Secondary HDD Failed Today

It looks like the secondary hard drive has finally failed today. The drives were again no longer visible in Explorer. This happened a couple of days ago, but I was able to get the drives back by reseating the data and power cables attached to it.

It's a good thing I was able to copy some of the important stuff before it finally went out. Purchased a new hard drive which is now twice the size for 2800. 

At first, the new drive was not visible in Explorer. This was puzzling since I saw it in BIOS. Checked Device Manager and it was there too. Had to run Disk Management and chose MBR to partition the new drive.

Backing up old stuff onto the new drive.

AVG Error: UI Failed to load.

Got this error early today when I tried to open AVG Antivirus:

UI Failed to load.
This is really embarassing.
AV service is not responding.

There were two buttons afterwards, EXIT and RESTART SERVICE.

I tried the RESTART SERVICE button but still ended up with the same result.
Tried to REPAIR AVG via Uninstall programs in Control Panel. Still no go.
Tried to disable AV service from my startup items using MSCONFIG. Still no go.

So, I uninstalled all AVG programs via Uninstall programs in Control Panel. I also downloaded the latest AVG installer, ANTIVIRUS_FREE_1856, as of this writing.

After restarting, I installed AVG using the installer. Then updated my virus definitions and ran a DEEP SCAN. All seems to be working well. I restarted my PC just to be sure that the same error no longer comes up. All was well. Hope these steps help you out, too, in case you're getting the same error message above.

Selective Browsing and Games Stuck at the Loading Screen

Yesterday, I tried to access the NBA website in order to check on updates with regards to the 2016 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. But for some reason, the site would not load. I quickly checked on Google, and it loaded immediately. Tried Facebook, and it was fine, too. So I thought that it was just a problem with the NBA website.

But then, I tried to go to CNN, and it, too, would not load. I tried YouTube, an videos were playing fine, but when I tried another different site, it would not load. I then knew I was dealing with a Selective Browsing issue. And I knew it wasn't my hosts file causing the problem because I usually edit this only to prevent unwanted pop-ups from advertisement sites.

This issue was happening on both my PC and my mobile phone. On the phone, Viber would not work and some of the games like Clash of Clans and Boom Beach were stuck at the loading screen. FFRK was alright, but another game was not.

So instead of reformatting my PC and resetting my phone back to factory settings, I decided to call up my Internet Service Provider. I already experienced this issue before, and they were able to resolve it by a procedure called port resetting. That was done after an onsite was able to rule out any possible problems with their hardware (modem, filter) and the phone line. All the tech did was call up their support division which conducted the procedure. I asked him what was being done, and his explanation was that my ISP was issuing me another port. ^_^ I guess you can think of it as a water pipe from the service provider that has gone bad (slightly clogged, where you can still get some water, but not all of it), and all they are doing is issuing me another water pipe so that water (information) can flow fully.

I am curious on how the Selective Browsing issue actually happens. In the above analogy, I'd like to know what causes the clogging. There are some explanations that involve an analogy of the browser cache and how this needs to be cleared, and how an ISP needs to do the same thing, but it's still to vague for me. I've tried to search the Internet for more articles on this issue, but have not found one with a satisfactory explanation on the causes and resolutions of Selective Browsing. If you're reading this, and you can explain how it happens, or point me to a resource that has a good explanation, please feel free to post in the comments section below. Thank you.

Generic.lhk Hides USB Files

AVG Antivirus detected the Generic.lhk worm when I scanned my friend's USB files. There was only one file shown in windows explorer, and it was a shortcut with a size of a few kilobytes. But when I right-click on the drive, the pie shows that about 20% of the drive space was still being taken up by files. The files were still there. There was hope of recovering them. So I let AVG remove the threat and then I moved on to the next step.

I usually use the DOS command, attrib -r -a -s -h to be able to see the missing files. Sadly, virus and malware makers-methods are getting more and more sophisticated and this approach no longer seemed to work in this particular case.

After doing a search on Google, some sites recommend using WinRAR to recover the files. But WinRAR is not completely free. So I opted using 7-zip instead, which was completely free at the time I downloaded it. I opened the program, then looked for the USB drive with the problem. There were only 3 files initially, the shortcut, and two additional files which showed up after running the attrib command. After checking these three files, 7-zip found the files in the shortcut. I extracted these files to my hard drive, formatted the USB, then copied the files back to the USB. I also rerun the AVG scan on the USB drive, just to be on the safe side.

Virus and malware makers will continue making our lives more and more difficult. Time spent fixing the problem could have been spent on something more worthwhile. I just hope I can keep up with finding solutions to more sophisticated attacks.

Running Ubuntu 12.10 from a USB

This post is being done from Ubuntu 12.10 ran from a USB drive. I simply followed the instructions on how to create a bootable USB on Ubuntu's website. Just make sure your system can handle it, (check system requirements, like the computer being able to boot up from a USB device), download Universal USB Installer 1.8.9.2 and the Linux flavor you would like to install, (figured I'd try the latest version of Ubuntu). I would recommend getting Ubuntu via torrent since directly downloading it off of their site using your browser is prone to disconnections and interruptions which can ruin the file.

