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How to Check If Your iPhone is Unlocked

November 10, 2021 by Leave a Comment

This information is accurate as of November 10, 2021 with iOS 15.1.

The simplest method of checking to see if your iPhone is unlocked is:

Go to SETTINGS –> GENERAL –> ABOUT
Scroll down until you see you CARRIER LOCK

If the carrier lock says “No SIM restrictions”, your iPhone is unlocked and can be used on any carriers!

Otherwise, you would have to request the phone to be unlocked by your carrier.

As of today, phone unlocking policies vary greatly among different carriers:

Visible Wireless (owned by Verizon) – 60 days from plan activation, then automatically unlocks. Certain low cost phones come unlocked out of the box (i.e. 2021 Motorola Pure)
Tracfone Brands (owned by Verizon) – 1 year from plan activation. Tracfone brands include:
- Tracfone
- Clearway Wireless
- GoSmart Mobile
- NET10 Wireless
- Page Plus
- SafeLink Wireless
- Simple Mobile
- Straight Talk
- Tel Cel
- Total Wireless
- Walmart Family Mobile

Installing Windows 10 on HP dm4-2191us Laptop

January 28, 2020 by Leave a Comment

I have been running Windows 7 on this solid little machine since 2011.

Since Windows 7 is no longer being updated (at least to general public) as of January 2020, I thought it was time to see if I can upgrade to Windows 10. If I failed, my backup plan was to install Ubuntu Linux OS.

Now, HP is pretty adamant about not providing any support whatsoever if you decide to take on this endeavor (probably hoping that you would just pay for a new laptop) so I will outline the steps I took to install Windows 10 on my Hp DM4-2191us laptop.

I thought it would be a nightmare trying to find replacement drivers, etc., but to my surprise, the installation went without a hitch except for one driver.

BTW< with Windows 10 + SSD drive, my machine is absolutely blazing with general office applications.

Machine Specifications

Model#: HP DM4-2191us
Build#: QE382UA#ABA
CPU: Intel Core i5-2430M (2nd gen), 2.4GHz
Memory: 8GB
Network: Wireless LAN – Atheros
TPM: Fingerprint sensor

* please note that if your build# is slightly off, it may mean that your hardware configuration is different.

Hardware Upgrade Suggestions

Before upgrading the OS, I highly suggest you perform both hardware upgrades if not already done.

Memory

HP Pavilion dm4-2191us laptop takes two, PC3-12800, 204-pin SODIMM memory modules (a.k.a. DDR3L-1600 SODIMM).

If you currently only have one 4GB installed, you should purchase the second 4GB module so that you will have 8GB of memory.

When it comes to adding memory, some say it’s important to match the manufacturer and manufacturing date for maximum performance but this is really meant for a serious gamers (which you wouldn’t be if you are using this HP dm4-2191us laptop).

So I am going to provide you with two solid suggestions from Crucial:

Storage Disk Drive

The original laptop came with 5400RPM hard disk (a.k.a. mechanical spinning disk). Because Windows 10 demands more from hardware, and since dm4-2191us hardware is almost 10 years old, it would be REALLY beneficial to replace this mechanical drive with an SSD.

Prices for SSDs have come down quite a bit but there is a large price disparity between brands with perceived and real quality difference.

If you want a rock solid, reliable drive that you will use for years, I would recommend Samsung 860 EVO models but you will pay more.

On the other hand, if you want something that is reliable that you plan on using it for 3-4 years, there is nothing wrong with Kingston or ADATA.

Lastly, there is about $20 dollar difference between 240gb vs 480gb capacity so if you plan on storing lots of pictures or songs, go with the larger SSD:

Windows 10 OS

As of this writing, Microsoft’s official “free offer” to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has long ended (back in 2016) so does that mean you have to pay $100 to Microsoft?

Thankfully no.

Gordon Kelly from Forbes.com did an excellent write up so go to his article, How To Upgrade To Windows 10 For ‘Free’ In 2020 .

Please DO NOT upgrade the OS yet. Wait for the installation step below.

Required Tools

Much like all other laptops, HP DM4-2191us laptop uses very small Phillips screws that are easy to strip. Make sure to use correct Phillips screwdriver tips to ensure that you don’t strip any heads.

