Often this is all that's required to get something up
and running and is the first thing to try.
If the problem relates to other connected boxes then reboot all of
them also.
Safe Mode
Often just bringing the computer up in Safe Mode then
restarting will solve problems. To do this:
Either restart or power up the PC and press F8 many times
until the selection menu appears
select Safe Mode
If the computer goes past this too quickly:
install a NON system floppy and power up the PC
When the PC asks for a system disk, remove the floppy and
press Enter
select Safe Mode
In safe mode all the start up programs are not run and on my
laptop the mouse does not work, only the touch pad.
For a simple fix just wait for the disk drive to stop working and
restart.
Nov 8 2008 - Had trouble installing a new in the box version of
Adobe Photoshop 7. One of the suggestions was to copy the
Photoshop folder from the CD onto the C: drive and run setup.exe
from there. Also to do that in Safe Mode. But I could
not get into safe mode using the F8 key.
Another way to get into Safe Mode is to modify the Boot.ini file
by adding copying the line under [Operating System], adding a
suffix and changing the displayed name.
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Safe Mode" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn/safeboot:minimal /sos
/bootlog
Now after the BIOS runs and before WIN starts there is a black and
white DOS type screen where you can use the up/dn arrow keys to
select the Op Sys.
Still another way to get into Safe Mode is to edit msconfig to use
Safe Mode Boot. This will work independent of your keyboard,
BUT you can not do much there because the keyboard will not work.
Newer computers have USB support in the BIOS, but this computer
does not. I'll look into a BIOS upgrade.
Uninstall & Reinstall Software
If you have the source software (and you also may need
the operating system CD) you can:
START
SETTINGS
CONTROL PANEL
Add/Remove Programs
Select the software from the list and click Add/Remove
You should restart your computer after this to clean up the
registry.
WIN98SE Reinstall
My CD-ROM was not working for audio/video applications
and the gifs on web pages were smearing. The tests
in MyComputer/Properties/DeviceManager for the video display
passed. Both of these problems were fixed by reinstalling
WIN98SE simply by installing the CD and doing a fresh install.
Bonus fro the WIN98 reinstall. My monitor power save mode
stopped a long time ago and no matter what setings I used it
would not go into power saver mode. But after the
reinstall of WIN98 it's working again. But some gifs are
still smearing.
System Resources
Just after powering up (or restarting) your computer
(before you run any programs), check your system resources:
<right click>My Computer
select properties from the list
click the performance tab at the top
read the system resources percentage
85% or more is excellent
less than 80% may cause you problems
To improve this see MSCONFIG - Startup below
MSCONFIG - Startup
Here is where you can control what software is started during boot
up. This software can usually be started later and may not
need to be started during boot. Only two files MUST be in
startup: System Tray and ScanRegistry.
START
RUN
MSCONFIG
OK
select <click> on the Startup tab on the top.
you can either unselect everything except for System
Tray and ScanRegistry. or unselect those
programs you know you do not use. You can get a clue
about what these are from looking at the path were they are
saved. Often the product name will be part of the path.
You will need to restart your computer after APPLY then OK.
When you press
<Control><Alternate><Delete> the task manager
window will open showing you all the currently running tasks.
You can delete all except Explorer and Systray
(for a WIN98 operating system).
If you look at the task manager just after booting (and cleaning
up the Startup system) you should only see those tasks you
enabled.
Note that when you run any applications they may launch more tasks
and many not close them when the application closes.
I notice that when my browser launches Adobe Acrobat and I later
have closed the pdf document, Acrobat is still a running task.
I can select in in the task manager and "end task" to shut it
down.
Device Manager
If you are having a problem with some device, either
inside your computer or external to the computer DEvice Manager
will be of help in determining the problem.
There are many folders with a "+" to the left of each,
open each one in turn and look for a "?" or "!" in yellow or
"unknown..something"
If you find and of the above problems:
click once to highlight the item
click Remove
If you are having a problem with something like the modem
open the modem folder and remove all of the listed items
Once this is done restart your computer and during the boot
process the computer will add the software back for each of the
items.
Sometimes you may need to supply the wizard with a CD or floppy,
but usually the PC can find the existing drivers.
You can also select an item and look at it's properties to see
if the PC thinks it's working properly.
Device Drivers
There are programs called drivers that the PC needs for
each piece of hardware, both inside the PC and on the outside.
Frequently the manufacturer has newer drivers than what you get
when you open the box that your new device came in.
It's a very good idea to go to the manufacturer's web site and
compare the revision number of your driver with the one on their
web page and update if there is a newer version.
Netscape Tips
16 bit color maximum
keep the Messinger inbox empty or only with a small amount
of stuff in it
don't use the smart update, instead use the fpt site:
ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/communicator/english/
Problem: Composer forgets the URL if a Publish (up load) is
canceled.
Solution to this and probably many other Netscape problems:
I recommend that you delete this profile's cache,
cookies, and history.
1) Close Netscape
2) Open C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users
3) Open the profile folder that is having the problem
4) Delete the Cache folder, cookies.txt, and netscape.hst
5) Close the window and restart Netscape
If problem still persists
Use the User Profile Manager under Start - Programs - Netscape
Communicator - Utilities to create a new profile. The new
profile will have it's own set of data such as bookmarks and
email settings. Creating a new profile may resolve many
issues encountered with Netscape.
