The Vent and Rant Thread

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Why in 10 shades of Farkington do printer manufacturers make you jump through so many bloody hoops? First, the damn thing is boxed up like its the Ark and you have to go on some Indiana Jones like adventure to get at it. Then every other bastarding lever, pulley, drawer and gate is fixed in place with three layers of eterno-gum tape. Then, then you plug it all in to realise that printer manufacturers don't bother including a usb cable...oh no, that would be too much to give us mere mortals. So you go out and buy a new cable, only to return and have the setup CD tell you repeatedly that "Device Not Recognized" after telling you moments earlier that the "Device Is Recognized".

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!! If I had any hair I'd tear it out. If this stupid thing doesn't start working soon I'll go out and tear someone else's hair out

Yes it can be frustrating. I hope it works the next time around. You might have to go in and delete the usb device. I love the universality of USB but sometimes it thinks it knows better than me!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Patricia

I've had the police on the doorstep, trying to serve a warrant on someone with a very similar name to mine. She had the same first name and surname, but a different middle name, entirely different age, and an address in the next town - as I found from the phone book.
It makes you wonder about their powers of detection...

Originally Posted by nomesque

Well, if I were going to hide from the police, I'd definitely just change my middle name and move one town over. It's foolproof!!

exactly. plus, this story, coupled with some recent allusions to patricia's "misspent youth", makes me wonder just what she might be keeping from us. after all, sometimes the simplest plans are the best :
Patricia : "really now officer, do you honestly think that i'd simply move one town over and change my middle name, if i were wanted by the police ? just how stupid do you think i think you are ?"
police officer : "yes, of course, right you are. silly of me. sorry for the disturbance. carry on..."
like nomesque said : foolproof !

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Why in 10 shades of Farkington do printer manufacturers make you jump through so many bloody hoops? First, the damn thing is boxed up like its the Ark and you have to go on some Indiana Jones like adventure to get at it. Then every other bastarding lever, pulley, drawer and gate is fixed in place with three layers of eterno-gum tape. Then, then you plug it all in to realise that printer manufacturers don't bother including a usb cable...oh no, that would be too much to give us mere mortals. So you go out and buy a new cable, only to return and have the setup CD tell you repeatedly that "Device Not Recognized" after telling you moments earlier that the "Device Is Recognized".

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!! If I had any hair I'd tear it out. If this stupid thing doesn't start working soon I'll go out and tear someone else's hair out

i feel your pain, moejoe. usb has caused me immeasurable frustration on more than one occasion (and over-zealous packaging, even more often). "plug and play" my-- ahem. you get the idea. i hope you get it sorted soon. a little tip which miraculously fixed things for me when suddenly *none* of my usb devices were recognised anymore (god knows why) : shut down computer. unplug it from the wall. push and hold "on" button for 30 seconds. restart computer. apparently that re-initialises the bios or something. since it took me 3 days of searching even the most obscure recesses of The Intarwebs to find that little tip and since before finding it i had tried god knows how many other "solutions" to no avail and next on my list was something extreme like editing the registry or something, i pass it along to all of you now, as my gift, should you ever need it. share the love, tell your friends.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

exactly. plus, this story, coupled with some recent allusions to patricia's "misspent youth", makes me wonder just what she might be keeping from us. after all, sometimes the simplest plans are the best :
Patricia : "really now officer, do you honestly think that i'd simply move one town over and change my middle name, if i were wanted by the police ? just how stupid do you think i think you are ?"
police officer : "yes, of course, right you are. silly of me. sorry for the disturbance. carry on..."
like nomesque said : foolproof !



i feel your pain, moejoe. usb has caused me immeasurable frustration on more than one occasion (and over-zealous packaging, even more often). "plug and play" my-- ahem. you get the idea. i hope you get it sorted soon. a little tip which miraculously fixed things for me when suddenly *none* of my usb devices were recognised anymore (god knows why) : shut down computer. unplug it from the wall. push and hold "on" button for 30 seconds. restart computer. apparently that re-initialises the bios or something. since it took me 3 days of searching even the most obscure recesses of The Intarwebs to find that little tip and since before finding it i had tried god knows how many other "solutions" to no avail and next on my list was something extreme like editing the registry or something, i pass it along to all of you now, as my gift, should you ever need it. share the love, tell your friends.

