So, I went to Digital Mall to get an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR). I find that most AVR came with surge protection. At most, the AVR will get spoiled and replacing an AVR only costs me RM50.00. Replacing power supplies, modems and motherboards costs much more!

The normal rating for AVR is at 800A. Looking at it, what is the ampere of a lightning? According to Wikipedia, an average one could go up to 30 kiloamperes (kA)!

What is 800A compared to 30kA?! So, the salesperson recommended me to use Belkin SurgeMaster Surge Protector which claims to protect up to 45kA (or higher, depending on model). It also came with insurance for your equipments connected to power through the Surge Protector.

There are a few models, I get the one that protects up to 45ka with maximum RM10,000 insurance. The price is at around RM150 only. Much cheaper than motherboards!

Consider getting one for yourself!

After a few hours, the machine began to slow down untill it hanged. After trying out every possible buttons and the system is still not responding, we have no choice but to press and hold the power button to shut it down.

The next time it started up, some of the Windows Vista system files got corrupted. So, the fastest recovery way would be to use Dell System Restore. I was surprised that the first few search results were not Dell Support pages (just like when we search for Windows problem, we normally don't get Microsoft support pages). Most of the pages asked me to press Ctrl + F11 when the system boots up to initiate Dell System Restore.

I failed to initiate the System Restore until I read it at yorkspace.com that I should press F8 if I'm using Windows Vista. The steps after that were very straight forward. A full guide taken from Dell Support page (which I found later) is as follows:

1. Restart the computer.
2. Tap <F8> during startup until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears. If the Windows Advanced Options menu does not appear, restart the computer, and try again.
3. Press the <Down Arrow> until Repair Your Computer is highlighted, and press <Enter>.
4. In the System Recovery Options window, log in as a user with administrative rights, and click OK.
5. In the Windows Vista Recovery Environment, click to select your language, and click Next.
6. Click System Restore.
7. In the System Restore window, click Next to display the most recent restore points in chronological order.
8. Click the Show restore points older than 5 days check box for a complete listing of restore points.
9. Click to select a restore point.
   A good starting point is to attempt to restore from the most recent restore point. If this fails to correct the problem, then try the next oldest restore point until the issue is resolved. Any software installed after the selected restore point needs to be reinstalled.
10. Click Next and then Finish.

Though I successfully recovered the system, it did not go well the second time. The machine lasted for a few hours for me to reinstall everything, it slowed down and not responding again. I'll get Dell engineers to check up the system.

I am very sure that I have installed splitter on the telephone line that modem is connecting. I think that would be sufficient and a phone from a different wall socket does not need a splitter. Although I know there is an answer for it but I was too lazy to find out, so I convinced him to live with it.

Until very recently, during my window shopping at Low Yat Plaza (local IT hardware hub) I saw a shop selling splitter Aztech DSL phone splitter (PS200) for only RM15 (USD 4). I think I could get one and try to install it on the second wall socket to see if it could fix the noise problem.

After trying it out, the noise is gone. If you encounter something like this, make sure you get a second splitter.

Installing the webcam, with its driver, takes only a few minutes. Next, I proceed to install mic. Here are the steps to make sure that the mic is working:

1. Go to Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices.
2. Select Voice tab. Click 'Test hardware' button.
3. Follow the steps on screen.

As I test the mic, I can't hear my voice at all, unless I blow very hard towards the mic. Fiddling with the volume control does not help at all. Then, I found out that the microphone boost was not turn on. To turn it on:

1. In the Sound and Audio Devices control panel, go back to the first tab 'Volume'.
2. Click the 'Advanced...' button in the 'Device volume' box.
3. By default, Mic volume is not shown. Go to menu Options > Properties. Tick 'Mic volume' then click OK.
4. Go to menu Options > Advanced Controls to show 'Advanced' button below 'Mic volume'.
5. Tick 'Microphone Boost' then 'Close'.

