nce upon a time I got sick of not having a smartphone. I kept my calendar and task list on my laptop, and when I didn’t have it open, I didn’t know what to do next to make the best use of my time. So, I broke down and got a Motorola DROID from Verizon. Before you ask, I never even considered getting an iPhone, because there is no way I am switching to AT&T. On Verizon, we can get away with having the cheapest plan, because almost everyone we talk to also has Verizon, and let’s be honest, they have the best network. BlackBerry also wasn’t an option, because I hate them. The DROID is the first phone on Verizon that I consider a reasonable alternative to an iPhone. Here is a list of the pros and cons I’ve found so far. I’ll try to keep it updated and hopefully it will be useful to someone looking to buy.

Pros:

• Giant screen (bigger than the iPhone)
• Integrates well with Gmail (which I use at home and school), and other email sources.
• Calendar syncs to Google Calendar, and you can also sync with Outlook (you have to install Google Calendar Sync on your PC if you don’t use Exchange, but if you do, Exchange support is native)
• Task list syncs to Google Tasks (use the gTasks app)
• Excellent web browsing
• Wide array of useful apps (I don’t really care that the iPhone has 100,000 apps, most of them are useless)

Cons:

• No voice dialing through Bluetooth. I’ve read that this is coming in a future software update. Unfortunately though, this feature lack is a dealbreaker for some people that make a lot of calls in the car. (I put in a ticket to Motorola on this)
• Touch screen can be unresponsive when plugged into a PC via USB. (I put in a ticket to Motorola on this.)
• No Flash video support. This is supposedly coming in early 2010. You can still watch YouTube though, because they have published an app.
• Limited video support. It can play MPEG4 and H.264, but not anything fun like xvid/divx. I have read that Divx is planning android support soon.
• Can’t view email forwarded as attachment
• The Android Market place needs a lot of new features to be able to find apps you really want, like sorting by rating, or downloads within searches.

nce upon a time, Sony is again being uncool to its customers. Here’s the situation: most of the VAIOs out there right now have Intel Core 2 Duo processors, which have VT-x virtualization extensions built right in. These extensions make it possible to use Windows 7’s new compatibility tool, Windows XP Mode. But Sony disables VT in the BIOS, and provides no updates that give the option to enable. Its stance is that no past or current VAIO models will be given VT support, but that some models may in the future. Here’s the link: Sony promises clarity on virtualization-free Vaio PCs. Man, could they be more helpful? So, there is no easy way to get VT-x support for VAIOs. But as I found by googling around, people aren’t holding their breaths to wait for Sony to change its mind, because let’s be honest, that’s not likely. Sony isn’t the innovative, customer-centric company it once was. Anyway, the existing instructions on how to do this are so good, that there’s no reason for me to write this up, I’ll just link to it: How to Enable Intel VT and AHCI on a Napa/Santa Rosa platform Phoenix BIOS Vaio laptop. The only things you need to know are:

1. Go here for instructions on how to make your USB flash drive bootable.
2. Ignore the part about AHCI.
3. The VT-x code for the CR231E is 05BB.

It almost seemed too easy when I did it, but it works! Thanks to all the people that figured this out.

nce upon a time, I don’t think anyone should waste time reading this post, because it’s really just for me, in case I ever have to rebuild my Media Center PC again. It was a royal pain to troubleshoot the lockups caused by the audio drivers.

System:

• MSI K7N2GM2 Motherboard
  • nVidia nForce2 chipset
  • nVidia GeForce4 MX Ingrated Graphics
  • Realtek AC ‘97 Audio.
• Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 Analog TV Tuner
• Seagate 200GB 7200 RPM SATA HD

Steps:

1. Install Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
2. Install the latest MSI system drivers (5.10) using the Setup.exe.
3. Install the latest nVIDIA video driver (93.71) using the Setup.exe.
4. Install the old Realtek audio driver (5.10.0.5990)  using Setup.exe. System will lock up with newer driver.
5. Install the latest Hauppauge driver (2.0.48.25037) using Update in Device Manager.
6. Install Windows XP Service Pack 3.
7. Activate Windows.
8. Install Windows Updates, including any optional updates for Media Center and .NET 1.1. (Maybe skip Windows Media Player 11, it has caused problems in the past.)
9. Install decoder.
10. Run Media Center for the first time and follow setup wizard.

