So your usual (non-Sky) router develops a fault and all you’ve got lying around is that old Sky Router left over from when you decided to give Sky the chop and go get a better service (or whatever other reason you had for leaving Sky).

Problem is that the Sky Router does not allow you to enter your new ISP’s details (e.g. the DSL username and password).

If your Sky Router is the Sagem F@ST 2504, then you may be in luck.

First up, make sure you can login to the router (try going to http://192.168.0.1 first. When prompted for username and password, enter:
username: admin
password: sky

If this works, then you can at least go onto perform the next steps…

Before proceeding, there are a few things to consider:

1. Your contract with Sky may mean that what you are about to do is in breach of contract – make sure you know what the terms are before continuing (e.g. some contracts state that they can ask for the Router back up to 6 months after the contract ends)
2. Flashing the Router with new firmware is a risk – you could brick the router completely. But then again, if it’s just an old Router gathering dust, then maybe it’s not an issue
3. No-one else is liable for anything that goes wrong with this process except for you – it worked for me, and has worked for many others, but equally it’s tough luck if it goes wrong

Onto business:

Go and download the following files:

F2404_3_18_1a4_flash_image_NONE.rar

F2404_3_24a4_fs_kernel_NONE.zip

F2404_3_33_8a4_fs_kernel_NONE.zip

Uncompress all the files – try 7-zip if you don’t have a decent zip/unzip tool.

Now back to the Router – select the option “Router Upgrade” and choose the F2404_3_18_1a4_flash_image_NONE.w file (that you just extracted). Click “Upload”. On completion, the router will have changed its IP address to 192.168.1.1, so you need to change your IP settings (hint, pick an address such as 192.168.1.2), then browse to http://192.168.1.1.

You’ll now see an “Update Software” page. Before you upload the software, look at the bottom of your Router and you should see a MAC Address. Enter this address in the box that says “MAC Base Address”, then click “Save/Apply”.

Refresh the web page to make sure you can still connect to the Router. Now on the “Update Software” page, click Browse and choose the file F2404_3_24a4_fs_kernel_NONE that you extracted earlier. Click “Update Software”.

Wait a few minutes and you should find that the Router now has updated firmware – if you get a red/pink page that looks like an error page, then refresh your Browser (F5 or Ctrl/F5) – if you don’t get a login prompt, then close you rBrowser and fire up the page again.

When prompted for  a username enter:
username: admin
password: admin

You’ll now have an updated router that is much more configurable than it was before. Next steps:

1. Change the admin password (Management/Access Control/Passwords)
2. Update to the later firmware (Management/Update Software and choose the file F2404_3_33_8a4_fs_kernel_NONE.DAT)
3. Configure the DSL and Wireless Settings – don’t forget in the UK, DSL settings are VPI=0, VCI=38. If in doubt also choose UBR and PPPoA for your WAN/DSL settings.

This post is a collection of work from other people with my own thoughts thrown in.

Credits:
Shonk @ SkyUser Forum (this post - http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-router/45444-f-st-2504-generic-firmware-needed-2.html)
IsItMe @ SkyUser Forum (this post – http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/asking-help/20137-sagem-f-st-2504-a-3.html#post267322)

A little help out there for anyone else that may have come across this problem…

When accessing a remote Samba share (e.g. on a non-trusted Domain), the Samba file server rejects your credentials, even though you know they are correct. When you look in the Samba error log, you see a message like this:

[2012/03/27 10:01:22, 0] lib/util_sock.c:read_data(534)
read_data: read failure for 4 bytes to client 192.168.10.106. Error = Connection reset by peer

There’s a couple of potential issues. First off, try adding the following to your smb.conf file (assuming you’re using Samba v3 or above):

client ntlmv2 auth = yes

If this doesn’t work, check to see what security you’re using. If you’re using ADS for security (Windows Active Directory), you’ll see the following line in smb.conf:

security = ADS

In my case I was trying to access a Samba source on a remote, non-trusted Domain, and when entering login details I entered the username in the Windows NT format e.g. COMPANY-DOMAIN\username.

Even though the credentials were correct, the Samba server would reject the credentials and the Samba error log had the message as above.

