CONTACTS 
0201 - Chips & Technologies, Inc            408 765 8080
020101 - Mr. Morris E. Jones; Sr. Vice President  =408 545 9521
0202 - Mountain Computer Engineering        415 263 1990 fax or 800...
020201 - Mr. Bradley J. Schwab; Director of Engineering  =Telephone
020202 - Engineering Department

SUBJECTS
Property Management, Computer #8
RAM Sluggish, Crashing

0504 -    ..
0505 - Summary/Objective
0506 -
050601 - Follow up ref SDS 8 0000, ref SDS 7 0000.
050602 - ..
050603 - Called Mountain Computer, who fixed CPU8 in June, to diagnose
050604 - new problem.  Will get quote for replacement.  Since local phone lines
050605 - cannot support 56K modem transmission, Mountain Computer quoted a
050606 - price to provide DSL service.
050607 -
050608 - Submitted ref DIT 1 0000 to Bill Long at Kwan Henmi, linked to this
050609 - record with information on DSL, which he is investigating. ref SDS 0
050610 - 4456
050611 -
050612 -     [On 981030 Bill reviewed Mountain Computer's quote, and plans to
050613 -     investigate further. ref SDS 11 0649]
050614 -
050615 -     [On 981030 notified Mountain Computer of status. ref SDS 12 0000]
050616 -
0507 -
0508 -
0509 - Discussion
0510 -
051001 -  ..
051002 - CPU08 Seems to be Slowing Down, Recovery Methods Not Working
051003 -
051004 - Explained problem with sluggish performance.
051005 -
051006 - After discussion, Brad explained the operating system can slow down,
051007 - if the computer is shut down without using the W95 Shut Down function.
051008 - Files that are open at the time of shut down, get corrupted.
051009 -
051010 - I explained we have been forced the past several months to boot the
051011 - computer without using the system shutdown procedure, because the
051012 - operating system fails when we leave the Internet program.
051013 -
051014 -      [On 981112 purchased new system. ref SDS 14 7611]
051015 -
051016 - Brad suggested running scandisk and defrag to try and restore any
051017 - damaged operating system files.
051018 -
051019 - He suggested checking the capacity of the hard disk.  We checked and
051020 - found drive c: has 400 MB free.  He feels this shows that limited disk
051021 - capacity for exchanging operating system files is not the cause of
051022 - poor performance.
051023 -
051024 - Brad said that the only solution is to install the operating system
051025 - and all of our programs.
051026 -
051027 - This takes a huge amount of time, and a lot of programs have been
051028 - updated from updates over the Internet, so it would not be possible to
051029 - restore them to their current version by using the original media we
051030 - have on our applications.
051031 -
051032 -
051033 -      ..
051034 -     Remedial Efforts Failed
051035 -
051036 -     After completing this call, I ran scan disk and defragged all of
051037 -     our drives.  One or two drives reported finding defective files
051038 -     and that the files were fully restored.  These were not on the I
051039 -     drive, however, where the operating system is installed.  Scandisk
051040 -     did not find errors on drive I.
051041 -
051042 -     Drive I where the operating system is installed was using about
051043 -     99% of the disk space, so lack of space on I may be the cause of
051044 -     our problem.  I also called Morris at Chips and Technologies, and
051045 -     he made the same suggestion about checking for limited disk space.
051046 -
051047 -     I deleted some backup index files, which are very large, and this
051048 -     reduced usage of drive I to about 75%, leaving over 100MB free.
051049 -
051050 -     These measures, however, do not seem to have improved performance
051051 -     of CPU08.
051052 -
051053 -     Later recognized that autoexec.bat assigns temp directories to
051054 -
051055 -                          e: 00 01
051056 -                          e: 00 02
051057 -
051058 -        ...since drive e: now has less than 60MB free, we could have
051059 -        been experiencing difficulities if memory was being swapped
051060 -        into these directories.
051061 -
051062 -        I changed the temp directories to drive h: which has plenty of
051063 -        room.
051064 -
051065 -
051066 -
051067 -
0511 -

SUBJECTS
Procurement, Computers
Modems
DSL High Speed Transmission System
Internet Access

