Another HP Story

I wrote before about a time when Hewlett Packard made great products, notably my old LaserJet 5P. 

My experiences with HP since that purchase haven't always been so good. I have a color multi-function laser printer that has Wi-Fi but I haven't been able to use Wi-Fi printing since I moved to Windows 10 because the printer's wireless printing drivers stopped working and I couldn't find a solution for it (though it's been a while and I should probably revisit that since surely by now HP has figured it out). And although I haven't suffered the indignities newer HP printer owners have with the whole replacement ink debacle, it's clear HP lacks the commitment to innovation, quality, and customer service it once had. 

However, the company is still a force in the market. If you need a PC or printer it's still a place where you can get sufficient capability for an acceptable price. Just pray you won't need to call their customer service, where you'll get read a script to sell you ink rather than someone that understands how to diagnose and fix problems. 

Some Good, Some Bad

I purchased HP laptops for both my children when they went to college. Both were Envy x360 15 models using AMD Ryzen APUs. They perform great and both report being pleased with the PCs, showing that HP can still do some things right. The Envy line is a cut above the Pavilion line, and feature more attractive designs and don't feel quite as obviously plastic. But after about two and a half years, one of the laptops made a cracking noise and the hinge broke. Or more accurately, the hinge is fine, but the mounting point where the hinge connects to the top lid of the laptop broke. 

Going online, I found scores of videos about how to fix this with may comments from other HP laptop owners complaining about this same exact issue. The problem is that the hinge itself is strong, but the place where it's screwed into the top lid is made of plastic, and it cracks. Some users reported it happening as early as six months, others like me have had it happen at two to three years. Looking at the parts up close, it seems to me that simply designing a stronger mounting point and using metal instead of plastic for just that small area would have done wonders. HP, you went cheap on a part that would obviously undergo regular stress. Very disappointing.

The pictures here show what happened. One shows the screw mounts in the plastic, the other shows how the plastic has cracked on the other side and the mounts have all fallen out.

If You Want Something Done Right, Do it Yourself

Thank God for the internet and YouTube. Both of those have enabled the do-it-yourself community and even a tech novice can repair equipment. I've used articles and videos to repair flat-screen TVs, plumbing, a clothes washer, and now a laptop hinge mount.

There are a number of videos that feature slight differences in the process, but they ultimately do the same thing: restore the mounting point for the hinge. 

First, take stock of the damage. If it's just the hinge mount and the display panel is still working, you're in luck. If the display is bad too, then it'll cost more money to buy more parts. In my case, it was just the hinge mount. 

There are two approaches you can take.

1. Repair the hinge mount with glue. Some of the people doing repairs were able to fill in the space where the broken plastic mounts were with epoxy. When it had set, it was of sufficient strength to hold. The problem I had with this approach was I felt it could get messy, and you'd also be gluing the hinge since it'd be almost impossible to glue only the screw sockets to the lid with perfect alignment. I'd have left the screws screwed into the sockets that were originally held in plastic, then pressed the entire top hinge flap into the glue. This approach would have been the cheapest option, costing you just the glue and reusing existing parts.
2. Replace the entire top lid. This cost about $60 in parts (a new lid and a roll of double-sided tape, both easily found on eBay and Amazon). 

Regardless of the approach, both require separating the top lid from the display panel, which is connected to the lid by a combination of snap points and double-sided tape. Some of the videos say to fully remove the hinges from the laptop to make it easier, and also to disconnect the battery and solid state drive to prevent damage. Meh, I just left all that in place and worked around it. I didn't want to take apart a bunch of other stuff because that requires taking off parts that are held on with tape and putting them back on leaves them in a condition that's never quite as good as new. 

I recommend watching multiple videos to get different techniques from people. The first video I watched, the repair person used a heat gun to loosen the double-sided tape holding the lid to the display. But another video showed that if you can pry open the top of the lid enough, you can reach some pull tabs on the original HP stretch tape and pull those to get the tape out. Much easier. 

The only other task is to remove the Wi-Fi antennae from the lid and transfer it to the new lid. Then screw the hinge into the new lid. The final step is to apply double-sided tape to the lid and then snap the display back into the lid. Done.

I wish the nice stretch tape with the pull tabs was available to buy so that it would be easy to remove it if I have to do this repair again. I could not find it anywhere, and there are several messages on the HP support forums where people ask but never get an answer. But if I can get two more years out of this laptop, then it'll be four years old and probably time to replace it. Still, HP should sell that stretch tape. They're the ones that made a decision to leave you with a weak hinge mount in the first place. 

Do You Need a 4K Monitor?

When I started to build my first dual-monitor system in late 2020 it was to work remotely during Covid. I picked up a monitor stand and a new LG 4K (3840x2160) 32-inch monitor and repurposed an old HP 24-inch monitor. 

Having two monitors is definitely nice and fantastic when you have to have two applications open that you need to reference simultaneously. But I've learned that there are some quirks to using a 4K monitor and going forward I may not use them except for TV watching.

4K Brings a Lot, but Here's What People don't Tell You

First, I'll cover what I liked. The 4K monitor is huge and 32 inches is plenty of screen space to display it. The colors on HDR mode really pop. Text looks great on it and I really appreciated that with my failing, aging eyes. Prices are gradually getting better too.

However, with such a high resolution, apps and text look really small and without excellent eyesight or magnification, can be too small to read. The Windows solution is something called "scaling". It's a setting in Display Properties, which you can bring up by secondary-clicking on the desktop and choosing from the context menu.

