TheSaint

Bump. Just checking to see if anyone had any idea. Thank you!

Hi all, I have a Dell S3220DGF monitor connected to a hub (via Display Port). From the hub I have a USB C cable connected to my Lenovo C930 laptop. I usually leave the laptop's screen off (second screen only in Windows 10 settings) and just use the external monitor. That usually works fine, but for some reason, when my laptop goes to sleep, upon resuming from sleep it does not detect the external display. I've gone into the monitor settings and tried to select the external display or detect it with no luck. I've installed the latest drivers for the display on my system, and the monitor is the latest revision and firmware available for it as well. Any thoughts as to how to detect/wake the external monitor upon resuming from sleep mode? The only option that seems to work so far is to completely power off my laptop, then turn it back on again. Even a restart won't detect the external display when going from sleep mode. Thanks for any pointers!

Hi all, I just bought a Lenovo Glass C930 and am really enjoying it so far. Question: I'd like to remap the "Insert" key to toggle the screen on/off. Sometimes I'm using the computer with an app running in the background, but I don't need the screen on. I'd like to toggle the screen on/off quickly without using the Brightness -/+ keys (F11 and F12). Is there a way to remap the Insert key to do this? Or is there a hidden Windows 10/Lenovo shortcut key combo that I don't know about for auto toggling the screen on/off? If I can't remap the "Insert" key, is there a way of remapping one of the Function keys? Thank you for your assistance!

I'm helping a small non-profit replace a dead all-in-one color laser device. They regularly print color brochures, plus black and white copies of invoices, emails, etc. I'm having a really hard time finding a high-quality all-in-one unit that has the feature set required below, plus reliability and operating costs that don't break the bank. If any of you folks have experience buying, setting up and using all-in-one color laser units like the one I'm looking for below, please chime in with some brand/model suggestions. Thank you in advance! Currently looking at: HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdw Xerox VersaLink C405/DN Questions: I'm helping a small non-profit replace a dead all-in-one color laser device. They regularly print color brochures, plus black and white copies of They have the following needs (must haves): Budget: $400-$1000 USD Country: USA Color or black and white: | Color Laser or ink printer: | Laser New or used: | New Multi-function: | Duplex scanning, duplex printing and duplex faxing Duplex Printing: | Yes, see above. Home or business: | Small non-profit Printing content: | Color brochures on legal paper most frequently, but also black and white letter size documents *Printing frequency: | 500 pages per month Pages per minute : | Doesn't matter Page size: | Letter and legal Device printing from: | Windows 10 desktops, Macbook/iMac/OSX Connection type: | Ethernet is a must to connect to the existing wired network, USB/wifi-direct printing is a plus Duplex printing and copying in color and black/white, in Legal and Letter sizes Duplex scanning Fax functionality Ethernet port to hooking up to a wired network, ability to wake the device over the network if in a low-power state USB port for printing from thumb drives Low per-page cost of printing, either through affordable OEM toner cartridges, or the ability to use a refilled/3rd-party cartridges Compatibility with Mac OSX and Windows 10 machines The following are nice to have, but not critical: Cloud printing services Wifi networking, Wifi-direct or NFC printing Any other details: I'm having a hard time finding a color laser all-in-one that has all of the functionality listed above, with good reviews for reliability and T.C.O. with low per-page costs. I'm open to buying any brand or model. If you could please provide suggests based upon the needs above, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Od1sseas, that looks like it did the trick.

I keep getting this error message whenever Windows 10 tries to download the update above. I don't have any firewall or blocking software that prevents Windows 10 update. This particular update has been trying to install unsuccessfully for 8 days. Any idea as to why it can't install? Is there a way to manually download the update and install it if the Windows Update program is being glitchy? Thanks for any pointers.

@Tsuki Excellent write-up, thank you. When you step off your home wifi network, how do you cope with ads when you're out and about, using either public wifi or mobile data on your phone? Any particular solutions for overcoming that hurdle?

@NZLaurence Thanks for the input. I'm admittedly ignorant about the various home options out there. Obviously, ease of use is great, but if there's an old enterprise piece of gear that has lots of features that can be repurposed for a home, that's fine too. I guess my concern with a commercial product is lack of updates for any new attack definitions, short of buying a recurring updates license, if it is even available. One of the things that have always bothered me is how anti-virus is supposed to stop your computer from getting attacked. When the malware is already on your machine, isn't that too late? Also, what about all the smart home IoT devices? They don't run anti-virus, so it seems that some type of edge hardware solution is the only way to have a fighting chance. Regarding backups, I do nightly backups to an internal SSD connected inside of my desktop. Once weekly I do an additional external USB drive backup and then keep that drive offline until the next time a backup is needed. Additionally, I'm building a FreeNAS server where I will keep even more backups once complete. I also have my most mission critical personal information in a secured, locked up facility off-site in a fire-proof room. Any other best practices? I'm all ears.

