Hosea הוֹשֵׁעַ

Tag: technical

Cheat Your Engine Control Unit to Free Up to 20% Horsepower

Every car has an ECU to control the performance of the car engine. ECU is Engine Control Unit. The standard performance of a car is set by the manufacturer through the ECU. Manufacturer will not program the ECU to the highest output so that the car will get the best fuel consumption.

For those who aim to race, understand that the more power you need, the more fuel you have to burn. Racer like me will not be concern about fuel consumption for the ride.

To squeeze more horsepower from the ECU, I have to cheat the ECU to push the engine to a higher explosion, to get higher output. This trick works only with Fuel Injection car and not on old car with carburetor engine.

First, you need to locate the IAT sensor of the car. IAT stands for Intake Air Temperature. The IAT sensor is the sensor that sends the air temperature signal to the ECU, telling the ECU to manage the amount of fuel for combustion. Generally the IAT sensor is located on the intake tube or somewhere before the throttle body from the intake manifold.

After you found the IAT, remove the adapter from the IAT sensor and you will see the connector with two holes on it. It looks like a normal electric plug label plus (+) and minus (-) signs. Go to an electronic shop and get a resistor of 110 ohm and plug it into the connector.

Before removing the connector, make sure your car engine is off and the key is plug out first, to prevent the check engine indicator light up on your dashboard. After placing the resistor on the IAT connector, remember to wrap it up with a wire tape and make sure the resistor is not loose and not easy to drop off. Next, cover up the exposed two holes on the IAT sensor with wire tape to make yourself feel more secure.

For your reference, Engine Control Unit also known as ECM, Engine Control Module.

After all done, time to test drive.

~~More tips on JDM Cars http://www.jdmpitstop.com/~~

29 Jan 2010
Free Download Wifi Password

Every one of us will come to a time when we urgently need to go online but there is no internet access available. And we will try to move around within our proximity to scan for WIFI and betting on luck that we do not need a password to access it.

Assuming you manage to find a WIFI but you need a password. What do you do?

For me, I will identify the WIFI device and try the factory default password. During the dawn of wireless era, this trick usually works but now people are getting more sophisticated and know how to change the factory password. I used to surf all these products websites and get free download WIFI utility tools and default factory password, and compile a list of it.

Nowaday what I will do is before I go to an unfamiliar place, I will google or ask around for information about free or paid WIFI available at where I am going and make the appropriate choice and backup plan if I ever need urgent internet access.

There are times when I want to show off my skills to my peers or impress my new found girlfriend, I will use a stumbling software to scan the air for nearby wireless. A stumbling software can also detect hidden access point and display their SSID.

After finding all available access points, the next thing you need is their respective passwords to get access. I can run the application to decipher the password but this method takes time. The process may take me from twenty minutes to more than an hour.

A faster alternative is to run a packet capture application on the targeted wireless network. Most of the time it will free download WIFI password in the captured packets. Search through the contents of the packets and any sensible human can detect which one is the password. I just copy and paste, and I have access to the wireless.

To use all these techniques and the required software, you need to practice and learn how to analyze a packet. You can start off by using your own WIFI as your training ground.

Do you feel safe using wireless now? A simple solution to protect yourself from online theft is to use a VPN, Virtual Private Network. A VPN protects the information you transmit over the internet and keep it away from preying sniffers.

~~Learn more, visit http://www.blockedipaddress.com/~~

23 Jan 2010
Macbook Air Laptop + Parallels Desktop 5.0 = Disappointment

Reading through all the bells and whistles of the new Parallels Desktop 5.0, I was so excited and downloaded the trial copy to install on my Macbook Air laptop. The installation window pop up was quick and the screen display was fast. Click, click, click and I was into the installation progress bar.

I was so excited with many new features, such as faster performance on Snow Leopard OS X 10.6, automated Parallels Compressor that keep the virtual machine optimized and reclaimed hard disk storage space, Multi-Touch gestures available in Windows, remote control windows using Remote Control and the new Crystal Mode. These were the features that got me enthusiastic especially the new Crystal Mode.

Once Parallels Desktop 5.0 was installed, I quickly ran my virtual Windows XP. The speed was impressive and XP was loaded faster than before. I clicked around and realized that it was responding slower and slower and then almost like completely hanged.

