Hard Disk and Sim Lim Square Bizgram Scam

I was using my computer usual, and one of the process hung. I tried to run Windows' task manager to end the process, but it didn't come out. The hard disk light is on, processor running, but task manager doesn't come out, and after like 10-15 mins, i get an error saying application not found or something, I can't remember.

I suspected that the operating system has crashed, and I tried formatting and re-installing Windows. However, during the re-installation of my programs, the computer hung again. After some trial and error, I reckon that the hard disk may be the culprit for the problems. I used HD Tune Pro to check, this is what I got:

Reallocated Sector Count, and Current Pending Sector.
In simple terms: Bad Sector on the Hard Drive.

As I didn't want to squeeze with so many people at Sitex, I decided to go Sim Lim Square to buy my replacement. The bad news is, all the shops brought their hdd to Sitex, and I had no choice but to buy at Bizgram at S$85, note: I did not even bargain, as I don't usually do.

This is where the interesting part starts. Being a geek, I checked the hdd on the spot using my laptop.

Using PC Wizard, I can check the total boot, and power on count.
It looks something like this:


For a brand new hdd, the power on count should not be there, as any usage below 1 hour will not be recorded, and total boot should be less than 10x. However, the one I got from Bizgram had 119x, 42 hours, so obviously, it is NOT a brand new one.
(Note, the above is an example image, I forgot to take Screenshot of the scam hdd as i was so mad)

I confronted the salesperson, to no surprise, he claims that the hard disk is SEALED and thus must be a brand new one. For non-technical people, it would probably have worked, but unlucky for him, he tried to smoke the wrong guy.

A little background info: HDDs which for whatever reason RMA'ed (Return Merchandise Authorization ie sent for repair) will come back sealed in plastic wrap. RMA repairs whatever that has failed, but the SMART statistics still remains. Based on my estimation, 119 boot count and 42 hours would mean the drive was used for at least 2 months.

So next, Bizgram person tried to push the blame to Seagate, telling me to contact Seagate, I almost fell for it, luckily my sister was there. Because if I stepped out of the shop, Bizgram will definitely deny responsibility and Seagate of course would also not accept any responsibilities, as the fault is not theirs. So luckily my sister insist that we get an exchange on the spot. After making a ruckus, and scaring most of their customers away, they gave up, and changed a new one for me. That new one, had only 4x boot count, and no power on count history.



Imagine how many people was scammed by Bizgram international? Even among my engineer friends, I am the only one who know how to check for boot count etc, needless to say non-engineers. Selling RMA'ed HDDs as brand new is obviously a bloody scam. I don't know how Bizgram get their hands on RMA'ed HDDs, and how much profit they make, but I do know that this scam shop is a Star Retailer, certified by Sim Lim Square. To the think of it, the Star Retailer title might actually be bought with money, money they got from scamming people.

*edit 15/06/2011*
I just recalled that Bizgram always have one of the biggest booth at the PC/IT shows which occurs once every 3 months. I am not saying that all of their products have problems, but I'd not buy from them anymore, especially since they have a long track record of bullshit issues such as this one.

Linus and the incest lions

I have a thing for fluffy and cute stuff, every time I see cute fluffy shit I'll go Awwwwww....
Some people actually have issues with a dude liking soft toys, but seriously, what's up with that? If you like it, you like it!
Don't go start thinking that I'm a feminine type of sissy boy, or even worse, homosexual. I am not. My masculine index is in a very normal region.

Anyways, there is this huge and fluffy lion sitting in the forum Co-op. His name is Linus, derivation: Lion+NUS=Linus, was supposed to be Lionus, but it just sounds weird, so Linus it is.

So I've been planning like forever to take a photo with Linus, and today I finally did!!!
("today" is actually last thursday, thanks to procrastination :P)

Yup, that HUGE and FLUFFY thing is Linus. How can you not go gaga over him?
Just look at how happy it is to see me :D

Linus have some children! I've just meet them so I dunno their names :P


Ok, this is a mistake on my part, they looked so happy/horny, so I granted their wishes. But I totally forgot that they are siblings!
Oh my gawd what have I done?!

Must. Not. Be. Desperate.

When you start seeing more chio bus around, it's an illusion. I mean really.

