Computer stuff - Teh Forum

<body> <div id="header"> <span class="left"> <span class="back"><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=DEFAULT"><span class="image mobile_back" title="Back"></span></a></span> <span class="image mobile_logo" title="Beehive Forum Logo"></span> </span> <ul> <li> <a class="reply_all" href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.0&return_msg=43007.5"> <span class="image mobile_reply_all"></span><span class="text">Reply to All</span> </a> </li> <li> <a class="navigation" href="#"> <span class="image mobile_navigation"></span><span class="text">Show messages</span> </a> </li> <li> <a class="main" href="#"><span class="image mobile_menu" title="Menu"></span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu main"> <ul> <li><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Messages</a></li> <li><a href="lpm.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Inbox</a></li> <li><a href="lsearch.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Search</a></li> <li><a href="llogon.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Login</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu navigation"><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.1">1–10</a><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.11">11–20</a><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.21">21–22</a></div> <div id="page_content"> <h3 class="thread_title"><a href="index.php?webtag=DEFAULT&amp;msg=43007.5">Computer stuff</a> </h3> <div id="messages" data-navigation="43007_5_22_10"> <a name="a43007_5"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_5"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">18 Jan 23:48</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: milko <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 23 Jan 15:40"></span></span> <span class="message_count">5 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5">43007.5</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.4">43007.4</a></div> <div class="message_body"> The mire of my own IT failures gets deeper. Got my new Plex machine up and working (as a PC, not as a Plex machine just yet) and was pleased to see how Windows 10 happily switched hardware which isn't what I like to do, but it was just a test. Then Microsoft stepped in. You can reactivate through the MS site following a major hardware change. At first it presented a dialog to sign into an MS account from where you pick your MS account linked machine to reactivate. If the machine's not listed eg because you have another MS account and pcked the wrong one (like I did) thn it's a case of trying again. Except the MS activation server went down. MS recommended a restart, only when I did, they had changed the actual PC login from a choice between PIN and local password to PIN and MS account. The wrong one. So I had to switch my account settings back to what they were, just to allow me to log in to the right MS account to reactivate.<br /> <br /> Then my boot drive began to fail.<br /> <br /> I've also been printing. </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.5&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.5"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_6"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_6"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)<span class="message_time">22 Jan 11:07</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 22 Jan 15:25"></span></span> <span class="message_count">6 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.6">43007.6</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_5" target="_self">43007.5</a></div> <div class="message_body"> These aren't *your* IT failures, they are IT failures, full stop. IT as a totality is a spectacular, catastrophic, epic fail that we are completely unequipped to even cope with, let alone 'fix'. Anyway, it has provided a bit of amusement. So there's that.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.6&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.6"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_7"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_7"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">22 Jan 16:21</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 22 Jan 17:50"></span></span> <span class="message_count">7 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.7">43007.7</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_6" target="_self">43007.6</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Indeed, point taken. Actually, it's all working now with the one exception that Windows won't activate, and I'm not completely sure whether I'm entitled to activation or meant to buy a new license. In the old days, you upgraded your computer either by choice or because of some parts failure and tried your license again. If it didn't work you phoned some poor sod in a call centre who took your story and (99% guaranteed) would generate a new number for you.<br /> <br /> Now Microsoft have<em> improved</em> things. If your computer is associated with an MS account, you can simply use the activation troubleshooter, pick your device off the list and Bob's your Mum's brother. Except when it isn't listed. If I log into my MS account through a browser, there's my PC listed as one of the devices associated with my account. I think it's pukkah too: a Windows 7 device, full retail license, upgraded legitimately to Windows 10. However, if I go via the activation troubleshooter, it isn't listed. All my other devices are there, including some that don't exists anymore. So my next step is MS support. After the usual attempt to fob me off with totally unrelated web-articles and topics, I'm waiting for a call-back. No idea when. If it ever comes, and I won't be amazed if it doesn't, it will probably be while I'm in bed, or out walking with no access to pen, paper, or PC.<br /> <br /> I suppose I don't actually <em>need</em> a license. I'll still get updates, it will still work fine as a Plex and backup server. And as I run it headless nearly all the time, I don't care about nags either. </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.7&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.7"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_8"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_8"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)<span class="message_time">22 Jan 17:53</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 22 Jan 18:29"></span></span> <span class="message_count">8 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.8">43007.8</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_7" target="_self">43007.7</a></div> <div class="message_body"> If you need a cheap license, <a href="https://www.kinguin.net/c/15019/windows">https://www.kinguin.net/c/15019/windows</a> worked for me last month for Win10.