Electronics Hell

Does it ever seem that when one thing goes wrong in your life, it is quickly accompanied by several others? I feel like I'm in electronics hell right now. So many things have gone wrong in the past week or so.

Let's start with my 2-month old Android smartphone, a HTC One. It suddenly started to flake out. Apps started crashing. It wouldn't stay connected to the Internet. Being connected to the data service or WiFi made no difference. I searched all over the 'net for solutions. I tried everything I could think of. Nothing would work. My last resort was a factory reset, and I've just done it. What a pain in the ass! But now it works!

There's a circuit in my house that's not properly grounded. This is a 120VAC system. There's a bit of stray current (1 - 3VAC) coming through the ground. I spent the better part of last weekend trying to troubleshoot it. No luck. I have absolutely no idea what's wrong. The only sure way of finding out is to rip into the walls to track all of the wiring. So, no solution at this point.

Last night several of our smoke alarms decided to start chirping. I installed 10 new wirelessly-linked alarms about 15 months ago. I guess the QA on the batteries is consistent. They are all failing about the same time! (this isn't necessarily a big problem - just an annoyance to compound my already annoyed state over stuff that operates on electricity)

My 8-9 year old stereo receiver crapped out. Something on the main board is shorting out. I cleaned it, inspected it, and I think one of the caps has gone out. There's a bit of white residue around it. Ppppfffftttt....

One of the transformers inside a 12V halogen light fixture in our kitchen went out. Replacement value: about $45.

My battle with extending the WiFi in my house is still on going. I gave up on a WiFi extender after DAYS of trying to get one to work. My latest effort was to add a whole new WiFi router. Nope. Not working. I either need to give up, or spend more hours (or days) trying to fiddle with it. (I'm very much a DIY kinda guy, but in this case, I'm actually considering hiring someone to come make this work)

And finally, 'cause this is a photography blog, my trusty Sony RX100 is goofing up. The large dial around the lens barrel started to malfunction. Strangely enough, I'm not even upset about this. I've carried the little camera with me nearly constantly over the last 13 months. I've dropped it numerous times, knocked it around quite a bit, and subjected it to all sorts of environments. I'm actually amazed that it still functions (well, except for that dial). I really don't mind. To me, it's just the cost of using the camera in the manner that I do.