August 6th, 2010
Edit: Workstation 7.1.1 is now available. it lists one of the fixes as “Corrects the error message displayed after a host crash occurs while working with a virtual machine”. Maybe this is what was happening, and it was nothing to do with the cd/dvd.
VMware Workstation 7.1, Server 2008 R2 VM, with an iso dvd/cd from a network location set as cd/dvd removable device.
On occasion, (I think if the network to the ISO momentarilydrops out) I get the error ‘vmware workstation cannot sync with disk before abort’ and my vm just powers off. Not good. Anyone else experience this? I have had it a couple of times now.
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June 17th, 2010
My first PowerShell script, it checks for running vms using vmrun, suspends them, backs up a designated VM directory using robocopy, and powers back on the suspended VMs.
#script settings
$backupfrompath = "c:\vms"
$backuptopath = "d:\vmsbackup"
#set location of vmrun command, can't use $env:ProgramFiles because of 64 bit OS
$vmrun = "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun.exe"
#get a list of currently running vms
$runningVMs = &$vmrun list | where-object {$_ -notlike "Total*"}
#loop through running vms and suspend them
Foreach ($guestSystem in $runningVMs) {if ($guestSystem.length -gt 0 ) {&$vmrun suspend $guestSystem soft}}
#backup vms folder using robocopy
$copycommand = "robocopy " + $backupfrompath +" " + $backuptopath +" /E /R:2 /W:10 /NP /LOG+:" +$backuptopath +"\robocopy.log"
invoke-expression $copycommand
#loop through suspended vms and resume them
Foreach ($guestSystem in $runningVMs) {if ($guestSystem.length -gt 0 ) {&$vmrun start $guestSystem}}
Notes:
- When testing I noticed that a vm file was still in use on one occasion, possibly vmware still had a lock on it, so I set robocopy retries to 2 and wait to 10 seconds.
- To allow PowerShell scripts to run on Windows 7 I had to run
set-executionpolicy RemoteSigned in PowerShell.
- I set up the backup in task scheduler using the following settings
program / script: powershell.exe- arguments:
-NonInteractive -NoProfile -Command "&{C:\backup\vmbackup.ps1}"
- My own user account with highest privileges (needed to suspend and restart start vm with vmrun), and do not store password checked. Had real problems with Error: Cannot connect to the virtual machine when the script running from task scheduler was trying to resume vms. In the End I changed the task to run under the administrators group, running with highest privileges. Don’t know if this is specific to my setup / Win 7 / Workstation 7.1.
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June 14th, 2010
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June 9th, 2010
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June 9th, 2010
Early Focus MK IIs (up until the 55 plate) did not have stone chip protection at the back of the front wheelarch at the end of the sills. Ford’s resolution was to fix a plastic protective strip from this point right to the back of the sills to all Focus II and C-max from 55 onwards.
Ford issued a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) for those with older cars who went to dealers and complained about rust. They still had to be covered by warranty and / or goodwill (note Ford’s anti-perforation warranty probably doesn’t apply to this as its rust from the outside in. And it seems you have to pay at each service for a bodywork inspection for the anti-perf warranty to be valid). The TSB is 722005 and it involves repairing the paintwork and fixing the same plastic strip used on newer cars
Since pre-55 plate Focuses don’t have the fixing points for the strip, the TSB describes cleaning the surface and using of two part adhesive to hold the strip in place. The plastic strip parts required for an estate are:
wheel arch protector: 1440535 (RHS) 1440536 (LHS)
plastic that runs sill length: 1380593 (RHS) 1380594 (LHS)
The parts might be the same for other focuses / c-max.
I decided I couldn’t be bothered with this potentially un-undoable fix and repaired the paintwork and installed mudflaps which cover, and, I hope will protect the vulnerable paintwork, although I’m not convinced that the paintwork repairs I did will hold for more than a few years.
EDIT: just found this post www.fordownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8380 that refers to the problem. It seems that it still occurs even with the plastic strip fitted to 55-plate onward cars. Interesting as well about the cut sponge behind the wheelarch protector, on one side of my car it was cut too, a very clean cut that I assumed was intentional, but thinking about i now was probably damage during installation. When I was wringing it out I noticed that they have small perforations, presumably to make them easier to compress when installing, or to possibly allow any trapped moisture to evaporate.
