GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Return of the Son of the 50ft GAAAH that struck back!

[rovingjack]

We have a Peugeot 5008. It has two extra passenger seats that fold flat into the cargo bay floor.

Today, I unfolded those seats to make sure I had not squirrelled away any small items in the nooks and crannies.

I found the temporary tyre sealant kit, supplied with the car in place of a proper spare (:sigh:) under one of the seats, nothing under the other.

So I folded one seat away, then tried to fold the other. To find that the small wheels that should run inside two parallel rails had somehow popped out and were running on top of the rails. Meaning that the seat no longer folds flat into the floor.

This car seems so good at first, then you discover a hundred little design flaws that just make you wonder what the design engineers at Peugeot were smoking at the time...

It stalls in reverse or in first gear far too easily. The on-board computer that manages the radio, CD player, BlueTooth connectivity, GPS and proximity detectors is a catastrophe. The seat adjustment mechanisms are far too flimsy (one of the the normal passenger seats has already had a latching problem). The glass has no filtering, so the inside gets stupidly hot even on moderately sunny days and the air conditioning is pathetic (my 1998 VW golf had better glass and AC).

my condolences, I have car design issues too. I've got 120,ooo miles on this and it seems like it could take another 120,ooo, it's 15 years old. The sun roof broke in the first few years, and the front wheel shrouds were made of the same stuff plastic milk jugs are and held on with plastic screws that broke long ago.
the ac crapped out five years ago and would cost more than the car to replace, and worst of all the bloody thing is not weather proof, water leaks i the roof  left headlight and trunk every time it rains (like a liter of water in the trunk every time it rains, pooled in the low spots). and it's tiny leaks it's near impossible to track down. I've actually had to buy diapers for my car to soak it up.

[Rockula]

In Lincoln. At Asylum.

Everything's great but I hope the Chinese Restaurant we had the misfortune to attend last night 'lives in interesting times'.

[Cora Courcelle]

In Lincoln. At Asylum.

Everything's great but I hope the Chinese Restaurant we had the misfortune to attend last night 'lives in interesting times'.

Bad service or bad food?  Hope it didn't spoil the rest of the weekend.

[Siliconous Skumins]

Not so much a "Gah" as a "Meh..."

So I'm known as someone who can usually fix nearly anything, and usually for free / cheap due to my extensive junk pile of spare parts. As such I often get requests from friends and family to fix various household items etc.

Currently I am fixing a dead Dyson DC07 Vacuum cleaner for a friend of my mother, and it's one I fixed about two years ago - a simple fix due to worn out carbon brushes on the motor. At the time, I did warn that the only spares I had to hand were already well worn, and that it was not really worth spending money on to fix it further as the motor was quite worn due to age. However, it is back and sure enough it's the same issue - the brushes wore out, and this was accelerated wear due to the poor state of the motor commutator bars (badly pitted and small blobs of deposited molten copper due to heavy arcing because of the previous poor electrical contact).

Now then, a couple of years ago they paid for a dyson engineer to refurbish the cleaner, and it is in very good condition - but the motor was not part of the refurb, and this one is now pretty much done. BUT they would like to keep the cleaner if possible as it will save them some money, rather than buy a new one.

So here is the rub - the motor has worn bearings, but they are not excessively noisy, it's filled with carbon powder (which can be cleaned, mostly), and the commutator needs to be resurfaced - which is something I can bodge well enough to work. A set of new brushes is about £10 to £15, which is not bad, but the motor is very likely to fail LOOOOONG before those brushes do. At best I would say it has maybe another four years of life before the front bearing shits the bed.

It's not really worth spending money on new brushes, but then again, they are not that expensive...

A new motor is about £50 (they will want a genuine one, not a cheap clone), but I don't think they want to spend that, and it's probably overkill for such an old model vacuum cleaner.

I do have a similar motor that I can take the brushes from, but they are currently in an unknown state of wear - and currently this will involve tearing down another Dyson cleaner, which is a fair bit of effort to waste if the brushes are already toast (I found it in a dumpster and took it for parts...).

