SOHO : Small Office Home Office
Freeware - Opensource software tips, tricks, tweaks & fixes for managing, securing, improving the performance of SOHO Desktop, Laptop, Networks

Monday, October 26, 2009

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

Windows XP

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.

Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only. If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to step 7.

5. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
6. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
7. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.
8. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
9. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
10. Exit Registry Editor.
11. Restart the computer.

Remove and reinstall drivers in Microsoft Windows XP


1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click System and Maintenance, and then click System,
3. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
4. In Device Manager, expland DVD/CD-ROM drives, right-click the CD and DVD devices, and then click Uninstall.
5. When you are prompted to confirm that you want to remove the device, click OK.
6. Restart the computer.

After the computer restarts, the drivers will be automatically installed.
See if reinstalling the drivers fixed the problem.
Now try to play or access a CD or DVD.

If you can play or access a CD or DVD, you are finished with this article.
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How to disable Windows WGA notification on XP?

1. Lauch Windows Task Manager.
2. End wgatray.exe process in Task Manager.
3. Restart Windows XP in Safe Mode.
4. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32.
5. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32\dllcache.
6. Lauch RegEdit.
7. Browse to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify
8. Delete the folder ‘WgaLogon’ and all its contents
9. Reboot Windows XP.
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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Setting up dyndns (ddcleint) with clarkconnect

Here we go:

Log onto you box with putty

Code:

$ wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ddclient/ddclient/ddclient-3.8.0/ddclient-3.8.0.tar.gz?use_mirror=biznetnetworks
$ tar zxvf ddclient-3.8.0.tar.gz
$ cd ddclient*
$ cp ddclient /usr/sbin
$ mkdir /etc/ddclient


The config to ddclient is pretty easy, but the really silly easy way to do it is:
Log into DynDNS.com > Support > DNS Tools > Update Client Configurator>
Have it create the config text for ddclient. Copy this text onto clipboard. Then, in the Putty window, do:

Code:


$ nano /etc/ddclient/ddclient.conf


Paste the clipboard, (shift + insert) find the DynDNS account password replace the ##password##,
Save with crtl+o then
Exit with crtl+x.

Then type:

Code:


$ ddclient -daemon=0 -query
$ cp sample-etc_rc.d_init.d_ddclient /etc/rc.d/init.d/ddclient
$ /sbin/chkconfig --add ddclient




Now use winscp and create the folder: /var/cache/ddclient
and test with:

Code:


ddclient -daemon=0 -debug -verbose -noquiet

source: http://forums.clarkconnect.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=109873&an=0&page=2
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Windows XP recovery console commands

The Recovery Console is a special command-line interface for Windows XP which allows an administrator to identify and locate drivers and files which are problematic, as well as troubleshoot system settings. It’s recommended by Microsoft only for advanced users (in other words, that nerdy kid down the block), and only when Safe Mode (pressing the F8 key at boot-up) is not working.


The highlights of what commands you’ll most likely use:
Bootcfg” recovers the Boot.ini file.
Chkdsk /r” looks for bad disk sectors and attempts to recover any information which can be read from them.
Copy” copies a file to a target location.
Delete” deletes one file.
Disable” disables a Windows system service or driver.
Enable” restarts a disabled service or driver.
Diskpart” manages hard disk partitions. Be very careful using this!
Expand” decompresses a compressed file. This is good for getting files off the installation CD if needed.
Fixmbr” repairs the boot code on a hard-disk. If your operating system “cannot be found” you’ll likely use this command, along with little brother “Fixboot”.
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Monday, May 25, 2009

Debian / Ubuntu Linux Setting a Default Gateway

This article is not written by me, the credit goes to the author who wrote this.
Q. How do I setup a default gateway on Debian or Ubuntu Linux? My router IP is 192.168.1.254 and I'd like to setup this as a default gateway for Debian Linux.
A. You can use command line tool such as
a] ip command - show / manipulate routing, devices, policy routing and tunnels
b] route command - show / manipulate the IP routing table
c] Save routing information to a configuration file so that after reboot you get same default gateway.

ip command to set a default router to 192.168.1.254

Login as the root and type:
# ip route add default via 192.168.1.254
OR
$ sudo ip route add default via 192.168.1.254

route command to set a default router to 192.168.1.254

Login as the root and type:
# route add default gw 192.168.1.254
OR
$ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.254

Save routing information to a configuration file /etc/network/interfaces

Open /etc/network/interfaces file
# vi /etc/network/interfaces
OR
$ sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
Find eth0 or desired network interface and add following option
gateway 192.168.1.254
Save and close the file. Restart networking:
# /etc/init.d/networking restart
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart


Source : http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-debian-ubutnu-set-default-gateway-ipaddress/
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Unable to ping from Terminal but able to browse using firefox?

