Computer time! (IT Help thread)

[williamcll]

try lunascape broswer

[gingerale]

Bluh bluh.. Someone smarter than me explain to me what is the difference between a binary semaphore and a mutex?

[transistorTransistor]

Bluh bluh.. Someone smarter than me explain to me what is the difference between a binary semaphore and a mutex?

Mutex is specifically used to prevent the same piece of code to be executed, or same resource to be accessed simultaneously in multiple instances in parallel (whatever meaning of "instances" is implemented and in whatever scope that it is applicable). Semaphore is a general-purpose primitive used for counting simultaneous access to the same resource. Binary semaphore is a semaphore that can have values of 0 and 1, so it can be used as a form of mutex implementation. I guess, it can be said that binary semaphore always acts as some kind of mutex, however it may be used on a system where "native" form of mutex is not just a semaphore, or implemented through a mechanism that differs from semaphore implementation.

Really, parallelism implementation is a complex subject, and it is not limited to typical multithreading interfaces people usually see. Various implementation of parallelism may have semaphores, mutexes, barriers or locks implemented at low level, and OS kernels often have additional primitives for short-living locks or hardware-specific atomic operations, that do not translate exactly into typical multithreading-style synchronization primitives.

There is also traditional Unix style of parallelism that creates impenetrable barrier between all local data used by multiple instances of the same code (processes) with sequential-access pipes or sockets transferring serialized data asynchronously, and shared memory holding subset of data that has to be accessed directly. If necessary, sequentially transferred data is used by processes as metadata for shared memory access, thus creating a custom synchronization mechanism specifically for large chunks of data.

[transistorTransistor]

I don't know if that belongs here -- which means it probably is.

Firefox keeps crashing since two days ago. I have deduced it's something to do with the JavaScript thingies, because it only happens whenever I open any page with JavaScript/Flash pages. That means I've basically no access to YouTube, and stuff like that. For now, I dual-wield IE/Firefox to fix the problem, but it's still awkward. Also I reinstalled and that didn't help either.

Something is SERIOUSLY WRONG. Uninstall Firefox, remove all its data, install it again.

[gingerale]

Huh.. I wasn't exactly hopeful but asking here actually helped. Thanks, TT! ^^

[Isoraqathedh]

I don't know if that belongs here -- which means it probably is.

Firefox keeps crashing since two days ago. I have deduced it's something to do with the JavaScript thingies, because it only happens whenever I open any page with JavaScript/Flash pages. That means I've basically no access to YouTube, and stuff like that. For now, I dual-wield IE/Firefox to fix the problem, but it's still awkward. Also I reinstalled and that didn't help either.

Something is SERIOUSLY WRONG. Uninstall Firefox, remove all its data, install it again.

Didn't work.

IE got broken too; won't download anything. In the end I used Safari to coax an Opera installer.

It's working now, but I don't think it's for too long.

[transistorTransistor]

Didn't work.

IE got broken too; won't download anything. In the end I used Safari to coax an Opera installer.

It's working now, but I don't think it's for too long.

Computers are not magic -- if something prevents Firefox from working properly, and it's still there when you remove all traces of Firefox and install it again, then it's still there, and your configuration still has something very, very wrong. Finding a browser that seems to be unaffected does not fix the problem, it merely masks it for a while. The problem can be anything -- corrupt library, pieces of some "uninstalled" proxy or antivirus still passing every byte of your network traffic through themselves, or some malware.

At this point I recommend backing up all non-executable files, wiping the hard drive and reinstalling from scratch.

(Windows, how I hate thee!)

[Isoraqathedh]

That... may not be an option.

If I can get dad to do it.

In the meantime though, is there any way you know that can help find what's the problem?

(Backing up 1GB of files is going to hurt massively.)
(Also maybe I have to actually try and sabotage the computer so as to fix the problem faster! I don't know)

[transistorTransistor]

That... may not be an option.

"Wipe and reinstall" is always an option. Often the only safe option.

If I can get dad to do it.

In the meantime though, is there any way you know that can help find what's the problem?

When things like this happen, it's more likely than not, the "problem" is the condition of your whole system. There may be any of the issues I have mentioned before (each of them alone counts as unfixable), or any combination of them.

(Backing up 1GB of files is going to hurt massively.)

Sometimes it's easier to buy a new hard drive, install OS on it, then copy data from the old one.

I am currently in the process of backing up about 18G of mail archives. Backup actually is being performed over IMAP because I am moving email to a different version of a server (cyrus 2.1 to cyrus 2.2), and I don't want to rebuild the indexes or stop the mail server.

(Also maybe I have to actually try and sabotage the computer so as to fix the problem faster! I don't know)

I don't understand how people can use computers when something is clearly broken, and can be absolutely anything.

