Category Archives: Troubleshooting

Dude! Where’s My Internet?

Whoa! I had an amusing but vexing hiccup on the new Flo6 Ryzen 7 5800X system when I sat down to work this morning. The Internet was dead, dead, dead. I could ping localhost but nothing further. It got me thinking about the absurdist epic starring Ashton Kushner and Sean Wm Scott. That prompted the tongue-in-cheek question “Dude! Where’s my internet?” I must speculate, and laugh, at what I think is the answer. Let me explain…

Why Expostulate: Dude! Where’s My Internet?

Everything looked OK when I sat down at the machine. But as soon as I tried to access any online resources, those requests went nowhere. And, of course, they took quite a while to time out to tell me there was no there on the other side of the connection.

I checked the cable TV signal (still there, which means out inbound broadband is working). I checked the wireless PCs (still there, which means at least the fallback to the boundary device WAP is working). Soon it became apparent: the Flo6 PC was the source of my woes. I’m not seeing any errors in Reliability Monitor so I’ll make an educated guess.

Waking Up Is (Sometimes) Hard to Do

The Flo6 had been asleep when I sat in front of it this morning. My best guess is that yesterday’s update somehow mucked with the wake behavior for the unit’s Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Family Controller. So I reloaded the driver, and then unchecked the box under Power Management that reads “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.” From sad experience, I’ve learned this can turn into “LAN doesn’t work after waking from sleep” errors.

And gee: doesn’t that sound just like what happened to me this morning? It also demonstrates quite convincingly that here in Windows-World, some mornings start better than others. I’ll let you decide what kind of morning I was having today. I think I already know!

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Jabra Headset Goes MIA

Sometimes, I have to wonder about Windows. For the past three years and more, I’ve  unplugged my Jabra Engage 75 headset from my production desktop. (FWIW, I’ve also recently upgraded to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X running Windows 11 24H2.) I then plug into my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 instead, whenever I need video for an onlne meeting. Today, when I did that very same thing, the device worked locally but would not engage with Zoom. While my Jabra headset goes MIA, I made three expensive attorneys wait for me to get my act together. Sigh.

When Jabra Headset Goes MIA, Then What?

It seems I never installed the Jabra Direct software on the P16. All of a sudden the device stopped interacting with Zoom. It was easily fixed — I visited the Jabra site, and downloaded and installed the latest Direct version, then made sure headset firmware was up-to-date. Now, everything is working OK.

What I don’t understand is why it stopped working in the first place. I have to guess that some recent Windows Update made a change to the way audio works, and somehow orphaned the headset running entirely on its own. But with its controlling software installed, and firmware updated, all is back to what passes for normal here at Chez Tittel.

Too bad I had to waste a no-doubt costly 20-25 minutes trying to make my headset work, when I should’ve been talking to the interviewing attorneys instead. If it wasn’t my birthday (just turned 73) I might be inclined to sulk. But I’ll simply say instead: that’s the way things go sometimes, here in Windows-World!

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Chasing RDP Login Takes Too Long

OK then, I’ve hit my troubleshooting time-out. Now that I’ve switched over to the Flo6 5800X build for my production desktop, I’m keeping the i7Skylake up and running in parallel. Why? So I can grab or look up things I discover I need on the new build that are only available on the old. So far, that’s included some logins that didn’t make it into the Norton Vault (only stored in Firefox on the old PC, as it turns out), various files and some app configuration data I didn’t know I’d need. Only one small problem: I can’t RDP into the account where all the stuff I need lives. I can RDP into the i7Skylake on a local admin account, but I get an LSA error when I try to log into my primary account. Alas, chasing RDP login takes too long, so I’m using TeamViewer instead. Indeed, it came up on the first try.

