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06/25/08
The Gateway Saga Continues
Filed under: Ramblings, Computers & Internet
Posted by: Tim @ 9:53 am

Well, the good news is that the replacement nVidia 8500GT video card for my Gateway GM5478 arrived.  Gateway sent it to me as a warranty replacement for the original 8500GT that failed.  The bad news is it does not work.  In fact, when I install the replacement nVidia 8500GT and press the power button, the only thing that happens is that the blue light around the power button illuminates.  No CPU or power supply fan, no hard drive spinning up, nothing. When I remove the nVidia card and use the integrated video port again, the PC works just fine.

So, I guess another round of troubleshooting and support center communications will commence. Sigh.

Has anyone else seen this issue?  Have you been able to get it resolved?

2 comments
05/23/08
Gateway GM5478: Strike Three
Filed under: Ramblings, Computers & Internet
Posted by: Tim @ 3:19 pm

Recently my Gateway GM5478 has begun acting up again.  This time it’s a problem with the video card or a driver conflict.  I’m steaming right now because it crashed and now it will not even reboot.  This is after months of dealing with the stupid spontaneous restart issue (which is finally fixed) and a keyboard hardware failure.  C’mon Gateway, WTF???  This thing’s not even a year old yet!  If this is the “quality” we get from Gateway, it’s the LAST Gateway I’ll ever own.

I’m also so disillusioned by the stories I hear from people dealing with Gateway support and from my own past experiences with tech support call centers that I dread calling Gateway Support for help.

To make matters worse, I’m already in a bad mood because some cowardly little punk (and I don’t know who) keeps smashing our mailbox and today there was also a smashed egg inside the mailbox with the mail. Not cool.

[Update: Others have been seeing similar issues in this c|net discussion forums thread.]

[Update: I used this troubleshooting guide from Gateway and determined that the nVidia video card has failed.  I also moved the TV tuner card away from the video card slot as it is way too close. At least this PC has an integrated video interface so I can at least use the PC now, though the video quality isn’t great. Now to see if Gateway will replace the video card since it should still be under warranty…]

[Update: I will be getting a replacement video card under warranty from Gateway.  I posted the details of the process on the c|net forums.]

comments (0)
05/02/08
Social Computing: How I Got Started
Filed under: Computers & Internet, Social Media
Posted by: Tim @ 1:47 pm

A manager at my employer asked me this afternoon how I got involved with social computing and social media.  Coincidentally, I had recently read blog posts by Laura Fitton (Pistachio Consulting) and Chris Brogan (ChrisBrogan.com) about how they first got involved.  So I figured I might chime in as well.

Several years ago - maybe 2004? - I somehow found out about podcasting.  I don’t even remember how.  I soon had subscribed to several podcasts about things that interest me: Catholicism, sci-fi, space, and computers/internet/technology.  The podcasts to which I subscribed would often start talking about different “social” web sites and tools like Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, del.icio.us, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.  In some cases I also received invites from friends and acquaintances.

After hearing about a certain “social” tool enough times from enough people (or if something just sounded really, really cool), I would register for an account and start participating.  In most cases, I used the tools just to share with friends & family - Flickr photos and blog posts for example.  But it was Twitter that really generated the most excitement for me.

Why?  What’s so special about Twitter?  First of all, I work full-time from an office in my home, so I don’t get a chance to interact with other people very often during the day.  Twitter became the virtual water cooler for me - a place to interact (or even just listen) to other folks who share the same interests as me.  As time went on, though, I began to expand my network.  As my network expands, I hear about different things that interest me fairly frequently just be “listening” in Twitter.  But I have also been able to participate in some different activities as well through connections made on Twitter.  So Twitter has accelerated the rate at which I hear about the latest news, tools, etc.

One of the reasons I love social media is that it provides a way to interact with people as real people and not faceless cogs in corporate machinery or untouchable stars that site high upon pedestals.  It can provide a very personal experience.  I’m just an average Joe, but I can interact with podcasters, CEOs, entrepreneurs, NASA scientists, you name it.  How cool is that?

