After all the rain in December, the pond got very murky. It eventually cleared up, but the stream flow had slowed to a trickle from when I first installed it. I figured the filter box must be clogged up with the sludge, and when I took it apart, I was right. But I cleaned it all out, and put it back in. But now the problem seems worse. Is there a failure mode for a submersible pond pump that would result in not zero, but low flow?
Category Archives: Administrative
My New Keyboard
So I bought a mechanical keyboard. It was reviewed as a good value for someone who wanted it for typing (though it’s also a gaming keyboard). I like the action on it, but it has a big problem. See the key to the left of the right Ctrl key? It seems to have the same function as a right click, but I have no use for it.
Unfortunately, where it’s placed means that I’m often accidentally hitting it with my palm just below my right pinkie, at which point it screws up whatever I’m typing, by inserting text or something else, which I have to then undo with ctrl-z. It would be nice if it could be reprogrammed but even if it was a Windows key (as it was on my previous keyboard, that would screw thing up in Linux by going to the workspace menu. I didn’t have the problem on my previous keyboard because the key profile was lower. I guess I’ll just try removing the key and see if the problem goes away.
[Update a while later]
In the process of trying to figure out how to delete the mapping on the problem key, I discovered this amusing document. “Before you read this, please understand that I never wanted to write this document, being grossly under-qualified, but I always wanted to read it, and this was the only way.”
Light Posting
We’re driving up to the Bay Area to attend this event this weekend. I’ll have the laptop, but probably not much time to post.
On The Road Again
We left Denver today after the game, and are spending the night in Moab. On to Vegas tomorrow, then back in LA on Monday. Be good in comments.
New Computer Problem
OK, now I’ve got severe lag on both mouse and keyboard, to the point that the machine is unusable. And it’s not a software issue; it is happening when I boot into either Windows or Linux. It’s wireless keyboard and mouse, but they’re brand new. Any ideas?
[Afternoon update]
I moved the USB dongle to a different port, and it’s fine now.
Light Posting
It took us three days to drive from LA to Denver (we stopped in Phoenix to stay with Patricia’s sister the first night, and in Cortez the second). Been very busy since we got here dealing with the house, and getting ready for Thanksgiving.
Computer Woes Continue
OK, things get worse and worse. I got the MSI motherboard, and installed it yesterday. The build went fine, except it still refuses to issue video output. Fans are running, no debug LEDs are lit, but I’m in the same situation I was with the ASUS board.
I tried swapping out video cards again, with no joy. I swapped memory with my own desktop, and not only did it not work, but when I put the stick back in the computer, it gave me a DRAM error, so somehow I managed to damage half of my 32G of RAM. Plus, now my computer won’t boot. It just dumps me into rescue mode, and I don’t see anything obvious in the journal.
I’d be pulling hair if I had any to spare.
[Friday-afternoon update]
So we had a power failure in the middle of the night, when a high-speed police chase through the neighborhood resulted in the perp crashing a stolen BMW into an Edison pole and breaking it (both the pole and the car, apparently). It lasted almost twelve hours, and just came back up (I wandered over around the block a couple times and watched SoCal Edison replacing the pole and reattaching lines).
No status update on the computer. At this point, I’m just going to load it all in the car and take it to Colorado with us, because I’m out of time to fix it before we leave tomorrow. I’ll be there until next weekend, but it was intended to go and be left there anyway. Worst case is I’ll take it to Best Buy (since I got the motherboard there) and see if they can figure it out.
[Thanksgiving Eve update]
So I took it to the Geek Squad yesterday (because I bought the replacement mobo at Best Buy), and with their test GPU, we determined that it was in fact the video card, so the original mobo was probably OK. I went to Micro Center to get another one, and the machine is finally running.
Now I’m trying to install Windows on it (I know, I know, but it’s not my machine…).
It booted into Linux with the SSD that I use to boot into my laptop, so I made a boot disk from a Windows 10 ISO on a USB stick. But it won’t boot from that stick. I just get a message to put in a proper boot device and hit return, but there is no way to do that. And when I hit return, I just keep getting the same message. I’ve booted back into Linux whence I am updating this post.
Off The Air
I was at the Space Settlement Summit over the weekend, and didn’t have a computer with me. Sorry for not warning on Friday.
Light Posting
The Space Tech Expo was yesterday and today in Long Beach. It’s the first space conference I’ve been to in a year and a half, so I’m catching up.
On The Road Again
We’re flying to Denver this afternoon, and driving up to Wyoming on Monday, returning to CA the following Monday. I’ll have a laptop with me, but blogging may be light. Consider this an open thread, but be good in comments.