There's something you have to remember about external hard drives...
This is a slightly embarrassing story considering how much I know about computers, but I'm sure it will help out a few people.
Over the course of the night the power went out temporarily and turned my PC off. I booted it back up and heard a rattling noise from one of the case fans, which means it needed a cleaning. I crack open the case, take out the fan and clean it up. To test the fan before screwing it back into the case, I disconnect the hard drive and power the PC up with the fan plugged in. I had to do this a few times to ensure the fan wouldn't start up its rattle-fest after I put the whole box back together.
I finish up, put everything back together and boot. The boot message states GRUB is trying to load and the system halts.
GRUB, as you know, is a Linux thing and not a Windows thing - and I don't have Linux installed at all.
At this point I start to freak out a bit, because how in the hell did GRUB get on my primary hard drive? Was my primary drive borked somehow?
I run into the BIOS and check the boot order. Everything seems in check there, but then I notice something. There are two hard drives listed.
My BIOS defaulted to the external USB drive and was trying to boot from that. At one point I did have Linux on that drive and never bothered removing the boot loader.
I reset the BIOS to boot from the SATA, and ta-da, everything booted up normally after that.
What happened was that when I disconnected the SATA drive and booted a few times to test the fan, the BIOS saw the external USB drive - which was still plugged in - and set itself to boot from that since the SATA didn't exist as far as the BIOS was concerned.
Yeah, I felt pretty dopey because of that. Granted, I fixed it and everything went back to normal, but I totally forgot that you can boot from USB external drives, and when the SATA is disconnected, the BIOS will seek out the first available boot media it can find, use that and keep that setting until you manually set it back to the way it was.
Oh, and as far as removing GRUB is concerned:
There are three ways to do it concerning an external USB HDD.
- Physically disconnect SATA HDD, boot from DOS/Win95/Win98 CD, run fdisk /mbr.
- Physically disconnect SATA HDD, boot from Windows XP CD, launch recovery console, run fixmbr.
- Use Partition Wizard. The home version is free, and allows you to get rid of a GRUB boot loader from an external USB HDD without having to do any extra crapola. Works quite nicely.
gmc canyon repair, fixing the crappy ground
I mentioned before (which does list the parts) the issue on GMC Canyon/Chevrolet Colorado trucks where the HVAC fans completely stop working for no reason while running. Today I fixed it myself at my father's place because he had the tools I needed. The job took about a half-hour to complete.
The fix for the buggy HVAC fans in a Canyon is to fix the ground connection, which is oh-so crappy from the factory. This not only improves the connection but also prevents the blower resistor from failing again, again and again.
Short description of fix:
- Remove bolt from passenger side fender under the hood holding splice pack.
- Sand off paint where the splice pack strap met the fender.
- Sand off coating on splice pack strap where strap met the fender.
- Sand off coating on splice pack strap where bolt washer meets strap.
- Reattach, seal.
Long description of fix:
The splice pack is a small black box directly to the left of the air filter. You need to remove the air filter cover and air filter itself in order to get to it, so the first thing I did was pop off the three clips holding the air filter cover, removed cover, put to the side, then removed the air filter so I could get easy access to this little box bolted into the fender.
The bolt is a 10mm, so I used a ratchet to remove that.
After that I decided to tackle removing the coating off the strap first. The bolt thread side was easy. I used a very small cone-shaped sand drum on a Dremel and sanded that down until it was shiny.
The other side however was a pain in the ass. Since the bolt will NOT come out of the strap no matter what you do, and the fact there's a bolt washer there, I had to manually sand that by folding some sandpaper, wedge it between the bolt washer and strap and sand that down as best I could.
Once that was completed I sanded off a ring of paint surrounding the hole where the bolt goes. This was the easiest part of the job.
The bolt was then reattached, and I used some RTV silicone sealant to seal it up so it wouldn't rust. To help me out I used a small modelers brush to get into the tight spots.
