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Fun with modems!
I was playing Everquest last night and suddenly everything stopped.
I tried multiple times to log back in, to surf the web, to get my ISP to do anything at all. I could make a connection, but after that everything died.
This went on for a few hours. I was also burning a few cds on my backup machine, so that was keeping me busy. That and the fact that it destroyed four cds trying to copy a cd the easy way, so I had to do it the hard way. Basically instead of trying to read from the DVD drive and burn to the cdrw drive, I had to tell HP CD-Copy that I was mixing a new cd from other cds, and then just select all the tracks from the cd I wanted to copy. Let me tell you, their little cd copy program is a piece of junk... it routinely tells me that it can't make a cd because I'm using a high-speed cd in a drive not built for it. This is their own hp cdrw 12x high speed drive mind you, and the program that comes with it doesn't recognize it as a high-speed drive about 1/3 of the time. But then I click "retry" and suddenly everything's fine again.
Michael told me to get Nero Burning Rom. I think he even gave me a copy that I have installed on my computer now, so why I'm not using it yet I don't know.
So anyway, I know my modem in my new machine is a cheapass winmodem that sucks and does weird things (my old machine's winmodem loves to do this after you reboot: On first attempt, it disconnects immediately. On second attempt, it dials and then disconnects. On third attempt it is always happy and everything works fine, until the next time you reboot of course. ^_^ )
So I have this crappy winmodem in my new machine that's only a week old, but I've already noticed that it takes a long time to handshake and I've had these times where everything goes dead and I don't know if it's the modem or my ISP, and sometimes when I disconnect it it hangs for up to 2 full minutes before it finally decides to disconnect.
But since I'm busy with my other machine burning cds, I can't test my theory and dial in on that machine to see if it's only my modem that's hosed, and not my ISP. So I do the obvious thing and go back to my bedroom and try the Linux machine, which after all has a nice US Robotics modem in it.
But the thing is, I haven't rebooted that computer in several weeks, and even Linux becomes unstable eventually. So when I try to web-surf, everything blows up. I still don't know for sure if it's because of Linux blowing up, or if this is what happens when the ISP doesn't respond... it seems like Linux falling apart to me, but I decide to reboot and try again.
Only I need to enter a password to get back in. And I don't have a clue what the password is (I think Michael set it up -- it's not one of my normal passwords). Nor do I have any idea how to get around this step, so my Linux machine is currently hosed, due to it asking for a password that I'll never be able to give it.
Soooo... finally I plugged the phone cord into my laptop, logged on, and surfed a little. Okay, problem identified: it IS my crappy winmodem, which apparently didn't even last a full week.
Michael says I should call the Fun Key guys and complain. But they're in Tukwila, and it's a $12 modem at the very most. Anyway, I'm in the middle of trying to order DSL from Drizzle, which is what Michael and Gene have. I placed my order Tuesday, they called home after I left for work and left me a message to call them. They didn't call me at work, although they have the phone number. Wednesday I called just before heading out for work, their lines were all busy. Thursday I made sure I had extra time before I left for work at 3 pm so that I could wait online until I got through to them, but it turns out that they all have a meeting on Thursday between 2 and 3 pm, so I was SOL. Friday I forgot to call, and they're closed on the weekend... but Michael says I should just contact my ISP Earthlink since they have some great deals going right now, and since they can be contacted 24/7. I think Drizzle has just lost out by failing to contact me. ^_^
Sooooo... I need a modem, but I'm not really going to need it long. My plan was to go buy another US Robotics modem at OfficeMax, but I had to get my comics and get my oil changed for my car today, so... OfficeMax was closed when I got there. Which is good, because I don't always have a clue what I'm doing, and those are isa cards which my new machine doesn't have slots for. Oy vey!
But I figured Michael would have an extra cheapie modem lying around... and I figured wrong. He had an external modem that he lent to me, but he didn't have the right power supply for it, and I couldn't find one that was the right match. I tried the one he gave me, not enough power. I tried one that was too much power, the modem at least turned on but my computer couldn't see it. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
I'd already removed the offending winmodem from my computer. Now I opened up my secondary computer and pulled the winmodem from it -- at least it still works, even if it's wonky. But -- guess what? -- it's not the right kind of slot either!
So I put it back in my old machine, and just for the heck of it put the apparently broken winmodem back in my new machine. I tried to use it, had to install the driver again (I'd deleted it) and, hey, it's working again. Surprise, surprise!
For now anyway.
And while I'm digging around in the box of cds that came with my new computer, what do I find? Nero Burning Rom, version 5, which is already installed on my new machine. Hey! ^_^ Yay! No more crappy HP Cd Copy program destroying my discs because it forgot how to work properly!
Another thing I figured out while digging around in my old computer. It's only got a 250mhz power supply. Sky had suggested that I might not have enough power for everything I'm running. Maybe I need a new tower/power supply. Maybe I need to buy a modem tomorrow too. Or maybe this one will limp along for another week or so, until I get DSL up and running.
Maybe I'll even be able to log into my Linux machine some day.
Who can tell?
