Future Tech Systems supports local charities. This week, the owner and his fiance donated their good used work clothes and kitchen appliances to the Norwalk Emergency Shelter in South Norwalk, CT. If you would like to donate money or goods, you can find all the info below:
I both use and work on Brother MFC printers quite regularly. They’re affordable, reliable, and generally easy to use… except when it comes to some of the scan to features.
Because this has come up quite frequently recently, I figured I would share some of my tips to make things work properly.
Problem 1 - When you scan documents, they come up as individual JPEGs instead of PDF documents.
Solution – Go into ControlCenter3. It’s the little blue square icon that says “CC3″ on it. You may have to show inactive icons. Once in, click on Configuration at the top, and choose Scan->File.
There will be two tabs – Software Button and Device Button. The software button is the settings for when you choose “Scan” from the CC3 program. Some people may want different settings depending on how they scan. The device button is for when you press Scan on the Brother MFC and choose Scan to File. Where it says File Type in the dropdown window, change it from *.JPG to *.PDF for both the software and the device button, assuming you want it that way. That’s it! You’re done!
Problem 2 – The Scan To File feature is not working on your Brother MFC, or your PC isn’t listed, etc.
Solution – this one is a little more complex. Sometimes, when installing the software people don’t click the box labeled “Add this computer to the Scan To” button. Previously my fix had been to uninstall and reinstall the software, but there is an easier way that is a little bit hidden.
The first thing is to check your router configuration on your network to make sure it allows UDP ports 54925 and 54926 through. As it is outside the scope of this article, I will leave instructions on that part out, as there are many router types, and to be honest, if you don’t know how to do it on your router, you should probably have your local IT Professional do it (Us!).
The second thing is to add an exception into Windows Firewall/Norton Internet Security/etc. – you need to allow ports 54925 and 54926 through. I have Vista on this particular machine, so basically you just open up the windows firewall settings, do “Add Port” and add in those two specific ports.
The third thing is the “hidden” part – it took me quite a bit of digging to find this, so I figured I would share it and make your life easier. Go into the Control Panel (generally off the start button) and choose Scanners and Cameras, and bring up the properties for your Brother MFC. There are a few tabs – Start with the Events tab and make sure when you choose the scan button from the printer it starts Control Center 3. Next go to the Network Setting tab. I prefer personally to use a static IP for my printer and machine in my home office, and just specify the IP address of the printer here. If you use DHCP or just don’t know the printers IP Address, choose Browse and you can use its NetBIOS name. Next, on the Scan To tab you will see “Register your PC with the “Scan To” functions at the machine” and a display name for what you want to call your computer. When having issues, and I’ve tried Windows Firewall and router settings for the ports, I uncheck this box, click OK, open the properties back up, and recheck the “Register your PC…” box.
After all of that, power cycle your Brother MFC, and give it a try!
This past week, Future Tech Systems completed training and certification on Speakeasy’s VOIP and broadband services. We can now provide not only the technical expertise to handle your phone system needs, but cost savings as well! We can now offer standalone phone systems where you host all the equipment yourself, or hosted VOIP solutions which requires very little capital expenditure compared to a traditional customer owned PBX type setup. We can provide IP phone system solutions with Polycom, Linksys, or Cisco phones to increase your productivity and reduce your costs!
Speakeasy Certified VOIP Partner
There are many times in the computer repair business when we come across silly, annoying errors. Most recently, I was repairing a computer that just needed to be reformatted and have the software reinstalled. We reinstalled Vista, and installed Office 2003 (as opposed to Office 2007). The license agreement was popping up every time we opened any office application. Unfortunately I didn’t save the link so I could give the individual credit, but User Access Control, also known as UAC in Windows Vista, was apparently the problem.
UAC is the notification that dims your screen and pops up with a message asking permission to do things. Basically, the background features of UAC were preventing Outlook from making the changes it needed to the registry to show that we had accepted the license agreement. Basically all that was necessary was to go to Start->All Programs->Microsoft Office and right click on one of the office applications. Choose “Run as Administrator” and then accept the license agreement. Close the program, and open it back up. VOILA! You’re all done!
Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade – $209.99 for the software (our cost), $100.00 for installation. Includes up to 2 hours of onsite time! Let us come to you; bring your laptop in to your office, and we’ll come install it there, have us come on the weekend or during the week and we’ll install it at your house, your choice.
Before installation, we will evaluate your existing system for free, and if necessary, assist you with any upgrades or replacement of your system.
Buying a new computer and need some help? Give us a ring!
Whether it is to prepare your PC for an upgrade to Windows 7, or just to squeeze some more time out of your machine as-is, I highly recommend having 4-8GB of RAM if your system will handle it. If you have 32 bit Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, your system will only recognize a maximum of 3.5GB of RAM. To oversimplify, a 32 bit operating system uses 32 bit numbers to assign an address to each little “slot” in your memory to use. 32 bits was plenty in the past, because hey, who would ever have 4GB of RAM? 64 bit versions of XP, Vista, and Windows 7 remove this limitation. It can address essentially more RAM than you could ever put in a present day computer. Programs and operating systems designed to run on 64 Bit processors will run better and faster.
