Blackberry: The RIM handheld USB drivers are unable to suspend at this time

It's like a blast from the past with my Blackberry Bold 9000 handheld from RIM. What is it you ask? When I attemtped to close my laptop computer and put it into a "sleep" mode, I got the following messsage:

"The RIM handheld USB drivers are unable to suspend at this time."

The funny thing, it is not 2005 anymore -- when is the last time I can find on Google where anyone experienced this particutlar issue with trying to suspend or put their computer to sleep. Yep, you read that correctly, 2005! Not only that by this wasn't on Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows 2000...it was on a "fairly recent" Windows XP machine. Ok, maybe a little outdated we're two versions behind with Windows 7 being released and Windows Vista before that.

Still, a pretty big surprise.

How and why does it happen?

I am not sure why yet or how to solve the problem, but I can tell you it has happened three times in the past few days. And, I have a pretty good idea on what happened to cause it.

In an effort to improved the terrible performance on the BlackBerry Bold 9000 and the AT&T 3G network, I decided to check and see what updates were available -- both for the Blackberry Desktop Manager and the base handheld software / firmware.

As luck would have it, updates were available for both. The Blackberry Desktop v4.5 software I was running had been updated with version 5.0.1. And the Blackberry Bold Software had an update available to the handheld software. I was most excited about the handheld upgrade to version 4.6 build 297 -- hoping the woeful batter life, random reboots I would experience, and poor 3G coverage would cease.

I went ahead and installed both of the updates and everything seemed fine. Actually, the Blackberry Bold device software has done wonders for my system by upgrading to 4.6 build 297. My service is quite a bit better -- although I am still plagued by a 1/2 mile stretch in Malibu with no signal (how can this been in 2009?). Other than that, the spurious reboots are gone and overall the device seems a lot more stable -- not as stable as an iPhone, but pretty good for a Blackberry.

And then, as mentioned above -- I have started to get the message below when trying to suspend my IBM, err...Lenovo ThinkPad T61:

"The RIM handheld USB drivers are unable to suspend at this time."

How does it happen? Well, in my case the Blackberry is "connected" to the BlackBerry Desktop Manager and Microsoft Outlook / Exchange via a USB cable and not just plugged in. My Lenovo ThinkPad T61 is in the docking station and I go ahead and shut the computer to force it to enter the sleep / suspend mode. However, I get a Windows alert that says:

"The RIM handheld USB drivers are unable to suspend at this time."

With the notebook desktop opened back up, I unplug the Blackberry Bold 9000 from the computer and re-attempt the suspend mode by closing the laptop. The laptop suspends cleanly and goes into the sleep mode.

I did some Google searching and all I could find was a reference to an posting back in 2005 that had to do with USB conflicts. (link here) Given the age of, as well as the description of the issue with Windows 2000, still unanswered -- it clearly does not apply to the situation here.

Has anyone else encountered this error with Blackberry Desktop Software v5.0 or v5.0.1 and have a solution to recommend? If so, please let me know with a comment!

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How To: Upgrade / Replace Your PS3 Hard Drive (Sony PlayStation 3)

So, you want to upgrade the hard drive on your Sony Playstation 3? Maybe to either increase the speed of it or perhaps the capacity?

Or, perhaps the original hard drive on your PS3 crashed or failed and you need to replace it?

Whatever your reason for needing to upgrade or replace the hard drive on your Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), you've come to the right page to find out how you can do it. I recently upgraded my hard drive on my PS3 and this is the experience I went through. My reason is that I wanted to increase capacity as well as speed for downloadable content, multimedia and even the "Other OS" function that you can run Linux on. Overall, this guide should make it really simple for your to upgrade in just a manner of minutes.

Before you get started, there are a couple of things you need before you can get into the actual project.

1. The most important thing to realize about the Sony Playstation 3 hard drive is that it is not a standard 3.5" hard drive. Rather, instead it is a 2.5" hard drive which are generally found in laptops, notebooks, and even the Mac Mini. Another important consideration is that if you are running Ubuntu Linux or another operating system you may want a 7200 rpm drive as it will make a dramatic performance difference. To find the right drive at a great price, click here to see the 2.5" hard drives from Amazon.com.

2. Tools -- you'll neeed a regular flathead screwdriver, a standard phillips screwdrive, and a smaller / precision phillips screwdriver.