As a fervent believer of the normal distribution, I believe that the number of chio bus follows a certain ratio, and this ratio is unlikely to change. So, when you start seeing more chio bus around, it can only mean that you're getting DESPERATE.

Being single for 22 years is ABNORMAL, your radar for girls tend to become more sensitive, and the urge to get attached increases exponentially. You'll start feeling sour when you see a couple engage in PDA, you'll start wondering how nice it'd be if some random chio bu is your girlfriend, and sometimes, wondering how nice it'd be if the girl (if she's cute) in the PDA is PDA-ing with you.

Yea, that's the kind of random perverted thoughts that will run thru your mind.

However, one thing cannot, cannot, cannot happen: the lowering of benchmark. Notice I mentioned chio bus? The definition of "chio bu" is relative. No matter how many random fantasiesyou have, it is NOT desperate. But when you start thinking that almost every single girl a chio bu, THAT is desperate.

Some form of quality control has to be in place, my genius method: that is to set a benchmark as the SSS grade standard (SNSD for eg?). Whenever you come across a random girl makes you "switch on" have her benchmarked against your SSS grade standard. That way, you can grade them properly.

The rule: If you notice that there are more and more chio bus around, making the world a more beautiful place, that is absolutely dangerous.

So for all the no-lifers like me: being single for xx years and no life shouldn't be a reason to go for the second rated goods, go only for the good one. Or at least try several times before giving up.

Now, for female readers, you'll start thinking: this guy is a JERK. Yea, I'm quite a jerk, but every single guys (or at least 99.999%) that you know are like that, just that they're hypocrites who deny that.

Also, remember the fantasies I mentioned? Try to control them as well, not doubt it's natural to start thinking that way, fantasies are still, well, weird. I usually shake them away and think "WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?!", as soon as i realize that I'm fantasizing. So the next time you see me suddenly shaking my head . . . . . . .

Hard Disks

Processors and RAMs nowadays are getting extremely fast, an entry level computer has at least i3 processor and DDR3 RAM.

As hard disk drives (HDDs) operations involves mechanical movement of internal parts, the access speed causes significant delays. Thus, the bottleneck in computer performance is sometimes due to the limitations of the HDDs, especially during boot-up and starting of programs.

In contrast with HDDs, Solid State Drives (SSDs) operates differently and does not have mechanical parts, thus its access speeds are significantly faster than HDDs. I've always wanted to get a SSD, but the price is really really and i mean really outrageous. A 64gb SSD can easily cost like S$300. So, I went for the alternative: 7200 rpm.

I'm talking about laptop here (2.5" HDD), so it's 5400rpm vs 7200 rpm.

As a start, let's look at some data that I got:
WD Scorpio Blue: 5400rpm 320gb

WD Scorpio Black: 7200rpm 320gb

Seagate Momentus 7200.4: 7200rpm 320gb


What I've got here is only the READ benchmark, I didn't do the WRITE benchmark because I didn't wanted to format my disks.

7200pm HDDs are definitely faster than 5400rpm HDDs. As a personal experience, the boot time for a 7200rpm is around 10 seconds faster than a 5400rpm. Also, of the two brands of 7200 rpm drives, Seagate's drive is quite a bit faster than WD's.

Of course, the performance of 7200rpm drives are no where near that of a SSD. SSDs can acheive 10seconds boot up time. Holy Shit.

Here's the thing I want to talk about which affects hdd performance and not many people know: Automatic Acoustic Management
Automatic acoustic management (AAM) is a method for reducing acoustic emanations in AT Attachment (ATA) mass storage devices.

AAM controls the audible noise of the hard disk seek head. It has a value range from 128-254, most hdds have recommended value of 208. Basically lower = less noise, higher = higer performance.

My Seagate 7200.4 was set by default 208. I didn't know that before. Changing to 254 increased average read speed by 3-4mbps, and lowered seek timing by 2-3 ms.

Changing your hdd's AAM:


"... a Western Digital WD1001FALS-00J7B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) disk drive shows a decrease from 18ms to 12.5ms by changing the value from 128 to 254, with little to no increase in noise. This drive did appear to be slightly less quiet than the Samsumg in tests."
Wikipedia

Personally, I don't see/hear any difference in the vibration or sound when the hdd is running, but I think the speed is significant enough.

