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From: Adam on 18 Sep 2007 20:44 Moe Trin wrote: >> the "random" string ("resx1qxk") is the "official" name of the >> sub-account that created that page, which gives away the email address >> of that subaccount, though not my main account or other subaccounts. > > Does the account have a separate _non-forwarding_ mailbox? Yes. I suppose I could check that account's email every week or two, just in case anyone has anything constructive to say about my web page. So it looks like that part of the problem is solved. Now all I have to do is figure out what to write a web page about, and how to write a web page. Gosh, I'm practically done! :-) >> My "white box" computer had one side of the case drilled for, and >> motherboard connectors for, an 80 mm fan, so I bought one (my one >> purchase on my one trip to a Fry's). After experiments and >> measurements I had it blowing out. > > Where does the air come in from? How does the air flow from where it's > entering to the fans blowing out (the one you added as well as the one > in the power supply)? The power supply fan and the fan on the left side (facing CPU, RAM, PCI slots, etc.) of the case are blowing (fairly cool) air out. I guess the air is coming in through the vent holes on the back (under the power supply) and the holes on both sides of the case. (Also around the edges of the left side of the case, because that's usually just leaning against the side of the box, instead of being thoroughly attached.) Back when I was deciding what to do with the case fan, I did quite a bit of figuring out airflow and measuring and such. I also put a small fan on the bottom front of the case, in front of /dev/hdb, but disconnected it as it didn't seem to be making a difference apart from adding a lot of noise. Is there good software for monitoring CPU and system temperatures, fan speed, and so on? > (Did you notice I didn't make a comment about > Fry's? Actually, that took considerable effort.) What sort of comment were you going to make? I won't be offended if you hate the place. The Fry's nearest to me is around Chicago; my one trip (April 22, 2004) was to either San Diego or San Marcos (San Diego area). I recall a very large selection and average prices. Around here the only brick-and-mortar stores for scanners, RAM, fans, etc. are Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot and Staples. >> I made a small effort to reduce the noise of my current box. The case >> fan and hard drives are mounted with nylon bolts and nuts and rubber >> washers and grommets. > > I've got the extra fans on the home systems making more noise, even > though they are inside a cage made from the furnace air filters. I did > use rubber spacers to try to isolate the fan, but most of the noise > was from the fan blades. Also, to both improve air flow and reduce noise, hdb is suspended below hda, instead of filling up the bay between hda and fd0. This way both hda and hdb have about two inches above and below them for air circulation, heat dissipation, or whatever. That was my own idea. >> with the flaky 512MB DIMM in slot 2, the errors started at address: >> >> total RAM installed - RAM used for video - 44M > > 44 Megs isn't a binary number, so that's not likely to be an external > lead problem (I was thinking of that as a possibility). I thought of that too. Also, it was 44M whether I allocated 32M or 64M for video. >> added "mem=1428M" to /boot/grub/menu.lst > > Sounds like time to replace it. Yes, but I don't think it's urgent yet. When I can get another 1G of 266/333 MHz DDR SDRAM for $40, I'll do it. The 1G I just bought was $60 US and that was on sale. >> See my message to Robert, where I show that the simplest way to >> connect two RJ-11 plugs results in a crossover cable. > > That's not a cross-over cable. That's a manufacturering failure. Cross > over cables should reverse the wires of the individual pair, not swap > the pairs themselves. No, I think that IS a crossover cable. Here's my ASCII art again: pin 2 black ------------------------------ black pin 5 pin 3 red -------------------------------- red pin 4 pin 4 green ------------------------------ green pin 3 pin 5 yellow ----------------------------- yellow pin 2 Pins 3 and 4 are swapped (line 1 tip and ring), and pins 2 and 5 are swapped (line 2 tip and ring). > As for the simplest way to make the cable, > why not turn over one of the connectors - you mention orientation by > which way the metal blades fit, so try looking what results when one > is "up" and the other is "down". You should get pin-to-pin. Yes, if I have to make my own modular cables, I'll do that. That "drawing" was my guess at how a cheap and/or sloppy manufacturer would do it. I gather I might just as well leave things the way they are, with the DSL modem/router, answering machine, and some of the phones having reversed polarity, instead of adding more cables and connectors and potential sources of noise to straighten things out. Adam