3. Other items: A USB memory stick, as you may need to update the Sony PS3 system

Once you have those three, you are ready to goahead and proceed with tutorial. Here is the step-by-step guide on how you can replace / upgrade the hard drive on your Sony PS3.

1. Power down and unplug all the cables from your Sony Playstation 3.

2. Find the side of your PS3 with the sticker labeled "Detach this conver when removing the hard disk". There is a little tab on the right hand side. Place your flat head screwdrived in the slot and slide the plastic piece. It should snap and then pop right out.



3. With the plastic cover removed, the hard drive tray is exposed. There is only one screw (blue) that is required to remove the hard drive. Take your regular phillips screwdriver and remove the screw.



4. With the screw removed, the tab that the screw holds in will slide out from the PS3. From there slide it out and pull the tab to disconnect and slide out the hard drive.



5. Now comes the trickest part. The four screws that hold the hard drive are in fairly tight. If you are not careful or have the right phillips screwdriver size, you could strip them easily. Make sure to apply a good amount of pressue to the screws when turn and they should loosen more easily. Remove all four screws.



6. After you remove the screws, you can easily slide out the hard drive from the tray to make room for your replacement hard drive.



7. Slide your new hard drive into the tray and reverse the previous steps in order to have your PS3 ready to turn back on.



8. Reconnect your Playstation 3 cables and power on.

9. In many cases, you may immediately receive the message "Update data 2.76 required" or a similar message. Do not panic, it's a fairly easy solution.

10. Take you USB memory stick or other storage media types compatible with your PS3 and format it as FAT32. Create a PS3 folder in the root of the stick. Then under the PS3 folder create an UPDATE folder.

11. Go to the Sony site (link here: http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/SystemUpdates/PS3/pc_update.html) and under Step 2, click on the DOWNLOAD NOW button to get the latest update. Once the update downloads, place it in the --> PS3 --> UPDATE folder.

12. Plug it into your Sony Playstation 3 and the system will automatically install the latest update on your USB or other storage media and update the system to the current version.

13. You're complete now and ready to use the new performance and capacity of your Playstation 3 system. I would recommend an immediate formatting of the new system including a partition for OTHER OS so you can have the maximum flexibility for your Sony PS3 hard drive.

If you have experience with replacing any hardware, you can complete this upgrade in less than 15 minutes. Those with less experience may want to plan on the upgrade / replacement taking about 30 minutes.

Good luck!

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How To: Fix GNOME blank screen in Ubuntu for PS3 Other OS and other update problems...

After getting Ubuntu linux installed as the "Other OS" on my Sony Playstation 3 with the upgraded hard drive, I wanted to update to the latest supported version of the Ubuntu, which happens to be version 9.10 as of the time of this post. Since the version of Ubuntu I download based on my Google search was much older (you can get 9.04 from this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PlayStation_3), say version 7 -- I had a lot of updates to perform.

In fact, I would first need to jump to version 8 of Ubuntu before I could even get to version 9. A little bit painful to say the least. Still, since the system was going to do the majority of the work for me, I went ahead and browsed to System --> Update Manager and was informed that the update would be to version 8.04. I went ahead and confirmed and started the process.

At first things looked like they were going fine, but at some point I ended up in some sort of error loop between an SSL certificate update and a couple of package installs. In the end, I needed to thumb the PS3 to get any sort of response from the system. I wondered where that was going to leave me...perhaps with a corrupted OS with the partial Ubuntu install?

On boot-up, amazingly everything looked find and I got to the log-in screen for Ubuntu. I was very pleasantly surprised. I went ahead and entered my username and password and they were accepted. Great news...but then the problem started.

After the logon screen went away, I ended up with a blank screen with just the mouse pointer / cursor that would move, but there was no user interface, task bar, or icons to perform any actions. At first I thought I was stuck.

Luckily, Ubuntu / Gnome has a feature that allows you to go directly to the command line by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. From there, you just log into the shell with the username and password and you are back in business.

Once I got to the command line, I was able to work through the issue by doing an automatic smart update from the command line. The command to enter to perform the update is:

sudo apt-get update

After all the packages are checked and downloaded, you are instructed to enter the following command to complete the update installation:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

It took about 10 minuts and froze on the cups-pdf package which I hit control+c to quit after 5 minutes of no activity, but the install of the updates worked great.