Scaling will increase the size of text and apps by a certain percentage. Windows gives you presets to choose from of 100% (no scaling), 125%, 150%, and more up to 350%. It will also label the one it recommends. 

This works well in most cases. The text increases and becomes more legible, and the high pixel density of the 4K monitor makes the text look great. But there is a cost for scaling. You lose some of the gains you got from going to a higher resolution. It's a fair tradeoff, because something has to give.

On a 32-inch 4K monitor, Windows will recommend a scaling of 150%. After experimenting a bit, I've settled for now on 125%, which is legible and still gives me most of the benefits of the improved resolution. I found that at 150% I couldn't have as many apps open. At 125%, I can have a browser or work processor open on half the screen, and split the remainder of the monitor between an email client and a file manager or maybe a media app. 

On my work laptop, however, I found that scaling could cause some apps to behave differently. One app runs fine but there were some icons and small GUI gadgets that did not display correctly when scaled. So, the scaling is a good solution, but can be problematic in some instances.

2K is a Nice Option

So for use with my work laptop when I'm working from home, I tried out a 34-inch Dell curved widescreen monitor. It's a beast and it offers a resolution of 3440x1440. The 1440 vertical resolution is higher than full HD (1080) but much lower than 4K's 2160. 

The other key difference is that when I run with this monitor, I don't have to turn on scaling, and apps run normally. The app I was having problems with on the 4K runs fine at 2K. 

What's Better, one Big Monitor or Two Smaller ones?

There's another interesting argument about what's better, one monitor or two? There's nothing wrong with either option, but having worked now with both the dual monitor and single extra-wide monitor setups, I like the single monitor a little better. Here's why:

• No bezel gap. While it's nice if you have two apps loaded each on one screen, the reality is you may need more than that. I found it was easier to arrange everything on one super screen than constantly be moving things around between two.
• Differing resolutions. If your dual-monitor setup has two different resolutions as mine does, then sometimes expanding an app across an extended desktop can yield some odd results.
• Fewer port requirements. One monitor is logistically easier to deal with than two.
• Sometimes it's just easier to look at one screen than constantly be shifting your gaze between two.

To be fair, I'm using both types of setups and they're both great if you need the space. 

The Law is Sloppy and Imprecise

I just finished serving on a jury. I'd been called to jury selection several times before, but never selected to serve on a 14 person panel (twelve primary and two alternates). I did my usual thing during voir dire and asked a question and spoke up when questioned. My past experiences with jury selection did my cynical attitude about lawyers and the law no favors and I found the lawyers deceptive and self serving. It's all just part and parcel of security theater. My theory was that lawyers don't choose jurypersons who are outspoken and know the difference between right and wrong. 

This time was different and it really surprised me. My number was called and I made the mistake of not later buying a lottery ticket. The lawyers didn't pull any of the crap they had in my earlier experiences. In one case you could tell they selectively targeted people for the jury whose skin color matched that of the defendant (and nope, not going to tell you the color because it's wrong regardless of the color and because I don't need your bullshit whining). It used to piss me off, thinking about that incident because these lawyers like to stand up there and preface the voir dire with a little speech about what a privilege it is to be a part of justice, then they go pull that racist bullshit.

In the case where I was picked, both the prosecution and the defense seemed pretty reasonable. No drama or histrionics, no patriotic speech, no racism, and no apparent attempts at deception. It wasn't perfect, and the defense did get a little desperate at some points, but overall the counselors conducted themselves well and it really did a lot to curb my disdain for the legal profession.

Looking back, I think what happened was that more people know the trick about making themselves unqualified for jury duty and a fair number of them probably lied when asked questions about the ability to be impartial. People do this because jury duty is perceived as a drag and an impedance to work and life. While that may be true, it's also true that jury service is a right, a duty, and a privilege. The judge was quite gracious for our panel's participation and numerous times made a point to note the challenges of moving the already slow wheels of the justice system when it's so difficult to find willing jurors. 

My experience on this jury panel would prove quite illuminating and humbling. I've generally been pro-police and anti-criminal. My position on the police has become more subdued with the increasing knowledge of law enforcement malfeasance and incompetence, but I'll always carry disdain for crime and  sympathy for victims. If you're pro-criminal, what's wrong with you? And don't give me that bullshit argument about [insert whiny voice] "Oh, but one person's criminal is another's freedom fighter" because that's not a discussion about crime, it's a discussion about war and in war there are no rules. Violence is not ok from any quarter within a civilized society, and it's indefensible when an unprovoked aggressor attacks with intention to steal, murder, rape, or injure. 

I'll share my experience and perhaps it may be useful to someone else.

Opening Statements

After receiving basic instructions to not discuss the case with anyone outside the jury and court, the proceedings begin with the defense and prosecution each making a statement. These are fairly brief and outline the general intentions of each side. The prosecution explains there was a shooting and someone died and we'll see that the accused is at fault. The defense says we'll see inconsistencies in the testimonials and flawed police procedures that will show the accused is not guilty.

Witnesses

The prosecution starts calling witnesses. We hear from the victim's family that was present during the incident, the paramedic that first tended to the fallen victim, the coroner, and one of the detectives on the case. The defense cross examines the witnesses brought by the prosecution.

This was interesting and it's clear that crime and law are not as obvious, simple, or clear as in a typical Hollywood movie. There are indeed some inconsistencies in the testimonials, and the detective was particularly unprepared. He did not have key facts in order and has very little evidence to discuss. There's no murder weapon, no shell casing matchable to the bullet, and few meaningful forensics of any kind. We later learn that it's standard procedure for this department to send two detectives, one for forensics work, and another (the one we hear from) handles securing the scene and witnesses. The prosecution after the trial would explain to us that the other detective was an even worse presenter than the one put on the witness stand so he wasn't called at all! Ye gods, this is some sloppy stuff.

