A slowly dying ASUS M5A99X mainboard

Initially the cause wasn't clear. The computer was in some situations very slow and caused problems while agreeing admin permissions to install applications...

First I was informed to take a check from remote, but that wasn't even possible. The other site of the line had problems installing TeamViewer, the computer hanged at the moment UAC popped up for agreeing admin permissions. At the moment nothing happened anymore. After the next restart the computer itself got even slower. A few spots on the taskbar didn't even work anymore.

Seeing the difficult child myself, I just checked the basic stuff: Hard disk is fine, booting an alternate OS by DVD worked without issues, no malware or anything like that. But the issue got worse, at every attempt even slower!

After another test I wasn't able to start the computer anymore. The screen turned on for a moment but that was it. It remained black. Removing all drives didn't make any difference.

Ok.. so what's going on? From now it was clear it's a hardware problem. I did a BIOS reset (RTC RAM), restarted and the boot screen appeared, but unfortunately the screen froze from that moment on. I could press any key for entering Setup or changing the boot order - nothing happen. I turned off and there was the black screen again.

A few other ideas:

• Removing all boot devices (HDD, DVD)
  Booting without any RAM
• Booting without graphics adapter

While doing this tests there wasn't any beeping or difference at all. The motherboard must be damaged! Else there would be any beeping alarm or a kind of warning that something's not attached.

To be sure, I ordered a new Asus M5A99X board in order to make sure it's really the issue. And I was right: I changed the board, moved the CPU, the cooler and everything else to the new motherboard and the computer started again. 

But that's not the end of the story: After a successful restart the problems didn't really vanish. The Windows system was obviously damaged, too. I knew that the hard disk was ok, so I created an image of drive C and reinstalled Windows 10, basic software and updates. Now it's all working as fine as it should be. I copied all necessary files from the image back to the user folders and that was it...

Damn motherboard, whatever happened there...

Repair damaged videos from your Android phone

I was recording a few videos recently and during the recording I could no longer press 'Stop'. Video wasn't saved properly and couldn't be played at all. But there was a *.tmp file left...

Using my old Galaxy S3 mini my recording ended up with having no more space on the internal SD card and that's why the video couldn't be finalized and the phone also started rebooting afterwards.

At first, I couldn't really see if there was a temporary file or not, but the phone indeed created a 'mp4.tmp' file. From that point on I was sure I could save the video...

Some research...

At first I tried putting the file into video editing software, but no chance! Using Internet search engines you'll find a lot of software with that feature. I tested an app in Google PlayStore called 'MP4Fix': You first chose the damaged file and then another undamaged video file in order that the app can take the video header from it to repair the corrupted mp4 file.

The process was successful and then the app offered the option to 'Play' the video. It worked, it had the actual length and also the sound was working. But now the downside: If you chose 'Save' you'll get the offer to upgrade the app to 'Premium' for 3.99€. Of course that's an option and an easy an quick solution, but for me it was rather a challenge to find a free solution.

Some Windows software were using the same 'freemium' model like a software called 'Remo'. Fixing and watchng within the software works, but no free way to save or export it. Through further researching I actually saw a few times the same good solution by 'cheating a bit' while using a demo version of another repairing tool...

A little workaround...

Here's how it goes: Google for 'Video Repair tool Grau' and you'll find a demo version of that useful piece of software. The thing is that you can save 50% of your video with the free demo version! And if you cheat a bit, you can even save 100% of your video by converting 50% of two copies of your damaged file. But let's put into an order:

1) Download the tool
2) Copy your damaged file into an 'easy-to-reach' folder
3) Rename it simple (it chose just 'V1.mp4')
4) Copy 'V1.mp4' and name it 'V2.mp4'. Now you have two files with the same size.

5) Open command ('cmd') as administrator and go the folder with these two video files
6) Use this command to merge the two files:

copy/b V1.mp4 +V2.mp4

7) V1.mp4 is now twice as big as before. 

8) Open the 'video repair tool'

9) Select the new 'V1.mp4' file and another reference video file from copied your phone. Click 'Scan' and the video will be created (because of the trick even in full length) in the 'repaired' folder as seen in the screenshot.

It's a quite simple workaround, but it works perfectly. My video was saved and I hope yours will be, too!

Are split-screen games a thing of the past?

