- Wiring harness connects at bottom of passenger side door column, therefore must remove door openings lower trim and column trim
- Recline seats and remove headrests
- I removed the deteriorating foam by scraping and brushing (no foam for the new material). The replacement fabric I used was not headliner fabric, but looks fine. Lay out the fabric on the cleaned headliner board, fold it in the middle, spray the board and fabric with adhesive, glue it down, then repeat for the other half
- I used one can of 3M 38808 Headliner & Fabric Adhesive (18.1oz). This was barely enough. I used two coats rather than the specified three, but since my fabric is very lightweight, I think it will be OK long term. Next time I would look for something less expensive that I could use more of. I would also leave some extra fabric in the front, and fold it around the front edge (this is the only edge that is not covered by weatherstripping and/or trim)
- Clip the map light assembly into it's supporting tray before installing the headliner
- Some of the upper trim that had to pull out to remove will sort of be in the way during replacement, but can move it out of the way as necessary
- Can initially hold the headliner up with just the three plastic retainers
Monday, May 11, 2015
2005 Dodge Caravan Headliner
R&R is basically obvious, but here's what I learned.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
2005 Dodge Caravan radiator replacement
There is a problem when trying to lift the condenser up
slightly to detach it from the radiator.
The condenser has tabs that sit in hooks near the bottom of the radiator
frame sides. There are plastic air dams
that clip to the sides of the radiator between it and the condenser. On the passenger side, the hard plastic part
of the air dam stops the refrigerant tubes from being lifted up with
condenser. On the drivers side the
transmission cooler hoses hit the radiator drain area. I was finally able to get things unhooked
and the old radiator out without fully understanding the problem. When reinstalling, I removed the fascia so I
could see what was the problem. This
allowed me to move the side air dam for clearance with the refrigerant tubes
while installing.
It is not at all difficult to remove the fascia. Take it off as an assembly with the grill
and underside plastic fairing. The
headlights must be removed for access to a nut holding the fascia to the
body. Must also remove a vertical screw
that access from the front of the wheelwell.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Android Music
-
Began this b/c Amazon Music would not play from cloud on
Avatar tablet
-
On Avatar, must download Amazon Music before will play. S4 will play from cloud. Why is this?
-
Can queue multiple albums by starting a download, then going
back and selecting another album
-
Amazon Music file locations (virtual SD card with limited space)
-
Purchased (.mp3 files):
/mnt/sdcard/music/album artist/album
- view in Settings>Storage>Nand Flash>Audio (see total used)
- view in Settings>Storage>Nand Flash>Audio (see total used)
-
Prime (.m4a files):
/mnt/sdcard/android/data/com.amazon.mp3/files/music/album
artist/album
- view in Settings>Storage>Nand Flash>Apps>Amazon Music (SD card field shows total used)
- view in Settings>Storage>Nand Flash>Apps>Amazon Music (SD card field shows total used)
In either case can view:
Settings>Storage>Nand Flash>Audio and select ES File Explorer
-
moved Amazon Music App from Internal Storage to Nand Flash,
then back since presently have more room there (Prime .m4a files using Nand
Flash space)
-
note multiple ways
refer to virtual SD card (Nand Flash, sdcard, USB storage app [when Move to SD
card])
-
when move an app to (virtual) SD card, a small amount remains
in Internal Storage and more than the original amount is used by “USB storage
app”. Restore to original by “Move to
Tablet”
-
BubbleUPnP works well with purchased /downloaded Amazon Music
files and with Google Music
-
I need to clean up my Google Music library
-
must sync when make changes to Google Music
-
free version will not open Filesystem or External SD Card
folders
-
if I run into space issues, move non-Prime music to real SD
card and upgrade to paid version, or use another player to play locally. Network play can use NAS as source
Sunday, March 17, 2013
CenturyLink Prism
History: I've had CentruyLink DSL for a few years. Until recently, the service had a lot of intermittent outages, most of which could be fixed by a telephone call and asking them to "rebuild my profile".
They started offering Prism TV about a year ago. I've received a lot of calls and mailings promoting the service. I didn't sign up primarily because of the DSL outages. I also had a concern about there only being two hi-def channels available at a time.
On one of the recent calls, the representative gave a "final" monthly cost that would save me about $60 over what I am paying for combined DirecTV and CentruyLink services. That with other perks, taken together, finally convinced me to make the change.
Prism advantages vs. the DirecTV that I had:
- Package saves $60/month
- "Whole Home" DVR
- Smaller, better looking boxes
- Easier/cleaner to connect; one cable (Cat5) vs. four (2 coax, one Cat5, one telephone)
- Service during rainstorms
- Quicker channel changes
- Internet speed increase if not watching TV (20 Mbps vs. 10)
- A much better router
- One bill to pay (vs. two)
- $100 rebate
- $50 off first month
Even if DirecTV could match the cost and aesthetics issues, there is nothing they can do about internet speed and simplicity advantages.
3/18/2013: Two days after installation, I am very pleased with the new Prism system. The only way I can imagine being disappointed is if there is significant service interruption or billing problems. I will continue to add followup comments as time goes by.
3/20/2013: Several hours after the above post, we began to see "freezing". This would last from several seconds to a minute or so at a time, and would repeat at random but frequent intervals. I called, the tech said she could not see any problem on the line or in the router, so would send a tech out the next day (yesterday). After the call, speedtest.net showed that I was getting 20mbps down during a TV freeze. Power cycling the router seemed to fix the problem for 45 minutes to an hour at a time.
A very helpful tech (Carlos), came out yesterday and spent several hours here. We actually were not having real problems yesterday before he got here, but "fortunately" we did see them while he was here. Also, we began to see crazy fluctuations in reported download speeds using speedtest.net and the CenturyLink speed test site. He tried a number of fixes. First, he replaced the router. The original router showed a lot of errors, and by the s/n he could tell that it was a refurbished unit. Next, he checked the wiring at the NID and made new connections - the guy who ran the temporary "on top of the ground" cable from the box several hundred feet away had tightened the connector nuts so much that the wires were flattened almost to the breaking point. We still saw speed and picture issues, so Carlos then changed the ports in the DSLAM down the street.
Items of note:
- My router is for ADSL and uses two pair. I need an ADSL router because of the distance to the DSLAM (3000 ft.). The VDSL router uses only one pair in neighborhoods where people are very close to the DSLAMs. They have a newer "combination" router that replaces both, and may be worth a try.
- I am almost at the maximum distance for 2 hi-def streams. This makes me wonder how many other people around here will get Prism, as there are only a few closer to the DSLAM than I am.
- The installer said that the router should be plugged directly into the wall, not into my UPS to avoid "voltage changes". I asked Carlos about this and he confirmed that is what they have been told, but agrees that it makes little sense. Once things are stable, I will change to UPS power, although I now wish I had one with sine wave output.
3/21/2013: After yesterdays comments, I noticed we could not pause or rewind live TV. I called, and the agent was at first going to schedule a tech to come out, but then asked me to power cycle the router, and she then remotely rebooted the DVR and other boxes. That fixed the recording problem, but we still saw a few short duration freezes yesterday afternoon on HGTV. Looking at the guide, adjacent channels were not frozen. The problem went away and has not returned yet. Internet speed is very good (20mbps+)
5/11/2014: I should have been paying more attention to the interest in this blog. Over the last six months I've been consistently getting speeds of 25 Mb/s down and 1 Mb/s up even while watching one HD channel. TV usage sometimes seems to have more of an affect on internet speed than at others. Speedtest.net just said 13 Mb/s down, 1 Mb/s up while watching two HD channels and recording one more. (Yes, I can have three simultaneous HD streams with no problem, despite what I was initially told.) I do still miss DirecTV's remote and user interface. In lots of ways it just seemed "easier" to do things with DirecTV.
They started offering Prism TV about a year ago. I've received a lot of calls and mailings promoting the service. I didn't sign up primarily because of the DSL outages. I also had a concern about there only being two hi-def channels available at a time.
On one of the recent calls, the representative gave a "final" monthly cost that would save me about $60 over what I am paying for combined DirecTV and CentruyLink services. That with other perks, taken together, finally convinced me to make the change.
Prism advantages vs. the DirecTV that I had:
- Package saves $60/month
- "Whole Home" DVR
- Smaller, better looking boxes
- Easier/cleaner to connect; one cable (Cat5) vs. four (2 coax, one Cat5, one telephone)
- Service during rainstorms
- Quicker channel changes
- Internet speed increase if not watching TV (20 Mbps vs. 10)
- A much better router
- One bill to pay (vs. two)
- $100 rebate
- $50 off first month
Even if DirecTV could match the cost and aesthetics issues, there is nothing they can do about internet speed and simplicity advantages.
3/18/2013: Two days after installation, I am very pleased with the new Prism system. The only way I can imagine being disappointed is if there is significant service interruption or billing problems. I will continue to add followup comments as time goes by.
3/20/2013: Several hours after the above post, we began to see "freezing". This would last from several seconds to a minute or so at a time, and would repeat at random but frequent intervals. I called, the tech said she could not see any problem on the line or in the router, so would send a tech out the next day (yesterday). After the call, speedtest.net showed that I was getting 20mbps down during a TV freeze. Power cycling the router seemed to fix the problem for 45 minutes to an hour at a time.
