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« Posts tagged Hardware
HDD Replacement: Acer Aspire One and ZIF Drives
I ordered a 30GB 1.8″ ZIF drive to replace the crappy 8GB SSD drive in my old Acer Aspire One netbook. When I got the drive (a Samsung HS030GB) I very quickly discovered that the ZIF ribbon cable that came stock with the netbook didn’t work with it. The problem, it seems, is that Samsung uses a non-standard ZIF connector that is incompatible with 0.35mm ZIF cables (which are the standard). So, I shaved down one end of the ribbon and promptly broke it. Then, being an idiot, ordered a replacement set of cables on eBay without checking the thickness first (the listing stated they were for Samsung drives, although I should have known better than take that at face value).
I got the new set of cables today and, of course, they were all 0.35mm thick as well. I tried a few techniques to try to make the ends thinner but eventually just ended up with a bunch of butchered ribbons.
Remember kids, always review the specs of the drive and cable *before* ordering!
So I’ve ordered another batch of cables, this time making sure that one end has the correct thickness. Hopefully I’ll have a working netbook in a few weeks.
Update: The new ZIF cable came in (ProTip: when ordering ZIF ribon cables, if you need a smaller-than-0.35mm end, look for one where one end is blue (as pictured above), and the other end is white. The white end will be the smaller size)! Surprisingly, it fit, and after making a few modifications to the case (mainly removing the screw mounts for the old SSD) the new drive just dropped right in to place. Xubuntu is now installing, so I finally have a functional netbook again!
Solved: X-FI Xtreme Audio PCI-E, Windows 7 x64, and a Microphone == No Love
My Realtek HD Audio onboard sound card died the other day, and as my motherboard was out of warranty, I opted to do the laziest thing and simply bought a PCI-Express sound card instead (which was a challenge, as none of the stores where I live that were open on Sundays sold sound cards. Go figure).
Being cheap (and considering that the onboard card did just fine), I opted for a Soundblaster X-FI Xtreme Audio PCI-E (SB1040). I didn’t do a lot of research before making the purchase, which I probably should have, because the ‘X-FI’ in the name of the card is an out-right lie. As it turns out, this is the only card in the X-FI line to use a legacy Audigy-series processor instead of an X-FI one.
As such, there’s a rather large issue with driver support. I was able to install the latest driver from Creative’s website (Web Update 2), and the audio-out worked fine, however I couldn’t get my microphone to work. At all.
On the back of the card, there’s a blue port for Line In which doubles as the Mic port (known, apparently, as a FlexiJack or Flexi-Jack). By default, Windows 7 detects it as only a Line In port with no option to change it. There’s supposed to be an option in the Creative Console Launcher, however the driver update from the website doesn’t install that. No matter, there was a separate download for that. Unfortunately, even after installing it there wasn’t an option to change the Line In jack to a Mic jack.
As it turns out, there’s a specific way to get it working that no one blog or forum post out there has managed to nail down. Here’s the trick.
- Download and install the latest driver from Creative (1.04.0000)
- Reboot.
- Download and install the Creative Console Launcher (Beta – 2.61.49).
- Reboot.
- Open the Creative Console Launcher (should be in the Start Menu under All Programs -> Creative)
- Click on the last icon (shown below) called ‘Jacks’.
- On this screen you should be able to change the ‘FlexiJack’ mode to Microphone (also shown below).
The Two Missing Options
That should be it! If this doesn’t work, there’s one more thing to try. Remove all of the Creative software, then install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (at the time of writing this, still in Release Candidate form) and try the above again – I already had the SP1 Release Candidate installed when I did this, so it may or may not be required.
Good luck!
Update: I ended up returning this card because it lacks some very basic features that even generic onboard Realtek audio chips have, like Stereo Mix and Microphone Boost support. If you’re thinking of buying this card, think again!
Solution: Mouse Cursor in Windows 7 Disappears
I reinstalled Windows 7 on my MSI Wind U123 today because of a number of problems with sound input and PulseAudio on Fedora 13 that I couldn’t be buggered to fix. After the install, I ran Windows Update as normal, rebooted, and then noticed that my mouse cursor was gone. I could still click around and select things, so I knew the mouse was working, however I couldn’t see it.
