Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

New NVMe System Delivers Formidable Punch

August 23, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

The electrician visited our house early today to fix some switches. He also helped us find a GFI plug we didn’t know we had (duh!). He had to turn off power at the breaker box momentarily, so all the PCs went down. I took that opportunity to pop the case on the new Ryzen 5800X build. I moved the NVMe SSD from the M.2.2 slot to the M.2.1 slot. That’s when I learned this new NVMe system delivers formidable punch power, I/O-wise. Let me explain.

If New NVMe System Delivers Formidable Punch, How So?

We’re talking about the transition from PCIe x3 to x4, along with a new generation of SSD controller technology here. The lead graphic shows CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 results from my 2016 vintage i7-6700 system left and the 2021 vintage Ryzen 5800X system right. The underlying NVMe drives are Samsung 950 PRO 512GB left, and Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB right. The speed increase ranges from 1876.41 vs. 3444.19 (upper left), or 1.83x, to 124.9 vs. 226.81 (lower right), or 1.75x. The biggest differences occur in the upper right cell, and the one beneath it. Those ratios are 2.13 and 2.12, respectively.

Thus we’re talking about a speed boost ratio for I/O in the neighborhood of 7/4 at the slowest and 15/7 at the fastest. In roundish numbers, say 2:1. That’s pretty decent. I daresay it’s a big enough difference to be noticeable. I can tell the difference in ways that range from working with the filesystem, to performing backups, to running applications, and more.

Where Value Sits…

I’m still learning how the new system works, and what it can really do. I just ran WhyNotWin11 on the PC and it doesn’t have TPM turned on. I just checked the Asrock website. Happily it provides instructions on how to turn on fTPM in BIOS for that motherboard. It’s a single, simple option, so I’ll take care of it the next time I reboot. Then, the system should be ready for Windows 11.

Switching the NVMe from the M.2.2 slot to the M.2.1 slot delivered the promised speed increase. It also made the 2 previously blocked SATA devices on that machine visible. So far, it’s been a peach to work with. The speed and capabilities of this current-gen Ryzen processor definitely impress. I am indeed inclined to think the upgrade was worth the cost. I’m still waiting for Nvidia 3070 cards to come down in price before endowing that PC with more graphics oomph, though.

Stay tuned. I’ll report in on system temps and stuff, and take a few pics of the build later this week. Should be fun!

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5800X Rebuild Boots Right Up

August 22, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It was an interesting Saturday. My son and I started working on the rebuild of our oldest desktop PC around 10 AM that morning. He’d never built a PC before, so I had him doing most of the driving. It was an educational experience for both of us. But happily, this 5800X rebuild boots right up on the first try. In fact, we got Windows 10 clean installed with just one minor hiccup. Total time invested so far: around 4.5 hours (but plenty of software still to install).

5800X Rebuild Boots Right Up, But…

On the first go-round from my Ventoy boot disk, Windows 10 refused to allow the brand-new Sabrent Rocket 2TB NVMe to act as the boot/system drive. A quick once-over using DISKPART showed it was NOT formatted for GPT. Once I cleaned the drive then converted it to GPT, the installer was able to take it from there. First time to use an unallocated drive teaches me that GPT is now mandatory. Live and learn.

Other lessons learned during this install adventure included:
1. Always good to have a grabbing tool or clamps to use for handling small screws in tight places.
2. It’s good to have ample wiring room in which to route power and control cables.
3. The Antec 900 still makes a great PC case, but it shows its age with no front-panel USB 3 ports.
4. The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 is a TALL cooler. I had to remove the case fan from the side panel to button the case back up (fortunately it has plenty of ventilation anyway).
5. I’m missing a couple of SATA drives, because of lane conflicts from the M.2 NVMe in use. I see an easy fix in the mobo manual, tho…

Worthwhile Investment?

The parts I purchased for the rebuild cost about US$1,200. It’s still too early to tell if the upgrade is worth that price. But time will tell pretty shortly. In the meantime, stay tuned, and I’ll keep you posted.

