Applefritter - Other Technology

Fixing the Epson 'Prints Blank Pages' Problem

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 21:08:02 -0800

Recently, after changing out the blank ink tank on my finacee's Epson CX5400 multifunction inkjet printer, the printer began printing nothing but blank pages. Even after doing multiple head cleanings and test prints, pages would emerge from the printer completely blank. After some research, a number of fellow CX5400 owners have reported having the same problems, to the extent that the term "design flaw" became a common theme. I've owned several Epson printers and have had, generally, good luck with them. I was always somewhat suspicious of Epson's philosophy of making the print heads a permanent part of the printer and having the only replaceable part be the ink tanks, but it produced good-looking prints so it didn't bother me. Now I know, unfortunately, that this system is both a blessing and a curse. Before we delve into how to fix your blank-page-printing problem, a quick explanation on how Epson's ink delivery system works (or, rather, how it appears Epson's ink delivery system works, because Epson isn't exactly willing to divulge its trade secrets) is in order. There are a few components to the delivery system. First, you have the ink tanks. Early Epson tanks were just that; plastic boxes with a sponge inside saturated with ink. Newer tanks have a small PCB with a flash chip on it, so the printer can tell if a tank is new or used, or if it's an Epson brand cartridge or a generic replacement. In either case, the basic functionality is that it's a holder for the ink. Next in the chain are the ink tubes and primer. I've heard conflicting reports on how Epson printers get the ink out of the tanks; some believe that the tanks are positively pressurized when first installed, so that ink shoots out of the tank when the printer needs it. Other reports say that the printer puts negative pressure on the cartridge to draw ink out of it. Once the printer has the ink out of the cartridge, there are two places it can go, to either the print heads or to the purge tube. The print heads are what makes the ink spray onto the paper; the purge tube is where the ink goes when the printer primes new cartridges and cleans dirty print heads. Many cases of the "prints blank pages" problem occur right after installing new ink tanks. People have literally removed empty tanks from printers that work perfectly, and installed new tanks to find that the printer delivers blank pages (this happened to me). Since it's highly unlikely that the print heads have become clogged during the 5 minutes it takes to swap out the cartridges, the problem has to be elsewhere in the ink delivery system. So here's what happens when you install a new ink tank: 1. The new tank is installed, the printer recognizes that it's a new tank, and begins the priming sequence. 2. The printer starts to prime the tank. Ink comes out of each tank and is directed to the purge tube. 3. The ink flows through the purge tube into the internal absorbent pad. 4. After a couple seconds, the printer stops the priming sequence and probably does a quick print head cleaning. Now, a few people have done some in-depth troubleshooting and found that the "prints blank pages" problem is actually caused by a clogged purge tube. While this may not immediately make sense (you may be thinking, "so what if the tube is clogged, the ink will just spill inside the printer elsewhere"), here's what my research suggests happens when the problem occurs: 1. The new tank is installed, the printer recognizes that it's a new tank, and begins the priming sequence. 2. The printer starts to prime the tank. Ink comes out of each tank and is directed to the purge tube. 3. The tube is blocked, so the ink has nowhere to go. 4. After a couple seconds, the printer stops the priming sequence. Epson's ink delivery system appears to be a sealed system, so when the ink has nowhere to go in step 3, little ink has actually escaped the new ink tanks. This means they're not primed correctly, and won't deliver ink as they need to when the printer goes to print. So unless the purge tube gets cleaned out, you can swap tanks and perform head cleanings until the cows come home and it won't do any good. Now that there's a basic understanding of what's going on, here's how to try to fix the problem. This guide is meant to be model-agnostic; I did this procedure to a Stylus CX5400 multifunction, but it should be similar for most Epson inkjets made in the past few years. It's unknown if new Epsons still have this problem, as it usually takes a year or more to surface. The first thing you need to do is prepare your work surface. You'll need a big table, preferably one you don't care too much about. If all you have is your good kitchen table, then it's a good idea to slice open a tall kitchen garbage bag to make one large sheet, and tape it to the table to protect it. Next, you'll need the following tools and supplies: You'll need: 1. Needlenose pliers 2. Philips screwdriver 3. 