So I have a car, a 1992 Toyota Camry (I4, American Edition for those that care) that runs fine. We start it every morning, drive it, and park it at night. Rinse and repeat.
As with all good things, this too came to a end. We started it, drove to the gas station, filled it with gas, hopped back into the car, and could not get it to start again. Ended up pushing it from the gas station.

Here is what we observed:

1. The check engine light (which works fine on this car) would not light up when turning the key to the on position.
2. The engine would crank over when in the start position, the indicates there is enough power in the battery for the starter to engage.
3. The engine did not sound like it had no compressions - the sound was not a flat whine, but rather the normal chug sound as the pistons go up and down and the valves open normally.
4. Headlights and hazards worked correctly.

The next morning we were able to get it on a lift and test a few other things. Some more notes:

1. There was 1 blown fuse. The fuse was labeled AM and would blow as soon as a new fuse was plugged in (note to self: use a relay so you don't waste fuses).
2. AM per labeling was a headlight fuse. But the headlights worked even with no fuse installed.
3. The check engine light did work correctly when we powered the ignition switch manually.

{side note: There are 3 main things a car will need to run: a) spark b) fuel c) compression /side note}

We decided it most likely was not due to fuel or compression, but rather due to spark, or lack thereof. Because the check engine light was not lighting up, we could assume the ECU was not being powered, thereby not providing spark (among other things).

Armed with that information (The fuse blowing and the fact there appears to be no power to the car from the ECU), we started looking for the short. We started unplugging various items from the wire harness and seeing if the fuse would blow. With everything unplugged, the fuse would not blow, so we knew the short was not in the wire harness. We started plugging in items one at a time, and what do you know, when the distributor was plugged back in the fuse blew again.

{side note: the distributor has 2 connections to the wire harness. Make sure you get them both /side note}

A new distributor costs $14x.xx dollars, which is a lot. However, through some Google research we found that a common fail point was the condenser inside the distributor. That costs around $5 from the dealer by the way. So, with nothing to lose, we opened the distributor up, and low and behold, we found a melted condenser. Replaced that, put the whole thing back together, and we are on our way.

Hopefully this posting will save you a lot of the time we spent on this and get you back in your car with a lower cost.

The software I am talking about is called LiveZilla.

LiveZilla, like many other groups with the zilla name, was focusing on making a amazing piece of software for free. Just like Mozilla (Firefox) and FileZilla (FTP software), LiveZilla had some issues, but it was free and people were happy to help in way I could. Yes, they offered premium options that some people bought, but apparently that was not enough.

Not all too long ago, LiveZilla took V3.40 and re-named it as v4. that itself isn't a issue, but then they also removed the "Freeware" license model and replaced it with a "Commercial" License. They claimed that they could not develop anymore for free due to no money and they were forced to moved to a pay solution.

This too could have been overlooked, if not for one key factor. They also removed any and all links to old free versions as fast as they could.

Their reason of "we cannot develop anymore due to lack of funds" is no longer valid. After all, the old versions were completed already, there was nothing more to develop. Rather I suspect they did this so you would be forced to buy their new version and pay them 69 GBP per operator.

Speaking of which, you would think they would at least price their software reasonably. 69 GBP per operator isn't so bad - IF they were to host the software on their server. But since the software is on your server, there is no reason why they need to charge per operator.

Most live chat companies host their software on their servers so to charge per operator makes sense - after all it uses more system resources when you have more people on. But when I am hosting it on my server, I am already paying the extra cost.

Back on topic. I figured I would ask LiveZilla why they removed the old version and plead with them to restore it. So I did, and they promptly deleted my topic. Good thing I pulled it up in Google's cache and took a screenshot. See for yourself:

I asked them why they deleted my topic. While they are entitled to delete anything they don't like, it does say something about them as a whole.

Assuming they would censor or delete my new topic, I took a screenshot:

End result: They didn't delete this post, but they did edit it to remove my link to Google's cache.

In the end of the day, LiveZilla has shown me that they are only interested in money and not the end user.

Needless to say, the old version is free and while they won't distribute it anymore, nothing stops me from hosting it myself and linking it here.

Follow the 2 links below to download livezilla 3.3.2.2 full and livezilla 3.3.2.2 client

You only need full to setup and install livezilla on your website. You can use full to answer chats as well.

If you want a smaller install, use the client package. This package allows you to answer chats as normal, but does not allow you to install livezilla on a webserver.

Download LiveZilla 3.3.2.2 Full
Downloaded 1409 times

Download LiveZilla 3.3.2.2. Client
Downloaded 1070 times

Enter a period of bliss. From somewhere in December (lets call it the 15th, because that is when my contract elsewhere ran out) till around April 20th, 2011, their services were working within spec for me. No crashes, no issues at all. Then, around the 2oth, boom, VPS hard down again. One look in the panel and you could tell that the server was offline. No problem, open a ticket, right. So I thought, until I tried to login. Nope, 0wrong username/password. So I tried to do a password reset - "account not found"? Maybe I used the wrong e-mail? Nope, because I have their e-mails to me in that mailbox. Weird. So I sent a e-mail but got no reply. So I called, also no answer. Finally, after 4 days, I resigned myself to that fact they must have gone out of business.

I posted a thread on WHT (WebHostingTalk) forums with a tale of my sorrows, only to have Wayne reply to it. He informed me that I couldn't login because my account had been closed (not deleted) for not paying my bill. Uh, what? I pay every bill I had been given, except one for the reseller account (which I requested be closed before bill end date). They closed the account on a client who had a active service (the VPS) because one of his other services were overdue. Wrong, but that is just how I feel. I also lost the domain I registered through them.

Wayne and me spoke about it, and he re-activated my account. The VPS was down for work he said, and sure enough later on, it came back up. All appeared to be good in the world again.

ORIGINAL POST:
I am making this blog post in the hope to save you some aggravation. Recently (about 2 months ago) I signed up for the $5 VPS at YourDomainGoesHere.com. At first it was amazing. The VPS was quick, and I installed my program on it with no issue. However, after 3 days the VPS crashed. And by crashed, I mean it went offline and could not be brought back online. So I e-mailed support after waiting about 24 or so hours. I was informed that server 11, the server I was on, had suffered a hardware failure. All my data on there was lost, and that they would move me to another server. Why it took them 24 hours to move me, and why I never got an e-mail is a mystery to me.
Moving forward, I set up my program again on my new server and left it alone. My program is a game server administration tool called BigBrotherBot. Less then 24 hours later I was inform by one of my staff that the B3 Bot was down. Having no time to diagnose it, I used my old setup.
I checked the VPS later that day (which was on server 5). Sure enough it was offline and refused to turn back on. For over a month I could not get it to boot, and to this day it still won't. Support is slow and i have received one reply to my ticket in the past 24 hours. They claimed Server 5 had also crashed and that they were in the last pass of fsok.
I also have a resellers account with them. Although my bill is paid, it is in pending status. I have had the reseller account for almost a month.

Unfortunately I have come to realize that their services are below par. I consider the $15 I spent there a huge waste of money. I hope that you read this before it is to late and reconsider going with another host.

If you have any recommendations for a cheap VPS, feel free to let me know.