tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77343366898289773402024-03-18T20:23:32.324+08:00My affair with the Lenovo S10Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-82490472555875199142010-03-14T08:19:00.000+08:002010-03-14T08:19:10.884+08:00Media Player Blog<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For those of you who are looking for a Media Player, you may want to visit </span><a href="http://hdmediaplayer101.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">my new Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on this subject. I was bewildered by the many choices of Media Player available and I felt that there is a need to share my (albeit limited) experience since I have just bought one myself. Feel free to post your comments there as well. Thanks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ronald Kwok</span>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-46107684928418068572009-08-30T18:40:00.001+08:002009-10-02T10:57:05.508+08:00S10 resurrection<span style="font-family:verdana;">Good news, my S10 has resurrected from the dead! After leaving the dead S10 with the local Lenovo service centre for 3 days, I called them and was told that it was ready for collection.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I went to the service centre and the S10 was given back to me. I asked the service guy if it was the hard disk or the motherboard that was faulty and he told me that it was the LCD connecting cable that was faulty which was rather unusual. It was a good thing that it was not the hard disk or I would have to reinstall all the programmes for my wife again. From the job sheet, the S10 was actually repaired the next day itself so it was a quick job. In fact the guy there told me that they called my number but there was no answer. I could only think that it was because I had scribbled my contact number so they must have called a wrong number so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.<br /><br />And since the S10 is still within the one year warranty period, there was no charge. In fact, they did not even ask me about the warranty so I presumed they checked their online records as I did my registration online.<br /><br />The verdict on the service? Pretty good. Just hope I don't have to visit the service centre again!<br />Ronald Kwok<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net</a></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-55946212732224906012009-08-26T17:17:00.004+08:002009-08-26T18:03:00.661+08:00Death of S10<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, it finally happened. When my wife turned on the S10 last Saturday, the screen stayed black and only the red power LED came to life. I tried all the usual tricks to try revive the S10 - pressing and holding the power on button for more than 10 seconds; removed the battery, press the power on button 10 times and then held it on for 20 seconds and put back the battery - still the same. Repeated the process with just the AC power and still the S10 did not come on.<br />Finally opened the back cover and removed the additional RAM and unplug and plug the Hard Disk but to no avail - my S10 is really dead.<br /><br />After reading similar cases in Forums, I always thought that it cannot happen to me but the reality is that it does happen and now my S10 is added to the statistics of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">netbook</span> that failed. The only thing left to do is to take it back to the shop where I purchased the S10. But alas, the shop, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">WinChance</span> in Low <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Yat</span> Plaza is also dead as it has closed shop and I have no choice but to send it personally to the local <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lenovo</span> Service Centre in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Petaling</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jaya</span>.<br /><br />So I left the dead S10 there and the service guy said it will take two/three days or more depending on what is wrong. He suspected that it could be the Hard Disk or the motherboard that is kaput. Well, this is a chance to see how good (or bad) the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lenovo</span> after sales service is. What is your experience?<br /><br />Ronald <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kwok</span><br /></span><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-37301970217356997472009-06-20T19:50:00.004+08:002009-10-02T11:10:50.379+08:00The Lenovo S10-2 and Lenovo S12<span style="font-family:verdana;">Hi folks, I'm back from my trip to Turkey. I had a wonderful time there; read all about it in my Travel Blog.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just some updates on the Lenovo Ideapad S-series scene. Moving up from the S10, the current model available is the S10-2 but judging from feedback so far, it is not so well received. Here's a photo of the overall view, from latopmag.com where there is a hands-on review.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOXKNkrzI/AAAAAAAABQE/nVxbB2bEQmo/s1600-h/S10-2+overviewR.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 254px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349377354682904370" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOXKNkrzI/AAAAAAAABQE/nVxbB2bEQmo/s320/S10-2+overviewR.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The main improvement seems to be the bigger keyboard with better layout.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOW0dtf2I/AAAAAAAABP8/0piEu58P0oQ/s1600-h/S10-2+KeyboardR.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 224px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349377348845010786" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOW0dtf2I/AAAAAAAABP8/0piEu58P0oQ/s320/S10-2+KeyboardR.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Otherwise, it is not much different from the S10. In fact, many people is not too happy about the switch to a glossy screen (also smaller at 10.1" as compared to 10.2" for the S10) and the overall plastic look which is very similar to the present group of netbooks from the other brands such as Acer, Asus, MSI, etc. thus losing the more professional look of the S10. Since Lenovo is still practising the idea of having different configurations for different markets, do check very carefully what is included before you make a purchase.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you are planning for an upgrade it may be better to wait for the S12 that has been announced but not yet available. This has a bigger screen at 12.1" and higher resolution of 1280x800 with the option of a Nvidia ION graphics chip. Thus it will have HD (High Definition) capabilities for your video viewing pleasure on screen or via a HDMI output to an external monitor. What more, it also comes with a full size keyboard. Here's a photo from engadget.com that also has all the other details of the S12.</span></div><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOWz4ug6I/AAAAAAAABP0/HuI4mJOrME0/s1600-h/S12R.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 220px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349377348689888162" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SjzOWz4ug6I/AAAAAAAABP0/HuI4mJOrME0/s320/S12R.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">It sure looks attractive and the only question is now the price. With this kind of specs, it is not much different from a normal laptop but with less processing power. How it will compete with similarly configured laptops will very much depend on the pricing. It is also losing sight of the main purpose of a netbook which is portability with small size and weight for basic internet tasks on the go.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, only time will tell.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></div><div><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net</a></div></div><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-51145147888818798602009-05-21T18:13:00.003+08:002009-08-06T16:47:38.677+08:00Holiday break in Turkey<span style="font-family:verdana;">I will be away for two weeks in Turkey so there will be no new posts and I will not be able to respond to comments until I am back. Cheers. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/quickcash/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/banners/quickcash_size_b.png" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-41991001630328967962009-05-07T21:09:00.004+08:002009-10-02T12:31:01.199+08:00Restore Fn Hotkeys & Screen resolution<span style="font-family:verdana;">Just a short post to answer some issues raised in the comments I received. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">After using your netbook for a while, you may find that some of the Fn Hotkeys (such as the brightness, volume, etc) are not working. You can restore these functions by following the procedure below. This assumes that you have not reformatted your Hard Disk and the D: drive is still intact since all the Lenovo drivers are kept in this drive D. (If you have deleted these drivers, you can always download them from the Lenovo support site.) The Fn Hot-keys utility is hidden within the Lenovo Energy Management programme.<br /><br />Open the Driver folder in drive D and click on the Energy_Management folder. Run the setup.exe file and the Installshield Wizard will appear.<br /><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1j9GQII/AAAAAAAABNk/N3FBIzcwNxo/s1600-h/Wizard.gif"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 244px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333039134200447106" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1j9GQII/AAAAAAAABNk/N3FBIzcwNxo/s320/Wizard.gif" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are two parts to this programme, one is the Lenovo Energy Management application itself and the other is the Function Hot-key (or shortcut key) Utility. You can choose Repair to restore to the original state or you can choose Modify to change the Energy Management application or the Function Hot-key (the Utility) application. </span><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1T6yxfI/AAAAAAAABNc/EcSA8KmJaOc/s1600-h/Utility.gif"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 244px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333039129895814642" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1T6yxfI/AAAAAAAABNc/EcSA8KmJaOc/s320/Utility.gif" /></span></a></p><p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1QAgL7I/AAAAAAAABNU/Zt9vXBYJmQc/s1600-h/Energy.gif"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 244px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333039128846020530" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SgLC1QAgL7I/AAAAAAAABNU/Zt9vXBYJmQc/s320/Energy.gif" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Note that you can deselect the Utility only after you have deselected the Energy Management if that's is what you want.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Some users informed that they could not install certain programmes because the S10/S10e/S10g resolution is less than that required by the programme. In such cases, you can trick the programme by changing the resolution to that required (or higher), install the programme and then switch back to the default resolution.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To do that, you can refer to my earlier post, "Using external monitor......." to see all the different resolutions and select a suitable one before installing the rogue programme. It may not work for all programmes but there is no harm trying.