ThreadAbort

It looks like UU.net owned by Verizon Business had some routing issues

Christopher Chenoweth — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:45:46 GMT

I was down for about 15 minutes to some of the internet thanks to this routing issue:

It looks like UU.net, owned by Verizon Business had some routing issues:

Trying to get to ThreadAbort.com from my FiOS connection:

Traceroute to 4.79.230.85 (4.79.230.85), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 L100.VFTTP-07.NRFLVA.verizon-gni.net (72.84.94.1) 2.862 ms 4.033 ms 5.484 ms
2 P4-3.LCR-02.NRFLVA.verizon-gni.net (130.81.58.66) 6.948 ms 8.669 ms 10.140 ms
3 so-6-3-0-0.BB-RTR2.RES.verizon-gni.net (130.81.29.92) 18.107 ms 19.579 ms 21.050 ms
4 0.so-3-2-0.XT2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.39.177) 26.225 ms 27.695 ms 28.918 ms
5 * * *
6 POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 153.230 ms 131.945 ms 133.340 ms
7 * * *
8 POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 230.905 ms 232.876 ms 234.087 ms
9 * * *
10 * POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 333.636 ms *
11 * * *
12 * POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 406.449 ms *
13 * * *

Trying to get to Google.com:

Traceroute to 72.14.207.99 (72.14.207.99), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 L100.VFTTP-07.NRFLVA.verizon-gni.net (72.84.94.1) 2.835 ms 3.983 ms 9.200 ms
2 P4-3.LCR-02.NRFLVA.verizon-gni.net (130.81.58.66) 9.181 ms 9.162 ms 10.116 ms
3 so-6-3-0-0.BB-RTR2.RES.verizon-gni.net (130.81.29.92) 18.334 ms 19.804 ms 21.276 ms
4 0.so-3-2-0.XT2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.39.177) 26.495 ms 0.so-5-1-0.XT2.DCA5.ALTER.NET (152.63.36.213) 25.917 ms 27.138 ms
5 * * *
6 * * POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 132.322 ms
7 * * *
8 POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 228.449 ms 229.920 ms *
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 406.984 ms 408.456 ms
13 * * *
14 * * POS7-0-0.GW4.IND6.ALTER.NET (152.63.67.253) 508.981 ms
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * *

SABnzbd+ File Handler Beta

Christopher Chenoweth — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:36:38 GMT

SABnzb+ File Handler - Freeware

This program allows you to quickly add an nzb file to your SABnzbd+ Queue. It will allow you to select a category to download to.

I plan on adding a status line to this program at a later date. Please enjoy this Alpha.

Download MSI -> http://threadabort.com/images/threadabort_com/threadabort/SABnzbd/SABnzbFHinstaller.msi

Download ZIP -> http://threadabort.com/images/threadabort_com/threadabort/SABnzbd/SABnzbFH.zip

FIOS vs Cable (Cox Communications) part 3 - Follow up

Christopher Chenoweth — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:09:08 GMT

We upgraded our connection to 50/20 (50 mbps down and 20 mbps up). I must say the results are quite impressive. For the exact same price (~$90/month) we have a full 50 mpbs!

I had to change my Router once again though. I achieved these results with the $99 Dlink DIR-655. The router seems to handle itself quite well. I am considering going to a full blown Linux router, but the Dlink seems to be doing nicely.

I have had quite an easy time dealing with Verizon Support. Their techs do not treat me like an idiot. I asked one tech during the year to release my DHCP since I had a router die without releasing it. He knew exactly what I wanted and the new router was working within seconds. Then we had ordered the upgrade for 50/20 and the system was still performing at 30/15. So we called, and within a short amount of time they found the issue and fixed it.

Before I obtained the DLINK DIR-655, I tried a Linksys WRVS4400N router from Cisco. I ended up returning this router due to the Download on the speedtest sites maxing at 15-20 mbps. That router looks nice and performs poorly. I would stay away from it.

Dell m1530 grainy LCD/Display

Christopher Chenoweth — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:11:32 GMT

I have never had so many things wrong with one laptop. After lots of eye strain I decided that I needed to research why my laptop was so hard to read under dim lighting conditions. I have had Toshiba's and HP's that never shared this problem. I found several forums talking about grainy screens on the Dell XPS m1530. I had spent a lot on the two laptops that my wife and I wanted. I expect some quality. These were my first Dell laptops (and could be my last). The lcd screen is dim, grainy, and unclear!

