Citrix Indirect Display Adapter crashes external monitor

I found my monitor would crash and reset on various websites that used rich streaming media like netflix. I found it was my external monitor that crashed.

Check if you have Citrix workspace installed. Uninstall it.

If you need to reinstall it then reinstall it from the command prompt using 

CitrixWorkspaceApp.exe  ADDLOCAL=ReceiverInside,ICA_Client,AM,SELFSERVICE,DesktopViewer,Flash,Vd3d,WebHelper,BrowserEngine

YAY no more citrix indirect display adapter. this fixed my issue. 

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Pixel 2 XL reboots when plugged into charger (or shortly after being plugged in)

So my trusty Pixel 2 XL started resetting whenever plugged into a charger. It would reset and then show the charging battery logo on the screen along with a small bunch of white lines at the top of the screen. 

It also turns out my phone would reset with any charger I tried, be it the one next to the bed, the one in the car, or the USB C power plug in the kitchen. So with every charger now being an issue, I suspected the phone was at fault. 

As always If you attempt this fix it's at your own risk. If you try this and break your phone further it's not my fault.

Here is what I did to fix this issue on my Pixel 2 XL: 

- Start by turning the phone off. We are going to clean the charging port. 

- Use a pin or a needle to remove the gunk jammed into the charging port. Get out all that lint from putting your phone in your pocket. Be careful not to break anything in the port as you'll then have other issues to deal with.

- Next, grab an alcohol wipe and gently use the needle and the wipe to clean the internal contacts inside the charging port. I had to use the needle very gently to push a small part of the wipe into the charging port and then used the needle to push the wipe around and clean the contacts. A surprising amount of black gunk was wiped off the contacts. 

- Allow your phone charging port to dry out before turning your phone back on. 

- When ready turn your phone back on and use it until the battery runs completely flat (0%) 

- Now put it on charge and leave it to charge for a full cycle (from 0% to 100%).  Turn your phone on and see how you go

two-week update, after two weeks the issue came back on a wet camping weekend. So I took the drastic step of backup and factory reset. This has seemed to work but I will monitor it again for the next few weeks. 

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

How to move/switch XBOX's in the Google assistant

So you replaced an Xbox with a new one and now you can't get the google assistant to work?

1. Logon to your New Xbox and then go to settings > Devices & Streaming > Digital assistants  > Enable Digital assistants.
2. Now, set up a new device in Google home on your phone (link your Xbox service)
3. Profit.

How to remove the old device?
Turn your old Xbox back on, disable the digital assistant instead of enabling it.

What do I do if I don't have my old Xbox?
NFI? Pray to Microsoft? Call for support?

Possible scam - Consumer Projects Group Australia

Today received a call asking if I would like to be paid money for doing surveys from a Consumer Projects Group Australia. They wanted to send someone to my house to interview me and show me a matrix and ask for feedback on this matrix. they promised for 20 minutes of my time I would get $35.  They then asked If I was free to have someone come around within the next few days.

I agreed to today or tomorrow as a test and they asked for an address straight away. I then changed my mind and said I was busy on those days. The lady on the phone then said "in that case, I will call you back" then promptly hung up on me without a goodbye.

The number the call came from was
 02 7713 3179

If you call that number it appears as disconnected Optus mobile number. and there isn't a clear domain or business called 'Consumer Projects Group Australia'

as of now, I wouldn't trust this caller. it just didn't sound right.


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How to Tell If Your Users are Connecting to the Availability Group Listener

Patrick over at http://www.patrickkeisler.com explains this nicely

How to Tell If Your Users are Connecting to the Availability Group Listener


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Why is Powershell blocking scripts from UNC paths?

If you are seeing errors and warnings trying to execute Powershell scripts from UNC paths on Windows 2012 and you have the IE enhanced security turned on  Powershell won't' automatically execute your scripts.

You will get a prompt like so; 'Run only scripts that you trust'.

The reason for this is that Windows treats the UNC paths as being from the internet and therefore doesn't trust anything on the UNC path

There are two solutions to this issue.

1. Add the UNC paths to the trusted sites list (either Via Regedit or GUI)
or
2. Turn off the Enhanced security

As a side note; some sites recommend using the unblock-file cmdlet but I've found that it doesn't address the issue of trusting the UNC paths.

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Why haven't we automated trains yet?

It seems it would be easier to automate trains before we automate cars. what's the holdup Sydney?

