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All my tech is suddenly failing me

This is ridiculous. Since landing in Rome:

  • After taking thousands of pictures with my current set of batteries, my camera has suddenly decided they're no good. Sometimes things work normally. Sometimes the camera tells me I have an incompatible accessory but then works normally. Other times it tells me my battery is unacceptable and just shuts down. It does this with all three of my batteries.
  • After years of working fine, my tablet no longer likes my wired keyboard. It announces that the keyboard is drawing too much power and refuses to connect.
  • I can't send email with my usual client. This is normal overseas, where I have to use my provider's web client. But it won't let me log in. I did a password reset, which went fine. But the web client still won't let me log in.

What's going on? Am I suddenly radiating some kind of tech-destruction field?

The killer among these three is the camera battery. If my camera decides to permanently go into shutdown mode, I'm screwed. As near as I can tell, there is no place in Rome to buy a replacement. Needless to say, this is a Sony firmware issue, not a genuine battery problem. Thanks a lot, Sony.

46 thoughts on “All my tech is suddenly failing me

  1. CT

    Surely there's an online electronics store with same day delivery in Rome! Or try Media World, they've got a store in Rome.

  2. Anandakos

    Dude, it's ITALY, land of famously beautiful but completely unreliable cars. Did you think that YOUR tech could escape the vortex?

  3. D_Ohrk_E1

    When you say it's not a "genuine battery problem", are you saying that you're only using 100% genuine Sony batteries, or that you don't think the batteries are the problem? Maybe there's a charging disparity between in-camera charging and external charging that's causing the camera to reject the batteries.

    After years of regular use, your tablet's battery is down to <30% capacity, amirite?

    You're not exactly a nondescript American; you should be using a VPN, in which case, you should try geolocating yourself in the US while using your mail client. IOW, I would *never* reset my password overseas or otherwise outside of a trusted network.

    1. D_Ohrk_E1

      With further research, Sony suggests cleaning the contacts on both the batteries and the camera, suggesting that there's an inconsistent voltage issue, here.

      You might also verify that the batteries are held snug against the contacts as that would also make for inconsistent voltage.

      As a last resort, there is this: https://bityl.co/87Wr It's not the same battery, but the point is, your battery has a built-in CPU to regulate charging and it might need to be reset by a short-circuit.

  4. D_Ohrk_E1

    Also, you did notify your credit card issuer that you were in Rome, right? I mean, the next thing to go wrong will be your card(s) charges being rejected.

    1. Lady Mary

      On a trip to London a few years ago my credit card said we don't need to do that anymore. I didn't have any problems.

  5. MindGame

    There must be tons of both camera and general electronics stores around. Google certainly shows a large number.

  6. Steve_OH

    I am reminded of the film, Small, Beautifully Moving Parts, in which the tech-savvy and pregnant protagonist, in search of her estranged and "off the grid" mother, finds that her tech, from GPS to electric toothbrush, is gradually but relentlessly failing her.

    Available on Amazon Prime Video, ironically.

    1. MindGame

      I recall reading a SF short story when I was a teenager (possibly by Bradbury or Heinlein?) in which the machines and devices of the world began to stop working for no apparent reason. The memory is fuzzy, but it was something about how the machines had become so advanced (with very few really understanding how they worked) and so this lack of understanding led people to start doubting the technology behind the devices, and it was this doubt, rather than anything actually being broken, which caused the machines to fail.

      Does that strike a chord with anyone?

      1. ScentOfViolets

        That was a Ted Sturges novella, I believe. Was muon-catalyzed fusion mentioned, and did it fail because of disbelief?

        1. MindGame

          Maybe? I don't recall reading anything by Sturges, by I did read some SF compendia back then so it's a possibility.

      2. Old Fogey

        Perhaps "Waldo" by Heinlein, in which almost everything runs by beamed power and a loss of belief makes the antennae fail?

        1. MindGame

          Maybe, but the Wikipedia summary doesn't sound familiar. I don't really recall there being much of a plot, but more of an atmospheric sketch of a foreign but somewhat similar world, which is why Bradbury seems like a strong candidate.

  7. jvoe

    I once had an employee who needed to time a measurement frequency. She used a mechanical watch. The imprecision irritated me so I asked her to buy a digital watch. She said that she could not wear them because the battery would go dead almost immediately. So I gave her mine and we worked together for a day and at the end of the day the battery was dead. I bought her a battery, and it went dead in about a day. I bought her another watch and it went dead in a day. She went back to using her mechanical watch and I searched the internet for an explanation--No luck!

    I'm a scientist, skeptic, and a natural empiricist and what I know from these leanings is that the world is way more complex and weird than we understand. Your hotel is probably on a ley line.

    1. HokieAnnie

      I knew someone who that would happen to. It was a mystery but she too gave up on wearing watching. The theory never proven was that her sweat might have been involved.

  8. marvinfreeman

    The webmail problem may be caused by a foreign IP address. There are some sites that refuse to connect when I use a VPN. It's idiocy since using a VPN is more secure, and I try to consistently use a VPN, particularly when travelling.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      I've tried several out since moving to China (an absolute must here, for obvious reasons). And the one I've found the most reliable by far is Express.

  9. ScentOfViolets

    I'm guessing Kevin has the right step-up set-up, but maybe it's a bit old? IIRC, Italy is still a 50 Hz country.

      1. ScentOfViolets

        A lot of it is. But I've seen power supplies being confused by line characteristics before. Admittedly not in this decade, still ...

    1. cld

      My geriatric tablet gets completely gorked up if I use a different charging cable and I have to run the battery out completely then put it back on it's original cable.

        1. Steve_OH

          I still have an original (and heavy!) iPad, although it's well past the point of being useful for anything.

          1. cld

            Tried to replace it with a Dell 2-in-1 laptop but, nice as it is, it's really too heavy to casually read something on while lying in bed.

  10. Spadesofgrey

    Drum is such a idiot, he still doesn't get how the infrastructure bill really is a trillion dollars over 10 years. This guy........of course he still doesn't get how the traverse michigan people were called racist by their own school board.

  11. Old Fogey

    Perhaps "Waldo" by Heinlein, in which almost everything runs by beamed power and a loss of belief makes the antennae fail?

  12. kahner

    on the email situation def try another browser. i had the same issue with a web portal that I had been logging into just fine with chrome previously before it stopped working. tried edge, then firefox which finally worked.

  13. Traveller

    "You know that if Kevin were in Switzerland, his devices wouldn't dare not work correctly."

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL....HaHaHa....Lady Mary gets the internet prize for the day, head North young man!

    More prosaically, I like the idea of cleaning your camera contact points, preferably with a good pencil eraser, and the idea there is something wrong with the charging in you hotel (or Hostel if you're traveling on he cheap).

    Try charging at a different location....when you have lunch or breakfast ask for a favor to charge while you consume luscious food...(if this restaurant won't help, thank everyone and move on another. Maybe there is an internet cafe with charging points....they have them here in LA at coffee shops, why not Rome?)

    Good luck, Traveller

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