Tag: Windows

How to Fix Windows 7/8 “Play To” feature when it stops working.

“Play To” is a feature of Windows 7 and 8 that will push content from a local computer to a compatible rendering device. In my case, I push video files from my local computer to my Xbox 360 in just a few clicks. It works great… when it’s working.

Thankfully when the “Play To” fails to open the application on the computer to push to a device, there’s an easy fix.
Simply open Task Manager and look for “Windows Digital Media Controller Application” in processes and kill it.

Then go back to the “Play To” menu and try again and it will work.

Fix Surface RT Limited Wifi Connection

NOTE: Changing the BAND settings below will cause 5Ghz wifi to no  longer work on your Surface. You must keep BAND at 6 for 5Ghz wifi connectivity.

10/31/2016 UPDATE:

This setting is now found in the following location:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0000]
 "Band"=dword:00000004
 "[2.4Ghz or 5Ghz]AutoUse40MHz"=dword:00000000

Tip came from: https://kb.iu.edu/d/bdms and modified slightly by me.

This helpful tip came from a long Microsoft community thread. Until Microsoft gets a fix for this, the best result is to disable Wireless N mode on the Surface, which is the cause of the connection problems.

1) Open regedit.
2) Go to the following tree location:
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\”
3) Find “AutoUse40Mhz” and set it to “0” (“1” is default)
4) Change the entry below this named “Band” to “4” (“6” is default)

Reboot and Surface will connect using only the 802.11 b/g band, instead of the N band.

This has been working well on my Surface RT so far. Hopefully Microsoft gets a permanent fix for this. :\

Fix “USB Device Not recognized” / Code 43 Error

I encountered this error on 2 different computers. All but one of my USB devices would work, and the port I plugged it into was fine, because other devices worked with it.

There were many posts about how to fix this issue on the internet, but none of them worked for me. I stumbled upon my own answer based off ideas of uninstalling the USB Controllers (close, but didn’t work for me). Try this simple fix below.

1) Open Device Manager
2) In “Universal Serial Bus controllers” delete all entries that are “USB root hub”. Unplug and re-insert any USB devices (mice or keyboard for example) that stop working, and when they’re active again continue uninstalling any remaining listings.