MaximumPC 2006 10

watch dodogg MAXIMUM PC TAKES A BITE OUT OF BAD GEAR dog

XXXXXXX 2006 MAXIMUMPC 00

PVoIP Phishers PPharming Dangers

PLenovo PnVidia PLexar

■ Normally, it’s batteries and power sup-

plies that set the world on fire, but Lexar

is recalling 66,000 USB JumpDrive thumb

drives that pose a burn hazard. The com-

pany said some of its JumpDrive FireFly

II and Secure II products might overheat,

posing a risk of burns to consumers and

property damage. On the Secure II drive,

look on the unit for the part number. If it

says JDSE1GB-00-500 Rev H and the part

number is 3052-1GBA-2006, 3052-1GBA-

2106, 3052-1GBA-1906, or 3052-1GBA-

1806, the drive is part of the recall.

To tell if your FireFly II is part of the

recall, you can look on the back of the

retail package it came in for the part num-

bers. If it shows the part number JDFF256-

431RU, JDFF512-431EM, JDFF1GB-431TO,

JDFF2GB-431BK, JDFF256-445RU, or

JDFF256-264, the drive poses a risk. If

you no longer have the packaging, you can look on the drive itself for the hardware part

number and PCBA Part number. In the table here we show you the number combinations

of the suspect drives. Both numbers must appear on your product; so, for example, a

FireFly II with JDFF1GB-00-500TO and 3791-1GBA would be on the recall list.

If you have one of the affected drives, you can return

it for a refund, replacement, or store credit where it was

purchased. Lexar notes that individual stores might apply

their own refund or return policies. Individuals can also

exchange the unit directly with Lexar. You can

call Lexar at 1-800-248-2798, 24 hours a

day, if you need more information, or visit

http://www.lexar.com/jdrecall/index.html for more

information.

Recall Alert

FireFly II drives must have both sets

of part numbers to be part of the

Lexar recall.

HARDWARE PCBA PART

PART NUMBER NUMBER

JDFF1GB-00-500TO 3791-1GBA

3792-1GBA

3793-1GBA

JDFF256-00-500RU 3791-256A

3793-256A

JDFF256-00-500VI 3791-256A

3793-256A

JDFF2GB-00-500BK 3792-2GBA

JDFF512-00-500EM 3791-512A

3793-512A

another hard drive that is “supported” by the T43.

No 3: Use the drive in a drive-bay adapter that slips

into the optical slot of the machine. (That’s not

exactly optimal if you want to use the hard drive

as your primary drive and you also want to burn

DVDs.) The Dog thinks Lenovo forgot option No 4:

Switch notebook PC brands. Woof.

DRIVER DECEPTION?

While we’re on the topic of conspiracies to push

brands and hardware: Some folks are wondering

if there was gorilla marketing at work when nVidia

released the 91.31 drivers for its GeForce cards.

When the new drivers from nVidia’s website were

installed, a message appeared saying: “SLI has

been disabled.” The message pops

up for people who intentionally have

SLI disabled for multi-monitor work,

as well as for people who don’t have

second cards installed, and even for

people whose motherboards don’t

support SLI.

On a new Core 2 Duo/Intel

975X machine, for example, the Dog

ran into the message with a single

GeForce card. It would not go away until a second

GeForce card was installed—but, of course, the

975X doesn’t support SLI.

When the Dog questioned nVidia reps, he was

told there’s no conspiracy, just a pesky driver bug.

“Several users have commented about a

pop-up message from the toolbar that says: ‘SLI

multi-GPU rendering has been disabled.’ A driver

bug resulted in this message appearing on PCs at

every reboot. We fixed this bug in a new driver that

has been available on nZone.com since June 29.

We apologize for the inconvenience.”

You can download the new driver at

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_

rel70betadriver.html.

A bug in one of nVidia’s drivers tells you at every

boot that SLI is turned off—even if you don’t have

SLI or your motherboard can’t run it.

call Lexar at 1-800-248-2798, 24 hours a

day, if you need more information, or visit

http://www.lexar.com/jdrecall/index.html

information.

If you have one of the affected drives, you can return

it for a refund, replacement, or store credit where it was

purchased. Lexar notes that individual stores might apply

their own refund or return policies. Individuals can also

exchange the unit directly with Lexar. You can

FireFly II with JDFF1GB-00-500TO and 3791-1GBA would be on the recall list.

exchange the unit directly with Lexar. You can

call Lexar at 1-800-248-2798, 24 hours a

their own refund or return policies. Individuals can also

exchange the unit directly with Lexar. You can

call Lexar at 1-800-248-2798, 24 hours a

day, if you need more information, or visit

http://www.lexar.com/jdrecall/index.html

Some Lexar information.

JumpDrives could

overheat and pose a burn hazard.