Official Computer Help Thread

[PCHeintz72]

Sigh... went to bed last night with a big Microsoft update running. Woke up, and it was in a loop stating it could not be installed, and to reboot...

I do not know if the update fried the hard drive, or the hard drive was going and fried the update...

In any case, I'm resetting the system, with a spare but sadly smaller hard drive.

Thankfully, I actually lost very little indeed due to having a good backup system in place that I follow. I did lose one directory, and a couple unread fan fiction stories and a couple doujin I''ll have to redownload.

The annoying thing was I also discovered that a recent Windows update cut off my notebooks from my NAS devices (had to be fairly recent, I know I was using them not that far back)... I was getting a message from windows that the direct drive mapping would not work due to the service ued having been disabled... I needed to enable a different service on the NAS devices themselves by remote into them and manipulate them that way. With that Windows recognizes them again.

In resetting windows 10 this time around, I noticed Microsoft moved a few of the privacy settings around and added more.

 

[ThreadWeaver]

They did something that relates to the network browsing daemon that hoses the ability to browse Samba shares. I suspect that they may have default disabled SMBv1/CIFS file sharing due to security problems. I had manually disabled that on my own last summer when the security advisory was issued, so I don't know if this is the case.

What I do know is that I can't browse to my MyCloud drives on the network anymore, similar to your issue.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Well... I'm pretty much restored and back up and running on my main notebook again.

The NAS issue was definitely SMBv1... I had to research it though. The issue seemed to center on two things... they disabled SMBv1, but only if it was inactive for 15 days. This was apparently some time back in the fall according to at least one thread I read. New installs of Windows 10 supposedly will not have it installed at all anymore, though I read somewhere there is a way to get it back.

I never noticed this on my main Toshiba Tecra notebook, as I'm on my NAS and network normally a good amount, doubt ever came close to 15 days inactive (why they thought this smart and have no warning is beyond me). I would have noticed on my Acer Aspire netbook, but I've not used that on the NAS in a few months. But my mothers Toshiba Tecra notebook is only on the NAS for backups and syncups and updates... So I must have finally gone lone enough this last time around, as I know it was working fine last month.

Once I knew that network devices needed SNBv2 enabled, fixing that was fairly simple.

Fortunately, I have Synology units, and I used the remote admin software to get into them, and while I had to find it in the network configuration tools in Diskstation (Synology runs a custom Linux OS called that), I merely enabled SNBv2... that fixed the whole issue pretty much instantly... It was literally one checkbox in one screen on each device.

I do not use any Cloud software, as I do not consider it secure. So could not say in regards to any issues that causes. Synology newer units have that built into them, but mine came out just before that.


As for the crash... I'm still not sure which was the culprit... whether the Microsoft update hosed the drive, or the drive was going and it hosed the update.

Either way, not too much lost, as said, I had backed up email and favorites and fanfiction a mere 2 days prior, though I had to pull it from two sources, the NAS, and a thumbdrive. Since I have the email accounts leave the emails on the servers for 2 weeks, I merely needed to redo the accounts in the email client.

I had 1 directory I had forgot to back up. So I lost a few freshly downloaded fanfiction stories, 1 non-anime music video, 3 fan made movies, and a couple miscellaneous odds and ends. With the exception of 1 story remaining that I will snag later, I already got all that back.

I'm on a smaller drive at the moment since I was in a bit of a time crunch... I'll likely order a replacement and back the current one up to that then switch.

 

[da_fox2279]

So... recently, I've heard an occasional knocking coming from the inside of my laptop. I've also had a weird experience earlier today: after finishing up a long gaming session, I was letting Steam sync up the records when the screen went a dark blue, and would not respond to anything except touchpad movement. The pointer was huge, like I had hit cntl and + at the same time.

It's a HP Envy 17, nearly 5 years old... please tell me it's not the motherboard. And if it is, does anyone have a recommended site to find an experienced repairman who can rebuild the laptop? My local guy only does software.

 

[mgsaintz]

Seems like your display adapter crashed, try reinstalling the video card drivers.

 

[PCHeintz72]

knocking in a notebook is normally either fan or hard drive going.

