The grumpy thread

[GrumpiusMaximus]

  On 16/07/2021 at 09:40, Tadhg Tiogar said:

My two SATA HDDs have so far lasted almost twice as long as the failed SSD ...

Expand  

That may very well be the case.  Like I say, HDD failures are unpredictable because of the number of failure modes they have.  On average I find SSDs to be much more robust and reliable, individual instances notwithstanding.

[Shirley Knott]

I saw the light re SSD's in March 2020 when during the first lockdown began. I bought a refurbished Windows 10  Dell business laptop for £80 on Ebay, despite only having a 120G drive and 4g ram it was waaaay faster than the higher spec machine it replaced. I liked it so much I bought my wife an identical one from the same seller- A year and a half on they're both still going and plenty fast enough for the basic browsing we use them for.

Meanwhile, flushed with the success of the laptops, I swapped the 250g HDD in the desktop upstairs for a Crucial SSD (£25 at the time)of the same size. After a fresh install of Windows 10 the difference was profound, it boots in under 5 seconds. Crucial actually provide a  free programme to check lifespan amongst other stuff, and after a year of solid use it's at 94% life left... Read into that what you will.

TLDR- I tried an SSD and was so impressed with the difference it made, I switched every machine in the house to running them within a 6 month period.

[Spiny Norman]

I've lost count of the number of SSD devices in USB/SD drives I've binned over the years, but I've never had a spinning disc fail. The drive on my most-used desktop (a refurbed business Dell) had been run for 5 years with about 200 start-ups when I got it , one of these machines that's never switched off, yet it continues to run fine.
 

[cobblers]

 Another "customer" in Ireland this time has sent us a box of scrap, unrepairable electronics and declared the value as 3000 euros (cos thats what they would have cost new)

Another ~£600 bill from DHL for VAT despite me saying to them (by email and over the phone) time and time again "NEVER SEND US ANY PARCELS THAT ARE DUE CHARGES WITHOUT GETTING OUR AUTHORISATION"

In total they claim we owe them many many thousands of pounds in duty and VAT for parcels that were sent to us completely unsolicited, with the customs forms filled incorrectly.

It's really getting me down because I'm absolutely working flat out anyway and don't have the time to try and sort this bollocks out. I think we've wasted three days already with the last lot, and now more!

 

DHL are cunts, and also in this case, brexit too. 

[Shirley Knott]

  On 16/07/2021 at 11:59, Spiny Norman said:

I've lost count of the number of SSD devices in USB/SD drives I've binned over the years, but I've never had a spinning disc fail. The drive on my most-used desktop (a refurbed business Dell) had been run for 5 years with about 200 start-ups when I got it , one of these machines that's never switched off, yet it continues to run fine.
 

Expand  

I've had a couple of HDD fail, but paradoxically never an SSD. Admittedly my experience of the latter is relatively short.

[Zelandeth]

Went outside with a view to emptying my stuff out the Xantia and transferring some of my spares into it, thinking I might at least get it a wash.

Yeah... totally failed to account for how much warmer it is than yesterday, I was wrecked within ten minutes.

Why the heck did I move down south again?!? 

[Bren]

  On 15/07/2021 at 21:46, Tadhg Tiogar said:

 

If it ain't broke.....

Expand  

It pinked to fuck and was hard to start.

[robinmasters]

I really enjoy watching Chris Goffey on Top Gear.

However, I can't help but feel that the 'throwing a fuse into a canal' incident was the start of (or at the very least a very early step in) the descent into the juvenile hi-jinks of New, New-New and New-New-New Top Gear.

[adw1977]

I really can't be trusted with corded hedge trimmers.

This isn't even the first time I've made this mistake.  Verdict: idiot. 

It's a good job my house has modern electrics with RCDs.

[chaseracer]

So long as you're OK...

[somewhatfoolish]

M'learned friends are going to get a payday out of this.

BBC - Bluebird: Donald Campbell's restored hydroplane faces ownership row

[Tadhg Tiogar]

  On 16/07/2021 at 16:34, somewhatfoolish said:

M'learned friends are going to get a payday out of this.

BBC - Bluebird: Donald Campbell's restored hydroplane faces ownership row

Expand  

That thing really is cursed.

[Remspoor]

  On 16/07/2021 at 15:45, adw1977 said:

I really can't be trusted with corded hedge trimmers.

This isn't even the first time I've made this mistake.  Verdict: idiot. 

It's a good job my house has modern electrics with RCDs.

Expand  

I have done the same too. Now I have a outer shower hose  over the cable. 1.5metres or there abouts is long enough. Gently crimp the shower hose so that it grips the cable without digging in and it will stay fixed. The hose is large enough not to enter the teeth and will not damage them. Cheaper than an armoured cable.

