Archive for January, 2009

Linksys WRT150N struck by Lightning

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Hellow again

UPDATE: this experiment has been postponed, you are probably not going to learn much by reading this for the time being, i plan to get back to it in a few days, Maybe then i would cool down and make more thoughtful steps to getting this thing working.

While i was writing a bit about the acer aspire, mom called, she told me that “Your dad’s internet is down”, later down that phone call, she told me that lightning struck something nearby, and since then the phone and the router and the thomson (Alcatel) modem would not work !

Luckely, i have an extra thomson modem, a bunch of extra routers, and a cordless phone handy, later i found that my dad’s TV was also busted, but that is not so urgent.

Anyway, the AC adapter for the WRT150N didn’t light up (a small LED on the adapter itself), so no fear i said, and connected the adapter from the WRT54GX V2 to the Linsys WRT150N and all the lights stayed on on the router, it must be bricked

Now i know how to unbrick a WRT54G, simply because the methode is well documented online, how to do it for this one is a different story, i will need to start figuring that out.

This model of the router (WRT150N) i have 2 of, i got them as a gift with my 1 year subscription to the UMNIAH U-MAX service, and that tells me that the year in warante is over !

So, i will take photos as i go of whatever i find worthy of telling you guys, See you here again in a few hours

To start testing , i already know the power brick is busted, to make my mission easier, i have a second identical router that i can use for the knackered router.

I know it is busted because the power LED outlined in this photo does not light up

Power brick of the WRT150N

So, now the easiest way to find out how to unbrick it is by looking for similarities in design between this router, and its cousin the well documented WRT54G.

Now to openning the router, Wot, no screws ? Don’t panic…

First, you need a flat scred driver, not the philips type. You will then need to use it to open the back side of the underside, like in the photo here, The front side is not to be opened this way, it WILL break.

Once both left and right sides of the back side of the bottom side are open, You will need to slide this (In my case silver) lid BACKWARDS towards the antennas, once you do it will come out and you will be able to see the screws, but to our surprise, the screws are neither the normal nor the phillips ! they are Hexagonal screws ! if you don’t have such a tool to take them apart, your best bet is an alternative object like a screwdriver that happens to touch on the inner circumferance of the screw. in my case, the screw driver, used with an angle works just fine (I must admit, i am usually lucky with this stuff).

now, you will need to take both sides off using a screwdriver lke we did for the bottom part, you will probably break a couple of hooks (I didn’t), but it looks likely that they would break so be carefull

Now while you remove the upper side of the router, the front glass thing will come of as a result.

Here we are, we have the board right in front of us, the processor, memory, flash, etc.. and now, to the hard part, finding the similarity between this and the WRT54G, this will not happen by simple observation, we need to download the datasheets of the chips to find what pin maps to what pin on the other chip ! since i am no genius like the person that found the solution to the WRT54G.

I am not very sure that your linksys WRT150N will be exactly the same, this is hardware revision 1.1, there is another model called hardware revision 1.0, they are most probably the same, but if they are not, don’t be so surprised.

I will start by documenting everything on this photo here (What the chips are).

In this router, i have a Spansion flash chip, in the other router it was an intel.

Will not look up the specification sheets and see what i really needed to do to interrupt the operation of this chip while i boot the router, then do it for the WRT150N (At least this is my plan for now), i am no expert on this, but they look like they have the same number of pins and they are of the same size, but we will see in a few minutes.

And since there is no antenna base to “Ground” the pin to, i will get a small screwdriver and wire it to something that is grounded.

Not to skip the obious.

1- trying to reset with reset button

The total hold time of the reset button is one and a half minutes devided as follows

Hold the reset button down with power ON for 30 seconds.

Without releasing the power button unplug power, keep pressing the reset button for another 30 seconds.

replug the power cord while still holding the reset button for yet another 30 seconds.

