Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by SFX

Tyre Shop In Penang

SFX — Sat, 07 May 2022 10:58:46 +0800

I'm looking for a tyre shop in Penang (either mainland or island is fine) to do my car's wheel alignment and balancing.

Requirement:
1. A specialised shop who do such work and doesn't mind taking time to do them.
2. Cost is not an issue. I would rather choose a shop who charge me an appropriate price for wheel services rather than looking at a cheap price only.

Budget headphone recommendation

SFX — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:10:04 +0800

I really have no choice but to create a new topic because I asked for a recommendation of headphone at the pinned topic and another topic called ~~Budget Earphones/Headphones~~, yet, nobody answer my question. Someone who post later than me in the pinned topic get their answer but after 3 days me posting, nobody answer mine. Hopefully I can get at least some reply this time round.

I'm looking for a headphone, not earphone, for my usage. New user here who never use a headphone before, only using iPod stock earphone.

Application: Listen to music, FLAC file format. Genre mostly pop. A bit of rock. Web chat via instant messaging. Note: A mic is optional for the web chat. The headphone will be plugged into the on board audio of my laptop.

Budget: GBP 50 and below (i.e. MYR 300 at the exchange rate of GBP 1 = MYR 6, being a bit more conservative). Planning to get it from Amazon UK.

Brand: Any brand should be fine, e.g. Sony, Sennheiser, Philips, Bose etc.

Generally, I only need a value headphone with reasonable balance between bass and treble. Also, it must be comfortable over long period of use. Gold plated connector is preferable.

If you are recommending one, please state what are the pros and cons of that particular headphone (I appreciate for those who actually own that particular recommended headphone and speak out from their own experience).

Thanks in advance.

External harddisk enclosure

SFX — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:46:41 +0800

I'm looking for an external harddisk enclosure that meet the following requirements:

The harddisk is 2.5", SATA interface, 320GB
The enclosure's interface must support eSATA interface because my laptop support eSATA connection.
USB interface is a no no for me ,i.e. connecting the enclosure to the laptop via USB cable. (It's optional but I prefer eSATA over USB connection).
The power supply to the enclosure must not from the laptop but must be from the main, i.e. a direct power supply from the mains (wall socket) to the external harddisk enclosure. I don't want the laptop to supply the power via the cables.

What I have in my mind currently is the Cooler Master X Craft 250 but I'm not quite sure if this enclosure meets requirement no. 4. Any other suggestion on the enclosure?

Thank you.

Finding correct drivers

SFX — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:15:45 +0800

I've seen a lot of people asking for the appropriate drivers for Windows XP when they reinstall their system (mostly brand new laptop) that came preinstalled with Windows Vista. This is problematic when they went to the laptop manufacturer's website and can't find the appropriate drivers or they found the driver for Windows XP but refuses to install.

So, I've made up this guide for those who want to find the appropriate drivers for Windows XP. Otherwise, just get along with Windows Vista. What's wrong with using Vista instead of XP?

Enough with the crap. Lets move on with the guide. The basic idea of getting the correct drivers is based on Hardware Ids.

1. Before finding the drivers

Go to the laptop manufacturer's website and obtain the complete specification for your laptop model. This is important as you will need to have a rough idea of who is the manufacturer of some parts inside the laptop. Alternatively, download Everest and let it scan your system.
QUOTE(Side note:)
Everest can give you the manufacturer's website to a particular component but it directs to the main support website instead to the specific driver for your laptop and you are back to square one.

2. Obtaining Hardware Ids

Go to Start -> Run. Type in devmgmt.msc. Click OK. Device Manager will pop out.
Expand one of the tree menu as shown and select the item. Right click on it and select Properties. Below is an image guide Note: In some cases, you might see an icon with an exclamation mark on it. It indicates that it doesn't have proper driver for that specific hardware.
A new window will pop out. Select Details tab. Under the drop down box, select Hardware Ids. Click on the first entry. Press Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy the string. Alternatively, write it down on a piece of paper. Below is an image guide
Open up Notepad (or any other prefered text editor) and paste the string. Delete the text after & at the end of the line. Make some note of what does the string stands for (if known). Save it as you will need it later on. Below is an image guide
Repeat step 2 - 4 for all the devices that needs driver. Note: Laptop monitor usually doesn't have a specific driver for it. So, don't bother searching for it.

3. Searching for drivers
Open up a web browser and fire up a search engine (eg Google). Copy the string of Hardware Ids into the search box and search for the drivers.
Note: It might take some skill to actually find the correct drivers and thats where the comphrensive description of the parts that made up the laptop comes handy. At least, you know what is inside the system and have a rough idea of who is the parts manufacturer and the search results will normally give you the correct drivers.

