Runtime Error 429 in Using Selenium Basic

5 March 2022 

Selenium Basic can be a very useful tool when one is writing an Excel VBA Macro to "scrape" data from a webpage.  

In the past,  one will have to use "imacros" which is a special paid software for scrapping data in Excel because one cannot often use Excel's built-in "data queries" to extract data from a webpage.  These webpages are usually written using VBScript,  Javascript or other forms of HTML tools.  

Please click the picture for more information

The VBA that is used to extract data from a webpage using the normal tools can run into a lot of problems and often took several processes just to complete a simple task. Selenium Basic, on the other hand,  can cut the Excel macros down to just a few lines for the same kind of work.  For example,  it allows users to copy the whole table & then paste it onto Excel as an Excel table instead of a jpg picture.   It is much more efficient;  also, the VBA macros will run much faster,  limited only by the network.

Error Messages

The only snag about using Selenium Basic is the lack of support documents, especially about how to handle script errors.  This is because Selenium Basic is still in the early stage of development.  One of the errors that come up recently is the Run time error 429 as described by a forumer in the "Stackoverlow" forum:

Click the picture to visit the article

What is Error 429?

Error 429 is a common error occurring when one tries to automate office or other similar works. According to Microsoft,  this error when occurring in Microsoft Office VBA work could be due to the following reasons:

• There is a mistake in the application;
• There is a mistake in the system configuration;
• There is a missing component;
• There is a damaged component.

Microsoft suggested a few solutions as shown on this page.  The solutions can be summarized in simple terms as follows

1.  Check & verify the office application is working;

2.  Re-register the applications;

3.  Check & add the "CLSID key" to the Registry if there are missing in the Registry;

There are other methods suggested which the readers should read in detail. 

How the Error 429 happened?

It happened when one is trying to use special automation software called "Auto Power-On and Shut Down" to turn on and shut down the PC at a specific time automatically. This software has been used before for Excel macro many times without any hitch.  The Excel VBA macros were also tested to run well on another computer.  on this PC in question,  Windows Excel will startup but it would stall whenever it reached the following VBA script.  

• driver.Start "Chrome"

The solution

The re-registration of the software "Auto Power-On and Shut down" as advised by Microsoft solved the problem.  One will need to run the following script in DOS-Prompt as an administrator:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Auto Power-On and Shut Down\Auto Power-On and Shut Down.EXE /regserver

In the above example,  the software,  "Auto Power-On and Shut Down",  was defaulted to be installed in C:\Program Files (x86)

 

Reviving ASUS eee901 NetBook PC for Data Scrappings

5 March 2022

# eee901, Network, SSD upgrade,  mSATA,  mini-PCIe,  Windows

This ASUS eee901 was a very popular netbook PC about 10 to 15 years ago.  It was one of the cheap netbook PC that uses SSDs for memory storage.   It was very hackable and many hobbyists like to do all sorts of modification work using this PC.  

Because the netbook uses only 5 Watts.  I bought a couple of these for stock data mining which required the PC to be operating 24/7.  When the SDD finally failed to work and plenty of free stock screening websites are available free for downloading,  I decided to retire them some 5 years.

Lately,  I took up the interest to do stock data mining again. This time is for data that are not available anywhere on the Internet.   The choice then was between buying a new netbook or upgrading the eee901 with a faster and bigger SSD.

What SSD Were Used?

These ASUS netbooks use a special SSD called mini-PCIe SSD.  These SSD has a similar form factor as the mini-SATA (mSATA) SSD.  Mini-PCI SSD is not easily available and mSATA SSD cannot be used to replace Mini-SSD directly in the ASUS netbook.

The Final Choice

.I decided to revive the eee901 for the following reasons

1)  Netbook has now been replaced by the tablets which run on either Android or iOS.  They are not good for running the Excel macros which were written earlier for data mining;

2)  There are adaptors available to convert mSATA SSD to mini-PCI SDD for use in eee901.  The adaptors are fairly cheap.   The SSD replacement and upgrading work is estimated to cost less than SGD$30/=. It is much cheaper than a new netbook;  moreover,  I have a few spare mSATA SSD lying around and I can use them for the upgrading work.

The only Snag

The eee901 PC has two SSD;  one 8GB master SSD that is accessible after removing the cover;  the other is the 4GB slave SSD that is hidden inside the PC.   When the new adaptor SSD is used to replace the 8GB Master SSD,  the PC will recognise only the new adaptor SSD as a slave.  The BIOS will always give this warning error about "master SSD not found" whenever the PC is booted up.  The warning error cannot be defeated because it is an error message.   It will stop loading up the Windows.  This is not good when one is trying to automate the PC to start up windows and run the excel macros automatically.   

