Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices

This looks very interesting. Fiber for the desktop to other devices. Not specifically for networking (although that is an option, too, from the look of things). Can you imagine sitting down at your home PC, connecting your MP3 player to the Light Peak connection and downloading 20GB of your music in 15 seconds? But if this replaces USB, how am I going to charge my phone?

Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices: "

USB 3.0 might be one of the big stories here at IDF, but Intel just showed off a glimpse of the future: Light Peak, an optical interconnect for mobile devices that can run as fast as 10Gbps. That's fast enough to do everything from storage to displays to networking, and it can maintain those speeds over 100-meter runs, which is pretty astounding. Intel says the idea is to drastically reduce the number of connectors on mobile devices, which should allow them to get even smaller -- but the demo was on a huge Frankenrig, so don't expect to see any actual Light Peak devices ship any time soon,

Continue reading Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices

Filed under: Peripherals

Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

Talk about your breakthroughs in medical technology! This is just amazing. Yeah, it looks kinda creepy, but for the ability to see after being blind, I think it would be worth it.

Make sure you follow the link and watch the video from the Miami Herald. It's amazing.

Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out: "

Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. It's a real procedure that really does revive people's ability to see, yet we get the feeling that people will be more, um, excited about how it's done than why it's done. The seemingly Mary Shelley-inspired doctors extract a tooth from a blind person and drill a hole through it, where a prosthetic lens is placed, and the resulting macabre construction is implanted into the blind person's eye. The tooth is necessary as the body would reject an artificial base. It's not at all pretty, and it cannot repair every type of blindness, but it's still a major step forward. To hear from Sharron Thornton, the first American to have undergone the procedure, check the video after the break, but only if you can handle mildly graphic content -- you've been warned.



[Via Daily Tech]

Continue reading Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

Filed under: Science

Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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8 years ago. . .

Well, today is September 11^th, 2009. It’s been 8 years since our country was brutally attacked by terrorists. I could go off on a political tangent, but I won’t. I want to share my experiences with you.

Early in the morning of September 11^th 2001, my wife Marie and I got up, put our suitcases into the car and headed off for a weeklong trip to the Boston area, followed by a week of vacation. We had fun plans. If memory serves, we left the house between 5:30 and 6:00 AM. We had to get an early start to get to the hotel in time to check in so I could be rested for the next day. The day before, I had talked with my coworkers who were going to the same conference. We were all looking forward to it.

The drive up Interstate 95 to the New Jersey Turnpike was quiet and uneventful. I had been surfing the radio trying to find a Christian station. It’s always hard on a long trip, especially if you don’t bring your own music. Then I heard a news flash. Someone had flown a small plane into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. (A few years later, I would find out that a friend of mine would be awakened by a phone call from the Air Force base he worked at, being told that someone had flown a plane into the World Trade Center. His comment was simple, not completely understanding the gravity of the entire situation: “Moron. I could miss that!”). At first, I thought it was one of those radio pranks, but the reports kept coming. As the reports continued, the description of the plane got bigger. As we got closer to New York City, the description got even more grim.

During the 9:00 AM news cast on whatever radio station we were listening to, they broke in when another plane crash, this time in the south tower, then, the Pentagon. That’s when I knew this was a big deal, and I was expecting more.

As we got closer to NYC, we could see the smoke rising up from the WTC. It was as if Manhattan Island was a steamboat, trying to go out to sea. The sight was ominous. We had heard all the bridges were closed going in to NYC, so we stopped at a rest stop to get a map. We decided that I-287 was our best choice, and started planning our route to get up to Boston. I-287 to I-87 to I-84. I tried to call my boss in DC, but couldn’t even get a line out. We started back out on the highway. Trucks were parked on the breakdown lane everywhere. As we were driving, my wife looked and said “One of the towers just fell!” That was the next thing reported on the radio.

I was far from calm. If I remember right, we stopped again so we could switch drivers. I navigate better than my wife does. I was following the map, and nervously checking anything that looked suspicious; cars, trucks, anything that could possibly cause problems. I was thinking of all the other things that could be going on. Was there some sort of chemical agent in the plane that was activated by heat that was being dispersed? Biological agents? Were other cities around the world being attacked, too? I kept trying to call my boss. By the time we got to the Hudson River, I finally got in touch with him. He said the conference was obviously canceled since I was the only one who was going to make it to Boston. He also said to just go and take that week of leave and come back next week. Nothing was going to happen anyway, with all the confusion. So we continued up to Boston.

I friend and coworker told me about the ride home that day from Arlington, VA. She would often “slug” in to work. Slugging is organized hitch-hiking so that drivers can use the car-pool lanes. She had slugged in to work that day. When word finally came down for people to go home (I think it was around noon), people were talking together, comparing notes, trying to get all the slugs home. She ended up in a 4 passenger car with 5 other people (that makes six if you’re counting), riding dangerously close to the stick shift. But she was thankful for the ride.

When we got to the hotel, it was very quiet. CNN was on in the lobby, showing the replays of the WTC collapsing, the Pentagon burning, and the smoking hole in Pennsylvania. I think we canceled our reservation, and then we went to look up some old friends from college. When we got there, Diane opened the front door and ran to hug us, yelling “God sent us the Air Force!” I was a little bit embarrassed. We went to a prayer meeting with Steve and Diane that night. The mood was very somber and somewhat fearful. It felt like everyone there was expecting me to have some sort of answer as to what would happen next, because I was in the military. I was just as clueless as everyone else.

Flash back to a few months prior, say about May or June. I was sitting in my office and got a call from some woman in Texas whose relative had just moved to the Arlington VA area. It was a wrong number. My number had two numbers reversed from her relative’s number. She called me three or four times before she got it right finally. When I got back to my desk after my leave after 9/11, there was a voice message on my phone. It was that woman, calling to see if I was OK. For the next few months, that was the general feeling that I got across the US. People were genuinely concerned with others and were there to help out. I think we’ve lost a lot of that in the past eight years. Yes, a lot has happened since then. The Pentagon has been rebuilt (but the WTC has not). We’ve invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. We’ve ensured the people could put democratic governments in place. There have been two elections in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. But the support of the American people has drifted off.

It’s been eight years. My life has changed many times over. Yours probably has too. I ask that you do one thing. Don’t forget what happened on that terrible day. Don’t trivialize it by calling it a “Manmade disaster”. Don’t talk to me about your conspiracy theories about demolition charges and cruise missiles. I had friends at the Pentagon who SAW the plane fly over their heads on Route 110, seconds before crashing into it. That was no cruise missile. Don’t speak poorly about this country that I gave 21 years of my life for. Just keep it to yourself. Remember what really happened. Don’t let anyone forget.

