Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with installation

To repair or to replace?

hjd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:50:24 -0800

To repair or replace? Should I repair a boiler with renowned reoccuring faults or replace it with a new reliable boiler with a 5 year warranty? I am having issues with my boiler at the moment. It is an 8 year old Baxi 100HE and it's ignition is frequently locking out. It is a renowed fault with the Baxi range which I have read about in forums. The way to repair it involves calling out an engineer and perhaps having to pay for expensive parts to be replaced (not sure what the parts cost but on forums they were referred to as expensive). According to MoneySavingExpert.com boiler repairs and maintenance come to about £180 a year - but I guess if this boiler has a reoccuring fault it might be more, although of course I cannot be sure.

Do I sink money into this boiler by having it repaired and then perhaps regularly maintained after that, or invest in a new boiler by Viessman which I have read is reliable on forums and also comes with a 5 year warranty. This may cost about £1200 though for the boiler and the installation.

Cost wise they may end up amounting to the same over the 5 years based on conservative estimates, but since I do not have experience of hot water/heating systems on a long term basis I am not sure which is the most effective choice.

Also, even if the boiler is under warranty I suppose I will still have to have it serviced each year to ensure the warranty is not voided, so that would potentially be another £100 a year on top of the original £1200 installation.

Does anyone have any advice based on their own experience and knowledge?

Are Windows 7 Professional 32 and 64 bit serials the same?

n3rt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:19:09 -0800

Are Windows 7 32bit and 64 bit serials the same? I've just purchased an OEM of Windows 7 Professional 32 bit for my laptop, which I've since [before installation] upgraded with more RAM. I can now happily run as a 64 bit installation. I have a 64 bit version of 7 coming as an OEM with a new desktop - my question is twofold? Will a 32 bit serial work with a 64 bit installation, and legally - if it does work - am I allowed to install it? I do have two Win 7 licenses...

What is a firewall rule group?

jackypaper — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:27:55 -0800

What is a "firewall rule group"? When recently trying to install an MP3 player on my laptop, I was met with an error message that read "Operation Create Wireless Firewall Rule Group has failed," followed by Microsoft error code 0X80070057. I've searched around but haven't found much info on "rule groups." What is a firewall rule group, and is my wireless router somehow interrupting my hardware installation? Thanks!

Push it. Push it real good.

orville sash — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:01:03 -0800

Is there a way to push the installation of browser plug-ins on a network where users don't have workstation admin rights (windows network)? We are running windows server 2003, and have a network of maybe 19 Windows XP workstations. We have our network policy set up so that domain users are not workstation admins, so they can't install malware.

Problem is, they also can't install things like java updates or flash player updates. Group Policy allows us to send them Windows updates automatically, but I was wondering if it was possible to push updates for these browser plug-ins to all machines using an admin command of some kind? It would certainly be a pain in the ass to have to walk around and install this individually on each machine for the client.

Any advice, particularly construction/fabrication related, for this lighting oriented site-specific installation?

carnival of animals — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:26:51 -0800

A couple of friends and I are organising a site-specific installation for the Smart Light Festival (flash w/ sound) to be held in Sydney from May 26 to June 14 this year. While I would appreciate any advice on bringing an installation like this to fruition, I was hoping specifically to get feedback on our plans to pre-fabricate the components (basically if they seem feasible, and if there are cheaper more efficient ways of going about it, how to use less energy, and especially how we could reuse or recycle the materials). I apologise for the very open-ended question, but as this is still in the concept phase I felt it wasn't appropriate for MeFi Projects. Here are some early renders and some background information on the festival, including the brief (PDF) we went by.

The festival will roughly coincide with the government's plans to phase out incandescent lightbulbs, and is designed to emphasize the importance of energy efficient lighting and the issue of light pollution. Our expression of interest was recently accepted and we are still in the planning phase, but hope to have sponsors on board and shop drawings complete for fabrication by the end of this month. The three of us are graduated architecture students.

