Screwtape on defence

OK, pursuing the solution. The repair shop didn't seem all that motivated, so I figured better to give it a go myself and only on failing to turn it over to them.

I'll come back later and clean up the pictures, right now I'm on the netbook and don't have a photo editor... :-(
I found 

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/27312157/Fujitsu-P1610-Upper-Case 

that explains how to open the case. I also found lots of cat hair.

The disassembly proceeded directly, although slowly, as I was being particularly careful and documenting the steps and adding edits to the source:
Step 8:  remove the keyboard upper trim
+ Note: one of the eleven screws removed in step 5 holds this trim in place. Do not take a shortcut and skip removing the screws!

Step 14: remove cables 
+ The upper antenna cable (the one towards the rear of the machine) is grey.
+ Pull up on the black plastic tabs to disconnect the display connectors.

Step 17: Remove screws 
+ There are 5, not 4 screws on the P1630
+ Still more cat hair...

Step 20:We need to carry on further to get to the USB connectors. On the USB audio board:

  

+ Remove four screws
+ Disconnect brown ribbon
+ Disconnect white coax
+ Remove VGA connector cover
+ Disconnect phone plug connector
+ Lift out USB audio board. 

This is the bit that needs to be replaced. Its data are, from top to bottom:
    TEST
    FJ-T


    MADE IN VIETNAM
    VB335B* CP33353*-X1


    B.3 D.5 F.7 H.9
    CP333530-Z1



    REV/LOT
    RS93T17
    A1-O2/G
    08Y01298303 06

On the reverse of the card the serial connector has a tag that reads:
    Agere Systems
    Delphi Modem 040
    Approval No. 3785

    ASI-DELPHI-040
    Morocco: 2514/2005
    TEC/WR/I/MOD-08/02/122.MAY 07
    IC: 4005B-DELPHI, REN:0.1

Careful examination of the the rest of the system does not find any signs of damage: flare points, melting, burn spots. 

But the USB audio card... 

There is a clear burn mark with black residue on the eight-lead processor in the center of the card.

So now we have five choices:

1. Declare faith in the take-it-apart-clean-it-and-put-it-back-together philosophy:
    a. Put it all back together to see if it flies
          Not likely...
    b. If it doesn't work then take it back to the shop and ask them to do all the foregoing. 
          That seems a waste, plus time, money and data liability, since I've already done all this.

2. Take the board to the shop and ask them to replace it.

3. Try to find the board myself.

4. Do #1a and if it doesn't work then #3.

5. Do #3 and on success or failure #1a. Then on failure #2. In any case keep the gear (and data) here until the card is replaced.

I vote for option 5. We have seen black residue in the past that didn't matter, e.g., the mouse. But if the card is not terribly expensive better to replace it now, given the burns and residue. And in any case delay turning the machine over to strangers until all other options are exhausted.

Tomorrow is another day.

Wow. Major Screwtape...

C. S. Lewis wrote a delightful tale The Screwtape Letters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters) in which a senior demon called Screwtape gives advice to his nephew demon (Wormwood) on how to corrupt the souls of men. Basically, it is a matter of tossing marbles in their way and then watching as they do themselves in. So when I see a bunch of marbles in my path I declare a "Screwtape moment". I know he is trying to get me to mess myself up, so it is a time to stop and reflect, and figure out what is the correct next thing to do.

I have just had a major Screwtape moment. In fact, several of them:

I've been trying to get Bluetooth connectivity from Linux OpenSuSE 11.3 to various bits of gear, including a Bluetooth headset. After spending major time struggling with kbluetooth to no avail I discovered that people were singing songs of praise to Bluedevil  (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/46780) as an alternative open systems stack.

So I went in quest, and found it as a git and  CMake project. OK, so more time learning about git and CMake to no avail. Then finally some friends pointed out the OpenSuSE 11.3 repository, where a vetted version resides. Downloaded it with YaST and hurrah! headset connectivity at last.

