Random Fix - Computer Help

Very interesting article bringing the view points of all sides, AMD, ATI, nVidia and Intel together in one great, concise article.  Anandtech is the best tech site on the net, IMHO.  Article is packed with details and guesses as to what will become of all companies and where they will stand in the near future.  Check it out.

July 31, 2006

By Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A toll-free number listed in more than a million Honda owners’ manuals was supposed to direct callers to a government hotline - not to another number where the conversation is probably about anything but auto safety.

Honda Motor Co. said it incorrectly published an 800 prefix, rather than an 888, on a toll-free vehicle safety telephone number in 1.2 million manuals for 2006 model year Honda and Acura vehicles and Honda motorcycles.

Owners who dial the 800 prefix hear a recorded message in which a woman’s voice, speaking over a funky beat, urges them to call another 800 number for “just 99 cents per minute.”

“It was a misprint,” Honda spokesman Chris Naughton said.

In a letter last week to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Honda said it will send postcards to dealers and owners in August with the correct NHTSA hotline information - 1-888-327-4236 - along with instructions to insert the card into the proper section of the manual.

The manuals, which were printed from August 2005 through July 2006, were also used in 18,000 Honda Fit compact vehicles and about 8,000 motorcycles from the 2007 model year.

LOL that must suck!  I would be pissed to call and hear that.  Especially after you just laid down several thousand dollars.

I bought the Zalman VF-900 from Amazon.com last week.  My video card, 6800GT was reaching temps of around 70C just by idling.  There was a few dust bunnies but for the most part, it just seemed like the cooling system on the card was in adequate.  I opted for the Zalman VF-900 because I’ve used its smaller brother, the VF-700 on clients’ cards before with great success.

For the most part, it was just a matter of following the directions that came with the heatsink.  My only two areas where I ran into problems were: 1) forgetting to clean off the thermal compound/residue off of the memory modules and also tightening the mounts into the actual heatsink.  If you follow the directions, and keep in mind what I just said, you should have no problems.

So far the cooler has been great.  I don’t overclock but it’s dropped my temps by 20 or so degrees and has kept it there for the most part steady.

Overall, I would not hesitate to recommend this product.  Great cooler and easy to install.

Just a few days ago I was participating in this online message board in which someone had asked why Best Buy’s Geek Squad was so widely used.  I informed them that it’s all due to marketing and branding.  You see, Best Buy has millions of dollars to outshine the little guy (mom & pop) stores with beautiful advertising and stupid little cars that say let me fix your ‘puter!

Some people learn the hard way, some people get by with their services.  I don’t know how either of the two happen but it just does.

Case in point.  I had a client bring in an HP unit.  They said Best Buy diagnosed it with a bad motherboard.  I booted the unit up and it booted into Windows.  Just by seeing it do that and with no noticeable quirks or issues arising throughout the boot process I told them that we’d re-check the system to make sure it wasn’t something other than the motherboard.  Sure enough, come to find out, it was just a bad stick of memory causing their problems.  Now you see, if they would have let Best Buy repair the problem they would have to have gone out and bought a brand new proprietary HP motherboard which would have costed them probably at least $2-300 dollars alone.  That is not including the labor which they may or may not have already paid for.

Anyhow, check out this article regarding Worst Buy’s Break Squad.