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    Attention apartment-dwelling musicians:

    I'm getting back into the symphonic band scene to play my euphonium, but it's pretty loud so my neighbors would turn on me when I practice. Anyone run into this problem and have any good/crazy/creative solutions?
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    This is how we roll in my hometown

    Link
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    Dell Dimension 8200 PSU proprietary?

    So my Dell Dimension 8200 PSU decided to quit on me and I'm wondering if I can buy a replacement off the shelf or if I have to get one from Dell. It looks like it uses a standard 20-pin connector to the motherboard and a 4-pin connector to the CPU, but I don't have another PSU to test with it...
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    Showing " loading details" instead of the Windows XP loading screen

    I recall that there was a way to change the Windows XP loading screen (the one that shows the logo and the blue or green bar) so that it shows some text related to what is going on during Windows startup. Does anyone know how to do this or am I taking crazy pills? I'm hoping this will show...
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    Case fan sometimes doesn't turn on

    My 120 mm case fan, a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F rarely does not turn on when I turn on the computer. I'll find out about it because SpeedFan's temps are 10-20 C higher than they usually are. Anyway, I can spin the fan a little and it'll start up every time. Now, I can try another fan and try...
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    Full screen video on secondary display /w Nvidia gfx card

    I've been using the 84.40 version of the Nvidia drivers for awhile because it was the newest driver I could find at the time that displayed full screen video on a secondary display at the proper aspect ratio. All other drivers would stretch widescreen DVD movies to fit my 4:3 CRT TV, but they...
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    Next time I reinstall Windows, I should...

    I don't reinstall the OS very often and I want to make the most of it. I've already thought of doing these two things: - Make a partition for the OS and Apps and one for all of my files so I don't have to move stuff off the drive if I ever need to reinstall again - Make an image of the OS...
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    low power PSU can cause high CPU temps...

    So I called AMD to try to resolve my A64 X2 4600+ 939 CPU overheating issue outlined here. They said any PSU less than 500 watts could cause this CPU to get hot. This doesn't make sense to me. If a 400-watt PSU is providing enough energy to run the CPU, then it seems like the CPU would put...
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    CPU gets HOT when stressed (no overclock)

    A year ago, I upgraded from a Athlon 64 3500+ to a Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Socket 939). I used the stock cooler and I never overclocked. I noticed that when I heavily taxed the CPU the core temp readout in SpeedFan would start to climb to 60-70 C, while I rarely, if ever, hit 50 C with the 3500+...
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    Your favorite social activity

    I'm done with school and on the job hunt. The only social stuff I really did in grad school were intramural sports and occasional drinking. It's high time to explore some new and fun things with all of my free time. With luck, I'll find a handful of things I really like and continue to do...
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    Reliability of the Mazda 3

    I just test drove a Mazda 3 s sedan and I really like it. The only question I have now is reliability. I asked the sales guy if he could prove to me that they are reliable and he didn't have any hard facts for me. It's only been around since 2004 so it doesn't have an established track record...
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    Bumper sticker removal

    I'm wondering how successful people here have been in bumper sticker removal? Was it on the bumper or on the body of the car? How did you do it? How did it look afterwards? Did it take the paint off? How well did the underlying paint match the rest of the car? I've seen some good deals...
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    Looking for a compact sedan...

    I'm 25 and I'm buying my first car within the next month. I've done a lot of looking around online and I'm a week or two from finally making it out to some dealerships and test driving. Here's what I'm looking for in a car: -Used compact sedan -Manual transmission -Under 12K -Reliable...
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    Exterior ducting of 120 mm fan

    My computer desk has a section for a normal-sized computer case in it, but the back except for the botton 10 inches is enclosed. This has been fine in the winter, but as ambient temps have risen recently, I've noticed that my CPU is around 45 C idle and I've seen it reach 65 C under stress...
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    Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria $28.99 shipped at Deep Discount

    Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria The reviews seem good for this game and I really enjoyed the first one too.
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    App to show S.M.A.R.T. info from exteral drive?

    I want to keep tabs on my external drive. Speedfan shows the S.M.A.R.T. info for both my internal drives, but it won't show any information on my external drive. Is there any way to retrieve this information or is it simply not being transported through the USB/Firewire connection?
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    Laptop display is small at boot up, but it looks fine in windows

    Summary for those who hate reading I want to find out how to reset or flash the bios of my Dell Latitude C610 laptop in an attempt to fix a problem I've been having. The long version is below... I was trying to get the TV out port on my Dell Latitude C610 laptop to work. I noticed that...
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    General SATA and IDE cable questions

    SATA cable questions: It looks to me that, according to the diagrams at the bottom of this page, that SATA I and SATA II cables are not interchangeable with SATA I and SATA II ports. Is this true? Has anyone used this vendor? They have short right angle to straight cables for a decent price...
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    What is the blackest black paint?

    I posted about spray painting my DVD-ROM drive to match my Antec TX640B awhile back. Well, I finally went out and bought some flat black spray paint for plastic and tested it on a dead drive. It pretty much gave it that black color that looks really black until you hold it up to something that...
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    Fan for hard drives or not?