@Tsuki Thanks, this sounds like an excellent low-cost solution that might be combined with something else. To date, I've been using Ad Block Plus in my desktop browser, but I'd imagine this would be even more secure, plus Ad Blockers don't always work well on mobile devices, so seeing this would block it prior to even hitting the client machine, that's even better. What's your experience with it so far? Pretty much set it and forget it, or have you found any shortcomings?

@Tsuki Thanks for the pointer. Just looked over their website. Very interesting. Don't have a pi device to install it on at the moment, but now seems like a good a time as any to buy one. I saw in the short youtube vide that they suggest you change your router's DNS to pi-hole's info. I'm currently using OpenDNS by Cisco, which does a good job of blocking a lot of crap I want to be filtered on my network, plus you can white/black list sites on your own. Do you know if it is possible to use your pi-hole with OpenDNS or any other 3rd-party DNS servers? @leadeater Thanks, I'll check both out. Why did you go with the 60D over Sophos? There has to be some hardware vendor out there who makes pre-built low-power computers that are designed with making your own firewall appliances in mind, especially with something like pfsense, vyos, sophos, etc. Do you know of any vendors you'd recommend?

Was browsing the web and saw this: https://www.mgtci.com/content/products/sentinel/index.html# There's a short video on an unboxing of an early sample unit. While we're all familiar with anti-virus software for our PC's, are there any home/power-user oriented hardware security devices that you would recommend? It has always seemed to me that antivirus/antimalware is always defensive and reactive security instead of proactive. Granted, I'm not an I.T. expert when it comes to security, but my intuition would suggest that perhaps a hardware based solution on the very edge of your network where the outside world comes in would help mitigate some of those security threats. Are there any good security products for the home/power-user environment you can recommend? Some options I'm considering: pfSense VyOS (command line only, not easy for newbs) MGT Sentinel (from the video/link above, not available for retail sales just yet) Buying an enterprise-grade appliance (Watchguard Firebox, Sonic Wall, etc.) What solutions are you using in your home for security appliances? Some used enterprise grade gear? Some open source solution? I'm not aware of too many other homeowner style devices like the MGT Sentinel that are out there, specifically targeted towards the home market and ease-of-use. What's your thoughts for adding an additional layer of security for someone who isn't a network admin by trade, but would like to find out what additional steps can be taken to harden things up?

Thanks for the guide @alpenwasser , your name just sounds as refreshing as your user guide! Big props for trying to make a complex task easier, especially for a first-time crossflash newbie, and a newbie to server-grade hardware in general. I just bought an IBM M1015 that I would like to crossflash to LSI IT mode. My end game is to use it as a HBA with my Dell R510, to run a 12 bay FreeNAS 11.0 server. Questions: When I searched the Broadcom website, I couldn't find anything for "9211-8i". I found similar product models like 9210, but didn't see anything listed for "9211-8i" as this guide is written for. Am I completely missing something here? What is the correct firmware P.xx version to use with my M1015 to crossflash it to LSI IT mode, for use with FreeNAS 11.0? I tried asking over at the FreeNAS forums, but didn't get any answers to my thread over there that were definitive. For anyone using the M1015 for FreeNAS 11.0, which version are you using of the firmware and where did you find them? I have two motherboards/computers that I can use to do the crossflash. One mobo is the one included with my Dell R510 and the other is my desktop, which is an AsRock OC Formula Z170. Is it any easier to flash the M1015 on one mobo over the other? Thanks, alpenwasser and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. Can't wait to get my FreeNAS build online and start backing up my important files!

Thanks Buck. I've already done and done that. It is currently running as we speak. It grosses just over $2.00 per day in USD. Just wondering if there was a better ROI to be had with a different miner or currency. ETH, or some other coin? Thoughts?

