Archive for the ‘PC’ Category

Thin Server

PC | Posted by Dr. J
Jul 30 2011

Living with your parents has several important benefits:

  • It’s cheap
  • Lots of things are always already done before you get to them
  • No mortgage/rent

However, there are also disadvantages… For example, my parents don’t like it when I let a high power computer run 24/7. One thing I’ve wanted for a long time though was a computer that I could leave running 24/7 to take care of nightly downloads, serve as a NAS and FTP server. So I thought “whatever can run on a Windows XP computer can also run on a Windows XP Embedded thin client”. So I went out searching for a second hand high end thin client and I found a HP T5720. It runs Windows XP Embedded out of the box, has a 1Ghz x86 compatible CPU and 512MB DDR RAM. I connected a 500GB USB harddisk to it, installed FileZilla FTP server and uTorrent on it. Configured FileZilla to run a TLS/SSL encrypted FTP service and configured folders and bandwidth settings in uTorrent, configured my router to enable access to the FTP service from the internet and I’m all set. So now I have FTP server/torrent downloader/NAS that needs only an estimated 30W which my parents found to be acceptable :)

Thinserver 01

Thinserver 02

I connected the screen, mouse and keyboard as an emergency provision. In case the “Thin Server” is no longer accessible through the network, I can switch on the screen and use the keyboard and mouse to fix any problems. I’d like to see anyone fix any problems on one of those consumer class NAS things you can get these days without network access.

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What if Windows 7 won’t install?

PC | Posted by Dr. J
Nov 03 2010

I have seen literally hundreds of posts on various forums about people who can’t install Windows 7 because of the very self explenatory error “Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. see the Setup log files for more information.”

Most people, including me, don’t know where to find these log files and nothing seems to help. Setting the SATA controller to IDE, AHCI or RAID doesn’t make any difference and it doesn’t seem to matter what kind of drive is being used. It can be an old fashioned hard disk like I have or a super high end SSD über drive, it all makes no difference.

However, I have found a solution that worked for me and might also work for other people, so I thought it would be nice of me to share it with the world. So here we go; chances are that the drives have been previously used and as such they are cluttered with all kinds of stuff that you need to get rid of. Here is a step by step guide on how to get on with it.

1: The first step is to boot the PC using the Windows 7 installation DVD. Then when prompted you select the language you’d like to use. In most cases there is really only 1 option, but just in case the pull down menu is still there.

2: Now you arrive at the point where you would normally choose “install now” but instead you click the “Repair your computer” link at the bottom of the window. At the windows that pops up you choose the option at the top. In the heat of the moment I forgot what either option’s label is, but you will need the first one, trust me.

3: Now you’ll arrive at a menu with several options and here you need to one at the bottom, and of this one I do know the label, “Command prompt”. Even though typing commands isn’t really hot anymore with Windows Vista and 7 these days, it’s a neccesary evil in this case.

4: Once the Command prompt is opened, type “diskpart” without the quotes (type anything without the quotes). Now you type “list disk”. A list of all detected hard disk drives is now displayed. Depending on how many disks you have you have to repeat step 5 and 6 untill you’re finished.

5: type “select disk 1″ (replace 1 with any disk number you still need to do)

6: type “clean” (and don’t forget to press enter after typing a command)

The clean command will remove any pointers to any partitions or volumes that are defined on the disk. Data on the disk will no longer be available after applying this command. Just in case you don’t want to have all of your data destroyed you could skip step 5 and 6 for some disks, just make sure you don’t skip step 5 and 6 for any disk you want to install Windows 7 on. This may also apply to installing Windows Vista, even though I have no idea why anyone would still want to do that.

The disks that I had this problem with had been running in a RAID10 array, so I had to clean them all before I could use any of them to install Windows 7 on. If your disks have always been stand alone it may be sufficient to clean only the disk that you want to install Windows 7 on.

I hope this post helps with overcoming this problem for anyone who might be roaming the net desperately searching for a solution. If you are already discussing this problem on a forum and then stumble upon this post, please don’t hesitate to post a link in your thread! Now do as I said and have fun installing the stubborn bastard that is Windows 7.

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The new stuff chronicles #16: new PC chassis

PC, The new stuff chronicles | Posted by Dr. J
Oct 30 2010

My previous post was about a new racing chassis and now it’s about a chassis again… Well… This time it’s a completely different kind of chassis.

