MynaG's Bits n Bytes

If you happen to have installed a new firefox extension or addon to realize to your dismay that after restarting firefox you find that something is amiss. Yes, that’s right, your bookmark toolbar that has serve you so well has gone MIA (aka missing in action).
Well, you are in luck, because here’s a few simple steps to get your toolbar back.

1. If you see an empty toolbar at the top of the firefox, you can skip this step. Otherwise, right click at the any space on the menu bar of the firefox. A pop-up menu will appear showing a list of toolbar with ticks on the left. Make sure you have tick on the left of Bookmarks toolbar or you can select it to make the bookmark toolbar visible.

   

2. Right click again on the menu bar of the firefox and click <Customize…>

   
   

3. On the Customize toolbar window, look for the <Bookmarks> icon. Note there appears to be two bookmarks button. Select the one that looks like a blank page (Not the one that looks like a book with a star on it).

   

4. Hold it and drag onto the empty toolbar and release.

   
   

5. Viola, your bookmark toolbar is back!

   

The problem:

Current configuration:

• Nushere PhpEd version 5.6 upgraded from 5.2
• PHP 5.2.8 and above
• Windows XP and above
• Apache 2.2

If you have just recently upgraded your NuSphere PhpEd from version 5.2 to version 5.6, you may have problem getting the PhpED’s debugger module to work. In my case, it prompted me the following message when I clicked on the “Run in debugger” mode.

I ran the phpinfo() to verify the debugger version number that is currently running on my machine and here’s what I got.

As indicated, the phpinfo() shows that version 3.2.10 is the current version of the debugger which is not the right version (3.6) that comes with Nusphere PhpED version 5.6.

The solution:

In the NuSphere PhpEd version 5.6 installation, in addition to the PhpEd IDE installation, it also comes along with two PHP packages, PHP4 and PHP5. The selected PHP package installed is a separate copy to the one you already have installed in your system.

1. Stop your Web server, Apache services or IIS, to allow files to be copied to the php’s folder.
2. Locate the PhpEd installation directory and look for the “extensions” folder located within the PhpED’s copy of the PHP installation. For example, if you have leave the installed folder as default and you have selected to install PHP 5, the extension’s folder path will be “C:\Program Files\nusphere\phped\php5\extensions”.
3. Look for the file dbg-php-5.2.dll. Copy the file and paste it in the extension folder of your installed PHP. The extension folder of my actual php installation is located in “c:\php528\ext” and that is where I copied my file to. You may also remove the old debugger module file php_dbg.dll-5.2.x.
4. Open and edit the php.ini in of the your actual php installation. Search for the text “extension=php_dbg.dll-5.2.x“. Replace the text with “extension=dbg-php-5.2.dll” without the quote. If you have never enable the PhpEd’s debugger, just add the latter in.
5. Restart your Web Server.
6. Run the phpinfo(), you should now see version 3.6 at the dbg section.

A friend of mine recently asked for my help to install his new Linksys WAG160N Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N ADSL2+ Modem Router. All in all, he has 5 computers in his home, 4 laptops running on XP professional and a multimedia desktop running on Vista (not my favorite OS), to be connected on a wireless network.

After completing the installation and configuration of the modem router, all the XP machines connected perfectly. The Vista desktop however connected successfully once and failed subsequently after restart. The wireless connection status display “Connected with Limited access”.

Here’s a couple of steps to follow.

1. Have you connect to the correct SSID ( The name of your wireless network)?
   If yes, go to step 2.

   Be sure to set your router’s default SSID to a unique name, especially one that is different from those around your neighbourhood. This will reduce the chance that you might be connecting to someone else’s wireless network. Refer to your router’s manual on how to change the default SSID.Still connected with limited access? Go to the next step 2.

2. If your wireless network is secured with WEP or WPA encryption, have you set the correct key or password?
   If yes, go to step 3.

   If you have set a 64 bit or 128 bit password key, there is an especially high chance you might keyed in the wrong key. Type the key/password onto a windows notepad (Type “notepad” at the Run Command box) and check it with the correct one. Copy and paste into the wireless network profile’s WEP/WPA password/key.

   Still connected limited access? Go to the next step 3.

3. Have you update the latest Vista service pack?
   If yes, go to step 4.

   Microsoft claim the problem occur with Vista machine when it uses a network bridge to access the network. Follow the instructions at the Microsoft websites to obtain the latest patch. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791/.

   Still connected with limited access? Go to the next step 4.

4. Assign a static IP. This is the last and final step that might fix this issue if the above steps doesn’t. After you have selected and clicked on your wireless network to connect, the connection status initially displayed “Acquiring IP address” and a few seconds later displayed “Connected with limited access”, then it is most likely the Vista machine has a problem getting the correct IP address or DNS server address from the router.Here’s how you set the static IP address. Get another computer with a successful wireless connection. If you do not have one, wire connect the computer to the router with a network cable which usually comes packed with the router.
   1. Click the START orb and type “cmd” in the Run Command box and click OK
      (If you do not see the Run command, here’s some help)
   2. At the DOS command window prompt, type: ipconfig /all.
      You should see something like the following:Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1F-D0-A0-DE-D2
      Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
      Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
      IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.12
      Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
      Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
      DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
      DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.156.1.78
      202.156.1.68
      218.186.1.88
      Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, September 11, 2009 1:09:31 A
      M
      Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, September 11, 2009 2:09:31 A
      M

      Think of a different last 2 or 3 digits for the IP address (eg. 192.168.0.101 — 101 is the last 2/3 digits of the IP address). Check to ensure this IP address is not being used by any other computers by typing the following: ping 192.168.0.XXX at the command prompt where XXX is the last 2 or 3 digits of the IP address. If the result shows “Request time out.”, it usually means the IP address is available for static IP assignment.

      Note down the new IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS Servers.

   3. Now, go into the Wireless Properties and then click on the wireless name/SSID entry. Click on Properties button and in the list box, select IPv4 and click Properties. Select “Use the following IP address”, enter the IP address, Subnet mask, Default Gateway accordingly. Also select “Use the following DNS server addresses” and enter the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server accordingly. Click Ok to complete the static IP configuration.
   4. Disconnect any network cable if any from the Vista machine. Select your wireless SSID and reconnect again. See if this works for you.

I hope these help.