COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Big Kev]

I changed the sreen on my son's laptop yesterday, that's an interesting job with my big sausage fingers, it's an Asus x200ca with an 11 inch touch screen. The replacement was only £14 on Fleabay.

I had a 500GB hybrid drive in the cupboard so that went in and I've upgraded it to Windows 10 (a definite improvement on 8.1), hopefully this will speed things up a bit as it only has a dual core 1.5ghz Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM, which can't be upgraded as it's soldered onto the board. As it's only going to be used for word processing and some image storage it'll be fine. I also managed to get a replacement battery for £10 so that should keep him going for a while

[Tizer]

Pluggy, thanks for all that info, at least now i know it wasn't my imagination. Now my new toshiba isn't mounting when I plug it in! I,ll write more later - currently on tablet (ugh) due to carpet fitter blocking acces to PC.

[PanBiker]

Back to fibre broadband issues. Looks like I'm going to have to go for round three with TalkTalk and Open Reach. Due, no doubt to the rough and wet weather we are having my broadband is down to 20Mbps again with crackling on the line. Last visit the Open Reach guy was very thorough with my internal infrastructure. He removed my original Master Socket which I had legally extended from to the one under my computer, he replaced it with just a jointing block in the housing. He also replaced the feed cable from the VDSL Master socket to the modem. Problem was as the fault was intermittent when it was dry all seemed OK. They won't have it that It is probably the multi cable link on Commercial St that is the most likely problem as it has been twice in the past.

I'm going to hit them again, everything indoors has been replaced apart from the router. One very small chance that it's the router as it tends to reboot at will. I think this is a product of it dropping the line momentarily and the router losing it's gateway and DNS addresses. I'm convinced they need to look outside.

If it will stay stable for a while albeit at 20Mbps I'll try the tech chat line again as they can instigate line test from their end.

[Pluggy]

Big Kev - Did you pull it in bits before you ordered the part ? Manufacturers often change the gizzards of a model without changing the model number. I've been caught out more than once with that trick, you order the part and then days later discover it doesn't fit because they've changed the gizzards. I always pull 'em in bits now to make sure the insides look like the ebay vendor's photo before I order because its a real pain and expensive sending stuff back. Another pain in the backside that makes computer repair a mugs game. Fortunately I'm close to retiring. I've been winding down for 3 years. The next phase is shutting down my business land line and just using my mobile. New stickers with my new number on have just arrived and I'm waiting on the right weather conditions to change the lettering on the car. (Dry and between 16C and 25C). I'm glad I was prudent when money was easier to come by, my Navy pension and reserves are keeping us going. 4 years to my School pension and 5 to my state, then I'll be back to paying tax........

Work to Live, not the other way round.



Yep, advertising and we take a dim view of it on here......

[Pluggy]

If it will stay stable for a while albeit at 20Mbps

Look on the bright side, that's faster than most people get when their broadband is behaving. When I had a crackling line I was down to less than 2Mbps

[Big Kev]

Big Kev - Did you pull it in bits before you ordered the part ?

The seller did specify to remove the screen and make a note of the part number on the back of it, I did and it was indeed the same. The photo matched but I've been caught out by a picture before

[Big Kev]

If it will stay stable for a while albeit at 20Mbps

Look on the bright side, that's faster than most people get when their broadband is behaving. When I had a crackling line I was down to less than 2Mbps

My ADSL is steady away at 18mbps, I'm connected to the cab by the police station which is very close to the exchange so just a short hop for me...

[Pluggy]

Us paupers with ADSL..... 17Mbps here. It keeps 3 computers (2 of them often on youtube) and a telly going.

[Big Kev]

Us paupers with ADSL..... 17Mbps here. It keeps 3 computers (2 of them often on youtube) and a telly going.

TV, desktop, laptop, CCTV stream and 2 smartphones. All seems to be OK here

I need to upgrade my powerline adapters to 1 gigabit as connectivity to the NAS is a bit slow with the 500s...

[PanBiker]

Main problem is that it keeps re-booting when it drops the line, last night this was every few minutes, which made it virtually unusable. It has to renegotiate its credentials each time of course back to the exchange.