If you do not have such screwdrivers, you can buy something that is inexpensive like this Oria Precision screwdriver kit that comes with 60 bits or the larger version with 126 bits.

I have a similar 60 piece kit version because I prefer the hard clam shell storage case.

Installation Steps

Remember that static electricity is your enemy! Make sure to ground yourself by touching metal objects before disassembling your laptop.

Step #1 – lay down a small cotton towel on the work surface and flip over your laptop over so the under side is facing you (towel is to prevent scratching on the cover)
Step #2 – Using your finger, slide the battery lock and remove the battery
Step #3 – Once the battery has been removed, you will see two Phillips screws. Remove them carefully and set them aside
Step #4 – there are three plastic tabs holding down the cover; gently pry up the cover from the screw tab side to disengage these tabs
Step #5 – With the cover removed, you now have access to the memory slots; add SODIMM memory if desired (the module can fit only one way; make sure to align the nootch)
Step #6 – If you are going to upgrade the hard drive, you need to remove the second access panel; with the first cover off, remove two screws holding down the hard drive cover
Step #7 – your original hard drive may be encased in a foil-like enclosure; gently pry off the drive from the laptop
Step #8 – The primary purpose of the foil enclosure is to cool the hard drive; because SSD drives tend to be skinnier than regular hard drives, this enclosure will trap the heat instead of dissipating heat (a.k.a. do not re-use this enclosure)
Step #9 – attach your new SSD to the hard drive cable from the laptop
Step #10 – re-install both covers and battery
Step #11 – I prefer to do a fresh install vs upgrade to ensure old drivers will not cause problems so insert your installation disk and follow the instructions on the screen
Step #12 – The process took about 35 minutes to complete
Step #13 – Once the OS has been installed, go to Device Manager and confirm that there is one entry under “UNKNOWN DEVICE” with hardware ID ACPI/hpq004; this is due to the fact that Windows 10 is not recognizing 3D drive guard chip (i.e. fall sensor or accelerometer hardware which automatically parks the head in a hard disk; though this is no longer applicable in an SSD drive, I still don’t like having unknown device error messages so we will resolve it; BTW, ACPI is short for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface created by Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba back since Windows 98. ACPI is a power management program to turn off power to components not being used
Step #14 – Please note that there are three variations of the 3D drive guard. HPQ0004 chip was sold in 2005-2011, HPQ6000 was sold in 2011-2013 and HPQ6007 was sold from 2013 until 2016
Step #15 – There are specific drivers for each of these sensor chips.
Step #16 – Drivers for chips HPQ0004 an HPQ6000 were written for Windows 7 and Windows 8; HPQ6007 driver was written to include Windows 10
Step #17 – To make the long story short, even though I had HPQ0004 chip, I installed the driver for HPQ6000 which made the error message go away

I hope this article was useful. After all, we need to do our share of re-using rather than buying new!

Kevin

Reference Links

HP Customer Support Knowledge Base: HP Pavilion dm4-2191us Entertainment Notebook PC Product Specifications (external link click here)
HP Customer Support Knowledge Base: Windows 7 64-bit drivers (external link click here)
HP Customer Support Knowledge Base: Windows 8 64-bit drivers (external link click here)
HP 3d Drive Guard – forum info (external link click here)
Forbes.com – How To Upgrade To Windows 10 For ‘Free’ In 2020
Microsoft.com – Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Lenovo IdeaPad Z400 Cannot Control Brightness under Windows 10

January 30, 2019 by Leave a Comment

PROBLEM

As of January 2018=9, the problem still arises when an unsuspecting user attempts to control the screen brightness by using F11 (neg brightness) or F12 (positive brightness) with Windows 10 OS.

Under certain scenarios, this results in screen going to the darkest setting and F11 or F12 keys will not change the screen brightness.

With Windows 8, you could have defaulted to Microsoft Display driver to fix this problem, but this solution is no longer available under W10

APPLICABILITY

This solution is applicable to IdeaPad Z400 and Windows 10

SOLUTION

You will need to downgrade the video driver. Unfortunately, if you attempt to change the brightness, the screen will go dark and you will need to re-install this driver.

