• Built server using Enterprise hardware, RAID 5 with rotational backup solution.
• Installed and configured SBS 2008 x64, including redirected folders, user accounts, Exchange 2007, Active Directory, offline files policies, network shares, data partitions, shadow copies.
• Installed and configured BES Express 5, while I was drunk I might add, ha,ha.
• Installed and configured WatchGuard Firebox XTM 2 series, including RDP, RWW, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP.
• Configured Bell modem, D link router and D link switch.
• Joined systems to the domain.
• Set-up email pulled into Exchange 2007 through POP3 connector.
• Configured hard-wired and wireless network printers.
• Configured scan to file direct to PC from network multi-function printers.
• Activated and tested BlackBerries.
• Configured and successfully performed automated backups.
• Set-up and configured dedicated system for remote access only.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I did try putting the TL-WN353GD back into the system after Windows was installed.  Windows 7 did pick up the device but was unable to install any driver for it.  I went to TP Link support and they don’t have a Windows 7 driver available.  When trying to install the Vista driver it comes up with an error stating “This Operating System is not Supported”.  So I returned this wireless card and picked up a D-Link Rangebooster one for the same price which works awesome.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I already had Spyware Doctor with Antivirus running on my system when I decided to try Avira Premium Security Suite.  I’m a big fan of Avira and with good reason.  Time and again Avira has proven an exceptional product both in detection and cleaning as well as prevention.  I say this with much experience in professional virus/malware/rootkit removal and cleaning of systems.

Unfortunately the combination of Avira Premium Security Suite and Spyware Doctor with Antivirus ended in a lot of system freezing and Avira would lock up entirely while running a full system scan.  I noticed that while browsing the web in Firefox it would freeze and respond intermittently.  Running a full scan with Avira would result in the program freezing in a random spot and locking up entirely.  It was impossible to even kill the process manually.  It would require shutting down the system and rebooting.

It’s kind of too bad as I like both programs but there are lot’s of other combinations of Anti-Virus programs out there that work quite well in tandem.  One of those combinations is Avira along with Microsoft Security Essentials.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I recently ran into an issue with a custom built desktop computer which required a reinstallation of Windows XP Pro OEM.  The original issue with the system was that the registry became corrupt causing a no BOOT issue.  Unfortunately System Restore was disabled and thus performing a System Restore outside of Windows became impossible.  I tried restoring the registry from the repair folder in PE which wasn’t successful either.  I finally tried to complete a repair install of Windows however the OS was so corrupt that the repair option wasn’t available.

After having exhausted the options I did a data backup in PE and went ahead with an OSRI.  As soon as I got to the point where the hard drive is formatted prior to files being copied over it would error out.  The error would state that the hard drive could not be formatted and to check the connections and make sure the device was plugged in.  I tried again and received the same error.  I found this strange as the hard drive was detected in the BIOS and had previously passed a low level diagnostic.  I thought there might be something wrong with the disc so tried with another and received the same error again.  I followed up by using a PE disc and was able to format the hard drive successfully but when trying again to format and reinstall Windows I kept receiving the same error.  I swapped optical drives and even hard drives and always the same error.

This is where things got a little weird.  Just for the heck of it I used a Windows XP Pro Retail disc and that was able to format the hard drive and copy files over.  I was feeling a bit stumped at that point and continued with testing other hardware.  What I found out was that the 5 volt standby on the 24 pin rail was under-voltage.  Once I swapped in a known good power supply all my issues were resolved.

What’s strange about this problem is that typically when the 5 volt standby is under-voltage you can’t even power the system on which wasn’t an issue here.  The hard drive must not have been getting a steady power flow or otherwise the voltage was slightly too low which didn’t seem to effect any other process except for the formatting of the hard drive using the Windows XP Pro OEM disc.

An unusual issue but resolved in the end.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After trying to unsuccessfully Boot the machine a few times I was now getting coloured blocks and random characters on the screen.  I thought it might be the video card so I swapped in a known good video card but had the same issue.  The motherboard had 3 PCI-E slots so I tried all 3 slots and still the same issue.  I tested all the system memory which all passed and ran diagnostics on the hard drive which also passed.

