First I want to mention that I am not a professional, and this post is for entertainment only.  I am not responsible if try to do this and damage anything or injure yourself. I suggest having it professionally fixed. This post is just showing how I fixed my issue. 

Aeron Disassembly

There are lots of videos online of the disassembly, but I will post a couple pictures for reference.

First remove the 2 6MM hex bolts holding on the seat on each side of the chair. Then remove seat.

Remove 2 Philips head screws from bottom cover.

Pry open the plastic cover to see the tilt mechanisms.

Once it was open I could see that the pin broke off the Sector gear. This was why I could not operate the Aeron Tilt lock.

Removing the Rear limit cam and the tilt sector gear was pretty easy. I removed a clip on the Rear limit cam and then after removing the spring from the Sector gear I could pull off both parts.

I did a little looking around at prices for a new Sector gear and found it ran about 40 dollars and came with the cable attached to it. Rather than spend 40bucks, I decided to try to fix it myself. I did this by basically drilling out a hole where the pin was previously located, then I Tapped it with a tap & die set. I had a 10-32 screw in the parts bin so ended up just using that as it was what I had on hand.

Here you can see the fix. Basically the part is just plastic so it was really easy to drill. When I put in the screw I used some Loctite to keep it in place.

When putting git back together you need to line up the arrows on the sector cam and the rear limit cam. Its a little hard to see here, but you can make it out on the Sector gear. I will try to get a better picture and update his later.

Then just put it all back together.

I did make a Youtube video of this and posted it online in case its helpful. Here is the link.

Summary of Aeron Tilt lock fix

That was it. I just put the chair back together and the screw seems to be holding the cable in place just fine. I realize the proper way for me to do this would have been to buy a new part. But I had the tools handy and decided to just try this out to see if it works. I will update this if it breaks or I have any more issues. I also did a video on it in case that helps out (link).

The post Herman Miller Aeron Tilt lock fix appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Anker Liberty Neo vs Galaxy Buds

Price

First I want to mention the price. The Upgraded Anker Liberty NEO which I am reviewing seem to run between $32.99 and $45 on Amazon and Newegg. This is much cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy buds which I paid $110 for at Costco.   So that’s a big plus for Anker, but they are missing some features of the Galaxy buds.

Size comparison

Here they are the Anker Liberty Neo vs Galaxy buds side by side in their case. As you can see the case for the Anker Liberty Neo’s are a little wider than the Galaxy Buds. Both cases have a charge indicator. Although I do prefer the 3 LEDs on the Anker Liberty Neo’s as opposed to the single LED on the Samsung Galaxy Buds.

That picture seems to make the Anker case look a lot larger and it doesn’t really feel that noticeable when switching from carrying one or the other for me. The biggest difference for me is the back of the case. Here you can see the charger. the Galaxy buds use a USB-C charger while the Anker Liberty Neo use the older Micro-USB.  For me the Galaxy buds win this as I prefer the USB-C charger, Plus the Galaxy Buds have wireless charging which the Anker does not.

When looking at the buds themselves, The Anker Liberty Neos seem to be a little longer. I found both of them very comfortable and had no issues wearing them all day. But I do think the Anker Liberty Neo stick out of the ear and may be a bit more noticeable.

Push button vs Touch Sensor

Here is a win for the Samsung Galaxy buds. They use a touch sensor for connecting to a call, playing and pausing tracks etc. The Anker Liberty use a push button. The small issue with the anker is you have to actually push the button and it does push the earbud into your ear a little each time. With the samsung you can be a little more gentle. The Samsung also wins for an extra feature in that you can turn the volume up and down from the earbud. With the Anker Liberty Neo you have to use the volume on your phone or device.

Sound Quality

This is a judgement call as they both sound good. My daughter, my son and myself all tried them out swapping back and forth and it ended up being 2 – 1. With the Anker Liberty Neo getting 2 votes and the Samsung the 1. I was one who liked the Anker a little better. They seemed to be very clear and I preferred the Bass on the Anker. This is not to say the Samsung sound bad. I should mention the Samsung does come with an app that give you some basic equalizer type setting changes. So you can play with the settings on the Samsung to adjust them a little.