In the meantime, Dungeon Siege runs whether my modem is working or not....
I tried multiple times to log back in, to surf the web, to get my ISP to do anything at all. I could make a connection, but after that everything died.
This went on for a few hours. I was also burning a few cds on my backup machine, so that was keeping me busy. That and the fact that it destroyed four cds trying to copy a cd the easy way, so I had to do it the hard way. Basically instead of trying to read from the DVD drive and burn to the cdrw drive, I had to tell HP CD-Copy that I was mixing a new cd from other cds, and then just select all the tracks from the cd I wanted to copy. Let me tell you, their little cd copy program is a piece of junk... it routinely tells me that it can't make a cd because I'm using a high-speed cd in a drive not built for it. This is their own hp cdrw 12x high speed drive mind you, and the program that comes with it doesn't recognize it as a high-speed drive about 1/3 of the time. But then I click "retry" and suddenly everything's fine again.
Michael told me to get Nero Burning Rom. I think he even gave me a copy that I have installed on my computer now, so why I'm not using it yet I don't know.
So anyway, I know my modem in my new machine is a cheapass winmodem that sucks and does weird things (my old machine's winmodem loves to do this after you reboot: On first attempt, it disconnects immediately. On second attempt, it dials and then disconnects. On third attempt it is always happy and everything works fine, until the next time you reboot of course. ^_^ )
So I have this crappy winmodem in my new machine that's only a week old, but I've already noticed that it takes a long time to handshake and I've had these times where everything goes dead and I don't know if it's the modem or my ISP, and sometimes when I disconnect it it hangs for up to 2 full minutes before it finally decides to disconnect.
But since I'm busy with my other machine burning cds, I can't test my theory and dial in on that machine to see if it's only my modem that's hosed, and not my ISP. So I do the obvious thing and go back to my bedroom and try the Linux machine, which after all has a nice US Robotics modem in it.
But the thing is, I haven't rebooted that computer in several weeks, and even Linux becomes unstable eventually. So when I try to web-surf, everything blows up. I still don't know for sure if it's because of Linux blowing up, or if this is what happens when the ISP doesn't respond... it seems like Linux falling apart to me, but I decide to reboot and try again.
Only I need to enter a password to get back in. And I don't have a clue what the password is (I think Michael set it up -- it's not one of my normal passwords). Nor do I have any idea how to get around this step, so my Linux machine is currently hosed, due to it asking for a password that I'll never be able to give it.
Soooo... finally I plugged the phone cord into my laptop, logged on, and surfed a little. Okay, problem identified: it IS my crappy winmodem, which apparently didn't even last a full week.
Michael says I should call the Fun Key guys and complain. But they're in Tukwila, and it's a $12 modem at the very most. Anyway, I'm in the middle of trying to order DSL from Drizzle, which is what Michael and Gene have. I placed my order Tuesday, they called home after I left for work and left me a message to call them. They didn't call me at work, although they have the phone number. Wednesday I called just before heading out for work, their lines were all busy. Thursday I made sure I had extra time before I left for work at 3 pm so that I could wait online until I got through to them, but it turns out that they all have a meeting on Thursday between 2 and 3 pm, so I was SOL. Friday I forgot to call, and they're closed on the weekend... but Michael says I should just contact my ISP Earthlink since they have some great deals going right now, and since they can be contacted 24/7. I think Drizzle has just lost out by failing to contact me. ^_^
Sooooo... I need a modem, but I'm not really going to need it long. My plan was to go buy another US Robotics modem at OfficeMax, but I had to get my comics and get my oil changed for my car today, so... OfficeMax was closed when I got there. Which is good, because I don't always have a clue what I'm doing, and those are isa cards which my new machine doesn't have slots for. Oy vey!
But I figured Michael would have an extra cheapie modem lying around... and I figured wrong. He had an external modem that he lent to me, but he didn't have the right power supply for it, and I couldn't find one that was the right match. I tried the one he gave me, not enough power. I tried one that was too much power, the modem at least turned on but my computer couldn't see it. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
I'd already removed the offending winmodem from my computer. Now I opened up my secondary computer and pulled the winmodem from it -- at least it still works, even if it's wonky. But -- guess what? -- it's not the right kind of slot either!
So I put it back in my old machine, and just for the heck of it put the apparently broken winmodem back in my new machine. I tried to use it, had to install the driver again (I'd deleted it) and, hey, it's working again. Surprise, surprise!
For now anyway.
And while I'm digging around in the box of cds that came with my new computer, what do I find? Nero Burning Rom, version 5, which is already installed on my new machine. Hey! ^_^ Yay! No more crappy HP Cd Copy program destroying my discs because it forgot how to work properly!
Another thing I figured out while digging around in my old computer. It's only got a 250mhz power supply. Sky had suggested that I might not have enough power for everything I'm running. Maybe I need a new tower/power supply. Maybe I need to buy a modem tomorrow too. Or maybe this one will limp along for another week or so, until I get DSL up and running.
Maybe I'll even be able to log into my Linux machine some day.
Who can tell?
In the meantime, Dungeon Siege runs whether my modem is working or not....