check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

[woodsmoke]

grrr.....
In the midst of getting grades in a neighbor just HAD to have me look at their computer, it JUST would not print!!

I should have known better than to go....

It was on a jammed up little student desk with other desks and paraphanalia and I couldn't easily get at the back of the thing it was a laptop.

I looked at the usb port in the back and the printer was, indeed plugged in.

So, after slogging through the XP system several times I finally said ok, it might be the port, so I unplugged it from the back and put it in a side port and it worked fine.

Ok so I put it back ....on the back....in the same place from where I had removed the usb plug but it just would NOT go in.....so, at the great risk of unplugging untold other paraphanalia......

I lifted the laptop and looked physically at where it had been previously plugged in.....

the ethernet port!! > > >

How they jammed a usb plug into the ehternet port I can't understand.

I forgot my FIRST RULE.....check the hardware FIRST!!! > > >

I hope that others will learn from my lesson!

rant over!

woodchagrinedsmoke

[ardvark71]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

How they jammed a usb plug into the ehternet port I can't understand.

Hi...

Actually, it's quite easy. Horizontally, they fit perfectly. I did the very same exact thing on a job once without having realized it....until I was trying to figure out why the laptop wouldn't recognize the printer.

Regards...

[Detonate]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Yes, I've learned the hard way to check connections first. I've had several calls about computers that won't boot, only to find that there was a problem with the monitor. The computer was booting just fine, but no display. I've also dealt with complaints about not being able to get on the internet which were caused by a faulty cable to the router. I could go on, but you get the idea.

[dibl]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Especially with older hardware, you have to be very suspicious. I recently worked on an aged Dell Optiplex which was working fine one day, and then all of a sudden all the character-mode text was green instead of white, and the GUI display had a uniform blue tint.

WTF -- video card failure?

After google turned up a hint or two, I swapped in a different (and better) video cable. VOILA! -- problem solved. The cheapie original video cables sometimes reach the end of their life by experiencing internal separations within the connectors, losing one of the primary colors (red, in my case).

[SteveRiley]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

A buddy of mine once took an exam for a networking certification. It was a two-day testing process. The first day you had six hours to thoroughly examine, in as much detail as you could, the set up in the exam center's lab. And it was complicated, too, with lots of protocol layering, exterior and interior routing, tunneling, encryption, you name it. At the end of day one he went to a hotel.

Overnight the proctor would break something; on the second day, you were supposed to demonstrate your troubleshooting and repair prowess by diagnosing the symptoms, locating the problem, and fixing it.

So when my friend showed up the next morning, he was informed that "the Internet isn't working." The first thing he did was try to ping a known good site. Nothing. My friend is very methodical in his troubleshooting, and he always starts from OSI layer 1, heh. So he went around back of the rack and pulled the T1 cable out of the connection to the wall socket. "Hm, that's odd," he said, when ne noticed that one of the pins in the connector was bent. So he went over to the box of cables, grabbed a new V.35 cable, ensured it had no faults, and replaced the damaged cable. Returning to his console, Internet access worked fine.

"Done!" he said. And that was the extent of his exam -- solved in five minutes! He passed. Apparently bending pins is a not uncommon trick for these exams, and so few people think to start their troubleshooting there.

[Snowhog]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

It is often the simplest problem that is the hardest to diagnose when you are blinded by the 'complexity' of the environment. Do you remember the movie 'Sling Blade', and the scene where he is at a small repair shop, and the owners son has been trying to figure out why the lawn mower won't run? Karl goes over, spends a few seconds, adds fuel to the tank, and starts it right up.

Many think that because the system is complicated, that problems with the system must be complicated as well.

[dibl]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

It is often the simplest problem that is the hardest to diagnose when you are blinded by the 'complexity' of the environment.

Truer words were never written, Snowhog!

About 1985, plus or minus a couple, a friend and I took our motorcycles on a tour through the Smoky Mountains and other points in that region. At the far end of Cade's Cove, his Harley Davidson Super Glide sputtered to a stop. Hmmmmm. A little experimenting with a plug wire revealed the world's weakest/nonexistent ignition spark. Drat -- with that newfangled electronic ignition system, we had no hope of fixing it out there in the wilderness. So I rode him 15 miles out to the first house with a visible phone line, and there he was able to use the phone to call for a tow from the Harley dealer in Knoxville. So we had a 24-hour delay in the plan, and an unexpected overnight stay at the no-tell motel in Knoxville.

Before the noon the next day, we contacted the shop and confirmed that the bike was fixed. We went over, expecting to see a big bill for a replacement electronic ignition system. Instead, my buddy paid $15 for a replacement battery ground strap -- a hunk of copper wire so thick that when it cracked at the cable end, it never even moved out position. We could have simply loosened the nut on the ground stud, and stuck the broken end under it, and tightened it back down.

