Category Archives: Reference

Dell XPS Gen 1 CPU Fan Failure

One of my CPU fans failed on my Dell XPS. It’s the original XPS 3ghz.

The computer has two CPU fans that don’t actually sit on the CPU, but are mounted to the case. The CPU and two fans are then covered by a huge plastic molding. The CPU fans are not regular case fans. I think they have a thermistor on each of them. They are controlled by temperature and spin up as the temperature goes up.

I had a hard time finding replacements and when Dell gave me a price quote it was for over $60 for two fans with shipping and taxes. Dell gave me a part number as:

Assembly,Bracket,Fan,92MMX38MMTMD (0U231)

Now, the make/part number on the Fan is actually:

Nidec Beta V
TA350DC
Model: M35105-58 G3DEL

12 V DC 1.8 A

With a little searching I found this tread:

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=77075

I went on Ebay and searched for Dell Precision 650 and found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230152235100

$17 is a bit cheaper than $60 and I got two fans! I’ll save the other fan if I ever need another replacement.

I’m sure other generations of the XPS can use this same fan. Good luck.

Using an Alternative to checkip.dyndns.org for Dynamic DNS – Inadyn

With the “–ip_server_name” option in Inadyn you can manually setup to use an alternative to checkip.dyndns.org such as www.antifart.com/stuff/checkip. The syntax within your setup for the above example would be “–ip_server_name www.antifart.com:80 /stuff/checkip/index.php” which would go to http://www.antifart.com:80/stuff/checkip/index.php

Read this for more information on the initial setup of Inadyn and it’s general configuration.

If you would like to create your own person web page to generate the IP address for your dynamic DNS client then here is a example and the code I used about for www.antifart.com/stuff/checkip/index.php:

<html><head><title>Current IP Check</title></head><body>
<? echo "$REMOTE_ADDR"; ?><?php echo $REMOTE_ADDR; ?>
<? $rmt = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]; echo ”Current IP Address: $rmt”; ?>
</body></html>

This code will not work around proxy servers. I’m sure there is code that will. This is not to be confused with the proxy server options and support in Inadyn.

Good luck.com

I used these two sites as references here and here

Quick and Dirty ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) for ONLY 2 Machines

Here’s a quick and dirty way to share the Internet with 2 computers. This comes in handy where you don’t have the ability to install a second Ethernet card or have a router to carry around with you. You could also use Direct Cable Connection + ICS with a parallel or serial cable, but that’s 1) really slow and 2) extremely distance limited. USB 1.1 is limited to 12Mbps (USB 2.0 is 480Mbps) and Ethernet can go all the way to 100 meters. That’s perfect in my book for a quick and easy setup:

1. Buy a cheap USB-Ethernet adapter.
2. Buy (1) Cat5 crossover cable.
3. Plug in the USB side of the USB-Ethernet adapter into the computer with the working Internet connection. I’ll call this Machine 1. You should now have (2) Local Area Connections in the “Control Panel” under the “Network Connections” icon.
4. Connect the crossover cable to the RJ45 side of the USB-Ethernet adapter.
5. Connect the other end of the crossover cable to the computer you want to get on the net. I’ll call this machine 2.
6. Turn on DHCP on machine 2. This is normally default.
7. On machine 1, right click “Local Area Connection” (this is in your “Control Panel”) and select “Properties”.
8. Click “Advanced” and check the box labeled “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”.
9. Click “OK”
10. You’re done.

Winamp 5.3 and Plays for Sure

Nullsoft released a new version of Winamp that supports seemless intergration with Plays for Sure devices and MP3 players. See my previous post here.

Here is the changelog:

Winamp 5.3:

* New: Unicode filename and title support
* New: M3U8 (Unicode) playlist support
* New: optional 24bit playback for many codecs (turn it on in Preferences->Playback)
* New: Replaygain support for MP3, AAC, Vorbis, M4A and WMA
* New: added ml views & playlists to Play-> submenu of right click popup menu
* New: added interface/x-winamp3-skin mimetype for WAL skins
* New: [ml_dash] Personalized content portal
* New: [ml_disc] optional replaygain scanning after rip (turn it on in cd ripping prefs)
* New: [ml_pmp] Transcoding. Converts incompatible files on-the-fly for your portable device.
* New: [ml_pmp] Playback now works for playsForSure and Creative NJB devices
* New: [ml_pmp] “Copy to Library” – transfer songs from any device to your local library (uses CD rip settings)
* New: [ml_pmp] Video sync support for portables
* New: [ml_rg] replaygain scanner (access via Send To menu)
* New: [pmp_ipod] gapless playback support on newer models
Continue reading

Plays for Sure, Winamp 5.25, and My Dell DJ

Winamp released a beta version of Winamp 5.25 that supports full and seamless integration with Play for Sure devices and some older Creative MP3 players. The general support for Plays for Sure has been integrated into Winamp since late February of this year, but is has been SEVERELY lacking.