If have the ability, I would check the temperature sensors on the unit. and if can localize where the knocking came from, see if it is where the HD bay is, or the master motherboard fan.

Also, make sure the vents on the notebook are clean and clear...

 

[sith2886]

New problem (or maybe same problem as before but updated) When ever I go to save an image from Hentaifoudry (which I'm sure is a problem in and of itself ) my task bar below disappears and reappears and afterward Chrome crashes when I try to like/thumbs up the image.

 

[PCHeintz72]

I'd flush the browser cache, and clean up the windows temp files... if there is a locked file in either I can see that, otherwise I don't know offhand...

You can also try an Antivirus/Malware scan

 

[sith2886]

Quick question can the 'save as' pop up be corrupted, I ask because it's not just HF that's making chrome crash it's any site I try to save an image from. it only happens the first time I go to save something, if I close the 'save as' window and then go to save the image again it doesn't crash

 

[dapster]

Okay, time to reinstall your browser. At least it isn't your entire OS!

 

[PCHeintz72]

Not just reinstall. A corrupt browser can be an annoyance because you do not know exactly what part of the browser is the culprit.

My own recommendation is to do the following steps:

- Back up the favorites/bookmarks,
- Make sure you have a up to date password list,
- Make sure you have a up to date list of the add ins you use,
- Make sure you have downloaded a up to date copy of the browser for installing,
- Uninstall the add ins if they were separately installed,
- Uninstall the current browser,
- Actually delete the browser personal data if the install asks,
- Remove the browser installation directory manually (some uninstall programs leave it)

Then reboot fresh and do the following:

- Reinstall the newest version of the browser,
- Install only the add ins you actually use, either from downloaded installs, or get the newest on-line with the browser.

Then see if the issue is resolved.

If not, also see if there has been any suspicious recently installed software or stuff on the system you do not recall having done yourself.

Finally, you might want to mitigate this issue going forward by keeping a backup browser installed... I do. If you use Chrome or FireFox for example, Avant Ultimate or Lunascape is a good choice as a secondary. because those are multi-engine browsers and allow you to switch which browser engine it uses as default, and switch on a page if it does not work correctly in one. Avant gets updated more frequently, but I find Lunascape slightly more user friendly.

 

[sith2886]

So I deleted and reinstalled Chrome (before I read your post PCH) and so far no crashes. The taskbar on the other hand keeps doing the disappear/reappear thing though and it's not just chrome. I used Edge to get some images and it did the same thing. 'save as' option came up my pinned programs flickered and then immediate came back

I'll keep you posted,

 

[PCHeintz72]

So I deleted and reinstalled Chrome (before I read your post PCH) and so far no crashes. The taskbar on the other hand keeps doing the disappear/reappear thing though and it's not just chrome. I used Edge to get some images and it did the same thing. 'save as' option came up my pinned programs flickered and then immediate came back

I'll keep you posted,

Well... uninstalling and reinstalling would fix many normal issues, and give you a more up to date installation. So it is not wrong or a bad assessment to do so in an attempt to correct the issue. I am not saying Dapster was wrong to make that assessment and agree with it.

But I've found in the past sometimes the issue is not merely a direct problem of the browser becoming corrupt but potentially a bad add in, or add in combination, or even the data (bookmarks, saved form data, saved passwords, etc)... the method I listed would cover many of those possibilities as well.

That some of your issues went away, but you still have others indicates potentially bigger problems though.... considering you've been reporting multiple seemingly unrelated issues lately you could have a hardware issue, especially since at least one issue was noises from the system... even if not hardware you may need to have your OS reinstalled if it is not limited to browsers.

 

[sith2886]

After doing so more research I think I found the problem I think it was a corrupted desktop.ini file. have since deleted and problems gone, will keep you posted

 

[da_fox2279]

I'm having trouble with searches within folders. I'm trying to separate html files by subject, but when I try searching, it always comes up 'No items match your search', even when I've got a file with that subject open. How do I fix this? It was just this one folder, but now it's affecting all of them.

