I mentioned (http://freachable.net/2007/11/01/CertificationMode.aspx) that I had tried to get MCPD certification. I registered for second shot on the exam (70-551) and realized that I needed to use it before it expired. I crammed for it this weekend.

Result? PASS! 3 hours and a weekend well spent.

Again, the test is an amalgam of three tests and again it appears that the score is the lowest of the three sections.

Again I had the 60+ second stall in the middle of the 70-547 part of the exam. Annoying.

I recently built a webpart that, among other things, displays an image, but the webpart really only generates the html to reference an image and it could not easily guarantee that the image would be available and I wanted to show something better than a red x.

By using a little script on the 'onerror' attribute for the img tag, I was able to reference a "image not available" picture in case the image failed to load.

Here's an example:

<img src="maybethisworks.jpg" onerror="this.src='/notavailable.gif';" />

That's it. It works on Opera9.5, Firefox2, IE7, Navigator9, and Safari3.

Edit: I felt panic when I noticed that all my images where coming up with the not available picture. After some flail I finally realized what was going on. The images were in a checked-out state which means that if I was authenticated they would appear, but if I was anonymous, they wouldn't and I would get the onerror behavior.

BTW: For anyone needing to perform check-in on many files (which is what you get after you upload a directory of images to a image library) you can use the "Manage Site Content and Structure" feature of MOSS which will allow you to do a mass check in.

In SharePoint, you can create custom properties for User Profiles. Additionally, you can have search index those, but be aware that a search crawl must occur after you add the user profile property for search to even be aware of it. This explains why after adding a custom property in User Profiles, you cannot see it in search's metadata property mapping.

Regarding http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946486

Yesterday, Microsoft released an update to Windows Live Photo Gallery. I went to install it and it failed. I wasn't too worried about it since I really don't use it, but then Automatic Updates kept pestering me about it, so I figured I needed to fix it.

I looked in the event log and found the following failures:

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    MsiInstaller
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    1024
Date:        1/23/2008
Time:        12:32:06 PM
User:        HS5\HS
Computer:    HS5
Description:
Product: Windows Live Photo Gallery - Update 'Windows Live Photo Gallery [12.0.1321.0110]' could not be installed. Error code 1603. Windows Installer can create logs to help troubleshoot issues with installing software packages. Use the following link for instructions on turning on logging support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=23127

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 7b 32 35 37 45 34 34 30   {257E440
0008: 46 2d 37 38 31 46 2d 34   F-781F-4
0010: 35 39 42 2d 39 41 36 38   59B-9A68
0018: 2d 41 30 38 37 32 42 38   -A0872B8
0020: 30 43 31 44 36 7d 20 7b   0C1D6} {
0028: 34 43 31 45 38 46 32 44   4C1E8F2D
0030: 2d 41 39 36 39 2d 34 38   -A969-48
0038: 32 41 2d 42 42 35 31 2d   2A-BB51-
0040: 33 33 45 37 43 43 43 31   33E7CCC1
0048: 41 39 45 39 7d 20 31 36   A9E9} 16
0050: 30 33                     03     

and...

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    MsiInstaller
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    11721
Date:        1/23/2008
Time:        12:31:44 PM
User:        HS5\HS
Computer:    HS5
Description:
Product: Windows Live Photo Gallery -- Error 1721. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action: CA_InstallD3DX, location: C:\DOCUME~1\HS\LOCALS~1\Temp\WLXPL_DX\dxsetup.exe, command: /silent

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 7b 32 35 37 45 34 34 30   {257E440
0008: 46 2d 37 38 31 46 2d 34   F-781F-4
0010: 35 39 42 2d 39 41 36 38   59B-9A68
0018: 2d 41 30 38 37 32 42 38   -A0872B8
0020: 30 43 31 44 36 7d         0C1D6} 

Apparently the update was relying on being able to reexec DirectX setup from the temp directory install. Well, I clean my temp directories, so that didn't work. I simply went to download.microsoft.com, searched for DirectX, found the redistributable version (not the web install) downloaded it and extracted it to the directory it was expecting "C:\DOCUME~1\HS\LOCALS~1\Temp\WLXPL_DX\" in this case. I then let the update run again and it worked just fine.

Hope this helps someone.

I got my hinge and got a couple of hours. Repair done. For anyone trying to do this let me say that it is not for the faint of heart and not really something you should start and continue on a different day. Give yourself plenty of uninterrupted time to complete the repair. Take pictures along the way -- if for no other reason than when you blog it you can include pictures. (Whoops.)

If you've got the bucks and are going to keep the laptop for a while, consider maxing the RAM, replacing both hinges, upgrading the hard drive and replacing the power plug. Thankfully, Sony had the foresight to not board mount the power plug. Get the service manual too. For this model, there was only a compatible model's service manual (SM VGNA-130/B/P/170 Part#: 987636707). Call/email the parts place for yours.