The directions on the sealant said to let it cure for at least 30 minutes, so I left the hood open for that long to let the sealant do its thing. After that I shut the hood and it was a done deal.
Result of fix:
The first obvious thing was that the chirping noise the blower motor made at low speeds decreased significantly, almost to the point where I no longer hear it. This strongly indicates that that motor may have been arcing ever so slightly when it was in use with the original crappy ground.
The second thing I noticed is that my A/C now blows colder. Nice side effect, especially in Florida.
The third is that the truck is much more "civilized" when driving her. She seems a lot more tame in a real good way. From acceleration curve to highway manners and just about everything in between, she's just an all around better driver now. Maybe it's all in my head, but it was something I noticed. On the highway in particular, I thought, "Wait a sec.. she's driving a lot more smoothly..?" Yeah, she was.
Does fixing a crappy ground connection really make that much of a difference? Evidently it does.
florida is in the land of make believe
I discovered this song today, and yes I actually like it.
The song is The Land of Make Believe by Bucks Fizz.
Why do I like this? Several reasons.
Decidedly 80s
Guys with tiger/leopard cut-off sleeve shirts, girls wearing next to nothing with big hair (awesome), lots of shiny bits that people wear and an extremely over-processed sound as far as the song goes, but that's fine because it fits.
The set is frappin' huge
Look at how many PEOPLE are there all dancing around. Look at the fact there's a POOL in the middle of the set which is deep enough to DIVE in (you see a dude actually do it late in the video). Heck, in some scenes you can see a BOAT in the water.
Come to sunny Florida
Right before the 3-minute mark you see a giant backdrop with "Come to sunny Florida". No explanation for this. They just threw it in the video, and it's only there for a few seconds. It makes absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL as to why it's there in The Land of Make Believe. It's like the director said, "Okay, we need to have a shot of a hot girl in a bikini.. how can we fit this in?", someone replied with, "Hey! We have this BIG-ASS FLORIDA BACKDROP, let's use that!", and the director replied with, "Yep, that'll work!"
This is a UK group by the way, so it's very likely the video shoot was in the UK. That being the case, why was a big-ass Florida backdrop even there?
I guess we'll never know.
gmc canyon / chevrolet colorado quick fix info
I'm not smart about cars because I want to be. I'm smart about cars because I have to be.
This is especially true if you drive a GM vehicle.
I know just about all there is to know when it comes to common issues with the GMC Canyon, a.k.a. Chevrolet Colorado, a.k.a. GMT355 pickup truck.
Driver's door popping sound when opening or closing
Tighten two nuts on very long bolts that are in open view on the inside front of the door. Can't miss 'em. Tighten by hand, because they're going to become loose again anyway.
Cruise control stops working
Brake light assembly recall (does affect cruise for whatever reason). Fixed at GMC dealership at no charge.
Hard shift from first to second gear in auto transmission
Fixed with PCM software upgrade at GMC dealership. Haven't done this yet. It's about $100 to have the work done even though it takes the dealership only five minutes to do it.
Slight booming sound at idle
Idle on these trucks is set too low, causing a slight booming noise. Also fixed with PCM software upgrade.
Gas gauge isn't as accurate as you'd like
Once again, fixed with the same PCM software upgrade.
Fan settings 1, 2 and 3 don't work, but 4 does
Blown blower resistor. This part, specifically, located under the passenger side footwell. Look for the white connector held in by two gold screws. Unscrew, pull out carefully and you'll see this big green thing attached to it.
The money you save by doing it yourself: About $275.
That's what you need to replace, IF the connector pins on the white part aren't fried, in which case you'll need the whole wiring harness kit (wire with connector + resistor).
To replace the harness, you have to take off the glove box and the right side panel which is seen when the passenger door is open. Glove box is held on by three screws in plain sight at the bottom. Take off the screws, open glove box slowly, push in either side so the plastic flaps clear, and pull straight out. After that, reach in and pop out the right side panel. You'll now have a clear view of the connector right in front of you. Since the harness is a complete kit there's no tools involved as it's all snap in/out connectors.