By now, in the last minute and a half, you should have not released the power button at all, only the power plug, now release the reset button and leave it on for 10 seconds, unplug power for another 10 seconds, replug power and see if it gets better, did not get better ? thought so… let us get to unbricking.

For referance i have documented the chips on the WRT54G here

UPDATE: IT HAS BEEN A LONG day of working with this thing, and it simply won’t respond, it has been postponed.

I have previously unbricked a dozen routers, but this has more issues, it probably has fried chips inside

i managed to get the “SWITCH” to function by short circuiting 2 things i should not, But either way, i can’t afford to keep going with this now, i will get back to it i promis

Untill then, stay tuned

Acer, where did you go

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Not long ago, i bought my dad a new Acer Aspire 5715Z-3A1G12Mi with product number LX.ALB0C.013, The laptop came with linpus linux that i replaced with UBUNTU since he only uses Mozilla firefox and Thunderbird, he does not appreciate Compize or the Vista AERO, so vanilla for dad.

Dad was so happy about this computer since he had to inherit my Core 2 Duo computers, but this was all brand new, and it read dual core so he thinks it is the same, anyway that is not the point.

New laptop for dad, dad is happy, until 2 weeks later when you had to press hard for the disconnected keyboard to connect again, you press somewhere around the letter R hard, then use the keyboard for a few more minutes and it gets busted again, Maybe i need to mention that since the first day, the middle of the keyboard was elevated and i noticed that but i thought it can’t hurt, so off we go to SCS (Acer dealership in Jordan), i come in with the receipt and they tell me, where did you buy this from, but eventually agree to fix it, i told the guy, i added more memory to this, and i actually took parts apart to access the keyboard and make sure it is the root cause, you are not allowed to change this, this voids your warante (And i know it does), this is supposed to be done by professionals, ok, i will pay for the new keyboard i said, and he said, we will see what happens, no further comments on any end.

they took the serial number, the gave me the receipt i presented, and they gave me a paper slip and said, We will call you as soon as we know anything, this was on 17 Jan 2009, today is 31 jan 2009 and still no word, that is 15 days later..

Anyway, i am really upset with acer, this is the second acer that breaks on me for no reason (Having 3HPs, 3 Toshibas, and a bunch more), i even have a compaq armada M700 P3 that still works (With the exception of the battery).

I will post the photos of the acer aspire 5715z in a gallery here. I got this laptop in 22 October 2008, it got busted on 9 November 2008, i took it to the dealership when i could on 17 January 2009 (When i found the time), and today is 31 Jan 2009, i will keep you posted once it comes back.

Samsung Warranty SUCKS.

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Samsung warrantee SUCKS.

About one and a half years ago, i got a samsung D820, the phone worked fine for about 6 months, and then started to act funny, it would dial fine, the first 1 word goes fine in any directoion, then one of the 2 parties can not hear the other after about 3 seconds,

Knowing that the phone came with a 3 year Warranty, the first including labor and parts, the second and third including only labor not parts, and since it has only been 6 months since i got the phone, i sent the phone with my friend along with the Warranty card to rannan Jordan, the official SAMSUNG dealer, the dealer who’s name is on the warranty card.

2 days later, They call and ask me to come pick up the phone, and also told me that i have to pay something ! Why do i need to pay, the phone does not have a single scratch on it to make you suspect it was miss used, and it is still in the parts and labor time frame, why do i need to pay anything, So, they told me to hold on, then told me that it is OK, i can come pick it up and the repair was done for free.

So, on the next day, Tareq passed by them on his way to work, and got me the phone, i switched it on, and NO GO, the phone comes on, only to go off after a while, i could never get it as far as displaying the operator’s name, so i put it in my drawer and used an old SIEMENS S65 instead, i had no time to go back and forth, and there it would stay for a year or so.

