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Hardware
How-To Fix: Content On Computer Extender Not Updating on XBOX 360
Mar 22nd
If you play movies or music from your computer through your Xbox 360 you have the computer setup as an XBOX extender. Over time as you add new content to your computer the Xbox 360 may not update with the new content. To fix this you simply log into your computer in question and bring up Windows Media Player and select Oragnize > Apply Media Information Changes.
Once you have done that your computer (Xbox 360 Extender) will begin to update the library.
Once the progress bar hits 100% your media will be updated and you should see all of it on your Xbox 360.
For more info on setting the Extender up, here are the instructions from the Xbox 360 web page.
Connect your console to Windows Media Center
Before you can play content from Windows Media Center on your Xbox 360 console, you need to connect your console to Windows Media Center.
Silverstone Sg03 + Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R + Intel Q6600 + Zalman CNPS8700 LED = Too Hot?
Mar 3rd
This was something i posted over at HardForums a while back. It was a problem with getting the temperatures down on a new build. The build included a Silverstone Sg03 Case, Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R motherboard, Zalman CNPS8700 LED HSF, and an Intel Q6600 processor. The problem with the build was the case was a small form factor case with a small motherboard and a blazing fast (but hot) processor. The way the case is setup is the power supply sits directly over the CPU and Heatsink and Fan. The Sg03 is great because you can put the latest processor, full ATX PSU, and full length video cards in it. The downside is it’s all packed in such a small area and the temperature are bound to get hot. To make matters worse, there is very little ventilation in the back side of the case.Sg03 + GA-G33M-DS2R + Q6600 = too hot?
(i have a similar post in Overclocking and Cooling but i thought SFF group might have more experience with this type of setup)I have a GA-G33M-DS2R and Q6600 in a Sg03 case, my cooler is a CNPS8700 LED and my temps are really high idle and at load. At first i thought the high temps were because i had applied the Arctic Silver 5 incorrectly ( i spread out the paste on the entire cooler instead of the single line of paste in the middle like Arctic Silver suggests.) I also tried moving the case fan to blow more directly on the CPU (stock configuration has the case fan in the middle) Temps didn’t really change much.Here are my temps with no overclocking.
SpeedFan 4.32
Idle: 37C, 35C, 33C, 33C
Load (after 20min of Orthos): 76C, 75C, 75C, 75CCoreTemp 0.95
Idle 52C, 50C, 48C, 47C
load (after 20min Orthos): 91C, 90C, 90C, 90CTJunction on this CPU is 100C
The next step i’ve found to reduce my temps would be to remove the CPU retention clip so there will be better contact between the heatsink and CPU. i might try lapping as well.
here is the clip i’m talking about and an example of someone that did it::
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=229063
To solve the problem i tried a few things. First, i went with the CNPS8700 LED over the stock heatsink which brought the temps down a couple degrees. My q6600 has the old stepping so it ran a little hotter. Both heatsinks worked fine, i initially bought the CNPS8700 LED because i thought the stock heatsink wouldn’t fit. The CNPS8700 LED dropped the temps by a few degrees so depending if that decrease in temperature is worth it to you, you may just want to go with the stock HSF. If i was building the computer again i would have saved the money on the Zalman CNPS8700 LED.I ended up not touching the cpu retention clip because it didnt seem like it was causing the problem. The high temps were because i didnt apply the thermal grease optimally. If you have arctic silver 5, check the website for the proper way to apply the grease. You can see it here.Another thing that really helped the temps was putting a slot cooler in the top slot above the power supply. i put mine in with a fan regulator to keep the noise down. When the case is upright, the cpu is close to that area, and since heat rises, the slot cooler does a good job exhausting heat from the case.
