Lenovo W510 Speaker Failures

There obviously is a design problem with the Lenovo W510 laptops.

A few months after getting my W510, I opened my laptop one evening to check something after the machine had been suspended.. to find it immediately blue screen.  Upon startup, computer complained about an illegal adaptor in the mini-PCI slot.  I noticed I could not get wireless working.  I looked a bit closer in the light to find a pea sized area of the left grille adjacent to the keyboard physically melted.  It looked like someone took a lighter to it.  Replaced the laptop with a new one.

Now, just 9 months later, the speakers are no longer working on the W510.  Again, on the left speaker grille, there is a small pea sized area that looks like it's been heated up to the point of almost melting.

I just use the laptop under normal conditions, including always letting the laptop hibernate when the laptop is closed and not on the docking station.  I do use it on a docking station freqently (the IBM docking station) so I wonder if it has cooling issues when closed.

So if your W510 freaks out.. you're not alone and check out the left speaker grille for deformations.

Harmony 650 Review

 I've had several Harmony remotes (880x2, 890, Harmony One, and now this) and while this remote loses all the checkbox fights against the higher-end Harmony remotes, I will tell you it's the best bargin of the bunch!

No it doesn't have a big touch screen like the One.. but is that worth $120+?? After owning this, I will tell you no! Unless you are the type that is constantly in your device view on the touchscreen, the smaller screen is more then plenty.

I was originally concerned about the fixed activity buttons at the top.. no worries.. activities are shown on the screen as well.. just like the bigger remotes.

The key availability is the same as the bigger remotes.. it has the color keys for BluRay players, and a good layout for DVRs, etc.

It runs on batteries vs rechargable. Well anyone who has owned logitec rechargables over the years will tell you over time the charging contacts get worse and worse and often are the death of your device. The early harmony remotes were REALLY bad with this. I've had this remote now for almost 4 months and I'm still on my first set of batteries with no end in sight. The AA battery design is going to be more reliable in the long haul and has plenty of battery life.

5 Device limit - unless you have a big home theatre you are trying to setup.. this will be MORE then plenty for most people.

Not all the buttons light up like the higher end remotes, but that is a reduction in features I haven't missed in real world use.

Undeniably, unless the 5 device limit is constraining you, this is THE harmony remote to get. It's far cheaper and looks like it will hold up without problems for the long haul. Even if it didn't, at 1/3rd the cost you can afford to buy a replacement if you had to!

This remote has all the same device compatibility as the other IR Harmony remotes so no worries there.  It also uses identical software to the other remotes for programming, so no differences there either.

Really the difference between this and my 3x as expensive Harmony One is...
- AA vs recharging dock
- Smaller screen, no touchscreen
- Rubber buttons vs clicker buttons on the H-One
- 5 Devices vs 15 devices
- Design

After owning both - I can tell you undeniably without hesitation, unless you gotta have that 'sexy' remote on the table or are buying a remote for a huge system, buy the 650.  At Amazon right now it's only $40!  Most IR learning remotes are $20-$30.. this is only a $10 premium for the best type of remote out there.

The software does require someone not afraid of computers to use to setup the remote, but its pretty straight forward and has gotten much easier to use over the years.  This should not be a factor for anyone unless you are the type that just wants it to work right out of the box.  If so, pay your kid or your neighbor's kid $10 to set it up for you :)

Windows Update Error 80072F8F

I recently installed Windows Server 2008 R2 64bit direct from an ISO and when I went to update with Windows update, it fails with Error Code 80072F8F . WTF? It's 'brand new out of the box'. Well, that's the tip off. Many web hits will tell you to check your date and time. But 99% of the time, that's synchronized anyway. But the root cause is actually the same... certificate failure. What you need to fix the problem is the root certificate list must be updated. Microsoft releases updates to this frequently via Windows Update, but you have a chicken and the egg syndrome. You must manually download the update and install it before Windows Update will run.

'But update root certificates doesn't apply to Win2008!' you say. True, when the system is working. Win2008 automatically updates these from Microsoft while XP required manual updates. But it appears the default certs in the ISO aren't good enough to even connect to Microsoft anymore, so they must be manually updated before the Automatic Processes can take over.

Goto http://technet.microsoft.com and search for 'root certificate update', find the latest (even ones from 2009 seemed to do the trick and download. It will be an .exe that when double clicked seems to do nothing.. but don't worry. Once you've ran the file, run Windows update again and all is good!

My first foray into touchups

So I've gotten to the point with Flash Gordon the playfield is stripped, and trying to clean it up. But this game has got some typical wear and as I've gotten a few games under my belt now, I'm getting a bit more ambitious. This time I was trying to work on the PF in the cabinet, but that no longer was possible as I had to take the PF out of the cabinet because of the way the upper and lower PFs are connected, you can't take the sides off and still support the PF in the cabinet. Here's what the upper playfield looked like after cleaning a bit This is what it looked like before... Since this is up away from the player, I decided to try my hand at paint touchups for the first time. I'm not done here as I really need to lock the paint in with a clearcoat if I want it to last, but still debating that. It's a lot more permanent and a lot more involved. But here is a before touchups.. Here is an after I could not match the green well, but the red, yellow, and black went real well. The closeups in the gallery show how its not really that great.. but I'm not going for total restoration here, just decent looking. From the player's view, its pretty solid

Pinball activities

Well there has been a lot happening on the pinball front. I've added several new games.. including my first two EMs which was quite a learning experience to tear down, cleanup, and build back up. After that I got a 80s solid state Flash Gordon out of some trailer sitting in a field. That is the current project, and this week I also picked up a High Speed 2: The Getaway at a steal price. ($700!) I've been posting photos of the games on my smugmug account if you want to follow along as I go... Pinball Gallery on Smugmug

A touching Father-Son Story about Buck Showalter

Great Story - worth checking out about the O's new manager Baltimore Sun - In Showalter, O's have baseball lifer

All Phones drop signal.. and other ways to avoid the topic

Steve Jobs favorite line... every phone drops signal when you hold it a certain way. Sure Mr Jobs, but is that spot right on 'every phone' right where it's natural to hold the phone like it is on your phone Mr Jobs? Funny you skip over that 'detail'.

Today's conference was a joke. Glad you are making steps to appease those who are financially affected - but shame on you for saying 'its not us' still again. Every boat has holes too Mr Jobs... but if you design a boat with a hole below the water line and the boat sinks.. you don't say 'well all boats have holes'. Where the 'hole' carries significance! Just like where your 'magic spot' that affects all phones has significance.

Apple needs to stop playing cute and just face the music. Today's conference was the closest we've ever seen (that I can recall) the company saying explictly 'we screwed up'. But instead they still blame everyone else (oh.. and physics too!) rather then face up to acknowledging they missed this.

Location has relevance Mr Jobs. Face up to it.

So now the question becomes is.. what is Sept 30th? Well that should be the end of Apple's fiscal year.. so it might just be accounting related - to cap this write off in this fiscal year.

I also like the defense about how its impossible for them to make enough bumpers... really so you can ramp up production on a high density consumer electronic... but you can't figure out how to outsource simple injection molding of a single piece device to ramp up production? Put it in a plastic bag, make one color, and make it by the millions. I'm sure you could find plenty of action in China willing to be your friend.

Apple's arrogance seems to shine through even when they are trying to concede..