Insider stuff, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

First Windows 11 ISOs Now Available

August 20, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. It was on June 28 that the first Windows 11 Insider Preview release made its debut on the Dev Channel. Mid-day yesterday I learned that MS had finally added Windows 11 ISOs to the Windows Insider Preview Downloads page. That’s right: the first Windows 11 ISO now available are ready to download. The lead-in graphic shows my selection of Dev Channel for Build 22000.132 (the number is truncated).

First Windows 11 ISOs Now Available: Grab One!

Because my Ventoy UFD doesn’t have a Build 22000.132 image amidst its collection, I did just that. I next had to confirm language (English, more properly EN-US). Then I had to click the “64-bit download” button shown here:

64-bit download button shows full details for Win11 version ISO.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

As is often the case when making MS downloads, it took a while to wind up. But eventually I started seeing download speeds ranging from just over 200Mbps to as high as 410 Mbps. The whole shebang took just over 3 minutes to complete.

Final file size, according to Explorer: 5,358,902 KB. That equals 5,233 MB or 5.11 GB. That makes this ISO too large for FAT-32 (which has a maximum file size of 4 GB). Good thing I’m using Ventoy: it will mount the ISO from its own EFI FAT-32 partition, even though the file resides on an exFAT partition (not subject to the 4 GB max filesize limitation). Good stuff!

One More Thing…

For some odd reason my ususal WIMVP MS account wouldn’t give me access to the Windows 11 ISO download. I had to sign out and sign back in under what I thought was an obsolete MS account. Not only did it please me to find a way to grab the ISO, it also gives me an important clue about why I’ve been unable to access my WIMVP benefits lately. Just another bonus as I live the dream here in Windows-World!

Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

USB Flash Drive Follies 4th vs 11th Gen

August 19, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Just yesterday I got videotaped for an upcoming session at SpiceWorld 2021 Virtual. One of the subjects I covered for HPE covered “the aging of technology” and what that does to IT efficiency, security and resiliency. That got me to thinking. “How has USB fared as faster busses, faster connections, and faster media have evolved over the past while?” I decided to conduct some USB flash drive follies 4th vs 11th gen systems to see what changed.

What’s Up With USB Flash Drive Follies 4th vs 11th Gen?

It turned into a tale of two drives, two systems, and three means of attachment. These were as follows:

Drive 1. Sabrent mSATA SSD enclosure with Samsung 950 EVO mSATA 500GB SSD USB 3
Drive 2: Fideco NVMe SSD enclosure with Sabrent Nano NVMe 1TB SSD USB 3.1
System 1: 2014 Vintage Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (i7-4650U, 8 GB RAM, USB 3)
System 2: 2021 Vintage Lenovo ThinkPad X12 (i7-1180G7, 16 GB RAM, USB 3.2/Thunderbolt 3)

The three means of attachment were USB 3, USB 3.1 (both using Type A connectors) and USB 3.2 using USB-C.

Technology Trumps Bus Speed

First things, first. There’s simply no comparison between mSATA and NVMe devices. It’s an order of magnitude from the older mSATA SSD technology to the newer NVMe. That tells me — and it should tell you — it’s simply not worth buying mSATA devices anymore. If you’ve still got them (I’ve got half-a-dozen) you can still use them.

The aging effect shows very strongly in the mSATA results. They stay pretty much the same across both systems and across all USB connection types (3.0, 3.1, and 3.2). That’s because the mSATA enclosure is either 3.0 or 3.1 (I just checked: it’s 3.0).

Things get more interesting with the NVMe devices. They run at about half-speed when there’s no UASP support on the PC (as with the Surface Pro). Amusingly, I got the same results from my Belkin Thunderbolt 3 dock with a USB 3.1 cable plugged into the NVMe enclosure. But when I used a USB-C cable directly into a USB-C port on the ThinkPad X12 I got big-block read/write speeds of ~1050 MBps read/~1004 MBps write from the NVMe flash device. Compare that to ~455 read/~457 write through the Thunderbolt dock for the same device.

Very interesting! This tells me that USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 or better drive enclosures, coupled with PCIe x3 or better NVMe SSDs in those enclosures deliver the fastest external drive storage I can use today (on my newer systems with USB-C, of course). And it looks like the performance boost from using the fastest possible port and connection is also very much worth it. Good to know!

