Sunday, September 12, 2021

Dell G15 5510 Notes

Just some notes. If you find them useful, give me a follow on YouTube so that I can share in the ad revenue that YouTube is keeping.

Yup, they show ads on the tens of thousands of views I get and I get zero. 

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Anyway, notes on the Dell G15 5510:

1. RAM. It uses 2900 (ish)mhz DDR4 RAM, but I had a 8 gig stick of 2666 already, so it's slightly slower but was 'free'. Now it's dual channel so still much faster than the single it came with. If you have that I wouldn't waste the extra $$$ on a 2900 stick.

If you're buying a stick, IMHO buy the faster 3200 or whatever for $5 or so extra...tiny bit of forward use like my 2666 I bought instead of the 2400 my other laptop now it's being used in this one. :)

Are you buying ANYTHING at Amazon? Use this link and I'll get 4% and it costs you nothing:

Crypto: Yes, I *KNOW* it's a laptop and heat, etc. 

Thoughts on the heat: the whole back half is covered in mesh and so my laptop cooler fans point at that. The center area around the silver metal fram you see doesn't get very hot so I decided not to run it with the backplate off. Would not make a ton of diff. 

Also, this laptop has options for much hotter parts, so these (i5/3050Ti) are somewhat conservative parts I think.

i7/3060 are the max, but that costs 50-100% more depending on sales, so I got this one.

I overclocked the 3050Ti RAM and underclocked the GPU to the minimum and it mines ETC at 26.xx Mh/s. 

That's 204% of a 1050Ti at around the same power, 80 or 90 watt max and we're nowhere near that.

GPU runs at 67-68C on a cheap laptop cooler...and I plan to buy a better one and possible remove the bottom plate so it's even cooler.

The bottom plate has 4 screws on the outer edge that DO NOT come out of the bottom plate. The ones in front under the trackpad do (set of two) and the ones on the back do come out.


As you can see, no space for a 2.5" drive. Some pics I saw on the web appeared to have room, with a smaller battery, for a 2.5 but they were slightly diff model #s.

Stock RAM:

Power brick is huge, Haven't checked but I bet it's still an unnecessarily large 240W.

...more notes to follow. :)

So far, pretty happy.

Sunday, August 29, 2021

GPU Lost Error in PhoenixMiner

 If these are the errors you get in your log:


2021.08.29:14:45:26.505: main NVML error in : GPU is lost (15)

2021.08.29:14:45:26.505: main NVML error in : Invalid Argument (2)

2021.08.29:14:45:26.505: main Nvidia driver version: 471.68

2021.08.29:14:45:26.508: main NVAPI error in NvapiWrapper.c:341 : -6


Then do these things:

Check the riser power and cable connections. Reseat the connections to the PCIe slot and the PCIe part of the riser.

But it's probably simpler: Just go into Device Manager on Windows, right click the card and Uninstall it. 

DON'T click the checkmark box about uninstalling the drivers.


These simple things fixed my problem and now I'm back mining ETH and ETC in a Dell G5 5000 no less. :)

Did I help? 

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Sunday, August 08, 2021

Install HiveOS on a USB Drive Using Mac OS X: The commands are wrong on Hive OS' site for Mac OS. And some other important tips.

There are some command differences in the terminal vs what HiveOS has on their page. Surprise.

First, *PLEASE* use my link to sign up for HiveOS so that I get something for my time. :)

Also, you can give me a follow on my tech/investing YouTube Channel:

Other Ways to Support Me: (I was thrilled to get some ETC the other day for example.) 

Coinbase US Dollars address. Yup, they still work: 0xB09E3BadF5D8f758865dAC11e4705ae0C33a65eD

Get Coinbase here: We can debate hot and cold wallets later. Also you can earn free crypto by doing the lessons and holding certain types there.

Disclaimer: I'm doing this and typing it up. If it doesn't work, comment. I respond and fix, that's why you'll use my links and give me a cup of coffee etc. :) Also I'm not responsible for anything. Check my work. Data loss is possible if you don't use the right device's mentioned several times but really very simple.

