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When you turn in your computer to a computer store for repair service, have you ever wonder who could have access to your data? Are you 100% trusting the computer technician that he/she would not scan through your hard drives for sensitive data? It is a fact that there is a small number of computer technicians who are too interested in looking through your data. Otherwise, the Hong Kong singer Edison Chen scandal wouldn’t happen. (If you don’t know what happened, you can Google for “Edison Chen”.) So what can you do to make sure your data are not being looked through or stolen when turning your computer in for service?

When troubleshooting most of the computer problems, only the drive that contains the operating system is needed. The user files are not needed unless the problem is related to some of the user files such as data recovery or virus removal. Hence, all you need to give to the computer technician is the hardware and the drive with the OS. The best solution is to store the OS and the user files separately on two physical hard drives.

For the average user, a 80GB hard drive is more than enough to store the OS and the program files. You can then get a hard drive of any size you want just for storing the user files. When you turn in your computer for service, you can take the hard drive out before handing over your computer. For more convenience, you can get a hard drive drawer (mobile rack) thats usually cost $20 - $30 CAD. With the drawer, it saves you the time to open up the computer case and loosen the screws.

If you are using a notebook, then I suggest you to keep all your user files in one folder and add a password to protect this folder. There are a number of programs that will provide password protection. When a folder is password protected, people are usually lazy to crack it. Unfortunately, there is still a chance of your data being stolen.

I just got myself a new laptop a few days ago and was busy transferring my data from my old system to this new one. It was time to retire the old one as I have been using it for 3 years. The new laptop is the MSI S262 Mega Book in black. I picked this laptop because of its size (12.1″ comparing to 15.1″ of my previous one) and at the same time it is only $700 as I got it from my supplier. I want to be able to blog anywhere so 12″ size is perfect for me. The retail price should be around $899 CAD with Windows Vista Premium pre-installed. The following is the specification:

• Intel Pentium Dual Core T2080 1.73Ghz processor
• 1GB DDR2 memory
• 120GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive
• Intel 945GM + ICH7-M chipset
• 12.1″ WXGA super glare TFT display
• Dual layer capable DVD burner
• Gigabit LAN and modem
• 4-in-1 card reader
• 802.11G wireless
• Bluetooth
• 3 x USB ports, 1 x VGA, 1 x Express Card slot
• Li-Ion 8 cells battery
• MSI 12″ carrying case included

What’s Working

I bought this MSI S262 Mega Book without the operating system as I was going to install Ubuntu Linux on it. I am very surprise with its compatibility with Ubuntu 7.10. A lot of the built-in functions are working in Ubuntu without the need of entering commands, including the graphic card, wireless G, and gigabit LAN. More importantly, it is able to suspend and hibernate in Ubuntu and can wake up successfully. Desktop 3D effects worked like a charm without the need to install extra drivers. The hot buttons (email, web browser, wireless, except for the search button) worked out of the box.

What’s Not Working

Unfortunately, the card reader doesn’t seem to be detected and I didn’t have an Express Card to test. I will need to do some research to see if there are ways to get them working. Also, the speakers are not up to par as I can here the buzz noise when turning the volume over 80%. (But sound is not that important to me as I have it muted most of the time.)

The general performance of this laptop is better than I expected. The 3D desktop effects are very smooth even though it is only Intel’s on-board graphic. I have also setup Virtualbox to run Windows XP as a guest machine. Everything in the guest OS is running faster than my old Pentium M 1.6Ghz laptop. The responsiveness is much better.

I will keep you updated after I have experienced more on my new laptop. Hopefully I can get the card reader working too.

A lot of modern sound cards, whether they are on-board or stand alone, support jack sensing. When you plug-in your speaker to a specific audio port on the back of your computer, the software driver will detect it and automatically enable that port. However, a lot of the front audio panels on those inexpensive computer cases do not support jack sensing. When you plug in your speaker or headphone to the audio jack at the front of your PC, the software driver may not be able to detect it and therefore you will hear any sound from it. You will need to disable the jack sensing feature for the front panel jack in order to hear any sound from it.

If you are using the Realtek audio chip and have installed Realtek’s Audio Manager, then here is how you can disable jack sensing for your front panel audio jack.

1. Double click on the Realtek Audio Manager icon from the task bar next to the clock.
2. In the Realtek Audio Manager, click on the “connector settings” icon (the yellow folder on the right).
3. Check the box next to “Disable front panel jack detection” option.
4. Click “OK” to save the setting.

You should now be able to hear sound from the front audio jack. If you are still not hearing anything, then you should check on the wiring inside your PC as the front panel cables may not be connected to your motherboard or sound card correctly.

One of my technicians was going to replace a motherboard for a computer. However, when he was pulling out the CPU heatsink fan from the old motherboard, he pulled out the CPU along with it. The CPU was stuck to the heatsink so badly by the dried thermal paste. We were lucky none of the pins of the CPU was damaged. Now we need to separate the CPU from the heatsink.

To separate the CPU from the heatsink, you need to heat it up so that the thermal paste is softened again. The tool we are using is a hair dryer. Set the hair dryer to the highest speed and blow directly on the heatsink for 10 minutes. After that, you should be able to push the CPU from the side until it is lose from the heatsink.

Caution: Handle the CPU with care, do not bend any of the pins. Also, the heatsink can get very hot after blowing it with the hair dryer for some time. You should hold on the plastic fan instead.

A couple days ago, I was replacing the motherboard for a customer’s computer because the one he had was dead. The system couldn’t even POST with the original motherboard. Because my customer didn’t want to reinstall Windows (this often happens when replacing the motherboard), so I found him a new board that is using a similar chipset as the original motherboard. The one he had was Intel’s 945GZ. However, I could only find him a 945GC motherboard. The two chipsets are very similar so I expected the Windows to be working after the replacement.

Unknown Audio Device

The system was able to boot into Windows after the change of motherboard. I was able to install the Intel chipset drivers, including the driver for Intel GMA 950. Everything seems to be functioning well except for the audio. When I tried to install the Realtek HD audio drivers, it gave me a “driver installation failed” message. When looking into Device Manager, there was an unknown device under “sound, video and game controllers”. I could neither remove it nor update its driver. The only thing I could do is disabling it. I was thinking whether there are conflicts between the old motherboard and the new one.

Solution

After Googling about the problem and testing different suggested solutions, it came to be an easy fix. In order to install the Realtek HD audio drivers, I had to first uninstall the “Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio” device under System Devices in Device Manager. After this, I was able to install the Realtek driver without problem. Reboot the computer and everything was detected and installed properly.