Operating Systems Basics - VISTA - continued;

The next requirement is to change to 32 bit colour and the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 pixels.

This can be achieved by right clicking on desktop, choosing personalise settings and changing the settings as required, remembering to apply settings.

The same utility as above the colour scheme and backgrounds can be changed.

Sounds can be edited by right clicking on the desktop too. The following devices can be conrolled from the volume mixer;

1. Speakers


2. Headphones


3. Windows sounds

The firewall can be accessed by going to start, control panel and then choosing the security settings.

There the Firewall settings can be changed. To ensure that the firewall does not block incoming File and Printer Sharing or Remote assistance the correct box needs to be checked on the exception tab.

Update manager can also be accessed from control panel

Operating Systems Basics Practical on VISTA Machine

During the Practical I was required to find the following information;

• Network adapter
• Display adapter
• Sound device
• CD/DVD device
• Processor speed
• Size of RAM
  
  To determine these I went to start then control panel then Systems and Maintance.

Then View computer details and I then clicked on device manager and found the following details.

This computer had 4;

1. Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) - manufacturer Microsoft
2. Bluetooth Device (RFCOMM Protocol TDI) - manufactuer Microsoft
3. Boradcom 44 x 10/100 Integrated Controller - Broadcom
4. Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection - Intel corporation
   
   

The display adapter - Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express chipset Family - manufacuter Intel Corporation

In the same way I determined that the sound device is Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codex manufactured by Sigma Tel and that the CD/DVD device is RQX HMZWPMNGPU SCSI Cdrom Device manufacturer was listed as (Standard CD-ROM drives)

The processor speed turned out to be 2GHz and the RAM capacity was obtained from the screen below and is 2GB

Laptop connects to the college network

After spending the evening downloading and updating the computer, finally, the laptop was ready to connect to the wirless network.

I had problems accessing the network and did understand why until I refered back to the college intranet instructions which states in small print at the end that you must enter a different user name than when using the colleges own computers.

Vola access, finally

Laptop fails the securtiy test

The college system downloads a file to the computer which checks the computers updates and has an anti-virus approved by the college.

The updates on the laptop were out of date and the college did not like the antivirus software I had installed. I had to take the laptop home and install a free version of AVG and make sure that all the windows updates were installed.

Logging the laptop onto the college network

The college has a new wireless network system which allows students to access the college network from their own computers while on site.

I bought my laptop into college set agout configuring a connection to HRC-Wireless network.

First step Start - Control Panel - Network and Sharing Centre.

Manage wirless networks.

Create a new network profile.

I typed in the college network name and changed the security type to WPA-Enterprise. Encryption to TKIP then Start this network connection automatifcally.

It was neccessary to uncheck connect to a more preferred network and selected connect automatically when this network is in range. On the security tab WPA-Enterprise, encryption type TKIP and network authentication metnod = Protected EAP (PEAP). Cache user information for subsequent connection to this network.

I clicked the settings button, Enable Fast Reconnect and ensure that settings are as shown. The Validate server Certificate was unchecked and clicked on Configure.

The EAP MSCHAPv2 Properties box was displayed and the Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain if any)

A pop up appears in the bottom right of the screen asking for additional information to connect to the network, this is the college username and password. The internet Exploter settings had to be set to automatically detect settings, browser closed and the laptop was ready to connect to the network.

Crossover Cable construction.

Today I made a category 5 unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Ethernet crossover cable. This was then tested for continuity and correct pin-outs, and correct wire on the right pin.

I cut the cable to the required length and cut back the plastic jacket from the wire and pulled the plastic cover back down the length of the wire.

The internal wires were laid in the following order from left to right;

· White/orange

· Orange

· White/Green

· Blue

· White/Blue

· Green

· White/Brown

· Brown

Then they were straightened out, flattened the internal wires and the wires were trimmed to be level.

I held the RJ-45 plug with the copper connections facing me and gently slipped the wires into the plug and towards the connectors.

I then crimped the wires firmly in place.

I then fitted a plug to the other end of the cable.

It is important to test the cable on completion. I plugged both ends of the cable into the unit and switched it on to proceed with the test.

There were two separate bars of indicators on the test unit, each with 8 lights. The indicator lights switch on as the test sequence is completed, wire-by-wire. If both the “input” and “output” indicators for each wire are brightly lit this indicates optimum connection. A dim light indicates poor connection and no light no connection. The lights should light in pairs indicating correct wiring.

http://cableorganizer.com/learning-center/how-to/how-to-test-RJ45-connection.htm

Unfortunately, as the test preceded lights 4 and 5 showed out of order meaning that the plugs failed the test. Two of the wires in one of the plugs were in the incorrect sequence and one plug failed the test.

Wires in the wrong order inside plug

I had to remake the wire. This time I took a lot more care when inserting into the plastic plug to ensure that the wires remained in correct order.

The cable was tested and found satisfactory

Sound for the Childrens computer

I discussed the problem of lack of sound on the children’s computer with my tutor. He suggested that I change the sound card, there were some old soundcards in the computer lab which were obsolete and to be thrown out.

I took the cover off the computer

and slotted the new sound card into position.

I then tried the computer to see if the sound worked

On first start up the speaker symbol appeared in the task bar at the bottom of the screen, but no sound. I restarted the computer, on second start up, sound became available on the computer.

Whilst the cover was off I decided to blow the computer with compressed air to remove the dust from the ciruit boards and fans.

Fixing the Childrens computer

This computer suffered from two defects. One of the users had randomly deleted a number of system files on this computer, shortly afterwards the computer was turned off at the wall while in use resulting in a blue screen on start up.

I tried all of the obvious ways to start up;

· Last know good configuration

· Safe mode/with or without network

· Safe mode with command prompt

· Enable boot logging

· Enable VGA mode

· Directory Services Restore Mode

· Boot normally

None of these would boot past the blue screen.

I found that if I pressed F2 something might happen so I tried it.

And manged to enter the BIOS setup utility so that I could change the boot priority and enable booting from disk.

I then selected Boot

I found that the 1^st boot device had been set to the USB drive. Therefore, I changed the 1^st boot drive to CD Rom. I saved these settings

I then attempted to run the boot disk for the computer. This would now run and I attempted to repair windows.

I decided to attempt to repair windows and so chose R

After several attempts it was obvious that a repair would not work because the option screen kept returning and the computer not booting.

As it was necessary to install a new version of windows I decided to install windows XP rather than the older NT version.

I was given the option to partition the hard drive, and I was asked which system I should use, NTFS or FAT. I decided to change to NTFS; I was warned that if I changed to NTFS I would not be able to change back. I decided to change to NTFS.

I installed XP on the computer, I had decided to use a partition on which to install windows, however this was a mistake as I had not allowed sufficient memory to install and run other software. So I reinstalled the software again, this time the drive was set to one large partition.

After installation the computer functioned, however, there was no sound. I found that there was no multimedia audio controller. I found a spec for the computer on line and discovered that it should have a drive called RealTek AC90. I tried downloading this driver from the Real Tek website, during the download I was informed that the driver had not been tested for windows and was advised not to continue. I continued anyway. The computer crashed. On restart I attempted the download again and had the same result.

The computer is working in all other respects but there is no sound.