But even if you perform this fix, the problem will come back if you don't fix the ground, which leads me to...
All interior cabin fans shut off for absolutely no reason while switch is on
This problem really ticked me off. You're driving along with the fans on, and then the fans die completely. Truck is still running fine and everything works - except the fans. Switch off, switch on.. nothing. All four fan speeds are dead. Then, by what seems like **magic**, the fans turn back on again.
The root cause of this problem is so unbelievably stupid that it just boggles the mind. And in addition, if you don't fix this yourself, your resistor (and most likely connector as well) will keep frying/blowing out unless you do this stuff.
Okay, here we go.
The problem is at the splice block. This is where a bunch of ground wires go. It is a small black box mounted on the passenger side fender. You'll see it in plain sight. Open the hood, look where your air filter is and just to the left of that mounted to the fender is the splice block. It is held in place by an attached metal strap with a 10mm bolt.
The block itself is not the problem. It's the way the bolt was installed.
With the truck off, pull off the air filter cover so you can get to the bolt with a ratchet. Then pull the bolt out and take the splice block along with it.
What's under that metal strap you just took off? Probably a small bit of corrosion, maybe a little gunk, and the biggest offender, paint.
What does this mean?
It means the strap was not technically touching bare metal. And that means you've got a crappy ground.
Unbelievable.
The fix? So easy it's not funny.
Take a Dremel or sandpaper and take off the paint where the strap connects to the fender. Then use a metal brush to clean the bolt (there's probably rust on it). Then sandpaper both sides of the strap where the bolt is until you see brass. Clean up, screw the bolt back in, seal it up proper so it doesn't rust on you (use RTV silicone for that), done.
What did you do here? You fixed a GM design flaw. You made the ground actually work like it's supposed to, and guess what? That stupid fan shutoff problem disappears - assuming your resistor and white connector under the footwell aren't burnt and in good shape. If not, pony up the $37 and have at it. Cheap fix for properly working fans as far as I'm concerned.
Whenever anybody calls GM vehicles junk, I never argue. For whatever boneheaded reason, I just like GM cars and trucks. Yes, stupid stuff on them breaks that simply doesn't happen on other cars. The only exception to the rule are most Buicks. Not all, but most. Buick is one of the few GM divisions that knows how to construct a car correctly. It's the reason I have an '89 LeSabre now.
Anyway, if you happen to own a GMT355, now you know the more common problems and their solutions.
The people I feel most sorry for are owners of GMT355's that are early 5-cylinder crew cab models. Most of those trucks are an absolute nightmare, such as the HVAC leaking water on the floor, the rear glass falling out of their tracks, and well.. let's just say the list is really frickin' long for annoyances with those trucks. :)
gps perks
There are times when I'm driving around that I discover unintentional perks by using GPS. One of them happens to be that GPS can act as a cheap replacement speedometer. It is never cheap if one of those breaks. But due to GPS, now it is.
Another perk that dawned on me today is the fact you get extra help during construction situations.
A few streets away from where I live there's some construction going on. When that happens, street signs get dirtied up, bent, knocked over, moved, etc. It happens no matter where the construction is.
Another thing that happens is that familiarity is taken away. When all you see are orange barrels, barriers and flashing yellow lights, it all looks the same. Especially at night.
GPS basically saved my ass once again when traveling through this construction zone. I was looking for a specific road to make a left, but darned if I could see the sign until I was literally on top of it. And by that time it was too late; I needed more notice. I looked at my GPS screen to locate it, found it and went to make the turn, but the road had been blocked off. So I looked at the screen again for where I could take another turn, found it and used that one instead.
Were it not for GPS, I would have been forced to drive way up the road, take a right, backtrack and have to do a circle just to get where I wanted to go.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, GPS is the best automotive accessory you could ever have - period.