I then rebooted to try and get the PS3 Ubuntu update to work. After getting to kboot and hitting enter, the following happened:

Loading Kernel with initrd … success
Booting system
_

With the system being frozen and not able to boot. I tried a reboot again, and even a cold reboot -- but neither made a difference. Instead, I needed to type in the command "old" (without quotes) which uses the old kernal to boot.

Once I got back to the GNOME, the same symptoms persisted and I could not seem to get an upgrade to version 8.10. Whether I tried a plethora of commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

The reality is that I got stuck in a loop and there was not way out of it, in fact the update manager would not recognize that new versions (9.04 and 9.10) of ubuntu existed. Other than to start over with the 9.04 release. So, to start the process I turned off the PS3, returned to the kboot command line. Where, contrary to some articles out there you're not stuck and locked out of XMB. Rather than holding down the power button for multiple beeps to return to the Sony XMB, all you need to do is type the following command to get back in:

boot-game-os

The lesson here is that you cannot always fix everything. :-) Or, better stated -- it may not be worth the time to continue down a certain path. Given that I was still on an older version of Ubuntu Linux for PS3 -- I figure it was best to start over.

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How To: Prepare and Return Playstation 3 (PS3) for System Repair

Having the Blu-Ray player in my Playstation 3 (PS3) die a couple of weeks ago was a big bummer. Not only could I not play games, DVDs, or Blu-Ray movies, but my PS3 was out of warranty meaning that I needed to spend $150 to have it fixed.

Despite the loss of $150, Sony (SCEA - Sony Computer Entertainment America Consumer Services Department) makes it really easy to return your Playstation 3 system to them. About 5 days after placing my order, a pre-packaged box arrived at my door that was ready to have my system packed in.



But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves -- there are several steps we need to perform with the PS3 before disconnecting and shipping it. Most importantly, we need to backup the data, then deactivate the user, and then finally delete your local users since once the Playstation 3 is serviced, it will be returned without any of the original data.

Let's start with the backing up of the hard drive. In most cases, you will need an external hard drive (USB) to backup the hard drive. If you do not have one, you can order one pretty cheap from Amazon.com by clicking here.

Once you have your USB 2.0 hard drive for your Playstation 3 (PS3), you need to plug it in, and make sure it is recognized by your PS3. This can be a little tricky to be honest given some of the limitations with what the Sony PS3 will recognize. If you are struggling with this, I posted a how to guide that you can access by clicking here.

Finally, you are ready to perform the backup or take a drive image of your Sony Playstation 3. It entails several steps, that I've documented in a separate guide that you can access by clicking here.

Now that you have finally backed up your Playstation, we're ready to take the next steps.

The next step is to deactivate your Playstation 3 from the PlayStation Network. In order to do this, on the XMB go to the Playstation Network and Sign in by pressing 'X'. Next, scroll to Account Management on the XMB and press 'X'. Then highlight the System Activation icon and press 'X'. Highlight the PS3 System and press 'X'. You'll now receive a pop-up and select the type of content you do not want your system to use. (I started with game and then repeated with video.) Highlight Deactivate System and then press 'X'. An acknowledgement apprears, press 'X' to complete.

It is recommended that you repeat it for video.

Next, it's time to delete all the users. To do this:

On the XMB, go to (Users) and sign in to each user account. With the user name highlighted, press the button. Select "Delete" and press the button. The message "If you delete the user, saved data for the PlayStation 3 format software, messages, and bookmarks will also be deleted. Do you want to continue?" will appear. Highlight "Yes" and press the button. You will receive a confirmation message "Are you sure you want to delete the user?" Highlight "Yes" and press the button. The user will now be deleted. Repeat for all users.

Now we need to format the hard drive. To do this:

Go to (Settings) > (System Settings) and press the button. Highlight [Format Hard Disk] and press the button. The message "Do you want to format the hard disk?" will appear. Highlight "Yes" and press the button. The hard drive will then be formatted.

Now we're ready to pack and ship. The packing and shipping instructions that came in the box were simple and easy to follow.

It takes only 5 minutes to pack and prepare your Sony PS3 for service shipment with the instructions from Sony (SCEA). Make sure to take up the box good!

With the Sony Playstation 3 packed and ready to ship, take it to you nearest UPS store to drop it off with the prepaid return label. Hopefully, in just a couple of weeks your PS3 will be serviced, repaired, and as good as new. I can't wait for mine to return!