Additional steps:

1. Install and configure antivirus.
2. Change workgroup.
3. Add/remove Windows Components: take out MSN Explorer, Outlook Express, Windows Messenger.
4. Set Program Access and Defaults: take out Outlook Express, Media Center Radio, Online Spotlight, Windows Messenger
5. Install TweakMCE, enable My DVDs.
6. Use MCE Standby Tool to enable standby, remote, and autologin
7. Set password for main account, disable Fast User Switching.
8. Turn off Windows startup and exit sounds.

nce upon a time I wanted to put Windows 7 on my laptop, mostly because I hate answering my wife’s questions about Vista when she uses it. I want her to skip Vista entirely. Putting Windows 7 on and getting the laptop fully functional isn’t an easy task, because Sony makes a tightly integrated piece of equipment. All of the little buttons and gizmos are based on 32-bit Vista drivers. But, with a weekend’s worth of time to kill, I googled and experimented a bunch and got it working. Many thanks to the people who wrote the tutorials and tools this article is based on (see Sources links at the bottom). These instructions are specific to the VGN-CR231E, but it should be similar for other CRs and maybe even other VAIO laptop series that run Vista.

1. Use VAIO Recovery Center in Vista to create VAIO Recovery DVDs if you don’t already have them.
2. Boot from your Windows 7 RC x86 DVD (32-bit version) and install Windows 7 on your laptop, leaving the recovery partition alone (click the “Drive options” button when the installer asks you where to install to see all partition options).
3. Once Windows 7 is up and running, use Windows Update to get all important updates, and any optional updates for drivers (most likely for Display and Wireless Network devices).
4. Download and install Uniextract.
5. Download these Sony drivers from the Sony support website (or the most recent drivers, if any):
   • Audio:
     1. Realtek High Definition Audio Driver (REDAUD-12959400-US.EXE)
   • Camera:
     1. Sony Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC6 Driver (RIDCAM-13052600-US.EXE)
   • Memory Card Reader/Writer:
     1. Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller (TIDMSC-13254300-US.EXE)
   • Motherboard:
     1. Intel Chipset Device Software (INDOTH-13563700-US.EXE)
   • Notebook Control and Utilities:
     1. Sony Notebook Utilities (SOAOTH-41700000-US.EXE)
   • System Components:
     1. Sony Shared Library (SOASSL-13410200-US.EXE)
     2. Sony Firmware Extension Parser (SODSNC-10416100-US.EXE)
   • Touchpad:
     1. Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad (SPDOTH-12804200-US.EXE)
6. Use Uniextract to get the setup files from each Sony download (Right click on the files and choose “Uniextract files”).
7. Install in this order from the folders Uniextract created, rebooting if prompted:
   • Sony Shared Library:
     1. Run [Sony Shared Library]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\setup.exe
   • Setting Utility Series:
     1. Run [Sony Notebook Utilities]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\SUS\setup.exe
   • VAIO Control Center:
     1. Run [Sony Notebook Utilities]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\VCC\setup.exe
   • Intel Chipset Device Software:
     1. Set Compatiblity Mode to Vista for [Intel Chipset Device Software]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\Setup.exe
     2. Run setup.exe
   • Realtek High Definition Audio Driver:
     1. Set Compatiblity Mode to Vista for [Realtek High Definition Audio Driver]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\Setup.exe
     2. Run Setup.exe
   • Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad:
     1. Find PS/2 Touchpad in Device Manager
     2. Update driver using [Synaptics PS2 Port TouchPad]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\
   • Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller:
     1. Find Mass Storage Controller in Device Manager
     2. Update driver using [Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\
   • Sony Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC6 Driver:
     1. Find USB Video Device in Device Manager
     2. Update driver using [Sony Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC6 Driver]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\
   • VAIO Event Service:
     1. Run [Sony Notebook Utilities]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\VES\setup.exe
   • Sony Firmware Extension Parser:
     1. Find Unknown Device in Device Manager
     2. Update driver using [Sony Firmware Extension Parser]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\
   • VAIO Power Management:
     1. Run [Sony Notebook Utilities]\TEMPEXEFOLDER\VPM\setup.exe
8. Download and install mod2wim.zip (read Mod2Wim.txt inside the zip file for installation and usage instructions).
9. Download and install 7-Zip.
10. Use Mod2Wim.bat to extract WIM files from the VAIO Recovery DVDs (NOTE: be careful not to reboot while a VAIO Recovery DVD is in your drive; it can make your hard drive unbootable and cause you to have to do a repair from the Window 7 DVD to fix the problem.)
11. Use 7-Zip to extract setup files from WIM files.
12. Install from the extracted WIM/setup files:
    • InstantON:
      1. Run [InstantON]\1\MOD-InstantON 2.0.exe
    • VAIO Camera Capture Utility:
      1. Use Uniextract on [VAIO Camera Capture Utility]\1\MOD-VAIO_Camera_Capture_Utility.exe
      2. Set Compatiblity Mode to Vista for [VAIO Camera Capture Utility]\1\MOD-VAIO_Camera_Capture_Utility\VCCU\setup.exe
      3. Run setup.exe
      4. Run VAIO Camera Capture Utility update from Sony website
    • (optional) Roxio Easy Media Creator:
      1. Run [Roxio Easy Media Creator]\1\JP_20070611000000000000000000038\setup.exe
    • (optional) WinDVD:
      1. Use Uniextract on [WinDVD]\1\MOD-WinDVD.exe
      2. Set Compatiblity Mode to Vista for [WinDVD]\1\MOD-WinDVD\WDVD\setup.exe
      3. Run setup.exe
      4. Run WinDVD update from Sony website

