In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Friday, September 11, 2026 15:29
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 740 of 834
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX. Apple specifically designs things NOT to be taken apart so you HAVE to send them in for repair! It's a gotcha, just like their software.
Oh... I know they do that now. I remember a few years ago how much hot glue they started sticking inside their machines to screw over the repair shops. I think I could have gotten this out without breaking anything if I really cared enough to try, but I think subconsciously I already made up my mind that the hard drive was all I was really interested after the thing didn't just start on the first power up. The 2018 model in a YT video simply slid right out of the back all in one piece after removing some screws, a metal fence with an antenna attachment and the fan. Not the case here... Half of the stuff was off the board in the back, and that's where I ripped a few wires out because of the force I had to use to slide the front half out with it being all gunked up over time. My brother was still a smoker and didn't go outside like I do when he owned this, so nicotine may have played a pretty big part here. Oh well... I was happy to find out that the specs on it were just as bad as the old PC I was working with except for the hard drive that was double the size space-wise, while also being a laptop sized drive that could fit in one of my externals. (The PC has a huge old brick of a desktop 500GB drive inside).
Quote:
For older PCs, sometimes pulling drives, cards, memory sticks, and connectors and putting them back in again is what's required. Whenever hubby got a failed PC that's the first thing he would do because over time, connections corrode.
Oh yeah... Built tons of PCs too, and I used to smoke right by them all the time for years too. Been there, done that.
Quote:
Another thing is to clean the PC overall, the vents, and the heat sink specifically with blasts of compressed air. As you've posted, electronics like to work in the cold and PCs need to breathe. If you're looking at an old HDD, and the drive motor isn't starting up, tapping the HDD on edge can get it unstuck.
On occasion he'd put an HDD in the frig for a bit to get important data off of it.
IDK if any of that applies, but that was his first troubleshooting procedure.
Yeah... I've actually succesfully been able to get a drive to start up with the frige trick before, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get the data off of it. I think sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
Hard drive was fine. I use CrystalDiskInfo to test the drives, and I used it again when I took the whole thing out of the PC and attached it to the other one to boot off of it and make sure it was still fine.
I really think it was a bios problem that just sort of worked itself out as I played around with it. At one point I couldn't get the computer to start either with the internal drive, or an external that I knew worked. It was also changing my TV screen resolution to 800x600 immediately after the BIOS screen, which my build does not do. So I don't really know what it was doing.
I have to honestly say I don't know what I changed that fixed the problem, but I am pretty sure that I caused it when I pulled out the memory to get a better look at it. That's the only physical thing I did differently than before by the time I'd buttoned it up. I've been using this thing for weeks now, on it's side, with one wall of the case removed and everything wide open, and booting from about 6 different drives with no problem. It just waited to give me a problem after I'd put the thing all back together again for the "final" time, because of course it did.
Quote:
Glad it's working for you again!
Me too.
Quote:
Oh BTW your paint job is amazing. IDK how you managed to paint such complex shapes so evenly, w/o drips and sags, and not bury the workpiece in hugely thick coats. For me, that would need sprNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I Have just wasted about an hour looking for an alternative to something that I know exists, but I don't want to pay the asking price for it.
This thing... It's $60.
Because I've got a new idea...
Since I'm not going to bust down any wall, and the code issue requiring hard pipe coming up through the floor makes one option impossible and the other one much harder than I want to deal with right now, I thought of a 3rd option...
What if I had a 2nd switch to the vanity light underneath or on the right side of the medicine cabinet?
The first switch with the outlet next to it that already exists on the wall would still power all of the electric in the bathroom except for the outlet right next to it, BUT if there were an easily accessible 2nd switch only for the light that didn't look horribly out of place, I could leave the main light switch on all the time and still have power to the electrical outlet I'll be putting in the over the toilet cab when the vanity light is off.
Here's a diagram explaining it...
I just can't believe I can't find anything at the local stores or amazon to suit my purposes without spending $60. I don't want to use a standard steel box because that's going to look gaudy no matter where I put it even if I panted it to match the wall or the cabinet. Thin plastic boxes could be good, however, they only seem to sell surface mount which means the hole is in the back. I don't want to be drilling electric through my medicine cabinet for this. They do have plastic boxes that are about 1.25" deep, so I'm considering buying one of those and being extremely careful about drilling a 3/4" hole in the side and then feed the length of flex conduit from the light fixture down to that and through the wall behind the box.