All sorted now It was reporting it wasn't installed, when it actually was...go figure. Beautiful little printer actually, has an automatic-document-sheet-feeder which should speed up my book scanning a lot (30 pages at a time )

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

All sorted now It was reporting it wasn't installed, when it actually was...go figure. Beautiful little printer actually, has an automatic-document-sheet-feeder which should speed up my book scanning a lot (30 pages at a time )

of course it was. that makes *perfect* sense.

i'm glad you got it sorted, anyway. so what printer is it ? and how is having a faster printer going to speed up book scanning ? unless it's one of those all-in-one-even-makes-the-coffee printers ?

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

"Device Is Recognized".

ARGHHHHHHH!!!!! If I had any hair I'd tear it out. If this stupid thing doesn't start working soon I'll go out and tear someone else's hair out

Our printer tells me it's recognized about every five minutes with a fancy slide up popup that eventually fades away via Windows Aero.

It was advertised as a 4 in 1, printer/scanner/fax/copier, but they neglected to tell us that only one function will work on any given day, and we have yet to figure out which function works on which days.

So much crapware got loaded with the CD that it is impossible to figure out which can be safely removed.

The option to tell us the ink levels no longer works after my latest system upgrade, so the only way to know it needs a new ink cartridge is when it runs out; right in the middle of the most important print job of the week.

I've been instructed to remove the software (level 3), run utilities to scrub what is left, and reload the software about 20 times via live chat and email support. I finally gave up and let it be the cranky piece of junk that it is.

:sigh:

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i feel your pain, moejoe. usb has caused me immeasurable frustration on more than one occasion (and over-zealous packaging, even more often). "plug and play" my-- ahem. you get the idea. i hope you get it sorted soon. a little tip which miraculously fixed things for me when suddenly *none* of my usb devices were recognised anymore (god knows why) : shut down computer. unplug it from the wall. push and hold "on" button for 30 seconds. restart computer. apparently that re-initialises the bios or something. since it took me 3 days of searching even the most obscure recesses of The Intarwebs to find that little tip and since before finding it i had tried god knows how many other "solutions" to no avail and next on my list was something extreme like editing the registry or something, i pass it along to all of you now, as my gift, should you ever need it. share the love, tell your friends.

A power cycle and cold boot cures many computer ills. I haven't had to actually unplug mine from the wall that often (and when I did, it was to wake up a flaky power supply) but a cold boot can be useful. It basically forces a fresh start on the whole "what's connected?" discovery process done by the BIOS during POST.

I'm mumbling to myself now because of similar issues. I have multiple physical hard drives -- 8 total, 7 IDE and one SATA. After working fine for a bit, Win XP will suddenly decide one or more of the drives don't exist, sometimes having them disappear while the machine is up and running. The SATA drive is the one it normally happens to, with an older, smaller IDE drive the other usual suspect.

And I triple boot Win2K Pro, WinXP Pro, and Ubuntu 9.10. Ubuntu is installed on an ext3 partition on one of the drives. Every time I reboot, WinXP thinks that drive has a problem with the file system and must be checked. I thinks it's flustered by the non MS file system on the drive...
______
Dennis

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

Our printer tells me it's recognized about every five minutes with a fancy slide up popup that eventually fades away via Windows Aero.

It was advertised as a 4 in 1, printer/scanner/fax/copier, but they neglected to tell us that only one function will work on any given day, and we have yet to figure out which function works on which days.

So much crapware got loaded with the CD that it is impossible to figure out which can be safely removed.

The option to tell us the ink levels no longer works after my latest system upgrade, so the only way to know it needs a new ink cartridge is when it runs out; right in the middle of the most important print job of the week.

I've been instructed to remove the software (level 3), run utilities to scrub what is left, and reload the software about 20 times via live chat and email support. I finally gave up and let it be the cranky piece of junk that it is.

:sigh:

and which printer do *you* have, so i know to avoid it !!!

(i actually do need to buy a printer, and i was thinking of getting one of those all-in-one models, for space-saving purposes, although i'm a bit worried about what happens if one bit breaks...)

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

and which printer do *you* have, so i know to avoid it !!!

