Do you use DVDs to backup your stuff? How much can you backup in 4.5 GB of media? 4 movies (compressed)? or 2 average games?
Move over DVD, 'cause this is the age of the Blu-ray disc and the flash drives. With hard disk drives getting cheaper by the day, and the advent of the Blu-ray disc's the DVDs are set to do a vanishing act ala the floppies. It is said the Blu-ray discs can hold upto 25 GB in a single layer disc, or 50 GB in a dual layer disc. Whatever the case, all digital storage will be replaced by bigger , better , and faster media in the coming days.
Or, better yet by flash drives. You can get a flash drive these days for as low as $3, or 150 rupees. We are on the cusp of the digital age. This is when the information bubble bursts and all media, information is gonna be exchanged freely.
Better still, why do you need to backup something when its permanently available online?? What with operating systems such as you OS, coming online. You can store your music , movies and games (?) online. With the advent of megabit broadbands, all of us can expect this medium to spill over into the portable device scenario too.
Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts
10 November, 2008
28 July, 2008
Western Digitals 500GB external drive
I just brought a new external hard drive(Western Digitals 500GB external drive),and I must say, Im quite impressed! The drive doesnt make a noise, the transfer speeds are neat, and to top all that, its got a shiny blue LED lighting to show when the drive is working and when its not.
I think the external hard disk is an internal hard disk in a USB casing, or so it seems. I could be wrong. The coolant does its job flawlessly. There was barely any heat after 4 hours of data transfer and over 148 GB was downloaded into the drive. That makes it 37 GB per hour! Quite impressive!
Im completely impressed with the drives functioning, and would gladly recommend it to all my friends in need of a drive space. It provides 500 GB of space. And, believe me, its not as small as it sounds. You'll start running out of things to fill it with, but its only a matter of time before I get that filled up too.
I think the external hard disk is an internal hard disk in a USB casing, or so it seems. I could be wrong. The coolant does its job flawlessly. There was barely any heat after 4 hours of data transfer and over 148 GB was downloaded into the drive. That makes it 37 GB per hour! Quite impressive!
Im completely impressed with the drives functioning, and would gladly recommend it to all my friends in need of a drive space. It provides 500 GB of space. And, believe me, its not as small as it sounds. You'll start running out of things to fill it with, but its only a matter of time before I get that filled up too.
14 July, 2008
SKYPE ON A SPEAKERPHONE
Polycom makes some of the best speakerphones. So a compact VoIP product from the company piques my interest. The polycom communicator is not just for hands-free skype conversations but also great for small conference rooms.
All you need is a notebook, a broadband connection and Skype. The device is plug-and-play, but you dont need Skype to use it;I used it with Google talk and it worked seamlessly without any extra software. You need the polycom software though.If you want to use the soft-buttons on the device.This device is equipped with two micro-phones that are strategically placed on the two bottom corners which catch sounds from the remotest corners of a small room. I tested the product from a distance of up to 3m(11 feet) and experienced no voice quality problems. The sound was free of any distortions. The speaker which paced in the center, produces a significant volume of sound-enough for a few people to hear the other party clearly. Since this is a USB-powered device, you dont need a seperate power adapter.
The device has four buttons that are used to connect to Skype, start a call, control volme, or mute a call. There is a headphone jack too, if you want to hold a more private conversation. Flip the device over, and it reveals an extremely smart cable management system. The lid on the storage bay acts as a stand once opened. This allows you to easily pack and carry the communicator.
This product is extremely capable, works well and is ideal for VoIP users but for a hefty price tag.
Price:Rs 7,740
roughly 190 dollars.
All you need is a notebook, a broadband connection and Skype. The device is plug-and-play, but you dont need Skype to use it;I used it with Google talk and it worked seamlessly without any extra software. You need the polycom software though.If you want to use the soft-buttons on the device.This device is equipped with two micro-phones that are strategically placed on the two bottom corners which catch sounds from the remotest corners of a small room. I tested the product from a distance of up to 3m(11 feet) and experienced no voice quality problems. The sound was free of any distortions. The speaker which paced in the center, produces a significant volume of sound-enough for a few people to hear the other party clearly. Since this is a USB-powered device, you dont need a seperate power adapter.
The device has four buttons that are used to connect to Skype, start a call, control volme, or mute a call. There is a headphone jack too, if you want to hold a more private conversation. Flip the device over, and it reveals an extremely smart cable management system. The lid on the storage bay acts as a stand once opened. This allows you to easily pack and carry the communicator.
This product is extremely capable, works well and is ideal for VoIP users but for a hefty price tag.
Price:Rs 7,740
roughly 190 dollars.
11 July, 2008
OPTIMIZE YOUR NOTEBOOK
Network garbage is like desktop garbage, only worse: All that excess activity saps your systems' resources. Anything that unnecessarily drains your laptop battery deserves to get dumped. Aa quick
tune upcan make any notebook more energy efficient.
A POWER MAKEOVER
Choose the right pwer scheme for your work stule. Click Start->Control Panel-> Performance and maintainence->Power options. Under this, pick Max Battery and click OK.
This setting shuts off your monitor after 1 min and puts your notebook in standby if you dont use it for 2 mins. If thats too soon, repeat the steps and choose the portable/laptop power scheme which goes into standby after 5 mins.
Another way to reduce your notebook's power consumption is by dimming the screen. Unfortunately, every notebook manufacturer seems to have a different technique for dimming, so you may have to go digging in your owners manual.
A notebook's built-in wireless card sucks up power as it looks for access points, so disable yours when you're not working on a network. Other laptop power grabbers that you should unplug when you don need them are USB devices and PC cards.
CLEAN OUT THE BACKGROUND
Give autostart programs the heave-ho when you're running on battery power. In addition to following this step, right click icons in your system tray and shut down programs you dont need. They'll start up again the next time window loads.
STANDBY OR HIBERNATE?
Win XP's standbymode stops your HDD and monitor, but everything in your systems memory stays there, using a little trickle of power. Hibernation mode writes everything in memory to the hard drive and shuts down the machine completely.
Windows spriings back quickly from standby mode, but it takes much longer to come back to a working state. If you will be gone for a short while, it makes sense to leave your system on standby, else, leave your system in hibernation.
tune upcan make any notebook more energy efficient.
A POWER MAKEOVER
Choose the right pwer scheme for your work stule. Click Start->Control Panel-> Performance and maintainence->Power options. Under this, pick Max Battery and click OK.
This setting shuts off your monitor after 1 min and puts your notebook in standby if you dont use it for 2 mins. If thats too soon, repeat the steps and choose the portable/laptop power scheme which goes into standby after 5 mins.
Another way to reduce your notebook's power consumption is by dimming the screen. Unfortunately, every notebook manufacturer seems to have a different technique for dimming, so you may have to go digging in your owners manual.
A notebook's built-in wireless card sucks up power as it looks for access points, so disable yours when you're not working on a network. Other laptop power grabbers that you should unplug when you don need them are USB devices and PC cards.
CLEAN OUT THE BACKGROUND
Give autostart programs the heave-ho when you're running on battery power. In addition to following this step, right click icons in your system tray and shut down programs you dont need. They'll start up again the next time window loads.
STANDBY OR HIBERNATE?
Win XP's standbymode stops your HDD and monitor, but everything in your systems memory stays there, using a little trickle of power. Hibernation mode writes everything in memory to the hard drive and shuts down the machine completely.
Windows spriings back quickly from standby mode, but it takes much longer to come back to a working state. If you will be gone for a short while, it makes sense to leave your system on standby, else, leave your system in hibernation.
26 May, 2008
Using your Flash memory as RAM in XP
People have been fascinated by Microsofts idea of using a flash memory as a RAM in its Vista OS. Id say Im not surprised at all! Thats because Ive been doing the same thing with XP for about 2 years now!!! Yes, Ive been using my pen drive as RAM ! I would suggest backing up your XP installation before trying this out. Create a restore point if you can.
Heres how its done:
1. Insert your flash memory, and wait until you can see the icon for it in My Computer.
2. Right Click on My Computer, goto properties.
3. Goto Advanced.
4. Click the first settings button.
5. Select the advanced tab.
6. Click the change button
7. select the flash memory and type in the new size for the paging file (Yes, the amount of RAM you want added), take care this must not exceed the size of the drive.
8. Click the set Button, then the OK button. When asked to restart, do so...and VOILA, your XP got much MUCH faster...you wont find a difference in the amount of RAM displayed, but you'll find a performance gain for sure!
CAUTION: You will have to disable the paging file on the flash memory, before removing the flash memory, failing which, your Windows installation will fail to startup and you'll get the dreaded BSOD!!
Heres how its done:
1. Insert your flash memory, and wait until you can see the icon for it in My Computer.
2. Right Click on My Computer, goto properties.
3. Goto Advanced.
4. Click the first settings button.
5. Select the advanced tab.
6. Click the change button
7. select the flash memory and type in the new size for the paging file (Yes, the amount of RAM you want added), take care this must not exceed the size of the drive.
8. Click the set Button, then the OK button. When asked to restart, do so...and VOILA, your XP got much MUCH faster...you wont find a difference in the amount of RAM displayed, but you'll find a performance gain for sure!
CAUTION: You will have to disable the paging file on the flash memory, before removing the flash memory, failing which, your Windows installation will fail to startup and you'll get the dreaded BSOD!!
17 April, 2008
16x Dvd+-rw Dl Dvd Writer Comparison Guide
Since the introduction of double layer DVD writers, the interest has been quite overwhelming and is why we keep bringing you reviews of these highly popular drives. The anticipation has now turned into down right obsession and it has become a key component in any current or new system build, thanks to the declining prices and continued media hype. Manufacturers are quite aware of the fascination and is why they have each been releasing their own products which excel in at least one area of the testing methodology used in most reviews. This has led to some confusion as to which drive is best suited for the individuals needs. Today, we compare four 16x double layer drives and highlight both the strong and weak points in order to give you a better idea of which drive is best suited for you.
In this comparison guide, we will be looking at four of the top 16x drives to hit the market, the Pioneer DVR-108, NEC ND3500A, Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the new LG GSA-4160B. We will cover everything from design and features to performance and price. Let's begin with a quick look at each of these drives.
As far as the front bezel design goes, the LG-GSA4160B is by far the most attractive drive of the bunch. However, for those who are looking for a headphone jack, the Lite-On drive is the only DL writer offering a headphone jack, as well as volume control. The Pioneer and NEC drives, in my opinion, are the ugliest drives, with a very plain look that just wants to make you hide the drive period. Although we only obtained the 4160B in black, all these drives are offered with both white and black bezels. If you opt for the more expensive Pioneer "XL" model, it has the most impressive looks of any drive in the market. However, this will come at a very hefty price tag, considering they contain different firmware as well that offer a few extra features.
So, we have determined which is the sexiest-looking drive, but what about performance? I've done some extensive testing on each model to determine which is indeed the most impressive of the bunch. But before we show you performance results, let's briefly look at the features and what they have to offer.
Features
Each one of these drives has there disappointments when it comes to features. Let's compare each to see what they really offer.
DVD Writing
DVD+R DVD-R DVD+RW DVD-RW
LG GSA-4160B 16x 8x 4x 4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 16x 8x 4x 4x
NEC ND-3500A 16x 16x 4x 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 16x 16x 4x 4x
While all these drives are indeed 16x models, only two will write to both formats at this speed. The LG GSA-4160B and the Lite-On SOHW-1633s only support 8x DVD-R writing. So if you are one who only prefers this format, the NEC or Pioneer would be the best choice. All of these drives support writing to DVD re-writable media at 4x.
DVD+R9 Double Layer Writing
Write Speed
LG GSA-4160B 2.4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 2.4x
NEC ND-3500A 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 4x
The major disappointment with both the LG and the Lite-On 16x drives is the lack of 4x double layer writing support. Pioneer and NEC seem to be the only manufacturers to jump in and release second generation double layer drives supporting much faster 4x writing. In fact, the jump from 2.4x to 4x is quite substantial as we will show you a bit later in this comparison.
DVD-RAM Support
Supported Read Write
LG GSA-4160B YES 5x 5x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s NO NO NO
NEC ND-3500A NO NO NO
Pioneer DVR-108 YES 2x NO
Now this is where both the LG GSA-4120B and GSA-4160B shine above the rest. In fact, it is what has made these drives the most popular DVD writers on the market. Unlike the rest in the roundup, it is a triple format burner, offering full support for DVD-RAM media. The other drives do not support it, with the exception of the Pioneer DVR-108 which supports reading of DVD-RAM discs at 2x. I personally don't see the point in offering only read capabilities, but it's at least one extra feature added to distinguish it from the rest. Fast 5x support of the LG GSA-4160 will actually be tested a bit later in this article.
CDR Writing
CDR CDRW
LG GSA-4160B 40x 24x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 48x 24x
NEC ND-3500A 48x 24x
Pioneer DVR-108 32x 24x
The fastest CDR writers of the bunch are the Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the NEC ND-3500A. With their support for 48x writing, they make a great all-in-one drive for many users. The only drive lacking in this lineup is the Pioneer DVR-108. Why they opted for only 32x writing is still quite puzzling and is actually why I have found that many are choosing the NEC over the Pioneer. The LG GSA-4160B should not be left out of consideration though. We will show you later that the difference in write times between 40x and 48x is not much to brag about.
