Events 2

This page and its sub-pages are some kind of a blog, or in other words, it is an ever-growing personal computing-related set of pages with important current news and events (at least important in my opinion), therefore these pages contain current (at that time and so now past) important events, personal computing related "stories", like for example completely new things that I have discovered from the last website update, information about my current system state, un-installations, re-installations of my operating systems, any errors I am coping with, software updates and configuration instructions and similar. It was started on [ 19.2.2005 ] with the file-caching problem - that lead me to a complete un-install my Windows XP/Pro SP1 - and its basic description and solution. The solution was re-installing Windows, particularly downgrading to the non-SP version (but of course, before that I've tried almost all the possible solutions/work-arounds). And luckily back then the installation with "Unattended" parameters worked; if you're really interested then rather read the first opening entry for details below at the bottom of that page.

Two important things. As first, beside all the major and minor updates, i.e. I added a bunch of links into the "links1.html" page, added new terms to the "glossary.html" page etc., I made a completely new page called "lists.html" (as of 30.8.2005, I deleted it), check the navigation bars or click on this link: /other/lists.html, which originally contained all the well-known computer's services and ports, and various standard and non-standard, configurable and non-configurable etc. TCP/IP parameters for Windows XP operating system.

And as second, I am just notifying you, that I am planning to totally re-write my homesite, and make it a CSS-based one. I only have few problems with the templates I've used so far, so first I need to figure out what's wrong with the syntax. If you are interested in details, see the A beginner's question on CSS (long links and huge text jut out of the boxes):  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=6330927813&m=527003753731&r=213000953731 thread on "Ars Technica" forum, and the CSS - long links and huge letters/words jut out of the boxes:  http://castlecops.com/postitle122540-0-0-.html thread on CastleCops forums. The templates I used were from this site: http://urlgreyhot.com/personal/resources/css_templates, particularly this: http://urlgreyhot.com/files/css/css-3col-1.html and this: http://urlgreyhot.com/files/css/css-3col-2.html template.

25.5.2005

At May the 25th, exactly at 12:55 AM at my local time, I posted my 1000 post in line on "Ars Technica" forum already in the Sorry all - a cooling newbie's question about a chasis fan plugs thread, check out this link (it links directly to that post):  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/77909585/m/183004233731/r/979006353731#979006353731, and well I must mention that Ars Technica was the first forum where I made it to 1000 posts.

21.5.2005

A CastleCops website related event: today my request to become a member of the CastleCops Team F@H usergroup has been approved, because beside folding for the Ars Technica Team Egg Roll, I have now started folding the proteins for the CastleCops Team too. The old team-name is TeamComputerCops, and the team-number is 35586. See my account's personal statistic page (nick/account is satyr_CCSP): http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&username=satyr_CCSP&teamnum=35586, a quick link to page with statistics of our team: http://vspx27.stanford.edu/teamstats/team35586.html, and finally a non-quick link to page with statistics of CastleCops ComputerCops Team: http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=35586. So now, there is a nice "Team F@H " note just below my avatar in that basic user-info (join-date and number of posts etc.), beside each of my posts. I also applied to become a member of the 1st Responder usergroup, but I must first become a trainee, i.e. I must first attend The Academy on CastleCops or BootCamp in the SpywareInfo forum, and then learn on how to help with HJT logs.

16.5.2005

Today I have finally added a search engine powered by FreeFind on all the four variants of my homesite, check this link for FreeFind homesite: http://www.freefind.com. I acually made them unique, meaning that each engine searches only the particular website for which it was created (to search through), and not that all variants would search for instance only my main website-variant: http://users.volja.net/tayiper, so I needed to do four different "accounts". I've choosen the script that enables visitors two options; as first to Search only this site, and as second to search the whole web.

While one other thing that was also added to my homesite on the very same day was the FreeViral advertising service, sponsored by TrafficZilla, see here: http://www.freeviral.com and here: http://www.trafficzilla.com, but I've added the script only to the Geocities variant: http://www.geocities.com/tayi137/index.html. So anyway, if you are using Firefox or have Internet Explorer with pop-up blocked enabled, please don't block that only pop-up on the mentioned variant since it is completely "legal" and it's of course "meant" to be seen by the website's visitors.

13.05.2005

Wow, it's a month already passed by since my last "events-entry", though there is an explanation for this. The thing is that because of somewhat high CPU temperatures I had lately, and other actually more serious problems I took my computer to the repairs. And ot was there for almost two weeks, i.e. on friday when I left it there (today, it is a bit more than two weeks ago), they said it will be done at thursday, maybe wednesday after the weekend, and then it wasn't done till monday, so a week and a half later - and note: it was all for two hours of work (as they said), and the saddest thing is that in the end, it wasn't a repair at all - yes, they didn't fix ANYTHING AT ALL ... For details on the errors that made me do that (as mentioned, mostly fictional too high CPU temperature-related problems), see these two related post of mine on "Ars Technica" forums, the The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/316000912731/r/354009912731 and the second one This is getting out of control - 0x000000C5 and freezes, please HELP:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/891002382731. I opened the related threads also on CastleCops and Winforums message-boards, but as usual, there is much more feedback on Ars Technica.