What it is
A miniaturized abstraction of the Sydney CBD in the form of about 40 to 50 lanterns, ranging from about half a metre to 2 metres tall, with LED spotlights illuminating them from within. The lanterns correspond to city blocks; the colour of the lanterns to the level of energy consumed by each block, and the light pollution emitted.

Aim
We want the installation to be a thing of beauty, and an attraction. But once the visitor approaches, we want to invoke a certain sense of unease; to get them to question the source of the Sydney's night time beauty, and what it's costing the Earth. We hope to do this mainly through sound -- by creating a kind of ambient track using samples of buildings 'humming' (air conditioners, background noise of plumbing, etc.), which intensifies as the visitor approaches.

Site
If things go to plan, the installation will be in the forecourt of Customs House (google map). This is a very public space along Sydney Harbour, with a lot of through traffic. Our installation is one of many along the festival's 'light walk'.

There's also a lot of night lighting, but we will ask that as much as possible be turned off while the installation is on (about 5 to 11pm?). If possible we want to power the lights using car batteries which have been discarded with some juice left in them. (A lighting consultant we talked to suggested this.) We'll have mains power for speakers.

Lanterns
We want to pre-fabricate the lantern frames out of galvanized or painted mild steel, roughly in the shape of a box kite frame. We are in contact with a steel fabricator about this, but are wondering if there is a more environmentally friendly option, as we aren't sure what to do with the steel afterwards. (Our university might take it for their metal workshop, but not 40-50 lanterns worth!) The problem is that the lanterns need to be weatherproof, vandalproof, and relatively idiotproof (public liability) for the 3 weeks the festival. Same thing with the fabric 'sock' that will go over the frame. We're wondering if heavy-duty calico will do the trick?

Lights
A lighting consultant we talked to about this suggested that LED spotlights (shaped like a halogen uplight, but with a dozen or more LEDs as the light source) would be our best, most energy efficient option. The largest red lantern in the renders will hold a locked box containing the car batteries/other power source, LED controllers, and a laptop/ipod shuffle for the sound. We are not crystal clear on where the power outlets are, but were told they will be at the north end of the forecourt. As we may have to fence the installation (not our choice), running wire between lanterns shouldn't be a problem.

We're not of one mind about this, but we were also thinking about dangling/suspending individual LEDs closer to the surface of the lanterns, which briefly fade on and off at irregular, fairly infrequent intervals to simulate the turning on and off of lights, and to give the installation some movement visually. This might be over-complicating the already substantial challenge of wiring up all this lighting though.

(I was wondering if there might be a way to do this using something like LED throwies, but that's a lot of batteries to dispose of, and how to turn them on/off?)

Sponsorship
I shouldn't go into detail, but we are hoping to get donations in the form of materials from the manufacturers of any products we use, and may offer some space on the information panel on the largest red lantern, plus other exposure (such as on our website, any printed material) to other potential sponsors. Is there anything else we might do to attract sponsors, and give them value for the money they contribute? (We want to avoid 'branding' the lanterns as much as possible.)

Thanks!

iPhone SDK: ApplicationVerificationFailed

remi — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:55:07 -0800

How do you get rid of the "ApplicationVerificationFailed" error when trying to test an application on the iPhone? I am using Xcode 3.1.2 with the iPhone SDK 2.2.1 on Mac OS X 10.5.6. I am trying to develop my first application for the iPod and iPhone. For testing, I have an iPod Touch 2nd gen with software version 2.2.1. I have also paid $99 USD for an iPhone single developer package with Apple.

When I'm trying to install an application for testing on my iPod using Xcode, I always get the following error message:

Your mobile device has encountered an unexpected error (0xE800003A)
ApplicationVerificationFailed

I do have all the necessary certificates installed in my Keychain and provisioning profiles installed on my iPod. The provisioning profile is for development (not deployment), and is correctly associated with my developer's certificate, application ID, and device (iPod) profile. For here, I'll say my App ID is "9876543210.*".

