Jackie

Recently bought a cheap DVD Player NEOM NM339DVD. I wonder if anyone else has this model, bought at local Le Clercs, and knows if it will handle DVDs for all regions. I want to get a region 1 DVD from the USA but would like to be certain it will play before I order. The manual says Multi Formats on the cover and Compatible avec tous le formats inside but not sure if this relates to regions or things like MPEG2, MPEG4, JPEG, VCD, DVD,DIVX formats 3 à 6 etc which are listed under Secificites inside. Any ideas anyone?..............................................J

Our aging cat, nearly 16 castrated male house cat, has been having bladder problems of late. Twice now he has had a total blockage and needed to go in for a "sonde" to be put in place for a day or two. Analysis has shown some microscopic crystals but the vet thinks the plug has been formed of either protein or other tissue associated with cystitis. He has had antibiotics both times and has come home peeing well. I think they also injected fluid under the skin to wash him out. From what I have read this could keep happening and I wonder if anyone can advise anything to put in his diet to reduce the chance of this problem coming back. He has been on a Royal Canin Renal diet for over a year and his blood figures are currently good for his age and the state of his kidneys. He has been off dry food for some time and has only had the renal diet, which he does not like, and the odd bit of fish or chicken once in a long while. He has had a few Friskies in a bottle with a hole in it to chase round the room and half a Canaillou stick at night but these have been stopped for the time being as well. Since this last episode we have withdrawn everything but the renal diet but this is pretty rotten for the old chap as he liked the odd treat and does not go out so cannot eat anything else! Any suggestions folks?................J PS Ben is the large black and white in the photo. We sadly lost his pal Luke last year due to kidney disease but he had this problem just before Luke died so I don't think stress is the cause. He also has gum disease and the antibioics help this but again it returns and gives him a cough. The vet will not operate on his teeth as he says the risk is too great at his age. He drinks Jolival as do we following a case of tap water contamination in the area but I don't know if the ph of the bottled water is higher or lower than that of the tap water. Several sites recommend Cranberry Juice but don't indicate dilution or, if capsules, the strength.

Glad to hear you are happy apart from the door opening space. I just wonder if the Mulhouse is big enough for us. Our downstairs area is quite large, 53 sq metres, and we struggle in winter to get the temperature above 20 degrees with our existing stove and need to supplement the heat with a turbo parafin heater. The existing stove is sited 80cms above the floor level in the fireplace and the bloke indicated that our new stove should be sited on the floor so this might improve things, I take it yours is floor mounted? He also indicated strongly that we should have a fresh air grill mounted through the outside wall behind the stove for safety reasons. One of the problems is that the staircase comes down into the far end of the room and a lot of heat just goes straight up there.The brochure from Supra indicates an area of 45 to 120 metres sq, depending on house insulation, and I wonder if one with a turbo fan would be better despite the comments about dust! What area are you heating, I assume from your comments that you find the Mulhouse is big enough..........J

Still waiting for a devis from the bloke that came the other day. I think the Supra we liked was about 760 odd euros. He indicated that we would need a double skinned conduit. Will pass on info when we get it but may have to wait a bit. We know someone who has had a Supra with log store under and a turbo fan which they seem happy with though the bloke did pass comment that if the logs were dusty the fan might circulate the dust into the room. The model was an Orlando Ollaire with two large stone panels on the sides. More expensive than the Mulhouse which we liked the look of..........................J PS What model Supra did you get? Have you looked at their web site http://www.supra.fr/entreprise/CadreEntreprise.asp?lng=en