Hopefully that does the trick.

Sources: VAIO FW Clean Windows 7 Install Guide, Clean Vista install using Extracted Recovery Image ( On a Vaio CS or Others)

UPDATE: These instructions also work for the RTM version of Windows 7.

UPDATE: Windows Update now has the Windows 7 driver for the Sony Firmware Extension Parser, so that step is unnecessary.

nce upon a time I really wanted to be able to watch Hulu on my Windows Media Center 2005 PC, and control it with my remote. I tried ZeeVee’s Zinc app, but I couldn’t even get it to display, due to OpenGL version issues. Now finally, Hulu has created a Desktop app that supports the MCE remote control, and it works pretty well for a Beta. Here’s how to integrate it with Media Center so that you can start it up and control it from the comfort of your couch:

1. Make sure Media Center is closed.
2. Download and install Hulu Desktop. (On Windows Media Center (XP), it will install to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\Hulu Desktop.)
3. Open Notepad (Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/Notepad) and paste in the following:
   

   <application
      title="hulu"
      id="{1E9EFD13-8440-4af9-A20B-039B07790C32}"
      companyName="hulu"
      description="Watch Internet Television">
      <capabilitiesRequired
         directX="true"
         audio="false"
         video="false"
         intensiveRendering="true"
         console="false"/>
      <entrypoint
         id="{975A008C-BFD2-40bb-984A-4B88BA7613EB}"
         run="C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\HuluDesktop\HuluDesktop.exe"
         title="hulu"
         nowPlayingDirective="pause"
         description="Watch Internet Television"
         imageUrl="C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\HuluDesktop\hulu.png">
         <category category="Services\TV"/>
         <category category="More Programs"/>
      </entrypoint>
   </application>

4. Replace the instances of “YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE” with your actual user name.
5. Click File/Save, navigate to your HuluDesktop installation directory if you are not already there, name the file “HuluDesktopMCE.xml”, pick “All Files” from the Save As Type, and click Save. (If you don’t choose “All Files” the file may save as HuluDesktopMCE.xml.txt.)
6. Download this icon and save it to your HuluDesktop installation directory.
7. Open a command prompt (Start Menu/Run/”cmd” or Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt) and issue these two commands:
   

   cd C:\Windows\ehome

   RegisterMCEApp /allusers “C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Local Settings\Application Data\HuluDesktop\HuluDesktopMCE.xml”

   (Insert a “/u” between “RegisterMCEApp” and “/allusers” if you want to uninstall.)

8. Open Media Center and navigate to More Programs, then click on Hulu.
9. Enjoy.

Source: Guide: How to Integrate Hulu Desktop to Media Center

nce upon a time I was trying to edit an end of semester group report for a class and I got a little sidetracked. I wanted to install Windows XP in VirtualBox using SATA. Why? Just because. As far as I can tell, there is no appreciable difference between a virtual hard drive attached to a virtual IDE controller versus a virtual SATA controller.