In normal case, you should be able to hear your mic working by now.

However, I'm not that lucky. I hear a very high pitch sound coming from the computer speaker once I click on the 'Microphone Boost'. I had to instantly untick it to keep my ear working. Search in the web did not help. I'm certainly not expert in this but finally I don't get the high pitch sound after I reduce bass volume of the speaker.

Then, retested the mic. Installed Skype. Done!

Everything was OK until one day, the few-month-old dongle stopped working and I sent it to MSI for warranty. After a few weeks, when I got it back, I notice that the dongle is not the same one I sent to them. They said it is normal for them to replace with a different one. I accept it although the replacement unit looks dirty and fully scratched.

I believe the new one should be working and it stayed at my desk for weeks until few days ago, I formatted my PC and I plan to reinstall the bluetooth software.

I tried to install from CD and download the latest drivers from MSI website but with no sucess. I keep getting responses such as "Bluetooth devices not found" or probably "Bluetooth license check fail".

After spending a lot of time looking at this, I found that this is an issue with WIDCOMM drivers (MSI is using WIDCOMM's driver) that lots of people are facing. I think I don't have the correct license file for the replacement unit I've gotten. And, the link that MSI gave me to obtain license file is not working anymore!

I thought I'll have to throw the stupid dongle away until I found a forum thread that solves the problem. Here's how I solve it:

1. Download WIDCOMM driver with license patcher. (Hopefully this link lasts)
2. Run the license patcher and save the license file to replace the license.dat in the installation folder.
3. Install the driver like how you would normally install a driver.
4. Press 'Cancel' the skip device detection during the installation process, if the installer failed to detect it.

My bluetooth is working after that. For details, please refer to GSM-FORUM. Some of the users had other problems such as windows driver issues. I'm sure you can solve your problem if you read the whole thread.

Although it might illegal to use license patcher, but I guess that's the only option that I have. Hope it works for you too.

As expected, AMD rings in the next round of the processor price battle with Intel. In an effort to remain competitive, the company today slashed the prices of all desktop processors. In the strategically important field of socket AM2 CPUs, the drop averaged 47% - which may not be enough to retain overall price/performance leadership, according to TG Daily findings.

It would be interesting to keep this price war going. And we, the comsumer will be the main beneficiary. However, I do hope that the quality don't go down like the price.

For a full story with price list, go here: AMD drops desktop processor prices by 47%

In another story, AMD has finally announced that they are buying ATI, after such a long rumour. Read AMD's press release for details: AMD and ATI to Create Processing Powerhouse

Because flash drives, also known as solid state drives, don't have any moving parts, they’re faster, quieter, more efficient and more reliable than hard drives, which read and write data via a movable arm and a spinning magnetic disc.

This is extremely useful especially when you are constantly moving person with your laptop. However, at the moment, to use the technology as a replacement for hard disk is still a very expensive solution. Hybrid flash drives will be the coming up trend while the price of flash drive drops.

Forbes writes on this issue in their "Fast. Quiet. Expensive." article.physical address ameriloan$350 teletrack no loans paydayamatorize loansammortize a loanloans 500 auto in fiko texasloan accornunion bank allegacy credit loan allegacybellevue wa aames home loansloans adminastratoractive loans duity

Customers of Intel Corp. said the world's biggest computer-chip maker plans to reduce prices on Pentium processors by as much as 60 percent to reclaim market share from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

I'm surprised to hear this, but I'm very pleased to have even cheaper PCs. Good move!

Although AMD is doing well in recent years, I never really like them.

Additional information: AMD increased its market share of the overall x86 chip market to 21.4% versus Intel’s 76.9% as of the end of 2005.

(via LifeHacker)

UPDATE: Due to lack of space, I had removed the page file to add 700MB of disk space. Before I did that, I can't even install MSN Messenger! Hopefully my 512MB of SDRAM is sufficient for all the operations of the machine.