If I wait for parts, it means I will have to leave a fully dissassembled Dyson cleaner all over my floor until they arrive and I can fit them...



UUUrrrrrrrgghhhh!!    


*Edit*
I stripped the other dyson down, found the motor was incompatible (there are two types fitted to DC04 vacuums), however it had perfect carbon brushes with minimal wear - suspect the motor was replaced only a few years ago. So I replaced the carbons in the original brush holders for the DC07 motor - which they are not designed to do - and luckily the carbons were a perfect fit.

It took a LOOOONG time to do, I only finished assembling the motor ten minutes ago, and now I have to rebuild the vacuum cleaner.

It seems I have killed a perfectly good working motor, and rebuilt a crappy one with bad bearings that will not last more than a few years at best. I now consider this a full GARRRGH moment! 

[Banfili]

But you are such a nice person, Siliconous!

[Caledonian]

Factory work is horrible. Especially when you're told you work too fast.... while other employers think you're too slow. Make up your mind, factories. Also please provide some kind of diversity in tasks....please.

[Siliconous Skumins]

But you are such a nice person, Siliconous!

How dare you! You take that back!! 



Today's 'Gah' is Raspberry Pi based (again). Managed to kill the Chromium browser due to pulling the power cord when the Pi locked up as it had run out of RAM (1Gb of RAM just is not enough!!) and that of course corrupted the the SD card. After that Chromium would not load.

My Linux-fu is weak, and fixing things like corrupted drives / file errors is something I'm somehow bumbling through, but I really have no idea what I'm doing or how / why I can sometimes fix things. I'm like a monkey mashing the keys on a typewriter and somehow I occasionally produce a few pages of the Bard's greatest works... 

Well, somehow I managed to use Apt-get to fix the problem, even though the installation failed with multiple errors before it actually began to install / reinstall, so in reality it should not have worked at all... 

The SD card is pretty corrupted, and I have an error during boot, though it does not seem to cause any issues, and I have NO idea how to fix any of this. However I have this install working the way I want, and I really don't want to have to reinstall everything from a clean image again - but the error levels are growing slowly and sooner or later this whole file system is going to take a dump and be unrecoverable. I'm reluctant to make a backup image of this corrupted card though, seems somehow futile.

*Sigh*


Linux - I do believe it's some kind of unholy dark magic! 

[J. Wilhelm]

You did a full installation of Linux on the flash card didn't ya? 

I try to  avoid that because of the heavy use of page filing in Linux. You're reading and writing too many times.  The alternative approach is to use a live installation, decompressing an image of the OS on the fly,  and have a persistent memory for files and other programs.

[Banfili]

Sorry, Siliconous, once given, can't be taken back - you will just have to try harder to keep 'it' hidden!!

[Siliconous Skumins]

You did a full installation of Linux on the flash card didn't ya? 

I try to  avoid that because of the heavy use of page filing in Linux. You're reading and writing too many times.  The alternative approach is to use a live installation, decompressing an image of the OS on the fly,  and have a persistent memory for files and other programs.

In most cases it is unavoidable to use the SD card, as that is how the Pi is designed to operate - It was meant for kids to learn coding easily and cheaply, the Pi foundation never really thought about people using them as general Linux computers...

However it is possible to move the EXT4 FS partition onto a USB drive (hard disk or flash / whatever) and leave only the boot partition on the SD card, and in general this works well (lower risk of file system corruption and usually a speed increase in data rates). It's a bit complex and a total kludge of a solution, but it does work.

The latest Pi, version 3 (what I'm using here), has a new tweak hidden in it's design - it has the ability to natively boot from USB and network. Alas this is not yet fully released, and the beta test release has a few issues to work out before it's ready for day to day reliability. Once it is officially released I will be using a PiDrive native USB hard disk as the new location for the OS.

That's the plan anyway.

