System Restore error: "Changes made to drive G: after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was either excluded from system restore monitoring or was turned off or removed."

I have been having some issues with my computer recently that I figured could be solved with System Restore.  So I went into System Restore and went to a restore point that was a couple of weeks back.  After I clicked on it and pushed the ok button, the following message popped up: "Changes made to drive G: after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was either excluded from system restore monitoring or was turned off or removed."  I let it continue and do the restore.  My computer rebooted and came up with a System Restore error that said the restore failed.  The same thing happened with other restore points.  I don't know why I'm getting this error, because I haven't made any changes to this drive except for copying a word document over to it.  I thought that System Restore doesn't monitor removable disks.  Does anyone know what is going on here and how I can get System Restore to work without the errors coming up? 

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Problem Solving Strategis

Problem Solving Strategies

1. Believe in yourself - get into troubleshooting 'state'
2. Collect information - ask what has changed on your computer
3. Narrow the search - hardware or software
4. Assemble your software tools - Event Viewer and TechNet
5. Develop a theory - think of the most likely cause of the problem
6. Be methodical - one step at a time
7. Phone a friend! - call in favours

1) Believe in yourself - Get into 'State'

Firstly, and most importantly, believe that you can solve this problem!  Guy says, 'You will beat this computer problem'.  So take 5 seconds to get into 'state'.  Visualise another problem you solved, remember the elation you felt when beat it.

Okay, now you want practical advice.  Try these methods and solve your computer's software problem.

2 Collect information

A well defined problem really is half the solution.  Something magical happens when you write down precisely what is wrong.  Just collecting the symptoms triggers your brain to start searching for causes.  As a bonus, if you write down the problem it will prepare you for other strategies. (and to email me if you are really stuck.)

 Draw a diagram, sketch out the problem.

Ask: 'What has changed recently?'

Ask: 'Has anyone added a new program recently?  Has any hardware changed?'  If so reverse engines, revert to how it was and check if that cures the problem.  Pattern recognition is a vital troubleshooting skill.  Look for patterns, spot what is out of the ordinary, such as file date that is newer than all the rest, or a spelling misNake in a script.

Two supplementary questions: Did it ever work?  Can I see it working on a nearby machine?

Can you reproduce the problem?

Can you make the fault reoccur?  If so, write down any error messages and type them into Google or TechNet.  Don't give up if at first the search results are disappointing, experiment with different combinations of keywords.  Look for more phrases or ID numbers from the event viewer or message box. 

 Add Microsoft or Windows to your search keywords.

1st Search: Logon Scripts   2nd Search:  Windows Logon Scripts

1st Search: Group Policies   2nd Search:  Microsoft Group Policies

3) Narrow the search area

Your first branch in the decision tree should be:  'Is this problem software or is it hardware?'  Investigate the scope of the problem; if it's software, which programs are affected and which still work.  Try to uninstall or re-install the suspected program.

If you suspect a hardware fault be sure that you are dealing with the underlying cause not a symptom. Try swapping the suspect part for a similar component on a working machine.  For example, if the keyboard is dead, swap it with another machine.  From the result you now know if it's the keyboard itself or the computer system unit.

Software

Which programs are affected?  For example, OWA is not working, chick if IIS and the website are running?  PowerPoint's spell checker does not work, is the Word Spell checker operational?

Which programs still work?  No external email is getting through, can you send emails to another internal user at your site?

Log on as administrator.  If a user complains they cannot add a new printer, that could be by design.  If the menu is greyed out, then perhaps you need to logon as a local administrator.

Hardware

Which components are dead, which components still work?  If the mouse is dead, try the keyboard.

Check lights e.g. Modem, disk, NIC. Check cables e.g. network, power supply. 

Call for the Device Manger (System Icon) investigate yellow question marks or red dots with crosses.

How many computers are affected?  Lots of machines cannot access the internet, it could be a router.  Only one computer, it could be a loose NIC or the cable is out.

4) Assemble your software tools

• Event Viewer
• Google and TechNet
• Windows Server 2003 Help - especially Troubleshooters
• Task Manager
• Network Monitor

Event Viewer

Intermittent problems are the toughest to track down.  With Windows Server 2003 the event viewer is your best friend; make it the first place to look for clues.  Set a filter to show just errors (red dots). Remember to include the application log in your search for clues. 

