Dell 8200 HD problems:

Well I don't know any way to prove myself to you.
I have not given anything out recently except my
Yahoo email. Other than that I have not given any
personal information away that would cause this.

I tried Thunderbird and this is what it gave me:

http://i66.tinypic.com/34qscqe.jpg

I assume you want to get this resolved first before
we talk further on the 8200.

Should I just try the green download button instead?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Well I don't know any way to prove myself to you.
I have not given anything out recently except my
Yahoo email. Other than that I have not given any
personal information away that would cause this.

I tried Thunderbird and this is what it gave me:

http://i66.tinypic.com/34qscqe.jpg

I assume you want to get this resolved first before
we talk further on the 8200.

Should I just try the green download button instead?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

So are you saying that this link gave you that
result ?

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

When I test that link right now, it looks like
the mozilla server is down. All attempts to
get there, lead to an error.

Try again in a couple hours, which may at least
give time for a news article to appear explaining
why it isn't available.

Paul

So are you saying that this link gave you that
result ?

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/


Yes, that is what I'm saying.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
So are you saying that this link gave you that
result ?

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/


Yes, that is what I'm saying.

Robert

OK, did you click on the Advanced button ?

It will report the reason for the warning,
whether it's a SHA-2 problem (signature of
certificate) or whatever.

The mozilla.org site is back in operation again.

Paul

I tried it again and clicked the advanced tab:

http://i63.tinypic.com/8z1yc7.jpg

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I tried it again and clicked the advanced tab:

http://i63.tinypic.com/8z1yc7.jpg

Robert

What a weird freaking day, eh ?

You are being offered 38.6.0, whereas my
WinXP virtual machine was offered 38.5.0 under
equal circumstances. My download machine had a
copy of Firefox 44.0.2 as the browser doing
the asking.

If you cannot get the "Save" button to work,
you can get the download directly. Hopefully, this
won't use their broken content distribution network.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/thun...p%2038.6.0.exe

The error message in your picture, shows they have
two content distribution networks (CDNs). They use
Akamai for some downloads, they use their own-hosted
CDN for other downloads.

The downloads I'm getting here in Canada, come from neither.

In any case, the "releases.mozilla.org" server is
an alternative download source, that they don't really
want us using. Because it's not a CDN, and isn't intended
for bulk downloading. Go right ahead and use it, since
their USA networking setup seems to be (partially) busted.

And I had yet more "server not found" errors,
and then a few seconds later, it reported in.
Presumably this is flaky DNS on my end or something.
It took several hours to reappear here, when it
disappeared earlier on. I even dropped my DHCP lease
by rebooting my networking boxes, and it still didn't
help. Sometimes, it really is a DNS issue on some ADSL
equipment here, for which dropping the lease is required
to pick up new configuration info.

Paul

I've had a month of Sunday here,..

Ok, I clicked the save button and
installed Thunderbird on the 8500
but then you started talking about
a command in XP and you lost me
and why would anything be in
Thunderbird I didn't put there?

http://i64.tinypic.com/sq5und.jpg

We still have the problem of the
8200 which cannot connect fully.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I've had a month of Sunday here,..

Ok, I clicked the save button and
installed Thunderbird on the 8500
but then you started talking about
a command in XP and you lost me
and why would anything be in
Thunderbird I didn't put there?

http://i64.tinypic.com/sq5und.jpg

We still have the problem of the
8200 which cannot connect fully.

Robert

Sorry, I lost context there.

You can run Thunderbird in either WinXP (8200)
or Win7 (8500).

The purposes of using Thunderbird and AIOE free news
server, is so you're not dependent on a (compromised)
Google account. If all your attempts to post
through Google Groups were deleted, or you magically
discovered your Google Groups password no longer
worked, you could switch to Thunderbird and AIOE
to make connections with the outside world.

That's all this was intended for. Because I couldn't
tell what was going on at your end. I can't tell
the difference between a "Google Groups problem" and
a "your account is compromised" problem.

Paul

understood, but I tried the command you gave
me and posted the screenshot so I must have
done something wrong so I couldn't follow
your instructions from then on.

Robert

btw, in passing, I was sent a letter from Verizon
stating they will no longer be my provider but
now Frontier Communications Corporation (Frontier)
will be my new service provider.

Do you know anything about them?

http://west.frontier.com/internet?kb...6O0BoCiU7w_wcB

I pay Verizon 71.13 now for Internet and a regular
old fashion phone no cell phone.

