PattayaDavid

I bought my Toyota Vigo 4x4 back in February and am still waiting to receive my English owners manual.  I have tried to get an answer to the following questions, but I have received mixed responses from Toyota and others.

Can the 4-wheel drive be shifted into and out of 4H on the fly, meaning can 4-wheel drive be engaged and disengaged while in forward motion and is there a speed limit for this action?  What about 4L?  It shouldn't make any difference, but I have an automatic transmission.

Thanks,

Pattaya David

Thanks for all of the informed replies. I guess, as some of you have already suggested, I will have to take my laptop to the computer shops and test it with the various LCD monitors. The bad thing here in Pattaya is that the main computer shops are located in Tukcom. The shops generally don't stock the larger and more expensive LCD panels such as the Samsung 226BW. They each tell me that I have to order it. This poses two problems. One, I don't know if it will work properly with my laptop and two, I can't examine the screen ahead of time to determine if it has an S or A panel or if it has any dead pixels. Before I order one, I will inform them that I will only accept the S panel with no dead pixels, otherwise I won't purchase it. Most likely they won't order it for me and I'll have to take a drive to Bangkok myself.

My three year old T41 has a Radeon Mobility 9000 (M9) graphics chip with 32MB video RAM and it definitely supports 1680x1050 on the external VGA as I did that recently for a few weeks. In my case, I had the same desktop on the internal 1400x1050 display and scrolled around the larger 1680x1050 space, but I am sure that was a driver option I selected (clone mode) and separate displays was also possible. This was with Linux, but clearly the hardware supports it.

You should check your own hardware info, but I suspect there is little difference between your T40p and my T41, unless yours had a better chipset. I don't think the graphics capabilities changed much (if at all) between T40-T42 series.

From what I can tell, I do run basically the same Radeon Mobility 9000 graphics chipset except with 64MB versus 32MB due to its open GL design for CAD users.  I also have the 62P4551 mini-port replicator with (4) USB and a DVI connection so I should be able to connect the external LCD up digitally.  My concern is that the specifications for the DVI port says that it supports up to 1280x1024.  I'm assuming that the limitiation applies to the max resolution available during the time of manufacture more than 3 years ago.  At the time, I don't believe that higher resolution monitors were available or at least prevalent and that wide screen models were not available at all.  I would hope that the present version of Windows XP and/or the LCD driver software would extend that capability, what do you think?  I also think that the LCD would look and perform better connected via DVI versus VGA.  By the way, how did the external LCD perform on your T-41?

Thanks,

Pattaya David

No way monitors on laptops that old are running that resolution natively anyhow, The graphics cards in those old machines will likely struggle to run 1280x720 properly (for games etc...) although desktop work it might be fine.

I bought both of these laptops brand new.  They both were the top of the line models for their respective year at the time of purchase.  The A20p (p respresents the professional model for graphics & CAD users) has a 15" display and the T40p has a 14.1" display.  I own these laptops, used them for many years and can assure you that they indeed came with an WXGA native resolution of 1400 / 1050 32 bit color, predecessor to the XGA 1600 x 1200 resolution displays. Actually, when I bought the T40p, XGA 1600 x 1200 resolution displays were available on 15" displays from practically all manufacturers includeing IBM.  To date, they still look pretty good for their age and neither of them has a single dead pixel.

I guess I could take my laptop with me to try out the perspective monitor, but I'm not sure that they would let me install the drivers andconnect the brand n

w monitor for testing purposes.  I would think that they would be quite reluctan

 to do so, just my opinion.

Pattaya David

I have two older model lBM laptops.  One is a 3 1/2 year old IBM T40p and the other is a

7 year old IBM A20p.  The T40p has an ATI Mobility Fire GL 9000 video card with 64MB RAM.  The A20p has an ATI 128 AGP 2x with 16MB RAM.  Both computer displays have a native resolution of 1400 x 1050.  This is the maximum resolution found when I checked 

he Display

Panel settings.

I am interested in purchasing a 22" Samsung 226BW wide angle LCD panel to be used as a second monitor.  The native resolution for this LCD display is 1680 x 1050.  Can I use this

display with either or both of my laptops?  Will the Samsung LCD driver allow for my video cards to adapt (accept) the higher native resolutions?

If not, would the 19" Samsung 940BW wide angle LCD panel with a native resolution of

1440 x 950 better suit my laptop video cards?