Mining with a single CPU and GPU? Plus other newbie questions! Hi all, I'm a newbie to crypto, but a long-time tech geek. Alternative currencies are certainly game changers in terms of interesting tech, but also payment systems and overall commerce. I can't wait to get my feet wet! A couple of questions for everyone out there: I have a workstation/gaming rig that I use on a daily basis. Specs: Intel 6700k @ 4.0ghz MSI 1070 GTX 8gb 32 GB of DDR4 Ram My electricity costs here in California are $0.26 per kwh, so fairly pricey. Without buying any new hardware, what coins would be the most efficient in terms of profitability to mine on my rig above? It is my understanding that most mining takes place at a profitable point only on GPUs, not CPU's so much. Is there a separate miner out there that makes CPU mining profitable? What mining software and/currency is most optimized Nvidia cards? What coins can those combinations mine? What wallets/exchanges have the lowest overall fees? Thank you in advance for helping a newcomer into the world of digital money. I appreciate it!

By way of example, here's the current rig I have setup and tested with CPU mining using the latest version of NiceHash: CPU Mining = .00007135 BTC per day, which roughly equals at current exchange rates approximately $0.31 per day. I have a stock Intell 6700k running at 4.0 ghz in my machine. Unless you have free electricity, you won't see anything back in the way of CPU mining, and very little at that. The only thing that could change that would be massive inflation of a cyrptocoin, then selling all your earnings. Still, those are long odds and assume you have free electricity in the first place.

Great write-up! I'm a first-time miner myself, trying to decide what currency to go for. I live in California where my electric costs are tiered ($0.19 kWh - $0.26 kWh), so total power draw calculations are critical to determining profitability. Just ordered a Kill-A-Watt meter to test my existing 1070 GTX gaming rig for total power draw before mining anything. Just out of curiosity, how much is your per kWh cost wherever you live?

@Falconevo, Wouldn't the Platform Update do the same thing as burning an ISO DVD/USB Thumbdrive? I hooked my R510 up to the internet via one of the dedicated ethernet ports, plus hooked up another cable to the iDRAC for remote management. I ran firmware updates on all installed hardware from there. What would the advantage of an ISO DVD/USB be? Maybe if you had to deploy it to a bunch of servers? Or if you were in an offline environment without access to download firmware? I was able to download all the latest Dell Update Package (DUP) without any issue. @Mikensan, The iDRAC is physically installed. It is an iDRAC 6 Enterprise edition. I specifically ordered this R510 and made sure it came with one, as I wanted the remote management functionality. I may be a server newb, but I've done a little homework. Good point on static versus dynamic IP addresses. I've assigned it a static one on my home network to make life easier to remote connect from my other desktop. Just took a bit of reading up on server manuals, but nothing too wild. It is all a learning process for sure. I do have one question as it relates to iDRAC: (Repating my question from my original post): With your R610 and R720's (assuming they use the exact same iDRAC system, or something very similar), when and how do you backup the server configuration? When you change out to different hardware? When you change or reinstall OS'es? Do you use the Dell-branded vFlash card to backup the server configs, or some other method? I'm trying to establish a Best Practices for how to use Server Config backups, and right now, I'm not sure what that is. Everyone, thanks for the continued insight folks.

@Falconevo Correct. I need to move away from RAID mode, as FreeNAS needs to access the disks directly. For lack of a better term, FreeNAS is a software RAID of sorts. I don't think it is likely that I will switch my machine back to being a Windows 2016 Server (its current configuration), but in case I do, that's why I wanted to export any configuration before pulling the 10 existing SAS HDD's configured in RAID with the Dell H700 and setting them aside, before installing my IBM M1015 and putting in 10 x 8TB WD Reds. My intuition (until leadeater said to just set them aside) said that I should try to use the Dell Export tool to save the configuration to the SD card in the iDRAC, but it didn't recognize my generic (Non-Dell branded, not official vFlash) SD card. There's no data on the existing RAID array other than Windows 2016 Server Standard, a fresh install that the seller put on there before he sold it to me. I have the serial key, so I guess I could always install it again if I had issues reinstalling the RAID array. Once again, I don't think it will likely, I just wanted to learn how Dell Servers handle backing up of configuration files so once I have my FreeNAS configured, I could snapshot that too. Understood regarding FreeNAS having no native OpenManage install. I flashed the iDRAC enterprise to the latest available firmware, and then after hassling with some Java security warnings and whitelisting, plus disabling encrypted video console, I was able to get it working. It was a bit of a pain, but now remote access is available, which is fantastic. I really didn't wanto to mess around with a KVM, plus being able to manage the server off-site is a huge plus for when I'm traveling. Leadeater's video was quite helpful. Dell's support website seems to have lots of great information, but much of it is buried and poorly organized. All is well that ends well! Just over $100 for a 10x speed increase certainly is a bargain. Thanks for your pointers in setting up the networking config. I'm still waiting for my dual 2.5" boot drives to arrive. Once they do, I already have a FreeNAS 11.0 ISO loaded on USB for install. Now if I can just find some cheap adapters on ebay or Newegg! My original goal was go to all RJ45 including a 10gbe switch, but that seems to add a minimum of $200 x2 for Intel NICs with FreeBSD support, plus easily $500+ for a 10gbe RJ45 switch. If done via that method, the cost to network my server would be double the cost of the server itself! Instead, I'm going to keep the R510 near my desktop, get SFP+ and just deal with the noise when it is turned on, earmuffs here we go!

