Things, Stuff & Such

Yesterday evening there where three bunnies in my backyard. Usually the dogs freak out and scare off anything that dares to venture into the back yard but these guys were just hanging out eating grass.

A friend gave me his older GeForce Ti4600 graphics card that he had just replaced. He had trouble with the cooler fan in the past and he said he replaced it once. He thought I’d like to fool around with it and see if I could get it to work again. While I didn’t hold out much hope that a new cooler would help I decided to give it a shot. If I could revive the card it would be a good card to send to my boys. They have a few games that won’t run on their underpowered pc’s. Plus, you can’t beat ‘free’. I knew I had pleanty of parts, including a couple spare GPU coolers.

When I saw how he had replaced the first falty fan I fugured the board was overheating. It is a pretty inefficient setup, but it did work for him for quite a while. One thing about replaceing graphic card coolers is that they are very difficult to remove. Some use a heatsink and fan that is glued right to the graphics chip.
These are the worst to remove which is, I’m sure, why he opted for this configuration. He had used a small wire to tie the new heatsink and fan (HSF) ontop of the old heatsink. I just cut the wires and removed the top HSF leaving the bottom heatsink to be pried off.

Since the bottom heatsink was useless I wasn’t worried about damaging it, but the board under it could not be scratched or scrapped. Any nick or scrape could ruin a trace and kill the board. What works for me is to grab the heatsink by the fins and twist it like a bottle top. Only once have I gotten luck and the entire heatsink comes free from the graphics chip – usually what happens is the fins break away from the center piece. This will make it easier to pry what is left from the top of the chip.

You have to be very careful with any tools around a printed circuit board. Any little scratch could potentionaly ruin it. What I do is take a smallish flat head screw driver to pry off the last piece and put something thin between the screw driver’s head and the printed circuit board. This time I used a piece of heat-shrink tubbing foled in half to protect the board. I wedge the tip of the screw driver with the heat-shrink protection under the slight overhang of the remaining piece of the heatsink. Then I slowly twist the screw driver until the heatsink pops loose.

What you are left with is the bare graphics chip with residue of the heat transfer glue.

You must remove this glue before you can put on your thermal paste and mount the replacement HSF. I use a combination of a razor blade and “Goof Off” solvent. You have to be careful with any solvents on printed circuit boards – make sure it doesn’t leak in the area around the chip. First I scrape as much of the glue off as I can with a razor blade, being careful not to cratch deeply into the top of the chip or into the board. Then I use a q-tip soaked with solvent and rub it onto the glue. Let is set for a few moments and go at it again with the razor blade. Repeat the process until the top of the chip is clean.

Once the top of the chip is free of glue and has dried I put on a dab of thermal past I had left over from my previous computer build. I’m so glad I didn’t throw it away. One thing I have leared from tinkering with pc’s is to NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY. So many times I have thrown out screws, brackets, or old heatsinks and a few months later I say, “I wish I had kept that. I sure could use it now.”

For the replacement graphics cooler I had a choice of a passive heatsink (no fan) or an older heatsink and fan from a long dead graphics card or my newer GeForce 6600 cooler that I removed when I switched the pc to liquid cooled. I decided to use the 6600 cooler because the mounting holes would match up being they are both Nvidia cards. One thing I didn’t have was the original plastic retainers from the 6600 cooler (Damn, did I throw them out?!), so I scavanged them from the passive cooler I had.

Next I put on a thin layer of thermal paste and spread it evenly over the top of the graphics chip with the razor blade. You only want enough to cover the top of the chip with a very thin layer. To much paste will inhibit the thermal conductivity (read: more is bad). Finally I line up the holes on the graphics board with the retention pins I popped in the HSF and push the pins thru the holes until I feel it lock in.

Now all I have to do is connect the fan’s power wire to the connector on the graphics board. This is when I noticed that it doesn’t reach. When I did my test fit the wire length was fine. It reached the connector with plenty of slack.

What happened was I had to mount the cooler upside down because part of the heatsink was laying on top of a component that would not allow the cooler to make contact with the top of the graphics chip. Not a big deal, but now the power cable does not reach.

