Toshiba TV29C90 problem; Image fades to black...

[Jason Whorton]

"Alan Harriman" <vtech@usol.com> wrote in message
news:6l95ivo5qql2mhtjaudn53er6amee3mo99@4ax.com...

probability that the processor had cooked, in which case you could
either
find a compatible processor (probably second hand) or, as you did,
use it as
an excuse to upgrade to a better motherboard/processor
combination.

Board/CPU bundles are so inexpensive, I almost always recommend
replacing both
when either fails. (for example, starting at $59.95 from
www.tigerdirect.com )

Alan Harriman

Hi. I guess everyone has his own definition of inexpensive. Just
replacing both blindly sounds like an unnecessary waste of money to
me.

Let me qualify my statement a little. I'm mainly discussing
non-warranty systems
that are a couple years old or more. For example, we recently had an
Athlon 750
Mhz Slot A system come in dead. The board was bad with several bulging
capacitors. (Over voltage, or faulty parts?) The CPU was probably
good, but can
you be absolutely certain? This system was used in a small business.
The
customer was mainly interested in preserving his data and getting the
system
back ASAP. Rather than try to hunt down an older style motherboard,
the
board/CPU was replaced with a socket A motherboard, Athlon XP
processor and new
fan. I also replaced the power supply. I was able to quickly get him
up and
running, and for a relatively modest price, increase the processor
speed by a
factor of 2 to 3 times, both upgrading his computer and extending it's
useful
life. To do any less would almost be a disservice in my opinion.

Alan Harriman

Hello. I thought you meant to replace both just to make sure you got
the right one, or because if one is bad, the other is usually bad, too.
I see what you mean now. Even if you had a spare Slot A board to check
the CPU, and the customomer is in a hurry, it would be quicker and
easier to replace the motherboard with one that is in stock, along with
its necessary CPU, heatsink/fan, RAM, case, power supply, etc. It
depends on how far behind what you have in stock they are.

Thank you,
Jason Whorton

 

[li_gangyi]

I think you poisoned the VFD somehow...am I correct guys?? You can try
running the display at higher currents for a while...maybe that can solve
the dimming problem...on the other hand...it might be the power supply's
fault...check the supply to the display...


"Jiri Kuukasjärvi" <jiri.kuukasjarvi@XXpp.inet.fi> wrote in message
news:3F216FF9.6A1EA221@XXpp.inet.fi...

Ricardo Matos Abreu wrote:

"Jiri Kuukasjärvi" <jiri.kuukasjarvi@pp.inet.fi> wrote in message
news:3F1E9E5A.93ACC091@pp.inet.fi...
Hi!

I just got this DVD-player.. That has originally been bought from
central europe.
So no service here in Finland.

The problem is following:
PSU board bad. Player tryes to spin disc, but fails. Lights dim.. I
measured
voltages on PSI board connectors, and most are ok. But some..

Does anyone have schematics for that PSU board?
There´s a text "Apex digital" on it, and it looks like this:
http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jirikk/Images/Project/HIT_PSU.jpg

- Jiri K.

I've no schematics, but seems like a pretty regular switching power
supply
to me. If you understand how these babies work, it may be pretty
straightforward. Since some voltages are OK, the primary side is
probably
fine. Look at the secondary side, especially those outputs that fail.
Check
diodes and electrolytics. If you can't those caps, just replace them.

Ok, Most of the caps on the low voltage side of the PSU board were bad.
So, I relpaced them, and switched parts to their correct places. Now it
works.

But the VFD- display is very dim.. The first time I tested this unit, the
horizontal wires inside display had this red glow.. Is the display now
ruined?

- Jiri K.

 

[Kevin Aylward]

ShrikeBack wrote:

"Kevin Aylward" <kevin@anasoft.co.uk> wrote in message
news:<D6tSa.812$wN3.34865@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net>...
ShrikeBack wrote:


It is quite obvious to me that I can construct a model of an
infinite past, and therefore the concept has meaning. If it had no
meaning, I could not construct an model and manipulate that model.
You may be correct that it is of no consequence. The claim that it
is meaningless is too strong, however.


Again, you misunderstand what a mathematician means by "infinity".
You cannot make deductions by plugging in infinity into an equation,
you can only use prescribed procedures.

For example, what is x/exp(x) at x=infinity.