Bitsetting Support
One feature I've found that is most important for many users is bitsetting support. Let's compare these drives and see what they offer.
DVD+R/RW Support DVD+R DL Support
LG GSA-4160B NO NO
Lite-On SOHW-1633s YES NO
NEC ND-3500A NO YES
Pioneer DVR-108 NO YES
The LG GSA-4160B does not offer bitsetting support out of the box. However, it is very likely that you will be able to obtain support through an excellent third-party tool called DVDInfo Pro. Right now, they only support the GSA-4120B, but I'm confident with the author that support for this drive will be likely. LG firmware is very hard to hack, however some select few have been able to do so. Using Lite-On's booktype utility, you can change the booktype of DVD+R/RW media, however, the firmware does not automatically change booktype of DVD+R DL discs to DVD-ROM like the NEC and Pioneer models do.
Additional Features
As far as other features go, all these drives have a 2MB buffer but offer some sort of buffer under-run protection, which all work exceptionally well. This is especially useful if you will be burning discs at 16x, which I personally don't recommend just yet. As our individual tests of these drives revealed, burning at this speed is quite unstable, with the exception of the Lite-On SOHW-1633s.
In this comparison guide, we will be looking at four of the top 16x drives to hit the market, the Pioneer DVR-108, NEC ND3500A, Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the new LG GSA-4160B. We will cover everything from design and features to performance and price. Let's begin with a quick look at each of these drives.
As far as the front bezel design goes, the LG-GSA4160B is by far the most attractive drive of the bunch. However, for those who are looking for a headphone jack, the Lite-On drive is the only DL writer offering a headphone jack, as well as volume control. The Pioneer and NEC drives, in my opinion, are the ugliest drives, with a very plain look that just wants to make you hide the drive period. Although we only obtained the 4160B in black, all these drives are offered with both white and black bezels. If you opt for the more expensive Pioneer "XL" model, it has the most impressive looks of any drive in the market. However, this will come at a very hefty price tag, considering they contain different firmware as well that offer a few extra features.
So, we have determined which is the sexiest-looking drive, but what about performance? I've done some extensive testing on each model to determine which is indeed the most impressive of the bunch. But before we show you performance results, let's briefly look at the features and what they have to offer.
Features
Each one of these drives has there disappointments when it comes to features. Let's compare each to see what they really offer.
DVD Writing
DVD+R DVD-R DVD+RW DVD-RW
LG GSA-4160B 16x 8x 4x 4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 16x 8x 4x 4x
NEC ND-3500A 16x 16x 4x 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 16x 16x 4x 4x
While all these drives are indeed 16x models, only two will write to both formats at this speed. The LG GSA-4160B and the Lite-On SOHW-1633s only support 8x DVD-R writing. So if you are one who only prefers this format, the NEC or Pioneer would be the best choice. All of these drives support writing to DVD re-writable media at 4x.
DVD+R9 Double Layer Writing
Write Speed
LG GSA-4160B 2.4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 2.4x
NEC ND-3500A 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 4x
The major disappointment with both the LG and the Lite-On 16x drives is the lack of 4x double layer writing support. Pioneer and NEC seem to be the only manufacturers to jump in and release second generation double layer drives supporting much faster 4x writing. In fact, the jump from 2.4x to 4x is quite substantial as we will show you a bit later in this comparison.
DVD-RAM Support
Supported Read Write
LG GSA-4160B YES 5x 5x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s NO NO NO
NEC ND-3500A NO NO NO
Pioneer DVR-108 YES 2x NO
Now this is where both the LG GSA-4120B and GSA-4160B shine above the rest. In fact, it is what has made these drives the most popular DVD writers on the market. Unlike the rest in the roundup, it is a triple format burner, offering full support for DVD-RAM media. The other drives do not support it, with the exception of the Pioneer DVR-108 which supports reading of DVD-RAM discs at 2x. I personally don't see the point in offering only read capabilities, but it's at least one extra feature added to distinguish it from the rest. Fast 5x support of the LG GSA-4160 will actually be tested a bit later in this article.
CDR Writing
CDR CDRW
LG GSA-4160B 40x 24x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 48x 24x
NEC ND-3500A 48x 24x
Pioneer DVR-108 32x 24x
The fastest CDR writers of the bunch are the Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the NEC ND-3500A. With their support for 48x writing, they make a great all-in-one drive for many users. The only drive lacking in this lineup is the Pioneer DVR-108. Why they opted for only 32x writing is still quite puzzling and is actually why I have found that many are choosing the NEC over the Pioneer. The LG GSA-4160B should not be left out of consideration though. We will show you later that the difference in write times between 40x and 48x is not much to brag about.
Bitsetting Support
One feature I've found that is most important for many users is bitsetting support. Let's compare these drives and see what they offer.
DVD+R/RW Support DVD+R DL Support
LG GSA-4160B NO NO
Lite-On SOHW-1633s YES NO
NEC ND-3500A NO YES
Pioneer DVR-108 NO YES
The LG GSA-4160B does not offer bitsetting support out of the box. However, it is very likely that you will be able to obtain support through an excellent third-party tool called DVDInfo Pro. Right now, they only support the GSA-4120B, but I'm confident with the author that support for this drive will be likely. LG firmware is very hard to hack, however some select few have been able to do so. Using Lite-On's booktype utility, you can change the booktype of DVD+R/RW media, however, the firmware does not automatically change booktype of DVD+R DL discs to DVD-ROM like the NEC and Pioneer models do.
Additional Features
As far as other features go, all these drives have a 2MB buffer but offer some sort of buffer under-run protection, which all work exceptionally well. This is especially useful if you will be burning discs at 16x, which I personally don't recommend just yet. As our individual tests of these drives revealed, burning at this speed is quite unstable, with the exception of the Lite-On SOHW-1633s.
16 April, 2008
Optmizing your broadband
These settings allow you to boost the speed of your broadband Internet connection when using a Cable Modem or DSL Router with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Open your registry and find the key below.
Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.
DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)
Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.
EnablePMTUBHDetect = "0"
Specifies whether the stack will attempt to detect Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) routers that do not send back ICMP fragmentation-needed messages. The default is 0.
EnablePMTUDiscovery = "1"
Specifies whether the TCP/IP stack will attempt to perform path MTU discovery as specified in RFC 1191. The default is 1.
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the system maximum receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack.
TcpMaxDupAcks = "2"
Determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered.
SackOpts = "1"
Enables support for selective acknowledgements as documented by Request for Comment (RFC) 2018. Default is 0.
Tcp1323Opts = "1"
Controls RFC 1323 time stamps and window scaling options. Possible values are: "0" = disable RFC 1323 options, "1" = window scale enabled only, "2" = time stamps enabled only and "3" = both options enabled.
TcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack. If you have a latent network you can try increasing the value to 93440, 186880, or 372300.
Exit your registry and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
If you don’t want to edit the registry, here's a little TCP utility that is ideal...
http://www.broadbandreports.com/front/doctorping.zip
Open your registry and find the key below.
Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.
DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)
Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.
EnablePMTUBHDetect = "0"
Specifies whether the stack will attempt to detect Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) routers that do not send back ICMP fragmentation-needed messages. The default is 0.
EnablePMTUDiscovery = "1"
Specifies whether the TCP/IP stack will attempt to perform path MTU discovery as specified in RFC 1191. The default is 1.
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the system maximum receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack.
TcpMaxDupAcks = "2"
Determines the number of duplicate ACKs that must be received for the same sequence number of sent data before "fast retransmit" is triggered.
SackOpts = "1"
Enables support for selective acknowledgements as documented by Request for Comment (RFC) 2018. Default is 0.
Tcp1323Opts = "1"
Controls RFC 1323 time stamps and window scaling options. Possible values are: "0" = disable RFC 1323 options, "1" = window scale enabled only, "2" = time stamps enabled only and "3" = both options enabled.
TcpWindowSize = "7FFF" hex (or 32767 decimal)
Specifies the receive window size advertised by the TCP/IP stack. If you have a latent network you can try increasing the value to 93440, 186880, or 372300.
Exit your registry and restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
If you don’t want to edit the registry, here's a little TCP utility that is ideal...
http://www.broadbandreports.com/front/doctorping.zip
13 April, 2008
BIOS beep code manual !
Beep Code Manual, Better Than Gold Techies, American Megatrends Int. & Phoenix
(I'm IT, I use these codes to trouble shoot hardware issues at my job. Enjoy) cold.gif
BIOS Beep Codes
When a computer is first turned on, or rebooted, its BIOS performs a power-on self test (POST) to test the system's hardware, checking to make sure that all of the system's hardware components are working properly. Under normal circumstances, the POST will display an error message; however, if the BIOS detects an error before it can access the video card, or if there is a problem with the video card, it will produce a series of beeps, and the pattern of the beeps indicates what kind of problem the BIOS has detected.
Because there are many brands of BIOS, there are no standard beep codes for every BIOS.
The two most-used brands are AMI (American Megatrends International) and Phoenix.
Below are listed the beep codes for AMI systems, and here are the beep codes for Phoenix systems.
AMI Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1 beep DRAM refresh failure. There is a problem in the system memory or the motherboard.
2 beeps Memory parity error. The parity circuit is not working properly.
3 beeps Base 64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory.
4 beeps System timer not operational. There is problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
5 beeps Processor failure. The system CPU has failed.
6 beeps Gate A20/keyboard controller failure. The keyboard IC controller has failed, preventing gate A20 from switching the processor to protect mode.
7 beeps Virtual mode exception error.
8 beeps Video memory error. The BIOS cannot write to the frame buffer memory on the video card.
9 beeps ROM checksum error. The BIOS ROM chip on the motherboard is likely faulty.
10 beeps CMOS checksum error. Something on the motherboard is causing an error when trying to interact with the CMOS.
11 beeps Bad cache memory. An error in the level 2 cache memory.
1 long beep, 2 short Failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 3 short A failure has been detected in memory above 64K.
1 long beep, 8 short Display test failure.
Continuous beeping A problem with the memory or video.
BIOS Beep Codes
Phoenix Beep Codes
Phoenix uses sequences of beeps to indicate problems. The "-" between each number below indicates a pause between each beep sequence. For example, 1-2-3 indicates one beep, followed by a pause and two beeps, followed by a pause and three beeps. Phoenix version before 4.x use 3-beep codes, while Phoenix versions starting with 4.x use 4-beep codes. Click here for AMI BIOS beep codes.
4-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-1-3 Faulty CPU/motherboard. Verify real mode.
1-1-2-1 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-2-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-3-2
1-1-3-3
1-1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-1-4-1 Level 2 cache error.
1-1-4-3 I/O port error.
1-2-1-1 Power management error.
1-2-1-2
1-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-2-2-1 Keyboard controller failure.
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
1-2-3-1 System timer error.
1-2-3-3 DMA error.
1-2-4-1 IRQ controller error.
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error.
1-3-1-3 A20 gate failure.
1-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-3-3-1 Extended memory error.
1-3-3-3
1-3-4-1
1-3-4-3 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
1-4-1-3
1-4-2-4 CPU error.
1-4-3-1
2-1-4-1 BIOS ROM shadow error.
1-4-3-2
1-4-3-3 Level 2 cache error.
1-4-4-1
1-4-4-2
2-1-1-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4
2-1-3-2 I/O port failure.
2-1-3-1
2-1-3-3 Video system failure.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4 I/O port failure.
2-1-4-3
2-2-1-1 Video card failure.
2-2-1-3
2-2-2-1
2-2-2-3 Keyboard controller failure.
2-2-3-1 IRQ error.
2-2-4-1 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
2-3-1-1
2-3-3-3 Extended memory failure.
2-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-3-2-3
2-3-3-1 Level 2 cache error.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3
2-4-1-1 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-4-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-4-2-1 RTC error.
2-4-2-3 Keyboard controller error.
2-4-4-1 IRQ error.
3-1-1-1
3-1-1-3
3-1-2-1
3-1-2-3 I/O port error.
3-1-3-1
3-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-1-4-1
3-2-1-1
3-2-1-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-2-1 Keyboard controller error.
3-2-2-3
3-2-3-1
3-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-4-3 IRQ error.
3-3-1-1 RTC error.
3-3-1-3 Key lock error.
3-3-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-3-3-3
3-3-4-1
3-3-4-3
3-4-1-1
3-4-1-3
3-4-2-1
3-4-2-3
3-4-3-1
3-4-4-1
3-4-4-4 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-1-1-1 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
4-2-1-1
4-2-1-3
4-2-2-1 IRQ failure.
4-2-2-3
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-3
4-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-2-4-3 Keyboard controller error.
4-3-1-3
4-3-1-4
4-3-2-1
4-3-2-2
4-3-3-1
4-3-4-1
4-3-4-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-3-3-2
4-3-3-4 IRQ failure.
4-3-3-3
4-3-4-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-2 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-3 Faulty motherboard/CMOS read-write failure.
