Category Archives: Technology

Splitting the NID

For the past few weeks we’ve had a lot of static & interference on our home phone line … it doesn’t effect the Vonage line, so I figured it was coming from outside the house.

Well, it turns out the ‘NID Splitter’ we have in the phone box is giving out.     A NID Splitter is a device that plugs into the Network Interface Device that acts as a DSL filter for all the inside phone wiring.   A NID is the box where the telephone companies wiring interfaces with the house wiring.   Everything on the ‘Customer’ side of the NID is is your responsibility, anything on the other side of the NID is the telephone companies responsiblity.

It’s called a NID Splitter because it lets you split the phone line signal into two parts … one part that goes directly to the DSL modem, and the other half that goes to the house phone wiring.   The NID Splitter filters out the voice data on the phone line so it doesn’t interfere with the DSL signal.

Since I don’t have a replacement NID Splitter I tried a few things …

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Dell Chat Support Flub

In general, I’ve been quite pleased with the technical support I get from Dell’s Small & Medium sized Business division.

They usually adapt quickly to my level of technical expertise and take my word for it when I report a problem.   Once the failing component has been identified, they quickly setup the appropriate dispatch to get the problem corrected.

Yesterday, however, was an exception.

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Gateway Recovery Manager error 205

A few days ago Ginny’s desktop machine (a home built system cobbled together from various parts I had on hand) finally gave up it’s ghost.   It wouldn’t book up, just gave one long beep, waited a few seconds, gave another long beep, over and over.

Well, her laptop (Dell Inspiron 8600) is almost out of warranty … and she’s not going to be getting my Dell Latitude D630 (due to the Latitude E6400 being returned), so I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get her a new computer.

So we went over to CompUSA (formerly Tiger Direct) and looked at the small form factor desktop systems.       We chose a Gateway SX2800-01 system (Core 2 Quad, 4gb RAM, 640gb SATA disk, 64bit Vista Home).   The only problem was that it had on-board Intel video and no DVI output (although it does have HDMI output).   Cost about $500.   FWIW: This is Ginny’s first new computer in quite a while.   Most of her other computers were hand-me-downs (from me).

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Returning the Latitude E6400

This will probably be the last post I write with the Dell Latitude E6400 I purchased recently.

Next week I’m going to call Dell and arrange to return the laptop for a refund.

This is the first Dell computer that I’m really dissatisfied with and, frankly, I’m surprised that Dell dropped the ball so badly.   The E6400 is (at least in my opinion) a major step backwards from the D630.

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Wake On LAN

There is apparently going to be a bit more getting used to this new laptop.

The other day, before I went to bed, I put my new Dell Latitude E6400 into standby mode … I’m 99% sure I did this.

The next morning, however, when I went down stairs I found my laptop powered on.

That evening, before I went to bed I hibernated the laptop.

Once again, the next morning, I found the laptop powered on.

Obviously this is pretty odd.

So last night I tried an experiment … I put the laptop into standby mode and, within seconds, it resumed from standby.   I then put the laptop into hibernate mode … and 30 minutes later, it powered itself back up.

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Dell Latitude E6400 Sales & Support

Note: Although my sales & support experience with the machine were generally positive, my experiences with the machine itself were not.  I have since sent it back to Dell.

I just had some really good customer support experiences with Dell.  I know, some of you are going to think this is impossible, but it really happened.

Ginny’s laptop is getting kind of old … it’s an Inspiron 8600, almost out of warranty, and the screen hinge is pretty loose.  Plus she needs another computer, with more video capability, to play with Second Life.

I figured it was time for an upgrade.  I was also thinking it was time for my laptop to upgrade also.

So I ordered a new Dell Latitude E6400 laptop for myself, from Dell’s Small Business division, and will give Ginny my Latitude D630 (which has more CPU power, memory, and better video than her Inspiron 8600).

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