I quickly when to Parallels Website and confirm the minimum requirement. Macbook Air laptop was inside the requirement list. I managed to access the start button and clicked restart but it took me more than 10 minutes just to click on the Restart option.

Windows XP restarted again and the startup was fast and went into Windows and from here onward, I could never used my XP anymore. It hanged instantly and I had to hard reset my Air laptop. After three tries and three hard resets, I gave up.

I took the trouble to reinstall back version 4 from my backup. Sad to say I was disheartened that I could not upgrade it. My Macbook Air Laptop model identifier ‘MacBookAir 1,1’ running at 1.6GHz. Perhaps it’s time for me to get a new mac.

7 Jan 2010
The Best Mobile Computing – MacBook Air Laptop Plus Snow Leopard 10.6

With all the hypes and marketing brainwashing, I finally I got a copy of OS X Snow Leopard also known as version 10.6.

The installation was standard like the previous version but there was no Archive and Install option available and it went straight to upgrade my existing OS. I was worried. After more than a hour, I heard the Mac ‘ding’ sound and I ran toward the screen looking forward for a safe upgrade. I was glad that my Air laptop was successfully upgraded.

The first thing I did was to checked my hard disk storage space. To my amazement, 10.6 gave me back almost 13GB of storage space. I was worried again if my video and other files were deleted during the upgrade. Double checking again and again, I was so delighted that Snow Leopard 10.6 saved so much storage space. One thumb up!

The overall performance of my Air Laptop increased significantly. I could feel the speed. Everything I did was so much faster, applications loaded faster, Dashboard displayed faster, Spaces switched faster and the list could go on. I quickly restarted the OS to test the startup speed. The performance was over my expectation, at least two times faster than 10.5. Another thumb up!

Chinese language input on Multi-Touch. This was the main reason that enticed me to installed Snow Leopard. The Chinese input with Multi-Touch was first introduced on iPhone and iPod Touch. Combining keystrokes and keyboard input, now I could simply used it on my Air to enhance my writing. Three thumbs up already!

The most intensive Parallels Desktop 4.0 with Windows XP SP3 loaded in Snow Leopard. Another delighted discovery, my Windows XP was up and running two times faster than previously with 10.5. With Snow Leopard 10.6, I reclaimed a hefty lot of processor speed. For this, one big thumb up!

There were many more enhancements Snow Leopard offered. For me, These four reasons were more than enough to justify my upgrade. Four thumbs up for MacBook Air laptop running on Snow Leopard 10.6, the experience was awesome.

6 Jan 2010
So Far So Good With Windows 7 RC

Gone through the hassle to Install Windows 7 from beta release to RC Build 7100. All the builds were getting better then the previous release and Build 7100 is by far the best and stable.

I think my Windows XP in Parallels now had the good Windows 7 as the contender to be replaced. I was very disappointed with Windows Vista when installed in Parallels. Vista was such a bloated OS that I spent most of the time waiting to click the next task.

Windows 7 when you switched to classic mode interface, the OS operated faster than XP. I could feel Windows 7 is much sleeker and neater than XP and Vista when you executed a task. Windows 7 integration with Parallels 4 had more bells and whistles than running with XP. I was not sure with Vista because I gave up on it.

Windows 7 had an old compatibility mode feature that let you run older software and drivers, and this feature worked so well that I had no problem running older application and support for older hardware.

So far so good, Windows 7, I had no complain. I am looking forward for the release.

11 May 2009
Apple Hotline: Case ID vs CS Code

Many times, when we have technical problems, we call Apple Hotline for support to determine if it is a hardware or software issues. If it is a software issue the Hotline will provide support. If it is a hardware failure the Hotline will ask you to bring the hardware for warranty exchange at one of the Apple Authorised Service Centres.

Everything we make a call to Apple Hotline, a Case ID will be issued to us. A Case ID is a reference number that refer to your report with the Hotline. That is it. Is a reference number for your reported case.

When a user is told by the Hotline he has a hardware failure, the user happily bring down the faulty device to the service centre and expect a replacement. Sad to tell all Apple owners, calling Apple Hotline and given a Case ID do not entitle you to any free or warranty hardware replacement at a Service Centre.