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October 9th, 2008
A few companies who in my experience have provided good customer service:
- NFU Mutual Insurance
- First Direct
- Atlantic Electric and Gas
- Yorkshire Water
- IDNET
Tags: customerservice complements
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December 18th, 2007
Orange are the second mobile company I will probably never use again after this.
I decided to get a new phone and transfer my orange contract number to orange pay pray as you go. I don’t use my phone much and the free line rental offers can be hard work, remembering to send back the right bill and voucher every 3 months, but they’ve always worked for me in the past. What made my mind up against another cashback deal was when I was looking into them recently and read that things were about to get a lot harder, with the stores using all sorts of ways to try wriggling out of giving cashback. It might just be roumor, but this time I can’t be bothered.
So I looked at the pay as you go packages on offer, and the orange one seemed to be reasonable, and they had a phone that I thought was ok for a good price. I bought online at orange.co.uk and decided to make my life easier by buying credit at the same time. The phone arrived, I activated it online, and waited for my £50 credit become available.
This is where things started to get complicated. No credit appeared. I called Orange, and after going through the usual digit fandango spoke to a person who told me that my phone wasn’t properly activated or registered, I forget which, so I would not get the credit yet. So I went through a similar process to the one online, giving a new passcode etc. All done, still the credit didn’t appear. A day or so later I fandangoed and waited in a queue again with Orange’s new miss Essex call computer and was told that because I’d bought my credit online I would have to wait 21 days for the credit to appear on my phone. ‘You see it’s to do with the system and security and distance selling rules innit’. I spoke to countless people, probably in countless continents, all of them telling me a different story, whilst I repeated the same story. It was as if no-one had ever bought credit with an orange pay as you go phone from orange.co.uk before. The scary thing was that none of them knew how much credit I’d bought and I was asked to do silly things like fax a copy of my bank statement showing proof that the £50 for the credit had come out of my account (which it had). Oh dear.
I kept calling, I asked to return my handset, to which the poor person at Orange reacted with horror, sounding like they were almost in tears. Eventually I got the credit, but it took more than two weeks. I have also repeatedly being asking for a receipt including the £50 credit I bought. This was in October. So far I have received 3 receipts, none of which show that I bought any credit.
Tags: orange mobile pay as you go sucks suck
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November 27th, 2007
I always forget which audio port is which on the back of my PC. Then because I’m inquisitve / too lazy and stupid to get a torch to look at the labelling next to the ports, or just randomly try them, I always google for an answer. This normally takes me about 5 minutes if I don’ get sidetracked (like now). The answer which I am looking for, that is suprisingly hard to find, is the PC 99 colour code http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_99
light blue = line in
lime green = line out
pink = mic
Tags: audio, colour, pc 97, pc 99, port
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November 27th, 2007
I don’t know much about legal documents, but for the most part website disclaimers seem to be about trying to lessen the risk of being sued in this dog-eat-dog compensation culture. They also ‘make your website look well professional, innit?’
Anyway I was looking into some of these docs online and stumbled across this.
The last sentence in the last paragraph says ‘For the avoidance of doubt, Amazon.co.uk does not limit its liability for death or personal injury to the extent only that it arises as a result of the negligence of NLITEC, its affiliates, directors, employees or other representatives.’
Whoops, Friday afternoon find and replace error!
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November 26th, 2007
Was thinking about the new tugging at the heart strings pampers advert where soft music plays and they say that they’ll pay to vaccine one child in the third world against tetanus. It looks like pampers have to disclose how much money goes to charity, and toward the end of the advert the small print says that 2.5p per pack goes to charity. Say an average pack of pampers costs £5, this means they donate 0.5% of the cost of a pack to charity.
The Facts
Buy a 26 pack of Pampers Active fit Maxis at Asda for £5 and give one child a tetanus vaccine
OR
Buy 26 of Asda’s own brand equivalent Little Angels Action fit Maxi for £3.97, leaving you with £1.03 change from £5. Give the £1.03 to charity, which would give 41 children tetanus vaccines
Donate to Unicef here
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