Monthly Archives: August 2007

Linux (Simply Mepis vs pclinuxos 2007) installation on a PC

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer (a family) had a PC with a “counterfeit” version of XP. I gave them the option of either $150 for XP, or $0 for Linux (but I made sure they were aware of the potential limitations).

They agreed to give linux a try.

Since it had been about a year since I last looked at linux distros, I decided to do some homework, and find out if much had changed.

Last year, I decided that Mepis was a good distro for the non-technical “windows” user.

After reading a few reviews and forums, I decided that I’d try the latest versions of Mepis and PCLinuxOS.

I must admit that I didn’t look too deeply into either one, but after a quick play I found both were very very close. I was almost prepared to toss a coin to pick one.

At the time, I had a Ugandan apprentice/student working with me… so I handed them over to Abedi Omondi, and he spent a few hours using both.

At the end, we both agreed that SimplyMepis 6.5.02 was the (slightly) better distro.

PCLinuxOS 2007 had nicer eye candy, and looked a bit more like XP, but in the end, Mepis actually behaved more like XP, and was easier to use for an ordinary XP / win98 user.

So I installed Mepis on the HDD, then downloaded some extra “games” off the internet, did some web surfing, and was satisfied that it all worked correctly.

One thing I did (which many who are new to linux might not think about doing), was to partition the 80GB HDD into a 79GB linux partition, and a 1GB linux swap partition. A swap partition can make a big difference.

I also didn’t have the time to setup the customers printer, but that was not important to the customer, so I left it (at least until I get asked to set it up).

error 1935 during office 2007 installation on vista

Computer Aid Posted on by

I tried to install office 2007 on a customers new vista laptop… but near the end, I got a error 1935, and then it rolled back the install.

Somewhat annoyed, I tried the install on another PC, and it worked well. In the meantime, I allowed vista to complete all of its “microsoft updates”, and then allowed it to restart.

I researched the problem, and it turns out to be related to the .net framework (So office 2007 won’t install on vista unless you update vista first).

Anyway, after the update, office 2007 installs correctly.

hp presario 2500 series RAM and poor model identification

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had a customer with a hp compaq presario 2500 laptop.

It had 256Mb ram, and it was running a tad slow.

I suggested a ram upgrade (but none of the laptop RAM modules I had with me would physically fit).

OK, I’ll just take down the laptop details, and I should be able to find the RAM…

The front of the laptop says “2500”. past experience tells me that its not good enough, as there could be hundreds of model numbers.

I look under the laptop, looking for something like “2578AI”, so that I can get an exact model number.

But the sticker also says 2500.

I figure it must be an original 2500.

But my supplier is not convinced. So I call the customer again, and ask for any other details. She gives me the serial number and the part number.

Armed with that information, I go to the HP website, and find out the actual model (a 2578AI)… it would be a lot more helpful if HP could actually print the model number somewhere on the laptop itself!

Why most small businesses fail (and what to do about it)

Computer Aid Posted on by

This wasn’t meant to be a book review, but I guess thats how it turned out!

In the last few years, I haven’t had much time to read books, so when my wife bought this one for me, I was sceptical.

I mean, I’ve heard of so many books on “how to improve your bottom line X-fold”, etc etc, so I was prepared to be either confused by the over-complicated techniques, or bored by the blindingly obvious.

So, I started reading “The E-myth Revisited”, and I got past part 1, but it just seemed to just be setting some background information. Boring, but with some interesting bits of information.

Part 2 was short, but it got quite interesting… and with each interesting bit of information I absorbed, I found myself wanting to ask a few follow-on questions (most fell into the how?, and why? category).

By this stage, I was itching to get to part 3, and I was hoping I’d get the answers to my questions. This was getting exiting.

Although Computer Aid doesn’t quite fit into Michaels description of a small business, I could see many similarities, and I could see I was going to make many mistakes in the future, and probably run myself into the ground…

But I also got a taste of what Computer Aid could be like… I could also see its potential.