Next, as in after any major adjustment, reboot.

CRASH!!

It seems that the Bluedevil package requires the latest KDE stack (4.5.3), but it is unstable so trashed the machine.

No problem, we'll just reinstall ("upgrade") from the CD.

Uh oh. The CD drive won't run and Linux complains about current overload. Arrrgh. Screwtape...
It sort of connects,installs some files, deletes some others, but then stops. "Connect DVD #1" it demands...

OK, go look for the power supply for the drive. I think it is a 12 volt unit, but the charger tips will tell. (The drive is an IOmega SuperSlimDVD and it does not show the charger voltage...) So plug in the charger, it fits, and ....

BLITZ!!!

Nothing. The drive does nothing.

It turns out that the drive is one of these dual USB devices with a Y-split cord. I had only attached one of the two USB connectors, resulting in the current overload.

Screwtape...

But now we have blitzed the machine or the drive or both and the kernel is gone:

Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /vmlinuz...
Error 15: File not found...
So the kernel is trashed, and I have no way to reinstall because the DVD drive won't respond.
=====

That was yesterday.

Today I take the drive, the laptop, and myself up to Tottenham Court Road to Gigabyte Electronics, where several people are very helpful. We test various USB drives against the machine and other machines then migrate to powered drives.

All confirm: my USB port(s) are toast. I have several options:
1. Farkle with the machine tonight
2. Get the USB ports repaired (component level repair, air sucking through teeth)
3. Pull the Hard Drive and mount it somewhere to extract the data, then toss the machine.

The data are encrypted, so option three isn't all that bad, except in cost.

In the meantime, I buy a new CD/DVD drive and an ASUS EeePC netbook, then take the machine and the new acquisitions home to explore option 1. If it doesn't sort out tonight then options 2 and 3.

=====

OK, so now we are home with a snack and a pint and go to work.

Regarding the defunct Fujitsu P1630:

+ The blitz occurred on the second USB port, which is possibly short circuited.
+ We have tested single and dual lead drives against ports 1, 2, or both, none work
+ We have tested powered drives against each port, none work.
+ We have connected other USB devices (hub, cell phones) all DO  work. ???

So the USB ports are knackered.

Regarding the netbook:

Some progress here, but 'way too slow.

+ OK, what about USB: I can read half the phone but not the part I really want, which is the memory chip. Hmm. Maybe I can put the chip in a card reader and load it directly into the netbook?

OK, put it on the "too hard" list for now and let's try Internet connectivity.

USB:

I have a mobile broadband transceiver with a SIM that connects through USB. But the netbook is "embedded", meaning it has a SIM slot. It reports this device as EM770. So the system refuses to find the outboard USB antenna, demanding a SIM for the embedded device. Whatevah, as long as it works, except of course it doesn't work as well as a space antenna. But whatevah, as long as it works.

OK, I can post (obviously), finished the pint and the snack and am about ready for dinner. So what is ahead?

+ Catch up on essential correspondence by email (mail.Google.com) with business, family, friends.

+ Get used to the offplaced right-hand Shift key next to the PgUp key: whenever I try to use the former I get the latter...

+ Establish Bluetooth or USB connectivity to the phones and memory sticks. I'm going to nuke Windows as soon as possible, so anything of substance needs to be stored offline, like this posting.

+ Test the old CD/DVD drive against the new netbook before trashing it.

+ Examine connecting the memory chip directly to the netbook for offboard storage

+ Print out repair objectives:
     - Repair USB ports to allow booting from an external CD/DVD drive
     - Alternatively, rip the encrypted /data partition to a USB stick or DVD

+ Save the plan on the external medium. Especially save the latest versions of itinerary.xls from the phones and USB drive. This contains all the passwords as well as details for Linux reinstallation.

+ Nuke Windows on the netbook and install OpenSuSE 11.3. Windows drives me nuts with its insolence. The vendor touted this netbook because it had WinXP, "not the hated Vista or Windows 7". Amen.