From: Adam on 20 Sep 2007 19:53 Moe Trin wrote: >> I suppose I could check that account's email every week or two, >> just in case anyone has anything constructive to say about my web page. > > It should also be relatively simple to set up a script to pull mail for > that account automatically, and run anything through a relatively harsh > spam filter. Yes, once I actually have a web page up there. I'm trying to think of a catchy userid/name for the page, something nearly unique but memorable. I found one web page that had a way to cut down address harvesting -- he had his email address as a graphic. Meant that I couldn't just click on a "mailto:" link, but I guess every little bit of spam reduction helps. >> the left side of the case, because that's usually just leaning >> against the side of the box, instead of being thoroughly attached.) > > Any particular reason? Yeah, every once in a while I have to reseat one of the IDE cables. Another thing on my list of problems to be worked on RSN. > Don't know exactly what your layout looks like, but I've typically got > several cards installed, and I like to have air flowing between the > cards if at all possible. This is a tower case, but the only card installed (besides the RAM, of course) is a little unused winmodem at the very bottom. Everything else is integrated into the motherboard. Should be plenty of room for airflow. >> Is there good software for monitoring CPU and system temperatures, fan >> speed, and so on? > > That would be 'lm_sensors', but a lot of that is depending on how the > motherboard manufacturer located the sensors. I've used both an iron > constantan thermocouple, and small glass or epoxy encapsulated > thermistors to actually measure temperatures in various places in the > case. Optimum airflow is VERY case/layout dependent. Great! Exactly what I was looking for. I installed it with the defaults and added it to cron.hourly. [adam(a)ozymandias ~]$ uptime 19:48:51 up 2:10, 0 users, load average: 1.50, 1.56, 1.51 [adam(a)ozymandias ~]$ sensors it87-isa-0290 Adapter: ISA adapter VCore 1: +1.68 V (min = +1.42 V, max = +1.57 V) ALARM VCore 2: +1.81 V (min = +2.40 V, max = +2.61 V) ALARM +3.3V: +3.25 V (min = +3.14 V, max = +3.47 V) +5V: +4.97 V (min = +4.76 V, max = +5.24 V) +12V: +11.78 V (min = +11.39 V, max = +12.61 V) -12V: -8.22 V (min = -12.63 V, max = -11.41 V) ALARM -5V: -0.82 V (min = -5.26 V, max = -4.77 V) ALARM Stdby: +3.04 V (min = +4.76 V, max = +5.24 V) ALARM VBat: +2.03 V fan1: 3308 RPM (min = 0 RPM, div = 8) fan2: 4821 RPM (min = 3013 RPM, div = 8) fan3: 0 RPM (min = 3000 RPM, div = 2) ALARM M/B Temp: +46�C (low = +15�C, high = +40�C) sensor = thermistor CPU Temp: +35�C (low = +15�C, high = +45�C) sensor = diode Temp3: +0�C (low = +15�C, high = +45�C) sensor = disabled Now some of those measurements HAVE to be wrong! Also, I think it has the two temperature sensors reversed -- the hotter one is the CPU. >>> Fry's > > They tend to have lots of stuff, but suffer from poorly trained staff, With computer-related purchases at any store, I just avoid the staff entirely and bring my choice to the checkout, like the RAM I just bought. My parents want to buy a computer with handholding and in-person after-the-sale support and are willing to pay extra for it, but there don't seem to be any computer stores like that any more! All that seems to be out there are megastores where they just give you the specs on components. There doesn't seem to be any place where a customer can say "This is what I want to do" and a salesperson will translate that into technical requirements. >> Around here the only brick-and-mortar stores for scanners, RAM, >> fans, etc. are Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot and Staples. > > That was one of the things I really missed when we moved to Phoenix. I > was used to really cut-throat competition in the Bay Area. I can check the websites for those four stores, and if they don't have what I'm looking for, my only options