Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Printer error #5 on MYOB under Vista

Fix for a "Printer error #5" on MYOB under Vista is to reboot. If you leave it too long after rebooting, it'll get back into the 'bad' state, so start up MYOB and do that printing immediately after the reboot.

Update: The "official" fix is to turn off UAC! http://myobaustralia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13628

Friday, July 25, 2008

Standby!

For all these devices:
  • microwave oven (clock)
  • three stereos (each has a clock)
  • two network switches (sitting idle)
  • projector ("off", showing orange LED)
  • VCR (clock)
  • Xbox (shutdown)
  • two LCD screens ("standby" / amber LED)
  • two computers (shutdown)
Total power use is 93W, which is about 35 cents per day ($127/year). In other terms, one day of standby for all those devices is the same as running:
  • an airconditioner, for 45 minutes.
  • two-bar heater, for an hour.
Other numbers:
  • Fridge, running: 140W
  • Projector, running: 130-150W
  • Stereo, running: 30-50W
  • Desktop PC (4 disk drives), running: 240W, playing games: 310W
  • Airconditioner: 3000W+
  • Pool pump: 1000W
  • Xbox, playing games: 65W
  • Laser printer, printing: 650W
  • Four 50W halogen lights, modern transformer, full power: 200W, dimmed as low as my dimmer will go: 50W
  • Six 50W halogen lights, "old" iron core transformer, full power: 300W, dimmed: 30W
  • Electric blanket, queen size: 140W

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Windows XP can't install or find drivers for any USB devices

From these URLs:

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#xp_asks_for_drivers

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showpost.php?s=80270ff40f61d379e51d250e6f86c24f&p=577370&postcount=58


Either fix HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DevicePath to contain %SystemRoot%\inf.

Or, when looking for the device driver, point it to "C:\Windows\inf".