Michael Louis Scott June 1997 to Date

Note: <888> 07/30/04  Friday 5:10 A.M.:  I took four slices of Arnold oat bread, and I spread Hellmann's Just 2 Good low fat mayonnaise on four slices of bread.  I then spread Gold's hot horseradish on two slices.  I then cut six 3/8 thick slices of cold eye round of beef, and I put three slices on each of two pieces of bread with mayonnaise, and I seasoned the beef with ground black pepper.  I then cut four 3/8th inch thick slices of onion, and I put two slices of onion side by side on top of the beef on each sandwich, and I seasoned it with ground black pepper.  I then put the top slices of bread with the mayonnaise and horseradish on the sandwiches, and I cut them in half across.  I ate the sandwiches with a glass of iced tea.  I will now disconnect the Dell backup computer, and I will connect the Gateway computer, and I will test it.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/30/04  Friday 4:30 A.M.:  I went out after the last message.  I went downtown, and I walked the entire length of Greenwich Avenue, and I sat out at various locations.  I chatted with another town employee.  I checked the lights on my car, and they all work.  I then drove by the lower level train station dumpster area, and I retrieved a Gateway 2000 GP6-350 tower computer manufactured in 1998 and a Linksys 10/100 8 Port Workgroup Switch with out the transformer.  I then drove down by the waterfront, and I stood out for a brief spell.  I then returned home.  I brought up the Gateway computer and the Linksys hub with my small cart that I keep in my car.  I will test the Gateway later.  It is really not worth anything, but I will see if it works, and what I can do with it.  It might be better than one of my backup computers, but if it should stay and not be dumped one of the backup computers would have to go.  However, the Gateway is a big case that takes up more room.  There was a 15 inch monitor there with some cables.  CIO 

Note: <888> 07/30/04  Friday 1:45 A.M.:  I ran Norton Win Doctor.  I showered and cleaned up.  I will now go out for some fresh early morning air.  I will first run Ad-aware 6.0.  I will shut down the computer, while I am out, since I can not put it on standby in my present configuration.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/30/04  Friday 12:55 A.M.:  I decided it would be better to have the Plantronics headset installed into one of the USB ports on the D-Link hub which is powered separately, so I removed the four port hub from it with the longer cable, and I plugged it into the right rear hub of the Sony monitor, and I plugged the Plantronics headset into the D-Link hub.  The Plantronics headset seems to work even better.  I have the four port hub with the longer cord placed underneath the left side front of the Sony monitor for easy access with four vacant USB ports.  I also have one vacant USB port on the other four port hub with the shorter cable.  I reinstalled all three of my networks earlier, but I think the Optimum access is cutting in and out for some reason.  I will now reboot and reset the cable modem by turning it on with the Siemens router turner off and the computer turned off, but first I will reset the Siemens router by turning it on with the cable modem and computer turned off.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/30/04  Friday 12:15 A.M.:  I have all of the USB devices installed and configured.  The computer system is running just fine.  On the Sony monitor hubs, I put the Vibra web cam on the left side USB port, and the Visioneer 4400 scanner and 32 meg pin drive on the right side USB ports.  There is a spare USB port on the left side of the Sony monitor.  On the four port USB hub with the shorter cable, I have plugged into it, the USB to Cable modem cable, the Minolta QMS PagePro 1250W laser printer, and the EpsonStylus Color 880 printer.  I have that four port hub resting on the coffee table to the right of the CPU in front of the D-Link hub.  On the four port hub with the longer cable, I have the hub set beneath the right side front of the Sony monitor with the Plantronics DSP500 headset plugged into it.  Although that four port hub is not powered, it should get more power from the D-Link hub, and the Plantronics DSP500 headset works just fine.  There are three USB ports in that hub, and it is convenient for use.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 10:50 P.M.:  I chatted with a relative.  I ate breakfast of oatmeal, toast with strawberry jam, orange juice, vitamins, supplements, and coffee.  I shut down the computer, and I decided to connect my USB hubs differently.  Since the USB hubs draw off from the motherboard power when connected to the PCI USB card, I connected only the D-Link 3 port USB and LAN hub which is powered by seperate power to the one PCI USB port, and I left the other empty.  I then connected the three four port USB hubs including the Sony Monitor hub to the three D-Link USB hubs and, and I placed the one four port empty hub with the longer cable beneath the front right of the Sony monitor.  