are computer shows (with merchandise often of questionable quality) which have some of the NYC vendors, or order online. Even the number of ordinary department stores in this area has shrunk to almost nothing, just K-Mart and WalMart. >> Also, it was 44M whether I allocated 32M or 64M for video. > > HUH??? Normally, the video RAM is allocated out of the end, and > changing the VRAM size should move the failure point, UNLESS the > memtest is ignoring the distinction (or it's not being configured > which I doubt since that should be handled as a BIOS setup before > memtest is loaded. Yes, I'm confused too. Yesterday evening I changed the BIOS setting to 8 MB for video RAM. Still froze during boot if I left out the "mem=1428m" in the boot command line. With that back in, booted OK, ran memtest86+ v1.70 all night on the 1G+512M RAM - 8M video = 1528M, and no errors. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong, but at least I know that the problem is in the 512MB DIMM. > I haven't played with telephone wiring in years, but my guess is that > you'd get more noise problems using untwisted pairs than anything else. > The last cables I built (to show you how long ago, they had the big > 4 pin cube shaped connector, with the pins arranged trapazoidally), > I was using a two twisted pair cable (where the pairs were individually > twisted, and the pairs then laid up in a twist of different length. I've used 4-conductor untwisted "telephone wire," but now (because of this thread) I know better. When Dad and I ran the phone wiring in the mid-70s, we used those 4-pin connectors. Pretty soon I'll replace the remaining ones with modular jacks, to "modernize" their house for eventual sale. Adam
From: Moe Trin on 24 Sep 2007 22:59 On Sun, 23 Sep 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandrake, in article <hhvJi.5965$TH2.3844(a)trndny06>, Adam wrote: >Moe Trin wrote: >Looking at the component side of the motherboard, power supply is top >left. On the motherboard, just below the power supply (1/2" between >them) is the CPU (socket 478) with heat sink and fan, so that fan is >practically blowing into the power supply. Drives are at the right >(front of case), HDs on bottom, CDs on top, 1-2" above/below each. Where does the air go from/to the hard drives? In my case, it's out, because there is an exit around the drive and the case is above ambient pressure. >Support chipset (I'm assuming that's the smaller one with a heat sink) >is below CPU. Both North and South bridge. Yes, the heat sink is a clue that it's a warm chip. >RAM is vertical, just right of power supply and support chipset -- >flaky 512MB is slightly farther from the CPU and power supply. Vertical, as in a chimney? | | | | Support | | R | | Chips | | A | | front --> | | M | | | | | | If it's _possible_ I like to have airflow blowing in the the board at an up angle >The whole setup's been working reliably enough for over three years, >and I don't recall temperatures being much different when it was >relatively new. Well, there is the global warming and all that... ;-) Have a scan at ESR's latest version of the Unix-Hardware-Buyer-HOWTO from last week: 109496 Sep 16 12:14 Unix-Hardware-Buyer-HOWTO >lm_sensors reports: >but I think a lot of these simply have the min-max values incorrect. >The BIOS reported this on one of the setup screens: That's a bit more reasonable, except >VBat: +2.03 V Getting back to the battery thread - the only battery mechanism I can remember in that voltage range is a severely under-charged Lead Acid cell. It's way to high to be a NiCad, Zinc-anything, or Mercury, and way low for Lithium-mumble. >System Temperature 40C/104F >CPU Temperature 33C/91F those look out of whack. >> Do you have access to a reasonably calibrated voltmeter? > >I lost mine in the divorce, The judge gave custody of the voltmeter to the ex??? Wow! ;-) >> I'm assuming you have enough smarts of how to use a meter and not >> short things out, > >Yes, but I'm not sure how to measure a switching power supply because I >know they have to be measured with the power supply connected and under >load. While the system is running under "normal" conditions, stick the leads into the back of the Molex connector CAREFULLY. Yes, it has to be under load - ideally under the exact same load. As you don't have a convenient method of duplicating the load, it's usually a 'go for it' situation. People have also been known to stick 'straight pins' into the insulated wire, though that to me is really