom data selection page from the global land 1-km base elevation project, at ngdc.noaa.gov, and I was going to try to use the point-and-click java interface, to try to find a good map to convert for use in civ 2, although Im not sure if that's the best source, now that I think about it.

Well, I don't use or recommend Java, so can't reproduce.

Try checking if any third-party security programs are causing the problem.

Replaced the cable and the computer still isn't seeing the SSD.

I think I'm going to bring it to L2 for a diagnosis. No idea how else to proceed, since checking the integrity of the cable and SSD are beyond my little shop's limited capabilities.

In any case this has been a fun learning exercise. I also have a couple of Xboxes that suffer from red circle of death syndrome. I was reading up on it a couple years ago and it turns out that there are some weak heat-sink solder joints. So I might tackle those in the future.

But for now, I think I'm going to have to take this MacBook to a professional. I did my best, and it wasn't good enough

Can you get to Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard install disk? If the installer is going somewhere other than Disk Utility, Mac OS might just not be liking the format (or lack thereof) that the SSD came with. You could alternatively plug it into another Mac and running Disk Utility from the existing OS.

In the Windows world, would check to see if the BIOS needed updating? Do MACs have a BIOS?

Yeah, you need Mac OS installed and internet connected to update though.

 

[Quintillus]

How do I unblock this, and get my Firefox and system settings to stop blocking this?

I recall hearing something about one of the recent Firefox updates (20-something, not sure the exact version) changing Firefox's behavior to block all but the most recent version of Java from running "for security reasons". So that may very well be what's happening. If so, they unfortunately did not make that very clear in that message.

The latest update is downloadable here from Oracle. If that is indeed the reason why it's being blocked, installing that update ought to solve it. If not, you'd probably have better luck asking on a Mozilla forum, or just trying it in another browser.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

On Windows 8.1, how and where do I find the stored passwords for my saved wireless networks?

 

[timtofly]

Are you trying to find the "registry key" or just the properties to change them? If it is the same as 8, you can still right click on the connection link and go to properties and the option to change the password should open.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I'm trying to find it because I temporarily turned off the pw protection for my mobile for hotspotting, but apparently the Android didn't keep it in memory for when I re-enabled the pw protection, and I'd rather not come up with a new one since the pw I liked was long and complicated. So Im not sure which method would be better.

 

[timtofly]

Then you should be able to go to the desktop view. Click on the internet access icon on the lower right next to the volume icon. When the list opens right click on the wireless option you are looking for. Then choose properties. It will show you the security type, the encryption type, and the password, and there is an option to view the password (security key) for the wireless access.

 

[peter grimes]

Can you get to Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard install disk? If the installer is going somewhere other than Disk Utility, Mac OS might just not be liking the format (or lack thereof) that the SSD came with.

Success! Snow Leopard install disk hangs , but Tiger (came with the macbook) worked. I went to disk utility and saw the Ssd!

I didn't see an option to format the drive, so I made a single partition. Named it Todd. Once I did that, I was able to install Tiger onto it.

I will reformat and do this all over again if I can find out how to avoid installing all the stuff I don't want, like GarageBand, language packs, iWork, etc.

 

[peter grimes]

I'm finding that being stuck in 10.4 is irritating. I can't upgrade safari, and Firefox only goes back as far as 10.6...

Websites aren't displaying properly at all.

Looks like I'm going to have to track down an unscratched snow Leopard disk.

 

[Quintillus]

You should be able to download Firefox 3.6 for OSX 10.4. It's getting a bit long in the tooth, but is more than good enough for CFC, which is the only website that really matters anyway (right? :mischief). But seriously, it can still handle some of the more popular websites with no problem, such as Pandora. You can download it from Mozilla's FTP here (it'll probably ask you to log in, but it works if you leave username and password blank).

Opera 10.63 might be okay, too, but I don't see it on their official site anymore. I moved up from Opera 10.6 much longer ago than Firefox 3.6, though, so I'm not sure how it does with today's web.

There's also TenFourFox, which is equivalent to Firefox 24 in standards support, if you have a PowerPC processor. I don't know of any current browsers for Intel-based OSX 10.4, though.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

When doing system restarts on windows 8.1, is there any difference in how the computer does it from previous versions of windows? I vaguely remember something being mentioned about it a while back...

 

[Iranon]

Yes. By default, it does a partial hibernate instead of a full shutdown, to shave a little time off the next start.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Any way I can change it so it does do a full shutdown?

 

[Iranon]

Yes, under Power Options in the Control Panel.

 

[Zelig]

Any way I can change it so it does do a full shutdown?

For what reason?