[Rant] Tech Whine Like a baby thread

figmentPez · Sep 5, 2017

I sure am glad this isn't my TV... and I hope it doesn't become normal for this to happen in the future:

"New Remote Required" An update to the TV broke compatibility with the remote control it came with. WTF?

Bubble181 · Sep 5, 2017

figmentPez said:
I sure am glad this isn't my TV... and I hope it doesn't become normal for this to happen in the future:

"New Remote Required" An update to the TV broke compatibility with the remote control it came with. WTF?

If you look further down, though, the TV still works perfectly as before in all ways that it used to work. It's only for some specific new options that you need the new remote....And they'll send it to you free of charge.

Eriol · Sep 5, 2017

Bubble181 said:
If you look further down, though, the TV still works perfectly as before in all ways that it used to work. It's only for some specific new options that you need the new remote....And they'll send it to you free of charge.

I'm OK with it because they'll send it to you free, but I agree that it's getting sketchy.

PatrThom · Sep 5, 2017

I'm still not happy with the idea of my TV needing updates in the first place.
Mainly, I'm not happy with the TV people putting another computer between my source and the TV and then using their computer to limit what I can do with my source.

--Patrick

jwhouk · Sep 21, 2017

Welp, because of that little igdkmd64.sys issue, I essentially had to reset Windows X to out-of-the-box (which it never was for me). That means a whole bunch of my programs got trashed because of course that's what Microsoft thinks you want to have happen. And, sadly, it meant that my copies of Office 2013 are now toast - and, oh, by the way, I also lost all of my e-mails since 2012.

drifter · Sep 21, 2017

Should have heeded the immortal words of Terius Gray and "Back that thang up."

bhamv3 · Sep 21, 2017

I find it annoying to have to hunt down an up-to-date version of the audio codec every time MX Player updates on my phone.

jwhouk · Sep 21, 2017

drifter said:
Should have heeded the immortal words of Terius Gray and "Back that thang up."

That's just it - I thought I HAD BACKED it all up.

Gared · Sep 29, 2017

This really, truly is a whine... tomorrow I have to cancel a Comcast account. I tried over the phone already, but all I was able to do was get to customer retention to try to smooth sell me into keeping my Comcast service for an area where they don't provide service. I know better than to put up with that bullshit, so tomorrow I will take the equipment back to the local Comcast store and they will cancel my account. If they do not cancel my account, I imagine I'll join the legion of other customers forced to take to social media to shame them into acting like decent people.

PatrThom · Sep 29, 2017

See if you can't get them to sign something or put it on paper, too...in case they ever dispute exactly what day you canceled.

--Patrick

Gared · Sep 29, 2017

PatrThom said:
See if you can't get them to sign something or put it on paper, too...in case they ever dispute exactly what day you canceled.

--Patrick

The other reason for going in. They can't "the check is in the mail" you if you're standing in front of them requesting a print-out.

GasBandit · Sep 29, 2017

My dashcam stopped working. Pruveeo doesn't answer its support 800 number or its support e-mail.

:mad:

Well, I guess that's the risk you take when you buy a $35 dashcam.

PatrThom · Sep 29, 2017

GasBandit said:
My dashcam stopped working. Pruveeo doesn't answer its support 800 number or its support e-mail.

Well, I guess that's the risk you take when you buy a $35 dashcam.

Noooooooo you were probably over your cold now too ahhhhhhhhhh

--Patrick

Squidleybits · Oct 1, 2017

Did dude screw up my screen protector last night? It looks like there is something stuck under it in the middle of the picture there and a little chip out of it nearby.

Gared · Oct 1, 2017

Gared said:
The other reason for going in. They can't "the check is in the mail" you if you're standing in front of them requesting a print-out.

Aaaaand it didn't work. They had a long wait time at the office, seeing as how only one person was helping people and one person was taking peoples' names and putting them in the queue.

GasBandit · Oct 1, 2017

GasBandit said:
My dashcam stopped working. Pruveeo doesn't answer its support 800 number or its support e-mail.

Well, I guess that's the risk you take when you buy a $35 dashcam.

Their support finally answered their e-mail, and they're shipping me a replacement. That's good!

My UPS just died and I lost power in the middle of a stream. That's bad.

PatrThom · Oct 1, 2017

GasBandit said:
Their support finally answered their e-mail, and they're shipping me a replacement. That's good!
My UPS just died and I lost power in the middle of a stream. That's bad.

Time for a new battery pack? Or are you going to upgrade the whole UPS to something PFC- and sine wave-compatible?

--Patrick

GasBandit · Oct 1, 2017

PatrThom said:
Time for a new battery pack? Or are you going to upgrade the whole UPS to something PFC- and sine wave-compatible?

--Patrick

Getting a more powerful one, and not the cheapest Cyberpower piece-o-shit they have. Glad I have amazon prime now and shipping is free, batteries are heavy.

Gared · Oct 2, 2017

Have to replace my keyboard and mouse due to a serious water spill. This will be my family's 4th DeathAdder in a year.

- or -

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DarkAudit · Oct 4, 2017

I installed Gentoo on the spare Optiplex as a "because I can" exercise. Now I'm at "why bother?" I haven't updated it in weeks, and because it's low on memory, the 4GB swap can't handle some updates without manually adding temporary swap space. And even then, a Chromium update can last up to 12 hours.

It's just... there. Not doing anything the other systems aren't doing better. A different distro wouldn't make much of a difference.

PatrThom · Oct 4, 2017

What are you doing that 8GB is not enough??? (assuming 4GB RAM + 4GB swap).

