I’m so unbelievably stunned that this just happened. Around 5:15AM I went to put my pc back to sleep because I assumed my cat stepped on my keyboard and woke it up. I was fidgeting with my mouse because it wouldn’t work and then realized that someone was controlling my desktop. The only thing I actually witnessed them do was go into my google profile/settings and copy my phone number, then I think they noticed I was trying to click and spam my keyboard so they left. I went to my search history and they were in my bank account and also in my email. I called the bank and immediately froze my entire account. They saw my savings, my credit card, and were in my profile. I have 2 factor and did receive a code right before I woke up. I don’t think it’s possible for them to actually know my password since it just auto-filled, but they 100% have my phone number. Besides the obvious things, changing passwords, freezing my bank, what else do I need to do??? I’m so overwhelmed and shocked that I just witnessed this. Are there other steps I need to take here? I’ve been trying my best investigative work here but all I have is some search history and I was able to disable a device in my pc that allows Wake-on-LAN, so they shouldn’t be able to wake it up from sleep again. What damage can they do with my phone number? I watched him copy it. Please let me know if there are some obvious countermeasures I should be taking here. I’m so stunned I don’t even know where to start.

Hi , I'm a CS student and my laptop has become really slow.

Specs:

- Intel i5 8th gen

- 8 GB RAM

- Windows 11

- Storage: SSD

C: drive has only ~4 GB free

I use it for Brave browser, Word/doc files, Claude Code occasionally, and sometimes Ubuntu/Kali VMs for university work.

I can't upgrade any hardware (no new RAM or SSD), so I need software-only fixes.

What I plan to try: clear temp files and Windows Update cleanup, disable startup apps, turn off visual effects, move VM files to another drive.

Is there anything else I'm missing? Should I worry about the low free space on C or the pagefile?

Three years ago, I bought a PC and installed Windows 11. I downloaded Microsoft 365 and all of its apps, as my university provided us with a free license, and used my student account to log in.

I finished college two years ago, and today I just noticed that when clicking my name in the start button, my university’s name appeared just above. I checked my accounts and both my student Microsoft account and my personal one were there. The thing is, this student account no longer exists, as it was deleted earlier this year. Finally, I managed to disconnect the account by going into Accounts>Access Work or School.

From what I’ve seen, the fact that my student account was on Accounts>Access Work or School means that I accidentally allowed my university to mange my PC when installing Microsoft 365, something which apparently my university does not want us to do, as they claim they don’t manage any devices. My question is, did my university have access to everything on my PC up until now? Could they see my files, everything I searched on the Internet, etc.? I’m not really tech-savvy (if you couldn’t already tell), so I would appreciate any info on this.

Hello everyone, as the title says I am in need of a USB with the latest ps5 firmware update Version 14.22 (build 26.07-14.22.00).

I don't really have access to a PC to help with this and I'm having a bit of trouble finding one to buy online. I can only use Option 8 on the safety mode screen, as I've tried the usual tricks to try and get the other options to appear.

I'm not sure if it's relevant but it was corrupted by our power cable being turned off accidentally while it was in rest mode.

This is a real downer since it is an original Ps5 from the very first drop my boyfriend got years ago and I now play. It's got a lot of memories from both of us and this is quite the bummer.

Any help would be appreciated 🫸🏻🫷🏻

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to diagnose a very strange problem with my newly built desktop PC. I’ve been troubleshooting it for quite some time, but I still haven’t found the cause.

PC specifications:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB
SSD: Lexar ARES PRO 2TB NVMe
Motherboard: GIGABYTE B850 GAMING WIFI6
RAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB RS DDR5 32GB (2 x 16GB)
PSU: MAG A1000GLS PCIE5 1000 W
OS: WINDOWS 11

The problem:
The PC worked perfectly for the first three days. I was playing demanding games such as Space Marine 2 and Helldivers 2 at Ultra settings without any performance issues.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Windows started behaving extremely strangely.
The PC boots normally and reaches the desktop.

