| Friday,
March 30, 2001 First for those who continue to send me
email based on what someone said I said about open source, please see
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/view145.html#absurd
before sending more. Bloody hell.
Next, I have been told where to find PYTHON. Thanks to those who took
the trouble. But really, someone must have broadcast that I didn't know
offhand -- why should I have? -- and now there's mail on that.
And if I am a bit irritable this morning, these little machines are
driving me mad. Roberta's perfectly normal Pentium III 550 with Windows 98
SE now has two defects: while I see her machine on the net from all
other machines, and I can access her files; and while previously mapped
drives to other machines on her machine are accessible; when I do NETWORK
NEIGHBORHOOD on her machine it searches endlessly and never finds
anything. Ever. I tried taking her machine off the local net and then
putting it back on. Same result. And then I found that the FIND (search)
program doesn't work. It comes up, it looks as if it is going to work, but
NOTHING HAPPENS.
So I am about to install Windows 98 SE again having done a backup of
everything on there. Only of course I can't find the Microsoft Windows 98
SE update disk I bought from Microsoft, meaning that after I do a repair
installation (I hope I can do a repair installation) I will I suppose have
to send her system off for critical updates. Well, OK, I can do that, but
sheesh! I ought to put Windows 2000 Pro on there and be done with it, but
she doesn't want to learn yet one more thing just now.
So here we go again. And I get nothing done. Well, I get something to
write about, but ye heavens... At least the net is working again. And
there seems to be DSL on the next block so there is hope for me yet...
Insanity. I can't run Windows 98 Setup on Roberta's machine. It
starts the wizard, and never comes back. Clearly I will have to scrub this
stupid machine to bare metal and start over. I hate doing that, but I
don't see any other way out. Why this went this way I do not know.
I hear stories like this a lot but they don't often happen to me. This
time it really has. Well, I have done a full backup of her system so it's
just a matter of bringing it up here and having at it, but what a colossal
waste of time for both of us.
1505: Well well. I got a test stand ready to bring Seattle -- Roberta's
ailing system -- up to since I was going to scrub it. Actually I had
decided I would put 2000 Pro on it as an "upgrade" to see how
that took care of the problems. But when I went down to look, after half
an hour Windows Setup Wizard was ready to install 98, so I'll try
reinstall of 98 first. If that does it I am done. If that does not do it
then I am going to do what I originally intended and install W 2000 Pro.
Meanwhile Sasha is sitting here telling me that this is all silly, the
really important thing I need to do is to walk the dog...
1525: Well, it ran through copying files, and for at least 5 minutes
has sat there having copied all the files, no hourglass -- and nothing
happening at all. I will give this not a heck of a lot longer before the
scrub operations begin. I'll bring it upstairs, but Roberta remarks
"Have you noticed how much speed they lose when you carry them
downstairs?"
1547: Happy Ending. Reinstalling Windows 98 did it. It took
forever. When I went downstairs to get the machine with the threat of
bringing it up here, Windows after a long time of doing nothing after
showing 100% of file copy was in the process of Shutting Down. Naturally
it failed to actually do that and I had to power cycle the machine.
But after that everything went automatically, the desktop was restored
as it was before I started, Network Neighborhood now finds all the
computers on the network, and Find works properly. Roberta's machine seems
to be restored to health. As she says, "We'll see if it lasts a week
so you can write about it in the column." But for now I have
fixed the problem by reinstalling Windows 98 SE. I still have to set the
system to download the upgrades but I can do that later.
Now to do something important like walk the dog.
Next week I will try to get Earthlink to start over on DSL to Chaos
Manor. I prefer their service if I can get it; for all I may rail at their
occasional glitches, I notice that I have far fewer problems than most
people; and I continue to recommend Earthlink as the ISP of choice if you
have that choice (and yes I know there are local outfits that do better
and more custom service but if you have one of those you know who you
are).
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