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><br /><br /><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-57745034314091002792009-04-27T17:50:00.006+08:002009-10-02T11:14:11.600+08:00Connection to LCD TV and CRT TV<span style="font-family:verdana;">In my earlier posts, I have written about connecting the S10 to an external PC monitor and there was no problem at all. My actual experience was connecting to an LCD monitor, Acer model, X173W and the S10 automatically switched to the maximum resolution of the Acer, which was a modest 1440 x 900. I believe it would be the same if you were to connect the S10 to an external CRT monitor.<br /><br />Now what about connecting to an LCD TV as oppose to the LCD monitor? More and more of us are switching to LCD TV and most of these TV comes ready with an RGB terminal or also called the PC input terminal. Can you just connect your S10 to this terminal? Since I have just got myself an LCD TV, the Sharp LC-19A35M (a modest 19 inch, you can read more about this in my other <a href="http://audionvisual.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog here</a>) I was able to put it to the test.<br /><br />For connecting to an LCD monitor, you do not need any external cable since the connecting cable is usually already fixed internally to the LCD monitor itself at one end and you just need to connect the loose end to the S10 RGB terminal (Lenovo calls this the VGA port). However to connect to an LCD TV, you would first need to have the right connecting cable and the one for this job is a RGB to RGB cable, with male to male connectors. An example from Amazon is shown here below.<br /></span><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myonljoutofin-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0002J28NQ&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The important point to note here is that the connectors at the cable must be male to male and not male to female as this type is also available. An easy way to remember the difference between male and female is to remember that male has pins while female has holes. Isn't this simple enough? So in this case we need a cable with pins at both ends to fit into the holes at the S10 and at the LCD TV. Now with the anatomy lesson out of the way, let's move on to see how the S10 performed. (Another point to note is the length of the cable required so that it can reach the LCD TV comfortably.)<br /><br />Just like in the case of connecting to an external LCD monitor, there was no problem. The S10 switched automatically to 1024 x 768 resolution (in my case) to match the most suitable resolution of the LCD TV. The Sharp LCD TV has a resolution of 1366 x 768 so the one used by the S10 was the closest usable resolution. This has an aspect ration of 4:3 and since the S10 display also emulate this resolution (when both the displays are on), you need to scroll the S10 screen to see the whole display. Remember you need to press Fn+F3 to select one or both the S10 display and the external LCD TV.<br /><br />What about connecting the S10 to a normal CRT TV (not LCD TV), will it work? Yes and No. If you just connect with the VGA to RCA video cable like this one below, it will not work. This cable is meant for PC/laptop with a TV out video card and S10 does not have this so it will not work. So DO NOT BUY THIS for the S10.<br /></span><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myonljoutofin-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000S675JU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To connect your S10 to a normal TV (non-LCD), you will need a VGA to Video converter like this one below. This is just an example and there are other models available. Since I have never use one before I cannot comment on the quality so users who have used this may want to comment.<br /></span><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myonljoutofin-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B00006B8EH&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For those of you already owning an LCD TV and you want to have your S10 connected to the big display, all you need is to get the RGB to RGB cable detailed above. But first check that the LCD TV has the RGB or PC input terminal. This terminal is only for the video and if you want to have the audio, you will need to have a cable to connect the earphone output on the S10 to the audio input terminal of the LCD TV. The type of cable needed will depend on the audio terminals provided by the LCD TV. For my Sharp LCD TV, the audio connection for the PC is the stereo jack so I just need a direct male to male stereo jack for this purpose. Some LCD TV may provide only the RCA audio input terminals and and to connect these you will need a cable with the stereo jack at one end and two RCA plugs at the other end. An example is shown below.</span><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myonljoutofin-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B001OBZ8VA&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Happy big screen viewing!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok/"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></a></span><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-87664550218883109652009-04-15T09:00:00.007+08:002009-10-02T12:33:33.701+08:00Webcam (Bison) firmware update issue - hotfix<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here is the latest solution provided by Lenovo for those of you who are having problem with the webcam on the S10 or S10e after the firmware upgrade. You can download the latest firmware that solves the problem </span><a href="http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_1260.html#" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> but please read the </span><a href="http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/HintsandTips/hints_show_1239699941904.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">release notes </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">carefully before you take any action. I have reproduced the main points below and the most important point to note is not to do any firmware upgrade if you are not having any problem with your webcam.<br /><br />"SYMPTOM:<br />After installing the Bison Camera Firmware Upgrade, the S10 camera will stop working and display only grey or black background.<br />AFFECTED CONFIGURATIONS:<br />Ideapad S10 can be equipped with two different camera sensors. The firmware upgrade available on the website, (version 1404) would damage the existing firmware of one of the cameras and cause the problem described above.<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Important Note: This hotfix must ONLY be installed on the machines affected by the symptoms described above. If the camera is working properly, do not install this hotfix. Otherwise, the camera firmware will be destroyed permanently.</span><br />A new Firmware upgrade, version 1405, has been released and is available on the website in order to prevent the issue from happening."<br /><br />Good luck.<br /><br />Ronald Kwok<br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span><br /><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-50576727910843671382009-04-12T17:20:00.004+08:002009-08-06T18:15:35.840+08:00Miscellaneous items about S10 to be aware<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here's a variety of miscellaneous items about the S10 that users should be aware. Some of them are culled from the Lenovo's forums.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. If there's pressure on the cover (the LCD screen) when it is closed, it may leave imprints of the keyboard on the screen over time. Ensure heavy items are not placed on the cover or carried in a very cramped bag and you can put a piece of cloth or plastic between screen and keyboard to prevent this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">2. The Lenovo logo comes out quite easily, especially the letter 'e' when caught in a cleaning cloth, maybe because of the sharp edges. So be careful when cleaning around the Lenovo logo or you may want to use a stronger glue for the logo if you are handy for this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. If the mouse pad jams, i.e. the cursor no longer moves with your finger movement, plug in a normal USB mouse and move around; it will usually release the jam without having to restart Windows.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">4. The front ends of the cover and the palm rests seem to be magnetic (to ease the closing and hold them together) so be gentle when you close the cover or there may be a loud thud. It may not break anything but it may break your heart or shock the Hard Disk a little!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">5. It was reported by user TarveN that his Nokia E71 cellphone has caused his S10 to reboot when he placed in on the keyboard. So be aware that this could also happen with other cellphones but why would anyone want to leave his cellphone on the keyboard?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">6. This has been reported by some users so it may or may not work if you encounter the same problem. If the S10 cannot turn on, disconnect the battery and AC, press and hold down power on button for 10 seconds. Reconnect with AC or battery, press power on button again and it'll be OK. Hopefully!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">7. There has been plenty of new Bios upgrade on the Lenovo site in attempts to solve the noisy fan problem, the latest one being version 59. If you do not have the noisy fan, do not upgrade your Bios as the feedbacks have been mixed and some are negative. It is better to wait for a final version before you do the upgrade since testing is still going on.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">8. Many users have reported that upgrading the webcam using the latest Bison firmware has killed the webcam so do not use this firmware. As long as you are not having any issues with your components, there is no need to upgrade to the latest drivers since some have caused more harm then good. So it is a case of "don't fix it till it's broke". </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That's all folks. I am distracted by the aroma of the Easter feast that my wife is cooking up in the kitchen. And a Happy Easter to all.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-43940080717202931372009-03-21T18:05:00.005+08:002009-10-02T12:35:02.757+08:00All about Batteries for the Lenovo S10<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here are some snippet of information that are from the two popular Lenovo Ideapad S series forums, one </span><a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board?board.id=IdeaPad_Netbook" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">official</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, and the other </span><a href="http://www.s10lenovo.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">unofficial</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. These are all about the batteries put together here for easy reference.<br /><br />When the S10 was first released, it came with the 3 cell battery as the standard but it could last on the average for only 1.5 to 2 hours and this was a big disappointment to many who are always on the move and a great disadvantage when compared to other netbooks like the Asus EEE and Acer One that had longer lasting batteries, about twice that of the Lenovo 3 cell battery. Below is how the 3 cell battery looks when fitted into the rear of a S10. (Pic from NotebookReview.com)<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTHdCVUAyI/AAAAAAAABIw/SaZw1kB_VOg/s1600-h/3+cell.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 133px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315592761860424482" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTHdCVUAyI/AAAAAAAABIw/SaZw1kB_VOg/s320/3+cell.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Soon came the news of a 6 cell battery that first made its appearance with the S10e in the European market towards the latter part of 2008 and this 6 cell battery became a standard with the S10 in some Asian market. Pic below shows the extra load of the 6 cell hanging down. Refer to my post in this Blog that is all about the 6 cell battery </span><a href="http://lenovos10affair.blogspot.com/2008/12/6-cell-battery-for-lenovo-s10.html" target="_blanl"><span style="font-family:verdana;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.