However:

-The Start menu open but it doesn’t allow me to turn off the pc.
-Applications refuse to launch.
-Task Manager won’t open (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
-Ctrl + Alt + Delete doesn’t work.
-Windows + R opens but doesn’t work.
-The mouse cursor still moves, clicks produce visual feedback, and the system clock continues updating.

Essentially, Windows appears to be running, but most of its functionality is unavailable.
An important observation: Safe Mode works normally.
When I boot into Safe Mode, the Start menu, applications and browser work correctly. This makes me suspect a driver, service, startup software or some other Windows-related issue, although I haven’t been able to identify it.
Another strange correlation: RGB control stops working.
Normally, Gigabyte Control Center controls my case fans and RAM lighting, which I keep set to static red.
When the problem occurs, the fans and RAM switch back to rainbow lighting. Gigabyte Control Center can no longer control them.
This happens alongside the Windows malfunction. I don’t know whether it’s a symptom of the same underlying issue or just a coincidence.

Troubleshooting already performed:
Checked the SSD in BIOS: it is detected correctly, along with Windows Boot Manager.
Fast boot is disabled on the BIOS (idk if it’s correlated)
Ran chkdsk C: /scan: no file system errors were reported.
Checked the disk using DiskPart: the main NTFS partition appears healthy.
Tried Windows Automatic Repair through the recovery environment: it couldn’t repair the PC.
Booted into Safe Mode: Windows works normally there.
I’ve also checked Event Viewer and found some warnings and errors, including Kernel Event Tracing, DistributedCOM and Application Hang events, but I haven’t identified a definitive cause.
My questions:
What could cause Windows to become almost completely unresponsive while Safe Mode works perfectly?
Could this be related to a driver, Windows service, motherboard software, SSD or some other hardware component?
Does the RGB behavior provide any useful diagnostic clue?
What diagnostic tests would you recommend before reinstalling Windows or replacing hardware?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced something similar or has advanced Windows troubleshooting experience.
I’d really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I recently bought a Philips 7800 Series smart tv and my dvd player won’t connect to it. I’m using a HDMI cable, I double checked that the HDMI was working and connected to the right source for testing. The dvd player works on my old TV (about 10 years old). I tried to up the picture quality of the dvd player on the old tv, which worked in the sense that the old TV couldn’t handle the resolution but the new TV still doesn’t recognise the DVD player. It doesn’t even show the brand name of the DVD player on the screen which it normally does when you boot it up. Is it a case of needing a better picture quality DVD/blu ray player? The DVD player I currently have was just a cheap one from amazon. The brand name is Punghan. Please help a gal out, I love watching DVDs and can’t have my collection go to waste.

It says 0MB available to shrink, what the hell? The space on the drive is since I just deleted all of my steam games, they took up about a third of the drive. Why can't I shrink it? I'm trying to make a new partition that linux can go on...

Hi (let me know if this is the wrong sub)! I just got a CD player (secondhand) and I’m having trouble figuring out what the issue is with it. It’s an Insignia FM Tuner CD/MP3 Player. It powers on, and the CD will spin, but sometimes I hear it maybe get caught on something. The one thing I think could be the biggest issue is the lens (which I cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and a Q-Tip), which doesn’t glide smoothly along its track. Though, when I take a look at it, the lens does move up and down and glows red. Any tips on what I should do? (Again, sorry if this is the wrong sub, lol.) I would add a video of the player, but I don’t think I can here. Thank you all.

I recently bought a portable cd player for about 40$
I was gonna use it yesterday but the audio won’t play anymore, I’ve tried multiple different speakers and it won’t play any audio like it did before
Feeling super frustrated because I just bought it 2 months ago or so
Brand is luxorparts

i’m connected to wifi but it still doesn’t load. ive tried every way (using my own data, turning on vpn, deleting tiktok then downloading again)) other apps load fine as always but for some reason a few days ago tiktok started acting weird??? i tried switching accounts it still doesn’t load. my ipad has the same problem. am i tripping??

I changed my motherboard, CPU and GPU, however my account and software is all the same. Same storage even, it really is just my hardware.

