Acer Ferrari 3200 - Lemon?

My work laptop is an Acer "Ferrari" 3200 model. We got it as it was a factory return due to the box being slightly scruffy - the machine itself hadn't been opened. For the price, the spec was great.
Things were fine until one day the machine kept locking when accessing the disk... a scan through the event log showed it was having lots of read errors. "OK", I thought, "hard disks fail...". So, we got a new disk under warranty. Things were fine for a few more months until eventually it refused to boot one day. Some of the LED's came on, but everything else was blank. No post, no display. Sent it back - out of warranty now - and it turned out the motherboard was dead. This was replaced. 2 weeks after it returned, the second hard disk failed!. We bought a new one (updgrading to a 100Gb) in the process and all was well once more. Then, less than 3 months later, the motherboard died again! So, it's now on its 3rd motherboard, and 3rd hard disk.

Doing some Googling, it seems I'm not the only one. Basically the machine has a bit of a problem overheating which leads to premature failure of parts. It's a shame, because it's actually quite a nice machine - fairly powerful, a good hi-res screen, built in wireless and bluetooth, a slot loading dvd writer...

I'll update the blog should anything else explode...

Too hot

grrr.
I hate summer.
Well, I don't hate it as such, but I do hate that whenever it's warm in this country it turns into a sticky sweaty heat. Not pleasant at all. Give me 10 degrees but still and sunny any day.
Looks like we might get some storms later to clear it up a bit. Hopefully - I like storms :) but last time we had one it didn't do very much until the water all evaporated and it got even more humid!
Ho hum...

MDAC problem - fixed!

Yay, I sorted this one. Probably a horrible fix but if you're interested...

OK, this is how I fixed the “The procedure entry point MtxCluGetDtcUserInfo could not be located in the dynamic link library MTXCLU.DLL.” error on the server

The problem is to do with the MSDTC subsystem rather than ADO itself. Lots of things within Windows use this system so when it breaks it actually can affect quite a bit of stuff, but anyway, I digress.

There is a technet article that explains re-installing the MSDTC but unfortunately running the relevant command simply gives the same error as above. This is because the command tells msdtc to uninstall itself, but if it is broken it can’t do this. I fixed it as follows:

Firstly, locate the file “dtcsetup.exe”. This will probably be in c:\winnt\system32.

Run it from a command line as follows:

Dtcsetup /C /T:C:\dtcsetup

This will just extract all the files to c:\dtcsetup rather than trying to install it.
Next, stop some services. You need to basically try and stop any service APART FROM THE FOLLOWING:

-Alerter

-COM+ Event System

-Computer Browser

-Distributed File System

-Distributed Link Tracking Client

-Distributed Link Tracking Server

-DNS Client

-Event Log

-IPSEC Policy Agent

-License Logging Service

-Logical Disk Manager

-Messenger

-Net Logon

-NTLM Security Support Provider

-Network Connectors

-Plug & Play

-Remote Procedure Call

-Remote Procedure Call Locator

-Removable Storage

-Security Accounts Manager

-Server

-System Event Notification

-Task Scheduler

-TCP IP NetBios Helper Service

-Windows Management Instrumentation

-Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions

-Windows Time

-Workstation

Don’t worry if some are missing, or some won’t stop, just do your best...

Next, do a search for “mtxclu.dll”, ensuring you have got the option to search hidden/system files switched on. When the search is complete, delete (or back up to another PC) all the files found. This is needed otherwise Windows File Protection will simply replace your “fixed” ones with the broken ones.

Next, copy all the files from the dtcsetup folder into \winnt\system32, overwriting any that are present.

At this point, Windows might flash up a WFP warning saying to insert the CD as files have been replaced - it is important to choose "Cancel" here, else it just puts the buggered ones back in again.

Reboot and you’re done!

(the only other step I did, which I don’t think is required, is to run “msdtc –install” from a command prompt within the dtcsetup folder, and I also right-clicked on “dtcfull.inf” and chose “Install”. I did both these before the file-overwriting procedure and they didn’t help, so skip ‘em for now.

I went to Chesterfield (bendy church) yesterday for work. While I was there, the Co-op got held up in an armed robbery! All very exciting :)