2024, home, Media, Technology, TV, Uncategorized

The Lost Cord

33 Comments

Over the past month I have had to move from one suite of offices to another suite of offices three computers we use for psychological testing at work. Our tech guy has been instructed by his superiors that he can’t assist me with the move. He is only responsible for making sure the electrical outlets in the new rooms are working. He is allowed to help if we have trouble getting the computers to work if they don’t work after I move them and reconnect all the cords.

Well, it is the reconnecting the cords that is the challenge. I am proud that I was able to keep the computers and monitors connected while I moved them so the set up wasn’t too hard. It was somewhat of a challenge to make sure the speakers were set up correctly, since I had to unplug them for the move. I used a cart to make the move.

Now that the gas stove is set up and working again in the family room, I face the task of reconnecting the TV, cable box, DVD player, and ancient VHS player to one another and get them working. When we disconnected them to move them so that the carpet installers could do their work, I tried to keep the cords plugged in to the players as much as I could. We couldn’t keep all the things connected like I did at work. I fear I may need to phone the cable company, who is also our internet and land line provider to come and help with the set up, which they will do, but I hope I can figure it out on my own. I just hope all the cords are there and not somewhere odd in the furnace room where everything was stored and where we still have too much clutter. I also have to figure out how to clean the lens on the cd player in the living room. Uffda!

What has been your greatest technological set up challenge? Is it hard or easy for you to ask for help?

33 thoughts on “The Lost Cord”

  1. Whenever I have to move tech stuff, I label each end of every cord with tape. It’s laborious sometimes but then everything goes back together. 

    I have to ask for help a lot with my phone. I’d probably be better at it if I had a better teacher, but her method is always just to grab the phone out of my hand and do whatever it is I need done. That means I never actually learned how to do anything.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    2. I hate the way cords on large computer monitors are set up. If you plug the cords into the monitor first, it makes it awkward to move the monitor into position. But if you move it into position first, then you have to reach under the monitor and push the plugs upward into a recessed area that has several different kinds of ports, each designed for a different kind of plug. So you’re trying to plug the HDMI plug into the power socket, or the power cord into the display port. And they usually make everything black, so if you are trying to peer around the screen to see what you’re doing, it’s all dark. I wish they would come up with a better design.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. I’ve never had any trouble with setting up computer equipment. The cords seem self-evident. Wireless printers can sometimes be a little recalcitrant.

    The toughest set up challenge for me goes back in the early ‘90s, before the World Wide Web when the only online network was Gopher, a text-only system created by a group from the University of Minnesota. Computers back then weren’t configured to just plug in to online activity. Instructions as to how to reconfigure them was sketchy and scarce but it entailed minor reprogramming of your operating system and identifying which terminal mode you wished to simulate. Somehow I managed to figure it all out.

    Usually when I have a tech question related to one of our devices I just Google it.

    One used to be able to buy a cleaner disk for CD players. Now that the players are somewhat passé I wonder if they are still available.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

        1. In Rorschach terms you are most likely introversive, meaning you solve problems based on what you think, using logic. I, on the other hand, tend to be a trial and error problem solver, meaning I am probably extratensive. Both styles are equally effective solving problems. I have given so many Rorschach tests I could never actually take the test.

          Liked by 4 people

  3. What a nightmare, Renee. Makes me mad that your superiors said the tech guy couldn’t help you.

    Biggest tech challenge was probably when we moved. Now I have Jason at Computer Dock when I have enough issues to have him come over. And changing our email address is still ongoing.

    It’s getting easier to ask for help, but I hardly know where to start.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I, too, am puzzled, Renee, as to why the tech guy was instructed by his superiors not to help you move your computers. Is it the physical labor of hauling them from one location to another that the tech dept. objects to? Whatever their reasoning is, I hope you’ll have everything properly hooked up and functioning in no time.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. I don’t understand why the tech guy was forbidden to help you. Something to do with HIPAA? It seems odd to force you to set up your own equipment when there are tech people there.

    I don’t have too much trouble with setting up equipment. I bought a new HP printer recently. My old one was printing out long lines of color and wasting the cartridges. This new HP doesn’t want to show itself to my other devices on Bluetooth. It will connect to my WiFi so I’m using it that way but it should also connect via Bluetooth. I had to move its location so that it is closer to me. It’s not ideal. I don’t really want everything I own in the living room. I might start over with the connections and see if I can’t get it to connect using Bluetooth.

    There used to be “The Lost Chord” music store in Mankato.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Bluetooth has a more limited range than Wi Fi. Why would you want to connect your printer that way? I’m not even sure if most printers are configured for bluetooth. They don’t show up that way on any of my devices.

      why would you have to move the printer closer with a Wi Fi connection?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. The instructions dictate that Bluetooth should be connected to my devices BEFORE connecting to WiFi. It has never shown up as available in any of my devices. There’s an orange light on but I’m not sure what that’s for. I’ve had easier printers to work with than this one. My old HP (the one that printed out bars of color) was both Bluetooth and WiFi. It had the blue zigzaggy light on it. It was upstairs in the spare bedroom and it worked fine – until it didn’t. This one seems to be hit or miss, although it just printed out a pattern for me.