[myglaren]

  On 16/07/2021 at 18:21, Remspoor said:

I have done the same too. Now I have a outer shower hose  over the cable. 1.5metres or there abouts is long enough. Gently crimp the shower hose so that it grips the cable without digging in and it will stay fixed. The hose is large enough not to enter the teeth and will not damage them. Cheaper than an armoured cable.

Expand  

I'll have to tell my brother.  He is an expert at slicing through the cables.  His wife won't let him repair them so he goes and buys a new one.

[MikeR]

  On 16/07/2021 at 12:04, Shirley Knott said:

I've had a couple of HDD fail, but paradoxically never an SSD. Admittedly my experience of the latter is relatively short.

Expand  

My last drive that popped was a samsung hdd , bad sectors corrupted data , how ever got a recovery off my back ups which are all hdds , i dont think ssd's are ment for long term storage when powered down , i have heard of a year for data retention... Things could of changed .....

[Spurious]

  On 17/07/2021 at 16:52, Nyphur said:

Some fucking chopper leant out the window of a Corsa last night and threw a bottle of water at me while I was cycling home from a friends house. Narrowly missed me but with the shock of it flashing across infront of me I clipped the curb and came off the bike.

Other than some cuts and scrapes last night I felt relatively ok, but it took me nearly 15 minutes to get out of bed this morning, ribs had me howling in pain. Went to A&E on the advice of 111 and had an x-ray which has shown some broken ribs. They gave me a prescription and sent me on my way, Dad drove me the 45 minutes home and called into the chemist to get the prescription filled, but it says on the bottom it can only be filled by the hospital pharmacy.... Fucksticks. Drive 45 minutes back to find that the hospital pharmacy is closed on weekends! Did eventually get it sorted but could have done without that.

I am meant to be having my gallbladder removed Tuesday but I should imagine they'll cancel that now. 

Very glad I was wearing a helmet mind (I always do) as there is a massive crack through it upon inspection this evening - better than a crack in my skull.

Still a couple of cocodamol and a medicinal brandy are doing the job at the moment.

Expand  

It's shite like this that's pushes me towards having a helmet camera. It's downright dangerous that.

Hope you heal up well. Broken ribs are bloody painful. Not a lot you can do for them other than let them heal. 

[nomiST]

Sorry to hear that, I came off my bike on Tuesday and wonder if I've cracked a rib.  The pain is unreal and sleeping is unpossible. 

My unintended dismount was caused only by my own lack of concentration but the behaviours of some traffic really does scare me.

Hope you get well soon and never have to deal with arseholes like that again.

[timolloyd]

Sorry to hear that, but glad you are relatively unscathed.

You sound like a calmer person than I. If it were me, I’d be turning my life over to the pursuit of those twats.

[jakebullet]

Some wankers have moved into kinky girl's block of flats. Unloading car in car park and bang! a full monster energy can slams in 6 foot from us. Some tossers are hanging out of an 8th floor window and think it's hilarious to be throwing things.

Tried the 5 0, but apparently as no one got hit there hasn't been a crime committed.

[Fumbler]

  On 17/07/2021 at 21:43, jakebullet said:

Some wankers have moved into kinky girl's block of flats. Unloading car in car park and bang! a full monster energy can slams in 6 foot from us. Some tossers are hanging out of an 8th floor window and think it's hilarious to be throwing things.

Tried the 5 0, but apparently as no one got hit there hasn't been a crime committed.

Expand  

Not even antisocial behaviour? That's a bit shit.

[Zelandeth]

Currently in Livingston... general expectation is that it will be cooler here than in MK.

Current temperature shown on the thermostat on the wall of this hotel room is 28.5C.  No air conditioning and the window (we're on the top floor) only ooens at the bottom quarter and only by 2".

Have a 300 mile drive in the morning...a good night's sleep prior to this was pretty much an essential requirement before I'd be comfortable setting out.  Well given it's 0300 and I was planning to be getting up in three hours that ain't bloody happening is it...

Should have booked the other hotel that had AC in the rooms...but stuck with this one as it had better reviews by a fraction.

Only ONE mains socket in the whole room too and it's at the furthest point from the bed...that is just fscking stupid.

[gm]

  On 18/07/2021 at 02:05, Zelandeth said:

Currently in Livingston

Expand  

Commiserations - I worked there for a number of years 

[Timewaster]

  On 16/07/2021 at 15:45, adw1977 said:

I really can't be trusted with corded hedge trimmers.

This isn't even the first time I've made this mistake.  Verdict: idiot. 

It's a good job my house has modern electrics with RCDs.

Expand  

Every time I use a  hedge trimmer the cable gets 6ft shorter. 