Prototype airless vehicle tires

OK, this is just really cool. And, may I add, it's about time.

I know this has been worked on before (since the '30s) so why just now getting to work?

Prototype airless vehicle tires: "

As we have reported before, the idea of an airless tire (or 'tweel') is at least as old as the 1930s. Still, these photos of prototype non-pneumatic tires under development for the US military by Resilient Technologies, LLC, are pretty sick. Gimme!

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Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand

This looks kinda interesting, but, really, who sits like that? She isn't even touching the keyboard! Come on, let's see some realistic action shots!

But seriously, the term "laptop" is such a bad term because they get so hot you NEVER want to put it on your lap! If this keeps your lap from being scorched, and the speakers sound better than the ones in my "laptop", then maybe it's a good idea!

Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand: "

Are you one who works with a laptop most of the time wherever you go, making the 'lap' part of the word 'laptop' ring true each time it is booted? The Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand ought to give you some welcome relief from the head that laptops generate, as it makes the mobile computing experience all the more comfortable even with long hours of usage thanks to the soft cushion, while preventing your crotch from feeling hot all the time. Not only that, it boasts an integrated speaker that hooks up to your laptop via USB. The hot lady wearing yellow isn't included with each purchase though...

Permalink: Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand from Ubergizmo | Hot: iPhone 3GS Review

"

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world

OK, this looks VERY cool. Roads that can generate power to feed the grid near by? Awesome stuff, and uses all that wasted space for something good. And maybe the roads would stay clear!

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world: "

Solar roadways? Yeah, we've seen 'em before, but we've yet to see America's own Department of Energy give any one development company such a notable vouch of confidence. Just recently, the DoE handed over a $100,000 contract to Solar Roadways, which is just enough to build a prototype of the 'first ever Solar Road panel.' The 12- x 12-foot panels could theoretically be embedded into roads, and when shined upon, could pipe good, clean electricity straight into the grid. Heck, they could even boast LEDs in order to alert drivers to upcoming accidents or changes in road conditions. Reportedly, each panel would cost around $7,000 (at least initially), and if these were used on the entire US Interstate system, we could pretty much forget about using non-renewable energy sources to power our homes and businesses. Of course, our government is simultaneously wasting money on repaving perfectly good roadways with antiquated asphalt, so there's a tremendously great chance that this won't amount to anything.

[Via Inhabitat, thanks Miko]

Filed under: Transportation

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Procrastinators Anonymous

The Procrastinators Anonymous meeting has been rescheduled to next Thursday. Again.

 

Do you have a lot of projects that you've started but just can't seem to finish? I do. I don't know if it's really procrastination or if it's just that I don't have the energy to get back to them even though I'm excited about them. I'm betting it's the first one, though, although I don't have much energy lately. Let's take a look at a few of the projects I currently have going.

 

Frag Mom's Frag Box. This is the project from hell, if you will. There have been several
episodes of this project
chronicled here on this blog. This project may have actually come to a temporary close.

I finally gave up on installing Windows Vista Ultimate x64. Every time I got it "working" it would freeze for no apparent reason. There wouldn't be an error message in the logs or anything. It would just stop processing information. Not even the courtesy of a blue screen of death! My solution? Install Windows 7 x86. For some reason, the 32-bit drivers all work flawlessly on this motherboard, but the 64-bit drivers do not. I have no faith that ASUS will do anything in working toward the 64-bit drivers for this motherboard. In fact, when I bought this motherboard from Tiger Direct, it was a close-out, so I'm sure ASUS doesn't even support this motherboard anymore. However, Windows 7 x86 works great.

 

Multi-media entertainment center PC. I haven't told you about this project, because it hasn't really moved much at all. Back when my son and his girlfriend were starting to play Warhammer Online, my son's girlfriend couldn't get Warhammer to play well on her PC. They ended up buying a new system with a faster processor and a better video card. But here's the deal; her old PC was a Windows XP Media Center PC. In fact, it is an HP Pavilion a1473w. The DVD drive was not working, so I had to replace that, but other than that, it's a working system that is just sitting on the floor in my office. I also have the wireless keyboard and mouse from my Gateway GM5664 (I use a Merc gaming keyboard and a Logitech Mx518 mouse). I also have a Toshiba external Multi-media audio/usb hub that has a remote control for it. So my plan is to put them together with a wireless network card that I may have laying around and hook it to my LCD TV in the bedroom. That's my next project, I think. It should be fun.

 

Home server. This will be a fun one. I had a meeting last month with a Microsoft technical person who lives in the Atlanta area. He got me excited about an interesting idea, but I need to build a system from the ground up to support it. He said he has a server in his house running Windows Server 2008. It's a dual processor, quad core system (so that's a total of 8 cores) with about 8GB of RAM and over 2TB of disk space. He runs several other virtual servers in the built-in virtualization of Windows Server 2008, with Windows Home Server being one of them. Like me, he uses Windows Home Server to back up all the computers on his home network. Unlike me, he has actually tested his backups. He bought a new laptop hard drive for one of his laptops, the same size as the existing drive. He then swapped the drives, booted with the recovery CD that Windows Home Server provides, and made an exact duplicate of his laptop drive on a new drive! It worked flawlessly.

Well, I have a spare server case, I just need an awesome motherboard to put into that case, then shuffle around some of my drives and PRESTO, new server. Then I need to get my hands on a LEGAL copy of Windows Server 2008 (I have a plan for that, and it doesn't include spending gobs of money for Server 2008). So that's on the back burner until I can get the guts and the brains to put in this new Franken-puter body.

 

I have two projects that involve Linux. First, my grandson, affectionately called the grandmonster, has developed quite a love for computers. So much so that he will sometimes not allow his mother to use her laptop. "MINE!" So, I have an old Toshiba laptop that is currently running Windows 7 (and quite well, I might add, considering it only has 256 or 512MB of RAM). I plan to install Linux on that laptop, and ensure all the devices are working correctly, then donate it to the grandmonster cause. The second Linux project involves building a dual-headed coding monster. I need to get back into application development, just so that my skills don't get rustier than they are now. Hopefully I can exercise my programming muscles after building a Linux monstrosity with a dual video card. I'm sure I can scrounge the parts from around the house somewhere.

 

Another project I want to try but haven't had or made the time for, and is kinda cool, involves my new car. One of the cool features of the stereo in my car is that it has a USB port. There's two things you can connect to this USB port; an iPod, or a thumb drive. I don't have an iPod, and the one I want is too expensive for me to justify for an experiment, so I'm going to go with the thumb drive. An 8GB thumb drive will hold most of my music collection. Of course, a 16GB thumb drive would hold all of my music collection, but is more than the price I want to spend for this experiment. So, I plan to go to Microcenter and buy an 8GB thumb drive (I'll be in that area on Wednesday for a doctor appointment, so why not, right?). Supposedly my car stereo will recognize the file structure on the thumb drive and let me navigate and play playlists off the thumb drive.