Part 3 of this book got a bit hard to read (in places), but by the end, it felt like I had had one of those “lightbulb” moments. I knew I could avoid “burning out”… but I could also see I had a lot of work in front of me…

All up, E-Myth has been one of the most enlightening books I have read (maybe because I know nothing about “business”).

Probably one of the most difficult things I’ll need to do is the “documentation” of all aspects of my work… not something I’m looking forward to.

And after that, I’ll also need to learn to “let go” and not try to do everything myself… The feeling that “no-one else can do my work as well as me” is so ingrained, that I’m not sure if I can do it.

Looks like I’ve got some interesting times ahead.

Some electronic knowledge can save money with failed capacitors

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’ve recently gone through a capacitor phase… I’ve found many components that have failed due to the typical bulging electrolytic capacitor.

Some have been graphics cards. I had a LCD display (hell to disassemble, but only had 1 faulty power capacitor).

In some cases, the circuit board would cost $100 – $200 to replace (when an $8 capacitor was the only fault!).

Just remember not to reverse the polarity on electrolytic capacitors (otherwise the capacitor makes a loud bang as it explodes… :-O )

xp blue screen caused by vidstub.sys (bootskin)

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had done a system reinstall, and was updating various programs, and at some point, I restarted the PC, and was promptly greeted by a blue screen of death (complaining about vidstub.sys).

But safe mode works ok.

I quickly found out that the problem was caused by my recently updated version of bootskin (V1.05). Until recently, I had been using V1.00, and it never gave any problems.

Oh well, I delete c:windowssystem32driversvidstub.sys, and restart. I then uninstall bootskin 1.05 and install V1.00, and then everything works just fine.

bad PC assembly causes dialup problems

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer got his PC back from his colleague, but the modem can no longer dial out (message indicates it cannot communicate with the modem (either switched off, etc etc).

I figure its a dead modem (and I don’t have any spare ones with me), so I take it back to the workshop, and I try a new internal modem. It works, but its not easy to fit into the pci slot… I start XP, and it detects the new hardware, but I don’t have an internet connection ready at the moment, so I decide to just shutdown, put the retaining screw on the modem backplate, connect the internet, then download the correct drivers.

But once it restarts, it doesn’t detect the new hardware… in fact there is no modem to be found in device manager and using add new hardware…

I eventually realise that the retaining screw on the pci backplate is forcing the modem card to pull out (slightly), from the pci slot… and some screws holding down the motherboard have stripped threads… This looks like a badly assembled PC…

I try the original modem, and it also works if I don’t use the retaining screw.

I decide to work around this by using some brute force: I lean on the metal backplane of the case, until I can tighten the retaining screw without it moving the card in the pci slot.

After that, all is fine!

wireless adapter in hp media center PC interferes with 802.11 access point

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had setup a wireless network for a customer (3 laptops and a HP media center PC), but a few days later, I found out that the network had stopped working. I went back to do some other work (setup network printing, and install antivir and anti spyware), so I also looked at this wireless problem.

I started by trying the laptops, but they couldn’t see the WAP. I gave the netgear wireless router/modem a power cycle, and it all seemed to be right. but during the next 2 hours, the network would drop out, then reconnect after a few minutes. Once connected, the signal strength would always be excellent.

After setting up the laptops, I got to the HP media center PC. I noticed that it had a built-in wireless adapter, and a blue light at the front indicated that it was functional. But the XP wireless software would just say that no wireless networks were detected. Since this PC was wired directly to the router, I decided to disable the wireless card from device manager.

After that, all the wireless dropout stopped happening!

I’ve never seen a wireless card fail, and disrupt a wireless network, but I suppose anything is possible.

vista wireless association failed due to an unknown reason (asus wl-520gc)

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer with a new Dell PC, 3Gb ram and vista (this is the fastest vista I have seen so far… and its almost up to XP speeds…).

