Monthly Archives: March 2008

broken usb to PS2 keyboard adapter

Computer Aid Posted on by

A business customer calls, saying the keyboard on one of their PCs is not working anymore… and they cannot get email to work.

When I get there, I see its a wireless keyboard and mouse… the batteries are new, and the mouse works fine.

I trace the “base station” ie the wireless send/receiver for the mouse/keyboard, and I see the mouse portion is a round ps2 plug, and the keyboard part is a usb plug… but the usb plug goes into a usb to ps2 keyboard adapter.

I see an amazing number of computers that have these adapters (either for keyboard or mouse or both!). In most cases (unless someone is running win98), I just move the usb plug into a spare usb socket… avoiding the ps2 plug.

Anyway, I do the same thing here, and after a reboot, the keyboard is working again.

And I find out why the email wasn’t working: email was started using using the email button on the keyboard… so nobody knew how to start email using the start menus anymore!

raid drive cannot be checked for corruption

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer calls, saying both her computers won’t start (blue screen).

When I get there, the 1st PC would either give a blue screen, or display a blank screen.

I try a bartPE CD, but once it started, it couldn’t detect any hard drives (no C: etc)… disk manager showed 2 physical hard drives.

A memory test showed no faults.

After some checking, It seemed that the PC was setup by concorde computers, it was configured in a raid arrangement, but no raid driver disk had been supplied… Thats why the C: drive wasn’t visible…

And attempting an xp repair install didn’t work either (due to no raid drivers present).

At this stage, it was looking like a complicated process to recover everything, so I took a look at the second PC.

Apparently, it hadn’t been working for a few months. Sure enough, it just went through the bios display, then displayed a blank screen.

I try a live CD, and it boots correctly. and the memory tests out correctly.

I boot without the CD, and this time the PC boots normally 🙂

Just to make sure its not a ram / video card dust problem, I reseat all cards and RAM.

I reboot a few times without a problem.

At this point, customer decides to leave the first PC as is (she will try a few things).

So I leave it at that.

The customer later calls & says she somehow managed to reinstall XP… just that she couldn’t get to her mydocuments. Over the phone, I point her in the right direction, and thats that.

Some customers can be very resourceful if necessary!

Setting up new PCs

Computer Aid Posted on by

I must say I enjoy setting up new PCs that a customer has just purchased.

To me, unpacking and assembling a PC has a christmas feel to it.

I had to do a few recently, and I feel kinda guily that I get to do the fun stuff like unpacking and assembling the “chrissy presents”. I guess its a perk of the job 🙂

data recovery using selfimage getdataback for ntfs

Computer Aid Posted on by

I was asked to attempt to recover some data from a failed HDD.

The 40GB drive didn’t make any strange noises, and while connected to another PC, I could see files and folders.

Just to be safe, I froze the drive, then ran selfimage (in order to minimise the time the drive was left running).

I ended up making 3 images, but each time, I would only get 35 GB before selfimage would fail.

Once I had the images, I used getdataback to read the image, and extract all the files and folders to an area of my hard drive.

Since it was very likely that the last few gigabytes on the drive were mostly “empty” I figured I must have all the data I need.

The only problem was that many of the folder names had been lost… so most folders had names like: [001234], but the filenames and contents seemed perfect.

Since the customer was specifically looking for his accounting software, and his emails, I place them onto a seperate CD, with instructions on how to import the emails (which I tested previously).

The customer is very happy, as the data recovery only cost him a small part of the $2000 plus he was quoted by a PC “shop”.

how do you open an ipex s300 PC case?

Computer Aid Posted on by

I needed to open up the case of an ipex s300 PC (to replace a faulty CD drive).

At first glance, it looks like I need to undo 2 Allen key screws, and it will pop open… but no, the case won’t budge.

I try a few different angles, a bit of leverage, but nothing would loosen the case cover. After some careful scrutiny, I eventually found out how to open an ipex s300 case:

  • don’t undo the front allen bolts.
  • by looking very carefully at the back, there are 1 (or 2) screws. The screws are very close to the top of the case, so they are easy to miss, as there is a slight metal lip, just above them.
  • By undoing these screws, the top cover can be easily slid forward (towards the front of the case.
  • Remember to be careful while working inside a PC… you can easily damage components.

belkin usb wireless adapter doesn’t work.

Computer Aid Posted on by

This customer had replaced a broken belkin wireless adapter (used on the “kids” PC) with a generic brand, but it wouldn’t work.

He then decided to get another belkin adapter (same type as the broken one), but that wouldn’t work either.

When I got there, I install the drivers for the generic adapter, plug it in when I’m asked, then enter the WPA details, and it worked perfectly.

So I’m then asked to try getting the belkin to work.

I install the drivers… but it doesn’t work (it cannot see any wireless networks).

I try uninstall, reboot, reinstall, reboot, then setup the WPA settings, but still no signal.

Hmmm, I look at various network settings, and while looking at the belkins adapter properties (from device manager)… the advanced tab in particular, I notice that its setup to only operate on 802.11B networks… I change it to something like “B/G dual mode), and it starts working almost straight away.

I then manage to install one of the adapters onto an old windows ME laptop.

A few tests, and I’m back on my way again.

why do some people get this blog emailed?