10mL syringe (preferably two) -- see note on this below 4. Superglue for when you break something (you probably will break something, like I did) 5. Paper towels, lots and lots of paper towels 6. Your sanity-maintaining drink of choice 7. Two plastic cups (one filled with water, the other empty, not pictured) 8. An assistant, if you have one (not pictured) 9. Several hours to spend wrestling with the printer and getting ink all over the place (and yourself) 10. The willingness to buy a new printer if you end up breaking yours attempting the repair, or if the repair doesn't fix the problem (this is a big one) Here's the note about the 10mL syringes: If you don't live with a chemist as I do, you can probably find 10mL syringes at a pharmacy or medical supply store. You need just the syringe itself; do not buy hypodermic syringes (the kind with the needle attached). You need to be able to attach the syringe to the tubing inside the printer. (I used a Becton Dickinson 301029 10mL Luer-Lock slip-tip non-sterile syringe, and found it to fit on the tubing well. The catheter-tip version may work better, though, as it ultimately has a narrower tip, which may allow it to be fitted to some of the smaller tubes.) So here's the step-by-step: 1. On your computer, tell the printer you're going to replace the ink tanks. This is to get the printer to move the tank/print head assembly out of its home position, and also allow you to remove the tanks. Once the printer has moved the assembly and is waiting for you to replace the tanks, unplug the printer. If you try to turn the printer off with the button first, it will move the assembly back, so what you need to do is simply pull the power cord. 2. Disconnect the printer from the computer, remove the paper from the printer, and put the printer on your work surface. 3. Take out the ink tanks and set them on some paper towels out of the way. 4. Most likely you'll need to remove at least the printer's top cover in order to access the purge tube. If your printer is a multifunction, you'll have to remove the scanner assembly first. On the CX5400, it was a matter of removing two screws on the back by the hinges, then removing a panel on the left side and disconnecting the data cables. The scanner assembly then just lifted off and away. Your mileage may vary depending on the model you have, but I suspect the process is similar amongst the multifunction. 5. Most newer Epsons have two-part casings: a beige upper part, and a dark grey lower part. Usually it's just a few screws to remove the upper part. There may be a couple cables that need to be disconnected (for the power light and buttons, etc.) so check for this before you completely lift away the top cover. 6. You should, at this point, be looking at the printer's guts attached to the bottom cover. The purge tube is going to be on the right side of the printer (the right side is typically the home position; it's possible some printers may be different). On my CX5400, there's a white plastic tray that slides left and right based on which tank the printer is priming. Here's a pic of what the tray looks like when slid all the way to the right: Notice the black hose coming from the bottom, and the clear hose that the black one connects to. This is the purge tube. From now on, things will be getting messy. 7. Look at the routing of the purge tube. It should come out of the ink tray, probably loop around some stuff and eventually empty into a waste ink storage area in the middle of the printer. If you can't see the entire path of the tube, you'll probably need to disassemble the printer further. Don't try to remove or disassemble any part of the printer's guts; just remove the guts from the bottom casing (this is done easily by removing a few screws). 