After all the tedious work done, my current boot up timing is 26 seconds, timing from press of power button, till all desktop gadgets load up.

P.S. The benchmarks and the AAM settings are done by HD Tune Pro 4.60

School So Far

Woah almost 2 months never update blog liao, can see I very busy nowadays ah, ahahahaha.

Anyways, school start like one month liao, struggling to keep up. new friends, closer friends, and of course a new self declared nemesis who goes around telling people I'm fucked up.

Just to clarify one thing: I am really fucked up, and I don't care.

Due to my straightforward nature, I'm bound to make strong 'enemies' but even stronger friends. If you think I'm fucked up, so be it, I'm not going to please everyone. People who will appreciate my character will appreciate.

Anyways, enough on the childish talk. School's been a real bitch (despite the fun i had with my friends) In our term: 读书读到吐血 which translates to "study until vomit blood"

Been so freaking tired lately, I feel like I'll drop dead suddenly anytime.

My job so far

I'm back to the super underpaid and super bullshit job at Shitline International.

This is where I work:


So it's back to 6 day workweek, super low pay, and a butt load of crap.
Anyways, today is off day, but got nothing to do? Update blog lor.

Being back at funan means one thing: my favorite habit is back! And that is to kope tissue paper from Macdonalds, LOL.

So as usual, I'll buy one Double Cheeseburger takeaway, and kope one stack of tissue as thick as the burger.

If you're wondering how it looks like...


Very wow right? Guess how much Macdonald tissue I'll stocked up already:


I've always believed that being cheapskate can make you rich. Serious.
But I don't believe that koping tissue paper can, lol, I just do it for fun nia.

Love

I was watching 猜不透 mv, and suddenly this idea came to my mind: What is Love?
One user commented: "this song really reminds me of sum1.... n i love her... hmm.."

When you say that you love someone what does it actually mean? Recently, some brothers who broke up, they say they really loved the girl alot, but I never understood what that means.

愛她，也要懂得如何放手讓她走，在一起的叫幸福，分開了的叫祝福。But is that really true?

Perhaps because I've been single all my life, I don't really know how to love someone. It just seems like love is a word, with infinite terms and conditions attached. I thought love is a feeling, an emotion?

I've met several girls who really makes my heart beat faster, I've imagined how nice it'll be if we're together. But behind that sweet warm thought, there's also the idea of maintenance, falling in love is easy, staying in love is hard.

Also, wooing a girl is like competing in the Olympics, you have to fight against many many other guys, and in the end, you lose to some guy who prolly don't love her as much as you, but definitely richer than you.

Being together is not only about the feeling, there's a value attached to it, and it is damn bloody obvious that guys with money and car are getting the girls. If girls are acting like that, what makes them so different from whores?

The best couple I've seen is my sis and my bro-in-law, I can tell they're very deeply in love with each other, but it just seem that it's not quite possible to find something like that anymore, everything now have a value attached, girls are so materialistic, I'm not joking, ask an undergrad girl whether she'll marry an ITE guy.

It's like money is placed at first place when choosing a guy. One of my friend got dumped, because the other guy is rich, has a higher GPA, basically have a so called 'better future', but it also damn obvious that's he's a jerk.

Another friend, my best buddy in army, an ITE guy, he's really an extremely nice guy, and I can tell he really loved her ALOT. But he also broke up, reasons unknown.

Right now, to me, love is like a minefield, you'll never know when or where you'll get hit.

Demise of my Acer 4630z

Today, as usual, I went straight to my laptop after I woke up. When I open the screen, I hear a crack sound... not good...

The hinge which secures the screen to the body broke...

This is how the laptop looks like now:


This is how the hinge is supposed to be like:


This is the broken hinge:


Epic? I have no idea how it become like that...

Mood Swings

I'm having extreme mood swings for the pass few days like a girl in her PMS (just example, no offense)

Was so happy just 2 mondays ago when I passed my driving.

Then this week my mood is like a sinusoidal curve.