Microphone

I used both of the Samsung Buds and Anker Liberty multiple times during conference calls with no issues. I had asked the far end how i sound and everyone said good and they both seemed fine. So basically this was a tie.

Bluetooth.

Both the Anker Liberty and Galaxy Buds use the newer Bluetooth 5.0 . They connected easily to both my iPhone 11 and Android phone. (Although with the Apple I did not install the Galaxy App which i did see was available). Take them out of the case and they just show up as available in your Bluetooth menu. They are super easy to set up.

As for Bluetooth distance they both die at the exact same spot when walking away from my phone. I was able to leave my phone upstairs and walk downstairs to the other end of the house when both started breaking up. This would be a tie for me.

Battery Life

The Samsung wins here as they advertise 6 hours of battery life and I was able to get about 7 hours out of them. The Anker advertises 5 hours of battery life and I was able to get a little over 6 hours.  This was not a very scientific method. I just timed using them each on separate days during my work. I pretty much listened to music or was on a conference call, and maybe just a little bit of silence time. The downside is neither gave me 8 hours which is what I really want. Both cases charge the earbuds so I could have popped them back into the case and charged them between calls or when taking a break from music. They both have a fast charge type feature.

Connect to two devices.

I had assumed that I might be able to have the earbuds connected to two devices at once. With both the Anker Liberty Neo and the Samsung galaxy Buds I had to connect to one device at a time. So if I wanted to use them on my laptop I would have to disconnect them on my phone. This is not a hard process, but is annoying. I could leave them paired to both, but not two active connections. With my Bluetooth Over the ear headset I can have it connected to both my Laptop and also my phone at the same time. For a work from home situation this is much more enjoyable then having to swap back and forth. Just something to think about if you are specifically looking for that feature.

Summary:

[Pro’s and Con’s Chart]

So who won the Anker Liberty Neo vs Galaxy Buds Shootout?  The Galaxy Buds sounded great and had some great features, I like the touch sensor on the end of them better than the Anker push button.  I also like that I can use the earbuds to turn the volume up and down on the Galaxy buds. They also have a feature to let in more ambient noise if you use the App. Plus they use USB-C and the case has wireless charging. The Galaxy Buds are a great earbud and I think fairly priced for the extra features.

But the Anker Liberty Neo were also great. They are rated at IPX7 for water which I did not test yet. (I saw the Galaxy listed as IPX2⁴ .) They also appear to be able to get a total of 20 hours of playtime if you include the case charging, while the Galaxy Buds is 6 hours +7hours for the case.  They are also comfortable and had great sound.

The winner? Overall I would say if you factor in the price and do not need the extra features of the Galaxy Buds, then its hard to beat the Anker Liberty Neo and they would win. At $32.99 if you find them on sale they are a great deal. I still like my Galaxy buds and do enjoy some of their features. So you really cant go wrong either way. It just depends how deep your pockets are. If you need the USB-C and the wireless charging I would go with the Galaxy Buds. (I did not test the Wireless charging on the Galaxy buds yet, and will update this once I do. ) 

But If you want to see more on these Anker Liberty Neo earbuds, here is a LINK to a full review I did on them. You can find them on Amazon or Newegg. The ones I reviewed said Upgraded Model in the description. It looks like the previous version had less battery life but the “Upgraded Version” was an improved model with the same name.

The post Anker Liberty Neo vs Galaxy Buds appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

The main reason for changing my DNS is to use a more private DNS provider. While I am not really all that worried about who knows what sites I visit. I do like to keep things more private if there is an option available. So I decided to switch to  Cloudflare’s DNS which I saw being touted as the internets fastest, Privacy-first consumer DNS service. I put a link to the cloudflare blog below.

Why change my DNS servers?

When your device reaches out to resolve an internet name to an IP address, the DNS provider that resolves this knows the identity of the site you visit. I was currently using Google’s DNS on my PC. But decided on switching to Cloudflares 1.1.1.1 to try it out.  If you want to read the details of Cloudflares DNS 1.1.1.1 you can check out this post from the Cloudflare blog HERE It has some great information and detail. I liked that they mention they do not store client IP addresses or any information in their logs that identify end users. They also stated all logs collected by the public resolver will be deleted within 24 hours.