+ Resolve the conflict between the "embedded" mobile broadband and the USB attachment. I need to elevate the antenna for better reception.

+ Resolve the video resolution conflict: WinXP allows resolutions up to 1920x something, but apparently the video card can only handle 1024x768?? So if you set the resolution higher then you need to scroll all over the place.

Sigh... Screwtape...

Happy Christmas!

It has been a magic time, with the full range of traditional English Christmas:holly, ivy, watercress,snow, music, Messiah, Vivaldi, fairs, markets, family, and friends. 

We've had a fine time in London, with snow and full moon in Hampstead, browsing Covent Garden, Harrods, Bond Street, Burlington Mall, Selfridges, James Street, all the other West End offerings, and lots of walking, averaging around four miles a day. Found the most amazingly huge and wonderful mall in Shepherd's Bush ("Westfield Mall"). A lovely moonlit stroll down Embassy Row just west of Kensington Park and tea at the "Orangery" at Kensington Palace. Almost got locked in the park, as it closes after dark... Found the German Christmas Market in Hyde Park, full with roasted chestnuts, mulled wine, hand-blown glass tree ornaments, and Moravian stars. Supper at the Sherlock Holmes, went to hear Messiah at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It was a perfect rendition. 

We walked down to Wapping High Street and visited the butcher, garden shop, green grocer, and pharmacy. It was like walking through a rift in the curtain of time: suddenly it was 1950 all over again... :-) The butcher is amazingly deft with his cleaver, with apparent total disregard for his thumb just millimeters away from the aimpoint. (I couldn't watch after the first blow... :-(

Found a lovely holly wreath and real mistletoe, now adorning the boat inside and out. Delightful. The last time I saw a holly wreath was when I made one myself as a college student after cutting the holly in the forest. And I can't remember the last time I saw real mistletoe. (Although she did warn us that the berries are deadly poison, especially for cats... :-(

And found once again that we have two cultures divided by a common language: I've been looking everywhere for "mineral oil" to lubricate a pump. Getting constant stares and shrugs. Never heard of it, they say. Well, browsing this anachronistic little pharmacy I found "liquid paraffin". Yup. Same stuff... :-)

The single-handed trip down from Shepperton to Teddington was "interesting", what with unmanned locks ("self-service") and *literally*frozen lock controls, then a white-out mini-blizzard once on the Thames below Teddington. No one else on the river, except for scullers and rowers with total ignorance of the laws of gross tonnage and too many lights... :-) 

So, living a full life, just wishing we could all be together all the time.

Transition is always a traumatic thing. And so it is now.

My sense is that I lived one life from 0-13 years of age, another from 14-22, another from 23-37, another from 38-60, another from 61-67, and now another from now to ... Whenever next.

Each was a complete package, with a clear delineation between it and the next, so easily archivable and forgotten, for better or worse.

I did read in the Times today that a broken heart really can kill you. The Times have decided to get pugnacious (idiots) and try to charge for their web content (so pound sand) so I can't give you their link. But the article is virulent:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52318
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_heart
http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Broken-Heart-Can-Lead-to-Death-Researchers-Say-107907.shtml

(Hullo, Times, do you understand that you are expendable? Idiots...)

Each of these phases were accompanied by some measure of the "broken heart" syndrome.

To find that I am still alive and well despite all that is rather amazing. At least to me.

TBTG.

So at this point I am obviously entering another phase, starting another package.

There is nothing wrong with my brain, and little wrong with my body, but I have not been able to find a suitable job.

Now, granted, that there are a lot of jobs out there, but the operative phrase is "suitable". I have resources so shall not starve, but it was a lot more fun earning what I did before.

But I have not folded the tent. So we shall see.

The plan is to Keep Calm and Carry On and see what the future brings.

