So…  In the not-so-distant past, my smart-ish phone, a Palm Treo 650, kicked the bucket.  Not having the budget or desire to pick up a newer smartphone, I ran off to eBay and picked up an unlocked Nokia 2320.  I plopped in my SIM card and I was back in business.

Now, the Nokia 2320 doesn’t really have any connectivity options.  It has no Bluetooth, no infrared, or anything like that.  Nonetheless, I am still interested in being able to transfer data to and from the phone (without using MMS).  Then, maybe I’d be able to do things like transfer photos to assign to the contacts in my address book, back up my address book in case the phone breaks or gets lost, add a custom ringtone, and so on.  The phone does have a data port, which seems like it would be an option, if only I had the right cable.

By the way, here’s the phone:

Everything you’d want in a dumbphone.  Tiny, light yet sturdy, easy to use, and I’ve gone 3 days without charging it and the battery meter barely dropped at all.

Here are the connectivity ports, located in the top-left corner (looking at it from the front).

The one on the right is for power.  The one on the left is for a headset.  The one in the middle is the data port.

Well, none of my tiny USB cords fit into that data port, so I searched eBay again and bought a data cable that was listed as compatible with this phone.  Here’s what I got.

It looks regular enough.  I first checked to see if it fit my phone’s data port.  It’s a little tight, but it did plug right in.  Then, I connected the phone to my PC running Windows 7 64-bit.  What I expected to happen happened: Windows started looking for drivers for my new device and wasn’t able to find anything.

So, I set out searching the great wide Internet for the software that I would need to have my computer and my phone talk.

Well, it turns out that the cable I bought isn’t a cable after all, or at least that’s not all there is to it.  It’s a USB device.  It is actually a USB-to-serial adapter.  That’s why the USB plug part of it is so large.  The tiny connector on the other end, and the tiny data port on my phone, those are actually some kind of mini serial connectors.

So, the driver that Windows couldn’t find wasn’t actually for the phone, it was for the CA-50 serial adapter itself.  Anyway, I wasn’t able to find a driver online for the CA-50, but now that I knew what it was, I was able to locate another one on eBay that came with the driver CD.  It only cost like $2 with free shipping from China, so I picked it up.

Oh, and I am posting the entire contents of the driver CD here in case anyone else is looking for it.  The CD also contains sync software and instructions for getting the stuff set up, which I will touch on as we continue.  It also contains drivers for the CA-42 and CA-45, which I can only assume are similar devices, as well as the DKU-5 and DKU-50.

Not being a new device, there are no 64-bit drivers available.  However, I was able to get it connected to a 32-bit Windows XP VM without any trouble.  I also installed Nokia PC Suite (also included on the CD, though a newer version is available online), and after following the directions included on the CD, which involved making sure that Nokia PC Suite was set up to use the correct COM port, I was able to get Nokia’s software to see and identify the phone.

Then I got the great error message that Nokia PC Suite does not support this particular phone.  Gah.

Why put a data port on the phone if it doesn’t do any good?  Well, further research has revealed that this phone is actually pretty similar to the Nokia 2330, which is supported by Nokia PC Suite.  It is so similar, in fact, that it looks like it could be converted to a Nokia 2330 with a firmware flash and minor modifications — in short, the differences between the two phones are almost entirely in the software.  I have a strong suspicion that if I were able to flash my phone into a Nokia 2330, the PC sync software would work.

That’s as far as I have gotten so far.  Any pages I have been able to find on flashing the firmware on this phone have been either written in another language or rather poor English.  I don’t have a clear understanding of what software and equipment I would need to carry out the procedure (though I did manage to obtain a Nokia 2330 firmware image).  So, if you have any information on this, I’d love to hear from you!  Otherwise, I’ll update this post with a link to a newer post if and when I make any more forward progress.

I run VMware at work all day and of course I would want to have plenty of system memory to avoid hard disk paging activity under this high memory load. According to Dell, the maximum memory capacity of this machine is 4 GB (2 GB in each of two slots). However, others have discovered that 6 GB works fine in the machine, so there is no problem installing a 4 GB module along with a 2 GB module. However, installing two 4 GB modules for a total of 8 GB does not work, as there is a bug in the BIOS that will keep the machine from booting.