The fix for this is really easy, but hard to find on the Internet (hence why I’m posting this article) – enter your username in the LDAP/ADS format of username@domain.tld (e.g. fred.bloggs@company.local). The combination of both fixes in this post should help you gain access to that problematic Samba server.

Following on from my diary posts from my first 10 days after Gilmore’s Groin Surgery, here is an update on how things are going. As stated in previous posts, the main reason for laying this out so publicly is that there is too little information on what someone experiences post-op from this surgery, and if my experiences help take the worry out of it for just one person, then it will have been worth it.

You can find the other two posts here – Days 1 to 5 and Days 6 to 10.

Day 10 seems like a world away now – at that time I was in quite a bit of pain, having sleepless nights (having to sleep on the Sofa just to be comfortable) and gentle peddling on the exercise bike was freaking me out.

In the next few days I managed to increase the amount of walking I could do and this was coupled with an increase in pain (albeit less of the sharp pains), an increase in mobility and a decrease in the dizzy spells I was having. I could decrease some of the pain by removing underwear at night. I suspect the dizzy spells were because of a lack of circulation with me being stationary for large parts of the day. That increase in mobility brought a new concern where I started to notice that one of my testicles was considerably larger than the other – although this was worrying, it was also on the same side as my operation so I tried to put this down to post-operative swelling.

By the end of the second week I started doing some exercise bike work – the previous movements became less disconcerting and I could do 25-30 minutes without too much discomfort (any discomfort from this was abdominal rather than in the original hernia injury site). I’d also started doing my day job again, albeit working from home (this helped take my mind off any pain and kept me busy for large parts of the day – it also kept me in contact with my work colleagues so that my eventual return to work wouldn’t be half as bad!). The main issue with working at home is making sure you keep mobile.

Also, at the end of week 2, I had my first post-op bath. I was a little bit concerned about getting in and out of the bath, but it was was worth it as it helped sooth away some of the aches and pains. I also managed to return to my bed at the end of week 2, and started having some better nights of sleep.

Looking back, 2 weeks seems a very short time to have the main post-op pain, but while you’re in the moment it seems like forever. If you’re reading this and in the post-op situation yourself, just keep going, it definitely seems to get easier at the 2 week point.

At the beginning of the third week, I had a minor (unrelated op) but because of issues with that op and the resulting pain, this put my progress back by a few days.

However, I am now able to drive without too much discomfort which means I can go back to work properly – my first couple of days back were quite busy and uncomfortable so my employer let me work from home for a day (an understanding employer really helps take the worry out of recovery!).

All through, I’ve found myself too busy to do some of the exercise I need to, so I’ve been stepping up the exercise bike work at weekends. I’ve been walking okay, albeit with slight discomfort and I’m able to drive for the 30mins or so it takes to get to work.
The next big milestone is when I see the surgeon again to see if the operation has been successful – at the moment I don’t have any recurrence of the original pain, but there is still some numbness from the peration in that area which might be masking this.

All-in-all, the recovery is going well and I hope to be back to full fitness in the next 4-8 weeks.

I’ve been using Mercurial as my source control for a few weeks now, but wanted to get some source code from GitHub. I’d rather not have to install the git client and server, and those clever people at GitHub have catered for this nicely with the Hg-Git mercurial plugin. Trouble is, for novices, the instructions aren’t very clear, so for those that stumble across this site from time to time, here’s the simple instructions to follow:

The Pre-requisites are Python, TortoiseHG and Mercurial, which you will probably already have. Fortunately these are available in a single package TortoiseHg 2.0.5 with Mercurial 1.8.4 for Windows.

Once you’ve installed and restarted Windows, these are the next steps:

• Open a Command Prompt and run

  easy_install hg-git

  (this is a Python command in case you were wondering – it will run a python script and install Dulwich and hg-git)

• Edit your .hgrc file

  notepad %userprofile%\.hgrc

  (if you don’t have a .hgrc file, you will be asked if you want to create one)

• Enter the following lines into the file (If you already have a .hgrc file with an [extensions] line in, then obviously don’t repeat that line, put the other two lines below it)

  [extensions]
  hgext.bookmarks =
  hggit = C:\Python26\Lib\site-packages\hg_git-0.2.6-py2.6.egg\hggit

  (This is assuming that the Python installed is v2.6 and the hg-git extension is v0.2.6 – check the path to make sure you’ve specified it correctly)

• To check it’s all working correctly, go to a Command Prompt and change to a directory where you wish to download source code to, and then try to download the source for hg-git:

  cd /d d:\Projects
  hg clone git://github.com/schacon/hg-git.git

Hopefully you won’t see any errors and when you list the hg-git folder, you’ll find a bunch of files and folders with the source code in.