So in short, they've just cleaned it and said that the temperature was the cause, but I told them that I knew that (for the ATAPI IdePort0 timeouts at least), and I also told them that I lowered it successfully, and noted that I suspect that the IDE controller is the cause. So yeah, before I will try with reinstalling Windows, I will go to repairs and told them that the main problem wasn't fixed at all, because I think they should tell me about it (or maybe they just didn't notice it??), not to mention that all the previous problems are still here, like computer/mouse freezes and during that sound-card's "sound freezes" like some sort of "stucking sounds" on various ocassions (similar to when you connect/disconnect to internet with a dial-up), like on programs executions and exiting, on various "stressful" actions, for instance when minimizing and maximizing the program's windows etc., and also the main problem which was the "final" reason to take the computer to repairs at all - the Primary "hard disk" fail. error message, on the pre-boot screen (that's when you can enter BIOS etc. and it shows just before the logon menu screen) still appears on every second boot or so, and of course restart is needed), while the hard-disk is certainly in good shape. I also noticed that when it happens, RAM is checked/queried and devices connected to IDE cables are "read" much slower, compare to when computer normally bootsm i.e. without an error message.

Another thing is that from the first day when I got my computer back from the repairs (and after installing the chasis fan), now suddenly my CD drive doesn't work anymore, so I started wondering - is it possible that because of the chasis fan added now my CD drive doesn't work anymore, i.e. the power-supply related problem?! Though the thing is that the drive is normally visible in file-manager, I can even normally insert a CD, but after that just nothing happens - there is no sound of CD spinning etc., and when I try to browse it I get this error saying Drive not found!. And it is all somehow odd - because the drive already worked with the new chasis fan running and being connected to IDE cable (though it only worked for one CD, and then the problem occured), and also that Primary "hard disk" fail. error message also occured before installing the fan, and well - it also worked with another hard-disk being plugged into the very same place on the IDE cable back then, so I started speculating that it is NOT the power-supply fault in the end. For details, see the HELP: strange problem with my CD drive - maybe related to power-supply ??:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=99609816&m=245000033731&r=245000033731 thread on Ars Technica.

Oh, and not so important and certainly not related to my main problem with the CD drive, but anyway - for my problems with the other, CD-RW drive see the Recent problems with CD-RW drive:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=99609816&m=861008307631&r=861008307631 thread, also on Ars Technica. In one sentence - I just can't use my CD-RW drive for "no-burning" purposes, i.e. browsing CDs, copying data to hard-disk etc. And as opposed to CD drive case above I get this message after the inserted CD is spinning a bit and it looks like that CD-RW drive is trying to read it but it just can't.

17.04.2005

Good news all - my mysterious 0x000000C5 BSODs and system hard-locks are now solved. The thing is that lately I was experiencing quite dramatic problems - the mentioned BSODs and computer freezes and hard-locks without a 0x000000C5 BSOD, i.e. everything was still displayed only the screen is frozen and the restart is needed, while scandisk did't find anything wrong after the restart though. Also sometimes there was that annoying "sound-card stucked" sound like in case of BSODs (and these were the most common), while in some cases I got the mentioned 0x000000C5 BSODs with no "note" on driver, and without those other error-codes and "name" (Stop note) etc., and all that occured randomly - the computer was running for three or four days without any error, but then it occured twice in one single day. Oh yes - and in the end the "freezes without a 0x000000C5 BSOD" occured also on Windows 98/SE, so it seemed it was not Windows XP installation's fault, but general computer/hardware one.

Check the This is getting out of control - 0x000000C5 and freezes, please HELP topic on Ars Technica:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/891002382731, or pretty much the same on CastleCops: HELP: this is getting out of control 0x000000C5, freezes:  http://castlecops.com/postp520482.html and Winforums: This is getting out of control - 0x000000C5 and freezes, please HELP:  http://www.winforums.com/showthread.php?p=50684, while the most replies I've got on Ars Technica's topic.

Now only mouse freezes, i.e. mouse movement being erratic, jittery and difficult control and that strange sound (see one of my posts above) are still occuring on heavy hard-disk activity (when moving/copying files, when defragmenting etc.), and when executing programs and minimizing them to tray and taksbar (well, it's called "toolbar" in my shell's case), or when performing "stressful" actions in programs (like the forums-menu in Ars in Firefox), btw., Thunderbird, Firefox and some other applications alike are especially prone to this behaviour, though I don't know the reason why - I just speculate it has something to do with its controls-type (i.e., various buttons, menus, even dialogs-windows etc., and general GUI style), but now with CPU colder, see the paragraph below - it appears that much less. I somehow speculate those were related to those ATAPI IdePort0 timeouts.