This way I'd have no junction boxes behind the wall and inaccessable (and against code) too. I was going to make things easy on me and put a junction box somewhere in the middle behind the medicine cabinet. I was talking myself into doing this by saying that all you'd have to do to access it is remove 4 screws on the medicine cabinet to take that off, and also that it's a hell of a lot better than the horror show that's behind the wall right now.... But no. I need to do electric right when I come across it, no matter how bad the previous owners screwed me on it.
The plastic box / drilling solution might work, but it's still such a large switch box in the end. I was really hoping to be able to do this in a low-profile way.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Nice... I know it's not going to be without its problems, but I do believe that this will work. It looks like it's fine to drill your own holes into a junction box as long as you're not doing so to add in more wires than the box is rated for, and as long as you use a proper connection to the box for what you're tying into it.
Did a few measurements around that area and was surprised to see that there will only be around 3" of clearance from the right side of the medicine cabinet to the wall where the switch and door are. That's excellent news. As long as I can get some flex conduit through the 2x4 square they built out for the old in-wall medicine cabinet and through the wall to the junction box, I can get a switch on there and paint it all the same gray as the wall and it should basically meld right into the background and keep everything up to code with no buried junction boxes.
I'm adding more money to the project though... Damn.
First off, I'll have to buy a step-down drill bit. I've never owned one, but I'm not about to try cutting through PVC on an important job with anything else. That will probably be at least $7 or $8.
I've only got around 6 feet of flex left. I'm going to need more than twice that to do all of this for sure. That's $36 for 25 feet right there if my buddy doesn't have some in his dad's garage that he doesn't mind parting with. I've got switches and covers, but only enough for the house as it was, so that will cost me down the road taking an extra one today. But the box and the switch/cover are incidental. Maybe another $5-$6.
I might have to buy another 3-pack of GFCI outlets too. I thought I had at least one nice and new one left, but all I've found so far were two crappy used ones that I'm not going to be putting in my house. Those aren't cheap, but they're quite a bit cheaper in 3-packs and I know I'm going to need at least one more in my downstairs bathroom if not also in the laundry room, so they will be used if I'm actually out of them.
Everything I'm talking about will be on the CFCI on the wall that I'll be replacing the normal outlet next to the switch with. If that were to trip for any reason, all of this other electric would go cold as well.
ETA: Oh... right... If you're looking at the image above, everything is the same except the 2nd light switch will be on the right side of the cabinet, rather than underneath.
Since the bottom of the medicine cabinet is flat, and it's not particularly a deep cabinet, it wouldn't be hiding anything by putting the switch underneath. And when I reach down inside the opening I can feel at least 3 more 2x4's stacked up on top of each other behind the wall, so there would be no way to do it anyhow (I believe they really built it up because they actually removed a wall stud to make the medicine cabinet hole).
I will probably still have to cut away at least some of the 2x4 frame for that hole to get the flex where I need it, but I'm still not damaging any of my walls doing it this way.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oooh...
I'm excited now. Got everything I need except the flex conduit ordered.
I was wrong about the price of old work junction boxes. They're $16 freaking bucks a piece at Menards and Home Depot around here. Found them on Amazon for half as much. If I didn't mind waiting 9 days for delivery a 3rd party seller was selling them in 2-packs for about $5 cheaper than that, but I'm not going to wait.
The ones I was looking at had the adjustable ears, but that's not the bit I need. I need the "wings" on the side that you can maneuver with screws to really get the box attached solid to the wall in lieu of having a stud to screw into.
Got me a nice decorative plastic junction box to hold the 2nd switch, and a 3-bit step-down drill bit set for making my hole for the flex conduit. I'll just have to make sure I remember to send an extra wire down to that switch to properly ground it since I'm not going with metal. The only metal boxes I could find that were remotely what I needed were for those out of the wall traveller systems and would have been too thin to drill a proper hole for the flex conduit to enter.
Total cost? $2.22 after I spent what was left of my credit card reward points.
I don't buy a lot of stuff and it's been a long time since I stopped tracking money like that and where all my bonus cash was. I just got those drive enclosures the other day for free and I didn't realize that I'd have enough leftover to basically pay for my electrical job.
Awesome.
Now I'm going to find out that over the toilet I'm not even going to need an old work box and I'll have a stud right where I want it. Oh well... I'm sure I can find use for the 2nd one someday and it can just sit in my electrical tote if it needs to, but it's better than being without one and finding out I need it and either waiting few days for delivery or paying twice as much at the store down the street.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Okay... I lied.
