Notes on PC 30
9 March 2011
Bought by W0CG and shipped to Idaho. Configured 11-15 March by W0CG with WL 10.85, Keyspan USB-COM port drivers, and Windows 7 Winkey drivers. Works fine networked with Vista laptop in Idaho prototyping. See here (and below) for the setup procedure. Will be transported to Idaho March 22-23 by W0CG.
Dell data sheet 1, Dell data sheet 2. Click here for invoice.
Service Tag 4097DP1. Express Service Code 8722590229. Microsoft Product Key 7G3JY-CJC9V-7R9XB-F79JH-G2P6T.
Power Supply: Bestec TFX0250D5W +12 17A, +5 18A, +3.3 11A, -12 0.3A, +5 USB 2A; total 250 W.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS
Battery: CR2032 Lithium 3V
Click here to see back of the unit with LPT1 port. Interior photo.
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Copy folders to C:/
WritelogV68Executables
WritelogV85UnzippedDistributionFiles
Writelog1069FullExecutables
WritelogV1080FulExecutables
Writelog Tips
Winkeyer
Install Writelog 10.80. Reg code is in Writelog Tips/writelog.directions at the bottom. It's necessary to ecplicitly install to C:/Writelog rather than take the defaults.
Explicitly create folder C:/Writelog/Contest
Install Writelog 10.85 or whatever is preferred.
Paste WL icon to desktop.
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Create folder C:/KeyspanUSBAdapter
Copy from Keyspan CD Adobe documentation file into the above folder.
Do not plug in the Keyspan adapter. Start the install from the "Windows Drivers" section of the CD. Bypass (Close) the automatic get of the driver from Windows Update and allow install to complete.
Run "Keyspan Serial Assistant" from the Start Menu and note which COM port was assigned.
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Plug in Winkeyer.
If driver install starts automatically, browse to drivers in C:/Winkey/CDM20812Windows7Drivers. Or get it from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX,htm and get the 64 bit 2.08.12 file.
Otherwise
Start, Control Panel, View Devices and Printers, USB<-> Serial, Properties, Hardware, Update Driver and browse to C:/Winkey/CDM20812Windows7Drivers and then determine the correct port assignment afterward.
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Control Panel, Hardware, Power Options, High Performance.
Define power buttons, when I press the power button, Do nothing.
Change when the computer sleeps, Put the computer to sleep, Never.
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Copy PJ2T Wallpaper to C:/.
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From top dock, install OfficeStarter 2010. It's just Word and Excel, stripped down.
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Control Panel, System, See the name of this computer, Change Settings PC30. Reboot.
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C:/Writelog, Properties, Sharing, Share then Advanced Sharing, Permissions, Add Everyone, Full Control
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Control Panel, User Accounts, User Accounts, Manage accounts, Change an account. Create password of user PJ2T (who is the administrator account) to "PJ2T" and set hint to "Our station callsign".
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www.supercheckpartial.com Download to C:/Writelog/Programs
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24 March 2011
Installed machine at Station 1. Works fine. Windows 7 created a default "Homegroup" networking password of Ji5K7Qx6eA. Port and Winkey communication appear to work. LPT1 board not yet installed.
Dell Datasafe userid wa8kuw pw abilene
31 March 2011
Installed LPT1 card. Click here for order details on this card. Had to physically cut off the metal mounting tab and modify it to get card to seat and screw in firmly. When case was open, found the data cable from the CD drive unplugged. Plugged it back into SATA2 on the motherboard. Click here to see back of the unit with LPT1 port.
1 November 2011
PC failed. Power light comes on as soon as AC is plugged in and machine will not start. This machine was adjacent to a sparking coax connector during CQWW SSB. Need to swap in power supply to see if this is the problem. If not, it is spare parts for the other Optiplexes.
17 November 2011
N0YY swapped in power supply from PC34. The system worked fine and was reinstalled at Station 1. The PC30 supply was installed into PC34.
15 December 2011
K8ND updated .INI file. Click here.
9 December 2012
WI9WI reported this computer would not boot. I reseated the RAM and it starts perfectly. Swapped this drive into PC32 and 32 works fine. Conclusion is that PC32 hard drive is kaput. Taking 30 and 32 drives to Idaho and John will clone a new one.
29 January 2013
Reinstalled hard drive after trip to Idaho to provide a drive cloning source. Now will not fully boot.
6 February 2013
John Shovic re-cloned the original PC30 drive from a known good drive from PC34. Still will not boot. Same symptoms. I installed a known good drive in PC30 and all was perfect. Conclusion: PC30 drive did not survive the trip to Curacao after it was used as a clone source in Idaho. John has several 500GB SATA drives in Idaho that he will give us for PC30.
9 February 2013
Bought a new exact replacement 500 GB Western Digital drive at Tapirama. J Shovic cloned the PC35 drive to the new one and it worked perfectly. PC30 now fully back in service.
14 November 2013
Flaky at Station 1. Video comes up with lines in it and PC becomes unresponsive. Wiggling cards seemed to help in past.
17 November 2013
N0YY applied no-ox to all possible connectors and machine has been running OK now for several hours. No problems. Has run solidly since Sunday. Did a couple of reboots and all seems OK.
2 February 2014
Took out of closet for test and update. Works fine. Added TCP/IPv6 and set up homegroup access to the rest of the network. Tested Writelog. All OK and back to storage.
8 December 2016
Took out of closet for test. Was used in CQWW SSB with no problems and today all works perfectly.
20 February 2020
Tested by W0CG. Needs F1 to boot but all else works perfectly.