How to fix: "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria"

I ran in to an odd new error, odd to me anyways, when attempting to install Microsoft Windows Vista Premium Edition (though I believe this is independent of the version):

Problem: "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria"

After googling for an answer, I ran across several complaints from users trying to promote their machine from a Vista release candidate (RC) to the RTM (Release Edition). Nothing clearly pointed at what the problem was for me so I wanted to post this for anyone else who might have run into this issue.

Fix: Insure the hard disk you're attempting to install to is the primary and is the first in your BOOT SELECT ORDER. Some of the MSDN steps to resolve include making sure you are not attempting to install to a DYNAMIC disk, or a disk which has a bad boot loader.

That's it! Hope that helps you, Good Luck!

Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM Crashed

My Western Digital 10,000 RPM hard disk drive called it quits today. It lasted less than 18 months, which isn't real good by just about anyones standards, even for an IDE HDD (Hard Disk Drive). I was quite disappointed when I looked up the warranty status on Western Digital's site and found the drive was no longer under manufacturer warranty.

I browsed my email for the latest Newegg.com "specials" email and found a cheap replacement drive. I decided on a Seagate to replace the WD (model ST3250410AS), and while this spins about 2,800 RPM's slower, (at 7,200), the 16MB buffer and strong user ratings make me think I'll not be disappointed. I noticed that there weren't many 10K RPM SATA/ATA disk drives listed on Newegg's site, it makes me wonder if WD is a bit ahead of things.

Lesson learned. Fortunately I backup my data and system files religiously (using Windows Vista's new "bare metal" restore functionality), now moving on...

Configuring TVersity Media Server with PlayStation 3

I recently configured TVersity to stream video's, music, and pictures to my new PlayStation 3. In the process, I ran into a couple hangups, and here's one that you might encounter. Hope this helps!

Problem:
I learned how to browse the Library (of course, my learning here was the problem). The problem I had was when I clicked on some movies, I'd get an error back saying this: Error loading this video, please make sure TVersity is running, the video exists and can be converted to a flash video. Are you missing a directshow filter? (see screenshot below).



Just a few notes about my setup:

• Athlon 3700, 2GB RAM
• nVidia 6800 GPUs
• Windows Vista, Premium Edition
• TVersity Version 0.9.10.7

After the initial installation and configuration, I tried to launch TVersity. All worked fine, I figured out how to add content - it's actually pretty simple once you navigate around the application...

Workaround:
Check to see if the media server is able to render the video on your PS3. In my case, it was. This error was being displayed on my computer console only.

Can't get a good game for the PS3?

Woohoo! I finally landed a PS3. I've been thinking about getting one for a while but never managed to bring myself to my local Best Buy and shell out the six hundred bucks, finally someone else did. But, that was right after Sony decided to discount the discontinued 60gb PS3 by $100. Great deal, so long as GT4 still works on it.

This wedding gift will surely go to good use. But as a gaming console? Well, you'll have to wait and see.

So naturally I went looking for a good game and quickly realized there's nothing out there that I'd be willing to blow hours and hours playing. In fact, take a look for yourself... according to gamespot.com, here are the top rated PS3 games. A few good ones, but the list is lacking the big blockbuster games -- don't you think? Like Halo (for XBOX), Gran Turismo (for PS2), or Final Fantasy.

So this isn't something that's going unnoticed by the PS3 console owners. No doubt Sony is feeling a great deal of pain, and especially after the Grand Theft Auto IV delay (until March or April of 2008). This, after the delay of GT4, will hardly offset whatever increase they see in units sold with the price reduction of the 60gb model. Game Publisher Take Two has got to be feeling some pressure, especially now that the new management team is in place.

I've decided I'm going to hold off for a bit and play rented games. Like VirtuaFighter 5. I rented it from my local BlockBuster for only $5.99 (Woohoo! Ripoff!). By the way, this Blockbuster happens to be one of the BlockBuster's not participating in stocking Blue-ray Hi Def movies. Watch out for this Blockbuster on Kanan and Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Agoura Hills.

Home buyers in Southern California, Preparing for the rebound?

Are you waiting for signs the time is right? I can tell you that I'm constantly on the lookout for signs that will help me conjure the foresight to know when to buy. I could act as a walking, talking Zillow service for my local zip code.

Frankly, I don't care (as much) if home prices stabilize or if we're looking down the barrel of another 36 months of declining prices, so long as I know which happens to be the course. I am not a physic and frankly I don't invest much in others crystal balls either, but I can tell you that if you watch the basics you should be fine. I listed a few things that I've applied that might help you out in your search too.

