Vaio Win8.1 Ethernet Woes

Upgraded the Sony S-series Vaio laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 Pro. Since then the Gigabit Ethernet never did work. I tried uninstalling/installing the Realtek PCIe GBE drivers a couple of times - from Sony's website and from Windows Update. Doesn't seem to be a problem with the drivers though. However, the system keeps saying "Network cabled unplugged".

After a bit of experimenting, I finally managed to find the culprit. Right-click on the Ethernet connection, and select Properties. Select Configure. Under the Power Management tab, unselect "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". And just like that, the Ethernet connection came up.

Vivid Sydney 2014

It was the second-to-the-last night of Vivid Sydney, so I was expecting it to be crowded, even if it's freezing cold. Wasn't expecting the CBD to be packed. I mean, there is no train or bus service to Circular Quay. Buses stop at QVB, and trains stop at Wynyard. Most of the roads leading to Circular Quay have been closed to vehicular traffic. Yet there's people everywhere.

 

First stop for me was Martin Place. A few of the restaurants were open till late. Also have a bunch of pop-up stalls selling food and drinks. Near the end of Martin Place, I turned left and made my way to Circular Quay. There were a few displays along the promenade towards Opera House, but they crowd was so thick, I didn't go for a look anymore. At the Opera House, everyone had their tablets and phones raised, taking photos and videos of the light display. After a while, year after year, these projections start to lose their novelty.

 

I would've like to cross over to the other side and look at the lights show at MCA and the Harbour Bridge, but I ran out of time. Still have to walk all the way to Town Hall to catch my bus to Pyrmont. I'm beginning to think this will be one of the last Vivids for me.

cdundee Outed!

Was talking to a colleague at the cafeteria this morning. He mentioned that he bought a coffee machine from a deal he saw at Ozbargain. It's $69 for a Map MIA coffee machine, plus 140 capsules. Dirt cheap! And to think that he already has an Aldi Expressi machine - probably from another deal.

He was saying that at $69, it's a no-brainer. Officeworks was being ozbargained, and the website and payment system started going haywire. He was about pay for his purchase, and he noticed that Paypal had someone else's name and delivery address.

This anecdote sounded a little familiar to me, so I went back to the deal's comments section. And there it was - user cdundee talking about the same exact experience. Hello, cdundee!

Windows 8.1 on Sony Vaio VPCSD28EC

So the wife started to use her Sony Vaio again, and just as luck would have it, it broke itself. According to her, notification windows with Chinese characters started popping up. She tried escaping them away, but they kept coming back, so she powered off the laptop. When she tried booting up again, the laptop would display the Windows 7 splash screen, then hang.

We bought the laptop in China a couple of years ago. My guess is that it's actually running Chinese Windows, and the guys in the shop simply installed some translation software to make it look like English Windows. That would explain the Chinese error screens, now that the system is malfunctioning.

At this point, I have the option of pressing F10, and restore from the hidden system recovery partition, or do a clean install. You can probably guess which option I chose. My only worry with doing a clean install of Windows 8.1 is that the function keys won't work as intended anymore. Other people managed to get the function keys working properly after a clean install, but their Vaios are better supported with proper Windows 8 upgrade drivers from Sony. For the Vaio VPCSD28EC, the support page is here. The download page is pretty sparse though. Just the original drivers and applications, plus Windows 8 versions of Vaio Care and Vaio Control Center.

After installing Windows 8.1, Ethernet and WiFi are detected properly. Windows Update downloaded the Bluetooth and AMD Radeon graphics drivers. I executed all the drivers and application installers from the support page. Some installed properly, while some aborted themselves due to non-compatibility with Windows 8.1. Also installed the upgrade apps for Vaio Care and Vaio Control Center, but didn't seem to do anything. The function keys for volume control and page navigation work, but not for brightness control and sleep. It's a good thing those can be done from Windows itself.

For brightness control, an option is to enable adaptive brightness. Another option is to bring up the Charms Bar (hover on lower-right corner), select Settings, then Brightness. Or simply Winkey+I. Problem solved.