A very helpful tech (Carlos), came out yesterday and spent several hours here. We actually were not having real problems yesterday before he got here, but "fortunately" we did see them while he was here. Also, we began to see crazy fluctuations in reported download speeds using speedtest.net and the CenturyLink speed test site. He tried a number of fixes. First, he replaced the router. The original router showed a lot of errors, and by the s/n he could tell that it was a refurbished unit. Next, he checked the wiring at the NID and made new connections - the guy who ran the temporary "on top of the ground" cable from the box several hundred feet away had tightened the connector nuts so much that the wires were flattened almost to the breaking point. We still saw speed and picture issues, so Carlos then changed the ports in the DSLAM down the street.
Items of note:
- My router is for ADSL and uses two pair. I need an ADSL router because of the distance to the DSLAM (3000 ft.). The VDSL router uses only one pair in neighborhoods where people are very close to the DSLAMs. They have a newer "combination" router that replaces both, and may be worth a try.
- I am almost at the maximum distance for 2 hi-def streams. This makes me wonder how many other people around here will get Prism, as there are only a few closer to the DSLAM than I am.
- The installer said that the router should be plugged directly into the wall, not into my UPS to avoid "voltage changes". I asked Carlos about this and he confirmed that is what they have been told, but agrees that it makes little sense. Once things are stable, I will change to UPS power, although I now wish I had one with sine wave output.
3/21/2013: After yesterdays comments, I noticed we could not pause or rewind live TV. I called, and the agent was at first going to schedule a tech to come out, but then asked me to power cycle the router, and she then remotely rebooted the DVR and other boxes. That fixed the recording problem, but we still saw a few short duration freezes yesterday afternoon on HGTV. Looking at the guide, adjacent channels were not frozen. The problem went away and has not returned yet. Internet speed is very good (20mbps+)
5/11/2014: I should have been paying more attention to the interest in this blog. Over the last six months I've been consistently getting speeds of 25 Mb/s down and 1 Mb/s up even while watching one HD channel. TV usage sometimes seems to have more of an affect on internet speed than at others. Speedtest.net just said 13 Mb/s down, 1 Mb/s up while watching two HD channels and recording one more. (Yes, I can have three simultaneous HD streams with no problem, despite what I was initially told.) I do still miss DirecTV's remote and user interface. In lots of ways it just seemed "easier" to do things with DirecTV.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Google Drive when dual boot
I routinely boot Win 7 from at least two drives, and ran into a problem with Google Drive refusing to sync, saying the Google Drive folder was missing. My folder is on a "data" drive, separate from the OS drives. A search revealed others with this issue. None of their solutions worked for me, but did lead me to a solution:
In "OS1", unplug the network cable and delete all files from the Google Drive folder. (will get a message saying files have been moved to Trash at drive.google.com, but this obviously cannot be true at this point)
Boot "OS2", attempt to use the Google Drive folder - will not work, but will show disconnect option. Disconnect, then sign in, go to advanced setup, and specify the same (empty) Google Drive folder used by "OS1" (key: this will NOT be allowed unless the folder is empty).
Choose "start sync". Files will download & folder will get Google Drive icon.
Google Drive will now function in both "OS1" and "OS2" using the same folder.
In "OS1", unplug the network cable and delete all files from the Google Drive folder. (will get a message saying files have been moved to Trash at drive.google.com, but this obviously cannot be true at this point)
Boot "OS2", attempt to use the Google Drive folder - will not work, but will show disconnect option. Disconnect, then sign in, go to advanced setup, and specify the same (empty) Google Drive folder used by "OS1" (key: this will NOT be allowed unless the folder is empty).
Choose "start sync". Files will download & folder will get Google Drive icon.
Google Drive will now function in both "OS1" and "OS2" using the same folder.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Win 7 clean install from upgrade disc
Install will say product key is not valid, but can <Esc> and install will complete.
Activation will fail ("the software licensing service determined that this specified Product Key can only be used for upgrading, not for clean installations") until do the following:
regedit HKLM>software>microsoft>windows>current version>setup>OOBE MediaBootInstall change from 1 to 0
from elevated prompt >slmgr.vbs -rearm
Activation will then complete normally. (The above also resets to "30 days to activate")
In case anyone sees this and wonders, I have several full versions of XP which are no longer in use on any system. It simply would have been a waste of time to install one of these in order to then "upgrade" to Win 7
Activation will fail ("the software licensing service determined that this specified Product Key can only be used for upgrading, not for clean installations") until do the following:
regedit HKLM>software>microsoft>windows>current version>setup>OOBE MediaBootInstall change from 1 to 0
from elevated prompt >slmgr.vbs -rearm
Activation will then complete normally. (The above also resets to "30 days to activate")
In case anyone sees this and wonders, I have several full versions of XP which are no longer in use on any system. It simply would have been a waste of time to install one of these in order to then "upgrade" to Win 7
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Computer Build Notes
Hyper 212 Plus installation
Everyone has their own way of applying thermal paste. For this cooler I used a razor blade to spread a very thin layer and fill in the grooves to give a uniform base. I then used the razor to add very thin lines of paste on the heat pipes, and twisted the cooler to seat it.
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