How to change the DNS servers.

Here are the steps on how to change your DNS servers in Windows 10. For this example I am just going to change it from the control panel.

Step 1.  Open Control Panel (Click the windows key, then start typing  “control panel” and the option should pop up) Then click on Control Panel to open it.

Step 2. Click on “Network and Internet”

Step 3.  Click on “Network and Sharing Center”

Step 4. Click on Change Adapter Settings. 

Step 5. Right click on the adapter you are using for Internet access. Then click on properties from the drop down menu.

Step 6.  Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click properties.

Step 7. Add your DNS addresses you would like to use in the boxes highlighted below. For me I am using cloudflares DNS 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1

Step 8 Click the OK box.

Completed

Thats it, my DNS changes have been made.  I will update this post if I run into any issues and change back to google or my default ISP addresses.

Other DNS Providers and resolution speed comparison

Here are a few other DNS providers and their speed when I checked them from my current location.  (They were checked in Linux using the dig command and the query time is posted below next to each DNS provider (The lower the time the better)) Command example:  dig @1.1.1.1 myrandomtechblog.com  

Cloudflare 1.1.1.1/1.0.0.1   19ms

Google 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4    31ms

OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220   45ms

Verisign 64.6.64.6 / 64.6.65.6    141ms

Frontier 74.40.74.40 / 74.40.74.41 (my ISP I am currently using)   9ms

In conclusion it is not a surprise that my ISP I was currently using was the fastest. But, I am still going to stick with Cloudflare for now as it was the second fastest.

Hope you found this helpful, thanks for stopping by the blog.

If you would like to see how to change your MTU size in windows, you can see this post HERE.

The post Change DNS in Win10 appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

The Windows ping size option is one of my favorite ping options to use. Its great for seeing if you are passing traffic at different packet sizes. This can be useful if a device in your network is set to a lower MTU size and not passing packets once they get to big. To issue the ping command in windows you need to be in the command prompt. As far as I know ping is available for all versions of windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. 

To specify the packet size for your ping you just need to add the -l option and specify the size. (That’s a lower case L).

Example. ping 192.168.1.1 -l 1512

Here you can see the ping was completed with 1512 bytes.

Other Windows ping options available

There are also other windows ping options for Windows 10. The ping command is a way to verify connectivity between two network devices, and also see the round trip time as these requests are echoed back.  While a basic ping command is useful along with the size option, there are some other options you may find useful in troubleshooting.

Here are the ping Options in Windows 10:

Usage: ping [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-i TTL] [-v TOS]  [-r count] [-s count] [[-j host-list] | [-k host-list]] [-w timeout] [-R] [-S srcaddr] [-c compartment] [-p] [-4] [-6] target_name

If your looking a for a way to change your MTU size in windows 10 you can see the command in this post here.

Advertisement 

The post Windows ping size option appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

I just recently swapped out a hard drive and re-installed Windows 10 on a HP Pavilion 15 p033cl laptop. After the Windows 10 install the keyboard was working fine. Then it did a windows update and found the p033cl keyboard not working.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your equipment or injure yourself. Also this site uses affiliate links. This means I may make a small amount of money at no cost to you if you buy something after clicking a link on this site.

This is how I was able to fix my issue. First I verified that the keyboard was still functioning by restarting and hitting esc to see if I could get into the setup menu. This did work so I knew the keyboard did function and my cables did not come lose after swapping the hard drive.

Next I plugged in a mouse and then turned on the built in Windows on screen keyboard.

start menu –> Windows Ease of access –> On screen keyboard

Then I navigated to control panel device manager.

You can just right click the start button and then click device manager.

Once in device manager I could see the keyboard and touchpad had the yellow warning icons.

The error I was seeing was “Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)”

To fix it, I right clicked on the Keyboard and clicked properties. Then I went to the Driver tab.

First I tried to update the drivers and that did not resolve the issue. So I uninstalled the device.  I did this for both the touchpad and the keyboard. One of them gave me the option to delete the driver during the uninstall and I did chose that as well.

Summary:

After removing the devices and rebooting the laptop the keyboard was working again. It reinstalled everythign correctly. I guess during the windows update something went wonky on the laptop and the drivers or software got messed up. Hope someone else finds this helpful.