At present, I am in the UK attending to the boat. And finding it all exceedingly comfortable, a complete experience of "coming home". Lots of people who look a lot like me doing the things I love to do.


And so it was in the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent, in France.

Went to the Anglers Inn on the edge of the river Thames by Walton-on-Thames and spent about four hours having a thymed lamb roast and a couple of pints of Hobgoblin, watching the families and their children, all blonde and pointy-chinned and mostly blue-eyed.

Basically people just going along, doing their thing, little girls in pretty dresses, little boys stomping in the mud in their wellies, people just being people and loving one another.
As it should be.

TBTG.

So, smile, share, and be kind. Do not let the remaining 2% of the world take you down.

New Media

We've had a good New Media day. We got a new website up yesterday due to popular acclaim and linked it here (I need to figure out to easily link here to there: www.lavarre.org...)

Spent a good part of the day "fixing" DNS settings and Thunderbird.

The DNS (Domain Name Server) settings are handled through NetworkSolutions.com. Pretty good service, but there is some latency in becoming familiar with all the terminology.

For example, consider the domain lavarre.org:

You can create a zillion sub-domains, like  
     www.lavarre.org
     whoever@lavarre.org

and any number of subdomains: pat., penny., christina., etc.

And then you can have sub-subdomains, like:

www.pat.lavarre.org
whoever@pat.lavarre.org
www.penny.lavarre.org
whoever@penny.lavarre.org

And so forth.

you can use the A (address) record to point a subdomain at an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

This is good in that an IP address (IPA) is very, very explicit.

But this is bad in that some services change the numerical address regularly despite keeping a fixed canonical name (CNAME), such as ghs.google.com.

Now, I don't yet really know, but my guess (without further googling) is that ghs stands for Google Hosting Service. And a clever bit of kit is is:

You enter ghs.google.com as your target CNAME in your DNS hosting service (e.g., www.networksolutions.com). Then on the other side of the link (in Google itself) you tell Google what DNS names they should expect to have come knocking at their door.

And it works.

A few whines:

• The NetworkSolutions.com site only allows the numerical IPA in the A record. So you have to ping ghs.google.com to find that number (currently  74.125.53.121)
• Their CNAME section allows you to put in the CNAME, e.g., sites/google.com/site/whateveryoursitename is
• But you can't do both: either the numerical A record or the generic CNAME but not both. I'm not sanguine that they will always use the same IPA for ghs.google.com, so it would be better to be able to include the CNAME in the A record but it is what it is. We shall see.

==========

Once past setting up the site and the DNS (the web works [www.lavarre.org and some others] but still need to solve email) it was on to fixing Thunderbird.

GMail defaults to the IMAP protocol, which leaves all your email on the server. But aside from privacy issues, it is a PITA in that you get all kinds of duplicates. Very confusing. Better to have a POP account that downloads your mail and then you are then responsible for your destiny. (I found a number of I HATE IMAP sites, but I digress). So I set out to kill this particular bête noir. And succeeded.

But as they say, it's easy if you know how, but if not then a challenge. First you have to create a new account and then notice the tiny little Edit button that lets you change a drop down button from IMAP to POP and then change your home directory for the file and then change the IPA for the server and then...

Well, I won't spoil your fun, figure it out, but rest assured, it can be done.


==========

In the process, I recovered a former gmail account file (the last POP file I had successfully attained) that had some very precious work-related messages that I had thought I had lost forever. The sender had moved on so could not be asked to repeat them, nevermind the embarassment of having to ask him to do so...

So I was well pleased with myself... :-)


==========

OK, with all those bragging rights, then I set about cleaning up and reconciling the several POP, IMAP, POP3, IMAP-1, and so forth files. I figured out that deleting the various .msf index files does no harm and allows them to be rebuilt based on the raw data files, e.g., Mail, Sent, Drafts, etc. But after reviewing those accounts and transferring to Local Folders or deleting all their files the data files were still in huge fractions of gigabytes in size. What's going on?!!

