The Year of the Geek

I couldn’t tell you when I actually got my first computer. I can tell you that I first got an old used Tandy TRS-80 color computer from someone with loads of games and software. It came with a 5 1/4-inch floppy and an actual color ink-jet printer! I had the computer for a little while before it started to become difficult to load programs and then the thing just stopped working. I don’t know how old it was when I got it, but it was old.

Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer

My next computer was a used Apple Performa 400. My first computer that was really usable. It ran some version of System 7, had a geoport 56k modem, and a 15-inch monitor. The computer came with some productivity software (Claris Works, Pagemaker) and some games (Sim City, Myst, Doom II). The hard drive was 750MB. Although the thing never died (computer or hard drive) the system would just stop working from various System 7 related crap. I lost it 2 times in the year or so I owned it, and finally I let it go.

Macintosh Performa 400

As you can tell from the title, this post is obviously not about those machines. No, this post is just about systems I have had that never wanted to go. They never died, I never had major hardware issues, just the occasional software hiccup. I’m going to start with my first REAL machine. It was a no name brand custom PC purchased sometime in 1998.

My parents finally decided it was time for me to get a real system. After years of begging for a real computer our friend Rocco decided to put it on his credit card for my parents and actually get me a full, new, computer system. We drove to this computer store way out in the middle of no where and look around a bit. My dad and Rocco had no idea what to look for, but I did. I found one machine that stood out from the others; 300mhz AMD K6-2 processor, 32MB SDRAM, 56K modem, 8MB onboard VRAM, 52x CD drive, 4GB hard drive with windows 95, a beautiful 17-inch monitor, and even 2 USB ports! This was it. I wanted it, and I got it for $975 with a year warranty.

I was one of the only people on my block to have a 56k modem, and a computer that could play games and movies and music. I was one of the first people out of all of my friends with a new computer all to himself. I started eBay-ing at around 15 or 16, when I got my first job. With that money I started to upgrade my system. I upgraded the video to a Savage 4 PCI card, a Diamond audio sound card, I got up to 96MB ram, a CD-R (which was $300 when I first bought it), I added a 10GB and a 12GB hard drive for music and programs, and used the original 4GB Seagate drive as the system drive. I installed so many versions of Linux and windows it could make your head spin. I formatted it so many times I lost count. It was on almost all the time, hours and hours of intense (at the time) gaming, loud music, viruses, everything. I just worked that machine for everything it was worth and nothing inside it ever failed. Then I finally “upgraded” to a 450Mhz P3 Dell Gigaplex which was given to me from my old school library. I re-purposed the old machine as my own personal webserver (I had Cable internet in my house which another thing I really adopted first:  getting the best internet in the neighborhood…before cable was DSL).

The old webserver lasted through most of my undergraduate career sitting in my bedroom at home (and then our house in South Philly) idling on my cable connection 24/7 for maybe 3 years. I used it to host various things (pictures, my former website, friends’ pics, class projects, etc). In 2007 or so I finally decided to take the server offline, and drop the cable internet. I was never home anymore, and my parents didn’t go online at all, it was just an extra $45/mo that wasn’t going anywhere. The system was still using the original 4GB Seagate drive, original USB controller, original RAM, and the original video card (not the Savage 4) and even the original power supply. All working when I took it offline. It was slow, the CMOS battery kept dying (which I replaced 2 times in its lifetime), and it was loud from the old drives and old dusty fans, but it still worked perfectly.

The replacement Dell I had was tossed for an upgrade I got in college, another old Dell Dimension XPS with 700mhz P3 (The old Dell wasn’t dead, I just traded it for the other Dell). It was an old webserver years before, and I used it as my computer in my dorm for a few semesters. Many papers and hours of movies and gaming occurred on this machine’s life in my dorm also. It’s now used as my parents only computer at home. It’s running XP, has wireless, 512MB RAM, 2 hard drives, and still works fine.