Thanks,

Pattaya David

Does anyone know if Netgear products are sold in Thailand? I've read some favorable reviews on the Netgear DG834G combo modem/router.

Thanks for your responses. I guess I will look around some more before committing. In my search, it appears that there are differing opinions of the D-Link modems and routers. I saw the D-Link DSL-G604T model at Tukcom in Sri Racha yesterday. I have difficulty in determining the difference between the DSL-G604T and the DSL-2640T models, any clarification is appreciated.

I will also include the Linksys wireless modem/routers and others in my future searches.

I mostly want to convert from wire to a wireless system. Some of the wireless modem/routers are rated as ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+. I think that I read that the ADSL2 was either the fastest or had the longest range. Which service is used here in Thailand, my guess is just plain ADSL (ADSL1). Lastly, is there any difference in the wireless range between the various manufacturers? I own a two-story house and I also like to sit outside and compute at times. I've seen 802.11(pre N) models sold that supposedly have greater range, but I don't want to have to add additional hardware to my computer as it already has built-in 802.11G.

Thanks,

Pattaya David

Thanks for your responses. I guess I will look around some more before committing. In my search, it appears that there are differing opinions of the D-Link modems and routers. I saw the D-Link DSL-G604T model at Tukcom in Sri Racha yesterday. I have difficulty determining the difference from the DSL-G604T and the DSL-2640T models, any clarification appreciated.

I will also include the Linksys wireless modem/routers and others in my future searches.

I mostly want to convert from wire to a wireless system. Some of the wireless modem/routers are rated as ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+. I think that I read that the ADSL2 was either the fastest or had the longest range. Which service is used here in Thailand, my guess is just plain ADSL (ADSL1). Lastly, is there any difference in the wireless range between the various manufacturers? I own a two-story house and I also like to sit outside and compute at times. I've seen 802.11(pre N) models sold that supposedly have greater range, but I don't want to have to add additional hardware to my computer as it already has built-in 802.11G.

Thanks,

Pattaya David

I live in Pattaya and am a current user of TOT ADSL, not a proud user, but user just the same.  Actually, my ADSL speed is ok, that is, when my service is not disrupted which occurs way too often for my liking as it did for 10 straight days this month.  Anyway, when I signed up with TOT, I also bought one of the TOT supplied ADSL modems.  Since I am a notebook user, don't even own a desktop computer as yet, I am considering buying a wireless ADSL Modem/Router combination unit. I would think that an aftermarket Modem/Router from the likes of D-Link, Lynsink or Belkin would be of better quality than the one that I own made by XAVi Technologies, would you agree?  

Would I get better connections with less service disruption with a modem upgrade?

I am primarily interested in the D-Link model DSL-2640T.  I saw it for sale at Tuk-Com yesterday along with a model from Belkin.  I am aware that the transfer speed of wireless 802/G is slower than a wired connection.  Of those out there who use a wireless modem or modem/router combination here in Pattaya, I would like to hear from you concerningwhat hardware you have purchased and are using and the quality of wireless services you have experienced versus a typical wired connection.

If wireless is not a good consideration, what about an upgrade of my TOT modem, would that be of any benefit as to quality of service and transfer rates?

Pattaya David

Pattaya David

I am a current user of TOT ADSL, not a proud user, but user just the same.  Actually, my ADSL speed is ok, that is, when my service is not disrupted which occurs way too often for my liking.  Anyway, when I signed up with TOT, I also bought one of the TOT supplied ADSL modems.  Since I am a notebook user, don't even own a desktop model yet, I am considering buying a wireless ADSL Modem/Router combination unit. I would think that an aftermarket Modem/Router from the likes of D-Link, Lynsink or Belkin would be of better quality than the one that I own made by XAVi Technologies, would you agree?  

Would I get better connections with less service disruption with a modem upgrade?

I am primarily interested in the D-Link model DSL-2640T.  I am aware that the transfer speed of wireless 802/G is slower than a wired connection.  Of those out there who use a wireless modem or modem/router combination, I would like to hear about what hardware you are using and the quality of wireless services you have experienced versus a typical wired connection.

Pattaya David

I pulled the following information off the Thai Visa computer site.  Can anyone provide the location in Pattaya of the Samart office? telephone number?

Has anyone signed up for an ADSL account with Samart and what is your opinion of their service thus far?  My ADSL service with TOT has been down for 11 days running now.

Pattaya David

Indeed, Samart too, who have a promotion called (wait for it) "Wow Speedy" (**shudders**) 2000/512 package at THB 590 / month!