Windows 98 Default File Dialog Sort
Order
For reasons that are a mystery (maybe related to forced
shut downs) the default file dialog sort order may change from the
standard name order to some other order like in my case date
order. It's a real PITA (Pain In The ...) when this happens.
The fix is:
Right-click START, click Explore, and then click
drive C.
On the View menu, click Details.
Click the Name column to sort items by name, press and hold
down the CTRL key, and then quit Explorer by clicking Close in
the upper-right corner of the screen (Do not use any other
method of closing.). Release the CTRL key.
Restart your computer.
Note that this method might be able to be used to change the
default order to other sore orders?
Defrag
I have seen computers that were never defragmented for
many years and the complaint was that the computer was very
slow. Others have said that you should defrag once a
week. Maybe once every month or two, but it probably depends
on how much disk access you are doing.
It turns out that some of the tasks shown on in the system tray
next to the clock are not easy to shut down and bring
back. If you have any task running that writes to the disk
it will either slow defrag way down or stop it. Therefore
when I run Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Disk
Defragmentor I put my computer into Safe Mode (see above)
first.
I've have a lot of grief with defraging my desktop
computer. Probably because the Starband software is
constantly talking to the disk. A way around the problem
is to defrag the backup D: drive and copy that using
Symantec/Norton Ghost back to the C: drive. This works
well. Note that Ghost (DOS version anyway) does NOT copy
the entire drive, only where there is data, and compacts out any
unused sectors so the time for Ghost to copy a drive depends on
the amount of data on the drive, NOT on the capacity of the
drive.
Windows\Temp
Many programs use this folder to store data that is
required for their operation. Most never delete the file
when they are done. Once the Temp folder has a lot of
garbage in it, it can slow down or crash some applications.
Every now and then you need to erase everything in this folder.
I made a new folder called Temp_DL that I only use when
downloading large files that I may want to keep.
Static & Chairs
The Plastic wheels on an office
chair rolling on a Plastic carpet mat generate a lot of static
electricity. A simple fix is to place plywood over the
plastic mat, but low cost plywood will chip and splinter, mine
lasted a little over a year and was messy. I'm now trying
3/4" Oak surfaced plywood. It has a much smoother and harder
surface and should last longer.
Adobe Acrobat 5 Standard Causes
Windows XP to Freeze at Windows Boot
It took a few days of effort to
determine the Acrobat 5 was causing my computer to freeze during
the boot process for Windows XP Home. This was discovered by
many boot attempts both from Safe (admin) mode after a freeze and
from normal windows XP. After using Add/Remove
programs you need to manually delete a number of file folders and
their contents. Then running Norton One Button cleans the
Registry of a dozen or so left over entries. Adobe 7.0
Standard does work in Win XP. It's too bad they neglect to
post this fact on their web pages.
Backup WIN XP
WIN XP does not allow two drives on
the same computer both with a bootable operating
system. This means you can not make a clone of your C:
drive as a backup using WIN XP.
You could do this in WIN 98 and earlier versions. If WIN XP
sees another WIN XP op system it will trash one or both hard
drives. I suppose this is aimed at stopping illegal copying
of the OS, but it also is a PITA as far as backups go.
The procedure is:
Before powering down:
Install a bootable CD with DOS and Norton Ghost
Install a bootable Floppy disk with DOS and Norton Ghost
The reason for the two bootable
DOS disks is to be very sure that the computer will not boot
into WIN XP with two drives connected. To be sure about
this you can power up with just your normal C: drive and just
the floppy then just the CD. In both cases the computer
should boot up into DOS. If not you may need to change the
BIOS to enable booting from either CD or Floppy.
With the computer off connect the second hard drive.
Most mother boards have two IDE
hard drive connectors and each of the IDE cables supports two
drives for a total of four drives. For the best speed is
good to have the two hard drives on different mother board
connectors. The primary drive should be at the end of the
cable to act as a termination.
At this point there should be disks in the CD and Floppy
drives.
Power on and boot into DOS and run Ghost to do a Disk to
Disk copy. Pay attention to which is the source and which is
the destination disk. That's easy if the two drives are
different sizes. For example cloning my three year old
160 GB C: drive to a new 500 GB drive made it very clear which
was the source drive. When Ghost finished, do not exit,
but instead power down and pull the C: drive as a known good
backup and install the new drive as the primary master drive
(C:).
This is very
easy if disk drawers are used.
these are Star Tech.com drawers and are the best of the three
different brands I've used.
The top cover is held by a spring latch so can be removed
without any tools.
The drive mounts on a plate that has spring isolation from the
frame protecting the drive from some abuse.
The power connector and the interface connector are on short
cables NOT mounted rigidly to the frame. This not only
makes it easy to install or remove a drive from the drawer but
more importantly makes for a more reliable connection. The
prior drive drawers had a rigid connection and the strain
between the mounting screws and the strain on the connector
caused intermittent operation also known as hard drive crashes
or blue screen of death. It took a long time and some
expense to find the cause. Those drives went into the
round file.
The LEDs appear to all be on, but that's just a reflection of
the flash. If you look closely you can see the right power
on green LED is much brighter on the top drive. The top
drive is active (switch on) and the bottom drive is inactive
(switch off).
WIN XP will start and find new hardware and so yo will need to
reboot. But once that's done your'e running on your new
disk and have the old C: in storage as a known good backup.
