eSATA Strangeness on a Foxconn A7DA-S

After all this time (more than a year since I built the rig in question), I finally got the opportunity to try out my board’s eSATA port. This particular motherboard (the AM2+ version of the Foxconn A7DA-S, equipped with the 790GX northbridge and SB750 southbridge) has no integrated eSATA port on the I/O panel; rather, a back-panel expansion bracket is supplied and is supposed to hook up to the “eSATA”/#6 SATA port on the board. For some reason, Windows was not detecting the external HDD, even though AHCI was enabled. I connected the eSATA bracket to SATA port #5, thinking that the designated “eSATA” port was dead. I then went into the BIOS and set SATA IDE Combined Mode to off, and following this Windows was able to autodetect the eSATA HDD.

Sounds all well and good, right? Unfortunately, shortly after unmounting and unplugging the external disk, my computer began to spazz out. Specifically, the system began thrashing the internal hard drive indefinitely, causing a system freeze. I was forced to reset the board. After a CMOS clear and a chkdsk run, I booted back into Windows. Plugging in and unplugging the eSATA drive again caused this crazy disk-thrashing.

After a bit of trial and error, I ended up reconnecting the eSATA bracket to where it should have gone, the #6 SATA port marked “eSATA.” For some reason, this worked: Windows was able to automount the eSATA drive, and unmounting the drive caused no strange behaviors.

I think there are a few things to learn from this strange incident. It is evident that not all motherboard manufacturers implement AHCI and SATA hotplug capabilities in the same way. It seems that on this board Foxconn only implemented eSATA functionality correctly on one of the six SATA ports, perhaps explaining why this port is specifically labeled “eSATA” on the PCB and in the BIOS. Furthermore, my roommate’s newly minted desktop build, which runs a Gigabyte board (the MA78LM-S2H) with a lesser chipset (the 760G) seems to be able to handle hotplugging correctly on all four of its SATA ports. Obviously, there’s a reason why manufacturers like Asus and Gigabyte are considered “Tier 1” brands while guys like Foxconn are relegated to a lesser status in the computer community. Had budget not been a concern when I put together my rig, I would surely have gone with a more reputable motherboard maker.

Sponsored Link: SnapIt Screen Capture

Capture anything you see on your PC screen!

Don't waste time cropping your captures. Take a "snapshot" of anything exactly what you need, with just a click.

Easy to Learn, Easy to Use!

Screen Capture Software

mktorrent-GUI version 1.35 released

Version 1.35 is a major release and supports the saving and loading of profiles. These profiles allow heavy torrenters to quickly import sets of tracker URLs. Additionally, most fields are now persistent – in other words, their content will be preserved in between application sessions.

Go to the main project page for a full readme and the download link.

NX: Linux Remote Desktop Access Done Right

Being able to access a computer remotely is becoming a more and more useful feature these days. This is especially true for headless servers and virtual machines, where local/direct access is often not an option. Windows machines (at least the non-home versions have the option of using Remote Desktop, which is a solid and reasonably fast solution. VNC is an option for both Windows and Linux, but it tends to be slow and inefficient as it runs through the framebuffer and is bitmap-based.

I was recently setting up an Ubuntu 9.10 VM for academic programming purposes. Since my (Windows-based) laptop, a four-year-old Dell, is a little underpowered, my plan was to connect to this VM remotely to do all my work. Sure, I could do X forwarding through SSH + PuTTY + Xming or something, but that tends to be somewhat cumbersome, especially when a full desktop is desired. I did try Ubuntu’s VNC-based Remote Desktop feature – it works fine, especially considering the fact that everything was being sent/received over a wireless network. But there was still a bit of lag and window tearing. I wanted something that could really push the envelope of remote computing. A bit of internet research indicated that NX is the king of remote-access technology for Linux, and after field-testing it on my VM and laptop I must say that I would totally agree. Not only is NX speedy, it also provides SSH-based connection security – something VNC can’t do on its own.

Installing and Configuring the NX Server on Ubuntu

An excellent official guide to setting up the open-source FreeNX server software can be found here. The instructions work well for the latest version of Ubuntu at the time of this writing, 9.10.

Installing and Configuring the NX Client on Windows

The preferred client is provided by NoMachine. The setup package can be downloaded here. The latest version at this time is 3.4.0-7.

