Inanis.net

The laptop is working great. The Belkin router is installed and much more stable than the old Linksys.

The only issue with this machine is the battery life. For some reason it seems to drain power even when it’s off. I thought it was because the lid was hitting the “CD Player-while-off” button, putting the machine in some sort of powered state and using battery, but I did a minor hack to the system to prevent the button from being hit, so it’s not that.

If it were as simple as removing the battery, then so be it, but I cannot get the battery out without removing the entire bottom cover of the laptop. I must keep an eye on this. Maybe I just need a new battery. Oh well…..

Ohmigosh, the parts came in today. Along with the wireless card I ordered a Belkin Wireless G Router to replace my dying Linksys. I am still amazed that the parts came in a full 2 days early, and our UPS guy even dropped them off at the office instead of the house, so WOOT.

I examined the wireless adapter along with the computer and although I could probably make the “internal” trick work, I don’t think I am going to mess with it. It would require some dremel work on the mounting frame of the LCD Panel, and I’m just not lucky enough to get away with modding that and not breaking the system fatally somehow. I also tried looking inside the machine for somewhere to stick it, but there really isn’t anyplace with enough room to allow the antenna nub to stick out the side. So, here it is sticking out the side of my computer, mocking me, making me feel inferior.

BAH! I say. I got this presumed broken machine working, so mock me no more, USB wireless card of doom!

Guess I’ll get the Belkin up and running when I get home tonight. No more resetting the device every 12 minutes while under load. WOOT again.

I ordered the wireless card for my laptop from Newegg, and it should be here sometime next Monday. If I am lucky, I’ll get it early: the UPS guy that does the shipping route for my office also does the route for my street. Sometimes when I order stuph, he drops it off at the office. Early play. YAY.

The Z81D is up and running nicely, except for the wireless. I have a plan for that though.

I recently read about this guy who took an Asus Eee PC and handwired in some stuph directly to the USB Bus. I can do that. I will do that!

I think I am going to get a cheapie USB wireless NIC, remove the crappy broken one in the upper right corner of the laptop, and put mine in there, then wire it down into one of the USB ports. It will take up a USB port, but plugging it in normal will anyways. Besides, I dont want some stupid f***ing thing hanging out the side of my machine if I happen to be mobile.

What am I kidding. This thing looks like crap. Case cracked in 4 places. Wireless busted. Non-original . .well… almost everything. Asthetics don’t mean much. Internal is easier to deal with.

This will be fun. Next step: choose a wireless NIC.

I was thinking about this device. Good reviews, relatively inexpensive and it has an external antenna. I can mod the top of the lid, stick the nub out the top and screw on the antenna when I need extra range.

Hmm, much thinking to do.

The Armada 7800 project is officially dead. Now, the project is the Asus Z81D.

I have the machine up and running. The original processor was dead and I managed to acquire a replacement. The original was an A64 2800+, and now it’s a Mobile Sempron 3000. No real horsepower there, but when does a laptop ever have real horsepower for this cheap?

Have 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD I scrounged up from the bottom of the parts bin, Windows XP (had an extra copy). Everything works, except the Wireless: it associates but cannot move data or DHCP. Its other specs are okay for its age.