Monday- happy/excited
Tuesday- disappointed
Wednesday-extreme joy (<- LOL)
Thursday-extreme bored-ness
Today-extreme tired/sad/sian
Remember I said I'm going to the warehouse today? This is how the warehouse look like:

I was like O_O lah. And there was only 4 person for the store work...
The best part is, I had no idea I could wear berms and slipper =.= and the excuse Jen gave was: "You didn't ask!" =.= x2
We started with the electronics first, got aircon, still ok, somemore just starting nia, lol.
The first big wave was the Black and Decker Heavy Weight Dry Iron.
Freaking 22 kg per pack.
It really didn't need to label "Heavy Weight".

And the end stacking result is like this:

Can you imagine? that's like 80 boxes i think, and only Jon and me shifting!
Then after that is some random boxes shifting, and I had totally no idea what I'm moving, just move.

Around 1pm, William came back with tabao lunch, 2 meat 1 vege $3.50 worth of free lunch, lol.

After lunch, fatique kick in liao, all start to shag. But still got case logic to shift, and NO AIRCON =.=
Fast forward to after loading the pc-show items, we had another mission:
to shift this tower:

which was at the extreme left of the warehouse

To this:

which is at the extreme right of the warehouse

That topless guy is Jon, by the way =D

So much saikang for today, I think I shifted around 5~10 tonnes worth of store...
And the pay is $45, excellent.

Here comes the major part of my emo-ing:
I am really frustrated at my lack of courage. After shifting work at warehouse, I purposely went back to funan, because she's there...

I just wanted to say hi, but somehow it didnt happen. I couldn't find the guts to approach her, especially when I saw so many other guys floating around him. Like ZJ said, I'm usually very thick-skinned one, but when it comes to girls, it's totally different thing.

HAIZ . . . .

My job suck

Some of you might have
-known that I'm working at "The Headphones Gallery" and "Case Logic".
-known that I'm paid $1400 per month incl cpf.
-known that I work from 1100 to 2130 daily and only one off per week.
-heard me complaining about this freaking job.

Basically, that translate to roughly $46 per day which translate to $4.6 per hour.

The 'good news' is the boss apparently likes my performance, work attitude, and my physical strength. Which just means that I have to go head office to do sai kang every now and then, with no bonus pay. Shift cupboard, shift table, shift fridge (?), shift this shift that.

Tomorrow, I don't need to go to the shop and work, because they decided to put me as full time shifting at office for one day, and I hope that it is one day only.

Seriously, wtf?

Happy!

Today is a happy day!
1. Today is OFF DAY
My job is an extremely low pay, long hours, no commission, boring job, so off day is damn shiok.
(sadly next week no off due to PC show T__T oh wells)

2. Got $100 for building a comp for my friend
I know I shouldn't be ripping my friend off like that =X but I'm very tight for cash nowadays XD

3. One big step in my life
The most important reason why I'm happy. I've always believed that everyone is a piece of jigsaw puzzle, you just have to find one that fits.
Today I found a piece that might be that piece.
For the first time in my life, I asked a girl for her number (LOL), and it succeeded. I can't believe I did it! I went "YES LAH !" all the way in Jimin's car, LOL.
Is this piece going to fit? I can't wait to find out.

One more driver on the road

YAY ! ! !
I finally passed my driving test ! ! !
Third attempt, lol.
For those who know me, I'm a pretty lousy driver, as my instructor will put it, my arga-ration techniques is damn bad, lol.
It was a close shave, because I strike kerb during vertical parking, haha.
But anyhow, I passed ! ! !

So, as i have promised myself, as celebration of my newly acquired license, i went on to
1. Mod the cable of my Triple-Fi 10 to Westone ES2 cable
2. Buy the new Sony NWZ-W252

I've been wanting to change the cable of my TF10 for some time already. The stock cable it came with is simply lousy, spoils every 4 months or so no matter how well you take care of it.
So after lunch, I went to Jaben and got it done (Jaben is located at The Adelphi #04-16)
The cable itself is S$70, and worksmanship is S$5.
Basically the differences in sound are:
1. Clearer/Sharper Treble
2. Somewhat wider soundstage due to the treble
3. Punchier bass
More importantly, the ES2 is alot studier, and it doesn't have the kind of memory effect which causes the 'curls' to stay due to the winding of cable due storage. And it definitely feels (and is) more durable.
here are some pics:




After getting the cables done, I dropped by my workplace @funan to say hi to the guys. To the think of it, seems kinda dumb to visit your workplace on your off day, lol.