8. Disconnect the tube at the ink tray and discharge end, and if the tube is segmented and easily removed from the printer, remove it. In the case of the CX5400, there are three parts to the purge tube -- there's a small black tube from the ink tray that connects to a longer, thicker clear tube, which then connects to a thinner clear tube mounted in the bottom casing of the printer. The thicker clear tube connects to the bottom tube via a hose clamp, illustrated below: I had to remove the printer's guts from the bottom tray. I was able to remove the small black tube from the ink tray to the thick clear tube, but the thick clear tube was not removable. 9. Draw 10mL of water into one of the syringes. The thinner tubes are probably going to be too small to fit to the end of the syringe, but if you're careful, you can press the end of the tube up against the nozzle of the syringe and get a decent seal. Work over a sink, and shoot water through the hose. A surprising amount of ink may come out. 10. Repeat with whatever other purge tube segments you can remove from the printer. Keep moving water through the tube until the water comes out the other end clear. 11. If you can't remove a segment of tube from the printer, then you'll need to clear the tube in place. Attach a filled syringe to one end of the tube, and hold a cup under the other end. Slowly apply pressure to the pluger of the syringe. If you get resistance, apply more pressure. Be careful, though, because if you apply too much pressure, either the clog in the tube will clear in a rapid fashion and spray ink everywhere, or the syringe will fly off the tube and spray ink everywhere (both of which happened to me). If this happens, do your best to clean up what you can. If you regularly wear socks around the house, take them off -- I inadvertently stepped in some spilled ink and ended up tracking ink all over my kitchen floor without realizing it. Thankfully, Pergo laminate flooring doesn't stain easily, and I was able to wipe up the spilled ink without a problem. 12. If you can get water to move through the tube, continue to move water through it until it runs through clear. If you can get some water to move through it but it takes a good amount of pressure to do it, try reversing which end of the tube you attach the syringe to. You could also try attaching two syringes, one at each end, and move water back and forth in a push-pull fashion until the clog clears. 13. Once you have the tube cleared out, reassemble the tube pieces, and put the printer back together. 14. I made a mistake when putting my CX5400 back together and broke off a couple internal clips. The clips hold a plastic lever in place that tells the printer if the cover is open or closed. This is where you'll need the superglue. Here are the clips I broke off: 15. Put the casing back together in reverse order of how you disassembled it. Then reinstall the ink tanks and plug the printer back in. If all goes well, the printer will pick up where it left off -- it'll think you've installed new tanks and will run through the priming sequence. If not, either use the printer's control panel or the software on your computer to start the tank swap process again. 16. If you get error messages when you turn the printer on, check to make sure that all internal cables got put back where they belong. If that doesn't help, it's probably time for a new printer. 17. If the printer finished the priming sequence without a problem, try printing a test page. If it comes out blank, try cleaning the heads once. If that doesn't help, it's probably time for a new printer. 18. If you get output after printing a test page, then your problem was at least in part due to a clogged purge tube. If the output is poor, try removing and reinstalling the tanks again, or clean the heads a couple times. The output quality may return to normal. If that doesn't help, it's probably time for a new printer. In my case, I got output after reassembling the printer, but it was poor. I cleaned the heads a few times and got the black, cyan and yellow working fine. But no matter what I did, the magenta barely printed any, even with a new tank. After wrestling with the printer and making an inky mess of my kitchen, I hurled it into the trash with disgust. The next day I bought a Canon Pixma MP450, which uses traditional cartridges (with the print heads built into the tank). Ultimately, this technique can work for some, but not all. I read reports of it working successfully for some users, but not helping at all for others. Considering that the only other options are to replace the printer or take it to a repair facility (which would probably cost more than a new printer anyway), you don't have much to lose by trying this. Good luck!