Trying a different tact I booted into PE and could access the hard drive and see the current Windows installation on it.  I initiated and successfully ran a system restore from PE and still I had the same issue.  I ran a chkdsk /r which completed fine and yet again I was stuck with the same issue.  As a last resort I ran a repair installation of Windows and the first time it rebooted it just hung after POST with the coloured blocks and random characters.

At this point I was a little baffled but kept going with my troubleshooting and cloned the hard drive which was successful.  I disconnected the original hard drive and worked off the clone.  Doing this I was able to complete the repair install boot into Windows and replace a few drivers.  In the end it was the original WD Raptor hard drive which was causing the no Boot issue but displayed very strange symptoms that don’t typically occur for hard drive failure.  Once I cloned everything to a new Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive the system was up and running with no issues.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After removing one of the two memory sticks in the system it would now POST and Boot normally with video display.  Upon trying to run some other tests it became apparent that the optical drive was not working.  Pushing the button would not release the tray.  Using the emergency release hole to pop the tray open and completely removing the optical drive it became visible why there was a grinding noise when the system was powered on and why the tray would not pop open normally.  The aluminum top of the optical drive was pushed in.  I took the optical drive apart and reshaped the aluminum back to how it should be.

Curious as to how the optical drive could have ended up like that I did a closer visual inspection of the laptop.  I could see when looking on an angle that the keyboard appeared caved in.  I went a step further and removed the keyboard bezel and keyboard.  Once I did that I knew what happened.  Someone using the laptop had gotten angry or otherwise vindictive and smashed their right fist on laptop.  This caused the keyboard to cave in and the chassis and optical drive to bend in as well.

Lucky for this person after a bit of work the laptop is back in working order, but it’s going to cost them.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I don’t deal with Gigabyte motherboards quite as much as Asus motherboards so this was a new issue for me.  I am aware of how Gigabyte has Dual and Quad BIOS features on their motherboards.  In an article I read recently I found it funny and somewhat ironic that Gigabyte states: “BIOS image stored in hidden area. Indestructible by any software or viruses.”  This was pointed out in their description of how the BIOS image is stored to a hidden file on the hard drive automatically every time the system boots.

For one thing, stating that a hidden file is indestructible by software or viruses is a pretty bold statement and I’m pretty sure a false statement at that.  If the BIOS image (hidden file) was so reliable and indestructible then why couldn’t the corrupt BIOS be recovered from it?  Now I’m sure that in some instances it works the way it’s supposed to which was not the case I was dealing with.

I tried all the normal things such as clearing the CMOS using the button on the Gigabyte motherboard.  I also tried removing the CMOS battery to no avail.  I tried booting from floppy and CD which was an exercise in futility.  Because the system wasn’t even completing POST it just wasn’t going to happen.  So there I was, stuck with a Gigabyte motherboard with a corrupt BIOS that could not recover from the Hard Drive Image and no way to flash the BIOS or otherwise recover.

I hope that people find this useful as from what I was reading on Tom’s Hardware forum other’s have experienced the same issue but not the same solution.  Using another system we took a hard drive, downloaded the latest BIOS revision for the Gigabyte motherboard model we were working on.  We copied the BIOS file to the root of the hard drive and connected in place of the primary hard drive on the Gigabyte motherboard.  Powered the system on and it immediately recovered the BIOS from the BIOS file we had placed on the Hard drive and completed POST.  We shut the system down, hooked up the primary hard drive and restarted.  The system continued to POST and Boot normally.  In the end it was a fairly easy solution.  From what I’ve seen so far this isn’t a documented solution anywhere else.  I can’t honestly say if this solution will work for all Gigabyte motherboards having problems recovering the BIOS image from Hard Drive.  It’s worth a try though!

