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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
I need a rant...
Is hardware becoming more complicated, users becoming more clueless, or both. I get a panic call from a customer announcing that her HP Envy ink jet printer refuses to print from her iPad 1 via Airprint. She's desperate to print her Groupon discount coupons (obviously a major emergency). She had followed my previous instructions to power cycle and reboot everything involved if something appears to be hung, but without any success. I rush over, expecting a hardware or configuration problem. Instead, all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the only different between the HP Envy printer front panel in the power off condition, and in the power on but standby condition, was one dim white LED lamp which was very easy to miss. To insure that it's never seen, the viewing angle is rather narrow. I didn't even notice this LED until shoved my face into the printer trying to clear a printer jam. The reason for the small dim LED is that many such printers end up in bedrooms and it would do to have the printer light up the whole room at night. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#2
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
... ...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. I hope you charged her your full fee, and collected it. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Ignoring the fact that people are not taught (from an early age) how to analyze and solve problems, I think it's the former. I find that as products become more complicated, I have less patience with fixing or configuring them. Most configuration problems are due to bad design, or the failure to anticipate how products will actually be used. Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power. |
#3
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Thursday, February 28, 2013 7:39:11 PM UTC-8, William Sommerwerck wrote:
snip Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power. It doesn't help that our old USB HP deskjet _will_ turn on if off and you send it something to print. What's more annoying is the Bluray player that turns on the TV and selects the proper input. Seems OK until you want to pause the disc and check something else on the TV. It then ejects the disc. If my family is SO STUPID they don't know you have to turn on a TV before using it and have to select the input they should go read a book. Wait, then they use a Kindle . ARGHHH G² |
#4
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
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#5
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I need a rant... Is hardware becoming more complicated, users becoming more clueless, or both. I get a panic call from a customer announcing that her HP Envy ink jet printer refuses to print from her iPad 1 via Airprint. She's desperate to print her Groupon discount coupons (obviously a major emergency). She had followed my previous instructions to power cycle and reboot everything involved if something appears to be hung, but without any success. I rush over, expecting a hardware or configuration problem. Instead, all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the only different between the HP Envy printer front panel in the power off condition, and in the power on but standby condition, was one dim white LED lamp which was very easy to miss. To insure that it's never seen, the viewing angle is rather narrow. I didn't even notice this LED until shoved my face into the printer trying to clear a printer jam. The reason for the small dim LED is that many such printers end up in bedrooms and it would do to have the printer light up the whole room at night. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? I could not print from my pad. Same problem !!!!! Darn printer uses ink turned on, so I shut off. My new canon darks out pretty well in bedroom. Old lex mark had led that goes from dark to bright, cycling, Annoying. Greg |
#6
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
What's more annoying is the Blu-ray player that turns on the TV
and selects the proper input. I assume this is the TV's doing. Though who knows what future versions of HDMI will introduce. Seems OK until you want to pause the disc and check something else on the TV. It then ejects the disc. If my family is SO STUPID they don't know you have to turn on a TV before using it and have to select the input they should go read a book. Wait, then they use a Kindle. ARGHHH. The problem here is not with your family's intelligence, but the intelligence of whoever designed the player and/or TV's software. This problem isn't new. It goes back over 50 years. There was a Popular Electronics project that used a record changer's power switch to turn on an amplifier, so your Aunt May didn't have to. I still have a commercial device of that type -- purchased about 35 years ago -- that allows one device to turn on another. |
#7
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote: "Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message .. . ...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. I hope you charged her your full fee, and collected it. Ladyfriend. I'll be lucky if I can get a free dinner for my efforts and then only if I confess that it was somehow my fault. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Ignoring the fact that people are not taught (from an early age) how to analyze and solve problems, Well, that's part of the problem. In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. I see similar logic errors everywhere I look. I recall from skool, that there was a time when it was considered more important teaching students how to think, rather than cram them full of factoids. However, when they succeeded, and the student was able to think independently, that was deemed some kind of aberration. That was my problem in early skool. I think it's the former. I find that as products become more complicated, I have less patience with fixing or configuring them. Most configuration problems are due to bad design, or the failure to anticipate how products will actually be used. I'm not sure which is the real culprit. Obviously, something went wrong. I have no objections to the current state of electronic complexity. What bothers me is the lack of consistency among user interfaces and operating paradigms. There are a few standards, such as up is on, and down is off, and maybe red is bad, while green is good, but even those are violated. I installed a Logitech BlueGoof iPad keyboard today and found a slide switch where red means power on, and green means power off (which incidentally was not described in the manual). Huh? Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power. Apple: It just works (except when it doesn't). Well, to be fair, it's an HP problem, not an Apple problem. HP correctly guessed that many such printers will end up in the bedroom, where bright lights from the printer is not acceptable. So, they made the lights so dim. Unless one was specifically looking for the pilot light, it would appear to be off. That's not a bad arrangement, but I would not expect the typical customer to understand what is happening. They probably thing, that if the iPad is "always on", why shouldn't the printer be always on? I can't claim to be all that perfect myself. In the distant past, I designed marine radios, and wrote some of the manuals. I was rather proud of the job I did on the first manual, until someone pointed out that I forgot to explain how to turn it on and off. Oops. In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. I also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#8
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message ... On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck" wrote: Well, that's part of the problem. In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. The problem with cars is that they flag up error codes that are erroneous. If you have an intake air leak, for example, the Mass Airlow Sensor gives an incorrect reading of how much air is entering the combustion chambers, so the fuel is adjusted accordingly and erroneously, which changes the reading from the Oxygen sensor. The car will tell you the Oxygen Sensor or the MAF is faulty, which people (including mechanics in garages who often don't have a scooby what they are doing) will replace at great expense to no effect, but still give you the bill. Gareth. |
#9