The hitch is that the Windows XP installer doesn’t come with built in SATA drivers for the controller VirtualBox uses, so the installer will tell you that it can’t see a hard drive to install on to. Work around:

1. Download the Intel drivers and extract the executable (f6flpy32.exe) from the zip file
2. Download UnZip (choose unz552xN.exe from the list) and run, this will extract a bunch of utilities, the one we want is unzip.exe (you don’t need to use UnZip if you have another program that can get files from within a self-extracting executable)
3. Open a command prompt Window (preferably using “Run As Administrator”) and navigate to the directory that has both f6flpy32.exe and unzip.exe
4. Type “unzip f6flpy32.exe” and hit Enter, this will extract the file F32.IMA
5. Use the Virtual Media Manager in Virtual box to set up F32.IMA as a Floppy Image
6. Start your Windows XP virtual machine and run the installation CD. When the blue screen prompts you, hit F6 to choose a third party driver.
7. Choose Devices\Mount Floppy Image\Floppy Image in the VirtualBox windows to mount the image you just set up
8. When the blue screen prompt you, hit S to find another driver on a floppy, and then Enter.
9. Four driver options should appear in the list. The second one worked for me, and allowed me to continue with the setup process.

Sources: Intel drivers for SATA and LAN controllers, How to install Windows 2000/XP/2003 guests with SATA support, Vista kernel – IDE to SATA conversion VB 1.6.0 & 1.6.2

UPDATE: Once I got XP installed, I also installed the Guest Additions, but the network still wasn’t working, because I had selected the “Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop” adapter rather than the default AMD adapter. To get this working I found and downloaded the drivers from Intel, and then set up a shared folder and mounted it as a network drive to be able to copy the driver setup file from my Vista host to my XP guest system. Once I ran the Intel driver setup, everything worked great.

nce upon a time I decided to try out OpenDNS. OpenDNS is a free alternative to using your ISP’s DNS servers. Besides allowing me to be less dependent on Comcast, which is great, OpenDNS also offers potentially speedier DNS lookups, phishing filtering, domain blocking and typo correction. I’m still in the testing phase, but so far it seems to live up to the promises.

I only had one hitch in the setup: when I switched over my computers to OpenDNS, I could no longer ping any of them on the LAN by hostname. The pings would head off onto the Internet and be unresolved, rather than staying on the LAN. With a little websearch, I discovered that there is an easy fix. The problem is that OpenDNS doesn’t make it easy to find, because they use terms that the ordinary home user wouldn’t to describe the problem. In fact, the fix should should be a default setting, given that OpenDNS specifically targets home users. Fix:

1. Change the DNS addresses on your static IP computers and in your DHCP config on your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 (don’t forget to release/renew IPs if you use DHCP)
2. Setup an account on OpenDNS.com
3. Add a Network (the outside IP address from your ISP) and give it a name
4. Click Settings, go to Advanced Settings and find the section called Domain Typos
5. Under Exceptions for VPN users click “Manage”
6. In the box, type the name you used in step 3, click “Add’, then “Done”, then “Apply” at the bottom of the page.
7. Give it a few minutes, and then do a test ping. Everything on your LAN should be pingable by hostname.

Source: WRT54GS and Local Names

UPDATE: I have discontinued use of OpenDNS. I couldn’t see any noticable performance gains.

nce upon a time I wanted to be able to VPN in to my home network. I researched a bit and discovered that my Windows XP Pro computer could be set up natively as a VPN server. I followed the built-in wizard, forwarded the appropriate ports on my router, and was up and running. But, the VPN connection only worked with the PPTP protocol and I wanted to be able to use L2TP/IPSec, because of its stronger security. The XP documentation says it supports L2TP, but it’s not so easy to set up, because of lack of documentation, and lack of default support for NAT traversal (apparently, Microsoft thought that this feature was a vulnerability, because they removed it by default in SP2.)