Another aspect of this project is using the AUX port on the car stereo. My Blackberry Curve has a headphone port, but it uses a 4 conductor system, rather than the normal 3 conductor system your headphones uses. So what's the 4^th conductor for? Well it's for the headset/microphone system that comes in the box with the Curve. Here's what I want to try. Since we have two Curves, and my wife doesn't use her headphones for anything, I want to buy a 3 conductor 1/8 inch stereo plug, strip off the ear pieces of the headphones, figure out which is ground and which is the lead, then solder them to the new plug. The AUX jack in my car is designed for the three conductor plug (normal headphone 1/8 inch). If it works correctly, I can then place calls from my Curve using the built in microphone on the headset, but hearing the call on my car stereo speakers! My main concern with this is feedback, but I'm sure I can figure out something.

 

Well, those are the major projects I have in the queue for at home. Work projects are something completely different, but I won't talk about them.

Entire house made from LEGO bricks

I grew up with LEGO, but this is going just a bit too far. Although, I have to say this is REALLY awesome!

Entire house made from LEGO bricks: "

UK toy fanatic James May is having a real house built from millions of LEGO bricks. While running new wires through the walls and plumbing fixes should be a snap, I'd hate to be anywhere near the place in case of fire. GeekSugar has a gallery of pictures of the place as it's being built.

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Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator

Anyone who had been on heavy pain medication understands the problems associated with them: sedation, loss of mental acuity (it took me about 5 minutes to come up with that phrase), etc. On the medications I'm on right now, I don't feel that I'm safe driving and I'm careful going up and down stairs. But without the meds, I'm in so much pain, the negative effect causes the same issues. My pain management doctor talked to me during my last visit about a game plan for resolving this. One thing he recommended is a device similar to what was posted on Ubergizmo. Basically, what this device does is jam the signal between the nerve and the brain, so the brain only gets mild static, which causes a mild neuralgia feeling (tingling or massaging feeling).

Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator: "

Despite all the advances made in the world of medical science, nobody still knows how our spinal cord actually works, but we have discovered enough to know that low levels of electrical energy, when delivered straight to the nerve fibers in the spinal cord, is able to disrupt the signals that certain chronic pain conditions send to the brain, resulting in displacing those for a much more pleasant tingling sensation. St. Jude Medical follows up on this knowledge by unveiling the smallest and longest-lasting rechargeable neurostimulator in the world known as the Eon Mini. Measuring the size of a silver dollar, this 1cm thin device tips the scale at a mere 29 grams, and will be placed under the skin of the buttock or abdomen. The internal rechargeable battery is able to last for around 10 years, where it can be programmed via a remote control to treat up to eight different chronic pain areas. As a result, many patients suffering from chronic pain could eventually be weaned off morphine and lead a normal life.

Permalink: Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator from Ubergizmo | Hot: Wii, PS3 and Natal Motion Sensing

"

Secret passage consultants

This looks really cool, but all I can think of is getting stuck in it and saying

"PUT THE CANDLE BACK"

Secret passage consultants: "

Steve Humble of HiddenPassageway.com wants to build your secret lair. For the right price. But even if the United Nations hasn't paid you that ransom yet, it's still fun to browse around his site. Yes, they will build you a rotating fireplace. What you do behind it is your own business. Props to Cara for the link.

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No “Pubic” Option and other funny signs from town hall protests

I couldn't resist putting this one up. "Uncle John" Dvorak has done it again.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with federal government getting into the health . . . wait. I already have federal health care through the military. We ended up with HillaryCare as a test, and we're stuck with it. I would not wish this system on anyone, including my worst enemy. Well, maybe my worst enemy, that way, we wouldn't have to worry about him any more, because he'd die from bad health care, or while he was waiting on hold to get a referral approved.

Anyone who would send a person with back problems on a two hour drive for physical therapy and then drive two hours home, when there's a place 15 minutes away that already knows his history. . . well, that's what happens when people follow bureaucratic rules, not what's best for the patient.

Let's laugh about it, shall we?

By the way, the last one is really hard to read, but it's worth every minute you spend trying to figure it out!

No “Pubic” Option and other funny signs from town hall protests: "

This is from the Huffington Post. More after the break.

"

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility

Well, here's the details on the new, slimmer PS3. Still not PS2 compatible. Too bad; I was thinking about getting one until I read that.

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility: "

	120GB PS3 Slim	160GB PS3	80GB PS3
Product code	CECH-2000A	CECH-Pxx	CECH-Kxx / CECH-Lxx
Price	$299.99	$399.99	$299.99
Color	Matte Black	Piano Black (Glossy)	Piano Black (Glossy)
HDD	120GB 2.5-inch SATA	160GB 2.5-inch SATA	80GB 2.5-inch SATA
Dimensions	11.42 x 2.56 x 11.42 in.	12.75 x 3.86 x 10.8 in.	12.75 x 3.86 x 10.8 in.
Weight	7.05 lb.	11 lb.	11 lb.
Power	250W	280W	280W
Vertical Stand	Optional ($24)	Not necessary	Not necessary
Compatibility	PSOne	PSOne, Linux	PSOne, Linux
PS2 compat?	No	No	No
BRAVIA Sync (HDMI-CEC)	Yes	No	No
Bundle	Wireless DualShock 3 controller	Wireless DualShock 3 controller, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, PAIN downloadable game voucher	Wireless DualShock 3 controller

At this point, would-be PlayStation 3 buyers have two options: wait until next month to get the ultra-hip PS3 Slim model for $300, or plop down that same figure now for its chunkier older brother. As far as we can tell, unless you're absolutely dying to load Linux or another OS on top of the console, or have some strong aversion to matte finishes, there's really no incentive to purchase one right now without a more drastic price cut -- or if you're really lucky, perhaps you can find one of the older, discontinued models that can still play PS2 games.

Filed under: Gaming

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before There Was Twitter, There Was Blogger. And It’s Turning 10.

I knew Blogger was old, but 10? Wow. I had just gotten my first "high-speed" internet connection.

From TechCrunch:

Before There Was Twitter, There Was Blogger. And It’s Turning 10.: "

What were you doing in 1999? Maybe you were following the Kosovo War. Maybe you starting using Napster. Maybe you were entering your senior year of high school (I was), or maybe you started blogging. After all, on August 23, 1999, Pyra Labs launched its Blogger product, which would go on to become the biggest blogging platform in the world.