Where do you find the Event Viewer?  Start, Programs, Administrative Tools

Hold down Alt (Key) and Print Screen (Key) then paste into WordPad then you can e-mail the error to any one who you think can help. 

What to do with information?  Trust TechNet to make sense of the event messages.  

TechNet

TechNet is like an encyclopaedia for Microsoft, believe that someone has researched your problem before.  Copy and paste event viewer messages into TechNet's search command; the secret is to keep trying different word combinations.  

 Use NEAR to narrow down the search. Suppose you get this error message:  Modem Error 600. Go to TechNet search for Modem NEAR 600.  This gets any articles with 600 and Modem up to eight words apart - result 6 articles. If you search for Modem error 600 this gets 200 articles with modem OR Error OR 600.

Where do you find TechNet?  Best to subscribe annually.  For a quick reference, go towww.microsoft.com/technet and enter your queries online.

Windows Server 2003 Help

If you are in the habit of dismissing Windows built-in help, then think again.  I urge you to give help another chance. 

Guy's Ratings of Help for Problem solving: 

• Google 10/10
• TechNet 8/10
• Windows 2003 Help - 6/10
• Windows 2000 Help - 5/10
• XP Help - 5/10
• Windows NT - 2/10 (Purely to give perspective on my ratings.)

Windows Server 2003 help has 21+ troubleshooters.  Built-in help and the troubleshooters help in situations where you may have a blind spot or have overlooked something obvious.  I once could not make a RAS connection work, the Troubleshooter suggested that silly me had tried to push the modem lead into the NIC port.

Task Manager

This tool has three tabs.  You may have already used the Application Tab to End Tasks that are not responding.  Take the time to become familiar with the other tabs especially the Process tab.  For example, you see multiple instances of programs that you thought were shut down; try end task on the executables and so save a reboot.

Where do you find Task manger?  CTRL + ALT + DELETE (2nd Button on bottom Row)

Network Monitor

This is an advanced tool that I use for troubleshooting network connection problems.  The monitor captures all packets sent and received by the server.  The benefit of network monitor is that you can see which connections the server it trying to make.  For example, it helps to spot when ever a server is trying to connect to a non-existent machine.  

All things good to know are difficult to learn.

I say again, network monitor is a complex tool.  However, if you persevere it will teach about the 4 network layers; this knowledge will help you to isolate a problem at the Network, Transport or Application layer of the protocol stack.

Where do you get Network Monitor?  Control Panel, Add Remove Windows Components, Management Networking Tools.

5) Develop a Theory

What could have gone wrong?  Make a list of all possible causes, then ask your self, 'which is most likely cause'.  For example, the machine is running terribly slowly, which is more likely, someone crawled in through a window and stole the RAM chip, or a  virus / maleware program has taken over your machine?

Believe that someone somewhere has experienced your problem before, also have faith they have posted a solution in a blog or forum.  So search for variations of your problem in Google, if you have an error number then that will improve your changes of finding a good reference.

You may need to give your brain a chance to find the solution.  When I have the courage to admit to other people that my best ideas come to me in the bath, when mowing the lawn or daydreaming, I am surprised that people don't laugh, but own up to similar 'eureka' moments when they were relaxing rather than focussing on the problem.

Software: Is it an operating system component or is it program x?  Could it be that new program I added?  What about those files I deleted?

Hardware: If a component is not working is it a symptom of something else, or is it the root of the problem?  Is there a log I can check?  or is there a specialist monitoring tool, for instance would milli-ammeter be useful?

6) Be methodical when you test your theories.

I have had the privilege of watching gifted troubleshooters in action. Their golden rule is test one factor at a time.  I was surprised how they rely on discipline even more than flair. They really do write down all the changes they make.  Learn from the expert, list the causes, list possible solutions, draw diagrams.  Therefore, develop theories for the underlying cause but change only one item at a time. 

Don't be afraid to print out instructions and ring keywords, it really is 40% easier to read on paper than online, moreover, just sitting at another desk may jog the brain to come up with a new in sight.