Next i went to Sim Lim Square to get my NWZ-W252. For those of you who are Sony's fan (like myself), you would know that Sony's product is kinda pricey, and the price doesn't drop. However, this shop at SLS third level sells Sony stuff slightly cheaper than other shops. I got my W252 for S$119 instead of the RRP of S$129. SLS is not exactly a safe place to shop because of the many fraud cases, you just have to be experienced enough to know which shop is trustworthy.

Anyways, the W252 is great, very lightweight, comfortable fit, with pretty decent sound quality.
Here's a few pictures of the W252:

More Blood

The exam saga finally ended, it is time for some ECP cycling.

Thursday: D-day-1, Prep for event
I modded the wheelset for my bike to the shimano m565, costed me a freaking s$330.


I passed my old alex rims which came stock with the bike to Randy's $80 bike.
As any cyclist can see, it's a GT Aggressor, amateur bike. I'm no pro in cycling, just a small time hobby/leisure cyclist.
Generally, the new wheelset is good, very smooth, faster acceleration, and longer glide.

Friday: D-day
I had an interview at esplanade mall that day, bad choice to put it together with the cycling event. The interview + walking-around drained alot of my energy, seems like I'm getting old. Anyways, I popped 2 cans of red bull in attempt to recover the lost energy, another bad choice.

The plan was for Anthony to take Randy's bike, and he and I will cycle to ECP from Toa Payoh. That is when I realized the Red Bull was a bad choice. At roughly 10% of the journey to ECP, when we were crossing the PIE, I had a cramp at the calf, that was the first cramp.

Fast forward, we managed to reach the ECP, where another bad choice happened. You see, when they say not to use your handphone while driving, you should have listened. We were supposed to meet the rest of the group, so they called. I have a habit of free-hand riding, so both my hands were free to take the phone. I used my right hand to hold the phone, while continue cycling. The crucial part was when I over-estimated myself, and attempted to change the rear gear, which shifters are on the right side of the handle bar, with my left hand. It happened within micro seconds, my bike turned, and crashed.

I must say I am extremely satisfied with my break-fall ability. Being as accident-prone as I am, I have had many permutations of accidents, and with that much experience, my damage control is pretty good. Anyways, it ended up with this:



That's quite abit of blood, but still ok to continue the journey. So, we went on with the trip.

The rest of the cycling wasn't exactly peaceful with the injuries, but still manageable, afterall, I gotta be still alive to be write this correct?

The event concluded with a good dinner of seafood bbq, and a 20 min zuo-bo at a random hut looking at the sea. And I clocked 3 flesh wounds, 23 cramps, 1 numb finger, and 1 sprained ankle, freaking happening day.

Of course, I had to cycle all the way back to Toa Payoh.

I'm planning the next ECP cycling trip already =D

Power of a Mac

Today was fun, with the Sim Lim trip, then the Iron Man 2. But that's not the focus of this post, lol.

Today, I discovered how great a Mac is.

Seriously, I've been a fervent Windows worshiper for as long as I can remember. But after trying the Mac, it is simply 0_0. Not to mention that it simply looks better and classier, the interface is extremely clever, the smartest os probably. The user interface is so intuitive, with a better scrolling, windows switching, etc. Moreover, programs doesn't lag, seriously.

In fact, the mac is so easy to use, a 5 year old kid can use it!


But the mac is not without its flaws though, firstly, getting a device to connect with a mac can be quite a pain in the ass for an average user. What's more, most programs are written for windows, which mean that it's quite difficult to get those to work on a Mac. Generally, a Mac is an extremely powerful machine in a proper user. The rest of my Mac experience will have to wait till I'm rich enough to own one, lol.

T__T

Haiz,

Sadness is everywhere in my life this 2 weeks.

First up with the exams, which I totally flunked, seriously, I know is my fault to slack so much and not keeping up with the pace, but it still suck...

Then's there's the teenage problem (tho I'm not exactly teen anymore) There's this girl in my course who i think is quite cute and more importantly, is my kind of girl.

One problem: she's attached. It just suck that whenever I finally find a girl of my type, she's ALWAYS attached...

It always lights up my day to see her around in school, and I was so happy she sat beside me during the MLE exam, (tho the exam was depressing). But when I went for lunch that day, I saw the guy's arms around her waist... my heart dropped...

