And Of Course
Posted on July 28, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments
The new computer arrived damaged. Because why wouldn’t it be.
Update: Appears to be one of the hard drives was damaged in transit. Pulled one, the second seems to be working just fine. The computer maker is mailing me a replacement for the damaged one. Now to see how the rest of the computer is doing.
of course… murphy is a regular visitor to my home as well
Murphy must be bought off. Since Murphy is an Irish name, I believe some kind of liquor will be needed.
(Crap, I just realized I’m SOL if he ever shows up in my life. I don’t drink. [Runs off to find four leaf clovers])
Time to pour out a bawls on the curb.
My recent new computer is a subtler example of Murphy’s law. It looked like it worked fine when I plugged it in and booted it, but there seem to be a couple of interior connections that weren’t made properly. So the hdmi connection doesn’t actually transmit sound to the TV and the memory card readers seem to all be useless.
I can probably fix it myself if I get around to turning it off and opening the case, but I don’t do that with my main computer very often.
@2 Brian… just buy a bottle of fine Irish whiskey and keep it around for ol’ Murphy. In fact, it’s even better that you DON’T drink… more for him.
Sigh. How the heck hard is to to pack a computer correctly? No, don’t answer that…
Good that at least one drive is working John. Now install the important stuff – games, music, etc.
This is me reporting in from the new computer. So far, so good.
From one who works in customer service… at least it’s just damaged and not on fire.
There’s always a bright side.
@Rebecca Knight: has that happened?
My last new computer (laptop) worked for for two weeks. Then, once I had everything all installed and configured just the way I wanted it, only then did the hard drive bite the big one. FUN!
But will it play your Journey mp3 collection? Priorities, man!
But was it the HD with the details of the secret plans fo global domination, or the other one?
My current PC arrived with the SATA ribbon for the main hard drive unplugged, and the TV card bouncing around loose in the case instead of being secured in its little socket.
Thirty-second fix for anyone who’s ever opened a computer case, but Auntie Ethel would have had to place a service call right away, and possibly ship the whole rig back for warranty repair…potentially missing out on the weekend Left4Dead co-op match with her friends.
@3
A Standards Development Organization I work with regularily has ‘plug and play’ meets for various products using HDMI. Lots of things do, lots of things don’t work. Audio, the bastard step-child of television*, often is one of the things that doesn’t.
*Original title of paper submitted by the late Hans Schmid to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. They changed the title to forgotten stepchild.
Rick@5
It’s not necessarily the packing. Sometimes it’s the shipping people that toss packages around like footballs.
Sorry to hear it was damaged, John. I’ve got a new one in transit right now. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Out of curiosity, where did you end up getting this computer from?
Regarding your desire to “install as little software as possible”, have you considered using VMware (or the Microsoft Equivalent Virtual PC)? Create yourself a fresh virtual machine (and keep this fresh copy) then anytime you want to install something, do it on one of your virtual PC’s. If it gives you trouble, just delete that machine and start over again with your fresh version. You certainly have enough horses under your hood.
I think it’s something worthwhile to consider.
Hi John, you should definitely think about getting an SSD (solid state disk) to go with that rig. The new intel 34nm X25-M G2’s are looking quite good, the price has been slashed and performance improved.
Not the best price per gigabyte compared to platters, but if used as a system disk it could definitely make your system fly (especially with Win 7 coming up, and the SSD optimization it has).
@Tom–From my experience, anything that can happen will happen :P. FUN TIMES!
You are fortunate, Mr Scalzi. About 3 weeks ago, my monitor developed some dead pixels. Usable but annoying, so as it was still under warranty, I arranged for a replacement. In due course the replacement arrived–unboxed, non-working and smashed. Ever since, they have been promising to deliver a replacement for the replacement, and not doing it. Tomorrow, it is truly, honestly coming (they say). Meanwhile, I have been without a computer for nearly 3 weeks. I should have stuck with the old monitor. On the plus side, I’ve been getting a lot of piano practice done…