It looks like I’ll have to break out some glue.

With the extra cooling, will the X800XT behave? We shall see.

I stopped by Radio Shack and picked up a new 12v power adapter. When I plugged in the power adapter, the router started right up and felt cool. It routed at full speed (I ran speed tests) and was giving no trouble. Of course, the real test wouldn’t come until the router had been running for a few hours.

In the evening, I went to play some Team Fortress. By now, the router was feeling warm. Hmmm. And sure enough, it started dropping connections. Damn.

I now have two choices. Either, I can crack that router’s case open to keep it cool, or I can replace it. The Linksys WRT54GL is looking pretty good — especially if I flash it with Tomato firmware.

• When web pages stop loading, I can’t access the router itself either (at 192.168.1.1). Once webpages start loading again, I can also access the router.
• I’m seeing no slowdowns or stalled loading of pages when I connect the computer straight to the cable modem (bypassing the router).

It’s probably time to shop for a new router. First though, I’m going to try and open the case to see if there’s dust accumulation; that could keep it too hot.

The polygons in this sniper are all facing in odd directions. Notice the two long, thin polygons going down and to the left.

This sniper’s head and rifle butt seem fine, but the rest of him is being stretched to infinity. What’s with the hook floating over his head?

I was running ATITool while playing last night, and saw the following temperatures in the log:

2008-03-07 22:50:34 I Temperature: GPU: 83.3°C GPU environment: 63.0°C
2008-03-07 22:50:44 I Temperature: GPU: 83.4°C GPU environment: 63.0°C
2008-03-07 22:50:54 I Temperature: GPU: 83.4°C GPU environment: 63.0°C

This seems pretty hot. Is it too hot for the graphics card?

Another factor is making me think that temperature is the culprit: when I switched out of the game to save my screen capture, the card temperature would drop. This is expected, since the game’s graphics aren’t rendered when the game is minimized:

2008-03-07 22:52:39 I Temperature: GPU: 82.8°C GPU environment: 62.0°C
2008-03-07 22:52:49 I Temperature: GPU: 69.3°C GPU environment: 62.0°C
2008-03-07 22:52:59 I Temperature: GPU: 67.0°C GPU environment: 62.0°C

When I switched back to the game, with the card now much cooler, the graphics returned to normal. It looks like I need to start shopping for a cooling solution.

I also saw this, which is probably a bug in the game. Unlike the glitches above, this is the only time I’ve seen this:
This soldier moved around the map and fired his weapons, but there was no animation: his arms and legs didn’t move. It was like fighting alongside a floating mannequin. Only his eyes were still animated, adding to the creepiness factor.

Three months later, I got around to actually installing this new power supply. Yeah, I’m lazy like that sometimes.

The new NeoPower 500 also has a nifty cable management system like the dearly departed 480 did. However — and this is a big gripe — the 480’s cables and the 500’s cables don’t match. So, I have to throw all the old 480 cables away. The 500 also dispenses with the 480’s case fan control and extra cramp-on molex connectors.

The 500 is definitely packaged with newer systems (mine was built in 2004) in mind, as it includes two cables with SATA power connectors, and just two cables with molex connectors. This wasn’t a major problem for me, but it could be on systems that have accumulated lots of older hard drives.

Overall, I’m happy with the new power supply so far. My one major gripe is not being able to use my old 480 cables.

Now, the End Has Come. It recently began powering itself down at random times for no apparent reason. Additionally, the phone’s second battery as been in decline for a while now, and it wouldn’t be economical to replace it again. Time for a new phone!

My basic requirements were simple:

• Flip phone: I’m tired of always having to lock and unlock the keypad.
• Bluetooth: For handsfree use.
• Keypad that doesn’t suck: That means that the keypad should be square, not curved or staggered. The keys themselves should be large and have good tactile feedback.
• Few extra features: This is a telephone, not an entertainment device, so I don’t want to play extra for crap I’m never going to use.

The LG VX5400 seems to be a good compromise. Notably, it has Bluetooth but not V Cast, an MP3 player or a fancy camera. The keypad is what really sold me: large, mostly-straight buttons that actually click when you push them. Nice. Hopefully this new phone will last me as long as my Audiovox did.

Say you want to listen to your iPod at work, but discover that your iPod’s battery is dead. If you’re like me, you probably have a perfectly good computer at your desk with perfectly good USB ports which can be used to charge your iPod. (If you’re also like me, you won’t have the AC adapter handy, because, like, what fun would that be?)

The problem: when you plug an iPod into a computer’s USB port, Windows will grab hold of it, and mount it as a USB drive. When this happens, the iPod will not play music — it will ony display the “Do not disconnect” message and bozo sign. The basic issue is that an iPod will function as either a music player or a USB drive, but not both simultaneously.

The solution: plug the iPod into your computer’s USB port. Once Windows mounts it as a drive, go to My Computer, right-click on the iPod’s drive letter (or icon), and choose Eject. Windows will then unmount the iPod, allowing it to function as a music player, but it will still be on the computer’s USB bus, allowing it to charge.

Don’t forget to use Safely Remove Hardware before pulling the plug when you leave for the day!