1. First, leave it open at 90 degrees or so -- make sure you support the angle so you don't break the other hinge and possibly rip a display cable.
2. Power off.
3. Remove the battery.
4. Remove the keyboard by unscrewing the two dotted arrow marked screws.
5. Gently pry up the bottom edge of the left/right edge of the keyboard and lift up a little.
6. Locate the keyboard ribbon connector and gently work it out of the socket.
7. Under the keyboard there are two totally different screws that need to pulled out.
8. Now unscrew the fifteen million other screws from under the machine. I think you only need to remove the arrow marked screws. Most are the same size, but two are long -- use your screwdriver to scratch the case or use tape to indicate where they go. I don't think you need to remove the flush screws from underneath, but I think you might need to remove the two screws from the back edge.
9. Now the "palm rest" can be lifted with a little gentle wiggling.
10. Look for the two ribbons (mouse, speakers/buttons) that need to be taken off.
11. Remove the palm rest. Now you should be able to see the base parts (feet) of the two hinges.
12. Now for the display bezel. Use a dull point to lift off the rubber covers off the screws in the four corners of the bezel. Unscrew them.
13. Now you will have to use a little bit of force to pry the bezel off, but be careful not to slip and crack/scratch the display. (That's a $700 part!) Also watch out for the hinge area of the bezel.
14. Lift off the plastic hinge cover.
15. Be sure to support the display while you unscrew the screws holding the arm of the hinge.
16. Then unscrew the foot and you should be able to slip the hinge part out without totally disassembling the display frame.
17. Slip the new hinge arm in and screw it down, now angle the display so the hinge foot is against the base flat and screw it together.
18. Now make sure that the display cable (both sides have some cabling) slips in the hinge without interference.
19. If you are replacing both hinges, replace the broken one first and screw it in before unscrewing the other one.

Happy New Year everybody!

Last night after some good surfing and channel9 (http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=365911) video watching I went to close my laptop. Now anyone that knows me knows that I handle my laptop very gingerly and I did last night too. You see, my laptop (a Sony VAIO Vaio VGN-A190... yes, I know, mid 2004, how quaint) already has a hull breach or two. The display bezel is cracked in a couple of places and the display cover is cracked at the hinges and in the middle of the top and bottom edges, but these are cosmetic problems. Last night the right side display hinge snapped, which could have been really bad since that's the side that carries the display cable. [Update 2008-01-14: Only the power for the display runs on the right, the signal is on the left side hinge.]

The laptop buying advice: When buying a laptop, check the manufacturer's website for a way to order parts. They should have a good assortment of parts available for the model you are buying, but, more importantly, in-stock parts for a similar class from 3-4 years ago. Sony has DAPC (http://sony.com/dapc) which is pretty good. I quickly found the part and ordered it.

What I would like to see in the future is service manuals or at least a disasesmbly diagram available online.

This is the second time I've used Sony's DAPC. My wife also has a Sony Vaio VGN-A190 and I've replaced her keyboard and the power plug on it. For anyone who stumbles on this post trying to replace the keyboard or add RAM, the trick is to take out the two screws from underneath that have the dotted arrows on them and then gently pry up the bottom edge on the left and right side of the keyboard. Be careful not to rip the ribbon cable.

Some more advice on laptops:

Invest in the screen and processor but be cheap on the memory and hard drive - you can upgrade those later when you need to. Both our laptops are now maxed out for memory at 2GB. I suppose the more general rule is invest in the stuff you can't change later like the size for example. You can't buy a bigger or smaller screen really.

The A190s came with docking stations that have a tuner card and all that jazz. My advice is to skip that stuff. Docks are not really that useful, at least for me.

I figure I've got another year of life left in those laptops before I retire them and get another pair of laptops. I'm tempted to get a bigger drive for mine, but I think I'll just limp along with my stock 80GB. Hitachi just announced a 500GB 2.5" drive (http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.045215966480a7127d807c90eac4f0a0/) which would be great except it's SATA only. John C. Dvorak called it (http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=15418) and I agree, this is another nail in the coffin for desktop machines.

I was just listening to a podcast (Windows Weekly from twit.tv) about the latest drop of Windows Live (http://windowslive.com) and decide to try it out. I'm posting this blog entry from Windows Live Writer, which was crazy easy to setup. I'll be trying out some of the other stuff over the next few days and I'll report back on my experience.

• The big one is Visual Studio 2008. It has been released including Express Editions. You definitely want to check this out at msdn.com/express.
• Also, for you math heads out there, check out the new Word 2007 add-in, "Microsoft Math". Get it at download.microsoft.com - search for officemath.
• For all you who have lamented about having to fill the same forms over and over at the doctor's office, check out HealthVault (healthvault.com). It is a platform for holding personal information (like the usual stuff you fill out on those forms) and holding ongoing data (like blood glucose levels synced from compatible monitors). You can choose what data to share with whom, for example, you can share your heart rate data to your exercise group or family to show your progress.
• For the bean counters, there's Office Accounting 2008, including an Express edition. This new version includes online banking service integration. If you're running or thinking about Intuit's Quikbooks, check this out at office.microsoft.com/accounting.
• Search Server 2008 now includes an Express edition. This gives you web search of your web and disk content. The release candidate is available at microsoft.com/enterprisesearch
• SQL Server 2008 November CTP - microsoft.com/sql

I normally scoff at blogs that are nothing but repeaters for Microsoft's marketing department, so I've tried to keep the descriptions unhyped. Additionally, these are all things I will be working with in the near future, so expect to see more information related to these soon.

Trying to weed out blogs that I shouldn't bother with. If you wanna survive my brutal weeding process, make your blog titles clever but meaningful. That is, make it so I can sucessfully predict what your blarticle will be about but keep it so I want to read it from just the title.