Category: Problems Solved

Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon Manually Add Application to Cinnamon Menu and Panel

by  on  in Linux Tips and Tricks, Problems Solved • 0 Comments

The Newshosting application installs itself to the desktop but not to the Cinnamon menu, so there is no “right-click > Add to Panel” option. Here’s a quick way to add an item to the Cinnamon menu. First, you need a script to launch your application. Something like: #!/bin/bash/home/myusername/myawesomeapp –param1 –param2 You’ll want to save this script and make it executable…sudo… Read more →

Workaround: Latest Apple macOS Sierra InstallOS.dmg contains a broken createinstallmedia binary

by  on  in Problems Solved • 0 Comments

NOTE: This page describes how to create a working USB install drive using the latest official Apple macOS Sierra InstallOS.dmg (10.12.6) directly from Apple’s support site. It assumes you already know how to properly erase your USB drive using Disk Utility and have imaged USB drives before using the methods provided by Apple. The following link to Apple’s support page… Read more →

Big Tony’s PokerKard – Model T4 USA – Restoring CloneZilla and dd Drive Images…

by  on  in Electronics Repair, Linux Tips and Tricks, Problems Solved, Product Enhancements • 1 Comment

You will need: (2) USB Thumb Drives / Keys Narrow and thin or they won’t all fit!  (I really like these Kingston drives…) One 2GB or larger One 8GB or larger USB keyboard Big Tony’s PokerKard hardware (properly installed in the Big Tony’s PokerKard cabinet) Proper BIOS Settings for the PC (BIOS settings are below the images) Big Tony’s PokerKard… Read more →

My Adventures with Big Tony’s Pokerkard – Tear down, repair, troubleshooting, etc. (Fixed!)

by  on  in Electronics Repair, Problems Solved, Product Enhancements • 36 Comments

All of the content on this page is aimed at helping owners troubleshoot, repair, and service their game.  If a legitimate request to remove any of the material posted here surfaces, I will honor the request.   Recently I picked up a Big Tony’s Pokerkard arcade video/gambling game/machine.  It does not boot all the way into the game, but the… Read more →

Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Python, Firefox, Selenium, and Webdriver – Headless Edition

by  on  in Linux Tips and Tricks, Problems Solved, Python • 0 Comments

I have a few browser automation tasks set up to run using cron on my home NAS (Ubuntu / Linux Mint 17), but ran into trouble with Selenium’s webdriver throwing exceptions due to my NAS being headless.   There is a very simple workaround for this problem – create a bash/shell script that you will call from cron, give it the… Read more →

Samsung LN-832410 TV Repair – BN96-03775A Power Supply Capacitor Replacement…

by  on  in Electronics Repair, Problems Solved

I actually like repairing electronics and have been doing so with my hobby of restoring classic arcade video games for over 20 years.  It is always amusing to me to see that the same problems that plagued an Atari Asteroids machine from 1979 are the same you’ll find in modern power supplies – crappy soldering and/or cheap capacitors.

Interlude over, moving on to the power board in a Samsung TV (LN-832410) – the BN96-03775A.  Problem?  Cheap caps that swelled up and then “gave up the ghost.”

This particular TV would not power up immediately, but if you left it on for a while, eventually it would fire up and work perfectly.

Ok, so you take something apart – how do you spot a bad or failing capacitor?  Usually if the electronic device has failed completely, you will see that the capacitor has become “swollen” on top.  This applies for capacitors in anything from TVs to the massive cap that helps kick-start the fans on your outdoor air conditioning units.

In this Samsung there were 3 caps that showed obvious signs of failure.  It may be difficult to see, but if you run your fingers over the top of the caps, it will be really easy to notice which ones feel swollen.  Here’s a pic of two of them.

bad_caps

For some electronic devices you can find “cap kits” that let you shot-gun all of the caps on a board.  This is a great approach because most of the time the kits are super-cheap ($5 – $15) and why would replace a single 10-year old cap and leave all the other old ones in?

In this case, I replaced (7) capacitors.  I labeled them in the photo and their values are listed below the image.  Did I mention photography is another of my hobbies?

bn96-03775a

  • 1/2 (CM851 & CM852) = 1500uf 35v
  • 3 (CS852) = 1000uf 16v
  • 4 (CM856) = 1000uf 25v
  • 5 (CM858) = 470uf 25v
  • 6 (CM861) = 2200uf 10v
  • 7 (CM860) = 1000uf 35v

Total repair minus shipping costs & my time?    $7.10.

For most electronic repairs I like to use caps that are rated for around 10,000 hours, 105C+ temp rating, and low ESR.  All of the ones I chose for this repair were Panasonic.

I absolutely recommend Mouser for replacement capacitors and electronic parts in general.  They have an absolutely massive selection and are in Texas, so I almost always get my parts “next day” regardless of who I ship with.  They ship same or next day so regardless of where you live, you’ll get your parts fast.

If you’re looking for cap kits for specific devices, try Google or eBay.  If your problem is a common one, odds are someone else has already done the capacitor sourcing for you!

Happy Repairing…Enjoy!