Q: Unable to ping from terminal but able to browse the internet with browsers ?

Symptoms :
ping 192.168.1.1 ----- works

ping google.com
connect : Network is unreachable

traceroute -n www.google.com
traceroute to www.google.com (66.102.9.147), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
connect: Network is unreachable.

netstat -nr
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
10.51.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0

Ans : The system does not have a default route.

to add a default route: route add default gw 192.168.1.x (where x is the ip of the gateway)

For more information on adding a default route to the system read this

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Add pidgin PPA to sources list to upgrade pidgin with update manager

Ubuntu ships Pidgin but does not update it after a release (except for security issues). For those users who desire new releases of Pidgin, we have packaged Pidgin in a PPA. If you encounter problems with these packages, try building from source and report the bug.
To setup the PPA, copy-and-paste these commands into a terminal:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 67265eb522bdd6b1c69e66ed7fb8bee0a1f19asdf6a8 /etc/lsb-release
echo deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu $DISTRIB_CODENAME main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pidgin-ppa.list
Once this PPA is setup, Pidgin updates will show up in Update Manager along with the usual Ubuntu updates. The PPA will need to be re-setup only after upgrading Ubuntu.
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Sunday, April 12, 2009

How to fix No printer listed in Qcad?

Intro Qcad

QCAD is an application for computer aided drafting in two dimensions (2d). With QCAD you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schemas and diagrams. QCAD works on Windows, Mac OS X and many Linux and Unix Systems. The source code of the QCAD community edition is released under the GPL (Open Source).

Qcad is a free app and is available in ubuntu respiratory. You can find and install Qcad from Add/ Remove apps under graphics section.

Q: Qcad printing problem - No printers listed in QCAD?

Ans :
  • Open terminal
  • sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
  • Find line: Printcap /var/run/cups/printcap
  • Edit it out, and make a new line, so:
# Printcap /var/run/cups/printcap
Printcap /etc/printcap
  • If you do not find the line printcap /var/run/cups/printcap then add the line " Printcap /etc/printcap " (without quotes)
  • Save and close the editor
  • Restart cups : sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
  • Restart Qcad
done.....!
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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Installing CDROM drivers in DOS, WIN 3.1, Win95

In order to use a CD-ROM Drive, your computer must first have a CD-ROM software driver installed. This is usually supplied with the drive but may not necessarily have been installed. The CD-ROM software driver is normally supplied on a floppy disk and includes a SETUP or INSTALL program. Following installation, the CD-ROM software driver is normally loaded at system startup time via a series of entries in the machine's C:\CONFIG.SYS & C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files.
For example:

[config.sys]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
LASTDRIVE=F

[autoexec.bat]
LH C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /l:D
The first /D: switch is the drive number, which must be the same in both config.sys and autoexec.bat. In the above example its "/D:mscd001". (If you had 2 drives fitted the second may be /D:mscd002) The /l:D switch sets a drive letter for your CD-ROM. (In this case Drive D:\) You can make this anything you want after your Hard Drives that is not taken, but make sure you put a "LASTDRIVE=" line at the end of config.sys to allow for enough environmental space. This can be made as the letter after your last drive in use (i.e. =F) as each letter used, uses a small piece of available environment. (LASTDRIVE=Z would enable ALL available Drive Letters) In this example HIMEM.SYS is used to load driver into upper memory block.
oakcdrom.sys = CD-ROM Driver (Which is named differently by each manufacturer) and can be located in its own directory.
MSCDEX.EXE is provided as part of MS-DOS and sometimes on Install Disk as well.
HIMEM.SYS is provided as part of MS-DOS and enables use of the upper memory area.

Source : http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/cdrom.htm

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Friday, April 10, 2009

DOS printing on xp?

Q : How to print from DOS in xp to a shared printer on a network? How to connect a printer using the command " net use " ?

Ans : To print from DOS environment in xp to a printer shared on a network, in command line

net use lpt1: \\hostname\printer share name /persistent:yes

to delete the share

net use lpt1 /delete
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