Why Chasing RDP Login Takes Too Long

Something has gone weird with NetBIOS and/or Domain Name resolution for RDP into the i7Skylake. That’s why I can get in using a local account, but not the MSA for the primary account. I’ve tried everything Copilot and Google can tell me about fixing that, to no avail, including:

  • Flush DNS name cache
  • Editing hosts file
  • Turning off browse service
  • Trying cmdkey explicit access in Command Prompt

And a whole bunch more. At present, I’ve spent at least 4 hours trying to MAKE it work. But RDP stubbornly refuses to let me use my MSA to log into i7Skylake.

The TeamViewer Alternative: Armadillo Time

TeamViewer doesn’t use RDP for remote access. It’s got its own set of protocols and services to manage LAN and Internet-based connections. It took me all of 15 minutes to get everything downloaded, installed, configured and running. I was able to access i7Skylake using the MSA I wanted on the first try. Go figure!

Sometimes, the best thing about beating your head against the way is how good it feels when you stop. Here in Windows-World this is not an unfamiliar sensation. If anybody knows how I can fix my RDP issue, I’d love some added insight and info. But for now, I have lots of other things to do — including a big deadline tomorrow on a writing project — so I’m taking the alternate route. If you’re not familiar with Jim Franklin’s wonderful armadillo image of that same name, check it out courtesy of Coast Monthly (it serves as the lead-in image for a terrific story).

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Inching toward Flo6 Cutover

OK, then. I’m just about there. But it’s been a much wilder ride than I expected, as I keep inching toward Flo6 cutover. That is, I’m almost ready to put the 5800X Flo6 build where my i7Skylake PC is right now. I’ll also leave the i7Skylake running for a while to pick up missed bits and pieces, as they inevitably come up. Let me tell you what’s happened so far…

Steps Involved in Inching toward Flo6 Cutover

In my July 28 post, I listed remaining steps before I could switch from old production desktop to new production desktop. Those included:

  • MS Solitaire: turns out I had to find and run a recovery utility to figure out to which MSA my stats belonged. Only then could I bring up the right account. Took about half an hour: done.
  • Macrium Reflect: 9AM full backup configured and running. This turned out to be dead easy, compared to the other items. Took all of 5 minutes, then another 10 minutes to fire off daily backups.
  • PaintShop Pro: Turns out 2023 is as new as it gets. I didn’t need to buy a new version, but I had to decommission the install on the i7Skylake before I could install and activate the Flo6. Also took about half an hour, most of which was figuring out how the heck to log in. Eventually, I figured it out and got it done.
  • PDF reader: I couldn’t get Nitro Pro to send me an email to reset my password for love or money. That took half an hour. So I switched to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Murphy struck again! The default Acrobat Pro installer — the one on its primary download page — doesn’t work on Windows 11 (at least not on the Flo6 install). It took me almost an hour to find and use the company’s standalone installer instead. That worked, but sheesh: a PITA!

Ready to Switch…

It’s after 5 PM on July 31 (Thursday), so I’ll unplug everything for both systems, switch their locations, and plug them back in after lunch Friday. Hopefully everything will come up as it should. If not, I’ll report further in an addendum hereto. With finger crossed, I’m hustling through the morning so I can get this handled in the afternoon. Wish me luck!

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Sez MS: 24H2 Most Reliable Windows Yet

Here’s an interesting bit of Windows administrivia. On July 22, a spellbinding Windows IT Pro Blog post appeared. It comes from Monika Sandhu, the Senior Program Manager who runs the company’s Windows Resiliency Initiative. Unsurprisingly, it’s entitled Resilience in action for Windows devices. There’s lots of good stuff in this piece, but I want to focus on her claim: 24H2 most reliable Windows yet. What does this means, and why does she say it?

Why Is 24H2 Most Reliable Windows Yet?

You can see that paragraph from her blog post, reproduced as the lead-in graphic above. This assertion stems from MS telemetry that reports on unexpected restarts and related failure rates. Apparently, they’re down by nearly a quarter (24%) as compared to Windows 10 22H2.

