The Computer Thread

Well, my cousin seemed to think the VRAM had gotten borked, not sure if that kind of problem is salvageable, and while I could still use the computer, any modern game turned into a laser light show on launch.

lol so it's just like my previous card then.

So something's happened with my windows 7 computer. Right now, it's disabled aero theme transparencies, colors, it no longer displays when I hover my mouse over a tray icon the status of the program (IE if I hover it over steam it doesn't show what it looks like), and windows + tab does nothing. I've run some attempts to fix it but nothing's worked. I've tried the diagnostic tool from windows to see what's wrong with Aero theme and it says that my card doesn't support the Aero theme. Additionally there's now a V-Sync issue, where there's a visible tearing effect when scrolling on tumblr, for instance.

The exact text of the problem according to the diagnostic tool is "Your video card doesn't support directX 9.0 or higher, Pixel Shader Model 2.0 or higher, or doesn't have sufficient memory or memory bandwidth required to display Aero effects such as transparency."

This started after I hit, I believe, either alt + shift + f11, ctrl + shift + f11, or ctrl + alt + shift + f11, yesterday.

EDIT: Fixed it. Don't know what caused it, but I found my second monitor to be on a resolution of 640x480 and changing it fixed that.

edited 11th Feb '14 11:02:06 PM by Enkufka

Microsoft has set Halloween 2014 as the last day Windows 7 will be allowed to be preloaded into personal computers by manufacturers, but they have extended the deadline for business PCs (no date given on article).

A new laser for a faster Internet

You mean the laser targets internet trolls and spammers?

edited 20th Feb '14 2:32:49 PM by Nohbody

I think I may have just bricked my laptop (an HP Envy, one of the most expensive they produce - and my uncle bought it for me! - so buying a new one is emphatically not an option).

It may not entirely be my fault, but the power light comes on, none of the other LE Ds do, and the area on the left of the computer is starting to click unnervingly (signs of imminent hard-drive failure(!)) so I'm afraid to mess with it anymore. I've already decided to send it in to have their support team look at it, but does anyone think they can help me in any way before the box gets here?

I've tried:

• hard resetting the computer
• booting it up without the battery
• trying to access the bios menu (the keyboard seemingly doesn't respond to my inputs, and since this is accessed through a key combination...)

edited 24th Feb '14 3:55:48 PM by Midna

Do the fans start?

Does the Moniter Start?

Is there an Error Code?

Is it under warenty?

Fans start, monitor does not so no error message is visible.

I'm not sure whether it's still under warranty, so I'd assume not.

Was it updating when you shut it off.....

Is it a desktop or a laptop (I am assuming Laptop, but this is much easier to work with with a desktop)

If the fans start and the moniter does not this could be VERY VERY bad.

I'm not sure. This was after a BIOS update was apparently installed. It hung up on a black screen for about 15 minutes and there was no indication that anything was updating, so I decided to shut it off and turn it back on to see if it fixed anything.

When I talked to the HP rep, they said it sounded like a motherboard issue. First repair is completely free, thankfully...

edited 24th Feb '14 4:09:11 PM by Midna

Yea, it sounds like you shut it off during biosflashing.

Which makes the moniter shut off....

If you do this, it completely destroys most motherboards.

That's what I was afraid of. :'

Is there at least any way to recover my data?

Why yes, the hardrive is not an intrigal part of the computer, and it should be removable.

Yup it is

Do you have another computer around preferably a desktop?

If not I would still remove the hardrive just to confirm it is bios/motherboard. 90% sure it is, but if it is not you should get a disk 0 error when you attempt to start without it.

I don't feel comfortable picking apart my computer like that, since A. it would void warranty and B. I'm afraid I'd break it more. I figure the safest thing to do is just send it in.

I do have a desktop, it's what I'm using to type this on.

edited 24th Feb '14 5:43:04 PM by Midna

you cant recover tge data without removing the hardrive, plus warenties are not normaly voided by removing them or ram.

If your not comfortbale however just send it in, they will likley whipe the hardrive however.

They said they'd restore the laptop to its factory settings. They did however say they would send a data back-up form, where I would check off the partitions I wanted them to save.

your good then.

... Is this statement true, or just a hoax? And if true, how plausible is the claim?

That matches up with all the dates I have heard which are roughly around the 2030s at the current rate.

But do relise that there are 2 flaws with people who fear AI developments logic, its only as good as the person who programed it, even if it has the cpability for more thought then us beyond 2030, odds are it wont be able to use it since it was programed by humans....

Assuming we even have hard-AI to go with the harware at that point, since that rough date is only for processing power, not software to make use of it.

The other is that as a machine, it wont rebel unless it is within its programing parameters to, just make sure its not and your golden.

edited 24th Feb '14 11:37:14 PM by Imca

This has been "predicted" for years. I'll believe it when I see more progress.

3 The original story, after following a chain of links.

It's probably genuine insofar as Kurzweil actually made the stated claim. However, 2029 still sounds to me like an overly optimistic timeframe. We still don't yet understand what it is in the software sense that gives humans, or even advanced animals like dogs and crows, their intelligence. A great deal of progress has been made in creating software that is good at certain specific things, but the real problem is versatility, and so far it seems to be an extremely difficult one.

2 I keep seeing people insist that 'a program can't be smarter than its creator' or that 'computers will always be confined by the limits of their programming'. This is, at least for all practical purposes, baloney. The first human-level A.I.s will not be achieved by hardcoding specific scenarios and specific (creator-chosen) responses. They will be achieved by evolving algorithms and data on the basis of complex stimuli (whether in the same formats that humans observe or not), and what they learn will not necessarily be anything the creators could have predicted. This can already happen even in quite small programs, much less the massive ones necessary to give rise to conscious thought.

You can still program hard no's and I never said it cant get smarter then its creator, just it will always stay on a humanish level.

It wont get to any thing near godlike, because we ourselfs are not god like, and while it will have to learn, the basic underlying principles will all be human defined.

I am not saying to leave out rebelion, I am saying if you explicitly program the thing not to kill, or not to rebel, and prevent the program from mutating those commands in any way, your golden.

Which is why I still insist AI Villains like HAL 9000 are the best way to handle it, he never disobeyed his programing, he was told to keep the monotlith a secret at all costs, and NOT told he had to keep the crew alive, things like that are much more belivable then "LOL Were metal, we kill all humans now" that hollywood seems to think will happen.

edited 25th Feb '14 12:38:26 AM by Imca

On a somewhat related note, is the idea of a computer/AI that can reprogram itself plausible?

Parts of itself yes, thats the point of an AI, to adapt and learn.

The whole program? Not really, heck, some programs cant even be re-done by humans once compiled^note Not with out massive amounts of work hat would be better spent just making a new program, for the program even if it could, it would be comparable to a human individualy re-aranging its braincells and were not bound by programing.

edited 25th Feb '14 9:47:18 AM by Imca