        Like

        Reply

      2. It didn’t work until I moved it closer. The router is upstairs but my devices are on the main floor. It wasn’t responding when I sent print jobs from the main floor, but when I took my iPad upstairs, voila! So I brought it down here and it’s been working pretty well. There are instructions with it that say that if it does certain things it might not be connected to Bluetooth. You’re supposed to start over, disconnect everything, tell it to forget the WiFi, then try reconnecting. I haven’t tried that yet.

        Like

        Reply

        1. I’m surprised about the bluetooth. I’ve never encountered that. Bluetooth, unlike WiFi, is an unsecured connection, meaning it doesn’t require a password. That means anyone within bluetooth range could have access to your printer and any information you send to it.

          From what you describe regarding the distance from your devices it requires, it sounds more like in fact it is connected via bluetooth but not WiFi.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. When I turn on Wifi in this apartment building I see about 20 of them, all secured. when I turn on Bluetooth, I see about a dozen, also all secured by password.

          Liked by 1 person

  5. Setting up a formatting template for my latest book was a major tech challenge. Took me many hours. I’m sure it wasn’t worth it for just the one book, but I bought a program called Atticus for a one-time fee and perpetual updates, so formatting the next book will be faster and cost nothing. If I keep publishing, it’ll be a money-maker down the road.

    I used to be a serious do-it-myselfer and rarely asked for help. Now, with the luxury of a few dollars in the bank, plus being too old to safely do a lot of physical labor, I hire out quite often.

    Chris in Owatonna

    ***BSP** Hey folks, there’s a new-to-me bookstore in Albert Lea! It’s AJ’s Book Hideaway. The store is sponsoring andhosting a conversation between me and author/colleague Jason Lee Willis.

    The catch is, we won’t be chatting at the bookstore. Instead, we’ll be at the Thirsty Fox Pub in Albert Lea from 1:00 pm-2:30 pm. So if you like to sip on a beverage while listening to two old former schoolteachers talk about their books and writing in general, come on down. We’re going in pretty much unscripted, so it could get interesting/wild and wacky/out of control??? ***END BSP

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. Again, in Rorschach terms, it is best to be a flexible Introversive or extratensive person. A flexible Introversive will entertain a little bit if instinct or gut feelings when solving problems. Likewise, a trial and error button pusher like myself is more successful solving problems when I slow down and use some logic. Being like Spock, a super introversive, doesn’t work that well in the long run.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I spend far too much time fighting with technology lately. Part of the problem is “software” and how it’s all invisible. If I can’t hit it with a bigger hammer, how am I supposed to fix it? “BFH” Big F-ing Hammer. 

    I usually can hook up anything. It may take Google as Bill says.

    But it’s surprising how many people won’t just try pushing buttons. Just last week I had someone tell me an outlet wasn’t working. They ran 100′ extension cord from down the hall and through doors and up to the roof. I went up and pushed the reset button and the green light came on. Jeez, just TRY it.

    Mom had a razor that wouldn’t work. My sister messed with it and handed it to me. I smacked it on my hand a few times and now it works. I’m like Dad, I can fix anything, haha–

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  8. Late to the Party Again, Baboons

    My guess about the “NoAssistance” orders here, is the supervisor is trying to prevent the tech from giving personal, rather than office-based, advice about tech issues which are everywhere. But why?

    The major issue with tech in my life is that husband has not made the transition to easy intuitive systems, like on-line banking. If a transaction was coded in say, MSDOS from 25 years ago, he would be fine. But his brain does not work in the newer systems, so I am now tech support for financial and medical online systems that bewilder him. HIs health is starting to fail requiring more interaction with medical systems, so it is a thing around here. We also have a few stashes of old cords that I forgotten about. Just what is that for? Probably something long gone. 

    Can cords be recycled?

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I have a whole box of cords from long-gone electronics. Some of them are types of connectors that have been supplanted. There is a dealer in secondhand electronic equipment nearby and he might accept them but I have this fear that the one cord I give away will be the very one I need someday. For 99% of them that’s very unlikely but why take a chance?

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    2. Yes. Cords can and should be recycled. I don’t know how or where you do it up there. We have a household waste recycling center in Rice County. You could search on electronic waste recycling. I’m just not sure how it’s done up there. We also have a guy here that takes stuff on the first Monday of every month. He makes his living breaking things down and recycling them. Cords contain copper wire.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  11. I feel like I am coming back up for air, or it seems that way, after about 5 weeks of high stress medical stuff out of Abbott Northwestern, with three trips up there for three procedures and three video conferences. And so at the end I will not bother you with any of it except what happened today.

    It seems every place there and every service they hired wanted me to fill out a customer service evaluation. They perstered me until I did. Today I filled one out on the service who did anesthesia. Now, like I would know. I was wheeled into a room. They put a mask on me. And I was out. But at the end of it the service that was doing the survey asked me if I wanted to complete a survey on national issues. At that point an aide asked me a question. I was with Sandy. I looked down at my Ipad and there was survey loaded with right wing bias.

    Yeah, that was nice to see. Of course, that had nothing to do with ANW, but sheesh.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

        1. I would explain but is not very interesting. It resulted in the worst and longest-lasting pain flair up in my life.

          Like

  12. Nice post! If you wouldn’t mind, subscribe for free to our blog at the homepage neuralaym.com for unique neurological tales! Also, if you want Brain Games which are proven to boost brain health long-term, search this link- amzn.to/3S3EcVm !

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to billinmpls Cancel reply