VOGONS

Common searches


First post, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

This is a thread to share your most obscure experiences you had while using your PC. Whether it be a hardware glitch or software or Internet related, you could share.

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 1 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

So today I was going on gmail.com accessing my mails, when I got the contact option on the side panel. Opened it, got the whole contact list. When I tried to open it, I would get select App option and I would mistakenly select Your Phone App.

The whole PC froze for half a minute. After that a black screen and the Win10 light black taskbar became dark black transparent.

Went to Device Manager and besides the GPU informations stood Code 43. Is my gpu dead? Heart attacks followed.

Decided to restart PC, booted successfully with drivers loaded and no GPU issues.

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 4 of 18, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Well there's the crap ppl ain't gonna believe, like I managed to set up "RAID 0" across two floppies in DOS once for double the capacity and access speed. Then there was the 430FX board I had running with 3 72 pin SIMMs in it... 8 and two 4s.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 5 of 18, by Caluser2000

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I don't think any of my PCs had tails......

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 6 of 18, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

About... ten years ago I was supposed to restore a huge Oracle dump file to a new server. The dump file was stored in an external hard drive, and the server was located right under the KVM switch (which is slightly under chest-level), with nothing else beneath it down to the rack floor. So I have to put the hard drive on the rack floor, then connect it to the server above with a very long USB cable. At first, I used generic, no-name USB cable, but the server couldn't detect the hard drive. I have tried at least three cables at that time, no dice.

Then a friend of mine suggested expensive, premium USB cable. At first I was skeptical, but when I used such expensive cable, the hard drive was detected without problem!

Until that point, I didn't believe in premium USB cable, just like I didn't believe in premium HDMI cable. I mean, with digital signal, it shouldn't matter, no?

Last edited by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman on 2021-10-24, 05:47. Edited 1 time in total.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 7 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2021-10-24, 05:39:

About... ten years ago I was supposed to restore a huge Oracle dump file to a new server. The dump file was stored in an external hard drive, and the server was located on the top position of the rack, with nothing else beneath it until the rack floor. So I have to put the hard drive on the rack floor, then connect it to the server above with a very long USB cable. At first, I used generic, no-name USB cable, but the server couldn't detect the hard drive. I have tried at least three cables at that time, no dice.

Then a friend of mine suggested expensive, premium USB cable. At first I was skeptical, but when I used such expensive cable, the hard drive was detected without problem!

Until that point, I didn't believe in premium USB cable, just like I didn't believe in premium HDMI cable. I mean, with digital signal, it shouldn't matter, no?

I would think like this: generic cable-huge file = fail, premium cable-huge file= doesn't fail. But it doesn't work that way, does it ?

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 8 of 18, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2021-10-24, 05:46:

I would think like this: generic cable-huge file = fail, premium cable-huge file= doesn't fail. But it doesn't work that way, does it ?

Well, the hard drive wasn't even detected when connected using generic USB cable.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 9 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2021-10-24, 05:48:
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2021-10-24, 05:46:

I would think like this: generic cable-huge file = fail, premium cable-huge file= doesn't fail. But it doesn't work that way, does it ?

Well, the hard drive wasn't even detected when connected using generic USB cable.

No guesses what happened. Unknown technological things that will be discovered in future

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 10 of 18, by Stiletto

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

The USB 2.0 spec had a maximum cable length of about 5 meters. Beyond that, the USB cable would experience signal strength issues. So depending on the distance Krishna needed, this isn't very surprising. They sell/sold powered USB repeaters to go farther, also called "active" extension cables. To me, it's a little surprising that the premium cable worked better, assuming it was not an active extension cable. But it's not largely surprising.

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 11 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Just had another one today:

I installed the Win95 version of MechWarrior 2 Battlepack through MechVM and using DxWnd it worked fine. I did another manual install myself and it wouldn't run. I thought perhaps MechVM patched some files, so I decided to cut and paste the entire MechVM MW2 installation to my manual one. That should overwrite every edited files by MechVM, No it didn't run. Then I thought, maybe the game doesn't like my directory and maybe taking that overwritten installation, back to MechVM installation directory would fix it (because there may be some directory settings in any of the configuration files). Surprisingly it didn't work there too. I was awestruck. I installed MechVM MW2 Battlepack again on top of the 'overwritten installation' of MW2 and the MechVM log window showed it patched 4 DLLs. Taking the 4 DLLs back to my manual installation and it still doesn't work, neither the executable from the MechVM installation. Again I took the manual installation directory to the same drive partition as the MechVM installation but doesn't work.

I did this over and over and it doesn't work that way. What am I missing out?

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 12 of 18, by konc

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Stiletto wrote on 2021-10-24, 07:06:

The USB 2.0 spec had a maximum cable length of about 5 meters. Beyond that, the USB cable would experience signal strength issues. So depending on the distance Krishna needed, this isn't very surprising. They sell/sold powered USB repeaters to go farther, also called "active" extension cables. To me, it's a little surprising that the premium cable worked better, assuming it was not an active extension cable. But it's not largely surprising.