Most of that doesn't matter because the case is largely decided, however, by one key witness: a young lady that at the time of the incident was eleven years old. She presents well, is reasonably articulate for her age, and doesn't try to lie that we can tell. She had overall the best view of the incident and confirms the defendant fired a pistol shot at the body of the victim. It is, of course, only a verbal testimonial, and there's a dearth of forensic evidence to prove or disprove it, although the coroner confirms the result.

The most articulate presenter of the witnesses is the medical examiner, Merrill Hines. He clearly explained the cause of death and described how he identified the entry point of a bullet in the victim's chest and how it traveled across the body to finally lodge in the victim's left arm, where he retrieved it during the autopsy. That's a lot of damage made by a hollow point bullet. Spencer Nichols likely died within seconds.

With Hines's testimony, there's no doubt about loss of life, which endorses the potential charge of murder. Multiple other witnesses declare the defendant as the shooter. The defendant takes the fifth (fifth amendment, which states he has the right to not say anything), so we do not get any input from him. 

The defense calls the defendant's other girlfriend of the time forward, but as she was not present during the incident, this is just a move by the defense to perhaps make the accusers look aggressive and potentially warrant a self-defense argument. We find later that never happens because the defendant doggedly contends "I didn't do it" which voids a self-defense position.

Deliberation

I feel that when a defendant takes the fifth, the burden is harder on the jury. It's hard enough with conflicting views of what happens in a crime (some intentional, some unintentional) but now the jury is responsible for making a decision to help achieve justice, and they do so with half the information. It's easy to question the degree of confidence in the verdict. 

But this case showed me why sometimes the defense may have their client take the fifth. I always thought it was because they didn't want the client to lie under oath because if that's revealed to be the case, it can make things worse for the defendant. But sometimes it may be that the defendant is unable to articulate his or her case well and can hurt the defense. Perhaps in this situation it was a little of both. 

The jury reviews everything presented in the case and ultimately votes "guilty." It is not a comfortable decision for anyone. The panel is composed of a very diverse group including as many as six races, both younger and older, and both men and women. Most of us have children of our own and we're quite cowed by the realization we're going to commit a young man to prison. 

But it's our duty as a jury to exercise the law, and it's the law's job to protect our society. Given what we have, we go forward with the decision. Despite the flaws and sloppy parts of law enforcement, the key charge of murder is straightforward and the scenario presented by the prosecution convinces us the charge is correct. The defense didn't have much to go on and pointed at a lot of ancillary items but none of them convinced us the prosecution was incorrect. 

Victim Interviews

The judge reads our verdict and the trial proceeds to the next phase: punishment determination. The defense and prosecution are both able to bring forward additional witnesses to testify to the suffering they've endured as a result of the incident. In addition, we're given additional information about the defendant's past record and we learn this is not his first offense and also not his first violent crime. We hear from a correctional officer who was assaulted by the defendant in during a past incarceration. 

The defense identifies that several of the past offenses were non-violent and appeals to our sense of compassion and asks us to use common sense and give the defendant a chance. The prosecution leans heavily on the multiple past offenses and asks how many chances does someone need. Prosecution wants to levy a life sentence. 

Punishment

The jury returns to the jury room to decide on the punishment. Because of the defendant's past crimes, the usual prison duration range of 5 to 99 years or life, has changed to 25 to 99 or life. We have four options:

1. Life with a monetary fine
2. Life without a fine
3. A number of years of the jury's determination, plus a fine
4. A number of years of the jury's determination, without a fine

Again, we're all pained by the idea of sending a young man away for life. The defendant is only a few years older than my own son. 

Still, as the prosecution reminded us, the victim and his family have already been given their own life sentence. Murder is a crime for which there is no recompense. If you steal, you can return an item or pay the owner back. If you commit an assault that leaves no permanent injury, the victim can heal and you can improve and be less of an asshole. If you commit a murder, you cannot bring a life back. 

Your Record Precedes You

The presence of prior offenses is a huge factor. I myself tell the jury, "The jury that had license for leniency was several sentencings past." This is a recognition that for first offenses, the law often will afford some leniency but if someone has proven multiple times that he or she haven't gotten the memo about playing well with others, then the punishment needs to reflect that. 

After discussion, we decide on the life sentence. We also agree to waive any fine since a fine is pointless and the defendant isn't going to have the capacity to pay it. 

We are universally grateful the sentence comes with the opportunity for parole. Although the defendant will be fifty-eight when he's eligible, there is still a chance for him to commute his sentence and have some life outside prison. But even then it's still difficult. Some of the jurors were in tears about it. 

It's Easy to say "Fry the bastard" it's Harder to Pull the Trigger Yourself

This was a decision that weighed heavily on all of us and I'm sure we'll be thinking about it for a long time. And this is why jury duty is something we should all experience because it can teach us so much. When I watch news about a crime, I'd always been the guy that said "Fry the bastard" and as brash as that sounds, the reality is criminals are a problem that need to be addressed. Then on that jury you have to stand behind the decision and it becomes more personal and your heart reminds you that the defendant is a human being and to be compassionate. Your brain however, reminds you that a criminal has harmed others and it's your responsibility to perform your duty in executing the law and thereby protect other law abiding citizens.

One of the thoughts we discussed in the punishment phase was how horrible we'd feel if we tendered the minimum sentence and then after release the defendant went and killed someone else. 

