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Completing a Coursera Specialization for Free

Coursera provides continuing education just like Udacity and offer the full learning experience that I am accustomed to, including lesson videos, reading materials, projects, discussion forums, and graded projects which are peer-reviewed. I recently completed the Full-stack Web Development in React specialization from Coursera, all for free. It’s called a specialization because it is made up of three courses below each with their own certifications and which takes 4-6 weeks each to complete: 1. Front-End Web UI Frameworks and Tools: Bootstrap 4 2. Front-End Web Development with React 3. Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB I started the program in December 2021 and finished it in June 2023 however. The intent of this post is to explain how I was able to fund the entire specialization for free. In December 2021, I read on social media that Coursera allowed for one free course per year if you were a student and had an email address from a partner school. I gave my stu
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Logitech Circle 2 Security Webcam has gone Offline (SOLVED)

In November 2022, I realized that my webcam had stopped working. I took it down from above my door mount in order to troubleshoot closely. The unit would power on with a steady white lighting around the front but I was used to seeing green. When I press the button to reset it, it would reboot and start flashing different coloured lights but when I release the button, all lighting would stop.   

I looked at Logitech’s support site to find out how to properly reset it. It was simply to hold the button a few seconds until lights start blinking, which is what I have been doing. I had the wired model so I plugged in the unit via USB to my Windows computer to attempt to connect to it. I had a hunch that there was a firmware update that it automatically tried to download and run, and that update caused this. I was right. A few other users on the Logitech forums reported the same symptoms I was experiencing with my Circle 2 webcam. Here was one specific post that I responded to:

https://support.logi.com/hc/en-ca/community/posts/10043811344279-circle-2-gone-offline-will-not-reset

“I followed the steps linked by Kurt and the power never stays on for any pairing. Is there a way to connect to it directly via USB? Do you have a utility that I can use to push a firmware upgrade back to the old one? I believe it was 5.6.54 or below.”

I tried to download some HomeKit app that I was hoping would allow me to revert to an older firmware. I couldn’t even connect to my unit to effect any changes. I left it plugged into my computer like that for a few days while I did more research. I think I waited 3 days when I noticed a green light on my webcam. Sure enough, I was again able to connect to it via wifi. I believe three things happened:

1) the firmware update took time to download and perhaps it would have completed over the air if I waited long enough;

2) the driver software that I downloaded to try and connect to my webcam might have helped revert the upgrade as my firmware version is 5.6.54 currently and this was my previous version

3) Logitech might have pulled the firmware upgrade after hearing of boot up issues.

Regardless, I now have a working webcam and am hoping future patches are fully tested prior to rollout as there is no easy interface to troubleshoot these devices.

Update Dec 2022: 

My webcam went offline again. I took it down and plugged it in directly to the USB port of my computer. Left it there plugged for a day or so and then it started to work again. I believe the issue is that the webcam fails to connect to the internet to finish an update? I am not really sure but I have a repeatable process now for recovering access to my webcam.











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Location: Surrey, BC, Canada

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