This is my most ambitious Technical Bedtime Story yet. The solution took days of googling and experimenting to get just right, but it works (by all means, please let me know if you know of a better way to do this). Here’s are the steps; I used Windows XP Pro as the VPN server and Windows Vista as the VPN client:

Create an Incoming Connection on Windows XP Pro

1. Go to Control Panel/Network Connections
2. Click on Create a New Connection
3. Select “Set up an advanced connection”, click Next
4. Select “Accept incoming connections”, click Next, Next
5. Select “Allow virtual private connections”, click Next
6. Check the user you want to be able to connect, click Next
7. Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”, click Properties
8. Check “Allow callers to access my local area network”
9. Select “Specify TCP/IP addresses”
10. Add two addresses from your local range, click OK, Next, Finish

Use Simple Authority to create a computer certificate on Windows XP Pro

1. Download and Install Simple Authority
2. Use Simple Authority to create a Certificate Authority (CA) and then a certificate. (It should put two certificates on your Desktop, with .cer and .p12 extensions)

Import the certificate on Windows XP Pro

1. Go to Start/Run
2. Type “mmc”, click OK
3. In the window that pops up, click File/AddRemove Snap-in, click Add
4. Select “Certificates”, click Add
5. Select “Computer account”, click Next
6. Select “Local Computer”, click Finish, Close, OK
7. Expand the Certificates folder
8. Right click the Personal folder, then All Tasks/Import, click Next
9. Click Browse and find the certificate you created (pick the certificate with the .P12 extension), click Open, Next
10. Put in the password you used when you created the certificate in Simple Authority
11. Check “Mark this key as exportable”, click Next, Next, Finish
12. Navigate to Personal/Certificates
13. You should see two certificates, drag the second one to Trusted Root Certification Authorities/Certificates (if you don’t do this you will get Error 789 when you try to connect)

Import the certificate on Windows Vista

1. Copy the certificate to the Vista machine
2. Repeat the above process (the dialog boxes look slightly different, but it’s close enough to the XP method)

Create a VPN client on Windows Vista

1. Go to Control Panel/Network and Sharing Center
2. Click Set Up a Connection or Network
3. Select “Connect to a workplace”, click Next
4. Click “Use my Internet connection (VPN)”
5. Type your publicly accessible hostname or IP address (the outside address of your router) in “Internet Address”, click Next
6. Check “Don’t connect now; just set it up so I can connect later”
7. Type your username and password,
8. Check “Remember this password”, click Create
9. Click Start Menu/Connect To, find your VPN connection, right click and choose Properties
10. Click the Security tab
11. Select “Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain, if any)”
12. Click the Networking tab
13. In Type of VPN select “L2TP IPSec VPN”
14. Click IPSec Settings
15. Uncheck “Verify the Name and Usage attributes of the server’s certificate”, click OK (if you don’t do this you will get Error 835 when you try and connect)
16. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click Properties, Click Advanced
17. Uncheck “Use default gateway on remote network” (this will create a split tunnel), Click OK, OK

Make changes to the registry on Windows Vista

1. Open regedit on the client computer
2. Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PolicyAgent” (for XP clients it’s “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IPsec”)
3. Add a new DWORD value
4. Rename it to “AssumeUDPEncapsulationContextOnSendRule”
5. Change its value from “0″ to “2″, close regedit

Forward ports on your router

1. Configure your router to forward the following ports to your Windows XP Pro computer: UDP 500, UDP 1701, UDP 4500

This may take a bit of extra monkeying around to work complelety. For instance, I had to delete and recreate the Incoming Connection a number of times. Good luck.

Sources: IPSec NAT-T is not recommended for Windows Server 2003 computers that are behind network address translators, L2TP VPN connection between 2 XP computers, How to Import a Server Certificate for Use in Internet Information Services 5.0, L2TP/IPSEC error 789: security layer encountered a processing error during initial negotiations, How to configure an L2TP/IPsec server behind a NAT-T device in Windows Vista and in Windows Server 2008, Using a Linux L2TP/IPsec VPN server with Windows Vista

UPDATE: I have found that there is some kind of glitch in Windows XP Pro’s “Incoming Connection”. Whether I am using PPTP or L2TP as the protocol, the VPN sometimes just stops working. I try to connect and it just won’t. If I delete and then recreate the Incoming Connection in Network Connections, it starts working again. Restarting the RRAS service doesn’t do the trick, only deleting the connection does. This usually happens after the computer hibernates and then wakes up. Something doesn’t get reset properly, ARP cache maybe? If you find a solution to this problem, please let me know.

nce upon a time it’s starting to get hot where I live, and I want to make my computer automatically hibernate at night and wake up in the morning, in order to reduce power consuption and heat. I need it on during the day, because it acts as a VPN and media server, but at night it gets no use. I only leave it on so that I don’t have to remember to turn it on in the morning, and because my wife leaves applications and documents open that I don’t know if I can close without her getting mad.

