Laments of a Sound Card

I have a Dell M70 laptop running Windows Vista. Every time I install Vista on this machine, the sound gets sort of weird. It usually takes Vista two tries to find the proper drivers for my device (SigmaTel C-Major Audio). Once it does, though, everything goes alright.

Well, the other day, my sound simply stopped working. At first I thought this was due to Windows Updates as some updates had just been installed. So I did a system restore…and they came back! Unfortunately, I’m on a Windows domain and group policy dictates my updates automatically install (doh!). So updates go again and I proceed to do a system restore. But this time, I remove myself from the domain quick like a rabbit so I can manage my own updates. Except…now the sound device fails…again.

So it wasn’t the updates that did it, which is weird. I decide to get the hardware checked…my hard drive in another laptop: sound fails. Another hard drive in my laptop: sound works. Ok, so it’s not hardware. Now, by this time the errors have gotten worse. At first I could install drivers to my heart’s content and I would simply get error messages when I try to play any audio and the little red “X” by my sound device in the system tray. Now the errors are more along the lines of “Something is WAY messed up, I can’t install that driver.”

Fine. Windows Vista CD, coming right up. I don’t want to reinstall Vista…that’s a pain and I would have to reinstall and configure all my software, which I don’t want to do. After reading up on a couple online suggestions, I try doing an sfc /scannow (just in case), which does some stuff, but doesn’t really work.

So I boot up my CD and open up the recovery console. Too bad I can’t figure out how to restore system files. I’ve done that once but I forgot what I did. Instead, I opt for an repair install by booting into Windows and choosing “Upgrade” when the CD autorun pops up. This allows you to “Upgrade” Windows Vista to Windows Vista. I go through all the stuff and then I can’t upgrade…because my version of Windows is newer than the one I want to install…because I have SP1 installed.

So, an hour later, SP1 is gone and I try again. Finally I can do the upgrade! (No, uninstalling the service pack did not fix my sound). The upgrade takes like an hour and a half and replaces all my system files. BUT, my sound finally works…sort of. Now my audio jack doesn’t work! Yes, those are somewhat software controlled. My laptop speakers work, but no external devices get audio – it just turns off the speakers. So the Vista driver failed miserably. After about another half hour of trickery I manage to get the Vista drivers gone and install the official XP drivers for the card, which actually works!

After something like two system restores, domain removal, customizing Windows updates, several driver install attempts, swapping hard drives, SP1 uninstall, repair install, about 100 more Windows Updates destroyed by the repair install, and a cumulative total of way too many hours (like 10 or 15), my sound finally works. Maybe it would have been quicker to reformat…

Logitech is 2/2

I own two Logitech MX Revolution mice – got them at a steal from Staples. They work great and are extremely comfortable. The only real problem is that the rubber inset in the scroll wheel tends to come loose.

Now, most mice have a 100% rubber wheel, but the Revolution needs a metal wheel so that it can get some good momentum in the “free spin” mode. They use a rubber inset which is simply glued down to give you traction. The problem is that after a good amount of use, the inset starts to come unglued and get a little loose. This means that when you’re using the mouse in free spin mode, the rubber inset rubs against something inside the mouse and stops it or makes it a little harder to turn.

So, in sort: This happened to two of these mice, and Logitech has been quick to replace both of them. Keep in mind this is like an $80 mouse that they freely replace. Plus, you get to keep the old one…so if you’re OK with a funny feel you can just cut that rubber piece off and have two mice.

Very happy with their customer service. If this were eBay, I would give them an A+.

Backing Up Your Data using Robocopy

Also see: This newer post

The Problem

Backing up your data can get a little confusing sometimes. You need a data backup location like an external hard drive, but then you either have to use the software you were given or spend hours finding one you like, only to realize you will have to pay to use it. I won’t spend any time in this post on good hardware, I want to give my solution to the software problem.

The Solution

I hunted and hunted on my own for a while. I found some OK applications, but none that gave me the level of customization that I want…at the price I want: Free. Then I discovered RoboCopy. It’s a command line utility for Windows that kicks the butt of xcopy down the street and back.