After searching for drivers, download it.

Sometimes, the search of drivers using Hardware Ids doesn't yield any results at all or might be very limited. If that is the case, the comphrensive description of the specification of the laptop comes handy. Search for the drivers by putting the name of the component into the search engine eg. Realtek RTL8168 drivers for Windows XP.

4. Verifying drivers
After searching for the drivers and downloaded them, its verification time. The driver itself could come in various format such as exe or zip file.

4.1 For exe file, sometimes, the file itself can be opened and extracted using WinRAR. If done using this method, it is best to follow the instruction in section 4.2. Otherwise, if the file cannot be opened using WinRAR and displaying individual files or you are lazy, skip section 4.2 and proceed with section 5.1.

4.2 For zip file (or any other archiver file eg rar, 7z), follow the instructions below:

Extract the content of the zip file to a folder (any folder will do).
Navigate into the folder containing extracted files. You will see some files with inf (Setup Information) extension
QUOTE(Can't see file extension?)
Go to Folder Option. Select View tab. Untick Hide Extension for known file types box. Apply and OK.
Double click on that file to open it using text editor. Note: The first few line of the inf file contain some vital information. It is important to check the file version date Below is an image guide.
Open up the text that contain the Hardware Ids obtained from Obtaining Hardware Ids step. Copy the string of Hardware Ids (without REV_01 or similar). In the inf file opened, press Ctrl + F to open up the Find dialog box. Paste the string of Hardware Ids and click Find Next. Below is an image guide.
Two possible outcomes:
- If there is a match, you will see something as shown in above image. If that is the case, then congratulations, you found the correct driver.
- If there is no match, open up another inf file and repeat step 2-3. If there is still no match, then you have to search for the correct driver again on the internet.

5. Installing drivers
5.1 If the file is in the form of exe file, install it by double clicking the file and follow the installation. If the driver aborts itself, then you have to find the driver all over again on the internet OR follow the step in section 4.1 and then step in section 5.2.

5.2 For compressed files (eg zip, rar, 7z)

Open up Device Manager. Select the properties of the hardware that you want to install the driver with. Select Driver tab. Select Update driver... button. A new window will pop out. Below is an image guide
Select No, not this time. Click Next >.
Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced). Click Next >.
Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install. Click Next >.
Click Have Disk.... In a new dialog box that pops out, click Browse.... Navigate to the folder that have the extracted driver files. Select the inf file that contains the Hardware Ids that matches (as have been done in section 4.2). Click OK.
Click OK and click Next > to install the driver.

6. Testing
By now, you should have a working driver for Windows XP. Test the driver. In this example, try it on a Local Area Network to ensure that it works.

Copyright 2009 - 2010 SFX

Integrate SATA AHCI driver into WinXP setup CD

SFX — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:18:36 +0800

I notice that lately in the Technical Support sub-forum, there is a lot of issue dealing with how to install Windows XP on the laptop. Below is a link to a guide on how to integrate a SATA AHCI driver in a Windows XP setup CD. It also works for SATA RAID as well, the difference is to choose the appropriate driver file to be integrated.

Link:
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/TSB85017Z0000R01.htm

The site that I give aims for Toshiba laptops but it should work for all other brands as well. It is a very complete and detailed instruction with step-by-step image guide included.

***IMPORTANT***
You must know very well about your laptop brand and complete specification. If you don't know, please Google it up to obtain the specification especially the chipset used as it is important for the integration.

EDIT: I used this method as describe by the website and managed to get it working.

Intel P45 based motherboard

SFX — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:15:45 +0800

My previous system just KO and I can't find a socket 939 motherboard for replacement. Therefore, I'm forced to build a new system. It only needs a new CPU, motherboard and memory. All other parts will be retained. Also, the current PSU rating is 480W which is sufficient. Graphic card is ASUS EN7950GT (NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT).

For CPU, I've chosen either Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 or Core 2 Quad Q9400.

As for the memory, I'll take Kingston Value RAM DDR2-800 2GB x 2 (at the moment will still be using 32-bit OS but will definitely upgrade to 64-bit OS soon)

OK, I've come down to 2 motherboard choices which is:

ASUS P5Q Deluxe
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6

The question is, which one has a better reliability? ie in terms of stability and does not overheat easily? Not planning to overclock my system. Not going for any MSI motherboard anymore as I always encounter problems when using them (could be my bad luck).

Portable Audio Recorder

SFX — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:28:05 +0800

Ok, I'm going to UK to further my studies and thinking of getting a portable flash-based audio recorder to record my lectures as I afraid that I might not get accustomed to the English accent there for the first few weeks I'm there.