Mobie 2014.05.17 - Chef

Feel-good movie about a chef who loses his job after having a public argument with a food critic who gave him a bad review. To get back his mojo, he goes on a road trip on a food truck with his buddy and his son. At the end of the journey, he managed to patch up with his estranged wife, and start his own Cuban restaurant, courtesy of said food critic/blogger.

Great performances all around. This movie has heart. Jon Favreau is convincing as Chef Carl Casper. Emjay Anthoney as his son Percy is a natural. I can just imagine me and Aidan having the same conversation. "Can I ...?" "No, Daddy has to work." Sofia Vergara and Robert Downey Jr. as the ex-wife and the ex-husband are just being themselves, I guess. The one thing I can't understand is how did Chef Casper and Inez break up in the first place? I mean, she's hot, she sexy, she's rich, she's hot, and she's funny. Did I mention she's hot? Everything else is negotiable.

Movie 2014.05.11 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Nice special effects. That's pretty much the only good thing going for the movie. Plot is simple and dragging. The dialogue is bland and stiff. The acting is so-so.

Edmund and Luct gets drawn back to Narnia, as there is a new evil lurking in the shadows. This time they brought along their grouchy, pompous cousin Eustace along for the adventure. The seven Telmarine lords have gone missing, and Caspian sails on the Dawn Treader in search for them. First distraction is the port of Narrowhaven, where Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are captured by slave traders and later rescued by the crew. At the next stop, Lucy gets abducted by invisible creatures, learns some spells from the Book of Incantations, and meets the Oppressor. He tells the guys to collect the seven swords of the lords and lay them on Aslan's table at the island of Ramandu, in order to defeat the Evil Force. At another island, Eustace picks up some forbidden treasure and becomes a fire-breathing dragon. Which is mighty handy, as he pulls the ship when there is no wind, and fights with any sea serpent that might come along.

In the end, Aslan restores Eustace to his human form, the guys manage to collect all seven swords and defeat the evil mist, Aslan gives a long motivational speech, and Edmund and Lucy and Eustace go back to England to resume their boring lives.

Movie 2014.05.10 - The World's End

Movie about a pub crawl that took 17 years to complete - taking the participants literally to The World's End.

Gary King (Simon Pegg) is hell-bent on completing the Golden Mile, a pub crawl in his hometown of Newton Haven that traverses 12 pubs, culminating at The World's End. He rounds up his old mates for a rematch. Halfway through the pub crawl, they discovered that some of the townsfolk are actually blanks - people who have been converted by the aliens known as The Network. This doesn't seem to faze the guys, as they continue on with their pub crawl.

When they get to The World's End, the remaining buddies have a shouting match with The Network. The aliens decided these loonies are not worth civilizing, and leaves town. An electromagnetic pulse takes out all the technology in the world, bringing back the Dark Ages. Meanwhile, Gary King and his merry band of blanks start another pub brawl somewhere.

I'm thinking there's a type of audience that likes this kind of nonsense movie. There were a few heartfelt moments showing why Gary needs to complete the pub crawl, but not good enough for me.

Movie 2014.05.08 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Another sudden cliffhanger. As if I haven't learned my lesson after watching An Unexpected Journey. I keep forgetting that there's one more movie to come.

So I sat there and watched the Company get lost in the forest of Mirkwood, fight off the spiders, escape from the elves and the orcs, enter the Lonely Mountain on Durin's Day, and harass Smaug. And then, the end.

I promise, next time I won't be fooled again.

No SIM Found

HTC started having problems taking photos. Video mode won't take any videos. Lens blur mode photos are severely under-exposed. Pretty sure Google Camera was working before. No FC, just hang or reboot.

Reflashed to the previous stable build to compare. Still not working. Maybe it needs a full wipe (format /data). If that's the case, might as well use the latest nightly build and the latest gapps. One thing I noticed, the phone didn't ask for the SIM unlock code anymore. Outgoing mobile calls work, but incoming calls go straight to voicemail.

After flashing to the latest build, now it tells me "No SIM found". Flashed back to the last stable build. Same thing. Tried the SIM on another phone, and it works fine. So possibly the SIM module got broken somehow. A bit more fiddling, then I noticed that I've been inserting the SIM card the wrong way. Turns out the HTC accepts either ends of the SIM card. Bad design.