First, let me say, if you are not comfortable with the Terminal in Mac OS or the command line, there's a program that will do all this: 

It was recommended on MacOS Daily here Linky but I like to suffer. ;) I have not used it.

1. Download HiveOS first. (But you probably did this, so...)

2. On that download page, there is a link that tells you the md5 of the file so you are sure the download is not corrupted.

3. Open 'Terminal' on your Mac.

4. Type 'su' , enter your root password, and press enter (so you can write/eject drive).

5. Type md5 -r and then DRAG the .xz HiveOS file into the terminal window and release. It will type the path name etc. for you. 


MacPro:~ robertbullock$ md5 -r /Volumes/BlackTowerMain/Audio/Audio\ Assets/hiveos-0.6-205-stable@210715.img.xz 

6c4bd36db4e6dee0ad314caebea987cc /Volumes/BlackTowerMain/Audio/Audio Assets/hiveos-0.6-205-stable@210715.img.xz

First line is command, second is output. 6c4bd36db4e6dee0ad314caebea987cc is the hash from Make sure it matches what you downloaded.


7. In terminal (new window if you like) type 'diskutil list' To see a list of devices. We're looking for the USB thumb drive you're going to make into a boot device for your HiveOS rig.

Mine is an older unraid USB boot thumb drive so it looks like this:

/dev/disk5 (external, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *8.2 GB     disk5

   1:             Windows_FAT_32 UNRAID                  8.2 GB     disk5s1

Your USB drive will have a different name. Make sure, because (AGAIN) it will be ERASED. In this case, it matches the size and name of what I expect.

The /dev/disk5 is what we are going to unmount. 

Type diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk5 to unmount it. 

8. Unzip the HiveOS file you downloaded. 'The Unarchiver' for OS X is what I used. (On the App Store at Right click the HiveOS file and 'Open with...' The Unarchiver.

9. Now we will write the .img file the Unarchiver spits out.

Type dd if= and then drag the .img file into the terminal window (the path and name populate as above)  then type after the path/file of=/dev/disk5 bs=10m

so it looks like

dd if=/Volumes/256GB\ SSD/Scratch\ Folder/hiveos/hiveos-0.6-205-stable@210715.img of=/dev/disk5 bs=10m

(if means input file, of means output file, bs is blocksize)

FINAL WARNING: This will erase /dev/disk5 (or whatever yours is) so MAKE SURE that YOUR thumb drive is the correct device. It PROBABLY won't be /dev/disk5 (dev means device BTW.)

Notes: Selecting the terminal window while dd is working will give you some isn't frozen.

Such as: (pressing ctrl-T 3 times)

load: 0.84  cmd: dd 60800 uninterruptible 0.00u 0.14s

2+0 records in

1+0 records out

10485760 bytes transferred in 4.945684 secs (2120184 bytes/sec)

load: 0.77  cmd: dd 60800 uninterruptible 0.00u 0.33s

4+0 records in

3+0 records out

31457280 bytes transferred in 11.526043 secs (2729235 bytes/sec)

load: 0.88  cmd: dd 60800 uninterruptible 0.00u 0.51s

5+0 records in

4+0 records out

41943040 bytes transferred in 15.772785 secs (2659203 bytes/sec)

Walk away. This took a 45 MINUTES for me.

UNVERIFIED: According to replacing 'disk' in the command with 'rdisk' makes this run 20 times faster. So the command would be 


Yup, just an added 'r'.

Also: USB3 might be faster but I don't recommend that as those run hot. My Unraid server uses a USB2 drive and they recommend that. It won't change the boot speed of your server much. Plus how often you gonna reboot?

Need a USB 2 Thumb drive because you got rid of the old ones? Recommended (again) for these uses due to less heat/greater reliability. Check prices on Amazon and use my link to support me. ;) 

Also, I presorted this for USB 2 and 8/16GB sizes because why buy more? It'll be worthless in a few years then you can buy a 32GB for the same price.