Now you can copy music from your MP3 player and play music right off it through Winamp. Playlist manipulation is seamless from both your local playlist to and from your MP3 player. Feel free to edit your tags and meta data on any of your music files too. It’s such a huge welcome considering how unstable Red Chair Software’s Deubox is for my Dell DJ 30G. It breathes new life into Dell’s prematurely discontinued Dell DJ product line. It’s nice to see non-ipod users getting some love also.

Wake on Lan Setup Dell XPS/ D-Link DI-604

I finally got Wake on Lan for my D-Link DI-604 router and Dell XPS (original) working. This is my setup:

1. Get the latest firmware from dlink. As of this writing, it’s 3.52 for my rev E router.

2. Login to your 604 and create a new Firewall rule under “Advanced” -> “Firewall”:
DI-604

3. Enable “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”, “Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby”, and “Only allow managment stations to bring the computer out of standby” under the “Power Managment” tab under the device manager for your LAN adapter. In my setup I have a Intel PRO/100 VE LAN adapter and I also have to enable “Enable PME”, “Wake On Link Settings” and set “Wake On Settings” to “Wake on Magic Packet” all under the “Advanced” tab. Make certain you have the latest LAN adapter drivers too.

4. Go here to wake up your computer:
Magic Key

These direction assume you know how to access your router locally and you know it’s username and password. I’m also assuming you know the router’s IP assignment. It’s also good to have DDNS (Dynamic DNS) working on your D-link DI-604 if you really intend to use WOL effectively. If your computer is off/hibernating/suspended, then it can’t keep the DNS updated.

Also, I don’t know if it’s my PC or not, but if I use WOL and RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) on my XPS the Power Savings mode timers get wiped out and the machine will NEVER go into standby or hibernate. You will also notice that while under an RDC connection there is NO option for hibernate or standby. There are two options:

psshutdown.exe (psshutdown.exe -d -t 00 for Standby and psshutdown.exe -h -t 00 for hibernate)

and

using this command: “rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll, SetSuspendState”

The utility is free as of this writing. It offers a bunch of options. The rundll32.exe command can be used without quotes from the run dialog from your start button, command line, or a shortcut. The command will only hibernate OR go into standby depending on if hibernation is enabled in your power settings.

These are my only drawbacks:

1. Power Settings go boom (explained above) and I have to manually force, via workaround, my machine into an S3 (standby) or S4 (hibernate) state

2. I can’t wake my machine on an S5 State (total shutdown). I think this is because I have limited options in my BIOS.

3. If I pull/lose power on an S4 state (hibernate). My machine will NOT wake.

The bottom line is I can save some money on my electric bill by turning my computer on and off remotely.

D-Link DI-604 Firmware rev. E

Here are the firmware files and release notes for dlink di-604 rev E:

di604_revE_firmware_353.bin
* Updated DDNS screen and request.
* Updated PPPoE WAN settings.
* Applied minor Grammar corrections

di604_revE_firmware_352.bin
* Fixed DoS issue.
* Improved DDNS Update Agent.
* Improved NTP functionality.
* Added countdown to firmware upgrade process.

di604_revE_firmware_351.bin
* Resolved UPnP issue
* Resolved Zone Alarm issues
* Updated help files with Zone Alarm information

di604_revE_firmware_339.bin
* Add WAN speed selection option – defaults to 10Mbps
* Fixed dial on demand/idle time issue
* Fixed Asheron Call II reboot issue
* Fixed Static DHCP/MAC filter clone issue
* Fixed Virtual Server entry issue

di604_revE_firmware_336.bin
* Fixed minor GUI issues

di604_revE_firmware_320cm.bin
* Locks the WAN port speed to 10 Mbps
* Same firmware as 3.20. Use only if you are having connectivity issues with your modem.

di604_revE_firmware_320.bin
di604_revE_firmware_218.bin

VDI-604 firmware for Verizon Fios can be found here.

Rev. A, B, C for the DI-604 can be found here:

di604_revABC_firmware_220.bin
di604_revABC_firmware_218.bin
di604_revABC_firmware_210.bin

The files above were hosted from the old Canadian site. I have removed those broken links and created local links. I recommend going to support.dlink.com for the latest drivers.

I accidentally installed the VDI-604 firmware on my DI-604. When I tried to installed the latest and greatest firmware, 3.52, I kept getting an error message that the file was not compatible. The solution is to crash your router. When you crash your router it boots into a firmware upgrade mode. This allowed me to install 3.52.

Hold down the rest button for 10-20 seconds until the router lights go out. Quickly pull out and put back in the power cord. When you login the router will display a small dialog box to browse for your firmware. It may take a few tries and I have not tested this on any other routers other than a few Dlink 604s. Let me know if it works on other models.

*Update: Directions to crash the router can be found here.

