It seems like some days are cursed for computing. I think that I have seen about every significant operating system on the planet experience some challenges recently. On top of that my Airport express has been misbehaving and dropping people from the network irregardless of their operating system persuasion.
I would love to think there is magic solution to computing problems. So far I have not found one.
The closest thing in my world is having my son come for a visit. He is a Linux System Engineer and repaired Macs for a large research university while getting his Computer Science degree.
Unfortunately he spends so much time managing his company's six hundred or so servers that he is rarely interested in solving another computer problem when he comes for a visit. I try not to ask questions since I know how much a pain it is to at the receiving end of computer questions all the time.
I am continually amazed at the computer problems that can crop up. Sometimes they seem to come from nowhere. The last time I was in our Roanoke, Virginia home, my iPhoto 08 unexpectedly quit a number of times. The system is a Dual G5 running the latest 10.4.x and while it happened when my son was home for Thanksgiving, I did not think it was worth the effort to ask him to check it out.
Recently he visited us on the North Carolina coast. He was in a particularly good mood, so I managed to engage him for a little support. I was having some persistent problems getting my Vista laptop to connect to my Apple Airport Express wireless network. I had already figured out that the problem was getting an IP address. It took him less than five minutes to find this Microsoft support article. I didn't even know how to open a terminal window in Windows, but he fixed the Vista laptop in minutes.
My unsuccessful two minute effort to get a printer working on my new Zonbu mini suggested that giving my son a tour of the new computer might get some printers working.
It took him less than five minutes to get both my HP Photosmart 6180 working and printing in color and my Brother 5250 laser printing a test page. My previous Linux efforts with the HP 6180 had never gotten past using USB to print. Again the first thing he did was open a terminal window.
Finally my MacBook stopped seeing my Airport Express network completely. I rebooted it, and even took the time to figure out where the Airport Express card was installed.
It did not take long for son to render the verdict that putting a new card in would be a pain in the rear even for someone who had been Apple certified.
We had taken the battery out of the MacBook when we were checking for the Airport card location. When I rebooted, everything was okay with the networking.
Sometimes just the vibes of a serious computer person in the house can work the same kind of miracles that happen when you take your car to a mechanic and it stops making those crazy noises.
It is amazing to me sometimes how much of this very complex stuff that we use works. I am impressed that turning over my laptop and taking the battery out could get the wireless networking going again.
I am going to buy a new wireless network based on it dropping my son's XP laptop so frequently and the problems it has had with my Vista laptop.
It is nice to have what would have taken me hours of effort fixed in just a few minutes.
Yes, it's amazing how the seemingly complex can go wrong and simply be fixed.
I had a Sergeant work on a General's inoperative radio remote box. The SGT opened the battery compartment, rolled the batteries under his palms, and closed both cover latches at the same time. The remote worked again. The General introduced the SGT in front of a formation as the "Sergeant with the magic hands."
Just like Fake Steve Jobs' alter-ego going through 3 days of hell with the Apple lawyers and on Christmas Eve, miraculously, all was well. Mostly well anyway.
Posted by: ziggybop | December 26, 2007 at 10:36 PM