Understanding modern power supplies

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Jason

To put it very simply, a power supply is that component which supplies DC electric power to the various components within your  computer case. All the components such as the hard disks, Cdrom/Dvd drives, motherboard (along with the expansion cards and the cpu)  require electric power in order to operate. The power supply pack converts the incoming AC (alternating) voltage into various DC (direct) voltages such as the +-12V, +-5V etc. These voltages are supplied to the various components like the hard disks, motherboard, cdrom/dvd etc through the various connectors of the single power supply pack. The more advanced the components that you fit into your PC, the more will be your power (which is voltage x current) requirements, since more advance components draw more electric current even though the voltage supply  is the same.

The various types of power supplies available at easyasmypc are given below:

1) Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply

2) Thermaltake Power Supply W0117RU 750W ATX 12V 2.2/EPS 12V 14 cm Fan Black

3) Antec TruePower SLI 750W ATX 12V

You don’t actually need to select the power supply if you purchase the whole computer building kit from Easyasmypc, however, if you want to change the power supply pack in your existing PC, you will have to find out whether you should go in for the 430 V or the 750W depending on the types of components fitted in your PC.

Fitting a power supply inside the PC is one of the first steps in learning how to build a computer . It is not at all difficult to fit a power supply into the computer. All you have to do is to slide the power supply unit into the computer case and fix the screws. The next step is to find out which connector is to be fitted to which component. The main connector, off course, has to be fitted on to the mother board. Next, each of the connectors of the power supply have to be fitted to their respective components. The SATA connectors are small and have to be fitted to the SATA hard drives, Cdrom/ Dvds. The white or black molex connectors can be fitted to the older PATA IDE hard drives and the Cdrom/ Dvdroms. The Pci express connector is to be fitted to the Video card. Besides these main connectors there are connectors for supplying power to the cpu fan, video card fan etc and they have to be fitted accordingly.

Here is a video that gives this above idea of how to select the right type of power supply and how to fit the power supply into the computer case.

Posted in Computer Assembling, Computer Components, Computer Upgrades | Leave a comment

Use of Ping in solving home network problems

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Jason

If you are the administrator of your home or office network you might have certain problems to solve. Your family members or office staff  might complain something similar to the following: –  “I can’t access the files on  another computer” or “I can’t print to the network printer”. Being the administrator you are definitely aware that it must be a network problem. But how do you go about finding out what exactly is wrong? Here the Ping utility can come to your rescue.

Solving network problems is not as difficult as you think. If you have read through all our blogs you might have learned that the main protocol which controls all communication of data across a network is the TCP/IP protocol. This protocol is used to establish a communications path between two or more computers and allow them to exchange information. But, in order for the TCP/IP protocol to perform its tasks, it must be configured with an unique IP address on each of the computers in your network. The I/P address is a combination of four, three digit numbers, (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) which is unique to each computer or node. The TCP/IP protocol uses this unique number to recognize the computers in your network.

Let us assume a scenario in which the user experiences a printing problem. The user complains that he is not able to print to the network printer from his computer. Your first job would be to inquire into the connectivity from the user’s computer to the the print server. You can do this with the help of the ping utility. Ping the print server by using the command “ping (print server I/P address)” from the command prompt. If you are able to get an answer from the print server you can assume that the connectivity is perfect.

However, if you don’t get any answer from the print server, you can suspect there is a connectivity problem. In this case, there is likely to be a fault with network card and TCP/IP settings of either the user’s computer or that of the print server. Using the self pinging command “ping (user computer I/P address)” will help resolve the problem. If you get an answer, there is no problem with the user’s computer, and you will have to check the print server.

However, if you find that there is no problem with the network connectivity, i.e, the network cards are functioning properly and the TCP/IP protocol is configured perfectly, the problem might be with the sharing of the printer. The print server might not be in the shared mode. If this is the case, you must switch on the sharing function so that the printer can be shared by all the users of the network. There could also be a problem with the printer drivers. You must check the status of the printer drivers at the user’s computer as well as the print server, by opening the control panel –> device manager. If the printer driver is  corrupted or if it does not match with the printer, it will cause printing problems. Change the printer drivers in order to solve the problem.

You can easily build a home computer network by using the peer to peer networking model, all by yourself. This will enable all the members of your family to share the files and resources amongst themselves.

But, off course, before building a home network, you will have to build your own PCs.  You can find all information about  how to build a PC by downloading the step by step guide to assembling a PC from easyasmypc.com . This will give you a good grasp of the hardware concepts and pave the way to understanding home networks as well.

Posted in Computer Troubleshooting, Networking | Leave a comment

Optimising your PC

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Jason

Have you been experiencing a PC slow down recently?. The booting, shutdown, launching of applications, running of application etc., seem to take more time than normal? Is there any solution to this?  

Well, your PC is after all a machine, and like all machines, it too requires proper maintainence. Hence, the key to keeping your PC in top working condition is PC maintainaince. This involves several activities undertaken periodically — to analyse, test, optimise, manage and clean up your PC.

There are, off course, two main types of PC maintainance – the preventive and the corrective.

You must see to it that the PC environment is kept clean and tidy. You must not spill coffee onto your keyboard or, even if you do, you must take quick steps to clean up the keyboard. If you don’t want to open up the PC cover, at least, once a month and dust the components, you can only blame yourself if the performance of your PC goes down. Now that you know  How to build your own PC , you must be more aware of how to check for those loose connections.

