Welcome to the “BLOT”

I’ve been flying my CP for several months and have had a constant problem with erratic behavior.  It bounces up, bounces down, left, right, etc…  I’ve looked for a sticky swash, stuck ball joints, I’ve read through the posts looking for the smallest clue.  I even tried several methods for isolating the FM antenna.  Nada, zip, zilch.

Then came the new Spektrum DX6i with an AR6200.  Ok, so the transmiter was for another model but I couldn’t let that receiver go to waste.  However, the manual was pretty useless for my needs in getting it integrated.  After a few rounds on the Internet and an extremely helpful YouTube video series, this thing was up and flying.  So, here are the tips that helped me make this F$@%er rock solid.

First problem, what plugged into what???

Note:  The BATT connection is used to bind the transmiter to receiver and is also used for a dedicated receiver battery.  Otherwise, the receiver gets it’s juice through the throttle connection from the BEC built into the 3 and 1.

That part being done, I then ran into the problem of trying to decipher the manual’s instructions on setting everything up on the 6i.  Here’s the original YouTube video that helped tremendously.   It comes in three parts and this guy breaks everything down in a snap.

Here are the settings that helped me get flying:

REVERSE SETTINGS:

So the Pentagon is employing a new weapon in the fight against WMDs. Namely, giant flaming balls (aka rocket balls).

These are hollow spheres, made of rubberized rocket fuel; when ignited, they propel themselves around at random at high speed, bouncing off the walls and breaking through doors, turning the entire building into an inferno. The makers call them “kinetic fireball incendiaries.” The Pentagon doesn’t want to talk about them, but published documents show that the fireballs have undergone tests on underground bunkers.

WTF!? Suffice it to say the Indiana Jones franchise would have ended 15 minutes into Raiders of the Lost Ark if the ancient Peruvians had employed a rocket ball instead of a giant fucking rock.

Click the article for a much longer explanation of the the weapons.

Secret Rocket Balls Target WMD Bunkers [wired]

So, I was just surfing the net the other day, minding my own business and then, WHAM!  I started getting a McAfee warning on bootup that I had a BACKDOOR-CQN trojan.  No problem!  I made sure my McAfee was up to date, ran the full disk check and it didn’t find a blessed thing.  Grrrr, I updated my cleanboot definitions, burned a new CD and booted.  Ran the FULL check.. NOTHING!  What the F?  Maybe it was cleaned already?  NOPE!!!  My software is at least smart enough to keep coming up at boot saying that it found (and deleted) the virus SYSTEMS.SYS in the C:\WINDOWS\WINDOWS directory.  The WHAT directory???
Onto the NAI website to find out how to remove this sucker..  “Use the latest engine and def files”… NO KIDDING, REALLY?  No manual removal method listed and I couldn’t find squat on the Internet.  Damn I hate computers.

So, I rolled up my sleaves and dug in.  Doesn’t seem too hard.  There’s something in the STARTUP folder, under the RUN command in the registry and I’ve deleted the directory in Windows.  BAHM!  It’s back again..  AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

After picking up my laptop from the other side of the room, I’m back to figuring this out…  After a quick boot into safe mode and some searching around the system, THERE IT IS!!!!!  Last piece of the puzzle solved and it’s back to safe computing for me.

If YOU happen to get the wonderful little charm and your virus software sucked as much as mine in getting rid of it, here’s how I was able to eradicate this little son of a behive…

Boot into Safe Mode.
Open REGEDIT
In both HKLM and HKLU, go to the RUN listing and nuke the setting for C:\WINDOWS\WINDOWS\SYSTEMS.EXE
Of course, nuke the C:\WINDOWS\WINDOWS directory.  Should only contain the SYSTEMS.EXE file.
Kill the launch file in C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\STARTUP\SYSTEMS.EXE
Lastly, here was the file I missed the first time;
C:\WINDOWS\PREFETCH\SYSTEMS.EXE-2D5B743C.pf      NuKE IT!!!

Reboot your machine and you should be right as rain.  It’s easy peesy, lemon squeezy.

Good luck!

SPAM - Can’t live with it, can’ find the FU@$ERS to kill them!

Everyone who’s ever used Email in their life has had to deal with SPAM. Some more than others. We’ve all learned that giving our Email address to unscrupulous online merchants can leave you showered with Penis Enlarger Ads or requests to launder some money for an ousted Dictator. What can you do????

In the long run, for now, the best you could possibly hope for is to minimize your exposure because NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY, someone you know, someone who had YOU in THEIR contacts list is going to open someone else’s SPAM message, infect their machine with a virus and have EVERY SINGLE CONTACT STRIPPED OUT like my Aunt Ruth sucking the marrow from bone. Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp, done!

MAYBE use a SPAM filter. Good for some, bad for others. None are perfect and many take up more of your time that just killing the SPAM messages in your inbox. Just remember though, not everyone uses their Email in the same way so some of these may be the perfect match for you, a godsend you might say. Me personally? I have yet to find one that isn’t more of a pain than what it’s trying to cure but I’m a bit more odd than others.

DO use free 3rd party Email programs (Yahoo, Hotmail, Google) to communicate with cataloges, merchants and any online transactions.