1-1-4 Faulty BIOS/BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer not operational. There is a problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
1-2-2
1-2-3 Faulty motherboard/DMA failure.
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure.
1-3-2
1-3-3
1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-4-1 Address line failure.
1-4-2 Parity RAM failure.
1-4-3 Timer failure.
1-4-4 NMI port failure.
2-_-_ Any combination of beeps after 2 indicates a failure in the first 64K of memory.
3-1-1 Master DMA failure.
3-1-2 Slave DMA failure.
3-1-3
3-1-4 Interrupt controller failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-1
3-3-2 CMOS error.
3-3-4 Video card failure.
3-4-1 Video card failure.
4-2-1 Timer failure.
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure.
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure.
4-3-3 Timer failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port failure.
4-4-3 Math coprocessor.
(I'm IT, I use these codes to trouble shoot hardware issues at my job. Enjoy) cold.gif
BIOS Beep Codes
When a computer is first turned on, or rebooted, its BIOS performs a power-on self test (POST) to test the system's hardware, checking to make sure that all of the system's hardware components are working properly. Under normal circumstances, the POST will display an error message; however, if the BIOS detects an error before it can access the video card, or if there is a problem with the video card, it will produce a series of beeps, and the pattern of the beeps indicates what kind of problem the BIOS has detected.
Because there are many brands of BIOS, there are no standard beep codes for every BIOS.
The two most-used brands are AMI (American Megatrends International) and Phoenix.
Below are listed the beep codes for AMI systems, and here are the beep codes for Phoenix systems.
AMI Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1 beep DRAM refresh failure. There is a problem in the system memory or the motherboard.
2 beeps Memory parity error. The parity circuit is not working properly.
3 beeps Base 64K RAM failure. There is a problem with the first 64K of system memory.
4 beeps System timer not operational. There is problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
5 beeps Processor failure. The system CPU has failed.
6 beeps Gate A20/keyboard controller failure. The keyboard IC controller has failed, preventing gate A20 from switching the processor to protect mode.
7 beeps Virtual mode exception error.
8 beeps Video memory error. The BIOS cannot write to the frame buffer memory on the video card.
9 beeps ROM checksum error. The BIOS ROM chip on the motherboard is likely faulty.
10 beeps CMOS checksum error. Something on the motherboard is causing an error when trying to interact with the CMOS.
11 beeps Bad cache memory. An error in the level 2 cache memory.
1 long beep, 2 short Failure in the video system.
1 long beep, 3 short A failure has been detected in memory above 64K.
1 long beep, 8 short Display test failure.
Continuous beeping A problem with the memory or video.
BIOS Beep Codes
Phoenix Beep Codes
Phoenix uses sequences of beeps to indicate problems. The "-" between each number below indicates a pause between each beep sequence. For example, 1-2-3 indicates one beep, followed by a pause and two beeps, followed by a pause and three beeps. Phoenix version before 4.x use 3-beep codes, while Phoenix versions starting with 4.x use 4-beep codes. Click here for AMI BIOS beep codes.
4-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-1-3 Faulty CPU/motherboard. Verify real mode.
1-1-2-1 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-2-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize chipset registers with initial POST values.
1-1-3-2 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components. Initialize CPU registers.
1-1-3-2
1-1-3-3
1-1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-1-4-1 Level 2 cache error.
1-1-4-3 I/O port error.
1-2-1-1 Power management error.
1-2-1-2
1-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-2-2-1 Keyboard controller failure.
1-2-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
1-2-3-1 System timer error.
1-2-3-3 DMA error.
1-2-4-1 IRQ controller error.
1-3-1-1 DRAM refresh error.
1-3-1-3 A20 gate failure.
1-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
1-3-3-1 Extended memory error.
1-3-3-3
1-3-4-1
1-3-4-3 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
1-4-1-3
1-4-2-4 CPU error.
1-4-3-1
2-1-4-1 BIOS ROM shadow error.
1-4-3-2
1-4-3-3 Level 2 cache error.
1-4-4-1
1-4-4-2
2-1-1-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4
2-1-3-2 I/O port failure.
2-1-3-1
2-1-3-3 Video system failure.
2-1-1-3
2-1-2-1 IRQ failure.
2-1-2-3 BIOS ROM error.
2-1-2-4 I/O port failure.
2-1-4-3
2-2-1-1 Video card failure.
2-2-1-3
2-2-2-1
2-2-2-3 Keyboard controller failure.
2-2-3-1 IRQ error.
2-2-4-1 Error in first 1MB of system memory.
2-3-1-1
2-3-3-3 Extended memory failure.
2-3-2-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-3-2-3
2-3-3-1 Level 2 cache error.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-3-4-1
2-3-4-3
2-4-1-1 Motherboard or video card failure.
2-4-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
2-4-2-1 RTC error.
2-4-2-3 Keyboard controller error.
2-4-4-1 IRQ error.
3-1-1-1
3-1-1-3
3-1-2-1
3-1-2-3 I/O port error.
3-1-3-1
3-1-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-1-4-1
3-2-1-1
3-2-1-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-2-1-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-2-1 Keyboard controller error.
3-2-2-3
3-2-3-1
3-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-2-4-3 IRQ error.
3-3-1-1 RTC error.
3-3-1-3 Key lock error.
3-3-3-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
3-3-3-3
3-3-4-1
3-3-4-3
3-4-1-1
3-4-1-3
3-4-2-1
3-4-2-3
3-4-3-1
3-4-4-1
3-4-4-4 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-1-1-1 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
4-2-1-1
4-2-1-3
4-2-2-1 IRQ failure.
4-2-2-3
4-2-3-1
4-2-3-3
4-2-4-1 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-2-4-3 Keyboard controller error.
4-3-1-3
4-3-1-4
4-3-2-1
4-3-2-2
4-3-3-1
4-3-4-1
4-3-4-3 Faulty motherboard or one of its components.
4-3-3-2
4-3-3-4 IRQ failure.
4-3-3-3
4-3-4-2 Floppy drive or hard drive failure.
3-Beep Codes
Beep Code Meaning
1-1-2 Faulty CPU/motherboard.
1-1-3 Faulty motherboard/CMOS read-write failure.
1-1-4 Faulty BIOS/BIOS ROM checksum error.
1-2-1 System timer not operational. There is a problem with the timer(s) that control functions on the motherboard.
1-2-2
1-2-3 Faulty motherboard/DMA failure.
1-3-1 Memory refresh failure.
1-3-2
1-3-3
1-3-4 Failure in the first 64K of memory.
1-4-1 Address line failure.
1-4-2 Parity RAM failure.
1-4-3 Timer failure.
1-4-4 NMI port failure.
2-_-_ Any combination of beeps after 2 indicates a failure in the first 64K of memory.
3-1-1 Master DMA failure.
3-1-2 Slave DMA failure.
3-1-3
3-1-4 Interrupt controller failure.
3-2-4 Keyboard controller failure.
3-3-1
3-3-2 CMOS error.
3-3-4 Video card failure.
3-4-1 Video card failure.
4-2-1 Timer failure.
4-2-2 CMOS shutdown failure.
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure.
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode.
4-3-1 RAM test failure.
4-3-3 Timer failure.
4-3-4 Time of day clock failure.
4-4-1 Serial port failure.
4-4-2 Parallel port failure.
4-4-3 Math coprocessor.
08 April, 2008
BandWidth Explained
Most hosting companies offer a variety of bandwidth options in their plans. So exactly what is bandwidth as it relates to web hosting? Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your web site and the rest of the internet. The amount of bandwidth a hosting company can provide is determined by their network connections, both internal to their data center and external to the public internet.
Network Connectivity
The internet, in the most simplest of terms, is a group of millions of computers connected by networks. These connections within the internet can be large or small depending upon the cabling and equipment that is used at a particular internet location. It is the size of each network connection that determines how much bandwidth is available. For example, if you use a DSL connection to connect to the internet, you have 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) of bandwidth. Bandwidth therefore is measured in bits (a single 0 or 1). Bits are grouped in bytes which form words, text, and other information that is transferred between your computer and the internet.
If you have a DSL connection to the internet, you have dedicated bandwidth between your computer and your internet provider. But your internet provider may have thousands of DSL connections to their location. All of these connection aggregate at your internet provider who then has their own dedicated connection to the internet (or multiple connections) which is much larger than your single connection. They must have enough bandwidth to serve your computing needs as well as all of their other customers. So while you have a 1.54Mb connection to your internet provider, your internet provider may have a 255Mb connection to the internet so it can accommodate your needs and up to 166 other users (255/1.54).
Traffic
A very simple analogy to use to understand bandwidth and traffic is to think of highways and cars. Bandwidth is the number of lanes on the highway and traffic is the number of cars on the highway. If you are the only car on a highway, you can travel very quickly. If you are stuck in the middle of rush hour, you may travel very slowly since all of the lanes are being used up.
Traffic is simply the number of bits that are transferred on network connections. It is easiest to understand traffic using examples. One Gigabyte is 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. To put this in perspective, it takes one byte to store one character. Imagine 100 file cabinets in a building, each of these cabinets holds 1000 folders. Each folder has 100 papers. Each paper contains 100 characters - A GB is all the characters in the building. An MP3 song is about 4MB, the same song in wav format is about 40MB, a full length movie can be 800MB to 1000MB (1000MB = 1GB).
If you were to transfer this MP3 song from a web site to your computer, you would create 4MB of traffic between the web site you are downloading from and your computer. Depending upon the network connection between the web site and the internet, the transfer may occur very quickly, or it could take time if other people are also downloading files at the same time. If, for example, the web site you download from has a 10MB connection to the internet, and you are the only person accessing that web site to download your MP3, your 4MB file will be the only traffic on that web site. However, if three people are all downloading that same MP at the same time, 12MB (3 x 4MB) of traffic has been created. Because in this example, the host only has 10MB of bandwidth, someone will have to wait. The network equipment at the hosting company will cycle through each person downloading the file and transfer a small portion at a time so each person's file transfer can take place, but the transfer for everyone downloading the file will be slower. If 100 people all came to the site and downloaded the MP3 at the same time, the transfers would be extremely slow. If the host wanted to decrease the time it took to download files simultaneously, it could increase the bandwidth of their internet connection (at a cost due to upgrading equipment).
Hosting Bandwidth
In the example above, we discussed traffic in terms of downloading an MP3 file. However, each time you visit a web site, you are creating traffic, because in order to view that web page on your computer, the web page is first downloaded to your computer (between the web site and you) which is then displayed using your browser software (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) . The page itself is simply a file that creates traffic just like the MP3 file in the example above (however, a web page is usually much smaller than a music file).
A web page may be very small or large depending upon the amount of text and the number and quality of images integrated within the web page. For example, the home page for CNN.com is about 200KB (200 Kilobytes = 200,000 bytes = 1,600,000 bits). This is typically large for a web page. In comparison, Yahoo's home page is about 70KB.
How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?
It depends (don't you hate that answer). But in truth, it does. Since bandwidth is a significant determinant of hosting plan prices, you should take time to determine just how much is right for you. Almost all hosting plans have bandwidth requirements measured in months, so you need to estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be required by your site on a monthly basis
If you do not intend to provide file download capability from your site, the formula for calculating bandwidth is fairly straightforward:
Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor
If you intend to allow people to download files from your site, your bandwidth calculation should be:
[(Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size) +
(Average Daily File Downloads x Average File Size)] x 31 x Fudge Factor
Let us examine each item in the formula:
Average Daily Visitors - The number of people you expect to visit your site, on average, each day. Depending upon how you market your site, this number could be from 1 to 1,000,000.
Average Page Views - On average, the number of web pages you expect a person to view. If you have 50 web pages in your web site, an average person may only view 5 of those pages each time they visit.
Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB). If you have already designed your site, you can calculate this directly.
Average Daily File Downloads - The number of downloads you expect to occur on your site. This is a function of the numbers of visitors and how many times a visitor downloads a file, on average, each day.
Average File Size - Average file size of files that are downloadable from your site. Similar to your web pages, if you already know which files can be downloaded, you can calculate this directly.
Fudge Factor - A number greater than 1. Using 1.5 would be safe, which assumes that your estimate is off by 50%. However, if you were very unsure, you could use 2 or 3 to ensure that your bandwidth requirements are more than met.
Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31.
Summary
Most personal or small business sites will not need more than 1GB of bandwidth per month. If you have a web site that is composed of static web pages and you expect little traffic to your site on a daily basis, go with a low bandwidth plan. If you go over the amount of bandwidth allocated in your plan, your hosting company could charge you over usage fees, so if you think the traffic to your site will be significant, you may want to go through the calculations above to estimate the amount of bandwidth required in a hosting plan.
Network Connectivity
The internet, in the most simplest of terms, is a group of millions of computers connected by networks. These connections within the internet can be large or small depending upon the cabling and equipment that is used at a particular internet location. It is the size of each network connection that determines how much bandwidth is available. For example, if you use a DSL connection to connect to the internet, you have 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) of bandwidth. Bandwidth therefore is measured in bits (a single 0 or 1). Bits are grouped in bytes which form words, text, and other information that is transferred between your computer and the internet.