About 1 month ago, i had to go to Madeeneh Monawarah Street to pass by my bank for some reason, but this time i noticed the phone before leaving, so i took it along to them, they took the phone and said, we will call you and inform you of the cost of fixing the phone, i said fine (Since the PARTS are no longer included in warranty) and left, all going fine up to here, i did not mention that it was there fault in the first place, the phone went in with one problem and left back to me with a much more serious one…

a few days after that, they called me again, i really hate to hear there voices, they really really lack the basics of phone protocols… hearing the phone ring and finding out that it is them brings me a headache, here is what the conversation sounded like.

Me: Hello
Them: Mr Yazeed
Me: Yes
Them: This is rannan, your phone can not be fixed can you come and pick it up
Me: OK, will do
Them: thank you and a hang up

The above may sound casual, the pitch and tone was not ok.

Well, i went there and already i decided that samsung sucks, i don’t want the phone and i don’t want them to fix it, i want to take it, and then i can shoot it in the garbage (But i will not leave it for them), So, i entered, and the girl gave me the phone, What is wrong with the phone i asked, promptly she said, I DON’T KNOW, THE ENGINEER said it can not be fixed, so i said can i speak to your engineer, she picked up the phone and dialed the extension, she talked to him for a minute and said (The phone has been fixed somewhere else or tampered with, i said No it has not let me talk to the engineer.

i took the phone and he proceeded to tell me that the phone has been tampered with, i said no, he said well OK, No but it has taken a blow, i said No, he said he is sure, so i asked what exactly is wrong with the phone, Engineer replied, there is a disconnection in the board, i asked is the board broken, he said No, there is a disconnection, i asked, how can this happen if i did not open the phone (Since your warrantee sticker is on the phone), he said, as i told you your phone took a blow…

Ok, fine up to now, i didn’t want the phone anyway since basically i don’t want to own anything where those people would be my repair shop, then, i took a look at the phone, and damn, see the damn picture, this is ridiculous !

samsungbackbroken

the guy did not take the time to put the phone back together, it may be garbage to me, but it is not up to him to hand it over in that state.

In short, SAMSUNG PHONES SUCK !!!!!!! So does there warrantee !!!!

wi-tribe Jordan

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

I have been a subscriber to umniah’s U-MAX for over 14 months now (Since the very first day), and although the service was very bad at times, most of the 14 months were OK, I don’t get my full speed but that really is not an issue, a subscriber to 2Mbit I get 30KBYTE download daytime and 110KBYTE at night, no complaints.. Although I wish I could see a 200 someday, come on umax pull your socks up.

So I like this wireless technology, Umniah uses the Airspan ST technology, the signal is always full where I am, and I understand the shortage of bandwidth they experience, it is all ok to me.

So I went to get a backup line from Wi-Tribe and I was ripped off in the worst kind of way, i didn’t expect this from Qtel Group (Qatar Telecom) and the A.A. Turki Group (ATCO), as i thought, having Qtel as an owner of witribe would mean that wi-tribe is backed by deep pockets that cared for there brand names.

First, forget about PPPOE, it is radius at WI-TRIBE and if you are downloading something with FDM, expect a corrupt file since the session duration is 30 minutes no matter what you do (Used to be 30).

Then 2 days after I buy the service, the radius login page (pas.aptilo.com) would only open after midnight, and when it does, it can keep you logged in for 10 minutes at best, and then there is another 10 minutes trying to connect again, The speed is worse than GPRS on my mobile phone, and after 4 months, I totally lost hope using their service.

To make things worse, the Airspan EasyST lost signal at one point, so I held it by the antenna (I often hold the umniah by the antenna fine, and it is the same CPE), and it get separated, surely, the plugs (2, one round and the other square) fit one way, so I put it back, and the pin broke, all I needed now was another antenna.

I went there and explained what happened willing to pay for a new one, but rather than just making me pay, I had to wait for some supervisor and then pay for the thing, antenna’s don’t come alone so I had to pay the equivalent of $210 for a second CPE.