Computer Aid Posted on by

Soon after I first created this blog, I also connected it to feedburner, and activated the “email subscription” option.

I figure some people would like to read my posts without having to remember to regularly visit my website, or muck around with feed readers, etc.

since then, I’ve had 2 people send me some very exasperated-sounding emails eg:

can u STOP sending me messiges ok  it is anoying !!!!!!!
thanku!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Its probably someone playing a practical joke on them, as I cannot see how someone can go to the effort of subscribing to my email feed, and then not notice that each email has unsubscribe details within it. And given the infrequent nature of my posting (once every day or three), its nowhere near as annoying as some of the real spam emails.

Anyway I politely reply, saying that they should be able to unsubscribe themselves, but I’ve unsubscribed them anyway.

faulty power supply in a H340a case

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had a brumby’s outlet call, as their CCTV PC (with a feed from 4 cameras) would only run a few hours, before switching off.

This sounded like a typical power supply failure, except the PC was difficult to reach, and was coated in a black, soot like muck.

It looked like a slimline “HP” style PC, but it was totally black, and had a bright yellow “lookc” name on it.

After opening it up, I could see it had a non-standard power supply 🙁

I also see that the CPU heatsink and fan are covered in the black muck. Since its a pentium 4 CPU, I figure it needs good airflow (regardless of the state of the PSU), so I give them a good clean.

After that I test the PSU: I short the “start delivering power” pins, and the fan won’t start (and no voltages from any of the connectors).

So I make a note of the PSU model number, and go back to the office to do some research.

It turns out I’m dealing with an AOpen H340a case, and a custom power supply.

I find the PSU model (fsp200-60SAV) is available at a few online stores, and I quickly settle on a unit from techbuy.

Delivery was quick, and I pop over and install the PSU. After that, everything works well.

PC won’t start when an external 160GB usb drive is connected

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer wanted me to find out why his PC would sometime not start when his external USB drive (a 160 GB Maxtor) was connected. Unplugging the drive would always fix the problem.

I’m also asked to do a few other housekeeping tasks. During my time there, I could not find a problem with restarting the PC… I tried about 6 times.

So I ask the customer to keep an eye on it.

Sure enough, 2 days later, the problem is back.

So I return, and I see that the PC is failing to start (the bios gets as far as displaying “searching for usb devices” and then just sits there, frozen.

I look at the bios, but its set to boot CDrom first, hdd second, usb drives last (I had checked this the first time around as well)

I follow the wiring:

The usb drive has its own power supply (which doesn’t seem to be overheating).

The drives usb cable goes to an unpowered usb hub… Hmmm. unpowered hubs can sometimes be a problem…

The hub has a usb flash drive, and the maxtor external drive connected, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Call me paranoid, but I decide to plug the maxtor directly into a free usb port on the PC itself.

Once I did that, the problem was solved.

funny car names

Computer Aid Posted on by

Maybe I’ve got a weird sense of humor, but I like changing the names that manufacturers give to cars into something more amusing.

For example:

  • Ford Flagon (Falcon)
  • Holden Commode (Commodore)
  • Mitsubishi Magnum (Magna)
  • Mitsubishi Prancer (Lancer)
  • Audi Arse (RS4 and RS6)
  • Break My Window (BMW)
  • Daishitsu (Daihatsu)
  • Ford F***Off (Focus)
  • Ford Mundane (Mondeo)
  • Hyundai Jerrycan (Terracan)
  • Mazda Tributary (Tribute)
  • Mitsubishi Outlandish (Outlander)
  • Mitsibishi Veranda (Verada)
  • Suzuki Ignite (Ignis)
  • Toyota Avalanche (Avalon)
  • Toyota Coronary (Corolla or Corona)
  • Toyota Kludge (Kluger)
  • Toyota Prior (Prius)
  • Toyota Viagra (Vienta)
  • Subaru Froster (Forester)

Does anyone have other similarly amusing names?

cannot update from XP “default vga driver” (and usb devices won’t auto-detect)

Computer Aid Posted on by

After a repair install of XP, I found that the system wouldn’t auto detect any usb devices.

Also the video display was set to “default vga driver” but most display properties tabs and buttons were greyed out (so I couldn’t update to the correct video driver).

Device manager shows no problem devices, so I figure it should be OK.

A search of the net shows that the default vga driver should not be removed (or you will need to use the xp recovery console to get it back… very messy).

I decide to take a closer look at the usb problem instead, and I find some mention of removing the existing usb drivers.

So I try it, and after a reboot, the drivers are auto-detected, and then all the usb ports work perfectly.

Right, now back to the video problem.

After a lot of searching, I find someone who fixed this problem by downloading and installing a VIA 4in1 driver (sorry, I lost the link).

So I look at device manager, under system devices, and I decide to focus on:

  • VIA cpu to agp2.0/agp3.0 controller
  • VIA standard host bridge
  • VIA standard PCI to ISA bridge

So I R-click on each one, click on “update driver” (I make sure my universal driver CD is in the CD drive), and the drivers are updated to more recent ones.

As soon as that happens, windows suddenly wants to update the video driver (to an SIS driver). I let it update automatically, and a reboot later, I can finally change the display to a higher resolution, and to more than 16 colours.

In case there are further problems, I decide to try updating other drivers in device manager, but all the other devices seem to be up to date.