[Isoraqathedh]

Don't get the last sentence, but bleh it's 11:11 pm and if anything doing anything will just make things worse.

This post just became a stupid trainwreck. What I'm gonna do about it? Pester dad to get a new OS, be it Win7 or Ubuntu or whatever and get on with life.

By trainwreck, during the several revisions this is what happened:

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Just a note here: by "not a choice" I mean "monetary issues". You see, none of us

Ugh. Look, brain, stop being an idiot for once. What I meant by fixing the problem faster is that if one day there was some kind of catastrophic failure, then my dad will finally take some kind of action (he promised me to take out the partitions when C:\ was bulging; he didn't and I have to install all new programs in the other, emptier partitions. Too scared to throw anything away; ...

Could it be just the installer get corrupted while downloading and the JavaScript parser just die?

No. You used it for a million years and it was only the eighth that it began to waver.

Look, there must be some justification--

NO! Look, he's right, k? Get real, this is what, 4 years old? 5 years?

Quit talking to yourself

[Topher]

topher, it sounds like you got some sort of autorun hoodoo goin on. reformatting the card will fix it. alternatively, go to a command prompt and type dir F:\ and see what you got on the top level of your card. anything that says setup or autorun or anything similar, delete.

More info came up. It's not just my SD card apparently. I found the exact problem.

If any drive is plugged in, it will be assigned a letter. If that letter is F:/ then the problem occurs, but only on the guest account of my brother's computer. In every other situation you can think of, including double-clicking the drive in the secondary frame, or double-clicking the drive in the primary window on the Admin account, it will work perfectly. Like I said, this applies to ALL drives, if a drive is assigned the letter F and you attempt to open it on the guest account.

What can you guys make of it now? And thanks for the help so far.

[beesmygod]

my friend's computer got fixed just fyi, all it needed was the boot disk

[Doktor Sneeze]

Well that's good. Not having to replace things that cost money is always preferable.

[williamcll]

I have a problem too:

when i open some windowed programs(e.g. PvZ, google chrome, firefox, MS word 2010) it goes "off-screen" repeatingly.

[Doktor Sneeze]

I think you can right click on your taskbar and select cascade windows to get everything back on the screen.

[williamcll]

I think you can right click on your taskbar and select cascade windows to get everything back on the screen.

after that it automatically goes off-screen again, especially in ms office.

[flutterShy]

Okay, so, last night I was running Avast! Anti-Spyware and Malwarebytes. Left it running while I went to bed.

Woke up, my computer had crashed and restarted it. Didn't think anything of it, disconnected internet, went to go do chores.

Came back 10 minutes later, it crashed again.

Went to go do chores again, same thing.

Every single time all it says is 'Windows had encountered and error and had to restart.'

... ugh.

[Unlicensed Busdriver]

Do you have an install disk and product key handy? (For Windows and whatever programs you have/need)

If so, backup files, reformat, and reinstall.

[flutterShy]

Do you have an install disk and product key handy? (For Windows and whatever programs you have/need)

If so, backup files, reformat, and reinstall.

I do not. So... I tried to do a system restore and went to restart, at which point I accidentally dumped a thing of water on top of my laptop keyboard. So I shut it all down, and it's now drying. I'll let you all know what's up...

[tikidog]

Opinions on firefox?

[Unlicensed Busdriver]

Opinions on firefox?

It functions adequately and there are many useful/handy addons with features not readily available on other browsers.

[flutterShy]

Laptop is working. I had an actual bluescreen that mentioned memory_management; when I went to check I was shocked to find out I had about 5 GB left. Cleared up my laptop a lot; I know have 43 GB left. XD

[Unlicensed Busdriver]

5 GB is more than enough storage space to have free to expect your computer to function properly.

The error most likely referred to memory as in RAM rather than storage as in disk space. No way to tell if it is because of the beverage or whatever the preexisting issue was.

[flutterShy]

I'm watching the RAM in the control panel, no issues there, actually, it stays between 30 and 60 percent, with rare spikes above that.

[transistorTransistor]

I'm watching the RAM in the control panel, no issues there, actually, it stays between 30 and 60 percent, with rare spikes above that.

The amount of free memory has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with memory itself.

The only way to test RAM properly is to boot the computer with memtest86 or memtest86+. If it ever gives you an error after hours of running (leaving it to run for a day is a typical test procedure), RAM has to be replaced. If errors continue after replacing RAM, problem is with CPU or chipset, and the whole motherboard (or the whole computer for most laptops) should be replaced.

In any case after verifying that hardware works, you should reinstall the OS. Personally I use Linux, and specifically for laptops I recommend Ubuntu, however if you want Windows, at least reinstall it.