Here is some of the most important information I compiled from all the forums:

WSXGA+ 1680x1050 Panels
LG Philips LPLF300 - Dell P/N: XK309 - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Not Grainy
Samsung SEC3350 - Dell P/N: RW985 - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Grainy

WSXGA/WXGA+ 1440x900 Panels
AU Optronics AUO2077 - Dell P/N: GU429 - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Grainy
Samsung SEC3157 - Dell P/N: Unknown - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Some Grain
LG Philips LPLDF00 - Dell P/N: XP059 - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Not Grainy

Samsung SEC4457 - Dell P/N: Unknown - Size: 14.1" - Experience: Grainy

WXGA 1280x800 Panels
AU Optronics (Model Unknown) - Dell P/N: UX303 - Size: 14.1" - Experience: Unknown
LG Philips LPL0000 - Dell P/N: WR362 - Size: 14.1" - Experience: Not Grainy

Don't wait on the screen. Get it replaced. My dell is barely 3 months old and I have already had the motherboard replaced and a new CPU. The laptop looks good; but, it feels flimsy. I wouldn't recommend it anymore.

Some pictures of the differences:

Here is the transcript from the online chat I had with tech support. I only included the important parts:

Session Started with Agent (Dell Rep 1)
Agent (Dell Rep 1): "Thank you for contacting Dell XPS Premium Support. My name is .... and my rep ID number is XXXXXXX. How may I help you today?"
ThreadAbort: "Hello, my laptop screen is grainy and hurts my eyes."
ThreadAbort: "There is something wrong with it."
Session Started with Agent (Dell Rep 2)
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Hello and welcome to the Dell XPS experience. My name is .... . How may I assist you today?"
ThreadAbort: "Hello, my laptop screen is grainy and hurts my eyes."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I’m sorry that you have this issue, please don’t worry I’ll try my best to help you resolve this."
ThreadAbort: "Ok"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Please allow me 2 to 3 minutes to pull up your account information. In the meantime, may I have the phone number(s) to reach you incase of a follow-up?"
ThreadAbort: "1-XXX-XXX-XXXX"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Thank you."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Thank you for staying connected."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "As I can see from the records, you need assistance with the XPS 1530 with an operating system as Windows Vista Ultimate. Am I correct?"
ThreadAbort: "yes"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Since when are you facing this issue"
ThreadAbort: "since I got this laptop. It is hurting my eyes more and more. I thought I could live with it. But, now it just bothers me too much."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Is the issue with the same system we are chatting on?"
ThreadAbort: "yes. I have it hooked to an external monitor"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Okay."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I can connect to your computer remotely, with your permission and check with a few settings on it."
ThreadAbort: "ok. if you like. But, I am a computer expert and know that this LCD is grainy and of poor quality."
ThreadAbort: "it looks fantastic on my external monitor"
ThreadAbort: "btw."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I appreciate your expertise, Christopher."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Did you try to update the BIOS and checked if that made any difference?"
ThreadAbort: "yes, I am running A08. The latest"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Okay."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Christopher, please give me a minute here while I check with my supervisor if I can replace the LCD for you."
ThreadAbort: "thanks ..."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "You are welcome, Christopher."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Thank you for your patience, Christopher."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I have managed to take my supervisor's approval and I will go ahead and replace the LCD for you."
ThreadAbort: "thank you. That would be very helpful!"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "My pleasure!"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I will go-ahead and create a dispatch. Would you please verify the shipping address?"
ThreadAbort: ...
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Thank you."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Could you please give me 2-3 minutes while I create a dispatch for the part? I will give you the details after that."
ThreadAbort: "sure. Thanks."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "You are welcome,"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Christopher, I can send you a service technician to replace the LCD. is that okay?"
ThreadAbort: "sure. I can do it myself. But, a service tech is fine too. :)"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "All right. I will send a service technician :)"
ThreadAbort: "sounds good."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Thank you for your patience."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "I have created the dispatch. Please make a note of your dispatch number. The dispatch number # is XXXXXXX."
ThreadAbort: "ok. Got it."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "The service technician will come down to your place to replace the part within 3-5 business days."
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "Christopher, the service technician will give you a call tomorrow or day after and will set an appointment with you."
ThreadAbort: "great. Thanks ...!"
Agent (Dell Rep 2): "My pleasure."

