Tag Archives: how-to

Hardware

Dell Latitude X1 Runs Slowly: Cure

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Do you have a Dell Latitude X1 ultra-portable notebook computer and find that it seems to run slower than usual at times? I encountered the same performance problem and found a cure for the mysterious sluggishness a few months ago.

The Latitude X1 is passively cooled. In other words, it has no fan to blow away the heat generated by the CPU the way mainstream laptops do. Instead the heat is distributed through the bottom of the case. You may have noticed how hot the bottom of the laptop can get.

Without a CPU fan, what happens when the processor gets too hot? It slows down. As a survival mechanism, the CPU’s clock rate will decrease in order to reduce the amount of heat being generated. Usually, the clock rate will be cut in half. As a result, everything will run more slowly. The X1 will do this even if it’s set up to always run at maximum clock rate and is plugged into a power outlet.

The solution to this slow down is quite simple: Cool the bottom of the laptop. This can be done in any of a number of ways including buying a laptop cooler (the rectangular-shaped plate with fans in it) or, if you have an external keyboard and monitor connected to it, flipping the computer over so that heat more quickly dissipates into the air. Leaving the laptop on your lap, desktop or blankets (for those who like to compute in bed) will just exacerbate the heat build up and keep the CPU running at less than full speed during moderate to heavy workloads.

Software

Fix Firefox Crash: Part 2

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Previously in the post, Fix Firefox Crash with Yahoo Mail, I covered a very simple way to eliminate a very frequently occurring crash problem due to a conflict between ad blocking addons and a module installed by Yahoo! Instant Messenger.

That fix significantly reduced the crashes that I encountered. However, I was still getting occasional crashes under the same circumstances with Yahoo! Mail. But, I’ve tracked that down and, so far, seem to have alleviated all the crashes.

I’ve been using two different ad blocking addons for Firefox, AdBlock and AdBlock Plus, though not on the same operating system. On the computer that was still having a crashing problem, which was running Windows XP, I had AdBlock installed. Switching to AdBlock Plus made the difference.

So, should you just switch to AdBlock Plus and not use the previous fix? Not so fast. The previous fix works even if you don’t use any ad blocking add-on. So, start with it first.

Have other helpful fixes for Firefox or improvements to this fix? Post it in the comments.

Software

Firefox Can’t Download Anymore

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Yesterday, someone at work was having a problem where his Firefox would no longer download files. The Downloads dialog was empty but Firefox refused to downloading anything even when selecting to save manually.

This is usually caused by a corrupt completed-downloads file. Here’s how to fix this download problem:

  1. Close Firefox
  • Open your favorite file manager and go to your profile folder:Windows XP: C:Documents and Settingsyour_Windows_login_nameApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfilesa_bunch_of_letters_and_numbers.profile_name

    Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/a_bunch_of_letters_and_numbers.profile_name

     

  • Delete the file named downloads.rdf
  • Start Firefox

That’s all, folks!

Software

Fix Firefox Crash With Yahoo Mail

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For a while, my Firefox 2 on Windows XP would crash almost every time I logged out of Yahoo! Mail. Sometimes it would even happen if I just switched from Yahoo! Mail to another tab or closed the tab. The problem appears to be caused by a plugin installed by Yahoo! Instant Messenger (YIM) conflicting with ad blocking, and possibly other, browser addons.

Here’s how to fix it:

  1. Go to C:Program FilesYahoo!Shared
  2. Rename the file npYState.dll to npYState.dll.disabled, or move it to another folder. I created a folder called Disabled and put it in there.
  3. Restart Firefox

All fixed!

See also: Fix Firefox Crash Part 2

Software

Resume from Hibernate Failed on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

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For many years I’ve enjoyed the reliability of the Ubuntu/Kubuntu Linux hibernate functionality (just the opposite of Windows). However, today it actually failed. When I powered up the system, it didn’t resume from the swap file. Instead, it just booted up as if I had previously killed the power.

Upon checking into the problem, I noticed that the UUID for the swap partition had changed. I don’t know why. After much hunting and trial-and-error, I was able to reinitialize the swap partition, update the necessary config files and get the system to resume from hibernate once again.

1. First, you need to know the /dev path to your swap file (e.g. /dev/hda2). If you don’t know what it is, take a look inside the /etc/fstab file. In the recent versions of Ubuntu, there is a comment above each device’s UUID entry to tell you what path it points to. Look for a line with

UUID=a-bunch-of-letters-and-numbers none swap sw 0 0

On the line above it should be a comment that says what partition it is (e.g. # /dev/hda2)

Now, armed with that information, do the following:

2. sudo mkswap /dev/your-swap-partition
For /dev/your-swap-partition, fill in the swap partition path you found in the /etc/fstab file. This will reinitialize your swap partition and create a new UUID. Copy down the new UUID (e.g. copy it to the clipboard).

3. sudo gedit /etc/fstab
Look for the same UUID= line from step #1 (the one for your swap partition). Replace the existing UUID value with the new one that you copied in step #2. Then, save the file.

4. sudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume
Replace the old UUID value that appears after RESUME=UUID= in the file with the new value from step #2. Save.

5. cd /dev/disk/by-uuid
This directory contains symlinks from UUIDs to actual partitions.

6. sudo rm your-old-UUID
Enter the old UUID for the swap partition in place of your-old-UUID. This will remove the old, incorrect symlink.

7. sudo ln -s ../../your-swap-partition your-new-UUID
Now, create a new symlink from your swap partition to the new UUID.

8. sudo swapon -va
This will mount the swap partition based on the UUID settings you entered. If it succeeds, you didn’t make any mistakes. If it fails, then you need to verify that you have the correct UUID and partitions in the steps above.

9. sudo update-initramfs -u
This will create a new initramfs image. When it’s done, you’ll be able to hibernate and resume again.

That was a really weird problem. Thanks to a combination of techniques from these two sources, I was able to get it back to normal:

Suddenly my swap drive was missing
Kubuntu Edgy: swap failed when awaken from hibernate