In the past few years the split-screen options in video games began gradually to disappear. And now it went that far that even racing games do no longer have an offline 2P mode.

Let's start with an example: The F1 racing games which are released by Codemasters every year. In F1 2011 you could even do a whole season with 2 local players against each other. In the 2012 version split-screen was still possible, but just single races - same as in 2014. But in F1 2015 and in the current 2016 version the split-screen disappeared completely.

So just multiplayer online racing? Or bringing your own console to a friend and at best with your own TV? That makes it even more complicated. Especially at times where the TV screens are getting bigger which would make 2P racing even more exciting. Are the gaming companies expecting that with faster Internet connection the people don't meet anymore? It rather forces the people to stay at home playing with friends also being at home.

Of course adding a split-screen needs extra resources and so on. Ok. But for me F1 2015 was a wake-up call in terms the direction they're going. I already know a few people who didn't buy it - same as F1 2016 - because they found it that there's no split-screen.

Same with with the current generation of Dragon Ball fighting games, where I already gave some thoughts in another article. In Xenoverse the local 2P mode is quite limited and not even split-screen. That's why I still have my PlayStation 2 with Budokai Tenkaichi 3. A real fun game, especially with split-screen!

As far as I know with Nintendo they're still doing it right. Imagine they would remove the split-screen from Mario Kart. Can't think of that. At Nintendo they know that people still meet and play against each other. It's part of their concept and their success. Are the Xbox One or PS4 players rather the ones who prefer to play at home alone? Of course there are many games which are made to play as a single player. But still, at the point where a Formula One racing game no longer has a split-screen, something goes really wrong.

Obviously the protests are not big enough, the producers are getting through with it. It's still sold, but it could be sold more often. But maybe not copies enough to compensate the effort adding a split-screen? I can't repeat myself often enough: It's going in the wrong direction. It has a bad impact on the peoples social lifes. More isolation. And so on.

You can find petitions against it, but are they working? Surely not enough. But you still find lots of people being frustrated about it like me. Or is it just the older generation growing up with split-screen video games now missing it? And the younger generation won't care? I do really hope there's a change in the future, hopefully already for games like F1 2017, but I doubt it.

Give it some thoughts, feel free to comment.

Project Acer Aspire 5742g - First can't boot, then no AntiVirus

Someone brought me a laptop recently which wasn't able to boot anymore. The issue was solved easily, but after rebooting there was more...

It's all about an Acer Aspire 5742g, around five years old. The computer stops at the BIOS boot screen with the option 'Press <F2> to enter Setup'. Windows didn't boot anymore - at every attempt.

But you could still enter the BIOS and change settings without any freezing or anything. So I took a Live-Windows and booted it from the DVD drive - and it worked. I tested some HDD tools and it was all fine, I also had access to the data, no problem. But it still couldn't boot at all.

Then I opened the laptop and removed the hard disk from its cables to take it out for a few minutes. Couldn't see anything unusual and returned the hard disk back into the laptop. I turned the laptop on again and it suddenly worked, Windows 7 was able to boot.

After a few more starts the issue didn't occur again (even weeks later no problem), but I found out that the anti-virus software wasn't running anymore. And for how long? The owner didn't know. The laptop was also filled with lots of software the user wasn't aware about.

A virus scan with Malwarebytes AntiMalware showed more than 300 infections and we agreed to save the data and reinstall the machine. Better save than sorry.

Top 5 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Android

As you may noticed through the topics of my articles about certain anime games or language-related stuff - I am a fan of Japan and their language and this article shows you my Top 5 apps to learn that language.

Some of these apps I'm using for a longer time, some not even a year. But altogether they're quite helpful while being on the run or waiting for someone/something to repeat vocabulary, gain new knowledge or remaining connected with the Japanese language.

1. AnkiDroid

I'm using AnkiDroid for a longer time already, even for other languages. It's an app with large vocabulary lists which you can either download or create yourself. After seeing a new word you can decide if it's easy to memorize or not and thus you decide when you get to see it again - in a few minutes or even in a few months or years (just if you saw it quite often already).

In terms of Japanese you should start to learn hiragana and katakana at the beginning. I can say for me AnkiDroid played a big part in learning these first around 100 characters. And you should also create your own deck with Japanese words you collect through going through books, watching anime or hearing in video games.