Installing the adaptor SSD to replace the hidden 4GB will solve this startup error but the adaptor SSD must be shortened because the hidden 4GB is half-height.  It is around 50 mm long whereas the new adaptor SSD is around 70 mm long. 

Can the Adaptor SSD Be Shortened?

Yes,  it can.  One must use 1/2 height mSATA with a short piece of PVC plastic added as shown in this automated picture.  There is just enough room in eee 901 for the installation of this new and shortened adaptor SSD

How to Install the Inside the eee901?

Here is one of the video

Enhanced Performance

Users will find the replacement Adaptor SSD running much faster than the original SSD.  This is because the mSATA is of the more advanced Technolgy.  The mSATA's speed can be several times that of the original SSD.  

With the larger capacity SSD,  one can use the original Windows 7 with the response and speed,  at times,  even better than the Intel E8400 PC with the hard drive.  Some has tested eee901 using Windows 10 but the response was a bit sluggish as reported because Windows 10 will require 3 GB RAM to run efficiently.  The eee901 only has a maximum RAM of 2 GB.

How to Assemble a PC? (Lesson No 2)

 15 January 2022

In lesson 1,  we listed and showed the various components to be used to assemble a PC.  If we have already in our hands all the required components,  we can start assembling them together.    Lesson 2 will show how we could do that.  

The PC Casing

The casing is usually made of metal.   It has side panels that can be opened to fix the components such as motherboard, hard disk and other peripheral cards such as video cards etc.  It has also a casing fan for additional cooling.  There are also a bunch of wires for connection to the front panel control switches such as the on/off and reset switches, etc.  Here are the pictures of where are these wires and where one can install what PC components

a)  The Casing

Front and Back

Inside

Step By Step

1.  Installing Power Supply

The power supply has 4 screws for mounting to the casing.  It has 5 bunches of wires for various components as shown in the picture.  They must be connected to the respective sockets of the components.  The connectors are usually "keyed" such that there should be no wrong connection problem to be expected.

The close up view of the 5 types of power supply connection is as shown

2)  Installing the CPU 

If the motherboard has not been installed,  it will be much easier to install the CPU when the motherboard is outside the casing

Here is a good video on how the CPU could be fixed onto the Motherboard.   Note that there is always a dummy CPU or some sort of protection to prevent accidentally damage of the very delicate and flimsy pins located inside the CPU socket.  Any bent pins in the CPU socket will make the motherboard unusable. 

3)  Installing the motherboard

The motherboard usually have about 6 to 7 screw holes for mounting to the casing,  some of which has been marked in this motherboard.  The picture shown below has been labelled to show where the various PC components should be installed.  It would be good to check the manufacturer's manual to find out how to install the motherboard as different motherboards might have different installation requirements. 

To be continue

Repairing Stuck & Broken Key Cap for Logitech MX Keyboard

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11 January 2022

"Sticking keys" is a common problem in some keyboards. The keys become not sensitive to the finger pressure last time,  causing missing characters while typing.   

The conventional wisdom is to remove the keycap of the key and take out the key hinge to clean them.   But this kind of repair will often break the very flimsy clips on the keycap. The recommendation is to replace the cap and maybe the key hinge.  But these keycaps are not easy to find.  They are also quite expensive.  

This article will not only introduce an easy way to clean the stuck key but also provide an alternate solution to fix the keycaps if they were broken.

The Components of the KeyPad

The keypad consists of the 3 components.   The first component is the base.  It is made of metal.   The second component is the keycap hinge which consists of 2 small plastic pieces; one of the pieces is pivoted and allowed to move freely and the other is a fixed piece that will be clipped onto the metal base.   The last component is the keycap.  It has very few flimsy and easily broken hooks and clips as shown in the following pictures.

Why the keys can get stuck?

The key hinge can get stuck at times due to a lack of lubrication.  This will prevent the keycap from moving up and down.  When this happens,  the keycap will no longer be sensitive to the finger pressure;  therefore,  users will experience a stuck key. Removing the keycap & key hinge will usually free the stuck key but soon,  the stuck key will reappear in the future.  

Knowing this to be the problem,  one could use some lubricants such as WD40  or an electronic switch cleaner to clean and lubricate the keys.  One can do this without having to remove the keycap and key hinge.  The electronic switch cleaner is a better choice because the fluid will evaporate quickly whereas WD40 will leave some oil behind the keyboard.

Why the KeyCap can be Broken?

Usually,  the keycap is broken by the wrong way of removing the keycap.  If one has the chance to open up a keycap and look at the back,  one will see this picture

For this Logitech MX keyboard,   the keycap has a pair of plastic clips at the top,  and a pair of hooks at the bottom.  Therefore,  one should always remove the keycap by prying open the keycap from the top right-hand and the left-hand corner.  One should never try to pry open the keycap from the bottom as this will break the hooks of the keycap.  After the clips at the top are free,   the keycap should be "slide" forward to unhook the keycap before removing it.  

The keycap clips at the top can be easily broken if one were to force-fit the keycap when it is not in the correct position.  To re-assemble back the keycap,   the correct way is to place the keycap such that the bottom hooks can be "slide" in first,  and when there is a feeling that the hooks are in the correct place, press the top part down,  one corner at a time.

  

Why the Key Hinge can be Broken?

As for the key hinge, one should always remove it from the top right-hand and left-hand clips.  Prying the hinge from the centre might break the hinge.

What to do when they were Broken?

One can search the web and buy them online but they are pretty expensive.  The pairs of the keycap and the hinge might cost around USD15/=. 

If the keycap clip is broken,  one can still use it by applying a small bit of strong rubber glue on the top of the moving hinge (as shown brown in the yellow moving hinge).  After that,  secure the keycap with adhesive tape until the glue is dry. Try not to apply too much glue as the spilling of the glue might glue up the moving hinge.  It is not wise to use "super glue" for the job as there might be a need to break the glue in future to do some repair underneath the keycap.

If the keycap hook at the bottom is broken, looks like the repair will need a replacement.  This is because the keycap is using the hook as a pivot for the up and down "floating" movement.  

However,  it might be worth the while to investigate if one can glue a hook made of copper wires and glue it onto the keycap as suggested by the following picture. One can also try to use the keycap with the missing hooks though the key might not be so sensitive as before.  

 

The Components Inside a DeskTop PC (Lesson 1)

8 January 2022

This article is prepared for those who want to learn how to assemble a personal computer. 

What are the Components inside the PC?

Inside a desktop PC,  one should find the following components

1)   Motherboard

The Motherboard is where the CPU is located and the CPU is the "brain" inside a PC.

The CPU is located beneath the CPU fan as shown in the following picture

Besides the CPU,   there are other supporting components to facilitate the communication between the CPU and Graphics card for example.   There are also other communication channels allowing the CPU to talk to other peripherals connected to the PC,  such as printers,  games controllers and monitors that are to be connected to the PC.

2)  Power Supply Unit

The CPU or the PC will not run unless there is power connected to it.  This is where the power supply unit is so important.   The power supply unit converts and steps down the 230 household supply into lower voltages so that the PC can run.   The following lower voltages are supplied by the Power Supply unit:-

a)  5 Volts

b)  -5 Volts

c)  +12 Volts

d)  -12 Volts

e)  +3  Volts

f)    -3 Volts

3)  Graphic Card

This is the card that converts the CPU's output signal into a video signal so that the CPU output can be displayed on the monitor.   There is various type of connection for various kind of monitors;  some have display resolution better than the others.

For example,  this graphic card will convert the CPU output signals directly into a monitor that has a display port.  It has also an HDMI & a DVI connector.    It does not have the usual VGI connector because this is a high-resolution card that will display higher resolution graphics for computer games.

4)  Internal Drives

PC will need devices to store all the programs and the operating system (OS) that controls the CPU and other components inside the PC.   This is the function of the internal drives inside the PC.

The internal drive might consist of the following devices

a)  DVD Rom Drive: -  This device allows DVD discs to be read and written by the PC;

b)  SSD Drive:   This device,  consists of computer memory cards that do not have any moving parts.  It is commonly called Solid State Drive.

 

c)  Hard Drive:-  This device has magnetic discs inside that will spin at a very high speed so that information can be stored inside it for the PC to read and write on it.   Besides the spinning disc which is different from an SSD drive,  it has huge storage memories allowing thousand of gigabyte memory to be stored at a cheaper cost,

To be continued.....    

How To Embed Twitter Videos in BB Forums & Blogs

16 May 2021

How To Embed Twitter Videos in BB Forums & Blogs

Twitter allows embedding of its videos in various kinds internet medias and discussion. But, it is not easy to have them embedded in a BB Forums. This is because most BB Forums accept only iframe codes. This article will offer a method where users can get twitter video embedded in such forums

What you need?

This iframe code

<iframe src="https://twitframe.com/show?url= https://twitter.com/i/status/1289954190756782080" style="border:0px #ffffff none;" name="myiFrame" scrolling="no" frameborder="1" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px" height="850px" width="600px" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This code will work as long as https://twitframe.com/ is not down.

How to Embed?

Just right click any twitter video and copy the video address. Then paste it to replace the url address shown in the above example.  After that,  just simply copy the whole iframe code and paste it to the BB Forums or put the iframe code as a script in the HTML page of the blog.

Is this Legal?

It is perfectly legal as twitter does allow copying of the video for embedding in webpages. The iframe code is just an alternative mean of embedding the video

Repairing Faulty Push Button in a PC Mouse

 24 July 2020

The left button of the mouse was not working. To fix the mouse, one would have to open up the mouse, cleaning the push button contact which might have bad electrical contact after years of usage. This video tells how to clean the contact.

To Reduce the Fan Noise in the PC Power Supply Unit

23 July 2020

Some power supply unit for the PCs have very noisy fans. The good one will come with a thermo controlled fan; the cheaper ones usually have this omitted especially when they are made for Bit-Coin mining machines. The solution is either to change the fan or have a fan speed controllers installed. This video describe how best to carry these works.
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 Update:

The circuit in the video used IRF 634 which has a rated voltage of about 500V.  A cheaper euivalent is IRF 744 rated at 250 V.   The components are listed as shown

The veroboard layout of the component and its connection is as shown below

 

Get Rid of CloudNet Virus?

10 February 2020

When one  switches on his  PC or notebook (named as PC), he  might notice

a) the CPU fan was running very fast.  It would make a lot of fan noises after some idling moment. This was despite having  no other running programs running; the CPU is 99% idling as indicated by Task Manager.

b ) the CPU’s graphical plot next page showed CPU running at 50% load;

c) the Network Activity showed heavy usage and;

d) the TCP Connection showed a lot unidentifiable connections 

What had happened?

Likely the PC has a virus called “CloudNet virus”

What is CloudNet?

CloudNet is an Web consulting firm in Central Minnesota. But this CloudNet virus has nothing to do with it.  The CloudNet virus happened to use the same name. 

Initially, this virus was an xtension hiding behind the web browser. It would hijack PC user’s Internet home page. It would distribute promotional materials, display banners, coupons, pop-ups and other advertising products. PC users can remove this virus with a few simple steps. May be because of this, the new virus is now hidden and embedded in a System protected program. Ordinary users and novice might not be able to remove it without any effort.

Is the Virus Harmful?

This virus will use one's  PC to send signals to various designated Internet addresses. It is not known exactly for what purpose. May be it is sending "clicks" to those addresses to earn some advertising money. Anyway, it will make one's PC running slow and will help to consume lot of CPU power.

How to Remove?

There are plenty of articles written in the Net about how to remove this virus. As CloudNet is embedded and hidden behind a protected System process called "CSRSS", it will need some special steps to remove it.

What is CSRSS?

It stands for client/server run-time subsystem. It is an essential subsystem that must be running in the background. It must also run in the Safe Mode. The process handles the creation and deletion of threads. It also deal with some parts of the 16-bit virtual MS-DOS environment. Hence, there is no way to remove it using Windows Explorer using traditional method.

What are the Methods ?

3 possible methods

 

Method 1:

It involves restoring the system images. If one has a good copy of system image saved earlier, this is the best and easiest method. However, not many users has the habit of updating and keep a recent copy of the system.

Method 2:

It involves disabling the control of the Windows system that prevents users from deleting CloudNet. This method requires one having to change the security setting of "CloudNet".

To do that one must first change the ownership of the "CloudNet". From the “CloudNet” search directory using Windows Explorer, right click to select Property. In the property of CloudNet, change the ownership from "System" to "Administrator control. After that edit the permission of the system so that the System will be "Deny Full Control" of CloudNet. Once the System lost the control, Windows Explorer can delete the "CloudNet".

But there is still one more step i.e. to disable the Startup Autorun of CloudNet. This is because Windows operating system will always protect any running program.

To disable Autorun, one can use "CCleaner" or "Hijackthis" or Microsoft's Autorun program. Make sure CloudNet will not run in the next start up before deleting it.

Method 3

This method involves the repair and replacement of CSRSS. This CSRSS is located in System32 in the Windows directory. One can download a fresh copy from either a trusted website or extracted it from another PC or installation disk.

One would not be able to replace the existing copy of CSRSS because it is protected bythe Operating System. To replace CSRSS, one could use another operating system like the Unix Operating System used in either Knoppix CD or Hiren's boot CD. However, can it allow CloudNet to be deleted when starting up Windows has yet to be tested.

The 3 methods are shown in this video presentation

Will these Methods work for Windows 10?

The same 3 methods should also work for Windows 7 as well as windows 10

Upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

5 February 2020

Microsoft has stopped providing technical support from 14 January 2020.