Well, just a bit more googling solved it: You have to compact.


http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_Tips_:_Compacting_Folders

And now they are all tiny.

==========

OK, so while we're bragging, we did realize that with all this consolidation we were generating a whole bunch of duplicates in the various folders of Local Folders. So google again, and we first found a Thunderbird addon something like Remove Duplicates (Alternative) with five stars. Woohoo!

Except I couldn't make it work. So then I tried
     Remove Duplicate Messages 0.1.1.10
that works a charm. It even looks across subdirectories to find the dupes, then lists them with its recommendations: delete this, save that.

Of course by now, what with consolidating some four different email accounts over some eight years, I had thousands of dupes, but checking the first few results, they seemed really to make sense. So, close my eyes and (it turns out I had some 60,000 messages) click Delete Selected so that now, poof!, there are only 19,182 left...

The 40,000 are gone, but safely gone, to Trash, so if you really want to wade through some 40,000 messages then you are welcome to do so. Knock yourself out, but also go to counseling for being seriously anal-retentive, and that advice from an accomplished AR veteran.


==========

So, all in all a very good day:

• DNS solved
• POP/IMAP solved
• Critical files recovered
• Files reconciled
• Strong recommendation for a work well done:

          Thunderbird Add-on Remove Duplicate Messages 0.1.1.10

Recommended.

Oh, and OBTW, sites.google.com is really sweet. Well done.

OpenSuSE 11.2 and VMWare Printing

To add a printer to the VMWare VM:

• Ensure the VM is secured.
• Edit Virtual Machine Settings
• Add ...
• Printer
• Power on This Virtual Machine

There are then two choices hp#1 and OfficeJet_6400. hp#1 complains about margins and doesn't print even if you answer yes to the query. Officejet_6400 doesn't complain but prints a header page and then prints the page half an inch too low.

OK, try using these on just plain Linux:
hp#1
No change, it does not print

Officejet_6400
prints the header
%% [ ProductName: GPL Ghostscript ]%%
resulting in the actual print being again too low. We may be able to suppress the header, which would fix both problems.

So it is not a VMware or Windows problem per se, rather something with the Linux setup.

Checking YaST showed that printing was not enabled for hp#1. So we enabled it. Now it prints (all three previous attempts) without the header in the correct position.

Problem solved.

Time to Give Back

OK. I haven't fully gotten this blogging thing completely squared away, but gather I can rant or post information.

I'm pretty much out of rants these days, but have been working hard uncovering weirdness while trying to configure a laptop for my granddaughter Casey.

I've logged the solutions, but had not yet posted them so that others might benefit. So now I do.

The most fearful are those in the bowels of /bin and /etc because you really need to muck about as root and that can be a dangerous thing.

But I have already reinstalled this thing about three times, so it was the time to go a bit further:

Problem: All of a sudden I get

Permissions on the password database may be too restrictive
su: incorrect password

when trying to change to root with the su - command.

"All of a sudden" because I had not done anything (I swear!) other than restore the root password which had gone south a few days ago.

Googling brings all kinds of interesting stuff, all of which I tried with no success.

Solution:
This worked:

+ Log in as normal, going to user through the preestablished automatic login.

+ Log out as user and back in as root.

+ Go to YaST > Security > Local > Security Overview. We find Use secure file permissions disabled. Enabled it and set it to Easy.

AND THAT FIXED IT.

It's easy when you know how.

=====

Of all the intermediary research and trial and error that I went through in getting here, one source I would recommend is /etc/permissions. I had wanted to find something like this a long time ago without success. This file and its associated ...easy, ...standard, ...paranoid parallels are the basis for the Linux file ownership and permissions system.

You use them (as root in a rescue login) with

chkstat -set /etc/permissions
or
chkstat -set /etc/permissions.{easy,secure,paranoid}

or call

SuSEconfig

as YaST does after it thinks that files have been modified in the system.

Hope this helps.