Posts filed under 'Technology'
Our house was burglarized in early January, and we lost a whole bunch of portable electronics stuff. Our old fully loaded Inspiron 1420 too was a victim of this theft.
After that I was looking for a good laptop to replace it …. and finally ordered a Dell Studio XPS 1647. It took over a month and a half for Dell to ship the laptop and I finally received it last week. Its a pretty good laptop. However, Dell officially supports only one HDD on it. I wanted to use a SSD (solid state drive) as my primary drive for the OS, and then have a second HDD as secondary drive for bulk data storage. So, I bought a 60GB SSD drive and used it as the primary drive. SSD makes a HUGE difference in the performance. No more waits. The entire windows 7 installation was complete in less than 15 mins… Its a major improvement in performance.
However, the problem is.. the SSD is way to expensive for now. For e.g: 60 GB SSD costs around $170 to $200… and larger capacities cost a fortune. I am pretty sure prices would come down eventually in a year or so.. But for now, I wanted a second HDD to store bulk data – like movies, HD videos that I capture, tons of photos from my dSLR ..etc.. and 60GB won’t suffice. Offcourse, I can connect an external HDD.. but its a hassle with the laptop. So, the search began to see if I could put a second HDD into this laptop. I had heard of people who had replaced their Optical Disk Drives (CD/DVD) with a HDD Caddy and have a second HDD.
So, I did some research on the net and across this specific thread on the notebook review forums, which I visit frequently. Thanks to the author of the thread, I could confirm that this could be done. But since Dell XPS 1647 is a new model (just released), .. no one had really done this, and I believe I am one of the first few to try this out. Not a big deals as such since 1647 is almost similar to 1645/1640 series (except for the processors) and some have reported success on those systems.
So, here is how I did it….. for all the hopefuls :
Pre-Requisites:
- Confidence to open your laptop :)
- HDD Caddy to replace the Optical Disk Drive – I got one from New Mode Electronics, which sells such caddys. This specific machine uses 12.7mm (height) slot-loading model with SATA external interface. You can buy it on ebay too for a cheaper price, but most of them ship from China and takes a long time to arrive.. and if there is a problem..its a nightmare to return or re-order.
- A second HDD
- Dell Service Manual for Studio XPS 16 series – Specially how to replace the Optical Drive
Here is the Pictorial :
Click on each of the image below to see a larger image (in a new window)
Step 01 – Ready to Dismantle the Laptop
Step 02 – Remove the Back cover (10 screws to remove)
Step 03 – Remove the Rear caps (slide, and pull out as described in the dell service manual). Don’t apply force.
Step 04 – Remove 14 screws (this is needed to remove the palm rest). On my system 10 screws were marked “P”, 2 were marked “K” and 2 were flat screws.
Step 05 – Turn over, and remove the two screws to remove the palm rest. (Point to remember – once you are done, and when you tighten this later, don’t tighten it too much, else the plastic under it would crack). Once the two screws are removed, use the two tabs to pull out the palm rest (as described in the service manual)
Step 06 – Disconnect the cables connected (by lifting the tab – again – its described very well in the service manual).
Step 07 – Remove the cables connected (two of them). Now the palm rest is free & the motherboard and the ODD is visible
Step 08 – View of the mother board and ODD
Step 09 – View of the mother board and the 3 screws that need to be removed to free the OOD
Step 10 – One screw at the back to remove the ODD. Point to note – the HDD caddy did not have this screw hole – but the HDD Caddy fits in place securely with other 3 screws.
Step 11 – the ODD is now free – You can see the inter-poser (SATA to the motherboard pins) – simply pull it out from the ODD to set it free.
Step 11a – View of ODD out of the system
Step 12 – The ODD and the HDD Caddy that I got from New Mode Electronics. There is a component that is used on the ODD to secure it to the motherboard – This needs to be removed (2 screws) and put on the new HDD caddy as shown in this image.
Step 13 – View of ODD, Securing Component, Interposer, and the HDD Caddy – all side by side.
Step 14 – The new HDD caddy with the 500 GB Seagate HDD (that came with my system), interposer and the securing component
Step 15 – Plug in the HDD caddy in the system and fasten the screws. From this point, its just a reverse process of putting things back in place (palm rest, screws, rear caps and the back cover)
Step 16 – BIOS – now shows the second HDD !
Step 17 – Window Shows the second HDD!
Total time taken from start to finish (including taking photos..etc) - 60 mins!
So, there you go.. you now have a second HDD in your laptop.. hope this pictorial helps!
What if you want to use you CD/DVD drive ?
Well, I have ordered a eSATA/USB to SATA cable. Using this cable, I can use my CD/DVD drive as an external driver (on the rare occasions that I use it!)
