Recent Posts

4551

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by 4wd on November 24, 2010, 04:57 PM »

From (jaded and mutilated) memory they are expensive to produce, really expensive to buy and not fit for very high frequencies. Then again, a PSU is not high frequency.

-Shades (November 24, 2010, 04:46 PM)

All modern Switchmode PSUs are high frequency, starting from about 20kHz and going much higher.  This problem never, (well very, very rarely), appeared in older PSUs that only ran at mains frequency, (50/60 Hz).

Tantalums are unsuitable for this application because their ESR is much higher than electrolytics at these frequencies.

I do have a PSU tester so I could give that a whirl.

-Carol Haynes (November 24, 2010, 04:38 PM)

Unless it can provide an equivalent load at switch on to replicate inrush current, it might not do much except show if the output voltages are within limits.

Wow, don't think I've ever seen that before, even with pretty fubar boxes O_o

-f0dder (November 24, 2010, 04:49 PM)

You need to walk the Dark Side of electronics

4552

Living Room / Re: Acer 22" LED LCD $129 @ Newegg.com

« Last post by 4wd on November 24, 2010, 04:30 PM »

Dang! I'd have gone for that...  Too bad they won't ship to the frozen hinterland north of the 49th and east of 140 degrees W...  

-Darwin (November 24, 2010, 03:39 PM)

This work for you: MyUS ?

They list NewEgg amongst their top ten shops.

EDIT: Then again with the amount they charge for shipping maybe not.....maybe SJ can sell you one of his spares

4553

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by 4wd on November 24, 2010, 04:01 PM »

My vote goes to the PSU - it sounds like the electrolytics are failing.

Other than that, usually when a piece of equipment won't start at switch on but will after it's had current flowing for a little while it indicates a hardware fault, (bad soldering, components gone marginal, etc), because the equipment has had a little time to warm up.

As per SJ, change the PSU first if that doesn't work then take it back to PSU, MB, RAM and CPU, see if that works then add things one at a time until it fails.

The only problem with temperature related faults is they can take a while to isolate since about the only time you can guarantee it'll happen is first thing on a cold morning, (and even then it won't if you're watching for it ).

EDIT: Pipped at the POST by Bamse

In one case, the reason for the manufacture of faulty electrolytic capacitors was industrial espionage gone wrong: several Taiwanese electrolyte manufacturers began using a stolen formula that was incomplete, and lacked ingredients needed to produce a stable capacitor.

 

More likely than exploding electrolytics is that they have gone high ESR^w due to aging and/or electrical ripple/spikes.  This will normally not be visible and you'd need to pull the equipment boards out and test each electrolytic capacitor with an ESR meter - not something to do if you're not electronically inclined.

4554

General Software Discussion / Re: How to replace a driver in a .img file?

« Last post by 4wd on November 24, 2010, 03:43 PM »

But yes -- you cannot replace a file in an ISO or image. They are read only. You must extract then recreate them.

-Renegade (November 24, 2010, 02:48 PM)

Since when?

I've used UltraISO to replace files in ISOs plenty of times - it's what it was made for.

@brahman: Give UltraISO a try and see if it will open the file.

If it doesn't then try mounting it using DaemonTools Lite, (don't install the adware), if you can then you should be able to view what type of bootloader it uses.

There's also the really old CDMage.

4555

Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook

« Last post by 4wd on November 22, 2010, 11:31 PM »

You allow your phone to ring?  I keep my cell on vibrate, and my phone only rings for certain people.  Others I get back to when I have the time.  When my wife is at home, it's a different thing... but for my purposes, it might as well not be there.

-wraith808 (November 22, 2010, 11:27 PM)

It's a bit hard to get the phone to vibrate, it's attached to the wall.....I have to wait for an earthquake.

I have a mobile - it's on all the time, (although hardly ever carried), and that's just to receive calls from the property manager.  My wife has a mobile, it's turned on when she wants to make an outgoing emergency call, (car broke down, etc), at all other times it's off.

4556

Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook

« Last post by 4wd on November 22, 2010, 07:36 PM »

Probably a generational thing too. My great-grandfather disliked telephones because he felt they were intrusive. He likened them persons who banged on his front door anytime they wanted to ask him something rather than do the polite thing and wait till they saw him in public; or better yet, sent him a letter he could reflect on and respond to at his own convenience.

-40hz (November 22, 2010, 10:14 AM)

Good on him!

Phones are intrusive - that's why they make noises demanding attention.

AFAIAC, the only people who don't find them intrusive are either business people who depend on them or people suffering from ADS, (the constant need to SMS included).

The only time our phone rings is when someone wants something, until then everyone's happy to wait until we get together or email.  This means there is more to talk about face-to-face instead of everyone sitting around wondering what to do since they all discussed what bowel movements they had the previous morning via "social media".