Here is what I tried so far:

- I restarted my iPod and Xcode several times already.
- I restored my iPod.
- For the application's "Target" listed in the Project's window (not the Organiser), I brought up its "Info" window and under the "Properties" tab, I tried the following "Identifiers": blank, 9876543210.${PRODUCT_NAME:identifier}, 9876543210.*, *, ${PRODUCT_NAME:identifier}.

Can anyone help me with this? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

What is this? And: Is it loud?

Henrik — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:33:46 -0800

Can you identify this strange interactive sound making device? The sound making device in question.

There seem to be multiple buttons and at least one speaker on this thing. It seems to be in public (on a street pole), as the german text says: "Please refrain from switching on this damn thing at night! This is an order! You are just upsetting the residents, here. Hopefully, this finally becomes clear. 'Respect' is demanded!"

Installing Direct X for XP

fantasticninety — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:29:18 -0800

Can anyone help me install Dirext X on my Windows PC laptop? I've been trying to install Direct X 9 on my Windows PC laptop and it's not working. I download the 20 kb file to the desktop which is supposed to link up to the internet to download the real file and it doesn't connect properly.

Is there a link to the actual Direct X 9 which I can install?

I've installed this one and it's not enough to play the game.

I can't get this one to install.

Could I run this game on a Mac if I bought Boot Camp? In other words, does Boot Camp come with Direct X 9?

Thanks so much for anyone who has the patience to waddle through this.

My Brand New Computer Won't Boot from the DVD Drive! Help!

adi — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:09:23 -0800

My brand new Core i7 computer will not boot from the DVD Drive to install Vista - please help me tell my bios what they need to know to make this thing boot! (screen shots included inside, along with full details) I have a Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 Motherboard, and the NEC DVD Drive is the only IDE connection I'm using. The jumper on it is set to Master, and I've tried two different IDE cables to no avail.

Here are five screenshots from the boot process:
http://twitpic.com/rt0v
http://twitpic.com/rt10
http://twitpic.com/rt1l
This is what happens past the bios:
http://twitpic.com/rt1w

And this is what happens when it tries to use the NEC DVD drive. Also noteworthy is that the green light on the drive only comes on when the machine is initially booting up, but not when it should be looking for the Vista boot disk:
http://twitpic.com/rt1y

Stop Bash from getting ahead of itself...

tmcw — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:09:53 -0800

Shell scripting quandry: running apt-get and then running a command that requires a apt-get installed package fails because bash doesn't wait for apt-get to finish... My first approach is running a shell script that runs the installation, and I've had this problem. The code is like

apt-get install blah blah blah python-setuptools
easy_install libxml

However, bash runs apt-get and doesn't wait for it to finish before running the easy_install line - and the easy_install line requires setuptools to be installed. Currently I've just split the script into two scripts at that point, so that this little timing issue doesn't come up. But that's a workaround and I'm frustrated that there isn't a better way. Using 'wait' isn't working because apt-get is interactive...

Bonus points if you can point to a way that shell scripts can just install the most recent version of a package without specifying exactly what it is in the name? My issue is that this is for Ubuntu 7-8 and I don't want it to fail because of differences in repository versions...

Thanks! I'm a bit of a shell-scripting noob, and writing a robust install script for this project (Mapnik) is a big challenge.

Is this laminate defective or is this typical?

tristeza — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:02:46 -0800

Should I keep the $800 worth of as-yet uninstalled Shaw VersaLock laminate flooring, or is this just a shoddy product that I need to return to "Larry" at the floor store? Just started installing the Shaw VersaLock laminate flooring that I bought, following the instructions on the website, and so far the locking ridge at the end of almost every board has broken.

