ethernet

Research is the key . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

When I replaced my laptop computer a few years ago, I bought one that did not have a built-in CD/DVD drive. It was a financial decision as I understood that I could get a separate drive for around £20.00, whereas the built-in drive would have added another £50.00 to the price. At the time I wasn’t really watching any of my DVD collection as they are not something K**h and me would watch together.

However, just after Christmas, I decided that I needed some way to watch some of my DVDs and so looked around to buy a portable one. I found one on the internet, at a reasonable price and duly purchased it. There were problems right from the start.

My laptop has a number of ports. There is an ethernet port, an HDMI port, a USB C port, and a Card reader port, but only two USB 3.0 ports. The DVD reader shipped with two USB cables. I needed a multi-port USB hub.

Back to the internet and I found just what I was looking for. I ordered it but received an email explaining that it was currently out of stock, but would be available in two weeks’ time. I was promised that it would be posted, 1st class. So I sat back to wait.

Just over two weeks later my new hub was delivered. It must have been another three or four days before I could plug it in and set up the external DVD. That’s when problem number two reared its head. My laptop just would not see the external DVD. I plugged memory sticks into the hub and they were seen. So were my wireless mouse and external camera (the internal one is not the best).

I contacted the seller about a refund or replacement, only to have pointed out that I had exceeded the return date by two days. It left me no real option but to consign the unit to my so called “tech drawer” in the garage.

Fast forward to the beginning of last week. My eldest son asked me if had an external DVD. I explained that I did have but it did not appear to work. So before letting him have it, I once again checked that it did not work. It was then that I realised. After reading an online article, that USB 2.0 (which was one of the cables) was being phased, being almost obsolete, I tried connecting the unit with just the other cable. Success! It appears that both cables should not be used together as Windows can get confused about which one it should be using.

Lesson learned … do more research.

Stress and Tech – hand in hand

/ Tony / 3 Comments

A bit of a stressful week this week. Our broadband contract was due to expire at the end of the month, and although it would continued (they usually do with Sky) the cost would have escalated quite a way, based on the initial quote they gave us. So they “invite” us to call them to see if we can get a better deal. My wife deals old routerwith this kind of thing, as I don’t have the patience and whilst on the call on Monday asked about a new Router. We have always been told, by new routerSky to ask about equipment whenever we renew, even if there’s not a problem, which there wasn’t. The person that she dealt with said that there would be no problem and that there would be a new one in the post that day. As good as her word, the new router arrived on Wednesday morning.

The first issue that we were hit with was that is was about 1 inch wider and longer allPig in Mud round. It also was an upright one as opposed to the flat one we were used to. This meant a whole rearrangement of my desk for the thing to fit. After a bit of “huffing” and “puffing” I managed to place it in the best position. Now came the mammoth task of setting up all the devices with the new router. However, I was in my element doing this. It brought many memories from my work life. Dashing from device to device with my check-list and passwords, I was like a pig in a muddy puddle.

Then I hit the first real problem!

The new router would not connect to the Sky Q box! I tried everything, but it just would not happen. This of course meant that many of the features that came with the contract were not available. For example, we could not open Netflix. It also meant that the youngest son’s TV and mini box didn’t Help-Deskwork either. Not although he probably won’t be back here until April, we needed to get it fixed straight away. My wife rang Sky and after a 45 minute wait in a queue managed to explain the problem. The phone was passed to me to go through some troubleshooting (which I had already done) before the help-desk operator decided that an engineer was required. He was booked in for Thursday between 12:00 an 17:00. 

Then came problem two!

The printer we use is a wi-fi connected printer that we all share. the new router would not connect to the printer. I followed all the included instructions (again!) but still nothing. By now, I was beginning to get a little Printerbit annoyed. I looked online at the HP printer site and followed all their ‘helpful’ ideas, but to no avail. In the end, Google came to my rescue. And it was a simple fix. All I needed to do was to uninstall the printer, then reinstall it. Next problem. The printer installation media was on a DVD and this laptop does not have one. I ended up downloading the installation software from the internet. After that, it all went really smoothly which just left the Sky Q box not connected and the help desk advised that the engineer would get everything working, one way or another.

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The engineer duly arrived at the appointed time and we conducted the call through the living room window. They are not allowed into the house because of the virus. We went through a number of questions. and heCable asked what the new router was. When he saw it he said there had been some problems with that type. We proceed to try and connect using an ethernet cable, which worked straight away. But as soon as the cable was removed, the connection was lost. He came up with two solutions: number one was to permanently connect with a cable, but that would mean lifting the carpet to hide the cable which was not a good idea. Option two was to revert back to the old router. That seemed the best idea, and he gave us the latest model of the old one. Once plugged in, all the problems went away, although I still had to reinstall the printer again.

Once again, I spent an hour doing my impression of a “pig in a puddle” whilst I connected all the devices, but touch wood, there are no more issues.

