Disassembling a Toshiba Portege Z385

I'm in this situation: Got an assignment to turn in later in the afternoon, fire up the monitor (connected via HDMI)... and there's no signal. Try the laptop, it won't power on. No lights, nothing. Check the power source. Hm... no problems here. So now what? Disassemble it and figure out what's going on.

My hope was to remove the hard drive that might be inside and use it as an external HDD, but it was a mSATA, something I don't have. I eventually fixed the issue (there was a break somewhere between the outlet and the laptop charger connector), but at least I learned something about it.

I know it voids warranties (and it's near the three month exchange period for Costco) but hey, it was time critical and I was very unwilling to return anything for repairs that has any kind of sensitive information on it.

Notes on it:

• The middle screw to open it is a Torx Security screw, and I didn't have a Torx Tx6 with me, so I used a screwdriver to pry it open. It didn't work, but it broke the center of the screw, which meant my normal Torx screwdrivers could get it loose.
• The laptop won't turn on if the (flat) battery is removed, even if it's provided with AC power.
• The RAM is only 4GB one slot, which means that 2GB is onboard, you can expand up to 10GB, not 16GB as originally expected.
• Even if I had access to the SSD, I don't currently have the equipment to get data off of it. Might consider getting a mSATA adapter if I needed to get data out in the future.

Hot Springs Board

Guess I've become the board namer.*

Hot Springs: Where it's not just the frog, it's also the birds watching you play. And they also mentioned a few surprises coming within the next few weeks. The first? You've got two additional frogatars to choose from, including the new Blue Frog.

The board's very similar (if not exactly) like the volcanic Pretzel of Doom except two fruit locations were moved so as to make it easily accessible (previously you had to go through two layers of balls in some situations).

No new other features this week, but Here's a link for 10k coins (valid only within a few days of publishing this post).

Don't worry if you can't score as many points as before compared to previous boards - this board is by far the most difficult to score and high scores on the leaderboard will typically be lower than usual as a result.

Strategy: Gap on top left or top right, or double tap on bottom left or right. use Gapple Sauce, or Candy Lei if you have trouble with the gaps. (Note: Gapple Sauce will no longer be available for purchase on the 16th, so stock up if you need to.)

Or, clear ALL the curves! I'm relying on the much needed extra time - and the last 20 games recorded on PSSS shows solid performance with Curvy Fries. Don't fire blindly - use your head and rely on combos to push balls back, since they'll come out pretty quickly if you don't. You'll need three hot frog shots after a curve clear in order to clear it again (two if you're lucky, but don't count on it since the game only checks for curve clears once a second, and there's a good possibility you won't get it.)

Recommended Powers:

• Gaps: The typical x3, Time, Epic Fruit, Gapple Sauce and your choice of either Beetle or Eagle.
• Curve Clears: Hot Frog, Time, Epic Fruit, Curly Fries, Spirit Eagle.

Frogatars: Combination of Frog + Avatar. As of right now, you can choose one of two other frog styles to use in the game in place of your 'basic' frog. Your selection will be shown on friend's leaderboards. There is currently only a visual difference between using one frogatar and another, though future ones may have additional hidden powers associated with using them, so be on the lookout.*

The Renovated Jackson Rancheria

The entrance looks new... you can tell by the balloons.

I've decided to head over to Jackson Rancheria - heard their renovations were complete and they've got free promotions, so why not see the reopening? Only problem: I didn't come to Jackson before and I have no clue what was renovated and what wasn't. I know however there was one because there was balloons at the front entrance and they also said that in newspapers.

What I think was renovated: Most likely the lobby of the hotel, high limit room (they said it), a new roof near a new main entrance (they removed the old front entrance). New changes make it look par compared to the others I've previously seen.

Note on Jackson: A few years back, several seniors from my graduating class went over to Jackson Rancheria with a teacher. That's when the age limit was 18 and over. Not so today. Also, the promotional gifts (not available anymore) are random and if you happen to get a t-shirt, it's only available in extra large.

Popcap Zuma Swag Package

A month ago, I got word that Popcap really enjoyed my blog and its content and were going to send me a package of Zuma related goodness. It was in my PO Box yesterday when I went to check. For a little package it was quite large - it barely fit in the PO box, and had a hard time getting it out. I asked for someone on the other end to give it a push.

I guess little things come in big packages. (Wait, isn't that the other way around?)

You can see the true scale when I take it back to my workspace. (For reference, monitors are 21.5 inches diagonal.)

What do we have here? Gotta lay this one out...

• Popcap Shirt (rare loot)
• Zuma T-Shirt
• Stickers
• Limited Edition Lunchbox (with Zuma's Revenge)
• Popcap Microfiber Cloth
• One EA Water Bottle
• Two 'wooden' USB Drives (actual wood on the outside, thought one of them was a rubber stamp)
• Green Chuzzle (you can squeeze it and it squeaks :P)

I wonder if they're going to make any official apparel for the 'Blitz' series of games, or if they'll make a actual fuzzy werefrog. :P

Giveaways: I don't intend to do any physical giveaways here (it's quite hard to do so) - but what I CAN do is hand out virtual goods. I'm still waiting for approval for food and powers, but at this time, on my FB profile are coin posts over the past week (in packs of 4000) to give you a total of around half a million coins by the end of the week, if you decide to add (msg me about either zuma blitz or this post when you add to avoid getting flagged as spam).