0907 -
090701 -  ..
090702 - Discussed Replacement Computer for CPU08
090703 -
090704 - I explained another solution is buy a new computer and start fresh
090705 - with the vendor doing the configuration.
090706 -
090707 - Brad said that Mountain Computers builds custom computers. He asked if
090708 - they could quote a price for a machine?
090709 -
090710 - I asked him to price the following...
090711 -
090712 -                400 MHz
090713 -
090714 -           90 - 128 MB RAM
090715 -
090716 -             6 - 10 GB
090717 -
090718 -                 16 MB video RAM
090719 -
090720 - He can give us a 21" monitor for $1,200.
090721 -
090722 -     [On 981030 sent Mountain Computer letter. ref SDS 12 0000]
090723 -
090724 -
090725 -  ..
090726 - 56K Modem Transmissions Not Effective in SF Area
090727 -
090728 - I asked about getting better Internet access if we get a 56K modem
090729 - rather than 28.8, in light of poor phone lines in the area?
090730 -
090731 - Brad said that in this area a 56K modem is not of much value because
090732 - the phone lines are old and so do not provide the thru-put required to
090733 - support consistent 56K transmission.
090734 -
090735 -
090736 -  ..
090737 - DSL Costs $175/M, $1K for Setup
090738 -
090739 - Brad said that if reliable higher speed service is really important
090740 - then DSL should be considered.
090741 -
090742 - I explained consideration being given by Kwan Henmi to using DSL,...
090743 - ref SDS 9 1100, and asked Brad if he has any actual experience with
090744 - it?
090745 -
090746 -     [On 000401 signed up for Pac Bell DSL serivice. ref SDS 15 4096
090747 -
090748 -     [On 000515 performance of DSL degrades over time. ref SDS 16 0001
090749 -
090750 -     [On 000523 reviewed performance of DSL. ref SDS 17 0001
090751 -
090752 - Brad said that Mountain Computers is an ISP and they sell and support
090753 - DSL service.
090754 -
090755 - I asked about cost.
090756 -
090757 - He said it costs $175/month for one or many computers, plus $1K for
090758 - installation.  There might be an additional $80 charge if it is
090759 - necessary to run a special telephone line at our apartment complex.
090760 -
090761 - For web space, they charge $30 per month for 20 MB, and they charge
090762 - $10 per month to host a domain name.  This is higher than our cost of
090763 - $434 per year for 100M at JPS. ref SDS 5 6819  But, JPS has reliablity
090764 - problems, reported by District Counsel on 981027 at USACE in reviewing
090765 - Communication Metrics on the web, ref SDS 10 7315
090766 -
090767 - Brad advised that since we already have a domain name with JPS, it
090768 - would be cheaper for us to stay with them.  We can use Mountain
090769 - Internet access with our account remaining at JPS.  If reliability is
090770 - a problem with JPS, due to congestion and inadequate capacity, we can
090771 - transfer our data to Mountain Computer's servers.
090772 -
090773 - If we sign up, Mountain Computer notifies the phone company to provide
090774 - a dedicated line.  A technician would come to the Golden Gateway and
090775 - select a free cable (Brad seemed to indicate there are always a number
090776 - of extra cables available in an apartment complex) for our use as a
090777 - dedicated DSL Internet access line.
090778 -
090779 - A connection hub would be installed on the wall and it would be
090780 - connected with a plug-in cable to a router.  The router is then
090781 - connected to our network card, with conventional plug compatible
090782 - cables.
090783 -
090784 - Upon discussion, the network we have is adequate, otherwise Mountain
090785 - Computer would install a network card in our computer.
090786 -
090787 - The system then provides on-line 24 hours per day access to the
090788 - Internet.
090789 -
090790 - We do not need any special software.  W95 network applications are
090791 - adequate, which is the procedure JPS uses, also. ref SDS 5 6345
090792 -
090793 -    Sent Bill Long ref DIT 1 0000 so he can see information on DSL,
090794 -    following up discussion on 981023. ref SDS 9 1100
090795 -
090796 -     [On 981030 Bill reviewed Mountain Computer's quote, and plans to
090797 -     investigate further. ref SDS 11 0649]
090798 -
090799 -     [On 981030 sent Mountain Computer letter. ref SDS 12 0000]
090800 -
090801 -     [On 981110 Mountain Computer submitted quotation. ref SDS 13 1248]
090802 -
090803 -
090804 -
090805 -
090806 -
090807 -
090808 -