I suppose, at the end of the day, that the old maxim “If it’s not broken, then don’t fix it” applies here.

 

 

A little bit pear shaped …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Last week, K*** suddenly noticed that she could see ‘floaters’ out the side of one eye. She had just started a new prescription for her contact lenses and thought at first it was that. But it got worse and she was experiencing a bad headache. Called the optician on Friday, who told her to come straight away. They sent her to the eye-clinic at the hospital, and it seems that the gel that surrounds the eye had become damaged, causing a bleeds at the back of her eye. They told that it should just clear up in the next few days, but she has to go back in a fortnight for check. Now, it would have hard anyway, but we had invited K***’s parents for lunch that day and we couldn’t really put them off. So I was ‘entertainments officer’ for the day. K*** thought she would be home by half past one, but it was nearer five when she got back.

To top it all, whilst I was out on Monday, I think the wind got into my eye, as that has been sore since then. Feels swollen and is a little uncomfortable when I blink, but not to the same extent as K*** has suffered.

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My laptop has started to play-up a little. It’s seems to have been happening since the last major update to Windows, but I think it is just a coincidence. What is happening is that my Wi-Fi connection dropping out. Does not happen to any of the other devices we have connected though which kind of proves it is not the router. My other Windows 10 machine does not have the issue (although I don’t had it powered up as much) which may be another pointer away from the issue being down to Windows update. I did Google the issue, which led to a lot of possible reasons. The main reason seemed to point to an issue with the network card in the laptop. I’m awaiting a reply from the manufacturer as to what can be done, but I’m of the opinion, that I may have to live with it. I can connect directly with an ethernet cable and it’s not too inconvenient, but I will see what happens.

The issues with K***s emails reoccurred again yesterday, just over a month since the last time. The mail app on her iPad stopped  delivering any emails. They could be viewed on the website but were not being ‘pushed’ the the mail app. I could not get them on my laptop, which was the same as the last time. Turns out, that it was an issue with Yahoo (Sky email provider) which was exactly the same as last time. No-one at Sky or Yahoo seems to care about it. Both say they are sorry and are working on a fix. Maybe it’s time for Sky to have a rethink!

(Update: emails on her tablet are now coming through. some 24 hours after the issue started. Not good)

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Well both K*** and R*** are still in bed, and I think I’ll let them sleep longer. R*** has been a star over the past two days. I don’t know, but he seems to kind of know when K*** is not well and it tempers his behaviour for want of a better word. We have has no issues with him at all, not even when my laptop dropped the Wi-Fi.

I’m just going to start on the ironing , which shouldn’t take too long. I actually love ironing and have sort of ‘adopted’ the job as my own, which suits us both. Someone once told me that we all have some minor Autistic tendencies, and I think ironing must be one of mine.

 

Wednesday ….. is there a pattern forming here ??

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Another four day week. June is going to be a hard month, what with all those full weeks. Not a lot has happened really. The weekend was there I suppose, but nothing special has happened. I did email RH, but nothing has come of it yet. It may be that he does not check his email every day. I will know in another week.

I got some more seeds planted over the weekend. I did four more bowls of the mixed salad leaves, and a large trough of Rocket. Fingers crossed that it will all take. The dahlias have taken since planting out. I’m looking forward to seeing them flower. I am still wondering what to do with the rough area at the side of the deck. At the moment it is just a patch of weeds. It is very shaded, and quite dry I think, so I do not know what to do there. Where is the best place to grow rhubarb? I seem to think that they like that kind of environment.

The new lap-top came last week. It is a smart piece of kit (for the council). Comes with a docking station that puts it at an angle to make typing a little more comfy. So, in theory, I can now work from home, through a VPN connection. In practice, it is even slower that at work. It could be the wireless connection that is causing the slowness or then again it could be just the councils network that is rubbish.  I will try connecting with an ethernet cable over the weekend, but I don’t hold out much hope. Big issues with the work network today. JW from Bradford came to see how we do a process today, but because of the network problems, I could not show him anything. Hopefully he is coming back next week, and things should be different.

I watched the Champions League final, all the way through tonight. It was the best game of football I’ve seen in a long time. It was a shame Man Utd did not turn up, they would have enjoyed the game. Barcelona was by far the best side.

Having a nice chat with Nina and Anna, on MSN as I type this. I’ve not spoken to Nina for about 2 weeks. We seem to miss each other, when on-line. And as for Anna, well it was before we went to Blackpool at the beginning of April. I’ve always liked Anna. She was one of the first people that I chatted to on, what used to be Lycos chat.

I’m just about getting the hang of Twitter now. I was watching ‘Celebrity Cash In The Attic’, on Monday, and Maggie Philbin (soft spot and youthful crush) was on. It was a very good show with an important charity. I follow her on Twitter, so when she tweeted, that evening, I tweeted back congratulating her on the money she raised. To my surprise, she tweeted back to me. I got all giddy. that is a real ‘celeb’ sending me a message. A nice person.