<br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTH0HoTB_I/AAAAAAAABJA/xNobtJ8CDvk/s1600-h/6Bat-feet.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315593158419220466" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTH0HoTB_I/AAAAAAAABJA/xNobtJ8CDvk/s320/6Bat-feet.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Since man is never satisfied and always wanting more and more, early this year saw the debut of the 9 cell battery. As this has three times the number of cells (of the 3 cells), it will last 3 times as long and also weighs roughly three times as heavy and is 3 times the size. Not to mention it takes three times longer to be fully charged. You cannot have your cake and eat it, you know. Pic below shows the bulk of the 9 cell, courtesy of nickrg3 in the unofficial Lenovo S series forum.<br /><br /></span><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTHzlcRK0I/AAAAAAAABI4/lC_jG5kx_O4/s1600-h/9+cell.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 188px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315593149241961282" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTHzlcRK0I/AAAAAAAABI4/lC_jG5kx_O4/s320/9+cell.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Below is a rough comparison of the 3 types of battery currently available. How long it lasts depends a lot on the activities of the netbook.<br /><br />3 cell weighs 150gm, lasts for 2 hr and takes 2 hr to charge<br />6 cell weighs 300gm, lasts for 4.5 hr and takes 4 hr to charge<br />9 cell weighs 450gm, lasts for 7 hr and takes 6 hr to charge<br /><br />Which size of the battery (3, 6 or 9 cells) is the best for you? It all depends on your needs and how you use the S10 most of the time and it really comes down to personal preference. Personally, I feel the 6 cell battery is the best way to go as the 3 cell lasts too short and the 9 cell is too bulky and weighs a bit too much which defeats the main purpose of a netbook which is reduced size and weight for mobility when compared to a normal notebook/laptop.<br /><br /></span><p></p><span style="font-family:verdana;">There is also some confusion as to which battery will fit which model of the S series Ideapad. Here's the good news, all are interchangeable so any battery that you pick will fit whether it is a S9, S9e, S10 or S10e since the external physical size of the current S series Ideapad is the same (only the screen size and configuration are different). There appears to be only two colours currently available for these batteries, i.e. black or white so those of you with S10 of a different colour will have to make do with one of these colors and cannot get a fully color-matched combination.<br /><br />The battery is held in position by two locking mechanism at the bottom of the machine. The one on the left is spring loaded while the one on the right is manually switched. To unplug the battery, switch the lock on the right to the open position (towards the left) and hold the spring loaded in the open position (towards the left). More important is that after plugging in the battery, ensure that both the locks are secured, especially the spring loaded one or you may find the battery a bit wobbly.<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTILJf8XQI/AAAAAAAABJI/0QLCxyCi2e4/s1600-h/latch.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315593554058042626" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/ScTILJf8XQI/AAAAAAAABJI/0QLCxyCi2e4/s320/latch.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The second LED in the front of the LED is the Battery status indicator. It is orange when the battery is being charged and is blue when the battery is fully charged. There is also a power icon at the task bar that shows the current power status and the life left of the battery if being used.<br /><br />If you leave your battery plugged in for some time, you will find that it will not reach 100% charge when it stops charging (LED battery status turns blue.) To overcome this, remove the battery and leave it for a while. The next time you charge your battery, it will reach 100% when fully charged. Another key point to remember is never unplug your battery when it is connected to the mains, it will result in weird charging problems such as never ending charging time. You should only remove the battery when everything is off.<br /><br />For those who intend to travel abroad with your S10, the Adaptor/charger is universally rated at 100-240V and 50-60Hz and thus can be used anywhere in the world; you only need to ensure that you have the correct pin adaptor to connect to the mains. It would be easier to get one of those universal pin adaptor that can be plugged in anywhere.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">(The points below are added subsequently.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">The battery will not reach its full capacity until it has gone through a number of charging cycles initially just like other lithium-ion batteries. My original Lenovo OEM 6 cell battery will not charge until it falls below 90% so I normally leave it plugged in and not worry that it will get charged unnecessarily, thereby reducing the battery life since it is normally given in the number of charging cycles. But it is good to remove the battery from time to time and also let it be fully discharged every now and then and then fully charged to give it the full works, so to speak even though it does not have that "memory effect" of older generation batteries. Nevertheless, it will looses its capacity over time and will die a natural death eventually as nothing lasts forever.)<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hope you are now fully charged and ready to be on the move with your S10.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok<br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span></div><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-90313588224333419992009-02-20T21:20:00.004+08:002009-08-06T18:16:53.028+08:00One Key Recovery - OKR not OK?<span style="font-family:verdana;">Apart from the noise of the fan (which is the number one complaint from user of the S10), the OKR has also received a lot of posts in the S10 Forums and is also a source of confusion for some users.<br /><br />Firstly, the name OKR itself is already confusing since it is sometimes referred as One Key Rescue, One Key Restore or One Key Recovery and are used interchangeably. Strictly speaking there are two parts to this OKR. One is the Windows programme (OneKey Recovery 6.0) that you can start normally from within Windows or by pressing the OKR key (the orange arched key at the top of the keyboard) when Windows is running. This will bring you to the screen below. This should rightly be called One Key Backup.<br /><br /></span><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ57WMmnDKI/AAAAAAAAA8A/Bz0mELBhkb0/s1600-h/OKR.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304813032359529634" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ57WMmnDKI/AAAAAAAAA8A/Bz0mELBhkb0/s320/OKR.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> This is where you can backup your system partition (normally drive C:) into an image file in drive D: (by default) or another location of your choice. When I tried this on my S10, it took about one hour to create the image file that was about 8G in size. Below are the steps involved.</span></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoSKxjSI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/1VxJmISiVeE/s1600-h/OKR-2.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304819940160802082" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoSKxjSI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/1VxJmISiVeE/s320/OKR-2.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoElArDI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/JNLfZiK2KXU/s1600-h/OKR-3.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304819936512748594" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoElArDI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/JNLfZiK2KXU/s320/OKR-3.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoGOXKxI/AAAAAAAAA8I/6UhblF2rqsk/s1600-h/OKR-saving.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304819936954624786" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6BoGOXKxI/AAAAAAAAA8I/6UhblF2rqsk/s320/OKR-saving.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Once you have this image file, you can now create bootable recovery discs either on CD or DVD. Of course you will need to have a USB CD/DVD burner to do this. Here are the stages involved.<br /><br /></span><p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6B9e8Ye4I/AAAAAAAAA8g/OEL1WLqOoAs/s1600-h/OKR-4.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304820304367352706" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6B9e8Ye4I/AAAAAAAAA8g/OEL1WLqOoAs/s320/OKR-4.jpg" /></span></a></p><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pCD8_glI/AAAAAAAAA9I/q0WeVo1SWJM/s1600-h/OKR-5.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304863263974982226" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pCD8_glI/AAAAAAAAA9I/q0WeVo1SWJM/s320/OKR-5.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pCJrkMnI/AAAAAAAAA9A/hzTnDidEqOg/s1600-h/OKR-6.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304863265512501874" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pCJrkMnI/AAAAAAAAA9A/hzTnDidEqOg/s320/OKR-6.jpg" /></span></a> <div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pCCwXuzI/AAAAAAAAA84/D3ALr77ha_w/s1600-h/OKR-7.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pB3j5fnI/AAAAAAAAA8w/0iRMsp8FNMk/s1600-h/OKR-8.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304863260648504946" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6pB3j5fnI/AAAAAAAAA8w/0iRMsp8FNMk/s320/OKR-8.jpg" /></span></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Don't be alarm if initially the time remaining shows something like 4 hours but in reality it takes much shorter; in my case, it took 40 minutes to burn 9 CD's. The actual time will depend on the size of the image file and also the speed of the burner used. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now that you have got your backup image, how do you proceed to restore your system in case of problem? There is no restore menu under this One Key Recovery programme. This is where you need to get into the other programme - the One Key Rescue System. You can only access this by pressing the OKR button on the keyboard when Windows or the power is off as this program runs independent of Windows itself. Make sure your battery has sufficient power left or better still, plug into the mains power before you press this button since the restoration process may take some time depending on the options.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is here that you can choose to restore what you have backup earlier OR to restore the original factory default settings. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The program will take some time to start and in fact at times there seems to be no activity so you need to be patient. It is here that you can choose to restore your system from the backup image file you created OR to restore the original factory default settings. There is only one requirement if you want to get back to the factory setting - the size of your C: drive must not be physically changed i.e. it must be the same size as when you got it the first time. For those of you who has re-partitioned drive C: or combined with D: drive, etc, you will not be able to restore to the original factory setting. (Many of you will say, who cares!) However, if you have physically changed partition C:, what your have backup can still work and it will be restored to whatever state it was in when the backup image was made. So the choice is yours. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you have made the backup discs, they are bootable and you just run them normally when you power up without going into the One Key Rescue. Also they can be used to restore your system if you have upgraded to a new hard disk drive (HDD).</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">By the way, you can access the Help under the One Key Rescue program by clicking the ? on the screen. It gives a much better explanation that the printed user guide provided with the S10.<br /></span></p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6n45FV1oI/AAAAAAAAA8o/d1SHrNQtO54/s1600-h/OKR-help.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304862006926759554" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SZ6n45FV1oI/AAAAAAAAA8o/d1SHrNQtO54/s320/OKR-help.jpg" /></span></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The main issue is that users are not too keen with the OKR and users would much prefer to have the Windows discs rather than the recovery key. These can be used as and when required and are much more flexible than creating backup discs if one just want to re-install Windows either because of some problem or upgrading to another HDD. Just imagine, my backup took up 9 CD's! I suppose it's time to switch to DVD's.<br /><br />(Please note, all the above refers to the Lenovo S10. I believe the S10e does not come with the OKR function.) </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</a></span></p></div></div></div></div></div><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com109tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-59313706587861634712009-02-07T15:00:00.007+08:002009-10-02T12:36:22.417+08:00Let there be light (and RAM)<span style="font-family:verdana;">Today I did my first mod for my S10 and this must be the simplest. I just added a 2G RAM. My S10 came with 1G RAM which consists of two 512M RAM's, one is soldered in and the other in the RAM slot. To upgrade, I removed the 512M RAM from the slot and replaced it with a 2G RAM. (I used a Kingston 5300 DDR2 667 module). Thus the 512B RAM is left soldered in but the total usable memory is only 2G which is the limit of what the processor can access. Thus 512M of memory is wasted.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To carry out this upgrade, first disconnect the mains and the battery. This is to prevent any stored stray current from damaging the RAM. Next, touch any metal surface to dischage any static current from your body. Remove the two screws at the bottom of the S10 and pull out the cover. You will see the installed RAM or the empty RAM slot on the right, depending on what size of memory came with your unit. On the left is the HDD which you can also easily upgrade if you so wish.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3p8pWlLI/AAAAAAAAA04/0GSw5Mv8Dt0/s1600-h/S10+Back.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299883161534502066" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3p8pWlLI/AAAAAAAAA04/0GSw5Mv8Dt0/s320/S10+Back.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If there is a RAM istalled, spread the securing clips on either side of the RAM and it will pop up at about 45 degrees. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3p4lAIsI/AAAAAAAAA0w/xFtYeBEmVao/s1600-h/S10+45D.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299883160442512066" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3p4lAIsI/AAAAAAAAA0w/xFtYeBEmVao/s320/S10+45D.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Carefully remove this RAM and inset your new RAM into position, at about 45 degrees slope. Press down the RAM until you hear the click of the securing clips and you are done. If not, spread the clip and repeat the whole process.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3pkkgFAI/AAAAAAAAA0o/wRgrXyaJOUc/s1600-h/S10+2G.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299883155071702018" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz3pkkgFAI/AAAAAAAAA0o/wRgrXyaJOUc/s320/S10+2G.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When you put back the cover, press down firmly at the threee palces where there are catches. The cover may not be flushed initially but once you tighten the two screws, it should be.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You can check the amount of memory you have by going into the System Properties. To get there, go to the Control panel > Performance & Maintenance > System, or from My Computer > View System Information under System Task. Near the bottom of the System Properties you will see the size of the memory reported.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz74DXVmHI/AAAAAAAAA1I/chYp7ZDiww4/s1600-h/SysInfo.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 276px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299887801902667890" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz74DXVmHI/AAAAAAAAA1I/chYp7ZDiww4/s320/SysInfo.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In fact Lenovo has a series of video if you want to carry out more modification to your S10, though they are meant more for service personnel. Anyway, they can be </span><a href="http://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/ion/S10e/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">found here</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, courtesy of skyhook59 in the Lenovo S10 Forum. With these you can take your S10 apart and (hopefully) put it back together again. But do be mindful that certain modifications may void the warranty of your S10 so check with Lenovo first. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For those less adventurous, here's just a tour of the various indicators available on the S10. There are three LED's at the front. The first is the power indicator which will be blue when the S10 is on either on AC or battery. The second is the battery indicator. It will be orange if the battery is charging and blue if the battery is fully charged. The third is the wireless indicator. It will be blue if WiFi is on, orange if Bluetooth is on and purple (blue + orange = purple) if both are on. These will flicker when there is any wireless activities.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If this is not lit at all, check that the wireless function is switched on by pressing the green wireless button next to the orange One Key Recovery button on the top of the keyboard. Once the wireless is on, you can select either the WiFi or Bluetooth or both to be on by pressing Fn F5 to access the wireless setting window below.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz74NbSPGI/AAAAAAAAA1A/HKsHEZod5ec/s1600-h/Fn+F5.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 171px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299887804603579490" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYz74NbSPGI/AAAAAAAAA1A/HKsHEZod5ec/s320/Fn+F5.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you are not using any Bluetooth devices, it is best to turn Bluetooth off since it will save you some battery power.<br /><br />The other three indicators are found next to the power-on switch at the top of the keyboard. They are the CapsLock, NumLock and HDD indicators. Of particular interest is the NumLock. For some strange (and unknown) reasons, the NumLock is enabled when the S10 is first switched on, out of the box. Not sure even if the NumLock light is on or not in this first instance. Because of this, it has caused a lot of frustration to user who had problems connecting to their secured wireless network for the first time. This is because the NumLock is on unknowingly and when one keys in the security or authentication key it will be wrong if the digit 0 (zero) is used as a / (slash) will be entered instead. (The slash is on the zero key - top row of the numbers - and will be entered when pressed if NumLock is on.) Users will not know since all you can see is just ********** as the key. Of course they cannot connect to their wireless network since the security/authentication keys do not match.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">So if you have problems connecting to your secured wireless network (or entering other passwords), first cycle through the Fn F7 to make sure that NumLock is not on. After the first switch-on, the Fn F7 will function normally. It will be interesting if users can feedback any other quirks they find on their S10 in the comments.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span></div><div></div><a href="http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-21963" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-84518346482121439642009-01-29T15:40:00.004+08:002009-08-06T18:18:29.117+08:00Sound advice on Sound<span style="font-family:verdana;">As the title suggests, this post will be all about sound, good or bad, on the S10.<br /><br />The first time I heard the S10 sound, I felt that it was too soft even for a tiny netbook. So I went to the Speaker icon (for volume) on the system tray to access the Master Volume dialog box and adjusted it to full volume but it was still soft. Later I found that you have to increase the Wave button volume and also the SW Synth button volume in order to get a decent level of sound. Now it is not too bad for its size.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p></span></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFVmTFeumI/AAAAAAAAA0A/9SDIKjBGY8Y/s1600-h/Volume.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296608753211062882" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFVmTFeumI/AAAAAAAAA0A/9SDIKjBGY8Y/s320/Volume.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />There is an audio beep when you connect or disconnect AC power to the S10. This is good as you will be alerted if someone disconnected your power but the beep is way to loud. In order to reduce this, you access the same master volume window at the system tray and set the PC Beep button to a lower volume or mute it altogether.<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFVmGjCE0I/AAAAAAAAAz4/4eszxrl5D5E/s1600-h/PC+Beep.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296608749845353282" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFVmGjCE0I/AAAAAAAAAz4/4eszxrl5D5E/s320/PC+Beep.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span> <p><span style="font-family:verdana;">By the way, there is no shortcut mute button (Fn +) on the S10 so stop looking for it. You have to reduce the volume by pressing the Fn + Left Arrow key repeatedly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">There is another speaker icon in the system tray, a more stylish one and you can access this to tweak the Realtek audio driver. Click on this and you can set the sound effect, adjust the mixer, the mic, etc. You can also run the 3D audio demo to impress your friends with the S10, if nothing else.</span></p><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFPznTJIUI/AAAAAAAAAzg/7inJZBvaus4/s1600-h/Realtek.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 244px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296602384905609538" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFPznTJIUI/AAAAAAAAAzg/7inJZBvaus4/s320/Realtek.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another complaint is that the click button on the touch pad is too loud. If you want, you can open up your S10 and dampen the sound by using some tape or something similar but that is too much work. The easier solution is to use the tap to click on the touch pad itself and not to click the button physically. It's much simpler this way. By default, the tap to click is enabled but if for some reason this is not, you can access the Synaptics Touch Pad setting screen to enable it. Refer to my earlier post on the Touch Pad.</span><br /><p><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFU4BB4mHI/AAAAAAAAAzw/cJJmZDMbyH4/s1600-h/Tapping.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296607958090160242" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SYFU4BB4mHI/AAAAAAAAAzw/cJJmZDMbyH4/s320/Tapping.