Also here is a review of a 1TB adata SSD I recently put in my desktop. If you haven’t used an SSD drive before, they are super fast. I think its one of the top upgrades for a laptop or desktop.

The post HP Pavilion p033cl Keyboard not working appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Getting the Mac address for your network interface card (NIC card) is really easy in windows 10.

1. Open a cmd window prompt. (You can do this by hitting the “windows” key then just type in cmd and hit enter.
2.  At the command prompt type in ipconfig /all
3.  Look at the output for your interface card. It will probably be called Ethernet Adaptor.
4.   I Highlighted my Mac address in yellow in the picture below for my Ethernet port. (Ignore the first adaptor as I have docker installed. You may also have some extra adaptors and will need to chose the one you are looking for.)

You can also save the output to a file by using the command ipconfig /all > filename.txt It will place the file in your current directory.

If you want to see all the options available for ipconfig, you can do the command ipconfig ?

Another way to find your Mac address Windows 10 is with the CLI command getmac

This command will list the MAC addresses for your Network adaptors.  Here is an example of the output.

If you are looking for a way to change your MTU size, you can see this post here.

If you need information on more commands. Here is a nice list of Microsoft windows commands LINK.

The post How to find your mac address windows 10 appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

What is TV LED Bias lighting you may be wondering? Basically its placing a light behind your TV screen that will glow but not shine directly into your eyes. I find it really nice to have on while watching TV in a dark room.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your equipment or injure yourself. Also this site uses affiliate links. This means I may make a small amount of money at no cost to you if you buy something after clicking a link on this site. 

70 inch TV LED bias lighting

The reason I went with this brand was due to the fact I already had a set of them above my kitchen cabinets. I have had great luck with them as they have been working trouble free with no issues. Plus this had an RF remote, so I do not need to point the remote at a sensor to turn on or off.  They also had a good sticky backing that I could use to attach to the TV easily.

Here is the kit I purchased at Amazon along with some corner connecting clips.

LED BIAS Lighting KIT
LED BIAS Lighting Corner Clips

The price was really good and this came with 2 qty 16 foot LED strips. I knew I would be able to get by with just using a single strip, and I plan to buy another controller in the future for the other strip. ( You can buy the controller and remote separately here )

Now these are really easy to install. Basically the strips plug into the controller (The controller plugs into an AC outlet) and the remote will turn the lights on and off and change the color. One of the things I liked about this kit was it has an RF remote.

Design and layout

Lol, this is my “Design and layout” phase. Just kidding all I did was take a few measurements of the TV and draw it on the box so I knew how long to cut my 3 strips. I wanted to have the lights on the sides and top, not the bottom.

[TIP] I placed mine about 1.5 inches in from the side of the TV. If I was to do it again I would move them in a little further maybe 3 inches.

Now that I had the needed length, I just had to cut them to fit. This is really easy. I just used a pair of scissors and cut along the printed cut lines. You can make a cut about every 4 inches on the marked area like in the pic below.  So you need to plan your fitment around those cutting constraints. I just cut it in the middle of those copper pads.

With my 3 strips cut to the length I needed I came across a little stumbling block. These are coated with a rubber type protective coating. I needed to slice the top of the coating to get to the pads to connect my angle connectors. It was not to hard, but you may save some time by buying some without the rubber coating if you prefer.

It fit right into the connector just fine after removing the rubber type clear coating.

Once I got all of the needed ends stripped and angle connectors installed I plugged them in to make sure they worked.

Now here is an optional step. While it worked fine with just plugging them into the connector, I did not want to risk one of them coming lose from the connector after being stuck on the TV with the sticky tape backing. So I soldered the connections. (I am the type of person who likes an excuse to solder something. I love to justify all my tools 🙂 )

Ok, not my best work, but you get the picture.

Putting them onto the TV was a piece of cake. Just peel the backing off and they stuck right on.  Then plug in the controller and plug it into the power supply. Here is what it looks like.

70 inch tv led bias lighting Summary:

This worked out really well, and I am totally happy with the lights and final result. How could it have been better? I suppose I could have purchased lights that were rated indoor only and did not have the clear coating on it. That would have made connecting the strips to the connector a little easier. Also after sticking them up, I think it would have been a little better to have the strips moved in towards the center of the tv a little more. Maybe 3 – 4 inches from the edge.