If you see "dd: bs: illegal numeric value", the 'M' in bs=10M should be 'm'. I.e. lowercase.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Dell G5 5000 Gaming Mini Review and Experiences

If you're expecting hard science data here, you won't get it. But you'll get my impressions as a regular end user who got their first PC back when they called them clones. In 1990. And SOME measurements and tips.

I got one because it was under $490 once they gave me a $50 coupon because I complained about the McAfee and onsite warranty I didn't want.

So, fair enough since for $10 I'll take the warranty.

$490 is almost the value of the GPU alone.

And I plan to sell the keyboard and mouse new in the box for hopefully $20 or so total at least.

And I think I get another 1% cash back on Amex, so $7.90.


Benchmarks and Tests:


The GTX 1660 Ti runs as advertised at a RAM freq of 1500 and a GPU freq of 1700. Running 3DMarks "Time Spy" test peaked at 86C GPU temp and 48C CPU temp during a 7 pass "torture" test in a cool room.

Fans were pretty loud but those temps IMHO aren't horrible.

CPU sustained speed of 4090mhz during the 3DMArk torture test.


Cinebench R23 just reported a 7683 score with an ending temp of 83C. And my room's kinda warm. Wasn't running exclusively tho. Peak power at 59W, so that makes sense. TDP is 65W so it isn't reaching it's full potential.

Single core Cinebench shows the core only running at about 4.15ghz max according to HWMonitor.

Cinebench R23 after replacing the 80mm case fan AND while mining ETH on the GPU: 7754 so only a 1% diff. Maybe worth a few percent.

Multicore test is only showing the CPU running at 3.85ghz. Package temp is 93C so it may be throttling even tho that's below the 100C max.

Mine didn't come with the nice plexiglass window. Oh well.

First tip: get rid of that hard drive cage that blocks a bunch of the holes in the front of the case. I have only the 500GB NVME and a 2.5" SSD. That's free extra cooling. Even if you didn't order with a hard drive, the cage is there.

Second Tip: Use something to clone the NVME and then wipe it. I have a Windows 10 Pro drive I converted to UEFI bootable so it's booted from that and later I'll clone it over to the NVME. Right now it's in a 2.5" bay.

Power supply: I think it's 360 watts? This is plenty for the GPU/CPU usages of max 120watts+65watts. So you've got half (`180W) left for other stuff. Plus, there's a video I saw that the power supply is underrated and will actually put out more before shutdown. Unless you want a monster video card, it's enough.

Remember: $490. 


There are two 2.5" sleds in the case for mounting 2.5" devices. Power is prerouted so all you need is a long SATA cable. There are 4 SATA ports.


The i5 CPU is clock locked, so I don't think it's worth it to replace the CPU cooler.

The 1660Ti isn't a beast, so I don't think it has much of a cooling problem either.

In the BASE system, with no hard drives (NVME/SSD only) I think maybe a case fan in the front after removing the hard drive bracket will be sufficient.

My Upgrades:

I had an old Kingwin 3 pin fan around but it was either a 120 or 140mm. It wedges just right between the case edge at the back and the silver housings the port are in. So it's not even secured. It's not tight enough to damage anything but it isn't going to slide out either as it doesn't vibrate. Pretty slow fan but way better than the 80mm stock fan that was back there that I couldn't even feel when it was spinning. It was 'free' from the pile o' crap(™) in my office.

If you have a 3 pin fan lying around, the guide key is there on the motherboard for one. Just disconnect the 4 pin 80mm in the back. You just get max RPM all the time...which is probably a good thing in this case. Pun intended.

This tiny fan, besides GPU fan, is all that moves air thru the case. Yeah,  move it to the front and put it on a PWM splitter. That'll bump cooling a bit more and they are literally about $3 on Amazon. 

Using this link ( to open my search results on Amazon and pick one you like.

Buying using my link earns me a few cents.

I wouldn't put more than 3 on a splitter personally, and not put the CPU on the same one as a case fan. 