Anyway, in a nutshell, that’s how and why I got started in social media.  It happened essentially by accident, but has taken on a life of its own.

P.S., Feel free to follow me on Twitter.

comments (0)
02/15/08
Status of my Gateway GM5478 CPU Fan Roar/Restart Issue
Filed under: Ramblings, Computers & Internet, Reviews
Posted by: site admin @ 1:02 pm

Since my previous post regarding the Gateway GM5478 CPU fan roar and subsequent restart issue has already received nearly 90 comments, I figured I would add a new post to provide a quick status update.  After another restart on January 17, 2008, I upgraded to the BIOS dated January 16, 2008.  Since then, I have not had another CPU fan roar and reboot.  However, it has only been one month, so that may not be long enough to know for sure if the January BIOS has fixed the issue permanently.

If you have the time, definitely read all the comments from my previous post as there are some other things you can also try in addition to the BIOS updates (though I have not tried them).  There is a good thread about this on the c|net forums as well.

I see there is also another BIOS update from Gateway (dated February 4, 2008), though I have not yet upgraded to that version.

5 comments
01/02/08
Brotherhood Holiday Spiced Wine
Filed under: Ramblings
Posted by: Tim @ 2:40 pm

A few years ago, a friend of ours turned us on to Brotherhood Holiday Spiced Wine.  We like to enjoy it nice and hot. I highly recommend it.

comments (0)
Happy New Year!
Filed under: General
Posted by: Tim @ 2:35 pm

I hope this new year treats you all well.  May you accomplish all of your new year’s resolutions.

1 comment
10/12/07
Gateway GM5478…Hardware Problems
Filed under: Ramblings, Computers & Internet, Reviews
Posted by: Tim @ 10:32 pm

I recently purchased a Gateway GM5478 - a PC that has pretty much everything I want:

This sucker is fast. It’s been great. But then…about a month after I bought this GM5478, it started having some hardware problems. Every once in a while (or many times a day depending on its mood), the GM5478’s power supply fan instantly speeds up to about a bazillion RPM and makes me just about crap my pants - it’s pretty damn loud. After several seconds, it automatically reboots.  Thank God at least Firefox has a restore session feature since I usually have about 10-20 tabs open.  A little Googling uncovered several other people with the same problem, including this guy who ran into the problem after only 3 weeks.  This is total BS.  You cannot tell me that this failure was not uncovered during product testing. And if not, the quality of Gateway’s product testing is pretty pathetic.

About a month after this fun power supply problem, my keyboard died. Either that or it was my keyboard interface inside the PC.  Thankfully I have an extra USB keyboard.

To add to this mess, I have been extremely busy at work, so just have not had time to deal with Gateway. This really pisses me off. It’s too bad, because the functionality of the GM5478 is pretty good.

[Correction: The problem is actually with the CPU cooling fan, not the power supply fan. In the comments to this post there are a number of links to discussion forums that discuss the problem in greater detail.]

[Update: Here are some useful links from the comments below:

Hopefully these resources help you as well.  Also, please post comments on any additional resources you have found and any successes or failures you’ve had in resolving this issue.  Thanks!]

[Update: Here’s a new post regarding my status so far (as of Feb 15, 2008).]

113 comments
10/02/07
Chewbacca On Trial
Filed under: Entertainment
Posted by: Tim @ 2:01 pm

Just to follow up on a previous post about the Chewbacca impersonator that was arrested, here is a video of part of the resulting trial. This is hilarious.

comments (0)
09/10/07
That Catholic Show - Episode #8
Filed under: Religion
Posted by: Tim @ 9:54 am


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08/27/07
Busy Weekend
Filed under: Ramblings
Posted by: Tim @ 10:52 am

Just a short update. We had a pretty busy weekend:

Saturday: Unloaded and stacked a truckload of firewood. Attempted to bring a truck load of old “stuff” to the transfer station for my father-in-law (who lives ~35 minutes away), only to find they close 2 hours earlier after July 1st (how dumb is that?). Instead, we went to Lowes to get some drywall since Dad’s been wanting to do that for a while as well and needed the truck to get it back to his house. Then drove to friends’ house to get a load of firewood that they’ve wanted to get rid of for a year. Unloaded that when I got back home. Then after dinner, Sharon’s parents babysat for us so we could go out for a drink and a much-needed break from our wonderful little boy. We gave up our booth for a group of six, so they bought us a round of drinks.  That was kinda cool.

Sunday: Started out with 11:00 am Mass. Then cut the lawn. Split some firewood (barely denting only one of the monstrous unsplit piles).  Got a little more work done installing our son’s playscape - had to saw through some tree roots.  (Thank God for reciprocating saws - the best invention of the century.)  Didn’t get to stack the split firewood or rake up the mowed grass. But, we did go get ice cream cones for dessert.

Whew.

comments (0)
08/16/07
Windows Vista Internet Time Synchronization
Filed under: Computers & Internet
Posted by: Tim @ 2:15 pm

I recently bought a new PC that runs Windows Vista. One thing I noticed is that Vista has the ability to automatically sync it’s system clock through time server on the Internet.  Since the system clocks on PCs are horrible at maintaining accurate time, this is a great feature.  However, the feature kept giving me connection errors.

After a quick Google search, I figured out the problem. McAfee SecurityCenter (came preinstalled on my PC) is set to block the default time server port (port #123).  I configured SecurityCenter to allow traffic on that port and now time synch works. Thanks to a comment by “Mr B” to an article at ITsVista for helping me figure this out.

I also updated my registry to add a few other time servers.  Thanks to the Tech Support Guy discussion forums for that info.

comments (0)
08/13/07
That Catholic Show - Episode #7
Filed under: Religion
Posted by: Tim @ 9:17 pm


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07/25/07
“Oh Ani” Song
Filed under: Entertainment
Posted by: Tim @ 9:30 pm

This is freaking hilarious. From Star Wars Celebration IV. “…you’re Jedi flambe, oh Ani…” Priceless.


comments (0)
07/11/07
That Catholic Show - Episode #6
Filed under: Religion
Posted by: Tim @ 10:29 am


comments (0)
07/08/07
James’ First Real Boo Boo
Filed under: Our Family, Kids, Parenting
Posted by: Tim @ 9:11 pm

Well, this morning started off OK. Until James fell and bashed his face on a sharp edge of the wooden futon leg. He hit the edge right at the eye socket ridge above his eye, so it split right open and started bleeding. Poor little guy.  It musta really hurt.

So, we missed mass because we had to go to the doctor’s office since it was a pretty good gash. Fortunately, he didn’t need stitches. That would have really been a boat load of fun.  But it’ll probably take a week to heal up. And it may leave a scar. Figures it was his face that got cut and not like his foot or something that you normally don’t see.

We figure at least this will give him a few years to think up a good battle story to explain the scar (if he ends up with one).  Something a little more interesting and exciting than, “Oh that. Yeah. See, I fell and hit my face on the futon.” That story just doesn’t impress anyone.

At least he’s young and he’ll heal.  I still feel like a putz since it happened on my watch.  But he’s resilient.  It won’t kill him or cause permanent harm.  Heck, when I was his age (or maybe younger), I jerked myself right off my mom’s lap and fell headfirst onto a concrete floor, fracturing my skull. Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “well that explains a lot”.  Ha ha. It didn’t kill me or cause any lasting damage (though I’m sure my Mom was pretty shook up!). And that was only the first of three good head injuries I suffered as a child - the third causing a really fun concussion.  And speaking of childhood head injuries, my brother fell about six feet headfirst off a deck onto a rock when he was about 2-3 (a good start to our vacation…we had literally just arrived at the camp). His injury didn’t kill him or cause lasting damage  either.  So I guess this little boo boo isn’t too bad when put into that perspective.

Anyway. After we got back from the doctor’s and ate lunch, James went down for a nap and I spent 26 hours (well it seemed like that long) assembling our new gas grill in the blazing afternoon sun. Next time I’m getting one already assembled.

We had my parents up for dinner tonight to break in the grill.  They’re going away on vacation for a few weeks pretty soon, so we wanted to visit before they go. After dinner we went for ice cream down the street (the ginger ice cream with orange sherbet was delicious!).

So we’re winding down now. It was nice having off since the Fourth. Ugh! Tomorrow is Monday!

comments (0)
07/03/07
Would James Look Cool In This Or What?
Filed under: Kids
Posted by: site admin @ 9:38 am

Star Wars Imperial AT-AT baby stroller:

comments (0)
06/25/07
That Catholic Show - Episode #5
Filed under: Religion
Posted by: site admin @ 12:13 pm

This week’s show is a must see.  Many people mistakenly believe that Catholics worship idols (including Mary and the saints) in the form of statues, paintings and other works of art. Nothing could be further from the truth, as actual worhsip of anything that is not actually God is blasphemous.  This video explains the truth in a way that is very easy to understand and relate to.


comments (0)
06/22/07
Babies Learning Balance
Filed under: Parenting
Posted by: Tim @ 9:45 am

When our infant began standing a couple months ago, I learned something.  If I “helped” him by holding him or steadying him every time he tried to pull himself up to stand (leaning against something) or maneuver while standing, he didn’t seem to learn that certain movements would make him lose his balance or topple over.  He could not sense his own center of gravity shifting and the effects of that shift when I was holding onto him.  So I stopped holding/steadying him completely.  Now, I certainly wouldn’t let him fall and get hurt, but I do let him wobble and fall…to a soft landing.  The only way he can learn is to experience the feelings of being off-balance, the consequences of being off-balance, and how to compensate and come back into balance.  He can’t learn that when I steady him.

Now his balance is pretty amazing for a 10-month old.  Well, not that I have more than a single data point, but you can see him easily able to avoid getting off-balance or correct some seemingly hairy off-balance situations.  For instance, he can climb into and out of a plastic storage crate fairly easily without falling down or tipping over the crate.  But it didn’t just happen like that.  I had to let him learn that if he stood up and leaned against the edge of the crate, he was going over (with Dad’s hands keeping his head from bashing into the floor upon landing).  Now he never tips the bin and keeps his center of gravity low when standing up and movng around in the crate, or going into or out of it.  It’s pretty amazing to watch, actually.

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06/18/07
My PC Nightmare
Filed under: Ramblings, Computers & Internet
Posted by: site admin @ 11:51 am

In case you hadn’t heard, one of the hard drive on my personal PC recently crashed.  Worse, my work laptop operating system corrupted itself last Monday and I was unable to get it fixed until Friday afternoon.  Essentially a full work week shot.  Here are some of the highlights of this fiasco.