So, I'm kinda clueless on these things and would like some opinion from forumers who use this kind of devices before.

The criteria for choosing these device is:

Must have a large storage space as I will seldom access the recordings from a PC.
Must be able to playback the recordings directly and clearly.
Must be able to set the audio settings, with a minimum bitrate of 128 kbps (192 kbps preferred) if recording in mp3 format. other format acceptable, eg wav.
Must have a display to monitor time remaining.
Long battery life and must be able to charge directly from a wall socket and not just through the PC.

Any recommendation? Thanks in advance.

Network Attached Storage

SFX — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:37:52 +0800

Ok, I've done some research on NAS but there are something that I need to clear up before buying a NAS storage device as this is the first time I buy such product and I don't want to regret buying it.

My primary purpose of buying a NAS is to store my growing multimedia files. Here is my current setup for my home personal computer:

Two desktop computers. 1 is equipped with onboard 10/100 ethernet port (linked to my network hub) and another PCI 10/100 network card (linked to my modem). The other computer is equipped with onboard Gigabit ethernet (linked to my network hub). All of my PCs are operating at 100Mbps.
One 5 port 10/100 network hub. The two PCs are connected via this hub using Category 5 cable (RJ-45).

I'm planning to buy a NAS and attach it to the hub so that the two PC can access files directly from NAS. The current problem is that I need to switch on both PCs whenever I need a file to be transferred from one PC to the other.

The list of NAS that I've in my mind is:

D-Link DNS-323
Synology DS108j

Any more NAS that you can suggest on other than the above mentioned two?

My questions on NAS:

How does the file access works? I would like the NAS to be access under My Network Place in Windows XP, something like a folder when I use simple file and folder sharing in XP and can access the file directly without downloading the file from NAS to the PC, but does current NAS allows that? In other words, can it be treated as a normal harddisk residing in a system?
What is the file system used in NAS supported? I would prefer it to be formatted in NTFS file system (1st priority but other file system can be considered). The product Synology DS108j stated that it support NTFS for external disk read only. What does that mean? Any user of this product can give a comment about that statement? How about D-Link DNS-323? Any user can give an opinion on D-Link product also?
Will the NAS be able to store a file that is more that 4GB in size? This is because I have files that exceed 4GB per file and certain file system such as FAT32 have this limit.

A good thing about D-Link DNS-323 is that it has 2 drive bays compared to Synology DS108j with only 1 which means that I can add another hdd should the first one is full without buying a bigger hdd and swapping it in Synology DS108j.

But Synology DS108j has more feature compared to D-Link DNS-323.

This is the list of questions so far I can think off. Any other precaution that I need to take care off?

Now, for the harddisk drive part.
As buying a new NAS, I need a new harddisk. Current brand in my mind is Western Digital as I've been using it for all my PCs. So far, so good. Thinking about Seagate also but I never try the brand before. How was it in terms of performance and reliability? My current estimate of using the harddisk is about 3 years.

On the budget side, I haven't think about it yet but should be around RM800+200 for both NAS and harddisk.

EDIT: Where do you recommend to buy at Lowyat? I need a shop that is good in customer service and reasonable price because I'm not from KL.

Windows Vista boxart

SFX — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:10:54 +0800

As u all know that in the latest version of Microsoft Windows Vista, the box cover feature a nice aurora effect.

In case u don't know what i mean, look at these desktop screenshots:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

as u can see in the background, it features nice aurora effect just like in the box cover.

my question is how to create these aurora effect using photoshop? is there any tutorial on this?

Thanks in advance.

creating slide menu

SFX — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:41:53 +0800

Hi, i would like to create a slide menu.

when i hover over an image, the image changes to another image using the onmouseover command. at the same time, i would like it to silde out a menu slowly. here is an attachment where i took from DHTML tutorial website. but i can't understand which part of the script that i need to copy and paste it into my document to make it working. it is possible not to use <div> tag?

the one that i attached will only show the menu when clicking it. i want it to show the menu when i hover over the image. also, the slide menu will go down. how to change it so that the menu will silde to the right/left side?

any optional script that can do the same thing? if possible, can list it down for me?

this script that i'm asking is for my personal interest only. not for any assignment.

thank you in advance.

screen saver password protection

SFX — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:03:12 +0800

hi, i would like to ask if somebody know how to do this trick or not? it is not the same from the display properties under screen saver tab where u put a tick on the box On resume, display Welcome screen.

what i want to do is:
when u startup ur pc and went into the windows, b4 u can do anything by moving the mouse, the screen saver will appear immediately and prompt u for password b4 u can proceed to do anything.

i want to learn this trick again as i forgot how to do it (last time i know how to do it). it involves some registry changes.

any1 know how to do this?