This is not a blog with many personal remarks. It is not a blog that tells you about the author’s day, or what he ate for lunch. It is not a blog that a sane person should feel the want to subscribe to.
This blog is only informational. It is met for Googlers all around the world trying to resolve their computer issues.
The purpose of the blog:
To provide answers to the “harder to find” computer questions related to Hardware, Software Programs, Windows and Linux Server and Desktop Operating Systems.
The purpose of comments:
Not for conversation, but to allow others to contribute to the solutions and let others know if it worked for them.
Should you find that your question be answered, lets us and others know “It worked!” or “It didn’t! Instead, I tried this…”
Commentors should be aware: Should they come up with a valid solution, or alternative suggestion altogether, their remarks may be integrated into the article. Credit will be given, of course.
The Administrators Stand on Windows vs. Linux:
Both are useful, and both have great advantages and disadvantages.
I use Linux because it does what I need it to do.
Others use Windows because it does what they need to do.
Some use Macs because they want to feel cool.
It’s the worst! For years nearly every album on my computer has had Justin Timberlake’s album artwork. This has polluted my media experience ever since I discovered just ONE SONG I liked by JT.
I had tried removing all .jpg files. I had tried deleting all desktop.ini files. NOTHING!
I decided to actually fix the problem and do a little research.
Here’s my find:
This is in two sections, deleting Window’s Media Player’s bad thumbnails, and removing MP3 tag thumbnails (which are in the MP3 file itself). This will likely not fix WAV, WMA, or FLAC thumbnail issues. You likely can go ahead and just fix the MP3 tag issues and most of your thumbnails will be corrected, but I suggest performing the first step since if you, like me, back up, restore, and move around your music; you likely have tons of thumbnail files hiding around. Skip to part 2, which is way simple, if you don’t think this applies to you or if you don’t care about lugging around extra datums.
Pre-flight check: Back up your music. I won’t be listening to your sorry ass complain in the comments that you lost something.
Close your media programs while you do this so it isn’t busy trying to add artwork back as you modify your music. You should also know that there is a possibility that some artwork just won’t get added back depending on how accurate your MP3 Tag data is.
PART 1
First, go ahead and delete Window’s created artwork files. You’ll need to open your main music folder in Windows Explorer. (Quick hint: just hit the Windows + E keys to open Explorer).
Second, you’ll need to enable hidden and system files. Come back to this step later to hide those files again. In the explorer, click “View” in the toolbar, and then “Options.” Click the options to show hidden files and uncheck the option to hide system files.
In your music folder, use the search box to search for “.jpg” (type it in and press ENTER.)
After the search function finishes, you will see all JPG files that were in your music folder. Do not attempt to continue with any folders that have a mix of music and documents, you should only delete these files if they are in a dedicated music folder.
In the search results, press CTRL+A to select all, and press delete.
PART 2
Right, so now you’ve deleted all thumbnail information placed by Windows/Media Player. Now we just need to remove thumbnails from your MP3 tags, which are in the MP3 files themselves. No worries, there exists free software for this!
Visit www.taghycardia.info and download Taghycardia. Taghycardia is a MP3 tag management program (and once again, the free version only works for MP3 files).
I prefer standalone versions of software like this. Go ahead and download and extract the software.
Drag the music folder you want to manipulate into Taghycardia. Follow the instructions to remove album art. There, that was simple!
Open Windows Media Player or Groove Music, or iTunes or whatever you use. These programs will download artwork data for you.
Other stuff
Taghycardia is great for fixing other MP3 tag issues. It isn’t flawless software, but it’ll guide you through fixing all sorts of MP3 tag issues. Plus, it doesn’t have an exit button once it gets going, so it kind of forces you to sit down and hash it out. That’s a feature, not a flaw :P
Problem: Acer Aspire A515-54G Bluetooth Quit Working
Explanation: A recent driver update available through Microsoft Windows Update does not seem to support this hardware well.
Solution: Rollback the current driver to the previous driver.
Step 1: Search Windows for Device Manager
2: Select the bluetooth adapter under “bluetooth”
3: Double-click the device to see properties
4: Click the “driver” tab in the properties window
5: Click “Roll Back Driver” and follow the on-screen instructions
After rolling back, you may need to restart. I suggest a “cold” restart. Click the Windows button and hold down the SHIFT key while you click on “Shutdown” or “Restart.”