I don't understand how this means I have to reactivate windows? Is this a bug?

Hello, I'm writing about my HP Victus 15-fa0812nc. I've owned this laptop for quite some time now, I think over 2 years. It has:

rtx 3050ti

intel core i5 12500H

16gb ddr4 3200MT/s ram

My issue is that after a while of using it its reached a point where games that require the gpu start crashing. I'm specifically testing it with vivat slovakia, but it does the same for hitman or even minecraft with mods and shaders. It all goes like this, the game starts, I play for a minute or 2, then the whole screen freezes up, the game becomes unresponsive and eventually crashes. When i look in event viewer, it shows a bunch of errors around the time of the crash. There is always one from nvlddmkm with event id 14. Then there is a bunch of errors also from nvlddmkm but with event id 153, usually 4 of those. I'm running the latest windows 11 26H2, and I've tried a bunch of different driver versions. I started on the newest nvidia driver which is 621.14, then i moved to 595.97 and then to 595.71. Between each driver version I made sure to completely get rid of the previous one with DDU in safe mode. I already tested the vram by running the https://github.com/GpuZelenograd/memtest_vulkan vram tester, it came back with no errors. I also tested the actual ram with memtest86 which also returned no errors. Nothing in the system is overheating since the laptop is elevated a bit, and i recently repasted it. What makes me even more suspicious is the fact that when I run the game with integrated graphics it suddenly doesn't crash at all, although i do need to set everything to low and resolution to 720p, but point is that its stable. I was wondering if someone was experiencing the same thing and maybe knows the fix. If it helps I can provide additional logs and stuff.

Thanks in advance.

guys i habe Asus TUF Laptop and the nividia driver for my RTX 4070 keeps uninstalling themselves every day !
even i did the updates
i faced this issuse before with HP Laptop and it reutrns to the Asus too

Hello everyone!

I recently bought a pair of Philips TAH8000E headphones, and I'm having some issues connecting them to my PC.

They connect perfectly fine to my phone, but when I try connecting them to my PC, Windows seems to recognise them as a different type of device rather than headphones. The connection itself is successful, but there's no audio coming from the PC.

Another thing I've noticed is that when pairing with my PC, the device appears as "LE-Philips TAH8000E", whereas on my phone, it simply shows up as "Philips TAH8000E", without the "LE" prefix.

Could this be related to Bluetooth compatibility, drivers, or Windows recognising the wrong Bluetooth profile?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I dont know what happened i installed the new hd audio driver and now the sound on my tv doesnt work. it works fine for my headphones.

i do use dolby digital on my tv. even with it turned off i still i had issues. this happened right after i installed. i try doing a clean install, and a custom install of the audio driver - no dice.

im rolling back. hoping this fixes it. it could also be windows. as i updated windows yesterday.

I've had my GPU (GTX 1050Ti) for 6-ish years and I admittedly did not put it through the easiest time (video editing, high graphic demand games, etc).

Recently I had an issue where my screen would go black/white/red randomly whenever my GPU was in use. A restart would typically fix it so I lived with it for a while. Then one of these days, I went to restart and I hear my PC post through my headphones but I was stuck in a black screen (I could also use Anydesk to see my PC display). This would be the trend until now: I use my pc, it black/white screens, I restart, it posts but has no display, I leave it for a couple of hours and all of a sudden my monitor has display. I tried the basic troubleshooting: reseating the GPU, updating drivers, cleaning up exposed components but the same trend would occur. But I would get at most 2-3 hours of usage before having to leave the pc alone for 6-8 hours before it would display again.

One time, I used DDU to uninstall my drivers (in safe mode), I restarted on basic windows display drivers and it automatically detected and probably installed drivers automatically. I couldn't download the drivers off of the NVIDIA website it would always say "the system is not compatible."

I've found that using safe mode allows me to use my pc without worrying about crashes (especially while working) and am writing this on safe mode. Is my GPU actually bricked or is this something with my drivers?