Backup Philosophy
The only way a backup makes sense to
me is if you use the backup immediately after making it as
described in the above paragraph. A friend was using RAID
for a number of years and one day he got a message saying there
was a bad disk drive. He could not recover his data using
the computer and paid thousands of dollars to have a service
recover the data.
Schemes that make an image of your C: drive or a part of it may or
may not be able to be recovered when you need them. The only
way to be sure is to do it.
It took about one and a half hours to backup 120 GB. The
starting rate was around 1.8 GB/min and the ending rate around 1.3
GB/min.
Segate SATA 2 Hard Drive
Using the removable drives has a problem in that if there's a poor
connection in one of the electrical joints (and with a parallel
interface there's a lot of joints) the bad connection can trash
the hard drive. So using an internal HD for backup is a
better plan and the removable drive can be used to make the backup
(and verified). That way the removable drive is only used
for a few minutes during the backup operation an the rest of the
time is disconnected. So today 6 April 2010 I'm installing
the Segate 500 GB SATA2 drive and will clone the C: drive from the
removable IDE (PATA) drive then turn off the removable drive.
The drive not only comes with cloning software (they all do), but
also the SATA cable & DC Molex to SATA power cable, config
jumper, and mtg screws & Instruction Booklet, nice.
In addition I'm using Corbian
Backup software in an incremental mode to another SATA 1 drive
inside the computer case.
Computer Rings like a Telephone
Symptom
May 2008 - at random times it sounds like a telephone is ringing
and the sound is ooming from the computer speakers. The
volume control changes the sound volume.
Solution
A week or two ago I connected the computer to my phone line in
order to use the computer for faxes, but could not get it to
work. At the time the house phone line was plugged into the
back of the tower stand (sitting on the floor) it was done by
feel. Today as part of organizing
my office with shelving and boxes I can now see the back of
the computer (bookcase removed) and the house line is plugged into
the "PHONE" jack not the "LINE" jack.
If your computer is making
ringing sounds check to see if you have a house phone line
plugged into the PHONE jack.
If so move it to the LINE jack.
Noisy Fan on Motherboard
Stopped the fan with my finger then
a quick squirt of Kroil from the spray can puts a blob of foam
between the fan and body. When the fan starts up it sucks in
the oil and shortly thereafter is running smoothly. The
Kroil shown on the flashlights
page is the liquid form but they also make the spray can. I
used Kroil because it's a very good penetrating lubricant whereas
WD-40 is a water displacement formula, not a lubricant.
Dust
While fixing the fan on the Chipset
IC the flashlight showed a lot of dust on the CPU fins behind the
CPU fan. So the next thing is to power down the computer and
use Dust Off to clean the CPU fins.
CD-ROM Burning locks Computer
Jun 2008 - when trying to burn a
CD-ROM the computer would lock a few seconds after the burn
starts.
The problem was the secondary cable from the mother board
connection to the backup slave hard drive drawer, but with the key
in the off position. This may add some parasitics or cause
some other problem with the CD/DVD burner that's the primary
device on this cable. Unplugging the cable from the drawer
solved the problem.
Adobe Photoshop 7 and Acrobat 9
November 2008 - I got a new in the
box Photoshop 7.0 for a reasonable price since in October the
offer to upgrade PS7 to the latest version had expired.
Photoshop 7 Fails to Install WIN XP SP3
In order to get into Safe Mode I
needed to remove my USB keyboard and mouse and replace them with
the PS2 interface versions. Note: to get into Safe Mode you can:
1) press F8 just at the end of the BIOS, but this only works
with a PS2 keyboard on older computers and only if it's pressed
at the exact correct momment.
2) Modify the Boot.ini file to include a second operating
system, namely Safe Mode, but this only works if the up/down
keyboard keys are operational.
3) Modify msconfig for Safe Mode boot. This does allow getting
into Safe Mode and there you can run Photoshop 7 setup.exe from
the C: drive, but you can NOT fill in the serial number with a
USB keyboard. Once the PS2 inputs were in place the install
worked fine.
When PS7 was run the first time it suggested that the scratch
file for PS should be on a separate drive from Windows cache, so
that's on the list of things to do.
(I haven't done that yet, but have seen severe delays when
opening file dialog boxes whre Photoshop is associated with any
files in the box. Those delays have been mitigated by
removing the file associations and doing it manually using "Open
With".)
There may be a difference between running in my normal mode
where I'm the only user AND have administrator privileges and
running in Safe Mode.
(I later tried settingup a new user "ProgInst" that has
administrator prividledges, but failed to install.)
PS7 WIN XP Could Not Save <file> because of Program
Error
PS7 can NOT "save
as..." a .jpg file! .jpg should not be listed in the "save as"
drop down box.
PS7 can "save for web..." a .jpg file!
(There are a number of predefined options, just as High jpg,
Medium jpg and Low jpg. When you use these you do
not change any of the parameters or the name changes.
When the Image size tab is clicked you can resize the image to
some number of pixels (so far haven't found an inch
option). This works very well producing a very nice
image and with a file size that small.)
PS7.0.1 Could not open <file> because it is not the
right kind of
Photoshop will not
open some pdf documents (may have to do with resolutiojn
and/or color map).
In Acrobat 9 under File Export there is an option for images
in a number of different formats. This allows PS7 to
open the pdf page as an image.
Still haven't figured out if it's best to use JPEG, JPEG:2000,
PNG or TIFF.
