Man, when things go wrong they really go wrong! Bad news for the Plaza Mayor Webcam. On Saturday night August 8th it went dea, probably the consequence of using a $50 indoor webcam outside for many months even if it weatherproofed "a la Jer" (Seran Wrap and 3 different types of tape ). Anyway, that problem got the ball rolling so on Sunday morning my PC decided to follow suit and die after a balck out in the Plaza Mayor area (with a 400 year old building it we get quite a few black outs).

Bottom line: I am typing this from a cyber caf� near my apartment and my PC is in the shop getting a new motherboard (fried the one I had sue to the blackout and subsequent power surge ). Well, I am in the process of buying a second PC and a new webcam right now (online looking for deals) so hang in there, the webcam should be back up by the weekend (Friday August 17h).

So, when it rains it pours!

Glad my site is so huge that it will take ayone weeks to see the whole thing, so you can take advantage of the webcam downtime and check out the rest of the site (either that or go outside and get soem fresh air!).

Saludos and bear with me, I'm working on it.
jer...

p.d. �aaaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh !

You call that convalescence? Shut down, shut eyes and take a break!!! Hope all of the PC and CAM problems are soon fixed. You have any clever compadres over there to take over for awhile? La novia, por ejemplo? OOps, guess she'd be a comadre(got a hunch this is purely a mejicanismo)

Hola Jeremy

Sorry to hear about your problems. I hope that they are fixed soon.

As I work in the IT industry, I can't help but to suggest that you invest in an UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), and one with software that will automatically shut down your PC and Server correctly. A UPS will also protect against Power Surges and "Brown Outs" which do horrible things to Motherboards etc. I always recommend APC (American Power Conversion) products to all of my Corporate Clients here as I have found their products to be very reliable in extreme conditions. Their Web Site is web page

Blackouts, Brownouts and Power Surges are common problems in old buildings and the only long term solution is a UPS or, at the minimum a Pwer Surge Arrestor which will only protect against some Brownouts and most Pwer Surges, but will not turn off your equipment correctly.

Hope this helps.

David

Hey David, good to see you are still alive buddy, long time no see on the forums.

Thanks for the advice, I had just ordered a new PC for my designing from DELL Spain when I read your message and it was such a coinkinink that I ordered a UPS as well as a surgearest unit with the PC. May be overkill with both but better safe than sorry.

Your insight was right on the "euros" since the frequent black outs and power surges here in the 400+ year old Plaza Mayor were what cuased my motherboard to fry . Live and learn

Another problem was that I was working (major web/graphic design for myself as well as for clients) on the same PC as I have the 24 hour Plaza webcam on so the PC could not take much more. I think I abused it just a wee bit oo much but since I had no other choice economically speaking at the time, I had to do do everything on the same machine.

Ok, a big client came along and has now enabled me to buy a monster PC to use day to day and dedicate my old one 100% to the webcam .

Soon ( a week or so) I will have a LAN with two PCs and another webcam on part time so you all can all see me at work/play as well if you want

As for the PlazaCam, a friend of mine who owns an Internet Caf� here has leant me a basic PC to run the camera off of, can't have all those Madrid lovers out of their Plaza fix can we now!

Saludos,
jer...

Jer,

Glad to see you were able to resolve your problem. I know it's expensive replacing computers, etc. Been there... done that...

In fact, after what happened to you, I decided to invest in a UPS myself. I'll still be using my surge protectors as well. Like you indicated, you just can't get too much protection, especially when it's cheaper than replacing the big stuff.

You might want to set up a special cam for us that focuses on pastries... Needless to say, none of us can get enough of that stuff...

Glad to hear you're still in good spirits despite the set back. Keep on trucking!

JP (Who is unplugging his computer from the currant tree outside his window, and switching over to real electricity!)

Hola Jeremy

Glad to hear that things are turning around for you.

Regarding me not being seen around the Forum for a while it's only because I don't bother to Login unless I have some to say. I'm there almost every day though!!!!

I'm also glad to see that you are getting a UPS for yourself. I do suggest however that you make sure that you can load Management Software on your PC/Server which will allow the UPS to automatically shut down your PC/Server in the event of a Power Outage. If your UPS doesn't have this, it will only keep a constant AC supply to your PC/Server for a limited time and then the Computer will still crash (unless you are present and you can shut it off manually) when the power in the UPS's batteries run out.

What size PC have you bought from DELL???? With what you are doing it should have Pentium IV-1.4Ghz or better CPU and at least 512Mb RAM or better, 40Gb 7,200rpm IDE HDD or 36Gb 10,000 rpm SCSI HDD. If you are considering running a SCSI Hard Drive then I would suggest that you consider using 2 of them in a Mirrored configuration so that if one drive fails then everything continues as before using the data and OS on the second Hard Drive. Are you using anything to back up your Hard Drives. At the very least I recommend a Tape drive such as a Sony Travan or a HP DAT-4. I know it costs money but it also costs money and considerable time to rebuild if you don't have all of your data backed up somehow.

I hope you don't mind this free advice, normally we charge lots of $$$$ for this, but it is just that I wouldn't like seeing what happened to you occur again.

Regards

David

Hey Savage, never underestimate the power of a tree

Hi David, well, I am very appreciative of your advice, just think of it as a free service and your contribution to multimadrid.

Glad to know you do in fact tune in often.

I will check with DELL on that management software deal and see what they offer, if not, can I get the software from a 3rd party dealer? If so, any tips or URLs?

