Archive for the 'computers' Category
Dell laptop follow-up
I had an interesting conversation with them. Text is translated from Swedish and I have added some comments [in square brackets]:
Dell support person:
I now have a response from the Escalations department. We will replace the faulty computer with a corresponding new model, so we don’t need to continue with the troubleshooting [what troubleshooting? They never did any troubleshooting, they just replaced the parts!]. I would need your or your company’s approval for exchanging the computer to a better, working model. [does "better, working model" mean that it's better because it actually works?!]
Me:
Thank you for the reply! [observe that I didn't say "prompt reply". They always take a day to reply] This is alright for me. I only have one more question – if the new laptop fits in the same type of docking station that I already have, then I would also wish to have the docking station replaced. The docking station was involved in the original incident that triggered all the other problems, so I don’t really trust it any more.
Dell support person:
I can indeed confirm that the new laptop will work with the current docking station. [I had a real good laugh at this point]
I have forwarded your confirmation to our Escalations department, who will continue to process this issue.
Me:
In that case, could you please also send a new docking station? I don’t want to take the risk that the old docking station destroys the new laptop and the vicious circle starts again.
Dell support person:
I have forwarded your wish to our Escalations department and hope for a positive response from them. [apparently, Dell has no problems with re-starting the vicious circle then. Or else, they know something I don't know about the docking station, e.g. maybe the docking station is indestructible so it's impossible that it would be in any way responsible for any of the problems?]
Me:
Any idea when the new laptop might arrive?
Dell support person:
I have checked the status of the case. Dell is trying to complete the replacement, but since the laptop was originally purchased in Germany [our company HQ], it will take a bit longer than if the laptop was bought in Sweden.
I should also inform you (blushing with shame for having forgotten to mention this earlier) [yes, he actually wrote that himself] that we are only going to exchange the laptop at this point, and not the docking station. If it turns out later that the docking station causes problems with the new laptop, we will replace it. But at this moment in time, there is nothing that would indicate that the docking station is the source of the problems.
I think it’s best I don’t say anything more.
Dude you don’t need a Dell
- Network gets jammed up (tries to send out terabytes of packets and naturally disconnects me from everything)
- Local Area Connection disappears after reboot (meaning, the computer is not aware that a network controller exists at all)
- It freezes completely forcing me to shut it down by pressing down Power. This freeze can happen during normal operations, during startup, or during shutdown. It can also happen before Windows starts
- Sometimes it blue screens
- Sometimes the computer refuses to boot at all. I don’t mean that Windows doesn’t start, or that it freezes, or blue screens – I mean it just simply does not do anything when pressing the power button
- In docking station, the external monitor shifts colour (the monitor itself is ok)
- In docking station, the external monitor changes display resolution after restart
This is what has been done so far to fix this:
- motherboard has been replaced (twice!)
- the bottom cover of the laptop has been replaced
- computer has been reinstalled (twice)
- graphics card has been replaced
- processor has been replaced
- palm rest (top cover) has been replaced
- harddrive has been replaced
- memory has been replaced
- speakers (yes, as in “loud speakers”) have been replaced
Can you believe that Dell is still dragging on this case? How much has it cost them to send out an engineer on site 6 times (!) and replace all these parts? How much has it cost my company in lost working hours while I’ve just struggled to make the laptop work? Consolation prize is that it really is a company laptop so I haven’t needed to waste any of my own time or money on this.
It’s such a shame. I have loved the laptop, it has been reliability itself. I had a private Dell laptop once and never had any problems with it. But now, I’m disgusted. There comes a point when it just isn’t funny anymore. Although, I keep laughing. The joke is on Dell…
If it ain’t broken
That’s a photo I took on Sunday. It was a great day, it was. A lot of snow. I just haven’t bothered to fire up the computer to check the pictures I took until last night… when I installed the new 1 GB memory that I had managed to swap for 2×512 MB. That should fix it, right? Two memory banks, which support up to 1 GB memory each. Wrong. The computer was kind enough to instantly recognise the new memory, but then it crashed. So I restarted, and it crashed straight away again. So I removed the old 512 MB and tried with only the new 1 GB. Startup, and crash. Restart, and crash. I tested the memory at work and it was fine.