The fix was simply to extend the two wires by soldering on more wire. I grabbed my soldering iron, solder, heat shrink tubbing and the old HSF from the card. I cut the power wires from the old HSF and clipped the connector off of the new cooler. Then I soldered the extension wires to the bare wires from the new HSF… and now I have a power wire that is pleanty long.

All that is left is to throw it into a pc to test it. The only system that I can quickly test the card out in is my MAME cabinet pc. I pull out the current AGP card and throw in the test card…. boot up… starting Windows… log in…. looks good!

Then the screen blanks for a second and then comes back.

Crap.

Half a minute later it does it again.

Crap crap.

I shut down and reboot into Safe Mode and it works fine. Could be a driver issue, so I install the latest and greatest Nvidia driver and reboot normally.

Same thing!

Must be the card has a bad chip or memory. It works fine in Safe Mode, but you won’t get the excellerated graphics performance. Oh well, it was worth a shot. I remove the heatsink and fan to hold on to until the next project and chuck the card in the trash.

Can’t win them all.

The scene was almost out of a sci-fi movie. People looking towards the sky as I was leaving the grocery store. At first I thought it was something on the front of the building. I heard someone say that they had never seen that before and someone else say something about the not knowing “… That the sun did that.”

intriguing.

What was the sun doing new today?

Looking at the sun is not something you just do. Even though I my sunglasses make me look cool, I doubt they would offer any special protection allowing me to look directly at the sun. As I put my hand up to cover the sun the first thing I noticed was the clouds had a rippled look to them – like the sandy bottom of the Gulf of Mexico near the shore. Then I noticed a colored ring around the sun, like a halo but several times the diameter of the sun.

When I got home I snapped this picture of the halo reflected on my windshield:

The halo ring is distorted by my windshield, but you can see it’s diameter compared to the sun.

I woke up a little after 7a.m. this morning, very early for a Saturday, to make sure I had time to shower before I took my mother out for her Mother’s Day breakfast. We had to do it a week late because she was up at my brother’s last weekend. The plan was to go to one of their regular breakfast restaurants. It’s a little place with a few tables outside. My parents have been going there for quite a while and made friends with the staff and some of the regulars. A couple people bring their dogs and sit out side an eat so, my parents have done it a few times. The dogs really dig it and have a great time. It has gotten to the point that on Sunday mornings Molly comes to expect it. She will see my parents getting ready to go out and she’s eager to come with. If you let her into the garage, she will bee-line for the car door and wait to hop in.

So, we get the dogs on their leashes and everyone hops in the car. Now, Mandy likes the restaurant but not the car. Molly will jump right in but Mandy needs to be coaxed in (which usually entails picking her up and putting her inside. We make the short drive to the restaurant and find it’s closed until Monday. Oh well. We can still go to the old stand by, Perkins, but we need to drop off the puppies first. Mandy seems to sense things are not going as planned and starts to whine in the back seat as if to say, “why aren’t we getting out?”. Back at the house we let the dogs out of the car and Molly realizes we are back home. She reluctantly alights from the car and automatically heads inside the house. It’s obvious they are disappointed but my mother gives them a big dog treat and the whole thing is forgotten as they scurry off with their treats. We head off to Perkins for a big breakfast followed by a walk to K-mart. To me, K-mart sucks but Mom wanted to walk off breakfast and look for shoes and since it was her Mother’s day we went. The walk felt good. K-mart still sucked.

The second part of Mother’s Day was to take her to Borders that evening and look around and get a coffee. I was looking forward to checking out the plethera of DaVinci Code knock-off books. My parents had to go to a diner to kick off a golf tournament my dad’s office was putting on the next day. The plan was to have him drop Mom off at borders after the diner and I’d meet her there.

While I was waiting I decided to replace the coolent in my computer. For some reason that excapes me the coolent seemed to be evaporating out of the sealed cooling system. For months I have been topping it off with distilled water, which is less efficent than the coolent and I have noticed slightly higher temps when running the system.