Simple, eh?

A continuation of my post-op recovery from Gilmore’s Groin surgery – you can find the first in the series by clicking here. Remember, these are my experiences and you should seek medical advice if you have any problems – I Am Not A Doctor (IANAD).

Day 6

Another night on the Sofa – I feel I’m going to be here for a while. Another “motion” provides some relief and I also manage to walk one third of a mile – takes ages but the increase in distance is satisfying. My first post-op shower ensues (feels very much post-Glastonbury when you get your first real shower after 5 days), and although I am supervised, I manage to get in and out of the shower on my own (believe it or not, this is really important when you’re used to others relying on you instead of the other way around).

After the shower, I remove my post-op dressing for the first time, and I’m surprised at the size of the wound (about 3½ inches) – it hasn’t healed yet and I feel that this is the source of a lot of the sharp pains I get when moving around. The wound also has some bruising, but it seems to be subsiding giving me a sign that the healing process is well under way (See below for Day 6 photo of the surgical wound).

Day 7

A poor night’s sleep – I coughed yesterday and it really hurt in the area of the surgery. Very sore for much of today and I don’t feel like going out to walk. I make the effort in the afternoon and increase my distance to  0.45 miles. Toilet functions are now more regular, but painful to push, so I find myself spending 20-30 minutes each time – a good job I’m reading a book I’m enjoying (Conn Iggulden’s marvellous series on Julius Caesar, “Emperor” – I’m on the last book Emperor: The Gods of War)
Not sure if it’s anxiety setting in, but I have tingling lips today – quite worrying, but I suspect it’s more to do with being stationary for far too long. Too much pain today and an early night for me.

Day 8

Determined to post my Dad’s Father’s Day card myself, I take a walk to the post box – a 1 mile round-trip

Another nice shower and a slight revelation on the way up the stairs – I seem to be more comfortable if I lean backwards slightly while I am walking up stairs (if you have had the same surgery then YMMV, as the residents across the pond would say – remember IANAD!). I’m tired early and decide to try to sleep in my own bed again – this time learning some lessons from the sofa – it seems to be more comfortable with my head raised using two or three pillows (normally I’m a one-pillow person).

Day 9

Full of win today :-

• For the first time since my Op, I managed to get my pants(underwear) on by myself – I still need help with socks though
• I put my trainers on without help – they’re sort of slip-ons (Vivo Barefoot Ultra M)
• Another 1 mile walk in the morning that was 8 minutes quicker than yesterday

The soreness has eased today – don’t get me wrong, it’s still there and uncomfortable, but throughout the day it has felt like it is getting better.

Day 10

Another good nights sleep, helped, in part, by a couple of Rum and cokes.

Progress continues by an attempt on the Exercise Bike – I can peddle, but it feels uncomfortable, strange even I’m not sure if it is the scar moving, or if it’s the mesh – it freaks me out, so I stop, but at least my legs are moving now.

I go for another walk; another mile which I do 7 minutes quicker than yesterday – as good as full throttle for walking pace anyway (just over 3½ mph).

The aim for the next 5-10 days is to be doing some gentle jogging and to be able to get over my fears for the bike work.

When I was looking around the Internet for other people’s real-life experiences of Gilmore’s Groin (or Sports Hernia, or Inguinal Canal) surgery, I found that the actual experience amounted to the odd Forum post here and there, with very little detail about what to expect – in fact it worried me that people’s experiences were quite negative, and I wondered if those experiences were early post-surgery ones (and then they weren’t followed up to say what happened long-term).

I did find one or two sites with Post-Op exercises, one such example is the Gilmore’s Groin page at the All Sports Injuries site, but even in the first few days, these exercises seem to be very ambitious.