Today I managed to swap back the memory so now my computer is happily running with 2×512 MB RAM, back to where I started. Plus that I have a brand new 512 MB module to sell. Any upgrades I want to do on this computer, I will have to start with the motherboard.
Coincidentally, a Dell technician should come around tomorrow to replace the faulty motherboard on my work laptop. Imagine, until a few weeks ago, I had never had any motherboard related problems with any of my computers. The floodgates are open…
4 commentsMemory issues
So this memory issue for my home computer then. From hoping to upgrade from 1 to 1.5 GB RAM, I went to having 512 MB instead. I managed to restore the original 2×512 MB and then tried again to figure out how to get the additional 512 MB to show up. I did some digging and found a detailed spec sheet for the motherboard and read that it supports 2 memory banks for 333/400 MHz DDR, and 3 memory banks for 266 MHz. Guess what? Yes. I’m an expert in trying to fix the unfixable and would you believe, I never succeed. It’s so tragic it’s… no it’s not even funny.
Or maybe just a little.
But I laughed anyway. What else can you do?
Slow
I got my ND8 filter this week so of course I just had to try it, despite the snow-slash-sleet-slash-rain that was falling from the sky. The Stormjacket works fine for the camera, and shooting water means that the camera is pointed down so the front of the lens is protected from the drops.
All I can say is that long exposures are not a problem anymore. It was a relatively dark day so I think I could’ve gotten 15-20 sec exposures without the ND8, but the point was to test it so I used it stacked with the polarizer anyway. The longest exposure I tried with was 25 sec but sharpness becomes a serious issue; I’ve no idea how people get sharp shots with slower shutter speeds. I think I will stick to those 15-20 secs, that’s enough to give me the kind of effect I am looking for without sacrificing all too much with the sharpness.
* * *
Something else that is slow is my computer. I got an extra 512 MB RAM and stuffed it in… and it didn’t show up. So I thought maybe it’s broken, and tested by removing the older modules (2×512 MB). No problems with the new module. So I put in the old RAM again and booted up – only to discover that my computer still thinks that it only has 512 MB. I tried with swapping the modules, tried with each one individually, tried different memory slots (only the first slot seems to work alone – or the other two are broken. Which there weren’t before, because it still showed 1 GB after I inserted the new module the first time). But no matter what, my computer is now operating with half a gig instead of the 1.5 GB I was hoping to have. Not much fun when editing large pictures!
Gonna have to start surfing the tech forums… Maybe there’s some magic way to tell the PC that is has extra memory. Yeah and pigs fly.
5 commentsExplosive batteries
So, guess who’s a lucky one and has an explosive battery in the Powerbook? No prizes. The Dell Latitude I have at work had a good battery so I didn’t have to exchange it, but the Apple Powerbook – the very same Powerbook I will take with me to Canada in two weeks! – has one of these Sony inflammables and the replacement battery won’t arrive until in 4-6 weeks’ time. Alright so I’ve been using the Powerbook on battery power and no problems, and the likelyhood that it will explode is very small… but I guess the airline would prefer me not to use it during flight, or risk getting arrested with charges of taking explosives on board. And that’s not really even a joke!
* * *
I realise that it’s been more rants and less photographs lately in this blog. I’ll try to make an effort to shoot something this weekend but to be honest, I don’t feel particularly inspired. August seems to be a bit of an off-month for me; in August 2004 I took exactly one (1) photo, and it wasn’t even a good one.
1 commentPhishing attempt
I just received an email from “eBay Inc” to update my account information. The mail looks fairly authentic and I can imagine a lot of people can fall for it… but looking at the source (or converting the HTML mail to plain text) of the mail reveals some interesting data (I have removed the tags):
A href=”http://www.irwans.com/auth/” target=_parent FONT face=”Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif” color=#0000ff size=2 https://www.signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?
SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:eBaySecurityMeasures /FONT /A
Heh heh. Busted!
The mail finishes with “Copyright © 2007 eBay Inc.” The phishers are probably not as far ahead of their time as they seem to wish…
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