The Laptop and the watch

It appears I have been neglecting some of our readers.  Whilst this blog uses Google Blogger I don’t directly use the program.  All the posts are written using Open Live Writer (OLW) and are directly published into Blogger from OLW.  We get automatic email notification when a reader leaves a comment.  It was only by chance that i happened to load the Blogger dashboard today and discovered a number of unpublished reader comments for which no email advice had been received.

I’m going to directly respond to each here. . 

John I agree with your comment regarding the location of the pipe chicane.  Perhaps it was just too hard for them to carry the pipe and tools!  Or perhaps they didn’t want to kill a cyclist.

Jo, as always, we enjoyed yours and Keith’s company.  Hope you enjoy Gloucester!

Davidss, I think we might be onto a winner with the radio.

KevinTOO, yes Halfie also sent a link regarding the unusual vehicle.  I thought it might have a motorbike engine but it’s an electric car manufactured in Norway.  Frankly I think the vehicle’s range is too limited for it to be very popular.

OK,back to the laptop battery.

You may recall recently the laptop battery died and I had to replace it.  The accompanying instruction stated that it might take up to three full cycles for the laptop to register the new battery state of charge.  That appeared to happen!  For three days the operating system reported there was no battery detected.  Despite this message the laptop would run on the battery.  But I didn’t known how much charge was left in it.  On the fourth day the laptop wouldn’t start on battery power and neither would it charge on 240V.  Houston we have a problem!   My first thought was It a dud battery and then perhaps it’s a laptop problem.  Look for the simple things first!  I pulled the back off the laptop and disconnected the battery power cable.  With the back off I plugged the laptop into the 240V and turned it on.  Once it started I turned it off and disconnected the 240V cable.  I then pushed and held the power button for 20 seconds on the theory that this would dissipate any residual power in the system.  I then reconnected the battery cable to the laptop and plugged in the 240V before turning the laptop on. Success!  The laptop recognised the battery was attached and started charging it.  Problem solved.  It’s interesting just how long the laptop will now run on this new battery.  Around 4-5 hours.  I hadn’t realised just how degraded the old battery was before it died.

Logically my solar powered wrist watch must have a rechargeable battery inside, otherwise it would stop during the night.  There are four tiny screws holding the back panel on the watch and I guess there is a rubber seal inside.  I do have some jewellers screwdrivers and a magnifying glass courtesy of Poundland.  However I don’t want to take the back off until we are closer to a town where I might be able to purchase a replacement battery.  I’ll also need some needle nosed tweezers to pick away at the insides.  If I fail to fix the watch then I won’t have lost much as the watch is currently a cheap paperweight.  

Subsequent note.

The wrist watch must have been reading this draft and been terrified by the thought of me opening her up and performing an organ transplant operation. The watch has started working again!