I know that I'm not good looking and somewhat fat. And my academic results is just plain crap. And no other notable positive qualities... But I'm just looking for some love... My standard aint that high, just a plain petite cute girl, just 乖 is good enough. But that seem like Mission Impossible ∞...

Life is such a lousy game... I want a reset...

I've been thinking a lot about my life recently, I really want to set things straight... My personal nature is damn crap nua, and every time I start to do something about it, it never last more than a week... It's time to really set it straight. It's time to be a better man.

PS. I am not likely to fall into depression any time (yet).

How to change the boot sequence?

On the previous post, I mentioned how to make a bootable thumbdrive, now this is how to change the boot sequence.

When your computer initializes, it goes into its Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to run system checks such as memory test. After the initial checks, it reads from a tertiary storage device for an operating system.

1. When you turn on your computer, during the first few seconds when the bios is loading, look for some messages such as:

"Press [key] to enter setup"
or
"Press [key] to change boot sequence"

where [key] can be 'F2', 'DEL', "CTRL+ATL+DEL", depending on your system.

Entering setup goes into the BIOS menu of your system, entering boot sequence goes directly to the boot sequence menu.

2. Spam this key as soon as your comp power up. If you see the operating system (windows) loading screen, you're too slow, restart and try again.

3. The first BIOS screen will show many computer settings. The bottom of the screen will show the keys for navigation, and changing the settings, etc.

Example:


4. Look for a setting that says Boot Order, Boot Sequence, First Boot Device, Boot Management, or something similar and select it.

5. That screen list all the devices your system can boot from. Shift the desired device to boot from to the top of the list.

Example:


6. Once the Boot Order has been changed, save and exit the BIOS screen.

Example:


After saving the setting, your computer will restart itself.

When the system boots up, it searches for a bootable operating system from media specified by the top entry of the boot sequence. If a bootable operating system is absent in that entry, it will go to the next item. If there are no bootable operating systems, it will give a message similar to "Boot media not found"

~ Da Noob Geek

How to make a Bootable Thumbdrive?

In this post I'm going to write a short guide on making a bootable thumbdrive.

FAQs:
Q. What does it mean by bootable?
A. On a normal computer start-up, the system will boot into your computer's local drive. By making a thumbdrive bootable, it allows the system to boot from your thumbdrive.

Q. What's is the point of making it bootable?
A. You can do alot of things on a bootable thumdrive. Some operating systems are portable, ie they can be installed on a removable drive, and start from it. I mainly use a bootable thumbdrive as an operating system installer to replace the need to use a dvd/cd installation.

Q. Why is it better to use a thumbdrive as installer?
A. Let's take windows 7 (which is what I'm good at) for example. By using a thumbdrive as installer, the process of "Copying Windows File" will be skipped, saving around 5-10 minutes. Moreover, a thumbdrive has a better transfer speed than a DVD/CD, your installation will be a lot faster. (it takes me only 20 minutes to format a PC)




















Step 1: Make sure you back up the data on your thumbdrive, any data on it will be ERASED
Step 2: Press "Windows Key" + 'R' to bring up "Run"
Step 3: Enter 'diskpart'














Step 4: Enter "list disk", this will bring up all the disk on your computer
Step 5: Enter "select disk #" where # is the disk number of your thumbdrive
You can check which disk is it by checking the size of the disk (in my case it's 1)
Step 6: Enter "clean"
*Warning, this process erases everything the drive and removes all partition*
Step 7: Enter "create partition primary"
Step 8: Enter "active"
*this sets the partition active, making the thumbdrive bootable
Step 9: Enter "format fs=fat32 quick"
*this means to do a quick format of the partition with file system fat32



Your thumbdrive is now bootable.
To use it as an installer, copy all the installation files on to the drive and boot from your thumbdrive.
Read How to change boot sequence? to boot from your thumbdrive.

~Da Noob Geek

Hello

After like 2 years of hesitation and procrastination, I have finally started my blog.

Just a small note for the first post on this blog. Midway in preparation for exams, looks like would be in a bit of trouble.

Creating a blog in the middle of exam isn't exactly wise, but I am extremely bored.

~ Da Noob Geek