27 May, 2013

Mouse setting resets on reboot

A computer mouse
A computer mouse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
27-May-2013


I have been struggling with the problem of my mouse setting resetting to default whenever I restart my laptop. And since it only happens on my laptop, with whatever mouse I plug in, I have come to believe that the problem was only on my laptop, not on the mouse or other pointing devices I have tested.

I am using an HP Probook 4430s machine, and I think that is where the problem just lies…

No, it is not the machine itself, but you see, searching for solutions to the problem in the web, I came across many, many articles, but summing things up, they offer these solutions, of course, suggestions, to be safe, as not everyone got to fix their problem – not me, definitely.

  1. Create a new user account – just not something that would be workable if you are talking about a company workforce of 5,000 or so employees and all of a sudden their mouse gets into this kind of problem. Or course, my case is hypothetical, but this is really not for the faint-hearted.
  2. Uninstall mice driver from Device Manager – well this did reinstall the device driver upon reboot, and surely that also didn’t solve the problem – in my case.
  3. KHALMNPR – just what is this thing with the weird name? Okay, I didn’t get to the point of pulling my hairs out of frustration, because searching high and low, opening all tabs in System Configuration dialog box, I didn’t get to see this dreaded witch, the unsuspecting culprit, as to why my mouse gets into a default setting after reboot.

So what did solve my mouse problem after all?

Mobile Monopoly

I mentioned that I am using an HP machine, so after many rounds (really, many…) opening and closing System Configuration box, looking at Startup tabs almost a hundred times, my eyes wandered up and down, back and forth, and finally, sorting by Manufacturer, I saw, for the first time (of course, really not the first time) that instead of KHALMNPR, I have ‘hpwmsd Application’ in the Startup Item column, belonging to Hewlett-Packard. Under Command column, it is in some *MOUSE* folder. I did a guess, basing on the KHALMNPR idea, that this could be the driver for mouse in HP machines.

I wasted no time unticking the boxes (yes, 2 .exe programs were there), and rebooted my machine ASAP, logged in, and voila!

Setting is intact.

Maybe yours is the same manufacturer, or different. The thing is, you could hunt for the manufacturer's mouse drivers, and unticking them so they don't get loaded on reboot, that may well be the solution to your specific mouse-reset-on-reboot problem.

Why not give it a try?

Till then!
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04 May, 2013

ORA-12154: The other uncommon cause, and the solution

Image representing Oracle Corporation as depic...
Image via CrunchBase
ORA-12154: It is not always due to the listener down, or something...
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04-May-2013

2 weeks ago, while I was preparing my arsenal of personal computers (now 9, with 1 laptop and 8 desktops) at work, one requirement is to be able to synchronize the TNS file across all the 9 computers.

This would need me to have a read/write priv to the Ora folder in the 9 PCs, and so I opened it up for me by sharing the folders. This, in turn, closed the folder access to everybody else, because I shared the folder only to me – I removed access for Everybody/Everyone. The priv then was full control.

That began the issue of all users of the web apps running in these computers, where ORA-12154 is being thrown. I didn’t see it, and I could just imagine their shock that suddenly, the application doesn’t work properly. Until one of the customer service personnel came over to ask something, and just remembered to check with me why the web apps aren’t working.

Thinspiration - Weight Loss Method

I quickly checked, and I got ORA-12154. Since that same day I got to sync all the code files and accessory files in all of the computers, I didn’t know where to start at first. I gathered my wits, and thought of checking the particular web apps having problem. Problem was there. Half a day passed, and the problem persisted. Then I thought of verifying the web apps from my laptop. It was working! So I got even more confused, believing that it was the file transfer that I run which caused the problem.

A few more check here and there on the web apps having problem, and still no luck. I then started to check on the other web apps and Windows apps using the same files and libraries, and to my surprise, they are all working!

What now?

At this point, I knew I had to break away from the pressure, so I called up the Oracle DBA, and asked him about ORA-12154, and since I can’t do desktop sharing on any of the affected computers (yes, all having problem, actually, and on the same web apps), he came over. He checked a few items, and he is also stuck. Told him all that I‘ve done so far, and I said the other Web and Windows apps are running, to which he checked with me, “And these are running under your account?”

I said “Yes.”

At that queue, he checked the Ora folder, looked at the sharing setup, and opened it to “Everybody”.

That PC worked. After that, he went on his way, trusting me to be able to manage the rest.

So there you are. ORA-12154 error. It is not always that the listener at the server machine is down, or whatever. For my case, it was the access privilege that got screwed up. Anybody running the web apps that uses Oracle client must have access to the installation folder, at least “Read” access.

Hope this helps anybody there running into the same problem, but is not due to the listener down or not running.

Till then!
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