I almost subscribed Samart's Wow. I called Samart trying to check out if such package is limited to viewing Thai websites (this is the first country i see having this restriction) and whether there is usage limit per month, however, he didn't seem to catch my question (I don't speak Thai, so....). Well, if there is no limit to both of my queries, then Samart's package seemed to be the best value for money. I am skeptical.... as it's almost half as cheap comparing to others.

TOT do indeed have business packages, but it looks like you'll have to inform yourself at their office. Indeed not much to be found on their website!

BUT you are not limited to TOT as an ISP, In pattaya for example you can have bouth KSC and Csloxinfo through a TOT line. Inquire at the respective ISP's.

Indeed, Samart too, who have a promotion called (wait for it) "Wow Speedy" (**shudders**) 2000/512 package at THB 590 / month!

I almost subscribed Samart's Wow. I called Samart trying to check out if such package is limited to viewing Thai websites (this is the first country i see having this restriction) and whether there is usage limit per month, however, he didn't seem to catch my question (I don't speak Thai, so....). Well, if there is no limit to both of my queries, then Samart's package seemed to be the best value for money. I am skeptical.... as it's almost half as cheap comparing to others.

Can anyone provide the location in Pattaya of the Samart office?  telephone number?  

Has anyone signed up for an ADSL account with Samart and what is your opinion of their service thus far?

Pattaya David

Well, TOT has yet to restore my ADSL, more than a week has past now. The Service Center just keeps apologizing and states that they will forward my complaint to the service personnel and the local Pattaya TOT office won't even answer their phone. I guess I will be searching for a new service provider on Monday. Question, if I sign up with a new internet provider, will I have to buy their ADSL modem or can I continue to use the one I purchased from TOT? In my thinking, an ADSL modem is an ADSL modem and it should not matter as to the model, what say you?

I am thinking that I will go to the TNT office upstairs at CarreFour on Monday, any suggestions as to which provider I should choose for my new ADSL provider?

Thanks,

Pattaya David

Thanks guys, it looks like I'm the only one with a loss of ADSL signal. I called the TOT service center again today because I haven't been able to speak with anyone here in Pattaya. The phone just rings and rings with no answer for days now. I guess that the whole office closed for the week and everyone is playing with water for Songkran. It's hard to believe that a service oriented company such as TOT could just close up shop for a week, of course (TOT). Anyway, I told the service center representative, must be located in Bangkok, that if my service is not restored by Monday, I will be looking for a new service provider.

This brings me to my next question, which service provider (TOT TNT, True etc.) has their ADSL station located the closest to Soi Khaw Noi. I figure, if I change service providers, I should get the fastest service with the company located the closest to me. I signed up with TOT at the office located on Central near CarreFour.

Thanks,

Pattaya David

I have the ADSL gold from TOT.  I live off of Soi Khaw Noi and both my telephone service and ADSL went out this past Friday evening.  After numerous calls, my telephone service was restored yesterday afternoon, however my ADSL service is still not working.  I have been told that there is a problem with their server.  Is this a widespread problem across Pattaya, I mean, is all TOT ADSL subscribers in Pattaya experiencing the same problem?  I cannot connect at all.

I'm thinking of changing telephone and ADSL providers.  Can anyone suggest a provider that is providing reliable service and good customer support?

Pattaya David

Thanks all for your helpful suggestions. I am still working the issue, but have yet to narrow down the cause of the uncommanded sudden shutdowns. I have been told that the cause may be associated with my built-in wireless network card, but since I have it turned off and have never used it, I can't imagine this to be the cause. Again, I appreciate all of your posts and those made in the future.

Pattaya Dave

I'm having problems with Zone Alarm Pro. It's been a few days now since I am not able to update the spyware database. It's on for the antivirus, but just not for the spyware database. It says: "Anti-spyware can not patch spyware database." Anyone else got this?

I'm using ZoneAlarm Pro 7.0 and it doesn't contain anti-virus.  As far as I know, only Zone Alarm Internet Security has both anti-spyware and anti-vurus protection.

I recently updated from ZoneAlarm 6.5 to 7.0. I haven't experienced any problems with Outlook, however I use Opera 9.1 version and since installing the upgrade I can no longer access both my hotmail and gmail email accounts. My username and/or password are no longer recognized or accepted. Other than that, all seems well. I am presently using Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 when accessing my email accounts.