But I am just being picky as I am still really happy with the setup. I even have a separate strip leftover to use for my computer or bedroom once I buy another controller. For the price this was much cheaper then buying a kit when I was shopping. Plus most were made for smaller TV’s. The colors you can chose with this RGB lighting is also great. So many choices of color and you can adjust the brightness up and down as well.

If you would like to see how they look in my kitchen on the cabinets you can see that post HERE.

These are the products used in this cheap 70 inch TV bias lighting review.
LED BIAS Lighting KIT
LED BIAS Lighting Corner Clips

The post Cheap 70 inch TV LED BIAS Lighting appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Just wanted to write a quick post with the fix for the AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS and VERR_NEM_NOT_AVAILABLE. I just ran into this with my new build using a Gigabyte AX370-Gaming Motherboard when I was trying to run a Ubuntu VM with VirtualBox. I also use VMware and assume it would have shown the same error but I did not verify.

The Problem

These are the two errors that popped up.

• Not in a hypervisor partition (HVP=0) (VERR_NEM_NOT_AVAILABLE).
• AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS (or by the host OS) (VERR_SVM_DISABLED)

I would have thought that SVM would be enabled by default but that was not the case.

The FIX

It was a really easy fix. I just had to reboot and enter my BIOS. Then enable SVM.  Finding the field to enable was a little tricky in the drill down. Here is the location.

Go to the first TAB in your bios the “M.I.T” tab.

Then drill into “Advanced CPU Core Settings”

Then drill into “Advanced Frequency Settings”

Now you should see the option for “SVM Mode” mine was disabled by default and once I enabled it I could launch my VM.

Hope this helps someone.

If you are looking for a free opensource program for running Virtual Machines, you might want to  check out virtualbox.

If you are starting to see ad’s in your start menu bar on Windows 10, here is a POST I did on how to disable them.

The post AMD-V is disabled in the BIOS appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Hitfilm no audio when exporting issue:

I had imported an MP4 video and extracted the audio from it to add to my existing video. But when I would export it, I would not have any sound in the exported video. To fix my Hitfilm no audio on export issue,  I had to change the sample rate in the project tab to 44,100 Hz. I made this change I was able to export the video with sound. 

Here is a quick snapshot of the change of the sampling rate to get it to work for me. This took me a while to get it fixed so wanted to post something in case someone else is searching for the answer. 

I hope this helps! Here is a link to the HITFILM forum where you can find more help. 

So far I am really liking Hitfilm Express as a free option for video editing. I am just scratching the surface of the all the options available so far. It seems like a pretty powerful free video editor.  (I am just learning as I go and using it to edit some videos for youtube. ). I have not ventured into any of the available add-on packs that you can purchase yet.  But it there looks to be a lot of useful options to unlock if needed. I plan to try some in the future and will review them if it looks like it might be helpful.

Also here is a tip if your starting to see ad’s in your windows 10 start menu and want to remove them.  

On a side note:

I just wanted to say thanks for visiting the site. This is a blog that me and my son are playing around with for fun. It is a great way to goof off and post some pictures and post stuff that we enjoy chatting about.

If you happen to be looking for some free image editing software, the two I would recommend are GIMP and KRITA. I use both of them for editing pictures on my blog. They are also a great free option for image optimization for any images you are posting on the web. 

That concludes the post for “Hitfilm No audio when exporting.”. I hope it is helpful!

The post Hitfilm No audio when exporting. appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

1. Click the Windows Key and the R key at the same time. [ WIN + R ]
2. The RUN dialog box will open
3. enter “winver” and hit enter.
4. You will now see your windows version.

Yep, Its that easy to get your windows version. On a side note, If you need to disable ads in your Win 10 start menu, check this post here.

If your looking to create windows 10 installation media, you can do that from this link at Microsoft. ( I am just about to do it myself so thought I would post it.) Its always handy to have a Win 10  usb installation drive. My win 10 install thumb drive was quite old, so am going to update it with the latest version of Win 10.

The post How to check Windows version (Win 10) appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.