What is the x/exp(x) x->infinity? answer = 0

I can't disagree with the last. But where do I plug infinity into
an equation?

I'm not sure what your saying here. The example above an be evaluated by
l'hopital's rule, i.e.

lim x->a f(x)/g(x) = lim x->a f'(x)/g'(x) if the individual limits are 0
or infinite.

applying this to x/exp(x) give lim x->inf 1/exp(x) = 0

Perhaps I need to restate the original objection I

offered against an infinite past.

If the past is infinite, an eternity must have passed before the
present.

Yes.

This is equivalent to saying the present could never
be reached.

No. One can't reason with infinites in this way. Its always the same
story.

Perhaps that sounds like it uses infinity as a quantity. So,
here:

If the past is infinite, the passage of any arbitrary length
of time would have been insufficient for the present to have been
reached.

The passage to now has been an infinite about of time. All infinites are
not equal!.

You need to plug in to equations and let past_time->infinity, and let
time_to_now->infinity, and see if one gets a finite answer as I
explained in my math example.

This plays on the sequential nature of time, not on infinity as
a quantity.

Time is not random access.

Actually, it has to be fundamentally random, according to QM. Time is
nothing more then noting that objects take up different positions.
Position and momentum are fundamentally random in QM.

Unless something changed about the

nature of the present at some point, the present necessarily passed
sequentially through the time line. There is no finite limit here:

t as t->infinity.

The present is the source of my paradox, not infinity as a definite
quantity. It is the same as drawing an unending line. It cannot
be accomplished. Indeed, since there is no beginning of the line,
where could one begin?

I think your trying to say infinity1 = infinity2

There is an infinite number of points between 0 and 1, but non include
2.

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

 

[Philip Pemberton]

In message <bfn1kr$805$1@sparta.btinternet.com>
"Dave D" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:

You likely won't need the software unless you were to change something
really major like the CRT.
That's good to know. If all else fails I might be able to find someone with

access to the DAS kit and get them to recalibrate it for me.

I would suspect a failed HOT or
PSU fault first, so it might help you to look there first.
So nothing particularly major then.

I assume the usual "Get a screwdriver, croc-clip it to the chassis and then
push it under the anode cap" trick works for discharging these monitors?

The SFII is a fine monitor, and if the CRT is good it might be worth
repairing if it can be done on the cheap. However, a professional repair
likely won't be viable for a 17" monitor of that vintage.
I'll see if I can rescue it from the skip then - it's been stored indoors

since it packed up and if it's just the horiz output transistor or a few dry
electrolytics, I'll certainly have a go at fixing it.

What I would like is a Service Manual, if only to find out how to get the
back off it without wrecking the plastic clips (if that's possible)...

Thanks.
--
Phil. | Acorn RiscPC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB,
philpem@despammed.com (valid address)| 6GB, video mods, 8xCD, framegrabber,
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/ | Ethernet (i3 Etherlan600), Teletext
.... The current limits placed are based on resistance

 

[Jiri Kuukasjärvi]

Maybe, yes.
12V wire is at 11V (seems to have effect on the brightness.)
But raising it to 12V by adjusting the psu regulator doesn´t have much
effect.
What voltages should be on the F+ and F- lines?
I measured that the voltage difference between those two is aroung 3.5V
And both voltages are at negative level.

- Jiri K.


li_gangyi wrote:

I think you poisoned the VFD somehow...am I correct guys?? You can try
running the display at higher currents for a while...maybe that can solve
the dimming problem...on the other hand...it might be the power supply's
fault...check the supply to the display...


"Jiri Kuukasjärvi" <jiri.kuukasjarvi@XXpp.inet.fi> wrote in message
news:3F216FF9.6A1EA221@XXpp.inet.fi...

Ricardo Matos Abreu wrote:


"Jiri Kuukasjärvi" <jiri.kuukasjarvi@pp.inet.fi> wrote in message
news:3F1E9E5A.93ACC091@pp.inet.fi...

Hi!

I just got this DVD-player.. That has originally been bought from
central europe.
So no service here in Finland.

The problem is following:
PSU board bad. Player tryes to spin disc, but fails. Lights dim.. I
measured
voltages on PSI board connectors, and most are ok. But some..