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February 27th, 2010 at 07:35pm
Well, we have a Dell Inspiron 1420 [did i mention that before? :)]………. and when we purchased it back in Nov ‘07, it came with an Intel 3945ABG WiFi card. The Intel 3945ABG card supports speeds of upto 54 Mbps (802.11g). Its good for accessing the internet, but its slow when you do file transfers between nodes on the local network.
So.., over the past week, upgraded our home network…which involved:
1. Replacing my old D-Link DI-524 router with an 802.11n router
2. And replacing the WiFi Card on the laptop with an 802.11n capable card (Intel 4965AGN WiFi Link card).
Linksys WRT600N Router
For #1, I purchased a Linksys WRT600N router — which is a wireless-N gigabit dual-band router, with storage link — which means, you can connect a USB drive to it, and that drive would be available on your network! (kind of like network attached storage – NAS). So, now, my 750GB Seagate external drive is plugged into it, and all its partitions are now accessible wirelessly as a shared folders!
Intel 4965AGN mini-express card
For #2, here is what I did …
- Confirmed with the Dell tech support that my laptop was indeed upgradeable.
- Purchased a Intel 4965AGN mini-express card. Now, here is the thing – you can buy this card from dell.com – which would cost you around $80+tax+shipping, or you can get it from any third party website. I got it from buy.com (or amazon.com), where it was available for around $33 shipped! (yes… thats how dell rips you!)
- The WiFi card on the Dell Inspiron 1420 is below the keyboard. So, you need to remove the keyboard. There is a Service Manual on the dell website which tells you how to replace the WiFi Card. It was pretty simple. In some laptops of other brands (or other dell models), the card is at the bottom of the laptop and is much easier to access.
- Briefly, here is how you do it:
- Shutdown you laptop, remove the batteries and ground yourself. Once the battery is remove, press the power button on the laptop to ground the motherboard of your laptop.
- Remove the Keyboard hinge cover using a plastic scribe (no screws to remove here, its all held with tabs and notches).
- Once the hinge is off, unscrew the two screws which secure the keyboard, and lift the keyboard gently since the keyboard connector is still connected to the motheboard.
- Rotate the keyboard connector latch (blue colored in my case) towards the front of the computer to disconnect the keyboard cable from the keyboard connector on the mother board.
- Once the above is done, the keyboard is free. Now, you should be able to see the existing WiFi card in the mini-express slot.
- In my case, there was one screw which was securing the card to the system board. I just unscrewed it and the card popped up at a 40 degree angle. I could easily remove the card out of the slot. I had to then remove the two antenna cables that connect to the card. Its simple – just gently pull it apart.
- Now, one interesting thing is, the old 3495ABG card had two anntenna connectors, but the new 4965AGN card has 3 antenna connectors. You need to use all three to make full use of the Wireless N capabilities. It would still work with two anntennas connected, but the performance won’t be “the” best.
- Luckily for me, the Dell Inspiron 1420 had a third unused antenna cable (grey color).
- So, I connected the three antenna cables/wires to the new card (white, black and grey), and then plugged back the new card in.
- Fixed all components back.
- Started the system, installed the drivers for the new card.
- As simple as that. The entire thing took around 15 mins.
So, now I have a wireless-N (draft-N) network running in my house. Performance is much better when it comes to file transfers or watching movies streamed wirelessly from the attached harddisk.
In theory, you should be able to do this on most of the laptops with intel chipsets and core duo processors (except HP laptops). Do confirm it with the laptop manufacturer and make sure your BIOS is updated!
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April 12th, 2008 at 11:17pm
Well, its been a long time since I wrote here. Its the first post of 2008!!! Hope all of you had a great new year.
Well, all is good at our end. Baby is due pretty soon, and both me and Chitra are geared up for the big event! The official due date is 21-Feb-2008, but anything + or – 2 weeks is considered as a ‘term’ baby.
It has been kind of hectic the past month or so… shopping for baby stuff, childbirth classes, baby shower(s) :) …. and so on. Well, the child-birth classes were pretty informative and helpful. Things like these are unheard of in India. In a way its good, and in some ways, its bad – as-in they give too much of information! Well, shopping for baby stuff is another story …. All in all, its been hectic and fun so far :)
Life would go for a spin for sure, pretty soon – for the good!!
Well, I also realized that I am not really finding time to play with the Wii that I bought a few months back.
So, decided to put it up for sale on eBay. Its a amazing game system, but I don’t really see myself sitting and playing given where I am in my life! :). So, if you are interested, bid for it! BTW, its still hard to find Wii’s here in the US! This thing still has very high demand!
