Tag Archive for 'Windows'

Having a bad drive day

Published
by
Malgent
on July 21, 2008
in flickr
. 0 Comments


Having a bad drive day

Originally uploaded by Malagent

As a technician, system administrator and all around super geek, I have told others over and over again to back up their data. Sometimes my own advice is a bit hard to follow, ya know how it is - you get busy looking through Flickr, debating politics or whatever and the next thing you know. ZAP, just like that, all your really important irreplaceable data that you just happen to need right now is gone.

This normally would not be an issue for me, but this drive is not usually on my Mac protected by the Leopard’s Time Machine. This drive comes from a Windows 2003 Server from my little data center. At least the Mac is letting me copy the data whereas Windows just freaks out and goes into a BSOD spewing tantrum.

So there they sit, billions and billions of useless ones and zeros doing nothing but making me mad.

So I’m off to wait on 280GB of data to copy (I wonder how long I’m gonna waste burning 64 DVDs?) so I can rip this damn drive out and smash it to pieces with a hammer. Then I will kick myself a few times for failing to practice what I preach. Oh, and don’t forget to back up your data, you never know when you are going to learn the meanings of MTBF, MDT, and MTTR.

Whitebox AMD Athlon XP 2400+ System (For Sale)

Published
by
Malgent
on February 7, 2008
in Gadgets and Stuff for Sale
. 0 Comments

I’m selling off yet another Whitebox PC, It’s listed on Craigslist at the moment.

The Specs are:

  • Motherboard: PCChips M810D
  • Power Supply: 300 watt
  • Chipset: SiS 740
  • Graphics: Integrated SiS 315
  • Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0GHz) (Socket A)
    • L1 Cache: 64kb instruction/64kb data
  • FSB 133MHz/266MHz
  • Memory: 512MB DDr 266MHz (PC2100)
  • Hard Disk Drive: Maxtor 40GB (D740X-6L)
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP (Version 2002, Service Pack 2)
  • Network: On board 10/100 Ethernet
  • Optical Drives: DVD-ROM & CDRW drives.

The system has been thoroughly tested and cleaned. The hard drive was replaced and a surface scan was performed prior to the operating system installation. Prior to listing I’ve ran a system stability test for well over 20 hours with no abnormal temperature or voltage readings in the CPU, motherboard or hard drive.

This system originally had an AMD Athlon 1700+ (1100/1400MHz) CPU which I have replaced with the AMD Athlon XP 2400+ the benchmarking shows about a 33% performance gain using BOINC with SETI@Home.

100_9648 100_9643 100_9646

AMD Athlon XP 2400

Whitebox (Computer Hardware)

Published
by
Malgent
on November 7, 2007
in DIY and Reference
. 1 Comment

A “White box” PC is a personal computer assembled from off-the-shelf parts. The term is applied to systems assembled by small systems integrators, and to homebuilt computer systems assembled by end users from parts purchased separately at retail. In this latter sense, building a white box PC is part of the DIY movement.

With standardization of form factors such as ATX and connectors like IDE, a whole range of cases, motherboards, CPUs, hard disk drives, RAM and other parts can be obtained individually at many computer shops and assembled at home with a minimum of tools and technical skill. Alternatively, the shop itself may assemble components into a complete machine at a modest additional cost. Similarly, the term “whitebook” denotes a notebook computer assembled from off-the-shelf parts.

Operating system

While PCs built by system manufacturers generally come with a pre-installed operating system, White boxes from both large and small system vendors and other VAR channels can be ordered with or without a pre-installed OS. Usually when ordered with an operating system the system builder will use an OEM copy of the OS. Self-building white box PCs is still popular among users of the Linux operating system, though manufacturers such as Dell are beginning to offer that OS pre-installed.

Whitebook or Intel “Common Building Blocks”

Intel Corporation defined form factor and interconnection standards for notebook computer components, including “Barebones” (chassis and motherboard), hard disk drive, optical disk drive, LCD, battery pack, keyboard, and AC/DC adapter. These building blocks are primarily marketed to computer building companies, rather than DIY users.