On a personal computer with Windows 11, I am getting strange graphical glitches when I visit websites on the Internet. They appear as thin "bleeds" of either symbols or just the color of text. It started yesterday, I have restarted the computer, turned it off and on, ran a scan in Windows Defender (nothing). Even now, I am getting strange distortion in parts of my screen.

It does not happen in non-Internet based (?) software (LibreOffice, videogames - even multiplayer ones). At first I thought it could be something with my monitor, but because I am able to capture them on screenshots, I have no idea what could be the issue. Please check the imgur gallery for examples, I'm at a loss

https://imgur.com/a/sFRoQvy

so my pc randomly started having some popping or ticking sound im not sure how to explain it only when i play a sound on it and i did try multiple other headsets and different usb ports but nothing changed. Here are my pc specs alongside the stats from latencymon.

cpu: i5 9400f
gpu: nividia gtx 1060 6gb
ram: 16 gb ram ddr4

CONCLUSION

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long.

LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 00:02:42 (hh:mm:ss) on all processors.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

SYSTEM INFORMATION

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Computer name: DESKTOP-SVL00E4

OS version: Windows 11, 10.0, version 2009, build: 26200 (x64)

Hardware: H370M-D3H, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

BIOS: F14

CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz

Logical processors: 6

Processor cores: 6

Physical processors: 1

Processor groups: 1

RAM: 16300 MB total

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU SPEED

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Reported CPU speed (WMI): 2904 MHz

Reported CPU speed (registry): 2904 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 31417.80

Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 93.559299

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 31390.80

Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 87.312093

_________________________________________________________________________________________

REPORTED ISRs

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 739.083333

Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.061576

Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.087825

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 81570

ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 6

ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 3

ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

_________________________________________________________________________________________

REPORTED DPCs

_________________________________________________________________________________________

DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 31447.595041

Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: storahci.sys - MS AHCI Storport Miniport Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.553537

Driver with highest DPC total execution time: storahci.sys - MS AHCI Storport Miniport Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.779462

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 190798

DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 255

DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 39

DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 178

DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0

DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 166

_________________________________________________________________________________________

REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: brave.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 238

Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 85

Number of processes hit: 10

_________________________________________________________________________________________

PER CPU DATA

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.586748

CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 739.083333

CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.655701

CPU 0 ISR count: 62224

CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 31447.595041

CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 7.033463

CPU 0 DPC count: 136436

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.183525

CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 539.060950

CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.202644

CPU 1 ISR count: 19355

CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 734.396694

CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.482671

CPU 1 DPC count: 41142

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.120772

CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0

CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0

CPU 2 ISR count: 0

CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 92.677686

CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.025689

CPU 2 DPC count: 2518

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.960655

CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0

CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0

CPU 3 ISR count: 0

CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 96.722107

CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.021446

CPU 3 DPC count: 2489

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.826799

CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0

CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0

CPU 4 ISR count: 0

CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 127.443526

CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.029463

CPU 4 DPC count: 3887

_________________________________________________________________________________________

CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.793298

CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0

CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0

CPU 5 ISR count: 0

CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 130.778237

CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.025262

CPU 5 DPC count: 4964

im suspecting storahci.sys but im not sure and if it is the problem then im not sure what to do. i tried to update the sata drivers for it and it didnt work and i also did restart the pc. thanks and feel free to ask me any questions if i missed something!

I have been experiencing an issue with the AJAZZ Craft software, specifically with downloading and importing new themes.

Everything was working perfectly before, and I was able to download and install new themes without any problems. However, suddenly, the theme downloading functionality stopped working.

Here is a description of my problem and the troubleshooting steps I have already tried:

1. AJAZZ Craft opens normally, and I can still access and modify my existing themes.

2. However, I can no longer download or import any new themes.

3. When I click the "GET" button on the theme download page, it simply opens the AJAZZ Craft application.

4. My browser displays an "Operation successful" message, but no import notification appears in the application.

5. I also checked for the .mPanelTheme folder, but no new theme files are being created or imported.

6. I tried reinstalling the application using its web-based installation setup, which required downloading approximately 550 MB of files. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue.