Also, up for grabs on eBay is my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM Lens! I would be upgrading to a new lens pretty soon (Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM)
On the work front, I am still working for the same project that I was in. The work load is decent. Not too bad.
Well, the next couple of months would be exciting! :) More updates as and when I get time!
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January 28th, 2008 at 05:34pm
Well, laptops are good to have, but after using them for over an year now, realized that laptops are bad for my eyes. Not if you use it on a proper desk, but the thing with laptop is, its too easy & convenient to use it when you are on the bed, and some how, in my case, I ended up placing the laptop too close to my eyes.
Well, I have been wearing eye glasses for the past 2.5 yrs now, and recently did a routine eye test. Obviously, my power had slightly increased and I think it can be attributed to the improper use of laptops!
So, this week, bought myself a 22″ widescreen LCD monitor (V7 Series). I have never heard about this name before, but found it via a deal site on staples.com. It had very good reviews, and it was well priced. Got it for around $238 (including taxes+shipping).
Its a pretty decent monitor, has regular VGA input, built-in stereo speakers, dvi inputs (no cables though – you need to buy them). Love it so far!…….No problems what so ever. See Updates below…
Also got Logitech Cordless Navigator Duo. So, now I have a full fledged ergonomic workplace at home.
Hopefully, that should help my eyes and my body! :)
Update 1 (9-Nov, 9 AM CST): After using the monitor for a few days, noticed that there was a low hissing noise, which used to start and stop randomly. Asked staples for an exchange – to which they readily agreed. Waiting for a replacement unit today. Will update how the new unit performs.
Update 2 (9-Nov, 7 PM CST): Staples folks screwed up. They are telling me that they have some logistic issues, and the monitor that I was supposed to get is missing from their warehouse. So, its only possible for them to deliver on Monday (12-Nov). Will update once I get the replacement unit!
Update 3 (14-Nov, 8 PM CST): Staples delivered the monitor on Monday (12-Nov), and also offered a $35 coupon to compensate me for the trouble. Haven’t yet got the coupons, but i think they should be here in a few days. The replacement monitor is OK so far!. No hissing noise for 2 days now. Will have to keep an watch for few days. Will update in a weeks time.
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November 4th, 2007 at 09:48pm
Well, after waiting for years, the new Infosys Mangalore development center is ready for business. Its named Nethra after the river Nethravathi which is the lifeline of mangalore (and its pretty close to the river too!!) .
Unofficially, the center started operations on 15th October, with 83 people on-board!
When phase 1 is fully ready – it would accommodate upto 3200 people. And since its in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), it means that certain percent of the people working there must be freshly recruited! Which is a great news to the entire Dakshina Kannada region. Phase 2 and 3 would bring in more growth!
This has been a much awaited project. Have been hearing about it even before I joined Infosys in 2002!
Kudos to everyone involved. An official inauguration ceremony is planned sometime in the coming months!
Will try to post more pictures as soon as I get them!
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October 26th, 2007 at 03:23pm
If you are an Indian and have come to the US recently, you will be ’shocked’ to see how closed and primitive the US cell phone market is! Well, except for the iPhone which is by no means primitive — but its ‘locked’ to the not-so-popular AT&T network.
Imagine getting charged for receiving SMS messages! Its really a sad story out here. There is no easy way for an average person to buy a phone of his or her choice without signing up for a contract. And the contact is normally 2 years! Which means, you must be a subscriber of that cell phone provider for the period of the contract at an agreed upon price. The average cost of plan such plans – around 40$ to 45$ a month (data plans would cost extra!), which is way to expensive compared to India!!! And if you want to switch to an other network, you need to cancel you current contract by paying an “early termination fee”.
If you want to buy a phone without a contract, you need to spend a fortune and its equally painful to get a service from a good provider (without buying a new handset). In other words, its in no way a free market. And, clearly, the down side to this entire thing is … the entire US cell phone market is lagging years behind the ‘world’!
Do check out this very interesting article on the US Cell phone industry which compares the US cellphone industry model with the “The Soviet Ministry Model”….: Free My Phone
I feel privatization is a good thing for India, but competition is very important too. And the most important thing is there must be a very effective regulatory authority like TRAI, which kind of enforces the rules to which the companies in India comply. Kudos to the Indian telephone industry!!
I wish India never gets into a situation like the US when it comes to telecommunications.
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October 23rd, 2007 at 12:30am
IMPORTANT: See Update 2 below.
This might be useful if you make frequent purchases on amazon.com. Although Amazon’s website does not say this ‘loudly’, Amazon does have a price protection policy!