The following is a diarisation of my first few days Post-Op (I’ll make further posts as things progress, so that there’s a fuller history) – I hope this post (and any future ones) helps someone in the future to realise that what they are experiencing is not unusual Post-Op for Gilmore’s Groin.

Disclaimer: However, please be mindful that these are my experiences and you should seek medical advice if you have any problems – I Am Not A Doctor (IANAD).

Day 1 – The Gilmore’s Groin Operation

So we arrive at the Hospital nice and early (7.30am), our lift gratefully received from our next-door neighbour – my daughter came along to look after me (and to go shopping while I had my Op ). On the morning of the Op, I’m taken down to the Ward and shown to my bed for the day. I’m greeted by the nurse who will look after me until I go home. Next up, the anaesthetist talks me through a form I must sign (in case they screw up and kill me on the Operating table ) – she also explains that I’m second on the list, so she’ll see me at 10:30. Next up (@8.20am) is Mr. Tudor – he draws a black line on my leg pointing up to the place where they will operate, and tells me that they’ve changed the running order and I’m up first.  Thank goodness for that!

I walk to the Operating Theatre next door at around 8.45am and get up onto the bed – with a slick distraction routine from the nurse and the anaesthetist, I have a needle placed in my hand. A short time later there’s some happy juice flowing in my veins, then the General Anaesthetic before I declare “So long, and thanks for all the fish…”

I wake up very sore and no feeling in my left leg – my leg is completely numb (a bit like your gums feel after having local anaesthetic). A cup of tea, some toast and marmalade, another cup of tea. I realise that the pain is in my lower stomach area and not my leg/groin – it’s very difficult, almost impossible, to move. I’m asked if I can I lift my leg yet? – No!

I sit there waiting for some feeling to return. A little while later we try to get mobile, but my knee has no feeling and we abort the attempt. Another 30 minutes, it’s about 11.30am and I can finally sit in the chair. My daughter rings up and she is told I should be ready by about 12.30pm.

At about 12.20pm, I go white, my pulse drops to about 40bpm and I’m lifted back onto the bed – a problem associated with the Anaesthetics apparently. After getting an intravenous drip and finally stabilising, I’m visited by Mr. Tudor who declares the operation a success (and they found exactly what they expected to find – he’s done his standard repair with some Mesh). I am allowed to go home at about 3pm (again, our next-door neighbour is on-hand to do the honours – and watches on as the daughter tries to tip me over in the wheelchair ).

I go to bed and hope that the next day will bring me some comfort.

Day 2

After a night of soreness and lack of sleep, I spend Day 2 moving about gingerly and wishing I hadn’t had the Operation. It’s very painful and the prescribed medicines are not really hitting the spot. My leg is still numb, mostly in the thigh area – they must have pumped a lot of Local Anaesthetic in there. It’s almost impossible to get around on my own and I spend most of the day on the Sofa, where I eventually fall asleep.

Day 3

A better night’s sleep on the Sofa, and I’ve learned to move around with the help of the recliner, and various other surfaces to grab on to. I’m getting frustrated because I don’t like relying on other people, but I do need assistance getting up and down at times, as well as help getting my underwear on. Another night on the Sofa beckons and the pain continues.

Day 4

I finally get up for a walk around and, for the first time since surgery, manage to perform a very important function – it’s very difficult to push when you’ve had surgery on your stomach
I feel like going for a short walk, but the weather dictates otherwise. I finally go off to bed – a mistake I later rectify by going downstairs onto the Sofa. The other mistake was that I didn’t take any pain relief before bed – codeine to the rescue!

Day 5 – My first walk

After moving downstairs at 3am, I have a good night’s sleep. I feel good enough to go for that long-overdue walk and successfully attempt my first ¼-mile. I manage another similar walk later on. Things are looking up and I hope to take some longer walks in the days ahead and continue my rehabilitation from this awkward injury.

For anyone else who is suffering a similar injury, don’t be put off from any negativity above – I’m in pain, but I expect to recover. The other option is to do nothing – for me this wasn’t an option because I saw it affecting any physical activity that I tried, and it also gave me a mental block on pushing myself too hard (and sometimes getting started at all).