Totally forgot that I needed to buy a universal light kit.
Glad I really thought that one out and didn't just buy a crossbar like the one's I've seen before. It probably wouldn't have done me any good.
I knew that the two holes in the face of my light fixture were roughly 5" apart from each other. The standard universal stuff is only 4". I measured and it was actually just slightly less than 4.5".
But here's the thing... I found one that has nice little adjustable extension wings on it so you can set it to whatever size you need up to over 5" wide. And the best part is, the long screws come out of the kit itself, you place the vanity over the screws, and then you screw in the (black or silver) metal caps that they give you to get the fixture into the wall tightly.
And what that means above and beyond is I've got a little play with being "perfect" on my hole for the electric. With over a half-inch of extra wingspan that I don't need out of that kit, I could adjust things up to that far either way before screwing the finishing nuts tight to the fixture. I'd never make a mistake that bad, but that's over 1 whole inch of play there if I needed it.
Holy crap.
That's so, so, so, so, so much easier than what I was going to do.
"Yeah dude. Let's buy screws long enough to screw into the junction box from outside the fixture, cut them down to size if I need to and then clean the threads up, spray paint the tips and a few washers with the oil rubbed bronze, and then fight with the vanity and the washer to try to center them absolutely perfectly and hope the spray matches the finish of the fixture well enough that it doesn't catch your eye...
An extra eight bucks very well spent. We'll call the electric $10 so far.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Looking good SIX. That light switch you showed you can find them up here all over the place but mostly in newer buildings.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Out soon on a wet day. Need to get something before I forget about it.
Yesterday, I finally saw one of the cleaners for the building and asked her to remove the air freshener from my floor. She had on the railing near my door. Bad enough when one of my neighbours put one in the wall socket but add the regular one too it and I had a hard time breathing. It was sooo much better yesterday when I got in. I could breath.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
All done for today. Rained on when went out and dry on way back. Picked up a couple of things at the library after taking two things back. One is reboot of a British cop show and the other is 28years later. Both I am curious about. Also a little more cleaning done.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Looking good SIX. That light switch you showed you can find them up here all over the place but mostly in newer buildings.
Oh, really? They're probably in newer buildings here too then. I know that under-the-cabinet lighting has become the new thing, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this type of stuff built into the new houses.
My solution is going to be quite a bit different. The one benefit those switches have is that they'd be under the cabinets in the hollow space where you wouldn't normally see them. There's nowhere I can put my switch that will be hidden. So I've just bought a plastic junction box that I'll need to screw a hole into the back side for the electric that I'll be sticking out of the wall for it. Even found me a nice white metal cover, unopened, that has the wide rectangle opening for a paddle switch. I'll paint both the box and the cover. I'm not going to paint the paddle switch.
You're only going to have about a 1" clearance for your fingers on that switch when it's done. The paddle will end up very close to the wall. So not exactly hidden, but I figure if I paint it the same lighter grey as the walls that it should blend in nicely and not look so much like a part of the cabinet as it would if I painted it the darker grey that I used on the cabinets.
This is all going to work. I just need to do it now is all.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Boy... I'm glad I've got good file compare software.
I noticed yesterday sometime that this new 64GB version I've been working on had a few bad files. After looking into it and fixing the issue, there were actually hundreds of bad files.
I don't think that I can blame the thumb stick itself, as anything I've replaced works just fine. But I don't think I can blame my wireless network by itself either, since this is not a problem that has ever occurred on a laptop or desktop hard drive before.
I don't know what happened, but it's really weird. File Explorer would show that the files are all there and they're the correct size, but when the files were replaced that much additional space was lost on the drive, so I believe the files were not put in the data table correctly. They probably aren't bad and all the data is there, but some last step that is supposed to take place after a file copy wasn't taking place on these over the network when it would go janky. Quite often I'll be humming along at over 8MB per second and then it goes to zero and gets stuck. I think that's when all the bad entries were created.
I thought about going to another drive, but I'd have to start over completely on the build and lose nearly 2 days of work. I'm just going to keep making sure to verify everything is good as I work on it, and then I'll do one last verification on the whole thing before I burn the image.
I think next time I try anything like this where I'm activly doing work, I will pick a better brand and higher quality drive. PNY is a known brand, but these were in a 5 pack that were pretty cheap. Just plastic enclosures, and I think it's overheating while I'm working on it.
Fingers crossed that the drive survives long enough for me to finish and make an image. I don't really care about losing the $3 or so I paid for the drive.
--------------------------------------------------
Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME