Archive for February, 2008
BigPond NextG v2.10.4 Update
In a previous post I wrote about how much the new connection manager (2.10.4) mutilates the connection on the computer. Well currently there is a simple fix that addresses the issue. I have tested it multiple times and seems to work fine on both, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Here is the following commands that (should) fix up the issue fine.
If anyone tries this, and it successfully works, please comment here and let me know.
Windows XP
start > run > cmd [press ok]
netsh winsock reset
netsh interface ip reset
restart PC and test
Windows Vista
start > start search > command [press enter]
netsh int ip reset
restart PC and test
The above commands should fix up the issue people are having with 2.10.4 on both Windows XP and Vista.
Tags: BigPond, Connection Manager, Vista, XP
New Laptop
Well I have decided not to get the dell anymore, since they can’t provide a tax invoice until I receive the goods. So Rachelle and I went looking around on Wednesday for a new laptop, and ended up going to Joyce Mayne to see a friend, Josh. After waiting quite awhile since he was serving someone, we got down to business.
I ended up getting a HP dv6733tx (RRP $1999) with 4gb of RAM instead of the 2gb, I also got a Belkin NE-07 Carry Bag, and 24 months HP warranty on the thing, all for under $2000. It came with 2gb originally, but Joyce Mayne are doing a “double your ram for $1″, so I took advantage of that 
The only thing I am going to need to do is install Vista 64-bit instead, since it comes with 32-bit, it wont recognise the 4gb of RAM.
I am also getting it salary packaged through work, so no tax, and at tax time I get it back. I should have the funds when I get paid, so I will have an early birthday present. Thanks Josh for doing such a good deal on the notebook and extras 
Busy at work
Well the past two days at work have been crazy, I thought Monday would be quite crazy as usual start of the week dilemmas, but even tonight has been crazy. So many calls to take, so many different problems that take like 40 minutes or more to fix, and trying to talk people through doing things when they don’t understand computers to well is a nightmare.
One of the biggest issues at the moment is BigPond releasing the NextG connection manager update (version 2.10.4), which mutilates peoples connections, is a real pain. Generally resetting the TCP Stack and a simple reset of the winsock resolves the issue, but I thought there would be some QA that has to be done before releasing updated software.
On another note, Rachelle starts work again at TTH, which is quite cool. She is now casual, so she gets to choose which shifts she wants, now that is awesome. I also applied for salary sacrificing of a new notebook for myself through work, which I should get in time for my birthday which will be a good present. A new computer for myself, it’s only been about 7 years since I last updated.
Well that is all for now, my ranting about work is over.
Goodnight
Tags: BigPond, NextG, Notebook, TTH
Movies
Rachelle and I have watched quite a few movies lately. We have watched the first 5 episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so thought it would be good to watch The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines so we could see how the new TV series fits in with the movies, which was quite interesting. I wonder what Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be like, it wont be released until next year, but it looks like Skynet has won the war acording to the write up.
We have also watched SuperBad, which was quite hilarious, I would recommend this movie to friends, the things that happens in the movie is great, it’s one of those movies where you laugh every 5 minutes or so. Then on Sunday night we watched Knocked Up, it was quite a good movie too, it shows how much a person can change when they really need to, and how they deal with life and what is given to them.
That’s all for now, work has been crazy, can’t wait until an RDO!
Tags: Knocked Up, Movies, SuperBad, Terminator
Long Weekend
I had a long weekend this weekend, it was great. I got to spend time with the kids and Rachelle. On Sunday we decided to go to the Strand for a BBQ lunch, but it failed due to the stupid rain that came over, so we played with the kids at the water park and then went back home to dry ourselves off. Afterwards we went to Sabina’s and had a BBQ, drank some beers with Cameron, and Rachelle had some wine with Sabina while the kids all played, it was a great ending to a Sunday afternoon.
Matt & Jacob had their first day at the new daycare, the same one the girls go to. The boys said they enjoyed it a lot, which is great since they left their old friends at the other daycare, but they still see them at school. Rachelle and Jacob finished the seashell wind chime tonight, I got it all put together and now we just need to find some place to hang it. I am off to work again tomorrow at 8:20am which I am not looking forward to.
Tags: Alcohol, BBQ, Kids, Strand
What a day
This morning started with the girls sneaking out of their room, and into ours to wake us up at about 6:30am, which was naughty. We then did the usual, breakfast, getting the kids dressed etc. We then took the kids and Cassie to Pallarenda to go for a swim, they enjoyed it and Rachelle and Jacob collected some seashells while Matt and I played frisbee. The girls ran around the beach crazily and Cassie went swimming.
After that we came home and started making a wind chime with all the seashells we collected, it’s going great, I will take a photo once it’s completed. We then just played around with the kids all afternoon, and had a sleep whilst the girls did. Rachelle showered the girls while I was cooking dinner, it worked out great. I cooked a nice steak for us, some vegetables and mashed potato, Jacob had sausages instead.
The girls are in bed now, and the boys are watching 102 dalmations on TV. Rachelle and I are about to have some ice cream and watch SuperBad. We are going to take the kids for a picnic tomorrow with one of Rachelle’s friends and her kids, should be fun. I will try get a lot of photo’s and put them up in the gallery. Stay tuned.
Tags: Beach, Cassie, Kids, Movies
Great day, romantic night
We went shopping yesterday for something to do and walked past a florist filled with flowers and teddies as Valentine’s Day is coming up. We had a look inside and saw the biggest, cutest teddy! He is white with glitter, and has a heart with hugs and kisses on his feet, arms and ears, he’s just adorable. I wanted to buy him straight away but Rachelle said no because it’s not Valentine’s Day yet.
But Fluffy was just too cute, we couldn’t leave him in the shop so I bought him for Rachelle as an early Valentine’s Day present as she loved it so much, and I didn’t want someone else to buy it. He now sits on our bed with Dronkey, they make the cutest couple. We then went to Big W and got a big box of 60 dairy milk chocolates so we could go home and lay in the air conditioning watching movies whilst eating chocolates and having a romantic night, and Fluffy sat on the bottom of the bed with Dronkey, we didn’t share any chocolates with him
I will put a couple of photo’s of Fuffy up, trust me, you will love him (You can see him here)
Tags: Chocolate, Dronkey, Valentine's Day
Linksys WAG54Gv2 Issue
I currently have a Linksys WAG54Gv2 running at home, and I have never seen a modem to be so temperamental. It randomly looses the internet link, the wireless also. I awoke this morning, and noticed the laptop had lost the WLAN connection, so I checked the modem and saw no internet light on. As per usual, I power cycle both the modem and laptop, still no WLAN activity. I hard-reset the modem, connected an ethernet cable and reconfigured the connection, but this wasn’t good enough.
The firmware was v1.01.25, so I WAG54Gv2 Pluto download the WAG54Gv2 Firmware the “unofficial” v1.02.14-Pluto which is the Linksys firmware, but it has updated tools, bugfixes etc. The changes in v1.02.14-Pluto are:
Further improved httpd speed
Fixed a minor bug in httpd involving management.asp
Updated iptables from 1.2.7a to 1.3.6
Modified iptables setup regarding IPSEC/NAT as per rogerp’s suggestions
Status page detects Annex M modes correctly
Status page displays “Unknown mode” if synch is something we don’t yet detect.
Fixed a minor typo in style.css
You can view the page about the WAG54Gv2 “Pluto” firmware over on WAG54Gv2 Pluto Firmware.