As difficult as this process was, we agreed on the decision and we'll stand by it. 

Jury Service Concludes

After the sentencing is read by the judge, she releases the jury from service and our responsibility of non-disclosure but asks us to return to the jury room and wait for a bit. She comes in to visit us, again very thankful for our service. This judge, Nikita Harmon of the Harris County 176 criminal court, treated us well. She kept order in her court, ensured proper process was followed, and did a lot to keep the jury comfortable. She made sure we had breaks and snacks, lunch was provided, and never tried to influence our decision. 

The defendant has the opportunity to have punishment determined by the jury or the judge and it's possible Judge Harmon might have given a lighter sentence than we did. We, the jury and the judge, all felt for the defendant and hope he's able to improve his situation and earn that parole. The judge said she'd certainly relay this to the defendant.

Then the lawyers for the prosecution and defense came to talk to us. They asked a few questions about how we came to the decisions we did and asked if we had any feedback. We told them the police need to be better and they agreed and said the detective on the stand has already been advised that he needs to be prepared or in more ambiguous cases some bad guys are going to be walking free. It was here that we also learned about the other detective and that he wasn't called because his ability to testify was not good. 

No one seemed to have a problem with our verdict and punishment, though the defense did say it was the first time he'd ever seen a jury not call for more evidence to be reviewed and to not ask more questions. I asked him about a point he was trying to make during closing statements about how the prosecution had indicated the defendant arrived at the scene of the crime in a convoy of three cars, but surveillance cameras showed that only the defendant's vehicle later left alone. During the trial prosecution showed the entry video of three cars arriving, but the exit video was not played for us. 

"Then why didn't you ask for it," the defense asked me in response. Time was up and the lawyers all had to go back to the court room, but here's my answer to that: 

• First, showing it to us was your job, not mine
• Second and more importantly, even if the defendant didn't arrive with an armed posse as the prosecution indicated, that's an ancillary element. The posse, real or not, didn't kill Spencer Nichols, the defendant is the one being charged

With that, the jury parted and my time as a juror was done. I liked our panel. Everyone was friendly and seemed of sound mind and intelligence. After a long stretch where I'd been cynical about the law, this experience brought a little hope. I'm still cynical and still think there are some evil self-serving lawyers out there, but I have a little more faith in our legal system.

You can read more about the case online [abc13.com].

Closing Thoughts

The law is sloppy, imprecise, and the world's best. Yes, even with all it's problems, it's the best because it is centered on the tenet that you are innocent until proven guilty. This is critical and goes hand-in-hand with our foundation of freedom. The founding fathers realized that crime is a dirty business and there are people who will lie under oath, there are lawyers that will resort to deception, there are judges and juries that can be threatened or bribed, and that in the balance sometimes a criminal will get away with a crime. But this is preferable to the worse possibility, that an innocent person can be wrongly be declared guilty.

It became clear to me during my jury service that despite the presence of police, judges, and lawyers, it is ultimately the citizens that execute the law. That's an awesome power and responsibility. We should take it seriously and not treat it like a nuisance. There's probably room for a reform argument about how to make jury service even more accessible, but that's a discussion for a different day.

My Memory of George Perez

George Perez died May 7, 2022. His story is amazing, and I hope not rare, just easily remembered by me because I was close to it. It's the classic scenario of a child of an immigrant family that succeeds almost entirely on the grounds of hard work. 

Perez was an artist. I was almost tempted to say "comics artist" because he primarily made his living illustrating comic books, but just as a truly raceless assessment of a person should be made on the grounds of the individual's achievements and contributions and not genetic heritage, an artist is an artist, regardless of the medium. Perez was a great one. Self-taught and a tireless worker, Perez illustrated hundreds of books over his career. He deservedly became a fan favorite due to his style's crisp detail and great layouts for action and large group scenes.

I was blessed to be a kid in the 1980's, when Perez and Marv Wolfman were helming DC's The New Teen Titans. The title was a hit and really DC's only competition to Marvel's phenomenal line-up headed by the X-Men. It was the perfect title for teen readers as it had the superhero staples, but also discussed issues maturing teens dealt with like growing up, becoming independent, relationships, and dealing with parents or parental figures. It was nice that I could buy those issues at retail price when they came out. The 80's were a time of high price volatility in comics speculation and being a popular title, Titans back issues could get expensive. 

Perez was a force for a long time, and continued to be popular as he worked on other titles, notably the Wonder Woman reboot, also with Wolfman. The pairing of Wolfman and Perez is a special one. It was the right combination of writer and artist. Their stories went beyond the rock'em sock'em roots of early superhero comics and elevated comics with mature themes and welcome forays into non-violent paths. At least a couple of their Wonder Woman issues involved no fighting at all. 

The work the pair did certainly inspired me and I'll be forever grateful for their efforts. 

It was probably in the mid-1980s that I got to meet Perez briefly at a convention. I went with my best friend at the time, and we sat near the front row of the hall where Perez was speaking. I remember being in awe at learning Perez was self-taught and perhaps that was the beginning of my recognition that we should limit the gravity we impart to the superficialities of a college degree. 

I'll always remember Perez's response to the audience asking him who his favorite superhero was. "It was Iron Man. When I was a kid growing up in the Bronx, wearing a suit of armor made sense!"

Godspeed, Perez, to you and your surviving family. You affected more lives than you know. 

Collecting Sunsets

Speaking of Funerals...

Oh boy, here's an interesting if macabre topic. It's actually quite appropriate coming after my last post about letting go. 

