Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/12/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Bush era Attorney General Ashcroft stated publicly that the only things one really needed were duct tape and WD40: duct tape to keep things from moving that shouldn't move and WD40 to enable things to move that should move. I propose to add clear fingernail polish to this list. Years ago, I bought a Timex watch that had a nickel back and discovered a violent allergy to nickel. I went to a store that specialized in watch bands and was disappointed to be told they couldn't accommodate a Timex. Then a customer said: "Paint the back with clear fingernail polish." Years later, my iPaq, which just refuses to die, had the socket for the stylus wear to the point where the stylus was falling out. Being as both the top of the socket and the top of the stylus were both plastic, buying a new stylus for $11+ was a minor gamble as I did not know which component had worn the most. Alas, the new stylus was looser than the old one. I thought, I should paint the socket entrance with collodion; now where the hell do I get some of that. Then, I remembered: "Clear fingernail polish!!!" Was it still in the medicine cabinet? It was. OK, now I'll show how this relates to Leica. The 8 gig SD card that I bought at the store where I bought the M8 had a write protect slider that did not "click" between positions; it just had friction. In about a year it got pretty loose and if I didn't insert it very carefully into the camera, I would get an angry message on the LCD screen. Yesterday, I was trying to update the firmware in the camera and every time I dragged the firmware icon to the SD card icon, the icon would snap back; I just couldn't write to the card. I was being pretty stupid about it; it took a long time before it occurred to me that there was probably nothing wrong with the firmware update file, that this might be the behavior if the card was set to write protect. So, I took a 2 gig card out of my point-and-shoot, saw that I could write to it, and that if I set it to write protect, it behaved like the card out of the M9. After many attempts to insert it into the card reader without that tab moving to protect, I decided to cement it in place with nail polish. Worked perfectly!! Final note: Leica lied when they said that updating the firmware would reset the L number to zero. It didn't. Herb -- Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you.