Thursdays

[altivo]

It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays. --Arthur Dent

And so it goes. The machine that was running yesterday but couldn't make any network connections? This morning it was connected. Overnight something in the network relented and agreed that it really could exist. The print test pages printed during the night, the configuration downloaded, and all is now normal.

So I went ahead and installed the next machine's software this morning. Same symptoms. Software installs (well, after I replaced the floppy disk drive, which I knew was defective on that one) and gets as far as the network configuration step, then complains that it can't find the gateway and there must either be a proxy in the way or else one is needed that hasn't been defined. I left it at that, perhaps it will magically heal during the night just like the last one.

I have no idea what is going on with these. I configured four other identical machines over the past month, and all of them worked right off. It's the same network, the same cabling, the same hub stack.

Filter issues are resolved and the filters are now working, at least as well as internet filters ever do, which is to say, not all that well.

Oh, and Creative agreed that my MP3 player woes are indeed some kind of hardware or firmware defect and they sent me an RMA number and instructions for getting the unit replaced or repaired. A nuisance, but it will just cost a bit of postage.

Discovered that three of the remaining PCs that are to get the new software have hard disks on the verge of failure, so those will be delayed until replacements can be ordered. Probably won't be installing until next week some time.

And it's raining. We need rain, and this isn't heavy rain that runs off and washes the soil away, but a steady cold drizzle. The apple blossoms were already done, so it shouldn't be bad for the fruit crop (yay) but it sure is unpleasant to go out in. And go out I must, now, to take care of barns and stuff. Brrr. 46 degrees. I may even light the woodstove again tonight. Funny how we would have thought that was a warm day back in January...

Comments

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Oh I will warm ya up, baby.

Great winghugs and happiness from your loyal if not a bit nutty mount,

Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Gods. Winghugs are just what I need. Gloomy, drippy, cold all day. Come rescue me.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Some network hardware refreshing itself perhaps?
Did you mention failing hard drives? *snuffles about insearch of them*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I could swear I already replied to this, but the reply isn't here.

Yes. These are 10GB units from Quantum that were supplied as stock in the Dell GX115. Many of them failed during the three year warranty period and Dell replaced them with 40GB Seagates. Those same Seagates are available now for $59 US so I'll probably just order several and replace the rest of the original equipment. There's a stack of dead 10GB drives under my desk, actually, though I don't think they have much potential use even if someone could revive them. The GX115 systems are still quite serviceable, so I'm not retiring them yet (Pentium III @ 1.2GHz, perfectly good for web based applications.)