We've watched the video, read the PDF, read the box (mind you, all 3 versions of instructions are slightly different), but no matter what, the fiberboard ridges simply snap off/crumble with any movement whatsoever of the joined boards.

It's VersaLock AG 8mm laminate over deluxe underlayment.

Has anyone had an experience like this with this or similar products? Is it fatal to the installation to have this happening - as in, will these locking ridges continue to break under stress once the floor is installed?

Non-soggy wallpapering outdoors in a soggy climate?

carbide — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:53:25 -0800

I'm looking to make outdoor wallpaper for a temporary-but-not-super-short-term installation. Anything from flypostering advice to more pricey suggestions would be very much appreciated, adhesive to printing to paper. Oh yeah, and it's for Ireland in the autumn/winter. We're working on making an outdoor installation, to last as close as possible to 6 weeks - it needn't be pristine at all but the print should not run, and it does need to be somehow removable, and we can't do it repeatedly as we won't be on site.

The surfaces will vary, but assume brick/render/concrete/stone...in Ireland, midlands, in November. The surfaces will be in an archway open to the elements on both sides, and it will be raining and the rain isn't considerate enough to just come vertically.

A1 or A0 sheets or a roll would be good. It's a big area so tiny sheets would be incredibly frustrating.

With flypostering, what kind of printing, paper and adhesive makes for the best results? What lasts, what doesn't work?

How are posters removed, and is there a way to do it without damaging the surface?

Is there a commercial method that would work well for this? We definitely don't have a limitless budget but it's not exactly running off photocopier scams either, so it would be good to know of options.

Any and all advice would be great, and I can clarify anything I've left out.

Is it Hardi or Hardly Planked?

SpecialK — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:17:52 -0800

HardiPlank Installation: The installation instructions (pdf) for the brand of siding the house I live in has installed says that it needs to be caulked at the edges and that trim should be installed first, and then the siding should butt up against it. This was done at the corners, but at the windows, the trim was installed over top of the hardiplank. The instructions don't say anything about windows. Is it installed correctly?

My Macbook pro won't start

Ringo — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:01:54 -0800

Mac emergency! I was forced to shut my mac down in the middle of upgrading to Leopard and now it won't start up again! I stupidly started an installation when I was with friends at a cafe. It closed so we had to leave and it was pouring rain but it was saying it would still be over an hour until it was done. I closed the lid and now it won't start. The power goes on but it just has the apple sign and the "thinking" thing. It spit out the Leopard disk. I tried the original Mac OS X startup disk I had and that won't work either.

One install is better than many

mcarthey — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:54:01 -0800

How can I create a Windows install image (ISO) from an already installed XP installation? I've used nLite in the past to create a slipstreamed version of Windows from my installation media, but I now have a fresh install of XP with all the basic applications installed that I'd like (virus scanners, chat clients, network tools, etc) and I'd like to avoid having to do this process all over again. Would it just be easiest to ghost the drive and can I do this to a CD image or is there another way?
I'm looking for a simple and cheap/free way to do this.

Thanks much!

How to get temporary broadband as a foreigner in Germany?

gmm — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:27:14 -0800

Berlin / Germany internet installation: I might stay a few months in an apartment in Berlin, where there currently is no internet connection installed. What (if any) are my options? I need broadband in my daily work, running to cafes might cut it for a few days but not for longer periods of time. I'm not German, but Norwegian.

Could I as a foreigner order a broadband (or other highspeed) connection, personally, for only a short period of time?

(My broadband experiences from France and Norway is several months from order to a functional installation, and the subscriptions run for 12 months minimum.)

I'm happy to hear any suggestions or experiences, thanks in advance.

How Do I Get Windows To Display Chinese Characters?

mhh5 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:57:40 -0800

How do I do Windows in Chinese? I don't have the original Windows XP discs, and when I try to install the Chinese characters add-on from MSFT -- the laptop says I need the original XP discs.. do I really need them? I really just want to be able to view Chinese characters when I visit websites -- instead of boxes and question marks where those characters would normally be. Is my only option to try to find the appropriate discs on eBay? Or is there some other trick that I'm missing?