Oh well .... :P

[SteveRiley]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Many summers ago, my father and I were on a small motorboat in the middle of a huge lake. It was getting dark so we decided to return to shore. After one pull on the starter rope, the shear pin at the propeller snapped in half. Oh, crap. Now what?

All the force on these pins rests in the exact center, and that's exactly where the pin broke:

======|======

We happened to have a chisel and hammer on the boat (dunno why?) so we split one of the halves in two. Then we could assemble a temporary pieced-together pin like this:

===|======|===

With something solid in the middle, where the force lies, and filling the gaps with the two one-fourth pin parts, we were able get the motor to run long enough just to make it back to shore, whereupon our hacked pin shattered again.

[woodsmoke]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

lol
great anecdotes guys, any more folks with similar stories!?
woodsmoke

[Detonate]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Dibl, you should read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". You would enjoy it.

[dibl]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Dibl, you should read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". You would enjoy it.

I have (couple of times), and I did. Read his book "Lila" also.

[woodsmoke]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

I only read ZaAoMM.

woodsmoke

[GreyGeek]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

Many computer problems are intermittent electrical gremlins. I have a tendency to spark computers when I touch them so I am careful when touching a computer for the first time to touch grounded metal surface on the computer. Otherwise, I merely touch monitor or display, the picture jumps, and things just work again. Sometimes I get the strangest looks, especially if I say "Heal!" while touching it, which I have done on ocassions.

Although this tale of woe is an Urban Legend, it is often repeated as being true:

Too stupid to own a computer


This is a true story from the WordPerfect helpline. Needless to say, the help desk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing the Word Perfect organization for "Termination without Cause."

Actual dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer Support employee with a caller:

Customer Support: "Ridge Hall computer assistant; may I help you?"

Caller: "Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect."

CS: "What sort of trouble?"

C: "Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."

CS: "Went away?"

C: "They disappeared."

CS: "Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?"

C: "Nothing."

CS: "Nothing?"

C: "It's blank; it won't accept anything when I type."

CS: "Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?"

C: "How do I tell?"

CS: "Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?"

C: "What's a sea-prompt?"

CS: "Never mind. Can you move the cursor around on the screen?"

C: "There isn't any cursor, I told you, it won't accept anything I type."

CS: "Does your monitor have a power indicator?"

C: "What's a monitor?"

CS: "It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it's on?"

C: "I don't know."

CS: "Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?"

C: "Yes, I think so."

CS: "Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall."

C: ".......Yes, it is."

CS: "When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?"

C: "No."

CS: "Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable."

C: ".......Okay, here it is."

CS: "Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer."

"I can't reach."

CS: "Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?"

C: "No."

CS: "Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?"

C: "Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle - it's because it's dark."

CS: "Dark?"

C: "Yes - the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window."

CS: "Well, turn on the office light then."

C: "I can't."

CS: "No? Why not?"

C: "Because there's a power outage."

CS: "A power... A power outage? Ah, Okay, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?"

C: "Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."

CS: "Good. Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from."

C: "Really? Is it that bad?"

CS: "Yes, I'm afraid it is."

C: "Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?"

CS: "Tell them you're too stupid to own a computer."

[Detonate]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

I might have told this story before, but it's worth repeating. I know this one is true because I am the person it happened to.

A few years ago, before I retired, I worked in a cubicle farm. My neighbor in the next cubicle was having problems with his monitor. The display kept flickering. He called the IT people and they came up to work on it. First, they tried changing his refresh rate, that did not work. Then they changed his monitor, that did not work either. So they installed a new video card. Did not solve the problem.

I happened to walk by his cubicle and stopped to see what was going on. I reached over and moved his desk fan one foot to the right and solved the problem.

[woodsmoke]

Re: check the hardware FIRST!!! when something goes wrong.

I did it AGAIN!!!

I was in the MIDDLE of a relatively important piece of work for the college which had to be done right then and there.

And the wireless mouse froze.

The battery was ok, the light was fine, I tried re-enabling the mouse, etc.

checked the plugs, they were ok.

Ok...shut down restart, the document that I was working on had to be recovered and...it did that... whew!

On reboot, the mouse still did not work, the keyboard did.

Rebooted again, still no joy.

So, dug around in my boxes to get a wired mouse, and found another wireless.... hmmm

ok, walked over to the desk put the mouse on the pad, and...cursor moved.

That was the first time that a wireless mouse has ever gone south on me.!!!

So....again, if I had just calmly got a new mouse out....but no.....I only checked PART of the hardware first!!

woodsmoke