Q&A Novice (47 pts.)
Based on the limited information, you probably have a signal strength problem. If you walk very close to the wireless router, do you see increased signal strength from the bar-meter? If so, you may want to reposition the wireless router for better coverage.
The charger that beeps? Make sure the beeping is really coming from the charger. It is rare that the "brick" or battery charger actually makes noise. Once you confirm the beep, start looking at part numbers. Be careful here! If you charge your laptop with a different charger, you MAY be putting the wrong amperage (or even voltage!) into your laptop, which would damage the battery and possibly other internals. Take the part number off your brick and go to Google Shopping. Find a merchant with good star-reviews and then order a new brick ASAP. If the part number matches, then you have a new brick that will supply the same amps and volts to your laptop. I recently did this for a clients and had him all fixed up for $40.
I think that's been explained in detail here; support.apple.com. Let's not reinvent the wheel.
no, its really easy. If you can't figure it out by playing with the device, see here: support.apple.com.
support.apple.com
support.apple.com
Read the directions posted at support.apple.com or do some research at Google.
Well, yes and no, you're both right and wrong. Isn't that always the case? lol. There's different levels of "hacking" and when most people boast about it, they've really done little actual work. Most free wi-fi surfers are simply exploiting a weakness in other people's encryption, i.e., *there isn't any.* In many high-density areas you'll find an access point for each subscriber (which is totally unsustainable, you do the math). A rough estimate would be about 25% of those APs are unsecured, leaving ample access for the rogue surfer. If your friend uses other techniques to actively hack people's encryption, that's another story. In case your question is simply a troll to find out what others know, I won't answer that part here; that's a pay service. ;) So your friend connects to other people's wi-fi without their permission. Good for him. And you're worried about his email, passwords, account IDs, etc, generally all personal information? I guess he has to be careful where he surfs. If he repeats one common spot, learning more might be a good idea. If the wi-fi connection is unencrypted, as I said in my first paragraph, then there is a remote possibility that someone could "sniff" the data as it passes between your friend's PC and the access point. 90% of users will not know how to do this without training, or hiring someone. It is VERY unlikely that anyone would go to the trouble of doing so. The end result would NOT trace email accounts, but rather would trace IP addresses, and MAC addresses to identify your friend. Once that "tagging" step is complete, it would be possible to watch router logs for evidence of your friend's transaction activity. Surveillance techniques could be used to watch for access from your friend's computer to an email server, or *any* activity which he commits. Every connection to the Internet can then be logged. Even at this point, however, capturing passwords to encrypted Internet sites (HTTPS://) like Google Mail or USBank for example, is almost impossible without inserting some kind of keylogging or malware component on your friend's PC. Once this data is collected, it would be possible to steal your friends' identity completely, empty his bank account and apply for a loan in his name. BUT WAIT: is that last part (horror story!) a result of your friend's rogue surfing, or is every single one of us susceptible to this kind of identity theft? ANSWER: It's not where you surf, but how you surf. It doesn't matter if your friend pays for his connection or uses the local library. We are all equally at risk for the "sniffing" "tagging" and "spoofing" I wrote about above. NEXT STEPS: Encrypt your APs with at least WPA2-AES encryption. Use antivirus and antimalware software, keep it up to date, and scan regularly. Back up your files to secure storage and keep laptops and flash drives encrypted in case of theft. Secure your server rooms and ask for ID of anyone who comes in unannounced. Use infrared cameras, motion and sound sensors and link them to your alarm monitor. AND if you can get your wi-fi for free, do it. Urge your neighbors to share a secure connection with you and offer to pay half the bill. Add a third neighbor and pay a third of the bill!
No, because vital parts of your pc will stop cease to function. One is the network connection, the other is the hard drive. When your pc sleeps, you can't download. You can make the screen blank without making the rest of the machine go to sleep, which helps with power savings, a little.
Good question! You may think that a simple switch would do the trick here, but in my experience that is not the case. You need a router. Here's why: The problem is your cable modem will hand out only one IP address. If you try to connect multiple machines through a switch, they all request an IP address, but only one will get it (and that gets funky quick because of the requests). So the answer is a router. The cable modem will hand a single IP address to the WAN port of the router. The router in turn will hand IP addresses to all the LAN ports (your other computers). I suggest Rosewill brand over Linksys now. Stay away from Dlink. I suggest you buy one from Fry's (in person) or Newegg.com (online) depending on your location.