[J. Wilhelm]

Linux - I do believe it's some kind of unholy dark magic!  Undecided

But Linux is unholy dark magic. That's why I like it! The secret verses of Nyarlathotep are hidden within the Linux kernel. It was foreseen by the Shub Niggurath, the black goat with a thousand young. Linus Torvalds is the dark messenger, as written in the Necronomicon!

Also that's why I'm resisting upgrading for a second time from Ubuntu 12 LTS through Ubuntu 14 LTS to Ubuntu 16 LTS.  The Ubuntu 14 OS is highly corrupted already, and it'd be easier just to do an fresh installation, and extract my files (which are ridiculously small compared to the OS uncompressed in an NTFS partition for portability! The only hassle is remembering all the programs and configurations I need to regain full functionality.  That  is a drag. I know there's a tool that will remember the setup, but it's less than perfect, and frankly a lot of software is outdated enough you don't want to keep it anyway.  I just want my libdvdcss so I can watch all regions of DVD 

I need to find a cheap brand new digital drive.

[The Bullet]

Bl##### DVB-S Card.

Install drivers and AVERMEDIA TV software --> works
Start the computer after a few days --> grey screen, no sound BUT programme info up to date.
Start another TV application (ProgDVB in this case) --> works, but no remote.

So I have the choice of re-installing every day or getting up each time as there will be no remote.

[Banfili]

Broke a tooth (yesterday) - dentist tomorrow!

[Siliconous Skumins]

The file system on the SD card has shuffled off this mortal coil, kicked the bucket, and shit the bed. 

Running off a card I use for one of the other Raspberry Pi boards I have. Time to clone this card and image it onto the corrupt SD card. May keep this card actually, seems a little faster.

So, back to installing all my programs again. This time I'm going to make a backup of the complete fresh install.

[The Bullet]

So it´s time to sing the backup song.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7-6m2cE6JM

[J. Wilhelm]

Broke a tooth (yesterday) - dentist tomorrow!

Ouch!  Haven't had teeth broken yet (I imagine as a result from impact or progressive weakening), but sadly I've lost one molar to breakage. Very dramatic. It was the result of a healthy molar being cracked upon removal of a wisdom tooth many years ago. Literally it fell apart on me one day after a brief infection episode. I have yet to go to the dentist. Soon I'll have to remove remaining bits and pieces which are now buried under the gum.

[Banfili]

Dentist has repaired said tooth.
It was the only upper molar/bicuspid that hadn't had any major work bar an old amalgam filling. Every tooth on my upper jaw has now either been broken and repaired or filled/resurfaced! 12 survivors of 13 (one removed 40+years ago to make room for a wisdom tooth that wasn't there).
14 on the bottom - no wisdom teeth at all, at all! The breaks are the result of micro-fractures received in 2 MVAs 20 odd years ago, which have now, I think all broken!
Price included an examination. AU$360.00 later ...! My health insurance paid $146.00 of it, leaving me with $273.60 to pay - sigh!

[Siliconous Skumins]

It seems that not all 16Gb SD cards are created equal.  I have a program that makes byte for byte copies of SD cards, and I wanted to restore a backup 4Gb image off a spare card as a replacement to that of my original now corrupted card. It however transpires that my original card is approx 29Mb smaller than the backup card. And even though there is only 4Gb of files from the original and the rest is unused, the backup copy being on a bigger card means that the extra "empty" space also needs to be copied byte for byte....



BOLLOCKS!   


There *is* a way to do this, but it requires a second Linux desktop or laptop with a card reader, and it's a very convoluted process - So that's not happening.

Bah!

[J. Wilhelm]

It seems that not all 16Gb SD cards are created equal.  I have a program that makes byte for byte copies of SD cards, and I wanted to restore a backup 4Gb image off a spare card as a replacement to that of my original now corrupted card. It however transpires that my original card is approx 29Mb smaller than the backup card. And even though there is only 4Gb of files from the original and the rest is unused, the backup copy being on a bigger card means that the extra "empty" space also needs to be copied byte for byte....



