That new server I’m building?
Won’t boot. No POST, no beeps (and I had to drive all around town looking for a PC Speaker since for some reason Gigabyte doesn’t include an on-board speaker. WTF?)
There are rumblings on the intertubes that even though Gigabyte says the CPU I bought is compatible with this motherboard, it’s only compatible after you do a firmware update.
Which you can’t do unless you have a compatible CPU.
So I guess I’m going to see if Amazon will take this board back.
I’ve gotten a couple of delivery notifications today. I think all my stuff is in for the new media server.
Based on the comments to the last post, I’m guessing there is a desire for a write-up on how I actually put the thing together?
I just got an identical spam email from two email accounts belonging to friends. I don’t have any confirmation from tech news sites, but it looks to me that Yahoo email passwords have been compromised. If you have one, I’d change your password just to be safe.
And I’m about to do it again.
I bought my last one about four and a half years ago for less than I could’ve built one. Quad core, lots of memory, dual head PCIx video card…$400-ish.
Well, that one just died in less than spectacular fashion. Again. The drive I got two months ago is having the same symptoms the original drive did, meaning that while the BIOS can detect it, the controller can’t seem to see it. It’s weird, and I don’t really have time to troubleshoot it. This is the fourth hardware failure on this box this year (very glad I moved the blog from home-hosted to HostGator), so time to just get a new one.
After off-loading my sites to HostGator, the only thing this box did was act as a media server. I have been using XBMC since it was on the original XBOX. The PC is connected to a Pioneer VSX-1020-K
So we have this nice TV, nice receiver, and a nice entertainment center, and next to all that is a mini tower that looks out of place. Well, now I’m going to fix that. But I need your help.
See, it’s been so long since I’ve built a computer that I may be missing something. I need gamers and other performance-minded folks to look at this and say, “Hey, wiz? That’s not gonna work and here’s why…” I’ve already had a guy at work tell me I didn’t need to buy a CPU cooler since the retail box I was getting comes with one.
So here goes…
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I walk the dog for about twenty minutes every day. I also run about three miles 3 days a week. I like to listen to podcasts in the car, but when I’m walking or running I usually listen to audiobooks.
I get about 4 hours a week of this, and I typically listen to business development kind of things. Five years from now, you will be exactly the same person you are today except for the books you read and the people you meet. I don’t know who said that first, but I hear it a lot.
I was listening to Seth Godin’s Purple Cow
The book was published in 2004, likely written in 2003, and contains a lot of references to 2002 and earlier.
So it was kind of funny and a good time-capsule-like experience when he started talking about cell phones. In 2004, I was the only person I knew with what we call a smartphone today. The iPhone didn’t come out until 2007.
Godin made the argument that there was no more room for innovation in the cell phone market because Motorola and Nokia had made phones so small and thin that going smaller would produce phones that were unusable. He talked a little bit about disposable cell phones and then made a statement along the lines of whoever came up with the cheapest disposable phone would win.
It’s funny how one little marketing event can change an industry.
The guys from Impressum Media reached out to me a while back and asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing their latest product, Firearms Guide with Schematics: 3rd Edition. Being a sucker for 1)guns, 2)pictures of guns, and 3)computer geekery, I naturally said yes.
A few days later, I got my review copy in the mail:
Screenshot- and video-heavy post below:
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I know most of my readers probably don’t follow this kind of stuff, but basically earlier this week a pair of serious java exploits were released and then very quickly incorporated into some very easy-to-use and widely known hacker tools.
The flaws affect Windows, Linux, and MacOS. None are safe.
Via Krebs, Oracle has released a patch:
Windows users can grab the update by visiting the Windows Control Panel and clicking the Java icon (or searching for “Java”). From there, select the Update tab and the Update Now button. Note that the updater may auto-select a toolbar like the “Ask Toolbar;” if you don’t want that as well, de-select it before proceeding. Mac and Linux users can get Java 7 Update 7 from this link.
Krebs actually recommends you completely disable java since it’s full of holes, but like me many of you probably have to have it running because of web applications you use in your day jobs.
Today’s free Amazon app is Army Survival Guide
I’m not sure of the utility of a survival manual that requires an internet connection (Amazon Apps require authentication to Amazon when you start the app) and battery power, but hey it’s free and it might come in handy.
I also have the dead tree edition
One year ago today I announced that I was leaving Walls of the City after two years. It’s been a good year, but I didn’t build that. Someone else did. I wouldn’t still be doing this without you guys.
As is the custom, here are some stats:
Total number of posts: 346
Total number of comments: 922
Comments flagged as spam: 4528
Page Views: 65,000-ish
Top 10 posts by number of views:
Personal Favorites:
The folly of “Posted Properties”
What’s happening to Zimmerman can happen to any of us
Tyranny in Hickman County
It all ends with puppy-killing SWAT teams
It’s been an awesome year. Thanks guys!
Maybe I’ll actually post about cars this year!
How do you avoid Olympic spoilers?
Step 1: Don’t visit CNN.com
Step 2: Read our helpful article on avoiding Olympic spoilers!