As I've gotten older, I've started seeing end-of-life events. Not talking about humans here, we all have to deal with that, but about systems and businesses. It's something that as a young IT person you don't think you'll ever see, but then Father Time comes by and whacks you in the nuts with a baseball bat.

I don't think I've ever been involved in an end-of-life for any systems I helped start, or where I came in for some work during the middle. But I have now seen a few in just the last couple years where I've gotten involved in a system during its twilight years. 

There are a couple of distinctions to make about these first. 

• One type of end-of-life is witnessing the actual death of an application or system. It's dying and going away for good.
• Another is seeing systems die but only in a specific implementation. The software may still be alive elsewhere but is standing down in an installation, perhaps as a part of a company closing.

Total Death

The first end-of-life I saw was a true death of a system I supported for an oil and gas company. It was a home-grown system built around 1997. It handled some business for this company until 2022. Twenty-five years is a respectable life for a corporate system, often some of the world's worst written and most poorly designed systems. This app had an interesting life; the software was heavily used and had a team of 15 people at one time supporting and enhancing it. About 2012 the company split and the software was still being used for about half its functions. I was part of a team brought in to keep it and a sister system (a third party software package) alive during the transition. We were probably expected to just be there a couple years and before the client migrated to a new system. 

This system was proprietary, old, clumsy, and ugly. No one wanted to work on this bitch. The full-timers at the company wanted nothing to do with it, and everyone on our team preferred to work with the sister system since it was an industry standard application that was to continue use long after this system was replaced. Well, guess who got assigned to take care of it? Yours truly. But I'm the kind of consultant that takes care of the customer, even if it's a career limiting move, because that's what I'm being paid for. I hope, probably in vain, that the qualities of loyalty and reliability will be as useful in garnering future opportunities as simply having the latest acronyms on the resume. So I took it on and became a one-man show, handling all the support and even improving the software some. From a team of fifteen to a party of one...not sure if the client appreciated that but I absolutely provided value.

Real life threw a curve ball at this company and a downturn in the energy industry around 2014 caused the company to turtle and lay people off left and right. Everyone on our team got terminated except for the one person that knew how to keep alive the system that was still managing business and producing invoices. Again, yours truly. And it wasn't just contractors being let go, I outlasted the dozens of full-timers that didn't want any part of this system. This taught me a useful lesson that's not a tautology, but can be a useful tactical move: sometimes it's good to be good at the job no one wants.

Things picked up by 2016 and some of my team was brought back. But between budget cuts and project delays, I last another six years, for a total of eight, with this client. The sister system was upgraded and  picked up most of the business the proprietary system handled. The proprietary system was finally feeling death creep closer. I'm actually released from service in late 2020, so I miss the actual system shutdown that happens in 2022. But I was close enough to capture the essence of it; activity slows to a crawl, there are no enhancements to be worked on anymore, and even support dwindles. Yes, frankly it got a little boring at the very end, though it was certainly less stressful than when things were busy. 

The client mothballs the system for archival purposes and ceases using it for daily work. The system is then buried under layers of time. Many people that worked with this system would say "good riddance," as do I, but also I feel a little sadness. It's like all the creativity and work of a generation just becomes a tiny footnote in the company's history...and maybe not even that. Just gone. If systems had souls, I would say to this one, you helped some people in your life. That's meaningful even if it's forgotten.

Partial Death

The second story is of a system's sunset in a specific implementation. On one contract, I'm brought in to join a team that's supporting the systems for a company that's just been sold to a holding company and everyone knows it's going to be sold again. We don't know when so we carry on as professionals and do a good job knowing it could end at any time. It does, about two years after I sign on. The first year I was there was pretty busy; we had ongoing business and multiple systems to manage, and we also did some upgrades and generally carried on like a regular business. In the middle of the second year, the sale of the company is announced. Any enhancement or upgrade projects are instantly canceled and we shift into support-only and business transition modes. 

In this case, the products don't die; the two key systems we supported are both third party products that as far as I know are thriving in the market. At this company though, they're going to cease functioning. Not so sad for the applications, but more for the people side of things as the group is going to be broken up. The staff splits between a group that transitions to the new owner, a group that voluntarily leaves, and the ones that would have liked to stay but are asked to leave. 

No matter how it happens, it is as DeMarco and Lister said (and I paraphrase slightly in brackets): "Whenever a system goes live [or dies], someone gains power and someone loses power."

Closure

Why did I choose to write about this today? I think it's because it's September 29, 2023, the last day of Netflix's DVD operations, known as DVD.com. The service pioneered internet-based service companies twenty-five years ago and was also a leader in the transition to streaming and taking a hand in content production. The DVD side of the business naturally dwindled as streaming's convenience looked like a tall and handsome alternative to a short, ugly, and older option, and humans are pretty predictable in those circumstances. A few of us holdouts still appreciated the qualities that the physical media service offered, but even we had to know it wasn't going to last forever. 

Netflix of course, is still a Wall Street darling and is doing well, but I can't help but feel a little nostalgic as I remember the DVD service's halcyon days and how much fun it was to add movies to a queue and have them appear in the mailbox a few days later, and at a much more reasonable price than what the buster on the block was charging. 

In my opinion, the drawdown of the Netflix DVD business is a stellar model of how to sunset something. 

• First, communications went out months in advance to notify customers this was coming. 
• Then, the website was updated with a FAQ pre-emptively addressing concerns customers would have. 
• The service continued at a high level of quality and professionalism until the end. 
• On the last day, DVD.com even sent out parting gifts. The company sent a few extra disks from the titles still in the customers' queues, and clearly explained that any disks customers had in their possession past September 29 could be kept if desired. 
• Finally, the company executed a graceful departure, issuing thanks to customers for their patronage. 