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On 3/1/2013 1:32 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck" wrote: "Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message ... ...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. I can't claim to be all that perfect myself. In the distant past, I designed marine radios, and wrote some of the manuals. I was rather proud of the job I did on the first manual, until someone pointed out that I forgot to explain how to turn it on and off. Oops. So she's right, it is your fault, after all these years you're still forgetting to tell people to turn on the power! Sorry, I couldn't resist :-) Mikek PS. Turning on the power is just so obvious that... well you know. |
#10
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 1 Mar 2013 11:21:47 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote: The problem with cars is that they flag up error codes that are erroneous. If you have an intake air leak, for example, the Mass Airlow Sensor gives an incorrect reading of how much air is entering the combustion chambers, so the fuel is adjusted accordingly and erroneously, which changes the reading from the Oxygen sensor. The car will tell you the Oxygen Sensor or the MAF is faulty, which people (including mechanics in garages who often don't have a scooby what they are doing) will replace at great expense to no effect, but still give you the bill. I beg to differ. Cascading errors are certainly a risk in any monitoring system. At this time, the typical automobile just doesn't have the CPU horsepower to include the necessary computational resources and software needed to determine the initial cause of a problem and distinguish it from downstream faults. I ran into this trying design BITE (built in test equipment) for a marine radio. When a fault would occur in an early stage, all the subsequent stages would also show fault conditions. Since the radio was full of loops, there was no possibility of a straight line diagnosis back to the fault source. The 1980's solution was to attach a separate diagnostic computer to analyze all the flashing lights. We intentionally produced single active component failures, and recorded the light show. That worked fairly well and largely eliminated that problem. Unfortunately, it would not have caught a failure to turn on the device error. The days when printers and home computahs have self-diagnostics and error analysis built in do not seem to be in the plan. (HP laser printer error codes are as obtuse as OBD2 codes). Incidentally, I had a similar problem with my Subaru. The oxygen sensor after the catalytic converter was complaining. The diagnostics proclaimed that it was a bad catalytic converter. I read up on how it worked and determines that the oxygen sensor was failing, which was a much cheaper fix than a catalytic converter. If I understand how something works, I can fix it. If I just look at the error messages and flashing lights, I'll be like my friend and his Mercedes. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#11
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:18:37 -0600, amdx
wrote: So she's right, it is your fault, after all these years you're still forgetting to tell people to turn on the power! Sorry, I couldn't resist :-) Go ahead, rub it in. However, I'm not the only one with the problem. The Logitech iPad keyboard thing I installed last night simply said "turn it on". There was no clue as to the location of the on off switch or whether red or green meant on or off. One giant step backwards. http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-cover?crid=1240 PS. Turning on the power is just so obvious that... well you know. I suspect that you've never tried to start an automobile with an "engine start" button. There are a list of pre-requisites that must be observed before the car will start. Some of these are not so obvious, such as having the RFID contrivance fairly close to the dash and not buried in an aluminized mylar RFID-proof purse. Others are somewhat less obscure, such as having the transmission in Park which only makes sense if you can find the control. The button says "start" but it's not starting and no error messages on the dash or out of the speakers. It should be obvious, but it's not. Call tech support (OnStar)? Well, I just got an email thanking me for driving over and turning on the printer. Attached was a collection of stupid people jokes, which was a clue that I had made my point. Also attached was an invitation to dinner, which is a clue that I shouldn't send her an invoice. There was also some mention of fixing a few things around the house, which decodes into me bringing my appliance and plumbing repair tools. I'm doomed. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#12
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message ... On Fri, 1 Mar 2013 11:21:47 -0000, "Gareth Magennis" wrote: The problem with cars is that they flag up error codes that are erroneous. If you have an intake air leak, for example, the Mass Airlow Sensor gives an incorrect reading of how much air is entering the combustion chambers, so the fuel is adjusted accordingly and erroneously, which changes the reading from the Oxygen sensor. The car will tell you the Oxygen Sensor or the MAF is faulty, which people (including mechanics in garages who often don't have a scooby what they are doing) will replace at great expense to no effect, but still give you the bill. I beg to differ. snipped Incidentally, I had a similar problem with my Subaru. The oxygen sensor after the catalytic converter was complaining. The diagnostics proclaimed that it was a bad catalytic converter. I read up on how it worked and determines that the oxygen sensor was failing, which was a much cheaper fix than a catalytic converter. If I understand how something works, I can fix it. If I just look at the error messages and flashing lights, I'll be like my friend and his Mercedes. Er, not sure where you are differing, it looks like we are in agreement!? Gareth. |
#13
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On 01/03/2013 16:18, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:18:37 -0600, amdx wrote: So she's right, it is your fault, after all these years you're still forgetting to tell people to turn on the power! Sorry, I couldn't resist :-) Go ahead, rub it in. However, I'm not the only one with the problem. The Logitech iPad keyboard thing I installed last night simply said "turn it on". There was no clue as to the location of the on off switch or whether red or green meant on or off. One giant step backwards. http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-cover?crid=1240 PS. Turning on the power is just so obvious that... well you know. I suspect that you've never tried to start an automobile with an "engine start" button. There are a list of pre-requisites that must be observed before the car will start. Some of these are not so obvious, such as having the RFID contrivance fairly close to the dash and not buried in an aluminized mylar RFID-proof purse. Others are somewhat less obscure, such as having the transmission in Park which only makes sense if you can find the control. The button says "start" but it's not starting and no error messages on the dash or out of the speakers. It should be obvious, but it's not. Call tech support (OnStar)? Some cars require the clutch or brake pedal to be depressed in order to start. Well, I just got an email thanking me for driving over and turning on the printer. Attached was a collection of stupid people jokes, which was a clue that I had made my point. Also attached was an invitation to dinner, which is a clue that I shouldn't send her an invoice. There was also some mention of fixing a few things around the house, which decodes into me bringing my appliance and plumbing repair tools. I'm doomed. Which just reinforces the principle that no good deed goes unpunished. -- Peter |
#14
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 1 Mar 2013 17:47:01 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote: "Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message .. . I beg to differ. Er, not sure where you are differing, it looks like we are in agreement!? Gareth. Sorry. I'm not accustomed to agreeing with anyone. Give me some time to get used to the concept. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#15
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:08:59 +0000, Ramsman
wrote: Some cars require the clutch or brake pedal to be depressed in order to start. Oh yeah, that too. Then, there's the seat belt interlock chime bypass. Nothing is simple or easy. Which just reinforces the principle that no good deed goes unpunished. I have friends and I have customers. The difference is that the customers pay me. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#16
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Jeff Liebermann skrev den 01/03/2013:
(OnStar)? Well, I just got an email thanking me for driving over and turning on the printer. Attached was a collection of stupid people jokes, which was a clue that I had made my point. Also attached was an invitation to dinner, which is a clue that I shouldn't send her an invoice. There was also some mention of fixing a few things around the house, which decodes into me bringing my appliance and plumbing repair tools. I'm doomed. Well, if turning on a printer gives dinner, imagine what fixing the plumbing might lead to :-) Leif -- Husk kørelys bagpå, hvis din bilfabrikant har taget den idiotiske beslutning at undlade det. |
#17
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On 3/1/2013 10:18 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:18:37 -0600, amdx wrote: So she's right, it is your fault, after all these years you're still forgetting to tell people to turn on the power! Sorry, I couldn't resist :-) Go ahead, rub it in. However, I'm not the only one with the problem. The Logitech iPad keyboard thing I installed last night simply said "turn it on". There was no clue as to the location of the on off switch or whether red or green meant on or off. One giant step backwards. http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/ultrathin-keyboard-cover?crid=1240 PS. Turning on the power is just so obvious that... well you know. I suspect that you've never tried to start an automobile with an "engine start" button. There are a list of pre-requisites that must be observed before the car will start. Some of these are not so obvious, such as having the RFID contrivance fairly close to the dash and not buried in an aluminized mylar RFID-proof purse. Others are somewhat less obscure, such as having the transmission in Park which only makes sense if you can find the control. The button says "start" but it's not starting and no error messages on the dash or out of the speakers. It should be obvious, but it's not. Call tech support (OnStar)? I have a friend that is a physicist, and besides that very bright. He and his wife had bought a used car, on the second day they attempted to go out, he couldn't get the shift lever to move from park. Try as he might it would not work, so he traded places with his wife, she naturally put her foot on the brake and shifted to reverse. He told me it took two more attempts before he figured out why she could do it and he couldn't. |
#18
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I need a rant... Is hardware becoming more complicated, users becoming more clueless, or both. I get a panic call from a customer announcing that her HP Envy ink jet printer refuses to print from her iPad 1 via Airprint. She's desperate to print her Groupon discount coupons (obviously a major emergency). She had followed my previous instructions to power cycle and reboot everything involved if something appears to be hung, but without any success. I rush over, expecting a hardware or configuration problem. Instead, all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the only different between the HP Envy printer front panel in the power off condition, and in the power on but standby condition, was one dim white LED lamp which was very easy to miss. To insure that it's never seen, the viewing angle is rather narrow. I didn't even notice this LED until shoved my face into the printer trying to clear a printer jam. The reason for the small dim LED is that many such printers end up in bedrooms and it would do to have the printer light up the whole room at night. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? it's the secret subliminal messages the GOV has been pumping into the common hang out areas of the internet. The intent is to make brainless dummies so that every one becomes a puppet to the GOV (subservient) and ask no questions when it comes time to thin the herd. Jamie |
#19
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:32:56 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote: In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. Roll forward one day. I arrive at the scene of the crime fully prepared to get greasy, filthy, and frustrated. Standing around the vehicle were three well educated and intelligent engineering types, desperate to get the vehicle running. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I was immediately deluged with one complex theory after another. So much for intelligence as a survival attribute. As the barrage of brilliant theories subsided, I was able to determine that they had successfully replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter the previous day. OBD2 delivered the obvious fact that the fuel system wasn't working, along with about 10 associated downstream errors (mostly misfires). When fixing anything, the problem can be attacked with either logic or psychology. Logic would require following the troubleshooting flow chart that everyone seemed to be ignoring. Looking at the flow chart, I can see why. However psychology requires only the assumption that three well educated and intelligent engineering types are fully capable of stupid mistakes, missing the obvious, and dumb oversights. I chose the much easier psychological approach and went immediately to the fuse and relay box. My plan was to push the fuel pump power relay and see if it would spin. I didn't need to do that as it was obvious that the fuel pump fuse, adjacent to the relay, was missing. Argh. A brief interrogation of the participants in this fiasco revealed that nobody remembered removing the fuse, or had any knowledge of its current hiding place. I found a replacement fuse, inserted it in its socket, and suggested that the owner attempt to start the vehicle (while the rest of us stood by with fire extinguishers). The engine started and ran quite nicely. To verify that the fuel pump had really been the problem, I attached clip leads to the fuel pump connector and applied 12VDC. Nothing. I then applied power directly to the fuel pump motor. Nothing, which means a bad pump moter. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful about where I pointed the pump outlet, and sprayed some gasoline on myself. In the same class as remembering to turn on the printer power, we now have remembering to insert the fuse. I just wish everything was this easy. Unfortunately, this is yet another friend, and not a customer. With luck, I'll get a free hot chocolate at the local coffee shop. Sigh. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#20
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:32:56 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote: In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. Roll forward one day. I arrive at the scene of the crime fully prepared to get greasy, filthy, and frustrated. Standing around the vehicle were three well educated and intelligent engineering types, desperate to get the vehicle running. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I was immediately deluged with one complex theory after another. So much for intelligence as a survival attribute. As the barrage of brilliant theories subsided, I was able to determine that they had successfully replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter the previous day. OBD2 delivered the obvious fact that the fuel system wasn't working, along with about 10 associated downstream errors (mostly misfires). When fixing anything, the problem can be attacked with either logic or psychology. Logic would require following the troubleshooting flow chart that everyone seemed to be ignoring. Looking at the flow chart, I can see why. However psychology requires only the assumption that three well educated and intelligent engineering types are fully capable of stupid mistakes, missing the obvious, and dumb oversights. I chose the much easier psychological approach and went immediately to the fuse and relay box. My plan was to push the fuel pump power relay and see if it would spin. I didn't need to do that as it was obvious that the fuel pump fuse, adjacent to the relay, was missing. Argh. A brief interrogation of the participants in this fiasco revealed that nobody remembered removing the fuse, or had any knowledge of its current hiding place. I found a replacement fuse, inserted it in its socket, and suggested that the owner attempt to start the vehicle (while the rest of us stood by with fire extinguishers). The engine started and ran quite nicely. To verify that the fuel pump had really been the problem, I attached clip leads to the fuel pump connector and applied 12VDC. Nothing. I then applied power directly to the fuel pump motor. Nothing, which means a bad pump moter. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful about where I pointed the pump outlet, and sprayed some gasoline on myself. Ok, something is wrong with your assertion here, you stated that nothing happen which indicates the original pump to be bad however, you also claim to get fuel on you via a spray? This would indicate that it must of work? I am confused.. In the same class as remembering to turn on the printer power, we now have remembering to insert the fuse. I just wish everything was this easy. Unfortunately, this is yet another friend, and not a customer. With luck, I'll get a free hot chocolate at the local coffee shop. Sigh. P.S. If this was a test to see if readers actually read other's material? it worked. Jamie |