If you have a DSL connection to the internet, you have dedicated bandwidth between your computer and your internet provider. But your internet provider may have thousands of DSL connections to their location. All of these connection aggregate at your internet provider who then has their own dedicated connection to the internet (or multiple connections) which is much larger than your single connection. They must have enough bandwidth to serve your computing needs as well as all of their other customers. So while you have a 1.54Mb connection to your internet provider, your internet provider may have a 255Mb connection to the internet so it can accommodate your needs and up to 166 other users (255/1.54).
Traffic
A very simple analogy to use to understand bandwidth and traffic is to think of highways and cars. Bandwidth is the number of lanes on the highway and traffic is the number of cars on the highway. If you are the only car on a highway, you can travel very quickly. If you are stuck in the middle of rush hour, you may travel very slowly since all of the lanes are being used up.
Traffic is simply the number of bits that are transferred on network connections. It is easiest to understand traffic using examples. One Gigabyte is 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. To put this in perspective, it takes one byte to store one character. Imagine 100 file cabinets in a building, each of these cabinets holds 1000 folders. Each folder has 100 papers. Each paper contains 100 characters - A GB is all the characters in the building. An MP3 song is about 4MB, the same song in wav format is about 40MB, a full length movie can be 800MB to 1000MB (1000MB = 1GB).
If you were to transfer this MP3 song from a web site to your computer, you would create 4MB of traffic between the web site you are downloading from and your computer. Depending upon the network connection between the web site and the internet, the transfer may occur very quickly, or it could take time if other people are also downloading files at the same time. If, for example, the web site you download from has a 10MB connection to the internet, and you are the only person accessing that web site to download your MP3, your 4MB file will be the only traffic on that web site. However, if three people are all downloading that same MP at the same time, 12MB (3 x 4MB) of traffic has been created. Because in this example, the host only has 10MB of bandwidth, someone will have to wait. The network equipment at the hosting company will cycle through each person downloading the file and transfer a small portion at a time so each person's file transfer can take place, but the transfer for everyone downloading the file will be slower. If 100 people all came to the site and downloaded the MP3 at the same time, the transfers would be extremely slow. If the host wanted to decrease the time it took to download files simultaneously, it could increase the bandwidth of their internet connection (at a cost due to upgrading equipment).
Hosting Bandwidth
In the example above, we discussed traffic in terms of downloading an MP3 file. However, each time you visit a web site, you are creating traffic, because in order to view that web page on your computer, the web page is first downloaded to your computer (between the web site and you) which is then displayed using your browser software (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) . The page itself is simply a file that creates traffic just like the MP3 file in the example above (however, a web page is usually much smaller than a music file).
A web page may be very small or large depending upon the amount of text and the number and quality of images integrated within the web page. For example, the home page for CNN.com is about 200KB (200 Kilobytes = 200,000 bytes = 1,600,000 bits). This is typically large for a web page. In comparison, Yahoo's home page is about 70KB.
How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?
It depends (don't you hate that answer). But in truth, it does. Since bandwidth is a significant determinant of hosting plan prices, you should take time to determine just how much is right for you. Almost all hosting plans have bandwidth requirements measured in months, so you need to estimate the amount of bandwidth that will be required by your site on a monthly basis
If you do not intend to provide file download capability from your site, the formula for calculating bandwidth is fairly straightforward:
Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size x 31 x Fudge Factor
If you intend to allow people to download files from your site, your bandwidth calculation should be:
[(Average Daily Visitors x Average Page Views x Average Page Size) +
(Average Daily File Downloads x Average File Size)] x 31 x Fudge Factor
Let us examine each item in the formula:
Average Daily Visitors - The number of people you expect to visit your site, on average, each day. Depending upon how you market your site, this number could be from 1 to 1,000,000.
Average Page Views - On average, the number of web pages you expect a person to view. If you have 50 web pages in your web site, an average person may only view 5 of those pages each time they visit.
Average Page Size - The average size of your web pages, in Kilobytes (KB). If you have already designed your site, you can calculate this directly.
Average Daily File Downloads - The number of downloads you expect to occur on your site. This is a function of the numbers of visitors and how many times a visitor downloads a file, on average, each day.
Average File Size - Average file size of files that are downloadable from your site. Similar to your web pages, if you already know which files can be downloaded, you can calculate this directly.
Fudge Factor - A number greater than 1. Using 1.5 would be safe, which assumes that your estimate is off by 50%. However, if you were very unsure, you could use 2 or 3 to ensure that your bandwidth requirements are more than met.
Usually, hosting plans offer bandwidth in terms of Gigabytes (GB) per month. This is why our formula takes daily averages and multiplies them by 31.
Summary
Most personal or small business sites will not need more than 1GB of bandwidth per month. If you have a web site that is composed of static web pages and you expect little traffic to your site on a daily basis, go with a low bandwidth plan. If you go over the amount of bandwidth allocated in your plan, your hosting company could charge you over usage fees, so if you think the traffic to your site will be significant, you may want to go through the calculations above to estimate the amount of bandwidth required in a hosting plan.
04 April, 2008
BIOS Update Procedure
All latest Motherboards today, 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers can not be installed while upgrading.
Most pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.
Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:
A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)
•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:
format a:/s
•If using a formatted disk, type:
sys a:
This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.
B. Download the BIOS file
•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.
•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don't have an "unzip" utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of WinZip on them.
•You should have extracted two files:
Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)
BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)
Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.
C. Upgrade the System BIOS
During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.
Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22
•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.
For example:
flash625 615j900.bin
•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select "Y" to "Do you want to save BIOS?" if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: a:\613J900.bin
Alternatively select "N" if you don't want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won't be able to recover from a possible failure.
•Select "Y" to "Are you sure to program?"
•Wait until it displays "Message: Power Off or Reset the system"
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you've made a backup before)
Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.
For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the "END" key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.
BIOS Update Tips
note:
1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).
2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:
Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from "A" there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.
If you have not used a bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by
a) pressing F5 during bootup
b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.
Have you booted up under DOS?
Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting "Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode" from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from a:\).
Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you're working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.
Most pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.
Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:
A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)
•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:
format a:/s
•If using a formatted disk, type:
sys a:
This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.
B. Download the BIOS file
•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.
•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don't have an "unzip" utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of WinZip on them.
•You should have extracted two files:
Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)
BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)
Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.
C. Upgrade the System BIOS
During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.
Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22
•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.
For example:
flash625 615j900.bin
•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select "Y" to "Do you want to save BIOS?" if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: a:\613J900.bin
Alternatively select "N" if you don't want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won't be able to recover from a possible failure.
•Select "Y" to "Are you sure to program?"
•Wait until it displays "Message: Power Off or Reset the system"
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you've made a backup before)
Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.
For AMI BIOS
Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the "END" key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.
BIOS Update Tips
note:
1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).
2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:
Have you done a clean boot?
In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from "A" there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.
If you have not used a bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by
a) pressing F5 during bootup
b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.
Have you booted up under DOS?
Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting "Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode" from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from a:\).
Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?
Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you're working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.
30 March, 2008
How to build your very own PC !!
Introduction
In this tutorial I will try an
teach you how to successfully build your own computer! There are many benefits
to building your own computer.
- You get hand's on experience learning how a computer works
- Its a hell of alot less expensive then buying one from a retailer
- Its a hell of alot more reliable than buying one from a retailer being that
you hand select QUALITY parts and put it togethor yourself. - You can do your own tech support no more relying on stupid Best Buy Tech's
that don't know the difference between their ass and a hard disk jumper (don't
worry I'll tell you what those are later)
Section #1 (What Your Going To Need)
Here we will discuss a list of the parts you need and the best place to
purchase them. If you want the best
prices on computer hardware you will
definitly want to look online. Unfortunatly (and for some of you very
fortunatly
if you know what I mean) this requires the use of a credit card.
Below is a general list of the devices you will
need...
- A Computer Case (Something To Put All The Computer Parts Togethor In)
- Should only run you about 50 dollars
- Beware the cheap ones with cheap power supplies they will die in a year
- Should only run you about 50 dollars
- A Mother Board (Everything Will Be Plugged Into The Mother Board)
- A Floppy Drive and a CDROM (Should Be Obvious)
- A Hard Disk (Come In Many Different Flavors and Quality Levels, Stores All
The Information In Your Computer) - A Video Card (Cheap Stuff, Its What Your Monitor Plugs Into)
- IDE Controller Ribbon
- Miscellaneous Accessories
Next we'll take a look at many of the different options you have when buying
these pieces of equipment. Your choice
may vary depending on which Operating
Systems you plan on running.
Section #2 (Which Brand And Model Should I
Buy?)
We'll lets start with your computer case and move all the way down to
Miscellaneous Accessories..
1. Computer Case
You will most certainly need an ATX style case with a quality power supply.
How do you tell? Well if the case
is only 15-20 bucks theres a pretty good
chance its a crappy power supply.
2. A Mother Board
I suggest a quality ASUS (ATX style to match your computer case) mother board
its up to you ask your friends.
I've had bad experiences personally with
FIC
mother boards.
3. A Floppy Drive and CDROM
Pretty inexpensive stuff, i'd suggest a Sony Floppy drive and a generic
CDROM. Doesn't make too much a difference if your
concerned about getting the
best price.
4. Hard Disks
Gets alittle tricky. If you want reliability,
high speed transfers, and are willing to run Windows I suggest a Western
Digital
or a Seagate ULTRA DMA-66. If your not to concerned with speed and
want to run a server with Unix i'd go with a Fujitsu or
a Western Digital.
Their farely inexpensive but only transfer in 33 megabit bursts as apposed to
the DMA-66 which transfer
in 33 megabit bursts. I don't believe Unix
currently supports ULTRA DMA-66, but don't quote me on that. Now there's an even
faster
transfer rate available via SCSI Hard Disk Controllers, but i'm not
about to go into setting up SCSI controllers in this tutorial.
For now we
will stick with IDE Hard Disk controllers.
5. Video Cards
Video cards are cheap and if your not a gamer a plain ole gener Cirrus Logic
or STB video card will do fine.
6. IDE Controller Ribbon
You'll need 2 different kinds of IDE Ribbon 2 40 pins for your CDROM and Hard
Disk and Another with less pins for your floppy.
You can buy these at any
local computer store or order them off the web.
7. Miscellaneous Stuff
You may be interested in adding a sound card, ethernet card, and/or 3DFX card
to your system. These are relatively easy to do and
I will explain how to add
card's to your mother board later.
Section #3 (Where do I buy all this crap!?)
Well if your looking for the best prices online for computer hardware (and
this is my unbiast opinion) i'd suggest going to
http://www.pricewatch.com
again ask your friends maybe they know a better place. Pricewatch.com researchs
the best prices
on computer hardware.
Section #4 (Lets Assemble!)
This next part is very important so read carefully...
First things first get yourself a clean desk to work on.
Place your ATX stlye computer case on the desk and slide/lift the top off.
Inside should be a bunch of wires coming out
of the power supply in the back
and a bunch of wires coming out near the face of the box.The next thing your going to want to do is place your mother board inside the
case and fasten it in. Their might be
metal coverings covering the holes in
the computer case were the parralel ports and serial ports on the mother
board
should poke through, go ahead and poke those out with a screw drive so
you can fit the mother board in snuggly. Every
Case fastens mother boards in
different ways. Some use plastic pegs, some use metal screws. It will hopefully
be obvious
which you have to use.#4 Once the mother board is mounted properly you will need to fasten the
floppy drive, and cdrom into the computer case.
All computer cases store
floppy drives differently there maybe a slide out container that you screw them
into. You'll
have to make sure that the the floppy drive is right side up
(duh!) and that the pins are facing towards the back of the
computer.
Installing the CDROM is pretty much the same in all computer cases. Some
mounting rails should have come
with your mother board. You need to fasten
those to the sides of the CDROM and you should be able to slide it right
in
to one of the top bays.Insert your Video Card. There are presently about 3 differnet forms of slots
on your mother board. PCI, ISA, and AGP.
Video Cards are presently made for
all 3 of them. AGP stands for "Accelrated Graphics Port" Video Cards made for
this
slot are generally more high tech/performance. PCI's work and so do ISA
(Althoug ISA is more Old School). Gee how
do I tell the difference? Well AGP
slots more than likely is the only small, brown, slot on your mother board.
PCI
you probably have the most of these their white and little longer than
AGP. ISA, these are longggg and black, ugly.
Insert your Video Card and snug
it in there firmly. Don't force it (duh).Time for that evil Hard Disk installation. We'll Hit hooking up the power
supplies and Installing the Hard Disk at the
same time just for fun. Insert
the Hard Disk In a very much similar way to the way you inserted the floppy
disk. But
Before you do make sure that the jumper settings are correct on the
back of Har Disk. Most hard disks are shipped in
single mode, but if you want
to run multiple hard disks (which we won't discuss) you need to set the jumpers
differently.
