The Geeks' Den

If you're using a wired network with a gigabit Ethernet switch:

If you're using a gigabit Ethernet switch device in your home network configuration and you're experiencing low video quality or choppy playback, try changing the flow control setting for your network adapter (also known as a network interface card (NIC)).

To enable flow control for your network adapter:
1. On your computer, click the Start button , click Control Panel, type view network connections in the search box, and then click View network connections.

2. Right-click your network connection, and then click Properties.

3. On the Networking tab, click Configure.

4. Click the Advanced tab, and in the list under Property, click Flow Control.

5. Under Value, choose an option to enable flow control (choose the Rx & Tx Enabled option if it's available), and then click OK.

NB: If enabling flow control doesn't help, you can also try changing the link speed for your network adapter (also known as a network interface card (NIC)).

To change the link speed for your network adapter:
1. On your computer, click the Start button , click Control Panel, type view network connections in the search box, and then click View network connections.

2. Right-click your network connection, and then click Properties.

3. On the Networking tab, click Configure.

4. Click the Advanced tab, and in the list under Property, click Link Speed & Duplex.

5. Under Value, choose the 100 Mbps Full Duplex option, and then click OK.

Just started using a nice bit of copying software, one of the engineers I work with was using this:

TeraCopy

For anyone who is frustrated with MS Windows Explorer Copy and Move, which don’t accurately show the time a file takes to copy or move and that you can’t pause it:

TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, providing the user a lot of features:

• Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.
• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.
• Windows 7 x64 support.

From here: http://www.codesector.com/files/teracopy.exe

When booting my main PC without the Windows 7 installation DVD I come up with something like:

Bootmgr missing

I have had the same issue with the latest Windows 7 RC 32bit and 64bit on my main PC. However not on my other PCs I have installed (they each only had one HDD installed). It looks as though when I have multiple Hard Drives whilst installing is what is causing the issue.

By unplugging all drives when installing Windows 7 RC this seems to eliminate the problem and Windows 7 installs and then runs fine without requiring the installation DVD to boot up.

One of my Windows 7 PCs on my Home network (which has 3 XP machines, 1 Vista, and 2 Windows 7 machines) started having the "Unidentified Network" problem. It wouldn’t connect to the already existing Home Network setup that it previously connected to fine. After some trial and effort and research, this is the following approach that worked for me:

First of all I checked CMD Prompt to see my current IP address using the command: ipconfig and it had 169.254.x.x which appears when the gateway fails to give the computer a correct address. Which should be something like 192.168.x.x (dependant on your network setup).

So I changed my adapter MAC address:

Device Manager >
Network Adapters >
Right Click on the network card >
Properties >
Advanced Tab >
Network Address and enter a 12-digit alphanumeric string (0 to 9 or A to F) in the value field eg 1234567890AB >
OK

Now open CMD prompt and type:
ipconfig /release
Enter
ipconfig /renew
Enter

Success! Now my pc is back on the correct network and I am able to stream movies to my other PCs again.

UPDATE: Microsoft has an article relating to this issue here. It looks like the issue goes back to Windows Vista not able to obtain an IP address from certain routers or from certain non-microsoft DHCP servers. I will update this post soon to show the 2nd option here.

So far i’ve installed Windows 7 RC on 3 pcs at home. My main pc, a test pc i’m building as a media centre pc for my new house, and a friends pc which is identical to the test pc I have (he did give that one to me).

The installation was so quick and easy, 20mins install approximately, and it was able to load up nearly all drivers for legacy cards etc during setup. That was one of the problems I expected to encounter but was pleasantly surprised that everything was working fine. The only issue I am having at the moment is trying to network the pcs to each other. The instructions seem very easy and yet I still cant get two of the Windows 7 machines to see each other, let alone any of the other Vista or XP machines we have on the network at home.

I’m keen to get this issue sorted so I can add my Xbox 360 to the network and stream my movies and TV shows all around the house to my TVs and projector. Its annoying having to transfer movies across each time I want to watch something using a USB stick.