My main PC (Centurion) was having severe overheating problems and I decided that the cause of that was the size of the chassis. While the CoolerMaster Centurion 534 isn’t exactly small, it was very clear to me that it’s wasn’t quite big enough. I had lots of trouble fitting in all the cables on my PSU and that prevented any kind of good airflow. The thing sounded like it was going to take off into space at any moment. So I finally decided that I was just going to get a new chassis and my when I saw a review of the Corsair Graphite 600t on www.tweakers.net I instantly knew that that was going to be it.

Here are some pics.

As you can see on the first photo there is more than enough space in this chassis. All cables of the PSU are “hidden” behind the motherboard. There quite a lot of space under the sidepanel behind the motherboard which I think is pure genius. There are only a few cables running through the case itself which gives it a very clean look and it’s also very open for airflow. And there is a lot of airflow going on in there with 2 200mm and 1 120mm casefan. The speed of these fans is adjustable through the knob on top of the chassis. Compared to before, Centurion is very silent right now.

At first I was surprised that the PSU is mounted at the bottom of the chassis instead of at the top, but it actually makes sense. It’s a heavy component which can cause a lot of damage if it would ever fall down, which can’t happen now. It also happens to make it easier for cable management. There are no external 3.5 inch expansion bays. So there is essentially no room for a floppy drive, but who needs that anyway? There are 4 external 5.25 inch expansion bays which can be used for stuff like optical drives, hard disk backplanes, tape drives and other stuff like that. Inside there are 6 3.5 inch bays in front of one of the 200mm fans. Here you can mount your hard disks and have them appropriately cooled as well. Unfortunately there is nothing here to properly mount 2.5 inch disks. Most SATA SSD disks are 2.5 inch, so if you want those in here you’re going to have to be a little creative.

I have only one graphics card, which is a big one though. But as you can see on the first pic, there is more than enough space and it would even be possible to fit in three of those babies.

Another great thing is that it has 4 USB 2.0 ports on top at the front instead of the usual 2. Of course there are others with 4 or even more, but most of them have only 2. There is also a USB 3.0 port there and a Firewire, or IEEE 1394, port as well as the usual headphones and microphone ports. The power and reset buttons are also located at this panel and it all looks very stylish.

The chassis opens without any screws and also the 5.25 inch and 3.5 inch bays don’t require any screws. The back slots do have screws in them though. Overall, I love my new PC chassis :)

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The New Stuff Chronicles #8

Other, PC, The new stuff chronicles | Posted by Dr. J
Jun 21 2008

This post might as well be called the new and old and damaged stuff chronicles instead of the new stuff chronicles. Anyway, there are two items I’d like to tell you about. The first one is a radio controlled car and the other one is a trackball. Let’s start off with the radio controlled car.

BMRacer

The model in the picture above is the one I have, it’s the BMW model. I don’t have any pics I’ve taken myself of this car, but this picture gives you a good impression of what it looks like. My car doesn’t look this smooth and clean anymore though. That’s why I stated that this episode of the new stuff chronicles might also be called the old and damaged stuff chronicles… I’s missing one of it’s side mirrors, the rear spoiler is badly damaged, one wheel looks a bit messed up and it has a huge crack in the front bumper near the left front fender. It got damaged like that when I was driving it around a bit recklessly, but it doesn’t matter, it was great fun to drive it like that and it’s all just visual damage. One other thing that got damaged another day was the left front suspension. This car is all plastic and when it ran into a concrete block the left front wheel was hanging loosly in it’s suspension. One of the plastic pins holding it in place had broken off and I replaced it with a metal screw and it’s all like new.

Anyway, for some info and specs take a look at the site by clicking here.

There are also two other models available. A Mercedes model and a Porsche model. I actually like the Porsche model better than the BMW model, but that one wasn’t available and I didn’t like the Mercedes model at all. I linked to the proper product pages through the images below.

PORacerMERacer

And then there was a trackball.

Trackball

It’s a Logitech Cordless Trackman Optical. I don’t know how they can call something cordless when it has a huge receiver with it which you connect to your computer with an equally huge cord, but it doesn’t matter, this thing is great. It takes a while to get used to it, but now I can play Command and Conquer with it just like I was playing it with a regular mouse. This trackball is very comfortable, responsive and it feels durable. I bought it to be able to switch pointing device every now and then to prevent me from getting RSI. If you’re looking for a great trackball, get this one.

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It’s fun to talk at the I-M-V-U!!!