Besides the physical check, you must ask the questions – Have I checked my hard disks for errors? Have I defragmented my drives? Have I turned on the virus protection? Have I stopped downloading and installing too many unnecessary programs from the internet? If your answers to these questions is a big No!, then you might find that your PC has suddenly become sluggish.

But, assuming you have not been performing the above tasks and your PC has now started showing signs of sluggishness. Is there any remedy for that? Yes. off course!

First, you need to analyse your PC. Find out what actually is wrong. Test the PC step by step. Since your PC is turning on and you are able to see the full screen, it might most probably be a cleaning and optimisation problem or a software problem.

You must remember that while you are at work, many things are going on behind the actual scene. You are working at your PC, but simultaneouly the cpu, memories and other components are performing their functions. If any program misbehaves or gets hold over the cpu or memory than your own program may be affected. You must, therefore, see to it that other programs and other activities on your PC are stopped. Perform a virus scan. There are many rogue programs that eat up memory space and steel cpu time. These programs get loaded alongwith your software into the memory of the PC and slow down the performance. Performing a virus scan can help you detect and bust these rogue programs.

Second, check your hard disks. If there is a problem with the hard disks such as bad sectors or fragmented files, the PC might slow down. Use the windows programs or third party software and correct these errors and your PC might start running fast once again.

Remove unnecessary programs that have cluttered the hard disk. This will free up the space on the hard disk and speed up your PC.

Is your PC still not working as per your expectations? Perhaps, you need to optimise your PC further – Check the operating system registry, check the startup files, check for too many unwanted services working in the background, check for driver updates, check the virtual memory – but this is a little bit more techie- so, more on that in our future posts. Keep visting!

Posted in Computer Maintenance | Leave a comment

Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Jason

Mainly because this particular article is focussed on porcelain sinks

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Low Priced Electronics

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Jason

Let’s face it. We’re always looking for the best prices when it comes to electronics. We know all about computers but we shop for all kinds of electronics. Most logic says that electronic parts continue to go down in price over time. For the most part, that is true but sometimes high demand can cause a temporary spike in prices. Check out this link: ln52b750

It’s pretty cool. It gives you the median price and low price of the samsung LCD over time. Everyone always wonders: am I really getting a good deal? The great part about price spider is that they give you the graph. Furthermore, they do a nice price comparison between the preferred dealers. They provide reviews and product details. It’s just a nice resource for electronics. It sort of reminds me of an expedia or priceline for travel. I suppose that we’ll see all kinds of these conglomerate comparison websites as the internet continues to develop.

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Jason

Mainly because this particular article is focussed on porcelain sinks

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Protection

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Jason

Since we just wrote an article about consolidation of services in a single home computer or what we believe will be a home server in the future,

Posted in Antivirus Software | Leave a comment

Cable, Dish and DirectTV

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Jason
While we’re on TV’s, we’ve talked about possible service for individuals and their homes but businesses have a very different set of needs. They need to cater to their customer base and that means they’re going to need a wider variety

Posted in Television | Leave a comment

Choices in Television

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Jason
When you consider all of the choices in television and all of the competition boasting the number of HD Channels, the consumer has many choices. Even though the choices seem overwhelming sometimes, having choices is certainly a good thing. Choices mean competition and that means that companies are constantly trying to improve their services and find a lower price to bring value to your doorstep. When you make your decision with a television provider (or anything for that matter), keep in mind value. What are you getting for your money? Also, consider what you will use. It doesn’t do much good to have a closet full of clothes that you never wear. (Of course, my wife would then turn that argument back on me and say it’s nice to have choices!)

Anyway, let’s take a look at 3 television providers:

1. Let’s start with Time Warner Cable, when you go to the website, you’ll enter the zip code and they will identify your region. The website is very well done and they have a series of somewhat comical videos that star “Ed” comparing Time Warner Cable to the competition in your region. I spent 15 minutes on the website and I still don’t know what I would get for what price. For me, it’s a numbers deal. There are certain channels I want and I want to pay as little as possible. I heard about their 60 day return policy and their 24-7 customer service. I’m guessing price and packages vary by region so you will have to ask them directly for prices in your area: timewarnercable.com

2. Cox is another cable company (which is more regional). However, they offer a lot of package or “bundled” services as you can get phone, cable and internet. They have high-definition, DVR service, etc.Since they’re a full communication suite, they’d compare to a Verizon Fios or AT&T package. Again, do your homework and get a quote:  cox.com

3. Lastly, of course there is Satellite. The thing I like most about this site is that I know exactly what I’m getting when I get to the website. There it is: price, package, #of DVR’s and not much guesswork. Of course, $29.99 doesn’t include taxes or other regulatory charges but you have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting for your money and it provides a great baseline for comparison purposes. Like any company, Direct TV, will negotiate price to get or keep your business. Check out Blog Television, a Direct TV Partner. They do a good job of laying out the packages very quickly: http://www.blogtelevision.net

Good like and make sure you take advantage of the competition. Also, if you’re interested in truly consolidating, you can even use your computer to get television by installing a television card but you won’t get the same number of channels you get through the service providers. People we know that us the TV cards usually have a television provider as well.

Posted in PC Television | Leave a comment

Ring Tones Galore

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Jason

There’s very few things that are more annoying than the sound of the telephone. I can imagine a time when it was a pleasant sound… but I suspect that was also a time when there were much less telephone calls. It’s truly amazing how small the world has become. It makes it hard to get away!

Anyway, one of the ways that make the calling and constant communication more tolerable is having a pleasant ring tone associated with that person. One of the more popular ring tones on the market is Katy perry California girls

Posted in Mobile Phone, Ring Tones | Leave a comment