วันพุธที่ 28 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2552

Skin Care Moisturizer Cream Can Keep Your Skin Smooth and Supple

by: Sylvie Bordeaux
 
They say beauty is only skin deep, but only a woman knows just how true that is. You can be the prettiest thing in the room, but wrinkled, sun damaged skin can certainly bring your appearance down several notches. Skin care moisturizer cream is just the thing you need to help prevent new wrinkles, reduce the appearance of the wrinkles you have, and help heal sun damaged skin. Whether you struggle with dry skin, combination skin, oily skin, acne, or some other type of skin condition, there is a moisturizer that is made just for you. The only challenge is finding the right moisturizer for you and knowing what to look for. It's all about getting the details right -- what types of moisturizer are best for you and how often to apply them. Luckily for you, we've got the scoop on the best moisturizers for your needs.

Water Based Moisturizers are a No-No

When purchasing moisturizer cream, many women simply do not stop and look at the ingredients. Often women are attracted to a pretty box or a pretty jar with a fancy sounding name without realizing that many of the moisturizers out there contain up to 40% water. Other women make the mistake of going with a water based moisturizer, thinking that water is the most natural moisturizer in the world and that it should do wonders for their skin. Strangely enough, that is not the case. Different all natural ingredients, like Aloe Vera, are better suited for a moisturizer for the face, especially for those looking for anti aging or anti wrinkle benefits. It may not seem like it but water based moisturizers are a recipe for disaster when it comes to dry skin. They dry out your skin even more as opposed to adding much needed moisture.

Consider the Benefits of Natural Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera based creams are different and for those who have only used water based products or for those looking for a change in their present moisturizing routine, this is the best and only alternative. A few of the skin care moisturizer cream products even contain essential fatty acids and other ingredients that actually imitate the natural actions and compositions of your skin. These special ingredients work wonders against drying and breakouts, and makes it easier for the ingredients to be absorbed into the skin. Aloe Vera itself is 100 percent natural, coming straight from the plant of the same name and is known for its healing benefits to damaged skin.

How Often is Too Often?

Depending on your skin and its makeup, you never know how much to moisturize until you figure out what is best for you. If you have normal skin, moisturizing once a day should be sufficient, but if you have dry skin or skin with a condition you may want to consider moisturizing twice daily -- once during the morning hours and once before bed.

Be sure to follow the directions that are specified on the back of moisturizer box or jar for best results and remember that not all moisturizers are created equal. Some of them have specific instructions and are designed to treat different skin conditions so be sure to read the label carefully. Some moisturizers have natural oils, vitamins, lipids, and other ingredients that are designed to smooth and beautify your skin. Be warned that chemicals have been added to other moisturizer creams and these should be strictly avoided.

How do you know which is the best skin care moisturizer cream for you? In all reality, there is no "one size fits all." Everyone has a different type of skin and unfortunately there is a bit of trial and error that you must go through. You have to find out the hard way sometimes but often you can take shortcuts by getting recommendations from other women with skin similar to yours. Remember though that just because a particular product works for someone else does not necessarily mean that it will work for you. One thing you can be sure of though is that it is pretty hard to go wrong with an aloe vera based moisturizer. Aloe Vera can heal damaged skin, moisturize, and even provide some anti aging benefits as well. Plus it doesn't dry out the skin like water based moisturizers do...and it should go without saying that dry skin is much more prone to wrinkles than hydrated, moisturized skin.

The benefits of Aloe Vera are endless and no matter what type of skin you have, you should be able to enjoy the benefits of this all natural ingredient that was discovered more than 3,500 years ago and that is still being used today. An Aloe Vera based moisturizer can help give you healthier, more beautiful skin no matter what kind of skin you have and no matter how much sun damage you have.

Be sure to read the label before buying any moisturizer cream and always, always, always demand an Aloe Vera based moisturizer.

Do you hate fine lines?

Do you hate wrinkles?

Do you hate sun spots?

Do you have old acne scars to get rid of?

Do you want to feel beautiful again?

An Aloe Vera based moisturizer cream just may be the way to go and due to its healing properties, Aloe Vera should be something you look for in any skin care moisturizer cream.
 
 
 
 

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 25 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2552

Acne Vulgaris, the 8 Stages of Acne, Skin Care, Adult Acne, and Scar Removal Options.

by: Stephen M. Seabrook
 
What is Acne Vulgaris? This is a medical term used to describe most cases of acne. It really isn't as bad as it sounds! Vulgaris doesn't mean that the acne is vulgar, only that it means that it is common.

