Nick

Recently my computer has been having some issues with crashing. I ve been tinkering around with the components because it was crashing as a result of a fault somewhere. It starts now but all of the sudden I have no audio at all. The speaker icon on the taskbar is muted and when I enter my playback devices all that is listed are 4 nvidia HDMI outputs that cant be accessed. I used to have the realtek audio manager which has disappeared as well. I have tried running the trouble shooter, I have tried searching for new components in the device manager and I have redownloaded the exact realtek drivers that came with my Asus mobo from the disk that came with the mobo. Nothing has resulted in any progress.

Recently the owner of the company I work for called us into his office and made us sign a form. The form basically said that if we made any mistake that cost the company money, we could be suspended for at least a week without pay. Further mistakes would mean termination. He gave us the choice to either sign the paper and agree to his terms or we could simply quit on the spot if we chose not to sign. Many of my coworkers have kids and stuff so we all just signed, not wanting to throw away our jobs. I know it is after the fact but can our boss actually do this out of the blue like this and is it allowable for him to make us sign it or forfeit our jobs?

I have a small ghost pepper plant that I started growing about 3 months ago. The stalk is about 6" to 7" tall and has a large number of large leaves as well as a few small ones. However, recently, the plant seems to have stopped growing. No new leaves have formed and the plant itself isn't getting any taller. The larger leaves are starting to crowd some of the smaller ones.

Should I repot the plant in a larger container? Which leaves should be trimmed- big ones or small ones, top or bottom? 'd really like to see this plant survive the winter.

I am looking into making a crushed glass and resin counter top as part of a kegerator project. I have settled on using epoxy resin over polyester resin because of its increased resistance to heat and chemicals. I plan to pour in layers to avoid too much heat being generated and causing my casting to warp or crack. Even so, I was wondering if anyone can suggest an epoxy resin that would be best suited for casting such a large piece.

Also, as for a mold, I am still a little unsure as to how to create a good, smooth mold to cast in. I was thinking liquid rubber around a wood box. Is there a good mold sealer on the market that will create a nice smooth finish against the wood so the rubber doesn't catch all the grooves in the wood?

My computer can find, but not install any Windows updates. When I select updates to be installed the process quits and I get the error code 0x80070424.

Using this site, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968002#method3 I have followed both steps 1 and 2 and neither did anything. I was trying to do step 3 but when I search for BITS, nothing is listed. This is where I am stuck. I have found the BITS repair tool for Windows Vista but have not found a repair for BITS for Windows 7.

I am running Windows 7 64bit Home Edition and because of this problem it is now a month out of date.

I recently purchased a MALM bedroom set from IKEA. I love the furniture but even though I bought the "high" MALM frame, it is still a little low for my taste. I lose a lot of potential under bed storage space and sometimes I find it a little difficult to get up from the bed.

Does anyone have any clever ideas on how to safely raise the bed about a foot or so. Something that won't fall apart if the bed were to... move. i have tried to find ideas online but I haven't run across anything that really works for me yet. In addition, I would probably need to raise the night stand as well so it is an appropriate height for the bed.

My boss is trying to sell a White Clad "Ice Box" end table.

It has the brass name plate and hardware and is constructed from solid oak. I have seen various prices around the internet for other White Clad pieces but nothing for this particular end table. It has a drawer on top and a door with a small sliding hinge on it. The piece is in very good condition as well

Brand new iPhone 4S with a 2GB data plan through Verizon has gone beyond 2GB of data in only 10 days.

The phone has only a few apps, none of which use a lot of data.

Printed off data log through Verizon's website and it shows 5 instances out of 10 days where data usage was marked at over 100MB at one time. These 5 instances make up nearly 1GB of data.

Verizon has been unable to determine why data is being used so fast but they are still trying to charge overages for the excess data used.

Has anyone else had this issue?

I am looking for a work around to a minor annoyance I have noticed on multiple computer cases. Whenever I go to plug in headphones/mic with 3.5mm jacks, or in some cases, a USB device, into the front ports on my PC, the computer restarts itself.

I know it is from static build up in the devices but I thought maybe this wouldn't be such a problem on some of the more pricey cases... which I have found out is not the case.

Does anyone know of an effective way to ground the front ports to eliminate this issue?

I have had this issue with two different cards now and I do not know what is going on. My wireless card seems to be functioning just fine, however it is listed as being disconnected and cannot be used to connect to my wireless network.

I am using...

TP-LINK brand TL-WN851ND wireless card

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Zyxel PK5000Z router provided by Century Link

Under device manager the card shows up without any error messages

- through device manager I have attempted to update drivers which it says are all up to date

The card came with a small utility program I installed

- the utility opens when Windows starts up and always lists all available networks in the area, including mine.

- when I put in my password for my wireless it thinks a little while then says the password may be incorrect (I have checked numerous times to make sure my password is correct.

The card itself has a small green indicator LED which is always solid green

In the notifications section of my taskbar, the icon for the card and utility is shown but it is greyed out and when I hover over it, it says it is disconnected.

I have removed and reinserted the card as well as uninstalled and installed the software for the card and neither of these had any effect.

I thought initially it was my old card, which did the exact same thing. However, after replacing it with my current card, which I purchased brand new, I have ruled out it is a card issue.

I am totally stuck. I have my computer on a wired connection for now but I would like to get the wireless working again so I can use my computer in the living room for streaming movies.