Searching Google proved worse than useless. The two best solutions listed were to either enable pointer tails (annoying) or lower the hardware acceleration level on your video card. Although true that both of these options will work, they both suck.
The real fix? Install the correct video drivers. As it turns out, when I ran Windows Update I accidentally selected the Intel Graphics driver update, which caused the problem. After downloading and installing the correct driver direct from Intel the cursor suddenly reappeared. Magic!
TL;DR Version: If your mouse cursor disappears, go to your video card manufacturer’s website and get the drivers from them.
An HTC DoA: Part 1
When Google first offered the Nexus One in Canada (by making a GSM version for AT&T, which is compatible with Rogers, Telus, and Bell in Canada), I jumped on. I had my order in the day the web store was updated, and in my hands by the end of the same week. Despite the cost, I consider it the best gadget purchase I’ve ever made.
Fast-forward to last week. With my wifes birthday coming up, I thought it would be nice to surprise her with a trip to the local Telus dealer (her carrier) for a shiny new phone. After looking at their offerings (the only two real considerations were the Motorola Milestone and the HTC Hero), she decided that she’d come down with a case of Phone Envy and wanted a Nexus One as well.
So, no big deal – we ordered the phone and waited. Unfortunately, due to the stat holiday on July 1st, the phone didn’t arrive on Friday like expected and instead came in yesterday (the following Monday). I left the phone plugged in to charge, and when the light turned green to say all was well I fired it up.
And waited.
And waited some more.
The Boot Screen on my other, unlocked (and functional) Nexus One
After about five minutes of staring at the above picture (minus the lock on the bottom, as I hadn’t gotten around to doing that yet), I got the feeling something was wrong.
I powered off the phone by pulling out the battery, then booted in to HBOOT mode (hold down the VOLUME DOWN key while pressing Power). That worked fine, so I tried to enter recovery. Unfortunately, I was met with the same screen. I tried several more times for both normal mode and recovery without success. Then I gave up and called Google.
At this point, I’d like to point out that I’m fairly certain it’s just a software error. Unfortunately, the only way I could really do anything about that would be to Unlock the phone, which voids the warranty. As such, the call to support was warranted.
I called the number listed on the Google Phone Contact Support page (1-888-48-NEXUS) and after a few quick IVR choices I was greeted nearly immediately by a tech. He asked about the problem, what I had tried, and immediately agreed the phone was D0A and would need to be replaced. That’s when things started to go downhill.
The problem is that I live in Canada, and HTC has a different policy for international orders than their standard ‘send you a replacement and then send the old one back’ policy for domestic ones. If you live in Canada and get a DoA phone, you have two options:
- Send it back via their normal repair process and get a refurbished phone (no option for a new one)
- Initiate a ‘Buyers Remorse’ return, get a refund for the device, and then order a new one.
The choice was fairly obvious – I ordered my wife a new phone, so that’s what she was going to get. After gathering a little more information, the Google tech transfered me over to HTC support to process the return order.
As the new tech was going over the specifics, a thought occurred:
Me: Okay, so I do the return, and within 14 business days of you receiving the device and okay’ing everything, you credit the purchase price back, correct?
Tech: Yes, that’s correct.
Me: So what about the duty charge that I had to pay CoD?
Tech: Oh, that. Hang on. –Pause– Okay, I checked on that, and what happens is you’ll get some paperwork from us once the refund has been processed. Once you have that paperwork, contact Customs and they’ll be able to issue a refund.
So at this point, I may have to wait three weeks for credit from HTC (although apparently it usually doesn’t take that long), and then I can file a claim to get my ~$70CAD that I paid for taxes back.
All was said and done, and I prompted received a confirmation email repeating what the agent said. However, as of posting I still haven’t received a FedEx shipping label in my email as promised. I called HTC back, and they escalated the ticket and said they’d resend the label, so now I’m waiting on that. Once I’ve got the label in and the phone sent away, I’ll order another N1 and see what happens.
Howto: Find the Serial Number on a new Dell Monitor
I picked up a few Dell P2210t 22″ widescreen LCD monitors the other day.
Very nice!
As part of my asset acquisition process, I have to document serial numbers and assign an asset tags to each new asset. When I turned the monitor around, though, I ran in to a problem:
WTH?
Hey, uh, Dell? Did you forget something?
