How to check your IPv6 connectivity?

I believe now it's about time for us to panic. :O The legendary IPv4 addresses have all run-out! If you want to stay connected in the future you will eventually have to migrate into IPv6. Sooner the better it will be. Otherwise you'll literally die in the Internet. ;)

If you are already using IPv6 connectivity here's a web site where you can check the status of your connectivity by going through some tests. The web site was implemented by a talented set of undergraduates from Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa. It was launched during the IPv6 day conference held on 08th June 2011.

The web site also has some really interesting information about IPv6 connectivity.  So don't forget to have a look around the site as well.

Check your connectivity: http://www.ipv6day.lk/node/2

How to solve "Operating system not found" error during Windows XP OS bootup?

When booting up the Windows XP Professional Operating System (OS) in the Acer TravelMate 3002 notebook, an "Operating system not found" error appeared because the first primary partition in the hard disk that contains the Windows XP OS was not marked as "active".

You can use gdisk (in DOS environment) or gdisk32 (in Windows XP environment) from Symantec to check the status of your hard disk primary partition. For example, assume in Windows XP environment,

# gdisk32

Disk Partitions Cylinders Heads Sectors Mbytes Model

1 4 9726 255 63 76293.9 ST3808110AS

2 2 19457 255 63 152627.8 ST3160215AS

3 3 7296 255 63 57231.6 IC25N060 ATMR04-0 MO3O

Disk 3 is the 60 GB (shown as 57231.6 MB) hard disk that I have took out from the Acer Travelmate 3002 notebook that had the "Operating system not found" error during bootup. I connected the Acer hardisk (disk 3) to another computer using the USB interface and it is shown as disk 3.

# gdisk32 3

Disk Partitions Cylinders Heads Sectors Mbytes Model

3 3 7296 255 63 57231.6 IC25N060 ATMR04-0 MO3O

Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage

G: 1 PRIMARY 28678.5 NTFS/HPFS 50%

2 EXTENDED 28553.0 50%

H: 3 LOGICAL 28553.0 NTFS/HPFS 50%

In disk 3, the G drive is the first primary partition (Partition 1) where the Windows XP OS is installed. As shown above, the status is blank indicating that it is not marked as "active".

# gdisk32 3 /act /p:1

Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage

G: 1 A PRIMARY 28678.5 NTFS/HPFS 50%

2 EXTENDED 28553.0 50%

H: 3 LOGICAL 28553.0 NTFS/HPFS 50%

Mark the disk 3, partition 1 as "active" (Shown as "A" status).

PostScript (PS) and Printer Command Language (PCL) printer drivers

In most laserjet printer, there are 2 types of printer drivers provided, namely PostScript (PS) and Printer Command Language (PCL). The PS printer driver is normally use to print Portable Document Format (pdf) document. For other document types (.doc, .txt, etc), please use the PCL printer driver.

HP 4500 color laser printer

If you are printing a .pdf document to a HP 4500 colour laser printer using the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6 (v5.0) for Windows XP Operating System (OS), you will encounter the below printout error:

PCL XL error

subsystem: KERNEL

Error: UnsupportedProtocol

Operator: 0x0

Position: 0

The above error occurred because you are printing a .pdf document but you have use the PCL6 printer driver to print your document. Please change your printer driver to PS driver, eg: HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PostScript (v5.0) before printing.

If you are printing a .doc document to a HP 4500 color laser printer using the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6 (v5.0) for Windows XP OS and you encountered the below printout error:

PCL XL error

subsystem: KERNEL

Error: UnsupportedProtocol

Operator: 0x0

Position: 0

The problem is caused by the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6 (v5.0) printer driver. You should delete the HP laser jet 4500 printer that uses the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6 (v5.0) printer driver. Then, install the HP LaserJet 4500 PCL6 Printer Driver and use it to print the . doc document to a HP 4500 colour laser printer.