I decided that 4 GB is not enough for my workload so I went for the upgrade to 6 GB. It worked fine. However, I wonder, to you lose any performance by going to 6 GB? Of course, in this configuration you have a mismatched pair of RAM modules. Does stuff like dual-channel access still work?

Here are screen shots from CPU-Z regarding the memory configuration from before the memory upgrade. This is the Inspiron 1720 with two 2 GB modules installed. As you can see, the system is in dual-channel mode with a CAS latency of 5.

And, Windows ranks the memory performance at a quite respectable 5.9.

After the memory upgrade, the memory speed and performance is the same! Wonderful.

Conclusion:
The Inspiron 1720 works just fine with this above-spec amount of memory. No performance penalty for using mismatched modules.

I managed to fix it yesterday.  Because of the nature of the fix, I don’t think the audio drivers have anything to do with the problem.  I don’t know why the problem is so much worse under Windows… I’m going to guess it has to do with the graphics card being more active when Windows is running.  But who knows?

Yesterday, I came across this page on Yahoo! Answers which hints at a fix, but doesn’t really tell you what it is.  Then I found these forums with a bunch of people complaining about the problem.  Inspiron 1520, 1521, and 1721 (and maybe 1525?) users also seem to have the problem.  More machines may have a similar problem as well.  Lots of threads seem to indicate that there is no solution, but finally, this one points out exactly what it is.  So, I went ahead and tried it myself, and it worked wonderfully.

Anyway, I decided to document the fix, so here it is with pictures.  Again, I have an Inspiron 1720, so these pictures are for that machine.  I believe the Vostro 1700 is pretty much the same.  Inspiron 15xx machines can be fixed in a similar manner, but there will be differences as to where the screws are and so forth.  To perform this fix, you’ll need a small Phillips screwdriver, a flat-head screwdriver or small knife, and some electrical tape.  Be warned, you have to pretty much take the computer all the way apart to get to the headphone jack on the inside, which is where we need to get.  The whole thing (disassembly, fix, and reassembly) took me a little less than an hour.  Note that I am not responsible if you somehow manage to break your computer or anything else while following these instructions.

In the pictures that follow, red arrows indicate something to be done, moved, or disconnected, and blue arrows point to screws that you need to remove.  And of course, your laptop is off and unplugged before you begin.

Start by flipping the machine over and removing the battery.  Easy enough.

Now, we need to remove the optical drive.  You only have to remove one screw holding it in, and then it slides right out.

(Oops, by the way, that paper you see taped to the bottom of my machine is there to keep it from wobbling, as it seems to be a bit uneven when it is on a flat table.  )

Now, to remove the hard drive(s).  Start by removing the panel covering them.  It comes right off after loosening these two screws.

After you remove the panel, some more screws need to come out to remove the hard drives.  While there are holes for four screws for each hard drive, my machine only had three screws for each, with one empty.  Of course, two hard drives are shown here but you may only have one.

After the screws are out, give each drive a tug on the little flap at the top and they should come out easily.

Now, to remove the keyboard.  First, we need to remove the panel above the keyboard.  Insert a flat-head screwdriver or knife into the slot at the right, and get it loose.

Now, you’ll have to move the flat-head screwdriver or knife along the bottom of this panel, unsnapping it as you go across.

Once you get all the way across to the left side, if the screen is tilted all the way back, the panel should come off easily.  Four more screws need to be removed, and then the keyboard can slide back and out.

Now, we’re going to remove the screen.  First, flip the machine back over and remove the wireless card cover.  Only two screws and it pops right off.

Unplug the little wires from each card.  These are the connections from the card to the antenna, which is in the screen.  I only have the “standard” wireless card, but you might also have a WWAN card to connect you to a cell network.

Now, some more screws holding the screen in.  There are two on the bottom and two on the back.

After those screws are out, flip the computer right-side up and open the screen again.  We need to disconnect some more cables.  Remove the grounding screw near the video cable connection, and then unplug that cable.  Also, unplug the Bluetooth card if you have one, and remove the card completely (it pops right out).

We also need to unplug the cable that connects the microphone array from the screen.

Now, carefully remove the screen.  You just lift it off.  You’ll have to navigate the cables we just unplugged out of their little holding paths, including the antenna cables that go through a little hole to the other side.  Be careful, there might be more antenna cables than the ones you unplugged.  I had three extra ones for the WWAN card that I do not have, and they were kind of hidden and stuck underneath.