Well, actually they didn’t. Apparently all of the required labeling is too much of an ‘eye sore’, so Dell has decided to hide it:
Pretty Sneaky, Dell
I would have appreciated it if Dell would have made more of an effort to point out where it is (I actually had to refer to the unpacking diagram to show me), but that’s it. Hidden with the USB ports is a small little pull-out card. Now that I know it’s there, though, it does make it easier to get a serial number off of a monitor when I have to figure out which asset belongs to which program when someone has inevitably pulled off the asset tag.
Fun Fact – Number of times the word ‘ass’ appears in this post: 6.
Dell Packaging
I ordered a bunch of new kit last week, and in typical Dell fashion they decided to send the order to me as they get the parts, rather than just send it all at once. This morning, I received the first piece:
Seriously, Dell? All that for one lousy DVI extension cable? Well, at least they’re still better than HP.
From the Search Results: Backing Up
To the person who found my blog by searching for “raid 1 backup“, please note: RAID IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE BACKUP SOLUTION!
Any method of RAID (other than RAID0) is good for protecting against failing hard drives. However, it is by no means a backup solution, as it doesn’t save your data from things like accidental deletion, file system corruption, users, and malicious software. If you’re looking for a backup solution, investigate external hard drives, SAN/NAS devices, tape backup units, etc….
Please. For the sake of your data, get a real backup solution.
Short: Kensington 0, Me 1
Kensington makes a decent desktop lock. However, they’re nothing that ten minutes and a pair of wire snips can’t take care of – it’s a very effective way of unlocking a case when the key has been lost for years….
As a side note, the magnets in old hard drives make for a perfect method of removing small metal shards from ones flesh. Just sayin’.
Support: I Want This Guy On Speed Dial
Although today has been a real Gong Show, my morning was brightened by, of all things, a chat with Dell Support:
10:04:03 AM System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
10:04:03 AM System Connected with ***_Oliver_******10:04:08 AM ***_Oliver_******: Hi, thank you for contacting DELL Canada support, my name is Oliver, how may I help you?
10:05:01 AM Laslow: I have a system that is unable to POST. If I remove the video card and use the onboard video, it POSTs fine. If I take the video card from an identical unit and try that, it also works fine. It appears that the video card is defective, and I need a replacement sent out.
10:07:13 AM ***_Oliver_******: I’ll do my best to assist you with this one.
10:07:48 AM ***_Oliver_******: I could see here that system is an ***** and warranty is active until *****.10:07:55 AM Laslow: That is correct.
10:08:58 AM ***_Oliver_******: I’ll replace this.
10:09:13 AM ***_Oliver_******: Would you like me to send an onsite tech ?10:09:21 AM Laslow: No thank you – the part will be fine.
10:09:33 AM ***_Oliver_******: May I have the shipping address?
10:09:58 AM Laslow: ***** ***** ***** *****
10:11:23 AM ***_Oliver_******: By the way, may I know who’s the registered owner of the system?
10:12:46 AM Laslow: ***** ***** ***** *****
10:13:28 AM ***_Oliver_******: Thanks. I’ll go ahead and process the case and dispatch. This would take me about 5 minutes. Hold on.
10:13:34 AM Laslow: Thank you.
10:13:39 AM ***_Oliver_******: Would you like me to send the reference numbers thru email instead?
10:13:50 AM Laslow: That would be greatly appreciated.
10:14:49 AM ***_Oliver_******: Please wait for the part next business day. Return to us the old part not later than ten days once the replacement part is received. You could use the same box that came in with it.
10:14:54 AM ***_Oliver_******: Anything else I can help you with?10:15:09 AM Laslow: No, that is fine. Thank you very much! You have been very helpfull!
10:15:19 AM ***_Oliver_******: Would you like me to contact you to followup on this?
10:15:36 AM Laslow: No, that will not be required.
10:17:39 AM ***_Oliver_******: Ok. Thank you! Thank you for choosing DELL, have a good day!
10:17:51 AM Laslow: Thanks again!
This is probably the first time that I’ve spoken with Dell where I haven’t had to fight to get the part I wanted, but where the turn-around time was less than 15 minutes! I’m completely and utterly shocked! Also, that was the shortest 5 minutes I’ve ever had to wait for them to process the dispatch request.
Edit: Sorry for the poor formatting – WordPress also hates me today.
