Filip Norrgård’s blog @ filips.net
Filip’s blog about mobile technology, tech itself and other stuff

Happy New Year!
2 January 2008 in Root | Comments (0)

Hyvää uutta vuotta!

Gott nytt år!

I wish all of my readers a successful, happy start to the new year!

Happy Holidays!
24 December 2007 in Root | Comments (0)

To all my friends and readers, I wish you:

Happy Holidays!

alternatively, if you happen to be Christian, then I wish you:

Merry Xmas!

God Jul!

Hyvää Joulua!

No More Corrupt INFCACHE
9 December 2007 in Root & Updates and Fixes | Comments (0)

I have previously had problems with Vista and especially getting new (and old) hardware to find their own drivers. The problem was previously caused by a corrupt INFCACHE and was only recently fixed by Microsoft in an fix related to knowledge base article 040199:

“When you try to install a new hardware device on a Windows Vista-based computer, Windows Vista cannot install the driver for the hardware device successfully. Additionally, you may sometimes receive the following error message:
Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device. Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
Device_Name
This problem occurs if the Infcache.1 file that is in the %Windir%\System32 folder is deleted or corrupted.”

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940199

I haven’t gotten the update via Windows Update just yet, but only via Problem Reports and Solutions feature in Vista. You can,however, download the update yourself for 32-bit Vista or 64-bit Vista. In conclusion, I think it is safe to say that it seems like someone at Microsoft has been reading those 80-something problem reports that I’ve been sending in relation to the corrupt INFCACHE problem. Which is a good thing, of course.

Let Google Calculator Get the Modulus for You!
25 October 2007 in How-To & Phones & Root | Comments (0)

In a math class this fall, the teacher has some difficulty calculating the modulus of a large exponential. I didn’t have my trusty Texas Instruments calculator with me at that time but tried to calculate the answer using Google on my Nokia phone. I was quite surprised to find the answer by just entering the problem directly into the search field of Google:

8^6 mod 11

or, 8 to the power of 6 modulus 11, which is congruent with 3 (if you needed to know that). This is very useful for calculating the modulus required for encryption problems such as RSA public key and Diffie-Hellman key exchange math problems and times when you don’t have MatLab, Excel or Mathematica at hand. (Or if you only have Opera Mini preloaded on your phone…)

Is Anyone Selling High Resolution Music Videos Yet?
25 October 2007 in Root | Comments (0)

It just hit me while watching a music video on YouTube that: is anyone selling high resolution music videos on the net yet? Sure, iTunes is selling some music videos (and that’s a US only feature?) but as far as I know those are not really HDTV quality like in 720p resolution.

Anyone notice some legal source of HDTV quality music videos that you can buy anywhere? If not, this might be a great business area for the BitTorrent company to move into once they’ve gotten the old farts in RIAA convinced of the business prospects…

Snow Surprises and Causes Crashes
12 October 2007 in Rant & Root | Comments (0)

Well, well, although the weather forecast has promised snow and minus degrees (in Celsius) for this week since last week, people are still surprised by the new snow. All Finnish news agencies and -papers have reported of multiple fender benders around southern Finland which got some snow and cold weather for today. It is amazing that people can’t seem to learn to adjust their tires and driving style to the weather, no matter what the weather forecast is promising.

But, all is not the average Joe’s fault. Finnish “temporary” tax on cars is ridiculous: it favors buying old, unsafe, CO2 spewing rust buckets with wheels rather than safer, newer, more efficient cars. Somewhat ironic is that the government cannot pre-announce any changes to the car taxation system, because the car sales are expected to plummet to zero and some car sellers may have to close up the shop. In fact, the worst part is that the tax on a car bought is 100%. Yes, you read that right. Buy two cars, get only one car. This is what the law on car taxation says, which even more ironically was supposed to be a temporary law when introduced somewhere around ten years ago.

The tax means people driving around in older cars are virtually risking their lives everytime they go out driving. Car crashes leading to death of the passengers have been increasing, and the police is saying: “Let’s put up more speed cameras!”. Yeah, since surely all the crashes are caused by speeding and not the old safety designs in what is the European Union’s oldest carpool. I even read something more evil: there is a possibility for the police to (in the near future?) measure the time it takes for a car to pass two speed cameras and calculate the time taken between the two points and deduce if the car has been speeding between the two points. So, no more overtaking slower gramps causing traffic havoc cruising too slow and creating miles of lines in their Volvos and Mercedes´ with that system in place?

I wonder if the one death that the slippery roads today caused could have been avoided if the owner had a newer car. (Of course, there is nothing safer than having brand new winter tires under the brand new car either and keeping your distance to the car in front.)

Heroes Alternative Theme Song?
10 October 2007 in Root | Comments (0)

Initially, when I first saw the posts raving the TV series “Heroes”, I wondered what kind of TV show proclaims that it is all about heroes. Fortunately Wikipedia answered my question: it isn’t a documentary nor a reality show, but a science fiction drama. The first season apparently was show in the US back in 2006 and will now start showing in Finland on October 17th on MTV3 this year (2007).

Interestingly, for the TV ads for Heroes series start in Finland, MTV3 used a local band as the song for the show: mixing and integrating the original Heroes theme song into Poets of the Fall’s “Locking Up the Sun” song. Perhaps coincidentally, the PotF song is from their 2nd album also released in 2006, and it contextually touches the Heroes TV series plot, at least as far as I can deduct from the articles on the show in Wikipedia. Here is a quote from the chorus in the song (the lyrics are available on the band’s website):

Is there a hero somewhere, someone who appears and saves the day
Someone who holds out a hand and turns back time
Is there a hero somewhere, someone who will never walk away
Who doesn’t turn a blind eye to a crime

People who have seen the show, or read the spoilers in Wikipedia will understand that the show and the song’s lyrics fits together like a glove (unless we’re talking about OJ’s glove).

