Windows 7: Solution to No Internet Access (Local Only) problem

I was having problems with a Windows 7 installation for a new MSI VR220 laptop; Whenever it connects to any network, it gets Local Only access. Other computers on the network get Internet access. It gets an IP and there are no conflicts with other computers. I tried connecting wirelessly via the WiFi card and through wire via the RealTek adapter but nothing worked. I tried searching the web for answers, but to no avail.

Several users suggested turning off IPv6; that wasn't the problem in my case; I was correctly getting a v6 IP from the router. Most suggested reinstalling the driver; obviously this wasn't the problem as it was able to connect and identify properly with the router. (Also, any solution involving "reinstallation" usually means the speaker doesn't know what the problem is. Ask someone else.)

The gateway and DNS were correctly configured; I learned this by doing an "ipconfig /all" on a Vista laptop (with Internet access) connected via wifi to the same router (A TP-Link with 4 ports and wifi), and comparing the DNS and gateway IPs with the MSI Windows 7 laptop. They had the same settings.

I tried diagnosing the connection by right-clicking on the adapter and clicking "Diagnose"; the application says that my DNS is not responding. Which is weird, because when I try pinging any website URL via command line, e.g. google.com, I get a response. (The DNS just resolves IPs to domain names. The fact that I can ping google.com and get a response from google's IP means the DNS works.)

By this time I was suspecting that it may be due to conflicts with a firewall/antivirus software. But this was a fresh install; no apps installed yet, and used only for browsing for 2 days.

What a difference those two days made. When I tried logging in via user Guest, I noticed that the WiFi icon on the taskbar now tells me I have internet access. I thought the problem was solved, so I downloaded avast!, tried installing it as Guest. The UAC prompt appeared asking me for an Administrator user and password. I inputted the details, and when the avast! installer tried downloading setup files, it couldn't access the internet! Applications in Guest can access the internet, but not the setup file run as Administrator!

I switched again to the Administrator account, and tried accessing the Internet to confirm this; again the problem appears.

At first I thought this was for security; maybe, just maybe, Windows 7 wouldn't let you surf the web as Administrator (which would make sense; it would be the equivalent of doing your everyday tasks in Linux as root). For the next step, I tried creating a new Administrator user. I logged in to that account, and voila, it was also able to connect to the net.

The original Admin account may have been corrupted; probably by malware. From the laptop's user surfing the net with it for 2 days unprotected. What a difference those two days can make.

I still haven't found the exact cause of the problem, though. For now, I created a new Administrator account and installed the latest avast! into it. Then I passworded the Administrator account, created a regular user account, and haven't heard complaints since.

Lesson learned? Do not connect to any network without antivirus/anti-malware software installed. End of story.

Android on an HTC Opal

The thing I love most about HTC phones, and non-iPhones in general, is you can do practically anything you want with it, and if you're clever, you won't even void the warranty. I had an HTC Magician a few years back and booted it up with all kinds of Linux distros, an OpenMoko distro included, and learned a lot on programming for mobile OSes in the process.

A few months ago I was able to boot into Linux and Android on my HTC Opal using Wing Linux, but the driver in the distro wasn't working with the touchscreen, and the key mappings were off. Today, reading from xda-developers that a new release of the distro, for OMAP850 devices, was available from the sourceforge page, with crossed fingers, I tried installing it again.

And what do you know? Touch screen now works! I can even call and SMS from within Android! The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth don't work, though. And the audio. But since my phone really isn't for calling, but for developing, it isn't too much of a problem.

Here are the steps I followed to make it work on the Opal:

1)Download the distro from here.

2)Extract the files from the archive. In the archive, there will be several .CAB files. You will have to choose 2 of these files to copy to your device.

File 1 is the one with rootfs in it's filename. (I can't remember the filenames, but it will be obvious).

File 2 is the one that is specific for your device.

3) Copy the files to your device. Install the CAB for the root filesystem first (File 1), then install the device specific CAB next (File 2)

IMPORTANT: Install on you SD card. Do not install in your device's flash memory.

4) Go to Programs->Wing Linux

5) Click on the Run button

6) The Haret bootloader will start booting the Angstrom Linux distro, then Android. This may take a while, so you might want to get a cup of coffee or read a good book or something.

At certain points in the install, it will ask you for input. For the Opal, since we do not have a keyboard, you just have to wait for it to timeout. The default settings will be selected when you do not enter any input.