The change is suppose to happen in March and
they will supposedly convert my service at no
cost to me but NOT wireless and my local phone
number will not change.

Luckily, I don't use wireless so I should be ok
but I'm not sure which options I should choose
or these bundles which seems to me that your locked
in after they raise the price after 2 years.

It seems all the providers all the same and charge
the earth for basic service (Internet/plug in phone)

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
btw, in passing, I was sent a letter from Verizon
stating they will no longer be my provider but
now Frontier Communications Corporation (Frontier)
will be my new service provider.

Do you know anything about them?

http://west.frontier.com/internet?kb...6O0BoCiU7w_wcB

I pay Verizon 71.13 now for Internet and a regular
old fashion phone no cell phone.

The change is suppose to happen in March and
they will supposedly convert my service at no
cost to me but NOT wireless and my local phone
number will not change.

Luckily, I don't use wireless so I should be ok
but I'm not sure which options I should choose
or these bundles which seems to me that your locked
in after they raise the price after 2 years.

It seems all the providers all the same and charge
the earth for basic service (Internet/plug in phone)

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert


I've gone through a similar conversion process here,
but it was based on price, not a change of ownership.

My plug-in phone used to cost $55 CDN. Always had dial tone.
POTS has a working 911 system (they know where I am). The
copper network was properly maintained.

Phone company threatened to put up the price.

I moved to VOIP. Total cost is $15 a month, and $0.03 per minute
LD fee. So that is $40 CDN saved a month right there.
Installation and equipment cost $178, so that will add
to the payback time.

VOIP is not five-nines reliable. If the ADSL is out, there
is no VOIP. I would have to go to the nearest pay phone,
to call out.

My VOIP does not have e911. They don't necessarily know
where I am. Many other VOIP providers will have e911
for location purposes.

Of the $15 charge, $10 is for the service and $5
is a "dry line" fee to the phone company. That's because
ADSL is carried over a phone line, but the phone line has
no regular phone service on it.

One LD call over VOIP was dropped after one hour. I
had to reboot the ATA box to restore service (takes
a minute or so), then call the other party again.

And I got to keep my phone number. I didn't do this
sooner, because years ago, I checked and my number
was not portable. I would lose my phone number.
That was fixed.

I am *not* locked into a contract. The service is
month by month. I paid a $50 activation fee, which
helps cover a truck roll to set things up for
something else I changed. My house now has a
whole house filter for the ADSL, which was part
of raising the bitrate. The price of the ADSL did not
change, but my bandwidth cap was cut in half.

Shop around and see if there is a reseller scheme
where you live. Maybe there is a way to avoid
contract intervals entirely.

I have no guarantee on price, but my provider has
only raised the rates once, and it was during a
regulatory restructuring. So it wasn't an outright
attempt to gouge the customer. The regulatory change
affected their entire business model, and they were
forced to guess at what their new costs would be,
and make a price list to suit. There have been no
price increases since then.

*******

DSLReports has all sorts of info on the various
providers. And, as in this example, will have
info on various issues that come up when one company
messes with another company's stuff.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r303...curity-upgrade

Perhaps someone else in the group knows more about the
options where you live. As my situation here in Canada
is quite different. The phone company has the regulators
here over a barrel, so at least that part of the situation
is no different :-)

Paul

I'm the same as you and pay month to month.
I don't like these bundles and contracts. If
it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't.

I remember when Ma Bell had sole ownership of
all the telephones in the US and it was dirt
cheap. Then they broke it up because of antitrust
laws and look at what's in its place. I digress,....

Anyways,.. back to Thunderbird on the 8500 and
how to get it going since the command I entered
didn't work and can't proceed with your instructions
just yet. Also need to fix the 8200 connection problem
so I can get it up and running again as my backup
or is it shot?

If so, we had talked about buying another on eBay which
seems my best option and swapping the new power supply,
video card, 2.0 ports, and the DVD player so maybe if
I have to do that you can write me a list of things to
look for?

I also want to MAX out the RAM for the 8200 so I would
appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction?
I seem to remember reading that either the 8500 or the 8200
the RAM was made only that one year(RDRAM)?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert, and yes this IS ME *L*

Mark Twain wrote:
I'm the same as you and pay month to month.
I don't like these bundles and contracts. If
it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't.

I remember when Ma Bell had sole ownership of
all the telephones in the US and it was dirt
cheap. Then they broke it up because of antitrust
laws and look at what's in its place. I digress,....