Be aware that there are many factors that contribute to acne. First, research indicates a propensity for acne may well be inherited. Parents who had acne in their teenage and young adult years may have children who are likewise prone to having acne in their teen and young adult years.

Next, clogged skin pores are certainly a major contributing factor for acne out-breaks. When pores become clogged with an excess production of sebum and mix with dead skin cells or makeup that isn't sufficiently cleaned from the skin, problems start to develop. When skin pores are clogged, bacteria are produced and pus starts to form causing a pimple, a white head or a black head.

The most commonly accepted causes for acne are hormonal imbalances. Hormones in boys and girls may become unbalanced during puberty, during menstrual cycles, when starting or stopping birth control pills, during times of extreme stress, and at other times as well.

All of the above situations can cause the body to over produce a male hormone which causes the sebaceous glands to produce sebum. The sebum combines with dead skin cells to block pores and acne develops. So, basically, it still comes back to blocked pores.

Other causes for acne include a lack of vitamins, minerals and trace elements that the body needs to maintain a healthy skin. Vitamins A, E and B6 are especially important in maintaining healthy skin as are zinc, essential fatty acids (EFA), Chromium and Selenium.

Most diets of teenagers and young adults do not contain these vitamins, minerals, and trace elements in sufficient quantity to maintain healthy skin and to help prevent the onset of Acne.

Acne: The 8 Stages:

Full blown, Stage 8 acne doesn't usually develop overnight. Acne is progressive condition. Acne is one of the diseases that are so common that it is sometimes just disregarded as a serious problem...like the common cold. It has been estimated that 95 of people will have at least a mild case of acne at some point in their lives.

Acne, much like the common cold, is usually treated by the sufferer with over-the-counter medications that alleviate the symptoms of the disease in the belief that it will simply go away all by itself....eventually. And, it usually does but not always.

Most people throughout their life will have the occasional pimple, zit, white head or black head.

Although these pesky little outbreaks do seem to appear at the most inopportune times, they really aren't a serious problem that requires medical attention. A little over-the-counter acne facial wash to help prevent another outbreak will usually take care of the problem. It isn't a big deal. This kind of acne is referred to as Stage 0 and really nothing to be concerned about unless the acne progresses to subsequent stages.

Acne stages are graded from 0 through 8. Zero is the least severe and 8 is the most serious of the stages. The stages are as follows:

Stage 1: There will be white heads and black heads with some mild inflammation. The outbreaks will start to occur more frequently. Using products that contain Benzyl Peroxide are in order.

Stage 2: There will be some papules in addition to the white heads and black heads. Papules are skin lesions that are solid and raised but usually small. This is still considered to be a very mild case of acne. Treatment can be continued using over-the-counter products that contain Salicylic Acid.

Stage 3: Stage 3 is the same as stage 2 but with more frequent occurrences.

Stage 4-5: Pustules begin to appear. Now, it's time to schedule an appointment at a dermatologist.

Stage 6-7: Nodules and cysts are forming. Scarring is going to start happening at this stage. Your dermatologist will begin to take more drastic action.

Stage 8: Breakouts are almost continuous and include nodules and cysts. There are modern technologies that will help and your dermatologist will advise you.

Acne Skin Care:

As we know, our hair follicles secrete sebum. Sebum makes its way up the hair follicles to the skin pores where it lubricates and protects the skin. Sometimes there are oil glands which get overworked, get enlarge, and produce too much sebum. The sebum can get trapped in the hair follicle.

When this happens the pores get clogged and black heads or white heads form and the bacteria start to multiply at an alarmingly fast rate.

Once you understand this process, you can see the reasoning behind the advice about caring for skin that has black heads, white heads and pustules on it.

The first piece of advice about caring for acne infected skin is to never pick at the pimples. Don't try to pop them and drain them. This will not cure them no matter what anybody tells you. Popping them will only serve to make them worse...not better.

However, there are things that you can do that really will help.

The first thing you can do is to wash your face with a mild soap or a sulfur based soap. Wash your face with just your finger tips. Don't ever use a wash cloth as it holds germs and bacteria. Rinse your face with clean water several times to ensure you remove all traces of soap, and then pat it dry with a clean towel. Do not rub your face with the towel and never use the same towel twice without it being clean.

Take a good multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement every day and drink at least 8 full glasses of water (not soda) every day. The vitamins and minerals will supply nutrients that are absent from most diets and the water will help to hydrate the skin as well as to flush toxins out of your system.