BOLLOCKS!   


There *is* a way to do this, but it requires a second Linux desktop or laptop with a card reader, and it's a very convoluted process - So that's not happening.

Bah!

What it means is that the drive image was made by copying empty formatted space, right? Or is it unallocated space? I vaguely seem to remember that the Ubuntu "Start-up Disk Creator" (creates bootable disks) can resize partitions as the .ISO image is being decompressed into the new partition.... They change that application year by year, so I don't know... I'd try from an Ubuntu bootable (live) flash drive or DVD/CD in someone's borrowed computer.

[Siliconous Skumins]

It seems that not all 16Gb SD cards are created equal.  I have a program that makes byte for byte copies of SD cards, and I wanted to restore a backup 4Gb image off a spare card as a replacement to that of my original now corrupted card. It however transpires that my original card is approx 29Mb smaller than the backup card. And even though there is only 4Gb of files from the original and the rest is unused, the backup copy being on a bigger card means that the extra "empty" space also needs to be copied byte for byte....



BOLLOCKS!   


There *is* a way to do this, but it requires a second Linux desktop or laptop with a card reader, and it's a very convoluted process - So that's not happening.

Bah!

What it means is that the drive image was made by copying empty formatted space, right? Or is it unallocated space? I vaguely seem to remember that the Ubuntu "Start-up Disk Creator" (creates bootable disks) can resize partitions as the .ISO image is being decompressed into the new partition.... They change that application year by year, so I don't know... I'd try from an Ubuntu bootable (live) flash drive or DVD/CD in someone's borrowed computer.

The program I use to copy the SD cards is "Win32DiskImager" for windows as the only device I have that can read class 10 SD cards is my win7 netbook - which doesn't have a CD drive, and would start to get complicated booting a live Linux ISO (as in I would have to go out and buy a new USB flash drive, as the ones I have do not support booting). The problem with this program is that it makes an exact byte for byte image of the entire flash storage area, regardless of formatted size or partitioning. So if the card being written to is even ONE single BIT less than the original card, the write action will fail. 


Couldn't be bothered to go through all that, so ended up making a new install on the SD card.  I will be buying a smaller 8Gig card in a few days that I will use to make the "master" backup image with, that way there will be no issues with writing to ANY of the 16Gb SD cards I use in the Raspis.

[J. Wilhelm]

It seems that not all 16Gb SD cards are created equal.  I have a program that makes byte for byte copies of SD cards, and I wanted to restore a backup 4Gb image off a spare card as a replacement to that of my original now corrupted card. It however transpires that my original card is approx 29Mb smaller than the backup card. And even though there is only 4Gb of files from the original and the rest is unused, the backup copy being on a bigger card means that the extra "empty" space also needs to be copied byte for byte....



BOLLOCKS!   


There *is* a way to do this, but it requires a second Linux desktop or laptop with a card reader, and it's a very convoluted process - So that's not happening.

Bah!

What it means is that the drive image was made by copying empty formatted space, right? Or is it unallocated space? I vaguely seem to remember that the Ubuntu "Start-up Disk Creator" (creates bootable disks) can resize partitions as the .ISO image is being decompressed into the new partition.... They change that application year by year, so I don't know... I'd try from an Ubuntu bootable (live) flash drive or DVD/CD in someone's borrowed computer.

The program I use to copy the SD cards is "Win32DiskImager" for windows as the only device I have that can read class 10 SD cards is my win7 netbook - which doesn't have a CD drive, and would start to get complicated booting a live Linux ISO (as in I would have to go out and buy a new USB flash drive, as the ones I have do not support booting). The problem with this program is that it makes an exact byte for byte image of the entire flash storage area, regardless of formatted size or partitioning. So if the card being written to is even ONE single BIT less than the original card, the write action will fail. 


Couldn't be bothered to go through all that, so ended up making a new install on the SD card.  I will be buying a smaller 8Gig card in a few days that I will use to make the "master" backup image with, that way there will be no issues with writing to ANY of the 16Gb SD cards I use in the Raspis.

