Well, that was pointless

My S7 has a glitch, a known one, without one apparent cause or cure. It also affects S7 Edge. The phone will turn the lock screen on all by itself. After a few seconds it will shut off.  And this glitch is rather draining on the battery life.

I have read on forum after forum about this for days. I applied every fix and suggestion, short of factory reset, as those who said they tried that final option discovered it didn't fix the problem. There doesn't seem to be any publicly known reason or fix. 

So after days of searching, silly me headed to Samsung online chat support.  Spent two hours being told do do everything I had already done.  Then I got hit with the "back up and factory reset".  To me, that's like killing a gnat with a nuke.  Also, you see, the latest Samsung back up software, (not so) SmartSwitch sucks big time. All it does is back up your contacts, messages, email and photos. Everything else.. nope.  Samsung KIES at least did a full device back up.   So, I said no.

Moving on: It seems that both Samsung KIES and SmartSwitch have an issue with one of my external harddrives. It's a Samsung S2 1tb drive. But both of the above programs identify it as a phone.  Also, I can't have that HD plugged in the same time I have my S7 because there seems to be some sort of weird Device ID conflict, and neither will work.

Techs' great solution?  "Do you really need to have the drive plugged in the same time you need to transfer something to your phone?"   I took several deep breaths, and politely answered. How about they fix the problem with their device ID/Drivers?

Beginning to border on harassment.

Earlier this year, I bought a CD (used) on Amazon, as it was listed in "VERY GOOD" condition. 

1: It was flagged by AQIS, opened, inspected, foreign substance on outside of the CD case tested.

2:  The CD playing surface was covered in dings and scratches.

3:  Piss poorly packed, so the CD case was cracked.

So, for buyer feedback, I gave seller 3 star rating, and only said that the CD wasn't in 'very good' condition, maybe fair and that returning it for a refund would have cost more than the purchase/shipping price. But seller did post it quickly.

First, the seller sends me a rant, claiming I was suffering from 'buyers remorse'.  Well, no. I then told her about items #1 and #3, and that I could have reported her for sending dangerous goods.  And yes, I sent her photos of the parcel with the yellow and black AQIS tape on it, and the notice inside the parcel from AQIS.

So far, she has sent me two, count them, two, messages asking me to remove my 'negative rating'.  I gave her a fair rating.

She keeps this up, I might go and change it to a ONE star rating because of her nagging me! I am NOT going to change it. I am not going to lie. The CD is was poor condition. I was able to archive the songs to my HD but I had to run them through some high end audio edition to remove clicks and hisses. 

EUREKA! (not the TV series, although it was quite good)

Ever since I got the new motherboard and CPU installed, got the computer back up and running, I have been hammering away at little things.

Soundblaster Wireless headset not working - Alan and I kept working on it, no joy. So I bought a new wired headset, but before tossing the SB one into the computer recycle bin, I decided to test it on Wing 's computer. It worked. Brought it back to my desktop. Uninstalled everything again. Rebooted again. Reinstalled everything again. Pressed the sync buttons and in less than 5 seconds it connected.

Bluetooth - for some odd reason, Windows 7 lost, for want of better word, the system tray and Control Panel icon for Bluetooth. I could install some antiquated software that would allow me to upload via Bluetooth, but I couldn't SEND anything.  I got into a Microsoft Assure chat, and after checking everything, he said I had done everything to troubleshoot, and suggested I contact motherboard manufacturer.  Well, I did, I sent an email, but I have never been one to sit on my hands. 

I looked around, and found a 'generic bluetooth driver'.  I plugged in the Bluetooth Dongle, let device manager run. Then updated the driver by selecting "Microsoft Generic Bluetooth Driver" from the list.  Well, I still don't have an icon in my Control Panel, but I do have it on my system tray. Also, I can send and receive now via bluetooth.

Mislabled Monitors - Windows Color Management has my monitors mislabeled (#1 is the primary, #2 is Secondary, but WCM has them backward.) but Windows "Screen Resolution" has them properly labeled.  I had a list of things to try, but none of them worked. Can't swap cables, as one is HDMI and the other is DVI.  I did all that was listed on each and every MS help and official sites. No joy there, as most of them kept pointing me back to the same useless pages.

So, I kept working on it.  I checked Nvidia control panel. All good.  Display Fusion Control panel. Also all good. Actual Windows Manager, multiple monitor settings... WTF?  I never selected that setting. Let's see what happens when I deselect it. Colors go wonky, icons shifted to other monitor, but now the monitors are properly labeled!  Moved icons over, saved their position, reloaded color management profile for the monitor and now Primary is #1 and Secondary is #2.

