David Yin's Blog

Flash Bios without command

2009-11-20T09:02:49Z

Acer Aspire One A110 has new bios released. I want to update it.

1) Download bios package from the official site.
Link

2) I use the windows flash tool to update it.

3) Restart the netbook.

It is failed to boot up. When I press power button. It start to boot. I can go into CMOS setting by F2. But the fan is running so noise and after 10 to 20 seconds it power off automatically.

I can not even get into command promote.

I google it and find the solution.

1. Format a USB disk with FAT format.

2. Copy two files into USB disk root.
flashit.exe
bios file, whose file name is changed to ZG5IA32.FD

3. Plug usb disk into Acer Aspire One usb port.

4. Hold ESC and Fn keys, press power button.
Keep holding these two keys for 10 more seconds.
The green LED on power button is blinking.

5. Release ESC and Fn keys, press power button once.
Then wait few minutes until the AAO restart.

Then it has the correct bios.

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Install Windows 7 on Netbook

2009-11-19T23:27:08Z

Here is a general instruction about how to install Windows 7 on Netbook.

1. Prepare the USB disk with 4GB. The ISO is about 2.4G. So the 2GB usb flash drive is not big enough.

2.Have the Windows 7 ISO on hand.

3. Plug flash disk into your PC
First type DISKPART and hit enter.

4. Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

5. Next insert your Windows7 DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is "D" and USB drive letter is "H" (open my computer to know about it).

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type the following command now:

D:CD BOOT and hit enter.Where "D" is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.

7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H:
Where "H" is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7 DVD contents to the USB flash drive.

9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won't explain it as it's just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Above guide from here.

After installation, you may need to active it. Three important steps.
A) Find the BIOS with SLIC2.1 for your brand Netbook, and flash the netbook bios
B) Implement the CD Key
slmgr.vbs -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
C) Find the oem certificate file, which should be made for your brand netbook. Import certificate
slmgr.vbs -ilc oem.xrm-ms

I don't have the related files and cd-key. Don't ask me. You can google it.

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AData usb flash drive 8GB

2009-11-17T21:07:22Z

I bought this usb flash drive yesterday. 8 GB. The write speed is about 5MB/s, when I copy about 2G content into it.

The shape is cool, I like it.

To get the more updated information, I check it by HD bench 3.40beta6. download here.

The result with 100MB data is shown below:
Read 28,861
Write 6,612
Random Read 20,221
Random Write 1,433

The read speed is good. The speed of write is just so so.

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Dlink DNS-323 and Western Digital WD15EADS Caviar Green 1.5TB

2009-11-08T10:17:28Z

I bought a NAS, Network-attached Storage.
Actually I bought two items. One is the NAS enclosure, or Dlink DNS-323, 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure. It is a very old product. Start to sell about two years ago. The other one is a Hard disk.
Western Digital WD15EADS Caviar Green 1.5TB. It is a SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive.

I put one disk in it. In the future, if I need, I can add another 1.5TB in to double the capacity.

The features of DNS-323 are so many and a lot of people talked about it. I don't want to repeat it. You can google it.

The point I purchase this kind of toy is based on following thoughts.

1) Storage for digital photos, DV
2) Backup space for my desktop
3) Power consumption
4) Noise from fan

5) Expend or hack ability.

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Update error: 0xC80001FE on Windows 2000 sp4

2009-11-03T20:00:06Z

I have an Windows 2000 sp4 in office. I tried to update it, but always get Update error: 0xC80001FE.

I do a lot of search to find the way to fix it. You know, the security issue is the most important problem of Windows. Especially for this almost 10 years old Operation System.

OK, the good answer is I got the solution for Update error: 0xC80001FE.
Let me note it here.

0) Stop the McAfee on-access scanning, or just turn off McAfee.
1) Stop the Automatic Updates service;
2) Delete C:\WINNT\SoftwareDistribution folder;
3) Execute Microsoft Update (C:\WINNT\system32\rundll32.exe C:\WINNT\system32\muweb.dll,LaunchMUSite).

After that, the Microsoft Windows Update find 25 updates need to be installed in my Windows 2000. About 20 updates are critical issues.