If you use over-the-counter acne medications, be certain that you follow the directions carefully and that you use a good sunscreen when you are outdoors as some acne medications make the skin more prone to sunburn.

Adult Acne:

Acne is not just a problem for teenagers and young adults. Once a person survives the teenage years, you would think that they don't have to deal with the embarrassment of acne any longer, right? Well....not exactly.

The sad truth is that about 25 of women will have acne at some time in their 20s, 30s or even 40s. Although there has never been a real cause established, it is believed that most adult acne is caused by the same thing that causes teenage acne...hormonal changes.

A doctor will sometimes prescribe hormonal treatments that will clear a case of adult acne right up. As with teenage acne, adult acne is not caused by diet. Stress has often been cited as one possible cause of adult acne but that assertion has never been verified.

Treating adult acne is a bit more difficult than treating teenage acne. Adults have the concern of drying out their skin that teenagers don't normally have to deal with. Adults don't want pimples; but, they don't want wrinkles, either. A dermatologist should be consulted if the acne is long lasting or is severe.

There are many treatments that are available to adults who suffer from acne. Most of the effective treatments are only available by prescription. Adults should not use over-the-counter acne medications that are intended for the treatment of teenage acne. These products tend to dry the skin and adults need to be concerned about wrinkling as well as acne.

A case of adult acne is not a happy occurrence to say because those ugly bumps always seem to occur at the most inopportune times and while a teenager may be embarrassed by acne, an adult is even more devastated.

Fortunately, there are treatments and a dermatologist has a lot of weapons in his arsenal to fight adult acne.

Acne Scar Removal Options:

Life hardly seems fair sometimes! First, a teenager or a young adult must suffer through acne, treat it, and have to live with it...sometimes for years. Then the acne is gone; but, the scars are there as a painful reminder of the mental and emotional agony the acne sufferer had to endure.

You're right, life doesn't seem fair; but, acne is one of those sad facts of life that some if not most of us have to deal with. The good news is there is help; unfortunately, it isn't free or cheap!

There are two basic procedures that are used to remove ugly pits and scars left over from a bad case of teenage or young adult acne. Laser resurfacing is the least expensive of the two available acne scar removal procedures. Dermabrasion is the second procedure.

Laser resurfacing can be done in the dermatologist office instead of a hospital so that provides a much greater financial savings. A laser is used to remove the top layer of skin and also to tighten the middle layer of skin.

The dermatologist will use a local anesthetic to help reduce the procedure pain. It usually takes several days for the skin to heal after a laser resurfacing procedure is completed. Very often, multiple resurfacing treatments must be done to achieve the desired results.

The second procedure used to remove acne scarring is called dermabrasion. In this procedure, a rotating wire brush is used to remove the top layer of skin. The body continually produces new skin and the new layer will be smoother than the layer that was removed. It usually takes between 10 days and 3 weeks for the skin to heal after a dermabrasion treatment. Once again, multiple treatments may be required to eliminate the scarring.

Acne may seem to be a devastating condition but with proper skin routine, vitamins, and over the counter products, most cases will not be severe. Remember, proper cleansing goes a long way towards minimizing outbreaks, so don't be afraid to cleanse your face 5 - 6 times a day of more if needed.

Fight acne by being smart. Take as many preventative steps as possible to avoid situations that create the opportunity for acne to develop. If acne does afflict you, consult a qualified medical professional before deciding on a course of action

How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn

How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn
by: Terry H Hill
 
An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline.This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses.

While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period.

The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount.

Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn:

Goals:

The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn.

Objectives:

• Conserve cash.

• Protect assets.

• Reduce costs.

• Improve efficiencies.

• Grow customer base.

Required Action:

• Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

• Focus on what YOU can control… Don't let the media's rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities.

• Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key.

• Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too.

Recommended Best Practice Activities:

The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business' survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities.

1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work.

2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales.

3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems.

4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal.

5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord:

i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment.

ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with "the how" and "the when" of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical.

iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space.

6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors.

7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured.

8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced "noise" and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings.

9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable.

10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense.

Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill

You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site,
http://www.legacyai.com

Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc, a business consulting and advisory services firm. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. To find out how he can help you take your business to the next level, visit his site at
http://www.legacyai.com

To download a copy of this article, click on this link:
http://www.legacyai.com/Article_Downturn.html.