Jumpers are little metal prongs connected with little jumpers
that complete a connection. You figure it out. Anyway
you got your hard disk
in now its time to hook up the power supplies. The hard disk and the CDROM have
similar power supp
lies. 3 or 4 prong. Hook those funny looking cords coming
out of the back of the power supply into your CDROM and Hard
Disk. Theres a
smaller one that hooks into your floppy it should be obvious. Theres a big power
supply (the biggest one
in the lot usually made of white plastic) It fits
into a slot on your mother board, it is the main power supply to your
mother
board. Its kind of tricky to get in so be careful.Now that you have your Power Supplies hooked up you'll need to connect your
Periphrials to your Mother Board. Use the IDE
Controller Ribbon I know you
all have. Hey one end goes to your CDROM (make sure the red line on the ribbon
"pin 1" is
matched up with the first pin on the back of your CDROM) and the
other end goes to your mother board (same deal). The
same goes for your hard
disk and yoru floppy. Figure it out its not that difficult. You'll know you did
something wrong
when you get a floppy disk fail on boot.Finishing touches. Don't forget to connect those nasty wires coming out from
behind the face of your computer case to
your mother board. They control the
on, off, reset, hard disk activity, and power switch. Every mother board is
different
so i hope you have a manual with your mother board. Most specify
with 2 or 3 character paraphrases that make no sense.
For Example "PWR SWT" =
Power Switch "RST SWT" = Reset Switch. Or even more vague than that.
Section #5 (Testing 1, 2, 3)
Ok your ready to give it a whirl, you'll need to get in your system bios. The
"DEL" key should usually get you in.
Get it to autodetect your hard disk.
Accept the Setting and Save your Configurations. Install Your OS and your ready
to go.
That easy!! Ha! you'll prolly have lots of trouble theres a million
resources online to help you. Get to it.
CD-ROM/CD-Rewritable Installation Guide
Table of Contents:
Intro
I.Supplies needed and costs
II.Steps before installation and preparation
III.The Installation of the CD-ROM drive
Adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Upgrading a existing CD-ROM
IV.Conclusion
V.Tools and Utilities
Contact Info
Intro
So you want to upgrade your CD-ROM drive or put in a cd burner without having to pay $50 to install it? or just want to install it on a machine that does not have one? Well you came to the right place. In this tutorial I will provide you with information on installing a new CD-ROM drive. And for more hardware installation guides visit Blacksun Research Facility.
I.Supplies needed and costs
Supplies you need will be:
A CD-ROM drive ($40-$300 depending on if its a Burner or DVD)
Phillips Screwdriver (Should have)
Needlenose Pliers (Should have)
Anti-static wrist strap(optional)
II.Steps before installation and preparation
Before you start digging around in your computer...you are going to want to get everything you need at hand. Clear a space on a desk or table and unplug your computer and carry the case where it is well lighted. Remove the screws holding the out shell of your case, and remove out shell. Now you should be able to see the motherboard and all the insides. So you know, the box in the top left with red, yellow, and black cables coming out is the power supply. At the end of those wires is a connecter with 4 pin holes. Then the ribbons you see are what transfer the data from the drive to the motherboard. Look at your existing setup and look how they connect to the floppy drive etc.
III.The Installation of the CD-ROM drive (Section A, Section B)
Follow the following sections on what tasks you want to accomplish.
Section A: If you are adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Section B: If you are upgrading a existing CD-ROM
Section A:Adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Remove the face plate cover on your tower where your CD-ROM will be taking its place.
Set the jumper on the back of your new CD_ROM drive to slave if not already set. If there is no diagram refer to manufacturers website for settings.
Slide the drive in to the open slot in your case. But do not screw in the screws yet because you might need to slide it around.
Once your drive is in place look at the IDE ribbon connected to your hard drive and see if there are any free connectors to plug in to your CD-ROM. If there are not use the IDE ribbon that came with the drive and connect it to the CD-ROM (Note:That ribbon is how your CD-ROM drive communicates with your Motherboard.
Connect the audio cable(small cable almost like phone cord and jack) to your CD-ROM drive then connect the other to your Audio card. If you cantfind your audio card look for a small black jack which would fit the connector.(Note:This is only nessary if you want sound from your CD-ROM.
Now its time to connect your power supply connector to your CD-ROM drive. It is a cord that has yellow black and red wires with a connector on the end.
Once everything is connected, screw the drive into place and close up the case and reboot. If your running Windows 98 it should recognize it right away.
Test it out to make sure its working. Install Drivers for the CD-ROM if any came with it.
Section B:Upgrading a existing CD-ROM
Remove the existing hard drive by disconnecting all the cables and power supply.
Set the jumper on the back of your new CD_ROM drive to the same settings on your old CD-ROM drive.
Slide the drive in to the open slot in your case. But do not screw in the screws yet because you might need to slide it around.
Once your drive is in place look at the IDE ribbon connected to your hard drive and see if there are any free connectors to plug in to your CD-ROM. If there are not use the IDE ribbon that came with the drive and connect it to the CD-ROM (Note : That ribbon is how your CD-ROM drive communicates with your Motherboard.
Connect the audio cable(small cable almost like phone cord and jack) to your CD-ROM drive then connect the other to your Audio card. If you cant find your audio card look for a small black jack which would fit the connector.(Note:This is only nessary if you want sound from your CD-ROM.
Now its time to connect your power supply connector to your CD-ROM drive. It is a cord that has yellow black and red wires with a connector on the end.
Once everything is connected, screw the drive into place and close up the case and reboot. If your running Windows 98 it should recognize it right away.
Test it out to make sure its working. Install Drivers for the CD-ROM if any came with it.
IV.Conclusion
Now you will be saving money by installing hardware by yourself without having to pay $60 a hour labor cost at a computing store. As you learn more about computers you will soon realize that you will save lots of money on repairs if you can do them yourself. So I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it was helpful. Feel free to email me your questions/comments/anger. Visit Blacksun.box.sk for more of my hardware tutorials.
V.Tools and Utilities
CD Burning Utilities, Drivers, and more
--(http://www.download.com)
Intro
I.Supplies needed and costs
II.Steps before installation and preparation
III.The Installation of the CD-ROM drive
Adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Upgrading a existing CD-ROM
IV.Conclusion
V.Tools and Utilities
Contact Info
Intro
So you want to upgrade your CD-ROM drive or put in a cd burner without having to pay $50 to install it? or just want to install it on a machine that does not have one? Well you came to the right place. In this tutorial I will provide you with information on installing a new CD-ROM drive. And for more hardware installation guides visit Blacksun Research Facility.
I.Supplies needed and costs
Supplies you need will be:
A CD-ROM drive ($40-$300 depending on if its a Burner or DVD)
Phillips Screwdriver (Should have)
Needlenose Pliers (Should have)
Anti-static wrist strap(optional)
II.Steps before installation and preparation
Before you start digging around in your computer...you are going to want to get everything you need at hand. Clear a space on a desk or table and unplug your computer and carry the case where it is well lighted. Remove the screws holding the out shell of your case, and remove out shell. Now you should be able to see the motherboard and all the insides. So you know, the box in the top left with red, yellow, and black cables coming out is the power supply. At the end of those wires is a connecter with 4 pin holes. Then the ribbons you see are what transfer the data from the drive to the motherboard. Look at your existing setup and look how they connect to the floppy drive etc.
III.The Installation of the CD-ROM drive (Section A, Section B)
Follow the following sections on what tasks you want to accomplish.
Section A: If you are adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Section B: If you are upgrading a existing CD-ROM
Section A:Adding a CD-ROM drive(Burner,DVD, or any CD-ROM)
Remove the face plate cover on your tower where your CD-ROM will be taking its place.
Set the jumper on the back of your new CD_ROM drive to slave if not already set. If there is no diagram refer to manufacturers website for settings.
Slide the drive in to the open slot in your case. But do not screw in the screws yet because you might need to slide it around.
Once your drive is in place look at the IDE ribbon connected to your hard drive and see if there are any free connectors to plug in to your CD-ROM. If there are not use the IDE ribbon that came with the drive and connect it to the CD-ROM (Note:That ribbon is how your CD-ROM drive communicates with your Motherboard.
Connect the audio cable(small cable almost like phone cord and jack) to your CD-ROM drive then connect the other to your Audio card. If you cantfind your audio card look for a small black jack which would fit the connector.(Note:This is only nessary if you want sound from your CD-ROM.
Now its time to connect your power supply connector to your CD-ROM drive. It is a cord that has yellow black and red wires with a connector on the end.
Once everything is connected, screw the drive into place and close up the case and reboot. If your running Windows 98 it should recognize it right away.
Test it out to make sure its working. Install Drivers for the CD-ROM if any came with it.
Section B:Upgrading a existing CD-ROM
Remove the existing hard drive by disconnecting all the cables and power supply.
Set the jumper on the back of your new CD_ROM drive to the same settings on your old CD-ROM drive.
Slide the drive in to the open slot in your case. But do not screw in the screws yet because you might need to slide it around.
Once your drive is in place look at the IDE ribbon connected to your hard drive and see if there are any free connectors to plug in to your CD-ROM. If there are not use the IDE ribbon that came with the drive and connect it to the CD-ROM (Note : That ribbon is how your CD-ROM drive communicates with your Motherboard.
Connect the audio cable(small cable almost like phone cord and jack) to your CD-ROM drive then connect the other to your Audio card. If you cant find your audio card look for a small black jack which would fit the connector.(Note:This is only nessary if you want sound from your CD-ROM.
Now its time to connect your power supply connector to your CD-ROM drive. It is a cord that has yellow black and red wires with a connector on the end.
Once everything is connected, screw the drive into place and close up the case and reboot. If your running Windows 98 it should recognize it right away.
Test it out to make sure its working. Install Drivers for the CD-ROM if any came with it.
IV.Conclusion
Now you will be saving money by installing hardware by yourself without having to pay $60 a hour labor cost at a computing store. As you learn more about computers you will soon realize that you will save lots of money on repairs if you can do them yourself. So I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it was helpful. Feel free to email me your questions/comments/anger. Visit Blacksun.box.sk for more of my hardware tutorials.
V.Tools and Utilities
CD Burning Utilities, Drivers, and more
--(http://www.download.com)
Title: Installing a Hard Drive
Table of Contents:
Intro
I.Supplies needed and costs
II.Steps before installation and preparation
III.The Installation of the HD
IV.CMOS Check
V.Tools and Utilities
VI.Conclusion
VII.Contact Info
Intro
So your old hard drive is acting up? or just too small? Well you came to the right place. In this tutorial I will provide you with information on installing a new hard drive in addition to your old hard drive, and tell you how to upgrade and existing hard drive. Please follow the tutorial step by step and read it all carefully or you could end up loosing all your existing data. So enjoy this tutorial from Blacksun.box.sk. And for more hardware installation guides visit Blacksun Research Facility.
I.Supplies needed and costs
Supplies you need will be:
A Hard drive ($50-$250 depending on size)
Phillips Screwdriver (Should have)
Needlenose Pliers (Should have)
Anti-static wrist strap(optional)
II.Steps before installation and preparation
Before you start digging around in your computer...you are going to want to get everything you need at hand. If you are starting clean and reinstalling a new version of windows you will want to have a formatted drive and a DOS boot disk. You can create a boot disk by getting a blank floppy and open My Computer then right click on (A:) and select format. Then select option "Copy System files" which then will create a disk for booting up in DOS prompt once you have fomatted your hard drive for Windows installation. If you have a existing drive that you want transfer your data to your new hard drive, you will want to get a DiskCopy utility from (www.powerquest.com). Also note that DISKCOPY and XCOPY will not copy hidden and system files. Once you have all disk backed up and ready to move, clear a space on a desk or table and unplug your computer and carry the case where it is well lighted. Remove the screws holding the out shell of your case, and remove out shell. Now you should be able to see the motherboard and all the insides. So you know, the box in the top left with red, yellow, and black cables coming out is the power supply. At the end of those wires is a connecter with 4 pin holes. Then the ribbons you see are what transfer the data from the drive to the motherboard. Look at your existing setup and look how they connect to the floppy drive etc.
III.The Installation of the HD
Ok. Now your ready to install the hard drive. If your replacing a existing drive look at the jumper settings on the back of your hard drive. Jumpers are what tell your computer what its purpose is. They are pins in sets of 2. They look like this :::[:]:: with ( :=pins and []=the jumper which slids on the pins. ) Once you find out what your existing drive's jumper settings are you then can set your new hard drives jumper settings to the same as the existing. Most drives have listed what the settings are but if they are not listed on the actual hard drive you should refer to the manufacturers website. Your new hard drive should be set on Master and if your just adding an additional hard drive set your old one to slave and new one to master. Now when putting in your new drive you are going to want to slide it in ussually below floppy drive or anywhere you have room. Once you have it slid in connect the power connector to the drive and the wide EIDE ribbon with the pink line on the right near the power connector. Once installation is complete of your hard drive, re-connect the cables and moniter and turn on the power.
IV.CMOS Check
On boot enter your PC's setup program(On boot it ussually shows you what key to press for system setup) and check the BIOS for drives 1 and 2 if you added an additional hard drive. Make sure both drives are set on AUTO so it can detect and set up correctly. Save and reboot.