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

As most computer stories start out: My computer was working fine and I had shut it down and not used it for a few days.  Upon turning it on again I found that while the system would POST and boot (speakers plugged in) I would get no video.  I checked my monitor, tried DVI and VGA and nothing would work.  I had an old 7300LE lying around which I put into the system and it worked fine.  Initially this made me think it was the video card.  I took the 1650XT and threw it in another PC and was getting random results, sometimes it would POST with video, other times it would hang.  I sent the video card back to ASUS under warranty and they sent me a new one.

When the video card came back I tested it out on a different system first.  Everything worked fine so I was excited to get home and install it in my system.  Well, I ran into the same issue and this time I knew for sure it wasn’t the video card.   I tested every other component in my system including the motherboard, cpu, memory and power supply, they were all okay.  I tried testing a few different video cards in my system and found that video cards that were only bus powered wouldwork.  Video cards that required additional power such as a 6pin would not display any video in the system.  I also tried retesting the same cards with an 850 watt OCZ power supply and same issue.  If I took all my original components and tested them on another motherboard everything worked great.

It’s the oddest issue because whether a video card is only bus powered or requires additional power shouldn’t affect how it transmits data via the PCI-E bus.  Even other seasoned technicians that I work with couldn’t explain this issue.  If someone has an anwser I’d like to hear it.  In the meantime I’ve rebuilt my system with a new motherboard and I’m back up and running!

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I recently downgraded the Toshiba Qosmio G50 to Windows XP Pro and will outline some of the quirks I ran into.  First of all to get into the BIOS on the Qosmio G50 the machine must be off.  Restarting the machine to get into the BIOS will not work.  With the G50 off press and hold the ESC key along with the power button for a few seconds.  The G50 will then beep at you and display a message on screen at which point you must hit the F1 key.

Another notable point is that in the BIOS for the Toshiba Qosmio G50 there is no option to disable AHCI.  Because of that installing Windows XP would become almost impossible for most people.  Even though we’re well into 2009 I had to use a floppy disk and a USB floppy drive on a $2000 notebook.  The Toshiba Qosmio G50 I was working on uses the Intel PM45 Express Chipset.  The files needed can be downloaded directly from Intel.

Once you boot from the Windows disk you must hit F6 to load the chipset drivers from floppy.  Without doing this the Windows setup will either blue screen or not find any hard drives in the system.  After the installation was complete I now faced the most time consuming part of the process…finding drivers that would work in Windows XP Pro x86.  Luckily I was able to find drivers for everything except one hardware device.  That one hardware device is the multimedia bar with the feather touch keys.  In all honesty, not a big deal since it doesn’t cut down on the functionality of the system.

The Toshiba Canada website only has Vista x64 drivers for the Qosmio G50.  The Toshiba American website does not have the Qosmio G50 model listed.  I was able to download the drivers I needed from the Toshiba UK website which lists the Qosmio G50 model and has drivers for Vista x86 which will consequently work in Windows XP Pro.  There were a few Toshiba software utilities that would not install under XP such as Config Free among others.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

Today that customer came back with their RAM (which was fine) and a piece of paper with their lsass.exe error written on it.  They accused me of selling them RAM with a virus on it…LOL.  Even better is they conferred with some of their friends that are computer savvy and this is how they know they have a virus.  Okay, granted they probably do have a virus on their machine which has nothing to do at all with the memory they bought.  So I tell the customer it’s absolutely impossible that there was a virus on the RAM.  At this point the customer tells me I’m full of shit (ROFL) and demands their money back and to speak with the store manager.

Just for the record RAM is volatile memory meaning that as soon as the computer is turned off anything in memory is gone.  Without any power NOTHING can be stored in RAM.  It is physically impossible to sell someone a stick of RAM with a virus in it.  Obviously imbeciles are capable of convincing themselves of anything.

Needless to say my Manager explained to the customer the exact same thing.  The customer remained relentless in their vast ignorance and continued to state that I was full of shit.  What an F’n retard, people that stupid shouldn’t be allowed to use computers.  We just gave the guy a full refund with him saying we’d never see his face again (uh, awesome!).

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site