Wednesday, March 20, 2013

SSD Software


Using an SSD? You will probably benefit from these two little programs.

Reminder for installing:
1. Update the firmware of the SSD because it will likely trash any data.
2. Set BIOS for AHCI before installing Windows. You can easily change this in registry later if you forget.

SSD Life grab the free portable version. It is so encouraging to see that you SSD is still at 100%. How accurate is this? Who knows but it makes me feel better.

Tweak-SSD install and do all the tweaks. Saves doing them manually. All the little switches should be green. If you have a small amount of ram you may not want to turn off the page file. You should get more ram and turn it off. (Yes, turning off page file only helps things to load faster and isn't that what we want?)

You can go through numerous blog posts and lists of tweaks and learn all about what helps and what does not, or you can just run Tweak-SSD and forget about it.

While I'm at it, let me say I am an SSD convert. Any system I use on a regular basis has and will have an SSD. They are that good and that fast. Expensive you say? Not when you consider they can extend the life of that older system by making it feel like a cutting edge new one. I've even used the "I wouldn't touch one" model and it performed well.

I still use them as a boot drive and redirect the user files to a standard hard drive but this may not be necessary. My SSD's will probably outlive me.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Google Reader Is Toast

What is up with this company? Microsoft does the same thing. They have programs or services that dominate and then dump them. What happened to Microsoft's Live Writer? Now Google dumps Reader.

Feedly to the rescue I guess. I will miss Reader but setting up Feedly was totally automatic. Feedly is slick looking but I like Reader better.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Easy2Boot A Second Try

2021-06-13 Ventoy is a big deal right now and simple but it can fail on some PCs. E2B has never failed for me yet. I use both.

I like USB Windows installing but getting both 32 and 64 bit versions of Win7 on one USB, not to mention adding XP, has been a no go for me. A single version has never been a problem.

I have Win7 64 and 32 working along with XP.
Make sure files are contiguous and no fragments with WinContig.
I don't change the menu but only the file name to match the menu.

Here is a good tutorial
Here is the Easy2Boot Blog

This site has Win7 with SP1 ISO downloads

To remove this message and the 5-second delay, create a text file of any size (even 0 bytes)
named \_ISO\nodelay in the \_ISO folder on the E2B USB drive so that it's full name is 
nodelay.txt.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Lenovo T400 Refurb from TigerDirect

Edit: VirtualBox 64 bit - in bios under CPU enable both virtual settings. Power down, unplug and remove battery. I know, it sounds crazy but does work.
Edit: 2015 many drivers updated.
         I hated the track pad. I had Wizmouse running which was the problem.
Lenovo T400 6475 $289
This was a great buy for the power and quality. Off lease.
Core 2 Duo P8600 very good cpu. I have one in my 17" Gateway and love it.
4GB ram
160GB HD
Mat screen
I really like it. Very clean and everything works.
I didn't notice lacks camera but I seldom use one anyway. Still, it is nice to have.
No HDMI or card reader. I seldom use these either.
Touch pad is great.
Only a couple USB ports.
No eSATA
Screen is not tight and flops some but no deal killer.
Battery is weak but lasts about an hour. I don't rely on battery often.
Runs cool and quiet.
Intel driver update is so easy.
Lenovo has great driver support and BIOS updated easily.

I liked it so well that I bought a T400S with a faster cpu for $329. I like the S even better. I might grab another S. I love these things.

Speccy Summary
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz 32 °C
Penryn 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz (7-7-7-20)
Motherboard
LENOVO 6475AJ1 (None) 39 °C
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1280x800@60Hz)
Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Hard Drives
149GB HITACHI HTS723216L9SA60 (SATA) 40 °C
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ862A
Audio
Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD

The  T400S: for $329
Holy Moly, it has a 160 Intel SSD reading 99% health and makes this the best buy yet.
(I used the Windows install that came on it and defrag was on so I turned off. I am assuming offset is correct but using pre-installed Win7. Windows should have done it correctly but it should have turned off defrag.) I bought 3 more even though add said T400. I hope this one was not some accident. I bought 2 more for friends before I realized the SSD. I will just have to be happy for them but I would like to keep them.


Lenovo T400S Notebook PC - Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz, 4GB DDR3, 160GB HDD, 14.1" Display, DVDRW, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (Off Lease)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3420509

The P8600 is not slouch but the T9400 is surprisingly faster.
The S is thinner, lighter and just better.
eSata and Display ports
no card reader but ExpressCard/34 slot and the SD version is $17 on eBay.
Here is a review of the T400S. I curious about the mention of GPS.


Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz 32 °C
Penryn 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00 GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 532MHz (7-7-7-20)
Motherboard
LENOVO 2815AH2 (None) 39 °C
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1440x900@60Hz)
Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Hard Drives
149GB INTEL SSDSA1M160G2LE (SSD)
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ892
Audio
Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

TV Repair Parts

http://marcoselectronics.com/
My friend's hdmi didn't work on his Panasonic Viera Plasma. We bought the board for thirty bucks and installed it. Worked perfectly.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Figuring Out Cheap PC Build

Here are some notes I'm taking on a cheap PC build. I need to be able to throw these together for around $300 when someone crashes or more often just fills up with crap and malware. The Trinity cpu looks interesting with bottom line A4-5300 equal to Celeron with super video. And the top line A10-5800K equal Intel i3 which should both be sufficient for office work. These notes are for me so if you arrived here by mistake be forewarned.

Why not just but Dell - "if you have to ask".


Better system with full ATX (probably a waste unless gaming)
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Steel Grandia Series SST-GD08B ATX 156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163196&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

129 -AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7660D AD580KWOHJBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280

74 -ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157334
vga, dvi, hdmi, on board usb3
or
64 -BIOSTAR A75MG FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138361
maybe not sure

Hyper 212 EVO

40 -NZXT Technologies Source 210 Computer Case (Black)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005869A7K?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=at055-20
ship free amazon

---

Try for office work or PMS. Small case takes full size cars and has USB 3. Speakers on monitor are junk but use in a pinch. No video card needed. Compares to Celeron with super video.

55 -AMD A4-5300 Trinity 3.4GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7480D AD5300OKHJBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113283
Trinity benefits from fast ram so consider ddr3-1600
Here is a good article http://www.anandtech.com/print/6449

80 -ASRock A75M FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS XFast USB, Dual Graphics, DX11, THX TruStudio
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157260
(doesn't have on board usb 3 connection) check other boards

or

49 -ASRock FM2A55M-DGS FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157332
no usb3 anywhere, dvi and vga but not hdmi

23 -APEX AL-A400ATX 400W ATX12V Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817154013
20+4Pin, 2 rails, 2 sata, 4 molex (buy 2 just in case)
or
SeaSonic SS-300ET Bronze 300W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - OEM

35 -G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
or
35 -G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000626

55 -Rosewill LINE-M Micro-ATX Mini Tower Computer Case, Dual USB 3.0, come with Dual Fans, Support up to 4 Fans, 12.5" card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147166
or
48 -Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX Computer Case w/ 1 x 120mm fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352009&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000626
usb2 front panel an audio, Mini ITX, Micro ATX

20 -ASUS 24X DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000626

5 -5 Button Ergonomic Optical USB Mouse w/ DPI Adjustment
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10809&cs_id=1080901&p_id=8496&seq=1&format=2

10 -K9 USB Keyboard - Black
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10809&cs_id=1080903&p_id=9277&seq=1&format=2

159 -ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 w/Speakers & HDMI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

55 cpu
49 motherboard
35 ram (Trinity benefits from faster ram)
55 case (not sure fit aftermarket cooler)
23 psu (burn test for awhile before letting go)
59 hd (use up my 500's)
20 -dvd (have several)
05 mouse monoprice
10 keyboard momoprice
301

103 -ASRock A75 EXTREME6 FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157257
Full ATX with on board usb3

129 -MD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7660D AD580KWOHJBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001028&IsNodeId=1&name=AMD
Highest end APU

psu only 300-400 works fine so use 50 Seasonic

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Replace Toshiba LCD on L775D-S7206

http://www.batterystyle.com/toshiba-satellite-l775d-s7206-screen-p-507003.html
Instructions here but cost is approx $60.
Trying to figure if screen or inverter. Green lines around people. Inverter prob is usally dark screen.

Flights

http://www.momondo.com/ Search for lower priced flights Europe. Shows trains also.

Google IP

http://74.125.224.72/

This address should take you to Google. If not you may have a DNS problem in you router or computer settings.

Pin Not Available

Crazy Error I had not seen before. Pin not available blah blah. I restarted a few times and it finally worked. If it doesn't some say to...