As somebody who’s run a modest Windows 10 fleet (up to 12-15 desktops and laptops),  and who runs a similar-sized Windows 11 agglomeration right now, I can confirm her observation based on personal, if anecdotal experience. I don’t keep telemetry data around, but I do remember failure rates, restart problems, and so forth, across both Oses. For Windows 10, my experience goes back to October 14, when the first Technical Preview appeared. For 11, it goes back to June 2021. Over the interim, I’ve done dozens to hundreds of clean installs of both Oses, and hundreds of upgrades as well.

What Makes Windows 11 More Resilient?

I’ve seen the introduction of the reinstall now feature, which rebuilds whatever version of Windows 11 is running, including all current CUs, servicing stacks, and so forth. I’ve seen a demo of the Quick Machine Recovery facility which rebuilds the pre-OS-launch Windows startup/boot facilities. I believe this will work as MS describes it in actual deployment, too. And now, MS is talking about reworking the Startup Repair facility in WinRE (no doubt to match what QRM can already do).

So heck, yeah, I’m buying into this particular vision. In fact, I can’t wait to see QRM go into full production. I’m hoping it can save some butts the next time a Crowdstrike-like incident rears its ugly head. My thanks to Ms. Sandhu for sharing this info, and for injecting some hope that Windows-World could soon be a more resilient, less failure prone sphere to occupy. Let’s see what happens!

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NZXT H6 Flow Build Comes Together

Allrighty, then. My “new” primary desktop build is almost completely done. I still have some software to install, and some file transfers from old to new to complete. But the hardware configuration is finished. As this NZXT H6 Flow build comes together, I’ve overcome some interesting hurdles and learned something I probably should have already known. Let me fill you in…

Deets: NZXT H6 Flow Build Comes Together

The case itself is perhaps the roomiest I’ve ever worked with. The split-level design  features the motherboard and plug-in elements above, with PSU, drive cage and cabling below. Very easy to work on, and far fewer cable routing shenanigans than I’ve ever run into before. Over the years — including a lengthy stint of motherboard, RAM and storage reviews for Tom’s Hardware in the early 2000s — I’ve probably built 100+ desktop and SFF PCs. From the perspective of ease and comfort, this one rules. First ever build, in fact, without cutting my fingers on the air cooler’s fins. Good-oh.

Here’s a BOM for the build, excluding the already-mentioned case [for which I paid US$110; other current prices in square brackets]:

  • Motherboard: Asrock B550 Extreme 4 (AM4) [US$185]
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (8 cores/16 threads, 3.8 to 4.7 GHz, AM4, TDP 105W) [US$170]
  • GPU: NVIDIA 3070 Ti [US$600]
  • RAM: 128GB (4×32) DDR4-2666 [US$146]
  • NVMe: Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB[US$80], Samsung 990 EVO 4TB (2ndary)[US$200]
  • Hard disk: Toshiba DT01AC300 3GiB (2.72 TB in Explorer)[US$77]
  • Total system cost, not including monitors:  US$1,568

My ASUS Thunderbolt5 EX didn’t make the cut, because the B550 lacks a USB4/5 header for the device to plug into. Alas it won’t work without motherboard support. Sigh. I should have known, but there it is.

Issues Encountered and Overcome

The only build issues I ran into were:

  • Remembering how to re-insert the below-deck HDD cage. (A quick trip to YouTube took care of that in a hurry. Turns out to be a drop in, then slide up to lock into position kind of maneuver. Dead easy, once you see somebody else do it. Go YouTube!)
  • Getting the hard disk recognized in Device Manager. (None of my SATA devices showed up in Windows Device Manager or Disk Management. I used a temporary SSD-to-SATA device to ensure it was getting power (it got warm). So I knew it was a software issue. Thus, I was inspired to reload the “Standard SATA AHCI Controller:” right-click  the entry, Update driver, Browse my computer for drivers, Let me pick from a list…, reload the only entry showing. The plugged in SATA drive appeared immediately thereafter. Yay!