Ok thanks, What the bulk of opinion seems to be on this and the other forum is, if I have understood all the helpful advice, that my single panel heater individual circuits which will now feed a three pin single 16 amp socket are ok with 1.5mm wires but need the fused switches for each circuit on the consumer unit changing for 10 or 16A over current trips/breakers. The existing switches with their 10A fuses incorporated are not acceptable by the current regs. Further a 30mA trip (differential imbalance detector type), (or two in series?) should be fitted between the EDF 500ma differential trip and the consumer unit. I assume this is a safety recommendation and not mandatory. I note the suggestion that some of this work should be carried out by a "Professional" but again I assume that this is not mandatory as it may be in some countries. I will put this on the other site for the benefit of anyone doing the same thing and not monitoring both. The point about changing the switches for breakers does raise again the question about the need or otherwise to replace all those fused switches on the consumer unit that feed other 16A sockets wired in 2mm and those that feed lighting circuits wired in 1.5mm. Our installation was put in post 1985 and must have been accepted by the EDF at that time and there must be a lot of consumer units like ours around and raises the question about the need for conformity when selling a property..................have I got this right?..............J    

Hi interested in this too. We had a local chap round who offered a choice of Godin, Supra, Invicta and Jotul log burners at about 10kW. We like the look of the Supra Mulhouse model and wonder if anyone would recommend it. It seems to be in the middle of the price range and has a 50% govt refund on the cost of the stove, if fitted by an artisan I think, but not the fitting or conduit/liner cost. Would a refund be available on an British model, I suspect not!....................J

Ok to save me experimenting can the switch containg the fuse be just unclipped from the metal rail that it and all the others are fastened to or do they have to slide off one end. If the latter is the case then I would have to disconnect them, slide them off, slide on the breaker, 10 or 16A, and then slide back all the other switches and reconnect them. I hope you are going to say that the former and not the latter is the case. I would, of course, isolate the board first. Should all the other fused switches for both power and lighting be now replaced with breakers? There must be millions of consumer units with these! Used to have 30ma trips in the UK and they were a bit too sensitive for my liking, often tripped out due to intitial surge in switching on a microwave oven, capacitor charging on filter in mains supply. Will look into fitting one though........J

Ok thanks for the suggestion. Yes I was describing the EDF thingy. Where would you put such a 30ma trip both physically and electrically? For the whole house or one in line for each modified heater circuit?..............J

Many thanks for the information. There are in fact 4 individual wires in a circular flexible plastic trunking (gaine?). The fourth being, I assume, a pilot wire to turn the heaters on during cheap rate, I will insulate this and not connect it to anything. The breaker I mentioned is in fact a switch on the consumer unit which has a 10amp fuse built into the handle which you can pull out when the switch is off. I could, I suppose, change this for an overcurrent trip but I would rather not unless I have to! There is a differential breaker for the whole house rated to drop out with a 500ma imbalance. So if you think that this is ok I will go ahead.........J

I am taking out a number of small old fixed electrical panel heaters that have been installed in bedrooms. Each one is wired back to the main switch board/consumer unit and has its own breaker fused at 10 amperes. Is there anything in the regs to say that I should not install a single 16A 3pin socket on each of these circuits. The wiring appears to be the same as that used in lighting circuits i.e 1.5mm. I remember reading somewhere that a single socket could be fitted to a lighting circuit. I understand that the maximum load on each would then be limited to just over 2kW so can I do it with out breaking some regulation?.........John

Cannot offer any help other than to say that I gather that Neuf boxes suffer from the same problem during the early hours and need the reset button pushing or the mains lead pulling out and putting back in. Close friends have this problem and searches show this to be quite common! Although I am on Neuf/aol I elected to keep the FT line and in the light of other folks problems I am glad I did! I would be surprised if disconnecting the other unused wires and reducing the shunt capacity would have much effect bearing in mind the long bundle of wires running down the road. Our friend's installation have them disconnected in the JB where the cable enters the building and it has not helped them.  Good luck!......................J

Just a thought! Does Vista put copies of all files on recovery drive D (Dell Inspiron 531) or just the O.S and programmes?...................J