That’s it, screen is out.

OK, we’re getting close.  Now, we have to remove the palm rest.  This one has the most screws.  Flip the computer upside down and remove, count ‘em, 16 screws holding the palm rest on.

Now, flip it back over and remove the last 6.

Now, you have to kind of wrestle the palm rest off of the computer.  Be careful, there’s still a cable going from the touchpad to the motherboard.  You shouldn’t need to disconnect it.  At this point, we’re just trying to expose the headphone and input jacks.

Here’s the culprit. There are metal tabs attached to the bottom of the palm rest, that make contact with the metal casings around the two audio jacks.  This allows for noise from elsewhere in the machine to make its way to your headphones.  I don’t really do any recording on my computer, but I bet that it would also add some noise to any audio input you have as well.

To compensate for this design flaw, we just need to put some electrical tape to separate the metal around the jacks from these metal tabs.  I actually put tape around the jack casings, like this…

…and also on the bottom of tabs themselves.

Update, September 22, 2009: Teejay in the comments below suggests not putting the tape on the jacks, just on the tabs.  While putting it on the jacks didn’t cause any problems for me, this is something to be careful about, and if you have audio problems after this procedure and you put tape on the jacks, maybe you should remove it and see if it is resolved.  (Still put tape on the bottom of the tabs.)

And, that’s all you need to do.  Now, follow these steps in reverse to put the computer back together.  When you turn it on, you can plug in your headphones and find them to be whisper quiet.  The background noise is gone.

Well… my Nintendo DSi arrived back yesterday.  I unboxed it and turned it on, and upon first inspection, I was quite pleased.  Both screens seem devoid of any pixel troubles.  Also, they fixed another problem I had, which I believe a lot of the launch DSi’s had, where you can see a bit of light shining through off to the left of the left edge of the bottom screen.  According to the little slip of paper that I got back with my system, the repair was valued at $75.00.

I quickly noticed, though, that my bottom screen seemed very blue.  It seems that they replaced the bottom screen with one that is either not calibrated properly or just plain bad.  It has a blueish tint to it that is very noticeable, especially if whatever being displayed is bright.

Here, I tried to photograph it.  You can notice the bluish hue to the background of the bottom screen.

Yeah, maybe it wouldn’t bother some people.  It bothers me, though, more than the stuck pixel.  And if I’m going to pay $170 for a handheld game system, shouldn’t it at least have a good display?

So, that’s disappointing.  I called Nintendo this afternoon and explained the problem to a representative, who was very nice and set me up to send the DSi back for service again.

While I am disappointed that my DSi came back with a more distracting problem than the one I sent it off for, I have not been disappointed in the service.  The repair was completed promptly — they shipped the DSi back to me the day after they received it.  Also, when I called in today, I didn’t have to wait on hold to speak to anyone; I was connected as soon as I finished picking the options in the phone tree that indicated I wanted DSi support.  And the representative didn’t give me any grief along the lines of “It’s normal for the screens to look a little different, you know.”  So, no problem with the service, whoever replaced the screen just thought I wouldn’t mind so much if it was… blue.  (Or just plain didn’t notice.)

Hopefully, everything will go right this time.

Update: After about two weeks, I received my DSi back again.  This time, they seem to have replaced the entire unit with a new one.  However, the screens are both great, all of my DSiWare and saved data is here, so, I’m a happy camper!

This may be new, or it may have been there since I got my DSi a couple of months ago.  It’s hard to notice unless the background is very dark.  But once I noticed it the first time, now I’m always looking for it…

Would you believe that Nintendo is offering to fix it under warranty?  Or at least, “inspect and repair if necessary.”

I’m shipping it off to them tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.

Follow-up: Nintendo DSi – Stuck Pixel, Part 2: What’d they do to my screen? (August 13th, 2009)

My Tungsten E2 had a little whine problem. That is, if it was on and I held it up to my ear, I could hear a little high-pitched whiny noise. Turns out that the screen is causing this. It wasn’t a big deal, because I have to hold it right up to my ear to hear it and I noticed it only by chance. In 10 years, I probably won’t be able to hear that high-pitched a noise anymore.