#21
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:54:41 -0500, Jamie
t wrote: Jeff Liebermann wrote: To verify that the fuel pump had really been the problem, I attached clip leads to the fuel pump connector and applied 12VDC. Nothing. I then applied power directly to the fuel pump motor. Nothing, which means a bad pump moter. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful about where I pointed the pump outlet, and sprayed some gasoline on myself. Ok, something is wrong with your assertion here, you stated that nothing happen which indicates the original pump to be bad however, you also claim to get fuel on you via a spray? This would indicate that it must of work? I am confused.. Sorry(tm). The problem was that I had an office full of people and was in the middle of editing that paragraph when I hit "send". I got the sentences in the wrong order. It should read: To verify that the fuel pump had really been the problem, I attached clip leads to the fuel pump connector and applied 12VDC. Nothing, which means a bad pump motor. I then applied power directly to the fuel pump motor. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful about where I pointed the pump outlet, and sprayed some gasoline on myself. P.S. If this was a test to see if readers actually read other's material? it worked. Nope. Just my rushed and sloppy editing. I can edit other peoples work, but not my own. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#22
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Mar 1, 1:32*am, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck" wrote: "Jeff Liebermann" *wrote in message .. . ...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. I hope you charged her your full fee, and collected it. Ladyfriend. *I'll be lucky if I can get a free dinner for my efforts and then only if I confess that it was somehow my fault. So, which is it? *Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Ignoring the fact that people are not taught (from an early age) how to analyze and solve problems, Well, that's part of the problem. *In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. *My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. *The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. *I see similar logic errors everywhere I look. *I recall from skool, that there was a time when it was considered more important teaching students how to think, rather than cram them full of factoids. *However, when they succeeded, and the student was able to think independently, that was deemed some kind of aberration. *That was my problem in early skool. I think it's the former. I find that as products become more complicated, I have less patience with fixing or configuring them. Most configuration problems are due to bad design, or the failure to anticipate how products will actually be used. I'm not sure which is the real culprit. *Obviously, something went wrong. *I have no objections to the current state of electronic complexity. *What bothers me is the lack of consistency among user interfaces and operating paradigms. *There are a few standards, such as up is on, and down is off, and maybe red is bad, while green is good, but even those are violated. *I installed a Logitech BlueGoof iPad keyboard today and found a slide switch where red means power on, and green means power off (which incidentally was not described in the manual). *Huh? Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power. Apple: *It just works (except when it doesn't). Well, to be fair, it's an HP problem, not an Apple problem. *HP correctly guessed that many such printers will end up in the bedroom, where bright lights from the printer is not acceptable. *So, they made the lights so dim. *Unless one was specifically looking for the pilot light, it would appear to be off. *That's not a bad arrangement, but I would not expect the typical customer to understand what is happening. They probably thing, that if the iPad is "always on", why shouldn't the printer be always on? I can't claim to be all that perfect myself. *In the distant past, I designed marine radios, and wrote some of the manuals. *I was rather proud of the job I did on the first manual, until someone pointed out that I forgot to explain how to turn it on and off. *Oops. In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. *I also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. *Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. *Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. *AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. -- Jeff Liebermann * * 150 Felker St #D * *http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann * * AE6KS * *831-336-2558begin_of_the_skype_highlighting*831-336-2558*FREE i bought a Samsung monitor about 6 months ago. Instruction manual showed a bunch of legends across the front bottom of the display. When I got home, I tried pushing on the front next to and on top of the legends. Nothing worked. The instruction book did not say how to turn on that I could find. I accidently grabbed the display along the bottom edge and it turned on. A little experimenting and I found that the touch sensitive switches were along the bottom side under the legends that were on the front. Nowhere that I could find did the instructions say to touch the display on the underside of the display to activate whatever function you were trying to activate. |
#23
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:55:56 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote: I need a rant... Is hardware becoming more complicated, users becoming more clueless, or both. I get a panic call from a customer announcing that her HP Envy ink jet printer refuses to print from her iPad 1 via Airprint. She's desperate to print her Groupon discount coupons (obviously a major emergency). She had followed my previous instructions to power cycle and reboot everything involved if something appears to be hung, but without any success. I rush over, expecting a hardware or configuration problem. Instead, all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that the only different between the HP Envy printer front panel in the power off condition, and in the power on but standby condition, was one dim white LED lamp which was very easy to miss. To insure that it's never seen, the viewing angle is rather narrow. I didn't even notice this LED until shoved my face into the printer trying to clear a printer jam. The reason for the small dim LED is that many such printers end up in bedrooms and it would do to have the printer light up the whole room at night. So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Neither. This effect has been covered in detail in 'The Marching Morons' by C. M. Kornbluth. 60 years after it was published, the story is more pertinent than ever. It's well worth reading. The fact is that when my Grandfather learned to drive there were a number of operations required to start a car. Put the transmission in neutral. Set the throttle to fast idle. Retard the spark. Apply the choke. Crank slowly until you hit the compression point, then give it a strong pull (DON'T push the crank with the thumb over the handle). Repeat if necessary. Failure to carry out these steps properly resulted in a flooded engine, the engine not starting, or a even a broken arm. The electric starter, automatic choke, automatic transmission, and computer control module have eliminated the need for such care. Maintenence that has to be performed every 1000 miles is now performed at 10,000 to 100,000 mile intervals. A similar thing has happened with computers over the last 45 years. In 1967 to run a program I had to enter the program steps on IBM cards using a keypunch. Any mistakes and the program wouldn't run. There were also idiocyncries of the language to be avoided. As the hardware evolved, programs came on a half dozen (or more) floppy disks which we had to load by hand. Configuring a printer could be a nightmare if the appropriate driver wasn't included. Now the operating system is preloaded, software (aps) is installed automagically, and any idiot can use one without understanding anything about how the whole system works And I remember 20 years ago when I was performing telephone support for OS/2, and some very nice lady called because she couldn't get her new computer to print to her new printer. After some struggling, we discovered the salesman had failed to sell her a printer cable..... PlainBill |