For Windows XP users, you’ll need to download this utility. Windows Vista users, it’s installed for you already. You can download it as part of the Windows Server 2003 resource kit. Don’t heed the name, you can install this on XP.

Download

Don’t be mistaken now. You don’t just run this application straight out of the box. We will make use of the program via batch file.

The Script

Here’s a script I wrote to make use of this application.

@ECHO offREM —– SETUP INFORMATION —–
ECHO *———————————————*
ECHO Windows Backup Utility
ECHO *———————————————*
ECHO.

ECHO This script uses robocopy, a command line copy utility from Windows
ECHO Windows vista supports this by default, but older machines need the
ECHO Windows resource kit for robocopy support.
ECHO.

REM —– BACKUP SOURCES —–
SET profile=C:\Users\username

REM —– VERIFY BACKUP FOLDERS —–
ECHO —————————————-
ECHO Folders to backup
ECHO —————————————-
ECHO – %profile%
ECHO.

REM —– ASK USER TO PROCEED —–
SET /P continue= Proceed? (Y/N):
IF /I %continue%==N GOTO END

REM —– SET DESTINATION VARIABLE —–
SET dest=E:\Backups

REM —– Use below code to have user specify backup directory. Just remove the “REM” and put “REM” before the line above
REM SET /P dest=Backup directory:

REM —– DO THE COPY —–
REM —– Do ROBOCOPY /? in a command prompt for details on other flags
REM —– /MIR = delete files from destination that have been deleted on source
REM —– /LOG = create a log file
REM —– /R:0 = don’t retry a file if it fails. Change number as you wish
REM —– /W:0 = don’t wait to retry a file if it fails. Change number as you wish
REM —– /TEE = output progress to console window. Turn this on if you want to see the file copy report at the end of your copy and progress during
REM —– /XJD = Windows Vista has some weird folder virtualization to prevent programs from accessing folders directly. Exclude Junction points to fix this.
ROBOCOPY “%profile%” “%dest%\profile” /MIR /XJD /LOG:%dest%\profileLog.log /R:0 /W:0 /TEE

:END

pause

It’s not hard to use. Just follow these steps:

• Create a new text file in notepad or other simple text editor
• Paste the entire text in the dark box into notepad
• Save the file as “backup.bat”. The important part is the “.bat” extension. This tells Windows that it is a series of commands.

Now you need to customize the file to match your needs. Under the BACKUP SOURCES header above, change the existing string “C:\Users\username” to match. For Vista users, just replace “username” with your username. For XP users, use “C:\Documents and Settings\username”. You can add new backup paths here using the same format.

Now, under VERIFY BACKUP SOURCES, just add new lines to print out what sources you are backing up. This helps you remember when you run your program what you are about to backup.

Third, under SET DESTINATION VARIABLE, set this to your backup drive. Most likely it will be E: for an external hard drive. You can use just the drive letter or specify a folder on that drive like I did.

Now, at the end of the document, look for ROBOCOPY “%profile%” “%dest%\profile” /MIR /XJD /LOG:%dest%\profileLog.log /R:0 /W:0 /TEE. Copy and paste this line once for every directory you back up, being sure to change the backup source and destination though!

Now just keep this file in a handy location, plug your backup drive in, and run it! It keeps a log of all the files it copies and if it succeeded or not. This script will do an “incremental backup” as well. This means that when you back up your data the first time, it will copy it all. Subsequent backups will only copy files that have changed.

PLEASE NOTE: If you delete a file from your computer, then run this backup utility, that file will be deleted from your backup data. To prevent this, uncomment the code underneath SET DESTINATION VARIABLE section by removing the REM so it says (SET /P dest=Backup directory:)and set a new folder every time you back up. I would create about 3 or 4 different folders and loop through them.

That’s it. I appologize for any confusion. If you have questions, leave a comment and I’ll be glad to help out.

Note: I have discovered a GUI for robocopy. If this interests you, check it out here.