Nerdz Rool!

After a bit of chitchat with a Microsoft tech

And reading a bit more, I figured I would play around some more to get the old bluetooth dongle to work.  I followed on help site, but Windows kept trying to install many "Bluetooth Peripheral Devices".. over and over.

So, instead of trying to find hardware specific driver, I found a 'generic' Bluetooth driver. I shrugged and figured what the hell.

I unplugged the bluetooth device,  uninstalled the WIDCOM and Broadcom drivers. Rebooted.  Plugged the device back in. Picked Generic Bluetooth Adapter, and voila, both it and the Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator loaded without a hitch. Paired my phone with it, and was able to send and receive.

Nerdz Rool!

NRA and Gun nut logic:

If you make laws regarding guns, only law abiding gun owners would adhere to them. Criminal won't.

You can use this (non)logic in regards to any and all laws. Drunk driving is illegal, the majority of people follow the law. A few don't. Does that mean you strike the law from the books? No

Robbing banks is illegal. The majority of people don't rob banks. A few do. So, does that mean we removed the laws?  No

Ban assault weapons, their manufacture, sale, and import. Require background checks, and close gunshow/online loopholes. If it takes you a few weeks to get your precious gun, fine as that required background checks will prevent someone with a history of mental illness or criminal background from purchasing one through legal channels. 

Will a few that can't buy them legally have to spend a horrendous amount of money to smuggle them in? Probably, but that doesn't mean you don't ban them! Same applies to high capacity magazines.

The idea of not passing sensible gun reform laws just because a few won't obey is as ridiculous as making child pornography legal because a few won't obey the laws against it.

The ephemeral nature of street art

 

I spotted this bit of artwork on the face of a single brick in a local carpark/parking structure, and I am glad I took photo of it as the wall it was decorating was hit by a car, and all the bricks were taken out and replaced.  I have no idea who the artist is/was, but I am glad the work has been preserved this way.

 

As I know that during Beta Testing, little things matter

I have been testing the beta version of the Pulse camera remote. And with the exception of a few things, I haven't found anything not to like.

Started off rocky, as mine arrived a bit earlier than expected, and the web page for it with instructions and links to the phone app wasn't set up. A few traded messages and that was rectified.

The device:  Small, compact, easily set up on the camera (I'm currently testing on a Canon 5D3).  My one issue is the cord is a bit short and tight. Yes, it's wound like a spring, and if I pull it a few times, it does stretch, but before I did that the rubber port covers on the camera and the tension of the cord was pulling the plug from the remote socket.  As I typed, some stretching of the cord helps.

The App: Once you get the Pulse on your camera, power up the camera then the pulse.  Paired up with phone via bluetooth without incident.  App found my camera set up without issue.  My one complaint about the app, is that the "Back" button on the phone, instead of going to previous screen, it exits the application.  So, if you are in settings, press back after you've adjusted something, it exits the program, rather than return to the previous screen.

As I typed, in beta testing, little things matter.

Side effect of desktop being offline

Every security program is really bitching about scans/checks/virus definitions being outdated and long overdue. 

So, between updating those programs, and uninstalling/reinstalling drivers, I have been kept busy (thereby out of trouble.. mostly.)

After a good night's sleep

And some more reading, I was able to get the Replacement Replacement Seagate External drive to be visible and accessible.

The biggest problem with all versions of Windows from 95 on up to 10, is the error codes or lack thereof can have multiple causes, or none. 

The fun part is trying to figure out which is it and rectifying it.

Oh, my desktop computer,

How I have missed you! Let's try not to have another meltdown, ok? 

Had a bit of a panic when I got  NTLDR is missing when I first booted up.  Then I remembered, just go into the BIOS and change the boot order.  Yay! No more NTLDR... but then I got UEIF error in regards to the OS.  Ok, reboot, back into the BIOS, go into the advanced settings, change the Security to OTHER OS.  That problem solved.

Booted into Windows.  Well, once again, one program says my left monitor is #1 Primary, but another says the OTHER one is.  I can live with that. 

Connected the two powered USB hubs. A USB3 and a USB2.  Then I added one device at a time. Once the drivers were installed for it, connect another.  Rinse, and repeat as necessary.  The only thing I can't get connected is the replacement replacement Seagate drive. The USB3 Sata Bridge on it just won't play nice. Fine. Alan can have it.

After two months down there was gbs worth of updates.  Yikes. 

Alan knows what I'm like when I start working on computers. I don't eat. I drink coffee, and water and just keep working until things are done.  He all but sat me down with a lunch in front of me.