Inaccessible Boot Device

After a Windows 10 automatic update, the computer wouldn't boot.

Went to a BSOD (blue screen of death) saying "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart" and "Inaccessible boot device".

Tried to fix it following steps here, but none of it worked.

For future reference, here's what I tried. First boot to command prompt as the article says. The use dism

List packages:
dism /image:c:\ /get-packages

Remove package (after copy-pasting PKGNAME from above) (and make sure to mkdir d:\scratch first)
dism /image:c:\ /remove-package /packagename:PKGNAME /scratchdir:d:\scratch

Above steps worked with some (one) package, but failed with others, with various errors:
- Permanent package cannot be uninstalled.(never fixed this)
- couldnt uninstall pending package

What did work (not sure which of these actually helped but things were somehow eventually fixed):
- After booting into safe mode (and I dont think doing anything else), and then resetting and booting in regular mode, everything started working again
- at some point, I disabled legacy rom boots and enabled secure boot (but later reenabled it?)
- had a broken monitor that I unplugged at some point
- I normally boot from an m2 drive, which I have to manually use (via f12), but I forgot and booted from regular (non-ssd) drive to an old windows install. when I switched back to the m2 ssd, things started working again (somehow)

How to update PLEX server (QNAP TS-451 NAS)

1. when you start the PLEX webapp, an orange bar says there's an update
2. click the link and download the qpkg file to your computer
3. open QNAP NAS web interface
4. go to AppCenter
5. choose "Install Manually" (upper right corner)
6. choose "Browse" and find downloaded file
7. click install

Setting up TorGuard with OpenVPN and Ubuntu Linux

To setup, followed this guide.

To stop server, kill the process.

To start server (from /etc/openvpn): sudo openvpn server-file.conf
 (must enter credentials) 

To check public ip: wget http://ipinfo.io/ip -qO -

Verizon DNS slow

I have Verizon FIOS (in MA) and I have been using Verizon's DNS servers. Sometimes, they seem completely unresponsive for large blocks of time (~30min).

I recently switched to OpenDNS servers and so far it seems much more responsive. Will report back later.

old Verizon DNS servers: 

71.243.0.12
71.250.0.12

new OpenDNS servers:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Note: changing the DNS server settings in the Verizon router required some hunting. I ultimately changed it by going through the following links: My Network -> Network Connections -> Edit Broadband Connection -> Settings -> DNS Server: Use the Following DNS Server Addresses

UPDATE: Connection still slow. Switched to Google DNS to see if that helps.

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

Powerpoint 2007 Slides Pane Not Refreshing

If the slides pane in Powerpoint was larger than a certain size, then it stopped refreshing when I scrolled.

Googling said it was an NVIDIA driver issue. (Here's another discussion on NVIDIA's boards.)

I upgraded from 311.06 to 332.21 and it fixed the problem!

Here's other maybe relevant system info: GeForce 9800 GTX+, Window 7 64-bit
 

Install Shibby Tomato firmware on Asus RT-N66W router

For the most part, I followed instructions in this guide: How To Flash Tomato on the ASUS RT-N66U

Here are my exact steps:

1) Download and install the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility.

There was no download link on the RT-N66W support page, so I went to the RT-N66U support page. Here is what I downloaded:

ASUS RT-N66U B1 Firmware Restoration version 1.9.0.2
OS Support: Win 2003 / Win XP / Win Vista / Win 7 / Win 8

2) Download Shibby Tomato image file.

K26RT-AC is the version that works with RT-N66U and RT-N66W (and RT-N66AC as well). I installed the "AIO" (all-in-one) version which has all the features. There was also a "VPN" version that I'm guessing has only VPN. The exact file I downloaded is tomato-RT-N66U_RT-AC6x--115-AIO-64K.trx.

3) Continue following the steps from the guide:
  - turn off router
  - connect it directly to your PC
  - open the Firmware Restoration program and browse to the firmware image file you downloaded
  - hold reset and turn on router to put in rescue mode (it was not obvious to me that this step worked, since the "blinking" was not very fast, but everything worked out so the instructions must be correct)
  - turn on router
  - click "Upload" in the Firmware Restoration program

4) After the progress bar hit 100%, I got the error mentioned in the guide:

"Failed to connect to the wireless router. Check if the router's power LED is blinking, which denotes that the router is in rescue mode."

5) I kept waiting even though it seemed like nothing was happening and after ~15 minutes, the wifi lights (both 2.4 and 5 Ghz) came back on.

6) I skipped NVRAM clear steps in the guide and logged into the router at 192.168.1.1 (default login is root/admin). However I tried to change a setting (disable DHCP) and got an error "the field wl_key is invalid". Oops.

7) Clear NVRAM by: turning off router, holding WPS button and turning on router, continuing to hold WPS button for 30 seconds, releasing WPS button.

8) Tried to disable DHCP again and this time it worked! I have Verizon FiOS so I'm using the router as a secondary (a switch essentially) so I changed the following settings
  - gave the RT-N66W router a static ip in the Verizon-supplied router
  - changed the RT-N66W router ip to the chosen static ip
  - disable DHCP under Basic->Network->WAN/Internet->Type
  - disable DHCP under Basic->Network->LAN

Sync iPhone 4 in Windows 7 with free iTunes alternative

I wanted to sync my iPhone 4 in Windows 7 but I did not want to install iTunes bloatware. Found a nice free iTunes alternative in CopyTrans Manager, by WindSolutions. 

It is super easy to use (just an exe, no installing) and has great documentation too. It does require the iPhone drivers that are typically installed with iTunes but there's even a super convenient installer that automatically installs only what you need without other iTunes crap.

I had to restart my computer before CopyTrans could detect my iPhone but otherwise it worked flawlessly.

I used CopyTrans Manager version 0.992, and the CopyTrans Drivers Installer 1.027.

Thanks WindSolutions! I am very impressed. I will definitely be checking out your other products.