I have broken the Internet.
Three locations.
Two days.
All perfectly good connections until I touched them.
Yesterday, I got a new computer. I went through my usual installation routine; removing worthless crap I’ll never use, installing a few key applications, moving some backed up data — you know the drill. I then plugged in a USB wireless adapter and all was well. Until it wasn’t.
The sucker just stopped working with a generic cryptic Windows error message. Code 10, which seems to mean: it don’t work. I uninstalled and reinstalled drivers, made sure the adapter worked on another machine, wished I was still a drinking man… then I gave up and went to bed.
This morning I went to my summer office — a lovely home where I house sit while people who have lives live them — fired up a browser and got busy. Life was good and all was well. Until it wasn’t.
The sucker just stopped working. I rebooted everything. No joy. I ran the router diagnostic (all the lights were on) and was informed that the software only supported Linksys routers, despite the fact that sitting on top of the desk, is a brand new Linksys router. A router that was just fucking fine three minutes ago.
Okay, maybe the cable is out. Rather than deal with Time-Warner, always good for twenty minutes, I went across the street to try a friends computer. It worked fine. Of course it did. Until it didn’t.
Are you sensing a theme?
So, I’m writing this post from the library. A library that I fully expect to lose all Internet access any second. But I won’t be here. I’ll be taking a nap, dreaming of opiates and trying to convince myself that I have a few good years of banging nails left.
32 days ago
Everyone who knows me well makes fun of my penchant for stockpiling antique computers and peripherals in various states of blowedupness. I am incapable of driving past a PC on the side of the road without throwing it in the truck, the same applies to anything headed for the dumpster of any building I’m in. Computers are inexpensive enough that more and more they are being treated as consumables and people are pretty quick to toss them in the bin for trivial reasons.
Today, after rounding up the kids, I made some coffee and settled in for a quiet evening of fondling CSS and maybe a bit of gaming. My first clue that something was awry was discovering that my primary workstation wasn’t running. I rarely turn it off and couldn’t imagine why I would have this morning. Then, trouble. The power button did nothing. I checked plugs, tried another outlet, and headed for the basement.
Ohhh… lookie there on the basement shelf, a tattered old HP midsize tower. Wonder what’s in that case? Ten minutes later Mr. Computer was humming along with a swapped out power supply, dust free innards and a bonus stick of RAM.
So, to those of you who mocked me: HAH!
I have stopped scrounging monitors. They are a pain in the ass to get rid of and people rarely throw away working ones.
315 days ago
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