Based on my first look, it seems like Amazon's SimpleDB might do the trick, because it's free up to the first 25 machine hours or 1GB in size.
But since you're looking specifically for MySQL services, you will probably want to check into their Relational Database Service (RDS) which is priced at 11 cents per machine hour for a small database.
I'm surprised it took 4 months for someone to answer this.
aws.amazon.com
aws.amazon.com
Links: aws.amazon.com, aws.amazon.com
One thing you can do is tell us if there's a light on the bezel. If you see a power light on the front of the monitor, then it's not the power cord or the brick. If you DON'T see a power light then it is the brick or cord. If you see a power light on the bezel and want to troubleshoot further, you can turn on your PC, and leave on the monitor and let them both run as normal (even though you can't see anything). Get a bright flashlight and shine it at an angle across the screen. Can you see your desktop faintly? If the answer is yes, then your "backlight" burned out. Keep in mind, a nice, new monitor is around $200, so repairing it is a fine balancing line. I would probably charge more than that to fix it, parts included.
Based on your question, it sounds like this is for a desktop, not a laptop. As far as brands go, they all have strengths and weaknesses. I would go to newegg.com and search for a drive with a compatible interface (ATA/SATA). Once you narrow it down by interface, you can search by size, price, discounts, etc.
At that point you should see a few choices pop up to the top. Look at the user reviews and you will instantly know which is the best brand. Get one with free shipping and you're golden!
www.newegg.com
Links: www.newegg.com
Hi txsixone from Oconomowoc, WI, I've repaired many similar laptops and I can tell based on your description that the problem is in the hinge. I am assuming your LCD screen itself works fine and you can see your operating system on the desktop. The hinge on almost all laptops can be tightened with a series of screws. You will usually have to remove a plastic cover or shields from around the hinge. In some cases you may have to disassemble the laptop down to the keyboard level to gain access to these screws. You will need a user manual to accomplish this without damage. You may want to find a qualified tech in your area and expect to pay between $80-$120 for the service. In the event your laptop has a broken hinge, you would have to add the cost of replacement parts because no amount of super glue will withstand the torque on a laptop hinge. If a screw is stripped or broken, same applies. Hope this helps!
Everitt and On-Site are both correct, though I've never heard of drilling holes thru it. That's rather dangerous for the novice to perform and it will leave pieces of hard drive all over the place, which is what I wanted to point out that others didn't:
Be very careful what you do with your old junk. DO NOT throw it in the trash; that's the least responsible thing you can do. If you're going to consider trashing or donating your junk electronics, remember it won't decompose by itself. It it the responsible thing to do to find authorized recyclers (who won't take your money and simply throw your junk in the trash anyway). See Links below and read research from credible sources.
"E-waste is old computers, TVs, refrigerators, radios – basically any electrical or electronics appliance that has reached its end-of-life. Improper recycling and disposal of e-waste can result in dangerous health and environmental hazards from toxic chemicals and persistent pollutants." -e-waste.in
"Americans generated 3.01 million tons of electronic waste, or e-waste, in 2007, but only 13.6 percent of it was recycled. Last week, US Rep. Mike Thompson (D) of California introduced a resolution calling on Congress to better manage disposal of old electronics, or e-waste.... For more info, see a list of recyclers deemed responsible by the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, and visit the Basel Action Network’s website for more about where e-waste ends up." -Christian Science Monitor
www.e-waste.in
features.csmonitor.com
I have a better idea that involves a two-prong approach: First, use OpenDNS. Second, use SteadyState. OK, you have to be somewhat technically savvy to understand why OpenDNS is so cool. The Domain Name Service (or DNS) is what translates a domain name to an ip address which ultimately routes your requests to the Internet. OpenDNS provides a huge benefit by actively filtering and updating lists which include safe(r) domain names. Your browser requests for spyware will be blocked by this updated list. You have to configure your PC to use OpenDNS rather than your ISP's DNS. **In english, OpenDNS protects your PC from spyware by limiting at the networking level the amount of known bad sites a user can access. Next, SteadyState works on the application level to protect the user environment on the desktop. It is a free Microsoft product that is very effective in keeping things safe. You can configure it in several ways, but the jist of it works like this: each time a user logs off or reboots the PC, it returns to the state it was before the user logged on. It preserves a stead state of operations, hence its name. In my own personal testing, you can log on, download the worst trojan, rootkit, malware, virus crap you can find and let it fully take root, even in the system restore. Then use SteadyState and reboot the machine.... presto! No trace of anything bad. It even works so that Windows Updates can pass through and not be erased, but EVERYTHING else is returned to its previous, working state. I use this at every public kiosk, or hotel guest computer system I manage. And its free... did I mention that? Then again, you could always buy a mac.... NOT! ;)
