(More) PC Problems

[Chris North]

Been having a few problems with a few PCs lately. What better place to come than here for answers?

 

Firstly, and most importantly, my mom's PC's disk defragmenter will not work. It opens fine, but after clicking "Defragment" or "Analyze" the program locks up for 5 or so seconds and then nothing happens. I googled a bit and most of the results just suggest that one of the files was deleted and to reinstall. So far though, nothing has proved useful.

 

The second problem I'm having is with a separate PC. I can't seem to get anything to work in the 1/8" microphone jack. IIRC it used to work, and I'm pretty sure that all of the volume controls are adjusted properly, but none of the three mics I've tried worked. I've tried two different recording programs, and the mics work on other PCs.

 

Not really a problem as much as a question, but when the microwave oven is running, my wireless internet doesn't work. Is it normal for it to do that, and if so, why?

 

Thanks in advance (again)!

[Moriquende]

1. Ither do a format and reinstall windows or you could download a 3rd party defragmenter. I use Diskeeper, works great and is faster than the standard program.

You can download the trial version from their website: http://www.diskeeper.com

 

2. Try updating the soundcard drivers. If it still doesn't work that jack is propably broken.

 

About the wireless...

It sounds like the microwave is creating some sort of huge magnetic field which disrupts the wireless signal.

But that shouldn't be happpening, and if it really is your microwave, there is something seriously wrong with it.

Don't quote me on this, though. This is just what I think is happening.

I don't really know much about energy fields

 

Anyway, hope this helps.

[Samm]

It could very much be a problem with the Windows install or just because the computer has been running for quite a while. If it's never been defragmented or not recently I'd definitely leave it overnight to see if there's any progress. Don't expecting the program to act instantaneously when they computer is old and there's so much defragging to be done!

 

 

For the microphone (if you haven't already tried these):

 

Click Start, Control Panel, Sound and Audio Devices.

 

Check the Voice tab to see if there's anything listed in "Default Sound Recording Device"

 

Next click the Volume button for the Voice Recording (bottom) and check the slider levels and mute boxes.

 

Next,

 

 

Click Start , All Programs , Accessories , and then Sound Recorder .

 

Click Record and speak into the microphone. Save the file to an easily-accessible location, such as the desktop.

 

To play back the recorded sound, open the file using Windows Media Player.

 

 

Any luck? If not;

 

 

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Device Manager

 

Is Microphone listed under the Sound... tab?

 

 

Check back if you've got anything and we can work from there, and see; no sexual innuendos!

 

 

FLICK HAMS!

 

######.

[Chimpy]

On microwaves:

 

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3116531

[Chris North]

AFAIK the thing was never defragged, is over 3 years old and has had at least ten games and large programs installed and deleted. I did once let the defrag tool alone for about 3 hours, but still it hadn't done anything. I guess somewhere something was deleted some how that was necessary. Doesn't matter and I don't care because I found and used a free defragment tool. After using that everything seems a lot faster and there's a lot less of that annoying clicking from the HDD. I didn't know there were alternative defragmentation programs out there.

 

 

Also got the mic problem sorted. Checked the volume for the mic and it turns out the "front microphone" jack was muted. I looked at that a while ago but I must have missed it. Don't know how the mute box could have been checked in the first place; I've never used the volume controls before...

 

 

The microwaves link was confusing, but I guess it's fairly normal then.

 

 

Thanks Moriquende, Chimpy, and Samm!

 

 

FLICK HAMS!

 

 

 

 

[Samm]

You're welcome. The link is understandably confusing if you don't know much about radio tech. Basically you're zapper is probably using the same frequency as your wireless access point and causing interference.

 

Probably not much of a problem though unless you microwave everything (including cats)

[Chimpy]

The ending advice is simple though. Change the WiFi router/access point to run on a different channel, preferably one far away from where it is now and to stop sitting it on top of the microwave.