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Another weirdness with the Chrysler 300m.  If you Google trying to find the thermostat location on a 300m’s 3.5L, most answers are from people that have never looked under the hood of this strange car.  You will see answers like:  “Knowing Chrysler, it is located at the top of the engine at the end of the upper radiator hose.” This is a logical answer coming from someone that doesn’t have a clue…if you look at the 3.5L HO engine, the fixture that the upper radiator hose is connected to is blocked by the fuel injection system.

If you want to know the location of the thermostat, it is located at the end of the LOWER radiator hose, near the oil filter.  Jack the car up and remove the drivers side front tire for easier access.

Though there is an important item located on the fixture at the end of the upper radiator hose, a bleeder valve to bleed air out of the cooling system.

It seemed a simple task.  My daughter recently got DSL with AT&T, and she wanted me to set up a router so the grandson could play XBox Live while she was online.   Sure, no problem, 15 minute job tops.  I already had an old router that worked fine when I parked it.  No luck.  I assumed it was dead.  A few weeks later, she bought a Linksys BEFSR41.  I couldn’t connect to its webpage at all, which stumped me until I updated the NIC drivers.

But try as I might, I couldn’t get the router to connect to the internet.  No way.  So I bit the bullet and did something I NEVER do, I called the Linksys support line, which actually was pretty impressive, no wait whatsoever, and really good help.  But no dice.  The tech advised me to exchange the router, which I did.  The new one did the same.  So I exchanged it for a Linksys WRT54GS Wireless, because that’s what I have.  Still the same thing.

During this time I was surfing for help, but found nothing that really helped.  I found one post on one forum that mentioned PPPoE…but I’m thinking encryption and compression.  Though it did stick in my head that there was more to this problem than merely a dysfunctional router.

So next, I bit the bullet again and used the AT&T support online chat.  Cool idea…at least you don’t know for sure if you are chatting with someone from India since you can’t hear them. LOL  I found out from her that AT&T support does not deal with “third party” routers since the first of the year.  Thanks much.  But that chat was very telling…calling the Linksys a “third party” router means that they have their own, which I wasn’t aware of.  So, I now can narrow my search some.

I run across a post at the AT&T forum asking the same question I had.  “Why do you not want to use one of AT&T’s modem/routers?”  I don’t remember the brand, but the guy felt that they were crap.

Finally, I ran across a thread at DSLReports.com.  I’d been there before a few years ago, using their Broadband speed test.  Reading down the thread, I hit paydirt!  A link to a DSL Reports FAQ…..

How do I properly set up a Motorola 2210 modem with Linksys router?

This is one of the most awesome DIY FAQs I have ever seen.  Step by step instructions, with screenshots, stick figures, the whole bit.  All but the most computer illiterate could understand.

I didn’t have another computer handy, so I wrote down the steps (you are required to power down your rig so you will lose them).  Ten minutes later, I was up and running.

The problem is that the AT&T modem requires username and password to connect, and has a PPPoE connection.  The fix is to bridge their modem and your router, change the Linksys router to PPPoE, and put your AT&T username and password in your router.  This fools their server into thinking the password is in the modem.  The only thing I could see that changed externally is that your “internet” light on the modem no longer works.  No real problem, if you drop your internet connection, just unplug both modem and router, which is what I do half the time with my cable broadband anyway.

The link to the thread is here. There are a couple of other FAQs linked there too.

I would very much like to thank FAQFixer and DSL Reports for this invaluable information.  You are definitely lifesavers.

So now the question is, should you get an AT&T modem/router, or use a different one?  If it was me, and I was going to have to buy a router, I’d probably get one from AT&T, unless the rent was more than a few bucks a month more than the modem alone.  It’s their router, and if it dies, its on their dime.  If you already have a router, you can get one for free or dirt cheap, or if you want a really nice router, follow the instructions, and you’ll be up in no time.

The Motorola Razr V3xx has been around a while, but it still is an excellent phone, and it is still often chosen for first phones and upgrades from elcheapo phones. It has a lot of features, and with the capability of adding a MicroSD card, you can put your own music on it.

For me, a phone is a phone…I seldom do texting, listen to music on it, email, all the stuff that most people use cells for nowadays. But I have always liked the idea of making my own MP3 ringtones. I find the stock ringtones totally and completely lame, most of them aren’t loud enough to be heard in a noisy environment like a store, and I usually want to personalize stuff.  I like a lot of old jazz, blues, and music that usually isn’t available for purchase as ringtones. The Razr V3xx has that capability, but it isn’t obvious how to make it work. Once I decided to do it, I Googled, and never found a solution that didn’t involve using Motorola Phone Tools, using Linux and hacking the phone, or forget it and order ringtones. Supposedly, the criteria is maximum bitrate of 128, and max size of 512k.

First, I just tried uploading MP3s via USB cable. Then MP3s edited for length and size. Neither worked…they would upload, but the songs weren’t available to be used for ringtones.

I tried sending an MP3 to a Samsung Blackjack via Bluetooth, which had the capability of using any MP3 as a ringtone, and then send it back. Nope, didn’t work either.