Thank you, Popcap Tara, for all the goodies! :)

Halloween Board

Welcome to a new week - have a Happy Halloween (or as they call it, Hoppy Halloween!)

Your frog turns into a Werefrog automatically this week if it isn't a spirit animal, by popular vote from the users. (Otherwise, it would be a Drac or a Skelefrog coming out of the coffin).

Two additional food items are only available this week, the Sticky Apple which slows down the curve a bit, and Combo Corn which increases those Combo bonuses by 15%. You wish you could stack this with Candy Lei, but no, it's also a food item. Unlike last week, there aren't any free samples, you'll have to buy them before you can try them out. (I suggest you don't.)

You can, however, pick up a game of Plants vs. Zombies for free this week using this link.

Other than that, whether you're trick or treating with a awesome costume or braving the hurricane on the East Coast... maybe without power... be careful out there.

Strategy: Gap / Double tap on the bottom right hand side of the board, or on the top of the curve goes far enough. Grabbing fruits is necessary for those high scores.

Recommended Powers: The typical x3, Time, Epic Fruit, Spirit Eagle, and your choice of either Gapple Sauce or Candy Lei.

Sharing More Coins Per ZB Post

Note: Solved by daily gifts and message center, which give you 4k per gift received (once per friend, per day).

Previously, people had a much easier time grabbing mojo though conventional methods (mainly through fortune cookies, which through a trick allowed players to collect hundreds of thousands of mojo from a single person), allowing people with just a few friends to play quite a bit with that extra mojo. Now, coins gained are only based off of leveling up and feeds, and top players were mainly determined by those who could collect the most - which meant having to join groups and add tons of fellow players for both competition and coin sharing.

Unfortunately not everyone is comfortable adding tons of strangers in order get lots of coins. Even more are not comfortable about the near requirement of using third party programs to collect bonuses for them.

Solution? More coins shared in fewer posts - it won't have much effect for those with hundreds of Zuma friends, but for players who are only comfortable with a small amount Zuma players on their friend lists, this should even the odds a bit.

Effect: Greatly increases the amount of coins you can share to others per post. You get no additional coins from doing the below steps.

1. Fire up Fiddler, make sure you disable FB Secure Browsing

2. Enter the following, somewhere between the OnBeforeResponse Brackets...

        if(oSession.uriContains("/facebook/zumablitz/ajax.php")
            && oSession.GetRequestBodyAsString().Contains("getZumaSpinResults"))
        {
            oSession.utilSetResponseBody('{"response":{"payoutColumn":10,"consecutiveDays":1}}');
        }

This will make the game think you got 1 million coins per spin (and this is the only payout that allows you to share 4000 coins compared to 1000). However the server will know your true coin total, and will reset to that amount when you refresh.

3. (Optional) Enter somewhere between the OnBeforeRequest Brackets...

         if (oSession.uriContains("/dailyspin.xml")) {
            oSession.url = "bchantech.dreamcrafter.com/zumablitz/custom/dailyspin.xml";
        }

Not required, but prevents spamming others with feeds saying 'I just won ONE MILLION free coins', because you didn't. It connects to my server to get a replacement string file, so if you are unable to load the game, you can omit these lines.

4. Clear browser cache.

5. Start Zuma Blitz (from bookmarks, not via a collect feed). - and keep Fiddler open while the game is running to share extra coins for your spins.

Platter Board - Just Like Switchback Snap

Layout seem familiar?

Looks like we're into a whole new set of graphic designs for old boards. Now they've got shadows casting on the balls themselves.

The speed of the balls here aren't going to cut you any slack, making it a true 90 degree nightmare. Except for the newly introduced Blue Velvet Cake, which its extra fireball during Hot Frog can give you an edge. Pick up three of them with this link.

Strategy: Use the same two gap technique as on the Crab Board - align it bottom / left or top / right. Your choice. Or...

Recommended Powers: Either of the following strategies will work:

• Gaps: x3, Time, Speed Ball, Spirit Beetle, Gapple Sauce. You could sub Speed Ball with Epic Fruit.
• Fruit: x3, Time, Epic Fruit, Spirit Eagle, Gapple Sauce. A combination of gaps and fruit makes the best scoring option.
• Third Option - All out. x3, Time, Epic Fruit, Spirit Eagle, Curly Fries. Your job: Try to clear as many curves as possible, and collect fruit as fast as possible too. Example video

Requesting Supplies: Using any of the above strategies could cost a considerable amount of coins for any casual player (65k a game average). If in the very unlikely event ZB gave you enough coins to play through a certain strategy mentioned above, which would you go for?