Tag: Microsoft

[Win8] EEE PC 1015PN and Windows 8

I have been using my EEE PC 1015PN for nearly 2 years now, and I am quite satisfied with it. But after the release of Windows 8, I wanted to try it, too. So I decided to upgrade install from my Windows 7 Professional to Windows 8 Professional. Before this test, I made an Acronis Image, which turned out to be an really good idea. Installation itself needed about 1 1/2 hour, as I decided to upgrade and not start from scratch.

The first problem started to come up after going to the desktop and trying to change the brightness \ wifi connectivity by using the FN Keyboard Shortcuts: "Asus ACPI Driver missing", was the error. So I tried to reinstall the needed keyboard drivers, and Optimus Tool (1015PN uses an Intel as well as an NVIDIA Graphicscard).

After rebooting, I was able to choose the Optimus setting within the tool, and I could also change screen brightness with the FN Keyboard Shortcuts - but nothing else.

So I decided to shutdown the PC, enable WIFI in the BIOS and reboot - to check WIFI Connectivity, as well as to see the Intel Graphics active in Windows 8. So I pressed the "Save and Reboot" shortcut in the bios -  and that was the last thing I saw.

After that, the EEE PC tried to boot once, and then stopped working, rebooting again - boot loop. But not after 20 seconds of boot, no, it already fried seconds after starting the boot process. Even disabling WIFI in BIOS again or pressing F8 manically - nothing could help. The system was killed.

After trying for a good amount of time, I restored the Windows 7 backup. And thats it. My first Windows 8 impression turned out to be even worse than Windows Vista. And well, that was something.

[WinXP/Vista/7] Port 80 Blocked

Developing Websites with XAMPP is always neat and nice: Compact package, everything you need is there - and even having it portable on an USB Stick (in an TrueCrypt file ;)) will get you up and running on every Windows PC - where ever you are - in no time. But the problem with this solution comes with the "Host PC": There are a lot of tools nowdays which hijack and use Port 80 (your most beloved Webserver / Apache Standard Port) for their own needs. And so you are quickly on the point of "Apache terminated" in your XAMPP Windows - because of the blocked port. Finding out which program is blocking / using that port is easy, as XAMPP comes with an "Port-Check" Tool which can be used from the XAMPP Control Panel. Other than that, here is the TOP 4 of the most annoyning port blocking apps:

4.) Teamviewer (as commented by Teufelsauge)
A remote desktop tool which can be configured to run as background service, listening to port 80 and 443.

3.) Apache
Yeah, thats right. Some people got an old Apache setup running - set up years ago and forgotten in the background. Sounds stupid, but as most errors are - this is one of the most nasty ones. So check your memory before jumping to wrong conclusions.

2.) Microsoft SQL Server
It is an SQL Server! Not an Webserver! Why the heck would... Yeah, right: It DOES block port 80. Open services.msc from your "Run As" Dialog and look out for "Sql server reporting services(MSSQLSERVER)". Set it to disabled and stop it. Port 80 freed, hurray!

1.) Skype
To bypass corporate security standards and firewalls, Skype can use Port 80 and even Port 443 (SSL) as workaround. And it does that, by default. To disable that, start Skype and go to Tools -> Options - > Advanced -> Connection. Disable "Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections".