Fixing The National Step Challenge Tracker

20 December 2015

The Singapore Health Promotion Board gives out Actxa Stride step tracker at a nominal cost of SGD$5/= * to all Singaporeans who registered for the National Step Challenge.  At times,  the tracker will not work properly after cleaning it using water.   What shall we do ?  Throwing it away is one option,  how about fixing it?  
* it was free before 1 Dec.  The National Step Challenge is from 7 Novemer 2015 – 8 May 2016 

Why the Tracker Stop working?

The tracker is water resistant but not water proof.   Water might not get into the tracker through the weakest part,  that is the USB charging outlet.    

If one inspects the strap or the belt closely,  one can find that there is a stopper to prevent water penetration into the USB.  

But this stopper is not water proof.   Water can easily find its way into the circuit boards when the stopper or the strap is removed for cleaning.  Furthermore,  the tracker plastic cover is removable and therefore,  not water tight.

What to do Next?

Dry out tracker

Method 1

What’s required?

1. Hair dryer

2. A small package of rice

Dry out  the tracker.  Using hair dryer with “warm to touch” setting for at least 10 minutes.  This method might not  work if the water has penetrated deeper into the tracker.  In that case, leave the tracker covered with rice inside the package for about 1 week and let the rice extracts the  moisture out of the tracker.

Method 2

This method for technical savvy readers

What’s Required ?

1. WD40 and a tooth brush
2. Paper towel for cleaning
3.  Hair dryer

1. Open the tracker's plastic cover by working from the opposite end of the USB outlet,  using just finger nails or something such as a coin to pry open the cover.  One should expose the circuit board with a Lithium Battery attached to it by a pair of wires.  Observe the position and placement of the battery.   
2. Carefully remove the circuit board, making sure not to destroy the “soft sponge wiring  contact” that is attached to the touch button of the casing.

3. Try touching the shinning golden plate next to the display.  If the set is responding to the touch,  then the tracker is working;  otherwise,  the trouble is in the soft sponge wiring contact. Dry the sponge out carefully and thoroughly with the hair dryer for at least about 5 minutes and reassemble the tracker back to its original state*.

4. If the tracker just  does not work,  dry out any moisture that can be trapped inside components using hair dryer with “warm to touch” setting for at least about 10 minutes.
5. Spray some WD40 on to the tooth brush (but not directly to the circuit board as WD40 will spoil the display unit).  Apply the tooth brush all over the circuit board,  avoiding as much as possible,  not to touch the display unit
6. After that ,  dry the WD40  with the hair dryer.

The display should turn on and off after touching the shinning golden plate next to the display.   If there is no display after the cleaning,  try charging tracker as the battery* might be flat.   If all the above failed,  one has a faulty tracker.

      * the battery should be discharged completely before reassembled back to its original state

7. Assemble the unit in reverse order,  making sure the battery is the original position

Why the Tracker’s Touch Button does not respond ?

When the tracker is opened or dropped on the floor,  the button might not work properly or insensitive to touch.  But when one lifts up the tracker and read or touches the “shinning golden plate” of the circuit board,  the tracker works.  

Why?

The tracker button is capacitance type that sense the present of finger.  If for some reason,   the capacitance should change due to possible micro movement of the printed circuit board,  it might render the unit not possible to detect the present of the  finger.

How to Fix?

Resetting the tracker and let the tracker re-calibrate the capacitance on startup

How to Reset the Tracker when there is no other button?

If the tracker is working,  one can either reset the tracker by

a)     Try uninstall and reinstall the Health 365 software.  it should  reset and recalibrate the tracker;

b)   If that does not work,  try leaving the tracker alone for about a week and let the battery discharge completely;  after that,  recharge and start the tracker;
.

c)      If one is technical savvy,  open up the tracker and drain the battery out by using a 100 ohms     resistor connecting across the battery terminal.  The discharge time can be around 1 hour.  Do not short directly the terminals of the battery. Recharge the battery* and the touch button should work again.

* recharge only after assembling back with its plastic cover intact.

How do I know the Tracker has been Reset?

On the first charge,  the tracker should display “Hello” and followed by the battery charging sign.

Are There any other Simple Ways to Reset?

There might be other ways to reset the tracker such as using the reset pin of the microprocessor but the author could not identify any technical information about the microprocessor to try out the pins.

Duplicating Condominium Access Cards

17 December 2015

I lost my access card to my apartment the other day.  The management of the Condominium  wanted SGD$60/= for the replacement of the card and another $100/= as a deposit.  The market rate to duplicate a card ranges from $15/= to $33/=.  This article will give some basics about access card and where and how I duplicated my card.

The Basics

Most access cards used in Condominiums are for access through the main or side gate.  These cards are called “RFID” cards which stand for Radio Frequency (RF) ID Cards.   Embedded inside each card is a coil of thin wires and a microchip.  Most of these cards are passive type,  meaning there is no battery inside the card. 

 

When the card gets near a card reader,  the coil  will receive an RF signal from the card reader. This signal will not only power up the card but also activate the microchip inside the card to send a code to the card reader to open the gate for example.

Some of the cards are encrypted for additional security reason,  making them difficult to clone.  Fortunately or unfortunately,  most cards are simple cards that just stored an ordinary code for the card reader.

The simple ones will use a frequency of 125Khz as a transmitting carrier.  Some complicated ones that allowed codes to be encrypted are running at 13.56 Mhz which will allow more codes to be written to the cards.     

How to Duplicate EM Cards

1.  Non Encrypted EM Cards

These cards are  called “EM” cards as it was first developed by EM Microelectronic of Switzerland.  They are labelled EM4100 or EM4102 and they work only on 125Khz frequency. EM cards also operate at some other frequencies. 