Does anyone have schematics for that PSU board?
There´s a text "Apex digital" on it, and it looks like this:
http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jirikk/Images/Project/HIT_PSU.jpg

- Jiri K.

I've no schematics, but seems like a pretty regular switching power

supply

to me. If you understand how these babies work, it may be pretty
straightforward. Since some voltages are OK, the primary side is

probably

fine. Look at the secondary side, especially those outputs that fail.

Check

diodes and electrolytics. If you can't those caps, just replace them.

Ok, Most of the caps on the low voltage side of the PSU board were bad.
So, I relpaced them, and switched parts to their correct places. Now it

works.

But the VFD- display is very dim.. The first time I tested this unit, the
horizontal wires inside display had this red glow.. Is the display now

ruined?

- Jiri K.

 

[johnnie7]

the drum is cleaned by a wiper blade ...the unused toner colled by the wiper
blade moves along a tube ...into the waste toner tank ....there is probilly
a toner blockage in this pipe or in the drum blade area

vacum out the waste toner coil and the wiper blade area ,,,then retry see if
the print is clean
dont rub the drum suface with anything ...keep it in a dark area wen your
workin on the wiper etc


the wiper blade may be worn ....it also may be the fuser rollers near the
exit of the printer

let us know how you get on


john



"Jörg Albert" <joerg.albert@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:6e113134.0307260339.2a55eaa7@posting.google.com...

Hi Nigel,

jonesn@my-deja.com (Nigel Jones) wrote in message
news:<b6dcdd63.0307091420.4a3e6b10@posting.google.com>...
...
I have also noticed on the last test shee that the "Status Page"
banner is repeated 1/3 down the page, in a pale fashion.

Only the centre 1/3 of the print is affected apart from a splodgy 1cm
line at far right.The text, both in the dirty area and white area is
still pin sharp.

I have quickly just tried to clean without touching anything with my
fingers or pressing hard. I have very carefully used the lint-free
cloth also on the drum, in dim light taking < 2 minutes. It was quite
dirty. The reverse of the paper isn't too bad.

It seems as if perhaps the corona wire - or equiv - is dirty -- where
exactly do I go in the printer/cartridge to check this. Certainly
something is allowing toner to stay on the drum I believe. What else
do I clean? Might anything be completely broken? The transfer roller?

Any progress on that problem? I got two defective PUs here,
one with a defect on the drum and a second which repeats the
image as you described above.
Both from an ebay auction, the second PU came as a replacement
for the first and the seller claims that it worked at his site
and send a status page which looked fine. He asked if I used
wrong toner.

I disassembled both PUs and put the second drum in the first PU -
no success. The ghost image followed.

Do you know how the drum is cleaned - I found no corona wire inside
and the techn. spec. says it does clean by a wiper. Maybe some
charging of the drum is needed too (to loosing the remaining
toner particles).

/Jörg

 

[David Lesher]

"Steve" <steve.withnell@btinternet.com> writes:

Snipped the rest

An excellent book on the topic is "Electric Motors in the Home Workshop" by
Jim Cox.

The book describes that your motor is likely to be a commutator motor with a
small generator running off the drive shaft to allow the speed of the output
shaft to be measured.

I'd say that is highly unlikely in a washing machine.
Who/what would measure the speed?


--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

 

[N. Thornton]

Hi Steve.

Washing machine motors:

2 wires for the armature
2 wires for the field
2 wires for the tacho
- thats the normal setup of these.

You can run them either off a switched mode controller (not worth it)
or run it on reduced voltage with windings in series. Just keep an eye
on the motor temp, as these things arent rated to run full whack for
long. Reduced V comes from either a transformer or series bulbs.

Dont expect any great power output running like this, but it can be
used to bodge up old equipment that otherwise wouldnt be worth doing.

Reversing: just swap the wires over on one of the winds (not both!).

Regards, NT

 

[James Sweet]

These must be european washing machines, or perhaps very high end ones in
north america. Every washing machine I've ever seen inside of uses a 1/2hp
capacitor start AC induction motor with two separate windings for high and
low speed. There's no control electronics or anything, just a mechanical
timer and a pressure switch to measure the water level. Higher end washers
have an electronic controller but the motor is generally still just a big
induction motor.


"N. Thornton" <bigcat@meeow.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a7076635.0307271244.6620aaba@posting.google.com...

Hi Steve.

