Computer headaches...

Grr. Spent a lot of day trying to figure out why the descriptions of a computer attached to a certain serial number weren't matching up. Our IT guy was looking at a fax I sent and, granted, while I don't have the neatest handwriting in the world, to be fair I also included the number in the original email I sent.

And is it just me, or does it seem like no one reads past the first paragraph? I always think people would prefer (and more polite of me) one email with several questions in it, rather than a barrage of them from me with one question each. But it seems like I only ever get an answer to my first question and no one reads any further, unless I email again and rattle their cages.

Anyway, sounds like we may have a new wetlab computer in the works. Our Access data entry program developed a glitch and we keep getting an error when the computer is supposed to open the ports to the bitpad and the balance, so we've been having to measure, weigh and enter our fish data by hand. After much searching for solutions and even having a few helpful people from UtterAccess.com give me clues, I gave up trying to fix it for free, and called the guy who wrote the program for help. He could come out to fix it, but after looking at the equipment - the computer is still Windows 98, and the bitpad is 12 years old?!? (but nevertheless a model you can still buy used) - the money might be better spent on an upgrade. Then we can spend his $100/hr. towards revamping the program instead of fixing the old version. Our time for processing samples is greatly slowed in the meantime, though. I was thinking a few hundred bucks might be worth it so it could at least be used until such time as the new equipment became available, but he says it could take 2-4 hrs. just to figure out what the problem was, before he could get to fixing it.

Ah well. I suppose it was overdue, anyway.

Computer headaches...

Grr. Spent a lot of day trying to figure out why the descriptions of a computer attached to a certain serial number weren't matching up. Our IT guy was looking at a fax I sent and, granted, while I don't have the neatest handwriting in the world, to be fair I also included the number in the original email I sent.

And is it just me, or does it seem like no one reads past the first paragraph? I always think people would prefer (and more polite of me) one email with several questions in it, rather than a barrage of them from me with one question each. But it seems like I only ever get an answer to my first question and no one reads any further, unless I email again and rattle their cages.

Anyway, sounds like we may have a new wetlab computer in the works. Our Access data entry program developed a glitch and we keep getting an error when the computer is supposed to open the ports to the bitpad and the balance, so we've been having to measure, weigh and enter our fish data by hand. After much searching for solutions and even having a few helpful people from UtterAccess.com give me clues, I gave up trying to fix it for free, and called the guy who wrote the program for help. He could come out to fix it, but after looking at the equipment - the computer is still Windows 98, and the bitpad is 12 years old?!? (but nevertheless a model you can still buy used) - the money might be better spent on an upgrade. Then we can spend his $100/hr. towards revamping the program instead of fixing the old version. Our time for processing samples is greatly slowed in the meantime, though. I was thinking a few hundred bucks might be worth it so it could at least be used until such time as the new equipment became available, but he says it could take 2-4 hrs. just to figure out what the problem was, before he could get to fixing it.

Ah well. I suppose it was overdue, anyway.