Tag Archives: fix
Add-ons list in Firefox is empty / blank
March 4th, 2010. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
In Firefox 3.6, I was suddenly unable to install or edit any of my add-ons. The list of add-ons was blank, and it would not let me install any new or update any existing add-ons. The add-ons themselves worked just fine in Firefox.
After doing some searching, I found the issue had to do with the use of Personas. This issue also can occur in Firefox 3.5.x. The following solution (found here) fixed the issue for me:
- Enter about:config (type “about:config” in the address bar of a new tab)
- Filter for “lightweightThemes”
- Erase the value for lightweightThemes.usedThemes
- Change the value to “false” for lightweightThemes.isThemeSelected
- Close and restart Firefox
Doing this of course removed the Persona I had loaded, but it solved the issue.
CD / DVD drive missing / not recognized by Windows
March 3rd, 2010. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Recently an associate came across this issue, where a Windows XP laptop was not showing a drive letter for the DVD drive. The drive was obviously powered since it would open when the eject button was pressed. In Device Manager, the drive was showing the yellow exclamation point symbol for a device that had a driver issue. The usual action of deleting the device in Device Manager and restarting did not change this; it just came back with the yellow exclamation mark.
Googling for this issue let to several forum posts where the solution was a quick deletion of two values in the registry. The solution, which works for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, can be found at the Microsoft Support site.
- Windows XP, Vista, and 7: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/
- Windows 2000: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270008/
A quick reboot after the registry deletions fixed the issue on this laptop.
DHCP database and Jet errors caused by AVG 9
December 3rd, 2009. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Suddenly my Windows Server 2003 AD controller was throwing errors about the DHCP Server service running on it and the Jet database. The Event IDs were 485, 215, 1014, 1016, and 1010. Here are the specific errors logged:
* Event Time: 23 Nov 2009 01:31:41 AM
* Source: ESENT
* Event Log: Application
* Type: Error Event
* Event ID: 485
* tcpsvcs (3800) An attempt to delete the file “C:\WINDOWS\System32\dhcp\j500322E.log” failed with system error 5 (0×00000005): “Access is denied. “. The delete file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).——————————————————-
* Event Time: 23 Nov 2009 01:31:41 AM
* Source: ESENT
* Event Log: Application
* Type: Error Event
* Event ID: 215
* tcpsvcs (3800) The backup has been stopped because it was halted by the client or the connection with the client failed.——————————————————-
* Event Time: 23 Nov 2009 01:31:41 AM
* Source: DhcpServer
* Event Log: System
* Type: Error Event
* Event ID: 1014
*
The following problem occurred with the Jet database -1032:Jet database read or write operations failed. If the computer
or database has just been upgraded, then this message can be
safely ignored. If this message appears frequently, either there
is not enough disk space to complete the operation or the database
or backup database may be corrupt. To correct this problem,
either free additional space on your hard disk or restore the
database. After you restore the database, ensure that conflict
detection is enabled in DHCP server properties. For information
about restoring the database, see Help and Support Center.Additional Debug Information: JetBackup.
——————————————————-
* Event Time: 23 Nov 2009 01:31:41 AM
* Source: DhcpServer
* Event Log: System
* Type: Error Event
* Event ID: 1016
* The DHCP service encountered the following error when
backing up the database:
An error occurred while accessing the DHCP database. Look at the
DHCP server event log for more information on this error.——————————————————-
* Event Time: 23 Nov 2009 01:31:41 AM
* Source: DhcpServer
* Event Log: System
* Type: Error Event
* Event ID: 1010
* The DHCP service encountered the following error while cleaning
up the database:
An error occurred while accessing the DHCP database. Look at the
DHCP server event log for more information on this error.
These were driving me nuts. I tried a few things like copying over the DHCP configuration files from my other AD controller (which was configured with DHCP Server but disabled for backup purposes), but nothing I did worked.
Then I realized the day before these errors began I upgraded the AVG client software from AVG Antivirus Network Edition 8.5 to AVG Antivirus Business Edition 9.0. So I Googled about these errors and threw “AVG” into the search and found this forum thread, which supported my theory of the AVG upgrade being the culprit.
