Computer problems

[rafael]

In a recent email exchange with Ron, he suggested that I post about a recent computer fiasco I had.  Got it ironed out, and figured I'd toss out the scenario.  Might help someone, at some point.  This looks like the best place to post it.

I was getting ready to start layout on Dread, and so I was running Quark.  Version 4.1 for Windows (WinXP on a 450 -- a secondhand PC I got for a hundred and change a few months ago).  Note that my computer's a solid piece of machinery, never gave me no trouble.  I install only work-related software (Quark, Photoshop, Acid), and I run my virus updates regularly.

Out of nowhere, my machine locks up one afternoon last week.

I was running Quark, AOL (don't laugh, I'm too busy to pursue alternatives right now), and IE 6.0.  I'm on some guy's Geocities page, reading about his game, when my mouse stops responding.  Quark was still running because I was in the middle of layout, got restless, and started surfing for a few minutes.

Anyhow, I try to alt-tab, but no dice.  Alt-F4 also doesn't work.  Normally, if you didn't know, these commands flip between programs and close windows, respectively.

I then realized that tapping the Caps Lock key had no effect -- that is, the green light that normally comes on when Caps Lock is engaged was not lit.

I rebooted manually, and discovered that I couldn't log in to XP because, again, mouse and keyboard were not responding.  Switching to my backup mouse and keyboard didn't work.  I cursed a lot and daydreamed about going on a bender.  This didn't work either.  I was running out of ideas.

I hit the library, went online, and AIMed all the geeks.  I also ran my problem through a few search engines, but with inconclusive results.

In the meantime, my girl went to bat for me.  She works for a computer game company, so it didn't surprise me that her idea worked -- try USB, she said.

It wasn't cheap, but it worked.

My mouse and keyboard were PS2 -- without getting too far into this (if you know the difference, you're with me, and if not, it's not worth getting too technical), PS2 is the serial connection -- but I also had a USB port on my machine.  USB stands for Universal Serial Bus.  It's another kind of port.  Basically, it allows for faster data transfer (maybe 100x the speed of a PS2 connection), and it's popular with people who transfer data into their computers (like people who take photos with digital cameras, then upload them).

The major difference, from where I'm sitting, is a god damn lot of money.

But here's the thing: my machine was configured to have keyboard and mouse running out of the PS2 port.  They were working fine.  Somehow, some way, my computer suddenly decided to reconfigure itself, so that it no longer recognized the PS2 port, and was instead expecting keyboard and mouse to be connected via USB.  This doesn't make a lot of sense -- computers don't just decide things like that, and there must have been some sort of stimulus or trigger for this.

I still haven't figured out why my shit got reconfigured, but after busting out the VISA at CompUSA, I plugged in my brand-new lightmouse and ergonomic keyboard (I must confess, they are very suh-weet), and lo and behold, my USB peripherals worked just fine.  I can't make heads or tails of it, but don't have the time to investigate it thoroughly at this point.  If I can figured out what the problem was, I'll let you know.  In the meantime, here's my advice for this, or any other, computer problem.  It's elementary, but so's most good advice:

1. Never panic.  I got a new computer for a hundred something bucks.  Worst case scenario, you trash it and get another.  A year from now, you'll be like, what computer?

2. Back up everything all the god damn time.  If you're working on something that matters to you, go get a cd burner and back up your biznazz every other week (or every week if you're paranoid like me -- I frequently regard myself with suspicion, and hide my backup discs from myself).

3. Never experiment.  If you find yourself beginning a sentence with the word Maybe, stop.  Just stop right there.  Unless you're a trained professional, you're just going to do something you'll regret later.  Murphy's Law.

4. Make friends with people who know the difference between USB and PS2 (the real difference, not the vague, nebulous shit I just told you a few paragraphs ago).

5. Don't be afraid to ask store clerks for advice.  You don't have to take the advice.  Just ask.  They're clerks.  You saw the damn movie, you know they're bored.  Now, don't ask them on a busy Sunday afternoon.  Ask them on your lunch break, on a Tuesday, when there's no one in the store.  Bring a pad and pen.  Take them seriously, thank them.