You really set yo'self up didn't 'ya? 

Doing a fresh install is the right way

[Siliconous Skumins]

It seems that not all 16Gb SD cards are created equal.  I have a program that makes byte for byte copies of SD cards, and I wanted to restore a backup 4Gb image off a spare card as a replacement to that of my original now corrupted card. It however transpires that my original card is approx 29Mb smaller than the backup card. And even though there is only 4Gb of files from the original and the rest is unused, the backup copy being on a bigger card means that the extra "empty" space also needs to be copied byte for byte....



BOLLOCKS!   


There *is* a way to do this, but it requires a second Linux desktop or laptop with a card reader, and it's a very convoluted process - So that's not happening.

Bah!

What it means is that the drive image was made by copying empty formatted space, right? Or is it unallocated space? I vaguely seem to remember that the Ubuntu "Start-up Disk Creator" (creates bootable disks) can resize partitions as the .ISO image is being decompressed into the new partition.... They change that application year by year, so I don't know... I'd try from an Ubuntu bootable (live) flash drive or DVD/CD in someone's borrowed computer.

The program I use to copy the SD cards is "Win32DiskImager" for windows as the only device I have that can read class 10 SD cards is my win7 netbook - which doesn't have a CD drive, and would start to get complicated booting a live Linux ISO (as in I would have to go out and buy a new USB flash drive, as the ones I have do not support booting). The problem with this program is that it makes an exact byte for byte image of the entire flash storage area, regardless of formatted size or partitioning. So if the card being written to is even ONE single BIT less than the original card, the write action will fail. 


Couldn't be bothered to go through all that, so ended up making a new install on the SD card.  I will be buying a smaller 8Gig card in a few days that I will use to make the "master" backup image with, that way there will be no issues with writing to ANY of the 16Gb SD cards I use in the Raspis.

You really set yo'self up didn't 'ya? 

Doing a fresh install is the right way

As it turns out, this card already has an error that is preventing a web-video related chromium browser extention from working (it WAS, but just 'stopped' for no reason). I strongly suspect that the card is not compatible with the Raspberry Pi - something that is not that uncommon.

I have two cards and two different versions of the OS and installed programs - I have made a backup image of the older but 100% fully working card, so I might just run 'apt-get dist-upgrade' and bring it up to the latest versions, this way I can check if it's an issue with the other card, or if it's with the installed version.


Need to move away from SD cards on the daily use "general computer" PI, a hard disk is better for this case. SD is fine for use on the one connected to my TV though, it's low usage and never shown a problem (mostly quick web searches and streaming TV / YouTube).

[The Bullet]

After a damn stressful week I wanted to enjoy the weekend and start the saturday with a hot bath.
We had hot weather for weeks and today is cold and rainy.
While sitting in the bathtub, reading a good book I opened the window to get some fresh air.
Minutes later there was a faint *crack* from the ceiling.
The glass dome from the lamp fell off and shattered on the floor.
I instaled that lamp early 2015 and never touched it since (eben the bulds survived since then).
Then I checked the construction.
Metal socket fixed to the ceiling and has 3 small points facing inwards to lock the glass dome.
Glass dome goes inside it with a kind of 1/8 turn thread.
So I guess that during the hot weeks the metal expanded more than usual, allowing the glass dome to slide down a mm.
The rapid cooling caused the matal to contract and apply pressure to the glass.

At least it missed the sink, bathrum and....me.
Do not want to think what would have happened if I had been starting the day the usual way.
I would have been standing rught under that lamp while brushing my teeth!

[J. Wilhelm]

I have to wake up and go to work in 4.5 hrs and my $%^&# roommate will not shut up! And there's nothing I can do about it because he owns the place.

[Will Howard]

I have to wake up and go to work in 4.5 hrs and my $%^&# roommate will not shut up! And there's nothing I can do about it because he owns the place.

Laxatives?