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Upgrade O!Play firmware

2009-11-02T06:22:01Z

I have an Asus O!Play media player almost one month. It comes with firmware Version 1.07N. The N means NTSC.

Just in one week. Asus released two firmware, 1.11 and 1.13.
New features including:
1.Improve the compatibility of HDMI cable
2.Add video/audio information when pressing "DISPLAY" button twice
3.Add thumbnail view for picture browsing
4.Add more setting choices of subtitle such as color, font size, and location etc.
5.Add sorting ways for easy file searching

You can download the latest firmware from Asus official site here.

Let me write down the steps of upgrading firmware of Asus O!play.

0. Go to the Asus official site to download the firmware file. It is about 36MB. The key is to make sure download the right file which is suitable to your TV. N for NTSC. P for PAL.
Decompress the file and copy the install.img into your USB disk.

1. Insert the USB Flash drive( install.img inside ) to USB port of your Media Player. The
System will recognize the firmware in the USB Flash drive automatically.
2. Press the SETUP button on the Remote controller and the setup screen will be displayed.
3. Click on the System item and press OK. Then navigate to the system Upgrade and press
OK to start updating.
4. At this moment, the Power LED of O!Play will turn from BLUE to RED and following screen
will be displayed.

The whole upgrade process may take about 4~5 minutes. Don't turn off it or restart it.

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Ubuntu 9.10 coming soon

2009-10-26T18:32:58Z

It is 3 days to go.

Ubuntu 9.10 has many new features since Ubuntu 9.04.

I just list the features I like below:
ext4 by default
better disk performance
Kubuntu Netbook release
I have the netbook.
Empathy replace pidgin
support voice and video
Ubuntu One
personal 2G storage for free

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Reduce memory usage of Apache on Centos server

2009-10-21T22:00:06Z

There are so many tips you can google, some are very complicated, some are useless.

Now I want to share my experience to reduce memory usage of Apache on Centos server.

You have to have Webmin installed on your server first.
Server >> Apache Webserver >> Global configuration >> Processes and Limits

There are three figures you can change to reduce the memory usage.
Maximum spare server processes: 20 (default), I changed it to 10
Minimum spare server processes: 5 (default), I changed it to 4
Initial server processes: 8 (default), I changed it to 5.

The total memory usage reduced from about 500M to 300M.
Every httpd occupied 20M roughly. So I cut 10 server processes, is to save about 200M memory.

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R-Drive III external hard disk adapter

2009-10-09T21:16:41Z

I bought a adapter or converter which can convert an IDE hard disk or SATA disk to a USB external drive.

1. Connect laptop 2.5" harddisk (IDE/SATA) to any computer via USB without power adaptor
2. Connect desktop 3.5" harddisk (IDE/SATA) to any computer via USB with power adaptor
3. Connect CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD-RW (IDE/SATA) to any computer with power adaptor.

I tested it with my 3.5" 40GB Maxtor hard disk. It works on my Windows XP and O!play media player.

It is $20 plus tax.

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Asus O!Play HD Media Player HDP-R1

2009-10-05T07:13:31Z

I bought a new player last friday at Anitec. I spend $118.97 incl. tax.

It works very well to play video, audio, photos from my USB disk or shared folder of other PC.

Let's see the content of the box.

There are AV cable, Power Adapter, Remote Controller, Quick Start Guide(booklet) and User Manual CD (From left to right, TOP)
The player is a black box.
It has one eSATA/USB combo port, and one USB port at left side, AV out ports, Optical s/pdif out port, one HDMI out port, and Lan port at the back of the player.

The media files can be stored at USB flash disk, USB/eSATA hard disk drive connect directly to the player. The other way is the player can connect the PC/Notebook within a LAN.

If put the files in PC, the folder should be shared, then the media player can access by local area network.

There are so many media player on the market, why I chose it.
The most important issue is that HDP-R1 support RMVB format video files.

OK, let's go through all the formats it supports.
Video MPEG1/2/4,H.264,VC-1,RM/RMVB
Video File Extension: .vob,.mp4,.mov,.xvid,.avi,.divx,.asf,.wmv,.mkv,.rm,.rmvb,.flv,.ts,.m2ts,.dat,.mpg
Audio: MP3,WAV,AAC,OGG,FLAC,AIFF
Image: JPEG,BMP,PNG,GIF,TIFF
Subtitle: SRT,SUB,SMI,SSA

The other two points I like are the price and power consumption.
The price is good enough, when I compare it with other products. The power consumption is below 10W. I played about 5 hours video. I put my hand on top of it. It is a little bit warm.