He had tried getting it to work with his wireless router (asus wl-520gc) and a belkin usb wireless adapter, but got nowhere (despite help from his ISP and the mob that sold him the pc).

Ok, I get there, knowing I had prior trouble with a vista wireless setup (vista cannot get dhcp address).

I start by getting the PC and the router and modem talking to each other with a wired ethernet connection. Although I don’t actually need to… I change the router IP address (and DHCP pool) so that they don’t conflict with the modem settings (the router has a WAN port, so I know the network on the modem side (WAN) will be isolated from the network on the PC side(LAN)). So the modem has the 192.168.1.X address range, and I give the router the 192.168.2.X address range. After all that, the internet connection works well.

Ok, now for the wireless: I do the usual: setup WPA-PSK, enter a “pass phrase” password, ask vista nicely to connect to the router, give it the pass phrase, and it connects correctly (after I miss-type a few pass phrases).

Ok, now to the final stage: I move the modem and router to main bedroom (so that there is no long telephone cable running down the corridor from the bedroom to the office)… and the PC refuses to connect with a “wireless association failed due to an unknown reason”.

I try some of the vista diagnostic and repair options, but none work. I try altering the router security settings, but find it only works with “open system” (no WEP encryption)… anything else fails… I make sure I alter the SSID with every change, in order to make sure I don’t connect to “leftover” WLANs (which XP is notorious prone to do).

After 2.5 hours, I decide to take the PC back to the workshop, and carefully try a few alternatives.

The owner doesn’t mind downgrading to XP, but I feel there is something to be discovered here, so I offer to fix it at no extra charge (I really want to know whats going on).

At the workshop, I try the PC with another wireless router (netgear dg834g)… and it works first time (with WPA encryption).

Ok, on the asus website, I see that the latest router firmware is 2.0.0.6 (the router is at 2.0.0.4). So I decide to upgrade the firmware.

I then try “open system” and it works.

I try wep, and it doesn’t…

I try restarting PC, router, and modem (power off everything), and then it works!

Ok, I setup the WPA settings in the router, and vista doesn’t connect.

I restart the vista, router, and modem… and vista can now connect!

I try restarting a few more times, and it works every single time. 

So where was the problem?

It could have been partially fixed by the firmware upgrade… but I’m starting to suspect that vista “tries too hard” to remember prior WLAN settings, such that changes in encryption will just not work without a reboot. And I also suspect something wrong with the asus wl-520gc wireless router as well.

So, from now on, if I’m working on vista wireless settings, I’ll make sure I restart vista and WAPs at every encryption change (what joy… most vistas i’ve worked with, are really slow to restart 🙁 )

driverpacks.net is a great place for universal windows drivers

Computer Aid Posted on by

I recently “inherited” (from David Hartigan) a set of 2 driver CDs.

I tried it out, and it seemed to work well on a system rebuild I was doing.

I decided to see what was available “on the net”… something along the lines of a universal windows driver CD (or CDs). I happened to come across DriverPacks which seemed remarkably similar to Davids drivers.

So I downloaded them, made about 3 CDs full of drivers, and have been using them ever since.

Hopefully, my days of searching the net for weird device drivers is now mostly over.

lost disk space on xp ntfs (c:userdata)

Computer Aid Posted on by

After doing a HP windows recovery (the ntdlr.exe problem from a few posts ago), I noticed something weird: the properties window on C: shows that the ntfs drive is 70GB, but only 2.x Gb is available…

yet, by using utilities like scanner (by Steffen Gerlach), I can see that only 20Gb is in use.

Whats using the remaining 48Gb? How could it be missing?

Well, to eliminate any “behind the scenes” microsoft interference, I start ubcd4win, and I quickly find that the space is in the folder c:userdata

Yet this folder appears empty while xp is running. A quick (actually not so quick… thanks to xp home) change in security settings (and folder ownership) quickly brings the lost disk space back to normal.