Washing machine motors:

2 wires for the armature
2 wires for the field
2 wires for the tacho
- thats the normal setup of these.

You can run them either off a switched mode controller (not worth it)
or run it on reduced voltage with windings in series. Just keep an eye
on the motor temp, as these things arent rated to run full whack for
long. Reduced V comes from either a transformer or series bulbs.

Dont expect any great power output running like this, but it can be
used to bodge up old equipment that otherwise wouldnt be worth doing.

Reversing: just swap the wires over on one of the winds (not both!).

Regards, NT

 

[Bob Minchin]

James Sweet wrote:

These must be european washing machines, or perhaps very high end ones in
north america. Every washing machine I've ever seen inside of uses a 1/2hp
capacitor start AC induction motor with two separate windings for high and
low speed. There's no control electronics or anything, just a mechanical
timer and a pressure switch to measure the water level. Higher end washers
have an electronic controller but the motor is generally still just a big
induction motor.

"N. Thornton" <bigcat@meeow.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a7076635.0307271244.6620aaba@posting.google.com...
Hi Steve.

Washing machine motors:

2 wires for the armature
2 wires for the field
2 wires for the tacho
- thats the normal setup of these.

You can run them either off a switched mode controller (not worth it)
or run it on reduced voltage with windings in series. Just keep an eye
on the motor temp, as these things arent rated to run full whack for
long. Reduced V comes from either a transformer or series bulbs.

Dont expect any great power output running like this, but it can be
used to bodge up old equipment that otherwise wouldnt be worth doing.

Reversing: just swap the wires over on one of the winds (not both!).

Regards, NT

Most british machines have used universal brush motors for the last 30 years
or so.
Mainly to satisfy the requirement for higher and higher spin speeds at low
cost.

Bob

 

[Bill Jr]

Need to have it checked for a shorted/cracked blue CRT.
A most common problem with these.

Good Luck,
Bill Jr

"Dave" <directordave@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8d12354f.0307271259.37ea648d@posting.google.com...

I have a 10 yr old 63" Magnavox, model number PR3061 A105 . It has no
picture, and perfect sound. I had a repairman visit, checked the
flyback and picture tube, and has no H V . He replaces a resistor, and
the flyback, still has nothing. Any sugestions?? Any help would be
appreciated.

 

[Dave D]

"Philip Pemberton" <philpem@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:901988184c.philpem@dsl.pipex.com...

In message <bfn1kr$805$1@sparta.btinternet.com
"Dave D" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote:

You likely won't need the software unless you were to change something
really major like the CRT.
That's good to know. If all else fails I might be able to find someone
with
access to the DAS kit and get them to recalibrate it for me.

I would suspect a failed HOT or
PSU fault first, so it might help you to look there first.
So nothing particularly major then.
I assume the usual "Get a screwdriver, croc-clip it to the chassis and
then
push it under the anode cap" trick works for discharging these monitors?

Yes, but be careful where you ground the croc clip!

The SFII is a fine monitor, and if the CRT is good it might be worth
repairing if it can be done on the cheap. However, a professional repair
likely won't be viable for a 17" monitor of that vintage.
I'll see if I can rescue it from the skip then - it's been stored indoors
since it packed up and if it's just the horiz output transistor or a few
dry
electrolytics, I'll certainly have a go at fixing it.

What I would like is a Service Manual, if only to find out how to get the
back off it without wrecking the plastic clips (if that's possible)...

http://rv6llh.rsuh.ru/shema.htm

Your monitor is listed. Those clips are a pain. Try pushing hard on the top
edge while pulling on the back cover.

Dave

 

[Henry Mydlarz]

Never had any problems unplugging and replugging cards - done it scores,
maybe hundreds of times. Just remember to (1) unplug the power, as ATX
systems leave power applied to the motherboard even with the switch off (2)
clean/blow all dust off and out of sockets before reinserting
cards/connectors (3) avoid touching or breaking/bending components on
cards/motherboard (4) keep yourself reasonably static-free, if not using an
anti-static wrist strap and mat, then certainly keeping your body/hands/card
at chassis potential by maintaining contact with the PC case and avoiding
touching components (5) locate and position the various plugs correctly.
Draw the locations if necessary. Make sure that the cards, especially those
going into the white PCI sockets, are fully inserted.