I am not as worried about the PC turning off after the power runs out as I am of the motherboard frying due to surges and/or blackouts which is what has happened this time.

Well, as for the PC I ordered from Dell, you nearly guessed it:

*Pentium IV @ 1.3 GHZ
*256 MB RAM (512 MB of the new RAM for Pentium IV is still prohibitively expensive in Spain for non corporate environments).
*40 GB IDE HD @ 7,200 RPM

Tape drives as back-ups are too expensive for anyone who is not a corporation. I use an Iomega External ZIP (very slow) and a CD writer to back up important docs and files.

As for my needs, I think you should know that I am an individual and not a company and multimadrid (while my passion) is just a hobby so I can not afford to pur a lot of $$$ into it. I do what I can with what I have and the web does not go down when my PC crashes since it is not a web server. I have my site on a web server in the UK. My PC(s) at home are used purely for designing and for the webcam of course.

So, while the new DELL is going to be used only for my work (design, etc), my old PC (a year old) that I got back today with a new motherboard will be used exclusively for the webcam. Here is the config that I was told is more than enough to simply run the webcam:

*AMD K7 @ 750 MHZ
*128 MB RAM (DIMM)
*12 GB HD @ 5,200 RPM

So, not sure what you meant when you advised me on the config for the new DELL. When you said "With what you are doing...", did you think I ran my own web server?

I think that config is overkill for my graphic/web designing. The one I have ordered should be more than enough.

Also got the 3 year in-situ next day technical service form DELL as it may be a lifesaver.

So, thanks again for the advice. I will soon have the 2 PCs on a LAN with surgearrest strips and a UPS for each. Hopefully all will go smoothly from here on in.

Any further advice is, of course, greatly appreciated

This is all a learning experience for me but that is the price I have to pay to have the best Madrid Website on the www

Saludos,
jer...

Hey Jer, good to have you back up and running so to speak. I dont know much about computers or rather their make up, but it sounds a pretty good system you have bought. I dont know much about power surges or lack of, but I have a surge controlled 4 way plug system that is supposed to proctect my computer from frying, do you have similar plug sockets for yours?
Sue .(who has no idea at all)

Hola Jeremy

I'm back at work, which is where I do most of my "personal" web browsing. We are online 24/7 and it doesn't cost me, as opposed to my connection at home.

Regarding the management software, it usually depends on the Manufacturer of the UPS as to whether they produce one for their products or not, plus there is usually a special cable that comes with it to connect to the PC and is product specific. ie you can't go to your friendly Computer store and get one off the shelf like a Printer cable. Also, any 3rd party products that I have so far come across are not very good at all.

I can understand the cost problem, especially for Pentium IV RAM. In 6 months time it will be a lot cheaper. I'm pleased to see that you are using some form of backup system. You can't be too careful. If you are looking for a faster backup, and you are happy with the Zip Drive then I suggest that you up-grade to a 250Mb IOMEGA Internal IDE ATAPI Zip Drive which has a maximum Data transfer rate of 120Mb/minute as opposed to the maximum 25Mb/minute that you get now. It is by far the cheapest up-grade to get a faster and larger backup.

I guessed that you may be hosting your Web-site elsewhere, but I wasn't 100% sure. You are correct on the configuration for the Web-Cam and, from the Specifications of your new PC, and with what you are definately going to be doing with it, then you will be OK for a long time. Just one thing though, is there room for future up-gradability such as additional RAM, a larger HDD and/or a better Video Card????

And please, just consider this free advise as my contribution to a better MultiMadrid Site.

Hasta Luego

David

Hey David, jer again.

Well, after a bit of a battle with the old PC and the webcam mess, at the risk of jixing myself I will dare to say that all is well here at multimadrid HQ The webcam was only down for 2 days (knock on wood!).

New PC is great and the old one is only running the webcam 24/7 so it has been behaving lately. I did not lose any info on the old PC since it was a motherboard problem and not the HD so all is safe. I now have the 2 PCs on a LAN and it is running smoothly. The UPS is very cool but did not come with any software so if the power goes off and the battery runs down, the PC will crash anyway but I am not worried since the power outages here inthe Plaza only tend to last a few minutes and I have 15-20 minutes of batter life in my UPS so the power always returns before the battery runs out and it is as if nothing ever happened.

I also now make weekly back-ups of my important work on CD-ROM.

The new PC is a DELL and yes, I can upgrade memory to a max of 1024MB. My HD is 40Gigs @ 7,200RPM so I do not think I will need anything bigger but I can upgrade if need be.

Thanks again for all your great advice

Saludos,
jer...

Hi again Jeremy

Its good to see that the UPS is working OK. A pity about the Management Software but if you can tell me the brand, size and Model Number of the UPS I'll do a bit of research for you and see if there is any available. You are correct about the battery life being almost sufficient but if you experience a longer outage than 15 minutes then problems can come with sudden stopping of Hard Drives and Applications.

Re the 40Gb HDD being sufficient. Give it time and you may find that all of a sudden you run out of space. However, seeing as how you are cutting a backup to CD, this is always a good way of gaining space by storing important data and Photos etc away from your Hard Drive. You can always access them if and when you need them. At work I don't have that problem, due to Mega-Gb Hard Drives on our Servers (and backed up to Tape every night), but at home I back up to Zip Disk and store important Documents, Photos etc on CD. With a storage life of 100 years on the CD, I think that the data will outlast both me and my children.

Saludos

David