Hi guys, It's nice to see a well-written question that doesn't make you wonder if it's just MerchantCircle spam. Gino, we've crossed paths before.... on opposite sides of the country though. :) Nice to talk again. I have a different perspective on this. The fans and cooling pathways or "sinks" on laptops or both different and similar to desktops. They are different in that laptops are more confined in space, and similar in that they both have the same job to do: get the heat outside the case. That said, even in a dry, dusty (or cat-hairy in my case) environment, I would not recommend blowing out the vents unless you can see dust or hair or other particles blocking the heat egress. If I am cleaning a client's laptop, I will sometimes disassemble the laptop case to get to the inside. Just blowing out the vents can actually push debris farther inside, and that does NOT help cooling at all. I do mine yearly; there is too much work involved in doing it right to do it more often than that. I use the laptop without a cooling pad. I use laptops that exhaust from the side. I see that most intake from the bottom which is ludicrous if you ask me. I use my laptop on soft surfaces (couch, bed) sometimes and the intake blower gets blocked. To fix, I find myself putting something smooth (book, magazine) underneath to open the pathway for air. Manufacturers should take note of the air pathway, and make it make sense, like tower computers. Intake from the left and blow all the way across the processor out to the right, for example. What do you think?
You are in Venice, CA, surrounded by worthy techs. If you want a real quote, you need to provide real information like the model and part number of the monitor you have. This week, I had the same type of case come through my office. The client's "backlight" burned out. It made it impossible to use the monitor, though you could still just barely see text and images on the screen; there was nothing wrong with the PC. My choice was to fix the backlight in the LCD monitor, or buy a new one. For this particular monitor, my parts cost was $200. My labor would have been slightly higher than Everitt Enterprises. At that price level ($265+) I provided my client three choices: 1. fix the old monitor. 2. buy a similar new monitor. 3. upgrade into a new monitor (better specs). I think you are probably in the same boat. Consider age and features, like response time, resolution, contrast ratio, height-swivel-tilt stand, speakers, hdmi, and other factors to make sure you're getting the best deal if you choose to replace."
Check out wiki on JBOD.
JBOD, meaning "Just a Bunch Of Disks", "Just a Bunch Of Drives", or, as a recursive acronym, "JBOD's a Bunch Of Disks", is used to refer to two distinct concepts: * all disks being independently addressed, with no collective properties – each physical disk being mapped to a different logical volume: just a bunch of disks; * concatenation, where all the physical disks are concatenated and presented as a single disk.
The usage is contentious; in careful usage, JBOD refers to the first (independent disks), as there is no other term to refer to this, while concatenation is referred to by unambiguous terms such as SPAN or BIG.
en.wikipedia.org
Links: en.wikipedia.org
|
405 E Columbia, Placerville, CO,  Follow this merchant
|
|
|
PO Box 351, Follow this merchant
|
|
|
TasteBuds Catering Personal and Private Chef
100 W. Colorado Ave , Follow this merchant
|
|
Elixir does not have any reviews. Create your own reviews.
can't connect to wireless router?
"Based on the limited information, you probably have a signal strength problem. If you walk very close to the wireless router, do you see increased signal strength from the bar-meter? If so, you may want to reposition the wireless router for better coverage."
"The charger that beeps? Make sure the beeping is really coming from the charger. It is rare that the "brick" or battery charger actually makes noise. Once you confirm the beep, start looking at part numbers. Be careful here! If you charge your laptop with a different charger, you MAY be putting the wrong amperage (or even voltage!) into your laptop, which would damage the battery and possibly other internals. Take the part number off your brick and go to Google Shopping. Find a merchant with good star-reviews and then order a new brick ASAP. If the part number matches, then you have a new brick that will supply the same amps and volts to your laptop. I recently did this for a clients and had him all fixed up for $40."
Elixir has not yet clipped any coupons, sales, or promotions. Clip your own coupons.
Elixir has no lists. Create your own lists.
Click here to ask questions and find answers to all of your fun-in-the-sun needs!
|
|
