I spent 7 hours today setting up a brand new computer for a client. It took an hour and a half just to format the hard drive (a 200GB hard drive). The XP installation was another hour and then installing software. The problem was connecting to the internet. I installed a new D-Link router and although it looked to be working, no page would display in Explorer. Over 1/2 an hour on the phone with the ISP, and it turns out to be a problem with the line, so temporarily they've helped me set up a broadband dial-up account. At least all the antivirus, spyware and trojan cleaners are all up to date.
The next problem was networking the old and new computers. Although I can see them in Network Neighbourhood, I couldn't get in to any of the files on the other computers. Not enough permission errors, the computer was saying the cable was unplugged which it wasn't. How could I see the other computer if the cable was unplugged? So frustrating. When I got home tonight I found a fix for an SP2 limited or no connectivity problem and I'm hoping the problem is Microsoft and the fix will fix it. Otherwise it's back to pinging and changing settings until I get the damn thing to work. Another strongly agreed upon point in the forums was to disable Windows Firewall. I can do that and install Zone Alarm maybe, if all else fails.
So it's been a rather long day, and there's plenty more to do. I got none of the old files migrated across and the old computer has no internet access. I hope tomorrow is a better day.
Leave a comment