Month: September 2017

No Vacation From Mowing

Usually, we get a break from mowing during late summer.

In most years, the grass usually stops growing during August and early September. This provides a welcome break from the chore of mowing during the hottest parts of the summer. This year, it wouldn’t stop growing. While pop-up thunderstorms are not unusual, this year there were more than seemed normal, and several other weather systems added more moisture to the area. Every time I look out the window, I can see it there, growing.

As a positive, the increased cloud coverage did keep the temperatures a bit lower. The highest temperature so far was 96.5 F. This is about 5 degrees lower than the 100.1 F from 2016 or 101.1 F from 2015. It was hard to tell though as the extra rain meant that everything was damper and the humidity higher. These temperatures are from the personal weather station in the middle of our backyard. It might not have the best location, but it is definitely better than being next to a parking lot or air conditioner.

Tersa Sphinx

A very stylish and elegant moth.

This moth surprised us when we spotted it a few years ago on a crepe myrtle at our previous house in Montgomery, Alabama. It is a Tersa Sphinx. I thought it a svelte and stylish creature and grabbed the camera. It took me some time to determine what sort of moth it was. It is not considered rare but I had not seen it before or since. The caterpillars feed on catalpa and pentas among other things, and are large and green like those of many other sphinx moths. Perhaps I need to plant some host species and attract some at our current location. I would like to see one again.

 

 

Bluetooth Frustrations with Windows 10

Not our usual fare, but computer issues are a problem everyone faces.

I was recently forced to rebuild my computer due to a leaky liquid cooler (for the CPU). The new processor required a new motherboard, and since the copy of Windows 8 I was using was tied to the motherboard, I was forced to upgrade to Windows 10 as well. One of the features of the new motherboard was a built in Bluetooth transmitter. Things appeared to be working just fine for the first couple of days. The next day I attempted to use a Bluetooth game controller that I had been using the day before. It refused to connect.

This is what it should look like

I quickly discovered that as far as Windows was concerned my computer did not even have a Bluetooth transmitter. The icon was missing from the notification area of the taskbar. I continued on to Device Manager. It had entries for the Bluetooth transmitter, but claimed that the device was missing.

This led to multiple online searches for problems with Bluetooth and Windows. I discovered that several of the major Windows 10 updates caused a rash of Bluetooth issues. It did not help that the newest update (the Creator’s Update) was just starting to release and some of the troubleshooting information was targeted at that version. The suggested fixes included new drivers, older drivers, checking to see if there really is a Bluetooth transmitter, and making sure the correct services are running. None of these potential solutions worked.

After a couple of days struggling with this problem, I discovered two things. First, my computer had issues with Windows’ fast startup. Secondly, if I unplugged my computer after turning it off, Windows would find the Bluetooth transmitter when I started the computer again. Unfortunately, it would again disappear a few hours later. In the end, I found the solution to the problem on ASUS’s Republic of Gamers Forum (the motherboard manufacturer). A member of that forum, bowman9991, suggested turning off the option that allows Windows to power down the Bluetooth device to save power. This reminded me of a different problem I ran into some years ago when Windows powered down my computer’s hard drive. Several programs would promptly crash to desktop the next time they tried to access the drive. As a result I tried this solution immediately.

This screen is obtained by going to Device Manager (available in the menu produced by right clicking the start button in Windows 10), and then right clicking the Bluetooth device and selecting properties.

This was the solution to my problem. After changing this option, the Bluetooth transmitter has worked flawlessly.

I can only guess that there is some sort of incompatibility between Windows’ power saving programming and the Bluetooth transmitter (or its driver). Unplugging the computer can sometimes clear volatile memory on the computer that is preserved on a normal shutdown, and this apparently includes the power status of the Bluetooth transmitter. I will have to watch for major updates to Windows in the future. They have a habit of reverting settings to their default value. I ended up receiving the Creators Update in the middle of this process and it turned Fast Startup back on.

I cannot guarantee that this will work for you, but it would be worth trying if you are having problems with your Bluetooth transmitter disappearing. It would probably be worth checking whenever there is an issue with a device on your computer. My question is, how many perfectly good motherboards (or other hardware) have been returned or replaced as a result of this power management setting?