Yes, on Sunday, Blogger turns 10 years old. And to celebrate, the Blogger team (which is now a part of Google following the 2003 acquisition) is promising a bunch of gifts to users in the form of new features. Without naming anything specifically, Blogger points to this list as a good reference point for some of what they’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks. Of note on that list are a better commenting system and WordPress-style pages (About page, etc).

It’s worth noting that Blogger’s roots are deeply tied to the new hot web platform of choice: Twitter. Pyra Labs was co-founded by Evan Williams, who is now the CEO (and co-founder) of Twitter. Also a part of Pyra Labs were Jason Goldman who now runs product development for Twitter, and Jason Shellen who now runs Thing Labs, the makers of Brizzly, a much buzzed-about new Twitter client.

Biz Stone, another Twitter co-founder, joined the Blogger team at Google before leaving with Williams in 2004 to start Obvious Corp. which would eventually birth and turn into Twitter.

These days, while the web is abuzz over Twitter, no one really talks much about Blogger despite millions of people using it everyday. The fact is that as a platform, it has fallen behind the more nimble blogging platforms like WordPress and Tumblr in recent years. Still, in terms of straight up simplicity in setting up a blog, it’s easy to see why Blogger is still popular among users (and, unfortunately, spammers).

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

"

New Insight

And again, it's been two weeks. I have a valid (at least I think it's valid) excuse this time, and I'm going to write about it today.

Since my back problems started up, I've been having issues getting in and out of the Cobalt Bomber. It's an awesome car, but it's just too low to the ground for me. I started doing research into the existing hybrid cars on the market, and I kept coming back to the 2010 Honda Insight. Even with the mid-range package (the EX model), it's cheaper than the Toyota Prius. But price wasn't my only concern. My major concern was comfort. I'd already done all my research online, so it was time to visit one in person.

I called Koon's Honda in Manassas VA (close by the house) and set up an appointment for Saturday afternoon, August 1st, but we didn't take the Cobalt Bomber, we took my wife's minivan. When I called, I made sure they'd have one I could at least sit in. The reason I checked is because when I was shopping for the Cobalt Bomber, we didn't even get to test drive the standard transmission version. We were sitting in the car and a sales rep sold it literally out from under us. They walked up and said "Please get out of that car. We just sold it". We ended up buying it in Maine at Blouin's Honda in Augusta. We saved money, and got a 3 day vacation out of the deal.

But back to recent times. My appointment with Josh Bond (I bet he hated being called James as a kid) went well. Josh seemed impressed with our knowledge of the car and had limited knowledge of the older Insights, but that's OK because they weren't selling them anymore. The first test was sitting in one. I was impressed. The seats were very comfortable, and the driver's seat was adjustable in all three dimensions. My wife and I also tried the back seats and found them comfortable, too. During the fall and winter, my mother-in-law and her sister live with us, and I wasn't about to get a car that wasn't comfortable for them, so we called them up and asked them to go to a Honda dealer where they are in Maine and try out the seats for them. A few days later we got a call back saying not only are they comfortable, but my mother-in-law's sister would actually consider buying one for herself!

So, the decision was made; we were going to buy the 2010 Insight. Now we needed to figure out where and how.

We do most of our banking with USAA, as well as our insurance. We went to the USAA website, logged in, and noticed they have a car buying program through Zag.com. We went to the special website for the program, put in our zip code, selected the make, model, color and special features, and we got an email from Zag.com for three dealers in our "area" that participated in their program, and pricing for that specific car. Then, the dealers contacted me either by email or by phone to discuss my particular needs. The only problem was that Koon's Honda doesn't participate in that program. I was disappointed, but I had a plan. I spoke with a representative at Hendrick Honda in Woodbridge VA and got what they called the "out the door" price, to include tax, tags, and other fees. Now that I had their bottom line, I could move forward with my plan.

We also needed financing, so we noticed that we were "pre-approved" for a new car loan through USAA, so we put in the bottom line number we got, rounding up, of course, and I clicked the "Apply" button. My wife was watching over my shoulder. "So when do we hear back?" she said. "That's it. It's done. We're already approved." It was that easy. Too easy. (ominous background music to show foreshadowing).

The following Saturday, August 8^th, we got a 1:00PM appointment with Josh to discuss the deal. We left the house a little early so we could grab a quick lunch at McDonalds, across the street from the car dealer (this is an important point. We ate lunch literally 100 yards from where we would buy the car). We had cleaned and vacuumed the Cobalt Bomber that morning, so she was looking good for her appraisal. As I pulled into the parking space at McDonalds, I heard a sickening sound, the sound of fiberglass rubbing on concrete. The guy in the car next to us looked at us and pointed down and forward at the front of the car. I slowly backed the Cobalt Bomber away from the front of the parking space, turned her off and got out. The bumper cover and air dam on the front of the car had caught on the concrete edge of the parking lot. When I backed up, the piece, in its entirety, broke free of its retaining clips and fell to the ground, with only one of the about eight clips still holding on. My heart sunk. We couldn't believe it. We had just cleaned the car, so there were no tools, no supplies, nothing to help fix the problem. We stood and stared at the bumper and air dam, dumbfounded. We're right across the street from the dealer! What do we do now? How do we hold the bumper on the car long enough to get it over there so we can trade it in? It's like she KNEW we were taking her for our last ride with her, and she didn't want to leave.

I remembered the Valet key. Any time I took the Cobalt Bomber in for work, I would leave the valet key, and they would put the tag for the service on the key. When it was done, I'd remove the tag, but leave that little metal ring on the key. Now I know why I did that. I pulled out the valet key and removed four of the little rings. I put one ring in one of the holes for the retaining clips. I put another in the corresponding hole in the bumper cover. I used the four rings together to tie the bumper cover back into the car. It wasn't a permanent solution by any means, but it would hold it to cross the street.

After lunch, we drove across to Koon's Honda. We met up with Josh and asked what he could do to help us get into an Insight that day. He had our car appraised, and came back with numbers for us, but they were much higher than what we were quoted from Hendrick Honda. We jockeyed for position, playing the pricing game that new car dealers play, and then I took out my ace in the hole; my quote from Hendrick. Josh took it back to his manager, and came back with a comparable offer. They would have to drive one of their Insights to Leesburg and trade for the "Atomic Blue Metallic" color that I wanted. While Josh was getting the car in Leesburg, we talked to the Customer Care representative and a Finance representative. We added on the Honda extended warrantee and got a better financing deal through Koon's network of lenders (ultimately PNC bank). I took six hours, but we left that night with a new car that I could drive and get in and out of!

I have nothing but good things to say about Koon's Honda and Josh Bond, our sales representative. They all worked very hard to make sure we were happy with our new car and that the deal was the best we could do. I've been having service done at Koon's Honda since we moved into this new house three years ago, and I'll continue to work with Koon's Honda. They're all good people there, and they work to ensure the customer is happy.