While Amazon.com does not do price-matching with other retailers, but if the price of the product that you bought on amazon drops within 30 days of your purchase, you can ask for a refund of the difference amount. The key here is, you need to ask amazon for the refund!
Here is what the policy reads:
Post-Order Price Guarantee
Amazon.com’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon.com’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us. Please click one of the buttons on the right, and be sure to have your order number handy so we can assist you.
This Post-Order Price Guarantee is subject to the following restrictions:
- Applies only to products that have already been released. Products that have not yet been released but that are available for pre-order from Amazon.com are not covered by this guarantee, but do benefit from our Pre-Order Price Protection program (see section above).
- Applies only to items sold by Amazon.com, and not to items (or prices) offered by other sellers on our site.
- Item prices that are affected by a promotion such as “Buy one, get one free” are not eligible.
- The price of an item after rebate is not considered to be the Amazon.com price.
Link to this policy can be found here on the amazon website.
I had recently purchased a Logitech Headset on amazon, and the price has dropped twice already, and each time the priced dropped, I got the appropriate refund!
Very handy for electronic products which have the tendency for price drops!
Also, one more interesting and very useful site is www.refundplease.com. This site lets you enter your purchase information (item#, date of purchase and your purchase price) and your email. Once you enter this info, the site automatically checks amazon.com for price drops every day for the next 30 days and notifies you of any changes. Thats how I got to know of the second price drop for the Logitech Headset that I purchased!
Update 1: Check out this site : http://www.priceprotectr.com/ -> this one is similar to refundplease.com, but tracks nearly 60 popular online stores for price drops – so that you can get your refunds!.
Update 2: As of Sep 1st, 2008, Amazon no longer has the price protection policy. Sad but true.
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September 26th, 2007 at 01:33pm
Well, PS3 is all set to launch here in USA on the 17th November, and there are queues in front of stores to get one!
Yesterday, me and my friend had been to the local Walmart, and we found that there were around 6 to 7 people camping outside to get their hands on the PS3 console. Inside, we could see the PS3 console at display, with a notice above it directing people to the queue outside for it! There were only 10 Units for sale.
BTW, its getting very cold these days, and yesterday it was really windy! I have never experienced such winds before !!… Cold+Wind is terrible. Can’t imagine the enthusiasm of the people waiting in queue for the console!
BTW… check this site dedicated for Console Camping : http://www.consolecamp.com/index.php
I also read reports that people were placing Ads on Craigslist to stand in line for the Console/Black Friday sale!
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November 16th, 2006 at 11:29am
I am totally excited & thrilled about this!!…. Looks like the Google reader team heard all my cribs ! Recently, a totally new version of Google reader was released, and it looks great ! Its compact, loaded with features, and I feel like I am in full control of what I would like to read!
Whats new ?
- Totally new UI – its much more user-friendly compared to the old interface
- The subscriptions are listed neatly on the left side, and the news items are displayed on the right side. Only 2 panes. Pretty much like bloglines. No more 3 pane layout!!.
- There are two views – expanded view, and the list view which is some what similar to Gmail.
- The Add Subscription feature is cool and is very intuitive.
- The ‘Settings’ screen is totally re-done, and is very neat. Now, you can finally delete all your feeds in one go!! (This was not possible in the earlier version!!)
- Lots of other features!!
I will start using Google reader (again!!).. I feel that its much better now, and if all goes well, I am thinking of totally switching over from bloglines!
Kudos Google Reader team !.. way to go!
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October 5th, 2006 at 05:03pm
Well, I am not an Impulse buyer, but sometimes, some deals and offers are too hard to resists. So, ended up buying some electronics stuff in the last few days, which I kind of wanted to buy at the back of my mind.
- Got a 1 GB RS-MMC card with MMC Adapter – from meritline.com – got it for around $29 including shipping. I can use this card with my Nokia 6600 and also the Canon A610 digital camera.
- Mobile Bluetooth Headset – Got Logitech Mobile Freedom Bluetooth Headset from amazon.com for $27.50 – which is pretty good price. The actual cost advertised by logitech is around $59.99 – Also the reviews on this product is pretty good.
- Got a PNY 1 GB Mini Attaché USB 2.0 Flash Drive for around $20 (no rebates etc) from dell.com. This one yet yet to ship from dell.com.
- Bought a Mobile USB travel charger for iPod – No more PC/Laptop required to charge the Nano! – got this one for around $6!
I dont say that these would be the best ever prices that I would ever get these item. But its always best to buy when good deals are available. The catch is, these deals dont last long!. Good deals expire with a blink of the eye!!!! …….. ….there is always another time, but you need to keep an close eye on the deals available.
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August 4th, 2006 at 02:55pm
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