Tech Schmeck 


Technology sometimes sucks. 

So this has been a day of total frustration. The new Powerbook arrived, and I thought I would set it up and take the iMac G4 in for repairs because it has a bad superdrive. The final plan is to replace Steve's iMac G3 with the Powerbook, dedicate the G3 to my music applications, and get the iMac G4 fixed.

Things went great for a while. Got the Powerbook up and charged. It connected to the internet perfectly, installed the Office suite. Zip, zip, zip. Then I put the Powerbook to sleep. Guess what, it wouldn't wake up out of sleep. Something is definitely wrong. Even when I turn it off and on the screen remains black, though you can hear the hard drive working. What to do? Now will I have to take BOTH the Powerbook and the G4 to the shop tomorrow. I can't handle this. We're supposed to go visit mom this weekend, and I am responsible for a dinner at church.

So now I decide to hook up the Canon printer to the iMac G3 since now we have no printer. Try that. Oh, good, I have the original disk. The installer won't work. So I go to Canon's website. The driver isn't there on the download page. I call tech support, guy is very helpful, can't figure out why it isn't working, offers to send me a free CD with driver in 2-3 business days. I thank him and hang up. Now I turn to Steve for support, but he's had a bad day too. Sound familiar?

Well, only one thing to do. Reconnect all the wires to the iMac G4 and then at least we'll be where we were and I can take the Powerbook in tomorrow to see what is wrong with it. Ok, now the internet connection is gone upstairs. What the f**!! Now I go down to the G3. Worst fear is confirmed. No internet connection there either. From three to no internet connections in one hour. Screaming frustration.

Not to mention that the Astros and the White Sox are playing the 4th game of the series, and I haven't even watched one peaceful inning. Rosanda has to call to jog me back into awareness of the series.

Ah, but somewhere back in my mind, I realize that maybe a connection came loose. And sure enough, the DSL modem power cable is hanging out. Reconnect. One internet connection. A second internet connection. Well, I am not quite back to where I was before I started, because the Powerbook was apparently working then.

So, one wonders how anyone stays connected to the internet. Sometimes technology really, really sucks. I love it. Back tomorrow with more. 

Posted: Wed - October 26, 2005 at 12:10 PM          

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