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Finally the sound topic that has the most number of complaints in the S10 forums is about the cooling fan, that it is making loud annoying sound ever so often when it is on. Personally I do not find the fan 0n my S10 to be annoying and it does not come on that often. Yes it is louder than my Dell laptop but it is not as loud as my desktop so it is some where in between and definitely tolerable. Not sure if I am lucky or my hearing is bad! </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you find your fan on the S10 loud and annoying, there is no quick fix. Some users have tried different ways to reduce the noise - upgrading the BIOS (some reported no effect), removing the wire mesh, reducing the voltage to the fan, and one even disconnected the fan! </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If it is really that bad, take in back to Lenovo for them to fix it. Otherwise, just get used to the sound. You may eventually like it. Cheers. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a> </p><p><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a></p>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-74719786618136759382009-01-20T20:30:00.007+08:002009-10-02T12:37:38.268+08:00Using external monitor and extending desktop<span style="font-family:verdana;">One question often asked in Forums is whether the S10 can support external monitors at resolutions higher than the native 1024 x 600. The answer is yes, the S10 will support an external monitor connected to the VGA port at various common resolutions. At the maximum end, it goes up to 2048 x 1536 so it shouldn't be a problem if you have a LCD monitor and you want to connect it to the S10.<br /><br />In fact, if you just want to use the external monitor instead of the built in screen, you simply connect it to the VGA port and cycle through Fn F3 to get just the built in screen, both the monitors or just the external monitor. It will automatically goes to the maximum resolution of the external monitor by default if you have not made any manual adjustment earlier.<br /><br /><br />If you want to check what resolution the display adaptor can support, you can do the following.<br /><br /><br />1. Right click on the desktop and click on Properties.<br /><br />2. On the Display Properties dialog box, select the Settings tab.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWq-xOqTEI/AAAAAAAAAww/6qIZhK6GssI/s1600-h/Display+Properties.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 285px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293324932387327042" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWq-xOqTEI/AAAAAAAAAww/6qIZhK6GssI/s320/Display+Properties.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. Click on monitor 1 if it is not selected.</span></div><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWq-6JLcpI/AAAAAAAAAwo/L4ogZeTcQBc/s1600-h/Settings.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293324934780252818" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWq-6JLcpI/AAAAAAAAAwo/L4ogZeTcQBc/s320/Settings.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">4. Click the Advanced button.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">5. The display card General Properties appear, click on the Monitor tab.</span></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWr6M4LwNI/AAAAAAAAAxA/IB1HIPcOu78/s1600-h/Advanced+General.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 271px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293325953421525202" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWr6M4LwNI/AAAAAAAAAxA/IB1HIPcOu78/s320/Advanced+General.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">6. Uncheck the box - Hide modes that this monitor cannot display - and click Apply.</span></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWr6HZF78I/AAAAAAAAAw4/EVB-LuH6gC4/s1600-h/Advanced+Monitor.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 272px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293325951948943298" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXWr6HZF78I/AAAAAAAAAw4/EVB-LuH6gC4/s320/Advanced+Monitor.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">7. You can now see all the resolutions that are supported by the graphics adaptor.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />There is another good use of the external monitor and that is to extend the existing desktop. Here's how to do it.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. Open Display Properties dialog box. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW0drkl-2I/AAAAAAAAAxQ/s4K6dB4CoUI/s1600-h/2+grey.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293335359049300834" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW0drkl-2I/AAAAAAAAAxQ/s4K6dB4CoUI/s320/2+grey.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />2. Click on monitor 2 (the external monitor). It turns blue.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. Check the box - Extend my Window desktop onto this monitor and click Apply.<br /><br /></span><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW0dqQuzKI/AAAAAAAAAxI/FUuFWlJByi0/s1600-h/2+applied.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293335358697557154" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW0dqQuzKI/AAAAAAAAAxI/FUuFWlJByi0/s320/2+applied.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />4. A blank background of your existing desktop will now appear in the external monitor. </span></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW8CMp_HJI/AAAAAAAAAxg/-SAq3MawWKY/s1600-h/extended-r.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 117px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293343682986974354" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW8CMp_HJI/AAAAAAAAAxg/-SAq3MawWKY/s320/extended-r.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">5. Adjust the screen resolution as necessary. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">6. You can now open any window and drag it across your screen into the external monitor. (You can only do this for those windows that can be dragged i.e. those that are not maximised. Once the windows is in the external monitor, you can resize and position it as required or you can maximise it and it will fill the external screen. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW9RVsBpmI/AAAAAAAAAxo/TyB8N89WeWk/s1600-h/extended+mt4.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 117px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293345042621113954" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW9RVsBpmI/AAAAAAAAAxo/TyB8N89WeWk/s320/extended+mt4.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The two displays forms one extended desktop and you can move from one to the other by moving your mouse pointer across the screens, it is so magical. Now you can watch President elect Obama's historic inauguration on one screen and the Forex market epic battle in another screen and not miss a single beat or a single pip.<br /></span><div></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Just in case you run into trouble after making all the adjustment, there is one safety net. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. Right click on desktop and click on Graphics Properties....The following appears. (This is for both screens active, if only one is active, either Notebook or Monitor only will be shown.)</span></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW-jZvU-MI/AAAAAAAAAxw/wY0R5u0BZSE/s1600-h/Graphic+Propeerties.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293346452457978050" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SXW-jZvU-MI/AAAAAAAAAxw/wY0R5u0BZSE/s320/Graphic+Propeerties.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Now you can make changes to the Display Settings (the resolutions) to what you might not be able to do in the normal Display Properties. You can also make color corrections if so desired. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><div><br /><br />I must stop now to watch President Obama's big day on the big screen.</div><div></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span></div></div><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><br /><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-85066338592103192102009-01-09T23:07:00.005+08:002010-08-23T21:06:47.572+08:00Manage Energy Management<span style="font-family:verdana;">As promised in my last post, here's how you can manage the Lenovo Energy Management. To get to the Lenovo Energy Management page, look for a stylish battery icon (not the simple battery icon that shows the battery status) on the system tray. If you hover your pointer over the icon, it will show "Energy Management - XXX" where XXX is the current power scheme the S10 is using. Click on the icon and the Energy Management page appears.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWcrCfPJ3oI/AAAAAAAAAto/_cxMgISLh6s/s1600-h/Schemes.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289243609114730114" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWcrCfPJ3oI/AAAAAAAAAto/_cxMgISLh6s/s320/Schemes.jpg" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here you can see the icons for the four different power schemes pre-set by Lenovo. The icon you see on the system tray will be one of these and it is the scheme that is currently running. In this screen shot, the scheme used is Low Power and this icon will appear in the system tray. Note that the icon for the power scheme currently employed is enclosed within a square.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">(Alternatively, you can access this Energy Management page by selecting the Power management options in the Start menu.)</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">If you want to change the power scheme to a different one, click on the new scheme and the battery icon will light up. Press the apply button to confirm and the new scheme will take effect while the icon will be enclosed in a square and the corresponding new icon will appear in the system tray.<br /><br />Double click on any of the icons and you will arrive at the Monitor setting page where you can adjust the brightness, when the backlight will turn off and when the monitor will turn off. This can be set separately for using the battery or using the mains (plugged in). </span></p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc3H51924I/AAAAAAAAAtw/UJ0MydlNR28/s1600-h/LP+Monitor.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 290px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289256896295721858" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc3H51924I/AAAAAAAAAtw/UJ0MydlNR28/s320/LP+Monitor.jpg" /></span></a><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">After setting this page to your heart's content, you can then move on to the next tab which is for the system setting. Here you can set the time for standby, hibernation, turning off hard disk and also the CPU level (frequency). Again you can set separately for either running on battery or plugged in. </span></p><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc3H0BN2HI/AAAAAAAAAt4/nOfHi2-67C8/s1600-h/LP+System.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 290px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289256894732294258" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc3H0BN2HI/AAAAAAAAAt4/nOfHi2-67C8/s320/LP+System.jpg" /></span></a><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">You can make whatever changes you want but don't forget to press the Apply button to save you changes. If you have messed up the whole thing, don't worry, just press the Default button and you'll be back where you started.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are other tabs in the Power Management that you can click and make changes but another important one is the Advanced tab. Here you can enable or disable hibernation just like the one in the Windows Power options screen and you can let the system auto adjust to the power scheme according to the battery power or manually select a particular power scheme. </span></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc8Rad44ZI/AAAAAAAAAuA/nRcPkuBb4rw/s1600-h/Advance.