KCA-420i iPod Wakeup Mod

August 23rd, 2010

The KCA-420i module that I've installed in the M5 does not wake up the iPod from hibernation by default which means that if I leave the car off for more that 16 hours, I have to get into the trunk and manually wake up the iPod. This is somewhat inconvenient since I normally don't realize this until I've already started driving away. Fortunately, someone has developed a chip that can be added on which will resolve this. Here are the links to the various places with information about it.


Intravee Homepage
Intravee Forum - Problem Description
Intravee Forum - Modification to wake up iPod from Deep Sleep
Intravee Forum - Additional KCA-420i modification information
Chip Installation Directions

Fixing crashed mysql tables

May 22nd, 2010

Occasionally these days I've been getting messages like this with some mysql databases:

Table './zm/Frames' is marked as crashed and should be repaired

Generally this is after some sort of system issue and the system needs to be restarted so the cause is understandable. Here's what I've been doing to fix it:

mysqlcheck --auto-repair zm Frames -p

ZDDP Additive

March 13th, 2010

A few years back, apparently, the standard oil mixtures were reformulated to remove some components vital to the proper operation of older automotive engines.  A ZDDP Additive can be found at Eastwood under the lable ZDDPlus.

ZDDP Oil Additive

The change of formula is represented in the API.  API SL is good for older cars but API SM is not as it has been reformulated to lower the ZDDP/zinc levels.

Xbox360 Tools & Misc Information

March 13th, 2010

How to check which version of Ubuntu is installed?

March 12th, 2010