VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

Welcome to the Vault Network forum archive.

This is not a complete archive, time didn't allot us the opportunity to properly backup the majority of the boards deemed "expendable". Most boards on this list have at least 20-40 pages archived (non-logged in pages, 15 topics per page).

Popular boards may have as many as 250 pages archived at 50 topics per page, while others deemed of historical signifigance may be archived in their entirety.

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Author

Topic: Ever seen something like this?

Nakal Title: Moderator Bad Moogle Posts: 19,542 Registered: Jul 9, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,238 User ID: 695,821	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	I work in IT, and I got a call that a customer's computer was having trouble on it's docking station (Lenovo T510) It has dual 21" 1600x1200 displays hooked to it. So I order another Dock to run by and install (at the end of the day mind you). Even after swapping the dock, the computer would crash only when docked. I swapped the hard drive into another T510 - still crashed. I updated drivers, and that didn't work, so I decided to do a system restore. That still didn't work. So I decided to plug the external in off the dock and bam, crash! I try out the other monitor on the DVI connection, and it worked just fine. So I checked out another monitor with a VGA connection and it worked fine too. So all that time, it was one of the external monitors that would crash when plugged in..... Boy was that annoying! -----signature----- Currently in the MMO unemployment line. Can I get $15/month for not playing them?
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Balor_Gafdan Title: Gun Toting Conservative Posts: 27,802 Registered: Dec 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 27,282 User ID: 563,478	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Nakal posted: I work in IT, and I got a call that a customer's computer was having trouble on it's docking station (Lenovo T510) It has dual 21" 1600x1200 displays hooked to it. So I order another Dock to run by and install (at the end of the day mind you). Even after swapping the dock, the computer would crash only when docked. I swapped the hard drive into another T510 - still crashed. I updated drivers, and that didn't work, so I decided to do a system restore. That still didn't work. So I decided to plug the external in off the dock and bam, crash! I try out the other monitor on the DVI connection, and it worked just fine. So I checked out another monitor with a VGA connection and it worked fine too. So all that time, it was one of the external monitors that would crash when plugged in..... Boy was that annoying! The problem with that is that I'm a Sys Admin in charge of the servers in the data center, so when I have a ticket like that I reimage the bitch and send it back. Although I did spend 3 hours today troubleshooting a Bonjour issue... ended up being the Cisco 5500 Wireless Controller being sent to Multicast Mode... bonjour no likey. Currently have a ticket in with Cisco Stupid Ipads and their airprint fetish -----signature----- "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." Rolab - PT Warhammer
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Nakal Title: Moderator Bad Moogle Posts: 19,542 Registered: Jul 9, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,238 User ID: 695,821	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Most people would have been re-imaged, but this was the crime lab, and they have some doozies for software, including a lot of proprietary software that connects to their lab equipment, and I was trying to avoid that pain -----signature----- Currently in the MMO unemployment line. Can I get $15/month for not playing them?
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Balor_Gafdan Title: Gun Toting Conservative Posts: 27,802 Registered: Dec 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 27,282 User ID: 563,478	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Nakal posted: Most people would have been re-imaged, but this was the crime lab, and they have some doozies for software, including a lot of proprietary software that connects to their lab equipment, and I was trying to avoid that pain OFFS, I feel your pain, I'm so glad I got out of the Healthcare IT game with their custom software and crap. Easy street now -----signature----- "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." Rolab - PT Warhammer
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Jyiiga Title: The MMO Snob Posts: 8,094 Registered: Mar 15, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 7,966 User ID: 74,827	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Balor_Gafdan posted: Nakal posted: Most people would have been re-imaged, but this was the crime lab, and they have some doozies for software, including a lot of proprietary software that connects to their lab equipment, and I was trying to avoid that pain OFFS, I feel your pain, I'm so glad I got out of the Healthcare IT game with their custom software and crap. Easy street now That is what I do now, it just depends on the hospital. We have been moving more and more toward Wyse terminals.. Hard for them to break stuff when it is all running on Citrix in a controlled environment. -----signature----- What ads? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/
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Lonestar_1 Posts: 4,224 Registered: Aug 26, '04 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 3,775 User ID: 960,112	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	I have great disdain for when its pushed software updates that go wrong and support will only do reimage, even if it is something fixable without a reimage. Then you are out a day or 2 setting back up your PC to what it was before. I would smack them with a keyboard if it would do any good. -----signature----- http://gimpchimp.etilader.com/display.php?user=lonestarr 3500+ solo kills & Lone Enforcer WAR - IronRock Dest- Energist, Moogabooga SWTOR - KV - Energist, Moogabooga
