Windows7 Mouse USB device not recognize

Just had an issue with Windows. Out of a sudden, i have the error pop up about some "Unrecognized USB Devices". After that, my USB mouse stop working. I plugged in my external harddisk and it is still working. Somehow, seems like only the mouse is affected.

Tried to uninstall and reinstall the driver. Did not work.

Tried to use System Restore. Did not work.

After Googling for it, this is what works for me:

1. Shutdown the computer.

2. Unplug the power socket.

3. Remove the battery (if you are using notebook)

4. Wait for about a minute.

5. Plug back everything and it should work just fine after that.

Ways to Cope with Exam Stress

1. Organize and Set Priorities
- List out all the task at hand
- Prioritize each task
- Schedule them and identify what need to be completed when.
- Organized your work area. It makes you feel more in-control of the situation.

2. Exercise
- It has been claimed that exercise releases Endorphines.
- Endorphine is a chemical released in the brain and acts as a natural pain killer.
- The release of endorphines in the body brings about a general feeling of well-being.
To use physical activity to bring down your stress level, you can just do some brisk walking or climbing up and down the stairs.

3. Sleep Well
- When we sleep our body rejuvenates itself and prepare us for the challenges the next day.
- Sleeping well also help us mentally, as the brain is given time to organized itself and absorb and organized the contents that was learned in the day.

4. Food and Nutrition.
- Eating well provides your mind and body with the essentials vitamins and minerals to maintain peak performance.
- It has been shown that eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids helps in memory function of the brain.

5. Take a break.
- It is equally important to set aside some time to relax and take a break from the studying.
- Most human minds have a limit on the attention span. And timely planned breaks can help in the understanding and absorption of new materials and contents.
- Factor time to do something that you enjoy. Go for movies, catch your favourite TV program or play the ball games that you like.

6. If stress is really bogging you down... TALK TO SOMEONE!
- Talking is a good outlet for everyone. Just find someone to talk will help tremendously.

Letting Go - Story of two monks

I read this story in the book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. And here is what i remembered in my own words...

===============
Once there are two monks walking back to their monastery. They came across this girl trying to cross a puddle of water in her kimono.

So one of the monk picked up the girl and help her across the puddle.

Then the two monks continued their journey.

When they reached the monastery about four hours later, The other monk said, "I can't believe that you actually carry the girl, we are not suppose to touch girls."

The monk replied. "I have put her down 4 hours ago, why are you still carrying her in your mind."
===============

How many of us have consciously or unconsciously chose to carry emotional "baggage" with us?
Also, after the event has passed, we chose to replay it over and over in our minds to invoked the same emotions again and again.

It is kind of like, people do it to you once. Then you choose to replay it to your mind, and you do it to your self countless more times.

At times when we catch ourselves reliving some past event to bring about negativity in us. Think about the story of the two monks and think about letting go.

How to Backup NSLU Completely

In relation to the post about NSLU hard drive migration. Similar steps can be taken to backup NSLU completely. There are actually some steps listed on NSLU2 linux dot org web site. However, i find the steps listed here to be simplier and easier to implement.

1. Download Clonezilla live CD. Instructions and link in previous post [NSLU hard drive migration]
2. Attached your USB drive to the computer that you are going to Boot up Clonezilla.
3. Follow on screen instructions to choose language and keyboard layout
4. Select device to image option
5. Choose where you are going to save your image. You have the option of local drive, ssh server or samba server.
6. After that, follow the instruction on screen. Choose to savedisk.
7. Follow the rest of the on screen instructions. if everything is successful, you should get your image in the location where you chose to save the image file in step 5.

More resource using Google Suggest for "Backup hard disk".

Migrating NSLU to bigger capacity Harddisk

Finally, i have managed to migrate all my data from my old hard drive (320 GB) used for my NSLU (unslung) to a bigger hard drive (500GB).

The old hard drive is starting to give me problems. For the past two power down of my NSLU, the old hard drive did not start up properly. I have to leave it running for a couple of days before finally, NSLU can boot from it. Fearing for my data in it. I got an external USB raid enclosure for 2 500GB HDD. The challenge is to migrate it smoothly.

Went to google about it. But did not have a solution that meet my needs. Finally, i was introduced to Clonezilla and GParted. These 2 application made the migration a breeze!
First download the live CD for Clonezilla and GParted. Burn the iso images into 2 CD.

Boot using GParted CD. Attached your USB drive from NSLU and the New harddrive into the computer you are booting from. Check the original partition in your old hard drive.

1. Using GParted, create the SAME number of partition on the new disk as in the old disk
- In my old hard disk, i have 3 partition. (One big ext3, one ext3 of about 120MB and one linux swap partition)
- I created 3 partition in the new disk. (1 linux swap partition, one 150MB ext3 partition, the rest of 500GB goes into the 2nd ext3 partition)

2. Once the partition are created in the new hard drive successfully, Shutdown. Change CD to Clonezilla and boot using Clonezilla CD

3. Using Clonezilla CD. Follow the on screen instructions till you reach the step where you can choose "device-device"

4. Then choose partition to partition. NOTE: When given the option, DO NOT set the target partition as the same as the source partition. If you choose to set target partition to be the same as source partition, you will end up having the same partition structure in your old disk (in my case is only 320GB, the other 180GB "went missing"). Choose to grow partition to the target partition size.

5. Repeat the partition cloning for ALL the partition in your old drive you your new drive.

After you have finish everything, Just plug in your new drive into your NSLU. You will have all your setting and all your data as what you have in your old hard drive, with the new capacity of your new drive.