I hate computers!!!

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Lawndart
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I hate computers!!!

Post by Lawndart » Sat Apr 23, 2005 11:19 pm

So, I turn on my computer this morning and..... NADA! Zip, zap, nothing.... Long story short: My harddrive is history along with all backups, 2 years of data, settings and around 60Gb worth of installed software. Don't expect to see #1 airborne anytime soon again. Mid week I go back to work again for 6 straight days, only get 2 off followed by yet another marathon trip... :cry: :cry: :evil: :evil:

I don't know whether somehow I can recover some of the data. Looking in to some MX tomorrow and/or getting a new drive under warranty, but what a PAIN IN THE... :evil: :roll:

Thanks goodness I have my laptop. I'd be going insane without it, although looks like I won't fly for some time... All my TM stuff is history too..... Ahhhhhhhh! :x

LawnDart - Out (for some time)!
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Toast
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Kiss of death

Post by Toast » Sat Apr 23, 2005 11:39 pm

Wow, that.........that sucks! I don't know a whole lot about what does that to a hard drive, but I've had two go on me in the last year or so. Mind you I guess that's what you get when you buy a hard drive from Wal-Mart! Hope you get it all sorted, yay for laptops...........

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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Sat Apr 23, 2005 11:57 pm

Even I know not to buy HDD from Wally World! :lol: None the less, this drive was only 2 mo old and I had recently installed and xfered all my stuff to it. Hadn't gotten around to back any of it up yet and I couldn't have asked for a more inopportune time for this to happen...

God has a sick sense of humor!
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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:27 am

Well, after an evening and night of agony and pulling my hair out and banging my forehead against the monitor, I'm glad to say it's not the HDD itself. I can back my data up! :) Windows got really corrupted though and after researching this, I'm not the only one who's had a problem like this. For me, seems like I can trace it back to 1.1 actually and indirectly relate it to the activation issue (although not ED's fault, I wouldn't be reformatting if it wasn't for StarForce - just had to say that!). I was trying to bypass using another activation by copying and pasting the original installation back whenever I needed to "uninstall" the mod! Well, Windows doesn't like that and without defragging it splits up the allocation tables for the MFT (master file table) and sometimes the boot.in, ntldr and ntdetect gets sent to a 2nd allocation table and not recognized during boot. Something to that effect! Basically your puter stops dead in the water when you try to start it up again. So, the blame actually goes to Microsoft for making such a shitty operating system, but I still wouldn't be doing this if we could have had unlimited installations of 1.1 in the first place either...

Just be aware...

It will still take me a day and a half (around the clock), as well as half a leg and an arm to put everything back together. So, I probably won't have much time to fly anyway. I might just wait until the CD for 1.1 is out and get that now instead since by the time I'm off from work again for any extended period of time it should be released...
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Post by Toast » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:04 pm

Good to hear you won't be losing your stuff! I run win2000pro which seems to be extremely stable (touch wood) and as such I can screw with it pretty badly before it starts to do bad stuff. When you have flightsims, combat sims and all and sundry that usually requires ten million downloads and mods etc etc etc you need something that's going to bear the load!

I'm ordering the CD, Starforce be damned!

First FTD tomorrow, all my flows are down (I hope) and I know what ATTCS means.........AND what it does!! But why do we have to fly five different types of ERJ? :shock:

Later bro, if you're in Houston ever, give me a shout!

Burnt Toast
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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Sun Apr 24, 2005 11:34 pm

I like your sigs! Burnt Toast. :lol: !!!

The 1.1 CD will have SF on it as well, just not the same kind... This one only checks for the CD in the drive while playing. No activation, internet or anything like that required...

Hey, at least you guys have the XR's!!! Too bad you probably have to memorize all limitations for each plane and in pounds too!? Built with Kg's and yet we fly it with Lbs...

Ok, so pop quiz, what does DAU stand for and what would happen if one of them fails and you go to a backup channel? Anything at all?

Also, how can you check that the gear is down if you lose your EICAS? (Even if the reversionary panel doesn't work).

Later bro!
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Post by Toast » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:34 am

Ok, DAU stads for Data Aquisistion Unit. There are two, each having an A and B channel. The A's are powered from the repective Essential buses and the B's are powered from their repective DC buses. Should an A channel fail, say for instance channel 1A, the left side information to the screens wil be lost, as well as forward system information, so you'll see amber dahses through engine no' 1 N1 etc etc. The solution, (AFTER grabbing the QRH!) is to select channel B on the DAU reversionary panel. You'll also get the related master caution on the EICAS, though if you lose channel B it will only be an advisory.

As for the gear, you can bring up some basic information about the gear and other systems on RMU 1 or 2, but it will not state gear up, but simply gear down when it's actually down and locked.

All that, it's 9am and I haven't got any books with me, so apparently something's sinking in! Did I miss anything?

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Post by Lawndart » Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:56 pm

WOW!!! :shock:

Holy cow dude! I was just going to say: Did you bring your encyclopedia until you said you didn't even have any books with ya! That oral will be a walk in the park for you, I can tell! I'm impressed... :D

A few more for ya:
If you get smoke in the cockpit/cabin, would it be a bad idea to turn the engine bleeds off or could it help in eliminating the smell of "burnt toast"?

If you lose generator #2, how many systems would you have in flight and what position would the BTC's have (opened/closed)? (What is their normal position?).

Last one: What is the purpose for the backup battery and where is it located?

I can definitely see that training has had an effect on you already! You've got that firehose hooked up to your brain and it's pouring information into it at an incredible rate!!! :lol:

Lata,
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Toast
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Post by Toast » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:45 pm

Yeah man it's great fun! I love all the systems stuff, but I'm sure that'll change!