Well, after 3 evenings of reading I have finished The DiVinci Code. And just in time to not see the movie this weekend. I don’t usually see movies on there premier weekend – just to crowded. So I’ll wait and ignore all the reviews (good or bad) and catch it when something else huge come out and watch comfortatebly in a mostly empty theater. My usual movie date has moved away, so I will have to either work up courage to ask someone or go it alone. I also wanted to finish the book before this weekend so I could take a look at the various ” Craking DaVinci’s Code ” type of books when I go to Borders on Saturday… they look interesting.

I read that George Lucas is releasing the original 1977 version of Star Wars in September. A must buy, to be sure. This is the version before it was known as “Episode IV” and before Georgie decided Greedo shoud have fired his blaster before Han shot him. This last bit kind’a steamed me. There was no good reason (in my mind) for him to make the change. I read somewhere that George didn’t want the character of Han The end result was a cheesy moment of editing that did more harm than good for the saga. It has also led to outcry from the internet, such as ” Han Shot First” T-shirts.

I’ve been reading The DaVinci Code for the past couple days. Actually, I started it months ago, but had put it aside figuring I would get back to it. Now with the movie coming out this weekend I started it over and have been hitting it hard to finish before the movie opens. After this weekend people will no doubt be talking about it, even more than the past several months, and I don’t want to hear anymore about it without finishing the book. It’s a great read and I have not wanted to put it down at night. Only the fog of sleepiness forces me to surrender the book. I have a little over one hundred pages left and I mean to get thru most of it tonight.

I got a couple more complements on my 25 word speach today. One of the Directors who heard it suggested I ghost write his when it’s his time. Someone else who heard it second hand told me she liked it. I’m glad they liked and I’m glad it’s over.

My brother closed on his first house yesterday. I wonder if he spend last night excited or exhausted. I’ll have to call him and congratulate him.

One day I hope I’ll be buying a home, but prices here are three times what he’s paying. I could move, but I like my job.

Last night I was writing down some ideas as to what I was going to say for my “25 words or less” speech this morning. The topic was to be what I liked about my first five years. I was told to ‘be creative.” One person, apparently, had written a poem for their speech. – Scratch that off the list. I’m staring at a blank word document waiting for a flash of inspiration… waiting… staring… uninspired.

I had a couple of ideas. One, was two make put the speech on index cards and read it with specific words hyphenated in funny places. Such as, saying “I am proud of my association with this office” but, having the word association broken into ASS-ociation and reading “Ass” then pausing and going to the next card to finish the word. I had seen it done somewhere and thought it was a funny idea but, I didn’t know if I could pull it off or how my audience would take it. Plus I would be extremely nervous reading it and would probably screw it up.

My second idea was a top five list. “My Top Five Favorite Things From the Last Five Years”. I’d make some earnest statements and throw in a couple goofy ones. With something out’a left field for number one. But what? How far could I go?

Lastly, I could do a sincere recounting of what I like most about my job. That should be easy, right? Well, I was still staring at a blank Word document. I threw up a few random statements about how much I like my job and decided I’d see what I felt like doing tomorrow.

Around 8:30 am I decide to go with my first idea. It wrote it up with a couple of ‘broken words’ I thought may be funny. I wasn’t 100% sold on this idea, but time was short. I kept a mental outline of things I wanted to say in case I just went the honest and sincere route. To help me decide which way to go I ran it by a friend quickly. He said it was funny, but he didn’t laugh – which is akin to telling your wife that her ass doesn’t look fat in one of her old dresses when the whole time you are wondering how the seams have stayed together this long.

Plan B it is, then. Or maybe not. I could do the top five thing. Let’s see what I can get down on paper before 9:00am…

Five minutes to nine I was sitting in the outer office of my boss waiting to be called in to receive my pin in front of all the Directors. I’m a bit nervous, but I have my top five list and a backup plan if I chicken out. I may chicken out. I should chicken out. We’ll see what happens. I’m watching everyone file into the boss’s office – changing my mind back and forth as each person files by. I gotta relax or I’m going to pee my pants when I’m called in. (this is just stuff going on in my head, i didn’t actually pee.)

“John, come on in.”

I took a breath and said to myself – “Hey, i know these people. They are my friends, relax. Have fun with it.”

