Recently we here at Casa de Kim have had some problems with sporadic internet access and we thought it had something to do with our service provider. A couple weeks ago when I sat down to write a blog post, I found I had no access until later that night, when I just posted a brief note mentioning the problem. The same thing happened again Friday night. I had already been playing around on the internet, reading blogs, and had even posted a brief message about National Quilting Day when our internet connection went down again suddenly.
It's a little alarming to realize how much we depend on something like the internet or our telephones. I email a friend, Eileen, twice a day; in the morning and evening. I thought if Eileen didn't hear from me for any length of time, she might worry, so I brought my Kindle with me on the quilt show trip. When we stopped for coffee drinks at Starbucks, I took advantage of their WiFi to send off a very brief message letting her know I was okay and what the problem was. And while I was off playing with my friends at the quilt show, Hubby was tasked with contacting our internet service provider to get the problem resolved.
When I got home Saturday night, I learned the problem wasn't our service provider but was instead due to our outdated modem--time to buy a new one. So Hubby went off to the electronics store and I spent a couple hours blowing dust out of the computer and messing around with plugs and wires and software and passwords. Why is it that these computer things that would take a tech 10 minutes to fix always take me two or three hours? So on Saturday night I spent a second frustrating evening on computer stuff, but at least the computer is up and running again, and the fact that I finally took time to remove the dust from the computer guts seems to have it running better than it had been lately.
Remember when computers were supposed to make our lives so much easier and better? I'm sure they DO, but I can't help but feel, now that the weekend is at its end, that I lost several precious hours messing around with the computer when I'd much rather have been sewing!
I'm a tech teacher...it's a love - hate relationship!
ReplyDeleteConsider yourself ahead of the game. My experience has not been to get a computer situation solved so quickly or easily.
ReplyDeleteGlad you posted that today. My computer has been acting sporadic lately, maybe I just need to dust around it better. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletecindy
I remembered that you were having internet problems. As you described the situation in this post, I was going to suggest the modem--and then you did. I had the same problem a couple years ago. My husband's desk top is plugged right into the modem while I use the wireless (and so does our printer.) I kept having internet issues, but he was fine. Since he was fine, he wasn't "concerned" with my trouble. I finally decided it might be our wireless router that was the culprit and went out and bought one. My husband was skeptical but hooked it up. Low and behold, I was no longer having internet issues! I'm glad you got your problem figured out! It is crazy how much the internet is part of our lives!
ReplyDeleteYep, I had the same problem and sure enough it was our modem. When we bought a new one the guy at the store had a good laugh over how old our previous one was- he couldn't believe that it could have lasted that long!
ReplyDeleteI guess I am lucky. When it comes to computer problems I have a built in computer specialist! My husband is a software engineer and does all the networking and server maintenance at his work as well as writing code. He hates trouble shooting problems with our network but he does it anyway. I am glad to hear your up and running smoothly again!
ReplyDeletei love that picture - it looks just like my plumber ... it took me three days the last time we changed out the modem to have internet access - tech support was in India and the directions were in Chinese - grrr! by the time it was running again i didn't care if i EVER paid another bill online...
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