The final temps using CoreTemp V.95 were:Idle:
42 degrees to TJunction remaining
44 degrees to TJunction remaining
46 degrees to TJunction remaining
48 degrees to TJunction remainingFull Load:
26 degrees to TJunction remaining
27 degrees to TJunction remaining
28 degrees to TJunction remaining
28 degrees to TJunction remainingThe build also had two 120mm scythe fans up front and the fan controlled slot cooler in the top rear like i mentioned earlier. As you can see the temps run sorta high but not too high. The system is 100% stable. I did not do any overclocking and the system is extremely quiet. I also had tried flipping the PSU so its fan can help exhaust the CNPS8700 LED but it really didn’t make a difference. Overall i was happy with the build and would pick the same parts again.
Random BSOD With Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Motherboard and Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 Memory (8gb kit)
Feb 27th
I built a new system using a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Motherboard and Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 Memory (8gb kit). After the install i kept getting random BSOD (Blues Screen of Death) reboots. I tried letting the bios auto detect the sticks and the system defaults to 1333mhz. I tried allowing the BIOS to enable the XMP profile which recognizes them as 1600mhz (which they are rated at). I also tried other bios settings and was still experiencing random reboots. I even ran memtest86+ for over 10 hours and the memory checked out fine; also ran prime95 for several hours and the system was rock solid. I did extensive troubleshooting within windows (examining minidumps, changing drivers, etc) to no avail. I even bought a new kit of the same RAM and ran the same tests, same problem. At this point, you would think, the ram was not compatible with this board but after extensive searching i found the following page on Tomshardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/266033-30-ud3r-random-reboots
(NOTE: Tom’s Hardware won’t let me directly link to it so copy and paste the link to see it)
Take note of Bilbat’s post and craigusoz post. The instability with this Corsair RAM and the Gigabyte boards seems to have to do with the CPU EIST / C1E / C3/6/7 / turbo boost support functions found in the BIOS.
My problems were solved tweaking these bios settings. Turing on or off some of these CPU power saving functions may not be ideal but were good enough for me. 100% stable now.
Note: I was experiencing random BSOD on windows 7 x64. my board is GA-P55A-UD4P and my memory was Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 XMS3 8 GB PC3-12800 Core i5 Memory Kit
8gb kit was CMX8GX3M4A1600C9.
Western Digital Raptor HD Vs Intel X25-M SSD
Feb 25th
This video shows a Western Digital Raptor hard drive Vs an Intel X25-M SSD when starting a bunch of applications simultaneously. The speed is amazing. Too bad the X25-M is still a little too pricey, hopefully SSD’s come down in price later this year.
Comparison of Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD and Intel X25-M 160GB SSD when starting 51 programs simultaneously in identical installations of Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 with full of programs and drivers. First benchmarked the Raptor version, then taken an image of it and transferred it to the SSD. The Intel SSD was first updated with the latest firmware.
Computer specifications: English Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64 bit operating system, Core i7 920 CPU, 12 GB of DDR3 RAM, Asus P6T-Deluxe motherboard, ATi Radeon HD4870 X2 graphics card. Newest drivers, all Vista updates to date.
Unable to set date for the following file … Second Copy and ReadyNAS Problem
Feb 24th
I ran into this problem when copying files from my windows system to a ReadyNAS NV+ using any Second Copy profile. When i tried to copy files locally up to the ReadyNAS i kept getting, “Unable to set date for the following file …” in my Second Copy log files. Turns out the issue was caused because Second Copy ignores a two second time difference between files to account for different types of file systems used between systems (Fat 32, NTFS, Unix Based file systems).
To fix the problem, you must edit your Second Copy “profile.dat” file which stores all the program variables. The location on my system was, “\Documents and Settings\<currentusername>\Local Settings\Application Data\Centered Systems\Second Copy”.
Make sure the Second Copy program is turned off. You must add “IgnoreTimeDifference=2″ to either the [General] section or the [Options] section. like so:
[General]
…
[Options]
IgnoreTimeDifference=2Restart Second Copy and the problem should be solved.
see more:
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=84020
and here:
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