This should resolve this issue on this particular laptop model.
Problem: Ubuntu was being upgraded to a new distribution using do-release-upgrade over SSH and the connection lost, and the backup SSH session could not be reached.
Overview: Recently while trying to test out the HDMI function on our JVC HD-56G886a, we found that it was in complete dysfunction. The only visible video were flashes when the screen resolution was changed or when the connection was disconnected and reconnected, and a dark green screen that would just stay on when HDMI was connected.
Cause: JVC HDMI is prone to this kind of failure. The board can simply develop a temporary issue, resolved by resetting, or HDMI may get disabled due to a light sensor on the back of the television which disabled HDMI when light is shined on the back of the T.V. This is a safety feature, televisions should not operate with direct sunlight on the back.
Solution: Do an HDMI reset.
To reset HDMI on the TV, do the following:
Get your original JVC remote
Switch the television input to the tuner (as if you were going to tune into antenna TV).
Make sure that the remote selector is switched to TV.
Press the SLEEP button on the JVC remote until the SLEEP function shows 0 minutes (this should be the default sleep time)
After pressing the SLEEP button, press the Video Status and Display Buttons simultaneously.
A service menu should appear.
Press the number 2 on your remote for “Self Test”. Do not attempt to use any of the other menus.
Power off your TV. If you are using a projection TV, make sure the internal fans finish cooling and stop before the next step.
Unplug the TV for one minute.
Plug back in, power on the TV. This should resolve the issue, however some users report that they have had to repeat these steps once or twice.
Problem: A Motorola phone (specifically the W755 and similar series) will not charge on USB either ever, or after reformatting a computer. Applies to many Motorola phones, including Motorola Android, Motorola OS, Motorola Linux OS, Motorola iDEN, Motorola Symbian/UIQ, Motorola Windows Mobile® and Motorola i-mode devices, Motorola XOOM™ tablet.
Cause: Older Motorola phones will not charge while they have a data connection active. If you were able to charge before and reformatted, you probably no longer have the correct drivers that would allow your phone to charge.
Solution: Download the Motorola Helper Software so that the phone will know to charge rather than just use a data connection. (Note from the author: I know this sounds preposterous, but Motorola phone USB charging is messed up stuff).
A little bird tells me that Connect Economics by McGraw Hill featuring the book “Essentials of Economics” by Schiller is terrible terrible software and to not bother with any class that plans on using it.
Problem I: Unable to locate a driver for Citizen GSX140 printers (24-pin color DOT Matrix printer) Solution: GSX 140 printers, as well as many other dot-matrix printers, actually emulate Epson printers. You can use the Epson LQ 2550 driver for the GSX140 and many other similar Citizen printer series. All features (including color printing) will still work. Problem II: I can’t find the Epson LQ 2550 printer driver
Cause: Windows does not automatically include the driver and requires it to be obtained via. Windows Update.
Solution: Go to the Control Panel “Add Printer” wizard.
If you are installing a network printer, do not select “Use a Network Printer”.
Complete the installation as if you were going to install a local printer on the LPT port (selecting any port at this stage is fine).
When you reach the driver selection screen, press the “Windows Update” button. Window will begin downloading hundreds of legacy drivers — included is the Epson LQ 2550. This will take awhile on slower connections and cannot be paused or stopped.
If you were installing the printer as LPT or as USB with an LPT converter, you can continue. If you were meaning to install a Network Printer, cancel the wizard and start it again for network printers. You can now select the LQ 2550 driver under “Epson” manufacturer printers.
An alternative is to use the Epson LQ Series 2 (136) driver, but this will only support 180×180 printing in black and white.
Reworded: For Citizen GSX 140 series Printers, use the Epson LQ 2550 driver.
If you need the Epson LQ 2550 driver, but it is not available, use the Epson LQ Series 2 (136) driver which will not support high resolution or color (also works for Citizen GSX 140)
Many other dot-matrix printers use the same drivers.
One important note! The LQ Series 2 (136) driver will not support color printing or high resolution printing. We are currently investigating as to why our trial run of this yielded only black & white printing which may have been from a variety of causes (wrong driver, our CUPS server, the Windows computer connected, etc).
