Month: December 2016

File Explorer Crashes When Searching

One day I was servicing a client when they mentioned that searching for files on the file share drive was causing File Explorer to crash. I’ve never heard of that so I asked for them to show me. Sure enough, after digging deep enough into their file structure, they start a search and File Explorer would crash. This was occurring after a Windows 10 upgrade, so I wondered if maybe Windows 10 was suffering from corruption of some kind.

After some work we were still no closer to the solution.

Finally, I researched the issue for some time and found a solution.

Browse to the drive folder, then click on the View Tab. Click Options, then click the View Tab again inside the window. Under files and Folders, check the box that says “Always show icons, never thumbnails” and click apply. After that, the crashes stopped.

Mac Freezes when Connected to Wi-Fi

One peculiar issue I have run into in the past was when a Mac would freeze when a user would try to join it to their company’s internal Wi-Fi network. After trying different things for some time, I decided to do a little research.

I discovered that there were cases that Mac’s would freeze when connected to certain networks via Wi-Fi. What could be causing such an odd behavior? The answer is IPv6. Mac’s don’t always play nice with IPv6. Thankfully there is an easy fix, though it does need the use of the Terminal (Located under Utilities, which is in of itself located under Applications in the Finder).

Inside the terminal, simply run this command to disable IPv6 (Note: Only applies to OSX 10.7.x and up):

Networksetup -setv6off Wi-Fi

To re-enable IPv6, run this command:

Networksetup -setv6automatic Wi-Fi

Still experiencing freezing issues on your Mac when connecting to a network, or have any other tips? Leave a comment below!

Input signal out of range when trying to install windows 10

I had an interesting yet frustrating issue pop up after buying a refurbished dell desktop. I wanted to do a fresh install of Windows 10 on the machine so I hooked it all up. The computer I bought only had integrated intel graphics so that is what I plugged my Dell 2412M (1920 x 1200) monitor into. The computer booted up and I could view the bios just fine, but when I booted to the USB drive to install windows, I ran into a problem.

The windows logo would show and then the dots would circle, then the screen would go black and I would get the error message: “Input Signal Out of Range”. Puzzled, I restarted the computer. I again could see the BIOS followed by the windows logo with the rotating dots. Yet again the monitor went dark and displays the same message as before. (Honesty check: the dell displays a different message than input signal out of range, but my second monitor had that message instead).

So I ran downstairs and grab a spare lower resolution monitor sitting in my garage. I brought it up and plugged it in and into the computer. Same message. Weird. So it isn’t the monitor – it’s the computer. Googling the issue brought me to others having this issue, even trying the steps outlined here: https://www.infopackets.com/news/9901/how-fix-windows-10-display-not-compatible-when-upgrading.

Yet the only real fix I could find was to get a graphics card and hope that solves the issue. This was an unacceptable solution as I had a 24-hour turnaround on this build and I wasn’t in the mood to shop at several stores to try to find a low-wattage low profile graphics card that wouldn’t be sold at rip off prices.

The fix ended up being pretty simple though – when I plugged in the second monitor I didn’t bother to restart the computer – I just did a straight swap. So this time I turned off the computer, swapped the screens, and turned the computer back on. Voila. Success.

This might not fix your problem, after all who else has multiple monitors just sitting around? But maybe there is someone out there who this helps.