Review: Hakko FX-901 Cordless Soldering Iron

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:31:15 -0800

After reviewing and ultimately disliking the ColdHeat, I found myself still looking for a cordless soldering iron that I felt I could do quality work with. I have an excellent desktop iron, a Weller WLC-100, but that's hardly portable and is a pain to dig out and set up just to do a few quick solder joints. I figured I'd end up having to buy a butane-fueled iron, but then I found something much better. Well, in the interest of full disclosure, that much better something actually found [i]me[/i]. A few weeks after the ColdHeat review went online, I was e-mailed by Hakko USA and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing its cordless iron, the FX-901. I agreed, and shortly thereafter I received the iron with the price voided out on the invoice. [i]The Hakko FX-901 in its retail packaging.[/i] The packaging the FX-901 comes in is pretty straightforward. The iron and its accompanying safety cap are packed in a cardboard-backed blister pack. There's no instruction manual, no guidelines on how you need to solder with the iron -- in fact, right on the front of the package it instructs to "use standard soldering techniques." There's another interesting bit of information on the front of the packaging: "Safe! No spark! No flame!" After my [url=http://www.applefritter.com/node/9642]last review[/url], I know exactly what that info is referring to; I'll leave it to you to figure it out. There's some other useful info on the back of the package, such as instructions on how to replace the batteries and tip. The iron uses four AA-size batteries, which aren't included with the iron (but when was the last time you saw AA batteries included with a product anyway?). The tip that's included with the iron is of the pencil variety, with a nice sharp tip for precision work. There's a chart on the packaging that shows how long two types of batteries, alkaline and NiMH rechargeable, last and how the operating temperature of the iron decreases with their use. [i]The battery life-iron temperature chart printed on the back of the FX-901 packaging. Image courtesy Hakko USA.[/i] I was surprised to see that NiMH rechargeables were reported to last longer than alkaline batteries. Alkalines offer a higher voltage output, which one would assume would yield a longer operating time -- they generally do in other devices. But strangely, even though they output less voltage, NiMH rechargeables are reported to last almost twice as long as alkalines, 120 minutes vs. 70. I can only guess that NiMH rechargeables are much more linear in how their voltage output decreases over time, and that's what can make them last longer. The safety cap serves two purposes. First, it protects the tip (or protects other tools in your toolbox from the tip, depending on how you want to see it), and second, it keeps the power switch from inadvertently being turned on. The cap snaps on solidly and fits well. It provides a nice space around the tip internally, and is vented at the end; I was able to put the safety cap on the FX-901 while the tip was still hot, but this isn't endorsed or recommended by Hakko. [i]The FX-901 with safety cap attached.[/i] The yellow part towards the back of the iron is the battery cartridge. It's removed by sliding a locking tab at the end of the iron, and then pulling the cartridge out of the body. It's easy to load the four AAs, and there's a diagram printed on the side of the cartridge (hidden from view when the cartridge is installed in the iron body) that shows the polarity in which the batteries need to be installed. With the batteries installed, the iron is decently weighted, not too light but not too heavy. The iron is heavier towards the rear, but the balance isn't enough to make the iron difficult to hold or otherwise affect the ability to solder. The top-mounted power