    For a year, I ran two hard drives in my Antec TX640B within a 3.5" enclosure that holds three drives. Hard drive temps usually maxed out at 35-38 C, but got as high as 42-45 C on a hot day. Seagate lists the max operating temp at 55 C. This weekend, I stuck an 80 mm fan in the hard drive...
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    Sound card that connects to front mic/headphone jacks?

    I've been shopping for possible sound cards to use in place of onboard sound (see sig). I'm assuming that once you disable onboard sound, you lose the functionality of the front microphone and headphone audio jacks. So, if I get a sound card, I'd like to find one that will still allow me to...
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    Popping sound when playing MP3s (onboard sound)

    This is an annoyance that has existed since I built my computer a year ago (see sig). Periodically, while I'm just surfing the web, I hear a little popping sound or a series of little popping sounds in mp3s that I know are pristine. This is something that did not happen with my 5-year-old...
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    Upgrade from 3500+ to X2 4800+?

    I can't believe I'm even considering this on a system that is not quite a year old, but would an upgrade from a single core 3500+ to an X2 4800+ make a big difference? Here's my situation. My home computer is also my HTPC. I often have shows recording (up to 2, with my NVIDIA Dual TV using...
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    Looking for very dark black DVD burner

    I'm looking to make my one vanity/stupid purchase of the year for my computer. I'd like to find a DVD Burner with the following (in order of importance): -Solid CD/DVD reading/writing capability -Very dark black to match my Antec TX640B case. -A standard tray design (no slots or crazy...
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    Is the chipset fan even necessary?

    The chipset fan on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum has been running at 5600-5800 RPM from the very beginning, but it's getting increasingly louder over time. I got a free replacement from them and it's back to being a little quieter again, but I doubt it will last much longer than the first one. So...
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    Did ANTEC F up THEIR OWN power supply?

    I've been using the Antec SmartPower 400-watt power supply that came with my Antec Performance TX640B MiniTower Case for eight months with the following components: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Socket 939 Processor OCZ 2x1GB Platinum Dual Channel RAM eVGA...
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    Old Epson SCSI/parallel scanner: make it work on WinXP?

    I bought an Epson Expression 836XL scanner, which is a large-size scanner that uses either SCSI or parallel port interfaces. Epson makes a WinXP driver, which prompted me to think this scanner would actually work, but it turns out the WinXP driver only supports SCSI. When I plug in the scanner...
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    Rosewill RX30-U2FA 3.5'' enclosure

    I've been poking around for 3.5'' hard drive enclosures and I'm leaning heavily toward Rosewill RX30-U2FA. It allows USB 2.0 and Firewire transfers, it has chipsets that people seem to like, it looks durable, and it looks nice (NOT shiny, very plain, no logos). It doesn't have a fan, but...
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    Printer wakes up when computer turns off

    I've had my Brother HL5150D for over a year and I love it, except that whenever I shut my computer down (provided I have used the printer while the computer was on), the printer will wake up for 10 minutes or so before powering down again. I've called Brother and it sounds like that's just...
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    line breaks in batch-created text file?

    I poked around online to make a batch script to defrag both of my hard drives every week. This is what I came up with: cd C:\windows\system32 defrag C: >C:\defrag.log 2>&1 defrag D: >>C:\defrag.log 2>&1 date /t >>C:\defrag.log time /t >>C:\defrag.log It outputs the analysis and...
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    Black-and-white laser multifunction recommendations?

    I'm shopping around for a print/copy/flatbed scan/fax black-and-white multifunction laser printer for my dad. I'm finishing up my research tonight and I just wanted to know if anyone has had personal experiences with any multifunction laser printers? I'll be sure to post my own findings here...
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    bittorrent port forwarding kills my Internet...

    People here almost always seem to solve my computer problems and for that I am extremely grateful. This one has plagued me for a few months and this is my last step before I just get rid of the damn cable gateway. I have a Linksys WCG200 (yeah, it's the cable modem / wireless router...
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    boot from usb memory drive

    I bought my machine without a floppy drive, hoping that I could finally be rid of that old and, except for its booting ability, completely useless technology. However, I didn't know that it was going to be so much of a pain to get my USB memory drive to be bootable. My motherboard is MSI K8N...
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    My first finished computer build

    In case you don't remember, I was the guy who wrote this post. I am happy to report I finished my build with the parts listed in that post with no major problems. It really didn't take me this long to build, but I spread it out over a few hours here and there on the weekends. I've also...
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    Molex and SATA power cable plug covers?

    I'm looking for little black rubber-like slip-on covers for my unused Molex and SATA power cables. It's probably functionally unnecessary since you could just vacuum out any dust in the plug whenever you need to use them, but I think it would add a nice look. Any cables that are completely...
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    MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum RAM limitation

    I posed a question in the hardware forum about the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum in the hardware forum last week, but no one knew the answer. I'm also still waiting on a response from MSI. Anyway, here's the question: I found the following statement on MSI's K8N Neo4 Platinum page: "Due to the...
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    My Prospective Computer Build

    This will be my first build. I've spent two months casually educating myself online and about two weeks actively shopping for parts. I start by mentioning what I would want out of this machine in general terms and then for each component I list what I would want out of it and then what I chose...