Category Archives: Tech Devices

How to Make Windows Use Dedicated Graphics Card

Problem:

You have a laptop with 2 graphic cards: one is built-in graphics card (e.g. Intel(R) UHD Graphics), and the other is a dedicated graphics card (e.g. NVIDIA Quadro P520).

However it seems that Windows does NOT use the dedicated graphics card.

Verification:

You can verify this issue by

  1. Opening a video file, then
  2. Opening Task Manager,
  3. Going to Performance tab, and
  4. Checking the percent usage of GPU 0 (i.e. Intel(R) UHD Graphics) and GPU 1 (i.e. NVIDIA Quadro P520).
Solution:
  1. Open Device Manager and uninstall the dedicated graphics card driver.
  2. Go to https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us.
  3. Set Product Series to Quadro Series (Notebooks).
  4. Set Product to Quadro P520.
  5. Set Operating System to Windows 10 64-bit.
  6. Click the SEARCH button.
  7. Download and install the latest driver.
  8. That’s all. Please do let Windows automatically select a graphic processor for a task to avoid potential performance issues.
    Typically Windows only uses a dedicated graphics card for heavy graphics tasks.

 

Why Can’t You Install Windows 11 on Your Laptop?

Issue:

You have a laptop.
You want to install Windows 11 on the laptop.
However you got an unexpected error saying that you should visit https://aka.ms/WindowsSysReq for detail.
You visited the page but you are unsure what actually happened.

Solution:
  1. The first common reason is that you do not have TPM 2.0 hardware.

    Open Settings Update & Security > Windows Security > Device Security
    – If you do not see a Security processor section on this screen your PC may have a TPM that is disabled.
    – If you do see a Security processor section on this screen then click Security processor details, and verify that your TPM Specification sub-version is 2.0.
    If it is less than 2.0, your device does not meet the Windows 11 requirements.

    Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.

    Trusted Platform Module provides
    – A hardware random number generator,
    – Facilities for the secure generation of cryptographic keys for limited uses.

    Usually you can enable or disable TPM in the BIOS of your laptop.
    If you have TPM 1.2, you can often update it to 2.0 by following the guide of your laptop providers. For example if you have a Dell laptop then you can check the guide here.

    If you get “The TPM is Owned.” issue when updating TPM 1.2 to 2.0 then you can check a guide here. (Press F12 after your laptop is reboot.)

  2. The second common reason is that your laptop processor has not been supported by Windows 11.

    Open Settings > System > (scroll down if needed) >  About.
    Search for processor name, e.g. i7-10610U.
    You should find your processor name here if it is supported. For example the Xeon E3-1505M processor has not been supported.

  3. You can also download PC Health Check app to verify these 2 issues or identify other potential issues.

  4. If you plan to install a fresh Windows 11 from an USB then you can ignore the processor support requirement.

 

 

How to Reconfigure ASUS Modem Wi-Fi Router

Issue:

You have an ASUS modem Wi-Fi router.
You already configured it in the past. Now you want to reconfigure it but you cannot access it via http://router.asus.com/.
You already tried to restart the router several times but the problem still persists.

Solution:
  1. Perform a hard reset of the router.
  2. Connect to the default 5G Wi-Fi network of the router.
  3. Go to http://router.asus.com/.
  4. Check and update the firmware.
  5. Reconfigure the router.

Note: If you configure the LAN information of the router manually then remember to set up an IP address for DNS Server1 (e.g. 8.8.8.8)  and DNS Server2 (e.g. 8.8.4.4).

 

How to Fix iPhone Internet Connection Issue

Problem:

You iPhone can connect to a Wi-Fi router.
The Wi-Fi router does have an Internet connection. Other devices can connect to the Internet using this Wi-Fi router.
However you iPhone cannot connect to Internet.

Verification:
  1. Tap on Settings, then tap on Wi-Fi.
  2. Tap on the Wi-Fi network name.
  3. Scroll down to IPV4 ADDRESS section.
  4. Ensure that Configure IP = Automatic, IP Address = 169.X1.X2.X3 (X1, X2, X3 can be any number), Subnet Mask = 255.255.0.0, and Router may be empty.
Solution:
  1. Reboot the Router.
  2. If the problem still persists then please reset your iPhone by tapping on Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

 

 

How to Convert M4A to WAV File on macOS

Motivation:

You have downloaded some M4A audio files.

You want to extract convert them to WAV files to listen to them in other devices that do not support playing M4A files.

Procedure:

  • In the Music app on your Mac, choose Music > Preferences, then click Files.
  • Copy the path of Music Media folder location. (An example path is Macintosh HD/Users/admin/Music/Music/Media.)
  • Click the Import Settings… button.
  • In the Import Using pop-up menu, set Import Using = Wav Encoder, then click OK to save the settings.
  • Drag M4A files to the Music app.
  • Select songs in your library, then click File > Convert > Create WAV Version.
  • Go to your library folder (i.e. the Music Media folder location) and copy the WAV files to other devices.
  • Delete the M4A files from your library.