switch slides solidly, and a red LED illuminates when the iron is turned on. The FX-901 uses pretty conventional technology to heat the tip, so I figured the iron would take several minutes, like my desktop iron does, to heat to operational temperature. Surprisingly, it only takes a minute or so, much faster than I was expecting. The operational temperature of the iron was good too -- it's not adjustable, and won't get as hot as my desktop iron running full blast, but it gets plenty hot to melt solder and heat wires and terminals quickly. [i]The FX-901 without safety cap. The iron has a comfortable weight to it and is easy to hold.[/i] My primary test for the iron was with wiring and connectors. I tinned several ends of Belden PY balanced microphone cable, and I couldn't really tell the difference between tinning the leads with the FX-901 and my desktop iron. I then soldered on some Switchcraft and Neutrik XLR connectors and, again, couldn't see or feel a discernable difference in solder joint quality between the FX-901 and the desktop iron. Both irons heated the connection quickly and evenly, which made for smooth, defined solder joints. All of the joints I made with the FX-901 were solid and passed a clean signal.I didn't have a printed circuit board to test the FX-901 on, but I suspect it would work just as well as a desktop iron there too. The sharp pencil tip should make it easy to work on smaller components, and since the iron heats up the tip like conventional irons do, there should be no worry about killing ESD-sensitive components. I'm not sure I would do marathon PCB soldering sessions with the FX-901, nor would I solder under a microscope with it (leave that to a desktop iron with variable temperature control), but for routine repairs and mods, the Hakko should work just fine. Overall, I'm very impressed with the iron. It heats up quickly -- quicker than many desktop irons, even -- and feels natural to use. Because of its size, it's probably not appropriate for use on heavy-gauge wire, but neither would a comparable desktop iron. The back end of the iron is perfectly flat, so it will stand stably on a flat surface, and it will also lay on its side without the tip touching the work surface, so no soldering iron stand is necessary. It's probably a good idea to turn the iron off when you're not actually soldering, in order to maximize battery life. The FX-901's two drawbacks, as I see them, are rather trivial. First, though 70 and 120 minutes of runtime using alkaline and NiMH batteries, respectively, is quite decent, it would be nice to see that extended. Second, the FX-901 isn't as easy to find in stores as some of its competition; neither Digi-Key nor Mouser carry Hakko products. However, it's readily available online; just Google for it and you'll find a number of vendors who carry it. Hakko USA's Web site can also point you in the direction of a local reseller at [url]http://www.hakkousa.com/map.asp[/url]. Considering the price, which is commonly about $30, the Hakko FX-901 is a great value in my opinion -- it combines competent, solid soldering ability with good portability. It won't replace my desktop iron, but it's definitely earned a place in my toolbox. Here are my pros, cons and overall rating of the FX-901: [b]Pros:[/b] Good weighted feel and ergonomics Tip heats quickly Decent battery life, uses standard AA batteries Comes with solid metal pencil tip for precision work Heats up joints about as fast as a desktop iron Attractive price [b]Cons:[/b] Battery life good, but could be better Iron could be hard to find in some areas [b]Overall rating:[/b] Four-and-a-half out of five stars. [b]Additional info:[/b] Hakko USA product page: [url]http://www.hakkousa.com/products.asp?PID=FX-901/P&Page=1[/url] Froogle search for FX-901: [url]http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=fx-901&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown[/url]