Photoshop 7 can not open .bmp files
That file was missing from the
folder at:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Plug-Ins\Adobe Photoshop
Only\File Formats
so PS7 could not work with .bmp files. The reason it was missing
was an earlier version had a security bug. Adobe came out with a
new version the top of the page looks like:
---------------------------
Photoshop CS2, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Elements 5 updates to
address security vulnerabilities
Release date: July 10, 2007
Vulnerability identifier: APSB07-13
CVE number: CVE-2007-2244, CVE-2007-2365
Platform: All Platforms
Affected software versions: Photoshop CS2, Photoshop CS3, and
Photoshop Elements 5.0
---------------------- http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-13.html
------------------------------
I downloaded the patch zip file for Photoshop Elements 5.0: http://download.macromedia.com/pub/security/bulletins/apsb07-13/win/ps_security_update.zip
----------------------
and after unziping it moved BMP.8BI into the File Formats folder
and it seems to work fine in PS7.
Bad Registry Dec 2008
It turns out that the above problems were caused by a corrupt
registry. Registry cleaner and fix programs can not
make it right.
There are three types of install you can do from a WIN XP CD:
1) just the WIN XP system files
2) WIN XP system files and create a new Registry
3) erase the disk and install WIN XP with a new Registry.
After doing (2) to get back to WIN XP with SP1 then installing SP2
(but NOT SP3 since it may be part of the problem with the
All-In-Wonder video problem below) all my programs and data are
still on the hard drive, BUT, the programs have no registry data
so the applications need to be overinstalled. This worked
for PS7 and Acrobat without resorting to using Safe Mode.
Adding SATA Drive
The ABit IS7 Motherboard supports
both ATA parallel drives and Serial ATA (SATA) drives so I'm
adding a Serial drive.
Shown above is the kit of parts ready to install. The WD 640
GB drive, SATA cable, SATA to Molex power cable and 4 mounting
screws.
Bios Setup
1. Advanced BIOS Features\Bootable Add-in Device: set to
Onboard_SATA (not OnChip).
2. Integrated Peripherals\OnChip IDE Device\OnChip Serial Device:
set to MANUAL (this inables the two grayed out entries below).
3. In the below item select EIDE3 (this is the step that brought
back the CD-ROM).
4. In Standard CMOS Features you will NOT see the SATA drive, but
will see it in windows. When step 2 waas set to AUTO you
would see the SATA and normal C: drives but not the CD-ROM.
When done correctly you see the C: drive and the CD-ROM, but not
the SATA drive.
Configuring Microsoft Office runs
every time a document is opened
This is a problem caused by over
installing Office after rebuilding the WIN XP program files and
registry. The fix is to uninstall Office using Add Remove
Programs then reinstall it.
You can NOT do the install in Safe Mode. Just do it as a
user with administrator privileges.
ATI All-In_Wonder 9800 Pro Video System
This system has been temperamental
and now the video input that I was using for my Sky Weather
Astronomy Webcam has quit working.
It may be because of WIN XP SP3. But this computer is not
that old and it cost almost $500. I'm in the process of
seeing what can be done.
ATI recommends certain versions of their software for
certain operating systems. Installing the newest
drivers is a BIG mistake.
You MUST remove all traces of the old software prior to
installing a different version.
Remove all ATI software from add/remove programs individually.
[Note: On my computer the ATI Uninstall Utility is listed on
the Add/Remove Programs page so if it is removed in this step it
will not be able to run in the third step below so leave it for
now. Also leave Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.x since
it's a required component of the ATI software.
The programs I can remove are:
ATI Catalyst Control Center 2.008.1028.2133
ATI Display Driver 8.552
ATI Remote Wonder 3.04
ATI AVIVO Codecs
DAO version 3.5]
If a Remote Wonder is used make sure the USB receiver is
plugged in and then go to the Device Manager. Uninstall
any entries for the Remote under USB Devices. Unplug the
USB Receiver. Restart.
Now run the ATI Uninstall Utility. Restart
Note: I don't see this listed in
START\Programs, but it is in: C:\ATI\SUPPORT\cat-uninstaller
[A Note on Backing Up the Registry:
When you use the Export function there is a check box for ALL or a
check box for the drop down window to select an individual
key. Be sure to select ALL or you will NOT be making a
backup copy.
It's also a good idea to make a system restore point at this
time. START\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore]
Go to registry and remove any ATI entries left under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
Check for any ATI entries under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
..and look at each GUIDs display name for ATI entries remove
the GUID if found.
Check for any ATI entries under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products
.and look at each GUID and the InstallProperties key, look at
the Display Name for any ATI entry, if found remove the whole
GUID.
Check for any ATI entries under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-21-61356107-1988573696-2098142674-6793\Products
.and look at each GUID and the InstallProperties key, look at
the Display Name for any ATI entry, if found remove the whole
GUID. These would be related to Catalyst Control Center.
Exit Registry editor.
Now browse to C:\Windows\INF and remove any OEM#.inf and the
corresponding OEM#.pnf files that reference ATI. You
look only in the OEM#.inf file.
Next remove the C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia Center folder
and C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies folders if present.
Restart
Once all the old ATI stuff is
removed then install:
Windows Net Framework (if it is not already installed and clean) Catalyst
6.2: 6-2_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_30152.exe (just install
this from the referenced web page, not the other stuff) -Restart
In file name: dd means Display Driver, ccc means Catalyst
Control Center and wdm means Windows Display Manager.