IE 11, Win8.1

 

[ThreadWeaver]

Did you turn off file indexing for that drive? If so, that is the reason. Check in the indexing options control panel. If you didn't disable file indexing, you may have to rebuild the index (also in that panel).

 

[da_fox2279]

Did you turn off file indexing for that drive? If so, that is the reason. Check in the indexing options control panel. If you didn't disable file indexing, you may have to rebuild the index (also in that panel).

That's what it was. Finally fixed it. Thanks, ThreadWeaver.

 

[PCHeintz72]

After several years of faithful loyal use, one of my NAS devices died... all it was giving me was blinking/flashing light... reset, remote in, and other methods would not revive it.

Since I wanted the data, and believed the HDs to be fine, I tracked a identical unused model on eBay and bought it cheap.

Once that came in, i merely pulled the drives and put them in the new unit, plugged the new unit in, reinstalled the Distation software and add-ins I used (like the anti-virus scanner), and changed the unit network name and a couple settings... All is good. Whole process took about a half hour.

I love Synology small work group NAS units. The things are easy to use, can take a beating, virtually maintenance free, and the OS and interface is basically a very customized variant of Linux.

Long term I'll likely get new units, as mine are on the older side (even the replacement unit).

 

[chronodekar]

That's good to know. Do you know plan to replace the model you got from eBay with a more updated Synology box?

-chronodekar

 

[PCHeintz72]

I use two separate Synology DiskStation NAS units (DS411Slim units), each backed up to a different HTPC unit attached to entertainment centers in the house. I've had that same setup now for a number of years. So in theory under that setup even were a NAS unit to fry, I would not loose much data.

I was certain that the drives were fine, merely the unit was fried. And since I thought the drives were fine, I did not want to loose the investment of 4 hard drives designed for NAS use. Thus the decision for the immediate fix to purchase of the same model on eBay (I lucked and got a 'new - other' type unit sold super cheap). Essentially, despite it being an old model still, it was practically new.

But as good as I think the units are, they are now older models, and the drives in them are now over 3 years old as well. Synology's newer versions of DiskStation cannot be installed on them any longer, and only bug fixes are available.

I'm thinking I might want to wait for a sale or a deal on-line and replace them both, along with newer/larger drives... Given my history with Synology units, it almost certainly would be again Synology DiskStation units, just a much more current model.

New units would possibly be a DS416Slim (I like Raid 5), or possibly something like DS218 units (those however, are only Raid 0/1).

 

[violinmana]

Is there really that much of a difference between drives designed for NAS use and drives designed for consumer use?

I don't know about NAS drives, but Backblaze uses consumer drives instead of enterprise drives, and the failure rate is almost identical over 5 years.

 

[PCHeintz72]

I have not noticed much of a difference, to be honest.

I mostly use WD drives for my notebooks (normally Blue or Black) and for my HTPC (Blue) and NAS units (Red). When I wanted to upgrade my NAS drives three years back, I had at the time in them WD Black drives, which are the high performance units (one drive was giving some issues, and wanted to increase the storage anyway)... I debated getting larger Black drives again, but instead opted for the nearly identically priced WD Red drives of the same size, the Red drives are supposedly rated for NAS units, and except being slightly slower, the specs seemed nearly identical.

But as I've said, I've not noticed any speed differences, nor have I noticed any failures of any drive in either unit.

 

[froop]

There isn't a huge difference in drives. It's normally better warranty and firmware optimised for NAS usage. They are may be from a pool of slightly better than consumer drives but that's neither here nor there.

 

[da_fox2279]

For the last few days, whenever I try using Firefox to check my Outlook email or check some other sites, I get the following message:

An error occurred during a connection to login.live.com. The OCSP response is not yet valid (contains a date in the future). Error code: SEC_ERROR_OCSP_FUTURE_RESPONSE

Some sites will show up, but ... looking like downloaded pages. Like this:

instead of this:

Is this problem with Firefox, and is there a fix?

 

[Zetas]

It might be Firefox, mines been acting a bit retarded every so often for the last week or so, does the exact same thing on Warframe.com and i have to smack the reload key a few times to get it to behave.