Right. Loss of Gen #2 would have very little effect on the systems as I recall, but, depending on whether or not you still have the APU Gen online or not, Bus Tie Connector 1 will close, creating a single electrical system powered by the three remaining generators. The Shed buses will kick offline on three Gens and you'll lose the right side windshield heat, the nose taxi and landing lights, the galley power and lights and a few other things I can't remember! To fix it the APU can be started, restoring power from four gens to the DC buses and reopening BTC1.

The engine bleed question I'm not sure about as we haven't hit the pneumatics or environmental systems yet, but I'm guessing that closing the bleeds may eliminate the source of the smoke. Problem is that the packs need bleed from the engines or APU for pressurization and also to keep a flow of air through the cabin. Truth be told I don't know!

Backup battery powers the backup hot bus and backup essential bus, though the only things that run from the backup hot bus are the EDL, GCU's and the ISIS in the XR. That's about it I think. They're located on the right side of the nose avionics compartment, opposite the inverter. Could be wrong on that one!

My excuse is it's late, but you've given me something to think about!

Later matey,

Stale Toast
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Post by Lawndart » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:37 pm

Well, you are mostly right my man!

3 gens, 1 system, however you still have the shed buses. When you're down to 1 or 2 generators you'll have one system and lose the sheds. Aside from that everything you said is correct!

You DON'T want to turn off the bleeds. Your second hunch was right on the money! The bleeds operate the outflow valve(s) and this is how you need to clear the cabin of smoke (like you said airflow)! Turn off the recirc and packs. When you turn off the packs you'll open the ram-air ducts straight into the cabin. Might be cold, but it will clear the smoke as long as the outflow valves operate.

The main thing the backup battery powers are the GCU's! That's why the backup batt is of importance in the first place. Location is behind a side panel in the nose-wheel compartment.

I'm glad to say we've made some huge improvements as far as our show schedule and time in between maneuvers today! You and Striker will have to hustle a little more next time we do a full show!

Later,
Mowing the Lawn :wink:
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Post by Toast » Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:15 am

Lol! I couldn't remember if it was two or three generators that kicked the shed buses, I guess I had a 50/50 chance, but as always in the oral I'm not gonna try and guess!

So you're flying again! did you get all the issues ironed out? How's the stutter in 1.1, have you managed to figure out the problem?

I'm looking at a few days off after this coming week in which I'm hoping I'll get to go home, in which case I'll be online and hopefully flying, if I can remember how to start the engines!

Right, off to systems again. Played with the FTD for the first time last night, running through the startup flows, man it's cool!

Great to hear that y'all are back up and flying again,

Later,

I'd Like To Propose A Toast
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Post by Lawndart » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:38 pm

We are flying again, however the stutter is still there although reduced now! If I were you I'd hold of on getting 1.1 until they release the CD version in the states. Should be out by Naturalpoint sometime the first week of May. I don't even think 1.1 is available to download anymore, since they ran into problems with that right off the bat and still haven't solved it. Many people haven't been able to get the game yet...

I'd say you picked the right time to go to training, cause hopefully by mid-May we'll have the CD version (a few of us), the mod ready, fly some tryouts and get on with it! Right now has been the slowest period of practice in a long time. When you do get back though, there are many changes. 1.1 feels much better as far as flight model and I find it easier to fly in formation. The fisheye camera angle takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it I think you'll like it! We've changed the procedures quite a bit for the maneuvers and we're able to complete a full loop now within 9-10K at 450 knots. We also started flying with 50% fuel (6,000lbs) which makes the plane behave much more realistically and instead of many power ups or backs I can use gravity and momentum to build speed. The most recent change are the whifferdills (turnarounds) where we no long hang on the blades and almost stall or hammerhead it over, but actually fly a continuous high yo-yo that brings us around an up to speed a lot faster. This will all means much less time in between each maneuver and the only drawback (since it's easier to fly this way with the constant pull and fluidness of combined turn, pull and rolls) is that you don't ever get to rest your right arm. You're constantly in a maneuver or turnaround and after about half the show, you'll feel your arm ready to fall off! That can be worked on though, but the combination of a heavier feel to the plane, more stable platform, less power changes and the ones you do make with a heavier plane carry more momentum, less instantaneous bumps make flying more intuitive (especially if you're a pilot for real). I find the behavior of the plane setup like this transfers to muscle memory a lot faster that any way we've flown before.

Anyhow, hold of on 1.1... or I should say: Pre-order it from Naturalpoint now!!! You'll probably get it mid-May, but we should be ready to go by then and hopefully whenever you get it, we can get you up to speed real fast. Like I said, we haven't practiced much. Mostly me and Burner have worked out new improved ways of flying the few times we've flown, if not just testing settings trying to eliminate stutter. We'll still need a patch for that eventually I assume, but it's at least reduced now with the settings we stumbled upon.

Cya!
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Post by TBT_Piper » Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:15 pm

We all know that this is SF related. I remember something about it causing a hacker vulnerability. :? Good luck numero uno.
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Post by Toast » Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:46 pm

Sounds great LD, I really can't wait to get my hands on the new improved version, and quicker turn arounds/tighter maneuvers will probably make our job as solos a little easier as far as the timing for each pass. Sounds like a definite move in the right direction!

Are you flying all this with the default F-15 model or have you got a workable, if uncoloured, F-16?

Toast (I've run out of ideas!)
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Post by Burner » Wed Apr 27, 2005 12:48 am

Toast,

We have a working version of our mod, however it has to be installed and uninstalled manually. As LOMAN 3 will most likely not be coming anytime soon we're looking into making a self-installer.
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