Pattaya Dave

1. Yes, UBUNTU is a fine OS, bud access Windows HD Partition (NTFS,FAT) only via samba.

If u can find WINTERNALS in a PC Shop, this boot WinXP from CD with Crash-Analysis.

2. Check the LOG Records, - System and - Application.

My Computer/Manage (right Mouse click) / System Tools / Event Viewer...

Maybe u find some Error Records, then (right Mouse), Properties explain the Error - or go.microsoft.com

3. Go Start/Run MSCONFIG. Under Startup deselect all what u think its not necessarily, same under Services (Hide MS services). Restart (?).

4. Years ago a had the similar Problem. Shut down after short Time.

The reason was the Battery. The Control-Circuit in the Battery like to load the old Battery, bud not enough Power was available from Powersupply.

Take out the battery and work only with Powersupply. (maybe)

cu drake

Thanks Drake, I'll give your suggestions a try.  This has really been a pain in the butt.  I tried to backup my hard drive the other day and my computer shutdown after about 5 or 10 minutes, maybe sooner, into the backup process. Note that the uncommanded shutdown also occurs when operating on battery power only.

Pattaya Dave

I'm having difficuties getting a telephone line and DSL installed. The maintence supervisor, female, keeps giving me false information saying they are working on it but naturally no one is even near my place.

Yesterday she told me she could delay or stop any installation and if I paid a bribe she could make it work the same day, naturally she was not direct when she said this, but I'm sure this is the case.

What are my options?

I would rather do without a telephone than pay a bribe to some criminal.

I love Thailand but this kind of behaviour sure puts a sour taste in my mouth.

If you prefer not to pay the bribe, you could go to the TT&T office for your subscription if it is available in your area.  Both TOT and TT&T provide service to where I live.  I'm presently using TOT, but their service deteriorates, I won't hesitate to switch.

Pattaya Dave

one thing you can do to see if it's a hardware or software problem is to boot it up from a live CD such as Ubuntu and see how long it runs under a completely different OS etc. You can browse the web, play some games, run a few things at once to load up the CPU etc to see how it goes.

At least that would put things like a rootkit or virus infection etc out of the picture.

Merlin,

I've never heard of Ubuntu, could you bring me up to speed on it?  Also, does anyone know of any specific diagnostic software that I could run to check out my system?  I've already run the PC Doctor software that I downloaded from the IBM Support site which found no problems.

Thanks,

Pattaya Dave

http://help.allegheny.edu/news/archives/000427.html

could be a virus, after thinking hard and long about what you have posted I am almost 90% sure this is your problem, especially when you mention AV scanning

I followed the suggestion of Gharknes last night.  This ultimately led me to the Symantac weblite which instructed me to close "Windows Restore" function then to reboot my computer in the "Safe Mode" and run my anti-virus program.  I did just that, I ran NOD32 virus program, SpyBot and Spy Sweeper programs.  It must have taken a good 6 hours of constant hard drive access.  

The good news is that my computer did not shut down once throughout the scans.  When I try to run SpyBot and Spy Sweeper under the Windows "Normal Mode", my computer would shut off within seconds of beginning the scans.  No viruses or malware was found on my computer.

The bad news, after restarting my computer in the "Normal Mode", it shut off at or near the end of Windows loading. I restarted my computer again and it shut off before I could even type in the hard drive password.  The third time was a charm, Windows loaded and all was fine.  I shutdown to go to bed and turned off all power going into the computer.  This morning, on a cold start, I attempted to startup my computer and again it shutdown at or near the end of the Windows loading.  I would hear a rapid surge of the fan just before the computer shuts off.  My computer started fine on my second try which is why I am able to write this message.

I'm beginning to suspect a power management problem.  Possibly there is a conflict with the IBM ThinkPad power manangement software and the Windows Power Management software.  Of course they have both been residing on my computer since initial purchase in October 2003.  Maybe one of the Windows Updates or Service Pack Updates contains something that causes the conflict.  Why does the computer run fine when in the "Safe Mode", but suddenly shuts off when operating in the "Normal Mode"?  

I guess I will try a different approach over the weekend.  Again, please respond to my new developments if you have any suggestions.