#24
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Fri, 1 Mar 2013 18:28:34 -0800 (PST), "
wrote: On Mar 1, 1:32*am, Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck" wrote: "Jeff Liebermann" *wrote in message .. . ...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn on the power, making this my fault. I hope you charged her your full fee, and collected it. Ladyfriend. *I'll be lucky if I can get a free dinner for my efforts and then only if I confess that it was somehow my fault. So, which is it? *Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Ignoring the fact that people are not taught (from an early age) how to analyze and solve problems, Well, that's part of the problem. *In a parallel effort, a different friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot a non-functional Mercedes ML320. *My guess is $200 in wasted money on parts that were not defective so far. *The problem is that despite my advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any useful results. *I see similar logic errors everywhere I look. *I recall from skool, that there was a time when it was considered more important teaching students how to think, rather than cram them full of factoids. *However, when they succeeded, and the student was able to think independently, that was deemed some kind of aberration. *That was my problem in early skool. I think it's the former. I find that as products become more complicated, I have less patience with fixing or configuring them. Most configuration problems are due to bad design, or the failure to anticipate how products will actually be used. I'm not sure which is the real culprit. *Obviously, something went wrong. *I have no objections to the current state of electronic complexity. *What bothers me is the lack of consistency among user interfaces and operating paradigms. *There are a few standards, such as up is on, and down is off, and maybe red is bad, while green is good, but even those are violated. *I installed a Logitech BlueGoof iPad keyboard today and found a slide switch where red means power on, and green means power off (which incidentally was not described in the manual). *Huh? Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power. Apple: *It just works (except when it doesn't). Well, to be fair, it's an HP problem, not an Apple problem. *HP correctly guessed that many such printers will end up in the bedroom, where bright lights from the printer is not acceptable. *So, they made the lights so dim. *Unless one was specifically looking for the pilot light, it would appear to be off. *That's not a bad arrangement, but I would not expect the typical customer to understand what is happening. They probably thing, that if the iPad is "always on", why shouldn't the printer be always on? I can't claim to be all that perfect myself. *In the distant past, I designed marine radios, and wrote some of the manuals. *I was rather proud of the job I did on the first manual, until someone pointed out that I forgot to explain how to turn it on and off. *Oops. In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. *I also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. *Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. *Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. *AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. -- Jeff Liebermann * * 150 Felker St #D * *http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann * * AE6KS * *831-336-2558begin_of_the_skype_highlighting*831-336-2558*FREE i bought a Samsung monitor about 6 months ago. Instruction manual showed a bunch of legends across the front bottom of the display. When I got home, I tried pushing on the front next to and on top of the legends. Nothing worked. The instruction book did not say how to turn on that I could find. I accidently grabbed the display along the bottom edge and it turned on. A little experimenting and I found that the touch sensitive switches were along the bottom side under the legends that were on the front. Nowhere that I could find did the instructions say to touch the display on the underside of the display to activate whatever function you were trying to activate. One of the failures of many design engineers. I had similar problems decades ago with test engineers writing test procedures assuming an advanced knowledge of electronics. A previous lead tech would have his best tech vet the test procedures before accepting them. I added a further step - I had the newest tester try to follow the procedure. Any step he did not understand had to be rewritten. It irritated the test engineers, but ensured the procedure actually worked as written. PlainBill |
#25
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
In article ,
wrote: One of the failures of many design engineers. I had similar problems decades ago with test engineers writing test procedures assuming an advanced knowledge of electronics. A previous lead tech would have his best tech vet the test procedures before accepting them. I added a further step - I had the newest tester try to follow the procedure. Any step he did not understand had to be rewritten. It irritated the test engineers, but ensured the procedure actually worked as written. I've read of a similar test (possibly fictional) being applied to officer candidates in OCS. They were given a task which needed to be performed, and instructed to write up a set of orders to a platoon to carry out the task. If the grunts in the platoon could find a reasonably legitimate way to misinterpret the orders as-written, so that the task wasn't accomplished properly, the officer candidate flunked. Seems like a good test for design engineers to have to follow... if Joe or Jane Average-Newbie cannot follow your instructions, they need to be rewritten. -- Dave Platt AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
#27
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
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#28
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Sat, 02 Mar 2013 12:25:58 -0700, wrote:
So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated, or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush? Neither. This effect has been covered in detail in 'The Marching Morons' by C. M. Kornbluth. 60 years after it was published, the story is more pertinent than ever. It's well worth reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons I read it many years ago. Methinks the plot is unrealistic, the assumptions invalid, and predictions defective. You might be reading a bit too much into this automobile repair story. None of the participants even remotely quality as being below average intelligence. Of the four (including myself), we have 2 electronic engineers, one mechanical engineer, and a machine shop owner. My question revolved around why 3 presumably intelligent people could not figure out how find and replace a fuse. The fact is that when my Grandfather learned to drive there were a number of operations required to start a car. Put the transmission in neutral. Set the throttle to fast idle. Retard the spark. Apply the choke. Crank slowly until you hit the compression point, then give it a strong pull (DON'T push the crank with the thumb over the handle). Repeat if necessary. Failure to carry out these steps properly resulted in a flooded engine, the engine not starting, or a even a broken arm. I used to drive a 1970 Land Rover Series IIa. http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/home/slides/land_rover3.html It had a crank start. The first time I tried it, the crank launched me about a foot into the air and down hard on the front bumper. I was more successful with subsequent starts. After spending literally every Saturday under the car, fixing something different each time, I decided that something more reliable might be a good idea. The electric starter, automatic choke, automatic transmission, and computer control module have eliminated the need for such care. Maintenence that has to be performed every 1000 miles is now performed at 10,000 to 100,000 mile intervals. This is the good side of automotive maintenance progress. The bad side is that your grandfather could probably have fixed anything on his vehicle with baling wire and bubble gum. These days, it requires a computer program, and factory trained guru to decode the OBD2 codes and results. In