Henry

"Jason Whorton" <jason at microxl.com> wrote in message
news:vi4p1q3pa90h69@corp.supernews.com...

"Henry Mydlarz" <hemyd@optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:3f1fa7e0$0$1212$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
My method for diagnosing boot problems is to disconnect or remove -
Diskette Drive, Hard Drive/s, Video Card, any other card/s, RAM
Dimm/s -
basically leave the motherboard and processor.
In that state the PC should make a sequence of beeps indicating the
lack of
RAM. The display is not necessary. If there is no life from the
motherboard,
it is either that, the processor or power supply. If there is a
sequence of
beeps where before there was no sign of life, I would then replace all
components one at a time, starting with the RAM, until the problem
recurs.

Hi. Since time is money, you may wish to unplug the one item that your
experience has taught you to be the most likely cause of that problem,
then see if it works. Keep pulling and re-testing until the problem is
found. Unecessarily pulling and re-inserting cards, CPU's and
ESPECIALLY RAM can possibly lead to other damage.



By the way, If there is no life from the system board with everything
removed I would also suspect the processor fan, as most of them use
dodgy
bearings that are prone to seizing up. If that has happened there is a
high
probability that the processor had cooked, in which case you could
either
find a compatible processor (probably second hand) or, as you did, use
it as
an excuse to upgrade to a better motherboard/processor combination.

Keeping the cheapest, slowest CPU of a CPU model family (Duron 600 for
example) is a good way to check.
If someone is paying a technician to repair it, an upgrade isn't too
cheap, and this doesn't take the person's data into account. Board
swaps usually go pretty well within the Windows 95 kernel OS's, but NT
isn't that simple, often requiring a complete re-install when a
different motherboard is used. Also, please note I didn't even touch on
the Windows XP little hardware code it creates and uses.

Hope this helps,
Jason Whorton




Henry

"Doug Taylor" <techno2nospam@videotron.ca> wrote in message
news:slrnbht43i.ln.techno2nospam@localhost.localdomain...

Well here goes a run down of a typical PC repair experience
for me....

A friend gives me his old PC Pentium 100 Mhz as it's not working.
As a challenge I decide to dig into to see whats wrong.

First, I set it up on the bench, remove the modem and sound card
and restart it with only video card to see if It will boot.. Blank
screen.
Then I sub out the video card and reboot... Blank screen.
Could be power supply, although seems to be getting power O.K.
to drives etc, check power plug motherboard with meter...O.K.
Sub out power supply anyways to be sure. ...blank screen.
Hummmmm whats next....
Sub out memory and re-seat.... no go.
Reseat CPU ..... nope............
Check out motherboard to make sure it is not shorted to bottom metal
plate.(happened once before on another system)
What's next.... motherboard or CPU....
Go out and buy used Pentium 125Mhz motherboard with CPU.
Sub CPU.... no go ....
Sub motherboard & CPU ....BINGO ... we got a winner......

Have to cut bigger hole in case for PS2 mouse & keyboard of new
motherboard as old motherboard had COM port mouse and DIN keyboard
plug.

Plan to put Linux on this system and use as a learning tool.

Question: Do you people have some constructive input into
the method I used to troubleshoot this system?

I'm kinda old(54) dyslexic & semi-retarded with bad eyesight,
but besides that I'm not a total idiot. 8*)

My conclusion is that the BIOS Rom failed.
What do you think?

Doug



--
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
D E A D O N A R R I V A L
B B S

telnet://doabbs.dynip.com http://www.dsuper.net/~techno

 

[David Lesher]

Bob Minchin <bob.minchin@ntlworld.com> writes:

I'd say that is highly unlikely in a washing machine.
Who/what would measure the speed?

That is exactly how a washing machine motor is speed controlled. The tacho
generator tells the electronic module what speed the motor is running at. It is
the only way to get a simple universl motor to run at washing speed (50 ish rpm)
and 1100 or more rpm for spinning.

Well, I've never worked on a Lucas washing machine, but I've fixed my share
of Maytag's, FSP's [various nameplates] etc.

I have never seen a speed control of any form. The FSP's use a transmission
that oscillated the agitator while the drum rotated, and then changed gears
to spin the water out while the pump drains the drum.

The resulting speed is load-dependent. When it's full of water it's
starts out slower than when empty..