How to Convert MP4 or MKV File to MP3 or M4A File

Motivation:

You have downloaded some MP4 or MKV video files.

You want to extract audio parts so that you could copy them to your iPhone to listen to them while turning off the display of your phone.

Procedure:

  • Download this portable application to your Windows.
  • Unzip the files to a location.
  • Open Mp4ToMp3_64.exe.
  • Click on the Add files button to add MP4 or MKV files to the application.
  • If you want to extract the original audio (for example the M4A format) then select Try extract original audio stream option below the Audio section on the right panel.
  • Click the Convert button.
  • Copy the MP3 or M4A files to your phone.

This procedure can be used for extracting audio from M4B (Apple audiobook file format) file to M4A or MP3 file too.

 

How to Install a Clean iOS

Motivation:

You want to sell or give away your iPhone. You want to ensure that the new owner will not access any of your data.

You may also need to give your iPhone to a technician to fix the broken display of your iPhone. You want to ensure that the technician cannot access any of your data.

You may also have so many buggy applications on your iPhone and want to increase stability and performance of your iOS.

Procedure:

  • Import your Photos to a MacBook.
  • Create a backup of data. It is best to let your iPhone synchronize everything with iCloud, including Photos and Contacts.
  • Turn off Find My iPhone.
  • Plug your iPhone to a MacBook.
  • Open Finder. Click on your iPhone on the left panel.
  • Click Restore iPhone… button.
  • Click Backup button.
  • Click Restore and Update button. Click Next button. Click Agree button.
  • Follow the instructions to install a clean iOS to your iPhone.

Post Installation Configuration:

  • Setup your iPhone.
  • Activate your iPhone.
  • Setup Face ID.
  • Restore your Apps & Data from iCloud backup.
  • Synchronize music to your iPhone.
  • Go to Settings > Generals > Software Update > Automatic Updates. Turn off Automatic Updates.
  • Go to Settings > Generals > Display & Brightness > Text Size. Drag the slider to the right to increase text size.
  • Go to Settings > Messages. Enable iMessage.

How to Completely Remove a Book from Your Kindle Device

Motivation:

You have a book in your Kindle application (in your iPhone). You want to completely remove it.

Solution:

1. Press and hold the book title and remove the book from your device (e.g. your iPhone).

2. Login your Amazon account.

3. Search for the Manage Your Content and Devices link.

4. Go to Manage Your Content and Devices.

5. Select Books or Docs beside the Show label.

6. Select the book and click Delete button.

7. On your device (e.g. your iPhone) scroll down to refresh your Kindle books.

How to increase your Wi-Fi connection speed

Problem:

You have a slow Wi-Fi connection speed.

You want to increase your Wi-Fi connection speed.

Solution:

Execute below command on Windows:

netsh wlan show interface
  • If your Signal is less than 20% then try to increase your Wi-Fi signal strength by moving your device closer to your Wi-Fi router.
  • If you cannot change your device and Wi-Fi router location then try connecting your Wi-Fi router to another Wi-Fi router (Wi-Fi extender) that acts as a new access point using LAN cable.
  • If you cannot use a LAN cable then try connecting your router to a Wi-Fi repeater that is closer to your device.
  • If your Radio type is 802.11n then try to upgrade both your device and router to support 802.11ac.
  • Try to upgrade your Wi-Fi router to support 5 GHz band.
  • Try to upgrade your Wi-Fi router to support MU-MIMO (which stands for Multi-User, Muliple Input, Multiple Output).
  • Compare Receive rate (Mbps) and Transmit rate (Mbps) before and after making a change.
  • Use Speedtest to compare your Wi-Fi connection speed before and after making a change.

How to Fix the Dell Laptop “Hard Drive Not Installed” issue

Problem:

Suddenly, when turning your Dell laptop on you get the error message “Hard drive Not installed” and cannot boot into Windows.

Solution:
  1. Power your laptop and quickly press F2 key to enter BIOS.
  2. Expand System Configuration node.
  3. Click SATA Operation.
  4. Select AHCI option.
  5. Click Apply button.
  6. Click Exit button.
  7. If the problem still persists then restore BIOS settings to Default BIOS settings, then try the procedure again.
More information:
  • PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. It is the common motherboard interface for personal computers’ graphics cards, hard drives, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections.
  • NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open logical-device interface specification for accessing non-volatile storage media attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. By its design, NVM Express allows host hardware and software to fully exploit the levels of parallelism possible in modern SSDs. As a result, NVM Express reduces I/O overhead and brings various performance improvements relative to previous logical-device interfaces, including multiple long command queues, and reduced latency.
  • Serial ATA (SATA, abbreviated from Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives.
  • The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets. AHCI is mainly recommended for SSDs that have better NVMe drivers from their factories.
  • RAID (“Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks” or “Redundant Array of Independent Disks“) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both.