How much did all the 10 gig hardware run you? Cable, the two cards, transceivers, etc? Trying to get a comparative price together against going for a RJ45 dual NIC + Cat 6a build out for my home office. I've heard that Windows needs a lot of manual configuration like you were saying when using 10 gig, but what fun would it be to go that fast if it were too easy?

Thanks for the heads up on the RAID config. I'll just pull out the drives out of their trays. I've already marked them as part of a single RAID so they won't get mixed in with other HDD's I have laying around. They are the only SAS drives I have in the house, so they won't get jumbled. I am switching from the Dell H700 SAS controller that came with the server to an IBM M1015 LSI-based controller, as the latter is easy to crossflash to a true I.T. mode for bare-drive access as a Host Bus Adapter, to ensure proper SMART readings on the drives. The H700 that came with the server is highly NOT RECOMMENDED by the FreeNAS folks, so I'm taking their word for it to switch out controllers instead of risking my data. That was one of the reasons why I was trying to see if I should backup my server config first before pulling out the H700 and putting in the M1015. Thoughts? Regarding the iDRAC versus the OMSA, I wasn't sure if you could just access the iDRAC via web browser only or if you had to have management software installed on either the server or the management desktop machine, or both? I'll watch the video you linked to above in case it covers all of that. I was looking at some of the more advanced features of OMSA, and I couldn't help but thinking that maybe it was more intended for a large cluster of servers in a datacenter, not for just basic functions that could be handled via iDRAC. Time to watch the video, thanks!

That's my understanding of it also. I read elsewhere (not on LTT) that you have to install OpenManage (Dell's Server Manager) on both the server and the desktop that you will use to manage the server. Elsewhere, I've read that you can access most if not all of the pre-OS functions of your Dell server via just a web browser. I'd like to install the minimum amount of software on any given machine, but also want to make sure everything is configured properly. Do you have your SFP+ connection going straight into your workstation, or do you have a switch somewhere in between? My desktop PC will be about 100 feet away from my FreeNAS box and I was thinking about wiring them both with 10gbe NIC using RJ45. I looked at SFP, but at the Direct Attach Copper and read that maximum distances are much less than 100'. How does the fiber optic card work in terms of length of cable run? Did you buy another fiber NIC for your workstation, or is this going into a switch? I'm trying to juggle reliability, speed, compatibility, distance, and cost when it comes to building out a 10gbe network. As I only have one workstation and one FreeNAS server, I'm trying to see if it is possible to bridge 10gbe (regardless of RJ45 or fiber) connections together to cut down the cost of buying a pricey 10gbe switch. What's the rest of your connected network like, and why did you go that route? Thanks!

Question regarding PCIe lanes: My current setup: Asrock Z170 OC Formula Mobo (user manual here: http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/Manual/Z170 OC Formula.pdf) (pages 23 and 42 go over shared lanes) 6700k CPU Nvidia 1070 GPU m.2 PCIe Samsung 950 SSD SATA Crucial SSD Quick spec sheet of my Asrock mobo: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170 OC Formula/?cat=Specifications I'm trying to calculate my total lane usage and see if I'm going to experience any bottleneck if I add the following devices and not remove anything listed above: 10GBe NIC card (for connecting to a NAS I'm building) Adding either an additional SSD or HDD via SATA Adding another m.2 drive The most important thing I'm concerned about is getting the 10GBe NIC in my machine, as I can always use the NAS for storage and reduce lane usage in my desktop. I'm looking at buying two of these guys: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/58282/asus-launch-10gbe-pcie-adapter-costs-99/index.html One 10gbe NIC for my desktop, and one for my upcoming FreeNAS server build. Will putting this extra 10gbe reduce the availability or speed of my other devices? My reading of my mobo manual says it won't reduce the availability of anything, but it will slow my GPU slot (currently running at 16x) to 8x once the NIC is installed, with the NIC running at 8x too. Is 8x still above what would be a bottleneck to get full performance out of both devices? Thanks for any pointers!