beyond last resort. >Nope, no thermometers here -- I always used the ones in the photo lab. Most of the available ones are wildly out of calibration. I was looking at 'outdoor' thermometers recently (in Home Despot), and noted they were indicating +/- 7 degrees from each other. The swimming pool thermometers were even worse. >> There is an lm_sensors-FAQ >Gotta read it. Most of yesterday's research was finding out which CPU >I had (Celeron 1.70GHz, CPUID: 0F13) and what its supply voltages were >supposed to be. Apparently socket 478 provides for many different >voltages depending on pin configuration, so I'll have to assume the >BIOS values are correct. Measuring the CPU voltages is a bear, as about the only way you can do so is to find the right outputs from the voltage regulator (which I forgot to mention - it's going to be warm as well, as it's probably dissipating something significant), or perhaps the filter/bypass caps. >> Does the BIOS have a boot test of memory? > >Yes. It's an AMI BIOS, and at the end of the memory test it gave one >long and three short beeps: > >1 long, 3 short Memory test failure A fault has been >detected in memory above 64KB Wonderful - that's occurring at a cold boot? If so, it's not a temperature problem. >I can't say I'm surprised. Maybe I should just run with the 1G + 128M >until I get another 1G DIMM. If using the 'mem=' boot option is working, I'd go with that, but yeah, this does sound like an excuse to buy more RAM. >> Does the BIOS have options for slowing down access to the 512MB DIMM? > >The BIOS setup includes "BIOS Timing Setting Mode." Choices are Safe, >Normal, Fast, Turbo, Ultra. I left it on the default of Normal. The >512MB DIMM seemed to be working okay until I replaced the other DIMM >(replaced 128M with 1G). I'll try some of the other values. Normal sounds OK to me - you might try a 'Safe' just for giggles. The thing that concerns me is that there aren't that many failure causes that sound plausible. We're down to 'shock' and 'static discharge', and neither is really high on the list. >I think my next steps are: try different RAM speed settings and >different arrangements of DIMMS, locate temperature sensor on >motherboard, and ponder airflow. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with one >problem or two. Sounds good. >I'll mention that to them. I think their current system is likely to >die any day now. Why do you recommend Dell? Mainly they're the best of a poor selection. I've heard lots of stories both ways. The components are at least probably going to work, but they tend to be the cheapest ones that do. But that's common retail practice now. The support _exists_ but most of the tales I've heard are horror stories (but then - few people report "good" news). >A local web host is closing, and everything is practically being given >away. Yesterday I picked up a HP Color Laserjet 5 that probably works >(along with several years' supply of toner) Toner alone is worth the price. If that's really an HP 5, that's a relatively sturdy beast. >an APC Smart-UPS 1500 that might work (and a probably dead battery for >it), Does it have the option of an external battery? The internal batteries are user-replaceable, and _MAY_ be hot-swappable. http://www.apcupsd.org/ >and a few other little things, all for five dollars. Such a deal! >No manuals, of course. You can get manuals from HP and APC. >The printer is a monster -- about two feet in every dimension, and >weighs about 80 pounds. It has both parallel and Ethernet inputs -- >the guy who was there (LUG VP, very knowledgeable) recommended using >the Ethernet connection (I also got a PCI Ethernet card to provide a >port for it) but said that parallel might be easier to get working. Agreed >He said that I'll need an Ethernet crossover cable to connect the >printer to the Ethernet card, but where do I find one? I looked at >Staples but none of the cat5e or cat6 cables said "crossover". Do you have a LAN? Or would this be your first Ethernet? If you have a LAN, use a straight (normal) cable, and plug in to the hub/switch. If no LAN, then a cross-over from your new NIC to the printer is needed. Verify the network speeds though. For 10/100BaseT, I'd use ordinary Cat5 cable, rather than go nuts for 5e or better - the printer is not likely to need it. Hit the HP web sites, and find either a download or method to order the manual - you'll need it. >I don't think I'm completely recovered from helping carry that beast >into my car and then into my home. I hope that you were only supervising - even a two man lift of 80 pounds is outside of limits from your doctor. Old guy