*Update: I removed the dead links and added the newest firmware, 3.53. Dlink support in the US and Canada no longer host the older versions of the firmwares. They also do not host ANY rev A, B, or C firmwares. Thanks to FastEddie and ErikaD from DSLReports for snagging the files before they went extinct.

My Dell DJ Car Installation

This is an article/post I put together for my Dell Dj car installation. Originally I placed the DJ and line-out craddle in the dash and used a wired remote. I ended up making a line-out cable with the help of Sparky from DellDJSite.com

With the line-out cable I was able to still use the line-out feature for great sound, but I can now see the screen from the driver’s position. Very Sweet. I pooped.

PixGallery for Unix

Having trouble with PixGallery? I’m a noob, but I was able to flail my way through it and get it working…

Jamie Reid who has a blog/site, http://lonelyfridge.com/ and was nice enough to let me pick and poke at his edited version of PixGallery ver 0.1.8 from here jamie_pixgallery.zip

I took Jamie’s edited version and replaced pixgallery.css and pixgallery.js with the official version http://nathanm.com/index.php/pixgallery or pixgallery 0.2.6.zip files.

I also edited this:
In pixgallery.php I commented out the “PixGallery_LayerCode”.
In pixgallery.php I commented out “add_action(‘wp_footer’, ‘PixGallery_LayerCode’);”
In pixgallery.js I changed “PopupLayer.style.top = (Cursor.Y + 5) + “px”;” to
“PopupLayer.style.top = (Cursor.Y – 100) + “px”;” to make the image popup a little higher. Although, this seems to be a little unstable on first image popup.

I left all the plugin panel options defaulted, so your pictures need to be placed in: ex. /home/virtual/site24/fst/home/cote/p/images/photos/Japan

p/ is the root directory of my website/wordpress installation.

An example of my cache directory is here:
/home/virtual/site24/fst/home/cote/p/images/cache/images/photos

You may need to create your cache directories and subdirectories manually. I had some difficulties with this, but it seems to be working now. ex.
/home/virtual/site24/fst/home/cote/p/images/cache/images/photos/Japan

Again, p/ is the root directory of my website/wordpress installation, yours will be different.

Place this code in your post or page <pixgallery></pixgallery>
You may place a readme.txt file in each picture subdirectory so you may add a header to each collection.

Some problems:

Seems to breaks on images greater than 1024 regardless of what you set in the plugin control panel. All my pictures are resampled to 800×600 before uploading.

Place this code in a post for a simple image popup:
<img src=”/images/photos/Japan/DCP004572.jpg” width=”400″ class=”usePixGallery” alt=”” title=”(click to enlarge)”
onclick=”javascript:PixGallery_ImagePopupLayer(‘/images/photos/Japan/DCP004572.jpg’, 800, 600, ”, this);” />

Obviously, you need to change the “/images/photos/Japan/DCP004572.jpg” to something that exists in your /images/photos/example directory.

Here is a copy of my pixgallery setup.

http://www.antifart.com/stuff/pixgallery_cote.zip

Thanks to Jamie Reid and Nathan Moinvaziri! Here is my gallery: Pictures

Here is a example of a stand alone picture (click the picture):

*UPDATE* – I no longer use Pixgalley 🙁 I now use Lightbox2 written by Lokesh Dhakar. The wordpress plugin can be found here. This plugin works very well with the popular Slickr Gallery plugin for WordPress.

ZoneEdit setup with Inadyn (dynamic DNS update client)

Some notes if you intend to use Inadyn with ZoneEdit (this assumes you finished step 1 from the official web page and you have ZoneEdit and your domain is setup correctly):

Edit and use the “configure_inadyn_service_freedns” file.
(disregard or delete the other .reg file)

Replace “test.homeip.net,PASTE_HASH_HERE” with your host and domain you have configured with ZoneEdit, ex. myhost.mydomain.com

Replace “default@freedns.afraid.org” with “default@zoneedit.com”

Add “–username myzoneeditname –password myzoneeditpassword” Place this entry right after “–update_period 60000”

Change “E:FULL_PATH_TO_INADYNinadyninadyn.exe” to the location of inadyn.exe, ex. C:Program FilesZoneEditwin32inadyn.exe

Save this, then double click on it to load these values into your registry.

You will then need to click on “install_inadyn_service”

Go to ControlPanel/AdministrativeTools/Services/inadyn and START the service. Also make sure that the startup mode is ‘automatic’.

Then check the log to see if it worked here: C:WINDOWSsystem32inadyn_srv.log

Here is an example of my “configure_inadyn_service_freedns” file (minus the sensitive information 🙂

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesinadynParameters]
“Application”=”C:Program FilesZoneEditwin32inadyn.exe”
“AppParameters”=”–dyndns_system default@zoneedit.com –background –update_period 60000 –username dholden –password xxxxxx –alias hhhhhh.jellylog.net –log_file inadyn_srv.log”

The official support forum for Inadyn is inaccessible.

I have a copy of Inadyn configured and ready to rock (see README.txt) here.