On the main computer linked directly to the router on a CAT 5, it's showing 22734 Kbps. My contract guarantee's 27 - 40 Mbps. So it's below contract and an intermittent line. I went online and checked using their line test that you can invoke from your account on Talk Talk. That reveals that my router is up to date on software and is the latest model and their test shows 40Mbps when the test had completed. This does not agree with what the router says which is my benchmark of course. When it is right is shows 39Mbps measured at the router. I clicked for the online chat contact but no agents were available. I'll check again later, I guarantee that if it rains again later it will behave as it did last night. Pound to a penny its a connection issue up a pole, possibly a faulty junction box allowing water ingress or the long cable on Commercial Street has been compromised again by rubbing on the branches of the trees along the bottom. Had it all before but with previous generations of OR engineers. I need the current guy to get his ladders out.

Just edited this post slightly and it dropped out while I was doing it.

[Big Kev]

It's just convincing your ISP that there's an issue with your line...

[PanBiker]

Indeed Kev, I have managed twice before but they always seem to rock up when it's fine and dry. 21469 at the moment, my router is permanently powered on but it reports that is has currently been connected 39 minutes.

[chinatyke]

Us paupers with ADSL..... 17Mbps here. It keeps 3 computers (2 of them often on youtube) and a telly going.

Meanwhile in the third world I have 96 Mbps download and 20 upload.

[PanBiker]

Just come off after 40 minutes of tech chat with Nomathamsanqa, (Noma). He, I think made a bit of a meal about it obviously working from a script, previous one I contacted had me sorted in 15 minutes. Anyway it was agreed that my speed could be improved. T&C's and the potential of a £65 charge if it comes down to my fault was impressed despite me stating that the last Open Reach guy checked and modified my internal infrastructure. I advised that this is an ongoing, not fully resolved issue, this being the third visit.

Anyway, I have an appointment booked with Open Reach tomorrow, 1 to 6pm. Starting at the exchange and working back to me to check the speed at my premises. I hope this wet blustery weather continues tomorrow or they wont see the line dropping but should see the speed issue, probably down to a high resistance joint somewhere between me and the exchange. Hopefully it will be the Barlick based engineer that called last time (around 25th January). DSL line currently been up for 57 minutes.

Just checked and I think Noma was female not a bloke.

[PanBiker]

I haven't tried a memory stick, I'd forgotten how `big' (GBs) they are now. I'll give it a try.

Just came across this in my Facebook news feed. Looks like a USB memory stick with a front end application that takes all the searching and archiving off your hands. Plug it in, click go.

Best Gadgets

[Tripps]

I've tried to do this manually, but I must say that looks a very attractive way of doing things. Due diligence however shows perhaps it's not very good.

One click

The noes have - the noes have it.

[PanBiker]

The house agrees and it only does images (or not). As we are in the parliamentary zone, "DIVISION, CLEAR THE LOBBIES"

I am following correct protocol by shouting.

[Stanley]

Ian, you'll get the wet windy weather all right..... Hope you get sorted. I just seem to be plugging on.....
See THIS BBC report on a massive Facebook outage. They say it affected Whatsapp as well but I have had no problem.

[PanBiker]

I don't really expect them to go up the poles in this weather but I would like them to recognise that the problem is outside in the infrastructure and not between my Master socket and the computer. Open Reach have checked that now with two different engineers. I can see when it drops the line on the router and I guarantee that the wind and rain isn't getting indoors.

I will clear a way for him to get on to the line pair joint block in the kitchen, that's where he normally attaches his test gear. They should be working backwards from the exchange though, that's the brief.

16Mbps at the moment and the router says that the DSL line has only been up for 2H 36min so it dropped the line last around 7.15 this morning.

[Tizer]

External HDD update. The new Toshiba 1TB disk had done some 11.5GB test backups within an acceptable time, although slower than the old 500MB Toshiba. Then I plugged it in again and it wouldn't mount. The disk light was on and it showed up in the Disk Usage utility. It wouldn't mount through the command line either. I used Gparted to format it to ntfs and could then mount it. Ran the 11.5GB (19,737 files) backup again which previously it had done in 16 minutes. This time it started fast and did 9,950 files in 2 minutes but the speed then dropped down to 2MB/sec. I left it and went to watch Westminster Antics on the telly, popping back to the PC now and then to check. It rumbled along for about 90 minutes before completing the transfer! Not sure what to do next. I might try formatting to ext4 to see if it makes any difference.

