Our Printer Finally Burped

Merci:  You should be napping.  Why are you still awake?

Cyndi.

Cyndi:  I'm too excited about having a printer again. We've been without one since March 18 of last year when Win 10 did another upgrade and disconnected it. 

Merci:  Just as a short and hopefully comic version of why we furries have had a collective headache for the past 11 months...  Jan claims she has practically gone blind reading all the info for that printer, as well as all the MC how-to data on it.  Nothing worked!  It was there but it wasn't and it didn't do anything.

Cyndi:  That's when she found out she was not supposed to have a parallel cable plugged into a hub into a usb port on the computer.  But this computer has no parallel and only had two usb ports (until Doug recently added four more), hence the hub. The no-no setup worked just fine for about 3 years.

Merci: Must be the luck of the ignorant.  She didn't know better, so it worked for her.  She did say - repeatedly! - she didn't think the printer's usb port works.  Guess what?  It doesn't! 

Cyndi:  The printer company has been wanting her to call to resolve the problem, but she often has trouble remembering simple everyday words (and names of people she's known for 30 or 40 decades) and didn't want to go through that confusion on the phone with strangers.  (They can't see her waving her arms and turning red .)  To get a response to her emails, she had to sign up for an account and it was in that account she started finding some helpful postings.

Merci: It was not a problem with corrupted drivers, but multiple installs of them on different ports.  Also, there might be something left in the queue that didn't delete and wasn't showing.  She emailed the info to Mr. Doug Thursday night, ran CCleaner, and Mr. Doug showed up the next morning before she could install the printer for the gazillionth time to look for those problems.

Cyndi:  He brought the whole electronic pharmacy - laptop, new cable, etc.- and installed the printer on the laptop.  That's when we learned for sure that the printer usb doesn't work.  A test page was printed a few months ago, but when connected to a computer, the printer wouldn't even burp!

Merci.

Merci:  So why is Cyndi excited about having a printer again?  Because it did print with the parallel cable plugged into a usb cable plugged into  a usb port.  Yep, the no-no set-up is the only one that works.

Cyndi:  Mr. Doug found two test files on here that had not deleted, the printer burped, and now we have a laser printer again.  Eleven months of perseverance, investigation, in/un-installations, confusion and discouragement shortened into one blog post.

Merci:  And Wednesday, two days prior, a very sweet lady gave Jan a brand new ink jet printer.  We haven't had a scanner since the old all-in-one died a few years ago.

Cyndi:  Jan was busy over the weekend printing some files before Win 10 decides to uninstall it again. 

Merci:  Of course, she might spend another 11 months trying to set up the all-in-one.

Cyndi:  Oh, dear, what if that's true? 

Merci:  Relax.  Marcus read all the instructions Jan used and he said if Jan has a problem with the new one, he'll install it himself.

Cyndi:  Marcus install our new printer?  Now I'll never be able to nap!

Merci:  Thank you for your help, Mr. Doug!  Jan said the next time you have a computer problem, it's her turn to come help you.

Cyndi:  You don't really think he'd take her up on that, do you?

Merci:  Not if he has any sense!

The Psychotic Printer

Marcus:  I guess we know what we're thankful for this week!

Rusty:  Yes, we finally get our computer back!

Marcus:  Back?  Where'd it go?

Rusty:  Jan was hogging it.  How quickly you forget.

Marcus:  I didn't forget.  I didn't know what you were referring to.

Rusty:  She tried to print something Sunday and discovered our printer was uninstalled again when Windows 10 updated to Creator last week.   Only this time, no matter what she did, it would not actually install!  It was there but it wasn't. 

Marcus:  Yes, it was the ghost printer - in the queue but not installed.  She would try to print a document and the lights would start blinking and it would start spewing out test page after test page - or some jibberish.  She had to resort to reusing the same paper and it would keep printing multiples over the old test pages.

Rusty:  And then there was the monitor.

Marcus:  What about the monitor?