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How To: Backup Your PS3 Hard Drive (Sony Playstation 3)

Backing up the data and hard drive of your Sony Playstation 3 is pretty important in a number of cases. In the first case, it is always good to have a backup of all your data in case of a hardware or hard drive failure. The second most important case is the case you need to return you PS3 for repair due to a failure -- like of the Blu-Ray player -- since that is what I am doing right now.

So, let's start with the backing up of the hard drive. In most cases, you will need an external hard drive (USB) to backup the drive because the volume of the contents (usually exceeding 10GB) will not easily on something like a USB drive. If you need a USB at a good price, I recommend checking out Amazon.com -- they have a ton of choices and sizes for any budget. Click here for the list USB hard drives from Amazon.

Once you have your hard drive, it is important to get the hard drive connected and recognized by the Playstation 3. This can be tricky given how "picky" Sony's PS3 operating system is. If you need help, click here to see my guide on how to connect a hard drive to your Sony Playstation 3.

Now with an external hard drive attached to your Sony Playstation 3, you're just about ready to back up the drive. But, before getting started, there are a couple of things that you need to be aware of:

Please note that the following copy-protected content will not be transferable:

Digital Right Management (DRM)
PlayStation format software game data
PlayStation 2 format software game data
PlayStation 3 format software Game Save Data flagged as unexportable

Please note that content purchased from the PlayStation Store can be redownloaded from the PlayStation Network download list and does not need to be backed up.

The good news with trophy data however. Trophy data is saved onto your PlayStation Network account and will be accessible regardless of the content on the hard drive.

Now that we're aware of how this might impact your backup, I would recommend storing any save data from the Playstation or Playstation 2 games on an memory stick or a memory card that you may be using with an USB adapter.

Here's how you backup the hard drive for your Sony Playstation 3:

1. Go to (Settings) --> (System Settings) and press the X button.



2. Go to [Backup Utility] and press the X button.



3. You will be given three options: Back Up (Back-up all data from your PlayStation 3 hard disk drive to the external USB drive.), Restore (Use a back-up that was made to an external storage to restore data to the PlayStation 3 hard disk drive.), Delete Backup Data (Erase backup data).



4. Select the Back Up option and press the X button to start the backup process. Depending on the amount of data, games, saves, and other media it could take up to one hour. The process will inform you of the progress and the approximate time left.

Congratulations, you have successfully backed up the hard drive on your Sony Playstation 3!

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Outlook 2007 Multiple Time Zones Offset Incorrect with DST

As luck would have it, I would be traveling to the East Coast this past week. And I commonly use the "multiple time zones" feature in Microsoft Outlook 2007 -- to keep track of appointment times in the time zone I generally find myself in, Pacific Time (PST). My second time zone either is commonly India Standard Time (IST) for the teams I am commonly working with.

Sometimes, however -- I do shift the timing to the East Coast for the Eastern Time (EST) zone. Especially when I was preparing to head on the above mention trip, that way I can plan my meetings on both the West Coast and East Coast at the right times and easily see everything together on the same Weekly Calendar view inside Microsoft Outlook. (regardless if it is Outlook 2000, Outlook XP, Outlook 2003, or Outlook 2007)

However, after booking a bunch of meetings, I started noticing a problem. The people that I was planning meeting with on the East Coast were mentioning to me that my meetings were for an hour later than I thought they were. I quickly looked at the calendar and it appeared to be at the right time, at least according the what the multiple time zone view told me.

But, when I looked closer...and interesting problem was revealed.



For some reason, the time offset in the Weekly View in the Outlook calendar was showing only a two hour difference between Pacific Time and Eastern Time. Which we all know should be three hours total. Oddly enough the problem didn't appear for either Central Time (CST) or Mountain Standard Time (MST).

Knowing the recent time change happened to Daylight Savings Time (DST), I assumed it was just Daylight Savings Time bug that I could use a tool (like this one). However, the problem I experienced did not directly apply.

What it appears I have discovered is nn existing, unfixed bug in the way Microsoft handles daylight savings with the multiple calendars specifically for the Eastern Time Zone (EST) when used as the secondary time zone. And it only occurs for one week (November 1st-7th in 2009) in with daylight savings and then return to standard time. Oddly, for the week of March 14th-20th in 2010 when we go to Daylight Savings time there is actually a four hour gap. This seems to to occur every year for the same week, with the November 7th-13th, 2010 experiencing the same problem.