addition, todays cars may not need scheduled maintenance for many thousands of miles, they will still break down before the scheduled maintenance. It's not the operating parts of the vehicle that seem to break. It's the myriad of sensors, black boxes, and convenience features that break first. Operation of the vehicle is also far from clear. My Subaru has a seat warmer switch, that took me about 2 hours to find and turn off in order not to get a hot seat. I still don't know where the rear window defroster is hidden, and the function of a mysterious dashboard lighting switch. (Yes, I read the manual). A similar thing has happened with computers over the last 45 years. In 1967 to run a program I had to enter the program steps on IBM cards using a keypunch. Any mistakes and the program wouldn't run. There were also idiocyncries of the language to be avoided. As the hardware evolved, programs came on a half dozen (or more) floppy disks which we had to load by hand. Configuring a printer could be a nightmare if the appropriate driver wasn't included. Now the operating system is preloaded, software (aps) is installed automagically, and any idiot can use one without understanding anything about how the whole system works Yep. I went through all that and suspect I todays computers are genuinely better. However, I'm not quite sure. In 1981, my first IBM PC 5150 took about 5 minutes to boot. 30 years later, it still takes 5 minutes (or more). This is not progress. I do agree that the level of intelligence required to operate a computer has decreased to the point where most people can theoretically operate one. The various pad computers were a big step forward. However, I again have my doubts, having seen the mess these permanent beginners can make of a machine. Since there are also the largest potential growth market segment, I suspect we will soon seem computers that even the totally clueless can operate. Whether this is a good thing will remain unanswered. And I remember 20 years ago when I was performing telephone support for OS/2, and some very nice lady called because she couldn't get her new computer to print to her new printer. After some struggling, we discovered the salesman had failed to sell her a printer cable..... Chuckle. I haven't experienced that one. However, that was fairly typical for the late 1980's and 1990's. Here's my list of horror stories: http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/95q1/compnightmares.html That begs another unanswered question. Are we making smarter users or just better computers that prevent users from hurting themselves? I suspect the latter. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#29
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
"better computers that prevent users from hurting themselves? I
suspect the latter" There is the biggest problem. I hope y'all don't mind my two cents here but people might be getting stupider. I have a set of beliefs which of course are not adhered to, but they should : Practically all safety devices should be illegal. I was watching the boob tube a few years ago (can't stand it at all anymore) and they had this dandy table saw. It had some sort of sensor that made it stop the blade within microseconds should someone touch it. Well there are millons of table saws out there without this feature and if you happen to buy one of these new dandy ones, and then for whatever reason have to use a different one, what might happen ? And how do they get someone to demonstrate the thing in the first place ? Do they look for salesmen wearing a Jefffoxworthyesque stupid sign ? (two bucks apiece, two for five) Well in my opinion this should apply to everything. Instead of seatbelts and airbags in cars they should have pointy, LETHAL things sticking out the dashboard. On the other hand the doors should be triple reinforced, like with railroad tracks or something. net result : If you drive like an (_|_) and hit things, you might die. If you get Tboned, the person who hit you might die but you will live. Within a couple of years there would be no car accidents. People would actually watch where they're going instead of having a contest to see how many other things they can do while driving. It ****es me off, all this automatic ****. When I open the car door I want the courtesy light to go on, and I want it to go off immediately when I close the door. Period. I will lock and unlock the doors thank you. I know when to turn on the headlights. I know the seatbelt is there, and I swear one of these days I am going to start a business doing one thing - getting rid of those damn beepers that bug you to put on your seat belt. I'll probably make a fortune. One thing I will accept is a beep if the door opens and the keys are in the ignition. ONE BEEP, got it ? Can the engineering department count to one ? And brownwares ? This is getting ridiculous. You want to hear a wierd one about a TV ? OK, a Sony XBR direct view, CRT. The CRT had been changed. The set was back becasue the picture would gradually turn all red, that is the green and blue would drop out. The cure ? Adjust the vertical height and centering. This one required discovering the failure mode to cure, but in some cases you might not have to. In this unit, the CRT installed was rebuilt and apparently there was something a little different about the envelope. I scoped the AKB pulses and though there was no green or blue on the screen there was plenty of feedback going to the AKB pin of the jungle. A slight convergence error OFF THE SCRREN at the top was causing the beam to hit some element in the tube, most likely the frame around the shadow mask, and it was getting more feedback from that for whatever reason. I suspect in the CRTs made for the sets with AKB that frame or whatever it was had a coating on it to prevent this occurance. Once I had to change a chip in a vertical circuit because the set would not switch to video input. That was easy, internal leakage was partially shorting out the data bus. The normal stuff worked, like the picture controls etc., but the option codes had not loaded so it didn't know about any video inputs. This is all automation working for us. If you think diagnostic codes are bad in cars, they are worse in brownwares. Now that they want to detect shorts by absence of supply voltages it mucks things up. All hail one shutdown circuit. Long time ago a coworker quipped that it's getting to where a bad speaker can cause no high voltage. Well XBR to the front again. A CRT based RPTV, I detected no vertical as it shutdown. I repaired that and it still shut down, even though I scoped it and confirmed that the vertical was now up and running. Above the chassis was the amp for the subwoofer which was down at the bottom of the cabinet. I had left it unplugged and the set sensed it and shut down. So there you have it for sure - a bad speaker can cause no high voltage.. I just happened to temporarily introduce high resistance to the voice coil at the time. In the end, it is all about control. At one time I was going to build some things, actually advanced diagnostic devices. I thought about how to not only protect my ideas, but being on the other side of the fence I wanted captive service if possible. That can take some doing when the customers are techs in the first place. After all none of this stuff is made to be serviced anymore. Look at the service manuals for plasma TVs and find the waveforms that are supposed to be output from the Y and Z sustain boards. They give you clk timing on the main board which you almost never fix but replace, they give you the flat lines on the 5 volts, 3.3 and so forth, but what really makes the thing work is absent. Cars may be different but not much. You can't just drop an ECM in a car anymore, it has to be programmed for it. One third of brownware problems are now due to software issues, many of them not fixable. Sometimes you can flash the firmware but usually not. They need you to need them. At this moment I am thinking about my next car. Most of what I want is expensive now, and it would probably have ignition points. Stickshift. Power NOTHING. Oh, and us hillbillies have advanced from the baling wire etc. The most modern methods now include duct tape and coat hangers. I notice it is getting harder to procure metal coat hangers, an fact I suspect a conspiracy. In fact the entire computer revolution was a conspiracy to eliminate paper clips.. There was a time I could make almost $100 with a paper clip. So much for my 3 AM rant. |
#30
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
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#31
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Blimey, there's a whole load of ****e coming out of your head.