A History of the Injury that led to me having surgery is outlined below (Click “Read the rest of this entry” if required). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not often that I blog about other websites, but two that I’ve come across this week are worthy of mention.

The most useful of which is Microsoft SQL Server Advisor – whilst browsing around trying to learn some new skills on SQL Server, I found this website which has so many useful scripts and advice on SQL Server. It’s a shame that it doesn’t appear to have had an update since June 2009, nevertheless it is a useful archive of information on Microsoft SQL Server.

The second website of mention is LostInTechnology, which I came across by accident when looking for a decent Android App Manager. There’s a variety of tidbits which make useful reading, and the site is regularly updated with new articles. A shame about all the adverts though!

After blogging about scribefire previously, I found that I didn’t use it, even though its use isn’t in doubt.

You may ask why, and the answer is simple…I haven’t been using FireFox as my main browser for a few months now. Google Chrome has been my browser of choice even though the lack of adequate tab management annoys me.

It won’t be so bad when FireFox 4 comes out, and I suspect that the new Panorama interface will drive me back.

Meanwhile, whilst playing with some new apps on my Android phone, I’ve come across this very sweet WordPress App. Go to Android market and search for WordPress.

More info at http://android.wordpress.org

It seems that many people out there are having problems automatically updating WordPress and they are getting the following error:

Could not copy file.: /public_html/x/wp-admin/css/theme-editor.dev.css

After trying several (probably all) of the suggestions for automatically upgrading from the WordPress Support Forums, I eventually had to resort to a manual upgrade – documented at Updating WordPress « WordPress Codex.

As my host runs CPanel, I changed the way I did the upgrade slightly, so just in case there are others out there with the same predicament, here are the steps I followed:

Before we start, read the Instructions on “Take a Backup” in the updating WordPress link above. If your upgrade goes wrong and you haven’t taken any backups, then the liability is all yours

1. Download the upgrade file from WordPress (v3.0.1 file is here – http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0.1.zip)
2. Open up the File Manager under CPanel and navigate to your WordPress folder (e.g. /public_html/mywebsite)
3. Rename the wp_includes and wp_admin folders (e.g. to wp_includes-old, wp_admin-old)
4. Navigate to the wp-content/upgrade folder
5. Delete any folders here (there may be a remnant of the failed automatic upgrade called wordpress3-tmp or similar)
6. Upload the file you just downloaded in step 1 (e.g. wordpress-3.0.1.zip)
7. Right-click the file under CPanel’s File Manager and choose the option to Extract
8. The Extract will have created a folder called “wordpress” – Navigate to this folder
9. Now Select all the files (hint – in CPanel’s File Manager, there is a button called “Select All”)
10. Copy (right-click and select Copy) the files to your WordPress folder (e.g. /public_html/mywebsite)
11. Navigate to your WordPress folder (e.g. /public_html/mywebsite) – If you have a file called .maintenance, then delete it
12. Login to your WordPress site’s Admin panel – if the upgrade has worked, then you will have a message that your WordPress has been upgraded and your database now needs to be upgraded – click the button and wait for WordPress to upgrade your database
13. Check out your upgraded WordPress blog and make sure it’s all working
14. When you’re happy it’s all working, delete the wp_includes_old and wp_admin_old folders
15. As an additional step, you might want to delete the contents of the upgrade folder

Voila! The work is done. And with any luck, next time you upgrade, you’ll be able to upgrade WordPress automatically.

If you have this problem and you need to manually upgrade, then Good Luck!

It’s been a while since I posted anything, mostly due to job hunting, partly due to apathy and the lack of much to write about.

Having said that, I do come across interesting articles, software, etc from time to time and then go about using them – but I don’t ever find the time to share my experiences of them. Hopefully that’s where ScribeFire comes in – once installed and configured, it’s relatively easy to post about the pages you’re visiting.

In fact it’s as simple as clicking a button, or pressing F8 and then typing away straight from your Browser (e.g. Firefox) without having to go to your Blog (e.g. WordPress), login to the admin panel, create a new post etc. Not that this is difficult to do, but removing 3-4 steps in the posting process might just remove some of the apathy towards blogging.

Time will tell…

ScribeFire: Fire up your blogging