Other, PC | Posted by Dr. J
Jun 07 2008

Sing it along with me to the Vilage People rythm! “It’s fun to talk at the I-M-V-U! It’s fun to talk at the I-M-V-U!”

As you can see I have added a banner to the website of IMVU, which is somewhat a mix between instant messaging like MSN, AIM and Yahoo and sites like MySpace combined with pretty decent 3D graphics. Nothing high end, but for some reason it’s pretty heavy on your system, but that doesn’t make it less fun.

IMVU logo

On IMVU there are several things you can do: create your own 3D avatar, get stuff for you avatar like accessories (jewelry, gloves, hats and other stuff), get pets for your avatar ranging from little baby dragons to penguins and even bodyguards. You can also decorate your own rooms and design your own stuff if you have the expertise to do so and then you can sell the things you make for IMVU credits with which you can get new stuff again of give gifts to other people. And besides all that you can also chat.

Chatting doesn’t occur in just another flat window, but in the 3D scene you, or your chat partner choose. You can also enter public rooms with lots of people and chat away. If you have no friends on IMVU you can simply hit the Chat Now button in the program’s main window and you’ll be connected to someone who has also hit that button and trust me, there’s always someone. The only downside of this Chat Now feature is that most people leave even before the avatar is fully loaded and they don’t say a word, but you shouldn’t give up too quickly as there are interesting people to be found occasionally and you can also look for potentially intersting people on the website instead of using the Chat Now feature.

If you have chat now enabled there will also pop up a balloon on your taskbar every now and then telling you that someone is waiting for a ChatNow session. In this case your room will be used, if you hit Chat Now yourself, the room of the other person will be used and if the other person leaves in that case you will be sent to one of the default rooms with noone else in it and the program will ask if if you’d like to give it another try and you’ll be connected to someone else.

I have found a few nice people through Chat Now, so it’s really worthit to try it once you’re there. Besides Chat Now and a people search there are also groups, so communities within the IMVU community. Just try to find a group, or multiple groups that are to your liking and you might just come across some cool people to chat with or to hang out with in public rooms or even in real life (RL) if they’re close enough.

I’m
Zhooibaal
on

When you sign up there will always be a Guest_ prefix before your name though. It doesn’t bother me too much, but some people find it annoyin. But getting rid of it will cost you some $$$. Which brings me to the only real downside of IMVU. It’s more or less free to use, but to get everything out of it means that you’ll need to spend some $$$. I don’t do that, at least, not yet, you never know what might happen in the future.

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Xinput Driver for Microsoft Common Controller

PC, PC gaming | Posted by Dr. J
Sep 19 2007

This is just a quick note for anyone who is trying to get his/her xbox 360 (or compatible) controller to work on Windows XP SP1 or SP2. It doesn’t matter whether you have Home or Professional edition, or 32 or 64 bit for that matter. The driver that you can download from Microsoft.com does not work. Whatever you do, it keeps giving you a message that only says “the installation did not complete”.

There is, however, a solution for this problem. There are two of them to be exact that don’t involve any hacking or cracking or anything nearly that hard to do.

  1. Download a driver package from Microsoft Hardware
    Just choose the kind of hardware, which is “controllers” in this case, then choose the kind of controller, then your operating system (Windows, Windows, Windows or Windows) and last you choose the language of your operating system and there you go, you get a download that is considerably larger than the one you get from Microsoft.com when using a search and I guess that that has a reason.
  2. Use Windows Update to get the driver, worked for me.

I haven’t actually tried option 1, but various forums informed me that this works, but simply using Windows Update is still the easiest way to aquire Microsoft drivers.

Anyway, I hope this helps anyone who might stumble across my blog while searching for a solution to get his/her xbox 360 controller to work on Windows XP.

I’m not sure why you can also download a Vista driver from the list on Microsoft Hardware, because Vista has native support for these controllers, beit wired or wireless.

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FOJ Community Mod video

PC, PC gaming | Posted by Dr. J
Sep 02 2007

My friend Michiel “NecroDOME” Gijbels (the same guy as I made Über Zombie with, together with even another one) and I have been fooling around with the Flatout Joint (FOJ) Community Mod for Flatout 2 and all this jumping, crashing and flying around resulted in the following video which I uploaded on Youtube for you all to watch:

FOJ Community Mod video

The video is a bit long, but it contains some pretty neat crazy jumps and crashes. All footage is from 2 player sessions. I was using “DooM” as my ingame nickname and Michiel was using “1337 z0r” as his nickname.

