Just When You Think You Have it Perfect

Date: January 19, 2008
Time: at 12:19 am
Posted in: in hardware, keyboards and mice, microsoft, operating systems, windows
Comments: Comments (3)

It all started with this, my awesome keyboard. Three weeks ago, the Logitech bluetooth receiver decided to go bad on me, leaving me with no keyboard other than a 8 year old Microsoft PS/2 model which I’m surprised still has more than half of the keys working.

Just prior to this time, my motherboard’s PCIe-x16 slots went out as well. Luckily, ASUS has a relatively no-questions-asked Warrenty Exchange policy and I shipped it out for an exchange. It just so happens that I had a brand new Intel motherboard sitting around which I was planning on using for a secondary machine which would, in turn, become my server. I installed my Intel board, and with a quick reactivation of Windows, I was on my way. Then, the keyboard receiver gave out.

Unfortunately, the Intel motherboard doesn’t have any PS/2 ports, which left me without a keyboard for around 24 hours. I quickly picked up a $10 wired USB keyboard from my local Best Buy. I then proceeded to call Logitech and, once again, ship out the bad receiver for a no-questions-asked warranty exchange of the receiver.

Two days ago, the receiver arrived in the mail and I was quite ready to get rid of that horrible wired keyboard and go back to the diNovo Edge. My ASUS motherboard also arrived. Upon plugging in the receiver to my computer, Windows seemed unable to locate any drivers for the device. This was rather strange considering it shouldn’t need any drivers and the fact that Logitech doesn’t even provide any.

After a lot of diagnosing and registry tweaking, I determined that somehow, somewhere, the malfunctioning USB receiver corrupted some driver somewhere on my Windows installation and I for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to reverse that damage.

I also recently decided to upgrade from a total of 380GB of HDD storage to 2×500GB drives for a total of 1TB. Given the current events, I thought it best just to pull my old hard drives out, switch back to my ASUS motherboard, throw in two brand new drives, and reinstall Windows completely. I begin this process at around 11PM. Formatting my new 500GB HDD took around two hours first.

Three hours later (that’s 2AM), I’m back in Windows Vista x64 and everything seems to be working perfectly, including my diNovo Edge keyboard.

Oh boy was I wrong.

An hour into installing all of my commonly-used applications (now 3AM), and right in the middle of formatting the secondary 500GB hard drive, my computer suddenly shuts itself off without warning. There was no crash. It was as if someone pulled the power cord out of the wall.

I think to myself, that was odd, and reboot the computer. Once again, I come back into Windows and all seems to be running fine for about 5 minutes when it happens again.

At this point, I start thinking that my BIOS settings are messed up or I didn’t install the CPU’s heatsink on the motherboard properly so my CPU was significantly overheating and shutting the unit off. Upon going into BIOS and looking at the hardware monitor, I discover that, indeed, the CPU is running farely warm. About 50 degrees Celsius too warm for idling. I instantly think this is the cause of my issues, so I remove the heatsink, reset the processor, and reattach the heatsink. (now around 4AM)

Now, the problem I faced at this point was two-fold. 1) The thermal compond was a bit old and needed to be replaced and 2) the brackets which latch the heatsink to the motherboard were worn and the heatsink wouldn’t set tight enoguh on the motherboard. I decided that, considering it’s 4AM, it would be best I go to bed and continue this journey in the morning.

Bright and early (that means 10AM for me), I wake up and take a drive out to run a few errands, including picking up a new heatsink and fan. I decided that while I’m out, I might as well buy some external hard drive enclosures in order for me to easily transfer the data off of my old HDDs to my new ones. I also picked up a brand new computer case which would help with cooling significantly.

After driving a total of 75 miles all over the city of Tampa just to find stores that have what I need in stock, I arrive back home around 3PM and begin assembling my computer from scratch as I now need to switch cases.

Around 4PM, I finish this process, plug my computer back in, and, to my surprise, it actually boots the first time. The CPU is running extremely cool as are all the other components thanks to the new case. Windows sees that there was a problem shutting off previously (no kidding) and proceeds to run chkdsk on the primary partition. However, about 10 minutes into running chkdsk, it suddenly locks up and does absolutely nothing. I rebooted the computer, and again, experienced the same thing.

At this point I’m just about to lose all self control. I say to myself, “Screw it” and reformat and reinstall Windows once again. Two hours later (around 6:30PM), Windows is installed and I proceed to install drivers. To my despair, halfway through this process, I lose all power to the unit just like before.

I was at a full and complete loss for what to do next. I thought I’d tried everything … until I noticed one key issue.

The fan on my power supply wasn’t spinning.

As it turns out, the issue with the power loss was because the power supply (not the CPU) was overheating and shutting down automatically. This was ridiculously odd considering I have only owned that PSU for around a month.

I rebox it, and head back to the Best Buy where I purchased it and get an exchange.

To make a long story short (it’s too late I think), just over 24 hours later, my computer is back up and running perfectly smooth.

Let’s hope it stays that way for a VERY long time…

I’m Impressed with Kensington

Date: October 8, 2007
Time: at 1:28 pm
Posted in: in blogging, keyboards and mice
Comments: Comments (0)

I recently blogged about my mouse pad and my search to find the same item since the one I have now is starting to get old. To my surprise, Tom Pscheidt, the Product Manager for ergonomic products at Kensington found this website and left a comment on that post regarding the issue and gave me direct email contact to him.

That’s impressive. All I wanted was a $5-10 mouse pad and yet he still contacted me regarding the issue. His time spent writing that comment is worth well more than that, yet he still left the comment. That’s customer service. I’m a satisfied customer regardless of whether I can get the mousepad or not.

Thanks, Tom. And thanks Kensington.

All I Wanted was a Mouse Pad

Date: October 4, 2007
Time: at 12:48 pm
Posted in: in internet, keyboards and mice
Comments: Comments (3)

I have the best mouse pad in the world. I swear by it. I’ve used this mouse pad for close to 4 years and I’m not giving it up. The fabric has become discolored and the rubber grip on the bottom is starting to rot. I then decided it was time to purchase a new one.

I launched Kensington’s website and to my surprise (considering the mouse pad’s age), the same mouse pad I have was still listed though it wasn’t available for sale. I nabbed the model number (or so I thought) and did searched specifically for it. Once again, I found it for sale. So I ordered it.

But once I got the mouse pad … it wasn’t the right one. Well, actually, wait. It was. But it wasn’t!

The model number was correct on the invoice slip. The model number was right on the box. The model number was right on even the mouse pad’s packaging. Yet it wasn’t the same mouse pad that was pictured on this website, let alone Kensington’s website.

At the end of several phone calls, I’ll be shipping the mouse pads back and I’m waiting on a phone call from Kensington’s Product Manager to see if we can’t get the right one ordered or find out what local retailers are selling the mouse pad.

I mean, seriously … all I wanted was a mouse pad the same as what I had. Is that too much to ask?