 

[Timewaster]

  On 17/07/2021 at 16:56, Spurious said:

It's shite like this that's pushes me towards having a helmet camera. It's downright dangerous that.

Hope you heal up well. Broken ribs are bloody painful. Not a lot you can do for them other than let them heal. 

Expand  

Best wishes to @Nyphurbut I imagine a camera in that situation would record...

Flying bottle, road, sky, road sky, sky, kerb. 

Bottle chucking throbbers long gone. 

[mitsisigma01]

😡😡😡 EDF absolute waste of fuckin time and effort dealing with them.... 

[adw1977]

  On 17/07/2021 at 16:52, Nyphur said:

Some fucking chopper leant out the window of a Corsa last night and threw a bottle of water at me while I was cycling home from a friends house. Narrowly missed me but with the shock of it flashing across infront of me I clipped the curb and came off the bike.

Other than some cuts and scrapes last night I felt relatively ok, but it took me nearly 15 minutes to get out of bed this morning, ribs had me howling in pain. Went to A&E on the advice of 111 and had an x-ray which has shown some broken ribs. They gave me a prescription and sent me on my way, Dad drove me the 45 minutes home and called into the chemist to get the prescription filled, but it says on the bottom it can only be filled by the hospital pharmacy.... Fucksticks. Drive 45 minutes back to find that the hospital pharmacy is closed on weekends! Did eventually get it sorted but could have done without that.

I am meant to be having my gallbladder removed Tuesday but I should imagine they'll cancel that now. 

Very glad I was wearing a helmet mind (I always do) as there is a massive crack through it upon inspection this evening - better than a crack in my skull.

Still a couple of cocodamol and a medicinal brandy are doing the job at the moment.

Expand  

That's really shit, I hope you recover soon.

I had something very similar while cycling a couple of years ago, except it was a half full can of lager that missed me by inches.  It was a shock but, probably by sheer luck, I managed to stay upright.

[meggersdog]

My internet at work is shocking.It's ASDL  old copper wires and is forever loosing the connection. If I don't notice we are using someone elses wifi before printing then, as both the laptop and printer are wifi, the laptop cannot connect to the printer. Doesn't matter what I try the only way is to switch everything off and reboot. It's been a right pain when we are busy so fibre optic got installed on Friday.

Had to go with BT so openreach could do all the cabling as we didn't have Fibre optic. After a bit of faffing for a few weeks the fibre was installed. A young chap came on Friday to connect everything up. When he turned up late (phoned to rebook at 8 am ) he kept saying the box should be outside not in the office. Doesn't look weatherproof to me but he connected it up. He also said he'd never done a business install before. The new phone didn't work but he said it could take upto midnight as the other provider hadn't relinquished the line. After he had gone I tried connecting the printer to the new fibre optic.. No joy there.

Came into work today to try and sort the printer for tomorrow as we have a busy day. Old supplier still connected. Still cannot connect the printer and now won't connect to the old supply. Bugger. The upstairs office is now just a store room so went up there to fetch the old printer. It's another wifi printer but had to get a new one because......... my T shirt is now covered in ink. Anyway switched it on scrolled down to that model and.......... cannot connect to printer.

Rage Angainst The Machine..

No amount of shouting or swearing at the laptop screen made either printer work.

 

[Crackers]

Printers are willfully disobedient barstewards. You could have the flashest, most high tech office in the entire world, yet the printer would still throw a hissy fit. 

[Spurious]

  On 18/07/2021 at 16:13, Crackers said:

Printers are willfully disobedient barstewards. You could have the flashest, most high tech office in the entire world, yet the printer would still throw a hissy fit. 

Expand  

 

[Markeh]

  On 18/07/2021 at 02:05, Zelandeth said:

Currently in Livingston... general expectation is that it will be cooler here than in MK.

Current temperature shown on the thermostat on the wall of this hotel room is 28.5C.  No air conditioning and the window (we're on the top floor) only ooens at the bottom quarter and only by 2".

Have a 300 mile drive in the morning...a good night's sleep prior to this was pretty much an essential requirement before I'd be comfortable setting out.  Well given it's 0300 and I was planning to be getting up in three hours that ain't bloody happening is it...

Should have booked the other hotel that had AC in the rooms...but stuck with this one as it had better reviews by a fraction.

Only ONE mains socket in the whole room too and it's at the furthest point from the bed...that is just fscking stupid.

Expand  

When me and some friends did our booze cruise to France when travel was still a thing, we ended up on the top floor of a Travelodge in Thurrock with no AC in similar heat. After being on the go since 11pm the previous night, I lay there at about midnight weighing up whether giving up on the room and driving another 3 hours was the lesser of the two evils.