As you can see, my experience with the online chat mode was great. I hate calling Dell though, I get bounced around the world.

Some more information at:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php/t-206929.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php/t-211817.html

Be sure to vote up this idea:
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/76031/Higher_quality_lcd_screens_for_XPS_M1530

Dell m1530 no longer turns on

Christopher Chenoweth — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:12:20 GMT

Well, I've had the dell for a month or two and it already required an entire motherboard replacement. If you tried to turn it on, the blue light on the power would come on for a second. Nothing else would turn on.

After contacting dell support, the guy said a tech would have to look at it. He said his computer went down at dell and that he would have to call me the next day. I never got a call. So, I tried again in a few days. The tech had me remove the hard drive and the lan card. He then claimed it was the motherboard and was going to send one out with a tech.

The good news is that the computer works again. The bad news is I am extremely worried about the quality of my new m1530. It died in less than a couple months of ownership! I have never had another brand with an issue like that.

Another issue I had with Dell was with when I bought it. I chose Dell Financing due to the Zero percent financing if I paid it off in a year. I figured that would be a great idea since it costs nothing to me. So, I patiently watched my order status move from order made to processing. It sat there for a week and then one part of my order got cancelled! It was the LoJack part, so that didn't bother me because it was something I didn't want for free. I called them, since they didn't bother to call me. Bounced through about 10 people in their system. To find later that they thought my order was fraud without even picking up a phone to call or having something that asked me to call.

Finally a rep talked to me and asked me everything that made me feel uncomfortable. Personal information and such. That guy could have taken all this information and lived as me.

Needless to say, this will be the last time I purchase from this company. They simply need to have some midwest call centers that solve problems at one person in 10 minutes then bouncing me around for 2-3 hours and making me curse Dell.

UPDATE: title change.

Ajax Control Toolkit problem

Christopher Chenoweth — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:49:48 GMT

I need to research this a bit more, but I will give a quick fix that I did.

So, I started an AJAX Web Application in Visual Studio 2008 and then added the latest Ajax Control Toolkit for 3.5. I made a simple page and wanted to use the Auto Complete Control. So, I added a simple text box and then added the Auto Complete Extender. There was then a item to add the event of this control to your code behind.

I got this error:

Cannot create page method "GetCompletionList" because no CodeBehind or CodeFile was found.

I spent quite a few hours looking throuh solutions and couldn't find anything that was of much help.

I decided to start over. I created the application a little differently this time. Instead of a new project, I started a New Web Site. Repeated the same steps and it works fine.

UPDATE:
The problem has to do with VSWebProjectItem. The standard AJAX Web Application with project file does not consider itself a "Web Project" and causes the AJAX toolkit to error.

Dell m1530 Blue Screen of Death

Christopher Chenoweth — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:24:18 GMT

So, I bought one of those nice Dell m1530 laptops this month. I almost installed everything on it when I started getting a blue screen of death on shutdown.

I finally narrowed it down to the Intel Wireless Driver. The one on Windows Update caused my laptop to blue screen on shutdown. So, I clicked into the driver page and clicked roll-back driver. Now everything works.

ThreadAbortException - Response.Redirect

Christopher Chenoweth — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:35:23 GMT

If you have ever seen this exception while debugging a web application:

A first chance exception of type 'System.Threading.ThreadAbortException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
An exception of type 'System.Threading.ThreadAbortException' occurred in mscorlib.dll but was not handled in user code

To cut down on exceptions in your ASP.NET applications with Response.Redirect, you need to use the overloaded redirect method. Under the hood, the CLR will throw an exception to ensure the page execution is halted.

private void SomeEvent(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    //This will throw an exception so that the CLR ensures the end of execution.
    Response.Redirect("http://www.threadabort.com");

    //This performs better when this overload function's second arg is set to false
    //because an exception will not be thrown.
    Response.Redirect("http://www.threadabort.com", false);
}

The only issue is that the page continues to execute. This may not be desired.

runmikebloomberg emails stolen

Christopher Chenoweth — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:38:35 GMT

So,

I signed a petition on the "Run Mike Bloomberg" site. About a month later, I got an email from someone claiming to be John Peter (The guy who owns the site). Here is the email:

This email was forwarded by EmailWarden.com
Email came from Host: 192.72.82.17
whb1.seed.net.tw
Original Alias Domain: runmikebloomberg.com
Details: http://emailwarden.com/?z=HIDDEN

-------------------------------------

Dear Friend,

Please accept my apology for not contact you earlier before now due to my right schedules. I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting that money under the cooperation of a new partner from Paraguay Presently I'm in London with the partnersfor some projects with the money.

