technabob » error http://technabob.com/blog gadgets, gizmos, games, cool gadgets, geeky gadgets Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:53:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 “black lines of death” on the wii, just in the time for the release of the black wii http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/16/wii-black-lines-of-death/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/16/wii-black-lines-of-death/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:54:22 +0000 lambert v. http://technabob.com/blog/?p=16877 the bbps‘ Marc DeAngelis is one unhappy Wii-owner. His friend pointed out several black vertical lines that flickered on and off the screen while they were playing. His friend added that that same thing happened to him; he had to have his console’s GPU replaced. So DeAngelis did what anyone with a problem would do: surf the ‘net and see if anyone else was having the same problem. Sure enough, DeAngelis found forums complaining about the GPU overheating as well as the symptomatic black lines. Here’s a sample picture from the Gamespot forums:

wii-black-lines-of-death-1

Note the lines below the coins and on the tree leaves. Here’s a closer look (but with a different game):

wii-black-lines-of-death-2

Unfortunately for him, DeAngelis’ Wii is already out of warranty, so he’ll have to pony up the money for repairs. If you’ve seen the same black lines while using your console, better have it replaced before anything worse happens. The Gamespot thread is nearly 2 years old, so I’m wondering if this only applies to a batch of Wii consoles or if it’s a problem all Wiis will eventually have.

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/16/wii-black-lines-of-death/feed/ 4 error message of the day http://technabob.com/blog/2007/10/18/error-message-of-the-day/ http://technabob.com/blog/2007/10/18/error-message-of-the-day/#comments Fri, 19 Oct 2007 01:00:31 +0000 technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2007/10/18/error-message-of-the-day/ My previous all-time favorite error message was “Transaction Cannot Start in Firehose Mode,” but I think I have a new one to top the list. Apparently this error occurs when there isn’t anything wrong.

No Error Occurred

The head-scratcher of an error message simply reads “Error: No error occurred.” This gets me wondering why this message doesn’t appear every time an error doesn’t occur. Heck, it should be the norm in all applications. Then, the absence of an error message would mean that something really went wrong. Seems like a good idea to me. Maybe it could be part of the Web 3.0 standard.

It’s all part of my evil plan to make millions selling pop-up blocking software to prevent these buggers. Whoops, did I say that out loud?

[via TechEBlog]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2007/10/18/error-message-of-the-day/feed/ 2 ironic image of the day: airport security http://technabob.com/blog/2007/07/09/ironic-image-of-the-day-airport-security/ http://technabob.com/blog/2007/07/09/ironic-image-of-the-day-airport-security/#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:12:47 +0000 technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2007/07/09/ironic-image-of-the-day-airport-security/ I’m sure this is no indication of the level of security in airport computer systems…

Airport Security

…but it sure doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy about flying.

Keep up the good work!

[via flickr via DevicePedia]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2007/07/09/ironic-image-of-the-day-airport-security/feed/ 3 never put your money in this bank http://technabob.com/blog/2007/06/09/never-put-your-money-in-this-bank/ http://technabob.com/blog/2007/06/09/never-put-your-money-in-this-bank/#comments Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:15:33 +0000 technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2007/06/09/never-put-your-money-in-this-bank/ I’m always wondering about those suspicious looking automatic teller machines you see in every little bodega and convenience store these days. You know… Will my ATM card get eaten? Will they steal my PIN number? Will it wipe all the money out of my bank account?

Apparently, the Russian bank which owns this ATM either didn’t bother to activate the copy of Windows installed on its internal computer, or is running a bootleg copy of the operating system. Either way, its done nothing to instill confidence in my use of ATMs.

Russian ATM With Unactivated Windows

It’s bad enough that so many our our financial transactions run through such an insecure and unstable operating system as Windows, but this has gotta take the cake.

Now I don’t know much about the liquidity of the banks in Russia, but I’d say to steer clear of this one for sure.

[via EnglishRussia via The Raw Feed]

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