No drives appeared until I reloaded the standard SATA AHCI controller driver. Then, they popped right up.

Otherwise, this was a terrific, if time-consuming, experience. Because I must wear reading glasses now for close-in work (cataract surgery last fall), I had to give myself extra light and room for the build. I ended up taking over the island in our kitchen (covered with old towels) for the initial assembly, and then for final cable arrangement and clean-up. Except for the SATA HDD and the lack of USB4 support that knocked out the Thunderbolt5 EX, everything worked on the first try. Amazing!

IMO, things turned out extremely well. I’ll be switching over to this build sometime this week. Stay tuned: I’ll tell you more soon.

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Undoing Systray Entanglements

Before I got turned in the right direction with APC PowerChute software yesterday, I’d already installed two different versions (see post). Each of them runs as a systray app. That means it’s set up as a startup task, and keeps one or more Windows processes running constantly. It turns out that neither app was exactly what I wanted, so I needed to uninstall them. Alas, the developers didn’t — and still don’t — include an exit option in the right-click menus for these beasts (see lead-in graphic). Thus, I found myself first undoing systray entanglements before Revo or built-in uninstallers would work. Let me explain…

What’s Involved in Undoing Systray Entanglements?

Revo Uninstaller gave me a good clue when I tried to uninstall either version of the PowerChute software. It flashed a warning that told me the software was running. I should try uninstall again when it was turned off. What, exactly, does that entail? Good question!

I had to open Task Manager, find all related processes and kill them. For the old PowerChute, that was easy: I just killed its one and only process. For the new PowerChute Serial Shutdown (PCSS) utility, I had to kill once process named pcss-systray.exe, and another named pcss-agent.exe. Indeed, to be on the safe side, I chose the right-click “End process tree” option in case there was anything else related also running under the PCSS umbrella.

It worked! After killing those items, I was able to successfully uninstall both PowerChute versions. Then, when Schneider tech support (APC’s parent company) furnished me a different version of the new executable, I was able to install and use it. It’s running right now, in fact.

This Story’s Moral Is…

If you find yourself needing to uninstall a systray app of some kind, and uninstallers won’t run, check Task Manager for related processes. If you end those tasks (or their process trees) you should be able to proceed. At least, that worked for me. Here in Windows-World, such esoterica occasionally comes in handy. Keep it in mind!

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UPS Goes Dark Means Replacement Time

I’m not sure if it was connected, but right after the local grid took a power hit last night, my CyberPower 1500 died. It’s actually not dead-dead (in the sense of dark and non-responsive). It’s showing a red battery indicator, which means I could fix it by ordering in and replacing the battery. But because that would be its 3rd battery, this time UPS goes dark means replacement time. So I’ve got Amazon open.

Order In: UPS Goes Dark Means Replacement Time

Over the years I’ve used both APC and CyberPower units for UPS coverage on my production PC. I plug in the tower, the monitors and my desk lamp for an estimated power draw of 1200 watts max. Actually my Seasonic Power Angel says the whole shebang usually comes in at or under 600W. So 1500 W is a good, conservative number for this situation.

This time around, I’m opting for the APC UPS 1500VA backup and surge protector. It goes for a not-painful but not-nugatory price of US$200 or so (tax included). But because I’m an Amazon Prime member, they can deliver it today. And with more thunderstorms in the forecast, that’s just what I want.

The unit is intended not just to give me enough time to ride out most short power glitches (most of our local events last 10 minutes or less, and the UPS is good for about a half-hour of power). It’s also intended to provide serious surge protection, so my primary desktop won’t get fried if something hits local lines. They’re underground in this neighborhood so that’s not highly likely, but better safe than crispy.

It’s Always Something, Right?

Keeping the fleet running here at Chez Tittel means I’ve learned to keep spares around for most routine replacements. But that doesn’t include UPS devices. I’m just grateful I can get another today. Here in Windows-World, there’s always something to fix, replace or re-jigger to  get it working as it should be. Kind of makes me wonder: What’s next? I’ll be finding out. If it’s moderately interesting count on me to share it here.

