General Gaming Article |
- Google Quietly Launches (and Sells Out of) Ethernet Adapter for Chromecast
- Latest Windows 10 Preview (Build 10166) Stomps Out More Bugs
- OCZ Announces Affordable Trion 100 Solid State Drive Line
- Hardware Troubleshooting Guide
| Google Quietly Launches (and Sells Out of) Ethernet Adapter for Chromecast Posted: 09 Jul 2015 12:34 PM PDT And...it's gone! Google on Wednesday added a new item to its online store, that being a tiny Ethernet adapter for its Chromecast dongle. Chromecast already comes with 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity baked in, but if you need a wired connection for any reason, you were out of luck. Not anymore (well, sort of). The Ethernet adapter sells for $15 and is easy to install -- just connect the included USB cable to the Chromecast, then run an Ethernet cable from your router to the adapter, and plug it into a wall socket. Easy cheesy, except that it was in such high demand (or short supply, or both) that it quickly sold out. Google didn't say when it expects to have more in stock, though for Chromecast owners who have their dongle installed in a Wi-Fi dead zone or otherwise suffer from unreliable wireless connections, more inventory can't come fast enough. Apparently there are a quite a few who could benefit from something like this, hence why Google ran out of inventory in less than a day. The Chromecast itself normally sells for $35. With the adapter, the total cost of ownership (for those who need an adapter) comes to $50. If you don't yet own a Chromecast but are interested in one, keep your eyes peeled for sales -- it can often be found on sale for $30, or as low as $25 for a refurbished model. Alternately, you can wait for the next generation of Chromecast. Google has yet to officially announce a Chromecast 2 device, but while on the topic, Google's VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz told Gigaom that the Chromecast 2's "hardware capabilities will give us a better opportunity to take full advantage of a large screen paired with a small screen." |
| Latest Windows 10 Preview (Build 10166) Stomps Out More Bugs Posted: 09 Jul 2015 10:45 AM PDT Yes, another Windows 10 Technical Preview Microsoft on Thursday announced a new Windows 10 Technical Preview, which is something that's becoming a frequent occurrence as of late. The latest build (10166) adds more polish and chases off a few more bugs as Microsoft readies a final release for July 29. Build 10166 has been released to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring, and if you're on an older version, "now is definitely the time to upgrade to the most current build," Microsoft's Gabe Aul says. He even bolded that bit for emphasis. Why all the excitement? Build 10166 is awfully close to what the final Windows 10 experience will deliver when it's doled in waves later this month. At this stage, it's all about last minute housekeeping, which means tweaking bits here and there to ensure a stable experience. Even Fast ring users should expect these newest builds to be fairly solid. That said, ZDNet reports that Build 10166 won't be the one that Microsoft waves a magic wand over and transforms into a Release To Manufacturing (RTM) build, though "it's close." ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says she doesn't have a specific date, but that her sources indicate an RTM release around mid-July. Unlike previous Windows releases, the final release still won't be final, not in same sense as before. Microsoft is switching to a Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS) model, which means Windows 10 will be a constant work in progress. In place of Service Packs and major updates en route to a brand new OS, Windows 10 will receive updates on an ongoing basis, both to address security vulnerabilities and to introduce new features. |
| OCZ Announces Affordable Trion 100 Solid State Drive Line Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:35 AM PDT Giving SSDs some TLC Congratulations if you're reading this, it means you weren't scared off by the word "affordable" in the title. For power users, terms like "affordable," "value," and "budget" typically translate into low performance, but that's not necessarily the case with OCZ's newly minted Trion 100 solid state drive line. The new drives use Toshiba's Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND flash memory and controller technology. As a result, these SATA 6Gbps drives feature sequential read speeds of up to 550MB/s and sequential writes of up to 530MB/s, along with random read I/O performance of up to 90,000 IOPS. Granted, none of those figures are on the level of PCIe-based SSDs, but in SATA 6Gbps territory, it doesn't get a whole lot faster than this (on paper, anyway -- we haven't had a chance to test and benchmark these drives). Here's a breakdown of how things shake out by drive:
And here's a look at the MSRPs:
