Fixing my Windows 8.1 mess

I found my Windows 8.1 got to a point that it needs to be fixed:

• Right click on MyComputer to bring up managment console does NOT work anymore
• Use Charm to get to "Change PC Settings" also does NOT work anymore.
• Can't apply the lastest Windows 8.1 Update 1.  

Usually in situation like this before Windows 8, I need to wipe the OS, and then installing everything from scratch.  But since I am using Windows 8.1, I did this:

• Use the MSDN Windows 8.1 with Update (1) iso (en_windows_8.1_with_update_x64_dvd_4065090.iso), open it, and start installation.
• Choose to keep all application and setting.
• Let the long installation completed itself.

At the end of the installation process, I have a working Windows 8.1 Update 1 with all those previous problem fixed.  The only thing missing is that Windows Media Center was gone.  No problem, since I can use the product ID I purchased (US$9.99) to reinstall Windows Media Center.  And it even remembered my previous setting before the OS re-install.

So with a working OS, I am happy :-D .

Development environment running in VMWare Workstation 10 doesn't work ... at home ...

At work, I deal with a few Xeon server class machines.  They have memories ranged from 16Gb to 64Gb, have 8 to 16 core CPUs and both VMWare Workstation 10 and HyperV (on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2) run fine on them.

The experience on my home workstation Dell XPS 8700, which has a quad core i7 CPU with 8Gb of memory and running same VMWare Workstation 10, is vastly inferior by comparison.  I know it's not fair to compare an expansive server class machine, and I guess I kind of have some expectation on this quad core i7 thing. The fact is that running Visual Studio 2012/2013 on a VM with 4 core and 4Gb memory is unusable on my machine.  CPU is always close to 100% (while memory consumption seems low), and sometime it renders the eSATA harddisk to unresponsive.

For now, I will just stick with using a dual boot system approach to keep a clean environment and a experimental/development environment.  I am probably still going to buy more memory, but I also aware that it won't help much on the dev on VM situation.

In fact, I am afraid that it also applies to my Dell Precision M6600 office workstation laptop.  Virtualization works better on a dedicated server machine.

The only thing left to do is open the case of my Dell XPS 8700

I started to realize that I have need to run some VM on my Dell XPS 8700 desktop, and that means I need more than my current 8Gb of memory.  So the question is: what memory to get?

Checked Crucial web site, and I found out that I need:

• DDR3 PC3-12800
• 240 pin (for desktop)
• 1.35/1.5V (more later)
• 1600 MHz

With these detail information, the next thing to decide is: Getting one 16Gb or getting two 8Gb?  Technically, I can install one 16Gb, and later install one 8Gb thus max the 32 Gb memory limit.  The problem is that there will be some serious performance penalty.  So at the end I decided to stick with getting two equal 8Gb DDR3 memory, and later one, if I REALLY need to get that extra 8Gb, I will just buy another pair of 8Gb.

So the final question is: should I get 1.5V or 1.35V memory.  If the one already installed in my machine is 1.35V, then I should go for 1.35V in order to match with everything.  Since I don't have any documentation that says it in definitely, So the best way to figure is out is probably by opening the case.

Here's more info about DDR3L.

For 1.35V one, this sounds like a good option.

For 1.5V one, this seeems fine.

Continue to struggle with eSATA

Previously I THOUGHT Setting the system to boot using UEFI legacy boot will make my eSATA harddisks show up properly.  Well, I was WRONG. Both the eSATA harddisk DISAPPEAR frequently even with UEFI legacy as the boot setting.  That really frustrated me.

So I am now going back to the UEFI secure boot.  Interesting enough, I found the eSATA shows up!  But then after a shutdown, and start up again, boo, the disks are gone again.  But wait, that's not the end of the story: if I restart the machine (instead of shutdown and then start again), those eSATA harddisks show up again!

So I guess I just need to figure out a PATTERN that actually work.  Very annoying, but then at least there's some hope.

VMware and USB 2.0 harddisk dock

I am trying use my USB 2.0 External harddisk to host VMWare VM, and found that it didn't work well.

First I tried my Cavalry dual slot USB 2.0 harddisk dock, and found that I frequently got error, saying that it couldn't access the disk file.  So I was thinking, damn shit Cavalry .

BUt then I tried blacX USB 2.0 (with eSATA slot) dock in USB 2.0, and while it survive for longer time, eventually it had the same access problem.

So now I am using blackX in eSATA mode, and see if I have better luck.

BTW, I am using VMWare Workstation 10.

UEFI and eSATA Card

Gotta say I didn't have much knowledge about UEFI.  All I know is that on the Dell XPS 8700 I brought last year, UEFI Secure boot was set as default, and I just kept using it.

However, I was forced to know a little bit more about it.

It started when I was messing with my broken Dell Dimension workstation I brought back in 2007. I found that almost NOTHING from this workstation that I can reuse in the newer Dell XPS 8700 workstation EXCEPT a PCI Express based eSATA card.  So I installed it on my XPS 8700 and found that it was NOT being recognized.

After spending almost 2 hours to keep looking around, I finally decided to give one thing a try: change the boot setting from UEFI Secure Boot to UEFI non-secure boot.  And BOOM, after I made that setting change, I was able to see the eSATA BIOS menu showing up, and sure enough the 2 eSATA ports were working, and I was able to use my eSATA harddisk dock.

Oh, can't install Windows 7?

I didn't realize the whole My DLL XPS 8700's Secure bootup will prevent me from installing Windows 7 Ultimate until today.  Irritating, but at the end I accepted the fact.  In fact, I couldn't even boot up the machine's partition if the machine was in legacy boot mode, yet I couldn't boot up Windows 7 Ultimate installation disc if it's in secure boot mode.

Windows 8.1 Pro installation disc can boot properly in secure boot mode, so that's why I used it and install the clean OS.