I then contacted AVG Technical Support about the issue, and the response I received instructed me to “remove the AVG Service for optimizing scans”. The specific instruction was to run command line switches on the installation package. So using a recent installation package, I typed the following from a command line:
avg_ipw_stf_all_90_707a1765.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE
fea_AVG_NtfsChangeJournalCach
A wizard dialog will appear where I selected (per instruction) “Add or remove components”, and just clicked “Next” through the wizard. Do not modify the component selection. The instructions also said to restart the server after this wizard, which I did NOT, and the issue still was resolved even though I have not restarted.
Resetting the Gnome panel
May 1st, 2009. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Had a heck of a time fighting with xorg.conf on Ubuntu 9.04 this week. When I finally got the resolution set correctly, the Gnome panels were messed up. The trash icon was in the middle of the bottom panel and the user/power section was in the middle of the top panel. After Googling for the answer, I came across this post that explained how to reset the Gnome panel. Here are the basic steps:
- Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get a console
- Log in from the console
- Type “rm -rf .gnome”
- Type “rm -rf .gconf”
I restarted after this and my panels were indeed reset when I logged in (including the theme, fonts, etc), and the panels were behaving normally again.
Google Desktop broken in Ubuntu Hardy Heron
July 7th, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Here is a thread that helped me solve the issue I was having with Google Desktop not working in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron).
The solution is to edit the erroneous path to the Firefox executable in Preferred Applications. See the third post by BlackSir in this thread.
Bad USB cable knocks out other USB devices
July 3rd, 2008. Published under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Here’s a lesson learned that took a few hours. Just last week, someone asked me to help them with their iPhone suddenly not synching their Outlook info. I confirmed this was actually working previously. When plugging in the iPhone, Windows XP gives the standard “USB Device not recognized” error message balloon. Hmm, ok, let’s begin troubleshooting.
I install iTunes and restart. No go. I uninstall iTunes, restart, reinstall iTunes, restart. No go.
Someone else has an iPhone in the office, so let’s see if the first iPhone works with the other computer. Yes, it does, so the iPhone is OK. Let’s try this other person’s iPhone USB cable on the computer giving the error. No, it doesn’t work either, so the USB cable is OK.
Its starting to look like a USB issue, so I pull out my Cruzer Titanium USB thumb drive. Ah ha! The thumb drive fails, so there is definitely a USB issue here. I try the thumb drive and the iPhone in different USB ports. No go. I download the latest Intel chipset drivers, pull out all USB connections (there was also an HP LaserJet 3050 All-in-one plugged in), and restart. After logging in, I plug in the iPhone. It’s recognized – bingo! I plug in my thumb drive and it is also recognized. OK, at this point I’m thinking there was a corrupted USB driver and the issue is gone. I plug in the USB cable for the HP LaserJet 3050 again and send a test print. Test print works.
OK, let’s restart one more time to make sure everything is going to work after I walk away. Unplug the iPhone and put my thumb drive back in my pocket. Restart. Plug in iPhone. USB device not recognized. What? But it all just worked fine?!??!
Try my thumb drive again. No go. Send a test print. Test print comes out fine, so the printer is still working. What the heck is going on here? I’m two hours into this by now (iTunes installs were slow and restart and logging in isn’t the fastest thing either), and I’m still scratching my head. I unplug the printer again, and the iPhone and thumb drive work! I plug in the printer again and the test print works, but the iPhone and thumb drive do not.
Then I notice the USB cable for the LaserJet was rather stretched, since the printer was somewhat far from the comptuer. The cable didn’t touch the floor anywhere, so coming out of the computer the cable was bent about 90 degrees. Could it be a bad cable? I grab another USB cable and swap. Test page prints fine AND the iPhone and thumb drive work as well! Bingo. This is the first time I have ever seen a bad USB cable actually work for the perhiperal it is plugged into but make all other USB devices on the computer fail.
I just hope this post saves someone else from 2.5 hours of frustration.