So I did. On my queue, I reached into my pocket and pull out my top five list. With my hands shaking, my pulse racing, and my voice a little low and quivery I started on the list. I tried to relax a bit more, but I was on and that is cause to be nervous.

I read off my number five item and got the unanimous “Awwww” I was hoping for. They were with me now… on my side… no one was going to stand up, point at me laughing and cry “You’re a moron! And now we all know it!!”

Still nervous and uncomforatable about standing in front of a group of people, I ran thru the rest of the list. The list alternated between sincere items (“Working with all the great people…”) and silly items (“Casual Friday”), with the top item being an outrageously corny, selfcentered and politically incorrect statement that got a big laugh.

I made it thru unscathed.

I got my pin and handshake and was rushed out of the way for the next employee – which was exactly the way I wanted to go – quickly.

Tomorrow is my fifth anniversary at work. To commemorate this auspicious event in my IT career I am required to stand in front of the boss and all the department Directors and proclaim in 25 words or less what I like about working in the Tax Collector’s office. It’s not a big deal and meant to be light hearted, but I am not looking forward to it. I’m not good with the public speaking. I’m not all that skilled at articulating my thoughts. I really suck at doing both at the same time! We’ll see how it goes. I’m thinking ‘short and sweet’. I could try to be funny, but I usually screw that up. I could try to be deep and profound, but I’m not. I could try to be absent.

I was watching “Deal or No Deal” tonight. I like the show, but don’t usually catch it on a regular basis. This week, though, the daughter of a woman in my office is going to be on as the friend of a contestant. Huh? I didn’t follow that. A woman in my office has a daughter that will be on the show; not as a contestant.

So, I’m watching the show and the contestant is an attractive woman who is married to a solder in Iraq. To increase the drama, the ‘reunite’ the woman and her solder husband via satellite so he can participate with her. It was actually a pretty touching moment. The solder’s mother and father were at the show and they got to speak with their son. You could see tears in the father’s eye.

Now, the game is going along as usual. Tense moments of revealing cases and hearing offers. All thru this the chick asks her husband for advice from time to time but, often doesn’t take it. No biggie, she’s the one playing the game and he seems cool with it. She’s having a good time and he is going along with it. Here comes one of the annoying parts: She stops the action, says to Howie, “Can I ask my husband a question?” Howie gives her the green light and she says, “Honey? Do you miss me?” Holy crap! What an ass-hole thing to say on national TV. This guy is in Iraq, risking his life defending our country and she’s got the egocentric nerve to put him on the spot saying ‘look at me!’. – Suddenly she ain’t that good looking to me. Metaphorically speaking, that is. You could kind of hear it in the audience that they just caught a big conceited vibe. Her husband handled it with class.

“But wait! That’s not all!” as they say on late-night infomercials. It’s near the end of the game. All but one big amount is gone and there are only three cases to open. The woman is having trouble deciding which case to open – I would too, by the way. I don’t think it’s easy to play this game and must be much harder doing it in front of an audience. The game is designed to make you loose perspective and reach for the big money while risking the same. – Anyway, she’s having trouble picking, so she asks her husband for a number. He offers twelve. Well, she don’t like it. She doesn’t seem to trust his call and decides to ponder the issue further. Asking the group she brought with her for another opinion, one of them re-offers her husbands suggestion. She ain’t taking it. She doesn’t seem to like giving up the choice so, she chooses eleven. The audience is not happy with her. Then…Bam! She opens the biggest number still available. “GOOD!” I think to myself. From the audience you hear a guy yell what most of the people where thinking…”You should have listened to your husband!” hehe

She still walked away with $28,000 it think and she only had ten dollars in her case, so all in all she made a good deal.

I did something stupid last night. I said something that I should not have and I said it without thinking it thru. By doing that, I hurt my ex-wife’s feelings. I didn’t intend to, but I did it. I am feeling pretty bad right now. I know we don’t get along very well, but I have never done something to intentionally hurt her. I thought her and I were growing into a place were we could get along better. If we were, I have set that progress back. How much I am not sure of right now. But it is a set back.