Such a noob

[Dennis]

So, this morning, I'm checking emails, surfing boards, etc, when a pop-up comes up that there's an update to DivX Codec. Not awake yet, I click on it. It starts downloading while I continue. Suddenly, I click on a site with sound. No sound. This is just as the update has finished downloading.

I think, crap. It's messed with my sound drivers. So I reboot. No sound.

Then I do a system restore. Reboot. No sound.

So I uninstall everything vaguely related to DivX. Reboot. No sound. In the questionnaire that asks why I'm uninstalling, I say my sound is messed, I'm not happy.

I go through the troubleshooter on my sound card, which says everything is working. No sound.

Do another system restore. Reboot. No sound.

Gotta go to work. Shut down.

Come home. Boot up. No sound.

Make sure I've uninstalled everything DivX related. I have. So, I'm about to uninstall my sound drivers and get updated ones when the Windows Troubleshooter (which has never done me one bit of good) pops up. I figure what the hell.

So we go through the first stages....what kind of sounds can't you hear, etc. Then the stupid questions - are your speakers plugged in, are they turned on. My woofer is behind my desk and not visible. Suddenly I think....hey, the cat was messing around back there this morning. I crawl back there, and sure enough, she jumped on the woofer. The switch is on top, and she's turned it off.

such a noob. Should've been one of the first things I checked. D'oh.

Dennis

[Hazumu]

One of those rules of troubleshooting -- work from the simple to the complex.

It's amazing how often I forget it, too...



Karen

[Dennis]

My favourite geeking story was not one where I was the noob (of course). My office mate, after moving offices, said his computer wouldn't start up. So I looked, and, of course it was unplugged. I plugged it in, booted it up and shrugged, "it was unplugged". He said, "it has to be plugged in?"

Oof, pack it up and send it back imo.

Dennis