Have you ever thought about taking up knitting instead? It's so much calmer. Gareth. |
#32
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. I
also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. [Jeff L.] A YouTube'r I like to watch is mikeselectricstuff. He's a brilliant engineer and is always reviewing and taking stuff apart. His reviews -- more often than not -- end with this conclusion: the hardware is excellent and the UI firmware/software/design is crap. He points out how potentially fabulous this bit of kit could be if the UI was halfway competent. Here's a couple of good examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzHZF...FcmCHyA& inde x=2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJv2iCieeeM IMO, user interface is designed by people who probably wouldn't use the product. When I worked at Apple (tech writer, decades ago) we would do a draft of a manual and then get a prospective customer -- "target audience" -- (someone from HR or such in this example) and put them in a room with a new product, in box, and let them go to it, videotaping the experience. The feedback is what made Apple's documents receive awards on top of awards. If companies (ANY manufacturer) would do this for their UI, most issues would be resolved before the product hit the shelf. But being "a race to the bottom", I don't hold much hope. |
#33
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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SPSC2 Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
.... snip IMO, user interface is designed by people who probably wouldn't use the product. My favorite 'how not to' example is a dustpan, made with strengthening ridges on the bottom sides of the pan, in such a way that its impossible to put the front edge of the pan flat on the floor to pick up the sweepings - they go underneath the raised edge on the front lip created by the ridges. Obviously the designer ( and any subsequent reviewers ) never used a pan. -- Regards, Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form. |
#34
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:56:15 -0700, DaveC wrote:
In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. I also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. [Jeff L.] A YouTube'r I like to watch is mikeselectricstuff. He's a brilliant engineer and is always reviewing and taking stuff apart. His reviews -- more often than not -- end with this conclusion: the hardware is excellent and the UI firmware/software/design is crap. He points out how potentially fabulous this bit of kit could be if the UI was halfway competent. Here's a couple of good examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzHZF...FcmCHyA& inde x=2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJv2iCieeeM IMO, user interface is designed by people who probably wouldn't use the product. When I worked at Apple (tech writer, decades ago) we would do a draft of a manual and then get a prospective customer -- "target audience" -- (someone from HR or such in this example) and put them in a room with a new product, in box, and let them go to it, videotaping the experience. The feedback is what made Apple's documents receive awards on top of awards. If companies (ANY manufacturer) would do this for their UI, most issues would be resolved before the product hit the shelf. But being "a race to the bottom", I don't hold much hope. About a decade ago, we did this, but it was a dismal failure. I worked with the installation group of a fairly popular circuit simulation program, and someone had the bright idea to have the CEO test out the installation... A few hours later... ;-) Charlie |
#35
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:56:15 -0700, DaveC wrote:
In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. I also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between devices. Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect me", and they will. Send the printer some data, and it's a fair assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing. Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that the printer should power down. AI (artificial intelligence) was the big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today? Ok, I've had my rant. [Jeff L.] Most of my frustrations were unloaded in the original thread: http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/browse_thread/thread/a1ebf6c32667db31/ IMO, user interface is designed by people who probably wouldn't use the product. In a past life, I helped design several marine radios. The user interface was designed by a genuine industrial designer, with input from literally everyone that could possibly render an opinion. That included the janitor and random visitors. Part of my responsibility was to document all these great ideas for the industrial designer so that he could concentrate on the aesthetics and ergonomics. As a result, usability took third place behind feature bloat and artistic packaging. By the time the front panel was presented to engineering, it was obvious that we were in trouble. There weren't a sufficient number of buttons to handle all the features. So, each button had multiple functions, depending on whether it was tapped, held for 1 second, or held for more than 3 seconds. Considerable effort and wine went into crafting said interface, but the inevitable result was a miserable compromise. Marketing insisted that the radio with the most features would sell best, so there was no way to remove features or add buttons. We built a mockup and tried my usability test on various non-technical employees including the marketing manager. Nobody could operate it. There was even some difficulty in turning it on and off. Someone suggested that we have 3 modes (crude, basic and advanced) where some of the obscure functions were simply disabled. Everyone could operate it in crude mode, but the others required both RTFM and practice. We shipped a data logger with several radios, and found that 99% of the wiz-bang functions were never used. Lesson learned: Features, functions and complexity sell products, but drive the users nuts. When I worked at Apple (tech writer, decades ago) we would do a draft of a manual and then get a prospective customer -- "target audience" -- (someone from HR or such in this example) and put them in a room with a new product, in box, and let them go to it, videotaping the experience. The feedback is what made Apple's documents receive awards on top of awards. Any product that is worthwhile should be intuitive and not require a manual. These daze, manuals are shipped on CD's and never read until something goes wrong. If the product needs a manual to use, there's something wrong. Besides, today's manuals are mostly legal disclaimers, court ordered warnings, and patent notices. Lesson learned: Assume that users are NOT going to RTFM. If companies (ANY manufacturer) would do this for their UI, most issues would be resolved before the product hit the shelf. But being "a race to the bottom", I don't hold much hope. You're optimizing whale oil and sealing wax. Manuals and static user interfaces are dead, or at least should be dead. A proper user interface adjusts itself to what the user is doing, offering only those choices which are involved in whatever the user is trying to accomplish. A banking machine is a good example. You are presented with a minimum number of selections, all of which are appropriate to the current operation or mode. This results in more menus, but fewer choices. I had the displeasure of proving the point when my father, the original permanent computer beginner, was trying to learn how to use his shiny new 1981(?) Altos AOS business computer system. I translated the menus from English to Polish, which was a big help, but he was still lost when presented with 20 menu choices per page. When I reduced it down to 5 choices, he was elated. You can demonstrate how it works by asking someone to add a column of numbers, first with a 4 function calculator, and then with a scientific calculator. The 4 function is easy, but the scientific will usually cause a beginner to panic. Yet, they have the same numeric keypad and arithmetic buttons, usually in similar locations. The difference is the scientific calculator has far too much static clutter in the form of unused buttons, which add confusion. Lesson learned: The purpose of a user interface is to REDUCE the number of choices, not bury the user in irrelevant over choice and complexity. About 10 years ago, I designed a user interface for a radio. It was sufficiently unique that the company engineers and marketing people were afraid that users would not intuitively understand how to operate the radio. A few tests confirmed their suspicions. So, I now have to wait until some clueless competitor produces something similar, so my client company doesn't need to take any risks being innovative. If you're wondering why you're seeing the same broken user interfaces repeated ad infinitum, this is why. Lesson learned: Innovative user interfaces are risky. OK. End of yet another rant... -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#36