SportPod

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 18:46:08 -0800

I recently found a need for a sturdy iPod case -- one that would hold the iPod safely and provide substantial protection, preferably from the elements. This need arose when my fiancée got a new job and, having neither a driver's license nor a car, she needed to start taking the bus to work. It's a long commute, and not the safest one either. She likes to listen to her iPod, but of course was afraid of being mugged if she had it out in the open. She'd been making do by leaving her iPod in her purse, but that became a hassle with the headphone cord becoming tangled, and also having to dig through her purse to find the iPod when she wanted to change the volume or track. (Naturally, she doesn't use the Apple headphones -- she'd be asking to get mugged if she wore those.) I was surfing at work one day and came across an article on [url=http://www.engadget.com]Engadget[/url] about the [url=http://www.retropod.com]RetroPod[/url], an iPod case made out of an old Sony Sports Walkman. This struck my interest as this seemed to be the perfect solution to my fiancée's problem. It would allow her to keep the iPod out in the open, but disguised -- any casual observer would think she was simply listening to the radio or a tape. Unfortunately, the RetroPod was expensive, and eventually sales got shut down by Sony because Sony felt that it would make people mistakenly think they made iPods (whatever). But the design made me remember that I had an old sports radio laying around, so I decided to make my own RetroPod. I call mine the SportPod. The sports radio isn't Sony. In fact, it's a piece of junk made by Wilson (yeah, the same people who make basketballs). It had an analog tuner and cassette player, and the audio quality wasn't particularly good. [i]The donor sports radio for the SportPod project.[/i] Unfortunately, I didn't take many photos of the construction process, but that's OK in the end because the specific steps taken will vary greatly with the donor radio. What's nice about this one is that there's a decent amount of weatherproofing to it, so hopefully the iPod will stay nice and dry. I don't expect it to be submersible or anything, but it should be able to withstand a bit of rain easily. With this radio, all I really needed to do to gut it was to remove several screws from the inside and the cassette mechanism and circuit boards came out in one piece. I then shaved down the internal plastic standoffs and some other structures for the battery compartment, and was left with a completely empty shell. Thankfully, the rubber cassette transport buttons are attached to the case itself, not the innards, so I didn't need to do anything special to keep them in place. The headphone jack was soldered to the circuit board, so I needed to find a replacement. Luckily, a spare panel-mount 3.5mm stereo jack I had fit perfectly. [url=http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103452&cp=&pg=1&kw=panel-mount&parentPage=search]This one[/url] is the one I used. With the securing nut in place, it fit perfectly in the headphone jack cutout on the case, and all I needed to do was superglue it in place. I didn't want to just provide a passthrough audio connection, because it would mean having to open the case in order to change the volume. I had originally toyed with the idea of somehow creating a passthrough connection so the iPod's corded remote control could be used, but that would involve two things: First, I'd have to source the female jack, which would likely involve finding a dead iPod to scavenge it from (which would be relatively costly, as even broken iPods can fetch a decent amount on eBay). Second, it would mean I'd have to find a male jack, which would mean I'd have to cannibalize a remote control. When the cost of the broken iPod and remote control were totaled, it would have cost me way too much to be worth the effort. I decided instead to at least provide an external volume control for the headphone jack. The volume and tuning knobs were secured to the sports radio by a bolt that threaded right into the potentiometer on the circuit board. That board being gone, I had to come up with another way to interface the external volume knob with a potentiometer. While digging through my parts bin, I found one of [url=http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102975&cp=2032057.2032187&cp=2032057&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032187&categoryId=2032187&kwCatId=2032057&kw=volume&parentPage=search]these[/url]. It's an inline volume control, with a right-angle miniplug on one end and a potentiometer in the middle. With some careful cutting and soldering, I got it wired up to the minijack mounted in the casing and, with the help of some superglue, got it mounted in the case. I had cut off one side of the potentiometer casing, so the entire surface of the dial was visible. I glued it to the casing so the dial faced the hole the volume control sat in. All I needed to do was superglue the volume control to the dial. The tuning knob was just superglued in place; it's just a dummy now (along with the rest of the switches, which are also glued in place). [i]Only the volume knob and headphone jack are functional on the SportPod. The rest are superglued in place.[/i] The rest of the hack was pretty easy. I found some dense open-cell foam and carefully cut it into three pieces. The first was the liner for the lid, which I made a little notch in so it wouldn't get hung up when the case was closed. The second was a 1/4" sheet that lined the bottom. The third was the sides that held the iPod in place and provided cushioning agaist side impacts. All the pieces were held in place with hot glue. All I had to do was drop in the iPod, plug in the headphone cable, close the case and I was set. [i]The final product. Note the cutout in the foam on the lid to allow the case to close properly.[/i] [i]The SportPod sans iPod. The iPod is protected on all sides by foam padding.[/i] [i]Closeup of the internal headphone jack. The black piece between the foam and the side of the case is the volume control. The external headphone jack is to the right of the volume control and hidden under the foam. To prevent the possibility of a short, the solder joints on the external headphone jack were coated with hot glue.[/i] I paid a total of $8 for this hack, and that was just for a new tip for my Weller WLC-100 soldering iron. If you had none of the parts, I'd estimate the total cost at about $30 (assuming you found a cheap sports radio on eBay or something). This hack required a lot of attention to detail, but I say that only because I wanted it to look good.

Steve Wozniak HOPE Keynote

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 08:36:50 -0700

[table][tr][td][image:3652][/td][td]We got to listen to Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple computer and hacker legend speak today with his HOPE keynote. Here’s the audio stream we captured of it. [i]This file is about 12 megs in size and is unedited, so there may be some background noise.[/i] Go ahead and download the [url=http://www.applefritter.com/fritter/wozniak.mp3]mp3 file[/url].[/td][/tr][/table]

Kevin Mitnick Keynote Recording

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 08:33:03 -0700

[table][tr][td][image:3652][/td][td]Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous hackers on Earth spoke the keynote today at The Fifth HOPE. Here's the audio stream we captured of it. [i]This file is just over 12 megs in size and is unedited, so there may be some background noise.[/i] Go ahead and download the [url=http://www.applefritter.com/fritter/mitnickkeynote.mp3]mp3 file[/url].[/td][/tr][/table]