This is an end that was sad, but also well executed and one that didn't leave behind unsatisfactory mysteries or a sense of being ripped off, as can happen when a magazine shuts down and subscribers are left with unfulfilled issues and no refund. This was an end with a comfortable closure, so much better than the sloppiness of America's departures from Vietnam or Afghanistan. 

Here's a capture from the site as it was on the last day. 

Actually, thank you, DVD.com for doing it right and showing us a successful exit implementation. 

Sometimes You have to Let Go

Americans live in a disposable society. We've progressed to this point gradually and over decades, and I don't know exactly when it happened, but we've been here now for a while. If you've read any of my previous posts about repairing appliances and computers, you know I'm not fond of it. I believe a quality product should be built to provide service for a reasonable amount of time, and commonly worn parts should be available cheaply so do-it-yourselfers can extend the item's life. 

That's not what we have now, and we haven't had it for a while. Today it's easier to throw something away, even in still good condition, and replace it. And this attitude is not confined to hardware. It's happening with relationships and marriages too. The hardware I can sort of understand. Corporations running the manufacturing want to keep making more money and they'll make more selling new printers and cars than they will individual parts. Don't get me started on the shenanigans Hewlett Packard is pulling these days with printer ink and toner. The relationships thing is also problematic but more about humans becoming increasingly focused on self and laziness rather than the particulars of an endless need to increase profit. 

That brings me to this post. It's about my old HP Laserjet 5P laser printer. I bought it new around 1996 and it served me well through nearly thirty years of light but regular use. The only thing I ever had to worry about was replacing toner. About ten years ago, the toner cartridges started becoming more scarce. HP had long moved on from the old 5P and wasn't really into making supplies for printers that were older than any of the executives that still worked there and were in small enough numbers that it wasn't profitable.  

I got by on third-party toner for a while and occasionally still picked up one of the last intact OEM cartridges when I could find one on sale. Through Windows 98, Windows 7, Windows 10, and the birth of my children and their passage to college, my 5P soldiered on. It was a great printer, built to last and quite versatile. It had a straight-through paper path so it rarely jammed, and it could handle thicker materials like label sheets and card stock. It also had a small manual feed tray that popped down from the front so I could do a one-off print if I needed to do it on special paper. Those don't sound like special features when compared to modern printers, but remember this 5P came out during much earlier days of PC computing. It also can print wirelessly, although through and old IRDA port instead of Wi-Fi. 

I haven't needed to print large volumes of documents in the last decade or so, but would still occasionally print important contracts. The 5P also proved quite useful in recent years as I printed shipping labels for all the stuff I sold for charity on eBay. 

Then, last year, the printer started to falter. The print would become increasingly faint and it got progressively worse. I scoured printer support forums looking for ideas on how to solve this problem, but after cleaning the transfer roller and trying yet another new toner cartridge, it persisted. I'd invested somewhere around $80 in toner cartridges in the last year trying to fix this but I'm now pretty sure toner isn't the issue. I see that I can buy a new fuser, transfer roller, or even laser scanner assembly for about $20 each but if I guess wrong and end up having to get all three, now that's another $60 I'll be out and there's no guarantee that'll solve it. I've reached the point of diminishing returns, where any more money spent on repair attempts will cost more than a new printer.

In addition, the 5P has just plain started to degrade. The four rubber feet on the bottom liquified into goopy messes years ago. The plastic used in the housing and parts on the interior has become brittle. A few years ago when I opened the back access panel a couple tabs broke off, although the printer continued to work. Whenever I open the power port panel or serial port panel, another piece breaks. Every time I pick the printer up now I worry something else will snap off. 

Is it time to cut my losses? I can get a new monochrome laser that'll be smaller, lighter, support wireless printing, and perform duplex printing. It'll run less than $150 (the 5P cost $800) and should give me several years of use, and toner cartridges should be easier to find. I still need to print occasionally, and right now my workaround is to use sneakernet to print on my second printer from a USB drive. I can probably live with the workaround, but it is a hassle. 

It sometimes feels like admitting defeat. But nothing lasts forever, and twenty-seven years is a darn good run. It's time to accept moving on. HP Laserjet 5P, you were a legend. This isn't a divorce, it's a funeral. It's not "get out," it's "goodbye and thank you."

The Mysterious Ryzen Reboot Bug

There's an old saying about boat fanatics. "The happiest days of a boat owner's life are the day he gets a boat and the day he sells the boat."

It's funny because it's true. A boat gives you access to happy (we hope) times on the water where you can swim, fish, sunbathe, and race. But the asset is often expensive to purchase and like most things, can come with a high cost of ongoing ownership. 

You can't say the same thing about a PC. For PC owners, it should be, "The happiest days for a PC owner are the day he gets a new PC and the day he gets an even newer PC." That's because a PC isn't a boat...it's a commodity and you expect it to just work and only get better as you climb up the tree of PC evolution. 

The Problem

Up to about a year ago I'd run on a Dell 5675 Ryzen 7 1700X PC that was mostly great. For the first three years it was solid and a good performer. It could run games fine and kicked Windows in the ass. Then, in late 2020 when I added a second monitor for work-from-home (WFH) the system would start to randomly crash after a short period of idling. It didn't yield an error, it didn't point to a specific app, it just would reboot. I could not figure out what the source was. Because it started happening after I went to dual monitors, I thought it was a video driver issue. I had the latest drivers for the GPU (an nVidia 1060) but the problem persisted.

