Having been involved with computing since the "good old days" of DOS, much of my technical knowledge has been self-taught, handed down or learnt through professional courses. Its part of what makes me a fan of technology sometimes, strange but true. you encounter a problem, you spend some time researching solutions - learning more about said tech along the way and hopefully, at the end of it all you are able to create a suitable solution for the problem. In the days of DOS with magnetic media the norm, the old "Abort, Retry, Ignore?" prompt came known to me and my colleagues as "Abort, Retry, Influence with large hammer" because it represented what you really wanted to do when you encountered a problem that seemed to hold no answer.
Obviously physical violence towards today's technology is counter productive. Ask anyone who's dropped their iPhone/iPad/Tablet more than three feet or someone who's Nintendo wii remote became embedded in their big-screen TV due to the cheap straps that used to ship with the console. Technology breaks so easily, unless it has been purpose built to be durable and even these have their breaking point. I don't know about anyone else, but the first thing i buy when i get a new smart phone is a pack of screen protectors and a suitable case to house it in. whilst this wont prevent breakage in extreme situations, at least if it takes a minor fall onto a hard surface i wont suddenly have a phone that's in three separate pieces, or worse, a cracked touchscreen.
In some situations, however, physical violence seems to hold the key. Years ago, i bought one of the Logitech MX5500 desktops from my local computer supplier. I liked the bluetooth cable free design, the fact that the mouse had an inbuilt battery and the mouse had a shape and design was something that suited me absolutely perfectly. Whilst the keyboard lasted many years and was eventually replaced with a gaming keyboard (only after i had worn it out), i continued to use the MX5500 mouse. Recently, after seating it in the cradle, the green charge light would light up then stop and flash red twice. this usually indicated that the mouse wasn't seated correctly. after making absolutely certain that it was, finding the problem still existed, a slow sad sinking feeling started to creep over me. was it time my favourite mouse was due to be replaced?
My first assumption was that the battery had simply taken too many charges and that the flashing red light on the MX5500 indicated it needed service/replacement. Fearing i would have to either purchase a whole new combo (they never sold the mouse or keyboard separately) or replace my beloved mouse - i turned to the interwebs to see if i could narrow down the actual problem. a few brief articles indicated that taking apart the mouse and replacing the battery or soldering a resistor into the circuit at a certain point could fix this. all possible solutions, just none i was willing to go with just yet, it may be out of warranty - i just felt that busting out the soldering iron was a bit premature. then i came across a blog entry on this exact problem. while the article wasn't all that helpful, at the end of it was a large number of comments. the fourth one down suggested holding it in one hand and slamming it down against the desk, hard. it seemed a risky proposition, after all, i didn't want to break the mouse open or anything. i did, however, hold it securely in my hand and give it one solid knock against the surface of the desk.
sure enough, after just one solid knock, returning it to the charging cradle saw no red light flashing and a mouse that was in fact charging happily once again. reading through the comments that have been accumulating on the page over the years, many theorise that it could be the cradle logitech made to hold the battery and some speculate its all about how clean the contacts are. all i know is that the 100+ people (i stopped counting at a hundred) who commented on the success of this technique will now make this a serious technical support option that may save an otherwise excellent mouse from the scrapheap.
i for one, will be one of them :)
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