Somewhat funny is that someone has made a fan tribute video on YouTube with the same song played over the Heroes opening credits. People should note that this was about half a year before MTV3 started airing their commercials for the show, which might indicate (although highly unlikely) that someone at MTV3 has also seen the clip on YouTube. (You can see the video below)

And, yeah, this is a shameless plug for the band from my side, as I’m a fan of the band.

Analog Television Is Soon Dead; Long Live Digital TV!
27 August 2007 in Root | Comments (0)

Finland is about to take a final big step into the digital (TV) era, as only 4, yes 4, days of analog television broadcasting remains today. On the 1st of September 2007, Finland will only be broadcasting television in the digital DVB format. Some cable subscribers might have gotten an extension on getting a digital television or set-top box, since the cable providers are allowed to send some digital channels as analog for a short time into the future. However, the terrestrial TV viewers will have to have a digital TV or set-top box working this Saturday or they will be only watching “The War of the Ants” ad infinitum.

Getting a total of 30 channels (not counting some regional TV channels) of new terrestrial channels, is a big change to the 4 or 5 analog channels we had before. I’m looking forward to watching some new pay-TV channels like the Discovery Channel and MTV Finland using just a simple terrestrial reciever in the very near future.

Some people, however, are not as happy. Most antenna professionals are fully booked for this week and next as people have been late out with getting ready (as can be expected). Lots of digital set-top boxes are being sold like no tomorrow, and some more optimal antennas are also being ripped from the hands of electornics retailers. And some people are not getting any digital TV picture at all, or crappy such.

Fact is that too many people have 1) bought a cheap digibox which does a crappy job at recieving low signal strenghts and might not even support some of the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s subtitling (ironically as the subtitles used by FBC is standardized) 2) are using a cheap log-periodic antenna which can do a resonably good job at recieving analog TV (in the VHF region) but not the digital TV (in the UHF region). Futhermore, as digital TV broadcasts use channel-wise less bandwidth than the analog TV, the signal quality for the digital TV can rapidly worsen when using an unefficient antenna or when in a bad coverage area with an insufficient antenna.

Although people have been informed that they should get prepared for the digital era and what they can do if the picture quallity is bad, many have left this to the last seconds or just given up claiming that the “digital is crap”. I guess this is what everyone can expect of changes that require some little work from one’s own side; we Finns are wanting more efficiency that makes it more easy — not harder — for us to live our daily lives. Much like the current tax forms we get prefilled out and if everthings a-OK, we do not have to do anything. If there’s anything to correct, then one just has to correct the incorrect details and send it in before the deadline.

How Often Should INFCACHE Go Corrupt?
21 August 2007 in Root | Comments (0)

I’ve been running Vista since January and nowadays it will not install any driver properly until I’ve deleted the INFCACHE file. Before deleting it, Windows cannot find the driver although the driver is supposed to be included with Windows. After deleting the file, Windows finds the driver fast as a Ferrari… which really makes the cache idea look bad.

Don’t Install The Vista Bluetooth Update!
12 July 2007 in Root | Comments (2)

This warning goes out to all of you Windows Vista users that use Bluetooth: don’t install the latest IVT Bluetooth Driver update that comes through Windows Update! If you do, then you’re in for a heap of trouble… like I was.

For reasons unkown, Microsoft has pushed out the update driver which only seems to break Bluetooth stacks and implementations. Thankfully, the solution is quite simple:

1. Open Device Manager (using e.g. Start Menu’s search or Control Panel)
2. Expand (if not expanded already) Bluetooth Radio
3. Right click “Wlink Bluetooth Controller“
4. Click Uninstall
5. Check the box for “Delete the driver software for this device“
6. Click OK
7. Now let Windows automatically find the drivers for your Bluetooth radio.

No HID Bluetooth Driver? Then Delete One File

I had problems with getting my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse working after trying to pair them with my computer, so if you are having the same problems, here is how to get it fixed. It seems the INFCACHE.1 file (much too) easily becomes corrupt. The solution is to delete it:

1. Go to %windir%\inf\
2. Find INFCACHE.1 and open Properties
3. In the Security tab, add your username and give yourself full control
4. Now, you should be able to delete INFCACHE.1 — if not, check that your permissions to the file
5. Now try to let Windows automatically find the drivers for your  Bluetooth drivers.

Bluetooth Mouse Driver Problems? No Problem!

If you get problems with the mouse, then you need to find and delete the driver for the CHIC mouse. The message I got was the following:

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
USB Browser Mouse
An error occurred during the installation of the device.
The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry.
This may be because the INF was written for Windows 95 or later. Contact your
hardware vendor. If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and
check the support section for driver software.

Do the following:

1. Open Windows Update and click on View Update History on the left side.
2. Find “CHIC - Other Hardware - USB Browser Mouse” and make note of the date. (Mine was from the 16th of February, 2007 — your date will vary.)
3. Again, go to the INF folder: %windir%\inf\
4. Using the date from step 2, filter the files so that only the files from that date are visible and delete them all.
5. Allow Windows to find the proper mouse driver.

Thanks to these sources: [Peter Caplan via Microsoft newsgroups] ["USB Browser Mouse Error" by Kirb.com]