Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 September 11

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September 11

Computer Rebooting

I have a computer with Fedora on it that keeps rebooting randomly. It is not rebooting when a specific device is used, a specific program is run, or after a specific amount of time. I strongly suspect the memory is bad, but I was wondering if there are any Linux utilities that can keep a very close eye on the entire system and give me a good analysis of what happens just before each reboot. -- kainaw™ 00:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

One linux utility is strace. You use -p with pid number to indicate what you want to trace. It records all the system calls. using the -f option will also record all the child processes. It would be best to put the output to a file with -o option, and then try to read the file after a failure. The next step up is to use a debugger, though I expect there will already be too much output. It may be better if you can get hold of a memory tester. I havent seen one of these for at least 12 years, but they should still exist! Graeme Bartlett 04:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

strace only traces syscalls of a particular process, and won't help much here. I suggest checking the syslogs to see if anything is logged before it reboots. You might want to set up syslog to log to a remote host, in case the disk drivers crash before it reboots. In the end, you're going to want to test the hardware -- if you suspect bad memory, I suggest using the memtest86 memory testing tool. -- JSBillings 10:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Log files reported nothing. Memtest86 ran all night - no help. No reboot though, so it isn't something inherently bad in the power supply (or power source from the wall). Ran with ide=nodma, still rebooted. I'm going to open it up and look for a loose cable. -- kainaw™ 12:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've had similar problems after i reseated the heatsink on the cpu, it could be overheating. If you have acpi setup you might be able to look at the cpu temp somewhere in /proc/acpi/. I solved my issue by cleaning the heatsink and using new heat-conductive paste. -- Diletante 14:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've seen this happen with systems that had a lot of "noise" in their power, or irregular power dips. Most electronic appliances work just fine with these problems, but computers are overly sensitive to irregularities in power. Also, if you suspect it is your CPU, try monitoring the temperature of your CPU. -- JSBillings 20:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

After memtest86 claimed the memory was OK, I checked further. Nothing in logs. Swapped out a lot of components. Finally, I believe I tracked it down. The CPU fan appears to be flaking out - just stopping every now and then. The BIOS doesn't provide monitoring of the fan to the OS, so it wasn't logged. I found out by having the case open and examining the inside while it was running. The fan just stopped. I tapped it and it started back up again. A few minutes later, it stopped again. Hopefully that's the source of this and I won't have to poke around this case anymore. -- kainaw™ 22:16, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Turned out that the fan was stopping because the power supply was acting up. Just thought someone might want to know the status of this odd problem. -- kainaw™ 01:00, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah when my power supply was getting overloaded my computer kept on rebooting sporadically is well. It also gave the harddrives a lot of "clicks of deaths" (probably just head reset due to insufficient power), which lead to frantically getting more harddrives, which lead to more clicks... --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:41, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Add a string of text to the end of every line of a text file.

Is there any options on a Windows application, that will find the end of every line (newline) and append a string of text to it. I know on with the Linux application VI (VIM) you can add text to the end of every line with the character "\n" representing a newline. I can't remember if this used a find and replace command, I just looked up the command and copied it. I was wondering if anyone knew a windows app that will do this. Preferably I use edit.exe a.k.a edit.com but if notepad, wordpad, or Microsoft Word had an option like this? – 69.150.209.13 01:57, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know if those other apps can do it, but you can get vim for Windows. --Allen 02:01, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You could write a script, or find a text editor that uses Regular Expressions. Nimur 02:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

:1,$s/$/ia string of text

in vi, or sed could do the job too. Do you want to use wordpad or word for windows to do the job? Graeme Bartlett 03:34, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

On Windows, I'd recommend Notepad++ for an advanced text editor. You can use the replace function with regexps by pressing CTRL+R. — Kieff | Talk 04:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In word for windows you can do edit replace, click more, click special and select paragraph mark, this can the be replaced with your trailing text and a new paragraph mark with a replace all button. Graeme Bartlett 04:29, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Nod32

Hi, I am going to purchase Nod32 antivirus and would like to know what firewall is compatible with it. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erendis (talk • contribs) 07:19, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Anything, I suppose, since I'm not sure how a firewall could conflict with an AV. Splintercellguy 16:57, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Yep they're nothing alike. Though you'll need to allow access to the AV for "autoupdates"- a bad idea btw, I always download virus definitions with my browser and manually install them. --froth^t 22:41, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In response to

Though you'll need to allow access to the AV for "autoupdates"- a bad idea btw, I always download virus definitions with my browser and manually install them.

If you cannot trust your anti-virus program for auto update or think it has a security flaw that you fear others may exploit, please do not buy the antivirus program. Build one for yourself from scratch ... or customize ClamWin for your needs. --Do not click me! 20:08, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't care what kind of program it is, it's not going to connect to the internet by itself and tell me to trust it that it's just retrieving data. --froth^t 20:52, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

That sounds kind of unrelated to your comment. I meant to say that while I have no problem with those AV products, I do have a problem with auto updates --froth^t 20:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Using ADBLOCK to remove a specific wikipedia link.