Look at the stock case fan. Does it look like it's big enough for the case? It's not shrouded nor does it spin very fast. When I held my hand next to it, I could not really feel much airflow.

There are two SATA power cables where the 2.5" card cage is so you can drive older fans like this one, which would probably help the GPU and overall air movement in the case even more. 

The GPU doesn't have RAM/VRM heat sinks. Nor do the VRMs on the motherboard.

You can actually find the motherboard VRM heatsink on Amazon but I dunno if it's worth the $22. Hit that link, right? :) 

Here's the SATA power adapter if you want to use a fan with a Molex connector: 

Sunday, June 27, 2021

How to Convert Windows 10 MBR to GPT so you can boot on a new UEFI system vs. older Legacy BIOS boot

You've been Googling this and it's much simpler than it seems. This is not a 100% walkthru but there was ONE THING that made it so the disk wouldn't validate as being able to be converted:

You have to shrink your partition a little. I don't know why, but that's all I did.

WARNING: This can result in data loss, but my install wasn't that important so I didn't back up. You've been advised. :)

Other things:

Don't do the conversion in Windows. Boot to the recovery mode (also called WinPE or other stuff) to use mbr2gpt.exe

Make sure Windows 10 is updated. The validation on older than 1709 versions of Windows fail.

1. Shrink your system partition by 1GB. Can be done in 

2. Boot into Recovery Mode and re-validate the disk. Then convert it using mbr2gpt.

I got an error about WinReReapir (that's how it was spelled...looks like a typo) and 'failed to update reAgent.xml but Windows 10 booted fine after the conversion.

My scenario was: 2.5" SSD in older Legacy BIOS system only. Wanted to put it in Dell G5000 which is UEFI only.

Booted fine first try.

Did this help? can be used to donate $1 for some coffee. ;)

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Thursday, April 29, 2021

How to Order Your Texas DPS DMV Driving Record Form 3A and NOT get Ripped Off!

The proper website is here:

If this changes, just make sure you are on a Texas .gov website before you pay.

On 29 April 2021, I paid a total of $12. That can of course go up a little.

If you are on a site such as, it is a ripoff. They will charge you $34.95 for the same record.

You will get it IMMEDIATELY after you pay on

Did this help save you money? Buy me a cup of coffee at as I'm underemployed. 

Or, give me a like and a subscribe on my Youtube channel:

Friday, April 09, 2021

Thursday, April 08, 2021

Chevy Bolt Cabin Air Filter: $9 on Amazon, no tools needed. Carbon Impregnated.

Did mine yesterday.

Here's the link on Amazon (using it supports my Blog): At this time, it's under $9 for Prime members.

Here's a video guide:

Thursday, February 04, 2021

AU-PM422 Audio Playthrough is crackling and slow. Bad. Headphone jack on Computer works fine.

UPDATE: Solved. Watch the Video:

I have the AU-PM422 Music played through it is crackling, slow, bad. I tried both a USB 2 and a USB 3 ports.

Same music through my computer headphone port is fine.

Mac Pro Desktop OS X 10.14.6 

And yes, the AU-PM422 is both an audio output and input device. :)

Will update when I hear back from Maono.

It is probably not the cable. Tried the original and a second I had laying around. Max data rate is 192kbps so I don't think that's it even if my cable was USB 1. :)

Buy me a Coffee? $1 for Mickey D's coffee if I helped. :)

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Cheap Pen for Monoprice TWA60 Tablet on Amazon. UC-Logic Compatible


Links support me. I'm underemployed since COVID took out my company.

Had an old Monoprice TWA60 tablet and was looking for pens for it. This one works. See video.

Should work with most tablets that use UC Logic technology. Which is most pens with a battery.

You want the P68 or PEN68, or the rechargeable version. It works fine with rechargeable batteries and I didn't want to get the more expensive rechargeable version with it's special cable...and what if the battery goes bad?

