Saturday, December 24, 2011

Frozen Cursor on Dell Vostro 1520 Laptop

Dell apparently issued a bad batch of AC adapters for Vostro 1500 laptops. After a customer brought it to my attention that the track pad wasn't moving the cursor on screen. Plugging a mouse into the USB will release the cursor to move freely about the screen. This proves it's not a virus or a windows glitch. This Forum provided the answer to the problem. Unfortunately it doesn't look like Dell will reimburse or send you a new one. Fortunately there's always Google Shopping. 

Apple Starts Independent Approach to Accessory Purchase

Next time you go to the Apple retail store, take a look over near the phone cases. You may notice a customer holding some merchandise from their wall of accessories, pull out an iPhone, and snap a quick picture before walking out with it. 
Before you decide to run and flag the security, you might wish to be briefed on the procedure called personal pick up. Now at Apple, instead of pulling out cash or card, you can simply pay by phone as you would any App purchase. 

  • First download the Apple Store App.
  • Snap a picture of the UPC of the product you wish to buy.
  • Provide the three digit security code on the back of the credit card used to purchase iTunes.
  • Confirm the purchase.
  • You will be emailed a receipt.
  • The store is immediately updated verifying your payment and prohibiting the guard from tackling you on your way out.
    Keep the original packaging and Apple will replace or refund any of these items no questions asked.


    This leads one to ask- Is this the future of retail shopping? If so what store will be next? Is the Apple store employee that informed me of this procedure aware that her job is at stake?
    What do you think?
  • Friday, December 16, 2011

    Installing RAM in an iMac 2.4GHZ Core 2 Duo

    In an effort to upgrade my iMac to play Sky Rim, I made a dash to Fry's the local electronics sotre here in California. I bought a 4 GB SODIMM 667mhz stick of RAM. It put me back about $67 after tax. Installed and booted no problem. Then hours later I noticed my browser dumping my pages every 5-10 minutes and the OS completely freezing up so it needed to be rebooted. Clicking the Apple at the top left and selecting About this Mac, it show there to be 6gb total installed. The other slot already had a 2gb chip. I decided to pull my 4gb and replace it with another 2gb. Reset the computer and the OS has been running smoothly ever since.  Which makes me ask, Is this a software or firmware restriction of RAM capacity?  Suppose the only other future upgrade would be replacing the hard drive disk for a solid state drive. Interesting side note- there's a drawing beneath the pedestal that illustrates the procedure for upgrading or replacing your RAM just in case you forgot.