The great thing is Asus O!Play HD Media player HDP-R1 support full HD 1080P.
The eSATA is 6x faster than USB. So HD video can be played smoothly.

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VPS of Canadian Web Hosting

2009-10-02T18:13:58Z

Canadian Web Hosting offers two different types of VPS hosting, Linux and Windows running under Citrix Xenserver. They can choose different operating systems such as Windows 2008, Redhat, Debian, CentOS, SUSE, and Fedora.

As we know, many people use Windows desktop OS and know Windows only. So when they want to choose a VPS, they pick up Windows VPS.
Let's look at the the service and price Canadian Web Hosting provided.
Say, VPS-Win 1000.
It has 20GB disk space, 1000GB Bandwidth. It is good enough for one or two busy forum or sites.
Two IPs. It is so good to have the individual IP. Especially for commerce site.
512M memory, 256Mhz CPU, are also OK.

For experienced Windows user, server is a little bit different. So Remote Desktop can help them manage Windows VPS server without problem. MS SQL 2008 express is included.

Firewall and Intrusion Protection are very important. I heard so many cases that site was hacked, site was hijacked. Just because the security issues.

So if you have a lot of Windows experience, and start to launch an web site, I recommend you buy this Windows VPS for $85.40/month.

For myself, I am very interested in Linux VPS hosting. I played Linux for many years.
Compare with Windows VPS, Linux system use less memory and disk space. The price is also lower. VPS Standard cost $35.95/month, if you pay it biyearly.
Monthly payment will 11% higher.
Let's look at it closer.
20GB storage, 1000GB bandwidth, 2 IP address, are same as the Windows VPS I mentioned above.
Memory is 256MB, guaranteed. It is a little bit low, but it is ok for start. When you need more memory, you can upgrade it to VPS Pro or VPS 2000.

I like SSH. It can let me do anything on the Linux. Even reboot it.
Actually, they provide SSH2, more secure.

In a word, get your own VPS based on your needs and budget.

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Upgrade to MovableType 4.32 with Zemanta plugin

2009-09-30T03:22:07Z

Just get the notice that the SixApart released MovableType 4.32. It is a bug fix release with Zemanta plugin.

For me, only Zemanta plugin is the bright point of upgrade.

I got Content Recommendations

Links and Tags Suggestions

Look, I use suggested links and tags for this post.

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Microsoft Security Essentials released

2009-09-29T22:53:51Z

Right now, Microsoft released its free security program, Microsoft Security Essential. It can not work on Windows 2000.
Operating System Requirement: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7

Let's see what he said about it:
Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

I am not very sure how good it is. You would better try it yourself and leave your comment to tell others how it works.

You can get it free here.

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See Through

2009-09-28T18:09:47Z

This carton is made by a Chinese boy, born in 1980.
The name is "See Through". The Chinese name is Da, Da Ge Da Xi Gua, which means, Fight, Fight for a Watermelon.

It is a cool video. I think you will like it.

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Update PHP and MySQL on CentOS 5.3

2009-09-24T08:22:28Z

I have a VPS server. The OS is CentOS 5.3 (final)
It is running very well. Because I like to keep software updated. So I use yum command to update it.

It told me nothing to update. OK.

PHP 5.2.6 and MySQL 5.0.77 installed on CentOS 5.3

To keep it update, I have to add repository.

Let me describe the steps.

1) SSH to the server

2) Run following command

#rpm --import http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/RPM-GPG-KEY-jlitka
#vi /etc/yum.repos.d/utterramblings.repo

3) Add following content into the utterramblings.repo

[utterramblings]
name=Jason's Utter Ramblings Repo
baseurl=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/EL$releasever/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/RPM-GPG-KEY-jlitka

4) Save and run following command to do the update.

#yum update php
#yum update mysql

The results are php to 5.2.11 and mysql to 5.0.84.

I took above method from
bingu. Thanks my friend.