V.Conclusion
Once windows is booted up check out the new drive and make sure it is working properly. If you added a drive reformat the old one so now you can prepare it for more data. I hope this helped you in the steps of installing or upgrading a new hard drive. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to email me. More tutorials to come and soon a HTML version with picture references.
VI.Tools and Utilities
Disk Copy Utility
--(http://www.powerquest.com)
Memory Upgrade Guide
Table of Contents:
Intro
I.Supplies needed and costs
II.Steps before installation and preparation
III.The Installation of the Memory
IV.CMOS Check
V.Conclusion
VI.Tools and Utilities
VII.Contact Info
Intro
Is your PC running slow? Well memory upgrades are about the cheapest upgrade that you can do to improve your computers performance drastically. This will be a easy tutorial to understand so you can pop in your memory and determine from now
on out what you have inside your computer. This will be a step by step guide to install Simms and Dimm memmory. Simms memory slots are small and a whiteish color. Dimm memory slots are longer in length and are black. So please when following this tutorial please do not skip read, read carefully or it could end up costing you money. So enjoy this tutorial from Blacksun.box.sk. And for more hardware installation guides visit Blacksun Research Facility.
I.Supplies needed and costs
Supplies you need will be:
Memory ($50(32MB)-$200(128MB)) - www.kingston.com - www.crucial.com
Phillips Screwdriver (Should have)
Anti-static wrist strap(optional)
II.Steps before installation and preparation
Before we start getting into the installation you should have already looked inside your computer for what type of memory your computer support. If you have 2 or more white slots open means you need 72 pin SIMMS memory. SIMMS must be put
in pairs. DIMM on the other hand can go in by itself, so it doesnt need a pair. Clear a space on a desk or table and unplug your computer and carry the case where it is well lighted. Remove the screws holding the out shell of your case, and remove out shell. Now you should be able to see the motherboard and all the insides. Now look for your memory slots on your mother board, If you can not see them then you might have to move or take some stuff out to be able to move around inside but you probly wont have to. So you know, the box in the top left with red, yellow, and black cables coming out is the power supply.
III.The Installation of the Memory
Ok. Now your ready to install the memory.
If you are installing SIMMs memory then...
Grab one of the sticks of memory and slide it into slot from the top at a 60 degree angle(Ex.\.). Once you have it slid all the way in,push it to a upright position until you hear it click. Now put in its pair. Then re-connect the cables and moniter and turn on the power. On the boot up screen look at the memory count will be like 32838k(32MB) of memory. Make sure its reading the memory. If that number varies significantly from what you were expecting contact manufacturer or dealer you bought your memory from.
If you are installing DIMM memory then...
Grab one of the sticks of DIMM memory and line it up to the DIMM Socket so the grooves in the memory stick are the same on the motherboard. Once lined up push the white arms on the top and bottom of the DIMM socket to a outward position so they are not in the way of the memory. Now press firmly on the top and bottom until the white arms come in locking the memory in place.Then re-connect the cables and moniter and turn on the power. On the boot up screen look at the memory count will be like 32838k(32MB) of memory. Make sure its reading the memory. If that number varies significantly from what you were expecting contact manufacturer or dealer you bought your memory from.
IV.CMOS Check
On boot enter your PC should recognize the memory. Not many systems require you but if its required you will get a error message. Then enter your systems setup.
V.Conclusion
Once windows is booted up check out the new memory and make sure it is working properly. I hope this helped you in the steps of installing or upgrading your new memory. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to email me. More tutorials to come and soon a HTML version with picture references.
VI.Tools and Utilities
Disk Copy Utility
--(http://www.powerquest.com)
Hardware Tutorial
This isn't so much a tutorial, as it doesn't actually teach you much.. It's more a text on hardware for those of you sick of newbie tutorials, and looking for something interesting and non-dangerous. This is mainly about motherboard stuff, but I stuck something about HDs, mice and Gfx cards at the end. Hey, if people like it and tell me, I might even stretch and do al the other computer bits and bobs. ;)
Content
The Bios
(I) Functions
(II) Static + Passwords
Processors
(I) Fetch-Execute
(II) Clock Ticks
(III) Funky Athlon fridge chip.
The Clock
(I) What does it look like?
(II) Waves
(III) Some ASCII Art. ;)
(IV) What is Digital? (unrelated to Microns, but hey.)
(V) Howcome Digital can't be conceived in real life?
(VI) What does digital represent?
(VII) What is Binary?
(VIII) How do I translate between number systems?
(IX) sums?
(X) Use Wincalc.
Chipset
(I) A what?
(II) Assembler and Machine Code
(III) Intel ones.
Microns
(I) Moore's Law
(II) Predictions / Intel. V. AMD. (Go, AMD!)
Hard Drives
(I) Origin
(II) How they work
(III) FIrst computer
Mice
(I) Rollers
(II) Cleaning
(III) Keyboard crud
Gfx Cards
(I) Built in v. NOT
(II) Components
(III) Stay away from S3s! warning
(IV) 3D and 2D cards
The BIOS.
This contains instructions which are specific for that particular motherboard. Those programs and instructions will remain in the PC throughout its life; usually they are not altered. However, it is possible to get replacement / upgrade BIOS's. Primarily the ROM code holds start-up instructions. In fact there are several different programs inside the start-up instructions, but for most users, they are all woven together. You can differentiate between:
* POST (Power On Self Test)
* The Setup instructions, which connect with the CMOS instructions
* BIOS instructions, which connect with the various hardware peripherals
* The Boot instructions, which call the operating system (DOS, OS/2, or Windows)
Note: Only very old or different OS's are stored on ROM, such as OS/2. This is actually a much more efficient system.
BIOS's are static sensitive, so take care when handling them. They can also be PWord protected... if you ever get round to doing this, don't forget the password. As you don't use the BIOS PWord often, this is easy to do. Don't. it's bloody hard getting the PWord back.
Processors
Processors work on a fetch-execute cycle. each tick of the clock, in theory, they get a bit of data... and by tick of the clock here, we don't mean a second, we mean the tick of a computer clock. Depending on the speed of your processor, this is anywhere from 233 million ticks per second for a 233, to 800 for an overclocked 600MHz Athlon chip.
So, you can get, on your average computer, 400 - 500 bits of data per second. Well, wrong actually... because not every clock tick is taken up by getting the data. Every _fourth_ is. Well, what about every other 3? you ask.. they are taken up with _finding_ the data, _getting_ it, and putting it back. So, you say, your processor runs at a quarter of the speed that in theory it should be able to do? Well, yes. And there's no way around this, unfortunately. But, we can make the clock speed a little faster, and it is the clock speed that dictates the speed of the processor... (within reason).
Therefore, you can set the clock ticks on your 233 to 266, and it'll run at 166 MHz. Yes. Unfortunately, the more clock ticks there are in relation to what your chip is _supposed_ to run at, the hotter it Gets. Therefore, you need to install heatsyncs/fans. In fact, the AMD Athlon 600MHz overclocked to 800MHz, the fastest PC at the time of writing has a minature fridge that cools the chip, which is its own special metal box. The tower-sized case also has a box the size of a mini-tower underneath for the cooling system. ;)
For this increase in temperature of 200MHz, the chip is cooled to -37 degrees centigrade. that's cold. ;) (Note: AMD chips generally run a lot hotter than Intel ones). ((Not a problem unless u have no heatsync)) - see the micron section, below...
The Clock
Now, this fabled clock looks like, in most cases, a small black box on your motherboard. The clock ticks it emitts are in the form of a wave , but a different wave: one that is sqare, and it looks like a castle ramparts. the speed of this is dictated by the MHx setting you set with the Jumpers on your motherboard. The waves look like so: (except slightly more square)
__ _ ____ _ _ ___
_¦ ¦___¦ ¦__¦ ¦_¦ ¦_¦ ¦__¦ ¦__ and etc.
The wave, which never changes, and is always the same, is broadcast throughout your motherboard, and it synchronises all of the things that go on there. For example, when you press the left button in your game of quake, the processor assigns different bits of your computer to do whatever is neccacery to redraw what's on the screen, and tells it to have it done in 3 ticks' time. The same process occurs on the gfx card itself, where the main processor assigns a polygon to each other chip, or whatever. Infact, if you have an old enough computer, you can see it being redrawn on the screen... try it... run a gfx-intensive game on a 486... If the task isn't done in time, then it all falls apart, and the computer crashes. This is why you don't want to buy a dodgy CPU. :) (Get an AMD Athlon!).
The signals sent run around your motherboard, through all of those copper bits, and into the chips, ISA slots, or whatever, and the task gets accomplished.
This signal is sent around the motherboard in that most wonderful of things we all love, Binary. Now, Binary is what Computers communicate with, and it is a DIGITAL thing. Digital. A Much used term.
COmputers are electronic, and therefore, all the signals in them are tiny pulses of electricity. Now, electricity can be one of two things. On... or off. And this is what makes it digital. If it could be half on as well, it would be analogue... But no. It's digital. However, the representation of it in the form of signals down wires is analogue, as a sound in a modem wire can be any of a hundred million different pitches, can't it. Yes. This digital signal is, then, a series of 0's and 1's. Binary. The counting system that we use (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11... etc... ) is Denary. It's Base ten... Binary is Base 2 (and Hexadecimal, which is used, amongst other things, is base 16). Therefore it is perfect for being what these signals are coded in. so each charactor on your screen is represented in your computers RAM by a series of Binary digits. Probably 8. if you go into Windows Calculator, and switch to scientific mode (View>Scientific) you can decode this. For example, 1 in Binary is 00000001. 2 is 00000010. The way this can be decoded is thus:
Each digit in binary represents a quantity of a certain number, just as denary does. In denary, there is a column for 1's, a column for 10's, and a column for 100's. And in Binary, there is a column for 1's, 2's, 4's, 8's, etc. Let me show you:
Denary:
100s 10s 1s
1 0 0
Here, there is a one in the hundreds column, and therefore, 100 + 0 + 0 (0 and 0 are the other 2 columns) makes 100. SO 1 0 0 in Denary represents 100. (of course, translating 100 --> 100 doesn't work, as denary is used in both cases). In Binary, this works this:
Binary (8-bit -- 8 digits)
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0
SO... 128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 8 + 2 + 1 = 250.
So the Binary number 11111010 = 250. Simple, eh?
It is possible to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, in fact, EVEYTHING that is possible with denary (1--> 10)... I'm not going to explain it because it is simply too complicated. ;) Use Windows Calculator... the radio buttons at the top left switch between number systems.
Chipset
We all know what assembly language is, do we not? It is the programming language that is most native to a computer. The instructions go directly to the chip (more or less). (Assembly actually lays on top of Machine code, which is the real native: Assembler is a more human-friendly version)... Each chip has their own different version of assembler/machine code, called its _chipset_. Each new type of chip comes with an upgraded chipset: for example, the Intel MMX chip incorporated the...wait for it... MMX chipset! There are also chipsets such as 3D!Now. THe most basic of commands between, say, Intel and AMD are the same: they have to be in order for the two to be compatible, but more advanced things are different. This is why Alpha chips are incompatible with windows: The chipset is completely different.
Intel has hitherto been the leader in supplying chip sets to the Pentium motherboard. Therefore, let us just mention their chip sets, which have astronomical names. The Neptune chip set (82434NX) was introduced in June 1994. It replaced the Mercury set (82434LX). In both chip sets, there were problems with the PCI bus. In January 1995 Intel introduced the first Triton, where everything worked. This chip set supports some new features: it supports EDO RAM, and it offers bus master integrated EIDE control and NSP (Native Signal Processing - one of the many new creations, which was soon forgotten).
The sorts of things that new chipsets are used for are varied... for example, The Intel TX Chipset, for example, supports SDRam and UltraDMA (But the TX-set cannot cache above 64 MB RAM, and that is a problem.), while AMD chips have their own special Graphics chipset, which is better for that task.
Microns
The CPUs have doubled their calculating capacity every 18 months. This is called "Moore's Law" and was predicted in 1965 by Gordon Moore. He was right for more than 30 years. The latest CPUs use internal wiring only 0.25 microns wide (1/400 of a human hair). But if Moore's Law has to be valid into the next century, more transistors have to be squeezed onto silicon layers. And now there is a new hope. IBM has for the first time succeeded in making copper conductors instead of aluminum. Copper is cheaper and faster, but the problem was to isolate it from the silicon. The problem has been solved with a new type of coating, and now chips can be designed with 0.13 micron technology. The technology is expected later to work with just 0.05 micron wiring! Texas Instruments announced on August 27th 1998 that they expect 0.07 micron CMOS processing in the year 2001. At the time of writing, AMD chips run at .27 microns (?) and Intel at .33. This explains why AMD chips are hotter, as there is less wire, and therefore more probability of the electrons that the electricity is comprised of hitting the side of the wires, and creating heat.