Dell Dimension XPS

My replacement for that, a PowerMac Blue and White G3 is sitting in my basement in Philly. It has a G4 upgrade in it, a 20GB and a 40GB hard drive, a DVD-R/RW, 512+MB RAM. That computer is from 1999, and it still works. I got the Mac from my current employer who was throwing it out. The original 60GB drive died on it (which is only my second drive failure in my life, my other was my old Toshiba laptop 5+ years into its life) and the system needs to be reinstalled…but it still WORKS.

Blue and White G3

I have a lot of hardware like the the Dell and the Mac; my old third-gen iPod (still used for storage!), my old Toshiba laptop (needs new hard drive, screen hinges are breaking), and other various systems I have built over my life. These all still work fine. Is it something I do to my systems that make them last longer? I like to think so. I like to think that I do take good care of my systems and try to get the most life out of them. Maybe it’s also that I just don’t thrown systems out at all until they are completely useless to me. Whatever it is, I have surprisingly good luck with hardware. I’m going to be replacing the Dell at home with an actual new computer sometime in the near future, but that dell will be reused as a server somewhere I can assume.

I’m not saying I have the best luck with machines, older entries clearly state that that I don’t, but I do have surprisingly good luck.

So I wonder, why do people have so many issues with their new machines which they spent thousands on and I have almost no issues at all on older systems? Do they not make computers like they used to? Is hardware getting crappier? Or is it that performance comes with the high price of high failure rates? I can safely assume that a 10,000RPM 700GB drive will get much more wear and tear on it than a 300GB 7200RPM drive, but shouldn’t the failure rate be lowered as time goes on with technology? We have better materials, and better methods of testing hardware now. Should we just stick to old hardware because it’s “safer?” Or should we just accept the high failure rate because performance is worth much more? I wonder.

In my lab I keep a wireless access point active; mainly for students and profs using it to connect computer together for whatever. I used to use a WPA password for the system. WPA worked fine except that many people who were not supposed to be on the network were on there. Students would give the password out, and this annoyed me. That network is supposed to be for DM staff and students only, that’s why I have it separate from the schools wireless.

Over the summer I made a lot of changes to the network, mainly I changed it over to use WPA2 Enterprise with our RADIUS server. The logins are taken from our Open Directory LDAP (the ones people use to log into our machines, website, wiki, etc.) and thats how people connect. Works great in MacOS, I select the network, put my user and pass in and voila! Windows was another story.

My MBP has Windows 7 Ultimate; I was able to connect to the network after changing some WIndows defaults. It does ask for a login, which is better than what XP did, but it still had some issues. I had to disable the “Check server certificate against blah blah”, because it’s a self-signed cert it wouldn’t work. I also need to disable “Use windows login password to login to this network.” I understand most people using “enterprise” networks all use AD or whatever to login to their computer, but why make that default? Not to mention, to change both of these options it’s 5 levels down or so buried deep in the wireless preferences. It’s impossible to change if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Windows 7 connects fine now. No issues, it’s actually very stable. Issues arise when Vista users connect. Now, when I add the network for a Vista user it comes up as WPA2 Enterprise (good), AES (great), it even prompts for a user and password (excellent). No connection. I change those settings above again, because it’s by default, still nothing. I go into even more advances prefs by changing the authentication method to MSCHAPv2 or TTLS, PEAP, whatever works. Nothing works. I check all of the Vista prefs with my working Windows 7 prefs, they are identical. What is the issue then?

After a good Google search, and more and more searches, and stops to Apple discussions, and everything else I can think if, I see similar results. Apparently Windows Vista HOME does not work with WPA2 Enterprise. It just doesn’t work. It’s “broken” as some would put it, or “disabled.” Whatever the reason, my question is “Why??” Why do you put WPA2 Enterprise network prefs and even allow me to add said network to my computer when I can’t fucking connect to it? Explain that one, please! If you don’t want Home users to connect to enterprise networks, take the fucking thing out, don’t just make it act like it works and then not let it. How do I know it’s a client issue and not a server issue? Logs.