1. Over the weekend, I put my PC into standby mode to allow a fast start in the morning (i.e., Monday).
2. Monday when I turned on PC, I heard the “ba-deep” that indicates hardware has been detected or removed.
3. Entered password to unlock PC and got the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD).
4. Cannot boot without getting BSOD; finally booted in Safe Mode with Networking.  In Safe Mode, drivers for things like sound card, graphics card and printers are disabled.  Stuck with tortuous (no exaggeration) 640×480 screen resolution. If you think that’s not so bad, try that resolution for an entire work week and see just how hard it is to get anything done.
5. Called IT (Monday?).  They set up re-image and gave number to call to give login info to team doing reimaging. Took many call attempts over a full day - getting “all circuits are busy” - until finally got through…to a message saying that number is no longer valid! Also, voicemail password messed up, so couldn’t get voicemail & had to call IT for help with that as well.
6. Called IT back (Tues, I believe) and finally got correct number. Re-imaged drive arrives by FedEx Wed.
7. Open package…get old drive removed and halfway out of the drive “cage” when I realize IT forgot to include a mini phillips screwdriver.  Can’t get cage off old drive.  Look for wife’s mini screwdrivers. Her phillips are too big.  I break the blade on one of her flat blade screwdrivers trying to use that.  Call IT back and they say they’ll ship it FedEx; should arrive by 10:30 am Thurs.
8. 4 pm Thurs. Still no FedEx.  Call back IT.  Apparently shipping sent normal priority so screwdriver will not arrive until Fri by 4 pm.  Call wife who is running errands and ask her to buy a set of mini phillips screwdrivers.  She does. They work.
9. 9 PM Thursday get new drive installed and start data migration from old drive to new one.
10. Around 11 pm (or maybe even midnight), realize that IT failed to install a “soft token” to connect to the VPN. Try running the one on old hard drive (connected externally by USB). No go - error msg.  Find old physical token.  Not only is it expired, but I think they disable old ones when you provision a new one.  And…you cannot download the soft token software unless you’re connected to the corporate network.
11. Install a bunch of other applications that are non-standard (i.e., stuff like Audacity, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc.). Find that my Macromedia Studio will not activate since I’ve installed it and activated it too many times. It’s not my stinking fault my hard drive has been replaced 2-3 times already!!!  Need to call Macrodobe to beg to let me activate or I’m screwed.  Kinda need Dreamweaver.
12. Put old drive back into card cage and swap back into PC. Connect to VPN to download soft token installation software and instructions. Read instructions and realize that I can’t install the software for two reasons: (1) need a new activation code, and (2) need to be connected to VPN while installing the software…which is impossible in my situation and is the crux of the freakin’ problem!
13. 1:30 AM send nastygram to IT asking for a way to set up my soft token and fix the broken process that led to not having it on my re-imaged drive.  Also miraculously remember to deauthorize iTunes on the old drive.
14. Swapped drives again and installed more stuff.  Then swapped them back again so I can log into the VPN following day and see IT’s response to my email.
15. 3:45 AM.  Bed time.
16. Friday (thank GOD!). IT has sent temporary PIN for accessing VPN. Swap drives again. Connected successfully to VPN.
17. Outlook gives missing DLL errors. Install Outlook plugins that were installed on old system.  That made the error go away.  And it looks like IT re-provisioned a soft token. Attemtping to install and activate it.
18. Soft token will not install because it thinks there is already a copy installed. There is not. I disconnected the externally connected (USB) old hard drive. Still no. I put the migrated copy of the soft token (that is NOT in C:\Program Files any way, so should not be an issue) into trash. Still no. I empty trash. Still no. Search local drive for RSA. There seems to be some stuff, but not sure whether I should remove it. Getting really annoyed. Would have been smarter if whoever coded the install set it up to ask if you want to have it remove existing components since the software coders know what to remove and end users have no stinking idea.  Send query to IT for guidance on how to fix this.
19. Spoke to the guy who created the deployment code for the soft tokens. He set me up over a Netmeeting.  Now to test the soft token installation to make sure it works…
20. …and it does!
21. Spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Adobe. Macromedia Studio is now authorized. Phew!
22. Download and install a bazillion Mozilla Firefox extensions and search engines to have same setup as before.
23. Now just need to finish putting migrated data files back where they belong on the new drive. Most of the way done, but not quite there yet.

I hate this crap.

comments (0)
06/13/07
Seward Aerospace: My Space Web Site
Filed under: Space
Posted by: Tim @ 12:19 am

Several years ago I had an idea to create an aerospace company, starting small and then building up to bigger things.  I thought up a company name (Seward Aerospace - using a family name) and registered a domain name. I had some grand visions and even got started, but I was paying through the teeth for the web hosting while never having time to get anything accomplished.

Several months ago I downgraded from the ColdFusion hosting plan to a simple (and much cheaper) LAMP stack (i.e., Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP).  All my pages were coded in ColdFusion and I have not yet had the time to learn PHP and port the code over.  But…I did set up a blog and finally got started on that today.  So, that’s probably where I’ll put all my space-related posts, though I may add some cross-posts from this blog to that one, at least on occasion.

So, if you have an interest in space, head on over to my space blog. Read and comment. Digg it. Refer to my posts in your own blog. Whatever you like.

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