Rusty:  It wouldn't turn on at first on Monday and then Tuesday it downright refused.  She untangled all the cords and made sure everything was hooked up properly.  Tried plugging it in different places.  Finally climbed up on Buddy's step stool and got the old monitor and prepared to hook it up.  Suddenly the one we've been using came on.  It's working fine now.

Marcus:  This just hasn't been Jan's week. First thing Monday after picking up poop in the dog pen, she tripped over a step and had to do some fancy "dancing" to not fall on the concrete. In the process, she twisted her already bad foot and ankle, so she's been derelict in her duty to play ball with me or to walk us properly.

Rusty:  But the good news is that while she was untangling cords, she discovered our 4 port usb hub was missing the power cord.  It's been missing for so long she found it packed away on the top shelf of the closet.  Evidently it fell off (again!) and when it was found she had no idea where it went and everything worked - sort of.  I mean, who makes a big heavy plug end with a very thin cord?  Even we furries could figure out it isn't going to stay plugged in.  It had fallen out again yesterday, so Mr. Doug taped the cord to the hub.

Marcus:  It's been that kind of a week.  But things did improve yesterday.  Mr. Doug came by to take Jan somewhere important and afterward he sat at the computer, read some online Microsoft printer tech stuff, and in a while we had a printer again.  It actually prints real words and stops at one copy.    *sigh*  It's almost boring now that the lights don't flash and Jan doesn't have to catch all the papers spewing from the printer.

Rusty:  Thank you for fixing the psychotic printer, Mr. Doug!

Marcus:  Do you think we should thank Jan, too?  She did do some things right this week and she has been entertaining.

Rusty:  Dancing With The Stars on TV is entertainment.  Dancing on the steps or tangling herself in cords is part of what Jan signed on for when she adopted us.  But, yes, we're thankful for her too.


On a different note, we mentioned a while ago that service cats Dezi and Raena's mom Audra has some dental needs. She has found a dentist to do the work and could really use some help to go forward.  Those who know Audra and her cats through her blog or Facebook know her story.  Donation information is in her post.  If you can't donate, please share her fundraiser.  Her blog is DezizWorld.


We are joining Brian for Thankful Thursday.

Boxing on Box Day

Percy: Hooray, it's Boxing Day! I get to box Micah's ears.

Buddy: No, it's not Boxing Day. It's International Box Day.

Percy:  I can still box Micah's ears, can't I?

Buddy:  No, but you can admire him as he sits in a box today.

Percy:  Booooring!  I want to box.

Buddy:  Why do you look sad, Micah?  Percy won't bother you today.

Micah:  Percy isn't bothering me.  It's that we were planning to do a big box post today but I guess now I'm the whole post. 

Buddy:  It's Jan's fault.  She hogged the computer yesterday and we didn't get the computer until bedtime so we had to hurry, but it was more that stupid Winton (Windows 10) Creator update that trashed the post.

Percy:  Yes, Jan got quite the shock when she tried to print an Amazon order and discovered the printer had been deleted again. 

Buddy:  Hours and hours of boredom as we waited our turn.

Micah:  Jan wasn't bored, though.  I'm sure I saw steam coming out of her ears. 

Percy:  That must be why her glasses steamed up.  I thought it was just from the heat.

Micah:  Well, Winton did something more than uninstall the printer when it upgraded this time.  It's been reinstalled numerous times but it doesn't work. 

Buddy:  Percy, if you really want to box someone's ears, forget about Micah.  Please, box the daylights out of Microsoft!

Percy:  Okay, has anyone seen my virtual boxing gloves?

Micah:  Where would you find virtual boxing gloves?

Percy:  Microsoft is trying to take over the world, so they have an app for just about everything.

Buddy:  You mean they have a virtual boxing app?

Percy:  Not yet, but they will after they read this post and realize they're going to have to protect themselves from Percy, the Funny Farmer with the mean right cross.

Micah:  I believe you, Percy, but you've lost a little weight, and it will be hard for anyone to take you seriously if your trunks fall off.