Hard Drives
Hard drives work in much the same way as a floppy disk does. They can, however, store a much larger capacity of data, and therefore are much more fragile, and compact . For this reason, they are hermetically sealed. NEVER OPEN ONE IF YOU WANT TO USE IT AGAIN. There is, inside, 3 or 4 goldy-brown circular plates on which the data is stored. These are much the same as the ones inside a floppy disk, except that they are not 'floppy' but hard, or stiff. The data is stored on the platters magnetically, which explains why floppy disks have a "keep magnets away from me" warning on boxes u buy them in.
IBM introduced the first hard disk in 1957, when data usually was stored on tapes. The first 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) consisted of 50 platters, 24 inch diameter, with a total capacity of 5 MB, a huge storage medium for its time. It cost $35,000 annually in leasing fees (IBM would not sell it outright) and was twice the size of a refrigerator.
In the early 80s, HD's became the preferred storage medium as opposed to floppy drives (these were previously used due to increased reliability). IBM's PS/2 (one of which I have - yay) was one of the first PCs to be equipped with a Hard drive. I think.
Mice
Mice are, as we all know, Input devices, and as we also know, they tell where you are on the mousemat by moving a ball in the bottom. Which you can see. But how does it read how the ball is moving? Well, inside the mouse are 2 rollers, at 90 degrees to each other. When you move the mouse, u move the ball, and thus the rollers. THe rollers have some little discs on the end of them with slits in, and either side of the disc are light-readers, so that when you move tha ball, the mouse can tell because light flasles on and off in its light reader. There is also a 3rd non-functional roller to keep the ball rolling smoothly. Note: It is perfectly safe to turn your mouse upside down ,. take the ball out and look inside, as long as you don't prod anything too hard (twiddle the rollers by all means, just don't stick bits of paper in there). It is also a good idea to get a blunt knife or screw driver and clean the crud off the rollers every few weeks... it solidifies into little rings around the rollers, and works to the detriment of the mouse. If it isn't cleaned off, it can also, fallinto the mouse, and reak havok with the insides. :) The same sort of crud builds up in keyboards, but is harder to remove. ;)
GFX Cards
A video card is typically an adapter, a removable expansion card in the PC. Thus, it can be replaced! The video card can also be an integral part of the system board...This is the case in certain brands of PCs and is always the case in lap tops. This is not nice, as it is hard to upgrade to a better card. On a OC with a non-removable gfx or sound card, the normal procedure if you _do_ want to replace it is to disable the built-in graphics card using jumpers or dip switches... consult your motherboard manual. ;) Regardless of whether it is replaceable or integrated, it consists of three components:
* A video chip of some brand (ATI, Matrox, S3, Cirrus Logic, or Tseng, to name some of the better known). The video chip creates the signals, which the screen must receive to form an image.
* Some kind of RAM (EDO, SGRAM, or VRAM, which are all variations of the regular RAM). Memory is necessary, since the video card must be able to remember a complete screen image at any time.
* A RAMDAC - a chip converting digital/analog signals.
NOTE: Never buy an S3. Never. Ever. I've had lots, they're all useless. Remember that.
All ordinary graphics cards can show 3D games. That is really no special trick. The problem is to present them smoothly and fast. If the PC’s video card is made for 2D execution only, the CPU must do the entire workload of geometric transformations etc.! And that task can cause even the fastest CPU to walk with a limp. In recent years there has been an enormous development in 3D graphics cards. Let me briefly describe those here.
There are two types of graphics cards, which can be used for 3D acceleration:
Combination 2D/3D cards. These are ordinary graphics cards, which have been equipped with extra 3D power.
The pure 3D cards, which only work as accelerators. These cards require that there also is an ordinary (2D) graphics card in the PC.
Of course the pure 3D card yields the best acceleration, but there are also good combination cards on the market.
OVERCLOCKING
Content
- What is
- What is the Meaning of the Word Overclocking?
- How Can I Benefit From Overclocking My Hardware?
- How Can I Overclock My CPU(1)/Video Card/Other?
- How Dangerous is This Whole Thing?
- Can Overclocking Fry Up My Computer?
- Safety Warnings?
- Possible Side Effects and How to Avoid them?
- Advanced Tips and Tricks?
- Advanced Tips and Tricks for Making Your Overclocking More Efficient?
- More Information on Speeding Up Your Computer?
- Where to Find More Information on Speeding Up Your Computer?
Notes About 3D
Accelerators - How do I Overclock My 3D Accelerator?
Newbies
corner - What is a CPU?
- What is a BUS?
- What is a MHZ?
- What are Jumpers?
- What is the CMOS Chip?
- What is the Cache Chip?
- What is the RAM Chip?
- What is a URL?
- What is flaming?
Other
Tutorials
Networking and it's
security-related issues - FTP Tutorial
- RM Networks Tutorial
- Ad Blocking Tutorial
- Sendmail Tutorial
- Anonymity Tutorial
- Proxy/WinGate/SOCKS
Tutorial - Info Gathering
Tutorial - ICQ Security
- Exploits Explained:
JavaCript hole in Hotmail - Mailing Lists Security (coming soon)
- The POP Protocol (coming soon)
- DoS Attacks Tutorial (coming soon)
IRC-related
issues - IRC Warfare
Tutorial - Eggdrop Bots
Tutorial
Local Stuff - Windows Registry
Tutorial - Standalone Security
(this tutorials wasn't written by a BSRF member. Read about what exactly
happened here). - Interesting Things You
Didn't Know About Your Computer's Hardware
Phreaking - Phreaking Tutorial
- Advanced Phreaking
Tutorial - The Ultimate
Phreaking Tutorial II
Cracking - Cracking, Part I
- Cracking, Part II (coming soon)
- Cracking, Part III (coming soon)
Programming - HTML
Tutorial
Encryption - PGP Tutorial (coming soon)
Upcoming
Tutorials - DoS Attacks Tutorial
- PGP Tutorial
- The POP Protocol
- Cracking, Part II + III
- Mailing Lists Security
Bibliography - Plus what is disk cache on browsers and on several operating systems
Overclocking?
What is
Overclocking?
Overclocking is a cool way of making your CPU,
video card (monitor card), 3D accelerator and some other kinds of hardware run
faster and give better performance for free! (Intel's worst nightmare!
MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!)
During this tutorial I will teach you how to overclock your
CPU, but you can use this information to overclock other kinds of hardware on
your PC.
Now, your CPU speed is based on two factors - your BUS(2) speed and
your clock speed (mine is 1 second per second... just kidding. I don't mean a
standard clock, like one you can tell time out of. Read on and you'll
understand).
Example: The BUS speed on older computers (let's take a Pentium
I 166MHZ(3) as an example) is about 66MHZ. 166, the CPU speed, divided by 66,
the BUS speed, gives you about 2.5, meaning your clock speed is about
2.5.
Simple, huh? BUS speed X clock speed = CPU speed.
Now,
what exactly is overclocking and how do I do it?
Materials
- The little booklet you were supposed to received together with your CPU.
- A screwdriver (better be a Philips screwdriver).
- A metal plier with a rubber/plastic handle or a bunch of fingers (better be
your fingers... oh, and when I said a bunch of fingers, I've meant at least 5,
all of them attached to a living hand (better be yours). Undeads are also
welcome). - A calculator / a brain.
screwdriver.
B) Look at the little booklet you have and find the part about
the jumpers(4) board and read.
C) Use the plier or the fingers to change the
jumpers array so you will receive the clock speed you are interested in. Oh
yeah, and try not to step on your CMOS chip(5) or on your Cache chip(6).
Note: newer CPUs are "Clock Locked", meaning you cannot change their
clock speed, but you can still change their BUS speed... ;)
Changing the BUS
speed is similar to changing the clock speed (read the part on your booklet
about the jumpers).
How Dangerous is This Whole
Thing?
Well, you CAN fry your modem, but it all depends on you.
If
you screw up and step on things, spill coffee over your computer or overclock
your CPU too much (see Advanced Tips), don't come back crying to me.
Possible Side Effects:
- Your computer won't start: this probably means you have overclocked your
computer too much. Lower your CPU speed a bit and then try again. - Your OS won't start (or crash very frequently) or your computer will reboot
itself randomly etc': open your computer, find the jumper that changes the CPU
Voltage (the CPU Voltage is usually something that fits into this pattern: 2.x,
when x can be any number) and increase the voltage a bit on every
time.
Remember to increase your CPU Voltage as little as you can. The maximum
is "VOLT 2.30". If your computer still gives you problems then do a little less
overclocking and it should be fine. - Overclocking your CPU might increase it's temperature and decrease it's life
span. Don't worry about that, experts claim that during the year 2,000 we will
replace our CPU once every 6 months and this will become more frequent during
the years so you've got nothing to worry about.
How to Avoid
these Side Effects:
- Attach another fan or a "Heat Sink" to your CPU. It shouldn't cost much (a
couple of bucks, maybe) and the outcomes would amaze you (For example: using a
device that cools your CPU to -20 Celsius degrees you can turn a Celeron 300A
into a 633MHZ CPU) - Place your computer where you won't block it's air ways.
- There are programs like CPUIdle (URL(7) to download: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/6990/cpuidle.zip)
that can shut down your CPU while it's not in use. These actions can decrease
the temperature of your CPU, and it can even increase your CPU's life span.
Note: CPUIdle only works on Windows, since it is "Built-In" on other OSs (see
CPUIdle's documentations).
Statistically Speaking, How Safe
is this?
Very safe. Out of tens of thousands of overclockers in the
world, only a very few got some of their hardware fried up (and who says it's
because of the overclocking anyway?), and those guys didn't listen to the safety
warnings (they overclocked their CPU too much, increased the CPU Voltage too
much etc').
Is it Worth the Trouble?
DUH!!! Of course
it is! Do the math yourself.
More Info on Speeding Up Your
Computer
Try the "Modem Speedup" section at blacksun.box.sk
How do I Overclock My 3D
Accelerator?
Overclocking 3D accelerators is pretty much like
overclocking CPUs, only you have to take one factor into consideration... your
CPU speed.
You see, the speed your 3D accelerator works depends on your CPU.
The 3D accelerator cannot work faster than the CPU, since some vital 3D
calculations are done by it, hence the accelerator cannot continue without these
calculations.
If your CPU's speed is lower than 400MHZ, I advise you not to
overclock your 3D accelerator. Go overclock your CPU and then overclock your 3D
card!! HAHAHA!!
28 March, 2008
Windows XP USB drive/stick installation
I am also covering a few pitfalls that happened to me, in hope they will save you a bit of time.
1) Does your computer support booting from USB?
Usually, if its an option in your BIOS boot sequence menu, the answer to this is yes. If its not there, look for BIOS updates. If you are not sure, proceed and see what happens ;-)
2) Sorting out the "Bootability" of your USB-Drive
Connect your USB drive to your computer, directly, without a Hub. Then, shut down your computer, disconnect any other hard disk drives from it, and insert your original Windows XP CD into the drive. Start the installation, and proceed to the section where you are allowed to pick a hard drive. If it goes beyond the partition selection, your drive is already fine for booting Windows XP. If not (seems to be the cases with many of the Freecom USB HDDs for example), you will get an error like "Windows is unable to find your drive, partition, data etc bla". This is usually not a big problem. All you need to do is "properly" format the drive. Reboot into your normal Windows, and get this HP tool , and use it to format your HDD completely. I chose NTFS format, worked fine everytime i tried. After this, my drives are recognized as valid installation devices by the Windows XP installer.
(In fact, i did not manage to create a USB primary partition with FAT32 that was recognized as being installable)
3) Dumping the original Windows CD into an ISO File
Pretty easy one. Simply open WinISO, and select Actions -> Make ISO from CDROM, and save your CD image.
4) Extracting the files we need to work on
After the CD dump is done, close and reopen WinISO. Then, open the ISO file you just created using File -> Open.
Now, click the I386 folder, and select the following files (Ctrl key to multi-select)
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* DOSNET.INF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Select Actions -> Extract and put the resulting files into some folder to work on them.
5) Unpacking IN_ files
Use the Cab SDK (from the command line) for extracting the contents of the .IN_ files. Each of them contains exactly one .inf file. If you are unsure how to use the Cab SDK, here is an example command line: "cabarc x USBSTOR.IN_" . You should end up with three new files in the folder, called:
* usb.inf
* usbport.inf
* usbstor.inf
You can now delete the .IN_ files.
6) Editing the files
This is the main job. i ll also try to explain a bit whats happening. Use a simple Texteditor like Notepad.
6-A) TXTSETUP.SIF
This file is loaded on the initial install step by the Windows XP CD installer. In this file, we will change the way Windows treats USB devices during system setup -- the default is to only treat them as input devices during installation -- we will change this to include mass storage driver support (which needs to be loaded into the installer much earlier in order to work).
