A method for fabricating a continuous vapor grown carbon fiber mat including: providing a substrate which has a catalyst on its surface; placing the substrate in a furnace; introducing hydrogen, ammonia, or combinations thereof into the furnace; adjusting a temperature of the furnace to 400\xb0 C. The method includes calculating the value of at least one data item representative of the operation of the apparatus, comparing the calculated value to a predetermined reference value and deducing the occurrence of a malfunction in the event of a predetermined difference between the values. When the upper cover is moved, the roller member is moved along the transverse slot and guide slots to extend or compress the resilient member. The separately powered data-based link integrity module may be redundant to a software driver type data-based link integrity module implemented in core memory and enabled or disabled as desired. The ribs also facilitate insertion of items into the bag and prevent clinging of the bag interior surface to flat portions of the product carried therein. The laptop, now informed of the hubs physical address, issues the ping request.