nvidia Cookies

Last week I was re-installing Windows Vista in my wife's Dell Inspiron 1520.

Everything was going well, when suddenly the screen was showing random pixels on the screen. I experienced the same issue few years ago when my favorite machine start showing the same pattern. It starts with few pixels, then you can barely understand what's going on in the desktop and finally screen becomes black or the computer restarts itself.

At that time the only solution was to throw my precious to the trash can (I am talking about the PC!). It was already old and almost impossible to find spare parts that will cost less than a new computer.

I was concerned that the faith of my wife's computer will be the same. We tried different things, like disabling some hardware in the BIOS and running RivaTuner to try to keep the GPU cool by "underclocking it".

As expected, nothing actually worked. The machine was behaving worst and worst.

After some research I found that it was possible to "bake" your video card in order to reconnect broken electrical connections. Several guides were available but the following video explains plain and clear how to do it.

The most difficult part is just to disassemble the computer. Fortunately DELL made public the document with these details [Dell 1520 Service Manual]. Of course it's not exactly straightforward, and you will need to unmount several parts to access the video card.

After you have the card at hand, you must separate it from the cooling system. I was a little bit afraid because the Cooling paste sticks very hard both parts, so you actually feel like if you break the video card, but don't worry, everything should be fine.

Then follow video directions: Bake the video card for 10 minutes at 200 Celsius. You will the effect because it will start smelling like "solder". Yummy!! It means your nvidia cookie is almost ready.

Assemble the whole guts and with some luck and magical dust your machine will come back to life.

I forgot to mention that this procedure worked 100% for me.

If you have some thoughts or questions, feel free to comment here.

My First Game Program

Although I don't have the original source code (It was done more than 24 years ago) and was programmed a little bit after starting computer classes in 6th grade (Sept-1987) I think this piece of code resembles the "game".

This game is a guess-the-number kind. Pretty simple but rewarding. For the first time I found that such a device "TRS-80" could be nice source of income and make a living for my future.

There was a simple trick I used in this game to always beat my friends (although game was not exciting and they got bored after couple minutes) and complete it in less attempts. I guess you already know how to solve it (log2(100))

1 Year later I learnt how to get some money from my school friends by doing their programming homework. At that time very few people was interested in computers and programming (moreover when you are 12 years old).

Vamos a disflutal del tlopico friends!

Welcome to Tropico 3 ....

And I am Juanito!

[Don't let your Island become a Banana Republic]

It looks like I've been playing lately a lot of games (I also have to mention that this weekend I just bought Dragon Age Origins, Splinter Cell Conviction and Split Second).

What I love of this game is how they take al the cliches from the Latin american people (more precisely people from the caribean countries) Although cliches, it's really close to the folklore in that region of the world.

Being Latin American it's interesting that a Bulgarian developer team has really good knowledge of the caribean (Well maybe there are some latin guys in their development team).

[Luisa ... I can't wait to see you]

The music is also splendid both in quality and region-match. Lyrics are funny and ... eventhough I finished the game I still sing those songs in the streets (para ponerte ... para ponerte..... para ponerte mi apellido)

One drawback for this game is the lack of good tutorial. I had to play 4 times the first game to be able to understand all the economic and politics, and how they are linked to the behavior of the people.

[Summer 1975, What a wonderful time]

From my personal point of view, this game a must. It's curious that although it's just a game, sometimes it's close to the reality of many latin american countries.

After all it's really difficult to have everybody happy!!

[Juan ... you are close!]

Need For Speed Shift

Last time I played and racing game was Need For Speed 3 (1998) and, correct me if I am wrong but that one was the best NFS ever.

This version is more like a realistic racing simulation. Is not as fan as previous games, but I still enjoyed it. I have to accept that I played the game in easy but without the help of the brake. Even with that level, the game is not really easy.

Graphics are amazing, and all details and effects look real. Also, cars are fully customizable, and you can upgrade and tunning most of the car features.
There are two important features missing in this game: night and rain (or any other athmospheric effects) These are my favorite features, but this game lacks of them. I think they give different feeling and challenges to the game.

Overall, if you like racing games and looking for a real driving challenge, this game is for you, but if you want something fun then play Dirt 2

World is not Flat!

I was having an interesting discussion with a fellow from "United States of America" regarding the "American Pizza". It's an old thing I have in my brain because "American" is not the correct term for people born in United States of America; "American" can be any person between Tierra del Fuego and the Bering Strait.
So, how should we call them? I suggest "Unitedstatesians", although it sounds kinda stupid.

Anyway, this discussion led to a better term "North American", but, wait a minute, Canada and Mexico are part of North America. North America is a subcontinent of America, as well as Central and South America, right? No! According to him, there's no such thing as Subcontinent, there are two different continents, one named North America and another one South America.

Don't you believe me? Well search wikipedia and you will have the answer.
But if you just follow my words, you are not a good researcher. This continent thing, believe or not, is dependent on the region, culture and language. Some people think there are 5 continents (as we learn in Latin America) some other think there are 6 and even 7 continents.

Whether or not you believe there's such a thing like "South America Continent", next time you order a particular style of food just say "please Unitedstatesian Style."