I was an English Major in college.  Never touched a computer.  Took a year off, just a few months before I was supposed to graduate, and spent a year in a strange town, working as a Helpdesk Analyst.  Information Technology, lots of coffee, high-stress, 300+ users, I didn't know the difference between HTML and KMFDM.  I was like, whatever.  But I had some good teachers.

There was a time when this little episode would have driven me up the wall and into a coronary or something, but I got through it, and if I can get through it, you can get through it.

Don't know if this will be much help for anyone, but there it is.

Word is bond.

-- Rafael

[S.Lonergan]

damn well, that sucks...

who's geocities site was it?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Rafael,

Thanks for posting about the crisis - I encountered a whole handful of agonizing hassles through the course of getting Sorcerer out, or rather, a whole handful per step. It's like owning a beater car; you learn what a part is and how it works because it stopped working and you now have to figure out (and pay for) getting it repaired.

The trouble is that for me, when I'm in the midst of coping with a given hassle, I'm in grope-and-kill mode to get through it, and then afterwards, I'm in post-traumatic shock and can't bear to relive the experience via talking about it on the Forge. Hence - my suffering doesn't result in any insights or awareness of such hassles for other people.

That's why (for instance) Michael Hopcroft's war stories are solid gold on this forum: people need to understand that publishing an RPG is a bitch. There will be days when your computer - which has until now been peachy-keen with your porn surfing and your emails to buddies and your chat-rooms - just decides that it will utterly munch your files now that you're working on something important. And the thing responsible will be some whacked aspect or element of the software or hardware that you never even heard of.

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

Hey RAF...noticed you were using IE6 and AOL...you didn't happen to upgrade to the new IE6 Service Pack 1 did you?

If so, that may have caused your problem.  I did, and for whatever reason the latest IE6 and AOL aren't getting along, and I now have all kinds of screwy problems...not hardware problems...which is indeed strange, but my own version of PC Bizzarre.

Actually the most bizarre was Forge related.  Having a cable modem at home I can now hit the internet directly without AOL (which I keep because it has the email addy I've been using for almost 10 years now).  But, if I log into the Forge direct through IE (post update) it WILL NOT refresh the page.  Its permenately stuck on September 8 and no amount of refreshing or cache deleting will get unstick it.  If I log into the Forge via AOL, the site is completely updated...but won't let me log in (no matter how many cookies I dump).

This to me makes about as much sense as spontaneously changing hardware settings, which is why I mention it.

[contracycle]

This doesn't make a lot of sense -- computers don't just decide things like that, and there must have been some sort of stimulus or trigger for this.

Actually its not quite like that.  Programmes can run to millions of lines of code, all shuffling variable values and so forth.  There are a lot of "moving parts" and theres a lot of electromagnetic radiation - from the sun, from your radio, from car alternaters etc.  Things can and do go mysteriously wrong - theres even jargon for it.  If you have a problem that goes away when you restart the computer, or reinstall the app, its a JOOTT - Just One Of Those Things.

Yours sounds like a very odd problem that would have had anyone rather frustrated - the symptoms are inconsistent (did it beep on boot, and the lights on the keyboard flash?).  I'd try booting to safe mode now that you have the console back, and see if it reports more than one hardware config (was this a Dell box?)

More generally, I sometimes have qualms helping people buy machines, because I know that they will go wrong and even with all my experience I can't guarantee I'd be able to solve all my own problems.  Trubleshooting someone elses provate system is a right pain, but I do an awful lot of it.  Hence, even though I think the wuality of service is often downright lousy, I do recommend that people take out support contracts - sooner or later you will need to give your box over to someone elses care.  Like a car, you WILL need a mechanic, sooner or later.  A PC is a similarly specialised-but-ubiquitous piece of equipment.

[contracycle]

But, if I log into the Forge direct through IE (post update) it WILL NOT refresh the page.  Its permenately stuck on September 8 and no amount of refreshing or cache deleting will get unstick it.  If I log into the Forge via AOL, the site is completely updated...but won't let me log in (no matter how many cookies I dump).

Hmm - using a proxy server?  Might be retrieving a cached copy which is not accessible when your route through AOL.  Did your refresh attempts include SHIFT-refresh to force it to actively re-request the original page?