I need a locking doorknob.

Verdandi — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:13:03 -0800

I need to install a key-locking doorknob on my bedroom door. What sort of options do I have, and can I do this myself? Since I still live at home for at least a bit longer, I decided I need a little more security so I can keep my possessions where they should be (my very slightly younger brother seems to have a problem with putting things back where they belong). So, since my bedroom door doesn't lock, I'd like to make it do so, from the outside and inside.

So, my question(s):
1) How easy is this to do? I'm pretty home improvement savvy, so I think I could handle anything as long as I have instructions.

2) Are any key-lock doorknobs better than others? Or are they all pretty much the same? I have access to pretty much every home improvement store, including a small professional locksmith.

Thanks a ton in advance :)

How do I work out a flooring installation gone awry?

indigo4963 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:05:29 -0800

What's my recourse with a flooring installation now gone awry that was partially contracted through Home Depot, and partially worked out "on the side" with the installer? Three months ago, I used Home Depot contracted services for installing Traffic Master laminate flooring in my kitchen. I happened to buy additional materials in order to also do flooring in the living room, when I had money to pay for the labor. While the flooring guy was at my house, he offered to do the living from for $500 (about $1000 less than the original quote). I took him up on the offer.

Now the flooring is starting bow / tent, maybe from humidity, or maybe from a shoddy installation. Also, one of the room connectors is starting to crack. When I walk across the floor, it sounds like it's popping -- is that normal with a "floating floor"?

I think he rushed through the job to get the two rooms done on time. The installer warned me that the flooring could not get wet or it would expand, but I found this confusing as the laminate is designed for the kitchen (where it will sometimes get wet, for example from washing dishes or from accidental spills).

Should I contact Home Depot or the installer directly? What's my recourse if the installer refuses to fix the problems?

Vaio gives "system timer error"

daksya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:58:44 -0800

My laptop gives a "system timer error" and so I probably need some guidance in replacing my laptop's CMOS battery I've an 8 yr old Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-F590 (a.k.a PCG-9201), which for practical purposes, stopped working 3 weeks ago. The computer boots into XP, but during the login screen, or shortly after logging in, freezes altogether, not responding to any input. Occasionally, it gets stuck during POST itself, displaying "KEYBOARD ERROR" and "SYSTEM TIMER ERROR". Some web browsing tells me that it's likely that the CMOS battery has a lifespan of around 10 years and that could be the issue here.

Before I replace the battery, is there something else I should look into? There was no physical trauma inflicted on the laptop, and I guess the system timer hardware itself hasn't gone kaput. This initially happened all of a sudden while watching a video (the sole purpose of the laptop) 3 weeks ago.

I searched online and this store indicates that the battery is NiMH 2 cells with a mainboard connector. How specific do I have to be with the battery purchase besides the voltage and the connector type?

Most importantly, before I open my laptop, I'd like to know where the battery is located and how I should go on about replacing it? Despite my best efforts, I can't find a motherboard schematic for this laptop. The laptop's way past warranty and besides I'm not the original owner. Repair businesses here charge exorbitantly, so I'd like to do it myself.

How to use external installer parameters?

danblaker — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:34:22 -0800

I'd like to make a Windows installer customizable via external parameters (e.g. from an installer.ini file). The compiled installer will be distributed to multiple researchers, who will install the software on all client machines in their respective studies. The current installer sets a default value for the “StudyName” registry key, so the researchers would have to change it on each machine using RegEdit after install. I'd like to allow them to set the value before installing (e.g. by editing a text file) and have it override the default.

I have the existing Inno Setup source script, but I'd be glad to use another (free) installer package if Inno can't do it.

