Laptop Revived

Well the laptop arrived back 2 days ago after some more through tests I can confirm that the new video card is working fine.

Unfortunately I do feel like I can't endorse Dell anymore 2 times failure is now a pattern. I've ordered some thermal gap fillers from the other side of the world these are the same ones that go over some laptop IC components in order to dissipate heat. I'm hoping I can replace my current pads with these ones which are suppose to perform better.

When these pads arrive I will also put a new layer of OCZ freeze on which is generally 5 degrees better than my current Xigmatek brand thermal compound.

I also have another GPU I'm bidding on with a dual slot cooler provided the bidding doesn't get out of hand this will become my primary while the current card becomes the spare.

Laptop Video Dead

It would appear that after my recent laptop video replaced under warrenty this new one also died.

I'm starting to suspect nVidia QA issues with my GeForce Go 7900 GS as well. What's strange is both GPU cards died from a vram related issue. I suspect that the cooling pads for the vram are not sufficient to cool down the chips. Unfortunately I don't really see a way of correcting this issue.

Perhaps with my next unit I will put better thermal compound between the GPU core and the heat shield but I doubt that will fix the issue because the ram chips are the ones that are dying no doubt due to thermal expansion and contraction of the solder joints.

if you have a Dell Inspiron 9400/e1705 with an nVidia or ATI graphics card and suddenly get a BSOD with a NMI: Memory Parity/Check error, you can be pretty sure your video card is starting to go bad and the memory in question is vram.

For my next mod once the video card is back I will try and replace the thermal pads with a solid aluminum block along with buffing the surface to hopefully improve the thermals just enough to prevent another premature failure. Failing that my only solution is to continue buying new video cards off ebay as they are a "hot" item (excuse the pun) for this model of laptop.

SpeedStream 4200 Cooling MOD

After having the SpeedStream4200 around for about 2 weeks I decided that the tiny diminutive DSL modem has serious cooling issues. Under normal conditions when it's allowed to lie flat on the table the bottom will get too hot to touch.

 

The problem became more serious when the modem was taken apart, the main processor on the board was hot enough to give you a burn.

 

Although I have no doubt the modem is operating within operating ranges it's still inexcusable how sometimes a simple heatsink that would've cost less than a dollar would've remedied the situation and greatly reduced the number of these modems that have been known to fail.

An easy fix for those of you DIY'ers is to take some aluminum thermal duct tape and to fold your own semi-pro looking heat sink.

 

 

Remember the trick when trying to create your own is to start with an accordion fold. The higher you can get the cooling fins the better your cooling will be. The denser you can pack them together likewise will help as well. Passive cooling is a function of surface area so when designing your heat sink try and maximize that. Although I haven't done it another good idea is to mount a cooling fan nearby to encourage airflow over the chip.

I hope in the future manufacturers won't take shortcuts after an hour of testing temperatures appear to be dramatically reduced.

Source Dedicated Server On Linux

Here's a quick guide to how to get any server up and running on linux from scratch.

1. Go to the steam website and download the "hldsupdatetool.bin"


2. Make a new directory for your steam install mkdir steam


3. hldsupdatetool.bin is actually a self extracting executable it extracts the executable steam into your new directory


4. Now you need to execute steam auto-update to grab the binary files
   ./steam -command update -game [gamename] -dir [installdir]
   
   The [gamename] can be:
   
   
   
   • tf: Team Fortress 2
   
   
   • l4d_full: Left4Dead
   
   
   • esmod: Eternal Silence
   
   
   
   The [installdir] is where you want it to put the game for modular installs you should place sub directory so each game will live in it's own directory.
   
   Example:
   ./steam -command update -game l4d_full -dir .
   
   


5. To run your server you navigate to your server directory and execute the following command
   ./srcds_run -autoupdate -game left4dead +maxplayers 4

Have fun!

Overtime

This seems to be the week that everyone works overtime. Me I'm starting my T.A. stint for the year and everyone else I know is in hyper busy mode. I hope that this rough spot subsides.