The Fifth HOPE

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 19:22:52 -0700

About a month ago I got a call from a friend of mine. [i] Paddy: Want to go to HOPE? Bob: I don’t know, it’s kind of far... Paddy: Woz is speaking. Bob: I’m there. [/i] And that’s how, two days ago, I came to be leaving Lethbridge Alberta, headed for New York. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what HOPE is, it stands for “Hackers on Planet Earth�?, and is a conference put on more or less every two years. Starting in 1994, and continuing to this fifth time, HOPE is a gathering for everyone who calls themselves a hacker, from the classical MIT definition (ie Woz) to the usage that we hear every day (ie Kevin Mitnick). There are going to be 65 planned panels, three keynote speeches, a third string for folks who just have something to say, and a 24 hour movie room. The keynote on Friday is being presented by Kevin Mitnick, a famous phone phreak, social engineer and computer hacker. Saturday night brings Steve Wozniak, the co founder of Apple computer, and possibly one of the coolest guys on earth. Wrapping up the keynotes on Sunday, is Jello Bafra, a free speech activist. If you want to find out more, complete information is available on the conference web site. For a complete speaker list, along with quick bio’s, check out www.hope.net. Driving through Canada is an interesting thing, until you get to the actual driving part. Uneventfully, we took the Trans-Canada (main highway) from Lethbridge until we hit Sault Ste. Marie where we crossed into the United States. After a short visit/complete search of our car by the friendly people from the Department of Homeland Security, we made our way down Michigan, through the Ohio Turnpike, and onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We got lost in Harrisburg, eventually getting on the right highway and almost following the directions to Mt. Wolf, Penn. After finding the right way, we came upon a nice sized house with way too many chickens near the yard. This is mildly important, as Tom Owad lives here, and after 42 hours of nonstop driving, we were going to get a few hours sleep before heading to the conference. I’m sure this is the point where the story gets interesting, because at this moment, I’m in a car speeding towards Trenton, New Jersey where we want to catch the train in to Penn Station. This will leave us right across the street from the Hotel Pennsylvania, where HOPE is held. We’re going to try to get some good audio streams, possibly a bit of video, and definitely some blogging going on about what’s happening at the conference. Keep watching folks, this ought to be good. (Several hours later) Okay, two panels down and I’m taking a quick break for lunch. HOPE is awesome so far. This afternoon at four we’re listening to Kevin Mitnick speak about his experiences with his activities over the past few years. With any luck, we’ll have an audio file of the talk you can download. Verizons been having issues with the T1 connection all day, so my iBook can’t get online and download any photos. This is starting to get annoying. (10 P.M. EST) We just got out of listening to a two hour broadcast of “Off The Hook�?, the 2600 radio show. To check out more about that, see 2600.com. It should be up for download later this evening if it’s not up already. The hall was packed during Kevin Mitnicks keynote. The audio stream is available to download from a seperate page that I’ll post a few minutes after I post this. He’s also agreed to having an interview with us sometime by the end of the convention. Watch out for that. Tommorrow, we’ve got Woz doing a keynote, and we should be able to get audio for that as well. Keep an eye on the main page folks. Also, we’re trying to get an interview with Woz tommorrow, so if we can, it’s be great to know if you’ve got any questions for him. Throw them in the comments thread below, if you haven’t put them into the forum thread about “What Would You Ask Woz�?.