First, move the following entries from [InputDevicesSupport.Load] to the [BootBusExtenders.Load] section , as shown here
[BootBusExtenders.Load]
pci = pci.sys
acpi = acpi.sys
isapnp = isapnp.sys
acpiec = acpiec.sys
ohci1394 = ohci1394.sys
usbehci = usbehci.sys
usbohci = usbohci.sys
usbuhci = usbuhci.sys
usbhub = usbhub.sys
usbstor = usbstor.sys
[InputDevicesSupport.Load]
usbehci = usbehci.sys
usbohci = usbohci.sys
usbuhci = usbuhci.sys
usbhub = usbhub.sys
usbccgp = usbccgp.sys
hidusb = hidusb.sys
serial = serial.sys
serenum = serenum.sys
usbstor = usbstor.sys
... now the same for [BootBusExtenders] and [InputDevicesSupport]
[BootBusExtenders]
pci = "PCI-Bustreiber",files.pci,pci
acpi = "ACPI Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.acpi,acpi
isapnp = "ISA Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.isapnp,isapnp
acpiec = "Integrierter ACPI-Controllertreiber",files.none,acpiec
ohci1394 = "IEEE-1394-Bus-OHCI-konformer Anschlusstreiber",files.ohci1394,ohci1394
usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci
usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci
usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci
usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub
usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor
[InputDevicesSupport]
usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci
usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci
usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci
usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub
hidusb = "HID-Parser",files.hidusb,hidusb
serial = "Treiber fr seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serial
serenum = "Enumerator fr seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serenum
usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor
usbccgp = "USB Generic Parent Driver",files.usbccgp,usbccgp
Next, we also have to write several keys into the registry. Convieniently, the txtsetup.sif allows you to specify files that are parsed and instered into the registry at install time. Insert the following in the [HiveInfs.Fresh] section:
[HiveInfs.Fresh]
AddReg = hivedef.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesys.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesft.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivecls.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hiveusd.inf,AddReg
AddReg = dmreg.inf,DM.AddReg
AddReg = usbboot.inf,usbservices
and also in [SourceDisksFiles]
[SourceDisksFiles]
usbboot.inf = 1,,,,,,_x,3,,3
bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
Finally, save and close TXTSETUP.SIF. We are done with it.
6-B) DOSNET.INF
Now, open DOSNET.INF , and change the second [Files] section to look like this:
[Files]
d1,usbboot.inf
d1,_default.pif
d1,12520437.cpx
d1,12520850.cpx
....
6-C) usb.inf
Change the bolded lines in the [StandardHub.AddService] and [CommonClassParent.AddService] sections:
[StandardHub.AddService]
DisplayName = %StandardHub.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[CommonClassParent.AddService]
DisplayName = %GenericParent.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbccgp.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-D) usbport.inf
Change the bolded lines in the [EHCI.AddService], [OHCI.AddService] , [UHCI.AddService] and [ROOTHUB.AddService] sections:
[EHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %EHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbehci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[OHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %OHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbohci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[UHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %UHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbuhci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[ROOTHUB.AddService]
DisplayName = %ROOTHUB.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-E) usbstor.inf
Change / Add the bolded lines in the [USBSTOR.AddService] section
[USBSTOR.AddService]
DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1
StartType = 0
Tag = 3
ErrorControl = 1
ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-F) new file: USBBOOT.INF
Create a new file called USBBOOT.INF in the same directory as your other changed files, and put the following content into it:
[usbservices]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1
7) Repack the inf files into their original IN_ format
If you have not already deleted your extracted .IN_ files, do so now. They need to be replaced. Open a DOS shell again, and navigate to the folder with your changed files. Then exceute the following commands:
cabarc n USB.IN_ usb.inf
cabarc n USBPORT.IN_ usbport.inf
cabarc n USBSTOR.IN_ usbstor.inf
The three IN_ files should now exist again.
Congratulations. All out modifications are done.
8) Inject the changed files into the ISO
Open your Windows CD image again with WinISO. Navigate to the I386 folder, and delete the following files from the ISO, saving the changes to the ISO afterwards:
* DOSNET.INF
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Just to be sure all is updated in the ISO, cloase and repoen the ISO in WinISO. Now, again go to the I386 folder and select "Add Files". Now add your changed files, in detail:
* USBBOOT.INF
* DOSNET.INF
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Save the ISO. You are done.
9) Burn the ISO back to CD
Feel free to use any burning package you want. I used the free and simple Burnatonce
10) Install Windows XP from the CD
Shut down your computer. Disconnect ANY internal and external hard drives (so Windows cannot find them during installation and mess up their Master Boot Records hehe). Some computers will have trouble to boot without an internal HDD attached, check in your BIOS and, if possible, remove the HDD from the boot sequence and set the USB Harddisk as the first boot device, and the CDROM as second.
Also, now connect your USB Harddrive directly to the computer, without any Hubs in between.
Windows should install just fine, with the exceptions noted below.
Issues you will encounter during installation:
* During driver installation, the USB drivers will prompt you, as they are "not certified" - This is normal. Our changes invalidated the checksum, and therefore the driver is no longer signed. Just press "yes" a couple of times.
* Upon completion of the install, the system will complain once on the first bootup that the pagefile does not exist. You can ignore this for now, as Windows will work fine without it. People are looking at fixing this issue, but its not critical for now.
Once everything is up and running , shut down and reconnect all your drives.
1) Does your computer support booting from USB?
Usually, if its an option in your BIOS boot sequence menu, the answer to this is yes. If its not there, look for BIOS updates. If you are not sure, proceed and see what happens ;-)
2) Sorting out the "Bootability" of your USB-Drive
Connect your USB drive to your computer, directly, without a Hub. Then, shut down your computer, disconnect any other hard disk drives from it, and insert your original Windows XP CD into the drive. Start the installation, and proceed to the section where you are allowed to pick a hard drive. If it goes beyond the partition selection, your drive is already fine for booting Windows XP. If not (seems to be the cases with many of the Freecom USB HDDs for example), you will get an error like "Windows is unable to find your drive, partition, data etc bla". This is usually not a big problem. All you need to do is "properly" format the drive. Reboot into your normal Windows, and get this HP tool , and use it to format your HDD completely. I chose NTFS format, worked fine everytime i tried. After this, my drives are recognized as valid installation devices by the Windows XP installer.
(In fact, i did not manage to create a USB primary partition with FAT32 that was recognized as being installable)
3) Dumping the original Windows CD into an ISO File
Pretty easy one. Simply open WinISO, and select Actions -> Make ISO from CDROM, and save your CD image.
4) Extracting the files we need to work on
After the CD dump is done, close and reopen WinISO. Then, open the ISO file you just created using File -> Open.
Now, click the I386 folder, and select the following files (Ctrl key to multi-select)
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* DOSNET.INF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Select Actions -> Extract and put the resulting files into some folder to work on them.
5) Unpacking IN_ files
Use the Cab SDK (from the command line) for extracting the contents of the .IN_ files. Each of them contains exactly one .inf file. If you are unsure how to use the Cab SDK, here is an example command line: "cabarc x USBSTOR.IN_" . You should end up with three new files in the folder, called:
* usb.inf
* usbport.inf
* usbstor.inf
You can now delete the .IN_ files.
6) Editing the files
This is the main job. i ll also try to explain a bit whats happening. Use a simple Texteditor like Notepad.
6-A) TXTSETUP.SIF
This file is loaded on the initial install step by the Windows XP CD installer. In this file, we will change the way Windows treats USB devices during system setup -- the default is to only treat them as input devices during installation -- we will change this to include mass storage driver support (which needs to be loaded into the installer much earlier in order to work).
First, move the following entries from [InputDevicesSupport.Load] to the [BootBusExtenders.Load] section , as shown here
[BootBusExtenders.Load]
pci = pci.sys
acpi = acpi.sys
isapnp = isapnp.sys
acpiec = acpiec.sys
ohci1394 = ohci1394.sys
usbehci = usbehci.sys
usbohci = usbohci.sys
usbuhci = usbuhci.sys
usbhub = usbhub.sys
usbstor = usbstor.sys
[InputDevicesSupport.Load]
usbehci = usbehci.sys
usbohci = usbohci.sys
usbuhci = usbuhci.sys
usbhub = usbhub.sys
usbccgp = usbccgp.sys
hidusb = hidusb.sys
serial = serial.sys
serenum = serenum.sys
usbstor = usbstor.sys
... now the same for [BootBusExtenders] and [InputDevicesSupport]
[BootBusExtenders]
pci = "PCI-Bustreiber",files.pci,pci
acpi = "ACPI Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.acpi,acpi
isapnp = "ISA Plug & Play-Bustreiber",files.isapnp,isapnp
acpiec = "Integrierter ACPI-Controllertreiber",files.none,acpiec
ohci1394 = "IEEE-1394-Bus-OHCI-konformer Anschlusstreiber",files.ohci1394,ohci1394
usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci
usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci
usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci
usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub
usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor
[InputDevicesSupport]
usbehci = "Erweiterter Hostcontroller",files.usbehci,usbehci
usbohci = "Open Hostcontroller",files.usbohci,usbohci
usbuhci = "Universeller Hostcontroller",files.usbuhci,usbuhci
usbhub = "Standard-USB-Hubtreiber",files.usbhub,usbhub
hidusb = "HID-Parser",files.hidusb,hidusb
serial = "Treiber fr seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serial
serenum = "Enumerator fr seriellen Anschluss",files.none,serenum
usbstor = "USB-Speicherklassentreiber",files.usbstor,usbstor
usbccgp = "USB Generic Parent Driver",files.usbccgp,usbccgp
Next, we also have to write several keys into the registry. Convieniently, the txtsetup.sif allows you to specify files that are parsed and instered into the registry at install time. Insert the following in the [HiveInfs.Fresh] section:
[HiveInfs.Fresh]
AddReg = hivedef.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesys.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivesft.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hivecls.inf,AddReg
AddReg = hiveusd.inf,AddReg
AddReg = dmreg.inf,DM.AddReg
AddReg = usbboot.inf,usbservices
and also in [SourceDisksFiles]
[SourceDisksFiles]
usbboot.inf = 1,,,,,,_x,3,,3
bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
Finally, save and close TXTSETUP.SIF. We are done with it.
6-B) DOSNET.INF
Now, open DOSNET.INF , and change the second [Files] section to look like this:
[Files]
d1,usbboot.inf
d1,_default.pif
d1,12520437.cpx
d1,12520850.cpx
....
6-C) usb.inf
Change the bolded lines in the [StandardHub.AddService] and [CommonClassParent.AddService] sections:
[StandardHub.AddService]
DisplayName = %StandardHub.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[CommonClassParent.AddService]
DisplayName = %GenericParent.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbccgp.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-D) usbport.inf
Change the bolded lines in the [EHCI.AddService], [OHCI.AddService] , [UHCI.AddService] and [ROOTHUB.AddService] sections:
[EHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %EHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbehci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[OHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %OHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbohci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[UHCI.AddService]
DisplayName = %UHCIMP.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbuhci.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
[ROOTHUB.AddService]
DisplayName = %ROOTHUB.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 0 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %12%\usbhub.sys
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-E) usbstor.inf
Change / Add the bolded lines in the [USBSTOR.AddService] section
[USBSTOR.AddService]
DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%
ServiceType = 1
StartType = 0
Tag = 3
ErrorControl = 1
ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS
LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender
6-F) new file: USBBOOT.INF
Create a new file called USBBOOT.INF in the same directory as your other changed files, and put the following content into it:
[usbservices]
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"System Reserved"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1
7) Repack the inf files into their original IN_ format
If you have not already deleted your extracted .IN_ files, do so now. They need to be replaced. Open a DOS shell again, and navigate to the folder with your changed files. Then exceute the following commands:
cabarc n USB.IN_ usb.inf
cabarc n USBPORT.IN_ usbport.inf
cabarc n USBSTOR.IN_ usbstor.inf
The three IN_ files should now exist again.
Congratulations. All out modifications are done.
8) Inject the changed files into the ISO
Open your Windows CD image again with WinISO. Navigate to the I386 folder, and delete the following files from the ISO, saving the changes to the ISO afterwards:
* DOSNET.INF
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Just to be sure all is updated in the ISO, cloase and repoen the ISO in WinISO. Now, again go to the I386 folder and select "Add Files". Now add your changed files, in detail:
* USBBOOT.INF
* DOSNET.INF
* TXTSETUP.SIF
* USB.IN_
* USBPORT.IN_
* USBSTOR.IN_
Save the ISO. You are done.
9) Burn the ISO back to CD
Feel free to use any burning package you want. I used the free and simple Burnatonce
10) Install Windows XP from the CD
Shut down your computer. Disconnect ANY internal and external hard drives (so Windows cannot find them during installation and mess up their Master Boot Records hehe). Some computers will have trouble to boot without an internal HDD attached, check in your BIOS and, if possible, remove the HDD from the boot sequence and set the USB Harddisk as the first boot device, and the CDROM as second.
Also, now connect your USB Harddrive directly to the computer, without any Hubs in between.
Windows should install just fine, with the exceptions noted below.
Issues you will encounter during installation:
* During driver installation, the USB drivers will prompt you, as they are "not certified" - This is normal. Our changes invalidated the checksum, and therefore the driver is no longer signed. Just press "yes" a couple of times.
* Upon completion of the install, the system will complain once on the first bootup that the pagefile does not exist. You can ignore this for now, as Windows will work fine without it. People are looking at fixing this issue, but its not critical for now.
Once everything is up and running , shut down and reconnect all your drives.