While it is unknown whether Microsoft plans to fix the issue in Outlook 2007, we do know that it will occur, rather predictably moving forward. So, if you use multiple calendars and the Eastern Time Zone is your secondary one -- you can consistently expect the behavior the week after Daylight Savings occurs. If we cannot prevent it, at least we can manage it knowing what to expect.

Let's just hope I don't travel to the East Coast in March, 2010...since I'll likely forget about the problem until I start booking meetings at the wrong time.

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Windows 7: Transfer iTunes Library and Settings from Windows XP and Vista

Today was a big day for my Dell computer. Because, I installed iTunes and transferred (moved) my entire music library over to it. This was important because I am retiring my old computer and needed to get my beloved iPod hooked up!

The first piece of amazement for me was that Apple does not provide any tools through the iTunes software or via their website to transfer all of your settings from one machine to another. This can be annoying to setup all of the tabs and keep track of your music library! So, after a little Google searching, I came across Aleksandar Vacić's blog for which he provides a solution:

1. Copy C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\ into the identical folder in new install.
2. Copy C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\ into the identical folder in new install
3. Copy entire contents of old C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\ into the identical folder in new install

However, this does not work for transferring or moving iTunes settings on Microsoft Windows 7 from Microsoft Windows XP (although it does work for Windows Vista to Windows 7). The reason being, is that Microsoft in Windows Vista and Windows 7 they remapped the folders so they do not line up exactly. So, an updated version of Aleksandar's checklist would be:

1. Copy the folder C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\ to the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\

2. Copy C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\ to the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes

3. Copy entire contents of old C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\ to the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\Music\iTunes

Then start up your iTunes and you will have been successful in the move or transfer of your settings and library to your new Microsoft Windows Vista PC.

Did this solution work for you? If so, please let me know with a comment!

Also, if you are interested in what the mappings of all the old folders in Windows XP were versus what they are in Windows 7.

Microsoft Windows XP	Microsoft Windows Vista
Application Data	AppData\Roaming
Cookies	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
Local Settings	\AppData\Local
My Documents	\Documents
NetHood	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
PrintHood	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Recent	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SendTo	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Start Menu	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Templates	\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates

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Fixed! Nintendo Wii Game freezes frequently at specific location

This can be the most frustrating problem for us when we are playing games on our Nintendo Wii. That being said, occasional lockups with video games can happen from time-to-time and do not necessarily indicate a need for repair or replacement of your Nintendo Wii gaming system. If you are experiencing frequent lockups, or a particular game always locks up in the same area, please see the information below – as it could be a larger problem..

Most importantly, please make sure you are using only licensed accessories. Unlicensed products and accessories do not undergo Nintendo's testing and evaluation process. They may not work at all with our game systems, and they may have compatibility problems with certain games or accessories. This could be the cause of erratic or unexpected behaviors, including game lockups.

This post is one of several on how to fix problems with your Nintendo Wii. To see the entire list, click here for the Nintendo Wii Repair Guide.

If a game freezes while playing, usually power, reset, and eject buttons will not respond to the problem. Try unplugging the AC Adapter from the back of the console, then check the air vents to make sure they're not being blocked, causing the erratic behavior.

If you are still experiencing this issue, what to do will depend on how many games this issue is occurring with. How many games are you having this issue with "freezing"?

If this happens with just one particular game
1. Check out Nintento's list of specific games to see if there is a known issue with that particular title.

2. Check the bottom of the Game Disc (the side without any labels or writing) for any dirt or damage (such as cracks, scratches, etc.).

o If the game looks significantly damaged, such as with scratches or cracks, it will need to be replaced. Please click here for Nintendo's Game Disc replacement options.
o If the game looks dirty (fingerprints, smudges), try cleaning the Game Disc by using my cleaning guide by clicking here. If the problem persists, the Game Disc will need to be replaced. Please click here for Nintendo's Game Disc replacement options.

If after trying the above information you are still experiencing lockups with and you only have one only game disc, please click here for game disc replacement information.


* If more than one game experiences freeze at specific locations during game-play:
1. Try cleaning a few of the game discs using our recommended method and re-test to see if the situation has improved.

If after trying the above information you are still experiencing lockups with multiple games, please call 1-800-255-3700 for assistance.

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