When I returned the first Maxtor disk to Scan they tested it and agreed to send me a replacement. I returned that second disk because it was showing the same problems and asked for a refund because the disk was of no use to me. I pointed out the problems with SMR disks and that neither they nor Seagate warned customers on their web sites that the disks are not suitable for repeated backups. They responded as follows: `Our returns team have tested this unit and confirmed there are no issues, they have provided the following information: Testing using Crstal Disk and Seatools SMART check, both showing no issues. Copied approx 148Gb of data from the OS drive to this one and back again, speeds were normal and all files intact after copying. No fault found. In this instance I can request they return the drive to yourself as it appears to be in full working order.'

I told them I wanted a refund because the disk didn't work for me. They've now responded: `As this item has not been found to be faulty we would be unable to issue a refund. The issues you are stating would not class the item as faulty but unsuitabe/unwanted and in those instances the item would have had to have been returned under the 14 day rejection period in the same condition as sold.'

[chinatyke]

Tiz, sorry you're having so much trouble but thanks for the heads up from you and Stephen about SMR disks. This month I bought a 500 GB HDD USB3.0, cheap as chips, but I was worried I was buying old technology even if it did come with a 3 years warranty. I'm using it as an external HDD for back-ups using Windows 10. Seems to be OK so far.

[PanBiker]

Open Reach have been and have found no fault at the moment. Engineer agrees that there is a fault though but all his tests rule out a high resistance joint anywhere on the line back to the exchange at the moment. The fault indication, although not apparent at the moment, is confirmed by the exchange throttling back the broadband speed which is an automatic process if it detects a problem on the line. He has reset this remotely at the exchange hoping that the extra throughput would force an error on the infrastructure but it doesn't at the moment. He was here for the best part of an hour.

When it was really playing up the other night it was both very blustery and throwing it down with rain and had been for quite a while. Today on the other hand, sods law says that we only have one of the conditions. It's blustery so everything on the poles is waving about nicely with no fault shown so it looks like the problem is going to come down to water ingress somewhere. It could come down to a cracked or broken box on a pole or joints in an underground pit or roadside cabinet. He has to be able to see a discrepancy somewhere on a section of the line though in order to isolate the fault.

I always thought my line was connected via the fibre box by Montrose Terrace, that's the nearest anyway. The infrastructure though, which is still the same as it was when it was purely for land line telephone use, dictates that I am connected to the one by the doctors surgery at the bottom of Park Road.

It will fall over again and I have been told to report it again when it does. Hopefully they can rock up next time when it's pouring down rather than on a perfect drying day.

[Tizer]

..it looks like the problem is going to come down to water ingress somewhere. It could come down to a cracked or broken box on a pole or joints in an underground pit or roadside cabinet...

If this is the case then wouldn't other broadband users nearby be affected? Could you canvas neighbours to find who else is affected? That might narrow it down a bit more. A more drastic ploy would be to nip out at night and bang the poles to see if it affects your broadband!

[Big Kev]

..it looks like the problem is going to come down to water ingress somewhere. It could come down to a cracked or broken box on a pole or joints in an underground pit or roadside cabinet...

If this is the case then wouldn't other broadband users nearby be affected? Could you canvas neighbours to find who else is affected? That might narrow it down a bit more. A more drastic ploy would be to nip out at night and bang the poles to see if it affects your broadband!

It's potentially only Ian's line pair that's affected. When they swapped mine out no one else was having issues. It was only the Openreach engineer's persistence that found the issue.

[PanBiker]

f this is the case then wouldn't other broadband users nearby be affected? Could you canvas neighbours to find who else is affected? That might narrow it down a bit more. A more drastic ploy would be to nip out at night and bang the poles to see if it affects your broadband!

No need to do any pole banging Tiz, we have a very blustery day up here today so any direct mechanical fault should have shown up on the engineers line monitoring kit. His test equipment runs a continuous trace of the line integrity on each individual conductor of the pair, it's solid as a rock today. The test fires 50 volts down one wire and loops it back down the other at the exchange any discrepancies show as a spike in the trace, the test can run as long as the engineer requires, it was flat lining today and indicated 98% efficiency, nearly as good as you can get and very good for the distance and route I am on from the cabinet.

Up here on the croft there are a lot of older folk, many will have no broadband installed, there is no apparent noise on the line either so it would not be noticed by land line only users. Kev is right, it may come down to just my pair somewhere on the route. I need it to rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Chances are it will eventually fail altogether although it may take some time to get to that stage.