Anyway, while being mostly very pleased with the T|X, I was dismayed to find that it came with a huge whine problem. The whiny noise is probably 10 times louder, or more, than the noise coming from the E2. It was enough that I could clearly hear it when the PDA was on and over an arms length away from me.

After using the thing to take notes during a 50 minute class today, it was enough to drive me crazy (though it would probably be very good at keeping me awake and alert). I don’t know if anyone sitting around me could hear it… No one said anything to me about it. I think my ears are a little more sensitive to high frequency noise than many other people my age, though I am certainly not sure about that, I certainly won’t mind when I’m not able to hear these whiny noises anymore. Anyway, something had to be done about this problem.

Googling, I was pleased to see that I am not the first to come across this problem. However, the T|X is not exactly a new device, and some of the advice I found on fixing it yielded dead links to software that is no longer supported (I suppose). However, I did find a software-only solution. WarpSpeed, an overclocking utility available over here for $11, has the option to silence the screen noise (I believe this is done by lowering the screen update rate). I downloaded the trial version and sure enough it was able to reduce the noise coming from my device from a terribly annoying whine audible from 3 feet away to a very, very quiet buzz audible from only about 2 inches away. They got my $11.

Searching around online, I was unable to quickly find any place to download the software, or any kind of support page for this device. In light of this, I made a .iso image of the CD that came with it and I am posting it here in case anyone needs it. Here is a picture of the device for comparison with your device (to know if this is the software you need):

Download version 2.3 of the software (1.92 MB, Windows and Mac OS X software included in the image).  This is an ISO image of the CD that came with the device, and needs to be mounted or burned to a CD for you to be able to access the software.

The HP f1703 LCD monitor has some kind of design flaw that will probably kick in after you have had it for a while. It causes the backlight to cease functioning. Your screen may appear to be on (power button is lit up) with a completely black display, but if you look closely, the display is working, it is just not lit.

This is the second time I’ve repaired one of these and I thought this time I’d document the process. There are other similar explanations available around the Internet, but the one I followed was kind of brief and vague. Hopefully, Google will find this and then it will help some other people who are having similar problems with their HP monitor.

To conduct this repair, you’ll just need a screwdriver, a pair of pliers (or something to remove the VGA screw locks), and a soldering iron.

Note that I take no responsibility for any bad things that happen if you follow or try to follow these directions. This is just what worked for me.

Here it is.

First, we need to remove the stand. Flip the monitor over. There are two circles above where the stand connects to the monitor. The screws are here, covered by little rubbery things.

I used a small knife to remove them. The screws are visible now.

Once they’re out, the stand easily disconnects.

Now, we need to remove the silver-colored plastic casing around the edge of the monitor on the front. The buttons come off with it. This is probably the hardest part.

I started on the bottom and used a knife to kind of pry the silver casing away from the monitor. At a snap point, I rotated the knife to unsnap the plastic. Once you get a few snaps off, it’s pretty easy. There are four snap points across the bottom and four on each side; once I had removed the bottom and sides, the whole thing snapped off.

Now, remove the 12 screws around the LCD screen itself.

You also want to remove the two screws from this board with the power button, and disconnect the colored cable going off to the right. Once that is done, you can lift the LCD away from the back casing.

Now, flip the monitor over so that the screen is facing down. There are three screws to be removed so that you can take the metal grate thing off (only one is in the following picture). You also need to remove the two VGA screw locks and the silver tape.

With the grate thing removed, we are finally to the electronic guts of this device.

Unplug the four white connectors on the left side of the power board (the yellow board). Remember where they were, you need to plug them back in later.

Now, remove the four screws holding the power board in. Remove it by sliding it to the left to disconnect it from the logic board (the green board), and then lifting it out. Now you should have it by itself.

Identify the inductors. They are the little coils of wire. There are four of them.

Now, flip the board over and find the connection points for each inductor. There are two connection points for each one. One is right under the center of the inductor, and one is located where you can see the copper wire poking through the board from each one.

Use a soldering iron to reinforce these connection points. You’ll probably want to add solder. Once this is done, hopefully the monitor is fixed. Time to reassemble it.

Once you completely reconnect the power board, you can plug in the power and see if it works. You may need to press the power button, but hopefully you’ll get this “check video cable” message on your fully functional screen.

That’s it, now finish putting it back together.