Beware, amateurs often make matters worse by introducing new problems.  My friend 'Mad' Mick tried to cure a noisy fan by spraying it with oil, the result was a mother covered with a fine layer of oil - that machine never worked again.

7) Phone a friend! 

I am serious - ask for help.  Think, 'Who is most likely to have seen this problem before?'

• Phone an expert, call in favours
• e-mail anyone who can help
• Post a message in a forum e.g. Tek-tips.com
• Contact the manufactures web site

Even if you chicken out calling someone, at least ask 'how would my friend xyz approach this problem?'

I have noticed that people approach a problem in two distinct ways.  I'll call the first method the 'techie' approach and the second the Henry Ford method.  At this point I assume that you have been using the 'techie' approach and sadly it has not worked for your problem; if so, then give the Henry Ford method a chance. 

Legend has it Henry Ford knew little about car manufacturing but had a row of buttons, blue for an engine expert, red for electrical etc.  So, now is the time to press your buttons.  Contact the most likely people, explain the problem and appeal to their problem solving skills.

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Using Remote Assistance

Requesting help using Remote Assistance

Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. Remote Assistance is a convenient way for a distant friend to connect to your computer from another computer running a compatible operating system, such asWindows XP, and walk you through your solution.

By following the easy steps in Remote Assistance, you can use WindowsMessenger Service or an e-mail message to invite a friend to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, your friend will be able to view your computer screen and chat with you in real time about what you both see. With your permission, your assistant can even use his or her mouse and keyboard to work with you on your computer.

To start Remote Assistance

1. Click Start, and then click Help and Support.
2. Click Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance.

Notes

• Both you and your helper must be using either Windows Messenger Service or a MAPI-compliant e-mail account such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.
• You and your helper need to be connected to the Internet while using Remote Assistance.
• If you are working on a local area network, firewalls might stop you from using Remote Assistance. In this case, check with your network administrator before using Remote Assistance.
• If for some reason you are unable to send an invitation by using e-mail orWindows Messenger Service, you can create and save an invitation. On the first page of Remote Assistance, click Invite someone to help you. On the next page, click Save invitation as a file (Advanced), and follow the instructions to save the file. You can then send the saved invitation file to your helper in the manner you choose, such as copying it onto a floppy disk or a shared network location, sending it over another e-mail service or an FTP connection, and so on.

Search:

Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps, Administration Tools, Remote Assistance, Device Manager, Helps support Center, Computer Helps

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Password Security in Remote Assistance

Using password security in Remote Assistance

If you send an invitation in an e-mail message, you should specify a strong password for the assistant to use, in order to protect your computer from someone pretending to be your helper.

Strong passwords are important because the tools and computers that people use to guess passwords continue to improve. Passwords that once took weeks to break can now be broken in hours.

Remember to communicate the password (for example, in an e-mail message) to your assistant beforehand.

The password should:

• Be at least seven characters long.
• Contain letters, numerals, and symbols.
• Have at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions.
• Be significantly different from prior passwords.
• Not contain your name or user name.
• Not be a common word or name.

Note

• If you set a password, the person you invite will need to know it in order to connect to your computer. The password is not automatically sent to the invitee.

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Windows file system

Before formatting a volume or partition, consider the file system with which to format it. Windows 2000 and Windows XP support the NTFS file system, File Allocation Table (FAT), and FAT32. NTFS is the recommended file system forWindows 2000 and Windows XP because it supports several features that the other file systems do not, such as file and folder permissions, encryption, large volume support, and sparse file management. However, you must format the volume or partition as FAT if you plan to access files on that volume or partition from other operating systems, including MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98,Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT 4.0.

Choose NTFS only if you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP and you want to take advantage of NTFS features.

The following features are unique to NTFS:

• Compression
• Disk quotas
• Encryption
• Mount points
• Remote storage

In addition, NTFS is required on all dynamic disks and GUID partition table (GPT)disks.

For more information about installing multiple operating systems on a volume, see Installing more than one operating system on your computer.

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Add some xfbml content

Add some xfbml content

Now it's time to add some xfbml content. This should be inserted as raw html code wherever you want it to appear in your page. A couple of examples are shown below.