This just makes me more interesting in acquiring a Thunderbolt 4 dock to see if it can extend that performance to secondary ports (right now, I get best speed only from USB-C ports on the X12, of which there are only 2).

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First Windows 11 Hardware Refresh

August 18, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. I’m getting ready to upgrade one of my two remaining desktops to make it meet Windows 11 hardware requirements. This is my first Windows 11 hardware refresh, so I want to get things right. The irony of the situation is that this PC is already running Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.132. That’s not supposed to continue, as and when an RTM version hits the Internet. I’m trying to get out in front of those changes…

Where My First Windows 11 Hardware Refresh Begins

Given what’s in this still-capable Windows 10 (and 11) PC, it’s been around for a while. Here are its key components:
1. Intel i7-4770K (4th generation/Haswell) CPU
2. 32 GB DDR3 RAM
3. Asrock Z97 Killer Motherboard
4. Samsung OEM 512GB NVMe PCIe x3 boot/system SSD
5. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
That CPU dates back to 2013, but I believe I built this system in 2014, and later upgraded its graphics card. It is getting kind of long in the tooth, but I’m keeping many parts for the refresh build.

What Goes, What Stays?

Of the four numbered items above, 1-4 are going, Because of the current market situation for GPUs, it’s not smart for me to lay out over US$1K for a new one right now. Here’s the other stuff I bought to put inside that machine (I’m keeping the case, the PSU, all the peripherals, and some of its existing drives, as well):
1. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU (8 core/16 thread)
2. G.Skill 64 GB DDR4-2666 (2×32 GB modules)
3. CoolerMaster Hyper 212 RGB closed-loop liquid CPU cooler
4. Asrock B550 Extreme4 AM4 Motherboard
5. Sabrent Rocket Q NVMe PCIe x4 SSD 2TB

Open Questions for the Build

This will be my first time to put together a PC that aims to comply with Windows 11 requirements. I’m curious to see if those will be met by default, or if I’ll have to fiddle the BIOS to get Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 emulation working. Whatever happens, count on me to keep you posted right here. The target schedule for the project is Saturday, August 21. I’m going to take a back seat, and let my 17-year-old son Gregory take the old stuff out, and put the new stuff in. Wish us luck!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

Win11 Firmware Update Causes Momentary Hiccups

August 17, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Back on August 9, I reported on some issues with the Lenovo firmware update tool, fwdetectcmd1911.ex, on my Windows 11 test PCs. I’ve given myself a quick self-help tutorial on the oustanding, highly-recommended UWP preview version of the Windows Debugger. It’s known as WinDbg Preview. It’s easily available from the Microsoft Store. And, unlike the old command line WinDbg, this version’s surprisingly easy to use. It’s what let me determine that Lenovo’s Win11 Firmware update causes momentary hiccups on my system. Why? Because the updater fails when it looks for Thunderbolt hardware and finds none.

When Win11 Firmware Update Causes Momentary Hiccups, No Worries!

I’d been wondering if this was a serious problem. But a quick investigation shows that this condition throws an unhandled exception. In the Stack pane at lower left, a lengthy string labeled KERNELBASEUnhandledExceptionfilter appears right near the top of the error stack. That’s what tells me, along with the key value shown in the Command pane above, that missing Thunderbolt is my culprit. I guess I need to hook up a dock and try again so I can get past this recurring error.

Note the bottom error in the Command pane, and the second-from-top info in the Stack pane. Both tell a story of a crash when looking for absent Thunderbolt devices.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

I also plan to drop this info onto the Lenovo Forums so their engineers can get the word this is happening. I would imagine it will be pretty easy for them to skip over the Thunderbolt update if no Thunderbolt hardware is present, rather than throwing an unhandled exception. Time will, of course, tell if my imagining is mere fantasy or founded in fact.

All this said, I’m glad of a couple of things:
1. I’m glad that the recurring firmware update failures are an error in the updater and not indicative of a genuine system issue
2. I’m glad that I got a good excuse to try our the new WinDbg tool. It’s ever so much easier and fun to use than the old one.

And that’s the way things go here in Windows-World, with a smile and nod from yours truly today!