During the install process you will see each of these being
installed.
Once installed you can change the display resolution but not
watch DVDs. Add/Remove Programs now shows:
ATI Uninstall, Catalyst Control Center and Display Drivers.
First:
mmc-9-1-0-0-dao-mdac.exe - not when the install is done
there's no finish, you are just back to the WIN desktop
Second: Run atiCDwiz on line - this is the program that needs to
see your install CD and then loads the DVD codecs. It's a
two step process, first with the ATI CD installed point to it
using the button "..." and choose a location for the setup.exe
file. Second, press the "Install" button and point to the
file, then press install again. - Restart
Third: mmc-9-06-1.exe - Restart
At this point you can watch DVDs and use video capture.
Got the error:
This program requires the file advrcntr2.dll
The fix is to search your computer for that file.
Copy it to C:/WINDOWS/System32, then
START \ RUN \
regsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\advrcntr2.dll
RAM
When I got this computer it had a
single SIMM module with 512 MB. I've since replaced it with
four modules each having 1 GB for a total of 4 GB.
BIOS
Basic Input Output System typically stored in battery backed
RAM, but flash memory in better computers.
After the problem with installing Photoshop 7 (see above) I
upgraded the BIOS for this Abit IS7 mother board to the latest
"10" version, but still it has no support for USB devices like
all the new computers. Maybe it's time for a new mother
board and video system?
The main unit holds 2 ea 12V 7 AH Gell cell batteries connected in
series, i.e. it's a 24 Volt system.
The optional battery box holds 4 ea 12 V 7 AH Gell cell batteries.
The optional battery pack
shown on the left side doubles the backup time.
The Unit on the right has a USB connection to the computer
and the PC is running PowerChute software which can be
programmed to shutdown the computer after some time
interval. Of course if you're within a room or two
of the UPS and hear the power fail beeping you can come
and shut down the computer in the normal way.
Oct 2010 - the problem is that even though the computer
has been shut down the Peripherals
are still running. The fix is a "smart outlet
strip".
The idea is to shut down the DSL modem, the
Router, Network Attached Drive and the Laser Jet Printer
when the computer is off. Not
a good idea when using the internet for VOIP phone service. and providing
Wi-Fi for cell phones.
Now if the weather station is on the UPS it will have a
very long run time. This is important for power
outages that last many hours.
Battery Replacement
In the process of adding a Sola
transformer on the output of the APC RS 1500 I ran a self
test and it failed. Note the Sola transformer has an extra
winding that's connected to a capacitor. They resonate at
60 Hz, like the transformer I added to my SWTP computer, and that removes
many power spikes and dropouts as well as making a sine
wave. It also should convert the modified sine wave
(really modified square wave) into a sine wave.
25 July 2016 the system failed Self-Test. Unplugging the
optional BR24BP battery pack shows the main unit failing, but a
green light when plugged back in. AFAICR the optional battery
add-on was purchased a little later than the main unit so makes
sense that the main unit batteries are the only ones than need
immediate replacement. I expect the other 4 batteries will
need to be replaces in the not too distant future.
Details on Battery Replacement on the APC RS1500
Fig 1 Slide down the lower front
panel to access the battery pack.
Fig 2 Unplug the battery pack.
WARNING If you are doing this while the RS500 is plugged
into
the AC line DO NOT touch any of the terminals on the
RS1500
since they are connected to the AC line. I did this
after unplugging
everything from the RS1500.
Note: the cable is on the right were there is a relief in
the RS1500
case to accommodate the cable. Install the same way.
Fig 3 Two new Power Sonic 12 V, 7 AH
batteries have replaced
the factory batteries. Just peeled the label from
the old pack
and applied it on the new pack.
Fig 4 The connector has hard to see
markings for
+, - and Sense. Note cable is on the right.
It took maybe 15 minutes to swap the battery pack. An
easy job.
The APC status window says it's providing 198 Watts (just the
old computer and related stuff) and will last for 148 minutes
(2.46 hours * 198 Watts = 488 Watt-hours.)
Note there are 6 batteries rated 12 Volts & 7 Amp hours
capacity. (6 * 12 * 7 = 504 Watt-hours). This says the APC
is 96% efficient?
BR24BP Battery Replacement
The BR24BP battery pack does not have a sliding panel, but
instead was made so it can not easily be opened. But I
think a small hole drilled in the right spot would allow a
screwdriver to be used to bend the tab and allow the front panel
to be removed. A similar hole for the back panel would
allow it to be removed (or maybe that can be done from inside
once one of the panels is off?).
28 July 2016 Power Failure - a very hot day 121 in the sun, 110
in the shade.
The old load on the UPS was the WIN XP computer system and was
198 Watts. That was the load when the power failed.
It stayed on for about 37 minutes.
I just turned on the UPS (turned it off when it stopped, but
should have left it on since it had turned off it's
output. That way when the power came back it would have
passed the line on to the Wi-Fi and answering machine so I could
have checked the power status by dialing my home phone.
I plugged in the WIN7 computer since the power was already off.
Now the UPS is supplying 302 Watts total (SIN XP system + WIN7
stuff).
Just after turning on the UPS the battery state of charge was
about 15% and it's charging as I write this.
Just after turning on after 3h22min power
failure.
Battery at 15%, that may be the cutoff point where it
shuts down to protect the battery?