I now have to configure the USB devices and their drivers for the ones that did not install plug and play right away.  The USB network devices to the cable modem are working just fine.  Thus when done, the USB devices should drawer less power from the motherboard, since they will be powered by the D-Link powered hub. CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 8:55 P.M.:  I will now try running Norton AntiVirus 2004 with the increased Virtual Memory.  I will go outside my building briefly, and then I will have some breakfast.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 8:50 P.M.:  With the increased Virtual Memory, the onboard motherboard USB ports still do not work.  Since they once worked, there obviously is a fix.  Via recommends reinstalling the operating system.  I tried reinstalling the Windows XP Professional operating system from the Upgrade option, but the system still would not reboot in setup despite a few CMOS changes.  I restored the CMOS settings, and I disabled the onboard motherboard USB ports, and I then booted the computer regularly again.  The computer is still booting fine.  When one abandons an install, and the computer still boots, one has to change the default in the C:\boot.ini file by running MSCONFIG and setting the regular boot.  One then has to remove the attributes out of the boot.ini file and edit it to remove the line of code that boots setup and then save it and restore the attributes.  Then one has to remove the setup file folder from the root directory which can have different names, but one of them is quite large.  Well, anyway the system is still running just fine.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 7:35 P.M.:  I called up Syntax at 1-888-796-8298 number 2 button for technical support.  I chatted with Mat, and he suggested that I check my motherboard dip pin to see if it is set to 133Mhz, which I did and it was.  He also suggested disabling the L2 cache, and it did not seem to make any difference, so I enabled it again.  When I rebooted, I got a message that Windows was increasing my "Virtual Memory" which I have never gotten before.  After it increased my "Virtual Memory" to a larger size, Ultra DMA now works on my hard drives without any problem.  I guess disabling the L2 cache and booting, and then enabling the L2 cache and booting again activated the system to increase my Virtual Memory.  Perhaps since I installed Windows XP with all the devices removed and the CMOS settings disabled along with the CPU caches disabled, my virtual memory settings were not high enough.  Of course with Ultra DMA working the system is now faster.  I will now check and see if the onboard USB motherboard ports work.  Perhaps the increased Virtual Memory makes a difference.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 5:40 P.M.:  Norton AntiVirus 2004 full system scan on my computer froze the computer again.  Although the computer basically runs fine, I might have some sort of problem with my onboard motherboard IDE controller or my onboard motherboard USB VIA controller too, and the two might be related.  I tried to call Syntax the motherboard manufacturer, but they requested me to leave a number for them to call back.  Still the system works fine for my basic use.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 2:50 P.M.:  I went to bed after the last message.  I just woke up late, so I will not make it to my 3 P.M. appointment.  I got a toilet tank rubber water stopper from the building custodian, and I put it in my toilet, so it does not leak a small amount of water in the bowl after flushing.  I will now go back to sleep.  I will run Norton Anti-Virus 2004, while I rest.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 6:25 A.M.:  I went through part of www.geocities.com/mikelscott/scotwork.htm .  I searched through the Microsoft downloads for Windows XP, but I could not find any that I do not already have.  The computer system is running fine.  It seems relatively clear across the Atlantic for now NRL Monterey Satellite Photos .  The Queen Mary was in New York yesterday QM2 - Itinerary - 2004 , but they won't be back until September 17.  The Queen Elizabeth II QE2 - Itinerary - 2004 is not due until December 21.  I chatted with a friend.  I have an appointment at 3 P.M. this afternoon, so I will now go to bed.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 5:15 A.M.:  Penny for your thoughts Telegraph  News  Consumer debt hits trillion mark .  The glade plug in refill that I filled last Friday evaporated by yesterday, so this time I used  a 60% solution of English Leather Cologne and 40% solution of 91% Isopropyl alcohol instead of 50% and 50%, and I fill the container only to a half inch from the top, so there is some air in it to evaporate.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 4:15 A.M.:  I put a microwave coffee mug with water in it in the General Electric microwave oven, and I pressed the beverage button to heat the water.  I then took my ice cream scoop, and I heated it in the hot water, and I used it to scoop out one scoop of Haagen-Dazs http://www.haagendazs.com/ chocolate frozen yogurt and put it in a bowl, and then I dipped the ice cream scoop in the hot water again, and I scooped out another scoop.  I then ate the Haagen-Dazs chocolate frozen yogurt.  CIO 