--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

 

[Alan Harriman]

On 27 Jul 2003 13:59:34 -0700, directordave@hotmail.com (Dave) wrote:

I have a 10 yr old 63" Magnavox, model number PR3061 A105 . It has no
picture, and perfect sound. I had a repairman visit, checked the
flyback and picture tube, and has no H V . He replaces a resistor, and
the flyback, still has nothing. Any sugestions?? Any help would be
appreciated.

Find another servicer? I don't understand. He replaces these parts, then he
bails out on you?

Alan Harriman

 

[David]

With that limited information of the problem, you need to have some
troubleshooting measurements from inside the set performed by an experienced
technician in order to find the source of the problem. There are just way
to many different possibilities that can cause that general of a symptom.

Probably time to take the set in for a comprehensive estimate for repair.

David

Efandin <efandin@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:73b23b5d.0307242113.7a457a15@posting.google.com...

First who says my email address not valid? Without a valid email,
nobody can get this far.

My Panasonic TV (Model CT-32G21) has been turning off
ramdonly by itself. When it auto-turned off, I couldn't turned it on
until it turned on by itself (usually after 5-20 minutes). The Sleep
Timer and Program Timer are both off. I have tried by resetting the
TV by
pushing Power + Action buttons together. During the process - the
Message on TV screen was: Self Check T6F-4; Memory, PIP,
CRT, Tuner1, MTS are OK.
But the problem still persists. My TV was connected to 2 VCRs, DVD
player, and an old TV Scientific Atlanta cable box. Can somebody help
and advice please?

 

[bigmike]

"Alan Harriman" <vtech@usol.com> wrote in message
news:nn39ivgl1517r3r1ausq4vorj8khm66vjl@4ax.com...

On 27 Jul 2003 13:59:34 -0700, directordave@hotmail.com (Dave) wrote:

I have a 10 yr old 63" Magnavox, model number PR3061 A105 . It has no
picture, and perfect sound. I had a repairman visit, checked the
flyback and picture tube, and has no H V . He replaces a resistor, and
the flyback, still has nothing. Any sugestions?? Any help would be
appreciated.

Find another servicer? I don't understand. He replaces these parts, then
he
bails out on you?

Alan Harriman

That's what I was thinking also. I hope you didn't pay this person for "not"

fixing your set.

 

[Alex]

When I insert a CD in the tray :

1- the drawer closes perfectely ... no problem,
2- there are no interlock switch on this model
3- the pickup assembly reset to the starting point to the inner center
track of disc with no problem,

servo circuitry sounds ok...

4- the laser pickup assembly move freely and smoothly on the track,
5- THE PICKUP LASER DO NOT FOCUS AT ALL WITH OR WITHOUT A DISC (CD),
6- NO RED SPOT WHEN I VIEW THE LENS FROM AN OBLIQUE ANGLE DURING FOCUS
SEARCH

either the supply to the laser diode is missing or the laser pickup itself
is faulty.
motor wont start unless focus lock is achieved. if I had to make a blind
guess
without a service manual, I'd say the laser is shot.

alex.


> 7- NO SPINNING MOTOR ACTION

 

[Nigel]

Mid-life crisis time !

Maybe this article from 1999 by the late Douglas Adams, will sooth your
troubled mind - and raise a smile.

http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/19990901-00-a.html


This piece first appeared in the News Review section of The Sunday Times on
August 29th 1999.

A couple of years or so ago I was a guest on Start The Week, and I was
authoritatively informed by a very distinguished journalist that the whole
Internet thing was just a silly fad like ham radio in the fifties, and that
if I thought any different I was really a bit naďve. It is a very British
trait - natural, perhaps, for a country which has lost an empire and found
Mr Blobby - to be so suspicious of change.

But the change is real. I don't think anybody would argue now that the
Internet isn't becoming a major factor in our lives. However, it's very new
to us. Newsreaders still feel it is worth a special and rather worrying
mention if, for instance, a crime was planned by people 'over the Internet.'
They don't bother to mention when criminals use the telephone or the M4, or
discuss their dastardly plans 'over a cup of tea,' though each of these was
new and controversial in their day.

Then there's the peculiar way in which certain BBC presenters and
journalists (yes, Humphrys Snr., I'm looking at you) pronounce internet
addresses. It goes 'www DOT . bbc DOT. co DOT. uk SLASH. today SLASH.' etc.,
and carries the implication that they have no idea what any of this
new-fangled stuff is about, but that you lot out there will probably know
what it means.