My new Insight doesn't have a name yet, but I'm working on it. Here's a picture of it before we left Koon's Honda last Saturday. So far, I've driven it to work and to church, and I'm averaging about 45 miles to the gallon. Not the 60 I was getting, but for a four door car, it's great!

Two new toys in the house

I'd like to start off by apologizing for not writing anything last week. No excuses, just nothing came to me. But the good news is, I have something to write about today!

This past week we got two new tech toys in the house; a new multifunction printer (printer, scanner, copier, fax) and a GPS for the car. I wanted to test them out before I wrote about them, so here we go.

 

First let's look at the multifunction printer. We used to have a Brother multifunction printer that we bought at Wal-Mart for $99 or so. It was about 5 years old, I guess, and it was starting to die. Then within a week, both the scanner bulb and the print head went out. So, now it's basically a paperweight. But it did last us 5 years or so. I started doing my research based on where I could get a new multifunction printer, what was available (and on sale) and what functions I needed and wanted in a new printer. After a week or so of research, I settled on a Canon MX860. Not only was the Canon MX860 a good printer, but I could buy it on sale with free shipping. Awesome.

So, what's so great about the Canon MX860? Well, let's take a look. All these comments are subjective and not based on any objective testing. The Canon MX860 met all my basic requirements; color inkjet printer, scanner, copier, fax. But, it exceeded my requirements in a few areas and still had a low price. In the exceeding area, it doesn't just print, the Canon MX860 is the first duplex inkjet printer I've ever owned. In other words, this printer will print on both sides of a page without having to figure out how to stick the paper back in the feeder so it prints correctly on the other side. That is really cool. I have an HP LaserJet 4000N that duplexes, but sometimes, you just need color and on both sides of the page (and not only that, it saves paper!). The other area it exceeded my requirements in was the scanner. The MX860 has a 30 sheet feeder for the scanner, and it duplexes the scanning! In other words, you can scan both sides of the page automatically! I have never seen this in a scanner that was under $200 before; and absolutely never in a multifunction printer that duplexes the print. I may be completely wrong on this, since I've been out of the printer market for a while, but this is an awesome printer. The third element of awesomeness in this printer is the fact that not only can you attach it to your network, you can use WiFi to attach it, if you don't have a physical cable available to get to your printer. WiFi, scanning and printing duplexing, what more could you ask for? Well, how about awesome print quality and fast printing? The Canon MX860 is a great multifunction printer that does it all. Recommended.

 

Now let's look at the GPS we got for my wife. We got the Garmin Nüvi 265WT. Staples had it on sale this week for $199 after rebates. This particular Garmin has some cool features that make it perfect for my wife. First, it gives turn by turn directions and says the name of the next street to turn on, which is great. It has a reasonably up to date map, although the maps don't include the street that was completed about a year ago in my neighborhood, so it looks like we're off-roading for a while (and I updated the maps when I got the GPS). The kicker for me was that it has Bluetooth capabilities, so it can pair with your phone and be used as a hands-free device. Also, this particular Garmin has traffic reporting (hence the T in the model number), which if you live in a major metropolitan area can be VERY helpful.

The GPS features are the normal kind of things. In the past few days the only problem we've found with it is it doesn't know which street you're on if you're driving under an elevated street or highway. My wife was following the directions from the Garmin and must have missed a turn or the Garmin didn't realize which level she was driving on, and she got lost in DC down by the Potomac River, because the Garmin thought she was on the elevated part of the street. Once she worked all that out, it was fine and it helped her get back to where she needed to be. I don't think that's a limitation specific to the Garmin, I think all GPS would have problems in that area.

The Bluetooth capability is nice. Pairing the Garmin with my wife's Blackberry Curve from Verizon Wireless was easy. Once the two were paired, the Garmin downloaded the entire address book from the Blackberry. Also the Garmin allows you to voice dial your phone (if the phone has that capability). We've been looking for a hands free device for my wife for a while now, since the headsets don't work too well for her (and she hates the wires). This one works well, and the sound quality is very good for a secondary feature.

The traffic function is cool. The traffic is provided by NAVTEQ. NAVTEQ uses RDS to transmit traffic information on a 57KHz subcarrier. Some car stereo systems receive RDS information and can display traffic or other data. Friday when my wife was driving me to work, I played with the traffic capabilities of the Garmin. Friday was a bad day to do this, because Fridays are usually light traffic days. When you turn on the traffic map, routes that have moderate traffic are marked in yellow and routes that have heavy traffic are marked in red. The Garmin has the capability to route you around heavy traffic areas, but I haven't had the opportunity to test that yet. Also, traffic is currently only available in 50 cities in the US, so it's not everywhere (although, if you lived in the middle of Kansas or Iowa, you wouldn't need traffic maps now would you?).

So far, we're really happy with the Garmin Nüvi 265WT. It's a good GPS with multiple voices to chose from and great additional capabilities. Recommended.

 

Now on a personal note, I got to meet one of my Twitter friends in person last weekend, @NicLizD. If you use Twitter, I highly recommend following her. She's a great person who is very smart and really enjoys chatting with people. Also, this week I went back to my office for the second time since March, and I went in two times this week, although not for full days. That's a big deal for me. I'm doing physical therapy three times a week, so the other two days I go into the office and work from there for a while. It gives me the chance to understand everything else that's going on around my projects, so I can keep things tied together. Still no major progress on getting Windows Vista installed on Frag Mom's Frag Box, but I have made baby steps toward fixing it. It seems to be the USB drivers that are causing it to fail, so my next step is to flash the BIOS with an update, then try again. But it's working on XP, so that's not a real problem. Hopefully I'll have a full fix on the Frag Box soon.

YourFi, MiFi, and OurFi

Did you ever have one of those mornings? On the plus side, I did get to sleep in until 8:00AM, which was a great blessing. But then things went a little "wonky" to use an Abby word.

 

A little background is in order here, I think. In the past few months I've become a very active part of a Christian prayer and outreach group that uses Twitter and a blog to reach people. The twitter account is @worldprayr, and the blog is here. Well, the blog site is where the problems lay today. It seems that during our nighttime and during the daytime over in Asia, someone decided to hack all the images at imageshack, a website used by bloggers and others to store images. One of the images used on the worldprayr blog site is stored on imageshack. But one is all it takes. That image now shows up as the Anti-sec manifesto. I don't want to give this group much more press time than it's already getting, if it is a group (it may only be one person. There's very little information out there on Anti-sec). I will get on my soap box about defacing someone else's web page for your purposes.

