mosker

I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

Is it just me, or are all the Blogspot (now owned by Google) blogs having an etsy little problem this evening? Or  maybe I wasn't supposed to admit that I was catching up on blogs on a Friday night.

One reason why I'm happy today is Saturday

Because yesterday I installed Windows XP for the fillionth time.

There's no way this could possibly go smoothly

Last spring I began experiencing even more problems with my laptop, specifically that whenever wireless was turned on, the computer became convinced that a USB device had malfunctioned. Except no USB devices had malfunctioned, and I got the error even if no USB devices were attached. I could have ignored it if the error message hadn't kept popping up every few seconds, invariably blocking my view of whatever document on which I was working. I finally turned off the audio whenever possible so I didn't have to listen to the incessant error chime that accompanied the message, and even resorted to just turning off wireless when I didn't absolutely need it so I could get my papers finished. I didn't have a whole lot of time to deal with it then and when I finally called (it was still under warranty) the tech support guy to whom I spoke was unsurprisingly unhelpful.

I blogged about it here, and once again Brad from Dell's customer support posted a comment offering to assist me. He was able to get the broken case replaced and suggested some troubleshooting for the error message. It took a little while quite a while for me to follow-up, but Brad was still able to help me out and arranged for a tech to replace the motherboard. This is all good, except for the part about how someone other than Brad was going to be doing the work.

• Monday I got a call from Dell's local tech support contractor telling me they would receive the part the next day and I should expect a call from the technician.
• Tuesday the tech called. He asked where he should go (my office) and said he would be there on Tuesday afternoon. Then he called again and said he wouldn't be there after all because his car had died and he couldn't make it in from the suburbs.
• Wednesday the tech called from the parking lot and asked where he should park. Parking on a college campus is always competitive, and thanks to trenching in the parking lot, finding a spot is an iffy proposition at best, so I suggested he park wherever he could find an available space, and noted that the metered spaces were probably his best bet. He grew hostile immediately and retorted that "they don't pay for parking," and if he couldn't find a place to park he would just call Dell and tell them so. Then he called back and said he would have to come back the next day because he didn't have any money for parking. Seriously, who are we kidding? I paid what felt like a fortune for the computer and extended warranty and the guy is trying to make this my fault? Do they refuse to provide warranty service for customers downtown where parking can be extremely scarce and expensive?

I'm waiting to hear what today's obstacle will be. Perhaps he will be deterred by the very large pool of water in the parking lot that will prevent him from getting to the building. Or maybe he'll make it into the building only to face a freak dual elevator outage so he can insist that "they don't climb stairs."

I'd be really frustrated if it were my primary computer, but as I have abandoned both Dell and Windows for my personal computing, I can maintain a bit of perspective. Interestingly, the University has a large inventory of Dell computers, and never once have I had these kind of problems obtaining warranty service for the corporate machines. It sure makes it difficult to recommend Dell to associates who ask for my opinion when they're looking for a new computer.

But the lights on the control panel are on...

I put the safety key into my treadmill a few weeks ago to turn it on, and the incline went all the way up, then all the way down, and was on its way up again when I pulled the key. I put the key back in and ran the incline back to zero. It seemed to be a fluke and I forgot about it.

Until I tried to use the incline a few days later. I kept pressing the up button, but even though the control panel showed I was at 5% incline, I sure wasn't working that hard. I pulled the plug and tried again. Nothing. I left it unplugged over night and tried again. Nothing. Every time when I put in the key I push the up button to see if it has magically healed itself. That hasn't worked either, so I pulled off the cover and took a look. Which is only slightly more effective than my lifting the hood of a car to do anything more than add wiper fluid or check the oil. I can read a wiring diagram just fine, and I can match all of the components in machine to the wiring diagram, but I lack the requisite troubleshooting experience to figure out exactly what's not working, and better yet, what I'm supposed to do about it. Since the incline wasn't working, I could only assume that something was wrong with the incline motor.

