Monthly Archives: May 2008

failed speadstream 4200

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer calls, saying she thinks her adsl modem has failed.

She said it made a loud pop, and the optus tech said it probably needs to be replaced.

When I get there, the modem lights seem ok (power, adsl link, usb).

Its a windows 98 system, so I take a short while to re-orient myself… I’ve gotten very familiar with xp now…

I can connect to the modem via a browser, and the settings look fine… I disconnect the adsl connection, then hit the connect button, and I’m told “the current connection is still busy”.

It looks like it should work, it detects an adsl line, so nothing is obviously fried.

After spending 10 minutes trying to convince it to connect, I eventually try a new adsl modem… and it works perfectly.

I also spend some time updating her outdated antivirus.

dymo printer won’t print

Computer Aid Posted on by

A Customer wanted me to install a new dymo printer that he had purchased.

It seems easy enough… just like installing a printer.

So I run the CD installer. It gets to the point where it installs the driver.

At this point, I get distracted for a few minutes, and when I get back, it says click next to complete the installation. It then asks that the printer get plugged in, but it then completes, saying it couldn’t detect the printer.

Once the install is complete, I close the setup window, only to find there is a driver installation window behind it… waiting for me to click “next”… I thought most printers would somehow force windows to complete this stage… obviously not in this case.

I start the dymo software, print a simple label, but I get a print error (with no hint as to the cause).

I restart the PC, but no go.

I take a closer look at the printer settings.

Everything looks normal. Out of habit, under advanced properties, I change the spool setting to “start printing after last page is spooled”… Its a habit I started a long time ago, when PCs were still quite slow: sometimes, the printer would process data from the PC, faster than the PC could deliver. If the printer emptied the spool queue, then it would think it was finished, and would go back to sleep… in the meantime the PC would finally add some more data to the spool queue… but the printer would think this data was a new print job… and the result was usually be either lost data, or paper wasted in printing hieroglyphics.

Anyway, I digress…

I try removing and reinstalling the software, but no go.

I eventually decide to follow the mostly useless printer troubleshooter (under the printers help menu).

As I make my way through the wizard, I decide to change the spool setting back to “print immediately”.

soon after that, the printer suddenly springs back to life.

It looks like the problem was a combination of factors, partly due to the spool settings, and partly due to a failure in the installation.

keyhook.exe entry point not found

Computer Aid Posted on by

At startup, an Acer PC was displaying a window with: keyhook.exe entry point not found.

There was a lot more text, and a mention of sisbase.dll

Ok, it probably something to do with the motherboard (possibly a mucked-up driver).

The net mentions removing any infection (already done that), and updating the video drivers… did that also.

So I figure: I’ll stop the error by not starting keyhook.exe in the first place!

I know: Its a lazy way out, but the alternative can be very time consuming (and I’ve got 5 other tasks that need to be completed)

So, I start regedit, go to HKLM -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Run

and I delete the “SIS windows keyhook” entry.