วันศุกร์ที่ 24 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

DC Regulated Power Supply - How To Use It To Find Out Shorted Components In Main Board

Quite often whenever electronic equipment don't function or work, we would immediately suspect a faulty switch mode power supply. But do you know that defective or shorted components in the motherboard or main board could cause the power supply to stop working too?

Switch mode power supply (SMPS) are designed so efficiently that whenever there is any short circuit occur in the main board the power supply would shut itself off and totally stop working. If you have no experience about troubleshooting switch mode power supply, you may think that the power supply have problem where in fact the main board is the real cause of no power problem.

Switch mode power supply have a current sense circuit (if you look at UC3842 PWM IC pin 3, it stated I-sense which mean current sense) and if there is short circuit in the secondary side (either in secondary diodes or main board), the current drawn would be increase and this will lead the PWM IC to stop generating output to the power fet and thus the power supply would shut down. All this happen in a split of seconds and you do not have the chance to know if there are output voltages at the secondary side.

Some older design of SMPS power supply do not use the PWM IC, but it do have the circuit to detect over current drawn and shut itself down whenever it detects a shorted component in the secondary side. One good example was the power supply used in printer. Printers usually have two boards; one was the power supply while the other was main board. If there is any short circuit in the main board, the power supply would not work. In order to isolate at where the problem is, one must remove the connector from the power supply board. Once the supply connector to the main board was removed, you can now switch on the printer and check if there is any voltages present at the power supply connector.

If there are zero voltages measured across all the supply (VCC) pins then we can conclude that the power supply have problem and you can put your whole concentration in this power supply board. What if there are voltages measured across the connector? This means that the main board is causing the no power problem most probably due to some shorted components in the main board.

For your information, dot-matrix printers usually required two voltages to function. One is the 5 Volts (for logic IC, eeprom and CPU) and the other is 30+ volts for the motors. The question now is how do we know if the main board is the main cause that shutting down the power supply? Very simple, just use your analog multimeter set to X 1 Ohm and measure between the supply pin (say 5 volts pin) and the main board ground and then reverse the probes. A good board should not show two similar reading and if you get two similar ohms reading then this means that the 5 volts line had shorted to ground through some faulty components.

If you have confirmed that the 5 volts line have problem then how do we find out the culprit since there are so many components connected to this line? TTL IC's, CPU, EEPROM, transistors, diodes and even small filter capacitors are all connected to the 5 volts line. Either one of these components shorted could cause no power to the printer. You may remove each components lead (5 volt supply) in the main board and hope that the short circuit will be gone. Assuming if you happen to remove one of the filter capacitor pin and the short circuit is gone then we can say that the real culprit is the filter capacitor.

The real problem is what if the board has many components on it and this will consume lots of your time to isolate the problem by removing one pin at a time. It is not easy to identify the supply 5 volts pin to a spider IC that has 100 pins or more. Many spider IC's have more than one 5 volts supply pin. Some even have 4 and some have 6 to 8 supply pins. Does this mean you have to check one pin at a time until you finally locate the fault? Not only that, to remove the supply pin from the spider IC's and check for any short circuit between the grounds required a very good skill too. If you messed out the circuit board track, the main board can then be considered beyond repair. Even though you can repair the broken circuit track, this does not mean you have solved the actual fault!

Do you see the extra problem arise when you try to find out the fault? There must be some better way to tackle this kind of problem. Yes it is true that one can use ESR meter to slowly track to the source of the short circuit You can utilize the ESR meter to locate short-circuits on electronic boards by checking the actual track resistance. One probe connects to the ground and the other to the circuit line and if the measurement rises as you probe further along the track, you know that you are heading to the wrong direction! If the ESR value decreases as you move along the track then you are in the right direction. The problem is what if the main board has double layers, 4 or even 8 layers? You may be wasting lots of your precious time trying to track to the actual fault using the ESR meter method! After explaining so much about the problems, now is the time that you are waiting for to get the answer on how to solve this kind of fault fast.

Do you know that the DC regulated power supply besides using it to power up electronic circuit it can also be use to troubleshoot and find out a shorted component in a motherboard? Assuming you have confirmed that the VCC supply lines shorted to ground through some faulty components, you can easily detect it with the use of a variable digital DC regulated power supply. If you don't have the digital one you can always use one with the analog panel meter which is cheaper.

Now connect the alligator clip from the positive output supply to the 5 volts VCC pin in the main board and the negative output to the main board ground as shown from the picture. Once everything was done, it's time to switch on the dc regulated power supply. Slowly vary the knob clockwise and see the voltage increase. At the same time the current draw can be seen from the current digital meter readout. From experienced, if there is a short circuit in the main board, whenever the voltage is increase, the current will rise dramatically and if no short circuit there would be less current draw.