I was not Alone

Online, I found that others had the issue too. There were a myriad of ideas, but no one could really pin it down. Some found it was related to power management, some theorized a Windows issue, some felt it was due to a faulty CPU, others said it was a faulty motherboard, some said it was the BIOS. 

And sometimes the testimonials contradicted each other. One person would say it was only on one particular chip, but several people with different Ryzens were seeing the issue. Some said it was due to a bad motherboard maker but the issue was happening across different motherboard brands. 

The Long Road of Diagnostics (and Trial and Error)

In my personal experience, it might have been some weird combination of all those things. Updating drivers did not solve the issue. 

Reinstalling the Operating System

I got a temporary reprieve by refreshing my Windows 10 install. It seemed to settle the system down and for a month or two, it ran great again. The problem returned and I knew that going through the hassle of refreshing the OS install would only bring temporary relief. I knew there had to be an explanation but I could not figure it out.

Checking the RAM

I then looked at the memory chip. It didn't appear to be the issue. It was a single 8GB DIMM chip. I bought another 8GB DIMM to swap it out with. No change, the reboots would still happen with either chip. The one good thing about getting the extra 8GB stick was now I had effectively upgraded the PC RAM to 16GB. 

The CPU?

I wasn't doing any fancy overclocking and the PC had been running fine for years, so I didn't think it was the CPU. But I made sure to update the drivers and the BIOS and verify both it and the RAM chips were seated firmly. Nothing changed.

The GPU

Because the issue seemed to start when I went to dual monitors and was running Citrix to run a remote desktop from work, I wondered if it could have been the video card. But again I'd made sure the drivers were updated and I wasn't doing any overclocking. I tried changing the video cables. I tried going back to a single monitor by turning off and disconnecting one of the monitors. No luck.

Time to Make a Change

Through most of 2021 and the first half of 2022 I limped along with the issue. Sometimes it would be kind to me and not trigger for two weeks at a time. Sometimes I'd do the Windows refresh trick and buy a couple months. The issue was like the taxman, it would always come back for me. 

Here's a quick bit of info about my personal PC history. Since about 2008 or so, I've only upgraded my primary desktop PC about every five years. You'd think that's not often enough given that I play games too. PCs are good enough now that I don't feel the need to change every two years like I did in the 80's and 90's. 

As we rolled past the midpoint of 2022 I figured one way to solve the reboot issue was to replace the PC. It was about time anyway as the Dell was getting to be five years old. So I began researching what I was going to do. 

I've tended to alternate between building my own PC and buying a prebuilt. I enjoy building PCs but sometimes a mass PC producer can hit a pretty good price point and save you the time of having to order parts and put a PC together. I compared some builds at HP and Dell against a parts list I built at PCPartPicker.com. Because GPUs were ridiculously expensive at the time, I decided to go with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G APU. I'd had great luck back in 2012 when I built a PC using the AMD A10 chip. It was a great chip; no, I couldn't run games at the highest settings, but it was more than good enough to run everything I needed, was great at handling Windows, and it would save me the cost, space, and power of having to use a discrete GPU.

As the time came to buy the components, the price of the 5700G spiked. So I looked at the Ryzen 5 version of that chip, the 5600G. It was nearly $100 cheaper and although it had two fewer CPU cores, its performance compared favorably to my existing Ryzen 7 1700X. I pulled the trigger on all the parts and looked forward to an infusion of upgrades coming in the form of a more modern motherboard, CPU, NVMe SSD, and a healthy 32GB of RAM. 

It Lives!

I put the 5600G system together and it was great. Performance was good, the motherboard came with a BIOS version already capable of handling the CPU on the first boot, and the RAM and NVMe drive are fast and I wasn't getting any random reboots. 

It DIES!

What the fuck. After two blissful weeks the new system started to spontaneously reboot as the old system had. I was so frustrated. Again I started the scouring of the web for testimonials from others with the same issue. And there were definitely others that had the same issue. But as before, everyone had a different solution.

Several found out it was a power issue and that the Ryzens have trouble with power fluctuations as the PC tries to conserve or feed more juice as the PC's needs change. Some fixed it by switching the Windows power profile from balanced to high power. Others went into the BIOS and turned off overclocking or slightly increased CPU core voltage. Some increased voltage to the RAM.

It's so damned frustrating to not know exactly what it was. But it really did seem like there was something to the power angle, especially since this seems to happen when the system idles and not when it's active. I can't believe the Ryzen APU itself was broken, but perhaps gradual degradation or change in the chip after running with power for two weeks led to an instability and required an adjustment to fix it.

I tried many of the suggestions online and as of right now, I've not had any crashes after turning off these three power-related settings in the BIOS:

• Disabled the RAM "Power Down Mode"
• Disabled "Precision Boost Overdrive"
• Disabled something else I'll have to look up.

All of the victims of this had different solutions, but shared a common suffering. It was painstakingly time consuming to endure so many reboots, changes of settings, futile research, and absolute exasperation. At least a few just returned the CPU and tried a different one. I'm on the cusp of going to Intel if I can't get this working. 

Back to Basics

I repeated a step with the 5600G system that worked with the 1700X system. I did a Windows reset/reinstall. And it worked. The system was stable again. And has been since. I'm really happy with the system.

Looking back, the problem started after I'd updated a bunch of AMD drivers for video and CPU. What this tells me is that one of the driver updates caused the issue. So this time around, I only installed driver updates as Windows recommended them, rather than preemptively going to the AMD site and downloading the latest. It's disappointing that I can't trust the latest drivers, but clearly there's something off in either the driver or the site recommendations on which drivers to use because the system is rock solid now. There's something in the video or CPU drivers that must be yielding perhaps a memory conflict. 