Here's the direct link:

And the Huion store on Amazon if you want a newer tablet:

Thursday, December 10, 2020

FIX: iTunes Version Cutting in and Out: Audio glitches on all outputs. Mojave 10.14.6 (18G6042) : Audio Hijack

 In short, I *THINK* it was Audio Hijack and/or the ACE component.

I installed updates and here's what is current as of 10 Dec 2020:

*MUCH* better now. Not sure it's 100% fixed but WAY better. Audio for some reason sounds better.

OCCASIONALLY getting a 'click' in audio like playback stops for a split second.

This is not hardware as YouTube has no issues. Just iTunes so far.

Which is what led me to thinking it's a plugin.

Did this help? I take coffee can donations at as I'm currently underemployed and the blog is a small source of income as well as my podcast and YouTube channel.

Subscribes and Likes also help. :)

Sunday, December 06, 2020

How to FIX: Bad BIOS Flash and You Can't Boot back to the Floppy or USB to fix it Because CMOS settings won't save. Can't Boot anything. F11 BBS to select boot for example won't start.

Update: For some WEIRD reason, this also fixed the issue I was trying to fix, getting Windows 10 to load. 

I didn't change the CPU (E3300...yeah...but I already had this stuff and I wanted it for light gaming (Castoff 1GB GPU I have laying around should work...) and for real hardware work not a VM.

Did I mention I had this stuff already?

Old motherboard. Don't ask.

I accidentally flashed it without all the switches AFUDOS was supposed to use. ECS 7050VT-M motherboard. 

So here's the fix: Put a bootable floppy or USB thumb drive in. Or I suppose a hard drive or anything with DOS on it.

Unplug the keyboard, mouse, hard drive, USB mouse, etc. and eject any DVD so the ONLY thing the PC can boot from is the USB or floppy or whatever with the flashing program and ROM on it.

AFTER it boots, THEN plug in a keyboard. In my case, it did not even recognize my USB keyboard so I had to plug in a PS/2 keyboard after boot. Yes, you're not supposed to. Just carefully and slowly plug it in. 

Reflash it, load the CMOS defaults, save those and reboot. This fixed mine.

Did this help? I'm out of work so send me a buck. Or anything, really. :) -=>

Sunday, November 08, 2020

Drobo Series 3 WILL Downsize itself!

Well color me SHOCKED.

Tons of people on Reddit told me this wasn't possible.

I made a little video because I'm sure someone would say that I just got a screen grab showing the drives green or something.

I can assure you this is legit. 

And no, I cannot PROVE what I say so I'm hoping someone will validate this.

Keep in mind, it feels like maybe 5-6 days that this happened over. I didn't keep track because of course I didn't expect it.

The Drobo DID go into data protection MANY times. At one point I think I had 48 notifications. :)

So, you could pull a drive, wait for it to all turn green again, THEN insert  a smaller drive. I tried this before the rebuild was all done with a 1TB in the bottom bay and it just turned that drive red and wanted me to replace it with a bigger drive (like the 4TB). So I'm guessing that Drobo prefers that easier and quicker method vs. all the days of rebuild it too.

WARNING: This DOES place your data at more risk, but if you had it set up for 2 drive failure, less so obviously. 

In my case, all I had was Time Machine backups left to copy off, and I had other backups so not hugely critical.

HTH! Someone else give it shot if you've got non-critical data or a Drobo laying around. 

Now I wonder if the Series 2 will do it.

Drobo Series 3 Speed Sucks:

Update: Read more on my Drobo Saga above.

Series 3 Drobo, 4 drives: 3/2/3/4TB (7.2TB net storage)

Firmware 4.1.4

Tested with BlackMagic Disk Speed Test on Mac Pro 8 core 2009 flashed to 2010. Newertech USB 3 PCIe card.


25% free (75% used)

About 30Mbyte/second if I'm lucky. 

I think this is due to the very large number of files on the unit due to a Time Machine volume and a data drive and somehow the 4TB drive addition seemed to slow it down but note that I have had no errors in weeks on it, and the 4TB drive has gotten moved to my Mac Pro internally with no isses and no SMART trips via SMARTReporter.

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