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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SPSC2 Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:43:25 +1000, Adrian Jansen
wrote: IMO, user interface is designed by people who probably wouldn't use the product. The best measure of the quality of a product is employee theft. It's not worth stealing something that they know doesn't work or will break. My favorite 'how not to' example is a dustpan, made with strengthening ridges on the bottom sides of the pan, in such a way that its impossible to put the front edge of the pan flat on the floor to pick up the sweepings - they go underneath the raised edge on the front lip created by the ridges. Obviously the designer ( and any subsequent reviewers ) never used a pan. You may wish to browse the "Made by Monkeys" column found in Design News magazine: http://www.designnews.com/archives.asp?section_id=1367 Every month, they feature one or two poorly designed or poorly built products. I don't recall reading about your dust pan problem, but there are some that are similar. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#37
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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SPSC2 Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Mar 25, 3:43*pm, Adrian Jansen wrote:
My favorite 'how not to' example is a dustpan, made with strengthening ridges on the bottom sides of the pan, in such a way that its impossible to put the front edge of the pan flat on the floor to pick up the sweepings - they go underneath the raised edge on the front lip created by the ridges. *Obviously the designer ( and any subsequent reviewers ) never used a pan. *MY* favorite (actually, most hated...) "how not to" is the spare tire carrier on domestic (Ford, GMC, etc.) full-size trucks. My folks had a car repair and tire place. I've cursed out loud in front of my mother while trying to remove/replace a tire under a truck. A (slightly) better design is the chain hoist system used on some smaller imports. I hope there's a special place in hell for the Mercedes-driving engineer that designed this thing (you know HE never changed a flat in his life!). |
#38
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Mar 25, 8:17*pm, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
In a past life, I helped design several marine radios. (snip) Speaking of radios and user interfaces...I had a Kenwood receiver in one of my cars. Great radio, great sound. The one problem was that they used the volume "knob" as a joystick to get multiple functions out of it. When you pressed it in, it switched to the sub-woofer menu. There was no easy way to exit the menu. If you were sitting still, this would seldom be a problem, but in a moving, bouncing, vibrating car, it's quite likely that you will push the knob in while trying to adjust the volume. Then you have to try to manipulate your way through the menus without taking your eyes off of the road for more than a split second. I finally started popping the faceplate off and back on, whenever I got into the menu system accidentally. This turned the receiver off, and let me resume normal operation. Kenwood stopped using this interface with this model. |
#39
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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SPSC2 Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:08:28 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote: *MY* favorite (actually, most hated...) "how not to" is the spare tire carrier on domestic (Ford, GMC, etc.) full-size trucks. My folks had a car repair and tire place. I've cursed out loud in front of my mother while trying to remove/replace a tire under a truck. A (slightly) better design is the chain hoist system used on some smaller imports. I hope there's a special place in hell for the Mercedes-driving engineer that designed this thing (you know HE never changed a flat in his life!). My former 1983 Dodge D50 pickup had a chain hoist spare tire under the bed. Great idea until I blew a rear tire and high centered the rear axle while driving on a dirt road on the way to a mountain top radio site. In order to lower the tire, a long hand crank was provided. The problem was that I was backed up against a hillside, and could not get the long crank into the hole. I had to dig out part of the hillside for it to fit. In order to remove the spare tire, I had to jack up the pickup bed about 3 ft off the ground, and crawl under the raised bed to release the toggle link holding the tire to the chain. Of course, with the tire lowered, the toggle link is UNDER the tire on the ground. I raised it with a bottle jack and a rather unstable pile of rocks. While replacing the blown tire, the pile of rocks and jack did partially collapse. Perhaps in your parents tire store, it might work, but on a dirt road, it's not easy. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
#40
Posted to sci.electronics.repair,sci.electronics.design,alt.engineering.electrical
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SPSC2 Lilfe in the slow (repair) lane.
Jeff Liebermann wrote: On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:08:28 -0700 (PDT), " wrote: *MY* favorite (actually, most hated...) "how not to" is the spare tire carrier on domestic (Ford, GMC, etc.) full-size trucks. My folks had a car repair and tire place. I've cursed out loud in front of my mother while trying to remove/replace a tire under a truck. A (slightly) better design is the chain hoist system used on some smaller imports. I hope there's a special place in hell for the Mercedes-driving engineer that designed this thing (you know HE never changed a flat in his life!). My former 1983 Dodge D50 pickup had a chain hoist spare tire under the bed. Great idea until I blew a rear tire and high centered the rear axle while driving on a dirt road on the way to a mountain top radio site. In order to lower the tire, a long hand crank was provided. The problem was that I was backed up against a hillside, and could not get the long crank into the hole. I had to dig out part of the hillside for it to fit. In order to remove the spare tire, I had to jack up the pickup bed about 3 ft off the ground, and crawl under the raised bed to release the toggle link holding the tire to the chain. Of course, with the tire lowered, the toggle link is UNDER the tire on the ground. I raised it with a bottle jack and a rather unstable pile of rocks. While replacing the blown tire, the pile of rocks and jack did partially collapse. Perhaps in your parents tire store, it might work, but on a dirt road, it's not easy. I carried some scarp pieces of 2x12 in my '79 Dodge pickup. If I had a flat, I would stack them against the flat tire and pull the truck up on top of them to be able to get the factory jack under the tire. Without the extra height, you couldn't get the jack to the jacking points on the frame. -- Politicians should only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is enough left over to pay them. Sometimes Friday is just the fifth Monday of the week. |
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