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289262557230064018" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWc8Rad44ZI/AAAAAAAAAuA/nRcPkuBb4rw/s320/Advance.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />You can select what mode the system will go into when you close the lid or the reaction when you press the power button or the sleep button. If you have disabled hibernation, it will no longer be an option where it will normally appear here or in the system setting page.<br /></span><br /><p></p><span style="font-family:verdana;">A common user complaint is that the screen goes off after 1 minute or 5 minutes while watching video. This happens when the backlight or the monitor itself goes off after the preset time in the Monitor setting. To stay uninterrupted, set the time to NEVER not only in the Monitor setting but also in the System setting. Otherwise your monitor may be set to NEVER off but when the system goes into standby or hibernation, the monitor will go off anyway. Thus the Monitor setting and the System setting must be in sync to get the desired effect.<br /></span><br /><p></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">In case there's problem in the Energy Management, you can go into the Energy Management folder within the Drivers folder in drive D: to reinstall the programme. On the other hand, if you don't like too many options, you can uninstall the Energy Management programme using the Add/Remove function in the Control Panel and restore control using the Windows Power options.</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The choice is yours. So don't fret, go out and enjoy your S10!</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">(Screen shot to show location of the power management icon in the task bar as requested by one of the readers. Should be there somewhere. Yours may look different depending on the power scheme in use.)</span></p><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/THJuLUvna_I/AAAAAAAACDM/2ufAUuaDuw4/s1600/Power+icon.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 89px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508586435053579250" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/THJuLUvna_I/AAAAAAAACDM/2ufAUuaDuw4/s320/Power+icon.jpg" /></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok<br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</a></span></p><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-25178601571448067902009-01-06T22:30:00.003+08:002009-10-02T12:38:53.053+08:00Losing Sleep over Hibernation?<span style="font-family:verdana;">While checking on the two Lenovo S10 Forums, I found that there are some confusion between the Sleep (or Standby) mode and the Hibernation mode implementation on the S10. This is compounded by the fact that Lenovo has replaced the Windows power management by its own Energy Management.<br /><br />To see what I mean, get on to the Windows power management page by right clicking on any empty space on the desktop. The Display Properties window will appear as below.<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNPabTYW_I/AAAAAAAAAtA/hZHvjUefNzk/s1600-h/Display+Prop.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288157702887332850" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNPabTYW_I/AAAAAAAAAtA/hZHvjUefNzk/s320/Display+Prop.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Select the Screen Saver tab and the windows below will appear.<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNQQ0-WKYI/AAAAAAAAAtI/EWUIBoy_ADc/s1600-h/Screeen+Saver.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288158637491366274" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNQQ0-WKYI/AAAAAAAAAtI/EWUIBoy_ADc/s320/Screeen+Saver.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Click on the Power button and the Power Options Properties screen will appear. How MS decide to hide the power management page under the Display Properties is beyond me.<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNPaOnxbRI/AAAAAAAAAsw/juboysKnxsQ/s1600-h/Windows+Power.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 283px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288157699483200786" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNPaOnxbRI/AAAAAAAAAsw/juboysKnxsQ/s320/Windows+Power.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">You'll find that all the options are greyed, meaning you cannot make any changes here. To make changes, you have to go to the Lenovo Energy Management window. You can also get to this Windows power options page by going to Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance and then Power Options.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Will your system go to sleep or will it go into hibernation? It all depends on the settings on the Windows Power options or the Lenovo Energy Management. You can prevent your system from going into hibernation by selecting the Advanced tab and unchecking the "Enable hibernation" box. Don't forget to click the Apply button after any changes.</span></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNdN86ZcGI/AAAAAAAAAtg/V5MpqzVh4sg/s1600-h/Hibernation.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288172881733840994" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNdN86ZcGI/AAAAAAAAAtg/V5MpqzVh4sg/s320/Hibernation.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Once you have disabled hibernation and if you check the Power Options page again, you will find that the "System hibernates" line is no longer there, meaning your system will never go into Hibernation but only into Sleep or Standby mode.<br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNdNkQIQZI/AAAAAAAAAtY/N7p3q6ddIrg/s1600-h/No+hibernation.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 284px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288172875114103186" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SWNdNkQIQZI/AAAAAAAAAtY/N7p3q6ddIrg/s320/No+hibernation.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">What is the difference between the Sleep mode and the Hibernation mode? In simple terms, hibernation is deep sleep. You system will wake up from sleep when you touch the pad, press a key or open the lid (if it's close) but to wake it from hibernation, you MUST press the power on key. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Technically, the system will go into stages of undress, oops, I mean rest - monitor off, hard drive off, etc, based on the settings (timing in the power options above) and when it reaches the stage where only the RAM is still on, it is in sleep mode. Before it goes into hibernation, it will save the contents of the RAM into the Hard drive and the RAM itself will power off. Thus the system draws no power when in hibernation and thus is the mode best for power conservation. And your hard drive must have spare space of at least equal to the size of the RAM so that it can save the contents of the RAM before the system go into hibernation.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">By the way, you can move into Hibernation mode quickly by going to the Turn Off Computer page, move the pointer over the Standby button and a dialog box will appear that says "To hibernate instead, hold down the Shift key." That is, if you have enabled hibernation. Thus you can start up you S10 much quicker by going into Hibernation instead of shutting down normally.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">My next post will be on the Lenovo Energy Management itself. I need to go into Sleep mode now.<br /><br />Ronald Kwok<br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span></div><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-82438601273512465132009-01-03T11:40:00.007+08:002009-08-06T18:21:20.962+08:00Videocam and Touch Pad<span style="font-family:verdana;">This is a continuation of my affair with my wife's Lenovo S10. Yesterday I tested the videocam using Skype and it worked the first time. However I found the video image grainy and laggy when compared to my son's Macbook (the other end of my Skype testing. Come on, how much did that cost?) The image was also very dark but this improved when I did some Brightness adjustment at the Skype screen, Tools, Options, Video Image. The same goes for the mic that was a bit soft and by setting the mic volume to high at the Audio Setting, it became louder. The important thing is that it works and the next step is to do some tweaking to get it to be at its optimal. To get more out of the webcam, you can download this free software from </span><a href="http://www.yawcam.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yawcam</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.<br /><br />There are a number of undocumented quirks and finds about the S10 that I have culled from the Lenovo Forums mentioned in my last post.<br /><br />1. Low audio volume. Double click on the speaker icon on the system tray to open the volume control. Set the Master Volume to maximum and also set the rest of the volume for wave, SW synth, etc to the level of your liking.<br /><br />2. Annoyed by the beep that wakes up the whole neighbourhood whenever you plug or unplug the mains/AC? While you're at the audio setting above, set the PC Beep to Mute to shut out that blasted Beep.<br /><br />3. There's a manual button that switches on and off the Wireless devices (WiFi and Bluetooth together), next to the One Key Recovery button. Once this is switched on, you can control the WiFi and the Bluetooth individually using the Fn F5 key. The wireless LED on the front will be blue if the WiFi is turned on or will be purple (red and blue) when the Bluetooth is on. If both are turned on, it will show the two colours alternately. To save battery power, turn off the Bluebooth if you are not using any such devices.<br /><br />4. To get into hibernate mode quickly. Click to the Turn Off Computer screen where you'll see the Standby, Turn Off and Restart buttons. Place your pointer over the Standby button and a window will says "To hibernate instead, hold down the Shift key." There you have it.<br /><br />5. You must have experienced it when using the touch pad on a web page, the page zoomed in to a very tiny blob or zoomed out to huge letters. That's the pinch zoom gesture of the touch pad that is inadvertently applied. The easiest way to get out of this is to go to the magnifying glass (zoom) icon at the bottom right corner above the system tray and manually select 100% or whatever level that you want. You can try to "un-pinch" the effect but it's not always a sure thing. You'll find it easier to use one figure each from both hands to zoom pinch but you'll never get the right level. You can visit the </span><a href="http://www.synaptics.com/solutions/technology/gestures/touchpad" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Synaptics</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> site to see more of the gestures for the touch pad but not all of them are available on the S10.<br /><br />A much better description of all the touch pad functions and configurations can be found on the S10 itself.<br />1. Right or left click on the touch pad icon in the system tray.<br />2. Click on the Pointing Device Properties and a new "Mouse Properties" window will appear. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SV8sFkHOmYI/AAAAAAAAAq4/QDDHJ9_JJNU/s1600-h/Mouse+properties.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 318px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286992961661213058" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SV8sFkHOmYI/AAAAAAAAAq4/QDDHJ9_JJNU/s320/Mouse+properties.jpg" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. This refers to all the settings and functions of the touch pad that you can customise.<br />4. The best part is to select the Device Settings tab and then click on the Settings button. You'll get the whole user manual of the touch pad here.