Step #1 – Search for “Lenovo IdeaPad P400 Intel video driver” (https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds031547)

mvirtualoffice-lenovo-ideapad-p400-screen-brightness-problem-driver-page-fl

Check your Windows version an download the appropriate version. For example, if w10 is 32 bit, then download the 32 bit driver (1hvi13w8.exe); for the 64 bit version, download the 64 bit driver (1hvi14w8.exe)
Double click to unpack (don’t worry, the screen will say installing – ignore this message)
Once unpacked, you will get a pop up screen to install (again). Uncheck the box and click FINISH
Using Windows Explorer (file manager), go to C:\drivers\intel\intel video drivers\ then double click setup.exe to install
Reboot and your problem should be fixed!

Hope this short post helped with your problem. If you found it to be useful, please do me a favor and sign up for my newsletter. A signup form can be found on the upper right hand of your screen.

Reference Links

Lenovo Forum – Ideapad Z500 Touch Win 10 Brightness Problem

Can You Activate Sony Xperia XA2 (H3133) on Total Wireless?

January 22, 2019 by Leave a Comment

The short answer is YES (as of January 21, 2019).

Background

My Moto X Pure (XT1575) that I purchased in 2015 was slowly dying (due to battery wear and tear and loose charging port). So after much research, I settled on a mid-range Sony Xperia XA2 (click here for a full spec sheet) for thee reasons:

1. I am rather rough with my phone so I wanted something that was strong and durable;
2. I think it’s ridiculous to spend $400+ on a phone;
3. Sony’s camera (23 mega pixels) was roughly on part with Moto X’s camera (21 mega pixel)

Originally introduced in early 2018 as a GSM only phone, Sony got Xperia XA2 to work on Verizon Wireless (CDMA) in August 2018.

Problems

In my early days, Sony was THE KING when it came to electronics. So it was bit surprising when I decided on one of their smartphones how disjointed their marketing materials were.

For example, in August 2018, Sony made a simple tweet announcing that XA2 was not certified to be used on VZW.

Subsequent this announcement, the only other message was this:

The obvious problem is that the above communication does not address users who are on MVNO networks like Total Wireless (TW resells Verizon’s excess capacity).

A simple Google search on terms like “Can Sony Xperia XA2 activate on Total Wireless” results in array of confused users and possible solutions:

Best Buy Forum – “Is Sony Xperia XA2 Compatible on Verizon Wireless?” (external link to BestBuy is here)
Google Search – Sony Xperia XA2 Total Wireless (external link to Google)
SonyMobile Forum – XZ2 compact on Verizon’s MVNO total wireless in the US“
XDADevelopers – Anyone using this on Verizon yet?
Frequency Check – Sony Xperia XA2 Dual SIM TD-LTE EMEA H4113 (Sony SM12) – Frequency Bands and Network Compatibility
B&H Photos – Sony Xperia XA2 Specs (note that under VZW, specs say that 2G/3G/4G are active which is incorrect; it also says the phone is discontinued which is also incorrect (remember this post was made in January 2019)

Simple Solution

The most important fact about activating Sony Xperia XA2 on Verizon Wireless or VZW MVNOs like TotalWireless is to get a brand new CDMA SIM card that is in VZW SIM database.

Because I have changed my prepaid carriers many times in the past, I was not sure if my current SIM was valid with VZW or not. Seems odd since I was using this SIM with TotalWireless + Moto X for over a year, but it caused nothing but headaches when I first tried it (resulted in good data but no text or voice calls, etc.)

Changing APN to TRAFONE.VZWENTP ad VZWINTERNET and other configuration changes resulted in numerous problems

By the way, if you want to put your phone into a TEST MODE, dial *#*#4636#*#*. It gives you a no-frills text data about what is going on with your phone

You can either buy this SIM kit at:

Walmart.com – $0.99 (shipping charge applies unless you buy other stuff)
This version
Buy at Brick and Mortar store – which will set you back $8 (obviously no shipping)

Once you have the SIM kit, get online and chat with TW’s agent to activate the phone and SIM. That’s it. No other setting to mess around.

Hope this helps you out. Sony Xperia XA2 is a sweet phone for what I paid ($200 USD).