Update: Thanks for the information folks. In fact I have found that rebuilding the search index has removed the unwanted titles. All other related software has also been deleted and ccleaner and file shredder (mid range algorithm what ever that is!) run again so now, I hope, this is a clean machine. Thanks to all for the help. As to what the law is currently in France it looks rather too complex for me to understand just now so I will have none of it until it is more clear.......................J

Thanks for the info. I was using Miro BitZip which has been deleted though search still finds references to it. I have ccleaner and run it several times having read the help file but to no avail I am afraid. Tried several times starting the box in safe mode. The first time I did this it found the files and appeared to let them be deleted but they just appeared again on doing a search. Now when trying this search does not find the file names but there they are when restarted in normal mode and search tried again, weird!

Right in view of the uncertainty of the situation I have deleted my test download but am running into problems. I am using a Dell Inspiron 531 running the French version of Vista Home premium and have had the following  problems deleting empty music file names.  The contents of the files seem to have gone but when I type the name of the artist into the search box just above the start button several tracks are listed still. If I right click and then delete I get a message saying the MP3 file does not exist and do I want to create it. If I say yes it is then possible to delete it from the list. The file appears in the waste bin and I can empty it but when I go back and search again it reappears in the list. If I try to delete it again the message says it does not exist and I should verify the location of the file and retry again. If I right click on the file and go to the location of the file I can delete it from there and from the waste bin but on searching again I get the same results as above. I really want to delete these names of empty files, any suggestions folks? I admit that I am not very clever when it comes to computers and my version of Vista being in French does not help but I would really appreciate any advice or pointers……….J

Not sure what Linux is but will find out, thanks for the replies. I understand that torrent handling software is not illegal but the material downloaded or uploaded by it might have a copyright and therefore be illegal in some countries. I gather that uploads may happen automatically when you download and it may be that the uploads could be the illegal bit. There has been much on the web about this like http://daledietrich.com/imedia/category/big-media/bigmedia-v-p2p-users/ which indicates that a French school teacher was prosecuted, post date Dec 2006 and this from the BBC in March 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4770458.stm and this again in March 2006 http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-want-to-kill-french-filesharing-law/. How does the European parliament decision http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/22/proposal-to-extend-e.html affect http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7110024.stm posted in Dec 2007 All I want to do is to download some old radio progs/plays/serials not available on OTR sites which remind me of my youth and maybe to download some CD tracks that I have on vinyl in my ancient record collection. I have no intention of mass copying and selling stuff which I would not approve of in any case. Another issue is a suggestion that to copy a CD or DVD may not be legal in France so what to do if you want a copy of a disk you have bought in your car? The bottom line is what is currently legal to do in France and is the current law, whatever it is, going to change and when?..............J

Thanks for that Sid but I really don't know how you would know as the Torrent sites don't seem to give that information. I have been looking on the web at all sorts of sites, including the BBC, to find up to date info on this and to answer my own question. There has been a suggestion that French Law has or will be changed to allow P2P torrents to be down and uploaded but with an additional charge on the ISP bill to be handed to the record producers etc. Also there has been a mention of being caught doing this and three strikes and your out, i.e. internet cut off. Not sure which is correct and would like to know if I am going to be a target if I do this. What I cannot find is what the situation is now in France and when changes to the law have happened or will happen and what those changes will be. Any gen anyone?.........J

Anyone know about these and the risk of being sued in France for downloading material that has a copyright and how would you know anyway?........J

Yes there is a beam along the top of the wall but all the other beams each side and parallel to it are unsupported except by the outside walls of the house. I dont think any of them are load bearing as the roof is supported by other beams further up which also sit on the house walls. These beams are not tied to each other in any way other than by the floorboards in the Grenier above. There are not any vertical beams to the roof beams bearing on the beams which form the ceiling to the room in question. I suspect that the internal wall I am concerned with was put in just to divide up a larger area..................J

I want to cut a doorway for a 73cm door in an internal non-load bearing wall. The wall is made of the thin hollow red brick blocks that seem to be common place in France. I was thinking of using an angle grinder with a masonry cutting wheel. Do you need to fit a lintel in this case, in which case do I cut a slot and fit the lintel first or will the door frame be sufficient? All comments gratefully received..................................John

Many thanks for the correction. One is influenced by surroundings/people past and present and I look forward to any on-topic response........John "When an elephant is in trouble, even a frog will kick him." -- Hindu Proverb Which reminds me I must lose some weight.  Regarding the fit of men's pants: A guy once told me, " if there is no ball room then I can't dance."