2  What you will need to duplicate EM Cards?

      1. EM Card Reader Cum Writer (copier)

      2. EM card or EM tag

  

      One can purchase the EM card reader cum writer (copier) from vendors in AliExpress for about USD $15/=.  This EM copier also supports EM4205,4305 writable cards or tags as well as T5557,  T5567, T5577,  CET5200 and CET5577 cards as described in the  brochure.  The complete set comes with 6 credit card size EM cards and also 6 RFID tags as shown below.

 

The reading  and writing of the card is very simple as shown in the following video.

How To Identify Your Card?

Many cards do not give any clue about what type and model;  fortunately,  there is a simple way to find out because most card readers will have a brand name and sometimes,  if one is lucky,  also the  model number.  Surf the net to get the required information.

What if my RFID is not the same type as yours?

 Like any lock or key,  all access cards can be hacked and duplicated.  One only needs to surf the net and find a solution.  If one's card is  simply having a single purpose such as opening the door or main gate,  it might not be encrypted and one is likely to find similar tools to read and write the card.  A good tool to use is a 9 frequencies copier as shown here.

This tool will try to read almost any card and give a voice in English that will report something about the  card,  such as operating frequency or if it can read and write your card.

What if all the above does not work?

 One may try to purchase another more expensive and powerful copier  such as this shown here. 

 

According to the description,  the copier will display the read and write operations.  For access card that is encrypted,  this copier can also be hooked up to a PC in which a software provided will be able to analyse the card and help to identify and crack the code.  However,  the author has not tried this tool yet.

Are there other tools?

There are many other tools available in the market that can read and write the card but most of these other ones will require one to know how to use the software and do some programming in order to duplicate or break the code.

Can I use EM copier for copying HID cards?

 Not all copier can copy both EM and HID cards although they are of the same frequency.   HID cards are just cards that is manufactured by another company.  HID card has a more advance coding system,  enabling more secured codes to be written to the card.  It is always good to check with the vendor if one suspected that their access card has more advance features.  Copiers that can copy both EM and HID cards demand a slightly higher price.

Is EM4100 and EM4102  the same?

EM4100 and EM4102 are the same type of card except for EM4102,   being newer model,  has a unique chipset configuration that will  enable the card to be made thinner than EM4100.  Please note that EM4100 is not programmable.  One could try EM4305 or other series of compatible  RFID cards or tags.

What about other EM cards and other 125 Khz Cards?

EM cards are not necessary made for the same purpose and therefore,  they may differ from each other.   EM4100 are 64 bits read only card that once written,  cannot be rewritten.   The other card like EM 4205 and 4305 are 32 bits, whereas T5557 are 330 bits types that may not be compatible with EM4100.  On the other hand,  EM4200,  being replacement of EM4100/EM4102 EM4005/4105 claimed to be compatible with the latter.

Is it legal to copy access cards?

Under the  existing legal framework,  duplicating access cards is treated no difference to  duplicating normal keys.  There are many shops and outlets including those  reputable ones like  Mister Minit and  Soxxi Master are offering such duplicating services.

How to Back Up Windows’ Registry Permanently

11 December 2015

1.0  Introduction

Windows XP and other later Windows OS have built in restore function which one can save a copy of the PC’s registry and restore the PC to its previous condition should something go wrong with the OS.    Unfortunately,  this function can store and keep a copy of the registry provided one has allowed adequate storage; otherwise,  one would lost the earlier copies as they will be overwritten without any notification.   This article will provide a simple solution using a free software called “RegBak”. 

2.0    Where to Download

Can download from here  It has been used by many and no bug or virus has been reported. 

3.0    What is Required

3.1    Starting up

Install Regbak and fire up,  one should be greeted by this screen,  click NEXT   

   

It will bring to a confirmation and backup page where one can backup the registry into the designated folder

3.2    Restoring Registry (Using Windows 8 or 10 as example)

3.2.1    One can boot into Windows

Either in Safe mode or normal windows,  navigate to “Windows\regbak” folder and select the date.  Then click “REGRES.CMD”. Restart the PC.

3.2.2    One cannot boot into Windows

3.2.2.1 Windows 8,  8.1 or Windows 10

1)  Startup Windows Repair DVD.  Navigate to “Advance Option” and select “Command Prompt”.

2)      In the  Command Prompt,  type “D:” (without quotes;  same for all)  to change Directory to “D:” then type “cd windows\Regbak\” to navigate to the Regbak folder

3)      Open up the folder by typing “DIR/W” at the Command Prompt.  One should find the required backup folder,  for example “2010-10-23”

4)      Navigate to that backup folder by typing “cd 2010-10-23” and do another “DIR/W” to find the backup files, "REGRES.CMD"

5)      Type “REGRES.CMD” to run the program

6)      Restart the computer.

      

3.2.2.2 Windows 7 

When starting windows,  press space bar continuously and then press F8 as instructed until the follow screen shows up

 Click "Repair Your Computer",  follow the instructions until the following screen shows up

Click "Command Prompt" and following para 3.2.2.1  2)- 6) to restore the registry.

4.0  Safe Keeping of Backup Folder

      Safe keeping of the backup folder or files in another hard disk or a CD by copying the Regbak   folder and files from Windows\regbak folder.  In case of emergency repair,  just restore the Regbak folder and start the Registry restoration,  the PC will be back to its previous condition.

5.0  What will be missing?

This method of restoration will not be as powerful as Windows' system restore as it saves only a copy of the Registry. It will not check and restore missing programs for example. 

Unless one's PC is having hardware or disk problem, most likely one can restore your PC to its previous conditions without having to lose your files or information or reformat your drives except one cannot restore those programs or information that one has deleted from the drives.