2. Jsho
'Jsho' is an app named after the Japanese name for 'dictionary' (じしょ), because IT IS an dictionary. The app is an offline version of the famous Japanese dictionary website 'jisho.org'. 

This application is already quite helpful at the beginning because you can search for words by using our characters as well as Hiragana or Katakana. And this app has also a connection to AnkiDroid: Once you've found a certain word you can send it to your Anki deck.


3. IQQI Japanese

After being able to memorize the first characters it would also be helpful to actually write them. That's why you need IQQI Japanese! It's an alternate keyboard with included Japanese characters. You can easily switch from our Latin letters to both Hiragana and Katakana - even Kanjis can be chosen after putting the right characters together. 

With that you can type new words into your Anki decks by yourself and write messages to someone in Japanese.



4. Memrise

Another great learning app, but even more developed in many ways. There are several decks in any language available, so also in Japanese. The apps even has a points scoring system included where repetition brings you more points than new words. 

You see the word in English and you have several hiragana/katakana/Kanji characters and you have to put them together in the correct way - or the other way around. Or you listen to three Japanese words in order to find the correct meaning. Or putting sentences together in the right order. And everything brings points - as well as knowledge and experience of course.

If you have friends using the same app you can compare who of you did the most points during the last week/month or even in total.


5. LINE

With WhatsApp nowadays being the the messenger with the most users in the world, there are still other similar apps. Like LINE which is really big in Japan and a few other Asian countries. So if you want to communicate with Japanese people in order to improve your language skills it's quite important to have that messenger. 

Like in WhatsApp you can also do calls and video calls - which were introduced way earlier than in WhatsApp. 

And like in Facebook you can post pictures on your timeline and others can comment. And the PC application is way more secure and better than the WhatsApp version. 

Summary
So these were the five free apps which were and still are quite helpful for me improving my Japanese. Of course there are also apps teaching you the grammar better and so on, but this overview is great if you are 'on the run'.

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

Old Galaxy S3 mini with CyanogenMod - Experience report

Five months ago I changed the OS of my three year old Samsung Galaxy S3 mini in order to be able to play Pokémon GO, here's a little experience report about CyanogenMod 12.1.

Generally it's running faster and better than with Android 4.1.2 which was the latest official version for the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. 

This CyanogenMod is an Android 5.1.1 version and it really brought my phone 'back to life'. Although my primary plan was to be able to play Pokémon GO to be part of the summer hype.

By now, I even can't play Pokémon GO anymore, I was obviously banned for using an too old phone. Despite having Android 5 I couldn't download or update the app by a simple PlayStore download. No, I had to find the apk and install it manually.

Other important apps don't have a problem with that. You just have to be cautious, the total space of the phone is just 4.65 GB, so for too many bigger it could be an issue without an additional card. 

Another advantage from Android 5 is that you do not longer need to do a certain trick to get a language change done. For example you can change your phone system language to Japanese without an issue.

There's a funny bug, let's say every 1-2 months that you can't select WiFi anymore (see picture above). Do a reboot and it's back again.

Else there's nothing else worth to mention. Let's see how long it's going to run...

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Modding: Latino Version November 2016

After a few attempts modding the Tenkaichi 3 game following some instructions myself I found a completed Latino version with up-to-date mods.

It's interesting to see what's actually possible investing time and energy into an almost ten year old game to update it with current characters. It's still a fan wish to make a successor of the very famous PlayStation 2 game.

Recently I mentioned that for changing the background music you have to take care of the file size of the music file. Making sure it's not bigger than before.

In the Latino version they were able not only to use way longer music tracks, no, there were even more than the usual 20 tracks you usually chose before the fight. I don't know yet how, but it's surely interesting.

It was also possible for them to add some characters - not just changing them. Some stages were also changed like Kamis Lookout now has a dark sky. There's also a stage were you solely fight in the Earths stratosphere.

In terms of characters you can clearly say that Merged Zamasu is quite superior to others. Especially one long combination attack. 

And attention concerning using other costumes: The games freezes after you chose the 3rd or 4th costume of certain characters - Whis for example. Better checkout the video above to see what's possible.

Anyway, I'd suggest to test it yourself, it's truly fun and interesting. And if you don't want to listen to Spanish voices instead of English, you can always select Japanese.