My server logs all RADIUS connections and attempts to authenticate. My server issues the challenge to the machine, but the machine apparently ignores it, or throws it away, or wipes its ass with it. It does NOTHING.

Now, I was having this issue with some other computers as well, Windows XP users. Their main issue was that they didn’t have updated drivers or settings were screwed up, but they eventually worked most of the time. I’ve also tried with some Vista Pro computers, and yes it works most of the time. The times it doesn’t usually work, I tell the people to get the software from their card manufacturer and use it, and then it seems to magically work.

What is wrong with WIndows wireless? You got me, but I finally told those people who couldn’t connect to either upgrade or deal with it and connect to a poly network. Hell, Poly’s putting N-Wireless in, I might just use it from now on also!

If you own a Mac laptop you know that the adapter has a little light on it; green for charged, amber for charging or bad. The light on my adapter (which is not the original adapter, but a replacement from Apple themselves) stopped working properly a long time ago: the light would not come on in most cases unless I jiggled the cable for a bit and then never touched or moved it again. If I moved, it went out. I thought this was a contact issue on the plug itself, I’ve seen many people have the same issue before. So I thought nothing of it. Not to mention, my battery was fine, 255 cycles after 2 years and I still got 2+ hours on a good day.

Last week this changed when I noticed my laptop spontaneously turning off at random points during use. Even when fully charged it would cut off, and not allow me to start unless I plugged it in, even though there was a 70% charge on the battery. Fed up I decided t was time to bring it in for service, again. The night before I was going to bring it in brought on a whole new issue. After placing my laptop on the table I noticed it was not sitting evenly. I look underneath and notice the battery is sticking out…maybe it’s not plugged in all the way? I pop the battery off and find it to be bulging outward!

MacBook Pro battery with a bulge...

This is a very dangerous thing to happen to a battery. So now I know there is an issue and my battery is not “just old.” I brought it to Tekserve the very next morning and after 2 hours of waiting and checking they determine that not only is the battery bad, the adapter is as well.

Why am I writing about my battery? I’m mainly writing to talk about how Tekserve tested and made sure there really was an issue. The woman who helped me took my laptop to the table behind her and popped in a USB stick with some sort of battery/adapter testing program from Apple. The test came up as both “Good” at first. She retested, both came as “bad”. She retested, one came ad good, one as bad, etc. She did this at least 4 times, and then tested with a known good battery and adapter, and came to the conclusion that “AFTER NUMEROUS TESTS I have deemed that both are broken and need to be replaced.” She found this out after TESTING what I told her to test.

So a few things to keep in mind here:
1. If your battery starts to bulge, please get it replaced and stop using it ASAP. It’s dangerous.
2. It might not be just the battery, get the adapter checked.
3. Tekserve tests their shit…as everyone should.
4. A new battery and adapter make me happy.

Now I have a 1 cycle battery for free:-)

Brand new battery info.

A few weeks ago I picked up a quick freelance job from one of the cab drivers who drives me home often.  He had a computer he wanted me to take a look at and attempt to upgrade for him.  He doesn’t want to spend more than $200, and he just wants basic things done to it, nothing major to me. He drops off the machine and to my surprise it’s an old HP Pavilion mini-tower.  I take it in and stare and it and realize that this is not really worth it; it holds a maximum of 512MB of PC100 RAM, it has a 20GB hard disk, and it’s only got a Pentium Celeron 667 in it.  I let him know this thing is basically worthless and he informs me that a friend of his has given him a newer eMachines computer.  I tell him I’ll take a look at it.

The machine is an eMachines T3092 with an Athlon XP 3000+ processor, 512MB DDR RAM, 160GB hard disk, CD-ROM and DVD-R.  It’s got onboard nVidia gforce 4 video and sound, and it actually works fairly well.  He wants the maximum amount of RAM (2gb) and a fresh install of XP, nothing really major.