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Marzuk Posts: 12,545 Registered: Oct 21, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 12,348 User ID: 729,742	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Lonestar_1 posted: I have great disdain for when its pushed software updates that go wrong and support will only do reimage, even if it is something fixable without a reimage. Then you are out a day or 2 setting back up your PC to what it was before. I would smack them with a keyboard if it would do any good. There is a good reason it is this way though. I've seen things installed on computers that shouldn't be installed conflict with an update, and honestly its not worth the hours it may take to figure something like that out. I've spent HOURS removing malware (or attempting to) when a 30 minute reformat would do the job. Sunk cost is an issue, and IMO you have to draw the line somewhere. Its just horribly inefficient to spend too much time on an issue when you have a "fix". If you are mostly talking about a non-corporate environment, fix it yourself and when you are the one spending the time you can take as long as you like. If its a corporate environment, you can dictate policy when you are responsible for how much support costs. Honestly when some idiot in sales wants to bitch about something like this, I laugh. I'd rather waste his time than mine. Why? The company views IT as a red line in the ledger, a cost to be minimized. The more time I spend fixing something the more they complain about it and the more cost cutting happens. Only its usually fewer people doing more work for the same pay, and I'm going to avoid that at all costs. I always try to avoid reimaging because I knew it was going to cause two or three days of a person calling me with really stupid PC questions, so I don't reimage because I'm lazy. Lets also not forget that the longer it takes me to fix something, the longer someone is without a PC. I need it and I need it now means I don't have 4 hours to spend mucking around with some random issue that I don't know if Ill ever be able to track down. Finally, if it were a simple issue that I could fix without reimaging, I'd do it. The last place I worked at could not reimage remotely, which meant shipping the PC to us and us shipping it back. It was annoying and I had to <gasp> get up from my PC to do that. I'd much rather bang on the keyboard for a few minutes to fix something. -----signature----- (none)
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Lonestar_1 Posts: 4,224 Registered: Aug 26, '04 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 3,775 User ID: 960,112	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	^^ PEBKAC. Most of what you describe is that, and I have dealt with plenty of those types. "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." I do agree that there are reasons to re-image for sure. And it is time saved all around, I have fixed plenty of PC issues that took a day or 2 to finally figure out for friends and family. Hell it took me 3 days to finally figure bizarre issue on my HTPC (curse you MS update), which also now has a full restore setup lol. BUT.. when you know of a simple way (15min) that will most likely fix the issue, it is well deserving of my ire (which they eventually did and it magically fixed it). As you said it is not everyone, there are good and bad folks on both sides. I do not like wasting my time either when I do not have to, no one does. -----signature----- http://gimpchimp.etilader.com/display.php?user=lonestarr 3500+ solo kills & Lone Enforcer WAR - IronRock Dest- Energist, Moogabooga SWTOR - KV - Energist, Moogabooga
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Marzuk Posts: 12,545 Registered: Oct 21, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 12,348 User ID: 729,742	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	The funny part is that "idiot proof" programs would probably not be to terribly hard (for the most part). People just tend to dramatically over complicate things. When I did tech support for an external drive / NAS supplier, people wanted their computer to be backed up automagically. The software was horrible, it defined vendor lock in, and was very difficult for the end user to test, and just in general provided a false sense of security that was going to kick them in the nuts. In the time that I worked there, I never saw the software actually recover anything. Its like "sorry man, backup is just not that simple". Lets face it, even if the software was decent, what are the chances that the average user would be able to test a full PC backup? We all know an untested backup is a worthless hail mary that may or may not work. Some kind of incremental backup is going to be based on the software automagically recognizing what to back up, or having the user select it which is prone to error. What I advised people to do was to just make two copies of anything they added to their computer. Just got all of your tax docs? Copy + Paste onto the drive. Just get a new album from Amazon? Copy + Paste. Its annoying, but its something even the newest computer user can understand after some repetition. -----signature----- (none)
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Lonestar_1 Posts: 4,224 Registered: Aug 26, '04 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 3,775 User ID: 960,112	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	I think the more complex the thing you are trying to do, the harder it is to make it completely error proof. There is usually always something that will go wrong. However if those errors are handled gracefully and correctly, it should never put the EU or your app out into limbo. And that backup story reminds me why I cringe when I see Raid 5 as the only backup. People do not understand the difference between failure tolerant and backup . It sure is annoying keeping a stack of drives for 1to1 backups for a media server. But worth the hassle imo. -----signature----- http://gimpchimp.etilader.com/display.php?user=lonestarr 3500+ solo kills & Lone Enforcer WAR - IronRock Dest- Energist, Moogabooga SWTOR - KV - Energist, Moogabooga
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Balor_Gafdan Title: Gun Toting Conservative Posts: 27,802 Registered: Dec 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 27,282 User ID: 563,478	Subject: Ever seen something like this?
	Lonestar_1 posted: ^^ PEBKAC. Most of what you describe is that, and I have dealt with plenty of those types. "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." I do agree that there are reasons to re-image for sure. And it is time saved all around, I have fixed plenty of PC issues that took a day or 2 to finally figure out for friends and family. Hell it took me 3 days to finally figure bizarre issue on my HTPC (curse you MS update), which also now has a full restore setup lol. BUT.. when you know of a simple way (15min) that will most likely fix the issue, it is well deserving of my ire (which they eventually did and it magically fixed it). As you said it is not everyone, there are good and bad folks on both sides. I do not like wasting my time either when I do not have to, no one does. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to reimage a machine. <edited the mean bit out> Edit: i realize how mean that post is now, but it was a long day of people telling us how to do our jobs, my fault. That being said, intel modular servers are pure <3 -----signature----- "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." Rolab - PT Warhammer
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