But, it is still safe to use Windows 7. Microsoft will still provide patches if they found any security threat. However, they will not update their software when there is new feature. For example, they will not provide any new drivers for the new hardware coming out after 14 January 2020.

Is it Free?

The upgrading from Window 7 to Windows 10 was free of charge when it was first announced in 2015. This upgrading work is still free today. No one knows how long I will last. Therefore, it is better to grab it before it is too late

How about Performance?

In 2015, many have tested Windows 10. They did not like it because it was quite baggy and running slower than Windows 7. Some have difficulties navigating around. They have to install a software call "start is back" to change the menu screen to look like Windows 7. These problems have been improved after so many years. The menu screen is  now friendlier. The new menu screen will look a bit like Windows 7 with added Windows 10 features. One would find the desktop mode easier to navigate. As for the speed, some claimed that it would run faster than Windows 7. Windows 10 is no longer as baggy as compare to Windows 7 if one has a SSD drive to run it.

How difficult to Upgrade?

They have made it so easy to upgrade. Just copy the windows files into a CD ROM; or memory stick,  then click set up after booting up the Windows 7. Everything will run smoothly. The installation is much faster than installing a new Windows

Losing existing files, user data and applications?

The files, data and applications will be copied over just like re-installing a new windows. Some existing data and files that cannot be transferred will be savedin a folder called "old window". One can always recover back these data and files

Will all existing Applications of Windows 7 work?

Some applications from Windows 7 might not run properly. But this can be fixed by changing the compatibility settings. There might be some very old applications such as games which will not work. These are the exceptions rather than the norms.

What needed to upgrade?

No special tools or software needed except the followings

a) About 16 GB to 20 GB free hard disk space for the working files, depending on whether the existing Windows is 32 bits or 64 bits;

b) Prepare an USB stick with at least 6 GB of space if one wants also to upgrade other PCs in the house;

c) 7-Zip compression software if one is using USB or CDROM copies and of course,

d) A stable Internet connection to update the Windows

After that, download a file called"Media Creation Tool" from this Microsoft web page. There will be an option to choose if one wants to upgrade the PC straightaway or have the installation software extracted and copied to an USB or a CD ROM.

What Version After the Upgrade?

If the existing Windows 7 is an Ultimate or Professional version, the upgraded version will be Windows 10 Pro. For others, only Windows Home edition.

What are the Possible Issues?

a) Windows Slow Start up

One might experience slow startup even when one has a SSD to run Windows 10. “Insufficient memory” allocated for running Windows startup programs could be the cause. The Windows could take 40 seconds instead of less than 20 seconds to start the Windows. This problem was solved when the maximum size of the virtual memory was changed to 8 GB.

b) Some Applications cannot work properly

This could be the compatibility issues. A change in the compatibility setting will normallysolve this problem. It involves running the applications under compatible Windows 7. Setting it to "run as Administrator" will usually fix this problem. 

Here is the video presentation for this article.

Cannot Reinstall Windows 7’s iTune

10 January 2020

Important Note:  Always backup the Registry using "System Restore" before meddling around with the PC.

One might come across this problem. iTune stopped working and re-installation stuck with this error message:

After that, no matter what we do, we are always stuck with this error message. Trying to do the following as recommended by many will not work as well:

1. Uuninstalling iTune or Bonjour Services or deleting the iTune folder from the PC or LapTop;

2. Re-istalling the Windows Installer or update to the latest version;

3. Doing “System Restore” without any success;

4. Repairing the Operating System using System Inastallation Disk;

5. Registering and unregistering Windows Installer, msiexe.exe;

6. Uninstalling all other Apple device including Bonjour;

7. Playing around with the Registry keys by removing iTune and Apple related products.

At the stage of almost trying to recover the Windows 7 installation, this solution popped up.

What that Solution?

It is actually a solution offered by Microsoft.   It said it will fix problems that block programs from being installed or removed.  Here is the program to download.

Just follow the instructions given by the program. The program is safe to use. It will helps one to repair program installation and uninstallation issues. It will also fix corrupted registry keys.

Should the above fix does not solve the issue,  try to restore the PC back to its original state using "System Restore". 

What could be Wrong?

There was no specific explanation about what was preventing iTune from re-installation. Microsoft only said that the program that fix such issues will fix the following issues

• Corrupted registry keys on 64-bit operating systems that control the update data;
• Prevented new programs from being installed;

• Prevented existing programs from being completely uninstalled or updated;

• Blocked one from uninstalling a program using "Programs and Features" in Control Panel.

What need to do after the fix

Uninstall all Apple Software, reinstall iTunes or iCloud for Windows.