Step 1: Order RAM

Easiest part, right?  I order 2GB PC2700 RAM from New Egg for $54 and have it shipped to me at work.  It ships from Edison, NJ…about 30 mins away.  It takes 5 days to reach me. This is annoying to me because I could have used 2 of those days (the weekend) to install and test the RAM.  Why would this have been important to me?  See below…

Step 2: Install RAM

I install both 1GB sticks, computer boots, I rejoice.  While working a bit I notice some issues.  Freezing, slow loading, and finally blue screens.  This is not good.  I’m thinking it’s a driver issue because of the new RAM.  I reinstall the chip-set drivers and still blue screens.  Finally I run Memtest on the RAM, right away both sticks come up with errors.

Step 3: Test RAM

I pop out 1 stick and test only one.  Same deal, red flags like China.  I pop that stick out and test a stick that I know to be 100% working, one from a computer that is used all the time.  Memtest: CHINA!  What next?

Step 4: Begin Google and BIOS

Looking through the BIOS for memory settings; speed, voltage, etc.  Nothing to change that would help.  Google brings some light on this; many people have the same issue, works with 512MB but nothing more.  Some people say it’s the power supply unit (PSU), some had RAM issues.  Since I know it’s not the RAM, it might be the PSU. That’s my next stop, testing a better PSU than the Bestec that’s in there. Many people on forums complain that the PSUs in eMachines are crap, and they tend to burn out boards, RAM, or just don’t give enough voltage. Hopefully it’s the PSU.

If after I test the PSU tonight it does the same thing it’s time to get a new motherboard for this guy.  Now, keep in mind he wants me to try to stay below or as close to $200 as possible, at this point I’ve been VERY generous with costs only charging him 50% of my normal labor costs. If he needs a new motherboard I need to eBay it because no one has them in stock.  The price on eBay with shipping is approximately $60, the same price as the RAM.  I told him I can either get a new motherboard or he can stick with the 512MB RAM for now.  Only issue with the latter, he has to pay for th 2GB RAM still, it’s not returnable, and I only bought the brand I bought because it was well rated, has a lifetime warranty, and was cheaper than the other more known brands.  He wanted me to save him money, so I did.  Now it might bite him in the wallet.

Thursday night my roommate and I decided to buy new hard drives for our Mac’s. I was running very low on my 100GB drive, and he wanted something better than his 160GB 5400RPM drive. I was looking into upgrading for a few weeks by now and was very tempted to buy this 320 GB Western Digital Scorpio that runs at 7200RPM. This is the same one that my boss, Carl, purchased for his MBP. The major difference is that he bought it from iFixit.com for $199.

I use one of the best programs for a Mac to backup your hard drive simply and cleanly, Carbon Copy Cloner, and best of all, it’s 100% free. The backup takes roughly 2 hours using an external drive interface via USB, and I begin the dissection.

I’ve installed and replaced several parts in Powerbooks before but not a MBP. It’s relatively the same,, with the exception of a few screws and innards. I like using the How-To’s on iFixit.com, they have everything from drive replacement to replacing the screen for Mac laptops old and new. I use the one suitable for my laptop of course, and in the end takes about 45 minutes or so to replace.

Almost 3 hours to backup and install a new 320GB hard drive into my laptop, not too shabby I think. Of course my roommate was done in about 2 hours because it is a lot easier to get to the hard drive on the new MacBooks, but that’s how it works.

The Good:

• Very easy to backup drive, CCC is very quick and safe
• No BIOS settings, plug the drive in, you’re done
• Fairly easy to get to drive once case is opened

The Bad:

• Too many screws to open MBP
• Apple uses some TORX screws to secure case and drive

The Verdict:

• Noticeable increase in speed with new drive (16mb cache)
• VERY quiet drive
• No vibrations (some people online complained about vibrations from the new drive)
• Well worth the $100
• Stay away from iFixit for hard drives;-)