Mission:Control - MinnieSpender's DFW diary

MinnieSpender

Now, if we only had a superhero
who could stand here and turn the generator real fast,
then we wouldn't need to burn so much fuel to make ...
electricity*

Ye, gawds!

Take it from me. It isn't all high jinks and holidays being a superhero. There's the electricity question for starters. I'm sure my superhuman powers emit radiation which causes all sorts of hassle.

I'm sure you've all been snorting with hoots of derision at my washing machine antics over the weekend. Last night, the laptop decided to join in...

I was just settling down for a spot of Truman and MSE, so I switched on, dialled up and ... nothing.

I tried again. Then I rang my service provider, who have helpfully transferred their staff to a call centre in India - and the line was flipping dreadful! Five calls and much advice later, nothing was happening. Perhaps, I was told, the modem in my laptop was shot.

Now, I know nothing about 'puters except that they're jolly fun. So I laughingly believed that if I went to bed and let the little darling sulk, all would be well in the morning.

Guess what? It wasn't. :mad: Two more calls to India later and I rang PC World who couldn't help because my warranty has run out, but they did suggest I popped into my local store for a chat.

And there was me thinking that enforced unemployment would be dull.

The local store is a bus ride away, so, in true MSE fashion, I bought a day ticket (£2.70). Smart move, that.

A very nice man explained that putting a new modem into my laptop would be a) expensive and b) nigh-on impossible. I needed to reset my laptop to factory conditions using the CDs I got with the machine (oh, yes, I'm sure I can find them somewhere) but he suggested that I backed up my files first (eh? what? Then that episode of SATC sprung to mind - you know, the one where Carrie looses all the files off her ... laptop!!! :eek: A pen would do the trick (£49.95), he told me. A pen??? Apparently, that's a backing up gadget. Or, I could back the whole lot up on CD-Rs. Did I have a CD drive? Did he mean the little shelf thing that pops out of the right hand side where I play my music? Yes, that's right. £4.99. A cheaper option. A box of CD-Rs was duly bought and I dashed home in the rain (yay!) to have a go.

So, clicking on a couple of folders, I copied and attempted to save them to CD-R. A wizard popped up (honest!) and said it didn't understand the question. See! See!!! Even the wizard who lives in my machine doesn't know what to do!

At this point, I went for a lie down.

Having regained strength, I took the day ticket (hurrah!) and returned to PC World. The nice man was busy with another gibbering idiot, so I spoke to a different nice man who showed me to the external modems (£29.99).

As I'm now online, you can assume that I managed to follow the instructions correctly (I am a techno know-all now).

I also have work lined up for next Monday (shall I take the rest of the week off?) and the washing machine is still doing it's stuff.

An eventful, if expensive, day.

*Electricty - OMD

LookingAhead

Are you using the same modem cable or did they sell you one of those brand new as well? If they didn't check the cable then they should be slapped with a wet haddock forthwith.

MinnieSpender

No - nothing "extra" was bought - all requirements were in the box.

ZTD

Just as a point of interest - do the following...

1. Click Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/Hyperterminal (If you don't have it, you'll have to stop here...)
2. Type a and hit enter
3. Change "Connect using" to COM3 (or 4)
4. Hit enter to select the settings it gives you
5. Type "atz" (without the quotes) - what does it say?

ZTD

MinnieSpender wrote:

I'm worried that you know these things exist...

You'd be shocked at what I know exists.... :rotfl:

MinnieSpender

ZTD wrote:

Just as a point of interest - do the following...

1. Click Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/Hyperterminal (If you don't have it, you'll have to stop here...)
2. Type a and hit enter
3. Change "Connect using" to COM3 (or 4)
4. Hit enter to select the settings it gives you
5. Type "atz" (without the quotes) - what does it say?

We (me and the helpdesk) did this as part of our extensive research.

It said "no carrier".

At this point, we held a requiem mass.

MinnieSpender

ZTD wrote:

You'd be shocked at what I know exists.... :rotfl:

You've spent far too much time in the Netherlands...

ZTD

MinnieSpender wrote:

We (me and the helpdesk) did this as part of our extensive research.

It said "no carrier".

At this point, we held a requiem mass.

Not at all! The fact it answers you means it's not dead. Unless of course you have the "Doris Stokes" laptop.

"No carrier" just means it can't hear dialtone. That would probably mean that the cable is Donald.

MinnieSpender

ZTD wrote:

Not at all! The fact it answers you means it's not dead. Unless of course you have the "Doris Stokes" laptop.

"No carrier" just means it can't hear dialtone. That would probably mean that the cable is Donald.

Ooh - that's worth knowing. Will check the cable and take the modem back tomorrow if this is what's happened. They said I could return it within seven days.

I feel I should know more about laptops ... I feel shockingly stupid about technology.

I would have asked on here earlier but I couldn't get on!

ZTD

MinnieSpender wrote:

I feel I should know more about laptops ... I feel shockingly stupid about technology.

You can't know everything, so you have to specialise. You've just chosen to specialise in something else.

I'm thinking of specialising in good looks, charm and rich OHs. :rotfl:

MinnieSpender wrote:

I would have asked on here earlier but I couldn't get on!

I know! It's always a pain in the proverbial when your net access goes. Fortunately, I have at least 3 unsecured wireless networks within range of my house...:D