Saturday, December 23, 2006

Even the little things...

...are conspiring to irritate the living bejeebers out of me.

Since the mailbox was empty once again, I decided (for budget reasons) to replace the malfunctioning CD/DVD drive in my computer with a nice low-mileage part I installed in my previous comp. not long before it died an ugly death.

Did all the usual: after lugging the old box out of the garage and whipping out the good drive, I disconnected my working computer, set it on the dining table and prepared to do the transplant surgery.

Nope. Not happening. Not only are the various mechanisms "protected" by a plastic piece that has to be broken -- thus voiding the warranty -- to get access to cables and fasteners, but the connections appear to be much different, and not interchangeable. I couldn't be sure unless I took the drive out, which I can't.

IS-THIS-MAN-THAT-STUPID? THOUGHT: I know you're wondering why, if the stupid thing is still under warranty (an extended warranty I paid extra for at Fry's), why don't I just haul it over there and let them fix it? Simple answer: they will want to keep it for a minimum of two days, maybe longer.

So here I sit, unable to finish burning the CDs I want to send to a couple of friends, unable to so much as listen to music in here. And, oh yeah, I can't look at any press material for work that came on CDs, either.

Looks as if I have three choices (after the holidays, of course): I can call one of those they-come-to-you technogeeks and spend $100 or more getting the thing straightened out, or I can cart it back to Fry's and sit around with my thumb up my (deleted) for however long it takes 'em to decide to fix it. Or I can pull out the ol' 12-gauge, ventilate that ugly black box thoroughly, and be done with the whole damn mess.

Option Three looks real good right now....

Just another little dose of Christmas Cheer around here....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, how bout #4, buy an external cd/dvd drive??? And you CAN listen to music online yanno. I'm guessing you have speakers.

Doug would know way more about these kinds of things. Oh, D.........

Anonymous said...

hope you get it resolved soon. have a good christmas mr scribs (( hugs ))

MrScribbler said...

Int -- Note one particular word in the entry: "budget." External drives ain't cheap, and right now, I have to be. Cheap, that is.

Anonymous said...

hmmm I suggest hauling it outside and taking a sledge hammer to it....much more fun really

Anonymous said...

My computer knowledge is so limited I'd probably zap myself by accident while trying to murder the damn thing. :(

Take care, friend.

Anonymous said...

I hope you get everything straightened out real soon, Mr. Scribbs. (((hugs)))

Anonymous said...

Oh man that sucks. I hope you can get it figured out and you don't have to take option #3!

Gill

Doug said...

My laptop is the only PC I've had with a warranty, so I never worried about anything but individual parts.

I've never seen a PC case that had to be broken into.

All CD/DVD-ROM drives are IDE, and use the same power and data cables that they have for the last ten years. UNLESS you have a PC that uses a slimline, laptop ROM drive (not likely).

MrScribbler said...

dal -- since I can't really see where the cables go, I'm not 100% certain they are different. But that fershlugginer plastic piece does not seem to want to come off without being broken.

I'll try again tomorrow. It irritates me.

Dorrie said...

there should be another option: you bringing it back to them, let them see what's wrong, and insist they loan you a laptop or something so you can use your CD's. The biggest problem I see is you not being able to save your data! I hope you don't lose any..... Go ask them, tell them the dire situation... if you're lucky, and I hope you are for a change, you might get a guy who actually KNOWS what he's doing!