The Service Centre’s decision supersede the Hotline and the Case ID is just a reference number for your case. It only proves that you have logged a call to the hotline, not an agreement to carry out the repair. The Service Centre is bounded by the laws of Apple warranty, for which anything not of electronic failure is not covered under warranty. The only thing that can overwrite the Service Centre‘s decision is a CS Code.

CS Code is Customer Service Code issue by the Customer Relations Officer. This CS Code will only be given if the Customer Relations Officer is satisfied that the issue is not under mishandling or the repair is given under good will. The CS code can then supersede Service Centre decision and even free replacement for out-of-warranty hardware.

Co-author with Puat.

12 Nov 2007
Fixing Macbook Pro Fan Problem

After two weeks of waiting, my fan replacement arrived.

My Macbook Pro laptop computer fan, left side fan suddenly produced some flapping noise. I thought was the anti-static film wore out and went into the fan and created the noise. After fixing the anti-static film, the flapping sound was still there. So, I ordered a replacement.

9 Nov 2007
Vista In Parallels

I am now running Leopard 10.5 with Windows Vista in Parallels 5540 Beta.

Have some errors during setup but manage to solve them and now running well on the fourth installation.

Vista is a bit laggy compare to my previous Windows XP in Parallels.

I realise Leopard 10.5 manages swap files much better than Tiger 10.4. Running Parallels in Tiger will use 1 to 2GB of swap files. With Leopard, I hardly use up to 64MB of swap files when Parallels was running.

1 Nov 2007
Get More RAM The Merrier

Upgraded my Macbook Pro memory from 1.5GB to 3GB, Doing so, I shifted the bottleneck to the harddisk. My Mac was now running at it best. When I had 1.5GB of memory, my Mac could only open about four to five heavy duty applications like Adobe Photoshop before it lagged my machine. Now with 3GB of RAM, I could open more than ten applications as intensive as Photoshop and database driven application like iPhoto and iWeb.

Increasing my RAM also doubled my machine performance. Everything was so much faster and smoother except sometimes when it had to write huge swap files to the harddisk. The magic of 3GB RAM also made my Windows in Parallels ran seamlessly and faster without stressing the swap disk like before.

I was glad with my RAM investment. Worth every penny spent.

Talking about memory, RAM module for Mac, I would recommend to use Crucial module. Please avoid Kingston brand. Kingston module would not run well on Mac. Crucial was the recommendation in our workshop.

Go! Get More RAM The Merrier!

29 Sep 2007
What Is PRAM?

PRAM stands for Parameter RAM. PRAM stores certain system and device settings in a location that The Mac OS can access quickly. The information is store in a small area of non-volatile RAM (NVRAM).

What does PRAM stores? Zapping your PRAM? How to do it? Exactly which settings are stored in the computer’s PRAM varies depending on the type of computer as well as the types of devices and drives connected to the computer.

Some information stored in PRAM includes:
• Display and video settings such as refresh rate, screen resolution, number of colors
• Time zone setting
• Startup volume choice
• Speaker volume
• Recent kernel panic information, if any
• DVD region setting  Note: Mac OS X stores your preselected DVD region choice in PRAM for easy access. Resetting PRAM does not allow you to change the DVD region.

Unlike prior versions of the Mac OS, Mac OS X does not store network settings in PRAM. If you experience a network issue, resetting PRAM will not help.

If PRAM is reset, you may need to verify your time zone, startup volume, and volume settings using System Preferences. Certain firmware updates may reset PRAM as a normal part of their installation process.

When to use PRAM? There are times when the computer faces some problems. Instead of rushing the computer to the service centre, you may try these resuscitation methods for the computer. The few problems that PRAM could help,

1. Computer has no startup chime, and the sleep light may or may not be turned on. You can still hear the computer has something running inside, which means there is power in the computer.

2. Screen is distorted or flickering, or resolution of the screen is not right.

3. External devices are not able to be detected.

Usually PRAM is ran for 3 cycles, which means you hold the 4 keys simultaneously (Command, Option, P, and R) until you hear 3 startup chimes. Another thing that we should note is that zapping PRAM should not be used unnecessarily.

When ever the PRAM is used, zapping PRAM, you will reset your clock setting to 1970. And this will disrupt the proper flow of power to into the computer. If PRAM does not solve the problem, do not keep trying too many times, it is really time to send the computer for servicing.

Co-author with Puat.

This article is based on Apple Support, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1242

28 Jul 2007