Insider stuff, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Windows 11 Gets Snipping Tool Makeover

August 16, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

With the latest Build of Windows 11, 22000.132, several new app versions have appeared. This includes a new version of the Snipping Tool. In fact, Windows 11 gets Snipping Tool Makeover that combines this older program with the newer Snip & Sketch. What’s interesting about this update is that MS has advised Snipping Tool users to switch to Snip & Sketch for some time now. Take a look at its home screen in Windows 10, where it says “Snipping Tool is moving…”

The Windows 10 version still warns users it’s “moving to a new home,” and exhorts them to “Try Snip & Sketch.”

If Windows 11 Gets Snipping Tool Makeover, Now What?

The new combined tool calls itself Snipping Tool. But it works more like Snip & Sketch than it works like the Windows 10 Snipping Tool. It still does the job, though. I can use it without any learning curve, because I’ve long switched between both Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, as well as TechSmith’s SnagIt tool. All have their unique strengths, which I’ll play to as I need them.

The change is a little odd though, along the lines of “one step forward, one step back, one step sideways.” Long-time Windows developer and gadfly Rafael Rivera got this right in an August 12 tweet on this subject, to wit:

Rivera’s comments are spot-on for Windows users who may not catch this change of course.

Doesn’t life sometimes get interesting, here in Windows-World? I’m pretty sure most people will figure this out, but it can be perplexing to keep up with the changes sometimes. Count on me to keep you informed, please, as I also try to see the humorous side of this wonderful game.

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

WinKey+P Powers Display Projection

August 13, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Sometimes, it isn’t until things go terribly wrong that one appreciates the power of simple syntax. Check out this TenForums post, which explores the impact of the WinKey+P gone wrong: Win p key pressed. Because WinKey+P powers display projection, a user’s nephew’s wrong menu choice made him think he’d lost access to 2 of his 3 displays in a multi-monitor configuration. Not so!

WinKey+P Powers Display Projection — Usually Into a Menu

Normally, when you strike Winkey+P on a Windows 10 or 11 PC, you’ll get a pop-up menu like the one shown in the lead-in graphic. It highlights the current setting — Extend in my case, because I have my desktop extended over a pair of Dell 2717 monitors. Overall, it offers these four settings:

PC Screen only: (tantamount to striking WinKey+P once)
Duplicate: copies primary monitor to all other monitors (select by striking WinKey+P twice)
Extend: extend the desktop across all available monitors (select by pressing WinKey+P three times)
Second screen only: use only Display #2 for graphical output (select by pressing WinKey+P four times)

Our hapless user’s nephew struck WinKey+P once, which apparently forced his PC into “PC Screen only” mode. On my PC, however, I got the menu shown above, and was easily able to move among the selections using my mouse.

When Key Combos Go Wrong, Try More!

Interestingly, advice on TenForums about what to do in this situation is spot on. It reads “Did you try pressing ‘WinKey+P’ again? Sometimes a key acts like an ‘on off’ switch.” In this case, our user wanted to press WinKey+P 3 times to get to the extend option through the keyboard. There’s no discussion of using the menu instead, which I find infinitely preferable.

For some odd reason I’m reminded of one of William Blake’s epigrams from his Proverbs of Heaven and Hell:

The fool who persists in his folly soon becomes wise.

This turns out to be good, if oblique, advice when dealing with unwanted WinKey key combinations. As for myself: I’d have looked it up online, and found all the insight I ever could have wanted, and more.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Discretionary New Intel 30.0.100.9805 Graphics Driver

August 12, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

This morning, I learned about a DCH graphics driver from Intel, which adds Windows 11 support. This is the discretionary new Intel 30.0.100.9805 graphics driver. It’s shown in the driver properties for the UHD 620 integrated graphics on my Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga in the lead-in graphic. This driver installed quickly and easily on that test PC, albeit with a self-inflicted gotcha. Let me explain…

Why Say: Discretionary New Intel 30.0.100.9805 Graphics Driver?

Normally, graphics and other key Intel drivers come either through Windows Update or from the Intel Driver & Support Assistant (DSA). This time, things are a little different. I imagine it’s because this driver specifically targets Windows 11 (though it also works on Windows 10) that Intel hasn’t yet targeted it within DSA. Instead one must visit the Intel Graphics – Windows DCH Drivers page. There one must select the 30.0.100.9805 (Latest) version, and download either an .exe or .zip based installer. Here’s what it looks like online:

The download page offers .exe and .zip options.
[Click on image for full-sized view.]