Meanwhile, I did not forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in that process despite that it failed us at that time. Due to no trust. Now, I want you to contact my secretary, her name is Miss Rose. and her mail address is ( missrose900@yahoo.fr)

Arrange with her how the total sum of (US$1, 000, 000, 00) will reach you safely which I have already kept for your compensation for all the past efforts and attempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much.So feel free to get in touch with my secretary Miss Rose. and discuss with her How the amount will reach you. Please do let me know immediately you contact her to receive it so that we can share the joy after all the suffer ness at that time. As at moment, I am very busy here because of the projects which I and the new partner are have at hand.

Finally, remember that I had forwarded instruction to my secretary on your behalf to receive that money, so feel free to get in touch with her and she will send the amount to you without any delay.

Best regards,

From John Peter.

------------------------

Looks like someone stole my very unique email from http://www.emailwarden.com from the runmikebloomberg site.

FiOS vs Cable (Cox Communications) part 2 - Install Day

Christopher Chenoweth — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:47:20 GMT

Today is the day. FiOS is now installed. Here are a few tips that I gathered from reading about everyone else experiences. Ask the guy to do ethernet from the ONT box. They can and will do it only if you ask. Otherwise you will get Coax cable to your supplied Actiontec MI424 Router. Now, I can not confirm or deny this, but I think there is a lag if you use the Coax method of an additional 5 ms or so. If anyone can confirm this, please let me know.

Here is my tracert (trace route) for FiOS to this site (residing on a gigabit fiber network on Level3's backbone).

Tracing route to threadabort.com [4.79.230.85]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  myrouter [192.168.49.1]
2     3 ms     2 ms     2 ms l100.vfttp-07.nrflva.verizon-gni.net [72.84.94.1]
3     2 ms     2 ms     2 ms p4-3.lcr-01.nrflva.verizon-gni.net [130.81.58.64]
4     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms so-6-3-0-0.BB-RTR2.RES.verizon-gni.net [130.81.29.92]
5     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms 0.so-7-1-0.xl4.iad8.alter.net [152.63.39.165]
6     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms 0.ge-7-0-0.br2.iad8.alter.net [152.63.41.157]
7     *        9 ms     9 ms 4.68.63.165
8    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms ae-22-79.car2.washington1.level3.net [4.68.17.68]
9    10 ms    11 ms    11 ms bandwidthco.car2.washington1.level3.net [4.79.19.110]
10    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms 4.79.230.85

Well, a 2 ms drop is very acceptable compared to Cox's 6-8 ms drop.

Here is the new speakeasy.net speed test:

As you can see I get pretty close to the 30/15 number I signed up for. The upstream test doesn't seem to be that fair anyways since it happens so quick. But, Verizon Fios is not fudging any numbers here.

Since I have a very specialized WRT-54gs router, I installed that after the tech guy left. I love to use DD-WRT on my Linksys router, so I wanted that back. It performs just as well as the ActionTec router as far as I can tell.

If you want to use your own router here are some tips:

You must have Ethernet to the ONT (The box outside that the fiber goes into). You can ask for it later, but it is not as easy to install. You will have to call Verizon to switch it if you wait.
Make sure you use MAC Clone on your router and set it to the MAC address listed on the ActionTech router.
Turn off STP if you have an option to. I couldn't get the router to pick up DHCP until this was off.
If you have FiOS TV, check out Verizon_FIOS_setup_with_dd-wrt_as_primary_router

And finally, a gallery of pictures:

http://www.threadabort.com/threadabort/gallery/24.aspx

UPDATE (1/12/2008) : I switched back to the ActionTec Router. It is far faster than my Linksys WRT-54GS. The Linksys would have trouble at 30mbps.