Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

Is it just me, or when searching for anything in Google Images, if you go far enough into the pages you start getting women in bikinis? I hope it's not some strange virus lurking in my computer.
 
Google images is just of very little utility. It comes from the fact that images on the net fairly rarely have good file names. So Google is really just making guesses. And for some reason they only ever link low quality pictures. Probably a filter.
 
I read somewhere the way they do it is to look at the text adjoining a certain picture. For some types of images, I look on certain sites before I try Google Images.
 
Well that's pretty much the only way it can tell what the image is of. Google looks at the context of the photo -- its name, the alternate text for it, the text content surrounding it.

There's no algorithm to reliably detect what an image contains, not on any level that Google can succesfully use at least.

They do have some vetting procedures -- people can report images if they dont belong with the search query, stuff like that. Still, its rather easy to be malicious and have a picture of goatse show up in a search for x. Rename it appropriately, surround it with proper content, make it all nice and believable.
 
J-man said:
Does anybody know a good and free 'personal organizer'/planner program?
I want to be able to type in an appointment or just something I need to do. I would be great it would have a pop up that would appear on the date on which I have that appointment or need to do something.
Click to expand...

Maybe a calender program? Google calender and Mozilla Sunbird are good. I used to use Sunbird for my class schedule.
I've also heard good things about Remember the Milk.
I think you can set these things up to email you on the date or time (or a little early) for each event. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by a pop up.
Windows has a built in task scheduler that you can use as an alarm too.
Hope that helps.
 
My desktop had been acting strangely for a while. I just tried to boot it and it gave me an error message that indicated a dead hard drive. I stuck a bootable CD into the drive, and it ignored it. After the next reboot it would take a few seconds and then just let out a nonstop tone. A protracted beep. It had two hard drives, a master with two OSs and a secondary that was just storage. I tried swapping them in each possible configuration, still getting the protracted beep. I unplugged all the drives except the CD drive, still the beep. I unplugged the CD drive. Still the beep. Clearly there is a problem that goes beyond a dead hard drive.

  1. Besides the dead drive, what more could it be?
  2. If it's the whole motherboard, where should I look for a new one? The machine was built by a friend in 2004, with very respectable vital statistics for that time.
  3. What are my options for recovering data from the dead hard drive?
 
1 Possibly full memory failure. Make sure your memory is properly seated. If it is, you could get another stick and try it. However it could also be a dead motherboard.

2 Newegg.com or Pricewatch.com. You can probably get the exact one to build your system back to 'as is'. Or at least, if you are going to reuse the rest of the components, you need a board that matches.

3 Very poor. But it doesn't sound like that's your problem.
 
The beep actually gives some indication w.r.t the error. Unfortunately, the beep code is not standardized, so you have to look up the manufacturer of your BIOS (or dig out the manual to your mainboard, if you still have it).

I would suspect either the memory or the PSU as source of the error.
 
EDIT: Got it!
 
Memory as in RAM, yeah? It's got one original 512 stick (six years old), and another 1gb that I bought about a year, maybe two years ago. I've got the other original 512 in a drawer. Should I just start swappin' 'em in and out to see if I can get the beeps to stop? I've got a hundred billion other 512 sticks floating around so if it's a RAM failure then (next to the hard drive) half a gig of RAM is the extent of my loss... I can live with that.

The beep - my roommate said it wasn't a beep because it didn't stop. Can't be a beep if it doesn't have an end, she said. It's just a long endless (it might end after thirty seconds, I killed the damn thing before it got that far because the sound was terrible) tone. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-*kill*. I'm 95% sure I still have every page of the original documentation in the same drawer as the old RAM, I will look for it.

WRT to the PSU, I still get every indication that it's preparing to boot. Fans turn on, LEDs light up, CD drive opens with the regular button. Then the "beep". I'm not expert enough to know whether any of that would happen with a crapped PSU.

I'm just as concerned about recovering my data as I am about reviving the machine. If I could take two not-dead hard drives out of the machine and leave it as a garbage box, I'd be happier than if I could replace the hard drives and swap a RAM stick or PSU and have a fully-functional machine with wiped disks.
 
The easy way to find out about your harddrives without fixing the computer first is to buy an IDA/SATA to USB adaptor and connect them to some other computer...

If you have spare RAM adapters, i would definitely try swapping them out. If that doesn't help, and if the mainboard manual doesn't give a clear indicator as to what error the beep indicates, it's probably time to get a new computer. Replacing a 2004 mainboard (and possibly cpu) doesn't seem worth it to me.
 
Perhaps the reason that your computer doesn't boot from the cd is that it's lower in the boot order then the hard drive. Try to enter the bios and change the order.

I hope for you it isn't a dead BIOS or motherboard. But I don't like the sound of that beep you described, so it could be.
 
I would try any individual RAM sticks that match that motherboard one at a time first and see what result you get. If you have another desktop you have access to, or you get an adapter as Till suggested, you can try them with another computer. If they work, copy all of of your files and then replace them in the PC they came out of.

Did you try to look up the beep codes for your motherboard online? Constant beep would most likely seem to be mobo or memory. What's the make and model of it?
 
Perhaps, unplug everything except processor and fan, and see if it goes beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Then put each hardware in. One at time. Until something happens.
 
I found the manual. The mainboard is "P4VMA-M". It's got some troubleshooting stuff in the back, but nothing about any beeps.

ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/P4VMA-M/P4VMAMmanual.pdf

I've got a spare computer at work with a dead hard drive. I'm going to try plugging the I-think-dead hard drives into it to make sure.

@J-man: I can't even get to the BIOS. It doesn't go anywhere, the fans and lights start up and then the beep. Nothing ever shows up on the monitor.

Also I'm pretty sure I left it set to boot from CD if possible.


I'm next going to try swapping out some RAM. I hope hope hope that's it!
 
One long beep is likely a memory issue according to Award BIOS. You did try reseating it right?
 
Good news on all fronts. I'm typing this on the presumed-dead machine. I misdiagnosed the hard drive death. Swapping out the RAM solved the problem. It's the 1gb stick that's no good, which is lame, but it's warranteed and I have the reciept. You guys rule.
 
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