From: Adam on 26 Sep 2007 17:03 Moe Trin wrote: > Where does the air go from/to the hard drives? In my case, it's out, > because there is an exit around the drive and the case is above > ambient pressure. I assume the air around them is pulled out by the fan on the left side of the case, which is only a few inches away. I suppose I could blow smoke into the system to get some idea of airflow, but I don't think that's really a good idea for a computer, unless maybe I use dry ice in water. Also, I'd have to remove the side of the case to watch it, which would ruin the test. > If it's _possible_ I like to have airflow blowing in the the board at > an up angle I suppose I could take the 80mm fan that I attached to the left side of the case, and attach its top two corners to the bottom two fan mounting holes in the case, and somehow point it up somewhat, so it would be blowing air at the general direction of the RAM. I suppose it would be getting air from the vicinity of the HDs, though, so maybe that's not such a great idea. When I added that case fan a few years ago, I measured temperatures (Motherboard Monitor software under Windows, sorry) with it going in both directions, and having it blow out was a little better. It actually didn't make very much difference in either direction, only a few degrees less than no case fan at all. >> The whole setup's been working reliably enough for over three years, >> and I don't recall temperatures being much different when it was >> relatively new. I wonder if we haven't been looking in the wrong direction. Basically everything works correctly except that 512MB DIMM. Is anything really that urgent replacing it (or using "mem=1428M" until then)? > Getting back to the battery thread Both the BIOS and lm_sensors consistently report 3.1V for the battery voltage, and it's one lithium CR2032, so that sounds about right to me. >> System Temperature 40C/104F >> CPU Temperature 33C/91F > > those look out of whack. Yes they do. When I start up a cold system, they're both below 30C, but within seconds both are above 30C, according to the BIOS. Well, I suppose the CPU temp is okay, just the MB temp that's too high. Both the BIOS and lm-sensors show pretty much the same thing, so I assume that's correct, to within a few degrees anyway. Gotta find that temperature sensor on the motherboard. > Measuring the CPU voltages is a bear According to the BIOS, they're all within 2%, so I don't really think that's something I need to look into right now. >> It's an AMI BIOS, and at the end of the memory test it gave one >> long and three short beeps: >> >> 1 long, 3 short Memory test failure A fault has been >> detected in memory above 64KB > > Wonderful - that's occurring at a cold boot? If so, it's not a > temperature problem. No. When the system has only been on for an hour or two, both the BIOS POST and Memtest86+ don't find any problems. When it's been on for several hours, they both find memory problems. But even when the system's cold, it hangs during boot unless I use "mem=1428m", so something is flaky in that memory even when cold. >> The BIOS setup includes "BIOS Timing Setting Mode." Choices are Safe, >> Normal, Fast, Turbo, Ultra. When the system's been on for a few hours, both the BIOS and Memtest86+ find memory problems at all of those settings. BTW Memtest86+ (v1.70) reports L1, L2, and RAM speed, and those settings result in 668, 689, 711, 718, 726 MB/sec for RAM speed respectively. If "Normal" is 100%, then "Safe" is only 3% slower, and "Ultra" is only 5% faster. >> I think my next steps are: try different RAM speed settings and >> different arrangements of DIMMS, locate temperature sensor on >> motherboard, and ponder airflow. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with one >> problem or two. > > Sounds good. Basically, everything works correctly except that 512MB DIMM. I tried different settings for amount of video RAM, and the errors still start at (1G + 512M DIMM) - amount of video RAM - 44M. Memtest86+ seems to test RAM 32 bits at a time, and the error is always 00007700 or some subset of that, and in two separate ranges, the lower one starting at the figure in the previous sentence. Looks like bits 8,9,10 and 12,13,14 are flaky at certain row/column combinations. >> Yesterday I picked up a HP Color Laserjet 5 that probably works >> (along with several years' supply of toner) [snip] >> the guy who was there (LUG VP, very knowledgeable) recommended using >> the Ethernet connection (I also got a PCI Ethernet card to provide a >> port for it) but said that parallel might be easier to get working. > > Agreed I hooked it up to the motherboard's parallel port today, and it installed and printed the test page with no problem at all. It's just slower than I expected. Right now it's printing its own manual (PDF file) and taking about two minutes per page. It should be done by tomorrow. It reminds me of my days at IBM (1988) where I'd submit a print job on one of the mainframes, and pick up the output the next day. Also I don't see an "OFF" switch on it. BTW it was mfd in June '97, has 20M RAM installed, and draws a whopping 10 amps! >> He said that I'll need an Ethernet crossover cable to connect the >> printer to the Ethernet card, but where do I find one? I looked at >> Staples but none of the cat5e or cat6 cables said "crossover". > > Do you have a LAN? Or would this be your first Ethernet? If you have > a LAN, use a straight (normal) cable, and plug in to the hub/switch. > If no LAN, then a cross-over from your new NIC to the printer is needed. > Verify the network speeds though. For 10/100BaseT, I'd use ordinary > Cat5 cable, rather than go nuts for 5e or better - the printer is not > likely to need it. I'm a little confused. No LAN, just the one system, and its built-in Ethernet port is already connected to the DSL modem/router. The RJ-45 jack on the printer (which is an add-in card) is labelled "10BaseT". I gather that if I want to hook it up that way, I should install the "new" NIC card (as eth1?) and run a cable from that to the printer. I just checked the web sites of the local retailers, and they do indeed have things labelled "crossover cables" at prices from $4 to $28. So is that what I should buy? I gather I just have to buy one of those, and install the NIC card. What are the advantages of that over using the parallel port? Would it increase printing speed over its current 0.5 PPM? > Hit the HP web sites, and find either a download > or method to order the manual - you'll need it. Took me a while, but I found it! Free download from HP's web site. Also available for purchase from other vendors. >> an APC Smart-UPS 1500 that might work (and a probably dead battery for >> it), > > Does it have the option of an external battery? The internal batteries > are user-replaceable, and _MAY_ be hot-swappable. http://www.apcupsd.org/ Found downloadable manual for that, too. I don't think it can use an external battery, and it looks like a replacement internal battery will set me back at least $80. Time to check eBay. I see it has serial and USB ports on the back. Is that to notify the system that power's going down? (Sorry, I know almost nothing about UPSs.) Apparently the UPS originally came with software, which of course I don't have. Will I need to search for that too, or does Mandriva have something included? My motherboard's one serial port is used by the faxmodem, but I have some USB ports free. Will a standard USB A-B cable be sufficient? >> and a few other little things, all for five dollars. > > Such a deal! Thanks! One of the benefits of being an active LUG member, I guess. And also of showing up to get the stuff a day before everybody else. Adam
From: Unruh on 26 Sep 2007 19:50
Adam <look(a)bottom.for.address> writes: >Moe Trin wrote: > > Where does the air go from/to the hard drives? In my case, it's out, > > because there is an exit around the drive and the case is above > > ambient pressure. ..... >>> It's an AMI BIOS, and at the end of the memory test it gave one >>> long and three short beeps: >>> >>> 1 long, 3 short Memory test failure A fault has been >>> detected in memory above 64KB >> >> Wonderful - that's occurring at a cold boot? If so, it's not a >> temperature problem. >No. When the system has only been on for an hour or two, both the BIOS >POST and Memtest86+ don't find any problems. When it's been on for >several hours, they both find memory problems. But even when the >system's cold, it hangs during boot unless I use "mem=1428m", so >something is flaky in that memory even when cold. >>> The BIOS setup includes "BIOS Timing Setting Mode." Choices are Safe, >>> Normal, Fast, Turbo, Ultra. >When the system's been on for a few hours, both the BIOS and Memtest86+ >find memory problems at all of those settings. BTW Memtest86+ (v1.70) >reports L1, L2, and RAM speed, and