Kevin

dell e6510 -Solving Yellow Bang Broadcom USH Device after Fresh Windows 7 Install

January 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Problem: After installing, you see a “yellow bang or exclamation icon next to BROADCOM USH DEVICE CODE 28” under Device Manager

Cause: Most likely due to Broadcom
Solution:

Make sure Windows SP1 is installed
Make sure .Net Framework 3.5 is installed
Download “ControlValutDriver w/o Fingerprint sensor” executable (dated October 2015) – Dell download link is here at https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/latitude-e6510/drivers (direct link
Reboot and the icon will disappear

You will want to check Windows Update to apply security patches to .Net Framework 3.5, then auto upgrade to .Net 4.7.2

dell e6510 -Solving Yellow Bang Unknown Device Message after Fresh Windows 7 Install

January 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Problem: After installing, you see a “yellow bang or exclamation icon next to UNKNOWN DEVICES CODE 28” under Device Manager

Cause: Most likely an ST Electronics Free Fall Sensor (Dell Detect application for some reason does not detect this error)

Solution:

Make sure Windows SP1 is installed
Make sure .Net Framework 3.5 is installed
Download “ST Electronics Free Sensor” executable – Dell download link is here: ST-MICROELECTRONICS_FREE-FAL_A10_R309372.exe
Reboot and the icon will disappear

How to Resolve Windows 7 Blue Screen of Death of hp dm4-2191us laptop

January 14, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I have a dedicated laptop for conducting online banking and stuff.

The laptop has Windows 8 Home Premium and some basic office applications.

After not using it for about 9 months, I decided to dust it off and of course I was hit with tons of Microsoft updates.

And as you can imagine, after spending hours and hours, one (or more) of these updates screwed up something so that my laptop would BSOD and crash every 40 minutes or so.

After intermittently troubleshooting it over a course of week, I finally figured out that the problem lied with USBehci.sys file.

This particular driver apparently controls two Intel USB controllers. Unfortunately one of those USB controllers shares IRQ #16 with a Realtek wireless card.

Unlike the old days with VESA and ISA, you cannot manually select IRQs, it’s done automatically via OS (it can be done by manually editing registry (regedit) but that solution is just not reliable).

Since I only needed 2 ports (one for my USB mouse, one for the external backup drive), I decided to disable one of the USB controllers, thereby turning off the third USB port on my lappy.

I am happy to report that since this modification, my laptop has not yet crashed.

If you want to read about it more in detail, should be a message below and I will create a step-by-step instruction.

Good luck!
Kevin

Reviews – DZS Video Gallery WordPress Plugin

May 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I purchased DZS Video Gallery plugin for WordPress because of its flexible ability to rotate videos and could not find suitable alternatives in WordPress.org/extended/plugins area.

It cost just $15 (one site only) so the price was okay, but it was fairly difficult to configure it as a newbie non-coder. Because I was experiencing the very same problems (blank video screen, no navigation, etc.) faced by numerous other purchasers (http://codecanyon.net/item/video-gallery-wordpress-plugin-w-youtube-vimeo-/discussion/157782?page=33), and what seems like a lack of support from the seller, I was ready to throw in the towel after couple of hours.

But, as I said before, I could not find suitable alternatives so I decided to give it another try before asking Envato (marketplace administrator) to issue me a refund.

ENVIRONMENT

* WordPress 3.3.1 (self-hosted – NOT part of WordPress.COM)

* Studiopress Genesis Framework (v.1.8.1) with Magazine theme (v.2.0)

* WordPress plugins:

Akismet

Contact Form 7

Dynamic Content Gallery (studiograsshopper.ch)

DVZ Video Gallery

Google Analytics and XML sitemaps

Sociable

Social Media Widget

PROBLEM

For the purposes of testing DZS Video Gallery plugin, I created a short Youtube playlist containing 4 videos. Following the author’s instructions, I grabbed the youtube playlist ID and other information and entered into the plugin but no matter which configuration I tried, I was simply getting a black screen in my web page.

SOLUTIONS

#1 – I knew some problems can arise when there is a conflict between plugins. I figured if there was a conflict, it would have been between the Dynamic Content Gallery and DZS Video Gallery due to javascript resources. Thankfully, Dynamic Content Gallery plugin came with 2 Javascript Framework methods: Mootools (default) and jQuery.

My DCG was defaulting to Mootools, so I changed it to jQuery and I saw immediately that DZS video screen was displaying some navigation controls. Good sign. I then proceeded to instruct DZS to let Flash Handle Feeds (The very last field before IMPORT – choose “on”) and voila, my video was up and running.

