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Sorry For The Delay Publishing New Posts

I apologise for the delay publishing posts which I have suggested are coming along soon. I have some other things to attend to at the moment, but I have begun a selection of posts which I hope to publish soon.
Helpful Colin

Lubricating The Heat Sink Fan On A GeForce GTS240

Introduction

I ended up lubricating the heat sink fan on an NVIDIA GeForce GTS240 whilst looking for the cause of a PC error from it.

During the last couple of months I had some serious errors (about 4) reported on my HP Z620 PC.

These were two of the error reports:

928 – Fatal PCIe error. PCIe error detected Slot 2 Completion timeout.
928 – Fatal PCIe error. PCIe error detected Slot 2 Surprise link down error.

All the errors pointed to either a Slot 2 problem or a problem with my NVIDIA GeForce GTS240 Display Adapter in that slot. I hoped the problem (which is intermittent and very occasional) would go away if I reseated the Display Adapter in its PCIe card slot.

This article describes what I did next and how I ended up lubricating the heat sink fan.

Towels Do Not Slip Off Twin Towel Rails

Introduction

In 2003, when I rebuilt my kitchen, I converted my single towel rail to Twin Towel Rails. They are in a convenient place under the front edge of a worktop. One which is too shallow (front to back) to have any cupboards under it. It has a double panel radiator under it instead.

A single rail was always a nuisance because towels would slip off it regularly. This was due to lack of friction with the rail when they had a weight imbalance due to overhanging one side more than the other.

Restoring An Attendant Propelled Stowaway Wheelchair

Introduction

In the mid 1990’s my mum bought a Remploy Attendant Propelled Stowaway Wheelchair. This was so I could push her around in town and country in the latter years of her life. She was unable to make these journeys under her own steam due to her having arthritis in her ankles.

After her passing I saved her wheelchair for future use by friends and other members of the family. During the time my mum had the wheelchair it probably didn’t cover ten miles. It wasn’t allowed to get dirty or rusty so it remained in excellent condition.

It had one or two outings in intervening years but still probably never exceeded ten miles in all that time. When not in use I stored it in my loft where it would get very hot in summer. That sort of heat soon ages rubber products so that they perish.

In the summer of 2016 I had to move it to another location in my loft. That’s when it happened. When I grasped it by the wheels the rubber tyres broke into several pieces. All four tyres perished due to age (and maybe heat in the loft during summer months). It would’ve been a great shame to scrap this Attendant Propelled Stowaway Wheelchair so I restored it instead.

Not Enough Gift Wrap For That Gift? Wrap It Diagonally.

Introduction

You start off with a nice roll of Gift Wrap, when you wrap those gifts for that festive occasion, and afterwards you have a small rectangle of unused paper left over.

Eventually another small gift needs wrapping so you look through the small left-over pieces of Gift Wrap only to find several are nearly large enough but you haven’t enough to cover your gift.

Well perhaps you’ve failed to use the best paper orientation on your package. This article suggests how you might make the paper cover, a box at least, by wrapping in an unusual way.

I Found Windows 10 Fast Startup Caused Problems

Introduction

The following post will describe how to turn Windows 10 Fast Startup OFF or ON. I usually turn it off on my PCs because I’ve had startup problems as described in the following sections.

A Fireplace Alcove Coloured Lighting Scheme

Introduction

Here I will describe how I created a Fireplace Alcove Coloured Lighting Scheme using multi-coloured LED lighting.

This article isn’t about lighting a small niche in the wall of a large Ingle Nook fireplace or anything like that. It’s about converting a modern domestic fireplace into an alcove where ornaments or a plant could be placed.

In the daytime daylight is sufficient to illuminate these items but at night a little artificial light, white or coloured, is required.

Is My Dualit Model DMF2 Milk Frother Corroding?

Introduction

Unfortunately besides my Dualit Milk Frother requiring a repair (see How I Repaired A Dualit Milk Frother Model DMF2) another problem has developed. I have to ask, “Is my Dualit Milk Frother corroding?” If not what is happening to it. Is the brown mark I can see copper or rust?

How I Repaired A Dualit Milk Frother Model DMF2

Introduction

My wife pressed the start button on the Dualit Milk Frother (Model DMF2) one day in the summer of 2017 and it no longer worked. This persisted so we had to heat the milk in the microwave oven for a week or two until we got a new frother.

Of course, me being me, I dismantled the faulty Dualit Milk Frother to see if there was an obvious problem. There wasn’t anything burnt out or blackened. Just a lot of wiring in a very confined space. It was constructed with a flat straight circuit board fitted into a curved space. No-one had used flexible circuit boards here.

The long term solution was to replace the whole Dualit Milk Frother. Since they are still on the market that’s what I chose to do. The faulty one had been a replacement for our Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother already mentioned in this blog. We now had to replace the replacement.

Dog Fouling Statistics

Preface

This post just brings to light matters which become obvious when calculations are made regarding the number of deposits dogs can make in their lifetimes. It doesn’t discuss dog fouling statistics regarding quantity as would be expected if weight measurements had been taken.

Introduction

I have a dog and live in England where the law compels everyone to remove their dogs mess from public places. This includes private land where the public have access. See Controlling your dog in public – 4. Dog fouling and Law & Your Environment – Dog Fouling.

As a dog owner I know it isn’t possible to pick up every mess a dog makes. Why? Dogs are not obliged to be on a lead everywhere so sometimes they defecate and it goes unnoticed. Such as:

in the dark at night where perhaps a dog should always be on a lead,
in deep snow where it melts through and then the snow falls in on top,
amongst autumn leaves which are the same colour,
in undergrowth which is difficult to penetrate (fortunately undergrowth guards a mess from others passing by).

This brings me to the point of this post:

What proportion of a dogs mess should the owner endeavour to pick up knowing they can’t meet a 100% target?

When I first considered this question I thought maybe 99% might be OK. Then I did some calculations.