Who Should Grab This Update?

All Intel CPUs 6th generation (Skylake) or newer are on Intel’s “covered platform list” for this upgrade. It works on Windows 10 releases 1809 through 21H1, and on Windows 11. Laptop and tablet users should be aware that OEMs sometimes offer customized Intel graphics drivers through their own update channels. By switching to this Intel update, you forgo those customizations. Some contortions — such as uninstalling the Intel drivers and software — may be required if you want to switch back to OEM drivers later on.

The gotcha I encountered in installing this driver is mostly self-inflicted, but worth reporting anyway. I started the install process through an RDP session from my production desktop. About half-way into the install, the process hung and didn’t advance further. When I ended the RDP session, and logged into the X380 Yoga locally, it picked back up and ran to completion. Sometimes, driver install MUST run locally to work properly. Apparently, this Intel driver requires a local session to run all the way through. By comparison, I did use DSA to update the PC’s LAN and Bluetooth drivers via RDP just before starting the display adapter update for the UHD 620 without issues.

And indeed, that’s the way things went today, here in Windows-World. Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Software Reviews, WED Blog, Windows 11

Start11 Beta Arrives With Certain Complications

August 11, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then. Here’s a phenomenon that may interest some readers not at all, though I confess myself fascinated. When I first started using Windows 8 in February 2012, the new Start menu totally baffled me. With major deadlines close and breathing down my neck, I bought a copy of Stardock Software’s Start8 Start Menu replacement package so I could skip the learning curve and get stuff done. Since then, I’ve cheerfully paid the US$4-5 per PC that Start8 and later, Start10, licenses cost. I was immensely tickled this morning to find out that Start11 Beta arrives with certain complications in its wake. Let me explain…

What Start11 Beta Arrives With Certain Complications Means

I have licenses for Start10 on two of my three Win11 test machines. For the record, Start10 works fine on Windows 11 PCs, but it lacks native smarts and features. A for-a-fee beta version is available as of August 10. Like Start10, it goes for US$4.99. I find it a little odd to be asked to PAY to play where Beta software is involved…

But for those with Start10 licenses, one can also pay to upgrade the software to that version and get updates as the product evolves. I qualified for a discounted (US$3.99) update price, so I ponied up and downloaded the installer file, named Start11-fs-setup_sd.exe.

Then the fun began. Because Start10 was already running, the installer informed me I had to close that program and uninstall it before I could install Start11. I killed all the Start10 related entries on the Processes tab in Task Manager.

But that proved insufficient: in fact, the Start10 service process would persistently keep restarting seconds after I killed it. So I opened the Details tab, and killed the Start10x64.exe process along with a few other hangers-on. Only then did the uninstall complete successfully, after which it informed me I had to reboot my PC to complete that process. After a restart, I was able to get Start 11 up and running.

First Impressions of Start11

I understand how the native Start Menu works in Windows 10 and 11 now, so it doesn’t bother me as it once did immediately following Windows 8’s debut. I’ll be up front and say I’m not sure Start11 is something that everybody — or even most people — need when running Windows 11. That said, as an old familiar tool for me, I immediately felt comfortable with its workings and capabilities. These include:

1. An option to shift the Start Menu button and program icons back to the left-hand side of the display.
2. Indirect access (one click to the native Start Menu through a Windows Menu button in the Start11 menu).
3. More sophisticated controls over Start Menu appearance, such as icon settings (size, background, columnar layouts), menu font controls, menu transparency controls, and customization options).
4. Right-click on Start button can be set to produce Win+X menu

Is Start11 a piece of essential Windows 11 software? Probably not. Is it nice to have? I think so, but others may disagree. I’m glad it’s cheap, but I found the install process far from smooth and well-engineered. But then, it IS a beta version. I’m guessing that will change as Start11 and the OS to which it’s matched both evolve into their production versions.

The About screen shows Version number 0.5: a clear indication of a beta version. Hoping install will improve as the program evolves.
[Click image for full-sized view.]