Author Archives: daniel

Panasonic phone troubleshooting

My Panasonic cordless phone/answering machine (KX-A142 ALM) has been pretty good, though the interface is shocking. Who on earth decided “INT” then “#” should be the sequence to listen to messages?

Anyway, a couple of things were causing me problems.

1. When the clock resets itself, it’s not at all obvious how to set it again.

Eventually I found the manual and did it, but for the record:

  • Press the menu button (the box with horizontal lines in it)
  • Press the Down button until you get to “SETTING BS” (I guess it stands for base station)
  • Press right
  • It’ll say “INPUT CODE”. Rather than input the code… press * to set the time (hh mm), or ** to set the date (dd mm yy)
  • When done, press the menu button again to confirm

2. A couple of days ago it stopped being able to make outgoing calls. It could get a dial tone, but wouldn’t dial.

I fixed this with a reboot, which involves holding the red power button on the handset down for 1+ seconds so it switches off, then again to switch it back on. Voila.

Helpfully, Panasonic has manuals available on their web site.

Cleaning up your PC

I was wondering two things about “Snowy”, one of my PCs:

Why was the fan so noisy?

And why did it occasionally stop dead in its tracks? Typically when the machine was busy, and particularly noticeable while playing games. No warning, no graceful shutdown, just power off.

I had been planning for a re-installation of Windows, and started the process when it shut down again.

So I decided to open it up. Checked a few connections. Nothing obviously loose.

Then I looked at the fan. Caked in dust.

Using a vacuum cleaner, a duster and a pen (the latter for poking in to disturb the dust where nothing else would reach) I cleaned around the motherboard, and particularly on and around the fan.

What appears to have been happening is that due to the dust, the fan was having to work harder than usual. And when the CPU got busy/hot, the fan couldn’t cope, the CPU overheated, and something smart in the PC was cutting the power to stop it causing any damage.

Since the cleaning, the fan is not only quieter, but there haven’t (touch wood) been any more sudden shut downs.

Westpac banking online is broken

I’ve been handling my dad’s banking. Westpac banking online really needs some work.

The logon uses one of those awful click on the buttons to enter your password interfaces. C’mon, is keylogging really that big a problem? What about people watching you individually click each on-screen button?

The logon asks if you’re a personal or a business account. The bank lady explained that for some reason the account I’m using is business. If I forget to change it from the default Personal, but it hardly seems to make any difference. The colour scheme is slightly different, a few of the buttons are re-arranged and some extra options are available. All fine, but why ask me this in the first place? Can’t the system work that out based on the account number?

It’s broken in Firefox. The menus disappear under other elements, making it very difficult to click on things sometimes. Looks positively wizard in IE6, of course.

If you go into some screens, it insists it wants the password when you’re finished. Stupid.

It keeps badgering me to stop receiving paper statements, but when I try that option, it tells me the account is ineligible.

Mind you, I don’t remember seeing any of these paper statements, so Lord knows where they’re going to. I can’t find an option to view or change the postal address.

I looked for ages, and I couldn’t figure out where to order a chequebook. The Help feature was useless. I hope this doesn’t mean I have to go into a branch.

The basics like BPay and funds transfer work, but jeez, this could do with some work.

Another Hitchhiker's book on the way

AFP report: ARTHUR Dent will get to continue his adventures across the universe with another tale in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series announced.

Irish children's author and creator of Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer, has been commissioned to write a new instalment of the cult science-fiction comedy which became a worldwide hit, publishers have revealed.

Full story

BBC News story

I dunno. This could be good, or it could be very bad. I'm not convinced that at this point, the series shouldn't be left alone.

Accelerator keys

Why does Ctrl-F4 mostly close a single document/tab in a multiple-document/tab interface (eg Firefox), but sometimes (eg if there’s only one doc/tab open, and the moon is full), it instead drops down dropdown boxes?

Alt-Down will also drop down a dropdown box. Which I guess is why back in Windows 3.1 the button to do the same looked like a down arrow underlined.

Oh yeah, and why, when using Alt-F4 to shutdown the Windows XP desktop, does it take two or three goes pressing it to get it to register? Like it doesn’t really believe me the first time?

Chrome initial impressions

Initial impressions of Chrome.

Don’t mind the interface, but did we really need another non-OS-standard Close button?

Seems to periodically pause, doing something under the hood. At first I thought half my tabs had crashed.

Renders nicely.

Has problems playing YouTube videos. Embedded clips don’t display. On Youtube itself, it says “Video not available”, even when it is. Umm, this is owned by Google. Odd.

OK with other Flash stuff though.

I kinda like the status bar which vanishes when you don’t need it.

Like the Home (most frequently visited pages) view, but how do I get back to it?!

Will keep playing as time allows.

Larry Dignan on ZDNet — Chrome first impressions

4:15pm. I was having trouble with both Youtube and Facebook claiming not to be available. Right now, www.youtube.com works (but only with the www), but claims every video is unavailable. www.facebook.com works (again, with the www), but fails during the logon process. Surely it can’t be some scheme to stop me wasting time?

For some reason it installs the application just for one user, into C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application … which means I’m going to have to jump through some hoops to get it installed for the kids on their user accounts.

Second Life heading down the gurgler

Didn't I say Second Life was a waste of time?

The companies that rushed to set up bases within the cult virtual world of Second Life appear to have wasted their time as many have shut down and others are “ghost towns”, an Australian researcher has found. — The Age: Few lives left for Second Life

As one of the pundits in the article says, “If you're looking at real numbers of people in terms of brand engagement, Second Life is really not the place to be.”

Can't argue with that. I reckon SecondLife is the 21st century equivalent to the original MSN.