Dynamic DNS NOIP.com and linking it altogether with NAS4FREE

I've been playing around with my NAS4FREE server for a while now and wanted to work out how to create my own memorable URL rather than having to A) use my IP B) know what my IP was when I'm away from home.

My IP rarely changes as I'm with Virgin however I still didn't want to be away from home and not be able to access my server if my IP should change. I used the noip.com service to setup my own free domain name. 

Select Hosts/Redirects and create a name. It'll ask you to enter your current IP address so that the host name and your IP can be linked. From now on, instead of typing in your IP, you'll be able to use this host name instead.

There are tools available to download from their site that you can install on your PC/Laptop that will automatically login to NOIP and update your IP however I wanted a way of getting my server to do this for me.

Fortunately, within NAS4FREE there is a tab for just such a service! Just click on Services, then go to Dynamic DNS.

From there you can select your Dynamic DNS provider from a drop down list, and then enter your username details and how often you want your server to update your IP.

Genius!

Making use of a D-Link DIR 615 Router (issued by Virgin Media)

If like me you're a long standing Virgin Media customer, you probably have a D-Link 615 router laying about. They gave off a decent enough signal but were pretty useless if you wanted to do anything remotely interesting with them, by interesting of course I mean port forwarding etc! Thanks to DD-WRT and their software, you can flash the memory of your old router and make something far more handy of it. The above link takes you to the firmware search page, check the base of your router to ensure the variant of your 615 before downloading.

I have a cabin at the bottom of my garden and wanted to be able to boost the signal out to it and be able to ponce about with my old PC's without having to involve a USB wireless device. Following the above video I was able to set it up very easily. The guy who made this video uses the site survey option which isn't mentioned on the wiki page for the software. I'm also planning to install this setup in my parents house so they can get wireless everywhere! - check my comment for the only discrepancy I had between what he said and what was happening, however that could easily have been a cache/browser issue my end. His description showed me where I was going wrong, basically I kept getting stuck on the wrong subnet. DDWRT starts the router off on 192.168.1.# and every time I changed it to 192.168.0.# I would lose it because my laptop was still floating around on 192.168.1.# all by itself!

DD WRT gives a staggering amount of extra functions to your old router. If I explore any of the other things it can do, I'll post my findings on here!

HP G6 running like it should

Further to my last post about the SM Bus Controller issue, I've just completed a full re install of Windows 7. After updating the BIOS (previous post) I was able to boot direct from the DVD drive which meant I could properly format the disk and start again. I then re installed the drivers I wanted from the HP website apart from The display/graphics adapter drivers. I then installed the SM Bus Controller I'd taken from the Lenovo website. The Catalyst program comes with it which enables you to control the resolution etc. You do not need to install any other graphics/display drivers.

This laptop is finally running like it should have when it came out of the factory. God knows why developers spend fortunes developing hardware only to slow it down with a load of bloatware. 

HP Pavilion G6-1336SA Can't boot from CD/DVD USB etc

In a nutshell you need to flash your BIOS. Its not painful. Just visit the HP website and let the auto detect device figure out what model your laptop is and within the list of downloads should be a BIOS upgrade. I remember doing this used to be quite an upsetting process however it was utterly simple! Click click click and now when you press "Esc" at boot up, it shows the boot menu you're used to with other computers, rather than just the Windows repair options.

HP Pavilion G6-1336SA SM Bus Controller

I have a HP G6, looks great and feels like its well made, however the amount of bloatware on it was crazy, making it depressingly slow. I decided to format the whole thing and do a fresh install of Windows 7 minus all the guff that HP included.

The HP website quite helpfully has a auto detect function that lets you know what drivers you need, however after everything was installed (minus a few things I didn't feel I needed) I kept getting the SMBus Controller showing as not being installed in the Device Manager list. Did lots of searching, manually scrolling around the AMD website for drivers, forums etc etc and couldn't actually find a solution. So, I hunted about myself and found that Lenovo use the same chipset in one of their devices. Click this link to visit their page and hey presto! SMBus Controller problem gone!

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 sim card errors

For the last couple of months I kept getting an error message telling me that I had no sim card and that I needed to restart my device..  Very very annoying.

On inspecting the sim card I noticed that it had bowed slightly. I can only imagine the heat of the phone being on constantly must cause plastic to bend? Anyway I needed to find something that would wedge between the sim and the phones case.

I found a pack of little rubber stops that fit on kitchen doors,  shaved a little bit off the top with a stanley knife and stuck the sticky bit to the sim. Job done!  It works. Legend.

Getting sound to work on a HP Media Center m7240.uk with Windows 7

Oh my golly its been a while since I last wrote anything on this.. its not to say I haven't been busy fixing/bodging stuff its just I haven't had chance to write about it!

Well, this is a little update, only a small job but one that had been royally p*ssing me off. I recently installed Windows 7 on my HP Media Centre. It'd been happily running XP however, after getting a laptop a laptop with 7 on it, I realised how good this operating system was. Anyhoo, install it.. and everythings good.. except for the sound!!

I tried a number of different things, downloading the XP audio driver from HP and installing it using compatibility mode (right click on the .exe file, click properties then head to the compatibility tab), no dice, then went to Realtek for the most recent driver from them, installed it.. no dice!

So after a little bit of head scratching/crying, I decided to check out the system settings (bios) and have a look at the onboard audio settings (before this I uninstalled the audio devices through device manager) I knew they were set to AUTO but figured I'd have a little play with that.. changed it to ENABLED logged into Windows 7 then watched as the audio devices reinstalled themselves.. hey presto.. sound!

I've noticed quite a few PC's upgrading (fresh install of 7) have not had the audio drivers install like graphics etc. My Dell GX280 had no sound until I'd messed around with it for a while and neither did my Toshiba TC1100 which required me to download the most recent but one XP audio driver and install that?!?

I don't know why its being so awkward but it was.. and yet its all working now like nothing ever happened.

Next on my to do list.. cut down a tree, rebuild rear suspension on BMW 5 Series, get my T25 aircooled started.. change wheel bearings on my Jeep Cherokee XJ.. put in a new kitchen, sort out leak in flat roof....

I intend up update this blog with all of those adventures..

Oh and landscape front and back gardens..