The largest US lender, Countrywide, CEO Angelo Mozilo says his gut is telling him that housing will remain sluggish through the rest of this year, next year, and begin to "head in the right direction" in 2009. believes the decline will last until late 2008, and not to expect a rebound before then.

So, here's what I think you can do. Research - and guess what - a little more research. A few metrics I'm using as guiding principles:

1. Home inventory. This is the supply. How long would the homes on market take to sell at the rate they're selling? A good indication of oversupply is 9+ months, an under supply is less than 90 days.
2. Watch the days on market. This is the demand. How long is it taking the average home to sell? Is this decreasing?
   
   ...And then watch a couple things that require a bit more research and gut feeling.
3. Ask, what do the experts think? A good resource for this is RealtyTimes.com.
4. Watch for whether sellers are acting desperate. Keeping an eye on the homes for sale in your area, and through the sale, can be the best way to measure this.

Now, perhaps a bit overdue, here's a bit of background on my situation. My wife and I have been looking for a place to live for about a year. It's hard to look and not take things very seriously, for a couple reasons. First, today's market conditions are more encouraging for home buyers, more so anyway than at any point in the past few years. Considering that we need a place to call home, it feels like we're looking at brand name merchandise on the discount rack. The obvious problem is we don't know how long the store will keep it on the rack. Second, the analytical side of me is telling saying all this window-shopping we're doing is really just research, and I don't have enough data to make a decision. The fact is, I'll never have enough data to not feel a little uncomfortable entering into such a large purchase.

We're looking for a place to call home, and while we do own a house, the reality is that we aren't your traditional homeowner. Reason is, we can't live in the house that we do own and while we rent a decent two-bedroom condo, and it's just the two of us living in it, we're looking for more to call the home we can live in for the next 5+ years.

We have a few things working for us. There's some equity in the house in Arizona which should help leverage a purchase here in California. Second, we have a little saved away, stable jobs, decent income, and our credit is pretty good. I think the last inquiry on the FICA scale registered around 750. With lenders clamping up on their requirements this may still be, just enough.

Honeymoon in Hawaii!

Yes, our Honeymoon in Hawaii has come and gone! I recapped some of the highlights of our trip and activities, hopefully this will give you some ideas for your upcoming trip. We were in Hawaii from July 22-30, and stayed in Ko Olina (on the west side of the island) the first 5 nights and in Waikiki the remainder of our time at the Outrigger.

Below is our trip at a glance, click the Day link to read on more and see pictures.

Arrival (22nd)
Day 1 - Resort arrival, sunset Yoga, and Azul Restaurant.
Day 2 - Resort Spa, Aqua class, and a full day in the sun
Day 3 - Aloha Stadium swap meet, Dole plantation, Matsimoto's and the Dinner buffet at the Ihilani
Day 4 - Hanging out at the Lagoon followed by the Paradise Cove Luau
Day 5 - Checked in to Outrigger, window shopping on Kalakaua Avenue and the International Marketplace followed by dinner at Chuck's Steakhouse
Day 6 - Kuoaloa Ranch, Sushi dinner at San Sei in Waikiki
Day 7 - Surf competition, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and dinner in Kapolei with Family
Departing Honolulu (28th)

Honeymoon in Hawaii, Day seven

We will remember dinner at SanSei for a while. Good atmosphere, food, and service. Here's what one of our Sushi dishes looked like.

On our last whole day left in Hawaii, we planned to rent a car and take it up to Diamond Head and parasail. Seemed like a good plan, problem was Waikiki had very few available cars, and I didn't want to spend $150 to rent a Crossfire for a half day.

Based on our experiences the past couple days, Waikiki is just a bit too busy for us. Going from the resort lifestyle to Waikiki required too much adjusting. I'm sure we'll consider spending time on another island next time, either Maui or maybe Hawaii, the big island.

We ended up coming back to the Outrigger, which by the way was quite disappointing last night in terms of noise level. The paper thin walls and poorly designed plumbing from adjacent rooms kills any chance of getting quality rest at night. Our plan: to get on the sail boat tour, or take surf lessons. Guess what, surf lessons were sold out and the sail boat we planned to tour on was reserved for a private party until much later in the day. Things weren't going our way, but we weren't going to let it get us down so we rented a couple inflatable rafts (for about $10, nothing is cheap) and drifted on the ocean for a couple hours. That ended up being quite relaxing for both of us.

After dinner with family, we're now packing up for a 8:45 departure from the hotel tomorrow morning. It's quite sad, yes, but we had a great time.