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As my readers know, I have an unhappy laptop.
Prior to a trip out of town, I had put it in to be worked on. The next day, having cleaned some problem files, they returned it to me, assuring me that they had not seen the problems I had reported and they left it on for hours!
Well, yes. If you do nothing with it, there are no problems. But if you try to use it (as I did on that weekend) it will not work. Fortunately, knowing I had a presentation to do, I had prepped a back up laptop and it worked fine.
Fastforward. I put it back in for work. They asked me for the reinstall disk. I knew it was somewhere in my office. (Oops!) On my way to do other things, I went to the house and in under 5 minutes had a reinstall disk!! We drove it down there, with my being very proud of myself, and I handed it off to the employee.
The next day, about noon, I got a call from their tech. "This is a Compaq reinstall disk. I need a Gateway reinstall disk."
Oh.
Back to the office! Amazingly, once I realize my mistake, in less than 5 more minutes, I found the right disk!!! I drove it down. The technician confirmed it was the right one. The next day was my scheduled flight to Fort Lauderdale and he thought it would be ready before I left.
Saturday morning, as I was packing to go, I got a call confirming that it was ready for me. I was thrilled! No presentation this time, so I had not borrowed the other laptop. As I was going to be driven to the airport, I knew I needed to leave buffer time, so I planned to leave the house at 2pm. With computer pick-up, I knew I needed just a bit more, so I left the house at 1:45pm, and drove down to the repair/sales shop.
They closed at 1pm. AAAAAAAAARGH! I made my flight and got down there uneventfully.
*********
But wait! I am saved! For a small fee, they have TV Internet in the room! Hmm... where's the keyboard? No keyboard in the room. It was after midnight, so I went to sleep.
The next day, as I was leaving the hotel, I mentioned that (and a couple other things) to the front desk whereupon the clerk explained that the keyboards were provided on request. I so requested and when I returned, it was there. Problem solved.
Or maybe not. I got back to my room around 11 or midnight or so, and tried to use it. Nothing on the TV told me how to do it. There was no mention (other than a picture in the help section) of TV Internet to be seen! I called the front desk where the clerk informed me that she a) had no clue and b) had no engineer.
The next afternoon, the engineer came up to the room. He pushed all the buttons, checked all the screens, and turned to me. "There is nothing here that tells you how to get into TV Internet!" he explained. "I don't really have anything to do with that, it is supported by the company on the screen. But I will report this to the manager."
When I returned to my hotel yesterday, for my last night, the TV now had a listing for TV Internet! I highlighted that option, selected it, and a weather.com window opened. Down at the bottom was an internet address bar. I grabbed the keyboard, I pointed it at the screen, and started typing in aim.com, figuring to use AIM Express.
Nothing appeared in the address bar. Nothing on the keyboard did anything. Tired, sleepy, and defeated, I gave up yet again.
Tomorrow, I plan on reclaiming my laptop. I wonder if it will work this time.
Prior to a trip out of town, I had put it in to be worked on. The next day, having cleaned some problem files, they returned it to me, assuring me that they had not seen the problems I had reported and they left it on for hours!
Well, yes. If you do nothing with it, there are no problems. But if you try to use it (as I did on that weekend) it will not work. Fortunately, knowing I had a presentation to do, I had prepped a back up laptop and it worked fine.
Fastforward. I put it back in for work. They asked me for the reinstall disk. I knew it was somewhere in my office. (Oops!) On my way to do other things, I went to the house and in under 5 minutes had a reinstall disk!! We drove it down there, with my being very proud of myself, and I handed it off to the employee.
The next day, about noon, I got a call from their tech. "This is a Compaq reinstall disk. I need a Gateway reinstall disk."
Oh.
Back to the office! Amazingly, once I realize my mistake, in less than 5 more minutes, I found the right disk!!! I drove it down. The technician confirmed it was the right one. The next day was my scheduled flight to Fort Lauderdale and he thought it would be ready before I left.
Saturday morning, as I was packing to go, I got a call confirming that it was ready for me. I was thrilled! No presentation this time, so I had not borrowed the other laptop. As I was going to be driven to the airport, I knew I needed to leave buffer time, so I planned to leave the house at 2pm. With computer pick-up, I knew I needed just a bit more, so I left the house at 1:45pm, and drove down to the repair/sales shop.
They closed at 1pm. AAAAAAAAARGH! I made my flight and got down there uneventfully.
*********
But wait! I am saved! For a small fee, they have TV Internet in the room! Hmm... where's the keyboard? No keyboard in the room. It was after midnight, so I went to sleep.
The next day, as I was leaving the hotel, I mentioned that (and a couple other things) to the front desk whereupon the clerk explained that the keyboards were provided on request. I so requested and when I returned, it was there. Problem solved.
Or maybe not. I got back to my room around 11 or midnight or so, and tried to use it. Nothing on the TV told me how to do it. There was no mention (other than a picture in the help section) of TV Internet to be seen! I called the front desk where the clerk informed me that she a) had no clue and b) had no engineer.
The next afternoon, the engineer came up to the room. He pushed all the buttons, checked all the screens, and turned to me. "There is nothing here that tells you how to get into TV Internet!" he explained. "I don't really have anything to do with that, it is supported by the company on the screen. But I will report this to the manager."
When I returned to my hotel yesterday, for my last night, the TV now had a listing for TV Internet! I highlighted that option, selected it, and a weather.com window opened. Down at the bottom was an internet address bar. I grabbed the keyboard, I pointed it at the screen, and started typing in aim.com, figuring to use AIM Express.
Nothing appeared in the address bar. Nothing on the keyboard did anything. Tired, sleepy, and defeated, I gave up yet again.
Tomorrow, I plan on reclaiming my laptop. I wonder if it will work this time.