Think of the RAM as the attic or the garage – its where the computer puts stuff while its doing other things to come back to later. Think of 32 bit and the 3.5 GB limitation as a 2 car garage, and think of a 64 bit systems RAM limitation as say, the state of Connecticut. The RAM is the second fastest place the computer can access information from, aside from the cache memory on the processor itself. With all that being said, a layman’s way of putting it is to load up a big program, like Photoshop, or Outlook if you have a lot of email stored in it, and listen to all the “clicking” that your computer is doing reading data from your hard drive. The more information that can be stored in your RAM, the less of that it will have to do, and things will run much quicker.
If you are an enthusiast/tech person, you likely know exactly what type of RAM your computer takes, and will opt for someplace like NewEgg to buy RAM from. For those of you that aren’t, there is a nifty tool that a memory manufacturer named Crucial has. (www.crucial.com). While this tool will run in Firefox, I’ve found it works much easier with Internet Explorer. You basically run their online scanning tool, and it will tell you how much memory you have, how much maximum your system will support, and various upgrade options. Personally and professionally, I ALWAYS opt for the kits that remove your existing RAM and replace everything with new. The reasons for this are: It’s brand new, so it will likely be better performance, you can generally fit more in by replacing your existing memory, and you don’t have to worry about mismatched speeds or brands not getting along with each other.
If you have a 64 bit processor, and you have or are planning to get at least 4 GB of RAM, I definitely recommend installing the 64 bit version of your operating system. Beware though, particularly with Windows Vista, that some software and many drivers don’t run on 64 bit – you have to make sure anything important that you use (Printer, video card, etc.) has 64 bit drivers available. If you are unsure, please contact us, the professionals, to handle upgrading your memory and operating system!
Future Tech Systems is participating tomorrow – come on out and enjoy a nice walk with us!
First of all I’d like to give credit where it’s due – to Jason Tomczak who has a wonderful article I used for a good portion of this particular repair job. My purpose in this article was to document the process start to finish starting with taking the thing apart, as well as to share some humorous pitfalls I had in the process and how you can avoid them. You can view the article in question here: http://jasontomczak.com/2007/11/23/4/.
I replaced a 250 GB SATA drive in the iMac that was failing with a Seagate Barracuda 1TB. I had wanted to get a 500 GB Western Digital Caviar Black, but I had to go with what Best Buy had to offer. My next project is going to be bumping the memory from 1 GB to 4 GB. The upside of this project, aside from getting the computer working again (will mean more later in the article, trust me…) was getting a clean install of Snow Leopard on there. My fiance has had Macs for a good long while, so there were 3 layers or so of upgrade on top of upgrade, with literally over 1 million files on the disk previously.
For ease of viewing, I have used full res photos. I have also listed the sizes of the various Torx screws that are used, which I think will be helpful to you.
Anyhow, on with the article:
Bottom Screws
There are two sets of screws you need to remove first from the bottom. There are four Torx T-7 screws along the bottom, and two Phillips #1 screws over the memory upgrade slot.
Once you have removed all six of these screws, you will have to try and “tuck in” the memory slot arms to be able to remove the cover. If you pull from the bottom of the front cover, it should start to “flip up” towards where the web cam is at the top.
This is what you will see with the cover removed. Note the fan in the lower left is choked with dust. I would personally suggest hitting off the insides with some Dust Off spray. Just make sure to keep the can upright, don’t shake it or turn it upside down, and use quick, short, targeted bursts.
As you begin to fold the cover upwards, you will see two wires attached to the webcam. One wire you can just unplug (gently). The other one is covered by that yellow tape. Use the tip of a screwdriver or something to lift the tape so you don’t get your hand oils all over the tape, then you can still use it. This connector is metal and a little tougher to get out, but be careful not to bend or break the connector on the way out.
Hairy Fan
Closeup shot of the filthy fan. Note: electronics really dislike dust, because it is like a warm fuzzy blanket which traps heat. Heat ruins things like hard drives. Dust out your computer regularly! If you have pets, regularly would be at least once or twice a year with an iMac, since its fairly well sealed, but at least every couple of months if you have a PC (which I do, that reminds me…)
Display Case Screws
Next we will begin to remove the display. Surrounding the display are eight Torx T-8 screws. You can lay the machine down flat and dump the screws out, but I chose to remove the screws with the iMac upright. Personal preference, or you can use tweezers, etc. Some use magnetized screwdrivers, but personally, I don’t think magnets and electronics mix and would rather fish screws out of the carpet. Speaking of which, make sure you have a nice CLEAN work area. This is important – its a lot easier to find the tiny screws you’ll inevitably drop if you have a nice wide open, clean desk, freshly vacuumed floor, etc.
Don’t take my word for it, but I believe this is grounding tape for dealing with static on the display. There is some at the lower left and lower right of the display. Peel it up carefully so hopefully you can reuse it – electrical tape has the exact opposite effect of grounding tape; it insulates rather than conducts. The static reduction will make your display and your iMac in general attract a bit less dust.