7) After a few minutes, maybe 15, check back on your device. You should see a Screen calibration screen. Calibrate the screen and wait. Again.

8) At this point, it will show the Angstrom boot screen. After that, the Android 1.5 boot screen. Again, more waiting.

9) If all goes well, you should now be booted into Android.

- If at some point in the install, the screen hangs and you see a blinking cursor, and you are sure you have waited long enough (or until after the screen calibration), perform a soft reset by taking out the device's battery. Try booting into Android again. In most cases, it will be successful.

- If the above doesn't work, delete the rootfs.img file in the linux directory and boot into Wing Linux again.

*It is a prerelease build, so it's not yet perfect, but the install is quite easy. You can't complain.

10) To soft reset in android, long-press the Red button and select Power Off. This will soft-reset the device and put you back in Windows Mobile.

11) To install .apks (application packages for Android), copy everything to your device's storage card before booting into android. When in Android, use the AndExplorer application to copy the .apk files to your /system/app directory.

Additionally, Wing Linux doesn't just work for HTC's Opal; it is for OMAP850 devices, so there is a chance that it will boot up with your device if it's OMAP850. See their "Device Status" page for known working devices, or add your own.

As always, there is a chance that you may damage your phone while doing this, so backup your data if you can't live without it. Enjoy! Screenshots to follow!

latest movie by stephenie meyer

team edward? team jacob? team pacquiao!

i got this from my email, so i don't know who i can attribute it to.

and why not watch the hatton knockout while you're at it?

free font!

Moises' handwriting

it is a little on the small side though. and ugly. i would totally be psychoanalyzed as "suicidal" by any graphologist.

made with www.fontcapture.com

it does have a point...

i was looking for a way to run "Balance of Power 1990 Edition" on my Vista 64 bit machine, so I checked google to see if Wine was available for vista. I typed "wine" into google, and this came up:

nice one. i don't like wine either. and especially not with cheese. cold beers work just fine.

UPDATE: i accessed the page september 4th, but now it seems they've corrected the error. is there some way for us to browse google's cache?

here's a link to the full-screen capture.

How to make deadlines

I just came upon this great article from gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4111/dirty_coding_tricks.php?page=4

This one takes the cake, though:

The Programming Antihero

I was fresh out of college, still wet behind the ears, and about to enter the beta phase of my first professional game project -- a late-90s PC title. It had been an exciting rollercoaster ride, as projects often are. All the content was in and the game was looking good. There was one problem though: We were way over our memory budget.

Since most memory was taken up by models and textures, we worked with the artists to reduce the memory footprint of the game as much as possible. We scaled down images, decimated models, and compressed textures. Sometimes we did this with the support of the artists, and sometimes over their dead bodies.

We cut megabyte after megabyte, and after a few days of frantic activity, we reached a point where we felt there was nothing else we could do. Unless we cut some major content, there was no way we could free up any more memory. Exhausted, we evaluated our current memory usage. We were still 1.5 MB over the memory limit!

At this point one of the most experienced programmers in the team, one who had survived many years of development in the "good old days," decided to take matters into his own hands. He called me into his office, and we set out upon what I imagined would be another exhausting session of freeing up memory.

Instead, he brought up a source file and pointed to this line:

static char buffer[1024*1024*2];

"See this?" he said. And then deleted it with a single keystroke. Done!

He probably saw the horror in my eyes, so he explained to me that he had put aside those two megabytes of memory early in the development cycle. He knew from experience that it was always impossible to cut content down to memory budgets, and that many projects had come close to failing because of it. So now, as a regular practice, he always put aside a nice block of memory to free up when it's really needed.

He walked out of the office and announced he had reduced the memory footprint to within budget constraints -- he was toasted as the hero of the project.

As horrified as I was back then about such a "barbaric" practice, I have to admit that I'm warming up to it. I haven't gotten into the frame of mind where I can put it to use yet, but I can see how sometimes, when you're up against the wall, having a bit of memory tucked away for a rainy day can really make a difference. Funny how time and experience changes everything.

- Noel Llopis

PocketTweet

PocketTweet is a small Windows Mobile application that lets you log-in to and update your Twitter account using an active data connection.

Screenshots:













PocketTweet version 0.1(Download Here):
http://www.mediafire.com/?zilgxyoyyx2

Requirements:
- Windows Mobile (2003 and later)
- .NET Compact Framework 2.0

To Do:
- Skinnable interface
- Direct messaging
- twitpic support
- saving tweets.
- friend view
- replies
- account settings