Speed Up Your Computer » Hardware

Increase your Wireless Signal with a homemade WiFi Booster

admin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:23:13 +0000

If you have a weak WiFi signal on your computer you only have a few options. First you could move your computer closer, but this isn’t always possible depending on the space in your home.

Secondly, you could go out and buy a Wireless Antenna such as the Link Depot WiFi Signal Antenna from Newegg – but a decent wifi booster costs anywhere from $15-150. This is generally not a bad option but doesn’t always solve the problem. In my experience these antennas don’t do a terrific job, they do help, but I wouldnt spend too much money on them. I have used the Link Depot antenna featured above and it is as good as any (even when compared to models twice its price). The other option is to pick up a cheap wireless signal booster from Ebay.

If your on a budget however, you can try making your own homemade wi-fi booster by using the template provided by freeantennas.com for the Ez-12 Parabolic Reflector. I first noticed this info on Walyou.com

I made one for my wireless router at home and i can confirm that it does work. The outcome will however depend on other external interference factors. For some people not even the best wi fi antenna will help their signal problem. If after trying all of the above suggestions you are still having problems there is one more thing you can try which is almost certainly going to fix your problem.

There is a product called Ethernet over power adapters. These allow you to emulate a physical network connection over your house mains power without having to get an electrician in to wire your house with ethernet cable. Ethernet-over-Power adapters arn’t cheap, but they are quick fix for difficult network connections. I wouldn’t buy no name brands for this type of device. I would play it safe and get something like the NETGEAR XE102G Powerline which has a great track record.

Well I hope this helps you fixing your wireless signal connection problems. If you still are having problems drop me a comment or send me an email via the contact form and I will see if I can help you out

DVD Drive doesn’t fit in Antec P180

admin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:30:32 +0000

Can’t get your DVD Drive to fit into the 5.25″ drive bay on the Antec P180 using the provided drive rails? Don’t worry neither could I for about an hour How embarrassing! I was so frustrated by this I actually broke out into a sweat

Like any good nerd, I NEVER read the instructions to anything … particularly computer cases! So seeing that the 3.25″ bay had the clips on the drive rails facing the inside of the case I installed the drive rails the same way on my girlfriends brothers DVD Drive.

HINT: Don’t do this! The drive rails for your DVD Drive should be screwed on so that the clips are at the front of your Antec P180 case and the clips should also line up with the front of the DVD face. Here are some pictures to demonstrate what I mean:

Computer turns on but monitor is blank or says “No Signal”

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:03:08 +0000

This problem can be caused by a few things but typically it is caused by a failed power supply unit in your computer. “Wait a minute!” I hear you say, didn’t i just tell you that my computer turns on! Well, the thing is, hardware failures are not always black or white. Sometimes you can get varying degrees of damage. Just because you can hear the fans running in your case doesn’t mean that the power supply is doing what it should do. Before declaring your PSU (powersupply unit) a write off however, it is usually a good idea to test a few basic things.

First, you should check that your monitor (VGA) cable hasn’t come loose. Second check that your monitor is turned on Derrrhh!

Ok. Now that those two are out of the way, its time to start swapping hardware. At the moment it is still a little ambiguous whether the power supply is the culprit but more than likely it is, so before going out and swapping more time consuming hardware likw your motherboard or graphics card which requrire you not only to install the new part but also the associated drivers, I would recommend that you try borrowing a power supply from a friend, or if you have another computer, you could use that for a quick test.

If you are still having problems after trying a new powersupply, shoot me an email via the contact form on this website and I will do my best to help. Good luck!