Thanks for paging the Dell expert! I've cross-posted this to the Dell discussion boards on dell.com, but the thread is awaiting a moderator approval. Once it gets approved over there, I post the link to it here in case anyone else is trying a similar build. Windows7ge, once I get the hardware configured, I might have some FreeNAS questions for you. Just out of curiosity, what are you using hardware wise in your FreeNAS box? Thanks!

Hi LTT folks, Thanks in advance for helping out a complete newbie to server architecture. I'm an experienced custom desktop PC builder for almost two decades, but I recently purchased a used R510 and have realized I have much to learn! This server is being used in my home, not a business setting. Objectives: Setup remote management, as this system will be headless once installed in a rack Install FreeNAS on mirrored 2.5" HDD's in the internal drive caddy Use all 12 front 3.5" drive bays for 8TB WD Reds, this will be my FreeNAS array Background: Here's an ongoing thread I have over at the FreeNAS forums, in case it is useful for reference, or anyone is trying to emulate what I'm attempting and find it useful reading. Here's a link to my Dell Service Tag so you can see how the server was configured from Dell. The server currently is setup in a RAID configuration using the H700 with 10 drives combined into a single virtual drive. That drive has Windows Server 2016 Standard installed and activated on it. There's also an iDrac Enterprise card installed. Questions: My goal is to place this server in a rack, but still want to keep an eye on thermals, power consumption, software updates and so forth over my home network. Once configured, I want to make the system completely headless. The system already has iDrac Enterprise card installed, but no vFlash SD card. I'd like to make a backup of the server's current system configuration before I make any changes to it. There are 10 Dell SAS HDD's (lower capacity than the WD Red's I want to use for FreeNAS) currently installed with the RAID config for Windows Server 2016.Is there any easy way to export this current hardware configuration via USB thumb drive before I remove all the Dell drives and swap them out with the WD Reds? I tried exporting the server configuration, but it gave me an error message about needing a licensed Dell vFlash card. I had just a standard SD card in the slot, but the only other option that seemed to be available was export to CDROM, of which there was none attached to the system. How does one select USB thumb drives as an export destination for server configuration files? I'd like to save a copy of the current RAID config, plus Windows Server installation information in case I ever wanted to repurpose the server away from FreeNAS and swap out drives to go back to its original Windows Server 2016 configuration. How do I setup the iDrac management to use OMSA (Dell's OpenManage Systems Management) ? Once FreeNAS (based upon FreeBSD) is installed, I won't have any Windows environment to install Windows-based utilities. Based on my reading (someone correct me if I'm wrong!) OMSA needs to be installed on both the management station (my primary Windows 10 desktop) and on the R510 too, inside of Windows. Can one take full advantage of the remote management features without having an operating system installed? If so, how does one start to configure this? I've read that iDrac Enterprise works in a pre-OS environment, which is exactly how I'd want to access it once FreeNAS is installed. What needs to be installed/configured on the R510 to make this happen? What needs to be installed/configured on my Windows 10 desktop to access it once configured, or can everything on the management desktop be done over a web-browser? Those are my main concerns right now, and if anyone can point a complete server beginner in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it. I realize I have much to learn. Thank you for your assistance!

I currently own a OC Formula Z170 mobo that has been humming along for about a year now without any issues. Rock solid with the latest BIOS flashed to it. Be warned, it was an absolute pain starting with Windows 7 (didn't want to install easily), ended up buying a Windows 8 license with USB media, installed Windows 8 and then did the free upgrade to Windows 10. The OC formula 170 stays fairly cool, has 3 m.2 slots and has tons more overclocking options in the BIOS than I could ever play with. I like that you can check for BIOS updates from within the UEFI interface. There's also a software utility for overclocking in Windows. This is the only board I've bought from Asrock, but I've been very happy with it so far. Generally speaking, the best thing to do with mobos regardless of vendor is wait several months for them to be released. Wait for a revision 1.1 or 2.0 to come out to fix the initial bugs, and also make sure that the thing doesn't have any killer design flaws that even BIOS updates can't fix. When in doubt, read a lot of reviews and don't be an early adopter!