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Android Wear changing to WearOS

So Google is changing the name of Android Wear into WearOS. big whoop.


https://wearos.google.com/


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SQL Server – Check Index Fragmentation on ALL Indexes in a Database | My Adventures in Coding

SQL Server – Check Index Fragmentation on ALL Indexes in a Database | My Adventures in Coding: "Check Index Fragmentation on ALL Indexes in a Database"



I found this quite useful. Only thing I wish I had taken a before screenshot before rebuilding the indexes using Ola Hallgren scripts.



'via Blog this' If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Carnival Legend: How to make cruises great again

Carnival Legend: How to make cruises great again:



Dear Scott,



 I believe your opinion of Carnival is gravely misplaced.



 Personally, I can think of plenty of other things worse than a cruise holiday.  I travelled on the Carnival Spirit last year and I did not find our family of 5 packed into like sardines at all. I found my holiday pleasant and the staff friendly and the island hopping was a fantastic experience.



I travelled safe and sound throughout my whole holiday. Yes, I had seen plenty of news reports about gastro outbreaks on cruise ships. I must have been one of the lucky ones that escaped without a gastro incident just like the 1000's of others that travelled with me last year. 



I've also been to Airlie Beach and I can see the two holidays are completely different and simply can't be related to anything but saying they are both holidays.. one is mostly on land where the other is mostly on the sea.



During my travels with Carnival, I found most people nice and friendly or had travelled from overseas just to cruise. Most of the time it was just families, couples and singles wanting to have a good time and create some great memories.



Simply put if you get on a ship looking for a fight you shouldn't be there in the first place. but unfortunately, there will be dickheads no matter where we go on this planet.



'via Blog this' If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Maybe don't set your database to 100% growth.

It's not a good idea to set your databases to  % growth anyway but setting them to 100% is just horrible. Every time your database has to grow when setting to 100% it will double in size a couple of those growth cycles and you'll be out of storage real soon.

Better to set to an actual MB limit based on the size of your HDD. I.e if your Database drive is 1000MB only set it to 64MB or 128MB growth. that way you can see your DB grow over time



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Remove SQL 2012 performance dashboard

Microsoft in a recent update to SSMS put the Performance Dashboard directly into SSMS so you no longer need to manually install it on remote servers. Microsoft hasn't included a script to remove it, the easiest way to remove it is to manually edit the original script and rerun it

 Lucky for you I can save you 5 minutes of editing

USE [MSDB]
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.tblConfigValues'), 'IsUserTable') = 1drop table MS_PerfDashboard.tblConfigValuesgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_CheckDependencies', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_CheckDependenciesgo
if not exists (select * from sys.schemas where name = 'MS_PerfDashboard') exec('create schema MS_PerfDashboard')go
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_WaitTypeCategory'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_WaitTypeCategorygo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_QueryTextFromHandle'), 'IsTableFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_QueryTextFromHandlego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_hexstrtovarbin'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_hexstrtovarbingo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_DatediffMilliseconds'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_DatediffMillisecondsgo

if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetCPUHistory', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetCPUHistorygo

if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetMiscInfo', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetMiscInfogo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetSessionInfo', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetSessionInfogo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetRequestInfo', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetRequestInfogo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetRequestWaits', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetRequestWaitsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_GetPageDetails', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_GetPageDetailsgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_GetPlanGuideDetails'), 'IsProcedure') = 1 drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_GetPlanGuideDetailsgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_TransformShowplanXMLToTable'), 'IsProcedure') = 1 drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_TransformShowplanXMLToTablego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildColumnReference'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildColumnReferencego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildColumnReferenceList'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildColumnReferenceListgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildDefinedValuesList'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildDefinedValuesListgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildOrderBy'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildOrderBygo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildRowset'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildRowsetgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScalarExpression'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScalarExpressiongo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScalarExpressionList'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScalarExpressionListgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScanRange'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildScanRangego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicates'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicatesgo

if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicatesNew'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicatesNewgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicate'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildSeekPredicatego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildObject'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildObjectgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildWarnings'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanBuildWarningsgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatAssert'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatAssertgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatBitmap'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatBitmapgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatComputeScalar'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatComputeScalargo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatConcat'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatConcatgo

if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatCollapse'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatCollapsego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatConstantScan'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatConstantScango
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatDeletedInsertedScan'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatDeletedInsertedScango
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatFilter'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatFiltergo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatHashMatch'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatHashMatchgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatMerge'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatMergego

if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatNestedLoops'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatNestedLoopsgo

if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatParallelism'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatParallelismgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSimpleUpdate'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSimpleUpdatego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteQuery'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteQuerygo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteScan'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteScango
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteModify'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRemoteModifygo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSort'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSortgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSplit'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSplitgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatStreamAggregate'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatStreamAggregatego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSegment'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSegmentgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSpool'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatSpoolgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTableScan'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTableScango
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTop'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTopgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTVF'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatTVFgo

if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatUDX'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatUDXgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatUpdate'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatUpdatego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRIDLookup'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatRIDLookupgo
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatGenericUpdate'), 'IsScalarFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanFormatGenericUpdatego
if OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanRowDetails'), 'IsTableFunction') = 1 drop function MS_PerfDashboard.fn_ShowplanRowDetailsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DatabaseOverview', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DatabaseOverviewgo

if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LargeIOObjects', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LargeIOObjectsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DBFileIO', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DBFileIOgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DmOsWaitStats', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_DmOsWaitStatsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_MissingIndexes', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_MissingIndexesgo

if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryText', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryTextgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_MissingIndexStats', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_MissingIndexStatsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryAttributes', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryAttributesgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_ShowplanAttributes', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_ShowplanAttributesgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_PlanParameters', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_PlanParametersgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsTopN', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsTopNgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsTopN1', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsTopN1go
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsRecentActivity', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsRecentActivitygo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionRequestActivity', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionRequestActivitygo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestDetails', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestDetailsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionData', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionDatago
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionRequests', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionRequestsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LastBatchForIdleSession', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LastBatchForIdleSessiongo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionDetails', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_SessionDetailsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_TraceEventColumns', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_TraceEventColumnsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Blocking', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Blockinggo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestIoWaits', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestIoWaitsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LargestIoRequests', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LargestIoRequestsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestWaits', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestWaitsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LatchStats', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_LatchStatsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestsWithLatchWaits', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_RequestsWithLatchWaitsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_XEventSessions', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_XEventSessionsgo
if object_id('MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsDetails ', 'P') is not null drop procedure MS_PerfDashboard.usp_QueryStatsDetails go

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Sky Viper v2450GPS quadcopter

PROs:

• Small and light 
• Works
• Responsive 
• Come home feature(untested at this time) 

Con's:

• Inflight Video and pictures are blurry (camera has no gimble). 
• In random situations, the flight throttle has locked on to 100% (lucky I was indoors and there was a roof). This has happened twice now. 
• Android app crashes all the time
• Video feed from drone to the phone is next to useless as it's choppy and lags behind quite a lot. (Pixel 2 XL) 

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Pixel 2 XL - Screen goes black when making calls

Issue: 
Screen goes black once you press the dial button to make a call. You then have to lock and unlock the phone to be able to hang up.

Fix: 
Open Settings > Apps & Notifications > All Apps > Phone > Storage

Clear Cache
Clear Data

This fixed the issue for me (also big thanks to google support [shoutout to Paul.A])


If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Pixel 2 XL screen flashing bright white on lock AKA the 'Pixel Flashbang'

After updating to OREO 8.1 my screen started flashing when I lock the phone (one really bright white flash) and then the ambient display kicks in. in a dark room, this is very noticeable.

Suspected issue:
I'd say it's almost a race condition when the screensaver is turned on. Kind of like the screen is being told to turn on and then the instructions on what to show are just slightly slower and therefore the screen assumes you want all pixels full brightness until the instructions for the ambient screen are sent through. BUT I'm not a Google engineer so don't take my word for it.

Workaround:
Turn off ambient display

Fix:
Wait for Google to patch this (send them lots of bug reports)

Notes: After disabling the ambient screen and rebooting, I then turned ambient display back on and now the issue isn't occurring anymore (more testing required)

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Update:
It's now 24 hours later and the phone has started to flash white again on locking and sometimes when waking up It's now slightly random it will flash when the screen has to wake up. I am now even more sure that this is probably a software bug in the ambient display software.

Update2: 15/12/2017
I found that there is a software called 'Pixel Ambient Services' in the apps. I cleared the 'cache' and the 'data' from this app/service. Currently, my screen isn't flashing on lock or wake now. I will continue to monitor and report on the issue here.