My dogs pull against their leashes a lot when I walk them. I had a friend suggest that I run the leash from their collar down their backs and then loop it around their midsection just forward of the back legs. Instead of pulling against their necks, if they pull on the leash, it tightens around their mid sections and this seems to be more effective in getting them to stop pulling. I know dogs have a somewhat complex anatomy internally and while the method seems to work, I was wondering if it is safe for the dog.

I have the iPhone 4S through Verizon. It is currently running software version 5.0.1, which the updater says is the newest version.

I went to send a text message to someone I had already been texting and when they replied, it showed up as a new conversation rather than going into the one I was already engaged in with them. I erased the message I had just gotten from them so I had only one conversation going with then and I shut the phone off then turned it back on. Now all my conversations in messaging list the persons phone number instead of their name. This is the case with all conversations except the two that had the multiple conversations running.

Some of the numbers show the 1+ international area code in front of them, others do not. When I receive a text and it appears on the lock screen, it shows the name of the person but it is still listed as a number when I got to the actual messaging tab. All my contacts are still intact in the contacts tab as well.

I have already tried calling the Verizon *228 number and updating my phone that way and it did nothing.

You kind folks should help me out before I have to go ruin some Apple store employee's afternoon because my "superior Apple product" just took a dive on me. Please note that the quotes were used to denote sarcasm as I honestly don't much care for Apple products. I only got the iPhone because it was a little faster than the Android counterparts that the store had available.

This is the second card I have been through that does the same thing.

I install the card, then the software and drivers. After that, I can go into my Device Manager and the card is listed with no errors and the drivers are up-to-date. However, when I click the icon in the bottom right on the taskbar, it shows my card is disconnected and no wireless networks appear.

I have attempted to uninstall and reinstall the device software as well as physically reinstall the card: all yield the same results.

I am running Windows 7 Home 64-bit. I am using a Zyxel pk5000z router provided through Centurylink. The wireless card I am trying to get working is a TP-Link brand TL-WN851ND wireless N, PCI adapter.

There is only one slot on my mobo for the wireless card to fit into, so I am not ruling out that the slot is faulty but at the same time, if it were a bad slot, then I would assume that the card wouldn't even read.

I have an old work computer that was given to me that I would like to use for daily use at home but before I can do that I need to wipe all our work data off the hard drive. I would like to do so without also removing the OS, so I can basically have a clean hard drive with just the OS installed.

The computer is a Dell Inspiron 531 and it is running Windows 7. Do I need the disc for Windows 7 in order to be able to do this or can I go through the BIOS and avoid needing the disc?

I have a friend overseas who I would like to talk to, however... using my cellphone costs a ton of money to call outside the states. I was looking into Skype's video chat service, which from what I understand is free. I do know that Skype charges for international calling but I am unclear as to whether or not this carries over into video chat. I would like to talk to my friend on a fairly regular basis but I can't be spending a ton of money to do it.

I have a friend who is overseas in Africa. She uses a phone with a California area code. I am unsure as to whether this is considered national long distance since the phone number is a California number, or if it is international because of the physical location.

I have a Zonet ZEW1642D (I believe this is the card I have, it is only one of two possible models) and I am running it on Windows 7 Home 64Bit

The card worked just fine when I purchased it and worked fine up until yesterday when I noticed that the cards shows up as "disconnected". This issue came about sometime in the past week between moving the computer to my new home and attempting to connect wirelessly yesterday after my internet was activated.

I have removed and reconnected the card as well as removed and reinstalled the software that came with the card.

I can access all the features of the card but it will always display that it is disconnected. In my device manager it does not seem to appear, at least not under the name of either Zonet (the manufacturer) and Ralink (the software provider for the card).

I hope the card isn't shot but I do not know how to fix it from here.

My issue is specifically with the driver on my EVGA branded GTX560 TI superclocked GPU. The device driver will crash, leaving me in the middle of a game with a frozen screen before it goes black and the driver recovers.

This card is used in a system with the below specs.

ASUS Crosshair Formula IV mobo

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU

Corsair Vengeance series DDR3 RAM (2 x4GB)

Windows 7 64-bit Home Edition

Dual monitor setup

(1) Acer AL1717 connected via VGA

(1) LG Flatron E2250 connected via HDMI

This is an issue that occurs with BOTH the 285.52 driver, the latest driver for the 500 series cards, as well as the Beta 290.53 driver. I have noticed that the issue occurs less with this driver but it does still happen.

I have tried uninstalling and re downloading/installing the 285.52 driver and it did nothing. So I got the Beta driver which reduced the frequency of driver crashes but still did not solve the issue.

The drivers have only crashed while playing MW3. They do not seem to have any issues while I play other games or just use the computer for internet or non-game programs.

Any help is much appreciated

I have a wireless mouse and keyboard and occasionally when I go to plug in the USB charger for them, the computer will suddenly restart itself like it lost power. More specifically, this does not occur when the plug is fully plugged in. I can literally touch it to the slot and the computer will do this. It happens both on the computer end of the cable and on the peripheral end of the cable.

The computer doesn't actually shut off, it just resets but Windows never comes back on. My only solution is to hard reset. It seems like some sort of static charge or something.

I am about to move and I am trying to figure out which internet speed I should purchase. My roommate and I both play PC games (COD, WoW, Lol, etc.) and would be doing so at similar times during the day. We both also usually have at least 1 internet window running with music or Teamspeak. I have a 7Mb/s connection at my house currently and when more than one person uses the internet or plays a game the connection suffers. I have narrowed it down to pretty much 12 or 20Mb/s but I don't want to pay the extra for the 20 if I can use 12 without any issues. Any input is appreciated.