Turned on about 4:30. Need to wait to see when all 6
batteries are fully charged. Took overnight, so
don't know actual time.
Tne
Changed the shut down rule to on as long as possible, but
shut down 5 minutes prior to battery going dead.
APC status window:
100% charged
load: 285 Watts (jumps up to 294 when printer is turned on, but
settles back to 285 when HP 4050N is in standby.)
Estimated battery run time: 100 minutes (set to stay on as long
as possible and turn off 5 minutes before batteries are dead).
The APC has a modified sinewave output (is actually a modified
square wave, see: Wiki)
and it burned out my excellent HP 6200 flat bed scanner.
So now, when looking for a replacement UPS, I only want to use
sinewave output UPS models. The CyberPower advertises
"Waveform: Simulated Sine Wave" which appears to be another
marketing ploy, but I did find a YouTube with an oscilloscope
showing a sinewave output, so got the CST1500S
from Costco.
Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4 117 Watts
Fig 5 82 Minutes
After connecting, pushing the Display button cycles
through a number of screens. One says the load is 90 Watts
and another estimates 73 minutes of run time on battery.
Costco Member Support 1-(866)-861-0450
Cyber Power Systems 1-(877)-297-6937
Connections
This is connected to my computer, monitor and sound system, but
none of the printers.
It is also connected to the modems (DSL, WISP & Starlink) as
well as the network switch and VOIP telephone box.
It is not connected to the Panasonic KX-TA824 telephone system in
the garage. This system is powered when the generator is
powering the house.
Smart Power Strip
These come in two flavors. In
one there's a USB connection to the computer that probably sees
that the +5 Volt power from the computer stops and turns off the
outlets. The other type senses the current drawn by the
computer and when that power goes below some level it turns off
the other outlets. The later type is what I have on
order. 2016 it's here somewhere, but have not used it.
500 GB Hard drive 96% Full - Jan
2012
When Defragging the C: drive the
message says 15% free space is needed. Time for a larger
hard drive.
Staples did not have the 2TB SATA drives in stock, but did have
the 1TB SATA drive.
The Seagate Tutorial web page was not clear about the following:
(andwers added after the clone process)
1. the steps need to be in order. For example if you need to
install the 150 jumper that needs to be done prior to mechanical
installation.
The instruction booklet that came with the drive on page 7
has a jump table directing you to page 11 for this type of
installation, but on page 8 has the install DiscWizard step.
The jump table should have come after page 8.
2. If the new drive is to end up with partitions, should they be
done prior to running DiscWizzard?
No, not even in DiscWizzard because they will be
erased during the clone.
3. Must the new SATA drive that will become the C: drive be
connected to the lowest numbered SATA port or can any port be
used. The tutorial says both.
Don't know because it just happened that the
new drive ended up connected to the SATA 0 port.
Checked the BIOS after the clone and the hard
disk boot order had the 1TB drive as the first HD, but it could
have been changed here if needed.
4. Can DiscWizzard be used to partition the new C: drive or must
that be done in WIN XP?
Not Disc Wizzard during the Clone
process. Now that the new drive is the C: drive maybe a
partition could be added usind either DiscWizzard or WIN XP admin
tools.
Step 1 Determine Current Configuration
Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage,
Disk Management:
Disk 0: SATA1 (S:) (backup) , New Volume (P:) and 49 GB
unallocated.
Disk 1: The partitions WIN98 (G:), HewHDD1 (E:), NewHDD2
(F:), NewHDD3 (H:) and OLD WIN 98 (J) .
Disk 2: is the C: drive is the IDE drive in the top drawer
So the plan is to replace Disk 0 with the 1 TB drive and clone the
C: drive to it. To tell which drive is which, in the above
Disk Management window, right click on the Disk 0 button and
select Properties:
Disk 0: WDC WD6400AAKS-00A7B0
Disk 1: WDC WD5000AAKS-00V1A0
Disk 2: WDC WD5000AAKB-00H8A0
CD-ROM: Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-112D
IS7 Motherboard
Pressing Delete during restart or power up enters the BIOS.
BIOS
Standard COMS Features:
IDE 0 M DVD-RW
IDE 0 S none
IDE 1 M WDC WD5000AAKB-00H8A0
IDE 1 S none
IDE 2 M WDC WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 S_ATA 1
IDE 3 M WDC WD5000AAKS-00V1A0 S_ATA 2
Advanced CMOS Features
Boor ORder: Floppy, CDROM, HD
Integrated Peripherials
On-chip Pri PCI IDE Enabled
On-chip Sec PCI IDE Enabled
xSTAT Port0 Config SATA Port 0
SATA Port 1 Config SATA Port
Prep new Hard Drive
The IS7 Motherboard supports 150 MB/s = 1500 Mb/s = 1.5 Gb/s SATA
transfer rates and so the new drive needs the 150 MB/s jumper and
mounting rails instaled.
The next computer/motherboard will support 600 MB/s SATA transfer
rates and have more than two SATA ports as well a multiple cores.
Left to right are:
Mounting rail
SATA Power Connector
SATA data connector
Jumper block w/ 150MB/s jumper at the right
Mounting rail
Install new hard drive by removing old SATA 0 drive and plugging
in new 1TB drive and reconnecting existing cables.
After restart the new drive shows up in the BIOS and during the
boot process and in WIN XP as a new hardware device.
