Nothing ever goes as planned.\u00a0 Certainly, it is rare for things to happen as one hopes they might.<\/p>\n
I received the final piece for my computer upgrade last Thursday, which was a power supply.\u00a0 I also received a new hard drive.\u00a0 This latter piece was secondary in that it was not for my upgraded machine, but primary as my existing machine was to become my roommate’s computer and she was having hard drive issues.\u00a0 So I pulled the video card and hard drives out of my existing machine (I’ll give it a name:\u00a0 Yin) and put her new drive in.\u00a0 I started installing Windows XP and then turned to my new machine (which I will call Yang).\u00a0 My plan was to use my old, old case, from my previous machine, which currently housed Sam’s current computer.\u00a0 So I gutted her computer, carefully setting her hard drives aside for later transfer of data to Yin.<\/p>\n
Yang then got a motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler, RAM, power supply, video card and hard drives.\u00a0 I can’t swear I have the order for that exactly correct, but I think it’s close.\u00a0 I plugged everything in and flipped on the power.\u00a0 The fans whirred and the lights came on…for about a second.\u00a0 Then nothing.\u00a0 This was all I could get it to do for awhile.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Windows XP finished, but there was a problem:\u00a0 No drivers for the important pieces, including the built-in network card.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 So I whipped out the laptop, found the drivers, through them on a USB drive, and got them onto Yin.\u00a0 (Thankfully, XP was able to install drivers which allowed it to read the USB stick.)\u00a0 Online on Yin now, I got all its drivers started while researching my problem.\u00a0 One suggestion was a corrupt CMOS.\u00a0 Okay, the motherboard was new and the CMOS had never been messed with, but it was possible.\u00a0 So I reset the CMOS, and a new behavior emerged:\u00a0 Fans \/ lights on for a second, then off for two or three seconds, repeat this pattern over and over.\u00a0 The most common culprit for issues like this is the power supply.<\/p>\n
With a sigh, I contacted Amazon and set up for a return.\u00a0 On this, I give kudos to Amazon.\u00a0 They shipped out the replacement immediately and sent UPS to pick up the bad one on Friday.\u00a0 Less than twenty-four hours after I requested an exchange, UPS had the bad one on its way back and FedEx had a new one en route.\u00a0 That’s right, Amazon shipped the new one before<\/em> receiving the old one, albeit with a promise of charging me a second time if they didn’t receive the old one within thirty days.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, XP developed a problem.\u00a0 The product key I had for it was at one time both valid and legitimate.\u00a0 It came from a place I used to work which was now defunct.\u00a0 I tried to apply updates and got told I had a pirated copy.\u00a0 I sighed again and went out and got Windows 7 for Sam.\u00a0 I planned to do this anyway, but I planned to put it off a week or two.\u00a0 Windows 7 installed with ease and ran like a champ.\u00a0 I connected the old hard drives, copied data over, and Sam was very pleased with her “new” system.<\/p>\n The replacement power supply arrived on Saturday while I was at work.\u00a0 In spite of FedEx’s estimate that they would deliver at noon, I knew it wouldn’t arrive before I left for work at 1330-ish.\u00a0 I got home, installed the new power supply and voila!\u00a0 Same problem.\u00a0 On for a second or so, off for a couple seconds, etc.\u00a0 I did a little more research and then decided to test the power supply in Yin.\u00a0 It worked fine.\u00a0 It was a problem with my old case.\u00a0 We had another case laying around, so I moved everything there.\u00a0 Now it powered up, but I got no video from it.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Zip, zero, zilch.<\/p>\n So Monday I went and bought an internal speaker for a dollar and hooked that up so I could hear the “beep code” computers give when booting up.\u00a0 Sadly, this was silent, which indicated a bad motherboard.\u00a0 Amazon’s return policy was limited to thirty days and I bought the motherboard in late July, so I had to contact the motherboard manufacturer (ASRock) for an RMA.\u00a0 I had an email conversation with them on this which involved three outbound emails from me.\u00a0 In each of them I asked if there was a way to expedite the return shipment, advising them I was willing to pay for 2nd day or possibly even overnight shipping.\u00a0 This is a yes or no question:\u00a0 Is it possible…?\u00a0 The final email I sent asked only this question, and the reply was a reiteration of how long it takes them to process a return.\u00a0 The tech handling it would not go outside of his script and simply say, “No, it’s not possible” or even just “No.”\u00a0 I would have accepted this answer, but all he could do was repeat the bit about how long it normally took to process, which technically did not answer my question.<\/p>\n So this is where I sit today.\u00a0 I am still on my laptop and quite grateful for its possession.\u00a0 My motherboard is on its way back to ASRock and should arrive there tomorrow.\u00a0 With luck, I’ll have a new one by the end of next week, but I am personally betting on it arriving the following week.\u00a0 Sigh.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I have whine to register about modern banking.\u00a0 I think I have made this whine before, but I am making it again.\u00a0 I learned a week ago I had a bit of money in a financial institution.\u00a0 So that I could easily withdraw or contribute to that fundage, I requested my current bank be added as a financial institution resource.\u00a0 It took a week<\/em> for this to happen.\u00a0 I really, really, really, really, really don’t understand this.\u00a0 The entire process was, to my knowledge, completed electronically.\u00a0 Nobody called me to confirm anything or ask any questions.\u00a0 It just happened.\u00a0 And yet, in spite of the speed of modern machines and computer networks, it took a damn week to complete.<\/p>\n So today I requested a withdrawal from this financial institution to my bank.\u00a0 The waiting time on this is four to six business days.\u00a0 WTF?\u00a0 Again, this process is entirely<\/em> electronic.\u00a0 Computers do not take weekends off.\u00a0 There is no reason I can think of why this should not take more than twenty-four hours, but it will take four to six days instead.\u00a0 Lame.<\/p>\n Okay, that’s enough whining for today.\u00a0 I’ll have a pretty little poem tomorrow to finish the week out with.\u00a0 See you then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nothing ever goes as planned.\u00a0 Certainly, it is rare for things to happen as one hopes they might. 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