Yes it is that type and I assume there is an on-board computer of sorts that manages everything like the automatic handbrake, wipers, lights and locking etc etc etc. That is what I mean about Smart Alec cars! I don't think the Megane, being much older, has anything like that though. Having said that I quite like the Scenic, very comfortable. Still find myself reaching for a non-existent handbrake lever rather than a switch on the dashboard at traffic lights. Yes there are various warning sounds when doors are opened, lights are on and the card is still in the slot but it is none of those that I have been describing...................................J

Well I am wondering! Someone who has a petrol Scenic has indicated their car does the same thing. OK well that being the case it knocks the turbo lubricating pump theory on the head does it, so what is it? I tried it again making sure the AC and cab fan was off, noise still there as before. If I sit in the Megane with the engine off and with the radio on 198 LW and switch on the lights the tone appears as interference but no noises under the bonnet. If I turn off the lights then the tone continues, audible only on the radio, for about 60 seconds and then stops. Similar thing happens with the Scenic except the tone stops as soon as I turn off the lights. In both cases the engine had not been run for at least an hour. I suspect that this has nothing to do with the noise heard under the bonnet and must therefore be due to something else, just coincidence that the frequency sounds the same and we are dealing with two different things. Having run the engine again on the Megane I think the noise from under the bonnet after the engine has been stopped is a fuel pump of some sort. A black plastic object mounted on the bulhead near the top right and has two black fuel type pipes going to it. There is another buzzing noise towards the front left hand side of the engine and low down, which is only audible if the ignition switch is turned on but the engine not started. Cannot do this with the Scenic as there is no ignition switch other than the motor start button. I think I hate Smart Alec cars almost as much as I hate computers. Never had these things going on with my first car, an Austin 7 (Ruby),  so even more puzzled now...............J 

OK folks well I started up both cars this am and ran the engines for a few minutes. I then switched off and stuck my head under the bonnet. In both cases I could hear a hum/buzz and in the case of the Scenic the higher frequency tone as well. In both cases the cooling fan was visible and not running. The noises continued for a short time and then something went clunk, I assume a relay, and the noises stopped. I think the noises were coming from high up on the bulkhead to the right hand side looking towards the rear though in the case of the Scenic it is difficult to tell it is so cramped in there and I for one would hate to have to work on the innards. The suggestion of some sort of lubricating pump for the turbo seems possible to me but I really know very little about diesels as must be evident. Could it be a fuel pump and if so why would it run on after the engine is switched off? Anyway since both do similar things I guess it must be normal but puzzling just the same...........J

Sorry meant yes both are 1.9dci. Not the cooling fan and the car is stationary with the engine off. This is a single frequency, and constant in pitch, no air noises. A bit like the whine from a static inverter. In the case of the Scenic the whine is acoustic and comes from under the bonnet whereas in the case of the Megane it can only be heard by having the radio on LW and the whine stops a couple of minutes after stopping the engine in both cases. Also I have noticed that on the Megane it starts again if you turn the lights on which suggests to me that it is something electrical but what. Loose laminations in some transformer like component in the case of the Scenic might account for it? If there is a lubricating pump running for some time after stopping the engine maybe that is what it is. There is no change in the frequency at all, it just stops after a few minutes. Although the frequency of the electrical noise in the Megane and the acoustic noise in the Scenic sound to be similar in pitch, the source could, I suppose, could be two different things!   .........J