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Question

Why does Windows 2000/XP fail to boot after replacing my motherboard? Windows 98 used to be okay with this…

Answer

I think this is an ACPI issue. When Windows is installed, it appears to configure the exact ACPI driver needed for booting. This is probably done so ACPI detection is not needed on bootup, which would noticeably increase the boot time. If you change the motherboard to a different make/model, there are slim chances that the replacement board will require the same ACPI driver. The end result is either a successful boot (good ACPI driver) or a BSOD (bad ACPI driver).

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A few months ago, I decided to add Bluetooth to my computer so I could use my mobile phone’s Bluetooth headset with games that support in-game chat and other VoIP applications. I purchased a USB Bluetooth adapter, installed the provided software, and was very pleased with it overall. However, I was surprised to find that the installer dropped a “My Bluetooth Places” icon on the desktop that could not be removed.

Is Bluetooth so important that it needs to be accessable 24×7 from a location that I try to keep as clean as possible? I think not…

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(more)

If you are reading my blog, then there is probably a good chance you have built your own computer before. But have you ever built your own computer case? I did. Was it worth it? Oh yeah…

Note: I built this computer mid-2002, so the specs are very low by today’s standards.

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My company uses Subversion to manage several websites. When using a version control system to manage live websites, it is absolutely critical to first verify that an update to the code will not conflict with local modifications. Code conflicts will effectively break a website, leading to downtime and unnecessary embarassment.

What we need is a --dry-run flag for Subversion’s update command, but at the time of this writing, Subversion does not offer any such flag. Instead, we invent a clever workaround using the merge command, which does offer the --dry-run flag.

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Many of us now run personal firewall software. Unfortunately, a common problem with firewall software arises when used in conjunction with games and other full-screen applications. It appears to the user that the computer is frozen, while in fact the installed personal firewall is questioning if the game should be allowed to connect to the Internet.

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