After a lot of frustration and a few hours, I realized what was wrong, after examining an MP3 that did work. It had a bitrate of 32. So I lowered my bitrate, and whaddayaknow…it worked.

I saw a lot of places during my research that mentioned using Audacity for editing. I have personally done a fair amount of digital recording, and have used Audacity a lot, both for digital recording and recording streams. It isn’t a hard program to use, but for the totally uninitiated, I thought I’d make a short primer.

I’m assuming that you already know how to use your computer, transfer files, etc. You’ll need the proper USB cable….the end that connects to the phone is called a “Mini BM” or “Mini BM 5-pin”. I have seen other types called a “Mini USB”, so be careful if you have to order one. I did have to order one, I got it from NewEgg.com (where I get ALL of my computer and technology supplies, and if you need a MicroSD card, the place to get it, I paid $8.99 for a Kingston 2GB), a six footer was $1.99. (Item #: N82E16812119032)

You will need to download Audacity, it is a totally free and fully functional sampling (digital recording) program, and one of the few that will work with MP3s as is, no need to convert to .WAV or whatever. Get it here. Also, you will need to download the “LAME MP3 Encoder” that is listed on the same page. Instructions for what to do with it are at the link. (No, it isn’t a lame encoder, LAME stands for “LAME Ain’t an Mp3 Encoder” some of the fabulous GNU naming of the late 90’s)

First, select the song that you want to use for a ringtone. Launch Audacity.

Go to Project>Import Audio and navigate to your song.

The song should look something like this. Now we’ll start editing it.

First we’ll delete the silence at the beginning of the song, which is denoted by a flat line. This particular song has some in-studio chatter at the beginning…cool for the song, but not needed on the ringtone. If you’ll look at the toolbar towards the top of the page, there is a magnifying glass with a “+” in it for zoom. Click it a few times to stretch the song out, it makes it easier to delete the short silence space. Highlight the silence, then Edit>Cut.

Next we need to shorten the music. I don’t know what the maximum is, I know that on an early version of Motorola Phone Tools, you were allowed 37 seconds. I decided to make this ringtone about 21 seconds, which is about the amount of time you have to answer the phone if the other party doesn’t hang up early. If you look just above the music, there is a scale broken down in seconds. You may have to zoom in to see the 20 second mark. Highlight everything after that point…you’ll have to drag the cursor to the end of the song. Once again, Edit>cut.

Next, click the mouse in the space just to the left of the music. That will highlight the entire song, or what is left of it. Go to Effects>Compressor. We are going to use a compressor on the music, to prepare it for making it louder.

When the compressor is launched, you will need to change the threshold. -30dB is a pretty good place, 2:1 ratio is ok. You can play with the compressor all you want, what you are trying to do is make the peaks above and below the the bulk of the sound closer to the main part, so the ends won’t be clipped off as much when we amplify the music. (If you have ever heard of the term “Clipping”, now you know what it means) Leave the attack time, and check the normalizing box.

Notice the difference in the music. The music should have gotten much narrower, and the peaks closer to the middle. If it didn’t change much, Edit>Undo, and increase the ratio to 3:1 or 4:1.

Now that our music is compressed, we are going to amplify it. Go to Effects>Amplify. How much amplification we use really depends on how small the music is now. Just for your information, 3dB is twice as loud, which really doesn’t make as much difference as you’d think. I tried 6dB and it worked ok. You will most likely have to check the “Allow Clipping” box as the “OK” will be blanked out. Actually, if the “OK” box isn’t blanked out, you probably aren’t amplifying enough.

Your song should look something like this, a little larger is ok, but much more and the music will be pretty distorted when your phone plays it. If it is much more narrow than this, it probably isn’t loud enough. If you can see nothing but blue, it is too loud. Just Edit>Undo, and try again. You won’t know for sure until you can listen on your phone. The goal is to have the sound as loud as possible without being distorted beyond reason. You can spend a lot of time experimenting with compression and amplification to get the perfect sound later.

Now we will prepare to export the MP3. Go to Edit>Preferences. If you see nothing but keyboard shortcuts, use the <> arrows at the top of the window to see the other preferences. Look at the MP3 Export Setup. If the LAME version isn’t listed, you need to go back and setup the LAME plugin. Set the MP3 bitrate to 32.

Last, we will get rid of the tags that accompany most MP3 files, the artist, album, etc. This may not be totally necessary, but I see no need for those tags to be in your ringtone. Goto Project>Edit ID3 Tags.

I’d change ringtone titles to something besides the song title, so it won’t get mixed up with other files in your phone, especially if you have the entire song on your memory card. I always put “RT” before the name, and use part of the name without spaces…something like “RTnineteenyearsold”. Delete the artist, album, track, etc.

Finally, we’ll export the MP3 to a logical place on your computer. I’d change the name of the file to whatever you used in the last step.

Use Windows and upload the MP3 to your phone or phone memory card. I’m assuming that you know how to set a ringtone better than I do, so I won’t go there.

Good Luck!  Hopefully, this will help you to enjoy your Razr even more.