The Xonar D2X I recently bought would only output digitally – the analogue output was so very quiet it needed my Hi-Fi separates amplifier on maximum volume to just about hear it.

The fix was relatively simple – it was all down to the cheap and nasty floppy power connector socket on the sound card – which had moved forward of the pins resulting in a partial connection.   The white plastic “socket” needs sliding back over the pins until it can not go any further – the floppy driver power cable then fits much nicer.  I’ve even put a tie-wrap around it now to prevent it sliding forward.

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I recently purchased the retail version of Stalker: Clear Sky in the UK – but found that I couldn’t even get the game to load up without it throwing a nasty BSOD at me and promptly rebooting.  Game patches didn’t help at all.

The error message I received was:

Tonight I finally fixed it!!! Hurrah!!

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When installing ADSL services it is always handy to be able to run a very simple test on the phone line. This test is not the most scientific, and relies on the sensitivity of the human ear, but it works great.

Learn about some simple engineer tests you can perform on your telephone line.

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So, you’ve got some data in your application that you need to make available to any future request, but you don’t want to fetch or create it every time. This data is not large, changes rarely and is accessed often.

Do you use the .Net Cache API, or the Application State to store this data?

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Here is a very simple speed test for broadband that seems to give the most accurate results out of any of them.

Run the speed test at: http://sod.ms/fast/

The test is run by a company based in the UK called Andrews & Arnold Ltd – I have heard nothing but good things about them.

Other speed test websites:

• BT Broadband Performance Tester – This is the site 1st line broadband support will always send you to in the event of you complaining of low speed on your broadband connection. [UK Only]
• Speedtest.net – A bells and whistles broadband speed tester. Seems pretty accurate, but a little too ”feature rich” (read: bloated) for my tastes.

If you know of any other speed tests out there that stand out from the crowd let me know and I”ll add them to this article.