I took lots of pictures and showed the diagram and pictures to my very smart and handy friends. After examining the images and diagram, and an extended discussion about what might have failed, and how and what to test, I think the verdict is that I'll probably have to replace the incline motor. My mission for tonight is to test voltage levels across various points while pressing the corresponding buttons on the control panel. Ugh. I'm trying to look on the bright side: I can still use the treadmill and I found a source for replacement parts. But I don't relish yet another expenditure and I am not looking forward to replacing the parts. Those jobs always require at least one more hand than what you have available at any given moment and they always take two or three times longer than what you expect.

Not as good as the original

When I signed up for DirecTV, I got one of their receivers with Tivo. I had seen the Tivo advertising and how they claim it will change the way you watch television. It's true. Nearly everything about their product is well-designed and easy to use: the season pass feature, the ease of navigation through most of the menus, and the very minor learning curve. Their remote control (the one on the left in this picture) is a thing of beauty. It's comfortable to hold and all of the buttons you use the most are easy to find, even in the dark.

I mention this because I upgraded my other receiver to a DVR recently and was astonished at the difference between the Tivo product and DirecTV's version. I'm guessing DirecTV thought they could create their own version and avoid having to pay those licensing fees, but it is no where close to the original.

To be fair, this one has a larger hard-drive, so it can record more episodes, and you can pause live TV for 2 hours, rather than Tivo's 30 minutes. Everything else though? I am not impressed. The menu navigation is not intuitive and takes multiple button presses where one would do. The worst part of the package is the remote (on the right). Where Tivo's is comfortable to hold with buttons logically located, the DirecTV DVR remote is like a brick. You have to have a light on in order to find the button you want, and the DVR controls are way up at the top. There are even five buttons on the brick-shaped remote that don't have labels. How is that helpful? I'm not going to memorize the manual just to use their remote control. Maybe they didn't want to pay for product testing either.

I wouldn't tell someone not to get a DVR just because DirecTV abandoned Tivo's excellent product--a DVR is still so much better than a VCR--but DirecTV didn't do their customers any favors by cheaping out.

Stolen cars and dinner art

I've had a request for more information about the car theft I alluded to in my Apple Store post. I can't offer much in the way of detail, because it's not my story, but it goes something like this:

On Friday afternoon, my friend's son came home from school and found a strange car in the driveway, along with broken glass. When he got in touch with his mom, she asked if their car was in the drive (the one that neither she nor her husband were driving). Frankly, he was so preoccupied with the strange car and the broken glass that he had to go back outside to check. It wasn't there. When the police came, they said that the car in the driveway had been stolen in a nearby town just that morning. Their car was located the next day, damaged, by police in a third city here in the metro. And despite the fact the tow company had only just finished the tow, they said the tow lot was closed for the weekend. My friend can pick up the car on Tuesday, after the long weekend, after she pays the tow and mileage fees, as well as the daily storage fees for the weekend. Oh, and by the way, they just dropped the coverage on that vehicle to liability only. The only bright side to the story, other than no one in the family suffering any injury, of course, is that the stolen vehicle wasn't the primary mode of transportation for my friend or her husband.

In other news, I have obviously changed my blog's layout and banner. This is one of those want-to-do's I talked about the other day. The banner image is by my friend Linda. We had lunch several months ago at one of those places where they give you crayons in case you want to draw on the paper tablecloth. When I saw what she'd been doodling, I asked if I could take it for just this purpose.

The Apple Store

I introduced someone to the Apple Store today. Someone, this is the Apple Store. Apple Store, this is someone.

Okay, maybe not.

I took a friend with me to the Apple Store and she hung out and listened to my One-to-One session. Her car was stolen out of her driveway the day before (but the thieves did leave the car they'd stolen earlier that morning) and our visit to the land of Mac proved to be a welcome diversion. We talked about the Automator with Mike, the guy who is delighted when people ask geeky questions. Last time I had a session with him, his eyes kind of lit up when I asked detailed questions. "Nobody asks that," he said, and then launched into a full-on explanation. When I checked in today he looked at me and said "I remember you!" I decided he didn't mean in a bad way.

There's nothing quite like it

You know, the realization that although you've spent about seven hours over the past two days trying to make a piece of technology do what it's supposed to, it does not and will not work. That's just a teensy bit irritating, you know?