DON”T give out your primary Email address to any commercial entity. Yes Virginia, even the “scrupulous” vendors find the profit of reselling your addresses too hard to resist.

DON’T ever, EVER (No, really EVER!!!) respond to a SPAM message which offers to “take you off the list”. If you do I bet you could hear them sporting wood if you listen carefully enough! By doing this you’ve taken your name off of the “could still be a good address” list and immediately moved it to “VALID, VALID, HIT ‘EM NOW” list which trades for more money and trades much more often. You might as well paint glow-in-the-dark Bull’s Eye on your forhead.

Funny Story.  I once took it upon myself to try and go after SPAMMers by targeting the ISP’s and Companies they used as senders.  After about a year of very diligent work, tracking addresses, checking open relays, and rooting around to find responsible parties I’d have to say that about 0.001% of it worked.  Even when (this was a few years back) the content was HIGHLY objectionable, no one gave two sh#@s.  I even tried to get my Local, State, Federal officials (You know, the people who we elected to work for “us”) to get involved.  I was completely ignored.  I even had several cases involving what appear to be SPAM featuring child pornography and I couldn’t get ANY legal authority to give me the time of day.  And, after all of this work, what did I get?  I was put on EVERY G@D DAMNED SPAM list in existence.  Holly Hanna did I get SPAMed.  I still keep that account active today just to peek at it from time to time as a reminder.

DO (yes, this is the biggest pain in the ass) change your Email address from time to time. Nothing works better than changing your address. DO NOT CHANGE IT AND THEN FORWARD ALL YOU EMAIL! This will accomplish nothing. However, that being said, you can do this for a short period of time to make sure you let all your friends know but you really need to kill it sooner than later.

The absolute, 100%, never get SPAM, only get the Email you want method? Yeah, I thought that was a hoot too!

UPDATE AT BOTTOM:

For anyone who’s purchased a D-Link DP-301U. First, my condolences. Second, if for some reason you have an HP LaserJet 1010, 1022, 1060 or an Epson Color Laserjet 2600N, 3500 or a 3550, you’re not going to get this to work unless you’re running Firmware 2.10. Let me again stress my sincerest condolences. In my humble opinion, this product is a total piece of crap, the included PS ADMIN program was a piece of shit when it was first released and surprise-surprise, it’s STILL (again, in my humble opinion) a total and useless piece of shit.

No, really, I’m getting better at hiding my feelings!! This problem started when a client of mine received their new DP-301U (Yes, no matter what you tell some people they’ll still buy cheap and then spend big bucks on having someone come in and make it work). The client flashed the firmware to D-Links NEWEST AND GREATEST firmware available on their website. UNFORTUNATELY, it’s a revision behind what ships with the unit from the factory and that small difference makes the printers above work, or not work now. Not to mention it didn’t warn about or refuse to DOWNGRADE, it just whistled a little tune and lobotomized (spell checker suggested sodomized, kinda like that better!) the box. Emailed D-Link with no answer. Called D-Link with no workable solution unless we wanted to RMA the unit, at our cost of course. NOT ACCEPTABLE! D-LINK SUPPORT (IMHO) FRICKEN BLOWS!!! If the answer doesn’t flash up on their computer screen they have NO F’ING CLUE!!

Wow, cup of decaf please!! After a few minutes of surfing the web I found a link to a Chinese website that seemed to have the right file names. I downloaded the firmware with the associated PDF, everything unziped correctly and looked to be in English, I threw the Firmware onto the box and EASY PEASY, LEMON SQUEEZY the box came up and started printing the queued jobs… Hate D-Link, please do not buy D-Link, I used to swear by their consumer stuff but (IMHO) lately it’s all gone to crap and their support (or lack of) has blazed that trail.

Regardless of your decisions, if you do happen to have one of these boxes and are in need if the Firmware 2.10 file, here are some links that will help you out. Standard disclaimers apply; These are not my files, there are no warranties expressed nor implied, use these files at your own risk, if these files slag your box - too bad, it’s all you man, yada yada yada…

D-LINK DP-301U Firmware 2.10 File

D-LINK DP-301U Firmware 2.00 File

PDF

UPDATE: Four Days Later

Spleen vented, product working. I feel obligated to tell you that I did finally get an Email from D-Link Tech Support. Not only that, the guy actually sent what I needed. Not only that but he went OUTSIDE of D-LINK’s company to get the file. No Shit! Color me impressed. The tech basically did what I had done. He went to a 3rd party website to find the 2.1 Firmware and sent me a copy. He didn’t explain as to why it was not available on their website but he DID get me the file.

I’ll still stay with hating D-Link but I will admit that their tech support guy DID come through in the end. Thanks D-LINK Support!!!

I think I need to gargle now to get that bad taste out of my mouth…. 

Have you ever come across a design that on one hand appears thought out and convenient and on the other hand turns out to be stupid and short sited? The 06′ Ford Escape is an ok vehicle but has one really stupid flaw that they apparently haven’t corrected in years. The Cruise Control buttons on the steering wheel are convenient but they aren’t illuminated in any way. So, unless you’re 100% on where those damned buttons are, you have to flip on the fricken interior lights to see them. As far as I can tell, most if not all of their other vehicles have illuminated steering wheel buttons but noooooo, not the Escape. It must be too elitist!! Damn stuipid design…