Back For The Holidays

Well back with the family for the holidays. Toronto is pretty snowed in right now although most of the snow is oddly less slippery than the snow in Hamilton. I do hope at some time they clean up my street in Hamilton so the return trip would be safer.

Pictures From My Trip

One thing I wasn’t able to do yet is post up all the pictures form my trip to Seattle. Well I finally got off my lazy bum and here they are.

 

Day One

Every big trip like this starts with an overly excited mother. I love my mom she’s so full over energy even at her old age.

If it looks like I’m going nuts that’s because it’s actually 3am in the morning and my flight leaves at 5am. Having to stay up all night with no entertainment or exams is a trying experience.

We leave Toronto at night before the sun comes up, first destination is the Detroit transfer station.

It always makes me proud to be an engineer to see aircraft take off, with over several million parts they are arguably the most complex and mission critical machines with many lives depending on them each flight.

No trip is complete without a windows error screen at the departure gate. Luckily our flight was on the other screens otherwise we would’ve had to go to the other end of the terminal to find a working screen that didn’t have an obvious windows crash.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures form the flight to Seattle my camera died and there was no way to change the batteries in flight. This is a picture of me after I arrived in Bellevue.

Bellevue is like a smaller Hamilton it has a large mall that feels scarily like Limeridge.

In Canada we’re somewhat health obsessed, this isn’t the case apparently for the US. Fat is to be praised and to be displayed in bright neon signs!

 

Day Three

 

We visited some of the natural sites around the area here is Snoqualmie falls it looks like it came out of a post card.

Of course the mandatory proof that you were here Photos.

We did most of our touring via taxi since we didn’t know where things were. Had this not been subsidized it would’ve been a enormous bill.

One of our first official tourist location was the aircraft museum here is what the entrance gate looks like.

Well you don’t see this everyday!

 

 

They even let you test drive one… Hey dealer, we’ll take two.

 

They really like BIG in the US this is just one example of a bridge in their museum.

 

By far one of the most impressive aircraft was the retired Concorde it’s a shame everyone couldn’t take a ride at mach 2.

The Concorde was so massive that there was no way I could get a full frame photo of it.

 

 

The museum of flight also had an retired Air Force One Jet. The president really does travel large.

 

I attempted to get my mom into the mood but she refused to “float” like me. Yes I didn’t realize I was making a goofy face, no I wasn’t dying from a depressurization.

 

Day Four

 

 

The next day was spent in Seattle, it is truly a beautiful city.

 

Day Five

The next day started a bit different we had a tour booked at the Boeing aircraft assembly plant. Truly an amazing building the Boeing assembly plant is the Guinness book of records for the largest building in the world. The building is so large in fact that before they hand a full ventilation system rain clouds would form inside the building.

One of the extremely large Rolls Royce turbo fans.

 

 

The tour was followed up by some food in Downtown Seattle by the sea port. We opted to go to this restaurant called the crab pot. It was quite peculiar our server gave us a wooden cutting board and proceeded to call it our “plate” and gave us a mallet calling it our “utensils”. Later on when the meal was ready there was no plates to be found the entire cook very fresh (the boat unloads here) seafood is just dumped on your table without even a bowl. This is truly an experience I’d recommend it to everyone.

Seattle was the birth place of Starbucks, believe it or not the original mermaid was much fatter. She apparently had to go on a diet to seem presentable to the rest of the world.

 

The famous Seattle market is truly a sight, it’s hard to explain what’s it’s like here but you will find the strangest of shops.

 

Day Six

We decided that we should see what it was like to live in the area so day six was spent exploring nature.

 

 

 

Day Seven

 

Alas all good things must come to an end. I had my week in Seattle and now it’s finally time to leave.

 

The wings of modern aircraft are amazing pieces. Also amazing is the Rockies in the distance. Much cooler than our bland background.

 

 

That concludes my trip as you all know I’m back at McMaster now.