Now, what if the already detached antenna was the reason behind my WI_TRIBE problems, NOP, I visited the witribe shop at Mecca mall some time ago to see something, and the staff there was trying to connect with the same exact problem as me, so if the staff are having my problem, the issue is not on my side of the connection.

In short, I paid the equivalent of $500 for nothing but headaches and 20 minutes of internet connectivity, oh joy.

Conclusion, before you hear something good from many many people about WI_TRIBE, don’t get it, it is by far the worst service I have seen in my life.

Anyway, since i have no use for the CPE (Although it is working fine, the antenna is the issue), i thought some photos of the CPEs internals could be usefull to someone, so here are the photos of the airspan easyst insides

Western Digital WD1001FALS 1TB drive

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Now this is a good hard drive, i am using it at the minute, and am very happy about it

Connected directly to my eVGA – nVIDIA nForce motherboard 630i/7150, Windows reports the hard disk on Windows experience index as 5.9 (Not bad for a 7200 RPM disk).
high resolution photos of the WD1001FALS.

.

Now to experience with this drive.

I have owned it for some time now, and i have used it for some time too.

I like western digital and have been a loyal customer since the 90s, they don’t break down on me like most other brands.

Western digital already released the 2TB green hard drive (Yes, you heard it right two terra bytes), but since this is the black edition (Performance), 1TB is still the maximum you can get from this category.

The hard disk has 32MB cache, and a sustained buffer to disk sustained transfer rate of 106 MB/s, Yes, the B is in capital letter, this is around 1000+ Mbit per second.

the 3 plates/disks and 6 heads (2 per disk one above and one below) make it heavy, and to eutelise more of this the hard disk needs a good processor, Western digital claims it uses a Dual Core Processor. but is the marvell chip

M (Marvell)
88i8845E-BHY2
YPME349AU
0805 D0PS
TW

really a dual processor ? Searching the marvell website (marvell.com) yields no result for this processor, Not much is available on the internet about the 88ixxxx processor range…

StableTrac (Motor shaft held at both ends), NoTouch ramp load technology, and Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) are features of the drive according to Western Digital.

Tests. In a few minutes while i see them

BELKIN SATA 2 EXPRESSCARD F5U239

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

BELKIN SATA 2 EXPRESSCARD F5U239 with the SILICON IMAGE SIL3132 card

So, it may be the fastest to go with your mybook with esata, it is fast, but has many shortcomings.

To begin with, you can not boot your laptop from this card, you can if you install a software boot loader but the hardware is not bootable.

This card worked fine with a sata port multiplier by silicon image, unlike many other sata controllers.

2 LEDs are there showing disk activity, but remember that although they say it gives you a 3MBit connection to the hard drive, the maximum of the connection is much less having the expresscard bus as a bottelneck, even worse, both hard drives will have to share that expresscard bus !

All in all i am happy with the product if it were not for the boot issue.

Conexant Fax Modem by SMC

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

A few days ago, i tried to make asterisk work with some Conexant voice fax modem, as you might expect if you are a Linux user, it didn’t work, even under windows, there was no support for V2xx and a simple answering machine was out of the question (Would not work with advanced phone recorder for example)… It also will not be able to call me when the surveillance system gets triggered, Under linux, the free driver is limited to 14.4Kbps data speeds and can not do voice.

Asterisk can use an INTEL fax modem i have heard, but with poor quality.

When you first install this, both Windows XP and Windows Vista will identify the modem as ….., updating the driver from the Connexant website would make the modem appear as … in the device manager, but no application will be able to use it saying it is held by another application which it is not.

I am yet to find a way to make it work under either Vista or XP, and i will let you know here as soon as i can figure it out, Meanwhile a Motorola MOT PC3 0445DGEA32 works fine with advanced phone recorder, and i will be telling you all about that in the next round of modem worx.

Anyways, the fax modem i have used is here

Conexant chip SMC fax modem

Hello world!

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

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