Sunday 23 August 2020

Dell Inspiron 13 7373. P83G Fix

My Dell PC would not start. The fix is a hard reset. Which means removing the PSU. Opening the case. Powering down for 20 seconds by pressing the power on. Removing the battery and replacing it. Symptom: The battery appears drained. Plugging in PSU, then pressing ON switch the keys backlight for 1 second then it's dead again. Fix: is to do a 'hard reset'.

Get your safety gear, which means earth your body with a wrist attachment. At the very least replace any nylon clothing you're wearing with cotton. If you use reading glasses make sure you have them at hand. Remove 10 screws at the rear. The single screw in the center is slightly different to the other 9 screws around the edges. The center screw was hidden under a sticker which reads "WARRANTY VOID IF TAMPERED WITH OR REMOVED". There are no screws under the plastic 'feet'. Use thin piece of card or plasic to slowly lever out the back case. I used an old thin card train ticket did it for me. I began this at the back right (near the power button). A guitar plectrum also works but a credit card is too thick. Work along the back first, then the sides. Drain the power by holding the power button down for 15 to 20 seconds. Unscrew the battery. Unscrew 4 screws holding the battery in place, which is labelled "Type F62G0 11.4V" The fix did not work.

Dell Inspiron 13 7000 P83G Will Not Wake After Sleep

I have a model laptop listed about. I have tried the most recent BIOS update, defaulting the BIOS settings, Checking all the power settings, Installing the newest update of Intel Management Interface Engine, Disabling the Intel Management Interface, and disabling Fast Startup in settings. Turned on Wake from USB, and disabled USB Selective Sleep settings. The PC still will not wake up after entering sleep mode and must be forced shutdown and turned back on.

Sunday 19 July 2020

GIMP keyboard shortcuts

In this list you can see most important hotkeys for the GIMP under Linux (most of them work on Windows as well). All keys can be individually assigned: File / Preferences / Interface / Hotkeys.

Help
HelpF1
Context HelpShift+F1
Toolbox
Rect SelectR
Ellipse SelectE
Free SelectF
Fuzzy SelectU
Select By ColorShift+O
ScissorsI
PathsB
Color PickerO
MoveM
Crop and ResizeShift+C
RotateShift+R
ScaleShift+T
ShearShift+S
PerspectiveShift+P
FlipShift+F
TextT
Bucket FillShift+B
BlendL
PencilN
PaintbrushP
EraserShift+E
AirbrushA
InkK
CloneC
ConvolveV
SmudgeS
Dodge/BurnShift+D
Swap ColorsX
Default ColorsD
File
New imageCtrl+N
Open imageCtrl+O
Open image as new layerCtrl+Alt+O
Duplicate imageCtrl+D
Open recent image 01Ctrl+1
Open recent image 02Ctrl+2
Open recent image 03Ctrl+3
Open recent image 04Ctrl+4
Open recent image 05Ctrl+5
Open recent image 06Ctrl+6
Open recent image 07Ctrl+7
Open recent image 08Ctrl+8
Open recent image 09Ctrl+9
Open recent image 10Ctrl+0
Save imageCtrl+S
Save under a new nameShift+Ctrl+S
QuitCtrl+Q
Dialogs
LayersCtrl+L
BrushesShift+Ctrl+B
PatternsShift+Ctrl+P
GradientsCtrl+G
Tool-OptionsShift+Ctrl+T
PalettesCtrl+P
Info windowShift+Ctrl+I
Navigation windowShift+Ctrl+N
Close the windowAlt+F4
Jump to next widgetTab
Jump to previous widgetShift+Tab
Set the new valueEnter
Activate current button or listSpace
In a multi-tab dialog, switch tabsCtrl+Alt+PgUp
Open LocationShift+L
Up-FolderAlt+ up
Down-FolderAlt+ down
Home-FolderAlt+Home
Close DialogEsc
View
Main MenuF10
Drop-down MenuShift+F10
Toggle fullscreenF11
Toggle quickmaskShift+Q
Close document windowCtrl+W
Zoom in+ or Ctrl+Mousewheel
Zoom out- or Ctrl+Mousewheel
Zoom 1:11
Shrink wrapCtrl+E
Fit image in windowShift+Ctrl+E
Toggle rulersShift+Ctrl+R
Toggle guidesShift+Ctrl+T
Edit
UndoCtrl+Z
RedoCtrl+Y
Copy selectionCtrl+C
Cut selectionCtrl+X
Copy visibleCtrl+Shift+C
Paste as new imageCtrl+Shift+V
Paste clipboardCtrl+V
Clears selectionCtrl+K
Named copy selectionShift+Ctrl+C
Named cut selectionShift+Ctrl+X
Named paste clipboardShift+Ctrl+V
Fill with FG ColorCtrl+,
Fill with BG ColorCtrl+.
Fill with PatternCtrl+:
Layers
Select the layer abovePgUp
Select the layer belowPgDn
Select the first layerHome
Select the last layerEnd
Merge visible layersCtrl+M
Anchar layerCtrl+H
Selections
Toggle selectionsCtrl+T
Select allCtrl+A
Select noneShift+Ctrl+A
Invert selectionCtrl+I
Float selectionShift+Ctrl+L
Path to selectionShift+V
Plug-ins
Repeat last plug-inCtrl+F
Reshow last plug-inShift+Ctrl+F

Sunday 23 February 2020

Dell Inspiron - Locked out due to BitLocker

I recently made some tiny changes to my Dell Inspiron BIOS. Silly me. Computer would not reboot. It demanded I enter a 48-digit BitLocker key. It was news to me I'd encrypted the drive with BitLocker. It's not something I'd naturally do because I'd expect to turn the laptop into a dual boot Windows/Linux, and I'm not sure Linux can understand BitLocker. Given I don't remember switching BitLocker on, I guess I must've bought it with BitLocker already installed.

It seems changing the BIOS activates the security system. The solution to the issue is:

  1. You're looking at a blue screen demanding you enter your BitLocker key:
  2. Click “Skip this drive”
  3. Click “Troubleshoot”
  4. Click “Advanced Options”
  5. Click “UEFI Firmware Settings”
  6. Click “Restart” – You will restart and enter the BIOS for your computer. The BIOS interface is different for every computer. In my case, it looked nothing like in the above video, and doing subsequent steps in the above video did not work. Doing the following DID work:
  7. Click “Restore Settings” button on the bottom of the Dell BIOS screen. Also see here if this setting is not evident.
  8. Click Restore “Factory Defaults”
  9. Save settings and the computer will reboot. In my case, BitLocker prompt screen is now gone and Windows boots normally.