I suppose earlier generations had to sit through all this huffing and
puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car,
the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would
learn the way these things work, which is this:

1) everything that's already in the world when you're born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is
incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out
of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you're thirty is against the natural
order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it
until it's been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be
alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to
work out how old you are.

This subjective view plays odd tricks on us, of course. For instance,
'interactivity' is one of those neologisms that Mr Humphrys likes to dangle
between a pair of verbal tweezers, but the reason we suddenly need such a
word is that during this century we have for the first time been dominated
by non-interactive forms of entertainment: cinema, radio, recorded music and
television. Before they came along all entertainment was interactive:
theatre, music, sport - the performers and audience were there together, and
even a respectfully silent audience exerted a powerful shaping presence on
the unfolding of whatever drama they were there for. We didn't need a
special word for interactivity in the same way that we don't (yet) need a
special word for people with only one head.

I expect that history will show 'normal' mainstream twentieth century media
to be the aberration in all this. 'Please, miss, you mean they could only
just sit there and watch? They couldn't do anything? Didn't everybody feel
terribly isolated or alienated or ignored?'

'Yes, child, that's why they all went mad. Before the Restoration.'

'What was the Restoration again, please, miss?'

'The end of the twentieth century, child. When we started to get
interactivity back.'

Because the Internet is so new we still don't really understand what it is.
We mistake it for a type of publishing or broadcasting, because that's what
we're used to. So people complain that there's a lot of rubbish online, or
that it's dominated by Americans, or that you can't necessarily trust what
you read on the web. Imagine trying to apply any of those criticisms to what
you hear on the telephone. Of course you can't 'trust' what people tell you
on the web anymore than you can 'trust' what people tell you on megaphones,
postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can
trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has
evolved to do. For some batty reason we turn off this natural scepticism
when we see things in any medium which require a lot of work or resources to
work in, or in which we can't easily answer back - like newspapers,
television or granite. Hence 'carved in stone.' What should concern us is
not that we can't take what we read on the internet on trust - of course you
can't, it's just people talking - but that we ever got into the dangerous
habit of believing what we read in the newspapers or saw on the TV - a
mistake that no one who has met an actual journalist would ever make. One of
the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no
'them' out there. It's just an awful lot of 'us'.

Of course, there's a great deal wrong with the Internet. For one thing, only
a minute proportion of the world's population is so far connected. I
recently heard some pundit on the radio arguing that the internet would
always be just another unbridgeable gulf between the rich and the poor for
the following reasons - that computers would always be expensive in
themselves, that you had to buy lots of extras like modems, and you had to
keep upgrading your software. The list sounds impressive but doesn't stand
up to a moment's scrutiny. The cost of powerful computers, which used to be
around the level of jet aircraft, is now down amongst the colour television
sets and still dropping like a stone. Modems these days are mostly built-in,
and standalone models have become such cheap commodities that companies,
like Hayes, whose sole business was manufacturing them are beginning to go
bust.. Internet software from Microsoft or Netscape is famously free. Phone
charges in the UK are still high but dropping. In the US local calls are
free. In other words the cost of connection is rapidly approaching zero, and
for a very simple reason: the value of the web increases with every single
additional person who joins it. It's in everybody's interest for costs to
keep dropping closer and closer to nothing until every last person on the
planet is connected.

Another problem with the net is that it's still 'technology', and
'technology', as the computer scientist Bran Ferren memorably defined it, is
'stuff that doesn't work yet.' We no longer think of chairs as technology,
we just think of them as chairs. But there was a time when we hadn't worked
out how many legs chairs should have, how tall they should be, and they
would often 'crash' when we tried to use them. Before long, computers will
be as trivial and plentiful as chairs (and a couple of decades or so after
that, as sheets of paper or grains of sand) and we will cease to be aware of
the things. In fact I'm sure we will look back on this last decade and
wonder how we could ever have mistaken what we were doing with them for
'productivity.'

But the biggest problem is that we are still the first generation of users,
and for all that we may have invented the net, we still don't really get it.
In 'The Language Instinct', Stephen Pinker explains the generational
difference between pidgin and creole languages. A pidgin language is what
you get when you put together a bunch of people - typically slaves - who
have already grown up with their own language but don't know each others'.
They manage to cobble together a rough and ready lingo made up of bits of
each. It lets them get on with things, but has almost no grammatical
structure at all.