I did some looking into the problem and found many articles about how to use Scheduled Tasks to sleep/wake up the machine. But they don’t both work at the same time; they are mutually exclusive. Either you can hibernate the computer automatically and then wake it up manually, or you can wake the computer automatically and hibernate it manually. More specifically, the articles recommended using a scheduled task with the “Wake the computer to run this task” option set, to automatically wake the computer. And they recommended a scheduled task with the command “C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, SetSuspendState” to automatically send the computer to sleep. However, this sleep approach somehow disables the computer’s ability to automatically wake up the computer because it disables wake events.

I was dissapointed to find this because I wanted a Windows native solution, and because I had already sunk so much time into the effort. But after grieving for awhile, I got over it and found a third party program that works well. Apparently the author of the program felt the same pain that I did and coded it himself. It’s called WakeupOnStandBy. Use it if you need to both automatically wake and and hibernate your computer.

Sources: How To Put the System into hibernation or Standby from Run menu, Automatically wake a hibernating Windows XP machine

UPDATE: I don’t use WakeupOnStandBy anymore. I do this instead:

1. Go to Power Options in Control Panel and create a power profile called “day_power” that is set to never standby or hibernate, and a power profile called “night_power” that is set to hibernate after 20 minutes.
2. Create a Scheduled Task called “day_power” with the following options:
   • Schedule: Daily at 8:00AM
   • Other settings: Wake up the computer to run this task
   • Command: C:\WINDOWS\system32\powercfg.exe /S “day_power”
3. Create a Scheduled Task called “night_power” with the following options:
   • Schedule: Daily at 10:40PM
   • Other settings: Wake up the computer to run this task
   • Command: C:\WINDOWS\system32\powercfg.exe /S “night_power”

nce upon a time I’ve been keeping my old desktop computer alive because I’m in school and don’t have the money for a new one. I built it in 2002, and it’s doing very well for being 7 years old. But more and more I’m discovering the boundaries of what it can do. For instance, I discovered that it didn’t support the S3 sleep state (Suspend-to-RAM) by default. So, when I put Windows XP into standby to try and conserve power and reduce noise, it did neither of those things, because it only offered the S1 sleep state, which leaves all the fans turned on.

The A7V333 manual only mentions S3 in two places: jumper settings in reference to allowing USB devices to wake the computer, and a BIOS Power Management setting called “ACPI Suspend-to-RAM”, which unfortunately did not appear when I looked in my BIOS settings. After much googling, I found out that the computer must not be in jumper free mode (it is by default) if the “ACPI Suspend-to-RAM” setting is going to show up in the BIOS. I love how good ASUS is at documentation. Speaking of documentation, refer heavily to the manual and follow these steps to get S3 working:

1. Look in the BIOS Advanced settings and find your CPU Frequency. If it’s not there, divide your CPU Speed by your CPU Frequency Multiple. For example my CPU Frequency is 133Mhz (1600Mhz/12.0x)
2. Change the JEN jumper from 2-3 to 1-2
3. Set the SYSCLK DIP switches to your CPU Frequency.
4. Change the USB01_PWR and USB23_PWR jumpers from 1-2 to 2-3 (Your power supply must support +5VSB leads for this to work. Most recent power supplies do, which it should indicate somewhere on the label)
5. Look in the BIOS Power Management settings for ACPI Suspend-to-RAM and set it to “Enabled”
6. If you have a PS/2 Keyboard, go to Power Control and set Power On By PS/2 Keyboard to “Enabled”
7. Download and run the MCE Standby Tool to make sure that the S3 sleep state is selected (rather than S1)

You should now be able to put your A7V333 computer into S3 Standby.

Source: a7v333 and suspend to ram