I bought an AirPort Express from the Apple Store in order to restore my ability to print wirelessly. It looks like a great device, and if I was prepared to move my DSL modem into my office (not an option unless I want to trip over the telephone cable strung through the house) or move the printer out of the office (also not practical), everything would be fine. Or, I can turn off the encryption on my wireless network. That was the best Apple Support could offer: turn off your encryption. He was right. It did work when tried his suggestion, but there's no way I can leave it that way.

I'm still well within the 2 week return period, so I can get my money back, but it's a shame it won't work for me.

Truth in advertising?

Have you seen the series of commercials from Apple? The ones with the guys, one who is a Mac and the other a PC, who play off on every Mac and PC stereotype ever written? I love them. Not only is it one of the most innovative advertising ideas I've seen in a long time (we talk about them in the office every time a new one comes out) but they absolutely hit the mark every time. Uncomfortably so, some times.

Yeah, well, I bought a MacBook.

I have been a Windows user almost since there has been a Windows operating system. I work in IT in an organization that uses only Windows. This is a huge decision for me, but to be frank, I am just so tired of jumping through hoops in order to have a reliable computer. I could blame it all on Dell, who empower only a select few within their organization to provide customer service, but that would not be fair. I am also sick of trying to force Windows to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Yes, I know how to make it work, but that doesn't mean I want to spend the time to make it happen. And that's to say nothing of the time I spend trying to help friends and family who have far less patience.

My friends are joking that this acquisition increases my "cool factor", but I'm actually concerned that it's bringing out my inner geek. I spent a couple of days trying to figure out how to transfer my email from Outlook Express on Windows to Mail on the MacBook. I was ultimately successful, but it was not easy. (The folks at the Genius Bar don't even provide that particular service.) And printing, yeah, well, I'm still working on that.

I'll try to post about my experience in switching from Windows to Mac. As someone I know said "it's just a computer", but I think I will like it. And I have to say that visiting an Apple Store is an amazing experience for a Windows user. Not only do they seem to know what they're talking about, they seem happy to answer questions.

The saga continues

I felt a bit chagrined when the tech assigned to replace my broken laptop case actually called on Friday. After all, by my calculation, Friday qualified as next business day following my after-hours Wednesday call. Hurray! and maybe I could begin to revise my opinion of Dell service. We chatted briefly in order to negotiate when he would be there (I asked him to come to the office), and he said he would be there between 1 and 2. Perfect timing, because I had to leave at 3:30.

Perfect, except for the part where he didn't show up. He finally called at 3:00 and said he could be there in 30 minutes. Uh, no. He was a bit put out about my refusal to wait, even getting a bit snarky as he attempted to correct my terminology when I again described what was broken. Listen buddy, I don't care what you and Dell call it as long as you fix it. Then he offered to reschedule for the next day, but then backed out when he realized that was Saturday. Yeah, it is painfully obvious he affiliated with Dell. For the record, I know I have offered users the correct terminology to help them describe a problem, but I don't act like they're stupid, and I don't do it when they won't have to use the term again. Is Dell assuming they'll have to replace the "palm rest" again?

The tech did show up during the scheduled time window on Monday and set to work. And he replaced the broken part, which was great, but he also told me four or five times that the heat sink was "impacted". Okay, go ahead and clean that up while you have everything dismantled and quit nagging me about it. Oh, and he decided that it was my fault that the case had cracked. Apparently I should have been periodically dismantling the case in order to tighten the hinge screws that hold the display to the base. Whatever. That's not in the manual (wait, there's no manual) or the support website, so he can just stuff it. Besides, that finger-pointing rationalization does nothing to explain why there were also cracks forming at the front of the case. Perhaps they should consider the possibility that the impacted heat sink and the cracked cased are symptoms of design flaws instead of blaming their customers for something over which they have limited control.

In the interests of fairness, Brad has been working with me to try to resolve the software problem. It's unfortunate that Dell has only one unit capable and empowered to help their customers, but that's not his fault. Thanks Brad!