So far, the main advantage of this installation is that my DSL Internet connection was immediately detected even during the boot up process. For other Linux installations, getting the Internet up and running can be a pain if you aren't very knowledgeable with Linux.

Ubuntu 12.10 immediately gives you the option to run the OS from a USB or to install it alongside Windows. After seeing the first fee screens of the installation option, I immediately backed out. It wasn't recognizing the partitions I had set up in windows and I was afraid I might overwrite my stuff. I will probably check this option out once I am sure that the hard drive partition I am messing with is the correct one.

My files in Windows 7 are inaccessible from Ubuntu. I guess it has something to do with Windows having its own file system format, and Ubuntu running under FAT and FAT32. I'd have to create a FAT or FAT32 partition in Windows so that files in that partition and in Ubuntu can be shared between the two OS's.

Running the OS from the USB can become slow at times. I guess the performance would be faster if the OS was installed directly on the hard drive.

Just discovered that I can't get Youtube to work because of a missing Flash plugin but when I try to install that, it keeps messing up. I also don't have any audio so those two problems might be inter-related.

In terms of applications, Libre is the Ubuntu equivalent of Microsoft Office. The Word document saved fine. I'll try the Excel equivalent (Calc) and the Power Point equivalent (Impress) some other time.

Gotta go for now! Will just add to this post if I find more interesting things on Ubuntu 12.10. If your the tech-adventurous type, then try it out.

Post's I've Written on Computers

Below are some of the posts I've written about computers:

Hardware Related Posts:

• TP-Link TF-3239DL LAN Card
• Error 651
• ECS P4M900T-M2 No Sound

Software Related Posts:

• AVG 2012 Not Able To Recognize License Number
• Cleaning Out The Recycler Virus
• Installling Tiny Core OS on USB Drive
• YouTube Full Screen Does Not Work
• AVG .bin file missing

TP-Link TF-3239DL LAN Card

My internet connection went down a few days ago. Checked all the connections and realized that my LAN Card wasn't even being recognized. Tried re-installing the drivers via Device Manager but still no luck. Fortunately, my motherboard has a built in network port. Plugged my internet connection via that port and everything was working again. It was time to replace the LAN card.

Checked the price list at my favorite computer shop and saw the cheapest LAN card available, TP-Link's TF-3239DL. At a price somewhere between 5 and 6 U.S. dollars, I thought I'd give it a try.

Took out the old LAN card and plugged in the TF-3239DL network card into the same PCI slot. Booted up, and Windows 7 automatically installed the drivers. Blogged this post!!! ^_^

D-Link DFE-520TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter

Replaced my NIC about two weeks ago. Tried out D-Link's DFE-520TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. From time to time, I would get an error 651 whenever I tried to go online. I would also notice that the Internet icon at the bottom right corner of my screen would have a red X mark instead of the usual yellow triangle with an exclamation point whenever it is not connected.

I would simply go into device manager, uninstall the D-Link network adapter, scan for hardware changes and Windows 7 will automatically re-install the drivers. This seems to resolve the error 651 issue and I would be able to go online. The problem would be gone for a day or two, then I would have to go through the entire process and it is getting old.

So, just wondering if any of you techies are experiencing the same problem I am having and if you have found a permanent fix, a little assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Error 651

Just got home from work and was trying to go online when I started receiving the following error.

Called my ISP and they walked me through a few troubleshooting steps.

• Restarted the ISP modem
• All lights were normal
• Went to device manager, and noticed that one of the devices was listed as Other Devices

I thought it was merely a Driver issue so I swapped network ports (my mother board has a built in LAN port but for some reason, I was using a PCI card) and lo and behold, I was back on line. It is good to have a back up. It turns out my LAN card gave out. Even after trying to update it via the Internet, a driver could not be found for it.   

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Error 718

Sometimes, while trying to establish an internet connection, I get the following error window.

I am not really sure what causes it. There are days when after a few tries, the connection is established while there are also times when I try for several minutes, and even restart my modem, and it still doesn't work. So I blow off some steam, (since calling my ISP is seldom productive), and when I get back after a few hours, seems as though everything is working perfectly fine.

Tried to do a bit of online research on Error 718 and here are some things I've found out about it.

• It can be caused by using either a wrong user name or password or both
• It can be caused by an expired ISP account
• It can be caused by poor line quality

And out of all the above reasons, only the last one seems to fit my scenario. I don't have to re-input the username or password whenever I connect to the internet. I pay my bills on time so I'm not expecting an expired account. So how do I deal with poor line quality.

My ISP says that as long as they can establish a connection, they have done their part. And browsing speed appears to be within expected service levels. I guess some problems are not really important and should just be ignored.

How about you? Have you had some success with an Error 718 issue? How did you solve it? Share your experience and hopefully, others may benefit from it.