After running the install, you can create a new connection profile by running the NX Connection Wizard. The questions are fairly straightforward – give your session a name, supply the server hostname, etc. For Ubuntu you want to use the Unix connection type. Set the desktop to GNOME or KDE if you have it installed. One of the nice things about NX is that it can dynamically set up the resolution. You can choose fullscreen or a specific resolution. Note that if fullscreen is used, you will still be able to ALT+TAB out of the NX window if you want to go back to your Windows desktop/programs for a bit.

Once a profile has been created, you can just use the NX Client for Windows shortcut. Type in your username + password (same as your local Linux credentials), wait a few seconds, and boom! Your Linux desktop in all its glory should appear. The claim that NX can achieve near-local-speed responsiveness is certainly not a joke, as I’m sure most users of it would agree.

Howto: Download TurboTax state forms for free

TurboTax is great for filling out those pesky tax return forms without relying too much on manual brainpower, especially if you have a complex tax situation. The federal forms are free, but TurboTax only lets you file one state return free of charge. If you need additional state forms, it’ll run you $39.95 each. Needless to say, this is a pretty ridiculous fee when you could buy another copy of TurboTax (Deluxe) for a similar price. Fortunately, there’s a way to remedy this…inconsistency.

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING TUTORIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. I DO NOT CONDONE THE USE OF THIS INFORMATION FOR FRAUD OR OTHER ILLEGAL PURPOSES, AND AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF USING THIS INFORMATION.

The basic premise is to install and use TurboTax in a virtual machine. There are several VM solutions out there, but this guide will illustrate the use of VirtualBox. VirtualBox is free and lightweight, making it ideal for the relatively simple task here. We will use the snapshot feature of VirtualBox to create an image of the TurboTax install BEFORE downloading the first free state. After downloading the free state, the virtual machine can be reset to this snapshot, whereby another state can be downloaded for free.

You might complain about having to use TurboTax in a virtual machine – true, it’s slightly more inconvenient, but who doesn’t like the added layer of security?

Materials needed:

• VirtualBox (download here)
• Windows XP/Vista/7 install media
• TurboTax (2009) [duh!]

Prepare the Virtual Machine for TurboTax

Install VirtualBox if you haven’t already, using the download link above.

Install your virtual operating system of choice in VirtualBox. The intricacies of this will not be covered here. However, I recommend Windows XP since it is smaller in size than Vista or 7.

Install the VirtualBox Guest Additions (highly recommended). This enhances the video quality in the guest OS and also allows shared folders, which can make it easier to transfer files (e.g. tax documents).

*If your guest operating system is Windows XP or Windows Vista, you will first need to install the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. (web installer, full offline installer)

Install TurboTax (2009) into the guest operating system. Run the application and allow it to grab updates, then exit out. Shut down the guest OS.

From the VirtualBox interface, create a snapshot of your VM.

Download the 1st free state

Start up the virtual machine and open up TurboTax.

Click “Start a New Return”.

Go to the “State” menu. Keep clicking “Continue” until a window pops up asking you to choose a state to download for free. Proceed with the download.

Once the download is finished, quit TurboTax. Navigate to the location “C:\Program Files\TurboTax\Forms”.

Of the directories listed, it should be relatively easy to pick out the one that corresponds to the state you just downloaded (e.g. ohi_09 corresponds to the 2009 Ohio forms). Simply transfer this folder (zip it up first if you’d like) to your real OS, or any other permanent storage location.

Shut down the VM.

Reset the VM and download more states for free

Go to the snapshots menu in the VirtualBox interface (see screenshot above). Right click the snapshot you made and hit the “restore” option.

Reboot the VM. The VM and the TurboTax install are now in the original state (no pun intended) where it will allow you to download one more set of state forms for free.

Repeat the process described above to download the state forms.

Rinse and repeat, if desired.

Add the state forms back into TurboTax

Now that you have all the state forms you need, it’s time to add them back into TurboTax. Copy/move these form directories back into the “C:\Program Files\TurboTax\Forms” on your virtual machine.

The next time you start up your virtualized TurboTax install, it should scan and pick up these new forms. You can now proceed to use TurboTax normally. If desired, the new form files can also be added into the forms directory of a TurboTax installed in a real OS.