Install Segate DiscWizard 1
The CD-ROM Start.exe would not run using START\Run or using
Windows Explorer and right clicking OPEN, so . . .
Opened the Install Seagate DiscWizard folder and selected the
ENgligh version and ran it.
This produced an error message:
Installation imcomplete
Cannot automatically install the following products since their
newer versions are already installed. Try to manually
uninstall them before installing these older versions.
Acronis True Image WD Edition.
The problem was that back in
Feberurary 2011 installed a Western Digital SATA drive and that
software was still in the computer and the Seagate version of
Acronis was needed.
So used Control Panel \ Add Remove
Programs to remove Acronis True Image WD Edition (the first one in
the list). and restarted computer to clean the regestry.
Install Seagate DiscWizard 2
Select All Users, Confirm file replace - Yes (probably a
leftover from the WD version), reboot computer to update registry
for the Seagate Version- OK
A blank disk has been found, do you want to prepare disk -
Yes.
Initialize blank disk - select destination (new) disk (the default
was not the 1TB drive so selected it).
At this point I checked the box
for create a new partition and made two partitions, but that was
a mistake since later when the cloning is done they were erased.
Select NTFS & Primary
The initialization took maybe a minute or so.
Disk Utilities - Clone Disk
Select: Automatic, Source WIN XP c:, Destination 931
GB, Must allow partitions to be erased (see Install Seagate
DiscWizard 2 above). Reboot to start Clone 4:53 pm.
Watched a movie and did some reading and every now and then check
the progress.
Time
%
Est
5:02p
0
na
5:10p
2
1:20a
5:15p
3
12:15
5:50p
9
1:55a
6:37p
17
2:21a
7:59p
32
2:15a
9:26p
48
2:12a
12:30a
83
2:02
sleep
The next morning the process had completed.
Turned off computer and disconnected the old IDE C: drive and
powered up computer.
Using New 1TB Drive
Got an error message about non bootable drive and powered down and
powered on.
This time booted into WIN XP and Found new hardware ie.e the other
SATA drive.
The computer runs faster. Probably because the old drive
only had 6% of free space and now has 50% free space.
In general things are running faster such as Photoshop CS4 (needed
to change the preference to the remaining alternate SATA drive for
scratch since the old SATA drive that was removed was the old
scratch drive).
Fail to Boot
20 Nov 2012
The computer locked up and when manually powered down and turned
on ended up at a blinking underline character.
The problem was caused by my Xerox 7600 USB scanner doing
something weird that caused the operating system to see it as if
it was an external drive and hence trying to boot from the
scanner. I now keep the Xerox scanner unplugged and only
connect it when it's in use.
Maybe that was not the real problem? There was a motherboard
problem related to the IDE drive ports.
New Motherboard
13 October 2012 - new motherboard.
AsRock Fatal1ty P67 Pro.
Note: there are a number of USB jacks, but the mouse and
keyboard need to be plugged into the correct ones in order for
them to work during boot.
14 March 2013 - needed to use floppy drive and it was not there.
Solution: It turns out that the default motherboard setting
is floppy disabled. To enable it:
DELETE while powering up to get into the BIOS
select ADVANCED tab at top of screen using mouse
select Super I/O Configuration
select Floppy Drive and ENABLE
select EXIT
select save settings and EXIT
YouTube Video does not show image,
sound plays OK
Starting early 2013 YouTube videos no longer play.
Updating the flash player does not help nor does updating the
video driver for my computer.
Nor does getting the latest version of my Firefox browser.
9 April 2013 - new info. The video will play in full
screen mode, but not in the two smaller formats. Watching
in full screen mode is painful because most YouTube videow were
filmed in low resolution and when expanded look awful. If
you know of a fix for this let me
know what it is.
The result is shown below:
This is what the problem looks like.
This may be related to html5 being used for YouTube videos
by Google.
This is the Fix - Turn off Hardware
Acceleration
I did this in Firefox, and it seems to have fixed the
problem not only in Firefox but also in Seamonkey.
Note: there are tabs at the bottom and the
default tab is Local Storage.
Click on the very left tab that looks like a monitor
display screen.
Then you get the Display window.
Uncheck the Enable hardware acceleration box.
This did NOT fix IE8, where this black
screen appears:
The Adobe Flash Player or an HTML5 supported
browser is required for video playback. Get the
latest flash player. (9 Apr 2013 it's 11.7.700.169) Learn more about
upgrading to an HTML5 browser.
For IE8 requires installing Google Chrome Frame so
I'll get the latest flash player instead.
In the Adobe Flash Player Preferences
window,
DO NOT CLICK NEXT which turns on automatic updates, which
may
install things you don't want.
Instead, select Notify me to install updates.
Then click NEXT.
It seems you can not help but get Google Toolbar and
Google Chrome!
So opting for the Google Chrome Frame might have been the
less invasive
way to fix IE8?
Uncheck Launch Google Chrome then click FINISH
The embedded video now plays in IE8.
Did not need to unselect hardware acceleration.
(right clicking on "settings...." opens Adobe Flash Player
Settings to the Display tab, which is the last page I used
in Firefox.)
ISA Slot Computers
These were considered in order to run older software, but VMware
may be a solution that will run on the new WIN7 computer.
But there's still the hardware, i.e. need real serial ports or
parallel ports and PCI cards.
2022 Starting getting C: drive is full messages. Ran the
disk clean up but that did not help.