The price per gigabyte has been rounded up for each drive. Nevertheless, those are some tantalizing MSRPs for high performing SATA 6Gbps drives, especially when you consider that street pricing could eventually end up being lower. In addition, OCZ tells Maximum PC that it's keeping an eye on the market and will adjust the price as necessary -- in other words, you can vote with your wallet. This is precisely what Toshiba had in mind when it acquired OCZ's storage division. When OCZ was on its own, the company had to ride the volatile NAND flash memory market. But with Toshiba's resources, it needn't worry about fluctuating prices (not to the same extent, anyway) and NAND flash memory shortages. OCZ's use of TLC NAND flash memory is also key here. "As the market for solid state drives continues to mature the need for high quality yet affordably priced drives has only grown, and we are pleased to be able to provide exactly that with our new TLC based Trion Series SSDs," said Daryl Lang, CTO of OCZ Storage Solutions, a Toshiba Group Company. "To deliver more robust endurance, the Trion has been optimized with extremely tight coupling between the premium Toshiba TLC NAND flash and firmware, making it an ideal solution for value-conscious users seeking an improved computing experience for both desktop and mobile applications." The Trion 100 series is available now. Each drive is backed by OCZ's ShieldPlus warranty for 3 years, which means no shipping costs and no hoops to jump through, like digging up a lost receipt -- just provide a serial number and OCZ will take care of the rest. |
| Hardware Troubleshooting Guide Posted: 09 Jul 2015 12:00 AM PDT Help diagnosing hardware problemsIt's a scenario that everyone dreads: You build a computer, power it on, and then... nothing! Or you install the OS and the system starts acting up before you've even made your first foray onto the Internet. Or you're using your computer and all of a sudden, something just doesn't work right and you're sure you haven't made any major changes. Maybe it's hardware, but how do you tell? This guide will help you figure out whether you truly have a hardware problem, and if so, which piece of hardware is the culprit. General TipsBefore we get to advice on specific hardware, here are some tips to sharpen your troublesome-hardware hunting skills. Make sure it's plugged inIt's happened to the best of us. Push the power button and nothing happens. Then you look over to the wall socket and realize that your rig isn't even plugged in. Or the PSU switch is set to the wrong position. If you've been touching the hardware, the first thing you want to do before digging down further is to make sure that: All cables are plugged in. Try another portSometimes, you have a bad port or slot. If a hard drive or SSD isn't working on one SATA port, try another. If a USB device isn't quite working, try another USB port. Ensure software isn't the problemSoftware can be responsible for a lot of issues. Try out a few blanket fixes before diagnosing further. Some examples are: If you've recently installed an update, try rolling back to an older version. Keep a PC speaker handyIf you don't have a higher-end motherboard with some kind of readout that display POST errors, a PC Speaker can at least help you troubleshoot what's going on if the computer doesn't BOOT. This type of speaker normally plugs into the front panel header of the motherboard and is the only way for a computer to tell you something is wrong. If the system doesn't boot up, the computer will do something other than a single short beep. While these beep codes are generic, it at least helps point you in the direction of where a problem might be. No beeps: There's a power issue. Check to make sure all of the required cables are connected. Eliminate variablesWhen you aren't sure what's causing issues, it's best to start eliminating the variables. One easy variable you can eliminate is the cable. While external cables are often prone to abuse and can fail readily, internal cables aren't designed with repeated connections in mind. If there's a cable coming out of a suspected component, try swapping it first. One other method of eliminating variables is to do a cross-hardware test. For example, if your Wi-Fi adapter appears to be broken, get another Wi-Fi enabled device in the area and see it can connect and do network-related tasks. This will at least tell you if your Wi-Fi network is working in that area. For system building, there's the extreme end of this: the bare-bones build. Remove all of the system components except the processor, motherboard, one stick of RAM, and video card. If you have a PC speaker, you can also install just the processor so that you can invoke the POST code beeps. If the system behaves as expected, start adding components until it breaks. The last component you added is most likely the problem. A Handy Cheat SheetThe following is a list of symptoms and the most probable hardware that's failing. USB device or add-on card isn't working properly Blue screens IRQL_NOT_GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO It's most likely RAM that's the problem. Though a bad boot drive (HDD or SSD) can also cause issues like this. Thankfully, there's already an article explaining how to survive and troubleshoot BSODs. Video artifacts If the artifacts affect the whole screen and are of a consistent pattern, like discoloring every 4 lines, then chances are it's the cable or the display itself. Video card driver keeps crashing Clicking noise from the hard drive Read/write errors that pile up on a drive Sudden shutdown/power loss A vital component overheated. This could be the processor, the VRMs (the housekeeping circuitry around the processor socket), or the power supply itself. You can check the processor's temperature with a utility like HWMonitor. The VRM or power supply can be checked by touching the heatsink or case respectively. Computer does not power on, period. Computer powers on, but does not boot General instability Testing Your Hardware Power Supply |
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