Anyways,.. back to Thunderbird on the 8500 and
how to get it going since the command I entered
didn't work and can't proceed with your instructions
just yet. Also need to fix the 8200 connection problem
so I can get it up and running again as my backup
or is it shot?

If so, we had talked about buying another on eBay which
seems my best option and swapping the new power supply,
video card, 2.0 ports, and the DVD player so maybe if
I have to do that you can write me a list of things to
look for?

I also want to MAX out the RAM for the 8200 so I would
appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction?
I seem to remember reading that either the 8500 or the 8200
the RAM was made only that one year(RDRAM)?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert, and yes this IS ME *L*

Well, this is an alternative link to the Thunderbird installer.

http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/thun...p%2038.6.0.exe

The rules for RDRAM are neatly summarized on page 9 here.

ftp://download.intel.com/design/chip...s/29069104.pdf

For example, it says:

32 Direct RDRAM devices/channel for 300/400MHz RDRAM.

That means, if you were using PC800 sticks, you could
use 4 * 512MB RDRAM modules. That's because each of those
modules would use 16 chips, two modules per channel for
a total of 32 chips on the one channel. And since it says
533MHz RDRAM is limited to 24 chips per channel, you
could only use 2x512 plus 2x256 on such a setup.

It gives rules for the 850 and the 850E. Including
mentioning PC800-40 for the 850E. So if you had
an 850E, you'd know what to get.

And in your list of stuff to move into a purchased 8200,
you'd also want to move your boot drive. You should never
trust the data contents of a strange computer, in terms
of what is on its hard drive. There could be malware on
there, which the previous owner could not remove.

Paul

Yes but I don't know which to buy? Are some
better than others and should I go to Newegg
and search for (2) 512MB double sided and (2)
256 Double Sided?

Will this fix the 8200 or is it in your opinion
too far gone and nothing can be done at this point?

Yes, I forgot the HD if I end up buying another
8200 and swapping parts but will definitely include
that as well.

I downloaded Thunderbird with the link you provided
and it worked and had several pop-up about emails
and which option I wanted Thunderird used for but I
closed everything until you give me instructions as
your previous instructions don't seem to match up with
this.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Yes but I don't know which to buy? Are some
better than others and should I go to Newegg
and search for (2) 512MB double sided and (2)
256 Double Sided?

Will this fix the 8200 or is it in your opinion
too far gone and nothing can be done at this point?

Yes, I forgot the HD if I end up buying another
8200 and swapping parts but will definitely include
that as well.

I downloaded Thunderbird with the link you provided
and it worked and had several pop-up about emails
and which option I wanted Thunderird used for but I
closed everything until you give me instructions as
your previous instructions don't seem to match up with
this.

Robert

Go back and find the article with the recipe for Thunderbird.

The purpose of that recipe, was to save a few steps, by
getting Thunderbird to make an entry for you. Nothing
prevents you from using New Account and doing it manually.
So in that sense, my recipe was a "convenience" for you,
not an absolute necessity.

I certainly had trouble the first time I used Thunderbird,
figuring out what I was supposed to do. By using the
command line, this "primes" an entry, makes an account,
but still requires editing the account to put in your
personal details (Username Mark Twain). You can't post
until you define your identity. I can't do that
from the command line.

The purpose of the first two lines, is to get the
Command Prompt over top of the executable. On the 8500,
the path might use "Program Files (x86)" for example,
so you'll need to edit these instructions slightly.
Using "dir" is to make sure you found it OK. You
can't run thunderbird.exe unless it can be
found via the %path%.

cd /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird"

dir *.exe --- verify thunderbird.exe is there

thunderbird.exe -news news://nntp.aioe.org/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

*******

RDRAM will not be for sale on Newegg.

In the year 2016, any DIMMs might be pulls from
old equipment. I can't imagine there would be
enough surplus chips kicking around, for Samsung
to make brand new DIMMs.

You will have to look at secondary sources. Perhaps
Amazon will have entries, but Newegg, not so much.

Ebay would be a primary source, quality unknown.

And I don't have a feeling for RDRAM failure rate - I
can't recollect any instance of RDRAM failure in a
newsgroup posting. But then the percentage of
users who ever used RDRAM, is probably relatively
low. Certainly for SDRAM and DDR, the failure rate
was pretty significant. I have quite a few dead
DIMMs here (8+). Like the Crucial Ballistix module,
where one chip "went nuts" and one entire chip
spewed out nothing but garbage 0's and 1's. It
made for a spectacular scrolling error log in
memtest.

Paul