those settings result in 668, 689, >711, 718, 726 MB/sec for RAM speed respectively. If "Normal" is 100%, >then "Safe" is only 3% slower, and "Ultra" is only 5% faster. IF you get an error ANY TIME, hot, cold, or only on Fridays, IMMEDIATELY take out the ram break the little board in half so you are never ever tempted to reuse it, and throw it away. Immediately. Instead of crashing, a corrupt ram can corrupt your data. Is your data that worthless that you do not mind destroying it and potentially making decisions based on garbage. THROW THE RAM AWAY. Do not worry about batteries of temp or anything, throw it away. Immediately. >>> I think my next steps are: try different RAM speed settings and >>> different arrangements of DIMMS, locate temperature sensor on >>> motherboard, and ponder airflow. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with one >>> problem or two. NONONONONO. Just take it out and throw it away. Do not look to see what the problem it. Chuck it. >> >> Sounds good. AARGH. Moe, you should know better. >Basically, everything works correctly except that 512MB DIMM. I tried >different settings for amount of video RAM, and the errors still start >at (1G + 512M DIMM) - amount of video RAM - 44M. Memtest86+ seems to >test RAM 32 bits at a time, and the error is always 00007700 or some >subset of that, and in two separate ranges, the lower one starting at >the figure in the previous sentence. Looks like bits 8,9,10 and >12,13,14 are flaky at certain row/column combinations. > > > > Do you have a LAN? Or would this be your first Ethernet? If you have > > a LAN, use a straight (normal) cable, and plug in to the hub/switch. > > If no LAN, then a cross-over from your new NIC to the printer is needed. > > Verify the network speeds though. For 10/100BaseT, I'd use ordinary > > Cat5 cable, rather than go nuts for 5e or better - the printer is not > > likely to need it. A crossover switches 1 and 2 and 3 and 6 from one end to the other. They sell them in your local shop or if you wire up your own, just reverse those connections. ( 4,5 7 8 are not used No idea why cat 6 is not 4 wire rather than 8 wire, but...) >I'm a little confused. No LAN, just the one system, and its built-in >Ethernet port is already connected to the DSL modem/router. The RJ-45 >jack on the printer (which is an add-in card) is labelled "10BaseT". I >gather that if I want to hook it up that way, I should install the "new" >NIC card (as eth1?) and run a cable from that to the printer. Maybe. Of if your modem router has a spare port, hook it to that. If your router has only one port on it, then you could go the way you suggest, or you could buy a router/switch and hook that up instead Or get an ancient hub and use that. .. >I just checked the web sites of the local retailers, and they do indeed >have things labelled "crossover cables" at prices from $4 to $28. So is >that what I should buy? I gather I just have to buy one of those, and >install the NIC card. What are the advantages of that over using the >parallel port? Would it increase printing speed over its current 0.5 PPM? Maybe, but those printers were slow anyway. > > Hit the HP web sites, and find either a download > > or method to order the manual - you'll need it. >Took me a while, but I found it! Free download from HP's web site. >Also available for purchase from other vendors. ..... >Found downloadable manual for that, too. I don't think it can use an >external battery, and it looks like a replacement internal battery will >set me back at least $80. Time to check eBay. I see it has serial and >USB ports on the back. Is that to notify the system that power's going >down? (Sorry, I know almost nothing about UPSs.) Apparently the UPS >originally came with software, which of course I don't have. Will I >need to search for that too, or does Mandriva have something included? >My motherboard's one serial port is used by the faxmodem, but I have >some USB ports free. Will a standard USB A-B cable be sufficient? They have lead acid batteries. They only last for a finite length of time, just like in your car. Depending on the amp hour rating it is probably just an motorcycle battery in there. >>> and a few other little things, all for five dollars. A UPS that does not work, a slow ancient printer which requires you to buy a nic etc to make it work. >> >> Such a deal! >Thanks! One of the benefits of being an active LUG member, I guess. >And also of showing up to get the stuff a day before everybody else. |