There was a time when I always liked to go get the latest drivers. Now, for this PC at least, I'm adopting the old adage: "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." 

Annual Memorial Day Post: 2023

Here we go. I'm going to potentially doom myself and write about an emotionally charged topic. Perhaps this post will be censored or taken down or I'll be burned alive in social media court, but remember it's just my opinion.

Talking About White Privilege

When I first heard the phrase "white privilege" I didn't like the concept and I didn't believe in it. I have always tended to agree with the argument that the answer to racism is not more racism, and outward finger pointing is just about the worst way to solve a problem. The finger should start by pointing inward, and honestly making sure you're not the one full of shit. 

I didn't like the sense that bandying around the catchphrase "white privilege" seemed to be accusing others of racism, when they may not have been racist. The false accusations and declarations of guilt without a trial so common in media today are signs of our civilization's regression to something barbaric. The smart are losing ground to the stupid and it's depressing. 

But I took a harder look at the concept of "white privilege" and although the extremists at either ends of the spectrum might disagree with my reasoning, I've come to an acceptance of it by recognizing it as an extension of a concept I learned about in management studies. 

The Halo Effect

In behavioral science, the halo effect represents the tendency for certain physical traits to impart the benefit of the doubt to the possessor of the trait. An example is height. Height is often perceived as a leadership indicator, even if the tall person is a complete idiot and couldn't lead himself/herself down a one-way street. With time and experience, the truth of a person's capabilities becomes known, but fresh off the starting line, people with halo effect traits have an advantage.

The most common example I remembered from management classes where I read about the halo effect is beauty. Attractive people tended to get the benefit of the doubt on first impressions as trustworthy or competent. In a group of people all applying for the same position, the most attractive person had the edge in being given the opportunity. There's some biological explanation here too, I'm sure, as most would like to be around people considered attractive. 

And yes, lighter skin is something that could be considered a positive trait. We'd like to think that isn't the case. We'd like to think that everyone is judged on their character and competence and not by how tall they are or the color of their hair or skin. But biology tells us that isn't the case. Even the most aware, intelligent, and disciplined of us can't change the fact that we're human and can succumb to stereotypes and preconceived notions when developing a first impression. 

Demographics or Bias?

I have met people of all colors and can't draw any definitive association about racism to color. Yes, I've met white people that were rude and made racist comments, and I've met non-white people that have done it too. Conversely, I've met wonderful people of all colors. 

As I said before, this is why I didn't like the idea of racial privilege. But that was smart me trying to reach for the ideal. I tried to reason that a white person has an advantage in an environment where whites are the majority. It made sense to me that people fear the unfamiliar and are more comfortable with the familiar. In a predominantly white population, it wasn't intentionally hostile discrimination but simply familiarity that would favor people of similar traits. 

Then I heard that lighter skin is a halo effect trait and that even in populations that are non-white, the lighter skinned generally benefitted from it. There are a number of studies on this and I won't get into it here but this told me I was incorrect in assuming it was merely a matter of demographics (although I'm not ready to fully discount demographics as at least a factor in the equation). The halo effect, or reverse halo effect, could be active in any environment and like height or beauty, skin tone could have an effect, perhaps as a part of the perception of beauty.

Another superficiality that imparts the halo effect is the shape of eyes. I bring this into the discussion because in a totally different culture, you can see how a trait can have a similar effect. The Japanese graphic novels (manga) and animated cartoons (anime) are huge components of their culture's media consumption. In many of these stories, villains often have narrow or slanted eyes while the heroes often have circular eyes (and also often, lighter skin). 

The Treadmill

So, ultimately, I've sort of come around to the idea of white privilege as a part of the halo effect. This does not mean that the people engaging in awarding or benefitting from the halo effect are racists. You can make the argument that it is a form of discrimination and that it has negative effects, especially when exercised by gatekeepers of opportunity, and that's an acceptable argument. We cannot however, assume that all people engage it in or that they are hostile. I'm living proof that you can be non-white and make a sustainable living by being employable and offering some value to an employer. 

What finally convinced me to accept the concept of white privilege? Corny though it might sound, it was a video game analogy. In many games you may control a character that earns experience points and then gains levels, which then allow you to improve your character's abilities. This system of advancement is often referred to as a "level treadmill" as you keep grinding on the treadmill to earn new levels. 

I came to think of it this way: On the level treadmill of life, the easiest difficulty setting is White Male. I'm ok with this analogy because it made sense to me. It's not saying the person on the treadmill is evil or racist which is good because they probably aren't. It's simply acknowledging the halo effect. 

How do we solve this problem? I think it isn't solvable. It's like an incurable but manageable disease. Human beings are imperfect, that's part of what makes us human. It is through education and communication that we improve and learn and develop the wisdom to work against our base instincts, but you can never remove the base instincts. And it is very natural for humans to be wary when faced with something different or unfamiliar. But we can manage it better by installing better leaders and better teachers. That's probably one of the best ways to attack the issue. Unfortunately, we have problems in politics and business and especially law where questionable people achieve leadership positions. And we have problems in education where administrators are doing their best to make the teaching profession unattractive...but those are discussions for different blog posts. 

I'd Rather be Here than Not

I need to tie this post into Memorial Day, so here it is. You may not like the level treadmill, which can also symbolize the Sisyphean life of working for retirement, but I'm darn glad to have it compared to some of the alternatives (like slavery). And we have it because someone died to keep us from some of those worse alternatives. Gratitude as always for our veterans.