Internet explorer 8 and Flash…

I use Firefox. Let me say that again. I USE FIREFOX!

However, there are people who still use IE, either because they don’t know of any other browsers* or because they like it. It’s not my job to convence them otherwise. So, when somebody asks me to help them update their laptop, I will not change any of their programs, including browsers.

So, to set True Story Mode on, I was given an ACER laptop and I was told to check it a bit, see if there’s anything wrong with it, you know, the usual process. One of the things I generally tend to do, is updating the machines people give me for two reasons: a) There are some critical updates that will make a windows box a bit safer and more stable and b) because someone who has paid for an OS should enjoy all the services provided by the developer (sic). When it asked me to install IE8, I did what I had to do: I asked the owner…

Yes, of cource I want that! A collegue installed it and said it is fantastic! 

Whatever… I’ve had problems of my own with IE8, but it was on a Vista Buisness machine, this laptop was with XP, so I did what I was told. Well, some time later, the laptop was updated, the owner had the brand new browser that was supposed to be fantastic and I was done.

Well… almost done… One of the firtst things the owner did when I gave the laptop back, was visiting mySpace, to check out some hot new band or something. In order to view the mySpace music player, you have to upgrade your flash player. No problem, it’s been done many times, piece of cake, right?

Wrong! The standard procedure, to install flash player 10 from within IE, will not work. At least it did not work in my case, to the point that IE froze and I could only kill the process through Task Manager. A little bit of Google search shows that many more have the same problem. To tell you the truth, I did not bother to look for a tried solution, to see what others did, I did what seemed to me more logical:

I downloaded the stand alone installer from Adobe’s site. I closed IE, run the installer and presto. Flash player was updated to version 10.

Not sure what the problem is. I really don’t care, I just wanted to get my job done and frankly why should anyone care? The average user will only follow instructions provided by the developers (in this case Adobe) and when he sees his browser freezing, will not know what to do.

So, let me say this once more: I USE FIREFOX!

PS: This is not a FF vs IE post. I know that FF has problems too, I know there are other browsers as well, I know that IE will be patched sometime soon. I just don’t like being called again because someone cannot update their flash player…

DVI Blank Screen Fix

For most people, buying a new screen is a simple task. Take it home, unplug the old one, plug tne new one, turn it on and there you go. For most people…

For me, it meant a whole decluttering operation*, desk cleaning, throwing away needless stuff, dusting, all sorts of things to make room for my brand new LG W53 22” monitor. I had already decided to keep my old monitor ( a 17” Philips) and use it as desktop extension, so I needed even more room.  After hours of sweating and sewaring, everything was in place and I only needed to push a couple of power buttons. Imagine my disapointment when the only thing I could see on the screen was black… Now really… I already knew that I could connect the LG through D-Sub connection and it would work fine, but I wanted to use DVI. I am not even sure that the picture quality is better with DVI, but I just could not settle for D-Sub.

I called a friend of mine, who said that he never had problems with his DVI screen. He thought that maybe there was a setting on my screen that I should change in order to force DVI input, and proposed the all time classic: RTFM. As you can imagine, the problem was not solved, so I started searching for a solution on the vast depths of the internet. It turns out that it is a common problem, affecting various combinations of screens and graphic cards, with no pattern of appearance. The solution that some people had tried and the one that worked for me was the following:

My radeon has two DVI outputs. I plugged the DVI cable to the main one, plugged the other end on the monitor. Then I plugged a D-Sub cable on the secondary output (with the use of an adapter) and plugged it on the D-Sub input of the monitor. So, I had the monitor connected to the PC with both cables at the same time. When I turned on the monitor, it first received analog signal (the OSD read “D-Sub”) but switched soon to digital. I disconnected the D-Sub cable and the monitor loched on digital signal. That was it. I have absolutelly no fucking idea why this was necessary, but it worked, so I don’t care.

In case you have the same problem, give this solution a shot. For some people it has all that was needed, for some others it only solved the problem temporairily, for others it did not work. But you never know…