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 3:40 A.M.:  I went through my email.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 3:15 A.M.:  I went outside, and I threw out some garbage.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 3:00 A.M.:  I installed the three Office 2003 and Office One Note updates.  They are large files, but one also needs the Office 2003 and Office One Note CDs to install them, which I have.  I am going through my email.  CIO 

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 1:55 A.M.:  I put away my laundry.  I made and ate my usual salad www.geocities.com/mikelscott/salad.htm .  Instead of tuna fish, I cut three 1/4 inch thick slices of cold eye round beef, and I cut them into half inch wide strips, and I put them in the salad.  For the cheddar cheese portion, I used Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese.  I used all of the other regular ingredients.  I had the salad with a glass of iced tea.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/29/04  Thursday 12:15 A.M.:  I made up a fresh batch of homemade hummus www.geocities.com/mikelscott/hummus.htm .  For the garlic portion, I used one large clove of elephant garlic.  I have five minutes until the laundry is done on the dry cycle.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 11:40 P.M.:  I woke up at 4:30 P.M..  I had breakfast of oatmeal, toast with strawberry preserves, orange juice, vitamins, supplements, and coffee.  I went outside, and I picked up the mail.  I rested some more, and I watched some television until about 7:30 P.M..  I cleaned up, and I went out.  I walked the entire length of Greenwich Avenue, and I sat out at various locations.  I stopped by CVS during my walk, and I also used the bathroom at the senior and the arts center.  I next drove down by the waterfront, and I stood out down there for a brief spell.  I then went by the ATM machine at Putnam Trust Bank of New York on Mason Street.  I next went by the Stop and Shop, and I bought a 10 pound bag of Carolina enriched rice for $4.69, a loaf of Arnold Oat Bran bread for $3.09, fresh broccoli crowns at $1.29 a pound for $1.10, a 16 ounce bag of Stop and Shop frozen sliced zucchini for .99, a 16 ounce bag of Stop and Shop chopped frozen broccoli for .99, and a 5 ounce bottle of House of Tsang pure sesame seed oil for $2.50 for $13.36 total.  I then returned home, and I put away my groceries, and I drank some iced tea.  I then started two loads of laundry, and I have 40 minutes to go on the dry cycle.  I put clean linens on the bed in the bedroom.  For the last two weeks, I have been buying fresh Arnold bread at the Stop and Shop for about $2 more a loaf than buying the week old Arnold bread at the Arnold bread outlet.  The fresh Arnold bread tastes a bit better, but at this rate it would cost me about a $100 more a year plus, I buy other items at discount prices at the Arnold bread outlet.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 8:10 A.M.:  I received email that my Red Hat Service name is going to be deleted in two weeks, since I have not used it in six months, since I no long run Red Hat on any of my systems.  I will now run Norton Win Doctor, and then I will shut down the computer, and I will go to bed soon.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 7:30 A.M.:  I found the latest CMOS bios update for my Syntax SV266M motherboard at http://www.mydrivers.com/dir74/d29821.htm .  I used the Award Bios Flash for Windows, and I reflashed my CMOS with the more recent Syntax SV266M bios dated July 15, 2003 instead of the old one dated September 16, 2002.  Actually the one dated September 16, 2002 was for a similar Biostar motherboard.  Thus although both bios look the same on the computer besides the date, it might make a different.  I changed the Access Mode for the Hard Drives from LBA to Auto.  I enabled auto for the UDMA for the IDE1 in the CMOS.  However, I still have it set in the device manager for IDE1 to PIO instead of UDMA.  Actually the computer works most the time in UDMA, except my test file for the Adobe Reader Download install, the C: drive Disk Cleanup which goes through the stored Microsoft Office installation files, and Norton Anti-Virus 2004.  It also would not work for the Sun Java installation.  Thus in PIO mode, I do not have to work about those problems hopefully.  I explained earlier in my notes what the problem might be.  I microwaved and ate a bag of ACT II popcorn, and I drank it with iced tea.  With the new Syntax bios the computer seems a bit more responsive.