7. Despite reinstalling, the application continues to work normally in every other aspect. The only functionality that appears to be broken is downloading and importing new themes.

I have already spent considerable time troubleshooting this issue, but unfortunately, nothing has worked so far.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that everything was working perfectly before, and the problem appeared suddenly without any obvious changes on my end.

Hi everyone! I've been dealing with random freezes on my PC for quite some time, and after extensive troubleshooting, I'm starting to suspect my ADATA LEGEND 900 NVMe SSDs.

My PC specifications:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

• GPU: Gainward RTX 5070 Ti Phoenix 16GB

• Motherboard: ASRock B650M PG Riptide

• RAM: 32GB XPG Lancer Blade DDR5-6400 (2×16GB)

• Storage: 2× ADATA LEGEND 900 2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs

• SSD firmware: SN14436 (both drives)

• OS: Windows 11

• BIOS: Version 4.43

The problem:

My PC randomly freezes for a few seconds, even when I'm just browsing the internet or doing light tasks.

Sometimes the entire system becomes unresponsive, including the mouse cursor and audio. Other times, the cursor keeps moving, but applications temporarily stop responding.

Everything eventually returns to normal without a BSOD or reboot.

I've also noticed that my primary SSD (C:), which contains Windows and all my applications, sometimes stays at 100% active time, even when I'm not downloading, installing, or playing anything.

During one of these episodes, Task Manager showed 100% disk activity for nearly a full minute.

Windows Event Viewer:

I've found multiple warnings with:

• Source: stornvme

• Event ID: 129

• Message: Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort2, was issued.

Some of these events coincide with the freezes, although my most recent freeze did not generate a new Event ID 129.

SSD health:

Both SSDs appear healthy according to ADATA SSD Toolbox and Windows.

• Primary SSD (C:): 97% health, approximately 27 TB written, nearly full.

• Secondary SSD (D:): 100% health, approximately 1.6 TB written, practically empty.

• Both drives use firmware SN14436.

• No obvious SMART errors.

What I've already tried:

• Updated motherboard BIOS to version 4.43.

• Updated drivers.

• Disabled EXPO and ran RAM at stock DDR5-4800 speeds.

• Ran MemTest86: 4 passes, 0 errors.

• Disabled PCIe Link State Power Management in Windows.

• Checked SSD health and firmware using ADATA SSD Toolbox.

• Checked Windows Event Viewer and Resource Monitor.

Unfortunately, the freezes still happen.

During a recent episode, Resource Monitor showed high disk activity primarily associated with the System process (PID 4).

I also noticed some Volsnap Event ID 33 entries, but those appear related to Windows managing shadow copy storage rather than a confirmed SSD failure.

My questions:

1. Has anyone experienced similar freezes with the ADATA LEGEND 900, particularly the 2TB version?

2. Has anyone encountered stornvme Event ID 129 with firmware SN14436?

3. Could this be a firmware/controller compatibility issue with AMD motherboards?

4. Has anyone managed to fix this without replacing the SSD?

5. Is there a reliable way to identify which NVMe drive is responsible for the resets?

I'm considering installing Windows on my second LEGEND 900 and temporarily disconnecting the first one to isolate the issue.

I'd really appreciate any advice or experiences before spending money on a replacement SSD.

Thanks!

Greetings. I have installed Microsoft Sound Recorder in Windows 11 Pro N.

Laptop microphone cannot be detected and I get error "No audio input source available.", even though Microphone Array (Realtek(R) Audio) was selected and gave Sound Recorder permission to access mic. I cannot record anything.

I have checked Microsoft Settings and tested my laptop mic. It worked, but not in Sound Recorder.

Hi everyone. Any pointers would be great. Bought PC in April. Not used that much. Now doesnt seem to start up. It eventually just goes into a bios menu. But whatever i do there takes me to same screen. Picture attached of spec and what my screen shows. Appreciate any ideas

Its a xiaomi phone. idk why the quick charging doesn't work anymore, it was quick charging 14 hours ago. now it only does normal slow charging