Aurora 8260

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 10:59:59 -0800

After getting my new Nokia 8260 phone, I decided that I really didn't like the icky green lighting. The display was vile, and the keypad was hard to read. So I changed it to blue for the display and red for the keypad. Here are some shots taken in the light and in the dark with no flash. [center][image:582] [image:586][/center] Now, you might be wondering at this point, "How the heck did you do that?" Well I've created a step by step below. Be forewarned however, this hack is not for mere mortals. It involves soldering on itty bitty 0603 package surface mount LED's through a microscope for over an hour and is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. You will need the following things: [list=1][*]Rosin core solder that looks like hair. [*]A good temperature controlled soldering iron. Perfereably metcal. [*]A very tiny tip, again prefereably the metcal curved tip. [*]20-40X microscope or stereo dynoscope. Preferably the latter. [*]A LOT of experience soldering surface mount technology (SMT), or at least a friend who can. [*]ESD safe workstation. [*]Incredible patience. [*]A torx T-6 screwdriver [*]A Desco Spudger model 622 (nylon soldering tools). [*]12 0603 sized SMT LED's. Available from DigiKey. Actually, get some spares. [*]insanity...complete and utter. [/list] STEP 1: Remove the battery door. This can be surprisingly challanging if you've never done it before. Press the little button on the bottom of the door and slide the cover downwards as illustrated below. [center][image:581][/center] STEP 2: Remove the antenna door using your spudger to depress the little locking tab as illustrated below. Yes I know the phone is all still together at this point. You can't actually remove the backplate until this is done. [center][image:579][/center] STEP 3: The antenna door has a little adhesive on it, and sometimes the gold patch antenna stays in the phone. If this happens, very carefully pry the metal patch from the phone with your spudger and re-affix it to the cover as in the picture below. DO NOT PEEL THE ANTENNA OFF! Doing so will bend or tear it. [center][image:578][/center] STEP 4: Remove the 5 screws from the back cover. Then remove the cover itself starting at the bottom. There is a hinge/snap at the top. The 5 screws are shown below in red. [center][image:580][/center] STEP 5: Remove the two remaining screws from the EMI shielding and remove the shield plate. [center][image:584][/center] STEP 6: Carefully remove the printed circuit card from the phone. It's a tight fit, so be very careful not to flex the board. Hold the board only by it's edges and never touch any of the components or circuit traces. If you are scared at this point, put your phone back together before it's too late. STEP 7: Once the main board is removed, look at the LCD unit. There are 4 sheet metal clips holding it to the board. Carefully push them out and the display will simply fall off. Try not to bend the tabs. Below I have indicated the location of the six LED's that need to be replaced in order to change the display color. I used blue LED's. [center][image:583][/center] STEP 8: The display lights are a right angle package. Blue's are not available in that package currently, so you can solder the normal ones on their side. If you can find right angle LED's buy them instead. Mark the board with the polarity of the old LED's before removing any of them. Use your SMT soldering experience to remove the old parts. I'm not even going to attempt to teach that skill on a web page, sorry. Tin the pads with a tiny bit of solder. This is mainly to get some flux on them. A little extra solder is good too. The new LED's must be centered on the pads, or the light pipe will hit them when you try to put the display back on. Hold the LED with some very fine tweezers. Melt the solder on both pads at the same time and drag the led into position, quickly and accurately. Note that if you touch any part of the LED other than the metal contacts for more than about 1/10 of a second, it will be almost instantly vaporized. [center][image:587][/center] STEP 9: Remove the circuit board that covers the keypad. Turning it over reveals 6 more itty bitty LED's that are responsible for lighting the keypad. In this picture I have marked the polarity with a dot on the negative terminal before removing any of the original LED's. [center][image:585][/center] STEP 10: The white plastic cover can not be removed without ruining the whole board. Also it melts quickly under the soldering iron, so be very careful. Always push the iron away from the nearest button. Follow the same soldering procedure as above, except, don't solder them on their sides. STEP 11: Reassemble your phone. Pay carful attention to the vibrator. It isn't mounted securely, and if it comes out of it's proper position, it will bind, and not work. Here is where it should be: [center][image:588][/center] STEP 12: Show off your handy work to your friends, buddies, significant other, etc. You will not need to exaggerate the difficulty of this task. Enjoy!