After you have removed the tape and the screws, I recommend laying the unit down for this part. The monitor has a plastic tab/strip at the top that is clear right above where “UP” is stamped into the metal frame. This is so you can grab that strip and lift the display up. It will come up from the top and almost “hinge” at the bottom. LIFT IT UP VERY VERY CAREFULLY! There are two important cables attached to the back, that are fairly delicate, and you don’t want to tear them out. Jason opted to lean his display up against the base of the iMac. I opted for the same method, but the display decided it would be more fun to fall over, rip itself out by the wires, and smash into my (padded) office chair before flopping onto the carpet. I almost did this project on a wood table above wood floors, thank God I did it in my office instead! Somehow, miraculously, the screen didn’t crack, the wires didn’t tear, and after putting the Mac back together, taking it back apart, reattaching the cables, and putting it back together again, the display is working. These are the kinds of things that happen to your computer at a store that you never hear about. I personally can’t resist sharing a near disaster with a happy ending. Hey, nobody’s perfect… (except my bride to be 
)
Here is a shot of the hard drive. One quick tip, which I wish I had noticed sooner. You don’t have to take out the screws in the hard drive at this phase – that black plastic strip to the left of my Torx driver (Also T-8 size, you’ll need to take the screws out once the drive is out) presses in and pops out. Make sure to disconnect the SATA cable and power cable before pulling the drive out, as well as the thermal sensor, pictured below:
You can’t see it in the picture, but on my particular drive the thermal sensor was over a cutout on the drive to where I was able to pop it off from behind. I used a jeweler’s flathead screwdriver to pry it up, so I could re-use the adhesive on the back. I don’t recommend using electrical tape. Be careful – it’s a small circuit board so you don’t want to scrape/crack/break it.
Once you have removed the cables, thermal sensor, and black plastic bracket (Torx T-8 for both the screws in the bracket and these pegs), remove the mounting pegs and set them aside to install into your new drive. Note the orientation of the drive – with the drive on its back, and the connectors on the right side, the pegs should be facing towards you.
This is the new hard drive complete with pegs and mounting bracket. As mentioned before I chose a Seagate Barracuda 1 TB, 7200 RPM SATA drive. At the time of this writing, I paid $99.99 retail, but should be $20 or so cheaper online. I had no issue with this size as far as the OS or hardware was concerned.
Connect the cables, put the hard drive back in, and make sure the black plastic clip latches in. Then put the thermal sensor back on in roughly the same spot. I used the tool in the picture to press the thermal sensor on to kind of stick it down better, but however you get it back on there without damaging it is fine.
Reattach the two cables on the back of the display and stick them back down in their appropriate channels, etc.
Lay the unit down, and put the display back in, bottom first, taking care that the grounding tape at the bottom is folded out of the way, and put the eight Torx T-8 screws back in. Once this is done, reattach the grounding tape.
Get your faceplate, and in reverse of how it came off, reattach the two wires to the webcam. Fold the faceplate back down, taking care not to tug on the wires.
Make sure to push these guys back in as you are attempting to close up. Don’t want to break these for sure!
Put the four Torx T-7 screws and the two Phillips #1 screws back in on the memory door, and she’s back together! Side note: Because of the display dropping incident, and having to take it apart again, I opted to bolt the display in partially with a couple of screws, and left the faceplate off, until I was sure things were working before putting the faceplate back in.
Time to fire it up!
Eureka! She works. Turn on the iMac, and put the Mac OS disk in the drive. Hold down the letter “C” on your keyboard as soon as you hear the “BONG!” noise on startup. When you see the twirly activity icon, you can let go. Choose your language and continue.
Disk Utility
Before you continue with the installation, you’ll need to partition the drive. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities page on the install disk, and highlight the new drive. Choose the third tab on the right, “Partition”, and create partition(s) as you wish.
Fin
After it’s partitioned and formatted, just install Mac OS and you’re done! I went with Snow Leopard because I like excuses to upgrade things. I hope you found this tutorial helpful. My background is that of a PC Technician who grew up around both Macs and PCs, and my fiance is a graphic designer, and uses Macs at work and at home, so I’ve sort of had to learn as I go.
Stay tuned – in the next couple of days I will be posting a complete guide to replacing the hard drive of an Intel iMac 250GB with a brand new 500GB. I plan on having proper screenshots, etc. I will also be loading the new Snow Leopard on it with a clean install. Rather than copying an image of the busted drive back on, we’re going with a clean install of Snow Leopard and just moving individual folders. The reason for this is that this setup has been copied and re-copied as computers and operating systems get upgraded and replaced over the last 6 years or so, starting with Mac OS 9, and there is way too much unnecessary “stuff” on there.
Sometimes a clean install of an operating system, whether Windows or Mac OSX, can be like having a new computer again.
So after roughly 72 hours of running, DiskWarrior finally finished with the disk! Now I have selected all the files it was able to recover, and in the left hand side of the screen chose the external USB hard drive I bought for this purpose, and am copying over all of the data it’s able to now.