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 5:10 A.M.:  In the CMOS I reset the Access Mode for the two Hard Drive to "LBA".  I changed the errors to "All but keyboard".  I disabled the Typeamatic rate.  I disabled Smart for Hard Drives.  I changed PNP OS to No.  The computer still boots the same, but these are some of the defaults that I did not have.  DMA still does not work on the hard drives, but I explained that earlier.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 4:00 A.M.:  A few days ago in my current configuration, when I tried reinstalling Windows XP Professional upgrade by the Upgrade option, after the system went through the first install section, when it went to reboot, the system would not reboot.  I tried disabling the CMOS settings and also the IDE1 UDMA option, but it still would not reboot.  I did remove the USB cables, but I did not remove the cards.  I removed the card when I did the new install a couple of weeks ago along with the USB and other devices along with disabling the CMOS settings and disabling the CMOS settings for the CPU as well during the first part of installation and on reboot enabling the CPU cache to speed up installation. In the earlier configuration a month ago before I installed XP SP2 RC2 and the system crashed, I use to be able to refresh the system with the Windows XP Professional upgrade Upgrade option with the cards and other onboard motherboard USB devices connected, which is not the case anymore.  However, just before I tired to install XP SP2 RC2, I was getting the occasional computer freeze, so maybe there is something wrong with my VIA onboard IDE controller and VIA onboard USB ports, but since although one can buy the same motherboard currently for $50, I do not think it is a motherboard problem, and probably if I ever bought another motherboard, I would buy about a $100 ASUS 6 PCI slot motherboard and Antec case to hold it for about $100, but I do not think it is worth putting $200 into my system when one can buy a complete new system with everything for about $350.  Thus since my computer system is working just fine except for XP system installation, I will not worry about it.  I did upgrade the CMOS bios about a year ago for the Syntax SV 266M motherboard, and it is now dated 09/16/02, but the Bios configuration is the same except for the date.  Also it worked just fine before the XP SP2 RC2 crash install.  Possibly the XP installation problem might be fixed by installing Windows ME first and then upgrading to XP.  Since my previous configuration before the XP SP2 RC2 crash was on the hard drives of my older computer which was upgraded from Windows Me to Windows XP and which hard drives I transferred to the current barebones system and I ran the repair option from Windows XP install, but it worked just fine, and after installation, I was able to do upgrade installs to refresh the system.  It would seem to me that I must be missing out on something in my testing of the system.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 2:50 A.M.:  I found this page DMA/UDMA and CD drives , and it said with an Award Bios and Via controller to enable UDMA, one could try to disable IDE UDMA in the Award CMOS bios, which I did, and when I rebooted, it had the option for Multi-Word DMA, which I enabled.  I test whether UDMA works by trying to install the Adobe Reader download file, which in UDMA it still freezes on my computer.  I returned the setting to DMA, and I left the IDE UDMA setting for IDE1 Master and Slave disabled in my bios.  This page PCI IDE Bus Mastering says that UDMA can malfunction if two IDE drives on the same IDE are not the same, which is the case in my computer since the newer C: drive supports UDMA 6 and the older D: drive supports UDMA 4.  I do not think in my current case with the two internal hard drives on IDE1 and the DVD/CD and the CD/RW drive on IDE2 that I have enough cable in my IDE cables between the end connector and the middle connector to connect each hard drive as master in IDE1 and IDE2 and still be able to connect the CD drives, since although I have long round IDE cables, the length between the end connector and the middle connector is not long enough to reach from the hard drives to the CD drives in my current case configuration where the internal hard drives are set below the CD drives and floppy disk.  Since it is not that important to me to be going slightly faster in UDMA mode instead of slower PIO mode, I will leave the current configuration as is.  Not only to change it would I have to remove the drives to set the drive master slave selection pins, but in removing one hard drive, I also have to remove the memory.  I would also have to disconnect all of the cables from the computer to work on it.  Since, it might not work anyway, I will wait and think about doing it.  I still do not think the cables are long enough anyway between the end connectors and the middle connectors.  CIO    