(i actually do need to buy a printer, and i was thinking of getting one of those all-in-one models, for space-saving purposes, although i'm a bit worried about what happens if one bit breaks...)

Why? Broke is broke. (I use a Canon MP460, BTW)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A power cycle and cold boot cures many computer ills. I haven't had to actually unplug mine from the wall that often (and when I did, it was to wake up a flaky power supply) but a cold boot can be useful. It basically forces a fresh start on the whole "what's connected?" discovery process done by the BIOS during POST.

right. i knew it was something like that. thanks dennis.

I'm mumbling to myself now because of similar issues. I have multiple physical hard drives -- 8 total, 7 IDE and one SATA. After working fine for a bit, Win XP will suddenly decide one or more of the drives don't exist, sometimes having them disappear while the machine is up and running. The SATA drive is the one it normally happens to, with an older, smaller IDE drive the other usual suspect.

dear god, that would drive me INSANE !!! i've only got 3 harddrives connected (one internal sata, 2 external ide) at the moment, but i use the external ones as backup and also daily-accessed storage so if they started blinking on and off i would probably end up throwing something through the window really soon.

And I triple boot Win2K Pro, WinXP Pro, and Ubuntu 9.10. Ubuntu is installed on an ext3 partition on one of the drives. Every time I reboot, WinXP thinks that drive has a problem with the file system and must be checked. I thinks it's flustered by the non MS file system on the drive...

"oh noes ! it must be a virus !!"

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

of course it was. that makes *perfect* sense.

i'm glad you got it sorted, anyway. so what printer is it ? and how is having a faster printer going to speed up book scanning ? unless it's one of those all-in-one-even-makes-the-coffee printers ?

It's the Epson BX300F I got it for £60. It has an ADF attachment over the scanner portion which accepts 30 pages at a time, so you just push a button and let it scan those pages in for you It also has Fax, normal copier, and individual ink cartridges which I find cheaper to replace over time. All in all a real bargain.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Why? Broke is broke. (I use a Canon MP460, BTW)

it just seems more inconvenient if one thing breaks in a 4-function combination unit. if it's the printer, you can't (probably) replace *just* the printer. and while those things are smaller than the combined volume of their components would be in separate housings, they are still bulkier than any *one* component individually, so it would be really annoying for, say, the printer to break, and be stuck with a scanner that is about 4 times larger than a plain scanner.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

It's the Epson BX300F I got it for £60. It has an ADF attachment over the scanner portion which accepts 30 pages at a time, so you just push a button and let it scan those pages in for you It also has Fax, normal copier, and individual ink cartridges which I find cheaper to replace over time. All in all a real bargain.

good to know ! thanks ! i may just look into that, it does seem like a good price. and i agree with you about the individual ink cartridges (those things tend to cost a fortune, so i'd rather only replace the ones which are actually empty).

[Slite]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

good to know ! thanks ! i may just look into that, it does seem like a good price. and i agree with you about the individual ink cartridges (those things tend to cost a fortune, so i'd rather only replace the ones which are actually empty).

Thats how they make money, they sell you a nice printer dirt cheap. then you get a heartattack when you go back to buy replacement ink-cartridges.

They usually cost almost as much as a new printer

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Slite

Thats how they make money, they sell you a nice printer dirt cheap. then you get a heartattack when you go back to buy replacement ink-cartridges.

They usually cost almost as much as a new printer

Exactly! That's why I bough the Epson printer (individual cartridges) because they only cost £6 each With the HP and Lexmarks I've had before this, it would cost me £25 for a color, and £25 for a black cartridge - pure ripoff!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Slite

Thats how they make money, they sell you a nice printer dirt cheap. then you get a heartattack when you go back to buy replacement ink-cartridges.

They usually cost almost as much as a new printer

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Exactly! That's why I bough the Epson printer (individual cartridges) because they only cost £6 each With the HP and Lexmarks I've had before this, it would cost me £25 for a color, and £25 for a black cartridge - pure ripoff!

oh god, yes, exactly. my very first printer was a lexmark ; i got it as part of a package deal, the printer and scanner for something ridiculously cheap (or so it seemed, at the time). then i had to buy new cartridges. they actually cost me MORE than i paid for the damned printer !