Do appliance installers avoid attaching water lines?

madmethods — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:10:37 -0800

Scam-Filter: Do appliance installers commonly try to avoid attaching water lines? I bought a washer/dryer and a refrigerator, with delivery and installation (supposedly). The washer/dryer folks came, put the washer/dryer where they were supposed to go, and hooked up the dryer. Then they said "oh, we don't have the right hose for the washer, you'll need to go buy one and hook it up yourself".

Well, lo and behold, a couple of hours later the refrigerator guys came. They put the refrigerator in place, and then said "oh, we don't have the right hose, you'll need to go buy one and hook it up yourself".

This was enough to trigger my scam detector. Do appliance stores commonly try to avoid attaching water lines? Something to do with liability and/or warranty coverage? This is in the US (Oregon), btw. If all I'm getting is delivery, and not installation, I could just buy the bloody things directly off the net.

Can I upgrade my motherboard and CPU without reinstalling Vista?

adi — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:06:52 -0800

Can I upgrade my motherboard and CPU without reinstalling Vista? I'm using a Pentium 930 (Dual core, 3ghz) and want to move up to a Core 2 Quad, but am hoping to avoid a full reinstall.

I would also like to avoid losing my itunes library, and other such settings if possible (installed software, etc.).

Help me fix my Windows XP

andoatnp — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:15:36 -0800

I reinstalled Windows XP on a Dell machine running Ubuntu and it won't run above 640 by 480 resolution and 4 bits. It's an 80gb hard drive with 2gb of RAM, and there is nothing I can think of that would cripple the system like this. Any idea how to get the system running like it should be? 1) I installed Ubuntu over the original XP that came with the machine 5 years ago. After it was running slow, I upgraded the RAM to 2gb. Then when I switched back to XP, it no longer works correctly.

2) The XP disk I used came from Dell, and I think they thought that I still had XP running on the machine. Would there be some sort of difference between the CD they would send me to reinstall XP on a machine already running XP versus on a linux machine?

3) At no point during the installation of Windows XP did it prompt me for my serial number. Did it somehow know that this was a certified windows machine/cd, and if not, should I have had to put in my serial number somewhere?

I've done the XP install off of the CD twice now, and both times got the same results When I go into settings, it won't let me chance the resolution or color settings, although when I first finished the setting, a balloon popped up from the task bar and said the resolution could be upgraded, but when I clicked that to run, nothing happened.

If there is any other information about hardware/software that would help, let me know. What's so weird, is that the machine was previously running XP fine, and all I did was increase the RAM, and now it doesn't work.

Any ideas on how to fix this would be a big help. Thanks.

Install older Bioware games on a brand new Mac?

jeff-o-matic — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:25:26 -0800

Can anyone help me with installing older Bioware games (BG2, NWN and expansions) on a new Mac Powerbook? I've got a brand new Intel Powerbook (2.4Ghz, 4G of RAM, OSX 10.5.1).

I also have some old games that I'd like to install on it, specifically Baldur's Gate 2 (and Throne of Bhaal) and Neverwinter Nights (and its 2 expansions).

I can't get any of them to work.

NWN installs all the way to the end of the first disc, then says there was an error, do I want to try again? Well, I've tried, and I've poked around on Bioware's site and can't find anything that helps.

Baldur's Gate 2 is another can of worms. I finally read that I need to do a minimum install, which I did. According to the info, I should do a minimum istall off the first disc, then do a full install on the remaining three discs. Well, I can get the first one installed, but then there's no option to 'choose' full install on the second disc.

Last night, I was able to do a minimum install of all the discs, and was able to play the game. I played for a while, and saved. Today, I launch the game and it asks for disc 2. I insert disc 2 and after a long pause, it quits.

I realize this is a long shot, but reading the various forums for these games and not finding the answers --- yet reading posts from people who are playing on newer machines --- I figure there HAS to be a way.

Any help is appreciated... especially the kind of help that will lead to me being able to play these nerdy old games. Thanks.