Let me say this up front. Graffiti is NOT art. Some of it may have artistic tendencies, but it is still defacing another person's property. Hacking someone's website is no different than tagging someone's fence or house or business. It's thuggish graffiti, and childish at best. Oliver Wendell Holmes said "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Defacing a website goes just beyond the nose. If you want to make a point, there are many other ways to make it without defacing other people's websites.

Those of you who disagree with me, fire at will.

OK, off the soap box. (and the site is fixed now).

 

I got back from Maine on Wednesday. I had the perfect opportunity to test my new little MiFi 2200 from Verizon Wireless that I talked about a few weeks ago. The first test was in Fairfield, Maine, which is about 44.58°N, 69.60°W. It's a small town by most accounts, but a larger town by Maine standards. Since Verizon Wireless bought AllTel last year, most of the coverage in the state has changed over to Verizon (although AllTel is still operating as a subsidiary of Verizon Wireless). I tested my new toy in Fairfield and it worked like a charm. I had full signal strength, full throughput, and a very reliable connection. The next test was the kicker.

Let me tell you a little about my dad's house (we call it "the farm") and the town he lives in. Dad lives in Winn, Maine. It's a speck of a town, way off the beaten path, at about 45.45°N, 68.34°W. We always joke "It's not the end of the world, but you CAN see it from there!" According to the 2000 census numbers, there were 420 people living in Winn in 2000. I don't know where they found them all, because I think there's a LOT less than that. I think in the 1980 census, there were only 250 or so (I was one of them then). Dad's house is built in a valley of sorts. There is no line-of-sight anywhere because of all the hills. Since the digital television transition, there is no signal there because of all the hills around the house. On the good side, it makes the house easier to heat in winter and cool in summer (well, usually cooling isn't needed!). I marvel at the design of the house every time I'm there, since there were no "engineers" involved in the design process. But I digress, as I usually do. Historically speaking, no one in the family has been able to make or receive cell phone calls at the farm because of the hills around it. This trip was different.

Maybe Verizon Wireless added towers in the area. I did notice one up on top of Mount Jefferson. I don't know if VZW uses it or not. But my Blackberry Curve got between one and two bars of signal strength, depending on where I was standing in the house! Cell phone signal at the farm! It was reason to celebrate. So I pulled out my MiFi 2200, set it up as a WiFi hub, put it up as high as I could (on top of one of the window valences my dad made about 30+ years ago), and tried to connect to it with my laptop. BINGO! Not a perfect signal, but there was a connection, and it was as fast as the DSL connection I was using in Fairfield! As far as I know, this was the first time Internet access was made at the farm that exceeded 14,400Kbps.

I'm not being paid by Verizon Wireless for this endorsement, but I highly recommend them and the MiFi 2200. But if they wanted to pay me for my endorsement, I'd take it!

 

I hope to spend some time this week trying to upgrade Frag Mom's frag box to Vista (yeah, I know some of you would argue the term "upgrade", but so be it). I think I've found the problem but I just haven't had the time to test it yet.

 

It's good to be home!

A Story From My Past

Happy Independence Day. In honor of Independence Day, I thought I'd post a little story from my past. Not really specifically uplifting, not about technology, but a story from my past while I was in the Air Force, teaching ROTC at the University of Maryland.

First, a little background.

In 2004, I was sent to train ROTC cadets, most college sophomores (soon to be juniors), at ROTC Field Training, a 28 day training experience where the cadets learn leadership, followership, and team building skills in a controlled, stressful environment. That's the nice way of saying it.

Field Training Officers or FTOs were assigned to each flight (the smallest unit in the Air Force, like a squad in the Army). Three flights to a squadron. Being the ranking officer in my squadron, I was the squadron FTO, with 2 captains under me. Each of us started with 24 to 28 cadets to train. Each flight also had a Cadet Training Assistant or CTA who was a junior (soon to be senior) who showed aptitude and leadership at field training last year, to help the FTOs with the flight. I also had a squadron CTA that rotated through the squadron and up to the wing (the next higher level, similar to a battalion if squadron = company). So that's 2 captains and 4 soon to be lieutenants (which the Field Training commander, an AF colonel told us to treat as we would lieutenants).

We were all given information on the cadets we would have in our flights, but you can only learn so much from paperwork. GPA, basic aptitude, etc. But that doesn't tell you 2 major things we were looking for; leadership and stress management. They (those in charge of the entire camp) also ensured we would not have cadets from where we taught college. Each cadet would be assigned a room in the dorm, 2 to a room, 2 rooms to a bathroom.

Enough background. Here we go.

It was my week to pick who the cadet squadron commander would be. I had a cadet who was falling into the background as much as possible, but had great paperwork. He just wasn't stepping up. Time for a little push. After discussion with my captains and the CTAs, we agreed, Cadet Johnson (not his name. In fact, I can't remember his name) was the choice for cadet squadron commander.

When it was announced, he looked shocked. This was to be a big week. We were supposed to go through preparation for "deployment" to "the field" for 3 days. That included a 5 mile road march (wow, 5 whole miles!) in formation through a supposed hostile environment. Squadron commanders were to control all three flights in their squadrons, through their respective flight commanders.

It was going well until they came "under fire". Cadet Johnson lost total control of his flights, as well as his composure. I pointed at him and yelled (he was about 100' away) "You're dead. Fall in with your flight." Not angry, just loud. What I call "the dad voice". Cadet Johnson complied, angry and flustered. Now a new squadron commander had to be selected, but I let the flight commanders decide what to do, since there was an order of succession laid out. They did it correctly. A few other squadron commanders "died" that day.

That evening, we let Cadet Johnson know he was back in as squadron commander for the remainder of his scheduled time. He didn't look happy.

The next day went as well as can be expected in the first 2 weeks of field training. Lots of frustration and mistakes under pressure, which is what we wanted. Cadet Johnson was very frustrated, and didn't respond well to the stresses of 3 "real officers" yelling at him, as well as 4 CTAs.

That evening was when it got interesting. During inspection prep time, when cadets were supposed to be getting everything ready for the next day, Cadet Johnson and his roommate had their door closed (which was not allowed). My CTA noticed the issue, and stood in the hall, listening at the door. He could hear Cadet Johnson ranting about his time as cadet squadron commander.

"If Major Stratton and Cadet Moier (my CTA) think they can tear me down like this, just wait until we go to the firing range with the 9mm! I'll show them. They won't come back" is something close to what Cadet Johnson said. It didn't take long for my CTA to open the door and try to find out what was going on. Neither of us was used to death threats.