However, the first generation of children born to the community takes these
fractured lumps of language and transforms them into something new, with a
rich and organic grammar and vocabulary, which is what we call a Creole.
Grammar is just a natural function of children's brains, and they apply it
to whatever they find.

The same thing is happening in communication technology. Most of us are
stumbling along in a kind of pidgin version of it, squinting myopically at
things the size of fridges on our desks, not quite understanding where email
goes, and cursing at the beeps of mobile phones. Our children, however, are
doing something completely different. Risto Linturi, research fellow of the
Helsinki Telephone Corporation, quoted in Wired magazine, describes the
extraordinary behaviour kids in the streets of Helsinki, all carrying
cellphones with messaging capabilities. They are not exchanging important
business information, they're just chattering, staying in touch. "We are
herd animals," he says. "These kids are connected to their herd - they
always know where it's moving." Pervasive wireless communication, he
believes will "bring us back to behaviour patterns that were natural to us
and destroy behaviour patterns that were brought about by the limitations of
technology."

We are natural villagers. For most of mankind's history we have lived in
very small communities in which we knew everybody and everybody knew us. But
gradually there grew to be far too many of us, and our communities became
too large and disparate for us to be able to feel a part of them, and our
technologies were unequal to the task of drawing us together. But that is
changing.

Interactivity. Many-to-many communications. Pervasive networking. These are
cumbersome new terms for elements in our lives so fundamental that, before
we lost them, we didn't even know to have names for them.


"Doug Taylor" <techno2nospam@videotron.ca> wrote in message
news:slrnbho2vf.ll.techno2nospam@localhost.localdomain...

Imagine if you bought a car for $30,000 and in 1 year it
was worth $15,000 and in 2 years it was valued at $5,000.
That's exactly what happens in the world of computers today.
You buy a new system for $3,000 and in 2 years it's worth
$500. and in three it's a worthless antique.

How can people be expected to cope and understand this model
of economics for computers.
They cannot understand paying $3000. on their credit card for
a consumer electronic item and have it valued at nothing before
they have finished paying for it.

Such is one of the disadvantages of such horrendous technological
advances and rapid change.
How many times have you been approached by a person with a 3 year
old computer and asked if you can upgrade it so the person
can do Video over the Net etc.
When you try to explain that they have to scrap the system and buy
a new one that's much more powerful, they ask you :
"How much can I get for my old system"
Of couse you don't have the heart to tell them the truth and so
you answer "I don't know" and walk away.

I say give me back the old days of vacuum tubes and Black and White
TV's.
At least they would last you 20 years before needing replacement. 8*)
Maybe need a few tubes once in a while. 8*0

Ah! I guess I'm being unrealistic, and must get back to the program
of instant obsolescence, and constant consumerism.
Hey Joe!
"Let's make the stuff outdated & break before they get it home."

Or how about doing the "Missiom Impossible" stunt and make the
stuff self destruct after 3 years. 8*)
Maybe I'm being too negative.....
Polly Anna where are you ....


--
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D E A D O N A R R I V A L

B B S

telnet://doabbs.dynip.com http://www.dsuper.net/~techno

 

[Dave]

"bigmike" <bigmike@cornhusker.net> wrote in message news:<3f24a7fc$0$5021$9a6e19ea@news.newshosting.com>...

"Alan Harriman" <vtech@usol.com> wrote in message
news:nn39ivgl1517r3r1ausq4vorj8khm66vjl@4ax.com...
On 27 Jul 2003 13:59:34 -0700, directordave@hotmail.com (Dave) wrote:

I have a 10 yr old 63" Magnavox, model number PR3061 A105 . It has no
picture, and perfect sound. I had a repairman visit, checked the
flyback and picture tube, and has no H V . He replaces a resistor, and
the flyback, still has nothing. Any sugestions?? Any help would be
appreciated.

Find another servicer? I don't understand. He replaces these parts, then
he
bails out on you?

Alan Harriman

That's what I was thinking also. I hope you didn't pay this person for "not"
fixing your set.

No, he's not charged yet, says he's researching the problem. However,
the new flyback was installed.