Also some USB 2 drives were at the absolute margin of the power they needed to work from the USB port.
"Bad" and longer cables often caused voltage drop, the slightest of which was enough for the drive not to function.
I still have a WD drive that came with a 20cm cable(!) and doesn't work with anything else I've tried. Anyone remembers the double-plug USB cables that used 2 USB ports in order to deliver the required power?

Reply 13 of 18, by digistorm

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Don’t underestimate how manufacturers can skimp and save themselves some money on cables. I have encountered an HDMI extender over UTP cables that only want to works with AWG24 cables (and they are hard to find, almost no one advertises that spec). All cables I got earlier were AWG27 or 28 and didn’t work.

Reply 14 of 18, by Zup

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2021-10-24, 05:39:

...

Last week I bought a (cheap) USB 3.0 HDD enclosure... because I had some laptop HDDs lying around and it looked like a cassette. When I connected it to my wife computer using the (slim, about 30cm) cable that came with the enclosure, it keep disconnecting from the computer. It was not that the HDD was not detected, I was hearing the connect/disconnect windows noise all the time.

I copied some files connecting it to an USB 2.0 port. Later I checked it on my computer and it also failed, but on both 2.0 and 3.0 ports... until I used another USB cable, wider and heavier. All those disconnecting troubles dissapeared.

Also, the Raspberry Pi tends to be "picky" about USB cables and PSUs. Using a 2.1A PSU with a cheap USB cable with my Raspberry Pi 2 produces a lot of "undervolt" messages, because the internal resistance of the cable is enough to drop voltage below 4.95v. Same PSU, higher quality cable, and no undervolt message has been logged on the last year.

So don't underestimate the importance of cable quality.

My weird case: Many years ago, one day my computer did not boot, saying that hard drive had no OS. The HDD seemed fine, but their contents were screwed. I tried to use all recovery tools I had, but they could not recover any file: it seemed like all data in HDD was "shifted" (filenames on FAT started some characters earlier). I had to format it and reload everything. A few months later the computer failed again but that time, although the HDD seemed to be working, there was no way to partition, format or put any data on the HDD. Some years later, I knew the cause: my HDD was one of those faulty Fujitsu MPG3204AT. I was victim of that disk failures. Twice. With the same HDD.

I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...

I'm selling some stuff!

Reply 15 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I have this 1GB SD Card from 2008, by ADATA that worked till last year when I dropped it (Linus claps). It didn't detected when inserted, but I had that lying around. I check that card this year and it gets detected, but it is something different.

The size is 45MB and everytime I insert it I have to format. After formatting 34MB is left everytime. And the 4 files inside are about 6GBs big and they generate automatically with same dates in each format of the card.

Attachments

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 16 of 18, by Joakim

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2021-10-25, 10:51:

I have this 1GB SD Card from 2008, by ADATA that worked till last year when I dropped it (Linus claps). It didn't detected when inserted, but I had that lying around. I check that card this year and it gets detected, but it is something different.

The size is 45MB and everytime I insert it I have to format. After formatting 34MB is left everytime. And the 4 files inside are about 6GBs big and they generate automatically with same dates in each format of the card.

Sell it on eBay as a Cursed object for 100$. 😁

Reply 17 of 18, by creepingnet

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Back in 2001, my second "old" computer in (Flight 386 SX)..basically a Zeos 486 DX33 in a Kingspao case, had a 124 MB Maxtor 7120AT HDD that somehow got stiction issues despite being under heavy use at the time.

Since I could not afford a new hard disk, and valued the data I had on the Maxtor I did the "right thing" a guy (read: ME) took the top off the drive and delicatley loosened the platter, wiped off a few accidental fingerprints with a lint free cloth.

Now I had an install of Windows 3.1 on there that was fairly fresh, but when I put the cover back on that drive and booted the 486 back up....to my amusement and surprise my fingerprint wiping apparently disturbed the magnetic data for the icon coordinates because they all had been scattered around program manager and program groups like some kind of data tornado touched ground on Windows 3.1 like an Alabama trailer park.

Of couse the whole scenario was 100% fixed by putting Program Manager into Auto Arrange in a couple seconds but just the fact I managed to "physically" move icons like that just by opening the drive and touching platters definatley fits here, let alone Zero data corruption otherwise.

To add to the hilarity, that Maxtor went on to live to be almost 30 years old, holding tenancy in over seven different builds. It actually never died either...it just got slowly taken over with bad sectors till only 50MB of the 124 was usable. Heck..it may even still be in my childhood home somewhere in some forgotten box.

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 18 of 18, by BEEN_Nath_58

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Joakim wrote on 2021-10-25, 16:07:
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2021-10-25, 10:51:

I have this 1GB SD Card from 2008, by ADATA that worked till last year when I dropped it (Linus claps). It didn't detected when inserted, but I had that lying around. I check that card this year and it gets detected, but it is something different.

The size is 45MB and everytime I insert it I have to format. After formatting 34MB is left everytime. And the 4 files inside are about 6GBs big and they generate automatically with same dates in each format of the card.

Sell it on eBay as a Cursed object for 100$. 😁

I am afraid the eBay in my country isn't the "traditional" eBay

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058