That was a long night. Between that point (about 9pm or so) and 11pm, Cadet Johnson saw every real officer in his chain of command starting with me, all the way up to the Colonel in charge of the camp. It was decided that he would not remain at field training (I decided that about 2 hours before!) and that he would immediately be removed from the area around his flight. He was moved to the staff building (didn't make me feel much better) and was constantly watched, not allowed to leave his new room. Also during that time he was interviewed by the real base security forces, since there was an actual crime here. The determined he was not a threat to anyone (again, didn't make me feel much better).

Cadet Johnson was removed from field training with prejudice, in other words, he was removed from ROTC completely and would never be allowed to serve in the military. He was sent home about 4 days after the incident, due to flight scheduling. After that point, my flight began to gel together as a team. Although they never won an award during field training, they were constantly just below the waterline, but the winning flight was different every time. My flight was the number 1 flight of field training in all areas.

I've lost contact with my cadets from field training. I hope most of them are still serving. The ones that completed field training were outstanding Americans, and I knew they would be excellent officers. I really miss them. Even though I was "the bad guy" always yelling and correcting them, they knew that I genuinely cared about each of them as individuals, and wanted them to succeed. We also had lots of fun during that time. My job was to make it as hard as possible for them, but not to be hard on them. After Cadet Johnson left, they understood why I was there. There was no stopping them after that.

If you are currently in, or have served in any branch of the military, thanks you for your service.

Voltage, MiFi, and Radio Frequency! Oh My!

Well, I'm trying to get back into my Saturday schedule again, so here I am. I have a loose end to tie up, and something new to talk about, and a bit of personal news.

First, the loose end. Frag mom's frag box is running. It's not running Vista, but it's running. The problem is, I don't know why. Here's the deal.

I signed up on the ASUS forum pages so I could try to get more info. There was some info there, but not much was helpful. So, I posted my problem (which was almost the same as the "Open Letter" from last week). I got some responses, but mostly commiserating from other people that couldn't get Vista to work on their ASUS N3M78 Pro motherboards. However, they could get XP to work. So, I dug around for a copy of XP, found a key that was on a computer that had the OS replaced (not upgraded. We're fully legal here). Then I installed XP. Have you ever formatted a 500GB drive in XP? Full format, not a quick format? It must have taken 4 hours. That was the most agonizing part of the installation. After the format, everything went slick. Everything installed without any problem. Then I installed all the correct drivers from the DVD that came with the motherboard (not the newest drivers) without any problem. Next, I installed the utility from ASUS that monitors the health of the CPU and motherboard. Wait a second. What's the voltage in the CPU? 1.3v. What?

I went to the AMD website and searched for the specs for the Phenom 9500 CPU. (If I'm reading this wrong, please let me know) Operating voltage is 1.15v to 1.25v. So, the voltage for the CPU is high. That explains the 57°C CPU temp (which is also high). But I can't find in the BIOS how to lower the voltage of the CPU. I'll need to do more digging and get back to you. I'm guessing that MAY be part of the problem with Vista Ultimate installing. That and the voltage for the RAM is running low; 2.0v rather than the 2.1 to 2.2 that it likes. If you know how to fix that, or have any other comments or suggestions, please let me know.

 

Well, the good news is that now that the new frag box is running, we can again start running instances in World of Warcraft! It's neat to be able to run them with the four of us in the house, even though we use Skype to be able to talk between the floors of the house! Lots of fun, trust me. And we've done the first two instances of Wrath so far. Nexus was the first time we've run an instance with no one in the group having been in that particular instance before. THAT was fun.

 

I had an interesting problem with work this week. I was trying to use my normal method of VPN to get into work, but the DNS for Comcast wouldn't resolve the name of the servers I wanted to go to. "That's odd" I thought. So, I tried to go to a few websites I go to, and those were not accessible, but my "normal" sites were. Odd. And that brings me to my newest toy.

Since we started with Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM), we've been looking for a "business" internet connection that isn't too expensive (although it's a business expense anyway). So I did some research. I wanted to use VerizonWireless, or at least some form of wireless / cellular / 3G connection, so I could take it with me where ever I was working (I've been to one too many "free" wifi places that I had a hard time connecting through). After painstaking research and study, I settled on the VerizonWireless MiFi 2200. Let me tell you something, this baby is AWESOME!

First, let's look at it physically. It's 3.5" high, 2.3" wide, and only 0.4" thin! That makes it a little bigger than a credit card, and thinner than the Motorola Razr V3 phone. It weighs 2 oz, which is 2/3 the weight of the Razr phone. Let me put it this way: if you wear bondage pants, you could lose it in your pockets. It comes with a micro USB port for connection directly to a computer (PC or Mac (or Linux for that matter)), and for charging. Yes, you can charge your battery while you're tethered to it. There's also a short USB cable and a wall charger in the box, as well as a small fabric sleeve for it, for when you're not using it.

It was delivered at around 5pm, and after opening the box and looking at the directions (yes, I sometimes do that), I decided that maybe I should charge this new toy for 24 hours before trying to use it. Sigh. So, I put the battery in (doubling the weight, at least) and plugged it into the wall, making a mental note of the time that I could start playing with my new toy tomorrow!

That night was like Christmas Eve. Well, not really, but it's good for dramatic effect.

The next evening I followed the directions to activate the MiFi 2200. I connected it to my laptop with the USB cable, and it showed up as a thumb drive! The MiFi 2200 has VZAccess Manager installed in a small memory chip. You install that from the "modem" itself, then update over the air after the connection is made. Using the MiFi 2200 as a directly connected modem is easy. VZAccess Manager detects when it is connected and gives you the option of using it for the primary internet connection. The great thing about VZAccess Manager is that it gives preference to WiFi connections, so you don't use up your throughput.

I hear what you're saying. So what! What's the big deal. VerizonWireless has lots of USB connectable 3G modems. Well, not like this one. You see, the real fun begins when you disconnect the MiFi 2200 from the USB cable. Once the connection with Verizon is made, the MiFo 2200 acts as a WiFi hub, allowing up to 5 connections through to the internet over Verizon's 3G network. So if you have a small group of people getting together in a place where there's no free WiFi, no problem. Whip out the MiFi 2200 and hook up wirelessly. Speeds are almost as fast as my Comcast connection over normal WiFi G connections.

The real test will be when we travel up to Maine for the 4^th of July weekend. According to VerizonWireless' coverage map, my dad's house in the middle of the Maine woods is covered by Verizon's "Enhanced Services". That's going to be the real test. Last time I tried to get internet connectivity there, it was at less than 14.4Kbps!

Oh, but the best part, was that because I bought it through FHTM's Wireless shop, I got a discount on the MiFi 2200. The service is still $59.99 a month for 5GB (5,120 MB), but the MiFi itself was only $79.99, instead of $99.99 directly from VerizonWireless. Sweet.