Pattaya Dave

Thanks for everyone's input. I too, felt that it was an overheating problem. What basically happens is that I will try to open a program, website or even the IBM launcher to load a new driver then the CPU speed will almost immediately go to 100% with the computer fan running then after a few or up to maybe 10 seconds, the computer will shutdown. I can open a program or a web page that I have opened numerous times, but this one time will cause the CPU to max out. It's almost like the computer hangs up in the middle of opening the website or loading the program. I tried it using battery power only and the results are the same. The problem is that there is no consistency to the problem. My CPU could be indicating 0% with the fan not running then I try to run SpyBot for example and as soon as I load the program, the CPU speed almost immediately climbs to 100%, the fan runs wildly and seconds later the computer suddenly turns off. I thought it might be a software problem, but it happens on different software at different times. It always fails on SpyBot, Spyware Sweeper or Doctor, NOD32 Anti-virus (any anti-virus program), just about anything labor intensive that performs a scan of my computer. Sometimes my anti-virus will make it almost to the end then it fails when it reaches the registry scan. I know what you're thinking, try a register cleaner. Done that many times with different cleaners. I downloaded FanControl.exe from the SpeedFan site, but was unable to install it due to a error message indicating that it couldn't find the WINIO.DLL file. I'll work with this again tomorrow, but my fan seems to run fine and I can feel the air blowing out the exhaust port. Also, the exhaust port airflow is not always hot when the laptop shuts down. Again, thanks for your help and I welcome other suggestions. I just may have to take a ride to Bangkok and visit the IBM Service Center.

Pattaya Dave

I have a IBM T40p 1.6Ghz 1G memory Pentium M laptop that I bought back in October 2003. Over the course of the past year, maybe longer, occasionally my laptop would just suddenly shutdown. The CPU would max out at 100%, the fan would come on and seconds later, it would just shutdown. When I attempt a restart, it would perform a normal start, no safe mode, almost as if it had saved all of my data before shutting itself down because no data would be lost, even if I was in the middle of writing an email or word document.

Now it is happening more and more often. I used to use Norton Internet Security 2005 until it expired then I switched over to Zone Alarm Pro version 6.0, 6.5. I don't think the sudden shutdowns began until well after the switch to Zone Alarm, but thought I would mention it anyway. Sometimes it will go for weeks without shutting down, but over the course of yesterday and today, my laptop has shutdown more than 15 times. It took me at least 5 attempts to open my internet browser and Microsoft Outlook today. Each of the 4 previous attempts resulted in uncommanded shutdown partially through the loading. Sometimes, it will shutdown even before Windows begins loading, sometimes during the Windows loading and almost anytime thereafter. I suspected a possible CPU problem, overheating problem and hard drive problem, but with the inconsistency of the shutdown process, I have not been able to pinpoint the source of the problem. It seems to shutdown most often during multi-tasking operations. I downloaded CPU and memory testing software a while back and my laptop passed all of the tests.

I have not been able to run a virus or spyware scan on my computer without it shutting down before completion of the scan. Occasionally, I have been able to run the Ad-aware SE scan, but programs like Spybot, Spy Sweeper, Spy Doctor barely get started before computer shutdown. Even opening Firefox 2 or Opera 9.1 result in numerous shutdowns (I do have multiple tabs open). I can't confirm as to whether I have a hardware or software problem. I am at a loss of what to do to correct the problem and I am looking for your expertise for help.

I had considered reinstalling my Windows XP Pro operating system. I've never had to reinstall it since I purchased my laptop. The major problem with doing so is that my original Windows XP Pro is part of the IBM OEM installation disk and I don't know if I can install only the XP Pro or will the disk reformat my hard drive to it's original configuration. October 2003 is a long time ago and a lot of things have changed since then. My original software did not include any Windows Updates or Service Packs so that would leave me a lot of work to bring it back up to speed.

Can I buy a disk at TukCom that would contain both service packs and all of the windows updates that I could install if I did a clean Windows XP Pro installation with my original software?

The only thing I don't like about Opera is that I can't highlight and copy a web page then paste it elsewhere as it is displayed on the webpage. When I highlight a webpage then copy it into, lets say into a Microsoft Word document, it is displayed in a text format. Also, when I highlight a webpage, the pictures aren't highlighted and cannot be copied along with the text. I'm sure I was able to do this in earlier versions of Opera before I upgraded to versions 8 and 9.

For now, when I need to copy an entire webpage for pasting elsewhere, I have to open the webpage in Internet Explorer. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my Opera application and how to correct the copy and paste problem?

Pattaya Dave

Any suggestions on how to correct this problem?  I've explored every toolbar and pull-down in the program and it still leaves me scratching my head.