Update 3: 18/12/2017

The issue is back again. I'm going to call this a 'Pixel Flashbang' from now on as that's what it's like at 6 AM in the morning when I wake up and look at my phone. Clearing the above app cache stops it for awhile but it comes back and the issue is now intermittent. 

Update 4: 20/12/2017

I chatted with Google support and they said that there is no known fix yet but engineers are looking into it.

Update 5: 03/01/2018

Still the same issue no matter which workaround is applied.

Rebooted in safe mode and still the same issue flashbangs on wake up of the screen.

Update 6: 05/01/2018 No update from Google about this. 

More info 

http://www.redmondpie.com/is-your-pixel-2-xl-screen-flashing-while-locking-unlocking-youre-not-alone/

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/11/08/pixel-2-xl-screens-flashing-locking-unlocking/

https://9to5google.com/2017/11/08/google-pixel-2-xl-screen-flashing/

Final update: 

The Feb 2018 firmware update seemed to have resolved this issue. 

Amaysim Energy

I thought this might be a good deal until I saw the price fact sheet.

https://www.amaysim.com.au/energy/energy-price-fact-sheets/ausgrid/solar-2/2

My bills would go up around 30% if I took this offer. What a rip off.  TOU Peak, Shoulder, Off Peak, CL1, supply charges are all higher than what Red energy currently offer (best offer so far for me has been Energy Australia)

This is a great example of you don't do the sums you'll be worse off.


If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Pixel 2 XL - Boot loop issue

My wife's brand new Pixel 2 XL (2 weeks old) decided it would be really fun to get itself stuck in a boot loop. Wife looked down at phone to see it rebooting and thought that was odd. left it alone for an hour while stayed stuck on the 'G' boot screen with a scrolling progress bar.

About an hour later I got to look at it and talk to google support. they just advised to get into the recovery screen and try a 'shutdown'. This didn't fix the issue. Google then offered to replace the device saying there was a hardware issue.

I ended up resolving the issue before having to replace the phone. I had to wipe all the user data and do a factory reset from the recovery bootloader and this allowed the phone to boot correctly.

Total damage:
- Lost some photos and videos from that day
- Had to reload EVERYTHING again.
- Major pain in the ass.
- Confidence has been lost in this google product. Will this issue happen again?

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) prompting for credentials when using a service account

I found what might be a bug in SSRS when using a service account and a custom installation folder. I found that when loading report builder is would prompt for credentials trying to connect to the web service URL. doesn't matter what you put in, it wouldn't let me through.

Looking at the security logs would show that the authentication was successful but then looking at the application logs I could see an issue with  ASP.NET 4.0.30319.0 when trying to read the 'ReportService2010.asmx' file in the SSRS installation folder.

Turns out the service account was missing rights to 'read' files in the SSRS install directory. It couldn't read the folder or the files within the folder. 

If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Right to repair: Should we tolerate hard-to-fix devices for better phones? | AndroidAuthority

Right to repair: Should we tolerate hard-to-fix devices for better phones? | AndroidAuthority: "



But what do you do when the manufacturer refuses to acknowledge the issue? 6 of the 7 Nexus 6P's I've come across have failed batteries within a year or two of purchase. yet the manufacturer will continually tell me it's a software issue, not a battery issue.



BTW of the 7 Nexus 6P devices I've seen 4 had a replacement battery fitted that addressed the issue 2 were returned for a refund and 1 is still working (although it had not been used for at least 6 months in between the purchase and recent use)



'via Blog this' If you find this article useful please leave me a comment.

Nexus 6P battery issue

I had two active Nexus 6P's that were used daily and then over a course of about two weeks the batteries started dying and the phone would turn off at 70% and then wouldn't turn back on until a charger was plugged in. a quick google search for the issue showed I wasn't the only one.

I returned both phones for service only to be told that the phones are fine and that it's a software issue, not a battery issue. I was told the next update would fix the issue. I hardly see how the next SECURITY update is going to address a physical battery defect.  Especially since this phone was at the end of it's supported update cycle from google.

I ended up using my consumer guarantee to get full refunds because the batteries only lasted a year and bit.

The funny things were this had been the best phone I'd ever used. They were perfect for my use and just worked and worked until the battery issue.

I'd put this down to a case of a great product with crap company service.

Now I'm on to the search for a new android phone

RIP Nexus 6P where you end up. (probably resold after someone manually changes the battery)

This is also a perfect case for why we should have user changeable batteries

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