So now I can say without any doubt that also my case confirmed CPU Eat 'n' Cool might be a very handy programs in this case (though it basic role is intended for laptops), at least if one want to run DC projects. But see one of my first threads/posts on ArsTechinca titled as SUBJECT: CPU cooling software Windows9x & NT right in this:  http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909585&m=106007026631 thread linked here. So while previously MBM5 programs (Motherboard Monitor 5) was set to start CPU Eat 'n' Cool when the CPU temperature reaches 72 C (it occured very rarely), now I've re-set MBM5 to launch it at 68 C instead.

15.04.2005

In these last few days I've made few quite "radical" changes to my homesite. First you will see changed background color (might change once more in near future), i.e. on "main pages" I changed it from white (which HTML code is "FFFFFF") to gray color, while its shade/tone of that gray color was "CCCCCC", and in the end I decided to change it once more to color with code "FFFFCC" (as you can see it now), which is somehow "almost yellow" color. There many sites with HTML color code tables (just google for the links), I will only mention the one I used, which is a website simply called HTML - Color Codes: http://html-color-codes.com.

Then you will also notice the bbring banner which is a "train" of linked websites of users who use Blackbox for Windows as their operating system shell (or like the idea of it), and finally I browse through few site's source-code and found out the principle of FavIcons, i.e. an icon in address-bar beside my site's URL. In my case it's a letter T on the black background; if you can't see it (read the next sentence below) you can check it directly right here: /favicon.ico, though I guess they are only visible if you are using Mozilla Firefox as your web-browser or some other programs alike that supports them.

07.04.2005

Today it was a very constructive day in terms of my website's "events". As a first awesome thing, I got otherwise commonly looking newsletter e-mail from Fred Langa's LangaList Newsletter titled as: [langalist] Langalist Standard Edition 2005-04-07, see this archive in .html file-format here: http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-04-07.htm. But after reading throught it, I noticed that today my website was listed in the newsletter itself, under the section "8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming...", to see that entry click here: http://langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-04-07.htm#4. Yes, it was because I added their banner onto my site, particularly to pages under the main pages section - if you want, go to the "events1.html" page: /other/events/2005/events1.html, and look for the respective entry under the date 29.3.2005. So yes, if you really need more traffic on your homesite (if you have any), check the Langa's "load the code!" page here: http://langa.com/code.htm LangaList Email-Newsletter homesite.

And as second, I got an e-mail from one of the Missions Network project website's organisers, notifying me that the guy who does the graphics-stuff for Missions Network site, made an "unique button" specifically for my site, but rather see their affiliates page right here: http://network.readyresponse.org/index.php?item=affiliates. Just to remind you, I listed (and still do) the Missions Network's current missions/proposals on pages listed under the main pages section in NAVIGATE bar (same as above for LangaList), and ehm again, same as above - if you want to, go to the "events1.html" page: /other/events/2005/events1.html, and look for the entry located under the 22.3.2005. Of course, please also visit the Missions Network homesite, it's worth doing it.

So you bet that visit-counter, especially on my most visited variant of all four sites (namely "tayiper site"), here is the link: /index.html has really gone mad since yesterday or day before. I even got one very positive comment from one user, and well he of course exaggerated a bit. Because he sent this e-mail as anonymous (there was no e-mail address visible), I dared to post it here - and I really hope he don't mind. This text below is almost all his e-mail, with two sentences omitted that contained a bit more personal info about the author, so here it is:

I "lurk" a lot and I have not seen a more interesting and personal web page in all the time I have been on the Internet.--My compliments to you for your efforts and creativity and the feeling you project in your site... Clapping--Clapping-- Clapping.....

I am looking forward to using some of your information and tweeks...........I am not too experienced in computers but the information I read looks interesting...

Thank you for your site..

Oh and if I already mentioned responses to my site, here is what some user on CastleCops website sent me in a PM, nice, isn't it??:

Good Work. There is a lot of information there some of which I had never seen before. I will be looking through it some more.

04.04.2005

Today I added the GeoURL: http://geourl.org badge on my website. GeoURL is a geographical coordinates to URL reverse directory. In two sentences, it is a so-called "location-to-URL reverse directory", a feature that allows users to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. To add your website click on this link: http://geourl.org/add.html. GeoURL was the invention of Joshua Schachter, see his homepage here: http://burri.to/~joshua, who ran the original prototype website from 2002 to 2004. The new/current version was build by Ask Bjørn Hansen, see his homesite here: http://www.askbjoernhansen.com. You might also want to check the GeoURL's blog/new page: http://geourl.org/news. In general - you can find your neighbor's blog, the web page of the restaurants near you, or just about anyone that has added his/her website and is geographically located near you. The GeoURL project is currently listing more than 164,000 sites, and it was launched in February 2005.

Some days before 2nd March, the author of GeoURL was notified on how to link to Google Maps, see this website here: http://maps.google.com by latitude/longitude, so he added links to Google Maps from pages centered around a US site. And on March the second Laust Ladefoged, see his homepage here: http://www.defoged.dk/pebble pointed out to the author of a GeoURL, that MultiMap, see here: http://multimap.com now has maps for almost all of the world, so therefore he added also MultiMap links to all of the pages.