Hello, as I try to revert as much vandalism as possible in the shortest amount of time, I often mistakenly click the stupid 'Edit summary' link when one goes to edit the page, instead of clicking "Save Page" button. Now is there a way using adblock (or any other program) running in firefox or even in the background to block that link, ie make it not clickable? Phgao 09:32, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you can do that with adblock, but I've made Greasemonkey scripts for similar purposes. -- JSBillings 10:47, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You can also edit your monobook.css to hide that link by doing the following:

• go to User:Phgao/monobook.css
• add the line #minoredit_helplink {display: none;}

Rawling4851 22:01, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

EDIT: Sorry, if you don't use the monobook skin, you'll have to edit your CSS for whatever skin it is you use. Rawling4851 22:03, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You may want to familiarize yourself with the access keys on Wikipedia. I have found that they greatly increase the speed of editing and navigation. For instance, saving a page is just access key 's'. I find the default key combination in Firefox slightly annoying, so I changed (in about:config) ui.key.contentAccess to 4 so that Alt+key was the combination instead of the default 5 (Shift+Alt+key). --Pekaje 11:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the sweet tips! I'll look into them. Phgao 08:08, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Removing Windows Media Center

I play a lot of DVDs on my computer, for which I use Windows Media Player. Whenever I put in a DVD, Windows (in its infinite wisdom) automatically starts Windows Media Center, which I despise and have absolutely no use for. WMC doesn't seem to exist as a normal, removable program, but I'm desperate to remove it. Is there any way to uninstall it or, failing that, disable it? Thanks! Bhumiya (said/done) 09:39, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

This is based from your autoplay settings for the DVD drive, and can be changed. It's easy to do in Windows XP, while Vista has a slightly different configuration. --Sigma 7 10:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You can remove it (xp) - start,set program access and defaults, "remove/uninstall", scroll down the list, press 'delete', or start help and search for uninstall...83.100.251.220 12:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! I didn't know how to get rid of autoplay altogether. Bhumiya (said/done) 13:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Regex in Java: finding expression 1, but not if it's part of expression 2

Hi all,

I'm having trouble writing a regular expression in Java. I want to find all instances of the string cde, but NOT if it's part of the string abcdefg.

So if I gave my parser the text abcdefgcdex, it should only find this "cde": abcdefgcdex.

Is that possible? I'm really not sure how to go about creating such an expression.

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks, Mary. 16:45, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

You can be verbose to make it very understandable. For example, simplify it to "cde" as long as it doesn't follow "ab" (you should easily how this can be expanded to check for following "fg"): (cde.*)|(.cde.*)|(.*[^a][^b]cde.*). In other words, if "cde" has nothing in front of it, that is fine. If it only has one character in front of it, that is fine. If it has two or more characters in front of it, they better not be "a" followed by "b". -- kainaw™ 17:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

How about something like this:

(?<!ab)cde|cde(?!fg)

"cde" as long as it's not preceded by "ab" or not followed by "fg". --Spoon! 17:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Spoon,

That works great, thanks! However, I'd like to be able to put a regex within the "(?<!ab)" section -- let's say an a followed by any number of b's. I would think that I should be able to say "(?<!ab*)" or "(?<!a(b)*)" or something, but I get an exception. Do you know what I could do?

Thanks!

Sam

Sorry. As far as I know lookahead assertions can take any regex; but lookbehind assertions can only take a fixed-width regex (because otherwise it is difficult to figure out where to start). --Spoon! 22:37, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Rate of return

In determining the yield of a stock, I understand the most recent annual dividend is divided by the price. How do I find the "most recent annual dividend" of a particular stock? Thank you. Magemote —Preceding unsigned comment added by Magemote (talk • contribs) 17:14, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Go to the firms website and look at their investor relations section. You should be able to find it there, alternatively try sites like bloomberg or FT.com as they may well have the details available. I use www.iii.co.uk myself. ny156uk 20:10, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Random Microsoft Word Question

On my new Lenovo Thinkpad T60p with Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2007, the scroll wheel (button or pad, actually), which works on websites and other things, does not work in Microsoft word. As in every time I want to scroll down the page, I either have to drag the scroll bar on the right or press the down key. This is not the case with Excel. I don't get it. Is there any way to fix this? It's really annoying. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.247.42.228 (talk) 20:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Hm, works for me. Try using microsoft drivers instead of IBM's? devmgmt.msc > Mice > whatever > driver > uninstall --froth^t 22:36, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

This website (http://www.techtalkz.com/microsoft-office/49769-re-how-can-i-enable-mouse-scroll-wheel-function-word-2007-a.html) seems to suggest it might hold the answer. For some reason my browser won't load it, but it's the top result of a google search for word + scroll + wheel + enable ny156uk 22:56, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I sucessfully opened it [the webpage] in my computer (Win XP with IE). --Do not click me! 20:02, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Zone Alarm

I have an old copy of Zone Alarm. If I uninstall it then I can not view Google Maps or Google Earth although I can view Mapquest maps and satellite images. If I reinstall Zone Alarms then I can view Google Maps. What is going on? Is there a way to view Google Maps without reinstalling Zone Alarm? Clem 22:59, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Its just amazing. Could you explain it a bit more? --Do not click me! 20:01, 13 September 2007 (UTC)