The Juggle Zone: Bargain Blog

A cousin's computer died. It got a BSOD upon boot. None of the boot methods worked (e.g. safe mode, last known good config, etc.). It turned out to have a corrupt ntdll.dll file (which is reported with a "STOP: C00000221 UNKNOWN ERROR" BSOD), among other problems (it turns out the HD had some bad sectors). I learned a handy trick for fixing Windows problems like this from Rick @ TechSpot. Basically, it involved telling Windows you want to install, then accept it's offer to repair. (This is instead of using the standard repair option.) That page also had a handy link to lots of HD utilities.

Posted by dwallach at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received the new batteries yesterday. This time, they sent 25 batteries. The test results are as follows:

NumBatts - Volts
1 - 3.1+
3 - 3.0
11 - 2.9
3 - 2.8
1 - 2.7
2 - 2.6
1 - 2.5
1 - 0.8
1 - 0.7
1 - -0.1 (yes, negative .1)

You may have noticed that while last time the majority were 3.3+ volts, in this shipment all but a handful were under 3 volts! These were a different brand than last time. The two likely explanations are that either this was an even cruddier brand, or the batteries in this shipment are of a different chemical formula, with a different voltage rating.

Bottom line - these batteries are cheap, but you get what you pay for.

Posted by dwallach at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The good news: The batteries came very vast! (Considering they were ordered late Tuesday, 8/29, and arrived on Tuesday, 9/5, and came over the long weekend all the way from Hong Kong, I'm impressed.)

The better news: They sent 40 batteries instead of 20!

The bad news: Not all of the batteries were good: New CR2016 batteries are rated 3.0V, but they are actually around 3.4V. The breakdown:

NumBatts - Volts
21 - 3.3+
5 - 3.1
3 - 3.0
4 - 2.9
1 - 2.9
1 - 2.6
1 - 2.3
1 - 1.9
2 - 1.7
1 - 1.0

These numbers would be completely unacceptable, except they sent a double order (on purpose?). Still, it's annoying as you have to test the batteries before using them.

Posted by dwallach at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)