I have the same outlook towards "social media" as your ancestor and with any luck I'll never get over it.

4557

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice Needed: Optical Storage

« Last post by 4wd on November 22, 2010, 06:39 PM »

If the game uses Steam, then you can use it to back up the game to DVD after it's installed - it will split it up onto separate DVDs, (or user specified size), and provide an executable on them to reinstall it.  You could just back it up to the ISOs, then store those on a separate HDD mounting them to restore when necessary.

This is what I've done with CoD: Black Ops - downloaded from D2D, installed and then backed up using Steam.

4558

Living Room / Re: The Story of Stuff - Cosmetics, Bottled Water...

« Last post by 4wd on November 19, 2010, 09:05 PM »

(note in my original reply I said "auto-sort trash", not "auto-sort recycling" - I know *that* can be done).

-JavaJones (November 19, 2010, 01:04 AM)

Sorry, I missed the distinction.   

4559

Living Room / Re: GPS Unit Recommendations?

« Last post by 4wd on November 19, 2010, 06:04 AM »

There's also OpenStreetMap with software for various platforms.

4560

Living Room / Re: Ideas for a website...I need help.

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 10:30 PM »

Maybe that's because real life isn't funny enough.

-CodeTRUCKER (November 18, 2010, 10:03 PM)

Who needs real life when you have DonationCoder?

4561

Living Room / Re: Ideas for a website...I need help.

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 09:20 PM »

How great would it be to be able to just find a simple and uncomplicated bite to eat at 3:AM near SW 43rd ST & Brockney Ave?

-CodeTRUCKER (November 18, 2010, 09:01 PM)

Buy a Garmin Nuvi 3790T.


Given that Renegade has already mentioned poor people and www.weneedtoeat.com has connotations of poor people, wouldn't the most obvious use of the site be to:

1) Give locations of free food give aways.
2) Charity meals.
3) Bins with the choicest scraps.

etc

Disclaimer: In no way am I disrespecting poor people but given that a large amount of traffic at this site ends up devolving into some kind of weird free-for-all comedy show I feel it's only right that I be allowed to contribute.

4562

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: [eCommerce Script] TomatoCart - A First Look Review

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 07:42 PM »

OK, this is a first look review of this website script.  Please bear with me as I am currently being harrased by my puppy whilst typing! 

-Stephen66515 (November 16, 2010, 08:33 PM)

Would that be Puppy Linux?

4563

Living Room / Re: GPS Unit Recommendations?

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 07:31 PM »

Where did you read that?

-Renegade (November 18, 2010, 12:26 AM)

Amazon

Be aware, he is in the US of A and as such the licensing arrangements may be more anal than Australia.



Also, you could just disable the Traffic Alerts or move to another country

4564

Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 06:37 PM »

wtf, first time i clicked the image, instead of resizing, i got this:

-Stephen66515 (November 18, 2010, 06:35 PM)

Here it just got bigger.

4565

Living Room / Re: Are "you" "your friend"?

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 06:33 PM »

Im not my friend atm as I hurt my knee 

-Stephen66515 (November 18, 2010, 05:12 PM)

Just remember:

A friend in kneed is a friend to feed.

4566

Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 06:19 PM »

I'm totally with you.

I hate Facebook.
I hate Twitter.
I hate Myspace.
I hate LiveJournal.
I hate my phone.
I hate email, too.
I kinda hate Skype also.

Just give me my beloved Miranda IM, and I'm set. It does all I want communication-wise.

World, this is a message to you. Don't waste my time with trivial crap please. Thank you.

-worstje (November 18, 2010, 04:00 PM)

+20 except:
I hate IM - FFS, I don't want some stupid little window popping up in the middle of CoD:BO and causing me to die under a hail of lead!

And email is kinda OK as long as you don't expect a reply.

If I wanted to be social I wouldn't be sitting in front of this %$^#&*@! computer!

• Noticed my neighbor used to be pretty; now she's gone to hell.

-zridling (November 18, 2010, 03:49 PM)

Oh you complete b$%#&@^!  Now I have to go cleanse my brain at:

NSFW (unless you're a mechanic in a garage)

wickedweasel

It's really just for development when I get around to it.

-Renegade (November 18, 2010, 05:30 PM)

Here ya go:


I don't use it anymore

4567

Living Room / Re: Ideas for a website...I need help.

« Last post by 4wd on November 18, 2010, 04:40 AM »

Duck a l'orange with grilled broccoli......


for breakfast........



You guys either have too much money, live in a 5* hotel or it's on the wrong menu

4568

Living Room / Re: iPod - tell me why I should buy one

« Last post by 4wd on November 17, 2010, 10:38 PM »

I had a whip around the local retailers at lunch and while I can buy an iPod anywhere, there is a serious dearth of alternatives.