Looking at all the folders in the C: drive the largest was
Windows at 1.37 TB. Note that this computer came with a
500 GB C: drive that had plenty of room left with WIN7
installed.
Looking at the folders under Windows shows that the Temp folder
has 1.3 TB of data!!!! Copying this to the NAS then
deleting it will free up the C: drive.
The initial Time remaining was 4 hours. It changed to 6
hours 30 minutes.
In the C:\Properties window there's an
option for Disk Cleanup where you need to select Temporary
Internet Files. If you take the defaults and it is
not selected then, like in my case, you might end up of
over 1TB in wasted disk space. After copying all the
temp files to the NAS drive and then deleting the files
from C:Windows\Temp and then emptying the Recycle Bin I
now have over 1.3 TB of free space on the C; drive.
PS some of the files in C:Windows\Temp can not be deleted
but they are very small.
Dec 2015 This is my new computer to replace the old WIN
XP computer. The old computer is fully functional, but
getting hard to use because WIN XP is no longer supported.
There's nothing wrong with the hardware, but the software is
starting to have problems.
It's a real PITA (Wiki)
to bring up a new computer and maintain your old applications
along with their associated data plus get the printers to work,
&Etc. This process consumes many days (so far) and
probably will take weeks to finally get it working.
I made a mistake in ordering a couple of small hard drives, should
have ordered a couple of 2TB drives. Now need to see about
adding a 2TB drive.
Dell U2415 Monitor
In order for the monitor to work you need to use the menu buttons
in the lower right to select Input Source mDP (Fig 1).
The Dell AC511 amplifier SoundBar does not fit the U2415
monitor. Only the un-amplified AC511 speakers will fit, but
I want better sound than that.
In order to get the 2.1 Logitech Z313 speakers to work they need
to be plugged into the monitor, not the computer.
Fig 1 Monitor No Input
DP: Display Port
mDP: Mini Display Port
Fig 2 Sound Ports left to right:
Inputs: HDMI 1, HDMI 2, Display Port, mini Display Port
Outputs: Display Port, stereo Audio
USB from computer
Auxiliary USB ports
Fig 4 Inside view
Fig 5 diagram on cover
Fig 6 diagram on cover
Fig 7 Dell SKU 575-BBCU
HDD Bracket 3rd 3.5" SATA HDD in ODD bay (SCU
conf)
Unknown Disk on Controller 0.
Port Unknown Detected
A pop-up window sometimes showed up when WIN7 was
restarted. So today I paid attention and answered yes to
allow the disk to be removed.
I'm 99% sure this was the removable disk that I used to do a WIN
backup, but is not typically connected to the computer, hence
the error message about a missing disk.
The clue is the reference to IAstorUI.exe
While the T7810 was under support I complained and complained
about this. There must be over a dozen log entries about
it. While the technicians tried to solve the problem, even
offering some hardware replacements as a desperation measure (I
declined to swap hardware without some reason) the problem was
never diagnosed.
In Add Remove Programs: Intel Rapid Storage Technology
enterprise is version 4.6.0.1048 Note: no size shown.
In June of 2021 I caught a fleeting image of iaStorB.sys.
Some Googling showed many hits for the Dell T5810, BSOD and
iaStorB.sys.
The problem is that there are two explanations (Intel and
Dell).
1. iaStorB.sys is only used for SATA connected optical drives (I
have one) so just remove it and your problems will be
solved. Not acceptable.
2. iaStorB.sys is only used for RAID drives (I do not use RAID)
and so just remove it and your problems will be solved.
BUT . . . neither Dell nor Intel will answer my question.
Intel: "After reviewing the information provided I noticed that
your computer has the chipset C610 / C612 chipset, this is
a server chipset. The RST driver that works with your system is
only provided by Dell so, if you are having problems due to the
RST tool you would need to contact Dell since they are the ones
who are in charge of updates, drivers, and technical support
Dell: "your computer is no longer supported so only the drivers
on our web page are available." They will not answer my
qustion about items 1 or 2.
Dell
Precision Tower 5810 - BSOD iastorb.sys - Solution for
T5810: I installed the new IRST driver - Intel
Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise Driver and Management
Console -
Prior to trying the Dell Update Package I will "Create a Restore
Point" for the C: (System) drive.
Installed between 3:21 & 3:24 on 31 Aug 2021. Created a
Restore Point for the C:(System) drive after power off, connecting
the CyberPower
UPS, and power-on.
Now in Add Remove Programs the Intel Rapid Storage enterprise
version is 5.5.4.1036, size is 29M
April 2022 - have not experienced any more BSOD events.
Windows automatic Security Update 2022 May
10
Between 10:59 and 11:39 (40 minutes) my WIN7 desktop computer
installed a couple of security updates. I thought WIN7 was no
longer supported, but that seems not to be the case.
Entries from:COntrol Panel\System and Security\Windows
Update\view update history\Review your update history:
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - v5.101 (KB890830) -
5/10/22
Security Intelligence Update for Windows Defender Antivirus -
KB915597 (Version 1.363.1679.0) - 5/10/22
Security Intelligence Update for Windows Defender Antivirus -
KB915597 (Version 1.363.1514.0) - 5/6/22
Security Intelligence Update for Windows Defender Antivirus -
KB915597 (Version 1.363.1325.0) - 5/3/22
This is very
easy if disk drawers are used.