[GreatWolf]

Ron, Rafael, I feel your pain, as does my wife (who did the layout for Junk).  We had especially bad problems when working with graphics, since we "only" have 64MBs of memory.  Some of the pictures that she was working with could be absurd sizes and could require 5 to 10 minutes to make a minor change.  And then the computer would hang.....

So, the moral of the story is two-fold:

1)  Have the right tools for the job.  (Corollary:  never use MS Word for layout.)

2)  Save early and save often.  I save every paragraph or so when I'm writing (seriously!) and whenever I get up from the computer.

And of course, these things never happen until you're in the middle of a large project.  It's because computers hate us.  ;-)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[C. Edwards]

I definitely sympathize.  As of about a week ago my computer refuses to acknowledge the existence of my cd drives.  After much trouble shooting I'm still at a loss as to the cause.

Maybe I'll just become a Luddite.  Or a quaker.


-Chris

[greyorm]

Things can and do go mysteriously wrong - theres even jargon for it.

Round these parts, we calls 'em "gremlins."
(Yes, now you know where the idea came from in Electric Ghosts...my professional life)
No actual IT professional will ever tell you that computers are logical.  Oh, sure, they're SUPPOSED to be...but HAH! Reality has a different spin on that one.

[Clay]

Computer problems & the like

A few problems have crept up here which are pretty easily adressable, since I have encountered most of them.

First, anyone connecting to the internet with AOL involved in any way is asking for trouble.  You most definitely are using a proxy server even if you never set one up and can't find settings for one.  Also, having spoken with their postmaster (i.e. the e-mail person), and having been an e-mail administrator myself, I can assure you that your messages are in the hands of people who you shouldn't trust.  Unfortunately alternatives aren't necessarily better. Large tech companies who should know better are often managed by people who make poor and uninformed decisions.

The keyboard/mouse flake-out problems is being caused by bad hardware. A truely suprising amount of computer hardware is defective as it ships from the manufacturer. A former employer had the bright idea of saving money by having all the computers built in-house, with parts from a local supplier. One core component in particular (the motherboard; a big piece of plastic that everything plugs in to inside the computer) had a 50% failure rate when we tested with a more vigorous operating system. We suffered similar problems with hard drives from a well-respected manufacturer.

Someone else has mentioned it here on the forge, but it bears repeating: it's much cheaper to pay big money for quality hardware and information services than to "get a deal".  Hot deals equipment and services have a tendency to let you down when you need your equipment or service the most.

[rafael]

Someone else has mentioned it here on the forge, but it bears repeating: it's much cheaper to pay big money for quality hardware and information services than to "get a deal".  Hot deals equipment and services have a tendency to let you down when you need your equipment or service the most.

Oh, now you tell me.  Where were you two months ago, when I bought this steaming pile of XP?

All seriousness aside, you're damn right.  If I'd bought the machine at Best Buy or something, it wouldn't have been nearly as much of an issue.  Second-hand machinery is second-hand for a reason.

But, I didn't have the money for a new PC then (and I don't know), and you need a PC to do this.  So I rolled the dice.  Snake eyes again!  Curses.

Again, though -- you're right.  It's a risk.

Valamir -- no, haven't installed the service pack yet.  Because I'm lazy.  So lazy, I can't find the requisite energy to turn my back on AOL and find another ISP.

-- Rafael

[Valamir]

Valamir -- no, haven't installed the service pack yet.  Because I'm lazy.  So lazy, I can't find the requisite energy to turn my back on AOL and find another ISP.

Well it was worth checking.  And for the record...AOL takes a lot of knocks from tech types...but I've been using it since almost since it first started being called AOL, and aside from early busy problems when they first started getting big, and the current inability to send email NOT formatted in HTML, I've never had a lick of trouble of with it.  I've had far more trouble with Windows, than I ever had with AOL.  I've never in almost 10 years had a virus even given all the surfing I do, even during those times I forgot to update McAfee for 8 months straight.  Whatever they might do wrong, they do a good job with that at least.  Of course, I've been getting it for free for most of that time, so I'm perhaps a little biased.

[Tim Denee]

Regarding the forge being stuck on the 8'th of september, I had the same problem. I just thought the forge was having a slow week...

It worked right when I changed my bookmark from the IP address/forum to indie-rpgs.com/forum. Go figure.