Like button

urlofwebpage">

Replace the url of webpage as appropriate

Comments

unique_id">

Note that the unique_id should be unique for each separate comment thread you want.

You can find more social plugins on the Facebook developers social plugins page

You then need to repeat for any other pages that you want to add these features to.

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Adding to Wordpress Template

Adding to Wordpress Template

In Wordpress you need to make the same changes as above, but these need to go into the Wordpress templates. You can also add a small amount of wordpress php code to ensure that each blog entry has it's own comment field.

This is all done in the theme for the site, and as such will be propagated across all relevant posts / pages depending upon which you update. You may want to create your own theme and edit that rather than the original, but you can just edit the original.

From the administration dashboard go to "Appearance" and "Editor", then choose the appropriate theme.

You then need to select the appropriate template file.

header.php (Header)
The xmlns tag should be entered within this template file.

footer.php (Footer)
You should insert the JavaScript code for the bottom of the page in this file.

single.php (Single Post) and/or page.php (Page Template)
These template files are used for blog posts and wordpress pages respectively. Update either or both of these depending upon which pages you would like to add your Facebook plugin to.

To include the individual post ID (eg. for the comment unique code) then add:

For example in my single.php file I have inserted the following just before the wordpress comments section:

"> ?>

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Adding the Facebook JavaScript SDK to your site

Adding the Facebook JavaScript SDK to your site

To add this functionality you will need to update your web page html code. This will depend upon how you create your web pages as to how you add this. If you are using Dreamweaver you should switch to the code view; using Wordpress see later in this post; using a template based system you will need to edit the templates through a template editor; any other system you need to look for a source code edit feature.

Now start at the top of the page and look for an entity starting and add xmlns:fb="http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml" at the end of the entity (before the closing angle bracket >). If you don't have an xmlns tag then create one as follows:

xmlns:fb="http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml">

Now go down to the very bottom of the page and insert the following just before the tag: You will need to change the appID to the one provided when you register your application. Note you could instead copy and paste this section of code directly from the example that Facebook provides when you register.

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Adding Facebook Social Plug in

I've used the Facebook Connect social plugins to provide a comments feature to my website blogs (see: Blog comments using Facebook connect social plugins).

The reason I added this was because of the way that I create my blog. I use Wordpress as my blog engine running on my WatkissOnline web server, but then depending upon the category, some of the posts are exported to the First Aid Quiz (Health, Safety and First Aid related) website and some to the PenguinTutor.com (Linux, computer and technology related) website. This works well except for one feature, the comments are not available except on the main Wordpress site. Technically it would be possible to show the comments and even to create a proxy system to submit comments, but this would need a significant amount of time to develop properly. So I looked at what other options were available and came across Facebook Connect. This provides a number of facebook social networking features that can be integrated into other web sites.

There are a number of advantages to using Facebook such as:

• Easy to add to your web site (only a few lines of code)
• No additional data protection regulations (Facebook is responsible for those)
• Encourages other Facebook users to know and engage with your web site

It is the last of these that is very appealing.

There are some downsides as well such as:

• Lack of direct ownership of the comments
• Does not directly build your potential customer base - although creates alternative in form of "fans"
• It is only going to be as good as how well your users trust Facebook (which is working at alaying fears over privicy at the moment)

I believe that the potential benefits more than out way the negative aspects.

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Enabling Facebook Connect XFBML

Enabling Facebook Connect XFBML

There are a couple of different ways of embedding Facebook content into a website. I've chosen to use the JavaScript SDK with XFBML which incorporates the Facebook Markup Language into the page's HTML. This sounds quite scary, but is in fact a simple way of embedding the features using only a minimal amount of code. If you are not familiar with what html code is or what it looks like then you may want to learn some html before continuing (see book review HTML, XHTML & CSS Sixth Edition, by Elzabeth Castro).

The JavaScript SDK is a chunk of JavaScript code that is downloaded to your visitor's browser and converts the XFBML tags into code that your web browser can understand.

The first step to using the JavaScript SDK is to register as an application with Facebook. We won't actually be creating an application as such, but it means that you will be allocated an Application ID which is needed to allow your site to use the SDK.

Register as a Facebook application developer here.