 

I said there'd be a bit of personal news. The trip to Maine was not it. (By the way, the alarm will be on and the police will know we're out of town, in case you're thinking of being bad). On Thursday, June 25^th, I will be having a procedure for my back called radiofrequency neurotomy, where the doctor will be going into my back with a needle and basically burning the facet nerves for L5-S1. Thursday will be the left side, the following Tuesday will be the right side. It sounds kind of scary, but with God's help, I should be back to what passes for normal for me within two weeks. I'll tell you next week how the first one goes, if I feel up to it! But for now, it's back to the frag box to try to figure out how to drop that CPU voltage!

Open Letter to ASUSTeK

Dear ASUSTeK,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still having problems with my new M3N78 Pro MoBo. I'm on my 2nd M3N78 Pro MoBo now. The first was defective. Now that I installed the second one, I can't get Vista Ultimate x64 w/SP1 to install. I have been testing this for over a week now, following the scientific method, changing only one thing at a time trying to get Vista to install correctly.

Please check http://insidephilsbrain.blogspot.com/2009/06/frag-moms-new-frag-box.html for details on the system configuration and my previous experience with this MoBo.

The closest I've come to actually completely installing Vista was getting to the screen just before entering the user name and password for initial user creation, and sticking at "Completing Installation .." but it wasn't.

I changed the SATA to AHCI, then to RAID, then to IDE. Each time, no difference.

I lowered the voltage for the DIMMs and for the North Bridge. No difference.

I slipstreamed the drivers from your website into the install DVD. No difference.

I know the DVD media is good because I installed onto another 500GB SATA drive I had on a different system with no issues at all. After that was installed and updated using Windows Update, I powered down and switched the drives. No difference. I tried booting into Safe Mode, waiting for drivers to load from the DVD, and even loading the drivers myself, but I couldn't log in, and the system was unusable.

I tried pulling one of the DIMMs. I tried moving the DIMMS to different locations.

To make this long saga short, nothing has worked. I'm at the end of my rope. This was supposed to be a simple replacement of a problem Dell that was hyper-unstable. I'm tempted to switch back to the Dell and live with the BSOD.

I'm not stupid. I've been building computers since 1993. This is the biggest nightmare I have ever experienced. If someone can point me to some voltage settings, maybe a way to underclock the CPU, some magic incantation. Anything would be appreciated. I've done everything short of sacrificing a goat.

I keep reading everywhere that this is such a wonderful MoBo. I haven't seen it yet. I'm about to order a new MoBo that will use the same CPU and RAM from a different manufacturer, then take this one out in a field and go "Office Space" on it.

Any suggestions?

And by the way, don't call my house, because my wife is fit to be tied. This was supposed to be a quick fix so she could get back on World of Warcraft. It's been two weeks now.

Frag Mom’s new frag box

Well, it's Tuesday evening, and the parts are all here; the next step is getting it all together!

Here's my parts list:

Apex PC-389 ATX Black Mid Tower Case

Ultra LS500 Lifetime Series 500W Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, PCI-Express

Asus M3N78 PRO Motherboard - Socket AM2+, Geforce 8300, ATX, HDMI, SATA, Gbit LAN, Hybrid SLI

AMD Phenom 9500 Processor HD9500WCGDBOX - 2.20GHz, 4 x 512KB Cache, 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket AM2+, Processor with Fan

Ultra X-Wind Aluminum Socket K8/AM2 CPU Cooling Fan

OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)

WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB/SATA-3G

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit DSP OEM DVD

Sony DRUV200A/BR DVD/CD Rewritable IDE Retail Drive

Diamond Multimedia Radeon HD 4670 1024MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Graphics Card

 

You may recognize the video card from last week. It's the same card. The one that came in the bundle wasn't as good.

(Fast forward) 8

Well, it took me about an hour and a half to get the computer built. Not too shabby. But that's when the "fun" began.

First try at installing Vista Ultimate 64 bit was looking great, until it hung on the final (or at least what looked like the final) phase of the install and configuration, "Completing Installation. . ." My first guess was dirty media, so I wiped the DVD clean (physically, not the data!) and tried again. It died in the same place. So, I thought "Maybe I'm just not waiting long enough. It's getting late anyway; I'll just start the install and go to bed." Nope. That didn't work either. I got up Wednesday morning at 5:30 and still, not done and sitting in the same place. "Completing Installation. . ." All I could think of was "No, you're not! That's the problem!" It's time to do some research.

(Fast forward) 8

After searching for some time, I found that sometimes the SATA driver from Microsoft isn't completely compatible with the nVidia SATA chipset. So it seems that the data going to the hard drive is being corrupted and is then not able to be read, which is a bit of a problem. After many attempts, half attempts and one or two near successes, it was after 5PM on the Wednesday. This is taking more time than I wanted it to.

(Fast forward) 8

OK, and now it's 8PM on Wednesday. I've decided to take out the ATI video card on the off chance it's conflicting with the nVidia GPU on the motherboard. We'll see if this install works. And yes, I need to re-install because something got horked up and it wouldn't boot. Hopefully we won't have a power failure along with the thunderstorm that's going over right now. That would be bad (but not totally unexpected, given the way this project has gone).

(Fast forward) 8

And the fun continues. It's now 8PM on Thursday. 24 hours since I took out the ATI video card, with still no joy in mudville. To be honest, I don't know how I haven't gone completely bald or completely insane because of this. I've NEVER had an installation go this bad. Blue screens or hangs at seemingly random times. There's no way to diagnose, because the dump doesn't get put on the hard drive. Sometimes the install blue screens during the initial phase. And what the heck is are PTEs?

(Fast forward) 8

I just got off the phone with the ASUS technical support folks (after the third try. The first two the line when dead as the tech came on). They seem to think that the problem isn't with the motherboard (big surprise) but with the media from Microsoft. I won't write that off, I've seen it before. In fact, I've seen viruses from Microsoft software; pristine, from the factory CDs with a virus on it. It does happen. So I'm going to try putting Windows 7 on it instead of Vista. The tech suggested XP, but I don't know that I have an XP disk I can install from. So I'm burning the Windows 7 x64 RC to a DVD to try that.

(Fast forward) 8

As I expected, Win7 wouldn't install either. Linux won't even recognize the video card. <sarcasm> I wonder what that could mean! </sarcasm>

(Fast forward) 8

It's now Friday morning, around 11AM, and I just got off the phone with the great folks at TigerDirect. I have nothing but praise for these folks. They definitely know how to do customer service. A 5 minute phone call, and the new motherboard will be here (but in three to four business days). Once it's here I can send back the dead one. The biggest problem I can see with this whole thing is that frag-mom is still frag-box-less. I'm going to have to hook up the dead Dell again and pray it works for a few days. The saga continues.