--Patrick

strawman · Oct 4, 2017

PatrThom said:
What are you doing that 8GB is not enough??? (assuming 4GB RAM + 4GB swap).

--Patrick

The problem isn't "what can't it do" the problem is "it has no purpose, and updating it is pointless, and given updates are painful, why bother?"

I expect if he had a need for the machine (maybe start playing around with firewalls, proxies, or servers) then he'd configure the OS differently to match the machine's capabilities and his needs.

But he has no needs for this machine to fulfill. It's just there, eating power and, occasionally, time.

PatrThom · Oct 4, 2017

Yeah it's an Optiplex, so it's not like he could even mine with it.

--Patrick

DarkAudit · Oct 4, 2017

PatrThom said:
Yeah it's an Optiplex, so it's not like he could even mine with it.

--Patrick

A SFF Optiplex at that, so mining is definitely out.

The Chromium compile likes to eat all the available RAM and swap space, then demand more.

DarkAudit · Oct 7, 2017

So upgrading my phone broke the mobile banking app. Trying to enroll the device gave a "device id not found" error. When tech support had me delete the app and then try to log in to the web site, I tried the security question option because the phone numbers for the one-time code were outdated. No security questions were available.

And the people who would take care of correcting the old phone numbers are out of the office until TUESDAY because of the holiday. So the only way of checking my balance is the old fashioned way of actually going to the bank and using the ATM.

PatrThom · Oct 7, 2017

Upgrading to a new phone will also really mess up some kinds of OTP or password apps you might have installed, too. Many of them require the old phone do something to release/unenroll the account/app/device before it can be moved to a new phone, and many people don't keep their contact info up to date, meaning they also don't have a second way in to reset their access.

--Patrick

Ravenpoe · Oct 7, 2017

Gared said:
Have to replace my keyboard and mouse due to a serious water spill. This will be my family's 4th DeathAdder in a year.

- or -

¥Havcer to+9ui ererp
3jklacver m,.*y]6 l
3jkery]6buio+9aerdf a-ndf m,.*uio+9ser fduio+9er t+9uio a serr9uio+s waterr spio+9ul
3jkjkl.h
3m,.* T¥uio+9s wo+9uijkl
3l
3jk ber mh,.*y]6 dfa,.*mo+9ui3jkl
y]'s 34t¥ DFerat¥hAdfdferr +9uio n a 6y]erarm,.*

Man, don't buy razor peripherals. They're overpriced and shit quality when it comes to durability.

Gared · Oct 7, 2017

Ravenpoe said:
Man, don't buy razor peripherals. They're overpriced and shit quality when it comes to durability.

They're the only comfortable mouse I've found, and I really can't blame them for bong water getting into the bottom of the mouse.

fade · Oct 10, 2017

stienman said:
The problem isn't "what can't it do" the problem is "it has no purpose, and updating it is pointless, and given updates are painful, why bother?"

I expect if he had a need for the machine (maybe start playing around with firewalls, proxies, or servers) then he'd configure the OS differently to match the machine's capabilities and his needs.

But he has no needs for this machine to fulfill. It's just there, eating power and, occasionally, time.

Yeah, I picked up some old Dells from work for free. Played with them for a while and realized I had no use for them whatsoever. So I installed Linux Mint and gave them to Goodwill's computer donations (they have a separate, special storefront for PC donations here in houston).

drawn_inward · Oct 10, 2017

Our Roku is acting glitchier every day. Apps crash, the unit crashes, apps are sluggish, etc. I think it's time for an upgrade or platform change. I am think the Fire is a nice option. I'd like to make an HTPC, but I don't have the cash or the time right now. I also want to set up a media server, but I need to invest some $ for that too.

Tinwhistler · Oct 10, 2017

Weird. I've only ever had like 3 crashes on my rokus. I have 4 in the house. 3 of them are Roku 3's, and one of them is a Roku 4.

That said, I mostly use it for Plex, and I use handbrake to convert my video files into roku-friendly formats.

GasBandit · Oct 11, 2017

You should not be allowed to put "PC Input!" in big bold letters on the outside of a TV's box if the only inputs the TV actually has are HDMI :mad:

Guess I'll shell out 8 bucks for a converter. Can't be arsed to haul the damn thing back to the store after I got it unpacked and everything.

I'm really making good use of the free shipping from Amazon Prime this year...

PatrThom · Oct 11, 2017

GasBandit said:
You should not be allowed to put "PC Input!" in big bold letters on the outside of a TV's box if the only inputs the TV actually has are HDMI
Guess I'll shell out 8 bucks for a converter. Can't be arsed to haul the damn thing back to the store after I got it unpacked and everything.
I'm really making good use of the free shipping from Amazon Prime this year...

At least you should be able to get by with just a passive converter, assuming your PC has either DVI or DisplayPort.

--Patrick

GasBandit · Oct 11, 2017

PatrThom said:
At least you should be able to get by with just a passive converter, assuming your PC has either DVI or DisplayPort.

--Patrick

Nope. VGA. But a converter is only 8 bucks off amazon.

drawn_inward · Oct 12, 2017

Tinwhistler said:
Weird. I've only ever had like 3 crashes on my rokus. I have 4 in the house. 3 of them are Roku 3's, and one of them is a Roku 4.

That said, I mostly use it for Plex, and I use handbrake to convert my video files into roku-friendly formats.

It's a Roku 2. It has been fairly reliable (since 2012ish) until about 6 months ago. Not bad I guess. I don't think I will get another one though. Unless I find a great deal.