Okay back to this problem, if you observe that the current drawn also increase (rapidly) as proportion to the rise in voltage setting, you are now for sure that there is component shorted in the main board. What does this mean? It is a good news to us, because if the current drawn too much we can know the culprit by touching on the hottest components in the main board. Using your finger you can touch on any components that are very hot. Touch on the IC's, diodes, transistors, capacitors and etc. Once you located that only one component that is extremely hot to touch then that was the culprit! That's the real cause that you are trying to find! I've used this method to solved lots of main board problem and usually the culprit turned out to be a defective gate array and ram IC.

Why don't I immediately turn the output voltage from the dc regulated power supply to 5 volts since the defective main board is also using 5 volts to run? If I do this and if the faulty components turned hot too fast, I'm afraid this will lead the faulty component to open circuit. If the faulty component open circuit, the current draw will drop and the only clue that you have to identify the culprit has been destroyed! If this thing happens then you may not have a higher rate to repair the board. Of course you still can by replacing one by one the SMD spider IC's but this will surely eat up lots of your repair time.

The above method I've just mentioned is not limited only to printer main board; it can apply to other type of board as well like the computer motherboard, hard disk, dvd, vcd, industrial board and etc. Get a DC regulated power supply and I'm sure you can detect shorted component in the main board in the shortest time possible! By the way the specification of the DC regulated power supply that I'm using was 5A 30 volts (variable type). Have a good day my friend!

Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer and if you want to become a professional in testing electronic components please visit his website at http://www.TestingElectronicComponents.com

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 29 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2550

ALiveNF7G-HD720p R3.0


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ALiveNF5-eSATA2+


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Socket AM2 for AMD Athlon™ 64FX / 64X2 / 64 and Sempron processors

NVIDIA® nForce 520 Chipset

FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s) processor

AMD LIVE!™ Ready

Untied Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses

Supports Dual Channel DDRII800/667/533 , 4 x DIMM slots, with max. capacity up to 16GB

ASRock AM2 Boost: ASRock Patented Technology to boost memory performance up to 12.5%
Hybrid Booster - ASRock Safe Overclocking Technology

1 x PCI Express x16 slot

Supports PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

4 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 and JBOD) , NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions

2 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors (shared with 2 SATAII ports), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions

2 x IEEE 1394 headers

HDMI_SPDIF header, providing SPDIF audio output to HDMI VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/projector/LCD devices.

7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888 Audio Codec)
Windows® Vista™ Premium Logo Ready

Supports Windows® XP Media Center Edition
Free Bundle: 1 x USB+1394 bracket, providing 2 additional USB 2.0 ports and 1 IEEE 1394 port

ASRock 8CH_eSATAII I/O: 2 eSATAII ports, 2 ready-to-use USB ports

Download Drivers Here

ALiveNF7G-HDready


ALiveNF7G-HDready (Asrock)

Socket AM2 for AMD Athlon™ 64FX / 64X2 / X2 / 64 and Sempron processors

NVIDIA® GeForce 7050 / nForce 630A MCP Chipsets

AMD LIVE!™ Ready

Supports Dual Channel DDRII800/667/533 with 4 DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 8GB
ASRock AM2 Boost: ASRock Patented Technology to boost memory performance up to 12.5%
Integrated NVIDIA® GeForce7 Series (NV44) DX9.0 VGA, Pixel Shader 3.0, Max. shared memory 256MB

1 x PCI Express x 16 slot

Hybrid Booster - ASRock Safe Overclocking Technology

Untied Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses

Dual VGA Output: Support DVI-D and D-Sub ports by independent display controllers
Supports HDCP function with DVI-D port, to enjoy better quality with High Definition

HDCP Encryption contents

Supports 720p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback

NVIDIA® PureVideo™ Ready

4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions

Supports Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

Supports 2 x IEEE 1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)

HDMI_SPDIF header, providing SPDIF audio output to HDMI VGA card, allows the system to connect HDMI Digital TV/projector/LCD devices.

Chipset embedded HDMI Audio which supports HDMI signal through DVI-D port by using DVI to HDMI adapter (not bundled)

7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888 Audio Codec)
Windows® Vista™ Premium 2007 Logo Ready

ASRock DVI_1394 I/O: 1 x VGA/DVI-D Port, 1 x VGA/D-Sub Port, 1 x IEEE 1394 port

Download Driver Here