Fig.1.1	Fig.1.2	Fig.1.3
Fig.1.4	Fig.1.5	Fig.1.6

#2 – The second problem I faced was after inserting a logo to my screen. When I clicked on it, a new browser opened up and went to http://activeden.net/user/ZoomIt? The author was kind enough to state that I needed to change the URL in the field name called LogoLink located in the gallery.xml file (path: dzs video gallery –> deploy –> gallery.xml). Just make sure to change the value to your destination URL for all 4 gallery XML files (gallery.xml, gallery2.xml, gallery3.xml, and gallery4.xml). If you have cPanel, you can use it’s online editor. Otherwise, grab a free Notepad++ to make changes and use an FTP client like Filezilla to ftp over new files.

CONCLUSION:

As a newbie, this plugin was not easy to configure but if offers functions that other free plugins do not offer at the present time. Do I recommend it? Yes, but make sure to bring plenty of patience!

BTW, the plugin still does not rotate videos.

Social Media Widget – Getting Your Custom Icons to Work

May 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Social Media Widget, created by Brian, has to be one of the coolest widgets out there to handle all your social network connections. It comes with lots of features out of the box but it is dynamic enough to allow end users to easily customize on their own.

As I was creating one of my websites, I wanted to leverage this widget but customize the icons to better fit my design. But alas, I was not able to make it work initially. Upon further research (I got it to work), it was nothing more than correctly identifying the path to the icon folder!

Because there are so many variations involving hosting providers, WordPress installation methods, etc., it can get downright confusing.

Since Brian has done an excellent job of describing what needs to be done, I am simply going to outline minor tweaks I made to get my customized icons to work.

ENVIRONMENT

Host: Hostgator Hatchling (limited to one domain assigned to the hosting package)

WordPress: v.3.3.1

Framework: StudioPress Genesis 1.8.1

Theme: Magazine Child Theme, v2

Widget: Social-Media-Widget-2.9.4

Icons: Gray, 32px, created with Adobe CS5 Fireworks

INSTRUCTIONS

Log into Hostgator cpanel
Navigate to WP-CONTENT, then create a folder called “icons”
Copy files into this “icons” folder (as instructed by Brian, naming convention MUST BE IDENTICAL to his existing icon names. Let’s use facebook.png as an example. First, match the file name including lower letters. Second, make sure it ends in .png file fomat. Third, you can ONLY use 16px, 32px or 64px sizes. Other sizes will not work. Whatever size you decide, it should be standard across different icons)
Install widget as instructed
From the WP dashboard, click on APPEARANCE–>WIDGETS, then drag over the Social Media Widget to your target destination (in my case, the primary side bar after SEARCH widget)
For my website, I made the following changes:

Title: Connect with Us
Icon Size: 32px
Icon Pack: Custom Icons
Added my profile URL links for Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and RSS.

For the CUSTOMS ICON URL, the default (sample) value was: http://wwww.yoursite.com/wordpress/wp-content/your-icons (another example Brian gave was: http://www.yoursite.com/blog/wp-conent/icons) In my case with Hostgator, the formatting was slightly different: http://wwww.yoursite.com/wp-content/icons
For the CUSTOM ICONS PATH, the default (sample) value was: /path/to/your-icons. I changed this to: /home/your-cpanel-user-id/public_html/wp-content/icons
At this point, all my custom buttons showed up in my page.

When in doubt, contact your hosting provider for the exact path. Hostgator online chat technician was awesome. Good luck.

RESOURCES:

Hostgator – Server Path, Absolute Path

How to Create a favicon.ico using Adobe CS5 Fireworks

May 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I have been using Adobe since the Macromedia days and I find it difficult to believe that Adobe has yet to build in the capability to export image files as favicon.ico.

If you google it, you can see lots and lots of dated pages, with the last legit post from John Dunn ing (http://johndunning.com/fireworks/about/ExportAsFavicon). Really?

To boot, can you really trust some piece of code you need to download from a third party site?

I guess you can use CS5 Photoshop, but there is no reason why CS5 Fireworks shouldn’t be able to do it.

Rather than banging my head against the wall, just create a PNG image that is 16 x 16 pixels, then use this link (http://iconverticons.com/) to convert and download it.

Problem solved. Next!!