Author: Dave Farquhar

Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on? Fix it easily.

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on? Fix it easily.

If your Lenovo Thinkpad won’t turn on, I have an easy fix. It takes less time than calling the helpdesk, and less time than going straight to desktop support too. Here’s how to fix your Thinkpad that won’t turn on all by yourself and save. Save time, at least.

Remove your Thinkpad from all power sources, including removing the battery or pressing the emergency reset on the underside, then open the lid back up and hold the power button for a few seconds. Then replace the battery, plug the laptop back in, and try the power button again.
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How to become a Technical Account Manager

Dave Farquhar security

Almost as soon as I became a Technical Account Manager, I started getting questions about how to become one. I understand why; if you have the right level of experience, it’s a good job. The work tends to be pretty interesting and varied without a lot of tedious and repetitive tasks, and the job can pay well.

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A DVR without a subscription or monthly fees

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , ,

What if I told you that you could have a DVR without a subscription that worked with free over-the-air antenna-based TV, and it cost less than $35, saving those monthly subscription fees month after month?

It’s called the Mediasonic Homeworx HW180STB. If you want to record and time-shift television without loss of quality and without paying a fortune in subscription fees, it’s a tremendous value. You have to provide an antenna–which you can even make yourself–and USB-based storage, but it means you can get whatever capacity you want, and if you fill up a drive, just get another one.

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The Marx factory fire in Girard PA

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , , , , ,

The birthplace of scores of classic toy trains fell victim to the Marx factory fire in Girard, Pennslyvania.

The old Marx factory stood at 227 E Hathaway in Girard, Pennsylvania. For a time in the 1950s, Marx was the largest toy manufacturer in the world. Marx made toy trains at the site, which caught fire on July 12, 2016. There were no immediate reports of injuries, fortunately. There was very little news coverage of the fire.

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What is vltov1?

Dave Farquhar security

On the afternoon of July 5, 2016, a mysterious directory called vltov1 appeared in the filesystem of my web server. A few files on my site changed, and soon my blog crashed, due to changes I’d made in the database structure.

Something connected to this vltov1 was trying to hack my site further, but had made some assumptions based on me running WordPress that happened to be wrong.

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How many baseball cards Goudey sold

Dave Farquhar Baseball , , , , ,
How many baseball cards Goudey sold

A couple of years ago, former Sports Collector’s Digest editor Bob Lemke stumbled across Goudey sales figures for baseball cards in the 1930s and 1940s. He presented the figures while expressing a disinterest in doing the math to try to figure out how many cards Goudey sold.

For some insane reason I decided to take a stab at it. Or, rather, make my computer take a stab at it. And I came to some unexpected conclusions.

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Use thread sealing tape to keep screws and bolts from backing out

Dave Farquhar DIY ,
Use thread sealing tape to keep screws and bolts from backing out

Frequently I have a problem with self-assemble furniture not holding together as well as I would like. The bolts back out over time the legs in our kitchen chairs get wobbly. Or a bolt from an office chair falls out completely and something that used to work stops working. If I don’t notice the mystery bolt on the floor and the malfunction on the same day, I get other problems. Here’s a trick to keep screws and bolts from backing out while still leaving it possible to disassemble the piece if needed.

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Who makes Barracuda garbage disposals?

Dave Farquhar DIY, Landlording , , , ,

Barracuda is a private-label brand of garbage disposal you can find at Menards home improvement stores. They are usually the least expensive disposal on Menards’ shelf. But who makes Barracuda garbage disposals?

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Can’t connect to this network? Here’s the fix.

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , , , ,
Can’t connect to this network? Here’s the fix.

After upgrading to Windows 10, when I unhibernated my laptop the next morning, my wifi connection didn’t work. The connection dropped and I couldn’t reconnect. Forgetting the network and reconnecting didn’t help. Any time I tried to reconnect to my wireless network, I’d get the message that Windows 10 can’t connect to this network.

The problem seemed to be in the power management.

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0xc1900201 error installing Windows 10

Dave Farquhar Windows , , ,
0xc1900201 error installing Windows 10

Are you getting a 0xc1900201 error installing Windows 10? I got both that and 0xc1900200. Here’s how I fixed it.

I upgraded my venerable Dell E1505 to Windows 10 over the weekend. It was harder than it needed to be, but I got it running. It’s an old machine, but for some tasks, it can handle Windows 10.

Here’s how I got the Windows 10 install working.

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