<br /> </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.8&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.8"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_9"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_9"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">22 Jan 22:46</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 22 Jan 23:39"></span></span> <span class="message_count">9 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.9">43007.9</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_8" target="_self">43007.8</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Thanks. I've actually got a spare license I bought for something else that never materialised, so I may use that to keep things tidy. Having had no call back yet, I went on a google road trip to find out. The fastest I found was an hour. The slowest (apart from never) was 7 weeks. There's no contact route other than general phone numbers for your region. And that's for "free" support. Came across people shelling out £500 for one-off support requests and then... nothing, nada, for days, weeks. </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.9&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.9"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_10"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_10"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)<span class="message_time">22 Jan 23:39</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 23 Jan 16:55"></span></span> <span class="message_count">10 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.10">43007.10</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_9" target="_self">43007.9</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Ugh. I can't imagine paying for it.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.10&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.10"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_11"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_11"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">23 Jan 17:14</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 24 Jan 12:23"></span></span> <span class="message_count">11 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.11">43007.11</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_10" target="_self">43007.10</a></div> <div class="message_body"> You get what you pay for - or in this instance a little less. I'm fairly certain that according to the detail of the MS licensing arrangements I can make major changes to my PC and still reactivate it. It gets tricky in two areas. 1) the digital license from accepting a free update from Win 7 and later to Win 10 is not transferable. So if you do make changes, it's the story of the broom with two new brushes and one new handle. It seems there's an internal policy. Change your motherboard etc once. That's OK. Do it twice and you'll probably have to go through the phone route. This may explain why my PC isn't listed on the activation server, but is listed on my MS account. (I swapped in an identical ancient mobo a year or so back and it reactivated fine). The internal policy apparently is that after 5 hardware changes, major or otherwise, they'e going to start muttering, and may well argue that you're doing a transfer. 2) The other tricky area is that at the level of MS support I'm likely to encounter, I probably know as much in most areas, and more in others than they do., and it's very likely that I'll get refused a reactivation on the grounds that the provided method doesn't work, so I must be wrong. <br /> Anyhoo, I can't be arsed with all this so I'm going to update from Win 10 home to Win 11 pro as there are some extra bits I'd like to play with.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.11&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.11"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_12"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_12"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">24 Jan 11:17</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 24 Jan 11:17"></span></span> <span class="message_count">12 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.12">43007.12</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_11" target="_self">43007.11</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Upgrade to 10 pro took under 5 minutes, now downloading 11 pro (still a free update). 12 is on the horizon. Wonder if that will be a free update.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.12&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.12"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_13"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_13"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)<span class="message_time">24 Jan 12:28</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 24 Jan 13:17"></span></span> <span class="message_count">13 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.13">43007.13</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_12" target="_self">43007.12</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Pretty sure most users get Windows through single-use disposable computers (tossed when the slightest problem or perception of slowness manifests). Buying retail copies is where it can get expensive, unless you go to the dodgy dealers.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.13&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.13"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43007_14"></a><div class="message" id="message_43007_14"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time">24 Jan 18:29</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 25 Jan 15:23"></span></span> <span class="message_count">14 of 22</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.14">43007.14</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43007.5#a43007_13" target="_self">43007.13</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Here's a bit of fun. Couldn't install Windows 11 because my system disk is MBR and not GPT. So I tried a partition manager, AOMIE, to convert it. System now unbootable. Anyway, I've got backups of all I need so I thought, clean install time since it's what I should have done anyway. So I stick in a Windows 10 installation USB stick and boot from it. Lo and behold, my Windows 10 pro starts instead of the installer. It's like it's using the USB bootmgr to get to start Windows on the C Drive. In fact that's all it does. It refuses to go to the installer menu.<br /> <br /> So I wipe the boot disk. Does this help? Not really. It still tries to load - something. Anything but the installer. Eventually when I elect to "use another operating system" I get to the installer. Will it work? No. It looks like I have to pull all the drives except the target.<br /> <br /> Tomorrow.<br /> <br /> </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43007.14&return_msg=43007.5" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43007.14"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="message_page_footer"> <ul> <li class="right_col"><form accept-charset="utf-8" method="get" action="lmessages.php" target="_self"><input type="hidden" name="webtag" id="webtag" class="bhinputtext" value="DEFAULT" dir="ltr" /><input type="hidden" name="msg" id="msg" class="bhinputtext" value="43007.15" dir="ltr" /><input type="submit" name="submit" id="keep_reading" value="Keep reading…" class="button" /></form></li> </ul> </div> </div> </body>