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The New Stuff Chronicles #6: Meet Centurion

PC, The new stuff chronicles | Posted by Dr. J
Aug 24 2007

Here we go with the 6th episode of the New Stuff Chronicles. In the previous episode I informed you about Fluffy and now it’s time for another computer to be announced. Only big difference is that it’s a desktop instead of a laptop this time.

Meet Centurion:

Like Tiger I named this one after a part of it. Tiger was named after it’s mainboard which is a Tyan Tiger MPX, but Centurion is named after it’s case: a Cooler Master Centurion 534.

Here are the specs:

Type: desktop
Name: Centurion
Model: self built
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550
Motherboard: Asus P5K
Memory: 2.0 GB DDR2 800
Video: nVidia GeForce 8600GT
Sound: Integrated High Definition Audio
Harddisk: 1x WD Caviar 500GB (7200RPM)
PSU: Spire 500W ultra silent with blue light
Optical: 1x Lite-On DVD+/-RW-DL
LAN: 1x integrated gigabit ethernet (1000mbit)
External connections: 6x USB 2.0 on the back, 2x USB 2.0 on the front, 1x firewire (IEEE1345) on the back, 1x firewire on the front, 1x PS2, 1x eSata, 7.1 HD audio jacks, 1x gigabit LAN, 2x DVI
Extra: Broadcom 802.54g wireless network adaptor

Like my other PCs, Centurion will soon have it’s own page on this site alongside Slashdev, Tiger, Fluffy, Stoomketel and Oud Brik.

Centurion’s purpose is to replace Slashdev as my main gaming PC back at home, while Slashdev will be relocated to my appartment in Heerlen where it will replace Tiger which will get a new role as home server. “Then why not put Centurion at your appartment?” you might ask. Well, the answer is simple: gaming power is too inviting to play games. While Slashdev is still more than adaquate to my gaming needs, Centurion is quite a bit more powerfull. I just needed a machine that is a little better on desktop performance than Tiger is and I want to use Tiger as a server. I also want a good gaming PC back at home where I am during the weekends so I can play any game I want while I’m there.

That’s about all I have to tell about Centurion at this time.

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Relocation of Stoomketel and Tiger

PC | Posted by Dr. J
Feb 11 2007

My second pc, Tiger, and my third pc, Stoomketel, have been relocated to new locations to serve new purposes.

Tiger is now my main workstation at my appartment about which I allready told a little bit in my previous post and I must say that it’s an excellent workstation. It boots fast and it also loads my programs pretty quickly. It’s only major drawback is that it sucks at gaming. Most graphics cards suffer from a bug in it’s mainboard which prevents graphics card from functioning properly, so now it has a GeForce FX 5200 which is by far not enough to run even a remotely recent game. But that’s not what Tiger is for anyway, it’s supposed to run my office applications decently and it does that very well, so I’m happy with it, for the games I have my Saturn and my NES there.

Previously Tiger was only being used for test purposes for any stuff I didn’t want to do on my main PC Slashdev.

And stoomketel has been relocated to a friend’s house, Dennis’ house to be more precise. There it will be functioning as the sound recording station for our band Knepper and all of it’s side projects.
In it’s current form, Stoomketel is in no way capable of fullfilling the task of recording station as it doesn’t even have a sound card installed and it’s harddrive is sounding like it’s going to blow any minute. So there is still some work to be done to get it working properly and I haven’t yet even mentioned that I allready replaced it’s CPU because that thing died and now it’s suffering from severe overheating even when idle, so I have to find a decent cooling solution and it’s in a need for a complete operating system reinstall.

When Stoomketel is finished there is only 1 part missing from our new recording "studio": a compressor/limiter
A compressor/limiter is used to keep any sound signals that go through it at the same volume level with a configurable margin to reduce the amount of required editing to keep the volume at a constant rate througout a song.

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PC bargains! Yay!

PC | Posted by Dr. J
Dec 09 2006

Hmmm… Something went wrong about a week ago and it was not my provider’s fault… Apperantly I forgot to click the publish button on my previous post resulting in only me seeing it :S

Now that has been resolved, it’s time to create a new post and as the title reads, it’s about some cheap stuff I got for my PC at this lovely online store called 1to0.nl. They had a very, and I mean VERY, cheap keyboard lying around and those things are always handy and I also needed a new PSU (Power Supply Unit) for Tiger.
Read the rest of this entry »

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