Computer Gladiator

I have been having problems with one of my desktop computers lately.  It has been crashing about once a day.  It always crashed when I was away from it. But the other computers in the same room were not crashing.

My first thought was computers power supply.  I have had the computer for a couple of years and it still has the original supply. It was also being logged by Vista as a disruptive shutdown. These clues would point to a power supply problem most of the time.  But the power supply tested out just fine. Swapping out the power supply did not fix the problem.

Testing the memory and other functions showed no problems.  It even rebooted one time while running XP (it is a dual boot machine).  I was running out of options.  Finally, it died when I was in the room.  The UPS (Uninterruptible  Power Supply) unit that it was plugged into began to make a nasty buzzing noise right as the computer died. 

What was happening was that the UPS unit was heating up over time and failing.  When it failed, it essentially pulled the plug on stuff down stream.  A couple of minutes later, when it cooled down some it would power back up.  This hid the problem from me.

Replacing the UPS has fixed the problem. 

BTW, now I have to find a green way to dispose of the unit.  These guys have lots of lead in them and can not be placed in the trash.  Most battery stores will take them to be recycled without charge.

Glossary for Non-Techies:

Power supply:  The part of a computer that converts the 110 volt AC electrical power from the wall into the low voltage ( 12, 5, -5 volts) that computer use inside.

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply):  This is a device that looks like a large heavy powerstrip.  It purpose is to supply electricity to a computer if the power fails for a few seconds.  It has a large battery in it which is constantly kept charged.  If the power fails (from the electric company), the power stored in the battery is used to instantly supply 110 volt power to the computer until the electric company comes back online or the computer is shut down.  This should only stop supplying power if the battery runs down while the power company it having problems.  In my case it was shutting down by itself without any problems from the power company. 

For over a year now I have been running most of the Q&A sessions for the Phoenix PC User Group. I thought I would share a few tips on how to do this successfully.

I suppose I should explain what a User Group Q&A session is. The main purpose of User Groups is to bring computer users together to share information and solutions to computer problems. Most user groups divide the meetings into two main sections. One very visible section is the vendor presentation. A representative of a software or hardware company shows off the features of their product.

The other part of the meeting is a Q&A (Question and Answer) session. For a successful session you must have people with questions, people who will try to help and a facilitator. For our group the process works as follows. The facilitator stands up in front of the group and asks if there are any computer questions or problems. Members raise there hands if they have a question. The facilitator selects a person to ask their question. The facilitator repeats the question, asks clarifying questions if needed, and then waits for a member to suggest a solution or ask a clarifying question.

The facilitator must keep the meeting under control. This includes all of the normal things needed to keep a meeting in order. Keeping people from getting off topic. Keeping order. It is best to encourage members to raise their hands both before asking questions and before making suggestions.

It can be difficult to get volunteers to run the sessions. Most people feel that the facilitator must have the strongest technical background in the room. This is not really that important. The technical answers and expertise should mainly come from the audience.

A technical background is only helpful when dealing with three issues: Translating those answers which are too technical into simpler terms, asking clarifying questions, and the last and moat tricky issue, dealing with situations where no one has an answer.

Usually when we cannot come up with an answer the problem is that the user did not bring enough information to the meeting, they may not remember what an error message said, what they just installed, or what brand of operating system they are running.

The important step, if you don’t have an answer, is to provide a plan action. Some things to try, some searches to do on the web or a company to contact for support

(Things to do with your computer other than browsing the Web and Email)

One thing that we have been doing for years with computers is storing our music on it. Our family has a few hundred music CD’s we like to listen to. We even have a large carousel CD player that we store about 200 of them in. This lets us listen to music on shuffle play and not hear a repeated song for hours and hours.

However, we no longer use that system. Instead, what we have done is to copy the music CDs to a computer here at home. This process is called ripping. Almost any modern computer with a CD-ROM drive can do this. (Because of the wide variety of methods I will not give instructions here) After ripping the CD, there is a compressed copy of the songs on the hard disk of the computer. This allows us to remove songs we do not like, organize them in endless ways, and play them based on that organization. We can also download the copies to portable digital music players.

Portable digital music players have been available for many years now. The first one I got was a Creative Nomad. It used the printer port to download songs and could hold about 14 songs. They have made tremendous improvements in these players since I got my first one in 1999.

My current unit has the ability to store music on removable flash memory cards, display pictures, e-books, FM radio and record audio. It has one GB of built in memory allowing far more songs to be stored than can be played back without charging.   Some other players have the ability to play movies and have a built-in hard drive which allows storage of thousands of songs.

There are pay services available on the web which allow you to buy or rent music legally. These allow you to listen to songs without having the large initial investment in CD's If you wish to use one of the services make sure that your chosen portable player is compatible with the service. Other than this the features of these players have expanded to the point where (to me at least) the most important feature is ease of use.

So you have a recipe that you really like but you have not been able to find an equivalent recipe for the Dutch oven? The conversion process is simple.

If the recipe calls for the item to be baked in a covered container, the recipe will not need to be changed in a significant way. You will just need to allow for the warm-up time. As you will probably not start with a hot Dutch oven, this will require extra time. If the recipe states that it needs to bake for 25 minutes at 350 ⁰F. I would check the food at 25 minutes, but not really expect it to be done for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If the recipe calls for the food to be baked uncovered, the creator of the recipe is generally requiring this for one of two reasons.

They may want the top of the food to be browned. This can be accomplished by adding/moving more coals to the top of the oven or placing some foil loosely over the top of the oven during the last ten minutes of cooking time.

Sometimes “uncovered” is specified to reduce the moisture content of the food. If it makes sense reduce the quantity of liquid slightly. This is needed because the Dutch oven lid traps moisture inside (which in general improves the taste of the food). Another approach is to move the lid of the oven to a place slightly off center for the last ten minutes of cooking time. In other words gently set it back on the top of the oven as if you were not paying close attention. This will allow steam to escape and the food to thicken properly.

Majority of recipes will work without any modifications except the longer cooking time because of a lack of warn up time. Most of the problems come from putting way too many coals under the oven. Look up the guidelines on our web site at: http://www.outdoorcook.com/article1026.php

Please feel free to email if you have questions

Tired of fumbling around while plugging in a USB device? Trying it one way and then the next until it works? Or you moved your PC and now you need to plug the keyboard and mouse back into the CPU but you don’t want to have to find a flashlight? There are some simple rules that can help.

When you look at the rectangular end of a USB cable that plugs into your computer you will see little squares on each side.

On one side the squares are filled with plastic. The squares on the other side are tiny holes. The side with the holes is the top. (You can mark the top of the cable if you wish to make it easier to identify. )

So how does this help? On laptops and the front of desktop machines, if plugged in with the top up it will work 90% of the time.

On the backs of desktop/tower computers the “top” goes to the center and the “bottom” is closest to the edge.

OK, what about the PS/2 keyboard and mouse? On the back of the computer the keyboard will plug in to the port closest to the side of the computer. The mouse will plug into the port closer to the center.

If the keyboard or mouse cable has a flat spot or notch to indicate the top, this should usually be turned toward the center to plug it in.

Note: These rules are based on standards or common practice, nothing prevents a computer maker from breaking them if they choose to do so. In other words, your mileage may vary.