Damn, bloomin' computers

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UBT - Timbo
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Damn, bloomin' computers

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi all

So, I had to have a bit of a shift around at home, to accommodate a new piece of furniture, so I ran down my caches and shut down the PC (which has been on since I moved here 8 months or so ago).

Got everything back in place and powered up the PC, which had moved literally about 8 inches...and all I got was a single weak sounding "beep" every 5 seconds or so :-(

So, out came the screwdrivers and a quick removal of my two GPU's so I could get to the mainboard and see if anything was wrong.

All seemed OK, so I put the first GPU back in and powered up...still the beeps continued. Took out that GPU and put the second one in, in a different slot and with different PCIe cables. Still beeps :-(

Next steps was to think laterally and to guess that maybe, having been "warm" for all this time, the memory DIMMs might need reseating (the old expansion/contraction problem), esp as the PC was shut down for about an hour. THAT solved it and PC is now back up and running but with just ONE GPU.

It'll stay like that as I need to get some VAT accounts finished by tomorrow and now it's working again, it's tempting fate to try and add the second GPU back. So, a few less GPU tasks will be completed for now.

ahhh...computers eh!!!

regards
Tim
UBT - Timbo
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Re: Damn, bloomin' computers

Post by UBT - Timbo »

More issues !!

So, the boot hard drive on this PC has actually now become dodgy....

It's been removed and installed as a "slave" on another spare PC which is running Win 7 Pro. All the important stuff has been copied off the drive...BUT

Question: I've used both Chrome and Firefox browsers and I have password files for both. But in which folders do they keep these files on the PC? - I'm assuming they are in default directories, plus I believe they are encrypted to some degree...so some tinkering might be required...

So, I am working on a way to somehow "resurrect" the HD to actually boot (it's not doing that at present - and booting in "Safe Mode" doesn't work, resulting in a BSOD - "Recovery Mode" doesn't work nor does "Booting with the Last Known Good Configuration") - and hopefully if I can get around this, it will be enough for me to at least run each browser and then Export the passwords.

If that fails I'll need to think laterally to try and sort this out. :-)

regards
Tim

PS I did export both my Chrome and Firefox passwords, as a text file, a while ago...so lots have been found already...but some haven't and I need to try and get these if I can.
Woodles
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Re: Damn, bloomin' computers

Post by Woodles »

Hi Tim,

I don't use Firefox (apart from in Linux) but the Chrome password file is called "Login Data" which is a SQL database file in the hidden directory "C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default" where xxxx is the name of the user you're interested in.

A random session key is generated for each password, the password is encrypted using the session key, the session key is encrypted using the users Windows login key then both are combined and saved as the SQL entry.

You might be able to copy the file into a new setup and decode it if you use the same Windows login details on both setups. If it's different on the new system then you won't be able to read the passwords.

Otherwise, maybe you could set up a Boinc project to crack the codes? :D

Mark
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Re: Damn, bloomin' computers

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Mark

Thanks for the info - extremely useful :-)

I was aware that Chrome uses encryption to hide the password data...it was just a question of finding where abouts the actual file was....

I've also learned about this, a nice looking tool called ChromePass:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/chromepass.html

I've not tried it yet, and I'm wondering if it'll work on another PC or if I need to get this "dodgy" drive to actually boot up and then perhaps this program might work better....but at least I'll know now where to "point" it to, if it doesn't find it automatically. :-)

regards
Tim
UBT - Timbo
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Re: Damn, bloomin' computers

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Woodles wrote: Fri May 04, 2018 9:24 pm
Otherwise, maybe you could set up a Boinc project to crack the codes? :D

Mark
Hi Mark

OK - so, I'll set up such a project and you create a nice website which allows users to easily upload their "Login Data" files to me. Some sort of batch file that members download onto a USB stick and it "auto-runs" when plugged into anyones PC...and then it uploads said file directly onto the project website.

I'll then create a "process" that "crunches" their supplied file and then offers a few BOINC credits for each file uploaded...and the BOINC credits awarded are increased by a given "power" for each and every different and verified file uploaded by each member.

So, one file uploaded = 10 credits, 2 files = 100 credits, 3 files = 1,000 credits.

I would say that within about a week or two, we could probably both retire ;-)

regards
Tim

PS: I've just tried the ChromePass program - it does a good job when run on the same PC where the "Login Data" file exists - but it doesn't work so well on an external drive - it keeps asking me to run it as "Administrator", even though I am... :-( Will try it again in the morning.
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