Enter an "application name" and you will then be provided with the following information along with an example page. It's the unique App ID we are interested in here.

App name: yoursitename
App URL: http://www.yourwebsite.com
App ID: 123123123123
App secret:123123123123

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VGA Feature Conector

Does anyone know how the VGA video feature connector operates? I would like to know which of the pins are inputs, which are outputs, and which are bidirectional (if any - and how the direction is selected).

I have found a pinout for the connector:

Video Feature Connector Pinouts.

Pin     Name   Function 1       PD0    Dac Pixel data bit 0 2       PD1                   bit 1 3       PD2                   bit 2 4       PD3                       3 5       PD4                       4 6       PD5                       5 7       PD6                       6 8       PD7                       7 9       -      Dac Clock 10      -      Dac Blanking 11      -      Horizontal Sync 12      -      Vertical Sync 13      -      Ground  14      -      Ground 15      -      Ground 16      -      Ground 17      -      Select Internal Video 18      -      Select Internal Sync 19      -      Select Internal Dot Clock 20      -      Not Used 21      -      Ground 22      -      Ground 23      -      Ground 24      -      Ground 25      -      Not Used 26      -      Not Used 

And I assume that pins 1 - 12 are outputs, and 17 - 19 are inputs. Is this correct?

The reason is this - I have a Rombo Media Pro+ video digitising card. It chroma keys its output into the vga monitor signal. However, although it is supposed to work with an ET-4000 with Hi-colour RAMDAC, the colours on screen behave as if the top 2 bits of colour information are missing, and red, green, blue signals are swapped around. Rombo has suggested that this may be due to insufficient buffering on the feature connector outputs, and is happy to sell me a buffer device for 50 pounds. I would rather save about 45 pounds, and build my own. I assume it would require (for example) a 74F244 buffer IC (or two).

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VGA Card Informations

VGA frequencies in different modes

From: steveq@syd.dms.CSIRO.AU (Stephen Quigg) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: VGA startup board/monitor sync? Date: 14 May 91 23:06:07 GMT Organization: CSIRO Maths and Stats & Applied Physics, Sydney, Australia 

The VGA board tells the monitor what to expect by the polarity of the horiz. and vert. sync signals. Here's what an NEC MultiSync 2A sets up to.

Vert Res.      Horiz Freq    H Sync    Vert Freq    V Sync                             Polarity               Polarity  350 lines      31.5 kHz      pos       70.07 Hz     neg 400 lines      31.5 kHz      neg       70.07 Hz     pos 480 lines      31.5 kHz      neg       59.95 Hz     neg 600 lines      35.2 kHz      pos       56.24 Hz     pos 

Your problem is probably one of the following; 1. You are trying a mode your monitor won't support. 2. Your monitor is out of adjustment. 3. Your monitor is faulty. Possibly, the card or monitor is not "playing the rules", eg monitor expects one set of sync rates according to the sync polarities, and the card is sending out another (unlikely but...)

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VGA Monitor ID Signal

VGA monitor ID signals

From: Jay_R_Keller@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: VGA monitors Date: 22 May 91 01:49:05 GMT Organization: The Portal System (TM) 

Mike Diack asked about VGA monitors.

Mike, I don't know if this is related to your problem or not, but IBM monitors have 3 pins dedicated to a "monitor ID" code, which is available to the VGA (or 8514/A or XGA) card, and also to the software. OS/2 uses it, for example, to automatically install the correct display support. The code:

PIN 4      PIN 11      PIN 12           Meaning  n/c        n/c         n/c         No monitor attached  n/c        n/c         GND         Mono monitor with no support for 1024x768  n/c        GND         n/c         Color monitor with no support for 1024x768  GND        GND         n/c         Color monitor with support for 1024x768 

Maybe your projector is not providing the code to tell the VGA that it is there. If so, you can try modifying the plug.

DISCLAIMER: I know this works for some Sony monitors, which support 1024x768 but don't provide the proper code to the PS/2, so they come up in 640x480. By changing the plug, the system sees the monitor as high-res-capable, and configures itself for 1024x768. Whether grounding pins in your plug will your projector, however, I can't say (although I doubt it).

Good luck.

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