<br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SV8sFWDWUEI/AAAAAAAAAqw/B2A-jQGPg8w/s1600-h/Settings.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 239px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286992957886844994" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SV8sFWDWUEI/AAAAAAAAAqw/B2A-jQGPg8w/s320/Settings.jpg" /></span></a> <div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's a pity that the touch pad is so small that using all the available functions can be a bit difficult especially for those with big fingers. Well, at least they are there.<br /><br />Ronald Kwok<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</a></span></div><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-90917699921940901722008-12-27T15:34:00.007+08:002009-10-02T12:40:00.778+08:00Complaints about the Lenovo S10<span style="font-family:verdana;">My affair with the Lenovo S10 is now into the third week and I have nothing to complain so far. Meanwhile, I've been following the posts in the independent </span><a href="http://s10lenovo.com/index.php" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Lenovo Ideapad S series Forum</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> which focus on the S10. This is a good Forum if you want to learn more about the S10. There is another Forum, </span><a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board?board.id=ideaPad" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Lenovo Forum for the Ideapad </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, that is run by Lenovo where the S10 belongs but since this covers all the Ideapad models and not just the S10, it is less focused but you can also find some additional information about the S10 if you do some searching.<br /><br />There are some complaints raised in the former Forum so you may want to check out these areas and test your unit if you intend to buy the S10 to see if any of these is a problem for you. Here's the summary.<br /><br />1. The fan noise. Some find the fan noisy and disturbing but to me it is OK so this is very much a personal thing. The fan in my desktop is definitely more noisy! However, I tend to notice the fan noise more on the Lenovo S10 than on my Dell Inspiron laptop so it is not the quietest one out there.<br /><br />2. Keyboard. The arrangement is not the best and one must bear in mind the limited space that is available to fit in the keyboard. You have to sacrifice something if you want portability. The size of your hands (and fingers) will determine if you're comfortable typing for long periods. Once you're used to the arrangement, you can touch type quite normally. Do test out each key individually to see if any is defective. Also test the Function key combinations to see if they work as intended.<br /><br />3. Touch pad. Again small because of the space limitations and need some time to get used to it. The click buttons are rather stiff and need some force before they are activated. Do test out both the left and right buttons since there were some reported cases of defective buttons.<br /><br />4. Battery. There are many posts on the 6 cell battery not charging properly and low capacity compared to what is advertised but these generally refer to the 3rd party replacement battery. If you buy the S10 currently (in Malaysia, at least) you should definitely get the one that comes with the original 6 cell battery so you should not have any problem. Some of the problem arose because the user insert or remove the battery while the set is still plugged into AC power. Not sure if the original will suffer the same fate so never, never inset or remove your battery while you S10 is till plugged into AC power. This is really common sense since we were always taught to power off before we meddle with any electrical items.<br /><br />5. The Lenovo logo on the cover. Some found the letters dropping out, especially the letter "e". Not a major issue but may be of concern to ladies who must have the perfect look!<br /><br />So it seems Lenovo need to tighten their quality control but there may be similar complains about the other netbooks and certainly, the Lenovo S10 is not the worst. It is one of the easiest netbook to upgrade the RAM or the HDD, if not <em>the</em> easiest. It serves its purpose well as an ultra portable laptop for Internet usage and minor office task.<br /><br />If you did not get a S10 as a Christmas gift, there's still hope yet; you may still get one as a 2009 New Year's gift. Just drop some hints to your girlfriend or boyfriend or simply refer them to this post! </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Happy New Year!<br /><br />Ronald Kwok<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span><br /><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-5258699803679979632008-12-19T20:19:00.007+08:002009-08-06T18:22:40.400+08:00External Monitor and WiFi<span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, I had my Lenovo S10 (actually my wife had) for exactly one week now and it is so far so good with no malfunctions (touch wood!) There was one major scare two days back when my wife complained that nothing comes on after she switched on the S10. Thinking it was the display toggled off, I tried Function+F3, still nothing. Maybe it went into hibernation so I pressed the power key, also nothing. The power LCD, the battery LCD and the Wifi LCD were all on so the unit is not dead. Finally I did the usual CPR which is to hold down the power key to kill the unit and then press the power key again to tun it back on. Thank goodness, the unit came on with the message that Windows had experienced a problem, blah, blah, blah and then I heard the reassuring Windows welcome music. For a moment I thought I had a lemon and luckily it was only the Windows XP and not some hardware failure.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Today, I tried the external monitor connection, hooking up to my desktop monitor, an Acer X173W LCD display. When both the S10 display and the LCD were on, the LCD image was out of proportion as it was using the S10 native 1024x600 mode. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUuqnrfFf3I/AAAAAAAAAmY/sygoIhEx3A0/s1600-h/Native+068.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281502586686766962" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUuqnrfFf3I/AAAAAAAAAmY/sygoIhEx3A0/s320/Native+068.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">When the S10 display was toggled off using Function+F3, the S10 went automatically to the maximum resolution (for this LCD display) of 1440x900. The image was sharp and bright so no problem here.</span></div><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUuqn-JXGJI/AAAAAAAAAmg/lis8b63BZ0k/s1600-h/Acer.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281502591695919250" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUuqn-JXGJI/AAAAAAAAAmg/lis8b63BZ0k/s320/Acer.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">One of the reasons why I chose the S10 over other netbooks was that I read in one of the reviews that the Wifi connection of the S10 was among the best compared with other netbooks. So I was disappointed when I found that my S10 was always one bar behind my Dell Inspiron laptop when I checked the signal strength. I felt better when I found that this was similar to my desk top WiFi. In fact, the WiFi of my Dell also performs better than my daughter's NEC laptop. I suppose it is not that the WiFi in the S10 is no good, it is just that the Dell Inspiron is better and this depends on the WiFi card that they are using in the machine. (BTW, my Dell uses the Intel Proset Wireless while the S10 uses one by Broadcom; wonder what was used in the review machine.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Therein lies the problem when we user choose a particular brand based on reviews that we read. As a netbook/laptop is made up of many third party components, the brand of these components may vary according to the production batch so what you get may not be exactly the same as what has been reviewed. I remembered the HDD in one of the S10 reviews was Western Digital but when I checked mine, it is a Hitachi. This could perform better, the same or worse. Luckily some of these components do not differ so much in their performance in the real world as oppose to lab measurements but one should be wary if a particular area of the performance is critical in your selection. Good luck in your choice and we can only plug and pray.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</a></span></div><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-63846805426060816342008-12-16T18:51:00.007+08:002009-10-02T12:41:04.549+08:00Changing FAT32 to NTFS<span style="font-family:verdana;">In the Lenovo S10, the HDD is partitioned into C: drive and D: drive (plus another hidden partition). To cater for the One Key Recovery (OKR) process, the C: drive is formatted in FAT32 while D: drive is in NTFS. Not to worry, it is very easy to convert the C: drive to the more efficient NTFS file system. Details are below, this is retrived from the </span><a href="http://s10lenovo.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Lenovo Ideapad S Wiki.</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />"The S10 is shipped by default with the C: partition formatted with FAT32 file system as opposed to the NTFS file system. This can be changed by using Windows XP's built in converter.<br />Keep in mind the following:<br />*This process will only convert C: from FAT32 to NTFS. It will NOT resize the partitions.<br />*Converting the C: partition from FAT32 to NTFS will not affect the One Key Recovery program.<br />*Windows XP does not include a program to convert NTFS back to FAT32<br />*If you do wish to return to FAT32, One Key Recovery can replace the C: partition with a factory fresh image, including FAT32. The One Key Recovery process removes ALL data, including non-factory installed software, stored on the C: partition.<br /><br /><br />Back up your data first and use these instructions at your own risk:<br /><br />1. Start by opening the command prompt. Click Start, then Run. Type cmd then press enter.<br />2. At the command prompt type: convert C: /fs:ntfs and press enter.<enter><br />3. You will be presented with the following: Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N)<br />4. Type N and press enter.<br />5. You will then see the following: Would you like to schedule it to be converted the next time the system restarts (Y/N)?<br />6. Type Y and press enter.<br />7. Close the command prompt and reboot your computer.<br />8. Windows will perform a disk check followed by the partition conversion from FAT32 to NTFS. "<br /><br />That's it. I did mine yesterday and it took about 7 minutes. The time will depend on the size and number of files on your S10 so it's better to do it in the early days to save some time.<br /><br />Ronald Kwok<br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/">http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/</a></span><br /><br /><a href="http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.atomicblogging.com/images/atomicbanner1.gif" width="468" height="60" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-37284909841803293642008-12-13T14:59:00.002+08:002009-08-06T18:24:34.091+08:006-cell battery for Lenovo S10<span style="font-family:verdana;">Judging from the posts in the Lenovo S10 Forum, there are plenty of interests shown on the 6-cell battery so I'll give more details and photos on this item in this post.<br /><br />Here are shots of the 6-cell battery itself. This is the original Lenovo 6-cell battery that came with my S10. First is the overall view and next is the side view that shows it is like two cylinders joined on the side. Note the rail on the straight part of the battery.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNez9Y8SiI/AAAAAAAAAk4/5x9AlpxtAQc/s1600-h/1Bat-front.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279167434953869858" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNez9Y8SiI/AAAAAAAAAk4/5x9AlpxtAQc/s320/1Bat-front.