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CHKDSK Follies Follow Drive Prep

Whoa! I’d forgotten how time-consuming and intricate the built-in Window disk checker can be. My pithy summation, as I prep the old drives on my soon-to-be-retired i7 Skylake PC is: CHKDSK follies follow drive prep. And with 9 disk drives to prep and clean up to make that move, that’s more than enough folly for anybody, including me. For the record, I’m using the CHKDSK /f /x command.

What CHKDSK Follies Follow Drive Prep Means

As the lead-in graphic illustrates — it shows 5.25 hours to grind the fix and clean operation to completion — it takes real time to make all this happen. I left it running when I left my desk last night, and the time info was waiting for me when I logged back in this morning. Only 8 drives left to go!

The 5 stages of CHKDSK run as follows:

1. Examining basic file system structure
2. Checking file name linkage
3. Examining security descriptors
4. Looking for bad clusters in user data file
5. Looking for bad, free clusters

Now that I’m on my second of 9 drives it looks like CHKDSK spends most of its time on the two final stages. It took 5.22 hours for Stage 4 on the first drive. The second, now underway, is estimating about the same amount of time for stage 5. I’ll follow up with more numbers later.

Isn’t that just the way things go in Windows-World sometimes? The job has to get done. Then the waiting begins. It can take a while, as these numbers already intimate (and may later show: I’ll keep track).

Total Times (Follow-Up 5 hrs later)

Looks like the CHKDSK stuff is actually all over the place. I had two drives take less than 1 second (!) to complete, most others came in at or around 1 minute (72 seconds, anyway). The first two drives I tried had trouble in need of repairing, and that skewed my impressions. Go figure! All cleaned up now, though.

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Going Old School: X1 Extreme Driver Repair

In making my rounds this morning, I found the touchpad driver MIA on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (8th-Gen i7 CPU, c. 2018). On a machine of this august vintage, that could mean only one thing. Its driver must have gotten corrupted or gone sideways. That’s how I found myself going old school: X1 Extreme driver repair became my mission. Let me tell you what I did, and how I fixed that problem.

Going Old School: X1 Extreme Driver Repair Manuevers

No cursor from the touchpad meant some kind of driver issue, if not device failure. Hoping for the former, and dreading the latter, I started down the troubleshooting trail, as follows:

1. Reboot the PC. On a new boot-up and login, keyboard works fine but still no cursor.  Still no touchpad cursor, so I plug a wired mouse into the USB-A port to shoot more trouble.

2. Inside Device Manager, I find the touchpad driver as a Synaptics item under “Mice and other pointing devices.” I try reloading same via Driver > Update Driver > Browse my computer for drivers, then take what I’ve got from the “Let me pick from a list of available drivers…” branch. Reboot again: still no touchpad cursor.

3. Visit the Lenovo Driver Support page, grab the latest Synaptics Touchpad driver, and install same. Reboot PC again. Voila! Touchpad cursor appears and is working properly. Problem solved…

Final diagnosis: the on-disk touchpad driver had gotten corrupted. Downloading and installing a new one got the touchpad working again. Good-oh!

What’s (or Would Have Been) Next?

If the driver replacement hadn’t done the trick, my next move would have been to visit Settings > System > Recovery, there to hit the Reinstall now button to perform an in-place upgrade repair install. Note: this replaces all drivers as part and parcel of rebuilding the running OS image.

Had that failed, it’s pretty likely I would have had to decide if I wanted to fork over the money for a new touchpad and get it repaired, or attempt those repairs myself. I’m glad things didn’t go that far. Replacing a driver costs only time and effort, but no money. Touchpads aren’t free (Copilot says replacement cost is US$50-70, and if I had to take it to a shop that would add at least another US$100 or so). Again: glad no such repairs were needed. Case closed on a high note: it’s a good day in Windows-World.

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