...

Ideally I'm looking for a device that is in no way proprietry, ie one that doesn't require special software or drivers to charge or manage (effectively it would be USB key with a music player built in...)

-Target (November 16, 2010, 10:56 PM)

You don't have a DSE near you?

Give you a chance to play with the lower end of the scale

My friend just buys the cheap $20 2/4GB generic players, when they break he buys another - as Renegade said, they're a throwaway item these days.

4569

General Software Discussion / Re: My new favorite ftp client: Total Commander (yes, really)

« Last post by 4wd on November 17, 2010, 07:20 PM »

Yes, I would need all that with Explicit something or other.  Most ftp clients I've encountered do not have this.  It's not clear if Dopus can do it either, since there's nothing about the details of its ftp features on the Dopus website.  I'd love it if it could, since I use DOpus primarily.  Has anyone here connected to the dc server using Dopus?

-superboyac (November 17, 2010, 08:46 AM)

Form the website here:

Advanced FTP is an optional feature that you can select at the time you purchase Directory Opus, or add later.

It enables support for Secure FTP protocols, including:

    Secure FTP via SSL

    Both Implicit and Explicit Secure FTP connections are supported. Implicit means the client (Opus) issues an AUTH command and asks for an SSL connection. Explicit means the client assumes the server is running a SSL connection on port 990 and attempts to immediately open a connection (for example, as used by the excellent FTP server - Serv-U). Normally, implicit connections are recommended.

    Note that if the SSL connection is not accepted, then the FTP connection will fail. For security reasons it will not auto-fall back to a non-secure connection – instead, you will get an error message informing you that a secure connection could not be established.

    SSH / SFTP over SSH on port 22

    This system is based on the freeware Putty source code of Psftpa by Simon Tatham et al. Opus provides a seamless integration of the SSH connection type on port 22 and FTP over that connection as if it were a normal FTP connection. The SFTP protocol is more limited than normal FTP and some options in the FTP settings do not apply to SSH - these will be ghosted when this connection type is chosen. Because Opus essentially is based upon the Putty system, any settings from an existing Putty installation stored in the registry should be recognized and used as if you were connecting via the command line Putty version.

To order Advanced FTP with your Directory Opus 9 licence, simply select it under the Licences and Optional Features section on the order form.

4570

Living Room / Re: Is "Quick Format" safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 17, 2010, 01:54 AM »

Still, when you compare it to what it used to do on some early ATA drives, (render them useless or do nothing), it could be called an improvement.

4571

Living Room / Re: Is "Quick Format" safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 17, 2010, 01:47 AM »

So my terminology is wrong - so sue me

But I believe that a LLF also initiates a bad block scan, something a single-pass wipe won't.

-4wd (November 17, 2010, 01:35 AM)

And I probably should of put it this way:

But I believe that a Reinitialisation, (what I termed LLF), also initiates a bad block scan, something a single-pass wipe might not, (depending on the software you use).

4572

Living Room / Re: Is "Quick Format" safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 17, 2010, 01:35 AM »

FWIW, AFAIK all modern "low level format" utilities actually perform a "zero-fill erase" or "single-pass wipe" operation - so it's all just different ways of saying the same* thing.  

-40hz (November 16, 2010, 10:32 PM)

But I believe that a LLF also initiates a bad block scan, something a single-pass wipe won't.



Edit: Remove f0dder reference because of my misinterpretation.

4573

General Software Discussion / Re: My new favorite ftp client: Total Commander (yes, really)

« Last post by 4wd on November 16, 2010, 11:12 PM »

I use DOpus - it simply opens a pane in my two-pane UI and it works just like any other directory. Pretty sweet!

-J-Mac (November 16, 2010, 10:30 PM)

But I believe superboyac wants SFTP/SSH capability - with DOpus that costs an extra AU$10 per license.

4574

Living Room / Re: Is "Quick Format" safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 16, 2010, 06:33 PM »

This is somewhat of a shock to me - first, because this means a format doesn't wipe your data. Second, because new bad sectors might not be discovered merely from a read, and sector reallocation only kicks in on a write. Eek.

Thanks for making me look into this, Joker - I'll be sure to do an explicit single-pass wipe instead of format from now on.

-f0dder (November 16, 2010, 06:59 AM)

You could always try a Low Level Format, it worked on my 1TB Samsung - took a very long time, probably the same amount as doing a single-pass wipe.

4575

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Low Cost Hosting (Web, Semi-Dedi, VPS, Dedicated Servers) + Low Price TLD's

« Last post by 4wd on November 16, 2010, 06:02 PM »

Slightly more sophisticated than Smeg^w-Dedicated. 

eg. Darn smegging website!