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNez4ec75I/AAAAAAAAAlA/r0yFZzWhE_8/s1600-h/2Bat-side.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279167433634803602" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNez4ec75I/AAAAAAAAAlA/r0yFZzWhE_8/s320/2Bat-side.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The next two photos show the S10 without the battery, one a side view and the other the back view.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></p><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0ZFCA7I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/lDhHEmV1cLY/s1600-h/4Side.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279167442386551730" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0ZFCA7I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/lDhHEmV1cLY/s320/4Side.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0JHb9AI/AAAAAAAAAlI/6GLS_-fNgNo/s1600-h/3Back.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279167438101672962" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0JHb9AI/AAAAAAAAAlI/6GLS_-fNgNo/s320/3Back.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The </span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0cfWs9I/AAAAAAAAAlY/Zc-BF9k8Hog/s1600-h/5Guide.jpg"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">next photo is a close-up on the back of the S10 that shows the "guide rail" for the battery. There is a similar one on the other side. Besides being a guide for inserting the battery in the correct angle, it also helps to relief the stress on the battery connection as part of the weight of the S10 will be resting on the battery itself once it is installed.</span></p><p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0cfWs9I/AAAAAAAAAlY/Zc-BF9k8Hog/s1600-h/5Guide.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279167443302265810" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNe0cfWs9I/AAAAAAAAAlY/Zc-BF9k8Hog/s320/5Guide.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></p><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The next photo shows the S10 with the battery installed. Note that the battery comes with two rubber feet and this takes over the function of the two back rubber feet on the S10 itself (which is used if the 3-cell battery is installed) to provide support since the battery now lifts up the back of the unit.<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXeA8UkI/AAAAAAAAAlg/SwUPmydILoM/s1600-h/6Bat-feet.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279172443053511234" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXeA8UkI/AAAAAAAAAlg/SwUPmydILoM/s320/6Bat-feet.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />This also gives the keyboard a certain slant (sloping towards the user which is good for the wrist if you type a lot) and it also increases the space between the bottom of the unit and the resting surface and improves the air circulation and aids heat dissipation. On actual usage, the unit doesn't wobble and feels very steady indeed. These are very good reasons to opt for the 6-cell battery, not to mention the extended battery life. The additional weight is minimal; my S10 weighs in at 1.3kg with the battery installed.<br /><br />I noticed in some photos of 3rd party battery, there are no rubber feet and the weight will be on the front 2 rubber feet and the battery body itself and it also reduces the air circulation. Not sure if it has the rail that fits the guide rails mentioned earlier.<br /><br />So much for the battery. Here are some other comments on the S10. I'm happy that it is very easy to upgrade the memory as well as the HDD if you wish to do so. Just remove 2 screws and lift out the back panel cover. See photo below. I heard it is pretty messy to do the same in some other netbooks.<br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXvwBqkI/AAAAAAAAAmA/C-5ov-gBbHg/s1600-h/10back+panel.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279172447814396482" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXvwBqkI/AAAAAAAAAmA/C-5ov-gBbHg/s320/10back+panel.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />There are a few cons as nothing is perfect. The click buttons on the touch-pad is very stiff and needs great effort to click. Thinking positively, it means you will never click in error.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXTTc3kI/AAAAAAAAAlo/y1mgNSF0k50/s1600-h/7Click.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279172440178351682" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXTTc3kI/AAAAAAAAAlo/y1mgNSF0k50/s320/7Click.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The SD card sticks out and the slot is not spring loaded (like in most other devices but not sure about other similar netbooks) so you're not certain if you have fully inserted the card. On the positive side, you can see if you have removed your card or not. See photo below.<br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXovVjtI/AAAAAAAAAlw/sTZ_VLbnkpw/s1600-h/8SD+slot.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279172445932457682" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXovVjtI/AAAAAAAAAlw/sTZ_VLbnkpw/s320/8SD+slot.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Finally, most other netbooks have 3 USB ports while the S10 has only 2. Granted the S10 comes with Bluetooth and an Express card slot which others may not have but such devices are expensive and nothing like the el cheapo USB stuff that is available. In fact there is a perfect space for adding another USB port just next to the LAN port. With this in place, the S10 will thump the competition, hands down.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXhHRr-I/AAAAAAAAAl4/cSQROMrnpQA/s1600-h/9USB+space.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279172443885383650" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUNjXhHRr-I/AAAAAAAAAl4/cSQROMrnpQA/s320/9USB+space.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Did somebody say S11?</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></p><p><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a></p><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7734336689828977340.post-9171072250092237222008-12-12T15:04:00.002+08:002009-08-06T18:25:11.205+08:00My new Lenovo S10<span style="font-family:verdana;">Tis the season to be giving, tra-la-la-la-la..........but before I can give, I need to buy something. So there I was yesterday at our favourite IT mall looking for a netbook which is the current craze as my wife has indicated that she wants to surf the net and work on her own e-mails as I was always slow to respond on her behalf. This will be a perfect gift for her and actually I can also borrow the netbook from her when the need arises!<br /><br />I have googled all the current popular crop of netbooks - Acer Aspire One, Asus EEE PC 1000, HP mini 1000, MSI Wind U100, Samsung NC10, the Lenovo S10 and read all the major reviews. The best comments seems to be for the Samsung NC10 but alas, this model is not for release here until next year. So the next best thing is the Lenovo S10.<br /><br /><br />One of the negative point about this netbook is the low battery life of about 2 hours for the 3-cell version currently in the market so I was pleasantly surprised when I was offered a 6-cell version for almost the same price at Win Chance. Though this added some weight to the package, it gives about 4-5 hours of usage which is double that of the normal battery so I surrendered my credit card and took the plunge.<br /><br /><br />I have also been following the Lenovo S series </span><a href="http://www.s10lenovo.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:verdana;">forum</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> so here I will address what most users were concerned about and not the other stuff that can be found elsewhere. My unit has 1G Ram, 160 HDD and yes, Bluetooth is included. The 6-cell battery is what has been shown elsewhere before and it is twice the size of the 3-cell (and cannot be anything less as 6=2 x 3, got it?); imagine two cylinders joined on the side like siamese twins. When installed, it hangs down from the back and is not obtrusive. In fact it provides added stability since it also has two rubber feet and lifts the back a bit higher. See photo below. Yes it comes in black and matches the black body of the S10 (the colour that I opted for; it looks more professional and less toyish.)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04w0mGPI/AAAAAAAAAkw/d6nMZNX_u7g/s1600-h/Battery.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278839863014463730" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04w0mGPI/AAAAAAAAAkw/d6nMZNX_u7g/s320/Battery.jpg" /></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This also act as a stop that prevents the screen from opening too low behind and it stops about 135 degrees which is far enough for normal usage. See photo below.<br /></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04p1j-uI/AAAAAAAAAko/59DeMy-Ylcw/s1600-h/Angle.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278839861139471074" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04p1j-uI/AAAAAAAAAko/59DeMy-Ylcw/s320/Angle.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Also something unusual; the battery came fully charged and I was able to get about 4-5 hours of normal usage. This took about 3 hours to fully charge after it was exhausted. The AC adapter was also of handy size, like a normal cell-phone (not the slim type). It also comes in black so everthing is colour coordinated nicely. See photo below.</span></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04gD-c6I/AAAAAAAAAkg/fDyP3p7mO4A/s1600-h/Adapter.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278839858515571618" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUI04gD-c6I/AAAAAAAAAkg/fDyP3p7mO4A/s320/Adapter.jpg" /></span></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">My S10 comes with 2 years extended warranty (1 + 1) that you need to register online and also comes with a free slip case. This feels spongey and smells rubbery and the tag says it is made from neoprene. Sure fits the S10 like a gloove especially with the 6-cell battery. It is grey on the outside and pink on the inside or is it the other way round? So you change to the colour of your choice by turning it inside out (or outside in). See photo below.</span></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUIqbQz44kI/AAAAAAAAAkY/pGfGlCsMea0/s1600-h/Pink.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278828361089081922" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUIqbQz44kI/AAAAAAAAAkY/pGfGlCsMea0/s320/Pink.jpg" /></span></a><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUIqbd1aTuI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/oFUjDzcmWoY/s1600-h/Grey.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278828364585127650" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uxzmgjZe4F8/SUIqbd1aTuI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/oFUjDzcmWoY/s320/Grey.jpg" /></span></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Norton Internet Security 2008 is preinstalled as a free 90 days trial. You can also get McAfee Security Suite free for 6 months if you visit the Lenovo local site. Not sure if you can start after the Norton has expired; you'll then get a total of 9 months free trial. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">That's all folks for this post. I'll be happy to answer any queries or comments on the S10 here or in the Forum. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ronald Kwok</span></div><div><a href="http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://cbpirate.com/s/cbp/ronaldkwok</span></a></div></div></div><div></div><br /><a href="http://cbpirate.com/main/ronaldkwok"><img border="0" src="http://cbpirate.com/getimg.php?id=3" /></a>Ronald Kwokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08999379968108926872noreply@blogger.com6