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 1:25 A.M.:  I put more laser paper in the Minolta QMS PagePro 1250W laser printer.  The best computer person in my class at Greenwich Country Day is back down in Melbourne, Florida.  I hope he stumbles across my web page at www.geocities.com/mikelscott/weather.htm , but I have a feeling living near NASA, he knows more information that is available on the internet, if one has clearance.  However, he was not the best computer in my class at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, there were at least a dozen people in that class that were better in computers than he was, and he knows it.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 1:05 A.M.:  www.gcds.net sent me a alumni login and password for their site, so I updated my information.  They had the wrong email address.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 12:25 A.M.:  With my current setup with the three networks connected to my primary computer working off the Motorola surfboard cable modem with www.optonline.net , I am currently getting at this hour of the morning 3,481.2 kbps connection according to http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html?tag=cnetfd.dir .  CIO

Note: <888> 07/28/04  Wednesday 12:20 A.M.:  UPS tracking shows that my package was delivered at 3:04 P.M. yesterday.  I now have five spare 10 foot USB cables, 10 spare fourteen foot LAN cables, six spare 25 LAN cables plus I have one spare 10 foot LAN cable on the 8 port Ethernet hub.  I have the spare cables in the box underneath my living room desk in their packaging.  I also have the LAN cables that are in use on the primary and five backup desktop systems.  That is all that I can afford to keep in reserve, but should an emergency occur with the four port Siemens router, the 8 port Ethernet Hub and the 4 port Ethernet hub, technically more people with laptops would be able to use my cable modem if we had electricity and the cable modem worked.  Of course since IBM and a lot of other computer and technical firms are located in this area, many people whom understand the technology tend to have backup systems and reserved components.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/27/04  Tuesday 11:55 P.M.:  I downloaded the free local www.juno.com install program to have available for use should the cable modem fail.  It is good for 10 free hours telephone dialup a month on local numbers here in Greenwich, Connecticut.  I will not install it unless I should need it, since it seems to alter the system configuration.  I currently do not have the U.S. Robotics external telephone modem attached to the serial port, since I have the X10 wireless mouse attached to the serial port.  However, when I do connect the U.S. Robotics external telephone modem to the serial port, it installs plug and play without any other drivers.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/27/04  Tuesday 11:50 P.M.:  I microwaved some fresh broccoli in a microwave proof cooking container with a half inch of water by pressing the vegetable button on the General Electric microwave oven.  I also reheated in the microwave the remaining half of the rice from last night.  I cut four 1/4 inch thick slices of the cold eye round beef, and I put Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce on the cold beef, and I ate it all with a glass of iced tea.  I put a little bit of olive oil on the broccoli.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/27/04  Tuesday 11:15 P.M.:  I went out after the last message.  I went by the Greenwich Library, and I read the Greenwich Time.  I then went downtown, and I walked the entire length of Greenwich Avenue, and I sat out at various locations.  It started raining during my walk.  I used the bathroom at Starbucks.  I chatted with a WiFi user at Starbucks from California about computers.  I drove down by the waterfront.  I got out of the rain for a while, and I parked at the lower level parking garage at the Greenwich train station which is protected from the rain.  I then returned home.  I had two messages from relatives on the telephone answering machine.  I called back one of the relatives.  When I went out, I found a 8 inch square white and blue Corning cooking casserole dish, a 10 inch square white and blue Corning cooking casserole dish with lid, and a 12 inch square Pyrex glass casserole dish on the trash bin, and I retrieved them to my apartment, and when I returned I washed them, and I put them underneath the center kitchen counter to have them available for use in cooking.  I think they are for ovens not microwave ovens, although they might possibly work in microwave ovens.  CIO

Note: <888> 07/27/04  Tuesday 7:10 P.M.:  I ate breakfast of oatmeal, toast with strawberry preserves, orange juice, vitamins, supplements, and coffee.  I chatted with a friend.  I will now shut down the computer, and I will clean up, and I will go out in this rainy weather.  I will probably go by the Greenwich Library, since it tends to be dry inside there.  CIO